BELOW: Isabella Crovetti-Cramp at the Nickelodeon networks Burbank studio.
photos by ROB VARELA/THE STAR
SHARE ABOVE: Isabella Crovetti-Cramp does voice-over work for her character Shine in the Nickelodeon animated preschool series Shimmer and Shine at the networks Burbank studio. Ten-year-old Ventura County-resident Isabella Crovetti-Cramp plays Shine in Nickelodeons animated series, Shimmer and Shine. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO ROB VARELA/THE STAR Isabella Crovetti-Cramp (left) chats with her co-star Eva Bella after doing voice-over work for her character Shine in the Nickelodeon animated preschool series Shimmer and Shine at the networks Burbank studio. Eva plays Shimmer. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Ten-year-old Ventura County-resident Isabella Crovetti-Cramp plays Shine in Nickelodeons animated series, Shimmer and Shine. By Karen Lindell Isabella Crovetti-Cramp has the whole three wishes thing figured out. No world peace or billions of dollars for the 10-year-old Ventura County actress, who plays the voice of a novice girl genie who grants wishes in the new Nickelodeon animated series Shimmer and Shine. Id wish for infinity wishes, Isabella said. So then I can wish for whatever I want, and I dont have to stop. The word genie, after all, is derived in part from the Latin genius. Shimmer and Shine, which premieres Monday, is about a pair of twin sisters, Shine (voiced by Isabella) and Shimmer, who live in a palace inside a bottle that hangs around the neck of a normal girl named Leah. Each day, Leah gets three wishes granted by the magical duo. Shimmer and Shine, new at the wish fulfillment business, tend to mess up a lot, but with three chances, they eventually find success. If they made the wish exactly right every time, it wouldnt be like a fun new adventure, Isabella wisely pointed out. Through the series, kids see that even though the outcome may not be exactly what they wished for, there is always a way to figure things out, says Nickelodeon in promotional materials. The genie siblings are fraternal twins. Shimmer has pink hair, blue eyes and a sweet, innocent personality. Shine has a blue ponytail, purple eyes and plenty of sass. Shine, Isabella said, is spunky, shes cool and shes not afraid to stand up for what she thinks is right, or help somebody out. In an email, Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz, the shows creator, said Isabella has a natural spunk, wit and charm about her that really brings Shine to life. During auditions for the part of Shine, we knew she was the voice without a question. At her audition, Isabella said, they had everyone sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. After I was done, I said, I have this version of what I think Shine would sing. Instead of singing, I rapped, and everybody started cracking up. Isabella and Shine, Esnaashari-Charmatz said, are more alike than I would have ever thought. Both are sweet, smart, funny and love snacks. Isabella has even come to recordings with blue hair, she said. Shine is Isabellas first animated voice role. She started acting in commercials, TV and films when she was 5. Her resume include stints as cast member Abby Weaver on ABCs 2012-14 sitcom The Neighbors (she earned a Young Artist Award for the role), and parts in Jessie, Happy Endings, In Plain Sight, Mike and Molly, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, CSI: Miami and the TV movie Possessing Piper Rose. She will play the daughter of Josh Holloways character in the new USA Network drama Colony, premiering in January, and has just finished production for the film Joy, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, and directed by Oscar nominee David O. Russell (The Fighter, Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle). The movie, set for release Dec. 25, is about Joy Mangano (played by Lawrence), inventor of the Miracle Mop and other HSN best-selling products. Isabella portrays young Joy/Jennifer. Lawrence, Isabella said, is very, very nice. And Russell? Most people think that hes just, you know, stern, she said. When hes in work mode hes serious, but he is a very, very nice guy. My mom and I just loved, loved him. Isabella lives with her parents, producer Bradley Cramp and actress Denise Crovetti, younger sister and twin brothers. Isabella wanted to act, she said, because her mom and grandmother were actors, and she saw kids having fun on TV in her favorite shows. She asked her mom, Can I do that? Her parents got her an audition with an agency, and she was booked right away. So far, her career trajectory sounds just right for a 10-year-old girl: Soon I was doing commercials, then guest-starring, and then this whole entire career happened, and Im just so lucky, she said. Isabella is learning on the job. I tried one acting class, but I figured it wasnt for me, because I wasnt very comfortable with it, she said. I just like learning it as I go. Plus, she said, My mom helps me. She gives advice like, Who do you think the character is? and stuff, and shes just very supportive. When Isabella is at home in Ventura County (It has great schools, and its such a beautiful community, she said, sure to make the local visitors bureau proud), she likes horseback riding and takes guitar lessons. Like Shine and Shimmer, who have a pet baby Bengal tiger and a baby monkey, she loves animals, although her pets are less exotic: dogs. Isabella enjoys both voice and live acting, but notes the differences between the two. Theres only a couple people in the room when youre voice-acting, she said, and when youre actually doing it live, you have to do all the motions, theres a camera on you, and you do the whole entire thing over and over again. In voice acting, you say the lines three times in a row, and they just pick the one they think is the best and go on to the next one. Parents of preschoolers, prepare yourself for the next cowabunga (the nonsense exclamation of choice for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). Shimmer and Shine like to say Boom Zahramay when they grant wishes or get excited, a sort of verbal version of Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie blinking her eyes. Isabella loves saying the phrase. Its hard to stand still, she said. I usually do some hand motions and stuff that Shine would do. The young actress doesnt know if she wants show biz as a career. I have my whole entire life to think it over and stuff, and I still have so much more to go, she said. She has plenty of time to polish her Shine. SHARE By Stephanie Hoops A federal court has approved a nearly $13 million settlement in a nationwide class-action lawsuit initiated by women who worked as exotic dancers for the Spearmint Rhino adult nightclub in Oxnard. It took more than two years for U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Phillips to approve the settlement as lawyers tried to show that the agreement represented all the dancers' interests fairly. Two women who danced at the Spearmint Rhino in Oxnard launched the suit: Christeen Rivera and Tracy Dawn Trauth. They claimed they were wrongly treated as independent contractors rather than employees entitled to benefits. They sought back wages, tips, attorney fees and damages. According to the suit, the women each earned an average of $500,000 a year in tips for lap and table dances. But the dancers alleged most of the money went to the club to cover "rent," the disc jockey, stage fees, overhead costs and even penalties if they didn't get enough men to purchase drinks during a shift. (Spearmint Rhino Settlement Agreement) In addition to the financial hit to the 16 companies that were sued, the clubs have agreed that within six months they will no longer treat dancers as independent contractors or lessees, but as employees, shareholders, partners or some type of owner. In California specifically, dancers will no longer be charged stage fees. As part of the settlement, lawyers on both sides agreed to not speak to the media for six months. Rivera and Trauth were eventually joined by 12 other Spearmint Rhino dancers who agreed to be named as class representatives in the lawsuit. Each of them will get an "incentive award" of $1,000 to $15,000 for the time they spent on the case and the personal and professional risk they took in allowing their names to be used. The rest of the dancers' share of the $12.97 million settlement will be divvied up among an unknown number of dancers in six states who end up filing claims. After attorney fees and incentive awards are deducted, dancers in California are entitled to 50.14 percent of the remaining amount. Dancers in Nevada will get 42.69 percent, and 7.16 percent will go to dancers in Kentucky, Idaho, Texas and Florida. Information For more information, dancers should contact the settlement administrator at Gilardi & Co. LLC in San Rafael at 415-461-0410. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Richard Rush, president of CSU Channel Islands, and the chancellor of the CSU system met with members of the media Tuesday in Camarillo. SHARE CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Richard Rush, president of CSU Channel Islands, enjoys a laugh with a friend Tuesday at the Camarillo campus. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR Richard Rush, president of CSU Channel Islands, is retiring this summer. He and the chancellor of the CSU system met with members of the media Tuesday. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR CSU Chancellor Timothy White (right) and Richard Rush, president of CSU Channel Islands, talk to the media during a visit to the university Tuesday. CHUCK KIRMAN/THE STAR CSU Chancellor Timothy White (left) visits with A. Michael Berman, vice president for technology & communication, during a visit to CSU Channel Islands on Tuesday. By Jean Moore of the Ventura County Star Chancellor Timothy White visited CSU Channel Islands on Tuesday, his final stop in a tour of the 23 Cal State campuses. As he has at other campuses, White listened to students and professors talk about their research, including a project out on Santa Rosa Island, where Channel Islands has a research station. The massive CSU system can use the specialized expertise that evolves from such research, often done by faculty and students working together, to strengthen connections among its campuses, White said afterward. A Channel Islands archaeology major working on Santa Rosa, for example, might share her research with an outstanding marine biology professor at Humboldt State. "We'd be cutting across the 23 campuses in areas where we have singular expertise," White said. "We can connect ourselves to be more effective." White's visit came as Channel Islands took a major step to add an engineering major. The faculty senate voted to approve the major Tuesday afternoon. The proposal will now go to the chancellor's office for review. "I'm hopeful and confident they will give me approval," said President Richard Rush. "We've gone through the whole set of procedures." The program will likely start in fall 2017 with existing faculty, then grow as needed. Channel Islands and the entire CSU system must keep growing so they can produce all the graduates California will need in the future, White said. But funding remains an issue, so the university may need to gradually increase tuition, he said. On the other hand, students whose family income is $70,000 a year or less wouldn't have to pay tuition or fees, as long as they qualify for financial aid, he said. The system also needs to concentrate on helping all students graduate, whatever their background and resources, he said. White's background is similar to that of many students who attend Channel Islands and other CSU campuses. His family came to the U.S. from elsewhere in his case, Argentina when he was a child. He went to community college and became the first in his family to earn a degree. "We used to talk about access, but the issue isn't access," White said. "It's completion." Technology may help with that goal, he said. Universities can use technology, for example, to alert counselors when students are struggling in a course, so they can step in and see where the student might need help, whether it's personal or academic. If 50 more students than usual have signed up for an introductory accounting class, technology can alert the university that it needs to add more sessions. That way students won't be delayed from graduating on time because they can't get the classes they need. Or if too many students are failing or withdrawing from a class, the university can detect that trend using technology and tweak the course. "We can ask what's going on," White said. "We can figure out how to provide that course in a way that more students have a chance to succeed." White's visit came as Channel Islands is losing two of its key leaders: Rush will retire this summer, and Provost Gayle Hutchinson is leaving next month to become president of Chico State. The new president, Erika Beck, who starts in August, brings with her new opportunities, White said. "But there will never be a chapter like this chapter, he said. "This was the founding chapter of this campus." FILE PHOTO Mike Osborn, of Ventura, and Audra Strickland, of Moorpark, served as delegates at the Republican National Convention four years ago in Tampa. Osborn was named Tuesday as a delegate pledged to Donald Trump. SHARE By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star Presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign has named the Ventura County Republican party chair, a former legislator and a financial insurance services CEO as area delegates for the July party convention. The statewide list of Republican delegates for the Republican National Convention was released Tuesday. The list of people pledged to expected nominee Trump includes Ventura County Republican Chairman Mike Osborn, former state party Chairman Frank Visco, of the Lake Sherwood area, and former Assemblyman and state Sen. Tony Strickland. Osborn and Visco, who leads Visco Financial Insurance Services, will attend the GOP convention if Trump wins the state's 26th Congressional District, which includes much of Ventura County. Strickland, of Moorpark, is an at-large delegate, meaning he'll go to the convention if Trump wins California. If Ted Cruz, who dropped out of the race last week, still scores a victory in one of the three congressional districts that include a piece of Ventura County, area delegates headed for the convention could include Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy, Simi Valley conservative blogger Stephen Frank and Westlake Village financial planner Doug De Groote. Osborn was a Mitt Romney delegate at the 2012 convention. Visco has been a delegate at seven conventions in support of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush. The priority this time around will be uniting the party after a no-punches-pulled campaign. "It's our job to bring everyone back together," said Osborn, noting that one aspect of attending the convention is being with 2,500 other people who share common political beliefs. He said the bonds bring about a variation of the saying of what not to discuss at the dinner table. "You go to the convention and you just don't talk about religion," he said with a laugh. Pete Petrovich was also named as a Trump delegate in the 26th District. Delegates in the 25th District, which includes the Antelope Valley and a piece of Ventura County, are Angela Underwood-Jacobs, Steve Ward and Morris Thomas. Mike Stoker, Mary Jordan and Etta Waterfield were named for the 24th District, which includes Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, as well as a small part of Ventura County. Cruz delegates include Edward and Elissa Czuker as well as De Groote in the 26th District. Frank, Foy and James Mitchell were picked in the 25th District. Alissa Jesle, Dan Dow and Allison Hayward were named in the 24th District. And while Republican candidates pick delegates, registered Democrats use an election to choose delegates for their candidates. They voted on the first Sunday of May. STAR FILE PHOTO Highway 101 passes by farmland at the base of the Conejo grade. SHARE By Gretchen Wenner of the Ventura County Star Supporters of an open-space ballot initiative in Camarillo will once again turn in thousands of signatures to the city clerk this week. Proponents of the SOAR ordinance, for Save Open-space & Agricultural Resources, learned last month the 6,600-plus signatures they'd gathered weren't valid because there had been an incorrect date on the preprinted petition forms. That required a do-over signature drive, with a May 20 deadline looming to get the measure on the November ballot. Organizer Bob Merrilees said Tuesday volunteers have now collected more than 4,700 signatures and plan to turn them in Thursday. Then they'll head to Brendan's Irish Pub to celebrate, he added. Some 4,024 valid signatures are needed to make the ballot, but groups generally gather more than the minimum more as a buffer. Merrilees said the group has been validating as it goes and feels fairly confident it has enough. Camarillo is among eight Ventura County cities, as well as the county, that could have similar initiatives on the ballot. Like most of the SOAR measures, Camarillo's would extend growth curbs until 2050. Backers of a county-level rival measure called SUSTAIN VC, with more flexibility for agriculture, have also been gathering signatures. In Oxnard, the City Council decided to put two versions, with 2030 and 2050 sunset dates, on the ballot. Only Port Hueneme and Ojai do not have SOAR measures in play. Port Hueneme essentially has no room to grow, while Ojai already has strict development rules in place. DAVID YAMAMOTO/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Dennis Mayer, who works at Conejo Valley High School in Newbury Park, shows the rare Conejo Valley Days badges sent to Ventura County by Jean Giallonardo of Nampa, Idaho. Giallonardo found the memorabilia and badges after her mother, Mae Giallonardo Frampton, a Conejo Valley Days fan, passed away. SHARE DAVID YAMAMOTO/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Dennis Mayer, who works at Conejo Valley High School in Newbury Park, shows the rare Conejo Valley Days badges sent to Ventura County by Jean Giallonardo of Nampa, Idaho. Giallonardo found the memorabilia and badges after her mother, Mae Giallonardo Frampton, a Conejo Valley Days fan, passed away. DAVID YAMAMOTO/SPECIAL TO THE STAR Dennis Mayer, who works at Conejo Valley High School, shows a badge featuring Donna Fargo, a longtime Thousand Oaks resident who was instrumental in getting Conejo Valley Days started. Fargo died in 1984. By Robyn Flans, Special to The Star Jean Giallonardo can still remember how much her mother loved going to Conejo Valley Days and collecting the badges sold at the fair. Even after she moved to Lake Elsinore in 1982, Mae Giallonardo Frampton continued to attend the annual Thousand Oaks event and participate in the Badgeroo contest to see who had the biggest and best collection. "If for some reason she forgot to get a badge, I had to go down and get it," Giallonardo said. Last year, as she was preparing to move to Idaho and out of the Thousand Oaks home she had lived in since 1957, Giallonardo discovered a box full of badges. Her mother died in 2009 but had remained an avid collector of Conejo Valley Days memorabilia through 2001. Giallonardo sent the box to Diane Rumbaugh, who handles public relations for the Thousand Oaks event that is celebrating its 60th anniversary this week. The badges are on display and for sale in the Conejo Valley Days General Store, where brothers Dennis and Duane Mayer answer questions about badge history and sell this year's edition. Rumbaugh said she was amazed by the number of badges in the box: about 40 to 50, in addition to some Grand Marshal Race badges. "There was a time when there were races to find out who was going to be the grand marshal for Conejo Valley Days, so the contestants all had badges," Rumbaugh explained. Each badge tells a story. "It's really fun to look at them in chronological order," Rumbaugh said. "You can see where the valley was at in a certain year. The badges definitely go back to the country roots of the Conejo Valley." She found the 1968 psychedelic badge a particular reflection of the times. "That was my favorite," Rumbaugh said. "It was so different from all the other ones and very artistic." Then there was the 1976 badge, a red, white and blue number celebrating the nation's bicentennial. Rumbaugh said she was impressed with the badge signed on the back by Donna Fargo, who was instrumental in getting Conejo Valley Days off the ground. Fargo died in 1984. "She was a grand marshal and a big part of Conejo Valley Days way back when," Rumbaugh said. "She stayed heavily involved." Giallonardo had trouble parting with the Fargo badge. "Donna Fargo used to live on Erbes Road, and you could sit in her house and she would tell you stories that would make your jaw drop," Giallonardo said. "She and my mom were extremely good friends." Dennis Mayer, who started volunteering at Conejo Valley Days in 1984 and was the badge chairman from 1987 until about 2005, said Fargo was the driving force behind the badges and the Badgeroo contest, which ended several years ago. "She is our mentor and guardian," Mayer said. The Mayers themselves are continuing a family tradition. "We got involved because our dad had a stash of badges that we found and got really interested in them," Mayer said. "He had them all the way back to 1968." Among Mayer's favorites are the 1964 tin badge and the 1966 tin star. He and Duane, who is now the badge chairman, have full collections. "We're trying to put a museum together and get the Badgeroo contest back so people can show off their old badges," Mayer said. Giallonardo would like that. She's all about tradition. The 67-year-old recalled being in the big parade when she was 8 years old. "I was in a truck, waving to everybody. The tradition of the big parade was astounding," Giallonardo said. "People would just flock." Rumbaugh said the last Conejo Valley Days parade was in 2008. A city-sponsored parade was held in 2014 to commemorate city's 50th anniverary, but it wasn't officially sponsored by Conejo Valley Days. Giallonardo misses them. "Parades are wonderful," she said. "You've got the bands, people are excited, the kids are excited. When they stopped that, it seemed like they forgot about tradition." IF YOU GO What: Conejo Valley Days When: 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m. Friday, noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Where: Conejo Creek Park South, 1300 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks Cost: $10 for adults, $5 for kids 6 through 12, free for 5 and younger. Information: 498-0624 or www.conejovalleydays.us . CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Gun found by Oxnard police. SHARE By Staff Reports A stolen semi-automatic pistol was found in an Oxnard man's waistband Tuesday afternoon during a police search, authorities said. Officers patrolling the area of Oxnard Boulevard and Fourth Street pulled over a vehicle for code violations around 2:45 p.m., the Oxnard Police Department reported. During the stop, officers spoke with Natividad Juarez, 33, a "known associate of a street gang," according to the department, and discovered the loaded gun. Juarez was arrested on suspicion of several weapons-related charges, authorities said. Oxnard police launched the Firearms Strike Team, or FAST, in early 2014 to remove firearms from people not allowed to have them as a way to reduce gun violence. SHARE Agoura Hills Event to highlight scholarships The Democratic Women's Council of the Conejo Valley will present "Charm, Chatter and Chardonnay" from 3-6 p.m. May 22 at a mountain-view estate in Lobo Canyon in Agoura Hills. The outing will feature a celebration of the 2016 recipients of the Fran Pavley scholarships. The address will be revealed with a confirmed RSVP. Tickets are $40 for members and $45 for nonmembers by Sunday. The cost will increase to $50 for members and $55 for nonmembers between Monday and May 21. Tickets will be $60 at the door. Call 498-7262 for tickets. Calabasas PBS documentary to be screened The Calabasas Library's Film Fanatics will screen the PBS documentary "My Way to Olympia" at 6 p.m. May 18 at 200 Civic Center Way. This movie is about disabled film director Niko von Glasow, who discovers a world of fierce competition and a challenge to his own stereotypes. Email ksteward@cityofcalabasas.com or call 818-225-7616 for more information. Book club will hold morning meeting The Calabasas Library's Wednesday Morning Book Club will meet at 11 a.m. May 18 at 200 Civic Center Way. Visit http://www.cityofcalabasas.com/library.html or call 818-225-7616 for more information. Camarillo Genealogy society to discuss emigration The Ventura County Genealogical Society will meet at 1 p.m. May 21 in the community room at the Camarillo Library, 4101 Las Posas Road. Ted Gostin, professional genealogist and lecturer, will present "Emigration Records: Tracing Immigrants From the Other Side." The DNA special interest group will meet from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Visit http://www.venturacogensoc.org for more information. Republican women set college forum The Camarillo Republican Women will meet at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Spanish Hills Country Club, 999 Crestview Drive. University Republican students will speak in a multi-college forum. Cost is $29. Call 1-888-747-9955, ext. l, for lunch reservations and give your name, phone number and choice of entree for each attendee. Moorpark Celestial navigation to be highlighted The Ventura County Astronomical Society will meet at 6 p.m. May 20 at the Moorpark College Forum, 7075 Campus Road. "Celestial Navigation: How Did Our Ancestors Find Their Way Without GPS?" will be discussed at 6 p.m. and "Telescope Basics: What Everyone Needs to Know Before Observing" will be discussed at 7:15 p.m. Attendance is free. Visit http://www.vcas.org for more information. Meeting to focus on Syrian refugees The Moorpark Democratic Club will meet at 6:30 p.m. May 19 in the Meridian Hills recreation room, 6801 Breezy Glen Drive. Larry Jones will speak about Syrian refugees. Jones works with churches to find homes for refugees entering the United States. Email moorparkdemocrats@gmail.com or call 338-5582 for more information. Ojai Photo club to hear from Emmy winner The Ojai Photo Club will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Kent Hall at Help of Ojai, 111 Santa Ana St. Emmy-winning filmmaker and photographer Elizabeth Pepin Silva will speak. Visit http://www.ojaiphotoclub.com for more information. Oxnard Guest will discuss crime awareness Soroptimist International of Oxnard will meet at 7:30 a.m. May 18 at the Courtyard by Marriott, 600 Esplanade Drive. Guest speaker Byron Walls will bring his unique humor on crime awareness. Visit http://www.oxnardsoroptimist.org for more information. Email michellehubbard4u@gmail.com to attend the meeting as a guest. Simi Valley Democratic club to host supporters The Simi Valley Democratic Club will welcome Hillary Clinton supporter and 45th Assembly District Chair Cecile Bendavid, as well as Ryan Skolnick of Millennials for Bernie Sanders, at its meeting at 7 p.m. May 18 in the community room at the Simi Valley Town Center mall, 1555 Simi Town Center Way. Other guests will include candidates for the state Legislature and Congress. Call Camilla Gonzales at 914-9289 for more information. Public welcome at square dance event Happy Squares Simi Valley will have a square dance from 8-10:30 p.m. Saturday at the Simi Valley Senior Center, 3900 Avenida Simi. Admission is a $7 donation. Visit http://www.happysquares.com or call 522-1455 for more information. Thousand Oaks Forum to feature Senate candidates The Conejo Valley Republican Women Federated will host a forum featuring candidates for U.S. Senate at 11 a.m. May 20 at Los Robles Greens, 299 S. Moorpark Road. Registration and social connections will start at 11 a.m., with the program and luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Candidates scheduled to appear include Greg Conlon, Von Hougo, Jerry Laws, Karen Roseberry and Duf Sundheim. Cost is $25. Email cvrwf@verizon.net or call 358-6250 to RSVP. Quilt artist, teacher to give presentation Conejo Valley Quilters will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Pederson Hall at Ascension Lutheran Church, 1600 E. Hillcrest Drive. Kathy McNeil, quilt artist and teacher, will share her 15 years of award-winning "Tips, Tricks and Stories" and a trunk show. Guests are welcome for a $5 fee. Visit http://www.conejovalleyquilters.com for more information. Dance club plans upcoming event The Thousand Oaks Dance Club will have a dance event at 6:30 p.m. May 21 at the Goebel Adult Community Center, 1385 E. Janss Road. Doors will open at 6 p.m., with free dance instruction from 6:30-7:15 p.m. There will be door prizes. Cost is $7. Call 381-2744 for more information. Amateur radio club to hear guest speaker The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. May 19 in the community room of the county sheriff's station at 2101 E. Olsen Road. Kristen McIntyre will discuss the theory and design of radio frequency grounding systems. Visit http://www.cvarc.org for more information. Ventura C.I. Gulls will host wine sale, luncheon C.I. Gulls will host a wine sale and luncheon at 11 a.m. May 19 at the Pierpont Inn, 550 Sanjon Road. Social hour will begin at 11 a.m., with the luncheon at noon. Members and guests are asked to bring a bottle of wine or two to be sold at the luncheon. Proceeds will benefit many Ventura County charities. Reservations are due by Friday. Call Shirley at 263-6062 to RSVP. Dinner to celebrate Officer of the Year The Ventura Kiwanis Officer of the Year awards dinner will be May 20 at the Tower Club, 300 Esplanade Drive in Oxnard, on the 22nd floor. A reception with a cash bar will kick off the event at 5 p.m. Dinner will begin at 6 p.m., with the program from 7-9 p.m. Cost is $40. Email cshiells@poinsettiapavilion.com or call 648-1143 to RSVP. Philatelic Society schedules seminar The Ventura County Philatelic Society will have an adult education stamp collecting seminar and stamp collection review and evaluation from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at The Bonaventure community building, 10949 Telegraph Road. Email jweigle@vcnet.com to reserve a space. Cost is $10. Call Ken Weber at 901-5216 for more information. Guest speaker to discuss investing The Bookkeepers' Association of Ventura County will meet at 5:30 p.m. May 19 at Buenaventura Mobile Home Park clubhouse, 11405 Darling Road. Deborah Warnacutt will speak about dividend growth investing. Attendance is $15 for first-timers, $12 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Call 796-0561 for more information. Audubon Society to offer field trips Ventura Audubon Society will take a couple of field trips. The society will visit the Ventura settling ponds at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. There will be a trip to Canada Larga at 8:30 a.m. May 21. Call Adele Fergusson at 415-4304 for more information about either event. PC Users planning class on PowerPoint The Ventura Beginners PC Users Group will offer "Creating a PowerPoint Presentation" at 9:15 a.m. Saturday in the third-floor lounge at Cypress Place Independent Living, 1220 Cypress Point Lane. Call 648-1368 for more information. Men's group meets two times a month The Ventura Men's Group has social luncheon meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. The meetings feature an informative presentation. Call 642-1359 for more information. Staff reports SHARE Tony Strickland By John Scheibe of the Ventura County Star Former state Sen. Tony Strickland faces $80,000 in fines from the California Fair Political Practices Commission for allegedly laundering campaign money in his 2010 bid for California state controller, the commission said this week. Strickland, a Moorpark Republican, lost the race for state controller to John Chiang, a Democrat. Chiang got 55 percent of statewide votes, while Strickland received 36 percent. The commission alleges Strickland and his campaign illegally funneled money through two county Republican commissions to circumvent campaign donation limits. Laundering campaign contributions is one of the most serious violations of the 1974 Political Reform Act "because such conduct circumvents campaign contribution limits, violates disclosure requirements, and deceives the voting public as to the true source of funds," the state watchdog commission wrote in its report on Strickland. The five-member independent, nonpartisan commission is scheduled to consider imposing the fines over the allegations when it meets May 19. The commission stated in its report that "the evidence shows that Strickland received a total of $65,000 in contributions from three donors through the Ventura County Republican Party and the Stanislaus County Republican Party. The donors were Andrew Barth, an investment manager; Matthew Swanson, president of Associated Feed & Supply Co. in Turlock; and William Templeton, a Texas businessman in the oil and gas industry. "In 2010, VCRP and SCRP made $65,000 in contributions to Strickland for Controller," the commission's report stated. "However, (the) VCRP and SCRP were not the true sources of the contributions," it said, stating that the true sources "were concealed." "Strickland caused Templeton, Barth and Swanson to give $65,000 in contributions to his campaign illegally through VCRP and SCRP," the report stated. Mike Osborn, chairman of the Ventura County Republican Central Committee, defended the Ventura County Republican Party on Tuesday, saying "it did nothing wrong." Strickland could not be reached for comment. His Orange County attorney, Steve Baric, said he was somewhat surprised the commission had put the issue of $80,000 in fines before commissioners on May 19. "We've been in constant contact with them for the past few months," Baric said this week. "We're just working out a resolution," adding that "we have a deal in principle in place with them." Baric declined to give details as to what was included in that deal, saying only that it involved making some payments to the commission. "It's probably not a good idea to talk about the details until the deal is finalized," he said. "We're hoping for an agreement before the May 19th meeting." Jay Wierenga, a commission spokesman, also declined to comment, saying "we can't comment on a pending case." The commission stated that none of the campaign statements filed on behalf of Strickland disclosed that Templeton, Barth and Swanson were the true sources of the $65,000 in contributions from the Ventura County Republican Party and the Stanislaus County Republican Party. The report stated that the parties were the intermediaries for the contributions earmarked for Strickland for Controller. The report also accuses Lysa Ray, treasurer for the Strickland for Controller campaign, of wrongdoing. Baric is also representing Ray. Investigators said Ray, along with Strickland, broke the law "by causing over-the-limit, earmarked contributions to be made in VCRP's and SCRP's names to Strickland for Controller and filing false campaign statements concealing that activity." Individuals in 2010 were limited to contributing no more than $6,500 to a candidate for state controller. But there were no limits on contributions made from a political party county central committee to that candidate, the commission said. The proposed $80,000 in fines comes from four alleged violations. The violations are contributions made in the name of another, prohibited earmarked contributions, accepting an over-the-limit contribution and the use of false information in campaign statements. The commission is asking for $20,000 for each violation. Strickland served in the state's 37th Assembly District from 1998 until 2004. He was unable to seek a fourth term in 2004 because of term limits His wife, Audra, won the Assembly seat in 2004 and served until 2008. Strickland first ran for state controller in 2006, losing to Chiang. He then ran for the state Senate's 19th District in 2008, beating Hannah-Beth Jackson by 900 votes for the four-year term. The 19th District includes parts of Ventura, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties. Strickland announced in October the formation of a political advocacy group and super PAC called Strong America PAC. He serves as the group's president and CEO. STAR FILE PHOTO SHARE By Staff Reports The Ventura Police Community Foundation said diners at local restaurants can help raise money for community events, public safety and Police Activities League youth programs. The foundation said seven restaurants will participate in the dine-in fundraiser during National Police Week, Sunday through May 21. If restaurant customers visit http://venturapolicefoundation.org/news-events, download a flier and present it at a participating restaurant on the correct day, 20 percent of their bill will go toward the foundation, organizers said. Participating restaurants are Spencer MacKenzie's on Sunday, Chick-fil-A on Monday, California Pizza Kitchen on Tuesday, Jersey Mike's on Victoria Avenue on May 18, Casa de Soria on May 19, Red Brick Pizza on May 20 and Two Trees Cafe on May 21, the foundation said. SHARE You may not like President Obama's political philosophy or leadership style, but you have to admit he is one cool president. If you're unconvinced, consider his speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 30. His poise and charm were on full display, and his comedic timing was impeccable. Still, his best joke made me cringe a little: He said his popularity rating had been rising. In fact, he said, "The last time I was this high, I was trying to decide on my major." Funny stuff. It would be even funnier if there weren't so many Americans in prison for the crime that the last several presidents have all committed smoking a little pot. Of course, we're a nation of laws, and we aspire to the principle that undergirds that condition: Before the law, everyone is treated equally. But that noble aspiration is threatened by our inconsistent attitude toward marijuana and by the patchwork of drug laws that follow in its wake. Thus, a 19-year-old kid in my state, Texas, was threatened with life in prison for trying to make brownies laced with hash oil, while 900 miles to the north in Colorado, he could legally create a profitable business and be appreciated for his entrepreneurship and for the tax dollars his business generates. And thus celebrities like Bill Maher, Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson have made marijuana a part of their brand, and the president of the United States can joke charmingly about smoking pot in college. Meanwhile, according to a 2014 New York Times story, as many as 30,000 Americans were in prison solely for possessing or selling marijuana. Sometimes prison terms for marijuana possession are staggering. The Times cited the case of Jeff Mizanskey, a Missourian arrested in 1993 for purchasing a 5-pound brick of marijuana. Because of two previous nonviolent marijuana convictions, Mizanskey was sentenced to life in prison without parole. A more typical case is probably Bernard Noble's, a 45-year-old father of seven stopped in New Orleans in 2010 with the equivalent of two joints in his pocket. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. Noble's case is more typical in another way as well. It amplifies the ironic contrast between his situation and the president's wry joke: Like Obama, Noble is black. Not only are our marijuana laws stunningly inconsistent, their application is informed by a striking racial disparity. Although blacks and whites use marijuana at about the same rates, according to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union, blacks are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested on suspicion of marijuana offenses than whites. In some states Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois blacks are arrested at a rate eight times higher than the rate for whites. I'm not an enthusiastic proponent for the decriminalization of marijuana. I don't smoke it and don't plan to start. But if I did, as a middle-class white guy, I suspect I could join the other 30 million Americans who smoked it during the past year without getting in trouble. Not everyone is so lucky, and this discrepancy should make us pause to consider the injustice of our current system. In addition, we should thoughtfully situate marijuana among the array of intoxicants and addictive and harmful substances that surround us. We could start with alcohol, tobacco and heroin, of course, and, especially lately, prescription opioids. But an honest calculation also would include sugar, salt and fat. It's not much of an overstatement to say that, in the way Americans eat them, these substances are both extremely harmful and addictive. In fact, a great deal of American life revolves around activities that are enormously time-consuming, compulsive and addictive: food and drink, sports, video games and electronic screen time of all sorts. There's a reason we call it "binge-watching." Marijuana should be understood in this context, and we should pay more attention to the disparities associated with it. Some of us should not be able to use it with impunity and even joke about it, while others are going to prison. John M. Crisp, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. Readers may send him email at jcrisp@delmar.edu. SHARE Oh please, not another slick Janice campaign mailer in my mailbox today. Every day a new one. How in the world does she afford a new campaign mailer every day? The return address says its all: "Paid for by the California Dental Association." Now, who bankrolls this dental PAC? Well, if you research the records, you will see that Chevron gave $1 million. Why would Chevron want to support Janice Reznick? Something about her connections with the Aliso Hills natural gas? What? They want to refill the underground storage tanks before the emergency shut-off valves can be installed? Why? Janice will probably be hesitant to admit her connection with Chevron oil, so she can say she's opposed to fracking, so she can say she's for protecting the environment. But is she really? I hope the voters in Senate District 27 can see through this deception. Joan Edwards, Westlake Village SHARE I am a Thousand Oaks resident and parent of two fourth-graders at Carden Conejo School. Not only have my children attended Carden Conejo since they were 3 years old, but I am also a graduate of Carden Conejo (Class of 1988) and currently serve on the Carden Conejo Parents Association Board. As you can see, I believe in Carden. I wouldnt have returned to the Conejo Valley, enrolled my children here or volunteered my time if I didnt know the value of this school. Carden Conejo provides a traditional education, including teaching cursive, manners and morals and offers subject specific teachers in math, science, art and art appreciation, music, daily physical education, literature, computers, French and Spanish. The students are held to high ethical standards and community service projects support local nonprofit organizations. In the last two years, the Carden Conejo Parents Association (CCPA) have raised and donated about $225,000 to improve the school. This includes new playground equipment installed in April, as well as the new Charles V. Bush library completed in February. The school district staff was well aware of these investments in the property. Why would a school make this type of capital investment if it were not committed to staying at the Triunfo site long-term? Never once did staff disclose that the site was being considered for a different use. This is not an easy decision for the CVUSD Board. However, there are alternatives that avoid displacing more than 800 students. Carden Conejo has been a model tenant for 33 years, produces students that exceed educational and community standards and has dedicated the last two years to improving the campus via $225,000 of private funds with the knowledge of district staff who never disclosed the potential loss of lease. Lisa Barry-Gofberg, Thousand Oaks Vietnams digital economy has seen significant growth over the last decade and is expected to be valued at US$57 billion by 2025. The countrys digital... Christian Mombaur, senior vice president of BASF Construction Chemicals Asia Pacific How do you assess the potential for BASFs growth in Vietnams construction market? If I look at the market from BASF Construction Chemicals Asia Pacifics point of view, its one of the fastest growing markets weve ever had. For several years now, Vietnam has had rather stable growth rates. According to the public data, we currently have a 6-6.5 GDP rate in Vietnam, which is one of the highest of all countries across Asia. This is a very strong rate of development, and the construction sector one of the main contributors to Vietnams GDP is showing close to double-digit growth. So as we look at the development potential of Vietnam, we are quite confident about our future here. How can BASFs products benefit local customers? For customers in Vietnam, there are more and more questions about the sustainability of production, and one of these questions relates to faster construction. For instance, in Hanoi, a construction site can be particularly inconvenient as it is likely to cause obstructions on roads and produce a considerable amount of noise and dust, an experience which many are familiar with. However, our chemical products help to speed up the construction processes, minimise the disruption caused, and also bring down the construction time, so the next step in the construction process can be started and finished sooner. With older technology, we had to wait for 2-3 days before the concrete had dried sufficiently. With our technology we can reduce overall construction times by up to 30 per cent. I think thats the kind of innovation that we can bring to the Vietnamese market, which really helps to accelerate projects and bring total costs down, especially as each day in the construction process costs a considerable sum. Does your second production plant for concrete admixtures, inaugurated in the northern province of Bac Giang last month (together with the one in the southern province of Binh Duong), indicate your long-term business commitments in Vietnam? Absolutely, yes. We started with our first representative office here in Vietnam in 1994. However, we did not begin in construction; we were primarily focused on the importing of different types of chemicals from other countries into Vietnam. We then acquired a construction business and the production site was BASFs first manufacturing plant in Vietnam. We have recently opened our second production site here in the northern region. So yes, our commitment to the local construction market is clear. We see Vietnam as a growing market; we also see it as a market that makes good political decisions, evident in the recently signed TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), which will help to open the market even more. And I think with the TPP and also with the FTA (free trade agreement) successfully signed with Europe that we, as a European-based company, would have greater access to the local market. You will see a second production wave coming from Europe to Vietnam, because it will be easier to export and import, and you will see a rise in high-quality production coming from Vietnam. Its not just an issue of lower labour costs, its also about market insight, as well as the ease of doing business in Vietnam. This is why we are absolutely committed to the local market and we see great potential for growing our business in Vietnam. How important is Vietnam in your business map, relative to other countries in the region? BASF has a very strong footprint in China and its also our largest production setup, with a lot of production sites and joint ventures. However, weve never stopped looking for opportunities outside of China. At present, China is still growing, but growing at a relatively slower pace with numerous challenges remaining in its market. What that means for us is that we cannot concentrate on the Chinese market alone. Many ASEAN members fall into our sub-region, and within the ASEAN bloc Vietnam is considered the fastest-growing country and the one with the most stable development. In terms of the construction market, Vietnam is the fastest-growing territory that were currently doing business with. For BASF as a whole, Id say it [Vietnam] is our top prospect when we discuss markets in which to expand our portfolio. What do you see as the future of BASF in Vietnam, from an investment point of view? We have just received the second investment for our construction chemicals arm; with many more products to benefit the local market, we are quite committed to ensuring that this is not our last investment. Other areas like grouting or B2C (business-to-consumer) are also big opportunities to invest in Vietnam, as soon as the business picks up speed. I think that it also depends on the development of the TPP and other FTAs, because what we need is demand in the consumer area. The opportunities and potential for growth that the TPP and other FTAs will bring to Vietnam are also spurring us on to consider further development and investment in the Vietnamese market. We will continue introducing new innovations and products to the market to support the steady growth of Vietnam over the next few years. According to the Vietnam Cashew Association and the General Department of Customs, 2015 is the 10th consecutive year that Vietnam holds a leading position in exporting cashew. With an export turnover of more than $2.4 billion, signifying an increase of 8.7 per cent in volume and 20 per cent in value over the previous year, last year marked the nuts highest achievement to date. Cashew is one of Vietnams major agricultural exports and holds more than 50 per cent of the global cashew market share. International traders find it impossible not to mention Vietnam when it comes to cashew. Visiting Phu Rieng of the southern province of Binh Phuoc, the land of basalt known as the cradle of the cashew industry in Vietnam, Nguyen Van Huu, a farmer who has been inseparable from cashew trees for over 10 years, cheerfully said that his net profit from cashew was over VND300 million ($14,500) in 2015. As observed, by mid-March 2016, fresh cashew nuts were traded at prices VND7,000 - 8,000 per kilogramme higher compared to the same period in 2015. Farmers play a big role in the development of cashew in Vietnam, but it is also important to note the exporting and processing enterprises who have managed to bring Vietnamese cashew to households all over the world. Long An Export Processing Joint Stock Company (Lafooco) provides a notable example. 30 years ago, the first cashew trees in Vietnam marked the establishment of Lafooco and its important mission to bring cashew nuts from Vietnam to the world. For the past three decades the company has been pioneering the exporting of cashew to markets, such as the US, Europe, China, Australia, and the Middle East. Lafooco is in the top ten cashew exporters in Vietnam with an export turnover of $40 million, accounting for 2.5 per cent of the domestic market. The company is also amongst the top five largest cashew processing companies in the country, with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes a year. The company currently owns two purchasing and processing stations with a total area of 13.8 hectares. Consumers changing habits and the demand for ever-higher quality all over the world have forced enterprises to "innovate", and Lafooco is no exception. In previous years, Lafooco mainly focused on exporting raw cashew nuts to international roasting companies. Trusted for its product quality and stability over many years, punctual international delivery service, prioritising its brands prestige and customers benefit, the company has now made its first steps into value-added production. Departing from simply producing raw cashew nuts, Lafooco has now its own line of processed items, packed with unique brand images, and has expanded its product portfolio with nuts and snack items made from high value seeds, such as almonds and macadamia. As one of the leading companies in exporting to markets with high quality requirements, Lafooco has noticed the inevitable need for sustainability, maximising product value, and getting further involved in the extensive global supply chain. It is Lafoocos goal to become a leading international brand building on credibility with its customers and partners. As a strategic step to strengthen its capabilities and standardise professional management procedures, in 2015, Lafooco officially became a subsidiary of PAN Food, yielding 80.5 per cent of its stakes in exchange for support from major financial institutions, such as IFC, the investment fund of the government of Singapore, Mutual Elite Fund, and NDH Invest. Along with development strategies, Lafooco has started to show positive changes in terms of management and easier access to capital resources to cater for its long-term goals. Regarding its branding strategy, Lafooco has recently re-positioned itself to lay heavier emphasis on the companys motto: "cashew processing with a whole-hearted approach." In 2016, Lafocoos new brand identity centers around the theme of basaltic soil where cashew trees blossom and produce quality products. The letter A in Lafooco was positioned higher to demonstrate grade-A quality of all products, top quality services, food safety, and professional manner. The letter O with a heart icon is an allusion to the companys motto, ensuring customers that Lafooco does not only care about profit but also cares for the farmers and workers working in the cashew industry. Lafooco is one of the few companies in the Vietnamese cashew industry that stands committed to social responsibility from business philosophy to daily activities, and as a result, was granted the Fair Trade certification along with many other valuable certificates, such as BRC Food Certificate Type A - Certificate of Global Food Safety by the British Retail Consortium. These certificates provide Lafooco and the domestic cashew industry with more advantages and options in the process of dealing with global customers, as well as accessing a larger market. The increased presence of foreign retailers has been putting the squeeze on local rivals Photo: Le Toan At the end of April, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc asked relevant state agencies to investigate foreign retailers merger and acquisition activities. The move came after the PM received a proposal from the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Business Associations (HUBA). Immediately following the prime ministers request, the Ministry of Industry and Trades Vietnam Competition Authority (VCA) began looking into the acquisition of Metro Cash & Carry Ltd., which was recently renamed as MM Mega VN Ltd. after being taken over by the Thai giant Berli Jucker. Notably, the VCA also required MM Mega VN to report on the combined market share of all parties participating in the deal during the 2013-2014 period. Market share data will allow the government to investigate possible anti-competitive practices, such as the takeover of huge portions of the market by companies in a dominant market position, which would go against Vietnamese legislation on fair competition. According to the prevailing Law on Competition from 2004, an enterprise is deemed to be in a dominant market position if it has a market share of 30 per cent or more in the relevant market. The reports must be submitted by MM Mega VN no later than May 30. Stronger actions are likely to be taken based on HUBAs proposal. The PM gave the nod for the Government Inspectorate to investigate alleged violations by foreign retailers and by local authorities in licensing their operations. In large retail chains such as Lotte, Big C, Circle K, and Metro Cash & Carry, goods like rice, cane or beet sugar, cigarettes and cigars, and crude and processed oil are widely sold without any government supervision, stated HUBA chairman Huynh Van Minh. In fact, under Circular 34/2013/TT-BCT dated December 24, 2013, foreign-invested enterprises are not permitted to distribute these types of goods. HUBA also pointed out that domestic suppliers and customers are being harmed by the rapid expansion of foreign players in the field. Unlike local supermarkets, it is not easy for local producers to become suppliers for foreign retailers, due mainly to the high discount rates required, the association reported. The effectiveness of government campaigns, such as the Vietnamese use Vietnamese Goods or the Price stabilisation campaign, is limited for foreign retail companies. Opening up the retail market was one of Vietnams commitments in order to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007. Since 2009, 100 per cent foreign-owned firms have been allowed to operate in the market. The Economic Needs Test (ENT) a protective tool to assesses the necessity for retailers to open new outlets has also failed to prevent foreign players from expanding their network. Local authorities wanted to attract foreign investments and interpreted the ENT at their discretion, leading to the inappropriate licensing of outlets, president of Hanoi Supermarket Association Vu Vinh Phu told VIR. HUBA estimates that over 50 per cent of the local retail market has been acquired by foreign firms, and is urging authorities to cease business licensing for new outlets of foreign retailers until revised policies are introduced. Rodrigo Duterte secured a landslide presidential victory in the Philippines built on foul-mouthed populist tirades. (Photo: AFP/Noel Celis) MANILA: The election of Rodrigo Duterte as Philippine president marks the latest victory for populist politics, as voters around the world reward candidates offering simple solutions to complex problems. In a country beset by crime, poverty and corruption, Duterte promised voters a raft of quick fixes that many analysts believe will remain empty promises. One of his main campaign pledges was to completely eradicate crime within six months. Foul-mouthed tirades have only added to the appeal of his plug-and-play solutions for a broken economy and a bankrupt society, echoing in some ways the simplistic sloganeering of presidential hopeful Donald Trump in the United States. In Europe, iconoclast politicians revel in anti-immigrant rhetoric, capitalising on voters' disquiet over rising unemployment and an elite they think is out of touch. "People want some kind of change. They want to break from the past. They are exasperated, aggravated," said Earl Parreno of the Manila-based Institute for Political and Economic Reform. "They want someone like Duterte who promises everything will be solved in three to six months." Duterte's victory over establishment candidate Mar Roxas was founded on simplistic brutality. The 71-year-old vowed he would end crime by ordering security forces to kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals, then pardon himself if he was found guilty of mass murder. Despite six years of stable economic growth under President Benigno Aquino, one in four Filipinos still lives on less than US$1.30 a day and a devastating rich-poor divide has worsened. "People want change. They are happy to take risks to get this change," said Parreno. "Whether the change is better or worse, that's not the issue. They want a new platform, even if they don't know what is next." COLOURFUL Even in a country that has a track record of controversial presidents - dictators and movie stars jostle in the pages of recent history books - Duterte's hustings have been colourful affairs. Supporters have delighted in their candidate's willingness to shoot from the hip, like when he called the pope a "son of a whore" and made jokes about raping an Australian missionary. His coarse ascent mirrors that of Trump, the presumptive presidential candidate for the Republican Party. The real estate mogul has similarly shown willingness to offend, luxuriating in name-calling at rallies that have at times teetered on the hysterical. Trump - who, like Duterte, has drawn comparisons with Adolf Hitler - is regularly accused of demagoguery, the populism-plus-one of a politician who plays to the baying mob. Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has shaken up US politics with his controversial campaign (Photo: AFP/Scott Olson) "Demagogues do not reassure the electorate with a rational assessment of risk as mainstream politicians tend to do," says Richard Ashby Wilson, professor of anthropology and law at the University of Connecticut. "Instead, they play up existing threats, embrace a narrative of victimhood and sow despair," he wrote on theconversation.com earlier this year. While Duterte has focused on criminals, Trump has trained his fire on Muslims and Mexicans. He has threatened to build a wall along the southern US border to keep out immigrants - Mexicans are "rapists" in Trump's world - and says he will ban all non-American Muslims entering the United States in his bid to combat the perceived threat of terrorism. This scapegoating of minorities finds a less extreme form in Europe, a continent staggering under the weight of its worst migrant crisis since World War II. Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Marine Le Pen in France and Nigel Farage in Britain have all enjoyed electoral success to one degree or another, espousing anti-immigrant nationalisms that until a few years ago seemed consigned to Europe's past. COOKIE-CUTTER POLITICIANS For Francisco Magno, president of the Philippine Political Science Association, the intolerance of modern day populists is magnified by social media. The short soundbites and use of imagery favoured on the medium "is used to emphasise some kind of purity. It makes things black and white: strong and weak, purity vs. inclusiveness," he told AFP in Manila. That also translates to the stump; Trump and Duterte make speeches filled with incomplete sentences and unfiltered thoughts that quickly segue from one topic to another, both claiming simply to be telling it like it is. Ian McAllister, a political scientist at the Australian National University, said this reflected voters' widespread disillusionment with cookie-cutter candidates. "We have increasingly seen over the last 10 to 15 years the rise of what are popularly known as anti-politician politicians - people who speak their mind," he said. While Duterte may have triumphed in Monday's poll, pundits expect Trump will come unstuck in November's US general election, losing to his Democratic Party rival Hillary Clinton. But even if he were to win, Trump, like Duterte, would likely be tamed by the political system he is fighting against, says Simon Tormey at the University of Sydney. "It's often like walking through treacle being in government. They get all the populist energy beaten out of them as they are trampled on by vested interests and the flood of political bureaucracy," he said. "There are no real examples anywhere of a populist politician making any radical change from within. Either their behaviour changes or they are booted out." After the auction, VAFI expects to acquire over $3 billion, which will be used to construct urban railway lines in Hanoi. The proposal was raised in the context of the Vietnamese governments increasing interest in divesting the entirety of its shares held in enterprises. Notably, in October, 2015, State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) unveiled plans to sell the entire state capital in ten big state-owned enterprises to fatten state coffers by almost $4 billion. According to VAFI, both Habeco and Sabeco have been equitised for eight years, however, both have been delaying getting listed on the stock markets. Besides, the two companies produce slow growth, despite their promising potential and prominent market share. According to the Vietnam Beer Alcohol Beverage Association (VBA)s statistics published in January, the beer products of Sabeco and Habeco are making up 60 per cent of the domestic market. Sabeco is the largest beer firm, having produced 1.38 billion litres in 2015, making up 46 per cent of the market. Habeco ranks third with 667.8 million litres, equalling a 17.3 per cent market share. In early 2015, Thai Beverage, owned by Thailands third richest man Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, made a $1 billion offer to buy a 40 per cent stake in Sabeco, however, the necessary government authorisation for the deal is yet to be issued. In 2008, Carlsberg became a strategic partner of Habeco after buying a 17.23 per cent stake. Carlsberg expressed its interest in buying a further 13 per cent, but the deal yet again hinges on the approval of the MoIT, which has been pending ever since. In the framework of the trading event organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), in collaboration with Korea Complex Research and Development Institute (Dae-gu Technopark) on May 10, seven of the eight visiting Korean enterprises operate in manufacturing cosmetics and food. It is the second time I have come to Vietnam to find material suppliers. On my first trip, I found a suitable Vietnamese partner in Ho Chi Minh City. I visited their facility and attended working sessions to discuss co-operation methods. The two parties are completing the remaining procedures to officially sign a contract and expect to make a trade deal worth between $2 and $3 million per year, said Kim Jong Woo, CEO of SLC Co., Ltd., a cosmetics manufacturing and trading company. Kim Jong Woo said that the main criteria in choose suppliers were infrastructure and machinery. Notably, Vietnamese enterprises have to own factories equipped with modern infrastructure and machinery, meeting strict quality requirements. In my opinion, Vietnam is a potential market for Korean enterprises, especially cosmetics manufacturers due to the increasing demands for beauty care amongst Vietnamese people, while Korea is famous for its beauty industry. In addition, the VKFTA, through the provision of ample tax incentives, is an important opportunity helping Korean enterprises to penetrate the Vietnamese market, Woo added. According to a representative of Vision International Company, in recent times, both Thailand and Japan hastened efforts to set foot on the Vietnamese market, saturating the market with foreign products. However, SLC will differentiate itself by supplying biological products with natural origins. Along with Korean enterprises expectations, Vietnamese distributors are also looking forward to distributing Korean products in the country. Director of Van Thinh Phu Company Limited Dao Thanh Luu stated, Having been a food importer and distributor for eight years, we find that the consumption of Korean food on the Vietnamese market is fast increasing. Korean food is a good match for the Vietnamese palate. Furthermore, due to the Korean waves influence, exerted by films, cuisine, music, and culture, Vietnamese people, especially the young, give priority to Korean products. Korean food is expensive but it can compete with local products, even Thai and Japanese brands, due to the attractive packaging and high quality, Luu added. Government incentives and policy reform are required to spark investor interest in Vietnams renewable energy sector Chairman of the Vietnam Energy Association Tran Viet Ngai told VIR that if the government failed to change its energy policy and enact suitable measures to develop the sector, its ambitions for renewable energy development would be out of reach. Under the countrys latest revised power master plan, released two months ago, Vietnams total wind power capacity would increase from the current 140 megawatts to 800MW by 2020, 2,000MW by 2025, and 6,000MW by 2030. A major obstacle for investors in building wind power plants is the low selling price of electricity. Under Decision No.37/2011/QD-TTg released in 2011, the price of power generated by wind was fixed at 7.8 US cents per kWh. However, private investors claim that this figure is too low to make wind power projects commercially viable. As a result, during the five years since Decision 37 came into force, only three wind power projects have been connected to the national grid including Binh Thuan 1 and Bac Lieu phase 1. The investors behind these two projects have been persistent in their petition for price hikes, while about 40 other investors are holding back on projects and waiting for a change in the government policy. For instance, the south-central province of Ninh Thuan has 12 wind power projects in its master plan, but all of them are behind schedule. These projects include the Phuoc Nam Enfinity renewable power project funded by Belgian company Enfinity, the Mui Dinh wind power project, South Korean LandVille Energys wind power project, and Malaysian wind power company Timurs project. According to the US Trade and Development Agency, many US firms are seeking to expand investments in the energy sector in Vietnam. However, a lack of supporting policies, difficult capital mobilisation, and unattractive electricity prices for green energy are major concerns. Vice Chairman of the Ninh Thuan Peoples Committee Pham Van Hau told VIR that the province would thoroughly review delayed wind power projects, and draft incentives such as land rent and site clearance policies to create the best conditions for investors to implement their projects. A recent Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) report cited an international consultant as saying that the price for renewable electricity should be 10.2 12 US cents per kWh. The international consultant said the tariff should be 10.2 12 US cents for the country to achieve 1,000MW of wind power by 2020, as outlined in the previous power master plan.. The current 7.8 cents per kWh (for a 20-year purchase contract) is not reasonable and does not encourage wind power projects in Vietnam. Solar power projects are in the same boat. Over the past few years, several foreign and local investors have proposed building solar energy projects in Vietnam, but a number of projects have failed to be realised due to a lack of support mechanisms. Thus far, only domestic private Thien Tan Groups solar power plant in the south-central province of Quang Ngai has begun construction. The feed-in-tariff (TIF) for renewable power generated from solar plants has not yet been released. To date, there is no mechanism to support the development of solar power projects in Vietnam, although the country has created policies to support other types of renewable energy, such as wind and waste-to-power projects. Earlier this month Canadas CMX Renewable Power Group expressed a desire to invest in a $150-million solar power project on 250 hectares in Ninh Thuan. Other potential solar projects include a $55.8 million South Korean project in the southern city of Can Tho, and a $240-million project backed by a consortium between South Koreas Woojin and Kunhwa in the south-central province of Quang Nam. What do you think of the mid-term investment plan for 2016-2020, which is being penned by the Ministry of Planning and Investment? This is the first time a public investment plan is not made on an annual basis. Balancing capital sources will now be made every five years instead of annually, as was the case until now. The mid-term investment plan will enhance discipline in public investment management. It will radically change the planning and distribution of capital sources and boost capital efficiency, while tackling unfocused investments. The government has set a target of slashing the overspending rate to a mere 4 per cent of GDP by 2020 (from 6.11 per cent in 2015), while reducing public debts and increasing investment in social and economic infrastructure. Are these goals contradictory to each other under the mid-term investment plan? No. During the past five years, Vietnams total development investment capital surpassed VND5,617 trillion ($257.6 billion), equal to 31.7 per cent of GDP. A high proportion of state budget capital (32.4 per cent) led to a sharp jump in overspending and sovereign and government debts. Over the next five years, total investment capital is expected to hit VND9,813-VND10,697 trillion ($450-$490 billion), equal to 32-34 per cent of GDP. This represents an increase of 1.75-1.9 times over the previous five-year period. Of this huge sum, state capital will make up 21.7 per cent of the total, down considerably compared to 32.4 per cent in the previous period. This will help alleviate overspending and sovereign or government debts. Does this signify a lesser state role in investment activities, which will instead be handled by businesses from other economic sectors? Thats right. The state will only invest in realising national targets, and major projects and programmes of significance to the countrys social and economic development. Priorities will be placed on allocating capital to vital socio-economic and transport infrastructure projects. Businesses from assorted economic sectors will be encouraged to join other projects under diverse investment models, such as build-operate-transfer, build-transfer-operate, or public-private partnership. Accordingly, the Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation suggested that tourists travelling in groups from Vietnam, India and Iran could visit Russia without a visa in the time ahead. Nikolay Korolev, deputy head of the Federal Agency for Tourism emphasised that the implementation of inter-governmental agreements on visa exemption has proved effective in increasing and controlling the number of visitors to Russia. The TPP will entice US firms to relocate to Vietnam from other countries in the region-Photo: Le Toan Newly-elected Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last week met with a group of US investors led by William Weidner, chairman and chief executive officer of Global Gaming Asset Management, LLC and principal of Weidner Holdings Group. Weidner revealed that US investors wished to implement a wide range of projects in Vietnam, including the construction of a modern commercial centre in Ho Chi Minh City. He added that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would help Vietnam become a great magnet to global investment, especially from the US. PM Phuc stressed that he would ask Ho Chi Minh Citys Peoples Committee to create the best conditions for this modern commercial centre project so that it could be implemented according to schedule. The government will continue creating the necessary favourable conditions for investors in Vietnam including American ones via a more business-friendly climate. The US has had many successful projects in Vietnam, the prime minister added. Adam Sitkoff, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, told VIR that the US had a developed and diverse economy, with millions of businesses. Although some of these businesses are not seeking opportunities abroad, a very large number were already operating in Vietnam, with many more looking forward to a bright future here. The trend of US-Vietnam trade and investment continues to soar. We see the TPP as the next step and are hopeful that a better business environment in Vietnam will be a catalyst for many US companies to do business here, he said. According to the newly-released ASEAN Business Outlook Survey 2016 by the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and the US Chamber of Commerce, 84 per cent of respondents expect their profits to increase this year in Vietnam. The survey incorporates the responses of nearly 500 senior business executives representing US companies in all ten ASEAN markets. Eighty per cent are planning to expand their business and production here. Additionally, 61 per cent said that the TPP would positively impact their future investment plans in ASEAN. Recently, DASAN Network, a South Korean network provider for global telecommunications, and Zhone Technologies, a global US leader in fibre access transformation for service providers and enterprise networks, agreed on a merger and acquisition deal for global expansion. This M&A deal, which is expected to be finalised this summer, following the TPP, should help Vietnamese telecom providers avoid security threats, DASAN Networks chairman Min Nam Woo told VIR. We are planning to double our research and development (R&D) headcounts in Vietnam this year to serve our clients worldwide. DASAN already has an R&D lab in Vietnam. Seshasaye Kanthamraju, head of corporate communications for Walt Disney in Vietnam, told VIR that his firm begun operations in Vietnam in March this year, with one local employee based out of Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, Walt Disney is looking for a studio marketing executive responsible for planning and executing movie marketing activities in Vietnam. At present, almost all key sectors in Vietnam are home to major US investors, such as Exxon Mobil (in oil and gas) Boeing and ADC HAS Airport (in aviation), Microsoft, Intel, Apple, HP (in IT); General Electric, General Atlantis, and AES (in electricity and equipment). It is important to understand that US tax laws and business considerations compared to the relatively small size of the Vietnamese domestic market, encourages many US companies to invest in Vietnam from regional headquarters, most commonly Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as to some degree from other third-party countries, Sitkoff said. Previously, during an unannounced inspection, the local authorities detected that the company discharged 8,000 cubic metres of untreated wastewater volume a day, double of its wastewater treatment systems maximum capacity. The daily life of residents living near the factory was affected by environmental pollution caused by the company. Thus, the local authorities requested the company to suspend the operation of its dyeing workshop within three months. In addition, the company was ordered to take the appropriate measures to mitigate the environmental damages caused to the flora and fauna of Da Den Lake, and simultaneously upgrade its wastewater treatment system. It is the seventh time the company was fined by the local authorities. Previously, the company pledged not to relapse into violations but has apparently put little weight on its own word. Started operation in April 2008, the company was found to be dumping untreated waste into the environment, contaminating nearby Da Den Lake after the company came into operation three months only. Local media reported that in July 2010 the firms illegally installed wastewater conducting system cracked, spilling wastewater and poisoning the environment. In September 2010, it was hit with fines totalling VND335 million ($16,100) and was forced by local authorities to rebuild its wastewater treatment system. A snapshot of foreign direct investment in Vietnam Nguyen Mai In the first three years (1988-1990) after the Law on Foreign Investment in Vietnam was adopted by the National Assembly in December 1987, Vietnam welcomed its first foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, most of which were miniscule in size. By 1998, a number of trans-national companies (TNCs) had made their presence in the country. The first pioneers included British group BP, Frances Total, Australias BHP, and the Netherlands Shell in oil and gas exploration and extraction; Japans Honda and Toyota, US-based Ford and Germanys Mercedes-Benz in automobile and motorbike manufacturing; Australia and New Zealands ANZ, US Citibank and Japans Tokyo-Mitsubishi in banking; and Japans Dai-ichi and UKs Prudential in the insurance field. From 1999-2004, FDI flow into Vietnam remained flat in the wake of a regional economic downturn. The disbursed capital averaged $2 billion every year, and foreign-backed projects were mainly small. Projects from TNCs were mostly absent during this period. In 2006, with the licensing of the US tech giant Intels $1.2 billion chipset manufacturing facility, TNCs revitalised operations in Vietnam. In the wake of Intels investment, a number of global tech giants followed, including Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft, and LG. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), rising FDI played a major part in the countrys positive socio-economic situation in this years first quarter. As of April 20, 2016, Vietnam attracted 697 new FDI projects valued at $5.08 billion, a 55.6 per cent jump in the number of projects, and an 89.9 per cent jump in capital on year. Additionally, 314 projects sought $1.8 billion in supplemental capital in the same period. This brought total FDI volumes in the first four months of 2016 to nearly $6.88 billion, up 85 per cent on year. Added to this positive trend, disbursed FDI volumes in the first four months of this year were estimated at $4.7 billion, an on-year increase of 12 per cent. Vietnam is poised to attract sizeable investments from multinationals if it can offer appropriate investor support TNCs boosting investment Samsung Electronics Vietnam (SEV), a subsidiary of South Korean tech giant Samsung Group, is working around the clock to start commercial operation of its $2-billion Samsung Electronics Ho Chi Minh City CE complex (SEHC) by the middle of this year. The new factory adds to SEVs hi-tech manufacturing facilities in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen. The two plants are worth more than $10 billion, provide jobs for over 120,000 labourers, and contributed 20 per cent of Vietnams total export value last year ($32.8 billion). The new complex will produce household electronics items such as TVs, air conditioners, and washing machines for sale in Vietnam and for export. Samsung also got the green light from the Hanoi Peoples Committee to build a $300-million research and development (R&D) centre in the capital citys Hoang Mai district. Once completed, Samsung will move 1,600 software engineers currently working at Samsung Vietnam Mobile R&D Centre in the My Dinh area of Hanoi. The number of employees at the Hoang Mai R&D centre is expected to reach 4,000 in the near future. Another tech giant, LG Display last week broke ground on its new $1.5 billion hi-tech screen (OLED) production project in the northeastern city of Haiphongs Trang Due industrial park. This project complements LG Electronics $1.5-billion electronics manufacturing complex well operating in the same industrial park. In another case, at a recent meeting with Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary Dinh La Thang, CEO of Lotte Asset Management Kim Chang Kwon said that in the next five years, Lotte aimed to reach the same level of investment in Vietnam as Samsung (nearly $15 billion). South Korean retail giant Lotte has been operating in Vietnam for more than 15 years and has poured about $3 billion worth of investments into Ho Chi Minh City so far. On April 12, 2016, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba announced a $1 billion investment in Lazada, a leading Southeast Asian e-commerce platform headquartered in Singapore. Alibaba will spend $500 million buying newly issued Lazada shares. The remaining shares will be bought from current shareholders. The deal will allow Alibaba to step into Vietnams e-commerce market. Vietnams increasing appeal for TNCs is hardly surprising. According to the 2014 world investment report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which is based on survey results from 164 TNCs, Vietnam ranked ninth in investment attraction, moving up two notches compared to 2013. In the second quarter of 2014, survey results from 200 TNCs (all customers of US consulting firm Frontier Strategy Group) revealed that Vietnam was one of three countries in new emerging markets to which TNCs based in Europe and America would pay very close attention in the near future. TNCs investments in the Vietnamese IT sector and the construction of R&D centres in Vietnam show the countrys improved efficiency in attracting foreign capital. This is a positive sign, as Vietnam has recently joined the group of lower-medium income countries, and is looking to reach higher growth targets. The most valuable asset driving the country into the future, therefore, continues to be the intellect and creativity of the Vietnamese people. Vietnam still needs to capitalise on its relatively abundant and low-cost human resources. How to attract TNCs? TNCs play a controlling role in the global system of production, distribution, and the use of resources. Tens of thousands of new TNCs have appeared in the wake of growing participation of emerging economies on the world stage. When assessing TNCs, the authors of the book Globalisation Transformation, Development and Multilateral Approach (World Publishing House, 2005) wrote that Beyond the limits of space and time, TNCs handle new functions, like acting as complex global currents or human-integrated networks of currency, information, raw materials, and product processes. With the aforementioned positive signs, plus the fact that Vietnam is currently ratifying and implementing a raft of new agreements on trade and investment, the country is increasingly appealing to foreign investors, particularly leading global firms. In a recent talk with local media, managing partner of US market research firm McKinsey & Company Vietnam Marco Breu commented that a large number of US investors had shown an interest in investing in Vietnam. They were, however, facing strong competition from Japanese and South Korean peers who had a competitive edge in terms of geographic proximity and cultural similarities. Notwithstanding, US investors keenness on Vietnam is undeniable, he stressed. These new opportunities spell the need for more rapid and drastic reforms, from both the regulatory system to state management apparatus. Paradoxically, although the central city of Danang continues to lead the country in provincial competitiveness index (PCI), it has yet to attract any big FDI projects. This seeming paradox indicates that without proper measures, showy indices like the PCI may conceal the real situation, as it does in a city that was once touted as the most livable city in Vietnam. To attract FDI from TNCs, it is also necessary to find innovative methods in investment promotion, the appraisal and licensing process, project execution, and investor support. The success stories of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen provinces are vivid examples. The leadership in these localities has worked very hard to fulfil their commitments to investors such as Samsung, Microsoft, and Canon. Vietnams socio-economic development targets for the next five years will require the country to speed up its current economic restructuring based on a green, sustainable, and effective growth model. Therefore, aside from creating an investment and business environment that is conducive to growth, we must continue improving the quality and efficiency of foreign direct capital flows, particularly those from TNCs. A simulation of the moment a suicide bomber detonates an explosive inside a shopping centre in Manchester, north west England on May 10, 2016. (Photo: AFP/POOL/Sean Hansford/MEN) LONDON: British police apologised on Tuesday (May 10) after officers shouted the Arabic phrase "Allahu akbar!" during a terror training exercise in a shopping centre in northern England. In video footage of the exercise broadcast on British television, a masked man dressed in black could be seen running into the complex in Manchester shouting the words before setting off a bomb and falling to the floor. "On reflection, we acknowledge that it was unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicide bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam," said Garry Shewan, a senior officer at Greater Manchester Police. In a statement, Shewan said the scenario had been based on "a suicide attack by an extremist Daesh-style organisation" - Daesh being an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group - but added: "We recognise and apologise for the offence that this has caused." The phrase is Arabic for "God is greatest." Tony Lloyd, mayor of Greater Manchester, said using the phrase was "ill-judged, unnecessary and unacceptable". "It didn't add anything to the event, but has the potential to undermine the great community relations we have in Greater Manchester," he said. The role play exercise on the outskirts of Manchester involved 800 people, including actors made up to resemble gunshot victims with horrific injuries. Police said there was no specific threat in Manchester and that the exercise was devised in December a month after the Paris attacks which killed 130 people and were claimed by Islamic State militants. Britain's terror threat level remains at severe, which means the security services consider an attack to be "highly likely". Residents from 33 households in Long Son Commune, Vung Tau City, filed the complaint on Monday against the factories whose discharge caused the mass deaths of their fish last year, with the help of representatives from many local law associations. Farm-raised fish from the Cha Va River repeatedly died en masse in September, resulting in many fish farmers going bankrupt, with the businesses responsible denying accountability and hesitating over compensation claims. The case has therefore been presented to the municipal Peoples Court so that victims can seek justice, with the assistance of the local authorities. We believe that we will win this case, based on all the collected evidence and legal grounds. Justice will definitely be served, Nguyen Van An, one of the local fish farmers, asserted. The fish started dying on September 6, after which the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Peoples Committee ordered authorities to investigate the cause. Under the direction of the committee, the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment, in coordination with the Institute for Environment and Resources under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City, carried out several surveys and inspections to gather evidence. Analysis of the collected samples indicated that the fish were killed primarily by wastewater discharged into the river by local companies, while authorities in the agriculture sector calculated the financial impact on the affected fish farmers. Local residents prepare paperwork before presenting the case to the provincial Peoples Court on May 9, 2016. Photo: Tuoi Tre Following the announcement of the results, a working session between Nguyen Thanh Tinh, vice chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, and representatives from the 14 businesses was held to work out a way to compensate local residents for the damage. However, the participants could not agree on the result of the environmental examination, stating that their wastewater had been thoroughly treated before being released. The businessmen also asserted that any potential money they would have to pay should be considered financial support and not compensation. According to Vice Chairman Tinh, as the businesses would not cooperate, local authorities began assisting the victims in preparing the necessary documents to present the case to court. In a brief interview with Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, Hoang Long Ha, vice president of the Ba Ria-Vung Tau Bar Association, believed that the scientific evidence was sufficient to prove the 14 companies guilty. Under Article 624 of the Civil Code, the businesses should pay for the loss brought about by the mass fish deaths they caused, according to Truong Thi Thanh Thuy, a member of the association. Le Minh Thong, president of the farmers union in Long Son Commune, is also confident that justice would prevail on the side of the fish farmers. Kidnapped son of Pakistani leader is rescued by US and Afghan forces remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. IoT Evolution is the leading event for education on the technologies, solutions and impact that the IoT will have on the ente Lebanon City residents and officials expressed concerns on Monday night that an apartment building proposed to replace Roys Auto Service downtown is too large and has too little parking. The Lebanon Housing Authority hopes to build a four-story apartment building on a quarter-acre lot at the corner of North Park and Campbell streets. The building would house about 30 apartments, an administrative office and commercial space on the ground floor, and is intended to boost the amount of affordable housing in the region, according to the authoritys proposal. But some residents expressed disappointment about the proposal of an apartment building taking the place of a single-story auto repair shop. They also were concerned about the lack of parking options included in the proposal. This is a location that is subject to all sorts of parking problems, board member Kenneth Morley said. When theres a performance at the nearby Lebanon Opera House or an event at Colburn Park, he said, finding a parking space within a half mile is nearly impossible. Don Perron, a Water Street resident, who once lived on Campbell Street, said anyone who finds parking during the day should buy a Megabucks ticket. Under the citys zoning ordinance, buildings in the Commercial Building District are not required to provide parking as part of the planning process because of the assumption parking is available in city-owned lots. The Planning Board, however, can require a developer to create spaces when it finds them necessary. Others on Monday supported the idea of workforce housing and increased development downtown, but saw North Park Street as the wrong location. Board member Carl Porter showed postcards of the former Garrish mansion, which once stood on the lot. The three-story Victorian took up much less of the site than the housing authoritys planned building, he said. Were going to turn the Soldiers Memorial Building into Stuart Littles house, he said about the projects imposing nature. Ditha Alonso, the authoritys executive director, said shes heard similar concerns in the past. Thats why the plan calls for a 50-foot setback from the Soldiers Memorial with a covered terrace in between, she said. Its in the pre-development phase, she said, adding the authority is hoping feedback can improve the project going forward. City councilors Karen Liot Hill and Erling Heistad both asked the board to keep the larger downtown core in mind when thinking of the project. Weve had a lot of soul searching in town which the planning department has spearheaded with downtown visioning, Heistad said. Reading through the responses from that effort, he said, many see Spencer Street as a better place for future residential units. Planning Board members also questioned why they were reviewing the proposal now, since the Heritage Commission has not yet met on the project and has more power to make changes within the citys historic district. I really feel the Planning Office put the cart before the horse, Porter said. This whole thing could change in the course of 30 days, he said, and the board would be back at square one. City Planning Director David Brooks said the housing authority has the right to propose the project to multiple boards, and it accepts the risk that the clock could run down on the boards 65-day review process. Ultimately, the board decided to continue its hearing on the project to June 13, so the housing authority will have two meetings with the Heritage Commission before coming back. The commission will begin its review at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at City Hall. Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223. Despite making up more than half the population, Cambodian women are under-represented in the countrys decision-making process, according to the organizers of a new campaign aimed at increasing female political participation. Ahead of local elections in 2017 and the next general election in 2018, DW Akademie, Banteay Srei and WMC have teamed up for a project called Women into politics! Greater participation in Cambodia. The scheme seeks ways to support women, especially young women and first-time voters, to more actively participate in the political process. Funded by the European Union, the three-year project will operate in Phnom Penh, Kampong Thom, Battambang and Siem Reap. Ing Kantha Phavi, womens affairs minister, said there had been a positive trend towards greater participation of women in recent years, from 14.6% to 17.8% of women becoming politically active. The women need their voices to be heard. So far womens issues were not often raised as men do not deal with the same problems as women. Women have their own ways to lead their lives. Men and women are equal, Kantha Phavi said. She added that as well as more women leaders Cambodia also needed to strengthen the quality of female candidates for leadership. Thida Khus, executive director of womens development NGO Silaka, said there were plenty of capable women already in the country. The problem, she said, was access. If women take an equal part in policy making, they can communicate womens needs. Women tend to pay more attention to social affairs and well-being, Khus said. Without women, policy makers are more likely to spend social budgets according to a mans priorities, for example. Also, we need more women in politics to be role models for younger women. Court officials are considering further legal action against Kem Sokha after the Cambodia National Rescue Party deputy president chose not to heed a court summons on Wednesday to appear for questioning. Keo Socheat, Phnom Penh Municipal Court deputy prosecutor, declined to comment on the specifics of the legal action the court may pursue. I must respect my professionalism, he said, referring questions to a court spokesman who said he could not comment until Socheat had made a decision. Lawmakers from the CNRP said scandal-hit Sokha was protected from legal proceedings by his parliamentary immunity. Son Chhay, a senior CNRP lawmaker, said there was no legal procedure under which the police can arrest a lawmaker with parliamentary immunity if he fails to appear in court for questioning by a prosecutor. Sok Sam Oeun, a prominent human rights lawyer, agreed. However, he warned that the law was open for interpretation. Now even parliamentary immunity is useless. As we have seen, Um Sam An, a lawmaker with parliamentary immunity, is in prison, he said, referring to an opposition MP charged with incitement in April over his outspoken criticism of the governments border policy. In an attempt to strike back Justice Minister Ang Vong Vathana was summoned to appear in parliament over allegations of improper management of the countrys judicial procedures. Vong Vathana will also face questions over the Anti-Corruption Units pursuit of Kem Sokha and the arrest of four rights workers and an election official earlier this month on bribery charges. There will be questions related to the power of the prosecutor to summon lawmakers for questioning, Chhay said. A date for Vong Vathanas appearance at the National Assembly has yet to be announced. Each party has a different interpretation of the law when it comes to immunity, with the CNRP arguing that the court can only act after three quarters of the countrys 123 MPs vote to suspend a persons immunity. The ruling Cambodian Peoples Party, however, has in the past proceeded to remove opposition lawmakers immunity despite the opposition boycotting the vote, and argues that three quarters of parliament must vote in favor of the lawmaker for them to retain their immunity, meaning that opposition MPs would need the support of ruling party members. Lawyer Sam Oeun admitted that he found the legal interpretations confusing. But to my understanding, a lawmakers immunity protects him or her from any judicial prosecutions, arrest, detention and charges, he said. Two other CNRP lawmakers, Tok Vanchan and Pin Ratana, were also summoned to court, on May 16. Nearly 150 people, including 11 children under the age of six, have died in military detention in Nigerias northeast this year, according to a new report from Amnesty International. Amnesty said the children, including four babies, were among 149 reported deaths of prisoners held at Giwa barracks, a notorious detention facility in the city of Maiduguri that rights groups have criticized in the past. The barracks is used to imprison suspected members of Boko Haram, whose nearly eight-year insurgency has killed an estimated 20,000 people in the northeast. The detention facilities in Giwa barracks must be immediately closed and all detainees released or transferred to civilian authorities, Netsanet Belay, Amnestys research and advocacy director for Africa, said in a statement. The government must urgently introduce systems to ensure the safety and well-being of children released from detention. Nigeria disputes findings Nigerias military disputes Amnestys findings. Military spokesman Rabe Abubakar said they had given Amnesty employees access to Giwa barracks and other facilities in the northeast last year and made changes the group had suggested. We improved our facilities. We improved feeding. We improved our welfare for these detainees, Abubakar said. We cannot in any way accept this kind of report and we will reject it in totality. He declined to say if the military had recorded any deaths of prisoners at its facilities in the northeast this year. Mass arrests, detentions without trials Amnestys report, released Wednesday, said Giwa currently houses about 1,200 people, most of whom were rounded up in mass arrests and are being held without trial. One hundred and twenty of the detainees are children. Boko Haram has in the past accused the military of detaining relatives of suspected militants, citing that as a justification for its mass kidnapping of women and girls. Prisoners in the facility have died from starvation, disease and the after-effects of gunshot wounds, the report said. It said diarrhea and measles are rife in the cells. Last year, Amnesty International reported that the Nigerian military rounded up and killed thousands of prisoners at detention facilities in the northeast, including Giwa barracks. President Muhammadu Buhari said he would investigate that reports findings. The results of that investigation have yet to be released. Bangladesh has executed a top Islamist leader for crimes committed during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Motiur Rahman Nizami, 73, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hanged early Wednesday inside Dhaka central jail. A tribunal set up to investigate atrocities committed during the nine-month war more than 40 years ago convicted Nizami in 2014 on eight counts, including mass murder and arson. He denied all charges against him. Bangladeshi authorities say Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 million people, raped 200,000 women and forced 10 million people to flee the country during the war in what was then known as East Pakistan, renamed Bangladesh after independence. Security was tight across the country as authorities braced for protests like the ones that broke out after previous executions. Nizami was the fifth senior official from opposition parties to be executed since 2013. Three other senior members of Jamaat-e-Islami and a top leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia also were hanged. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned the death sentence for Nizami. The human rights groups also raised questions about the trial standards, but the government rejected claims that the judicial procedures were flawed. The Democratic Republic of Congo's top court says President Joseph Kabila can stay in office beyond his mandate if the presidential election is delayed. Congo's Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday according to clause 70 of the constitution, the current president remains in office until a newly-elected president is installed. The decision comes amid rising political tension in Congo, where opposition parties have accused President Kabila of trying to hang onto power by delaying polls that are due this year. Kabila's term expires in December, and the 44-year-old president is constitutionally barred from running for a new term. Opposition parties quickly denounced the court's decision. Vital Kamerhe, leader of the Union for the Congolese Nation, called the ruling "a disguised constitutional amendment and a referendum that dare not speak its name." In an interview with VOA French to Africa, Kamerhe said he "calls on the Congolese people to mobilize" and said he believes that "the Constitutional Court signed his [Kabila's] death warrant." Kabila succeeded his assassinated father, Laurent, as president in January 2001, then won disputed elections in 2006 and 2011. In a phone call with Kabila in March, U.S. President Barack Obama called on the DRC to hold timely and credible elections that respect the country's constitution. Colombia's national police force has fired more than 1,400 officers over the past 80 days in a crackdown on corruption, the country's top law enforcement official said Wednesday. The 180,000-strong police force has let go of nearly 18 officers per day since General Jorge Hernando Nieto took over leadership of the organization in February, he told journalists. The dismissals are part of a "zero tolerance for corruption" plan, Nieto said, as the force seeks to improve its public image after recent scandals, including one connecting high-level officials to a prostitution ring. Almost 400 officers were removed from their posts because of corruption cases everything from participating drug trafficking to taking bribes. Others are under investigation for disciplinary issues, administrative failures or other reasons, Nieto said. Colombia's police are key players in the fight against the country's leftist rebel groups and violent crime gangs, founded by remnants of right-wing paramilitary groups. Tensions remain high in Jubek state's Mangala County, or what had been called Central Equatoria state, after an armed group attacked the area in South Sudan during a celebration of the new county government, leaving three soldiers and a woman dead. Authorities from Jubek state and Terkeka state offered different accounts of who was responsible for Saturday's attack. Mangala County Commissioner Elario Paul Pataki said four people were killed, seven others wounded, and more than 800 people displaced after an armed tribal group that opposes annexation of the area to Jubek state attacked Mangala. He said those who fled their homes needed help. "Up to now they are still living in fear. They think that if they return, maybe there will be another attack," the commissioner said. The old flags of Jemeza County and Terkeka state in Mangala County were being lowered when the armed youths launched their attack, according to Pataki. But Modi Lomindi, the information minister of Terkeka state, said the armed youths from Terkeka were acting in self-defense after they were attacked by government forces. Lomindi said authorities of Terkeka were not informed about plans to hoist new flags in the county. "What happened in Mangala was, first of all, uncalled for. And we, as the government of Terkeka state, we were not aware of the goings-on of the commissioner of Mangala County, Jubek state. The authorities, particularly local chiefs and the ministers and others, we were not all aware as brothers and sisters in two states." Lomindi said authorities of Jubek state deployed army officers past the boundaries of Mangala County into Terkeka state, which led to clashes between the youths and the army. Pataki said hundreds of women, children and older people who fled into the bush have nothing to eat. "The civilians have no food to eat; there is also no medication. There is need for food items, then medicines," he said. Talks continue Pataki said talks between the governors of Jubek and Terkeka states continue in an effort to calm tensions. Lomindi said Mangala is an area contested by the people of Terkeka and Jubek states. He said Terkeka state authorities demand that authorities of Jubek state lower all flags hoisted over the weekend in Mangala until the dispute is resolved. "There is already a formation of a committee that is going to investigate what exactly happened, and this is what the people of Terkeka state and the authorities are looking forward to to see to it that the committee goes down to the area and be able to find out the facts," Lomindi said. Last November, President Salva Kiir issued a decree splitting South Sudan's 10 states into 28, including the newly created states of Terkeka and Jubek. Lomindi called on elders and officials from the two communities to hold emergency meetings and resolve the matter. SPLA spokesman Brigadier Lull Ruai said it was a state issue. "We are leaving the matter to state authorities to handle it because it is at their jurisdiction," Ruai said It was not clear if an investigation was under way. When it comes to spying on North Korea, rival South Korea seems to be wrong almost as much as it's right. Seoul's intelligence agents get battered in the press and by lawmakers for their gaffes, including one regarding Ri Yong Gil, the former head of North Korea's military. Officials in Seoul's National Intelligence Service, the country's main spy agency, reportedly said Ri had been executed, but at this month's ruling-party congress, he was seen not only alive but also in possession of several new titles. While spying on perhaps the world's most cloistered, suspicious, difficult-to-read country is no easy task, repeated blunders raise questions about whether South Korea's multibillion-dollar spying apparatus is broken. Knowing what's happening in North Korea is crucial for the South, whose capital city, Seoul, is within easy striking range of thousands of North Korean missiles bristling along the world's most heavily armed border. But it's also important for the United States and Japan, who rely in part on South Korean spies for details about the North and its push for nuclear-armed missiles. There's no single answer for what's going wrong, but the mistakes have been linked to the closed nature of North Korea, the way information is verified and disseminated, and agents' alleged penchant for playing politics and for choosing face-saving over gathering solid information. Internal South Korean politics and the near-constant state of animosity between the Koreas also play a part. A decade of liberal government rule in Seoul that encouraged regular travel to the North by South Korean diplomats, government and business leaders, reporters, aid groups and others ended in early 2008. Those exchanges have crumbled under conservatives, who have ruled for nearly a decade and are deemed hostile by the North. This means that spies don't have the same high-quality information that was once gathered by South Koreans previously in constant contact with the North, according to Kim Kwang Jin, an opposition lawmaker from the National Assembly's intelligence committee, which regularly receives closed-door briefings from senior National Intelligence Service officials. The ruling conservatives blame liberals, who they say drastically downsized espionage operations that have been difficult to rebuild. The way spies release information could also be a problem. The NIS gives closed briefings to lawmakers, who then relay what they hear to South Korean press. Foreign media commonly cite those local reports, but by that point the information has passed through several hands. That makes it difficult to gauge the NIS's level of certainty, understand how the information was obtained or determine how reliable its sources are. When spies leak information directly to the local press, they usually demand that reporters refer to them only as "a source familiar with North Korea affairs.'' This allows the NIS and other South Korean spy agencies to deny they were the source if the information is bad, which is what's currently happening in the Ri case. There's also criticism that wild stories about the North, whether originating with spies or others, are meant to serve a political purpose. Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute, said intelligence authorities under back-to-back conservative governments have tended to disclose incomplete, unverified information about North Korea if they thought it would justify South Korea's hard line policy by portraying North Korea as an unstable, dangerous country. This explains embarrassments like the Ri case, he said, and underlines the need to get multiple sources to verify information, even if it's coming from someone in Pyongyang. South Korean spies are thought to closely monitor Pyongyang's media for details, to talk to defectors in Seoul, especially those who claim sources in North Korea, and to cultivate contacts in the North. The problem is that it's unclear how reliable the sources are. A spokesman for the opposition Minjoo Party, Park Kwang-on, called the decision by South Korean spies to publicize rumors about Ri's execution "absurd'' and "shameful.'' "But what matters more is their lax intelligence capacity,'' which "is directly related to national security,'' he said. The NIS, founded in 1961 by current President Park Geun-hye's dictator father, Park Chung-hee, was linked to the detention, torture and alleged killing of the elder Park's political opponents. After Park was killed in 1979 - by his spy chief - other abuses occurred under his successors. Recent criticism comes mostly from failures over North Korea intelligence. For instance, South Korean spies only learned about former leader Kim Jong Il's death two days after it occurred, in December 2011, when Pyongyang's state TV announced it. Some have accused South Korea's spies of playing politics. When South Korean intelligence officials circulated word of Ri's execution, Seoul was under criticism for failing to find out in advance that North Korea had been preparing to conduct its fourth nuclear test in January. The news also came a day after the government announced that it would suspend operations at a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong. "If the government discloses information on Ri Yong Gil's execution to try to create a public sentiment favorable for withdrawing from the Kaesong complex, we cannot help but say that they are foolish,'' South Korea's biggest-circulation newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said Wednesday in an editorial. "Using shallow tricks definitely brings out disaster.'' The editorial also said that if South Korean spies are treating"uncertain information as if it's 100 percent fact, it's a serious problem because it means that they can be fooled by the North's spread of disinformation.'' Turkish forces have killed 3,000 Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says, insisting no other country has matched its efforts against the extremists. In an address Wednesday to Balkan nations' military chiefs, Erdogan denounced those who accused Turkey of supporting the Islamic State group. "There have been those who have ... been vile by showing Turkey as a country that helps Daesh," he said, using another name for the extremist group. He said no other country has struggled as Turkey has. NATO member Turkey reluctantly joined the U.S.-led, anti-IS coalition and has faced criticism that it's not doing enough to protect its borders from fighters moving into Europe. But Turkey says it needs more help from Western allies, particularly near the Syrian border where Turkish territory has been targeted by rocket fire. A white former police officer in South Carolina faces federal charges in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man who was running from the scene of a traffic stop last year. An indictment unsealed Wednesday shows a federal grand jury has charged Michael Slager with violating the civil rights of Walter Scott, obstruction of justice and unlawfully using a weapon during the commission of a crime. Slager, who is white, allegedly shot Scott, a black man, after a traffic stop in April 2015 in the city of North Charleston, South Carolina, a state along the southeastern coast of the U.S. The former officer also faces state murder charges in connection with the shooting. Slager is scheduled to be tried on the murder charges in October. Video of the shooting was captured and widely publicized on television and social media, fueling an already contentious national debate over police use of lethalforce. Slager is only one of 10 officers facing criminal charges stemming from 990 deadly police shootings in 2015, according to a Washington Post newspaper database. The city of North Charleston awarded the Scott family $6.5 million last fall to settle a civil case related to the shooting. The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday said veteran drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero has continued to traffic illegal drugs since being released from a Mexican prison, and it named his common-law wife as a key accomplice. Caro Quintero, convicted of ordering the torture and killing of a U.S. anti-drug agent in Mexico in 1985, was freed from prison in August 2013 in a move that angered the U.S. government. He then went underground. On Wednesday, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) added his partner, Diana Espinoza Salazar, to its list of drug traffickers, saying she was an integral part of Caro Quintero's operations, according to a statement. Espinoza Salazar met Caro Quintero in prison, and she holds some of his assets under her name, the statement said. OFAC ordered her U.S. assets to be frozen. The Treasury, "in coordination with DEA [the Drug Enforcement Administration], is committed to targeting Caro Quintero until he is brought to justice and his organization is dismantled," said Acting OFAC Director John E. Smith. Caro Quintero, believed to be 63, is one of the old guard of the countries' drug lords. He was one of the leaders of the Guadalajara cartel, a forerunner of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. Guzman was moved to a prison near the U.S. border last weekend, and on Monday a court said he could be extradited to face charges in the United States. Caro Quintero had served 28 years of a 40-year sentence for the brutal death of DEA agent Enrique Camarena and was released after a Mexican court ruled he should have been tried at a state level rather than on federal charges. The United States is offering a $5 million dollar reward for information leading to Caro Quintero's recapture. Following his release in 2013, the United States asked Mexico to detain him so that he could be extradited to the United States. Glasses with embedded cameras and smartwatches with stored information seem like regular spy equipment for the likes of James Bond, but for three students applying to medical school in Thailand, they were high-technology cheating devices. Bangkok's Rangsit University canceled its examinations on Saturday and Sunday for admission to its medical and dental faculties following the discovery of the unusual modus operandi by three female students. While cheating has long been a problem in Thai schools and colleges, the use of high-tech gear the cameras were used to take pictures of the test sheet and the smartwatches to receive answers from someone outside has taken the practice to a whole new plane. "We've never found cheating of this level involving high-technology,'' university official Kittisak Tripipatpornchai told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "We've had some cases of students copying from one another, which is quite normal. But now we're going to be paying much closer attention,'' said Kittisak, the director of academic standards office at the private university. Cheating is a marked aberration in the list of good behavior expected of Thais. From a young age, Thais are taught to be polite, tolerant, respectful and to avoid confrontation. But educators say cheating has flourished because of an education system that makes exam scores the only criterion for assessing a student's ability and granting admission into places of higher learning. The three students caught red-handed have been blacklisted by the university and will not be allowed to take the replacement exams on May 31 and June 1. It was an elaborate scheme. Three agents posing as students photographed the question sheets with tiny cameras embedded in their eye-glasses. They left the room after the mandatory 45 minute lock-in period and transferred the pictures to a laptop manned by another person. That person transmitted the images to one or more private tutorial institutes where the three students were enrolled. Exam answers were then electronically transmitted to the smartwatches worn by the women, still in the examination room. Test supervisors were alerted after the first watch was seized during the Saturday morning session, the second was found on the same day in the afternoon session. The third watch and two glasses were seized Sunday. Kittisak said the three students purchased 100 percent-guaranteed admittance packages from the private tutorial institutes for 800,000 baht ($23,000). Cheating is so rampant that schools have tried to find creative ways to combat it. Chulalongkorn University installed overhead cameras in some of its examination rooms, while in 2013 Kasetsart University created anti-cheating hats made from stapling two A4 paper sheets to a headband to resemble blinders worn by horses. Rangsit's president, Dr. Arthit Ourairat, posted pictures of the electronic devices on his Facebook page, getting nationwide attention from the media and the public. "If you can't take responsibility for your own life, you don't deserve to become a doctor, which is a career that has to take responsibility for others' lives,'' wrote Namstok Punika, a Facebook user in response to Ourairat's pictures. One student's parents met with university officials. The father said he didn't know anything about the cheating, said Kittisak. "But then how would a high school student be able to pay 800,000 baht on their own?'' U.S. lawmakers examining the threat that terrorism poses in Africa expressed concern Tuesday that the United States may be overlooking human rights and governance abuses by regional leaders who provide assistance on counterterrorism issues. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a panel of the senators at a hearing convened by the Foreign Relations Committee that countries in the region have critical vulnerabilities and capacity gaps that must be addressed. Terror groups are recruiting foot soldiers simply by offering money, she said, adding that governments must "use every available resource to offer educational and vocational opportunities" to counteract the groups. Counterterrorism and human rights The United States is focused on helping countries provide those opportunities. But Senator Ben Cardin, a ranking committee member, expressed concerns that Washington is giving countries a free pass for human rights abuses or poor governance as long as they are useful counterterrorism partners. "In Ethiopia, for example, they just had parliamentary elections and not a single opposition leader was elected and security forces there have killed hundreds of protesters," he said. "In Chad, dozens of military officers were arrested because they wouldnt vote for the president. In Somalia, there are reports they are using children for spies. In Nigeria and Kenya, there have been extra judicial killings by the military. "Yet I dont see a response by America," Cardin said. Thomas-Greenfield responded that each of the arguments mentioned above was met by a strong condemnation by the U.S. government but at the same time the U.S. is committed to firmly working with their partners to address efforts to defeat terrorism. "We cant draw a line and say we cant work with you on terrorism because of human rights violation but we reinforce that they must respect human rights and civil liberties," she said. Another concern came from Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey. While Nigerian people face daunting governance and corruption issues, he said, the U.S. is planning to sell the military A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft to supposedly fight Boko Haram. Yet, he added, the Nigerian military has a long-standing history of human rights abuses, including under the current administration. Markey noted that last month, "Amnesty International accused the Nigerian government of killing hundreds of members of the Shia minority sect in December." Thomas-Greenfield responded that the U.S. aid is not moving away from fighting corruption. Last year, she recalled, Washington turned down a Nigerian request for Cobra attack helicopters because "we were concerned about their ability to use those and not have an impact on their communities." She called for a multifaceted approach: "We have to do security but we also have to do the capacity building, the development assistance, etc." WATCH: Interview with Senator Christopher Coons Democratic governance as counterterror strategy Another witness, Christopher Fomunyoh, made the case for democracy and good governance as central components of any counterterrorism and stabilization strategy in sub-Saharan Africa. Fomunyoh, the National Democratic Institute's regional director for Central and West Africa, said the principal motivation of "today's terrorists in sub-Saharan Africa is deeply rooted in a pattern of religious beliefs. Governance failures have exacerbated the impact of this phenomenon and created an enabling environment in which extremism thrives." For example, he pointed out when a state collapses, as was the case with Somalia prior to the emergence of al-Shabab, or allows for huge swaths of ungovernable spaces, as was the case in northern Mali, or fails to fulfill its basic purpose of providing citizens with access to a meaningful life, liberty, and property, as in northeastern Nigeria, the social contract between the state and the citizenry is broken. Discontent with governments that are viewed as illegitimate or ineffective is a fertile ground for recruitment. Therefore, Fomunyoh said, "any counterterrorism strategy for Africa should be grounded in the consolidation of democracy and good governance." He said autocratic regimes should not get a pass from the international community solely because they are good partners in the fight against terrorism. Better coordination For U.S. projects trying to improve the capacity of governments in the region, there are also concerns over coordination. Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, told VOA he anticipated better coordination among agencies in the coming years to track the massive programs aimed at improving life in the region. "We spent billions of dollars in public health programing, mostly through USAID and in development work, in training, equipping and supporting African militaries through the department of defense and peacekeeping missions through our department of State and I am optimistic well do a better job of coordinating our partnership with African countries in the fight against terrorism," he said. Economic impact As countries grapple with how to confront terrorism, they also must consider economic impact. Violent extremism threatens growth of Africa's gross domestic product, said Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, director of the United Nations Development Program's regional bureau for Africa. "Tunisias GDP growth has been cut from 3 percent to 1 percent. Chads contracted 1 percent in 2015 from a 5 percent growth in 2014," Dieye said. "Countries like Nigeria and Kenya have seen a reduction of 25 percent of tourism following terrorists attacks." The UNDP estimates that violent extremism has led to about 33,000 deaths since 2011 and has internally displaced 6 million in Africa. Islamic State insurgents are "getting weaker and weaker" in Iraq, a top U.S. military commander says, despite the jihadists claiming responsibility for three suicide bombings in Baghdad that killed at least 88 people. Major General Gary Volesky expressed condolences for the latest carnage in the Iraqi capital while discussing the Iraqi campaign to reclaim territory held by Islamic State and the impending Iraqi effort to retake the northern city of Mosul. Volesky, speaking from Iraq to reporters at the Defense Department outside Washington, said Iraqi forces are making "great progress" in reclaiming land lost to the insurgents. In recent weeks, the United States has said Iraqi forces and others fighting Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have reclaimed 40 percent of the lands once held by the jihadists. But Volesky said he is not concerned whether the figure might even be higher, 45 or 50 percent. "I'm not looking at percentages," he said. "I'm just looking where they are and soon won't be." No timetable for Mosul yet He offered no timetable for an Iraqi attack on Mosul, which Islamic State fighters have held for two years. But he said Iraqi forces, supported by U.S. trainers and advisers, are now positioned 35 to 40 kilometers south of the city. He said Iraqi forces are retaking villages one by one. "They're losing terrain every single day," Volesky said of the Islamic State fighters. "What we have seen is a clear degradation in their ability to mobilize forces." Volesky said Iraqis "clearly understand this is their fight. They are clearly in the lead." He said American troops "are on the tactical edge of this fight. We're there to support their fight." He said that unlike during the U.S. war in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 that toppled one-time Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, U.S. forces now are not "working on their own," but rather are "tied to a specific operation" planned by the Iraqis. Wednesday's car bombs in Baghdad targeted a police station, the Jamiya neighborhood and an outdoor market in Sadr City. Thursdays world summit on fighting corruption was a time for Britain and the United States to look at their own policies and their role as shelters for billions of dollars stolen by corrupt politicians in developing countries. The London summit shifted the focus on global corruption, turning the spotlight of blame away from African generals, oligarchs and corrupt dictators and toward the rich countries, whose banks and real estate brokers have been the benefactors of the stolen wealth of nations. British Prime Minister David Cameron announced measures, including a public register intended to force companies to name their real owners a step that British government officials claim will be the first of its kind. Why I think this matters so much is that I believe that corruption is the cancer at the heart of so many problems we need to tackle in our world. If we want to see countries escape poverty and become wealthy, we need to tackle corruption, Cameron said. Hidden in banks U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said tens of billions of dollars in stolen money funds that that could be used for education or building bridges in underdeveloped lands instead are hidden in banks in countries including ours. We are fighting a battle all of us for our states, for our countries, for our nation state. Corruption is as much of an enemy because it destroys nation states as some of the extremists we are fighting, Kerry told delegates at the summit. "The extremism we see in the world today comes in no small degree from the utter exasperation that people have with the sense that the system is rigged," the top American diplomat said. "And we see this anger manifesting itself in different forms in different elections around the world including ours." 'The world has changed' The one-day meeting drew leaders from Afghanistan, Colombia, Nigeria and other countries. British officials said the aim was to step up global action to expose, punish and drive out corruption at all levels of society. If we were having this anti-corruption summit 10 years ago, we would have been talking about African kleptocrats, the theft of state assets from the people, said Alex Cobham of the Tax Justice Network, a British advocacy group. Now, he said, the world has changed. Were really thinking about the providers of the financial secrecy that dont just facilitate but actively drive corruption of different sorts all around the world, Cobham told VOA. In the background of the summit are the so-called Panama Papers, leaked documents that reveal how and where the worlds powerful hide their money. For Cameron, the revelations hit home, showing how his late father ran an offshore fund to avoid paying British taxes. The prime minister eventually said that he, too, had a stake in the dealings. The Panama Papers disclosures fueled calls for reforms in Britains offshore possessions after it was learned that more than half of the 210,000 companies exposed were registered in the British Virgin Islands. The Panama Papers named relatively few Americans and no high-ranking public officials. US an area of concern But anti-corruption advocates see the United States as a major area of concern about tax evasion and money laundering, in states such as Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming, which have been criticized for allowing corporations to be formed inexpensively and secretively. Kerry said a proposed law will force companies formed in the U.S. to report complete information about their owners, and a rule will require banks to keep records on the true owners of their corporate customers. Washington and London see combating corruption as a matter of legitimacy and security, analysts say, especially in the wake a decade of financial crises that have reduced millions of people to poverty, unemployment and frustration. Tim Evans, a professor of political economy at Londons Middlesex University, sees the summit and, more broadly, the drive to combat corruption as a sign of concern among the elite nations. Theyre worried at the loss of legitimacy that will come from rich and powerful people being able to evade taxes and get away with it. So, I think theres huge pressure on elites to be seen to be engaging the subject and to be doing something about it," Evans said. Given some of the things, some of the riots and problems weve seen in Europe and in the United States in recent years, the politicians are fearful, and theyre becoming focused on trying to rebuild trust and transparency, he told VOA. The summit got off to a somewhat awkward start after cameras overheard the British prime minister describing Afghanistan and Nigeria as fantastically corrupt. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who has led an aggressive anti-corruption campaign in his country, praised Camerons decision to hold the summit. Members of the Nigerian delegation did not discuss the prime minister's comments. During the summit, Buhari said to Cameron: I thank you very much for your courage for taking the opportunity to mobilize us and take this very, very topical and serious subject. Corruption is one of the greatest enemies of our time." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry may be gently scolded Thursday when he attends an anti-corruption summit hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron in London. Corruption is an enemy of progress and the root of so many of the worlds problems, Cameron said before the summit that will call into question the practices of rich nations like Britain and the United States. The summits aim will be to agree on mechanisms to expose and punish corruption. The meeting will include leaders of Afghanistan, Colombia, and Nigeria. But the focus will be not only on corruption in the developing world, but on the transparency of rich nations. This is due in part to revelations in the so-called Panama Papers about how and where the worlds rich and powerful hide their money. We have moved away from this idea that its the African kleptocrats who are involved in corruption. Its clear today that financial secrecy is provided by rich countries like the U.S. and the U.K., Alex Cobham, director at research at the Tax Justice Network, a London advocacy group, told VOA. Camerons summit is taking place after the Panama Papers leaks revealed his late, wealthy father ran an offshore fund to avoid paying British taxes. Later revelations showed the prime minister had a stake in the dealings, something the British leader has admitted. Pressure for reforms Camerons government has been under pressure to carry out reforms that include a public register of British companies with overseas holdings. There is also pressure for Britain to extend reforms to its offshore possessions after the Panama Papers revealed more than half of the 210,000 companies exposed were registered in the British Virgin Islands. The Panama Papers leaks named relatively few Americans and no high-ranking public officials. But anti-corruption advocates see the United States as a major area of concern when it comes to allowing tax evasion and money laundering in states like Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming, which critics say permit businesses to be formed inexpensively and secretively. Secretary Kerry may speak in support of reforms in the United States, but expectations are tempered by the fact the U.S. governments power is limited since the states have the right to set many of their own banking regulations. Bolstering Kerrys position at the summit are steps the Obama administration unveiled this month to combat money laundering, corruption and tax evasion. The actions by the U.S. Treasury Department include requiring financial institutions to find out and verify who actually owns and profits from companies that make use of their services. That information will then be available to law enforcement agencies. But anti-corruption campaigners said the top U.S. diplomat will get a message, quietly, but repeatedly at the anti-corruption summit. He will hear the world identifies the U.S. as the biggest non-cooperative jurisdiction, said Cobham. Analysts say Washington and London are taking the need for anti-corruption reforms seriously. Both see it as a matter of legitimacy and security, especially following the financial crisis of the past decade that has resulted in poverty, unemployment, and frustration among millions. Rebuilding trust, transparency Tim Evans, a professor of political economy at Londons Middlesex University, sees the summit, and more broadly, the drive to combat corruption as a sign of concern among the elite nations. Theyre worried at the loss of legitimacy that will come from rich and powerful people being able to evade taxes and get away with it. So, I think theres huge pressure on elites to be seen to be engaging the subject and to be doing something about it. Given some of the things, some of the riots and problems weve seen in Europe and in the United States in recent years, the politicians are fearful and theyre becoming focused on trying to rebuild trust and transparency, he told VOA. A Somali commando unit killed at least 15 suspected Islamist fighters Wednesday in a raid on an al-Shabab base in Galgudud region, central Somalia, the second such raid in two days. Local government official Qadar Mohamed Ali told VOA's Somali service that the aim of the raid was to destroy the base and neutralize the militants' capacity to organize and carry out regional attacks. Ali said Somali troops seized rocket-propelled grenades and mortars in the raid. He said no Somali troops were killed or injured. The raid came a day after an attack on an al-Shabab base in the village of Toratorow, about 100 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu, in which an unknown number of militants were captured or killed. There have been conflicting reports on how much involvement U.S. forces had in the Toratorow raid. Somali security official Mohamed Nur Gabow told VOA Somali that U.S. forces played a "lead role" in the operation targeting al-Shabab officials. He said U.S. personnel flew helicopters in the raid. Residents of Toratorow said the helicopters dropped Somali fighters on the outskirts of Toratorow to hunt for the militants on foot. But AFRICOM, the U.S. military command center in Africa, said U.S. fighters were not involved in any "kinetic operations" in the raid meaning nothing that involved the use of lethal force. In a statement, AFRICOM said, "This was not a U.S.-led, nor was it a U.S.-unilateral operation." The United States has trained a Somali government commando unit known as Danab or Lightning of about 500 soldiers who conduct special operations. A similar joint U.S.-Somali operation took place in the nearby town of Awdhegle in March. The Pentagon said the U.S. played only a support role in that operation. The Somali government has battled al-Shabab since the al-Qaida-linked militant group formed in 2006. The U.S. designated al-Shabab as a terrorist group in 2008 and has given the Somali government financial and military support to combat the group. Australia says it has detained five men who they believe were planning to sail by boat to Indonesia and the Philippines en route to join radical Islamist groups fighting in Syria. Authorities say the quintet was arrested in northern Queensland state, after towing a seven-meter boat almost 3,000 kilometers from Melbourne to Cairns, where they planned to set sail. "They were committed, obviously very committed. The fact that they'd gone all the way from Melbourne, all the way to far North Queensland (state), indicates that these people were extremely committed in their adventure and their attempt to leave the country," said Neil Gaughan, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner. Attorney General George Brandis said the men, ranging in age between 21 and 33, were going to travel by boat because their passports had been revoked, ruling out air travel. One of the men is believed to be Musa Cerantoni, a radical Islamic preacher and vocal supporter of the Islamic State. He was arrested in the Philippines in 2014 and deported back to Australia due to his support for the extremist group. Canberra has launched a wide-ranging anti-terrorism campaign since late 2014. Authorities have conducted a series of counter-terrorism raids across the country, arresting at least several people on suspicion of planning domestic terrorist attacks and involvement with Islamic militants fighting in Iraq and Syria. Air pollution could lead to 570,000 premature deaths in India, according to a new report. Furthermore, the researchers say, the problem likely costs the Indian economy hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Air pollution has been a public health concern in India for years, but in February, a report by Greenpeace said it surpassed China in the quantity of fine particulate matter in the air. It found there were 128 micrograms of fine particulate matter in New Delhis air. By comparison, Washington, DC, had 12. The World Health Organization recommends no more than 10 micrograms. The report said the Indo-Gangetic region, the north of the country, had the most pollution. For the new study, researchers at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, and the US National Center for Atmospheric Research created computer simulations using 2011 data, and found that air pollution could kill more than 570,000 people prematurely. According to The Washington Post, researchers not involved with the study said that was in line with models they had worked on. However, Michael Jerrett, chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, told the Washington Post that theres no way to really count the people who die because of air pollution in India because the models use concrete observations about the effects of air pollution on health from Europe and North America, where pollution levels are relatively low. We dont have any epidemiological studies from China or India that look at the long-term effects of air pollution on mortality, he told the paper. Nevertheless, he added that the modeling used in the India study, published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal, is one of the only options until there are better statistics on the actual effects of air pollution. A popular brand of beer is hoping American patriotism will boost sales. Budweiser is changing its name to America through the presidential election in November. "Budweiser has always strived to embody America in a bottle, and we're honored to salute this great nation where our beer has been passionately brewed for the past 140 years," said Budweiser vice president Ricardo Marques. This is not the first time the iconic beer has appealed to patriotism. In the past it has changed its label to show the Statue of Liberty and the American flag. The company has also tailor-made bottles and cans to reflect events and important dates in other countries. Budweisers parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev, is a Belgian-Brazilian mega beer company that sells about 25 percent of the worlds beer. America will be spelled out in the same font as Budweiser, and the words trade mark registered will be changed to read indivisible since 1776. The beers slogan, the king of beers will be replaced with the motto of the United States, E Pluribus Unum, or Out of Many, One. The American Budweiser was first brewed in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876. The name is somewhat controversial because the original Budweiser was made in the Czech Republic by Budweiser Budvar Brewery. In the EU and many other countries, the American Budweiser is called simply Bud. According to the Atlantic, Budweiser is the third-most-popular beer in America, selling about 100 million cases each year. Globally, beer sales typically spike in the summer months. A New Jersey man will spend 15 years in prison for attempting to join Islamic State and helping his brother fly to Syria to fight with the terrorist group. Alaa Saadeh was arrested last June by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and later pleaded guilty in federal court. "Today's sentence is an appropriate punishment for his role in a conspiracy that would have supplied new recruits to a terrorist organization that regularly threatens American lives at home and abroad," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said Tuesday. Saadeh paid for his brother Nader's ticket for a flight from the U.S. to Turkey, where he planned to cross into Syria. He also altered Nader's cellphone so he could avoid detection, officials say. Saadeh and another suspect, Samuel Rahamin Topaz, also planned to head to Syria. Saadeh urged an acquaintance who knew about the brothers plan to lie to the FBI if agents questioned him. Nader Saadeh and Topaz also have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing. Voters in the Philippines have elected the country's first transgender politician into office. Geraldine Roman won the seat in the first district of northern Bataan province following Monday's election. She will become the highest-ranking openly LGBT politician in the Philippines, a country where heavy influence from the Catholic Church restricts divorce, abortion and same-sex marriage. Roman said her experience showed that the "politics of hatred, bigotry and discrimination did not prevail," adding that what triumphed was "acceptance, love and tolerance." She says among the issues she will champion as a lawmaker will be bills focusing on anti-discrimination, education and government transparency. Roman will take over the congressional seat from her mother who served three terms as a politician in the district. Roman lived in Spain for several years before returning to the Philippines where she worked as an editor for a Spanish news agency before running for office. The Kenyan government has announced it will close its refugee camps in Dadaab and Kakuma, which collectively house more than half a million refugees. Dadaab considered the largest refugee camp in the world hosts more than 328,000 refugees, most of whom are Somalis escaping conflict in their country. The government has cited national security concerns due to growing terrorist threats as the reason for the closures. However, Human Rights Watch senior refugee researcher Gerry Simpson says that refugees are not the source of such threats in Kenya. "There's not a single shred of evidence that any registered Somali refugees in Kenya have been behind any attacks in Kenya, he said. So far, not a single Somalia refugee has been charged with or convicted of any such offense. In the case of the attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, and the Garissa attack in northeast Kenya last year, Somali nationals have been charged with those offenses, but they are known to have come in directly from Somalia, and were not registered refugees." Ministry of the Interior spokesman Mwenda Njoka disagrees, saying that terrorists have used the camps to plan and train for attacks, like the one at Westgate Mall, where 67 people were killed in September 2013. "I will tell you for a fact, the people who carried out the terror attacks at Westgate, several of them were traced either through phone calls or through various contacts intelligence to refugee camps in Dadaab," Njoka said. Moderation needed Governance and security expert Mummoh Nzau agrees that the camps pose a security threat, but argues that a measured approach is best. "They have been infiltrated by terrorists, but it is not to the scale that every other refugee is a terrorist, Nzau said, and therefore, it is important that a lot of consultation and care is taken so that innocent people don't get hurt in this process." One solution, Nzau believes, is to relocate the camps. "They can move them right inside Somalia, but in a way that is safe for them and that they can be accessed by the international refugee agencies and other aid agencies," he said. Kenya, which has been hosting refugees for nearly 25 years, has previously threatened to close the camps, most recently last year, but did not follow through. Political motivations suspected Kenya's elections are set for next year, and HRW's Simpson says that politicians like to bring up the refugee issue around such cycles. "So we hope that this is just hot air ahead of those elections, but it remains to be seen," he said. Njoka denies that elections have anything to do with the timing of the announcement. Regardless of electoral considerations, aid workers like Liesbeth Aelbrecht, Kenya's head of mission for Doctors Without Borders, want the government to keep the camps open for the good of the refugees. "Well, we definitely hope they will reconsider the call," she said. The Kenyan government says the voluntary repatriation process, which was specified in a 2013 agreement signed by the Kenyan and Somali governments, as well as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has been slow. The government announced it has already disbanded the Department of Refugee Affairs. It is unclear when or if the camp closures will begin. A new report says the number of people throughout the world who were uprooted from their homes due to conflicts and natural disasters stood at a record 40.8 million last year, the highest figure ever recorded. The Norwegian Refugee Council's Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) reported Wednesday that 27.8 million people were internally displaced just in 2015. Its shocking," Karl Schembri, the NRC's Middle East Advisor, said in an interview with VOA. WATCH: Number of Displaced People Hit Record 40.8M in 2015 The report found an average of 66,000 people were uprooted daily in 2015, enough last year to equal the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo. "The world is in a tremendous displacement crisis that is relentlessly building year after year, and now too many places have the perfect storm of conflict and/or disasters," said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the council. Sixty percent of the 8.6 million people displaced by conflict were in the middle eastern countries Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The Arab Spring uprising in 2010 and the growth of Islamic State, which is waging war in Syria, Iraq and in other countries, were the primary reasons for the displacements. 'Not crossing borders' The report said the number of people displaced by conflict who remained in their native countries was double the number who sought refuge in other countries. They are not crossing borders, mostly because they cant. They dont have the means or the borders are closed, Schembri said. There is no military or humanitarian solution to the displacement crisis in the Middle East, said Schembri. It is only a politically negotiated solution that leads to long-term peace. All warring sides have to be involved," he said. "And countries that have influence, rather than fueling the flames as theyve been doing, should actually get their act together and stop the people with the guns on the ground. Yemen alone accounted for one-fourth of all conflict-related displacement last year. Schembri said while many of the 2.2 million displaced Yemeni people have sought refuge in displacement camps, safety is not assured. They have been attacked directly by direct hits on a displacement camp. So there is nowhere safe when there is a war, he said. Yemen, an impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, is in the midst of a war between Yemen's Shi'ite rebels and their allies and forces loyal to the Yemeni government. Saudi-led air strikes on behalf of the Yemeni government and an economic blockade imposed on civilians have contributed to the displacement. Aside from the Middle East, the report said internally displaced people were most prevalent in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Ukraine and Colombia. Natural disasters More than 19 million people were uprooted by natural disasters in 113 countries, mostly in India, China and Nepal. Extreme weather such as storms and floods were the main culprits. In Nepal alone, 2.6 people were uprooted by earthquakes in April and May of last year. Over the past eight years, disasters forced 203.4 million people to leave their homes. While many countries such as Bangladesh, Cuba and Vietnam have improved their natural disaster prevention and preparation capabilities, the report said other countries have work to do. "In Asia I would say, and to some extent Latin America, still too little is done to meet the growing strength of the forces of nature fueled by climate change," said Egeland. Egeland, a former United Nations humanitarian and relief official, plans to urge participating nations at the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, Turkey to develop natural disaster prevention and mitigation plans and ways to prevent conflict and protect civilians in war. "We have to find ways to protect people from these horrendous forces of both nature and man-made ones," he said. The summit will be held on May 23 and 24, and include about 5,000 participants including government leaders, business executives, and aid organizations. Five of the 10 countries with the highest number of people displaced by conflict have been on the list every year since 2003. They are Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan. "This is further evidence that in the absence of the help IDPs (internally displaced people) need, displacement tends to drag on for years and even decades," according to IDMC acting director Alexandra Bilak. The report, for the first time, tallied the number of people displaced by drug- and gang-related violence. An estimated one million people were forced to leave their homes as a result of this type of violence last year in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. For the first time, the IDMC report synthesized all of its reports on global internal displacement into a single report. Figures will be continually updated online. "By reporting on all situations of internal displacement, regardless of their cause, our intention is to provide an even more holistic picture of what has truly become a global crisis," said Bilak. The son of a former prime minister of Pakistan returned from Afghanistan Wednesday a day after he was rescued from al-Qaida-linked kidnappers in a military operation. A special Pakistani aircraft brought Ali Haider Gilani back from Kabul and landed at the airport in the eastern city of Lahore where family members received him amid tight security. Hundreds of supporters and relatives welcomed him at his family residence as he returned home after three years in captivity and showered rose petals on his car. Pakistani televisions broadcast the images live during the journey of his convoy from the airport. Gilani was abducted at gunpoint during an election rally in his southern home town of Multann three years ago before he was taken across the porous Afghan border. A joint U.S.-Afghan counterterrorism commando operation recovered Gilani from an al-Qaida compound in the Paktika province bordering Pakistan in a pre-dawn raid on Tuesday. He was then transferred to the U.S.-controlled Bagram military base where he spent the night and underwent medical check-ups, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. Afghan army chief General Qadam Shah Shaheemm spoke to reporters in Kabul Wednesday and gave details of the operation. "We planned a special operation carried out by the Afghan army special forces. In this operation a number of al-Qaida members who resisted were killed and fortunately it resulted to rescue our beloved young unharmed. Today we officially submit him to the people of Pakistan, the general said. Wearing a T-shirt with long hair and a heavy beard, Gilani briefly spoke to reporters before boarding the plane at Kabul airport. He thanked all those who fought for his release. I really appreciate the Afghan governments efforts and the Afghan forces efforts for their sacrifice for someone from another country. That shows the efforts of the Afghan government to bringing peace in our region, Gilani said. He also thanked U.S. forces for providing shelter, food and medical care. Right now I am just looking forward to be reunited with my family and just getting back to normal life, said Gilani, the son of Yusuf Raza Gilani who served as Pakistans prime minister from 2008 to 2012. The joint military raid that rescued the ex-prime ministers son was conducted under the authority of the U.S counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan named Operation Freedoms Sentinel. A Russian political scientist says the world is alarmed by this years American presidential election campaign, which has destroyed all the canons of political life in the United States. Following his victories in Tuesdays U.S. Republican Party presidential primaries in the states of West Virginia and Nebraska, the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has begun considering possible running mates. It is increasingly likely that next Novembers presidential election will see Trump face off against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Russian observers have been taking a closer look at the meaning of the billionaire real estate moguls meteoric political ascent. Every sneeze by the global superpower causes convulsions of the world order," political scientist Lilia Shevtsova told VOAs Russian service, adding that the world is increasingly worried that the next U.S. president will pursue an aggressive policy with destructive tendencies. In Shevtsova's view, the current upheaval in American politics was inevitable, even though its precise shape was hard to predict. "We are talking here not just about American history, but also about a crisis that appeared long ago in liberal democracy, which had ceased to respond to internal and external challenges, she said. We see in Western society the dysfunctionality of certain democratic institutions, the inability of governments to rein in the financial oligarchy, the growing problem of [in]equality and [in]justice, the unwillingness of those in power to cope with the wave of migrants, and their confusion in the face of external threats and an onslaught by an anti-liberal international [movement]. The result, said Shevtsova, is the kind of situation described by the British historian Arnold Toynbee a buildup of challenges that the system cannot respond to, leading to a crisis. "This crisis manifests itself in the paralysis of the governing structures of the [European Union], and the growing influence of right-wing and left-wing political forces; the threatened Brexit [Britains possible exit from the EU], and the emergence of authoritarianism in certain EU member countries for example, in Hungary, she said. The emergence in the U.S. of the socialist [Bernie] Sanders and the populist Trump as presidential candidates is another manifestation of liberal democracys systemic crisis. According to Shevtsova, much will depend on how the United States copes with "its own dysfunctionality, given that that it is not only the leader, but the factor that cements the West. Thus far, the prognosis is not good, she added. "The U.S. is entering a new phase of the electoral race, and Trumps participation as the Republican candidate will make this race the dirtiest in American history, Shevtsova said, adding that Trump could become the next U.S. president, which would prolong the current period of disorientation in the sole superpower. For his part, Vladimir Sogrin, editor in chief of the Russian magazine Modern and Contemporary History, is less alarmed about the possibility of a Trump presidency. He told VOA that while the presumptive Republican nominee employs rhetoric and ideas that are demagogic, his success has been due to the fact that he has tapped into the latent sentiment of white America,' which is tired of political correctness and wants the country to define itself as a melting pot, not on the basis of multiculturalism. According to Sogrin, Trump has taken all of this into account and is offering a renovationist agenda that could put him in the White House. Unmanned submarine hunters, gecko-inspired wall climbing material and even "upward falling" containers that spring into action from the ocean floor that's just a taste of the U.S. military's latest technological innovations on display Wednesday at the Pentagon. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, showed off more than 60 of its inventions, concepts and programs as part of the agency's Demo Day. The annual event provides the Defense Department community with an up-close look at projects in various stages of development and readiness. The technological creations range from those intended for use from undersea to outer space. They aim to improve all aspects of warfare, from ground combat to cyber, even developing "seeds of surprise" what one official described as projects that are "above and beyond what the enemy would ever expect." Check out VOA's Facebook page for a Facebook Live discussion about some of VOA's favorite innovations the U.S. military's research wing has to offer. WATCH: Unmanned Vessel Could Detect, Track Enemy Submarines Anti-submarine continuous trail unmanned vessel (ACTUV) This unmanned surface vessel is 40 meters long and just 3.3 meters wide. (Only a small-scale version made it into the Pentagon.) It weighs 127 metric tons and can travel 10,000 nautical miles on a single tank of gas. While this skinny ship would be "hyper-cramped" for humans, said DARPA spokesman Jared Adams, it could detect and track enemy submarines, and even could be used to run security perimeters around aircraft carrier groups. ACTUV would therefore decrease the number of sailors needed to defend a carrier, saving the military tens of millions of dollars spent on crew members currently needed to carry out the same level of defense. "You could build maybe 50 of these for the price of one warship," Scott Littlefield, ACTUV program manager, told VOA. Littlefield said the new vessel would be a much safer option when sailing in dangerous waters. "Because it's unmanned, we can take a lot more chances with it," he said. "Ultimately in a war, if you lost this, but you didn't lose a manned warship, that's a trade we want to be able to make." An ACTUV vessel is stationed off the coast of San Diego. Upward falling payloads (UFP) The Upward Falling Payload concept is intended to create unmanned, nonlethal systems that lie on the ocean floor for years at a time. The military plans to remotely activate these deep-sea nodes when needed to "fall upward," or be pushed to the ocean surface. DARPA's website says these pre-positioned nodes could enable a full range of maritime mission sets in a more cost-effective manner than existing assets. This program is in the second of three phases, according to Adams. Geckskin "Geckskin" is a product of the Z-Man program, which seeks to build synthetic versions of the biological systems of geckos and spiders to optimize a human's climbing ability with heavy combat loads without the use of ropes and ladders. The synthetically fabricated reversible adhesive was inspired by the gecko's ability to scale various vertical surfaces, according to DARPA's website. Geckskin is a stiff fabric with a rubber-like substance that could enable increased adhesion. DARPA says a "proof-of-concept demonstration in 2012 showed that a 16-square-inch sheet of Geckskin adhering to a vertical glass wall could support a static load of up to 660 pounds," or about 270 kilograms. WATCH: Plan X Maps Out Invisible Realm of Cyberspace Plan X Plan X is a cybersecurity program that maps out the invisible realm of cyberspace, known by Plan X developer and former Marine Frank Pound as a "cyberbattlefield." Without Plan X, computer analysts must read thousands of data points gathered through hours of system monitoring to see a cyberattack. Plan X simplifies the process in a user-friendly platform that allows a person to view cyberwarfare as if he were viewing kinetic warfare. "This is something that commanders up in U.S. Cyber Command can use to keep track of all their cybermission forces, what missions they are executing in cyberspace, how those missions are behaving, what units are involved and things like that," Pound said. Since VOA first reported on Plan X last year, it has moved from a very early prototype stage to a functional prototype. Pound said the latest version of Plan X would participate in a national exercise called Cyber Guard in Suffolk, Virginia next month. Artificial intelligence, or AI, no longer simply exists in science fiction movies and books. Scientists warn AI has and will continue to change almost every aspect of how people conduct business and live. Researchers say artificial intelligence can be a threat, as well as helpful, to humans. From the iPhone personal assistant Siri, to doing searches on the Internet, to the autopilot function, simple artificial intelligence has been around for some time, but is quickly getting more complex and more intelligent. If we are going to make systems that are going to be more intelligent than us, its absolutely essential for us to understand how to absolutely guarantee that they only do things that we are happy with, said Stuart Russell, computer science professor at the University of California Berkeley. He said many present-day jobs that are labor intensive, such as agricultural jobs, or repetitive tasks such as call centers, or even jobs that require data analysis, such as in the financial industry, will be replaced by machines with artificial intelligence. But if we replaced all the jobs that require human physical labor and then we replace all the jobs that require human mental labor, then you have to ask, 'Whats left?' Russell asked. New Jobs IBMs Chief Science Officer of Cognitive Computing Guruduth Banavar sees a future in which new jobs such as data engineering will be created. The future will require everybody to work with these learning reasoning machines. So I think the skill set for many of these jobs will end up being different in the future, Banavar said. Russell envisions that AI will change the economy and the current way of life. Most people will be employed, possibly even self-employed, in providing individualized personal services to other human beings, that we wont have mass employment in manufacturing or in financial services, said Russell. The kinds of scenarios where there is a giant factory or a giant office building with thousands of people doing the same thing will go away. Artificial intelligence is already transforming the health care industry. AI can process huge amounts of data and have the most up-to-date research to help doctors diagnose and treat patients. IBMs Watson technology is already in hospitals in North and South America, Europe and Asia. The different between going to a doctor who has Watson versus not having Watson is very big, because when you go to a doctor today you might find somebody who is 10 years out of date, said Banavar. Autonomous Weapons There is also a dangerous side of artificial intelligence, using drone technology and AI to create autonomous weapons. The risk with autonomous weapons is that people will use them as a kind of poor mans weapon of mass destruction - a poor mans nuclear weapon, said Russell, who advocates for the international community to create treaties to ban autonomous weapons. It is a race against time because the weapons are starting to emerge, the research is moving into development, development is moving into production, Russell said. Impact on Society Banavar has a more optimistic view of the impact of artificial intelligence on society. He said examples of benefits include the autopilot function and search engines. Im very firmly in the camp that says AI is a friend and that it is going to be beneficial to humanity. In fact, I see not having AI as a really bad thing for humanity, Banavar said. While it is up for debate whether artificial intelligence will overall hurt or benefit mankind, researchers agree it is a fact that the technology is and will continue to transform many aspects of life. Grabbing breasts, tweaking thong underwear, hitting a female aide in the face, top French politicians stand accused of all this and more, in a wave of allegations emerging recently that have women asking: How do we make it stop? In 2011, Dominique Strauss-Kahn's scandals exposed widespread sexism in French politics, prompting uproar and hope among feminists for a new era. And in 2016? Little has changed, activists say, so they're holding a protest Wednesday outside Parliament to say enough is enough. What prompted the renewed anger were recent media reports and a book, "L'Elysee off,'' which allege misconduct by two government ministers and a deputy parliament speaker. The accusations pose yet another problem for President Francois Hollande's embattled government. The most high-profile target is Finance Minister Michel Sapin, accused in the book of touching a journalist's underwear during the World Economic Forum gathering of the global business elite in 2015. French media reported that Sapin issued a statement Tuesday to Agence France Presse acknowledging that he touched her back, and later apologized. Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said Wednesday said that Sapin acknowledged an inappropriate gesture. "Michel Sapin spoke out to say what he had to say, to say that he regretted it,'' Le Foll told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. Paris prosecutors are investigating allegations of breast-grabbing and other behavior by green party politician Denis Baupin, who resigned as vice president of the lower house of parliament this week after investigative website Mediapart and France-Inter radio released testimony by women who say he abused them. He denies misconduct. A recent Buzzfeed report, meanwhile, exposed long-buried accusations that Territories Minister Jean-Michel Baylet repeatedly hit a female aide in the face and then settled with her privately to drop charges. His office did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Speaking about all the recent accusations, Le Foll cautioned male politicians to watch their behavior and "the attitude that politicians should have in all contexts where they exercise their responsibility. There needs to be vigilance.'' Female politicians have taken to French airwaves this week to say that the alleged acts aren't isolated incidents and to describe sexism they face routinely. Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump is the presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee, but he continues to struggle to win support for his maverick candidacy from key Republican figures. Two Republican presidential contenders Trump defeated in his months-long run to the top of the party's presidential field, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, returned to the halls of Congress this week but showed little enthusiasm for Trump. Cruz, a conservative firebrand who called Trump "utterly amoral" before dropping out of the presidential contest a week ago, refused to say whether he would endorse his one-time opponent or encourage his supporters to back Trump in his likely contest with the Democratic front-runner in the November national election, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. "There will be plenty of time for voters to make the determination of who they're going to support," Cruz said. "It will be incumbent on the candidates in this race to make the case to the people that they will fight for them." Rubio vows to support GOP nominee Rubio said he would adhere to his months-old pledge to support the Republican presidential nominee. Rubio, however, said he still has deep concerns about Trump's policies, that he is not a reliable conservative, and the way the brash, one-time television reality show host conducted his campaign. "All of the policy differences I have with him remain," Rubio told NBC's Today show on Wednesday. "All of the reservations I have about his campaign remain. I clearly didn't want us to be in the position we are in today." Rubio said he has "even more policy differences with [Clinton] and I'm even more scared about her being in control of the U.S. government and continuing the status quo of Barack Obama's policies." Bush will abstain Another of Trump's vanquished foes, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, says he will not vote for either Trump or Clinton. Bush's father and brother, the last two Republican presidents, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, have both declined to become involved in the 2016 campaign and are skipping July's Republican National Convention, where Trump will be formally nominated. Numerous Republican lawmakers also say they plan to avoid the convention, although others say they plan to attend and support Trump's candidacy, in part because he has won nearly 11 million votes from Republican supporters in the state-by-state nominating contests that started in February and extend into early June. Washington meetings Trump heads to Washington Thursday for meetings with key Republican congressional leaders, including the party's top current elected official, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who says he is "just not ready" to endorse Trump as the party's standard bearer. "We can't fake that we're unified," Ryan said, adding that he needs to discuss Trump's underlying political philosophy with him. Trump initially said he was "blindsided" by Ryan's refusal to endorse him and that it is possible the two may just "go our separate ways." On Tuesday, however, Trump called Ryan "a very good man. We'll see what happens" at the meeting. "If we make a deal, that'll be great. If we don't, we'll trudge forward like I've been doing," he said. Ryan is slated to chair the party's national convention and offered to drop that role if Trump, as the party's nominee, wanted him to do so; but, Trump said, "I'd love frankly for him to stay and be chairman." Turks for decades lived virtually untouched by the turmoil in the Middle East and the upheaval in the Muslim world, with the nation's internal challenge centered on curbing Kurdish insurgents. In the last two years, however, the fallout from Syria's civil war and the rise of Islamic State have caused serious problems for Turkey. Struggling with housing hundreds of thousands of war refugees, reeling from IS terror attacks, shaken economically from a drop in tourism, and losing trade with Russia in a diplomatic rift over Syria, Turks from varied walks of life are uneasy and fearful. The free press, too, is under siege as the Turkish government has cracked down on journalistic freedoms. Turks have grown reluctant to express their opinions for fear of government reprisal. VOA interviewed a cross section of Turkish society. Here are some excerpts: Mehmet Ak, 55, a labor inspector from Ankara "These bombings make me fearful. I am scared that I may die because of it. I try to stay away from crowded places. If I am at a crowded place, I try to leave as soon as possible. "We in our family constantly tell each other that we have to be careful. We tell our children not to go to shopping centers and ask them to stay away from the city's main arteries. "I go to many places because of my work and see everywhere that many people are concerned about themselves their family members and their children's security." Mustafa Atalay, 48, a business owner from Ankara "People are staying away from shopping centers. This caused the local trade to decrease. Internet sales increased instead. "Everyone became affected negatively by these bombings. Other business owners that I know feel the same way I do. After the bombings, many business owners told their employees to use their vacation time, because there were no sales at all." Gamze Dusmez, 45, a linguist from Ankara "Bombs in Ankara scared us like hell. I still hear sirens going in my head. In Ankara, authorities increased security steps. There are new checkpoints. "There are huge tourism losses. There was an international music festival in Ankara, but foreign artists did not come. Because of cancellations, the festival was on just for a week instead of a month. Foreigners canceled. "I don't think security steps are enough. Take the attack in Bursa, for example. The woman suicide bomber got on the bus to Bursa in Sanliurfa and her bag was full of explosives. Intercity bus terminals are not checked thoroughly like the airports. I think the intelligence organization should do a better job." Safak Behram Guner, 21, a university student from Ankara "When bombings of this sort happen, the first reaction of individuals and societies is to fear. We lived this on our university campus, too. But recently, feelings of people are turning into frustration and desperation. We can't get the news accurately because of gag rules and restrictions. "A suicide bomber can be anybody. He may be walking next to you on the street. That is different than armed attacks. That is why we feel so frustrated. "I see Turkey being one step away from the civil war. The responsibility of all this is on the Middle Eastern governments, multinational corporations, terrorist organizations and everybody else who benefits from these developments." Hasan Koyunoglu, 39, a tour guide from Istanbul "Incoming tourists are seriously influenced because of the bombings in Turkey. Usually every year, there used to be many foreign tourists in the Sultanahmet district. This year, you can only see tourists from the Middle East. "Russian sanctions affected the Antalya area. If there were no terror acts, maybe we could have closed the Russian gap. Cruise firms canceled Turkey stops, too. This will be the worst of the last 10 years in Turkish tourism. "Hotel and vacation prices are going down and will go down more. Europeans may take last-minute cheap packages; but, there have been no early reservations made in February and March. "I blame the government for this situation; also, the other countries that have turned Syria into a proxy war zone. Europe is not even taking 10,000 refugees." Mine Alkan, 50, a textile worker from Bursa in northwest Turkey "I have observed the presence of jihadists even in the most elite neighborhoods of Bursa. There are obvious differences between real Syrian immigrants and jihadist IS fighters. Their clothes and physical appearances show that they have received military training. "So our family members stay away from jihadist-looking people and [try] not to express our political views publicly. My son is autistic and he openly talks about politics, although I try to stop him. We mostly live an isolated life and avoid going to the city center as much as possible. "The Syrians have changed the city enormously. They are used as cheap labor by many employers here. The number of Arabic-speaking people on public transportation vehicles is outnumbering those who speak Turkish. So many Syrians have rented houses here, and I have no idea about what they do." Suleyman Kaplan, 50, a hotel manager in the seaside tourist city of Antalya "The hotel I work for will close the year with at least a 20 percent loss. This year is gone. We are focusing on 2017. Tourism losses only from Russians will be more than $15 billion. "We have to blame ourselves. Our Middle East policy is wrong. Our country is divided into two pieces like a watermelon. Solution is democracy without ethnic and religious discrimination." Birol Yilmaz, 51, a mechanical engineer from Istanbul "I feel concerned about my country and new generations. It is sad to see that my country is moving away from peaceful co-existence and Ataturk's principle peace at home and peace abroad. "I don't want to give concessions from my lifestyle. That is why I did not take any special precautions regarding bombing acts. When my son goes out, I warn him and ask him to be careful. "I see the governments of the past 50 years responsible. It has become worse in the past 20 years. Officials do not serve people and the public. After joining NATO, we have become a colony. "We need to have real public servants to get out of this mess. We can't see the light, but we can't lose hope either." Abdullah Gulsoy, 50, an appliance salesman from Gaziantep, where IS is active "IS activities in Gaziantep affect many things in many ways Kilis is being bombed every day. We feel that, too. There are no investments in this area anymore. People are very concerned about the security situation in the city. "Refugees are a serious problem for our area. All kinds of crime have increased. We tell our kids not to go out on the streets. There are more refugees than what the government is saying. The government says half a million refugees, but the real number is much higher. "Government officials are not taking necessary precautionary steps. Our foreign policy is wrong. Hitting the Russian jet really hurt us. In rural areas, there is some sympathy for IS amongst the people who are extremely religious." Yeliz Tumkaya, 24, a teacher from Istanbul "The high school I work at is not in a very secure area of Istanbul. I am concerned when I go to work every morning. When I wait for the bus, I pray that there will be no suicide bomber around me. I don't trust the metro trains. "When even we think that our country is not livable anymore, why should foreign tourists come to have a vacation in Turkey? Nobody would like to stay at a place that is not secure for people. Of course, our economy is badly affected. The Russian crisis added extra burden to all these. Unfortunately, I don't have a solution for these things happening in the world." Gani Alicioglu, 47, a political chief for the Vatan Party in Kilis, near the Syrian border "We are constantly being rocketed by ISIS [Islamic State]. People are very concerned, scared and in panic. More than 30 percent of [the] Kilis population has moved out of the city. Innocent people are dying by the rockets. "Our officials don't care. They didn't take a step until people protested the rocket attacks by IS. People are reacting to the government. No economy [is] left in Kilis. People of Kilis do not feel sympathy for ISIS. "I see the USA, England, Germany and France as responsible countries because they caused Syria to come to this point. As long as the war in Syria goes on, this violence problem will continue. Atilla Yazar, 54, an engineer from the border town of Sanliurfa, where IS activity is high "We believe that the activities of the IS in our country are within the knowledge of the government and the national intelligence organization. If the opposite were true, the IS would not be traveling and carrying out activities so freely and easily in our country. We think that the government creates and manipulates those inhumane organizations such as the IS in order to tyrannize over the dissidents in Turkey. "There are about 480,000 Syrian asylum seekers or refugees in our city. And I can say that they are affecting the economy of the city very negatively. They are used as cheap labor and the local workers have been the sufferers in this situation." Osman Suzen, 51, a lawyer and human rights activist in the southeast city of Adiyaman "I think it was in 2013 that the activities of IS became visible in Adiyaman. It was way back then the locals here started saying that the youths in the city were joining the IS in large numbers. I remember that in August 2013, a family sought help from our association after their two children joined the IS. They told us that they wanted to get their sons back from the militant group and we asked them to seek help from the police department and the prosecutor's office. And they did. "Their children returned four or five months after joining the organization. One of them had married a Syrian woman. They also officially wedded here and had a child. Then we heard that they left Adiyaman to join IS again. "Since 2013, IS started overtly operating in the city, and even opened a tea house here and tried to portray itself as legitimate. I think it is now operating more like an underground organization." The tech-savvy alternative to taxicabs, Uber, is trying to put down roots in Africa, but the U.S.-based company has had to adapt itself to African norms as well as pushback from the traditional taxi industry. Uber first established itself in South Africa in 2013, and is now available in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban. While it presented a challenge to more traditional forms of public transport, it also provided a new employment option in a market where jobs were scarce. Uber launched in Nigeria the following year, with services available in Lagos and Abuja. By 2015, it was available in Mombasa, Kenya, as well. Uber's director for sub-Saharan Africa, Alon Lits, has high hopes for the company, which relies on self-motivated drivers using their own cars to provide rides. Clients arrange for an Uber ride through Uber's mobile app, which then routes the ride request to a nearby Uber driver. Lits tells VOA that Uber could solve a lot of transportation problems in African cities, where public transport is not always available or convenient. Likewise, it could offer opportunities for people who have access to a car, but lack a job. Obstacles But some things that have worked well in the United States, where Uber has been very successful, have not worked in African cities. In the U.S., part of the convenience of the service is that all payments are made by credit card, meaning the app can automatically arrange the payment without a physical transaction between rider and driver. In Africa, payment in cash is more practical. Uber also had to adjust its mapping service. The Google maps that work well in the United States were not as useful in Africa, where not all places have a formal address. Uber switched to the Kenyan startup company Okhi, which combines photos of physical locations with GPS data to help drivers locate their clients and destinations. Perhaps most difficult has been the pushback from local taxi drivers, who find their business threatened by a younger, faster competitor. In South Africa and Kenya, cabdrivers have staged regular anti-Uber protests, arguing that the government should prohibit Uber from operating inside the country's borders. Inevitability But change to the taxi industry seems inevitable. While Uber is currently operating in five African nations, with at least three more in its immediate future, South American startup Easy Taxi is now operating in four: Egypt, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria. A service called Taxi Jet is piloting its car-sharing service in Ivory Coast. And Maramoja Swahili for "instantly" began connecting cars with riders in Kenya in February 2015, only one month after Uber. "After Uber," in fact, might be the best way to refer to the changes wrought on an entire industry by one little app. The disputed presidential election on February 18th in Uganda has led the main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to announce it will hold an alternative inauguration of opposition candidate Kizza Besigye on Thursday, the same day that President Yoweri Museveni, in office since 1986, will be sworn in for another term. The electoral commission in Uganda says that President Museveni won the election with 61 percent of the vote but Besigye, the FDC candidate, insists he won the election with 52 percent of the vote. Besigye has been on a campaign of defiance aimed at invalidating what he calls President Museveni's "illegal presidency." The Ugandan government has banned the local media from covering "live activities" of the FDC party. Besigye's wife: Military atmosphere in Kampala Besigye's wife, Winnie Byanyima, called VOA from Kigali, Rwanda, where she's attending the World Economic Forum to say that Uganda's capital, Kampala, has been militarized. She says security forces have been deployed at the homes of leading opposition officials, including at Besigye's home. "The situation has continued to be very tense as more of the opposition leaders have been picked up and detained in places that are not known. Others, their homes have been surrounded; they cannot go out or receive people. At our home, it is very, very surrounded and access into and out is very limited," she said. Byanyima said tensions remain very high in Kampala as she said there are soldiers everywhere. Police say heavy security necessary Uganda Inspector General of Police Kale Kayihura has said that heavy security is necessary because President Museveni will be sworn in Thursday, and Uganda is expecting "quite a number of heads of state and other dignitaries" to attend the inauguration. "On such an event, all the national security agencies come together as a joint team to ensure that the event is properly secure against all threats," he said. He said police have arrested opposition activists who they say were planning to disrupt the Museveni inauguration. Kayihura defended a police raid on the FDC offices in Kampala, saying police had information the opposition had been printing propaganda materials. Opposition transitional government to be sworn in Byanyima said she read on the FDC website that is has announced what it calls a "transitional government" of national unity, led by Kizza Besigye, that will be sworn in on Thursday at the same time that President Museveni will be sworn in. "It says that the transitional government intends to rescue Uganda from a regime that stole the election," she said. Byanyima also accused Ugandan police of spreading lies that Besigye has broken Uganda law by his campaign of defiance. "My husband has not broken any law, and if he had, by now they would have charged him and tried him. He's been under this illegal detention since before the election. They have enough time to prosecute him if he was doing anything that is against the law," she said. Police leader denies police act politically Kayihura says, "The police do not act on the basis of politics, let along partisan politics. Police (in Uganda) operate on the basis if there is an indication that somebody is about to commit an offense or has committed an offense obviously the police will be interested. That's why police are there anywhere in the world, in the United States." Meanwhile the head of a European Union delegation to Uganda, Kristian Schmidt, has told the Uganda government to stop the hostile reaction to calls for change. Schmidt said unless the ruling National Resistance Movement changes its approaches, it might jeopardize the progress made on health indicators and literacy rates. One day before the swearing-in of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, his main rival, Kizza Besigye, appears to have held his own ceremony. Besigye showed up Wednesday afternoon in downtown Kampala despite being under house arrest. The visit brought patrons out of shops to watch, and many of his supporters flocked to his car as he drove by, occasionally stopping to address the crowd. Besigye was arrested shortly after his appearance and crowds were dispersed using tear gas. Some videos, which have appeared on Twitter, show the crowd being beaten with sticks by plain-clothed men. The opposition FDC party later announced that it had held its own swearing-in ceremony for what it called "the people's president," releasing pictures of the event. Besigye insists the government rigged the March presidential election in favor of Museveni and that he, Besigye, was the true winner. Many Ugandans reacted with amusement; however, within hours, the government began shutting down social media. Roadblocks have been set up and police are out in force throughout Kampala ahead of Museveni's inauguration Thursday. Sixteen heads of state including Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta and Tanzania's John Magufuli are expected to attend. Officials say that access to social media will be restored shortly after the inauguration and that the roadblocks are needed for security. Several members of the opposition have vowed to protest Thursdays event; however, with opposition FDC members announcing Besigye's unofficial swearing-in earlier Wednesday and with Besigye's subsequent arrest it is difficult to say if protests will take place Thursday as scheduled. The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine reached several agreements Wednesday to improve security in the war-torn Donbas region, but failed to agree on holding elections in that part of eastern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russia-backed separatists. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who hosted the talks with his three counterparts at a retreat near Berlin, told reporters after the meeting that there had been "clear progress" on the issue of security in eastern Ukraine, but no "breakthrough." "We reached progress in the security area but the political process remains difficult without a breakthrough today. A mixed progress, but I'm happy that Moscow and Kyiv were ready to work closer together today with the goal to keep the cease-fire," he said. The parties to the conflict agreed to improve communications and halt military training along the front lines to prevent any escalation of hostilities. Steinmeier cautioned that key parts of the 2015 Minsk peace deal still need to be implemented. "One of today's agreements is to halt military training maneuvers along the line of contact so as to prevent any escalation. . . If we could provide a sustainable cease-fire that would be a big step forward," he said. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that Russia's position at the talks in Berlin had prevented an agreement to hold local elections in eastern Ukraine, one of the main issues of the Minsk peace deal. Unfortunately the critical issues which are so important for getting the Minsk process further were unable to be sorted out - of course because of, because of the Russian position, because of the Russian unwillingness or unreadiness to come up with electoral modalities on the basis of Ukrainian legislation and on the basis of OSCE standards," he said. Russia has rejected a proposal for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send an armed monitoring mission to eastern Ukraine for the elections. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow sees no need to deploy such a mission, though OSCE officials are welcome to observe the vote. Lavrov also insisted that Ukraine's parliament has yet to approve parts of the Minsk agreement, including the passage of bills on holding elections in the east and an amnesty for the separatists. In February 2015, the quartet's leaders brokered the Minsk peace deal, later signed by representatives of Kyiv and the separatist militias in eastern Ukraine. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,300 people and displaced more than 1.5 million others since April 2014. The U.N. Security Council has requested that its counterterrorism committee present a proposal for an international framework to combat how terrorists attract and recruit people to commit violent acts. The committee was asked to make the recommendations by next April 30. This request is part of intensified efforts by the 15-nation council to fight the growing threat from terrorist groups, including the self-styled Islamic State, Boko Haram and al-Qaida. At their meeting Wednesday, council members focused on how terrorists exploit the Internet and social media to disseminate their propaganda and recruit new followers, especially young people. The Internet has been hijacked to spread the hateful messages of Daesh in ways previously thought impossible, to reach audiences previously thought inaccessible, British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said, using Islamic States Arabic acronym. But he and others pointed out that the Internet and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter also can be important tools to counter extremist voices. The Internet itself is not a threat, said U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power. Though it can host ISIL lies and propaganda, it also makes possible the flow of counter narratives, the exchange of new ideas and the voices of tolerance, who vastly outnumber the exceptions. Chinas envoy, Liu Jieyi, appeared to call for tighter Internet regulations, saying we must cut off the channels for spreading terrorist ideologies. He cited the Internet and social media as two of those platforms. He urged the international community to take measures including stepped-up Internet surveillance to prevent terrorists from releasing audio and video materials online for recruiting, financing, planning or carrying out other terrorist activities. Safeguarding press freedom The protection of free media can be a defense against terrorist narratives, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told the council. There must be no arbitrary or excessive punishment against people who are simply expressing their opinions. He also urged space for civil society and nongovernmental organizations to operate freely. Wednesdays debate was chaired by Egypt, which holds the council presidency this month. Cairo has come under increasing international criticism for its crackdown on NGOs and media organizations. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry dismissed reporters questions regarding the arrest of journalists and the difficulties they face working in Egypt, saying there are a multitude of press outlets, both independent, and even government owned, that are totally free to express their views and do so. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is calling on Turkey to allow independent investigators to probe "a succession of alarming reports" of human rights abuses in the country's embattled southeast. Tuesday's U.N. call for transparency from Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein comes as European leaders press the Ankara government to halt the flow of refugees into Europe, while at the same time pushing it to reform anti-terror laws that opponents say are increasingly used against government critics. A U.N. statement said Zeid had received reports of unarmed civilians including women and children "being deliberately shot by snipers, or by gunfire from tanks and other military vehicles." Zeid also cites the "massive, and seemingly highly disproportionate, destruction of property" in the Turkish southeast the entry point for several million Syrian migrants fleeing war, and a region where Turkish troops are battling a decades-long Kurdish insurgency. The statement further cites allegations of arbitrary arrests and torture in the southeast, and claims that ambulances and rescue personnel have in some cases been blocked from reaching those wounded by Turkish forces. Erdogan ridicules reform calls For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has scoffed at Western calls for human rights reforms. He has argued that the dual threats facing his country from Kurdish militants in the region, coupled with increasing incidents of Islamic State terrorism, call for strengthening anti-terror laws rather than curtailing them. He went so far last week as to reject a deal under which the European Union offered Turkey visa-free travel, in exchange for Turkish anti-terror reforms. "They 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. HRW cites violence toward Syrians In a related development Tuesday, Human Rights Watch challenged Turkish claims of welcoming Syrian asylum-seekers streaming across its borders. In a 13-page statement, HRW cited shootings and beatings of Syrian migrants, and said border guards last month blocked thousands of Syrians at the border who were fleeing Islamic State fighters northeast of the Syrian city of Aleppo. The statement singled out witness reports of three Turkish airstrikes at a camp sheltering 4,500 displaced Syrians near Turkey's increasingly fortified border. It said medics had recovered 20 bodies, including those of two children, and said at least 37 other were wounded in the strikes. The Obama administration on Tuesday accused China of continuing to impose high taxes on U.S. chicken exports and refusing to comply with orders to follow global trading rules. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said the White House was mounting a challenge to China at the World Trade Organization, demanding that it abide by WTO rules. "American [poultry] farmers deserve a fair shot to compete and win in the global economy, and this administration will continue to hold China responsible when they attempt to disadvantage our farmers, businesses and workers," he said. High Chinese duties make U.S. products too expensive in the global market compared with the heavily subsidized Chinese goods. This is the second dispute involving U.S. chicken exports to China since 2013. The WTO found in favor of the U.S. the last time. But China reopened the case and insisted it was following global trading rules. The United States said China carried out its reinvestigation in near secrecy and failed to prove that U.S. exports actually hurt Chinese farmers. China has yet to respond to the latest U.S. challenge. Froman said this was the 12th time the U.S. had taken action against China before the WTO, adding that the U.S. had won every case. The U.S. and China engaged in a new face-off Tuesday in the South China Sea, with an American warship sailing near disputed artificial islands claimed by Beijing, and China scrambling fighter jets to warn off the U.S. vessel. The U.S. Defense Department said it sent a guided missile destroyer, the USS William Lawrence, to within 22 kilometers (13.7 miles) of Fiery Cross Reef, a land feature in the South China Sea. In response, China said it dispatched two fighter jets and three vessels to monitor the U.S. ship's passage and warned it to leave the waters near the reef. Fiery Cross is composed of about 280 hectares (690 acres) of mostly dredged material from the ocean floor, to which China and other nations lay claim. Beijing in the last several years has built a 3,000-meter runway there, opened a port and erected other military facilities. In less than a year, the U.S. has conducted three so-called freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea to contest what it believes to be excessive claims to the territory by nearby countries. The Lawrence operation was meant to "challenge excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea," Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban said in an emailed statement. "These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise." State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau stressed later that the operation challenged attempts by China, Taiwan and Vietnam to restrict navigational rights around the feature they claim. The operation is not singling out China, she said. The Chinese foreign and defense ministries described the U.S. ship's maneuver as provocative and said the American operation was justification for Beijing's construction of military facilities on the island. Although the United States is not a claimant to the sovereignty over disputed islands in the South China Sea, senior officials have been saying it is vital to U.S. interests that various claimants pursue their claims peacefully and in accordance with international laws. About $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year through the South China Sea, the majority of which China claims. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have claims to parts of the sea. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has a $30 billion plan to diversify the economies of U.S. coal towns. Voters in the state of West Virginia, second in the nation in coal production, do not care. The former secretary of state lost her party's primary there Tuesday while businessman Donald Trump cruised to victory on the Republican ballot. Trump, who promised to bring coal jobs back, got nearly twice as many overall votes as Clinton did in her race against Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Patrick Hickey, an assistant professor of political science at West Virginia University, told VOA the result will be similar in November when he expects Trump to find his highest level of support there out of any of the 50 states. Exit polls from Tuesday's primaries showed the top concern for West Virginia voters is the economy. "Weve lost a lot of coal jobs recently and jobs in general, so I think people are kind of fed up with the entire system and think the system is rigged against them, and I think thats really the root of the appeal for both Trump and Sanders," Hickey said. Democrats have done steadily worse in West Virginia since 1996 when Clinton's husband, Bill, easily won it against Republican Bob Dole. In that election, Dole got 37 percent of the vote. By 2012, the situation had flipped with President Barack Obama getting 36 percent in his blowout loss in West Virginia to Mitt Romney. But in other states in the region, including fellow coal producers Pennsylvania and Ohio, Obama won the past two elections and Hillary Clinton won primaries in those two states this year. Hickey said those surrounding states already have more economic diversity and people there recognize in programs such as the bailout of the auto industry under Obama a positive role the federal government has played in their lives. "Were waiting for something to happen to transform what was an economy dependent on coal production to an economy powered by something else," Hickey said of West Virginia. "And the question here is really, what is that something else?" He said the problem with Clinton's multi-point plan is that West Virginians have been hearing that kind of pledge for 30 years with no result while the other states have seen action. As much as the messages of Trump and Sanders connected with voters in West Virginia during the primaries, its small size makes it less important come November. The general election winner is decided under the Electoral College system, which requires a candidate to earn 270 out of 538 votes to win. Whoever wins West Virginia earns only five electoral votes. The Democratic and Republican candidates, likely Clinton and Trump, will spend much of the next six months trying to appeal to the 42 percent of Americans who, according to a January Gallup poll, identify as independents. Some states allow those voters to take part in the primary process, but for the most part the races so far have only involved people registered as Democrats or Republicans. "One thing I think is key to distinguish when we look forward to Trump-Clinton potentially in November is that the Republican Party electorate is very different than the general election electorate," Hickey said. "And so I think what are Trumps strengths in winning the nomination will be his weaknesses in the fall in the general election." As unpredictable as Trump's rise to the Republican nomination has been, Hickey said he does not expect the national vote to be much different than historical races because of voter demographics. "In the general election we can tell by the percentage of African Americans in a state, or the percentage of Hispanic voters in a state or the percentage or urban versus rural. Those are pretty predictable voting patterns in terms of Democratic or Republican presidential candidates," he said. "I dont see that Trump will really change that map. If anything I think there will be some kind of anti-turnout. Like Hispanics might not like Hillary Clinton, but if someone says theyre going to build a wall and deport all undocumented workers then they might turn out to vote against that person. So I think those demographic fundamentals will not change in 2016." Hours after marching in a peaceful protest against the government late last month, Yassin Mohammed and his friends were lingering in the area in a district of the Egyptian capital when police descended on them, piled them into a minibus and took them to a police station. There, he said, he was blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten by security agents. Now the 21-year-old Mohammed, released on bail, faces trial on charges of breaking a 2013 law that virtually bans any street demonstrations. He knows how heavy the penalty can be. Two years ago, he was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison for joining protests and he said he nearly committed suicide in his cell out of despair until a fellow inmate stopped him. Mohammed is among those caught up in one of the biggest waves of arrests in the past two years in Egypt, a sweep that signals a fierce zero-tolerance stance by the government of general-turned-President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi over any sign of unrest. The detentions were sparked by demonstrations against el-Sissi's decision last month to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, which galvanized activists who had been largely silenced by previous crackdowns. But activists have been startled by the scope of the arrests and how little it takes to bring severe charges, including accusations of seeking to overthrow the government or fomenting terrorism, over demonstrations that gathered only a few hundred people. In just the last three weeks, human rights lawyers say nearly 1,300 were detained. Most of them have been released, but 277 have been formally charged and face trial, according to Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, a rights lawyer who has been tracking the arrests and is representing 20 of the detainees. In recent speeches, el-Sissi has demanded that all criticism of the handover of the islands stop. He told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation that human rights issues in Egypt should be not approached from a "Western perspective" because of the challenges it faces, including a fight with an Islamic militant insurgency. El-Sissi also increasingly repeats that Egypt faces existential threats from "evil forces" or "evil people" conspiring to push the country into chaos and bloodshed like Syria or Iraq, though he has never explained what these forces are. "It is like an old dam and the state is worried that allowing one crack to open will unleash a flood. The regime has no solution except suppression," said rights lawyer Gamal Eid. Besides charges of violating the protest law, detainees often face other, broad and undefined charges, including spreading propaganda that harms security and hurting or disrupting national unity, security or social peace. In recent days, police arrested five members of a satirical street performing group that produces videos on social media mocking el-Sissi. One of them, 19-year-old Ezzedeen Khaled, was detained Saturday and, though a court ordered his release on bail, was charged with inciting protests and posting videos containing foul language and insults directed at state institutions, according to his lawyer, Mahmoud Othman. The remaining four were arrested Monday and have been slapped with an even heavier charge of inciting terror attacks and protests. A prominent rights lawyer, Malek Adly, who had filed a legal suit against the decision to hand the islands to the Saudis, was arrested last week and is under investigation for a range of allegations, including attempting to overthrow the government. Another lawyer, Ahmed Abdullah, who had been advising the family of an Italian student kidnapped, tortured and killed in Egypt earlier this year, was arrested last month and has been charged with a long list of accusations including membership in a terror group and inciting protests. On April 25, when activists called for protests against the islands' handover, police appeared to sweep up any young men who they believed intended to join in or were just in the area of planned demonstrations. Abdel-Aziz said that among the 20 defendants he represents are young men who were detained just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time or because anti-government material was found stored on their mobile phones. Others, he told The Associated Press, were picked up from downtown Cairo cafes, a favorite hangout for secular activists. Mohammed told the AP he and his two friends were detained well after the day's marches were dispersed. They were still in the area looking for other friends who were missing. Mohammad had previously been sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison in two separate cases for involvement in protests. A 15-year sentence handed down in one of the cases was reduced to three years in a retrial. He was then pardoned for that case last September, but his appeal against the remaining 2-year sentence in the second case was rejected last month. So he now faces that prison term and a trial on the new arrest. "Nothing is really achieved by arresting me and others," he said. "It is the other side that is losing the love of the people when they arrest anyone they see." Another of those arrested said he and several friends were detained six hours before the protests were to start on April 25, when they arrived in the area. "We parked our car and started to walk looking for a place where we can eat breakfast. Five minutes later we were cordoned off by police and detained," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid further police retaliation. The 26-year-old said he was taken to a riot police base on the city's outskirts where he was interrogated and beaten. He was released on bail and faces charges that include seeking to overthrow the government. El-Sissi and government officials have argued that strict measures are necessary at a time when Egypt is battling Islamic militants based in Sinai and trying to repair an economy gutted by years of turmoil since the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been killed by the militants most recently eight policemen gunned down this week in an attack on the southern outskirts of Cairo. Officials and the media also drum up vague fears of threats to the nation. Cairo airport officials often report the seizure of "spy" drones and secret cameras found hidden in the luggage of arriving foreigners, but there's never any further word on the "spies" or the nations behind them. Newspapers often speak of unidentified conspiracies and enemies. Hosts of political TV talk shows nightly engage in conspiracy theories complemented by incitement against government critics. "Sadly, there is a significant level of social acceptance for these arrests because of the fear-mongering by el-Sissi and his loyalists in the media," Abdel-Aziz said. El-Sissi still appears to enjoy widespread public backing, though it has shown some erosion. The Egypt-based polling agency Baseera, one of the few that conducts polls in the country, said its latest survey in April showed 79 percent approve of el-Sissi's performance, though that was down from 85 percent in November. The poll surveyed 1,541 people above the age of 18 with a margin of error of 3 percent. Since leading the army's July 2013 ouster of Egypts first freely elected civilian President Mohammed Morsi, el-Sissi has overseen what is possibly the country's biggest ever crackdown on opposition. Initially, and most bloodily, the crackdown targeted Islamists, arresting thousands and killing hundreds who protested demanding Morsi's reinstatement. But security forces have also crushed the ranks of secular young activists. Middle East analyst Michael W. Hanna of New York's Century Foundation does not see anyone or any group currently in Egypt that is capable of seriously challenging el-Sissi's rule. "They are overreacting, of course, no question about it, in ways that are both strange and inappropriate," Hanna said. The Electoral Commission of Zambia has issued a directive banning the use of cellphones inside polling stations during the August 11 presidential, legislative and local elections. But some opposition groups have questioned the rationale behind the directive. Parliament member Request Muntanga, of the main opposition United Party for National Development, called it disturbing. Local media quoted Muntanga as saying, I want to see where there is a regulation that says no cellphone [in polling stations]. ... The [electoral commission] is already creating uneasiness among players. Priscilla Isaac, director of elections at the commission, said the cellphone directive was aimed at ensuring that voters do not undermine the transparency and credibility of the electoral process. They would not be allowed to use cellphones inside the polling stations. But if somebody needs to make a call or send a message, they can do so outside the polling station building, because we found that [cellphone use inside] tends to be disruptive, Isaac said. Last year in January, we actually had some voters taking photos of their ballot paper after they had marked it, and they were posting it on social media, which is not permissible because that is equivalent [to] campaigning, and it compromises the secrecy of the ballot, she said. Voters' rights Some civil society and opposition groups said the commission directive infringes on voters' rights, since the constitution guarantees freedom of expression. They also said the commission failed to consult all stakeholders before issuing the directive. They accused the electoral body of doing the bidding of President Edgar Lungu and his governing Patriotic Front party. That is not true," Isaac said. It is just to make sure that we maintain order within the polling stations and not have the secrecy of the vote compromised, and we dont want disturbances in the polling stations. Can you imagine you are in a polling station and people are voting and everybody is talking on the phone, and tweeting and what have you? It would just become disruptive, and cause discomfort to the voter. People would have to obey," she said. "Once the electoral commission gives a directive of how procedures are within the polling stations, then people would have to comply. And it is not unique to Zambia. In the Seychelles, they are not even allowed to enter a polling station with your phone. Critics of the cellphone directive, Isaac said, would be the first to complain and say they were being "disadvantaged" if ballots being circulated on social media were not being cast for their candidates. She also compared the issue to the desire not to have election results announced while voting is still underway "because there is a possibility of it influencing those that are voting. The same can be said about marked ballot papers being posted on social media during the course of voting on election day. Meanwhile, civil society and religious groups have also expressed concern about violence before the beginning of the official campaign period, set for May 16. Both the Patriotic Front and the United Party for National Development say their supporters have been attacked by members of the other party. The onus is on the political parties to be responsible for the behavior of their supporters and their behaviors as political parties. As a commission, we cant force them not be violent. But they know the consequences of violence," Isaac said. The U.N. World Food Program on Wednesday released video highlighting a worsening food crisis in South Sudan, where up to to 5.3 million people could face severe food shortages over the March to September lean season. WFP footage showed young children waiting at a food distribution center in the northern Bahr El-Ghazal region for malnutrition tests as well as one family saying they were leaving South Sudan for Darfur because of the food crisis. From January to March, some 2.8 million people were classed as being in "crisis" or "emergency" food situations, with about 40,000 thought to be suffering an outright famine. The crisis comes despite attempts to end more than two years of fighting, which began in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked his first vice president Riek Machar, triggering ethnically charged violence. Some business executives and economic experts on Wednesday urged the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to offer amnesty to the more than 280 business people and individuals accused of illegally externalizing millions of dollars so that the funds can be brought back home or be legitimized as foreign assets. Indications are that some of the Zimbabweans are not on the leaked searchable data, known as the Panama Papers, published on Monday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In a suggestion to monetary authorities, former Kingdom Bank owner and Harare businessman, Nigel Chanakira, said instead of laying charges against offshore account holders, Zimbabwe could benefit immensely if it comes up with a neat way of bringing that money back home. "All that money that is out there actually a net foreign asset for us, so the 288 people bring it home. I would say we have about $10 billion from what you were indicating per annum. I think lets have a neat way of bringing it back home or leveraging of it," said Chanakira. He said taking punitive measures could result in the country completely losing the money which stands at about $10 billion going by Reserve Bank estimates that the country has been losing $2 billion annually through externalization since dollarization in 2009. Chanakira said other nations like Nigeria have been prudent enough to realize those investments were foreign assets which should be brought home and taxed accordindly. Countries like South Africa where that money has been moved out as investment because people have been cautious have been smart enough as to allow a period of declaration and sanitization of those funds and then with a view to penalize those people who keep those funds undeclared. I am therefore recommending to the government of Zimbabwe and specifically to the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to prudently consider those foreign assets, he said. Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce deputy president, Devine Ndlukula, urged the central bank to consider Chanakira's idea. The RBZ might to need to manage the way people are going to be allowed to bring back the money that they have externalized in a manner that is not punitive, said Ndhlukula These suggestions were also echoed by economics professor Ashok CHakravati. Its not something unusual many countries have done it, they have actually given an amnesty for that kind of transaction whereby you can bring back funds and there should be a fixed amnesty period and it should be clearly defined in the law and its a very good proposal, he said. Africa Leadership Convention chief executive officer, Davision Gomo, said if there was conclusive evidence that the money was wrongly externalized it must be brought back home. But I think whats more important is making sure we plug all the holes that allow for that externalization. Thats far more important than what you are suggesting, said Gomo. Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers President, Denford Mutashu, said while he supported the idea of bringing back the money those uncooperative must be prosecuted. Reserve Bank Governor, John Mangudya, while not committing to dialogue with the accused, said some of the cases were now being investigated by the police. The Reserve Bank is not an investigating arm its a regulating arm of course we have our financial intelligence unit but this goes through the normal process of investigation, Mangudya said. He called for discipline among businesspeople saying most of them were blaming the government for problems which they created themselves. Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa could not be reached for comment on this matter. The Reserve Bank under the Gideon Gono instituted several arrests of businesspeople and bankers for externalization funds but none of them were convicted. Over 280 Zimbabweans appear in the Panama Papers, including some prominent business people. Financial experts say Zimbabweans accused of externalizing funds should be pardoned and millions of dollars in offshore accounts repatriated to the southern African nation. There are many Zimbabwean names in leaked Panama Papers who were allegedly assisted by a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, to set up offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands. The documents, which belong to Mossack Fonseca, were leaked by an anonymous source to a leading German newspaper, which shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. A Zimbabwean court has thrown out Prosecutor General Johannes Tomanas application seeking an external judge or retired judge to handle his case in which the Judicial Services Commission wants to charge him for allegedly failing to properly perform his duties. We will give you an update on cash shortages in Zimbabwe. Stay tuned for these stories and more coming up on Studio 7 at 7:30 pm on 9-0-9 Medium Wave and on the 4-9-3-0, 5-9-4-0 and 1-5-4-6-0 shortwave frequencies. We also broadcast on www.channelzim.net. Please check us out on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter. This evening on Livetalk our hosts Blessing Zulu and Gibbs Dube will be talking with listeners and experts about leaked Panama Papers revealing that some business executives allegedly stashed millions of funds, prejudicing various nations of the much-needed taxes. Participate by sending your messages on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. You can also post comments on this Facebook wall or send us your number so we can call you back. REMEMBER WE WILL BE STREAMING LIVE ON FACEBOOK TODAY. JOIN IN AND LET'S TALK A Harare High Court judge on Wednesday dismissed an urgent application filed by Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni challenging his suspension by Local Government Minister Savior Kasukuwere. Harare High Court judge, Mary Zimba Dube, dismissed Manyenyenis urgent application ordering both parties to bear the costs of the lawsuit. Manyenyenis attorney, Dzimbahwe Chimbga of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told Studio 7 that the judge, who was sitting in her chambers, did not give reasons for her decision. Minister Kasukuwere told Studio 7 by phone that he was happy with the courts decision. But Chimbga said he has instructions from Manyenyeni to appeal to the Supreme Court. Kasukuwere told a Zanu PF rally in Mashonaland Central Province two weeks ago that he would remain in courts to ensure that Manyenyeni does not return to Town House. In his court papers, Manyenyeni argued that the ministers move to suspend him violated a section of the countrys constitution that stipulates that an independent tribunal should be set up to hear a mayors case before a decision to suspend or expel him or her is taken. Kasukuwere suspended Manyenyeni last month on allegations of insubordination and disobeying him over the Harare City Councils appointment of James Mushore as the citys town clerk. Following Manyenyenis suspension, Harare City Councillors suspended Mushore with no benefits pending the finalization of Manyenyenis case and determination on his queried appointment. Representatives of residents organizations in Harare refused to comment on todays judgement saying they have a pending matter in the courts in which they are challenging Manyenyenis suspension. Some Zimbabweans studying at various universities in the United States graduated last weekend with others getting an opportunity to rub shoulders with U.S President Barack Obama who delivered one of his last commencement speeches before he leaves office at Howard University in Washington DC. One of the lucky Howard University graduates who was at the graduation ceremony at which President Obama delivered his commencement speech, Thelma Mubaiwa, says she felt inspired and ready to conquer the world after receiving tips on how to succeed. "I remember when President Obama was running for office and I was in high school and I vowed that one day I was going to see him and be in his presence and follow his foot steps. So for him to be at my university at my graduation right before he leaves office as the first black president of the United States it was very momentous and it just gave me that support and that drive to continue going and I can possibly see myself in similar shoes like him," said Mubaiwa. Mubaiwa, who came from Zimbabwe at the age of nine, said it has been a long journey for her as she had to work to fund her studies while also attending school. Mubaiwa obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science majoring in politics and Afro-American Studies. She said President Obamas speech, highlighting the need for people never to give up, is exactly what she faced before graduating at the weekend. President Obama did not only inspire the graduation class of 2016 but also lit a fire in one of the parents of students that was graduating in finance. Mrs. Patience Musonza came to see her second son to attend Howard University, Tapiwa, graduating. Mr. Obamas speech inspired her to take up a nursing degree at the same university starting this fall. "President Obama spoke to us about having a strategy and to persue your passion but with a strategy. That inspired me to go back to school since my two sons have now graduated and now have time on my hands. Age is but a number and I am looking forward to carry on with my education at Howard University," said Mrs Musonza. Another Zimbabwean, who graduated from Berea College in Kentucky and will be heading to Wall Street where he has secured a position with Goldman Sachs, Leslie Matereke, said the road was not easy but was definitely worth it. Matereke was on the United States Students Achievers Programme (USAP) which assists under privileged academically gifted kids to get education. He urged others, who would like to persue their studies in the United States, to utilise USAP and other similar programes. Matereke said he received a lot of extended family support as he was an orphan but that never stopped him from wanting to reach his full potential by taking advantage of opportunities offered to advance himself academically. He said his biggest cheerleader was his late grandfather in rural Masvingo who was an avid listener of Studio7. "My grandfather was an avid listener of Studio7 and he valued education and my extended family invested in me and encouraged me to persue the highest level of education that I could without fear and I followed that calling," said Matereke. Matereke graduated with two degrees. He said although the road was difficult and consisted of a lot of sleepless nights, he is excited that he has now completed his studies. He said although he would like to one day go back to Zimbabwe the environment in the country has to be conducive enough to ensure that he can freely contribute the professionalism he is acquring from this country. Another Zimbabwean young lady, Idah Karonga, said she is looking forward to her gradution at Madison College in Edgewood Winsconsin this Sunday. Karonga said she graduated with two degrees in the four years she was at the college and has already secured employment in the United States but her wish is to return home to Zimbabwe in future. Most of the Zimbabwean students who continue to graduate from American Colleges say they would like to return home to help rebuild the country but the situation is not yet condusive for advancing their careers. Last week Vice President Philekezela Mphoko, while opening the African Capacity Building Foundations 25th anniversary in Harare, called on African countries to harness their human capital resources and set up initiatives to curb brain drain in the continent. But many are curious to see what steps Zimbabwe is making to make this a reality. Is there anything worse than that sickening feeling of seeing that somebody scratched your parked car while you were away? OK, obviously there are but it's still a pretty bad feeling. If you're lucky though, the culprit will leave you a note with their details. Or else they might just leave the note like this one which will either evoke a lot of fury or else make you laugh so hard that you forget about the whole thing. Thomas Callow, a 20-year-old college student in Massachusetts was in superb form after he'd just aced an English exam. However his mood dampened a bit when he walked to his car and discovered that somebody had driven into the vehicle and scratched the bumper. The culprit did leave a note but it had neither contact or insurance details inside... Not even mad about the scratches lmfao.....Hands down the funniest thing that has ever happened to me only in NewB Y pic.twitter.com/Mc3WD6P12H Tcalloww (@TCalloww) May 5, 2016 The note might be a little hard to read so here's the text in full: 'Yo I hit your car. Im leaving this note cause someones watching Theyre still watching Okay Im good. My bad nigga. Peace.' Could you imagine? As he says in the tweet, the note was too funny for Thomas to stay mad. I thought the whole thing was awesome. Whoever wrote the note made a lot of peoples days. His tweet has been retweeted over 40,000 times since the incident occurred last week and has made actually made Thomas a hit with the ladies. I have gotten over 50 girls phone numbers, so life is pretty good, he said. Sounds like the guy did him a favour really. Via NYMag Syria has been at war now for more than five years. Those who supported the conflict first explained it as an extension of the Arab Spring. But no-one today uses this explanation. Simply because the governments which developed from these Springs have already been overthrown. Far from being a struggle for democracy, these events were no more than a tactic for changing secular regimes to the profit of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is now alleged that the Syrian Spring was hijacked by other forces, and that the revolution - which never existed has been devoured by jihadists who are all too real. As President Vladimir Putin pointed out, primarily, the behaviour of the Western and Gulf powers is incoherent. It is impossible on a battlefield to combat both jihadists and the Republic at the same time as pretending to take a third position. But no-one has publicly taken sides, and so the war continues. The truth is that this war has no interior cause. It is the fruit of an environment which is not regional, but global. When war was declared by the US Congress in 2003 with the vote on the Syrian Accountability Act, Dick Cheneys objective was to steal the gigantic reserves of Syrian gas. We know today that the Peak Oil scare did not signal the end of oil reserves, and that Washington will soon be exploiting other forms of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico. The strategic objectives of the United States have thus changed. As from now, their objective is to contain the economic and political development of China and Russia by forcing them to engage in commerce exclusively by maritime routes which are controlled by their aircraft-carriers. As soon as he arrived in power in 2012, President Xi Jinping announced his countrys intention to free itself from these constraints and to build two new continental commercial routes to the European Union. The first route would build on the antique traces of the Silk Road, the second would pass via Russia and on to Germany. Immediately, two conflicts appeared first of all, the war in Syria was no longer directed at regime change, but at creating chaos, while the same chaos broke out, for no better reason, in Ukraine. Then, Belarus contacted Turkey and the United States, expanding the Northern barricade which splits Europe in two. Thus, two endless conflicts block both routes. The good news is that no-one can negotiate victory in Ukraine against defeat in Syria, since both wars have the same objective. The bad news is that the chaos will continue on both fronts as long as China and Russia have been unable to build another route. Consequently, there is nothing to be gained by negotiation with people who are being paid to maintain the conflict. It would be better to think pragmatically and accept that these are simply the means for Washington to cut the Silk Roads. Only then will it be possible to untangle the numerous competing interests and stabilise all the inhabited areas. This season of 'Love Is Blind' is shaping up to be absolute madness here's what people are saying about it Photo: Getty Images When news broke last month that Will Ferrell would be playing an Alzheimers-stricken Ronald Reagan in a comedy produced by Adam McKay which follows an intern tasked with convincing Reagan that hes actually an actor playing the president in a movie the backlash was swift, most notably from Reagans own family. The negative traction was enough for Ferrell to back out of the project two days later, and McKay soon followed suit, although the script was perceived by industry insiders to be a lot more safe and kind than what was reported. Speaking for the first time about the film, McKay expressed genuine surprise over the controversy that ensued. We were all taken aback, he told The Hollywood Reporter. It was weird. It seemed like everyone piled on it without knowing at all what the script was about. The reason we even looked at the script is because its actually really thoughtful and it had some sensitivity to the subject. Its now doubtful that the Mike Rosoliopenned film will ever make its way to the big screen. It was honestly not even a project we had set up; it didnt even have a director, McKay continued. Its just something we were looking at. Then all of a sudden it just steamrolled. You know, the press is a beast. Sorry, Adam. Oy. Photo: Getty Images Has Azealia Banks finally, actually trolled her way out of a career? Well, shes at least down one gig following yet another tirade on Twitter. Londons Born & Bred music festival has dropped Banks as its headliner following a racist beef she started with Zayn Malik Tuesday night. Her social media attack started out relatively innocuously, with Banks suggesting on Instagram that Zayn had copied her style for his clearly Tron-inspired I Would video. Later, Zayn appeared to subtweet her, saying No lies I see you reaching but I dont care and My @s too good for you. Thats all it took to set Banks off on a terribly bigoted rant against Zayn, in which she referred to the former One Directioner (who is half-Pakistani and also a Muslim) with multiple apparent slurs, including Punjabi, sand nigga, house nigger, faggot, and, well, you get the idea. She also accused Zayn of giving her phone number to his fans so they could harass her to which she responded by leaking his email and FaceTime contact and went on to insult the U.K.s entire music scene, and grime in particular. "Trying to make myself known but I'm still known as the token sand nigga from 1D" https://t.co/iHaStz4SqQ BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 10, 2016 LOL @ZAYNMALIK IS A FAGGOT BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 10, 2016 YUNG RAPUNXEL ALWAYS WINS PUNJABI!! pic.twitter.com/vK4jkSxcoo BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 10, 2016 When Zayn eventually acknowledged her, asking Why you been saying nasty things about me ? I wasnt talking about you lol?, she threatened that America would obliterate his entire extended family. She also accused Zayn of act[ing] like a white boy pretending to be black. U.S.A IS ABOUT TO TEACH YOU WHO NOT TO FUCK WITH!! https://t.co/fNAk8XI1dg BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 11, 2016 When your entire extended family has been obliterated by good ol the U.S of A will you still be trying to.... https://t.co/fNAk8XI1dg BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 11, 2016 Do you understand that you are a sand nigger who emulates white boys' renditions of black male hood? https://t.co/fNAk8XI1dg BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 11, 2016 In the midst of all this, Disney Channel star Skai Jackson (you know her from all those memes) stepped into Azealias mentions to call her out for lacking class. Briefly, Banks put her beef with Zayn on hold to start one with Jackson, of course. She responded by calling Skai a little black girl whos going to be kicked off the disney conveyer belt and a little thot in training, and accused Skais mother of pimping her daughter out, among other vile things. And heres where Azealia Banks, who is 24, got read her last rites by a 14-year-old: @AZEALIABANKS When a no hip having 14 year old has more class than you. Worry about your career. Get one. Skai Jackson (@skaijackson) May 11, 2016 @AZEALIABANKS I had a career before Disney and I'm sure I will after! And I know I won't turn out like you bitter and miserable! Fix ur life Skai Jackson (@skaijackson) May 11, 2016 @AZEALIABANKS and I'm sure my mom did a wayyy better job then yours did! You give black women a bad name. I'll be praying for you Skai Jackson (@skaijackson) May 11, 2016 @AZEALIABANKS you got dissed by a one directioner how miserable can your life be?? Now have several seats Azealia Stanks! Skai Jackson (@skaijackson) May 11, 2016 @AZEALIABANKS now that was corny ! go fix your edges before you come at me! #byenow Hide behind your weaves much? Skai Jackson (@skaijackson) May 11, 2016 @AZEALIABANKS this wasted conversation is helping your career ! Bye hunny Skai Jackson (@skaijackson) May 11, 2016 @AZEALIABANKS take your L like a champ! Skai Jackson (@skaijackson) May 11, 2016 Banks attempted to end her regrettable night by saying she had to appear in New York City criminal court Wednesday morning for one of her many assault cases, and that paparazzi should expect a special surprise. Well, the U.K. has a surprise for this notorious Trump supporter: Youre fired! Bankss June 5 headlining set at Born & Bred has been canceled, the festival has announced. We celebrate inclusivity and equality, they explained. Naturally, Banks is still trolling. Photo: Big Beach Films, Disney, Gravier Productions Whats the one place on earth you can go for cannibal supermodels, high-end art films, and Shia LaBeouf? The Cannes Film Festival, of course. Even if you cant make it to the Croisette yourself, rest assured that Vultures Kyle Buchanan and Jada Yuan will be there giving you the lowdown on all of Canness cinematic highlights. Which 15 films are going into this years festival with the most buzz? Below, Kyle and Jada talk through these highly anticipated entries for you, but stay tuned to Vulture during the next week-and-a-half for surprises, interviews, and a smart soupcon of Oscar talk. The BFG Any Roald Dahl addict has a special place for this sweet and sometimes terrifying story of a girl whos taken from her orphanage by a big friendly giant the titular BFG who distributes dreams to children and battles the other, evil giants that would rather just eat the kiddos. Its fitting, then, that the 25-year labor of love to bring this book to the big screen has found a steward in director Steven Spielberg and can boast brand-new Oscar winner Mark Rylance as the CGI-animated BFG. The glorious trailer gives us nightmares, but well still be first in line. JY Cafe Society Woody Allens 1930s-set film opens the festival on Wednesday night, and sees Jesse Eisenberg as a young striver who mingles with the upper crust on both coasts: first shadowing Hollywood types Steve Carell and Kristen Stewart, and then falling for socialite Blake Lively in New York. The most recent period piece Allen took to Cannes, Midnight in Paris, was his biggest hit, so expectations are high for this one. KB The Nice Guys Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe play two endearingly scuzzy private-eye types in Shane Blacks 70s-set buddy comedy, where a porn stars outrageous death, a politicians missing daughter, and a one-percenter conspiracy all prove interlinked. Along the way, Matt Bomers giant anime eyes are put to unsettling use as a hit man trying to snuff out our duos biggest informant. KB The Neon Demon Nicolas Winding Refns Drive debuted at the very end of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and earned him a surprise Best Director award. Stranger things may be afoot for this beautifully shot psychological-horror film about an aspiring model in Los Angeles (Elle Fanning, whos worth watching in anything). Soon enough, she becomes the object of cannibalistic obsession for other women who covet her youth and beauty, and its all scored to an insanely cool soundtrack from Drive composer Cliff Martinez. JY American Honey The last time Shia LaBeouf went to Cannes, he debuted the plagiarized short film that kicked off his fall from A-list grace and unlikely career as a performance artist. This time, hell just be there as an actor, though the project he toplines is an intriguing slice of Middle-American youth in revolt from director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank). KB Loving Director Jeff Nichols is on a roll. He not only pulled off Spielbergian miracles in this years Midnight Special, but hes done particularly well at Cannes with previous films Mud and Take Shelter, the latter of which won the festivals prestigious Critics Week prize in 2011. Oscar buzz is already in full force for Loving, his first film based on a true story. Starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as real-life couple Richard and Mildred Loving, the film follows them as they are jailed by a Virginia court in 1958 for their interracial marriage, sparking a civil-rights battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court. JY Money Monster Some Cannes premieres dont make it into Stateside theaters until a year later, but this weekends Money Monster will bow on the Croisette just before it comes out in the United States. Directed by Jodie Foster, it casts George Clooney as a cocksure financial pundit whose cable show is crashed by a gun-wielding mystery man with a grudge (Unbrokens Jack OConnell). Julia Roberts co-stars as the producer trying to keep Clooney alive. KB Its Only the End of the World Twentysomething wunderkind Xavier Dolan had a breakout moment at Cannes two years ago with his stellar Mommy, and now hes returning to the fest with frequent Cannes leading lady Marion Cotillard. She costars with Gaspard Ulliel in this story of a writer who reunited with the family he hasnt seen in ages, only to tell them that hes dying. Not long after the Cannes premiere, Dolan will start shooting his first English-language film starring Kit Harington, Jessica Chastain, and a rumored Adele. KB Personal Shopper Kristen Stewart already became the first American actress to win a Cesar Award for her work in Olivier Assayass Clouds of Sils Maria, and advance word is that shes astounding in her second collaboration with the auteur director. In the new film, she plays a personal assistant to a celebrity who also has the ability to communicate with spirits in the Paris fashion underworld. Come for the ghosts and the clothes, stay to watch Stewarts continued transformation into her generations most interesting actress. JY Julieta Pedro Almodovars 20th film is a return to his tradition of cinema of women, which has produced all-time classics like All About My Mother and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Intriguingly, this one is based on Alice Munros 2004 book of short stories, Runaways, and tracks mother Julieta as she searches for a daughter who disappeared without explanation the moment she turned 18. JY The Last Face Charlize Theron and Sean Penn split several months ago, but theyll both be at Cannes to promote this Penn-directed film, where Theron and Javier Bardem play humanitarian doctors struggling to make it right in a war-torn region of Africa. After formidable turns in Mad Max: Fury Road and The Huntsman: Winters War (and before she plays the villain in the upcoming Fast and Furious 8), this is Therons chance to play down-to-earth. KB The Unknown Girl What would Cannes be without a film from the prolific Belgian brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne? The directing duo has taken home two Palme dOr prizes and their last movie, 2014s Two Days, One Night, scored a surprise Oscar nomination for Marion Cotillard. The moral quandary at the center of their new film is a haunting one: What does a young doctor do when she ignores a random doorbell ring, only to find out the next day that her casual act may have cost a womans life? KB The Salesman Director Asghar Farhadi has made a career out of delicate dramas where cultural misunderstandings breed discontent, and his new film concerns two Iraqis whose move into a Tehran apartment comes with some significant baggage left from the previous tenant. Will it measure up to his last two acclaimed films, The Past and A Separation? KB Risk For her follow-up to the Oscar-winning Citizenfour, director Laura Poitras takes on WikiLeaks, using footage of Julian Assange she shot concurrently with her documentary about Edward Snowden. Though Poitras and Assange are said to no longer get along, she had unprecedented access to him beginning in 2010 and followed him into asylum as he landed in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. JY Paterson In case you needed another reason to love Adam Driver, his first postKylo Ren movie appearance will be as a Paterson, New Jersey, bus driver (whos also named Paterson) in Jim Jarmuschs new film. Jarmusch at Cannes is always a treat he won the Best Director trophy for 1984s Stranger Than Paradise, the Grand Prix for 2005s Broken Flowers, and is also debuting his Iggy Pop documentary Gimme Danger* this year and this languid trip through a week of blue-collar life has the added intrigue of being the second film produced by Amazon Studios. Oh, and did we mention that Drivers Paterson driver Paterson (cmon, we had to) also has a secret gift for poetry? JY *This article has been corrected to show that the Iggy Pop documentary is titled Gimme Danger, not Gimme Shelter. Photo: George Pimentel/Getty Images When your friends threaten to emigrate to Canada if Trump becomes president, do you kind of think theyre insane? So they have a hot, enlightened prime minister and the undeniable deliciousness of Tim Horton breakfast sandwiches. But its also cold! And you have to apologize for everything, even when someone else shoulder bumps you on the street. But if youre running out of ways to argue against moving north, Canadas own thespian son Donald Sutherland who said all three of the only funny things uttered at todays press conference with members of the Cannes Film Festival Jury provided a pretty convincing argument for how annoying it would be to live there. Asked by a Canadian journalist if he thinks Canada has a national cinema, Sutherland first threw the guy off by complaining for the third time about how the air conditioning was flowing right down his back. Then he replied: I kind of gave up talking about Canadian cinema a long time ago. Theres a famous story of a British soldier and a French soldier and a Canadian soldier who were captured in the process of the war and sent to be shot by firing squad, but they were each given an opportunity to have a last wish. The Brit asked for a cup of tea, the Canadian asked for 15 minutes to talk about Canadian identity, and the Frenchman asked to be shot before the Canadian. He paused for dramatic effect, before announcing, Im still freezing. Seriously. Right down my back! Then again, maybe you could put up with laborious discussions of what it means to be Canadian if you could bring Donald Sutherland with you. A common feature of John le Carre stories is that the global stakes are high, but not visible. We witness spy games and backroom deals with the understanding that the human costs are substantial, but rarely get a tangible sense of how a covert operation can affect the lives of those innocents who have nothing to do with it. Le Carre deals with an elite class, no matter their political allegiances or moral character, and no matter the risk of personal violence they might assume. Their triumphs and tragedies are quiet, and their losses are discreet. When someone like, say, Juan Apostol, is found murdered in his bedroom, the ramifications of his death may be substantial, but theyre also fundamentally unknown. Thats why it was so important, for a brief moment, to hear Angela Burr tell the story of why shes so obsessed with bringing Richard Roper to justice. Asked about the personal sacrifices shes made with regard to her husband and the possibility of a family, Burr recounts a United Nations mission in Iraq, where she personally witnessed the deployment of biological weapons on ordinary people. In an open field on sports day, Burr saw a peaceful afternoon ruptured by the dropping of two shells one mustard gas, the other sarin gas that were combined to keep people from getting masks on. That was the first time I saw Richard Roper, Burr says. Even though he wasnt responsible for the attack, it inspired him to start selling sarin: He saw what I saw, 112 children and 58 adults, and he thought business. In typical le Carre fashion, Burr describes this scene from some tech dungeon in a major European city, where she and another operative are quite literally in the dark. (Credit director Susanne Bier for not attempting to illustrate it with a flashback.) But Burrs words alone are enough of a window into Ropers business that we can see him as a proper villain, rather than an arch sophisticate who makes $600 million arms deals by shuffling around some paperwork. Without the consequences made explicit, everything is abstraction, the banality of evil expressed in contracts, invoices, and bank statements. This is what makes it easy for men like Roper to lounge in Mallorca while the world burns. He gets to boast about the power he wields How does it feel that, in the next 24 hours, well transport enough weaponry to start a war? he asks Andrew Birch/Thomas Quince/Jonathan Pine but he doesnt have to witness the destruction firsthand. Perhaps that explains, to some extent, why Roper suddenly feels more comfortable with Pine in his inner circle rather than Corky, his fiercely devoted thug-in-chief. Yes, Corky is an impulsive drunk, given to unpredictable behavior like the ugly scene he makes over a lobster salad at a three-star Michelin restaurant. But Corky also has dirt under his fingernails. He doesnt have the air of wealth and civility that makes a smooth operator like Pine such a natural fit with elites like Roper and Sandy Langbourne. Hes the crude battering ram that Roper deploys when ugly business needs getting done. Roper may not fully trust Pine, but he recognizes the promise of a man who can exercise force when necessary and carry himself like a gentleman the rest of the time. Corky is too uncouth. Its certainly fortunate for Pine that Corky has fallen out of favor so quickly with Roper. If not, hed likely be dead by now. Corkys instincts about Pine are keen and supported by evidence of an affair developing between this usurper and Jed but theyre too easily dismissed as the envy of a small man bruised by his second-tier status. Still, Corky remains the biggest threat to the operation, tied possibly with Jed herself, whos so consumed with despair that shes willing to risk her life (and Pines) on a fling. If the possibility of being caught is a turn-on for sexual risk-takers, then Jed and Pine are having the best sex of their lives and anyone elses. This episode finds them stealing away for a quickie while Roper and Langbourne slip off to an hour-long meeting, and Jeb even sneaks into Pines quarters at night while her partner is out of town. In an hour consumed by issues of trust, Burr finds her faith in Pine shaken for the first time. Burr catches wind of the affair after Jed brazenly phones Pine at his hotel room in Istanbul, and she comes to the reasonable conclusion that if her people are capable of finding out about it, then Roper will have no trouble, either. Rather than risk losing the entire operation, Burr decides to yank Pine immediately, but Pine defies his handler, either out of his intense feelings for Jed or his conviction that he can still bring Roper to justice. What he doesnt understand is that Burrs efforts could unravel whether he slips up or not: Roper has invested millions in protection money from intelligence agencies, and now the creeps at the River House have gotten wind of Jeds activities. Hes not in total control of his own destiny. With only two episodes to go, The Night Manager heads into its back third with each of Pines relationships in a volatile state: Corky has smelled a rat from day one; Roper is still figuring out if he can be trusted; Jed is throwing caution to the wind; and Burrs considerable faith in him has been shaken. Hes out on the ledge now, alone and untethered. Amenities: Prince. Photo: Bertrand Gruy/AFP/Getty Images A Minnesota doctor, who had been treating Prince in April, was on his way to deliver medical test results to Paisley Park the day the music icon was found dead there, according to a search warrant acquired Tuesday by multiple news outlets. Filed last week, the court docs note that family practitioner Michael T. Schulenberg saw the musician on April 7, as well as on the day before his death, April 20. Its unclear if he was also present when Princes body was discovered. In his warrant application, Carver County detective Chris Nelson wrote that police interviewed Schulenberg, who was working for Minnetonkas North Memorial Clinic at the time: Schulenberg said he had given the artist a Walgreens prescription during one of their appointments, according to the affidavit, but further specifics about the medication werent listed. Citing an unnamed source, however, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Schulenberg was treating Prince for withdrawal symptoms linked to opioid addiction, and that the doctor did not prescribe opioids. (Schulenberg no longer works at North Memorial, according to the New York Times; spokespeople for the hospital werent able to elaborate. The Times adds that his track record is solid, per state records.) The warrant was applied for on April 27 and used on May 5 to gain access to Princes medical records at North Memorial, but Carver County officials havent made findings available. That shouldnt be a surprise to anybody that these records were examined, Carver County chief deputy Jason Kamerud told the L.A. Times about the warrants contents, adding that the investigation into Princes death is ongoing. To that end, the AP saw a Carver County sheriffs vehicle and roughly one dozen unmarked cars flock to the artists estate Tuesday afternoon. Detectives are revisiting the scene at Paisley Park as a component of a complete investigation, read a tweet from the Carver County sheriffs account in the evening. No other information is available. The updates come on the heels of reports that a different doctor, specializing in opioid-addiction treatment, was also called to Princes estate to assist with a grave medical emergency right before his death. Prince had reportedly overdosed on painkillers the week before he died, and investigators, including those from the DEA and U.S. attorneys office, are looking into his alleged opioid use. Princes initial autopsy was completed one day after he was found unresponsive at Paisley Park: There were no signs of trauma, and police ruled out suicide. The medical examiners office has said the rest of the results, including the final cause of death, wont be made public for several weeks. Sterling K. Brown as Chris Darden. Photo: FX The People v. O.J. Simpson so effectively painted real-life lawyers Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark as the kind of tragic, adorable work couple you want to write reams of fanfic about that its easy to forget how hated and mocked the pair was before the show began. Case in point, the series creators themselves had trouble casting Darden, because so many actors kept turning down the role. Plus, the writers feared that, as in real life, whoever played Darden would be steamrolled by Courtney B. Vances Johnnie Cochran. As showrunner Nina Jacobson put it in a roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter: The character that was hard to cast was Chris Darden because there were a lot of black dudes who were like: No way Im not playin that guy. I hate him. Not to mention the fact that you had to get somebody who could on one hand be charismatic and sexy enough that you were rooting for him and that you really cared about him but on the other hand let himself be bowled over by Johnnie Cochran. A lot of actors would walk in and couldnt do it: They were either so charismatic and alpha that they couldnt be the guy who got overwhelmed, or they were so beta they couldnt be the guy you rooted for. Thankfully, they found Sterling K. Brown, who captured Dardens smoldering despair so well that Tina Fey who perpetuated the image of Clark and Darden as nincompoops on Kimmy Schmidt changed her Emmy registration to vote for him and for Sarah Paulson. Let this be a lesson to actors: Dont be afraid to take on a character you hate. And to casting directors: Consider Sterling K. Brown. Dysentery, starvation, no toilet paper, a swarm of bees: the Oregon Trail was host to a pantheon of nightmares for our nations settlers. So forgive them if they and their adult daughters dont celebrate the one good thing frontierswomen had going for them: having a lover that made you wanna to stay up all night long. You had to stay up anyway, because of the wolves, so a lover really took the edge off. And thus did Mandy Moores ancestors spread baby-voiced, teen-sex pop all across this great nation of ours. Local weather forecaster Rusty Garrett will speak at the Salvation Armys annual prayer breakfast at 7 a.m. Thursday at Baylor Universitys McLane Stadium, 1001 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The event will be a celebration of faith and recognition of the Salvation Armys 125 years of service in Waco. Tickets cost $15. To purchase tickets, call Christy Huffman at 756-7271 or email Christy.Huffman@uss.salvationarmy.org. Parkinsons group The Heart O Texas Parkinsons and Caregivers Support Group will meet at 3 p.m. Thursday at Community Fellowship Church, 2001 N. Valley Mills Drive. Nurse practitioner Alex Armitage, the newest member of Baylor Scott & White Healths Plummer Movement Disorders Center, will speak about Nonmotor Symptoms of PD. For more information, call 732-0000. Hillcrest PDS market Hillcrest Professional Development School will have its 22nd annual artist market, an evening of art and family fun, from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the school, 4225 Pine Ave. The event will feature art activities, food from the Smokin Hot BBQ truck and Kona Ice, a silent auction and student-made artwork for sale. Artwork for sale will include autograph pillows, hand-painted vases, jewelry, magnets, picture frames and sun catchers. The event will include art activity booths for guests. Booths will include face painting, tie-dyeing T-shirts, marble painting and more. Northwest Rotary Club Greg Garrett, an author of more than 20 books and a Baylor University English professor, will speak to the Northwest Waco Rotary Club at noon Thursday at the Baylor Club at McLane Stadium, 1001 S. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Garrett is known for his writing and speaking about religious and spiritual dimensions of music, film and other literary and cultural forms. To make a reservation, email Michelle_Holland@baylor.edu. Sensory Storytime Waco-McLennan County Library will have a Sensory Storytime program for special-needs children, ages 3 to 10, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the West Waco Library, 5301 Bosque Blvd. For more information, call 745-6018 or visit www.wacolibrary.org. Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com. Allergan, which makes eye care and dermatological products at its plant on Mars Drive, recently hosted a star-studded groundbreaking to announce it will spend $200 million across four years to nearly double the size of its 400,000-square-foot facility and expand production lines. Construction likely will begin by the end of the year, Allergan spokesman Mark Marmur said Tuesday. The company will first select the design firm, which should occur within the next few weeks, begin the design of the expansion over the next several months and then go out to bid for construction, Marmur said in an email. Allergan expects physical construction on the site to begin before the end of the year. Ireland-based Allergan chose the 27-year-old Waco facility over others internationally to receive a 322,000-square-foot expansion that likely will mean the hiring of 75 to 100 additional employees in the near future and 250 when production peaks. More than 700 people already work at the plant, where they are involved in the production of leading eye treatments, including Restasis, Lumigan, Combigan, Refresh Plus, Refresh Tears and Latisse. The construction, commissioning and validation of the facility expansion and production processes are expected to be completed by 2020, Marmur said. Using local workers The announcement raises questions about whether a local contractor or subcontractors will get a piece of the action. K. Paul Holt, president and CEO of the local office of Associated General Contractors of America, said he has learned that Austin Industries, which is based in Dallas, and Flintco Constructive Solutions, which is based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will serve as construction advisers for the Allergan expansion. Both were involved in supervising work on Baylor Universitys $266 million McLane Stadium, which makes me feel very good about the chances that a lot of local contractors will be utilized in the Allergan project, Holt said. The companies also collaborated on Baylors $18.1 million Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium, he said. Holt said he thinks Allergan will spend $125 million on actual construction and $75 million on equipment spread during the expansion. Quite a number of local people did a great job on McLane Stadium and have worked on smaller Allergan expansions in the past, Holt said. Local commercial builders and subcontractors have had their hands full the past couple of years, with retail and restaurant construction taking off along Valley Mills Drive and along Interstate 35 between University Parks Drive and South 10th Street. But peoples backlogs have thinned, and I think theyre getting ready for a new round, Holt said. A report prepared by Baylor University economist Tom Kelly predicts the $200 million Allergan expansion will give the Central Texas economy a $380 million boost because of a multiplier that takes into account money being spent multiple times as it travels through the economy. Kelly said Allergan will pay $4.22 million in local property taxes during fiscal year 2016, up from his original estimate of $3.84 million. Investors in Allergan received good news Tuesday, when the company announced that its first-quarter revenue rose 48 percent and beat analyst estimates. Net income totaled $255 million, compared to a loss of $512 million for the same period a year ago, Allergan announced. On March 17, 2015, Actavis PLC, based in Dublin, Ireland, completed its acquisition of Allergan Inc. in a deal valued at about $71 billion, making it one of the largest drugmakers in the world. Actavis then changed its name to Allergan PLC. The companys latest quarterly results include Allergans performance at the time the sale closed. It has been a hectic year of deal-making for Allergan. The company had a pending deal to sell its generics unit to Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for about $40.5 billion. In March, the companies said the deal has been delayed as they negotiate with regulators, a process that may last through June. Allergan and Pfizer had a $160 billion proposal to merge but scrapped the plans last month, citing President Barack Obamas efforts to curb inversions. Inversions are deals in which U.S. companies buy a smaller company overseas and move their headquarters for tax purposes. Allergan announced the death of the deal would not impact Waco operations. The former president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Baylor University was indicted Wednesday on four counts of sexual assault in an alleged incident in February at a fraternity party. A McLennan County grand jury indicted Jacob Walter Anderson, 21, of Garland. Anderson was arrested after a female Baylor student reported she was sexually assaulted at a house in the 2600 block of South Third Street on Feb. 21. Hospital officials notified Waco police of the alleged assault. The woman underwent a sexual-assault medical exam at Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center and hospital officials notified Waco police of the alleged assault, Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said. The female said that she had been at a party at a fraternity in South Waco. She said she was handed a drink of some kind of punch and was told, Here you go. Drink this, Swanton said. She said shortly after that she became very disoriented, was taken outside by our suspect, who is Jacob Walter Anderson, and she said when they got outside, Anderson forcibly sexually assaulted her. According to the arrest affidavit, Anderson, a Baylor junior, took the victim to a secluded part of the grounds behind a tent in order to get some air, however once away from everyone else attending the party he sexually assaulted the woman. The woman reportedly lost consciousness, according to court records. She awoke alone a short time later in the same outside area before returning to the house and finding a friend, who took her immediately to the hospital. After Andersons arrest in March, he was removed from Phi Delta Theta and the fraternitys operations at Baylor were suspended pending results of investigations into the reported sexual assault and underage drinking. Anderson remains free on bail. Sexual assault is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The recent sexual assault arrests of Anderson and former Baylor defensive end Shawn Oakman, and sexual assault convictions of former Baylor defensive ends Tevin Elliott in 2014 and Sam Ukwuachu in August, have thrust Baylor into the national spotlight for the manner in which it has handled the sexual assault reports. After Ukwuachus conviction, Baylor enlisted Baylor Law School professor Jeremy Counseller to investigate how the school responded to sexual assault accusations. The school has declined to release Counsellers report and since has hired the Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton to review the schools procedures and to make recommendations for the future. Baylor officials have said they are uncertain if or how they plan to make that report public. New and expectant mothers who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless now have a temporary live-in center in Waco aimed at helping them become independent. Care Net Pregnancy Center of Central Texas opened a 14,000-square-foot facility at 800 W. Waco Drive on Tuesday. It features 28 beds for extended- stay accommodations that will be offered free of charge to pregnant women and new mothers in need. To be pro-life is really more than just, Heres your options, and this is what we believe, Care Net CEO Deborah McGregor said. Its really more about walking it with them. Its not a catch-and-release ministry, where you just catch them and go, OK, while youre here, would you like us to offer you prayer? Our faith is what motivates us to do what we do, but its not the endgame. Care Net provides pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, counseling, case management, parenting and life-skills classes, baby supplies and other services but was falling short of full support for women living on the streets or couch-surfing while facing a crisis pregnancy, McGregor said. In any given week, one to three pregnant women who enter Care Net also are homeless, she said. Some women may just need a few days, or weeks, with a place to stay before they can land on their feet again, McGregor said. She expects most women will stay for four to six months, depending on the stage of pregnancy and the age of the child. McGregor said Care Net often can keep a woman in her own home by paying her rent until she can return to work after having a child or providing the woman with a bus ticket to stay with a family member for a while. This new facility was built to help those who have no place else to go. Were kind of the last resort, she said. The idea is not to create a sense of dependency on Care Net by allowing the women to stay at the facility, McGregor said. We dont want to make them dependent on us. We just kind of want to fluff them up a little bit, get on your feet, lets get any outstanding warrants taken care of so, again, when you leave here, you can hold your head high, youre not running from the law, youre not depending on anybody but yourself, and you can do this, she said. The women who stay at the center will still cook for their children or themselves, clean their rooms, stock their personal refrigerators with food and maintain a sense of independence, she said. Board President Ross Larson said it is hard not to get excited about what the future holds for Care Net and this new resource in the community. Really, Care Nets changed me as a person more than I think Ive changed Care Net, Larson said. To be able to help, to stop the poverty cycle and to help these women and their children start out with new lives, is just a great experience that Im proud to be a part of. Needed resource Care Net case manager Callie Lowery said before the new facility even opened, young women were inquiring about the guest rooms. Lowery said the center is a needed resource for the many women in the community who have unplanned pregnancies or who face issues of abuse or have no place to go. This is that home away from home. This is that outlet. This is a go-to place for when you cant go home or you feel as though you dont have everything together. This is a learning environment, to be able to equip you to have that foundation, to be able to have that stability and independence, to be able to go forward in the community as a single parent or just as an individual on your own, Lowery said. This is amazing. McGregor said she is a big believer in not asking someone to do something until she has done it. A few years ago, McGregor said, she and her husband purchased a home they used as a guest house for homeless, pregnant women looking to get on their feet. She said Care Net expanded on that effort by going a little larger and partnering with the Waco Housing Authority to offer three apartments to similar clients. Both projects had success in helping women by paying outstanding bills, traffic tickets and whatever else was preventing them from getting suitable housing, she said. We kind of cut our teeth on that, McGregor said. Then, four years ago, Care Net was given the land at North Eighth Street and Waco Drive. The community backed the idea for the project and donated $2.5 million to provide the facility, she said. Care Net calls the new facility a guest house, she said. Our intention is for them to be a guest here and to treat them, then move on, McGregor said. Spend a million of your super PAC dollars to elect a governor, and you can expect him to take your calls and set up meetings with state officials. Courtesy of the Supreme Court and its 2010 Citizens United decision, its all protected by the First Amendment. But give the same governor a Rolex before asking for the meetings and both of you might be convicted of bribery. Is there a meaningful difference? Thats the question in McDonnell v. U.S., which the court is currently considering. The bribery conviction of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell follows the second pattern complete with the Rolex. Thats important because the case pits constitutional principle (the right to support politicians) against common sense (a bribe is a bribe, right?). That conflict casts doubt on the Citizens United principle, which expanded the rights of people and companies to make unlimited (and anonymous) political donations without fear of being prosecuted for corruption. But it also raises the thorny problem of what the court should do about bribery so long as Citizens United is still the law. Lets start with the constitutional logic that gives rich people a First Amendment right to contribute to politicians and enjoy the subsequent calls and meetings. Under Citizens United and some earlier cases, Congress may regulate or criminalize campaign contributions that count as quid-pro-quo corruption, or give rise to the appearance of such corruption. What was so significant about Citizens United apart from the famous holding that corporations are people, too, when it comes to free speech is what the court said about the appearance of corruption. The court held that donations to a Political Action Committee that engages in independent advocacy dont give rise to the appearance of corruption possibly even, by implication, if there are facts that suggest otherwise in some particular case. Thats what defies common sense: In reality, huge donations by rich people or corporations can, of course, look as though theyre meant to win favors. The donor phone call to the governor that leads to meetings with state officials is pretty much what people would consider corruption in most of the world. But once the court held otherwise, it had to justify the existing system of favors. That has led it to say that such interactions with donors are a normal part of politics in the United States. In the 2014 case McCutcheon v. FEC, the courts plurality said that ingratiation and access not only arent corruption, but actually embody a central feature of democracy. The idea is supposed to be that general gratitude is different from a concrete quid pro quo. McDonnells lawyers seized on that legalistic version of reality when they appeared before the justices in April. Their best argument was that punishing McDonnell for taking the Rolex would create the risk that ordinary donors who ask favors from officeholders might be guilty of bribery. That, McDonnells lawyers suggested, would impugn the structure of campaign finance as we know it. The governments best response was to emphasize that the prosecutor convinced a jury that McDonnell had indeed taken a bribe and set up meetings as a quid pro quo. Why didnt the deputy solicitor general who argued the governments case instead claim that there was a difference between a campaign contribution and a direct cash payment to the governor made through his wife? The answer actually lies in the Citizens United decision. There, the court alluded to the factual circumstances that motivated Congress to pass the Federal Elections Campaign Act amendments of 1974, which form the basis of modern campaign-finance law. Congress heard testimony that milk producers had made $2 million in campaign donations to get a White House meeting. The court in Citizens United said that such practices would be covered by the bribery laws provided that a quid pro quo could be proved. The deputy solicitor general referred to the passage in his oral argument, citing the exact page where it appeared. Thus, in the eyes of the bribery laws, theres no real difference between a campaign contribution in exchange for a favor and the gift of a Rolex. This explains why the justices are worried about impinging on ordinary political favors. If they find that McDonnell could be convicted of taking a bribe for setting up meetings, how can they say with a straight face that it isnt a crime when a politician does a favor for a super PAC donor? Theres a logical answer which is that both are corrupt, and that Citizens United shouldnt be interpreted to stop the government from prosecuting campaign contributors. Perhaps the court could try to say that theres a difference between a direct campaign contributor like the milk industry donors and a contribution to an advocacy group like a PAC. But unless the court takes that route, it must ask the pragmatic question of whether its willing to let bribery laws contradict the spirit, if not the letter, of Citizens United. I dislike the Citizens United decision as much as the next First Amendment law professor. But it is, for now, the law. I understand why the justices, including some who dissented in Citizens United, might be trying to think of a way around that embarrassment. Bloomberg View columnist Feldman is a professor of constitutional and international law at Harvard University. WAHOO Two days before departing home in Hamburg, Germany, 15-year-old Michael Bratkowski learned his destination for the next six months of life would be Nebraska. But the short notice has not hindered life at all for the exchange student at Wahoo High School. I wanted an American experience, said Bratkowski. And hes getting that experience, both school and family, living with Cynthia Klepper as his host family. Bratkowski is on the track team, played basketball and joined FBLA since his arrival on Jan. 8. Through these activities, and a generally gregarious nature, Bratkowski said hes made several friends. The hustle of life in Hamburg is in stark contrast to life in Wahoo. People are more relaxed here, he said. The relaxed lifestyle appeals to Bratkowski, as hes fallen in love with fast food, the Olive Garden, the space between buildings and school spirit. In Europe, school and sport activities are separate, sometimes competing for time, he said. Here sports and school are working together, he said. It doesnt take away from education. The adjustment at school has been the hardest part, knowing what is okay and what is not, he said. During school, there is a more relaxed attitude about the use of technology than in Germany. Teachers are stricter there about phone and tablet use in class or while at school. However, teachers here are stricter about timeliness in class. Another confusion at school has been the metric system. When I arrived, people would say I was tall, like six-three or six-four, and I didnt know what that meant, he said. I knew I was 195 centimeters tall. Distances at tack practice have been hard to adjust to, as they are measured in both the metric system and U.S. customary system. Home life has been less confusing for Bratkowski. The Klepper family included Bratkowski in their familys Easter egg hunt and egg coloring at a relatives farm. It was my favorite Easter experience, he said. Bratkowski also plans trips with the Kleppers to downtown Omaha, the Henry Doorly Zoo and Mt. Rushmore. American culture was his primary motivation for coming to the states. I want to see more and explore more. Im even going to prom, he said. Bratkowski came to the states through a new exchange student program, Education Travel and Culture. The companys local coordinator and Bratkowskis connection to help outside his host parents is Shauna Nilsen. Nilsen meets with Bratkowski several times a month and aids in his American immersion. Nilsen said she would never forget the first message she got from Bratkowski from his host parents home, a picture of him on a tractor with the caption I want to be an American farmer. But Bratkowski is not turning his back on his homeland just yet. He talks to his parents weekly and plans to return to Germany for college. Im very interested in American colleges, but Ill be in Germany where colleges are free, he said. Bratkowski said he does want to come back and rates his experience so far a nine out of 10. The spirit of Wahoos citizens has been what he will remember most and what hes most attracted to. There is a lot of spirit in everything they do. Whether its farming or families, they are proud of it, said Bratkowski. Difficulties ahead to revive China's 'Rust Belt' Updated: 2016-05-03 07:59 By CHI FULIN(China Daily) Luo Jie / China Daily A recent policy document issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet, says "old industrial bases", meaning Northeast China, will make significant progress in the key areas of reform by 2020 and, revive by 2030. The document says the northeast region's opening-up, which includes expanded and all-directional opening-up to advance reforms, will become a new driving force for its revitalization. From 2003 to 2013, China launched the first campaign for the region's revitalization. As a result, significant and historical changes were achieved in infrastructure construction and the development of heavy chemical industries thanks to the support of the central government, as reflected in its growing economic strength, a better economic environment and a tangible rise in its economic aggregate. However, the campaign has failed to achieve a breakthrough in structural adjustment and institutional innovation, and the region's structural and institutional contradictions and problems have been exposed once again vis-a-vis the country's economic transformation and upgrading. The new campaign to revitalize Northeast China should, therefore, focus on structural adjustment and institutional innovation to transform the region into a base of advanced or upgraded manufacturing. For its revival, a modern perception of the service sector should be cultivated. The region could learn from the experiences of Germany, whose modernized service sector accounts for 70 percent of its GDP and production-related services account for 70 percent of its service sector. Northeast China should also strive to realize the transformation and upgrading of its manufacturing sector in order to establish an industrial model in which its modern services, production-related services in particular, is the driver of the transformation and upgrading of its manufacturing. The low proportion of modern services in its industrial structure has seriously restricted the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing in Northeast China, which, in turn, has slowed its broader economic transformation. And without key progress being made in restructuring of State-owned enterprises, the main force of the region's manufacturing sector, structural adjustment and institutional innovation will be difficult to achieve. Your Ultimate Investing Toolkit Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools: Portfolio Monitoring Top Stock Lists Premium Reports Stock Screeners Live News Feed Premium Support Free for your first month. National Bank of Canada provides various financial products and services to retail, commercial, corporate, and institutional clients in Canada and internationally. It operates through four segments: Personal and Commercial, Wealth Management, Financial Markets, and U.S. Specialty Finance and International. The Personal and Commercial segment offers personal banking services, including transaction solutions, mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit, consumer loans, payment solutions, and savings and investment solutions; various insurance products; and commercial banking services comprise credit, and deposit and investment solutions, as well as international trade, foreign exchange transactions, payroll, cash management, insurance, electronic transactions, and complimentary services. The Wealth Management segment comprises investment solutions, trust services, banking services, lending services, and other wealth management solutions. The Financial Markets segment offers corporate banking, advisory, and capital markets services; and project financing, debt, and equity underwriting; advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, and financing. The U.S. Specialty Finance and International segment provides specialty finance products; financial products and services to individuals and businesses in Cambodia; and investment solutions, guaranteed investment certificates, mutual funds, notes, structured products, and monetization. It provides its services through a network of 384 branches and 927 banking machines. National Bank of Canada was founded in 1859 and is based in Montreal, Canada. Realistic simulation in the virtual world Updated: 2016-05-06 08:11 By ZHANG ZHOUXIANG(China Daily) People wear Samsung Gear VR devices as they attend the launching ceremony of the new Samsung S7 and S7 edge smartphones during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, February 21, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] One after another company has been going to the virtual reality, or VR, business. Search VR on any domestic e-commerce platform and up to 1,000 devices will pop up, their prices ranging from 299 yuan ($46) to 30,000 yuan. Enter any shopping center and you will find many stalls offering VR experience. But do not try the low-cost devices, because VR requires high-end software as well as hardware. If either is not good enough, you will have a bad experience. Although it gained popularity recently, VR is an old concept. Pioneered by US computer "philosopher" Jaron Lanier in the 1980s, it gives you some virtual experience with visions. The trick is to deceive your eyes into believing what is displayed is true. Most VR equipment for individuals use headsets, which display images inside a small, closed space. To cheat our eyes, the image on display must be clear enough and pixel density high enough to truly imitate the real world. For that, the VR equipment software must be powerful enough to produce high-resolution and high-quality images, while the display hardware should be of high quality to support the high-quality images. If the equipment doesn't meet the requirements, the image quality will be damaged and the experience ruined. On Apple's official Chinese website, the cheapest model of new iPad pro, with a resolution ratio of 27322048 and storage capacity of 32 gigabytes, is available for 5,888 yuan. Although its display accounts for a quite high percentage of the price, iPad pro is not the best in market and professional models may cost much more. To produce images on the display, you need software. The software that produces images almost like the real world is no less expensive. Since often it's several gigabytes in size, it takes hundreds of programmers more than one year to draft such a program, and several more months to test them. Intellectual property, too, is part of the VR cost. At present, there are several main tools for VR development, such as Virtools, Nibiru and Quest 3D, and the virtual worlds they make are rather expensive. Moreover, high-resolution images, as well as the software, take up huge storage space; VR service providers need bigger hard disks to store, and wider bandwidth to transmit them. All these increase the cost, so you should not expect to meet all the demands for a few hundred yuan. Actually, if the budget allows, you can enjoy VR experience without wearing headsets. Aviation companies and militaries sometimes use another kind of VR in their trainingcovering the walls and the roof with high-quality, high-density displays so that trainees feel as if they are in a new world. That technology is open for civil use, too. Increasingly many parks now have virtual roller coasters: the user sits in a car that vibrates while images are displayed to make him/her feel the thrills of a real roller-coaster ride. But such devices are rather expensive, and individual use of VR is not yet that popular. The author is a writer with China Daily. zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn RENTS in Waterford are now spiralling out of control, with costs 16.2% higher than they were in the same period last year and... THIS June, Waterford will see its first Pride march in over a decade as part of the Pride of the Deise festival. Taking place over... Port of Waterford has estimated that it would generate 3.5m this summer with the return of cruise ships for the first time in two... When you buy online, you have the right to the same protections under consumer law as buying in a shop. Online shopping is at an... WATERFORD is the most sunny city in Ireland and the county is second in the sunshine league, being pipped to first place by our... 'China can tackle online finance fraud through innovation, technology' Updated: 2016-05-11 11:01 By LI XIANG(chinadaily.com.cn) LendIt, the world's largest conference organizer for the online finance industry, said on Tuesday that the industry is set to rebound despite challenges created by rising investors' skepticism. China has seen a flourishing online finance business or better known as peer-to-peer lending as many technology firms have taken advantage of the internet and mobile technology to offer loans and financial services to small businesses and consumers. But the rising fraud and irregularities, including the Ezubao incident, have turned investors skittish toward the emerging industry. "A lot of things have happened that have challenged the industry but the fundamental and the pace is still there," Jason Jones, the president of LendIt, said at a news conference in Beijing. Jones said that China must deal with fraud and it has the ability to address the problem though innovation and technology involving big data. LendIt will hold its first China conference on July 17 and 18 in Shanghai and more than 1,000 foreign and Chinese players in the online finance industry are expected to attend. The event will focus on operational infrastructure, regulation and compliance. The global online finance industry was plunged in crisis after Chief Executive Renaud Laplanche of Lending Club, the largest US online finance firm, resigned on Monday over irregularities in its lending business. The resignation sent the firm's share price down by 35 percent on that day. Jones said that the incident was a blow to the global online finance industry and the lesson is that firms have to act with integrity as the industry deals with other people's money. "Fintech companies must continue to invest in their operational infrastructure and implement best practices around compliance," he said. Our 18-year-old daughter will vote for the first time on July 2. Guess I should tell her that, yeah, this election stuff is boring but, hey, you can still make a difference. Trouble is, since she was 12 she has been resolute in her response to such worthy parental advice: "Stop making me be bothered!" So rather than bang my head against her brick wall, here are 18 warnings from an old fart for all the 18-year-olds and wish-they-were-18-again-year-olds out there; especially the ones who aren't like the too-cool-for-school Q&A audience; those who don't belong to the Liberal or Labor clubs at uni; whose friends care more about each other than politics; and especially those who reckon nothing ever changes anyway so why bother. 1. Don't believe the crap. If a politician uses a three-word slogan, he or she is trying to deceive someone who couldn't be bothered to think more deeply. Don't be that person. "I've got a disability and a low education - that means I've spent my whole life working for minimum wage. You're gonna lift the tax-free threshold for rich people," Mr Storrar said. Duncan Storrar became the star of Monday night's episode after he questioned the government's decision to cut income tax for Australians earning more than $80,000. "If you lift my tax-free threshold, that changes my life," he went on. "That means that I get to say to my little girls, 'Daddy's not broke this weekend. We can go to the pictures'. Rich people don't even notice their tax-free threshold lift. Why don't I get it? Why do they get it?" Duncan Storrar with his daughters Jakalah-Rose, Indica and wife Cindy-Lee. Credit:Justin McManus His plight was highlighted by a misstep by cabinet minister Kelly O'Dwyer, who defended her government's policies by talking about how a cafe owner could now buy a $6000 toaster due to tax relief measures for small business. Cue the "Buy Duncan Storrar a Toaster" campaign. The GoFundMe page was launched on Tuesday night by user Samuel Slammer Fawcett, who wrote that "Duncan seems like a good bloke". It is the party that portrays itself as above politics, arguing it's different from the competition. But it turns out the Greens are just as willing to use the same political tools when it suits their purpose - such as winning the inner city seat of Batman, in Melbourne, from the ALP. On April 27, Greens leader Richard Di Natale told the National Press Club his party "haven't done internal polling. We don't waste our money on that. News Limited can do that for us. We rely on a good field campaign". It could take months or even years to see a result from proceedings against Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi and a finding against her is by no means a foregone conclusion, an expert in the field says. HHG Legal Group director Murray Thornhill, who has advised WA local governments and individuals facing disciplinary proceedings for many years, said it was "more than possible" the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) could make a different finding to the Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) and Department of Local Government (DLG). "It might also be possible that any party aggrieved by its decision has the right of appeal. It could drag on for many months and that's just in the SAT," Mr Thornhill said. He said the public could be justified in feeling confused about why there would be the need for concurrent investigations by the CCC, then DLG and now the SAT, but they all had different purposes and there was no reason to assume the SAT would echo previous findings. British firms eye more opportunities as China updates manufacturing sector Updated: 2016-05-11 11:03 (China Daily) British firms have much to offer and much to gain from China's plan to modernize its manufacturing sector, according to a recent report released by the China-Britain Business Council. The "Made in China 2025" plan is a highly ambitious initiative to comprehensively upgrade, consolidate and balance China's manufacturing industry, and it offers plenty of opportunities for British firms, the report said. "We see the next stage of China's emergence as an economic superpower in its ambition to design and make products of the future required not only by Chinese consumers, but consumers around the world," said Mark Wareing, director of Advanced Manufacturing and Transport with UK Trade and Investment China at the British embassy in China. The State Council, China's Cabinet, announced "Made in China 2025" in May 2015 as a national initiative to improve the manufacturing industry, initially up to 2025 and then to 2035 and 2049. The goal is to transform China into a leading manufacturing power, and 50 pilot projects were already launched across the country in 2015. The plan focuses on 10 priority sectors, including advanced rail and equipment, aviation and aerospace equipment, agricultural machinery and technology, power equipment and technology and new generation information technology. "Made in China 2025 is a truly exciting strategy and it is fantastic to see how closely the skills, experience and capability of the UK's industrial base align with China's ambitions," said Wareing. China is already Britain's second-largest single export destination with exports of 18.7 billion pounds ($27 billion), of which manufactured goods were worth 5.5 billion pounds, demonstrating the importance of manufacturing to the UK economy, Wareing said. The plan also prioritizes five nationwide initiatives with clear objectives to establish new innovation centers, research bases, implement smart manufacturing projects, green manufacturing projects and prioritize high-end equipment manufacturing. UK firms have much to offer in these areas due to their R&D and innovation credentials in industry and education, according to Stephen Phillips, chief executive of the CBBC. He said that opportunities will exist throughout China. In fact, most provinces and cities have published action plans for local implementation. "While we see tremendous opportunity, we also recognize that there will be challenges such as IP protection, oversupply and over-investment, pace of change and favoring of indigenous innovation among others," said Phillips. UK firms may also need to review their ability to react to the sheer pace of change in some industries to provide solutions to fast growing Chinese players, the report noted. The WCO organized a workshop in Lisbon, Portugal, 19th 22nd April, on Strategic Planning for selected representatives from the Portuguese Speaking Countries Community/Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa (CPLP). The workshop was funded by China Customs through the Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF China). The event was hosted by Portuguese Customs. Ms. Ana Paula Raposo, Deputy Director General of Customs, opened the event by outlining the critical importance of the work to be undertaken by the group. Representatives from Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique participated in the event along with the Director Generals of Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome e Principe. The working group was expertly supported by the CPLP Secretariat who helped steer discussions and documented all the key outputs. During the workshop, the participants formulated a draft Mission and Vision for the CPLP. They were then guided through the steps of strategic planning and resource mobilization. Intensive group work sessions and plenary presentations and discussions led to the consolidation of a draft strategic plan with goals, objectives, results and activities. The draft Strategic Plan is to be presented to the High-Level CPLP Customs Working Group at their 11th meeting in Sao Tome e Principe in May 2016. Next step will be for the working group to develop a business case to present to potential donors with a view to secure funding for priority activities. . When finalized, it is to be used to inform the preparation of a Business Case to be submitted to the international donor communities. For more information please contact Edilson Pedro Soares Buchartts, EdilsonBuchartts@wcoomd.org Major molybdenum firm in DRC purchase Updated: 2016-05-11 11:04 By Bloomberg(China Daily) China Molybdenum Co, the country's largest producer of the chemical element, has agreed to buy a copper mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo from Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Inc for $2.65 billion, as the US firm reduces debt racked up in the commodities boom. The deal involves taking over Freeport's indirect 56 percent stake in the Tenke Fungurume mine, which also produces cobalt, via a 70 percent interest in TF Holdings Ltd, Freeport said in statement on Monday. The two companies have also agreed to negotiate the sale of its interests in other cobalt assets. Freeport, which plunged 71 percent last year as commodity prices collapsed, has been seeking to offload assets and reduce a debt load that stood at $20 billion at the end of 2015. Chief Executive Officer Richard Adkerson said last month he expected to sell more mines and the Tenke deal brings the total to more than $4 billion this year. "This transaction is another significant step to strengthen our balance sheet and enhance value for shareholders," Adkerson said in the statement. Tenke is one of Freeport's five so-called core mines, which also include Cerro Verde and Morenci, as well as El Abra in Chile and Grasberg in Indonesia. Canada's Lundin Mining Corp owns 24 percent of Tenke, while Gecamines, the DRC's state-owned copper producer, holds 20 percent. Lundin has yet to receive a notice from Freeport about the sale, Chief Executive Officer Paul Conibear said in response to questions. It has the right to match any offer for Freeport's stake, and has 90 days after receiving notification to make the decision, he said. As part of the Tenke sale, Freeport may get a further $120 million based on copper and cobalt prices. It has also agreed to negotiate exclusively with China Molybdenum on the sale of its interests in Freeport Cobalt, including the Kokkola Cobalt Refinery in Finland for $100 million and the Kisanfu Exploration project in the DRC for $50 million. China Molybdenum last month agreed to pay $1.5 billion in cash for Anglo American Plc's niobium and phosphate unit in Brazil. Chinese vice premier urges better use of agricultural funds Updated: 2016-05-11 11:04 (Xinhua) BEIJING -- Vice Premier Wang Yang on Tuesday stressed the efficient use of agricultural funds allocated to disadvantaged rural counties. Streamlining allocation of agricultural funds to impoverished counties is a key move to fight poverty, Wang said. More should be given to impoverished counties, which should map out scientific programs to rid themselves from poverty, he noted. China still has 70 million people living below the poverty line, according to official figures. China tech workers asleep on the job - with the boss's blessing Updated: 2016-05-11 13:53 (Agencies) People nap in The Nap Bar in Dubai.[Photo/IC] BEIJING - Dai Xiang has slept his way to the top. The 40-year-old Beijinger got his start as an engineer, pulling 72-hour shifts at a machinery company while catching naps on the floor. After a switch to the tech industry and around 15 years of catching naps on desks and other flat surfaces, Dai co-founded his own cloud computing firm, BaishanCloud, last year. One of his first orders of business - installing 12 bunk beds in a secluded corner of the office. "For technology, it's more of a brain activity. Workers need time to find inspiration," Dai said. "Our rest area isn't just for sleeping at night, the midday is also OK." China's tech business is booming faster than many start-up firms can hire new staff, forcing workers to burn the midnight oil to meet deadlines. "The pace of Chinese internet company growth is extremely fast. I've been to the US and the competitive environment there isn't as intense as in China," said Cui Meng, general manager and co-founder of start-up data company Goopal. The company's programmers, in particular, work overtime every day, he said. To get them through, they are allowed to sleep around lunchtime and after 9 p.m., either facedown at their desk or by commandeering the sofa or a beanbag chair. Living at the office At its most extreme, some tech company employees even live at the office during the work week. Liu Zhanyu at DouMiYouPin, a recruitment and human resources platform, bunks down in a converted conference room Monday-to-Friday to avoid the daily commute of more than an hour to his home in Beijing's far eastern suburbs. The head of the "large clients" department usually retires to the room shared with one or two others between midnight and 3 a.m. "We have to get up at 8:30 a.m. because all our co-workers come to work at 9:30 and we wash in the same bathroom everyone uses," said Liu. While workers across companies said the potential pay-off of working at a start-up was worth the long hours, they aren't without a social cost. "My kid misses me, I get home and he lunges at me like a small wolf," Liu said, speaking about his three-year-old son who he only sees on weekends. "That makes me feel a bit guilty." Programmer Xiang Shiyang, 28, works until 3 or 4 a.m. at least twice a week at Renren Credit Management, which uses big data to help firms manage financial risk, leaving little room to socialize outside of work. "I don't have that many opportunities or much time to find a girlfriend," he said. The company provides cots for workers like Xiang to sleep on during late nights. "Actually working overtime is a very casual thing," he said. "Because I've invested the whole of my being into this company." Xi's new diplomacy offers 'Chinese solutions' Updated: 2016-05-11 08:05 By GUO YANJUN(China Daily) President Xi Jinping greets delegates at the opening ceremony of the fifth meeting of foreign ministers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Thursday. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY Since President Xi Jinping took the helm, China's diplomacy has changed from the "passively responding" of the past to the current more composed and self-confident "actively guiding", which seeks to promote a global "community of shared destiny". Xi has constructed a clear and more complete framework for the country's diplomatic strategy by introducing concepts such as the "Chinese Dream", "a correct outlook on morality and profit", and "a new type of relationship between major powers". Xi's style of diplomacy has been hailed as opening a new era for China's "great-power diplomacy" and his diplomatic concepts, which are fundamentally beyond the constraints of the Western international relations theory, are based on China's cultural tradition of pursuing "peace and cooperation" with neighboring countries. To put these concepts into practice, Xi has proposed a kind, sincere, reciprocal and tolerant foreign policy toward neighboring countries, a new pattern of cooperative and win-win international relations, the building of a network of global partners, and an Asian security outlook. Under Xi's guidance, these diplomatic ideas have produced "Chinese solutions" to many global issues that have won China deserved respect from the international community and increasingly deepened its political mutual trust with other countries. With its Belt and Road Initiative, for example, China is making active efforts to conduct economic cooperation with countries along the routes of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Considering the different economic development levels among these countries and the huge discrepancies that exist in terms of their national conditions and political systems, the initiative's core principle of effective and win-win cooperation is based on respecting the actual conditions of different countries. "Consultation, common construction and sharing" have been confirmed as the three major features of the initiative and these are a concentrated embodiment of China's long-advocated "equality, mutual benefit and win-win" diplomatic philosophy. Sorry... ..An error has occured: If you have any queries about this error, try emailing feedback@mirror.co.uk and we'll do what we can to help you. ZID:308457493 Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 08, 2016 | POPE COUNTY, IL By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 08, 2016 | 05:48 PM | POPE COUNTY, IL Illinois State Police conducting a manhunt in Pope County reported Thursday that they have located the truck reportedly stolen by a man wanted for shooting a police officer. Police did not say where the truck was recovered, but the U.S. Forest Service has closed the 6000-acre Lusk Creek Wilderness Area in northern Pope County until further notice. The search continues for 35-year-old Dracy "Clint" Pendleton, who was last seen in the area Monday morning. Last Saturday night, Pendleton exchanged gunfire with a police officer in Mahomet, Illinois near Champaign. Pendleton reportedly fled the scene after shooting the officer in the arm. Police say Pendleton may have received a neck wound during the incident. Pendleton is also believed to be armed with an AK-47. The Champaign County State's Attorneys Office issued an arrest warrant for Pendleton for the charge of attempted murder of a police officer. On Wednesday the FBI added their own warrant and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Pendleton is reported to be a former resident of Pope County, is familiar with the forest area and has outdoor survival skills. State Police said Tuesday night that they hope Pendleton will turn himself in and the search can end peacefully. they are asking anyone with information to contact ISP or any law enforcement agency. He was last seen wearing a black shirt, camouflage pants and boots, and has reportedly shaved his beard and trimmed his hair (see updated photo). He is a white male, 510, 155 lbs, with blue eyes and blonde hair. Anyone entering the Shawnee National Forest adjacent to Lusk Creek is asked to be alert and to report any suspicious activity to the Illinois State Police at (618) 542-1483. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2016 | METROPOLIS, IL By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2016 | 12:00 PM | METROPOLIS, IL In what's being described as a "highly inappropropriate racial remark," officials with the Massac County School District in Metropolis are conducting an investigation over a banner that was displayed at the entrance to the district's high school. School Superintendent Dennis Smith released a statment late Wednesday morning, indicating that the incident happened on Wednesday morning in what's being described as an "unsanctioned senior prank day." Smith went on to say some students apparently hung a banner with the apparent racial remarks at the entrance to the high school with a message being described as "highly inappropriate," but did not disclose the words used. A photo submitted to West Kentucky Star clearly identifies an "N" word (West Kentucky Star has blurred the offensive word in the photo) that is widely considered racially offensive. Smith says the message in no way is representative of the senior class, or the Unit 1 schools. He says the Board of Education and Administration are grieved over the incident, and an investigation has been launched. By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2016 | 01:41 PM | MAYFIELD, KY Come and get it. That's the message from Graves County Emergency Management Director Davant Ramage. Ramage said the public response has been amazing and the Julian Carroll Expo Center at the Graves County Fairgrounds is filling up with donated items. Ramage said anyone displaced from Tuesday's tornado in Mayfield and Graves County can come pick up whatever items they need anytime between 8:00 am and 7:00 pm. Limited delivery is available for those who cannot make it to the Expo Center. Items available for pickup include food, bottled water, clothes, shoes, furniture, mattresses, bedding, towels, wash cloths, personal hygiene items and much more. Ramage said volunteers will continue to collect items at the Expo Center until they feel all needs have been met. By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2016 | 09:21 AM | MAYFIELD, KY Graves County Sheriff Dewayne Redmon left no doubt where his mind stood about Tuesday's tornado that struck the county: "God saved our kids yesterday."Redmon insisted that he wasn't an overly religious person that attended church regularly, but he said he witnessed the path of the tornado change direction as the twister was approaching multiple different county school buildings that were full of well over 2400 kids.An emotional Redmon proceeded to tell parents during the Wednesday morning news conference that they should go to church on Sunday, get on their knees, and thank God for what He did to protect as many people as He did Tuesday.Redmon went on to say that damage easily totaled in the millions across the county, and that crews were still assessing the extent of the damage.The video below, shot by Brittany Glisson while at Jackson Purchase Medical Center in Mayfield, shows the tornado moving toward the Graves County High School campus.It narrowly missed a direct hit to the campus.You can see the debris from buildings the twister had already destroyed as it's moving toward campus in the still photo captured from the video in this story. There are also photos of the tornado approaching the elementary schools in the county, with empty school buses getting ready to load kids at the end of the day.Warning Coordination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in Paducah, Rick Shanklin, says preliminarily, the tornado reached an EF3 strength, indicating that this is the worst tornado across the area since the November, 2013 Brookport tornado. Shanklin says most of the path of the tornado was in the EF1 to EF2 range of damage, but he does believe it did cross the threshold of being an EF3 during an initial survey of the damage. He says crews will be making an official assessment throughout the day Wednesday, and coming days.Red Cross Assessment teams have been in the Mayfield area since Tuesday.Evelyn Miller with the America Red Cross says they are working with about a dozen individuals to get them immediate assistance with clean up kits, supplies, arranging places to stay, among other things.Miller says anyone with damage who has not yet met with the Red Cross can call their Paducah office at 270-442-3575.The Red Cross is not involved with coordinating volunteer efforts of debris cleanup, home repairs, etc.His House Ministries, based in Mayfield, is working with oversight from the county government in collecting donations to help those who lost everything in Tuesday's storm. You can click on the link below to donate directly. On the Net: By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 11, 2016 | 10:54 AM | MAYFIELD, KY Tuesday at a press conference in Mayfield, it was announced how donations can be made, and how volunteers will be coordinated in the aftermath of the Graves County tornado.Chad Lamb of His House Ministries explained that his church staff will collect monetary donations through an online link posted at the bottom of this story. Checks directed to the "Tornado Relief Fund" may be mailed to the church at 1250 State Route 303, Mayfield KY 42066.The staff at His House Ministries will take calls from individuals, church groups, or other organizations who wish to volunteer in the cleanup and recovery efforts. Volunteers can call Pastor Tony Adams at the church at (270)247-7772.Local residents who have suffered storm damage to their property are also asked to call the church, so that they can be matched up with the appropriate volunteers needed for debris cleanup, moving assistance, etc.Donations of food, as well as furniture, mattresses, bedding, clothing and other larger items are being collected at the Mayfield/Graves County fairgrounds, in the exposition building.Paducah Red Cross staff were on the scene by Tuesday afternoon. Regional director Evelyn Miller told West Kentucky Star they were already assisting more than a dozen individuals by providing cleanup kits, and helping them receive clothing, food and housing assistance. Miller said if any other people are seeking Red Cross assistance, please call their office at (270)442-3575. She added that the Salvation Army is also on the scene offering assistance.Mayfield First Baptist Church is set up as an emergency shelter for residents displaced by the storms. On the Net: By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 27, 2016 | 08:59 PM | NEW CONCORD, KY Authorities have identified the victim of a deadly house fire last month in Calloway County. According to the Calloway County Sheriff's Office, the Kentucky State Medical Examiners Office has identified the victim as 44-year-old Heather L. Rogers of Murray. The sheriff's office got a call around 1:00 am Tuesday about a home on fire on Beane Road in the New Concord area. Deputies said the home was fully engulfed by the time Calloway County Fire & Rescue arrived. Responders found human remains inside the home after extinguishing the blaze. Police have not released the cause of the fire, and say the cause of death is still being investigated. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 10, 2016 | MAYFIELD, KY By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 10, 2016 | 09:59 PM | MAYFIELD, KY Parents in Graves County may be breathing a sigh of relief, after a large tornado ripped through the county and came dangerously close to several schools there. Some may call it a miracle, but so far there have been no deaths associated with the large tornado that cut a wide path of damage Tuesday afternoon. Kentucky State Police say they learned about the tornado near Mayfield at around 2:45 pm. KSP says preliminary investigations show that the storm developed in the western part of Graves County and began a path east across the county. The twister came near several schools just as busses were getting ready to take children home from school. Graves County Middle School, Graves County High School, the Graves County Board of Education and Central Elementary were all near the path of the storm, but none of those facilities received significant damage. The tornado then traveled into the city of Mayfield, where it damaged several homes and businesses before continuing northeast through the county. The majority of the damage east of Mayfield was to trees and fields, but a few homes were demaged there as well. KSP reports that ten people went to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, but no area fatalities have been reported from Tuesday's storm. Advertisement By Bill Hughes May. 11, 2016 | MAYFIELD, KY By Bill Hughes May. 11, 2016 | 12:44 AM | MAYFIELD, KY Mayfield's Mayor knows her city dodged most of the damage from Tuesday's tornado, but she knows it was a tough day for those who live and work in Graves County. Mayor Teresa Cantrell said when she first saw the tornado, she thought it was headed toward her. She said, "I was at City Hall, and I was walking out the door to go to a doctor's appointment at Jackson Purchase Medical Center. One of my employees from the Police Department came around the corner. She couldn't speak, she was just pointing behind me, and I turned around and saw it. I ran back into City Hall and told everyone to get in the basement, there's a tornado coming." She said the storm damage was just beyond the Mayfield city limits - with the worst near I-69/Purchase Parkway and Wayne Drive. Mayfield first responders went into the county to help with searches and rescues, or in any way they could. Cantrell said by all accounts, the situation Tuesday evening could have been much worse, and she is thankful more people weren't hurt. "Anybody in the city of Mayfield needs to get on their knees and just thank God that we're safe, because it was headed right towards Graves County Middle School, Central Elementary, the Hospital. But, by the grace of God it didn't take a turn and hit those places," Cantrell said. Cantrell said Mayfield First Baptist Church was set up for anyone needing emergency shelter. By West Kentucky Star Staff May. 10, 2016 | 10:06 PM | PADUCAH, KY It was a long, grueling afternoon for Paducah Weather Service meteorologists, as they tracked multiple severe storms and a potential handful of tornadoes for six intense hours on Tuesday. Dozens of storm and damage reports poured in from twenty counties across western Kentucky and southern Illinois, headlined by the large and violent twister that carved a path of damage in Mayfield and into Marshall County. According to NWS logs, the Graves County tornado was first sighted at 2:47 pm four miles northeast of Fancy Farm. It crossed Highway 121 at Mayfield at 2:51, destroying buildings and upending campers on Highway 45. By 3:20, spotters had tracked the tornado into Marshall County, at the 40 mile marker on the Purchase Parkway west of Benton. Later, a tornado was reported at 5:26 southwest of Greenville, where a house was damaged. At 5:30, emergency personnel in Christian County called in a tornado near Apex. At 6:10, a tornado was sighted near Morganfield. More storms boiled up well into the evening. Kentucky state troopers observed a tornado on the ground in eastern Trigg County at 7:16. At 7:22, firefighters in Trigg County called in a tornado sighting south of Cerulean, and a final tornado call came from Hopkinsville at 7:47. In southern Illinois, a spotter in Pope County sighted a possible tornado northwest of Dixon Springs. Another funnel cloud was seen northwest of Golconda. Funnel clouds in western Kentucky included sightings in Lyon County near Lamasco; Caldwell County near Cobb; Crittenden County north of Marion; as well as sightings in Christian, Trigg and Hopkins counties. Torrential rain and large hail was also widespread. In Muhlenberg County, 2 3/4 inch hail was measured. Other hail reports included 2 1/2 inch hail in Trigg County; 1 3/4 inches in Daviess County; 1 1/2 inches in Hopkins County and 1-inch hail in Christian County. Wind damage in Livingston County ranged from trees down, to cell tower damage. In the coming days, Weather Service teams will visit most of the reported locations and assess whether damage was caused by tornadoes or straight-line winds. Where tornadoes are indicated, the path and scope of damage will help determine the intensity of the twister on the Fujita scale. On the Net: Its easy to see growing old as a negative thing. Our body changes in so many different ways, and we arent able to do what we once could. However, as difficult as it may be, a positive attitude towards aging is extremely important. If you Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. REGINA Changing motorists sometimes lax attitude toward their vehicles security is the engine thats driving a Saskatchewan campaign aimed at reducing auto theft. The Saskatchewan Association of Chiefs of Police is at the wheel of the radio, print and online campaign that will run throughout the summer. Its goal is to get drivers to do the simplest things to prevent their vehicles from becoming another statistic. Regina police say 60 per cent of autos that are stolen were unlocked, or the driver had left the keys inside. Marlo Pritchard, chief of police in Weyburn, says even leaving a little loose change visible in a car could be enough to encourage a thief to break in. Drivers will also be encouraged to park in a well-lit area and use a steering wheel locking device. A lot of people maybe feel safe in their community or in a smaller centre, said Pritchard. Lets make the vehicles a little harder to take. Lock the doors. Take your valuables and of course take your keys. The RCMP, provincial government, Saskatchewan Government Insurance and municipal police forces are also involved in the campaign. (CKRM) Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO The board of trustees at InnVest, a Canadian hotel owner, are supporting a friendly $2.1 billion takeover by a private company backed by Hong Kong capital. Bluesky Hotels and Resorts is offering $7.25 cash for each unit of InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:INN.UN). The price is 33.5 per cent above InnVests Tuesday closing price of $5.47, prior to the takeover announcement. Its shares opened Wednesday at $6.98. Including assumed debt, Blueskys offer values InnVest at $2.1 billion. The Toronto-based REIT owns 109 hotels across Canada and a 50 per cent interest in the Choice Hotels franchising business. Bluesky described as a private Canadian company with backing from Hong Kong has put down a $100 million deposit for the deal. InnVest has agreed to give Bluesky the opportunity to match a superior offer if one arises and pay a $32 million fee if the deal doesnt close under certain circumstances. Li Chen, the president and chief executive officer of Bluesky, said the investment will establish a global platform from which Bluesky will continue to pursue growth opportunities in North America. Bluesky intends to keep InnVests Toronto headquarters, workforce and senior leadership team, including its chief executive. Bluesky is aligned with InnVests strategic objectives for the portfolio, and I look forward to continuing to lead InnVest on the path of asset quality driven growth, said InnVest CEO Drew Coles. The proposed transaction is subject to various conditions, including approval from at least two-thirds of unitholder votes at a special meeting. Unitholders representing 29.1 per cent of InnVests outstanding equity have agreed to support the deal. The deal also requires Canadian approvals under the Investment Canada Act and Competition Act. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Key dates in the case of former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi: Oct. 24, 2014: The CBC says Ghomeshi is taking an undetermined amount of time away from the network to deal with some personal issues. Ghomeshi tweets: Thanks for all the well wishes, you guys. Im OK. He says he is taking some much needed personal time away from the CBC. Oct. 26, 2014: The CBC announces it has cut ties with Ghomeshi, the host of the radio program Q, after receiving information about him. On the same day Ghomeshi issues a lengthy Facebook post saying he has engaged in rough sex, but says it was always consensual. He says he was fired from CBC because of the risk that his sex life would become public as a result of a campaign of false allegations. Complainant Kathryn Borel, a former colleague of Jian Ghomeshi who accused him of sexually assaulting her, walks out of court after she agreed to a peace bond for Ghomeshi in Toronto, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Mark Blinch Oct. 27, 2014: The Toronto Star publishes a report detailing allegations from three women who say Ghomeshi was physically violent to them without their consent before or during sexual encounters. Ghomeshi through his lawyer responds that he does not engage in non-consensual role play or sex and any suggestion of the contrary is defamatory. Ghomeshi files a lawsuit against the CBC alleging breach of confidence, bad faith and defamation and seeking $55 million plus special damages. Oct. 28, 2014: The CBC issues an internal memo saying it is conducting a continuing investigation into a claim of misconduct against one of its employees. The memo never named Ghomeshi directly, but said it became aware of the claim through a story published in the Toronto Star. Oct. 29, 2014: CBC current affairs radio show As it Happens airs an interview with an unnamed woman who alleges Ghomeshi punched her repeatedly in the head without warning. The woman said she did not go to police and felt emboldened to come forward after reading the allegations in the Toronto Star. The Star publishes another article, saying eight women now allege abusive behaviour by Ghomeshi. Trailer Park Boys actress Lucy DeCoutere agrees to be identified in connection with her allegations against Ghomeshi. DeCoutere accused Ghomeshi of choking her to the point she could not breathe and slapping her hard three times on the side of her head. The Star said Ghomeshi, his lawyers and public relations staff had not responded to allegations in their latest report. Oct. 30, 2014: Ghomeshi issues a Facebook post saying that he intends to meet these allegations directly, but adding he will not communicate with the media. The CBC says it is hiring a third-party company to conduct an investigation in the wake of allegations against Ghomeshi. Another woman, who is an author and a lawyer, writes an article for the Huffington Post involving her own allegations of an aggressive, non-consensual encounter with Ghomeshi. On the same day, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair says there is no investigation underway against Ghomeshi, adding someone must lodge a formal complaint in order for a probe to be launched. None of Ghomeshis accusers had reported going to police with their allegations. Oct. 31, 2014: The CBC issues a memo to staff saying it saw graphic evidence that Ghomeshi had caused physical injury to a woman. This evidence, it said, was seen on Oct. 23 and was the reason behind the decision to fire the Q host. The Toronto Star publishes a story saying Ghomeshi showed CBC executives videos of some of his sexual encounters. Toronto police say they are investigating Ghomeshi after two women have come forward with complaints. Nov. 1, 2014: Toronto police say three women have now filed abuse complaints against Ghomeshi and investigators are looking into reports of a graphic video in the networks possession. Nov. 4, 2014: The CBC hires Janice Rubin, a Toronto employment lawyer with expertise in workplace harassment, to lead an independent investigation into the scandal. Nov. 25, 2014: The CBC says Ghomeshi has reached an agreement with the network to withdraw his $55-million lawsuit against the public broadcaster. Nov. 26, 2014: Ghomeshi is charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of what is called overcome resistance choking. He is granted bail. His lawyer, Marie Henein, says he will plead not guilty. Dec. 4, 2014: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says the province will develop new policies to combat sexual assault and harassment, including steps to encourage more victims to come forward. Jan 8, 2015: Three new charges of sexual assault are laid against Ghomeshi. April 16, 2015: An internal investigation into the handling of the Jian Ghomeshi scandal finds the former Q host was deeply disrespectful to employees and sexually harassed some colleagues. Upper management send a letter to employees apologizing to those who experienced inappropriate behaviour. The CBC also announces it is severing ties with two top executives, Chris Boyce, executive director of CBC Radio, and Todd Spencer, the head of human resources and industrial relations for English services. May 12, 2015: Crown prosecutor Michael Callaghan says two sexual assault charges are dropped against Ghomeshi because there was no reasonable prospect of conviction. Oct. 1, 2015: Ghomeshi pleads not guilty to five charges, including four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcome resistance by choking. Feb. 1, 2016: Ghomeshis judge-alone trial gets underway in Toronto. Feb. 11, 2016: Justice William Horkins said he would deliver the verdict on March 24. Mar. 24, 2016: Ghomeshi was acquitted on all charges of sexual assault and choking. Apr 25, 2016: The prosecution decided against appealing Ghomeshis acquittal. May 11, 2016: Ghomeshi apologizes to former CBC colleague Kathryn Borel for his sexually inappropriate conduct in the workplace. The apology was made in court before Ghomeshi signed a peace bond in return for having the sexual assault charge against him withdrawn. The conditions of the peace bond included a promise to stay away from Borel and not possess weapons. The peace bond is not a finding of guilt. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The development of a medical research institution can be a tricky business unless theres an unlimited source of capital to keep plowing into the enterprise. The St. Boniface General Hospital does not have that kind of capital, but its picking up steam. Last year, when Paul Albrechtsen donated another $5 million on top of the $2 million hed previously donated to St. Boniface he became the most significant donor in the hospitals 145-year history. BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Bram Ramjiawan (left) and Grant Pierce say the St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre has a number of promising projects underway. The St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre was renamed the St. Boniface Hospital Albrechtsen Research Centre (SBHARC), and the donation helped increase the the endowment fund from $15 million to more than $30 million and wiped out the last vestiges of the deficit the research centre has carried. Grant Pierce, executive director of research for the past 11 years, was one of the original team of five principal investigators that helped start the centre back in the late 80s. Now, this is a mature, fully occupied research facility with 250 full-time researchers and an operating budget of about $15 million annually, he said. Researchers at SBHARC have a better-than-average track record of success in funding applications and have established a number of successful partnerships with private-sector funders such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation. In the intervening years, the I.H. Asper Clinical Research Institute has also filled with additional research, patient care and a busy clinical-research and clinical-trial enterprise headed by Bram Ramjiawan, who is one of the leading authorities on regulatory requirements of clinical trials and who sits on the biggest European and American panels. Arguably SBHARCs most famous discovery so far was Pierces own work, originally published in 2012, that showed that 30 grams of flaxseed each day for six months can lower blood pressure and which could result in about a 50 per cent reduction of strokes and 30 per cent fewer heart attacks. (The next trial is about to get underway, giving flaxseed to people with high blood pressure who are not already on hypertension medicine.) But Pierce points to the centres track record of success in commercializing research three out of 10 projects were spun off as independent companies are still operating as well as the pipeline of therapeutics that are in varying stages of development as proof of the centres contributions and impact in the market. We now have three more that look pretty exciting that are not at the spin-off stage yet, but at various stages of patenting, Pierce said. One of them has the potential to be the first drug ever to treat diabetic neuropathy, nerve damage that can occur in feet and legs of diabetics. Patients lose the sense of pain in the region and are then to susceptible to infections that often lead to amputations. Dr. Paul Fernyhough, director of the division of neurodegenerative disorders at the research centre, has patented a compound that may cause nerve re-generation, formed a company called WinSanTor along with colleagues in San Diego and Toronto and is in phase II clinical trials. It is an old drug that is being repurposed, said Ramjiawan. There are drugs that treat the needle pain sensation some diabetics gets. But this is different. This is for nerve regrowth. Another therapeutic drug treatment to treat fibrosis is being led by Michael Czubryt, principal investigator in molecular pathophysiology, is at an earlier stage of development. I am convinced we are sitting on three or four things that could be worth billions. But it is the age-old challenge how to make sure if and when it happens we dont just hand it all over to Big Pharma, said Chuck LeFleche, CEO of the St. Boniface Hospital Foundation. Thats why SBHARCs model that includes the continuum from basic science to clinical trials from bench to bedside is so promising. It allows the institution to retain control of the innovation further through development. That and several other elements have helped make SBHARC the top-ranked research intensive hospital in Western Canada by Research Infosource and the 29th largest research facility in the country, second only to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority in Manitoba. Christina Weise, the CEO of Research Manitoba, said there are other research facilities that do it, but the one at St. Boniface has put together the right mix of relevant research with the attendant funding support of the hospital, the University of Manitoba (virtually all the researchers are faculty members of the U of M) the province and the national research funding bodies. It is not a coincidence that the cardiac program within the WHRA exists at St. Boniface and that they have an associated biomedical research group that sometimes works quite closely with the clinicians, she said. That is a really important thing that research centres do. martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/05/2016 (2358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The Trudeau government is finally getting around to creating a long-awaited special parliamentary committee on electoral reform. A motion to create the committee was placed on the House of Commons order paper late Tuesday evening. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during last falls election campaign that it would be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post electoral system Maryam Monsef, Minister of Democratic Institutions, and Dominic LeBlanc, Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, arrive to make an announcement regarding electoral reform at a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick He promised to create a committee to examine alternatives and report back with recommendations within 18 months. But as his fledgling government passed the six-month mark last week with no committee on the horizon, advocates of proportional representation worried that Trudeau was planning to rag the puck long enough that there wouldnt be enough time to implement reforms by the next election in 2019. The motion should help reassure them that Trudeau intends to stick to his promised timetable. It specifies that the committee is to study viable alternative voting systems, such as preferential ballots and proportional representation as well as mandatory voting and online voting, and to present its final report no later than December, 2016. However, the makeup of the committee could stoke other fears that the committee is geared to recommend an alternative voting system that would favour the ruling Liberal party. The 10-member committee is to consist of six Liberal MPs, three Conservatives and one New Democrat. One member of the Bloc Quebecois and the Green partys lone MP, Leader Elizabeth May, will be also be members but without the right to vote or move motions. NDP democratic reform critic Nathan Cullen had proposed that Liberals surrender majority control of the committee and that membership should include all parties with seats in the House of Commons, proportional to each partys share of the popular vote in last Octobers election. Trudeau has refused to commit to holding a referendum on any proposed change to the electoral system, as Conservatives have been demanding. Hes suggested there are other ways to gauge the wishes of Canadians. The motion directs the committee to invite every MP to conduct townhall meetings on electoral reform in their constituencies and to provide written reports on the results by Oct. 1, 2016. Its further directed to conduct a national engagement process that includes comprehensive and inclusive consultation with Canadians through written submissions and online tools. And it is to consult broadly with experts and organizations, study relevant research and models used elsewhere. The motion states that the committees proposed alternative voting system must reflect five principles, ensuring that it will: Increase Canadians confidence that their democratic will, as expressed by their votes, will be fairly translated and that it will reduce distortion between a partys share of the popular vote and the number of seats it wins in Commons. Encourage voting, foster greater civility and collaboration among parties, and enhance social cohesion and inclusion of under-represented groups. Avoid undue complexity in the voting process. Ensure reliable and verifiable election results. Maintain accountability between MPs and their local communities. The current first-past-the-post electoral system has been widely criticized for delivering false majorities wherein a party, including Trudeaus Liberals, can win the majority of Commons seats with less than 40 per cent of the popular vote for under-representing smaller parties, unfairly rewarding regionally-based parties and exacerbating regional divisions. During the 2013 Liberal leadership contest, Trudeau rejected a system of proportional representation, touting instead the idea of ranked ballots, in which voters would indicate their first, second, and subsequent choices. If no candidate wins a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes would be dropped and his or her supporters second choices would be counted and so on until one candidate emerges with more than 50 per cent. Since the leadership, Trudeau has said hes open to a system of proportional representation. However, opposition parties suspect he still wants a ranked ballot which they say would favour the centrist Liberals, who tend to be the most popular second choice of supporters of other parties. Democratic Institutions Minister Maryam Monsef and Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc will hold a joint news conference in Ottawa on Wednesday to make an announcement regarding electoral reform. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba relies on immigration and its growing Aboriginal population to grow its economy, but not every workplace is ready for a diverse workforce. For two days this week, 75 business professionals and educators gathered at Manitoba Start to learn how to embrace diversity and all the rewards and challenges that come with it. The non-profit agency that helps newcomers join the work force hosted the sold-out conference. Theres lots of diverse employees, said Manitoba Start executive director Judith Hayes. We need to make sure employers are successful. Everybody wants to make the workplace comfortable how do you go about it? You start by asking the right questions, said Joyce Odidison who presented a session Wednesday on supervising a diverse workforce. Am I prepared to have and supervise a diverse group? Do I know the rules? she asked. Supervisors need to understand Manitobas human rights code, labour laws and regulations, for starters, she said. Most people dont understand the rules when it comes to things like cultural accommodation and employment equity, said longtime education and diversity consultant Neil McDonald, offering examples over several decades. He pointed to the case of weapons training with the Canadian Forces base at Shilo, in which a Sikh man with a beard and a turban couldnt take part because the job required him to wear both a helmet and don a gas mask in case theres artillery fire or a chemical weapons attack, neither of which accommodated a turban and beard. If you have a value that interferes with the workplaces responsibilities, do not expect a cultural accommodation, said McDonald. However, a Sikh man can wear a turban if he is an RCMP officer because the responsibilities of the job dont require him to wear a traditional Mountie hat, he said, referring to the Supreme Court decision handed down more than a decade ago. Another example involves the case of Jehovahs Witness parents who wouldnt allow their sick child to receive a blood transfusion for religious reasons. The child was taken into care by child welfare authorities to receive the needed transfusion, he said. If you have a value that interferes with someone elses rights, dont expect accommodation, he said. A person asking for a cultural accommodation has the right to a reasonable response, said McDonald. He pointed to the example of an Aboriginal seaman posted in Halifax who on short notice asked for a day off to take part in a sweat lodge ceremony. His superior said no, not this time they were doing naval operations that day that required his training and skill set but said next time there was a ceremony they would arrange to have someone cover for him so he could attend if they had advance notice. Professional responsibility trumps culture but if people make a request for a cultural accommodation, they have a right to a reasonable answer. Employment equity is another misunderstood concept and one of the most controversial, said McDonald. I have met very few people who understand its rationale. Its intended to create an inclusive society thats more just by giving disadvantaged, qualified individuals a break. The notion of giving an advantage to people whove traditionally had less access to power and resources has been dubbed reverse discrimination and slammed most often by the gate keepers able bodied, white Anglo Saxon males. When a Crown corporation in Saskatchewan wanted to attract and retain more Aboriginal employees, it offered them five years of seniority for every year that they worked. The CEO told anyone who didnt like it they could leave and was within his rights to do so, said McDonald. Giving an advantage to a qualified individual from a group thats been disadvantaged is legal. To capitalize on the benefits of a diverse work forces takes more than hiring a diverse group of people, said Odidison, a consultant and conflict analyst. Different ways of thinking and styles of communicating can be a source of conflict. An employee may seem shy or uncommunicative when in fact theyre following the culture and custom they know not to initiate contact with someone above them in the work place hierarchy, she said. Employers at the conference described some of the ways theyre trying to embrace diversity such as setting up internships for new Canadians, creating employee resource groups for LGBT, Aboriginal and special needs workers, and recognizing significant days for different cultures, for example. If you find ways to work together, you can have a great work place, said Odidison. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Was it sudden rage ignited by finding his ex-girlfriend with another man which drove Seymour Sharpe to kill them or did he just make it look that way? A 10-man two-woman Manitoba Court of Queens Bench jury will be grappling with that question when they begin deliberating on Seymour Sharpes guilt or innocence on Thursday afternoon. Sharpe, 47, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. Facebook Natasha Jeffrey Natasha Jeffrey, 37, and Ronald Dabreo, 39, were slain on May 13, 2013 in a Roblin Boulevard house. Defence counsel Greg Brodsky told the jury during his final arguments today that if they have any doubt about what happened they have to acquit Sharpe of two counts of second-degree murder. If the best you can say is this probably happened then you must acquit, he said. Brodsky said it was Jeffrey who invited Sharpe back into her home knowing he was obsessed with her and that another man was there. She knew what she was doing, the lawyer said. She knew her longstanding boyfriend would be coming. He came to a hostile environment. Who challenged who? Was it Seymour? Or was it the boyfriend? Brodsky said the court was told earlier that the blunt blows administered on the pair caused death between seconds and up to a minute, but experts couldnt say which blow came first and in what order. Theres no doubt Seymour Sharpe finished it, but was he provoked? But Crown attorney Ari Millo said the jury should find Sharpe guilty as charged. Millo reminded the jury about a phone call from Sharpe to Jeffrey the day before her death overheard by a co-worker where he threatened to kill her. He took the lives of Natasha Jeffrey and Ronald Dabreo and he meant to take their lives, Millo said. He told her so. I will take a machete, it wasnt just a threat. It was a promise and Seymour Sharpe made good on that promise. Millo also disputed whether Sharpe suddenly snapped because he alleged the blood evidence showed clothes were removed from the lower half of both of their bodies and it appeared Dabreos body was dragged down a hall to the kitchen and put on top of Jeffrey. Justice Brenda Keyser told the jury she will give them her final instructions on Thursday afternoon before they begin deliberating. Keyser reminded jurors to bring an overnight bag just in case. Kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The organizer of a national conference on refugees in Winnipeg knows her subject too well. As a child, Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe and her family fled Laos and ended up in rural Manitoba in the dead of winter in a three-room house with no running water and a wood stove for heat. We had a terrible experience, said Stobbe, who was seven in December 1979, when her family arrived in a southern Manitoba town she declined to identify. Their situation that winter was more perilous than the refugee camp theyd left, but it made her stronger and set her on a career path. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe (right) with her mother, Pinkham Sharp. Their family fled Laos and spent a frigid winter in rural Manitoba in 1979. My experience and my familys experience has led me to the field of study and area I am teaching in, said the professor at Menno Simons College at the University of Winnipeg. Its hosting the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies conference today through Saturday. Exhibits for the public include a Doctors Without Borders refugee camp hospital set up in front of the University of Winnipeg. There must be a better way to address conflicts than war or violence, said Stobbe, whose mother, Pinkham Sharp, is taking part in a panel discussion on the resettlement and integration of refugees in Canada. Stobbe and her mom know first-hand what its like to experience forced migration. We had a traumatic escape across the Mekong River, Stobbe said. We were fearing soldiers on both sides of the river Are they going to shoot us? Somehow we made it across. They made it to a refugee camp, then to Canada, where her family was privately sponsored through a church, she said. The priest said five families sponsored us, but we never met them, said Stobbe. They didnt really take care of us as promised for one year. There were four kids in her family, ranging in age from one to eight. They spoke no English and faced their first winter in Canada living like pioneers. Dad had to walk a mile to a well in the middle of winter, she said. We had no gas or hydro just a wood-burning stove. Dad had to chop wood and throw it in the stove. She remembers being scared to go to the bathroom, a biffy next to the church cemetery. We had an outhouse close to grave stones, she said. It was a big culture shock As children, we adjusted better than our parents. I think our parents had a much more difficult time. We learned the language much faster. Mom was sent to work one week after we arrived in a sewing factory. The younger children were sent to daycare. They got through that first winter thanks to some wonderful neighbours. Stobbe remembers her family being invited to a neighbours house to take a bath, and another neighbour who helped with their laundry. One family took our clothes once a week to wash at her house, she said. Her mom got her hands on a Thai-English dictionary and made contact with the Lao Association in Winnipeg. Two volunteers came to visit and acted as their interpreters. They communicated with the priest and said this is not acceptable, Stobbe said. They told the sponsor we cant live in these conditions Were supposed to be living in conditions that are better than the refugee camp. They were moved to Steinbach. A teacher took the family under her wing, and Stobbes mom took English language classes. There are amazing people in Canada who want to help refugees, who are compassionate and willing to extend their homes and friendship to us, she said. In 1986, Stobbes family moved to Vancouver. She moved back to Manitoba in 1996 for post-graduate study and was offered a job at Menno Simons College in 1999. Stobbe and her three siblings all went to college and university. Weve done quite well and now are making a contribution back to Canada, she said. Hers is looking for solutions to the world refugee crisis. carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/05/2016 (2358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. When Isaac Gotfried was 15 years old, he was taken from the Polish factory where he worked and placed in a slave labour camp by the Nazis. He spent almost four years being shipped or marched to concentration camps throughout Germany, surrounded by death, starvation and violence as a Jewish teen during the Holocaust. Seventy-one years after he was liberated by French troops, Gotfried, 90, told his life story to a group of students at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR). His purpose was to teach them to speak out when they see people being mistreated. RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Holocaust survivor Isaac Gotfried To be more vigilant with what is going on with the world and to not overlook it, not to keep quiet about it, to speak up, to tell the world what they know, Gotfried said when asked what he wants students to take away from his speech. About 60 students from across the country gathered at the CMHR Tuesday to hear Gotfried speak as part of the Asper Foundation Human Rights and Holocaust Studies program. It is the first time the program sent its students to Winnipeg, after 18 years of sending students to Washington, D.C., as part of the program. The late Izzy Aspers dream of the CMHR was partially shaped by his desire to give students a Canadian home to learn about human rights. The trip also included a guest speaker on the violence in Sierra Leone as well two days extensively touring the $351-million museum. Christina Enright, 13, from Westmount Charter School in Calgary, said she dreams of studying international law. Christina said listening to Gotfrieds life story, which included losing his parents, three sisters and more than 100 relatives during the Holocaust, taught her it is a crime to be nothing but a bystander. You are essentially choosing somebody elses fate; the victims, they cant speak up for themselves, they dont have the power to do it, Christina said. If you stand by and let that happen, you are part of that you are sentencing them to their fate, she said after Gotfrieds speech. Jacob Kime from the London Jewish Community Centre in London, Ont., said he was particularly affected when listening to Gotfried talk about how he was haunted for years by memories of a German shepherd dog that sniffed him out while he was hiding from the Nazis. Ive heard a lot about the Holocaust so far, but it was really inspiring to hear a new story, Jacob said. Whenever you hear a story there is always unique things, like the German shepherds. He kept talking about them and how scary they were. A lot of the details of what the Nazis did when people got caught, I didnt know much about that. To be more vigilant with what is going on with the world and to not overlook it, not to keep quiet about it, to speak up, to tell the world what they know Holocaust survivor Isaac Gotfrieds message to students at the CMHR Gotfried didnt mince words as he told the students of waking up sandwiched between two corpses at a concentration camp in Germany, or spending three days without food, water or a toilet on a train as they travelled by rail to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Gotfried survived the death march out of Buchenwald near the end of the war by escaping and being discovered by French troops. He settled in Winnipeg in 1947 with his brother, his only surviving family member. Gotfried has spoken to more than 20,000 people in the past 23 years, and said he is frequently asked how many classmates or friends of his survived the Holocaust. Ill tell you how many, zero. None of my friends that I went to school with survived the war. None of those boys that I associated with or played with, my neighbours. Zero, Gotfried said. kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Lake Winnipeg and the Experimental Lakes Area will benefit from an influx of new cash into ocean and freshwater scientific research, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Hunter Tootoo announced Wednesday. At an announcement in Ottawa with fisheries scientists urging school kids to consider and pursue careers in research, Tootoo said the government will spend $197 million over the next five years, including hiring 135 new biologists, oceanographers, researchers and technicians which will increase the scientific staff in the department by 15 per cent. This is the Department of Fisheries and Oceans largest scientific recruitment in recent history, Tootoo said. Wayne Glowack / Winnipeg Free Press files Julian Polimeni,grade 12 student from St. John's-Ravenscourt School goes out to retrieve his leach traps at day break on Lake # 470 in the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) located past Kenora in Northwestern Ontario. Some of those researchers will be dedicated to expanding research work being done on the health of Lake Winnipeg as well as the International Institute for Sustainable Developments Experimental Lakes Area. Nobody at DFO would provide more information about how much funding would be directed to either initiative Wednesday. Money for ELA fulfills an election commitment made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last fall. ELA is a group of 58 lakes in northwestern Ontario near Kenora, where research is done on whole bodies of water rather than in a lab. In 2012, the ELA was on the brink of extinction when the federal government announced it was pulling the plug on its annual $2 million funding of the program and if another operator couldnt be found the program was to be closed. Scientists in Canada and around the world cried foul, pointing out the uniqueness of the program and the impact it has had. For example, ELA research led to the removal of phosphorus from most dish soap, helped with the cleanup of Lake Erie and could help save Lake Winnipeg. Almost two years later, ELA was transferred to IISD after the government of Ontario stepped up with the needed funding. Ontario is contributing $2 million a year for four years and Manitoba is providing $250,000 a year for six years. Six scientists transferred to IISD from the government to work on ELA and another 11 were hired on who had experience working there before. Matt McCandless, the executive director of ISSD-ELA, would not provide any details of the additional funding either. We welcome todays announcement from Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and are in advanced discussions with them regarding the additional funding that they will be providing to IISD Experimental Lakes Area, he said. Diane Orihel, the Winnipeg scientist who helped lead the fight to save ELA, told the Free Press Wednesday called the announcement a step in the right direction but said typically DFOs hiring process works at a glacial pace and she hopes it will not take as long as usual to get the new scientists in place. Tootoo said Wednesday the new scientific jobs would be posted on jobs.gc.ca in a few days. In addition to research for Lake Winnipeg and ELA, the scientists will work on ocean research looking at monitoring fish stocks and environment stressors on marine ecosystems. More than 300 scientific positions were eliminated in the last five years. mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Winnipeg police officers have maintained a presence in and around College Sturgeon Heights Collegiate on Wednesday after a threatening message relating to the May 11, 2016 date was found written on a bathroom wall inside the high school. The nature of the threat was not specified by police. A media release on Wednesday stated it was a general written threat located within the school. Media reports said school administration sent letters to parents of all students on Tuesday night advising that the message could be interpreted as a threat to the safety of the school that day. Backpacks were being checked and jackets were not allowed in classrooms on Wednesday, reports said. College Sturgeon Heights Collegiate Police said officers and school administration are working together to determine who is responsible for the threat. Officers will remain in the area of the school for the rest of the day. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 10/05/2016 (2358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Hundreds of children in the care of Manitoba Child and Family Services agencies are moved more than a half dozen times a year. Some are moved dozens of times. And, in 2014, two children were transferred an astounding 105 times. The information, obtained from the Family Services Department, is contained in a new report by the Manitoba Childrens Advocate. The report, called Dont call me resilient: What loss and grief look like for children and youth in care, says frequent moves can have a profound impact on children who are already traumatized. Children's Advocate Darlene MacDonald Using government-supplied figures, the advocate office found that 296 children experienced seven or more moves in a single year. Of that total, more than 100 experienced a dozen or more placements in a 12-month span. While some of these moves may have been planned to give respite to caregivers, they would still have an impact on the children because they are so often on the move, living out of a backpack, the advocates office said. The 22-page report says children are often moved with so little notice that their belongings are tossed into garbage bags by social workers. It is understandable that youth feel disrespected by this ongoing practice and continue to tell us that it makes them feel like garbage, the report says. Feelings of loss and grief by children and families when kids are apprehended are largely unaddressed by the child welfare system, the document says. A child who appears depressed, delinquent, oppositional, or ill, in truth, may be expressing deep sorrow, the report says. If this loss and grief is not acknowledged or identified, its impact is intensified, it says. Grief is also made more difficult with multiple placement changes, it adds. While the assumption may be that children are inherently resilient and can adapt to new surroundings and new placements with relative ease, research does not support this view, especially for children and youth involved with the child welfare system, the report says. Childrens Advocate Darlene MacDonald said in preparing the report, her office spoke with a dozen youths age 14 and older who are currently or were formerly in care of family services agencies. The youths spoke openly about their experiences of loss and grief and what they feel they lost when they came into care. These kids were saying, We need help in dealing with grief and loss and the system needs to be able to help us with that, MacDonald said. She has recommended senior child welfare officials hear from affected youth directly. Her office also recommends issues of loss and grief be part of the mandatory training for child welfare workers. Cora Morgan, First Nations family advocate for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said its common for young people who have aged out of the child welfare system to shut out huge chunks of their childhood because of the trauma theyve experienced. Some who appear before the courts, she said, cant even remember where they have lived. Frequent moves while in the child welfare system are a problem, Morgan said. Theres a lot of issues with attachment in those types of cases. At some point, why would you even want to attach to anyone if you dont feel like there is any permanency in your life? She said the provinces funding model for child welfare is broken, and she hopes the new Progressive Conservative government will fix it. Morgan said the Family Services Department (now called the Department of Families) spends $451 million a year on child apprehension and only $21 million on prevention. Its reactive. Theres only funding attached to the apprehension of children. A spokeswoman for Families Minister Scott Fielding said he is currently reviewing the report, and it would be premature at this time to make any further comments. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 11/05/2016 (2357 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. In March, national news media reported on the case of Felipe Montoya, a university professor in Ontario who is applying for permanent residency in Canada and whose 13-year-old son Nicolas has Down syndrome. Nicolass disability may render Montoya ineligible to stay because of a potential excessive demand to the health-care system. Despite his position as a tenured professor of environmental studies at York University, Montoya and his family may be forced to return to Costa Rica. Canada, the United States, and many other countries exclude otherwise admissible immigrants on the grounds they or their families will place too great a burden on public resources. Recently, disability rights advocates have challenged these exclusions. Although both Canada and the U.S. have eliminated many grounds of exclusion that relate specifically to disabling conditions, large numbers of potential immigrants with disabilities find themselves disqualified because of speculation they will absorb too much medical or social support. The old, categorical exclusions for persons classed as mental defectives, idiots, imbeciles and lunatics were an artifact of turn-of-the-century ideas of eugenics, a false science dedicated to improving the genetic stock of the national population. In 1976, Canada cut these offensive and outdated terms from the immigration statutes. But it retained the provision allowing the exclusion of those who could be expected to place excessive demands on health or social services. Many disability rights advocates talk about a social model of disability, the idea conditions normally thought of as disabling are not necessarily so but for conditions that society imposes. A person who uses a wheelchair is not necessarily disabled but for stairs, curbs, narrow doorways and other physical obstacles. People with other conditions face obstacles based on popular attitudes or stereotyping. There are limits to the application of this social model of disability, but it casts a light on the prospects of changing social conditions so as to permit people who have disabilities to participate fully in the economy and culture on a plane of equality. Installing ramps, altering attitudes and generally providing accommodations are modern reforms that eliminate physical and social barriers to equality. Applying social-model thinking to immigration law and practices calls for questioning whether the excessive-demand clause and its cousin in American law, the public-charge exclusion is anything but an artificial barrier to equality for people who have disabilities. People with disabilities and their families already pay taxes and contribute to the economic and human vitality of society. Social support always works on an averaging basis, spreading risks and costs among all the members of a given population. Excluding the family of someone who has Down syndrome adds to the challenges any family that has a child with a severe disability is likely to face. There have been some inroads on the excessive-demand exclusion. Canadian courts have ruled each case must be evaluated individually, and if private resources will be used for the family member with a disability, the basis for exclusion does not apply. There are also instances in which the courts have stayed the deportation of immigrants on the basis of disability-related hardships they will experience if sent back. If news reports are any guide, Canada does not appear to have the widespread problems the United States has of persons who have mental impairments being deported contrary to the law because of their inability to understand immigration procedures and exercise rights they have to remain in the country. But there is little doubt the excessive demand clause works a harsh effect on those who already face discrimination on the basis of disability. The new government in Ottawa has an agenda for immigration liberalization. Easing the impact of current laws on people with disabilities could be part of that reform effort. Mark C. Weber is a law professor at DePaul University in Chicago. SENTENCED - Sheila M. Johnson, 43, of Fountain City, was sentenced to six months in jail for violating probation on 2013 offenses of resisting or obstructing a police officer and possession of marijuana. Johnson was credited for 72 days already served in jail and granted release privileges. Johnson has a court hearing May 25 on a felony charge accusing her of escaping arrest on Feb. 11. - Michelle L. Wallentine, 41, of rural Mondovi, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. A felony charge was amended. She was sentenced to two years of probation. CHARGED - Daniel P. Kotek, 43, of New Brighton, Minn., had a plea and sentencing hearing re-scheduled to May 25 on charges accusing him of fifth-offense operating with restricted controlled substance, driving without a license and possession of methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. - Aleesha L. Deck, 28, of Independence, had a hearing adjourned to May 25 on charges accusing her of possessing methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and operating a motor vehicle without insurance. - Austin J. Breidung, 20, of Eau Claire, had a hearing adjourned to May 25 on a felony charge accusing him of possession with intent to deliver 3 grams or less of amphetamine. - Allan E. Novak, 66, of Mondovi, had a hearing adjourned to May 25 on charges accusing him of second-offense possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. - Jana M. Snyder, 34, of Mondovi, had a hearing adjourned to June 22 on two charges accusing her of possessing methamphetamine and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. - Brock W. Patraw, 25, of Alma, had a hearing adjourned to June 15 on felony charges accusing him of failure to maintain sex offender registry and bail jumping. - Mitchell L. Seifert, 33, of Cochrane, arraignment hearing scheduled May 25 on drug charges accusing him of possessing methamphetamine and marijuana. Winona bridge workers pulled a woman from the Mississippi River after she went over the side of the interstate bridge around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday. The Winona Police Department received a call of a woman sitting on the side of the bridge, and as an officer approached she either jumped or fell off, according to the department. While responders were arranging for water rescue, a group of around four workers from the ongoing interstate bridge construction came out in boats and rescued the woman and brought her to shore. The woman, whose name was not released, was transported to Winona Health. Wisconsins frac sand mining industry isnt going away, but industry experts say not all mines will survive as market forces change the business model. Advances in a gas and oil mining technique known as hydraulic fracturing created enormous demand during the past decade for the round, silica sand prevalent throughout western Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa. In response, the number of mines jumped from just a handful to 129, according to the latest count by the Department of Natural Resources. But when oil prices fell, so did demand for silica, and some experts say the new economics will leave some operators in the dust. There were a lot of mines that should never have been built, said Joel Schneyer, managing director for the investment banking firm Headwaters MB. There were mines built that dont make sense. Schneyer was the keynote speaker for a two-day industry convention at the La Crosse Center. He spoke to about 70 people, noting attendance was much better than recent industry addresses he gave in New York and Minneapolis. The convention, put on by the trade publication Rock Products, is billed as a beacon of hope for producers weathering a sandstorm, as low oil prices have sapped demand for the fine-grained sand used to open cracks in underground rocks, releasing hard-to-reach oil and natural gas reserves. Keith Rauch, a mining geologist and La Crosse-based consultant, offered a briefing on how to open a mine, though he conceded there is not much interest in that now. Its a tough business, he said. Were at the low point hopefully. Schneyer estimates consumption of frac sand was near 40 percent of capacity last year and will fall to around 35 percent in 2016 which is the reason its so painful out there, he told conference goers. But the industry is not dead, Schneyer said: With oil prices below $40 a barrel, producers are concentrating on their most productive wells, drilling farther and using more sand; EOG Resources, one of the nations largest oil and gas producers, is using about twice as much sand per well as its competitors. Shale is not going away, he said. Each well you drill you gain a little more knowledge. With lagging demand and depressed prices, there is no longer enough profit margin to support both mines and shippers, or the existing model, where efficient mines attempt to supply the entire industry. Thats not how we sell the sand anymore, Schneyer said. During the boom, when frac sand was a $33 billion industry, publicly-traded mining companies were making a profit of $35 per ton. By the end of 2015, that pre-tax margin had fallen to $7 a ton. Now successful mines need to own loading terminals and sell their product in the shale basins where they can ship it most efficiently. For producers in the upper Midwest, that means sending sand to the Bakken formation of North Dakota, where product can be hauled directly on major railroads like Canadian Pacific and BNSF. A million tons of sand on a rail line is worth more than a billion tons 20 miles away, Rauch said. But its not enough to be near a rail line, Schneyer said. To maximize efficiency, producers need to fill entire trains with their product, and even some of the mines with rail terminals cant accommodate these mile-long unit trains. Mines that rely on trucks to haul their product to a rail terminal are too high on the cost curve, Schneyer said, adding that local officials should have been asking potential operators tougher questions about their business models. Most operations are located along rail corridors, but a Tribune analysis of DNR data suggests there are at least 30 permitted facilities and another two with pending applications more than five miles from a rail line. Schneyer said there will likely be consolidation, re-adjustment and re-alignment as the industry recovers, as mines can easily be re-opened when demand returns, so long as the permits dont expire. But not every mine will be viable. Theres a lot of mistakes out there, Rauch said. 25 years ago this week (1991) Plans for St. Clare Hospitals multi-million dollar facilities expansion are well underway. This week St. Clare President Tom Warwick announced Kraemer Brothers, Inc. of Plain will be the general contractor for the project. Ground-breaking is anticipated for early June. Total estimated cost of the project is $5 million. The crew of ABCs Good Morning America will embark on a bus tour of the Midwest next week, including stops in Baraboo, La Crosse, Milwaukee and Racine. Baraboos Circus World Museum will be featured on the show on Tuesday. The program, airing from Milwaukee that morning, will feature the Circus World Museum in a segment on Wisconsin places of interest. A species of crane known to have inhabited the earth for several million years, considered the most endangered species of crane, made history this week at the International Crane Foundation as two eggs hatched the first produced by whooping cranes which courted and mated at ICF. Wisconsin hatched the evening of Friday, May 10. Baraboo hatched Tuesday, May 14 at about noon. These two are the offspring of mated pair Riva and Rattler, and ICF plans to release them in Florida as part of an effort to develop a wild flock there. 50 years ago this week (1966) If variety is the spice of life as the old adage goes, city police officers have been having plenty of it, according to reports of their recent investigations recorded at the city police station today. They included: A complaint of a prowler in the 300 block of South Street, a man having been seen looking in a bedroom window; a child, 4, bitten on the ankle by a dog in 100 block of Eighth Avenue. The little girl was treated by a physician and the dogs owner contacted and instructed that it is to be confined under observation for the next ten days; the antenna broken off a car parked in the 200 block of 11th Street. Devils Lake has a new park naturalist, Kenneth Lange. During the summer he will conduct guided tours, stressing biology and geology on the trip. Groups of students as well as summer visitors will be invited on the tours. There is no charge for the service. Several crews were called out early today when an automobile left Eighth Street at the intersection of Camp Street, striking a fire hydrant and Wisconsin Telephone Company pole, damaging secondary and services of the Wisconsin Power and Light Company and doing damage at the Herbert A. Harpold trailer home. Marvin F. Kesky of Baraboo lost control of his 1962 Ford at 2:20 a.m. and they listed damage to the automobile as total. Also extensive damage was done to the fire hydrant and telephone pole. The chimney, air conditioner and TV lead were damaged at the Harpold home. 75 years ago this week (1941) A coroners inquest returned a verdict in the inquest in the death of Willard G. Barney of Madison. Willard Barney came to his death at 6:16 a.m., May 11, as a result of injuries received in an auto accident, at 12:35 a.m., May 11, in which the car driven by Kenneth Sorenson (in which Barney was a passenger) failed to make the turn on Highway 12 at Lake Delton village and crashed into a tree in front of the Marshall Memorial Town Hall. This accident was due to the car being operated at excessive speed and to the driver being intoxicated. Tragedy struck at the Charles Premo farm home in Fairfield late yesterday when the Premos youngest son tumbled into the water tank. Little 14-month-old Gerald Richard had been playing about the farm-yard but failed to answer when his aunt, Bernice Premo, called to him. She quickly went in search of the child a search that ended at the watering trough which was usually kept covered. Every effort was made to resuscitate the little boy by members of the local Wisconsin Power and Light Company together with a Baraboo physician. They started working with the inhalator at approximately 5:30 and did not stop until well after seven oclock, to no avail. 100 years ago this week (1916) North Freedom will have a real high school. At a meeting Thursday night, it was decided to change the grading from the tenth to the high school standard, similar to that in Baraboo, Reedsburg and other places. A new addition will be erected to the building at once and two additional teachers employed. North Freedom is one of the progressive dry villages of the state and the citizens are to be congratulated on the advancement being made in education lines. In Justice Adolph Andros court Simon Washburn was handed a sentence of $10 and costs or 60 days in the county jail. Not having the required ten he decided to remain in the bastille for two moons and when he is free again the strawberry shortcake will be gone. The charge was assault and battery and was made by Earl Bayles. Washburn has a wooden leg and sells pencils. It is said that he became abusive because the young man refused to buy and struck him in the face. No one will be safe Saturday in downtown Baraboo. Clowns with ready access to pies will be waiting. Downtown Baraboo Inc.s spring Fair on the Square returns Saturday, with some new twists. Among them is a pie-eating contest presented by the International Clown Hall of Fame. In exchange for a $5 contribution to the Hall of Fame, contestants can find out how much of a vanilla pudding pie they can devour in 30 seconds. The biggest eater will win free tacos for a year from Joses Authentic Mexican Restaurant. All contestants will get clown noses and posters. I think it adds a little to the Fair on the Square, said Hall of Fame executive director Greg DeSanto. It gives us a little exposure to a big group of people. Fair on the Square will feature live music, activities for kids and an arts and crafts fair. I am looking forward to a great day on Saturday with 180-plus vendors, 15 food vendors, six community court booths, face painting, pony rides, clowns, music and bouncy houses, organizer Mary Hultman said. The clowns wont be the only ones offering sweet treats. In addition to the food vendors selling snacks, event sponsor Spa Serenity will celebrate its 10th anniversary with a party featuring free cupcakes. Circus World clowns will be working the event, no doubt lurking near the pie-eating contest on Oak Street. DeSanto stressed that the event is designed to promote the eating, rather than the throwing, of pies. But if a contestant only finishes half a pie in half a minute and would like the rest tossed toward his pie-hole, a nearby clown will oblige. Id be more than happy to fulfill their dream, DeSanto said. Mark it off your bucket list. As he peered at a sample pie, featuring graham cracker crust, vanilla pudding and a cream topping, the longtime clown admitted it was hard to stifle the urge to chuck it at an unsuspecting onlooker. I was 35 years old before I realized people eat these things, he said. Viking Village is providing the pies, which will be weighed after each contestants attempt. The contest will stretch all day, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., or until the supply of 100 pies runs out. The contest was the brainchild of Hall of Fame board member Ralph Pierce, and is designed to promote the downtown Baraboo museums May 21 season-opening date. I think its a great fit, DeSanto said. Itll be good for photos. Someone might get a pie in their face. TOWN OF WINFIELD Sauk County sheriffs deputies were called in to help capture a violent Sauk County mental patient a short time after he escaped from his locked home in a rural area late last month, causing renewed concerns about the safety of a community. I wish I knew how to protect the people here, said Winfield Town Board Chair Don Churchill. Its just sad that we cant do anything. He has all the rights. We have none. The Sauk County Sheriffs Department says the 29-year-old male patient who has a criminal history that includes violence against care staff escaped April 23 from a rural home north of Reedsburg that was built to contain him. The Baraboo News Republic has chosen not to identify the man because of his mental disability. Man kicked through window Sauk County Sheriffs Department Capt. Mike Stoddard said a disturbance within the home prompted the patient to kick through a fortified window and escape. The disturbance involved the patient and staff of Dungarvin, a company that contracts to provide in-home care for patients enrolled in Wisconsins Family Care program. The man who previously has been described as being 6 foot 4 inches tall and up to 275 pounds allegedly kicked through a fortified window. Dungarvin staff followed the man into the woods while calling 911, Stoddard said. Several sheriffs department officers arrived on scene, and were able to talk the man back to the road, where he was taken into custody. Stoddard said the man cut himself when he kicked through the window, and was later transported to St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo. There, he was medically cleared and released back to Dungarvins care. Reached by phone Wednesday, Dungarvin Wisconsin Director Julie Josephitis declined to answer questions. Dungarvin Chief Operating Officer Robert Longo later provided a the newspaper with a prepared statement in which he said he could not comment on the escape due to federal privacy law restrictions. Longo refuted reporting by a television news outlet that characterized the home as being heavily guarded. In his statement, he also said Dungarvin provides well-qualified, well-trained (staff) that provide outstanding care to the individuals that we support. Escape fears The escape was the realization of what many have feared since learning that the state-run program permitted the mans placement in a community setting, despite his criminally violent history. Stoddard said the Sheriffs Department does not have the authority to tell Dungarvin how to reinforce the home, but did provide guidance regarding its initial design. However, he said, there is new reason for concern about the homes security. The systems in place to keep him in were defeated, Stoddard said. If theyve been defeated once, you always have concerns that they could do it again. History of violence The mans community placement has been controversial since 2013, when the News Republic reported on safety concerns raised by former Dungarvin employee John Herrera. At that time, the patient was kept in a locked home on Sauk Avenue in Baraboo. The newspaper reported that the man was tased by police in 2010 after he became violent with caretakers at a Wisconsin Dells amusement park. In 2011, he was convicted of strangling and suffocating a staff member at a Wisconsin Rapids assisted living facility. And at the Baraboo home, police reports showed, the man had injured at least nine Dungarvin employees. City officials and state lawmakers complained to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which oversees the states Family Care program, about the mans placement in a community setting. Conflicting reports DHS hired a third-party agency to conduct an independent review, and later released findings that said there were no issues at the Baraboo home. In a letter to state lawmakers, Department of Health Services Secretary Kitty Rhoades wrote she was proud of the care and caution exercised by Dungarvin and others involved in the mans placement. DHS did not release documentation to show how the conclusions of that inquiry were reached. And those conclusions were later called into question when a federal agency identified safety concerns at the Baraboo home. In January 2014, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that Dungarvin employees were exposed to hazardous conditions associated with workplace violence. OSHAs investigation found that injuries to eight Dungarvin employees were serious enough to result in 124 days away from work. Somebodys going to get hurt In August 2014, the Winfield Town Board learned that Dungarvin had moved the man to a new home in that community, just north of Reedsburg. Despite objections by town leaders and community members, the new location was approved. Churchill said the towns one attorney was no match for the team of lawyers hired to ensure the mans community placement. He said he does not wish the patient any ill will, but wants to ensure the safety of the man and the surrounding community. There isnt anything I can do about it, Churchill said. Hes got more rights than anybody I know of. Its going to come down to and I hate to think about it but somebodys going to get hurt. This article was updated May 12, 2016, to include the proper title for Robert Longo. Donald Trump has become presumptive nominee for president representing the Republican Party. Conservatives will have to look deep inside and decide which is more important opposing Trump or another White House win for the liberals. Trump only is the presumptive nominee, as he still needs California to carry him to the 1,237-delegate threshold, but no one else is standing in the way. Its all over except for the final delegate count in Cleveland in July. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton is the presumptive nominee for the Democrats. She is only presumptive in that Bernie Sanders is now plucking away at the super delegates in an effort to overturn the lead she holds based purely on educated speculation at this point. In all likelihood, Sanders wont pull it off. At least 65 percent of Republicans wanted someone other than Trump. In past years, when someones candidate lost, the rest of the party would rally folks to the cause and remind them that its not about the candidate its about the movement. The establishment is all the folks who have put their heart and soul into supporting a conservative agenda and candidates who allegedly vow to uphold that agenda. These are the folks who pay membership dues and donations to their county parties. They also put up yard signs, make phone calls, go door-to-door and walk in parades for candidates. This is the real establishment. Its now time for the GOP establishment to pull up its bootstraps and get to work because the alternative is much worse. If Clinton wins the White House, liberalism will have the winning agenda for decades. Odds are very high that she could win reelection in 2020 and, in another four years, it is conceivable she will have control of not just the Senate, but the House as well. Clinton is likely to pick up votes in the Senate this election cycle if we fail. This will tilt the Senate minority closer to the majority. If it doesnt occur in 2018, it could happen in 2017. It will create the same imbalance that has crippled the Barack Obama administration along with his unwillingness to work with Congress. She could break the impasse by picking up seats in both houses of Congress during her reelection campaign. What would a Clinton presidency look like? Obamacare becomes Hillarycare. As the crowning achievement of President Barack Obama continues down a path toward failure, the argument will lean not toward abolishing the program, but expanding it. After all, the argument is already being made that its failure is because of Republican opposition, in spite of the fact the math simply doesnt add up. Universal healthcare, a one-payer system, will be the next priority. The Supreme Court also will be controlled by liberal ideology for the next 40 years. At a minimum, Clinton will have three, likely four nominations to the court. The new court will view the Constitution as a document that needs to be framed by liberal opinion rather than a Constitution that frames the law of the land. The First and Second Amendments have never been at greater risk as the liberal movement works to squelch free speech and gun ownership. Citizens United is more about free speech than it is about corporate greed. Liberals have been anti-gun for years, as they have enacted laws against lawful gun owners rather than the criminals who unlawfully use them. And of course, lets not forget about corruption. She couldnt stay clean as Secretary of the State. One can only imagine her unfettered power in the lands highest office. On the other hand, there is Trump. His amateurish campaign won elections. Along the way, he has scared away every liberal voting bloc with his off the wall rhetoric. His careless use of language, however, should be overlooked in the same way Clintons illegal storage of state secrets has been. Trump has at least stood in opposition to Clintons agenda. He claims to oppose Obamacare. He wants to get control of the illegal immigrant problem even if Mexico wont pay for his wall. He also supports United States-China trade reforms, tax reforms, and Veterans Administration reforms. Behind the Republican-led Congress he is more likely to get it done than she is. The conservative agenda is far more important than losing again to the liberals. The NeverTrump movement should play second fiddle to the NeverHillary movement. Its time to unite and carry 2016. Last week, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Veterans Committee gathered to announce their support for bipartisan legislation designed to fix multiple problems in the Veterans Affairs Health system. Surprisingly, the senators are hopeful that the Senate will pass that bill this month. Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, emphasized that the bill will will give the VA the tools to fire bad actors, will prohibit bonuses for employees accused of wrongdoing, and will institute protections for whistleblowers. The Veterans First Act is about accountability, agreed Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., a member of the committee. But Tester emphasized what the legislation aims to do is directly improve veterans care. The bipartisan bill includes his proposed remedies for the Veterans Choice program. In August 2014, Congress and President Barack Obama created the Veterans Choice program in an effort to reduce the waiting time for veterans to see a doctor. The Veterans Choice program, which must contract with a private gatekeeping company, has actually slowed down the process for getting veterans into care. Choice is broken and is not working the way it was intended, said Tester. One big problem with Veterans Choice is that the money goes with the program, not the veteran. The new bill would change that. This gives the VA flexibility to take Choice money and use it for community care not available within the VA, Tester said. The state of Montana is one of five sites selected to pilot a partial remedy while Congress works on a comprehensive fix. VA Montana has been authorized to use Veterans Choice funding to contract directly with community clinics when that is the quickest way to have a veteran seen by a qualified physician. This only is a partial fix because the Veterans Choice contract still requires referrals to go to the private gatekeeper (Health Net) and VA Montana must wait for Health Net to send the case back, which can take a week or more. The pilot has been successful in getting veterans in to see physicians in Montana communities faster than they could be seen through Health Net or within the VA, said Johnny Ginnity, VA Montana director. The pilot is expected to go nationwide soon, possibly later this month. The Senate reform bill aims for other improvements, including: Increasing physician residency positions in VA, both to provide more doctors now and to enhance recruiting efforts for the future Boosting efforts to recruit more licensed mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists Improving the process for filling leadership vacancies A VA reform bill can and should pass the Senate before Congress recesses for Memorial Day week vacation. We call on Montanas delegation to be leaders in getting veterans health care legislation to President Obamas desk early this summer. Barbara J. Neuman, longtime resident of Beacon Hill, Boston, Massachusetts, and formerly of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and Montpelier, Vermont, passed away unexpectedly on May 4, 2016, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston of complications following a heart attack. Barbara was born on Feb. 15, 1954, in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, to Paul J. and Isabel (Knuti) Neuman. She moved to Boston in 1972 after graduation from Beaver Dam High School to attend Emerson College. At Emerson, Barbara pursued and earned her undergraduate degree in communication arts and science. During this time, Barbara worked for the state of Massachusetts in the office of consumer affairs and discovered what would become a lifelong passion for public service and protection. While working in the office of consumer affairs, Barbara worked in the lead-paint abatement and removal project, investigating and remediating family housing that could pose a threat to the health of the children living in those apartments. Barbara was also instrumental in drafting legislation that lead to Massachusetts passing the first "lemon law" in the nation to protect consumers in the purchase of new vehicles that turned out to be defective. For her part in this important and groundbreaking legislation, Barbara was interviewed as a guest on "Good Morning America." Barbara would go on to pursue and attain her juris doctor (law) degree from Suffolk University in Boston and turn her attention to serving the needs of the public for quality medical care and the needs of the medical provider community for high standards in professional preparation, licensing and practice. Serving first the state of Massachusetts for several years, and then the state of Vermont for several more years, Barbara was the executive director of the State Board of Medical Practice. As the capstone to her career, Barbara served as executive director of Administrators in Medicine, where she was instrumental in the development and implementation of DocFinder, a centralized website where individuals and organizations can search for physicians and other health care practitioner information, from multiple state databases. Launched in 1996, the website has received millions of hits, proving its popularity with consumers. For her years of tireless work and endless dedication to the Federation of State Medical Boards, Barbara was honored with an award luncheon in Boston in 2012. Barbara cared deeply for those whose lives she touched, always put others' needs before her own, and always looked for the best in everyone. She had a delightful sense of humor and would light up your day with her ability to find something wonderful about you each time you met. Those of us lucky enough to have known her will only have to think of her to feel that love. Barbara always had a special dog, or two, in her life. She would greatly appreciate memorials in her name to the Animal Rescue League of Boston, 10 Chandler St., Boston, MA 02116 (info@arlboston.org) in lieu of flowers. The Neuman family, Barbara's brothers Paul of Sudbury, Mass., Jim of Sunnyvale, California, Mike of Beaver Dam, Mark of Redondo Beach, California, and her sister Mary of Beaver Dam, extends their sincere gratitude and appreciation to the entire Coronary ICU team at Massachusetts General and, in particular, Dr. Amy Spooner and the surgical team as well as Brittany and the other dedicated nursing staff. Boston Harborside Home of J.S. Waterman & Son-Langone is serving the family. Visit www.BostonHarborsideHome.com UW-Milwaukee became the fourth University of Wisconsin System campus to see professors declare they have no confidence in UWs leaders Tuesday, in a vote that prompted Gov. Scott Walker to weigh in with sharp criticism of the faculty. The Milwaukee professors joined colleagues at UW campuses in Madison, La Crosse and River Falls by stating they dont have faith in UW System President Ray Cross or the Systems Board of Regents to uphold the universitys outreach mission in light of budget cuts and changes to tenure and shared governance. UW-Eau Claire faculty and academic staff also discussed a no-confidence resolution Tuesday afternoon but did not hold a vote on it, according to a university spokeswoman. Just before the UW-Milwaukee professors meeting Tuesday, Walkers office issued a scathing statement deriding the no-confidence votes and faculty tenure. Some faculty bodies ... appear more interested in protecting outdated job for life tenure than about helping students get the best education possible, Walker said. The university should not be about protecting the interests of the faculty, but about delivering value and excellence to Wisconsin. The governors rebuke of faculty illustrates an important limit to their symbolic resolutions: While Cross may be unpopular enough among many professors to prompt no-confidence votes, he still has the backing of the Board of Regents that controls his job, and both he and the Regents have support among Republican lawmakers. Those legislators stripped tenure protections from state law in the 2015-17 budget, and new policies approved by the Board of Regents earlier this year give chancellors the power to close academic programs and lay off their professors a change that incensed faculty members. Professors have also criticized Cross and the Regents for not lobbying more aggressively against a $250 million cut to the UW Systems funding in that same budget. Faculty members have insisted they arent arguing that tenure should be a job for life. Instead, they say, it is a principle that protects professors academic freedom, and gives them the ability to do the kind of risky or potentially unpopular work that can benefit peoples lives. Chad Goldberg, a professor of sociology who wrote the no-confidence resolution that UW-Madison faculty passed this month, said Monday that there are limited situations in which it would be appropriate to lay off tenured faculty members. For example, if professors, through shared governance decision-making, decide to close a program and the university cant find a suitable other role for the affected faculty, Goldberg said, they could be fired. Walker followed his statement with a series of tweets in which he chided faculty for speaking out after recent changes to tenure, but not taking as strong an action in response to student tuition increases or previous UW funding cuts. Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday announced new rules for obtaining a voter ID aimed at making it easier for those who have trouble producing the necessary documentation. The announcement comes a month after a federal appeals court sided with groups challenging the 2011 law in court and days before a separate federal challenge to the law is scheduled for a trial in the Madison-based U.S. District Court. The law was in effect for the April 5 primary election, but the appellate decision gives a federal district judge based in Milwaukee the ability to issue rules for how eligible voters can still cast a ballot if they have trouble obtaining a required ID. The new rules from the Department of Transportation appear to address the same issues raised by the federal appellate court, though opponents of the law say they dont go far enough. The Division of Motor Vehicles, which has issued free photo IDs for voting since 2011, will be able to issue photo ID receipts to those who are in the process of obtaining photo ID cards for voting but are unable to produce the necessary documents in time for an election, Walkers office said in a statement. The measure could help those who have errors on documentation, such as a misspelled name on a birth certificate, Walkers office said. Voter ID is about making it easier to vote and harder to cheat, Walker said in a statement. This action ensures an individual is still able to vote while they work to obtain documentation needed for a free voter I.D. card. Karyn Rotker, senior legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which filed the lawsuit in Milwaukee challenging the law, said the provision wont help voters without proper documentation who go to the DMV on or right before election day. Part of the new rule says those without proper documentation will be mailed a receipt within six days, but someone who files a provisional ballot must provide a photo ID or receipt within three days. It is clear just looking at it on the face that there are going to be voters who are left out, Rotker said. Scot Ross, executive director of liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said OWN lawyers are reviewing the new rule. In a separate lawsuit, the group is challenging the states recent changes to voting-related laws saying they have made it harder for certain Democratic constituencies such as students and minorities to vote. The case has a trial scheduled to begin Monday in Madison, though a judge could rule any day now on a state motion to rule in its favor without a trial. This is an administration that time and again has manipulated the rules on voting to gain partisan advantage, and the fact remains that legal voters have been and will be denied the franchise because of Gov. Walker and Republicans voter ID requirement, Ross said. The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin issued a report this week that found the voter ID requirement didnt cause widespread problems in the April 5 election, but problems with voters being unable to produce a photo ID were common in polling locations with heavy student populations. League executive director Andrea Kaminski said the new rule doesnt go very far in addressing the problem. Other than scrapping the law entirely, she said a better approach would be to allow those without a lawful ID to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity. It would address those concerns in the absolute minimal way, Kaminski said of the new rule. Attorney General Brad Schimel recently said in an interview with WKOW-TV that the voter ID lawsuits could be moot if the state allowed someone who has difficulty obtaining a voter ID to sign an affidavit. State correctional officers can look forward to a raise in the coming weeks, a move explicitly aimed at improving retention in a department that has been hemorrhaging staff. But the announcement has been greeted with skepticism. In an announcement released by the Department of Corrections on Thursday, Secretary Jon Litscher noted that among DOC staff 54 percent will be eligible for retirement within 10 years. Staff at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage have estimated staff shortages at between 20 percent and 30 percent when counting for long-term vacancies and positions that have been eliminated in the past few years. In December the DOC released a list of CCI staff that was out of date upon arrival, including people who were no longer with the institution. We havent gotten a heads-up about anything, said Rep. Mandela Barnes, D-Milwaukee, who sits on the state Assembly Committee on Corrections, explaining that committee members found out about the pay raises with the general public. The bigger issue is that its a first step, but its one of the myriad of issues. In interviews and during listening sessions with state legislators correctional officers have talked about going more than a year without a pay raise as one of the problems, which the just-announced additional 80 cents an hour does address. Im happy its taking place, said Barnes. But the workplace issue safety still needs to be addressed, the staffing issue still needs to be addressed and they still dont have any collective bargaining to discuss these things. One correctional officer said she wasnt aware of it before it appeared in the news, saying that she would believe it when she sees it. Another former CCI staff member, now working elsewhere for the state, said, They are known for excited utterances and never following through. The way the announcement came as a surprise to many of those invested in the Department of Corrections is a reflection of the DOC administrations top-down management style over the past few years, according to Rick Badger, executive director of the public employees union AFSCME-Council 32, based in Madison. I dont blame the (corretional officers) for not trusting this, said Badger who, with AFSCME, represents correctional officers at facilities such as Waupun Correctional Institution, though not CCI. The $10 million addresses a problem and the other part goes into not listening. With the $10 million for raises coming from unspecified cuts elsewhere in the Corrections budget, the question remains if this will impact other priorities such as safety or officer training. A more central issue, if not the central issue, Barnes said, is the lack of union representation for correctional officers following Gov. Scott Walkers signing of Act 10 in 2011, largely stripping public employees of collective bargaining rights. In the old world there would be a sit-down with employees to discuss this first, said Badger, referring to pre-Act 10 management scheme. Staffing policy has not only changed since the passage of that bill, but public employees are again bracing for another round of uncertainty. On June 26 correctional officers and youth counselors will get an 80-cents-per-hour raise, while on July 1, new rules for civil service employment will come into effect. The new rules became law Feb. 12 with Gov. Walkers signing an overhaul of the civil service system. The bill, which covers hiring, firing, punishment and compensation, was criticized by Democrats as providing a new in-road to cronyism. AFSCME, as a union, we need to bring hiring into the 21st century, said Badger, pointing to testimony given to the legislature in the fall, in which suggestions were offered to modernize the process. There are real reasons that there is distrust that the new rules will be fair, he said. At the beginning of 2016, Tristan Cook took over duties of spokesman for the DOC from former director Joy Staab. Cook has noted requests from the Daily Register for an updated staff list, most recently on May 4. We are continuing to work on your outstanding requests, he wrote in an email. What do Van Hise Rock, Man Mound, the Merrimac Ferry and the Reedsburg Post Office all have in common? If you guessed that they are all on the National Register of Historic Places, and if you further guessed that they are all located in Sauk County, you would be correct. On May 17, Paul Wolter, executive director of the Sauk County Historical Society, will present a program on Sauk Countys historic sites at 7 p.m. at the Reedsburg Public Library. The talk celebrates the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 which established the National Register of Historic Places. More than 40 buildings in Sauk County have qualified for the National Register of Historic Places, and many are located in Reedsburg. The Woolen Mill, the post office and the Corwith Livery are all on the registry. The city also boasts two historic districts, the Main Street Commercial district and the Park Street district. Main Street properties include the Reedsburg Bank building from 1920, as well as the iconic Stolte Hotel, whose corner turret has become a symbol of Reedsburg. The Park Street Historic District consists of several buildings bound by Main Street and Sixth Streets, and Locust and North Pine Streets. Specific properties in this district include St. Peters Lutheran Church, the First Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian manse, and the former Reedsburg Hospital. The Lavinia Green home (pictured), a long time bed and breakfast, is a fine example of the districts distinctive architecture, and fascinating past history. In addition to the buildings on the registry, a number of non-architectural sites in Sauk County have also qualified for the National Register. Van Hise Rock bears the name of the 19th century University of Wisconsin-Madison geology professor who first discovered its significance. Man Mound County Park features the only remaining man-shaped effigy mound in the world. At the Mid Continent Railway Museum, visitors can see Steam Locomotive No. 1385, notable as the only operable steam engine from the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, founded in 1859. Along with the history of the various sites, Wolter will talk about the process involved in listing a property on the National Historic Register. In general, a property must be at least 50-years-old and meet specified standards for integrity and significance. Wolter will also discuss how to take advantage of various historic preservation tax credits for the restoration of buildings. The program is free and registration is not required. The presentation will be repeated at 7 p.m. May 26 at the Sauk County History Center, 900 Second Ave. in Baraboo. For more information about this or any other library program, call the library at 768-READ (7323). 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 GP Health Department and Wits sign MOU Wits University and the Gauteng Department of Health have committed to greater co-operation to address health care challenges in the province. Qedani Mahlangu, MEC for Health and Wits Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Habib signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Tuesday, 10 May 2016. At the signing, Habib praised the manner in which the national government and the Gauteng and Limpopo provincial governments worked with Wits to deal with the recent tragedy in which the seven students from the University lost their lives, and believes this collaboration could mean great things for Gauteng residents. The VC noted that the injured students involved in the tragedy were transported to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital within 24 hours and had access to specialist services because government came together in an incredible way. If we can get our public institutions to start engaging each other in the ways they should be engaging, we could fundamentally change the quality of life for all of our citizens, said Habib. The VC said he noticed that there are porous boundaries between institutions and universities while still maintaining autonomy and this is one of the reasons why Wits is excited about this relationship. Unless we come together we are unable to address the historic challenges that we come from. Habib is confident that the number of doctors produced in South Africa could increase with such partnerships. Both Mahlangu and Habib felt that doctors are directed at curative care rather than primary health care and this concern which has been raised previously, needs to change. Habib said this MOU represents hope, that we can overcome our institutional boundaries and begin to build a partnership that will provide this country with more medical personnel. We have to start producing our own knowledge. If we are always going to be reliant on the knowledge of the rest of the world, we are going to be importing medication that is not always appropriate to our circumstances, said Habib. The high cost of medication is also a concern for Habib. Professor Martin Veller, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences said the road to the MOU has been a long journey. It is one that is based on the fact that we are inextricably linked and what we have to achieve in terms of providing the service and training components is really one and the same. To a large degree it has been an area that we are not where we should be but I look forward to future engagements that will take both our mandates forward, said Veller. Mahlangu said government wants doctors to be part of the global research community but at the same time should not compromise in service delivery. She added that although South Africa has more doctors in the private sector, the training grounds remain top public hospitals in the country. She also said it is important to continue investing in technology so that the health care system can provide more efficient services. Habib said it would also be ideal for other South African universities to open medical schools because the nation needs to produce more health care professionals. He said that Wits would commit to providing support should this happen. W&M students to be commissioned as Army officers Eighteen William & Mary students will be commissioned as U.S. Army officers in a ceremony to be held at the university May 13. Maj. Gen. Rex A. Spitler, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, will speak at the event, which begins at 12:30 p.m. in the Sadler Centers Commonwealth Auditorium. A reception will follow. William & Mary Chancellor and former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates 65 will also be in attendance, as will President Taylor Reveley and Lt. Col. James M. Kimbrough IV, chair of the universitys Department of Military Science. I am very proud of our commissionees for their dedication and commitment to complete the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program on top of their rigorous academic studies at the College of William & Mary, said Kimbrough. They are special. They form our largest cohort in nearly a decade and help mark the centennial anniversary for ROTC nationwide. They join the previous ROTC graduates from the past 100 years by swearing to defend the constitution against all enemies. It will be under their leadership that our Army will combat the threats facing our great nation and its interests. The students to be commissioned are: Mark Andrew Ames, Field Artillery, Active Duty Morgan Grace Bayer, Aviation Corps, Active Duty Kyle Alfonso Borda, Infantry/Military Intelligence (Detail), Active Duty Erin Michelle Caverly, Aviation Corps, Active Duty Jordan Clare Cirenza, Field Artillery, Active Duty Dylan Thomas Farley, Signal Corps, Reserve Duty Luke Stolte Frerichs, Field Artillery, Active Duty Heather Marie Jackson, Military Intelligence, Reserve Duty Trever Hill Johnson, Infantry/Adjutant General (Detail), Active Duty Alexander Lee Lum, Unassigned/Educational Delay (Law School-UVA) Ian Stuart Lyle, Military Intelligence, Reserve Duty Gwyneth Dal McKenna, Military Intelligence, Active Duty Kirsten M. Moser, Quartermaster, Active Duty Christian Rhys Nott, Infantry, Reserve Duty Simon Slifman Ranagan, Infantry, Active Duty Daniel Gdovin Salmon, Ordnance Corps, Active Duty Timothy Joseph Schorr, Chemical Corps, Active Duty Gregory Joseph Tarman Jr., Medical Service Corps, Active Duty Spitler has served in his current role with U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command since September 2014. His military career, which began with his own commissioning in 1980 after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science in national security strategy, has included serving as chief of staff for United States Army Central/Third Army. His other assignments have included director of strategy and effects for U.S. Army Central/Third Army and chief of staff for Kosovo Forces in Camp Film City, Kosovo. He holds a masters degree in public administration from Shippensburg University. His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, Senior Aviator Wings, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge and the Ranger Tab. Fuel loading begins at China's Changjiang 2 11 May 2016 Share Fuel loading operations are under way at the second unit of the Changjiang nuclear power plant, under construction on China's southern island province of Hainan. The reactor is expected to begin operating later this year. Fuel loading operations at Changjiang 2 (Image: CNNC) The first fuel assembly was loaded into the core of Changjiang 2 yesterday, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced today. The milestone means that the unit has "officially entered the commissioning phase", the company said. A total of 121 fuel assemblies will be loaded into the 650 MWe CNP-600 pressurized water reactor over the coming days. Initial approval for the Changjiang plant's construction was granted by China's National Developmental and Reform Commission in July 2008. Early site works began in December 2008. Construction of unit 1 began with the pouring of first concrete on 25 April 2010, while that for unit 2 was poured on 21 November 2010. Changjiang 1 achieved first criticality on 12 October 2015 and entered commercial operation in December. Unit 2 is set to start up later this year. The plant, near Hoi Mei Tong village in China's Hainan province, is being built as a joint venture between CNNC and China Huaneng Group, with shares split 51% and 49%, respectively. The plant will eventually comprise four units, with units 3 and 4 housing either CNP-650 or ACP-600 reactors. Construction of both those units is scheduled to begin by 2018. CNNC has said that the first two Changjiang units will together provide almost one-third of the electricity needs of Hainan. By using nuclear power instead of coal-fired generation, the units will avoid the emission of about 7.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it claims. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics NEA head highlights challenges facing nuclear power 11 May 2016 Share William D. Magwood, IV, director general of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), highlighted some of the issues hindering the prospects of nuclear power at a two-day conference that started today at the organisation's headquarters in Paris. These issues include the impact of deregulated electricity markets, the place of natural gas in the context of efforts to curb global emissions of CO2, and the myths surrounding the costs of building a nuclear power plant. Magwood has led the NEA since September 2014. He was appointed a Commissioner at the US NRC in 2010 after previous roles including director of nuclear energy at the Department of Energy. He is recognised as a strong advocate of international technology cooperation, having served as chairman of both the Generation-IV International Forum and the OECD's steering committee on Nuclear Energy. "My life will not rise or fall on whether there's a lot of new nuclear power plants being built or a few. What I think is important is that the choice is there. But I see issues preventing this," Magwood told delegates at the conference titled Nuclear Energy's Role in the 21st Century: Addressing the Challenge of Financing. The event was jointly organised by the NEA and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC). The IFNEC is a forum of states and organisations that share the common vision of the safe and secure development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes worldwide. The conference has convened leading stakeholders from energy planning authorities, regulators and export credit agencies, as well as vendors, utilities, bankers, rating agencies and insurers, to identify key barriers and develop approaches to address the financing of nuclear projects. Magwood told them: "I am ready to stand here today and declare that the markets are broken; they don't work and don't do what they are supposed to do. The time has come to recognise that we have a situation where large utilities are losing money and are almost on the verge of bankruptcy. When you have a situation in many markets where the only things that can be built are things that are subsidised, then we have a serious problem. "Building a nuclear power plant takes a lot of decisions which cannot be made in the context of markets that don't make sense. Before you think about putting patches on the situation or thinking what kind of subsidies we can give to baseload plants, what kind of support we give to nuclear, you need to think about the markets in your countries and whether they do what they are supposed to do." Dealing with climate change needs to be done "in a logical fashion", he said. "It can't be a matter simply of putting a price on carbon because governments creating policies to pick winners and losers, to try and tailor the markets to do what they want them to do, invariably has unintended consequences. And we've seen it. In many parts of the world, efforts to deal with climate change have focused on pushing more and more renewables, but in some parts of the world CO2 emissions have actually gone up." The question, how much does it cost to build a nuclear power plant, "is in a way a silly question", he said, "because there are different types, sizes and vendors of nuclear power plants. And you can have a nuclear power plant on an existing plant site with transmission access and then you might have a plant on a greenfield site and of a different design." The "big numbers" given for the cost of nuclear power plant projects often incorporate more than just the cost of building the reactor, he said, and might also include infrastructure costs and transmission assets. The "rising cost" of nuclear from work to enhance the safety features of reactors in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan in March 2011, has been exaggerated, he said. "The reality is that for most countries post-Fukushima measures have been just tiny amounts in the overall cost of a nuclear power plant. When I was at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, we concluded from the AP1000 design that there really wasn't much that needed to happen. It really didn't need many modifications because the design itself captured most of what we were concerned with." There is no need therefore, he said, "to make a choice" between the economics of nuclear power plants and nuclear safety. "I think it's a false choice. Nuclear power is well positioned technically from a safety standpoint to be competitive in markets that work," he added. "That said, these days we don't just have market issues, we also have the advent of very low priced natural gas and that's not going away any time soon. Without pricing carbon, nuclear will have to survive in that world and that means in some markets it can't, so you have to make the choice: do you want to deal with climate change or not? If you do, you will have to price carbon not at a few dollars or euros per tonne, but very, very significantly," he told delegates. "So, how much does a nuclear power plant cost? It costs a lot, but not when you look at it as a 60-year asset which can produce electricity for a long period of time. And you should not judge all nuclear power plants the same." Cost and budget overruns at Olkiluoto 3 in Finland cannot be described as typical. "There are projects taking place today that are exactly on schedule and pretty much on price," he said. "But there's a lot of mythology surrounding this issue." A challenge with small modular reactors will be the need to sell "dozens, scores if not hundreds to make it work", he said. "And if you're selling them to more than one country, are you going to have to go through the entire regulatory process every time you go to a country. If you do that, you may end up making them uneconomic just by the fact that you have to spend huge amounts of money to get the licence." This would run counter to the motivation of regulators to encourage advanced technologies, he said. Changing environment Since the time that most of today's commercial nuclear power plants were built and placed into operation, the way projects are implemented, the supply chain, and particularly the financing environment, have all changed radically, Magwood said in a foreward to the conference program. "Old models of financing large power plant projects have begun to fade in the face of deregulation in many countries. At the same time electricity supplies themselves have also changed, with low-priced and low-cost sources of electricity rushing into the market. In many markets, it is difficult if not impossible to justify the construction of any generation that is not receiving a subsidy or other government support," he said. "Meanwhile, the lists of who is supplying and who is building nuclear plants have changed significantly over the last decade. New vendors are offering a roster of advanced designs and are marketing very aggressively. Further, with interest growing in small modular reactors and some Generation IV technologies, it appears likely that the nuclear technologies the world uses to make electricity will also change. "Add to all this, the agreement by 195 countries last year to reduce carbon emissions consistent with the 2 degrees Celsius goal advocated by many scientists, and the result is a global nuclear technology market that is in the middle of a period of change, the likes of which have not been seen since nuclear plants were first deployed 50 years ago." Such change brings with it both "great opportunity but also great uncertainty", he said. "In the flux of great change, it can be difficult to finance even modest projects. Nuclear power plants are not modest projects; with total costs ranging from about 6 billion to 12 billion and total project implantation times reaching up to a decade, building a nuclear power plant is one of the most complex of all industrial sector undertakings. Therefore, as one might expect, financing nuclear power plants can often present significant challenges." Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Maplematch.com website By: Feng Qian A new dating website aims to help U.S. residents fleeing from their country to escape from a Donald Trump presidency. MapleMatch.com promises to help expats living across the northern border find love if Trump becomes commander in chief. CEO Joe Goldman of Texas, claims that so far, 4,150 people have registered for the site, 70 percent of them residents of Canada. Goldman got the idea to launch the dating website after Trump did well on Super Tuesday. During the primaries, Google reported a surge in searches related to moving to Canada. Ironically, the dating website copied Trumpsa slogan, stating that they aim to amake dating great again.a aMaple Match makes it easy for Americans to find the ideal Canadian partner to save them from the unfathomable horror of a Trump presidency,a the company wrote on its website. A young man wanted to make a point about racism in the United States, but his plan backfired when he was exposed for a liar by police. 20-year-old Khalil Cavil of Texas was working at the Saltgrass Steak House in Odessa when he claimed he was discriminated against because of his Muslim name. Cavil took In a speech pledging to ensure peace, Prime Minister David Camerons argument for Britain remaining in the European Union (EU) was all about preparing for war. Speaking at the British Museum Monday, the Conservative Party leader set out what he described as a big, bold patriotic case for voters supporting continued UK membership of the EU in the June 23 referendum. While claiming to respect their views, he made a bellicose attack on supporters of a Brexit (British exit)especially those within his own partyfor endangering not only Britains national interest but the future of NATO and the security of the West. Cameron made clear that he was speaking not only on behalf of the UK, but for all the major imperialist powers. Referencing President Barack Obamas public intervention in favour of a Remain vote during his visit to London on April 22, Cameron said the US leader had made plain the standpoint of our principal and indispensable ally, the guarantor of our securityas only the oldest and best friends can. Support for a Remain vote was the clear view of all the UKs allies, he warned, from Australia, New Zealand and Japan to Britains major new trading and strategic relationshipsChina and India. The secretary-general of NATO had said that a weakened and divided Europe would be bad for security and bad for NATO, he continued. Over the weekend, former UK intelligence chiefs Sir John Sawers, (MI6) and Lord Jonathan Evans (MI5) had added their voices to the calls by Britains former military chiefs for a Remain vote. UK membership of the EU was not just about the day-to-day cooperation, its about the wider stability of our continent, Sawers said. These military considerations dominated the prime ministers remarks. The economic arguments made by his opponents in favour of a Leave vote were dealt with more briefly, with Cameron accusing them of taking a leap in the dark by failing to answer what would replace UK trade relations with the EU. Despite arguing against the risk of turning the clock back to an age of competing nationalisms in Europe by a British exit (Brexit), Camerons presentation of UK-European relations centred entirely on glorifying past national conflicts. The UK had shaped European history for 2,000 years, entirelyaccording to his accountthrough war. From Caesars legions to the wars of the Spanish Succession, from the Napoleonic Wars to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Britain had helped write the history of Europe, he said, before listing military battles against France and Germany from 1704 through to the Second World War. Evoking Churchill, Cameron spoke of the character of the British people, this island nation, our island story, as being special, different, unique especially for not having been invaded for almost a thousand years. [M]y heart swells with pride, he continued, whenever I hear the tell-tale roar of a Spitfire engine that had done battle with the German Luftwaffe during the Second World War. Camerons extolling of British patriotism and militarism was not purely for domestic consumption. It was intended to reassure Washington that the British bourgeoisie remains its most valuable asset in ensuring that the EU continues to toe the US lineespecially regarding militarism and war. The years before the UK joined the then-European Economic Community in 1973 had seen British governments preside over a steady retrenchment of our world role, borne of our economic weakness, he said. In 1956, the Suez crisisan attempted British/French intervention into Egyptsaw Britain forced to beat a humiliating retreat under US instruction while it also abandoned our aircraft carriers. [Starting] with the transformation of our economy by Margaret Thatcher in 1979, we have turned around our fortunes, he said. As a result, the UK had waged wars in Iraq, the Malvinas, Afghanistan, and Syria, was building permanent military bases in the Gulf, flying policing missions over the Baltic states, renewing its independent nuclear deterrent, and building two new aircraft carriersthe biggest warships the Royal Navy has ever put to sea. It was UK membership of the EU, alongside NATO, the Commonwealth and the Five Power Defence Agreement with Australia and New Zealand that enabled the amplification of British power, Cameron said. This was the preamble to his warning of a fresh existential threat to the European continent. He asked rhetorically, is peace and stability on our continent assured beyond any shadow of doubt? Although he cited the terror threat posed by Islamic State to justify a further European-wide assault on democratic rights, he made clear that the main danger was what he described as a newly belligerent Russia. It was barely 20 years since war in the Balkans, he said, and, more recently, we have seen tanks rolling into Georgia and Ukraine. Such threats require a shared approach by the European democracies, he continued, evoking the Cold War and NATOs formation, under US auspices, against the Soviet Union in 1949. British exit from the EU would mean abandoning the Poles, the Czechs, the Baltic States and the other countries of central and eastern Europe which languished for so long behind the Iron Curtain. These nations view the prospect of Britain leaving the EU with utter dismay. They watch what is happening in Moscow with alarm and trepidation. Now is a time for strength in numbers. Now is the worst possible time for Britain to put that at risk. Only our adversaries will benefit. Camerons presentation turns reality on its head. The liquidation of the Soviet Union in 1991 by the Stalinist bureaucracy was the signal for a scramble by the major powersled by the USto regain access to territory, raw materials, labour and markets that had been lost to them due to the October 1917 revolution. The break-up of Yugoslavia and the Balkan wars of the 1990s were precipitated by the NATO powersforemost the US and Germany. Under the banner of humanitarian intervention and national self-determination, they encouraged intercommunal conflict and carried out the bombing of Serbiaaimed at transforming the Balkans into a de facto NATO protectorate. Likewise, in Ukraine, it was the US and the EU that instigated the 2014 right-wing putsch in Kiev to install a virulently anti-Russian regime. This drive to encircle, weaken and ultimately dismember Russia is resulting in the greatest remilitarisation of Europe since the Second World War. Only last week, Washington used the change of command at its European Command HQ in Germany to step up its provocations against Moscowincluding plans to deploy a third US armoured brigade combat team near the Russian border and more funds for war fighting equipment. Describing a resurgent Russia as a greater threat to American interests than terrorism, newly installed Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said the 60,000 or so US troops deployed in Europe must be prepared to fight tonight if the deterrence fails. Cameron has solidarised fully with these threats against Russia. In doing so, he warned that without Britains membership of the EU, there was no guarantee that Washington and NATO would be able to count on future European backing for its provocations. There had been a real risk of a feeble European response, and of a split between the United States and Europe in response to the Ukraine crisis, he said. But Britain had injected steel into Europes action, ensuring effective sanctions against Russia through the EU and thus ensuring crucial unity between Europe and the US in the face of Russian aggression. The UK had played the same role in pushing hardest for the implementation of an EU oil embargo against Iran. Although he did not state so explicitly, Camerons claims were directed against France and Germany. Without UK membership there would be no one to prevent Europe from becoming a protectionist bloc or pushing for political union, Cameron said. If the Leave vote went through, the UK would be left outside the room while the leaders of Germany, France, Italy, the Maltese, the Slovak, the Czech, the Polish, the Slovene took the decisions that would have a direct bearing on Britainthe implication being that none of them could be trusted. The Murdoch-owned Daily Telegraph issued an extraordinary front-page appeal today for voters to re-elect leading Labor Party politician Anthony Albanese in Sydneys inner-west electorate of Grayndler. Featuring a large front-page picture of Albanese with the caption Save Our Albo, the editorial warned that the former deputy prime minister may lose his seat to Greens candidate, Jim Casey, in the upcoming federal elections. The Sydney-based tabloid framed its editorial as a red-baiting attack on Casey, secretary of the fire fighters union in New South Wales, who has claimed to be a socialist. It declared that One of NSWs most accomplished politicians faces being kicked out of federal Parliament by a Greens extremist who champions the overthrow of capitalism. The Telegraph also prominently featured past comments by Casey on Twitter referencing class war and militant action, under the heading, The Loony Greenie Taking on Our Albo. The editorial echoed anti-socialist denunciations of Casey by Albanese himself, who has repeatedly drawn attention to the Greens candidates former membership in the pseudo-left International Socialist Organisation. At his campaign launch in January, Albanese declared, Ive never seen him at any event or anything else, but then again, I havent been to international socialist demonstrations against global capitalism in the last few years so maybe thats why Ive missed him. The intervention of the Daily Telegraphwhich specialises in promoting anti-refugee xenophobia, demonising welfare recipients, and fanning other forms of reactionexpresses mounting fears within ruling circles that the federal election on July 2 could witness a mass repudiation of both Labor and the Liberal-National coalition, and further destabilise the increasingly crisis-ridden two-party system, which has been in place, in its current form, since the end of World War II. Polling has indicated that the Coalition government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is heading towards potential defeat, in the first ousting of a one-term government since 1931. At the same time, the Labor Party is unlikely to secure enough seats to form a majority government. In recent days, commentary in the financial press has warned of the prospect of a hung parliament, with no party capable of forming a majority government. This, they have warned, would mark a continuation of the parliamentary turmoil that has produced no less than five prime ministers in the past five years. The Greens have responded by declaring their willingness to form a coalition government with Labor. Greens leader, Richard Di Natale and Adam Bandt, the federal member for Melbourne, have both issued appeals to Labor, declaring that a unity government would ensure a stable and effective parliament. The corporate elite, however, is fearful that a minority government would be unable to implement the sweeping cuts it is demanding to education, healthcare, and every area of social spending. Beneath its editorial on Albanese, the Daily Telegraph featured pledges from Turnbull and Labor Leader Bill Shorten that they solemnly promise not to enter a deal, alliance...or power sharing agreement with the Greens...if there is a hung parliament. Underlying the concerns over further political instability is the recognition that millions of ordinary people are deeply hostile to the existing political establishment and increasingly receptive to an alternative. Labor is particularly fearful that the Greens will be the initial beneficiaries of mounting opposition in the inner-city electorates of Sydney and Melbourne to the persecution of refugees, the bipartisan assault on healthcare and education, and Australian participation in US-led wars. Referencing unnamed Labor Party insiders, the Telegraph noted that Labor had diverted campaign resources to Grayndler and the seat of Sydney, currently held by Deputy Labor Leader Tanya Plibersek, in a bid to stave off Greens challengers. Seeking to placate the mass hostility to Labor, Albanese and other Labor candidates in marginal seats have sought to distance themselves from the ALPs support for the brutal repression of asylum seekers, including the consignment of refugees to virtual concentration camps on Nauru and Manus Island in the Pacific. Albanese told the Telegraph that greater humanity should be shown towards refugees, and said that he would work harder to relocate asylum-seekers to countries such as Canada. Nevertheless, he repeated the denunciations of people smugglers that have served as the primary pretext for the brutal measures being implemented against refugees. The hypocrisy of Albaneses comments is further underscored by the fact that he was a prominent minister in the Gillard Labor government, which reopened the detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island. Albaneses political posturing is in line with Labors phony populist election campaign, which has featured demagogic denunciations of Malcolms millionaires and promises of limited social reforms, alongside pledges to the corporate elite that a future Labor government would balance the budget, i.e., implement major austerity cuts. In an address to the National Press Club yesterday, Labors shadow treasurer Chris Bowen acknowledged that the forecasts for economic growth, upon which Labors election promises are premised, grossly understated the depth of the economic crisis confronting Australian capitalism. He said that a Labor government would bring down a mini-budget within three months of the election, in a clear signal to the corporate elite that Labors promises are purely for show, and will be abandoned immediately after the campaign. Under conditions of mass alienation from the entire political establishment, the coming together of Albanese, a decades-long leader of the Labor left, and Rupert Murdochs Daily Telegraph, in a common campaign against socialism, has a broader significance. With the collapse of the mining boom, the claims that Australia was able to escape the global financial crisis of 200809 have been utterly discredited. Millions of workers are facing the consequences, in the form of widespread job-cutting and stepped-up attacks on wages and conditions, which come on top of three decades of widening social inequality. At the same time, popular opposition to the bipartisan support for the countrys involvement in US led-military interventions, and mounting concerns over the destruction of basic democratic rights under the rubric of the war on terror, find no expression in the official political establishment. In the United States, similar processes have seen Bernie Sanders win mass support in the Democratic primaries for the presidential elections, on the basis of his false claims to be a democratic socialist. Likewise, in the UK they have seen Jeremy Corbyn, who describes himself as a socialist, win the leadership of the British Labour Party. The Daily Telegraphs ferocious red-baiting demonstrates, in its own way, that socialism is also in the air in Australia. Young people and workers looking for a genuine socialist alternative to war, austerity and the turn to authoritarian forms of rule will not find it in the Greens. Their appeals to form a coalition government with Labor make crystal clear that they are a capitalist party, seeking to channel mounting opposition behind the official parliamentary set-up. Instead, all those interested in socialism should throw their support behind the campaign of the Socialist Equality Party, the Australian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, whose candidates are the only ones providing a voice for the opposition of millions of ordinary people to all the parties of big business, and advancing a socialist and revolutionary program that represents the interests of the working class. Yesterday, Labour In for Britain began its campaign for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU). It did so just one day after headlines were dominated by the vicious faction fight between Conservative prime minister David Cameron and his partys anti-EU wingled by former London mayor Boris Johnson. Ahead of the launch, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was interviewed by the pro-Tory Times newspaper of Rupert Murdoch. He shilled for Cameron and the EU, stating, I have many criticisms of the European Union, but I believe that we should remain and reform it. Labour is for staying in because we believe the EU has brought investment, jobs, and protection for workers, consumers and the environment. Yesterday, the same rhetoric was repeatedalong with pledges that he would be supposedly helped in opposing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) by EU membership. In reality, all the EU states are presently involved in negotiations with the US on the trade deal involving in part opening Europes public sector to private investment, and it is a major goal of both wings of the Tory Party. No criticism of the EU was made, especially of its role in imposing austerity, as Corbyn was well and truly on message. We want to stand up for the rights of people all across this continent on a human rights agenda, he proclaimed. Corbyn was joined by the head of Labour In, former home secretary Alan Johnson. Every sinew, every muscle will be stretched, every piece of energy, every resource in the Labour Party will be put into this campaign to get a Remain vote, Johnson pledged. The six-week campaign, mounted from a Battle Bus, will set out to target students, workers and young parents and is supported by the overwhelming majority of Labour MPs and most trade unions. With the Conservatives deeply divided and Camerons own message so nakedly anti-migrant and pro-business, Labours ability to deliver its 9 million voters is considered essential for a victorious Remain vote. This has become even more fundamental given the bitterness and rancour of the Tory faction fight and its nakedly reactionary character. Cameron gave his own keynote speech in favour of a Remain vote Monday, arguing that EU membership was the patriotic choice because it reinforced the unity of the European powers within the NATO alliance in combating Russia while preventing war between themselves that would result from turning the clock back to an age of competing nationalisms. The speech evoked a bitter response from Boris Johnson, who delivered that same day what he termed, without apparent irony, his liberal cosmopolitan case to Vote Leave. Johnsons speech was peppered with warnings of uncontrolled immigration accompanying EU membership, describing the most basic power of a state as the ability to decide who has the right to live and work in your country. Blaming Cameron for failing to clamp down on immigration, he accused him of corroding popular trust in democracy. He urged voters to ask the Prime Minister and...the Remain campaign: How can you possibly control EU immigration into this country?. He also took a swipe at how the UK had been forcedin spite of promises to the contraryto take part in the bail-out of Greece. A large part of his speech was delivered as a counter to Camerons identification of EU membership with peace and stability. I think this grossly underestimates the way Europe has changed, and the Nato guarantee that has really underpinned peace in Europe, he said. I saw the disaster when the EU was charged with sorting out former Yugoslavia, and I saw how Nato sorted it out. Later, in response to questions, he added that the EUs pretensions to running a defence policy have caused real trouble in Ukraine. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory Work and Pensions Secretary joined the fray against Camerontelling Murdochs Sun that Germany had a de facto veto over everything during Camerons EU renegotiations and used its ultimate power to stymie plans for an emergency brake on migrants. Within hours, Downing Street had issued a rebuke to Johnson stating that Russia alone bears responsibility for the conflict in Ukraine. Boris Johnsons comments on Yugoslavia and Ukraine are spurious only because they berate the EU while praising NATO (and therefore the US). NATO and the EU worked in cahoots during the wars in Yugoslavia in the 1990s and in engineering the right-wing putsch in Ukraine in 2013. His claim that NATO is the real guarantor of peace in Europe in fact sanctions the ongoing campaign to place its forces in all the territories and waters surrounding Russia on the basis of the provocation staged by the US, Germany and France in Ukraine. Labour was once more swift to solidarise with Cameron. Jack Straw, the former Labour foreign secretary at the time of the criminal 2003 Iraq War, stated that Boris Johnson had plumbed new depths and was a Putin apologist. On Tuesday, Alan Johnson described members of the Leave campaign as extremists who cant give the EU any credit at all. So when it comes to peace on our continent they say its all to do with NATO. We say actually NATO played a role, so did the EU. So dependent is the British ruling class on Labour to make the case for a Remain vote that it is suggested that Corbyn will replace Cameron in the BBCs Great Debate, hosted by David Dimbleby, two days before the referendum vote, arguing the case for Remain in front of an audience of 6,000 at Wembley Arena. Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne have both refused to take part in a debate with Boris Johnson, described as a blue-on-blue contest. Alan Johnson has said he would also be willing to represent the Remain camp in this and other TV debates. Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown is lined up to make a speech in favour of Remain this week. The role being played by Corbyn for the Remain camp can no more conceal its right-wing, militarist agenda than the motley collection of pseudo-left groups, the Stalinist Communist Party of Britain and the Rail, Maritime and Transport and ASLEF rail unions gathered in the Left Leave campaign can cover for the xenophobia of Boris Johnson and company. Indeed, their claim that a Leave vote is made progressive because it will enable a future Corbyn Labour government to implement reformist measures looks ever more threadbare. In contrast, the Socialist Equality Partys call for an active boycott of the referendum assumes ever clearer political significance with each day that passes. A concerted effort is being made to whip up nationalism, anti-migrant chauvinism and support for military violence by both sides in the June 23 contest. The SEP provides the most farsighted workers and young people with the means to articulate a conscious opposition to this noxious political brew. An active boycott provides an essential mechanism for politically clarifying the working class by countering the disorientation deliberately created by the Labour and trade union bureaucracy and its apologists in the pseudo-left groups. In opposition to national chauvinism and xenophobia, we urge working people to take up the fight for a socialist and internationalist programme. We stand for a unified struggle of workers throughout Europe in defence of living standards and democratic rights and the building of the United Socialist States of Europe. The author also recommends: UK prime minister invokes militarism and war to argue for EU membership [10 May 2016] Socialist Party (PS) Prime Minister Manuel Valls decision yesterday to try to impose Labour Minister Myriam El Khomris labour law reform in the National Assembly without a vote marks a profound crisis of French democracy. For two months, millions of workers and youth have protested the law, which three-quarters of the population opposes. And for a second time, the PS is trying to impose its social diktat without a vote in the Assembly. The same mechanism, Article 49-3 of the constitution, was used last year to impose the Macron Law on economic liberalisation. This article allows a government to impose a law on the Assembly if the Assembly does not bring down the government in the ensuing 48 hours. This is an admission by Valls that the relentless drive to austerity and deeper exploitation carried out by the PS and the ruling classes of all the EU countries is no longer compatible with the traditional mechanisms of parliamentary democracy. Amid loud booing from the deputies, Valls criticised rebel PS deputies who refuse to vote for the El Khomri law and who, since the installation of the second Valls government in the fall of 2014, have criticised it. Valls was angry that some, in the governments parliamentary majority, refuse to look for a compromise. The coming together of all these oppositions could block the law. As the country must advance, the council of ministers has authorized me to engage the responsibility of the government. Right-wing deputies presented a censure motion, as well as Left Front deputies, but this would need the support of around 60 deputies from the PS and its allies in order to passthat is, a sizable number of rebel deputies would have to vote for it. Christian Paul, the leader of the frondeurs, eluded the question of whether he would support a censure motion against his own party. He said, We refuse to abandon any constitutional possibilities. It is a collective decision that we will probably make tomorrow. In fact, the rebel opposition to the law is only a third-rate factor in the PS crisis. Despite their reservations, the rebel chiefs have always indicated that they wanted to reform France with austerity. Their general spinelessness has allowed them both to vote confidence in the second Valls government in 2014, and to refuse to vote for a censure motion against it after it imposed Article 49-3 to force through the Macron law. Indeed, had they brought down Valls, triggering new elections, the rebels would have risked losing their own seats. What is driving the crisis inside the PS is a profound, ongoing international political reorientation of the masses, which is provoking a growing mobilisation of workers and youth across Europe and the world. After eight years of unprecedented capitalist crisis since 2008, working people are turning against the parties that for decades have passed for left or even the extreme left, but that are the instruments of a financial aristocracy that is ready for any policy against the working class to defend its exorbitant privileges. In the United States, millions of young voters showed their deep disillusionment with Obama and the Democratic Party by voting for a candidate, Bernie Sanders, that claimed to be socialist. At the beginning of this week, Greek workers massively followed a strike call against the Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) government, which is trampling its electoral promises in order to impose the policy demanded by the EU. In France, President Francois Hollandes policy of austerity, war, and the state of emergency has provoked deep and growing disillusionment with the PS and the petty-bourgeois groups in the PS orbit, like the Left Front and the New Anti-capitalist Party. Tens of millions of angry workers know that these organisations offer no alternative to the existing social order. For four years, moreover, these organisations and the trade union bureaucracies mobilised no opposition to Hollande, whom they endorsed in the 2012 presidential elections. For two months, something of 1968 was in the air; France was on the verge of a revolutionary explosion. However, the spark was absent: no formally-constituted party fought to mobilise the working class in a revolutionary struggle against the PS. The unions and petty-bourgeois groups that organised the #UpAllNight occupations of city squares in various cities in order to intervene among the youth blocked the mobilisation of the working class. As social anger grew, they did everything they could to dissipate the movement and allow security forces to attack young protesters. A leading figure in #UpAllNight, economist Frederic Lordon, even declared about the El Khomri Law that we in no way demand that it be modified or rewritten, we do not demand rights, we do not demand anything at all, in fact. Having long put off the presentation of the El Khomri law to the Assembly, the PS has finally concluded that the youth mobilisations had been sufficiently isolated and repressed that the PS could try to impose the law through the Assembly. The only way to stop attacks on basic social rights is to renew the mobilisations and to launch a struggle against the PS government and its trade union and political allies. This would be possible only through building organs of class struggle independent of the trade unions, on the perspective of mounting a revolutionary struggle to bring down the PS government and appeal to broader popular opposition to austerity across France, to extend the movement beyond the borders of France. It would be a fatal political error for the youth and workers to put their faith in the Assembly, which is dominated by the PS and explicitly right-wing, pro-austerity parties, to block the El Khomri law, as the trade unions have proposed. Like last year, when they allowed Hollande to pass the Macron law, the rebels do not intend to seek an end to austerity, but to preserve as long as possible the illusion that there is opposition to austerity inside the PS itself. They are hostile to youth and workers who are mobilising against PS austerity measures. If they are now putting forward their reservations as to the law, it is to prevent the total discrediting of the PS in the long term and its collapse in the 2017 presidential elections, and a social explosion that could force the retraction of the El Khomri law and bring down the Valls government. If the fate of the law is left in their hands, the unpopular policies of austerity and war will continue, either by the rebels capitulating to Valls 49-3 as last year, or by more complex negotiations between the French parliamentary parties and the various EU institutions. Record-high temperatures across India have killed more than 300 people in recent weeks, almost all of them agricultural laborers and other poor people. The most affected states are Telangana (249 dead) and Andhra Pradesh (45 dead). Many of the victims died because they had no choice but to work outside in blistering conditions, with temperatures routinely well over 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). One 12-year-old girl in the drought-stricken western state of Maharashtra died from the heat while fetching water. Broad masses of industrial and construction workers and farm laborers suffering from the heat are faced with an impossible choice: they cannot stay inside, because their families depend on their daily wages; however, if they go to work they have no protection from the heat and are rapidly faced with heatstroke. There has been scant news coverage of this disaster, in part because few news organizations are ready to dispatch their journalists to the remote rural villages where the majority of the deaths are occurring. A major problem is the shortage of water. Ten of Indias 29 states have declared a state of drought, following two years of below-average monsoon rains. We are getting water supply once in 20 days and taking a bath even once a week is a luxury, said Manik Kadam, a farm activist from Madhya Pradesh. He told reporters that police are taking charge of filling pots to avoid water wars; villagers get water for only 20 minutes per day. Soaring temperatures have compounded ongoing drought conditions, with water shortages threatening to affect as many as 330 million people across the country. That is a quarter of Indias population. There are 42,829 affected villages in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, 29,077 villages in the eastern state of Orissa and 22,759 in Karnataka in the south. The heat wave is harming crops, which will drive up crop prices, imposing even greater misery on the population. Heat wave conditions now prevail across northwest India, affecting cereals, horticulture, and livestock. In Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, in western and southern India, the delay in the monsoon has prevented farmers from planting paddy, cotton, pulses, and millet. Tens of thousands of farm animals have died, depriving their owners of resources that are critical to survivea situation that often provokes farmers to commit suicide. According to a report from Al-Jazeera, in the Deccan Plain, eastern Maharashtran region of Marathwada, more than 1,100 farmers committed suicide last year, and a further 216 took their lives in the first three months of this year The Indian authorities, both the national government led by Narendra Modi and his Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party and the various state governments, have responded to the heat wave and drought in the Indian ruling classs customary desultory fashion. According to the media, authorities in some Indian states have belatedly issued warnings for people to stay indoors, banned construction during the hottest times of the day and ordered some schools to extend their summer holidays so that children are not exposed to the heat. However, these public health warnings do not reach broad sections of the population in more remote areas. Moreover, no compensation is offered to workers for whom the loss of a days pay may well mean that they and their families have to go hungry. Last year, a heat wave claimed 2,422 lives in India, the highest heat-related death toll in more than two decades. The Indian national and state governments expressed perfunctory concerns, but the death toll was forgotten once the heat wave faded away. Ignoring this and previous such disasters, the authorities failed to anticipate and prepare for the consequences of this years intense and prolonged heat. Once again, people are being left to fend for themselves. The business oligarchs and affluent sections of the middle class live in spacious homes with air conditioning. Industrial workers and the urban poor, on the other hand, must endure the heat in cramped quarters. Due to the high cost of air conditioners, even among middle-class households, only half had air conditioning as of 2013. As for the drought, its impact is greatly magnified by the failure to develop modern irrigation. Of an estimated 142 million hectares of land cultivated annually, less than half, some 64 million hectares, have assured access to irrigation. Many irrigation projects have languished for decades as successive Indian governments have prioritized the infrastructure projects favored by domestic and international capital. While the western media celebrates the purported rise of India, the stark truth is Indian capitalism is utterly incapable of meeting the basic social needs of the countrys largely impoverished population of 1.2 billion people. In the nearly 70 years since India became independent from Britain, the Indian capitalist class has failed to develop decent health care and public infrastructure for the broad masses of the working class and rural people. Sixty-nine percent of the Indian population lacks access to adequate sanitation facilities. The Indian state, all levels combined, spends less than 6 percent of GDP on health care and education. Only 0.5 hospital beds exist per 1,000 population, as compared to 9.1 in Russia and 3 per 1,000 in China. Only 0.21 percent of total infrastructure investments in India are in the health sector, according to an analysis of government data by IndiaSpend. Though Indian Finance Minister Jaitley announced a 700-billion-rupee ($11.3 billion) hike in Indian government spending on infrastructure in the 2015-16 fiscal year, the Indian government is slashing social spending in many areas. The allocation for health care including health research and AIDS control is to be cut by 15 percent to just Rs. 331.5 billion ($5.4 billion) and for education by 16 percent. The top 25 US hedge fund managers received nearly $13 billion in earnings last year, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by Institutional Investors Alpha magazine. Even though 2015 was a year of low or negative returns for many hedge funds, fund managers earnings were up 10 percent over 2014, when the top 25 hedge fund managers pulled in a measly $11.6 billion, their worst earnings since the 2008 housing crisis. The lowest earner on this years list took in $135 million, while the average income was $517.6 million, up from the previous year, but down 40 percent from $846 million in 2013. The incomes of the top 25 hedge fund managers place them all comfortably in the top 0.1 percent of society, who live in a world of private jets, luxury hotels, and multiple homes and penthouses scattered around the planet. It means little to these modern plutocrats to toss around tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars in order to purchase art, luxury yachts, and the services of both the Republican and the Democratic parties. Citadels Kenneth Griffin and Renaissance Technologies James Simons topped this years list, both pulling in $1.7 billion. Following close behind were Raymond Dalio of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world with more than $160 billion in assets under management, and Appaloosa Managements David Tepper who both brought home $1.4 billion. The top five was rounded out by Millennium Managements Israel (Izzy) Englander who earned a slim $1.15 billion. Griffin, who has a net worth of $7.3 billion, has been in the top 25 for the last 14 years. He is a noted art collector and supporter of right-wing, Republican politicians. Earlier this year Griffin purchased Willem De Koonings 1955 painting Interchanged for $300 million and Jackson Pollocks Number 17A for $200 million from the private collection of fellow billionaire David Geffen. A self-styled Reagan Republican, Griffin backed the 2012 presidential campaign of multi-millionaire Mitt Romney. He endorsed Senator Marco Rubio in his failed run for the 2016 Republican nomination and gave $100,000 to a pro-Rubio super PAC. He also gave $100,000 each to Super PAC funds supporting the presidential campaigns of Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. Meanwhile Simons, with a net worth of $15.5 billion, has made the list for the last 15 years, earning a total of $23.46 billion over the last decade and a half. Simons used a small sliver of this wealth in 2008 to purchase the Archimedes, a 222-foot super yacht valued at $100 million, which can accommodate 8 guests and 10 crew members. Through his firm, Renaissance Technologies and Euclidean Capital, Simons has donated generously to both the Democratic and Republican campaigns. According to public filings, Renaissance provided more than $13 million to support the failed presidential bid of Republican Senator Ted Cruz, while Euclidean has given more than $7 million to support the presidential bid of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Simons was one of the largest individual donors in the 2012 campaign, giving more than $9 million to pro-Democrat and pro-Obama super PACs. To give a sense of what the income of the top hedge fund managers in 2015 represents, consider: * The West African country of Togo, with a population of 7.5 million people, has a GDP less than $12 billion. * The top 25 hedge fund managers incomes could pay for a majority of the federally-funded National School Lunch Program which provided low-cost or free lunches to more than 31 million school aged children in the US at a cost of $20 billion in 2015. * The combined income of Griffin and Simons is nearly enough to pay for the $3.5 billion annual budget of K-12 public education in the state of Mississippi. Their income could cover the education costs for approximately 500,000 students, including the salaries of more than 32,000 teachers in more than 1,000 schools. * $6.1 billion would cover the entire 2015-2016 budget of the University of Wisconsin, which includes the operation of the UW systems 13 universities and 13 two-year colleges, and cover the education costs for more than 182,000 students. The public university system recently had its state funding slashed by $300 million, plunging the institution into a crisis. * $1.5 billion would be enough to pay for the replacement of all lead pipes in Flint, Michigan and fix the citys poisoned public water system. * Chicago State University, which recently laid off 300 employees due to a shortage of state funds, has an annual operating budget of approximately $6 million. This sum could be paid for more than 2,100 times over by the income of the highest earning hedge fund managers. A substantial share, if not the majority, of the wealth appropriated by these billionaires is derived from criminal operations. A case in point is SAC Capital Advisors, one of the most profitable hedge funds in history, which pled guilty to security and wire fraud charges in 2013. The entire operation was revealed to have been based on an illegal insider trading operation on a scale without known precedent. The firm was required to pay a relatively small $1.8 billion settlement. Despite being implicated in one of the largest insider trading cases in US history, SACs owner and manager, Steven A. Cohen, escaped any criminal charges and remains one of the richest individuals in the world. His current net worth is somewhere around $12 billion. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that fewer than two months after a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission banned him from serving as a hedge fund executive, he now owns a hedge fund called Stamford Harbor Capital across the street from his old fund SAC Capital, and the two share many of the same executives. The fund claims that while Cohen is the owner, he does not play a supervisory role. The story of SAC capital, while particularly egregious, exemplifies the relationship between the criminal financial oligarchy that dominates society and the government bodies that nominally supervise them. The Federal Reserve, Securities Exchange Commission, Congress, and the judiciary serve not to restrain the criminality of the financial elite, but to facilitate it and hide it from the public. This basic state of social relations is on full display in the 2016 presidential elections, in which the Republican Party has put forward Donald Trump, a semi-fascistic billionaire, as their candidate, while the Democratic Party has settled upon Hillary Clinton, a lifelong defender of Wall Street who sees nothing wrong with receiving a six-figure speaking fee for a single appearance. Workers at Honeywell Aerospace plants at Green Island in Albany, New York and at South Bend, Indiana were locked out by the company without warning on Monday, May 9 after they rejected the companys best and final offer on a new contract. The previous contract had expired on May 3. Workers report that the companys offer included a miserly 2 percent wage increase, plus cuts in pensions, retiree and active worker health care coverage, a shift to a high-deductible health care plan and the elimination of personal time. The company is also demanding the ability to subcontract work, which workers fear will lead to the loss of existing jobs. The offer included firm numbers for only the first year. South Bend workers overwhelmingly rejected the proposed contract by 270 to 30. A statement by Honeywell made it clear that the company intends to use the stagnating world economy to drive down workers wages and benefits in order to maximize profits. A lot has changed in the five years since we last bargained with the union and our proposals reflect the need to address those changes to be successful in an aviation industry that, globally, has seen more than 30,000 layoffs in the last year alone The company stated that it was seeking cost savings after its largest customer, Boeing, announced in March the layoff of 4,500 workers by June. Workers at both plants are members of the United Auto Workers. Instead of organizing a strike following the rejection of the contract proposal, the union kept workers on the job, allowing the company to prepare for the lockout. Honeywell has brought in scabs in an attempt to continue operations at both plants. Honeywell Aerospace is the worlds largest manufacturer of aircraft engines and other components. It averages $10 billion in annual revenues from both defense and commercial contracts. The aerospace division is part of a huge conglomerate, Honeywell International, the product of decades of mergers and acquisitions. The company is highly profitable. Over 10 years, its stock priced has quadrupled to $115 per share. Last month, the companys board authorized a $5 billion stock buyback. Its CEO, David Cote, was paid over $33 million last year. Early this year Cote cashed in $36 million in stock options. He reportedly has a $168 million pension. Honeywell is a major donor to political campaigns. In 2014, its political action committee made contributions of nearly $8 million. The UAW has allowed a plant-by-plant vote on proposals similar to those rejected by the workers at Green Island and South Bend. Against this giant corporation, which can move jobs across the country or around the world, such actions are aimed at isolating workers and pitting them against each othera tactic the union has employed at auto companies as part of its close collaboration with corporate management. On May 10, Rodrigo Duterte was elected president of the Philippines, receiving 39 percent of the vote and besting his nearest competitor by more than 6 million votes. He was elected with a base of support particularly in the middle class and upper-middle class, which he mobilized behind a right-wing populist campaign. Duterte is a fascistic political figure, the long-time head of death squads in Davao City in the southern Philippines. At the center of his presidential campaign was the repeated promise that he would have the police and military kill alleged criminals. He also threatened to kill workers if they attempted to form a union in Export Processing Zones. Dutertes election is the product of mounting class tensions bound up with the drive to world war, spearheaded by US imperialism, and is a sharp expression of the move by capitalist ruling elites internationally toward dictatorial forms of rule. It parallels the rise of the far-right worldwide, from the National Front in France, to the AfD in Germany and the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump in the United States. The ruling class in the Philippines is responding to growing social inequality and class tensions by preparing to employ ever more violent and dictatorial forms of rule. Twenty-five percent of the population of the Philippines lives below the poverty line, earning less than $225 per year. While the official unemployment rate is 6 percent, only 58 percent of those listed as employed have paid jobs. The rest have some form of self-employment. This category encompasses everything from collecting scrap for resale to carrying bags in the marketplace. The fuse on this social powder-keg has been shortened by the imperialist drive to war. In the face of the insoluble crisis of global capitalism, the imperialist powers, above all the United States, are moving to militarily shore up their declining economic position. The drive of US imperialism to subordinate Russia and China to its economic interests has brought the world to the brink of global war. Manila, under the outgoing Aquino administration, has played a central role in Washingtons war drive against China. The threat of war is palpable in the country. Newspapers routinely carry headlines that the Chinese are invading the Philippines. Under the recently signed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, the US military will once again maintain bases on Philippine soil. The US bases at Subic Bay and Clark were the source of immense social anger until their leases expired in 1991. Prostitution flourished around the bases and American soldiers were given extraterritorial immunity when they committed crimes. The top story in Business World, the countrys leading business daily, the day after the election, was headlined Business coming to terms with Duterte. The article quoted an economic adviser to small entrepreneurs who stated that the sentiment among businessmen [was] that given currently solid macroeconomic footing, priority should be law and order. The president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce likewise stated that Dutertes election was a clarion call for leadership that will give more attention to order and stability. Order and stabilitythe code words for violence and repression. Dutertes spokesperson at his initial press conference after the election announced that Duterte would begin his presidency by implementing a curfew at 10 p.m. for all minors. He stated that as the military and police began carrying out his orders, Duterte would not allow the legislature to interrogate or humiliate them. In a speech before the Makati Business Club during his campaign, Duterte announced that he would launch a campaign to kill criminals in the first six months of his presidency. The streets of Manila, he said, would be bloody, very bloody. The day after Dutertes election, the head of the Philippine National Police held a press conference announcing that the police were ramping up their preparations to meet the six month goal of the incoming president. A central factor in Dutertes political rise is the support given him by the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Throughout his decades as mayor of Davao, where he openly headed death squads that terrorized the working population, the CPP and its front organizations gave him enthusiastic support. Founded on the program of Stalinismwhich sought to secure the geopolitical interests of the bureaucracies in Moscow or Beijing through support for a section of the local bourgeoisiethe CPP has from its inception been hostile to the independence of the working class. In the wake of the dissolution of the USSR and the restoration of capitalism in China, and particularly since the outbreak of the global capitalist crisis in 2008 and the mounting threat of world war, the CPP has shifted sharply to the right, on the basis of extreme nationalism and support for American imperialism. The CPP and its front organizations have used national chauvinism to whip up support for Washingtons war drive against China, leading rallies calling for anti-Chinese pogroms in the Philippines. Jose Ma. Sison, the head of the CPP, has openly supported Duterte, hailing his fascistic rhetoric. In an article published on May 10, Sison praised Duterte for his commitment to wipe out criminality. He wrote, The revolutionary movement of the people led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) supports the determination of Duterte to fight corruption and criminality. Sison and the CPP are looking to negotiate positions within the Duterte administration. A year ago, Duterte promised to form a coalition government with the CPP and the military. Washington has no objection to the dictatorial aspirations of Duterte. It is, however, concerned that Duterte may be unstable and unreliable in the dispute in the South China Sea. At times he fiercely denounces China and at others he calls for bilateral negotiations to end the dispute. Greg Poling of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies told the Washington Times on May 10 that Duterte will likely adhere to the national security policies of the outgoing Aquino administration. That is to say, Washington expects Duterte to continue Manilas full support for its anti-Chinese drive mounted under the rubric of the pivot to Asia. Poling, however, concluded his statement with a threat. If Duterte did not continue these policies, he will learn the hard way that governing in Davao is not the same as in Malacanang [the presidential palace.] The CPP supports Washington in this. In its statement hailing his election, it challenged Duterte to assert the national sovereignty of the Filipino people and defend the territorial integrity of the Philippines, i.e., to aggressively confront China in the South China Sea. The election of Duterte demonstrates the connection between the growth of militarism and war and the turn by the capitalist class to authoritarian forms of rule and mass repression against the working class. What makes possible the rise of fascistic forces such as Duterte is the absence of revolutionary leadership in the working class based on socialist internationalism. Such a leadership must be built in the Philippines and throughout East Asia as sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution. The Conservative governments Prisons Bill to be introduced in the Queens Speech this month is the latest stage in the privatisation of the prison service. Justice Secretary Michael Goves proposed bill will introduce reform prisons, modelled on academy schools (state-funded, but privately run). They will be rated via league tables, including measures for re-offending rates. Provision is made for failing jails to be taken over by more successful prisons. Prison governors are to be given more autonomy over budgets and the deployment of staff. Preparing the ground for the bill, David Cameron in February gave the first speech on prisons by a prime minister since fellow Tory John Major in the 1990s. He described the failure of our system as scandalous, as though this had nothing to do with previous government policy. Cameron said prisoners should be seen as potential assets to be harnessed. This was packaged as improving education for prisoners with six jails set to be awarded reform prison status by the end of 2016. Social enterprises will be given contracts to improve education and employment outcomes, which will be used to mark out prisons deemed as failing for privatisation. This model has been employed by successive governments to break up and privatise schools, the National Health Service, social services, probation and other public services. Individual trusts are established to break up previously integrated and centrally managed public services, and unrealistic performance targets and standards imposed as budget cuts and outsourcing contracts, staff and service cuts are introduced. With inevitable crises following, and the media attacking a failing service, this is used to justify reforms involving public services being run for profit by private firmschannelling public funds into unaccountable private hands. Citing the record-high prison population (currently standing at 85,930 in prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales, the biggest in western Europe) and high re-offending rates (the justification to privatise the probation service), Gove was widely lauded in the media as a progressive reformer compared to his predecessor, Chris Grayling. Under Graylings watch, building on powers introduced in the Offender Management Act 2007 by the then-Labour government, 75 percent of the probation service was sold off, Legal Aid was cut and courts were closed. Around 7,500 prison officer jobs were lost between 2010 and 2014. Despite denials from government, staff reductions in prisons led to an overcrowding crisis, a rise in inmate violence and deaths, and an explosion in the use of drugs, as there were not enough staff to supervise prisoners safely. The total number of assaults, 18,874 in 2015, jumped by 19 percent compared with 2014. There were 4,568 recorded assaults on prison staff in the year to September, up 30 percent year on year. In the same period, there were 30,706 reported incidents of self-harm, up 24 percent on the previous year; 257 prisoner deaths occurred in 2015, up from 242 in 2014, and 153 in 2006. In the year to the end of March 2011, there were 3,700 drug seizures, a rise of nearly 4,500 in 2013-2014. A report by the then-chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, said, Staff shortages, overcrowding and a rising level of violence fuelled by a rapid increase in the use of legal highs have all contributed to a significant overall decline in safety. Last week, staff at Wormwood Scrubs prison in London walked out due to concerns over safety, after citing alleged assaults by inmates. The staff walked out despite it being illegal since 1997 for prison officers to take industrial action. This followed a recent damning report by the HM Inspectorate of Prisons, finding the prison was rat-infested and overcrowded. These deplorable conditions are being used to justify the further privatisation of the prison service, with old Victorian prisons in prime city-centre locations being sold and more than 1 billion spent on building nine new privately run prisons. Holloway prison in London, the biggest womens jail in western Europe, with 500 inmates, is the first to be earmarked for closure. The 10-acre site is valued at 200 million, at least. Wormwood Scrubs, and Norwich prison, valued at 50 million, could also be on the list as property developers salivate at the potential for big profits given the inflated UK housing market. Privatisation of the prison service started when the Conservative government gave a short-term contract to multinational security company Group 4 (now G4S) to operate the newly built, publicly owned HMP Prison Wolds. The 1997 Labour government continued the privatisation process, utilising the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Designed, Constructed, Managed and Financed (DCMF) prisons. The contracts run for 25 years, after which the building becomes the property of the Prison Service. HMP Altcourse, opened in December 1997, was the UKs first DCMF prison. There are 14 private prisons contractually managed by private companies such as G4S Justice Services, Serco Custodial Services and Sodexo Justice Service, which between them hold 13,500 prisoners (15 percent of the UKs prison population). Birmingham prison was the first to be transferred from public management to the private sector in October 2011. G4S won the 15-year contract, worth 468.3 million. Private prisons have been plagued by problems. HMP Wolds opened in 1992. Twenty years later, inspectors found that it had clear weaknesses, with poor behaviour and high levels of drug use among inmates. In 2008, 10 of the 11 private prisons in England and Wales came in the bottom quarter of the Ministry of Justices prison performance league table. Prison privatisation will gather apace, given the lucrative profits available via taxpayers money and through the employment of prisoners via the new training and education initiative. In 2012, the Corporate Watch web site reported on of G4Ss Exploitation of the cheap, captive labour of prisoners. It had 400 prisoners working 40 hours a week in its six prisons, being paid next to nothing. At Altcourse prison in Liverpool, G4S worked with Norpro, an engineering firm that had converted three former metal workshops into a factory floor using 25 prisoners to produce high-quality office furniture at an economic price. Labour could be done so cheaply by prisoners that work previously done in India had been brought back to the UK and done in the prison. At Wolds in East Yorkshire, a digital marketing company called Summit Media, which started inside the prison more than a decade earlier, had a turnover of 30 million. G4S launched a PR campaign, Working Prisons: Working People, to urge the UK business community to open its mind to the growth opportunities from being involved in working prisons. One of the benefits to business listed by G4S was a committed workforce and low overheads. ... We have a dedicated workforce with a variety of skills which can work around business needs with the minimum of bureaucracy. G4S hoped these types of prisons would become the norm in the future. With the cost of 40,000 and above to incarcerate a person for a year in the UK, and the cheaper labour costs and lower staff numbers in private prisons, huge profits can be reaped. In interviews Sunday on two television networks, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump rejected calls for an increase in the federal minimum wage and suggested that the federal standard should be scrapped. Trump was questioned on the subject on the NBC program Meet the Press and on ABCs This Week and gave similar responses. NBC interviewer Chuck Todd reminded him of his statement during a Republican debate that the federal minimum wage should not be increased. This was the same debate in which Trump said flatly, Wages are too high, and would have to be lowered to make American companies competitive. Trump tried to combine verbal expressions of sympathy with the plight of low-paid workers with the rejection of any federal action to improve their living standards. I don't know how people make it on $7.25 an hour, he began. Now, with that being said, I would like to see an increase of some magnitude. But I'd rather leave it to the states. Let the states decide. Because don't forget, the states have to compete with each other. Todd pressed him, asking, Should the federal government set a floor, and then you let the states Trump interrupted, No, Id rather have the states go out and do what they have to do. On ABC, interviewer George Stephanopoulos raised the same issue, pointing out that on the minimum wage, all through the primaries, you were against an increase. Now you're saying you're looking at it. So what's your bottom line on this? Trump replied, Well, I am looking at it and I havent decided in terms of numbers. But I think people have to get more. Then he changed the subject, claiming that his economic policies would raise wages overall to much more than the $15 an hour minimum proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and reluctantly endorsed, with numerous qualifications, by Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Trumps call for the elimination of the federal minimum wage is a reactionary proposal and an attack on the living standards of the working class. It provides an indication, behind his pseudo-populist rhetoric, of the brutal assault on what remains of legal protections for workers that would be a centerpiece of a Trump administration. Posing as a friend of the coal miners in West Virginia last week, he called for the elimination of regulations on the coal companies, i.e., the gutting of health and safety rules as well as environmental restraints. The federal minimum wage was established in 1938 as one of many social and labor reforms enacted under the New Deal administration of Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt. It was vociferously opposed by business interests, and every proposed increase over the past 78 years has been denounced by corporate lobbyists as a job-killing interference with the free market. The federal minimum wage reached its highest level, in terms of 2013 dollars, in 1968, when it was the equivalent of nearly $11 an hour, and it plateaued at the equivalent of $9 an hour through the 1970s before plunging to the equivalent of $6 an hour at the end of the 1980s under conditions of Republican President Ronald Reagans opposition to any increase. Since then, the infrequent increases in the federal minimum wage have served only to offset rising prices. The last increase, to $7.25 an hour, came in 2009, and any subsequent increases have been blocked by Republican intransigence and Democratic indifference. Efforts to raise the minimum wage shifted to the states, where 29 out of 50 states now require a higher minimum wage than the federal level. The 21 states that have minimum wages set at the federal level or even lower include most of the South, but also such industrial centers as Pennsylvania, Indiana and Wisconsin. Trumps language on the minimum wage may seem confused and contradictory, but there is no question that this is an issue with which the real estate and casino mogul is intimately familiar. Many of his business enterprises employ low-wage labor, particularly in cleaning, security and other less-skilled positions at hotels, casinos and restaurants. In suggesting that the federal minimum wage be dispensed with, and that the power to set a floor on wages be left to the states, which he pointed out have to compete with each other, Trump is advocating a race to the bottom, in which governors and legislatures would offer minimum wage reductions and exemptions, just as they offer tax concessions, to entice companies to locate in their state. This gives a glimpse of the savage right-wing policies that a Trump administration would institute, behind the billionaires demagogy about restoring the jobs of coal miners, steel workers and other manufacturing workers. It is also notable that while seeking to disguise his right-wing proposal on the minimum wage with clouds of words, Trump was far more specific in his pledges to Wall Street on taxes and the national debt. After several days of contradictory statements on both subjects, in which Trump appeared to suggest that he would raise rather than lower taxes on the wealthy and that he would seek to renegotiate US government debt to the disadvantage of the creditors, the presumptive Republican nominee gave a lengthy interview to the Wall Street Journal to reassure the financial markets. He told the Journal that taxes on corporations and the wealthy would be cut under a Trump administration, but that negotiations with congressional Democrats might lead to a smaller tax cut than he would initially propose. His income tax cut for the wealthy, as proposed, would represent a huge bonanza for the super-rich, reducing the top bracket from 39.6 percent to only 25 percent. Even more significantly, Trump categorically rejected any change in payments on the US federal debt, which is held mainly by the wealthiest investors in the United States and internationally and by all major financial institutions. This is the United States government, he told the Journal. The bonds are absolutely sacred. Trump was also reacting to attacks by the Clinton campaign, which denounced his remarks on renegotiating US government debt as threatening the full faith and credit of the US government. That is one of the dangerous economic things we've seen, said Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperling, a former top aide to Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. The Clinton campaign welcomed Trumps initial comments on the national debt, since it allowed the Democratic frontrunner to present herself as the champion of the US financial system and of Wall Streets dominant role in the world financial system. This is in keeping with a campaign strategy of seeking to win the support of conservative and even ultra-right sections of the Republican Party by portraying Trump as an erratic and unstable defender of the ruling elite and its interests. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders handily defeated Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party primary contest in West Virginia on Tuesday. With most of the vote counted, Sanders won 51 percent, compared to Clintons 36 percent. Sanders victory points to the deep social tensions in the state and the continued hostility to Clinton, despite the fact that she is being presented as the inevitable Democratic Party nominee and has a significant lead in delegates. Indeed, many voters in West Virginia considered their selection of Sanders a form of protest against the Democratic Party establishment. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, carried the vote in most of the coal producing and impoverished rural areas. While Sanders was leading in every county, he was expected to picked up only five more delegates than Clinton due to the proportional representation system used in the state. The Republican nomination has been consolidated around presidential candidate Donald Trump. He swept the Republican vote by a wide margin Tuesday night in both West Virginia and Nebraska after his last remaining competitors dropped out of the race. Record numbers of West Virginia voters participated in the early balloting beginning April 27; by election day nearly 9 percent of the states 1.2 million voters had already cast their ballots. ABC News exit polls reveal high voter turnout motivated by extraordinary economic stress, with fully two-thirds of West Virginia voters saying theyre very worried about the direction of the nations economy in the next few years. The network notes that this rate is by far the highest level of economy worry in a Democratic primary this yearfar above the average, 40 percent. Six in 10 Democratic voters said the economy and jobs were the most important issue in their vote. Significantly, ABC reports that of Democratic primary voters polled, only a quarter want the next president to continue Obamas policies, a position closely associated with Hillary Clinton. Sanders has been associated with opposition to inequality and the economic crisis, something that has been outrightly denied by the Obama administration. An NBC poll found fully 44 percent of those voting for Sanders would back Trump over Clinton in the general election, and another 31 percent said they would vote for neither. It is no surprise that the desire for change is manifested in support for the perceived outsider candidates Sanders and Trump. Along with being one of the poorest states in the countryranking 49th or 50th in measures like per capita income and income tax revenueWest Virginia is also a state historically dominated by the Democratic Party. Clinton won the states primary in 2008 over Obama, but her approval has plummeted in the wake of hemorrhaging job losses in coal and other industries in the last few years. The states official unemployment rate, consistently the worst in the country, stands at 7 percent. West Virginia has the lowest labor force participation of any state in the country. As of March, 47 percent of the states working age population were not working. Metrics for health, education, life expectancy, drug addiction and more bear out the reality of the social crisis. More than one in four children live in poverty, in addition to growing numbers of the elderly. In counties worst hit by the collapse of the coal industry, where Sanders received high percentages of the vote, the figures are reminiscent of a war-torn country or the social conditions suffered during the Depression of the 1930s. Unlike the crisis of the 1930s, however, the ruling class has responded to the conditions not with infrastructure projects and social reform, but with corporate tax handouts, sweeping cuts to elementary safety net programs, and hiking health care and education costs. For the past eight years, the Democratic Party has stood at the helm overseeing these attacks. The share of registered Democrats has declined substantially in West Virginia. In 1994, 65 percent of registered voters were Democrats. Today only 45 percent are Democrats; one in five West Virginians are registered Independent. For the first time in 80 years, the Republican Party gained control of both the Senate and House of Delegates in 2014. The primary results in West Virginia, a small state of 1.8 million, contribute only a small number of delegates to the candidates. Sanders and Clinton are dividing 37 elected delegates. Democratic Party leaders including Governor Earl Ray Tomblin and Senator Joe Manchin are among six of the eight so-called super delegates who have already pledged to endorse Clinton. Governor Tomblin was booed at a rally headlined by former President Bill Clinton in Logan County May 8, when he called Hillary Clinton the best choice to unite the Democratic Party. He insisted that Democrats have always been there for West Virginia and we remain committed to helping our people realize the bright future they have in this state and in this nation. The liberal establishment, which contemptuously presents the Appalachian coalfields as a hotbed of racism, has portrayed both Clintons fall in popularity and the votes for Trump as evidence of the hopeless backwardness of the white working class population. However, notwithstanding the confusions that exist in sections of the working classexploited by Republicans under conditions in which the Democratic Party has abandoned any pretense of social reformthe vote for Sanders is an unmistakable sign of rising discontent in the working class with the existing political setup. Sanders's own role is to channel this opposition back into the Democratic Party. He has repeatedly pledged to back Clinton if she is nominated. While seeking to tap into opposition to social inequality and economic distress, he has no program to offer the masses of working people and youth who are being drawn into struggle. 6 years, 5 months ago by Scott Hardy Faces one count of animal cruelty Quincy veterinarian Dr. Andrew Kaiser, already the subject of a 15 count complaint from the state of Illinois, has now been charged with one count of cruelty to animals The criminal misdemeanor charge against Kaiser, who owns Katherine Road Animal Hospital and the Raptor Rehabilitation Center, was filed Tuesday afternoon. Kaiser had contracted with the City of Quincy to manage its animal shelter until the city terminated the contract with him last month. The criminal charge come less than two months after the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation issued a 15-count complaint against Kaiser. Hes scheduled to have a status hearing June 20 in Chicago on those charges. Hes due to appear in Adams County court for the criminal misdemeanor charge May 20. TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - The Florida State University Police Department has closed an investigation into hazing allegations at the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. Officers say no charges were filed in case after they were unable to validate the cause of injury. The fraternity was suspended earlier this year from the university and the national organization after a hazing complaint was submitted on the school's online system. That complaint, released by FSU PD at the close of the investigation, claims that a student's butt was bruised after being paddled by fraternity members. Megan Janasiewicz, the Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, submitted the complaint. Janasiewicz says she was sent information and photos of the injury anonymously and then forwarded it to police. Documents show that FSU PD reached out to the student named in the complaint, Martin Quistian Jr., and were able to verify that the photos were of him. Quistian Jr. told police he sustained the injuries during an accident at the gym, not after being paddled. Several other fraternity members were interviewed by police as well, but documents show they told officers they had not been paddled either. The document concluded with a statement from the investigating officer saying, "Due to the lack of information regarding this incident, no identifiable witnesses, and the investigation unable to validate Quistian Jr's injury was from a paddle, this case is closed." University officials lifted the suspension on the fraternity Wednesday morning as well. TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) - Leon County School Board officials have approved funding to repair the track at Chiles High School. This comes after reports the track was caving in. According to the school board, the storm water conveyance system located under the track is in need of repairs. Officials say the system was leaking, creating multiple safety issues. At Tuesday night's board meeting, leaders agreed to set aside $30,000 for the project on the system, which will be repaired by North Florida Asphalt, Inc. DONALSONVILLE, GA (WTXL) - Local law enforcement and the families of those who died in the line of duty started their journey Tuesday riding in the Police Unity Tour; a bike ride spanning over 200 miles. The tour takes them from Virginia to Washington D.C. over three days, ending at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Wall. The names of 16 officers from Georgia and Florida were added to the wall this year; however the two names being added from our area were both killed well over half a century ago. The late Donalsonville Town Marshal, William Berry Freeman, is one of those names. "It made it in a way seem all so real that he was honored for what he did even though he wasn't in law enforcement for that long. But it doesn't take but one gunshot and that's it," said Freeman's granddaughter, Patsy Roth. Roth remembers the emotions she felt at the Georgia Public Safety Memorial in May of last year when she honored her late grandfather. Freeman was killed in the line of duty 115 years ago when he was gunned down on February 26, 1901 in Donalsonville. Roth expects seeing the memorial in Washington D.C. will be very touching too. "He was actually trying to serve a warrant to a gentleman that was in town earlier by the last name of Yates who had got into some kind of a ruckus, never said what he did. But they took out four different warrants on him when he showed back up. He served the warrant and he was shot and killed," explained Donalsonville Police Chief Woodrow Blue. Roth worked with Chief Blue complete the paperwork to have Freeman's name added to the wall, after she learned about fallen law enforcement memorials. However, Roth says she doesn't know too much about her grandfather, "My father was born in 1898 so my father was two years old when he was killed so there's not a lot of history there." But his sacrifice will never be forgotten. Hezekiah Williams, a White Spring Police Officer, was also added to the wall. His end of watch was March 7, 1937, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page. He was shot and killed while raiding a gambling house. These two men aren't the only names being added despite the fact that they were killed long ago. According to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund, last year over 150 officers were added who were killed in prior years but had been forgotten by time until the Memorial Fund's research staff and a team of dedicated volunteers found record of their law enforcement service." ATHENS, Ga. (AP) - Ryan Seacrest is returning to the University of Georgia, where he attended freshman classes 24 years ago, to receive an honorary doctoral degree. The "American Idol" host and Georgia native is scheduled to be the featured graduation speaker Friday during UGA's spring commencement ceremony in Athens. Seacrest will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree. The Athens Banner-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1UTmwIy) Seacrest, who grew up in the Atlanta suburb of Dunwoody, attended the university for just one year in 1992 before he moved to Hollywood to pursue a broadcasting career. UGA officials say a total of 5,552 students are eligible to graduate Friday night at Sanford Stadium. The university plans to recognize 36 students for maintaining a perfect 4.0 grade point average throughout their college careers. Zachary Sybouts, 26, appears at a preliminary hearing in Yakima County Superior Court in Yakima, Wash. on Thursday, May 5, 2016. Sybouts, a Grandview High School teacher, was arrested on suspicion of multiple instances of sexual exploitation of a minor. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic) You are the owner of this article. Mike Jackson, former Spokane Valley city manager, speaks to a group of about 50 people as the other candidates for the Yakima city manager position, background from left, Cliff Moore, Wade Farris and Ruth Osuna, wait for their chance to speak during introductions at a community reception at the Yakima Convention Center in Yakima, Wash., on Monday, May 9, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic) Submit An Obituary Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death. Go to form A short while after the Israeli invasion into Lebanon in June 1982 (called in Israel Tthe First Lebanon War), Azriel Nevo, the military secretary to Prime Minister Menachem Begin, began secretly receiving messages from different officials, mainly from the military. The IDFunder the command of Chief of Staff Rafael "Raful" Eitan, and Defense Minister Ariel Sharonwas fast advancing deep into Lebanon. But Nevo was hearing more and more claims that a worrying disparity existed between what was being presented to Begin and his government, and what was actually happening on the ground. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "I felt that there was real fear of Raful or Sharon that (prevented officials from) speaking the truth or openly speaking their minds," Nevo recalled about those stormy days. "That's why they secretly passed me all types of information so I would pass it on to the prime minister. Officers began to hint to me that something was wrong." The reports made Nevo fear that Prime Minister Begin was being duped by his defense minister; that while Begin truly thought that the operation in Lebanon was a limited operation to push terrorist groups away from the northern borderSharon had a different agenda. Azriel Nevo (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) "Under Sharon's orders," Nevo said, "the IDF was cascading into something much more wide-reaching than what was approved by the government." One of the officers who warned Nevo was the head of the Operations Division at the time, Uri Sagi, who went on to become the head of Military Intelligence. "Sagi invited me to his office in 'the pit' (the subterranean fortified IDF command bunker situated under the center of Tel AvivRB) and said to me, 'Azriel, come look at the maps. Things aren't exactly as they're being presented to you.'" Sagi remembered those tense times well. "Formally, for the sake of the minutes, Sharon presented everything to the government, but he didn't explain the significance of the actions he was presenting," he recounted. At the time, Sagi said, "I thought the government didn't understand what it was seeing and hearing. For example, one of the objectives of the warchanging the government in Lebanonwas not something feasible for the IDF to do. In addition, Begin decided that the IDF would not fight the Syrian military, but two of the arrows showing how the IDF would advance showed the army moving through territory that the Syrians controlledsomething which created the very likely possibility of a confrontation with them. I believed all of these things should be explained to the prime minister, and thats what I told Azriel." According to Sagi, another painful subject came up during his meetings with Nevo: the estimates of war's casualties. "I told Azriel about a war game codenamed 'Roses,' which was held before the outbreak of the war, which the political leadership didn't attend. In 'Roses,' the estimated casualty numbers were significantly higher than what was presented to the government," Sagi says. "In the war game, we 'made it' all the way to Beirut, a lot farther than what we presented to the government, and the operation was significantly longer than the estimates provided to the government forecasted." And this was the situation he found himself in: A relatively young lieutenant colonelNevo was only 34 at the timeworried that his superiors, the minister of defense and the IDF chief of staff, were lying to the prime minister, the person for whom Nevo was supposed to serve as a link to the military. In the background was a war that was becoming more and more complicated, with many dead and wounded. So now what? *** This was the complicated situation that arose during the Lebanon War and this was definitely not the only dilemma Azriel Nevo had to deal with. Over the eleven and half years that he served as military secretary to the prime minister, he was placed in one of the most sensitive positions in the country. He was positioned at an important juncture through which critical and secret information flowed from the intelligence and military branches to the prime minister and, on the other hand, the prime minister's instruction and requests were passed to the intelligence and military branches. Because of this, some say that the military secretary to the prime minister is exposed to the largest amount of sensitive and secret information of anyone in the country. Nevo served in his position for longer than any other military secretary, and did it under no less than four prime ministers who couldn't have been more different from one another: Begin, Shamir, Peres, and Rabin. The fact that at least some of these people were embroiled in conflict with each other, and the fact they didn't dismiss Nevo, is indicative of the high level of confidence that they all had in him. Nevo has just released a book called "The Military Secretary" (published by Contento Now), which is based on a series of long conversations Nevo had with Attorney Haim Mashgav. It is a fascinating read that provides a rare glimpse into several of the most dramatic affairs in Israeli history that took place on Nevo's watch, and remarkable testimonies of those who were there, deep in the decision-making processwhen the decision was made to bomb the Iraqi reactor, when the Pollard, 300 Bus and the IranContra affairs blew up; during the Lebanon War and the assassination of Abu Jihad (Khalil al-Wazir, one of the co-founders of Fatah ed.), and more. "Everyone I served under had the same title: prime minister," Nevo said, "but they were all very different from each other." Nevo himself grew up in a Betar (Revisionist Zionist youth movemented.) household, and, as a consequence, really respected Begin, but says that Shamir was the easiest and most effective to work with. He respected Peres's drive and hard work but thought that some of that work was unnecessary and disapproved of the "men in suits" who surrounded him. Then-prime minister Peres, center, receiving a briefing from then-GOC Northern Command Uri Orr, along with Nevo, to Orr's left (Photo: Zoom 77) He also really respected Yitzhak Rabin, but does not spare him criticism in his book, claiming Rabin didnt understand, in real time, the significance of the First Intifada when it had just broken out, and rejected an offer on Ron Arad, an IAF navigator who was captured by a Lebanese terror organization, when it was still possible to save him. Even now, at the age of 68, Nevo continues to see his role as that of a soldier: "I was never in the spotlight. My job was to serve the prime minister. I don't have policies of my own. I don't decide anything on my own. In my opinion, it was also the secret to my survival in the position for so long: I never used my ties to the prime minister with others, and I never claimed to the prime minister that I knew things I didn't. I think that 'I don't know' and 'I will check' are great answers. Don't ever speak off the cuff. "I was actually a 'waiter' serving information to the prime minister, and as such, one of my duties was to distinguish between the important and the unimportant: not to give the prime minister too little, so that he knows just enough about what's happening, but also not give too much and bombard him with reports, information, and details, so that he doesnt collapse." Due to lack of space, amongst the many affairs and stories that Nevo was involved in, we chose to focus on five events: the strike on the Iraqi reactor, the outbreak of the First Lebanon War, the mystery surrounding Begin's retirement ("I can't go on anymore"), the 300 Bus affair, and the Pollard affair. This is what it looks like behind the scenes, in real time. The Iraqi reactor: 'What conspiracy?' Nevo came to his position from Aman (the IDF's Intelligence Directorate) and after having served as the prime minister's advisor on the war on terror. He was initially appointed as an assistant to Efraim Poran, the military secretary that Begin "inherited" from Rabin. Iraq's nuclear project was at the center of things at the time. "The monitoring of Saddam Hussein's attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon started during Rabin's first term as prime minister. Begin inherited the issue." It was later claimed that Begin planned the attack on the Iraqi reactor close to the planned elections (which the Likud ended up winning by a small margin). But Nevo rejects these claims out of hand. The operation was originally planned for May 1981, but the plan was leaked to the head of the opposition, Shimon Peres, who then wrote Prime Minister Begin urging him not to go through with the operation. Begin didn't change his mind, but because of the leak, he changed the date of the operation. "It was decided to postpone the operation and to change all of the code words," Nevo recalled. "This story also shows that the claims made against Begin, saying he planned the timing of the operation to take place close to the elections, are baseless." It was claimed that Begin initially accepted the recommendation of Aman not to admit to the attack and leave it to speculation that the Iranians might have committed it, and he then changed his mind and proudly claimed responsibility to win the elections, which worked well for him. "This is another legend, just one of many. The bombardment was on the eve of Shavuot. The next day, on the holiday, I got a call from Aman's OSINT unit (the Open Source Intelligence unit, responsible for monitoring foreign media RB) and was told that there are countless of reports that tie us to the attack, including statements by King Hussein, who saw the planes from his yacht in the Gulf of Aqaba. "I called Begin and briefed him on that. Begin thought for a moment and said, 'If that's the case, then we have to issue an official statement.' That's all that happened. Because of my call, which could have not been made at all, a statement was issued. It's not some complex conspiracy by Begin." With Porans resignation, Begin offered the job to Nevo. Nevo was not the candidate the military thought to recommend, but Begin told him, "I trust you; I don't need a general," and he forced the appointment on the IDF. Thus, a young and relatively junior officer came to be at one of the most sensitive junctures at the top of Israel's leadership. Lebanon War: Something wasnt adding up During 1981, the same year that Nevo was appointed the prime minister's military secretary, the IDF began to prepare for war in Lebanon, which broke out a year later. "The Lebanon War started because of the justified desire of the prime minister and othersa desire which I supported as wellto remove the threat to the northern communities," recalls Nevo. "The reality of katyusha rockets fired at Israeli cities was really unbearable. Begin believed the IDF was going on a limited operation; just as far as the longest-range artillery the terrorists had could reach, something like 40 kilometers. The problem was that Defense Minister Sharon probably had a completely different agenda and far bigger goals, and he did not really share them with the prime minister and the rest of the government." The war started "with a great euphoria," recalls Nevo, "but soon we started feeling that something here did not add up. Suddenly, we began seeing more and more casualties among our forces. I realized that little by little, we were sinking deeper and deeper into quicksand. "The IDF's estimation of casualties before the war was completely wrong. Very soon, I saw that the 40 km plan was dissolving, and the IDF was advancing deeper into Lebanon. At the same time, contrary to the plans and promises, we started fighting the Syrians." Begin, center, with Sharo to his right and Nevo to Sharon's right, at the Beaufort Castle in Lebanon during the First Lebanon War (Courtesy of Oded Shamir) Nevo attributes part of the problem to Begin's admiration for the boys in uniform. "Begin did not believe someone in uniform would tell him something that is not true. I found myself in a terrible place in which I, a young and junior officer, had to tell Begin that he was being lied to by the commanders of the army." Nevo stresses that Sharon "in his clever and cunning way," received the go-ahead for each one of his operations. "He demanded that a meeting be held every day, and he sat there with his little notebook and wrote down everything. But it soon turned out that these were ongoing actions, which had begun at one point and ended somewhere else entirely. According to Nevo, only a few in the government openly opposed Sharon at the time. The best known among them was the communications minister, Mordechai Tzipori, who was a brigadier general in reserves. Later, cabinet secretary Dan Meridor also helped Nevo in talks with Begin. There were others - one of them, Nevo says, was none other than the prime ministers son, Benny Begin. "The IDF used his help in planning battles because of his expertise on tanks, and because of that he knew the war plans. He also warned his father that Sharon was leading him astray. "To be fair, it is important to note in this context that the man that was closest to Begin, Yehiel Kadishai (Begin's chief of staff RB) claimed until his last day that I was wrong and misleading. He said that I did not understand Begin, that he wanted to get to Beirut and kick Fatah out of Lebanon and that Sharon was not deceiving him in any way." Werent you afraid of Sharon? You were a soldier, and he was the defense minister. "No, I was not afraid, and the way I saw my role was that I was nominally subordinate to the IDF, but in fact my loyalty should be, above all, to the prime minister. This loyalty, of course, led me to severe clashes. Whenever Uri Dan, one of Sharon's close advisors, would see me or Dan Meridor, he would point at us and ask sarcastically, 'Well, are you done with your slander?' or, 'Have you told Begin your nonsense yet?'" Dan Meridor said in response, "Azriel is right. At that time, we had a very strong connection, among other things because of the Lebanon War. We thought that both the government and the prime minister were not getting complete and accurate reports about the war and its real objectives. Sharon and his close circle marked us as problematic and fought against us. Azriel always spoke the truth and withstood this difficult situationfacing the immense power of Raful and Sharonwith determination and honor." In contrast, Gilad Sharon, the son of the late prime minister, outright rejects Nevos claims. "If that's what Azriel Nevo thought during the war, he was obligated to shout and warn as loudly as possible. Otherwise, he himself is criminally derelict in his duty. But he chose to remain silent for 30-some years, and only when he thought no one would react to his fabrications, he published these fairytales." The turning point in that period was of course the massacre committed by the Christian Phalangist forces at the refugee camps Sabra and Shatila. Nevo claims that neither he nor Begin could have known what was to follow. "Israel was unjustly accused of direct involvement in the massacre. This is absolutely false. Our problem was that we failed to realize that these people had no problem pulling out a knife and slaughtering anyone they wanted, including us." The commission of inquiry reprimanded for Begin letting the Phalangists into the camp. "As I recall, Begin was unaware of the approval granted to the Phalangists to enter the camps. Sharon and the IDF leadership did not go into that detail with him. Begin first heard about what was going on in the camps from BBC broadcasts." Begins resignation: He completely gave up "At some point," says Nevo, "I noticed a phenomenon that was getting worse: Begin would arrive at his office in the morning bleary-eyed, even though I made a decision not to wake him up in the middle of the night. When I would start reporting to him what had happened during the night, he would interrupt me in an angry tone and say, 'I've heard about this from the defense minister already.' Arik was calling him frequently in the middle of the night, and simply robbing him of his sleep. Sharon was telling Begin about the number of wounded and dead, the advancement of the forces, bothering him and harassing him. I felt that Sharon was doing this on purpose to exhaust the prime minister. It happened dozens of times and it began to destroy Begin. I was watching him get worse every day." Of all the horrors of war, it was the reports of the fallen soldiers that weighed most heavily on Begin. "The most important thing for Begin was that 'our boys' return safely. When I gave him reports of the fatalities, his response was very emotional. You could feel just how much it hurt him; it really wounded him from the inside. His intentions were good, to go out and protect the communities in the north. And then all of a sudden, he found himself in a war that went totally wrong. "One day, I told Begin that police minister Yosef Burg had suggested removing the demonstrators that were under the window of his office and moving them a few blocks away, so he won't have to hear the awful accusations that he and Sharon were 'murderers.' He replied, 'No way. It's their right to protest.' "Slowly, I saw Begin wither away, withdrawing into himself. I was a 'youngster' at the time, and I looked up to him. Suddenly, he seemed very old to me. Thinking back on it, Begin was 69 at the time, almost my age today, not very old, but he was just weary and sad. The death of his wife Aliza broke him completely." So what happened to Begin? It is said he suffered from severe depression. "I can't make medical diagnoses, but it was evident that it was harder for him every day. He realized that Sharon misled him, that he was stuck in quicksand. He was a very sensitive man, too sensitive. Begin became depressed, did not always communicate and stopped shaving. "Following the death of his wife and before he became a recluse, he was already in a deep depression. I called it 'the teacup period': Begin would fall asleep in the middle of meetings, including the most sensitive ones, and I started stirring my cup of tea vigorously to wake him up. It was a very dismal time." Standing, left to right: Shlomo Nakdimon, Begin's media adviser; Dan Meridor, Begin's cabinet secretary; Azriel Nevo, Begin's military secretary; Sitting left to right: Yona Klimovitsky, Begin's secretary; Yehiel Kadishai, Begin's chief of staff; Aryeh Naor, Begin's cabinet secretary 1977-1982 (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky) At some point, Begin stopped coming into the office and locked himself in the prime minister's residence. Nevo made great efforts to hide his absence. "The office secretaries went about their daily routine, and every day they released the prime ministers schedule, but nothing was written on it, because he did not meet with anyone. To hide this, I instructed that the schedule be classified as 'top secret' so that no one could see it." In fact, at that time, Begin was not even involved in the states affairs, and "the state was led by three people, none of them elected officials: Dan Meridor, Yehiel Kadishai, and myself." How do you examine your actions after the fact? "With quite a lot of criticism. I think all three of us have sinned. You cannot hide the fact that the prime minister was actually not functioning. It's reminiscent of dictatorships." The last time Nevo saw Begin as the prime minister was at the famous meeting where he announced that "I cannot carry on anymore." "He sent his letter of resignation to the president via a messenger, giving some false excuse that there were nicks and cuts on his face that prevented him from shaving, and he didn't want to face the president unshaven. To my surprise, although the ministers were aware of the situation and knew that he hadn't been running the show for some time, they really pressed him to stay. I said, 'Guys, what do you want from him? Let him go. Can't you see he really can't carry on anymore!?'" 300 Bus Affair: It's a slippery slope Thursday evening, April 12, 1984, at Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's office, reports were starting to come in about a security incident on the Tel AvivAshkelon highway. Four terrorists hijacked an Egged bus. Later, the bus line number, 300, also became the name of the affair that shook the nation's top echelons. Nevo himself declares that despite his experiences during the Lebanon War, this affair is where he "lost his innocence." Until the 300 Bus Affair, I was very naive in my approach to the IDF and the intelligence community. I believed everyone. And perhaps this is how it should be. The military secretary is not an investigating authority that checks if the intelligence chiefs are telling him the truth. If you start lying, you know, it's a slippery slope; a small lie grows to a giant snowball." Nevo, in uniform on the left, with then-PM Shamir and his wife Shulamit (Photo: Michael Kremer) The report that Nevo received about the kidnapping and subsequent takeover of the 300 Bus was confusing: "They told us Sayeret Matkal (the elite General Staff Reconnaissance UnitRB) took over the bus, that a passenger and two terrorists were killed and that two terrorists were captured alive. Later, the report was amended and said that all four terrorists were killed during the takeover. It did not seem strange to me. I reported this to Prime Minister Shamir, and for me that was the end of it. Or at least so I thought." But this, of course, was only the beginning. "In my naivety, I could not even imagine that there was something here, until the publication of the photo (Alex Levac's famous photograph, showing one of the terrorists alive and well after the takeover, a short time before he was found dead RB). In fact, even then, I had yet to realize the implications of the incident." The issue of killing the terrorists, says Nevo, would not have bothered Shamir in a different kind of situation. "Look, Shamir wasn't exactly a 'vegetarian.' I'd worked with Shamir for seven years, and I was fonder of him than the other prime ministers with whom I workedhe was precise and fair, a friendly man who talked to others at eye level. Every time he gave an order, he gave it properly. No hinting or implying, no winking. If he had given the order to kill the terrorists, he would have stood behind his decision without a problem." But Shamir did not give that order. Only later it turned out that the order came from the Shin Bet, and that the agency's leadership kept trying to dump the responsibility on someone else (on Prime Minister Shamir and Defense Minister Moshe Arens) and when they denied it, the Shin Bet tried to lay the blame on Brig. Gen. Yitzhak Mordechai, who was the chief infantry and paratrooper officer at the time. "All attempts by Avrum (Shin Bet Chief Avraham Shalom RB) to lay the blame first on Arens and then on Shamir were lies. After all, if such an order was given, it would have been in my presence and with my knowledge. Such a thing never happened." Initially, the prime ministers that had to deal with the affair, Shamir and Peres (and later on, Rabin as the defense minister), gave their full support to the Shin Bet. Nevo encouraged them to do so. "They also lied to me, without even hesitating, saying that the Shin Bet did not kill the two Palestinians, but rather it were IDF soldiers that cruelly lynched them. Nevo, to the left in uniform, looks on as Rabin enters office as Shamir leaves (Photo: Zoom 77) "I realized that Itzik Mordechai was in grave danger. At the time, we were on a general-staff seminar in Ma'ale Hachamisha, and I went to him and told him, 'Itzik, I think that you should get a lawyer.' He reacted with a dismissive gesture, saying, 'Stop talking nonsense; what are you talking about?' No one could imagine how low the Shin Bet could go. They played me, too, over the years. Fed me false information and misled me." For example? "In the middle of the night, while the affair was ongoing, Ram Caspi called me at home. He was one of the private lawyers recruited by politicians to help with security affairs, whose very presence and involvement I really did not like. He told me that tempers were high in the Shin Bet and that I shoukd calm them down. He asked that I come to the agency's headquarters urgently. "The intention was obviously to use me to deliver a message to the prime ministerthat we must calm down the situation. The prime minister accepted this argument and wanted to take it off the public agenda. They feared a maelstrom that would eventually take them down as well. "The act itself, the assassination of the terrorists that were alive after the takeover, is very grave. But even graver is the fact it was covered up. This whole affair should have ended with an extensive police investigation, with all that entails. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The affair was covered up and buried." There was a report that alleged there was a special committee, "Committee X," that supposedly confirms that they were executed. "That's not true. It's the prime minister who authorizes these kinds of actions. Sometimes, the prime minister doesn't want to make the decision on his own, so he consults with other ministers or with the Security Cabinet. For instance, Shamir brought to the cabinet the decision on whether to assassinate Abu Jihad (Fatah co-founder Khalil al-Wazired.). The cabinet made a decision in principle to authorize the prime minister to order the assassination at the right time. Shamir met with the head of Military Intelligence, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, and it was only after a long conversation with him that he decided to authorize the operation." Maj. Gen. (res.) Yitzhak Mordechai declined to comment. Ram Caspi said in response, "I don't intend on adding to or diminishing from the words of my good friend Azriel Nevo and will only say this: despite the fact that over 30 years have passed since the events in question, I remember them well. And, in real time, I did not hear from Azriel the things he claims today that, in his opinion, should have been investigated by police. Nevo, center in uniform, with then-PM Shamir, left, and then-FM Peres, right (Photo: Shahar Melamed) "Perhaps this is his opinion in hindsight; but the unequivocal position of the late Yitzhak Shamir, the late Yitzhak Rabin and of Shimon Peres (may he continue to live a long life), which led, and rightly so, to the pardoning of the Shin Bet operatives by the late President Chaim Herzog, is what decided this. A day will come, perhaps in 30 years, when I will explain these things in more detail." The Pollard Affair: A confession During the 80s, there was a series of scandals that touched on the intelligence community and its relations with the political leadership. Nevo sees similarities among some of these affairs, especially in the involvement of elements from outside the system, such as lawyers and various consultants, as well as a pattern of intelligence agencies operating under the political echelon's radar and without supervision. This was the case with the Pollard Affair. The affair broke out on the international stage with an explosion of media attention in November 1985, when Jonathan Pollard was arrested on suspicion of spying on the United States for Israel. For years, questions arose, such as how high in the states leadership did the knowledge go that Israel operates spies on the territory of its closest ally. Nevo denies that he knew anything prior to Pollards arrest. "I tell you humbly and under oath: I did not know, nor did the prime ministers Shamir and Peres." Nevo with then-foreign minister Peres (Photo: Shahar Melamed) But the material that he handed over had enormous value, and the intelligence documents were highly classified American documents. Where did you think all this came from? "We had no idea because we didn't see the material. We dont see everything, and Rafi Eitan (Pollard's handler ed.) did not show us this. By the way, I admired Rafi. You could almost see the wheels of his brain turning and developing a new idea or a sophisticated campaign. I would laugh whenever he turned off his hearing aids when he came to the conclusion that people were talking nonsense around him. Perhaps he wanted to prove he was worthy of being the head of the Mossadbut he made a huge mistake in recruiting and operating Pollard. "Once we realized the size of the catastrophe, we tried to find a way out from that labyrinth. It was very important to quiet the press in Israel, and I convened the editors committee in the cabinet meeting room. Peres sat with them, told them pretty much what happened and got them to promise not to get involved in the matter." But what did you think would solve the mishap? "We were hoping that if we apologized and said, 'mea culpa,' this should minimize the damage and dissipate the anger of the Americans. It was a mistake. The Americans resented it, and they might still resent us to this day." Rafi Eitan said in response, "Nevo speaks the truth." *** In the eleven and a half years Nevo served in his role, he saw the bright side of the Israeli leadership, but also quite a bit of its ugly side. Nevo was there, for example, when, with the aim of preventing the appointment of his successor, Dan Shomron, IDF chief of staff Moshe Levy whispered in the ears of executives at the top that Shomron was gay. "That was a very ugly affair. Suddenly the rumors started flying around, and I had to go to Shamir and talk with him. He was shocked by the whole thing. Even saying the word 'gay' near Shamir made him shudder. Then they called the former chief medical officer Eran Dolev, and he did an investigation and found out that the whole story was nonsense. They spilled the blood of Shomron. An ugly act. " In 1993, Nevo finished his term and was sent to serve as the military attache in the UK and Ireland. Since his release from the army at the rank of brigadier general in 1997, Nevo has been a member of numerous boards of directors, including Bezeq, Israel Electric, Ami-Gur. Today, he is the chairman of the Levinsky College of Education. He is married to Nili, a father of three daughters and grandfather of five grandchildren. What are the lessons you've learned from the affairs you've witnessed at the prime ministers office? "First, there was here a serious problem with procedures and the conduct of state agencies, including lying and fabricating evidence. Things should have been investigated thoroughly, but they were not investigated. "In addition, in some of the affairs, external individuals who did not hold an official positionjust temporary emissaries and the likenegatively interfered. This is the kind of thing, putting it delicately, that was not good. I, for example, disliked Amnon Goldenbergs suggestion to the Mossad to try to sue Victor Ostrovsky (a former Mossad cadet who published a book on the Mossads operations overseasRB) in American and Canadian courts to prevent him from publishing the book." Do you think they should have killed Victor Ostrovsky? "I have difficulty saying 'kill him.' Without a doubt, in my opinion, he was crap. I definitely think that he should have been neutralized one way or another. At the time, there were ideas to kidnap him, but they did not pan out, unfortunately." Should Mordechai Vanunu (the Dimona reactor technician who leaked nuclear secrets to the Sunday Times) have been killed? "I think Israel behaved exceptionally well in the Vanunu affair. I was in favor of kidnapping himhe committed a most serious crime and he had to be punished to deter others, but not kill him. It never occurred to us. Peres decided not to kidnap him on British soil, because the consequences were likely to be extremely serious. So they did it elsewhere." Left to right: Minister of Police Haim Bar-Lev, Nevo (to the back), Prime Minister Peres, Police Commissioner David Kraus and head of the police's manpower director Yaakov Turner (Photo: Zoom 77) You worked very closely with four prime ministers. Does the Israeli public have someone they can trust? "Not a simple question. I can say that in my time, despite all the differences between the prime ministers, there was someone to trust. There were blunders and mishaps and problems, but I saw all four of them as serious and caring. You saw men in that position who were truly troubled and concern for the people of Israel. Whoever comes after them should draw a lot of conclusions and learn from their mistakes." 'Where have you been all these years?' Gilad Sharon, the son of former prime minister Ariel Sharon, responded to Azriel Nevo. If that's what Azriel Nevo thought during the war, he was obligated to shout and warn as loudly as possible. Otherwise, he himself is criminally derelict in his duty. But he chose to remain silent for 30-some years, and only when he thought no one would react to his fabrications, he published these fairytales. When it thought the lion was not around, the mouse crawled out of the hole where he had sunk into oblivion for decades. Nevo then began to throw mud. How else can he make it into the newspaper? How would the world remember that there was once an Azriel-something? Over the years, he tried to present Prime Minister Begin as someone who was not aware of what was going on during the war and had no control over his government. To portray Begin in that manner is to do him a great injustice. The following are quotes from a Channel 1 interview with Begin on June 15, 1982: Gilad Sharon (Photo: Ofer Amram) Yaakov Ahimeir: "You may be aware that in parts of the public there is a fear or suspicion that Defense Minister Ariel Sharon dragged the government into maneuvers that deviated from the original plan of the operation." Menachem Begin: " Nonsense. That never happened what sort of dragging; it was a functioning government, it held meetings sometimes twice a day. Every fact was reported to it; every detail was discussed. There was a decision made for everything. No one dragged the government, no one was pulling it (in any direction), and why should the defense minister, a man experienced in combat, a true patriot, whose heart and soul are devoted to the nation, drag the government That never happened there was no deception and there was no dragging; things happened based to the government's decisions." In a cabinet meeting on June 5, 1982, the day before the war began, Begin said, "The government will keep its finger on the pulse during this operation, at all times. If conquering Beirut is necessary, the government will decide that. Nothing is going to happen automatically." At a cabinet meeting on August 1, 1982, Begin said, "If there is no choice, we'll enter Beirut at the appropriate time; I will recommend it. We cant say that we won't go into Beirut. Saying so would be very damaging for us We will prepare and decide. Whoever says today that we must not enter west Beirut, helps the PLO stay there." Does that sound like a detached prime minister, who was led unknowingly? Absolutely not. Begin controlled his government and ran it. Yechiel Kadishai, who was the closest person to Begin, he was his assistant for 50 years and dined with Begin until his last day. He wrote on June 12, 1996, "I was asked if Sharon lied to Menachem Begin. To which I replied then, as I do so today: Arik Sharon did not lie to him." Azriel Nevo never wanted what was best for Sharon, but rather just the opposite. In an interview that he gave about 30 years after those events to the Maariv newspaper he suddenly "remembered" how Sharon would call to report to Begin at night and that it was taxing for the prime minister. Where was Nevo all these years? Why was he silent? But even he, when asked directly in the same interview, "Did Begin ever speak, even in intimate settings, against Sharon?" he replied, "Never." The second Begin government, in which Sharon served as defense minister, would not accept a situation in which the northern communities are under fire and thus "held hostage" by terrorist groups. After less than a week, the IDF achieved the campaign's objective: ceasing the fire on northern Israel. Eleven weeks after the start of the operation, the deportation of about 15,000 terrorists and Syrian troops from Beirut began. By comparison, in the Second Lebanon War, in which I served as a reserve officer in the area, the IDF, after a month, more or less, got pretty much nowhere. The cessation of rocket fire, which was a central objective in the war, was not achieved on the battlefield, but only following a ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah. Compared to that, one can only appreciate Begin and Sharon's achievement. A new initiative called Independence with Meaning has appealed to local elected officials across the country, asking that the national anthem, Hatikvah, be played during Independence Day ceremonies, not only during the Remembrance Day ceremonies, as is currently the tradition. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Former minister of education Shai Piron, along with several local elected officials, intellectuals, social activists and businesspeople, are behind the proposal. Together, they are calling on local officials throughout Israel to include the national anthem as an integral part of the Independence Day celebrations offered in their area. Celebrating Independence Day (Photo: Gil Yohanan) Those promoting the initiative stated that over the last few years there has been an erosion of the meaning attached to Independence Day. They expressed their disappointment, saying, Unfortunately, at present Independence Day mostly revolves around cookouts, going to parties and taking in live performances and shows, while the story behind the founding of Israel and what that meant have been sidelined. I am certain that an emotional event such as this would strengthen the bond between citizens and their country, deepen the connection between one another and enhance social and national solidarity, said Piron. We make it a point to sing the anthem on Holocaust Remembrance Day and Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism Remembrance Day, but then it disappears on Independence Day, which is a happy occasion. I believe the anthem should be sung out of joy, and not just sorrow. Former Minister of Education Shai Piron (Photo: Moti Kimchi) Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut Mayor Haim Bibas also supports the proposal. Pirons initiative is a welcome one and would aid in linking Jewish values with Democratic ones, he said. Yeruham Mayor Michael Biton was also one of the officials who expressed their support of the initiative. He intends to implement it this coming Independence Day (Wednesday), in addition to incorporating the national anthem into all local public events. Its an excellent idea and should be the standard, said Biton. Many times events like Independence Day become all about fireworks and landing an expensive artist to perform, when we should be getting back to basics. On the eve of Memorial Day, the military cemetery in Haifa is still quiet. Ten of thousands of soldiers are buried there, row upon row and section upon section, from the War of independence all the way to Operation Protective Edge. Between the wars and the operations, hundredsif not thousandsof soldiers, members of the intelligence community, police officers and members of the Israel Prison Service, have been added to the count of the fallen. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Next to the military cemetery is the plot for Haifa's terror victims. A memorial service will be held for them on Wednesday as well. Kiryat Shaul Cemetery (Photo: Reuters) The foot traffic at the cemetery never ceases. Family relatives on Tuesday came to visit the graves of their loved ones and were joined by IDF soldiers and officers who adorned the tombstones with the Israeli flag, lit a memorial candle and laid a wreath on every tombstone. Also visiting the graves were school children and army units. Tel Aviv's Kiryat Shaul Cemetery (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Among those who came to visit were ninth-grade students from a school in Haifa, who came with their teacher Anat Halperin Arel, whose brother, Ammon Arel, died in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. I decided to bring the students here to lay flowers and place a letter on the graves of ten heroes (who had once attended) the school, Unfortunately there are a lot more. We held the ceremony, read memorial passages and heard the memories of one of the bereaved mothers. I've taught these children for three years. My loss is a part of me, and they know this. So I decided to bring them to visit my brothers grave, she said. Kiryat Shaul Cemetery (Photo: Motti Kimchi) From my perspective, Anat said, Memorial Day is completely irrelevant. Every day at every event we remember the fallen, not only on this day. Unfortunately more tragedies have befallen my family and today I am, in practice, the only one left. My two brothers died and so did my mother and father. So after we come here I bring all the extended family to my home for lunch and we stay together and support one another until the conclusion of Independence Day. Our togetherness protects us despite the pain, she continued. Kiryat Shaul Cemetery (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Rachel Milis from Tirat Carmel visited the grave of her brother Yitzhak who fell during the Yom Kippur War. He was considered missing for seven years until the Egyptians allowed us to enter and take him back. We had two funerals, Rachel said. (Photo: Mottic Kimchi) Rachel also visits another grave at a cemetery in Holon where her partner was buried during the Yom Kippur War, whose name was also happened to be Yitzhak. He only needed to supply weapons and tanks but he wanted to go to the battlefield like everyone else and he didnt come back, she explained. I come here frequently; I come here whenever I'm feeling down. Amnon Sahar Ruth Bachrah, from Haifa, came to visit the grave of her son Doron, who fell during the the 1982 Lebanon War. Each Friday she visits. However, on Tuesday she visited specially in order to tend to the gravesite ahead Memorial Day. I know that tomorrow it will be too crowded here. It is impossible to lay new flowers and water them. I can hardly light a candle, so I came to do it today instead. I dont need Memorial Day specially to remember my son, but despite this I think that Memorial Day is still important for the public to remember those who gave their lives for the state. Yaakov Flomkin In Tel Avivs Kiryat Shaul Cemetery, preparations were made during the morning hours for Wednesdays Memorial Day ceremony. Dozens of bereaved families visited on Tuesday night to be together with their loved ones. Itai Peleg came with her mother to visit the gravesite of her brother Amnon Sahar who also fell in the Yom Kippur War at 25 years old. He (went to war) on his own initiative and was actually on sick leave, she explained. He had a cast and when he heard about the war he cut it off and went to join. All of our fun activities are cancelled on Memorial Day. My mom and I came a day before because of the crowds, and on the actual day the whole extended family comes. This is a kind of gathering for his memory. Also Independence Day is extremely sad. I feel that I cannot celebrate it. I dont identify with it as a celebration. Mordechai Dori came to visit his brother Nissans grave, who was killed at 19 years of age during fighting in the Jordan Valley. He was killed with 12 soldiers. They were exposed and had a grenade thrown at them, he said. Every Memorial Day I come with a soldier from the Paratroopers' Brigade. I dedicated a Torah scroll in his name to remember him. My grandson is currently in the army, and I hope that, thanks to the person who lies here, everybody who remains will live good and long lives. Visiting her uncle was Keren Dror Flomnik; she never knew him. Yaakov Flomnik was killed in the INS Eilat, which was sunk by the Egyptians after the Six-Day War. Yaakov was seriously injured and managed to swim to shore but later succumbed to his wounds in the hospital. He was the youngest in the family and was almost 18. He lied about his age to enlist, she explained. In the extended family it is a custom to come to his grave every Memorial Day but in recent years we started coming one day earlier due to the crowds. We prefer to be together alone. The happiness of Independence Day for me is mixed with sadness but with all the pain. The proximity of the day to Memorial Day is, in my opinion, a good thing. I am upset but very happy about the founding of the state. It is not taken for granted. Eager to heal old wounds and galvanize new generations, US President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where seven decades ago the US dropped the atomic bomb that ushered in the nuclear age. By visiting the peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 attack, the president hopes to reinvigorate efforts worldwide to eliminate nuclear weapons. But in a sign of the extraordinary political sensitivities attached to the gesture, the White House is going out of its way to stress Obama will not come bearing an apology. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said flatly: "He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II." Instead, Rhodes said in a statement, Obama will spotlight the toll of war and offer a "forward-looking vision" of a non-nuclear world. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who will accompany Obama on the visit, said no apology is expected, or necessary. "The prime minister of the world's only nation to have suffered atomic attacks, and the leader of the world's only nation to have used the atomic weapons at war will together pay respects for the victims," Abe told reporters. "I believe that would be a way to respond to the victims of the atomic bombings and the survivors who are still in pain." The US attack on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killed 140,000 people. A second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki three days later, killed 70,000. The bombings scarred generations of Japanese, both physically and mentally, but many Americans believe they hastened the end of World War II and saved countless other lives. Japan announced it would surrender on Aug. 15. Survivors, especially, have long been waiting. The number of survivors who are recognized as "hibakusha" and entitled to medical assistance from the Japanese government was more than 183,000 as of March. Their average age is now over 80. "The day has finally come," said 91-year-old Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor of the bombing and head of a survivors group in the western Japanese city. "We are not asking for an apology," continued Tsuboi. "All we want is to see him lay flowers at the peace park and lower his head in silence. This would be a first step toward abolishing nuclear weapons." Obama's call for a nuclear-free world echoes the message delivered by former President Jimmy Carter when he visited Hiroshima in 1984 and pledged to work as a private citizen "to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth." For all of the symbolism associated with Obama's visit, anti-nuclear groups said a powerful presidential message was not enough: The president who delivered a stirring call for a nuclear-free world in a Prague address during the first year of his presidency needs to use his last year to take more specific steps, they said. The president should "use the opportunity to map out concrete actions the United States and other countries can and will pursue to move closer to a world free of nuclear weapons," said Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the non-partisan Arms Control Association. Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action, a US-based group, added that Obama "will look insincere if his words espouse ridding the world of nuclear weapons while at the same time his administration continues its plan to spend a trillion dollars over 30 years to upgrade nuclear weapons." The Congressional Budget Office estimated in January 2015 that the administration's plans for nuclear forces would cost $348 billion over the next decade. Others have said it could approach $1 trillion over three decades. Obama's visit comes as the nuclear debate has been percolating in the 2016 campaign to select his successor, with GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump floating the idea of allowing South Korea and Japan to acquire nuclear weapons. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic primary in Nebraska, though it is a victory that does not aid the front-runner much in securing her party's nomination. This is due to the fact that Nebraska has already allocated all 25 of its delegates to this summer's Democratic National Convention in a caucus held on March 5 that was won by the Vermont senator. In essence, this means that Nebraska had already chosen Sanders as its nominee, and was merely going through the motions regarding its primary. Based on the results of said caucus, Sanders has taken home 15 delegates, while Clinton won 10. Earlier Tuesday, Sanders won the Democratic primary in West Virginia. Yet even with that win, Sanders is far behind Clinton in the delegate count. When including the party officials known as superdelegates who can back any candidate, Clinton has 2,238 delegates, or 94 percent of the 2,383 needed to win. Sanders, on the other hand, has 1,468. Bangladesh- The head of Bangladesh's largest Islamist party was executed early Wednesday for his role in acts of genocide and war crimes during the country's independence war against Pakistan in 1971, a senior government official said. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Motiur Rahman Nizami, the 73-year-old leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hanged at 12:10 am Wednesday amid tight security, while crowd of activists celebrated outside. The execution came a few hours after Nizami's family had visited him for the last time. His body was handed over to his family for burial in a family graveyard in the northwestern district of Pabna, his ancestral home. "We buried him in the morning," said Abdullah Al Mamun, Nizami's cousin. Jamaat-e-Islami issued a statement condemning the execution and called for a daylong general strike across the country for Thursday. But such protests usually get no major response from people. Nizami refused to seek presidential clemency to commute his death sentence. A condemned man can seek such clemency from the country's figurehead president. Nizami did seek a review of his death sentence through the judicial system, but the country's Supreme Court upheld his punishment. Nizami was convicted of three major charges stemming from the Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971, including the killings of 480 people. He was also held responsible for the killings of dozens of intellectuals, including teachers, journalists and doctors, just two days before Bangladesh gained its independence in 1971. Bangladeshi authorities say Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed 3 million people, raped 200,000 women, and forced some 10 million people to flee the country during the nine-month war in what was then known as East Pakistan, renamed Bangladesh after independence. Nizami is the fifth senior official from opposition parties to be executed since 2013 for war crimes carried out during the 1971 war. Three other senior members of Nizami's Jamaat-e-Islami party and a top leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia have also hanged. Trying suspected war criminals has posed a major challenge for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has faced strong international pressure to stop executing people such as Nizami who acted against the country's struggle for independence. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had protested the death sentence for Nizami. The human rights groups also raised questions about the standard of the trial process, but Hasina and her colleagues have rejected claims that the judicial procedures were flawed. Authorities also rejected opposition claims that Nizami's trial was politically motivated and designed to weaken the opposition, saying the families of the 1971 victims have the right to receive justice for their suffering. The State of Israel is commemorating on Wednesday the 23,447 IDF soldiers and civilian terror victims who were killed from 1860 to the present, with Memorial Day events lasting until evening time when a torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl launches the Independence Day festivities. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The day's events began with a two-minute siren in honor of the fallen at 11am,which was followed by a state memorial ceremony for Israel's fallen soldiers on Mount Herzl. Present at the official state ceremony were President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Speaker of the Knesset Yuli Edelstein, Supreme Court President Miriam Naor IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot. Members of bereaved families were also in attendance. Israeli dignitaries at Mount Herzl during two minutes of silence (Photo: Gil Yohanan) In his speech, Netanyahu reminded those present that he was a bereaved brother himself and addressed the others who had suffered losses. "We, the bereaved families, don't need a day to remember the dear ones that we lost," he stated. "My brothers and sisters, the pain of loss is like a weight attached to our feet in our wandering journey through the wilderness of grief." Tel Aviv standing at attention during two-minute siren (Photo: Yaron Brener) The prime minister further spoke of national and internal unity, saying "Internal unity is the root of our existence. This is a day of large internal reconciliation. Internal reconciliation that comes from our shared destiny. It is only fitting that these concepts should guide us every day throughout the year." Speaking of the two slain Israeli soldiers still held in captivity, Netanyahu added, "We will continue acting to bring home IDF soldiers, including our dear Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul." Speaking on his decade of experience as prime minister, he said , "During my years as prime minister, every time that I'm notified of a soldier who died, I'm devastated." At the same time as the state ceremony on Mount Herzl, memorial services were held at military cemeteries and plots throughout the country. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon attended the ceremony at the Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv along with Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Yair Golan. The latter, currently the focus of criticism following his comments on Holocaust Remembrance day, did not speak. Golan and Ya'alon at Kiryat Shaul (Photo: Motti Kimchi) Ya'alon spoke of Israel's military strength and its preparedness to hold firm. Speaking of the recent escalation with Hamas, the defense minister said, "We will not compromise and we will not recoil from threats like those or others. We will take an iron fist against those who seek our doom, and we will strike against them at any time, in any place. We will do so with vigor and determination, with wisdom and with responsibility." Ya'alon also called for maintaining a level head, saying, "Even in difficult moments, when our blood is boiling and our anger is great, woe be to us if we lose our path and our values." Roni Alsheikh laying a wreath for Israel's fallen police officers (Photo: Israel Police Spokesperson) Speaking to values, Ya'alon added, "We must fully uproot the unacceptable phenomena of racism and violence, physical and verbal attacks on women, and excluding the other simply because they're different. Fight for ensuring equal rights and opportunities without regard to religion, face, sex or sexual orientation." Following the state ceremony, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh laid a wreath and spoke at the ceremony for Israel Police's fallen officers in the military plot on Mount Herzl. "I never thought that something could happen to him. There was a war, but for me everything felt all right. I knew that my brother was going to Lebanon and then coming back. There was no feeling of pressure; on the contrary, his sudden visit home only added to the sense of relaxation. And at that particular time there was a cease-fire. We felt like everything was okay. Then at night, they told us he had been killed," recalled Sgt. 1st Class S., the younger brother of Staff Sgt. Haran Lev who was killed in the Second Lebanon War. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Staff Sgt. Haran Lev served in Brigade 188 of the Armored Corps. He fell on August 12, 2006, during the Battle of Bint Jbeil, while assisting along with other members of the tank crew to rescue another tank which was hit by an anti-tank missile. Lev's tank took cover to fire at Hezbollah fighters who posed a threat to the tank stuck in broad daylight. Staff Sgt. Haran Lev At the end of the rescue operation, Lev's tank was also hit by an anti-tank missile, and all the crew members were killed. In addition to Lev, Staff Sgt. Oz Tzemach, Sgt. Dan Broyer and Sgt. Yinon Yigal Nissan were killed. All were awarded posthumous citations. Haran's brother, S, is a resident of Kibbutz Ma'ayan Baruch in the Upper Galilee, located very close to the Lebanese border. He is currently serving in the Navy. "Overall, I rather enjoyed the war. All the children of the kibbutz went to Kfar Haruv, and I was with friends all the time. We also went to Kibbutz Na'an, I traveled with my parents; we went to Tel Aviv. Towards the end of the war, we returned home," said S. "There was a bit of confusion, but my parents were very indifferent to the war. I remember we were sitting outside, about 500 meters from the border fence, and there were many explosions. At night, we saw shells flying. But we never thought anything could go wrong." Staff Sgt. Haran Lev's brother S. S. recounts how his brother's company took up position in the south and came to the northern front, where the fighting was going on, towards the end of the war. "When they were in the Golan Heights, we traveled to see him and had Friday night dinner together. We brought them lots of care packages, as we knew they were going into Lebanon," he recalls. "On the way back my mother saw his company commander. She owned a laundromat and suggested to all the guys to bring in all their laundry so that they would go in with clean clothes. "On Saturday he did in fact come with his four friends, and my mother did all their laundry. Meanwhile, we had a huge barbeque with three tables full of food. And it was quiet, as if the war had stopped especially for our meal. That was the last time the family saw Haran," he reminisced. S. was then 13 years old. "It was exactly the same day as my bar mitzvah, which was postponed because of the war. My parents are very concerned and are constantly under pressure. When my mother doesn't see me for a week she misses me as if she had sent her son off to war," he recounted. "But it was clear to me and to them that I would enlist. I don't think anyone had a doubt about that." "I don't think that I'm continuing on his path, but I'm very proud to serve in the army and be in uniform. There is a sense of pride that he was killed in the army, and now the little brother has gotten there," he concluded. The political saga unfurling within the Labor Party has a name. Its called the Quest to Save Bougie (Labor and Zionist Union Leader Isaac Herzog). And if it weren't so pathetic, it would likely be funny. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The man who over the last few months had denied any and all rumors saying that he is in talks with (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, who had blatantly liedfor there is no other way to put itto anyone who had approached him on the matter, claiming its all rumors, spins, nonsense. The man who repeatedly spoke in a victim-like tone about how these rumors are absolute fantasy and only meant to cause him damage, has really been on a quest, negotiating with members of his own party in an effort to convince them to join the government. Its been an exhausting, stubborn and almost Sisyphean quest, mainly because Herzog has nothing to sell to his own party. Apart from two potential senior ministriesForeign Affairs and Economyplus a few junior ministries, he has not received a single promise that the current Netanyahu government would change its approach. Not regarding the bi-yearly budget. Not regarding a diplomatic breakthrough. Not regarding a halt on all settlement development. Nothing on changing its fundamental attitude. Netanyahu wasnt even willing to acknowledge the idea of two countries for two peoples. The proposal itself is devoid of any substance, offering nothing save a few jobs that, truth be told, are pretty embarrassing. Opposition Leader Isaac 'Bougie' Herzog (Photo: Yisrael Yosef) Its worth noting that the Zionist Union did rule not out joining the government in advance. Its even plausible that they would have been willing to settle for very little to do so. Still, something. Some shred of an excuse, a reason, some explanation that would save their self respect. A promise to renegotiate later on. A parity government. A few agreed-upon guidelines. A change in the makeup of the coalition. But Netanyahu did not come to Herzogs aid and did not supply him with one good reason that would help convince (fellow Zionist Union Leader) Livni and (former Labor leader) Yachimovich to go for it. Instead, he stuck to his initial and humiliating offer that Herzog should have thrown back in his face. Rather than doing this, Herzog has decided to take it up and start selling it door-to-door. Things are so pitiful right now that over the last few days, Likud MKs have stopped talking about a unity government in the press, speaking instead of a broad government. There isnt a single politician who could claim that having the Zionist Union enter the government isnt political suicide. But whats tantamount to suicide for the Zionist Union is a lifesaver for Herzog. Thats the whole point. Because factually speaking, there have been no changes over the last few days that justify the wave of commentaries all assuming the Labor Party is headed toward the government. Nothing new has transpired between Netanyahus office and Herzogs. If anything is transpiring, its in Herzogs head. And he has good reasons for it: his police investigation , the polls that have never looked so bad (except perhaps during the Barak-Netanyahu government). Pressure from within his own party. Herzog would like to reach the summer session as a minister and spare himself the task of delivering a speech as a head of the opposition whom no one sees as their leader. He would rather enter a government where everyone would be stepping all over him. A government that would push for bills that fly in the face of democracy, continuing a diplomatic stalemate and international isolation. A government that would roast him alive. Because when you have to decide whats worse: facing all of the above or being a doormat in the Opposition, Herzogs answer seems clear. Herzog brought Netanyahus offer before the two strongest women in his (Zionist Union) party and was rebuffed by both of them, each in her own style. Seemingly no one in his party would be willing to sacrifice their own political future for such an offer. But that doesnt mean there wont be those ready to perform the suicide ritual that the Labor Party performs from time to time. It wasnt long ago that Herzog said that no decent person would enter Netanyahus government. It would be interesting to know how he perceives himself today. Three Israeli Arabs were charged with planning stabbing attacks in Jerusalem , according to two separate indictments filed on Wednesday. Two of the men were charged with attempted murder, conspiring to commit a murder and arms dealing offenses. The third defendant was indicted on charges of arms dealing, as well as illegally purchasing and possessing a weapon. According to the indictment, the men intended to carry out a stabbing attack at the Damascus Gate of the Old City in Jerusalem, where many previous attacks have taken place. Shai, Ido Doron and Shai, now aged 15 16, were all children in the summer of 06, but they were old enough to know that their fathers were going off to war and eventually came to the realization that they would never be coming back. Their fathers were among the 12 reservists who were killed in the Kfar Giladi Disaster, when a Katyusha rocket landed near them, close to the kibbutzs cemetery. Shai, Doron, Ido and Shai still have a few flash memories, but they were all too young to remember their fathers embrace or the warmth of his hands as he lifted them into the air. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Doron and Shai Elkarif are siblings, and were the children of the late Maj. Eli Elkarif. Doron was six and Shai four and a half when their father left for good. Shai Aharonov was six when her father, the late Sgt. Gregory Aharonov went to war, as was Ido Ben-David, who is the son of the late First Sgt. Major Daniel Ben-David. Ten years later, they came to visit together the site at which their fathers were snatched from them to talk about both forgetting and remembrance. I dont remember anymore what my father looked like without looking at a photo of him, said Aharonov. Ive pretty much forgotten his voice, too. Giladi disaster (Photo: Niv Calderon) Doron Elkarif shared his own memories. I may not remember his voice, but I remember his touch, when he would come back from reserve duty, lift me up and hug me. Ben-David also explained what he does in order to remember father: People always tell me how much I look like him. Ill always have that, his looks, but I dont remember his voice at all. Whenever I want to remember it, I watch old family movies. Shai still keeps her fathers dog tags, and Ido still has the guitar his father gave him when he was just four. Together, they spoke of anger and a sense of emptiness, but also of acceptance as all have long since adjusted to the reality of growing up with only a mother, who stands at the center of their lives. Giladi disaster (Photo: Niv Calderon) We dont talk about it in my house, said Doron. We almost never mention him, and when we do, it isnt in a sad kind of way. Its not like we feel as if weve missed out on a lot. Its just the way we grew up. Were used to it. The casualties of the Second Lebanon War left behind many families with very young children who, a decade later, are now teenagers. Bina Medzini, who runs the Ministry of Defenses Families and Commemoration Departments Haifa District, explained that The death of a father is one of the greatest tragedies a child can experience. Their father acts as a role model, someone to admire, someone who dispenses a sense of strength, wisdom, love and a sense of companionship with their mother. She went on to say: The young adults they become then deal with a terrible sense of loss over what they never had the chance to experience. Medzini added that these days, the main mission of those working in the Families and Commemoration Department is to offer support to those who need a hug or a shoulder to cry on to those who had their life unexpectedly crushed. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Wednesday described a UNESCO resolution on the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem as "clumsy" and "unfortunate" and said it should have been avoided. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The Paris-based UN cultural body adopted the resolution on "Occupied Palestine" presented by several Arab countries in mid-April. The resolution referred several times to Israel as the "occupying power" and made no reference to the fact that the Jerusalem site, which is located at the southeastern corner of the Old City, is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and is the most sacred site in Judaism. Temple Mount (Photo: AFP) "This UNESCO resolution contains unfortunate, clumsy wording that offends and unquestionably should have been avoided, as should the vote," Valls told parliament. Valls, who will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories later this month, said the UNESCO resolution "changed nothing" in France's approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian issue. "I want to repeat once again and clearly, with conviction - France will never deny the Jewish presence and Jewish history in Jerusalem. It would make no sense, it is absurd to deny this history," Valls said. The UNESCO resolution, which also accuses Israel of "planting fake Jewish graves in Muslim cemeteries", infuriated the Jewish state, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing it as "absurd". The controversy comes as France is hoping to lead a revival of the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process following the worst flare-up of violence in and around the Gaza Strip for nearly two years. Independence Day celebrations began on Wednesday night with the traditional torch-lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The theme of this year's ceremony is "civilian bravery" and torches were lit by Rona Ramon, Herzl Biton, Gabi Barshishat, Avi Toibin, Dr. Anan Falah, Nili and Moshe Levy, Hillel Bareli, Rotem Elisha, Fainy Sukenik, Yaakov Ehrenfeld, Father Gabriel Naddaf, IDF representative Sgt. Roberto Farah-Usa and Border Police representative Staff Sgt. Alison Berson. Independence Day celebrations (: ) X Before the celebrations commenced, Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a video message in which he stressed the importance of unity. Many challenges stand before us but I am certain that we can overcome them with unity and with hope, he said. Torch-lighting ceremony for Israel's 68th birthday (Herzelia Studios) Before the celebrations commenced, Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered a video message in which he stressed the importance of unity. Many challenges stand before us but I am certain that we can overcome them with unity and with hope, he said. Celebrations for Israel's 68th birthday (Photo: Herzelia Studios) The primary condition for independence is the will to protect, but the painful price is that of our fallen children and brothers, to whom we are infinitely indebted. We know that there is no existence without protective strength, there is no independence without strength. That is why we all salute you, our precious soldiers, our policemen, our women and men of the security forces. You guard the state and I ask you to protect yourselves. In the name of the entire nation, thank you," he continued. Photo: Herzelia Studios Photo: Herzelia Studios Photo: Herzelia Studios Photo: Herzelia Studios (Photo: Ido Erez) (Photo: Ido Erez) (Photo: Gil Yohanan) (Photo: Gil Yohanan) (Photo: Gil Yohanan) (Photo: Motti Kimchi) (Photo: Motti Kimchi) World leaders visit here in Jerusalem every day. They say to me in excitement 'What a wonderful country you have, a vibrant state, creative in spirit and in substance. They see the roads, the buildings, the technology, the economy, the people and their abilities. Above and beyond all, they see you, the Israeli people, your talent and creativity, mutual reliance and solidarity in troubled times, said Netanyahu. The 45th Force Support Squadron in coordination with the 45th Medical Group, 45th Civil Engineer Squadron, 45th Security Forces Squadron, 920th Rescue Wing, 333rd Recruiting Squadron, and Veterans Administration, held their Annual Individual Ready Reserve Muster here May 6.The 45th Space Wing was selected to host the muster, which brought in more than 250 Individual Ready Reservists who currently reside within a 150-mile radius of Patrick AFB.The morning included screenings to update personal information and medical data. Participants also received briefings and learned more about IRR benefits. Additionally, IRR members meet once a year to fulfill their annual requirement. For more information about the Air Force Reserve Personnel Center Muster, click here: Muster Information Capt. Ed Sutton, a C-17 pilot with the 701st Airlift Squadron at Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, helped deliver more than 170,000 total pounds of humanitarian aid to Haiti April 21. Like other pilots who fly the Air Force Reserve mission, Ed draws a certain sense of satisfaction delivering humanitarian goods when needed to places around the globe. Since joining the 701st AW in December 2014, Ed has flown three Denton cargo missions to Haiti, which utilized space available on the U.S. military aircraft to transport goods for the country in need. Not many people who fly these missions have a direct connection with the people on the ground in places like Haiti. Ed on the other hand does. And, on his last two missions to Haiti he was greeted at the plane by Andrew Sutton, a missionary who has been helping and working with the people of Haiti for more than five years and yes, Ed and Andrew are brothers. Growing up in Gilbert, South Carolina, the Suttons never imagined they would be so many miles apart and yet somewhat connected by their unique callings in life. Eds introduction of his brother Andrew to the 315th AW helped shed some additional light on the humanitarian support missions flown to Haiti by the wings Airmen - as well as the life-saving work of people like Andrew and his family who often go unheard of and often not seen. Its hard for words to describe the benefits provided by the men and women of the 315th AW who support these Denton runs, and the same is true for people like Andrew and his missionary family. Andrew, his wife Angie, and their three daughters live, work and serve with Hands and Feet Childrens Village in Grand Goave, Haiti where they provide hope and care for 34 children ranging from ages 18 months to 20 years old. Currently, the majority of the kids are between 12 and 20 years old. Another family who lives in Grande Goave with Andrew and Angie help to provide care and support, too. Andrew and Angie work as a team, and they have learned how to divide and conquer to meet the demands of their mission. Andrew oversees the construction and maintenance of their campus along with its finances. Angie stays busy with orphan care and oversees the operations finances, and she also has responsibility for the Haitian staff members who help provide care for the kids. According to Andrew and Angie, their Christ-centered purpose is to provide family-style, residential care and sustainable solutions that fight against Haitis orphan crisis. We love living here in Haiti and serving these precious children, said Andrew. Although Andrew and Angie are not currently in the Denton program, they do benefit from its services, supplies and the people who make it all possible. Food and water are always a top priority for Haitian children in need, and the Sutton couple said they were pleased to see a lot of Kids Against Hunger rice on the plane. We get a monthly supply of Kids Against Hunger rice to help feed our kids, said Angie. So indirectly, we are reaping the benefits of the Denton mission. Andrew and Angie said their three girls have adjusted nicely to life in Haiti and have a lot of friends at HAF. Ed said he and his brother dont talk about anything too serious during their short encounters on the ground in Haiti, and according to Ed most of his time is spent hanging out with the kids since he doesnt get to see them too often. Outside of their missionary work, Andrew is a pilot and airplane mechanic, and Angie is a registered nurse. Cyber warriors demonstrate capabilities to industry partners The 14th Test Squadron recently joined an assembly of commercial and government cyberspace professionals at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association Cyberspace Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The squadron has attended the Rocky Mountain Chapters annual event for the past seven years, orienting fellow industry participants on its mission, as well as discussing and helping solve problems in the field. The cyberspace symposium is a great venue for the squadron to demonstrate vulnerabilities to military, U.S. government, and civilian professionals who work in the cyberspace domain, said Lt. Col. Rob Jackson, 14th TS Commander. It gives us an opportunity to provide helpful suggestions on how to mitigate those threats. The event hosted 2,200 participants, with a wide range of government representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. It had 110 booths and featured 33 presenters who spoke on this years theme of managing risk. When we think of cyberspace threats, we typically focus on our Personal Computers and networks, but cyberspace threats exist everywhere in todays electronic world, said Jackson. Even something as simple as a radio frequency identification access card or a common power strip can be used for cyberspace exploitation. The 14th TS set up a Cyber Exploitation booth with live demonstrations on radio-frequency identification skimming, hacking home Wi-Fi routers, setting up live malicious hotspots, and hacking into Windows 7 to take over control of a standard desktop. No longer can we be reactive to events in cyber; we have people on the ground who are being proactive and finding serious flaws in our systems, said Maj. Andrew Heo, Regional Young AFCEA vice president. Having a unit like the 14th Test Squadron presenting real vulnerabilities and how they could potentially be hacked provide the attendees of the Cyberspace Symposium a behind-the-curtain look at how the Air Force assesses its space systems. The 14th TS is the only space test squadron in the Air Force Reserve, and an associate to the Regular Air Forces 17th Test Squadron at Schriever AFB, Colorado. The unit provides cyberspace and space Operational Test & Evaluation expertise to the United States Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. According to figures from Juwai.com, which markets international property to China, inquiries to real estate agents and property developers from Chinese buyers looking to purchase Australian residential real estate increased by 87.1% during 2015. According to the Juwai.com figures, Chinese buyers enquired about US$34.9b worth of Australian housing during 2015. Gavin Norris, head of Australia for Juwai.com, said the surge in interest in Australian real estate among Chinese buyers was no surprise given their demand for properties across the globe, however Australia shouldnt assume it will always be a destination of choice. These results are no surprise. I would hesitate to make any short-term predictions, but by 2020 we expect Chinese buyers to set new records for international real estate investment, Norris told Your Investment Property Magazine. How much of that money gets poured into the pockets of Australians depends in part on how successful the local industry is at marketing, he said. While the impact of this weeks announcement from Citigroup that it will no longer accept a number of foreign currencies, including the Chinese yuan, from people looking to purchase Australian property has yet to be felt, Norris said he doesnt believe decisions by a number of Australian lenders to not allow foreign income streams in mortgage applications will scare of the Chinese. It is true [some lenders] found some loans backed by questionable documentation, but it appears those loans are still safer and less likely to default than loans made to Australian citizens, Norris told Your Investment Property Magazine. Overall, we havent seen any firm impact on the demand for property from the curtailing by Australian banks of loans to those with offshore income. I dont think they were issuing many such loans in the first place. Most Chinese pay in cash from their savings. Those who use leverage also have the option of relying on Chinese lenders they are already familiar with. Both ANZ and Westpac revealed this week they have uncovered mortgages that have been backed by questionable foreign-income documentation. While prestige and luxury Australian properties are popular among the Chinese, the Juwai.com figures show the majority are looking for Australian real estate in the US$200,000 to US$500,000 range. Some people think all Chinese buyers are palling around at private clubs and in $20-million mansions, but China is like Australia in that there are more middle class than filthy rich, Norris said. Source: Juwai.com Melbourne was the most popular Australian city for Chinese buyers in 2015, with it attracting enquiries about US$11.5b worth of real estate in the Victorian capital. Sydney was the second most popular city, with Chinese buyers enquiring about US$8.23b worth of real estate, followed by Brisbane with US$2.61b worth of enquiries. There could be some reordering of those positions in 2016 however, following the Victorian governments decision to levy additional fees on foreign buyers. The big question for 2016 is whether the higher stamp duty in Victoria will push buyers to more inviting cities, or even to other countries. The desire to invest and live in Victoria could win out over the extra cost. Well have to wait and see, Norris said. The Global and United States Hydrobike Market Report has been published by QY Research recently. Hydrobike Market Analysis and Insights This report focuses on... 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. Patna: The State Excise Department and Bihar Police on Wednesday sealed the house and other properties of ruling Janata Dal United MLC Manorama Devi hours after an arrest warrant was issued against her for allegedly defying the liquor ban imposed by the Nitish Kumar government. Nitish Kumar government had on Tuesday evening issued an arrest warrant against Manorama Devi for allegedly defying liquor ban imposed by the state government in Bihar. The JDU MLC went into hiding minutes after she was suspended from the party for "protecting a murder accused" yesterday. The state government had ordered her arrest in connection with the recovery of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) from her house in Gaya, 100km from Patna. A directive to arrest the MLC and seal her house was issued to the Gaya district administration by the state excise department as sale, consumption and possession of liquor is an offence in Bihar. At least six bottles of IMFL were recovered from the MLC's AP Colony house where police had gone looking for her son Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky in connection with Gaya road rage death case. Rocky was on Tuesday arrested on the charge of killing a 19-year-old schoolboy after the Gaya trader's son reportedly overtook the Range Rover of the MLC's son in Gaya Police Lines area on May 7 night. JD(U) state president Bashishtha Narain Singh had suspended the MLC from the party on the advice of party's national president Nitish Kumar, who is also the CM of Bihar. He said a show-cause notice would be issued to the MLC, asking her to explain her conduct in the entire episode involving the killing of Gaya youth allegedly by her son. Patna: A day after JD(U) suspended her from the party, an arrest warrant was issued against MLC Manorama Devi whose son Rocky Yadav was arrested in connection with the killing of a Gaya youth in an incident of road rage. The arrest warrant was issued following the recovery of liquor from her Gaya house during a raid to nab her fugitive son Rocky later surrendered to the police. Bihar has strict prohibition laws after the state went dry from April 1. The excise department and Bihar Police have also sealed Manorama Devi's house from where 18 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor. Manorama Devi is the wife of Bindi Yadav, a RJD strongman from Gaya who is now in jail custody in connection with the road rage. Aditya Sachdeva was shot dead allegedly by Rocky for overtaking his vehicle in Gaya on Saturday last. Pressure was mounting on the state government to take action against Manorama Devi after police caught her son Rocky Yadav, who had been absconding since the incident, in the early hours of today for the murder of Sachdeva. Manorama Devi had joined JD(U) in June last year and was made a MLC. She was RJD member of state legislative council from 2003 to 2009 and shot into limelight after becoming chief of Mohanpur block in 2001. Rocky Yadav has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days by a Gaya court during the day and sent to the Central Jail there. Patna: Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky, who was arrested by Bihar police on charges of killing a class 12 student in Gaya last week, is registered with the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) and was given the tag 'renowned shot' by the rifle body. Talking to reporters today, the NRAI president said the rifle body has issued a show-cause notice to Rocky after coming to know about his outrageous action which has attributed to him and has asked him why his membership should not be terminated. "As per the rules, Rocky has been given a 15-day time to present his story. The individual membership committee will take a call on whether to accept his explanation or not," NRAI president said. Disclosing further, the NRAI president said, "Rocky Yadav was indeed a good shooter. He had earned the tag of 'renowned shot' which means he knew how to handle a weapon and fire with much more accuracy." According to report, Rocky is a life time member of NRAI and the notice could mean that the JDU leader Bindi Yadav's son loses his weapon licence and other priviledges that comes along with rifle body's membership. Last week on May 7 night, Rocky, in a fit of rage, shot dead a teenaged, Aditya Sachdev after he overtook his Land Rover with his vehicle. Rocky's mafia father Bindi Yadav from his house while an arrest warrant has been issued against his mother and JDU MLC Manorama Devi under the new state Excise law2016. A Beretta pistol, which the police said was used to commit the crime and was registered in Rockys name, has also been recovered. New Delhi: Hinting at limited scope of negotiations with students on the punishment in connection with the February 9 event, JNU on Wednesday asked students to call off the hunger strike saying the matter is sub-judice. "The JNU Administration appeals to students to end the hunger strike immediately in view of some students moving to the High Court on the issue of the High Level Enquiry Committee Report related to the event on February 9," the university said in a statement. The varsity had earlier this week formed a four-member committee to look into demands of students protesting against punishments by JNU for involvement in the controversial event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. However, the panel may take a back seat after the two students - Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya - yesterday moved High Court against the punishment orders. "The court has asked the university to deposit all the documents related to it for judicial scrutiny. Since the matter is sub judice, the administration will abide by the court ruling," the varsity statement said. Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by the students entered 14th day today even as one more student had to withdraw the fast after she was admitted to AIIMS when her health deteriorated last night. So far, 13 students, including JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, have withdrawn from the fast while 7 others are still continuing with the strike. Hearing the petition, the Delhi High Court had yesterday issued a notice to JNU seeking its response and directed that date of deposit of the fine by Umar shall be extended till May 30, the next date of hearing. An Academic Council meeting at the university was also adjourned yesterday amid a ruckus due to heated arguments between students, teachers and administration over the February 9 issue. Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban were arrested in February in a sedition case over the event and are out on bail now. 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. Financial penalty has been imposed on 14 students. Hostel facilities of?two students have been withdrawn and the university has declared the campus out of bounds for two former students. Noida: Two Class XI students of a prominent school here have been admitted to a hospital due to injuries to their limbs and torso. There are contradictory reports on how the students of the Delhi Public School's Noida branch sustained the injuries. As per The Indian Express, the family of one of the students has claimed that the boys were being ragged by their seniors when they got injured. The Noida Police have, however, filed a case pertaining to a scuffle between the students. Based on the complaint filed by the student and his family, we have filed an FIR under IPC sections relating to a scuffle, a police officer said, as per the daily. The police said the incident happened on Monday night when Yashpratap Singh, 15, was coming back to his hostel after having dinner. Singhs father Arjun said it was not the first time that Yashpratap had been ragged. On May 5, a group of seniors had bullied him. They asked him to imitate animals and stand in various postures. His blood pressure shot up and his heart started to beat fast. He was admitted to Max Hospital in Noida after initial treatment at school health centre. He came back to the hostel only on Sunday, Arjun Singh said, as per the newspaper. The father added that Yashpratap was roughed up by a group of around 15 students on Monday night. Another Class XI student, Dhruv, tried to intervene but he also got beaten up. Yashpratap called his mother and told her about the incident. We rushed to the school but could not find him. The hostel warden refused to tell us where he was. Later, a security guard told us that an ambulance from Kailash Hospital had come to take two students. I figured my son was one of them, the father stated. According to doctors, the students had blunt injury marks on their upper arm, shoulders, knees and legs. The boys were later discharged as the did not have any major injuries. Zee Media Bureau New Delhi: The reports about the deaths due to increasing craze for wildlife selfies has worried many conservationists across the country. Conservationists have raised concerns about the fact that enthusiasts, especially youngsters, are increasingly risking their lives and endangering wild animals for photographs. "The trend is of people clicking selfies when they spot animals or are holding them and upload on social media. No one should die. As long as its 3D (someone taking a picture with wildlife in the background) it is okay but one shouldn't risk lives. I would suggest don't do it," said Pradeep Vyas, West Bengal's principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden. Conceding he had received reports of certain deaths which allegedly occurred while clicking selfies, Vyas urged youngsters to refrain from putting themselves at risk, at a discussion on 'Role of Civil Society in Wildlife Conservation' organised by Society For Heritage and Ecological Researches (SHER) here on Tuesday. On the same page, conservationist Bittu Sahgal said one should not go for selfies at locations that are out of bounds or could endanger wildlife. "If you are sitting in a jeep and taking a selfie then its fine. There is no harm but risking your life or breaking a rule or endangering animals is not done," said Sahgal, founding-editor of Sanctuary Asia and member of Maharashtra Board for Wildlife. (With IANS inputs) Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education is likely to announce the HPBOSE 10th Results 2016 or HPBOSE Matric Result 2016 today (May 11). Students can access their results on official websites - hpbose.org and hpresults.nic.in. In order to check the results students should fill in the details like roll number, name, mobile number, and email ID and then click on 'submit'. HP Board Result 2016 As per the official website, Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education, Dharamshala came into existence in 1969 as per Himachal Pradesh Act No. 14 of 1968 with its head-quarter at Shimla later shifted to Dharamshala in January 1983. The board prescribes syllabus, courses of instructions and text books for school education in Himachal Pradesh besides conducting examinations based on courses listed. At present, the Board conducts examination for the following classes and courses: 10th, 10+2, J.B.T and T.T.C. Board also publishes text books for class 1st to 12th. Zee News wishes all the students best of luck. Ahmedabad: The murder of two BJP leaders in Bharuch in Gujarat last year was part of a conspiracy by an international terror module operated by the "D Company" to incite communal passions, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has stated in its charge sheet in the case. The central agency submitted the charge sheet against ten accused last Saturday in the court of principal judge PB Desai. It was made available on Wednesday to the defence lawyers. "During the investigation, it was revealed that an international terror module had been conspiring to kill selected people belonging to a particular section of society to terrorise them and to foment communal passions," NIA says. Former Bharuch district president of BJP and a senior RSS member Shirish Bangali and general secretary of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha's district unit Pragnesh Mistry were shot dead by two gunmen in Bharuch on November 2, 2015. "The conspiracy was to kill Hindu leaders allegedly involved in the 2002 Gujarat riots and who were perceived to be anti-Muslim," the chargesheet says. The accused youths were lured with money and promise of foreign jobs and some of them were asked to kill Hindus in the name of Islam while others were asked to extort money using the name of "D gang", NIA says, without mentioning the fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, head of the "D gang". Some of them were also asked to throw alcohol bottles in churches to start fires, it says. "The arrested accused Inayat Patel, Mohamed Yunus and Abid Patel, along with foreign conspirators based in South Africa and Pakistan, formed a terrorist gang and entered into a conspiracy...To kill persons belonging to a particular section of society with the intention to terrorise them and to create communal tension," it says. Ahmedabad; Newly elected Gandhinagar Mayor Pravin Patel, who had defected from Congress to BJP recently, was allegedly thrashed by some Congress leaders and corporators after which nine of them were arrested, police said today. The incident took place yesterday outside Patel's office at Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) complex where he was allegedly abused and manhandled by a bunch of Congress leaders and workers, inspector of Sector-7 Police Station K M Priyadarshi said. "As many as nine leaders were arrested late last night. All of them have been released on bail early this morning. Some of them also sustained minor injuries," the officer said, adding Patel was briefly hospitalised after the brawl. The nine leaders include state Congress general secretary Nishith Vyas, Gandhinagar district president Suryasinh Dabhi, city president Kaushik Shah and corporator Shailendrasinh Bihola among others. Patel crossed over to BJP at the last moment helping the party win the polls to Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation last month. Meanwhile, Congress workers alleged that they had gathered at Patel's office to oppose his appointment as the mayor in a peaceful manner. In his FIR, Patel alleged that Congressmen, including some women, attacked him outside his office. He alleged he was first verbally abused and then punched several times by Congress leaders as part of a "pre-planned strategy". However, Congress alleged that they were thrashed by Patel and some other BJP corporators at the spot. "We were staging peaceful protest outside the mayor office yesterday afternoon. It was Patel who manhandled one of our female workers and threatened us. Sadly, police took only Patel's complaint and refused to take ours," Nishith Vyas said after coming out on bail. "We were protesting because Patel back-stabbed people of Gandhinagar who gave an equal mandate to both the parties. Due to Patel's unethical move, BJP grabbed power and rewarded Patel with Mayor's post. We have been beaten up outside his office at the behest of senior leaders of Gujarat BJP," he alleged. In the polls to 32 seats of the civic body, both BJP and the Congress won 16 seats. On May 6, when the decision as to who will form the board was to be taken through draw of lots, Patel switched sides, putting BJP in majority with 17 seats. He was also made the Mayor. Congress has been holding Patel responsible for not adhering to people's mandate and accused the ruling party of engaging in "unethical practices". New Delhi: The Union HRD Ministry had on Monday said a committee of subject experts had concluded that CBSEs mathematics question paper for Class X Board examination 2016 was based on syllabus. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, HRD minister Smriti Irani said the reports that the paper was tough had come to the notice of the government. CBSE had placed the matter before Committee of Subject Experts who concluded that the question papers were based on the curriculum, syllabus and sample question papers prescribed by the Board, Irani said in her reply. In a written reply to another question, she said that there were newspaper reports related to leakage of Class XII question papers. There have been newspaper reports on the issue during the Board exam of 2016. A committee of subject experts was constituted to enquire into this issue, and the committee concluded that there was no leakage of question paper, Irani said. Earlier, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had termed as baseless reports about question paper leak of Class XII Mathematics examination, that was held on March 14. CBSE would like to assert that the reports are baseless. There has been no such leakage of question paper of any kind but only two questions matched with only one question paper set. But that is a co-incidence as these two questions are also from the NCERT textbook, it had said in a statement. The statement referred to news reports that the class XII Mathematics question paper in Ranchi and Dhanabad was available on WhatsApp and that touts were selling 51 questions and answers near examination centres. In March, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia had also written to Irani to order a probe into reported leak of mathematics paper. New Delhi: Delhi High Court judge Vipin Sanghi has written a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma complaining about the poor response of police's helpline number 100. In his letter addressed to the Delhi top cop, Justice Sanghi narrated his "poor personal experience" after calling the police helpline number on April 29, when he was on his way to Vasant Kunj. According to 'The Times of India' report, the Delhi HC judge in his letter stated that when he was on his way to Vasant Kunj to attend a wedding reception, he got stuck in a huge jam. Seeing no traffic cop on the spot, the judge dialled 100, but his call was not answered. Judge maintained that it was a very serious issue and requested the Police Commissioner to look into the matter. Not only this, the Justice Sangh even repeatedly called up Verma, but there was no response from his number as well. "I tried calling you repeatedly sometime later between 10.27-10.30 pm, but unfortunately, there was no response from your number as well," the TOI quoted judge's letter. The judge also sent a copy of his letter to Delhi High Court Chief Justice G Rohini and urged her to consider his letter being treated as a PIL. Chief Justice G Rohini took suo motu cognisance of the issue of distress calls and took the matter as a PIL. New Delhi: The Supreme Court, Wednesday, directed the Centre to set up a Disaster Management Fund and a special force under the Disaster Management Act to handle drought crisis in the country. Acting on a petition filed by Swaraj Abhiyan led by Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, the apex court also directed the Centre to prepare a disaster management plan to tackle the crisis. On the issue of the drought manual which lays down criteria for declaration of drought in a particular part of the country - the court, while accepting it as a 'good' manual, said that it needs to be firmed up so as to ensure that state governments cannot refuse to declare drought in an arbitrary manner. The SC said that farmers suicide, stress and migration factors should be taken into account while declaring drought in the state and directed the Centre to revise the drought manual to make the declaration of drought less prohibitory and ensure that it is based on scientific data. On the issue of three states Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana that have refused to declare drought in areas that are seriously affected , the court asked the chief secretaries of these states to hold a meeting with the Centre within a week and take corrective action. New Delhi: With the Supreme Court reinstating the Congress-led Harish Rawat government in Uttarakhand following its victory in Tuesday's floor test, the opposition parties on Wednesday spared no time in ridiculing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP for what they called their 'Himalayan blunder' in the hill state. First among them was Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi who asserted that this was the clear victory of democracy and hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi learnt his 'lesson' that the nation won't tolerate the murder of democracy. Hope Modiji learns his lesson-ppl of this country &the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy! Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) May 11, 2016 Yes this is Congress's victory, victory of the people, Rahul's mother and party president Sonia Gandhi said on Uttarakhand floor test win. Even after trying every trick in book to topple Opposition states, Modi sarkar has been brought to its knees. Its a victory of democracy, Ahmed Patel of Congress said. No matter how hard they try they can neither intimidate Congress or subvert democracy, Patel added. Rahul's senior party colleague AK Antony said, ''Narendra Modi still thinks he is an RSS pracharak and not the PM.'' Harish Rawat, however, was more sombre in his reaction. He said that he wanted his friends in BJP to forget the past experience and begin a new chapter. Want to thank & tell my friends in BJP, "Let us forget the past experience and begin a new chapter" https://t.co/UTd3iExYzw Harish Rawat (@harishrawatcmuk) May 11, 2016 Delhi's ruling AAP party said, ''PM should apologise to the nation for acting against the Indian Constitution in Uttarakhand.'' PM Modi should apologise to the nation for acting against the Indian Constitution #DemocracyWinsModiLost Aam Aadmi Party- AAP (@AamAadmiParty) May 11, 2016 Noted journalist Rajdeep Sardesai called BJP's defeat in Uttarakhand a Himalayan blunder after all. Uttarakhand was a Himalayan blunder after all. Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) May 11, 2016 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal attacked the ruling BJP and tweeted his reaction over the Uttarakhand issues. Uttarakhand floor test outcome is a huge setback to Modi Govt. Hope they will stop toppling Govts now Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 10, 2016 "We are rest assured that the BJP-led opposition in Uttarakhand, which had started a movement four years ago against the corruption and the ill practices of the Congress government, has been successful. It has been proved through the stings of Harish Rawat and later on his own minister Madan Singh exposed that they have given money to their MLAs," Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt said as the party tried to save its face from the embarrassment caused by the trust vote defeat. New Delhi: Under the Opposition's attack over the killing of a youth a by JDU MLC's son in Gaya, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejasvi Yadav on Wednesday said that if one road rage incident in the state is called 'jungle raaj' then what about Delhi, which records the maximum number of such incidents. While answering a question about the incident, The young Bihar Deputy CM said, "If a road rage incident in Bihar is called 'jungle raaj', then the maximum number of road rage incidents occur in Delhi, isn't that jungle raaj?" He also attacked the main opposition party in the state - BJP by questioning the law and order situation in the Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab. "Vyapam scam in MP, attack on Pathankot airbase, rape during Jat quota stir; isn't all of these examples of 'jungle raaj'," asked Tejasvi Yadav. Earlier on Monday, the Bihar Deputy CM had expressed grief over the recent death of a youth in Gaya in a road rage case but alleged BJP and "BJP supported media" were targetting the state government through use of word like "jungle raj." "The BJP and media supported by the party are advertising the Gaya incident in a way as if it is a rare and first incident of road rage," Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD president Lalu Prasad said in a statement as part of "Dil ki Baat" programme run by him. "If a relative of any accused is member of a party (it) does not mean that the lawbreaker enjoys the protection of the power that be," he said. The Deputy CM in the Nitish Kumar government and younger son of Lalu Prasad alleged that the saffron party has maximum numbers of people with criminal background who enjoy its patronage. Panaji: The Iconic Sea Harriers were decommissioned from the Indian Navy on Wednesday marking the end of an era in India's naval history, with an official ceremony phasing out the last of its iconic Sea Harrier jets. The Harriers have been replaced by a squadron of Russian MiG 29k jets during an official ceremony held at INS Hansa base in Vasco at Goa. Admiral RK Dhowan, chief of the Naval Staff, was the Chief Guest for the ceremony. The All India Radio tweeted some pictures of the iconic jets. Pics of #SeaHarriers of Indian Navy as they are de-inducted today at a Ceremony at Hansa Naval Base in Goa. pic.twitter.com/CZtowzOI5J AIR Defence Alerts (@airdefencenews) May 11, 2016 In a statement, Indian Navy had said earlier that its usage in the Falklands War was its most high-profile and important success, where it was the only fixed-wing fighter available to protect the British Task Force. The aircraft, developed by the British in the 1960s, are best known for the ability to take off and land vertically, and for being the only class of jet that can hover like a helicopter. The Sea Harrier was used by the British during the Falklands War, both Gulf Wars, and during the NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The retired aircraft will be put on display in museums. With ANI inputs New Delhi: Anand Joshi, Under Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, who stands accused of corruption and murky dealings with certain NGOs, has reportedly left his home. As per reports, Joshi left his home this morning and left behind a letter informing the family of his move. I am going through a lot of mental harassment. I need peace which isn't possible here, I'm leaving home, the officer said in the letter. I was serving the nation with integrity and patriotism, had never thought something like this could happen to me, he added. As per the family, he (Joshi) went somewhere in the morning... (we) found a letter left by him. The development came just ahead of Joshi's questioning by the CBI. Reacting to the development, the CBI today said, Never harassed Anand Joshi... searches were carried out as part of the probe. Posted in the Foreigners Division of the Ministry, Joshi reportedly had access to files related to Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). He is also reportedly accused of removing critical files linked to a probe against activist Teesta Setalvad. As per sources, Joshi has also been accused of accepting bribes for getting FCRA clearances done. Refuting the allegations, Joshi had said that he was `pressurised` by his superior to give clean chits to some organisations. The CBI had on Monday registered a case against the Under Secretary under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act, after conducting raids at four locations, including Joshi`s residence and office. The CBI had said that cash worth Rs 7.5 lakh and certain `incriminating documents`, including files pertaining to MHA and Ministry of I&B, were recovered from the premises of the officer during the raid. (With ANI inputs) Kolkata: A speech given by 'Budhha in a traffic jam' director Vivek Agnihotri at Jadavpur University has gone viral on various social media platforms. Since the speech's video has been uploaded on internet, it has become talk of the town. WATCH the fiery speech here:- The students of the Kolkata's Jadavpur University on Friday had staged a protest against Bollywood film director Vivek Agnihotri and the screening of his film 'Budhha in a traffic jam' inside the campus. As soon as the director reached the campus, he was shown black flags and placards by the students of university urging him to go back. Despite, the cancellation of the film, the director decided to go ahead with screening the film on campus and faced massive protests from the students. New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha today passed 'The Indian Trusts (Amendment) Bill 2015', which removes certain outdated clauses from the Indian Trusts Act, 1882. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told the Upper House that there are certain archaic provisions in the present Act of 1882, which allows trusts to have surplus income to invest in certain categories which also included certain specified securities in UK, Karachi and Rangoon. The Finance Minister said even the UPA government had wanted to delete these provisions and replace them with a clause which allows trusts to invest in those securities which are notified. As members agreed, the Bill which already has got the nod of Lok Sabha, was passed by the Rajya Sabha without any discussion. New Delhi: Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's brother Raja Chaitanya Kumar Vemula has turned down the Grade-IV job offered to him by the Delhi government on compassionate ground, report claimed on Wednesday. As per a report in Hindustan Times, Raja, who was offered a Lower Division Clerk (Grade-IV) job in the Delhi Administrative Services through a letter dated April 4, has written to the Kejriwal government asking for a couple of months to consider the job offer. Soon after I got an offer letter, I wrote to the Delhi government seeking a higher position. I also sought two months time, instead of two-week deadline. I am awaiting a reply, HT quoted Raja. Raja is now waiting for the government's response. The communication of the Delhi government states that Raja was offered a temporary post of Grade IV as a special case under compassionate ground in the pay band-1 of Rs 5,200-20,200 with grade pay of Rs 1,900 plus allowances. Raja Vemula (25), holds a Master's degree in Applied Geology. (With PTI inputs) New Delhi: The Allahabad University has informed the Centre that activists of a political party threatened its Vice-Chancellor while extending support to agitating students, with HRD Minister Smriti Irani stating that the party in question was the ruling Samajwadi Party in UP. "The University has told (us) that on morning of 9th (May), nearly 30 vehicles associated with a political party of Uttar Pradesh came to declare their support to the students union and threatened the Vice-Chancellor and the University administration. This is what the university has told the Government of India," she told Rajya Sabha. Initially, the minister did not name the political party, but when SP member Ram Gopal Yadav said that the Vice-Chancellor had accused the Centre of interfering in the affairs of Allahabad University, Irani said the political party in question is "Samajwadi Party". A brief argument between Irani and SP members followed. She was responding to Zero Hour mention by Arvind Kumar Singh (SP) who raised the issue of hunger strike by the students union president Richa Singh and other students. He said the students are on strike demanding that entrance test for admission in the university should be held in off-line mode also. "Because of the stubborn attitude of the Vice Chancellor there is a big resentment among the students," he maintained. He suggested that the HRD Ministry should intervene in such matters before the situation become explosive. To this, Irani said few days back in the House she had commented that "this is a pandora's box". "Universities are autonomous to administer their issues themselves. However, the university brought to our notice that there is a student agitation and we would like to facilitate offline admissions also because of the pressure which has been brought forth by a particular political party," she said. She further said, "we have noted" that the university would like to provide apart from online admission, offline admissions also. The Minister also informed that over 1,20,500 admissions have been done online. "...Since the university sought our permission, we have noted. But since they administer their issues, we are not interfering into it," she said. Alleging that "political interference" has brought the administrative machinery of Allahabad University to a "standstill", its Vice Chancellor has threatened to leave with his associates and said MPs or MLAs can be made VCs instead of academicians to toe the government line. Irani also appealed to political parties that if there is a law and order situation the matter should be brought to the notice of state authorities or the Government of India. "Otherwise to intervene in the functioning of university, thereby threatening a Vice-Chancellor would not be a very productive engagement with the university," Irani added. Washington: Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit here next month, two top American senators have introduced a legislation which if passed by Congress would elevate the status of the Indo-US defence relationship on par with that of America's closest allies like NATO and Israel. The US-India Defence Technology and Partnership Act was introduced in the Senate by Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn - co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus - yesterday. The legislation has been sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for necessary action. The legislation, a similar version of the bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in March, institutionalises the US government's focus on the US-India security relationship while sending a powerful signal to India that the US is a reliable and dependable defence partner. "This bill supports strengthening our bilateral relationship, particularly in defence, and bestows upon India the status it deserves as a partner in promoting security in Asia and around the world," Warner said in a statement issued by US India Business Council (USIBC) which applauded the bill. As an important partner with a flourishing economy, India has huge potential as a market for US defence manufacturers, which support millions of American jobs, he said. The bill puts India on par with America`s closest defence partners, including NATO member states and Israel, for the purpose of congressional defence sales notifications. For the US, it encourages the executive branch to designate an official to focus on US-India defence cooperation, facilitate the transfer of defence technology and maintain a special office in the Pentagon dedicated exclusively to the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). It urges the US government to enhance India's military capabilities in the context of combined military planning, and promote co-production and co-development opportunities. For India, it encourages the government to authorise combined military planning with the US for missions of mutual interest such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, counter piracy, and maritime domain awareness. "The commercial and security imperatives for a robust defence partnership between the US and India could not be clearer. Defence trade has risen from some USD 300 million to over USD 14 billion over the last 10 years and there is every reason to expect it to rise further. USIBC strongly supports this bill and encourages widespread support in the Senate," said USIBC president Mukesh Aghi. Srinagar: A fierce gunbattle is currently underway between militants and security forces in the forest area of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir since last night. As per news agency ANI, an Army jawan succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday after he slipped and fell into a deep gorge during the fierce encounter which is still on in Watsar forest area of Kupwara district. The jawan, who was critically injured after he fell into the gorge, was airlifted out to the Army hospital at the Badami Bagh Cantonment for immediate treatment, where he breathed his last. The encounter began last night around 11:30 pm as security forces launched an anti-militancy operation in Handwara area following information about the presence of militants in the area. Jammu: A police officer has been arrested on the charge of raping a girl, who was reportedly already victim of sexual assault, at a police station in border belt of Jammu district today. "The Station House Officer (SHO) Mohmmad Iqbal (an SI) was taken into custody and an FIR registered against him for alleged rape," a police spokesperson said. He is being questioned after registration of FIR at Khour police station, the place of occurrence of the crime, she said. He said a case has also been registered against woman Special Police Official (SPO) Mamta Kumari and added that she is likely to be arrested as well. As per reports the girl was already a rape victim. The police is investigating into the matter. Bengaluru: Another prime suspect has been arrested in the Class XII chemistry question paper?leak case by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Kiran alias Kumaraswamy (28) was yesterday arrested from a farmhouse in Tumakuru district, CID officials said, adding, he is the nephew of Shivakumariah, the alleged kingpin nabbed earlier this month. "After confirming the identity of the person, he has?been arrested. He is the prime suspect in the question paper?leak case," CID DGP Kishore Chandra told reporters here. "He had obtained the question paper from the Hanagal (Haveri district) sub treasury with the help of an SDA named? Santosh," he added. Police said they are investigating how the nexus relating to the question paper leak worked. The exam that first took place on March 21 was cancelled after it was revealed that the question paper was leaked. On March 31, hours before the rescheduled Chemistry?exam was to begin, the Department of Pre-University Education was alerted about question paper leak at two locations in the state. The state government handed over the probe into the matter to CID, which has arrested several persons including the Officer on Special Duty?to state minister Sharanprakash Patil. The government had suspended 40 officers and other staff of the Pre-University Department and also transferred the Director following the leak. Over 1.74 lakh students wrote the exam across the state finally on April 12 under strict vigil. Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has once again been named as the best family destination in the country at the Lonely Planet Magazine India (LPMI) Travel Awards 2016. Kerala Tourism Director U V Jose received the award at a function in Mumbai on Monday, a release said here. The annual awards showcase the best travel experiences available to Indians and anoint the best service providers, the preferred places to stay and the destinations Indians most love to visit, it said. Nominations for the awards are shortlisted by a panel of travel experts and professionals, following which readers vote both online and in the magazine. Besides being judged the best place to take the family along for a holiday, Kerala was also nominated in the best destination for 'culture' and 'to relax' categories. Kerala Tourism had earlier won the Ulysses Prize of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation for its contribution as a global leader to sustainable tourism, the release added. With the Congress and the Left latching on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election rally rhetoric comparing some aspects of Kerala with Somalia, the Twitter is abuzz with a new trend #PoMoneModi. Referring to the infant death rate in Attapadi, the Prime Minister said that the figure there was higher there than that in Somalia. However, the opposition took the remark as an insult to Kerala. Hyping the 'Somalia' issue further, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy even shot off a letter to the PM. The Kerala CM said that Modi's remarks have insulted Kerala and its people and demanded that he withdraw the comment. So what does #PoMoneModi mean? The literal translation of the informal term 'Po Mone' is 'Go Back'. So #PoMoneModi is 'Go Back Modi'. What is Po Mone ? #PoMoneModi Ganeshan (@ganeshan_iyer) May 11, 2016 PM of India compares the most developed state of the country with #Somalia. No wonder ppl are questioning his degrees #PoMoneModi Nikhil S Joseph (@nikhilsj33) May 11, 2016 You don't mess with the Mallu! Proof - #PoMoneModi AJ (@Fraud_Mallu) May 11, 2016 PM Modi proved BJP is purely north Indian party. They hate South Indian people like Shiv Sena.#PoMoneModi Syed Maqbool (@maqbool_sm) May 11, 2016 Ujjain: BJP president Amit Shah along with Dalit sadhus and others on Wednesday took a holy dip at the ongoing Kumbh Mela here as part of the 'Samrasta Snan' (social harmony bath) at the Valmiki Ghat (bank) of Shipra river, overcoming reservations from certain quarters. Shah arrived here from Indore to take part in the month-long Simhastha Kumbh and joined the Dalit sadhus and other saints in the holy bath billed by the BJP as the 'Samrasta Snan' with an eye on the assembly elections in the politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh next year. The 'Samrasta Snan' comes at a time when RSS is organising a series of functions to draw Dalits and tribals into its fold in the wake of the backlash caused by its chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement calling for review of the reservation policy before the Bihar Assembly polls last year. Later, Shah also had a 'Samrasta Bhoj' (social harmony feast) with Dalit sadhus. Prior to the 'Snan', the BJP chief accompanied by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and others took part in a "samagam" (meeting) at Valmiki Dham in which Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad head Narendra Giri, Juna Akhara Peeth's head Awdheshanand and Valmiki Dham's Peethadheeshwar Umesh Nath among others participated. Later,they all proceeded to take a dip at the Valmiki Ghat. "BJP is the only party which believes in strengthening the country's culture and fosters the feeling of world as one abode, one family (Vasudevkutumbhkam)," Shah told reporters here. "It (snan) holds more significance as today is the jayanti of Shankracharya, who treaded the path of unifying the main currents of thoughts in Hindu religion at a young age of 32," he said. Kumbh is also the subject matter for management students as crores of people converge here without any invitation, he added. The sadhus who were earlier averse to the 'social harmony bath' today softened their stand saying they had misunderstood the concept. They said they were under a wrong impression that the snan was confined to Shah and the Dalits. After learning that the bath will see people from all castes, they said they no longer hold any grudge against it. "Water is for everybody and saints of all hues have taken bath together. We have no reservation now against the snan," Juna Akhara Peeth's head Awdheshanand said. Earlier, we had a reservation as we thought that only Dalit sadhus along with Shah will take the bath, pontiff Narendra Giri said. On the occasion, Valmiki Dham's head Umesh Nath Maharaj appealed to political parties and saint community to propagate nationalism above caste, sect and community. Earlier, the Dwarka-Sarda and Jyotish Peeths Shankracharya Swaroopanand Saraswati and Akhil Bharatiya Akahara Parishad president Narendra Giri- had deplored the move saying that the sadhus have no caste and all are free to take a holy dip during Kumbh. According to media reports, Shankracharya had recently said there should be no politicking to divide Sadhus at Kumbh. Also, senior RSS leader and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh vice president Prabhakar Kelkar had on May 8 said the announcement of social harmony bath gives an impression that earlier the Dalits were discriminated against during Kumbh. Thane: A 22-year-old activist of the Republican Party of India (RPI) was killed allegedly by a group of eight persons over a dispute in the district's Ulhasnagar township, police said on Wednesday. The killing sparked protest by RPI activists who allegedly damaged vehicles on the streets in Ulhasnagar, they said. No arrest has been made so far in this connection. The victim, Deepak Sansare, was called by the accused to camp no 2 of the township at around 10.30 PM last night to settle a dispute. When Sansare arrived at the spot, the accused attacked him with chopper, sword and iron rods, killing him on the spot, police said. The eight assailants have been identified, and a manhunt has been launched to nab them, they said. The Ulhasnagar police have registered offences against the accused under sections 302 (murder), 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy), 143 (unlawful assembly), 144, 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 of the IPC, section 4 (25) of the Arms Act, and also section 37(1) of the Bombay Police Act, police said. The accused and the victim had a dispute since last year, and a week back also, they had a quarrel over the same. Meanwhile, on getting news of the murder, several RPI activists came out on the streets late last night and allegedly damaged over two dozen vehicles, police said. Senior officials from Thane Police Commissionerate rushed to the township and brought the situation under control. Zee Media Bureau/Sumit Channa New Delhi: In what could be called as another advancement in the field of technology, popular search engine giant Google has come up with new emojis depicting women. Engineers at Google have designed a set of thirteen emojis that they claim better represent women in the field of work. The team behind this believes that these emojis would help in empowering today's women and also throw some light on the roles played by women around the globe. Women in these emojis are depicted as scientists, businesswomen, healthcare workers, etc. At present, the designs have submitted to Unicode consortium, the body that is responsible for approving and standardising emojis. Bhubaneswar: A group of SC and ST MLAs belonging to Congress and BJP today resumed its hunger strike in front of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's chamber in the Odisha Assembly premises, demanding 38 per cent quota for Dalit and tribal students in medical and engineering colleges. "Though the SC/ST MLAs had sat on a similar hunger strike on May 3, they called it off after the assurance from Speaker Niranjan Pujari. But, there has been no progress in this regard," said Bhujabal Majhi, a tribal Congress MLA. Speaker Pujari, they said, had assured to intervene and get the grievances of SC/ST MLAs addressed by the government within seven days. "There was no attempt from the government's side to call for a discussion and avoid the proposed strike. It proves that the government has no compassion for the suferring SC/ST people of the state and seems to be committed to protect the ancient practice of discrimination," the SC/ST MLAs said in a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. They said Patnaik will be held responsible if any unfortunate incident took place during the hunger strike. "Though the state government has announced to reserve 38 per cent of seats for SC/ST students in higher education, the quota policy is not implemented in medical and engineering colleges," Prafulla Majhi said. Some ex-MLAs and ex-MPs also joined the hunger strike which continued for whole day. SC/ST Minister Lalbihari Himirika tried convincing the agitating MLAs as per the direction of the Speaker, but he remained unsuccessful. Peshawar: Ten people were killed today in two incidents of violent skirmishes and one accident in which waves swept away a vehicle in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal region. In the first incident, in Parachinar, headquarters of Kurram Agency, three people were killed and 10 others injured after a row erupted between the protesters and the political administration over non-permission to a religious cleric from Punjab Maulana Ijaz Behshti to enter the agency. Tehrik-e-Hussaini had taken out a protest rally against the political administration of Kurram Agency for not allowing Behshti to enter the agency yesterday. He was stopped at Chapri Check Post by the officials of the political administration and sent back. Tehrik-e-Hussaini gave called for demonstration today and its workers resorted to violence as the law enforcement agencies had to fire aerial shots. In the ensuing clashes, three people were killed and 10 others injured. Commandant Kurram Militia Colonel Yasir said that thirty people have been arrested by the forces for their alleged involvement in inciting the mob. He denied allegations that casualties occurred due to firing by the security forces and said that the three persons were killed in firing from amidst the crowd. In Kalaya, headquarters of Aurakzai Agency, three persons including two brothers, were killed when two rival groups exchanged firing over property dispute. In Landi Kotal, headquarters of Khyber Agency, four family members -- a woman, her husband and two children -- died when their vehicle was swept away by waves. Their car was swept away by waves of a stream in Loay Shilman area. Two persons were retrieved from the water while four persons lost their lives in the incident. Chennai: Ageing DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi has made it clear to his party cadres that his son and heir apparent MK Stalin can become the chief minister of Tamil Nadu if "anything happens'' to him. Though Karunanidhi is DMK's official chief ministerial candidate in Tamil Nadu, still a large section of the party is in favour of nominating MK Stalin for the top post. There has been a silent campaign in Tamil Nadu that the 93-year-old Karunanidhi would pass on the baton to his son if DMK is voted to power. The five-time Tamil Nadu CM attempted to clear the air on Stalin's speculated projection as chief ministerial candidate, saying, "He can only become the chief minister if something happens to me." The veteran DMK founder is contesting the state elections for a record 13th time, and a second consecutive time from his home constituency of Tiruvarur. When quizzed about the demand that he should make way for a younger person, Karunanidhi said, that Stalin did not want to become CM. He further added that Stalin is the first among those who want me to become CM for the sixth time Pennagaram: PMK has mounted a strong counter-attack with its "performance alone matters" slogan against DMK which has targeted its nominee and party's chief ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss terming him as an "outsider". Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) is wooing voters by assuring them that the constituency will receive good attention as it will be "the Chief Minister's constituency." DMK partymen and supporters, meanwhile, as part of their campaign here are targeting PMK candidate Anbumani Ramadoss as an "outsider." The DMK supporters are apparently telling voters that they would have to go to Tindivanam (native place of Anbunmani) to meet him to get their problems addressed. "DMK also says the same thing in respect of AIADMK candidate KP Munusamy. They say he is from Kaveripattinam and tell voters that their (DMK) candidate Inbasekaran is a local man and could be approached whenever needed," P A Krishnan, a resident of Papparapatti told PTI. AIADMK functionary P Arasan said, "Such comments only show that DMK has absolutely nothing else to talk. People are very happy about the innumerable welfare schemes that have been implemented and they are firmly behind Amma (TN CM Jayalalithaa)." Asked about the "outsider" tag, PMK leader Anbumani, in the midst of campaigning at Makkanur near here, said DMK candidate Inbasekaran won Pennagaram seat in 2010 but could not deliver. "What did an insider (Inbasekaran) do after he won? The question is about who will deliver," he said, adding, "performance alone matters." Asked what was his basic assurance to the people, the PMK leader said, "My basic and biggest assurance is ensuring supply of drinking water to every household." On the present Hogenakkal drinking water supply scheme, he alleged, "It is a Rs 2,000 crore worth scheme but is a huge failure. The money is being looted, scheme has not at all reached the people." He alleged the scheme water is being mixed with groundwater and pumped to overhead tanks which "defeated" the very purpose of the scheme. "If you are mixing the scheme water with fluoride contaminated water, what is the point? There is no difference between consuming contaminated water and Hogenakkal scheme water as both are mixed up and contamination remains. This is what is happening now." Asked if he would resign his Dharmapuri Lok Sabha seat if he won from here, Anbumani said, "Our party (PMK) is going to win, and when I become Chief Minister, obviously I must resign the LS seat." Asked if his party could not capture power, and he won from Pennagaram in the Assembly poll, which seat would he retain -assembly or Lok Sabha- he said, "We are very confident. We are going to win and I am going to become Chief Minister." Lucknow: In a shocking incident, more than 150 snakes were found in a house in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district. The snakes were found in the house on May 8 (Sunday). Snakes entered from a hole under a wall of the house late night, Deputy Inspector RK Rai was quoted as saying by ANI. The snakes were later released in forest area. More than 150 snakes were found in a house in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri distt, later released in forest area (08/05/16) pic.twitter.com/ji5cawKh6c ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 11, 2016 Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Board Intermediate (Class XII) Results 2016 and Uttar Pradesh Board High School (Class X) Results 2016 will be declared on May 15. The Uttar Pradesh Board of Secondary Education will announce the results on its official website: http://upmsp.nic.in/ The UP Board 10th Result 2016 and UP Board 12th Result 2016 is expected to be declared at 12:30 pm. While, the class 10 exams were held from February 18 to March 09, class 12 exams conducted from February 18 to March 21. A total of 68,21,869 students, including 37,49,977 of high school and 30,71,892 of Intermediate appeared for exams. Board of High School and Intermediate Education UttarPradesh, Allahabad The Board was set up in the year 1921 at Allahabad by an act of United Provinces Legislative Council. It conducted its first examination in 1923. This Board is one in India which, from the very start, had adopted 10+2 system of examination. The first public examination after 10 years education is High School Examination and after the 10+2 stage, there is Intermediate Examination. Prior to 1923, University of Allahabad was the examining body of these two examinations. At present there are 9121 secondary schools recognized by the UP Board of High School and Intermediate Education. Dehradun: Terming Harish Rawat's victory in the floor test in Uttarkhand Assembly as a mere technicality, BJP on Wednesday said it does not absolve him of graft charges and promised to intensify its struggle against corruption in the state. Noting that ten Congress MLAs deserting Rawat was no less important than his floor test win, Pradesh BJP president Ajay Bhatt said such a desertion shows he had become an "autocrat and people felt suffocated under him". Claiming that Rawat was still in a minority in a House of 71 with ten of his MLAs deserting him, Bhatt said the party's fight against corruption brought out by the sting CD in which Rawat had been purportedly shown negotiating a deal to buy the support of rebel MLAs will not stop. Nine Congress MLAs had sided with BJP demanding division of votes on the appropriation bill on March 18. Another party MLA Rekha Arya gave her support to BJP in the floor test yesterday taking the number of MLAs revolting against Rawat to ten. Holding Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal responsible for President's rule in the state, Bhatt accused him of misusing his powers as the Speaker to "throttle" constitutional norms in the state assembly on March 18 at the behest of Rawat. Talking to reporters here soon after Rawat's victory in the floor test was formally announced by the Supreme Court, Bhatt said his floor test win does not absolve him of corruption charges. "Rawat is the first chief minister to have been caught in a sting operation that shows him negotiating a deal to buy disgruntled MLAs of his own party. Congress legislator Madan Bisht has himself said that 12 MLAs were bribed to vote for Rawat in the floor test," Bhatt said. He said the party will launch the second phase of its remove corruption, save Uttarakhand (Bharshtachar Hatao Uttarakhand Bachao) campaign to go to people and expose Rawat government's "corruption". Dehradun: A day after the Uttarakhand Assembly floor test, in which Congress emerged as the winner, the central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it will revoke President's rule in the hill state. Appearing on behalf of the Centre, Attorney General told the apex court that it has been proved that former chief minister and Congress leader Harish Rawat has proved majority on the floor of the House. After hearing government's side, the top court said Harish Rawat can take charge as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. In Uttarakhand floor test, Harish Rawat got 33 votes out of 61 qualified members. SC allowed Centre to revoke forthwith the order of proclamation of President's rule in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday had admitted defeat after 33 legislators reportedly voted for Rawat while the opposition mustered only 28 votes in a house whose strength had been reduced from 72 to 62. As directed by the top court, the Assembly met for a short duration Tuesday morning for the floor test which was the culmination of a number of twists and turns after the Union Cabinet brought the state under Central rule on the ostensible ground that Congress leader Harish Rawat was indulging in horse-trading to retain power. Subsequently nine rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified. The Assembly Speaker did not vote and nine Congress rebels legislators were not allowed to vote. Apparently, the sole nominated member also did not vote. The Supreme Court monitored the voting and said it will announce the result on Wednesday. But within minutes after the floor test, the Congress sounded triumphant. Tuesday's vote was called to prove whether or not Rawat enjoyed majority support after the defection by nine Congress legislators reduced his state government to a minority in the 72-member house. New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit out at Narendra Modi government, saying murder of democracy will not be tolerated. Earlier today, the central government informed the Supreme Court that the Harish Rawat-led Congress government has legislative majority in Uttarakhand and President`s Rule will be revoked from the hill state soon. They did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand! Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) May 11, 2016 Hope Modiji learns his lesson-ppl of this country &the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy! Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) May 11, 2016 The Supreme Court today said that Rawat got 33 votes out of 61 in the floor test and can become Uttarakhand's chief minister again. Kolkata: Alleging that Kolkata Police was going slow on its complaint, BJP today said it will seek legal action against Trinamool Congress spokesperson Derek O'Brien and other party leaders for using "morphed" photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Referring to a letter from Lalbazar Police Headquarters, state BJP Vice-President Joy Prakash Majumdar alleged police were not taking action against O'Brien and only buying time. BJP had lodged a complaint on April 24 in connection with the matter. A letter from Officer-In-Charge of Cyber Crime Cell to BJP yesterday said "legal opinion is being obtained" on the complaint lodged by the party. Alleging that police were going slow as the matter pertains to the leaders of ruling party, Majumdar asked "whether a legal opinion was taken when Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested for forwarding a graphic containing photographs of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee". "We will not go Lalbazar anymore. We are taking the matter to court. The case will be filed by the end of this week or (by the) beginning of next week," Majumdar said. The BJP leader questioned as to why police did not impound the computer, through which the morphed photographs were circulated, and other equipment. Tunis: Four policemen and two suspected jihadists were killed during security operations today near the Tunisian capital and in the south of the country, the government said. Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of jihadist violence since its 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In today's deadliest violence, four policemen were killed when a militant detonated his explosives belt after a firefight erupted in the Tatouine governorate, said the interior ministry. A national guard unit had carried out the raid acting on information from an "anti-terrorist" operation earlier the same day near Tunis. "One terrorist element was shot dead while the other detonated his explosives belt, killing two officers and two agents of the national guard," said the ministry. In the earlier raid, two suspected jihadists were killed during a raid near the capital against a cell planning "simultaneous" attacks, the same source said. Sixteen others were arrested during the operation in Ariana province just outside Tunis, and Kalashnikov assault rifles, pistols and ammunition seized. The interior ministry said the suspects had gathered in the area from different parts of the country. A resident of the Sanhaji district told AFP that a two-hour gunbattle erupted with the suspects after the national guard launched the raid at around 8:00 am (0700 GMT). "They were not from the neighbourhood. We didn't know them. They rented the house recently," she said. The Islamic State group claimed brazen attacks last year on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and a beach resort near Sousse that killed a total of 60 people, all but one of them foreign tourists. A November suicide bombing in the capital, also claimed by IS, killed 12 presidential guards and prompted the authorities to declare a state of emergency. Panaji: An assailant stabbed at least six people, killing two, Tuesday at a home and a shopping mall in the US state of Massachusetts before an off-duty sheriff shot the suspect to death, police said. The violence began after the suspect, identified as Arthur DaRosa, 28, crashed his car into a truck around 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) in Taunton, south of Boston, around 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the mall, Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn III told reporters. Entering a house, DaRosa stabbed two people, including an 80-year-old woman who died and her adult daughter who was under treatment for life-threatening injuries in the hospital, Quinn said without identifying the women. DaRosa, of Taunton, then drove a car into the glass entrance at a Macy`s department store at the city`s Silver City Galleria, Massachusetts State Police said. After assaulting people in the Macy`s, he stabbed four more people at a restaurant in the mall, including a 56-year-old Taunton man who died, Quinn said. Witnesses interviewed by local television stations said the victims included a pregnant woman who had been stabbed in the stomach. An off-duty Plymouth County sheriff`s deputy shot and killed DaRosa at the restaurant, Quinn said. "But for the actions of the deputy sheriff, there may well have been other victims," he added. Although DaRosa`s motive remains under investigation, "we are aware of no nexus to terrorism," police spokesman Paul Sullivan said. DaRosa did not appear to know any of the victims, officials said. Taunton Police also responded to the stabbings. "I heard shots and saw cops loading AR-15s and I ran for my life," one witness told CBS affiliate WBZ. Another said shots rang out in Bertucci`s restaurant at the shopping center. Baghdad: At least 64 people were killed and 87 others injured on Wednesday when a parked car packed with explosives went off in a Shia area in the Iraqi capital, authorities said. The Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the deadly attack, saying it was targeting Shia militias, CNN reported. Police said the massive blast occurred when a booby-trapped car exploded at a popular outdoor market in the Shia bastion of Sadr city district. Many of the victims included women and children. Several of the injured were said to be in critical condition and the death toll was likely to go up. The explosion damaged nearby buildings and other vehicles. London: In a rare diplomatic gaffe, Queen Elizabeth II was caught in a video describing Chinese officials as "very rude to the ambassador" in a conversation with a senior police officer at a Buckingham Palace event celebrating her birthday. Her comments were aired on Wednesday, just hours after British Prime Minister David Cameron was overheard describing Nigeria and Afghanistan as "possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world. The comments were unusual because the 90-year-old monarch has been careful to steer clear of politics during her long reign. The incident, recorded by the palace's official cameraman, captured police Commander Lucy D'Orsi telling the queen that arranging the state visit by Chinese President Xi in October had been a "testing time". To which, the queen, dressed in a pink coat and hat with white gloves, replied: "Oh, bad luck". Watch the video here: Mramani: Several thousand voters in Comoros, the archipelago nation off the east coast of Africa, went to the polls today in a partial re-run of the presidential election with the result hanging in the balance. Former coup leader Azali Assoumani won last month's run-off vote by just 2,100 votes, according to provisional results, but a court ordered 13 polling stations on Anjouan island to vote again due to "irregularities". Polls closed at 1500 GMT and voting passed off without any major incidents, according to an AFP journalist. Just 6,305 voters were called to vote today, two per cent of the Comoros electorate. The results could be known as early as Wednesday night while the inauguration of the winner is scheduled for May 26. Last month's vote on Anjouan, one of the nation's three islands, was tarnished by broken ballot boxes, interruptions in voting, accusations of ballot stuffing and some incidents of violence. Turnout was high today, with hundreds of people waiting in line during the day as armed security forces stood guard to ensure voting was smooth. "We did not vote last time but today the military are protecting me and my blind husband," Boueni Aboudou told AFP. The army deployed 200 soldiers in Anjouan, according to the country's Chief of Staff Youssouf Idjihadi. In Mramani in the south, where voting had to be discontinued last month after a crush of voters, as many as 100 armed soldiers stood guard outside five polling stations located in a school, according to an AFP journalist. Assoumani took 40.98 per cent of the nationwide vote in April, just ahead of Vice President Mohamed Ali Soilihi, the ruling party's presidential candidate, who picked up 39.87 per cent. Soilihi, who is known as Mamadou, said he rejected the provisional result. Assoumani first came to power in 1999 after ousting acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde in a coup. Baghdad: A car bomb claimed by Islamic State in a Shi`ite Muslim district of Baghdad killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 60 others on Wednesday, Iraqi police and hospital sources said. The SUV packed with explosives went off near a beauty salon in a bustling market at rush hour in Sadr City. Most of the victims were women and many of the wounded are in critical condition, the sources said. Amaq news agency, which supports Islamic State, said a suicide bomber had targeted Shi`ite militia fighters. The ultra-hardline Sunni jihadist group, which considers Shi`ites apostates, claimed a twin suicide bombing in Sadr City in February that killed 70 people. Security has gradually improved in Baghdad, which was the target of daily bombings a decade ago, but violence directed against both the security forces and civilians is still frequent and large blasts sometimes set off reprisal attacks. The fight against Islamic State has exacerbated a long-running sectarian conflict in Iraq, mostly between the Shi`ite majority and the Sunni minority. Sectarian violence also threatens to undermine US-backed efforts to dislodge the militant group from vast areas of the north and west of Iraq that they seized in 2014. New Delhi: Members of Hindu Sena on Wednesday worshipped Hindu Gods at Jantar Mantar to help White House front-runner Donal Trump win the US presidential elections. The members organised hawan and chanted mantras asking the gods to favour Trump in the election. The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it. Only Donald Trump can save humanity, Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group was quoted by Associate Press as saying. While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the partys candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in faraway India. (With Agency inputs) Jerusalem: US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will visit Israel "soon", he said told an Israeli newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday. "Yes, I will be coming soon," Trump said without giving further details in response to a question from the Israel Hayom newspaper, a freesheet considered close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump had scheduled a visit to Israel for late December but postponed it a few days before following an uproar over his proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the United States. "I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become president of the US," he tweeted at the time. In the interview published on Wednesday, Trump renewed his criticism of US President Barack Obama over a July nuclear deal with Iran that was vigorously opposed by the Israeli prime minister. "The current threat against Israel is more important than ever" because of "President Obama`s policy towards Iran and the nuclear deal," he said. "I think the people of Israel have suffered a lot because of Obama." White House hopefuls often visit Israel as part of efforts to bolster their foreign policy credentials. Berlin: Germany will annul the convictions of 50,000 men for homosexuality under a Nazi-era law which remained in force after the war, and will compensate them, the government said today. "We can never completely erase the travesty of justice, but we want to rehabilitate the victims," Justice Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement. "They should not have to live with the stigma of conviction any longer." Article 175 of the penal code outlawed "sexual acts contrary to nature... Be it between people of the male gender or between people and animals". Although the article dated from 1871, it was not really enforced until the Nazis came to power and in 1935, toughened the law to carry a sentence of 10 years of forced labour. More than 42,000 men were convicted during the Third Reich, and sent to prison or concentration camps. In 2002, the government introduced a new law which overturned their convictions, and also applied to those convicted of desertion during Nazi rule. But that move didn't include those convicted after the war when article 175 was still in force, leading to the convictions of another 50,000 people. "Article 175 was unconstitutional from the outset," the justice minister said. "The old rulings are unjust." The article was finally dropped from the penal code in East Germany in 1968. In West Germany, it reverted to the pre-Nazi era version in 1969 and was only fully repealed in 1994. California: In a distressing incident, a seven-year-old boy, who grew his hair to 13 inches in two years to donate to cancer patients, has been diagnosed with the disease himself. Vinny Desautels, who hails from Roseville, California, did not care about being teased when he decided to grow his blond hair for charity. (Pic courtesy: Facebook) In a cruel twist of fate, Vinny was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer shortly after his mother cut his hair and sent it to "Wigs for Kids". None could imagine that a stinging in Vinny's right eye could later prove to be a tumour. The kid's family also discovered growths around his hip, which was later diagnosed as a tumor in a pelvic bone. The youngster's eye is swollen now and can't be opened. Vinny's grandparents Sue and Ron Desautels have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to help the family with medical expenses. Jason Desautels, talking to The Washington Post, said: "As long as we're there with a smile, telling him he's going to be alright, he has the same attitude...Vinny is like us - an eternal optimist." Vinny's mother Amanda Azevedo is six-month pregnant and has stopped working at her salon so that she could take care of her son. Jason Desautels is a US Army veteran, who had served in the infantry for seven years, including in Iraq. Washington: Categorically ruling out himself to be considered as a Republican vice presidential candidate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio has said he would vote for Donald Trump against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton despite his sharp differences with his party's presumptive nominee. Once considered as a future of the Republican party, Rubio, 44, withdrew himself from the White House race after he lost his home state of Florida to Trump, 69 in primary. "I've never had those conversations with anyone in his campaign, so I'm not saying that anyone has offered it to me or even suggested it for me. I'm just saying to you that I believe he would be best served by someone who more fully embraces the things he stands for, and that is certainly not me," Rubio told the CNN in an interview when asked if he is in consideration for vice presidential running mate of Trump. In his first national interview after he quit the presidential race, Rubio said he would not support the Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, 68, in the November general elections. "I signed a pledge that said I would support the Republican nominee and I intend to continue to do that," he said, indicating that he is pledge-bound to support Trump in the elections. "On the one hand, I don't want Hillary Clinton to be the president of the US. I don't want her to win this election. On the other hand, I have well-defined differences with the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. "Like millions of Republicans, you try to reconcile those two things. I intend to live up to the pledge that we made. But, that said, these concerns that I have about policy, they remain and they're there. That doesn't mean that Donald needs to change his positions in order to get my support or what have you. He should be true to what he believes in and continue to campaign on those things and make his case to the American people," Rubio said. The top Republican Senator said he would not use the next six months to be critical of Trump as he advances his presidential campaign. "Here's what I'm not doing to do over the next six months is sit there and just be taking shots at him. He obviously wasn't my first shot the because I was running for president. He has won the nomination. Now he deserves the opportunity to go out and make his case to the American people. And that's what he's going to do. I don't view my role over the next six months to just sit here and level charges against him. "I know what I said during the campaign. I enunciated those things repeatedly. And voters chose a different direction. I stand by the things that I said. But I'm not going to sit here now and become his chief critic over the next six months, because he deserves the opportunity to go forward and make his argument and try to win," Rubio added. Washington: US President Barack Obama has directed his national security team to intensify the anti-ISIS operations across all military and civilians front to degrade and destroy the dreaded terror organisation. "The president directed his National Security Council to continue to intensify our counter-ISIL operations across all military and civilians front," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday. The operations include disrupting foreign fighter networks, halting ISIS' expansion outside of Syria and Iraq, countering ISIS financing, disrupting any ISIS external plotting efforts and of course countering ISIS' propaganda and messaging, he said after Obama's meeting with his national security team at the White House. During the meeting, Obama was briefed on ongoing US and coalition efforts to degrade ISIS' hold in Iraq and in Syria while also checking ISIS' ambitions for expansion outside those countries, Earnest said. Noting that recent efforts to reinforce the cessation of hostilities in Syria, Obama and his team also discussed options to further advance a political resolution to the Syrian civil conflict while continuing our efforts to pressure ISIS there, he added. In addition, assistance to President for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism Lisa Monaco was in Brussels to meet with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michelle and other Belgian security and intelligence officials. The meeting is part of "our shared efforts" to disrupt terrorist plotting against the US and Europe and to degrade and destroy ISIS, Earnest said. "Monaco's travel to Belgium is one of a series of high- level engagements we're undertaking with our coalition partners to discuss ways we can enhance our counter-terrorism cooperation. "The people of Brussels know all to well that ISIS continues to both plot complex attacks against our interests and seeks to inspire lone wolfs, to attack us independently of ISIS command and control. That is why we are constantly looking at ways we can intensify our intelligence cooperation and further disrupt the flow of foreign fighters," he said. "We will work to share with our partners lessons the US learned following the September 11 terrorist attacks about breaking down information stove pipes and protecting our homeland more effectively," Earnest added. Islamabad: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday arrived on a two-day official visit to Tajikistan to attend the launching ceremony of CASA-1000 Power Project. Upon his arrival in Tajik city of Kulob, he visited the mausoleum of prominent spiritual leader Syed Ali Hamdani and offered fateha, reports Radio Pakistan. He is scheduled to attend the launching ceremony of CASA-1000 Power Project near Dushanbe tomorrow. The flagship project is the first of its kind that will link Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in electricity grid. Under the CASA-1000 Project, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will supply 1300 MW of electricity to Pakistan and Afghanistan and is likely to be completed by 2018. Leaders from participating countries and other stakeholders will also be attending the launching ceremony. The visiting Prime Minister will have a bilateral meeting with the President of Tajikistan and reportedly discuss cooperation in diverse fields, including trade, energy and defence. He will also have meetings with the leaders of other members of CASA-1000 Power Project. Jakarta: Four Indonesian sailors kidnapped by suspected Islamic militants in the strife-torn southern Philippines were released Wednesday, the second group of Indonesian hostages to be freed this month. Gunmen abducted the sailors on the high seas off the east coast of Malaysia`s Sabah state on April 15, shooting and wounding another crew member. Philippine Islamist group Abu Sayyaf was suspected of having carried out the kidnapping, the latest in a recent spree of abductions that saw them behead a Canadian hostage last month. Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced in Jakarta that the men had been released and were in good health. "The hostage release was successfully conducted due to good cooperation between the Indonesian government and the Philippines," he said. Philippine Foreign Secretary Rene Almendras thanked the Indonesian government for the "very close coordination" that helped secure the release of the hostages, and said efforts were aided by a recent deal aimed at halting the surge in abductions. Foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed last week to lauch joint patrols of a key waterway between their countries and to set up a hotline to communicate faster in emergencies and improve intelligence sharing. The hostages were dropped off outside the house of local politician Abdusakur Tan on Jolo, a mountainous and jungle-clad island in the far south of the Philippines known to be an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. Tan -- the governor of Sulu province, which includes Jolo - said members of a Muslim rebel group had helped negotiate the release. The Indonesians` release was secured through "persuasion and joint efforts of the military and police, and the local and provincial government. No ransom was paid for the freedom of the Indonesians". However, Abu Sayyaf does not normally release hostages without a ransom. The Philippine military said the freed Indonesians were taken to a military base for medical check-ups. "Arrangements are now being finalised for the handover of the Indonesian nationals to Indonesian authorities," it added in a statement. The group were abducted from a tugboat carrying coal that was sailing from Cebu in the Philippines back to Tarakan in Indonesian Borneo. Six other seamen, including the wounded man, managed to escape. On May 1, 10 Indonesian sailors kidnapped five weeks earlier were also released on Jolo, and told harrowing tales about how the militants threatened to slit their throats. Abu Sayyaf is a radical offshoot of a Muslim separatist insurgency in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines. Its leaders have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, but analysts say they are more focused on kidnappings for ransom than setting up a caliphate. They are still holding at least seven other foreign hostages -- four Malaysians, a Canadian tourist, a Norwegian resort owner and a Dutch birdwatcher. Moscow: Russia hopes that cooperation with the US and other international partners on Syria will lead to fundamental changes in that country, says Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I hope that the mechanism we have developed together with our partners, including the Americans, in which the armed forces, our representatives and experts are taking an active part... will lead to positive and fundamental changes," Putin said during a meeting with top military officials and arms manufacturers in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday. According to the president, the situation in Syria "remains complicated," with the Russia-US-backed ceasefire still not fully implemented. A lot still must be done for the Syrian Army, but the most important thing is to form conditions for the political settlement in the country," he stressed. Putin praised the Russian military for the bombing operation it has been carrying out against the terrorists in Syria since September 30, 2015. "Since the start of the operation against the targets of international terrorists in Syria, Russian planes have flown more than 10,000 sorties and hit more than 30,000 targets, including some 200 oil producing and refining facilities," he said. Russian long-range bombers have carried out 178 combats flights, with the Navy also largely contributing to the battle against Islamic State, Al-Nusra Front and other terror groups, the president added. Over 500 populated areas were liberated from terrorists during the Russian operation, which began at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Putin said. The strikes against the jihadists "were accurate, powerful and effective," he stressed. "Precisely these factors helped achieve a radical turn in the battle against the militants." According to Putin, the anti-terrorist operation in Syria "clearly demonstrated the effectiveness and high quality of Russian weaponry." However, he stressed that the operation also revealed "some problems and shortcomings," and urged for these issues to be thoroughly investigated and analyzed in order to be avoided in the future. On Monday, the co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, Moscow and Washington, issued a joint statement promising to "redouble efforts" to accomplish a political settlement of the conflict. The statement said progress has been made with respect to the cessation of hostilities, but also highlighted that there have been certain "difficulties... in several areas of the country." The civil war in Syria has been raging since 2011, leading to the deaths of an estimated 400,000 people, according to UN estimates. Moscow: A Russian soldier has died in Syria after coming under fire from rebels in Homs province, a representative of Russia's Hmeimim air base told Russian news agencies today. The soldier, named as Anton Yerygin, "sustained serious injuries after coming under fire by rebels while escorting vehicles of the Russian coordination centre mediating between the warring sides", the unnamed official told Interfax news agency. Yergyin died after doctors fought for his life for two days at the military hospital where he was taken shortly after the assault, the official added. He did not specify however when the assault had taken place, or when exactly the soldier died. The soldier will be decorated with a posthumous medal, the official said. The death came after the body of a Russian special forces officer killed in late March close to Palmyra was flown back to his home town on May 5 in a full military ceremony. Russia said on Tuesday it had delivered bread to parts of Homs province and extended the ceasefire to one more area of the battered region. The announcement of the latest casualty also came hours before the expiry at midnight today of a Russian and US-brokered ceasefire in Aleppo. Regime forces and rebels in the battleground city have already agreed to extend the truce twice. The fighting comes as world powers prepare to meet in Vienna next week to try to revive peace talks aimed at ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people. Perth: This is how quintuplet mum Kimberley Tucci, who gave birth to five babies at King Edward Memorial Hospital in Australia, describes her 'surprise' infants - "50 fingers 50 toes, 6 hearts beating at once. My body fought the toughest of battles to get five babies here safely. Everything I did I did for them." Kimberley and her husband Vaughn Tucci have a page dedicated to different stages of her pregnancy on Facebook. Out of the five babies, one is a baby boy and other four are girls. They have been named as Keith, Tiffany, Penelope, Beatrix and Allie. The beautiful babies were born on January 28, 2016. YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. A German court on Tuesday rejected a request by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan for a preliminary injunction preventing the head of German publisher Axel Springer repeating a derogatory term. Armenpress reports Erdogan's lawyer, Ralf Hoecker, told Reuters that Erdogan had sought the injunction after Chief Executive Mathias Doepfner's public support for a controversial poem read out by comedian Jan Boehmermann on German television in March. But the court said in a statement it had rejected it on the basis of "the defendant's right to free expression of opinion". Erdogan is known for his sensitivity to criticism and Turkish prosecutors have opened over 1,800 cases against people for insulting him since he became president in 2014. That sensitivity has also made itself felt on the international stage, raising tensions with Germany at a time when the two countries are grappling with a huge influx of Syrian refugees. Erdogan's office was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. The Turkish leader has repeatedly said his opponents are free to criticize him but that those who stray into insult will face legal action. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has drawn heavy criticism for allowing German prosecutors to pursue a case against Boehmermann at Erdogan's behest. Under Germany's criminal code, insults against foreign leaders are not allowed but the government can decide whether to authorize prosecutors to go ahead. In the poem, Boehmermann suggested Erdogan hits girls, watches child pornography and engages in bestiality. Doepfner expressed solidarity with Boehmermann in an open letter published in German newspaper Welt am Sonntag in April, saying he had laughed out loud over the poem and "wholeheartedly" supported what the comedian had said. If the court in Cologne had agreed to grant the injunction, Doepfner would have been banned from repeating a sexually crude term to describe Erdogan that was first used by Boehmermann and subsequently quoted by the Axel Springer chief. The court said its decision did not address the legality of the Boehmermann poem, which is still under investigation. A spokeswoman for Springer said Doepfner had simply "wanted to defend the freedom of art and satire in his open letter". Hoecker had told Reuters earlier that he expected the Cologne district court to reject the injunction, and would recommend Erdogan appeal to a higher court. It was not immediately clear when a follow-on lawsuit could be filed. Hoecker's law firm said on Monday it had won a preliminary injunction against German director and producer Uwe Boll, who in a video posted online, defended Boehmermann's poem and said Erdogan should be shot. "Mr Erdogan is a human being and human dignity is inviolable," Hoecker said in that statement, adding that this was placed above the freedom of press, art and opinion in the German constitution. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Three people were killed and 45 others, including 12 police officers, were injured when a bomb-laden vehicle blew up near a police bus in southeastern Diyarbakir province Tuesday, reports Anadolu. The attack took place in Diyarbakir provinces central Baglar district, said police sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking with the media. The governor's office in the Diyarbakir province said that as several suspects, who had been detained for "appropriating a factory on behalf of the PKK organization in a district", were being taken to hospital for medical checks, a bomb-laden vehicle was detonated at around 4.30 p.m. local time (1330GMT). "Forty-five people, including 12 police officers, were injured in the explosion. Three people, who were severely injured, succumbed to [their wounds] at the hospital", the Governorship said. The governor's office said that there were nine police officers and seven suspects in the police bus. Meanwhile, the three people - killed in the attack - were suspects who had been detained for seizing a factory on behalf of the PKK in the Bismil district of Diyarbakir. A one-month-old baby was among the injured. She was injured while she was in a park with her mother. The injured baby and her mother were treated in a hospital in Diyarbakir and their health status is fine, said hospital officials. One out of the 12 injured police officers was severely injured, according to officials of Diyarbakir Military Hospital. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Security at the Cannes film festival is at an all-time high as organisers prepare for an event that will bring along with the likes of George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson an increased risk of terrorist attack, reports the Guardian. The festival, which opens on May 11, will operate with heightened security after the attacks on Paris and Brussels and reports from Italian intelligence thatIslamic State is planning to target beach resorts. Cannes organisers have recruited 500 extra security personnel to protect the event, which this year is expected to draw more than 200,000 attendees, including the worlds media and some of films most famous players. Clooney and Roberts star in the Jodie Foster-directed thriller Money Monster, which is about a desperate man who holds a TV anchor (Clooney) hostage live on air. Also appearing in Cannes will be Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart, who co-star in Woody Allens Cafe Society, which opens the festival. Set in the cafe culture of 1930s Hollywood, the film will mark the third time the 80-year-old director has kicked off the festival. Other major movies premiering over the next two weeks include Sean Penns African drama The Last Face, which stars Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, and Steven Spielbergs adaptation of Roald Dahls The BFG, with Mark Rylance in the lead role. Potential favourites for the festivals top award, the Palme dOr, include The Unknown Child from previous winners the Dardenne brothers; The Handmaiden, a Korean adaptation of Sarah Waters crime novel Fingersmith from Oldboy director Park Chan-wook; and The Salesman, a new drama from A Separation director Asghar Farhadi. The programmes lack of films that tackle the contemporary issues of terrorism and religious conflict has been seen by some as a concerted attempt to avoid any tension. It has been rumoured that the latest film from Bertrand Bonello was rejected because of its plot, described by the director as young people planting bombs in Paris in the present day. Bornellos previous two films had both screened in competition. When asked why he thought the film had been rejected, Bornello said: Its best to ask [Cannes]. Organisers and local politicians are keen to strike a balance between ensuring the safety of attendees and retaining Canness exuberant (and already highly exclusive) atmosphere. Even the yacht-owning elite will be under great scrutiny, with the chief of police telling Le Monde : No single boat will enter the Cannes bay without being checked. The citys mayor, David Lisnard, defended the high-security approach earlier this week, saying: Do you think an attack brings merriment? Cannes must be protected not because of the cocktail parties, but because it is a professional event of a high level which brings honour to France. Lisnard has recruited former Israel Defence Force general Nitzan Nuriel to consult on the possibility of a multi-terror event, while last month French security forces simulated an attack on the festivals key venue, the Grand Palais. Video footage of the simulation showed four masked men, dressed in black and carrying machine guns, emerge from a car and fire blank rounds at pretend bystanders and police officers. Medical teams attended the wounded who lay on the ground wearing red bibs. In a separate exercise, a team of bomb disposal officers acted out the removal of an explosive device. The need for such a public demonstration worried some festival goers, but Lisnard defended the decision to broadcast the citys readiness. The exercise is not reality, but the exercise helps to prepare for the reality and to limit the risk, he told the French magazine Le Point. While much has been made of the security operation around this years festival, on the ground there so far seems to be little visible adjustment to the preparations underway. The only noticeable difference is a change in wardrobe for the Palais security personnel, who are responsible for scanning and searching the bags of anyone entering the venue. Their two-piece suits, normally beige, have changed to blue. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Donald Trump has won the West Virginia and Nebraska Republican primaries according to the Associated Press, while Bernie Sanders won the West Virginia Democratic primary. Trump was expecting an easy win in West Virginia while Hillary Clinton faced a tough road to victory after comment that damaged her with the coal miners of the state, TIME reports. Trump told West Virginia voters to stay home Tuesday night, but since hes the only Republican candidate left, that didnt keep him from coasting to victory in the state. Get ready, because youre going to be working your asses off, Trump crowed of his future presidency to the states miners at a rally last week. (Nebraska is also holding its Republican primary Tuesday; the Democrats held a caucus there in March.) Clinton had a tough road against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in West Virginia, after she said earlier this year that shed put coal out of business. The former Secretary of State has since apologized for the comment, saying it was out of context, but a RealClearPolitics poll average showed her six points behind Sanders in the state (the average is only based on two surveys). Its an especially dramatic slide for Clinton since she won the state by 41 points against then-Senator Barack Obama in 2008. I know my chances are pretty difficult, to be honest, Clinton said Monday in Williamson, W.Va., the Hill reports. Still, the primary season is all but over. Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, and Clinton is far ahead of Sanders in the race for the Democratic nomination. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Pan-Armenian Environmental Front announces about the waste collection in coastal regions of Sevan Lake on May 14, Press Service of Pan-Armenian Environmental Front informed Armenpress. Environmental activists, environmental organizations (WWF Armenia, ATP, Ecovillage),educational institutions, Ministry of Nature Protection, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Sevan National Park, Gegharkunik Governorate and NGOs of the district will participate in this event. At this stage the overall number of participants is nearly 400. The initiators express their gratitude to all people for joining them and urge all the community people and NGOs to join this initiative. The waste collection is an opportunity to educate people on environmental issues and present them the issues and solutions of Sevan Lake. The participants will gather around the Republican Square, Yerevan, at 8:30-9:00 on May 14 and the buses will take them to Sevan Lake. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had phone conversation during which they discussed the issue of Nagorno Karabakh conflict in line with other issues, Armenpress reports, Russian Foreign Ministry official website informs. They discussed issues related to the steps of overcoming the situation in Syria, establishing ceasefire regime, and fighting against terrorist groups. The settlement issue of Palestine-Israel conflict and the situation in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone were also discussed during the telephone conversation, Russian MFA's statement reads. The telephone conversation was initiated by the US. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Spokesman of the Defense Ministry of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan says the Azerbaijani allegations of white phosphorus usage by Armenian Forces are ill-mannered delusions. A few words regarding the white phosphorus: Azerbaijan is in an ill-mannered delusion. But we understand this type of behavior. The saying is correct: Fear has big eyes. They see even whats not present ( : , ), Hovhannisyan wrote via Facebook. Earlier the Azerbaijani side made false allegations that the Armenian side used white phosphorus munitions (banned) in the direction of Terter. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. The Islamic State (Isis) has reportedly executed more than three dozen of its jihadists after they decided not to fight and escaped during a battle against Kurdish Peshmerga forces. Local news sources claim that 35 to 45 militants were buried alive as punishment for their cowardice in the face of conflict, reports The International Business Times. An unnamed provincial source told Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA) that the terrorists buried 35 fellow extremists alive on the outskirts of Qayyarah after they were accused of running away from the attack against pro-government Iraqi forces in Bashir, a village south of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. On May 11, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted reinforced monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the north-western direction of the Talish village of the NKR Martakert region, Press Service of NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Armenpress. From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden), as well as by Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Thomas Lenk (Germany). From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria) and Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative of the CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain), as well as by Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Gunther Bachler (Germany). The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the ceasefire regime was registered. From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan recently visited Nagorno Karabakh. Speaking on the visit, he said during a briefing he saw high confidence in Nagorno Karabakh for future victories. We also visited the frontline. Everyone, including soldiers, officers, generals, politicians of Nagorno Karabakh have firm and high confidence in our future victories. I can say it inspired us. We also discussed economic issues and reached agreements, the Prime Minister said. Once again speaking about the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh, the Prime Minister said the President has clearly stated his position on this issue and if encroachments continue Armenia will take this step. Asked why the mutual assistance agreement is being delayed, the PM said: It is not delayed; it is currently in the preparatory stage. The Prime Minister of Armenia visited Nagorno Karabakh on May 8-9 to participate in a number of events dedicated to the Victory Day. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Head of the ARF faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Armen Rustamyan says the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh by Armenia should happen in the right time. During a briefing Rustamyan said if the leaderships of Nagorno Karabakh and Armenia have decided that this isnt the time for it, so indeed it isnt. In the same time he says the recognition issue should always be on the Armenian agenda. Armenia hasnt recognized the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, so that it happens through the international process. We dont want a one sided recognition, we want to realize this process within the framework of the Minsk Group. This is a big concession from the Armenian side, so that everyone is convinced through negotiations, that the Nagorno Karabakhi independence should be recognized. But if Azerbaijan is pushing the negotiations to a dead-end, stops the negotiations, it leaves no choice for Armenia but to recognize the independence of Nagorno Karabakh, which was clearly stated by the President. Thats why we always say that this issue should always remain on our agenda, however simultaneously the mutual assistance agreement should be signed, which will mean that any attack on Nagorno Karabakh is an attack on Armenia. If its an attack on Armenia, Armenia must defend by all means, Rustamyan said. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. The presentation of Millennium Development Goals: National Progress Report was held in Yerevan with the participation of Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan, UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia Bradley Busetto and experts. The Prime Minister said Millennium Development Goals: National Progress Report summarizes the work done by Armenia towards the implementation of MDGs adopted by the UN in 2000. He says our country achieved significant success in terms of reduction of child and mother mortality rates, access to education, clean water, but there is still a work to be done in other spheres, and it is necessary to put efforts for improving the respective rates. Last week the regular session of Sustainable Development Council was held in the Government which marked the beginning of the UN new agendas Transforming Our World: 2030 New Agenda for Sustainable Development nationalization and localization process. It includes 17 sustainable development goals and 169 targets. We should select goals and targets for Armenia which are in accordance with the strategic plans of our country, especially Armenia 2014-2015 Long-term Development Strategic Plan. Eventually, our desire is to provide our people a prosperous, peaceful and secure life which needs the daily consistent and hard work of the state system and respective public, international organizations, Prime Minister said. He expressed gratitude to the UN Office in Armenia for the support, all government agencies involved in the preparation works of the report ensuring that Armenia-UN cooperation will more strengthen in the future. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. UN Resident Coordinator in Armenian Bradley Busetto says the UN is ready to assist Armenia in the implementation of Transforming Our World: 2030 New Agenda for Sustainable Development nationalization and localization process. According to him, the state should run and supervise the implementation of this new agenda, and the UN will assist Armenia in that process. The joint planning between government agencies and other sectors, as well as the involvement of the Parliament, civil society, private sector and media is important for the successful implementation of the UN new agenda, Armenpress reports, Busetto said during the briefing. He says all these institutions play an important role in the implementation and monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS.A car bomb at a crowded Baghdad market has killed at least 64 people, officials say, in one of the worst recent attacks in the Iraqi capital on May 11, BBC reports. At least 87 others were wounded in the blast in the Shia Muslim district of Sadr City during the morning rush hour. So-called Islamic State (IS) said it had carried out the attack. The Sunni Muslim group, which controls swathes of northern and western Iraq, has frequently targeted Shia, whom it considers heretics. Many of the victims included women and children, Iraqi police and medical sources said. Several of the injured were said to be in critical condition. Pictures showed vehicles and the facades of several buildings heavily damaged. In an online statement, IS said it had targeted Shia militiamen. An eyewitness told the Associated Press news agency that the car bomb was a pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables. Its driver parked the vehicle and quickly disappeared among the crowd, he said "It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," Karim Salih, 45, told the news agency. "The force of the explosion threw me for metres and I lost consciousness for a few minutes." IS has frequently targeted commercial areas and government and security personnel, causing heavy casualties. Iraqi forces, backed by US-led coalition air strikes and Shia-dominated paramilitary forces, have regained some territory seized by IS in 2014, but have been unable to prevent bomb attacks in the capital. In February, Iraqi security forces began building a wall around Baghdad in an attempt to halt the group's attacks. The UN says 1,885 civilians were killed by violence in Iraq in the first four months of this year. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Head of the ARF faction of the National Assembly of Armenia Armen Rustamyan says the only guarantor for security of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh is Armenia which should think of organizing its defense with all possible measures. Those international high-ranking officials did not give any guarantees to us with their speeches. If our soldier did not stop the Azerbaijani army in the border, we would have serious problems in terms of protecting our existence. Who will protect us, who will give us those security guarantees, of course, we. Thats why they should sober up Azerbaijan, then we can talk about normal relations. Now everything has passed, and they just remember some of international standards. All these are the double standards that created this situation. Today the international order, which should suspend the threat of war, is insufficient. This is a serious question which we should resolve, Armenpress reports, Rustamyan said. Referring to the views that Armenia cannot produce weapons, he said it can and added that those academicians should do something in order to have modern weapons. Academicians' call is firstly the protection of their country. Speaking about the statement by Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson of EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, which says the EU will study the reports on existence of nuclear weapons in Armenia, Rustamyan said: They can come and even check the balance of forces. We say balance is seriously disturbed in favor of Azerbaijan. We said it previously balance should be maintained in the region, and Azerbaijan is arming openly in front of everyone. It constantly threatens and tries to use banned weapons. We have a very clear threat in front of us which also takes place in front of the whole world. This means, that all EU representatives should give respective assessment to the todays situation where Azerbaijan conducts military operations in front of everyone and constantly threatens to increase its arsenal, and this, in reality, are not just words, rather they are being implemented. In other words, there is no reason to think that Azerbaijan together with Turkey will not start a new adventure. It it will happen, it will have more serious consequences this time, since if they try to escalate the war, this war will have much larger scale, Rustamyan said. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. On May 11 Vice-President of the National Assembly of Armenia Eduard Sharmazanov received members of the delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie led by the President of Wallonia-Brussels/French Community Parliament Philippe Courard who arrived in Armenia to participate in the founding session of the Francophonie Youth Parliament of Armenia, Press Service of Armenian National Assembly informed Armenpress. The head of the Armenian National Assembly delegation in Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie Margarit Yesayan also participated in the meeting. Welcoming the guests Eduard Sharmazanov emphasized the importance of the creation of Francophonie Youth Parliament of Armenia and stated that although Armenia is not a Francophonie country in the classic sense, it bears human rights protection, Christian and democratic values. Referring to the outbreaks of terrorism throughout the world, Sharmazanov said Nagorno Karabakh has also become the victim of terrorism and xenophobia. He stressed Turkey, which not only denies the Armenian Genocide, but also blockades Armenia over 23 years, expressed its support to Azerbaijani aggression unleashed against Nagorno Karabakh in early of April. Sharmazanov considers the silence and unaddressed calls of the international community unacceptable. He informed the guests about the Azerbaijani barbaric acts which were committed in style of DAESH against the Armenian soldiers and the civilian people. Nagorno Karabakh people have the right to live in an independent country, like any other people, Sharmazanov stated and elaborated that Nagorno Karabakh has never been a part of Azerbaijan, it came out from the Soviet Union rather than from Azerbaijan since 1991. Sharmazanov expressed hope that the process of recognition of NKR independence will be continuous and NKR will become UN member state one of the major goals of which is peoples right to self-determination. Eduard Sharmazanov says the international community should condemn Azerbaijans terrorist actions. The President of Wallonia-Brussels/French Community Parliament Philippe Courard expressed gratitude for the warm reception and condemned terrorism and all means of violence in the world, as well as in the Nagorno Karabakh. He stressed the need to unite against the fight in terrorism and expressed his support to families of soldiers who were killed and wounded by Azerbaijani aggression. He ensured that they will transfer all the information on Karabakh events to their structures. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia informs that on April 1, the USD exchange rate was 479.09 AMD which is an increase of 0.06 drams compared to the previous day. Armenpress reports that the euro rose by 0.70 drams forming 545.88 drams. British pound has dropped by 0.77 drams, reaching 691.09 drams. Russian ruble has increased by 0.03 drams, forming 7.25 drams on May 11. The prices for precious metals are as follows: the price for gold per gram is 19,451.03 AMD, silver- 262.47 AMD, and platinum 16,065.43 AMD. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. UAE investors are interested in investing in Armenia, including in real estate sector, and at the moment preparation works of a visit of a group of UAE businessmen to Armenia is underway, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Armenia Jassim Mohammed Mubarak Al Qasimi told about this in a meeting with the Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan. The Head of the Executive highlighted further development of political, economic and other relations with the UAE, mentioning that there are great potentials for that. According to PM Abrahamyan, the Armenian Government is ready to discuss and support the implementation of any project aimed at fostering bilateral economic ties. Ambassador Qasimi expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister of Armenia for fostering relations between the two states and expressed satisfaction with the recent developments of relations in different spheres. He emphasized that the volume of trade turnover increased during the last year, and investments were made in Armenian tourism and agriculture. According to the Ambassador, the number of tourists arriving in Armenia from the UAE has significantly increased. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. A senior adviser to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would send refugees to Europe if the European parliament makes a wrong decision as it considers proposals to allow Turks visa-free access to the continent, Armenpress reports, citing Bloomberg. The threat by Burhan Kuzu, who is also a senior member of Turkeys ruling AK party, came as doubts grow over an agreement between Turkey and the European Union to stem an unprecedented movement of migrants from the Middle East and Africa. Turkey was offered the visa deal, as well as financial aid and the prospect of a renewed effort toward EU membership, in return for agreeing to take back refugees. Last week, Erdogan rebuffed an EU demand that Turkey narrow its definition of terrorism in return for the lifting of visa restrictions. Leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel see the agreement with Turkey as a crucial step to ease Europes worst refugee crisis since World War II. The European parliament will debate Turkeys progress in fulfilling requirements for visa liberalization in its plenary session on Wednesday in Strasbourg. If they make a wrong decision, we would send refugees, Kuzu said on Twitter. In a phone interview with Bloomberg, he added: If Turkeys doors are opened, Europe would be miserable. About one million people, fleeing conflicts such as Syrias civil war, have crossed from Turkeys shores to nearby Greek islands since early 2015. Arrivals in Greece fell to 2,987 last month from 26,971 in March and 57,066 in February, according to the United Nations refugee agency. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Already for 20 years Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Armenia a subsidiary of one of the worlds largest producers of soft drinks - operates in Armenia, serving the whole country with a large portfolio of non-alcoholic beverages. As Armenpress was informed from Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company Armenia, during an official event held on this occasion on May 10, Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia summarized the results of its activity and achievements over the past 20 years. Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia is a valuable member of Coca Cola Hellenic Company family, and we are very proud of the success of our Armenian team. Thanks to efforts of its team of professionals, Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia is distinguished by high quality of product, in line with the best international standards. This year we are glad to celebrate the 20 years of Growth Story of our Armenian branch and are looking forward to many more stories to come,said Keith Sanders, Region Director of Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company. General Manager of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia Sayyora Ayupova said that during its 20-year activity the company targeted three main areas sustainable business growth, establishment of a competitive organization, as well as becoming a full member of the society, through investments in community development. Our staff and the activity we have been carrying out over the years lie at the core of the companys success. Our people are our greatest asset, while cooperation with about 11,000 suppliers has served as a basis for further growth, she said, stressing that the company often hires university graduates and further organizing special training for their relevant professional domains. During its 20-year activity the Company invested around 21.5 Bn AMD and created more than 300 jobs. In addition to its successful business activity, Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia has been active in initiating corporate social responsibility projects. The stewardship of water resources, energy conservation and climate protection, community development, youth empowerment, promotion of Active and Healthy lifestyle are amongst key pillars of the Companys corporate social responsibility activity. Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia is one of the first international investors in Armenia and it has surely played a significant role in the economic development of the country. Entering the Armenian market Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia Company introduced a business culture and practices, meeting the best international standards. It is my pleasure to congratulate the Company for the success achieved during these 20 years and wish new accomplishments in future,-noted Ambassador of Greece to Armenia, H.E. Mr. Ioannis Taghis. During the event the President of the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen in Armenia Mr. Arsen Ghazaryan presented General Manager of the Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia Company Mrs. Sayyora Ayupova with a special CSR award, marking Companys contribution in this domain during its 20 year activity. The Ambassador of USA in Armenia, representatives of the Armenian Government, diplomatic missions, NGOs, as well as managers of other branches of Coca-Cola Hellenic Company and partners of the local bottler were amongst the guests present at the official ceremony. They expressed their appreciation of the Companys activity, emphasizing the importance of its investment in the development of Armenia. Almost all of Canada's tar sands production has been shut down by a raging wildfire in Alberta's Fort McMurray region. Oil production in the region will only start up again when it is "absolutely safe," Alberta's Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday, but the restart will likely happen within a matter of days or a few weeks. The black tar in the earth under Alberta represents the world's third largest oil reserve, behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The massive Fort McMurray wildfire has destroyed over 10% of all homes and buildings in Canada's main oil sands city. If the current "majority of production stop" were to continue for a month or more, "you would start to see measurable outcomes to our GDP," said Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. From the Associated Press report this afternoon: Reuters While tight lipped, Japanese policy makers clearly intervened again to support the yen on Monday, slamming the dollar down to as low as 145.28 from an early peak of 149.70. Yet all the BOJ seems to have managed is to give yen bears better levels, and much-needed liquidity, to sell into and the dollar quickly rallied back to around 149.00. While the BOJ is only acting under the directions of the MoF, selling dollars for yen sits at odds with its dogged commitment to uber-easy monetary policy and will add to pressure for a change of course at its policy meeting on Friday. By Nia Williams and Ernest Scheyder CALGARY/LAC LA BICHE, Alberta (Reuters) - Workers for one of the largest oil sands companies affected by a massive wildfire in northern Canada will begin returning to the shuttered facilities on Thursday, a union official said on Wednesday, the latest indication that the key petroleum production area was slowly coming back online. Meanwhile, the premier of the province of Alberta and the head of the Canadian Red Cross announced that residents of Fort McMurray, the oil-boom town that was evacuated last week because of the fire, would be offered direct financial aid. In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established a new ad hoc cabinet committee to coordinate federal relief efforts. Trudeau will tour the fire zone on Friday. Ken Smith, President of Unifor Local 707, a union that represents 3,400 Suncor Energy Inc workers, said the company was starting to fly employees back to its oil sands base plant from Thursday. "It will take a few days to get the plant up and in condition to start handling feed. The mine can get going as soon as the trucks and shovels are ready, but it will take the plant a bit longer to become functional," Smith said. "There are a lot of different units that run to make everything happen up there, it's a very complex work site." Smith said they would be flown to Suncor's Firebag site, about 120 km (72 miles) north of Fort McMurray, and transported by bus to the base plant. Facilities north of Fort McMurray that had been shuttered largely because of heavy smoke rather than fire were likely to come back on line first, in a matter of days in many cases. Roughly 1 million bpd of output was shut down during the fire, about half of the oil sands' usual daily production. Late Wednesday, Enbridge Inc said it had restarted its 550,000 barrel per day Line 18 pipeline after it was shut as a precaution. The line carries crude from Enbridge's Cheecham terminal 380 kilometers (236 miles) south to the regional crude trading hub of Edmonton. Enbridge also said crews were on site at its facilities in the Fort McMurray region and confirmed its terminals were not damaged by the wildfire. Royal Dutch Shell Plc was the first company to resume operations in the area, restarting its Albian Sands mines at a reduced rate. The facility can produce up to 255,000 bpd. Syncrude, controlled by Suncor, restarted power generation at its oil sands mine in Aurora, north of the city, on Tuesday as it began planning to resume operations. The site has a total capacity of around 315,000 bpd. Some supplies and materials began heading north along the main highway into the area, which reopened for specially permitted industrial and commercial vehicles only late Tuesday. Still, some projects to the south and east of Fort McMurray remained unreachable as the fire threat persists in that vicinity. Only firefighters were permitted to pass through a police checkpoint along the main road in that area, according to a Reuters witness, and smoke from still-burning fires was visible on the horizon. The size of the fire was little changed on Wednesday at roughly 229,000 hectares (566,000 acres) and moving away from the community. RELIEF FOR EVACUEES Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the province was making cash available immediately to the 90,000 evacuees from the fire zone. The funds, C$1,250 per adult and $500 per child, would be distributed by debit cards beginning immediately to evacuees in Edmonton, Calgary and Lac La Biche. "This (funding) represents our collective commitment to help them through this crisis so their lives can return to normal as soon as possible," Notley said at a press conference in Edmonton. Canadian Red Cross Chief Executive Conrad Sauve said his agency was making C$50 million in funds available to the relief effort now, out of C$67 million that had been raised so far. That will be distributed as electronic funds transfers of $600 for each adult and $300 for each child, he said. "This is the most important cash transfer we have done in our history and the fastest one," Sauve said at the press conference. With no timeline yet for when the town of Fort McMurray can be re-inhabited, the local government council had to hold its first meeting since the evacuations in Edmonton on Thursday. The mood was somber and defiant. "I have every faith and confidence that we will have a community and the future state needs to be as good as it was before, only better, and it needs to be resilient," said Melissa Blake, mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, which encompasses Fort McMurray. (Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Liz Hampton in Calgary and Allison Martell in Toronto; Writing by Dan Burns in Toronto; Editing by Alan Crosby) By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped on Wednesday, with Brent surging about 4 percent for a second day in a row, after the U.S. government unexpectedly reported crude inventories fell for the first time since March. The surprise stockpile drop added to concerns over supply disruptions in Canada and Nigeria that had fueled an oil rally this week. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories fell 3.4 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 714,000 barrels and the American Petroleum Institute's (API) build of 3.5 million barrels in preliminary data issued on Tuesday. [EIA/S] [API/S] The EIA report "has been quickly viewed as bullish, with the crude draw just about exactly opposite to what API had," said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York. Oil markets extended their gains after the data. Brent crude futures were up $1.83, or 4 percent, at $47.35 per barrel by 1:56 p.m. EDT (1756 GMT). U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate futures gained $1.47, or 3.3 percent, to $46.13. The EIA, in a separate report on Wednesday, said it expected Brent to trade at $76 a barrel in the next year on continued increase in demand. Prices rose earlier as Shell announced a Nigerian pipeline closure while Canadian energy firms tried to restart closed facilities that had halted more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in supply after a huge wildfire in Alberta's oil sands region. "We were not totally surprised with the draw after the shut-in in Canadian production," Tariq Zahir, trader and managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors, New York, said, referring to the EIA report. "But while the fires have taken tar sands production offline, we believe this will not be a prolonged event." In Nigeria, a refinery official said crude flows have been halted to the Kaduna and Warri refineries after a pipeline attack. Nigeria's state petroleum company said on its website the Kaduna refinery produces 1.5 million liters (12,972 barrels) of fuel per day, while the one in Warri had a capacity for 125,000 bpd. On Tuesday, Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian unit said it had declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports following the closure of the Nembe Creek Trunk line for repairs after a leak. (Additional reporting by Simon Falush in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; editing by Marguerita Choy and Meredith Mazzilli) The Great Wall of China is seen here. (Tully Luxury Travel) (Tully Luxury Travel) The Great Wall of China is usually packed shoulder-to-shoulder with visitors, but on this afternoon, the view of the ancient fortification was unobstructed. Mary Jean Tully and her staff were hosting a private luncheon for passengers on a 2016 world cruise from Tully Luxury Travel. The massive wall, which crosses the countrys northeast for thousands of kilometres, sees more than 10 million visitors a year, according to Travel and Leisure. The best part was that we were the only ones there. As far as my eye could see, it was only our group for miles and miles. Ive been to the Great Wall four times but nothing compares to this spectacular experience, Mary Jean Tully said in a statement sent to Yahoo Canada Finance. A private luncheon held by Tully Luxury Travel at the Great Wall of China is seen here. (Tully Luxury Travel) A more typical day at the Great Wall on August 16, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Andrew Wong/Getty Images) This is one of the perks afforded to passengers on Crystal Cruises world cruise, which is offered through Tully Luxury Travel. The travel agency also offers other similar voyages around world through Holland America Line, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea Cruises, Oceania Cruises, Cunard Cruises and Princess Cruises. Besides the private meal on the Great Wall, Tully Luxury Travel cruises also offer other exotic stops, including a private tour of Ayers Rock in Australia or Angkor Watt in Cambodia, a hot-air balloon ride above Cappadocia, or cocktails by the Taj Mahal. Experience doesn't come cheap While passengers onboard Tully Travels cruises may be soaking up the sunshine and enjoying a life of luxury, it is their wallets that will feel the burn. Passage in Crystal Cruises highest category next year, on its 94-day world cruise costs about US$200,000 per person. Other categories range from $32,000 to $200,000. That hefty pricetag includes airfare, luggage shipping and private transfers, as well as luxury perks like onboard spending credits, gala events, and gifts of fine wines and spirits. Passage on the more affordable Princess Cruises starts at $23,000 per person for inside-cabin accommodations. The capacity of the ships varies, hundreds of passengers to nearly 2,000. When asked why travelers should opt for a world cruise instead flying to destinations, Tully Travel said its voyages save them time, money, as well the stresses of packing and unpacking. So if you have deep pockets, you too could start checking off that 'Wonders of the World' checklist. By Stephen Eisenhammer and Barbara Lewis RIO DE JANEIRO/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Any relief felt by the mining firms BHP Billiton and Vale over what looked like a final $5.7 billion settlement for the cost of last year's dam burst at their Brazilian iron ore mine must have evaporated when state prosecutors scoffed at the deal and last Tuesday filed a $44 billion claim of their own. What is far from clear, however, is whether that number, based on little more than the analogy of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which will have cost BP some $40 billion in claims and fines, will bear scrutiny. The prosecutors did not break down their claim into components, saying that "unless you want to assume that each millimeter of Brazils environment is worth less than that in the United States, it is unacceptable that the valuation of damage caused by the defendant companies be less, prima facie, than $43.8 billion". A member of the prosecuting team, Jorge Munhos de Souza, said they had used the comparison of the BP case because it is "considered paradigmatic in environmental law". But even environmental lawyers say the number probably represents little more than a speculative opening bid. "They are really just doing their job to get the full extent of the cost of remediating this issue. Otherwise, the burden is borne by the taxpayer," said London-based ClientEarth lawyer Sophie Marjanac. When the U.S. energy group Chevron faced a 40 billion real ($11.3 billion) claim over a 2011 deep-sea oil well spill northeast of Rio de Janeiro, it finished up settling for just 300 million reais ($85 million). There are also questions about the comparability of the disasters at the Samarco mine and in the Gulf, and of the legal systems dealing with them. TOWN OBLITERATED Certainly, the collapse of Samarco's Fundao dam, which released 12,000 Olympic swimming pools' worth of waste water from iron ore mining, was dramatic. The torrent not only killed 19 people but also obliterated Bento Rodrigues, a town of 800, inundated another, larger town with mud, and polluted almost 1,000 km (600 miles) of the Rio Doce. Although the river was far from pristine before the damburst, and the toxicity of the iron ore tailings is disputed, the disaster killed fish, contaminated water used for agriculture, and left at least 250,000 people without running water for weeks. Federal prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira, part of the task force that filed the 359-page lawsuit, said the figure of 155 billion reais ($44 billion) was based on a comparison with the social, environmental and humanitarian damage done by the Gulf disaster. Yet even some state prosecutors who are not involved in the claim say it is far-fetched to compare the dam burst to the release of more than 3 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico over a period of three months, after a blowout that killed 11 oil workers. That spill led to the closure of more than a third of the Gulf of Mexico for seven months to fishing for tuna, shrimp, crab and oyster, among others, damaging not only the marine environment but also tourism all along the U.S. Gulf Coast. BP is paying out on more than 300,000 individual civil claims worth over $16 billion as well as $20 billion in government civil claims, and $4 billion in criminal penalties, in addition to the $14 billion it spent on the original clean-up operation. Claimants in that case were significantly helped by U.S. pollution laws drawn up after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill. These provide strict rules for cleaning up the damage and picking up the bill for every barrel spilt. LEGAL UNCERTAINTY Brazilian law does require full restoration of the environment to its prior state as well as compensation for loss of property, goods and business, but does not provide such clear guidance for calculating damages, legal sources say. And then there is the question of the settlement that Samarco and its 50-50 joint owners BHP and Vale have agreed with Brazilian authorities, which provides, among other things, for Bento Rodrigues to be rebuilt in a different location. It amounts to 20 billion reais, to be paid over 15 years. The federal prosecutors, who enjoy broad autonomy and are increasingly confident in pursuing corruption as the government is rocked by scandal, criticized the deal as inadequate and implied that the authorities had sold the Brazilian people short. But two days after they filed their suit, with the aim of challenging the settlement, a judge ratified the deal. The prosecutors vowed to appeal, creating fresh legal uncertainty. Samarco Chief Executive Roberto Carvalho told Reuters that the agreement "already carries all the socio-economic and environmental reparations which this other lawsuit proposes". Ultimately, pragmatism may also come into play. As a foreign-owned multinational with large interests in the United States, BP had little leverage to resist its prosecution. But BHP, while listed in Britain and Australia, would have relatively little to lose if it chose to quit Brazil. It has already written down its share of Samarco from $1.2 billion to zero, and its only other significant asset in Brazil is a minority stake in the Alumar alumina smelter and refinery. Vale, meanwhile, is based in Brazil, where it has 154,000 employees and contractors - an economic mainstay that it is in Brazil's interests not to damage too heavily. The equities and commodities analysts Bernstein said in a note that not only did the prosecutors' arguments not bear scrutiny, but also that, "like it or not, but Brazilian prosecutors cannot exert the same kind of pressure on Vale and BHP as the Americans could on BP". ($1 = 3.5341 Brazilian reais) (Additional reporting by Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro and Kirstin Ridley in London; Editing by Kevin Liffey) By James Mackenzie and Mubasher Bukhari KABUL/LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - The son of a former Pakistani prime minister who was rescued by Afghan and U.S. forces from al Qaeda captors in Afghanistan arrived home to a rapturous welcome in Pakistan on Wednesday, three years after being kidnapped from his home town. Ali Haider Gilani was rescued on Monday by a joint force of Afghan and U.S. commandos who attacked a house held by al Qaeda militants in Paktika province, just across the border from Pakistan. Before his departure from Afghanistan, Gilani, with long hair and a gray-streaked beard, thanked his rescuers. Looking tired but otherwise healthy, the son of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said pressure from Pakistani forces fighting militants in lawless frontier lands had forced his captors to take him over the border into Afghanistan. "I really appreciate the Afghan government's efforts and the Afghan forces' efforts for someone, these sacrifices, for someone from another country," he told reporters at Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence where he was handed over to Pakistani diplomats. "That shows the efforts of the Afghan government to bringing peace in the region," he said. "I would also like to thank U.S. forces which, at the critical moments of my release provided me with shelter, food and medical care," he said. "I'm just looking forward to being reunited with my family and just getting back to normal life." The rescue offered a rare moment of warmth and respite in long-running tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, which many in Afghanistan blame for fostering and sheltering Taliban leaders on their soil. Pakistan denies it helps the insurgents and says it is itself the target of militants from Afghanistan. FOUR MILITANTS KILLED Gilani was flown home on a chartered aircraft sent from Pakistan and was later showered with rose petals as he got out of a vehicle outside the family home in the city of Lahore. He waved to the crowd and was mobbed by well-wishers and journalists. Gilani was abducted on May 9, 2013, outside an office of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in his home town of Multan, two days before an election. His rescue occurred partly by chance, as Afghan and U.S. special forces raided the suspected al Qaeda compound. The force had an "inkling" a hostage was being held there but was not aware it was Gilani, said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the NATO-led force. He said four al Qaeda fighters were killed in the raid. Gilani was with his captors but was identified as a hostage after he did not try to resist. Gilani's father, a veteran PPP politician, was prime minister from 2008 to 2012. Ali Haider's was not the only high-profile abduction in Pakistan in recent years. The son of a provincial governor assassinated for questioning blasphemy laws was kidnapped in 2011. Shahbaz Taseer was recovered in the Pakistani city of Quetta in March. (Additional reporting by Kay Johnson and Mehreen Zahra-Malik in ISLAMABAD; Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Robert Birsel) By Mehreen Zahra-Malik ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The kidnapped son of a former Pakistani prime minister has been rescued in Afghanistan in a joint operation by Afghan and U.S. forces, three years after gunmen abducted him in his Pakistani home town, officials said on Tuesday. Ali Haider Gilani, son of ex-premier Yusuf Raza Gilani, "has been recovered today in a joint operation carried out by the Afghan and U.S. security forces in Ghazni, Afghanistan", the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement. It added that he would be transferred to Pakistan after a medical check-up. In a separate statement, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's office said Afghan security forces defeated an al Qaeda cell in a joint operation with international forces, and suggested that the discovery of Gilani may have been accidental. "During this anti-insurgency operation, Ali Haider Gilani ... was identified at the site of the operation, and was freed from terrorists," it said. According to Ghani's office, the raid occurred in neighboring Paktika province, which also borders Pakistan's restive tribal areas. U.S. forces in Afghanistan confirmed Gilani had been rescued in a joint raid with Afghan commandos in the Gayan district of Paktika, according to a statement released on Tuesday. Four enemy combatants were killed during the operation, which involved U.S. special forces and was carried out under the "Freedom's Sentinel" counter-terrorism mandate. "When we first heard the news, we didn't believe it and only believed it once the foreign office confirmed it," Ali Musa Gilani, Ali Haider's brother, told Pakistan's Geo TV. "Right now, we don't have any plans to celebrate. We are just waiting to see his face." Ali Haider was abducted outside an office of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in his home town of Multan, in southern Punjab province, two days before Pakistan's landmark May 11, 2013 general election. His father, a veteran PPP member, was prime minister from 2008 to 2012, when he was removed from office by the Supreme Court over contempt of court charges related to his refusal to reopen corruption cases against then-president Asif Ali Zardari. A smiling Yusuf Raza Gilani was seen hand-in-hand with PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at an election rally in Pakistan-administered Kashmir shortly after news of the release broke. He briefly thanked supporters for their prayers and good wishes during his speech to the crowd. Ali Haider's was not the only high-profile abduction in Pakistan in recent years. The son of a Pakistani governor, assassinated for criticizing the country's harsh blasphemy laws, was kidnapped in 2011. Shahbaz Taseer was recovered in the southwestern city of Quetta in March. (Additional Reporting by Asad Hashim in ISLAMABAD and Mirwais Harooni in KABUL; Editing by Mike Collett-White) David Cameron has been caught on microphone describing Afghanistan and Nigeria as "fantastically corrupt" during an exchange with the Queen. The Prime Minister was speaking ahead of an anti-corruption summit later this week, and made the comments as he described who will be attending. Mr Cameron is seemingly unaware his conversation with the Queen in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury, House of Commons Speaker John Bercow and Leader of the House of Commons is being caught on microphone. :: PM: Queen 'Purred Down Line' Over Scots Vote The Prime Minister tells the Queen: "We had a very successful Cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption summit. "We have got the Nigerians - actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain." He continued: "Nigeria and Afghanistan - possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world." The Archbishop then attempts to rescue the situation by saying: "But this particular president is actually not corrupt." After his comments, Mr Bercow jokes: "They are coming at their own expense one assumes?" To which Mr Cameron responds: "Everything has to be open. There are no sort of closed-door sessions. "Everything has to be in front of the press. It's going to be ... It could be quite interesting." Labour has accused the Prime Minister of having "egg on his face" after the incident. Wes Streeting, MP for Ilford North, claimed that "for all his talk about corruption he's failing to act" when it comes to corruption. A Downing Street spokeswoman said the Presidents of Nigeria and Afghanistan "have acknowledged the scale of the corruption challenge they face in their countries", and that "the UK stands shoulder to shoulder with them" in their fight against it. "We cannot comment on a conversation between the PM and the Queen", she added. Story continues :: PM Caught On Microphone Making Fun At People From Yorkshire The summit, which Mr Cameron has cited in response to anger following revelations over off-shore accounts contained in the Panama leaks, is due to take place on Thursday. It is not the first time the Prime Minister has been caught making embarrassing comments while on microphone. He was recorded in 2014 telling the media tycoon Michael Bloomberg that the Queen had "purred" in pleasure at the result of the referendum on Scottish independence. He apologised to the Queen in person and said he was "very embarrassed" and "extremely sorry" about the episode. He was also caught complaining on microphone that Prime Minister's Questions was too long and poking fun at people from Yorkshire. Both Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari are expected to attend the summit. Mr Buhari is expected to give a keynote speech in London on Wednesday before the official opening. Afghanistan is second from bottom in the campaign group Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index, while Nigeria is 136th out of 168 countries. MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suicide car bomb at Mogadishu's traffic police headquarters killed at least two officers on Monday, Somali police said, and the country's al Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility. Three other police were wounded during the attack, said traffic police officer Mohamed Nur. "It was a suicide car bomb that hit the gate. We also shot dead an armed militant who wanted to storm the building," he told Reuters. Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaabs military operations spokesman, said they lost the two attackers and said the death toll on the government side was nine policemen. It was not possible to verify the death toll independently. Al Shabaab, which frequently attacks military and civilian targets in its campaign to topple Somalia's Western-backed government, has inflated casualty figures in the past. Local residents said the front of the traffic headquarters was damaged extensively by the blast, which also destroyed nearby shops. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Tom Heneghan) By Tulay Karadeniz and Ece Toksabay ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused European nations on Tuesday of being safe havens for the political wings of terrorist groups and said it was a "black comedy" for the Europe Union to lecture Ankara on changing its anti-terrorism laws. His comments will further dampen European hopes that it can be 'business as usual' with Turkey following the departure of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, seen by many in the EU as a more liberal face of the Turkish government after he negotiated a landmark deal with the bloc on migration. The EU last week asked member states to grant visa-free travel to Turks in return for Ankara stopping migrants reaching Europe, but said Turkey still had to change some legislation, including bringing its terrorism laws into line with EU standards. In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan said the EU should change its own laws on terrorism first and said he hoped Europe would live up to its promise on visa-free travel by October at the latest. "European countries continue to be safe havens for the political extensions of terrorist groups. When this is the case, it's a piece of black comedy that the EU criticizes our country over the definition of terrorism," he said. "First of all, we expect EU countries to fix their own laws that support terrorism." Erdogan is still seething over the presence of protesters sympathetic to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group near an EU-Turkey summit in Brussels in March, which he said at the time demonstrated the EU's "two-faced" behavior. The PKK has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy in Turkey's southeast, a conflict which has flared anew since the collapse of a ceasefire last July. Turkey, the EU and the United States all consider the PKK a terrorist group. Erdogan has also in the past accused Belgium of being soft on militant groups and said EU authorities had shown themselves "incapable" after Turkey deported a militant Islamist who was then released. The man was one of the attackers involved in the Islamic State suicide bombings in Brussels in March. POPULIST OR PRAGMATIST? Last Friday Erdogan vowed Turkey would not change its terrorism laws and, in a blunt message to Brussels, declared: "we're going our way, you go yours". It was typically populist rhetoric from a leader whose core supporters are often religious and social conservatives, suspicious of Western influence over their leaders. Beneath the bluster, some diplomats and analysts say, Erdogan remains a pragmatist who knows Turkey's best interests lie in maintaining cordial relations with the West. He struck a sharply different tone on Monday in a statement to mark Europe Day, saying EU membership remained a strategic goal for Turkey and would be a "source of stability and inspiration for the region". Europe is counting on Turkey to maintain the migration deal that has helped to sharply reduce the flow of refugees and migrants via Turkish shores, which saw more than a million people reach Greece and Italy last year. Visa-free travel to Europe is for many Turks the main reward in the deal. But to secure it, Turkey must still meet five of 72 criteria the EU imposes on all states exempt from visas, one of which is narrowing its legal definition of terrorism. Rights groups say Turkey has used broad anti-terrorism laws to silence dissent, including detaining journalists and academics critical of the government. Ankara insists the laws are essential as it battles Kurdish militants at home and the threat from Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq. (Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Gareth Jones) A U.S. non-profit wants to build a sanctuary for rescued and retired aquarium whales to live out the rest of their days, and they're eyeing the B.C. coast as a possible location. Whale Sanctuary Project president Dr. Lori Marino says a permanent sanctuary for cetaceans is a major roadblock to fully phasing out dolphins and whales in captivity "If we are interested in phasing out the keeping of dolphins and whales in concrete tanks, we have to have somewhere for them to go," Marino told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn. Marino is looking at "naturalistic" environments, such as coves, inlets and bays, to be the site of the sanctuary. It would need to offer protection for the animals and allow them to be cared for for the rest of their lives. The opening of the natural feature would be netted off, and she envisions visitors being able to view the sanctuary. She says estimates have pegged the cost of such a project at up to $20 million. The project will be funded through grants and endowments, Marino says, but so far the response from SeaWorld has not been positive. "They are saying they're not interested, which is understandable," she said. "But we will continue and hope that at some point they will decide to join us. In either case, we are going to build this, because the Sanctuary Project is filling a gap." In addition to the coast of B.C.'s mainland, sites on Vancouver Island and Puget Sound are also being examined, as are sites on the east coast of North America, Marino says. Marino says she hopes to have a sanctuary up and running in three to five years. With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: B.C. coast could be chosen as site for whale sanctuary WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Assessing the prognosis of a loved one who's scheduled for heart surgery may be as easy as watching them walk, a new study suggests. Patients who aren't able to walk a short distance at a comfortable pace before heart surgery are at greater risk for death following heart procedures, says a team of Canadian researchers. One U.S. doctor wasn't surprised by the finding. "We knew people with a slower gait speed would have a harder time recovering, and it's helpful that these initial impressions are now supported with data," said Dr. Scott Schubach, chair of cardiovascular surgery at Winthrop-University Hospital, in Mineola, N.Y. For the study, researchers led by Dr. Jonathan Afilalo of McGill University in Montreal assessed heart patients' gait speed -- the ability to walk about 16 feet in a reasonable amount of time. Gait speed, the researchers explained, reveals problems in the muscles of the lower limbs. It can also help doctors evaluate patients' brain, heart and lung function, they said. More than 15,000 people who underwent heart surgery at 109 different medical centers participated in the study. The patients averaged 71 years of age and underwent procedures such as bypass, valve surgery or a combination of each. Before their surgery, all of the patients underwent a gait speed test. Those who had a slow gait speed were at increased risk of death after surgery, according to the study. Overall, every second longer it took patients to walk the course resulted in an 11 percent relative increase in death after surgery, Afilalo's team reported. Schubach said, "This increased risk is something that we cardiac surgeons have realized for quite some time, and is a part of our risk assessment during the preoperative evaluation of a patient." Another expert noted that you can't always assess the risk just by looking at a person. "Contrary to popular perception of what a frail person looks like, the medical definition as reported in this study paints a far different picture," said Dr. Howard Levite, who directs cardiology at Staten Island University Hospital, in Staten Island, N.Y. "Surprisingly, it is the obese, diabetic female that fulfills the definition of frailty more often than the skinny or malnourished-appearing, hunched-over person," he said. He believes the Canadian study confirms what many cardiologists have long known. "The ability to walk quickly before a heart operation separates those individuals who have the lowest surgical complication rates from those more likely to develop kidney problems, infections or to die," Levite said. The findings were published online on May 11 in JAMA Cardiology. More information The American Heart Association provides more information on heart surgery. WEDNESDAY, May 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Zika infection isn't always obvious. In one recent case, a rash, bloodshot eyes and spots in the mouth were key symptoms of infection with the mosquito-borne virus, researchers report. The 44-year-old patient had no fever, a common sign of Zika infection. But he complained of headache, fatigue and redness on his arms and hands just days after returning to the United States from Puerto Rico, where the mosquito-borne virus is circulating. Zika infection was only confirmed by blood and urine tests administered after the man recovered. Researchers are publicizing the case to highlight lesser known characteristics of the illness, which is usually mild but can cause serious birth defects and neurological problems. "Our aim [is] to provide a more detailed description of skin, mucosal and tissue findings than exists in the literature, with the goal of improving awareness and recognition of suspected cases by the health care community," said report co-author Dr. Amit Garg. The problem with diagnosing Zika is the virus shares many characteristics with other illnesses, explained Garg, an associate professor of dermatology at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, in New Hyde Park, N.Y. The disease has captured global attention in the last year because of widespread infections in Central and South America. According to the World Health Organization, 64 countries and territories have reported Zika transmission, largely spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same mosquito that transmits dengue and yellow fever. Sexual intercourse and probably blood transfusions are also thought to spread infection, experts say. Symptoms are usually mild and short-lived, lasting two to seven days. But Zika exposure in pregnancy raises the risk for microcephaly, a serious birth defect affecting a baby's head and brain size. Zika is also associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare nervous system illness. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. mainland has seen just 472 cases, all contracted outside the country. But health officials predict Zika-carrying mosquitoes will threaten the Gulf States, including Florida, Louisiana and Texas, by summer. Garg and his colleagues present their findings in online May 11 in the journal JAMA Dermatology. They said the patient became fatigued and developed a headache within three days of his return to the United States. One day later, he experienced itch-free redness and inflammation on his arms, hands and palms. The inflammation spread to his torso within 24 hours, before fading and moving to the lower extremities, notably the knees and feet. He later developed a burning sensation and joint pain in his wrists, knees and ankles. Within eight days, many of his initial symptoms cleared up. Only later, after a full medical screening, did researchers catalogue clear signs of infection and render a Zika diagnosis. Based on this case, Garg's team concluded that Zika rashes manifest as "tiny closely-set red bumps" that spread from the upper to lower half of the body over several days. "Tiny red patches" also tend to appear on the roof of the mouth, and eyes may appear bloodshot, though not all patients will have all of those symptoms, Garg said. Ultimately, "your doctor will need blood and/or urine samples to confirm the presence of the Zika virus," said Garg. However, a dermatologist may be able to eliminate Zika as a possibility, he added. Earlier this week, U.S. health officials reported that urine tests seem far better than a traditional blood test at detecting the infection. If those findings bear out in further research, it could become easier to screen for the Zika virus. Most experts say Americans shouldn't panic, but they should be aware of the Zika threat. "We live in a globally interconnected world, where the rapidity of modern travel allows us, and the microbes that infect us, to be virtually anywhere within only hours," said Lola Stamm. She is an associate professor of epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The bottom line, warned Stamm: "Travel and trade can bring 'new' pathogens and their vectors to our doorstep in only hours." With no known treatment or vaccine for Zika, experts can only recommend long-sleeved clothing and DEET-laced repellent to limit risk, or avoiding regions where the virus is circulating. More information There's more on Zika virus at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. TORONTO and AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, May 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Profound Medical Corp. (TSXV:PRN), a Toronto-based medical device company and Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) (AEX:PHIA), a leading health technology company, today announced that they have signed a sales and marketing agreement that will advance the commercial launch of Profounds TULSA-PROTM, a minimally invasive system to ablate targeted prostate tissue. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will collaborate in the commercialization of TULSA-PRO in Europe followed by Canada, the U.S. and other markets, subject to regulatory clearance in those jurisdictions. TULSA (Transurethral Ultrasound Ablation) technology combines real-time Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging with transurethral therapeutic, robotically-driven ultrasound and closed-loop thermal feedback control providing a highly precise treatment tailored to patient-specific anatomy and pathology. The agreement follows a previously established collaboration to support Profounds proprietary technology on Philips Ingenia and Achieva 3T MRI platforms. Our agreement with Philips will enable us to increase our reach of this unique technology to more clinicians and their patients requiring prostate care, said Steve Plymale, CEO, Profound Medical Corp. I am convinced that our TULSA technology will be a valuable addition to Philips expanding interventional oncology portfolio. Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI is emerging as a powerful tool in oncology, said Christopher Busch, General Manager MR Therapy at Philips. For example, MRI has an essential role to play in the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of prostate cancer. Our collaboration with Profound Medical in MRI-guided therapy further extends our portfolio of treatment technologies that we can offer to advance prostate cancer care. TULSA-PRO for MRI-guided treatment of the prostate gland will complement Philips 3T MRI for multi-parametric diagnostic imaging of the prostate, image-guided biopsies (MRI guided or ultrasound guided with MR registration), and MRI-only simulation for radiation therapy treatment planning, covering the various stages of prostate cancer care. About Profound Medical Corp. Profound Medical is a Canadian medical device company that has developed a unique and minimally invasive treatment to ablate the prostate gland in prostate cancer patients. Profounds novel technology combines real-time MR imaging with transurethral therapeutic, robotically-driven ultrasound and closed-loop thermal feedback control. It provides a highly precise treatment tailored to patient-specific anatomy and pathology. This method of prostate ablation offers short treatment times and low morbidity, allowing for fast patient recovery. For more information, visit profoundmedical.com About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE:PHG) (AEX:PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving peoples health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. The company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips wholly owned subsidiary Philips Lighting is the global leader in lighting products, systems and services. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips posted 2015 sales of EUR 24.2 billion and employs approximately 104,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter. Notice regarding forward-looking statements: This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Profound and its business which may include, but is not limited to, the expectations regarding the efficacy of Profounds technology in the treatment of prostate cancer. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "is expected", "expects", "scheduled", "intends", "contemplates", "anticipates", "believes", "proposes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of each entity. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, including risks regarding the pharmaceutical industry, economic factors, the equity markets generally and risks associated with growth and competition. Although Profound has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Profound undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, other than as required by law. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. NEW ORLEANS, May 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As a follow up to previous successful real estate auctions conducted by the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (NORA), NORA is conducting, it's next ONLINE ONLY auction sale of 60 structures and vacant lots located throughout New Orleans. Properties are subject to a minimum bid price of $2,500 per property. Bidding for this online auction event will commence at 8:00 a.m. CT Monday, June 13, 2016 and conclude between 12:00 noon and 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The Auctioneer is Northbrook, IL based Hilco Real Estate, LLC, in conjunction with broker Paul A. Lynn, CCIM, Louisiana Licensed Real Estate Broker and Steven Mathis, Louisiana Licensed Auctioneer. "As with our previous auctions, we are continuing to receive hundreds of inquiries. We are excited to make available this next pool of properties through this online auction event," said Jeff Hebert, NORA's Executive Director. "During the previous auction events, savvy home buyers and investors were able to establish their own purchase price through the competitive bidding process. Buyers felt they were able to obtain properties in various neighborhoods throughout New Orleans at fair prices," stated Steven Mathis, Louisiana Licensed Auctioneer. The properties are being sold on an "AS-IS, WHERE-IS" basis. Winning bidders are required to complete rehab or construction on the property within 365 days from the date of closing and keep it code compliant immediately after closing. Bidders may use the property for green space if their property is directly adjacent to the property acquired at the auction. There are 13 structures that will be open for inspection on Saturday, June 4, 2016 prior to the auction. When inspecting the properties, prospective buyers should bring a flashlight and dress appropriately, anticipating a property that will not have any power and could be in poor physical condition. Please visit www.hilcorealestate.com/NORA for specific times to view the structures. Closing is required within 30 calendar days after the auction and financing will not be a contingency, so buyers will need to know they can close on their purchase within the required timeframe and have available pre-approval for their own personal financing. Buyers must obtain and maintain Flood Insurance for any structures, as a condition of closing. There will be a Buyer's Seminar on June 2, 2016 at 7:00 PM at the Dryades YMCA, 2220 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd. Registration begins at 6:30 PM. For more information about this NORA auction and to pre-register, please phone Steven Mathis at 504-407-1719 or visit www.hilcorealestate.com/NORA. The terms and conditions set forth herein are for informational purposes only and shall not be deemed to be and are not intended to be a comprehensive or complete listing of the applicable terms and conditions. All potential buyers should read and listen carefully to the terms and conditions of the auction and sale set forth at www.hilcorealestate.com/NORA and announced at the auction. The terms and conditions set forth at www.hilcorealestate.com/NORA and announced at the auction shall govern and shall supersede any terms and conditions set forth herein. Hilco Real Estate is headquartered in Northbrook, IL, and is a member of the Hilco Global family of companies. Hilco Global is a privately-held, diversified financial services company that is a premier global real estate services organization providing Advisory, Monetization and Valuation services for corporations, lenders, servicers, receivers, bankruptcy attorneys, estates, private owners, investment companies as well as local, state and federal government agencies. Media Contact: Gary Epstein EVP-CMO Hilco Global Office: 847-418-2712 Mobile: 847-323-4943 Email: gepstein@hilcoglobal.com Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter CHICAGO, May 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Professor Ann M. Lousin of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago was once again honored by the Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) for her writing on Illinois constitutional law. This is the fifth year that Lousin has been honored by ISHS. This year Lousin received a Certificate of Excellence for two articles she wrote as part of her ongoing column featured in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. The first column, "Dec. 15: A day that changed state history" considered how things might have been different in Illinois had voters rejected the 1970 state constitution. Lousin was a research assistant at the 1969-1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention. She also served as staff assistant to the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, including a term as Parliamentarian of the House. The second column, "A revolutionary proposal for financing education in Illinois" focused on the public education system in Illinois and how new financing structures might be more beneficial. Lousin attended Chicago Public Schools and presented a plan that would eliminate what she feels are foolish education financing formulas. According to the ISHS, "These columns by Ann Lousin, published in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, are full of insightful analysis, and offer a clear and creative approach to her subjects. She writes with a touch of humor, and her work deserves a wider audience." In previous years, she has been awarded for her writings on a variety of topics, including restorative justice, Illinois amendments and the battle at Fort Dearborn. Lousin has served on several nonprofit boards and governmental commissions, including a term as chairman of the Illinois State Civil Service Commission. She is active in the commercial law committees of the American and Chicago Bar Associations (CBA) and has been the chair of the CBA Constitutional Law Committee. She has been a leader in other legal organizations, including service as chair of the Board of Governors of the Armenian Bar Association from 1995 to 1998. She also lectures and consults on the Illinois Constitution, general public law issues and commercial law in the U.S. and abroad. In 2009 she was elected a member of the American Law Institute. Lousin joined the John Marshall faculty in 1975. She teaches Sales Transactions and Illinois Constitutional Law. Lousin received her bachelor's degree from Grinnell College and her law degree from The University of Chicago. Between college and law school, Lousin studied political science at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. About The John Marshall Law School The John Marshall Law School, founded in 1899, is an independent law school located in the heart of Chicago's legal, financial and commercial districts. The 2017 U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools ranks John Marshall's Lawyering Skills Program 5th, its Trial Advocacy Program 19th and its Intellectual Property Law Program 21st in the nation. Since its inception, John Marshall has been a pioneer in legal education and has been guided by a tradition of diversity, innovation, access and opportunity. 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 Don't expect Saudi Arabia 's new oil boss to bring big change to OPEC 's June meeting, analysts warned, after the energy power replaced its long-serving minister Ali al-Naimi on Saturday. "Al-Naimi's removal is less a reflection on [his] policies, which really have carried the kingdom through two decades of highs and lows in the oil markets, than a reflection of the tough scope of the work ahead in Saudi Arabia" Emily Hawthorne, Middle East analyst at political consultancy Strafor, told CNBC's " The Rundown ". In a far-reaching government shake-up, Saudi Arabia replaced al-Naimi , who had been oil minister since 1995, with Khalid al-Falih, the chairman of state-owned oil company Aramco. The change came after a sustained decline in oil prices; oil prices have fallen as much as 70 percent since mid-2014 amid an energy supply surplus and a slowdown in global demand growth. Saudi Arabia is one of the world's largest crude oil producer and the de facto leader of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The exit of the country's high-profile minister comes just ahead of the next OPEC meeting, scheduled for June 2. The 13-member oil cartel has repeatedly refused to cut supply despite the slide in prices, as Saudi Arabia sticks to its strategy of leveraging its low-cost production to squeeze out higher-cost U.S. shale oil producers. Saudi Arabia has also reportedly refused to sign up to a production freeze deal unless Iran , which has only recently returned to the oil market and is determined to built its market share, also signs up to the deal. IHS vice chairman Dan Yergin told CNBC's " Squawk Box " on Monday that Saudi Arabia was unlikely to back down in June from this position. "Al-Falih has said he will continue [Saudi Arabia's intention of allowing] the market determine the market and not have the old days of OPEC trying to manage the market," Yergin said. Story continues On Sunday, al-Falih said he would maintain the country's "stable petroleum policies," according to a Reuters report. It's also in Saudi's long-term interest to keep crude oil prices low now in order to limit demand shift to alternative fuels such as shale and, at the same time, spur economic change in the kingdom, Taurus Wealth Advisors executive, Rainer Michael Preiss, told CNBC's " Street Signs ". "We remain committed to maintaining our role in international energy markets and strengthening our position as the world's most reliable supplier of energy," al-Falih said in a statement emailed to Reuters. The Saudi strategy of letting oil prices fall until shale producers can no longer function, however, has taken longer than expected to work, which has taken a toll on the oil income-reliant Saudi economy. In April, Saudi Arabia unveiled a long-term economic blueprint for life in a low-oil-price world. Titled "Saudi Vision 2030," the plan sets out policy and budgetary changes to be implemented over the next 15 years in the hope of making the kingdom less reliant on crude. "They are dealing with a lot of internal struggles in the kingdom. Vision 2030 is about broadcasting to the growing youth population that they will have a future in the kingdom and that future is going include less of a reliance on oil," said Strafor's Hawthorne. "Al-Naimi presided over the kingdom during a time when it was OK for oil to be the absolute bread and butter for the kingdom and now Saudi Arabia is going to embark on the different pathit makes sense to have a different head." ClipperData's commodity research director, Matt Smith, said that country's move also signaled the growing prominence and power of deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman , who is leading the economic overhaul. "He's sending a message that they are making these decisions; they can make these calls on a more regular basis when needed," Smith told CNBC's "Squawk Box." U.S. WTI light, sweet crude oil was up 1.7 percent at $45.43 a barrel while Brent crude was up 1.1 percent at $45.88 a barrel on Monday afternoon in Asia, as a huge wildfire in Canada was estimated to have cut daily production capacity by over 1 million barrels a day. Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook. More From CNBC So, can we say hes pale, rested and ready? Ted Cruz seemed to open the door -- if only a crack -- to jumping back into the race for the Republican presidential nomination. In an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck on Tuesday, one of his most vocal supporters before the Texas senator suspended his campaign last week Cruz said that he would be open to restarting his campaign if he saw a viable path to victory. Perhaps he would consider it, he said, if he were to unexpectedly win tonights primary in Nebraska. However, the tone of the conversation suggested that he was not entirely serious, and he added, Im not holding my breath. My assumption is that that will not happen. Related: Why a Pure Conservative Platform for the GOP Is So Last Election However, Cruz did make it clear that he is not prepared to support the nomination of Donald Trump, the man who finally drove him out of the race last week with a crushing victory in the Indiana primary. Republican voters, he suggested, have plenty of time before November to explore their options, and may find that they have other options when they head to the polls in November. Cruz has already made it clear that he plans to play a role in the GOPs nominating convention by working with delegates who support him to try to craft a party platform that retains their conservative policy preferences even as the partys presumptive nominee treats many of them as negotiable. Cruzs supporters will also try to exert their influence on the Rules Committee, though a close adviser to the senator said yesterday that there would be no effort to attempt to engineer Cruzs nomination through procedural maneuvering at the convention. While Cruz did not directly attack Trump, he did suggest that part of his aversion to the New York billionaire is what Cruz views as low moral character. US citizens, he said, ought to be able to look up to our president. Related: Is Paul Ryan Backing Away from a Confrontation With Trump? Story continues Cruz was the second of Trumps former rivals in the space of a day to come out with actual or implied criticism of the presumptive nominee. On Monday, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who dropped out of the race after being blitzed by Trump in his home state, said on Facebook that he still has concerns about Trumps policies and tried to quash ongoing speculation that he might be a potential vice presidential pick for his former rival. While Republican voters have chosen Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee, my previously stated reservations about his campaign and concerns with many of his policies remain unchanged, Rubio wrote. He will be best served by a running mate and by surrogates who fully embrace his campaign. As such, I have never sought, will not seek and do not want to be considered for vice president. Instead, I will focus my attention on representing the people of Florida, retaining a conservative majority in the Senate and electing principled conservatives across the country. Trump, never one to let an offense slide, tweaked Rubio on Twitter without directly naming him. It is only the people that were never asked to be VP that tell the press that they will not take the position, he wrote. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: The black dot movement is a movement which is popular in Western countries is about fighting domestic abuses. What it merely requires is for the victim of abuse to draw a black circle in the middle of their palm. The mark on their body acts as a subtle hint to get the voice of victims to be heard without having to speak a word, and it also helps bind abuse victims in silent solidarity. Similarly, 2 of our youth political powerhouses have launched a red circle movement. Drawing upon the concept of the black dot movement, it is about unity in bravery, but against despotism and tyranny in Malaysia. The #RedCircle movement encourages a person to draw a red circle on the palm of ones hand, snap a picture of it and share it on social media with the phrase Unity in Bravery alongside the hashtag #RedCircle. A Post-Obama Development A few months back, an article on one Alphaeus Tan went viral when US president Barack Obama came to visit Malaysia. His name will forever be synonymous with asking US president Barack Obama to speak to our Prime Minister about the importance of transparency and independence of operations in the political sector. Keeping the promise President Barack Obama made to Alphaeus Tan, the President raised the issues to our PM, which also made international headlines. alphaeus-4 Speaking of Obama, Alphaeus Tan relayed to Vulcan Post that after the Presidents visit, the investigations into political scandals such as 1MDB gained much ground. He hopes to embolden more people to stand up for justice and the truth, and now it seems that hes still consistently fighting for that same cause through a new channel thats social media driventhe #RedCircle Movement. Alphaeus Tan (Instagram account @Alphaeus) is one half of the team behind the #RedCircle Movement that he calls the movement of movements. He said that the reason for the cause is due to the fact that he, by himself cannot protect the people who are helping to resolve any alleged corruption issues, but with the movement, together, we can empower the millions of people (Malaysia and elsewhere) who probably can. Story continues Image Credit: FreeMalaysiaToday Image Credit: FreeMalaysiaToday The other half of the #RedCircle Movement duo is yet another Malaysian youth activist who is a powerhouse in his own right and has had his fair share of experience in the activism scene, top Malaysian debater Syed Saddiq (Instagram account @SyedSaddiq). He is well known for actively championing democratic ideals to his audiences and advocates for necessary reforms to the existing political system. Why The Need For A Movement? When there is a problem, go-getters do not stand idly by and watch the events unfold with both arms folded. As such, Alphaeus Tan and Syed Saddiq decided to combine forces to put their influence to good use. Prior to this, Alphaeus Tan had written personal emails to Amnesty International on suggested actions, such as letters of support, media coverage on Malaysia, and protests that the international community could take; however he felt that there was also a need for a combined Malaysian movement to call for the uprise of righteous leaders everywhere. Such previous brave leaders would include people like the likes of Adam Adli. Image Credit: Anthony Kuhn/NPR Image Credit: Anthony Kuhn/NPR Syed Saddiq too echoed the same in the importance of a collective effort with the growing sense of hopelessness in Malaysias current political state. The movement is aimed to pique international interests and embolden more people to go against despotism and injustice; therefore the theme of the #RedCircle movement is appropriately called Unity In Bravery. Bravery In The Face Of Hopelessness As most symbols go, there is of course a meaning behind the red circle thats used in this new movement. Alphaeus Tan explained, The red is to call upon the bravery as ingrained in our proud countrys flag and the circle is for unity. It takes a measure of bravery to empower others to stand for something. For Syed Saddiq, he believes that bravery is doing the unexpected for a greater good, and that greater good should be defined in a way that is not selfish but selfless. Syed Saddiq said, I personally believe that my bravery is driven by my moral belief that if I do not do something, that means Im a complicit in the creation of the injustice. Merely sitting on the sidelines when something wrong is happening makes me a complicit to the problem. If I do not speak up now and problem occurs in the future, that means I have indirectly supported the creation of the problem by remaining silent. redcircle top On the other hand, Alphaeus Tan shared that bravery is understanding potential consequences in our actions. A burden bore by one, is a burden too much; but a burden bore by many, is hardly any. If together we bear the countrys problems, we could save Malaysia. And the first step towards being brave? Self-preparatory action through acknowledgement of fears, he told Vulcan Post. It is unfortunate, however, that due to strings of disappointing events in the country, it is only natural for some Malaysians to give up any hope of changing the political scene for the better. Despite this, Alphaeus Tan remains optimistic. As Winston Churchill puts it, Success is going from failure and failure without loss of enthusiasm, so lets not lose our enthusiasm to save Malaysia. Gathering Of Powerhouses powerhousespolitics In the same vein, it is this act of unity and bravery that has won over the support of other leaders in Malaysia, one of which is former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin. In a public forum, I had publicly unveiled the #RedCircle movement to the former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin by revealing the #RedCircle T-shirt I was wearing underneath my shirt. He and the audience of the forum were shocked by my surprise actions, but Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has openly expressed his support for and has taken part in the #RedCircle movement, Alphaeus Tan recounted. These people soldier forward with the movement because as the debater himself puts it, Where theres a will theres a way. Change is never an immediate thing, Syed Saddiq added. It takes a very long time and it takes a lot of effort and perseverance. But the point in which we give up before trying or after a few months of trying that means we are not worth the change we are trying to pursue, he said. How Can You Participate? If you feel compelled to do your part to unite in bravery, the #RedCircle Movement encourages you to draw a red circle on the palm of your hand, snap a picture of it and upload it on your social media platforms with the key words Unity In Bravery and use the hashtag #RedCircle. For more updates, you can follow the movements Facebook page here. Also Read How Much Do Msian Millennials Earn, And What Do They Spend Most On? We Asked Around. The post 2 Youth Political Powerhouses Joined Forces To Spark A Movement For A Better Malaysia appeared first on Vulcan Post. (Bloomberg) -- Malaysias new central bank governor said he is certain the government will meet all its debt obligations, responding to queries about 1Malaysia Development Bhd. as another coupon payment looms for the state investment company that defaulted last month. The Malaysian government has assured it will fulfill its commitments, Muhammad Ibrahim said in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday in his first public remarks to reporters as governor. He was responding to a question on concerns about Malaysian sovereign risk arising from a 1MDB default. The fund has a $52.4 million interest payment due Wednesday on $1.75 billion of bonds maturing in 2022. "Im quite confident the government will honor all its debt obligations," said Muhammad, who became central bank chief on May 1. 1MDB missed a $50 million payment last month on separate privately-placed notes amid a dispute with Abu Dhabis sovereign wealth fund International Petroleum Investment Co., which co-guaranteed those securities and the ones where interest is due Wednesday. IPIC, which met the coupon obligation after 1MDB defaulted, hasnt said what it will do this time. 1MDB didnt respond to queries on whether it plans to make the payment. The two funds have been locked in a dispute over 1MDBs debt obligations to IPIC under an agreement reached in May last year. As part of the pact, the Abu Dhabi wealth fund said then that it would assume obligations to pay interest due under $3.5 billion of 1MDB bonds that it guaranteed. IPIC said last month that 1MDB was in default of the agreement after the Malaysian fund failed to pay it more than $1 billion in connection with a loan. Fitch Ratings said Tuesday there is an increasing likelihood that 1MDBs debt will spill over to the Malaysian sovereigns balance sheet. Malaysias finance ministry is the sole shareholder of 1MDB, whose advisory board has been headed by Prime Minister Najib Razak. 1MDB is in the process of mostly winding down by transferring much of its business to standalone entities. Story continues "With the resolution of 1MDB, it will improve market sentiment," Muhammad said. Credit rating companies remain confident that the 1MDB default will have a limited impact on the sovereign, and that the country can bear the burden if necessary. The government has said it didnt believe that any amounts it would be required to pay with respect to 1MDB would be material to it. News on 1MDB are "short term in nature" and wont have a long-term impact on Malaysias economy, said Mark Mobius, executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group. Investors are looking at individual stocks and general stability, he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. To contact the reporter on this story: Chong Pooi Koon in Kuala Lumpur at pchong17@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Niluksi Koswanage 2016 Bloomberg L.P. Dilma Rousseff survived torture as a guerrilla opposing Brazil's military dictatorship. Four decades later, as president, she's fighting for her political survival. After those dark days in the 1970s, when Rousseff belonged to a violent Marxist underground group, she rose to become Brazil's first female president. Less than a year into her second term, though, she faces being suspended from office this week for an impeachment trial in the Senate on charges that her government took unauthorized loans to cover budget holes during her tight reelection in 2014. Brazil's 68-year-old "Iron Lady" calls the impeachment a coup and promises "to resist to the very end." But the collapse of her ruling coalition and open war with her vice president Michel Temer, who will take over if she is suspended this week, has left Rousseff on the ropes. Although many analysts agree that the seriousness of the charges against her is debatable, a tide of public anger over prolonged recession, corruption and the government's inability to deal with Congress could sweep her away. But as Rousseff herself has pointed out, torture steeled her for tough times. "I have come up against hugely difficult situations in my life, including attacks which took me to the limit physically," she said. "Nothing knocked me off my stride." - Bicycle president - Rousseff came to power in a 2010 election as the handpicked Workers' Party candidate to succeed hugely popular Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the leftwing party's founder. Whether as Lula's chief of staff or energy minister, she won a reputation for laser-like attention to detail -- a talent she is said to have carried over into her own cabinet meetings. "She came here with her little computer," Lula said after appointing Rousseff to her first cabinet post. "She started to talk and I felt something different in her." The flip side is that Rousseff is not seen as a natural politician, with little common touch and a brusque manner that did not go down well when it came to wheeling and dealing in Brasilia. But supporters say that the leader commonly referred to as just Dilma is good company. "People always say about women in power that they're hard, managerial. But Dilma is a person with a great sense of humor, fun, extremely caring and generous," said Ieda Akselrud de Seixas, who was jailed with Rousseff in the 1970s. At Lula's prompting during her reelection campaign, Rousseff opened up, once confessing to escaping the presidential palace on the back of a friend's Harley-Davidson and cruising through the streets of Brasilia incognito. She is a keen bicycle rider too and frequently photographed taking exercise, even at the height of the current crisis. Rousseff also tapped into a national obsession with cosmetic surgery, getting her teeth whitened, hair redone and lifting wrinkles from her face. The relatively fresh look was in contrast to the visible toll exacted during her successful battle against lymphatic cancer that was first diagnosed in 2009. At one point, she wore a wig to hide hair loss from chemotherapy. She has since made a complete recovery, doctors say. Twice married, Rousseff has a daughter, Paula, from a three-decade relationship with her ex-husband, fellow leftist militant Carlos de Araujo. - 'Subversion' - Born December 14, 1947 to a Brazilian mother and Bulgarian businessman father, Rousseff grew up comfortably middle-class in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte. She cut her political teeth as a Marxist militant opposed to the 1964-1985 dictatorship and in January 1970 was arrested and sentenced to prison on grounds she belonged to a group responsible for murders and bank robberies. Rousseff's exploits during her time in the Revolutionary Armed Vanguard Palmares group remain shrouded in rumor. But most reports agree that she played more of a support role than taking part in violence. The judge who found her guilty dubbed her the "high priestess of subversion," journalist Ricardo Amaral wrote in a biography. A photo in the book shows a bespectacled Rousseff aged just 22 staring defiantly at the court. After nearly three years behind bars, during which she says she was subjected to repeated bouts of torture, including electric shocks, Rousseff was released at the end of 1972. - Petrobras: the slippery slope - She helped found the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) in 1979 and eventually switched to Lula's Workers' Party in 2000. From there, she made rapid progress into the country's upper echelons. When Lula was first elected president in 2003, he named Rousseff his energy minister and then, in 2005, his cabinet chief. As chairwoman of oil giant Petrobras from 2003 to 2010, Rousseff was at the helm of the country's biggest corporation -- a record that has come back to haunt her with the revelation of a massive embezzlement scheme at the company. Lula and many other senior Workers' Party members, as well as opponents, have been probed or in some cases already prosecuted over allegations of money laundering, embezzlement or bribe taking. Rousseff herself is being investigated for alleged obstruction of justice. Unlike many of her peers, however, she has not been accused of seeking to enrich herself personally. 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 Education Secretary Armin Luistro lauded public school teachers and other agency personnel who rendered election service last Monday. During a press conference yesterday, Luistro said the conduct of the national and local polls has been generally peaceful despite some isolated incidents that were recorded in certain parts of the country. We are thankful that our teachers are safe from any forms of threats, the secretary said in Filipino. Were grateful for their continued support as in the past elections. They have proven that they can be trusted as the leaders during times when everyone else is fighting. Luistro also lauded the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for ensuring peaceful and orderly elections this year. They did their work exceedingly well. I think that the minor problems are isolated cases and can be recorded for improvement of the system, said the Department of Education chief, who also believed that it was a generally peaceful poll. DepEd said 60 percent of their personnel have rendered election service this year, with 277,527 in the board of election inspectors (BEIs); 90,400 as support staff; 37,000 as supervisors; and 4,465 in the special BEIs assigned to assist detainees, indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities. There were 92,509 clustered precincts in 36,788 voting centers in this years national polls. The DepEd also assured public school teachers that their honoraria for rendering election duty would be released three days after submission of necessary documents. This time, it (release of funds) will be faster. The Commission on Elections will be the one to issue (and facilitate the distribution of honoraria). They will use the LandBank ATM cards of the teachers, Luistro said in Filipino, recalling that the releasing was previously slow as they had to distribute cash instead of using the automated machines. The DepEd chief said those who have no ATM cards would either be given cash cards or cash advances. Story continues Public school teachers who served in the BEIs will receive five-day leave credits and an allowance of P4,500 divided into P3,000 as honorarium, P500 for verification and sealing of the books of voters, P500 for final testing and P500 in transportation allowance. Those who served as supervisors will receive P3,000 and five-day leave credits, while the support staff shall receive P1,500 and five-day leave credits. Luistro said DepEd received a P30-million replenishable indemnity fund for election-related death or injuries of its personnel during the elections. It has not, as of yesterday noon, recorded any instance of violence that resulted in death or injury of a teacher. The Department of Health also earmarked P4 million for voters who were hospitalized on election day. Health Secretary Janette Garin said the department would shoulder the hospital expenses of the voters who were rushed to any of the 72 public hospitals nationwide. Most of the cases attended by our health workers involved high blood pressure and dizziness. There was one case earlier reported to be heat stroke but we think it was heart attack, she noted in a chance interview at the Comelec Canvassing Center. The DOH and Comelec have inked a memorandum of agreement for the former to put up first-aid centers in all of the 36,000 voting centers on election day. With Sheila Crisostomo By Neil Jerome Morales DAVAO, Philippines (Reuters) - The Philippines' president-elect, rough-talking city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, announced plans on Tuesday for an overhaul of the country's system of government that would devolve power from "imperial Manila" to long-neglected provinces. Duterte's win in Monday's poll has not been confirmed, but an unofficial count of votes by an election commission-accredited watchdog showed he had a huge lead over his two closest rivals, both of whom conceded defeat. By Tuesday afternoon, the ballot count showed Duterte had almost 39 percent of votes cast. He was more than 6 million votes ahead of the second-placed candidate with 92 percent of votes counted from an electorate of 54 million. It is not clear when Duterte's victory will be officially declared but he is expected to take office on June 30. Votes were also cast on Monday for vice-president. One day on, counting showed the outgoing administration's candidate, Maria Leonor Robredo, ahead of the son and namesake of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Duterte's spokesman, Peter Lavina, told a news conference that the new president would seek a national consensus for a revision of the constitution which would switch from a unitary form of government to a parliamentary and federal model. The proposal to devolve power from Manila fits with Duterte's challenge as a political outsider to the country's establishment, which he has slammed as self-serving and corrupt. "The powerful elites in Manila who will be affected by this system will definitely oppose this proposal," said Earl Parreno, an analyst at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms. Duterte's spokesman said he would also seek peace agreements with rebel groups in the south of the archipelago, where the outgoing government has been using force to quell militancy. The 71-year-old's truculent defiance of political tradition has drawn comparisons with U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, as have his references to his libido. That tapped into popular disgust with the ruling class over its failure to reduce poverty and inequality despite several years of robust economic growth. SOUTH CHINA SEA TALKS Duterte's vows to restore law and order also resonated with voters. But his incendiary rhetoric and advocacy of extrajudicial killings to stamp out crime and drugs have alarmed many who hear echoes of the country's authoritarian past. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Daniel Russel told reporters in Vietnam that Washington respected the choice of the Philippine people and "will gladly work with the leader that they select". Duterte made a succession of winding, bellicose and at-times comical remarks late on Monday as the votes were being counted, venting over corruption and bad governance and telling anecdotes from his 22 years as mayor of Davao city. Wearing a casual checked shirt and slouched in a chair, he said corrupt officials should "retire or die" and reiterated his support for police to use deadly force against criminals. "I'll behave if I become president," he said, adding that he would not make state visits to countries with cold weather. In an early indication of his unorthodoxy, Duterte told reporters on Monday that if he became president he would seek multilateral talks to resolve disputes over the South China Sea. The outgoing administration of President Benigno Aquino has asked a court of arbitration in The Hague to recognise its right to exploit waters in the South China Sea, a case it hoped could bolster claims by other countries against China in the resource-rich waters. Duterte said negotiations should include Japan, Australia and the United States, which is traditionally the region's dominant security player and contests China's development of islands and rocky outcrops in the sea. The influential Chinese state-run tabloid the Global Times, said that Beijing would not be naive enough to believe that a new president would bring a solution to the South China Sea disputes. "Only time will tell how far the new leader, be it Duterte or not, will go toward restoring the bilateral relationship." FIGHTING THE ESTABLISHMENT Duterte's entertaining and profanity-loaded speeches have shed little light on his policies beyond going after gangsters and drug pushers. He has been vague on what he would do to spur an economy that has averaged growth at around 6 percent under Aquino. Duterte said on Monday he had been criticised for not discussing policy but would "hire the best economic minds". One of his advisers told Reuters spending on education would be lifted to benefit "disadvantaged regions" and rural development will be prioritised to spread wealth more evenly across the country. "Everything seems to be in imperial Manila," said Ernesto Pernia, professor emeritus of economics at the University of the Philippines. "He wants to give more attention to the lagging, the backward regions." Pernia said the pursuit of tax evaders and corrupt officials should bolster government revenues to fund extra spending. (Additional reporting by Manuel Mogato in MANILA and My Pham in HANOI; Writing by John Chalmers; editing by Robert Birsel) The human gut is a complex and amazing system, and the more we learn about it, the more amazed we are. It turns out Maker Movement Dremel 3D Printer Adds Mobile Printing from iOS and Android Devices The company will also launch a program to give free 3D printers to education "ambassadors." Dremel has rolled out two new mobile apps for its latest 3D printer that allow users to print 3D models and monitor printers remotely. The new app, called Dremel 3D, supports the Dremel Idea Builder 3D40, a 3D printer that is available in a configuration designed specifically for education. The education edition (3D40 EDU) provides curriculum, professional development and one-on-one customer support, as well as additional materials, including extra PLA spools, an extra build plate, extra tape for the build plate and a USB flash drive with curriculum-based 3D models. The printer, which was previously available for preorder but is now shipping. The 3D40 already supported wireless and Ethernet printing, two rarities among 3D printers at this stage, as well as the common USB printing support. Now with the mobile apps, students can select a printer, start the build process and monitor progress on their iOS and Android devices. The app also allows users to browse an online gallery of models and download models to a local 3D object library. Dremel also announced its launching a new ambassador program. Educators selected to participate in the program will receive a free Idea Builder 3D40 and 10 spools of filament for their school. Information on the ambassador program will be posted on Dremel Educations Facebook page. Dremel 3D is available now as a free download in the iTunes and Google Play app stores. The Dremel 3D40 is also available now. Additional details can be found on Dremels site. STEM Monroe College Offers Coding Instruction to NYC Students In an effort to get students interested in coding and programming, New York's Monroe College is launching a free, 12-week summer Coding Academy at its Bronx campus. The program was created in part to support New York City's mandate to expand IT learning opportunities for high school students. (Last fall, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Computer Science for All initiative, which calls for every K-12 public school in the city to provide computer science instruction by 2025.) "Unfortunately, many of New York's high school students simply don't have the same IT-specific learning resources and opportunities in the classroom that many of their suburban peers do, which impedes their career ambitions in one of the fastest-growing sectors of our economy," said Stephen Jerome, president of Monroe College, in a statement. "We are proud to launch our new Coding Academy and provide students in the Bronx and elsewhere with the free, quality programming instruction that will help reverse that trend." The Coding Academy is open to enrolled high school juniors and seniors with any level of coding experience and computer science knowledge. The college-level courses were "designed to accommodate the learning needs of beginners with no prior knowledge as well as those with more advanced coding skills eager to learn a new coding language," according to a press release. Students will choose either the Web Development track or the App Development track, and then work with their peers within each track on a group project. "The Web Development track will plan and build a completely functional website, while the App Development track will conceptualize and create a game" and submit it to the Apple and Google App Stores. Coding Academy classes begin May 14. For information and registration, go to the Monroe College site. Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group has turned its fire on The Pensions Regulator following her evidence to the parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of BHS. The company intervened in an email to the business and work and pension committees, suggesting there were statements that needed to be clarified and corrected. There is a hostile environment surrounding the inquiry - with Sir Philip previously calling on work and pensions committee chair Frank Field to step down from the role. He accused the MP of "prejudice" for suggesting Sir Philip's Knighthood was at risk over the retailer's demise. The tycoon is also likely to be unimpressed that the committees have appointed Lord Myners and David Norgrove both of whom opposed Sir Philip's attempt to buy Marks & Spencer (Other OTC: MAKSF - news) in 2004 to assist their investigation. On Thursday Arcadia's company secretary wrote to MPs and suggested that chief executive of The Pensions Regulator, Lesley Titcomb, was "incorrect" to say in her evidence that the regulator only learned of the BHS sale in 2015 through the newspapers. The email said that the regulator had written to Arcadia on 3 March of that year "asking for an urgent meeting in view of the fact that the proposed sale of BHS was due to complete shortly." It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) went on to describe a meeting with The Pensions Regulator on 4 March. Arcadia said the sale of BHS, to Retail Acquisitions for 1, was completed on 11 March. The letter also moved to clarify the payment of dividends to Sir Philip and his family. It said 423m was paid out from 2002 to 2004, when BHS was making "significant profits." BHS entered administration last month with a pension deficit of 571m and leaving 11,000 jobs at risk - a year after it was sold. It emerged on Tuesday that there are five bids being taken forward for consideration by administrators for the bulk of the business. Sir Philip is due to be questioned by MPs on 15 June. A spokesperson for The Pensions Regulator said in response to Arcadia's letter: "As we have launched an anti-avoidance investigation we need to take care not to prejudice our case. Story continues "We did discuss the proposed terms of a potential deal with trustees and the employer, however, we were not given sufficient information at that time to assess the potential impact on the BHS pension scheme. "When addressing the Work and Pensions Select Committee, Lesley Titcomb said that we were not informed of the confirmation of the actual sale of BHS to Retail Acquisitions Ltd until 11 March. "She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) explained that we were engaged with the trustees and the employer in the weeks leading up to the sale, and that we were aware a sale was a possibility. Employers can apply to TPR for a clearance statement if they are considering actions which could be materially detrimental to a defined benefit scheme and its members. Clearance is not approval or authorisation for a transaction to proceed. The employer or the purchaser did not approach us for clearance in this case. Given our concerns regarding the BHS Pension Scheme and the circumstance relating to the sale, and in the absence of clearance, we opened an anti-avoidance investigation which superseded our earlier valuation investigation. We are sending a clarification to the Work & Pensions Select Committee. BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali will boost spending in its 2016 budget by 4 percent, partly to cover implementation of a peace agreement with armed groups in the country's north, the finance minister said on Tuesday. The budget approved in December set spending at 2.002 trillion CFA francs ($3.51 billion) with expected revenues of 1.828 trillion francs. Spending would rise by a further 81 billion francs to "take into account some of our engagements," Boubou Cisse said on state-owned radio. The extra money would also help meet the costs of local elections due to be held later this year, he said. The government signed the peace deal, agreed with an alliance of Tuareg-led rebels, in June. It was intended to draw a line under a 2012 uprising and allow authorities to focus on resolving a separate conflict with Islamist militants in the same thinly populated northern desert region. The deal calls for the government to establish an investment fund to spur durable development to address rebel grievance that the state has for decades neglected the impoverished region. The budget increase is expected to be approved by parliament without difficulty. ($1 = 570.9100 CFA francs) (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Joe Bavier; editing by John Stonestreet) (Repeats May 9 item; no changes to text) By Libby George LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - A series of attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure has pushed its output of crude close to a 22-year low, Reuters data shows, putting intense pressure on the country's finances. Shell (LSE: RDSB.L - news) workers at Nigeria's Bonga oilfield in the southern Niger Delta were evacuated following a militant threat, a senior labour union official said on Monday, while attacks late last week forced Chevron (Euronext: CHTEX.NX - news) to shut its Okan offshore facility, taking out 35,000 barrels per day (bpd). While Shell said the latest unrest had not yet impacted production, its Forcados field is still closed and under force majeure following a February subsea pipeline attack, taking out 250,000 bpd. The violence has depressed production in what is typically Africa's largest producer to roughly 1.69 million bpd in May, the lowest since at least June 2007, when production fell to 1.68 million bpd, International Energy Agency data shows. A small reduction from any field would quickly send output to the next low, seen in August 1994, when it hit 1.46 million bpd, according to the IEA data. "It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's really not a good situation," said Eugene Lindell, senior energy analyst with JBC Energy in Vienna, noting that the global excess of crude was keeping Brent prices from moving significantly higher on the back of the outages. "They have less production, and they're getting less bang for their buck." The country's 2016 budget, signed into law just last week, assumes 2.2 million bpd of oil production at $38 a barrel. In a country analysis released late last week, the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . Energy Information Administration noted that pipeline sabotage and oil supply disruptions had increased in 2016, putting direct pressure on the country's finances. "Because Nigeria heavily depends on oil revenue, its economy is noticeably affected by changes to its oil production and/or to global crude oil prices," the report said. President Muhammadu Buhari has said there would be a crackdown on "vandals and saboteurs" in the country's oil-producing Delta region, analysts said the violence could scare investment away from the country. "If it continues like this ... there are companies who will probably not consider Nigeria" for upstream investments, Lindell said. (Additional reporting by Alex Lawler, editing by David Evans) (Reuters) - Britain and Singapore will help each others financial technology firms and investors gain access to their respective markets, the two sides said. A "fintech bridge" between the two countries will help British firms do business in the Asian market while attracting Singaporean fintech companies and investors to Britain. Britain's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore signed a cooperation agreement that sets out how the regulators plan to share and use information on financial services innovation in their respective markets, a statement said on Wednesday. Britain has become the global fintech capital with more people working in the industry than in New York, or in the combined fintech workforce of Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, a recent report by consultancy firm EY showed. British fintech generated 6.6 billion pounds of revenue in 2015 and has a workforce of over 60,000 employees, according to the statement. Singapore has also been bidding to position itself as one of Asia's top locations for the technology startups that aim to compete with traditional banking and financial services. "(The fintech bridge) will support fintech innovators who wish to use Singapore as a base for collaboration and as a gateway to other markets in Asia," said Jacqueline Loh, deputy managing director of the Singapore regulator MAS. "The agreement between the MAS and FCA will also create opportunities for Singapore-based companies to grow and scale into the UK market." (Reporting By Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.) Societe Generale Chief Executive Frederic Oudea arrives at a Senate hearing May 11, 2016 in Paris, France, where he reiterated that it had no offices or staff in Panama as of 2012 and said it was wrong to think the French bank was at the heart of tax fraud, revealed in the Panama Papers. REUTERS/Charles Platiau By Maya Nikolaeva and Julien Ponthus PARIS (Reuters) - Societe Generale's chief defended the bank over the Panama Papers revelations during a two-hour grilling by lawmakers on Wednesday, rejecting accusations the French lender was at the heart of tax evasion. The public Senate hearing held to get to the root of the matter came the same day Le Monde newspaper widened the list of French banks under the tax haven spotlight to include BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Credit Mutuel. Societe Generale Chief Executive Frederic Oudea has been thrust to the fore of a controversy over the use of secretive tax havens since an investigative news syndicate exposed the activities of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca. The reports, based on 11.5 million leaked documents, put SocGen near the top of a list of banks around the world that had created hundreds of thousands of shell companies in Panama and other offshore centres between 1977 and 2015. The leaked documents showed the French bank had created 979 such firms. Also at issue were accusations that Oudea misled senators when he told a Senate committee in 2012 that his bank had closed operations in Panama and other tax havens identified as overly secretive or short of international transparency standards. At the public hearing on Wednesday, Oudea reiterated that the bank had no offices or staff in Panama as of 2012, as he had told the Senate committee that year, when he was also head of France's banking association. "To imply that Societe Generale group is at the heart of tax evasion is false and unjustified," Oudea said. ACTIVE ACCOUNTS The senator who chaired the committee in question back in 2012, Philippe Dominati, said on Wednesday he did not think there were any grounds for legal action against Oudea over the allegations he misled the upper house then. It was not immediately clear when and if there would be the final ruling on the matter. Oudea also told lawmakers SocGen had not opened any offshore companies registered in Panama to manage wealth for clients using Mossack Fonseca since 2012, with one temporary exception. Story continues The one exception he mentioned was a company set up for a Swiss tax resident of Belgian nationality which was closed after three months because the client decided not to use it. He said SocGen had opened a number of offshore structures using Mossack Fonseca before 2012. As of Wednesday it had 66 active client accounts linked to Mossack Fonseca, but he said they were legal and fiscally transparent. Separately, French newspaper Le Monde published the numbers of active offshore companies set up by Mossack Fonseca for clients of French banks as of the end of 2015. According to the newspaper, SocGen had 71 left, Credit Agricole had 54, Credit Mutuel had 11 and BNP Paribas had six. BNP declined to comment. Credit Agricole said its wealth management arm no longer operated offshore companies on behalf of its clients. Credit Mutuel said it had never had dealings with Mossack Fonseca. "Some of our clients have on their own decided to set up such types of structures," a Credit Mutuel spokesman said. (Editing by David Clarke) By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK, May 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The activities of several vendors obtaining humanitarian aid for Syria for the International Rescue Committee have been halted amid an investigation by the U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . government into reports of corruption, officials said on Wednesday. The aid agency, headed by former British foreign secretary David Miliband, is not itself a focus of the investigation, said a spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID's Office of Inspector General said last week that it had unearthed corrupt practices involving a number of programs operating out of Turkey which provide humanitarian aid to Syria. "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," it said in a statement. In response, USAID has halted several aid activities in Turkey over suspicions of fraud and suspended some people and some vendors from getting U.S. funds, officials said. The IRC refuted media reports that it and another leading charity, the International Medical Corps, were among those getting USAID funding withdrawn. "IRC (Other OTC: IRCWF - news) and IMC have not been suspended," said Sam Ostrander, a spokesman for USAID in Washington, D.C. But he said several humanitarian aid procurement activities have been halted while the system is repaired. A spokeswoman for the IRC in London told the Thomson Reuters (Dusseldorf: TOC.DU - news) Foundation: "We are working openly and collaboratively with USAID to investigate this issue." The Inspector General's office said several aid agencies have fired staff members due to misconduct it had uncovered. The IMC said it has laid off 800 employees and fired three others suspected of involvement in the scheme. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) also said it is cooperating with the USAID investigation and had opened an investigation of its own. Story continues IMC's aid programs funded by other donors continue, and it is able to distribute medicine already in its warehouse in Turkey, it said. Another charity, GOAL Syria, said it was cooperating with the investigation and that certain aspects of its program to procure emergency food and other items for Syria have been suspended. The war in Syria has killed more than 250,000 people though with tens of thousands unaccounted for, some say the death toll may be as high as 400,000. (Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst, additional reporting by Dasha Afanasieva. Editing by Katie Nguyen. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) * System undersupplied by 5.5 mcm * LNG flows sharply reduced May 11 (Reuters) - British prompt gas prices were mixed on Wednesday as gas for immediate delivery rose in reaction to a slight shortfall in supply and day-ahead gas inched down due to a comfortable supply outlook for the rest of the week. Gas for immediate delivery was up 0.35 pence at 30.25 pence per therm at 0943 GMT from the previous settlement, while gas for day-ahead delivery was down 0.15 pence to 30.15 p/therm. Supplies were lower than levels on Tuesday due to a steep fall in Norwegian imports and the end of high-flow testing at the South Hook liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal. Britain's gas system was undersupplied by 5.5 million cubic metres (mcm) with flows forecast to be around 211.2 mcm/day, according to National Grid (LSE: NG.L - news) data. Imports through the Langeled pipeline from Norway fell by 12 mcm to 28 mcm/day. Deliveries from South Hook LNG terminal plunged to 21 mcm/day from 73 mcm/day on Tuesday after high-flow testing at the terminal finished. "Prices across the NBP (Shanghai: 601018.SS - news) (National Balancing Point hub) have opened the session largely in line with Tuesday's close, with supply outlooks over the coming weeks looking largely comfortable," said Andrew Crabtree, an analyst at Wingas. Deliveries from South Hook LNG plunged to 21 mcm/day from 73 mcm/day on Tuesday after high-flow testing at the terminal finished. In the Netherlands, the day-ahead gas price at the TTF hub fell by 0.05 euro to 12.77 euros per megawatt hour. In the European carbon market, front-year allowances eased by 0.02 euro to 5.88 euros a tonne. (Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; editing by Nina Chestney) LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (Dusseldorf: STS1.DU - news) said on Wednesday it would be a "big mistake" for Britain to leave the European Union when it holds a referendum on its membership of the bloc next month. "I lived here for 10 years. I consider London my second home and from my personal point of view, it would be a very big mistake to leave the European Union," Santos said in response to a question at a meeting with investors in London. Other foreign leaders, including U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have said they think Britain should stay in the EU. (Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Michael Holden) By James Pearson PYONGYANG (Reuters) - Thousands of ecstatic North Koreans joined a mass rally and parade on Tuesday as leader Kim Jong Un capped off the consolidation of his power at a ruling party congress at which he formalised its claim to be a nuclear weapons power. Kim used the party congress, the first in 36 years, to highlight North Korea's aim to expand its nuclear arsenal, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, though he said the weapons would only be used if North Korea was threatened with similar weapons. Kim also set out a five-year plan to revive his isolated country's creaking economy, although it was short on targets, and the party enshrined Kim's "Byongjin" policy of simultaneous pursuit of nuclear weapons and economic development. "Under the authorisation of Workers' Party Chairman Kim Jong Un, the Central Committee sends the warmest greetings to the people and soldiers who concluded the 70-day battle with the greatest of victory and glorified the Congress as an auspicious event," Kim Yong Nam, the titular head of state, told the rally under overcast skies in the capital's Kim Il Sung Square. North Korea had been engaged in a 70-day campaign of accelerated productivity in the run-up to the Workers' Party congress, including sprucing-up the capital, a gruelling exercise that left many people exhausted, Western residents said. But there was no sign of that at Tuesday's rally, where thousands shouted "manse!", or "live forever!" while clasping their hands in the air or waving pink flowers as they passed before Kim and other top officials on a leaders' platform. Kim, 33, had traded the western-style suit he wore at the four-day congress for the more traditional uniform of North Korean leaders, a dark jacket buttoned to the collar. He smiled and waved at the crowd and chatted with military and party aides, state media footage showed. Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, who was formally elected by the congress to the party's Central Committee, stood next to him for some of the time. The young leader Kim, who assumed power in 2011 after his father's death, took on the new title of party chairman on Monday. The promotion - his previous party title was first secretary - had been predicted by analysts who had expected Kim would use the congress to further shore up his power. Among other changes at the congress, a former army Chief of General Staff who South Korean media had reported had been purged and executed, was elected alternate member of the party Politburo and a member of the powerful Central Military Commission. The first congress since 1980 was seen by North Korea-watchers as a move to restore the central role of the party while diluting the political role of the military. 'PREPOSTEROUS' Old rival South Korea denounced North Korea's nuclear ambitions, seeing little cause for optimism in a conciliatory gesture Kim made on the weekend when he said military talks were needed with the South to discuss ways to ease tension. South Korea President Park Geun-hye said the North showed no sign of willingness to change but only made "preposterous claims about being a nuclear weapons state". The two Koreas remain in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea regularly threatens the South and its major ally, the United States, which it accuses of planning a nuclear attack. Relations between the Koreas have been at a low since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January, which also brought tougher U.N. sanctions backed by lone major ally China, which disapproves of North Korea's development of nuclear weapons. Despite the sanctions, North Korea has pressed ahead with its nuclear and missile development, and said it had succeeded in miniaturising a nuclear warhead and launching a submarine-based ballistic missile. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent congratulations to Kim for his promotion at the party congress. There was no direct mention of North Korea's nuclear programme in Xi's message. "We will make efforts together with the DPRK side to bring happiness to the two countries and their peoples and contribute to peace, stability and development in this region by steadily developing the Sino-DPRK friendship and cooperation," North Korea's state KCNA news agency quoted Xi as saying. DPRK stands for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name. An unusually large contingent of 128 foreign journalists were issued visas to visit during the congress, but their access to formal proceedings was limited to a brief visit by a small group to the congress venue on Monday. BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and two his colleagues who had been in North Korea to cover the visit of a group of Nobel laureates ahead of the congress were expelled from the country on Monday over his reporting. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing and additional reporting by Tony Munroe; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel) Today in One Paragraph Voting is underway in West Virginia and Nebraska. Ted Cruz, who bowed out of the presidential race last week, floated the idea of re-entering the race, while Marco Rubio said hed support the GOP nominee. On the Democratic front, Vice President Joe Biden said hes confident Hillary Clinton will be president. The White House announced that President Obama will be the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima, Japan. The Senate Commerce Committee demanded answers from Facebook about the companys alleged political bias. And Budweiser is renaming its beer. Top News Primary Tuesday. Voters are casting their ballots in West Virginias primary and the Republican primary in Nebraska, the first nominating contests since Ted Cruz and John Kasich exited the race. Bernie Sanders is expected to do well in the West Virginia primary, while Republicans decide between rallying behind Donald Trump or choosing one of the nine former candidates still on the ballot. Polls close at 7:30 p.m. ET in West Virginia and at 9 p.m. ET in Nebraska. Were following it live here. (The Atlantic) Recommended: What's Hiding in the Republican Nominee's Tax Returns? From the Sidelines. Ted Cruz opened the door to restarting his presidential campaign if he sees a viable path to victory after tonights GOP primary in Nebraska. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory, Cruz said on Glenn Becks radio show. If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio said he stands by his concerns about Trump as the presumptive GOP nominee but that he will not take shots at him. (The Hill; NBC News) Biden Bets on Hillary. The vice president said he was optimistic about the Democratic front-runner clinching the election: I feel confident that Hillary will be the nominee, and I feel confident that shell be the next president, Biden said. Its the most direct support Clinton has received from the White House so far. (Arlette, Saenz, ABC News) Story continues Obama to Hiroshima. The White House announced that the president will visit the site of the U.S. atomic bomb attack in Hiroshima, Japan, at the end of his stint in Asia in late May. Officials said it will serve as a reminder of the destruction caused by nuclear weapons. But Ben Rhodes, Obamas deputy national security adviser, wrote that the president will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. (Kevin Liptak, CNN) Senate Unfriends Facebook. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, demanding a response to Mondays allegations that the company had manipulated the sites Trending Topics section to exclude conservative news. Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open Internet, wrote Chairman John Thune. (Nick Statt, The Verge) Recommended: The Democratic Presidential Primary Race Isn't Over Yet Pour a Cold One. Anheuser-Busch announced it would change the name of the beer through the election in order to inspire drinkers to celebrate America and Budweisers shared values of freedom and authenticity. The re-branded beer will be available on May 23. (Mary Bowerman, USA Today) Tomorrow in One Paragraph. Hillary Clinton will be in New Jersey, and Bernie Sanders will campaign in Montana. Follow stories throughout the day with our new Politics & Policy page. And keep on top of the campaign with our 2016 Distilled election dashboard. Top Read In conversations, many women who support Mr. Trump expressed similar defenses of their preferred candidate. Hes not sexist, hes just not politically correct. Hes not a career politician, so he doesnt stick his finger in the wind before he says something. He believes in treating women as tough as he treats men. The news media has distorted his message with cherry-picked sound bites. If he were sexist, would he have promoted so many female executives, including his daughter, within his own company? The New York Times Emma Roller on the women backing Donald Trump. Top Lines Why Sanders Should Quit. The Vermont senators refusal to get out of the race is costing the Clinton campaign unnecessary resources, argues The New Republics Dana Houle, and prolonging the nomination fight means Democrats will have less time to focus on beating Donald Trump. Recommended: On Homecomings Playboy Trump vs. Candidate Trump. In the past, the presumptive GOP nominee has openly criticized womens bodies and bragged about his sexual forays, but now that hes running for the highest office in the country, his rhetoric might have to change. (Mary Jordan, The Washington Post) Was the Tea Party Responsible for Trump? The right-wing faction was disrupting the Republican establishment long before the real-estate mogul took a stab at a presidential run, but now, the grassroots anger is fueling a new civil war within the party. (Molly Ball, The Atlantic) Top View The Search for Another Earth. NASA has discovered 1,284 new planets using the Kepler telescope. Check out the agencys representation of where the planets are in relation to Earth. (Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, BuzzFeed) We want to hear from you! Were reimagining what The Edge can be, and would love to receive your complaints, compliments, and suggestions. Tell us what youd like to find in your inbox by sending a message to newsletters@theatlantic.com. -Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. (Reuters) - 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. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier) NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya is drawing up a timetable to close Dadaab refugee camp that hosts about 350,000 Somalis because of security concerns, the interior minister said on Wednesday, after the United Nations urged the East African nation to reconsider such a move. The East African nation, which has suffered from a spate of Islamist attacks claimed by the Islamist Somali group al Shabaab, has set up a taskforce to handle the closure plan, Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said. "They will present the timetable based on all the resources required," the minister told a news conference, adding that state funds had been allocated to proceed with the programme. "The government has commenced the exercise of closing the complex of Dadaab refugee camp," he said, without specifying what new action had been taken beyond a voluntary repatriation programme already in place. Kenya's government has long said Dadaab, which lies near the Somali border, has been used by Islamists to launch attacks, such as the Westgate shopping mall assault in Nairobi in 2013. Hundreds of Kenyans have been killed in that attack and other assaults mainly in Nairobi, the northeast and coast. The Interior Ministry says it hosts 600,000 refugees, many of from neighbouring Somalia and South Sudan. Some refugees have lived in Dadaab for decades and some were born there. Last year, Kenya said it was setting a three-month deadline to close Dadaab, but backtracked on the plan following U.N. criticism of any forced return. Last week, the Interior Ministry said it would shut Dadaab in the "shortest time possible", prompting the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR to voice "profound concern" and renew its call for Kenya to reconsider. The UNHCR, Kenya and Somalia signed a tripartite agreement in 2013 to repatriate Somali refugees voluntarily. As Somalia has slowly started recovering from war and chaos, Dadaab has shrunk from more than half a million people to about 350,000. The UNHCR said in January it aimed to repatriate a further 50,000 in 2016 but also said this would be a difficult target to achieve given the Somali government is still battling an al Shabaab insurgency and there are few schools or public services. "There has been a very slow process on the implementation of this agreement," the minister said of the tripartite deal. (Reporting by George Obulutsa; Writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Ralph Boulton) A Bangladeshi refugee has died of heart failure on Nauru, Australian officials have said the second death on the tiny Pacific island in as many weeks. Asylum seekers who are intercepted while trying to reach Australia by boat are held there, and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, while their applications are assessed. In a statement, Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection said: "The man admitted himself to the Republic of Nauru Hospital on 9 May, complaining of chest pains. "He was receiving treatment in hospital, but died early today after a series of cardiac arrests." A spokesman declined to discuss the 26-year-old mans medical history. An activist from Australias Refugee Action Coalition, Ian Rintoul, said refugees on the island had told him that the man, called Rakib, had committed suicide by taking an overdose of pills. The departmental spokesman did not respond to those allegations. Both the United Nations and human rights agencies have expressed concerns about conditions, while detainees have been hurting themselves in protests. A 23-year-old Iranian man and a 21-year-old Somali woman set fire to themselves in protest at their lengthy detention on Nauru. The man died while the woman is in a critical condition. More than 100 refugees and asylum seekers have signed a petition, saying they want to buy boats and leave. "We have been living in Nauru as prisoners for three years now," they said in the document. "We've decided to rescue ourselves by getting on boats once again." Last week, Australia said it had agreed to pay compensation to a charity it had wrongly accused of inciting refugees to harm themselves in a Nauru protest in 2014. Papua New Guinea has said it plans to close the detention centre on Manus Island , after its Supreme Court ruled it unlawful. By Karen Lema and Martin Petty MANILA (Reuters) - Firebrand mayor Rodrigo Duterte was set to become the Philippines' next president as results from Monday's election poured in and a rival conceded defeat, confirmation the outsider's vow to crush crime had resonated with voters. Early on Tuesday morning, a rolling ballot count by an election commission-accredited watchdog showed Duterte had almost 39 percent of votes cast. He was more than 5 million votes ahead of his nearest rival with 90 percent of votes counted. Grace Poe, a popular senator, won more than a fifth of the votes counted but conceded defeat to Duterte and said his lead reflected the will of the people. Duterte's incendiary rhetoric and advocacy of extrajudicial killings to stamp out crime and drugs have alarmed many who hear echoes of the Southeast Asian country's authoritarian past. The 71-year-old's truculent defiance of political tradition has drawn comparisons with U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, as have his references to his libido. Duterte made a succession of winding, bellicose and at times comical remarks on television as the votes were being counted, venting over corruption and bad governance and telling anecdotes from his 22 years as mayor of Davao city. He said corrupt officials should "retire, or die" and reiterated his support for police to use of deadly force against criminals. "If they put up a good fight and refuse to surrender and if you feel your life is in jeopardy, shoot. You have my authority," he told reporters in Davao, wearing a checked shirt and slouched in a chair. His man-of-the-people demeanour tapped into popular disgust with the political establishment over its failure to tackle poverty and inequality despite several uninterrupted years of robust economic growth. The election numbers reported by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) had, by 5:30 am (1030 London time), accounted for about 90 percent of the 54 million registered Filipino voters. Duterte had 14.9 million votes, with the government's candidate Manuel Roxas second with 8.9 million, followed by Poe with 8.3 million votes. The PPCRV count is not official but Poe's decision to concede defeat added weight to his presumed victory. VIRULENT CAMPAIGN Duterte had earlier talked of making peace with his rivals after a "virulent" campaign, during which Poe called him "an "executioner". She later said she was willing to bury the hatchet. "I promise to cooperate with the healing process," she told reporters. "Duterte has a mandate. Let's give him a chance." In an early indication of his unorthodoxy, Duterte told reporters that if he became president he would seek multilateral talks to resolve disputes over the South China Sea. The outgoing administration of President Benigno Aquino has asked a court of arbitration in The Hague to recognise its right to exploit waters in the South China Sea, a case it hoped could bolster claims by other countries against China in the resource-rich waters. Duterte said negotiations should include Japan, Australia and the United States, which is traditionally the region's dominant security player and contests China's development of islands and rocky outcrops in the sea. Asked about U.S. support for Duerte's proposal, Anna Richey-Allen, a spokeswoman for the State Department's East Asia Bureau, said: "The United States has consistently expressed support for nations to exercise peaceful means to resolve territorial or maritime disputes without the use or threat of force, intimidation or coercion, and in a manner consistent with international law." POLICY UNCERTAINTY AHEAD At least 11 people were killed in violence before voting started, but otherwise the election was mostly smooth. Voters also cast ballots for the vice president, 300 lawmakers and about 18,000 local government officials. "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was neck and neck with Congresswoman Leni Robredo in the vice president race. Duterte's entertaining speeches, often loaded with profanities, have shed little light on his policies beyond going after gangsters and drug pushers. He has been vague on what he would do to spur an economy that has averaged growth at around 6 percent under Aquino. In a report on Monday, ratings agency S&P Global said a Duterte presidency would create uncertainty, especially if he picks fights with the political elite. "He could take some time getting used to the many compromises required in the national leadership position," it said. One indication of that came on Monday as Duterte told reporters he planned to loosen restrictions on foreign ownership of companies across all industries, which could meet with resistance from protectionist forces. One of Duterte's economic advisers told Reuters spending on education would be lifted to benefit "disadvantaged regions" and agriculture and rural development will be prioritised to spread wealth more evenly across the country. "Everything seems to be in imperial Manila. He wants to give more attention to the lagging, the backward regions," said Ernesto Pernia, professor emeritus of economics at the University of the Philippines. Pernia said the pursuit of tax evaders and corrupt officials should bolster government revenues to fund extra spending. (Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in DAVAO, Manuel Mogato and Manolo Serapio Jr in MANILA and David Brunnstrom in WASHINGTON; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Robert Birsel and Lincoln Feast) The President of Nigeria has admitted to Sky News that his country is corrupt, after David Cameron was caught on camera making the same point. Asked by Sky News' Diplomatic Editor Dominic Waghorn whether his country was corrupt, he answered: "Yes." Speaking in London at an anti-corruption event hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat, Muhammadu Buhari said he would not be expecting the Prime Minister to say sorry. "I am not going to demand any apology from anybody," he said. To cheers from Nigerian delegates in the audience, he added: "What would I do with an apology?" Instead, he said Britain could be quicker to recover assets allegedly wrongly brought to London: "I need something tangible," he said. Others were not so forgiving. "I am taken aback. I am not happy about it," said Senator Chukwuka Utazi, chairman of Nigerias senate committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes. Senator Dino Melaye called the PMs comments "reckless" and "demeaning". Mr Cameron was caught on microphone on Tuesday telling the Queen that Nigeria and Afghanistan were "possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world". His comments came ahead of him hosting an anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday. Mr Buhari will be attending, alongside Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. With the Archbishop of Canterbury alongside him, the PM told the Queen: "We have got the Nigerians - actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain." He continued: "Nigeria and Afghanistan - possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world." :: Was Cameron's Corruption 'Gaffe' Deliberate? It was not the only unguarded remark caught on camera this week. The Queen was heard, also on Tuesday, describing Chinese officials as "very rude" . Speaking on Wednesday at Prime Ministers Questions, Mr Cameron seemed unconcerned about any diplomatic problems he might have caused. Story continues Responding to an inquiry about Thursdays summit, he tapped the microphone and said: "Well, first of all I'd better check the microphone's on before speaking. Its probably a good idea." Mr Buhari began an anti-corruption campaign when he took office a year ago. Nigeria's presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu said: "This is embarrassing to us, to us say the least, given the good work that the President is doing. "The Prime Minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria. "Things are changing with corruption and everything else." The Afghan embassy told Sky News: "President Ghani and his government since in office have taken major steps to fight corruption. "Countering corruption is a top priority along security issues for the National Unity Government. "Therefore calling Afghanistan in that way ... is unfair." CROP greenhouse In countries like Finland, Sweden, and Norway, maximum-security prisons look more like college dorms than stone-cold penitentiaries. In these facilities, which are known as "open prisons," inmates aren't kept in tiny cells with near-zero daylight. They're given full access to roam around the prison's grounds, the ability to watch TV, and the trust not to abuse those privileges. In essence, criminals are treated more like people than as forces of evil. "We are parents, that's what we are," Kirsti Njeminen, then-governor of Finland's Kerava prison, told the New York Times in 2003. More than a decade later, the philosophy has stayed the same. As a result, the places that house Northern Europe's most violent offenders might as well be showrooms at Ikea. halden prison norway Criminal Sanctions Agency, FinlandIf the policies seem more like "decarceration," that's by design. Finland in the mid-20th century looked a lot like the US does today. Imprisonment rates were high, and the policy didn't seem to be doing much good to rehabilitate anyone. But then a group of researchers discovered the unlikely solution: Relax the policies. "The lesson from Finland was that it was perfectly possible to drop the use of imprisonment [by two-thirds,]" Tapio Lappi-Seppala, head of the Institute of Criminology at the University of Helsinki, tells PRI, "and that did not disturb the crime trend development in Finland." The lesson soon spread through Northern Europe: If you treat even the worst offenders as people, giving them a chance to integrate back into society, they'll often turn around. Not all inmates appreciate the cozy amenities. Earlier this year, Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik made headlines when he complained the conditions at Skien prison, in Finland, were violating his basic human rights. Here's the gym at Skien. nordic open prison Criminal Sanctions Agency, Finland Story continues And here's a sample room. nordic open prison Criminal Sanctions Agency, FinlandSkien is just one of many to give inmates this level of freedom. In Kerava prison, inmates tend their own gardens. Visitors can even stroll through the garden and buy the plants directly from the prison. And at the Suomenlinna open prison, inmates live in communal house ing. The only partition from the outside world is white picket fencing. There is no barbed wire in sight. Suomenlinna Open Prison Criminal Sanctions Agency, FinlandScholars debate endlessly whether a country as big and diverse as the US could implement such a system. Nordic countries have only a few million people, mostly of homogeneous ethnicities, so opponents of the Nordic model tend to argue the results can't be replicated in an immigrant-rich country of more than 300 million. Those who are more hopeful say there is nothing particular in the DNA of Finns, Norwegians, and Swedes that makes them more peaceful. Instead, they may be products of their environment just as much as those who go on to re-offend in the US. The only difference may be the degree to which people are given the opportunity to change. NOW WATCH: A group of guys from Finland put a chainsaw on a drone and cut icicles off houses By Julia Harte and Colleen Jenkins WASHINGTON/WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) - A fight between the Obama administration and North Carolina over a state law limiting public bathroom access for transgender people escalated on Monday as both sides sued each other, trading accusations of civil rights violations and government overreach. The U.S. Justice Department's complaint asked a federal district court in North Carolina to declare that the state is violating the 1964 Civil Rights Act and order it to stop enforcing the ban. Hours earlier, North Carolina's Republican governor, Pat McCrory, and the state's secretary of public safety sued the agency in a different federal court in North Carolina, accusing it of "baseless and blatant overreach." The so-called bathroom law, passed in March and known as HB 2, prohibits people from using public restrooms not corresponding to their biological sex. It has thrust North Carolina into the center of a national debate over equality and privacy, and has now led the state into what could be a long and costly legal battle with the U.S. government. Americans are divided over how public restrooms should be used by transgender people, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, with 44 percent saying people should use them according to their biological sex and 39 percent saying they should be used according to the gender with which they identify. By passing the law, North Carolina became the first state in the country to ban people from using multiple occupancy restrooms or changing rooms in public buildings and schools that do not match the sex on their birth certificate. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Monday the department "retains the option" of curtailing federal funding to North Carolina unless it backs down. "None of us can stand by when a state enters the business of legislating identity and insists that a person pretend to be something or someone that they are not," Lynch said at a news conference, comparing the measure to Jim Crow-era racial discrimination laws and bans on same-sex marriage. Lynch said the department is monitoring other U.S. jurisdictions that have passed or considered laws similar to North Carolina's but declined to say whether the agency was planning any action against them. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the North Carolina law mean-spirited but McCrory said in his complaint that it is "common sense privacy policy." North Carolina Republicans say the law stops men from posing as transgender to gain access to women's restrooms. BILLIONS AT STAKE North Carolina stands to lose $4.8 billion in funds, mainly educational grants, if it does not back down, according to an analysis by lawyers at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School. The Justice Department's complaint named the state of North Carolina, McCrory, the state's Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina system as defendants. The 17-campus University of North Carolina system says it takes federal non-discrimination laws very seriously but must also adhere to state laws like HB 2. "In these circumstances, the University is truly caught in the middle," UNC President Margaret Spellings said. McCrory told reporters that North Carolina had been forced to pass the law after the Charlotte city council passed an ordinance that allowed transgender people access to bathrooms based on gender identity in public and private buildings. "Were taking the Obama admin to court. They're bypassing Congress, attempting to rewrite law & policies for the whole country, not just NC," McCrory wrote on Twitter. The Republican leaders of North Carolina's state legislature also sued the U.S. government over the law on Monday, hours after McCrory's lawsuit. The law is also being challenged in federal district court by critics including the American Civil Liberties Union. (Additional reporting by Julia Edwards in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell) Police have apologised for the phrase "Allahu Akbar" being shouted at the beginning of an anti-terror training exercise in Manchester. Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan from Greater Manchester Police said: "The scenario for this exercise is based on a suicide attack by an extremist Daesh-style organisation. "However, on reflection we acknowledge that it was unacceptable to use this religious phrase immediately before the mock suicide bombing, which so vocally linked this exercise with Islam. "We recognise and apologise for the offence that this has caused." Greater Manchester's Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said: "This was a very good exercise in preparing for a situation we never want to see, but must be ready for. "However, it is frustrating the operation has been marred by the ill-judged, unnecessary and unacceptable decision by organisers to have those playing the parts of terrorists to shout 'Allahu Akbar' before setting off their fake bombs. "It didn't add anything to the event, but has the potential to undermine the great community relations we have in Greater Manchester." The exercise began at midnight in the Trafford Centre when a man playing the part of a suicide bomber entered the crowded centre before pretending to detonate a bomb. Hundreds of volunteers played the role of shoppers, screaming in panic and fleeing while others collapsed on the ground covered in fake blood. The sound of gunfire was also heard rattling around the shops. Emergency services including counter-terrorism police, fire and ambulance crews - who had not been told the precise nature of the exercise - rushed to the scene as if they were dealing with a real event. Volunteers were assured no live rounds would be used and within minutes groups of armed police arrived and entered the centre while stepping over 'injured' members of the public. The exercise has been designed to appear as real as possible to allow officials to measure the response of emergency services in the event of a real terrorist attack in the UK. Story continues Sky News revealed on Monday that a leading police firearms unit had been "inundated" with requests from unarmed officers to retrain after the Paris attacks. The Trafford Centre, which is the second largest shopping centre in the UK and attracts some 35 million visitors every year, is open for business as usual today. Similar exercises are expected to continue at undisclosed locations throughout the day. By Isabel Coles UMM Al-DHIBAN, Iraq (Reuters) - They share little more than an enemy and struggle to communicate on the battlefield, but together two relatively obscure groups have opened up a new front against Islamic State militants in a remote corner of Iraq. The unlikely alliance between an offshoot of a leftist Kurdish organisation and an Arab tribal militia in northern Iraq is a measure of the extent to which Islamic State has upended the regional order. Across Iraq and Syria, new groups have emerged where old powers have waned, competing to claim fragments of territory from Islamic State and complicating the outlook when they win. "Chaos sometimes produces unexpected things," said the head of the Arab tribal force, Abdulkhaleq al-Jarba. "After Daesh (Islamic State), the political map of the region has changed. There is a new reality and we are part of it." In Nineveh province, this "new reality" was born in 2014 when official security forces failed to defend the Sinjar area against the Sunni Islamic State militants who purged its Yazidi population. A Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) came to the rescue, which won the gratitude of Yazidis, and another local franchise called the Sinjar Resistance Units (YBS) was set up. The mainly Kurdish secular group, which includes Yazidis, controls a pocket of territory in Sinjar and recently formed an alliance with a Sunni Arab militia drawn from the powerful Shammar tribe. "In the beginning we were unsure (about them)," said a wiry older member of the Arab force, which was assembled over the past three months and is now more than 400-strong. "We thought they were Kurdish occupiers." Their cooperation is all the more unusual because many Yazidis accuse their Sunni Muslim neighbours of complicity in atrocities committed against them by Islamic State, and say they cannot live together again. Last month, the YBS-Shammar alliance won its first joint victory against Islamic State in the village of Umm al-Dhiban, a cluster of adobe houses along a highway near the Syrian border, where they are now fortifying their positions. On his hands and knees, a YBS fighter from Sinjar gently loosens a patch of earth with a knife, prising out an unexploded bomb to be used against the militants who planted it there before being pushed back several kilometres. Taking turns with a pick-axe, two other guerrillas hack at the ground until the hole they are making on the edge of a dirt track is large enough to fit two explosive charges that will detonate when Islamic State drives past. The fighters plan to retake other Arab and Yazidi villages in the area, and say they will join the campaign for Islamic State's biggest stronghold, around 160 km (100 miles) to the east: "By the will of God, we will enter Mosul," Jarba said. DIFFERENT AGENDAS Although fighting Islamic State has given them common purpose, the two sides' agendas appear hard to reconcile. While the Arab militia wants to restore Baghdad's authority over this arid hinterland, the YBS is on a mission to establish its own model of society based on the philosophy of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ocalan took the PKK to war against Turkey in 1984 seeking statehood for Kurds, but now advocates a form of grassroots democracy as opposed to state control. "When the comrades liberate a village, they let the community decide for itself," said 18-year old Evin, a Kurdish fighter from Syria who joined the PKK's affiliate there before coming to Sinjar. "The leader's ideology is not just for Kurds". That may be so, but the ideology is alien to the conservative, tribal society in parts of northern Iraq. The Arab fighters have only a vague notion of the man whose mustachioed image decorates YBS fighters' fatigues and a flag now flying beside Iraq's at the entrance to Umm al-Dhiban. "Our life is very different from the life of the Shammar," said a guerrilla from Turkey who is trying to learn some Arabic so he can communicate with them. "We are an ideological force and they are not." The faultline is most visible in the presence of female fighters in the ranks of the YBS -- unusual in a male-dominated part of the world where the sexes are often segregated and women confined to the home. One named Hevidar said the Arab fighters initially avoided talking to her and the other women. "After a month or two they learned," she said, toying with a walkie-talkie as a voice broke through the static, calling "Heval!" (Comrade). Abu Hazaa, a commander of the Arab force, admitted being taken aback by the female fighters: "We thought women were easily frightened, but that view has changed," he said at a joint military outpost in what used to be a medical centre. The suggestion that women from his own community could also be deployed provoked laughter. "We are a tribal society," Abu Hazaa said. "We have our customs and traditions and nobody can contravene them". MARRIAGE OF EXPEDIENCE For now, the external forces pushing the two groups together are stronger than the differences that could drive them apart. The Arab militia lacks the experience to take on Islamic State without the YBS, whose ranks are stiffened with veterans of the PKK's three-decade insurgency against Ankara. "They are fierce fighters," said Jarba. "They have experience in guerrilla warfare (and) we can benefit from that". For the YBS, partnering with a local Arab force makes them look less like invaders as they push into areas where Kurds are in the minority. The alliance is supported by the central government in Baghdad, which has put both forces on the payroll to regain a foothold in the area, where it has no troops of its own. Baghdad also hopes the two will help curb the ambitions of its autonomous Kurdistan region, whose peshmerga forces have recaptured large areas from Islamic State in the north, effectively annexing territory claimed by Baghdad, including parts of Sinjar. In turn, Kurdish regional authorities are blockading the Arab militia and the YBS. Although both Kurdish, the PKK and its affiliates are rivals of the autonomous region. Some members of the Shammar tribe have sided with the peshmerga in Sinjar. But Abu Hazaa said the only flag he would raise was Iraq's. "We don't want to be subjected to anyone but the central government." (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) By Dasha Afanasieva ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish border guards have beaten and shot Syrians trying to reach Turkey, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday, as fighting in the border province of Aleppo intensifies threatening to force more people to flee. HRW said in a report based on interviews with victims, witnesses and Syrian locals that in March and April 2016, five people, including a child were killed and 14 were seriously injured as a result of border guards' shootings and beatings. In response to the report, a senior Turkish presidency official said the authenticity of the video could not be verified. Reuters was not able to verify the report. A video released by HRW purporting to show the victims of the beatings and shootings depicted a bloodied body with bandages around his exposed torso. Another male corpse is shown with red and purple marks all over his back and arms. A recent surge in fighting in Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, wrecked a 10-week-old partial truce sponsored by Washington and Moscow that had allowed U.N.-brokered peace talks to convene in Geneva. Ankara says it keeps an "open door" policy for those fleeing the five-year conflict. For over a year, only those requiring emergency medical treatment not available on the Syrian side have been able to cross legally while others rely on expensive smugglers to guide them on the dangerous route. Tens of thousands are instead interned in camps on the Syrian side, a version of the "safe zone" policy long championed by Turkey, but one which is not internationally sanctioned or recognised. "Turkey admits refugees at designated points of entry if and when there is an imminent threat to civilian lives across the border," the official said. HEAVY PRICE HRW published excerpts of interviews with four victims, five witnesses, and six local Syrian residents who described seven occasions in March and April in which Turkish border guards shot or assaulted 17 Syrian asylum seekers and two smugglers. Footage of some of the victims and bodies was taken by a security guard of a local internally displaced people camp, HRW said. In its press release, the rights group recognises Turkey's right to protect its border, which includes the border town of Kilis increasingly targeted by rocket fire from Islamic State areas in recent weeks, but says it must respect international norms on use of lethal force as well as the right to life. Earlier this year, Turkey and Europe agreed on a plan to send back migrants and asylum seekers to Turkey from the Greek Islands, with Brussels committing six billion euros to help support refugees in Turkey. The legality of the deal, aimed to stem the flow of migrants to European shores, hinges on Turkey being a safe country of asylum, which rights groups and NGOs have said was not the case. Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher at HRW said: "EU officials should recognise that their red light for refugees to enter the EU gives Turkey a green light to close its border, exacting a heavy price on war-ravaged asylum seekers with nowhere else to go." (Editing by Ece Toksabay and Ralph Boulton) By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Patpicha Tanakasempipat BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Wednesday defended its curbs on freedom of expression at a review of its rights record by the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying the measures were aimed at "those who stir up violence". At a time of fresh arrests of online critics accused of criticising Thailand's junta, U.N. member states attending the review in Geneva expressed concern over the deteriorating rights situation since the military took power in a May 2014 coup. Some U.N. members urged the military to review controversial laws, such as a royal insults law, that rights groups say have increasingly been used to silence critics. Thailand should "allow all Thai people to fully participate in the political process," the United States said in a brief statement to the council, and called for the elimination of "mandatory minimum sentences for lese-majeste". The restrictions were "meant for those who stir up violence", a representative of Thailand's justice ministry said in a live broadcast of the meeting, responding to the concerns raised at the review, the country's first since 2011. The military seized power in May 2014, saying it had to end a bitter cycle of political unrest that had rocked Thailand since 2006, when the army ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Rights groups say the junta has tightened its grip on power and severely repressed rights in the past year. It has jailed critics, introduced new laws aimed at curbing freedom of speech, censored the media and restricted political debate. The military government has stepped up prosecutions of those accused of defamation, handing down harsher sentences. The latest crackdown comes as the military government prepares to put a widely criticised military-written constitution to the public in August. Thai authorities on Tuesday released on bail eight activists arrested in April over Facebook comments critical of the junta and the draft constitution. Two of the eight activists face separate charges of royal insult. They were charged on Wednesday with insulting the revered monarchy in private Facebook messages. Thailand's strict royal defamation law makes it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent. Those found guilty face prison terms of up to 15 years for each offence. Thailand is one of 14 countries being questioned at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a cyclical review of the human rights record of the 193 United Nations members. More than a decade of political strife has seen at times violent street protests by both Thaksin's supporters and their opponents. In their closing remarks, Thai officials told the council they expected to adopt some of its recommendations on Friday, when its current session ends. (Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat and Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Editing by Nick Macfie and Clarence Fernandez) By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - Ukraine's new-look government needs to prove itself quickly following the departure of a number of key Western-backed reformers last month, a top official from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Tuesday. The EBRD, along with the International Monetary Fund, is one of the only sources of funding for Ukraine at present. It has pumped about 1 billion euros (0.78 billion pounds) annually into the ex-Soviet republic over the last two years. A big shake-up in Kiev last month saw President Petro Poroshenko bring in former parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Groysman as prime minister and Oleksandr Danylyuk as finance minister to replace investor-friendly Natalie Jaresko. "This government has the benefit of the doubt but not the luxury of time," Francis Malige, the EBRD's Managing Director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus told the Reuters Global Markets Forum, adding there was still a huge reform task ahead. Malige also said the EBRD could take a 15-25 percent stake in the privatisation of Ukraine's largest chemical producer, the Odessa Port Chemical Plant (OPZ), in an auction that could come as early as next month. "A number of people interested have come to see us and we are talking to them," said Malige. The EBRD may also advise Kiev on the process of separating the pipeline business of state-run energy firm Naftogaz from the rest of the company. That would be another milestone for Ukraine, which is struggling to shake off the grip of vested interests and corruption in the country. "Naftogaz used to be one of the darkest corners of the Ukrainian economy. This is a revolution," Malige said. Another key issue for Malige is the drawn-out process of appointing a new prosecutor-general in Ukraine, a position that decides whether to prosecute politicians and other high-profile individuals. "What we need there is firm, resolute and quick action from authorities, starting from the top, to move quickly on appointing a prosecutor-general who is respected and who does the job," said Malige. The combination of such issues, as well as other difficulties such as organising fair tendering processes and governance, has meant that 2 billion euros of already-earmarked EBRD money for Ukraine remains unspent. Malige said he hoped gradual progress would be made in putting that money to work but acknowledged this year's spending may struggle to reach the 1 billion euro levels of recent years. "The second half of the year is stronger for us so it is still early days," he added. (Additional reporting by Kirsten Donovan; Editing by Gareth Jones) We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. Italian buyout firm Alto Partners has sold its entire 95% stake in BIA, a European producer and distributor of couscous, to B.F. S.p.A., which is the holding company of Bonifiche Ferraresi. Buyout house EnCap Investments is said to be looking to sell PayRock Energy for $1.5bn less than six months after offlo YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. Ambassador of Armenia to Bulgaria Armen Sargsyan delivered credentials to President of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev on May 10. As Armenpress was informed from the press service of MFA Armenia, after the solemn ceremony President Plevneliev and Ambassador Sargsyan engaged in a private conversation, during which the President of Bulgaria highlighted further development of historically friendly relations between the two states. At the same time, he mentioned that both countries have still great potentials in deepening partnership in trade and economy. President Plevneliev hoped that newly appointed Ambassador Sargsyan will contribute his abilities and experience to further developing and expanding the relations between the two states. Expressing gratitude for the cordial reception Ambassador Sargsyan promised to make all possible efforts to give a new momentum to Armenian-Bulgarian relations. Prospects of organizing high-level mutual visits in the near future were discussed at the meeting. Ambassador of Armenia briefed on Armenias foreign policy priorities for the President of Bulgaria, touching upon the issues of Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement and the recent developments in Armenia-Turkey relations. At the end of the meeting President Plevneliev wished the newly appointed Ambassador success and promised assistance by his administration and the Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Bulgaria. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. MEPs have stopped work on plans to give Turks visa-free access to the EUs Schengen zone, putting a wider migrant deal in doubt, Armenpress reports citing euobserver.com website. Group leaders in the European Parliament's conference of presidents quietly suspended work on the file on May 4. Some of the lead MEPs on the dossier, the group coordinators in the civil liberties committee (LIBE), found out about the suspension on May 9. "They [EP group leaders] decided to stop the whole thing," the German centre-left coordinator Birgit Sippel told this website on May 10. Judith Sargentini, a Dutch Green MEP, said EU parliament chief Martin Schulz suspended it because Turkey had not yet met all EU visa-free criteria. Schulz said we will only start processing the file when the 72 criteria have been met, she said. An MEP who did not want to be quoted said hes also doing it to make the parliament more important. Another said the decision will force the EU commission to first deal with all the outstanding issues in the deal before sending it back to the Parliament. "The ball is back with the European commission," said the MEP, who also did not want to be identified. The European Commission last week proposed to lift the visa requirement by the end of June. It published an assessment on Turkey's progress and said five out of 72 benchmarks still needed to be met. Whatever the motives, that proposal is now sitting idly on Schulzs desk. If it is not rubber stamped by MEPs and by EU states by the end of next month, then Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to stop taking back migrants from Greece. Sippel, for one, said the July deadline is unlikely to be met. I think no country, whether its Turkey or Germany or whoever, could really fufill all the requirements within that short time. It's not possible, especially if you would like to see something not only written down in paper but also decided in parliament and maybe also at least partly put into practice, she said. Erdogan himself is not making matters easier. The EU commission had said in its visa report that Turkey's law on terror allows for an "overly broad" application of the term. Journalists and academics have fallen under its scope. The Turkish authorities have not yet addressed these shortcomings," it noted in its report. Cornelia Ernst, a German MEP from left-wing GUE-NGL group, said most members of LIBE think the law must be changed for the visa waiver to go ahead. But Erdogan has said flat out that he will not do it. He has also forced out of office his EU-friendly PM, Ahmet Davutoglu. Despite the setback, the EU commission remains optimistic. "We have an agreement with the Turkish government, we have the word of the Turkish government, and we will continue to work with them," an EU commission spokesman said Tuesday on Erdogan's comments. EU officials said the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal was ongoing. Playing down concerns that Davutoglu's exit may upset the accord, an official said the EU started the negotiations with Erdogan and was still talking to him. "It's never been a one person conversation," an official added. There are daily videoconferences between commission officials and Turkish authorities on the five outstanding visa benchmarks, but an official has said that no new benchmarks have been met since the commission's assessment on 4 May. According to the latest Frontex figures, on Monday just seven people arrived to the Greek islands via Greece, on Sunday 74, so there is no sign that Erdogan might be trying to put pressure on the EU by letting more migrants cross the Aegean. Commission officials on Tuesday denied there would be a plan B, as reported in the German media, of turning Greek islands into large refugee camps in case the EU-Turkey deal falls through. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan gave an interview to the Austrian Die Presse newspaper on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and the settlement prospects. Armenpress presents the entire interview. - Are you ready to negotiate with Azerbaijan? - The ceasefire regime must be strengthened for continued negotiations brokered by the Minsk Group Co-chairs. When gunfire continues, it is impossible to negotiate. - Theoretically there is a ceasefire. Why isnt it maintained? - The ceasefire is established by the 1994 trilateral ceasefire agreement (Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, Azerbaijan). Despite periodical violations it is still in force. On April 2, Azerbaijan violated this ceasefire by conducting large-scale military operations. On April 5, according to a verbal agreement, the 1994 agreement was re-established. Azerbaijan tries to wreck the Minsk process. Now it is important for the ceasefire regime to strengthen. Armenian soldiers have died after April 5 also. - The same is on the other side, says Baku. - I cannot exclude it, because the Nagorno Karabakhi Army is forced to respond to gunfire. - Why did this happen at this very time? - This question should be addressed to Baku. There may be different reasons. Bakus policy is to solve this conflict by violence. Obviously, they had the illusion of making a blitzkrieg. It failed. There is mass dissatisfaction in Azerbaijan regarding the corrupt regime. War can divert attention. - Maybe this was an experimental step. Are Armenia and Karabakh able to protect their citizens? - War is a threat for everyone, both for Armenians and Azerbaijanis. They showed that they dont follow these agreements. When speaking of military equipment, I have to note that, yes, Baku has become a champion in acquiring armaments. But this didnt help in achieving the planned blitzkrieg. - What way is there out of the highly dangerous situation? - The international mediators must clearly condemn Bakus attacks, this can no longer be ignored. Baku is always demanding to return the occupied territories, however it is silent about those territories in Nagorno Karabakh, which are under Azerbaijani control. The Madrid principles speak of the self-determination of Nagorno Karabakh and the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan: There is a possibility of compromise here. - Are you ready for it? - There wont be a one sided compromise. It is necessary to understand that there are issues out of Armenian jurisdiction. Yerevan cannot say it is ready to make territorial concessions, when in fact it concerns Nagorno Karabakh. Yerevan cannot make decisions regarding the Nagorno Karabakh status. It is up to them (Nagorno Karabakh). We do not recognize Nagorno Karabakh for the negotiation process to be maintained. - Currently there are discussions on the recognition by Armenia - As President Sargsyan has announced, if Azerbaijan starts large-scale aggressions, it will lead to the recognition of Nagorno Karabakh by Armenia. - Russia has started a new mediating initiative. Is Moscow really your ally? - Russia is a mediator in the conflict, it must maintain balance. According to the agreements, Moscow has obligations towards Armenia. However Russia has also very close economic ties with Baku. Russia is our ally, however it has its own interests regarding Azerbaijan. In Southern Caucasus, its area of interest, Russia will always be prone to maintaining balance. - Serious criticism is observed in the Armenian society regarding the role of Russia. The main issue is selling armaments to both countries. - The Armenian side is continually raising this issue, including on the level of our President. We understand what is happening, and we have all grounds to be dissatisfied. Russia says if it doesnt sell, someone else will. I am for a complete arms embargo for all conflicting parties in the region. The three Minsk Group Co-chairing countries USA, Russia and France, can achieve this in the UN Security Council. This would be right. - But it would also refer to you - Naturally. It only depends on the authority of the co-chairs. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. German intellectuals, including also director with Turkish origin Fatih Akin, published an open letter directed to the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Bundestag where they urge Merkel to recognize the Armenian Genocide with the June 2 resolution, Armenpress reports, German Die Zeit periodical informs. In the letter German intellectuals urged to show clear stance on June 2 and to call the crime against Armenian people with its name which is genocide. Imagine, you live in Germany, where the Holocaust is denied: wont it be viewed as a continuation of a crime?, they write. We urge You to stand for the fundamental European values and put clarity in Your words. The denial of the Armenian Genocide currently serves the basis for new violence. Armenians were called terrorists in 1915, their property was taken away, and now more than 5.000 Kurdish people were killed in Turkey in 2015 who were blamed to be terrorists. All this happened since Turkey regularly refuses to face its history, and its past, as well as todays actions do not receive any response from the international community, German intellectuals said stating that Bundestag and its preceding structures kept silence on the Armenian Genocide for more than 100 years. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. An 18th-century Armenian cemetery in historically Armenian Mush city is being ruined, Armenpressreports, quoting ermenihaber.am website. According to information by Turkish Haberler.com news website, an investigation was conducted in this area after receiving information about it from social networks. Chairman of the Union of Armenians in Sasun Aziz Dagcin appealed to the Court of First Instance of Mush with the complaint that the Armenian cemetery is being desecrated. A judicial commission conducted an investigation based on the appeal and found that treasure-hunters have conducted digging works in several parts. After the investigation Aziz Dagcin issued a statement, mentioning that in the searches of treasury Armenian tombs were digged and the bones of the deceased were thrown in different directions. The Chairman of the Union reminded that the cemetery is a shared value and is important for both the Armenian community and the Republic of Turkey. Dagcin informed that he has submitted a request to the Turkish ministry of culture and tourism for the restoration of the cemetery. I demand to cease digging our tombs, because there is nothing else there but the bones of our deceased ancestors, as we bury our deceased wrapped with only sheets. You cannot find there any material value there. The same goes for our monasteries. They must stop ruining them, he mentioned. YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. A string of car bomb attacks across Baghdad has killed at least 90 people, making it the Iraqi capitals deadliest day this year, Armenpress reports, citing The Guardian. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the largest blast, at a marketplace in the Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City, which killed at least 63 people. Two other blasts targeted the Shia neighbourhoods of Kadhimiya, in the north of the city, the site of one of the main Shia Islamic shrines, and Hurriya. Despite the resurgence of Isis in areas outside the capital, the frequency of attacks in Baghdad has slowed over the past year. But Isis continues to demonstrate that it can still launch coordinated campaigns in sensitive areas of the city despite a massive security presence. Isis has been pushed back from areas to the south and north of Baghdad, which are now dominated by Shia militias, who work alongside the Iraqi military and often have primacy over them. Isis is also on the back foot west of Baghdad, which had been a hotbed of Sunni militancy for more than a decade. The terror group has repeatedly pledged to continue to target civilians across Iraq, especially members of the Shia sect. It has said it draws no distinction between them and security forces. As Americas entry into World War I seemed increasingly likely, President Woodrow Wilson and Congress readied for the coming conflict, with the National Defense Act of 1916. Signed by President Wilson on June 3, the act bolstered U.S. military preparedness in a number of ways, including the creation of a Veterinary Corps within the U.S. Army. (Photos courtesy of the Army Medical Department Center of History and Heritage) When Congress declared war on the German Empire in April 1917, the Army employed 57 veterinarians working mostly in the area of equine surgery and medicine. Today, the Army Veterinary Corps comprises approximately 880 men and women supporting Department of Defense missions at home and abroad in the areas of food safety and security, animal health care, veterinary public health, and research and development. On June 3, the Veterinary Corps will celebrate its centennial with a ceremony at the U.S. Army Medical Department Museum at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, where a monument depicting aspects of the corps history and mission will be unveiled (see A century of history in bronze). The centennial is a benchmark highlighting the diverse services the corps has provided to the nation over the past 100 years, explained Maj. Troy Creason, a veterinarian and assistant to the chief of the Army Veterinary Corps. The Army Veterinary Corps was made up of horse mechanics when America went to war against the German Empire in 1917. In less than two decades, however, horses and mules, once essential for transporting artillery and troops, had been largely replaced by the engine, and the horse mechanics turned their attention to caring for military working dogs. From being the mechanics of a horse-powered Army in 1916 to developing tests for detecting botulism in canned foods during the intraWorld War years, and current efforts to develop a human vaccine for Ebola, the accomplishments of the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps span the spectrum of the veterinary profession, Dr. Creason said. The Army Veterinary Corps 880 personnel include 600 active-duty Veterinary Corps officers and 280 officers in the Army Reserve. Supporting this small force of veterinary professionals are almost 1,600 enlisted food inspection specialists, 560 animal care technicians, and approximately 425 civilian employees. All told, there are just over 3,400 members that constitute the U.S. Army Veterinary Service. The Veterinary Corps mission: to provide highly skilled and adaptive veterinary professionals to protect and improve the health of people and animals while enhancing readiness throughout the Department of Defense. The Veterinary Corps accomplishes its mission by serving on Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps bases throughout the world supporting U.S. military men and women. Many members of the Army Veterinary Corps have laid down their lives in service to their country. Capt. Clayton Mickelsen (left) was captured in the Philippines by the Japanese in World War II and later died in a prison camp. Lt. Col. Daniel E. Holland (right) was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Approximately 80 Veterinary Service personnel, including roughly 20 veterinarians, are deployed worldwide at any given time. From host nation capacity-building operations in South America to combat operations in Afghanistan, the Veterinary Corps provides boots-on-the-ground support to a variety of military efforts in the interest of national security, Dr. Creason said. Veterinary medicines place within the nations armed forces was recognized long before the Army Veterinary Corps creation. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington, then commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, in 1776 ordered that a regiment of horse with a farrier be raised. When the American Civil War ensued nearly a century later, the War Department provided each Union cavalry regiment with a veterinary surgeon of the rank of regimental sergeant major and paid him $75 a month. In 1879, Congress passed a resolution requiring that all applicants for veterinary positions with the cavalry be graduates of a recognized veterinary college. Less than two decades later, veterinarians were inspecting meat, poultry, and dairy products being transported to Army posts. The political scandal that arose when untold numbers of U.S. soldiers became ill or died after eating adulterated beef during the Spanish-American War of 1898 had incited the public to demand greater safeguards to prevent such disasters. The Army Veterinary Corps is responsible for ensuring the safety of military rations as well as the health and well-being of all Department of Defense working dogs. Early in the 20th century, as war raged in Europe, the AVMA was one of many voices lobbying for legislation establishing an Army Veterinary Corps. Less than two years after passage of the National Defense Act, the newly established Veterinary Corps expanded from 57 veterinarians to 2,313 officers. In 1949, when the Air Force Veterinary Corps was created, the new corps and the Army shared military veterinary responsibilities. The Air Force Veterinary Corps was disestablished in 1980, however, and the Army has since overseen all DOD veterinary services. The Army Veterinary Service has participated in every U.S. conflict since World War I, serving as an essential element in the maintenance of the health and well-being of both animals and soldiers. Many members have paid the ultimate price for their service. The most recent of these was Lt. Col. Daniel E. Holland, a veterinarian killed May 18, 2006, in Baghdad when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during combat operations of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Veterinary Service personnel were killed in both world wars and Vietnam, according to Dr. Creason. During World War II, many personnel were captured by the Japanese after the fall of the Philippines and subsequently died in prison camps. One of them, Dr. Creason noted, was Capt. Clayton Mickelsen, a veterinarian who had previously been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for combat actions in the Philippines. As for the next 100 years, the Veterinary Corps will continue to build and adapt its veterinary forces to support military operations for the DOD in the defense of the United States. Through veterinary medical care, public health, food protection, and a focus on research and development activities, the Army Veterinary Service will remain dedicated to saving lives and enhancing the readiness of U.S. military forces, said veterinarian and Brig. Gen. Erik Torring, the current and 26th chief of the Army Veterinary Corps. Related JAVMA content: Torring takes command of Army Veterinary Corps (Jan. 15, 2016) 1935 1945 (Oct.1, 2015) Army Veterinary Corps celebrates 90th anniversary (Aug. 15, 2006) Dr. Karen Bradley (Georgia 96) of Vermont will represent New England and New York veterinarians on the AVMA Board of Directors starting in August. She is a co-owner of Onion River Animal Hospital in Vermont and a former member of the AVMA House of Delegates. She ran against Dr. Arnold Goldman (Florida 86), who owns Canton Animal Hospital in Connecticut and is his states alternate delegate to the AVMA. Dr. Bradley will replace Dr. John de Jong, the board chair, as the District I representative for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Dr. Karen Bradley (Photo by R. Scott Nolen) Dr. Bradley expressed thanks for the trust of those who voted for her and those who had encouraged her to run for the position. I look forward to being in communication back and forth with them during this journey, she said. The AVMA is acting in new and exciting directions, with more strategic focus on members in its work, Dr. Bradley said. She wants being an AVMA member to become more meaningful. She thinks most members lack passion about the Association, and a typical member may have joined without thinking about why or to simply access liability insurance. We need more of them to care about and want to know whats going on with AVMA on a much more frequent basis, even if its just in the part of the AVMA they care about, whether its animal welfare issues or political issues or the student debt issue, she said. Dr. Bradley is a co-founder of the Womens Veterinary Leadership Development Initiative, a former executive board member for the Vermont VMA, and a chair of committees for the AVMA and Vermont VMA. She also has volunteered in schools and an animal shelter in Vermont. Request Legal Help Please complete this form to request a review of your complaint by an attorney. First Name Last Name Email Address Phone Number Zip/Postal Code Defendant (Who caused the harm?) Describe Your Complaint Send us your claim There is absolutely no cost to you to submit this form. Doing so places you under no obligations and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Receive our weekly newsletter from our sister publication LawyersandSettlements with the latest lawsuit news and legal information. The Philippines is set to usher in regional mayor Rodrigo Duterte as its next president, according to early vote counts, but the headline-grabbing candidate's shaky policy agenda is likely to worry investors and markets. Formal results aren't expected to come in until June but a ballot count by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV)an accredited watchdogshowed Duterte held 39 percent of votes cast as of Tuesday. Earlier in the day, candidates Mar Roxas and Grace Poe both conceded defeat to the Davao City mayor. Voters went to the polls Monday in what was seen as a tight race. 71-year old Duterte, who's nicknamed "Duterte Harry" and "The Punisher," is hugely popular for his sensationalist rhetoric on crime and inequality despite numerous politically incorrect comments on topics such as rape and extra-judicial killings. Following the PPCRV's results, Duterte spokesman Peter Lavina announced a few policies on Tuesday that the presidential hopeful intended to implement, including moving the constitution to a parliamentary model and brokering peace treaties with militant groups in the southern Mindanao province, Reuters reported. But Duterte was yet to present a concrete stance on serious issues such as economic reforms, strategists said. "Rodrigo Duterte's election platform lacked any content regarding his economic policies, creating considerable uncertainty about his future reform agenda," Rajiv Biswas, Asia Pacific chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said. That could see international investors and fund managers reduce exposure to Philippines equities and local government debt, which could weaken the against the greenback in the short-term, Biswas warned. The currency was trading nearly 1 percent higher at 46.86 per dollar on Tuesday afternoon, while the benchmark equity index was up 0.4 percent. Want to realize the benefits that come from tapping into a new market? Look no farther than your onboarding strategy. Strategic onboarding plans are one of the most effective sales strategies for credit unions. It improves engagement, share of wallet, retention and ultimately the entire value of a relationship. The challenge of an effective onboarding campaign is the relatively short time period credit union staff have to execute. The first 90 days are critical in forming cross-product relationships with your new members. This is the honeymoon phase the time they are most open to learning about the advantages of all your products, not just the one that brought them through the door. The key to meeting the challenge of this compressed timeframe is a data-driven, focused approach to get your newest members engaged quickly. There are three distinct phases of an effective onboarding strategy: First 30 Behavior Collection Cross-Selling Performance Measuring Each phase has a specific purpose that will leverage the quality of touch points you have with your members. Every interaction within these phases will work to create trust, building the foundation of a long-term partnership. Phase One: First 30 Behavior Collection This first phase is essentially a study period. That said, you dont want to simply sit back and watch. Outreach is critically important when a member is brand new. During the first 30 days, youll collect the behavioral data of new members. The goal is to use that data to develop an interaction model for the cross-selling stage. Take, for example, a new member who opens a checking account. Youll collect information on the number and types of debit transactions he initiates within his first month. While simplistic, this data collection is essential to building a model for the next phase. In addition to a good foundation of behavior data, the success of your next phase depends on the interaction you establish in these critical first 30 days. The importance of reaching out to new members to make sure they feel welcome and at home with your credit union cant be overstated. Outreach may include a welcome call via call centers/ credit union representative, direct mail, welcome kit after 10 days, a welcome email introducing your credit unions brand, vision or initiatives and/or a feedback call at the end of the 30-day period. Phase Two: Cross-Selling During this phase, youll identify and promote next up products and services. These are the solutions that best match the needs youve identified based on your members first 30 days. With a simple statistical model, you can determine not only the best product, but also the appropriate number of touch points for the next 60 days. Youll also be working to identify triggers action or activity that signals a members readiness to apply or sign up for a new product. A trigger may be, for example, unusual deposit activity in the checking account. You may find this particular trigger signals a need for a savings account or CD. Most predefined triggers can be used in cross-selling for up to 90 days. The cross-selling phase can also be extended to your existing members. This can be especially effective for credit unions that may not have marketed to this audience for a significant length of time. This approach ensures maximum services are sold, which leads to greater revenue while building a loyal base. The cross-selling phase can be divided into two sub-phases: 1. Determining Likelihood of Response Using data from the First 30 Behavior Collection phase, such as credit limits, number of transactions, original balance, etc., credit unions can determine the likelihood of each members positive response to a sales initiative. This allows marketing teams to categorize members into groups and set appropriate marketing dollars aside for each. Those least likely to respond are marketed to at a different level (if at all) than those who are most likely to respond. 2. Identifying the Best Next Product By analyzing the order in which products have been purchased by similar members of the credit union, you can predict how your new members will engage. This is known as sequence analysis. For example, if the opening product was a car loan, the next best product might be a checking account, followed by a rewards credit card. In this example, each of the promotional pieces designed to trigger an application would also include marketing of stickier products, such as mortgage loans. Phase Three: Performance Measuring A great strategy is only as good as its results. Measurement is essential to not only understanding what worked and what didnt; it also helps you recalibrate. If your onboarding strategy has not produced the desired outcomes for a set of members, start by identifying new decision rules. After that, repeat the first two phases of your onboarding strategy. Recalibration is most effective when based on at least 90 days of member engagement data, so dont give up on your strategy too soon. Give it time to work before determining a re-do is in order. Effective onboarding uses your marketing and sales dollars strategically to create bottom line growth. But, like so many other areas of your product portfolio, you must understand the triggers and inclinations of your members to introduce them to the best next product. Without this knowledge, you are simply guessing at the next cross-selling opportunity. Isnt it time to turn those gut-based guesses into data-driven decisions with the information right at your fingertips? Philippines election: Maverick Rodrigo Duterte wins presidency by J Head Maverick anti-crime candidate Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte has won the Philippine presidential elections, following the withdrawal of his opponents. Although the official result has not yet been declared, main rival Mar Roxas admitted defeat after polls gave Mr Duterte an unassailable lead. Mr Duterte said he accepted the mandate with "extreme humility". The 71-year-old stirred controversy during campaigning with his incendiary comments. He has credited his success to his tough stance on law and order. His record as the crime-crushing mayor of the southern town of Davao, once notorious for its lawlessness, earned him the moniker The Punisher and resonated with voters. Rodrigo Duterte, a man dubbed by his rivals as an executioner who would bring terror to the Philippines, has won the presidency by a clear margin, polling nearly twice as many votes as his nearest rivals. But what is less clear is what he will do with the job. His blunt promise to sweep away criminals and corrupt officials won him the backing of millions of Filipinos weary of ineffective governments. But he has so far offered few policy details. A spokesman has already pledged a radical overhaul of the political system. Human rights groups have warned he may repeat what happened in the southern city of Davao, where as mayor he is accused of allowing death squads to murder hundreds of alleged criminals. Mr Duterte has a formidable task in a country still hampered by poverty and poor infrastructure - just meeting the lofty expectations he raised during his campaign will be hard enough. __________________________________________________ Duterte to amend Constitution for foreign ownership expansion By M Frialde MANILA, Philippines - Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte says he is willing to amend the 1987 Constitution to allow foreign-owned businesses to flourish in the country. Speaking at the sidelights to reporters after attending the Wallace Business Forum with businessmen in Makati City on Wednesday night, Duterte said he is comfortable with a 70 to 30 percent arrangement in favor of foreign businessmen. Under the protectionist clause of the Constitution (Article XII), foreign ownership of property is restricted to a 40 percent baseline share. I can be comfortable with 70 to 30 percent [in favor of foreign ownership]. I would go as far as 70 (percent). The Filipinos do not have money that is the problem, Duterte said. Duterte added that he is also willing to lease lands to foreigners for manufacturing and agricultural ventures. He however stressed that no lands would be sold to foreigners. Maybe for manufacturing, I can lease the land, even for agricultural venture. I am not comfortable about selling land even for manufacturing ventures and even agriculture large tracts of lands, he said. Duterte said foreign businessmen would be allowed to lease land in the Philippines for 40 years that could be renewed for another 40 years. I can give you a lease for 40 years, renewable for 40 years. Thats a lifetime. But if you leave the country, automatic yun na you cannot pass it on to another corporation, he said. Meanwhile, Duterte said he is also proposing that the term of the president be extended to another six years or for two terms. He said that the present six-year-term of the president is not enough to implement all the plans on the drawing board. It is better that we go back to the two terms. Six years is too short. Maybe I can just clean the esteros. Tong six years hindi maganda, kahit sa mga city mayors and the local government officials. I would propose that we go back to the two terms for president, he said __________________________________________________ Controversial mayor Rodrigo Duterte wins Philippine presidential election following incendiary campaign By A Harvey Anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte has claimed a huge win in the Philippine presidential elections after an incendiary campaign dominated by his profanity-laced vows to kill criminals. Mr Duterte, the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, hypnotised millions with his vows of brutal but quick solutions to the nation's twin plagues of crime and poverty, which many believed had worsened despite strong economic growth in recent years. And after a record turnout of voters in Monday's elections, Mr Duterte scored a commanding victory, according to data released by the PPCRV, a Catholic Church-run poll monitor accredited by the government to tally the votes. With nearly 90 per cent of the vote counted early on Tuesday morning, Mr Duterte had an insurmountable lead of 5.92 million votes over his nearest rival, administration candidate Mar Roxas. "It's with humility, extreme humility, that I accept this, the mandate of the people," Mr Duterte said as the results came in. "What I can promise you is that I will do my very best not just in my waking hours but even in my sleep." Mr Duterte had 38.65 per cent of the vote, with Mr Roxas on 23.16 per cent, according to PPCRV. Mr Roxas wished the new president success as he conceded on Tuesday after an unofficial tally showed him trailing by over 6 million votes. Senator Grace Poe, the adopted daughter of movie stars, had already conceded just after midnight in third spot with 21.71 per cent. "As a staunch supporter of electoral reform, I have a firm belief in the voice and sentiment of our people. I honour the result of our elections," Ms Poe told reporters in Manila. "I congratulate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and pledge my support in working to heal our land and to unite our people toward the continued development of our country." In the Philippines, a winner is decided simply by whomever gets the most votes. Mr Duterte, a pugnacious 71-year-old, surged from outsider to the top of surveys with cuss-filled vows to kill tens of thousands of criminals, threats to establish one-man rule if politicians disobeyed him and promises to embrace communist rebels. He 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. Departing President Benigno Aquino, whose mother led the democracy movement that ousted Ferdinand Marcos three decades ago, had warned repeatedly the nation was 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," Mr Aquino said in an appeal to voters in a final rally on Saturday in Manila for Mr Roxas, his preferred successor and fellow Liberal Party stalwart. In his final rally on Saturday, Mr Duterte repeated 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," said Mr Duterte, who has been accused of running vigilante death squads in Davao. "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." From the Open-Publishing Newswire From the Open-Publishing Calendar San Francisco Police Commission Meeting Fire Chief Suhr! Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 Time: 5:30 PM - 9:00 PM Event Type: Meeting Organizer/Author: San Francisco Police Commission Location Details: Wed at 5:30 police commission meeting. Everyone come out. #FireChiefSuhr #BlueRibbon May 11, 2016 @ 5:30 pm 9:00 pm WHERE: San Francisco City Hall, Rm 400 1 Dr Carlton B Goodlett Pl San Francisco, CA 94102 Wed at 5:30 police commission meeting. Everyone come out. #FireChiefSuhr #BlueRibbon Over 250 scientists released a joint scientific letter opposing the deadly California driftnet fishery for swordfish, which has some of the highest bycatch rates in the world. For Immediate Release CONTACT:Joanna NasarCommunications DirectorTurtle Island Restoration NetworkCell: (415) 488-7711Joanna@SeaTurtles.Org Olema, Calif. (May 11, 2016) Over 250 scientists released a joint scientific letter opposing the deadly California driftnet fishery for swordfish, which has some of the highest bycatch rates in the world. The letter, coordinated by Turtle Island Restoration Network, specifically requests that immediate action be taken to phase out the fishery and protect the ecological integrity of Californias coastal waters. The scientific letter, addressed to Governor Jerry Brown, the California Legislature, and the Pacific Fisheries Management Council, is wake up call from the scientific community to decision makers to phase out the use of indiscriminate driftnets. The California legislature now has the opportunity to pass Senate Bill 1114 to reduce the number of damaging driftnets off the California coast, and to bring online a more sustainable deep-set buoy gear. Senate Bill 1114 is authored by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) and sponsored by Turtle Island Restoration Network. It lays out a clear plan to address the concerns of hundreds of scientists, and thousands of members of the public, while also moving the fishery into the 21st century. "The science is clear. It is time for California to phase out the destructive and wasteful California driftnet fishery that entangles more cetaceans than any other fishery along the U.S. West Coast," said Doug Karpa, legal and policy director of Turtle Island Restoration Network. "We can and should demand that our fisheries do better." The scientific letter was recently presented to regulators and lawmakers, and outlines how the fisherys take of threatened and endangered marine wildlife is simply too high. The letter is timely, as currently lawmakers in the Senate Appropriations Committee will be considering the bill on May 16th. The bill would put a stop to the decades of irresponsible fishing for swordfish, and modernize the out-of-date fishery by incentivizing the use of more sustainable fishing gear. Currently, the driftnet fishery in California consists of less than 20 fishing vessels. The vessels set out nets the size of the Golden Gate Bridge to float overnight and indiscriminately catch whatever swims into their nets. The California driftnet fishery kills or injures approximately seven times more whales and dolphins than all other observed fisheries in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska combined, and 13 times more than any other single observed fishery on the West Coast. In one decade the fishery killed an astounding 885 marine mammals. Eliminating the use of driftnets would instantly reduce the observed U.S. West Coast marine mammal catch by 87 percent. Furthermore, the cost of operating the fishery is more than the value of its catch. Scientists from top research institutions include Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and universities like Stanford, are calling for decision makers to follow best available scientific advice and close this fishery. "As a person who has studied sharks much of my life, I am appalled that blue, short fin mako, and smooth hammerheads are discarded from these nets. These are apex predators with small populations at the top of the trophic pyramid. This fishery should be replaced by the more sustainable fishing practices preferred by the public, the eventual consumers of seafood," said Peter Klimley, Adjunct Professor and Director of the Biotelemetry Laboratory Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology for the University of California, Davis, CA. Read the Scientist Letter Here: https://seaturtles.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016.05.10_CalDriftnet_SciLetter_final.pdf More information about the proposed legislation can be found here: http://sd26.senate.ca.gov/sites/sd26.senate.ca.gov/files/SB1114.pdf Read our report on the California driftnet here: https://seaturtles.org/resources/driftnet-overview/?parent=sharks ### Turtle Island Restoration Network works to mobilize people and communities around the world to protect marine wildlife, the oceans and the inland waterways that sustain them. Join us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. SeaTurtles.Org Norfolk, VA After LawyersandSettlements wrote about QTC Medical Services and its lawsuit involving Vietnam veterans After LawyersandSettlements wrote about QTC Medical Services and its lawsuit involving Vietnam veterans disability cases and QTC reviewers inadequately reviewing their Agent Orange claims, the whistleblower in the lawsuit contacted us. Under this federal contract, veterans claims were recklessly processed and as a result, they were denied disability benefits, says David Vatan, a former QTC claims file analyst and doctor. Dr. Vatan believes that QTC not only defrauded the federal government, but also scammed hundreds of thousands of veterans in the process. He says veterans were denied disability benefits because QTC reviewers were under pressure to review and process 160,000 claims in a short period of time.QTC Medical Services - a Lockheed Martin company - is the biggest government contractor and has most of its contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs for Veterans Disability Examination. The QTC department in charge of the VA contract was called Nehmer and 20-25 employees, including Vatan, worked under this contract. The Nehmer contract was QTCs first experience in manually reviewing veterans claims.They [reviewers] were not well prepared as they had no training, nor did they have any quality control in place, says Vatan. QTC pressured employees to review and process as many veterans as possible - and they were given bonuses per performance. Vatan also said the medical providers [doctors] who countersigned each report signed up to 80 files in 2-3 hours a day they spent at QTC without reviewing those records.Vatans complaint resulted in a threat of disciplinary action and termination if the minimum daily quota was not met. So he filed a Qui Tam suit with the Department of Justice. Vatan claims that QTC did not give its employees the necessary training to spot evidence of illnesses linked to Agent Orange and pressured employees to work at a pace that made it impossible to thoroughly review the file.In a statement toRep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, said, This lawsuit raises a number of serious questions... Every veterans VA claim deserves a thorough and objective review. Our investigation will continue until we are satisfied thats the case in this situation.But the lawsuit brought by Vatan against QTC was dismissed because Vatan didnt know the terms of the contract Vatan and his attorney are appealing this lawsuit and it is currently at the pleading stage. We are confident that we can articulate what the trial court got wrong in its case, says attorney Robert Sherlock at Eisenberg, Gilchrist & Cutt (EGC Legal), Salt Lake City.The court said that Vatan didnt have the underlying contract. In any large entity such as QTC, there is a compartmentalization of functions, so one person working in one segment may not have the entire contract, says Sherlock. The more compartmentalized the entity, the less likely it is that one person will have that information.The court said that David Vatan doesnt have the contract so he cannot describe what that contract is. In other words, the court says that, if you dont have a contract, you cannot say what you do...At the pleading stage the court is legally required to accept allegations as true and must give the plaintiff, David Vatan, the benefit of all reasonable inferences that can be drawn from the evidence that is pled. We have the guide for QTC produced by the VA that says what QTC can do, adds Sherlock. So the case is on appeal and a briefing schedule is set for the end of August. And there are a number of organizations, including VA supporters, who will request permission to file Amicus Curiae, which literally means friend of the court.The Court has the discretion to allow a reputable organization, if it has something to say that is trying to help [nearly 250,000] veterans, Sherlock explains. The parties at the end of this chain of events are the veterans; we believe these friends have a vested interest in making sure the veterans get a fair and honest shake.Sherlock believes their case will be successful on appeal and the issues of law will be clarified.David Vatan said in an e-mail to LawyersandSettlements that QTCs attorney offered him a settlement - they want this case to go away. For me this is a matter of principle. I believe I have an ethical and moral obligation to notify veterans about QTC and its handling of our nations veterans claims for disability. I believe the work that QTC is doing - or has completed - for our veterans has no value whatsoever to taxpayers and veterans.My final word of advice to our veterans is to stay away from QTC. Refuse to engage in any of their services and ask our federal government and the VA to provide you with a more reliable alternative.The case isFederal Civil Lawsuit California Central District Court, Case No. 2:14-cv-08961. - Alison-Madueke's allies are currently being tried for corruption - SERAP wants ex-minister to defend herself - Makes demand from Prime Minister David Cameron As Nigerias immediate past minister of petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, continues with her battle to wade off the series of corruption allegations against her, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has demanded that she be repatriated from the United Kingdom (UK) to defend herself. The demand for her repatriation comes ahead of the international anti-corruption summit in the UK for which Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari is a participant. Diezani Alison-Madueke, former minister of petroleum Some allies of Alison-Madueke are currently answering questions relating to their roles in the huge financial mismanagement and corruption that rocked the government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan. SERAP believes that the charges she is currently facing in UK court do not sufficiently capture the gravity of her alleged crimes and the increasing allegations of corruption against her in Nigeria. READ ALSO: EFCC storms Access bank, grills MD over Diezani's bribe The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had recently announced it was commencing special investigation into the how some banks got involved in the N23 billion allegedly shared to officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigerian electoral umpire, by officials of Jonathans government during the 2015 general elections. Executive director of SERAP, Adetokunbo Mumuni, said on behalf of the rights group: The anti-corruption summit in London provides an important opportunity for the UK government to support the ongoing fight against corruption in Nigeria, and to send a powerful message that the UK will not provide sanctuary or condone impunity for corrupt public officials. As a state party to the UN convention against corruption, the UK government can use the convention as a basis for the extradition of Alison-Madueke back to Nigeria. We urge the Nigerian authorities to without delay submit a request to the UK authorities for the extradition of Mrs Alison-Madueke, explicitly making the point that Nigeria will guarantee her a due process-trial. If the UK refuses the extradition request, Nigeria should consider submitting the matter for arbitration and if this cannot resolve the case, refer it to the International Court of Justice for adjudication. The Nigerian authorities should also consider filing a civil action against Mrs Alison-Madueke in the UK court. By sending Mrs Alison-Madueke back to her country, the UK will be sending a message that high-level official corruption will not go unpunished no matter where the suspected perpetrator hides and thus contribute to the fight against impunity for grand corruption. The UK indeed has an obligation to extradite Mrs Alison-Madueke through international cooperation and collaboration in good faith with Nigeria. We believe that effective prosecution in Nigeria is feasible and this will bring justice closer to Nigerians who are direct victims of corruption. Extraditing Mrs Alison-Madueke back to Nigeria is equally important for allowing easier access to witnesses, evidence, victims of corruption; creating a deep connection between Nigerians and the impact of the trial; and empowering victims of corruption. READ ALSO: 'Nobody who ever touched Diezani survived' - Emir of Kano The statement continues: SERAP believes that there is probable cause that Mrs Alison-Madueke participated in the extraditable acts involving some banks in Nigeria, whether directly or indirectly. The allegations of corruption against her are strong enough for Prime Minister David Cameron to facilitate an extradition proceeding. The UK shouldnt be a country of refuge for corrupt officials if it is to avoid a miscarriage of justice in high-level corruption cases. But if Mrs Alison-Madueke is not extradited, the UK will have a responsibility to amend her charges to include the fresh allegations against her and to try her on the merits under the UK laws as if she had committed the crimes there." Recently, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) reportedly released the chief executive officers of two Nigerian banks. According to Sahara Reporters, the men regained freedom after they returned billions of naira they had illicitly acquired from political slush funds during the administration of former president, Goodluck Jonathan. The EFCC sources revealed that Yemi Adeola, the Sterling Banks CEO, was released on Friday, May 6, after he deposited a payment of N5 billion. According to one of the sources, the money returned by Adeola was in partial restitution for a transaction of $88 million he received from Diezani Alison-Madueke, a former minister of petroleum resources. Source: Legit.ng British Prime Minister David Cameron has explained his comment about Nigeria as being a fantastically corrupt country. The news about Cameron defining Nigeria as a corrupt nation went viral immediately afterwards. British PM was taking questions in parliament on Wednesday, May 11, the day after he was caught on camera telling Queen Elizabeth that leaders of some "fantastically corrupt" are visiting United Kingdom. Angus Robertson, SNP Westminster leader, asks a question on the anti-corruption summit. Mr. Cameron first of all checked his microphone before speaking. READ ALSO: Buhari addresses anti-corruption conference in London Addressing the question, he says the point of the summit being held in London is to show that action to tackle corruption is needed by developed as well as developing countries. Cameron says the government is taking steps to ensure "plundered money from African countries can't be hidden in London." He is hosting an international anti-corruption summit on May 12. Watch the video below: President Buhari speaking at the anti-corruption conference has said he does not want an apology from Cameron, but a return of the assets that were taken out of his country and sent to the UK. Source: Legit.ng The federal government of Nigeria has removed subsidy on fuel and it will now start to sell for N145 per litre. This removal was made on Wednesday, May 11. Until the removal, the official price of petrol was N87 per litre although consumers have been paying as much as N200 for fuel due to scarcity. Ibe Kachikwu and President Muhammadu Buhari The removal in fuel subsidy has been a lingering issue since President Muhammadu Buhari took over power. The minister of state for petroleum product, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu had said that the citizens were not benefitting from the subsidy which made it necessary to be removed. An official in the petroleum industry had earlier said the federal government would deregulate the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry so as to put an end to scarcity. The petroleum minister in a statement said the decision was taken based on the current challenges and that Nigerians have been paying exorbitant prices for fuel. We have just finished a meeting of various stakeholders presided over by His Excellency, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The meeting had in attendance the Leadership of the Senate, House of Representatives, Governors Forum, and Labour Unions (NLC, TUC, NUPENG, and PENGASSAN). class="text_exposed_show"> The meeting reviewed: "The current fuel scarcity and supply difficulties in the country. "The exorbitant prices being paid by Nigerians for the product. These prices range on the average from N150 to N250 per litre currently. "The meeting also noted that the main reason for the current problem is the inability of importers of petroleum products to source foreign exchange at the official rate due to the massive decline of foreign exchange earnings of the federal government. As a result, private marketers have been unable to meet their approximate 50% portion of total national supply of PMS. Following a detailed presentation by the Honorable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, it has now become obvious that the only option and course of action now open to the government is to take the following decisions: "In order to increase and stabilise the supply of the product, any Nigerian entity is now free to import the product, subject to existing quality specifications and other guidelines issued by Regulatory Agencies. " All Oil Marketers will be allowed to import PMS on the basis of FOREX procured from secondary sources and accordingly PPPRA template will reflect this in the pricing of the product. "Pursuant to this, PPPRA has informed me that it will be announcing a new price band effective today, 11th May, 2016 and that the new price for PMS will not be above N145 per litre. "We expect that this new policy will lead to improved supply and competition and eventually drive down pump prices, as we have experienced with diesel. In addition, this will also lead to increased product availability and encourage investments in refineries and other parts of the downstream sector. It will also prevent diversion of petroleum products and set a stable environment for the downstream sector in Nigeria. "We share the pains of Nigerians but, as we have constantly said, the inherited difficulties of the past and the challenges of the current times imply that we must take difficult decisions on these sorts of critical national issues. Along with this decision, the federal government has in the 2016 budget made an unprecedented social protection provision to cushion the current challenges. "We believe in the long term, that improved supply and competition will drive down prices. "The DPR and PPPRA have been mandated to ensure strict regulatory compliance including dealing decisively with anyone involved in hoarding petroleum products." The vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo hinted earlier on Wednesday that Nigeria had reached a point where tough decisions had to be taken. He said: No matter how we slice it, we are in economic times that are challenging, but they provide us with some of the best opportunities for making a real difference in our economic life. I think that we are at a point that a lot has been said about subsidies and what to do with subsidies. I think we are at a point where we must make many difficult decisions and make very tough choices. But I think the Nigerian people are prepared for all what is required and all it would take to make a real difference. In no way can a country make the kind of progress we expect it to make without being able to ensure that in public life our finance system is transparent and would ensure that there is accountability." Source: Legit.ng Thank you for reading The Cascadia Advocate, the Northwest Progressive Institutes journal of world, national, and local politics. Founded in March of 2004, The Cascadia Advocate has been helping people throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond make sense of current events with rigorous analysis and thought-provoking commentary for more than fifteen years. The Cascadia Advocate is funded by readers like you and trusted sponsors. We dont run ads or publish content in exchange for money. Help us keep The Cascadia Advocate editorially independent and freely available to all by becoming a member of the Northwest Progressive Institute today. Or make a donation to sustain our essential research and advocacy journalism. Your contribution will allow us to continue bringing you features like Last Week In Congress, live coverage of events like Netroots Nation or the Democratic National Convention, and reviews of books and documentary films. Become an NPI member Make a one-time donation Investment into European Hotels totalled 3.7bn, representing the second largest deal volume recorded in any first quarter in the last decade, despite transaction volumes reducing by 30% compared to Q1 2015, reports CBRE Hotels. During a record year for hotel investment in 2015, the asset class grew its share of [] Kungsleden AB has signed an agreement with the residential developer Prime Living to divest the properties Rud 4:1 and Rud 760:42 in the residential area Ruddalen, Gothenburg. The residential developer Prime Living acquires the properties for 7.1 millionen (SEK 66 million). Kungsleden has started a zoning plan process to transform [] Muse Developments has officially handed over the keys to John Lewis for its new 7.9 million (6.2 million) customer delivery hub at Logic Leeds. The 50,500 sq ft state-of-the-art distribution warehouse is situated in the heart of Muses flagship 110-acre development in the Leeds City Region Enterprise Zone by Junction [] Winter season 2016 was very successful for quality hotels in the mountain cluster: 7 out of 10 rooms were occupied in Krasnaya Polyana in Q1, according to a JLL analysis of the quality hotels market results in Sochi mountain and coastal areas in Q1 2016. YTD occupancy in the mountain cluster in So... [] According to a Bucharest City Report by JLL, the Romanian GDP grew by 3.7% 2015. The cut in VAT from 24% to 9% for food products since the 1st of June and to 20% for all products from the 1st of January 2016 encouraged private consumption, which was the main [] Investment into Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (excluding Russia) for Q1 2016 registered a slight decrease (6%) compared to same period of last year, reaching 1.84 billion. Expectations are that for the entire year, investment volumes will reach and exceed the record volumes of 2015, with all CEE countries [] Rockspring Property Investment Managers LLP, on behalf of a UK separate account client, has sold 32 Cornhill, in the heart of the City of London for 26.6 million (21 million) in an off market transaction to a private European investor. Acquired by Rockspring in 2006, 32 Cornhill comprises 14,792 sq [] In cooperation with Pegasus Capital Partners, Stonehill Holdings is developing a 633 room student residence at Dresdner Strasse 107, located in Viennas 20th District. The residence with its 26,000 m gross and 7 floors will be the first actively managed, privately designed and developed student residence in Austria with on-site Photos: Wehdorn Architekten, holobox.at [] About 38 million Americans suffer from migraines in the United States, according to the Migraine Research Foundation. The most commonly used and effective classes of medication, triptans and DHE (Dihydroergotamine), however, have a black box warning for two subtypes of migraine because of risk of stroke. Now researchers at Abington-Jefferson Health have shown that patients who were given the drugs off-label had no stroke or other cardiovascular side-effects from taking the drugs. Not only does the study suggest these drugs are safe for this subset of migraine patients, it could also have implications for the nearly 10 million migraine sufferers who experience auras -- a disturbance in vision, touch, speech, thinking, or strength that usually precedes a migraine headache. "There are not enough medicines out there to appropriately manage migraine headaches," says senior author Brad Klein, M.D., Medical Director of the Headache Center at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health. "At a time in history when an unprecedented number of people are getting hooked on narcotic opiates by way of prescribed medications -- as is the case with migraine sufferers as well -- we owe it to ourselves as physicians to try medications that could work without the risk of addiction," says Klein. The study was published in the journal Headache. Migraines are thought to cause pain because they cause a swelling of the blood vessels feeding the brain. However, two subtypes of migraines, basilar and hemiplegic, are thought to cause pain by doing the opposite -- constricting rather than swelling the blood vessels of the brain. Triptans and DHE are both thought to relieve migraine, in part, by constricting blood vessels. Early on, drug developers worried that adding more constriction to basilar and hemiplegic migraines could put these patients at greater risk of stroke, so these patients were excluded from the initial studies. "As a result," says Klein, "no one ever actually showed that these drugs were dangerous -- they were just assumed to be dangerous based on their mechanism of action. And recent research suggests that the auras are not due to blood vessel constriction." To determine whether there was any increased risk of stroke in basilar and hemiplegic patients taking triptans or DHE, Klein and researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston did a retrospective analysis, collecting data from four headache centers around the country. They searched for patients who had symptoms pointing to a basilar or hemiplegic migraine diagnosis and also received either a triptan or DHE treatment. Of the 80 patients they identified, they saw no cases of stroke or heart attack during the period of routine follow up, over several months. Although others had studied this effect before, this research had the largest patient cohort to date, and was also one of the first to examine patients treated with DHE. Migraines can be very complex to diagnose and there are few certified headache specialists in the United States -- only 500 for the 38 million sufferers, according to the Migraine Research Foundation. "Because auras are associated with basilar and hemiplegic migraine, many physicians refuse to give these drugs to any patients experiencing an aura out of a false sense of precaution," says Dr. Klein. Instead migraine sufferers may be given other, less effective drugs such as opioid narcotics. Imported forest pests cause billions of dollars in damages each year, and U.S. property owners and municipalities foot most of the bill. Efforts to prevent new pests are not keeping pace with escalating trade and must be strengthened if we are to slow the loss of our nation's trees. So reports a team of 16 scientists in a new paper published online in the journal Ecological Applications. Dr. Gary Lovett, a forest ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the paper's lead author, explains, "Imported forest pests are the most pressing and underappreciated forest health issue in the U.S. today. We need to act now to strengthen prevention if we are going to protect billions of valuable trees in communities and forests all across the U.S." The paper is the most comprehensive synthesis to date on forest pests, covering ecological and economic impacts and evaluating policy solutions. Co-authors include scientists from Harvard Forest, the USDA Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, Dartmouth College, McGill University, and Michigan State. The Science Policy Exchange, a consortium focused on synthesizing ecological science for decision- making, convened the group. Emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, hemlock woolly adelgid, sudden oak death -- these are just a handful of the imported insects and diseases killing U.S. trees. Most arrived as stowaways in international cargo. Each year, 25 million shipping containers enter the U.S.; thousands have forest pests lurking among their goods. Major pathways of forest pest introductions are solid wood packing material, such as pallets and crates, and live plants bound for the nursery trade. Imported forest pests cause more than $2 billion in damages each year. The problem is widespread, with pests present in all 50 states. New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Michigan, California, Idaho, North Carolina and Florida are among the hardest hit. Sixty-three percent of U.S. forestland, or 825 million acres, are at risk of increased damage from established pests. Urban and suburban trees are the costliest casualties. Removal and replanting are expensive, and loss of trees from streets, yards, and parks affects property values, cooling, flooding, air quality, and aesthetics. "When the Asian longhorned beetle struck Worcester, Massachusetts, more than 34,000 trees were removed. It looked like a hurricane had struck the city," said David Orwig, a Senior Ecologist at Harvard Forest. "It will take decades or more for the community to recover the benefits of the trees." The stakes are higher than most people realize. Forest pests are the only threat that can decimate an entire tree species within just decades. They virtually eliminated American chestnuts from our forests and stately American elms from our streets. The loss of trees has heightened significance today as communities turn to trees as "green infrastructure" to help mitigate and adapt to climate change. advertisement Current policies will still allow a wave of new pests to invade the country in the coming decades. Strengthening prevention would shift the economic burden of dealing with these pests from property owners and municipalities back to the importers and shippers responsible for introducing them. It also offers the best hope for limiting future invasions, and yields significant savings for communities and taxpayers. Current policies are projected to return $11 billion in net benefits by 2050, with the study's authors projecting larger benefits with stronger prevention efforts. Dr. Lovett is leading an alliance of scientists promoting Tree-SMART Trade, a series of five high-priority policy actions identified by the research. These prevention measures target the pathways that transmit pests. If adopted, they would dramatically reduce the arrival and establishment of new forest pests. Lovett explains, "While existing measures to thwart forest pests have helped, we still see introductions of new pests every year. The good news is that we can do more to prevent new forest pests from arriving and establishing. That is the focus of Tree-SMART Trade." More than 90% of wood boring insects that have recently invaded the U.S. entered in wood packaging. The top Tree-SMART Trade action is adoption of alternatives to solid-wood packaging, such as plywood or strand lumber. Switching to non-solid-wood packaging could reduce pests and result in large economic benefits. Historically, 70% of forest pests arrived in the U.S. on imported plants. Ending or greatly limiting imports of live trees and shrubs that share a genus or species with plants native to the U.S. is another high- impact option identified by the researchers. Intercepting pests by improving early detection programs in the U.S. and strengthening pest prevention programs with trading partners abroad are two additional priorities. The fifth Tree-SMART Trade action is tightening trade enforcement guidelines. Current guidelines allow importers to violate wood packaging treatment requirements five times each year before facing penalties. According to the study, taking action to prevent new forest pests will alleviate the economic burden borne disproportionately by homeowners and municipalities while safeguarding U.S. trees and the valuable benefits they provide to our forests and communities. Tuberculosis infection in mongoose driven by social communication behavior An emerging strain of tuberculosis (TB), closely related to human TB, has been killing banded mongoose in Northern Botswana in significant numbers. This novel pathogen, Mycobacterium mungi, did not infect mongoose through a primary airborne or oral route as normally seen in TB disease in humans and animals. The mechanism of transmission, however, was unknown. Now, a research team led by Kathleen Alexander, associate professor of wildlife conservation in Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources and Environment, reports discovery of the pathogen's unique transmission route in a new issue of the American Society for Microbiology journal mBio. Using a suite of molecular techniques to identify the presence of M. mungi-specific DNA and examination of mongoose tissues and cells, Alexander and her team have discovered that TB transmission in mongoose occurs in conjunction with social behavior. As with many animals, such as dogs or even hyenas, mongoose use urine and anal gland secretions to communicate with other members of their species. However, in the mongoose, secretions from sick animals were found to be infected with the TB pathogen. These secretions, once deposited in the environment, allow the pathogen to be transmitted when other mongoose investigate and sniff the scent marks. The pathogen is also spread when an infected mongoose places its scent directly on other mongoose in its troop. advertisement Abrasions or injuries in the skin or nose provide the portal of entry for this novel TB pathogen to invade and infect the mongoose host. Smaller social groups are most threatened by the disease, the researchers report. "Banded mongoose are a territorial species, and individuals within a troop may have little or no direct contact with mongoose in adjacent social groups, limiting the potential for directly transmitted pathogens like TB to spread through a population," explained Alexander, an affiliate of the Fralin Life Science Institute, who discovered the novel strain of TB in 2010. "But this TB pathogen circumvents the mongoose's natural social barriers to infectious disease transmission by hijacking social communication behavior," she said. "We keep being surprised by infectious disease-causing organisms and their ability to adapt to a particular environment, behaving, in some cases, dramatically differently than we expect." TB is an ancient disease that continues to be one of the most important health threats to humans, wildlife, and domestic animals globally. The discovery by Alexander's team of the novel mode of infection by M. mungi in banded mongoose has critical implications to our current understanding of tuberculosis infection dynamics, warranting further examination of other species where this transmission pathway may also occur, the researchers point out in their article. advertisement Potential sources of pathogen exposure were evaluated, including soil, sewage, and human and mongoose feces, as well as feces from 16 different wildlife species -- from elephants to domestic cows. Despite this, M. mungi DNA could only be found in banded mongoose tissues and secretions. The scientists examined 155 mongoose between July 2000 and June 2015, conducting in-depth studies of tissues from 79 of these animals. TB lesions were found in a variety of organs, but more significantly in the nose, nasal cavity, and skin -- those parts of the mongoose host in frequent contact with anal gland secretions and urine during olfactory communication behavior. Lung lesions were only found in affected animals in advanced stages of the disease. "M. tuberculosis complex pathogens infect many species of domestic and wild animals as well as humans in the U.S. and across the globe," noted Alexander. "Our findings have changed the way we must think about tuberculosis and infectious disease transmission in territorial species." "Mechanisms of host exposure are still not completely understood for many host species and M. tuberculosis complex organisms," she continued. "There is an urgent need to better understand the processes that influence environmental transmission and persistence of TB pathogens and resultant disease control implications." Alexander noted, "We have recently sequenced the genome of this emerging pathogen, and we can now start to investigate why this TB pathogen behaves so differently -- patterns that have important implications to our understanding of TB disease in both humans and animals." An international team led by Japanese researchers has made a 3D map of 3000 galaxies 13 billion light years from Earth, and found that Einstein's general theory of relativity is still valid. Since it was discovered in the late 1990s that the universe is expanding at an accelerated rate, scientists have been trying to explain why. The mysterious dark energy could be driving acceleration, or Einstein's theory of general relativity, which says gravity warps space and time, could be breaking down. To test Einstein's theory, a team of researchers led by Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics (Kavli IPMU) Project Researcher Teppei Okumura, Kavli IPMU Project Assistant Professor Chiaki Hikage, University of Tokyo Department of Astronomy Professor Tomonori Totani, and together with Tohoku University Astronomical Institute Associate Professor Masayuki Akiyama and Kyoto University Department of Astronomy Associate Professor Fumihide Iwamuro and Professor Kouji Ohta, used FastSound Survey data on more than 3000 distant galaxies to analyze their velocities and clustering. Their results indicated that even far into the universe, general relativity is valid, giving further support that the expansion of the universe could be explained by a cosmological constant, as proposed by Einstein in his theory of general relativity. "We tested the theory of general relativity further than anyone else ever has. It's a privilege to be able to publish our results 100 years after Einstein proposed his theory," said Okumura. "Having started this project 12 years ago it gives me great pleasure to finally see this result come out," said Karl Glazebrook, Professor at Swinburne University of Technology, who proposed the survey. No one has been able to analyze galaxies more than 10 billion light years away, but the team managed to break this barrier thanks to the FMOS (Fiber Multi-Object Spectrograph) on the Subaru Telescope, which can analyze galaxies 12.4 to 14.7 billion light years away. The Prime Focus Spectrograph, currently under construction, is expected to be able to study galaxies even further away. Radiation therapy is one of the most essential elements in cancer treatment. But properly planning radiation therapy is a highly complex task. Fraunhofer mathematicians have joined an alliance with medical physicists and physicians to improve the therapy planning process. In doing so they have helped improve patient's chances of recovery. Professor Karl-Heinz Kufer was amazed when he saw for the first time how radiation therapy for cancer patients was planned: "The processes physicians and physicists used in jointly planning radiation therapy reminded me of looking for objects in a dark room, groping around and then trying again," recalls Kufer, a mathematician at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM in Kaiserslautern, Germany. He recognizedthe potential for improvement and got together with physicians, physicists and information scientists to develop an alternative solution. The result was an interactive and easy-to-operate software product. It shortens the duration of radiation therapy planning, makes finding a good balance between therapy potentials and possible side-effects easier and ultimately increases the patient's chances of recovery.Every year in Germany approximately 483,000 people are diagnosed with cancer, with 222,000 cases ending fatally. This makes cancer Germany's second most common cause of death. Radiation therapy is used to treat more than half the cases. The radiation used damages cell DNA and thus inhibits their cell division or results directly in the death of the cell. From a Trial-and-Error Strategy to a Predictable Solution The objective of the therapy is to kill tumor cells while protecting healthy tissue. In the past the physician formulated his wishes and the radiation physicist turned these demands into a therapy plan. If the physician wasn't satisfied with the results, the physicist did follow-up work. Gradually the optimum solution was found. "The new thing about the mathematical approach is that from the very beginning a variety of solutions is calculated; the physician can then choose the best solution for the patient," explains Professor Jurgen Debus, radio-oncologist at Heidelberg University Hospital, who tested the developed software in clinical use. In order to improve the process, Fraunhoferresearchers Karl-Heinz Kufer, Dr. Michael Bortz, Dr. Alexander Scherrer, Dr. Philipp Suss and Dr. Katrin Teichert considered therapy planning as a multi-criterion optimization task, in this case a balanced compromise involving around ten to fifteen in part contradictory planning goals. "The principle of the Pareto solution is a better concept here than the previous trial-and-error strategy," Karl-Heinz Kufer emphasizes. Such a solution which cannot be improved in terms of all criteria simultaneously. When one criterion improves, another criterion has to worsen in compensation. In the case of radiation therapy this means that if the tumor is to receive a higher dose of radioactivity, the surrounding tissue will be damaged more severely. Research Partnership Leads to Successful Application The software was developed under the leadership of the ITWM together with the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg University Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital in a Harvard Medical School researchpartnership. "With the new planning system the tumor can be better brought under control, since we can irradiate the tumor with a higher dose. This means the probability of permanently eradicating the tumor is also higher, and at the same time we can protect normal tissue which we might not have been able to protect at all inthe past," remarks Professor Thomas Bortfeld, who in 2011 put the multi-criterion optimization approach to clinical use at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for the first time, together with RaySearch Laboratories. By the end of 2015 vendor RaySearch Laboratories had sold the system to approximately 400 therapy stations inapproximately 320 clinics. With additional licensing through world market leader Varian Medical Systems startingin 2016, the technology will in the future be available at over 20,000 therapy planning stations around the world. Development of the interactive multi-criterion radiation therapy planning system earned the Fraunhofer researchers Karl-Heinz Kufer, Michael Bortz, Alexander Scherrer, Philipp Suss and Katrin Teichert and their research partners Thomas Bortfeld, Jurgen Debus, Wolfgang Schlegel and Christian Thieke the Stifterverband for German Science's 2016 award. The jury specifically recognized "the broad viability of the method in treating thewidespread illness of cancer as well as the relevance to international markets." If the bittersweet nightshade (Solanum dulcamara) is consumed by herbivores, the plant secretes a nectar directly from the wounds that attracts ants and thus protects the plant from further feeding damage. This discovery was made by scientists from Freie Universitat Berlin in cooperation with Dutch scientists at Radboud University in Nijmegen. "What makes this unusual is that the bittersweet nightshade is a plant with no nectaries, the organs that usually produce plant nectar for this purpose," said Prof. Dr. Anke Steppuhn from Freie Universitat, who leads the study. Moreover, the wound nectar of the bittersweet nightshade does not drain plant sap, but an almost pure sugar solution, as demonstrated in collaboration with scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology in Golm. The study was published in a recent issue of the journal Nature Plants. "Plants are not as defenseless against their predators as is often assumed," explained Steppuhn. Some species protect themselves with thorns or poisons, or by attracting predators, which in turn attack the pests. Some plants have glands (nectaries) that produce nectar and thus attract ants as "bodyguards." The bittersweet nightshade does not have this type of gland, but it can defend itself with nectar. The bittersweet nightshade is a native European relative of the potato and the tomato. It is widely distributed and occurs in various, mostly light and wet, habitats. Nevertheless, scientists have only now discovered that this plant attracts ants to defend against predators, in the same manner as only known for plants with nectaries up to now. In the greenhouse, the scientists observed droplets that came out of the edges of wounds on leaves, petioles, or stems of the bittersweet nightshade, after the plant had been damaged by various herbivores. Chemical analysis showed that these droplets are clearly distinct from the sap in the vascular tissues of the plants and almost exclusively contain sugar. Initial experiments demonstrated that these sweet droplets attract ants. In a field study and greenhouse experiments the scientists were able to prove that the ants -- in return for the sweet meal -- defend the plant from two of their biggest predators: flee beetle larvae and snails. When the flea beetles end their hibernation in the spring and begin to feed on the young leaves, the bittersweet nightshade begins to attract its protectors with the wound nectar. With their hard armor the adult beetles are well-protected against the ants and have nothing to fear. But they lay their eggs in the soil, and the young beetle larvae have to climb up the twining plant to reach the young stems, in which they feed. They are easy prey for the ants, which ensure that substantially fewer larvae survive to bore into the stems. In addition, the Berlin scientists found that the ants also attack voracious slugs. Such a plant defense against herbivores by attracting predatory insects is well known for plants with prominent nectaries outside the blossom. The example of bittersweet nightshade now indicates that plants can use this form of defense even without such nectaries. "The bittersweet nightshade controls the amount and composition of the wound nectar in a similar manner to plants with nectaries," said Steppuhn. This finding may help to explain the huge variety of nectaries and their distribution in different plant families. "The prevailing view that nectar needs to be produced by special organs was difficult to reconcile with the realization that these nectaries evolved numerous times in various plants," explained Steppuhn. Perhaps the apparently very simple mechanism of wound nectar could mark a transition between plants that produce nectar and those that produce none. The scientists suggest that this type of wound nectar could be widespread in the plant kingdom and may heve been simply been overlooked so far. New research from University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers shows birds may be avoiding habitats near noisy highways because they can't hear fellow birds' alarms that warn them of attacking hawks or owls. Some highways cut through or run along natural areas, and researchers know that wild birds often make their homes away from those highways, but they don't know why. UF/IFAS researchers tested whether highway noise could be interfering with bird communication. Results of their study suggest too much noise around these highways keeps birds from hearing warnings from fellow birds about predators in the area, and that puts them at a higher risk of being eaten. It is also possible that the birds are hearing the alarms, but are too distracted by the noise to respond to them. The researchers caution that they did not establish a causal link between highway noise and bird population reductions, although noise-disrupting alarm calls is a compelling possibility. "Conservation of bird species should include decreasing noise in sensitive wildlife areas," said Aaron Grade, who led the study as part of his master's thesis in the UF/IFAS wildlife ecology and conservation department. Grade and his graduate adviser, UF/IFAS wildlife ecology and conservation professor Katie Sieving, tested the abilities of northern cardinals to hear the predator alarm of tufted titmice by playing alarm calls to cardinals through speakers in both noisy and quiet locations in Florida state parks. They found that noise from vehicles along the busy highways often drowns out the alarms emitted by birds. Researchers went to Florida state forests near Interstate 75 and U.S. 441 in Alachua, Marion and Columbia counties to test whether highway noise could interfere with bird communication. Northern cardinals and tufted titmice are two abundant bird species in the woods of eastern North America. Many bird and mammal species rely on information from tufted titmice calls to detect and respond to dangerous predators. This causes important information networks to form around tufted titmouse communication. Normally, northern cardinals listen to tufted titmouse predator alarm calls and will typically respond by fleeing or freezing until the danger passes. But when tested near noisy roads, cardinals failed to respond to titmouse alarm calls, suggesting that the noise may prevent cardinals from escaping when there are dangerous predators around, Sieving said. "Our work suggests that disruption of animal communication networks could hinder natural behaviors of wildlife and help explain patterns of reduced biodiversity near roadways," said Grade, now a doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts. The study was published online in April in the journal Biology Letters. Scientists at U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory are turning to the world of computation to guide their search for the next new material. Their program uses software code developed to map and predict the distinct structural, electronic, magnetic stable and metastable features that are often the source of an advanced material's unique capabilities. "It's the weird or unusual structure and behaviors of a material that makes it useful for a technological application," said Ames Laboratory Chief Research Officer Duane Johnson. "So the questions become: How do we find those unusual structures and behaviors? How do we understand exactly how they happen? Better yet, how do we control them so we can use them?" The answer lies in fully understanding what scientists call solid-to-solid phase transformations, changes of a structure of one solid phase into another under stress, heat, magnetic field, or other fields. School kids learn, for example, that water (liquid phase) transforms when heated to steam (gas phase). But a solid, like a metallic alloy, can have various structures exhibiting order or disorder depending on changes in temperature and pressure, still remain a solid, and display key changes in properties like shape memory, magnetism, or energy conversion. "Those solid-to-solid transformations are behind a lot of the special features we like and want in materials," explained Johnson, who heads up the project, called Mapping and Manipulating Materials Phase Transformation Pathways. "They are behind things that are already familiar to us, like the expandable stents used in heart surgery and bendable eyeglass frames; but they are also for uses we're still exploring, like energy-harvesting technologies and magnetic cooling." The computer codes are an advancement and adaptation of new and existing software, led in development by Johnson. One such code, called MECCA (Multiple-scattering Electronic-structure Code for Complex Alloys), is uniquely designed to tackle the complex problem of analyzing and predicting the atomic structural changes and behaviors of solids as they undergo phase transformations, and reveal why they do what they do to permit its control. The program will assist and inform other ongoing materials research projects at Ames Laboratory, including ones with experimentalists on the hunt for new magnetic and high-entropy alloys, thermoelectrics, rare-earth magnets, and iron-arsenide superconductors. "This theoretical method will become a key tool to guide the experimentalists to the compositions most likely to have unique capabilities, and to learn how to manipulate and control them for new applications," Johnson said. Many cancers could be successfully treated if the patient consulted the doctor sufficiently early. But how can a developing cancer be detected if it doesn't give rise to any symptoms? In the near future, suitably early diagnosis could be provided by simple and cheap chemical sensors -- thanks to special recognizing polymer films developed at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. These days, cancer is no longer a death sentence for the patient. However, the best chances of recovery are when the correct treatment is undertaken at an early stage of the disease. This is where the trouble starts, because many tumours develop over a long period without any symptoms. One solution to this problem could be diagnostic tests available to everyone that could be performed by people themselves and on a relatively regular basis. A step bringing us closer to this sort of personalized medical diagnosis and cancer prophylaxis is the chemical sensor devised and fabricated by Prof. Wlodzimierz Kutner's group from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw using a grant from the National Science Centre, in collaboration with the team of Prof. Francis D'Souza of the University of North Texas in Denton TX, USA. The most important element of the chemosensor devised at the IPC PAS is a thin film of the polymer that detects molecules of neopterin. Neopterin -- in chemical terminology known as 2-amino-6-(1,2,3-trihydroxypropyl)-1H-pteridin-4-one) -- is an aromatic compound present in human body fluids, such as serum, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid. Produced by the immune system, it is regarded as a universal marker in medical diagnosis. The concentration of this biomarker rises significantly particularly in the case of certain neoplastic diseases, e.g., malignant lymphoma, although elevated levels of neopterin are also seen in some viral and bacterial infections, as well as in diseases of parasitic aetiology. In turn, in transplant patients, increased levels of neopterin signal probable rejection. "How can we detect the presence of neopterin? A reasonable approach is to use special recognizing materials for this purpose, prepared by molecular imprinting. This technique involves 'stamping out' molecules of the desired compound -- their shape, but also at least some of the chemical characteristics -- in a carefully designed polymer," explains Dr. Piyush Sindhu Sharma (IPC PAS), the lead author of an article published in the Biosensors and Bioelectronics journal. During the preparation of the polymer film, molecules of the substance being detected -- in this case neopterin -- are in a working solution in which their binding sites have to link with recognizing sites of so-called functional monomers. In turn, these monomers should be able to form connections with another monomer, a cross-linking agent which together, after polymerization, form a rigid support structure of the polymer. Next, the molecules of the compound used as a template are washed out from the structure. The result is a durable polymer with molecular cavities of a shape and chemical properties ensuring the capture of molecules of the desired compound from its surroundings. The basic difficulty in molecular imprinting is the selection of the appropriate functional and cross-linking monomers as well as solvents, their proportions and reaction conditions. PhD student Agnieszka Wojnarowicz (IPC PAS) explains: "With the aid of quantum-chemical calculations, we first check whether there is bonding between our template molecule and selected functional monomers, and whether they will be stable in the solvent used. We also check whether the molecular cavities formed are sufficiently selective, i.e., whether they will primarily capture the molecules we are detecting, and not any that are similar to them. When the calculation results confirm our expectations, that is when we proceed to their experimental confirmation." At the IPC PAS a recognizing polymer film with molecular cavities from neopterin has been produced on the surface of an electrode. After immersion in artificial blood serum spiked with neopterin, the film on the electrode captured molecules of the latter, thus leading to a decrease in electrical potential in the connected measuring system. The tests showed that the molecular cavities of the polymer were almost entirely filled with molecules of neopterin despite the presence of molecules of similar structure and properties. This result means that the probability of false positive detection (detecting the presence of neopterin in body fluids not containing it) is negligibly small. The new chemical sensor therefore mainly reacts to what it should react to -- and nothing else. "At present, our chemosensor is a piece of laboratory equipment. However, the production of its key element, that is, the recognizing polymer film, does not pose major problems, and the electronics responsible for electrical measurements can easily be miniaturized. There is nothing standing in the way of building simple and reliable diagnostic equipment, based on our development, in just a few years' time, which would be affordable not only for medical institutions and doctors' surgeries, but also for the public in general," predicts Prof. Kutner (IPC PAS). From our vantage point on the ground, the sun seems like a still ball of light, but in reality, it teems with activity. Eruptions called solar flares and coronal mass ejections explode in the sun's hot atmosphere, the corona, sending light and high energy particles out into space. The corona is also constantly releasing a stream of charged particles known as the solar wind. But this isn't the kind of wind you can fly a kite in. Even the slowest moving solar wind can reach speeds of around 700,000 mph. And while scientists know a great deal about solar wind, the source of the slow wind remains a mystery. Now, a team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, has explored a detailed case study of the slow solar wind, using newly processed observations close to Earth to determine what in fact seeded that wind 93 million miles away, back on the sun. The team spotted tell-tale signs in the wind sweeping by Earth showing that it originated from a magnetic phenomenon known as magnetic reconnection. A paper on these results was published April 22, 2016, in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Knowing the source of the slow solar wind is important for understanding the space environment around Earth, as near-Earth space spends most of its time bathed in this wind. Just as it is important to know the source of cold fronts and warm fronts to predict terrestrial weather, understanding the source of the solar wind can help tease out space weather around Earth -- where changes can sometimes interfere with our radio communications or GPS, which can be detrimental to guiding airline and naval traffic. Slow and Fast Solar Wind Fast solar wind -- not surprisingly -- can travel much faster than the slow wind at up to 1.7 million mph, but the most definitive difference between fast and slow solar wind is their composition. Solar wind is what's known as a plasma, a heated gas made up of charged particles -- primarily protons and electrons, with trace amounts of heavier elements such as helium and oxygen. The amount of heavy elements and their charge state, or number of electrons, differ between the two types of wind. advertisement "The composition and charge state of the slow solar wind is very different from that of fast solar wind," said Nicholeen Viall, a solar scientist at Goddard. "These differences imply that they came from different places on the sun." By studying its composition, scientists know that fast solar wind emanates from the interior of coronal holes -- areas of the solar atmosphere where the corona is darker and colder. The slow solar wind, on the other hand, is associated with hotter regions around the equator, but just how the slow solar wind is released has not been clear. But the new results may have provided an answer. Tracking Down the Source: Magnetic Reconnection Magnetic reconnection can occur anywhere there are powerful magnetic fields, such as in the sun's magnetic environment. Imagine a magnetic field line pointing in one direction and another field line nearby moving toward it pointing in the opposite direction. As they come together, the field lines will cancel and re-form, each performing a sort of U-turn and curving to move off in a perpendicular direction. The resulting new magnetic field lines create a large force -- like a taut rubber band being released -- that flings out plasma. This plasma is the slow solar wind. advertisement The team studied an interval of 90-minute periodic structures in the slow wind, and identified magnetic structures that are the telltale fingerprints of magnetic reconnection. They also found that each 90-minute parcel of slow wind showed an intriguing and repeating variability that could only be remnants of magnetic reconnection back at the sun. "We found that the density and charge state composition of the slow solar wind rises and falls every 90 minutes, varying from what is normally slow wind to what is considered fast," Viall said. "But the speed was constant at a slow wind speed. This could only be created by magnetic reconnection at the sun, tapping into both fast and slow wind source regions." Researchers first discovered the periodic density structures about 15 years ago using the Wind spacecraft -- a satellite launched in 1994 to observe the space environment surrounding Earth. The scientists observed oscillations in the magnetic fields near Earth, known as the magnetosphere. "It has been thought that the magnetosphere rang like a bell when the solar wind hit it with a sudden increase in pressure," said Larry Kepko, a magnetospheric scientist at Goddard. "We went in for a closer look and found these periodicities in the solar wind. The magnetosphere was acting more like a drum than a bell." But Wind only gave the researchers measurements of the slow solar wind's density and velocity, and could not identify its source. For that, they needed composition data. Furthermore, in order to solve this problem, scientists from different disciplines needed to work together to come up with an explanation of the entire system. Kepko studies the magnetosphere, while Viall studies the sun. By observing what's close to Earth and what's happening at the sun, the team could determine the source of the slow solar wind. The scientists turned to NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer. ACE launched in 1997 to study and measure the composition of several types of space material including the solar wind and cosmic rays. It can observe solar particles and helps researchers determine the elemental composition and speeds of solar wind. "Without the ACE data, we wouldn't have been able to do this research," Kepko said. "There's no other instrument that gives us the information at the time resolution we needed." The team is continuing to look at composition data to find other instances of the periodic density structures to determine if the source for all slow solar wind is magnetic reconnection. Their case study clearly shows that this particular event was the result of magnetic reconnection, but they wish to find other examples to show this is the most common mechanism for powering the slow solar wind. As the team gathers more information about magnetic reconnection and its effects near the sun, it will add to a growing body of knowledge about the phenomenon in general -- because magnetic reconnection events take place throughout the universe. "If we can understand this phenomenon here, where we can actually measure the magnetic field, we can get a better handle on how these fundamental physics processes take place in other places in the universe," Viall said. An international team of scientists led by researchers from the Lomonosov Moscow State University succeeded to clarify the molecular mechanism of a drug created in Russia and designed to prevent the damaging of cell mitochondria by reactive oxygen species. This work is published in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. Recently, Russian researchers, led by Prof. Vladimir P. Skulachev, managed to create an antioxidant drug that selectively accumulates within mitochondria and protects them from oxidative damage. Under the trade name "Visomitin" the drug was approved for treatment of such eye diseases as cataracts and dry eye. Prof. Armen Mulkidjanian of the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics of the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the University of Osnabruck, Germany, and his colleagues have explained why very small doses of synthetic antioxidants such as "Visomitin" could give a pronounced therapeutic effect, despite the presence of large quantities of natural mitochondrial antioxidants. Mitochondria are intracellular structures that conduct respiration. Respiration, however, is accompanied by formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as by-products. The ROS are capable of damaging the mitochondria. Damaged mitochondria produce even more ROS, which can destroy cells and tissues, so that nature has special mechanisms, such as mitophagy and apoptosis, for elimination of damaged mitochondria and cells. These mechanisms are triggered after a signal of a disorder passes through the double membrane surrounding the mitochondria. Several laboratories have shown that it is possible to avoid the decay of cells and tissues by preventing the oxidation of a particular component of the mitochondrial membrane -- cardiolipin, because the oxidized molecules of cardiolipin are exactly the triggers of the signal chain. The group of Prof. Vladimir Skulachev, the Dean of the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics and the Director of the Belozersky Institute of Physical and Chemical Biology, (the Lomonosov Moscow State University), has developed a line of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants, the so-called SkQ-ions, specifically protecting the molecules of mitochondrial cardiolipin from oxidation. In animal trials, the SkQ-ions cured inflammatory eye diseases, helped to overcome the ischemia-simulating conditions, and even reduced the manifestation of senescence. Although similarly acting drugs have been developed and studied in the US and UK laboratories, the Russian group was the first to get an approval for their drug -- as eye drops. The researchers hope that SkQ-based drugs, in the form of pills and injections, after their certification, would help to attenuate the pathological symptoms that accompany strokes, heart attacks and serious traumas. Armen Mulkidjanian and his collaborators have managed to suggest answers to some intriguing questions. Specifically, it was not clear why cardiolipin, of all the components of the membrane, it specifically oxidized. Molecules of cardiolipin, while making only 10-20% of total membrane lipids, are specifically targeted by ROS and, after getting oxidized, trigger the self-destruction of cells. Secondly, it was not clear why the natural antioxidants, namely coenzyme Q (ubiquinol) and vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), which are present in mitochondrial membranes in large quantities, fail in the case of cardiolipin. It remained a mystery why these substances could not protect cardiolipin from oxidation, whereas artificial, mitochondria-targeted antioxidants, designed either by the Skulachev's group in Moscow, or by their counterparts in the US and the UK, perfectly coped with this task, in spite of very small doses of the administered drugs. Armen Mulkidjanian says that the goal of the study was set by Prof. Skulachev. 'Prof. Skulachev asked our group in Germany to tackle these puzzles,' says Armen Mulkidjanian. 'Most of the work was carried out by the post-graduate students and the employees of the Moscow University, who worked in Russia and in Germany, so that their contribution was decisive. As to the research, we have developed an experimental system to investigate quantitatively the oxidation of the cardiolipin membranes and the ability of various antioxidants to prevent it. It turned out that the SkQ-ions and the molecules of coenzyme Q protected the cardiolipin membranes from oxidation equally well, whereas vitamin E performed much worse'. To understand why cardiolipin molecules are the main target of the ROS, the researchers compared the experimental data with their previous results and the structures of respiratory enzymes. A fraction of cardiolipin molecules is occluded within respiratory protein complexes, just those that generate ROS. 'These molecules should be the first to be oxidized,' Mulkidjanian says. The bulky, water-insoluble molecule of coenzyme Q cannot get to these "hidden" cardiolipin molecules, as opposed to small, agile molecules of artificial antioxidants, which, as shown in the study, are capable of protecting cardiolipin molecules from oxidation by accessing them both from the membrane and from the aqueous phase. "The essence of our work is that we have proposed a mechanism that explains how very low doses of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants could provide a distinct therapeutic effect, even being applied over large amounts of natural antioxidants, which were ineffective in this case. The mechanism should be valid for the whole class of similar drugs. We hope that our findings would help to develop new drugs,' says Armen Mulkidjanian. In a massive analysis of DNA samples from more than 13,000 U.S. soldiers, scientists have identified two statistically significant genetic variants that may be associated with an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an often serious mental illness linked to earlier exposure to a traumatic event, such as combat and an act of violence. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 11 to 20 percent of veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have or will develop PTSD. The percentage is even higher among Vietnam War veterans. Prevalence of PTSD in the general U.S. population is 7 to 8 percent. The findings, described by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, the Uniformed Services University and colleagues elsewhere, are published online today in JAMA Psychiatry. The study was designed to discover genetic loci associated with lifetime PTSD risk among U.S. Army personnel. Two coordinated, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted in two cohorts of consenting soldiers in the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS). A GWAS is a study that involves rapidly scanning markers across complete sets of DNA or genomes of many people to find genetic variants associated with a particular disease. The first GWAS was performed on 3,167 diagnosed cases of PTSD and 4,607 trauma-exposed controls from the New Soldier Study; the second on 947 diagnosed cases and 4,969 trauma-exposed controls from the Pre/Post Deployment Study. The primary analysis compared lifetime PTSD cases, as defined by the Diagnostic Service Manual-IV, to trauma-exposed controls without lifetime PTSD. "We found two notable genetic variants," said co-principal investigator Murray B. Stein, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine and Public Health at UC San Diego. "The first, in samples from African-American soldiers with PTSD, was in a gene (ANKRD55) on chromosome 5. In prior research, this gene has been found to be associated with various autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, including multiple sclerosis, type II diabetes, celiac disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. The other variant was found on chromosome 19 in European-American samples." There were no significant genetic correlations observed between PTSD and six mental disorders and nine immune-related disorders, said the study's other co-principal investigator Robert J. Ursano, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md. But there was significant evidence of pleiotropy -- genetic factors that influence multiple traits -- for PTSD and rheumatoid arthritis, and to a lesser extent, psoriasis. "Further research will be needed to replicate the genome-wide significant association we found with the gene ANKRD55 and clarify the nature of the genetic overlap observed between PTSD and rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis," said Ursano. Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Brazil and Senegal, have described the first "direct experimental proof" that the Brazilian strain of Zika virus can actually cause severe birth defects. The findings are published in the May 11 online issue of Nature. The team, headed by Alysson R. Muotri, PhD, associate professor in the UC San Diego School of Medicine departments of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and co-corresponding senior author Patricia C.B. Beltrao-Braga, PhD, at the University of Sao Paulo, conducted studies in mouse models, human stem cells and in cerebral organoids -- miniature brains grown in vitro. "Rising infection rates of Zika virus in places like Brazil, with a corresponding increase in cases of microcephaly, have powerfully suggested an association, but until now hard evidence has been lacking," said Muotri. "Our findings provide direct experimental proof that the Brazilian Zika virus strain causes severe birth defects -- and that the full adverse effect upon health, even beyond microcephaly, is not yet fully understood." Muotri said the model developed to determine Zika cause-and-effect provides a new tool to assess the effectiveness of potential therapies to counteract the virus during human neurodevelopment. "Our platform can now be used to understand what is unique about the Brazilian Zika virus and to test drugs to prevent the neurological problems associated with the infection," he said. "Moreover, we now have a robust animal model that will be useful during validation of potential vaccines against the virus." The Zika virus is not new. It was first described in 1947 in rhesus monkeys in Uganda, but researchers say the twin lineages of Zika -- African and Asian -- did not cause meaningful infections in humans until 2007, when the Asian strain, carried by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, caused an epidemic on the Pacific island of Yap. Further outbreaks occurred in New Caledonia and French Polynesia from 2013 to 2015. advertisement In 2013, the Asian lineage of Zika reached Brazil and subsequently other countries in South and Central America. In Brazil, the virus has aroused international attention and concern, with infections of pregnant women alarmingly linked to congenital malformations, including microcephaly (an undersized head and brain) in newborns and other severe neurological diseases, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome. In the Nature paper, authors used mouse models to track Brazilian virus infections to birth defects. "This is the first animal model to document Zika-induced birth defects. It shows that the virus can cross the placenta membrane and infect the fetus," said Muotri. Like humans, newborn mouse pups infected via their mothers with the Brazilian Zika virus strain displayed smaller-than-normal heads and stunted body growth. Tissue and genetic analyses revealed other abnormalities, including eye problems and ongoing cell death. "The data in mice also suggest that microcephaly is only the tip of the iceberg. The animals have extensive intra-uterine growth arrest, which essentially means poor fetal development in the womb. Media covering the Zika story have focused upon affected babies with small heads because such images are profoundly dramatic, but the true health impact is likely to be more widespread and devastating." Interestingly, Muotri noted that not all mouse models tested showed a causal effect when infected by the Zika virus. In at least one strain of mice, the Brazilian Zika virus could not cross the placenta of the mother to infect her unborn pups. Muotri said the finding suggests that in mice -- and humans -- some individuals may be more susceptible to infection than others, possibly due to genetic differences or varying robustness of the immune system response. The researchers also conducted studies using human pluripotent stem cells to generate cortical progenitor cells that ordinarily would differentiate into neurons forming the brain's cerebral cortex or folded outer layer. Infection of these cortical progenitor cells by the Brazilian viral strain resulted in increased progenitor cell death. The effects of the African virus is not as pronounced, indicating that the mutations of the Brazilian strains made the virus more aggressive in human cells. Finally, researchers exposed human brain organoids -- three-dimensional buds of cells created from pluripotent stem cells that structurally represent specific organs writ small -- to the Zika virus. They noted that infection resulted in reduced areas of growth in the organoids and disrupted cortical layers. Again, the Brazilian virus had a more dramatic impact on cortical malformations in these human organoids. Muotri said they tested the Brazilian Zika virus in organoids derived from chimpanzees to assess its adaptability compared to the African strain. "The Brazilian virus has a slow replication rate in the chimp organoid compared to the African virus," Muotri said, "which suggests that the Brazilian strain has, somehow, adapted to humans. We are investigating how genetic differences might cause that difference."Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito)
Veterinarian Maria Cristina Cely heard the monkey before she saw her. The tiny animal howled as firefighters carried her into the veterinary clinic, and handed her over to Cely. Still crying, the monkey gazed at Cely with big, frightened eyes. Cely had arrived in Pedernales, Ecuador, the day after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit the area - an earthquake so bad it turned a once-vibrant beach town into rubble. Over 600 people have lost their lives, and more than 27,000 have been injured. People haven't been the only victims of this natural disaster. Cely has been working with a number of animal rescue groups, including Darwin Animal Doctors and Accion Animal Ecuador, to save as many animal lives as possible. Cely and the other rescue workers managed to set up a temporary veterinary clinic in Pedernales Stadium - the same place where brigades and rescue groups are currently helping human victims. Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito) From the moment they set up the clinic, a constant stream of dogs, cats, ducks, chickens and rabbits have trickled in. But one animal Cely never expected to see was a monkey. Dodo Shows Cat Crazy Fluffy Cat Wants To Sit On His Dad At All Times Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito) The howling monkey was identified (quite appropriately) as a howler monkey, a species that lives in the humid forests of Central and South America. But this baby monkey wasn't rescued from the forest. When firefighters went to investigate a farmhouse on the verge of collapse, they found the monkey locked inside a cage. "She was abandoned," Cely tells The Dodo. "She probably hadn't been fed in a while. And she had no water." Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito) The firefighters couldn't possibly leave the monkey behind, so they delivered her to Cely at the animal clinic."My first reaction when I saw her was my heart dropped to the floor because of the state of her fear," Cely says. "She was so scared - probably terrified after the earthquake. She would hold onto you, and just cry. It was very overwhelming." Cely was also shocked that somebody had kept the monkey as a pet. It's actually illegal to keep wildlife as pets in Ecuador, although there's a thriving black market for wildlife trade. While Cely didn't know exactly how this monkey came to be in captivity, she imagined the monkey was stolen from her mother in a nearby forest. "The baby monkey was definitely was in shock, petrified and stressed," Cely says. "She should be holding onto her mom, but she didn't have her mom. So she grabbed onto her cage and screamed for attention. And she wanted to be handled all the time." Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito) The rescue workers took turns carrying the baby monkey around to comfort her. If they had to put her down - even for a minute - she'd become hysterical. "She just held onto you - your hair or your clothes - and just didn't want to let go," Cely says. "It was heartbreaking to see." This baby clearly needed cuddles, but anyone holding her had to be careful - the monkey's skin was covered in contagious fungal infections that could make people very sick. The monkey was also really dehydrated. Her tail had been injured - probably from falling rubble - and ended up having to be amputated. The poor monkey may not have her mother, but she got the best possible care from Cely and the other rescue workers. They gave her shots to help her body fight the infections, and hydrated her with Gatorade and hydration salts. As soon as the monkey was stable that day, they transported her to the Universidad San Francisco Quito (USFW) so she could get the best long-term medical treatment. Cely has been visiting the monkey at USFW whenever she's in Quito. Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito) While Cely and the rescue team expect the monkey to make a full recovery, it's not clear when she will be released back into the wild, especially since she hasn't learned necessary survival skills. "The mom would have taught her how to eat and everything else a monkey needs to learn," Cely explains, "but she doesn't have a mom." That said, the rescue team will try everything in their power to make sure the baby monkey can be re-released into the wild. "We're going to introduce her to other young monkeys, who will hopefully teach her how to be a monkey again," Cely says. Cely remains in Pedernales where she continues to care for animals in the disaster zone. In addition to providing immediate medical care to injured animals, the rescue workers are having to find temporary homes for displaced animals. Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito) "People don't have their jobs anymore," Cely tells The Dodo. "Many people have had to move out to other cities where family members have offered them homes, in Guayaquil or Manta or other bigger cities. And many people have had to give up their pets to do so. They have come to us and said, 'Listen, I don't have a place to live anymore. I don't have a job anymore. I can't even feed my children. I have to move away. I cannot take my doggie with me because my cousin or my aunt is taking me into their house, but I cannot bring my pets with me.' So they have given up their pets with tears in their eyes." Shady Heredia at USFQ (Univ San Francisco Quito) WASHINGTONStaples and Office Depot said Tuesday they are scrapping their planned $6.3 billion merger after a federal judge blocked the deal, saying the government had made the case that the combination would likely hurt competition in office supplies. The Federal Trade Commission had sought to block the merger of the last two national office-supply chains. It contended the deal would allow the combined company to dictate the price of supplies, especially for corporate customers that buy in bulk. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said in a ruling Tuesday that the FTC met its legal burden by showing it was likely the Staples-Office Depot merger would substantially impair competition in the sale and distribution of consumable office supplies to large business-to-business customers. Regulators also succeeded in showing that blocking the deal would be in the public interest, he said. The two companies said they will not appeal Sullivans ruling. Debbie Feinstein, who heads the competition bureau at the FTC, said the ruling is great news for business customers. This deal would eliminate head-to-head competition between Staples and Office Depot, and likely lead to higher prices and lower-quality service for large businesses that buy office supplies, she said in a statement. In December, the FTC rejected an offer from Staples to sell $1.25 billion in contracts in a bid to work around the competition issues. Staples Inc., based in Framingham, Massachusetts, is the largest big box office-supply chain. Office Depot Inc., headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, is No. 2. Founded in the late 1980s, they were among a group of chains led by Walmart that opened thousands of supersized stores for shoppers wanting to buy in bulk. But changing shopping patterns, like the demand for price deals and the move toward shopping online, have hurt them. Staples and Office Depot both said they were disappointed by the outcome but are moving on with new business strategies. We are positioning Staples for the future by reshaping our business, while increasing our focus on mid-market customers in North America and categories beyond office supplies, Staples Chairman and CEO Ron Sargent said in a statement. Roland Smith, Office Depots chairman and CEO, said We look forward to re-energizing our business. Following news that the deal was being scuttled, Office Depots stock tumbled more than 26 per cent in after-hours trading. Shares in Staples fell more than 10 per cent. Tuesdays ruling came despite a setback for FTC in the court case in March. Sullivan had suggested then at a closed-door hearing that the agency had tried to get a witness Amazon.com Vice-President Prentis Wilson to make false statements in his testimony. As an online retailer, Amazon has become a prime competitor to Staples and Office Depot for corporate customers. The FTC had called Wilson to testify in the case. FTC attorney Tara Reinhart said at the time the agency certainly never asked Wilson to make false declarations. SHARE: Major appliances are more perishable than they once were. I often hear from people whose kitchen or laundry machines stop working during the warranty period or just after the warranty expires. Breakdowns often happen at times when you need your appliances to work properly. With a shortage of parts and skilled labour for repairs, you can be left waiting for quite a while. Food defrosting in the freezer Alison Finkelstein has a Whirlpool upright freezer that conked out just two weeks before the start of Passover, when families often get together for elaborate meals. Passover is coming. My freezer is dead. All my food is in my in-laws freezer. I dont have a car and I have five small kids, she told me. She bought the freezer from Home Depot in 2014. It was covered under an extended warranty from Whirlpool contractor Comerco Services. On April 6, a technician inspected the freezer and said he could fix it by replacing the compressor, thermostat and an element that had burned out within the unit. Hed also touch up the cosmetic damage. A week later, Finkelstein was feeling desperate. She could not find out from Comerco or Whirlpool when the parts were coming, or even if they had been ordered. I helped her get a full refund instead of the prorated replacement offered by the warranty company. The new freezer arrived after the start of Passover on April 22. Home Depot Canada spokesman Paul Berto said, Providing excellent customer service is a priority and doing the right thing is one of our core values. As soon as we learned about this situation, we immediately brought together a team to help get this customer a new freezer. We were able to provide a full refund and the new freezer will also be covered by an extended warranty. Whirlpool spokesman Kristine Vernier said, I sincerely apologize for the problems she experienced with her freezer and for her frustration, especially in the weeks leading up to Passover. We are glad that we were able to come to a resolution with Ms. Finkelstein. Two-year-old fridge has two failures Fred Parsons asked for help getting Electrolux to reimburse him for repairs on his Frigidaire refrigerator. It was the same problem that had been fixed when the appliance was still under warranty a year earlier. At the time, he was given the names of three authorized repair places. Since he was dissatisfied with the first companys repairs, he called the second name on the list (Nickerson Home Appliances of St. Catharines). Nickerson did not have any in-house repair staff, and sent him its independent repairman. But then Parsons claim was denied because he hadnt used an authorized repairman. When I told Electrolux customer support that they should never have given me Nickersons name, they refused to discuss the matter further or give me the name of a manager or supervisor, he said. I would like to contact someone who would be more understanding and flexible. I tried to follow their rules and I used a company they had referred me to. Eloise Hale, an Electrolux spokesman, said the company would help. Within hours, Parsons received a call from a manager offering to pay the cost of the parts used in the repair. Im very grateful for the reimbursement, he said. As a senior, I can hardly afford this kind of repair. My fridge is less than two years old and I am not in a position to just go out and buy a replacement. A washer out of commission Sylvia Senkiw bought a GE washing machine at The Brick in June of 2011, along with an extended warranty for five years at a cost of $120. She put it into a unit rented to tenants. When the machine broke down on March 16 of this year, a technician came a week later and replaced the control panel. It still didnt work. He said it would need a new motor and he would order it, but he was going on vacation until April 11. Now The Brick says they are waiting for several parts that have not arrived, she told me. Its been over a month and I cant leave my tenants without a washer for any longer. Ive bought a new machine for them. Do you have any advice on what I can do to get a refund or credit? It took just a couple of business days for LeeAnn Dellaire, my contact at The Bricks head office in Edmonton, to resolve the complaint. Ill be getting the full cost back on my credit card to put toward the other washing machine I already purchased, Senkiw said. I am completely shocked, but very pleased at this outcome. Ellens advice Appliances are not built to last for 25 to 30 years, as they would in our parents and grandparents days. Keep that in mind and do research when picking your next model. Go to the library to read back issues of Consumer Reports. Consider paying more for a quality name with a reputation for requiring fewer repairs than average. Pay for your purchase with a credit card that doubles the manufacturers warranty (which is generally one year). You can also consider buying an extended warranty if you want to sleep better at night. Stand up for your rights when an appliance breaks down and you are left waiting for repairs under warranty. Insist on getting a loaner or replacement if things drag out for a month or more. Ellen Rosemans column appears each Tuesday in Smart Money. You can reach her at eroseman@thestar.ca or send a message at her website, www.ellenroseman.com SHARE: The Toronto Real Estate Board may be forced to allow broader public access to the past selling prices of properties in its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data. But it wont necessarily have to reveal selling prices that have not yet been finalized, according to the full decision of the Competition Tribunal. The tribunal issued a summary in April of its ruling on an application by Canada's Competition Bureau. It found that the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) had engaged in anti-competitive practices by restricting the publication of previous property selling prices by online brokerages - called Virtual Office Websites (VOWs). But the full 175-page decision, released late on Tuesday, details how little stock the tribunal put into TREB's argument that it was protecting the privacy of buyers and sellers by restricting the use of the sold data. The tribunal found that TREB's privacy claims "were an afterthought and continue to be a pretext for TREB's adoption and maintenance of the VOW restrictions." It did agree with TREB, however, on the matter of sold data being released prior to a sale's closing. If a sale has not closed, that information would cause prejudice to home sellers who are parties to such pending sold transactions, TREB argued. The tribunal agreed, "that this is a very real and legitimate concern and will need to be addressed in calibrating the remedy." Overall, however, the tribunal condemns the anti-competitive practices of the countrys largest real estate board, said Lawrence Dale, a Toronto lawyer and founder of Realtysellers. He has been fighting TREB to open up its access to online companies for the better part of a decade. It is astounding that one of Canadas largest trade associations has been found to have violated the Competition Act. This is not some minor technical violation, he said. The leaders of organized real estate have arrogantly taken the industry down a losing path for over a decade . Everything TREB and the Canadian Real Estate Association tried to do has now been reversed with this final chapter, said Dale. Unfortunately, he said, his own business ventures have been targeted by this unlawful behaviour. One would think that these trade associations would eventually realize there is a time to cut your losses and move on before their entire world is taken away from them, said Dale. The tribunal found that the Canadian Real Estate Association and TREB were primarily interested in allaying the fears of traditional brokers who worried about "being disrupted like he travel industry." They were also concerned that more technology in the real estate business might drive down commission rates. The restrictions have inhibited innovations by local VOWs such as Leslieville brokerage Realosophy and The Red Pin from expanding their businesses, said the tribunal. Meantime, companies such as Halifax-based ViewPoint have been discouraged from entering the Toronto market. The tribunal has not yet ruled on how sold data will be released. A hearing on TREB's and the Competition Bureau's proposals to change real estate practices will be held in Ottawa June 2. SHARE: CHANHASSEN, MINN.A Minnesota doctor saw Prince twice in the month before his death including the day before he died and prescribed him medication, according to contents of a search warrant that were revealed Tuesday as authorities returned to the musicians suburban Minneapolis estate as part of their investigation into what killed him. Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg treated Prince on April 7 and April 20, and he prescribed medications for the musician, according to the warrant, which was obtained by at least two news outlets before authorities moved to ensure it was sealed. Investigators interviewed Schulenberg and searched a suburban Minneapolis hospital where he worked. The warrant did not specify what medications were prescribed or whether Prince took them. Schulenbergs attorney, Amy Conners, declined to comment late Tuesday, citing patient confidentiality. A law enforcement official has told The Associated Press that investigators are looking into whether Prince died from an overdose and whether a doctor was prescribing him drugs in the weeks before his death. The law enforcement official has been briefed on the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Schulenberg is the second doctor whose name has surfaced in the investigation. Last week, a lawyer for California addiction specialist Dr. Howard Kornfeld told reporters that Princes representatives had contacted Kornfeld seeking help a day before the superstar was found dead on April 21. On Tuesday, a sheriffs car and about a dozen unmarked vehicles entered the gates of Paisley Park. Asked what investigators were doing, Carver County Sheriffs chief deputy Jason Kamerud told The Associated Press that they were being thorough. Kamerud declined to answer questions about the warrant that names Schulenberg, saying it was supposed to be sealed. Kamerud also said that after the contents were made public, he contacted a court administrator to ensure the warrant was sealed. The warrant was carried out last Thursday at North Memorial Medical Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale. Lesa Bader, a spokeswoman for North Memorial Medical Center, said Schulenberg was a primary care physician at its Minnetonka clinic but that he no longer works for the health care system. She declined to say why. No one answered the door at the doctors home on Tuesday and phone messages left for him werent returned. Schulenbergs April 7 treatment of Prince came the day he cancelled shows in Atlanta citing illness. Prince played makeup shows April 14. During his return home on April 15, his plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Illinois. The law enforcement official who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity said Prince was found unconscious on the plane and that first responders gave him a shot of Narcan, which is used in suspected opioid overdoses. Schulenberg told a detective that he was dropping off some results of tests that had been performed on Prince when he came upon the death scene, according to the warrant. Schulenberg also told the detective that he had prescribed Prince medications with the prescription to be filled at a Walgreens. The warrant sought any and all medical records, documents, reports, charts, photographs, prescriptions, doctor notes and medical images for Prince Rogers Nelson. The warrant also notes an interview with Kirk Anthony Johnson, a Paisley Park staff member and sometime drummer for Prince, who told another detective that Prince had visited the Highway 212 Medical Center not far from Paisley Park for an illness in 2014 or 2015. Johnson told the detective that Prince had been given fluids during the visit. Carver County previously released a log of 911 calls to Paisley Park that showed a man, apparently dehydrated, taken to Highway 212 Medical Center in 2013. That mans age was given as 53; Prince would have been 55 at the time. A hospital spokeswoman said earlier she couldnt provide any information on patients due to privacy laws. The people who found Prince dead included Kornfelds son, Andrew Kornfeld, who had taken a red eye flight the night of April 20 but did not meet with Prince before his death. The Kornfelds attorney, William Mauzy, said last week that Dr. Kornfeld sent his son because he could not immediately fly to Minnesota. Mauzy said Dr. Kornfeld arranged for Prince to be evaluated by a Minnesota physician on April 21. The attorney refused to identify the Minnesota doctor, and its not clear whether the physician was Schulenberg. According to the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice website, Schulenberg has not been subjected to any disciplinary or corrective action in Minnesota or other states. Hes a 1995 graduate of the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine. His license status is listed as active. It expires Oct. 31 of this year. The site lists no self-reported criminal convictions. State law requires the board to post felonies and gross misdemeanours that happened after July 1, 2013, in any state. SHARE: Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes fooled the tabloids with their unannounced baby birth and the rags are not taking the loss lightly. Around the world, headlines are heralding the arrival of a top secret baby. TMZ, which obtained and published the birth certificate for little Amada Lee Gosling weeks after she was born, is declaring this the biggest cover-up in Hollywood baby history. Mendes gave birth, it seems, barely more than two weeks after the world discovered she was pregnant with the couples second child. Eventually, almost every article gets around to mentioning how intensely private Gosling and Mendes are, as if avoiding media coverage requires the soaked-brow determination of Dwyane Wade hurtling to the hoop. Is it really so extraordinary to not publicize a pregnancy? Given that the unfortunately unfamous among us can be reticent to discuss this stuff with even our closest friends, why is everyone so stunned that neither Gosling nor Mendes chose TMZ as a confidante? Mendes, whose first pregnancy similarly eluded tabloid notice for a few months, just hasnt ever wanted anyone beyond her close friends and family knowing more than they had to, People reported. Such nerve! The fact that tabloids are regarding this feat of basic privacy with such awed respect makes you wonder what the usual protocol is for celebrity baby news. Are sonogram stylists enlisted? Perhaps hospital visits are limited to close relatives and publicist-approved paparazzi? Aside from some creative costuming on Mendes part during the pregnancy, how much effort was really required for this grand prenatal swindle? After all, Beyonce managed to keep her last two albums a secret and way more people worked on those. Its not as though Gosling, 35, and the 42-year-old Mendes whose names, thankfully, dont aggregate into a catchy amalgam are hermits. The whole family went out for lunch on Mothers Day, with Mendes grinning what TMZ later called a fooled ya smile. Later, Gosling waved at fans and spun anecdotes about his other kid, Esmeralda Amada, on Jimmy Kimmel Live! And thats the thing: Gosling has been uncharacteristically open about his burgeoning family. In December, he sat with Hello! Magazine and discussed Esmeraldas first conscious Christmas, his mothers tiring obsession with the Hanson holiday album and his love of Mendes. I know that Im with the person Im supposed to be with. It sounds so cliched, but I never knew that life could be this fun and this great, he told People recently. Its hard not to be happy for the couple. Certainly, their life sounds like a picture of domestic bliss even if cameras werent always around to frame it. Read more about: SHARE: Opening: Davida Nemeroff, Connective Tissues: In 2012, Nemeroff, a Los Angeles-based, Toronto-reared artist-curator, was compelled by the historical convention of equine photography think Muybridge, Mapplethorpe, Model to make a suite of her own works, and travelled to the Hawaiian island of Lanai to do it. The results are a book, Muscles, being released concurrently with her show here, that delves into the creatures complex role both as domesticated labour beast and fetish and status object in our even more tangled society of need and want. Opening Thursday May 13 at 7 p.m., 8-11 Gallery, 233 Spadina Ave. Until June 4. Jeff Bierk,Top Left and Everybody Wins Except for the Losers: Bierk, a Toronto photographer with a notable artistic pedigree his father, David Bierk, was an enigmatic sensation of a painter in the 80s and 90s here has made less a career of photographing his hardscabble neighbourhood and the characters that inhabit it than a lifes pursuit. But he takes the unique approach of casting all the images as collaborations between himself and his subjects some down on their luck, some homeless and none, you could safely guess, considering themselves artists and shares everything, whether sales or accolades, with them equally. By relinquishing his authorship, Bierk explores rarely trammeled terrain, where artist and subject share equal footing. In collaboration with Jimmy James Evans, Donald Evans, Brent, Bluenose, & Carl Lance Bonnici. At AC Repair Co., 1558 Dupont St. May 11 at 6 p.m. and Mulherin Toronto, 1086 Queen St. W., May 13 at 6 p.m. Vikky Alexander, The Temptations of St. Anthony: Vancouver-based Alexander was a young artist in New York in the 80s when eventual bigshots like Barbara Kruger, Sherrie Levine and Richard Prince began their aggressive appropriations of mass-media and advertising imagery as a strident kind of social critique. Alexanders contribution to the burgeoning scene, of which she was part, included images recast from fashion magazines in which the overt sexuality of the female subjects were recalibrated to discomfit and confound: Enlargements, blunt crop-jobs and mirror images use the pictures as the women they portrayed already had been: As objects to convey a certain in this case, very different point of view. Opening Friday, May 13, 7 p.m. at Cooper Cole Gallery, 1134 Dupont St. Elsewhere: Weve already waved a flag for these ones, but opening Thursday are shows form Canadian art superstar Rodney Graham (at Prefix Photo) and legendary artist-activists Carole Conde and Karl Beveridge (at pretty much everywhere else in 401 Richmond), but consider yourself reminded. Mentioned in the same vein: Counterpoints, a broad exhibition of the photography collecting habits of our fair city at the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, which opens Thursday as well. SHARE: Lisa Lumpkins was scrolling Facebook when she first saw the photo. In her news feed, a group that identified older children in need of adoption had posted a picture of a teenage Chinese girl who looked strikingly like her own daughter. The image bore into her mind and she couldnt shake it. She thought maybe she was imagining the similarity. So she shared the post on her personal page and almost instantly close family and friends were messaging her: That girl looks a lot like Aubrey. Lumpkins and her husband, Gene, lived a comfortable life in Georgetown, Ky. with two children, 7 and 14, a mortgage and a Lexus in the garage. She was done having biological children, but ever since she was a young girl playing with her baby dolls, shed felt a pull to adopt. Her husband felt it, too. They decided to adopt a child from China, and originally were signed up for a traditional adoption. But then they heard about special-needs adoptions and knew those were the children who needed them the most. Lumpkins, 43, is terrified of flying and had never been on an airplane aside from a quick commuter trip she took to prepare herself before she flew across the world in 2008 to get her first Chinese baby, Maya an 18-month-old girl with bowel and gallbladder complications. When she brought Maya home, she couldnt stop thinking about the other children left behind in the orphanage. I felt like I left a part of my heart in China, she said. Since then, she and her husband have adopted three more children from China: Noah in 2010, Aubrey in 2013 and Carter in 2014. The Lumpkinses traded in their Lexus for a used 1999 Toyota minivan. They used to derive pleasure from collectible cars and motorcycles and vacations. But they cut back on all of that to save money for the adoption costs about $35,000 per child when all was said and done. When you go to an orphanage and see these kids and all they want is love, what is important changes, Lisa Lumpkins said. Theyve changed the person I am. Your values, whats important . . . its not about how much money you have or the fancy car or the big diamond ring, theres more to life. Its about what can you do to help someone else. Aubrey was the oldest of the children they adopted. She was 9 years old and born with cerebral palsy. In the orphanage, shed never been taught to read or write only to colour. Now 13, shes on the honour roll, Lumpkins said. It was early March when Lumpkins saw the photo of the girl who she thought looked like Aubrey. She contacted the orphanage in China and was amazed that it agreed to let her pay for a DNA test, she said. She sent in a swab of Aubreys saliva and soon it was confirmed: The girl, whose name is Avery, was her daughters twin. Aubrey never knew she had a sister. The Lumpkinses still owed money for Carters adoption, and had no idea how they would afford another one. They couldnt borrow against the house again, and there were six other children who depended on them financially. God, I know you didnt let us find her to lose her, Lumpkins prayed. She needs to be here, she needs to be with her family. What a gift to give to both of them. One complication was Chinese law. Once a child turns 14, they are no longer eligible for overseas adoption. Avery and Aubrey will turn 14 in August. Some orphanages will give teenagers jobs caring for younger children, Lumpkins said, but others send them out on their own with no education or training or life skills to survive. The Lumpkinses set up an online fundraiser that didnt get any traction, but was spotted by a former British stockbroker-turned-altruist, Leon Logothetis, who has dedicated the past four years of his life traversing the world looking for people in need. He helped them start a page on GoFundMe his latest endeavour is elevating stories on the site that werent getting attention and within just two weeks theyve raised more than $25,000. When I met them in person, its so powerful to meet a family that comes from their hearts, Logothetis said. This is a family who has created an environment where the first thing you feel is how much love there is. The Lumpkinses are working to expedite the paperwork so they can go get Avery sometime in July before her birthday. Because of the generosity of strangers, they are getting close to having enough to cover the adoption. Any extra money can go toward medical expenses and getting a larger car to hold a family of nine, Lumpkins said. Im speechless. Ive cried so many times, she said. In a world where there is so much hate, there are still so many good people who care and who love. I havent had words. Read more about: SHARE: We walk by homeless people every day and ignore their outstretched hands with a rueful smile, or now and then parcel out a loonie. We shake our heads at the horrifying news of a suicide epidemic among indigenous people on the Attawapiskat reserve in northern Ontario, yet most of us dont reach for our wallets. We dont say, after recounting our own troubles, At least Im not homeless or Thank God I dont live in Attawapiskat. But this past week we have said exactly that about another catastrophe: At least Im not in Fort McMurray. Almost overnight, in the twinkling of a text fire or the clicking on a blinking donate now button we have swiftly come up with more than $50 million for Fort McMurray, Alta., wildfire victims, up to 90,000 of whom were evacuated last week. While two teens tragically lost their lives in a road accident fleeing the fire, there so far fortunately have been no other deaths. But there was major destruction. What Alberta Premier Rachel Notley poetically called an ocean of fire destroyed 2,400 structures and yet surprisingly, given earlier, more dire estimates, left the urban centre of the oil industry district in northern Alberta 85 to 90 per cent intact. Partly, the premier noted, that was thanks to the dogged work of firefighters. The Red Cross told CTV that the actual amount raised to help deal with the devastating aftermath is around $54 million (not yet matched by the federal government), most of it from individual donors. It is to marvel what a great generous country we are! Yet it also is to wonder which catastrophes galvanize our empathy and compel us to support others? And what calamities merely make us quietly despair or even turn away? Surely individual lives of people regularly living on the street could be interpreted as disaster, yet many of us see homelessness as a social condition unrelated to us. And just as surely the slow agonizing loss of hope and life for our indigenous youth is a great and shameful national disaster. Yet Attawapiskat to many seems too complex, too steeped in years of bureaucratic failure, for us to solve with our modest donation. We can far better relate to losing our homes in a horrific flash fire. We see ourselves in that long snaking line of cars, driving slowly out of town, numb with fear, through an apocalyptic landscape of shooting flames. Thinking, what next? Thinking, what will be left? Thinking, how will we cope? The further away we are geographically from a great national disaster, the more we feel for those in the heat and heart of it. They have no choice but to act resiliently escaping, surviving or rebuilding. One eloquent woman, striving to hold her family together after fleeing Fort Mac, told a CBC reporter that she might look brave and calm on the outside, but it felt like cement on her inside. And so, galvanized by such brave words and grim images, we think, Of course I can text $5 or $10. Besides, donating to a relief fund is rightfully a feel-good moment. As is our ongoing extraordinary effort to help the Syrian refugees. A major disaster ripples out, affecting us all: Everyone, deep in their hearts, is waiting for the end of the world to come. Those words, from the great Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, are found in Disaster, the fascinating spring issue of the magazine Laphams Quarterly, which focuses entirely on the theme of disasters. The magazine offers vivid descriptions of everything from entire lost civilizations to the moments before the explosion of the Challenger Shuttle in 1986, to terrorism to natural disasters tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, fires. It gets at when we feel and when we act in the face of disaster, and when those two come together. Heres another great thought from the issue by American novelist Don DeLillo: Catastrophe is our bedtime story. And another from Margaret Atwood: Its the end of the world every day, for someone. Their words underscore how the prospect of disaster lurks in the foreground of our brains, ready to be turned into empathy and action: we know in our hearts disaster is coming. We just dont know when our turn will be, or what shape it will take. American essayist Rebecca Solnit, one of my favourite disaster philosophers, has described the good that can come from large-scale natural disasters from the improvised communities people form to pull each other out of the rubble to the feeling of purposefulness, and even deep joy people experience in places where disaster hits. Solnit, in a CBC radio interview after the 2012 Haiti earthquakes, said that ordinary people, while helping each other to survive, sometimes find a deep connection that is often missing in their ordinary lives. In his opening essay, Lewis Lapham quotes Solnit saying that facing calamity grants us a glimpse of who else we ourselves may be and what else our society could become. We have proved these past days that we are a good and generous country in the face of some disasters. But that doesnt mean, even taking into account our extraordinary generosity toward fire-ravaged Fort McMurray, that we couldnt be an even better one. Correction May 11, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said only one teen lost her life in a road accident while fleeing the fire. Judith Timson writes weekly about cultural, social and political issues. You can reach her at judith.timson@sympatico.ca and follow her on Twitter @judithtimson. Read more about: SHARE: Inside a tiny corner west-end restaurant on a sunny Thursday afternoon, the sounds of someone playing the bongos and women singing Syrian folk songs fill the room as the dozen or so Syrian women sing and chat away at the stoves. On the burner are stockpots of cinnamon-scented beef simmering in creamy spiced yogurt. Pans of golden-brown semolina cakes are cooling on the counter, glistening with the syrup they were brushed with. These women arent just cooking; theyre preserving the cuisine of a country where millions of its people are being displaced. The women the moms, the grandmothers they are the culinary stars of the region and own the culinary history, says Len Senater, owner of The Depanneur, a culinary incubator of sorts, where professional and amateur cooks use the space to cook nightly pop-up dinners. Its in jeopardy, as there are people who dont have a way to continue with these cooking traditions as they leave Syria. Senater created the Newcomer Kitchen, a program that gives newly landed Syrian refugees staying in hotels a chance to cook their food before they move into their new homes. Senater hopes that the women here will eventually lead one of the pop-ups and show the city the kind of home-cooking that cant be found in restaurants. The beef theyre braising today is Jawaher Al Shaikhs recipe. Her eyes lit up and her voice was a mixture of relief and excitement when asked how it felt to have a place to cook with others while living in a hotel. Cooking is very important because for a Syrian woman, she has to be a good cook, she says through an interpreter. Al Shaikh arrived in Toronto this past February with her daughter and her daughters husband and two kids after fleeing from the city of Idlib, just southwest of Aleppo. I thank God, she says on what its like to be in Canada. People here have a good heart, and I expect that everything will be good. Im starting to read and write and learn the language so I can communicate with the people here. Co-ordinating the weekly cooking sessions have been a hit-the-ground-running situation. Frustrated with weeks of meetings with organizations mired in bureaucracy, Senater decided to start the program without them. However, many of the organization he first approached have now come onboard. One of his friends met Rahaf Alakabni and Esmaeel Abou Fakher, a young married couple with social work backgrounds who happened to speak English. They left Syria and arrived in Toronto in February, spending two months getting to know the families while staying in the same hotels themselves. When the couple asked the women if they wanted a chance to cook, they all overwhelmingly said yes, and the first Newcomer Kitchen event took place last month. It was very hard because there was no cooking and the food was limited, says Abou Fakher. Sometimes it wasnt the healthiest food because youll get fries and the food was not like the food in our country. All these women miss cooking, so its amazing for them to come back to the kitchen and have that social support of working together. Senater relies on volunteer translators like Alakabni and Abou Fakher to help the women (and their kids) get from the hotels to the kitchen via the TTC. Some donations come from the nearby No Frills, and Senater personally pays for the remaining ingredients, TTC fares and craft supplies and snacks for the kids. Senater hopes that as the moms get more acquainted with their new city, they can take over running Newcomer Kitchen. Hed also like to see other kitchens in cities across Canada adopt similar programs where refugees can gain experience cooking for diners. Right now, the women are cooking for themselves and taking home the extra food to their families. In the future, Senater hopes the women might be interested in paid positions, hosting a pop-up restaurant as well as selling prepared dinners once a week. The profits from the pop-up would go toward the Newcomer Kitchen, making it a self-funded program. I dont want them to learn how to press a button to make coffee at a Tim Hortons, says Senater. Their knowledge and skills are recognized, and we dont want to water them down when they come here. Good food transcends language barriers. After a long cooking session, everyone gathers around the two communal tables with platters of garlic rice, pomegranate-dotted salads, sauteed okra in tomato sauce and the tender beef stewed in yogurt, a traditional Syrian main. Its called shakriya, Roula Ajib, one of the interpreters and Newcomer Kitchen co-ordinators, tells me. In Arabic, it means thankful. We are grateful to have this meal. Clarification May 12, 2016: This article was edited from a previous version that said The Depanneur owner Len Senater started the program on his own after he became frustrated with weeks of meetings with organizations mired in bureaucracy. However, since the start of the program, many of the organizations he first approached have come onboard. Read more about: SHARE: Ontarios health minister, Dr. Eric Hoskins, recently pledged to fix fatal flaws in allogeneic stem-cell transplant programs that have resulted in critically ill patients with cancer or blood disorders being sent to U.S. hospitals to have the life-saving treatment. Five critical questions remain unanswered: Who are the experts advising the health minister? More than a week after Hoskins announced he had appointed a ministerial task force of experts to provide immediate and ongoing advice to improve access to stem cell transplants, there is no word on exactly who these people are. Who will be in charge of guiding government in rebuilding an efficient system across the province that doesnt ration life-saving treatments, that wont again force masses of desperately ill people to choose between accessing costly care in American hospitals or dying at home? Many key players in the system executives within hospitals, Cancer Care Ontario, and front-line doctors have known for years that this crisis, described by one specialist as a slow-motion train crash, was coming, and none did enough to stop it. So who now will provide a pathway to transformative change and have the determination to see it through by way of this official task force? The minister is still finalizing membership, his spokesman Shae Greenfield told the Star by email. When will a second stem cell transplant centre open in Toronto? The health ministers bullet-point action plan for change, released May 1, noted that work is currently underway to establish a second allogeneic transplant centre within Greater Toronto at Sunnybrook hospital to increase capacity and access in Ontario. The ministers office, however, cannot say when the program will be operational or what steps have been taken toward that goal. It seems a little fantastic, a source at Sunnybrook told the Star, noting there appears to be no physical space at the hospital to accommodate the program. If another service was removed to make room, significant renovations would be required. Patients who receive an allogeneic transplant are essentially getting a new immune system, using the stem cells or bone marrow of a donor. When the donor is unrelated to the patient, the chance of post-transplant complications is high. Isolated, sterile rooms with highly filtered air are typically used for these patients, who are often hospitalized for at least one month post-transplant. I cant see Sunnybrook happening without a new building, a source told the Star. Discussions are underway and efforts are in high gear to confirm planning requirements, said the ministers spokesman, Shae Greenfield. How much money are hospitals actually getting to provide stem cell transplants? Hoskins said the government is providing additional operating money to stem cell transplant centres, but also amending its funding formula to better reflect the full scope of care that these hospitals are providing to patients. What does that mean? Doctors and hospital administrators told the Star that, while theyve increased the number of transplants provided in recent years, theyve done so without additional resources. Cancer Care Ontario told the Star it has allocated additional funds to hospitals based on the volume of transplants performed. But who decides how and where that money is used has been an issue. At Juravinski Hospital in Hamilton, the funds were being put into the institution, but not necessarily into the ward directly or into the oncology day services area or the specialized out-patient area, explained Dr. Ralph Meyer, Hamilton Health Sciences vice-president of oncology and palliative care. He is also a regional vice-president of Cancer Care Ontario. They were being used to support activities that needed funding that included providing supports for transplant patients, Meyer said, referring to the hospitals emergency department, intensive care unit and operating rooms. Its not going to those services at the present time. Were emphasizing the wards. So what have the ministry and Cancer Care Ontario done to ensure the money filters directly to the programs in the future? Its not clear. Revision to the way hospitals (providing stem cell transplants) are funded reflects the steps taken to assess and prepare for the procedure, as well as after-care, Greenfield told the Star in an email. Previously, funding was only for the procedures themselves. How exactly has government increased funding to stem cell transplant programs by 600 per cent in recent years? The minister has repeatedly cited this figure in recent weeks. So far, he has failed to spell out the specifics, despite several requests. It is not clear if that figure includes the $100 million (U.S.) the government set aside to send Ontario patients to hospitals in Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo for critical transplants. How many people have relapsed and/or died while waiting for a stem cell transplant? According to Cancer Care Ontario, the number either isnt tracked or its too small to say. The Star spoke with one stem cell transplant physician who said four patients on his roster alone have died in the past seven months while waiting for an approved U.S. transplant. CCO, which oversees about $1.5 billion in funding for hospitals, has responded to this critical question several ways over the past few months. On March 31, CCO spokesman Marko Perovic wrote in an email to the Star: Cancer Care Ontario does not track how many patients die in Ontario while waiting for a stem cell transplant. In April, her wrote that CCO does not report publicly on information about small numbers of patients that has the potential to be used to re-identify an individual. As CCO is committed to protecting personal privacy and mitigating risk of re-identification, CCO has determined in this case that it will not disclose the number in question. Ontarios privacy commissioner publicly questioned Cancer Care Ontarios rationale. It is not apparent to us how patients would be identifiable from a raw number in these circumstances, Brian Beamish told the Star. SHARE: HALIFAXA P.E.I. businessman will not face retrial on charges of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in the Halifax area more than 20 years ago. Charlottetown developer Stephen Nicholas Taweel was convicted in 2014 of sexual assault, but the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ordered a new trial in November. On Tuesday, though, the Crown did not present evidence in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, ending the case. The complainant, now nearing 40, did not want to testify again, according to a spokesperson for Nova Scotias public prosecution service. The Crown consulted with the complainant. Based on those discussions, a decision was made not to proceed with a second trial, Chris Hansen said in an email. The complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified that Taweel, then 32 years old, initiated a sexual relationship soon after they met on Stanhope Beach, P.E.I. while she was on summer vacation in 1991. She said the sexual encounters continued when she returned home to Dartmouth, where she met with him at his sisters house. During the first trial, Taweel admitted consensual sexual activity with the girl in P.E.I., but denied touching her in Dartmouth as the charge against him alleged. The legal age of consent at the time was 14, though Taweel testified the girl had told him she was 16 years old. In the appeal decision overturning the verdict, Justice Jamie Saunders ruled the alleged incidents in P.E.I. should not been considered as evidence on the Dartmouth charge. Whatever was said to have occurred in Dartmouth was totally eclipsed by the testimony describing their encounters at Stanhope Beach, wrote Saunders in the ruling. P.E.I. became the story; Nova Scotia was relegated to a footnote. Taweel, an engineer, is the president of Taweel Developments and Taweel Construction, and also served as chairman of the Charlottetown Downtown Residents Association. Taweel had been sentenced to 28 months in prison after his now-overturned conviction. Read more about: SHARE: MONTREALAt the age of 13, William Gadoury discovered a correlation between 22 constellations and 117 ancient Mayan cities a finding good enough to win him first prize at a science fair. For a spectacular encore, he discovered a cluster of unexplained geometric forms hidden beneath the dense jungle growth in the Yucatan Peninsula that he suspects could be a lost and long-forgotten 118th Mayan ruin. For this, the 15-year-old high school student from St-Jean-de-Matha, Que., has landed himself on the worlds map. Even before he takes his project, Discovered from Space to the Canada-wide science fair finals next week in Montreal, his work is travelling the world based on the sheer improbability that a boy with a theory may have filled in a gap that legions of archeologists and experts in ancient Mayan civilization didnt even know existed. Despite his growing fame, his mother reportedly is refusing any media interviews until such time as her son finishes his end-of-year exams. Gadourys fascination with the Mayan civilization which reached its peak six centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ and left behind sophisticated systems of agriculture, mathematics, architecture, art and writing began in 2012, the year that Mayans had predicted the end of the world. But his quest that led to a 2014 science-fair project started with a question: Gadoury wanted to figure out why the Mayans built their cities inland, on sometimes infertile land or in mountainous areas when it would have made much more sense to settle next to rivers and along the seashores, he told the Journal de Montreal newspaper. There had to be another reason and because they love the stars the idea came to me to verify my hypothesis That kicked off his first discovery, which was that there was a near-perfect correlation between the 117 known Mayan cities and 22 constellations that would have been visible to Mayans living in the area of the Yucatan Peninsula. But that only led to another nagging question: where was the city that corresponded to the 23rd visible constellation? The constellation in question was Orion, which has three stars in the form of a triangle: Alnitak; Rigel; and Saiph. Two of them corresponded to two known Mayan cities, but the third did not. To find out why, Gadoury needed some assistance from those a bit higher up: Armand LaRocque, a research associate in the University of New Brunswicks faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management. LaRocque had been impressed by the student when they had met previously at a science fair in Quebec City, so he offered Gadoury a hand searching radar and satellite imagery that might show signs of an ancient civilization. LaRocque said he was struck by a young man with the mind of a scientist: passionate, full of questions, and open to following the evidence wherever it may lead. Hes not someone who spends his time playing his Gameboy, LaRocque said. He spends his time working on what hes passionate about. In this case, the satellite imagery initially showed no abnormalities that were visible through the jungle canopy. But they kept searching and eventually came across images captured after a forest fire had burned through the region. That allowed them to glimpse for the first time otherwise unexplainable geometric forms, that had no natural explanation, said LaRocque. It gave Gadoury reason to think his hypothesis about a 118th Mayan city might have merit. They got some help from one of LaRocques former students, Daniel De Lisle, who worked with satellite imagery with the Canadian Space Agency. When we met him the first time, and because he was a French-speaking boy, he had two binders: one in French and the other in English, De Lisle said. He had all his questions and answers prepared. He was well organized. He knew what he was taking about. He was very convincing in both languages. He made a very big impression on everyone. The Canadian Space Agency was able to help him by accessing satellite images from the NASA archives in the United States, as well as those of the Japanese Space Agency. We could actually see structures of square delineation and we calculated the size of this by counting the number of pixels on the imagery, said De Lisle. We could see that it fit the dimensions of a potential pyramid. So we could not see the pyramid per se, but the foundation is about the same size. In total, there are more than 15 such features, De Lisle said. Not everyone is convinced. David Stuart, director of the University of Texas at Austins Mesoamerica Center, said he had been trying to ignore the story (he didnt respond to an email from the Star) but felt compelled to chime in when he saw it on the BBC website. The whole thing is a mess a terrible example of junk science hitting the Internet in free-fall. The ancient Maya didnt plot their ancient cities according to constellations. Seeing such patterns is a Rorschach process, since sites are everywhere and so are stars, he wrote on his Facebook page. He said the geometric form that so intrigued Gadoury is probably an old fallow cornfield. I dont want to critique the young man mentioned in the story. Hes clearly smart and enthusiastic about archaeology and the Maya. It would be great to channel and develop that interest. For now, though, Gadourys hypothesis remains an informed guess that will be confirmed or disproved only when archeologists can hike and hack their way through the jungle to the spot he has plotted on a map and given the name, Kaak Chi, or Mouth of Fire, according to the Journal de Montreal Read more about: SHARE: OTTAWAToronto MP Rob Oliphant co-chaired the joint Commons-Senate committee that gave his government a historic way forward on assisted dying. Next week, when he rises in his place, he will vote against the legislation his government has crafted. And he will be thinking of Kay Carter, her daughter, Lee, and son, Price, when he pronounces on Bill C-14, the assisted dying legislation that the Liberals crafted in response to a suffering Carter, who wanted to die with dignity. I think the Supreme Court has given us the possibility to alleviate suffering, Oliphant said in an interview with the Star Wednesday. I think that the bill should maximize our ability to alleviate suffering. Its a faith issue with me. Its a conscience issue and I think the bill falls short in that area. Oliphant, a United Church minister, was the MP who oversaw a committee that wanted immediate discussions on extending the right to die to mature minors, and would have allowed it for the mentally ill. The committee also recommended allowing advance consent for patients with degenerative disorders. Instead, the government bill, which Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould says seeks a middle ground to protect the vulnerable, limits medically assisted suicide to competent adults over 18 who are suffering intolerably and whose death is reasonably foreseen. Under the legislation, Oliphant, after canvassing doctors, lawyers and judges, believes that Carter would not have been allowed assisted death under this bill. Her daughter, Lee, has agreed, saying that she was shocked the government would proceed with a bill which would exclude the very case this issue was tried on. Oliphant said he came to his decision after grappling with the three Cs Constitution, constituents and conscience. He says he feels no bitterness that his recommendations from his committee report were ignored by the government. He knew the report was a stretch, was visionary, but that it aimed high. But constituents he heard from at town halls he convened throughout the GTA, eastern Ontario and Ottawa overwhelmingly favoured advanced directives for their assisted death. That may not have been in the Carter decision, he acknowledges, but that is what voters have been telling him. To represent my constituents on a free vote, I have to vote that way. His committee also crafted recommendations that respected the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and anticipated future court challenges. He does not believe C-14 meets the charter test and it will be the subject of challenges to the highest court, meaning those suffering will again go through the agony of court battles. The lawyers who won at the Supreme Court do not feel it will pass that (charter) test and the lawyers who lost at the Supreme Court thinks its fine, he said. And that tells me something. There is something wrong He still hopes that his government will refer the legislation to the Supreme Court. New Democrats have also tried to push the government to have the bill tested by the court. But Oliphant acknowledges there has been no signal of that from his government quite the contrary. Oliphant discussed his decision with Justin Trudeau and said he received a respectful hearing from the prime minister. He told his caucus colleagues of his decision at the weekly caucus meeting Wednesday. He decided to support the bill at second reading because he was hopeful that the Parliamentary justice committee would hear similar evidence that his committee heard and would get to a similar place that he had and would find the bill need some serious modifications to make it compliant with the SCOC decision on Carter. He came to his final decision when studying the case known simply as Patient 2 in Manitoba, a woman in her 50s with ALS and a life expectancy of three to five years. In speaking to physicians, he believes the three-to-five year prognosis would not be deemed death as reasonably foreseen and the patient would not be eligible for assisted death under the legislation even though she is eligible under the Carter decision. If I was a doctor or a nurse practitioner I would be nervous because of that clause. The Liberals have sped the bill through the Commons and committee because the court has given them a June 6 deadline to make it law. It will also have to pass the Senate, where there is opposition. But Oliphant said he expects the bill to pass with overwhelming Conservative support. The free vote is liberating, he says. It will give him the freedom to vote his conscience, but not impede his government. I have no inflated understanding of what my vote means, he said. Regardless, it will be the most significant nay to be heard in the Commons. Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca Twitter:@nutgraf1 SHARE: Fort McMurray evacuees were lined up around the block in cities such as Edmonton and Lac La Biche on Wednesday, waiting to receive pre-paid debit cards containing $1,250. The aid, distributed by the provincial government, will help them get through the next few weeks and months. Each adult is entitled to $1,250 and each dependant $500. Our aim is to get help to the evacuees who need it the most as quickly as possible, she said during a joint-press conference with the Red Cross. There will be long lineups, especially in the early days of distribution, so I am asking all evacuees if you dont need emergency funding immediately, please let those in desperate need be first in line. In addition, the Canadian Red Cross is giving every adult $600, and every child $300. The payments, which will be made directly to about 80,000 evacuees, total $50 million, said Canadian Red Cross CEO Conrad Sauve during the press conference. This is the most important cash transfer weve done in our history, and the fastest one, he said. Electronic payments will be sent to evacuees starting today, he said, but he promised that the Red Cross will also find a way to reach people who dont have email or a bank account. No matter where they are in Canada, we will reach out to them, Sauve said. The Red Cross has raised $67 million raised so far, not including matching provincial and federal contributions, which will tip the total amount raised to more than $100 million. The remainder is being earmarked for long-term recovery, part of which will go to local charitable organizations. During the Alberta floods of 2013, the Red Cross gave about 25 per cent of the money it raised to local charities to distribute, Sauve said. Its about working with the community and those local organizations, he said. Although the worst of the fire is likely over, it could take weeks for residents to return to Fort MacMurray. I think we got this thing beat in McMurray, said Fort McMurray fire chief Darby Allen in a video posted on Twitter on Tuesday evening. But Allen wants residents to be patient about their return to the fire-ravaged town. We just cant let you back until its safe, Allen said. Well get you back as soon as we can, we promise. In the meantime, city council for the regional municipality held its first meeting since the fire in Edmonton. During the meeting, council discussed relief for city contracts and reviewing the impact of the fire on the 2017-2020 capital budget. Shaq sings O Canada NBA giant Shaquille ONeal has something to say to the first responders in Fort McMurray: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. In a video posted to his Facebook page, ONeal applauded those that helped evacuate Fort McMurray. You guys are the true heroes, you saved more than 90,000 people, ONeal said. Love you guys, and I love Canada. ONeal then proved his love for Canada by singing the first line of the national anthem. with files from The Canadian Press SHARE: The citys largest taxi brokerages say they will refuse to increase prices during peak periods despite new rules that allow them to do so. Companies including Beck, City, Co-op, Crown, Diamond and Maple Leaf say they are rejecting whats known as surge pricing after council voted last week on new regulations that loosened rules for taxis a move meant to allow them to compete with companies like Uber. We do not consider this to be capitalism, we call it extortion, said Rita Smith, executive director of the Toronto Taxi Alliance, which represents the brokerages and other industry members. We will not be incorporating it into our business model. We believe that surge pricing has no place in superior customer service. UberX, one of the U.S.-based ride-hailing companys services which is now in the process of being legalized, offers discounted rides in private cars. During busy times, those fares could multiply depending on the number of available cars. Under the new rules, UberX can still surge price, but the base fare will be on par with taxis at $3.25. The new rules would allow taxis to surge price only through their own smartphone apps. Rides hailed on the street or by phone are still required to have set city fares. But Smith said that change was not based on good business practices. We didnt ask for it, we didnt want it, its not a good business decision. Perhaps it was a political thought Yeah, lets let everybody charge what they want and business will go on as usual, but thats not how it works actually out in the real world, she said, arguing people will be caught unawares by surge prices and that drivers and drunks could get into fist fights. The citys new rules dictate that all companies must clearly state the fares and surge pricing before users agree to any ride. Read more about: SHARE: Three days after Toronto police sent out a news release seeking any information about Melissa Cooper, a 30-year-old woman whose torso was found behind a butchers store last month, a publication ban was suddenly imposed on her identity in a College Park courtroom. Reporters from the Star and CityNews asked about the discretionary publication ban last Wednesday, and it was lifted by the senior Crown at the College Park courts on Friday afternoon. No explanation was given in court for why the publication ban had been requested by the Crown on Monday, why it was imposed by the justice of the peace, or why it was now being lifted. According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General, the publication ban was ordered out of concern that the next of kin had not yet been notified. Once that confirmation was obtained, the Crown arranged for the case to be brought before the court and the publication ban lifted, the spokesperson said. But how the after-the-fact publication ban would have kept her name out of the press until the family was notified is difficult to fathom. Coopers name and a photograph of her provided by the police had already been widely circulated online, on television and in the newspapers for days. Police were actively seeking information about the case. A 38-year-old man, Albert Ian Ohab, has been charged with indignity to a dead body. The publication ban was imposed with only one member of the media present and went unknown as reporting on the case continued this week. Some publication bans, like those on bail hearings or on the identity of a sexual assault complainants, are mandatory if requested. But publication bans on the identities of victims and witnesses are discretionary, and must pass a legal test before being granted. There has to be a very strong rationale for imposing a publication ban, says media lawyer Iris Fischer, who represents the Star. It may be requested if there is evidence of an extraordinary need to protect a victim from harm, she says. We dont make information secret without very good reason, she says. The lack of effectiveness of a publication ban clearly a factor in this instance is also something the court can consider under the legal test. When publication bans are imposed arbitrarily for reasons that are unclear or not stated, it can affect the way the public views the administration of justice, she says. Unfortunately (publication bans) are often granted on the spot without any notice to the media, without any consideration of the applicable legal principles, and nobody knows about them, says media lawyer Iain MacKinnon, who has represented the Star in the past. There is no notification system in Ontario to inform media when a discretionary publication ban is being requested or imposed, though one is in the works for Superior Court matters only. But a media lawyer should not have to be present to ensure that publication bans are being put through the legal test Crown lawyers and judges or justices of the peace should be applying such a test to every request, MacKinnon says. At the very minimum, judges and JPs who are hearing these matters need to at least be educated that they are the gatekeepers of this kind of decision and they can require the Crown or defence to meet that high threshold required. A similar situation happened in March when a ban on publishing the identity of an alleged stabbing victim was requested by the Crown and granted by a justice of the peace. Meanwhile, the man was being interviewed by a Star reporter. The Star challenged that publication ban and it was lifted. MacKinnon says he would like to see education on the issues around publication bans be part of mandatory training for judges, and for JPs in particular, who often do not have a legal background. We are heading down a slippery slope of eroding the open court principle and making things more secretive than necessary, he says. I am hearing more and more stories like this. SHARE: After Justice William B. Horkins delivered his verdict, pronouncing Jian Ghomeshi not guilty on all counts, Linda Christina Redgrave rushed to the witness assistance room and screamed in rage. She was livid not that Ghomeshi had been acquitted, but at how the judge had torn into her and the other two witnesses as inconsistent, unreliable and careless with the truth. Redgrave had been exposed during cross-examination, he said, as a witness willing to withhold relevant information from the police, from the Crown and from the Court. He indirectly called us liars, like You naughty girls, what were you thinking? Go back to your rooms. You wasted our time, she said during an interview at a coffee shop recently. How dare he be so condescending. He could have come to the not guilty in a much more respectful way to women. Hes not just talking to us, hes talking to all survivors of sexual abuse. It hardened her resolve to campaign to change the legal system for sexual assault victims. To do that, she decided to get the publication ban on her name lifted, which Horkins did in court. I want other women to do this. I want them to identify with me and know Im just a normal woman. Im doing this so other women will be armed doing this, said Redgrave, a grandmother who looks 15 years younger than her age (she doesnt want it printed) and de-stressed during the trial in a sauna at her gym. Redgrave was the first complainant to take the stand against the man shed met while serving canapes at a CBC Christmas party in 2002. She told the court that on their first date, he grabbed her hair and yanked it really, really hard. A few weeks later in his home, he grabbed her hair again, punched her in the head several times and pulled her to her knees, she testified. After that, she said she had no contact with him. During cross-examination, Ghomeshis lawyer, Marie Henein pointed out inconsistencies in Redgraves story that Horkins called concerning. After her initial statement to police, she had emailed them to add shed had hair extensions at the time. On the stand, she said she didnt. Also, in the media, she had changed her verbs, saying Ghomeshi had pulled her to the floor, in two interviews, and thrown her, in another. The judge took particular issue with her demonstrably false memory that Ghomeshi had been driving a bright yellow Love Bug a car Henein said he bought seven months later. Her evidence fell apart when Henein produced two emails Redgrave had sent Ghomeshi after the alleged attacks one with a photo of her in a red bikini. Horkins said these emails were not ones Redgrave could have simply forgotten about. He classified her behaviour as odd. He called my behaviour odd, but the other two women had similar behaviour. I didnt know those women, said Redgrave. We didnt behave maybe as a man would have, who doesnt have a clue about these issues. She maintains she had only vague memories of them, but didnt know if she ever sent them because Ghomeshi never responded. If she could do it all over, Redgrave would retain a lawyer before speaking to the media and going to the police. I had no idea what you say in the media was just as good as a sworn statement in court, she said. I didnt know I had to remember every precise detail and it would be used in court. At that point, I didnt even know I was heading that direction. I was just telling my story. Redgrave only reported to police after Toronto police Chief Bill Blair called for witnesses to come forward. She thought her statement would help police with their investigation she didnt understand it would be the bulk of their investigation. Each time she phoned them back or emailed with subsequent details, she thought she was giving them more clues to get to the truth. Instead, the way the system works, each additional detail was given to the defence. Much was used to discredit her memory. Apparently, I was supposed to say it perfectly scripted from the beginning, she said. I thought what you say in court, that is your story. Before every videotaped witness interview, police read from a script warning witnesses that they are under oath. Sex crime officers routinely make it clear that all evidence is shared with the defence, said Toronto police spokesperson Mark Pugash, but thats not included in the script. On the Toronto police website, A Guide for Sexual Assault Survivors explains many parts of the process, but not the importance of a witness statement. Redgrave thinks police should have a written script plus a pamphlet for complainants to read before they make their statements, laying out how the legal system works and the fact that victims have the right to counsel before making their statement, as well as when it comes to their sexual history and third-party records. The accused like Jian Ghomeshi are read their rights. Victims are not read their rights, she said. In a high profile case, they are not giving me my rights. I cant imagine in smaller (profile) ones. Like many witnesses, Redgrave believed wrongly the Crown attorney was her lawyer and would defend her. She did later, however, receive free counsel from criminal lawyers Jacob Jesin and Alvin Shidlowski, without whom she said she would not have survived two rigorous days of cross-examination. Because they are the ones typically in Marie Heneins shoes, they let me know the methods and tactics she could use, she said. The biggest thing they taught me is Listen carefully to the question. Starting this spring, sexual assault victims in Toronto, Ottawa and Thunder Bay will be offered up to four hours of legal advice. Thats a start, says Redgrave. Jesin says he worked 100 hours, at least on her case. In his ruling, Horkins said navigating this sort of proceeding is really quite simple: tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The day before Horkins delivered her verdict, Redgrave had already put up a website for victims of sexual assault, comingforward.ca. Right now, it asks victims for their stories and offers clickable resources. Her plan is to compile a number of detailed briefing notes for complainants, walking them through the processes ahead, should they choose to file a police report. Shes working with a legal writer. I want to give women knowledge. Now, any layperson going up against a 25-year seasoned lawyer, who stands a chance? Its uneven. Its unfair. Maybe it still wont work out in their favour, but at least theyll go in there armed and ready, she says. The more knowledge we have, the more powerful well be on the stand. Some responses from experts on Redgraves proposal: Det. Ann-Marie Tupling, domestic violence services co-ordinator, Toronto Police Service: A 101 or pamphlet maybe thats something we should put in place. Maybe thats something we as police need to do better better inform the public about the process. Defence lawyer David Butt: The operating presumption is that a witness is like a computer press print, and they do a data dump of evidence. Thats not how human memory works. Right now, we punish people in the witness box for simply being human. We have to let incremental memory into the courtroom or let the client lawyer up before she gives her statement. Criminal defence lawyer Jake Jesin, who counselled Redgrave: Whats not explained to them as well as it could be is the value of ensuring you are articulate, chronological, that you take the time, that you really think about the words you are going to use to describe your recollections because those exact words are going to be parsed by a defence lawyer and you will be asked questions about those exact words. Marie Corbett, former Superior Court justice and author of January: A woman Judges Season of Disillusion: Theres no question that victims do not have a right to a fair trial. They dont have any articulated rights. I do agree that complainants should be given legal advice at some point. Former Crown counsel Daniel Lerner likes the idea of a pamphlet because anything that educates the public about the criminal justice system is a good thing, but disagrees with the idea of legal counsel for victims, which might push witnesses to tailor their statements around perceived defence strategies. Read more about: SHARE: The CBC handed over material to the police and Crown attorney in connection with what would have been the second trial of Jian Ghomeshi, a CBC spokesman has confirmed. I can confirm that we did receive a formal request by way of a production order and, as any responsible organization would do, we fully cooperated, the CBCs Chuck Thompson told the Star. He would not describe the material turned over. RELATED:Jian Ghomeshi charge to be withdrawn in court Production orders are court orders that require an organization or a person to produce information, including emails or other documents. Ghomeshi was an employee of CBC during the time of the alleged assault that was to gone to trial on June 6. Instead, Ghomeshi is to appear in court at 10 a.m. Wednesday in relation to a charge laid by the Toronto police involving allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman in February 2008 at the CBC headquarters on Front St. At the time, Ghomeshi was the host of CBCs popular arts and culture show, Q. Negotiations between Crown attorney Michael Callaghan and Ghomeshis defence lawyer, Marie Henein, led to an earlier court date and an expected resolution Wednesday, sources say. The Crown is expected to withdraw the single count of sexual assault against Ghomeshi, and in its place Ghomeshi will sign a Section 810 Peace Bond, probably requiring him to be of good behaviour and stay away from the complainant for one year. There will be no criminal record or finding of guilt. Ghomeshi is also expected to read a short statement in court, described by sources as an apology related to the alleged physical incident and his verbal behaviour towards the woman while he was host of Q. As news of the surprise court appearance spread Monday night, journalists from dozens of media outlets prepared for round two of the Ghomeshi case. In the last case, in February, reporters had to line up each day before 7 a.m. to get a spot in the courtroom. It will be the same this time. The Ministry of the Attorney General released guidelines for coverage Tuesday, including a stipulation that 30 seats will be set aside for media in the main courtroom, plus seats for the public and two overflow courtrooms, where proceedings can be watched by closed-circuit television. In the first trial, the Crown presented the testimony of three women who all alleged that in the early 2000s, while on dates or during brief intimate encounters, Ghomeshi punched, slapped or in one case choked a woman. Justice William Horkins said in his ruling in April that he was not saying these events never happened. Instead, the inconsistencies, questionable behaviour and the outright deception of the court by the three witnesses tainted their evidence. The harsh reality is that once a witness has been shown to be deceptive and manipulative in giving their evidence, that witness can no longer expect the Court to consider them to be a trusted source of the truth. I am forced to conclude that it is impossible for the Court to have sufficient faith in the reliability or sincerity of these complainants, Horkins said in his ruling. According to sources, the case to be decided Wednesday is different from the first in that there was a witness prepared to testify to what he saw during the alleged incident. Sources say there is also a paper trail that provides a written account of the alleged assault. In the Wednesday case, Justice Timothy Lipson will be the judge. Crown attorney Callaghan is expected to read the allegations regarding Ghomeshi into the record. Following that, Ghomeshi will make a brief statement. The complainant, whose name is covered by a ban on publication, will likely ask court to remove the ban, sources say. Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash told the Star that no additional complainants related to Ghomeshi have come forward to police. Kevin Donovan can be reached at (416) 312-3503 or kdonovan@thestar.ca Read more about: SHARE: Three schools were placed under hold-and-secure this morning after armed robbers struck a home in the Lawrence Ave. and Jane St. area. Toronto police were called to a home invasion at Wright Ave. and Pine St. at 8:44 a.m. Wednesday. They say more than one suspect is being sought out, but only one is armed with a gun. The armed suspect is described as a Caucasian male with a thin build, standing at about 5 ft. tall. He appears to be in his late teens or early 20s, and is wearing dark jeans. Weston Collegiate Institute, Weston Memorial Junior Publish School, and C.R. Marchant Middle School were briefly placed under a hold-and-secure. The hold has since been lifted, but police have confirmed that the ski-mask clad intruders are still on the loose. None of the occupants were injured, and it is unclear what the suspects took from the home. SHARE: Rana Nasrazadani loved her elementary years, but high school was the first low point in my life. Teachers didnt speak to her directly about her marks or assignments, recalls the 19-year-old. Instead they talked to the educational assistants she relied on because of her physical disability and special learning needs. When it came to accommodations she needed in the classroom, she was rarely asked her opinion. The adults often wanted Nasrazadani, who has cerebral palsy, to use her power wheelchair because it was easier for them, she said, even when she preferred to walk because it was her only chance for exercise. At the age of 16, you should be able to manage your own stuff. But they took that away from me. In her final year, she tells of feeling unsupported in her decision to go directly to university. I felt like I was left to go through the transition on my own, said Nasrazadani, who is heading into her third year at York University studying human rights and equity studies. Her recollections are among 170 submissions at the heart of a groundbreaking new report released Tuesday that reveals the obstacles youth with disabilities face on a daily basis in schools and communities. The report, titled We Have Something to Say, is the first of its kind to actually put youths voices front and centre, said Irwin Elman, Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth, whose office was behind the two-year project. The document outlines problems and makes recommendations related to family and home life, schools, and supports and services, and transitions across the lifespan. Young people want greater ownership and personal control over the decisions that affect their lives and futures, Nasrazadani told the audience of more than 200 who gathered in Toronto for the event. We need professionals to see us . . . as the experts on our own lives. Seventeen young people later sat down in a closed session with Tracy MacCharles, Minister of Children and Youth Services, and nine other delegates from government, education, health care and community agencies. Report recommendations include: Making sure each young person is at the centre of all decisions affecting their lives and futures Setting up youth advisory panels in provincial ministries such as Education and Children and Youth Services so that people directly impacted by policies and services have input into their design Eliminating wait lists for services and funding Providing mandatory special ed training for student teachers and training all school personnel who work with students with disabilities Providing more supports for siblings and parents But its the first-person excerpts that give the report its emotional punch. They come from youth with autism and fetal alcohol syndrome disorder. Others have learning disabilities, medical conditions, physical disabilities, mental health issues or a combination. They also come from their siblings, parents and other caregivers. Those voices, also expressed through music, art, poetry and video, highlight cracks in a system that is frustrating to navigate and changes from one ministry to the next. They also reveal the heartbreak of being denied opportunities to socialize with peers, of being constantly underestimated or harshly treated by frustrated adults who dont understand whats behind an outburst or inattentive behaviour. Many wrote about wanting to belong, and to be seen as a person rather than just defined by their disability. Stories about the school system were particularly grim for students like Salvatore (Sammy) DAgostino, one of two youths who spearheaded the report with the help of a 30-member advisory panel, ages 8 through 30. As a kid who loved ancient history, DAgostino dreamed of becoming an Egyptologist. Until, he recalls, a high school teacher told him to be more realistic and said university would be too hard for him. Because I have a special need, low expectations were put on me and for a long time I only lived up to those, says DAgostino, 28, of Vaughan, who was diagnosed with a learning disability in Grade 3. Today, hes studying for his Masters in public policy administration and law at York University. Educators need to consider who the students actually are more than just their special need, he said. SHARE: Two firefighters who have long helped widows and families of retirees get workers compensation settlements sometimes for a fee are accusing their professional association of trying to ruin their reputations with a malicious smear campaign. The pair has filed a $12-million counter claim against the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association and its president, Carmen Santoro, in response to a $4-million lawsuit naming them in early April. That suit from the OPFFA alleges firemen Paul Atkinson and Colin Grieve improperly misappropriated a portion of workers compensation payouts money the association contends should have gone into its coffers to cover the cost of paying the two men to provide services. Neither the lawsuit nor the counter claim, filed last Thursday, has been proven in Ontarios Superior Court of Justice. It could take years for the case to wind its way through the system. Everyones interest should be to get the best possible results for the families. It shouldnt be about a power struggle, lawyer Gavin Tighe of Gardiner Roberts LLP, representing the two firefighters, said Tuesday. He denied they did anything wrong and called some accusations made against them such as a luxury car rental at the associations expense purposefully scandalous. It was a Chrysler 300 for a highway trip, said Tighe. Our clients very much look forward to this process, so that the whole truth comes out. Atkinson works for the Toronto fire department and Grieve is with the Hamilton fire service. The alleged smear campaign outlined in the statement of defence involves the association contacting the Workplace Safety Insurance Board to say the two men are unqualified to represent claimants and sending an advisory to OPFFA members that there were serious irregularities in the way they handled claims. The conduct of the OPFFA . . . was malicious and tactical, and designed to inflict maximum embarrassment and reputational damage, says the 41-page statement. In the original OPFFA lawsuit, the association alleged the duo while helping firefighters relatives with occupational disease compensation cases, such as cancer convinced families to redirect up to 12 per cent of their settlements to them instead of to the association. That lawsuit claims they hatched an elaborate scheme travelling the province to work on cases while their firehouse salaries, expenses and meals were covered by the OPFFA at a cost of about $135,000 annually. Santoro and the association referred questions about the case to their Toronto lawyer, Rahool Agarwal of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP. Nothing in the statement of defence and counterclaim has changed the OPFFAs position, the law firm replied in an email from its Calgary corporate communications office. The OPFFA and Mr. Santoro will provide a formal response to the statement of defence and counterclaim in due course and in accordance with the rules of court. The associations lawsuit also names lawyer Sherwin Shapiro and paralegal Frances Furmanov. Shapiro declined comment and Furmanov did not return a telephone call from the Star on Tuesday. While the firefighters association said previously it began an internal probe in August after a widow called to complain about a settlement issue, the statement of defence says the OPFFA could not provide the name of one alleged non-party victim. The document said Atkinson and Grieve were groundbreakers in the growing field of helping firefighters press Workplace Safety Insurance Board claims for work-related diseases that often hit firefighters, who are exposed to dangerous chemical cocktails and smoke. For nearly two decades, the defendants worked tirelessly to advance the interests of these claimants and obtain the compensation their families deserved, the statement of defence says. The association has estimated those settlements at more than $100 million. It started as volunteer work with the associations WSIB committee when Atkinson and Grieve were not on shift, helping retired firefighters who were not getting official help from the OPFFA, which preferred to focus efforts on active, dues-paying members, the statement of defence says. A backlog of cases developed after the Liberal government, which won political support from the OPFFA, passed legislation deeming that certain cancers and other diseases in firefighters are presumed to have been caused by job-related exposures. Our two clients are probably the two most qualified people in the province to shepherd such cases through the workers compensation system, said Tighe, who previously represented late mayor Rob Ford and his brother Doug in a municipal conflict of interest case. By 2005, word of mouth had spread and firefighter families were approaching Atkinson and Grieve for help and offering to pay, prompting them to approach the OPFFA executive about charging a contingency fee, the statement of defence adds. They approached then-president Fred LeBlanc, who advised the mandate was to assist active not retired firefighters, and that any compensation agreement was to be negotiated directly between them and retiree claimants. The OPFFA was not only fully aware of this arrangement but was in fact the author, says the statement of defence. Reached in Kingston, Ont., LeBlanc declined comment. Subsequently, Atkinson and Grieve had formed their own corporation, Professional Firefighters Advocates Incorporated, to conduct business throughout the province. The OPFFA was, at all times through its executive, well aware of this situation, the statement of defence says. The company was the corporate vehicle through which Atkinson and Grieve legitimately provided advocacy services to retired firefighters and spouses of deceased firefighters, the statement of defence adds. At no time did these defendants . . . engage in any fraudulent scheme, conspiracy or subterfuge, the statement continues, noting they would often visit dying firefighters in palliative care. The families and firefighters assisted by these defendants were fully aware of and agreed to compensate them for their efforts, albeit at a fraction of the cost that a paralegal or lawyer would have charged. When Santoro was elected to the executive, as previous members like LeBlanc left the board, he began bullying Atkinson and Grieve to cut their expenses as the number of WSIB awards started to decline, the statement of defence says. This took a psychological toll on Atkinson, who took a 10-month stress leave in 2014, and on Grieve. In February 2015, the two were called to a meeting of the association executive and ambushed with a berating from Santoro on the way they handled WSIB claims, says the statement of defence. When Atkinson and Grieve attempted to respond to Santoros comments, he screamed Im the f------ president and became verbally abusive toward them, the statement of defence claims. The associations law firm said Santoro denies bullying anyone or launching a smear campaign. SHARE: LONDONLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan on Tuesday slammed Donald Trumps ignorant view of Islam, after the Republican presidential contender suggested Khan could be exempted from a proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Last year Trump proposed a total and complete ban on foreign Muslims entering the U.S. until our countrys representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. Asked how that policy would affect Londons first Muslim mayor, Trump told The New York Times that there will always be exceptions. But Khan said this isnt just about me. Its about my friends, my family and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world. Donald Trumps ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe. It risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of the extremists, Khan said in a statement. Khan, the London-born son of Pakistani immigrants, was elected last week by a wide margin after a campaign that saw his Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith accuse him of having shared platforms with Islamic extremists. Khan, a former human rights lawyer and Labour Party lawmaker, accused Goldsmith of trying to frighten and divide voters in a multicultural city of 8.6 million people, more than 1 million of them Muslims. In his victory speech, Khan said the result marked of hope over fear and unity over division. The mayor said Tuesday that Trump and people who agree with him think that western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam; London has proved him wrong. Trump said he was happy to see Khans election and hoped he does a good job. Read more about: SHARE: RAFAH, PALESTINIAN TERRITORYChinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei is visiting the Gaza Strip as part of a documentary he is making about Middle East refugees. The activist crossed into Gaza through Israel with a crew of 10 people on Tuesday. The film will highlight the plight of millions of Syrians who fled the civil war in their homeland to neighbouring countries or took perilous voyages in boats to Europe. On Wednesday, Ai said he is including the Palestinian refugees in the film because they constitute the longest history of displacement and their numbers complicate any settlement of their cause. The number of Palestinians who were displaced during the 1948 war surrounding Israels establishment, along with their descendants, is estimated at over five million people, according to the United Nations. The Palestinian refugees really play a very important factor in the whole refugee situation, Ai told The Associated Press. With such a big population, he said it is not easy to find a solution. Ais crew has worked on the documentary in Jordan, Turkey, Greece and several other countries that have hosted Syrian refugees. In 2011, China detained Ai for 81 days for being an outspoken critic of its human rights record. Last year, he managed to move to Germany after Chinese authorities returned his passport. He is famous for works addressing human rights abuses, official corruption and the collision between Chinese culture and Western consumerism The visit, Ais first to Gaza, coincides with the 68th anniversary of what the Palestinians call the nakba, or catastrophe caused by their displacement during the 1948 war. We have to come here to interpret this into our film, he said. During the three-day visit, Ai and his team will be shooting in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. They also will look at the worsening living conditions in Gaza, which has suffered under an Egyptian and Israeli blockade and the rule of the Hamas militant group. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas seized power in 2007, saying the restrictions are needed to prevent Hamas from importing weapons. The condition here is unbelievable, Ai said as his crew filmed Palestinians trying to leave Gaza through Egypt, which temporarily opened its border with Gaza for two days Wednesday after nearly three months of closure. Gaza is really suffering from this isolation and blockade from all over, he said. Ai said the film should be complete by the end of 2016, and he will organize an exhibition with works related to refugees before the opening of the documentary. Correction: A photo caption accompanying a photo with this article was edited from a previous version to make clear that the number Palestinians displaced during the 1948 war surrounding Israels establishment includes their decedents. SHARE: American Kenneth Bae was watching a CNN story about a Canadian pastor imprisoned in North Korea when he recognized the two guards in the broadcast escorting Hyeon Soo Lim into the interview room. The 47-year-old Christian missionary was gripped by dread: he knew Lim, in detention more than a year, was in an awful place. Bae said the guards in the January CNN report worked at the labour camp where Bae was inmate No. 103. During his incarceration, Bae said the countryside camp offered little food, brutal working conditions and scant hope that hed return home before his 15-year sentence ended. Bae believes Lim, 62, is in the same prison probably bunking in his old cell, with an overhead light thats never turned off, swarms of mosquitoes and the facilitys lone television to watch state-run programming because it is the only labour camp for foreigners in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. I know exactly what he is going through . . . , said Bae, who will be in Toronto next week to promote his book, Not Forgotten: The True Story of my Imprisonment in North Korea, and to campaign for Lims release. Baes sentence was cut short when a high-level U.S. envoy negotiated his release in 2014. North Korea pardoned him for subversion. But the longer (Lims release) takes, its going to be (more) difficult for his family and for himself, continued Bae said, on the phone from Dallas. Theres only so much he can take. It took me 735 days to get home (and) a year to recover. Lim, the pastor at Mississaugas Light Korean Presbyterian Church, has been in custody for about 15 months. In December, Lim who had visited North Korea more than 100 times on humanitarian missions was convicted of plotting to overthrow the government and given a life sentence of hard labour. Prosecutors had requested the death penalty. Lim publicly confessed to criticizing Kim Jong Uns regime but as Bae writes in his book, his own confessions were coerced. Bae believes Lims prison experiences would be similar to his own. For the American father of three, that included physical and psychological trauma, severe weight loss and hospitalizations for malnutrition and back pain from working 10-hour days, six days a week in a soybean field. A native of South Korea like Lim, Bae does not know the pastor but has followed his plight closely. He said hes baffled that Lims ordeal is not more visible in Canadian news. That would be the key, having media attention given to him and then the public will not forget about him, Bae said. I think this is what North Korea is looking for (and) in my opinion, the reason they put Pastor Lim on stage with CNN . . . theyre the ones bringing the public attention. When Lim was convicted in December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the case. He told reporters issues about North Koreas governance and judicial system are well-known, adding he had tremendous concern for Lim. The tough talk angered North Korea, according to news sites that monitor the state-run Korea Central News Agency. One Korea Central News Agency editorial said Canadas unreasonable and disrespectful reaction will only complicate the situation, the NK News, an independent U.S.-based organization, reported in December. Since then, Ottawa has remained virtually silent. Global Affairs Canada responded to a list of detailed questions from the Star with a brief email by spokesman Francois Lasalle. The Government of Canada is concerned for Mr. Lims rights and well-being. We have been fully engaged on this case since it began, Lasalle said. Consular officials are providing assistance to Mr. Lim and his family. We are grateful that we were able to visit him, Lasalle continued, referring to Canadian embassy officials in Seoul, who have reportedly visited Lim twice. Canada has no embassy in the North, and LaSalle noted Sweden acts as Protecting Power and provides consular services there on our behalf. Lasalle also said: In the interest of Mr. Lims case, no further information can be shared. Neither will Lims family speak to the media. The Canadian approach contrasts with the U.S. tack in recent years. Several Americans have been released from North Korea since 2009 (through diplomacy as well as humanitarian efforts involving former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter) even as detainees families pressured politicians through media campaigns. Based on his experience living among North Koreans and hearing their views on western culture, Bae thinks Canada needs to back off its public stance that Lim was improperly jailed. If the Canadian government continues to insist (the North Koreans) are holding an innocent man, (then) theres no dialogue that can happen, said Bae. The regime need(s) to save their face, he said, adding it may want an apology or acknowledgement from Canada of Lims wrongdoing. In February, Bae reached out to Lims wife. Through meeting her, he received some news. Lim was in hospital. The church that Pastor Lim built Organ music fills the lobby of the Light Korean Presbyterian Church complex in Mississauga, the sound floating through the closed doors of the 2,000-seat chapel. It is a quiet weekday morning. A woman is at the organ, tucked to the right of a large stage, rehearsing hymns in the empty room the congregation fills to capacity on Sundays. As it has done for nearly 15 months, the Sunday congregation will pray for the release of their beloved senior pastor, imprisoned in North Korea. Raymond Cho, a Toronto city councillor and a longtime friend of Lim, says the pastors bond with his congregation is strong. Hes a very gentle person, speaking very calmly, and a very warm person but when hes preaching, he could be very powerful, very influential, said Cho, who belongs to a different church but has attended services to watch Lim preach. Cho said that over the last two decades, Lim has built the Light Korean congregation from a few dozen families to more than 3,000 members. The church is now housed in a $30-million complex with a daycare, a gym, professional kitchen, large cafeteria and offices west of Highway 427 and Rexdale Blvd. Cho, who organized a Christmastime prayer vigil for Lim, has been one of the few people close to him to speak publicly. Lims wife, Geum Young Lim, and their son, Sung (James) Lim, refuse to speak to the media. Family spokeswoman Lisa Pak provided little information about the Lims or their friends, citing the Lims fear of jeopardizing the pastors safety if they gave interviews. Church leaders are also silent. Pastor Jason Noh told the Star he had promised the congregation he would not grant media interviews. And Ottawa will not discuss Lims situation in any detail, either. Only Bae, the freed American prisoner, has shed any light on Lims situation. Bae said he was devastated when Lim received a life sentence, and contacted the pastors family in February. Bae said he didnt want to discuss Lims situation without permission from the family, which he got that month. Bae said hed been told by the family that Lim was transferred from the labour camp to be treated for an unknown ailment and that Canadian embassy officials in Seoul had been allowed into North Korea to check on his health. Its not known if Lim is still in hospital. Global Affairs Canada did not respond to a question from the Star to verify Lim was hospitalized. Bae said hed been told by the family that Lim had been allowed to exchange letters after he was tried, and just recently. Lims wife, now living in Seoul, wrote a letter about her husband in February and posted it on a Christian website. It was translated in a story by Christianity Daily. Her letter, verified as authentic by a Lim acquaintance who had first read it in Korean, read in part: I am thankful that God has allowed Rev. Lim to be detained at this most precise time. When I observe the current situation in North and South Korea, it is truly and fearfully chaotic. But when I think about the souls in that land, there has to be someone who is willing to be the kernel of wheat that falls and produces many seeds and I am again thankful when I realize that that person is our Rev. Lim. God is not one to suffer losses . . . Who else would take responsibility for the souls in that land? When Rev. Lim received the sentence for life in prison, I personally prayed a prayer of thanksgiving that God has again saved his life and expressing my belief that there is definitely a calling and a mission behind all of this. And I wept and wept when I heard that our church came together to pray for him that day. SHARE: NEW DELHI Around a dozen members of a right-wing Indian Hindu group lit a ritual fire and chanted mantras Wednesday asking the Hindu gods to help Donald Trump win the U.S. presidential election. While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the partys candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in faraway India. The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it, said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group. Only Donald Trump can save humanity. Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out in a New Delhi protest park along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman as well as photos of Trump. Above them hung a banner declaring support for Trump because he is hope for humanity against Islamic terror. The group chanted Sanskrit prayers asking the gods to favour Trump in the election, and threw offerings such as seeds, grass and ghee or clarified butter into a small ritual fire. Related: Trump narrows VP list Trump campaign says computer error put white nationalist on delegate list Read more about: SHARE: BAGHDADIn the deadliest violence in Baghdad this year, three car bombs claimed by Daesh killed 93 people across the Iraqi capital Wednesday, demonstrating the extremists ability to mount significant attacks despite major battlefield losses. The separate bombings, which also wounded 165 people, came at a time of turmoil and deadlock in Iraqs government and parliament. The Interior Ministry blamed the attacks on political bickering that is increasingly threatening the security of the civilian population. The largest car bomb ripped through a crowded outdoor market selling food, clothing and household goods in the predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City during the morning, killing at least 63 people and wounding 85. Streets were stained with blood, building facades were heavily damaged and smoke billowed from stores gutted by the blast. Dozens of people walked through mangled wreckage of cars and other debris as ambulances ferried away the injured. The bomb was in a pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables. It was parked by a man who had quickly disappeared into the crowd, said Karim Salih, a 45-year-old grocer who escaped injury. It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground, Salih told The Associated Press. The force of the explosion threw me for meters away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes. The sprawling slum of Sadr City is home to 2.5 million people almost half of Baghdads population of about 6 million. Two more car bombs exploded elsewhere in the afternoon, killing at least 30 and wounded 80, police officials said. One bomb targeted a police station in the northwestern Kadhimiyah neighbourhood, while another struck in the northern neighbourhood of Jamiya. The casualty figures were released by medical officials who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. In online statements, Daesh, also known as the Islamic State group or ISIS, claimed responsibility for the bombings, which were condemned by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, as well as the United States. Daesh said it had targeted Shiite militiamen, but hospital and security officials said the vast majority of the victims were civilians. The AP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the Daesh claims, but they appeared on a website commonly used by the Sunni extremists. These attacks demonstrate that terrorists carry out these abominable attacks without regard to innocent civilian life in order to stoke tensions between these communities even further, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. What is clear from this incident is that a lot of innocent people have been killed, and it certainly is consistent with ISILs (Daeshs) strategy of wreaking havoc and sowing chaos and violence and sectarian tension, he said, using an acronym for the extremist group. Earnest said al-Abadi has tried to unite Iraq against the threat. He has worked hard across sectarian lines to build diverse support for his government and for the effort to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL (Daesh), he said. And thats why the United States has found Prime Minister Abadi and the Iraqi central government to be effective partners, and its why we continue to stand with them as they confront this serious threat. The militant group, which swept across Syria and northern and western Iraq in 2014, has been pushed back by government forces and U.S.-led airstrikes over the past year, losing more than 40 per cent of the territory it held. Although security has improved in Baghdad, Wednesdays violence again demonstrated its ability to launch devastating insurgent-style attacks across the country and in the heart of the capital. Back-to-back bombings on Feb. 28, also in Sadr City, killed 73 people. Politicians are fighting each other in parliament and government while the people are being killed every day, said Hussein Abdullah, an appliance store owner who suffered shrapnel wounds from the blast in Sadr City. If they cant protect us, then they have to let us do the job, said the 28-year-old father of two. Months of protests and sit-ins led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have demanded the overhaul of the political system put in place by the United States following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein. On April 30, hundreds of al-Sadrs supporters stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad and broke into the parliament building. The move was a dramatic show of power by al-Sadr that has further fractured Iraqi politics, delaying action on proposed reforms. All of these things distract from the fight against IS (Daesh), said Matthew Henman, the head of IHS Janes Terrorism and Insurgency Center. The more the government is distracted with political upheaval, the more the Islamic State (Daesh) can capitalize on that lack of attention. Daesh extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the second-largest city of Mosul. Commercial and public places in Shiite-dominated neighbourhoods are among the most frequent targets for Daesh militants who want to undermine government efforts to maintain security in the capital. As the extremist group continues to be pushed back in Anbar and Ninevah provinces, Henman expects attacks like Wednesdays bombings to increase in Baghdad and other territory far from the front-line fighting. Even if Mosul, Fallujah, Raqqa ... if all the major territory (the Islamic State group) holds is recaptured, the threat doesnt go away, he said. According to the United Nations, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April due to ongoing violence. The UN said 410 were civilians and the rest were members of the security forces. In March, 1,119 people were killed, it said. Read more about: SHARE: TOKYOManga and anime have stimulated a lot of foreign interest in Japan in recent years. Now a Shiba dog has picked up the leash to become a Japanese sensation overseas. Maru, an 8-year-old male Shiba that lives in Tokyo, has become a star on Instagram, with more than 2.4 million followers in Japan and abroad. Sometimes standing in a dignified posture with pointed ears and curled tailtraits characteristic of the breed that is native to JapanMaru can be seen in daily updates on the social networking site. Shinjiro Ono, a 42-year-old company owner in Tokyo, posts shots of his dog every day. Ono and his wife found Maru in a pet shop in December 2007 when he was a 2-month-old puppy and soon started recording his growth on Instagram. Ono originally posted three photos of his pet daily in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. His intention was to cheer up those affected by the disaster by posting snapshots of the adorable, round-faced Maru. There were only a few followers in the beginning, Ono said. But within a month there were more than 5,000. He was astonished to learn that many of the viewers lived overseas. In the days following the disaster, media around the world were covering the calm response of the Japanese. The image of a Shiba dog standing straight, looking serene and resolute, may have fit the image that people overseas have of the Japanese, Ono said. Kadokawa Corp. has published three photo books featuring Maru, which have been translated and published in South Korea, China and Taiwan. About 90 per cent of Marus Instagram followers live overseas, with about 25 per cent in the United States and a little more than 10 per cent in China and Taiwan. Today, Ono posts Marus photos partly to express his appreciation for the support his compatriots received from overseas. A Taiwan information technology company chose the canine star to introduce its latest product, a remotely controlled dog monitor, at Interpets, one of the largest pet events in Japan held at Tokyo Big Sight in Koto Ward, Tokyo, from March 31 to April 3. On the opening day, Maru starred in a demonstration of Furbo, a camera-equipped device that allows dog owners to monitor their pets while they are away from home and can be remotely controlled with smartphones and similar devices using a special application. Maru stood near the camera, while Ono remained some distance from his dog. A tablet in Onos hand displayed live images of Maru. When Ono called Marus name through the devices built-in speaker, he could hear Maru barking in response via a microphone installed in the device. The monitor can also be remotely controlled to eject dog treats. Maru lunged to catch a treat when it was ejected from a hole in the device. Good job! the spectators shouted. Victor Chang, chief executive officer of Tomofun, which produced the monitor, said, Watching Maru makes me cheerful. Chang also said, Hes perfect to promote a dog monitor designed to make both dogs and their owners happy. Chang plans to market Furbo this summer in the United States, Taiwan and Japan. Marus popularity also impressed officials of the Mie prefectural government. They commissioned Maru as the Mie no Kuni Kanko Taishi tourism ambassador in November. Maru visited the prefecture this March for a tourism promotion video. A museum that exhibits photos, goods and photo books of Maru called Gallery Marusan opened last November near Nezu subway station in Tokyo. Olivia Gare, a British tourist who visited the museum on April 12, said it was the first place she visited after arriving at Narita Airport the previous night. She said she had been following Maru on Instagram for six months. Read more about: SHARE: Re: Wynne won't budge on naming MPPs in sexual harassment cases, May 5 Wynne won't budge on naming MPPs in sexual harassment cases, May 5 If I were a member of Premier Kathleen Wynnes Liberal caucus, I would be outraged. In the face of persistent questions from the media and the Opposition, she flatly refuses to disclose the names or, indeed, any information about the MPPs whom she has investigated for sexual aberrations. Her silence therefore casts suspicion on every single member of her caucus, except, of course, herself. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a different tack to Ms Wynne when he named two MPs who were accused of sexual misbehaviour and expelled them from his caucus. Raymond Heard, Toronto Wynne must name the elected people who were involved so that voters can vote against them next election. What is she afraid of? Either she names them or she should resign I hope both. We need better management at the top to put integrity back into politics and this goes for all levels of government. Edward Zaretsky, Toronto Read more about: SHARE: Film producer Gene Gutowski, left, and director Roman Polanski in 1967, when The Fearless Vampire Killers a collaboration between the two men was released. (Judy Dreszer/AP) Gene Gutowski, a Polish American Holocaust survivor who produced three films that helped bring director Roman Polanski to international prominence in the 1960s and who reunited with him decades later for the Holocaust drama The Pianist, died May 10 in Warsaw. He was 90. The cause was pneumonia, said his son, Adam Bardach. The Gutowski-Polanski collaboration in the 1960s resulted in the 1965 psychological horror film Repulsion, starring French actress Catherine Deneuve, followed by Cul-de-Sac (1966) and The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), films that brought Polanski to Hollywood. Mr. Gutowski was the son of a cultured and assimilated Jewish family in eastern Poland but saw his youth shattered by World War II and the loss of his family in the Holocaust. Immediately after the war, he worked for U.S. military intelligence hunting Nazis in postwar Germany. He immigrated to the United States in 1947. An artist and sculptor, Mr. Gutowski worked as a fashion illustrator in New York before he took up film production. He led a jet-setting playboy lifestyle for many years that took him across Europe, to Hollywood and the Virgin Islands, with six wives and many lovers along the way, a life story he tells in a memoir known in English as With Balls and Chutzpah: A Story of Survival. Film producer Gene Gutowski, right, chats with film director Roman Polanski in 2002. (Adam Bardach/AP) For several years, he was also was a consultant to Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. After the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, he returned to Poland, spending his latter years in Warsaw. Mr. Gutowski and Polanski met in 1963, shortly after Polanski had made his breakthrough film, Knife in the Water, a Polish-language production that gained him acclaim and an Oscar nomination but still no eager supporters for his next film. At the time, Polanski was 30, lived in France and spoke no English. Mr. Gutowski, who was living in London, was hugely impressed by the talent of his fellow Pole and persuaded him to go to London and make a film in English, pushing for something shocking that would test the limits of the censors. The result was Repulsion, with Deneuve as a woman whose creeping paranoia and estrangement from those around her explodes into disturbing hallucinations and acts of violence. Film critic Pauline Kael called the film notably the scene of a man being slashed to death in his face with a razor excruciatingly tense and frightening. Mr. Gutowski was born Witold Bardach on July 26, 1925, in Lwow, Poland (today Lviv in Ukraine). He came from a family of lawyers, doctors, concert pianists and army officers, a family so assimilated that they celebrated Easter and Christmas and never attended synagogue. After his mother was sent to the death camp of Belzec, young Witold knew that he couldnt survive if he stayed in Lwow. So he made his way to Warsaw alone and struggled to survive by passing as an Aryan. His father was killed by the Germans, and his beloved younger brother, Roman, died when an uncle poisoned himself and the 13-year-old boy in the final days of the Lwow ghetto. For a time, Mr. Gutowski worked for the Luftwaffe at Warsaws Okecie airport, stealing radio transmitters for the Polish underground an activity that nearly got him killed. When he was being hunted by the Nazis for stealing the radio equipment, he was given shelter by his Polish girlfriends mother. She provided him with the documents of a worker, Eugeniusz Gutowski, who had died in an accident. After making a name for himself as Gene Gutowski, he never considered returning to his original name, although the youngest of his three sons, Adam Bardach, eventually took it. A filmmaker, Bardach has documented his fathers wartime experiences in a 2014 film, Dancing Before the Enemy: How a Teenage Boy Fooled the Nazis and Lived. After their professional collaboration in the 1960s, Mr. Gutowski and Polanski parted ways professionally but remained friends. They eventually reunited to produce the 2002 film The Pianist, the wrenching Holocaust drama that mirrored the wartime experiences of both men. The movie earned Oscars for Polanski as best director, Adrien Brody for best leading man and Ronald Harwood for best adapted screenplay. Polanski escaped the Krakow ghetto and also survived by passing as a non-Jew, while his mother died in Auschwitz. He could not attend the Oscar ceremony because of an outstanding arrest warrant in the United States on a statutory rape charge.) In 2014, Mr. Gutowski told the Associated Press that he and Polanski never discussed the war, saying he always felt it was a taboo topic. In his memoir, he also described denying his Jewish roots and distancing himself from other survivors. When on occasion I was asked point-blank by either Polish or Jewish former [concentration camp] inmates if I was Jewish, I would deny it, thus creating a duality of existence which I have maintained for most of my life, he wrote. Its not something Im particularly proud of. Through denying it, I have obviously tried to block off the past, the deep pain of losing my entire family and the subconscious guilt of being the sole survivor. He said making The Pianist was a personal catharsis. Watching crowds of terrified, helpless people being pushed into a train to the gas chambers recalled the last journey of my entire family in the summer of 1942, he wrote. And thus The Pianist, a film crowned with three important Oscars, was also in many ways the crowning moment of my life. Survivors include his wife, Joanna Smaga-Gutowska; two sons; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. Associated Press Adam Bernstein contributed to this report. The following review appears in The Washington Posts 2017 Fall Dining Guide. A garden composed of asparagus and scallops presented on a block of pink Himalayan salt is to be eaten with tweezers at Fiola. (Deb Lindsey /For The Washington Post) Chestnut "Tiramisu" served in a jar. (Deb Lindsey /For The Washington Post) Fiola (Excellent) A waiter in a crisp cream-colored jacket underscores the breezy charm of one of the best Italian restaurants in Washington when he asks me at lunch, Tea? Soda? Are we allowed to misbehave today? A meal at the most senior of Fabio Trabocchis dining destinations begs for something luxe, spurred not just by lobster ravioli and squab saltimbocca on the menu, but by iridescent tile floors, plush seating and famous faces nearby. While it was fun to learn that the Burgundy snails in a little skillet of gnocchi and Iberico ham came from the same source used by master chef Daniel Boulud in New York, the supposedly hay-smoked gnocchi were faint on fumes and a little doughy. A fluke? Alluring as ever is the three-course Maria menu, named for the chefs wife and business partner and designed with good health in mind. Curls of dewy raw golden snapper on a circle of sliced tiger figs, monkfish loin in a thin band of sopressata and labneh panna cotta tweaked with coins of Meyer lemon look rich, taste sumptuous and feel like a steal at $32. 3 stars Fiola: 601 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. 202-628-2888. fioladc.com. Prices: Prix fixe $90-$145. Sound check: 70 decibels / Conversation is easy. Previous: Field & Main | Next: Fiola Mare --- The following review appeared in The Washington Posts 2016 Fall Dining Guide. Nova Scotia lobster bisque at Fiola in Washington. (Deb Lindsey /For The Washington Post) (Excellent/Superlative) Five years old in April, Fiola is the eldest of the trio of Italian restaurants created by chef Fabio Trabocchi. Its also the most glamorous place in the city to twirl pasta, even if its just you sitting at the limestone bar at noon on a workday. The music is jazzy, the light fixture suggests bubbles and the bartender in his crisp white jacket looks as if he just stepped out of a movie say, Roman Holiday. One look at the chefs chic wife, and you, too, may tell the waiter Ill have what shes having; the Maria menu is a low-calorie, three-course menu that serves as an antidote to the restaurants extreme richness. Light turns out to be lovely. A cubed watermelon salad that could pass for art and olive oil-poached cod brightened with squash blossoms are followed by a celestial mango foam decked out with shards of lime-flecked meringue and glinting champagne granita. If you wish to throw caution to the wind, however, the kitchen is happy to accommodate you, with dishes including tortellini stuffed with osso buco and capped with rich duck prosciutto. The sting of the typical bill is mitigated by gratis warm cornmeal cookies laced with pine nuts and rum-steeped currants. All of which is why I give Fiola an F, for fabulous. -- The following review appeared in The Washington Posts 2016 Spring Dining Guide. Chef Fabio Trabocchis biggest competitor is himself. When it comes to haute Italian cooking in Washington, theres Fiola Mare in Georgetown and his original Fiola in Penn Quarter. For a few years now, Ive been talking up the former. But guess what? Senior is out-cooking junior right now, the evidence arriving with a treat from the kitchen thats as much architecture as benvenuto: a candle-lit tower supporting a delicate cup of warm prosecco zabaglione and gingery oysters, the richness of the frothy custard cut with lemon zest. Theres no more arresting seafood carpaccio in the city than Fiolas pink brick of Himalayan salt carpeted with sliced Maine scallops, pansies and a smear of ramp pesto. And I cant stop dreaming about winey osso buco tucked into tender tortellini and garnished, grandly, with glazed sweetbreads. Or a sunny duck egg atop a forest of buttery mushrooms staged in a copper pan. Or, for that matter, the prettiest spring dessert now playing, the pink-and-green strawberry-pistachio-rhubarb torte created by pastry chef Brandon Malzahn, whose satiny chocolate-caramel bar and tuile-bound tiramisu are equally exquisite. This is not Italian food you could eat every day. The unrelenting decadence begs for levity. (Besides the richness, its probably not so healthy for a 99 percenters budget.) But for the duration of your stay, attended to as if youre royalty in a room as chic as Milan, Fiola is ecstasy in the capital. Dolsot bibimbap at Mandu in Washington. (Dayna Smith/For the Washington Post) SATISFACTORY/GOOD The following review appears in The Washington Posts 2016 Spring Dining Guide. The problem with Mandu in Dupont Circle is a pack of superior Korean restaurants in the suburbs. Diners who have experienced the flurry of gratis side dishes at, say, Kogiya in Annandale will be disappointed with the routine banchan at Mandu. And the heat at Mandu seems tamer than at the competition, too. If its not best-in-class, this decade-old, family-run restaurant nevertheless serves as a dependable source for steamed dumplings swollen with shredded cabbage, carrots and onions (mandu) and rice topped with squiggles of beef, bean sprouts and a fried egg, a.k.a. bibimbap and best ordered in a hot stone bowl that crisps the rice. Chap-chae glassy sweet potato noodles tossed with meat and vegetables errs on the side of sweetness. Gaeran jim fluffy egg custard punched up with diced pork belly and fried garlic keeps me interested. Where to sit? Upstairs is roomier, and easier on the eyes, than the plain ground floor. Better yet, head to the younger Mandu in Mount Vernon Triangle, detailed with wooden duck carvings and a notch more daring with its menu. Previous: Kinship (Best new restaurant No. 2) | Next: Masseria (Best new restaurant No. 5) 1.5 stars 1805 18th St. NW. 202-588-1540. mandudc.com. Open: Lunch and dinner daily, brunch Saturday and Sunday. Prices: Lunch entrees $15 to $29 or prix fixe $14; dinner entrees $15 to $29; brunch platter $15. Sound check: 74 decibels / Must speak with raised voice. Previously (2007): 1.5 stars Alexandria These were among incidents reported by the Alexandria Police Department. For information, call 703-838-4636 or visit alexandriava.gov. SEXUAL ASSAULTS Van Dorn St. S., 100 block, 1:57 a.m. May 2. A sexual assault was reported. ASSAULTS Braddock Rd. W., 4700 block, 12:46 a.m. May 1. An assault was reported. An arrest was made. Braddock Rd. W., 4700 block, 1:08 p.m. April 29. An assault was reported. Derby Ct., 5600 block, 2:24 a.m. April 28. An assault was reported. An arrest was made. Eisenhower Ave., 2200 block, 9:20 p.m. May 4. An assault was reported. Executive Ave., 3800 block, 11:34 p.m. April 30. An assault was reported. An arrest was made. Harwich Ct., 5700 block, 5:19 a.m. May 1. An assault was reported. Jefferson Davis Hwy., 3300 block, 7:34 a.m. April 28. An assault was reported. John Carlyle St., 500 block, 12:41 a.m. May 1. An assault was reported. King St., 3300 block, 2:25 p.m. April 28. An assault was reported. An arrest was made. Lincolnia Rd., 6100 block, 12:04 p.m. May 2. An assault was reported. An arrest was made. Mount Vernon Ave., 3300 block, 12:11 a.m. April 28. An assault was reported. An arrest was made. Oronoco St., 900 block, 5:06 p.m. May 1. An assault was reported. Oronoco St., 1200 block, 4:28 p.m. April 27. An assault was reported. Quaker Hill Dr., 1200 block, 7:33 p.m. April 29. An assault was reported. Reed Ave. E., unit block, 6:22 a.m. April 28. An assault was reported. Reed Ave. E., unit block, 10:08 p.m. April 27. An assault was reported. Richenbacher Ave., 5400 block, 3:59 a.m. April 30. An assault was reported. An arrest was made. Ripley St. N., 700 block, 12:01 a.m. May 2. An assault was reported. Van Dorn St. S., 100 block, 1:57 a.m. May 2. An assault was reported. Washington St. N., 200 block, 6:16 p.m. May 2. An assault was reported. Wythe St., 1200 block, 8:12 p.m. April 29. An assault was reported. 28th St. S., 3100 block, 7:20 p.m. May 1. An assault was reported. ROBBERIES Armistead St. N., 400 block, 1:19 a.m. April 26. A robbery was reported. Fern St., 1700 block, 11:40 a.m. April 28. A robbery was reported. King St., 3300 block, 5:21 p.m. April 29. A robbery was reported. An arrest was made. Van Dorn St. S., 100 block, 1:57 a.m. May 2. A robbery was reported. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Armistead St. N., 400 block, 1:40 p.m. May 1. A theft was reported. Armistead St. N., 400 block, 1:58 p.m. April 29. A theft was reported. Braddock Rd. W., 500 block, 12:29 p.m. April 28. A theft was reported. Century Dr., 100 block, 5:24 p.m. April 29. A theft was reported. Duke St., 5700 block, 1:35 p.m. April 29. A theft was reported. Duke St., 5700 block, 5:05 p.m. May 1. A theft was reported. An arrest was made. Duke St., 5800 block, 1:08 p.m. April 28. A theft was reported. Edsall Rd., 6100 block, 4:37 p.m. April 28. A theft was reported. Eisenhower Ave., 2200 block, 7:30 p.m. May 4. A theft was reported. Eisenhower Ave., 2500 block, 7:37 p.m. April 30. A theft was reported. Ellsworth St., 100 block, 11:29 p.m. April 29. A residential theft was reported. Fillmore Ave., 5100 block, 12:56 p.m. May 1. A theft was reported. Henry St. N., 1200 block, 11:01 a.m. April 28. A theft was reported. King St., 3200 block, 1:51 p.m. May 3. A theft was reported. La Verne Ave., 300 block, 3:44 p.m. April 28. A theft was reported. Lee St. N., 100 block, 3:14 p.m. April 28. A theft was reported. Mill Rd., 2300 block, 9:50 a.m. May 4. A theft was reported. Mount Vernon Ave., 1000 block, 12:20 p.m. April 28. A theft was reported. Mount Vernon Ave., 3400 block, 12:22 a.m. May 4. A theft was reported. Patrick St. N., 600 block, 9 a.m. May 4. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Pendleton St., 800 block, 8:28 a.m. May 4. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Pendleton St., 1000 block, 4:56 a.m. May 4. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Pendleton St., 1300 block, 11:25 a.m. May 4. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Pickett St. S., 200 block, 8:55 p.m. May 2. A theft was reported. Quaker Hill Dr., 1100 block, 4:08 p.m. May 1. A residential theft was reported. Quaker Lane N., 500 block, 2:38 p.m. April 30. Property was entered. Quantrell Ave., 5800 block, 11:36 a.m. May 2. A theft was reported. Queen St., 1200 block, 7 p.m. May 4. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Raleigh Ave., 4400 block, 8:18 a.m. May 2. A theft was reported. Reading Ave., 5700 block, 11:25 p.m. April 27. A theft was reported. Reynolds St. S., unit block, 4:12 a.m. May 1. Property was entered. An arrest was made. Royal St. N., 300 block, 1:52 p.m. May 3. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Saint Asaph St. S., 800 block, 7:35 a.m. April 28. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Seminary Rd.., 4600 block, 8:16 a.m. April 30. A theft was reported. Seminary Rd., 4600 block, 12:56 p.m. April 30. A theft was reported. Seminary Rd., 4900 block, 2:43 p.m. May 3. Property was entered. An arrest was made. Seminary Rd., 5000 block, 10:23 a.m. April 29. A theft was reported. Union St. N., 200 block, 12:28 p.m. April 27. A theft was reported. Van Dorn St. S., 300 block, 3:33 p.m. April 30. A theft was reported. Washington St. S., 300 block, 4:36 p.m. May 2. A theft was reported. Whiting St. S., 300 block, 12:42 p.m. May 29. An employee theft was reported. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Alexandria Ave. E., 200 block, 6:35 p.m. May 1. A vehicle was stolen. Ascot Ct., 5500 block, 7:27 p.m. April 29. A vehicle was stolen. Eisenhower Ave., 2200 block, 8:46 a.m. April 27. A vehicle was stolen. Fort Worth Ave., 3800 block, 9:35 a.m. April 29. A vehicle was stolen. Jefferson Davis Hwy. and 33rd St., 7:55 a.m. May 2. A vehicle was stolen. An arrest was made. Kenmore Ave., 4800 block, 9:40 p.m. May 2. A vehicle was stolen. Mill Rd., 2100 block, 8:12 p.m. May 2. A vehicle was stolen. Montrose Ave., 2700 block, 9:58 p.m. May 1. A vehicle was stolen. Seaton Ave., 700 block, 7:06 a.m. April 28. A vehicle was stolen. Wheeler Ave. and S. Floyd St., 9:30 a.m. May 2. A vehicle was stolen. VANDALISM Alfred St. N., 500 block, 9:19 a.m. May 4. Property was damaged. Alfred St. N., 600 block, 5:17 p.m. May 4. Property was damaged. Four Mile Rd. and Old Dominion Dr., 12:43 p.m. May 3. Property was damaged. Mill Rd., 2300 block, 12:38 p.m. May 4. Property was damaged. Pendleton St., 900 block, 10:50 a.m. May 4. Property was damaged. Van Dorn St. N., 2500 block, 5:57 a.m. April 29. Property was damaged. Wheeler Ave., 3600 block, 10:21 a.m. April 28. Property was damaged. First St., 1100 block, 11:42 p.m. April 29. Property was damaged. Arlington These were among incidents reported from April 27 to May 4 by the Arlington County Police Department. For information, call 703-558-2222 or visit newsroom.arlingtonva.us. ASSAULTS Adams St. N., 2000 block, 11:37 a.m. May 2. An assault was reported. Buchanan St. N., 1600 block. A harassment incident was reported. Carlin Springs Rd. S., 200 block. Two assaults were reported. Columbia Pike, 4300 block. An assault was reported. Crystal Dr. S., 2100 block. An assault was reported. Eads St. S., 1600 block. A harassment incident was reported. Emerson St. S., 1100 block. An assault was reported. Glebe Rd. N., 300 block, 1:55 a.m. April 30. An assault was reported. Glebe Rd. N., 300 block. An assault was reported. Lee Hwy. N., 1500 block. Threats were reported. Lee Hwy. N., 3100 block, 7:42 p.m. April 30. An assault was reported. Lowell St. S., 2400 block. An assault was reported. Meade St. S., 2800 block. An assault was reported. Pollard St. S., 2200 block, 7:25 p.m. April 27. A man stabbed a male acquaintance in the arms and abdomen after a verbal altercation. A warrant was obtained for a 50-year-old Arlington man. Rockingham St. N., 2600 block. An assault was reported. Stafford St. N., 1300 block. Threats were reported. Vermont St. N., 700 block. A harassment incident was reported. Yorktown Blvd. N., 5200 block. An assault was reported. Eighth St. S., 2700 block. An assault was reported. 12th Ct. N., 2200 block, 7:29 a.m. April 30. An assault was reported. ENTICEMENT George Mason Dr. N., 1200 block. An enticement incident was reported. INDECENT EXPOSURE Lee Hwy. N., 6700 block, 2:49 p.m. May 2. An officer responding to reports of an intoxicated man, found him urinating in public. A 46-year-old man, of no fixed address, was charged. PEEPING TOM Arlington Blvd. N., 1000 block, 1 a.m. April 30. A woman noticed a flash from her window and saw a man fleeing from the area. Troy St. N., 1200 block, 1:10 a.m. May 1. A woman observed a man peering at a neighbors window. ROBBERIES Fort Myer Dr. N., 1900 block, 3:04 p.m. April 27. An employee found two females in an office suite taking her wallet out of a purse. A brief struggle ensued and both females fled from the area empty-handed. THEFTS/BREAK-INS Arlington Blvd. N., 2700 block, 6:09 a.m. May 3. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Columbia Pike S., 2900 block. A theft was reported. Columbia Pike S., 4200 block. A theft was reported. Fort Myer Dr., 1900 block, 2:36 p.m. April 28. A commercial theft was reported. George Mason Dr. S., 1400 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Glebe Rd. N., 600 block. An attempt was made to steal property. Glebe Rd. N., 2800 block. A theft was reported. Hayes St. S., 1000 block. A theft was reported. Hayes St. S., 1100 block. Ten thefts were reported. Hayes St. S., 1100 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle. Hayes St. S., 1200 block. Two thefts were reported. Hayes St. S., 1400 block. Two thefts were reported. Highland St. N., 1100 block, 4:04 a.m. May 4. A theft was reported. Jackson St. N., 700 block, 8:19 a.m. May 3. An attempt was made to enter a vehicle. Lee Hwy. N., 3100 block, 1:23 p.m. April 29. A shoplifting incident was reported. Lee Hwy. N., 5500 block. A theft was reported. Nash St. N., 1800 block, 1:06 p.m. April 28. A residential theft was reported. Old Glebe Rd. S., 100 block, 12:16 p.m. May 3. A theft was reported. Wilson Blvd. N., 1500 block. Property was entered. Yorktown Blvd. N., 5200 block. Two thefts were reported. Ninth St. N., 2500 block. A theft was reported. Ninth St. N., 4000 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle. 18th St. S., 500 block, 9:32 a.m. April 27. Property was stolen from a storage unit entered by force. 24th St. S., 3200 block. Property was stolen from a vehicle. 26th St. N., 4600 block. A theft was reported. 31st St. S., 4200 block. A theft was reported. MOTOR VEHICLE THEFTS Courthouse Rd. N., 1400 block, 5:03 p.m. April 29. A vehicle was stolen. Four Mile Run Dr. S., 3700 block, April 30. A black 1995 Lexus was stolen. Glebe Rd. S., 2400 block, 4:43 p.m. May 1. Police officers conducting a traffic stop, recovered a stolen vehicle. A Washington woman, 25, and a Landover man, 21, were charged. Uhle St. N., 1400 block, 1:39 p.m. April 28. A pizza delivery vehicle was stolen while a driver was on delivery and recovered in the District. A warrant was obtained for a 38-year-old District man. Fifth Rd. N., 4000 block, 2:52 p.m. May 3. A gray 1997 Toyota Camry was stolen. VANDALISM Cathedral Lane N., 3800 block. A vehicle was tampered with. Columbia Pike, 2900 block. Property was damaged. Eads St. S., 1900 block. Property was damaged. Edgewood St. N., 2300 block, 1:18 p.m. May 3. Property was damaged. Lowell St. S., 2400 block. Property was damaged. Old Glebe Rd. S., 100 block, 1:26 p.m. May 3. Property was damaged. Stafford St. N., 1300 block, 3:28 p.m. April 29. A school was damaged. Washington Blvd. N., 5200 block. A vehicle was tampered with. 26th St. N., 4600 block. Property was damaged. Allison Sheedy, center, asks her daughter, Fynn McInnis, 3, about Fynn's thoughts on the four chickens that Allison and her husband, Dan McInnis keep for eggs in their backyard garden. (J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post) Two D.C. lawyers who sued the city after it threatened to confiscate their chickens have won an initial battle. Allison Sheedy and Daniel McInnis of the 3900 block of Jenifer Street NW filed suit last month after the Health Department said the four birds the couple and their four children keep in the back yard of a 10,000-square-foot Chevy Chase double lot had to be removed. [D.C. lawyers are suing the city to keep their four backyard chickens] Plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm if Animal Control (or indeed the police, as the Department of Health suggested may be the case), seized their chickens and impounded them at a yet undisclosed location outside of the care of Plaintiffs for an indefinite amount of time, the couple wrote in a request for a restraining order to prevent the chickens from being seized. Plaintiffs children would be devastated. A hearing on the restraining order was scheduled for Wednesday, but Sheedy said the city backed off and asked the couple to withdraw its request for the order, agreeing not to immediately take their birds. We are pleased that the Department of Health will let us keep our childrens chickens for now, Sheedy wrote in an email to The Washington Post. The city confirmed the chicken cease-fire. The District and the plaintiffs have reached an agreement that will allow the chickens to remain in place pending further court proceedings, Robert Marus, the communications officer for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General, wrote in an email to The Post. The battle of the chickens is not over. Sheedy and McInnis argue that city regulations do not prevent them from permanently keeping their chickens, and they are set to go to court later this year. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, seen here on Capitol Hill last year, is calling for making the District the 51st state, which would give Democrats more clout in Congress. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton called for making the nations capital the countrys 51st state on Wednesday, promising to be a vocal champion for D.C. statehood. She blasted presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for failing to say whether D.C. residents should have the same voting rights as other Americans. In the case of our nations capital, we have an entire populace that is routinely denied a voice in its own democracy. . . . Washingtonians serve in the military, serve on juries, and pay taxes just like everyone else. And yet, they dont even have a vote in Congress, Clinton wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Informer, an African American weekly newspaper. Clintons piece comes about four weeks before D.C. residents go to the polls in the citys presidential primary. The former secretary of state has voiced support for D.C. statehood in the past, and so has Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), who last year signed on as co-sponsor of a bill to make the District a state. In a spirited speech on April 15, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called for a vote on statehood for the District of Columbia. (DCN) But Clinton on Wednesday for the first time framed it as a presidential election-year issue and one that could fuel partisan debate into November. [Related: D.C. residents are fed up and want to be the 51st state] Despite deep support for local autonomy, Republicans in Congress have said statehood for the District is a nonstarter because it would give the citys Democratic majority two seats in the Senate, potentially tipping the balance of power in the closely divided chamber for years to come. The District plans to hold a constitutional convention next month and put the question of statehood before Congress next year, which can approve it with an up-or-down vote. [D.C. releases draft constitution for 51st state] The District has more residents than Vermont or Wyoming, and its residents pay more in federal taxes than those in 22 states but have no vote in Congress. Conservative members of Congress often use their authority to dictate social policy in the city by blocking locally elected officials from using local tax revenue to enact policies relating to abortion, guns and drugs. Clinton wrote that solidarity with disenfranchised Democratic voters in the District was no longer enough. We need a solution, she wrote. Thats why, as president, I will be a vocal champion for D.C. statehood. Clinton also used the issue to knock Trump, who told The Washington Post in March that he had no position on the issue of D.C. statehood. Of course, it comes as little surprise that Donald Trump hasnt given this issue much thought, she wrote, quoting the interview, in which Trump told The Posts editorial board that statehood is a tough thing for D.C. Well, I think whats been tough for the District is having virtually no say in its own affairs for decades, Clinton wrote. The forceful op-ed could easily allow Clinton to eclipse President Obama in support for D.C. statehood. Despite promising to fight for D.C. voting rights during his 2008 presidential campaign, Obama never took on the issue in a meaningful way, to the dismay of many African American leaders in the city. Obama alienated some D.C. residents when in 2011 he effectively traded away the citys right to fund abortions for low-income women in a budget deal with House Republicans. The statement from Clinton also appeared sure to embolden D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and other longtime advocates for statehood on the eve of a showdown with Congress over the Districts power to make more independent spending decisions. For the first time this year, the city has warned it will not ask Congress for permission to spend billions of its own local tax money but instead go ahead and do so unless Congress acts to stop it. [D.C. is about to declare its independence from Congress] The insurrection marks the first serious effort to win more autonomy since the 1960s, when D.C. residents demanded home rule as part of the civil rights movement . Some influential House Republicans have indicated they will seek to block the Districts power grab and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has scheduled a hearing on the issue Thursday. Several dozen Maryland state lawmakers, including Democratic House nominee Jamie B. Raskin, have written Gov. Larry Hogan (R), urging him to endorse the settlement of Syrian refugees in the state. Hogan joined other governors last year in saying he would oppose the entry of refugees unless the federal government could provide specific assurances that they are properly vetted and do not pose a security threat. State Department officials have said repeatedly that all refugees including Syrians undergo rigorous screening before being granted refugee status. But Hogan spokesman Matt Clark said Wednesday that the governors position has not changed. To my knowledge, the federal government has not provided any additional information on changes . . . in the process, Clark said. [The lonely life of a Syrian refugee in Maryland] Since Oct. 1, 27 refugees from Syria have been resettled in Maryland, according to the State Departments Refugee Processing Center. Such resettlements are generally coordinated between the State Department and nonprofit groups state governments cannot halt the flow even if they want to. Nine Syrians were resettled in November, one in January, 10 in March and seven in April. Opposition to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States grew last year in the wake of terrorist attacks in Europe. More than 30 governors most of them Republicans took stances similar to Hogans, despite assurances from advocacy groups and the Obama administration that refugees are thoroughly screened, pose no threat and desperately need a place to go. [Governors try to slam the door on Syrian refugees] The legislators letter to Hogan said the signers were troubled that some elected officials want us to turn our back on our essential values and laws. Our nation and our state were founded to give people fleeing persecution a safe haven, the letter said. Welcoming Syrian refugees . . . speaks to our best traditions and hopes for the future. The letter was initiated by Raskin, a state senator from Montgomery County and the Democratic nominee to succeed outgoing U.S. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D), and Dels. Brooke E. Lierman (D-Baltimore) and David Moon (D-Montgomery). Maryland itself was founded by early refugees, seeking freedom, Lierman said. Today, those refugees are from all over the world, including Syria, and they need our compassion. The letter said Hogan and his administration should not succumb to demagoguery and paranoia regarding Syrian refugees. It echoed statements in recent months from local government leaders in Montgomery, Prince Georges and Howard counties, Baltimore City and several towns and cities in the Washington suburbs, all of which said the state should welcome refugees. Maryland should not fall prey to the anti-Muslim sentiment being stoked by the likes of Donald Trump, Moon said, referring to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who has said most Muslim non-citizens should be barred from entering the country. The effort to block Syrian refugees from locating in our state is just one manifestation of this misguided bigotry, and it must be stopped. Ruben Chandrasekar, an official of the International Rescue Committee in Baltimore, said the agency has resettled 60 Syrian refugees in Maryland in the past two years and is prepared to place as many as 100 in the coming year. If President Obama follows through on his promise to bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees, we hope to have a very busy summer, said Chandrasekar, whose organization worked closely with the advocacy groups that spearheaded the letter from lawmakers to Hogan. Many communities here and all over the country want to welcome and help the Syrians, Chandrasekar said. They are people who have fled war and terror, they have been carefully vetted, and all they want is peace and a chance to provide for their families. Pamela Constable contributed to this report. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) addresses a community meeting at Friendship Baptist Church in Ward 6 on Feb. 11 in Washington, where a discussion was held about replacing the D.C. General shelter with family housing facilities. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post) The number of homeless families in the District has soared by more than 30 percent compared with a year ago, according to a federal estimate released Wednesday. For the first time since the annual census began in 2001, homeless children and their parents in the District outnumbered homeless single adults, a population beset by mental illness and disabilities that historically has loomed as the larger and more intractable problem in cities nationwide. On one day in late January, officials counted 4,667 homeless children and their parents, compared with 3,683 single adults. It is impossible to know precisely what is driving the increase. But city officials and advocates for the poor agree that rising costs in one of the countrys hottest real estate markets, combined with a policy of helping families without a permanent place to call home, has produced record numbers at city shelters. We are in the midst of a very serious affordable-housing crisis, said Kate Coventry, an analyst at the left-leaning D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. [Real estate decisions could imperil Bowsers new shelter plan] The District, New York City and Massachusetts are the only major U.S. jurisdictions that guarantee homeless residents a right to shelter. All three are grappling with a substantial increase in the homeless population. In Washington, the surge in family homelessness began in 2010, amid an economic downturn that coincided with increased real-estate speculation that drove up prices in many working-class neighborhoods. The latest jump can be traced in part to Mayor Muriel E. Bowsers fulfillment of a campaign pledge to make it easier for vulnerable women and children to receive city services. Her administration dropped a requirement that families must wait until freezing nights to receive open-ended placements in city shelters or overflow motel rooms. Bowser (D) has proposed spending about $173 million on homeless-related services this year an increase of about $13 million over last year and more than the combined budgets for libraries, parks and the University of the District of Columbia. Advocates call the move to year-round access a major improvement. Under Bowsers predecessor, Vincent C. Gray, restrictive city policies kept many homeless people from getting services and tamped down the numbers in the shelters, said Amber Harding, of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. The increase reflects the fact that this administration is actually funding and serving families who are in crisis. [Grays record on homelessness examined] But the spike in demand has been so dramatic that even advocates have begun to question parts of the mayors approach and whether Bowser can control a problem that by many measures is only getting worse. The rise in homeless families is tied to a string of social and government failures, observers say. Some of the homeless are foster children who did not successfully transition to adulthood through District programs. Many are young women who became pregnant as teens. Others dropped out of troubled D.C. public schools and have few job skills. But Bowsers administration blames housing affordability, saying soaring rents have pushed the poor to the streets. The mayor has proposed building and leasing new shelter sites for 280 families, which would cost almost $660 million over 30 years. She says the facilities will enable the city to more quickly transition families to permanent housing and jobs. But the shelters would house just 25 percent of families now in city care, according to the latest homeless count. And although the city would be able to close its dilapidated megashelter at the former D.C. General Hospital, most homeless families would still be warehoused at roadside motels in the city and in Maryland. [Homeless D.C. families spend blizzard in suburban motel rooms] Advocates also warn that the new data shows the mayor is falling behind on her pledge to largely end homelessness by the end of 2018. They say the mayor has shortchanged her promise to subsidize permanent housing for the most troubled singles and families by more than $20 million next year and has earmarked far too few slots for affordable housing units for homeless families about 100, or less than 10 percent of the population now in shelters. Its worrying that there is not a greater investment, Coventry said. Laura Green Zeilinger, who oversees the citys homeless services, warned last year that the homeless census could look worse this year before it gets better. She and Bowser chose to expand access to shelters before implementing new programs to keep the population from growing. That meant 464 families entered shelters before winter, and about the same number as last year 1,000 sought shelter during hypothermic nights. Zeilinger said the administration was determined to meet the needs of the citys most vulnerable residents even though it would mean a higher tally in the annual census, administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We were able to help families earlier, and because of that, we know that we are providing better services and support than in previous years, and thats important, Zeilinger said. The annual count of the homeless is a snapshot taken in cities nationwide on the same night, often by volunteers scouring under bridges, in woods and elsewhere. In the District, it took place as the city dug out from a massive snowfall in late January. Rather than conduct a physical search, officials counted the number of families in shelters. The tally doesnt fully capture the scope of the citys homeless problem. Any family that enters a shelter is entitled to stay until it is offered city-subsidized housing afterward, typically for longer than a year. More than 1,100 families are living in such apartments, An additional 1,250 formerly homeless families and more than 4,700 formerly homeless single residents hold permanent housing vouchers because the city has determined that they are unlikely to be able to support themselves. A spike in vouchers in the city, including over 750 for homeless veterans and paid for mostly by the federal government, helped cut the number of homeless individuals by nearly 4 percent. Advocates say that if Bowser and the D.C. Council are serious about ending family homelessness, funding must increase significantly, likely across the $200 million threshold about the amount the city spends annually to run its Fire and Emergency Medical Services department. You cant just say that you have a goal to end homelessness you have to do something dramatic and huge to accomplish that, Harding said. Camry Thomas, 6, watches in 2006 as her mother Candace registers at Joseph A. Craig Elementary School in New Orleans. The school was one of more than 100 taken over by state officials after Hurricane Katrina. (Sean Gardner/Getty Images) In the decade since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and swept away its public school system, the city has become a closely watched experiment in whether untethering schools from local politics could fix the problems that have long ailed urban education. Louisiana seized control of most New Orleans schools and turned them into charter schools after the devastating storm in 2005. More than 90 percent of the citys children attend charters, which are publicly funded but privately run by unelected officials who have complete freedom to decide how to organize their programs, schedules, teachers and curriculum. [Katrina swept away New Orleans school system, ushering in a new era] Test scores and graduation rates have risen. And the state is poised to relinquish its oversight: The governor is expected to sign a bill that would return the 52 schools the state oversees to a measure of local control. Many charter-school advocates describe it as an inevitable next step in the citys bold education experiment, one that could serve as a road map for other cities grappling with how to manage and coordinate a large number of charter schools. If they can get that right, it will be really important for New Orleans and for the country, said Neerav Kingsland, who worked for New Schools for New Orleans from 2006 to 2014, when it started dozens of new charter schools. You cant avoid democracy forever, nor should you. Proponents of the bill, including many charter-school advocates, are calling it a reunification of New Orleans schools, putting the locally elected Orleans Parish School Board back in charge of the citys schools but leaving control of individual operations in the hands of each charter schools leaders. They say it is an important step in closing the wounds left by the state takeover without sacrificing the autonomies that they say have been essential for driving academic progress. I do think this is the start of a healing process for a lot of individuals, to realize that the city is coming back together, said Jamar McKneely, the chief executive of InspireNOLA Charter Schools. But some critics say that it is a whitewash, written to appear as though local control over public education will be restored when the bill leaves most of the power in the hands of the unelected boards of directors who run each of the citys charter schools. Karran Harper Royal, an advocate for special-education students and their families, called it a Trojan horse. This is the kind of bill you get when the charter schools want to give the impression that schools are returning to local governance, she said. It feels like a very patriarchal view of communities of color, and white people deciding that black people, or people of color, dont deserve democracy. Although improving, the schools are far from excellent. And there are lingering questions about whether and how a bunch of independent schools which are under pressure to meet academic targets to continue operating can ensure access to education for all students, especially those with the greatest needs. Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) is widely expected to sign the bill, which was introduced by state Sen. Karen Carter Peterson (D) of New Orleans and was supported by the majority of the New Orleans state delegation. It outlines the transfer of schools from the state-run Recovery School District to the locally elected school board by 2019 at the latest. But the parish school board which runs half a dozen schools and oversees more than a dozen charter schools would be prohibited from interfering with school-level decisions about several issues, including instruction, schedules, staffing, contracting and collective bargaining. Instead, the district superintendent and board members would be responsible for reviewing schools performance and deciding whether they have met their targets and should be allowed to continue operating. The district also would take on other functions that state officials perform, such as running the citys annual school enrollment lottery, which determines where children will go, and managing its centralized expulsion system. Henderson Lewis, a former New Orleans charter-school principal who serves as the superintendent of the Orleans Parish School Board, said that the charter movement has served the city well, providing students with a stronger education and a better shot at graduating from high school than before Katrina. Lewis, who helped write the language in the bill, said that the district is on firm financial footing and has shown during the past decade that it can hold charter schools accountable for meeting performance targets. Its time that schools return under local control, he said. He acknowledged the desire among parents to be able to send their children nearer their homes, and he said he is working on proposals to that end. But he said that does not require returning to a traditional system of schools controlled by an elected board: As far as going back to where we were pre-Katrina, were in a different place now in New Orleans, and thats not the system of schools that we have. Recovery District Superintendent Patrick Dobard who played a key role in writing the plan said the state never envisioned itself as the long-term steward of New Orleans schools. The spirit of the original law was for the schools to be returned in some way to local control, he said. [In New Orleans, major school district closes traditional public schools for good] Opponents of the plan for New Orleans also include some charter-school advocates who worry that the Orleans Parish School Board is not willing or able to serve as a regulator, rather than an operator, of the schools it stands to absorb. Perhaps the most common doubt is whether the elected board will be willing to make unpopular decisions to close schools that fall short of performance targets. The architects of the plan tried to insulate those decisions from politics: The Orleans Parish superintendent would be responsible for making a recommendation, and the school board would not be able to overturn it without at least a two-thirds majority. Critics say that is just one more way in which the bill removes public education from the voice of the people. Proponents called it an effort to depoliticize decisions that should be about what children need, not necessarily what voters want. The bill would enshrine the system of choice that has defined New Orleans education for the past decade: Students will continue to enroll in schools via a lottery instead of by neighborhood assignment. Advocates for such choice frame it as a way to ensure that all children have fair access to good schools, no matter where their families live or how much money they earn. But critics argue that eliminating neighborhood schools has undermined the most vulnerable students by uprooting them from their communities and scattering them to schools citywide. Harper Royal pointed to a 2015 Tulane University study estimating that there are more than 26,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor employed in the New Orleans metro area. They account for 18 percent of all the areas young people, significantly higher than the national average of 13 percent. Such high numbers of disconnected youth as well as high rates of child poverty and unemployment should factor into how the citys education experiment is evaluated, she said: You have to look at how it is working in the lives of the people, and it isnt. She favors a competing bill that would have returned the schools to the Orleans Parish School Board without preserving the system of charter schools. That measure, written by state Rep. Joseph Bouie (D), died in committee this spring. Bouie said that the plan awaiting the governors signature impinges upon the constitutional authority of the school board by tightly regulating what it can and cannot do. He predicted that it would trigger legal complaints. The community is in an uproar, he said. Right now there are groups in the community trying to organize to see how they can respond to it. Md. Gov. Larry Hogan, center, in Annapolis on April 12 with Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., left, and House Speaker Michael E. Busch. (Patrick Semansky/Associated Press) A debate over whether Baltimore-area schools can spend money on portable air-conditioning units has mushroomed into a power struggle involving some of Marylands top elected officials. The Board of Public Works, which oversees state money for school construction, voted 2 to 1 Wednesday to withhold $15 million in capital funds for schools in Baltimore city and county until those jurisdictions produce plans to use window-box air- conditioning units as a short-term fix to address a lack of cooling systems in their schools. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) voted to withhold the money, over the objections of the boards third member, state Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D). In a separate 2-to-1 decision, the panel finalized a rule change that would allow school districts to buy portable air conditioners despite a state policy against the use of state or federal money for such purchases, in part because of energy-efficiency concerns. The votes prompted the head of the Interagency Committee on School Construction, which established the ban on portable air conditioners, to resign. David Lever, the committees executive director, called the votes an exercise of blunt authority [that] . . . substitutes the preferences of the Board of Public Works for the expertise of a range of local and state individuals who have made education and school facility matters their lifes work. At the meeting, Franchot blasted Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) for trying to prevent the rule modification by passing legislation this year that effectively nullifies any decision by the Board of Public Works made after Jan. 1 on school construction funding policy. Franchot called the legislation a highly charged, highly irregular, highly unusual intervention. Busch said it is the state legislatures job to set policy. Hogan and Franchot described the stifling heat in Baltimore city and county schools the only jurisdictions in the state that have a significant number of classrooms that lack air conditioning as a problem that could affect students health and ability to concentrate. Teens testifying at Wednesdays board meeting agreed. Its hot, and its hard to learn, said Keami Sullivan, 17, who attends Kenwood High in Essex. Kopp accused Hogan and Franchot of using fear and demagoguery to affect local decisions. It may be good theater, but its a very bad mistake, she said. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz (D) has rejected plans for using $10 million in surplus county funds to install portable air conditioners. He insists that the money would be better spent on a plan he laid out for adding central air conditioning to all of the jurisdictions schools by the end of 2019. No cases were available from the Montgomery County Animal Services Division. For information, call 240-773-5900. This number provides recorded information on topics such as the new animal services and adoption centers hours and location in Derwood, adoption and licensing procedures, and lost-and-found and field services. Rabies vaccinations: The Montgomery County Animal Services and Adoption Center will hold its next rabies vaccination clinic from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The vaccinations are free with the purchase of a county pet license. Maryland law requires that dogs, cats and ferrets over 4 months old be vaccinated against rabies. Also, all dogs and cats must have a county pet license. Failure to vaccinate an animal is a $500 fine. Failure to have a license is a $100 fine. Rabies clinics will be held monthly through September at the center, 7315 Muncaster Mill Rd., Derwood. Take proof of previous rabies vaccinations. Dogs must be leashed. Cats and ferrets must be in carriers or otherwise contained. At the clinics, the rabies vaccinations will be administered by a participating veterinarian at no charge for dogs and cats owned by county residents. There will be a minimal $4 charge for ferrets and out-of-county pets. County residents, as well as residents of Rockville and Gaithersburg, will be required to buy a pet license if their pet is not currently licensed. For a $10 fee, microchip implantation for dogs and cats will also be offered. Visit montgomerycountymd.gov/animalservices. Reduced fees for cat adoption: Cats and kittens will be available for adoption at the next open house of Friends of Montgomery County Animals at the following location. Call 301-977-4833 or visit fmca.org or facebook.com/fmcainfo. Germantown PetSmart at Milestone Center 20924 Frederick Rd. 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday Adoptable cats at no-kill shelter: Cats and kittens will be available for adoption through the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County no-kill shelter at the following location. For information, call 301-740-2511 or visit awlmc.org. Gaithersburg Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County no-kill shelter 12 Park Ave. 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday Adopt dogs and cats at MCHS no-kill rescue: The Montgomery County Humane Societys private rescue shelter has dogs, puppies, cats and kittens available for adoption. Call 240-252-2555 or visit mchumane.org. Rockville MCHS Adoptions & Education Center 601 S. Stonestreet Ave. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, except holidays Compiled by Lisa M. Bolton A Tennessee man charged in a March confrontation with police at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center made his first appearance in federal court Wednesday in a wheelchair and hospital gown while recovering from gunshot wounds. Larry Russell Dawson, 66, of Antioch, Tenn., appeared before U.S. Magistrate Deborah A. Robinson in the District and slowly stated his name but did not enter a plea. Dawson made his court appearance after being discharged by Medstar Washington Hospital Center, where he was taken in critical condition after the March 28 incident. Robinson ordered Dawson held until a hearing Tuesday, by which time, federal public defender A.J. Kramer said, the defendant might come to an agreement with prosecutors about detention. Prosecutors charged Dawson on March 31 with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon and assaulting a federal law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon. This 2004 photo provided by the Williamson County Sheriff's Office in Franklin, Tenn., shows Larry R. Dawson. (Williamson County Sheriff's Office/via AP) Tourists, including children, cowered along walls at a visitor center checkpoint before being guided to safety during a tense standoff between Dawson and U.S. Capitol Police that began at 2:37 p.m. and lasted 10 to 15 seconds, police said. After setting off a metal detector, Dawson pointed a spring-loaded BB gun at officers and ignored orders to drop his weapon, according to a police complaint. U.S. Capitol Police Officer Jerry Smith shot Dawson in the chest and thigh, police said, and he had been hospitalized since. [Alleged Capitol gunman faces charges in shooting incident] Dawson was familiar to police for three protest-related security encounters in 2015, telling investigators that God had communicated with him in prayer and scripture to get him to demonstrate on minimum wage, police said. On June 1, Dawson was barred from entering House office buildings when he tried to bring in a prohibited sign, stopped the next day for an unspecified breach and arrested Oct. 22 for shouting Bible verses from the House gallery and running from an officer. [U.S. Capitol gun suspect has a troubled past] At Wednesdays hearing, David Mudd, assistant U.S. attorney for the District, said that Dawson posed a serious risk of flight and had declared himself a prophet not bound by a courts orders. Dawson wrote a D.C. Superior Court judge in December after being freed pending a hearing, saying, No longer will I let myself be governed by flesh and blood, but only by the Divine Love of God!!!! police said. Kramer told the judge that Dawson was discharged but required significant medical care by the D.C. jail or Correctional Treatment Facility. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh helped pass the states ban on assault weapons after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) A federal appeals court on Wednesday considered the legality of Marylands ban on certain semiautomatic firearms passed after the 2012 mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit agreed to rehear the case after a three-judge panel cast doubt on the constitutionality of the law that also prohibits magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Judges had tough questions for both sides as they weighed how far the Maryland legislature could go to limit individual rights to gun ownership. Attorney John Parker Sweeney, who argued for firearms dealers and gun rights advocates, told the court that handguns protected by the Second Amendment are more dangerous than the firearms banned by the Maryland law. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Fader acknowledged that handguns are used in more crimes nearly 95 percent of homicides statewide. But, he said, the ban was appropriate because the Maryland General Assembly had determined that such firearms are used disproportionately in mass shootings and result in more shots fired and more people injured. Several of the judges who asked questions Wednesday at the Richmond-based court appeared to agree. Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III said the legislature had not acted in a cavalier way and was within its power to restrict the types of firearms that had been used not for self-defense, but for offense in mass shootings in places such as Aurora, Colo., Fort Hood, Tex., and Tucson. What are we to tell the people of this country? That theres nothing we can do? Wilkinson said. Marylands law bans semiautomatic long guns with certain military-style features that the measure refers to as assault weapons. The law does not ban all long guns, rifles or semiautomatic rifles. Gun restrictions enjoy wide support in the Democratic-leaning state, a factor that helped legislators pass some of the nations strictest gun-control laws in 2013. A Washington Post poll that year found 63 percent supporting a ban on assault weapons, including 56 percent who backed the measure strongly. On Wednesday, Judge Paul V. Niemeyer and G. Steven Agee pressed the government, asking what would stop the legislature from broadening the ban. Why cant the Maryland General Assembly ban all semiautomatic shotguns kept by millions of target shooters and hunters? Agee asked. Fader said the legislature had gathered sufficient evidence that assault weapons are particularly dangerous and had not drawn the same conclusion about the other firearms. Opponents, including a group of Maryland gun store owners, say the 2013 ban prevents law-abiding citizens from possessing semiautomatic rifles commonly kept by several million American citizens for defending their families. Judge Diana Motz appeared skeptical about whether the common use of a particular firearm should dictate whether it could be restricted by the legislature, and she said there was no precise way of measuring popularity. We dont have a national gun registry, so we dont know, Motz said. In response, Sweeney said, popularity is determined by what law-abiding citizens choose. They choose firearms that work for them. The question for the panel of 14 judges is what legal standard the U.S. District Court in Baltimore should use to evaluate the ban. In a 2-to-1 decision in February, Agee and Chief Judge William B. Traxler Jr. found that the lower court should have used a more stringent test to assess the law. The bar should be higher for the state, the court said, when the government passes a law that affects a right protected by the Constitution. The Supreme Court in 2008 used a D.C. case to declare for the first time that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to gun ownership rather than one related to military service. The ruling overturned the Districts long-standing ban on handguns. Judge Robert B. King wrote in his dissent: Lets be real: The assault weapons banned by Marylands [law] are exceptionally lethal weapons of war and as such, he said, not constitutionally protected. The government noted on Wednesday that another federal appellate court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, had upheld similar, more restrictive bans in New York and Connecticut as constitutional. [Read more on the 4th Circuits initial ruling on Marylands gun law] If the full court in Richmond reverses, gun rights advocates say it would upend past practice by other lower-court judges. Such a decision would further erode the rights of law-abiding citizens to own protected firearms to the point where they would be equated with criminals, domestic violence misdemeanants, and illegal drug users, according to those challenging the law, including the Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association, the Maryland Licensed Firearms Dealers Association and Maryland business owner Stephen Kolbe. Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh, who attended oral arguments Wednesday, said the Second Amendment does not prevent legislators from passing measures designed to protect the public from gun violence. The types of guns banned are designed for military purposes, Frosh said. They are not necessary for lawful purposes. They are weapons of mass destruction. Scott Clement contributed to this report. From a lower level of her Rockville home, the 86-year-old woman heard noises from the front hallway. She slowly climbed the steps to check on her husband. What she saw, according to arrest records made public this week, was stunning at 12:40 in the afternoon: Two masked men armed with guns, standing over her 77-year-old husband. The intruders grabbed a wallet from his back pocket and tried unsuccessfully to strip off his wedding ring. They ordered her into the kitchen, then demanded cash, ATM cards and jewelry. The home-invasion robbery along Arlive Court, a quiet cul-de-sac just west of Interstate 270, captured heavy media attention three months ago. The homes two occupants were not seriously hurt, but at least one was tied up with a phone cord while their home was ransacked. In the ensuing investigation, detectives learned of two similar home-intrusion robberies in Anne Arundel and Prince Georges counties, the last with victims ages 81 and 70, according to a police statement of charges filed in court. Late Tuesday, police officials identified one suspect in the Rockville case: Demeris M. Nickens, 22, of Tiffany Lane, in Lanham, Md. He was charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery, home invasion and armed robbery. Earlier: Elderly couple robbed after home invasion in Rockville Steven Kupferberg, an attorney for Nickens, questioned the strength of the case against his client, who was being held Wednesday in county jail. In the statement of charges, its not clear what his role was, if any, Kupferberg said. For Montgomery detectives, their case started Feb. 17, when they were called to the home. The homeowners said that at about 12:40 p.m., the 77-year-old man heard a knock on the front door, answered and saw a man dressed in dark clothes who forced his way in, and then forced the man to the ground. After his wife came to check on him, the assailants ordered the pair back downstairs to a laundry room. They tied the mans hands with a telephone cord. His wife was ordered to sit in a chair. She generally needs the assistance of a walker to move around, detectives wrote in court papers. Eventually, the woman opened the door to the laundry room and realized the suspects had fled. Her husband called police. Detectives spoke with other residents on the street, one of whom said hed had someone knock at his door that same afternoon. The resident said that through a front window he saw a stranger in dark clothes and a hoodie sweatshirt. The stranger gave a vague story about looking for an address for a plumbing job. The resident kept his door closed and the man walked off, joined by another at the end of the residents driveway, according to arrest records. After the elderly couple were robbed, Montgomery detectives learned of a home-invasion robbery that had occurred a week earlier in the Glenn Dale area of Prince Georges County. In that case, the 70- and 81-year-old victims were ordered into the basement of their home while it was ransacked and ATM cards taken, according to court records. The suspects forced the victims to provide the ATM card security numbers. A short time later, one intruder appeared to have used one of the ATM cards in a transaction captured on surveillance video. Police described the man on video as an associate of Nickens. Montgomery detectives also learned of a Feb. 19 home-invasion robbery in Anne Arundel County. There, according to arrest records, several suspects forced their way into a womans home, forced her to the ground at gunpoint, tried to remove rings from her fingers, stole an ATM card, forced the victim to provide a PIN and took the womans Jeep. Nickens also has been charged in connection to the Anne Arundel home invasion. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 9, 2016 / Blue River Resources Ltd. (BXR.V) (BRVRF) ("BLUE RIVER") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a Definitive Agreement ("DA") with Angkor Gold Corp. to explore Angkor's 100% owned, 150 sq. km, Banlung tenement in Ratanakiri Province, Cambodia. The agreement gives Blue River initially the right to participate in up to a 50% interest of the Banlung license after the completion of a total investment of US$3.5 million in exploration expenditures over a 4-year period. Once the first 3 options have been satisfied, Blue River may then exercise their option on an additional 20% interest of the Banlung tenement through the commission and completion of a bankable feasibility study on the property or portion thereof. Blue River Resources Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development company, focused on discovering and developing copper deposits in the Quesnel Trough Copper Belt of British Columbia and Washington State. Today's announcement follows a previous release of surface data on the Banlung tenement dated October 13, 2015 where ANGKOR disclosed the discovery of a 2 km(2) gold anomaly. "I am pleased to announce this agreement with Blue River today. The beauty of this anomaly is its close proximity to surface - making it easier to work on, and quicker to move to a development strategy if warranted," said Mike Weeks, President of ANGKOR. He continued, "We will now move full steam ahead with exploration plans at Okalla West to build our understanding of the depth and layout of this gold anomaly with an eye towards operationalizing the area." "There are great synergies here, and we are keen to get on the ground and build shareholder value for both companies moving forward," stated Griffin Jones, President of Blue River. "We have been looking for the right opportunity to explore outside of the traditional markets for Blue River. Angkor Gold and Cambodia are the perfect fit with the country's growing infrastructure, and significant potential as a developing world-class mining sector." Story continues Cannot view this image? Please visit [http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3217/20494_a1462663430512_69.jpg] to view this image Highlights: ANGKOR will receive a non-refundable US$100,000 exploration payment from Blue River, and grant Blue River the following earn-in Options: Option #1 - Based on additional Exploration & Development Expenditures of US$900,000 from June 30-2016 through March 30, 2018, Blue River will be granted a 10% interest to the Banlung Tenement; Option #2 - Based on Exploration & Development Expenditures of US$1,500,000 no later than 1 year following the date that Option 1 is exercised, Blue River will be granted a 30% interest to the Banlung Tenement for a total of 40%; Option #3 - Based on Exploration & Development Expenditures of US$1,000,000 no later than 1 year from the date Option 2 is exercised, Blue River will be granted a further 10% interest to the Banlung Tenement for a total of 50%; Option #4 - Based on the completion of a Bankable Feasibility Study on the Banlung Tenement, or portion thereof, Blue River will earn a final 20% interest to the Banlung Tenement for a total of 70%. Upon completion of the 4th Option, ANGKOR will maintain a 30% free-carry on the Banlung Tenement, or can convert at its discretion, to a 5% Net-Smelter Return. "Our plans are to advance exploration quickly and efficiently on the Banlung tenement with specific focus on the Okalla West prospect initially but to also capture and comprehend the Banlung intrusive structure," continued Weeks. "It is a large property with lots of potential." "In addition to the gold anomaly at Okalla West, the discovery of olivine-pyroxenite rocks in the south-west of Okalla West prospect, coupled with the cobalt, copper, chrome, nickel and vanadium termite mound anomalism in the same area keeps the door open to the potential for economic base metals within the mafic complex," stated John Paul Dau, VP of Operations. "These early indications on Okalla West show the great potential of the area as a flagship project for both companies," he concluded. Technical information contained in this news release was reviewed by Jonathan Soper, P. Eng., a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. ANGKOR GOLD CORP. ANGKOR Gold Corp. is a public company listed on the TSX-Venture Exchange (ANK) and is Cambodia's premier gold explorer, with a significantly large land package and a first-mover advantage with excellent relationships at all levels of Government (local to national). BLUE RIVER RESOURCES LTD Blue River Resources Ltd. has a 100% interest in two mineral properties in the Quesnel Trough Copper Belt, the Castle Copper Project near the Copper Mountain Mine, Princeton, BC and the Mazama Copper Deposit, Okanogan County, Wa. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD BLUE RIVER RESOURCES LTD. /s/ Griffin Jones Griffin Jones President, Director For further information contact: Griffin Jones, Tel: (604) 682-7339 www.Blueriv.com SOURCE: Blue River Resources Ltd. A 19-year-old District man was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury on a first-degree murder-while-armed charge and other charges associated with the July 4 stabbing of an American University alumnus on the Metro in Northeast Washington. If convicted, Jasper Spires faces life in prison in connection with the fatal assault of Kevin Sutherland, who prosecutors said Spires tried to rob while in the train as it approached the NOMA/Gallaudet station. [Details of horrific July 4 fatal stabbing on Metro ] According to prosecutors, Spires repeatedly stabbed Sutherland, 24, as other passengers watched in horror. Spires was arrested two days later and has remained in D.C. jail since. Spires is also charged with robbing two others in the train, including a senior citizen, and assaulting a fourth passenger. Spires, who was allegedly homeless at the time and who made a number of outbursts during his court appearances, underwent a series of mental evaluations in the fall. He was later found competent to stand trial. Spires and his lawyer from the D.C. Public Defender Service are scheduled to appear Friday before Judge Robert E. Morin in D.C. Superior Court. Three men were shot and wounded Wednesday afternoon on a street in Southeast Washington, less than one block from where a young man was shot and killed Tuesday night, according to D.C. police. The latest shooting occurred shortly before 4 p.m. in the 3800 block of Ninth Street SE, at the corner of Wahler Place SE. Police said three men suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and were taken to area hospitals. Police said Tuesdays shooting occurred about 10:15 p.m. in the 900 block of Wahler Place SE, steps from where gunfire erupted on Wednesday. Police said the man shot Tuesday ran and was found injured behind a row of town homes in the 4000 block of Wheeler Road SE. That man was identified as Jaquan Lamont Haney, 22, of Southeast. Police said he died at an area hospital. A police spokesman said on Wednesday that it was too early for investigators to know if the shootings are related. Police in Maryland said they have arrested two people in the slaying of a transgender woman in Rockville last month. On April 16 at about 11:49 a.m., Montgomery County authorities found Keyonna Blakeney dead at a Red Roof Inn as a result of multiple sharp force injuries, Montgomery County Police said in a statement. Blakeney and several acquaintances were renting rooms at the Red Roof Inn to engage in prostitution, police said, and she was killed after an argument. Someone out there is evil who did this, Blakeneys father, Kenny Linton, told The Washington Post last month. My son was, is, very special. He was kindhearted. He was down-to-earth. He would give you his last if he had it. [Weekend homicide victim in Montgomery was transgender female] After an investigation, warrants were issued for Arbra Arnie Bethea, 17, of the 4900 block of East Capitol Street SE, and Keith Christopher Renier, 21, of the 4200 block of Fort Dupont Terrace SE, charging them with murder as well as for armed robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery, police said. They were arrested by Montgomery County Police and the U.S. Marshals in Washington on Tuesday, and Bethea has been charged as an adult, according to police. Two men have been arrested for credit-card fraud in Virginia, police said. On March 14, Fairfax County police officers saw a disabled vehicle in the middle of Rolling Road near Viola Street, the department said in a statement. Officers found what appeared to be unlawful drug paraphernalia in the vehicle as well as credit cards, gift cards, and ID cards, the statement said. The driver of the vehicle, Khaled Morsy, 27, of Fairfax, was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, and was released on bond, police said. However, according to police, detectives from the financial crimes unit investigated the origin of 54 gift cards and credit cards found on Morsys person and in his vehicle, 35 of which were discovered to be stolen or cloned with stolen information. Police linked some of the cards and information in the vehicle to stolen packages, they said, leading to the identification of another suspect in several cases of credit card fraud, forgery and theft. On April 29, 2016, police said, Morsy was re-arrested and charged with eight counts of credit card theft, and Brian Bogan, 27, of Alexandria, was arrested and charged with one count of credit card theft. After the arrests, according to police, searches of Morsy and Bogans homes led to the discovery of additional stolen and cloned credit cards as well methamphetamine, credit card readers and credit card encoders. Police noted the total potential number of victims was more than 90. A woman who committed a robbery and then fled on a bicycle was killed in a hit-and-run accident shortly after the crime, police in Virginia said. At 12:22 a.m. on Tuesday, Prince William County police arrived in the 2700 block of Potomac Mills Circle in Woodbridge to investigate a robbery, police said in a statement. The robbery victim told police the incident began when she met up with Ronald Raymone Souers, 35, of Woodbridge, and his girlfriend, Nicole Marcella Lemar, 36, of Allentown, Pa., the statement said. An argument began, and Souers pushed the victim to the ground while Lemar assaulted her, police said. Then Souers and Lemar fled on bicycles after Lemar took the victims cellphone, leaving the victim with minor injuries, police said. While officers were investigating the robbery, police said a hit-and-run was reported about 1 a.m. in the area of Dale Boulevard near Birchdale Avenue, approximately two miles away. There, officers said they found that Lemar was riding westbound on Dale Boulevard in the left travel lane when a car traveling in the same lane hit her. The cars driver did not stop, police said. The vehicle, described as an early 2000s minivan, possibly a Dodge Caravan with front fender damage on the drivers side, was last seen traveling west on Dale Boulevard, police said. A responding officer performed CPR on Lemar, who was not wearing a helmet, before rescue personnel arrived. Lemar was taken to a hospital where she died as a result of her injuries. Souers, who remained on the scene, was arrested and charged with robbery. Anyone with information related to this case should call Crime Solvers at 703-670-3700 or 1-866-411-TIPS. Thursday, May 12 JobSource mobile career center Help with employment and reemployment. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Charles County Public Library, Potomac Branch, 3225 Ruth B. Swann Dr., Indian Head. 301-375-7375. Free. Sea Squirts Ages 1 to 3. All about seahorses. Thursday and Wednesday 10-11 a.m. Calvert Marine Museum, 14200 Solomons Island Rd., Solomons. 410-326-2042 or calvertmarinemuseum.com. Free. Healthy Mommy and Me postpartum support group For new parents. Information from health-care professionals, a weekly check of the babys weight and tips on feeding. Topics include stress reduction, depression, weight loss, exercise and sleep habits. Thursdays 5:30 p.m. St. Marys County Health Department, 21580 Peabody St., Leonardtown. 301-475-6854, 301-475-4300 or smchd.org. La Plata book discussion The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. 7-8 p.m. Charles County Public Library, La Plata Branch, 2 Garrett Ave., La Plata. 301-934-9001. Free. Calvert Library Art in the Stacks An exhibition of works by Suzanne Shelden, Alberta Contee and Edward Davenport. Thursdays through May 26. Reception May 19 from 7-8 p.m. Calvert Library Twin Beaches branch, 3819 Harbor Rd., Chesapeake Beach. 410-257-2411. Free. St. Marys County Camp DARE registration Open for students in grades 5 and 6. Must be St. Marys residents. Includes arts and crafts, public safety events and recreation. The camp will be July 11-14 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Leonardtown High School. 301-475-4200, Ext. 1900, or firstsheriff.com. Free. Friday, May 13 American Legion auxiliary dinner A pork barbecue sandwich or fried shrimp. 5-8 p.m. American Legion Post-La Plata, 6330 Crain Hwy., La Plata. 301-934-8221. BBQ $12, fried shrimp $15. Multi-vendor sale Includes Thirty-One, Tastefully Simple, Scentsy and 15 LulaRoe. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Relay for Life of St. Marys Countys Mechanicsville Mustangs. 5-8 p.m. Mechanicsville Elementary School, 28585 Three Notch Rd., Mechanicsville. fundraising@stmarysrelay.org, 301-472-4800 or relayforlife.org/stmarysmd. Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department barbecue dinner Includes a choice of chicken or pork sandwich, baked beans and coleslaw. Drive up or sit down to eat. 6-8 p.m. Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 28297 Old Village Ave., Mechanicsville. mthompson@mvfd.com or 301-884-3123. $12. Human trafficking awareness event Includes a discussion on the impact of trafficking on the local foster care system with Judy Michael Stamm. Hosted by Cornerstone Church of Lexington Park and the St. Marys County Sheriffs Office. 7-9 p.m. Cornerstone Church, 23075 Town Creek Dr., Lexington Park. 301-475-4200 or cornerstonepca.org. Free; registration required. Kids Night on Broadway Featuring the Chesapeake Choral Arts Society, the College of Southern Maryland Theater and Dance Club and Delta Psi Omega. Includes music from Disney movies. Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. College of Southern Maryland, 8730 Mitchell Rd., La Plata. 301-642-0594 or chesapeakechoral.com. $15. Drive-in family movie Hosted by Promise Resource Center to benefit Project First Choice, a program to help families with young children who are having social, emotional and behavior concerns. St. Marys County Fairgrounds, 42455 Fairgrounds Rd., Leonardtown. 301-290-0040 or thepromisecenter.org/drivein. Parking prices vary based on availability. Saturday, May 14 Church yard sale Rain or shine. 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Emmanuel United Methodist Church, 1250 Emmanuel Church Rd., Huntingtown. 410-535-3177. Tri-County Memory Walk In memory of those who lost their lives to addiction. Plant seeds for those struggling with addiction. Refreshments available. Rain or shine. 9 a.m. Serenity Farm, 6932 Serenity Farm Rd., Benefit. Free. tricountymemorywalk@gmail.com. Asbury Solomons yard sale Includes gently- used clothing, books and CDs. Benefits the Benevolent Care Fund. 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Asbury Solomons community, 11100 Asbury Cir., Solomons. 410-394-3466 or 410-394-3029. Womens Health Expo Includes screenings, wellness services and a guest speaker who will discuss new screening guidelines for breast cancer. Sponsored by the Calvert County Commission for Women, Calvert Memorial Hospital, the Calvert County Health Department and the College of Southern Maryland. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. College of Southern Maryland, 115 J.W. Williams Rd., Prince Frederick. 443-550-6000 or csmd.edu/arts. Free. Southern Maryland Decorative Painters meeting Includes a painting project. Guest are welcome, but email for a list of needed supplies. 9:30 a.m. Charlotte Hall Library, 37600 New Market Rd., Charlotte Hall. 301-884-2835, 301-884-2211 or smdpaint.org. Free. Calvert Artists Guild awards art show Buy or view works by Southern Maryland artists. Includes watercolor, acrylic, clay, textile and jewelry. Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Southern Maryland Sailing Association, 14490 Solomons Island Rd. S., Solomons. 410-326-7199. gbwood2@verizon.net. Car seat check-up Find out if your car seat is installed properly and if the child is harnessed correctly. 10 a.m.-noon, St. Leonard Volunteer Fire Department, 200 Calvert Beach Rd, St. Leonard. 410-586-1713 or slvfd.com. Free. Teen writing workshop Share and enhance your writing talents. Snacks, pens, paper and limited laptop use provided. 10 a.m.-noon, Leonardtown Library, 23250 Hollywood Rd., Leonardtown. 301-475-2846. Free. With a Song in My Heart spring choral concert Presented by Encore Chorales of Southern Maryland and Anne Arundel Community College. 3 p.m. Middleham and St. Peters Episcopal Parish, 10210 H.G. Trueman Rd., Lusby. 301-261-5747, info@encorecreativity.org or encorecreativity.org. Free. Public star party Use a variety of astronomical equipment to observe the night sky. Weather permitting. Hosted by Southern Maryland Astronomical Society. 9 p.m. Nanjemoy Creek Observatory, 5300 Turkey Tayac Place,, Nanjemoy. programcoordinator@smas.us, 301-848-8045 or smas.us. Free. American Legion country dance Includes soft drinks or draft beer and light snacks. One-hour lessons, 7 p.m.; dancing from 8 p.m.-midnight. American Legion Post 206, 3330 North Chesapeake Beach Rd., Chesapeake Beach. 301-855-6466, lbloyer@verizon.net, 410-257-9878, 301-855-6466 or alpost206.org. $15. Sunday, May 15 La Plata drive-through chicken dinner Includes chicken, rolls and green beans. Brownies and sodas will be sold. 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sacred Heart Parish of La Plata, 201 St. Mary's Ave., La Plata. 301-934-2261. Annual strawberry festival Includes ice cream, pies and a barbecue with trimmings. Benefits local charities in St. Marys County. 1:30-5 p.m. Christ Episcopal Church, 37497 Zach Fowler Rd., Chaptico. 301-884-3451 or cckgpnet. Chesapeake Community Chorus practice All-volunteer chorus performs concerts to benefit Calvert County charities. No auditions required. Sundays 4-6 p.m. through May 29, North Beach Union Church, 8912 Chesapeake Ave., North Beach. 301-855-7477, 410-257-3555 or lbrown9601@verizon.net. Free. Wednesday, May 18 Little Explorers program Ages 3-5. A hat search, crafts, songs and exploration. Hear a story about an old hat and a new one. 10 a.m. Historic St. Marys City, 18751 Hogaboom Lane, St. Mary's City. info@hsmcdigshistory.org, 240-895-4990 or hsmcdigshistory.org. $4 per child. Work Smarter with Google Age 16 and older. Learn how to use Google to improve productivity. 2-4 p.m. Leonardtown Library, 23250 Hollywood Rd., Leonardtown. 301-475-2846. Free; registration required. Traffic congestion community meeting Offered by the St. Marys County Department of Land Use and Growth Management to discuss traffic concerns in the north county, with a proposed parallel road and town center plan. 6:30-7:30 p.m. Charlotte Hall Library, 37600 New Market Rd., Charlotte Hall. northcounty@stmarysmd.com or 301-884-2211. Thursday, May 19 Calvert County National Active and Retired Federal Employees meeting Chapter 1466. A lunch at Salsas Mexican restaurant will precede the meeting. 1 p.m. Southern Pines Senior Center, 20 Appeal Lane, Lusby. 410-586-1441 or narfe1466@gmail.com. Calvert Library Arts in the Stacks artists reception Features works by Suzanne Shelden, Alberta Contee and Edward Davenport. 7-8 p.m. Calvert Library Twin Beaches branch, 3819 Harbor Rd., Chesapeake Beach. 410-257-2411. Free. Compiled by Bonnie Smith To submit an event Email: smliving@washpost.com Details: Announcements are accepted from public and nonprofit organizations only and must be received at least 14 days before the Thursday publication date. Include dates, times, address, prices and a publishable contact phone number. Martin Gruber always made a backup. Of that, his former employees are sure. He probably made a backup of the backup, too, for that is prudent practice in Grubers business: creating the sort of slickly produced wedding-video packages that newlyweds pay upwards of $3,000 each for. Or, I should say, what used to be his business. Last week, the Maryland attorney generals office announced that it is suing Gruber who also goes by the name Martin Andrews and Blue Sky Films, his Maryland-based company. Dozens of couples say that around 2014, Gruber stopped returning emails and phone calls and that he has not delivered their promised highlight reels. But there must be backups of the raw footage, right? A vast, unedited collection of vows, best-man speeches, first dances, cake-cuttings and bouquet tosses? Unless he took all of the drives and all the computers he has and tossed them in a Dumpster or put a corrupting virus on it . . . short of any of these things, the footage still exists, a former Blue Sky employee told me. (Because of the rancor involving Blue Sky, this person asked not to be named.) Its those backup files that desperate couples are hoping to retrieve. The clouds that bedevil Blue Sky Films bespeak the collapse of a once-mighty company. At one time, it was among the highest-rated wedding-video companies in the D.C. area, with kudos in Washingtonian (Our top vote-getter, according to a 2007 story) and on the Knot, a wedding website. Gruber employed about 15 people, who worked out of a well-equipped, high-tech space in downtown Silver Spring. It was demanding work. Weddings can be high-stress events for all concerned, including videographers, who strive to unobtrusively capture every important shot. They cant ask for a do-over. Former Blue Sky employees described an annual crush of shooting from April to November, then nonstop editing in the winter to try to deliver the finished product. It sounds like sweatshop drudgery. But it was drudgery clients paid top dollar for. The Montgomery County Office of Consumer Protection said it has received 40 complaints from people who say they paid Blue Sky between $2,000 and $14,000 for work that was never delivered. Eric Friedman, director of the countys consumer protection office, said his staff managed to finagle some raw wedding footage out of a Gruber family member who worked for Blue Sky. Thats how Mark Labus of Darnestown, Md., was able to get unedited shots of daughter Lindseys wedding. We looked at our film, Mark said. The qualitys good. We should be able to get it in the hands of some professional editor. That will mean shelling out more money, but at least theyll have a record of the wedding. Since then, however, the flow of raw footage has stopped, Friedman said. Does it remain out there somewhere, on hard drives, servers and videotapes? For some Blue Sky clients wedding videos are the last record they have of loved ones who have since died. Or the videos are the only way they could show a relative who was unable to attend what the celebration was like. I tried to get in touch with Gruber, but Blue Skys phone has been disconnected. Messages left with family members were not returned. Michael Regina of Fairfax City, Va., paid Blue Sky $4,800 to record his June 2015 wedding to his bride, Audra. He told me the outcome hed like to see. I dont know if a judge can say, Martin, you have the video. . . . You have to sit in a prison cell and edit it until its all done, Regina said. Thats what it comes down to. We want to see him produce the videos. The Maryland attorney generals office has scheduled a July 21 hearing on the complaints against Gruber and Blue Sky at the Office of Administrative Hearings in Hunt Valley, in Baltimore County. I asked how consumers can protect themselves against such outcomes. In an email, a spokeswoman with the attorney generals office recommended checking with the Better Business Bureau and other independent sources of customer reviews. She also wrote: Before signing a contract for services, ensure there is a clear stipulation on refunds and delivery of goods and services. If such a clause doesnt exist, ask the business owner to add in writing a stipulation that states whether the consumer will get any refunds or deposits returned. Of course, even the most protective contract is of little value if the business owner simply drops off the face of the planet. See you later, alligator(s) Im taking a little break. Look for me back in this space May 23. Twitter: @johnkelly For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly. THE DISTRICT Man is indicted in stabbing on Metro A 19-year-old District man was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury on a first-degree murder-while-armed charge and other charges associated with the July 4 stabbing of an American University alumnus on the Metro in Northeast Washington. If convicted, Jasper Spires faces life in prison in connection with the fatal assault of Kevin Sutherland, who prosecutors said Spires tried to rob while on the train as it approached the NoMa-Gallaudet U. Metro station. According to prosecutors, Spires repeatedly stabbed Sutherland, 24, as other passengers watched in horror. Keith L. Alexander Three men shot in Southeast Three men were shot and wounded Wednesday on a street in Southeast Washington, less than one block from where a young man was shot and killed Tuesday night, according to D.C. police. The latest shooting occurred shortly before 4 p.m. in the 3800 block of Ninth Street SE, at the corner of Wahler Place. Police said three men suffered injuries that were not life-threatening and were taken to area hospitals. Police said Tuesdays shooting occurred about 10:15 p.m. in the 900 block of Wahler Place, steps from where gunfire erupted on Wednesday. That man was identified as Jaquan Lamont Haney, 22, of Southeast. Police said he died at an area hospital. Peter Hermann Yard chickens get reprieve for now Two D.C. lawyers who sued the city after it threatened to confiscate their chickens have won an initial battle. Allison Sheedy and Daniel McInnis of the 3900 block of Jenifer Street NW filed suit last month after the Health Department said the four birds the couple and their four children keep in the back yard of a 10,000-square-foot Chevy Chase double lot had to be removed. Plaintiffs would suffer irreparable harm if Animal Control . . . seized their chickens and impounded them at a yet undisclosed location, the couple wrote. Plaintiffs children would be devastated. A hearing on the restraining order was scheduled for Wednesday, but Sheedy said the city backed off and asked the couple to withdraw its request for the order, agreeing not to immediately take their birds. Justin Moyer Deaf former inmate wins suit against jail A deaf former inmate whose rights were violated by the D.C. Department of Corrections was awarded $70,000 in damages Wednesday by a federal jury under the Americans with Disabilities Act. U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson castigated D.C. jail officials in a blistering, 60-page opinion last September that found the department liable for failing to assess what accommodations were needed by William Pierce, 47, of the District and mismanaging his care during his incarceration in 2012. The Districts willful blindness . . . and its half-hearted attempt to provide Pierce with a random assortment of auxiliary aids and only after he specifically requested them fell far short of what the law requires, Jackson wrote. Spencer S. Hsu VIRGINIA Alexandria to get more food trucks Food trucks will get a six-month tryout at three Alexandria city street locations, the City Council decided Tuesday, starting within 30 days. The trucks, which currently are allowed only on certain 0ff-street locations, will now be able to park for four hours at a time near the Braddock Road Metro stop in the 800 block of North West Street; near the King Street Metro stop in the 1700 block of King Street; and near the Eisenhower Avenue Metro stop in the 2200 block of Eisenhower Avenue. The operating times will be between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Vendors will have to pay $250 to operate a food truck in Alexandria, but that fee will not go into effect until 2017. Patricia Sullivan MARYLAND Two are arrested in hotel killing Police in Maryland said they have arrested two people in the slaying of a transgender woman in Rockville last month. On April 16 shortly before noon, Montgomery County authorities found Keyonna Blakeney dead at a Red Roof Inn as a result of severe injuries, Montgomery County Police said in a statement. Blakeney and several acquaintances were renting rooms at the Red Roof Inn to engage in prostitution, police said, and she was killed after an argument. Warrants were issued for Arbra Arnie Bethea, 17, of the 4900 block of East Capitol Street SE, and Keith Christopher Renier, 21, of the 4200 block of Fort Dupont Terrace SE. They were charged with murder, along with other offenses. Justin Wm. Moyer The battle over bandwidth that precious commodity that makes the high-tech world rock and roll was rejoined this week with Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx saying that cable companies should back off until there is proof that their ambition will not imperil automotive progress. At stake is a sliver of bandwidth 75 megahertz in the 5.9 GHz band that has been reserved since 1999 for use in vehicle-to-vehicle communication, that era when on-board car computer systems will be able to communicate with one another and receive data from other outside sources. But the bandwidth spectrum is finite, and as demand for it has mushroomed, so has the push to share some of that untrammeled bandwidth reserved for car talk. Foxx responded to the latest lobbying salvos in a conversation with reporters Tuesday. Its my view that if we have something protected for a safety reason, until you have something definitive that gives you a basis to share it, then we should probably keep protecting it until we know for sure that we can have mixed uses without interfering with the fundamental purpose of it, he said. Foxx sent the White House a proposal in January that would require all new cars to be equipped with vehicle-to-vehicle communications. At the same time, Foxx reached an agreement with Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and Federal Communications Committee Chairman Tom Wheeler to test whether it would be safe for wireless devices to share the 5.9 GHz band. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication is a concept forecast to one day prevent up to 80 percent of crashes that do not involve alcohol. Interaction between cars and infrastructure, such as signal lights, would allow a car computer to assess the risks ahead. [Communication between car computers may reduce crashes by up to 80 percent] While the administration ponders what to do with Foxxs proposal, the lobbyists have beaten a path to the White House. Foxxs comments came after groups that want a share of the 5.9 GHz pie, including the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, sent a letter to President Obama warning that connected-device use was soaring and the spectrum resources that power our devices are perilously insufficient. We must act now to find more unlicensed spectrum, the groups wrote, asking the president to act swiftly. Last week, the auto industry and safety groups fired back with a White House letter of their own. You received a letter from the cable industry and additional stakeholders suggesting that the transportation sector refuses to share the 5.9 GHz band used for connected vehicle technology with WiFi. Nothing could be further from the truth, said the letter, signed by more than 55 companies and organizations. Their letter said that they had been working with the WiFi industry to find a way to share the bandwidth while maintaining the integrity of potential vehicle-to-vehicle communication. [Another battle over bandwidth begins on Capitol Hill] These efforts include the testing of at least two potential sharing solutions that the Federal Communications Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) plan to assess this summer, they wrote. Foxx said Tuesday that he wants his department and the FCC to continue to evaluate the pros and cons of sharing 5.9 GHz in an orderly fashion. The proponents would open up some of that spectrum so that you could make multiple uses of it, Foxx said. From our vantage point, its unproven for this type of use. So what weve proposed, and weve gotten agreement from the FCC and NTIA to do, is to actually conduct an experiment to determine definitively whether spectrum sharing can occur safely. Foxx continued: Its disappointing that some of the consumer electronics industry has now gone to, instead of giving us some potential technologies to try within that study, are now trying to disrupt the use of spectrum by challenging it at its foundation. [As cars rely more heavily on computers, risk of hackers grows] Federal officials ordered Metro to perform immediate maintenance work on sections of the Red, Orange, Silver and Blue lines instead of waiting for the SafeTrack program to start. (WUSA9) Federal officials ordered Metro to perform immediate maintenance work on sections of the Red, Orange, Silver and Blue lines instead of waiting for the SafeTrack program to start. (WUSA9) Federal officials on Wednesday ordered Metro to immediately begin maintenance work on three long stretches of tracks to eliminate the threat of fires, forcing the transit agency to make last-minute scheduling changes in an extensive subway-rebuilding plan that it had hoped to finalize by early next week. One of the trouble spots targeted by the Federal Transit Administration is a section of the Orange, Blue and Silver lines from the Potomac Avenue station to a point just east of the Stadium-Armory station. A track fire in that area early Monday crippled the morning commute for riders on the three lines. There were problems near the same stretch again Wednesday. Carolyn Flowers, the FTAs acting administrator, said the required fixes are so significant that they cannot wait to be completed under the tentative schedule set for Metros year-long SafeTrack maintenance blitz. Metro last week released a draft schedule for 15 projects included in the plan and had hoped to finalize the schedule Monday. Flowers noted that in some cases, federal inspectors will watch as Metro crews do the work. Of the three sections of tracks specified for immediate work by the FTA, two are part of the SafeTrack program, including the Stadium-Armory area and a segment of the Orange and Silver lines between the Ballston and East Falls Church Metro stations. But under the draft schedule, the Stadium-Armory work was to be done in late August and the work near Ballston was to be completed in the fall. While the draft SafeTrack plan . . . was based on the professional judgment of engineers with a priority on safety, the FTA has directed Metro to make changes, Metro spokesman Dan Stessel said in a statement Wednesday. As such, the draft plan will be modified. The final SafeTrack plan will be released as soon as possible, but likely will not be ready by the original target date of May 16. The 15 SafeTrack projects are to be conducted one after another, with work commencing June 4. It is unclear whether the rescheduling will lead to a delay in the start. In the period between April 23 and May 10, federal safety inspectors have investigated 15 safety events, including nine that involved smoke and/or fire. Those incidents included last weeks arcing insulator explosion at Federal Center SW that sprayed fiery metal and ceramic projectiles onto the station platform. No one was injured, but a video of the incident was widely circulated. At a meeting with reporters Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx described the video as very scary. [Read the Acting FTA Administrators letter to WMATA ] In the two-page letter, Flowers also directed Metro to focus on repairing a segment of the Red Line between Medical Center and Van Ness stations. The draft SafeTrack plans called for Metro to address the issues at Stadium-Armory as part of a 16-day rail shutdown stretching from Eastern Market, which serves the Blue, Orange and Silver lines, to Benning Road on the Blue and Silver lines, and Minnesota Avenue, which serves the Orange Line. However, work was not slated to begin until Aug. 20. 1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What Washington D.C.s Metro looked like in the 1970s and 80s View Photos Post photo editors sifted through hundreds of photographs from its archive dating back to the first metro station openings in the 1970s into the 80s to give a glimpse at the transformation of the citys transportation. And becausewellwho isnt curious about what your mom and dad may have looked like rocking a fur coat on the Red Line in 1974? Caption A look back at D.C.s Metro system over the decades. Nov. 7, 1973 Metro construction miners and blasters with a jumbo drill worked on a hole at Rock Creek Parkway and Cathedral Ave NW. James K.W. Atherton/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue. Work on the Ballston to East Falls Church stretch of the Orange and Silver lines was scheduled to begin Nov. 12, in the draft released Friday by Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld. The span of the Red Line singled out in Flowers letter was not part of SafeTrack, though work had been done on a portion of that area following a smoke incident in a tunnel at Friendship Heights in late April. [Federal officials investigating track fire at Friendship Heights] Flowers was specific about the type of maintenance Metro must do. Work on the Red, Blue, Orange and Silver lines must include everything from clearing drains to replacing insulators and third-rail cover boards as well as corroded rail. On the Orange and Silver line segment in Virginia, Metro crews are to focus on the system that powers the trains as well as inspecting the tunnel drainage system. [Federal inspectors uncover more defects that Metro missed] Stessel, the Metro spokesman, noted that Metro has moved quickly to address safety problems in the system. It is important for riders to know that Metro GM Wiedefeld is not waiting on safety items, he said. Stessel said Wiedefeld already has directed that all porcelain insulators be removed from all underground stations over the next month. (A porcelain insulator was tied to the May 5 explosion at Federal Center SW.) Stessel added that, as recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board, sealing sleeves will be installed on all underground power cables by the end of May. He said that the agency also is responding to an FTA safety directive issued over the weekend regarding power and has imposed operating restrictions in the systems core to limit how fast trains travel and how quickly trains accelerate. [Federal agency orders new safety steps after Metros handling of Thursday fire] Earlier Wednesday, Metro Board Chairman Jack Evans addressed the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) repeating what he has said many times in recent weeks: that the federal government should offer greater financial help to the transit agency and that officials in Maryland, Virginia and the District should adopt a dedicated source of regional funding for Metro, such as a new tax or fee imposed on the public. Unlike other big transit systems in the country, Metro does not have a predictable source of operating revenue. Instead, the agency must annually go to the Maryland, Virginia and D.C. governments, seeking subsidies from three jurisdictions with differing priorities and budget constraints. COG Chairman Roger Berliner and others on the regional council said they strongly back Evans. One of our tasks that I hope we will complete before the end of the year is achieving consensus on a regional dedicated source of funding for this organization, said Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), a Montgomery County Council member. Because it is at least my goal to give our various legislatures the opportunity to take that matter up. . . . We will work very hard with our business community, with all of us, and with our legislators to come up with a funding mechanism. COG member Christian Dorsey echoed Berliners support for Evans. He also took a shot at federal officials, apparently because of the Metro shutdown threats from Foxx that have accompanied some of the FTAs inspection findings. This is a matter of utmost importance, and our fixing it has to start with not piling on, said Dorsey, a Democrat who serves on the Arlington County Board. We have seen how the FTA likes to pile on instead of being helpful. We, as contributing jurisdictions, should not take that approach. We should look at every way that we can possibly be helpful. Former Va. attorney general Ken Cuccinell , right, talks with convention delegate Kenny Golden, during the Virginia State Republican Convention in Harrisonburg, Va. (Steve Helber/AP) Donald Trump spent part of last weekend wooing former Virginia attorney general Ken Cuccinelli II, but the conservative heartthrob wasnt ready to commit. Cuccinelli had spent months on end campaigning across the country for another GOP presidential hopeful, Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas). He got a call from Trumps campaign manager about a week ago, about the time Cruz suspended his campaign and Trump became the presumptive nominee. A long round of phone tag ensued. Cuccinelli and Trumps campaign manager Corey Lewandowski finally connected over the weekend at a moment when the manager was at Trumps side. He happened to be with Donald Trump. He put him on briefly, Cuccinelli told The Washington Post on Wednesday. And what did The Donald say to Cooch? Kind of a, Rah, Rah. We want you on the team, Cuccinelli said. That was nice of him. But Im still waiting for the reason [to support Trump]. . . . Ted Cruz has fought and bled for the things l believe. I havent seen Donald Trump lay out and stick to a set of policy issues that reflect the core beliefs that I hold. Now, hes got time to do that. But given his history of flopping all over the place, hes gonna have to have a way to convince people like me that even when he lays out his positions on something, we can have confidence he can stick to it when the going gets rough. That said, Cuccinelli said that he appreciated the outreach and that he expects to vote for Trump. I anticipate voting for him, Cuccinelli said. But I am gonna spend the next two months before the convention . . . watching and listening. Cuccinelli, who won conservative hearts as attorney general for brash legal action against Obamacare and other forms of perceived federal overreach, is more than just a high-profile Cruz surrogate. Since that campaign folded, he has tried to rally Cruz supporters to a new cause: ensuring that the party platform reflects their conservative views. Cuccinelli spent Monday night at Cruzs Houston campaign headquarters, where he spoke via conference call to state leadership teams and supporters who had been elected delegates to the Republican National Convention in July. He encouraged them to make their presence felt at the gathering. He said Cruz supporters are under no illusions that he could emerge as the nominee, a scenario that seemed possible when it looked like Trump might not lock up the nomination before the convention. This is not some sneaky, Were-gonna-nominate-Ted-Cruz, ha-ha kind of play, Cuccinelli said. But they do have the power to shape the platform, he said. In this stage of the contest, we have elected more hard-core conservative delegates to go to the convention than would have ever happened in previous cycles at this point, he said. Why not keep the conservative piece of this going, even though it isnt going to have anything to do with the nomination, and try to achieve some of the goals weve had? Chief among those goals: Getting rid of an RNC rule that could make it possible for the establishment to install a savior candidate over a grass-roots favorite. [Cruz talks up an RNC rule that would keep Kasich out of the convention] Rule 40b requires that candidates win total delegate majorities in eight states or more in order to be nominated. The RNC hastily came up with it in 2012, after then-Rep. Ron Paul of Texas nearly racked up enough wins to be nominated. Cuccinelli said his goal is to move the rules of the Republican Party away from RNC- centric power and toward the grass roots. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, former Archbishop of Washington, DC, speaks at a Newsmaker event about the Marrakesh Declaration. On his right is Professor Azizah al-Hibri, who also spoke at the event. Both attended the Marrakesh conference in January.Click here for high-resolution version WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - May 11, 2016) - At a Newsmaker event yesterday at the National Press Club, former Archbishop of Washington, DC Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Professor Emerita at the University of Richmond School of Law Azizah al-Hibri praised the results of a conference on the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries convened by King Mohammed VI of Morocco in late January. Attended by Cardinal McCarrick and Professor al-Hibri along with hundreds of religious scholars and clergy representing a broad range of religions and schools of thought within Islam, the historic three-day conference led to the Marrakesh Declaration, a document calling for an end to bigotry and condemning the use of violence and terror in the name of religion. "By their actions [extremist groups like Daesh] have tried to destroy the very religious freedom which the Koran and the Prophet himself have declared to be the essence of Islamic belief," said Professor al-Hibri at the Press Club event. "How can we educate about Islamic justice without addressing this important issue? That can only be accomplished by knowledgeable Muslim jurists teaching [their] views to the public." The Marrakesh Declaration, she explained, is one step in educating the public about the right to freedom of conscience in Islam. Echoing this sentiment, Cardinal McCarrick said that it is critical "that this document has legs. That it is used, that it gets to the people it has to get to, and -- that means in a very special way -- that it gets to the teachers of young people, the professors in universities, it gets to the preachers at the Friday prayers, that they can understand that this is not just a document that has beautiful words but it's a document that can [bring] Islam back to where it was, what the prophet himself began to see." "Our challenge to all of you is please don't let this document die, please don't let this document be filed in a library where nobody will see it," he said. The Cardinal also recognized the important role of King Mohammed VI, who "decided that it was time to have another important document that might bring us back from the extremes which are not true Islam." King Mohammed VI has taken an active role in fighting religious extremism and promoting a moderate and tolerant Islam both in Morocco and abroad. In March of 2015, he inaugurated the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Morchidines and Morchidates, dedicated to preparing the next generation of Muslim religious leaders -- in Morocco, across the region, and around the world -- to counter extremist interpretations of Islam. The latest US State Department annual Country Reports on Terrorism took notice, praising Morocco's "comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter-radicalization policies." The report described the country's "national strategy to affirm and further institutionalize Morocco's widespread adherence to the Maliki-Ashari school of Sunni Islam," focusing on "upgrading mosques, promoting the teaching of relatively moderate Islam, and strengthening the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (MEIA)." The King has also prioritized religious and cultural diversity through a number of projects to rehabilitate the country's many Jewish sites. Since 2010, Morocco's "Houses of Life" project has restored 167 Jewish cemeteries across the country, installing 159 new doors, building nearly 140,000 feet of fencing, and repairing 12,600 graves. The King has said that this project "is a testimony to the richness and diversity of the Kingdom of Morocco's spiritual heritage. Blending harmoniously with the other components of our identity, the Jewish legacy, with its rituals and specific features, has been an intrinsic part of our country's heritage for more than three thousand years. As is enshrined in the Kingdom's new Constitution, the Hebrew heritage is indeed one of the time-honored components of our national identity." Adopted by referendum in 2011, the Moroccan constitution states that the country's unity "is forged by the convergence of its Arab-Islamist, Berber and Saharan-Hassanic components, nourished and enriched by its African, Andalusian, Hebraic and Mediterranean influences," and emphasizes Morocco's attachment "to the values of openness, of moderation, of tolerance and of dialogue for mutual understanding between all the cultures and the civilizations of the world." The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials, and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/5/11/11G097776/Images/Cardinal_1-561ab17c1faabdacbd888eb732e23b14.jpg Footage from a security camera at the Federal Center SW Metro station captured a fire that happened on the tracks. The fire was caused by an arcing insulator. (WMATA) Footage from a security camera at the Federal Center SW Metro station captured a fire that happened on the tracks. The fire was caused by an arcing insulator. (WMATA) A YEAR ago, as federal investigators tried to unravel the smoke incident in a Metro subway tunnel that killed one passenger and sickened dozens of others, it emerged that the transit agencys Rail Operations Control Center was riddled with problems ranging from inadequate training to antiquated computer software. Now comes word that the same control center, based in Landover, failed to notice or take timely action Thursday after a fire and an explosion yes, an explosion on the tracks at the Federal Center SW station. Despite the fact that the fiery blast propelled metal and ceramic shrapnel onto the tracks and platform about two seconds after a train had left the station, Metro personnel at Federal Center SW shrugged off the incident and the control center did nothing for hours, even after inspectors requested a power shutdown so they could examine the damage. For passengers wondering what it means that Metros safety culture is in tatters, last weeks incident at Federal Center SW is illustrative. It is also proof that the National Transportation Safety Board was not exaggerating when it criticized Metro last week for not having learned lessons from past accidents, including fatal ones. One question is whether Metro has replaced the software at the control center, which until recently generated such an incessant stream of alarms about smoke and other incidents that subway controllers simply tuned them out. We asked Metro; no answer yet. Another question is whether Metro has initiated disciplinary action as a result of recent serious mishaps, including the sluggish response at Federal Center SW. According to Paul J. Wiedefeld, Metros general manager, neither the operations supervisor at the station nor control center personnel were at first aware of the extent of the explosion or the resulting hazard and assumed it was nothing more than a routine (for Metro) mishap. Thats astonishing. How could the supervisor on the scene have failed to detect the aftermath of an explosion that left shrapnel on the tracks and platform, or shrugged off the event? That lapse enabled trains with passengers to continue traveling over the tracks for hours, until a second smoke event evidently caused by debris from the mornings explosion finally prompted the control center to allow power to be cut along the track. The complacency of Metros initial response, which may have endangered lives, should not be shrugged off. Notwithstanding the agencys cumbersome procedures for disciplining employees, Mr. Wiedefeld must act in order to send a credible message of accountability to the systems labor force and passengers. The general manager, who took up his position five months ago, should also insist on streamlined disciplinary procedures as part of the new contract with Metros main transit workers union. The current contract expires at the end of June , and negotiations on a new one are set to begin in coming weeks. Mr. Wiedefeld, like his predecessor, Richard Sarles, has promised aggressive action in Mr. Wiedefelds case, a year-long maintenance blitz that will cause major disruptions to restore Metro to a state of good repair. But as the Federal Transit Administration has noted, his plan does not fully tackle many of the serious safety issues facing the system. An overhaul in Metros culture is whats needed; that begins with accountability. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks during a rally where she endorses Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Iowa State University, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, in Ames, Iowa. (Mary Altaffer/AP) I know Russia well. I had a major event in Russia two or three years ago, Miss Universe contest. Donald Trump You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska. Sarah Palin Mark Salter, the longtime John McCain consigliere, was just asked by Politicos Glenn Thrush whether he believed McCains choice of Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate opened the door a crack for a Trump-style candidate. Remember when then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told the nation the difference between "a hockey mom and a pitbull?" Or when she called for President Obama to be impeached? Here are those moments and more from Palin. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Maybe a little, Salter said after a pause. Stuff and nonsense. Salter was being modest. Palins nomination didnt crack the door for Trump. It birthed him. Palin is, politically, the Mother of Trump. Some of their similarities, such as their curious ways of justifying their knowledge of Russia, are superficial. Trump, asked by NBCs Chuck Todd where he gets his military advice, said: Well, I watch the shows. . . . You know, when you watch your show and all of the other shows. This had more than an echo of Palins reply to Katie Couric in 2008 about which newspapers or magazines she reads: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years. But the likenesses go much deeper, between the candidates themselves and among the followers theyve inspired: The attacks on the media. The demonization of a supposed establishment. The huge and sometimes violent crowds. The prominent platforms given both candidates by Fox News. The racist responses among supporters. The paranoia about taking away guns. The suspicion of science. The scapegoating of Muslims. The portrayal of President Obama as something other than American. Well before Trump built his national political reputation by questioning the authenticity of Obamas birth certificate, there was Palin. In December 2009, she called it a fair question and fair game and said the public rightfully is still making it an issue. In 2011, after Trump said he was sending investigators to Hawaii to probe Obamas birth, Palin responded, More power to him. Before Trump said he would bring back waterboarding and a hell of a lot worse, there was Palin. Two years ago, she talked about how if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists. Before there was Trump talking about banning Muslim immigration (a stance Palin supports) and forced registration of Muslims, there was Palin. Let Allah sort it out, was her 2013 response to the Syrian civil war. 1 of 28 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The sometimes controversial career of Sarah Palin, in pictures View Photos A look at the former candidate for vice president over the years. Caption A look at the former candidate for vice president over the years. Sept. 3, 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin takes the stage before speaking at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Charles Dharapak/AP Wait 1 second to continue. Soon after Palin was named McCains running mate in 2008, I went to see her campaign in Florida in front of 8,000 people and as I reread my column from then it sounds much like the Trump events Ive seen this year. She justified her accusation that Obama pals around with terrorists by saying that Obama isnt a man who sees America the way you and I see America and that he sees America as imperfect enough to work with a former domestic terrorist who had targeted his own country. When she railed against this domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, one man in the audience shouted, Kill him! She stirred the crowd to turn against the press in a manner similar to Trumps rallying of supporters against penned-in reporters at his events: Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, Sit down, boy. Back then, she stirred racial animosity (she tried to make an issue of Obamas former preacher, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, even though McCain had called that off-limits) and quarreled with the party establishment (the Florida GOP chairman was forbidden aboard her plane because he questioned Palins abilities). Nicolle Wallace, a former top official on the McCain 2008 campaign, observed the parallel in the New York Times in January after Palin endorsed Trump: Mr. Trump is riding the wave of anxiety that Ms. Palin first gave voice to as Senator John McCains running mate. Mr. Trump has now usurped and vastly expanded upon Ms. Palins constituency, but the connection between the two movements is undeniable. McCain, admirably, refused to let the rage take over his campaign in 2008: He famously corrected the woman at his event who called Obama an Arab, taking a different approach than Trump, who let stand an accusation at his event that Obama is a Muslim. But now there is no such filter. And the man who gave us Palin in 2008 worries that her political progeny could cost him his Senate seat in Arizona this year. With Trump on the ticket, McCain has said, this may be the race of my life. Twitter: @Milbank Read more from Dana Milbanks archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. THE REPUBLICAN-controlled Congress has wasted entirely too much time sitting on President Obamas request for emergency funding to combat the arrival of the Zika virus to the mainland United States. The National Governors Association, not exactly an alarmist group, declared that the nation is on the threshold of a public health emergency. Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says that Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory where the virus is already on the move, is on the precipice of a really serious disaster. Now that Congress has returned from its recess, it is time to buckle down and approve the presidents request for about $1.9 billion in emergency funding, or something close to it. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Mathews Burwell told us this week that, although the administration has already shifted about half a billion dollars from fighting Ebola to the battle against Zika, that is not enough. There is no vaccine ready nor any known effective therapy to stop Zika. Without the full emergency funding, she said, research on creating a vaccine and work on badly needed diagnostics will slow, while surveillance and tracking of those sickened will be hampered. Although Zika causes only mild symptoms in most cases, thousands of babies, if their mothers are infected during pregnancy, could be vulnerable to serious birth defects. The virus causes fetal neural abnormalities such as microcephaly. The time to prepare for the onslaught of virus-carrying Aedes mosquitoes was yesterday and yet Congress has stalled the presidents February funding request. The House Appropriations Committee chairman, Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), has claimed the proposal lacked enough specifics. Here are some specifics: In Puerto Rico, where 631 cases of Zika have already been recorded, the virus is spreading rapidly from direct transmission. Although all 472 cases in the continental United States have come from travelers, Florida, the Gulf Coast and California also may be vulnerable to local transmission once the weather warms. Where it hits, Zika is not easy to deal with. Vector control fighting the mosquitoes, to dampen the viruss spread is the front line of defense, but that job is handled by a crazy quilt of state and local government offices. Warning the public, creating and scaling up diagnostics, and carrying out spraying and other prophylactic measures are all vital, and these take time to prepare, time that is being lost on Capitol Hill. Vaccine development also requires a long lead time. Dr. Fauci told us the first vaccine candidate will begin an initial clinical trial of about 80 people in September, and if all goes well, could be ready for approval in 2018. This will be especially important if the Zika virus remains a threat at that time. We cant know now if that will be the case, but it makes good sense to fund vaccine development robustly at this early stage. We are told that House Appropriations Committee staff, still dissatisfied with the administrations request, are working up their own package. Thats encouraging but they must not dally. It is long past time for Congress to deliver the money needed to fight a virus that, if unchecked, could ruin thousands of young lives. No modern precedent exists for the revival of a party so badly defeated, so intensely discredited, and so essentially split as the Republican Party is today. Thus wrote George Gilder and Bruce Chapman in The Party That Lost Its Head, after Barry Goldwaters landslide 1964 defeat. The costs of the debacle were very high: The GOP lost 36 House seats, and its Senate contingent was reduced to a corporals guard of 32. No one is likely to bring up the 1964 election when Donald Trump meets Thursday with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and other leading Washington Republicans. But behind all the talk well hear this week about principles, philosophy and temperament lies a profound fear that Trumps likely nomination could lead to GOP carnage all the way down the ballot. At this point, assessing the Trump Effect is speculative because even assuming, prematurely, a Trump trouncing not all landslide losses are created equal when it comes to their broader impact. Lyndon Johnsons win over Goldwater, along with the victories of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Barack Obama in 2008, had clear down-ticket effects. But the substantial triumphs of Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, Richard Nixon in 1972 and Bill Clinton in 1996 did not call forth comparable congressional earthquakes. 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 the Republicans who are feeling the "Trump effect" the most. (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post) What is not speculative is the impact Trumps emergence has already had on vulnerable Republican senators up for reelection this year in blue and purple states. They know Trump is a problem for them, but they confront a dilemma: To win reelection, they need support from middle-of-the-road voters, particularly suburban women, put off by Trump; but they also need help from voters who like Trump. The same will be true in many contested House races. This tension reduced Ryan, who loves soaring rhetoric about principle, to serving up bureaucratic mush at a news conference Wednesday. When asked about his meeting with Trump, he explained: We have to go through the actual effort and process of unifying. In some cases, the process of dealing with Trump has led to some remarkably inartful verbal gymnastics. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), in a tough race against Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, sent reporters scurrying to their thesauruses when her office issued a statement saying she would support the nominee but wasnt planning to endorse anyone. Parsing the difference between support and endorse is likely to endure as a political parlor game. Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, generally seen here in Illinois as an underdog for reelection against Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth, has tried an altogether different and somewhat more straightforward approach. Kirk says he would support Trump, who, he argues, might help Republicans with turnout this fall. But Kirk also goes out of his way to highlight how different he is from Trump on issues ranging from foreign policy to gun control. Hes with Trump except when he isnt. In Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey faces Democrat Katie McGinty in another key race. In an op-ed for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Toomey held back his support for Trump and invited him to earn it. Lest anyone confuse him with Trump, Toomey criticized his manner and his policies as well as his vulgarity, particularly toward women. Toomeys harsh words about Trump would not surprise David Axelrod, the architect of President Obamas two victories. He believes Trump could have a really dramatic effect on some of these Senate races. In an interview, Axelrod said, contra Kirk, that Trump could suppress Republican turnout and also that many Trump supporters who do vote might skip the rest of the ballot, since they are not terribly interested in affirming incumbent officeholders. 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. On the other hand, in states with large Latino populations Axelrod cited Arizona, where Republican Sen. John McCain is in a tough contest Trump could mobilize an unusually large turnout among his Democratic-leaning foes. And the Chicago political veteran pointed to the paradox that Trump, whose supporters see him as someone who speaks his mind, is forcing many Republicans to twist themselves into philosophical pretzels as they try simultaneously to embrace and distance themselves from Trump. Axelrod spoke of the challenge before Republicans such as Ryan as they try to preserve their standing as principled politicians while also preaching party unity. They will be forced to declare, in effect: I dont believe in anything hes saying, but I support him because hes the nominee of the party. Thats exactly what people hate about politics, Axelrod said. Perhaps especially Trumps people. Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. THE WORLD Bank has warned countries that one of climate changes most significant impacts will be on a precious resource that many people, particularly in advanced nations, take for granted: water. The concerns go far beyond sea-level rise, which is perhaps the most predictable result of the planets increasing temperature, or an uptick in extreme weather. Countries must worry about whether their people will have enough fresh water to farm, produce electricity, bathe and drink. Global warming will not change the amount of water in the world, but it will affect waters distribution across countries, making some much worse off. The World Bank calculates that water strain from population growth and climate change could reduce growth in some major economies by an astonishing 6 percent by 2050. That would push some countries into sustained negative growth, which would mean prolonged suffering for millions of people. The countries most responsible for climate change are not most at risk; instead, a belt of nations from Africa through the Middle East to central and east Asia are in most danger, the World Bank concluded. And within those relatively poor countries, water stresses are felt disproportionately by the poor, who are more likely to rely on rain-fed agriculture to feed their families, live on the most marginal lands which are more prone to floods, and are most at risk from contaminated water and inadequate sanitation. About 4 billion people already live in areas suffering from water stress. By 2030, the world may face a shortfall in water availability of approximately 2,700 billion cubic meters, the bank reports, with demand exceeding current sustainable water supplies by 40 percent. Though the bank tamps down speculation that countries will fight with one another for water, it warns that water scarcity could encourage other sorts of conflict and dislocation, such as civil wars. The first order of business is to limit the amount of warming humans will induce. That means slashing the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for driving up global temperatures. The world has started down this path, but the effectiveness of the global climate effort likely depends, in the first instance, on the results of this years presidential election. And limiting emissions will not be enough. Warming is happening, areas of the world are already experiencing significant water challenges, and population growth will place increasing demands on existing resources. Countries have to manage water use more rationally. As Californias drought exposed, the United States is hardly a great role model. Rather, the answer is to treat water like any other precious resource: Create a fair and transparent market for it, allowing supply to meet demand, which will let the water flow to its most efficient uses. Meanwhile, governments should invest in water storage and gird their infrastructure against floods and other extreme weather events. Reforms that override the parochial arrangements that often govern water access will not be easy. But, as the World Bank made clear, the alternative may be widespread misery. Early in his tenure as director of national intelligence, James Clapper could sometimes be heard complaining, Im too old for this [expletive]! He has now served almost six years as Americas top intelligence official, and when I asked him this week how much longer he would be in harness, he consulted his calendar and answered with relief, Two hundred sixty-five days! Clapper, 75, has worked in intelligence for 53 years, starting when he joined the Air Force in 1963. Hes a crusty, sometimes cranky veteran of the ingrown spy world, and he has a perspective thats probably unmatched in Washington. He offered some surprisingly candid comments starting with a frank endorsement of President Obamas view that the United States cant unilaterally fix the Middle East. Given Clappers view that intelligence services must cooperate against terrorism, a small breakthrough seems to have taken place in mid-April when Clapper met with some European intelligence chiefs near Ramstein Air Base in Germany to discuss better sharing of intelligence. The meeting was requested by the White House, but it hasnt been publicized. We are on the same page, and we should do everything we can to improve intelligence coordination and information sharing, within the limits of our legal framework, said Peter Wittig, German ambassador to Washington, confirming the meeting. The terrorist threat has shadowed Clappers tenure. He admitted in a September 2014 interview that the United States had underestimated the Islamic State. He isnt making that mistake now. He says the United States is slowly degrading the extremists but probably wont capture the Islamic States key Iraqi stronghold this year and faces a long-term struggle that will last decades. Theyve lost a lot of territory, he told me Monday. Were killing a lot of their fighters. We will retake Mosul, but it will take a long time and be very messy. I dont see that happening in this administration. Even after the extremists are defeated in Iraq and Syria, the problem will persist. Well be in a perpetual state of suppression for a long time, he warned. I dont have an answer, Clapper said frankly. The U.S. cant fix it. The fundamental issues they have the large population bulge of disaffected young males, ungoverned spaces, economic challenges and the availability of weapons wont go away for a long time. He said at another point: Somehow the expectation is that we can find the silver needle, and well create the city on a hill. Thats not realistic, he cautioned, because the problem is so complex. The Islamic State is one of the most well-funded terrorist organizations in the world. So where does it get its money? (Jorge Ribas/The Washington Post) I asked Clapper whether he shared Obamas view, as expressed in Jeffrey Goldbergs article in the Atlantic, that America doesnt need the Middle East economically as it once did, that it cant solve the regions problems and that, in trying, the United States would harm its interests elsewhere. Im there, said Clapper, endorsing Obamas basic pessimism. But he explained: I dont think the U.S. can just leave town. Things happen around the world when U.S. leadership is absent. We have to be present to facilitate, broker and sometimes provide the force. Clapper said the United States still cant be certain how much harm was done to intelligence collection by the revelations of disaffected National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. Weve been very conservative in the damage assessment. Overall, theres a lot, Clapper said, noting that the Snowden disclosures made terrorist groups very security-conscious and speeded the move to unbreakable encryption of data. And he said the Snowden revelations may not have ended: The assumption is that there are a lot more documents out there in escrow [to be revealed] at a time of his choosing. Clapper had just returned from a trip to Asia, where he said hes had tense exchanges with Chinese officials about their militarization of the South China Sea. He predicted that China would declare an air defense identification zone soon in that area, and said theyre already moving in that direction. Asked what he had achieved in his nearly six years as director of national intelligence, Clapper cited his basic mission of coordinating the 17 agencies that work under him. The reason this position was created was to provide integration in the intelligence community. Were better than we were. After a career in the spy world, Clapper argues that intelligence issues are basically simple; its the politics surrounding them that are complicated. I cant wait to get back to simplicity, he said, his eye on that calendar. Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. House Speaker Paul Ryan said he needs to get to know Donald Trump before he can consider backing the presidential hopeful. Ryan was speaking after Republican leaders' weekly meeting May 11. (Reuters) House Speaker Paul Ryan said he needs to get to know Donald Trump before he can consider backing the presidential hopeful. Ryan was speaking after Republican leaders' weekly meeting May 11. (Reuters) Five years ago, Rep. Paul Ryan stood on the House floor, assured of victory. This is our defining moment, he said. On that day in 2011, the Houses new GOP majority approved Ryans budget plan which, in defiance of all political instincts, called for cuts in a government program that voters knew and loved: Medicare. Ryan (R-Wis.), worried about debt, wanted eventually to turn the massive health-benefit program over to private insurers. At the time, one particular Republican objected loudly and publicly. But he was nobody important just the host of The Celebrity Apprentice. What he did is political suicide for the Republican Party, Donald Trump said in an interview recently dug up by Mother Jones. Today, Ryan now speaker still has the House. But Trump, it appears, has the party. House Speaker Paul Ryan says he cannot support Donald Trump. Trump says he doesn't care. Can the two work out their differences? (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post) On Thursday, the two men will meet in Washington, striving for party unity after Ryan refused to endorse Trumps presidential bid. When he arrives, Trump will have nearly clinched the GOP nomination by running squarely against Ryans vision of what Republicanism is. Thats especially clear on the subject of entitlement programs such as Medicare. At the time of Ryans greatest strength, Trump is turning the party against the very change that Ryan sought power to achieve. Im leaving it the way it is, Trump said of Medicare in a Fox Business interview this week. Im going to bring jobs back to the country. Were going to make our country rich again. The success of Ryans ideas and their gradual transformation into Republican orthodoxy is a remarkable story in its own right. It began in 2008, with a congressman urging his colleagues to cut taxes big and grab two political live wires at once. First, Medicare: Many Republicans think the expensive federal system that guarantees unlimited health-care coverage to those 65 and older threatens to bankrupt the nation without spending cuts or significantly higher taxes. Ryan proposed capping the cost by giving seniors a set amount of money to buy their own private insurance. Ryan also proposed changing Social Security to allow younger workers to direct some of their payroll tax contributions to personal investment accounts. It caught on, at least in Washington. The GOP-led House has now passed five annual budgets theoretical policy statements, not actual changes of the law that have endorsed a version of Ryans Medicare plan. At the same time, the fractious party failed to agree on other big ideas, like how to replace Obamacare, reform immigration laws and overhaul the tax code. So, by process of elimination, Ryans idea became the Republican idea, the best evidence that in Ryans words the GOP is a proposition party, not just an opposition party. 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. The problem was that voters did not love this proposition. I dont care about my grandkids, Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) recalled one voter saying at a town-hall meeting, after Schweikert had explained that entitlements needed to be cut so debt would not overwhelm future generations. I want every dime, the man said. In a 2015 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 70 percent opposed Ryans proposals for Medicare. How many people have called your office to say, Mr. Schweikert, what is your plan for fixing this? Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) asked Schweikert on the House floor in February, as part of a back-and-forth about the fact that Ryans big ideas did not enjoy broad support. I think it is zero, Schweikert said. Enter Trump. You cant get rid of Medicare. Itd be a horrible thing to get rid of. It actually works, Trump said in November. In a campaign where Trump has constantly changed his mind about what he believes, this is a subject where hes remained constant. Trump agrees with Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders: No cuts to Medicare. At the same time, Trump rejects Ryans entire style of politics, which uses detailed budget projections to sketch out worries for the future, followed by an appeal for shared sacrifice. Trumps counterargument lacks such detailed evidence. The evidence is, in effect, Trump himself. He makes little effort to make his numbers add up. You have to do the waste, fraud and abuse. There is tremendous waste, fraud and abuse, Trump said on Fox Business, explaining what he would be able to cut. But Trumps understanding of the systems waste has seemed wildly off. In a March debate, Fox Newss Chris Wallace caught Trump promising to save $300 billion from a Medicare program that only spends $78 billion in the first place. Thursdays meeting seems unlikely to settle such differences. This week, a friend of Ryans told The Washington Post that Ryan would not demand Trump agree to his specific vision for entitlements but rather would search for common ground on broader questions of principle. This is a big-tent party, Ryan said during a news conference Wednesday. Theres plenty of room for different policy disputes. But one of Trumps campaign advisers suggested Wednesday that Trump might indeed change Social Security and Medicare but only after he has been in office for a while. After the administration has been in place, then we will start to take a look at all of the programs, including entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, Sam Clovis said during a public forum, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. In the meantime, the trustees who run Medicare have projected that its main trust fund will run short of money in 2030. They have urged lawmakers to pass some sort of measure to prevent that. That has left backers of Ryan-style change trying to put the best face on a bad situation. Maybe, some say, President Trump could be persuaded to cut a deal in spite of his campaign promises. Maybe he just decides: Hey, Paul Ryan really wants to do this. . . . Maybe theres a way to make this a winner, said Rohit Kumar, a longtime aide to Hill Republicans who now works for the firm PwC. For others, its easier to dwell on those who support Ryans ideas. Basically almost every single person running for the Republican nomination this time would support that position, Dan Holler, of the activist group Heritage Action for America, said on Wednesday. He meant that former Florida governor Jeb Bush supported Ryans vision. So did Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. But all those people lost to the candidate who doesnt. Yeah, Holler said. When you look at the Republican Party broadly, though, its part of Republican Party orthodoxy. And rightly so. Speaker Paul Ryan has backed away from his pledge to support whoever becomes the nominee, saying he's "not ready" to endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Other GOP heavyweights, including the Bushes, are also not giving endorsements. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) Speaker Paul Ryan has backed away from his pledge to support whoever becomes the nominee, saying he's "not ready" to endorse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Other GOP heavyweights, including the Bushes, are also not giving endorsements. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) National Republican leaders remained sharply divided Tuesday over the likely coronation of Donald Trump as the partys standard-bearer, foreshadowing a lengthy battle in the two months leading up to the presidential nominating convention in Cleveland. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) dug in for a protracted discussion with Trump after last weeks stunning declaration that he was not there yet on embracing his partys likely presidential nominee. Ryans ambivalence raised the stakes on his meeting with the businessman slated for Thursday at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill. Its going to take more than a week just to repair and unify this party, Ryan said in an interview Tuesday with the Wall Street Journals Gerald F. Seib, broadcast online by Facebook. If we just pretend were unified without actually unifying, then well be at half-strength in the fall, and that wont go well for us. Ryans statement came as many senior Senate Republicans called for a detente in the showdown between both the partys establishment and conservative wings vs. Trumps insurgent campaign, which effectively took over the party with a message that runs contrary to many bedrock conservative principles. But Ryan also clarified that no endorsement of Trump should be expected after Thursdays get-together. I think the single most important thing is that Republicans and primary voters unify behind our partys nominee and then make sure we defeat Secretary Clinton, Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.), the No. 2 Republican leader, told reporters Tuesday. That refrain, defeating Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, served as a rallying cry for most Republicans who have come on board Trumps candidacy. Donald Trump speaks during an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday in his office at Trump Tower in New York. (Mary Altaffer/AP) The sharp Republican divisions were on display as Congress returned for its first full day in the Capitol after a 10-day break, after a recess beginning with Republicans leaving Washington girding for a contested convention in Cleveland and ending with Trump as their partys standard-bearer. Republicans seemed of three minds as they faced the voters verdict: many supported, albeit reluctantly, the partys presumptive nominee; a handful enthusiastically backed him; still others firmly reject his candidacy. In an effort to bridge the divide, Trump will descend on Washington on Thursday for a series of meetings, beginning in the morning with Ryan and then his leadership team, and concluding later across Capitol Hill with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and his top lieutenants. [Paul Ryan: GOP unity will take more than a week] It was a day of mixed messages and a fatigue from lawmakers on Trump questions that are only likely to increase before November. Ryans press office began Tuesday with a plea to the media to focus on other issues besides Trump and then sent the speaker into interviews with the Wall Street Journal and conservative talk radio specifically to talk about the presidential campaign. Exasperated with the Trump phenomenon, Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.), the most endangered Republican incumbent in the November elections, waved off reporters. Were not doing any Trump questions, Kirk said. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) arrives on Capitol Hill Tuesday. He is expected to meet with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday. (Susan Walsh/AP) The pro-Trump Republicans, hardly enthusiastic, tend to view the political neophyte as a cipher on most policy issues that can be molded in a more classic conservative image to run a more conventional general-election campaign. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, delivered an almost lackadaisical rebuke to the Stop Trump wing: Chill. And let the campaign evolve a little bit, and see where the candidate ends up. Corker described Trumps emerging worldview as similar to that of former president George H.W. Bush and his advisers, more reluctant to use troops and military force than his sons administration, and he defended Trumps criticism of NATO, which previously drew stern rebukes from many conservative national security experts. Corker, a proud member of his states entrenched Republican establishment, wouldnt even rule out discussion of him becoming Trumps vice-presidential nominee at the Republican convention in July. In his Tuesday interviews, Ryan avoided some of the sharp criticism he delivered of Trump last week, when he asked whether the businessman was actually conservative and questioned his campaign of belittlement toward women and minorities. He tried to decrease expectations for his Trump meeting and made clear there would be no endorsement after it, suggesting it would take longer to see if the partys presumptive nominee would support the emerging conservative agenda that Ryan has been working on since becoming speaker last fall. We cant fake it. We cant pretend. We have to actually unify and do it, Ryan said in the Journal interview. [How Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell took such different approaches to supporting Donald Trump] Ryans position angered some Republicans, who suggested that Trumps strong anti-immigration, anti-trade and more retrenched foreign policy views had won out over the more traditional conservatives opinions espoused by Ryan. Trump is not going to change his fundamental campaign themes. He believes what he says and the people have ratified it, Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the first Republican senator to endorse Trump, told reporters, saying it was a mistake to hold out support. A number of candidates took Speaker Ryans position, and theyre no longer heard of. They have disappeared. Those strong views have driven devout conservatives into a frenzy, unsure of how to handle the nomination of someone whose positions fall so far outside the historical Republican mainstream. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), perhaps Trumps staunchest GOP critic on Capitol Hill, reiterated his past opposition to ever voting for him. But Graham also rejected the idea from some conservatives of running an independent conservative as a third option to Trump or Clinton. Ill probably write somebody in or just skip the presidential, Graham said. McConnell told reporters that Trump may be underestimated in his ability to win votes through his unconventional campaign style, adding there was no choice but to work with the partys nominee. If Republicans refuse to get on the Trump train, McConnell said Clintons victory would lead to four more years of President Obamas policies. I think most of my members believe hes won the nomination the old-fashioned way he got more votes than anybody else and we respect the voices of the Republican primary voters across the country, McConnell said. Karoun Demirjian, Ed OKeefe and Kelsey Snell contributed to this report. Hedge-fund magnate Robert Mercer now tops the list of the biggest donors of 2016, with more than $17 million in contributions to super PACs, according to a Washington Post analysis. (Andrew Toth/Getty Images) A burst of giving by liberal donors and a last-ditch effort to fend off GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump helped super PACs pick up nearly $100 million in new donations by the end of March, pushing the total raised by such groups this cycle to more than $700 million, according to a Washington Post analysis of Federal Election Commission reports. At this pace, super PACs will raise $1 billion by the end of June. In the entire 2012 cycle, such groups brought in $853 million, according to FEC filings. The Post is keeping a running tally of the largest contributors of the 2016 cycle, whose six- and seven-figure checks have allowed super PACs to spend $278 million so far on ads and voter outreach. Already, nine mega-donors have each given at least $10 million to such groups, which can take unlimited sums from individuals and corporations. Together, that tiny cadre has provided 17 percent of the money raised through March 31, The Post found. Now topping the list of mega-donors: conservative hedge-fund magnate Robert Mercer. His total giving reached $17.2 million after he put $2 million more into a super PAC supporting Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) in March. The Renaissance Technologies co-chief-executive moves up from fourth place, bumping liberal San Francisco environmentalist Tom Steyer out of the No. 1 slot. Another Renaissance Technologies figure joins the top 10 list this month: James Simons, an elite mathematician who founded the hedge-fund giant. Together, he and his wife, Marilyn, have given $10.13 million to super PACs this cycle, the vast majority to Democratic groups. The bulk of James Simonss donations $7 million have gone to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. [Meet the wealthy donors who are funneling millions into the 2016 elections] Other wealthy Democrats allied with Clinton stepped up their contributions significantly in March, making Priorities the top-raising super PAC for the month. The group, which plans to unleash a $91 million TV ad blitz in support of Clinton in June, brought in nearly $12 million in March. Meanwhile, a surge of investment in the Stop Trump movement drove a slew of donations by rich conservatives. Among the big givers: hedge-fund co-founder Cliff Asness, who made it onto The Posts top 50 list after shelling out $1 million in March to Our Principles, an anti-Trump PAC. Investor Michael Vlock, who is married to billionaire Karen Pritzker, gave the group $1.7 million in the same period. For the first time, a publicly traded corporation cracked the top 50 list: oil giant Chevron, which has given $3 million to GOP congressional super PACs. The Chevron money reflects an uptick in funds flowing to super PACs on both sides of the aisle that are focused on House and Senate races. The GOP Senate Leadership Fund brought in $2.95 million in March, while the Democratic Senate Majority PAC took in $2.49 million the best fundraising month both groups have had so far this cycle. Their coffers are expected to expand significantly as donors in both parties turn their attention to congressional races that now may be in play because of Trumps volatile candidacy. [The GOP and its big funders scramble to insulate Congress from Trump] Big money is seeping into individual congressional races in new forms, with a proliferation of super PACs created to support a single candidate each. One such group, Maryland USA, which has backed the House bid of Republican national security expert Amie Hoeber, is financed almost entirely by her husband, Mark Epstein, a senior vice president at Qualcomm. Epstein poured $2.1 million into the group, making him one of the 50 biggest givers of 2016. In April, Hoeber won the GOP primary with 29 percent of the vote. She will face off against Democratic Rep. John Delaney in November. Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli speaks at the inaugural ceremony of Beijing organizing committee for the 2022 Olympic and Paralympic winter games at Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China December 15, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economy faces downward pressure but will be able to meet its economic growth target for the year, China's vice premier Zhang Gaoli said at a forum in Beijing on Wednesday. Growth in M2 money supply slowed in April versus March, Zhang said at a meeting on tax administration hosted by the OECD. M2 money supply grew 13.4 percent in March. China has set a target for 6.5 percent to 7 percent GDP growth in 2016, after growth fell to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent in 2015. Zhang said that China will reduce leverage in the economy through efforts including bankruptcies, and is not resorting to large-scale stimulus. The global economic recovery is weak and faces uncertainties, but the Chinese economy remains resilient, Zhang said. Zhang's comments come as expectations for further monetary stimulus fade after record credit growth in the first quarter of the year boosted economic indicators in March, though April data so far indicates the rebound may be short-lived. Chinese markets fell after a commentary in the official People's Daily on Monday said there is no need to stimulate growth by excessive credit expansion that could heighten risks and trigger a systemic financial crisis if not controlled properly. (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Writing by Elias Glenn; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) Donald Trump will come to Washington on Thursday for a series of meetings with Republican congressional leaders. The goal, all involved say, is to hasten the process of unifying a fractured party. The reality is that, nice words to the contrary, Trump and those party leaders are likely never to fully achieve that result. Trump is an unpredictable presidential candidate, predictable only in the sense that what he says one day can change the next. Whatever reassurances he might try to offer in the face-to-face meetings and Trump knows how to be charming in his personal encounters could easily be washed away by his determination to keep running the way he has run throughout the primaries, as a political provocateur of no fixed ideology. The meetings are supercharged in large part because Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) have been sparring since Ryan announced last week that he is not ready to endorse the New York developer. For months, Ryan has been establishing himself as the keeper of Republican values and an advocate of positive messaging in the face of a hostile takeover by the renegade Trump, whose candidacy has been buoyed by the politics of anger. The presumptive nominee has made it clear that he will brook only minimal dissent from GOP officials and has sent conflicting signals about his desire to find true unity with party leaders. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has taken a different approach. He said a week ago that he would support the partys nominee and told reporters Tuesday: I think most of my members believe hes won the nomination the old-fashioned way he got more votes than anybody else, and we respect the voices of the Republican primary voters across the country. House Speaker Paul Ryan says he cannot support Donald Trump. Trump says he doesn't care. Can the two work out their differences? (Deirdra O'Regan/The Washington Post) One of the first questions about Thursday is: Which Trump will show up in Washington? Will it be the Trump who said a week ago that it would be helpful to meet with Ryan before we go our separate ways? Or will it be the Trump who on Tuesday tweeted, I look very much forward to meeting w/Paul Ryan and the GOP Party Leadership on Thurs in DC. Together, we will beat the Dems at all levels! Trumps constituency is not that of the GOP leaders. His voters distrust Republican congressional leaders, almost as much as they dislike President Obama. Trump has had near-perfect pitch with the resentment emanating from a portion of the electorate. In fact, he has fed the anger with his calls to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and to shut down U.S. borders to Muslims seeking to enter the country. Any effort to modulate his style as a way to try to satisfy the wishes of party leaders comes with the risk of lessening the enthusiasm of his core constituency. Trump already made clear what he thinks of suggestions to change his stripes as a candidate. He rebelled after his convention manager Paul Manafort sought to reassure members of the Republican National Committee last month that, once the nomination was within reach, he would begin an evolution as a candidate. Almost within hours, Trump showed that he would do nothing of the kind. Which makes it questionable that he will make any such promises Thursday, if any of the leaders broach that issue with him. [GOP leaders divided ahead of meetings with Trump] One thing standing in the way of real unity is the wide gulf between Trump and party leaders on many key issues of Republican doctrine. On issues such as trade, entitlements and the future of the NATO alliance, the differences are deep and long stated. More recently, Trump has signaled a willingness to abandon party orthodoxy by considering higher taxes on the wealthy and boosting the minimum wage. Those policy differences foreshadow a fight over the party platform when Republicans gather in Cleveland the week before the convention in July. Will Trump choose to push for changes that reflect his views? Does Ryan expect Trump to modify those views, to become more of a true Republican? Either could subject the party to further divisions. What some leading Republicans hope is that a clash of that sort can be avoided by simply having the two sides agree to disagree. As one GOP elected official put it this week: I hope he would just say, Okay, you guys write the platform, and Im going to run my campaign. Other presidents have not paid a whole lot of attention to the platform anyway. I dont think its a productive exercise to try to redefine what a Republican is. Because for most of us, what a Republican is, is not what hes been running on. House Speaker Paul Ryan said he needs to get to know Donald Trump before he can consider backing the presidential hopeful. Ryan was speaking after Republican leaders' weekly meeting May 11. (Reuters) There is one clear point of unity on which the two sides can agree. That is the mutual desire to defeat Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Eight years of Obama have been more than enough for Republican leaders. Fears of a Clinton presidency and Democratic control of the White House for four to eight more years will help to remind everyone of their common interests in November. But at this point, many Republicans worry that Trumps candidacy will hasten that result, rather than prevent it. Early projections of the Electoral College suggest he would begin with a sizable deficit, struggling to put into play states that Mitt Romney lost to Obama in 2012. [How Ryan, McConnell tool different approaches toward supporting Trump] The arrival on Tuesday of three Quinnipiac University polls in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania all of which showed Trump and Clinton in tight races gave some Republicans hope that November will not be the debacle that some fear. More surveys are needed before anyone can draw that conclusion, given the deficits Trump has among women and Hispanics. Although many voters dislike Clinton, Trumps position remains worse, and that is a continuing worry among those in his party. Republican leaders would like nothing more than to control the White House and Congress starting next January, especially if there is some certainty that a President Trump would appoint Supreme Court judges who would prevent a leftward shift on the high court. In the end, however, the congressional leaders have one overriding priority, and that is not to elect Trump as president, much as they hate the idea of Clinton as president. Their top priority will be to protect their House and Senate majorities. For now they will wait and see how Trump looks as the prospective nominee, how well he adapts to a general-election contest and a broader electorate, how well he weathers the inevitable Democratic attacks. They also will seek to insulate their own candidates from Trump as necessary. And if and when it becomes clear that Trump cannot win the presidency, Republican officials will be faced with the choice of whether to cut him loose to save those majorities. Twenty years ago, the Republican Party did just that. In the final days of that campaign, as GOP nominee Bob Dole was heading toward a loss against then-President Bill Clinton, the party ran television ads calling on voters not to turn over both the executive and legislative branches to the Democrats. Thursdays meetings first with House leaders and then with Senate leaders will be the talk of the day. No doubt the post-meeting public words from both sides will be cordial and accommodating. But what happens Thursday is barely the beginning of a long period of uncertainty and taking stock. Trumps success has shattered the Republican Party coalition, and from every angle those in the party are feeling their way forward. Lawyer William Johnson, a leader of the American Freedom Party and a self-proclaimed white nationalist who supports Donald Trump, pauses for photos in his office in Los Angeles on May 10. (Jae C. Hong/Associated Press) A prominent national white supremacist leader has resigned as a Donald Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention after campaign officials said his nomination was the result of a database error. William Daniel Johnson, who has called for a whites-only United States and the deportation of other races and ethnicities, said in an interview Wednesday that he resigned for the good of the Trump campaign, which he supports. They dont need the baggage that came along with my signing up as a delegate, said Johnson, a Los Angeles corporate lawyer who has been active in U.S. white supremacy circles for more than three decades. Johnsons name was included in a slate of delegates that the Trump campaign submitted Monday for certification by the California secretary of states office. After Mother Jones magazine reported Johnsons inclusion on the list, Trump officials moved quickly to remove him. Campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks told The Washington Post that a database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaigns list in February 2016. Johnson, who has said that U.S. citizenship should be limited to white people with no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, said he believed the Trump campaign staff members who added his name to the list were unaware of his white supremacist beliefs. I was a delegate for two hours, they got inundated, and thats probably the time they said, Who is this Johnson? he said. Nobody knows who I am. I think the Trump campaign probably knows more about me now, but you cant hold that against the vetting people in a campaign. I didnt emblazon on there that Im a white nationalist. So it was an innocent mistake on the vetting persons part. California Republican Party bylaws permit campaigns to amend their delegate lists until June 27, when those lists are submitted to the Republican National Committee, party spokeswoman Kaitlyn MacGregor said. Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremism, said it is hard to believe the Trump campaign was not aware of Johnsons beliefs. She noted Johnsons long history of high-profile white supremacist activism, and the fact that he founded the pro-Trump American National super PAC and that he has actively campaigned for Trump. Earlier this year, Johnson recorded robo-calls supporting Trump that were used ahead of the Republican primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont and Minnesota. In those calls, which received extensive national media attention, Johnson said, The white race is dying out in America and Europe because we are afraid to be called racist, warned of the gradual genocide against the white race and complained that in the United States, few schools anymore have beautiful white children as a majority. Donald Trump is not a racist, but Donald Trump is not afraid, he said. Then, referring to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), both of whom are children of Cuban immigrants, he said: Dont vote for a Cuban. Vote for Donald Trump. Johnson, who has a law degree from Columbia University, said that the Trump campaign had not authorized the calls. He gave out his cellphone number and asked people to call him if they wanted. Beirich called the Trump campaigns inclusion of Johnson as a delegate despicable. Theres no way to not have known this; those robo-calls have been all over the press for months, she said. You have to wonder about the campaigns competence, or if this is once again pandering in some way to white supremacists. Throughout his campaign, Trump has battled the perception that he has been at least tacitly sympathetic to white supremacists. He appeared slow to repudiate former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke after Duke praised him, and he has retweeted messages from white nationalists. Beirich said that Trump had been careful not to offend white supremacists during the Republican primary campaign. She said she expected him to moderate his tone in the general-election campaign, but she said she found it hard to believe that any candidate would want the support of people with Johnsons views. Its 2016. Nobody appeals to white supremacists, she said. This is the worst of American history. This is fire hoses and dogs being sicced on black people who want the right to vote this is what this represents. This is unacceptable. Johnson said he has been a leading voice of white supremacy since at least 1985, when he wrote a book proposing a constitutional amendment that would have limited U.S. citizenship to non-Hispanic whites of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth any other nonwhite race or ethnicity. He proposed that some Hispanic whites would be eligible for U.S. citizenship provided they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe. Johnson has run for Congress in Wyoming and Arizona and a judgeship in California, and he has raised money for the presidential campaign of former congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex.). His campaigns have been based on white nationalist platforms, and he has even complained about fictional character Harry Potter kissing a Chinese girl in a movie, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. However, Johnson has said on his law firms website that he has long represented Japanese corporations doing business in the United States, and that he can speak, read and write Japanese. The website is written mainly in Japanese, and Johnson speaks in Japanese in a video on the site. Johnson notes that he is looking for new Chinese clients. Johnson said he supports Trump because he speaks his mind. He wont govern by public opinion poll; he will speak what he thinks is right, Johnson said. I believe Ron Paul was that way, I believe [Democratic candidate] Bernie Sanders is that way. And regardless of your political beliefs, that is a refreshing change. Johnson, who said his American Freedom Party has experienced an increase in recruitment because of Trump, said he likes Trumps positions on securing our borders and keeping the jobs back in America. But he said he doesnt think that Trump supports white supremacist causes. I believe he does not, Johnson said. Its unrequited love. Johnson, whose proposed 1985 constitutional amendment would have denied U.S. citizenship to anyone who was more than one-eighth Semitic, said he is not bothered that Trumps daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism when she married an orthodox Jewish man. I do think its better for a Christian to marry a Christian, he said. But thats not my say, and its not Donald Trumps say. Thats his daughters say. Iraqis check the site of a car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shiite area north of the capital, Baghdad. May 11, 2016 Iraqis check the site of a car bomb attack in Sadr City, a Shiite area north of the capital, Baghdad. Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosion that killed at least 39 in a crowded market. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb that exploded and killed at least 39 in a crowded market. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a car bomb that exploded and killed at least 39 in a crowded market. Islamic State suicide bombers spread carnage across the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, killing scores in the bloodiest day in Baghdad this year, even as the group is losing ground on the battlefield. As many as 93 people were killed in the blasts, marking an escalation in attacks on civilians, particularly in predominantly Shiite neighborhoods. [As war against Islamic State expands, obstacles also rise] The Islamic State has lost more than a third of the territory it once held in Iraq, and security officials say they expect that the militant group will continue to attempt similarly devastating attacks in an effort to distract from its setbacks. This is the worst attack on Baghdad for a long time, said Saad al-Muttalibi, a member of the Baghdad provincial councils security committee. After every defeat ISIS receives at the front, in the actual war, they launch an attack on Baghdad, he added, using an alternative acronym for the Islamic State. In a statement circulated online, the militant group warned of worse to come. Even now, despite the Islamic States degraded capability, the key city of Mosul remains under its control two years after it was overrun by the group. On Monday, James R. Clapper Jr., the U.S. director of national intelligence, said in a Washington Post interview that efforts by the United States and Iraq to retake Mosul will take a long time and be very messy. I dont see it happening in this administration, Clapper said. The bombings also come at a time of political turmoil in Baghdad. On Wednesday, politicians and security officials traded blame for the violence. The worst attack occurred in one of the busiest markets in Sadr City, a neighborhood that is a major support base for Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr has led calls for political reform, including firing Iraqs ministers and replacing them with technocrats. His followers dramatically breached Baghdads fortified Green Zone late last month and ransacked parliament. [Pentagon chief: Islamic State fight far from over] Residents of Sadr City took to the streets after the bombings on Wednesday, directing their frustration at the government and security forces. We already had a lot of anger, thats why we stormed the Green Zone, said Karrar Ali, a 35-year-old lawyer from Sadr City. Now people are more angry and blame the government for failing to protect them. Ali, who said he arrived at the bomb site about half an hour after the attack, said he was met with a terrifying scene. There was smoke, fire, human flesh, he said. Everyone was in a state of confusion. In a gruesome yet familiar scene, witnesses described wooden market carts being used to carry the dead and injured after the bombing. The Shiite neighborhood in eastern Baghdad has suffered two other large-scale market bombings in the past year, killing a total of 140 people. The Islamic State, a Sunni group, considers Shiite Muslims to be apostates. Officials at the neighborhoods two main hospitals, to which victims bodies were taken, said 50 people died in the market attack Wednesday. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give the information to the news media. The Health Ministry, however, put the toll from the market attack at 40, while the Associated Press reported that 63 were killed. At one hospital, more than half of the bodies were those of women and children. The market was so crowded, said Haider Salah, 28, a taxi driver who witnessed the attack. At that time of the morning, the market is filled with women and their children. [Protesters leave Green Zone, but Baghdad tensions remain] Just hours after the market blast, an explosion occurred at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the Shiite neighborhood of Kadhimiyah in the north of the city. A man wearing a suicide belt detonated the explosives at a point where civilians are searched as they enter the neighborhood, killing two police officers and four others, according to the Baghdad Operations Command. A third suicide attack followed at a checkpoint on a road that leads to Kadhimiyah, indicating that the neighborhood, home to Baghdads most important Shiite shrine, was probably the intended target. Riyadh al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Kadhimiyah Hospital, to which the dead from both blasts were taken, said 27 people were killed in the two attacks. The AP, citing police, put the toll at 30. The attacks on Baghdad come as the Islamic State has suffered several reversals on the battlefield. Last month, it lost its grip on the town of Hit , in the western province of Anbar. To the north, security forces have been preparing for an attack on Mosul. In its claims of responsibility on Wednesday, the Islamic State called the attacks the invasion of Sheikh Abu Ali al-Anbari, referring to one of the groups leaders, who was killed in Anbar. The State Department condemned the attacks in Baghdad, stating that it is committed to helping Iraqi security forces expel the Islamic State from its territory and cut off its financial, foreign-fighter and propaganda networks. These cowardly attacks will only harden the resolve of Iraqis and the international community to utterly destroy this group and its warped ideology, spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. U.S. officials have also expressed concern about Iraqs ongoing political crisis, which has undermined U.S.-backed Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Abadi is under pressure to enact the government changes for which Sadr and his supporters are pushing, but he is struggling to get enough lawmakers together to hold a vote. Sadrs political jockeying and street protests have also highlighted divisions in the Shiite community, raising the specter of potential clashes among the countrys myriad militias. Interior Minister Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban, who is affiliated with the Badr Organization, a powerful Shiite militia, has criticized Sadrs protest movement and accused it of creating chaos. Sadr supporters on Wednesday accused Ghabban of failing to prevent the attacks. Ghabban has been busy securing his own chair and his own party and has neglected to secure the people, said Hakim al-Zamili, a lawmaker and commander in Sadrs militia, the Peace Brigades. For its part, the Interior Ministry condemned anyone using the bombings as a pretext to launch verbal attacks on the security forces. Our country is facing a dangerous challenge and it is not reasonable to attack the security forces out of revenge, it said in a statement. Carol Morello in Washington contributed to this report. Read more Iraq is broke. Add that to its list of worries. In the fight against the Islamic State, Iraqs leader begins to look shaky U.S. approves additional troops, artillery systems, helicopter gunships for Iraq fight Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world By William Schomberg and Michael Holden LONDON (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said a tax reform bill, considered vital to help the country cope with plunging oil revenues, will be approved by Colombia's congress before the end of 2016 and would not be delayed by the country's peace process. Speaking to investors in London, Santos said he hoped the government would soon conclude lengthy talks with leftist FARC rebels to end Latin America's longest war but said this would not detract from fiscal reform. "This will be approved, this has to be approved before the end of the year for the reform to start producing its effects next year," Santos said referring to the tax reforms. "There will be no problem." Investors are keen for signs of progress on the reform without which the country could see a downgrade to its credit ratings. Standard & Poor's said in February it could cut Colombia's rating if there is no progress on the plan this year. Santos said he had support for the tax overhaul plan from parties accounting for about 80 percent of Congress and he denied he was prioritising the peace process, which the government had hoped to conclude in March. "So some people are saying the president is playing politics, he wants the peace and he will sacrifice the fiscal reform. Nonsense, I'm not going to sacrifice the fiscal reform. We need it and we will have it approved." PEACE IN "VERY NEAR FUTURE" Santos said he hope the negotiations to end the war with FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which has killed about 220,000 people since 1964, would be concluded "in the very near future" but gave no specific timetable. "As soon as possible," he said when asked for a date. "We're very close to ending the war." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who met Santos shortly after the meeting with investors in London, said Washington hoped to see a deal imminently. "Mr President, we really encourage these next days ... that hopefully can see this important agreement reached," he told Santos in front of reporters. Story continues Asked whether the tax reform bill would include changes to value-added tax, Santos said he would not announce details of the changes before presenting them to the country's congress. Santos also said he would stick to the country's fiscal rules, which set limits for the budget deficit, and they would not be derailed by the costs of reintegrating combatants from the country's civil war into society and compensating victims. "No matter what happens we will respect this fiscal rule," he said. Andres Escobar, deputy Colombian finance minister, said the tax reforms aimed to increase tax revenues by 1.5 percentage points as a share of total economic output. Juan Pablo Cordoba, head of the Colombian Securities Exchange, said the reform needed to ease the burden on the country's big businesses as 3,000 firms, of a total of around 1 million, currently pay 70 percent of all Colombian income tax. (Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Andrew Heavens) A supporter of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff waves the national flag and the flag of the Rousseffs Workers Party outside Planalto Palace, the presidents official workplace, in Brasilia on May 10, 2016. Rousseff faces an impeachment vote in the Senate. (Fernando Bizerra Jr./European Pressphoto Agency) Breaking News: Brazils president impeached and suspended from office. President Dilma Rousseffs chances of remaining in office were slipping away Wednesday as senators prepared an impeachment vote to suspend her and put the once-popular leader on trial for allegedly breaking budget laws. Rousseffs removal would be a stunning blow to her leftist Workers Party, which presided over years of prosperity and robust social-welfare spending that lifted more than 30 million Brazilians out of poverty. Now Rousseff and her party are paying for Brazils crash. With the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro less than three months away, South Americas largest country is facing its most severe economic contraction since the 1930s, and a massive corruption scandal has tarnished nearly all of Brazils political leaders. The impeachment vote is the culmination of months of legal and political maneuvering by Rousseffs administration and its opponents, a process that has produced a gripping drama that has left Brazilians frustrated and increasingly worried that their country is sliding into long-term dysfunction. Brazilians followed Wednesdays Senate proceedings closely, with TV networks providing live coverage and news sites offering a running tally of the senators denouncing Rousseff. Many of the lawmakers described her impeachment as the essential first step toward turning the country around. The big day has arrived. Today this house, the federal Senate, will give the Brazilian people their country back, said Sen. Ataides Oliveira. [The charges against Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, explained] Rousseff, 68, a former Marxist guerrilla who became Brazils first female president, is one of the few top political figures not under suspicion of bribe-taking or other corruption, although her party is accused of involvement in dirty deals. That difference had emboldened Rousseffs defenders and raised doubts among international observers about the legitimacy of the impeachment effort. Some independent analysts and Rousseff allies called the proceedings an excuse to get rid of an unpopular leader, and a sign of political immaturity in a country whose democracy was restored in 1985 after two decades of military rule. We are living a shameful and historic moment, said Sen. Telmario Mota, one of the few lawmakers to defend Rousseff. He called the impeachment push a lack of respect for democracy. The democratic vote at this moment is being taken from millions and millions of electors, he said, referring to the 54 million voters who backed Rousseffs reelection in 2014. The Senates vote was scheduled for Wednesday evening, but the session continued into the night, with dozens of lawmakers lined up to speak. [Why the world needs Brazil to bounce back] Rousseff would be forced to step down if a simple majority of Brazils 81 senators voted to impeach her. Senators would then have 180 days to conduct hearings ahead of a final vote to determine her fate. Vice President Michel Temer would assume the presidency on an interim basis, and he would serve out the rest of Rousseffs term if she was found guilty. A loss in Wednesdays vote would put Rousseff among a small number of democratically elected leaders who have been impeached. They include former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who was impeached in the House in 1998 but acquitted in a Senate trial. The procedure is not unfamiliar to Brazilians. In 1992, then-President Fernando Collor de Mello resigned after he was put on trial by the Senate on corruption charges. He later returned to politics and won a Senate seat. On Wednesday, he said Rousseffs government was in ruins. According to unofficial tallies by Brazilian news media, at least 50 senators have stated that they are in favor of her impeachment. On the floor of the Senate on Wednesday night, the debate neared its halfway point, and 28 of 36 senators had spoken in favor of impeachment. Rousseff is accused of improperly using billions of dollars in loans from government banks to patch budget gaps and fund popular social programs. Senators must decide whether this amounts to a crime of responsibility under Brazilian law. Rousseffs opponents say she deceived lawmakers and the public about the state of the countrys finances to conceal her mismanagement of the economy. She denies any wrongdoing and insists that her predecessors used the same bookkeeping procedures. A two-thirds majority of the Senate will be needed to permanently unseat her. If at least 54 senators vote for impeachment, it will be widely taken as a sign that her presidency is finished. One Rousseff opponent compared her presidency to gangrene sickening Brazil. If we amputate the leg, we save the body, Sen. Magno Malta said. Anti-impeachment demonstrators on Wednesday blocked roads with burning tires in cities including Sao Paulo and the capital, Brasilia, where police fired tear gas and clashed with a small group of protesters. But Rousseffs support base has withered, and a climate of resignation has settled over her administration and the Workers Party, with some supporters conceding that Wednesday was likely to be her last day in office. Rousseff was not waiting for the vote either: She ordered her photos, books and other belongings packed up at the presidential office Wednesday afternoon in anticipation of her suspension, according to Brazilian news reports. She was expected to hold a news conference Thursday morning and release an online video, but there was no indication that she was preparing to resign. Rousseff narrowly won reelection in 2014, but recent polls show that her approval rating has slumped to about 10 percent. Critics say her brusque personal style and distain for retail politics added to her isolation by turning onetime allies against her. She made no speeches or public statements Wednesday and was photographed strolling through the grounds of the presidential palace in exercise clothing, among long-necked rheas large, flightless birds native to South America. [Not much love for Rousseff, but maybe less for impeachment] Some prominent international observers have cautioned that Rousseffs removal could set a bad precedent for democracy by promoting the idea that a presidential mandate from voters can be interrupted by lawmakers. Luis Almagro, the secretary general of the Organization of American States, has questioned the legality of Rousseffs possible removal, but he said he would seek the opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights before drawing any conclusions. At the Vatican, Pope Francis the first Latin American pontiff expressed hope that Brazilians will unite after this time of difficulty. On Wednesday, a justice on Brazils Supreme Court denied Rousseffs last-ditch appeal to stop the proceedings. Attorney General Jose Cardozo, who is defending Rousseff, said he would file fresh appeals to the Supreme Court. Rousseff has vowed to fight on. She and the Workers Party have rallied supporters by painting the effort to oust her as a coup that drags Brazil back to the dark era of authoritarian rule. Rousseff was jailed and tortured by the military dictatorship for her activities as a leftist militant. Her opponents were so confident of the outcome Wednesday that the leader of the Senate told reporters that Rousseff would be served her suspension notice Thursday, even though the vote to impeach her was still hours away. Last month, Brazils lower house voted 367 to 137 to impeach Rousseff. The interim speaker of the Chamber of Deputies stunned the country Monday by trying to annul that vote, but he changed his mind less than 24 hours later, clearing a path for the Senate vote. Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report. Read more: Ghosts of Brazils past haunt presidential impeachment crisis How Brazil, the darling of the developing world, came undone How Brazils ruling Workers Party lost the workers Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world A Red Crescent aid worker inspects scattered medical supplies after an airstrike on a medical depot in the rebel-held Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo, Syria, on April 30. (Abdalrhman Ismail/Reuters) As a doctor in the war-ravaged hospitals of Aleppo, Rami Kalazi has long felt uneasy about his job. Many of his colleagues have been killed by airstrikes and snipers or snatched by suspected government thugs. But the hardest part has not been treating the wounded as medical supplies run desperately low and warplanes bomb indiscriminately. It is the anguish over his familys future, he said. Even though Kalazi has vowed to press on with the perilous work, he increasingly fears what his wife, Seba, and their young son would do if he were killed. An apparent Syrian government air raid that leveled Aleppos al-Quds hospital has compounded his agony. Among the more than 50 people killed in the attack was Mohammed Wasim Moaz, Kalazis friend and possibly the only pediatrician still working in the citys opposition-controlled districts. You work in such a dangerous place for a long enough time, then your chances of dying increase. Its even harder when you have a family, when people depend on you, said Kalazi, 30, a neurosurgeon from Aleppo who is among the few dozen doctors left to treat the roughly 250,000 residents living in the rebel-held areas of the city. Kalazis struggle illustrates the immense pressure bearing down on medical professionals who work in Syria and, in particular, Aleppo, the countrys largest city before civil war decimated much of it. Like many doctors who refuse to leave Syria, Kalazi sees his work in his home town as important for supporting the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. But the conflict, now in its sixth year, has worn Kalazi down as it takes an apocalyptic toll on the country. Before the civil war, Syrians had by regional standards a relatively well-functioning health sector. Now, many of the countrys hospitals lie in ruins while scores of doctors, nurses and other medical staff have been killed or fled abroad because of the fighting, which has left more than 250,000 people dead and displaced millions. Warring parties on both sides of the conflict have frequently and deliberately attacked medical professionals, rights groups and aid workers say. But they accuse the Syrian government and its allies notably Russia, which is carrying out airstrikes against rebels of systematically targeting doctors and hospitals in rebel areas. At least 664 medical workers, including doctors and nurses, have been killed by Syrias government, according to a report by Physicians for Human Rights, which also attributed at least 288 attacks on medical facilities to pro-Assad forces. The attacks have worsened the countrys dire humanitarian crisis. These attacks lead us to believe that there is a deliberate strategy not only to target doctors and medical facilities, but just about anything that supports day-to-day life, said Sam Taylor, a communications coordinator on Syria issues for Doctors Without Borders. The medical-aid group had supported al-Quds hospital. Ahmad Tarakji, president of the Syrian American Medical Society, said the Aleppo area now has about one doctor per 10,000 residents. And, he said, it has about 300 available hospital beds and struggles with acute shortages of medicine, causing preventable deaths, including dozens of children who recently succumbed to complications from bronchitis. 1 of 12 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad The scene after an airstrike in Aleppo View Photos An airstrike on a hospital supported by the aid group Doctors Without Borders has been destroyed in the Syrian city. At least 14 patients and medical workers are reported dead. Caption A strike on a hospital supported by the aid group Doctors Without Borders has been destroyed in the Syrian city. At least 14 patients and medical workers are reported dead. April 27, 2016 A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported airstrike in the northern city of Aleppo. Karam Al-Masri/AFP/Getty Images Wait 1 second to continue. Statistics on the government-controlled part of Aleppo are not available, but rebels also have targeted medical facilities. Days after the bombing of al-Quds hospital, opposition shelling of the government side of the city struck a hospital and a maternity clinic, killing at least three women. Kalazi, who works in the citys al-Suhor hospital, cited those issues and chronic electricity outages as major problems. The most ominous threat, he said, comes from above. His hospital has been hit by airstrikes multiple times, he said. Miraculously, though, the building has held together enough to allow a small staff of doctors and nurses to continue working there. Kalazi, in particular, dreads barrel bombs. Dropped by plane or helicopter, the oil drums filled with explosives and metal shrapnel sound as if they are tearing through the air when falling. The effect is literally earthshaking, he said. You hear this horrible sound, and then you freeze up because there is nowhere safe to go, Kalazi said. Suddenly, everything shakes like an earthquake, the lights go off. Everything is covered in dust. Then you spend your time searching through the debris to see if your colleagues are still alive. Kalazi described seemingly endless streams of casualties rolling into his operating room over the years, many of them dead on arrival. Boys as young as his son, 1-year-old Ahmed. Pregnant women. Entire families. Ill never forget this family that was brought to the hospital after the regime bombed their home, he said. There were seven kids and their parents. They were covered in dust. I remember seeing a baby, 3 months old, in his small clothes covered in dust. I tried desperately to revive them. They all died except for one little girl. A year ago, a bomb struck Kalazis family home, a short walk from the hospital. Seba and Ahmed were in the kitchen when the bomb hit but managed to emerge unscathed, even though their house was destroyed. The furniture was shredded. The ceiling caved in. I still dont know how they lived, he said. After that, Seba and Ahmed moved in with her parents in the nearby province of Idlib. Kalazi met Seba at a peaceful anti-government rally in Aleppo back in 2011. As the initially unarmed revolt transformed into civil war, the violence against doctors worsened. Several of Kalazis physician friends in the city were arrested and killed in government detention, he said. Last year, another doctor friend was killed by shelling while walking to work. Even though a partial nationwide cease-fire has recently reduced fighting in Aleppo, pro-government forces have been on the verge of totally encircling rebel areas. Only one road connects opposition forces in the city to the outside. If captured by the government, Kalazi would be cut off from his family, whom he visits in Idlib for a week every month. When I go back to Aleppo, it feels like Im saying goodbye to Seba for the last time, he said. If the regime gets that road and Im there, I might never see her again. Read more: Airstrike destroys Syrian hospital amid fears of catastrophic turn in fighting Aleppo lost one of its last pediatricians in latest hospital bombing How the battle against the Islamic State is redrawing the map of the Middle East Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world FBI Director James B. Comey said Wednesday that the bureau did not purposely avoid a government process for determining whether it should share with Apple the way it cracked a terrorists iPhone. In March, the FBI purchased a tool that exploited an Apple software flaw to hack into the phone of a shooter from the attack last year in San Bernardino, Calif. Many observers expected the bureau to submit the method to a relatively new government process for figuring out when to share software flaws with tech firms so they can be fixed. But the bureau told the White House last month that its understanding of how a third party hacked the phone was so limited that there was no point in undertaking a government review. Comey said Wednesday that the bureau purchased only the tool, not the rights to the software flaw. The FBI, he said, was focused on getting into the phone. We did not in any form or fashion structure the transaction . . . with an eye toward avoiding the government review, he said. [FBI wont reveal method for hacking San Bernardino terrorists iPhonel] The FBI spent what Comey said was a lot of money to buy the tool from a company that specializes in such exploits. We bought what was necessary to get into that phone, and we tried not to spend more money than we needed to spend, he said, suggesting that further information about the exact flaws being exploited would have cost more. It might cost you a whole lot of money. And if your interest is in investigating a particular terrorist attack and getting into a particular phone, I dont know why you would spend that dough, Comey said. The bureau spent in the high six-figures, according to a person familiar with the matter. In my view, it was well worth it, Comey said. Comeys comments come a week after senior National Security Agency officials, in a meeting with privacy advocates and academics, described a different approach for how they handle software flaws. When the agency buys hacking tools or exploits from third parties, we try to avoid getting into situations where we dont know the underlying vulnerability or security flaw, a senior NSA official said, according to several participants at an unusual five-hour meeting last Thursday to discuss security and privacy issues. One NSA official said he was not aware that not submitting was an option, according to Kevin Bankston, director of the New Americas Open Technology Institute and one of about a dozen civil-society leaders present. Under the meetings ground rules, participants were allowed to relay comments but not to identify any speakers. The NSA comments were welcomed by the advocates and academics, who were concerned that software flaws left unfixed can put users at risk of having their computers or phones hacked by criminals or foreign governments. The FBI has found a way into San Bernardino Syed Farook's iPhone, and is now dropping bids to force Apple to help them crack into the phone. See all the latest developments in the case, and why the case isn't over yet. (Jhaan Elker/The Washington Post) Its heartening to hear that the NSA considers this vulnerability disclosure process to be a mandatory one in contrast to the FBI, which seems to view it as optional, Bankston said. This seems to indicate a greater level of technical sophistication at the NSA as compared to the FBI when it comes to understanding the cybersecurity risks of stockpiling the hacking tools that they buy. The review process existed on paper for at least six years but didnt become a reality until spring 2014. In this process, agencies including the FBI, the Justice Department and the NSA weigh whether newly discovered software flaws should be disclosed to the software-maker, balancing the need to gather intelligence against the harm to users if the vulnerability is left unresolved. In a statement, the FBI said the bureaus handling of the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists should not be interpreted as an indication of general FBI policy regarding the governments review process, which the FBI says it supports. Before the San Bernardino phone, officials in the White House-led group had never encountered a situation before in which an agency such as the FBI had purchased a tool and not the rights to the technical vulnerability, said one senior administration official. That was really the first time wed ever seen that, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a mostly hidden process. I suspect it wont be very common. The official said there have been instances where a software flaw thats purchased rather than discovered by an agency is submitted for review. For years, the NSA had its own process for deciding whether to disclose software flaws. Richard Dickie George, who ran the process for 15 years until he retired in 2011, said on average that three or four flaws were withheld a year, usually because the software-maker had gone out of business. The agency typically disclosed about 300 a year directly to vendors, said George, who was technical director for information assurance. In general, he said, it took several months for a company to patch the flaw during which time the agency could exploit it. In some cases, the agency waited as many as six months before disclosing to see whether the flaw would be useful to operators, he said. Participants at last weeks NSA gathering, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon Universitys Institute for Strategic Analysis, said they appreciated the agencys effort to engage. Peter Margulies, another meeting participant and a law professor at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., said the NSA officials remarks show the agency is well aware of how not reporting vulnerabilities to tech companies can leave the Internet as a whole . . . more vulnerable. But Faiza Patel, co-director of the Brennan Centers Liberty and National Security Program and also a meeting participant, said its tough to evaluate how well the process balances intelligence needs against Internet security because it remains mostly secret. On Wednesday, Comey also said that the bureau was working on a way to help state and local law enforcement agencies who might have similar phones they cannot unlock. The tool used in the San Bernardino case will work only on the iPhone 5C running an iOS 9 operating system. The 5c is an older model, meaning there are fewer such phones out there, so the demand for the tool is likely to be low. In fact, the bureau has about 500 phones it cannot unlock in criminal investigations and none, Comey said, are 5Cs running iOS 9. Last month, Apple for the first time received information about a software flaw from the FBI through the White House-led review process, as first reported by Reuters. Ali Haider Gilani, center, the son of a former prime minister of Pakistan, is escorted by Afghan Special Forces personnel from a helicopter in Kabul on May 11. (Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Looking exhausted in his T-shirt and long beard, the son of a former Pakistani prime minister whom U.S. and Afghan commandos rescued from al-Qaeda militants arrived home after three years in captivity. Ali Haider Gilani briefly thanked his rescuers during a news conference meant to illustrate a new spirit of friendship between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which have long disputed about how to deal with terrorists operating along their shared border. He then boarded a plane bound for Lahore, capital of Pakistans Punjab province. These sacrifices for someone from another country that shows the efforts of the Afghan government of bringing peace to our region, Gilani said after he was formally handed over to Pakistans ambassador to Afghanistan, Abrar Hussain. Im just looking forward to being reunited with my family and just getting back to a normal life. [U.S. and Afghan forces rescue Pakistani politician from al-Qaeda group] For Pakistans leaders, Gilani was one of the most high-profile figures caught in the countrys struggle against Islamist extremists over the past decade. Gilanis father, Yousuf Raza Gilani, served as prime minister from 2008 to 2012. U.S. military officials, who oversaw the raid against al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistans Paktika province, said Gilanis presence inside the compound was a surprise. The whereabouts of the former candidate for Parliament were unknown after gunmen snatched Gilani on May 9, 2013, as he was campaigning in the eastern city of Multan. On Wednesday, Afghanistans army chief of staff, Gen. Qadam Shah Shaheem, said U.S. and Afghan officials had learned that al-Qaeda was establishing a cell near the Pakistan border and planned the raid earlier this week. Four suspected al-Qaeda militants were killed during the operation. We managed to rescue this dear youth during the operation and officially hand him over to Pakistan, and we are glad for fulfilling our duty, Shaheem said. When Gilani landed in Lahore about two hours later, he was greeted by his brothers and other family members. He then received a police escort to his family residence. Crowds lined the motorcade route, showering his vehicle with pink rose petals. Craig reported from Islamabad, Pakistan. Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul contributed to this report. Read more: Pentagon looks at Afghan exit plans Pakistans prime minister is defying the clerics very carefully Did Pakistan secretly fund an attack on CIA officers in 2009? Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world On Tuesday, in an open military provocation, the Obama administration authorised the US Navy to send a guided-missile destroyer into the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone surrounding Chinese-held Fiery Cross Reef, located in the Spratly Island chain in the South China Sea. The operation was carried out on the fraudulent pretext of freedom of navigationthat is, the assertion by US imperialism that it has the right to send its military forces anywhere it chooses, at any time, in Chinese-claimed waters. Yesterdays action achieved its real aim of ratcheting up military tensions in the Asia-Pacific. The Chinese military responded by scrambling at least two J-11 fighter jets. Chinese pilots reportedly issued warnings to the American destroyer, the USS William P. Lawrence, to leave Chinese territory or face engagement. The Chinese Navy dispatched three warships, but there have been no reports that the rival vessels came into contact. These developments represent a sharp escalation. The US Navy carried out a freedom of navigation mission last October in Chinese-claimed waters around Subi Reef in the South China Sea and a second operation in January, near Triton Island in the Paracel Island chain. On those occasions, China did not react militarily but issued strongly-worded diplomatic protests. The response to the intrusion near Fiery Cross Reef indicates that, from this point on, US provocations will be engaged by Chinese forces, posing the danger of a military clash. Fiery Cross Reef is one of the most sensitive of all the disputed territories. It has been held by China since 1988, but is still claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan. Tensions have grown since 2011 as a result of the US pivot to Asia and Washingtons development of closer military ties with Vietnam and the Philippines. In 2014, China deployed several hundred troops to the reef and initiated a major project to reclaim land from the sea and turn it into a small artificial island. It has built a port and a 3,300-metre airfieldthe most southern airfield controlled by Beijing. In January 2016, civilian airliners successfully landed on the reef and it is now regularly used by Chinese military aircraft. The message from Washington sent by yesterdays operation is clear. US imperialism will continue to stoke up long-standing, competing claims over territory in the South China Sea to militarily encircle and destabilise the Chinese regime. The objective of the US ruling elite is not only to assert military dominance in Asia, but to intimidate Beijing into pulling back from its ambitions to exert greater global influence and compel it to make sweeping concessions to American demands on trade and access to Chinese markets. If Beijing nevertheless continues to assert the regional and global interests of the Chinese business oligarchs it represents, it will face war. The timing of the freedom of navigation operation indicates that the message was intended as much for the allies and strategic partners of the United States as it was for the Chinese regime. It could be only a matter of days before the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague brings down its ruling on a US-backed Philippines legal challenge to aspects of Chinas claims in the South China Sea. The court, stacked with the legal appointees of the imperialist powers, is expected to declare Chinese occupation of certain islets and reefs illegal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Such a finding will be used by the American government to justify even more aggressive military operations, most of which will be launched from the new bases to which it has access in the Philippines. Short-range A-10 assault aircraft are operating from airfields directly adjacent the South China Sea and warships can be dispatched from various Philippine ports. The USS William P. Lawrence entered Chinese-held waters just hours after Rodrigo Duterte, the fascistic mayor of Davao City, claimed victory in Mondays presidential election in the Philippines. Throughout the campaign, Duterte wavered between militarist rhetoric over the disputed territories and conciliatory offers to Beijing for bilateral negotiations and closer economic ties. The US operation is a signal that, by the time he is sworn in on June 30, Dutertes administration will face a fait accompli. The Philippines will be on the front line of a build-up toward open confrontation. The freedom of navigation mission also coincides with the beginning of a volatile and unpredictable election in Australia, one of the most critical allies and military partners of the United States in its pivot to Asia. The clear aim of the Australian political and media establishment has been to conduct the election with as little reference to the dangers of war as possible. Instead, the issue is being pushed into the limelight and the rival parties pressured to publicly reaffirm their full backing of Washington. Defence Minister Marise Payne, representing the Liberal-National Coalition government, immediately asserted that Australia strongly supports the US actions. The opposition Labor Party, which aligned Australia with the pivot in 2011 when it was in government, and is on record as advocating that Australian warships carry out independent provocations against China, is now under pressure to do likewise. US President Obama will seek to enlist Vietnam behind stepped-up military operations against Beijing during his state visit to the country on May 21. This will be followed by top level talks in Japan on May 2627 with the heads of the six other G7 nationsJapan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Canadaas well as the head of the European Union. To the fury of China, the communique issued by the G7 foreign ministers summit in April for the first time declared the G7s opposition to any actions that raised tensions in the South and East China seas. The statement of Washingtons NATO and Japanese allies was not a reference to the US provocations, but to Chinas reaction. The deployment of jet fighters against a US warship indicates that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime concluded it would escalate its own reactionary preparations for a military confrontation with the war machine of the US and its allies. It is seeking to defend the interests of the corrupt oligarchy that developed in China as Mao Zedong and his political heirs restored capitalist property relations from the 1970s. The actions of the CCP regime are diametrically opposed to the interests of the working classabove all the multi-million strong Chinese working class which, if war breaks out, would face the nightmarish prospect of US nuclear strikes. The Chinese Defense ministry has announced that Beijing is going to further intensify tensions. It declared yesterday that the American actions proved that the construction of military infrastructure and deployment of forces in the South China Sea was totally justified and very necessary. China, it asserted, will increase its naval and air operations in the region and expand its placement of various defense capacities. While the regime deploys its military in an ever-more fraught situation, the Chinese state-controlled media is attempting to generate nationalist fervor over the question of the disputed territory. The aim is both to divert steadily rising social tensions over inequality and economic slump into anti-American and anti-Japanese chauvinism, and to drown out any expression of alarm within the Chinese population over the implications of a war. In every countryfrom the US and China to Japan, Australia, the Philippines and Vietnama catastrophic conflict is being prepared behind the backs of the working class and youth. This stark reality adds ever greater urgency to the fight to build a new international anti-war movement of the working class on the foundation of socialist and internationalist principles. The author also recommends: Socialism and the Fight Against War Build an International Movement of the Working Class and Youth Against Imperialism! Statement of the International Committee of the Fourth International [18 February 2016] Two days after a striking Verizon worker was run down by a uniformed New York City police lieutenant escorting strikebreakers through a picket line, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) is largely remaining silent on the violent attack, which has also gone unreported in the corporate-controlled media. A call placed by the WSWS to CWA Local 1109 in Brooklyn, New York revealed that the injured worker, James Smith, was currently still in the hospital and set to undergo further tests of his injuries. Hes not doing too good, said a union spokesperson at Local 1109 of Smiths injuries. On Monday morning picketers were protesting at the City View Inn in the New York City borough of Queens, where Verizon was housing strikebreakers reportedly from Kentucky. After a lengthy and angry standoff, the NYPD decided to evacuate the scabs from the hotel and loaded them up in police vans and unmarked vehicles, driven by the cops themselves. As one vehicle sped through the picket line it struck the parked car that James was in before continuing without stopping. Strikers have reported that the driver was a police lieutenant from the 108th Precinct in Long Island City. The incident has shed light on the strikebreaking operation being coordinated by Mayor Bill de Blasio who has dispatched hundreds of police on behalf of Verizon to spy on strikers, escort scabs and herd striking workers behind metal barricades, regularly used against protesters in the city. The incident exposes the phony claims of support by Democrats, from Hillary Clinton to Bernie Sanders, and reveals the anti-working class character of the unions alliance with the Democrats. The government-backed strikebreaking underscores the criminal character of the isolation of the month-long strike by the CWA, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and the rest of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions. The WSWS also called the national and district offices of the CWA inquiring what action it planned regarding the NYPDs violence against workers. The national office would not speak to the WSWS while a spokesperson named Pete at the district office advised WSWS reporters that it would not be a good idea to pursue the matter. In a teleconference with striking workers Monday night CWA District 2-13 Vice President Edward Mooney did not say a word about the incident. Instead he tried to sow complacency telling workers that Verizon could not replace 39,000 striking workers and that all they had to do is hang on one day longer than the company. Asked about the companys strikebreaking operation, Mooney said, I know that it is concerning, but he tried to reassure workers by saying the CWA was working with city governments and police departments in major urban centers. Striking Verizon workers in New York City denounced the attack, which was a chilling reminder of the violence used against workers in previous strikes, including the 1989 murder of striking NYNEX worker Edward Gerry Horgan. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Verizon worker in Virginia told the WSWS Verizon Strike Newsletter, We would never have known about this if not for your web site. The worker said immediately after reading the WSWS article he contacted his local union executive board but was informed that they knew nothing about it. Whats the deal here, when these incidents happen, no ones informed? Why arent they trying to contact every major media outlet they can find about this? he asked, noting that it appeared that the union was trying to preserve its relations with the Democratic Party. What this correlates to is the death of Gerry [Horgan] in 1989, where the daughter of a manager drove through the picket line and ran him over. Was anyone ever punished for that? No. Did the company make payments to his family? Who knows, he said. This whole thing is a debacle, Im seriously considering not going on the picket line anymore, Im sick of us not knowing whats going on, I was at this [teleconference] call last night; Im sick and tired of Mooney cursing out the company and calling them cowards, Ive heard it before, I hear it every week. Wheres the resolution? he added. One Verizon striker, who also wished to remain anonymous, said, We are really concerned about strikebreakers, and we have to be careful. There was an incident recently where a scab was threatening a striker with a machete. You know a lot of these guys are from the South, and you dont know if they might have a knife or a gun on them. Ive also heard that the scabs are getting paid double what we used to get. They call us greedy, but they are getting double. This is ridiculous. You can tell the company just thinks about this as a game, that they are trying to break us. George Bloom, an inside technician with 18 years of experience, asked about the use of scabs, stated, I think Verizon is testing the will of the membership, and that is why they provoked a strike and took away our health care. You see that the company is always threatening to replace us. Corporate America has the upper hand right now. Martin, a field technician, said, I think the company did something similar last strike. They were hiring off-duty cops to help move the scabs around. It is clear this strike isnt getting mainstream attention. I remember we had a big march to in Manhattan to Wall Street, and there might have been a few thousand people there. I saw a Channel 7 van at the rally, but all the headlines didnt show us. When I looked it just said Verizon strikers sabotage Verizon network. They probably wouldnt have covered us at all if Sanders hadnt come to a picket line. When we are out here you can tell a lot of people support us, but when I am at the picket line near Wall Street it is not like that. You see that a lot fewer people are sympathetic to us, and they are the ones with all the money. All these companies are outsourcing, and it is hurting the middle class. You see that they are squeezing the workers, and that is what they want. I hear that Verizon turned down a million dollar deal with New York State to install FIOS in rural areas, and it is all because that would create jobs. Their main concern is busting us. The ability to communicate with people around the world is something everyone should have. Now because of what the companies are doing, Im not sure who will be able to afford these products. When a WSWS reporter pointed out that the union was keeping the strike isolated, Martin agreed, adding, I see places like in Greece they all go out together, but here it is different. In the last strike [in 2011] we marched with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, but when we went back to work that stopped. A Verizon striker with 20 years speaking about the striker who was hit by a van said, I saw the video on Facebook. The cops did not call the ambulance right away. This company makes more than a billion dollar profits a month. That is after the $20 million salaries that the executives get. This strike is going nowhere. Verizon acts like the strike doesnt affect them. Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders came to the picket lines, but what good does that do us. I would like to see transnational unity between workers. Bryan, with 20 years at the company, said, It was a police officer who drove the vehicle protecting corporate interests. Other companies such as Con Ed, whose contract is expiring, is looking at what happens with this strike. This new CEO is very aggressive against the workers. The WSWS Verizon Strike Newsletter also spoke with striking workers in Pennsylvania. It boils down to job security, Don who has worked 16 years for Verizon said at a picket line in Mechanicsburg. Verizon wants to push call centers overseas. No reason why they have to lay off our staff, and then force employees to travel over 30 miles. They are now pushing for 85 miles. Another picketing worker interjected, If we take what they are offering, we are going to lose money because health care benefits are going to go up. They are saying a pay increase, but then they arent telling us how much health care is going to cost. They also want us to travel up to 100 miles. Don also talked about the toothless picket strategy. Verizon Corporate filed a court injunction to only allow a maximum of six people in front of the property. We were supposed to go out to the highway and picket, but then they allowed us to do it here [in front of the Verizon Wireless store]. New Delhi (AFP) - Doctors in India on Wednesday raised ethical and health concerns after a woman gave birth to her first child in her 70s, following two years of IVF treatment. Daljinder Kaur gave birth last month to a healthy boy after falling pregnant by her 79-year-old husband, following fertility treatment at a northern Indian clinic. Kaur said the couple, married for 46 years, were overjoyed at finally having their first child after enduring years of taunts in a country where infertility is sometimes seen as a curse from God. I feel blessed to be able to hold my own baby. I had lost hope of becoming a mother ever, Kaur told AFP from her home in Amritsar city. I used to feel empty. There was so much loneliness. Kaur put her age at about 70 a common scenario in India, where many people dont have birth certificates while the clinic said in a statement that she was 72. But fertility expert Sunil Jindal raised questions about the future of a child born to elderly parents, as well as health issues for the mother. There are ethical issues. In my opinion it is unfair to do such a procedure on a woman who is over 60, Jindal told AFP. The sheer fact that a woman in her 70s has to carry the weight of a child in her womb for nine months is stressful. "Then the question comes how are the parents going to look after the baby? That is also quite a task. The clinic, in the northern state of Haryana, told AFP the couples baby was conceived using Kaurs egg and her husbands sperm after two previous unsuccessful attempts. But Britains the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday quoted the clinics doctor saying donor eggs were used. The doctor declined to comment to AFP on Wednesday, saying it was not ethical of him to do so. Gynaecologist Anshu Jindal, based in Meerut not far from the capital, said she tried to discourage women over the age of 60 from undergoing fertility treatment for the sake of both mother and child. According to me it is not an age to have a baby. It will take a toll, she told AFP. The clinics doctor told AFP on Tuesday that tests showed Kaur was medically fine to carry the baby through pregnancy. The case is not the first in India a 72-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh state reportedly gave birth to twins in 2008, also through IVF. The dead heat is on. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are locked in a virtual tie in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to a new Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released Tuesday. Playing key roles in the tight races are Clinton's "historic weakness among white men" and a "massive" gender gap that benefits Trump. "Republicans' weakness among minority voters is well known. But the reason this race is so close overall is Clinton's historic weakness among white men," says Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the independent Quinnipiac Poll. "In Florida, she is getting just 25 percent from white men." RELATED VIDEO: What You Need to Know About Trump Clinching the Republican Nomination The poll shows Clinton is leading Trump by a single point in both Florida (43 percent to 42 percent) and Pennsylvania (43 percent to 42 percent ), while Trump is leading Clinton by 43 percent to 39 percent in Ohio. Brown jokes that a general election showdown between Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, and Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, "may be good for divorce lawyers." "The gender gap is massive and currently benefits Trump," Brown notes. "In Pennsylvania, Clinton's 19-point lead among women matches Trump's 21-point margin among men. In Ohio, she is up 7 points among women but down 15 points with men. In Florida she is up 13 points among women but down 13 points among men." And don't count Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders out yet the Vermont senator has narrow leads over Trump in all three key states. Since 1960, no candidate has won the presidential race without taking at least two of these three states, according to the poll. But six months from Election Day, the races between Clinton and Trump in the three crucial states are still "too close to call," says Brown. Donald Trump has won the Republican presidential primary in West Virginia, adding to his claim on the GOP's nomination. The billionaire businessman became the party's presumptive nominee after his victory last week in Indiana, which led his last remaining rivals to drop out of the race. Hillary Clinton was rallying supporters in Louisville shortly before the polls were closing in West Virginia's Democratic primary. She made no mention of the West Virginia race, where she faces Democratic rival Bernie Sanders. She was urging Kentucky voters to "have a big vote" next week in the state's presidential primary to help her campaign "get ready to go all the way to November." As for presumptive Republican nominee Trump, she said at the campaign event in Louisville, Kentucky that she is looking forward to debating. Clinton predicts Republicans will "throw everything including the kitchen sink at me" in the general election, but the Democratic front-runner has a message for them: "They've done it for 25 years and I'm still standing." Read More: Cristela Alonzo's Plea to Stop Donald Trump: "It's Personal to Me Now" (Guest Column) Robert Downey Jr. in 1987s Less Than Zero, the time in the actors life digital effects pros targeted for a scene that turns back the clock on Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War By Carolyn Giardina, The Hollywood Reporter Robert Downey Jr. returns as present-day Tony Stark in Disney and Marvels Captain America: Civil War, but Downey fans can expect to feel a surge of nostalgia when, in one flashback, he appears onscreen looking very much as he did in films from the 80s, like 1987s Less Than Zero. The teenage Tony Stark was created by artists at Lola VFX using the latest digital tricks. The company has earned a reputation for such work, having also de-aged Brad Pitts title character in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (a film that won an Oscar for its visual effects). Marvel also employed the facility to create a younger version of Michael Douglas in last summers Ant-Man. Related: 'Captain America: Civil War Ending: Whats Next for the Fallen Heroes? For the scene in Civil War, the process started during production with Downey performing the scene. Instead of completely replacing the actor with a digital double, this method allowed us to retain the actors performance and nuances, Trent Claus, visual effects supervisor at Lola VFX, tells The Hollywood Reporter. Then we began to adjust the on-set footage of Tony Stark through digital compositing. That process is akin to using Photoshop on a still image. Says Claus: It is a similar process to Photoshop that uses some similar tools, but unlike Photoshop which is done on a single image, we have 24 frames per second of footage. "Every feature of the face and body needed to be addressed in some fashion, he says of the work that went into creating the youthful Tony. One thing that happens to all of us is that the skin of the face gradually lowers in certain areas, and needs to be 'lifted back to where it was at the age in question. But other changes are incredibly subtle, such as increase in the way light reflects off the sheen of the skin, a reduction in the appearance of tiny blood vessels under the surface of some parts of the face, or more blood flow in the cheeks giving them that familiar youthful 'glow. Story continues De-aging a character by a span of 25-30 years can affect skin texture and complexion and can involve characteristics such as bone structure or posture, Claus explains. Additionally, when working with the appearance of a well-known actor such as Robert Downey Jr., there is the added pressure of living up to the youthful appearance that audiences remember, he says. In this case, we analyzed footage of Mr. Downey at the approximate age that we wanted to target, which was around the time of the film Less Than Zero [when Downey was in his early 20s]. Related: How the 'Captain America: Civil War Airport Battle Was Filmed and Why Its a Prelude to 'Avengers: Infinity War The particular shot was also challenging because of its length and because it involved a close-up. Says Claus: The shot was nearly 4,000 frames long, with Tony Stark turning from one side to the other multiple times, physically interacting with other actors and the set itself, and moving closer to the camera for a very long, uninterrupted close-up. Claus and other VFX pros are increasingly being asked to employ such digital tricks. Creatives are finding more and more uses for it, says Eric Barba, who was at Digital Domain when he served as the Oscar-winning VFX supervisor of Benjamin Button and who currently works at Industrial Light & Magic in Vancouver. It allow actors to play earlier versions of themselves. But such digital work isnt being used only to allow an actor to play a character decades young than himself. Theres also whats called beauty work in effect, providing actors with digital facelifts a practice many in Hollywood would prefer to keep secret. The not-so-obvious examples are probably under confidentiality, says Barba. There are certain stars that you are not allowed to talk about when that type of work is done maybe slimming a little bit or cleaning up some imperfections. Its much more common than anyone realizes; this is the extension of whats done for magazine covers, says research professor Paul Debevec, who leads the Graphics Lab at the University of Southern Californias Institute for Creative Technologies. Related: 'Captain America: Civil War: Robert Downey Jr. Talks Seeing His Beautiful Younger Self Onscreen As digital technology has become more affordable, if its a major actor, you can do that for every frame of a film, adds Debevec, who also co-chairs the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences SciTech Council. Of course one of the worries is that actors are going to have this Dorian Gray problem because the image that we have of them in the films is going to diverge further and further from the way that they look in real life. So they are going to have more trouble on the talk shows and on the red carpet, until those too can be touched up in real time with a yet-to-be invented technology. Its not just about freshening up a face either. VFX techniques can also be used to create everything up to a full digital double of an actor. Those tend to be created for safety reasons, where a stunt would be either dangerous or simply impossible; or in the delicate situation of the death of an actor. Weta Digital undertook the task of completing Paul Walkers performance in 2015s Furious 7 after his unexpected death. Thats a whole other level of complexity, Debevec explains. Its not a matter of digital makeup but actually re-creating a digital version of the person that is three-dimensional, animate-able, and relight-able. [In these instances], if you can base it on facial scans, thats the best thing to do. Related: Captain America: Civil War Film Review USCs ICT has developed a light-stage system (a sphere of hundreds of LED lights thats used to create a high-res, 3D scan) that has already been used to scan actors for films from Avatar to Gravity Downey himself underwent such a scan when it looked as if he would be starring in Gravity. We first scanned him for Gravity [before George Clooney was recast as Matt Kowalski], and the scan ended up getting used in Iron Man movies instead, says Debevec. ILM is using a facial-capture system called Medusa, which was developed by Disney Research in Zurich. We have been putting it to use in production and helping them advance it, says Barba. Some productions now create 3D scans of lead actors as a matter of course. Explained VFX supervisor Scott Squires in a previous interview with THR: If theres any inkling that you might need a scan, they scan the actor at the start of production. Ive also heard of certain studios having actors scanned just as an archival thing. Watch Robert Downey Jr. in his younger days in the Less Than Zero trailer: Twitters Pitch to China: We May Be Blocked, But You Can Still Buy Our Ads The Chinese government may not like Twitter, but Twitter clearly loves China. Or rather, advertising dollars from Chinese companies. Thats why the company is having a significant presence at CES Asia in Shanghai this week, where it is trying to pitch itself as the connection to global culture. Twitter is the only Western social media company that has its own booth on the CES Asia show floor, and the company held a session as part of CES Asias conference program Wednesday titled From Chinese firms to global brands. We hope that in the future, Twitter will have more cooperations with Chinese companies trying to go abroad, said Cathy Chen, Twitters new GM of Greater China, during the event, which also featured Aliza Knox, the companys VP of online sales for Asia and Latin America. Cathy Chen, Twitters new Greater China GM, speaking at CES Asia Janko Roettgers / Variety However, doing business in China is never easy for Western companies. Thats ever more true for Twitter, which is still being blocked by Chinas great firewall, which means that most Chinese consumers have no easy way of accessing the service. There are ways around the censorship, but in the absence of a critical mass of users, it simply doesnt warrant the effort for many Chinese. Instead, theyre flocking to Chinese competitors like Weibo. That leaves Twitter in a bit of a conundrum. The company doesnt seem willing to give up on its commitment to free speech and censor its service for Chinese users, but it would still love to get Chinese companies to buy ads to reach overseas Chinese and other consumers in markets around the world. But many of the executives at these companies may not be active Twitter users, either. Thats why Chens and Knoxs talk at CES Asia at times felt like a Twitter 101, with Knox referencing anyone from Radiohead to Stephen Curry to Elon Musk as examples for successful Twitter usage. She also highlighted some data points that made Twitter look good, including its monthly worldwide audience of 820 million users a number that includes logged-out users. Twitter has long struggled to grow its base of logged-in users. Story continues Chens hire, which was officially announced last month, can also be seen as a commitment to China, but it also illustrates how doing business in the country could backfire for Twitter. Free speech activists criticized her past membership in the Peoples Liberation Army, as well as her work for a security company that reportedly was involved in building the very censorship software that now blocks Chinese consumers from accessing Twitter and other services. Twitter declined to make Chen available for an interview for this story. Related stories Miraffe Proves That Augmented Reality Doesn't Have to Be Complicated or Creepy Twitter's Stock Is a Victim of Facebook's Success Rupert Murdoch MIA From Twitter, But Can He Stay Away Forever? Jeff Bezos Good morning. Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. Yahoo wiped out the entire value of the mystery company it bought for $23 million last year. Yahoo still has not disclosed the name of the company or the rationale behind that particular transaction, but it did reveal on Tuesday that the entire value had been written off. 2. Netflix cuts out over 6 days of commercials from your life per year, compared to cable TV. The company has always maintained that killing ads provides a better experience for its subscribers, and shows no signs of changing that position. 3. These are the 10 most popular 360-degree Facebook videos of 2016 so far. Since September, Facebook hosted 360-degree videos that let the user move their phone around or click around their computer screen to change the camera angle as they play. 4. Budweiser plans to completely rebrand itself to "America" this summer. The new label will also give increased prominence to the Latin phrase which appears on the American seal: "E Pluribus Unum" meaning "One out of many." 5. Advertising legend Sir John Hegarty explains the danger of opting for "content" over old-fashioned ads. The much-lauded Oreo "Dunk in the dark" tweet was "s----," according to the BBH founder. 6. The UK ad regulator has received complaints about online fashion retailer Lyst offering dogs "for sale" as handbag accessories. Lyst's "Canine Collection" was a PR stunt. 7. Amazon is launching a YouTube competitor. Amazon Video Direct will let creators earn money from royalties and advertising for videos they upload, based on minutes streamed. 8. Baidu's CEO told staff to put "values before profits." Robin Li made the comments in a letter sent to employees, after the search engine was ordered to reduce the number of ads it includes in search results by the government regulator. 9. This candy company is ready to cash in on a viral mashup of two iconic treats. Hershey's may have a mega-hit on its hands, as rumors that a Reese's Pieces-Reese's Peanut Butter Cup will debut this summer are already going viral. Story continues 10. Amazon stock surged past $700 to set a new all-time high. The stock price of $701.38 was above the previous all-time high of $693.97, which Amazon hit in intraday trading on December 29. NOW WATCH: Humans are finally starting to understand the octopus, and its mind-boggling More From Business Insider In a development thats likely to make you feel older than MySpace, what may be one of the watershed moments early in the era of the viral Internet has just passed its 10-year anniversary, and the Twitterverse has been having fun remembering. Its now more than a decade since Congolese job hopeful Guy Goma found himself offering his not-so-expert analysis of a legal dispute between Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.) and Apple Corp, The Beatles record label, over trademark rights. Goma, after arriving at the BBCs West London headquarters for an interview for a job in the IT department on May 8, 2006, was mistaken for a studio guest, British technology journalist Guy Kewney, and ushered all the way into a live BBC News 24 studio. Looking baffled and nervously eying the cameras, the wrong Guy proceeded to have a go at answering presenter Karen Bowermans questions about the future of downloading. Ten years on, his answers seem actually quite prescient. (Remember, this was 2006, the same year Facebook became available to anyone other than college students, and the year before Netflix began streaming video into peoples homes.) Actually, if you can go everywhere youre gonna see a lot of people downloading through Internet and the website, everything they want, he said, adding: It is going to be an easy way for everyone to get something through the Internet. Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f85367%2fsnow-white Move over Prince Charming, Prince Jack Jack has arrived. Once upon a time, on a trip to Disney World back in November, Amanda Coley had the heartwarming pleasure of watching her two-year-old autistic and nonverbal son, Jackson, fall deeply in love with Snow White. SEE ALSO: Service dog's day is made when he meets Pluto at Disneyland On their vacation, the teary-eyed mom attempted to take pictures of the lovestruck Jackson, aka Jack Jack, as he bonded with Snow White. Luckily, her husband was able to capture a precious video of their son swooning over the Disney princess, which they recently posted to YouTube for all to enjoy. "He was having nothing to do with any of the characters...You see, he has autism and is non-verbal," Coley explained in the video caption. "He is on the shy side with people he does not know. Then he met Snow White. I must have cried 1,000 tears watching his interaction with her. He was in love," she wrote. "I felt so happy," Coley said to Mashable via social media. "I wanted to sit there and watch their interaction for hoursit was so amazing to witness." Image: AMANDA COLEY/DISNEY ADVENTURES & AUTISM/FACEBOOK "Jack Jack had not seen Snow White before," she said. "He does not care much for watching movies, though he loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We figured Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy would be the only characters he'd recognize." Though Jack Jack had never seen anything Snow White related before the trip, she was the only character he truly seemed to take to. "He likes to admire the characters from a little further away. My 13-year-old got him out of the stroller to take him up to Snow White...to our shock, he did not run," Coley said. "He leaned on her, sat with her and just kept gazing at her. He was just so content. Image: Amanda Coley/disney adventures & autism/facebook Story continues Coley received so much positive feedback after posting the video online that she created a Facebook page, Disney Adventures & Autism, to continue sharing special moments from the family's annual trips to Orlando. Although the family has left Disney World, Snow White clearly hasn't left Jack Jacks heart. He frequently watches the video of their "love at first sight" moment. "We watched it 18 times in a row the other day," Coley told Mashable. "It seems to really put him in a calm state. He is so settled and happy to watch it." The family is planning another trip to Disney World in November, so hopefully Jack Jack and Snow White will have yet another magical moment. Sagar Bhanushali The latest-gen Hyundai Tucson arrived here in India at the 2016 Auto Expo, a year after its global debut at the 2015 New York Motor Show. Featuring a fresh design, quality interiors and underpinnings that are far more superior to what we have seen in previous-gen Hyundai crossovers, the new Tucson is scheduled for launch later this year. The crossover was recently caught on test somewhere in Chennai. The 2016 Tucson has been designed using Hyundais Fluidic design language and as a result, it not only looks significantly more stylish but also quite bigger compared to the old model. Inside, the cabin design may seem less striking compared to some high-end Hyundais, but there is no denying that the quality would be up there with the class best. The 2016 Tucson is longer, wider and has a longer wheelbase than the old model for better interior volume and versatility. Hyundai currently sells the Tucson globally with a range of engine and gearbox options. For India, the brand is likely to choose their 180bhp 2-litre diesel engine and a dual-clutch automatic gearbox as the prime option. The old Tucson had a disappointing sales run in the Indian market despite the lack of rivalry. The 2016 model, however, will face stiff competition from other premium crossovers like the SsangYong Rexton and the Skoda Yeti. When launched, the Tucson will be positioned in between the Creta and the Santa Fe in Hyundai Indias crossover line-up. Image source_ Motoroids For more news,reviews,videos and information about cars, visit CarWale.com. Check On-Road Prices | Find New Cars | Upcoming Cars | Compare Cars | Dealer Locator Some long-running automotive nameplates are constantly updated in an attempt to remain relevant. Not the Toyota Land Cruiser. The Land Cruiser scoffs at change. Aside from ditching its old-school solid front axle and venerated inline six-cylinder back in 1998, the Cruisers updates have largely focused on creature comforts and sheetmetal revisions. When the current iteration (a J200 in Toyota-speak) appeared in 2008 with a 5.7-liter V-8 replacing the previous 4.7-liter V-8, it had been nearly a decade in the making. Toyota performed a mild refresh in 2013, whereupon it took the opportunity to cram it chock-full of nearly every infotainment and electronic safety-nanny feature in the Toyota canon. For the 2016 model year, Toyota decided to get really crazy and update the Land Cruiser with a revised front fascia, front fenders, and lighting elements, making it look freshfrom the windshield forward, at least. It also swapped out the six-speed automatic for an eight-speed unit and brought the electro-wizardry up to date again. Change may come slowly to the Land Cruiser, but the king of the off-road mountain cant stand pat while others innovate. The Crown Rests Heavy At 5926 pounds as tested, theres no getting around the Land Cruisers heft. But as with a classic revolver or a quality hand tool, every ounce earns its keep. You notice it instantly. The interior door latches, for instance, feel and operate as if they were designed for demanding environments. A high, flat floor to allow ground clearance necessitates a legs forward seating position, and while there is elbow and shoulder room to spare, headroom can be a little tight for those much over six feet tall. The beltline is low and your torso high, providing what they referred to in the early days of SUV-mania as a commanding view. The second row is spacious enough to seat a trio of corn-fed Midwesterners in relative comfort, but while Toyota says the third-row seats also offer room for three, our experience indicates their use is best reserved for dire predicaments such as having young children who need to go somewhere. That said, we find their distinctive fold-to-the-side functionality a nice nod to the Cruisers past, even if they arent as space-efficient as some fold-flat third-row setups. All passengers, regardless of seating position, will enjoy the standard leather interior surfaces. Story continues With 381 horsepower and 401 lb-ft of torque on tap from the naturally aspirated 5.7-liter V-8, the Land Cruiser will never be in danger of ending up on a podium at the drag strip. But just because it cant keep pace with the likes of the 6.2-liter-equipped Cadillac Escalade doesnt mean its pathologically pokey. Employing the well-spaced ratios of the new-for-16 eight-speed automatic, we managed to hustle it to 60 mph in 6.7 seconds utilizing the time-tested brake-torque technique for the best launch. The quarter-mile fell in 15.1 seconds, the Cruiser clearing the traps at 93 mph. For the record, thats 0.2 second slower to 60 mph but the same quarter-mile elapsed time (albeit 1 mph slower) as when we tested a six-speed Cruiser back in 2008. All the same, getting to 60 mph in less than seven seconds is impressive for a vehicle initially conceived as a wheeled alternative to the pack mule. Speaking of pack mules, the Land Cruiser still relies on its time-proven, full-time four-wheel-drive system, with driver input limited to the choice of either high- or low-range selections via a console-mounted dial. The limited-slip center differential is a Torsen unit that runs a default 40/60 front-to-rear torque split but can send more grunt fore or aft as needed. Toyotas Active Traction Control (A-TRAC) employs both brake and throttle intervention to help control wheelspin, while a collection of driver-selected settings (Multi-Terrain, Mogul, Crawl, Downhill Assist, and Hill-Start Assist) can optimize the drivetrain for different types of tough terrain. We found a muddy riverfront area to play in but couldnt find a hole messy enough to stop the Land Cruiser, let alone necessitate the use of low range. Later, we barreled through a typical Michigan freak spring snow/hailstorm at highway speeds in quiet, secure comfort. For our final act of derring-do, we darted down an abandoned railroad siding, which, based on our relatively low contusion count, underscored the finer points of an independent front suspension and tall-ish tire sidewalls when negotiating rough surfaces. Flogging and Cruising While flogging the Cruiser may yield minor off-road giggles, the experience from the helm rarely approaches anything that could be considered edgy. Every motion is deliberate, and, as youd expect of an abuse-swilling vehicle bordering on three tons, the steering feels heavy. Reasonably direct and with a nice on-center valley, it nonetheless acts as if the steering fluid has been replaced with cough syrup. Just for laughsno, we werent sampling the cough syrupwe wheeled the Cruiser onto our 300-foot cornering-test circle, where its weight, tires, and undefeatable stability control conspired to limit grip to 0.74 g. Stomping hard on the brake pedal produced 184-foot stops from 70 mph, and repeated attempts revealed no fade. Capable of towing 8100 pounds, the Land Cruiser also features Trailer Sway Control, which uses the stability-control system to cancel those unnerving side-to-side oscillations while pulling a load. Surprisingly, the big guy returned 14 mpg in our hands, nearly matching its 15-mpg EPA combined number. EPA city and highway estimates are 13 and 18 mpg, respectively. Toyota is proud of its well-equipped Land Cruiser andin a refreshing twistdoesnt leave many options on the table. Standard kit includes the upgraded-for-2016 Entune head unit with 14-speaker JBL Synthesis audio, a 9.0-inch touchscreen with Siri Eyes Free voice-recognition tech, and 11.6-inch screens for the rear passengers. The Qi wireless inductive charging pad will please phone junkies who use the feature. The standard Safety Sense P system added this year includes a pre-collision warning, pedestrian detection, and automatic emergency braking. Lane-departure warning, automatic high-beams, and radar-based active cruise control also aid the driver in negotiating the perils of automotive travel. In a sign that this new technology has been added onto an older vehicle, however, the adaptive cruise annoyingly doesnt operate all the way down to a stop. Still, we appreciate Toyota giving the driver the option to switch between active (with automatic braking to maintain the gap with the vehicle ahead) and standard cruise control. With options essentially limited to paint, floor mats, remote start, and a few other inconsequential items, one must work hard to add more than $2200 to the sticker. Our test example had only a cargo net ($49), a pair of wireless headphones ($80), and a set of all-weather floor mats ($250), adding $379 to its $84,820 base MSRP. (Buyers interested in spending more money, and some quality time with an order sheet, are advised to check out the Land Cruisers even more lavishly equipped cousin, the Lexus LX570). Despite Toyotas attempts to drag it into the 21st century, the Land Cruiser feels very much the product of an era when form followed function, cost be damned. The function in this case is the triple-pronged tenet of old-school SUV superiority: durability, reliability, and capability. The swank interior and layers of technology are just nice bonuses. Specifications > VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, 4-wheel-drive, 8-passenger, 4-door hatchback PRICE AS TESTED: $85,199 (base price $84,820) ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection Displacement: 346 cu in, 5663 cc Power: 381 hp @ 5600 rpm Torque: 401 lb-ft @ 3600 rpm TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode DIMENSIONS: Wheelbase: 112.2 in Length: 194.9 in Width: 77.9 in Height: 74.0 in Passenger volume: 141 cu ft Cargo volume: 16 cu ft Curb weight: 5926 lb C/D TEST RESULTS: Zero to 60 mph: 6.7 sec Zero to 100 mph: 17.6 sec Zero to 120 mph: 28.6 secRolling start, 560 mph: 7.1 sec Top gear, 3050 mph: 3.9 sec Top gear, 5070 mph: 5.1 sec Standing -mile: 15.1 sec @ 93 mph Top speed (C/D est): 130 mph Braking, 700 mph: 184 ft Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad*: 0.74 g FUEL ECONOMY: EPA city/highway driving: 13/18 mpg C/D observed: 14 mpg *Stability-control-inhibited Donald Trump cleaned up Tuesday in the West Virginia and Nebraska Republican primaries not exactly a shocker, since he's the only Republican still in the race for president. The Associated Press called the races for Trump when polls closed at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in West Virginia and 9 p.m. Eastern in Nebraska: BREAKING: Donald Trump wins the GOP #WestVirginiaPrimary. @AP race call at 7:30 p.m. EDT. #Election2016 #APracecallpic.twitter.com/3deSQO1Yi2 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiIdcVNWsAAFq-e.jpg:large BREAKING: Donald Trump wins the Republican #NebraskaPrimary. @AP race call at 9 p.m. EDT. #Election2016 #APracecallpic.twitter.com/31QJUu3CF5 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CiIx1-uWMAE8J-6.jpg:large Trump's closest rival for the nomination, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, suspended his campaign a week ago after a punishing loss in the Indiana primary. It was Cruz's seventh consecutive defeat to Trump. The third man left standing, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, quickly followed suit, hanging up his White House bid the following day. Ahead of the votes in West Virginia and Nebraska, Trump had amassed 1,068 of the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the GOP nomination. Cruz had 564 and Kasich had 153. Source: Steve Helber/AP Nebraska has 36 delegates at stake; West Virginia, 34. Even in limited polling of West Virginia, RealClearPolitics data showed Trump with a seemingly insurmountable 35.5% lead on average. Trump took the unusual step of telling Mountain State voters they didn't have to bother showing up for Tuesday's primary even with other competitive races on the ballot. While Trump's victory was all but assured, analysts will surely watch turnout rates and protest votes for candidates no longer in the running as a gauge of the presumptive nominee's ability to pull together a fractured GOP. Story continues Despite having suspended his campaign, Cruz said Tuesday on Glenn Beck's radio program he was open to getting back into the fray if he carried Nebraska and could see "a path to victory." He later told a Washington press scrum he still didn't see himself winning the Cornhusker State and had no desire to launch an independent campaign for the presidency. @TedCruz: I have no interest in a third-party runpic.twitter.com/igojXVJWj5 That might be a smart call. An ABC News analysis of preliminary exit polling showed, er, huge excitement among GOP voters about a Trump presidency, and "9 in 10 in West Virginia, and more than 8 in 10 in Nebraska, think it's likely Trump would beat Clinton in November." Those early exits had more good news for Trump, who as presumptive nominee is now charged with putting the fractured Republican Party back together after a vicious primary. "In a Trump-Clinton matchup, 9 in 10 in West Virginia and 8 in 10 in Nebraska say they'd vote for Trump; nearly all the rest say they'd sit it out," ABC News said. "That's much greater the unity on the Republican side than seen previously." From Cosmopolitan Police believe a Davenport, Iowa, woman attempted to flush her newborn down a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics toilet, the Gazette reports. Ashley Hautzenrader, 22, told police she did not know she was pregnant upon entering the bathroom and believed the baby was a stillborn because they were not crying when born. According to the Iowa City Press-Citizen, when Hautzenrader could not flush the baby, she reportedly put the baby in a pillowcase, left them in a trash can, and then cleaned up the bathroom. UIHC spokesman Tom Moore told the Press-Citizen the baby was found alive by a hospital employee "shortly after delivery." Police arrested Hautzenrader soon after the baby was found. Hautzenrader petitioned a paternity test and for child support for another child in May of 2015, WQAD reports. Because of federal health-care privacy law, the hospital could not say whether or not Hauztenrader was a patient at the time of delivery or comment on the baby's current condition. Moore explained to the Gazette that Iowa has a Safe Haven Law allowing parents to leave a newborn up to 14 days old at any location in a hospital without being prosecuted. Hautzenrader faces one count of child endangerment which is punishable by up to two years in prison. Follow Tess on Twitter. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump said that he wont release his tax returns before the November elections because theres nothing to learn from them. But in the decades-long history of presidential tax returns, voters have learned plenty of interesting things from the public release of the records. Heres a look at five interesting things in some recent presidential returns. Mitt Romney had a lot of money in an IRA When 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney released his tax returns, people discovered that he had between $20.7 million and $101.6 million tucked away in an IRA. The revelation puzzled even some private-equity experts, since the individual retirement account was capped by law at annual contributions of $30,000. Assuming Romney was maxing out pre-tax contributions, as should anyone who can afford to do so, he still would have needed extraordinary returns within his tax-deferred accounts to build such a big balance, TIMEs Dan Kadlec reported at the time. He must have been investing in stocks and other high-growth potential vehicles, which produce a capital gain. Barack Obama donated heavily to his controversial pastor Then-Senator Barack Obamas tax returns in 2008 showed a huge spike in charitable giving during his presidential run, The New York Times reports, as his income rose dramatically from book royalties. Some of the largest donations went to the Trinity United Church of Christ, whose controversial pastor Jeremiah Wright posed problems for Obama on the campaign trail. Wright had been Obamas pastor for nearly 20 years, TIMEs James Carney and Amy Sullivan wrote at the time. He had brought Obama into the church, helped him find his faith in God, officiated at Obamas wedding and baptized both his children. But Wright had also said a lot of incendiary things from his pulpit about America over the years, things that would be awkward to explain away for a politician hoping to unite the country and become the first African-American President of the United States. Obamas returns showed that he and his wife Michelle donated $27,500 to Wrights church in 2005 and 2006. Story continues The Clintons tax returns supported their narrative of the Whitewater land deal When President and First Lady Bill and Hillary Clinton released years of tax returns in 1994, some documents supported the White House narrative about their Whitewater land deal that had been plaguing them with scandal. Earlier that year James McDougal, the Clintons partner in the deal, suggested they had never invested more than $13,500 of their own money. That sounded suspiciously like Whitewater was a sweetheart deal in which McDougal, who later headed a buccaneering S&L, made most of the payments in return for just what, exactly? TIMEs Richard Lacayo wrote at the time. But the First Couples tax returns from 1978 and 1979 show that they had actually invested enough money to claim about $22,000 in Whitewater-related deductions. George H. W. Bush gave most of his income to charity According to Mother Jones, President George H. W. Bushs 1991 tax returns show that he donated almost 62% of his $1.3 million income to charity in 1991. His gift recipients included the Yale Class of 1948 fund, the Desert Storm Foundation and the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Richard Nixon took a huge amount of deductions In 1970, President Richard Nixon and his wife made more than $200,000. They paid only $792.81 in federal income taxes. As TIME reported in 1973, The deductions, if startling, were proper and permissible. The biggest deducation of $570,000 covered the gift of Nixons vice-presidential papers to the National Archives. The case of Steven Avery, explored in Netflixs Making a Murderer, is still evolving, even five months after the series premiere. A lot of change has occurred since the show first aired on December 18, 2015, with Avery hiring a new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, to help him appeal his conviction of the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach. Averys former attorneys, Jerry Buting and Dean Strang, decided to go on a national tour to open up about the injustice of the case. And in recent months, Zellner has said that she has discovered a couple of other suspects in the case, although she didnt reveal any names because she didnt want him to run. Also Read: 'Making a Murderer' Update: Avery Lawyer Cites a 'Couple' of New Suspects in Teresa Halbach's Death And former prosecutor Ken Kratz admitted to suicidal thoughts amid being targeted by Avery supporters after the Netflix show aired. See below for the latest updates in Avery case. Investigation Discovery 1. Kathleen Zellner says there are a couple of new suspects in the case In March, Zellner said that she had identified multiple suspects in the murder Halbach. In an in-depth profile published by Newsweek, Kathleen Zellner said that she has found a couple of suspects, both men who knew Halbach. We have a couple, Zellner, who specializes in wrongful convictions, said. Id say theres one, leading the pack by a lot. But I dont want to scare him off, I dont want him to run. Also Read: 'Making a Murderer': This Man Quit His Job to Solve Killings 2. Brendan Dassey is waiting on a federal habeas petition in Milwaukee Dean Strang told A.V. Club on Tuesday that Dassey is waiting in federal district court in Milwaukee on a federal habeas petition, so its at the trial level in federal court. According to Cornell Law, a writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee (e.g. institutionalized mental patient) before the court to determine if the persons imprisonment or detention is lawful. A habeas petition proceeds as a civil action against the State agent (usually a warden) who holds the defendant in custody. Story continues Speaking to TimeOut London, the filmmakers said that, Technically speaking, Brendans case is where it was when the series finished. His habeas petition is sitting on the federal magistrates desk. Everybody is awaiting the magistrates decision on his case. Theres really no schedule or timetable for it. His lawyers told us they might have one or two days notice. Twitter 3. Steven Avery is done with his appeal In the same interview, Strang said that Avery is done with his appeal and must wait until Zellner and others working for him find new evidence for a potential new trial. Also Read: 'Making a Murderer': What's Happened to Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey Since the Series Premiered? Getty Images 4. Laura Ricciardi wants to include Zellner in sequel One of the filmmakers, Laura Ricciardi, told TimeOut London that she and Moira Demos have been talking to Kathleen Zellner about the potential of filming with her and continuing the story. 5. Piers Morgan show was inspired by MaM According to RadioTimes.com, Piers Morgan was inspired by Making a Murderer to travel the U.S. and interview convicted women. We were drawn by the Making a Murderer series on Netflix to try and do a real journalistic number on these cases, try and get inside the mind of murderers, RadioTimes.com quoted him as saying. Whats fascinating is you couldnt really predict any of these three people would have done what they did. You think, What does cause this sort of thing?' The show airs tonight on ITV in the U.K. Also Read: 'Making a Murderer': 8 Alternate Theories on Who Killed Teresa Halbach Netflix 6. Ken Kratz admitted to suicidal thoughts Ken Kratz told Dr. Drew that he had suicidal thoughts after this whole thing kind of blew up, referring to the Avery Case and an Associated Press report exposing racy texts he sent to a 25-year-old woman while Kratz was prosecuting her ex-boyfriend. With the pressures I was under after the Avery case, this all began, I would suspect, as a result of the Avery case. It was a case that I was very much in the public eye, very much in the limelight for 18 straight months we were on the front page and really in a very, very high-profile case. And then it all stopped, Kratz told Dr. Drew. After this whole thing kind of blew up I became suicidal, said Kratz. I actually put a gun in my mouth and was really, really having a hard time with having kind of gone from very well-respected and obviously very into my job to really vilified within maybe a 48- or 72-hour period. Related stories from TheWrap: Move Over, 'Making a Murderer' Tribeca Has a New Infuriating Miscarriage of Justice Story Wisconsin Prison Holds Up Release of 'Making a Murderer' Emails 'Making a Murderer' Lawyer to Publish Book on Justice System 'Dysfunction' 78a3380912df4da6a4327e13a520fe17 Vinny Desautels is a seven-year-old boy in Sacramento, California, with a big heart and an unfortunate diagnosis. For two full years, Vinny grew out his hair to donate to cancer patients. Despite being teased, he was resilient in his mission to help those fighting cancer. Vinny cut his hair right around the time he turned seven. SEE ALSO: Teen took his mom to prom for the most heartwarming reason Six months later, the exuberant young boy was diagnosed with cancer. "When getting ready to take a shower his parents noticed a significant lump on his right hip and brought him to the emergency room," his GoFundMe page titled 'Victory for Vinny' and written by his grandparents explains. "A large growth was identified on his Iliac bone." Additionally, doctors found a growth on the right side of his skull. "It is stage 4 aggressive cancer," Jason Desautels, Vinny's dad told Fox40. Image: victory for vinny/gofundme Since the diagnosis, Vinny and his parents Jason and Amanda have been by his side at the hospital. "They're at Sutter Medical Downtown Sacramento. They're still conducting tests on Vinny. They have identified another malignant mass on the eye that appears to be aggressive," the GoFundMe page states. The specific type of cancer that Vinny is battling remains undetermined. Vinny is taking all of this like a brave little turd, his grandparents wrote. There are many more tests ahead and theyre in the hospital for an undetermined amount of time. Image: jason desautels/facebook After Vinny graciously helped cancer patients in their fight, he's now asking for help with his. Donations and well wishes can be sent via Victory for Vinny. KIGALI (Reuters) - Dubai-based emerging market investment fund Abraaj will spend up to $500 million in start-up capital for a mid-tier hospital business in Africa, tapping into demand from the continent's emerging middle classes, an executive said on Wednesday. Abraaj partner Sev Vettivetpillai said the group was well on the way to securing land for a 350-bed multi-speciality hospital in the Nigerian commercial capital Lagos, as well as buying several hospitals in Nairobi to form a healthcare 'cluster'. Its other two target cities are Addis Ababa and Johannesburg. "We're looking to build from the ground up because the assets do not exist," Vettivetpillai told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Rwanda. Besides its own cash, Abraaj was looking to attract a similar amount from other investors, meaning that the first four target cities were likely to absorb at least $1 billion between them in the next five years, he added. Even though most African countries have one or two high-end hospitals, governments are struggling to provide adequate healthcare for the vast majority of their citizens, despite a decade of rapid growth across the continent. (Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by James Macharia) LONDON/DUBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) has selected the nine banks which lent to its subsidiary for its own euro-denominated bond issue, sources aware of the matter said. However, the bond is unlikely to be issued any time soon due to IPIC's deepening row with troubled Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB. IPIC offered guarantees against its former partner's debt and provided it with cash in exchange for assets, but both are now involved in a spat over the obligations. "Having answers to all the questions stemming from 1MDB will be important for securing investor support," said one of the sources, who declined to be named. IPIC declined to comment. Sources said IPIC has selected the lenders which provided Aabar Investments with a 3.6 billion euro loan in March - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Natixis, Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Last month sources said a euro bond would be used to refinance existing IPIC debt. IPIC has a 1.25 billion euro bond maturing on May 14, according to Thomson Reuters data. The fund will likely have to repay that debt using another source, such as existing cash reserves, and then raise the new bond at a later date. Abu Dhabi state entities are lining up to sell bonds after the government's blockbuster $5 billion deal last month -- its first international debt sale in seven years which came after a lull in issuance from the emirate. Fellow state-owned investment fund Mubadala sold a $500 million seven-year bond on Monday, while banks were due to respond last Sunday to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA), which had invited them to pitch for arranger roles on a potential bond offering. (Reporting by Sudip Roy in London and David French in Dubai; Editing by Alexandra Hudson) Two federal government agencies have launched an investigation into discrimination against female directors in Hollywood, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday. The news comes a year after the civil rights organization requested that the government look into hiring practices at studios. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs have been working on a wide-ranging investigation, according Melissa Goodman, a lawyer with the ACLU. The investigation was prompted by an ACLU report after the organization conducted its own two-year audit into discriminatory practices. The ACLU collected testimonials from over 50 female directors who reported sexist practices like studio-compiled short lists of potential directors that were almost exclusively male. In October, the Los Angeles Times reported that several female directors received surveys from the EEOC regarding gender discrimination in Hollywood. We are encouraged by the scope and seriousness of the investigation, Goldman says. Over the last year, theres been a lot of lip-service paid to furthering opportunities for women in Hollywood. But there have been very few definitive steps to solve the problem. Its a really deep structural problem in the industry. The number of women who are actually being hired is not changing. Its been stagnant for decades. Federal law prevents the EEOC from denying or confirming the existence of a charge against any industry, Kimberly Smith-Brown, a spokesperson for the EEOC said in a statement to TIME. We also encourage the industry to publicly address the serious issues raised by the ACLU and to take proactive steps to address these issues, Smith-Brown said. Women made up just 9% of all directors for the top 250 grossing films last year, according to the annual Celluloid Ceiling Report released by the University of Southern California. The ACLU says this number indicates a systemic bias, as defined by the Supreme Court. Hollywood insiders have said that even when female directors do succeedsome of 2015s biggest hits were helmed by women, including Sam Taylor-Johnsons Fifty Shades of Grey, Elizabeth Banks Pitch Perfect 2 and Nancy Meyers The Interntheyre considered the exception, not the rule. Story continues Since the ACLU called upon the government to look into sexism in the industry last year, dozens of female directors have come forward with stories of discrimination, most notably in a New York Times Magazine story by Maureen Dowd. Few women are able to convince studios to give them the funds to create films, and even fewer are then tapped from the indie circuit to direct big-budget movies. TIME spoke with Kathryn Bigelow, the first female best director Oscar winner, last year after the ACLU released its report. I have always firmly believed that every director should be judged solely by their work, and not by their work based on their gender. Hollywood is supposedly a community of forward thinking and progressive people yet this horrific situation for women directors persists, Bigelow told TIME. Gender discrimination stigmatizes our entire industry. Change is essential. Gender neutral hiring is essential. One of our goals was to legitimize what was happeningthere are systemic barriers here, its not just about you and your own talent and experiences, says Goodman. We wanted to shout that from the rooftops. Theres no deadline for the investigation. But the EEOC has the power to determine whether systemic discrimination exists in an industry and file charges of discrimination themselves (rather than having individuals file them). That could mean filing a charge against one studio or network or charges against all the major studios, depending on the investigations results. Film and television are among our most powerful and influential cultural products, and theyre overwhelmingly made by men, telling male stories, depicting women through a male lens, and reinforcing stereotypes, says Goodman. I think it shapes the way women and girls see themselves and limits the opportunities that the world presents to them. The law enforcement activity at Prince's Paisley Park compound is standard protocol, according to the Carver County Sheriff's Office. Prince 'Lifesaving Mission' Turned Tragic for Doctor's Son "Detectives are revisiting the scene at Paisley Park as a component of a complete investigation," the sheriff said in a Tuesday evening tweet. Detectives are revisiting the scene at Paisley Park as a component of a complete investigation. No other information is available. 802jk - Carver County S.O. (@CarverSheriff) May 10, 2016 This comes less than a week after the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced they have joined the investigation into the icon's death. A Carver County Sheriff's Office vehicle and about a dozen unmarked vehicles entered the Paisley Park gates Tuesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. Investigators Want to Interview Doctor About Prince Case AP is reporting that investigators are working to find out whether Prince died of a drug overdose and if a doctor had been prescribing him drugs in the weeks leading up to his death, and a since-sealed search warrant revealed more information. "Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg treated Prince on April 7 and April 20, and he prescribed 'medications and prescriptions' for the musician, according to the warrant, which was filed Thursday in Hennepin County and obtained by at least two news outlets before authorities moved to ensure it was sealed." The warrant reportedly did not specify which medications were prescribed for Prince or if he took them. On Tuesday, TMZ was reporting that the visit was part of an active federal investigation into the doctors who prescribed medication to Prince. Prince was found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park on April 21. He was declared dead shortly thereafter. He was 57. This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter John Hegarty Sir John Hegarty is a British advertising veteran, having joined the industry in the 1960s and helping build brands such as Levi's and Audi with ads placed on what are now thought of as "traditional" media that are still instantly recognizable decades on. Almost everyone thinks they could easily be an advertising creative, but very few can actually build a successful career out of it. Hegarty has a poster on his wall at Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), the London-based agency he cofounded in 1982, with his own quote blazened on it: "Advertising is 80% idea and 80% execution." Few people have the craft and consistency of Hegarty, who, at 71-years-old is still very hands-on at BBH, which counts Axe, Samsung, Tesco, KFC, and Google among its clients. Leaning back in a chair inside his office, Hegarty looks comfortable, but he's not content. And the thing he's not content about is content. As digital media has become ubiquitous, advertisers have turned their attention toward producing content (like videos, articles, games, and social media posts) to compliment their spend on traditional forms of advertising, which consumers are increasingly going out of their way to avoid or block. Spend on content marketing is set to soar 186% to 2.12 billion in Europe alone by 2020, according to research from Yahoo and Enders Analysis. That worries Hegarty, who sees the genius of advertising in a time-starved world as taking complex ideas and reducing them into precise, short, ads that are memorable. Think slogans and 30-second TV ads rather than 5-minute long branded content videos. "I can say 'Vorsprung durch Technik' and you instantly know what I'm talking about [ it's was the ad slogan Hegarty devised for Audi back in the 1980s.] That came out as a 60-second TV ad and there we are, 35 years later," Hegarty said. john hegarty "We seem to have lost a desire to do that ... Can anybody tell me, in the last 10 years, a piece of content that people remember and can quote back?" Story continues We mention BuzzFeed's 3-and-a-half-minute-long "Puppyhood" video for dog food brand Purina, which has been viewed more than 11 million times on YouTube. "Nobody I've ever spoken to has ever said: 'Have you seen the BuzzFeed puppy?'" Hegarty responded. "I used to always say I want my auntie in Harpenden to say 'John, did you do that?' That's when I know I've cracked it. Sadly she's no longer around as she was always my measure: 'Did you do that Hovis ad, John?' 'No, sadly I didn't.' 'Oh, it's a really good one, you should do more like that.' That's when you've cracked it." The much-lauded Oreo "Dunk in the Dark" Super Bowl tweet is a "piece of s----!" Hegarty says people advocating content (paid-for or otherwise) instead of traditional campaigns need only look at the real numbers and those real conversations that happen about great ads outside of advertising circles "Not when it's big in Shoreditch. F--- Shoreditch, I'm not interested in that." One of the most-lauded examples of "real-time content" comes from back in 2013. The power went out during the Super Bowl, plunging the stadium into darkness, prompting cookie brand Oreo to send out this tweet: That single tweet won two highly-coveted Cannes Lions awards and countless other accolades from the media. But Hegarty points out that when marketing columnist Mark Ritson ran the numbers, he estimated the tweet only actually reached around 150,000 people less than 1% of Oreo's target market. Hegarty scoffed: "F--- off! I don't get out of bed for less than a million. I mean, please. What business are you in? And it got awarded all over the world as 'this is fantastic'. Not it's not! It's a piece of s----!" The 1980s Levi's launderette ad couldn't just be crowdsourced The democratization of media means almost anyone can replicate Hegarty's job they could simply upload an ad to YouTube and send it to a brand or agency in the hope it gets picked up. Agencies including BBH have even experimented with "crowdsourcing" creative ideas. Hegarty said it was a "bloody disaster." One of Hegarty's most famous ad campaigns was for Levi's, announcing its first pair of stonewashed jeans in 1985, at a time when the brand had lost its luster with youth and was associated with being the kind of pants your dad would wear. A then-unknown model, Nick Kamen, strides into a launderette, removes his sunglasses and empties a bag of stones into the washer. He strips off his shirt and his jeans until he's down to only his boxer shorts and plonks himself down on the bench next to a fat man. The ad is set to Marvin Gaye's hit "I Heard It Through The Grapevine." Hegarty reminisces that the idea was so ludicrous on paper he had to convince his client that it was going to change the brand and you can't crowdsource daring ideas like that. "That revived not only a brand, but a music genre, and created a market for boxer shorts, and changed fashion. That's the power of execution. If you don't understand that, you don't understand advertising," Hegarty said. "The idea that the creative director could be 100 people: Why is that necessarily better? It's that world we've got into; the power of the crowd. No, the power of the crowd soon turns into a mob." Read more from our interview with Sir John Hegarty later this week at businessinsider.com/advertising NOW WATCH: Consumer Reports put Costco and Sam's Club head-to-head here's the verdict More From Business Insider BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan's new government will be to blame for any crisis with China that erupts once it assumes office, Beijing said on Wednesday, heaping on the pressure ahead of the inauguration of a new president from a pro-independence party. 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 presidential and parliamentary elections by a landslide in January, in part on rising anti-China sentiment. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take the island which it considers a breakaway province, particularly if it makes moves toward independence. Tsai, who assumes office on May 20, has said she will maintain the status quo, but has never conceded to a key bilateral agreement referencing the "one China" principle, which has angered Beijing. Under the "1992 consensus" with the Nationalists, Taiwan and China agreed there is only one China, with each having their own interpretation of what that means. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan at the end of the civil war with the Communists in 1949. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said it was clear who was "destroying bridges" and trying to change the status quo. "If there are those who are unclear on this point, or are offering encouragement from the wings, this is really not a sensible act," Ma told a briefing live on state television. "We must repeat, if there is deadlock across the Taiwan Strait, or if there is a crisis, the responsibility will be on the heads of those who change the status quo." China has been pressuring Taiwan since the January election, forcibly repatriating Taiwanese fraud suspects from Kenya and Malaysia and establishing diplomatic ties with a former Taiwanese ally in Africa, Gambia. On Sunday, the incoming Taiwanese government accused China of "political interference" after Beijing cast doubt over the island keeping its observer status at the World Health Organisation. Ma said Taiwan's previous participation had been predicated on acceptance of the "one China" principle, something recognized by the United Nations, of which the WHO is a part. "With a challenge to the one China principle which has the recognition of the international community, the relevant arrangements will be hard to continue," he said. Taiwan has attended the annual gathering of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, since 2009 as an observer. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Nick Macfie) By Brendan Dunne There is an elusive place within the concert experience where the undesirable details flee the frame and all thats left is the performance. The dickhead recording the show on his cellphone disappears, you stop noticing the sweat accumulating on your back, you no longer feel anxious about how to match your bodys movements to the music. In this place, something close to magic starts to hum. You become like a child, made mostly of senses, movements, and noises. It doesnt happen every time, but if the right factors line up, its there. We found it on Friday, when grime pioneer Dizzee Rascal came to Brooklyn. Weird Al Yankovic was the first concert I ever went to. 11-year-old me watched him from afar at a dusty fairground in Washington, once or twice running up the rows of seats to try and take a photo of the frizzy man onstage with the disposable camera Id purchased for the event. He sang of Star Wars and fast food, which was about all I needed from music until I turned into a teenager. Its a goofy piece of personal history and not a good genesis for idol worship. Its the truth but its not one Im proud of, and so, in conversation and in my own mind, the second concert I ever went to is the first concert I ever went to. Dizzee Rascal was the first concert I ever went to. 15-year-old me arrived at the venue, the WOW Hall in Eugene, Ore., extra early and feeling awkward, my little brother by my side. We were boys in a space for adults; a feeling heightened when the room started to fill and one of the college students in attendance pointed us out to his friend. I told you it was just going to be a bunch of fucking kids here. I felt slighted, but the rabid instinct of feeling possessive of an artist kicked in. My brother and I had passed a Discman back and forth during the two hour journey to the show, listening to ShowtimeDizzees second album and the project he was then touring aroundone more time to make sure we had all the songs memorized. Nobody had the upper hand on us, regardless of age. Story continues We heaved rap hands in the air, our still-developing bodies plastered to the edge of the stage at the front of the crowd. Inside the sounds we shed our insecurities, the art transfixing us and melting away any skittishness. Dizzee wore a giant watch, its stones flooded with prisms when the stage lights struck. At one point he threw a still-sealed water bottle into the crowd and I caught it. I kept the souvenir for at least six years, letting it sit in the corner of my room, water from the bottle slowly evaporating like hourglass sand counting the days from that night. The show was a success, and supplied a square one that worked much better than Weird Al for the identity I was building for myself at the time. When Dizzees debut album, the critically acclaimed Boy in Da Corner was first released, it blew my brain to bits. Well, not when it was first releasedthe album hit in the rappers native Britain in July, 2003, but didnt come out in the States until January, 2004. It was then that the disc finally appeared in the pages of the distribution magazine we received at my step dads record store, and then that I immediately ordered a copy. Whatever relatability emerges, rap is intrinsically foreign to a white kid growing up in a rural area far from any of its cultural hubs. It goes without saying that this foreignness is part of the allure. But if acts like Nas and Big were foreign to my reality, Dizzee was on another fucking planet, the geographic gap widening courtesy of the Atlantic and the linguistic one courtesy of a thick London accent complete with object pronouns in the traditional place of possessives. (Whats me motherfucking naaaame?) The more alien it was, the more I was drawn to it, even if he was rapping about things I knew nothing about: smoking weed, butterfly knives, socializing, etc. The album served as an entry point to the perverse delight of enjoying an artist that you think no one else knows about. Granted, this wasnt that hard in a small town during an era when most people were still getting music in stores and not on streams. I spoke in coded language about his work, even refusing to make copies of the albums for attractive girls because the whole thing being secret was that important to us. I doubled down on leftfield rappers, stepping into the backpack phase requisite of all white teenagers obsessed with rap. My interest in Dizzees output waned after his third album, but his early work was a big part of the soundtrack to my adolescence and that first show my first real-live rap experience. If acts like Nas and Big were foreign to my reality, Dizzee was on another fucking planet. Naturally, when I heard that hed be playing Boy in Da Corner in its entirety in Brooklyn as part of Red Bull Music Academy New York, 11 years after that first show, I immediately decided I would be there no matter the consequence. As soon as I got the text I flashed my phone to my brother, who psychically confirmed that this echo of our childhood was equally important to him. (Wed both made the move to New York, so location wasnt an issue.) For the first time ever, Dizzee would perform his debut album front to back, with the concert going down in one week. The same day I got the text about the show, I searched for tickets. Sold out. On a petty level, its slightly annoying that others were keen and even (gasp) more keen than me on an artist Id been so secretive about, but I stuck to the mission. OK, sure, sold out, but there are other avenues. Stubhub: fuck. 12 tickets left and going for a lot more than the $25 face value. What else is there? Beg. A coworker agreed to send out missive on my behalf testing just how sold out the show was. It turned out it was very sold out. In the week leading up to Dizzees arrival in New York, the city puts springtime on hold. Any chance of sunshine is extinguished, in its stead dreary skies and a permanent but not aggressive rain seemingly there to make the East Londoner feel more at home. I watch tickets on Stubhub (my only hope at this point) dwindle slowly, their prices going up and down. A DJ at a party two nights before the concert randomly inserts Fix Up, Look Sharp into her set. I want to hug her, to shake her. Did she know? Did she have tickets? I bring up the show again and again at work, aggressively Gchatting those who know about it and ranting to others about why this is so important to me. The day of the show arrives and I finally commit at 7:49 a.m., agreeing to pay what I thought would be $156 for two tickets until Stubhub sorcery turns it into $240. I am warmed by the tiny thought of future victory in this regard by the memory of an email I received earlier in the week about a class action settlement against TicketMaster over their exorbitant fees. That day at work, I mention the show to many people who dont ask, revisiting my boyhood pride over latching onto something different at an early age. At the end of the work day, four hours from showtime, I call my brother. Its 6 p.m. but hes just waking up. What time is doors? he asks me. And what time is the show? And you want to get there when? At 26 I havent let go of the need to be absurdly early to these things, still feeling that nobody should be closer to the front than me. Nobody paid this much for these tickets and felt this way about it. My brother acquiesces and we both make our separate ways to Brooklyn. When I get off the train Dizzee is there, sitting in the corner. Not in physical form, but via a giant poster plastered in the platform. Its an old promo image of him in the same style as the Ben Drury-designed cover for Boy in Da Corner, his body in grayscale, black and white Air Max BWs on, backed against a cartoony yellow corner. My brother arrives a half hour later, we eat, walk through the rain, and arrive at the venue two hours early. There is nobody out front just yetbecause no reasonable adult would arrive this early to a concertand he doesnt feel like hanging around. We walk some more, post up at the bar next door, and eventually hop in line around 20 minutes before doors. Listening to the conversations other people have in line is almost always awful and this night is no exception. We are let into the venue just after 9 p.m. and briefly confused for members of Dizzees crew. In the lobby is a recreation of the aforementioned album cover where we wait impatiently behind three awful European men to take our photos while sitting in the makeshift corner. There are more waiting inside while we hold on at the front of the room. The DJ plays a set that gets heavier on grime as Dizzees arrival draws nearer, the tail-end of it filled with songs from guys like Stormzy who mix references to Boy in Da Corner in their work. Chants break out as the DJ exits and we are told to be mindful because the curtain hiding the stage is going to fall very soon. There is what seems to be a contingent of fans from the UK toward the center of the room in their finest roadman gear. The curtain falls and he appears, just sitting there, just like he said in the first bar on the first track of that first album. The stage is another extension of the albums artwork, Dizzee pinched into a stark yellow corner. It cant hold him for long though, and by the second track, the rowdy Stop Dat, theres too much momentum in the room for anyone to be sitting anywhere, at least from my vantage point. While Im going absolutely hammer during the song, a woman behind me asks if I can calm down. No, absolutely not, because I dont think thats what the man here rapping Dont stop, dont stop, till youre bleedin would want from me. I cant quite make out her words but she either calls me ugly or annoyingonly one of those things is true. I can sense her presence for the rest of the show through the feathers floating off the black boa shes wearing, which I occasionally choke on. This, combined with my efforts to rap every single word of every song, leave me feeling incredibly parched. Dizzee offers no water bottle this time. Its important to remember that Dizzee, at 18 years old, was not so far removed from being a boy when Boy was born. Foreign as he was to me at the albums release, we were closer in age than any rapper Id idolized to that point, me being 14 at the time. While the subjects and settings were different from my daily life, the themes and feelings were the same. There was chaos, jealousy, anger, prurience, confusionall embarrassing words that often describe the life of an adolescent. It occurred to me watching the show that in the past 12 years, I had done little to distance myself from the boy. Was it only yesterday? The posturing for identity was still there: Id downloaded the album a week before the show to memorize the whole thing again, although thats partly just because rapping is fun. (In an interview leading up the show, Dizzee told us he similarly had to revisit the old stuff because it had been so long since he performed most of it.) The need to be in front, first in line was still there. The violent and bouncing production still rattled my brain at frequency complementary to the jarring schedule of everyday life. Sometimes I wake up wishing I could sleep for days is 100 percent still relevant. While the subjects and settings were different from my daily life, the themes and feelings were the same. There was chaos, jealousy, anger, prurience, confusionall embarrassing words that often describe the life of an adolescent. Was the performance missing things? Yes. Vexed, a song that appeared only on the U.S. release, was left outalthough theres a petition to have him perform it in the event that he does the album in full in the U.K. The two guest verses were also gone; Wileys absence on 2 Far understandable given their tumultuous relationship, and Gods Gifts a damn shame given how much fun his gun noise-ridden rant at the end of Hold Ya Mouf is. Do these things greatly detract from the value of an echo of ones childhood wrapped into a reminder of ones permanent psychic outline wrapped into a lot of loud fucking rap music? Not really. At the end of the show, my brother reaches over the barricade to grab the setlist taped to the stage. He also climbs on top of a table to tear down promo posters taped to the wall and hand them out. I cant leave. An encore is almost certainly not going to happentheres nothing left on the album to dobut the room is still full of people hoping for more. All us stragglers chant One more tune for about five minutes, eventually abandoning that to break into the chorus of Jus a Rascal in unison, a cappella, for a few more minutes. We leave and the show is still with me in sweat and in ringing ears and in resurrected lines and feelings. I call up an Uber and we chatter like children about the nights high points while waiting on the corner. The post When We Aint Kids No More: Revisting Dizzee Rascals Debut Over a Decade Later appeared first on Pigeons & Planes. More from Pigeons & Planes Alaska Air Group ALK has been dominating the headlines in the airline space as it prepares to join the sought-after S&P 500 index on May 12, replacing SanDisk Corp., which is about to be acquired by Western Digital Corp. On the earnings front, Latin American carrier Copa Holdings CPA hogged the limelight by reporting better-than-expected earnings and revenues in the first quarter of 2016. Furthermore, the past week saw heavyweights in the airline space like United Continental Holdings UAL, American Airlines Group Inc. AAL and Southwest Airlines Co. LUV post their traffic numbers for the month of April. Read the last Airline Stock Roundup for May 04, 2016. Recap of the Past Weeks Most Important Stories 1. Alaska Air Group is set to join the S&P 500 after market close on May 12, 2016. The Seattle, WA-based carrier will be the first airline stock to join the S&P 500 this year. Fellow carriers United Continental and American Airlines were included in the benchmark last year. Alaska Air Group will be added to the S&P 500 GICS Industrials sector or Airlines Sub-Industry index as the carrier fulfills all the criteria for being included in the index. On a separate note, the carrier announced plans of a codeshare deal and frequent flier pact with Japan Airlines. The customer-friendly move will be effective from Jun 29, assuming government approval. 2. Copa Holdings first-quarter earnings (on an adjusted basis) of $1.66 per share were above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.38. Results were aided by low fuel costs. The average price of fuel declined 27.2% year over year to $1.68 per gallon. Earnings were however significantly below the year-ago figure of $2.41 per share. Quarterly revenues declined 11.9% on a year-over-year basis to $557 million, primarily due to the 12.4% decline in passenger revenues. Revenues, however, beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $549 million. Passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM: a measure of unit revenue) declined 14.5% to 9.7 cents in the reported quarter. Operating revenue per available seat mile (RASM) decreased 13.9% to 10 cents. Another important metric, yield per passenger mile went down by 15.4%. Passenger traffic (on a consolidated basis) climbed 3.6% during the quarter primarily on a 2.4% capacity expansion. Load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) improved 90 basis points to 77.4% as traffic growth outpaced capacity expansion. Story continues On a separate note, the carrier unveiled its traffic numbers for April. Revenue passenger miles (RPMs: a measure of air traffic) improved 4.1% while Available seat miles (ASMs: a measure of capacity) fell 0.4%. Load factor (% of seats filled by passengers) improved 330 basis points to 76.1% as traffic expanded while capacity contracted. 3. Southwest Airlines revealed healthy traffic numbers for the month of April with RPMS rising 4.7% on a year-over-year basis to 10.4 billion. ASMs climbed 4.3% to 12.4 billion. The carrier continues to expect operating revenue per ASM (RASM) to increase modestly in the second quarter of 2016 (read more: Southwest Airlines April Traffic Strong; Maintains RASM View). 4. United Continental Holdings, the holding company of United Airlines, posted a 1.9% decrease in RPMs for Apr 2016 on a 0.9% reduction in ASMs. The carrier still expects consolidated PRASM to decline in the range of 6.5% to 8.5% in the second quarter (read more: United Continental's April Traffic Falls, PRASM View Intact). 5. American Airlines posted a 0.2% decline in April RPMs to 18 billion while ASMs climbed 1.3% on a year-over-year basis to 22.4 billion. Load factor fell 120 basis points to 80.4% in April as traffic contracted while capacity expanded. American Airlines still forecasts a 6% to 8% drop in PRASM for the second quarter of 2016. Moreover, pre-tax margin (exclusive of special items) is likely to remain in the band of 14% to 16%. Performance The following table shows the price movement of the major airline players over the past week and during the last 6 months. Company Past Week Last 6 months HA 2.04% 18.57% UAL 0.53% -21.19% GOL 15.28% -11.28% DAL 0.19% -14.07% JBLU -2.79% -26.63% AAL -2.52% -23.92% SAVE -2.85% 20.14% LUV -0.14% -8.28% VA -0.05% 50.24% ALK -0.19% -10.62% The table above shows that most airline stocks traded in the red over the past week leading to the NYSE ARCA Airline index declining 1.52% to $86.32 over the past 5 trading days. Shares of Spirit Airlines depreciated the most (2.85%) while Latin American carrier GOL Linhas emerged as the biggest gainer (15.28%) as investors seemed to be pleased with the carriers ongoing restructuring process. Over the past six months too most airline stocks have shed value with the NYSE ARCA Airline index declining 4.57%%. Shares of Virgin America appreciated the most (50.24%) during the period and JetBlue Airways JBLU emerged as the biggest laggard (26.63%). What's Next in the Airline Space? GOL Linhas will reveal its first quarter 2016 results shortly. Focus will also be on the May 17 presentations by key airline players like American Airlines and Delta Air Lines DAL at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2016 Transportation Conference. Furthermore, JetBlue Airways annual meeting of shareholders on May 17 will draw attention. 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 SOUTHWEST AIR (LUV): Free Stock Analysis Report JETBLUE AIRWAYS (JBLU): Free Stock Analysis Report DELTA AIR LINES (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report COPA HLDGS SA-A (CPA): Free Stock Analysis Report ALASKA AIR GRP (ALK): Free Stock Analysis Report UNITED CONT HLD (UAL): Free Stock Analysis Report AMER AIRLINES (AAL): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. PARIS, May 11 (Reuters) - European telecommunications group Altice said first-quarter core operating profit grew 0.9 percent as its activities in Portugal and the United States offset a steep decline in profitability at its main French division, SFR. Altice's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) reached 1.62 billion euros ($1.84 billion), it said on Wednesday, in line with the average of analyst estimates in a Reuters poll of 1.63 billion. SFR's adjusted EBITDA fell 9 percent to 851 million euros as France's second-biggest telecoms operator offered heavy promotions to attract customers. Altice confirmed its full-year guidance for 2016 and reiterated that the closing of the acquisition of Cablevision Systems in the U.S. would occur in the second quarter. ($1 = 0.8785 euros) (Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Editing by James Regan) Amazon (AMZN) shot up 10% after its first quarter report on April 28th, as the company marked its fourth profitable quarter in a row. The e-commerce giant, which has historically only posted sporadic profitable quarters since its founding in 1995, hasn't reported four quarters of profitability in a row since 2012. With bearish calls that Amazon had been sacrificing profitability for growth in the rearview mirror, Sanford Bernsteins Carlos Kirjner slapped a street-high $1,000 price target on the stock Tuesday, saying this is only the beginning for the stock, which-- at $700 per share--is trading at all-time highs and up 17% in the last month. The key driver, according to Kirjner, is gross margin growth. Amazons businesses are now so large, fast-growing, and profitable that it is harder and harder for the company to find new areas of investment to keep up with the growth in gross profits, he wrote. Five key reasons why margins will expand significantly from here: 1. The shift to revenues from the higher-margin Amazon Web Services (AWS) division. AWS, the companys fast-growing cloud computing segment posted revenue of $2.6 billion in the first quarter, marking a 64% year-over-year increase. There are no cost of goods sold for this division. Kirjner estimates AWS revenue of $17.6 billion in 2017, and the margin impact will be pronounced, as AWS adds $5-$6 billion in revenues with well over 50% variable (operating income) margin yet again, he wrote. 2. The shift toward more third-party Marketplace revenues, whose only costs of goods sold are shipping costs associated with the portion of Marketplace units fulfilled by Amazon. Kirjner estimates third party business to have gross margins of 75%. 3. Kirjner sees a positive mix shift in first-party business. as higher margin categories such as apparel and consumables are growing faster than lower-margin categories, according to recent commentary from Jeff Bezos and the management team. Management said apparel and consumables were the fastest growing category. Story continues 4. Content expenses are expected to slow to slow. As Amazon's content library grows, its growth will decelerate significantly, according to Kirjner. We believe that along 2017 we will see streaming-content-related COGS decelerate and ultimately grow slower than retail gross profit, further contributing to gross margin expansion, he wrote. 5. Amazons new robot-filled fulfillment centers--known as 8th generation--are becoming a more significant portion of the installed base and will boost margins, according to Kirjner. In 2017, 8th generation fulfillment centers will likely exceed 40% of Amazon's fulfillment capacity. We believe the variable cost per unit fulfilled in these newer fulfillment centers is significantly lower and, as they become a larger portion of the installed base, we may see fulfillment expenses improve even faster than they did in 2015, he wrote. Time is on the side of margin expansion, Kirjner wrote, which will only be aided by continued revenue growth, driven especially by the Prime membership program. Last quarter, Amazons core e-commerce business grew 32% in North America, aided by the Prime program, which offers unlimited express delivery on millions of products. Prime has at least 46 million members worldwide, according to estimates based on numbers that Amazon has disclosed. Meanwhile, some of the companys new company initiatives--including Tuesday's announcement of a YouTube-like video service--provide additional avenues of growth with minimal investment. Bernsteins estimates for the next 3 to 12 months are considerably ahead of consensus, especially as the firms 12-month price target reflects a 24-month view. Bernsteins 2017 EBITDA forecast of $22.5 billion is 14% ahead of consensus. Amazon does not trade anywhere near what we think it is worth on a fundamental basis...There are changes in trajectory of fulfillment and content spend that are not reflected in consensus. As a result we are bullish in the short, medium and long-term and think we may see margins expand much faster than they have in the next two years than they have in the last two, Kirjner wrote. Importantly, Kirjner reiterated target is not based on higher valuation but, rather, underestimated profits. He outlines that Amazon currently trades at 20x EV/EBITDA for the next twelve months; the $1,0000 target corresponds to 18x mid-2017 to mid-2018 EBITDA. Kirjners gross margin target is 39% for 2017 compared with consensus expectations for 36%. JFK Airport TSA checkpoint If you've been annoyed by long airport security lines, you aren't alone. Airports are apparently just as unhappy about it. Last week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey suggested it would replace the US Transportation Safety Administration with private contractors if it did not improve its "abysmal" performance. The Port Authority's letter to the TSA echoes sentiments expressed in a similar letter in February by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the nation's busiest airport. The Port Authority, which operates the JFK International and LaGuardia airports in New York and Newark Liberty International in New Jersey, is urging the TSA to increase resources for its security-screening services. According to the letter, signed by from Port Authority aviation director Thomas Bosco and chief security officer Thomas Belfiore, security checkpoints at the New York area airports are painfully understaffed with no sign of improvement in sight. Wait times at TSA checkpoints have "risen dramatically in recent months, prompting angry complaints from passengers, terminal operators, and airlines alike citing inconvenience, delayed flights, and missed connections," the two wrote. According to the Port Authority, the average maximum wait time at JFK from March 15 to April 15 increased 82% from the same period last year. For the year, the absolute maximum wait time is 55 minutes up from 30 minutes in 2015. "The experience at Newark and LaGuardia has been similarly abysmal, and the patience of the flying public has reached a breaking point," Bosco and Belfiore said. "Given the adverse customer service and economic impacts, we can no longer tolerate the continuing inadequacy of TSA passenger screening services." The TSA issued a statement to Business Insider saying in part that its "primary focus is the current threat environment, as the American transportation system remains a high-value target for terrorists." Story continues Private security In his February letter, Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Miguel Southwell voiced his concern over the lack of available screeners for the coming summer travel season. The Port Authority shares Southwell's unease over the lack of staffing. "With the peak, summer travel season approaching," Bosco and Belfiore wrote, "We are concerned that further increases in wait times will only exacerbate customer dissatisfaction." Though Bosco and Belfiore acknowledged that the TSA is working under a congressional cap on the number of available screeners, they urge the agency to more efficiently allocate existing resources and offer more staffing flexibility for on-the-ground supervisors. In the meantime, the Port Authority is exploring the possibility of bringing in private security contractors under TSA's Screening Partnership Program. Hartsfield-Jackson, the busiest airport in the world, has indicated that it is also considering the use of private-security personnel. The TSA is in receipt of the letter dated May 4, but it declined to publicly respond to the Port Authority's complaints. A TSA representative did, however, issue the following statement: TSA's primary focus is the current threat environment, as the American transportation system remains a high value target for terrorists. Our strong economy means air carriers are enjoying record travel volume, which is resulting in heavier than normal volumes of travelers at our nation's airports some with double digit increases over last summer. In addition to arriving at U.S. airports up to two hours prior to departure, we encourage travelers to enroll in TSA Pre or other trusted traveler programs such as Global Entry, Nexus, or SENTRI, which improve security and reduce wait times. TSA is addressing the growing volume of travelers, with measures including more canine use, overtime, and accelerated hiring. We are appreciative that our airline partners are working with us by asking travelers to arrive at the airport as much as two hours early for domestic flights, which will help to alleviate some of the expected summer congestion. Traveler security is TSAs first priority and we remain intensely focused on our important mission. NOW WATCH: These are the best, highest-paying companies in America More From Business Insider Global Dynamics Challenged Archer Daniels Midland in 1Q16 (Continued from Prior Part) Balanced capital allocation framework In 2016, Archer Daniels Midlands (ADM) priority is its balanced capital allocation framework. It started this initiative by selling a 50% interest in its Brazilian port in 2015. To improve the long-term returns in a more challenged operating environment, the company plans to reduce the asset intensity in several of its businesses. For 2016, Archer Daniels Midland budgeted capital expenditure of around $1 billion. In 1Q16, the capital expenditure was around $0.2 billion. It set a preliminary target to reduce the invested capital for its businesses by at least $1 billion over time. Archer Daniels Midlands priority also includes growing its geographic footprint and expanding its specialty ingredients business. Its looking for opportunistic acquisitions around the world including bolt-ons. Expenses related to mergers and acquisitions were $0.1 billion in 1Q16. Returning capital to shareholders In light of returning capital to shareholders and the importance of dividends to investors, Archer Daniels Midlands board announced a 7% increase in its quarterly dividend to $0.30 per share in 2016. During the quarter, the company spent about $0.3 billion to repurchase ~9 million shares. It paid about $0.5 billion in dividends as part of this strategy. Management thinks that shares are an attractive investment at the current levels. As a result, management plans to repurchase $1 billion$1.5 billion in shares in 2016. This is subject to strategic merger and acquisition opportunities. Recent dividend declared On May 5, Archer Daniels Midland declared a cash dividend of $0.30 per share on the companys common stock. This will be paid on June 8, 2016, to shareholders of record May 18, 2016. This dividend marks Archer Daniels Midlands 338th consecutive quarterly payment. Currently, Archer Daniels Midland has a dividend yield of 2.9% as of May 6. Management has been increasing the dividend at an average annual rate of 14.4% over the past five years. Story continues Archer Daniels Midlands peers in the industry include McCormick & Company (MKC), Flowers Foods (FLO), and WhiteWave Foods (WWAV). McCormick has returned 11.6% YTD (year-to-date). WhiteWave Foods has returned 5.3% YTD. However, Flowers Food has fallen 10.1% YTD. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) and the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio (SPLV) invest 0.71% and 1.1% of their portfolios in McCormick & Company. Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: Antonio Banderas plays an aging rock star and reformed sex addict married to a supermodel who is abducted by pirates in his next film. According to The Hollywood Reporter the Spanish actor stars as Turk Henry in "Salty," described as "The Hangover-meets-Spinal Tap." The film is based on the novel by Mark Haskell Smith and is set in Chile. Henry is a bassist for a recently-split band who takes his pampered wife on a luxury holiday to Chile, where she's snatched by buccaneers. Turk embarks on a rescue mission through the jungles of South America to retrieve his wife. The film holds the record for being the largest crowd-funded film in the UK and will be the first significant crowd-sourced Hollywood film. Shooting begins in June. Apache's 1Q16 Results: What Caused Its Stock to Jump? (Continued from Prior Part) Apaches stock performance Following Apache Corporations (APA) 1Q16 earnings release on May 5, 2016, its stock rose ~8%. APAs stock has fallen ~19% YoY (year-over-year). In comparison, APAs peers EP Energy (EPE), Cimarex Energy (XEC), and Newfield Exploration (NFX) have fallen 60%, ~4.6%, and 1.2%, respectively, on a YoY basis. NFX, APA, and XEC make up a combined 7.7% of the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF (RYE). In the above graph, we can see APAs stock performance with respect to movements in the broader industry and the broader market. From April 21 to May 5, 2016, APA outperformed the broader energy industry (XLE), which fell 1% during the period. APA rose ~0.7% during the same period. APA also outperformed the broader market (SPY), which fell ~1.9% during the period. When we look at the above graph, its clear that APAs performance has been driven mostly by natural gas prices (UNG) and WTI (West Texas Intermediate) crude oil prices (USO). These have also been major drivers of XLE. Following APAs 1Q16 earnings release on May 5, its stock surged as a result of its better-than-expected 1Q16 earnings. A 1.4% rise in crude oil prices also contributed to the rise. Read Part One of this series to know how APA performed in 1Q16. Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: Beirut (AFP) - Syrian regime forces Wednesday battled jihadists who cut a key supply route west of ancient Palmyra, after new bombardments hit Aleppo city where a ceasefire was due to expire at midnight. The latest fighting comes as world powers prepare to meet in Vienna next week to try to revive peace talks aimed at ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the Islamic State (IS) group on Tuesday cut the main road from Homs city to Palmyra just weeks after the army recaptured the city, a UNESCO world heritage site. A military source told the SANA official news agency that the Syrian air force had carried out strikes against IS around the main facility in the Shaer gas field, northwest of Palmyra. A security source told AFP: "Military operations are ongoing in the Shaer gas field." IS last week seized the Shaer gas field -- one of the biggest in the central province of Homs -- from the regime. Both sides have been battling each other in the desert around Palmyra since the jihadist group was ousted from the city in late March. President Bashar al-Assad's troops retook Palmyra with support from Russian air strikes on March 27 -- an achievement his regime celebrated with concerts in its ancient amphitheatre last week. But IS now surrounds Palmyra from all directions except the southwest, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that IS was within 10 kilometres (around six miles) of the city. - Civilians killed - In Deir Ezzor province further east, at least seven civilians were killed, including a child, in regime air strikes on an area held by IS. They died in "regime air strikes on the Shuhail district in the east of Deir Ezzor province targeting a health facility and other areas in the district", the Observatory said. The Russian defence ministry's coordination centre in Syria meanwhile said there had been five breaches of a ceasefire in Aleppo over last 24 hours, killing eight civilians. Story continues The local truce -- brokered by Russia and the United States after a spike in violence in the city last month -- was set to expire at midnight on Wednesday. It has previously been extended twice after 11th-hour diplomatic intervention from major powers, but there was no immediate word of any new extension. While the truce has brought casualties down, violence has by no means come to a halt. Two civilians in a rebel-held area of Aleppo were killed when a regime air strike hit their vehicle, according to civil defence volunteers. The Observatory meanwhile said a woman and a child in the regime-held west of Aleppo were killed in shelling. The former economic hub has been divided between the regime-held west and rebel-controlled east since 2012. The latest truce took effect last Thursday after a surge in fighting killed more than 300 people in the city and threatened to unravel a nationwide ceasefire between regime forces and non-jihadist rebels in force since February. - Last obstetrician dies - In the rebel-held bastion of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, the area's last obstetrician and gynaecologist died of wounds sustained during fighting between rebels around the city of Douma, the Observatory said. The foreign ministry in Russia, where media reports said Wednesday one of its soldiers had been fatally wounded by rebel fire in the central province of Homs, has said global powers would gather in Vienna on May 17 to discuss the crisis in Syria. Moscow and Washington pledged on Monday to redouble efforts to shore up the nationwide ceasefire and reach a political settlement to the conflict. The February 27 ceasefire applies to all areas except those where IS and Al-Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, are present. Britain, France, the US and Ukraine on Tuesday blocked a Russian request to add two rebel groups -- Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) and Ahrar al-Sham -- to a UN terror blacklist and sideline them from the peace process. The main opposition group that has taken part in peace negotiations in Geneva counts Jaish al-Islam member Mohammed Alloush as its chief negotiator. Since it erupted after the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011, the civil war has also pushed millions to flee the country. Australian police have detained five men they suspect were planning to sail from the countrys northern coast in a bid to join the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). Reuters reports that the five men were intercepted on Tuesday after transporting a 7-meter boat more than 1,800 miles north from Melbourne. They reportedly chose to leave Australia by boat because their passports had been invalidated. Were investigating the allegation they were planning to make their way through Indonesia to the Philippines, with a view to ending up in Syria, Shane Patton, the deputy police commissioner in Victoria, told reporters. Scores of people are believed to have traveled from Australia to Syria to join ISIS, but Patton said he wasnt aware of any others attempting to join the group by boat. The men, who have not been formally charged, were arrested in Cairns, in the northern state of Queensland, before getting a chance to launch their tiny vessel. They were apparently heading to Australias northern tip, which lies about 2,000 miles across open sea from the southern Philippines, where ISIS-affiliated Islamist separatists operate. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation identified one of the five detained men as Musa (nee Robert) Cerantonio, a Melbourne-born Muslim convert who allegedly preaches online in support of militants fighting in the Middle East and North Africa. [Reuters] By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police have detained five men suspected of planning to sail a small boat from the far north to Indonesia and the Philippines en route to joining Islamic State in Syria, officials said on Wednesday. The men were held on Tuesday after towing the seven-meter boat almost 3,000 km (1,865 miles) from Melbourne to Cairns in Queensland state, police said. Australia has come under criticism for its tough immigration policies aimed at stopping asylum seekers taking boats from Indonesia to Australia, but few are believed to have attempted the journey in the opposite direction. "We're investigating the allegation they were planning to make their way through Indonesia to the Philippines, with a view to ending up in Syria," Victoria state Deputy Police Commissioner Shane Patton told reporters in Melbourne. "It's not a common occurrence, I would suggest, people trying to get to Syria via boat, but I don't have the exact figures for sure." The five had not yet been charged. Under tough new security powers passed in 2014, Australian face up to a decade in prison for overseas travel to areas declared off limits, which includes the province of Raqqa in Syria, a key strategic hub for Islamic State militants. Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals since 2014 and authorities say they have thwarted a number of potential attacks, while there have been several "lone wolf" assaults, including a cafe siege in Sydney that left two hostages and the gunman dead. Approximately 100 people have left Australia for Syria to fight alongside organizations such as Islamic State, Australia's Immigration Minister said last month. Police said it was unclear where the men, aged between 21 and 33, had planned to put the boat in the water. Indonesia and Australia share a maritime border, but it spans several hundred kilometers of open sea at its narrowest point. The Australian Broadcasting Corp said that Melbourne-born radical preacher Musa Cerantonio, a vocal supporter of the Islamic State who was deported from the Philippines to Australia in 2014, was among those detained. Cerantonio, who converted to Islam from Catholicism at 17, was believed to be planning to join Islamic State when he was deported for having "invalid travel documentation". He was placed under surveillance but not arrested upon his return. (Editing by Nick Macfie) MELBOURNE, May 11 (Reuters) - Australian oil and gas company AWE Ltd said on Wednesday it had rejected a A$421 million ($311 million) takeover approach from U.S.-based private equity fund Lone Star, calling the offer too cheap. Lone Star's Japan Acquisitions unit offered A$0.80 a share, a 30 percent premium to AWE's close on Tuesday. "The board concluded that it is opportunistic and does not reflect the fair underlying asset value of the company," AWE said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. AWE's shares have slumped 58 percent over the past year, hammered like its peers by sliding oil and gas prices. The company, which recently appointed a new chief executive, David Biggs, has stakes in oil and gas projects in Australia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the United States. As of March 31, it had net cash of A$52 million and no debt. Lone Star's U.S.-based spokesman was not immediately available to comment. AWE's shares rose just 2.4 percent to A$0.63 on Wednesday, reflecting investors' doubts a higher offer would emerge. ($1 = 1.3545 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Stephen Coates) (Updates shares, adds recent deals) MELBOURNE, May 11 (Reuters) - Australian oil and gas company AWE Ltd said on Wednesday it had rejected a A$421 million ($311 million) takeover approach from U.S.-based private equity fund Lone Star, calling the offer too cheap. The bid adds to a spate of energy deals in Australia over the past year with acquirers seeking to swoop on beaten down assets, ranging from Beach Energy's takeover of Drillsearch Energy to Woodside Petroleum's scrapped $8 billion bid for Oil Search. Lone Star's Japan Acquisitions unit offered A$0.80 a share, a 30 percent premium to AWE's close on Tuesday. "The board concluded that it is opportunistic and does not reflect the fair underlying asset value of the company," AWE said in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. AWE's shares have slumped 58 percent over the past year, hammered like its peers by sliding oil and gas prices. The company, which recently appointed a new chief executive, David Biggs, has stakes in oil and gas projects in Australia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, and the United States. As of March 31, it had net cash of A$52 million and no debt. Lone Star executives in the United States were not available to comment outside office hours. AWE's shares jumped 20 percent to A$0.74 in first trading after the announcement, but that was well below the offer price, reflecting uncertainty over whether a higher offer would emerge. ($1 = 1.3545 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Stephen Coates and Richard Pullin) Authorities returned to Prince's Minnesota compound on Tuesday to do another search for what was called standard protocol during an ongoing investigation. "Detectives are revisiting the scene at Paisley Park as a component of a complete investigation," the sheriff said in a Tuesday evening tweet. Detectives are revisiting the scene at Paisley Park as a component of a complete investigation. No other information is available. 802jk - Carver County S.O. (@CarverSheriff) May 10, 2016 A Carver County Sheriff's Office vehicle and about a dozen unmarked vehicles entered the Paisley Park gates Tuesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press. AP is reporting that investigators are working to find out whether Prince died of a drug overdose and if a doctor had been prescribing him drugs in the weeks leading up to his death on April 21, and a since-sealed search warrant revealed more information on Tuesday, the same day the vehicles returned to Prince's compound. Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg treated Prince on April 7 and April 20, and he prescribed "medications and prescriptions" for the musician, according to the warrant, which was filed last Thursday in Hennepin County and obtained by at least two news outlets before authorities moved to ensure it was sealed. The warrant reportedly did not specify which medications were prescribed for Prince or if he took them. When asked why investigators had returned to Paisley Park, Carver County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jason Kamerud told the AP by phone that they were "being thorough." This comes less than a week after the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration announced they have joined the investigation into the icon's death. On Tuesday, TMZ was reporting that the visit was part of a criminal investigation into the doctors who prescribed medication to Prince. Schulenberg, who was a primary care physician at North Memorial Medical Center, treated Prince on April 7, the day he canceled shows in Atlanta citing illness. He played makeup shows on April 14 and then fell ill on the flight home and was taken by ambulance from the plane during an emergency landing in Moline, Ill. Story continues Schulenberg no longer works for the healthcare system, a spokeswoman for the medical center told the AP. Prince was found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park on April 21 and was declared dead shortly thereafter. He was 57. Autopsy results are pending. Read More: Prince's Estate: Lawyers Tally Late Star's Assets, Debts Behind Closed Doors AwesomenessTV has hired Rebecca Glashow, formerly a senior exec with Discovery Communications, as its first head of worldwide distribution. Glashow, who is based in New York, joined AwesomenessTV two weeks ago and reports to chief digital officer Kelly Day. Glashow is responsible for distribution deals for AwesomenessTV digital content, original series and films, overseeing a team in New York, L.A. and London. This company has a ton of momentum and growth, and theyve built an incredible brand in just four years, Glashow told Variety. I cant imagine a better place to be right now. Previously, Glashow was senior VP digital media distribution for Discoverys U.S. networks, overseeing distribution of Discovery Mobile as well as broadband and interactive TV programming on digital platforms. Prior to joining Discovery in 2007, she was director of VOD and interactive television, content acquisitions for Comcast Cable, and before that was with iN Demand Networks, serving as director, content planning and management. AwesomenessTV is majority-owned by DreamWorks Animation (which is being acquired by Comcast), with Verizon and Hearst each holding 24.5% equity stakes in the company. Aimed at a Gen Z audience of teens and young adults, AwesomenessTVs businesses span a global creator community; influencer talent-management division Big Frame, millennial-mom focused network Awestruck and Awesomeness Films. The company was founded by former TV execs Brian Robbins and Joe Davola in 2012, and acquired by DWA a year later. Related stories AwesomenessTV Comes to Apple TV and Kik, Unveils Live Video Game Awards Show Hulu Acquires AwesomenessTV's 'Freakish' Horror Series Verizon to Acquire 24.5% Stake in AwesomenessTV for $159 Million Sydney (AFP) - A rock flake found in Australia is believed to be from the world's oldest known axe and likely dates from just after humans arrived in the country around 50,000 years ago, scientists said Wednesday. The fragment, about the size of a thumbnail, was found in Western Australia's sparsely populated Kimberley region and its age indicates that early indigenous technology was novel and inventive. "This is without doubt the oldest axe in the world," Peter Hiscock, the University of Sydney academic who analysed the fragment, told AFP. The piece was excavated in the 1990s, but it was not until recently that its significance was recognised and confirmed by new technology. "It's a relatively small fragment, it's not much more than a centimetre (half an inch) long," said Hiscock, who used a digital microscope to analyse the piece and determine it was man-made. "It's one flake off the edge of a polished axe or a ground-edge axe." The fragment has been dated at between 46,000 and 49,000 years old. Humans are thought to have arrived in Australia around 50,000 years ago. It's probably indicating that this is at, or just after, the arrival of humans (in Australia)." The findings appear in Australian Archaeology. - 'Capacity to innovate' - Hiscock said it was interesting that the earliest appearance of axes in Australia appeared to coincide with the arrival of humans in the landscape. "The coincidence of the timing of the arrival of humans and the appearance of axes shows an inventiveness," he said. "Axes were not made in Africa, they were not made in the Middle East. "So people moving out of Africa didn't have axes. They arrive in Australia and they invent this technology. It shows that there was novelty, the capacity to innovate." He added that the axe fragment was not the first of its type found in Australia and showed that the nation's indigenous peoples' ancestors were good at creating the tools they needed. Story continues "I think that this tells us that axes were invented by the early settlers, the ancestors of Australian Aboriginals," he said. Australian National University professor Sue O'Connor, who found the piece in the 1990s, agreed that it was the earliest evidence of a hafted axe -- one with a handle attached -- in the world. "Nowhere else in the world do you get axes at this date," she said in a statement, adding that while such axes had appeared about 35,000 years ago in Japan, in most countries they arrived with agriculture within the last 10,000 years. "Australian stone artefacts have often been characterised as being simple," she said. "But clearly that's not the case when you have these hafted axes earlier in Australia than anywhere else in the world." The piece comes from an axe that had been shaped and polished by grinding it against a softer rock such as sandstone, the ANU said. Azealia Banks has been dropped as a headliner of the Born & Bred Festival in London after she went on a racist Twitter tirade against Zayn Malik on Tuesday (May 10) night. "We have decided to cancel Azealia Banks' headline appearance at Rinse | Born & Bred Festival," read a statement from the organizers. "We celebrate inclusivity and equality." ANNOUNCEMENT: @RinseFM I @bornandbredLDN pic.twitter.com/AB3wnTaSru - Rinse I Born & Bred (@bornandbredLDN) May 11, 2016 The move came after Banks went on an hours-long rant against Malik's new "Like I Would" video, which was released on Tuesday, which she claims is similar to some of her previous videos and outfits. She started out playfully, tweeting, "Damn Zayn be mood boarding the f--- out of me... I'm not mad about this though. Zayn is a cutie pie." The trolling expanded to include the Capital Breakfast show in London, who Banks railed at for tweeting at her that they were playing Malik's music, piling on a tasteless joke about refugees at Zayn's expense. Azealia Banks Continues Trashing Beyonce: 'She's Not an Artist, She's a Poacher' A photo posted by Azealia Banks (@azealiabanks) on May 10, 2016 at 9:15am PDT Azealia Banks Endorses Donald Trump, Claims Hillary Clinton 'Talks to Black People As If We're Children or Pets' Things quickly escalated after Banks claimed some of Malik's fans used a racial epithet against her. The rapper began taunting Malik, calling him a "sand n-----" and a "f-----," claiming that Malik gave out her personal cell number to his fans and posting a since-deleted Periscope with a racist title. The offensive back-and-forth between Banks and Malik supporters went on for hours before Malik weighed in, wondering what it was all about. "@AZEALIABANKS why you been saying nasty things about me? I wasn't talking about you lol?" he wrote. @AZEALIABANKS why you been saying nasty things about me ? I wasn't talking about you lol ? Story continues - zayn (@zaynmalik) May 11, 2016 Zayn Malik Shares 'Tron'-Inspired 'Like I Would' Video: Watch Once he weighed in, Banks took the opportunity to hit him harder, responding, "do you understand that you are a sand n----- who emulates white boys' rendition of black male hood?" The insults expanded to encompass British rappers, including boasts about her headlining slot at the festival, which she was slated to play on June 5. "Which is why a U.S. rapper has been asked to headline ur grimey grime festival?" she wrote when someone threatened to toss urine on her during her set. "Haha, enjoy the rain!" When the festival announced she had been removed from its lineup, Banks made light of it. Most of the people coming to this on my day were only coming for me. ------ https://t.co/97gQGKOTYF - BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 11, 2016 To all of my Darling UK fans who bought tickets to see me at the Rinse FM show. My sincerest apologies!!!!! - BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS) May 11, 2016 At press time a representative for Banks could not be reached for comment on her latest social media outburst; a spokesperson for Malik told Billboard his camp had no comment at press time. Be warned, ladies and gents, what youre about to read will probably leave you incredibly angry. Last night, rapper Azealia Banks launched into a vile racist Twitter tirade against former One Direction star Zayn Malik, after she mistakenly thought that he was throwing shade at her on his own account. But even if he was, there was no excuse for her behaviour. It all started when Zayn tweeted: No lies I see you reaching but I dont care. My @s too good for you. American rapper Azealia immediately thought that he was referencing an Instagram post that shed made where she compared his new music video for Like I Would to one of her own, and her response was to bombard the star with cruel messages for the rest of the night. She wrote: Dude, I make better music than you. Simmer down with that fake white boy rebellion and that wannabe beiber swag. lol u a b*tch n*gga for even responding like that. Keep sucking this yung rapunxel d*ck u hairy curry scented bitch. "Imma start calling you punjab you dirty b*tch. "You a d*ck rider for real for real. Ride this d*ck until the wheels fall off Punjab. [sic] An hour later, without Zayn responding, the rapper continued: Lol u were the only p*ki in the group and you knew you were there for a reason. "You were the the token brown boy. All those white boys in 1D disrespected you and made you their PET. "You were only apart of 1d to draw brown attention. You are and ALWAYS will be a TOKEN to the UK. [sic] She then retweeted a selfie of Zayn multiple times, adding a derogatory caption each time, including: 'I eat sand for breakfast and suck d*ck for dinner[sic]. Azealia then called Zayn a f*ggot and his mother a dirty refugee before responding to fourteen-year-old Disney star Skai Jackson who had tweeted Azealia to simmer down and slammed her for giving black women a bad name. Story continues The musician responded with: Lol ur moms been pimping you out to disney since you were a lil girl. lets see what you end up like at 21. bye ! Youre just another little black girl whos going to be kicked off the disney conveyer belt. "Youre stage mom forced you into disney because she failed in her life and youre going to end up depressed and addicted to drugs THATS HOW THESE STORIES ALWAYS GO! [sic] Zayn didnt respond to Azealias vile abuse until three hours ago, where he rather calmly replied: Why you been saying nasty things about me ? I wasnt talking about you lol ? Loving the attention, she retweeted his message and hashtagged her support to anti-Muslim President candidate Donald Trump before adding: When your entire extended family has been obliterated by good ol the U.S of A will you still be trying to Act like a white boy pretending to be black? [sic] She continued to write nasty tweets about both Zayn and Skai, despite the fact neither of them responded to her again, with her last tweet telling a fan that she carries a gun with her everywhere she goes. Lovely. At the end of all of this we only have two questions; why have Twitter not deleted Azealias account yet? And who was Zayn actually throwing shade at in the first place? Amid concerns about mounting drug and health care costs, physicians are coming under scrutiny regarding potential financial conflicts of interest that can potentially add greatly to medical costs. Back in March, a study by ProPublica, the non-profit news organization, revealed that physicians who receive payments from the pharmaceutical industry were more inclined to prescribe pricey brand-name medications than doctors who dont accept payments, gifts or other honoraria. Related: Doctors Who Take Money from Drug Companies Prescribe More Expensive Drugs Now comes a report by the Senate Finance Committee on another medical industry practice that suggests that many surgeons are lining their pockets by encouraging patients with serious back problems to undergo difficult and costly operations using devices and equipment supplied by companies with which the surgeons have a financial interest. They are called physician-owned distributorships, or PODs, and they are legally structured commercial entities that serve as intermediaries between medical-device manufacturers and hospitals. The doctors profit from the sale of the products, which often are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. These distributorships currently operate in at least 43 states. The report, released by Chair Orrin Hatch (R-UT) on Tuesday, found that POD surgeons performed surgery on their patients at much higher rates 44 percent -- than non-POD surgeons did. And in absolute numbers, POD surgeons performed nearly twice as many back fusion surgeries as did non-POD surgeons. The surgeons typically receive a commission on each sale, according to the report, which provides a tantalizing incentive to perform far more back surgeries than other surgeons without a financial stake in the sale of equipment. The relationship between doctors and their patients should be one characterized by trust and a level of professionalism that is held to the highest standards, Hatch said in releasing the study. Unfortunately, when surgeons have a financial interest in medical device companies, the data calls into question whether the best interest of the patient is considered when invasive surgeries are recommended. Story continues Related: Ignoring Warnings, Drug Companies Hike Prices By 10 Percent The new report concludes that PODs present an inherent conflict of interest that can put the physicians medical judgement at odds with the patients best interests. Experts say that spinal fusions are among the most challenging and costly forms of back surgery, and that doctors usually only recommend them to treat the most serious back problems. The report noted that spinal implants are typically physician preference, meaning that hospitals usually automatically purchases the devices suggested by the surgeon. And typically, the more screws, plates, rods and other hardware ordered by the hospital, the larger the payment the surgeon receives from the POD. The Finance Committees staff first began investigating PODs in February 2011 after being tipped off by a surgeon about a shady POD arrangement that had been pitched to him. Later that spring, a number of whistleblowers steered the committee staff to surgeons affiliated with PODS who allegedly performed harmful back surgeries on Medicare beneficiaries. All of those cases were subsequently referred to law enforcement officials, according to the report, and some have resulted in legal action. Proponents of the distributorships argue that they are legal and often give doctors greater control in selecting which devices to use and sometimes results in cost savings through negotiating better prices, according to The Wall Street Journal. Related: Your High Tech Surgery Can Be Hacked Dr. John Steinmann, a practicing orthopedic spine surgeon and a POD investor, told members of the Senate Finance Committee late last year that a properly structured POD represents a valuable alignment between the surgeons and the hospital. In some circumstances it is reasonable for the hospital to own the inventory, such as hospital systems with an employed and hence, aligned staff, he testified. However, in most circumstances where there is not an employment relationship, hospitals will be very reluctant to purchase inventory for fear the surgeons will not continue to support that inventory investment. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Baghdad (AFP) - Three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 94 people, the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital this year. The attacks, all claimed by the Islamic State group, came with the government locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against the jihadists. The worst bombing struck the frequently targeted Sadr City area of northern Baghdad at about 10 am (0700 GMT), killing at least 64 people, officials said. The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street. Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage. "The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali. "The politicians are behind the explosion." Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger. "The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," the local resident said. The politicians "should all get out". Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working-class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father. Another suicide car bomb attack killed at least 17 people at the entrance to the northwestern neighbourhood of Kadhimiya, which is home to an important Shiite shrine. - IS-controlled territory shrinks - Access to the neighbourhood, which has also been repeatedly targeted over the years, is heavily controlled. Several members of the security forces were among the victims, hospital sources said. In the Jamea district of western Baghdad, another car bomb went off in the afternoon, killing at least 13 people, an interior ministry official and medics told AFP. A total of around 150 people were wounded in the three bombings. IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for all three attacks. It said they were carried out by suicide bombers, giving their noms de guerre. Story continues The UN's top envoy in Iraq, Jan Kubis, condemned the bloodshed. "These are cowardly terrorist attacks on civilians who have done nothing but going about their normal daily lives," he said. IS, which overran large areas in 2014, considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings. Government spokesman Saad al-Hadithi went on state television hours after the Sadr City bombing and said that IS now only controls 14 percent of Iraq, down from 40 percent. And Baghdad-based US Major General Gary Volesky told reporters that the IS group was losing ground in the country "every single day". The group's "ability to conduct large-scale offensive operations has primarily stopped," he said. But the jihadists have retained their ability to strike in the heart of Baghdad and other government-held areas with bomb attacks. - Political crisis - The months-old political crisis has led to repeated mass demonstrations that required a huge security deployment and hampered government action at a time when Iraq is still battling jihadists on several fronts. Security forces are currently engaged in large-scale military operations in the provinces of Anbar and Nineveh as they close in on Fallujah and Mosul, IS's two major remaining hubs in the country. The United States and the United Nations have warned the political impasse could undermine the fight against IS. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sought to replace the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers with a government of technocrats, a move opposed by powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. Angry demonstrators last month broke into central Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and stormed parliament after lawmakers again failed to approve new ministers. While the protesters withdrew the following day, parliament has still yet to hold another session. Zainab al-Tai, a lawmaker from Sadr's political movement, said the most recent efforts to resume the parliamentary process were still floundering Wednesday. "Some disagreements remain, there is no session and we have yet to set a date for the next session," she told AFP. "Parliament is divided in three groups... I don't think we can reach a result, the decision will be in the hands of the people," she added. Washington (AFP) - The archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland has published the names of 14 Catholic priests or clergy members suspected of pedophilia, a move greeted with skepticism by a prominent victim support group. The names of the 14 pedophilia suspects were in a list that included 57 others that have been in the public domain since a 2002 investigation by the Boston Globe into sexual abuse of children by members of the Catholic clergy. The list was quietly published in January by Archbishop William Lori and only disclosed more broadly on Tuesday by the Baltimore Sun newspaper. "The primary motivation in publicly disclosing an allegation is to encourage anyone else who may have been a victim of that individual to come forward," Sean Caine, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told the Washington Post. "We've heard from victim-survivors that one main obstacle is the sense that they're alone. They're the only one. They won't be believed." According to the victim support group bishop-accountability.org, 31 of 178 US dioceses have published a similar list of suspected sexual abusers of minors. The Baltimore diocese consists of at least 94 parishes. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, SNAP, said "We're glad Baltimore Catholic officials are again listing predator priests on the archdiocesan website but wish they would do the same on local parish websites." "We're sad that this has taken so long to do and believe they can and should do much more to protect kids," the group's outreach director, Barbara Dorris, said in a statement. Dorris expressed concern that the list is incomplete, and said she suspected the archbishop's aim was to persuade Maryland legislators there was no need to reform the state's "archaic, predator-friendly statute of limitations." The Boston Globe's Spotlight investigative team reported over the weekend on the scope of sexual abuse of underage students by teachers at prestigious private schools since the 1960s. It found that school officials often either ignored or were slow to respond to sexual abuse accusations involving more than 200 alleged victims. Dhaka (AFP) - Police on Wednesday charged Bangladesh's main opposition chief, Khaleda Zia, with masterminding arson attacks during deadly anti-government protests last year, a day after the execution of one of her key political allies. Police said they had brought charges against Zia, a two-time former prime minister, and 27 officials from her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for their roles in the fire-bombing of two buses in the capital Dhaka. "We've submitted charge sheets against 27 people including Khaleda Zia to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court," local police chief Mohammad Selimuzzaman told AFP. "She has been charged as a mastermind in the arson attacks." It came hours after the execution of Zia's main political ally, Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan. His hanging late Tuesday sparked several outbreaks of violence and heightened tensions in the Muslim-majority country, already reeling from a string of killings of secular and liberal activists. Zia, a bitter political rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is already on trial for corruption in a long-running case. She also faces around half a dozen other charges stemming from her tenure as the premier of the country from 2001-06 -- charges she rejects as baseless and politically motivated. There was no immediate comment from Zia on the latest allegations, which relate to fire-bombings in Dhaka's Darussalam neighbourhood in March 2015, which caused no injuries or deaths. Earlier this year Zia was charged over a separate deadly fire-bombing of a bus in Dhaka during a nationwide transport blockade she ordered last year in an effort to topple the government. The blockade unleashed a wave of bloody violence, leaving more than 120 people dead as opposition activists fire-bombed hundreds of buses and trucks, and police responded by firing live rounds. Story continues Zia was confined to her office compound in the capital for months after she threatened to lead an anti-government rally through Dhaka on the first anniversary of a disputed national election. Prime Minister Hasina has vowed to prosecute Zia and other top opposition officials over the violence. The BNP boycotted the 2014 general election, leaving the field clear for Hasina's Awami League. The opposition was further weakened by a government crackdown last year, when police pressed charges against around 15,000 opposition activists over the fire-bombing campaign. By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - A Bangladeshi refugee died of heart failure on Nauru on Wednesday, Australian officials said, the second death in as many weeks on the tiny South Pacific island where detainees have been hurting themselves in protests. Controversies arising from Australia's immigration policy have become a major headache for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during campaigning for elections set to be held on July 2. Under Australia's hard-line immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach the country by boat are sent to camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or to Nauru. The camps have drawn criticism from the United Nations and human rights agencies for their harsh conditions and reports of abuse there. "The man admitted himself to the Republic of Nauru Hospital on May 9, complaining of chest pains," Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement. "He was receiving treatment in hospital, but died early today after a series of cardiac arrests." A department spokesman rejected allegations from a refugee activist that the 26-year-old man's illness had been caused by an intentional overdose. "There is currently no evidence to support these claims," the spokesman said, adding that the department rejected outright any suggestion of a cover-up. Officials in Nauru could not be reached by telephone and did not respond to emailed questions. The refugee activist, Ian Rintoul, coordinator of the Australia-based Refugee Action Coalition, said refugees on the island had told him the man, to whom he referred by a single name, Rakib, had taken an overdose of pills. "Rakibs friends say his suicide was driven by the same desperation as others on Nauru," Rintoul said. Two asylum seekers, a 23-year-old Iranian man and a 21-year-old Somali woman, have set fire to themselves in protest over their lengthy detention on Nauru. The man died and the woman is in a critical condition. More than 100 refugees and asylum seekers at the center have signed a petition to be allowed to buy boats to leave the country. "We have been living in Nauru as prisoners for three years now," they said in the petition. "Weve decided to rescue ourselves by getting on boats once again." Last week, Australia said it had agreed to pay compensation to a charity it wrongly accused of inciting refugees to harm themselves in a Nauru protest in 2014. Papua New Guinea has said it plans to close the Manus Island detention center after its Supreme Court ruled it unlawful. (Reporting by Matt Siegel; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) President Obama will end his Presidency pretty much the same way he began it: with a call to the world to rid itself of nuclear armsthis time at Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic weapon used in war. Too bad he did so little to reach that goal during the intervening seven years. Instead of bequeathing a smarter nuclear arsenal to his successor, he has launched the most-costly upgrade to the U.S. nuclear arsenal ever. By embracing the wholesale replacement of the nuclear triadthe bombers, submarines and land-based missiles that deliver warheadsObamas atomic blueprint will cost an estimated $348 billion over the coming decade. Think of it as Cold War 2.0. It wasnt supposed to be this way. As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act, he told an audience in Prague on April 5, 2009. So today, I state clearly and with conviction Americas commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. Six months later, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Obama its annual peace prize, saying it had attached special importance to Obamas vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. Seven years later, the song remains the same. The White House announced Tuesday that Obama will visit Hiroshima on May 27 at the end of the G-7 economic summit, making him the first sitting President to visit Hiroshima (ex-president Jimmy Carter visited in 1984). A U.S. B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on the city on Aug. 6, 1945, killing up to 146,000 people; a second nuclear weapons destroyed Nagasaki three days later, killing up to 80,000 and forcing Japans surrender. Obamas visit will come 2,610 days after his Prague speech. National security spokesman Ben Rhodes said the Japanese visit will represent Obamas personal commitment to a world without nuclear weapons. Story continues But commitments arent actions. Of all post-Cold War presidents the Obama Administration has reduced the warhead stockpile the least, says Hans Kristensen, who runs the Nuclear Information Project for the Federation of American Scientists. He has also presided over the most ambitious nuclear modernization effort since the Cold War by funding nuclear forces at record levels and committing the United States to a very broad modernization of the entire nuclear arsenal and its support facilities. The trouble with a U.S. nuclear arsenal on auto-pilot isnt only that it increases the chances that something could go wrong, but that it denies Washington the bully pulpit Obama plainly craves but hasnt earned. That, in turn, contributes to the seepage of nuclear weapons around the globe (not that states like Iran and North Korea would curb their ambitions). True, the push to reduce the nations nuclear arsenal has stumbled amid Republican opposition and as Russias Vladimir Putin has grown more aggressive (although the utility of nuclear weapons to deter him is dubious). Obama has made a stronger rhetorical commitment to nonproliferation and disarmament than any recent president, says Miles Pomper, a nuclear-weapons expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. But in part because of the Republican Congress and Vladimir Putins return to power, his results have not differed that much from his predecessors. The 2010 New START pact between the U.S. and Russia calls for a 28% cut in deployed U.S. nuclear weapons by 2018, but doesnt require scrapping a single one. Some former top U.S. officials have called for dramatic cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including scrapping the triads ICBM leg. Any reasonable definition of deterrence will not require that third leg, former defense secretary William Perry told TIME. Deterrence is deterrence, and you can achieve it with an asymmetrical force, and you can achieve it with fewer numbers. But keeping all three legs of the triadand modernizing them, to bootwas the deal Obama struck with senators to win their votes for ratification of that New START treaty with Russia. And that all-American deal has spawned a new problem: the military says it doesnt have the money to buy the new missiles, bombers and submarines, even under projected future annual budgets that top the Cold War average. The Navys congressional allies have suggested creating a deterrence fund that would pay for the services new fleet of missile-carrying boomer subs, separate and apart from its ship-building account. I like what the fund stands for, Admiral John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, told Congress in March. This is a national program of absolutely top priority for national security. The Air Force got the hint. If that is a strategic deterrence fund, which would help or benefit one leg of the triad, I would ask for consideration that all the legs of the triad be included in such an approach, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said in March (the Air Force, of course, is the home of the triads other two legs). So there you have it: a President who has repeatedly decried the presence of nuclear weapons has launched a nuclear-weapons buying spree that his military services say they cannot afford. The Japanese are bound to be impressed. * Barclays Africa says no to ministerial meeting on Oakbay * Nedbank says will meet team but won't discuss clients * CGIC says providing insurance for Sahara, part of Oakbay (Adds Barclays Africa, Nedbank) By Tiisetso Motsoeneng JOHANNESBURG, May 11 (Reuters) - South African lender Barclays Africa said on Wednesday it had turned down a meeting with a ministerial team appointed to resolve a stand-off between banks and Oakbay Investments, a company at the centre of allegations of political influence. Several companies, including all four major banks in South Africa, have severed links with Oakbay Investments following allegations that the Gupta family, its owners, used their friendship with President Jacob Zuma to win political favours. Last month, the government appointed a team of ministers including Mines Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to help patch up relations between the company and the banks. "We confirm receipt of an invitation to a meeting from the office of the Minister of Mineral Resources on behalf of the inter-ministerial committee announced by Cabinet," Barclays Africa said. "We have respectfully declined on account of client confidentiality." Although the Guptas' relationship with Zuma has been a source of controversy for years, it burst into the open last month when senior figures said the family had exerted undue sway, including offering cabinet positions Zuma has acknowledged the Guptas are his friends, but denies anything improper. The Guptas, whose wide range of business interests include media and mining, have denied the allegations and say they are pawns in a plot to oust Zuma. Nedbank, a unit of Anglo-South African insurer Old Mutual , said it would approach any meeting with government constructively, but would not discuss banking relationships of any client. The government team, which also includes Finance Minister Pravin Gordan and Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant, is due to report back on its progress at this week's cabinet meeting, Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe told Reuters. Story continues Oakbay Investments' Chief Executive Officer Nazeem Howa has said the company would not be able to pay its workers from June 7 if it cannot restore banking relations. Other companies that have severed ties with the companies in recent months include the local unit of KPMG and fleet management company Eqstra. Mutual and Federal said it has not withdrawn insurance cover on a Sahara Group of companies, subsidiary of Oakbay Investments. Reuters reported on Tuesday that Mutual & Federal, through its trade credit insurance arm Credit Guarantee Insurance Corporation of Africa (CGIC), had withdrawn its cover for Oakbay Investments, citing a company document. CGIC said in a statement it was providing insurance for the Sahara Group, which is part of the Oakbay group. CGIC does not do business with any other company linked to Oakbay, it said. "Credit Guarantee has not withdrawn its trade credit insurance cover on the Sahara Group of companies (subsidiaries of Oakbay)," Theo Reddi, acting chief executive officer of CGIC said in a statement. Oakbay Investments did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; Editing by James Macharia and Alexander Smith) Bernie Sanders isn't ready to back down just yet: He emerged victorious from the West Virginia primary on Tuesday. "Thank you to the people of West Virginia for the tremendous victory they gave us today," Sanders said on Twitter after the West Virginia results were in. With 37 percent of the state's precincts reporting, the Vermont senator won 49.8 percent of the vote, while Hillary Clinton was a close second with 39.6 percent, according to CNN. A total of 29 pledged delegates were at stake in Tuesday evening's contest. Although Nebraska also hosted a Democratic primary on Tuesday, the votes there were non-binding. Sanders won the state's Democratic caucus in early March, leading Clinton by almost 15 points and securing 15 pledged delegates. Going into Tuesday's primaries, Clinton had secured 2,228 delegates (including superdelegates), while Sanders had earned 1,454 total delegates, according to RealClearPolitics. 2,382 delegates are required to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Despite Clinton's sizable lead, Sanders has vowed to continue his campaign for the nomination for as long as he possibly can. WATCH: Donald Trump Calls for 'Peace and Happiness' Amid Violence at Rallies Both West Virginia and Nebraska hosted Republican primaries on Tuesday as well, but with http://www.people.com/people/news/category/0,,personsTax:DonaldTrump,00.html the only remaining Republican candidate in the race, sweeping victories in both states were all but guaranteed. And in fact, Trump won both states by considerable margins, according to CNN. "It is a great honor to have won both West Virginia and Nebraska, especially by such massive margins," Trump said in a statement Tuesday night. "My time spent in both states was a wonderful and enlightening experience for me. I learned a lot, and that knowledge will be put to good use towards the creation of businesses, jobs, and the strengthening and revival of their economies." Even before Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich dropped out of the race earlier this month, Trump had pulled far enough ahead in the polls to become the presumptive Republican nominee. He has since begun the search for his most compatible running mate. Despite the battle still raging on the Democratic side, many pundits are already looking ahead to the general election. Results from the Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll released Tuesday revealed that Clinton and Trump are locked in a virtual tie among white male voters in several key swing states. "Republicans' weakness among minority voters is well known. But the reason this race is so close overall is Clinton's historic weakness among white men," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the independent poll. "In Florida, she is getting just 25 percent from white men." A beloved high school vocational teacher was killed Tuesday while trying to save the life of a pregnant waitress during a shopping mall stabbing rampage in Massachusetts. Sheena Savoy, 26, who was six weeks pregnant, was waiting tables at Bertuccis in the Silver City Galleria Mall when suspect Arthur DaRosa, 28, allegedly dashed in and randomly stabbed her. A witness said Savoy began to clutch her stomach and scream, prompting 56-year-old high school George Heath and his wife Rosemary who were eating at the restaurant to come to her aid. "I grabbed the back of his shirt. My husband was struggling with him to get the knife away," Rosemary Heath told WCVB. "He pulled his arm back and stabbed my husband in the head." Read: Two Dead Including Grandmother, 80, In Stabbing Spree That Ended at Shopping Mall Heath died from his wounds. Savoy, however, was rushed to the hospital in serious condition. My sweet, caring, adorable, funny, love of my life was stabbed at the Taunton mall last night, Mrs. Heath wrote in a touching Facebook message. His wound was too extensive and he died. He LOVED his job, his STUDENTS, his LIFELONG friends and his FAMILY. I dont want to discuss guns or mental health issues. I want to focus on my husband and the great life we shared together. He made me laugh SO much. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn has also since praised Heath's courage. His actions of heroism should not be forgotten, Quinn said during a press conference on Wednesday. Mr. Heath was a tremendous educator with a great passion for teaching; he was influential in sparking creativity and a love of learning in all of his students, Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School Superintendent-Director James OBrien said in a statement. Read: Accused Killer Seen Dragging Random Victim's Body in Horrifying Surveillance Footage: Cops The horror began in Taunton, Massachusetts when DaRosa crashed his car outside a home then forced his way inside a nearby house Story continues In the home, police believe DaRosa found a knife and attacked a mother and daughter, killing the 80-year-old mother as she ate dinner. The daughter is reportedly being treated at an area hospital, where she remains. DaRosa allegedly then stole a black car and drove three miles to the mall and crashed through the door of the Macy's, where police say he injured, but did not stab, multiple people. During the incident in the Bertucci's, an off-duty police officer shot and killed DaRosa. DaRosa's family have since expressed their condolences to the family of victims while also portraying DaRosa as a longtime sufferer of mental illness. Watch: EMT Proposes to a Woman He Rescued After Being Stabbed 32 Times Related Articles: Fresh off his win in West Virginias Democratic primary, a feisty Bernie Sanders told MSNBCs Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday not to moan to him about Hillary Clintons current challenge of fighting off both primary and general election rivals. Isnt the bottom line about you versus Hillary Clinton, and who would be the stronger candidate, that she is now fighting a war on two fronts? Mitchell asked Sanders. She noted that Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, is getting beaten up by Donald Trump on a daily basis. In contrast, she pointed to some of Trumps embrace of Sanders earlier attacks. I dont accept that proposition, Sanders said. Last I heard, Hillary Clinton is running for president of the United States. I am running for president of the United States. Trump is running for president of the United States. And what a candidate does is make his or her best case to the American people. Mitchell argued that Clinton is fighting two candidates and youre fighting one. Andrea, Andrea oh really. Oh, really? Hah, Sanders replied. Andrea, in every state that we have one, in 19 states, we have had to take on the entire Democratic establishment. Weve had to take on senators and governors and mayors and members of Congress. Thats what we have taken on. Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Salem, Ore., on Tuesday. (Photo: Jim Urquhart/Reuters) The Vermont senator added: So please do not moan to me about Hillary Clintons problems. Sanders, who trails Clinton by 283 pledged delegates, reiterated what he said during a Tuesday night victory speech after winning the West Virginia primary: that hes in this race to win. We have a shot, Sanders told Mitchell. It is a steep hill to climb, but were going to fight for every last vote that we can get, every delegate that we can get. And thats what I intend to do in the next month, five weeks. He also repeated his intention to woo so-called superdelegates who have already pledged their support for Clinton. He pointed to recent polls that show he would fare better against Trump in a general election. Story continues The point that were going to make to the superdelegates is a very simple one, Sanders said. Over 400 superdelegates came on board Secretary Clintons campaign before anybody else was in the race, before anybody else was running. Thats pretty crazy. And that talks about the weakness of this whole superdelegate system. Also read: Hillary fights two battles as Bernie wins another primary No. 2, the point that were going to make loud and clear is that, in virtually every national poll thats been out there in the last month or six weeks, and in almost every state poll, Bernie Sanders runs stronger against Donald Trump than does Hillary Clinton, he continued. And I think what every delegate to the Democratic National Convention wants, most importantly, is to defeat Donald Trump. The case well make is that I am the stronger candidate. Though Trump has focused most of his fire on Clinton, who he calls Crooked Hillary, the real estate mogul unveiled a nickname for Sanders earlier in the day on Wednesday: Crazy Bernie. I dont want to hit Crazy Bernie Sanders too hard yet because I love watching what he is doing to Crooked Hillary, the presumptive Republican nominee tweeted. His time will come! But Sanders who issued his sharpest attack on Trump to date during his stump speech Tuesday night doubled down on his assessment of the brash billionaire. I think the people of America, the more they see Mr. Trump, understand that hes a total phony, Sanders said. That he is a pathological liar, and that he gets a lot of media attention for attacking people, but that is going to wear thin. During his MSNBC interview, Sanders also rejected another question about his Democratic primary foe, telling Mitchell that he was not interested in weighing in on Trumps recent use of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The media loves that kind of stuff, and thats why Trump is doing so well, he said. That is the kind of ugly stuff that I do not go near. No, I debate Hillary Clinton on the important issues facing working people. The media loves every ridiculous remark that Donald Trump makes. But we are going to stay focused on the issues. Those are the issues that I talk about, not Bill Clintons personal life, not Hillary Clintons emails, not the Clinton Foundation, Sanders added. That is what Trump will talk about; thats what the media will talk about. I will focus on the issues facing working families in this country, and I hope the media will allow that discussion to take place. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont will win the Democratic West Virginia primary, NBC News projected as polls closed Tuesday evening. Voters in West Virginia took to the polls as the primary season appeared to draw to a close. Although most pundits say former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has essentially secured the nomination because of delegate math, Sanders has pledged to continue his campaign. On the Republican side, meanwhile, Donald Trump became the party's presumptive nominee when his final two opponents suspended their campaigns last week. Sanders had appeared positioned for a victory in West Virginia: Pre-primary polls had indicated he held a few percentage point lead over Clinton. Interestingly, NBC reported that 40 percent of Sanders' West Virginia voters said they would actually support Trump over the senator in a general election match up potentially suggesting that some independents' party affiliations for the day were more about the state's Democratic governor primary than their presidential preference. (There was no GOP gubernatorial contest on Tuesday.) Clinton has attempted to pivot to the general election, but she has been forced in recent weeks to defend her likely nomination from Sanders' continued primary strength. In fact, Sanders is positioned to have a good showing in May, which will also see Oregon voters voice their Democratic preference. More From CNBC joe biden Vice President Joe Biden said that before his son's death last year he had planned on seeking the presidency in 2016. In a Wednesday "Good Morning America" interview, Biden said he scrapped his plans to mount a third presidential bid after the death of his son Beau last year from cancer. "I planned on running," Biden said. "It's an awful thing to say. I think I would've been the best president." The vice president said his decision not to run was wise because he knew he did not have the emotional stamina to run. "No one should ever seek the presidency unless they're able to devote their whole heart and soul and passion into just doing that," Biden said. "And Beau was my soul. I just wasn't able to do that." Biden publicly wrestled with the decision for months last year. After Beau Biden reportedly pushed his dad last year to run, the vice president openly speculated about whether he could focus on mounting a strong campaign despite his son's death. In an emotional interview with "Late Show" host Stephen Colbert last year, the vice president said he didn't know whether he could dedicate himself to another run. "I don't think any man or woman should run for president unless, number one, they know exactly why they would want to be president," Biden said in the interview. "And two, they can look at folks out there and say, 'I promise you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy, and my passion.' "And I'd be lying if I said that I knew I was there," he added. "I'm being completely honest. Nobody has a right in my view to seek that office unless they are willing to give it 110% of who they are." Still, the vice president said Wednesday that he didn't think his decision not to run would hand the White House to the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Speaking with "Good Morning America," Biden, who has remained neutral in the Democratic presidential primary, said he felt "confident" about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's chances. Story continues "I feel confident that Hillary will be the nominee, and I feel confident that she will be the next president," Biden said. NOW WATCH: Scientists have linked the deaths of three US presidents to the same surprising cause More From Business Insider A British boy who got a temporary tattoo while on vacation in Spain came home with an unusual souvenir from his trip: a severe allergic reaction to his body art, a new case report shows. The 10-year-old got a temporary "black henna" tattoo on the upper part of his arm in the summer of 2015, but the ink caused his skin to erupt in a rash four days after he received the tattoo, according to a report of the boy's case published today (May 5) in the journal BMJ Case Reports. "Black henna" tattoo ink is typically a combination of henna, a relatively safe plant pigment that has a reddish-brown color, and a chemical called para-phenylenediamine (PPD). This textile dye is added to blacken the henna and make the tattoo dry quicker and last longer, the case report said. PPD is known to cause allergic reactions when it comes in contact with the skin, said Dr.Jaya Sujatha Gopal-Kothandapani, a researcher in pediatric endocrinology at the University of Sheffield in England, who was involved in the boy's case. The boy developed redness, an itchy rash and blistering on the outline of the tattoo, which are typical symptoms of an allergy, Gopal-Kothandapani said. Before this incident, the boy had not suffered from any allergies, nor had members of his family, Gopal-Kothandapani said. [8 Strange Signs You're Having an Allergic Reaction] An allergic reaction to PPD, a chemical commonly used in hair dye, is relatively rare in children compared to adults, Gopal-Kothandapani said. But children who are sensitive to PPD can have a more intense and severe allergic reaction than adults, she said. Black henna tattoos are quite unsafe, and the inks can have levels of PPD in them as high as 30 percent, Gopal-Kothandapani told Live Science. PPD is currently only approved for use in hair dyes only at a 6 percent concentration, and neither the U.S. nor Europe permits PPD to be used in any skin product at any concentration, she said. The inks used may be marketed as "black henna" and applied by street artists, who may or may not know it's risks on the skin and are using it illegally. Story continues The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received numerous reports from consumers who developed bad side effects blisters, loss of skin pigmentation, sensitivity to sunlight and permanent scarring as a result of the PPD found in black henna, according to the FDA's adverse-events reporting program. Black henna dangers Getting a temporary tattoo while traveling abroad might seem like a fun way to briefly remember the trip, and it may seem safer than a permanent inking. But just because a tattoo is temporary does not mean it can't be harmful to some people. The British boy had the rash for three weeks before he sought help for it, according to the case report. In addition to a bad allergic reaction, the boy's temporary tattoo caused him to develop cellulitis, a potentially serious bacterial skin infection. This made his arm swollen, hot and painful when touched, Gopal-Kothandapani said. The 10-year-old was admitted to the hospital and put on intravenous antibiotics, which helped resolve his symptoms of cellulitis within 48 hours, Gopal-Kothandapani said. A cream containing a mixture of steroids and antibiotics was applied to the outline of the tattoo to reduce inflammation and relieve itching, Gopal-Kothandapani said. A week after the boy completed his treatment, his skin remained slightly lighter in the place where the tattoo had been, but he had no scarring and he recovered fully from the incident, Gopal-Kothandapani said. Now that the boy knows he is allergic to PPD, he needs to avoid black henna products, such as hair dyes, in the future, Gopal-Kothandapani said. The child's reaction to PPD dye may also have left him more sensitive to other chemicals, such as black clothing dye, black rubber and PABA sunscreens, she explained. These chemicals are similar enough to PPD to trigger the same reaction, Gopal-Kothandapani said. [Got Allergies? Avoid These 7 Mistakes] Because of black henna's potentially dangerous side effects, artists who perform skin painting should not use the substance in temporary tattoos, she said. But some vendors and many consumers may be unaware of these safety concerns, Gopal-Kothandapani said. She explained that there are clear differences between black henna and the harmless variety. Natural henna paste is greenish in color, smells natural and is considered safe to use on the skin, where it will leave a deep maroon stain. Black henna paste, by contrast, is jet-black, smells like a chemical, stains quickly and may burn the skin, she said. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published 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. May 10 (Reuters) - Canada's InnVest Real Estate Investment said that it has entered into an agreement to be bought by Bluesky Hotels and Resorts. The transaction values InnVest at $2.1 billion, including debt, the company said on Tuesday. InnVest's shareholders will receive $7.25 in cash for each InnVest unit, representing a 37 percent premium over the 30-day volume-weighted average price of $5.28, the company said. The company also said that it intends to maintain its workforce following the completion of the transaction. CIBC World Markets acted as financial advisors, while Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP provided legal advise to InnVest. (Reporting by Parikshit Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler) (Adds analysts' comments, details about 787 and demand) By Alwyn Scott SEATTLE, May 11 (Reuters) - Boeing Co's top executives laid out an ambitious, five-year strategy on Wednesday to increase revenue and profits and secure the company's future for the next 100 years, promising to boost efficiency, return free cash to shareholders and expand the after-market services and parts business. But the executives, speaking to analysts at a conference, faced some skepticism about whether Boeing can tame the commercial aircraft business cycle, and the company gave few new details about plans to modify existing planes to better match market needs to counter competitive threats from Airbus and Bombardier. Boeing expects to lift profit margins to a double-digit percentage next year and has an "aspirational target ... towards the end of the decade of getting to mid-teen margins," Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg told the conference. The company is re-engineering itself to become more flexible and efficient in designing and building jetliners, using automation, 3-D printing and other measures. These moves, Muilenburg said, would allow Boeing to create a steady, sustainable business in what has historically been a highly cyclical industry. Boeing aims to be not only a "global industrial champion" but "the industry leader in cash generation," Muilenburg said. Over the next decade, Boeing aims to achieve "sustained top- and bottom-line growth" in all of its businesses, he added. Boeing said 777 jetliner output would fall to about 5.5 a month in late 2018 and 2019, in line with some analysts' predictions, as it shifts to the successor 777X jet. The rate is 8.3 now, and will fall to 7 a month next year. Muilenburg said the changes are factored into Boeing's cash and profit margin expectations. Boeing described how it will pay back nearly $30 billion in deferred costs from the 787, saying 70 percent would come from selling larger, more profitable versions of the plane and higher prices. Boeing also addressed whether its output will overshoot demand if there's a downturn in the aerospace cycle. New plane orders have slowed, and by 2020, Boeing will be making more than 900 planes a month, a position some analysts questioned. Ray Conner, head of Boeing's commercial plane unit, said the factory has to be flexible and Boeing has to watch the market. "But particularly on the single aisles, where we have taken the rates really high, we are feeling pretty strong about that." (Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alan Crosby) Iraqi and American officials have for weeks touted successes in pushing back the Islamic State from nearly half of the territory it controls in Iraq. On Wednesday, the Sunni militant group left a bloody imprint on the capital Baghdad as a reminder its far from defeated. As many as 82 people were killed and more than 130 injured by bombs that ripped through three neighborhoods in Baghdad. A rush-hour attack in Shiite-dominated Sadr City left at least 55 dead, including brides and grooms preparing for weddings, in a blast from a grocers truck that sent shoes, wigs, and childrens toys to rot among the rubble. The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the blast, and bombs embedded in vehicles and suicide vests have been a hallmark of the extremist group for years, going back to when it was known as al Qaeda in Iraq. Hours later, in the Kadhimiyah neighborhood, a suicide bomber stormed a security checkpoint near the shrine to a Shiite imam, killing 17. Around the same time, a car bomb detonated in the mostly Sunni district of Jamiaa, killing at least 10. As Iraqi forces gather steam for new offensives on the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul and in western Anbar province, the Sunni extremists have stepped up attacks on the capital. March and April saw an unprecedented level of bloodshed. Graph courtesy of Joel Wing. Graph courtesy of Joel Wing As in Wednesdays attacks, civilian residents of Baghdad have borne the brunt of the Islamic States brutality; in April, only 21 Shiite militiamen and 38 soldiers were killed compared with 413 civilians, according to analysis of press reports by Joel Wing, an Iraq analyst. The Islamic State set off eight car bombs in Baghdad in April more than any single month since last August. Many have exploded in Sadr City, one of the capitals poorest areas and a habitual Islamic State target for its near-exclusively Shiite population. The sprawling slum is also a home base for the political movement now headed by Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr the fourth son of the areas revered namesake, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Sadiq al-Sadr, who was assassinated by Saddam Husseins regime in 1999. The area has since been a hornets nest of discontent among its impoverished residents, many of whom rose up in a deadly Shiite militia against Sunni extremists and U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion. Story continues Muqtada al-Sadr, who fled to Iran for religious training in 2008, returned to Iraq in 2011 and has since rebuilt his militia. However, it is only one of several Shiite groups that compete for power in the Iraqi government. Violence in Iraq has been inextricably linked to the countrys political instability since the 2003 invasion a vicious cycle that has left international partners unsure, at times, where to try to help first. The U.S. and its 60-plus nation coalition has focused mostly on defeating the Islamic State, a threat that began roaring to Iraq in the months immediately after American troops withdrew in December 2011. But a long-simmering burst of recent infighting among the countrys Shiite political factions, combined with continued Sunni anger over being largely sidelined from power, risks fueling the Islamic State as it proves anew that Baghdad is failing to keep Iraqis safe. We get that the politics of this could be the chink in the armor, a senior Obama administration official told Foreign Policy after returning two weeks ago from a trip with Vice President Joe Biden to Iraq, where the political instability was a top concern on the agenda. Weve made tremendous progress against ISIL on the ground, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Weve been decimating them. But paradoxically, as the threat of ISIL has receded a bit, especially around Baghdad and the some of the areas the Shiites value more, I think its actually allowed kind of normal politics to reassert themselves a little bit more. This story has been updated. FP Deputy Managing Editor Lara Jakes contributed to this report. Photo credit: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty Images Billionaire energy tycoon T. Boone Pickens reiterated his support behind Donald Trump for president on Wednesday. Speaking at the SALT Conference in Las Vegas, Pickens stated: Yes, Im for Donald Trump. Pickens, 87, said that the immigration policy needs to change. He also agrees with Trumps idea to propose a ban on Muslim immigration into the US. I like his immigration policy," Pickens said. "I didnt say its permanent. But Id cut off the Muslims coming into the United States until we can vet these people." Weve got to know," he continued. "We all look too much alike. I mean were coming into the United States the three of us they cant tell by looking at us. They can tell Im the oldest or something." Pickens said that the last eight years have been pretty tough to deal with due to what he argued was a lack of leadership in Washington. He said that Trump may be the only one who can change anything. He may change something," Pickens said. "I do think Donald Trump is smart enough. Hes going to get help. Hes already said that hes got to have a vice president that has political experience. Im tired of having politicians as president of the United States. During the panel, moderator David Westin, the cohost of BloombergIn EURm Q1 2016 Q4 2015 in % Sales 173.4 174.4 -0.6% Service revenue 124.6 120.2 +3.7% Gross profit 68.2 75.0 -9.1% Gross profit margin in 39.3% 43.0% % AGPPU average gross 7.32 7.28 +0.5% profit per user (MVNO) blended EBITDA 24.0 17.4 +37.9% EBITDA margin in % 13.8% 10.0% Net Adds Subscribers, in 2.797 2.678 +4.4% +119,000 millions Thereof MVNO 2.712 2.587 +4.8% +125,000 subscribers Thereof budget 2.100 1.932 +8.7% +168,000 subscribers Thereof volume 0.612 0.655 -6.6% -43,000 subscribersProvisional, unaudited performance indicators pursuant to IFRS - comparison Q1 2016 v. Q1 2015
In EURm Q1 2016 Q1 2015 in % Sales 173.4 99.2 +74.8% Service revenue 124.6 95.4 +30.6% Gross profit 68.2 47.8 +42.8% Gross profit margin in 39.3% 48.2% % AGPPU average gross 7.32 7.23 +1.2% profit per user (MVNO) blended EBITDA 24.0 26.9 -11.0% EBITDA margin in % 13.8% 27.1% Net Adds Subscribers, in 2.797 2.361 +18.5% +436,000 millions Thereof MVNO 2.712 2.229 +21.7% +483,000 subscribers Thereof budget 2.100 1.497 +40.3% +603,000 subscribers Thereof volume 0.612 0.732 -16.4% -120,000 subscribersThe final quarterly report will be made available on the Company's home page on 24 May 2016. http://www.drillisch.de/investor-relations/berichte Maintal, 11 May 2016 Drillisch AG The Management Board Disclaimer: This report contains statements regarding the future which are based on the current assumptions and projections of the management of Drillisch AG. Various risks, uncertainties and other factors, both known and unknown, can cause actual developments, especially in the results, financial position, and the business of our Company, to deviate substantially from the projections about the future as they are shown here. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update such future- oriented statements and to adapt them to future events or developments. All of the above information is based on provisional calculations prior to the final consolidation and the conclusion of the review. It is consequently possible that the final business figures that are to be presented on 24 May 2016 will differ from those shown here. Contact: Oliver Keil Head of Investor Relations Mail: ir@drillisch.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.05.2016 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap-medientreff.de and www.dgap.de --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Company: Drillisch AG Wilhelm-Rontgen-Strae 1-5 63477 Maintal Germany Phone: +49 (0)6181 412 218 Fax: +49 (0)6181 412 183 E-mail: ir@drillisch.de Internet: www.drillisch.de ISIN: DE0005545503 WKN: 554550 Indices: TecDAX Listed: Regulated Market in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Regulated Unofficial Market in Berlin, Dusseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart; Terminborse EUREX End of News DGAP News Service --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 462777 11.05.2016 TORONTO, May 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay" or the "Company") (TSX:MND) today announced revenue of $50.4 million, adjusted EBITDA of $17.3 million and consolidated net income before special items of $1.1 million or $0.00 per share for the first quarter of 2016. The Companys unaudited consolidated interim financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016, together with its Managements Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) for the corresponding period can be accessed under the Companys profile on www.sedar.com and on the Companys website at www.mandalayresources.com. All currency references in this press release are in U.S. dollars except as otherwise indicated. In accordance with the Companys dividend policy, Mandalays Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $3.0 million (6% of the trailing quarters gross revenue), or $0.0073 per share (CDN$0.0094 per share), payable on June 3, 2016, to shareholders of record as of May 24, 2016. The Companys consolidated net income for the quarter of $1.1 million ($0.00 per share) has been adjusted for special items to an adjusted net income of $1.0 million ($0.00 per share). Special items excluded from adjusted net income are: tax expense adjustment at Costerfield of $1.4 million; write-off of $3.4 million of residual mining interest at Fabiola and Yasna veins at Cerro Bayo and the associated tax savings of $0.8 million; and tax savings of $1.4 million upon cancellation of the royalty rights at Cerro Bayo purchased from Coeur Mining during the quarter. For a full reconciliation of the adjustments, please refer to the Adjusted EBITDA Reconciliation to Net Income table found on page 14 of the Companys MD&A for the first quarter of 2016. Commenting on first quarter 2016 financial results, Dr. Mark Sander, President and CEO of Mandalay, noted, Mandalay generated strong revenue and EBITDA in the first quarter of 2016, on an annualized pace exceeding last years revenue and EBITDA, despite lower metal prices relative to the first quarter of 2015. As a result of our continuing low average cash production cost per saleable gold equivalent ounce (oz Au Eq.) of $751, we generated 34% EBITDA margins in the quarter. We ended the quarter with $40.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, down from $49.2 million at the beginning of the quarter, due to the $4.0 million cash portion of the Cerro Bayo royalty acquisition and increases in accounts receivables of $6.0 million mainly due to unsettled shipments sold late in the quarter. Having repurchased the Cerro Bayo royalty from Coeur Mining, the Company has no remaining private royalties on any of its current operations and our shareholders can expect to realize the full benefit of increasing production and metal prices going forward. Dr. Sander continued, During the first quarter of 2016, Costerfield continued its excellent operational and financial performance, producing its second highest ever quarterly total of 16,966 oz Au Eq., at a record low cash cost of $512/oz Au Eq. and all-in cost of $724/oz Au Eq. Since achieving its maximum daily design throughput rate of 450 tonnes (t) per day in 2014, the Costerfield team has consistently delivered continuous operational improvements, which in the current quarter include mining record tonnes at record low cost/t and processing record tonnes at record low cost/t. Having completed all major capital items for the current life of mine plan at Costerfield, we receive substantial free cash flow each quarter from the operation. We are working to extend the mine life through drilling lodes below the King Cobra fault, approximately 100 metres deeper than the current Cuffley workings, and by applying recent, sustainably lower operating costs to evaluation of resources already drilled in the Brunswick lode adjacent to the plant. Dr. Sander added, Our underground grade control program at Bjorkdal started to demonstrate success in the first quarter for the first time since our acquisition of the project. We were able to deliver on-vein development grades in excess of 2.5 grams of gold per tonne (g/t Au) and stoping grades in excess of 1.75 g/t Au for the last two months of the quarter. As a result, the mine produced its second highest amount of gold (12,185 oz) at its second lowest cash cost ($821/oz Au) under Mandalay ownership. Key to further improvement is accelerating the rate of underground development so that we can consistently deliver 2 g/t Au reserve grade to the plant. This acceleration process is well underway. The Company also initiated a grab sample program for grade control in the open pit with the aim of better delineating the mineralization within blasts and improving the overall production grade from the open pit. The grade improvement from this procedural change is expected to be seen for the remainder of the year. We also expect to start our large scale (60,000 t) optical ore sorting test in the second quarter to assess our ability to upgrade lower-grade development ore that is currently being transported to the low-grade stockpile. Cerro Bayo continued its transition from the depleted Yasna and Fabiola veins to the new Delia SE and Coyita mines during the first quarter of 2016. At Delia SE, we commenced stoping, a few months delayed due to slower on-vein and capital development than planned arising from poorer ground conditions than anticipated. The Company received governmental permission during the first quarter to begin extracting and processing ore from Coyita and on-vein development of ore blocks has now started. We plan to mobilize a contractor late in the second quarter to accelerate capital and on-vein development, increasing the developed state of the mines and allowing a return to mining and processing average reserve grades at our plant design rate of 1,400 t/day. Despite the development bottleneck, the mine and plant have been producing and processing high rates of ore at the lowest unit costs to date over the last few quarters. We anticipate a return to our historical strong financial performance at Cerro Bayo when the mine reaches its target state of development and head grades return to historical averages. We continued advancing our Challacollo development project during the quarter, applying for new water rights to support our preferred processing alternative. We also expect to recommence exploration on the property later in the year. Dr. Sander concluded, Given our strong overall performance in the quarter, we are maintaining our guidance for corporate consolidated 2016 production, average cash production costs, and capital spending as set out in our January 13, 2016 press release. First Quarter 2016 Financial Highlights The following table summarizes the Companys financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015: Particulars Three months Three months Ended March 31, 2016 Ended March 31, 2015 $000 $000 Revenue 50,442 56,779 Adjusted EBITDA 17,262 24,267 Income from mine operations before depreciation and depletion 19,016 25,785 Adjusted net income before special items 1,020 12,484 Consolidated net income 1,149 11,762 Cash capex 9,057 13,001 Total assets 357,117 357,202 Total liabilities 142,190 138,603 Adjusted net income per share 0.00 0.03 Consolidated net income per share 0.00 0.03 The declines in revenue and adjusted EBITDA during the first quarter of 2016 relative to the first quarter of 2015 were principally due to lower realized metal prices. (2.3% lower for Au, 10.8% lower for silver (Ag), and 35.0% lower for antimony (Sb). Factors affecting sales volumes include lower Ag and Au production at Cerro Bayo. Year-on-year operational country exchange rates declines of 8% for the Australian dollar, 12% for the Chilean peso and 1% for the Swedish krona as well as 29% lower petroleum prices partly helped offset the impact of lower metal prices. During the first quarter of 2016, cash capex was approximately $4.0 million lower than in the same quarter of 2015. Virtually all of this decrease was due to completion of the life of mine capital program at Costerfield, where spending was $1.3 million in 2016 versus $5.0 million in the first quarter of 2015. During the three months ended March 31, 2016, the Company paid out a total of $2.7 million in dividends and $4.0 million for the cancellation of the Coeur Mining royalty at Cerro Bayo. First Quarter 2016 Operational Highlights The table below summarizes the Companys capital expenditures and operational unit costs for the first quarter of 2016. Three months Three months ended March 31, 2016 ended March 31, 2015 $000 $000 Capital development 9,896 6,891 Capital purchases 2,790 4,259 Capital exploration 2,565 2,000 Cerro Bayo: Cash cost per oz Ag produced net of Au byproduct credit $ 9.76 $ 10.09 Cerro Bayo: Site all-in cost per oz Ag produced net of Au byproduct credit $ 18.78 $ 17.61 Costerfield: Cash cost per oz Au Eq. produced $ 512 $ 566 Costerfield: Site all-in cost per oz Au Eq. produced $ 724 $ 774 Bjorkdal: Cash cost per oz Au produced $ 821 $ 797 Bjorkdal: Site all-in cost per oz Au produced $ 1,059 $ 1,016 Company average Cash Cost per oz Au Eq. $ 751 $ 742 Company average All-in Cost per oz Au Eq. $ 1,042 $ 1,010 Capital development includes the value of the Cerro Bayo royalty purchase of $5.7 million. Costerfield gold-antimony mine, Victoria, Australia Costerfield mined and processed record amounts of ore (44,192 t and 39,635 t, respectively) at record low costs ($125/t and $33.36/t respectively). This excellent performance led to another good quarter in terms of quantities of Au and Sb produced and sold at low cash ($512/oz Au Eq.) and all-in ($724/oz Au Eq.) operating cost. Sustaining capital continued at a low rate, as all major capital programs necessary for the current life of mine plan were completed in the third quarter of 2015. Bjorkdal gold mine, Sweden The full-scale implementation of the Companys underground on-vein grade control process was a success during the quarter. The Company is now focused on accelerating the mining rate using this process to improve the average grade milled in a sustained fashion. Despite this success, during the first quarter of 2016, the average milled grade of 1.35 g/t Au, was slightly less than the 1.37 g/t Au for the first quarter of 2015. This is because the grade control process results in discarding 30-40% of low-grade on-vein development material, which in the first quarter was replaced in the mill by stockpile material averaging only 0.73 g/t Au. Over the coming months, the Company expects that accelerating the rate of underground development will allow it to increase the feed rate of selected high-grade underground material to the mill, displacing lower-grade stockpile material to raise the overall gold grade and production. Average mining costs rose from $19.94/t in the first quarter of 2015 to $24.57/t in 2016. Mining costs increased in the first quarter of 2016 as additional spending for grade control mapping, sampling and assaying, and selective mining were incurred and total mining costs were spread over fewer tonnes due to low-grade on-vein development material being discarded in accordance with the Companys grade improvement plan. These mining costs were offset by higher gold production to produce gold at similar cash costs. Processing costs declined slightly from $6.79/t in 2015 to $6.48/t in 2016 while the plant recovered slightly over 88% of contained Au. Cerro Bayo silver-gold mine, Patagonia, Chile In the first quarter, the mines at Cerro Bayo delivered lower grades to the mill than in the previous year, resulting in lower silver and gold production. Excellent control of operating costs and favorable exchange rate movement resulted in lower per unit mining costs (declining to $47.56/t from $54.00/t in 2015) and processing costs (declining to $20.89/t from $23.85/t in 2015). The net result was production of fewer ounces of Ag (515,216) at higher cash cost net of gold credits ($9.76/oz) than in the first quarter of 2015. All-in cost per Ag oz net of Au credits is $18.78. Challacollo, Chile At the Challacollo silver-gold project in northern Chile, claims and applications for water exploration permits were filed. The Company expects to commence drilling for water upon receipt of permits. La Quebrada and Lupin The La Quebrada copper-silver project in central Chile and the Lupin gold mine in Nunavut, Canada, both currently held for sale, remained on care and maintenance through the period. Conference Call Mandalays management will be hosting a conference call for investors and analysts on May 12, 2016 at 8:00 am (Toronto time). Analysts and interested investors are invited to participate using the following dial-in numbers: Participant Number: (201) 689-8341 Participant Number (Toll free): (877) 407-8289 Conference ID: 13635838 A replay of the conference call will be available until 23:59 pm (Toronto time), May 26, 2016 and can be accessed using the following dial-in number: Encore Toll Free Dial-in Number: (877) 660-6853 Encore ID: 13635838 For further information: Mark Sander President and Chief Executive Officer Greg DiTomaso Director of Investor Relations About Mandalay Resources Corporation: Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia, Chile and Sweden, and a development project in Chile. The Company is focused on executing a roll-up strategy, creating critical mass by aggregating advanced or in-production gold, copper, silver and antimony projects in Australia, the Americas, and Europe to generate near-term cash flow and shareholder value. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including guidance as to anticipated gold, silver, and antimony production and production costs in the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, changes in commodity prices and general market and economic conditions. The factors identified above are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Mandalay. A description of additional risks that could result in actual results and developments differing from those contemplated by forward-looking statements in this news release can be found under the heading Risk Factors in Mandalays annual information form dated March 30, 2016 a copy of which is available under Mandalays profile at www.sedar.com. Although Mandalay has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Non-IFRS Measures This news release may contain references to adjusted EBITDA, adjusted net income, cash cost per saleable ounce of gold equivalent produced, cash cost per saleable ounce of silver produced net of gold credits, site all-in cost per saleable ounce of gold equivalent produced, site all-in cost per saleable ounce of silver produced net of gold credits and all-in costs, which are all non-IFRS measures and do not have standardized meanings under IFRS. Therefore, these measures may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Management uses adjusted EBITDA as a measure of operating performance to assist in assessing the Companys ability to generate liquidity through operating cash flow to fund future working capital needs and to fund future capital expenditures, as well as to assist in comparing financial performance from period to period on a consistent basis. Management uses adjusted net income in order to facilitate an understanding of the Companys financial performance prior to the impact of non-recurring or special items. The Company believes that these measures are used by and are useful to investors and other users of the Companys financial statements in evaluating the Companys operating and cash performance because they allow for analysis of our financial results without regard to special, non-cash and other non-core items, which can vary substantially from company to company and over different periods. The Company defines adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, taxes, non-cash charges and finance costs. For a detailed reconciliation of net income to adjusted EBITDA, please refer to page 13 of managements discussion and analysis of the Companys financial statements for the first quarter of 2016. The Company defines cash capex as cash spent on mining interests, property, plant and equipment, and exploration as per the cash flow statement of the financial statements. For Costerfield, saleable equivalent gold ounces produced is calculated by adding to saleable gold ounces produced, the saleable antimony tonnes produced times the average antimony price in the period divided by the average gold price in the period. The total cash operating cost associated with the production of these saleable equivalent ounces produced in the period is then divided by the saleable equivalent gold ounces produced to yield the cash cost per saleable equivalent ounce produced. The cash cost excludes royalty expenses. Site all-in costs include total cash operating costs, royalty expense, accretion, depletion, depreciation and amortization. The site all-in cost is then divided by the saleable equivalent gold ounces produced to yield the site all-in cost per saleable equivalent ounce produced. For Cerro Bayo, the cash cost per saleable silver ounce produced net of gold byproduct credit is calculated by deducting the gold credit (which equals saleable ounces gold produced times the realized gold price in the period) from the cash operating costs in the period and dividing the resultant number by the saleable silver ounces produced in the period. The cash cost excludes royalty expenses. The site all-in cost per saleable silver ounce produced net of gold byproduct credit is calculated by adding royalty expenses, accretion, depletion, depreciation, and amortization to the cash cost net of gold byproduct credit, dividing the resultant number by the saleable silver ounces produced in the period. For Bjorkdal, the total cash operating cost associated with the production of saleable gold ounces produced in the period is then divided by the saleable gold ounces produced to yield the cash cost per saleable gold ounce produced. The cash cost excludes royalty expenses. Site all-in costs include total cash operating costs, royalty expense, accretion, depletion, depreciation and amortization. The site all-in cost is then divided by the saleable gold ounces produced to yield the site all-in cost per saleable gold ounce produced For the Company as a whole, saleable gold equivalent ounces is calculated by multiplying the saleable quantities of Au, Ag and Sb in the period by the respective average market price of the commodities in the period, adding the three amounts to get total contained value based on market price, and then dividing that total contained value by the average market price of Au in the period. Average Au price in the period is calculated as the average of the daily LME PM fixes in the period, with price on weekend days and holidays taken from the last business day; average Sb price in the period is calculated as the average of the high and low Rotterdam warehouse prices for all days in the period, with price on weekend days and holidays taken from the last business day; average Ag price in the period is calculated as the average of the daily London Brokers silver spot price for all days in the period, with price on weekend days and holidays taken from the last business day. The source for all prices is www.metalbulletin.com. The corporate average cash cost per saleable Au Eq. oz is calculated by summing the cash operating costs for producing the corporate total saleable oz Au Eq. in the period and dividing by the saleable Au Eq. oz. The corporate average all-in sustaining cost per Au Eq. oz is calculated by summing across the Company the cash operating costs, royalty costs, accretion, depletion, depreciation and amortization. The total is then divided by the corporate total saleable Au Eq. oz to arrive at an average all-in sustaining cost/ oz Au Eq. Fresh from airing his opinions about (how horrible) bike lanes (are), Woody Allen is heading to the Cannes Film Festival to premiere his latest movie, Cafe Society. Since his last movie was set in present day academia, this one is a period piece taking place in NYC and Hollywood. Here's the short description of the movie: "Set in the 1930s, Woody Allens bittersweet romance CAFE SOCIETY follows Bronx-born Bobby Dorfman (Jesse Eisenberg) to Hollywood, where he falls in love, and back to New York, where he is swept up in the vibrant world of high society nightclub life." As you can see, Kristen Stewart is playing the love interest of the Eisenberg's Woody Allen-surrogate (he also apparently romances Blake Lively's character!). In an interview with Variety, Stewart discussed Allen's daughter's claims that he sexually abused her (Allen denied the allegations). She was concerned at first but had a conversation with her co-star, "I was like, What do you think? We dont know any of these people involved. I can personalize situations, which would be very wrong. At the end of the day, Jesse and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of shit thats been said about us thats not true, our lives would be over. The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it." Here's the long description of the film, which is co-produced by Amazon (Allen is also working on a TV series for Internet company)basically all you need to know is that Corey Stoll is in it: Centering on events in the lives of Bobbys colorful Bronx family, the film is a glittering valentine to the movie stars, socialites, playboys, debutantes, politicians, and gangsters who epitomized the excitement and glamour of the age. Bobbys family features his relentlessly bickering parents Rose (Jeannie Berlin) and Marty (Ken Stott), his casually amoral gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll); his good-hearted teacher sister Evelyn (Sari Lennick), and her egghead husband Leonard (Stephen Kunken). For the hooligan Ben, there are no questions that cant be answered with brute force, but the others are more likely to ponder deeper matters, like right and wrong, life and death, and the commercial viability of religion. Seeking more out of life, Bobby flees his fathers jewelry store for Hollywood, where he works for his high-powered agent uncle Phil (Steve Carell). He soon falls for Phils charming assistant Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), but as shes involved with another man, he settles for friendship. Bobby also befriends Rad (Parker Posey), a model agency owner, and her husband Steve (Paul Schneider), a wealthy producer. When Vonnies boyfriend breaks up with her, Bobby seizes the opportunity to romance her, and she ultimately returns his affections. When he asks her to marry him and move to New York, she is tempted, but things do not go as smoothly as planned. Heartbroken, Bobby returns to New York, where he begins working for Ben, who has muscled his way into owning a nightclub. Bobby displays natural talents as an impresario and swiftly promotes the club into the hottest in town, renaming it Les Tropiques. Rad introduces him to the beautiful socialite Veronica (Blake Lively) and he courts her assiduously. Although he is still carrying a torch for Vonnie, when Veronica reveals shes pregnant, they marry and begin a genuinely happy life together. Everything seems to have fallen into place for Bobby until the night Vonnie walks into Les Tropiques. Cafe Society will be released in the U.S. on July 15. At least 2,378 misdemeanor cases in the Bronx have been pending for over a year, and 538 have been pending for over twoand these extreme delays are violating defendants' constitutional rights to a speedy trial and due process, a new lawsuit (PDF) filed against the New York State Unified Court System and Governor Cuomo alleges. The state's speedy trial statute requires that prosecutors be ready to go to trial within 90 days of arraignment for Class A misdemeanors, 60 days for Class B misdemeanors, and 30 days for non-criminal violations, but thousands of Bronx residents are waiting for far longer, this suit claims, and those whose cases do go to trial wind up waiting an average of 642 days for a non-jury trial and 827 days for a jury trial. In 2013the last time data on court delays citywide was publicly availablethe Bronx had more misdemeanor cases for over a year than the other boroughs combined. The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, describes hundreds of people waiting for hours each day in Bronx criminal courts, missing school and work for the briefest of appearances before a judge, before being told to return at a later date. In the cases described in the suit, individuals waited upwards of 1,000 days, with as many as 38 court dates each, before their cases were adjourned. Take, for example, Sarah Bello, a 40-year-old single mother of four who, in 2012, was charged with misdemeanor assault after getting into a dispute with an acquaintance over payment for a used car. She had 33 court dates over 1,166 days, during 12 of which the prosecution wasn't ready for trial, according to the suit. During that time, she allegedly lost her job working as a home health aide, because the New Jersey Board of Nursing couldn't process her application to renew her employment license while her case was open; her application for legal permanent residency in the United States was denied as a result of the open case, the suit states. In November 2015, the charges against Bello were dismissed, and only then was she able to get her license reinstated, after months of unemployment. Then there was plaintiff Michael Torres, 43, who the suit says was illegally stopped and frisked while on his way to a job interview in 2011. The officer who searched him recovered a small amount of marijuana from his sweatshirt, and Torres was charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana. It was two and a half years and 14 court dates before his case was dismissed, and during that time Torres was fired as a result of taking off too many days to appear in court, according to the suit. When the case was eventually thrown out, it was allegedly because the officer who arrested Torres testified that he had no recollection of the incident. "After waiting all that time, I wasn't even able to have my day in court," Torres said. "I did everything I was supposed to do, but the system failed me." The complaint describes a number of similar cases, and argues that they are not exceptions, but rather the rule when it comes to Bronx criminal courts. And the defendantsCuomo, Chief Judicial Officer of the Unified Court System Janet DiFiore, and Chief Administrative Judge of the Unified Court System Lawrence Markshave been aware of the court's delays for a long time now, the suit alleges, noting that as far back as 2009, they publicly acknowledged the need to expand the borough's trial capacity. In 2013, the New York Times published a three-part investigation into the Bronx court system, finding, among many things, that on just one day that March, over half of the courthouse's courtrooms were closed or idle for most of the day; a prosecutor went on vacation in the middle of a trial; and, because it was his birthday, a defense attorney postponed court. Trials were repeatedly postponed because there weren't enough judges, and everyonefrom prosecutors to translators and jurorswas running persistently late. But despite these publicized failings and their own acknowledgment of the extreme delays, Cuomo, DiFiore, and Marks have failed to take any actions that actually remedied the situation, this lawsuit alleges. The suit was filed today by the legal advocacy group The Bronx Defenders, along with the law firms Morrison & Foerster LLP and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP. In a statement, Ruti Smithline, an attorney at Morrison & Foerster, said that "those affected by the epidemic of delay in the Bronx have to return to court dozens of times to resolve their cases. That means missing work, lining up childcare, and scheduling their whole lives around these pending cases, which can and do go on for years. Our hope is that this lawsuit fixes a system that is clearly broken." The plaintiffs aren't seeking damages, but rather reforms, the Times reports, such as a ruling that defendants don't have to appear for every court hearing; an increase in the number of judges and court staff in the Bronx; and the addition of more flexible appearance times, such as evening hours. Lucian Chalfen, a spokesperson for the New York State Unified Court System, said that "While I cannot comment on the merits of the lawsuit, the issue of case backlogs and delays in the states courtsparticularly the Bronxare an absolute top priority and from her first day, have been directly addressed by the new Chief Judge in her Excellence Initiative. [DiFiore] and senior court administrators are actively engaged in working on resolving the problem to the expectations and standards that we expect from our state court system." This election cycle has been nothing but a complete sewage dump, and its muck and mire has been all the harder to navigate without Jon Stewart taking it to task night after night. Recently, though, StewBeef's resurfaced to share some thoughts on GOP nominee Donald Trumplike, for instance, that Trump's a "man-baby" and that he'd "vote for Mr. T" over America's #1 Human Troll Doll. Stewart spoke with David Axelrod at a live taping of "The Axe Files" at the University of Chicago yesterday, bemoaning the presumptive nominee. "I'm not a constitutional scholar, so I can't necessarily say, but are you eligible to run if you are a man-baby or a baby-man?" Stewart said, adding, "He has the physical countenance of a man and a baby's temperament and hands." Not that Stewart went easy on anyone: "The door is open to an asshole like Donald Trump because the Democrats haven't done enough to show people that government, that can be effective for people, can be efficient for people," he said. "And if you can't do that, then you've lost the right to make that change and someone's going to come in and demagogue you." As for Hillary Clinton, who's currently the favorite for the Democratic nomination, Stewart described her as "a very bright woman without the courage of her convictions, because I'm not even sure what they are." She's still getting his vote, though. "At this point, I would vote for Mr. T over Donald Trump," he said. You can watch the whole taping below: Jon, please stay. I know the cows and piggies need you, but we do too. There are a lot of deer on Staten Island. So many, that Borough President James Oddo took personal offense when two of them were unceremoniously dumped on his soil last fall. "We already have an exploding deer population approaching crisis proportions, and to release more deer into this overcrowded herd is unconscionable," he said. A 2014 study counted 763 deer total on the island. That comes out to about 42 deer per square mile. To combat the crisis, NYC Parks today announced plans to vasectomize every single male deer as soon as this coming fall, assuming the State's approval. The surgical approach to crowd control would be carried out over three years, and is expected to reduce the borough's herd by between 10-30%. As recently as 2008, there were only 24 deer in the entire borough. Experts say the population exploded from just a handful"presumed to have swum from New Jersey," according to the Cityin part because Staten Island doesn't harbor any deer predators. And as benign and bumbling as they may seem, deer can wreck havoc. Not only do they get in the way of carsthe Advance reports that there were 40 deer collisions on Staten Island last yearbut they've been known to spread tick-borne illnesses like lyme disease, and stilt tree growth. Parks also plans to install new fencing around Staten Island forest land, and launch a public awareness campaign about health risks associated with tics, as well as safe driving practices on deer-heavy roadways. As recently as March, Mayor de Blasio had not ruled out the possibility of population control by poison, rather than sterilization. The lethal approach has been strongly opposed by the developer-backed anti-horse-carriage-industry group New Yorkers for Clean, Livable and Safe Streets (NYCLASS), which donated $100,000 to Mayor de Blasio's now-disbanded Campaign For One New York, and was recently subpoenaed. The connection didn't get past reporters at a tense media availability this afternoon, where the mayor took questions about his recently-scrutinized fundraising efforts. "It [vasectomy] is a smart plan," de Blasio said. "It's very consistent with the most modern, humane treatment of animals." On February 5th, 2016, 38-year-old David Wichs was on his way to work at a Lower Manhattan trading firm when a massive crane collapsed on Worth Street, injuring three people and ending Wichs's life. Wichs studied mathematics at Harvard, and had worked at Tower Research Capital for 15 yearsand now his widow, Rebecca Wichs, plans to sue the city for $600 million, $550 million of which represents what Wichs would have earned as his career progressed, the NY Post reports. Another $25 million will reportedly cover the "conscious pain and suffering" that Wichs endured as he watched the crane come down and was crushed under its weight, and $25 million more will go toward the loss of love and companionship that his wife has undergone. The comptroller's office, with whom the notice of claim was filed, said that "this claim cannot be settled pre-litigation." At her late husband's funeral, Wichs remembered him as "the happiest person I ever met... I had an instant connection with [him] and attraction to him. We had the easiest connection. When I was with David, I felt like the most secure person in the world." Wichs was raised in Czechoslovakia, but moved to America when he was a teenager and attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush in Brooklyn. He and Rebecca were married in 2013, after a six-month engagement, and the two lived together on the Upper West Side, when they weren't traveling (which they did frequently). Rebecca Wichs's legal battle began last month, when her lawyer filed a petition to keep Bay Crane Service, the owners of the crane that killed her husband, from having open access to the crane wreckage, as there was a concern that inspectors from Bay Crane might tamper with that key evidence. According to court papers filed along with that petition, Wichs has been made the administrator of her husband's estate, which was $3 million at the time of his death. This most recent notice of intent to sue was filed just before the next court appearance dateMay 12thregarding that petition. This is now the second claim resulting from the February crane collapse: in March, 73-year-old Thomas O'Brien announced his intent to sue the city for $30 million, after he received skull and spinal fractures in the crash. That claim accused the city of "carelessness, negligence, and recklessness...in the ownership, operation, control, repair, inspection, and maintenance of its premises, streets, roadways, construction sites, projects, and cranes," and argued that O'Brien's injuries could have been avoided if the city had paid attention to reports of high winds and brought the crane down earlier. The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Governor Cuomo and the state alleging that loopholes in state labor laws deny farmworkers the right to organize, forcing them into "life-threatening, sweatshop-like conditions." In a statement issued hours after the suit, Cuomo quickly voiced his support for farmworkers and said his administration would not fight the NYCLU lawsuit. "Because of a flaw in the state labor relations act, farm workers are not afforded the right to organize without fear of retaliationwhich is unacceptable," Cuomo said. "We will not tolerate the abuse or exploitation of workers in any industry. This clear and undeniable injustice must be corrected." In a statement, Donna Lieberman, the NYCLU's executive director, called withholding bargaining rights from farmworkers "a holdover, racist policy from the Jim Crow era." As the Times points out, the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 gave workers the right to organize, but farmworkers were specifically excluded from those protections. President Franklin D. Roosevelt needed support from white Southern politicians in order to pass the act, and so labor rights for the region's predominantly black agriculture work force were left out of the law. "Enough is enough. Farmworkers who we depend on to put food on our tables deserve no less dignity and humanity than any other hardworking New Yorker," Lieberman said. The NYCLU says that New York is home to 60,000 farmworkers. In his statement voicing support for the lawsuit, Cuomo touted his recent involvement in the "Fight for $15" movement to raise the state minimum wage. The Governor had openly mocked the idea of a $15 per hour minimum wage as late as March 2015, but eagerly joined the cause once it was clear that determined labor unions were nearing their goal. "You organize people around that dream, and you will see government follow," Cuomo said. Still, in March of this year, Cuomo publicly discussed a "special modification for the agricultural industry" so farms wouldn't have to pay $15/hour to workers. "There are special conditions on farms we understand that and were putting together a special package for farmers, because they pose a unique problem, they really do," Cuomo said at the time. The lawsuit criticizes the state government for turning a blind eye to discrimination against farmworkers. Over two decades ago, then-Governor Mario Cuomo commissioned a report on the farm workers' labor conditions; it described employees as "relatively defenseless and powerless" and called for an end to exclusionary loopholes. "They typically work only part of the year and earn low annual incomes for arduous physical labor. All too many live in deplorable housing and have little recourse against those employers who are unscrupulous," the report found. Still, state lawmakers did nothing. The NYCLU lawsuit against Cuomo and the state was filed on behalf of Crispin Hernandez, who was fired from Marks Farms LLC, one of the largest dairies in the state. Hernandez's employer saw him discussing workplace conditions with other coworkers after clocking out for the day, and promptly fired him. The man had been working 12 hour shifts, six days a week, at the dairy facility. "Without farmworkers there would not be milk, fruits or vegetables, but we are treated like slaves and worse than the cows," Hernandez said. New York's dairy and farming industries brought in over $6 billion in sales during 2014, yet the average farmworker's pay in 2015 amounted to $28,430, well below the state average. "We want to be able to improve our working conditions without fear or intimidation," Hernandez said in a statement. "We believe our lives are important and that all human beings deserve to be treated with dignity and respect." New York Farm Bureau's president Dean Norton says he is "extremely disappointed" about the governor's change of heart, and called the NYCLU's claims "erroneous, insulting and disparaging." As part of his march to Make America Use Sub-Sixth Grade Grammar Again, Donald Trump has proposed banning Muslim immigrants and tourists from the country. And today he says he might have Rudy Giuliani head up a "serious" commission to consider the plan. On Fox News (who else?) this morning, Trump revealed his thinking: "We have a president that wont even use the term radical islamic terrorism. He wont use the term. He refuses to say the term, even after Paris where 130 people were killed or San Bernardino or any other place. Its a real problem. So well figure it out, and we will get it going. But we have to be extremely careful. In fact, Im thinking about setting up a commission perhaps headed by Rudy Giuliani to take a very serious look at this problem. But this is a worldwide problem, and we have to be smart." .@realDonaldTrump: I might set up a commission headed by Rudy Giuliani to take a serious look at terrorismhttps://t.co/2FnGwfcFmh FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) May 11, 2016 It's unclear whether this commission would happen during Trump's campaign or when he enters the White House from a gilded Trump escalator. Trump has also stood by his idea to create a database of Muslim-Americans. Giuliani has publicly pointed out that Trump's idea of banning Muslim is totally unconstitutional When discussing the crisis in Syria, the Mayor of 9/11 said, "I think we have to be very careful about who we let in. I dont think we should let any of the refugees in. I think they should be put in a safe zone in Syria, but if you do a ban on all Muslims, I have no question that you violate the first amendment. The reality is if you let no one in, you could say well, they have no Constitutional rights but once the government sets up a system, the government cannot discriminate in the way it applies that system. So the minute the government sets up an immigration system it cant use religion as a test or race or gender as a basis for why someone cant come in." Continuing its perfunctory process of holding public meetings ahead of 2019's L train shutdown, the MTA will host a second meeting tomorrow, this time in Manhattan. The meeting will follow the same structure as last week's, it appears: the MTA says that MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast and New York City Transit President Veronique Hakim will be present to provide details on the options under consideration and field written questions and comments from audience members. At last Thursday's first public meeting, the MTA confirmed that it's choosing between two options for repairs to the Canarsie Tube, which runs under the East River between North Brooklyn and lower Manhattan and was severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy. One option would close one track at a time, single-tracking trains between Brooklyn and Manhattan for three years with no service between Bedford Avenue and Lorimer Street. Alternately, the tube would close entirely for 18 months, with no L train service in Manhattan or between Brooklyn and Manhattan. As was apparent at last week's meeting, the MTA has more or less made its mind up on shutting down the tunnel for 18 months: it says that under the other option, just one in five of the 225,000 people who want to take the L between the boroughs will actually be able to do so. Plus, the MTA thinks that if it goes with the 18-month option, it can incentivize contractors to complete the repairs in even less time, as they'll have unfettered access to the Bedford and First Avenue stations. Under either option, the MTA says it will increase capacity on the G, J, and M lines, after completing M train repairs that could displace some Bushwick residents for months. They plan to run full-length trains on the G, increasing capacity there by 160 percent, and believe they can up capacity on the M by some 25 percent. On the A and C, too, the MTA will look into increasing capacity by 10 percent. It'll also look into running shuttle buses, select bus service, and ferries to help spread the burden of off-loaded L train commuters. Last week's meeting didn't quite live up to what community members were promisedthat is, a chance for a real dialogue with the MTA. Rather, MTA officials went through presentations and offered brief responses to selected written questions from the hundreds of people gathered. Seven elected officials also gave speeches at the invitation of the MTA, though several noted that they thought this time would be better spent hearing directly from members of the community. Assemblyman Joe Lentol, who represents North Brooklyn, said in his remarks that "we have to have a different kind of meeting next time, where not only I get to speak and the other elected officials get to speak, but the community gets to speak." It doesn't appear that tomorrow's meeting will be conducted any differently, as the MTA says it will still be collecting written questions and comments from audience members, but at least this time it has specified that while the doors open at 5:30 p.m., the program won't get off the ground until 6:30 p.m., and will run until 8:30 p.m. Last time, many people arrived at 6 p.m. only to find the meeting wouldn't begin until 7 p.m., and then had to leave before the MTA got to the Q&A in the final hourso at least this time, attendees can plan accordingly. This meeting will take place at the Salvation Army Theater, at 120 West 14th Street. Attendees with disabilities can enter at 123 West 13th Street. No one in New York City has contracted Zika virus locally, but mosquito season is on its way, and the city's health officials are doing everything possible to limit the likelihood of a local outbreak this summer. Accordingly, the Health Department will conduct its first application of larvicides over the next three days, targeting breeding grounds for mosquitos that could carry Zika virus, as well as those that could transmit West Nile virus. This will be limited to marshes and other non-residential zones in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, and will take place May 12th to May 14th between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which has been spreading Zika virus left and right in Latin America and the Caribbean, isn't native to New York City, though depending on how hot it gets this summer, those mosquitos could find our climate to be hospitable, one study suggested. Meanwhile, Aedes albopictus, which is native to New York City, has also been known to transmit Zika virus, as researchers recently confirmed. As part of a three-year, $21 million plan announced last month, the city is increasing its surveillance of these Aedes mosquitos, using many of the same tactics they've used to combat West Nile virus. As of last week, 62 people in New York City had been infected with Zika virus, but all of them acquired it while abroad. The concern is that with the onslaught of mosquito season, Aedes mosquitos could pick up the virus from a person infected abroad, and then begin transmitting it locally. A recent analysis ranked NYC's airports second only to Miami's in their risk of receiving passengers infected with Zika virus this summer. In most people, the virus is really mildthe main group at risk is people who are pregnant or hoping to become pregnant, as the virus has been linked to birth defects. The Health Department will be apply larvicide to targeted areas using low-flying helicopters, releasing pellets of Altosid XR-G or VectoBac GS, which it says are naturally occurring and environmentally friendly. Here's where to head if you're looking to kick off your weekend with a nice, invigorating larvicide shower: In Brooklyn: Marine Park and Fresh Creek Park. In the Bronx: Pelham Bay Park. In Queens: Alley Pond Park; the abandoned Flushing Airport; Dubos Point wildlife sanctuary and Edgemere Park; Brookville Park; Kissena Park. In Staten Island: Goethals North; Corporate Park; Saw Mill Marsh; Chelsea; Fresh Kills; La Tourette; Port Mobile; Wolfes Pond Park; Blue Heron Park; South Beach; Old Town; Clove Lake Park. And if you're more of a visual learner, the Health Department has made you some maps: The NYPD has to let the public know about the possible health risks of its unmarked X-ray search vans, but not any details of how much it's spending on them or how it has used them, state appeals court judges ruled yesterday. The investigative news website Pro Publica has been fighting the city in court for four years to get the police department to release documents detailing its use of the X-ray vans, which are supposed to be for counterterrorism cops to detect explosives. Officers can drive the vans alongside cars and buildings and, by spraying them with backscatter X-rays like the kind used in now-discontinued airport scanners, see what is inside. The NYPD has refused to release any information about the devices, other than to acknowledge their existence, and say that they're not used to scan people for weapons. Pro Publica asked for the times and locations of past uses and the cost of the vans, as well as information on how much radiation they're set to emit. In 2015, a New York Supreme Court judge called the NYPD's argument that releasing details could help terrorists "mere speculation" and "patently insufficient" to justify barring a public accounting. The appeals judges overturned this ruling, writing that, "These materials are exempt from disclosure under FOILs law enforcement and public safety exemptions," and agreeing with the NYPD that releasing the logistics information would "hamper NYPDs counterterrorism operations and increase the likelihood of another terrorist attack." On the topic of the X-rays that expose anybody in range of a given device to radiation, the judges ruled that the police department failed to justify why releasing information about the radiation dose would help terrorists, and pointed out that information on the health risks of the technology are already widely available. The appeals judges also rescinded an award of attorney fees to Pro Publica's lawyers. The city Law Department was jazzed. "We are pleased the court agreed that the police department acted appropriately in withholding information that, if disclosed, would compromise public safety and counterterrorism efforts," spokespeople wrote in a statement. Pro Publica's president Richard Tofel said he was "disappointed" about what will continue to be secret, but "gratified" about the health information being forced out into the open. At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have radar devices that allow them to look inside homes and see whether anyone is inside, according to a USA Today report from last year. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled, in a case involving police use of thermal imaging technology, that any government use of a device not available to the public to "explore details of a private home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion" is unconstitutional without a warrant. In a 2014 decision, federal appeals judges in Colorado declined to rule specifically on the use of a radar device to find a fugitive, but wrote that, "the governments warrantless use of such a powerful tool to search inside homes poses grave Fourth Amendment questions." Uber on Tuesday announced an agreement with the Northeast district of the International Association of Mechanics (IAM)a large union representing thousands of truck and black car driversto form a worker "association" for the app's 35,000 New York City drivers. The first organization of its kind to be formally acknowledged by the startup, the newly-formed Independent Drivers Guild will meet regularly with Uber management. As members of the IDG, drivers will also have a handful of new rights and benefits, including the ability to challenge suspension from the app. But unlike a traditional union, the IDG will not have the right to collectively bargain for a contractdriver fares, benefits and protections will still be set by the company. "Forming this Guild is crucial for thousands of drivers who need a stronger voice and gives organized labor an opportunity to shape the new economy," said IDG founder James Conigliaro, Jr. in a statement. Under the five-year agreement reached this week, Uber drivers will meet with management on a monthly basis. Drivers will have access to discounted legal services, as well as life and supplemental disability insurance, roadside assistance, and a website consolidating driver "assistance and resources," according to Uber. Because Uber drivers in New York City and across the country are classified as independent contractors rather than employees, the startup has no legal obligation to bargain. A settlement reached last month between Uber and its drivers in California and Massachusetts denied employee status in those states, but awarded up to $100 million to the plaintiffs. In a statement on the settlement, Uber also agreed to fund "drivers associations" in both states, to meet quarterly with the company and discuss "issues that matter most to drivers." Veteran black car organizer Kevin Lynch, who has recently made his own efforts to form a non-union driver organization in NYC (and says he plans to work with IDG), told us recently that he saw this as a positive step. "There is a strength when you bring thousands of people together," he said. "In the absence of employee status... Uber has agreed to negotiate." Speaking with us anonymously on Wednesday (for fear of employer retribution), one driver countered that any association formed with Uber's blessing is "fishy." "IAM is one of the best unions out there," he said. "But usually corporations are against unions, because they work on behalf of the workers for higher wages and better conditions. When you have Uber saying, 'Oh yeah, we came to an agreement that you guys are going to be represented...' it's not necessarily working for the people. They're looking for a mediator to pipe down the protests." Uber drivers rallying before a strike to roll back fare cuts, in February (Emma Whitford / Gothamist). IAM and Uber also announced plans Tuesday to lobby at the State level for equivalent taxes on taxi and black car trips. The NY Times reports that black car rides (these include Uber trips) currently have a 9% tax that doesn't apply to taxis (there's a fifty cent charge per taxi trip that goes to the MTA). Uber said on Tuesday that money saved from taxes would "likely" go into a benefit fund for drivers. Exactly how those benefits would be meted out is unclear, but the app said funds could go towards paid time off, retirement savings accounts, or an immigration assistance fund. Bhairavi Desai, founder of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (TWA), said in a recent interview about driver associations that anything short of full employee status and the right to organize as a traditional union would only hurt the drivers in the long run. "Uber saying that it will recognize Uber associations is just good old company unionism, which builds no power for the workers," she said. "We're not looking to legitimize that model when we think a real union can be built." To date, Seattle is the only city in the U.S. where Uber and Lyft drivers have been awarded bargaining rights, albeit as independent contractors rather than employees. Desai argued that the victory was partial, because these drivers still lack the basic employee protections mandated by the federal government, like the right to a minimum wage and overtime. "Employee status gives you the protections of labor laws, which are the floor that you stand on," she said. "Collective bargaining helps you raise the ceiling. When you walk in to negotiate wages without even a minimum wage, the floor is lowered." Uber's January decision to reduce its fares by 15% citywide has been of primary concern to many full-time drivers in recent months, and prompted several day-long strikes in February, organized by TWA in conjunction with the Uber Drivers Networkone of several Uber driver organizations that the company does not formally recognize. Drivers Network organizer Abdoul Diallo told the NY Times that he was skeptical of any agreement that didn't make fare negotiations its number one priority. "First and foremost, price cuts and commissions matter most to drivers," he said. Opponents of building coal export terminals in Washington state said in Helena Tuesday that impacts from an uptick in coal trains traveling through Montana are not being adequately considered by decision makers. Billings-based Northern Plains Resource Council held its second of four Montana events at the Lewis & Clark Library, taking comment on export terminals expected to add up to 16 additional coal trains per day on the regions rail system. The council held a public hearing in Missoula Monday with scheduled events following Helena in Livingston and Billings Tuesday and Wednesday. The hearings and forums come ahead of a state hearing in Spokane, Washington, over the proposed Longview Millennium Bulk Terminal. If Washington wont hold a hearing in Montana then well hold them for them and help Montanans get involved in something that impacts their lives, said Svein Newman with the council. Newman emphasized that the events were not meant to castigate Washington but to provide Montanans an opportunity to comment. A precedent for Washington holding out-of-state hearings for an in-state decision could not be found. About 30 people attended the Helena forum focused on the opening of public comment by the state of Washington for the coal terminal in Longview, Washington. The meeting came a day after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rejected a separate coal terminal in Bellingham, Washington, citing the Lummi Indian Tribe's traditional fishing rights. Bellingham coal terminal supporters -- including Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., industry representatives and the Crow Tribe -- blasted the decision Monday. I am deeply disappointed that the Army Corps of Engineers disregarded the treaty rights and the trust resources of the Crow Tribe and refused to engage in meaningful consultation with us on the Gateway Pacific Terminal Project, Crow Chairman Darrin Old Coyote stated. I am equally disappointed that the United States took the unprecedented step of preemptively blocking the coal terminal without preparing an EIS, which is required by law, (and) is the standard process for considering usual and accustomed treaty fishing rights and which would have provided the Crow Tribe and the public with an opportunity to comment on the project. The circumstances surrounding the terminals differ, both with state versus federal processes and tribal rights highlighting the Corps decision, said Les Anderson, with the citizens group Landowners and Citizens for a Safe Community in Longview. Regardless of the permitting agency, the effects of coal trains are the same, he added. Helena is in an area that will be affected by the train traffic and the coal shipments as well as the other towns between the shipping port and the mines, he said. They need to take a look at the effects here in the state just as theyve looked at the effects in Washington. Coal cars put off coal dust, diesel emissions and noise that can lead to a variety of health impacts, Anderson said, and those impacts do not stop at Washingtons border with Idaho. Coal and coal trains also come with increasing carbon emissions, traffic congestion and the expenses of altering intersections for additional train traffic. Much of the infrastructure funding comes from taxpayers, he said. The downturn in the coal industry follows market demand, including West Coast states and Asia turning away from coal-generated electricity, Anderson said. Time has just passed coal by, their day is gone, their market isnt there so the speculation and investments are going away, he said. What they wanted to see happen isnt going to happen. When asked at the forum how Montana could replace funds and jobs from coal, Anderson suggested that workers could become involved in diversified renewable energy. The energy sector has a history of transitioning from one source to another, he added. I dont pretend to have all the answers, but we cant continue supporting an industry without a market, he said. For more information on the councils efforts and to comment, visit www.northernplains.org/. Members are also organizing a road trip to the May 26 hearing in Spokane, with more information available by emailing ella@northernplains.org. Mr. Jesse Laslovich, candidate for Montana state auditor, recently distributed an article, Air ambulance flights add insult to injury, suggesting air medical providers are the primary cause for the high cost of transporting critically ill patients. That position overlooks the insurance industrys responsibility to cover their beneficiaries emergency medical needs. Simply put, some insurance companies that cover health care provided in a brick and mortar hospital, refuse to negotiate fair in-network rates for those same services when they are provided by clinicians in the back of an aircraft. Mr. Laslovich implies air medical providers refuse to negotiate with insurance companies. Air medical providers, including those operating in Montana, have negotiated fair agreements with insurers in many states, including some in Montana. Many of the egregious cases cited by Mr. Laslovich would have been covered in other states, resulting in no additional cost to the patient. Air medical providers welcome the opportunity to enter into agreements when they are fair and result from negotiations conducted on a level playing field. In states like Montana, where one dominant provider controls over 60 percent of the insurance market, those dominant insurance companies are able to set allowable rates for medical providers at whatever level they want, offering a take-it-or-leave-it in-network agreement at their arbitrarily set rates. When an air medical provider is unable to accept this substantially under-cost amount, the insurance company settles with their beneficiary and leaves them, unknowingly, on the hook for whatever amount remains that their insurer refuses to cover. The state auditor position regulates Montanas insurance and financial-services industry. Mr. Laslovich has publicly said, Ive dedicated my life to protecting Montana consumers, holding big insurance companies accountable, and fighting out-of-state special interests. Im running for state auditor to continue this work. What has changed since Mr. Laslovich made this statement last year? Where is the accountability of the private insurance companies? Why is air medicine considered unworthy of insurance coverage like any other emergency medical intervention? Insurance companies have a responsibility to their beneficiaries when they require life-saving transportation and treatment. Air medical transports are highly-effective medical interventions, but are NOT appropriate for every patient. They are effective in cases of severe trauma, heart attack or stroke, when bringing high-levels of care to patients and swiftly transporting them directly to the right facility can significantly improve their outcomes. That is particularly true in rural areas, like much of Montana, where aircraft may function as the primary access to critical care. Air medical providers do not decide who they will transport. Every air medical transport request comes from a medically-trained first responder or from a physician who needs to move a patient to a higher level-of-care. Air medical providers are obligated to act, by law, and must respond to every transport request, within safety standards, without knowledge of the patients ability to pay. They incur every cost, every time, without knowing if they will ever be paid. Air medical providers save lives, but are not immune to the rapidly rising costs of medical care. One night in an ICU, for instance, can cost thousands of dollars. Creating those high levels-of-care inside aircraft that cost over $4 million and remaining ready to treat the most severely ill and injured patients 24-hours-a-day is also expensive. The air medical industry does not want to see patients or their families placed at financial risk. We are committed to finding a reasonable solution to the issue of cost to consumers. We welcome the opportunity to work with all of Montanas officials to find a practical solution. But any solution that would truly address the problem must also examine health insurance coverage policies, the appropriateness of allowable rates and transparency in health insurance policies regarding the potential financial responsibilities of the patient. Montanans need timely access to life-saving emergency medical care and air medical providers remain ready 24 hours-a-day to provide that. Patients deserve transparent insurance policies that will be there for you as well. Let your elected officials know you want the insurance companies to pay their fair share and negotiate reasonable partnerships with air medical providers so patients arent victimized twice. Candidate Laslovich needs to be transparent about his agenda and motivation to overlook insurance company financial responsibilities when lives hang in the balance. Richard Sherlock is the president and CEO of the Association of Air Medical Services. When Republican Presidential candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich suspended their campaigns after being badly beaten in Indiana, the last person standing for the Republicans was Donald J. Trump. If you look at it closely, we really should applaud what Trump did. He whipped 16 of the best and brightest the GOP had to offer. Think about that. Trump beat Republican royalty like Jeb Bush. He beat seasoned presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum. He bested Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin. He beat young gun Marco Rubio, and he kicked the rear of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and current Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Thats not bad for a few months work. He brought the Republican Party down to their knees, and worst of all for the Republicans, Trump paid for it himself. Even when 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney came out against Trump -- calling him, among other things, a misogynist, and saying he mocked a female reporter attributing her questions to her menstrual cycle -- Trump continued to win and win. On May 3, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus threw in the towel when he tweeted, @realDonaldTrump will be presumptive @GOP nominee, we all need to unite and focus on defeating @HillaryClinton. Some of us moderate and independent voters who have supported Republican candidates in the past are getting a good laugh at the shenanigans from Trump. He has beaten the establishment Republicans at their own little game -- and hes not even a politician -- hes just rich! Democrats have to be loving this -- if Hillary Clinton stays out of federal prison over her emails, Benghazi, and other things that Republicans throw at her, she should easily win this race against Trump. The Republican Party here in Montana and the Republicans all across the fruited plains kind of deserve Trump as their leader for a few reasons. In the past few years, weve seen some Republicans in Montana be accused of making jokes about our first black President by showing "Obama traps" with watermelons; weve seen an outhouse peppered with bullet holes paraded around Montana with the sign that reads Obama Presidential Library on it. Theres just a lot of hatred from those on the right toward Obama and folks who may not walk the straight and narrow path of the conservatives. That hatred seems to fit Trump to the T. Trump has been called a con artist, a phony, a bully, vulgar, a pathological liar, a race-baiting xenophobic religious bigot. Ironically, those were just remarks made by fellow Republicans. It looks like the Republican Party has the nominee in Trump that they deserve. They basically imploded in front of all America. Trumps taking down of the Grand Old Party is making the regional and state battles about some candidates being a Republican In Name Onlyseem even more ridiculous. The GOP now has the biggest RINO of all. Donald Trump has assumed the Republican mantle. Good luck with that. Jackie M. Mike Brown lives in Great Falls and writes for the blog, TheWesternWord.com. Brown is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a former staffer to the late U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns. Reach him at Western_Word@Yahoo.com. I am proud that Montana Republicans nominated me to represent them at six previous National Presidential Conventions. While there, and irrespective of my personal choice, I was honor bound to vote the preference of We the people of Montana as expressed in the voting booth. The last two Montana delegate selection processes I attended were very different. We the party insiders increasingly disrespected and disregarded who We the people nominated in the June primary. We the party insiders were almost successful in sending Ron Paul delegates to vote against Mitt Romney last election cycle, despite Romney easily winning the Montana primary. This cycle, We the party insiders have become even more brazen by scheduling presidential delegate selection on May 14 -- way before We the people of Montana have had the opportunity to nominate a candidate on June 7. Moreover, the party bosses have established stricter controls limiting who gets to vote for delegates. This centralization of party power appears to be a not-so-transparent attempt to ensure that the vast majority of the delegates selected to attend the National Convention are loyal to the party bosses presidential choice, which has been a resounding Not Trump. To be clear, Not Trump support is not the issue here. This reeks of impropriety because it appears We the party insiders are gaming the system to ignore and/or suppress the voted will of We the people. Could this ploy have worked? Absolutely! As a six-time delegate, I can envision much skulduggery -- from intentionally missing the first vote if it were for Trump, to insolently refusing to vote the preference of the Montana electorate. In Montana of late, party insiders seem tireless in their efforts to wrest control from We the people. Consider their court efforts to close our open primaries, ignoring that open primaries came into existence via a citizens initiative. Further, Republican legislators are increasingly censured by party hacks when they put loyalty to their constituents ahead of swearing fealty to We the partys platform. Party insiders demand obedient minions. Party insiders fought against election transparency, party insiders encouraged primaries against independent We the people conservative candidates, and party insiders turned a blind eye, and an open hand, to a vast array of outside interests who wished to purchase influence in Montana. The unprecedented rise of party outsider Donald Trump is fueled by his refusal to be an obedient minion. Trumps outsider status, confirmed by his ability to flourish in the face of the millions spent by We the party in relentless attacks against him, is his attraction to We the people. Because of Trumps electoral success, party insiders in places like Colorado, Arizona and now Montana feverishly schemed to reestablish their dominance via backroom deals such as holding the Montana presidential delegate selection process prior to the Montana peoples primary. When all is said and done, I suspect We the Montana people are not going to appreciate having our preference ignored by We the party insiders. Jesse OHara, of Lakeland, Florida, is a former Montana state senator, representative and Republican activist for over five decades. Three owners of Montanas much-discussed Colstrip coal-fired power plant sat down with Gov. Steve Bullock in Helena on Wednesday to start talking about what happens to the aging power plant as forces seem to push the eventual closure of its two older units. Kimberly Harris, CEO of Puget Sound Energy in Washington; Paul Farr, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Talen Energy; and Bob Rowe, CEO of NorthWestern Energy discussed the future of the plant, which sits about two hours east of Billings. The ownership picture in Colstrip is complex. Six companies have a stake in the plant. Talen owns 50 percent of Units 1 and 2, a 30 percent share of Unit 3 and also operates the entire four-unit Colstrip complex. The plant and the town that exists mostly because of it and a nearby coal mine face challenges from laws passed in Washington and Oregon to push utilities based in those states with ownership in Colstrip to drop coal from their portfolio. The market is also favoring the low price of natural gas. Farr said Talen, which spun off PPL Montana when that entity sold its hydropower production to NorthWestern Energy a few years ago, is looking at looking at its departure from a state where it now owns a very narrow portfolio. Farr said Talen is willing to look at a path to transition ownership and will be as constructive as it can be, but there are other forces at work. We are under time and cost pressures, he said. Ill lose millions in terms of operating Colstrip through the balance of the year. Talen, unlike NorthWestern, is a merchant provider and not a regulated utility, meaning it cannot pass its expenses on to regulated customers for an above-market cost. Puget Sound Energy has been involved in Colstrip since the plant was built about 40 years ago, Harris said. Washington state's Legislature earlier this year passed a bill that gives Puget a way to get out of its ownership in the older 1 and 2 units at Colstrip and also provides money for decommissioning costs. "We've been at Colstrip from the start," she said. "We've been operating in Colstrip and contributing to the welfare of that community for the last 40 years. We continue to remain committed to that community today." Bullock focused on who would provide power to large industrial customers like Montana Resources mine in Butte, who have long benefited from lower prices because they didnt have to pay high transmission fees from far-away plants. Right now Talen serves between 225-250 megawatts of the 300-350 those customers need, and Farr said if groups of those customers could sign a contract to guarantee enough revenue to cover costs, that would make providing that energy in the future more feasible for whoever is an owner at Colstrip. Power from the plant is also attractive to industrial customers because it's extremely reliable, he said. Colstrip plays a role, though not a large one, in the electricity NorthWestern Energy provides to Montana consumers, Rowe said. The utility's largest assets are the hydroelectric dams purchased from PPL in 2009. The utility also gets more electricity from its wind generation than Colstrip. What the plant offers NorthWestern is a reliable backup for high-demand periods. "What Colstrip does ... is provide us with pretty much 24/7 availability," Rowe said. "That's why our interest in Colstrip matters." Lower natural gas costs are part of why coal power is less in demand, though Farr said he worries about what happens when those prices rise again and coal plants shut down. "What happens when gas goes to $4? That doubles the fuel cost, and if you don't have that coal-fired generation capability, if you can't turn to that ... " Rowe also is concerned about the transmission system, which is key to serving NorthWestern customers around Billings. The company leaders took turns emphasizing the importance of the jobs both the power plant and nearby coal mine create in the community of Colstrip, though none talked about what happens to those employees if and when the older two units shut down. "We all recognize this is an incredibly complex issue," Harris said. "We're not just dealing with megawatts, we're dealing with a community, our employees, the future of that community." The companies involved are trying to be as transparent as possible, she said. "What's important is we continue to look forward, we continue to look for opportunities, we continue to address the challenges one by one. I know we are all up to that challenge of what is the secure and safe transition for these units." DECATUR After deliberating for about 45 minutes Tuesday afternoon, a jury of six men and six women found Demariel Cunningham not guilty of possession of weapons by a felon. Cunningham, 35, was charged with possessing two loaded semiautomatic pistols, after police officers were called to a house in the 1500 block of North Church Street to check on the welfare of an adolescent girl about 1:15 a.m. March 22, 2015. The evidence presented by the state at the two-day trial consisted of Cunningham's fingerprint on an ammunition magazine and the testimony of the Church Street resident, in which he said the guns found in his closet belonged to Cunningham. In his closing argument, Assistant Macon County Public Defender David Ellison told the jurors that a magazine is not a firearm. A firearm is capable of firing a projectile, Ellison said. A magazine is not. Ellison said that the resident, a relative of Cunningham's whom Cunningham frequently visited, was trying to put the guns off on Demariel when the police arrived, although they really belonged to him. Ellison said the courtroom testimony of the resident was not consistent with what he told police when they arrived at his home. He told them where the guns were at, Ellison said. He told the police one thing and told you guys something else. Ellison said there was DNA found on a gun, but the resident's DNA was not compared to it. Cunningham's DNA was not found on the guns when tested by scientists at the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Laboratory. Cunningham did not testify during the trial. Assistant State's Attorney Kate Kurtz said forensic scientists testified that sometimes DNA will be on guns, but not always. She said the resident testified that Cunningham was passing the guns back and forth with another man at the Church Street house, which could have led to uncertain DNA results. It's normal to have a mixture, so much information that you can't discern what it is, Kurtz said. When the first officer arrived at his house, the resident told him possible places he might find the guns, but he didn't say exactly where they would be found. He says, 'Search my whole house,' Kurtz said. He has zero to hide. He wanted this defendant and his guns out of his house that night. He didn't want them there. She said the magazine with Cunningham's fingerprint on it fit inside the Ruger .45-caliber pistol that this defendant possessed. When the police came to the Church Street residence that morning, they found a girl younger than 15, who reported that Cunningham had a sexual relationship with her for the past five months. That was apparently the primary reason the police were called to that house the morning the firearms were found. Due to its potential prejudicial influence in the weapons possession trial, the jurors heard nothing about that ongoing case, which is pending in Macon County Circuit Court. He is being held in jail without bond in that case, in which he is charged with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. He is due in circuit court May 25 for a status hearing. A grand jury indictment alleges that Cunningham committed sex acts with the underage girl between Oct. 1, 2014, and March 21, 2015. The girl told police that Cunningham gave her crack cocaine to smoke, and she had smoked crack in the residence with him a few hours before police arrived. Cunningham was released from prison Sept. 4, 2014, after serving part of sentences of five years and 18 months for convictions on manufacture/delivery of cocaine and obstructing justice. In 2013, Cunningham was awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges for allegedly shooting to death 19-year-old Marvin Dickerson in the back with an AK-47 assault rifle on Aug. 22, 2011, on North Union Street. Those charges were dismissed when Marvin E. Perry, 22, the only eyewitness to the Dickerson slaying, was shot to death in an unrelated incident on Aug. 15, 2013. Joshua A. Jones, a parolee at that time of the incident, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for manslaughter for Perry's slaying. DECATUR Before jurors began deliberating late Tuesday, the defense presented its case, in which Arkee Woodson's mother and aunt said they were with him at the time of the shooting. The state presented a physician who said the 26-year-old male shooting victim only survived because the bullet was deflected by a rib. On the second day of the trial of Woodson, 17, for charges including Class X attempted first-degree murder and armed robbery, the state also presented forensic cellphone evidence which placed his phone in the vicinity of the shooting, which occurred at 10:10 p.m. March 15, 2014, in a vehicle parked at Locust and Charles streets. If convicted of the main charges, as well as firearms enhancements, Woodson will be sentenced to between 62 years and life in prison. Woodson's mother testified that her son was with her from 7 or 8 p.m. that night until 2 a..m. the following morning, at her sister's house in the 900 block of North Wilder Avenue. Her sister testified that she picked up Woodson and Woodson's mother that night and drove them to her house. Both women acknowledged that they first revealed this alibi to the defense attorney in August 2015, almost 17 months after the incident. Neither told police their stories. Decatur police detective David Dailey, a forensic mobile device analyst, testified there were five calls between the phones of Woodson and the victim between 9:55 p.m. and 10:07 p.m. the night of the shooting. Woodson's phone was disconnected three days later. Data provided by AT&T showed that Woodson's phone was in the vicinity of Charles and Locust between 10:01 and 10:09 p.m. on March 15, 2014. The phone was not in the vicinity of the 900 block of North Wilder at that time. Dr. George Liu, a surgeon at Decatur Memorial Hospital, testified that the bullet entered the victim's body on his right side, struck his seventh rib from the highest, entered his chest cavity and stopped a few millimeters from his heart. If it had not hit the rib he would be dead, Liu said. Decatur police detective Adam Jahraus testified that when he interviewed the victim in the hospital on March 16, 2014, he presented him with an array of six photographs. He identified the photo of Woodson, circled it and said he was 75 percent certain he was the shooter. He then showed Jahraus a Facebook photo someone gave him of Woodson. He said he was 100 percent certain it was that man. Jurors resume their deliberations at 9 a.m. today in the courtroom of Circuit Judge Thomas E. Griffith. DECATUR The Decatur school board spent a significant portion of its Tuesday meeting debating the proposed contract renewal with Robertson Charter School. The school's original five-year contract in 2001 was renewed in 2011 and has been under negotiations since January. Because the district has new legal counsel and because charter schools are under increasing scrutiny, said Todd Covault, chief operations officer, several provisions in the proposed renewal were of concern. The administration needs guidance, he said. We want the language to be clear in case of scrutiny. Among those concerns were that instructional and administration costs are both lumped under payroll in Robertson's financial records, the contract does not spell out academic goals and objectives and prekindergarten, which is paid for by a grant, is not recognized in the contract. Decatur administrators presented the contract to the board, which had previously been approved by Robertson's board, with a recommendation to reject the contract until these points had been cleared up, as counsel recommended. Board member B.A. Buttz objected to the motion to reject the contract and said that negotiations should have been completed before the administration presented the contract. I'm taken aback with the recommendation to reject the negotiated proposal, he said. I wish to make an amendment that we accept the proposal with the stipulation that the negotiations continue, to show our support for Robertson Charter School. Dan Oakes said that would not be possible; once the board approved the contract, negotiations would be at an end. There were also questions about whether Decatur officials had made regular compliance visits to Robertson and Superintendent Lisa Taylor said that had not happened, and that previous contracts were not well-written. Charter contracts are not included under the Open Meetings Act as something that can be discussed in closed session, which is why the discussion was held in open session. In the end, the board approved the contract as presented, with President Sherri Perkins, Buttz and T.J. Jackson voting to approve, while Oakes and Fred Spannaus voted against approval. Board members Brian Hodges and Alida Graham were absent. In other business, the board approved hiring James Gortner as new director of buildings and grounds, replacing retiring director Mike Sotiroff. Gortner has worked as Sotiroff's assistant for the last several months. Deanne Hillman, currently principal of Oak Grove School, was named assistant director of human resources, and Sarah Knuppel was named the new principal of Pershing Early Learning Center. Knuppel is currently principal of Durfee Magnet School. Tammy Wagers was hired as a special education administrator. Two representatives of the Illinois Association of School Boards spoke to the board about the process to search for a new superintendent. Taylor is leaving in July to become a principal in Heyworth. Time is too short to do a proper search by then, said Larry Dirks, field services director, as good candidates already have contracts. Their recommendation was to hire an interim superintendent, possibly for the entire 2016-17 school year, to allow enough time for a thorough search. Anybody not signed to a contract by February, we don't want, said Oakes, who has been on the board through several searches. The board members agreed an interim is the direction they want to go and spent a few minutes discussing the option of using an internal candidate as interim, though no decision was made. SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Senate approved a bill Tuesday aimed at overhauling the way the state distributes money to public schools to get more funding to poorer districts that need it the most. The legislation from state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, which passed on a 31-21 vote, has become a focal point of debate as the General Assembly nears its scheduled May 31 adjournment. Democratic supporters say it would address the inequities in the current funding formula, considered one of the least equitable in the country. Meanwhile, Republicans, including Gov. Bruce Rauner, have panned it as a bailout for Chicago Public Schools. Manar, who has been working on the issue since being elected to the Senate in 2012, called the funding formula change one of the most profound anti-poverty measures we will take up in any number of years. This bill will attack poverty in the classroom, plain and simple, Manar said, noting that on average Illinois spends $2,400 less per year educating a low-income student than a wealthier one. Opponents criticized previous versions of his proposal for shifting money away from wealthier districts to funnel it to poorer ones. In response, Manar added language to the final version that would prevent any district from losing money in the first year. The so-called hold harmless provision would phase out over the following three years, resulting in some districts seeing a decline in state funding. The bill also includes another provision, called adequacy grants, that would prevent districts from losing money if theyre taxing at or above the state average but arent able to meet a benchmark for adequate spending. That would stay in place until 2024. Together, those provisions would cost roughly $442 million in the first year, according to Illinois State Board of Education projections. Under Manars plan, the state would also begin picking up the tab for Chicago teachers pensions, something it already does for the rest of the state. That would cost another $205 million. During debate on the Senate floor Tuesday, state Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, continued GOP criticisms of the bill as a bailout for Chicago schools. No one disagrees that the formula that exists today is broken, Barickman said, later adding, This isnt the fix that millions of students around this entire state want and deserve. He said hes preparing to introduce legislation that would shift Illinois to an evidenced-based school funding formula. Its disappointing that Sen. Manar wanted to ram this through on a partisan vote, Barickman said afterward. From Manars point of view, whats disappointing is the lack of support for his plan from downstate Republicans, most of whom represent school districts that stand to benefit from it. Why are Republican members of the legislature voting against a bill that is in the best interest of their districts, particularly downstate members? he said. Heres the answer: because Gov. Rauner told them to. Rauner is pushing to fully fund schools under the current formula, which Manar and other Democrats argue would only perpetuate existing inequalities. This has led the governor to accuse Democrats of threatening to hold school funding hostage over passage of Manars plan. The issue isnt merely a partisan one, however. House Democrats havent lined up behind the Senate plan, and a panel convened by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, to study the issue was holding a hearing at about the same time Manars bill was being debated. Earlier Tuesday, several House Democrats, including state Reps. Pat Verschoore of Milan and Andy Skoog of LaSalle, held a news conference with school superintendents from the Quad-Cities, Streator and elsewhere across the state to call for funding certainty for next year. We need to determine exactly what we want in Illinois for education for our students in the public schools, Rockridge School Superintendent Jack Bambrick said, and then we need to figure out how were going to fund it adequately. DECATUR Mothers Day usually falls the day after the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive. But members of the Stephen Decatur Branch 317 of the National Letter Carriers Association are gearing up this week for their 24th annual event, held on the second Saturday of May. The calendar kind of threw everybody off, but were still hoping to collect 100,000 pounds this year, said Betsy Coleman, the Decatur letter carrier who is in her sixth year coordinating the drive. To participate, postal patrons are asked to place fresh and unopened nonperishable food in bags beside their mailboxes as early as possible on Saturday. The union will then distribute it to eight local food pantries. The lineup of pantries has changed slightly, however. Coleman said Hopeful Heart Ministries, a mobile food ministry of Oak Grove, Parkway, Trinity and West Side churches of the Nazarene, is taking the place of Decatur Catholic Charities, which asked to bow out and let a smaller food pantry benefit. We are thrilled, said Gladys Bublitz, treasurer of Hopeful Heart and a member of Trinity Church of the Nazarene. We have not had help like this from an outside organization in the eight or nine years weve been running. Bublitz said the ministrys green school bus distributes food to the needy twice a month on a rotating schedule from one of its four church parking lots. The other food pantries to benefit are Ambassadors for Christ, AMELCA, Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, Northeast Community Fund, New Vision, Reasonable Service and the Salvation Army. The food drives tally last year was a little less than 70,000 pounds. The total for the annual effort peaked at 120,000 pounds in 2005 and has not reached that level since. The event comes an opportune time for food pantries that feed more children during the summer while school is not in session and that are running out of the surplus of donations that comes at Christmastime. Most-requested foods include canned fruits, multigrain cereal, canned meats, peanut butter, beans, canned vegetables, rice, oatmeal, pasta, soup and baby food. Pet food, paper products and laundry detergent will also be accepted. No glass containers or expired foods will be taken. People may also bring donations after 10 a.m. on the day of the food drive to one of three staging areas, to Nelson Park coordinated by letter carrier Laura Sturgeon, Fairview Park coordinated by letter carrier Angi Miller, and the letter carriers union hall at 2955 N. Woodford St. coordinated by Coleman. Event co-sponsors include the Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly and Kroger. DECATUR John Tillman sees what is happening in Decatur part of the key in turning Illinois around. Decatur is a place where people are engaged in what's going on and trying to build on its assets such as the transportation network that is available, said Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute. That's what we need to do statewide, he said. Tillman spoke Tuesday to a group of invited guests at the Decatur Club about writing the next chapter of Illinois' comeback story. The group is focused on addressing issues in state government and bringing accountability to politics, he said. Tillman said the state's spending has never been reined in and cuts aren't as widespread as commonly perceived. He said spending needs to be controlled to save taxpayer money. Every day of the budget impasse is a victory for taxpayers, Tillman said. The organization wants to see state lawmakers make the right reforms before approving a budget, said Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute. No budget is better than a bad budget, Rasmussen said. The idea of holding the luncheon was to provide information about what the Illinois Policy Institute does, said Orv Graham, who works for Foster Financial Services, Inc. and hosted the event along with local businessman Mark Avery. The group has been successful in stopping tax increases in the past by putting pressure on lawmakers, Rasmussen said. It recently helped to stop a vote from taking place about allowing voters to consider a constitutional amendment on progressive income tax proposal. Because we got together, we were able to stop it, Rasmussen said. It could have been put on the ballot. Other issues of concern to the group include pension reform, Medicaid, educational and criminal justice issues, she said. It utilizes help from groups of concerned citizens such as the ones who gathered in Decatur to advocate for its positions on issues. The group is currently trying to raise awareness about Illinois House Bill 580, which has drawn concern about stripping Gov. Bruce Rauner of powers to negotiate a contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Rasmussen said Rauner is expected to veto the measure next week but lawmakers could override the veto with enough support. She said the proposal includes a tax hike that could deepen the state's fiscal hole. New Braunfels, TX (78130) Today Locally heavy thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 56F. SW winds shifting to NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Locally heavy thunderstorms during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 56F. SW winds shifting to NW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. The Russian Embassy in Armenia has not refuted a story making the rounds in the local press that on May 9 the embassys second secretary declared that since Armenia hasnt recognized Artsakh no Russian weapons could be sent there. It cannot be ruled out that the embassy isnt hastening to respond to this story since it really doesnt give a damn about public opinion in Armenia and those perceptions that can give rise to a story rife with sub-contexts. However, it is just as likely that the story is true and the embassy has no basis to refute it. On the other hand, the embassy just wanted to get a certain message across to the Armenian public in a non-official fashion. It would seem that the embassy is prompting Armenia to recognize the NKR, presenting it as a precondition for providing arms to Armenia and counterbalancing Azerbaijani armaments. In reality, however, the sub-text of this statement is that Russia cannot or doesnt want to supply Armenia with arms since it isnt certain that the weapons will not wind up in Artsakh. The fact is that Russia is clearly demanding that Armenia doesnt recognize the NKR. Last week, the government of Armenia backed the conclusion of a bill recognizing the independence of the NKR. This was little more than saying that it would recognize Artsakh if external factors required such a step. In response, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that he hoped the sides wouldnt take steps that would upset the delicate peace in the conflict zone. Russian foreign minister Dmitry Lavrov added that he had been told in Yerevan that the status of Nagorno-Karabakh would have to be resolved as part of a comprehensive settlement and not unilaterally. Thus, Lavrov openly said Yerevan had promised never to unilaterally recognize the NKR. What is essential isnt whether Yerevan gave Lavrov such assurances, or whether the Russian foreign minister is merely pressuring Yerevan not to go that route by making such a statement. Whats essential is that, on the one hand, the demand not to recognize the NKR is clearly being made of Armenia, while on the other hand, the demand is being made not to provide Artsakh with weapons received or purchased from Russia. In other words, the Russian Embassy in Armenia is explaining, in a peculiar way, that Armenia isnt receiving weapons so that they cannot be used in the Karabakh war and will not receive arms while such a risk exists. Moscows real concern is based on two factors. The first is the warning, expressed by Yerevan, that immediately after Armenia recognized the NKR it will most probably sign a bilateral security treaty with it and will clash with Azerbaijan in order to guarantee the safety of Artsakh and its residents. Moscow realizes that if Armenia goes this route Yerevan might demand that Russia offer its assistance based on various military cooperation treaties. This eventuality is rife with risks of a new kind of military square-off between Russia and Turkey. So that Armenia doesnt go down this path, Russia is demanding that Armenia doesnt recognize the NKR and that it doesnt transfer any Russian arms to Stepanakert. The second factor are the various agreements that Russia has with Azerbaijan. These make it understandable why Russia isnt quick to supply Armenia with the arms that Yerevan purchased with the $200 million Russian credit. In March of this year, just a few days before the four-day war, when Russia published the entire list of the weapons that Armenia had purchased, a list considered secret, Azerbaijan sent a protest note to Moscow, demanding that it give guarantees that those weapons wouldnt turn up on its occupied lands, thats to say in Nagorno-Karabakh. In response, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs merely declared that Russia was maintaining the balance of power between the two sides and that Russia would never take steps that would harm its relations with Azerbaijan. Immediately afterwards Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dimitri Rogozin made a surprise visit to Baku, allegedly to discuss with top Azerbaijani officials the issue of paying back the debts accumulated for military equipment received from Russia. On April 7, in Yerevan, Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan asked that Russian PM Medvedev, intercede so that Russian military manufacturers accelerate the provision of armaments envisaged by the credit treaty. This made it clear that Russia didnt want to meet it treaty obligations regarding the provision of armaments and that Rogozin traveled to Baku not to collect any debts, but to assure Aliyev , who was planning to attack Artsakh, that none of those arms had arrived in Armenia and thus, that they hadnt been sent to Karabakh. Thus, Russia assured Baku that the Armenians didnt have the military equipment needed to respond to any military moves made by Azerbaijan. In other words, Moscow didnt take into account its strategic ally relations with Armenia, but rather the demands of the protest note sent by Azerbaijan. For the second time, the Russian Embassy in Armenia has assured Baku that not only is that military equipment not in Artsakh but that Moscow perhaps might not provide Armenia with those armaments for as long as Yerevan does not back down from its threats to go to war with Azerbaijan in order to protect Artsakh. This directly signifies that Russias actual demand from Yerevan is that does not get involved in any possible Azerbaijani military operations against the NKR; at least until the time that Moscow finds it necessary to grant such permission to Yerevan. This can be called military blackmail. In Moscow, however, they havent reckoned that this is pointless blackmail because, in Armenian and in Artsakh, the conflict is seen not only as a Karabakh issue but one of survival. Thus, the greater the extent to which Russia exerts such blackmail, the quicker the process becomes that Moscow will lose Armenia, in every sense. On May 11, in accordance with the arrangement reached with the authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the OSCE Mission conducted reinforced monitoring of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in the north-western direction of the Talish village of the NKR Martakert region. From the positions of the NKR Defense Army, the monitoring was conducted by Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and staff member of the Office Peter Svedberg (Sweden), as well as by Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Thomas Lenk (Germany). From the opposite side of the Line of Contact, the monitoring was conducted by Field Assistant of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Khristo Khristov (Bulgaria) and Personal Assistant to the Personal Representative of the CiO Simon Tiller (Great Britain), as well as by Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Gunther Bachler (Germany). The monitoring passed in accordance with the agreed schedule. No violation of the cease-fire regime was registered. From the Karabakh side, the monitoring mission was accompanied by representatives of the NKR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense. Share your opinion on this topic by sending a letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less. Plain Talk: Scott Walker goes on foray to Indiana, forgets to pack his mojo The Philippines is one of many densely populated nations in and around Southeast Asia that are endangered by rising sea levels caused by global warming. Morning briefing: Stephen Colberts advice to Paul Ryan on Trump: Just shut your eyes and think of Reagan This website is intended for U.S. visitors only. Word is getting out among drug addicts that theres help available through a new service based in Baraboo. But not enough people in the community know more support is needed to free Sauk County from heroins grip. Its not just in Madison, its not just in Milwaukee, its in Sauk County, case manager Andy Schmitz said. Hes one of four specialists working for Tellurian at a Baraboo office that opened in March. After winning a $1 million federal grant, Sauk Countys Department of Human Services hired Tellurian to operate a treatment program for people addicted to heroin and pain pills. Demand for service was illustrated when supervisor Erin Tiedeman fielded more than a dozen calls one of the first days the office was open. She has noticed some parts of the county are underserved, and there remains an urgent need for psychiatric care, housing, inpatient services and support from local doctors. There are these gaps that were noticing, she said. The Sauk County Medication-Assisted Treatment program is designed to complement existing services, such as the Pauquette Center for Psychological Services and the St. Clare Center. Like the Community Activated Recovery Enhancement program already operating in Sauk Prairie, as well as a similar program administered by the Ho-Chunk House of Wellness, the new program uses medication and personalized care to help addicts recover. Its something thats sustainable, Schmitz said. This is something that will take them away from that (addiction) and allow them to heal. How it works The three-year grant will fund counseling services; drugs such as Vivitrol, which help addicts kick heroin; and housing. The Sauk County MAT program offers an around-the-clock telephone hotline, and case managers are available to counsel addicts, and can make referrals for safe housing when its available. The program is overseen by a board of directors comprised of local law enforcement, health care, education and business leaders. Among them is Dick Ofstun, a retired Baraboo school teacher and counselor, who was dismayed to discover a bustling underground drug problem upon returning to the community. Ofstun said the solution lies in treatment, not incarceration. Youre just putting them in storage, Ofstun said. Youre not doing anything to change them. Pilot programs like Sauk County MAT could become national models. In February, President Obama proposed $1.1 billion to fight heroin and other opioids. Hopefully they can duplicate these programs not only across the state, but across the country, case manager Heidi Schultz said. She and the rest of the staff have passed out cards with contact information, and have found word is getting around, especially at the Sauk County jail and work-release center. Case managers are working with recovering addicts, upon their release, to secure employment and housing. Once it gets out into the true core users, and they see people having success, itll spread like wildfire, Schmitz said. Overcoming obstacles Progress has been slower in the local medical community. Some doctors are reluctant to embrace the powerful role they can play in helping addicts gain access to medication and appointments for evaluation. Were getting those barriers, case manager Stephanie Gissal said. The county also has a glaring lack of services in some areas. Safe housing is needed for recovering addicts, places where they can live clean and sober, close to a support network and far away from bad influences. The area also is short on psychiatrists, whose diagnoses can help addicts get help. Access to immediate help is critical, because without it, addicts may change their mind about quitting. If you dont get it to them at that time, youre going to lose them, Gissal said. A constant battle Heroins danger is increasing. The drug has been purified, and can be taken several ways. Its cheaper and easier to get than cocaine, and is more addictive. It provides an immediate rush. This is a habit that never stops unless you get treatment, board member Ofstun said. Those who keep using face three undesirable outcomes: jail, suicide or a fatal overdose: They realize that its no-go the rest of their life unless they do something. Beating heroin addiction is difficult. Recovering addicts face a 70 percent relapse rate. The Sauk County MAT program strives to help recovering addicts build a life worth living sober. Were meeting them where theyre at and trying to move them forward, said Tiedeman, the office supervisor. She hopes support for services will grow as the public realizes addiction to heroin, pills and other drugs can affect anyone. These are your neighbors, Tiedeman said. This drug does not discriminate, case manager Schultz said. Dane County officials are poised to adopt an ordinance regulating private security uniforms in response to a slew of complaints regarding a company founded by two former sheriffs deputies. The countys Public Protection and Judiciary Committee on Tuesday unanimously recommended an ordinance that would prohibit private security officers from wearing a Dane County sheriffs deputy uniform or any similar uniform that would reasonably cause confusion. Sheriff Dave Mahoney asked for the ordinance because his office has received numerous complaints about the resemblance between Endres & Endl Security and Legal Process LLC and Dane County sheriffs deputy uniforms. The private security company was founded in 2013 by Pete Endres and Todd Endl, two former deputies. Endl said he had not heard about the proposal. He said the Sheriffs Office has not tried to contact him about changing the companys uniform. According to Mahoney, the two have been wearing their old uniforms with patches and badges similar to Dane County deputies while working as private security guards. Their appearance has led to some confusion about whether people are dealing with law enforcement. The colors are the same, but there are other security companies that have the same colors, Endl said when asked about any similarities in his companys uniforms and those of the sheriffs office. Dane County deputies own their uniforms. Under a collective bargaining agreement, the county pays stipends for uniforms and equipment, but individual deputies are responsible for buying those items and they retain ownership over them. Very few retired deputies or individuals who leave employment for other reasons utilize those uniforms. Most of them are sold back to newer deputies or disposed of properly, Mahoney said. A few, as I mentioned, work for security companies and cause some significant confusion with the public. Mahoney said most private security companies take extensive measures to make sure their employees are not confused with police officers but said some municipalities, including Madison, have adopted similar ordinances to prevent replication of local police uniforms. Madison adopted its ordinance in 1981. Endl said if the county adopts the ordinance, other Madison area municipalities could follow suit, limiting the companys choice in uniforms. He said it could be expensive to have to alter their uniforms, as the company employs 29 people and buys pants at a cost of $100, with shirts being close to that price. If theyre going to require us to have something else, then I guess the countys going to have to pay for it, Endl said. The Public Protection and Judiciary Committees recommendation will be sent to the full County Board for consideration later this month, Paul Rusk, the committee chair, said. Contact Jeff Glaze at 608-252-6138 or jglaze@madison.com. Contact Logan Wroge at 608-252-6136 or lwroge@madison.com. It's sort of sad when the public has to be told that legitimate work being done by utility crews is not a scam, but that's how it is today in Madison. Because of a recent spate of scam attempts by someone claiming to be from Madison Gas and Electric, trying to get victims to immediately pay for bogus bills, MGE asked the Madison Police Department to help spread the word on meter work coming up in May being done by the utility crews and a contracted company. MGE and TruCheck will be replacing about 7,000 electric meters, with the work starting in mid-May and continuing through August. MGE's Pat Baldwin said MGE employees will be driving MGE truck and carrying MGE ID badges, while TruCheck workers will be driving blue vans and carrying ID badges. "All workers will have handouts from MGE, instructing customers to call MGE if they have questions about the meter exchanges," Baldwin said. Customers getting meters replaced have been notified by mail of the work; there is no charge for the meter replacement. "With the recurring fraud cases involving scam artists claiming to be with MGE, they thought it would be prudent to share this information to assist the community during the project," said Police Capt. Carl Gloede. Update: The man shot Wednesday night at a town of Madison gas station died at UW Hospital. Police have identified a person of interest in the shooting but no arrest has been made, said Town of Madison Police Chief Scott Gregory. Two shootings in two days have police chiefs in the city and town of Madison urging an end to increasing gun violence. On Wednesday night less than 26 hours after Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said a 38-year-old man was summarily executed outside a gas station on the citys Southwest Side another man suffered life-threatening injuries in a shooting outside a gas station on Rimrock Road, town of Madison Police Chief Scott Gregory said. The unidentified victim was shot at about 8 p.m. Wednesday at Capitol Petro Mart, 2570 Rimrock Road. Gregory said police were investigating the possibility that the two shootings were related. Koval said the man killed Tuesday had a friendship with Martez Moore, who was fatally shot outside OGradys Irish Pub, 7436 Mineral Point Road, early April 19. Family members identified the man killed Tuesday as Darius M. Haynes, of Madison. Haynes was in a car at a BP station at 4501 Verona Road when he was shot multiple times from outside the vehicle shortly before 6:25 p.m. Im concerned about the continued escalation, and the possibility or potential of retaliation, Koval said Wednesday, before the Rimrock Road shooting. This is the second event in a little over two weeks. Where will it end? I think people have a right to be afraid, Gregory said after Wednesdays shooting. You have two groups of people who are obviously armed who have issues with each other who are dealing with these issues with guns. According to an employee at the Capitol Petro Mart, who declined to be named for safety concerns, the victim of Wednesdays shooting entered the gas station and made eye contact with another man already in the store. That man said, Do we have a problem here, before drawing a gun. The victim turned and ran, and the other man followed. The victim was shot behind the gas station, the employee said. Bystanders at the scene said they heard between five and seven shots. It was not immediately known how many hit the victim. Police said the shooter was seen fleeing the gas station west on foot. No bullets entered the gas station, but one gas station employees SUV had its windows shattered, police said. Gregory said the gas station had good surveillance cameras and officers would be reviewing the footage. Witnesses also were being cooperative. About an hour before Wednesdays shooting, city of Madison police took a man into custody after a high-speed chase on Milwaukee Street. It was unclear whether the man had a possible connection to recent shootings. Earlier Wednesday, family members of Haynes met privately with Koval before a press briefing. Koval said the family is not looking for revenge, but answers. Theyre angry. Theyre upset. Theyre grief-stricken. But in the midst of that, they cling to a faith life that says that they dont want this same tragic outcome manifesting itself on any more families, Koval said. They just want to see the cycle of violence over. A teary-eyed Vincent Haynes, Darius father, said he was simply hurting. He said his son was a man full of a lot of joy and love. Zonya White, an aunt of Darius, said he was a father of four and part of a caring family, and that he loved to crack jokes. She said relatives are looking for answers. A cousin of Haynes, Niaisha White, of Middleton, said two days before his death, on Mothers Day, Haynes visited his mothers grave, said White, who described her cousin as a good man who just loved life. We just want this to end, so other families dont have to go through this, White said. Koval began the press briefing saying he wanted to dispel the idea of Madison being a shining, utopian city, where only good things happen. Gun violence and other problems associated with large cities, such as Milwaukee and Chicago, are a part of the reality of living in Madison, he said. So far this year, there have been 35 incidents of shots being fired in the city, Koval said. The five homicides thus far this year exceeds those at the same time last year, he said. There were a total of 11 homicides in the city last year. At the pace were going at, I shudder to think of what the years ends outcome is going to be, unless we get some help, Koval said. At the time of Tuesdays shooting, the BP station had customers going in and out of the store, people sitting in parked vehicles, and cars filling up at the gas pumps, with children present in some vehicles, Koval said. It is nothing short of miraculous that unintended, third-party, innocent people werent slain in the midst of this, he said. In an escalating voice, he expressed his frustration that something like this could happen in broad daylight, next to a busy intersection and at a business full of bystanders. No part of Madison is immune from such incidents of violence, Koval said. Thats basically a sad story of a city who thought it was Camelot, and then had to get a reality check, he said. Police officers are continuing to canvass the neighborhood door-to-door, speaking with anyone who might have seen something related to Tuesdays shooting, Koval said. Investigators also have access to security camera footage. Drones are being used to search for any weapons that might have been tossed, he said, adding that a gun that shoots 9-millimeter bullets was used to shoot Haynes. Koval said Tuesday witnesses reported seeing several people fleeing the scene after the shooting, and it was unknown how many people were involved in the homicide. Hours after the homicide, Koval said his department had good leads, but he reiterated the need for anyone with information to share it with police. We have to put aside whatever our personal concerns of self-sacrifice are and think about whats in the best interest of the better part of Madison, he said. Someone has to have the capacity to come forward, even if anonymously, in order for us to put an end to this spiraling cycle. Koval said investigators cant rule out gang affiliation or drugs being connected to Tuesdays homicide, but he said the facts cant tell them anything yet and they tend not to want to engage in speculation or inference. Haynes had two convictions for possession of cocaine, and convictions for several batteries and other crimes over nearly 20 years. We will find who did this, Koval said, adding, when that happens, they will know that they have been visited by the Madison Police Department. A man was fatally shot Tuesday evening at a gas station on Madisons Southwest Side, Police Chief Mike Koval said. The 38-year-old man was sitting in a parked car at a BP station at 4501 Verona Road when someone shot him multiple times from outside the vehicle just before 6:25 p.m., Koval said. The victim was specifically targeted, he said, and the shooter, who remained at large, does not pose a threat to the general public. It was the citys fifth homicide of the year. We were called to multiple shots of fire thats how they typically come in these days and when officers arrived and responded, they saw a man that was bleeding profusely, Koval said. Officers began to administer first aid to the man, who had multiple gunshot wounds, but he died at a local hospital, Koval said. He said it is unknown if there was more than one shooter. Witnesses said they saw several people running from the gas station after the shooting, Koval said. He said witnesses were being interviewed, police dogs had been brought to the scene for tracking, and forensic evidence, such as video from security cameras, was being reviewed. Police have good leads on people potentially involved in the shooting, Koval said, adding that they had not established probable cause to arrest anyone. Based on witness accounts, he said the shooting was very deliberate, very selective and very intentional in the purpose. Koval said it was not known if Tuesdays homicide is related to last months fatal shooting of Martez Moore outside a Far West Side tavern. But he warned about increasing incidents of gun violence in the city. We have violence here thats being perpetrated by more and more frequent use of guns. Thats the reality, Koval said. Joel Wilson, who lives behind the gas station, said he had just arrived home when he heard about four gunshots. Wilson said he then saw a young man run out of an alley that leads to the back of the gas station and turn left, heading east on Britta Parkway. There were about 20 police vehicles around the scene shortly after the shots were reported. State regulators cant consider the cumulative effect that hundreds of high-capacity wells exert on lakes, streams and groundwater when deciding whether to approve new wells, under a formal opinion issued Tuesday by Attorney General Brad Schimel. Issued at the request of Republican lawmakers who complained about delays in state permits for wells that pump 100,000 gallons per day typically large farms and food processors Schimels opinion says a series of court rulings over the years had gradually expanded state authority to protect public waters. But, Schimel said, a 2011 state law rolled back that power by prohibiting state agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources from setting or enforcing any environmental standard that isnt explicitly spelled out in statutes. Conservationists reacted swiftly, calling the opinion a partisan document that ignored constitutional protections for state waters and threatened far-reaching implications for lakes and streams that high-capacity wells have depleted. But Americans for Prosperity, a nonprofit advocacy group founded by billionaire conservative brothers Charles and David Koch, thanked Schimel, a Republican, for what it called a major victory for voters over bureaucrats. Attorney General Schimels opinion makes it crystal clear that bureaucrats dont get to make law, said AFP Wisconsin director Eric Bott. That is the job of the Legislature as duly elected by the people. A public interest law firm that has challenged the DNR on grounds it hasnt protected water quality said Schimels opinion may put many state environmental protections at risk by severely limiting DNR authority. If the attorney generals legal opinion is followed by courts, it will represent a sea change in environmental law, said Sarah Geers, an attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates, which has petitioned the federal government to force the state to enforce clean water laws. A formal opinion of the attorney general does not create a binding legal precedent, but it can have a strong effect. It can be persuasive to courts and is presumed to be correct as long as the Legislature doesnt pass a law contradicting it. Public trust doctrine Republicans and business groups have said uncertainty about high-capacity well regulation was created by misinterpretation of a unanimous 2011 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling in a case called Lake Beulah Management District vs. DNR. Lakefront owners said the DNR shouldnt have issued a well permit without examining how it might harm the lake. The court confirmed that the DNR was required to consider the impact of high-capacity wells under the public trust doctrine, the legal term for state governments constitutional duty to protect state waters for the benefit of the public. Act 21 was enacted not long before the court ruled, but it wasnt taken into account in the case, which was about a permit issued years earlier. But the law, which says state agencies have no powers beyond those explicitly spelled out in statutes or administrative rules, did roll back DNR authority to regulate wells going forward, Schimel said. Carl Sinderbrand, an attorney who represented the DNR in the Supreme Court case, said Schimels opinion is badly flawed, because it doesnt discuss who would be responsible for enforcing the public doctrine if the Legislature was no longer delegating it to the DNR. Some part of state government must be responsible to carry out that constitutional duty, he said. If Schimel is correct that Act 21 removes DNR authority to protect public waters without reassigning it, then Act 21 is unconstitutional, Sinderbrand said. The Attorney General is so results-oriented and so partisan that the opinion doesnt even consider those things, let alone answer them, said Sinderbrand, a former assistant attorney general who now represents developers and other property owners in environmental cases. It really sort of undermines the integrity of the office. Asked for comment, Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos referred to case law naming the Legislature primary administrator of the public trust. Under the opinion, the DNR could no longer require well monitoring, which means decisions would be made without basic scientific information, said an attorney for property owners in a part of the state where lakes have been diminished. More streams, lakes, and wells will go dry at a time when these resources are already stressed, to the detriment of other property owners, recreational water users, and the environment, said Christa Westerberg, who represents the Friends of the Central Sands. Citizens are already sick and tired of having to go to court and do the job the DNR should be doing to protect the states resources, Westerberg said. This opinion makes that worse, and sides instead with an anti-regulatory political philosophy and the interests of a few large water users. Wells a battleground High-capacity wells have become a battleground in Wisconsin because of their ability to dry up public waters and the desire of farmers, food processors and others to drill more of them. Republicans who took over state government in the 2010 elections have made significant changes to natural resources protections, but they havent mustered support for a statute to speed up well permitting. In 2013, state Senate Republicans introduced a bill to address some industry complaints about well permitting, but it failed to pass. The bill was introduced at a time when small streams and lakes in central Wisconsin, including the Little Plover River and Long Lake, had been drying up. In February, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said there was a serious backlog of high-capacity well permit applications at the DNR because of confusion over the law. He asked a legislative committee to request a formal opinion from Schimel. The committee voted 5-3 along party lines to do so. Conservationists and Democrats said the move was a way of cutting the public out by eliminating the public debate that would come with passage of a law on well permitting. Dane County Executive Joe Parisi has a proposal in hand for a $52 million private development at the Alliant Energy Center, but the County Board appears unlikely to depart from a sweeping planning process already underway for the 164-acre expo complex. Parisi unveiled the proposal from Minneapolis-based AB Moten Corp. in a Tuesday memo to members of the Alliant Energy Center Master Plan Oversight Committee. The proposal was the lone response to a request for development proposals the county executives office issued in February for four chunks of land totaling about 6.7 acres along the edges of the county-owned property. The AB Moten plan targets only one of those pieces, a 3.7-acre plot wedged between Willow Island, Expo Way and East Olin Avenue. It calls for building three 10-story buildings and a 14-story building that would contain 352 apartments and several spaces for retail businesses. The company proposed to rent the land from the county for $322,340 annually in a 99-year lease and the county would use the money to shore up the long-term operating expenses of the complex. The memo is the latest development in a ongoing dispute over planning for the Alliant Energy Centers future. Parisi, who has vehemently opposed spending large amounts of public money to replace the aging Dane County Coliseum, issued the request just days before the County Board approved a resolution authorizing a new market study and master planning process. The resolution was based on a $455 million to $507 million concept that would include a new multipurpose arena and a retail, dining and hotel district. Hammes Co. estimated the public portion of such a project would cost around $117 million. Parisis approach to the campus has largely favored variety of lower-cost improvements that get at some of the facilitys most immediate shortfalls. In his Tuesday memo, Parisi urged the oversight committee to pause and evaluate the AB Moten proposal. This development proposal does not request county funding, which I believe speaks to the value of the land the county owns in this corridor and the opportunity we have, the county executive wrote. County Board chairwoman Sharon Corrigan said it was good news at least one company has expressed early interest. She plans to add the proposal to the agenda for Mondays oversight committee meeting but said the county shouldnt rush to lease pieces of the campus for bare bones rates before a master plan is completed. We talked about really doing vigorous outreach to get an idea of what people want from the development before we go ahead and lease a piece of property for 99 years, Corrigan said. This company looks very well qualified and I would hope they would be interested in competing when we have a vigorous, competitive process. Josh Wescott, chief of staff for Parisi, said he hopes the committee will meet with the developer to gather further details about the proposal. The contrast that were trying to draw we think was accomplished here, Wescott said. Theres one development vision for the AEC campus that calls for a $120 million public subsidy. We wanted to see if there were other visions out there that called for private development on the campus that would actually bring the county revenue and this proposal does that. In his proposal, AB Moten president Joseph Smith Jr. listed a construction timeline from June through October of next year. Smith Jr. did not return a call Tuesday, but Corrigan said the number of approvals the project would need would make that timeline nearly impossible. Even if everyone were in agreement, Im not sure how they would get to that timeline they have in there, Corrigan said. Should the committee support the AB Moten proposal, a development agreement would require approval by the full County Board. Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the development was proposed by AB Moten, not by Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. When Susan Paskewitz searched the UW Arboretum two years ago for immature deer ticks, the kind most likely to infect people with Lyme disease, she found 32. Last year, during the same amount of sampling at the same 17 sites in the Arboretum, she found 592. Were really seeing them move into areas in Madison, in Milwaukee and in other parts of southeast Wisconsin, said Paskewitz, a UW-Madison professor of entomology. Lyme disease, a bacterial infection that in Wisconsin was mostly confined to the northwest part of the state years ago, has become a statewide problem. More than 3,200 cases were reported in people last year, a tenth of what health officials believe actually occurred. Other diseases carried by deer ticks, such as anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis, also appear to be on the rise. Like Lyme, they can cause fever, chills, fatigue, muscle pain and severe headache. All of the conditions can be treated with antibiotics, but they sometimes cause serious complications. Anyone can get a tick-borne disease, said Diep Hoang Johnson, vector-borne disease epidemiologist with the state Department of Health Services. Its all over Wisconsin ... It can be in your backyard, even in the cities. Zika virus, spread by mosquitoes, has been getting a lot of attention this year because an outbreak in Latin America and the Caribbean was accompanied by serious birth defects. But its unlikely anyone will be exposed to Zika in Wisconsin this summer, health officials say. Mosquitoes in the state can carry West Nile virus and other potentially serious diseases, but reports of human cases are relatively rare. People concerned about bug bites making them sick should especially watch out for deer ticks, also known as blacklegged ticks, officials say. The ticks started circulating in April, typically peak in June and surge again in October. Wood ticks, or American dog ticks, are also common in Wisconsin but arent known to spread disease here. To prevent tick-borne diseases, people should avoid wooded, bushy areas or wear long pants and long sleeves and use repellent, health officials say. After being outdoors, they should check for ticks and remove any with tweezers. Paskewitz and others from her lab visit more than 30 areas in the state to look for deer ticks. In the Madison area in recent years, they have discovered the ticks in Sandburg Woods on Madisons Far East Side, UW-Madisons Lakeshore Nature Preserve and the Pheasant Branch Conservancy in Middleton. At Sandburg, 19 percent of immature ticks were infected with Lyme. Sampling at Owen Park on Madisons West Side hasnt turned up deer ticks, Paskewitz said. In the Milwaukee area, the researchers have found deer ticks at Doctors Park, Cedarburg Bog, Muskego Lake and Richard Bong State Recreational Area. The ticks werent tested for Lyme. In the Arboretum, where Paskewitz first discovered deer ticks in 2010, she and others from her lab are studying two ways to reduce the population of deer ticks and the percentage of them infected with Lyme. Working in 17 half-acre plots in the Arbs Lost City Forest, the researchers are removing buckthorn from some of the areas to create dry environments inhospitable to ticks. In other areas, theyre targeting white-footed mice, a major source of blood for deer ticks. They soak cotton balls with insecticide, place the balls in PVC pipes and leave the pipes in the forest. Mice use the cotton balls to make nests, and when ticks get on the mice the insecticide kills them. Its a bit like treating your dog with Frontline, Paskewitz said. In some plots, the researchers do both activities. In others, they do neither, so they can compare the effect. Monthly, from May to August, they trap mice and chipmunks, and drag white sheets across parts of each area, to count ticks and test them for Lyme. Last year, in the sites where buckthorn was removed and/or cotton balls were used, about 4 percent of immature ticks tested were infected with Lyme. In the untouched areas, it was 12 percent. Overall, the figure was 8 percent. Statewide, it ranged from 5 percent in the northeast to 32 percent in the northwest. The Arboretum plots where both activities were done also had about half the number of immature ticks last year as the areas that were left alone, Paskewitz said. It looks like we have reduced the risk of encountering an infected tick significantly, she said. The percentage of adult ticks infected with Lyme typically is about double that of immature ticks. But the scientists pay less attention to the adults because people generally can spot them and remove them from their bodies quickly enough to prevent infection. Its the immature ticks, called nymphs, that are the real troublemakers. Theyre so tiny, they look like a little freckle, Paskewitz said. You dont feel them. College is often an exciting four-year adventure for young undergraduates, but sometimes things dont go according to plan. For Natasha Pedone-Kahle, of Madison, and Shannon Davis, of Stoughton, graduation is coming much later than they intended. Pedone-Kahles initial stint as an undergraduate was interrupted by marriage and family, then further displaced by working as a ballet teacher-turned-EMT and being a stay-at-home mom. For Davis, a job opportunity, years of battling an undiagnosed case of lupus and becoming a mother disrupted her pursuit of a bachelors degree. Both Pedone-Kahle, 38, and Davis, 45, are recipients of UW-Madisons Outstanding Undergraduate Returning Adult Student Awards for continuing their education in the face of extreme challenges. They will be among this weekends graduates, and Davis will be a student keynote speaker at commencement. Nominees for the award, which comes with a $1,000 scholarship, are recommended by a dean. The nominees then submit papers about their journeys and are interviewed. From dancing to nursing Pedone-Kahle taught ballet off and on for several years. It was a labor of love after she initially pursued a dance major at Columbia College in Chicago. I quickly realized that, to be a dancer, you dont need a degree, she said. If you wanted to teach, sure, you could use the degree. But I also didnt want to be a starving artist and I didnt have the perfect body type to be a ballerina. But after years of teaching dance, something in her classes sparked the flame for Pedone-Kahles love of nursing. She always found herself talking about health, wellness and preventative care to her ballet students, Pedone-Kahle said. Because of that found connection between health and dance, someone in the community suggested that she join the EMS in Mayville, where she was living at the time. I was hooked from the moment I did it, Pedone-Kahle said. I found more and more that I love emergency situations. I love helping people and caring for people. And I realized, in taking care of people in those moments, sometimes its the worst time of their life and sometimes its not. She made the decision to return to school with the ultimate goal of attending a nursing program. Her difficult journey to a bachelors degree at UW-Madison began with a commute of more than an hour into the city, waiting for a bus to get to campus, then driving back after classes were over resulting in more than three hours of travel, three times per week, for two years. Those two years were hard, said Pedone-Kahle, who continued to work in Mayville as an EMT while attending school. After completing those two years, Pedone-Kahle applied to the competitive School of Nursing at UW-Madison and didnt get in. But instead of being down and out, she pushed through and found ways to improve as a student. From there, I got my (Certified Nurse Assistant) license, then I volunteered at the Dodge County Health department working with ... girls that were felons going through their prenatal care and birth, she said. I tried to find ways that I could better myself. The second time around she got into the nursing program. After graduating, she will begin residency as an emergency room nurse at UW Hospital exactly the position she hoped to attain. Managing health, school When Davis received her acceptance letter from UW-Madison, she recalls saying, Why would they accept me? This is a prestigious college where smart people go. She had attended Madison Area Technical College more than 20 years ago, before leaving school for a graphic design job that she didnt want to pass up. Then she had a family and got so sick that she couldnt work anymore. (Being sick) kind of sidetracked that career for me, Davis said. I spent at least a decade really, really ill and not being treated because they werent sure why. But after being diagnosed with lupus, a chronic disease that affects the immune system, in 2012, she said, Ive been receiving treatment, recovered, had multiple surgeries, and started feeling like a normal human being again. Once she felt well enough to approach her dream of returning to school, Davis enrolled at MATC and completed credits there for two years before transferring to UW-Madisons selective School of Social Work for her bachelors degree. The (bachelor of social work) program has about 1,000 applicants and accepts about 25, Davis said. Though the program was rigorous and a far cry from her previous work as a graphic designer, Davis was drawn to study social work after looking at her life and realizing that helping people is something she loved to do. After doing some preliminary research, Davis realized that she could help people in several capacities with a degree in social work. As a BSW, I was in the criminal justice component because I have a minor in criminal justice, Davis said. But next year, in graduate school, her focus will be on administration and policy work in legislation to benefit children and families. If we cant put policies in place, she said, the workers on the ground have very little power in what they can do. Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janine Geske has called for elimination of elections for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and endorsed the State Journal's preferred solution: governor appointment. While I concur that the elections have been distasteful and dominated by moneyed interests, the solution proposed does not eliminate politicization of the court. If one doubts that selection by partisan officeholders reflects political bias, consider that Justice Rebecca Bradley was included in a list of names for the governor to consider, yet she was rated unqualified by 53 percent of the respondents to a survey of Milwaukee attorneys. And one need only look to the federal appointment system and the politics involved in filling U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's vacant seat to see the political influence in such an appointment process. Here's an alternative solution: Let circuit court judges elect appeals court judges and Supreme Court justices. Circuit court judges are elected by the people, so they will be acting as representatives of the people, just like the governor would. But they are not partisan. Furthermore, the circuit courts are overseen by the Supreme Court, so judges are affected by the quality of the court system. They have an incentive to choose wisely. -- Thomas Virgilio, Cross Plains Manar's plan passed the Illinois Senate Tuesday 31 to 21, but the vote was not along party lines. SB 231 is being branded the "Chicago Public Schools Bailout Plan," directing nearly $175 million in additional funding to Chicago public schools, while cutting from other districts. Initial numbers released by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) showed that Senate Bill 231 would lead to about $197 million in losses in suburban and downstate districts -- $66.3 million from collar county schools, more than $101.3 million from North Cook County schools, and more than $28.7 million in funding from downstate schools. This year, it won't be so easy. Lawmakers say they are unhappy with the unfair funding formula now in place, so Democrats proposed a new formula with SB 231, sponsored by State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill). SPRINGFIELD - Last year, there was one budget that Governor Rauner signed into law almost immediately - the one providing funding for the state's schools. One downstate Republican - Senator Sam McCann of Jacksonville supported the bill, while suburban Democrats Tom Cullerton, Mike Hastings, Julie Morrison and Laura Murphy opposed it. Suburban Republican Senator Jim Oberweis explained his opposition. "I agree that we need to reform school funding, but this is not the way to do it. This is a 500-page Chicago Public Schools bailout that few legislators understand. I suggested a simple approach. X dollars per student plus Y dollars per student in poverty plus Z dollars per student with special needs. That would be understandable by all and fair for all. I suggested a bipartisan panel to work on coming up with those three numbers," Oberweis said. "But this is a bad bill. The Chicago Public Schools system needs significant reforms before we hand it $750 million worth of special deals, which this bill does." The outlook in the Illinois House doesn't look too positive. Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin called Manars bill a true bailout of Chicago detailing that Lyons Township would lose $1.9 million in his bill, while Chicago Public Schools would get an extra $375 million than the previous year. Lets go back to the drawing board. Lets start working on it again, but to suggest that this is a condition of a budget that is going to fund K-12, I think [it] is irresponsible for them to say that has to be done first. And I think that the public isnt going to accept that either, Durkin said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times. As of Monday, Governor Rauner said more work should be done on the plan - schools losing funds is not an option. That would make me uncomfortable, Rauner said. I dont want Sen. Manar to give up. We should keep working together. Democrats and Republicans should keep working together on a school funding transformation of the state, he said. State Rep. Christian Mitchell of Chicago has picked up SB 231 to sponsor in the House. Aprilia will be manufacturing the new scooter at Piaggio's plant at Baramati in Maharashtra. After its launch the Aprilia SR 150 will be available in two colour options including black and white. By India Today Web Desk: According to a report by MotorOctane, Aprilia will be launching the SR 150 scooter in India most likely by September. The Aprilia SR 150, showcased at the Auto Expo 2016, is said to be locally manufactured making it the SR 150 scooter the first product by the company to be produced in India. ALSO READ: Piaggio unveils two-wheeler crossover Aprilia SR 150 advertisement Aprilia, who are in collaboration with Piaggio in India, will be manufacturing the new scooter at Piaggio's plant at Baramati in Maharashtra. Moreover, the new Aprilia SR 150 scooter will be the company's second scooter offering in India, the first being the Aprilia SR Motard 125. Engine: The India-bound Aprilia SR 150 will come with a 154.4cc, 3-valve, air-cooled, single-cylinder engine, similar to that of Vespa 150. The SR 150 scooter is expected to give maximum power output of 12bhp and maximum torque of 11Nm, mated to a CVT unit. Colors: ALSO READ: Piaggio names World Cup winning football player Vespa brand ambassador After its launch the Aprilia SR 150 will be available in two colour options including black and white. Price: The Aprilia SR 150 scooter is expected to come for a whooping Rs 90,000 - Rs 1 lakh (ex showroom, New Delhi), making it the most expensive scooter in the country. Watch this space for more information on the upcoming Aprilia SR 150 scooter --- ENDS --- The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education will declare the result of HSSC examination tomorrow, Thursday, May 12 at 3 pm. The candidates who appeared for the examination can check their results at the India Today website ( http://results.intoday.in/) By India Today Web Desk: The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education will declare the result of HSSC examination tomorrow, Thursday, May 12 at 3 pm. The candidates, who appeared for the examination, can check their results at the India Today website ( http://results.intoday.in/) According to an official report, the result of Goa HSSC 2016 examination will be declared on Thursday, May 12. advertisement This year as many as 15000 students have appeared for the examination, that was held between February 29 and March 22. Steps to check the Goa Class 12 HSSC Result 2016: Go to www.indiatoday.intoday.in Click on the tab 'EDUCATION' Click on the tab 'Check your results here-Results' Select 'Goa HSSC (Class 12) Board Results 2016' Enter your roll number. About the board, The Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education was formed on May 27, 1975 under Goa Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board Act, 1975. It is authorised to conduct the HSSC & SSC examination and helps to develop the education condition of the state. Read: UP Class 10 Exam 2016: Results expected to be announced by May 15. Read: UP Board Class 12 Result 2016: To be declared at http://upresults.nic.in/. Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here. --- ENDS --- On the basis of Supreme Court's judgement to make National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) compulsory for all medical aspirants, the Maharashtra education department is planning to file a review petition in the court to make NEET available in regional languages other than English or Hindi. By India Today Web Desk: On the basis of Supreme Court's judgement to make National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) compulsory for all medical aspirants, the Maharashtra education department is planning to file a review petition in the court to make NEET available in regional languages other than English or Hindi. Why the call for different languages? According to officials of the state education department, though the state education department has not taken any decisions regarding the SC verdict, they want the examination to be offered in regional languages. advertisement "Many students have told us about their fear of having to take the exam in English or Hindi. In MH-CET, they could take the exam in Marathi as well. We are putting together a petition requesting the SC to make the NEET exam available in other vernacular languages as well," said a senior official from the state education department. Change jolts students: The order of the Apex Court raised confusion among the students as the student of CHM College. Nuhi Yasin Jalal told HT, "We have been preparing for CET the entire year and this sudden change will be very difficult for the HSC students. How does the court expect us to study two years' worth of CBSE syllabus in two months? This judgment has been unfair." Sanket Pawar, a student from SK Somaiya College said, "Had they taken a decision on this at least a year in advance, we wouldn't have complained. There are many students who have taken a year out from academics only to reappear for CET, what about them?" Co-ordinator of the Parents' Association of Medical Students, Maharashtra, Rajesh Jain said, "We welcome NEET but the plea was that students, who have studied the state board syllabus for the entire year, get some exemption. Till the judgment was released on Monday, students were quite hopeful. They are now dejected." Read: AP SSC results declared: Girls outperform boys. Read: GUJCET conducted, state govt approaches SC on NEET. Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here. --- ENDS --- The State Bank of India (SBI) has released the admit cards of the Junior Associates (Customer Support and Sales) and Junior Agricultural Associates in Clerical Cadre preliminary written examination. By India Today Web Desk: The State Bank of India (SBI) has released the admit cards of the Junior Associates (Customer Support and Sales) and Junior Agricultural Associates in Clerical Cadre preliminary written examination. All the candidates are requested to download the same from the official website. The examination is scheduled to take place from May 22 to June 5 for over 15431 posts. advertisement All the applicants will be selected on the basis of preliminary and main examination. The test of knowledge of official and/or local language will be conducted as a part of the selection process. Paper pattern: Preliminary examination: The examination will be conducted online and will consist of objective type questions of 100 marks. The duration of this test would be of one hour. It will consist of the following three sections: English language Numerical ability Reasoning ability Steps to download: All the candidates need to visit official website, www.sbi.co.in Click on 'Careers with Us' link which is present on footer of the website Now Click on SBI Clerk Admit Card 2016 Link Enter Registration Number, Date of Birth / Password Now click on Submit button All the candidates need to take print out of the admit card. Important dates: The prelims examination is scheduled to take place from May 22 to June 5 All the best! Read: UPSC Civil Services Final Results: Declared at upsc.gov.in. Read: Delhi girl Tina Dabi tops UPSC in first attempt, meet the top 10 rank holders here. For information on more upcoming exams and results, click here. --- ENDS --- If you wish to top the exam with flying colours, take these notes from UPSC topper, Tina Dabi. By India Today Web Desk: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will be conducting the Civil Services main examination, 2016 on December 3. If you wish to top the exam with flying colours, take these notes from UPSC topper, Tina Dabi. The political science student credited her success to hard work and dedication. Similarly, Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan, who hails from Jammu & Kashmir stood second, followed by Jasmeet Singh Sandhu. advertisement In a conversation with Rajdeep Sardesai, India Today, Dabi shared her secret formula, "My secret formula is my mother. She has guided me since Class 11 and groomed me for the service. She has given me all the possible guidance and support throughout the time," attributing her success to her mother, a former Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer, who took voluntary retirement after the job. Cracking the list in the first go, the Delhi girl said, "I did believe that I would make it to the list but becoming rank one, that was something beyond my dream." On being asked about how many hours did she study, Dabi said, ''If I have an exam tomorrow, I would end up studying to 14 hours. But regularly, I used to study 8 to 9 hours per day.'' Tina completed her graduation from Lady Shri Ram College of Delhi University. On this, her father, who is a serving IES officer, told India Today, "I have always been proud of her. She has been student of the year during her graduation. And now the topper." India Today Education team wishes good luck for the future endeavours. READ: Delhi girl Tina Dabi tops UPSC in first attempt, meet the top 10 rank holders here CHECK: UPSC Final Results here Click here to get latest updates on education news. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Amritsar, May 11 (PTI) The Customs department seized 1.961 kg of gold from a Qatar Airways flight here at Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport today. Confirming the seizure, a Customs official said that Qatar Airways flight QR 548 had arrived from Doha. During checking, unclaimed gold coins were found from the toilet of the plane. The official added that the gold was probably concealed in Doha and was supposed to be retrieved by someone in Amritsar. But, nobody came forward to claim it. PTI CORR CHS RC RG SRY --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: From Natasha Chaku Melbourne, May 11 (PTI) Australian police have arrested five men, including a top hardlineIslamic preacher, who were planning to join the dreaded IS terror group by sailing to Indonesia by a boat. The arreststook place inQueensland yesterday as the men with cancelled passports were towing a boat towards Cape York, in far north Queensland. advertisement The men included Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio, Shayden Thorne, the brother of another hardline Islamist, Junaid Thorne, police said. Cerantonio was deported in 2014 from the Philippines where he had been hiding out. At that time he was regarded as one of the worlds most prominent online English-language preachers of the extremism espoused by the Islamic State. They have beenbeing held on suspicion of foreign incursion offences, media reports said. "Themen had been under investigation for a number of weeks. The men, aged between 21 and 33, have not yet been charged. They were in a boat that was seven-metres long," Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said. "The fact that theyd travelled from Melbourne to far north Queensland indicates that these people were extremely committed in their adventure and their attempt to leave the country," he added. "The suspicion is that they were seeking to leave Australia by (the) vessel to avoid the fact that they couldnt travel by air because their passports had been cancelled," he said. Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said police would be considering charges after the men were questioned. "We have a requirement to ensure that people cant get offshore to go and fight in other countries, cant get offshore to become hardened terrorists and come back here and pose a risk," he said. "If disruption means ultimately we dont get sufficient evidence so we can charge them, well accept that risk," he said. Federal Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed the arrests and said itdemonstrate the threat to Australians from those engaging in acts of terrorism, including acts of terrorism in foreign countries, remains real and present. "I want to emphasise that the offences on suspicion of which these five men were arrested were not to conduct an act of terrorism on the Australian mainland but to travel, in breach of Australian law, overseas to engage in foreign incursion against the Australian criminal code," Brandis said. "Nevertheless, the Australian government takes very seriously, whether it be acts of domestic terrorism or threats to commit acts of domestic terrorism, or attempts by Australians to travel overseas to engage in terrorist war fighting on foreign soil, in this case, as I said before, in Syria," he added. PTI NC AMS AKJ5 arrested for planning to leave Aus by boat to join ISIS advertisement From Natasha Chaku Melbourne, May 11 (PTI) Australian police have arrested five men, including a top hardlineIslamic preacher, who were planning to join the dreaded IS terror group by sailing to Indonesia by a boat. The arreststook place inQueensland yesterday as the men with cancelled passports were towing a boat towards Cape York, in far north Queensland. The men included Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio, Shayden Thorne, the brother of another hardline Islamist, Junaid Thorne, police said. Cerantonio was deported in 2014 from the Philippines where he had been hiding out. At that time he was regarded as one of the worlds most prominent online English-language preachers of the extremism espoused by the Islamic State. They have beenbeing held on suspicion of foreign incursion offences, media reports said. "Themen had been under investigation for a number of weeks. The men, aged between 21 and 33, have not yet been charged. They were in a boat that was seven-metres long," Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said. advertisement "The fact that theyd travelled from Melbourne to far north Queensland indicates that these people were extremely committed in their adventure and their attempt to leave the country," he added. "The suspicion is that they were seeking to leave Australia by (the) vessel to avoid the fact that they couldnt travel by air because their passports had been cancelled," he said. Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said police would be considering charges after the men were questioned. "We have a requirement to ensure that people cant get offshore to go and fight in other countries, cant get offshore to become hardened terrorists and come back here and pose a risk," he said. "If disruption means ultimately we dont get sufficient evidence so we can charge them, well accept that risk," he said. Federal Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed the arrests and said itdemonstrate the threat to Australians from those engaging in acts of terrorism, including acts of terrorism in foreign countries, remains real and present. advertisement "I want to emphasise that the offences on suspicion of which these five men were arrested were not to conduct an act of terrorism on the Australian mainland but to travel, in breach of Australian law, overseas to engage in foreign incursion against the Australian criminal code," Brandis said. "Nevertheless, the Australian government takes very seriously, whether it be acts of domestic terrorism or threats to commit acts of domestic terrorism, or attempts by Australians to travel overseas to engage in terrorist war fighting on foreign soil, in this case, as I said before, in Syria," he added. PTI NC AMS AKJ AMS --- ENDS --- By PTI: Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 (PTI) BJP today hit out at Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his likening of the state to Somalia, and alleged various welfare laws for the SC/ST communities were not being implemented in the state. "For the benefit of SC/ST brothers, many laws made by the Central government are not being implemented in Kerala. Isnt this an insult to the state," BJP state president, Kummanam Rajasekharan told reporters here. advertisement Chandy had yesterday hit out at Modi for comparing Kerala to Somalia, saying he had insulted the state and should show some "political decency" and withdraw the remark. "The Chief Minister has raised the issue of the Malayalee pride being hurt now, only with an eye on the May 16 Assembly polls," Rajasekharan said. Media had highlighted reports of two tribal children rummaging for food at a waste dump in a tribal colony at Peravur in Kannur district and the incident had shaken the conscience of the nation, he said, adding, there was nothing wrong and "unnatural" about what PM had said. Referring to Chandys claim that for the welfare of the tribals, crores had been spent by the government and that no child in the state will eat from the waste dump, the BJP leader claimed that at Attapadi, 143 children have died due to malnourishment. "Has the Chief Minister forgotten about them," he asked. Chandy should explain the steps taken by the government to stop starvation deaths in the state, he said. In a hard-hitting letter to Modi, Chandy had said the Prime Ministers comparison of Kerala to Somalia during a recent poll campaign rally while claiming that the state had "adverse" economic and social parameters had "shocked" the people of the state as it has nothing to do with the ground realities. He also wanted Modi to show some "political decency" by withdrawing the statement as they were "baseless and contrary to ground realities." PTI UD BN SRY --- ENDS --- BSP chief Mayawati made her party's strategy clear for the big political battle in UP where she is hoping for a grand comeback. By Kumar Vikram: While the BJP claimed that Congress winning the trial of strength in the Uttarakhand Assembly is not a setback for the party, BSP supremo Mayawati, by extending support to the Congress, sent out a clear message that she is not going to support the saffron party in the upcoming UP polls in 2017. Months ahead of the UP election, the BSP chief made her party's strategy clear for the big political battle in UP where she is hoping a grand comeback. advertisement By backing the Congress at the last moment, Mayawati gave the message that she is against the BJP. The party's move in Uttarakhand has sent out a message among its voters that the party is committed to stopping the BJP from coming to power in UP. Secondly, its alliance with an `anti-BJP front which is yet to take final shape in the state is also not to be ruled out. Substantial share of Muslim votes in UP is another significant reason behind the BSP supporting Congress. While the ruling Samajwadi Party has started losing the trust of the Muslims, the BSP has taken it as an opportunity to make a comeback in UP. Besides, one of the BSP MLA's Sarwat Karim Ansari in Uttarakhand is a Muslim and Mayawati could not have taken risk to allow him back the BJP as it would have marred her own chances in UP. Maywati had become the chief minister of UP by winning 206 seats in 2007 and both the Dalits and Muslims were largest contributors. This time too, she wants a similar support of Dalits and Muslim communities. Meanwhile, Tuesday's development in Uttrakhand has made the task tough for the BJP which wants to retain Dalit votes it had pulled towards it in 2014. After the floor test, the BJP alleged that Harish Rawat has tried to buy majority and claimed that people will teach him a lesson in the elections. BJP cited recent sting operations to accuse Rawat of bribing legislators. Also read: Maya booster for Congress ahead of Uttarakhand floor test --- ENDS --- The storms spawned at least 11 confirmed tornadoes, eight of which hit Oklahoma, according to the Storm Prediction Center, and more than 90 hail reports. By India Today Web Desk: A day after two people were killed by a series of tornadoes that caused severe damage in parts of Oklahoma, Governor Mary Fallin declared a state of emergency in 15 counties in the US state. The storms spawned at least 11 confirmed tornadoes, eight of which hit Oklahoma, according to the Storm Prediction Center, and more than 90 hail reports. advertisement In Nebraska, a man survived a tornado after being thrown against a tree Monday night , KETV.com reported. Robin Stoll suffered minor injuries during the scary ordeal that destroyed his home, the AP said. "It picked me up, threw me against a tree," Stoll said. Bad weather moved into the Ohio River Valley on Tuesday after a series of powerful storms hit the Plains, including tornadoes that destroyed homes and left two people dead in Oklahoma. --- ENDS --- The so-called freedom of navigation operation was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam which were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea. Chinese dredging vessels are purportedly seen in the waters around Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea in this still image from video taken by a P-8A Poseidon surveillance aircraft provided by the United States Navy May By Reuters: China scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday as a US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, a patrol China denounced as an illegal threat to peace which only went to show its defence installations in the area were necessary. Guided missile destroyer the USS William P. Lawrence travelled within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef, US Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban said. advertisement The so-called freedom of navigation operation was undertaken to "challenge excessive maritime claims" by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam which were seeking to restrict navigation rights in the South China Sea, Urban said. "These excessive maritime claims are inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention in that they purport to restrict the navigation rights that the United States and all states are entitled to exercise," Urban said in an emailed statement. China and the United States have traded accusations of militarising the South China Sea as China undertakes large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed features while the United States has increased its patrols and exercises. Facilities on Fiery Cross Reef include a 3,000-metre (10,000-foot) runway which the United States worries China will use to press its extensive territorial claims at the expense of weaker rivals. China's Defence Ministry said two fighter jets were scrambled and three warships shadowed the US ship, telling it to leave. The US patrol "again proves that China's construction of defensive facilities on the relevant reefs in the Nansha Islands is completely reasonable and totally necessary", it said, using China's name for the Spratly Islands where much of its reclamation work is taking place. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said the US ship illegally entered Chinese waters. "This action by the US side threatened China's sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability," he told a daily news briefing. US Secretary of State John Kerry waved aside a question as to whether the US aim was to send a message ahead of a visit to Asia by President Barack Obama this month. "This is not a pointed strategy calculated to do anything except keep a regular process of freedom of navigation operations underway," he told reporters in London. Sensitive area China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims. The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm it has no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross. advertisement "Fiery Cross is sensitive because it is presumed to be the future hub of Chinese military operations in the South China Sea, given its already extensive infrastructure, including its large and deep port and 3,000-metre runway," said Ian Storey, a South China Sea expert at Singapore's ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. "The timing is interesting, too. It is a show of US determination ahead of President Obama's trip to Vietnam." Speaking in Vietnam, Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, said freedom of navigation operations were important for smaller nations. "If the world's most powerful navy cannot sail where international law permits, then what happens to the ships of navy of smaller countries?" Russel told reporters before news of the operation was made public. China has reacted with anger to previous US freedom of navigation operations, including the overflight of fighter planes near the disputed Scarborough Shoal last month, and when long-range US bombers flew near Chinese facilities under construction on Cuarteron Reef in the Spratlys last November. advertisement US naval officials believe China has plans to start reclamation and construction activities on Scarborough Shoal, which sits further north of the Spratlys within the Philippines-claimed 200-nautical-mile (370-km) exclusive economic zone. Tough-talking city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who looks set to become president of the Philippines after an election on Monday, has proposed multilateral talks on the South China Sea. A Chinese diplomat warned last week that criticism of China over the South China Sea would rebound like a coiled spring. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Anisur Rahman Dhaka, May 11 (PTI) Clashes broke out between activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and police in several Bangladeshi cities today after the execution of the top Islamist leader Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. The clashes came as Bangladesh intensified security across the country following Jamaats call for a nationwide strike tomorrow to protest the execution of its top leader, heightening tensions in the Muslim-majority nation already reeling from a series of killings of secular activists. advertisement Policemen in riot-gear fired rubber bullets when hundreds of Jamaat supporters pelted them with stones in the northwestern city of Rajshahi, where a liberal professor was hacked to death by Islamists near his home last month. 73-year-old Nizami was hanged at midnight at the Central Jail here after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. Several hundred policemen in riot-gear kept a vigil as Jamaat activists rallied at central Dhakas Baitul Mokarram National Mosque to offer Nizamis funeral prayer (in absentia), a ritual they also performed in other major cities. Security was tight across Bangladesh, with checkpoints erected on main roads in the national capital to deter violence, and thousands of police patrolling the streets. In the port city of Chittagong, clashes erupted between activists of the Jamaats student wing Chhatra Shibir and police after the funeral prayer. After the funeral prayer, hundreds of Jamaat supporters broke into the ground and started hurling bricks and stones at the police which resorted to firing to disperse the crowd. Home-made bombs were also used as "pro-liberation" activists tried to drive out the Jamaat followers from the parade ground area of the port city, perceived to be a Jamaat stronghold. "Orders have been issued to keep the security vigil so no law and order situation is created anywhere," a home ministry spokesman told PTI after Jamaat called a nationwide general strike tomorrow to protest the execution of its top leader. Jamaat, the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh, described Nizamis execution as a "planned murder". "He (Nizami) was deprived of justice. He is a victim of political vengeance," acting Jamaat chief Mokbul Ahmed said in the statement urging people to observe the strike. Jamaats previous such strike calls protesting the trial of their senior leaders for war crimes largely went unheeded. The party last called a nationwide strike on May 6, a day after the Supreme Court rejected Nizamis review petition reconfirming his death penalty. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Nizami had preferred not to seek presidential clemency as his last effort to avoid the noose "because he understood the crimes he had committed were unpardonable". advertisement Nizami was buried in line with Islamic rituals at his village home at northwestern Pabnas Sathia sub-district early this morning in presence of family members and neighbours while armed police kept a sharp vigil. MORE PTI AR KUN ZH AKJ ZH --- ENDS --- By PTI: From H S Rao London, May 11 (PTI) Ahead of the Anti-Corruption Summit hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the Commonwealth Secretary-General today announced several practical measures including a new "Commonwealth Standard" to combat corruption. Opening the Tackling Corruption Together conference here, Secretary-General Patricia Scotland called on the government, civil society and business leaders to combine forces against corruption, and said collaboration between countries would be critical to this fight. advertisement "Its going to take all of us to tackle corruption in all its forms," Scotland said. "This isnt just about money. Its about the corruption that sees women have to trade sexual favours for access to goods and services, its the corruption that sees children abused so they can stay in the classroom, its the corruption that blights so many lives in so many different ways." The Commonwealth Standard scheme will be used to identify which bodies and institutions are adhering to best practice in procurement and differentiate between those that do not protect against corruption. Scotland said she would like to bring together partners to develop an international scheme for better procurement across the public and private sectors. "Collaboration and cooperation between different nation states will be critical if we are to successfully meet the challenge bribery and corruption creates for us all," she said. The conference precedes the Anti-Corruption Summit:London 2016 tomorrow, which aims to agree a package of practical steps to expose and drive out corrupt practices. Scotland described the conference and the summit as "outward and visible signs of the fresh determination, renewed vigour and practical commitment to eliminating fraud, bribery and corruption." Nigerian President Buhari gave the keynote speech at the conference. Other speakers included Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of Malta, Jose Ugaz from Transparency International and Mo Ibrahim, Founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which assesses the quality of governance in African countries. "Governments cannot tackle corruption alone, and we welcome the lead given by the new Secretary-General in putting corruption on the agenda, and including business and civil society as part of the discussion," Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International, one of the organising partners, said. "Todays event will showcase some highly effective initiatives that show it is possible to fight corruption, often collaboratively. When the dust settles after the Summit, such partnerships will be crucial to seeing bold words turn into practical action." PTI HSR ABH AKJ ABH --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to create a disaster mitigation fund to tackle drought- like situation and directed the Agriculture Ministry to hold a meeting within a week with affected states like Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana to assess the conditions. A bench headed by Justice M B Lokur directed the Centre to also implement the provisions of Disaster Management Act and fix a time limit for declaration of drought on scientific grounds. advertisement It also asked the Centre to revise the drought management manual to provide effective relief to calamity-hit farmers and prepare a national plan to tackle the crisis. "Agriculture Ministry is directed to hold a meeting within a week with Chief Secretaries of drought-hit Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana to assess the situation," the bench also comprising Justice N V Ramana said. The court also directed that the National Disaster Response Force should be trained and equipped to tackle the drought-like situation. Additional Solicitor General P S Narasimha had on April 26 told the bench that Centre is alive to the situation prevailing in the drought-hit areas and states are working hard to provide every possible relief to the farmers in such natural calamity hit areas. Earlier, the apex court had told the Centre whether it was not its responsibility to warn the states about the drought like situation likely to prevail in the near future. The court had expressed its concern over low compensation paid to calamity-hit farmers and observed that it was leading some of them to commit suicide. The petitioner NGO, Swaraj Abhiyan, in its revised prayer, had sought a direction to Centre to abide by the provisions of MNREGA Act and use it for employment generation in drought-affected areas. The PIL filed by the NGO had alleged that parts of 12 states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana and Chattisgarh were hit by drought and the authorities were not providing adequate relief. PTI RKS MNL AG RT --- ENDS --- The order came on petitions filed by Delhi government seeking modification of the court's April 30 order banning all taxis which had not converted to CNG. By Harish V Nair: The protesting diesel and petrol taxis which had All India Tourist Permit (AITP) scored a major victory in the Supreme Court on Tuesday as it modified the order, which asked them to convert to CNG or stop plying, and allowed them to run till the expiry of their permits. There are 64,532 such AITP vehicles. The bench headed by Chief justice TS Thakur however banned registration of new diesel taxis. advertisement The order came on petitions filed by Delhi government seeking modification of the court's April 30 order banning all taxis which had not converted to CNG. Kejriwal government had rushed to the court citing "law and order problems" after protests by taxi owners crippled traffic in Delhi for nearly a week. The Centre too had supported the Delhi government petition pleading that the sudden ban will mean that several BPOs which work mostly in night will not have cabs to pick or drop their employees at odd hours. "There will be a safety and security issue especially for women employees. If the scarcity continues for long the BPOs may even go out of the country," Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar had told the court. "All registration of new city taxies will be only of vehicles that operate on dual fuel or petrol or CNG and no diesel vehicles will be registered as city taxies," said the court. "All the existing All India Tourist Permit taxies operating in the National Capital Region will be converted into AITP (old) category and will be allowed to operate until such time as their permits expire. AITP (O) taxies will be allowed to operate as at present, but it is made clear that only old AITP taxis would be registered," said the court. The bench made it clear that new AITP permits will be issued as AITP(N) and these taxis will not be allowed to take up point-topoint service within the NCR and will only be permitted to carry tourists to inter-state locations. "All India Tourist Permit taxis will not be allowed to take up pointto-point service within the NCR and serve BPO staff. They are employees of offices not tourists," said the court. "We are committed to tackling pollution as you Lordship is aware of various steps the government is taking but in this case a crisis has arisen," the state government had earlier told the court during a hearing on its request seeking implementation of the ban on diesel cabs in a phased manner. "We also don't intend to cause a human problem, but whenever these steps are taken, it does lead to some initial inconvenience," the CJI had said. advertisement A 2014 WHO survey of more than 1,600 cities ranked Delhi as the most polluted, partly because of the nearly 10 million vehicles on its roads. Also read: Supreme Court allows diesel cabs to ply in Delhi, but with a rider BPOs in Delhi, NCR will leave India: Centre's argument against ban on diesel cars --- ENDS --- Around a dozen members of a right-wing Indian Hindu group lit a ritual fire and chanted mantras on Wednesday asking the Hindu gods to help Trump win the US presidential election. Activists of right-wing Hindu Sena or Hindu Army make offerings to the fire god while conducting Hindu rituals to ensure a win for US presidential candidate Donald Trump in New Delhi. By AP: Donald Trump may find it tough to get Republican leaders behind his campaign, but he's got some faraway fans trying to get the gods on his side. Around a dozen members of a right-wing Indian Hindu group lit a ritual fire and chanted mantras on Wednesday asking the Hindu gods to help Trump win the US presidential election. While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on extremist groups abroad have earned him some fans in India. advertisement "The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity." Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out in a New Delhi protest park along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman - as well as photos of a smiling Trump. Above them hung a banner declaring support for Trump "because he is hope for humanity against Islamic terror." The group chanted Sanskrit prayers asking the gods to favor Trump in the election, and threw offerings such as seeds, grass and ghee - or clarified butter - into a small ritual fire. --- ENDS --- Enforcement Directorate has already informed market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India about the share freeze. It will write to the National Securities Depository Limited and Central Depository Service Limited, the two national depositories. As of now Mallya holds stakes in United Breweries Ltd, United spirit limited, and Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd. By Shivendra Srivastava: As per sources, Enforcement Directorate is planning ways to ensure that transactions such as the one industrialist Vijay Mallya struck with Diageo for Rs 500 crore does not take place in future. ED will shortly ask national depositories to freeze the shares owned by Mallya in listed companies. ED has already informed market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India about the share freeze. It will write to the National Securities Depository Limited and Central Depository Service Limited, the two national depositories. advertisement As of now Mallya holds stakes in United Breweries Ltd, United spirit limited, and Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd. ED does not want a USL-Diageo repeat ED is looking to ensure that no big deals or transactions, such as the USL-Diageo one, takes place in near future. Earlier in February, Mallya had reached a Rs 500-crore deal with Diageo, to whom he had sold controlling stake in USL in a multi-billion dollar deal, to step down from the chairman's post of the liquor company. Mallya's holding company UB Holdings now has a 4 per cent stake in United Spirits. He is no longer the largest shareholder in United Breweries, and has lost management control of it. As of now Mallya still own 32.4 per cent of United Breweries (Heineken, which acquired S&N owns more, around 37.5 per cent), four per cent of United Spirits and 22 per cent of Mangalore Chemicals. More than half the shares in United Breweries and United Spirits are pledged to UB Group lenders. Forensic investigation ordered on MCFL As per sources the board of MCFL, which Zuari Fertilizer & Chemicals took over last year after taking control from Mallya, had appointed Ernst & Young LLP to do a forensic investigation into the Rs 200-crore investment MCFL had made in Bangalore Beverages Ltd so that any possible fraud can be ruled out. The auditors are also asked to look into various advances made by MCFL to Mallya's flagship 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 that these transactions may have involved irregularities and elements of mismanagement in the company. Mallya resigns from Rajya Sabha Mallya, who left India for the UK following the deal with Diageo, has resigned from the Rajya Sabha ahead of a hearing by a Parliamentary ethics panel. The ED is also investigating Mallya for suspected money laundering on suspicion of siphoning part of a 2010 IDBI Bank loan of Rs 950 crore to Kingfisher Airlines. Also Read: UK declines India's request to deport Vijay Mallya, next step extradition, says ED --- ENDS --- advertisement By India Today Web Desk: In a sensational disclosure, AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel today denied meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or former Defence Minister AK Antony during the ten years of the UPA government. Here is the full text of Christian Michel interview. Italicised portions of the text are Michel's answers to key questions that linger in the ongoing investigations in AgustaWestland controversy. advertisement Sanjay Bragta: The politics is hot in India on the VVIP chopper deal and the person who did the deal was Christian Michel, nobody has seen him on television till now. He's with us on India Today Television. Sanjay Bragta: What was your role in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal? Christian Michel: I was called in to see AgustaWestland (AgustaWestland ) in Italy at the end of 2006. After the tender has come out and I was brought in for my expertise in the Indian system and introducing and inducting new aircraft, of which I had a great deal of experience. So my role was the pre-initiation of the tender and my work was technical, commercial advising and a list of many tasks I had to fulfill. The way of work with the AgustaWestland started after the contract was signed and it was then that I came into a legally binding relationship on the VVIP deal of the AgustaWestland , which was after 2010. Q: The Enforcement Directorate's probe says that a total commission of 30 million Euros were routed through you and taken as kickbacks. What do you have to say about it? A: Yes, the figure was thrown out by a gentleman called Guido Haschke. He simply shows a figure. They then went hunting for a figure and the way they found that figure was to take all of my earnings from the company from 2003, which had nothing to do with the VVIP, put them all together and come close to a figure of 30 million Euros. There was no 30 million figure, there was no agreement, no contract, no percentage agreement: one does not exists and has never been found. Q: Even the Milan court has noted that Michel cornered 44 million euros, around Rs 330 crore out of total commissions paid and the same was completely disproportionate? A: Yes it would be disproportionate if it would have been just for this work. But what they did they added ten or twelve years of work and tried to put all together as one payment, which is not the case. I was doing many many functions for the English company, mostly and then leading on to the Italian company. To say that it has all come in one deal and one piece of work is not correct. There were many many contracts covering many different things over a decade. advertisement Q: So what was your role in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal and how much money did the company pay you for the services you rendered for the implementation of the agreement? A: Directly for the VVIP, I was paid 6.225 million [Euros] to cover everything: from implementation, offset, legal, every kind of operation that you could imagine: delivery, transportation, logistics: many many things. I had about 35 people working for me at that time. Media, which have also been noted by the press, also we were supposed to be keeping an eye on the media following it, giving news reports. Recommending reporters who might possibly be invited to have a look into the factory. As for doing anything illicit or illegal is out of the question. Q: You are the agent for AgustaWestland and Italy's former PM Berlusconi had said that in developing countries, they had to be paid to get deal to be struck. What do you have to say about it? advertisement A: Yes, I have quite a strong opinion on that. I think India is certainly developing, but it is becoming part of a group, in company who are now in the new realm of developed and developing and is way ahead of being called a developing country any more. I think part of the tremendous interest in deals and scandals is part of India's growing pains in becoming a truly, truly developed country. India is no longer a tinpot state where everybody can go to an individual and all powerful man to get things done. India is more mature than that and I see that's why scandals are coming out and people are making such a mess about that, it is because India is becoming mature. More mature than some European countries I must say. Q: Do you mean that there were no kickbacks paid in the AgustaWestland deal? A: Well, I can't say that. Because I do not know what was going on with the sections of business. I joined at the end of 2006, after the tender being issued. There were lots of interests, the change of height, the change of cabin height, what was done there. I simply was not involved there. I know what has happened from 2007 beginning to now, where I had a lot of responsibilities and the chairman of AgustaWestland, then chairman of Finmeccanica became very good friend and in my opinion a very good man. [Giuseppe] Orsi - that is correct. But I am aware some things went on inside what Mr Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Mr Khaitan were doing, which clearly need further investigation. And a great deal of money went that way as well. advertisement Q: So do you suspect that some money was paid to crack this deal? A: On their activities I am concerned. The way the media was playing it I am not sure it's that way but there was something there which is wrong. In my opinion, a great deal of money went back to Italy. And Haschke has already admitted that it went back to Italy, but I don't think he told the full story. Q: Our investigative agencies are interrogating the former air force chief Mr Tyagi. He was friends with you, Haschke and was instrumental in cracking the deal : that is the buzz which is going around. What do you have to say about that? A: They are certainly not friends of mine, I don't know these people. I know Haschke and Gerosa. I have met with Julie Tyagi, who Haschke introduced me to and that was it. I was not very keen on those people, I have to say because I was suspicious of what they were doing. I criticised at the very beginning the engineering software we were doing was routed through Tunisia. My point was as it is routed through Tunisia AgustaWestland got no offset benefit as the deal had to be directly with India, which is what I said to Mr Orsi. Of course that upset Mr Haschke very badly for interfering into his business, but I could not understand why you have this exotic routing. Now we understand it was for a...but I did not understand at that time. Q: What was your meeting with Julie Tyagi all about? A: He wanted to introduce me saying he was a very powerful and clever industrialist and I have to say he seemed like a perfect gentleman. Very very English, which is not necessarily a compliment but a very nice man and that is as far as it ever went. Q: What did he speak about? A: Well, he talked about all businesses he has done: power, rail, transportation, he seemed to be in many things. Q: Did he promise you something? That he could crack some deal? A: No, no. Because I was already nervous of these people. In the court documents it is stated that Haschke's first meeting with me he grinned and beared it and did not have anything to do with me, this relationship was never going to develop. Q: You do admit that there is something fishy in this deal and there might some kickbacks paid? Whom do you suspect: former IAF chief, his brothers? Do you think that kickbacks have gone to them in cracking the deal? A: I think there is more to it than just that. Because I do not think that one man can swing a deal like this. But I do think that something was going on in Mauritius and I think that needs investigating. And I am one of the investigators. I am suing Guido Haschke at this moment in Switzerland and I so am also trying to find out what is going on in Mauritius and trying to find the money trail for my court purposes as I am suing him civil lawsuit for damages. Q: Was Mr Tyagi instrumental in cracking the deal? A: I think he was used as a tool for Haschke to get inside AgustaWestland. That was his purpose. I do not think he could play any major role in swinging the deal. It was too big a decision, the VVIP aircraft for one of the greatest, most powerful countries of the world. One man cannot swing that deal. Q: So who could be instrumental in cracking this deal? A: Instrumental may be the wrong word. You have a group called the SPG a highly efficient group, they know what they are doing. The Indian Air Force flies more aircrafts (types) than any other air force of the world. They have more experience, they are battle-trained they know what they are doing. You have two governments: Vajpayee and Dr Manmohan Singh, men beyond reproach, a minister beyond reproach. Is it not possible that at this very high level decisions were taken on merit? Is it something impossible for a developed nation like India to do? Q: So is there an invisible hand that might have taken big kickbacks to crack this deal? A: I have been under investigation for a long while. I had an Italian arrest warrant issued against me, which I fought and got removed. Now an Indian warrant which is on exactly the same basis and so I will have to fight that and get it removed. I have not yet answered that question. If there was something going on before I came in and I am not aware of, it is possible but after 2007 I know most things that were going on at high levels. In Mr Orsi's head, and he was the ultimate decision taker. And he was not one who believed in a quick solution, he believed in going through a process. We should look at his career he has always worked that way. I have not been able to answer that question. But in my knowledge I saw this trouble coming when I wrote to the Indian prime minister that it will be a huge investigation for they will not get what they are looking for and when they don't get these answers they will go everywhere and cause an enormous amount of damage. Which I think is happening. Q: You talked about that letter you said that you wrote and after that CBI and ED were after you. Why do you think so? A: I can imagine that it did annoy the prime minister. Because no one likes to be second guessed. I just had an intuition that the information I was giving, I could see where this thing was going to go. I wanted to warn him that he is going to launch an attack that will fail and cost everybody's time and cause enormous amount of damage: to India and to innocent people, which is happening. Q: There were some notes written by Haschke which were part of the Milan court judgment. There are some initials, AP, Signora Gandhi and there were some amount: and you asked Haschke to write them. What does those abbreviations stand for? A: This note is part of the problem with the Italian judicial system and the problem with Mr Guido Haschke. I have never been questioned directly about that so called budget sheet. The first time I saw that budget sheet was when I was privileged to receive an arrest warrant, which included it. That is fine because I could understand what I was being arrested for by the Italian authorities. And when I saw that budget sheet I realised then the documents I received with the warrant that it stated Mr Haschke has claimed that he has written it because I could not write. He says that and said I will leave these documents with you and since I am incapable of writing and so he is writing these for me. The next document I see is a document allegedly of a share agreement between Mr Haschke and I on how we are going to split the 40 odd million and he claims that: in this document I am writing in perfect joined up handwriting which I cannot do, I have never done. With that information I went to a calligrapher, the best calligrapher in the court of Milan, who confirmed that document does not contain my handwriting. The other problem we have with the budget sheet is that three people who Haschke claimed were present, two of them have never seen it before and has given affidavits to say that this was a forgery. The budget sheet also claims it covers the entire procurement structure of the Indian government, where all are in somebody's pay. It is impossible. Haschke left that in his bag in case he was raided and he could cause as much trouble. And Haschke was from day one was an enemy of mine and I was the perfect choice. He asked me money to pay Finmeccanica executives and I refused. I criticised his software business and so he decided I had to go and if he was going to be raided and it looked like a raid would happen, he put that sheet to make this mess. And that is exactly what he has done. I do not believe anything on that budget sheet. When he was questioned by the Swiss prosecutor what does 'AP' means he said it means Alliance Progressive: an Italian political party. He did not say it means anyone else. So this is a mess created with reason, malicious reason and it worked perfectly. And we all know what happened to poor Mr Advani when they raided a hawala dealer and found his name on a list. It ruined his life for no reason and the man was innocent. This is what is happening again. Q: What could be the intention of the conspiracy you are talking about? A: First of all on Haschke, I refused to pay directors of Finmeccanica so I was marked, and I refused to cooperate with them in any way. Even if they ask me for reports I never gave it. It was only given to those who deserve to or are authorised to receive them and I never cooperated with them so I was definitely one of the people that had to go. Orsi was appointed to stop a lot of corruption. I was believed to be a good friend of Orsi, which I am, and because of that we were targeted. These documents were left in a bag to make sure that we could not survive, which is done very well. The purpose was malicious and to spread disinformation to avoid going to where the real problem lies. That is in Italy, where I believe most of the money will be found. Q: You earlier hinted about going back to Italy. What do you mean by going back to Italy? Who were the people pumping that money to India and sending back to Italy? To whom? A: Haschke in court has admitted to paying a number of Finmeccanica directors. But he does not admit to paying anyone very senior inside Finmeccanica. The people who have the authority to sign off his contracts, with many Finmeccanica companies are not the ones he is naming having received from him. So he has given part of the story. And in return for giving part of the story he has been able to do a plea bargain and continue with his life fairly normally, although he is a key figure. He is not being attacked, there is no extradition process going on against him in Switzerland or Italy that I am aware of or that he is aware of. He has disappeared he did not attend a court hearing when I am suing him in a court of Switzerland on the 4th of April that my lawyers attended. We could not find him. The man has disappeared and he has disappeared because it has been going wrong. This is wrong...they are going after wrong people this is Italian problem.. Italy wants to hide this internal problem of Finmeccanica and they have problems with the marines.. Q Why don't you cooperate with the investigating agencies? A. I would like to cooperate with Italians.. they should invest more.. which am unable to travel to Italy.. give my documents to prove that the budget is false...to prove that the agreement is a forgery.. I was stopped from going there.. I was not allowed to present the documents.. I like to do .. I have faith in Indian judicial system.. some of the remarkable brains involved there.. I am scared of that India can't give me immunity.. I am not a diplomat.. what we could is to work out a video link system.. where it could be interviews from Indian embassy in Dubai.. is been done before as in the case of David Headley.. far greater criminal, not that I aspire to be one. That system will work, at least I have an opportunity to defend myself and give Indian authorities the documents they need..from my hands.. which will help them in the investigation.. and if they find any corruption and the money went back to Italy . They can be compensated.. those who are responsible will be punished.. and no pre bargain will save them.. Q: Being part of Agusta deal, do you think that SP Tyagi and Tyagi brothers might have taken money and distributed to their masters A: I think and it's my personal opinion that they got enough money to look like they are part of a bigger picture.. that is what Haschke wanted to create to get into the deal and make the money he made. I think they were a front, or a cover, on a much bigger activity. Until we get into Mauritius and [Gautam] Khaitan, we will never know. Q: What's Gautam Khaitan's role? A: He is clearly the brains. He set up the structure, he opened the bank accounts. He was responsible for moving the money. So he knows what went on. He must know. Q: So is he the person who can spill the beans? A: I think he has a great deal of information because in the phone taps, which went on between Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, they say that at all cost we must protect Gautam Khaitan. His name must not come in. I will leave you with these documents. That stood out more than any other phone taps - the fear of Khaitan being named. Q: Do you think any of the Indian leaders might have been instrumental in cracking this deal? A: I think the Indian leaders did their job. To say that a man like Vajpayee, or Dr Mohan Singh (sic) or Saint Antony (sic) is involved is ridiculous. No one would believe that, those who know of these people and reads newspapers. It's impossible, they would not do that. You need to look at a level below that. For what I know those people on the budget sheet, it's a fast to say that they were all involved. It's too perfect. Q: One Christian Spliid is a common figure. She was in Delhi when the deal was signed. The three of you - Gerosa, Haschke and you - were instrumental in getting those specifications changed. A: First of all, I was not involved when the specifications were changed. That must be impossible. Secondly, she is a very nice young lady who happened to be at that time going out with a friend of mine. I am pretty sure she never met Haschke or Carlo Gerosa. I know she never met the Tyagis, because she wasn't involved at all. I am afraid she is the spice added to the story to make it look good. She has nothing to do with any of this. It's a shame to bring in a nice young lady into this. She didn't have any special relationship with me whatsoever. She is not that kind of a businesswoman at all. She was a very close friend of my business partner in the glass business. I had many businesses. She happened to be a good friend of my partner. That is it. Q. You said that the money being routed through Mauritius to Tunisia, and some offshore companies. Are you involved in any of these companies? A: Nope, not one of them. All my companies as of 2002 were either London or Dubai. There are being audited. The auditors who came here signed many undertakings and they returned to UK and Italy completely convinced that there were no bizarre structure, illegality or payments or whatsoever, which came out in the report and mentioned in the first judgment. Q: You are giving clean chit to yourself. Your father Wolfgang Max Richard Michel has been active in the aerospace industry since the 80s and 90s in India. He was very close to Congress leaders in India. When he passed away, he passed on his business empire to you. A: No, that's not correct. He certainly was a great businessman doing business all over the world and big business all the world, had many great contacts. Many times, the Indian high commission in London would ask him for help: legitimately as they would do to any of their friends. He was asked once to put the Indian government in contact with the Libyan government, which he did. He was asked to set up trade relations of India to Saudi Arabia which he did through his contacts: it didn't matter which government was in power: if he was asked for support from the HC, he would do that: he loved India: he ran a company in 70s which was India's largest jute and leather goods exporter. So we have a very long history with India. Unfortunately, he and I didn't get on very well. In the last 10 years of his life, we were in court together. I was disinherited. It's not his fault, it's not my fault, it's just never got on. So he never handed me his empire. He never introduced me to his contacts, because our relationship wasn't good enough to facilitate that. Q: You mean to say that father and son relations were not good enough? A: It was very poor. We were suing each other for the last 10 years of his life. We were in court, fighting. We were not friends I am afraid. Q: What was that you were fighting for? A: He was a very powerful man physically and mentally and he wanted to control everything and especially when I got married, it was impossible to have a normal married life and being in relation with him: because he insisted 24 hours attention and: I am afraid our relationship broke some 20 odd years ago. Q: So which leaders he was in relations with, Congress or whatever. A: To best of my knowledge, he did have an ability to meet everybody. I mean I know he knew Gaddafi. He knew king of Saudi Arabia: he knew Tony Blair: he moved in very high circles: so I am quite sure he met everybody: which is why I find it very sad that Dr Subramanian Swamy is attacking me because I know he was counted as one of his dear friends which is unfortunate and which is something I would like to come on (voice not clear): what the honorable member said about some of the contractual points in the contract. Q: Can you elaborate on this friendship? Were they friends - Subramanian Swamy and your father? A: What I know: these two men have great intellectual capability. And from what I know about my father and what I see of the honorable doctor, they would have got on very well. My father met him many times. I know that, in government and in opposition: and considered him one of the great intellects of the world. And he told everybody so, in many dinner parties. That is as much as I know. Q: And did you see his parliamentary debates - how he thrashed the opposition parties on this VVIP chopper deal? A: I have been in aviation for most of my life. So it's easy for me to criticise statements when somebody who is not in this business can do. In his field, he is, no doubt, the best. In aviation, he has been misled. He makes statement about cabin height. He got that information from the CAG report which is floored. I went on this website this morning and printed out Sikorsky's leaflet on their aircraft. The cabin height is six feet which is 1.82388 m. So its compliant. The other aircraft competing was MI17 which India has hundreds, where the cabin height is 1.8 m and so I printed that off and of course 101, that is 1.8 m. So the cabin height is totally wrong . He mentioned shoulder-fired missiles and you need to fly at 6000 m. In session, most of the landing places are 2,000-3,000 m high and when coming to land, you won't get 3,000 m because its 6,000 m from sea level: not 6,000 m from the ground whatever you are on: so you are never going be above shoulder fired missile: it's impossible when you are in the northeast: so that again was wrong. They said they didn't fly the 101. They need to check with the company but they should ask the company and am sure the company will prove, the company demonstrated 101. Absolutely certain of it. There are many issues like that. Q: But demonstration was not done in India: that was done in Italy. Why was that? A: Yes. Well, a helicopter is not an aircraft. You cannot fly a helicopter thousands and thousands of miles, it is extremely expensive, very difficult to do, and takes a lot of time: both Sikorsky and AgustaWestland , suggested it would be better, because with equipment inside, we will do a far more expansive trial in their facilities and it is a recommendation for both companies and that was agreed by the ministry: - this would be a better way of doing that: because you have already the equipments to do trial there: more equipments than to do the trial in India: so it was perfectly normal: if you are going to test an aircraft, say Rafale, it flew to India, it's 10 hours, simple. It takes days and days to fly a helicopter there. They fly very slowly. Q: You were talking about Mr. Subramanian Swamy's charges in the Parliament. A: Yes, so a very wise and an honorable member of the Indian Parliament said all of these documents need to be validated. The budget sheets need to be validated. The share split need to be validated. The cabin height needs to be validated. The change in altitude needs to be validated. I have a letter, I will give it to you. In 2004, AgustaWestland wrote to the Vajpayee government saying we are going to achieve 6,000 m with a minor modification. The Vajpayee government didn't write back because they didn't need 6,000 m. They decided it needs to be an open tender with more than one aircraft. At 6,000 m, there is only one aircraft in the world that could do it - the French Super Puma - known as the Eurocopter. So validations, needs to be validated. Q: So you mean to say Mr Subramanian Swamy lied in Parliament and he has authenticated papers. A: He hasn't lied. He has authenticated what he was given in the CAG report. The CAG report was prepared in great hurry, as all of this deal was blowing up, and there again, they are not aviation experts, they are bureaucrats, they were asked to put together a document that was way beyond their expertise, so he was misled by his own documentation: and it's an unfortunate situation, but anyone in the aviation industry, when he held this speech, were shaking their heads. Q: So, a little about your properties - you were doing business in India. You were a frequent visitor to India. When was the last time you went there and what happens to your properties? A: Yes, I left quickly because my dear friend Mr Orsi was arrested and I was shocked and horrified and came back straight to UK to meet the chairman of AgustaWestland UK to find out what all this had happened, because I couldn't see Mr. Orsi, he was in jail: I couldn't see the chairman of AgustaWestland, he was in jail: and so the next high ranking person in UK, I went to see him to ask what is going on: I was absolutely shocked: it was all over the news, 24/7. Q: And what happened to Narayan Bahadur, do you know him? A: Yes, I do, he is my driver. He is my dear friend. He is my retainer. I hope and have full intention to keep him with me for the rest of my life. Q: So, the Enforcement Directorate found out that he is still getting wired money. He used to get money in earlier instances too. A: I got to look after him. He has been with me for years and years. I hope to have him in Dubai one day. He is my driver and my good friend and I will not desert him. Q: Was that money for him or to be distributed to.. A: Of course, it is for him: what's he going to do. He has got to live poor chap. I will have to get him to Dubai and look after him. His children are my children. You know how it is with retainers. They are loyal and decent people. I should not leave him. Q: Who are the leaders in India you know, and knowing means you have met? A: I try and avoid meeting leaders, because my expertise is implementation, and I am very well paid for doing that, and I think I am quite good at it. That sort of business, if I can avoid, I do. So, under the last 10 years of the Congress government, there was no point. They were not interfering in business. They were letting business go forward: certainly: India is voice not clear so there was no need for meetings: and I seriously believe the Modi government is the same the honourable government that doesn't interfere in the decision making process. So there was no need to meet these people. Q: Have you ever met Sonia Gandhi? A: No, never. Q: AK Antony? A: No. Q: Dr Manmohan Singh? A: No. Q: Any of other leaders? A: No. Q: SP Tyagi? A: Probably met SP Tyagi at Gymkhana club. I shook his hands there. Q: What was your chat with SP Tyagi? A: Because of his association with Haschke, I really avoided him. Q: You have a lot of anger against him? A: Probably I do. When suddenly you find a warrant against you in Italy and your lawyer flies down to you with a 100 page document, and see that the basis of these documents are forged documents and lies, you take it personally. Q: According to you there is no invisible hand in India who got kickbacks. A: Not that I have discovered yet, but I want to get back into Mauritus. Once I am in there, I will answer your question. Q: And that your second point - money was the whole controversy for the kickbacks - it started from Italy and money went back to Italy. A: Yes, I am quite sure large percentage of that get back to Italy or it still sitting back to in Haschke's control because may be they stopped their activities as everything was blowing up. But he admitted already that a proportion of it went back to Italy..It is a matter of court record...so we got the truth...we want the whole truth. Q: So do you want to say that..you got only around 6 million Euros? A: That is the money connected to that deal. Q: No money was paid to you by AgustaWestland other than that? A: On VVIP that's it..I do many other things for them - storage, management, recovery of aircraft. Q: For AgustaWestland? A: Yes. Q: So, can you tell us the total amount, when you took over - what was the money paid to you for all your services? A: I started 30 years ago with AgustaWestland. Q: No after 2006. A: For VVIPs it is simply that. That's money I received for the implementation of AgustaWestland deal..that's it, there was nothing else. They paid me for the other things. Q: You are also accused to have bribed journalists to write articles to get these deal through? A: I did have the journalists under control [laughs] and I wouldn't be berated by all the journalists at the moment..no, no, Indian journalists are more way independent and capable than that and I don't think I had been ever asked for money by a journalist and I have met many over the years and I have some very good friends who are journalists.. whom I am running projects with. But bribing a journalist is out of the question. I think often it's if you want to see a factory. They always take it and this is good way to promote your business, but doing something illicit - and I hope that Mr Orsi will come out and people would understand who he is - is not something he was going to allow. Q: Expensive junkets, expensive gifts? A: No. I know some journalists have a bad reputation. There may be some bad apples, but the ones I know and have the pleasure of dealing with don't do that kind of thing. They look at themselves as a temple and they want to try and maintain it. Once your reputation is flawed, they'll never read your articles again. Q: You did a very serious allegation on PM Narendra Modi meeting his Italian counterpart on the sidelines of UN? A: Yes I did. Q: Why made you make that allegation? A: Well I was in negotiation with Finmeccanica lawyers for settlement of lawsuit I had opened against them in London. The first part of the lawsuit was settled. The second part of the lawsuit we agreed a figure ..and end of September early October they suddenly announced that they didn't want to talk any more. So it was quite clear to me that they had received an instruction was from a very high level inside Finmeccanica. I asked everyone I know to find out what happened. My three best sources came back to me and said that there was a meeting in New York, where you were not discussed by name, but you were discussed in a third party sense, and it was said that any help that could be given in discovering any relation I may have with any senior member of the Gandhi family, it would help in solving the marines problem. That is the information I have. Q: MEA categorically denied it A: Well they haven't. They first said that it is quite possible a meeting took place. You have to remember the term of the meeting is called a brush-by, which is a diplomatic term I know well, which means plausible deniability, so you hold a meeting knowing full well that you will may have to deny its existence, later on because of the extreme confidential nature of the discussion. And this is what went on. This explains the behaviour of Finmeccanica, this explains why senior legal advisor was arrested, prosecuted and found guilty, why the judge came on television in the middle of parliamentary debate. This is not normal, this is clearly motivated action, all happening in uniformity. My arrest warrant was issued the day the honourable prime minister arrived in New York, Mr Modi. There is all too many coincidences. It is quite clear there was a meeting and there is nothing wrong with settling an issue. It has been a very bad issue between Europe, not only Italy and India and that is fine. But my complaint is that don't use me as a part of the currency to settle this problem. This problem will be settled in due process and that's the right way. Q: You are making very serious allegations against our prime minister, and the Italian prime minister. Why should we believe you? A: Well I think the facts speak for themselves. The nature of the meeting is deniable, that's fair enough. But the result of the meeting are very clear. I predicted in November that there would be a campaign against Mrs Gandhi and how did I know that? I am not psychic. I knew then because I knew cannot give them the information because I did not have it I knew it would blow, because when they don't get what they want they would go deeper and further deeper and people get arrested, and this is painful to me, so I was fine to head it off because if they had only spoken to me at that time I could have explained to them it was the wrong way to go. Q: Why are you running from the law? A: This I call my Amitabh Bachchan problem. It took Amitabh Bachchan 25 years to clear his name. Unlike the poor sailor stuck in Delhi no one is going to pay my salary, no embassy is going to put me up. I will have to run my own resources, I will have to run my own business. Which would be impossible because no one will want to go near me. I have a young family, how am I going to educate them, how am I going to feed them if I am stuck in India for years? The [Italian] sailors have taken years to settle. Amitabh Bachchan took 25 years. I can't do that I have a young family, I don't have that luxury. If I was alone i would go and sit there and do what it takes. But I have responsibilities. Q: Your London business has been closed down A: Yeah, many businesses have been closed down. Q: And India and UAE has an extradition treaty. Do you fear? A: Yes, I do, I have legal representation here. UAE has extradited more than 10 people, in the last two years to India. So there is quite a possibility, but I am not going to run away and hide. I will defend myself as best as I can, in every way I can. Haschke has disappeared, I have not. I am here, you found me, they can find me. I will defend myself, but the UAE government, my understanding is that they go through due process. I will be able to lay out the facts to them and hopefully this offer I am making to the Indian authorities.... I think video link is a very good idea.. I hope we can find some faster solution. Q: So have any of the investigative agencies from India approached you? A: Well I had a call from the immigration department of the Indian embassy in Dubai which asked me if I had made an application to obtain a visa to travel to India. And I was so taken aback that I said no, and they asked me if I am here, clearly they wanted to check if I am here that's fair enough. Apart from that my mother receives calls in London from people claiming to be from the Indian government, looking for me. I do not know if that is true or not but I just told her to ignore the calls which she is doing. Q: Do you have anything to add? A: Well I will leave you there, the Italian government, once the sailors are settled, it will come out if there was a meeting or not, in time all the truth will come out. And this is a time bomb which will one day blow up, who knows when that will happen. After due process with the Italian marines, I do hope they can go home and have a normal life, it was an accident. the shooting was a terrible mistake and a tragedy, not something they should be punished for, I think the families should be compensated and the marines should be sanctioned, maybe in a court martial but they do not deserve what is happening to them for an accident - that's it. Q: Michel these are the budget documents, which Haschke wrote because you could not write - what do you have to say about it? A: Well....... I have a writing disability, true but I am perfectly capable of writing a budget document like that. Q: Can you write something for us? A: Yeah (takes out his pen).... let me show you ....... let's write out my name because there is nothing complicated in that document. (Writes and hands over paper for camera......... name in caps). There you are 'Christian James Michel' I am perfectly capable of writing and I have no reason to employ Mr Haschke as a secretary. This is complete nonsense. And that was done with malicious intent. Q: As you claimed you were nowhere involved in kickbacks, but you are named middleman for the Indian investigative agencies, so do you want to imply that Haschke and Gerosa as the main middlemen? A: Yes, what Haschke has done is he has shown, using forged documents cooperation which have enabled the Italian government to imply malpractice on behalf of Orsi, a man supported by the opposition, in the government of Italy and also a way of appeasing the BJP government in India. So he serves a very good purpose, which is what I wrote to the prime minister. The arrest warrant against Haschke is nothing more than window dressing. They have no intention of going after him, because he is on their side. What they should be doing is trying to find out where he is. He has disappeared. He did not attend court hearings, when my people attended and no one is looking for him. Whereas the Indian government has written to the UK government, I know, they have called my mother, looking for me, I know, they have written here, I know that. So they are making every effort against me and none against him, because he is on their side. Q: Would not it be better if you turn approver for the government of India? With all your documents, all your versions? A: Approver - I do not like the word. What I am prepared to do is cooperate and assist them in getting to the true criminals of this case. To do that they need to also bring in Haschke and get to the bottom of this budget sheet, get him to admit it as a forgery, and ask him why he did it. He has done it to try and deflect away from what? It is what we need to investigate. it is not happening. That is the problem with this investigation. Q: Why do not you turn approver for the government of India (question repeated)? A: Right....... I would prefer the word cooperate with the government of India to try and get to the bottom of this. The simplest solution can rather have me require some sort of immunity, which I cannot get, I know. There can be a video link, the CBI can come here.... at a room in the Indian embassy and we go forward with the video link and they go through my documents and question me as much as they want....... and we find a solution that will enable us to get to the real issue in this case. They have done it with that gentleman.... Mr Headley, a mass murderer. They are willing to extend to him every cooperation, yet me they are refusing. Money is outstanding, India has a right to it and I am the route to how we get to the bottom of this story and they are not doing it. It's ridiculous how they do it for a true criminal and would not extend me this courtesy. That is my request to the Indian government. ALSO READ | Agusta Exclusive: Top 10 disclosures made by middleman Christian Michel to India Today EXCLUSIVE: Never met Sonia Gandhi, can't say there were no kickbacks, says Christian Michel WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: --- ENDS --- Right-wing Hindu Sena performed a special ritual in Jantar Mantar praying for Donald Trump's victory in the upcoming US presidential election. By India Today Web Desk: Far from the borders of the United States, where many fear the possibility of Donald Trump becoming their next president, the Republican presidential front-runner is garnering a lot of support from the right-wing Hindu Sena in India. This support came in the form of a special havan that a dozen members of the group performed in Delhi's Jantar Mantar, praying for Trump's victory in the upcoming US presidential election. Source: AP advertisement This support seems to be stemming from Trump's call "for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad". "The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group, told AP. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity." Source: AP Members of the group gathered in the park to light the ritual fire and chant mantras before the idols of Lord Shiva and Lord Hanuman, as photos of a smiling Trump sat alongside. Above them hung a banner declaring support for Trump "because he is hope for humanity against Islamic terror". Source: AP Source: AP Currently, Trump is dominating the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election. --- ENDS --- Harish Rawat is set to return as Uttarakhand Chief Minister as the Congress has won the Assembly floor test which took place yesterday. Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi told the Supreme Court today that President's Rule will be revoked from the hill state. By India Today Web Desk: Harish Rawat is set to return as Uttarakhand Chief Minister as the Congress has won the Assembly floor test which took place yesterday. Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi told the Supreme Court today that President's Rule will be revoked from the hill state. Soon after the Centre conceded its defeat, Rawat sought the Modi government's help for the development of his state. advertisement "I thank the Supreme Court and High Court for coming as adjudicator and intervening in the whole political situation. The judiciary has restored faith in democracy. We want to look ahead leaving behind the bad patch," Rawat said. "We will need active support of the Centre to move forward. Will meet PM and seek his cooperation for the state," he added. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted warning the BJP that his party will "nottolerate murder of democracy." "Hope the PM learns the lesson that people of India and institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate murder of democracy," Rahul Gandhi said. Latest developments: Rawat got the support of 33 MLAs, while BJP got 28 out of 61 votes. 9 rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified from voting by the Supreme Court. The Congress had earlier claimed support of 33 MLAs. The apex court announced the floor test result after watching a 90-minute video recording of Tuesday's Assembly proceedings presented to it in a sealed envelope. BJP's Ganesh Joshi had alleged that the Congress used muscle and money power to win the trust vote. "The Congress used money and muscle power. That is why we lost the game of numbers," Joshi said. Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had announced her party's support for the Congress in the 61-member Uttarakhand Assembly, where the BSP has two MLAs. President's Rule was lifted in the state for a few hours for the trust vote; only the legislators who vote and observers appointed by the Supreme Court were allowed in. Reactions claiming Congress' victory started pouring in just after the trust vote concluded yesterday. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi said, "It's a victory for democracy". The 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly was reduced to 61 after the Supreme Court upheld the disqualification of nine Congress rebel legislators. The state has been under President's Rule since March 27 when the Congress government was dismissed by the central government citing misgovernance. Uttarakhand trust vote has many firsts. Have a look Maya booster for Congress ahead of Uttarakhand floor test --- ENDS --- The result of the floor test will be formally declared on Wednesday but the Congress is already claiming victory. By Raju Gusain: A confidant Harish Rawat walked out of the Uttarakhand assembly on Tuesday afternoon, signalling that he won a tight trust vote, which could restore his government in the hill state. The result of the floor test , conducted under the Supreme Court's watch, will be formally declared on Wednesday. Sources say the Congress picked up 33 votes, needing 31 to prove majority after the Centre dismissed its dissidence-racked government in March to impose President's Rule in the state. advertisement The top court barred nine rebel Congressmen from voting, bringing the effective strength of the 70-member House down to 61. "I thank the people of Uttarakhand," Rawat told reporters after the test of numbers. "We are eagerly waiting for the results tomorrow when the Supreme Court will make it public. The clouds of uncertainty in Uttarakhand will finally shed." There are indications that 25 MLAs of the Congress, three Independents, two BSP members, one Uttarakhand Kranti Dal leader, one BJP rebel and a nominated member voted for the Harish Rawat government, while 27 BJP lawmakers and one Congress rebel voted against it. Rawat's position was precarious until the last minute but sources say BSP chief Mayawati gave the Congress a boost by asking two of her MLAs to back the deposed chief minister. "We have always opposed communal forces," she told the media in Delhi ahead of the floor test. "Our two MLAs will vote for the Congress." Analysts say the BSP decided to stay away from the BJP with the view that any arrangement could hurt its chances in next year's Uttar Pradesh polls. THE voting reportedly took place amid high drama with a rebel BJP legislator, Bhim Lal Arya, switching over to the Congress side while Congress MLA Rekha Arya appeared to have crossed over to the BJP. Rawat was Uttarakhand's chief minister till the Centre imposed President's Rule on March 27, arguing that his government went into a minority when the nine Congress rebels backed the BJP over the state's annual budget. The 68-year-old had lunch with his MLAs and other party leaders at a hotel after the trust vote. He then addressed party members at the Congress office where he also urged the BJP to join hands with him for Uttarakhand's development. "Democracy has won," said Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. "It is because of Supreme Court that conducting floor test was made possible in Uttarakhand. BJP tried to kill democracy." Critics have pointed to the developments in Uttarakhand as well as Arunachal Pradesh, where a rebellionhit Congress government fell recently, as being part of the BJP's "Congress mukt Bharat" agenda. While BJP member Ganesh Joshi conceded that his party had lost the vote, he accused the Congress of using "muscle and money power" to win the support of its own legislators. advertisement The pro-Congress MLAs were busy speaking to the media on the streets even as BJP leaders went into a huddle at the JSR Continental hotel near the state assembly. "The court will announce the result," state BJP chief Ajay Bhatt said. Rawat's problems have not ended with the floor test. He has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to New Delhi to answer charges that he tried to bribe the Congress rebels to return to his camp. Political observers say Rawat may dissolve the House and order fresh elections soon in a bid to get the voters' sympathy by citing the BJP-led Centre's move to oust him. The oust chief minister Harish Rawat had got a shot in the arm on Monday after the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by rebel Congress legislators seeking a stay on their disqualification. Also read: Uttarakhand floor test over, Congress claims it has won Uttarakhand trust vote had many firsts. Have a look --- ENDS --- BJP president Amit Shah took bath with Dalit seers and later had food with them, and there was a plan of taking out a procession of Dalits from Valmik Dham to Ramghat but was later dropped due to growing displeasure among the Sadhu community. By Brijesh Pandey: It was a holy dip planned in a meticulous fashion for BJP president Amit Shah. Occasion was Sihansth Kumbh, programme was named Samrasta snan (Social harmony bath) and aim was 2017 Uttar Pradesh election. BJP president Amit Shah took bath with Dalit seers and later had food with them. There was a plan of taking out a procession of Dalits from Valmik Dham to Ramghat but was later dropped due to growing displeasure among the Sadhu community but the intent of the BJP through this snan was more than clear. advertisement Due to growing criticism, the BJP tried to downplay the Dalit angle of this snan. According to Vinay Sahastrabuddhi, "This is being done for the social harmony. To relate it to politics will be wrong. Dalit community has experienced untouchablity at every step of their life and that is why this programme has been organised. It has nothing to do with elections." But the real intent of this snan was too glaring to be ignored. It all started at the poll which the BJP would like to forget in a hurry - Bihar election - where RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comment against reservation literally rocked the boat of the BJP. Both the RSS and the BJP went on an overdrive to contain the damage by wooing Dalits like never before. Though Bihar election was singed, the party and RSS have been very carefully trying to weave a caste coalition with Dalit as centerpiece of it. The party knows the importance of Dalits in the all important election of Uttar Pradesh in 2017. So serious was the blow-back and its imminent danger in UP that RSS had announced a Dalit outreach programme, marking the 100 birth anniversary of RSS cheif late Madhukar Dattatreya Deoras. In the outreach programme, they were asked to adopt a Dalit family and eat with Dalits. RSS thought that by doing this by the time elections would happen in UP, they would have made a big dent in the Dalit votebank. This is the reason why the appropriation of the legacy of Ambedkar is being done in a staggering scale. The winds of change and plan was also visible at the birth centenary of Balasaheb Deoras in Nagaur, Rajasthan where the portraits of Babasaheb Ambedkar adorned every single possible venue. But post Bihar debacle, the BJP also suffered a massive dent in its Dalit overture, when Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student, committed suicide and Akhil Bharti Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) was blamed for it and a case for abetment to suicide was registered against Union minster Bandaru Dattatreya. Within no time, the entire Dalit discourse was turned against the BJP. What riled these Dalit students and other intellectuals was the fact that from Smriti Irani to others ministers, there was a concerted effort to play down Rohith's "Dalit" identity. Highly placed sources within the Sangh and BJP admit that there is a simmering anger within the Dalit community over what they call duplicity of the BJP. The BJP is well aware of it and that is why it is not leaving any chance to woo Dalits in their fold. advertisement When on April 5, 2016 PM Narendra Modi went to Noida to announce Stand up India schemes and also to distribute e-rickshaws, there were 17 party MPs elected from seats reserved for scheduled castes. The message was more than clear. What is driving both the RSS and the BJP is the worry that the image makeover, which they are so assiduously seeking, is eluding them. Post Bihar and Rohit Vemula, the party chief and RSS senior leaders had met at Nagaur at the start of 2016 and given a final shape to its plan of wooing Dalit into their fold. With aggressive appropriation of Ambedkar's legacy, the party has also put its cadre and pracharaks for Dalit outreach with a series of programmes. In a carefully thought out plan, they have also handed over the reins of the party to an OBC, Keshav Prashad Maurya. advertisement The effort of the party will peak on May 14, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also go to Ujjain for snan. The battle for appropriating Dalit vote bank is full on. --- ENDS --- Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R K Dhowan was the chief guest of the ceremony held at Goa's INS Hansa base in Vasco to bid adieu to Sea Harriers after their 33 years of service to the nation. The Sea Harriers displayed a vertical landing formation at INS Hansa during the de-induction event today. "It's a distinct honour and proud privilege to induct multi-role supersonic MiG 29K in the 300 squadron. It marks the induction of multi-role supersonic technology in Indian Navy," Admiral Dhowan said addressing the gathering. Admiral Dhowan hailed all the pilots who flew Sea Harriers, which was considered as one of the most difficult aircraft to fly. "Today is also the day to salute the pilots who flew Sea Harrier aircraft which made a mark for itself by protecting our seas," he added. Sea Harriers were inducted in the Indian Navy following phasing out of then obsolete Seahawks. In September 1980, the Sea Harrier Project (SHARP) was formed with select naval aviators and technical personnel for coordination of trials, testing, acceptance and training. The first newly-built Sea Harrier for the Indian Navy (IN 601) was ready on December 21, 1982, the Navy said in a statement issued in Panaji. The first three Sea Harriers flying via Malta, Luxor and Dubai, led by Lt Cdr Arun Prakash VrC, landed at Dabolim on December 16, 1983. This was followed by the first deck landing on the carrier, INS Vikrant, on December 20, 1983, and the arrival of the first Sea Harrier T Mk 60 trainer, on March 29, 1984. An inspection at the showcase Delhi zoo forced authorities to do a double take after it emerged that not 16 but 33 chitals had died mysteriously over the past three months. Around 16 deer had died in the zoo after they contracted rabies. By Mail Today: An inspection at the showcase Delhi zoo on Tuesday, triggered by a Mail Today report about a spate of deer deaths, forced authorities to do a double take after it emerged that not 16 but 33 chitals had died mysteriously over the past three months. A three-member team of the Central Zoo Authority (CZA), a regulatory body for zoos under the government of India, as well as representatives of the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) separately visited the park to investigate the matter and found several lapses by zoo officials. advertisement The zoo's veterinary department told Mail Today on Monday that 16 spotted deer died after a suspected outbreak of rabies, with 13 samples testing positive. However, on checking the records the reviewers found that the death toll was actually more than double the quoted figure. "Records and postmortem reports of deer were examined after which it was found that 33 deer died. The situation is alarming," said a senior officer. The issue has drawn outrage from animal rights activists who say something is wrong at the zoo that houses over a thousand animals, reptiles and birds. It was in the news two years ago when a young man was mauled to death by a white tiger after he jumped into the large cat's enclosure. But the zoo officials are trying to play down the number of deer deaths, which the CZA has already termed an "epidemic". A source confirmed the death toll to Mail Today but zoo officials remained tight-lipped. The inspection team found that zoo authorities were lax in dealing with the crisis and failed to act in time. "Despite the spread of epidemic, which resulted in the deaths of 33 deer, the zoo's health advisory committee did not act and no meeting was held. The panel is supposed to meet every few months but no meeting has been held in two years," a senior official said. Also, the zoo officials brought in two Himalayan black deer from Gopalpur in Himachal Pradesh last week, flouting CZA rules. "The CZA guideline clearly mentions that no animal should be transported during the summer. Despite this zoo officials transported high-altitude Himalayan black deer from Himachal. This is clearly in violation of government rules," the official added. The move came at the time of when Delhi is reeling under scorching heat, forcing authorities to shut down schools. Zoo officials are also facing criticism for sending just two veterinary officials to transport the animals. Sources say the suspected rabies outbreak surfaced on February 14 after drain water swamped the deer enclosure. When two of the animals died, officials assumed they drank contaminated water. But soon other deer started falling ill, with at least one of them frothing at the mouth. advertisement Samples of dead animal were sent to IVRI which confirmed death due to rabies virus. Zoo authorities have started vaccinating other animals, though the CZA indicates they failed to act promptly. Officials suspect the chital died of rabies triggered by mongoose bites but have found little evidence so far. The zoo has around 120 spotted deer. Following the deaths, 20 have been vaccinated and separated from the herd. The inspecting team also pointed out that the process adopted for vaccination is timeconsuming. "Animals are being vaccinated in a group of 5-6 and kept in separate areas so that the complete herd is treated. So far, close to 20 deer have been vaccinated. The process of vaccination of a group of animals takes 14 days in which three doses of vaccine is given. If they continue to go at same pace then it will take a year to vaccinate over 100 deer at the zoo," an official said. Along with animals, zookeepers are also being vaccinated. All workers are wearing gloves and boots before entering the enclosure. Also read: 16 spotted deer die at Delhi zoo, authorities concerned --- ENDS --- advertisement By India Today Web Desk: Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Umesh Yadav has defended himself for not bowling yorkers consistently, saying he is more suited for full length outswing deliveries. (Full IPL Coverage) Yadav, who has picked up 10 wickets in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League, said he was not too confident of bowling yorkers. "I know a lot of bowlers are judged by their ability to bowl yorkers at the death. I can also bowl yorkers effectively but it is a delivery that can go wrong as it is difficult to bowl consistently," Yadav told PTI. advertisement Big need for speed "There would be days when the length would be wrong. The advantage for Jasprit (Bumrah) is that his action is natural when it comes to bowling yorkers while my action means that my stock ball will be outswinger," he said. Yadav, over the years, has always said he would not compromise on pace for line and length as speed is one area which is non-negotiable for him. "It has taken years of hard work to work up a fair level of pace at which I bowl my deliveries. It is my endeavour to get it right at this pace and if you ask me, my consistency has at least improved by 20 per cent in past one year. That's my assessment. "If I become a line and length bowler, then one thing is for sure that I will never ever gain the earlier pace back. You can increase speed but after decreasing speed, you can't get the original pace back," said Yadav, who has played 17 Tests and 57 ODIs and a T20 Internationals. 'Confident of bowling inswingers' While his stock ball is outswinger, Umesh said he is now more confident of his ability to bowl the inswingers to right-handed batsmen. "My inswinging deliveries have got better and I am more confident while executing them. But yes, I would not deny that there are times my deliveries drift down to the leg-side in my bid to bowl the incoming deliveries. "An effective inswinger is that which starts from the imaginary fifth off-stump and shapes into the off-middle region. If we start from off-middle region, the delivery invariably swings towards the leg-stump and becomes easy meat for the batsmen." With demands of three formats, Yadav feels that managing the body becomes very important especially during the IPL, where the schedule is interspersed with travelling on every second day. "During IPL, there are times that the muscle tissues tire due to frequent travelling and playing matches. The recovery for a fast bowler is very important." Average season He has played nine matches for Kolkata Knight Riders this year, taking 10 wickets but termed his season an "average one" so far. "Actually, I started well in the IPL and felt that it was going well for me till the RCB match in Bengaluru where I went for a lot of runs (56 in four overs). Actually T20 is such a format that it is impossible that you won't get hit. But hopefully, I would be at my best in the coming games," concluded the Vidarbha paceman. --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: Washington, May 10 (PTI) A Russian woman spy infiltrated ISIS ranks and before being executed passed on key information due to which many jihadists lost their lives, the terror group has claimed. An article titled "Elvira Karaeva -- Agent of the Russian Special Services" in Istok, the Islamic States Russian- language online magazine, focuses on the woman whom ISIS in the Caucasus accused of being an agent of the Russian intelligence services. advertisement Karaeva worked as a spy for four years, during which she secretly passed along information on the jihadi groups in the Caucasus, including locations and photographs of ISIS fighters, Fox News reported citing the article. The article notes that although Karaeva was questioned by ISIS "investigative authorities," she was able to convince them of her innocence. But when the terror network used a "cunning investigative maneuver," the woman confessed and was later executed by an ISIS member, according to the article. "Elvira the apostate gave information to the Russian special services about our brothers and sisters waging jihad...in the Caucasus Province," the article was quoted as saying. "She shamelessly wormed her way into confidence...and then disclosed their (jihadists) location and contacts, thus making them easy prey for the henchmen of taghut," the article states. "Because of her contemptible actions and close contacts with the FSB (Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation), many of our brothers and sisters became martyrs," it said. The woman was summoned for questioning more than once by the "investigating authorities" of the Caliphate, the article said. "But every time she invented stories, twisting the facts. In her conversation with the investigators, she often lied and distorted the true meaning of events. Although our brothers had many valid reasons to detain her, they released her every time, trusting her word," it said. The woman -- whose identity has not been confirmed by Russia -- provided the Kremlin with the location of safe houses, secret bases, and positions of ISIS members, according to the terror network. The article claims the woman was caught on an audio recording speaking about her role with the Russian intelligence services. It also said that she was married to a jihadist, named Abu Muslim, whom she killed by poisoning. The fourth issue of Istok was released May 2 by ISISs Al-Hayat Media Center and translated by MEMRIs newly-launched Russian Media Studies Project, which released excerpts of the article in English yesterday. PTI ASK AKJ ASK --- ENDS --- advertisement By PTI: From Harinder Mishra Jerusalem, May 11 (PTI) Israel today observed a two-minute silence to commemorate the 23,447 IDF soldiers and civilian terror victims killed since 1860 as the Jeweish state marked the Memorial Day with ceremonies and events across the nation. Traffic came to a standstill as motorists stopped and pedestrians suspended their walk on sideways when a siren rang out at 11 am in honour of the dead. advertisement The Memorial Day commemoratingthe terror victims since 1860 - the year when the Jewish community in the Holy land first moved outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem - began at 8 PM yesterday with the first siren sounded across Israel. Those who died in the service of the country include Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers, members of the Shin Bet internal security service, the Mossad, the Israel Police, the Prisons Service and those who died while serving in the pre-state underground militias and the Jewish Brigade in the British Army. The number of civilians who have been killed in "hostile acts" since the end of the War of Independence stands at 2,576, the National Insurance Institute said. Sixty eight Israelis have been added to the list of the fallen and 31 civilians have died as a result of terrorist attacks since the last Memorial day events last year. The number of bereaved families, including parents, widows and orphans, in Israel now number at 16,307, said the Defence Ministry. Some of those included in the official Defence Ministry count died as a result of accidents or disease while serving. Disabled veterans who later died of their injuries are also included in the count. "For over sixty-eight years we have been fighting the same war, the war for our independence," President Reuven Rivlin said at a ceremony at the Western Wall yesterday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to his brother, Yonatan, who died in the Entebbe operation in 1976, saying, "Theres no one who hasnt lost a son, brother, father, husband, friend, daughter ? theres no one who doesnt cry out why?" "I can testify that I asked exactly the same question when my brother fell. In time, I understood that this question should be asked with a slight change: What for? For what purpose? And what is the significance of the price that was paid? Our sons and daughters embarked on a divine mission to establish the State of Israel and to ensure its future," Netanyahu emphasised. A torch lighting ceremony will be held at Mount Herzl, signalling the end of Memorial Day and the beginning of the celebrations of Independence Day. advertisement More than 1.5 million Israelis are expected to visit Israels 52 military and other cemeteries today. PTI HM ABH AKJ ABH --- ENDS --- By PTI: Dehradun, May 11 (PTI) Set to return as Chief Minister after one-and-a-half months of dramatic twists and turns, Harish Rawat today said the judiciary has restored the faith of people in democracy in Uttarakhand even as he pledged to start afresh forgetting the "bad patch" to take the state forward. Rawat, who thanked Comgress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other party leader for lending support, said the state would need active support of the central government and that he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. advertisement The judiciary has restored the faith of the people in democracy, he said, stressing that the state will start a "new chapter" by forgetting the past experience. "Judiciary in a way came forward as an adjudicator of constitutional and democractic values. From the Supreme Court to the High Court, I want to thank the judiciary. With this, the trust of people in the constitutional set up has increased further," Rawat told reporters here. Observing that in the past one-and-a-half months the state suffered losses, Rawat said, "What ends well remains well. And from here, making a new start will be beneficial for the state." He said, "It will be beneficial for the state if we think all this as a bad patch or a troubled patch and forget it and think of the way forward. I want to thank the Attorney General and the central government for showing magnanimity and telling the court that they are going to withdraw Presidents rule. "We believe that after all the other sad chapters and questions (that have arisen out of this episode), the central government will come out with solutions," he said. Noting that the state needs "active support" of the central government, Rawat said that he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. He said Sonia Gandhi, Rahul initiated the save democracy campaign to give a lead to democratic forces, other political parties and the people who gave moral support. "I want to thank Mayawati for supporting us. The people who supported us are very precious for me. When I go there (to Delhi), I will also meet the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister and will tell them that the state of Uttarakhand needs your support," Rawat said. PTI TDS MPB SC --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, May 11 (PTI) CPI(M) today targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his Somalia remark regarding Kerala and said the southern state fared way better than the African nation in terms of human development index (HDI). "Somalias HDI is 0.285 (ranking: 229), Keralas is 0.712. Indias ONLY high HDI state, itd rank 104 globally. So much for the comparison," CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Twitter, without naming the Prime Minister. advertisement According to media reports, Modi had compared the infant mortality rate in Kerala with Somalia while addressing a poll rally in the state on Sunday. Modi had reportedly said unemployment rate in Kerala was three-times higher than national average, while the infant mortality rate among Scheduled tribe community from the state was worse than Somalia. PTI ENM RCJ ZMN RCJ --- ENDS --- By PTI: London, May 11 (PTI) Babies born with a low birth-weight are at an increased risk of death from infancy to adolescence, a new study led by an Indian-origin researcher has found for the first time. Researchers led by Sailesh Kotecha from Cardiff University in the UK examined official death rates in low birth-weight babies among over 12 million births in England and Wales. advertisement The research found that of the 12,355,251 live births between 1993 and 2011, there were 74,890 (0.61 per cent) deaths between birth and 18 years of age, with 57,623 (77 per cent) occurring in the first year of life and 17,267 (23 per cent) occurring between 1 and 18 years of age. Death rates were higher in babies with low birth-weight at both age groups, with death occurring 130 times more frequently in those born at a very low birth-weight (under 2,500 g) than normal birth weight in infancy. Events occurring around birth and premature births were important causes of deaths in infancy. Causes for deaths in those aged 1 and 18 years of age were more evenly distributed across causes, with conditions of the nervous system (20 per cent) and respiratory system (16 per cent) being leading causes of death in the lowest birth-weight group but cancers and external conditions (including accidents) being the primary causes of death in low birth-weight groups. "We know low birth-weight is associated with increased mortality rates in infancy; however, its association with mortality in later childhood and adolescence is less clear cut," said Kotecha. "This study is significant as it shows, for the first time, that low birth-weight is associated with increased death rates from infancy right through to adolescence," he said. The study reinforces the need to target factors known to contribute to low birth-weights to help cut deaths. "The study reaffirms the need to tackle important factors such as maternal smoking and deprivation which are well known to contribute to low birth weight," said Kotecha. "By better understanding and ameliorating influences that lead to low birth-weight, deaths in infancy and beyond could be cut," he said. The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine. PTI MHN SAR SAR --- ENDS --- By India Today Web Desk: In a sensational case, the Delhi Police today apprehended a 27-year-old man reportedly driving around in an SUV with the dead body of a woman with bullet injuries. The police say the accused, Navin, phoned the deceased's sister and told her that her sister Anjali had committed suicide and he was going to follow suit. The sister immediately alerted the police who stopped Navin in his white Ford EcoSport near Delhi University's Bonta Park and arrested him. advertisement The cops are still not sure if the accused was trying to dump her body somewhere in the city or trying to flee. Navin told the police the woman had committed suicide by shooting herself with a revolver. The weapon has been seized by the police and the accused has been sent to police remand for four days. However, cops suspect Navin killed the woman in cold blood as he wanted to get rid of any evidence of his extra-marital affair with her. A common friend had reportedly arranged the meeting of the estranged lovers on Tuesday. While Navin had told his family members that he will return home by 6 pm, Anjali had told her family she was visiting a temple with Navin. Meanwhile, the cops claim Navin has been changing his statement constantly. Sometimes, he says he got the revolver from Faizabad and sometimes from Lucknow. At one point of time he even admitted to hatching a plan to kill Anjali three days ago, but changed his statement later and claimed he was innocent. ALSO READ: Chennai not a safe haven for senior citizens --- ENDS --- Working closely with middleman Christian Michel, the key link in the chopper deal scam saga, RK Nanda allegedly received nearly Rs 19 crore from Michel. It's been more than three years since the CBI registered cases to probe kickbacks into the `3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal. By Abhishek Bhalla : RK Nanda, a Delhi-based entrepreneur who runs a travel agency, a jewellery and music CDs business, could be the man who helps CBI unravel the AgustaWestland money trail. Working closely with middleman Christian Michel, the key link in the chopper deal scam saga, Nanda allegedly received nearly Rs 19 crore from Michel. It is alleged that Nanda set up a shell company Media Exim to export jewellery and music CDs. advertisement More than three years after the CBI registered cases to probe kickbacks into the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, Nanda is now being interrogated by the CBI to get further leads to establish the quid pro quo. Dummy company Sources said Nanda's company set up in 2005 was a dummy and was used for Michel to park illegal money. On Michel's instructions, Nanda also invested some money in real estate. Four properties purchased were later sold. According to the CBI, Nanda received Rs 6.5 crore from Michel's Dubai-based company Global Services FZE between 2005 and 2007. Nanda's company Supreme Airways was used for buying air tickets for travels of Michel and his other contacts for which a payment of Rs 12 crore was made. The CBI on Tuesday questioned Nanda about the money transactions hoping to make a breakthrough in the case. Earlier, the CBI also questioned Michel's chauffer Narayan Bhadur who drove him around the power centres of the Capital. The action CBI had registered a case against former Air Force chief SP Tyagi along with 13 others, including his cousins, Bakshi, Aggarwal and European middlemen - Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Christian Michel. The allegation against SP Tyagi is that he reduced flying ceiling of the helicopter from 6,000m to 4,500m (15,000ft) which put AgustaWestland helicopters in the race for the deal without which its choppers were not even qualified for submission of bids. Tyagi has denied allegations against him and said the change of specifications, which brought AgustaWestland into contention, was a collective decision in which senior officers of Indian Air Force, SPG and other departments were involved. The CBI swung into action after an Italian court verdict in the case named Tyagi, mentioning the meetings and interactions with alleged European middlemen and officials of Finmeccanica. Tyagi has denied allegations of any corruption in the helicopter deal. SP Tyagi's three cousins, now called known as Tyagi brothers on the Agusta sacm - Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep Tyagi - are the key links in the alleged corruption chain that links the Italian company and the ex-Chief of the Indian Air Force. The CBI has grilled them recently trying to establish the money trail. advertisement They were questioned about the transfer of 3 lakh euros from the middlemen to swing the deal in AgustaWestland's favour, but they maintain these were legal consultancy fees and not kickbacks. CBI sources said advocate Gautam Khaitan, Praveen Bakshi, CEO of Aeromatrix Infosolutions and Pratap Aggarwal, Managing Director of IDS Infotech were also questioned separately. Also read: Delhi driver spoke with alleged AgustaWestland kingpin just last week AgustaWestland scam: Manohar Parrikar's 8 latest revelations --- ENDS --- By PTI: Boston, May 10 (PTI) Scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have developed a new material that can temporarily tighten skin, smooth wrinkles, and may be used to deliver drugs to treat skin conditions such as eczema. The material, a silicone-based polymer that may be applied on the skin as a thin, imperceptible coating, mimics the mechanical and elastic properties of healthy, youthful skin. advertisement In tests with human subjects, the researchers found that the material was able to reshape "eye bags" under the lower eyelids and also enhance skin hydration. This type of "second skin" could also be adapted to provide long-lasting ultraviolet protection, researchers said. "Its an invisible layer that can provide a barrier, provide cosmetic improvement, and potentially deliver a drug locally to the area thats being treated," said Daniel Anderson, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As skin ages, it becomes less firm and less elastic - problems that can be exacerbated by sun exposure. This impairs skins ability to protect against extreme temperatures, toxins, microorganisms, radiation, and injury. The researchers, including Alpesh Patel, formerly at US-based beauty company Living Proof, and Nithin Ramadurai from Olivo Laboratories, set out to develop a protective coating that could restore the properties of healthy skin, for both medical and cosmetic applications. They created a library of more than 100 possible polymers, all of which contained a chemical structure known as siloxane - a chain of alternating atoms of silicon and oxygen. These polymers can be assembled into a network arrangement known as a cross-linked polymer layer (XPL). The researchers then tested the materials in search of one that would best mimic the appearance, strength, and elasticity of healthy skin. The best-performing material has elastic properties very similar to those of skin. It easily returned to its original state after being stretched more than 250 per cent (natural skin can be elongated about 180 per cent). In laboratory tests, the novel XPLs elasticity was much better than that of two other types of wound dressings now used on skin - silicone gel sheets and polyurethane films. The researchers performed several studies in humans to test the materials safety and effectiveness. In one study, the XPL was applied to the under-eye area where "eye bags" often form as skin ages. The material applied a steady compressive force that tightened the skin, an effect that lasted for about 24 hours. In another study, the XPL was applied to forearm skin to test its elasticity. When the XPL-treated skin was distended with a suction cup, it returned to its original position faster than untreated skin. advertisement The researchers also tested the materials ability to prevent water loss from dry skin. Two hours after application, skin treated with the novel XPL suffered much less water loss than skin treated with a high-end commercial moisturiser. The research was published in the journal Nature Materials. PTI MHN SAR SAR --- ENDS --- Tejaswi also alleged the BJP is using the Gaya road rage case for political benefit by linking the same with return of 'jungle raj' as it is not able to digest the splendid victory of the grand alliance in the state. By India Today Web Desk: Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav today compared the murder of class XII student Aditya Sachdev in Gaya, allegedly at the hands of JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky Yadav, with the dreaded Pathankot terror attack. Earlier, Tejaswi had said that it is difficult to stop road rage incidents. BJP eyes political gains The young leader also alleged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using the Gaya road rage case for political benefit by linking the same with return of 'jungle raj' as it is not able to digest the splendid victory of the grand alliance in the state. advertisement "There are many such cases taking place in the national capital. Is there a 'jungle raj' here? This is all being done to gain political mileage since the people of Bihar have given their mandate to the 'mahagathbandhan'," Tejaswi told reporters in Patna. ALSO READ: Rocky Yadav arrested, legislator mother suspended Bihar govt not protecting Rocky Launching a scathing attack on critics of the Nitish Kumar-led government, the younger son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said, "If a relative of any accused is member of a party (it) does not mean that the lawbreaker enjoys protection of the power. The law is doing its work and you see within two days the accused has been arrested". Referring to violence during the quota agitation in BJP-ruled Gujarat and Haryana, Tejaswi alleged the BJP has never initiated decisive action against the perpetrators responsible for violence in the two states. Tejaswi had dismissed allegations that since Rocky's parents were members of the ruling alliance in Bihar that the govt was protecting him. Accused of killing a 19-year-old youth for overtaking his vehicle in the Gaya district, Rakesh Ranjan Yadav aka Rocky Yadav was arrested from his hideout by the Bihar Police on Tuesday. The Janatal Dal (United) has suspended its MLC Manorama Devi, mother of Rocky Yadav, for 6 years. Rocky was picked up from a place near his father Bindeshwari Yadav's hot mixture plant and dairy farm at Mastpura village under Bodh Gaya police station, three days after he allegedly shot dead Aditya Kumar Sachdeva, a Class XII student. Rocky has been sent to 14-day judicial custody. --- ENDS --- An analysis by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) revealed on Tuesday that any gains from Odd-Even scheme in terms of air quality levels were entirely eclipsed by "other sources of pollution". Scientists, however, point out that a lot of other factors added to the high pollution levels during odd-even phase II that was implemented from April 15-30. By Baishali Adak: Several factors - including the summer heat, industrial pollution and crop burning in NCR - failed odd-even phase II in Delhi. An analysis by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) revealed on Tuesday that any gains from the road rationing scheme in terms of air quality levels were entirely eclipsed by "other sources of pollution". In comparison with odd-even phase I, road congestion and speed benefits were also undermined. advertisement The scientific modelling by TERI threw up surprises like pollutants - Particulate Matter (PM 2.5, Particulate 10 and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) - shooting up by wider margins during 'odd-even days versus non-odd-even periods'. The TERI report said PM2.5 rose by 39 per cent, PM 10 by 26 per cent and Nox (Mononitrogen oxides NO and NO2: nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide) by 25 per cent. With regards to road traffic gains in the second phase that took place from April 15 to April 30, car volume went down only by 17 per cent in phase II in contrast with 21 per cent in odd-even phase I. Also, car speeds increased by only 13 per cent as opposed to 17 per cent in odd-even phase I. However, TERI highlighted that if the odd-even scheme had not been applied between April 15 and April 30 - taking off a sizeable number of cars from Delhi's roads- PM 2.5 levels could have risen further by 4 per cent in Delhi & NCR. TERI explained this by saying that vehicular sources account for 25 per cent of PM2.5 concentrations in Delhi, as per Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur's (IIT-K) Source Apportionment Report. Of these, cars alone account for 10 per cent and diesel-run cars could be held responsible for 2-3 per cent of Delhi's dirty air. Another think-tank, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), also said in its recent odd-even phase II analysis that it was indeed a success, adding however that biomass burning in neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana greatly nullified its gains. They cited NASA images for the same. Mail Today had also reported instances of mass wheat crop residue burning along the Yamuna Expressway with photographs from Momnathalpur village, Sector 150, Noida. During the odd-even phase II period, a large number of fires were also reported in Delhi, including at the city's two biggest landfills: Bhalswa and Ghazipur. Scientists at IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) have repeatedly emphasised on controlling fugitive construction and demolition dust and road dust in Delhi-NCR. A growing realty hub, the national capital region is always under construction and dust from the sites add to the air pollution. advertisement TERI scientists said that the odd-even car-rationing scheme is best applied as an emergency measure, especially during the winter season. "During the cold months, pollutants get trapped closer to the earth and solo interventions make a perceptible difference. However, during summers, temperatures go up and various factors come into play," said scientist Sumit Sharma. TERI Director General, Ajay Mathur, advocated a bouquet of measures to be applied simultaneously, such as: Congestion pricing, hiked parking charges and improved public transport to be paired with odd-even schemes to bring down pollution. He said, "If you repeat odd-even too often, people buy second cars or begin using taxis frequently." Also read: Odd-even scheme: Industries, construction work more responsible for pollution, says Centre Future of odd-even scheme hinges on reports by two panels --- ENDS --- iStock/Thinkstock(SALEM, Ore.) The Dominos employees who called 911 and helped save a customers life after realizing he hadnt ordered his almost every evening pizza in nearly two weeks were surprised Wednesday with a trip to Las Vegas and tickets to see Captain America: Civil War. Sarah Fuller and Jenny Seiber were the manager and assistant manager, respectively, on duty Saturday night at a Dominos near Salem, Oregon, when they realized their regular customer, Kirk Alexander, had not placed his online order. The pair sent a Domino's delivery driver, Tracey Hamblen, to Alexanders home. He went to Kirks house and the lights were on, the TV was going but no one was answering the door, Fuller said Wednesday on ABC's Good Morning America. He came back to the store and thats when we went ahead and decided to place the 911 call. Audio of the 911 calls shows Hamblen telling the emergency dispatcher that Alexander had not ordered pizza in 11 days. "Well, I need some help on what to do. It could be an emergency ... OK, this is Domino's Pizza and we have a customer that usually orders like every night from us. And he hasn't ordered in 11 days," Hamblen said on the call. Fuller said Alexander places a pizza order almost every evening, sometime between 11 p.m. and midnight. When police got to Alexanders home, they heard him yelling for help inside. Alexander is now being treated at a hospital. Details about his exact condition have not been released but his friends at Dominos said he is improving every day. The first day we saw him he was a little out of it, just yes and no questions, and then I went back on Monday and he was doing a lot better, Seiber said. We saw him yesterday and he had been moved to the rehabilitation center at the hospital and he was saying a little bit more. She added, Hes still really tired but he seems to be doing a lot better and making a recovery. Fuller and Seiber were told on GMA that they, as real-life superheroes, will receive tickets to see superheroes in the big screen in Captain America. They were also told for the first time that Dominos plans to fly Fuller, Seiber and Hamblen to Las Vegas for the companys next corporate rally. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. The weather department said that temperature may even touch 45 degrees Celsius in Ahmedabad and advised people to take precautionary measures to protect themselves from heatstroke. By Gopi Maniar Ghanghar : With the temperature touching 44 degrees Celsius in Ahmedabad, the weather department has issued an 'orange alert' for the city. Orange alert is issued when there is a prolonged heatwave condition. 'Green city' Gandhinagar is also reeling under intense heat as the mercury touched 43.5 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. The weather department said temperature may even touch 45 degrees Celsius in Ahmedabad and advised people to take precautionary measures to protect themselves from heatstroke. advertisement The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has been taking steps to spread awareness on ways to deal with the heat through advertisements. The corporation has also issued advisory for people appealing them to remain indoors during daytime to avoid heatstroke. The Gujarat government has also asked people to ensure that they don't get directly exposed to sunlight, wear light coloured cotton clothing, cap and use umbrella. "We appeal people to take precautionary measures to protect themselves from sunstroke. Additionally, we have put all the district hospitals on alert and have directed them to provide immediate medical assistance to the people affected by sunstroke," Gujarat Health Minister Nitin Patel said. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Karachi, May 10 (PTI) Pakistans Maritime Security Agency today arrested 10 Indian fishermen and seized two boats for allegedly fishing illegally in the countrys territorial waters. A spokesperson for the agency said that the fishermen were repeatedly warned to leave Pakistans territorial waters. "They were violating Pakistans territorial waters by fishing illegally in our area in the open sea," he said. advertisement The spokesperson added the fishermen were arrested from near Sir Creek, along the maritime border between Sindh and Gujarat. He said that police have registered cases against the Indian fishermen under the foreign and fisheries acts of the law. Pakistan and India frequently arrest fishermen as there is no clear demarcation of the maritime border in Arabian sea and these fishermen dont have boats equipped with the technology to know their precise location. Last month, Pakistan had arrested 59 Indian fishermen and seized 10 boats while earlier in February they had arrested 20 Indian fishermen. Although both countries have frequently released these fishermen from jails as goodwill gestures but according to official figures still more than 300 Indian fishermen are currently languishing in Karachi prisons. PTI AYZ SUA SUA --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Sajjad Hussain and Anisur Rahman Islamabad/Dhaka, May 11 (PTI) Pakistan and Bangladesh were today involved in war of words over the execution of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami with both sides taking sharp digs at each other. Pakistan first expressed its "deep sadness" over Nizamis execution, saying his "only sin" was upholding the Constitution and laws of Pakistan. advertisement "Pakistan is deeply saddened over the hanging of the Ameer of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Mr. Moti-ur-Rehman Nizami, for the alleged crimes committed before December, 1971," the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement. "His only sin was upholding the constitution and laws of Pakistan," the statement said. Bangladesh quickly hit back, saying the content of Pakistans statement reaffirmed Nizamis role as a "traitor" who sided with Pakistani troops against "sovereign Bangladesh" in 1971. "First of all, Islamabads statement is complete interference in Bangladeshs internal affairs, which they have been repeating systematically," Alam told PTI when asked about Pakistan foreign ministrys statement after Nizamis execution last night. He said the content of Islamabads statement now made it clear that Nizami was a "traitor" by being the chief of the infamous Al-Badr militia force in 1971 when he sided with the Pakistani troops with weapons even after "Independent Bangladeshs emergence on March 26, 1971 in line with the Proclamation of Independence of the Mujibnagar Government". "Their statement proved it again that Nizami was one of them (Pakistanis)...they could have taken him to Pakistan as a citizen if they are so worried about him," Alam said. The Pakistani statement said that "the act of suppressing the opposition by killing their leaders through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy". "The execution is also unfortunate for the people of Bangladesh who had elected Mr. Nizami as their representative in the Parliament," it said. Pakistan said that the execution was against the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, involving Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, under which the Bangladesh "decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency". Pakistani Parliament today also passed a unanimous resolution expressing "concern" and condemning Nizamis hanging. Alam accused Pakistan of "deliberate misinterpretation" of the Tripartite Agreement, saying the treaty allowed Pakistan to take back home 195 war criminals belonging to their army under a provision that they would be tried at home on their return. "Nowhere in the agreement it is mentioned that Bangladesh could not try its nationals who committed crimes against humanity siding with the Pakistan troops during the Liberation War," Alam said. advertisement Three million people were killed during the nine-month long Liberation War against Pakistan. PTI SH AR SAI ASK AKJ ASK --- ENDS --- The Congress has been blocking the Appropriation Bill as it believes that its passage would give parliamentary backing to the imposition of President's rule in the hill state. Members protest in the Rajya Sabha against the Uttarakhand Appropriation Bill on Tuesday. By Amit Agnihotri: The government expressed hope that the Finance Bill 2016-17 and the Uttarakhand Appropriation Bill would be passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday despite the Congress blocking the two legislations to protest the imposition of President's rule in the hill state. "They assured to pass the finance bill yesterday...now they have assured to pass it tomorrow," Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said after the Congress members did not let the Upper House to function. The NDA lacks numerical strength in the Rajya Sabha. advertisement The Finance Bill and the Uttarakhand Appropriation Bill have been passed by the Lok Sabha, where the NDA enjoys a brute majority. As both the bills are money bills, sources said even if they are not passed in the Upper House, they can be returned to the Lok Sabha and deemed as passed by both the Houses. Naidu said the central ordinance to provide funds to Uttarakhand under President's rule would remain alive till the legislation is passed in Parliament and any administrative decisions taken under it would also remain out of question. The Congress has been blocking the Appropriation Bill as it believes that its passage would give parliamentary backing to the imposition of President's rule in the hill state. The Congress has been opposing the President's rule saying it was imposed just a day before the Harish Rawat government was set to prove its majority in the Assembly on March 28. The Centre's invoking of Article 356 of the Constitution to dismiss the Rawat government based on its assessment that the controversial passage of the state Budget led to a constitutional crisis, has also angered the Congress, which sees it as the BJP desperation to dislodge an opposition government in the state. The Upper House was repeatedly disrupted over Uttarakhand and Agusta issues and was finally adjourned till Wednesday. Deputy chairman PJ Kurien repeatedly urged the Opposition members to let the House take up the two financial bills but the Congress did not relent. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi urged the chair to pass the two legislations with a voice vote on Wednesday if the Congress members continue with their protests. Leader of the Opposition in Upper House Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the Centre to apologise over the Uttarakhand issue. The Congress is also miffed over Prime Minister Narendra Modi naming party chief Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland scam while campaigning in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. It has also moved a privilege motion against the prime minister but it was not allowed. Also read: Uttarakhand trust vote had many firsts. Have a look Uttarakhand floor test over, Congress claims it has won --- ENDS --- advertisement By India Today Web Desk: Ranbir Kapoor doesn't seem to believe in pondering over a break-up for long. The actor parted ways with Katrina Kaif only about four months ago, and if fresh reports are to be believed, Kapoor has apparently already moved on. Ranbir is said to be dating a Delhi girl these days. ALSO READ: Ranbir Kapoor not comfortable kissing ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif? advertisement ALSO READ: Is Iulia Vantur jealous of Salman Khan's closeness to ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif? If a report in BollywoodLife is anything to go by, Ranbir Kapoor is supposedly dating a Delhi-based girl. The Tamasha actor has been going the extra mile to ensure that his current person of interest doesn't attract the prying eyes of the paparazzi. The girl, the report goes on to say, doesn't belong to the film industry and Ranbir is currently quite taken by her. While nothing really is known about Ranbir's present ladylove, seems like the actor has gotten over his break-up with Katrina pretty quickly. For the uninitiated, Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif were in a relationship for over six years. The two parted ways in January this year. As far as their professional commitments are concerned, Ranbir and Katrina are currently busy shooting for Anurag Basu's film Jagga Jasoos. --- ENDS --- Rocky was picked up from a place near his father Bindeshwari Yadav's hot mixture plant and dairy farm at Mastpura village under Bodh Gaya police station, three days after he allegedly shot dead Aditya Kumar Sachdeva. By Giridhar Jha: Accused of killing a 19-year-old youth for overtaking his vehicle in the Gaya district, Rakesh Ranjan Yadav aka Rocky Yadav was arrested from his hideout by the Bihar Police on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Janatal Dal (United) suspended its MLC Manorama Devi, mother of Rocky Yadav. The party has suspended Manorama Devi for six years, said state JD(U) president Basistha Narayan Singh. advertisement Rocky was picked up from a place near his father Bindeshwari Yadav's hot mixture plant and dairy farm at Mastpura village under Bodh Gaya police station, three days after he allegedly shot dead Aditya Kumar Sachdeva, a Class XII student. Rocky has been sent to 14-day judicial custody. Gaya's Superintendent of Police (SSP) Garima Mallik said the weapon - an Italian-made Baretta pistol - used by Rocky had also been recovered from his possession. "During interrogation, Rocky has confessed to his crime," Mallik said. She said that Rocky had obtained license of his weapon from Delhi. Additional director-general (headquarters) of Bihar Police Sunil Kumar said a police team had reached Delhi to gather details about Rocky's arms license issued from Vasant Kunj in Delhi. He also said the investigation in the case would be completed in three weeks and charge sheet against Rocky would be submitted within a month. Rocky, however, rubbished police claims and denied that he had fired from his pistol to kill Aditya. He said that he had appeared before the police on his own at the directive of his mother. "There is no question of hiding. I was in Delhi. I came here at the directive of my mother and surrendered before the SSP," he said. An unrepentant Rocky said that he would speak up only in the court. "The truth will come in the court," he said. Also read: All you need to know about Rocky Yadav's dad Bindi, known as Terror Of Gaya Bihar road rage: JDU leader's son Rocky Yadav arrested from Bodh Gaya --- ENDS --- By Naseer Ganai: Jammu and Kashmir government today accused former chief minister Omar Abdullah for disrupting the tourism business and spreading misinformation about establishment of Sainik Colony in Kashmir. PDP-led J&K government spokesman Naeem Akhtar said the government will not establish any Sainik colony in Srinagar or any other area as there is no land available. However, he said, the proposal to establish Sainik colony had come up in 2011 when Omar Abdullah was the chief minister. advertisement He said the Directorate of Sainik welfare exists in the state and it works under administrative control of Home Department of the State Government. The directorate is charged with the responsibility of looking after the matters ex-servicemen. Akhtar said for the first time the proposal to establish a Sainik colony came up in 73rd meeting of the Board chaired by Governor NN Vohra on March 1, 2011. The meeting was informed that 400 ex-servicemen had demanded a separate colony. He said in 2012 the proposal was discussed. Later, he said, on March 2, 2013 in the Board meeting held in presence of the Governor and the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Board had approved the proposal of Sainik Colony. The meeting was informed that the Board has already a case of allotment of 173 kanals of Sainik colony to the Divisional Commissioner for identification of the land, he said. Akhtar said Abdullah has acted improperly while in power and irresponsibly while in opposition. On Sunday Omar Abdullah displayed an order of the state home department proposing establishing of a Sainik Colony in Srinagar. Omar while displaying the order of Home Department, asked Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in his tweet, If you have the guts & truly believe this image is fake file a case against me in the nearest police station TODAY!!?? The order copy talks about allotment of 350 kanals (about 18 hectares) to Sainik Colony in Srinagar. The Jammu and Kashmir Home Department, headed by chief minister Mehboobhief a Mufti on April 11 had sought status of allocation of land for Saithenik Colony in Srinagar, summer capital of the state. Abdullah had said the state government's proposal to allot land in the valley for the proposed Sainik Colony could be a ruse to settle non-state subjects in Kashmir and hence bypass Article 370. --- ENDS --- The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to set up a special force under the Disaster Management Act to handle the crisis. Taking a serious note ofthe drought situation in the country, the Supreme Court today directed the Centre to implement the provisions of Disaster Management Act strictly.The top court directed the governmentto set up a special force under the Disaster Management Act to handle the crisis. "The problem is not lack of resources or capability, but the lack of will. If states follow ostrich-like attitude, it requires more proactive response from Centre. Where does the buck stop?" the Supreme Court observed. advertisement "It should be emphasized there is no loss of face or prestige or dignity in the state government declaring a drought if it is warranted," it said. Here are the developments The apex court said farmers' suicides, stress and migration factors should be taken into account while declaring drought in a state. The SC bench directed the Union Agriculture Secretary to convene an urgent meeting within a week with the Chief Secretaries of Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana over the drought crisis. The Supreme Court has pointed out that though the disaster management act required the Central government to set up a disaster relief fund which has not been set up. It asked the Central Government to set up a disaster relief force, lawyer Prashant Bhushan said. India is facing one of its worst agrarian crises with back-to-back deficient monsoon. The 2015 southwest monsoon, which irrigates over half of India's crop area, recorded a 14 per cent deficit, while the year before had a 12 per cent deficit. Drought has affected nearly a quarter of the country's population and has left an impact on over 1.5 lakh villages, Lok Sabha was told 313 districts, 1,58,205 villages and 4,44,280 dwellings in the country have been hit by drought. PIL filed by an NGO has alleged that parts of 12 states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana and Chattisgarh were hit by drought and the authorities were not providing adequate relief. --- ENDS --- Karan Singh Grover and Bipasha Basu are on their honeymoon in Maldives. And Karan recently shared a hot picture of his wife on social media. By India Today Web Desk: Karan Singh Grover and Bipasha Basu are soaking in sand and sun, miles away from India. The lovebirds are enjoying their beachside honeymoon in Maldives. ALSO READ: Newlyweds Karan Singh Grover and Bipasha Basu to head to America for an extended honeymoon? ALSO READ: It's a beachside honeymoon for Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover advertisement And going by their posts on social media, their honeymoon is absolutely dreamy. Karan, who tied the knot with Bipasha on April 30, is completely smitten by his wife. And the proof of it is a picture shared by the Alone actor with the caption, "My wife is a goddess." The 34-year-old actor posted a hot picture of wife Bipasha on a beach and called himself a lucky man to have her. My wife is a goddess! ?? I got lucky or what?!! A photo posted by karan singh grover (@iamksgofficial) on May 10, 2016 at 4:48am PDT The much-in-love couple is having a gala time in Mauritius on their week-long honeymoon. The newlyweds have no qualms in giving a sneak-peek into their "monkeymooning" on social media, and we bet their fans aren't complaining. If Karan shared a picture of Bipasha, even his lovely wife isn't far behind in posting a few photos from their honeymoon. The sweetest welcome cake?? Thank you #jumeiravittaveli A photo posted by bipashabasu (@bipashabasu) on May 9, 2016 at 1:50am PDT Cheesecake by the sea ???? Yummy in my tummy ??#maldives #jumeiravittaveli A photo posted by bipashabasu (@bipashabasu) on May 10, 2016 at 4:32am PDT Sun Sea Clouds Love ??Thank you ?? A video posted by bipashabasu (@bipashabasu) on May 8, 2016 at 9:38pm PDT A friend of the couple was quoted as telling Mumbai Mirror that since the two love beaches, Mauritius had to be their honeymoon destination. In fact, latest buzz has it that Bipasha and Karan are planning to extend their honeymoon and fly to the US and explore the country. Karan and Bipasha started dating on the sets of their 2015 film Alone and it was only in April this year that the two confirmed their relationship status and announced their wedding date through a joint statement. --- ENDS --- "Sheena Bora was killed by strangulation. I am aware about the acts connected with commission of the offence. I was a participant in the murder," Rai told the special CBI court in Mumbai investigating the case. In a fresh disclosure in the sensational Sheena Bora murder probe, prime accused Indrani Mukerjea's driver Shyamvar Rai has claimed he was present when the 24-year-old was strangled and has now decided to turn an approver in the case. 'We killed Sheena' "Sheena Bora was killed by strangulation... I am aware about the acts connected with commission of the offence. I was a participant in the murder," Rai told the special CBI court in Mumbai investigating the case. He also told the court that he was under "no pressure, threat or coercion" to reveal the facts in the case and was "repentant" for his act. advertisement "Under Section 133 of evidence act, an accomplice can turn an approver. Now, the driver's testimony and the corroborative evidence will be helpful for trial," said senior lawyer Abha Singh. The court has directed the CBI to file its reply on May 17 over Rai's plea to turn approver in the case. Rai was the first accused to be arrested in connection with the murder case in August 2015. The killing came to light after Rai was picked up in connection with an arms case and later spilled the beans. On Monday, the special court had pulled up Thane jail officials for not producing Rai before it. "I will initiate contempt proceedings," special CBI Judge HS Mahajan said while directing the officials to produce Rai on May 11. The court also directed Indrani and other accused in the case, her husband Peter Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, to be present for the hearing. Indrani Mukerjea plotted her daughter's murder Indrani, Rai and Khanna allegedly strangled Sheena, Indrani's daughter from earlier relationship, inside a car in April 2012 in a forest outside Mumbai. The crime, which came to light last August, is allegedly linked to certain financial dealings. Indrani, Rai, and Khanna were arrested in August last year and Peter in November. According to the CBI, Peter was also a part of the murder conspiracy. While Peter,59, Khanna and Rai are lodged in Arthur Road prison, Indrani, 43, is in Byculla womens' jail. Also Read: From Pari to Indrani, social butterfly to murderer mother: The story of Indrani Mukerjea and Sheena Bora Peter Mukerjea was part of conspiracy to kill Sheena Bora, says CBI chargesheet Sheena Bora murder: Crucial eyewitness account may seal Indrani's fate --- ENDS --- Environmentalists had dragged the Art Of Living to court for organising the World Culture Festival on Yamuna floodplains in March. By Baishali Adak: Art of Living (AOL) founder, Sri Sri Ravishankar, was served a notice by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday, questioning an alleged remark by him calling the green court's action against him politically motivated. The guru had been widely quoted by the media on April 22 saying the decision to penalise AOL Rs 5 crore for causing damage to the Yamuna flood plains in Delhi, was "politically motivated". advertisement AOL's mega-event, the 'World Culture Festival', was held on the western bank of the river from DND Flyover to Sarai Kale Khan from March 11-13. Environmentalists Manoj Misra and Anand Arya dragged it to court for ravaging 24.4 hectares of the river's natural marshland. A panel of scientists also concluded that "Yamuna's wetlands, reed beds and flora and fauna were disturbed". On its recommendation, the NGT first imposed an "environmental compensation" of Rs 5 cr on AOL. Later, it modified it the extent that AOL 'shall pay a sum of Rs 25 lakhs on the debut day of the event and the remaining Rs 4.75 cr in three weeks' time.' During the hearing, the NGT bench asked AOL counsel whether such a statement was indeed given by Sri Sri. AOL's advocate replied that the application was based only on media reports and no such statement was given by Sri Sri. He also said, if tomorrow, it is found by the court that the application is ill-founded or misconceived, and Sri Sri never made said such a remark on NGT, action should be taken against the applicant as well. On Tuesday, NGT accepted an application which alleged the spiritual guru had "shown gross disrespect in public domain towards NGT by calling its order politically motivated". A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notice to AOL and asked Sri Sri to file a reply by May 25, 2016, the next date of hearing. The bench said, "Let reply to this application be filed (by AOL), then we will proceed with the matter in accordance with law." The application filed by Manoj Misra said: "This is to draw the attention of this Honourable Tribunal to the gross disrespect shown in public domain by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Chairman of the Art of Living Foundation, by casting aspersions on this court and the dispensation of justice done by it. The said statement scandalises the justice delivery system." It also underlined: "This is not the first time that such a statement has been made. In fact, during the course of the proceedings, one such statement was made by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar that he would rather go to jail than pay `5 crores, meaning thereby that he would not comply with the order of this Hon'ble Tribunal. In fact, this tribunal vide order dated 11.03.2016 had taken note of this statement." advertisement The application requested the court to "Take appropriate action against Ravi Shankar (whose statement) interferes with the free and fair dispensation of justice by this tribunal." Importantly, the NGT reserved its order on AOL's plea seeking its nod to accept the remaining fine of Rs 4.75 cr as bank guarantee. Environmentalists had Also read: Award wapsi? Padma Vibhushan Sri Sri says he rejected Nobel, doesn't believe in honours --- ENDS --- By PTI: 11:30 PM IST WEDNESDAY) US working with Sri Lanka to implement UNHRC resolution:Biswal From Lalit K Jha Washington, May 11 (PTI) The United States is working with Sri Lanka to implement the steps agreed to in the resolution the two countries jointly sponsored at the UN Human Rights Council last year, a top US diplomat said today. advertisement "Our diplomatic relations are at an all-time high, and we are now working with Sri Lanka to implement the steps agreed to in the resolution we jointly sponsored at the UN Human Rights Council last year," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal told lawmakers. The bilateral relationship with Lanka has transformed over the last few years, she said and attributed it to the unity government led by a president and prime minister that are committed to reforms that can benefit all Sri Lankans. "Sri Lanka now has the opportunity to assume its rightful place as a leader in the international community, one that contributes to the global economy; promotes human rights, accountability, transitional justice, and democracy; and that helps to uphold international law. "Sri Lankas strategic position in the Indian Ocean makes it a key player in regional efforts to ensure maritime security, protect freedom of navigation, and respond to natural disasters," she said during a Congressional hearing. "Its natural ports, abundant resources and entrepreneurial people all mean enormous potential for economic growth and connectivity. With all of these factors in mind, our FY 2017 budget request of USD 39.8 million will support the governments reforms to stimulate trade and investment, improve governance and human rights, and pursue reconciliation and accountability," she said. This past month, the launch of US-Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue expanded and reinforced the cooperation in development, governance, energy, trade and security, she said. "Our approach to make Sri Lankas economy stronger is truly whole-of government," she said. The USTR hosted the US-Sri Lanka Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council Meeting at the end of April. "Through the Department of Commerce, we train Sri Lankan business leaders and government officials in best practices for their nascent tourism industry, which is on track to have a banner year. And the Treasury Department will soon embed an advisor in Sri Lankas Ministry of Finance, who will assist the ministry with public financial management reforms for the next two years," Biswal added. PTI LKJ ZH --- ENDS --- advertisement India had written to the British High Commission in Delhi seeking Mallya's deportation to India. The UK govt has now told India that it is not imperative on it to handover Vijay Mallya, despite the tycoon losing his passport, after Delhi revoked it. MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that the British says that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK. The UK authorities cite a technical reason to grant Mallya virtual asylum saying that if someone like Mallya had permission to stay in London while his passport was valid, he may be asked to remain in London. Essentially in its note verbale UK has said Mallya's passport was legal when he entered UK so revoking of passport not grounds for deportation. At the same time the UK acknowledges the seriousness of the allegations and is keen to assist Government of India. They have asked GoI to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition. The Ministry of External Affairs had earlier revoked his passport and non-bailable warrant was issued by the Special Judge in Mumbai. Mallya, who is facing arrest over allegations of defaulting bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore, had claimed that he is willing to return to India. ED is planning to freeze shares of Vijaya Mallya. Presently, Mallya is holding 21.98 per cent in Mangalore chemicals, 52.34 per cent in UB Holdings, 3.99 per cent in United Spirits, 32.45 per cent in United breweries and 17.99 per cent in Mac dowels holdings. This move will bar him from making any big deal with other companies. ED, Mumbai has not received any official communication either from MEA or UK govt - that deportation has been rejected in Mallya case. Next step in Mallya case is sending an Extradition request to UK government."The ball is now in MEA's court in terms of extradition request and speaking to UK authorities." By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, May 11 (PTI) Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis expected visit here next month, two top American senators have introduced a legislation which if passed by Congress would elevate the status of the Indo-US defence relationship on par with that of Americas closest allies like NATO and Israel. The US-India Defence Technology and Partnership Act was introduced in the Senate by Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn ? co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus ? yesterday. advertisement The legislation has been sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for necessary action. The legislation, a similar version of the bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in March, institutionalises the US governments focus on the US-India security relationship while sending a powerful signal to India that the US is a reliable and dependable defence partner. "This bill supports strengthening our bilateral relationship, particularly in defence, and bestows upon India the status it deserves as a partner in promoting security in Asia and around the world," Warner said in a statement issued by US India Business Council (USIBC) which applauded the bill. As an important partner with a flourishing economy, India has huge potential as a market for US defence manufacturers, which support millions of American jobs, he said. The bill puts India on par with America?s closest defence partners, including NATO member states and Israel, for the purpose of congressional defence sales notifications. For the US, it encourages the executive branch to designate an official to focus on US-India defence cooperation, facilitate the transfer of defence technology and maintain a special office in the Pentagon dedicated exclusively to the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). It urges the US government to enhance Indias military capabilities in the context of combined military planning, and promote co-production and co-development opportunities. For India, it encourages the government to authorise combined military planning with the US for missions of mutual interest such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, counter piracy, and maritime domain awareness. "The commercial and security imperatives for a robust defence partnership between the US and India could not be clearer. Defence trade has risen from some USD 300 million to over USD 14 billion over the last 10 years and there is every reason to expect it to rise further. USIBC strongly supports this bill and encourages widespread support in the Senate," said USIBC president Mukesh Aghi. PTI LKJ KUN --- ENDS --- The Delhi High Court today sought explanations from the Centre, Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung over the malfunctioning of Delhi Police's helpline number 100. By India Today Web Desk: The Delhi High Court today sought explanations from the Centre, Delhi government and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung over the malfunctioning of Delhi Police's helpline number 100. The court has issued notices in this regard. Delhi High Court judge Vipin Sanghi has written a letter to Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma complaining about the poor response of police's helpline number. advertisement In his letter addressed to the Delhi top cop, Justice Sanghi had narrated that when he was on his way to Vasant Kunj to attend a wedding reception on April 29, he got stuck in a huge jam for 40 minutes. Seeing no traffic police on the spot, the beleaguered judge dialled 100, but there was no response. Fed up with the negligence, Justice Sanghi even repeatedly called up Verma, but his call was not answered. While the Delhi Police says it stands up for its motto, 'With you for you always', the court wondered about the fate of the common man. It said the common man must be staring up into the sky if a judge gets staranded in traffic jam for 40 minutes. --- ENDS --- By PTI: Panaji, May 11 (PTI) Goa Lokayukta has decided to refer to the state Governor the names of all the legislators and public functionaries who fail to declare their assets and liabilities for the financial years between 2012 and 2016. Several MLAs had failed to file their statement of assets and liabilities before the state Lokayukta, which is mandatory as per law. advertisement Subsequently, the Lokayukta had on Monday issued a public notice asking the public functionaries to file their statement of assets and liabilities before June 30. "We have issued notice to all the MLAs and public functionaries to submit their assets and liabilities by June 30. If they fail to do so, we will issue a two months notice two them. And despite that if they dont furnish, we will submit their names to Governor who is the competent authority," Goas Lokayukta Justice (Retd) Prafulla Kumar Misra told PTI. "The Governor then might place the matter before the state Legislative Assembly for further action," he said. Those issued notices have been asked to furnish the statements for the financial years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. Justice Misra said the Lokayukta has no right to punish anyone under the Goa Lokayukta Act. "We can also publish the names of those who fail to submit their statement in two prominent newspapers in the state," he further said. He said as the post of Lokayukta was vacant since 2013, some people might not have filed their assets before the authority. "There was some doubt whether they require to file the statements or not when Lokayukta was not there. Now they have to file (asset details) for previous years," he said. Justice Misra was sworn in as Lokayukta on April 28, filling the post which was vacant since 2013 following the resignation of the then Lokayukta Justice (retd) K Sudarshan Reddy on personal grounds. PTI CORR GK RT RYS --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Lalit K Jha Washington, May 11 (PTI) The US today said it is looking forward to working with the newly-elected leader of the Philippines who during his election campaign had advocated extra-judicial killings to get rid of crime and drug rackets. While the official verdict is yet to come, Rodrigo Duterte, the Mayor of Davao City has emerged as the winner in all the unofficial results. advertisement "Were still awaiting the official results from officials in the Philippines. We look forward to congratulating and working with the winners of those elections on our active and close bilateral relationship," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. He said the US is prepared to commend the Philippines on its May 9 elections. By all accounts, those elections appear to have gone smoothly and enjoyed historically high levels of participation. Those are all indications of a vibrant democracy, he said. The White House, however, refused to comment on some of the controversial remarks of Duterte. "I dont have any comments about the campaign platforms or the rhetoric used by any of the individual candidates in the Filipino election. Well wait for the official results and we can comment more directly there about our ability to work with the winners of that election," he said. "Obviously, weve got an important security relationship and our efforts to coordinate with the Philippines as they provide for some maritime security that has an impact on the economy here in the United States is important," he said. Both the White House and the State Department also did not respond to questions about Duterte calling for multilateral talks to resolve some of the issues in the South China Sea. "In general, our approach to the situation in the South China Sea has been that the US is not a claimant to any of the land features in the South China Sea. But the US does believe that those that have competing claims should find a way to resolve those differences through diplomacy and through established international procedures," he said. "That continues to be our position and we certainly encourage all parties in that region of the world to pursue their differences and resolve their differences in that way. Our interest is in making sure those differences are resolved peacefully in a way that disrupt the free flow of commerce in the region," Earnest said. PTI LKJ KUN --- ENDS --- * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020. * PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018. * IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014. * Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013. * Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011. 2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100. * Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010. * Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010. * Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010. * Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll. Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008. He specified that 7500 of the units are inactive and 2000 are only partially active, adding: If we are to get these units going this year, so we need to take care of the problems of 50 units per day. Mehr News Agency reported that the loss of these industrial units is a significant contributor to Irans ongoing unemployment crisis. The statistics show that 1.3 million people who were previously employed in the country have lost their jobs, for reasons including the shutdowns and balancing of the workforce, Mehr reported in an article titled Warning bell of unemployment in 10 groups of jobs: unemployment reached high-level jobs as well! The article continued: In other words, because of shutdown of production units, drop in production, loss of market share to similar imported goods, layoffs, change in work conditions, etc., some workers are now unemployed whose jobs were previously considered quite secure, Mehr wrote. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei acknowledged in his speech on the occasion of Iranian New Year in March that 60% of production units are either closed or function below capacity. The following is the text of Amnesty Internationals Urgent Action: URGENT ACTION Iranian activist Amir Amirgholi was sentenced in early 2016 to 19 years and six months in prison following an hour-long trial on charges that stem from his peaceful activism. He is held in Evin Prison in poor conditions and is awaiting the date of his appeal hearing. Amir Amirgholi, a 33-year-old civil society activist whose legal name is Ali Amirgholi, has been sentenced to 19 years and six months in prison following an unfair trial before Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. The verdict was handed down in late January or early February 2016. He is now held in poor conditions in Section 8 of Tehrans Evin Prison. The court sentenced Amir Amirgholi, following a hearing that lasted just over an hour, to seven years and six months in prison for gathering and colluding to commit crimes against national security and disturbing the public order without clarifying the exact punishment for each charge. It also imposed seven years and six months for insulting Islamic sanctities and the Imams, three years for insulting Imam Khomeini and the Supreme Leader and 18 months for spreading propaganda against the system, including through images and materials on-line. Under Iranian law, if his sentence is upheld, he will be required to serve the lengthiest single prison term imposed on him that is seven years and six months, rather than the total sentence. The charges stem from the peaceful exercise of Amir Amirgholis human rights, such as gathering outside the UN building in Tehran in solidarity with the besieged people of Kobani in Syria and participating in gatherings at a grave site known as Khavaran to commemorate people summarily executed and buried in unmarked mass graves in 1988. The court also used as evidence against him his association with political prisoners. Amir Amirgholi has appealed the verdict and his case has been referred to an appeal court. Amir Amirgholi was arrested in December 2014 by officials from the Ministry of Intelligence in a street in Tehran. He was then held in solitary confinement in Section 209 of Tehrans Evin Prison for 56 days without access to a lawyer or his family. He was first allowed to make a brief phone call to family members over a month after his arrest. In April 2016, he went on an 18-day hunger strike in protest at the authorities disregard for regulations governing the separation of different categories of prisoners. Amnesty International understands that, due to a partially functioning pancreas, he needs regular blood tests to monitor his blood sugar levels but has been denied the care he requires. [May 10, 2016] Denali Holding Inc. Announces Offering of First Lien Notes Denali Holding Inc. (the "Company") announced today the commencement of a private offering of multiple series of First Lien Notes (the "Notes") to be issued by two of its wholly-owned subsidiaries as co-issuers (the "co-issuers"). The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the Notes as part of its financing for its previously-announced acquisition of EMC Corporation (the "Dell (News - Alert)-EMC Merger"). It is expected that the proceeds of the offering will be deposited in escrow, with such proceeds to be released to finance the consummation of the Dell-EMC (News - Alert) Merger subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions. Upon consummation of the Dell-EMC Merger, Dell International L.L.C., a wholly-owned indirect subsidiary of the Company, and EMC Corporation (News - Alert) will assume all of the co-issuers' obligations under the Notes. The Notes will be guaranteed on a joint and several basis by the Company, Denali Intermediate Inc., Dell Inc. and each of Denali Intermediate Inc.'s wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries (including EMC Corporation's wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries following consummation of the Dell-EMC Merger) that guarantees obligations under the new senior secured credit facilities that will be entered into in connection with the Dell-EMC Merger. The offering of the Notes will be made in a private transaction in reliance upon an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), in the United States only to investors who are "qualified institutional buyers," as that term is defined in Rule 144A under the Securities Act, or outside the United States pursuant to Regulation S under the Securities Act. The Notes have not been registered under the Securities Act or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction and may not be offered or sold in the United States without registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of any of the Notes in any jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Denali Holding, Inc. Disclosure Regarding Forward Looking Statements This communication contains forward-looking statements, which reflect Denali Holding Inc.'s current expectations. In some cass, you can identify these statements by such forward-looking words as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "confidence," "may," "plan," "potential," "should," "will" and "would," or similar expressions. Factors or risks that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the results we anticipate include, but are not limited to: (i) the failure to consummate or delay in consummating the proposed transaction; (ii) the risk that a condition to closing of the proposed transaction may not be satisfied or that required financing for the proposed transaction may not be available or may be delayed; (iii) the risk that a regulatory approval that may be required for the proposed transaction is delayed, is not obtained, or is obtained subject to conditions that are not anticipated; (iv) risk as to the trading price of Class V Common Stock to be issued by Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction relative to the trading price of shares of VMware, Inc. common stock; (v) the effect of the announcement of the proposed transaction on Denali Holding Inc.'s relationships with its customers, operating results and business generally; and (vi) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions. Denali Holding Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or review any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as required by law. Additional Information and Where to Find It This communication does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and otherwise in accordance with applicable law. This communication is being made in respect of the proposed business combination transaction between EMC Corporation and Denali Holding Inc. The proposed transaction will be submitted to the shareholders of EMC Corporation for their consideration. In connection with the issuance of Class V Common Stock of Denali Holding Inc. in the proposed transaction, Denali Holding Inc. has filed with the SEC (News - Alert) a Registration Statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-208524) that includes a preliminary proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed transaction, and each of Denali Holding Inc. and EMC Corporation plans to file with the SEC other documents regarding the proposed transaction. After the registration statement has been declared effective by the SEC, a definitive proxy statement/prospectus will be mailed to each EMC Corporation shareholder entitled to vote at the special meeting in connection with the proposed transaction. INVESTORS ARE URGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS AND ANY OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE TRANSACTION FILED WITH THE SEC CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY IF AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROPOSED TRANSACTION. Investors may obtain copies of the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus and all other documents filed with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction, free of charge, at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov). Investors may also obtain these documents, free of charge, from EMC Corporation's website (http://www.EMC.com) under the link "Investor Relations" and then under the tab "Financials" then "SEC Filings", from Denali Holding Inc.'s website (http://www.dell.com/futurereadydell), or by directing a request to: EMC Corporation, 176 South Street, Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 01748, Attn: Investor Relations, 866-362-6973. Participants in the Solicitation Denali Holding Inc. and certain of its directors, officers and employees may participate in the solicitation of proxies from EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction without additional compensation. Additional information regarding the persons who may, under the rules of the SEC, participate in the solicitation of EMC Corporation shareholders in connection with the proposed transaction and a description of their direct and indirect interest, by security holdings or otherwise, is set forth in the proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed transaction. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160510006846/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 11, 2016] HID Global Showcases New Solution for Carrying Mobile IDs on Citizens' Smartphones at Secure Document World 2016 HID Global, a worldwide leader in secure identity solutions, is showcasing its broad offering of citizen ID solutions at Secure Document World 2016 this week in London. As part of the company's mobility initiative, HID Global is demonstrating its recently launched HID goID platform for mobile IDs that enables driver licenses and other government IDs to be carried on smartphones. In addition, the company will highlight its new thin electronic polycarbonate datapage and innovative security features, which enhance a customer's design choices without compromising quality, security or durability. HID Global is demonstrating its solutions on stand F11 at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London, U.K., May 10 - 12, 2016. Demonstrations include: HID goID Platform for Mobile IDs: HID Global's latest innovation enables citizen IDs to be carried on smartphones that become all-in-one devices for receiving, presenting and authenticating mobile IDs - all with the highest level of privacy protection. HID goID improves the user experience and extends trust to offline mobile credential authentication, while enabling secure access to cloud-based government services. HID goID is powered by the company's proven Seos technology, which provides a safe and secure way to provision mobile IDs to smartphones, and adds trust and security to citizen IDs. Complete polycarbonate datapage offering: The company's new secure polycarbonate e-passport datapage solution is one of the thinnest available on the market. It reduces e-passport thickness, provides increased flexibility, and provides the additional room to add more security features on both sides of the datapage while complying with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards. New datapage security features include: a transparent region of the datapage for a laser-engraved photo, a customised embossed hinge pattern feature, and UV fluorescent ink on the edge of the datapage to prevent counterfeiting. The company's new secure polycarbonate e-passport datapage solution is one of the thinnest available on the market. It reduces e-passport thickness, provides increased flexibility, and provides the additional room to add more security features on both sides of the datapage while complying with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards. New datapage security features include: a transparent region of the datapage for a laser-engraved photo, a customised embossed hinge pattern feature, and UV fluorescent ink on the edge of the datapage to prevent counterfeiting. FARGO DTC5500LMX Printer: The FARGO DTC5500LMX direct-to-card printer and laminator is designed to meet the needs of medium-to-large organisations who wish to print cost-efficient yet high-quality security cards. The DTC5500LMX features HID Global's new iONTM technology, delivering the shortest and fastest pre-heat cycle in the industry at just 45 seconds. Mobile ID - navigating the new identity landscape: Rob Haslam, Vice President and Managing Director, Government ID Solutions within HID Global, will present "Secure Mobile Identity is Here." He will discuss the changes in the mobile ID space and provide insights into addressing challenges associated with mobile IDs on Thursday, May 12 from 9.05 a.m. to 9.25 a.m. at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Center. For more HID Global news, visit our Media Center, read our Industry Blog, watch our videos and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. About HID Global HID Global is the trusted source for innovative products, services, solutions, and know-how related to the creation, management, and use of secure identities for millions of customers around the world. The company's served markets include physical and logical access control, including strong authentication and credential management; card printing and personalization; visitor management systems; highly secure government and citizen ID; and identification RFID technologies used in animal ID and industry and logistics applications. The company's primary brands include ActivID, EasyLobby, FARGO, IdenTrust, LaserCard, Lumidigm, Quantum (News - Alert) Secure, and HID. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, HID Global has over 2,700 employees worldwide and operates international offices that support more than 100 countries. HID Global is an ASSA ABLOY Group brand. For more information, visit http://www.hidglobal.com. HID, the HID logo, HID goID, FARGO and Seos are trademarks or registered trademarks of HID Global or its licensors in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks, service marks, and product or service names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160510007095/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 11, 2016] EMC Fellow Radia Perlman Honored During National Inventors Hall of Fame 2016 Induction Ceremony HOPKINTON, Mass., May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Highlights: Perlman honored at 44 th Annual National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Annual National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Perlman, a member of the 2016 class of Inductees, recognized for inventing technology fundamental to the growth of the Internet EMC Fellow Radia Perlman was recently honored at the 44th Annual National Inventors Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Washington D.C. as a member of the esteemed 2016 class of Inductees. The National Inventors Hall of Fame honors individuals who have contributed great technological and scientific achievements that have helped stimulate growth for the U.S. and beyond. The criteria for induction requires candidates to hold a U.S. patent that has contributed significantly to the nation's welfare and the advancement of science and the useful arts. Perlman's Induction is to recognize the impact of the technology she invented. Her best known contribution came in 1985: the Spanning Tree Protocol, which transformed Ethernet from a technology limited to a few hundred nodes confined in a single building, into a technology that can create large networks (hundreds of thousands of nodes spread over a large area). Perlman holds over 100 patents and has received many awards, incuding Induction into the National Academy of Engineering and the Internet Hall of Fame; and lifetime achievement awards from the Association for Computing Machinery, Special Interest Group on Data Communication and the USENIX Association. "I am humbled by the recognition, and honored to be associated with an organization committed to advancing the STEM field. It's vital to inspire the innovators of today and tomorrow as they continue to shape the world's future in ways we could never imagine to the benefit of all," said Perlman. "The National Inventors Hall of Fame celebrates and memorializes distinguished innovators like Radia Perlman, whose inventions have made significant contributions to modern life," said Mike Oister, Chief Executive Officer for the National Inventors Hall of Fame. "Our organization's purpose is to assure that American ingenuity continues to thrive in the hands of coming generations. Our esteemed Inductees, like Ms. Perlman, are important role models to the more than 120,000 children who participate in our programs nationwide." "Radia is a member of an elite group of trailblazing inventors," said John Roese, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at EMC. "She is an exemplary role model for her colleagues at EMC, as well as young people considering a STEM career." As part of their continued involvement in the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Inductees help to foster the development of America's next generation of innovators by inspiring the curriculum of Camp Invention, a summer enrichment day camp that encourages innovation in youth and focuses on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics. Inductees also serve as judges for the Collegiate Inventors Competition, a national platform for showcasing the emerging ideas and technologies that will benefit our society in the future. The National Inventors Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations. About EMC EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations and deliver IT as a service. Fundamental to this transformation is cloud computing. Through innovative products and services, EMC accelerates the journey to cloud computing, helping IT departments to store, manage, protect and analyze their most valuable asset information in a more agile, trusted and cost-efficient way. Additional information about EMC can be found at www.EMC.com. About the National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame is the premier non-profit organization in America dedicated to honoring legendary inventors whose innovations and entrepreneurial endeavors have changed the world. Founded in 1973 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the National Council of Intellectual Property Law Associations, the Hall of Fame will have 532 Inductees with its 2016 Induction. The National Inventors Hall of Fame is located in the Madison Building on the campus of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, at 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Va. Admission is free. For more information on the National Inventors Hall of Fame, including Inductee nomination forms and a full listing of Inductees, please visit www.invent.org. Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgbhWUVx_ts Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160510/365894 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/emc-fellow-radia-perlman-honored-during-national-inventors-hall-of-fame-2016-induction-ceremony-300266539.html SOURCE EMC Corporation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 11, 2016] Ingenu Partners with Compal to Deliver Robust IoT Device Ecosystem Ingenu, the pioneer in delivering connectivity exclusively to machines, and Compal Electronics (TAIEX: 2324), one of the world's largest original design manufacturers of IT products, today announced a strategic partnership that will bring the next generation of Ingenu's patented RPMA (Random Phase Multiple Access) hardware to the market to meet growing demand for IoT connectivity worldwide. Ingenu has seen tremendous global demand for its RPMA technology and solutions since announcing its global licensing strategy in February, and rolling out the first cities on its U.S.-based Machine Network this spring. Compal will leverage its global scale to quickly launch a rich offering of RPMA-enabled devices serving a variety of vertical industries, including asset management, transportation and logistics. The devices will include the next-generation RPMA module: the picoNode - a full-featured RPMA-enabled module that is less than the size of a quarter, allowing for increased development within smaller form factors. Headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, Compal Electronics is recognized as a world-class organization tat has manufactured products for a variety of global consumer electronics brands. The company's annual revenues are in excess of $26 billion USD. "The global demand for RPMA solutions is skyrocketing and Compal is a key strategic partner in helping Ingenu scale quickly to meet this demand," said Ingenu CEO John Horn (News - Alert). "Having a robust ecosystem is key to the widespread adoption of RPMA technology, and with Compal's strategic partnership, we are primed as a company to quickly scale to address the device needs of the IoT market. The collaborative efforts in improving the design of our technology will offer a wider range of device options to our current and future customers." Utilizing the globally available 2.4 GHz ISM band, RPMA is fast becoming an appealing connectivity option for IoT application providers looking to deploy a solution with adequate bandwidth and global coverage, without the threat of ever-shifting network standards. "Ingenu is a very attractive technology partner for Compal's global IoT strategy," added Martin Wong, executive vice president, Compal. "The ability to leverage our manufacturing and engineering capabilities aligns well with the growth of RPMA networks and customers all over the world. The next generation of RPMA devices is sure to lead the way in the overall growth of the broader IoT market, and we're pleased to partner in that effort." About Ingenu Ingenu is building the first wireless Machine Network, the world's largest IoT network dedicated to LPWA (low-power, wide-area) connectivity for machines only. Operating on universal spectrum, the company's RPMA technology is a proven standard for connecting Internet of Things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) devices around the world, with 38 private networks deployed over seven years. The Machine Network will have further reach, global range and longer lasting battery life than any existing network. It is also future-proof - enabling technology solution providers to maximize their products' efficiency and longevity, with unparalleled control and visibility. Ingenu is led by a highly experienced team and backed by one of the strongest boards in the industry, including veterans from Verizon (News - Alert) and Qualcomm. Information about Ingenu can be found at www.ingenu.com, or follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @ingenunetworks. About Compal Electronics Founded in 1984, Compal is specialized in designing and manufacturing laptop computers, smart connected devices and TVs. Compal has been taking firm strides in the development of "5C" products (Computing, Communication, Consumer, Connecting and Cloud), with annual revenues over $26 billion USD in 2015. With an experienced management team, a staff of more than 6,600 high-quality technology professionals, sophisticated procurement capability, and efficient global operations systems, Compal is highly recognized by global top-tier OEM customers. In 2015, Compal ranked sixth of the "Best 2000 Manufacturers" in Taiwan. Guided by the corporate philosophy of "Innovation, Harmony and Transcendence," Compal aims to achieve "Enlightened Living with Green Connecting and Computing." For more information on Compal, please visit http://www.compal.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005405/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 11, 2016] Mintz Levin Represents NextGen in Dismissal of Medical Records A Federal Circuit judge presiding over a case in the Eastern District of Texas ruled that a medical records patent asserted against NextGen (News - Alert) and others is invalid because it claims only an abstract idea. U.S. Circuit Judge William Bryson granted NextGen's motion to dismiss, holding the Preservation Wellness' patent at issue covers nothing more than the basic concept of a medical records system, which he said is not patent-eligible under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice decision barring patents on computer-implemented abstract ideas. The Court stated that it was persuaded that the claims of the '271 patent are drawn to an abstract idea, and that the patent contained no addition features that would constitute a patentable inventive concept. According to the Court: In the context of a patent that is clearly drawn to an abstract idea-securely managing medical records and providing patients and physicians with differential access to those records-the use of the conventional two-way firewall program for its intended purpose to serve the function set forth in the claims does not satisfy the "inventive concept" requirement of Alice and the Federal Circuit decisions that have followed Alice. Accordingly, the Court concludes thatthe claims of the '271 patent are not drawn to patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101. p> The decision is decisive victory for NextGen, as the case was dismissed before the company had to answer the complaint. The suit claimed that the patent was infringed by NextGen's Patient Portal program, which offers patients convenient access to their medical records. Preservation Wellness has also sued other companies offering online medical records. "NextGen independently developed its Patient Portal, and is pleased to see its position vindicated" said Michael C. Newman, a Member in Mintz Levin's (News - Alert) Intellectual Property Section. "The judge issued a particularly informative and thorough opinion which should send a message that these sorts of patents will be dismissed at the pleading stage of litigation, even in Texas." The patent-in-suit is U.S. Patent Number 7,640,271. In addition to Mr. Newman, NextGen was represented by Michael Renaud, Division Head for the Intellectual Property Section and a Member of the firm's Policy Committee and Marguerite McConihe, an attorney in the IP section of the firm. For more information about Mintz Levin, please visit www.mintz.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005929/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 11, 2016] Nest Announces Open Source Implementation of Thread Nest Labs, Inc. (www.nest.com), architect of the thoughtful home, today released OpenThread, an open source implementation of the Thread networking protocol. With OpenThread, Nest is making the technology used in Nest products more broadly available to accelerate the development of products for the connected home. As more silicon providers adopt Thread, manufacturers will have the option of using a proven networking technology rather than creating their own, and consumers will have a growing selection of secure and reliable connected products to choose from. "Thread makes it possible for devices to simply, securely, and reliably connect to each other and to the cloud," said Greg Hu, Head of Nest Platform and Works with Nest. "And because Thread is an IPv6 networking protocol built on open standards, millions of existing 802.15.4 wireless devices on the market can be easily updated to run Thread. OpenThread will significantly accelerate the deployment of Thread in these devices, establishing Thread as one of the key networking technology standards for connected products in the home." Along with Nest, ARM, Atmel, a subsidiary of Microchip Technology, Dialog Semiconductor (News - Alert), Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated and Texas Instruments Incorporated are contributing to the ongoing development of OpenThread. In addition, OpenThread can run on Thread-capable radios and corresponding development kits from silicon providers like NXP Semiconductors (News - Alert) and Silicon Labs. "Nest products set the bar for how connected devices should work so it's exciting that Nest is releasing OpenThread to the open-soure community," said Jeffery Torrance, vice president, business development, Qualcomm (News - Alert) Technologies, Inc. "As a company with a longstanding history of actively supporting and contributing to open technologies, OpenThread allows us to work with other like-minded corporations and individuals to deliver a best-in-class implementation of Thread that can be widely used for the advancement of a connected and secure home." Simple, Secure, Reliable Connectivity for the Home Designed to connect products in and around the home into low-power, wireless mesh networks, Thread is backed by industry-leading companies including ARM, Big Ass Solutions, Nest Labs, NXP Semiconductors, OSRAM, Qualcomm, Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, Somfy, Tyco and Yale Security. Existing popular application protocols and IoT platforms like Nest Weave and ZigBee can run over Thread networks to deliver interoperable, end-to-end connectivity. Since opening membership in October 2014, the Thread Group has grown to more than 230 members with over 30 products submitted and awaiting Thread certification. In addition to Nest products, a number of devices -- including the OnHub, a router from Google (News - Alert) -- are shipping with Thread-ready radios. OpenThread Distribution The initial version of OpenThread is being distributed by Nest on GitHub at https://github.com/openthread/openthread. OpenThread users are welcome to submit Pull Requests. Users will also have access to sample code, the ability to file issues on GitHub, and support on Stack Overflow as well as Nest's discussion forum. A demo of OpenThread will be available at Google I/O from May 18th to May 20th in the Nest Sandbox. About Nest Nest's mission is to create a home that's thoughtful - one that takes care of itself and the people inside it. The company focuses on simple, beautiful and delightful hardware, software and services. The Nest Learning ThermostatTM and Nest Energy Services keep you comfortable and address home energy consumption. The Nest ProtectTM smoke and carbon monoxide alarm helps keep you safe and Nest Safety Rewards lets you save money through participating home insurance providers, while Nest CamTM keeps an eye on what matters most in your home. Nest products are sold in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands and are installed in more than 190 countries. The Nest Learning Thermostat has helped save approximately seven billion kWh of energy to date. Through the Works with Nest program, third-party products can securely connect with Nest devices to make homes safer, more energy efficient, and more aware. For more information, visit www.nest.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005497/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [May 11, 2016] Brandwatch Partners with Proofpoint, Conversocial, Domo, and Binary Fountain CHICAGO, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At the inaugural Brandwatch Now You Know Conference, taking place in Chicago, the social intelligence firm revealed new integrations with Proofpoint, Conversocial, Domo, and patient feedback management provider Binary Fountain, and previewed new products. New strategic partnerships To help further drive healthcare consumer engagement, the new integration gives marketing, social media, patient experience, and physician practice management professionals access to Brandwatch Analytics from within the Binary Health Analytics solution, enabling real-time patient feedback social media monitoring and alerts. Users can receive threshold alerts based on different metrics and can measure the effectiveness of social media campaigns using engagement metrics thanks to Brandwatch Premium APIs. "We aim to help healthcare providers create better patient experiences, so it made perfect sense to partner with Brandwatch, the leading social intelligence tech firm in the market," said Ramu Potarazu, CEO of Binary Fountain. "Combining Brandwatch's powerful social listening and analytics technologies with our own analytics platform can extend their reach and engagement to their patients across Twitter and Facebook to easily monitor and quickly respond to real-time activity. Turning health consumer insights into real-world opportunities will allow healthcare providers to make a difference and directly help people during their health journey." Additionally, Brandwatch has recently partnered with: Proofpoint, a social media security and compliance platform helps brands protect their online presence. Proofpoint SocialDiscover can identify, classify and monitor for the existence of any and all social accounts related to a brand. This new partnership allows users to overlay these groups into Brandwatch and better understand what they are saying overall and create monitoring and notification protocols for any activity of interest, fraudulent or otherwise. Conversocial, the leader in social customer care management, and the only vendor earning a High Performer spot in G2Crowd's 2016 Social Customer Service Software Grid. Conversocial's highly trusted social customer service solutions combined with Brandwatch social data puts the perfect right at brands' fingertips to better understand their customers, and hep them with issues and questions. Domo, making the Brandwatch Analytics app available within the Domo Appstore Partner Publishing Program. By pairing Domo's expert business intelligence platform with Brandwatch's deep social intelligence and insights, users can track business performance through social activity as a comprehensive measure of its impact on the customer. Previewing the Product Roadmap: During the conference, Brandwatch will be setting the stage for upcoming product developments, including: Instagram Channels : Brandwatch continues to constantly improve and increase data coverage for its flagship product Brandwatch Analytics, and will bring users more robust monitoring for Instagram, this June. : Brandwatch continues to constantly improve and increase data coverage for its flagship product Brandwatch Analytics, and will bring users more robust monitoring for Instagram, this June. Audiences : Launching in July, Brandwatch Audiences is a sophisticated new audience analytics product powered by the largest independent influencer database of its kind built off of PeerIndex's social influence data science. It provides marketers with easy access to different consumer segments and industries, as well as their top influencers and trending interests. This people-focused technology will allow small and large organizations to optimize their digital campaigns and communication strategies, as well as tap into the mindset of specific networks of individuals. : Launching in July, Brandwatch Audiences is a sophisticated new audience analytics product powered by the largest independent influencer database of its kind built off of PeerIndex's social influence data science. It provides marketers with easy access to different consumer segments and industries, as well as their top influencers and trending interests. This people-focused technology will allow small and large organizations to optimize their digital campaigns and communication strategies, as well as tap into the mindset of specific networks of individuals. Vizia For Developers: This September, Brandwatch's social command center platform Vizia opens up to external information systems. This new technology provides customers and partners with a simplified framework to integrate their own data and design custom scenes, creating beautiful and action-driven command centers powered by social intelligence. Bringing Social Intelligence Experts Together Brandwatch's Now You Know Conference is a two-day event at Chicago's Venue Six10, bringing together the world's foremost personalities and professionals in the world of social intelligence and social listening and analytics. Hundreds of professionals from some of the world's largest brands and agencies will engage in hands-on masterclass workshops, hear from social industry experts during keynote talks, and preview new products and features in Brandwatch's social listening and analytics platforms. "It was a phenomenal experience to share 3M's journey with industry thought leaders and progressive brands at Brandwatch's Now You Know Conference," said Amy Lamparske, Head of Global Social Media at 3M. "Our company is over 100 years old and we're having fun with real-time, modern marketing. Social analytics plays a foundational role in everything we do, and this event was a wonderful forum to connect with peers and learn from the brightest minds in social intelligence." Couldn't attend? Catch up on all of the action on our Live Blog and Twitter @Brandwatch. Join the conversation using #NYKConf. About Brandwatch Brandwatch is the world's leading social intelligence company. Brandwatch Analytics and Vizia products fuel smarter decision making around the world. The Brandwatch Analytics platform gathers millions of online conversations every day and provides users with the tools to analyze them, empowering the world's most admired brands and agencies to make insightful, data-driven business decisions. Vizia distributes visually-engaging insights to the physical places where the action happens. The Brandwatch platform, ranked highest in customer satisfaction by G2Crowd in the Winter 2016 social media monitoring report, is used by over 1,200 brands and agencies, including Cisco, Whirlpool, British Airways, Sony Music, and Dell. Brandwatch continues on its impressive business trajectory, recently named a global leader in enterprise social listening platforms by the latest reports from several independent research firms. Increasing its worldwide presence, the company has offices around the world including Brighton, New York, San Francisco, Berlin and Singapore. Brandwatch. Now You Know. www.brandwatch.com |@Brandwatch |press office |contact Contact information: Dinah Alobeid Head of PR, NA 1-917-846-2381 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130207/NY56159LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/brandwatch-partners-with-proofpoint-conversocial-domo-and-binary-fountain-300266709.html SOURCE Brandwatch [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] One of the most concerning things about buying into new technology at least when its first introduced is the question of how long it will be supported. Time and time again we have seen situations where a company folded, was acquired by another company, or just plain stopped providing support for a particular product. Some examples of products that experienced this issue include the Revolv smart home hub, Windows 7 and 8, and much more. But its not just new technology thats affected by this problem. Dated technology is included too, especially when a company is ready to upgrade its platform and doesnt want to be bogged down by dated hardware or infrastructure. It turns out, thats exactly whats going on with Verizons (News - Alert) traditional home phone service. A union that represents thousands of Verizon workers on strike claims the company is using shady tactics to force customers to upgrade to fiber-optic service, with the goal to phase out the traditional home phone technology. The group filed an informal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, in the hopes that this institutional deception will end. What Is Verizon Doing? Before workers even reach a problematic area, they are being advised to inform customers that a service upgrade is the only fix. This way, when customers report they are having trouble with their traditional home phone service, company reps are providing them no alternatives, saying that they need to upgrade to Verizons latest tech, because fiber is the only fix. Honestly, this kind of forced upgrade isnt foreign to the tech and hardware industries but the case for Verizon customers is especially frustrating. If a customer refuses to go through with the upgrade, they are then informed that their service will most likely be disconnected within 20 days. Therefore, if a customer wants to continue using their home phone, they have no choice but to make the switch to fiber. Verizon is forcibly persuading customers to switch to the new technology, whether they want to or not, lest they lose access to a service they most likely need. Company executives claim this is just a bargaining tactic and that they are not deceiving customers in any way, including those who do not wish to make the switch to fiber. The Microsoft (News - Alert) Difference To be honest, this isnt much different than what Microsoft is currently doing to legacy customers for their Windows platform. It wants to push everyone to make the upgrade to the newest OS version Windows 10 so its phasing out support for as many legacy products as possible. Recently, the company announced it was ending support for Windows 8 and older versions of Internet Explorer, the Internet browser that comes bundled as a default with all Windows installs. This is a strong-arm tactic to persuade customers to upgrade to the latest version to avoid losing security, update and feature support. Of course, the biggest difference between Verizon and Microsoft is Microsoft is not deceiving anyone with its tactics. The Level of Verizons Deceit For starters, Verizon is deceiving customers by informing them an upgrade is the only answer. This is clearly not the case, and it just doesnt want to continue supporting the traditional copper lines. Tom Maguire, the senior vice president for national operations support at Verizon, openly admitted the company creates a ghost service order to switch a customers account before a technician is even sent to their home or business. On these ghost work orders, they use a ghost icon, reminiscent of the ghost from Pac-Man, to indicate to service technicians up front it intends to force customers to make the switch. Naturally, the informal complaint the union put together cites this ghost order practice as proof Verizon is intentionally deceiving customers. The complaint claims Verizon is forcing customers to make a fast decision to either adopt fiber service or give up their service. How Long Should Companies Support Legacy Products? All of this does dredge up a good question. How long should a company continue supporting legacy products and services before they are discontinued? What is considered a reasonable period of time to offer product support before declaring a products end of life? If everyone had it their way, companies would continue supporting legacy products and services for as long as people were using them which could be forever in some cases. However, this is just not viable, especially when a company is dedicating valuable resources, time and money to keeping legacy products alive. Still, that doesnt mean they should end support as soon as possible. Its difficult to say how long products should be supported, because it depends on the technology. To this day, people still use Windows XP, despite the fact that Microsoft ended support for the OS long ago. After 12 years, Microsoft announced an end to extended support for Windows XP would occur back on April 8, 2014. Thats a long time and more than reasonable. In comparison, however, Windows Vista, 7 and 8 will not receive support nearly as long. Phasing Out Support Microsoft will phase out extended support for Windows 8 in January 2023, just 11 years after its 2012 release. One could even argue support will actually end sooner than that because mainstream support will disappear in 2018. The latter applies to: Product updates Minor bug fixes Feature additions Extended support includes major vulnerability patches and fixes to major bugs that crop up. So essentially, from 2018 to 2023, Microsoft will only support the OS if there are glaring issues that need to be taken care of. Otherwise, it will have moved on to greener pastures. But Microsofts support life is more desirable than what a lot of companies offer, especially when it deceives customers into making a switch like Verizon. The traditional copper phone lines are old, and a fiber upgrade is warranted. In this case its not necessarily about the fact that Verizon is ending support, but instead how it is going about it. Ultimately, the way Verizon is handling the entire situation shows the blatant disregard it has for its customers, and this attitude needs to stop. Its what has allowed companies like Comcast to thrive even in todays world. Edited by Stefania Viscusi CHARLESTON -- A woman who police said took part in crimes in several counties received prison time when she admitted to Coles County methamphetamine and burglary offenses. Leslie A. McLane pleaded guilty to a methamphetamine conspiracy charge that accused her of working with others to obtain methamphetamine ingredients in Coles and other counties during 2015. McLane, 33, for whom court records list a Tuscola address, entered the same plea to a charge that alleged she went to the Mattoon Walmart on July 5 of last year with plans to steal from the store. With the agreement reached in her cases, she was sentenced to four years in prison for the methamphetamine offense and 3 1/2 years in prison for the burglary, with the two sentences to run at the same time. McLane's Coles County sentence will also run concurrently with a three-year prison term she received for a Moultrie County burglary conviction and a two-year Macon County conviction, also for burglary, she received in October. In July, Mattoon police released a request for information on the whereabouts of McLane and her sister, Heather R. McLane. The announcement said they were "persons of interest" in connection with burglaries and forgeries in about a half-dozen different counties. Heather McLane, 31, whose address on record is also in Tuscola, pleaded guilty to a Coles County forgery charge in September and received a 4 1/2-year prison term. Records show she's also serving prison sentences for Moultrie County methamphetamine and burglary convictions, a Shelby County forgery conviction and for burglary convictions from two other counties. Leslie McLane was one of six people indicted in November on methamphetamine conspiracy offenses. The indictments came from what's called a statewide grand jury, which can return charges against people suspected of criminal activity that takes place in more than one county. Coles County Circuit Judge Teresa Righter sentenced McLane based on the terms of a plea agreement that prosecuting and defense attorneys recommended. Illinois Assistant Attorney General Barry Schaefer is handling the statewide grand jury cases, Coles County Assistant State's Attorney Tom Bucher prosecuted the burglary case and Assistant Public Defender Lupita Thompson represented McLane. Picture use Unless otherwise stated all photos on this site are copyrighted Jim Budd. They should not be used without authorisation and due credit. Please contact me on budmac@btinternet.com for all use. There will usually be a charge for use in commercial publications papers, magazines, websites etc. and for other commercial uses. Photos that are used for commercial use without permission will be charged double the fee for the use of photo and for breach of copyright. Commercial organisations asking to use photos for no payment may not always receive a polite response. Nebraska's new economic development director says her experience leaving the state only to return and start a family contains a lesson on keeping young workers here. Courtney Dentlinger, 40, grew up in the Norfolk area but moved to Washington, D.C., for law school in 1998 and stayed there six years. "I didn't know about the opportunities that were here," she told about 100 people who attended a Lincoln Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday at the Country Club of Lincoln. "Too often we're so humble to our detriment as a state. We really need to get the word out about what a wonderful place to live, to work, to grow a business, the state of Nebraska is." Lincoln-based Firespring is helping craft a new marketing campaign for the state that should be unveiled later this year. Dentlinger, responding to an audience question, said she feels the best way to address businesses' clamoring for more skilled workers is to keep talented people from leaving Nebraska. That should take priority over luring workers from other states, she said. People with extensive Nebraska ties are more likely to stay here than those who come only for work. "It's a longer-term solution, but I think we're going to have more success with that model," Dentlinger said. The research center SRI International is examining Nebraska's economic climate, including workforce and business incentives, as part of a study commissioned by the state Department of Economic Development. Results from that study will be revealed at the Governor's Summit on Economic Development on July 12 in Lincoln. Those who wish to attend can register online at negovsummit.com. Dentlinger was also asked Wednesday about efforts by Costco Wholesale Corp. to build a chicken processing plant in the Fremont area. Opponents in Fremont and nearby Nickerson torpedoed the project, which could have created about 1,100 jobs, citing concerns about its impact on schools and housing. "In a few years, I think, in hindsight they may be unhappy with their decision," Dentlinger said. She called the resistance unfortunate but said she remains hopeful Costco will pick a Nebraska site for the project. It reportedly is considering a site south of Fremont. "I think it comes back to working hand in hand with the communities from an early stage, and understanding how they want to grow, what these types of investments mean to them, and dispelling some of the myths and the misperceptions for certain types of investment." Union Pacific plans to invest about $23 million less on Nebraska capital projects this year than last. The Omaha-based railroad on Wednesday announced plans to spend $78.6 million in 2016 to improve its infrastructure in Nebraska. That's down more than 20 percent from the $102 million it spent last year. Nationwide, UP is spending a little less than $3.7 billion on capital improvements, down from $4.2 billion last year. The state's other main railroad, BNSF Railway, announced in February that it would spend $110 million on Nebraska capital projects this year, down more than half from the $226 million it spent in 2015. BNSF is spending $4.3 billion nationwide on capital projects this year, $1.5 billion less than last year. Both railroads have struggled with a drop in shipping traffic and have furloughed thousands of employees. When it reported its earnings last month, UP said its first-quarter shipping volumes declined 8 percent from a year ago. The company said its Nebraska capital projects include $71.1 million to maintain railroad track and $7.5 million to maintain bridges in the state. Key projects planned this year include: * $10.5 million for undercutting 62 miles of track between Fremont, Columbus and Silver Creek. Undercutting involves using special equipment to remove mud and debris and clean the rock foundation under the tracks. * $6.3 million to replace more than 35,000 railroad ties on the rail line between Sutherland, Oshkosh and Broadwater. * $5.9 million on undercutting 35 miles of track between Overton, Lexington and Gothenburg. Dr. Charles Marion Godwin, professor emeritus University of Nebraska (Lincoln), died on May 9, 2016, at Southlake Village Rehabilitation and Care Center of Lincoln. He was born in Omaha on September 29,1931. Charles was a charter member of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church of Lincoln where he initially co-chaired the committee to build the church. Charles served in the U.S. Navy as "Personnelman 1st Class" aboard the U.S.S. Chemung from 1950-1954 during the Korean Conflict. Charles attended the Municipal University of Omaha (now known as UNO) where he received his B. S. in social sciences and M. S. in education. He taught one year at Bancroft Jr. High school in Omaha. Charles moved to Lincoln in 1963 where he attended the University of Nebraska and he earned his Ed.D. He served as an elementary school principal in Alcoy, Spain for one year then returned later to serve as an elementary school teacher a second year in Sevilla, Spain for the U.S. Air Force dependent schools. He also taught elementary school in Long Beach, Calif. for two years. After returning to Lincoln he taught at the UNL Teachers College for 30 years. While teaching at UNL, he supervised student teachers in conjunction with Lincoln Public Schools and was an advisor in the UNL dean's office. His community and professional involvements include being awarded with the honor of 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason and Honorable 33 degree Scottish Rite Mason. He also served as personal representative of the Lincoln Valley Orient of the Scottish Rite . He was a life member and "Past Master"of the East Lincoln Masonic Lodge 210 . He served on the board of trustees for the Starcraft Chapter 307 Eastern Star,the board of trustees of the Nebraska Historical Society Foundation, was Past President and lifetime member of Phi Delta Kappa International . He was an honorary member of the UNL Chapter of The Acacia Society. Charles was a longtime member of the Sesostris Shrine where he served in the "Clown Unit" as "Chuckles" the clown. He was member of the UNL Emeriti Association, a member of the Nebraska State Council for Social Studies, and a lifetime member of The Western History Association. Charles was a board member and lifetime member of ACEI ( Association for Childhood Education International ) where he served for over 50 years. He was a board member of The John Austin Cheley Foundation. In recent years, Chuck served as Eastern states coordinator for this foundation to facilitate applications to underprivileged children for camper ships to attend Cheley Camps; he devoted over 40 years to this organization receiving their "Volunteer of the Year" award in December of 2015. In his early years of college Chuck served 14 summers working as a camp director for Cheley Camps in Estes Park, Colo. Chuck was a longtime member and a past president of the Friendship Force of Lincoln where he also led many travel exchanges for the club. He also led travel exchanges for "People To People". Chuck traveled to and astonishing 43 countries in his lifetime. In 1976, while teaching as a professor at UNL he was awarded with the "Distinguished Teaching Award". He also received the "Nebraska Teacher Of the Year Award for Social Studies" in 1984. In his retirement, Chuck enjoyed traveling with the Friendship Force of Lincoln and serving as a "Charter Member"of the usher staff for the Lied Center for Performing Arts. He also served as a board member of The Lincoln Municipal Band as well as a board member of TADA. He was an "Honorary Member" of the Lincoln Boys Choir. Chuck was a generous supporter of The National Parks Conservation and Nebraska Historical Society. Charles is preceded in death by his parents: father, Ralph Alonzo Godwin and mother, Fern Elizabeth Godwin . Charles is survived by his longtime caregiver and companion, Buddy Sizemore and his brother, Ralph R. Godwin of Omaha. A celebration Of life" service will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 13, at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church of Lincoln, 8300 East Pointe Road, (84th and East Pointe Road). Aspen Cremation is in charge of the cremation services. His ashes will be scattered over the Rocky Mountains later this summer in a private ceremony. Very special thanks to Pathways to Compassion Hospice and Southlake Village Rehabilitation and Care Center of Lincoln. Monetary memorials in his name can be made to The Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church Foundation of Lincoln or to The John Austin Cheley Foundation in Denver, Colorado. Condolences can be sent to www.aspenaftercare.com. Raymond businessman Jim Ballard beat fellow Republican Joe Lefler in the Republican primary race for the District 2 Lancaster County Board seat. I feel very humbled by all the support I have been given, Ballard said. Were excited. Ballard, co-owner of James Arthur Vineyards in Raymond and the From Nebraska Gift Shop in the Haymarket, and Lefler, a county sheriffs captain, were seeking the seat being vacated by longtime Commissioner Larry Hudkins. Ballard will face Democrat Jennifer Brinkman, a communications officer for a commercial real estate company, on Nov. 8. Hes a great guy, Lefler said of Ballard. It sucks to lose, but the county would be in good hands with him. The five county commissioners are elected to four-year terms and earn $42,500 a year. Two seats are up for election, including the District 4 seat held by County Board Chairwoman Roma Amundson, who was unopposed. Ballard, 51, holds a bachelors degree in broadcasting and a masters degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and has served on boards including the Parkview Christian School Board and Nebraska Winery and Grape Growers Association. Twenty-two legislative races pared down candidates to two Tuesday night. All but one incumbent appeared to advance and several didn't finish first in their races. In east Lincoln's District 25, the seat held by Sen. Kathy Campbell who has served two terms, it was a close race between Lincoln attorney Jim Gordon, a Democrat, and Republican Suzanne Geist. Both will advance. Neither has held public office. Gordon said late Tuesday he never missed an opportunity during the primary campaign to talk to people in the district, and to listen to their views on important issues such as property taxes, Medicaid expansion and job opportunities. And he will continue that. Friends, family and a wide circle of volunteers helped take him through the primary, he said. "I can't be more thankful for what they've done than I am right now," he said. Geist, a Republican, said she competed with two attorneys -- Gordon and David Tagart -- and two doctors -- Les Spry and Dale Michels -- all with name recognition. She is self-employed in sales and had little name recognition, she said. So she set out to introduce herself to the district, knocking on 10,000 doors. "I have to say I am as overwhelmed and surprised as anyone else," she said of her finish. In west Lincoln's District 27, Anna Wishart, a Democrat, led Republican Dick Clark, an attorney, by a wide margin. Wishart is a policy consultant for Nebraska Children and Families Foundation. Both will advance. Wishart said the campaign really opened her eyes to challenges the people in her district face. I feel like Ive made a lot of friends and some really great relationships with people across District 27, Wishart said. Attorney Mike Hilgers, a Republican, and attorney Larry Scherer, a Democrat, advanced in District 21. This is just one step, Hilgers said. Its an important step, but its not the final step. To be able to make a difference in peoples lives in the district Ive got to win in November. Both candidates in District 29 -- incumbent Kate Bolz and challenger Melody Vaccaro -- both Democrats, will advance to the general election. In other races statewide, Sen. Nicole Fox, who was appointed by Gov. Pete Ricketts when South Omaha and Downtown District 7 Sen. Jeremy Nordquist left the Legislature a year early, had to battle it out with John Synowiecki, a former member of the Legislature. It appeared Synowiecki and Tony Vargas will advance. District 7 has a large Democratic population, with twice as many registered over Republicans. The legislative seat is Fox's first public office. Sen. Ernie Chambers from Omaha's District 11, the longest-serving state senator, was a strong leader in the three-person race all night, with 74 percent of the vote, despite saying he doesn't campaign or take donations. He'll face John Sciara in the general election. Sen. David Schnoor of Scribner, appointed by Gov. Dave Heineman, advanced to the general. Al Davis of Hyannis, Republican incumbent in District 43, also advanced but came in second to Tom Brewer. Nebraska voters rode the bandwagon Tuesday night, handing frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton a pair of presidential primary victories. Trump overwhelmed all of his previously vanquished Republican challengers, whose names remained on the Nebraska ballot. Clinton ran ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won the Nebraska Democratic caucus in March. Tuesday's results will hand Trump all 36 of the state's delegates to the Republican national convention, moving him closer to mathematically clinching the presidential nomination that awaits him in Cleveland in July. Nebraska's Democratic delegation already had been apportioned by results of the earlier caucus, with 15 delegates awarded to Sanders and 10 to Clinton. With an additional three superdelegates already committed to support Clinton, the split is 15-13 in favor of Sanders with two superdelegates remaining uncommitted in advance of the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July. Trump's huge win came on the heels of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz' departure from the race last week following Trump's convincing win in the Indiana primary. Oddly, for a moment on Tuesday, Cruz talked to conservative radio personality Glenn Beck about the possibility of reviving his candidacy if he won in Nebraska. Last week, Trump made a campaign stop in Omaha and he has sent at least two mailers to Republican households in the state, the latest one promising, "As your next president, Donald Trump will fight for Nebraska." At his rally in a private hangar on the edge of Eppley Airfield, Trump pledged to remove tariffs and other barriers to Nebraska beef exports to Japan and China. His earlier mailing to Nebraska households promised he would oppose "disastrous trade deals." Gov. Pete Ricketts endorsed Trump after Cruz' sudden departure from the race on the evening before a scheduled rally in Lincoln and a number of other GOP big names have rushed to his side. Cruz finished second behind Trump in the Nebraska vote, followed by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Clinton's comfortable victory over Sanders may have reflected, at least in part, the momentum she has gained since the March caucus and it was constructed from a much larger voting base. Sanders won 57 percent of the caucus vote cast by 33,000 Democrats two months ago. Prior to the caucus, he attracted an overflow crowd to an enthusiastic rally on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus. Former President Bill Clinton made stops in Lincoln and Omaha in advance of the caucus. Donald Trump claimed victory in the Nebraska Republican primary on Tuesday, and Lincoln voters overwhelmingly backed a stormwater bond issue. The Associated Press called the Republican primary for Trump shortly after the polls closed statewide at 8 p.m. The state's Republicans went to the polls on Tuesday with their party's presidential nomination all but sewn up by Trump, who has seen the last of his rivals bow out of the race. In statewide returns at 11:30 p.m., Trump had 61 percent of votes cast, more than the combined totals of Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio, whose names remained on the ballot. Nebraska's Democrats caucused in March, handing Bernie Sanders a victory over Hillary Clinton. The Democratic presidential contenders still appeared on Tuesday's ballot, and this time, Clinton emerged with a statewide victory. Among Nebraska's three seats in the House of Representatives, eyes are on the 2nd Congressional District including Omaha. In that race retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Bacon defeated former state Sen. Chip Maxwell, setting up a showdown with Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford in November. Tuesday's primary will narrow the field in 13 nonpartisan legislative races with more than two candidates. The top two vote-getters from each contest will advance to the November general election. One of the most competitive primary races was in District 25 in Lancaster County, where Jim Gordon and Suzanne Geist advanced from a field of five. The Nebraska State Board of Education race in District 1 included three candidates, with Patricia Koch Johns and Stephanie Bohlke-Schulte moving on to meet in November. The $6.3 million stormwater bond issue, which would fund more than two dozen projects across Lincoln, won by a margin of 69 percent to 31 percent. In the Holmes Lake neighborhood, shes a celebrity on the level of Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton. Fans gush about spotting her going out for dinner and photographers stalk her, hoping to get pictures of her eight babies. Shes always fashionably dressed in red, and her summer fur coat is getting rave reviews. The vixen showed up along the west side of Holmes Lake this spring. Jen Seaman, who lives nearby, said she saw the small orange fox after a spring storm in a wooded area near a culvert not too far from where Van Dorn Street ends. She's a small Vulpes, about the size of a cat. Seaman's 8-year-old daughter has named the animal Sammy. The neighborhood has become protective of its new celebrity and is asking visitors to Holmes Lake to admire her and her children from a distance. My concern is ... people are going to go exploring and they (the foxes) might be relocating soon, Seaman said. The fox isnt the first Vulpes to make its home in Lincoln, said Nebraska Game and Parks Wildlife Division Assistant Administrator Jeff Hoffman. Foxes have been in the Lincoln and especially the Holmes Lake area for many, many years. ... They are kind of a feature of the neighborhood down there, he said. Foxes are kind of a unique animal in an urban landscape like Lincoln. Its kind of nice to have them in your neighborhood and enjoy them. Cities offer ample rabbits, mice, squirrels and other small mammals to hunt as well as some protection from natural predators like coyotes. They find a bit of a refuge in city limits, Hoffman said. Foxes generally prefer smaller prey and usually are not a danger to cats or dogs, although it is possible a fox would eat a small domestic animal. If people are concerned about their pets, Hoffman recommended not letting them run free. Its also possible, but uncommon, for foxes to carry rabies. You hear about it quite often with skunks, but you dont hear about it very often with foxes, Hoffman said. Its possible, but not likely. Foxes do often carry mange, a parasite that causes hair loss, and they can pass it to pets they come in contact with. Hoffman recommended people keep their distance from wildlife and noted that foxes can be protective of their young. Its good to see them and its good to look at them but you dont want to get too close because the mother could take that as a threat to her young and she is going to defend her young, he said. Brittany Loffelholz voted Tuesday with newfound hope her pick for president might survive the primary election. She and her husband, Justin, marked their ballots for Republican Ted Cruz at Schoo Middle School hours after the U.S. senator from Texas hinted he'd consider re-entering the GOP fray if he emerged victorious from Nebraska's primary, they said. "I was still going to vote whether the person I wanted was on there or not," Brittany Loffelholz said. "I just hope my vote counts, I guess." But when polls closed, Donald Trump, the New York billionaire and presumptive Republican nominee, had achieved a landslide win in Nebraska and stifled hope of a Cruz comeback. Trump was effectively the last man standing after Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich stepped out of the Republican fray last week. Those moves diminished what could have been a rare barn burner for GOP voters in Nebraska's presidential primary. "I think it really deflated the turnout," said John Paul Sabby, chairman of the Lancaster County GOP. Unofficial final results showed about 30 percent of registered voters completed ballots in Lancaster County. Statewide turnout numbers weren't yet available. Still, local politicos expected a more dramatic night. "A few weeks ago, we thought it was going to look a lot different," said Neva Winkle, chairwoman of the Lancaster County Young Democrats. About 9 p.m., she and about 75 local Democrats gathered to watch Election Night returns in the basement of Brewsky's in the Haymarket, 201 N. Eighth St. And Sabby, the GOP chairman, joined a crowd of about two-dozen people at a wine tasting in the Talon Room, 230 N. 12th St. The party, hosted by the Lincoln Independent Business Association, was among a few Republican-heavy events in the county. Earlier in the day, voting took place without reports of major glitches. There was some confusion at polling places in the state about ballots for nonpartisan voters and the amount of information poll workers were allowed to provide, said Bri McLarty, director of voting rights for the nonprofit Nebraskans for Civics Reform. "What's great is the poll workers are trying to reach out and get the right answer," McLarty said. At Lincoln's First Presbyterian Church, 15 people had voted in the first 45 minutes Tuesday, which poll worker Agnes Masek called "about right." She's run things at the 17th and F streets polling place since the 1980s, and predicted about 150 of the precinct's 1,339 registered voters would show up by day's end. By contrast, turnout was huge in November 2004, when Lincoln voters weighed in on a presidential general election and ballot initiatives on expanded gambling, banning smoking in all Lincoln workplaces and contributing more state lottery funds to the Nebraska State Fair. "We had 'em sitting on the steps voting," Masek recalled. The job status of State Tourism Director Kathy McKillip is on the agenda for a special meeting of the Nebraska Tourism Commission's nine-member board Friday. The meeting set for 10 a.m. in the lower level of the state Executive Building, 521 S. 14th St. is open to the public. It will include an update from a four-member subcommittee that is examining the results of a recent scathing state audit and considering possible responses, including "personnel recommendations regarding the position of the executive director." McKillip's job status is listed as an action item on the agenda, meaning commissioners could vote to dismiss her during Friday's meeting. Gov. Pete Ricketts and others called for her to be fired after the 79-page audit, published April 29, criticized dozens of spending and documentation issues at the Tourism Commission. Those included overrunning contracts with advertising firm Bailey Lauerman by $4.4 million over three years, paying someone more than $44,000 to deliver a 90-minute speech and reimbursing an employee $18,511 to move from Sidney to Kearney. McKillip, who couldn't be reached Wednesday, has said the audit served its purpose: showing areas of improvement for an agency that became independent from the rest of state government four years ago. Ricketts repeated his criticism this week, making tourism's troubles the subject of his weekly column. "Nebraskans cannot tolerate such flagrant abuse of taxpayer dollars, and it is important that commission directors take the necessary steps to rectify this situation," the governor wrote. He blamed the audit findings not only on McKillip, but also the Legislature's 2012 decision to place tourism promotion under an independent commission. The governor appoints the commissioners but cannot replace them until their four-year terms expire. Those board members oversee the tourism director. "Removing our tourism office from the Department of Economic Development made it more difficult to hold the state tourism director accountable," Ricketts said. Rich Claussen, who managed the commission's account with Bailey Lauerman before leaving the advertising firm in recent weeks, said the audit results shouldn't overshadow the substance of work done to promote Nebraska. "A lot of good has happened for the tourism industry over the past three, four years," he said Wednesday. Claussen's announcement he was leaving Bailey Lauerman for Prosper Lincoln, a coalition of community groups and businesses, came the same weekend the audit report was published. But Claussen said the two were not related and that he had been in talks with Prosper Lincoln since January. On Wednesday, the fiscally conservative Platte Institute for Economic Research questioned whether Nebraska needs taxpayer-funded tourism promotion at all. "The state of Washington ended their tourism office in 2011 following major budget cuts," the Platte Institute said in a news release. "Since then, the agencys functions have been replaced by a private tourism association, and the Seattle and Washington travel industries are experiencing growth." Nebraska Economic Development Director Courtney Dentlinger disagreed. "I personally think we do need to have state-level efforts for tourism," she said Wednesday following a luncheon at the Country Club of Lincoln hosted by the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. She said it's up to the Legislature to decide whether to put tourism back under Economic Development. However, she said: "We'd be happy to take on the responsibility. ... Certainly it would give more direct accountability." Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Catch the latest in Opinion Get opinion pieces, letters and editorials sent directly to your inbox weekly! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy West Point officials have decided against punitive action for 16 black female cadets who sparked nationwide controversy by posing for a group photo with their fists raised. Good. They'll get some counseling but graduate on time, which they have earned in spite of the crazy commotion the photo stirred up. The women are young. They were celebrating their upcoming graduation. Maybe they didn't how easy it is for some black people to alarm some white people -- especially when we are black people in groups. The 16 women were following an old school tradition by posing in historical-style uniforms before graduation later in May. Controversy erupted because of the upraised fists. Now an investigation will determine whether the cadets violated the school honor code or Defense Department prohibitions against political activities while in the armed forces. Meanwhile, Internet chatter about the matter has exploded. The New York Times quoted blogger John Burk, a white former drill sergeant, as calling the pose an "overt display of the Black Lives Matter movement." Burk told the Times via email that he had "disciplined soldiers for making Nazi salutes in photos, and felt the raised fist was not much different." And you don't have to be white to feel that way. In a post titled, "Here's EXACTLY what I'd do to the West Point cadets who took this dishonorable photo," former Rep. Allen West, a Florida Republican and retired Army lieutenant colonel, said the young women should apologize to their class and to the academy. "(W)hat if these were 16 white male West Point cadets from the South who took a picture in uniform with the Confederate battle flag?" West asked in his blog post. "... And you know those white male cadets would be in serious danger of not graduating and receiving their commission as an Army officer." Excuse me? Confederate battle flag? Nazi salutes? If you think every raised black fist automatically means Black Lives Matter, you need to learn more about black people -- just as we black folks always have been obliged to know what gestures might upset white people. I was reminded of how, back in 1968, a similar fist-raised gesture by black American athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos caused a commotion at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City. As the athletes turned to face their flags as the American national anthem played, they each raised a black-gloved fist. Media exploded with chatter, as I recall, not much of it was complimentary. In his autobiography, "Silent Gesture," Smith explained that the raised fists were not a "Black Power" salute, but a "human rights salute." But in that era of the black power movement and Black Panthers, to many folks all raised black fists looked alike. Although the current cadets weren't talking as the matter is investigated, NPR helpfully quoted the Facebook page insights of Mary Tobin, who graduated from West Point about 13 years ago. The raised fists, she wrote, were not a "sign of allegiance to any political movement," but "an act of unity amongst sisters and a symbol of achievement." "Our attrition rates are on par with the class at large," she wrote, "but can you imagine what it must feel like to live, train, study, eat, cry, laugh, struggle and succeed in an environment where for 4 years, the majority of the people there don't look like you, it's hard for them to relate to you, they oftentimes don't understand you, and the only way to survive is to shrink your blackness or assimilate." It's a familiar story to many of us who ever have been one of the first members of a minority group in a school or workplace. Having an extended family of "brothers" or "sisters" who share the pain helps ease anxieties, even when your signals of celebration alarm folks who don't know much about black folks besides crime stories. More than a century after Henry O. Flipper became the first African American to graduate from West Point in 1877, the 16 cadets in the photo represented all but one of the black women in a graduating class of about 1,000, according to the Times. Yet, as an Army veteran from the last century, I am proud to see even that tiny percentage of black women. It signals a growing respect in this country for the contributions that every race and gender can make to our nation's defense, even if we sometimes make each other nervous. 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. 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. 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 Barack 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 percent 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 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. News stories that insurers are seeking double digit increases in premiums next year under the Affordable Care Act are a reminder of how imperfect a solution the legislation is to what ails Americas health care system. The health care reform law does not do enough to address rising health costs, which dropped during the Great Recession but have started to rise again. The problem, of course, is the gridlock in Washington, where leaders of the two parties seem to be locked in a death struggle. Most Republicans will talk only about repealing the law. And since they control both the Senate and the House, theres no point in Democrats addressing the laws obvious flaws. The basic problem with the ACA is that most plans available through the marketplace enrolled more sick people than projected. Only 28 percent of healthy young people signed up for coverage, well below the 35 percent signup predicted. I think a lot of insurance carriers expected red ink, but they didnt expect this much red ink, Gregg Scott of Deloitte told Politico. Insurers set their premiums too low. This mistake proved fatal to a number of health care cooperatives. When CoOpportunity folded in 2014 consumers in Nebraska and Iowa had to scramble to find new coverage. The problem was compounded because Republicans shut off federal payments that insurers hoped would provide a cushion in the first years under the ACA. The marketplace was roiled again recently when UnitedHealth Group, the nations largest insurer pulled out of most marketplaces including Nebraska. The decision means that Nebraskans will find fewer competitors when the marketplaces open Nov. 1, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Foundation. Blue Cross Blue Shield Nebraska, the largest insurer in the state, lost $64 million on ACA-compliant plans in 2015, officials said. Nationwide Blue Cross Blue Shield reported that profits fell by 75 percent between 2013 and 2015. Supporters of the Affordable Care Act can fairly claim that it made important improvements in the nations health care system. About 20 million more people now have coverage. People with prior medical conditions are no longer locked out of coverage. But it can and should be better. When Americans see the size of the health insurance premiums and co-pays theyll be paying next year, theyll need to holler long and loudly to get policymakers in Washington to give priority to the problem. The Affordable Care Act should live up to its name. Primary election results that left a surprising number of state senators trailing their opponents demonstrate that legislators are going to be held accountable by voters, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Wednesday. Legislative votes matter, he said, and constituents have "sent a message that you need to pay attention to the people in your district." Six incumbent senators finished in second place in their primary contests on Tuesday, and Ricketts suggested that a number of them were held accountable for their votes to support eliminating the death penalty, raising the state gas tax and extending licensing privileges to young undocumented immigrants. All of those measures were enacted over the governor's vetoes. Sens. Les Seiler of Hastings, Al Davis of Hyannis and Jerry Johnson of Wahoo, all Republicans who trailed behind challengers, voted to enact most of the four bills cited by Ricketts. Johnson did not vote to override the governor's death penalty veto in 2015 after supporting passage of the bill. Davis and Johnson did not support this year's legislative bill to allow so-called DACA youth who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents when they were children to acquire professional and commercial licenses to work in Nebraska. But both senators voted to override the governor's veto of a 2015 bill to grant Nebraska driver's licenses to those immigrant youths. Seiler voted to override all four of the governor's vetoes of those measures and he is the senator the governor has actively opposed by supporting his challenger, Steve Halloran of Hastings. Ricketts said he has not been actively engaged in the Davis or Johnson legislative races. Sen. Nicole Fox of Omaha, a Republican appointed to the Legislature by Ricketts, was the only incumbent senator who may have been eliminated in the primary election. She finished 10 votes short of gaining a second-place nomination in a South Omaha contest that appears headed to a recount. Two senators who are Democrats, Rick Kolowski of Omaha and Sue Crawford of Bellevue, both trailed in second place in their districts. But Crawford was just 32 votes behind challenger Michael Cook. Both leading candidates are Republicans. Answering questions after hosting a news conference to shine a spotlight on the Nebraska Hall of Fame on the 120th birthday of Nebraska author Mari Sandoz, the governor said Nebraskans "overwhelmingly support the death penalty." As for the gas tax hike, he said: "Raising taxes is always a bad idea." And, he said, Nebraskans do not support extending benefits to immigrants who entered the country illegally. Nebraska voters will have an opportunity to restore the death penalty through a referendum vote in the November general election. Most of Nebraskas crops are not far enough along to have been badly damaged by Monday's hail, although flooding could have washed out some areas, which could require farmers to replant. About 53 percent of corn had been planted as of Sunday and only 15 percent emerged, according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures National Agricultural Statistics Service. Soybean planting, generally done later than corn, was 13 percent done as of Sunday. Sorghum planted was at 5 percent, and winter wheat headed (the stage where the plant head has emerged but not yet flowered) was at 10 percent. Tornadoes rated The National Weather Service dispatched a field crew Tuesday to assess damage and give Monday's tornadoes preliminary classifications. Here's what it determined so far. * Lincoln tornado No. 1: EF-1 (86-110 mph, weak) * Lincoln tornado No. 2: EF-1 * Bennet tornado: EF-1 * Nehawka tornado: EF-2 (111-135 mph, weak), 100 yards wide Not nearly as much water At its peak Monday, Salt Creek at 27th Street was flowing fast at 7,000 cubic feet per second -- swollen with rain but nothing compared with a year ago, when it was carrying 34,000 cfs and threatening to spill over its banks. The difference: Last year, the southern part of the county was inundated with rain, which drained into the creek and then through the city. Monday, the storm was parked over town and didn't fill Salt Creek's tributaries. "It blew up on Lincoln and kind of sat there and cranked," said Paul Zillig of the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District. Hazard calls Between 5:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. on Monday, Lincoln police responded to 15 hazard calls for flooding over roadways or drivers that were trapped, Officer Katie Flood said. GERING A 16-year-old Gering High School student faces 40 charges of unlawful intrusion for allegedly secretly recording girls in a locker room at the school. Twenty misdemeanor counts are for unlawful intrusion and 20 felony counts are for unlawful intrusion via photograph. A court document says the recordings show the girls "in a state of undress." The Scotts Bluff County attorney has filed a motion to transfer the case to adult court. School Superintendent Bob Hastings says parents of the girls seen in the recordings have been notified, and counselors are being made available to any student affected by the incident. The event is called an annual meeting, but in reality the 400 supporters who gathered at the Lincoln Marriott Cornhusker Hotel on April 18 were ready to celebrate a big number $7,045,550 the final total of the fundraising campaign for United Way of Lincoln and Lancaster County and Community Health Charities in 2015, led by campaign co-chairs Bill Mueller and Kim Robak. Commenting on changing trends in fundraising, Mueller said that workplace campaigns are the heart and soul of United Way. We need all hands on board to be successful and to help us meet the many significant needs of our neighbors. Also on the plus side, Robak noted that the successful campaign will allow the 60 funded United Way and Community Health Charities agencies to receive support for their work in addressing critical issues. But, there are still many unmet needs, she noted. Among those receiving special recognition was Nola Derby-Bennett, executive director of The HUB - Central Access Point for Young Adults, who received the Spirit of United Way Award. The Presidents Award went to Wells Fargo, which was accepted by Stuart Bartruff, Nebraska Business Banking regional manager. Norris School District was recognized with a New Partner Award for joining the campaign for the first time in 2015. In addition, Union Bank & Trust was acknowledged for having the largest contribution in unrestricted funds, and the State of Nebraska earned honors for raising the highest dollar amount. Agency speakers who volunteer to tell stories of lives improved or changed because of agency service were recognized. They put a face and a story behind every dollar donated, said Mueller, as he presented Agency Speaker of the Year awards to Jennifer Koolen from the Child Advocacy Center and Brad Anderson, who represented the Alzheimers Association, Nebraska Chapter. In closing remarks, Nick Cusick, president of the 2015 board of directors, said the agencies that partner with United Way and Community Health Charities are doing amazing work on the front lines. You are the reason we do what we do each year, to allow you to keep doing the powerful and imperative work for the people in Lincoln and Lancaster County. Editors note: In addition to operating the Duncan Family Trust, Connie Duncan serves on the following boards: Lincoln Public Schools Board of Education, Boys and Girls Club Board of Advisors, Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools, Lincoln Community Foundation, Nebraska Children and Families, Lutheran Family Services, United Way Board of Directors (this year she and husband Todd are chairing the United Way Campaign) and the Nebraska Association of School Boards. Who has inspired you? I watched my mother be a teacher my entire life, and it inspired me to devote my life to children. All summer, she would prepare for the next school year. She would make the most elaborate bulletin boards, and we would all cut out things for her creation. She would read books and make up lesson plans that were amazing. She would write plays, make art lessons and create her own worksheets. Our entire house was one lesson plan after another. She loved being a teacher and inspiring all of her students. Her dedication to teaching and affection for her students was so inspiring. I used to copy her when I was in elementary school and have my sisters sit in desks, and I would be their teacher. I would make worksheets for them and give them recess. Whom do you hope to inspire? I hope to inspire all children in our community to want to follow their dreams and be whom they want to be. A job should not be just a job. You should love what you do every day and be proud of what you do. Everyone has great potential. With self-confidence and a little effort, anything can happen. What does leadership mean to you? To lead, you must lead by example. Leaders must have compassion and not think of themselves, but most important, those around them. Leaders must lead with their actions. They must be engaged, have a good work ethic, be focused, positive and willing to change. What is your favorite quote or motto? Be the change you wish to see in the world. Gandhi This has always been my favorite quote. When my son went away to college, I walked into his dorm room and he had a poster with the same quote. It melted my heart! How would you describe a great day at work? I wear so many hats during a day. The best way to start my day is with a visit to one of our public schools. You can learn so much by just watching and listening. I like to spend the rest of the day volunteering in the community. I meet with many non-profits to talk about their needs, and then to see if our company can help them with volunteers from our Soar to Serve group, or perhaps we can support a program for children. Around 4 p.m., I like to spend time at the Boys and Girls Club. The excitement and energy of the students just makes me want to do more. The best part of my day is making dinner for my family. I am an old-fashioned wife. I enjoy cooking a good meal and having Todd and the boys at the table just talking about life. Whats the best advice youve ever received, and who gave it to you? My mother gave me some advice the day I got married. You are going to have the most amazing life. You should be proud of being Todds wife, but be more and give more. Great advice. These are the words that convinced me to become a special education teacher and a volunteer in our community. Whats the highlight of your career (so far)? I worked at Southeast Community College on the Learn to Dream Scholarship for five years. This is a scholarship for students on free and reduced lunch that can attend SCC free for 45 credits. Because of this scholarship, I had many students that have been able to change their lives as well as their families lives. A student called me a few months ago and said, Hey Duncan, I had an interview today at a great company in town and I got the job. I would be a part of their engineering team. I asked him what company. He said, The best one in town, Duncan Aviation. I, of course, cried, and said, You should have told me or used me as a reference. He replied, I wanted to do it on my own. This student was the first in his family to have more than a sixth-grade education. When a student of mine has changed their life and their families lives, it is the best day of my career. How have you changed over the course of your career? I started my career as a special education teacher for Lincoln Public Schools. I taught for LPS for 17 years and then worked for SCC for its Learn to Dream Scholarship. I loved every minute of working with students. One day, the smartest man I know, my husband, posed a question. He asked, What could you do that would affect more children? Together, we realized that running for school board would be the next step. Now, as a member of the LPS Board of Education, I am helping to make policy that affects 40,000 children. My career has not changed its focus of helping children, but it has broadened its reach. I also run our familys and companys foundation. Our mission is very much devoted to children. I have always believed in giving back and supporting our community. I spend a great deal of time meeting with nonprofits and taking tours so I can really understand their mission and how it affects our community. It is very important to our family and company that we take care of our community. Recreational marijuana legalization will be back on the South Dakota ballot in November. Voters in 2020 approved a constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis but it was nullified by a legal challenge. Whether the politically red state will pass it twice is uncertain. It's facing strong opposition from conservative groups and figures and different factors are in play. When 54% of voters approved the constitutional amendment to legalize cannabis, it may have benefited from being tied to another ballot measure to approve medical marijuana. This time around, it's on its own. One of the organizers for legalization said voters for the midterm are likely to be older and perhaps less favorably inclined toward recreational marijuana than the electorate of 2020. RACINE COUNTY A Tuesday state court ruling may change the way citizens access reports from law enforcement. The District III Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that law enforcement need not redact personal information on accident reports and need only redact information they acquire directly from motor vehicle records on incident reports. The case, New Richmond News and Steven Dzubay vs. City of New Richmond, began in 2013 when the St. Croix County newspaper sued the city over unnecessary redaction on released reports, which the city said was required by the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act. The uncertainty introduced caused a lot of problems for a lot of citizens, said Robert Dreps, the New Richmond News attorney. You couldnt get reports with names on them. Now you can. The DPPA, enacted in 1994, limits the release of personal information on a persons drivers license record to those with a legitimate and lawful need for it. Wisconsin state law permits public access to reports, and the DPPA was never intended to modify that access, according to Dreps. The DPPA allows routine public access to accident reports as long as state law allows that, he said. It was on the book for 20 years before anybody decided it needed redaction. Dreps considered the ruling a significant victory for public access. He mitigated the importance of the courts partial reversal, which allows redaction if the personal information was obtained from motor vehicle records, since he believes that situation rarely occurs. Local defense attorney Patrick Cafferty reviewed the ruling, and isnt as optimistic about its immediate effects as Dreps. While he supports increased transparency, hes not convinced the ruling mandates that. I dont think it solved much, he said. It leaves enough doubt that youre going to have departments that are fearful that they are violating the law. Law enforcement reacts Dreps speculated that law enforcement would welcome the ruling, since redaction detracts from other police work. Several local law enforcement officials backed up Dreps theory. It would be less labor-intensive to get things out if we dont have to redact, so that would be a good thing for us, said Caledonia Police Lt. Gary Larsen. Mount Pleasant Police Chief Tim Zarzecki agreed, calling DPPA redaction burdensome. Both Zarzecki and Larsen, as well as Racine Police Lt. Al Days and Racine County Sheriffs Lt. Steven Sikora, said they would have to review the ruling with attorneys before commenting on future procedures. Sturtevant Police Chief Sean Marschke said he was excited about the ruling and its implication for citizens. Im pleased that the current decision permits the releasing of reports, especially accident reports, he said. Many times, those who had been involved in a traffic crash were unable to obtain information necessary to seek restitution due to the confusion with prior rulings. And for Zarzecki, eliminating confusion and helping citizens should be the focus of such a ruling. The goal in my mind is to make this process as easy as possible for the public, he said. RACINE Criminal charges have been filed against the woman allegedly responsible for driving into a Victory Avenue house in April and engulfing it in flames. On April 16, at 1:44 a.m., police were dispatched to 3401 Victory Ave. for a report of a car that had hit a house, starting it on fire. It reportedly displaced a family of four, which was not home at the time. Michelle L. Kirchoff, 48, of the 1300 block of Blaine Avenue, was cited for first-offense drunken driving in the incident, Racine police said initially. First-offense operating while intoxicated is not a criminal offense in Wisconsin. Wednesday, Kirchoff was criminally charged with operating while intoxicated/causing injury and first-degree recklessly endangering safety. On the second charge alone she could face up to 7 1/2 years behind bars. According to her criminal complaint, when police arrived they made contact with Kirchoff and another person. Both appeared intoxicated and were slurring their words. It was initially unclear who was driving the vehicle, but police said in Kirchoffs criminal complaint that she was only wearing one white sandal, and the other was found on the floor of the driver side of the vehicle. In addition, the seat was fairly close to the steering wheel, and Kirchoof is 5-foot-4-inches tall. Kirchoff told police she had met the person she was with at Pudgys Pub, 7800 Washington Ave., had been there since about 8:30 p.m., and had had a few alcoholic beverages, the complaint states. She said they had sexual relations in the smoking area and were returning home together. Kirchoff reportedly admitted to driving the vehicle. Both occupants of the vehicle were transported to Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints hospital. The man with Kirchoff reportedly had multiple injuries including bruises to his abdominal wall, thumb and a lower leg. RACINE A Racine man faces a felony count of criminal damage to property after getting kicked out of a tavern last month and then allegedly vandalizing almost a dozen cars in a lot next to the bar. Nicholas A. Medina, 23, of the 2000 block of Georgia Avenue, appeared in Racine County Circuit Court on Tuesday, facing a misdemeanor charge of theft and a felony count of criminal damage to property as a repeat offender. According to the criminal complaint, Medina apparently took a cellphone and wallet from a woman at the Ice Box tavern on Douglas Avenue sometime April 17. Medina was identified as the person who took the items and was kicked out of the tavern, the complaint said. Medina then left the bar and went next door to Racine Auto Specialists, where he reached to the ground, picked something up and rubbed what was in his hand onto nine or 10 cars, the complaint said. The suspects actions were captured on surveillance cameras at both the Ice Box and Racine Auto Specialists, the complaint said. Medina was in the Racine County Jail on Tuesday, jail records showed. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 18, court records show. RACINE A Racine woman faces up to 50 years in prison for allegedly scalding her ex-girlfriends toddler and then leaving the 2-year-old behind, neglecting to have the child treated for burns the child suffered, court records indicate. Tierra L. Lee, 25, of the 1600 block of 16th Street, appeared in Racine County Circuit Court Tuesday and was charged with felony counts of physical abuse of a child and child neglect. According to a criminal complaint, the Racine Police Department was called to a home in the 900 block of LaSalle Street just after 3 p.m. May 7. A concerned citizen told police that Lee had dunked the toddler in scalding water to allegedly get back at her girlfriend, the complaint said. When officers arrived at the house, they found a relative of Lees caring for the child, the complaint said. The child appeared to have severely burned legs and feet and was bleeding, the complaint said. Paramedics initially transported the child to Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints Hospital. The child was later transported to Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin in Wauwatosa, where doctors determined the child had first- and second-degree burns consistent with patterns found after being immersed or dipped into hot liquid, the complaint said. Lee told police the burns occurred May 1 while she was giving the child a bath. Lee said she had left the room to get a towel and heard the child screaming, the complaint stated. Lee saw the burns and called Wheaton Franciscan-All Saints for advice, but then left for Chicago and put the child in the care of a relative, the complaint said. The relative called Lee on May 5 to tell her the burns had gotten worse, but Lee remained in Illinois until police called her from the hospital May 7, the complaint said. According to the complaint, Lee and her ex-girlfriend the mother of the child allegedly got into a fight March 18 at the Racine Transit Center, 1409 State St., after the ex-girlfriend tried to move out of the house where they resided. Lee also is facing a charge of felony theft and misdemeanor charges of battery and disorderly conduct in connection with the March incident, court records indicate. Lee was in the Racine County Jail on Tuesday, jail records showed. Preliminary hearings on all her charges are scheduled for May 18, court records show. CHIPPEWA COUNTY A former Racine Police Department officer who shot and killed a hatchet-wielding developmentally disabled woman at a Wal-Mart here in April has returned to limited duty with the Lake Hallie Police Department. Adam Meyers, 40, who was a third-shift police officer for Racine from 2002 to 2006, shot and killed 25-year-old Melissa M. Abbott, a resident at the Northern Center for the Developmentally Disabled, in a Wal-Mart in Lake Hallie on April 8. Meyers has been a Lake Hallie police officer since October 2008, said Lake Hallie Police Chief Cal Smokowicz. Lake Hallie is a village of 6,597 people about five miles north of Eau Claire in Chippewa County. After the shooting, Meyers was placed on administrative leave for two weeks, then underwent duty fitness testing before returning to desk duty last week, Smokowicz said. The Chippewa County Sheriffs Office investigated the shooting, which occurred in front of dozens of witnesses and captured on store surveillance cameras, and found nothing wrong with Meyers actions, Smokowicz said. The Chippewa County District Attorney is reviewing the incident and will determine by the end of this week whether or not Meyers will face any charges, Smokowicz said. Meyers will not comment on the incident until after the District Attorneys Office completes its investigation, Smokowicz said. Lake Hallie police released Meyers name as the officer involved in the shooting on April 12. After that we received many messages from people who knew him and believed he acted properly, Smokowicz said. Hes not some kind of rogue officer. People who were at the incident have sent in thank-you cards for him taking action to protect them. During the incident, Lake Hallie police were told a woman armed with a knife was walking toward the front of the Wal-Mart, 2786 Commercial Boulevard. Meyers arrived on the scene, told the woman to stop, but she refused. The woman then lunged at Meyers and he fired his service weapon twice, Smokowicz said. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, where she died that night. A former chief Meyers joined the Lake Hallie force after spending about a year as police chief in Elmwood, a village of 810 in Pierce County in northwestern Wisconsin. He was hired in 2006, beating out four other candidates, according to an article in the Pierce County Herald. In November 2007, the Elmwood Village Board terminated Meyers as chief, asserting he failed to maintain village-owned equipment and broke the law by passing vehicles on the right, said a Herald article. Before serving in Elwmood, Meyers served on the Racine force from 2002 to 2006. He worked third shift, said Racine Police Lt. Al Days. In Racine, Meyers played a major role in the creation of a memorial to commemorate officers killed in the line of duty, according to Journal Times archives. Last May, almost exactly a year ago, the City of Racine announced that longtime Development Director Brian OConnell would be retiring in July. About a month after his retirement, the search started for a replacement to lead the citys development efforts. For almost a year, the city has been doing its due diligence to find a good replacement, as officials should be. Its a process that should be taken seriously and candidates should be properly vetted. What is concerning is the rushed steps that happened over the last two weeks. At 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 29, the City of Racine issued a news release announcing the mayors recommendation for a new city development director. For those familiar with the media world, a press release sent after 5 p.m. on a Friday usually leads to nothing good. This was no exception. In the news release, the city announced that Mayor John Dickert was recommending Amy Connolly as the citys new director of city development. Connolly at the time was on suspension from her job as a planner from Tinley Park, Ill., a suburb south of Chicago. In the press release Dickert states: Hiring the right person was critical given the effect it will have on the citys ability to continue to grow and prosper. Ms. Connolly has the qualifications, experience, and temperament necessary to be successful in this position. Then he gets to the meat of it. Over the past several months, Tinley Park has been embroiled in a debate regarding a proposed low-income apartment development. Ms. Connolly had been facilitating the project, which was the subject of an 11th-hour outcry from various community members who opposed the proposal, apparently based upon a concern about the character of the class of tenants. In the citys defense, its good that city officials included the information about Tinley Park in the news release. They could have tried to hide it entirely. But that would not have played out well. After that rushed press release, we thought city officials would take some time to discuss the application and talk to Connolly. Instead, in a vote last Tuesday, aldermen quickly approved Connollys appointment on a 12-1 vote. In fact, the vote wasnt even solely about Connolly. Aldermen approved her along with 34 other appointments, without singling out any one item. At the bare minimum, aldermen should have asked her a few questions or had her explain in her own words what happened in Tinley Park and how she would avoid something like that happening in Racine. Connolly may be a good fit for the city. Maybe she was the best candidate. But city officials did not need to rush into hiring her. The Cook County Sheriffs Office is investigating a project she was involved in. And the village is facing two lawsuits accusing it of wrongdoing in its review of the project in which she was involved. One, filed by members of Citizens of Tinley Park, names Connolly as a defendant. In addition, Connolly filed a discrimination complaint with the village when she was placed on leave, according to the Chicago Tribune. The city already waited nearly a year to fill the position. They could have waited a little longer. Women in politics have to deal with a lot of garbage. The abuse, often arriving via email and social media interactions, defies party lines and gender. Recipients are simultaneously horrified by it and resigned to it. Women going into politics know sexism is the cost of admission, but its still a steep price to pay. You have to be pretty strong, said former state Rep. Michelle Litjens, a Republican who represented the Neenah area from 2011 to 2013. I think more strong than a man, because I dont think they go after mens children like they do for a woman. State Rep. Melissa Sargent, a Madison Democrat, has started taking screenshots of tweets, emails and Facebook posts, to show people the kinds of messages she receives. I would call you a dumb c---, but that would be insult to all the dumb c---s in Madison, read another, responding to the same legislation and repeatedly using an offensive term for female genitalia. She hopes people might be embarrassed when they see their words broadcast to the world by the woman on the receiving end. But at the very least, shes trying to call attention to the sexism directed at women in politics, particularly online. Litjens does the same and she said it has put a stop to some of the vitriol. But screenshots dont capture everything that makes life in politics different for women, like the things people said to Litjens children at school during the battle over Gov. Scott Walkers Act 10 legislation, or the radio host who referred to her as a Barbie and said he hoped her husband slept with her best friend. Or the voters who asked Sargent and Litjens, as they campaigned door-to-door, how they could run for office and take care of their kids at the same time. They also dont capture experiences like the one Sargent said she had with a male business owner in her district who asked to meet with her at his place of business. When she arrived, he suggested they speak privately in his office. I go out in my district all the time and meet with business owners and nonprofits and home owners and kids. I love being out I feel like thats a field trip for me when I can do that, Sargent said. And this guy tried to undress me. He took me back to his office. Im there as a legislator. And after that happened, I was like, I really shouldnt, probably, go to meetings out in the district by myself, unless where Im going is somewhere public. Sitting in her office at the Capitol, Sargent said she now realizes she probably should have reported the incident to police. But as an elected official, she said, she didnt want to make a big deal out of it. I dont think my male colleagues have to be afraid of going to meet with their constituents in that same way. And I really shouldnt feel that way, and I didnt used to, Sargent said. But something like that happens and now I do. Several women were eager to share their horror stories when approached for this story, handing over cell phones with images of particularly nasty exchanges and recommending colleagues who could provide more examples. The cases are common and numerous enough to come up frequently in conversations among women holding elected office in Wisconsin. As the country watches Hillary Clintons presidential run, such behavior has become even more visible. Social media follows you everywhere While men more commonly report being harassed online 44 percent, compared to 37 percent of women they report it happening most frequently in online gaming and comments sections, while women are targeted far more than men on social media, according to a 2014 Pew Research poll. Nearly three-quarters of women who have experienced online harassment said their most recent incident occurred on social media, compared to 59 percent of men. And women who have been harassed online were more than twice as likely as men to be extremely or very upset by their most recent experience. Perpetrators of sexism and harassment frequently transcend party and gender lines. The hate comes from men, women, Republicans and Democrats alike. Because of the treatment women often receive in the media, and particularly on social media, that discourages women who want to protect their families and their children and even sometimes their own reputations and privacy, said Republican Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch. And that discouragement simply narrows the pool of people willing to throw their hats in the ring. Tweets mentioning Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley, the conservative candidate in the April judicial election, referred to her as a worthless whore, a ho and a psycho bitch. Meanwhile, a Facebook comment on an ad mentioning Bradleys opponent went after the liberal judge JoAnne Kloppenburg: ignorant bitch Someone needs to rape her. Rebecca Kleefisch is a painted whore, read a tweet about the lieutenant governor during the 2012 recall election against her and Gov. Scott Walker. A post-election tweet declared, OMG the evil c--- Rebecca Kleefisch won somehow yesterday?!?! Republicans! Once those comments circulate on the internet, theyre just waiting to be seen by family members. Kleefisch recalls her young daughter coming home from school and asking her to explain things shed read about her mother online. Social media follows you everywhere, and I think when you have everyone with an equal ability to comment, its a great idea for democracy. But its also a breeding ground for meanness, Kleefisch said. When Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, a La Crosse Democrat, endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, one Facebook commenter responded by proclaiming, Dumb c---s vote for dumb c---s. Wisconsins women in Washington get their share of it, too. Even though Tammy Baldwin looks like Doris Day......Shes a dyke who hates men who love women!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! said one Twitter user of the first woman to represent Wisconsin and the first openly gay person in the U.S. Senate. Other tweets targeted Baldwin using graphic homophobic insults. U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, Wisconsins first black member of Congress, doesnt fare any better online. One Twitter user suggested Moore, a Milwaukee Democrat, should be violently attacked. Rep Gwen Moore race baiting queen get this c--- out of here shes pathetic, said another. Mary Erpenbach, who owns a Beloit-based public relations firm, plans to shut down her personal social media accounts at least for the duration of the 2016 U.S. Senate race between Republican Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic former Sen. Russ Feingold, her ex-husband. Whats #wiunion #WhoreMary done to be worth all this attention read one tweet directed at her in 2012, while referring to sexual acts. The attacks are usually deeply personal and often related to her family, including her brother, state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton. They escalate anytime she tweets about political issues, she said. People will sometimes suggest ignoring the trolls, but its often not that easy. They just move on to somebody else, Erpenbach said. And the other thing is, when people say just ignore them, theyre diminishing the actions of the people who are doing it. I shouldnt have to be held responsible for the actions of people who are behaving abominably. Erpenbach said she tells her business and nonprofit clients especially women to stay away from social media if they can. But for women in public office, its not that simple as voters are increasingly using social media to connect with politicians. Sixteen percent of registered voters follow candidates, parties or elected officials on a social media platform, according to a 2015 Pew survey. While that might not seem like much, its up from the 2010 midterm elections, when just 6 percent did. The fastest-growing audience is among voters ages 30 to 49, which tripled over that time period. I think those politicians always got some degree of backlash in the form of angry letters or even hateful letters, but the bar is a lot lower with social media you can just post it up there, said Chris Wells, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who studies the intersection of politics and social media. The thing that makes it kind of complicated is politicians need to be in those social media spaces because thats where so much of the tenor of the campaign takes place. During her judicial race, Bradley said, she was given advice to stop paying attention to social media. She didnt always follow it, but said shed give the same advice to other candidates. Litjens sometimes had her staff screen social media posts before she read them during her time in the Assembly. Erin Forrest, executive director of Emerge Wisconsin, an organization that recruits and trains Democratic women to run for office, shares screenshots of her own online interactions, which has prompted other politically involved women to share sexist comments they receive with her. Sharing those posts helps remind progressives in particular that theyre not immune from sexism, Forrest said, and forces some uncomfortable conversations. This is not about me or how thick my skin is, this is about what happens to women who stand up for other women, Forrest said, referencing the comments directed at women who support Hillary Clinton for president. These things dont change without intention behind them. Its not like most people are trying to keep women or people of color out of positions of power, but theres all of this systemic stuff at play, Forrest said. Because we dont talk about this enough, we have these individual experiences with sexism that we dont understand are systemic, and it really undermines our self esteem. No disrespect, just saying Kleefisch is used to strangers commenting on her appearance suggesting a new hairstyle or a different suit color, for instance. Her first job out of college was as a TV reporter and living her entire professional life in the public eye has given her a healthy tolerance for comments that would shock the uninitiated. You develop a thick skin and a pretty decent sense of self because if you dont, you cant even wake up and look in the mirror. So you have to know who you are, Kleefisch said, adding that her perspective is unique in that regard. Not every woman goes through that experience to prepare her for what is about to come the deluge of criticisms about everything from policy views to appearance on social media. Politicians expect to discuss and defend their policy positions, but for female politicians, it often comes with a dose of unsolicited criticism of their appearance. It can range from a female constituent ripping Sargents decision to wear a purple jacket to a male constituent noting Rep. Samantha Kerkman, a Salem Republican, had gained weight after her second son was born. He suggested in an email, for your own good for more important, for your image in govt take care of yourself, get in shape, now. Another told her via Facebook that she has a nice full womanly body built for sex. No disrespect, just saying. Even policy-related discussions can take an ugly turn. When Sargent introduced a bill that would require state-run buildings, including schools, to offer free tampons and pads, one Facebook commenter asked if they would include larger sizes for the liberal women. None of this is to say male politicians arent subjected to online harassment and mean emails. But female politicians are framed and discussed in different terms, Litjens said, and generally attacked on a much more personal level. But Bradley takes issue with a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline for perpetuating a double standard for women in politics: Bradley extramarital affair, role in child placement surface. The story reported that Bradley had represented a former co-worker, whom she had dated, in his child custody case in 2004-05. When the two dated, Bradley and her then-husband were still legally married, but separated. The man's ex-wife tried to have Bradley removed from the case, but a judge determined there was no conflict of interest. Ive never seen that type of article run against any male candidate or other public figure, and there are multiple examples of men who engaged in behavior that would be considered Ill say the word adultery, who were having affairs while they were married and while they were still living with their wives, Bradley said. When Im dating somebody while Im separated and going through a divorce from my husband, that becomes an extramarital affair headline, and no man has ever received that type of treatment from Wisconsin media to my knowledge. Responding to Bradleys comments, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editor George Stanley noted that the paper covered Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist's affair with a former aide and published the entire Starr report regarding Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. Stanley noted that as a college senior, Bradley called voters stupid or evil for electing Clinton, whom she derided as an adulterer and a socialist. She also wrote that sex was appropriate only within heterosexual marriage. The Journal Sentinels report on Bradley noted that the romantic relationship with her former co-worker had lasted several years while she was still legally married. We also reported that it was unusual for a person to represent someone they were romantically involved with in a child custody case, especially when the lawyer had no experience in family law. We also printed her ex-husband's statement that they were living in separate residences during the affair, though they were not yet legally separated, Stanley said. We print what we learn about candidates for high office and leave it up to our readers to determine what is important to them when electing senior public officials. For black women in politics, narratives from the media, other campaigns and even from within a political party can be particularly unfair, Moore said, citing the recent Democratic U.S. Senate primary in Maryland in which Rep. Chris Van Hollen defeated Rep. Donna Edwards. One of the most egregious narratives in the race, Moore said, was that Edwards, who has served in the House since a 2008 special election, wasnt qualified for the office. Van Hollen was elected to the House in 2003. If shes not qualified, theres no black woman in America thats qualified, Moore said. When I went door to door in Baltimore, there were people who had no idea she was anything other than a single mom who had raised her child. Moore said shes had similar experiences in her own campaigns. People like the Washington Post, for years and years they said, Gwen Moore, comma, former welfare recipient, comma, because they could never say anything about my stewardship without referencing that I was a low-class, unworthy person, Moore said. I think theres an element of shame in this country about being a single, black female the welfare queen, somebody who needed food stamps theres an element of shame that black women, women of color, who are disproportionately dependent on those programs, are made to feel inept, she said. So they heralded her shame and suppressed her qualifications. Moore blames the Maryland Democratic Party for marginalizing Edwards in favor of its preferred candidate, Van Hollen. She thinks black women who watched that race may be deterred from aspiring to public office. I guess if I were a black woman in Maryland, Id be terrified to run for dogcatcher if the party didnt pick me, Moore said. Womens voices have value Sargent, who grew up in Madison, remembers walking to the state Capitol as a young girl when she needed a place to be alone. She said she felt safe in the building, but never dreamed she might work there someday. The people she saw then wore fancy suits and Old Spice, and didnt look like her. She grew emotional as she said she hopes, just by being in office, she can show young girls and women they can aspire to serve the public. When you really believe something needs to happen, its important to kind of jump off that cliff, to be brave. They sent us here not to do easy work, but to do good work, Sargent said. She knows the negative experiences might make some of those women and girls second-guess any inclination to run for office, but said so much of the negativity can be overcome by surrounding herself with supportive people. Emerge, in its efforts to put Democratic women in office, is as much about creating a support network and building up womens self-esteem as it is about teaching campaign strategy, Forrest said. Forrest reminds women who arent sure running for office is worth the ugliness that you dont get a pass on sexism if you dont go into politics. And being elected offers women a chance to make institutional change. I think regardless of party stripe, women in public service want to see more women in public service. We want to see more women run for political office, because we believe that womens voices have value, Kleefisch said. And beyond that, womens voices are actually essential in policy formation when you form policy that reflects everyones views and needs and desires. So its really important that women are at the table. Anyone who runs for office, man or woman, puts his or her family under the microscope. Asked whats needed to survive the attacks that are bound to ensue, Litjens suggested an ability to focus on the positive. Intestinal fortitude, Bradley offered. When you see people turning away the opportunity to give a gift of their voice to the public square because of what would happen and the criticisms their family would come under because of it I dont know thats what our founders intended, Kleefisch said. I think they intended for a great, robust, respectful debate about the future direction of our country. That only comes when you treat other people with respect regardless of their ideas. Kleefisch said she hopes to see more people speak up when they see harassment. Women working in the Capitol could be more supportive of one another, Sargent said, adding that shed like to have some kind of bipartisan womens caucus for legislators. It can still be intimidating to be the only woman in a committee hearing and to realize most of the lobbyists and journalists in the room are also men, she said. Kerkman said she has started to have conversations with female lawmakers in both parties about their experiences and has found it helpful to know others are going through the same things juggling work with raising kids or concern for personal safety after encountering harassment. Its not just a matter of men waking up and realizing that some of the things they say and do, they shouldnt say and do, but its also a matter of women realizing we need to have each others backs, Sargent said. And we might have worked hard to get where we are to have a seat at this table, but we can still be pulling people up with us to have a seat next to us. PM Oli says govt on right track overcoming obstacles Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has asserted that the government would move forward with the initiation of the right works without getting stuck in obstacles, hurdles and protests. Authorities to probe into names in Panama Papers The government authorities said on Tuesday that they were trying to establish whether the seven names linked to Nepal that appeared in the Panama Papers database released on Monday night were real names. Bernie Sanders beats Clinton in West Virginia primary Bernie Sanders has won the West Virginia primary in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, US media project. Brazil impeachment: Rousseff appeals to Supreme Court Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has asked the Supreme Court to block impeachment proceedings against her - in a final attempt to stop the process hours before a crucial Senate vote. Anup Ojha is a reporter for The Kathmandu Post primarily covering social issues and human interest stories. Before moving to the social beat, Ojha covered arts and culture for the Post for four years. Car bomb in Baghdad's Sadr City kills 50: police, medics A car bomb claimed by Islamic State in a Shi'ite Muslim district of Baghdad killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 60 others on Wednesday, Iraqi police and hospital sources said. Conflict victims take exception to nine-point agreement Conflict victims have taken exception to the nine-point agreement reached last week between the ruling CPN-UML and UCPN (Maoist), complaining that it would give amnesty to human rights violators of the decade-long insurgency. Cong criticises govts policies, programmes The main opposition Nepali Congress has criticised the governments policies and programmes as a temporary document by a temporary government. DPM Thapa: Govt serious about issues of Gurkhas Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa, who held talks with the British authorities on issues of Gurkha soldiers in London recently, said that the matter had been a national agenda, not merely a concern of a small group. Fuel and food Excessive reliance on import for basic commodities can have dire outcomes 'Godzilla 2' release date moved to 2019 Warner Bros. has moved back Godzilla 2 nine months to March 22, 2019, and dated its Godzilla vs. Kong movie for May 29, 2020. Good writing comes out of deep meditation Yubaraj Nayaghare has authored more than a dozen books, most of which are anthologies of essays and travellogues. Ek Haatko Taali, Nayaghares collection of essays, won him the prestigious Madan Puraskar. He has also won numerous awards and Govt to seek judicial review of court order The government is considering another review petition against the Supreme Courts verdict on the transitional justice Act in order to implement the agreement reached between two major coalition partners. Local polls by December? Leaders say theres a catch Though the government has announced that local elections will be held in November-December, leaders say there is a catch. Motiur Rahman Nizami: Bangladeshi Islamist leader hanged An Islamist leader has been hanged in Bangladesh for crimes during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. New Zealand PM John Key thrown out of parliament Being New Zealand's prime minister granted John Key no special favours during a heated parliamentary debate about the Panama Papers. Of waiting and losing patience I heard somewhere that the hardest part of life is waiting. I used to think that there were things in life that were tougher than waiting. But now I know better. Police suspect travel cos involvement One of the two women arrested on Monday from Tribhuvan International Airport was travelling to Oman on a tourist visa and traffickers had assured her of a work permit once she lands in the Gulf sultanate, police said. Rumour about govt change is not true, PM Oli tells diplomatic community Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has dispelled rumours that the government is in a crisis. He was hinting at the recent political drama about regime change. Six arrested for deer poaching Six persons were arrested on charge of deer poaching in Surkhet on Tuesday. A team led by District Forest Office (DFO) arrested Jayakala Giri, Ram Bahadur Nepali, Punam Nepali, Rudra Bahadur Gurung, Uddhav Khadka and Bikash Kharel for killing a sambar deer. The irony in religion Why is violence only justified when it is done by the ruling class, the kings, or the Gods and not when used by progressives to ignite change? Three injured in mild aftershock Three persons were injured when a mild aftershock jolted various parts of the district including its headquarters-Gorkha today noon. Two held with pangolin scales The Metropolitan Police Crime Division (MPCD) Teku arrested two traders in possession of pangolin scales from Bouddha-6 on Monday. Pangolin is locally known as Salak. Alisha Sijapati is an arts and culture reporter at The Kathmandu Post, primarily covering human interest stories. She is intrigued by history, culture and films. Before joining the Post in 2015, she worked as a journalist for The Himalayan Times and ECS Media. Devkota is an expert in federalism and local governments, and is an independent member of the National Assembly. Killeen, TX (76540) Today Thunderstorms, some heavy during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight along with gusty winds. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 52F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall may reach one inch.. Tonight Thunderstorms, some heavy during the evening will give way to mainly clear skies after midnight along with gusty winds. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 52F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall may reach one inch. The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to send technical experts to the country before the end of May 2016 to advise on how to decommission the non- functional Radiotherapy Machine at the Uganda Cancer Institute. Health Minister Dr.Elioda Tumwesigye says they want to remove the machine from the bunker and create space for the new radiotherapy machine. Dr.Tumwesigye notes that the experts will assess the state of the old bunker before advising on the best course of action. The Cobalt 60 Radiotherapy Machine that was installed in 1995 at the Uganda Cancer Institute broke down last month leaving many cancer patients helpless. Story By Dianah Wanyana Members of Parliament have maintained that they will return the Income Tax Amendment Bill 2016 to the president unchanged. This comes a day after President Yoweri Museveni rejected the bill passed last month that sought to exempt MPs allowances from taxation and returned it for reconsideration. According to a press statement issued by state house yesterday, president Museveni said it was politically and morally wrong for MPs to use their position to increase their salaries and also exempt themselves from paying taxes. He further argued that the decision by MPs does not promote good practice because it risks undermining the integrity of both the courts and the parliament. I do not support the decision of parliament and iam accordingly returning the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016 for reconsideration by the House said president Museveni in a statement. The bill was widely criticized by members of the public and civil society that accused legislators of being selfish. However MPs including Ruth Nankabirwa and William Nzoghu say parliament will not change its position. Visiting Zambian president Edgar Chagwa Lungu has asked Ugandans opposition members to concede defeat and recognise Yoweri Museveni as the duly elected president following the highly contested February 18th polls. The 59-year-old Zambian leader who is in the country for the swearing-in of President Museveni scheduled for tomorrow, seemed to take a swipe at Dr. Kizza Besigye who came second in the February 18 presidential elections. According to the Electoral Commission records, 71 year old Museveni won 60% of the vote while his closest challenger Dr. Kiiza Besigye took 35% of the 9.3m votes cast. Dr. Besigye however rejected the results, calling for independent audit. After landing at Entebbe International Airport this afternoon, Mr Lungu said the opposition must accept the will of the majority of Ugandans. Mr Lungu also advised Ugandans to love their president and attend his ceremony as he swears in for his 5th term at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds tomorrow. Mr Lungu joins Tanzania president John Pombe Magufuli, Zimbabwes Robert Mugabe and other foreign dignitaries who are in Uganda for the same function. Story By Joseph Kiggundu Kendallville, IN (46755) Today Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low near 55F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight Cloudy early with some clearing expected late. Low near 55F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. FORT WAYNE From May 6-30, Indiana State Police Troopers throughout the state will join officers from more than 250 state and local agencies in Indiana, as well as thousands more across the nation, in the federally funded Click It or Ticket campaign. This campaign also includes the Memorial Day holiday weekend and the federally funded Combined Accident Reduction Effort (C.A.R.E.) overtime project. During this period, troopers will be raising awareness about the benefits of occupant restraints through education and enforcement, and utilizing high visibility patrols and sobriety checkpoints to help ensure the safest environment for all motorists on Indiana roadways. According to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, in 2015, there were 818 fatalities on Indiana roadways with 33 percent of those fatalities unrestrained. Statistics have shown that wearing a seatbelt and properly restraining children in a child restraint seat dramatically reduce the possibility of injuries and death from a traffic crash, Indiana State Police Superintendent Doug Carter said. We are committed to ensuring everyone buckles up every time, all the time, to safeguard Hoosiers while traveling throughout Indiana. The Indiana State Police reminds motorists to: Wear seatbelts and utilize child restraint devices. Appoint a designated driver if you plan to drink alcoholic beverages. Never ride with someone that has been drinking. Dont let them drive. Be a friend and take the keys. To report dangerous and/or impaired driving, dial 911. From the Appalachian Mountains to the Rocky Mountains, many of Americas thruways, state highways and county roads are high-speed travel lanes for traffic through fields of corn and soybeans and scattered, mostly small, remnants of the Midwest prairie. Lining these travel lanes grow exotic grasses, such as fescue, which have been planted there. These roadsides are mowed frequently during the growing season and sprayed with herbicides regularly to prevent the sprouting of any plants except exotic grasses. Driving on these roads through the country is a drive past farmers fields, scattered farm houses and other buildings and occasional woodlots, lakes, ponds and marshes. To me, and to most people I believe, its monotonous, boring. The boredom is relieved, for me, by the birds I see. But I dont see many birds. When I drive from my home in the country into the nearest town I see a mourning dove or two and a kestrel perched on the power line by the road. I see starlings. On or around some of the farm buildings I see rock pigeons. When the weather is fair I usually see a few turkey vultures circling and occasionally one or two at the carcass of a dead racoon or opossum or squirrel or even a deer in or by the road. Its not this way everywhere in America. Wildflowers line the roads in Texas. In 1929 Texas started a program of planting wildflowers along roads in the state. Lady Bird Johnson worked actively to promote the program. Today, Texas is noted for the variety, profusion and color of blooming wildflowers along its roads. Other states are following the example set by Texas. Iowa now has a state-wide program of establishing native prairie plants along roads in the state. Indiana, Illinois, California, New York, Florida and other states have planted native plants along designated lengths of roads. A national law, Fixing Americas Surface Transportation Act, encourages states to plant milkweed and other native plants along highways. The law specifically names milkweed because milkweed is essential to monarch butterflies which have declined in number by 90 percent. There is a movement to make Interstate Highway 35 a monarch high by planting milkweed along the Monarchs migration route, from Duluth, Minnesota to Laredo, Texas. Wildflowers and native grasses along highways benefit other wildlife beside monarch butterflies, other butterflies, bees, moths and other insects. Wildflowers and native grasses benefit many birds, particularly those that nest in grassland, meadowlarks, vesper, Savannah and grasshopper sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, bobolinks. and killdeer. When there is a lake or marsh nearby they benefit mallards and other species of ducks that nest in grass as well as in marsh vegetation. They benefit ruby-throated hummingbirds. Establishing native plants along highways benefits and increases the number of small mammals such as prairie voles, western harvest mice, northern short-tailed shrews and rabbits. More small mammals leads to more of the hawks and owls that hunt in the open, red-tailed and Swainsons hawks, northern harriers and kestrels and those winter visitors south of the most northern states, rough-legged hawks, short-eared and snowy owls. Native prairie wildflowers and other plants prevent erosion, store carbon and reduce air pollution, and prevent runoff of chemical fertilizers and other pollutants. Without the need to mow or spray, except in places where they reduce driver visibility, native prairie plants are cheaper to maintain. The only maintenance required is burning periodically, once every three or four years, to prevent woody vegetation, whose seeds are spread by wind and birds, from becoming established. Native wildflowers and other plants growing along roadsides may reduce accidents by reducing the monotony of the scenery, keeping drivers more alert, perhaps keeping them from texting. FORT WAYNE Non-traditional backgrounds made two candidates stand out as Northwest Allen County Schools sought two new assistant principals at Carroll High School. Kevin Fogle, a teacher with 16-years of experience at Angola High School, and Micah Lackland, the director of education at the Allen County Juvenile Center for the past nine years, were approved by the NACS board at its meeting on Monday. The two fill positions vacated by Brandon Bitting and Brandon Basham. Bitting is taking over as Carroll High School principal for Sam DiPrimio. DiPrimio is taking over as director of secondary education for Deborah Neumeyer, who is retiring. Basham has been tabbed as the new principal at Carroll Middle School, taking over for John Miller. Miller is taking over for Tom Schipper as the districts director of buildings and grounds. Schipper retired in February. Their back stories and their experiences will add a great perspective moving forward for Carroll High School, Bitting said. We have a great team at Carroll and the strength of our team is the collaborative effort based on decision making. These guys will be a big part of that. Fogle is a graduate from Winchester Community High School and has a bachelors and masters degree from Ball State University. His 16 years at Angola include the title of director of bands. I really enjoyed the academic side of things and the administrative side of things. I started getting involved with my principal with some of the policy work at our school and found I really enjoyed it, Fogle said. He finished his Masters in Administration degree in December and says he is ready for a bigger role. I am extremely excited, Fogle said. It is a privilege to be a part of this school district. I am looking forward to being a part of the academic excellence and commitment to education for this school corporation. As Carroll heads towards 1-to-1 technology in the classroom for grades 6-12 next fall, Fogle was a part of the implementation of 1-to-1 at Angola, now in its second year. He said training the teachers and students about the technology is the biggest step. I noticed through our transition that there was a variety of ability levels so you had to get everyone on the same page, he said. Lackland has worked for the Allen County Superior Court for over 17 years, the last nine overseeing the maximum security detention school and the alternative school at the Juvenile Center. All four school districts have students and/or staff that attend school at the Juvenile Center, he said. I have had a lot of experience working with kids from all over the county and every socioeconomic area of Fort Wayne, Lackland said. Ive made a lot a good relationships with school personnel. You have to know how to be relational and deal with people. I think that is the biggest skill that I have. I am a verbal person and that is what I will carry with me. Lackland also some experience in implementing technology changes at a school. He helped bring technology to the maximum security detention school. He also said the benefits of 1-to-1 technology outweigh the problems. It offers all kinds of opportunities, Lackland said. There are some different dimensions to discipline and security that 1-to-1 brings, but overall, its a great idea and I am excited about helping the staff incorporate it. I am looking forward to getting in, learning as much as possible, being a sponge and being a part of the team as quickly as possible. He is a graduate of Murphy High School in Murphy, North Carolina, and received his bachelors degree from Taylor University. He earned his Masters in Educational Leadership at IPFW. His wife, Lindsay, is the director of guidance at Homestead High School and they have a daughter, Paityn, a kindergartner at Perry Hill Elementary, and a son, Bryson (3). NACS superintendent Chris Himsel said the district had over 100 applicants for the two positions. After initial screenings, 19 were chosen to meet with groups of students, parents and teachers. That group made recommendations before finalists met with administration from throughout the district as well as interviews with NACS board members. The process worked and giving the stakeholders a voice in the process is what is so unique about it, Bitting said. We take a lot of input from those three groups. They dictated who goes to round two. That process was exciting because those groups have great perspective and these two certainly stood out. FORT WAYNE For the third year in a row, the city of Fort Wayne will see record investment in street, sidewalk, ADA ramp and trail upgrades. At an afternoon news conference in the Eagle Lake Neighborhood on Thursday, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry announced the citys aggressive commitment to neighborhood improvements that will see nearly 500 projects completed in 2016. More than $25 million will go to neighborhood infrastructure improvements in 2016. In the Eagle Lake addition more than $670,000 is being invested to repair concrete streets, sidewalks, curbs and add new ADA ramps. In the past three years, more than $75 million in neighborhood Public Works enhancements has been committed. Investing in our neighborhoods is critical to the current and future success of our city, Henry said. We must have strong and vibrant neighborhoods with infrastructure that works and is attractive for residents and businesses. One of the reasons why were experiencing growth and momentum in our community is because of our ongoing commitment to making a positive difference in all of our neighborhoods. The road, street and trail construction projects will help to support good-paying construction jobs, strengthen neighborhoods and ensure Fort Wayne is ready to compete for new jobs and business investment. City Utilities will continue to replace nine miles of water main each year, build new storm pipes to reduce basement backups and street flooding and construct new sanitary pipes coupled with plant improvements to increase capacity and protect area rivers. City Utilities will invest more than $30 million in neighborhood upgrades this year. Utility enhancements will improve the delivery of water, reduce sewer back-ups and reduce the number of combined overflows into our rivers. Between Public Works and City Utilities2016 will see $55 million invested in our neighborhoods. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics every $1 million invested in infrastructure construction, supports or creates an average of 24 jobs. Using that formula the combined investment from Public Works and City Utilities will support 1,320 jobs with the work being done in Fort Wayne neighborhoods. The proposed transportation improvements include nine miles of concrete street repaid, 54 miles of resurfacing, 47,000 feet of sidewalk repairs and 400 new ADA ramps. Besides the large number of neighborhood projects, motorists will notice paving improvements on major roads including: Airport Expressway, Hobson Road, McKinnie Avenue, North Clinton, Maysville Road, Diebold Road and Spy Run Extended. Additionally, the safety improvement to realign and straighten Maumee Avenue, near Indiana Tech, will be completed this year and a significant addition to our trail network on Illinois Road is scheduled. The McKinnie Avenue project will add a trail between South Anthony Boulevard and Hessen Cassel Road. The Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin is calling for grant applications for its two matching small grants programs, the C.D. Besadny Conservation Grant Program and the Teachers Outdoors Environmental Education Grant Program. The Besadny program awards grants to projects that involve the management and restoration of Wisconsins natural resources and/or focus on natural resources education and outreach. The Teachers Outdoors program awards grants to projects focused on outdoor environmental education. Both programs provide grants of up to $1,000. The C.D. Besadny Grant Program supports projects in Wisconsin that promote the responsible stewardship of Wisconsins natural resources at the local level. The Teachers Outdoor Environmental Education Fund provides grants for public school teachers (K-12) to undertake outdoor environmental education projects. The Teachers Outdoor Environmental Education Fund was established by Pete Ostlind in memory of his wife Sue Spaeth, a Wisconsin native and elementary school teacher for more than 30 years. To apply for a grant from either program, download the 2016 grant application and submit it electronically to grants@wisconservation.org by Sept. 1. Grants will be disbursed in October. Questions may be directed to the foundation at 608-266-1430 or grants@wisconservation.org. Evidence is mounting that opioid pain medication may have played a role in the death of pop legend Prince. While the medical examiner hasnt yet released the results of the autopsy and toxicology tests in this case, opioid overdose in middle age is all too common. In 2013 and 2014, according to the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people ages 45 to 64 accounted for more than 40 percent of all deaths from drug overdose. Prince died on April 21 at his home and music studio Paisley Park in Minneapolis. He was 57. Experts say there are a number of scenarios that increase risk of overdose, which is often accidental, for people over 55. Imagine you are in that age group and you injured your shoulder a while back. It just hasnt gotten better, so you take prescription painkillers an opioid like OxyContin to help with the pain. Lets say youve been taking it for a couple of years. Your body has built up a tolerance to the drug, and now, you need to change it up to get the same amount of relief. When it comes to the potential for overdose, said Boston Medical Center epidemiologist Traci Green, this is one of the most dangerous crossroads. We oftentimes see that the dose will increase with an individual over time or they might rotate or switch to another medication to experience pain relief. And so, at each rotation or change, theres a risk (of accidental overdose) because youre moving from one drug to another, she said. Your body might not be used to that high dose, she said, or that different medication. She continued: Lets say you also suffer from anxiety. Benzodiazepines can help with that. But taking opioids and benzodiazepines, or benzos, together is a dangerous combination. There are wonderful medications used for treating anxiety, she said, but theres a different calculus when they are taken with opioids. One opioid plus one benzo doesnt equal the effect of two in the individual, Green said. Its like one plus one equals four, or six. Opioids can depress the bodys drive to breathe and so can benzodiazepines. Combine them and that effect mounts. You could stop breathing and never wake up. And lots of people are taking these drugs in combination. In fact, people in their mid-40s to mid-60s are more likely than any other group to be prescribed opioids with benzodiazepines, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. It is indeed a demographic to keep an eye on, Green said, partly because of another risk factor. People in this older age range may be likely to live alone or be otherwise isolated maybe from divorce or because their kids have moved out. So, Green said, If something happens, if no ones there to revive you, then youre more likely to die of that experience. University of Rhode Island pharmacy professor Jeffrey Bratberg said the way people in this age group tend to take drugs is also putting them at higher risk. Theyre taking longer-acting opioids, he said. Theyre taking doses that, at certain thresholds, are associated with increased overdose death. Also, Bratberg said, theyre more likely to have chronic health conditions that put them at higher risk of respiratory depression. Medical conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or even the flu can amplify opioids ability to depress breathing. And some percentage of these drug users, he said, will develop a substance use disorder. So why are doctors prescribing so much, in such combinations? Bratberg said its how the physicians were trained. If youre a primary care prescriber and your patients are doing OK, maybe youre just not thinking about that, he said. Plus theres difficulty in telling the person whose pain may be controlled by opioids, and their anxiety may be controlled by benzodiazepines, to say, Now were going to taper you off because this is harmful. So millions of people are on opioids most of them over 45 and that means some are at risk of overdose. Bratberg said we should be educating patients and doctors. Were really making a push nationally and regionally to educate prescribers about those risks, and to use tools available to warn folks about that. Tools that help lower the risk include naloxone, the overdose rescue drug. Theres also medication, such as buprenorphine or methadone, to assist people who have become addicted to painkillers to stop their use safely. In essence, those drugs keep a low level of opioids in the system to keep someone from going into withdrawal without getting them high. We oftentimes see that the dose will increase with an individual over time or they might rotate or switch to another medication to experience pain relief. And so, at each rotation or change, theres a risk (of accidental overdose) because youre moving from one drug to another. Traci Green, Boston Medical Center epidemiologist When Dale Klevgard gets into an airplane, he appreciates what the trip represents. Its not simply getting from point A to point B its also about how the world is limitless from the air. I think ultimate freedom is the way to describe it, because now you have the ability to escape the planet, basically. Its like when you get off the ground, all your cares disappear, said Klevgard, a Jackson County resident and flight instructor. You have the capability of getting in an airplane and flying any place in the county, almost any place in the world, almost without any restrictions whatsoever. It just opens up a whole new world, if you will, of possibilities. Klevgard got his first experience with the wonder of flying when he was a youngster taking a trip to Germany in 1960 with his family to visit his father who was in the Army. The family went from Chicago to the east coast and flew over the ocean before landing in Europe. But it was what happened on the flight and the one back that sealed Klevgards future in flying. A flight attendant came back and took Klevgard and his sister to the cockpit of the four-engine aircraft. They came back on a Boeing 747, one of the first jets that were flying, and also got a tour of the cockpit and received a pair of junior pilot wings and a model airplane after they got off the flight. I think it was probably just the way we were treated that really piqued my interest in flying, said Klevgard, who got his pilots license in 1978 and was certified as an instructor in 1980. Ive had it ever since. Klevgard has a little more than 8,000 hours of flying experience, over half of which is as an instructor. Hes mentored more than 125 students during his time living out west and back in Wisconsin, including three Western Wisconsin men who currently are learning about flying and aircraft. Derek Ahl of Jackson County already has hit a milestone in his flying study by completing a solo flight in late April. Two others Brad Honish of Warrens and Jeff Casper of Merrillan are quickly on their way to marking the same feat and going on to get their private pilot licenses. Ever since I was little, I wanted to fly, said Honish, a 2005 Tomah High School graduate. I thought it would end up being a retirement thing, but then my wife got me flying lessons for Christmas. The three men venture to Black River Area Airport just outside Black River Falls to conduct their training with Klevgard, where he also serves as assistant director of the airport. Many new students are eager but must face some fear and anxiety as they try flying for the first time. I think for some people, its probably overcoming the unknowns, said Klevgard, who was named a regional flight instructor of the year while living out west. I think, for me, it was probably that I had read so much and I knew so much about airplanes that it was finally moving the controls. Its always been a challenge. Anyone who wants to learn to fly, I want to be able to share that with them. Its the greatest feeling in the world. First tasks before heading into an airplane with an instructor involve a complete and thorough inspection of the airplane and first lessons deal with basic airplane control, learning to fly straight and level, inclines and descent. From there, more advanced lessons include turning around points, steeper turns and stall recoveries what to do when plans dont go quite right and their associated emergency procedures. Flight instruction sometimes can involve the surprise of an instructor, like Klevgard, turning off engine power to give the student the opportunity to show their knowledge of how to handle the situation. It only comes when Klevgard is confident in his students, he said. Youve got to know your stuff, Casper said. He wouldnt do it if he knew you couldnt recover. Before cross-country flying training comes takeoffs, landings and eventually hitting the point of controlling the plane alone an exciting milestone. Its not difficult at all almost any person could learn to fly an airplane, Klevgard said. Ive taught students from as early as 14 to as old as 79 years old. For a lot of people, too, they just have never completed the training, and its still in that bucket list and they can go on and achieve that in the later stages of life. Honish and Klevgard were out at the airport Saturday morning getting flying hours in, and the two took their positions in the front seats of the 1976 Cessna 172, where both have controls and go through the required checks together before getting off the ground. Alright, well go and do a run-up, Honish said as the plane sat off to the side of the runway. Then, he broadcasts to other pilots to let them know hell be taking to the air, and over to the runway. Im gonna make my radio call here, and we can take off, he said. Alright, here we go. Then, in the air. Lets go up to 2,500 feet, Klevgard said. Now, its getting a little bumpy. The pair went to their usual training spot above Alma Center and Hixton to conduct some turns and other technique training before heading back toward the airport and runway to make a landing. There was another radio call to let any air traffic know their location, and then some discussion about the approach. Well probably come right into the crosswind, Honish said. Honish made the descent, landed smoothly and taxied the plane back over to the side of the runway before making post-flight checks. Hell soon be completing his first solo flight hopefully this coming weekend, Klevgard said. Then will come the cross-country testing stages for at least a minimum of 40 hours of flying to get the private pilots license. Then, like Klevgard, hell be able to take a plane instead of a vehicle for trips if he chooses and experience travel from the sky. Trips that seem a long way, you can take an airplane and you get there a lot faster, he said. Its something Ive always wanted to do. Im just excited to go flying. Jackson County is searching for a new health and human services director after the recent resignation of Beth Smetana. Smetanas last day is Friday and she will go on to a new position in the University of Wisconsin-Madisons School of Social Work. I just had an exciting opportunity because of the nature of the work I felt very excited about trying for it, and it was just a change that I wanted to make, said Smetana, who served in her county position since 2012. Its really been four years of a period of a lot of work and a lot of excitement, and I really do think that this time somebody else coming on can probably take it to another level. Im proud of what Ive done, but I think that somebody else can take it and probably run with it. The county currently is recruiting for the director spot and will take applications through May 27. The DHHS committee appointed Chris Hovell, current public health manager, as the interim director. She will be greatly missed, and I wish her the best of luck in her new endeavors, said Diane Peterson, the countys personnel director. Smetana took over the director position at HHS four years ago after serving in several other positions in the department, which had been facing budget strains and no fund balance when she came on as director but now has developed a strong fund balance that contributed money back to the countys overall levy. Smetana said some of the improvement has to do with luck because of the unpredictability of budget factors like out-of-home placements, but she also helped implement some programs that helped save dollars. Its not a budget where you can say I have six expenses and Im going to know all of what Im going to spend money on theres so much volatility, she said. But I would say (it was) adding programs and maximizing revenues and real attention to the budget and our fiscal processes and then some luck. Smetana, who holds bachelors and masters degrees from UW-Madison, will begin June 1 as a supervisor foundation trainer and development manager with the Wisconsin Child Welfare Professional Development System, which is housed in UW-Madisons School of Social Work. Its a job that wont require a move out of Jackson County. She said she appreciated her time in the countys director position, especially because of the staff. We have such a talented, hardworking team not just at Jackson County HHS but across Jackson County, she said. I just cant overstate my appreciation, and the dedication. I dont know if people realize, to work in a small county, for me it was really a labor of love, and I think for a lot of people it is. Its service. The leader of Wisconsins short-staffed prison system said Thursday that he plans to hand out millions of dollars in raises each year in the hopes of boosting recruiting and retention. Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher issued a news release saying that starting June 26, all correctional officers, sergeants and youth counselors will receive 80 cents more an hour. Correctional officers and sergeants at maximum security prisons in Waupun, Green Bay and Portage will get an additional 50 cents per hour from May 29 through Jan. 7. Counselors at Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake, the states youth prison in Irma, also will get the additional 50 cents per hour during that span. Corrections employees who wont get a raise will be eligible for merit bonuses. The news release said the raises are expected to cost about $10 million annually and will be covered by existing funds. The release didnt say where that money would come from; agency spokesman Tristan Cook said DOC officials plan to generate the money through costs savings. He couldnt immediately offer any examples of how the agency was saving money, though. The department has budgeted about $1.1 million for bonuses for the fiscal year, which ends June 30. Wisconsin prisons have long grappled with severe staffing shortages, resulting in employees working longer shifts that have sapped morale. One of every 10 security positions was open as of Oct. 31, according to the agency. The problems were the worst at Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, where roughly 20 percent of jobs were unfilled as of August, according to a Legislative Audit Bureau review. Almost one in five jobs at Lincoln Hills/Copper Lake were open as of last month, according to DOC figures. Of 87 youth counselor positions, 14 were vacant. Of 59 advanced counselor positions, 14 also were open. That facility is under a sweeping federal investigation into allegations staffers abused inmates. Whats more, 20 percent of the agencys correctional officers and sergeants are currently eligible for retirement, with 35 percent eligible within five years and 54 percent eligible within 10, Thursdays news release said. Gov. Scott Walker appointed Litscher as DOC secretary in February, replacing Ed Wall, who resigned in the wake of the youth prison investigation. Litscher told state senators during his confirmation hearing in March that the public has lost confidence in the DOC and he wants to reduce forced overtime. Rick Badger, executive director of the state workers union, issued a statement calling the raises overdue. But he said morale would continue to suffer due to Walkers signature 2011 law that stripped most public workers of their collective bargaining rights. No doubt that these raises are needed to begin to claw back some of the hits these hardworking people have taken because of Walkers policies, Badger wrote. But if youre really serious about retaining employees, you also have to look at how you treat them every day. Asked for comment on Badgers remarks, Walker spokesman Tom Evenson responded with a statement saying Walker supports Litscher, and the changes hes spearheading will help bring about positive change. At some, posters on the wall in the emergency department list the drugs that are in short supply or unavailable, along with recommended alternatives. The low-tech visual aid can save time with critically ill patients, allowing doctors to focus on caring for them rather than doing research hospitals on the fly, said Dr. Jesse Pines, a professor of emergency medicine and director of the Office for Clinical Practice Innovation at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, who has studied the problems with shortages. The need for such workarounds probably wont end anytime soon. According to a new study, shortages of many drugs that are essential in emergency care have increased in both number and duration in recent years even as shortages for drugs for non-acute or chronic care have eased somewhat. The shortages have persisted despite a federal law enacted in 2012 that gave the Food and Drug Administration regulatory powers to respond to drug shortages, the study found. For this report, which was published in the May issue of Health Affairs, researchers analyzed drug shortage data between 2001 and 2014 from the University of Utahs Drug Information Service, which contains all confirmed national drug shortages, according to the study. They divided the drugs into acute and non-acute categories. Acute-care drugs were those used in the emergency department for many of the urgent and severe conditions handled there and include remedies such as pain medications, heart drugs, and saline and electrolyte products. Overall, the study found that 52 percent of the 1,929 shortages during the time period studied were for acute-care drugs. Following passage of the federal law in 2012, the number of active shortages of non-acute care drugs began to decline for the first time since 2004, but there was no corresponding dropoff in shortages of drugs that emergency departments and intensive care units rely on, the researchers reported. Shortages of the emergency-care drugs lasted longer as well, the study found. Half of acute-care drug shortages lasted longer than 242 days, compared with 173 days for non-acute care drugs. Seventy percent of the drugs that were difficult to get were injectable drugs, which emergency departments rely on to a much greater degree than other types of providers. The most common acute-care drugs affected were those to fight infections, such as antibiotics; those that affect the central nervous system, including painkillers and sedatives; and the drugs that suppress or stimulate the autonomic nervous system, which controls heart and breathing rates. When patients come to the emergency department who have been seriously injured and are having trouble breathing, for example, its often necessary to administer drugs that sedate them and cause their muscles to relax so that emergency personnel can insert a breathing tube in the windpipe. All of a sudden you have a life-critical procedure and youre using your second-best drug or a drug youre less familiar with, said Dr. Arjun Venkatesh, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine and a study co-author. Venkatesh said his own experience with recurring shortages of such basic but critical medicines as saline intravenous solution while working in the emergency department at Yale-New Haven Hospital was the impetus for the study. Patients are naturally often unaware of drug shortages in the emergency department, and theres no data to show that substituting a preferred drug with one that a doctor is less comfortable with results in patient harm, experts say. But if you extrapolate this problem over 140 million emergency department visits annually, I dont see how patients couldnt have been harmed by [substitutions], said Dr. Frederick Blum, an associate professor of emergency medicine at West Virginia University School of Medicine who is a former president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act of 2012 contains provisions aimed at stemming these problems, including requiring reporting of shortages by drug manufacturers to the FDA and expediting inspections and reviews by the FDA of alternative products and manufacturing facilities. We need more, Venkatesh said. At the national level, they need to provide more support around generic injectables and antibiotics, the two areas that are ripe for improvement. The FDA continues to work closely with manufacturers to resolve shortages, said FDA spokesman Christopher Kelly. In the past couple of years, numbers of new shortages have gone down and thats largely due to increased notifications by manufacturers, Kelly said in a statement. Injectable drugs are particularly susceptible to shortages and can be difficult to solve. Changing the economics of these drugs could help, said George Washingtons Pines, noting that profit margins are thin and theres not a lot of extra capacity in the system if one manufacturer stops producing a drug. The Health Affairs study suggests tax credits, rebates or temporary market exclusivity as potential strategies to improve the supply of generic injectables, among other things. David Gaugh, senior vice president for sciences and regulatory affairs at the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, said drug makers efforts have helped decrease the shortages but acknowledged more is needed. He called for continued communication between regulators and generic drug manufacturers on the issues and improvements in the drug review process. The only way to mitigate current shortages and prevent future shortages from occurring is a collaborative effort, he said. Of the thousands of stories we've posted at lacrossetribune.com in the first six months of 2016, these were the ones that proved most popular. La Crosse County is poised to add a fourth attorney to its legal staff, which hasnt grown since at least 1998, when corporation counsel Dave Lange joined the staff. The La Crosse County Board will vote May 19 on a resolution to hire another attorney as soon as July 1, a move unanimously supported by the boards Executive Committee at its meeting Wednesday morning. This issue cant wait until our 2017 budget, OMalley said. This is so critical to the protection of all the service we provide. Lange started as assistant corporation counsel and took over as head of the countys legal team in 2012, when Bill Shepherd retired. During Langes time with the county, the workload has increased significantly, especially related to economic development, child support and Human Services Department cases involving child and adult protective services. In addition, the countys legal team has to deal with things most Wisconsin counties dont, including two county-run nursing homes and a solid-waste department that includes a landfill, and waste-to-energy and gas-to-energy operations. The corporation counsel office could have used another attorney long ago, but Langes can-do attitude kept him from seeking additional help. Part of it is me in a way part of it was stubbornness, Lange said. But at some point youve got to say, This is too much. On top of the departments workload issues, Langes plan to retire at the end of the year was a big factor in the decision to add an attorney mid-year. Bringing on a new attorney now will give the new staff member access to Langes institutional memory and better prepare the department for Langes departure, OMalley said. The new position offers about $91,000 in annual salary and benefits. The new attorney will work on child support-related cases, and OMalley said that about half the cost of the new position will be covered by increased federal funding for handling those cases. CHICAGO Customs officials seized nearly 70 pounds of opium from three Minnesota women arriving at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on a flight from Southeast Asia. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say the three women arrived at about 4:20 p.m. Tuesday on a flight from Laos, via Japan. Officers found 470 packets of opium concealed in bags of tea leaves and packed inside the women's luggage. Chicago police say the drugs are worth more than $3 million. Police arrested the women, identified as 57-year-old Pa Yang and 58-year-old Mai Vue Vang of St. Paul, Minn., and 52-year-old True Thao of Brooklyn Center, Minn. They are each charged with one felony drug count and are due in bond court Wednesday. MADISON The head of the University of Wisconsin System praised the decision to remove faculty tenure protections from state law in an email this spring that now threatens to further widen divisions between professors and top administrators. UW System President Ray Cross made the comment in a March 7 message to Regent John Behling, who led a process to write new tenure policies that was criticized by professors, days before the Board of Regents approved the rules at a contentious meeting. The new policy allows chancellors to discontinue programs for academic reasons and fire tenured professors a change that represents weaker job protections for faculty, who warn the rules could be used to lay off professors as cash-strapped UW campuses absorb state funding cuts. In Cross email, which UW officials released Monday, the System president said tenure should not protect faculty who are no longer needed in a discipline. Tenure is designed to protect freedom of speech and the right to pursue truth no matter how unpopular and then to publish that information without worrying about being dismissed for doing so, Cross said. It is not a guarantor of a job for life. This program discontinuance debate has exposed the real value of removing tenure-related policies from statutory language. The email was first reported Monday by The Capital Times. It comes as many faculty members have expressed a deepening mistrust of the UW Systems leaders, particularly Cross. Professors say Cross should have lobbied more aggressively last summer against a $250 million cut to higher education funding and the changes to tenure and shared governance policies in the 2015-17 state budget. Tensions worsened this spring with the approval of the new tenure policies, and in recent weeks, faculty at five UW campuses have pushed to pass resolutions declaring they have no confidence in Cross and the Regents. Three faculty groups at UWs Madison, La Crosse and River Falls campuses have approved the votes; professors in Milwaukee and Eau Claire will vote on their resolutions Tuesday. News of the email could spur more campuses to take up no-confidence votes against Cross, said Chad Goldberg, a UW-Madison sociology professor who wrote the flagship campus resolution. Goldberg said Cross email serves to confirm the very grave concerns and suspicions that faculty have already had, particularly that Cross supported the move to strip tenure from state law. It also shows, according to Goldberg, that Cross is involved in what many faculty members view as a push led by Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans in the state Legislature to reorganize the UW System around short-term needs for job training, and shift public colleges and universities away from their broader traditional mission of research that improves the lives of state residents. Removing tenure from state statute was the first step toward weakening tenure, Goldberg said. Weakening tenure is a means the end is to change the historical mission of the University of Wisconsin. He also took issue with the way Cross described facultys opposition to the changes, saying professors were never calling for tenure to be a job for life. He either doesnt understand our concerns or hes willfully misrepresenting our concerns, Goldberg said. Cross declined an interview request on Monday. He instead released a statement in which he said removing tenure from state law gave UW officials a chance to fix differences, inconsistencies and gaps in policies for discontinuing programs. State Rep. David Murphy, R-Greenville, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, said he saw nothing wrong with what Cross wrote in the March email. Murphy said professors still enjoy academic freedom and freedom of speech as evidenced by the no confidence votes they have cast this week and defended universities ability to lay them off. If programs at the university go away, then if we are going to have a university that is strong and nimble going into the future, some of those positions are going to have to go away, too, Murphy said. Of professors affected by such a decision, Murphy said, These are people that shouldnt have any problem finding a job. Tenure is designed to protect freedom of speech and the right to pursue truth no matter how unpopular and then to publish that information without worrying about being dismissed for doing so. It is not a guarantor of a job for life. Ray Cross, UW System president Last week, a 40-year-old man with dark, curly hair, olive skin and an exotic foreign accent boarded a plane. It was to make an uneventful hop from Philadelphia to nearby Syracuse. Or so dozens of unsuspecting passengers thought. The man kept to himself, intently if inscrutably scribbling on a notepad. His seatmate, a blond-haired, 30-something woman sporting flip-flops and a red tote bag, looked him over. He was wearing navy Diesel jeans and a red Lacoste sweater a look he would later describe as simple elegance but something about him didnt seem right to her. She decided to try out some small talk. Is Syracuse home? She asked. No, he replied curtly. He deflected further questions. He appeared laser-focused on those strange scribblings. Rebuffed, the woman began reading her book. Or pretending to read, anyway. Shortly after boarding had finished, she handed the flight attendant a note. Then the passengers waited. After theyd sat on the tarmac for about half an hour, the flight attendant approached the female passenger again and asked if she now felt OK to fly, or if she was too sick. Im OK to fly, the woman responded. She must not have sounded convincing, though; American Airlines flight 3950 remained grounded. Then the plane returned to the gate, and the woman was escorted off the plane. The wait continued. Finally the pilot came by, approaching the real culprit behind the delay: that darkly complected foreign man. He was escorted off the plane, too, and taken to meet security personnel. What do you know about your seatmate? An agent asked the man. Well, she acted a bit funny, he replied, but she didnt seem visibly ill. Maybe, he thought, they wanted his help in piecing together what was wrong with her. And then the big reveal: The woman wasnt really sick at all! Instead this quick-thinking traveler had Seen Something, and Said Something. That Something shed seen had been her seatmates notes, scrawled in a script she didnt recognize. Maybe it was code, or a foreign language such as Arabic, possibly the details of a plot to destroy innocent lives aboard Flight 3950. She may have felt it her duty to alert the authorities. The curly-haired man was, the agent informed him politely, suspected of terrorism. The curly-haired man laughed. He laughed because those scribbles werent a foreign language or some special secret terrorist code. They were math. Yes, math. A differential equation, to be exact. Had the crew quickly Googled this good-natured, bespectacled passenger, they might have learned that he Guido Menzio is a University of Pennsylvania economist known for his work on search theory. They might also have discovered that last year he was awarded the prestigious Carlo Alberto Medal, given to the best Italian economist under 40. Thats right: Hes Italian, not Middle Eastern, or whatever heritage ordinarily gets ethnically profiled on flights these days. Menzio was on the first leg of a connecting flight to Ontario, where he would give a talk at Queens University. His nosy neighbor had spied him working out some properties of a price-setting model. Perhaps she couldnt differentiate between differential equations and Arabic. Menzio showed the authorities his calculations and was allowed to return to his seat, he told me by email. He said the pilot seemed embarrassed. Soon, the flight took off, more than two hours late. The woman never reboarded. A spokesman for American Airlines said the woman had indeed initially told the crew she was sick, but when she deplaned she said the reason for her illness was the troubling behavior of her seatmate. At that time, she requested to be rebooked on another flight. The crew then called for security personnel, who interviewed Menzio and determined him not to be a credible threat. The spokesman could not disclose the female passengers name for privacy reasons, so I wasnt able to contact her for comment. Menzio says he was treated respectfully throughout, but remains frustrated by a broken system that does not collect information efficiently. Hes troubled by the ignorance of his fellow passenger, as well as a security protocol that is too rigid in the sense that once the whistle is blown everything stops without checks and relies on the input of people who may be completely clueless. Rising xenophobia stoked by the presidential campaign, he suggested, may soon make things worse for people who happen to look a little other-ish. What might prevent an epidemic of paranoia? It is hard not to recognize in this incident, the ethos of [Donald] Trumps voting base, he wrote. In this true parable of 2016 I see another worrisome lesson, albeit one also possibly relevant to Trumps appeal: That in America today, the only thing more terrifying than foreigners is ... math. There is an old adage that proclaims "nothing lasts forever." Perhaps this has befallen our two main political parties. It appears neither party even tries to serve the people. The current presidential Kabuki dance suggests as much. The Democratic Partys ineffectual leadership over the years, particularly the last seven, has driven the young and the disenfranchised to Socialism, as evidenced by Bernie Sanders' frightening success. Expensive higher education, a paucity of jobs and sinking salaries in the middle class are contributors, too. The Republican Party fares little better. Their members are disgusted with the pathetic performance of a Republican-controlled Congress that has had no success combating the catastrophe of the Obama administration. The party has driven its constituents to political outsiders. The Democratic Party is running two socialists one who proclaims proudly to be such, while the other proclaims loudly not to be. But if it walks like a duck ... In the Republican Party, every one ran thinking that a win would be a walk in the park. The Republicans, though, are famous for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They persist in eating their own this year employing a circular firing squad technique through most of the primaries. Im guessing many people will vote this year while holding their noses. I had my clothespin selected, but now, thankfully, will not need it. The amount of blind, ignorant political loyalty in the 21st century is mind boggling. Congratulations, Fox News, MSNBC, and other news organizations. You are succeeding in brainwashing and dividing the American public. Obama is not from Kenya. Global warming exists. If your party in Congress didn't think of it, you can still discuss it and even act on it. It is childish to leave the highest court in the country one justice short for almost a year, especially with a perfectly acceptable nominee standing in front of us. All Muslims are not terrorists; in fact, most aren't. We do not and should not have to rely on fossil fuels. These things are true, folks. Why do so many people refuse to believe them? Although reading has been difficult for Viroquas Ross DeWaard, hes relished the challenge of needing to work harder than the average high school student. DeWaard, a student at Laurel High School, which is a charter school of Viroqua High School, has gone through school with a learning disability, that left him struggling with higher level vocabulary. DeWaard discovered he learns auditorily. Before finding a strategy to help him learn, his parents, Ken and Kate DeWaard, home-schooled him so he could receive an intensive individualized education in reading and writing. DeWaard returned to public school at the beginning of his freshman year. I had difficulty reading and learning in the classroom, he said. Having it hard every day at school I got used to it. In fact, he wanted it that way. Ive always wanted it hard for me to learn, DeWaard said. Laurel High School has an individualized curriculum that creates the opportunity for students to chose classes that interest them and still meet the requirements necessary for graduation. Renee Baker, director of Laurel High School, said DeWaard has developed strategies to learn with his classmates. By the time he was at high school he had it [his learning disability] under control, Baker said. He knows how to take care of himself and get what he needs. Hes self-motivated and independent. There is no pity; he doesnt look for it. DeWaard met all graduation requirements of VHS/Laurel in three years, which has allowed him to spend his senior year taking classes that will help him pursue an entrepreneurial career. Im really focused on business, he said. My interest before had been cooking. For a time, DeWaard worked at Driftless Cafe in Viroqua. When youre cooking in the kitchen, you dont communicate with the customer; youre locked away in the kitchen, DeWaard said. I like to communicate with customers. Now that his interests have shifted, he is looking toward the world of fashion and has taken such classes as fashion, photography, entrepreneurship and corporate management. During the first semester, he established RAD Empire. He makes pouches, cases and tote bags, using canvas and leather; some of the materials are new, while others are reclaimed. I make five of everything; I dont want to overdo, DeWaard said. I do the math to see the cost and how long it will take to make. It was 45 minutes at the beginning, now its 20 minutes. Its just myself sewing, so I like to find the fastest way. His days include school, disciplined workouts after school, a job at Nelson Agri-Center in Viroqua from 6 to 8 p.m. and RAD Empire work at night. Its a full day of work. I enjoy that, he said. In addition, he has been involved with community service projects. Laurel High School students are required to fulfill 36 hours of community service each school year, so DeWaard has helped build trails and participated in trash cleanups, among other projects over the course of his school years. In June, DeWaard and his family are moving to Maine. In September, he plans to attend college for a business and finance degree. Depending on how I feel about the fashion world, I may [then] go to FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) in New York or Parsons School of Design, he said. I want to create my own business like Im doing now. He feels ready for life after high school. Coulee Region Rosemalers will hold its 30th annual show at the Westby Community Center on Syttende Mai weekend, Saturday May 14 (9 a.m.4 p.m.) and Sunday, May 15 (10 a.m.4 p.m.). The rosemaling show is a Westby Syttende Mai tradition where members showcase a variety of painting styles. Coulee Region Rosemalers are dedicated to preserving the authentic folk art of rosemaling, which flourished in Norway in the 1700s to around 1850. Club members have been busy rosemaling and will present a public show highlighting their creations, along with live music by Buddy Rundhaugen and its ever-popular Scandinavian style lunch and pastries. The weekend wouldnt be complete without a bowl of homemade rmmegrt made by Bertha Johnson, Westbys own Rmmegrt Queen. During the two-day event the public is invited to vote for the Peoples Choice award, while the 2016 Syttende Mai royalty will select a Princess Award, and Owen and Naomi Bekkum will choose the Bekkum Memorial Award. Demonstrations of rosemaling will be ongoing at the show, where you can watch a rosemaler paint and ask questions about the traditional folk art. This years show will highlight rosemaling by charter member Mary Strangstalien of Westby. She will have a display of her Rogaland style rosemaled creations at the show. Read all about Strangstalien in a special feature article in this issue of the Westby Times. Each year the Coulee Region Rosemalers hold a raffle which enables the club to support Syttende Mai, and bring rosemaling artists to teach the authentic folk art locally. This year a beautiful quilt, created by member Dorothy Peterson of Westby, and a rosemaled sending basket by member Amy Ahrens will be raffled off. Raffle tickets are available at Dregnes Scandinavian Gifts, at the two-day show and from club members. Raffle winners will be chosen at 4 p.m. on Sunday May 15. Winners names will be announced at the Syttende Mai information booth on Main Street following the drawing and winners will also be contacted directly. You need not be present to win. The support of the community is what helps Coulee Region Rosemalers to continue to preserve and promote authentic rosemaling in the Coulee Region. Please join us May 14 and 15 in the Westby Community Center and admire all the excellent artwork on display, while enjoying good food, good music and conversation with the rosemalers, Karen Hankee, Coulee Region Rosemaler member said. Mary Strangstalien is the 2016 featured artist for the Coulee Region Rosemalers 30th anniversary show held during Westby Syttende Mai. The annual rosemal show will be held in the Westby Community Center on Saturday May 14 (9 a.m.4 p.m.) and Sunday, May 15 (10 a.m.4 p.m.). At the age of 85, Strangstalien has been rosemaling for more than 40 years. It is an art she loves, but one she may soon be retiring from as she looks to fine tune some of her other artistic talents. Strangstalien and her husband Arnie, who passed away in 2003, farmed outside of Westby for 39 years before moving into the city in 1991. They raised four sons, have eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Intrigued by the art of rosemaling and in search of a hobby, she took her first rosemaling class in 1972, from Ruth Thrune of Coon Valley. After plenty of trial and error, Strangstalien eventually mastered the art herself and has spent the past four-plus decades creating works of art for hundreds of families from near and far. I started painting with a single leaf design and once I mastered that everything fell into place, Strangstalien said. She typically paints using the Rogaland style, but can also paint Telemark, a design rosemaler Verna Theige taught her. Strangstaliens favorite colors and designs are created on black backgrounds, and finished with greens and blues as the top coat. Her rosemaling has generated plenty of awards for the talented artist, including the Peoples Choice and Bekkum Memorial Award, at the annual Coulee Region Rosemal Show during Syttende Mai. In her younger years she even painted the lettering on the steeple of Vang Lutheran Church using Oliver tractor paint and she also rosemaled a keepsake trunk for each of her grandchildren, one of which will be on display at this years show on May 14 and 15. A couple of her favorite pieces on display in her home are a traveling trunk made by woodcarver Monroe Johnson of Cashton and painted by Strangstalien in blues. She also has a unique Norwegian wedding chair in her hallway, plus plenty of rosemaled plates decorating her walls. She couldnt even put a number on amount of plates and letters she has designed over the years, but did say its not the painting that takes the most time, but preparing the wood. Each rosemaled piece requires two coats of varnish and once you finally are able to paint, the oils have to dry between colors. She is amazed at the number of people that order a plate or letter and expect to pick it up in a day or two. Thats not how it works, Strangstalien said, Rosemaling is a time consuming art. For Strangstalien once she pulled out her brushes and began to paint she could get lost for hours. Its so relaxing for me to paint. It always allowed me to unwind and let the outside world disappear for a little while. Rosemaling allows me the freedom to do things my way, which is very satisfying, even though I can be my hardest critic, Strangstalien said. The Coulee Region Rosemaler Club formed in the early 1980s and began having shows during Syttende Mai in 1986 as a way to promote the art of rosemaling. The groups first displays were shown in the basement of the building that houses Mikes Feed Supply today on East State Street. From there they moved to the Westby Community Center, where the shows have remained ever since. Soon after they added the yearly raffle and the Heritage Tent to create a stronger presence during Syttende Mai and as a way of promoting even more traditional Norwegian arts. Our classes and meetings are always inspirational and such a good time. What a blessing rosemaling and the Coulee Region Rosemal Club has been to this entire area, Strangstalien said. Strangstalien is concerned that the art of rosemaling will be lost if more people dont find an interest in painting and take up the art. Practice, practice, practice is the key to learning any trade and with many of the Coulee Region Rosemalers and rosemal artists across the country entering their later years in life it will be a lost profession if something doesnt change, Strangstalien said. Strangstalien herself has already branched off into other areas she finds not only relaxing, but rewarding. She has already completed knitting 110 caps for the Westby Coon Prairie Pine Ridge Mission trip in July and is looking forward to getting back into crocheting. Stop by the 30th annual Coulee Region Rosemal Show on May 14 and 15 and congratulate Mary on her many years as an artist. You have the power to keep local news strong for the coming months. Your financial support today keeps our reporters ready to meet the needs of our city. Thank you for investing in your community. Stories like these are only possible with your help! Start your day with LAist Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings. Subscribe Four South L.A. elementary schools have had to switch to bottled water after numerous quality complaints, and water pipes serving roughly 20,000 South L.A. residents will have to be flushed out over the next several weeks. The issue first came to light when officials at some Los Angeles Unified School District campuses began to complain of cloudy water coming out of their school taps, according to CBS. Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson told LAist that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power thinks that the cloudy water might be caused by a new disinfectant that the department is using, which could be dredging up more rust from the pipes. They cannot confirm this though, so they will be flushing the entire system in that area, which takes a month. Harris-Dawson's office has asked the LADWP to come back to City Council on June 24 with a definitive answer as to why there has been cloudy water over the last few months. This is the second major water quality issue to affect South L.A. communities in recent months. Back in January, a filtration malfunction allowed water that wasn't fully disinfected to briefly enter the drinking supply in a number of neighborhoods. The incident occurred on January 15, when a chlorine pump malfunction caused unchlorinated water to flow into Watts and Green Meadows homes for six hours. Residents were, horrifyingly, not notified of the January filtration breach until four months after fact. A representative from Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson's office told LAist that the two issues appear to be unconnected, despite affecting the same community. Councilman Harris-Dawson originally called for a Department of Water and Power report on the January water filtration failure, which was discussed at a City Council meeting Tuesday (the current issues were also discussed at the meeting). Harris-Dawson's office has pressed the LADWP for answers on why it took the department so long to notify residents and the councilman after the January filtration failure. Tim Watkins, president and CEO of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee, told LAist that the recent problems speak to a more general issue of water quality in Watts and the surrounding neighborhoods. Watkins, who came to the City Council meeting armed with an array of bottles of cloudy, yellow water taken from South L.A. taps, told LAist that people in Watts have complained about water quality issues for years. Watkins said that he saw a notable uptick in illness at WLCAC in late January and early February following the January pump failure that led to homes received unchlorinated water for about six hours. Speaking anecdotally about the 230 employees at WLCAC, Watkins told LAist that a number of people were home from work with health issues, along with complaints of gastroenteritis and stomach problems. According to Watkins, people just went to the doctor as usual since they didn't have an explanation, and it wasn't until word of the pump failure spread in early May that they became aware that there had been a violation in the treatment process that might have been responsible for health issues. Councilman Harris-Dawson's office told LAist that they hadn't received any health-related complaints, and LAist has yet to independently verify any link between health issues and the chlorination pump failure on January 15. "We understand that these things may happen from time to time but I don't think we ever expect to hear about a problem four or five months later," Watkins said. "It's unacceptable because young mothers and their infants deserve to know immediately if there's a threat to public health." Harris-Dawson voiced similar complaints, telling LAist that "our main concern was the lack of responsiveness in immediately notifying LADWP customers of the malfunction water treatment system as well as the intermittent water quality issues residents and students are experiencing. I expect LADWP to provide the same level of communication and responsiveness to these issues as they do in other parts of the City." When asked if he thought the situation would have been handled differently if the water problems arose in a more affluent community like Brentwood or Westwood, Watkins said a single-issue comparison would be impossible because of the myriad other ways in which Watts has historically been underserved. "Everything in Watts suffers at a greater disparity than practically anywhere else in the city or county," Watkins said, referencing the wrenching 2013 "Health Atlas for the City of Los Angeles" report, which showed a 12-year discrepancy in life expectancy between Watts and Bel-Air residents. You have the power to keep local news strong for the coming months. Your financial support today keeps our reporters ready to meet the needs of our city. Thank you for investing in your community. Stories like these are only possible with your help! Start your day with LAist Sign up for How To LA, delivered weekday mornings. Subscribe Of the 169 delegates pledged to Donald Trump in next month's California primary, one of them is a corporate lawyer from Los Angeles who is also the leader of a fringe white nationalist party.On Monday night, the office of Secretary of State Alex Padilla posted the list of Republican delegates chosen and submitted by Trump's campaign. One of them, as reported by Mother Jones, is William Johnson, a Los Angeles lawyer who also happens to be the leader of the white nationalist American Freedom Party. "I just hope to show how I can be mainstream and have these views," Johnson told Mother Jones. "I can be a white nationalist and be a strong supporter of Donald Trump and be a good example to everybody." He also said that when applying to be a delegate, he did not use the phrase "white nationalist" but did disclose his background and activism. According to their website, the American Freedom Party's platform calls for white Americans to "push back" and says the party "shares the customs and heritage of the European American people." The Southern Poverty Law Center considers the AFP to be a hate group and says it was "initially established by racist Southern California skinheads [and] aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule." The SPLC is a little less generous to Johnson, calling him "an uninspiring but determined white supremacist." According to a statement from Tim Clark, Trump's California campaign director, Johnson had "previously been rejected and removed from the campaign's list [of delegates] in February 2016," and the final list did not include him. A source told the L.A. Times that the statement was inaccurate since the campaign had not selected their delegates until March. Despite Clark's comments, Johnson remains listed as a delegate on official documents. Because Trump just makes it way too easy, Democrats were quick to fire another salvo at Trump. In a statement, Democratic National Committee national press secretary Mark Paustenbach said: Donald Trump is the candidate that will Make America Hate Again. Trump's racist, xenophobic candidacy continues to fuel a resurgence of white nationalism in the United States, and to elevate a man like this shows that Trump has neither the temperament nor judgment to serve as president. Related: Openly Gay Venture Capitalist Peter Thiel Comes Out As Trump Supporter [SFist] Taiwans lawmakers are debating whether to remove one of the countrys most popular tourist attractions -- a memorial to Chiang Kai-shek. A 6-meter-tall statue of Chiang Kai-shek has been in the capital city of Taipei since 1980. More than 7 million people, including people from other countries, visited the memorial and nearby buildings in 2015. Chiang ruled Taiwan from the mid-1940s until his death in 1975. His Nationalist Party ruled all of China until it lost the civil war to the Communists led by Mao Zedong. Chiang and his supporters then fled to Taiwan. Re-examining Chiang Kai-shek Chiang placed Taiwan under martial law in 1949. It ended in 1987, 12 years after he died. During campaigns to end opposition to Nationalist rule under Chiang, thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands were imprisoned. In February, Nationalists lost control of parliament. They will lose the presidency later this month. The Nationalists loss of power to the Democratic Progressive Party means it will be easier for the DPP and its supporters in parliament to consider making changes to the Chiang monument. Hsu Yung-ming is a legislator from a minority party. He led a legislative meeting -- called a hearing -- about the memorial recently. I believe a lot of people think it should be redone, as this memorial honors Chiang Kai-shek andto commemorate Chiang Kai-shek I think is strange, as there are a lot of things for which he needs to take responsibility, he said. Legislators are considering changing the memorial into an archive for all Taiwanese presidents. Other possible changes include making it a place to honor protest movements or one that shows the pain caused by Taiwans authoritarian history. Some legislators want some or all of the memorial to be destroyed. But others fear such an action would divide Taiwan. Some defend Chiang Some Taiwanese still consider Chiangs role in history so important that his statue should not be removed from the center in Taipei. Some people believe his fight against Mao Zedong kept the island from being ruled by the communists. Joanna Lei leads the Chunghua 21st Century Think Tank in Taiwan. Lei says changing the memorial would be a highly political- and ideologically-driven move by the new [Democratic Progressive Party] to eradicate all records, especially the records of Chiang Kai-shek, who brought lots of people from mainland China to Taiwan. So if they are trying to gradually phase out the connection with mainland China, then (removing) the roots would be a very important political move. Memorials and statues There are many memorials to Chiang in parks and public schools throughout Taiwan. Many of them are statues made of bronze or stone that show him smiling and wearing military clothing. The Taipei Times newspaper estimated that in 2000 there were 43,000 Chiang statues in the country. When the Democratic Progressive Party was in power from 2000 to 2008, it removed Chiangs name from the center in Taipei where the large statue sits. The decision was supported by many people in Taiwan. In 2014, high school activists asked to have Chiang statues removed from their schools. And people sometimes damage Chiang statues in public places. Im Mario Ritter. Ralph Jennings reported this story from Taipei. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the story for Learning English. Hai Do 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 memorial n. something (such as a monument or ceremony) that honors a person who has died or serves as a reminder of an event in which many people died martial law n. control of an area by military forces rather than by the police commemorate v. to do something special in order to remember and honor (an important event or person from the past) authoritarian adj. expecting or requiring people to obey rules or laws; not allowing personal freedom eradicate v. to remove (something) completely phase out v. to stop using, making or doing (something) gradually over a period of time Some Americans say the United States should consider providing nuclear arms to Japan and South Korea, Americas closest military allies in Asia. Such Americans could become more influential in U.S. politics if Donald Trump is elected president. Trump has won the largest number of delegates in his attempt to become the Republican Partys presidential candidate. During the campaign, he has suggested that Japan and South Korea should have the right to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. He has also said the U.S. should consider removing troops from countries that do not agree to pay more for the U.S. military bases on their territory. This has led some people to question Americas desire to guarantee security in East Asia. It has also strengthened the position of those who say Americas Asian allies should have their own nuclear weapons to protect themselves. The United States currently has about 28,500 troops in South Korea and 54,000 in Japan. The Japanese government reportedly pays about $1.6 billion to the United States every year for the military bases in Japan. South Korea pays over $866 million for the U.S. bases on its territory. Some observers say the United States would be in violation of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty if it gave nuclear weapons to its allies. The treaty is designed to limit the spread of nuclear weapons. Moon Keun-Sik works at the Korea Defense and Security Forum. He says, If the U.S. allies defend themselves as Trump has said, the alliance will be broken, and it will lead to a nuclear domino (effect) in Asia. In the 1960s and 1970s, conservatives in Japan and South Korea sought to develop nuclear weapons in the two countries. They were worried about their security because China had developed nuclear weapons. Their worries have increased because of North Koreas nuclear activities. But the United States has been able to persuade its allies in Asia to stay under the protection of the American nuclear umbrella. However, Trumps threat to remove U.S. troops from Asia could increase the power of minority voices in Japans Parliament and South Koreas National Assembly. Those lawmakers say their countries should not depend on the United States for protection. In January, North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test. Reaction came quickly from Won Yoo-chul, the South Korean National Assembly floor leader for the ruling party. He said, in the face of the Norths fearsome, destructive nuclear weaponry, the time has come for us to have a peaceful nuclear program for self-defense. Hiroshi Nunokawais teaches at Hiroshima University in Japan. He said, If Trumps statements become a reality, there will be politicians that will agree and a lot will be enthusiastic, I believe. Takashi Hiraoka is a peace activist and a former mayor of Hiroshima -- the first city to be attacked by a nuclear weapon. He said that if Trump becomes president, he has to take responsibility for the fate of humankind. He cannot avoid the dangers associated with nuclear weapons. Arming South Korea and Japan with nuclear weapons would likely increase tensions in East Asia. It would also end any support from China and Russia for international action as a way to pressure North Korea to end its nuclear program. While Trump is just a candidate and not yet president, his words are having an effect in Asia. Some people believe what he says could weaken the trust people have in Americas commitment to the area, even if Trump does not intend for that to be the result of his statements. Daniel Pinkston teaches international relations at Troy University in Seoul. He says these types of statements and behavior are already doing damage. It is already undermining confidence of the U.S. in East Asia, and in Japan and South Korea in particular. Im Jonathan Evans. VOAs Brian Padden reported this story from Seoul. Producer Youmi Kim in Seoul contributed to the report. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow 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 domino effect n. a situation in which one event causes a series of (sometimes similar) events to happen one after another umbrella n. (used figuratively) protection conduct n. to plan and do (something, such as an activity) commitment n. the attitude of someone who works very hard to do or support something; a promise to do or give something undermine v. to make (someone or something) weaker or less effective, often in a secret or gradual way White 4-H Scholarship Trevor McKeone was the recipient of the Keith White Family 4-H Scholarship presented at the Lexington High School Honors Night. This $500 4-H Scholarship was given by the White family in Keith Whites honor to encourage Dawson County 4-H members to continue their education. The 4-H scholarship was based on grade point average, 4-H activities, leadership and community service. The recipient may use the scholarship to attend any school of higher education in Nebraska. Trevor is the son of Tod and Michele McKeone of Lexington. Russman Scholarship Two Dawson County 4-Hers received a Scott and Rhonda Russman 4-H Livestock Scholarship. Emily Keiser, daughter of Joe and Carol Keiser of Gothenburg, was the recipient of the $1000 scholarship award presented at the Gothenburg High School Honors Night. Braydon Benjamin, son of Rick and Cindy Benjamin of Lexington was the recipient of the $500 scholarship award presented at the Lexington High School Honors Night. These 4-H scholarships are given by Scott and Rhonda Russman of Farnam to award 4-Hers who are active in any Dawson County 4-H livestock and horse programs and who desire to attain higher education. The recipient may use the scholarship to attend any university, college, vocation or trade school, or accredited junior college. Reed 4-H Scholarship The recipient of the Larry F. Reed Legacy 4-H Scholarship was Emily Keiser, daughter of Joe and Carol Keiser of Gothenburg. This $1000 4-H Scholarship was given by the Reed family in Larry Reeds honor to encourage Dawson County 4-H members to attain higher education. The 4-H scholarship was based on experiences in 4-H projects and programs, essay questions and financial need. The recipient may use the scholarship to attend any school of higher education. Stevens Scholarship The recipient of the annual Harold and Virginia Stevens 4-H Scholarship is Peyton Zimmerman, daughter of Alvin and Kayleen Zimmerman of Overton. The one $2,000 scholarship to the University of Nebraska will be awarded to Peyton the second semester of her freshman year. The Harold and Virginia Stevens Endowment Fund was established with the University of Nebraska Foundation in 1987 by friends and associates to recognize and remember the contributions Harold and Virginia made during Mr. Stevens 42 years of distinguished service with Dawson County Extension. The interest income from the endowment fund is used each year to assist 4-H members with the academic studies at one of the University of Nebraska campuses in Lincoln, Kearney,Omaha, Curtis or the Medical Center. The scholarships are available for freshmen as well as first year doctorate and master candidates studying at the University of Nebraska. Just shy of its 10th birthday and with between $40 and $48 million of investment (estimated), it appears uBeam (recently Sonic Energy ) has ... Apple offers a line of Smart Covers for its iPads and for the most part whats smart about them is that they can serve as both protective coverings for the screen and as kickstands, depending on how their positioned. But Apple is at least considering launching Smart Covers that can do more much more. The company applied for a patent on a multi-function screen cover a few years ago, and Patently Apple reports that the application has been approved. That means Apple has a patent on a Smart Cover with an integrated flexible display, keyboard, and solar panels. It also supports pen input. Keep in mind, companies regularly apply for patents on products that never actually get built. We have no way of knowing whether Apple actually plans to launch a new Smart Cover with these features anytime soon. But it looks like the company was at least thinking of adding a whole bunch of features to its iPad protector several years before the company even introduced the first iPad with pen (err pencil) support. The patent describes a flexible cover that connects to the tablet much like an existing Smart Cover. But here are just some of the special features depicted in the patent: Use the cover to prop up the tablet in laptop mode, and touch the back of the stand portion to move forward or back or pause/play media. Prop up the tablet so a portion of the cover rests in front of the screen and use a screen built into the cover as a sketchpad for use with an Apple Pencil-like stylus. Or use a cover with a physical keyboard for typing. The cover could have built-in solar panels for keeping the tablet charged while outdoors. There could be an electronic paper display built into the case so that you can view some content (like directions, shopping lists, or other reminders or notifications) even when the tablet screen is covered. Again, theres no telling if a Smart Cover with any or all of these features will ever make it to market. But clearly someone at Apple thought it was a good idea to patent the concepts in case the company ever did plan to release a product like this. 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. President Xi Jinping greets delegates at the opening ceremony of the fifth meeting of foreign ministers of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Thursday. WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY Since President Xi Jinping took the helm, China's diplomacy has changed from the "passively responding" of the past to the current more composed and self-confident "actively guiding", which seeks to promote a global "community of shared destiny". Xi has constructed a clear and more complete framework for the country's diplomatic strategy by introducing concepts such as the "Chinese Dream", "a correct outlook on morality and profit", and "a new type of relationship between major powers". Xi's style of diplomacy has been hailed as opening a new era for China's "great-power diplomacy" and his diplomatic concepts, which are fundamentally beyond the constraints of the Western international relations theory, are based on China's cultural tradition of pursuing "peace and cooperation" with neighboring countries. To put these concepts into practice, Xi has proposed a kind, sincere, reciprocal and tolerant foreign policy toward neighboring countries, a new pattern of cooperative and win-win international relations, the building of a network of global partners, and an Asian security outlook. Under Xi's guidance, these diplomatic ideas have produced "Chinese solutions" to many global issues that have won China deserved respect from the international community and increasingly deepened its political mutual trust with other countries. With its Belt and Road Initiative, for example, China is making active efforts to conduct economic cooperation with countries along the routes of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Considering the different economic development levels among these countries and the huge discrepancies that exist in terms of their national conditions and political systems, the initiative's core principle of effective and win-win cooperation is based on respecting the actual conditions of different countries. "Consultation, common construction and sharing" have been confirmed as the three major features of the initiative and these are a concentrated embodiment of China's long-advocated "equality, mutual benefit and win-win" diplomatic philosophy. Stanford Seed, a Stanford Graduate School of Business-led initiative committed to enabling business owners to lead their regions to greater prosperity, has launched in Kenya. Building on the success of its programme in West Africa, the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies, has announced the launch of the Seed Transformation Programme in East Africa. Dr Becaye Sidy Diop, CEO of Delvic Sanitation Initiatives and Stanford Seed Transformation Program Participant at Stanford University in California In May, the first group of promising business leaders selected by Stanford Seed will gather in Nairobi to begin a 12-month transformational process led by the faculty from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Aimed at driving sustainable growth in the East African regional economy through private-sector-led development, Seed will train these established entrepreneurs from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia, in a yearlong, interactive, educational journey based out of Seeds new regional centre in Nairobi, Kenya. Seeds expansion into East Africa is intended to boost and scale established businesses in the region. Thirty-one CEOs, founders and executives have been chosen to participate in the pioneering program. Members of the cohort were selected based on their leadership capacity and the growth potential of their business. The mission of the initiative is to leverage the innovative and entrepreneurial mindset that is fostered at Stanford to help businesses in developing economies create new jobs, and ultimately, end the cycle of poverty. Jesper Srensen, Robert A and Elizabeth R Jeffe Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford GSB and Executive Director of Seed, state, At Stanford we believe that some of the most pressing problems we face today can be addressed through leadership and innovation in the private sector. The Seed Transformation Programme will address specific regional challenges such as leadership, strategy, value-chain innovation and, most importantly, will deliver an invaluable network of like-minded individuals from the Silicon Valley to sub-Saharan Africa. Seed West Africa accepting applications As Seed East Africa welcomes its first cohort, Seed West Africa is accepting applications for its next session (cohort seven) which begins in September 2016. Open to business owners based in West Africa, the deadline for submission is 31 May 2016. Information sessions will be held in Cote DIvoire, Senegal, Nigeria, Benin and Ghana throughout the month of May. For more information, go to www.gsb.stanford.edu/seed/transformation-program/east-africa or www.gsb.stanford.edu/seed/transformation-program/west-africa. The Western Cape Property Development Forum (WCPDF) will take place on Thursday, 12 and Friday, 13 May 2016, at the Crystal Towers Hotel, Century City in Cape Town. Experts are to discuss reforms to boost South Africas economic outlook, how South Africas first Municipal Planning Tribunal is doing, how alternative and secure energy can help property development, how central Cape Towns property values grew from R6bn in 2005 to some R26bn, how to fund urban infrastructure and how cooperation between government and business can succeed. Cape Town's executive mayor Particia de Lille will deliver the keynote address. View the programme. Lineup Professor Brian Kantor, investment strategist and economist at Investec, will focus on the strength of the rand to counter global cyclical and structural influences. He will propose structural reforms, including the elimination of company income tax. Professor Marius Ungerer of the Stellenbosch University Business School will discuss the opportunities of the National Development Plan for future national and local planning and as a long-term plan for South Africa. Dave Daniels, chairman of SAs first Municipal Planning Tribunal, will review their first months and how decision-making on town planning has been improved. A case study on the Saldanha Bay Industrial Development Zone (SBIDZ) multi-partner development to support the upstream oil and gas services industry and to boost jobs and economic development on the West Coast will be presented by Khaashifha Beukes. The initial phase of the SBIDZ will be an oil and gas off-shore supply base and marine repair complex at Saldanha port. Other presentations will focus on making it easier for people to apply for affordable housing, using technology for home automation and security, energy incentives from government and using current opportunities within the provincial and metro government environment. Filmmmaker Anurag Kashyap, who has had run-ins with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on many occasions, got a good deal when he took his latest offering Raman Raghav 2.0 to the censors. The director said he did not want a single cut in the Nawazuddin Siddqui-starrer, and added that the board was rather kind to the film. Speaking at the trailer launch of Raman Raghav, the real-life psychopath and serial killer who terrorised the streets of Mumbai in the mid-1960s, Anurag said, Censor Board has been in a way kindest to this film. They actually liked it. For me, there are many things in the film I want them to stay intact. I would not be satisfied with a single cut. To avoid any kind of cuts whatever it will take, we will do. Kashyaps troubles with the censor is well-known; his debut film, Paanch is yet to be released due to the censor boards objections. He also delayed the release of his film Ugly for a long time as he didnt want to carry the anti-smoking disclaimer, but eventually relented. Raman Raghav 2.0 stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui as the serial killer, while Vicky Kaushal, of Masaan fame, plays a cop . Kashyap said he was not trying to glorify criminals through the film, adding it is merely inspired from Raman Raghav and not based on him. He said, We are not glorifying. The film is not to glorify someone. Youll understand it better if you watch the film. It is in a fictionalised, thriller way where we have woven a story around the things we usually ignore. This is not based on a real life character. It is inspired from a character who was in the 1960s, this film is based in todays times. Its difficult to make a film inspired by a real life character because you are treading a very dangerous line. You have your own sense of responsibility, he added. The Ugly director said making a proper biopic would have been ten times more difficult considering the details which go into the making. If you are saying a story like this you need to do it in such a way that all the aspects come together to make an engaging film. It is very important to pay minute details in character developments. If it wouldve been a biopic, it wouldve been ten times more difficult, Kashyap said. Raman Raghav 2.0 will be showcased at Cannes Directors Fortnight section. The festival will open on May 11. The film is scheduled to release on June 24. With the current obsession in the film industry to book release dates several months ago, and sometimes even a year ago, has Kashyap booked his release according to Cannes? No, it is absolutely not that. Our release date depends on when the film gets ready. And usually it also depends on the censors, he said. The decision of the UK government to turn down Indias request to deport liquor-baron Vijay Mallya is a big blow to the Narendra-Modi government and kills any remaining hope for 17 banks, including State Bank of India, to get back Rs 9,000 crore Mallyas grounded airline, Kingfisher owes to them. This is a classic case of banks and investigative agencies acting too late in a high profile case and ending up letting the defaulter escape the law. This is also a egg on the face of Modi government, which has hurriedly taken up the issue at bilateral level even before making a foolproof case against Mallya. As Firstpost highlighted from the very beginning, the Modi government hurried in this case taking it to a bilateral level even before making a foolproof case against Mallya. It is too difficult to handle now and would even raise questions on the bilateral commitment between India and UK on the cooperation of dealing with offenders. Mallya has been defiant to the threats of the Indian government to deport him and arrest him in the case and is least shaken even after multiple courts have issued arrest warrants against him in cheque-bouncing cases. This was evident from the tycoons interview to UK based Financial Times, where he said they arent getting any money by arresting me and he is more than happy to stay safe in the UK as the outcry in the UK continues. Though the UK has offered India further assistance in the case asking the country to request extradition, it wouldnt be easy for India. Extradition from the UK is a too difficult a process and Mallya can easily fight his case in the UK courts. If one goes by reports, there are around 131 extradition requests from India in the UK, which involves even wanted criminals. Chances are very little that India can make a convincing case for Mallyas extradition given that it doesnt have a foolproof case against him beyond loan default and alleged financial fraud. Legal experts point out several cases in the past where the Indian government has failed to bring back absconders and criminals (Iqbal Mirchi, Nadeem Saifi and Abu Salem). For someone like Mallya, it wouldnt be difficult to seek asylum using his money power. This is why the case is going out of hands of India government, which has hurried to take up the case at a bilateral government level before gathering convincing evidences against Mallya. There is apparent difference between Indias investigating agencies the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) on the Mallya case. While the governments action of cancelling Mallyas passport and seeking his deportation from UK was primarily due to pressure from ED, CBI has largely remained silent on the case. Even if India manages to get back Mallya from the UK, it would be difficult to nail him in the court of law unless there is strong evidence of fund diversion by the promoter. What makes the case even more difficult is the fact that a section of banks, including IDBI, in the lender consortium, has so far maintained that there is no evidence of fund diversion to abroad by Mallya as alleged by ED. On the whole, this case is going in the Lalit Modi way, where Indias chances are pretty less to get the alleged offender back. Chances of Mallya never returning to the country cannot be ruled out since this case grown far beyond the definitions of a typical banker-borrower default for Modi government, hence the government is politically responsible to take follow up actions. The possibility of a friendly settlement in the Kiingfisher case is absent since banks have twice rejected Mallyas offer for partial payment. The onus, as mentioned earlier, lies on the government and its investigating agencies for letting Mallya flee the country just in time to escape the proceedings of the law. When Mallya left on 2 March, there were already investigations on against him and banks were on the final stages of moving to Supreme Court to seek his detention. There is very less probability of banks getting back their Rs 9,000 crores form Mallya now, which is ultimately a loss to the taxpayer. There is all probability that the Mallya episode would turn into another version of Lait Modi case. If Mallya is a lost case for the Indian government, the ones to be blamed are the banks and investigating agencies for acting too late in this case, and the government for acting prematurely. The whole episode raises more questions than answers. London: Foreign banks have stopped opening branches in India as they need to set aside a lot more capital due to the country's "higher risk" credit rating and they feel it is "not worth" doing so, Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has said. In a lecture titled 'Why Banks?' as part of the Marshall Lecture 2015-16 series at Cambridge University yesterday, Rajan said greater demand on banks to hold capital in the post financial crisis scenario has come at a cost. He said: "It made sense post financial crisis to ask banks to hold more capital. But one of the concerns bankers have been expressing, even if bankers may have low credibility because they have cried wolf too often, that eventually it will... create greater aversion to taking on risky lending. "We see some of that today. Certainly, as an emerging market central bank regulator, I see that foreign banks have stopped opening branches because our credit rating is BAA, which implies higher risk. From that perspective, international banks who are asked to put in money in India feel it is not worth it, because they have to set aside a lot more capital." India has been assigned lowest investment grade rating with a high risk profile by various global agencies. Rajan likened the situation in India to that of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in industrial countries, as in both scenarios the central factor is that more growth is required. "So we need to ask ourselves, is more capital good or is it likely to impinge on activities banks do. There is a trade-off and this calls for more empirical work as to what the right level of capital is," said the former Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund. Rajan, on-leave Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago's Booth School, used what is described as "matchstick theory" in an attempt to highlight why doing away with banks was not essentially a viable option to the largely student and academic audience of the two-day lecture series organised by the university's Faculty of Economics. He said: "There is a reason why banks operate. All these proposals to do away with banks, to my mind, will cause serious costs on the system, it will increase the cost of financing and therefore we have to be very careful. "However, we do understand the consequences of systemic crises, they are severe, they are painful so more capital was warranted than what there was during the global financial crisis, but we have to be careful about going too far. If you wanted to drive an Audi or a Ducati, but could only drool over your fascination, a start-up is offering you that experience to fuel that dream by loaning self-driven cars on hire. Driven, the Hyderabad-based bootstrapped startup, started operations two months ago. It has a slew of marquee cars such as Porsche 911, Carrea 4S, Audi RS5, Volvo S60 T6 Polestar, besides Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, BMW 7 Series and also mini convertibles. Besides cars, the company is also offering high-end bikes like Ducati, Triumph, Harley Davidson, Indian, Benelli, Kawasaki, KTM, Royal Enfield and Vespa. For those who would like to pedal bicycles and hi end ones at that, the company has two brands Surly and Cannondale as of now. The company has 150 cars, 50 bikes and 7 bicycles. The founders, Ashwin Jain (41) and Karar Ahmed Taher (27) are enthusiastic about vehicles. Incidentally, Jain and Taher run independent businesses and have come together to set up Driven. Jain has been in the car rental business for over 19 years and says that the start-up has been founded to help those cannot afford to buy high-end cars to drive off in one. With drivers being a scarcity, even those who can afford to buy these cars hesitate to buy it, says Jain. How it works The consumer walks into the Driven cafe, a coffee shop that is run by Driven itself. After you select the car you want to hire, you can wait for it as you order a coffee and a sandwich. That could set you back Rs 200 on an average. The cafe too, is not surprisingly, done up in interiors that echo cars. Vehicles are rented out in different business plans ranging from hourly basis to unlimited hours plans. The charges range from Rs 800 to Rs 4,000 for a car to Rs 300 and Rs 1,200 for a bike for an hour. There is also a zero mileage plan for those who want a car at their doorsteps if they want to go for a drive. The charges will be for the kilometers the vehicle has driven. It comprises 60-65 percent of the business for the start-up, says Jain. Jain believes that self-driven car rentals will soon become the new mobility. It is becoming increasingly difficult to get drivers, he says. Accessories, too The company is also into renting accessories for its customers like blue tooth, baby seats, navigation devices, etc. , and jell pads, jackets, helmet, and sipper bags for bikers. It will expand its vehicles to 3,000 cars and 1,500 bikes over the next three years in two phases. Talks are on with potential investors to raise funds. In the first phase, the company plans to set up a Driven cafe in Bangalore, Pune, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Chennai in six months time. At long last, the government has bitten the bullet and amended the tax treaty with Mauritius to in its bid to curb tax avoidance. The signing of the Protocol with Mauritius follows decade-long negotiations. Here are the key points to know about the development: What is the treaty all about? India had in 1983 signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) with Mauritius. The DTAC provided that capital gains on sale of assets in India by companies registered in Mauritius can only be taxed in Mauritius. While short-term capital gains are taxed at 10 percent in India, they are exempt in Mauritius. So, such companies escape paying taxes in both countries. Many companies and individuals were suspected to be making use of this leeway and engaging in "round-tripping" - routing cash through the island nation to avoid domestic taxes. India has a similar treaty with Singapore too. This treaty is cross-linked to that of Mauritius pact. So investors from Singapore also enjoyed the same benefit. Of the total FDI inflows of $29.4 billion in April-December 2015-16, Mauritius and Singapore accounted for $17 billion of foreign equity investment. At one point of time, the two countries also accounted for nearly two-thirds of overall foreign portfolio inflows into India but the inflows have been declining in the recent past. Now, Mauritius accounts for nearly 20 percent (over Rs 4.3 lakh crore) while Singapore-based FPIs have over 11 percent share (nearly Rs 2.5 lakh crore). What is the amendment? Revised tax treaty inked on Tuesday allows India to tax capital gains from investments routed through Mauritius from April 2017. For two years beginning 1 April 2017, capital gains tax will be imposed at 50 percent of the prevailing domestic rate. Full rate will apply from April 1, 2019, a finance ministry statement said. Only those Mauritius resident companies that can prove that they have a total expenditure of at least Rs 27 lakh in there can enjoy this concession. This will ensure that the companies enjoying the benefit are not 'shell' companies with just a post office address in Mauritius. Investments made prior to April 1, 2017, will be protected from new tax provisions. The treaty with Singapore is also expected to be amended soon. India's move has to be seen in the backdrop of BEPS or Base Erosion and Profit Shifting rules that kick in from 1 April. BEPS refers to tax planning strategies resorted to by companies and individuals in order to exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations. Globally, fight against tax avoidance by big corporations and balckmoney hoarding in tax havens has been intensifying of late and the BEPS rules devised by OECD are part of this. What will be the impact? Experts are divided about the likely impact of the amendments. "With this change, the capital gains tax concession for investments from Mauritius into India gradually comes to an end. Further, this will also impact the similar benefit under the India- Singapore treaty. It will be interesting to see as to what impact this amendment will have on FPI/ FII investments into India eventually," said Girish Vanvari, National Head of Tax, KPMG in India. However, Rahul K Mitra, National Head of BEPS & Tax Dispute Resolution, KPMG in India, is of the opinion that this may not affect the FDI flow into the country. "The amendment is not likely to impact FDI flow in India, as foreign investors would anyway invest in India for en-cashing the opportunities provided by the buoyant economy of the country. Yes, foreign investors would be aware that going forward, namely for future investments, they may not be able to avail of treaty protection for the exit route, namely divestment of shares. For FIIs, investing in listed shares on the stock market, capital gains on shares held for more than 12 months would any way continue to be exempt from tax, he says. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said the amendments provide "a level-playing field between domestic investors and investors who had unfair advantage when they came through the Mauritius route." He says the amendment "brings about a certainty in taxation matters for foreign investors" and bring certainty for FIIs while also reinforcing India's commitment to OECD-BEPS initiative. Jayesh Sanghvi, National leader, International Tax services, EY, terms the treaty a landmark development. "This is clearly the direction of tax policy as agreed between the G20 on BEPS under inappropriate use of treaties. It is evidence of the global momentum on tax treaty abuse and double non-taxation," he says. Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP's Partner Rajesh H Gandhi says it is "a colossal tax development". He expects the move to "have a significant impact for numerous institutional funds, asset managers and private companies which have used the Mauritius route to invest into India". With PTI The United Kingdom has rejected India's plea to deport Vijay Mallya, a report in The Hindu has said. According to the report, though Indian authorities have cancelled Mallya's diplomatic passport, he has a valid UK visa and even his name figures in the electoral roll there. Mallya is a non-resident Indian. "The UK Government has informed us that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred," an external affairs ministry statement has said. Ever since Vijay Mallya left the country as banks and probe agencies stepped up their efforts to bring him to books, there have been speculation that the Mallya may go the Lalit Modi way. And the latest development confirms this fear. Mallyas defunct airline, Kingfisher, owes Rs 9,000 crore to a host of Indian banks. The liquor baron is being investigated by Indian agencies for alleged financial irregularities in various transactions. Mallya left the country on 2 March shortly before banks moved the Supreme Court seeking his detention in the country. Legal experts have been pointing out that in several cases in the past the Indian government has failed to bring back absconders and criminals (Iqbal Mirchi, Nadeem Saifi and Abu Salem). As senior lawyer Majeed Memon told CNBC TV 18, It is too late for government to rise and wake up. It is not that easy (in the UK), where human right laws are strong. It is a long, time consuming and money consuming exercise that might end up in futility." However, according to the report in The Hindu, the UK officials have agreed to consider extraditing Mallya under the 1993 treaty with India. CBI defines extradition as "the process by which one State upon the request of another surrenders to the latter a person found within its jurisdiction for trial and punishment or, if he has been already convicted, only for punishment, on account of a crime punishable by the laws of the requesting State and committed outside the territory of the requested State". As against this, deportation is an executive action and quicker, says The Hindu report. So in essence, Mallya can be extradited only once he is convicted. Also he can take legal recourse in the UK against the extradition. He can try and prove that the Indian authorities are biased against him. In his resignation letter to Rajya Sabha, he had expressed fears that he will not get a fair trial in India. Nevertheless, since I do not want my name and reputation to be further dragged in the mud, and since recent events suggest that I will not get a fair trail or justice, I am hereby resigning as a member of Rajya Sabha with immediate effect," a report in the Mint quoted from his letter. If he can prove this bias, that would make Mallya another Lalit Modi. New Delhi: Chirstian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal, on Wednesday said that he has never met Congress President Sonia Gandhi or the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to push for the purchase of VVIP choppers. "No, never," was the prompt reply of Michel when he was asked whether he had ever met Gandhi, Singh or the then Defence Minister AK Antony for pushing the deal. "I have never met any of these," he said in an interview to TV Today news channel in Abu Dhabi. Michel sought to clear his name from the kickbacks scam claiming that he had "once" shaken hands with the then IAF Chief SP Tyagi in Delhi but "avoided him" for his links with Italian businessman Guido Haschke and another middleman. "I probably met him (SP Tyagi) in Gymkhana club and I think I shook his hand there. But because of his association with Haschke I really avoided him," he said. He also said that BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has not lied about the deal but it seems he has been misled. "He has authenticated (documents) what was given in the CAG report. The CAG report was prepared in great hurry as the deal was always blowing away. "They (CAG) are not aviation experts and they are bureaucrats asked to put together document way beyond their expertise. So he was misled by his own documentation," he said. New Delhi: Allahabad University has informed the Centre that activists of a political party threatened its Vice-Chancellor while extending support to agitating students, with HRD Minister Smriti Irani stating that the party in question was the ruling Samajwadi Party in UP. "The University has told (us) that on morning of 9 (May), nearly 30 vehicles associated with a political party of Uttar Pradesh came to declare their support to the students union and threatened the Vice-Chancellor and the University administration. This is what the university has told the Government of India," she told Rajya Sabha. Initially, the minister did not name the political party, but when SP member Ram Gopal Yadav said that the Vice-Chancellor had accused the Centre of interfering in the affairs of Allahabad University, Irani said the political party in question is "Samajwadi Party". A brief argument between Irani and SP members followed. She was responding to Zero Hour mention by Arvind Kumar Singh (SP) who raised the issue of hunger strike by the students union president Richa Singh and other students. He said the students are on strike demanding that entrance test for admission in the university should be held in off-line mode also. "Because of the stubborn attitude of the Vice Chancellor there is a big resentment among the students," he maintained. He suggested that the HRD Ministry should intervene in such matters before the situation become explosive. To this, Irani said few days back in the House she had commented that "this is a pandora's box". "Universities are autonomous to administer their issues themselves. However, the university brought to our notice that there is a student agitation and we would like to facilitate offline admissions also because of the pressure which has been brought forth by a particular political party," she said. She further said, "we have noted" that the university would like to provide apart from online admission, offline admissions also. The Minister also informed that over 1,20,500 admissions have been done online. "...since the university sought our permission, we have noted. But since they administer their issues, we are not interfering into it," she said. Alleging that "political interference" has brought the administrative machinery of Allahabad University to a "standstill", its Vice Chancellor has threatened to leave with his associates and said MPs or MLAs can be made VCs instead of academicians to toe the government line. Irani also appealed to political parties that if there is a law and order situation the matter should be brought to the notice of state authorities or the Government of India. "Otherwise to intervene in the functioning of university, thereby threatening a Vice-Chancellor would not be a very productive engagement with the university," Irani added. Allahabad: Alleging that "political interference" has brought the administrative machinery of Allahabad University to a "standstill", its Vice Chancellor has threatened to leave with his associates, and said MPs or MLAs can be made VCs instead of academicians to toe the government line. "This is a central university and used to be called the Oxford of the East, in the past. There can be no possibility of the institution regaining its lost glory if political interference continues," Allahabad University VC, RL Hangloo, who recently drew flak from BJP leaders over his handling of a students' agitation, told reporters here. He alleged that many politicians belonging to Congress, BJP, SP and ABVP, were involved in the university affairs and the varsity will not grow if politicians interfere. "We want to take the university on the path of excellence and this is a jolt to our aim. All my associates are saying this is a jolt to the university, and politicians are hampering the university's growth. The political interference is a setback for the university. "If politicians continue to interfere, we will all have to leave. Then government can run the university as per their opinion. Then it would be better to have MLAs or MPs as VCs in place of academicians," Hangloo said on Tuesday. He was responding to questions about the varsity's decision, announced on Tuesday, to keep the offline option open for entrance tests for post-graduate courses in the upcoming academic session. The decision, whereby the university reversed its earlier stance that entrance tests would be held only through the online mode, is understood to have followed a meeting between some BJP MPs and HRD Minister Smriti Irani. The BJP lawmakers are said to have brought to Irani's notice that a number of student union leaders, including its vice-president and general secretary, who belong to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), were on a hunger strike to press the demand for the offline option, saying it was important for candidates hailing from remote areas with poor internet connectivity. Hangloo said that the HRD Ministry should "not interfere" in this because "politics" is involved in it. "First there were only four persons on strike. And they were on strike because of their own problems and they don't think of the university," he said. A group of BJP MPs and MLAs had on 5 May visited the varsity and criticised the VC for "mishandling" the students' stir. They had taken exception to the university administration lodging a police complaint against the union leaders for staging a demonstration in front of the VC's office earlier this month. Subsequently, a few of the BJP MPs had met Irani and an ensuing communication from the HRD Ministry is said to have prompted the varsity authorities to modify its decision. Hangloo has been repeatedly accused by the students' union president Richa Singh of being partisan towards those owing allegiance to BJP and the Sangh Parivar. In March, Singh who is a Samajwadi Party member had charged the VC with ordering a "politically motivated" inquiry against her on the basis of "flimsy" complaints from her ABVP rivals. The latest crisis, however, witnessed the union leaders burying their differences and putting up a joint fight. Consider a platitude: Academia is a bastion of godless Commie pot-smoking degenerates, seeking to indoctrinate the rest of civil society in its horrifying Sodom-and-Gomorratic ways. The great American conservative William F Buckley, Jr levelled this charge over sixty years ago in God and Man at Yale, which, subtitled as it was (The Superstitions of Academic 'Freedom'), fired the opening salvo in what has come to be a treasured bugbear of the right-wing everywhere, much like the pompous uncle everyone loves to hate. Since then, the very idea of academic freedom has been systematically and often elegantly parenthesised as some sort of leftist conspiracy. So it was in Allan Blooms The Closing of the American Mind (itself subtitled How Higher Education has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Todays Students), and so it is in much public discourse today. Recall, for instance, the statement issued on 17 November last year by 46 eminent historians, archaeologists and scholars against so-called Leftist intellectuals those blinkered unfortunates mired in an abhorrent melange of Marxist historiography and leftist ideology, with a few borrowings from postmodernism, the Annales School, Subaltern and other studies (is there a diploma course in Other Studies yet, one wonders) railing against a well-orchestrated campaign to create a bogeyman and cry wolf. And, earlier this year, Sanjeev Sanyals linguistically intemperate guest column in The Week excoriated the Left paralysis in our intellectual life, echoing the 17 November statements view of an organised onslaught on all that is not Left in the life of our collective mind. Indeed, Sanyal goes so far as to brand this onslaught a systematic ethnic cleansing of all non-Left thinkers since the 1950s, thereby opening a gaping semiotic wound in an already-fraught minefield of ideas and ways of behavior. With its echoes of serious, visceral violence remember the genocidal rape of the Yugoslav Wars, anyone? ethnic cleansing assumes a darker implication in the context of namby-pamby academic wars; in a disingenuous sleight of hand, Sanyal extends the language of persecution to create an illusion of solidarity between massively disparate groups of supposedly oppressed minorities. Disgruntled non-Left academics are suddenly united with bodies in mass graves in Srebrenica, and the righteous indignation of the masses is lovingly lubricated. For all its regurgitated bile and almost complete lack of evidence, Sanyals column does manage to stumble past a certain insight. (E)ven those advocating change, he writes, end up using language and frameworks derived from the Left. This is important, for it expresses an awareness of the power of language to craft reality. The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words, the cyberpunk writer Philip K Dick once said, and his desiccated corpse is probably grinning a maggot-eaten grin somewhere today. Words like sickular and anti-national (and, most amusing of all, the intellectual tyranny of the Left) are bandied about with gay abandon, and simply calling it a systematic cleansing seems to make it so. Yet, in my experience, it is typically the conservative Right that is systematic and well-organised go to any university campus in any American town, and its usually the campus Republicans who are organised and with it, the campus Democrats who are trying to pull in funds at the last minute (the real Left in the US the Green Party, the Socialists etc will probably be lucky if they can find their party banners in time for fundraisers). The BJPs organisational juggernaut during the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaigns is another case in point. Not only is there no real evidence for a systematic cleansing of the non-Left in academia over the years (indeed, there is much evidence to the contrary; one need only hark back to Germany during the Nazis), one also greatly doubts whether those in the hallowed corridors of academe are even capable of being systematic, as the clutter in any university office should prove. Ragtag bunches of students shouting slogans usually lose out in the organisational wars to well-coordinated groups of ABVP supporters trying to jump police barricades wielding sticks masquerading as flags. And yet, for all its fulminations against the ivory towers of academe, Sanyals column and, for that matter, many others like it (including this one, on this very website) is not incorrect in one respect. The academy does indeed lean left (there is, if not a mountain, then at least a very substantial hill of evidence for this), just as the military-industrial complex or religious institutions (and even medical doctors, it would seem) lean right the world over. This often results in the popular tendency, as Daniel Klein, Professor of Economics at George Mason University points out, to see academe as this vast apparatus of leftist groupthink. But this hardly leads to a collective drinking of the Kool Aid, as Neil Gross makes evident in Why Are Professors Liberal and Why Do Conservatives Care? Using data analyses, interviews and experimentation, Gross concludes that, while a majority of academics lean left, it has relatively little effect on how or what they teach. There is little evidence of ideological indoctrination in institutes of higher learning. So much for the intellectual tyranny of the Left. Gross book is, of course, about North American academia. But his broader implications are very relevant today in India (and much of the third world in general). During periods of significant economic downturn, and significant rise of inequality, he writes, a leftward shift is hardly surprising, especially given that in academia, radicalism is still a live possibility. The right-wings attempt to overhaul the higher education system and eviscerate spaces of difference (in both behaviour and thought) rests on the assumption of a failure of the state-run school system, and becomes more urgent as a way to distract from real problems smoke and mirrors to cauterise a populace into thinking the only thing wrong with the country is the smell of reefer and the sight of used condoms on campus. Why think of our jobless growth and our impending demographic disaster (whereby the proportion of jobs in the unorganised sector, without regular salaries and social service benefits, is set to rise to 93 percent by next year) when we can jail students for, essentially, rudeness and insensitivity (and, perhaps, bad hygiene)? So the Rights solution is to discredit the long tradition of fairly decent (of course, not without its own problems) state-run higher education in our country, and insidiously replace it with what the literary scholar Jeffrey J Williams calls the post-welfare state university. Private competition, we are told, will be good for education. And it will, but only to a certain extent, and only for a certain class of people. To gauge the true cost of such corporatised academic capitalism, one need look no further than the American model, which shifted from a post-Second World WarGreat Society in which tuition costs were low and publicly subsidised therefore paid for collectively to the present privatised scenario in which the cost of higher education is borne individually every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost! In addition to most college students being slowly crushed under the insurmountable burden of student loans, this privatisation of higher education has also led, writes Williams, to the push for research to bring in corporate funds or lead directly to commercial patents, the morphing of administration to a CEO class detached rather than arising from faculty, the casualisation of a majority of faculty in part-time, adjunct, or term positions, and the pressure on students, working long hours as well as taking loans to pay tuition. Enough to make our political and economic elites quiver with impending pleasure. And so we hear calls for a balancing of the scales in the ideological furniture of the university campus (Note that I am not advocating that the overwhelming dominance of the Left should be replaced by a similar dominance of the Right. However, a healthy debate requires that some sort of balance is restored, as Sanyal reasonably points out). This is both seemingly practical and ultimately dangerous. The overt and eventually hollow stance of bipartisan objectivity in our national news media, for instance, in the wake of a Foxification of our news channels, seems to suggest that all stories must have two, and only two, opposing and equally meritorious sides. Youre either with us or youre against us. And somehow, a balance between these two sides will lead to a sort of magical utopian ideal. Instead, it sculpts what the journalist and media critic Jay Rosen calls the view from nowhere a flaccid middle ground which keeps everyone happy, including journalists, advertisers and publishers. For Rosen, this supposedly balanced perspective frequently places the journalist between polarised extremes, and calls that neither-nor position impartial its an attempt to secure a kind of universal legitimacy. The arbitrarily-assigned value of a healthy debate, the idea of balance has also invaded the non-Right note, for instance, The Daily Shows Jon Stewarts frequent calls for bipartisan balanced debate over the years. I doubt Ill hold my breath for the day we demand such a balance in our military, our temples and our CEOs. In his book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, the historian Richard Hofstadter defined anti-intellectualism as a resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition constantly to minimise the value of that life. The state-run university has come to stand for all that is threatening to our new idea of Indianness, the last citadel of complexity and marginally-independent thought. In spite of our cultural and political (though not our commercial and economic) distaste for the American way of life, we seem to not realise that we too have become Americans we demand easy answers to difficult questions, and we are now scared of complexity in our public discourse, preferring the simplicities of, as Frank Zappa once put it, unrefined commerce, wild superstition and religious fanaticism. The gradually tumescent inequalities in our society have made large swathes of the population increasingly incredulous of the supposed elitism of the academy, culminating in the large-scale resentment of what Hofstadter called the constant insinuation of the intellectual as expert in public affairs. This has led to a faith in a technocratic intelligence that is seen as being opposed to intellectualism. Sanyal concludes his essay by professing a similar faith I am no fan of the argumentative Indian; much prefer the Indian who gets things done. This utilitarian belief in the mainstream, so in thrall with what Hofstadter termed the mystique of practicality, manifests itself today in the violence of party workers who claim to be part of a vidyarthi parishad that is against scholarship and all the ideas that genuine scholarship implies. The author is a godless degenerate academic. He is based in Kolkata, a city famous for godless degenerate academics New Delhi: A Gurgaon mother whose 3 year old daughter's thumb was slashed in an accident at a daycare centre in the city has taken up the fight through social media and lodged a complaint with the police against the "negligent" owners of the centre. Shivani P Sharma, whose three year old daughter Myra's thumb was "amputated", has posted details of the incident which occurred at the day care centre in Sector 56 area of Gurgaon on April 28 on Facebook. Shivani has also lodged her complaint at the Sector 56 police station. "We registered a case on the complaint given by Shivani Sharma on May 7 and notice has been issued to the accused to join investigation which is going on," said Sector 56 police station SHO Amit. In her Facebook post Shivani has narrated in detail the incident as well as the "negligence" of the daycare owned by a woman and her husband. "I want to report the utter negligence of DayCare owner Archana Benjiwal and her staff in running and taking care of kids," Shivani wrote in her post which was shared more than 11000 times. As per the account of Shivani she dropped her daughter at the daycare at 12.30 pm on April 28 and half an hour later received a phone call while she was in her office, that there was an emergency and her daughter hit her right thumb. She said that she rushed to a private hospital where Myra was taken to find that her right thumb had amputated and top half part of the thumb was "crushed and cut apart." She was told that another kid had closed a door and her daughter's thumb was crushed in it. Shivani mentioned that at 6 pm on the day a team of doctors at Medanta performed surgery on Myra's thumb. The doctors told her to wait six weeks to get its result. "During this whole time I was alone as my husband was out of country.," she said. "The day care owners Archana and her husband Prashant came to picture only after a day of this incident. Her husband came to our house on May 1 apologising and saying that they will completely bear the expense of all treatments as it is their mistake," she added. She alleged that they were "not seen or heard back" since then and when she called them to pay for surgery they started making "excuses" and did not even pick up phone on the day of surgery. "I will fight till we get you the right treatment which you deserve," she said in the post. The daycare owners could not be contacted for their version of the incident. Noida: Two Class XI students were injured in an alleged incident of ragging at the Delhi Public School hostel in Noida Sector 30 following which an FIR has been registered against six identified and 12 unidentified students. The victims a 15-year-boy hailing from western Uttar Pradesh and a 16-year-old boy from Kolkata alleged that their seniors ragged them on Monday night and when they objected, they were beaten up in the hostel, police said. "One of the parents has filed a complaint against six named students and 12 unknown students. FIR has been lodged at sector 20 police station on Tuesday," said Gaurav Grover, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Noida. They have been booked under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (rioting and unlawful assembly) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC, he said. "As accused are minor, we have called the Childline India Foundation to interrogate them. Further action will be taken as per law," said Amarnath Yadav, SHO, Sector 20 Police Station. A spokesperson for Kailash Hospital said both students had injuries on their bodies but they were not in danger. "They were discharged after dressing of wounds," said Kailash Hospital spokesperson. The school management said an Inquiry committee has been formed to look into the matter. Pune: Five youths have been arrested for allegedly assaulting and molesting a 22-year-old woman advertising professional more than a week ago, police said on Wednesday. "On 1 May, the woman was going to her apartment in a car along with two male friends. When they reached Lulla Nagar area, the accused, who were in a different car, started honking and teasing them," Inspector Varsharani Patil of Kondhwa Police station said. An argument ensued between the two parties and when the complainant and her friends reached near her apartment, the accused followed them and again started abusing them, the police official said. "The accused then called their friends and thrashed the complainant and her two friends. They also molested her," police said. The inspector said that initially the police personnel had registered a non-cognisable offence which was on Sunday changed into an FIR, following which the accused were arrested. "A report has been sent to the seniors against three police personnel, who registered just an NC instead of a proper FIR and did not inform their seniors about the incident," Patil said. All the accused were produced in court, which released them on bail. New Delhi: The faceless postman once portrayed poetically by Rabindranath Tagore and the need to revamp the postal services in the country figured prominently during question hour in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. Answering supplementary questions from members, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who holds charge of the department of posts, said efforts are on "to make use of the vast network of postal platform all over the country for better growth and financial inclusion". He said at the directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government is working hard to reinforce the infrastructure, connectivity and modernisation programme of the postal services and substantial progress has been made since 2014. "Nearly 21,000-plus branches (of post offices) have been given core banking solution in only two years. It was only 230 in 2014. I am not saying that everything has been done," he said, adding that his ministry will also give "hand-held devices to all postmen across India by March 2017". Raising supplementaries, Trinamool Congress member Pratima Mondal recalled Nobel laureate Tagore's famous short story where the chief protagonist is a postman and also the film of maestro Satyajit Ray. "We have noticed the importance of the post office in village life. At the same time we have noticed the indescribable condition of rural post offices. We are in 2016, but no remarkable development has taken place in the infrastructure of post offices," she said. Congress member Jyotiraditya Scindia recalled how during the previous UPA regime, steps were taken to provide allowances to postmen for maintaining their shoes, dress, etc. Prasad said during his visits to the rural areas, he discovered that even though writing of letters has decreased due to advancement of technology, the growth of e-commerce has again reinforced the importance of delivery men employed by the private companies. Prasad said computerisation of post office branches in villages and small towns has enhanced the prestige of postal staff. Bharatiya Janata Party member SS Ahluwalia asked the telecom minister to initiate action against a television commercial that shows postmen showing respect to the rich and hurling insults at the poor. Prasad said he has seen the advertisement and would bring it to the notice of Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley as television advertisements come under the domain of the I&B ministry. The underlying tension between the Government of India and civil society organisations (CSOs) has come to the fore again with the CBI registering a case of corruption against an undersecretary in the Union Home Ministry after it emerged that he had allegedly removed critical files linked to an investigation against social activist Teesta Setalvad. Anand Joshi, who reportedly went missing on Wednesday just before a CBI grilling, has since brought stunning charges against Ford Foundation and some of the senior bureaucrats within the Ministry of Home Affairs, claiming that he was being made a scapegoat because he refused to accept a bribe of Rs 250 crore offered by the US-based donor agency. Joshi, who was shunted out of MHA's foreign funding division in January this year, was found in illegal possession of crucial files pertaining to the alleged FCRA violations by Setalvads two NGOs Sabrang Trust and Centre for Justice and Peace (CJP). Sabrang Trust's registration under the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act (FCRA) was suspended in September 2015. It became due for cancellation in March 2016 and it is only then that MHA bosses noticed that key documents are missing. "The MHA could not trace the Sabrang Trust file around March, and the undersecretary was an obvious suspect. That was when officials of the FCRA division chased him and threatened him into handing back the file," a ministry officer told The Times of India. Now Ford Foundation which was only recently taken off the government's "prior approval category" after being put on the watch list in April 2015 was one of the donors to Setalvad's Sabrang Trust, which is alleged to have diverted foreign funding to uses other than those permitted under FCRA. The charge against Joshi is of indulging in corrupt activities and arbitrarily issuing notices to a large number of NGOs who receive foreign funding. He allegedly demanded and obtained illegal gratification from some of these organisations, which were then laundered through various immovable assets as well as certain private firms, according to a CBI statement. According to Times Now, Joshi, however, claimed that the personal assistant of Ford Foundation's chairperson had approached him in October 2015 and offered money in exchange for his support. And upon refusal, he was allegedly pressured by senior officials to give Ford Foundation and some other NGOs a clean chit. I was offered around Rs 200-250 crore to remove Ford Foundation from a blacklist. When I refused, the organisation lodged a complaint with the PMO. Officers in my department, such as Additional Secretary BK Prasad, began pressuring me to give a clean chit to Ford Foundation. When I refused, all these allegations of corruption were levelled against me. I never removed the file on Sabrang Trust either, Joshi told The Indian Express. A PTI report quotes Joshi as claiming that Prasad had "verbally" asked him to give favourable comments on Ford Foundation "which I refused. Soon, he ensured that I am transferred out of Foreigners Division. I demand that the CBI should investigate BK Prasad. There should be an investigation why clean chit was given to Ford," Joshi said. "It is a conspiracy against me. I have given adverse opinion against many NGOs including Greenpeace, Ford Foundation and two NGOs of Teesta Setalvad," he said. Times Now journalist Aditya Raj Kaul, who tweets @AdityaRajKaul, in a series of posts on Tuesday quoted Joshi as saying that Ford Foundation's Kavita Ramdoss offered him 250 crore bribe. MHA Under Secretary Anand Joshi tells me, Ford Foundation's Kavita Ramdoss through PA offered him 250 crore bribe. Foreign NGOs exposed? Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) May 10, 2016 MHA Under Secretary Anand Joshi tells me, it's an open secret that Ford Foundation is #CIA front in #India, funds anti-national activities. Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) May 10, 2016 MHA Under Secretary Anand Joshi tells me, he probed (with CBI) wrongdoings by NGOs of activist Teesta Setalvad, now being targeted for it. Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) May 10, 2016 In an emailed response to The Hindu, however, Ford Foundation said: This is a baseless allegation, and we reject it completely and unequivocally. This is not the first time that Ford Foundation has found itself under the spotlight. In April 2015, the Centre ordered all funds from the US-based donor agency to be subject to its scrutiny and approval due to national security concerns. The MHA also decided to keep a watch on all of its activities. The order was revoked in March this year following some diplomatic pressure and Ford Foundation's move to register itself under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Since coming to power, the NDA government has cracked the whip harder on NGOs and cancelled the licence of nearly 9,000 of them including big boys such as Greenpeace India, citing lack of transparency and violations of foreign funding norms. Last year the Centre cancelled Greenpeace's licence to operate in India due to "financial fraud and falsification of data". The organisation termed it as "an assault on free speech." The genesis of the problem lies in the grey area where NGOs operate and the role they perform. While service delivery of CSOs are considered necessary in a billion-strong country where millions stay out of the ambit of life's basic necessities like schooling, sanitation, housing and education, the problem arises when NGOs take recourse to strategy advocacy, lobbying, mass mobilisation and strident campaigning to usher in change in government policies. The Manmohan Singh-led UPA too had tried to rein in the influence of NGOs in fields such as human rights and environment citing "national security" or economic development. The NDA, which sees itself as the target of concerted attacks by NGOs, has taken a grim view of the rampant political and social activism by some of them and believes that some NGOs use foreign money to foment dissent and civil unrest within its boundaries while acting ostensibly as watchdogs. A 2015 report by Economic Times revealed how Ford Foundation, for instance, was under Intelligence Bureau (IB) scrutiny for the past one year (2014) and grants worth $5 million given by it had been blocked by the government amid suspicion that it was funding organisations and NGOs that were working against national interest. The Gujarat government had also complained to the Home Ministry that Ford was interfering with the country's judicial system and working against communal harmony. Tehelka, similarly, quoted an IB report which was submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 identifying several foreign-funded NGOs that are negatively impacting economic development. The 21-page report added that a significant number of Indian NGOs, funded by some donors based in the US, UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries, are using people-centric issues to create an environment which lends itself to stalling development projects. Foreign donors lead local NGOs to provide field reports which are used to build a record against India and serve as tools for the strategic foreign policy interests of the Western government. The IB report also calculated how campaigns headed by Greenpeace and other NGOs had drained three percentage points off India's annual growth rate an annual loss of around $60 billion. For their part, NGOs accuse the government of bullying, witch hunt and using scare tactics to ensure that nobody comes in the way of big projects. There have been suggestions that NGOs should be brought under RTI net to ensure transparency and accountability. Right now, there is too much mutual distrust and animosity. Gurgaon: A 30-year-old Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer from Karnataka in training committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan, police said on Wednesday. Mohammad Monusul, an under training assistant commandant, was found hanging in his hostel room at Kadarpur camp, some 12 km from Gurgaon city. Monusul, who hailed from Belgaum, was on a year-long training which began in September. The deceased left a suicide note saying no one was responsible for his death. "All my friends are good, my training officers are also good, I am killing myself," read the note, police officer Suresh Kumar told IANS. Monusul, who was not married, also apologized to his family. "I don't want to die, but I am dying. I know I may go to hell but I am going," he wrote. His body was handed over to his family members after autopsy. Monusul's colleagues told police that he appeared normal before killing himself. Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government has urged the Centre to include Shimla in Smart City mission and Dharamsala under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Minister Sudhir Sharma on Tuesday met Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu in Delhi and urged him to include Shimla in Smart City Mission as it was a famous international tourist destination, besides being the state capital. "Shimlas pre-eminent position as largest city of the state and heritage status qualifies it for Smart City tag," the Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister said. Shimla had already been included under AMRUT, Sharma said. Sharma also demanded inclusion of Dharamsala, which was already included under Smart City mission, under AMRUT Mission and said a proposal in this regard had been submitted under fast-track mode to the Centre. He also urged the Union Minister to adopt a cluster approach to include more towns by clubbing small towns like Kullu-Manali and Mandi-Sundernagar under AMRUT. Sharma also demanded funds for Dharamsala sewerage scheme and informed the Union Minister that Municipal Corporation, Dharamsala has prepared a detailed report with estimated expenditure of Rs 101.36 crore for providing sewerage facility in the left out areas of the town. Ranchi: It's an all-out battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition in Jharkhand, over the domicile policy announced by the Raghubar Das government. With the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) calling for a statewide shutdown on 14 May, the ruling dispensation on Wednesday came out with an advertorial in the local newspapers in support of the policy. The two-page advertorial has been penned by BJP leader and former IAS officer JB Tubid, besides former high court judges, scholars and journalists. But the opposition is in no mood to relent. We are getting support from all sections of the society. We are shocked to see the advertorial. It's sheer misuse of public money for writing favourable articles on the domicile policy, said JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya. The domicile policy has been a bone of contention between the ruling BJP and the opposition ever since it was notified in April. Even some BJP leaders have expressed serious reservations about the policy, saying it would adversely impact the rights of the tribals and the Moolvasis in the state. Under the new domicile policy, anyone living in the region for 30 years and possessing immovable assets will be considered as a resident of Jharkhand. Moreover, those who were born in Jharkhand and passed the tenth standard examination will also qualify as a resident. Anyone whose name appears in the land records will also be considered as a Jharkhand resident. Those without land may qualify as a resident if the Gram Sabhas vouch for them, provided they speak the local language. Employees of the state and central governments, and other local authorities living in the state will also be considered as residents of Jharkhand. However, former Jharkhand chief ministers Arjun Munda (BJP), Hemant Soren (JMM), Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik) and Madhu Koda have opposed the policy. They have raised concerns over the 30-year criterion, saying anyone can illegally acquire land and become a resident of Jharkhand. Several BJP MPs have also red-flagged the policy on similar grounds. Ranchi Lok Sabha MP Ram Tahal Choudhary, Khuti MP Karia Munda, Jamshedpur MP Vidyut Baran Mahto and Chaibasa MP Laxman Gilua have written to Governor Draupadi Murmu, saying the policy has led to widespread discontent among the tribals and the Moolvasis. New Delhi: Hinting at limited scope of negotiations with students on the punishment in connection with the 9 February event, JNU on Wednesday asked students to call off the hunger strike saying the matter is sub-judice. "The JNU Administration appeals to students to end the hunger strike immediately in view of some students moving to the High Court on the issue of the High Level Enquiry Committee Report related to the event on February 9," the university said in a statement. The varsity had earlier this week formed a four-member committee to look into demands of students protesting against punishments by JNU for involvement in the controversial event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. However, the panel may take a back seat after the two students - Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya - yesterday moved High Court against the punishment orders. "The court has asked the university to deposit all the documents related to it for judicial scrutiny. Since the matter is sub judice, the administration will abide by the court ruling," the varsity statement said. Meanwhile, the indefinite hunger strike by the students entered 14th day today even as one more student had to withdraw the fast after she was admitted to AIIMS when her health deteriorated last night. So far, 13 students, including JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid, have withdrawn from the fast while 7 others are still continuing with the strike. Hearing the petition, the Delhi High Court had yesterday issued a notice to JNU seeking its response and directed that date of deposit of the fine by Umar shall be extended till 30 May, the next date of hearing. An Academic Council meeting at the university was also adjourned yesterday amid a ruckus due to heated arguments between students, teachers and administration over the 9 February issue. Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban were arrested in February in a sedition case over the event and are out on bail now. 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. Financial penalty has been imposed on 14 students. Hostel facilities of two students have been withdrawn and the university has declared the campus out of bounds for two former students. New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday accused the Narendra Modi government of letting Vijay Mallya go out of the country despite the liquor baron defaulting on payment of loans of Rs.9,000 crore to various banks. The Congress charge came hours after Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley informed the Rajya Sabha that the United Kingdom has turned down India's request for deportation of Mallya, but added that he can be extradited once a chargesheet was filed against him. Jaitley said that Mallya's deportation was sought by the investigative agencies, but was turned down by the UK. "Investigative agencies are probing the wrongdoings. In course of the investigation, since his diplomatic passport has been cancelled, the investigative agencies sought his deportation," Jaitley informed the house. The Congress, however, said that it was the central government which allowed him to leave the country, and it was "not interested in getting him back". "They themselves let him go. Why would they bring him back?" senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal told media here, adding that they all knew when he was leaving. He said that the Modi government has a "dual face" as they say something and do exactly the opposite. Sibal also said that "Modi can't have dual face on everything". New Delhi: Government has finalised an amended draft of an Anti-Torture Bill and will soon bring it before Parliament, the Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday. "I cannot give a guarantee on time frame that it will be brought in so many months but I assure the House that a full-fledged draft bill has been prepared. The draft has been sent to law ministry," Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary said replying to questions about bringing for passage the amended Prevention of Torture Bill 2010 before Parliament. The minister said certain amendments have been made in the earlier bill including replacing the word "hurt" with "hurt and torture". "A proposal to suitably amend Section 330 and Section 331 of the Indian Penal Code is currently under examination," he said in the written reply. In the written reply, the minister said the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 was prepared as an enabling legislation to ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on 5 May 2010. The Rajya Sabha referred it to the Select Committee for scrutiny. The Select Committee referred the Bill for enactment with certain modifications. Comments of state governments and Union Territory administrations were called. Some of the state governments felt that adequate provisions already exist in the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Code of Criminal Procedure (CPC) and suggested suitable amendments in the existing provisions of these laws. In the meanwhile, the bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in May 2014, necessiating introduction of a new bill in the House. Members wanted to know the reasons for the delay in bringing the bill. One of the members took potshots at the government saying "you bring all anti-democratic bill like on Uttarakhand so fast. Give us a specific time by when you are bringing this bill." Pawan Varma (JDU) wanted to know whether one of the five permanent members China has decided against ratifying the Convention. Responding to another question about details of the steps taken by government to improve conviction rates in cases of custodial toture resulting in deaths, the minister said that under seventh schedule of the Constitution of India, Police and Public Order are state subjects. "And therefore, the state governments are primarily responsible for prevention, registration, detection and investigation of crime and prosecution of the perpetrators of crime within their jurisdiction, including those causing custodial torture leading to deaths. "The National Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines from time to time to be followed by the law enforcing agencies in cases of custodial death. Advisories have also been issued by the government to all states and Union Territories on measures to be taken on relevant issues like arrest of individual," he said. New Delhi: Cutting across party lines, Lok Sabha members on Wednesday demanded that common entrance test for medical admissions be conducted in regional languages, expressing their unhappiness over the Supreme Court order for a single test from this year itself. Sharing the concern of members, the government assured the House that it would try to convince the Supreme Court that more time is needed to switch over to the new system. Last month, the apex court had asked the Centre and CBSE to conduct a single common entrance test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses, through National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET). The court had also rejected the pleas of the state governments, private institutions and minority institutions for allowing conduct of separate entrance tests. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, members urged the government to take necessary steps to address the issue and suggested that an ordinance could also be brought in this regard. Responding to the pleas made by the members, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the government in principle is in favour of having common joint entrance test. "We will convey to the court that children need more time... We will reiterate and try to convince the court," Naidu said, adding that some state governments have also approached the court in this regard. It is a serious issue and the court should appreciate it, he added. According to him, there are two views about common entrance examination as some private institutions and state governments are conducting their own tests. Some malpractices have also been alleged, he noted. Meanwhile, the Centre has approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to hold entrance examination for MBBS and BDS for the academic year 2016-17 in six regional languages. Congress member Rajeev Satav urged the government to address the issue immediately either by bringing an ordinance or going back to the Supreme Court. He also took a swipe at the Centre, saying there might have been some shortcomings in the submissions made by it before the apex court. Tathagat Satpathy (BJD) demanded that the Centre should come out with a clear stance on the issue and go back to the court. "It is important for the government to take a clear stance... otherwise it would damage the future of students," he noted. He recalled that earlier the Supreme Court had allowed conduct of the entrance examination in regional languages but later it was changed "Probably because of a weak case put up by the Centre". Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (TMC) said how students from remote areas, who have been preparing for the exam in regional languages for years, can be asked to appear for the common test now. "Let us stand by students. We cannot let them suffer," she said, adding legislative measures should be initiated to address the issue as it concerns not just West Bengal but many other states also. "Even if you are angry at some autonomous institutions...it should not be directed at poor students whose future would be in jeopardy," she said. Emphasising that the entrance test should be conducted in a transparent and merit-based manner, Mohammed Salim (CPI-M) said there should be "uniform and level playing field" for the students. The matter should have been discussed by the House, he added. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said the common joint entrance examination should be deferred for this year and if that is conveyed to the Court, then there would be peace. Prem Singh Chandumajra (SAD) said the Centre should include Punjabi as a language for conducting the entrance test as it is not currently in the list of languages given to the court. Jaipur: Rejecting allegations of removal of references to Jawaharlal Nehru from a Class VII textbook in Rajasthan, state School Education Minister Vasudev Devnani on Tuesday claimed the revised syllabus has the first prime minister's name at 15 places in different textbooks. "The government has not omitted Nehru's name from textbooks. His name is there at 15 places in the revised books. The references to Nehru are available in textbooks of Class 7 (Hindi), Class 9 (Social science) and Class 11 (World History)," Devnani said in a statement. He said Nehru's role in freedom movement, introducing Panchayti Raj system and non-aligned movement have been given space in the revised textbooks. "The state government does not favour politics in education. Syllabus from class 1 to 8 is prepared by the State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT) and the Board of Secondary Education prepares the syllabus for classes 9 to 12. He also said if two or three chapters on Nehru were not included in the syllabus, they would be added in the textbook in supplementary form. Earlier in the Day, opposing the move to omit references to Nehru from the textbook, the state unit of Congress held a demonstration here with PCC chief Sachin Pilot saying that it reflected the "mental bankruptcy" of the Raje government. Ranchi: A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launched a campaign for ban on liquor in Jharkhand, BJP on Wednesday said he should "focus on his state to reduce the crime graph there". "The focus of Nitish Kumar should be Bihar to reduce crime graph there instead of focusing on Jharkhand," state BJP spokesperson Pradip Sinha said here. On Kumar accusing the ruling BJP of "taking away" six Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) MLAs soon after the creation of the BJP-led NDA government in the state, Sinha said the Bihar Chief Minister should have known that the matter is sub judice. "Nitish Kumar should have known that the matter is in the Speaker's court and some people have also approached the High Court. He should have waited till the verdict," he said. Kumar in Bokaro on Tuesday had alleged that when Raghubar Das formed government in Jharkhand, he "took away JVM MLAs, which is immoral and illegal under anti-defection law". In a separate meeting in Dhanbad, he launched a campaign for ban on sale of liquor which his government has imposed in Bihar in April 2016. A big question mark has been posed by a parliamentary committee on the Modi governments rhetorical claims that its determined to convert India into a hub of higher learning with a number of refurbished valuable institutes such as IIT, NIT and IIM. Taking stock of the current situation prevailing in the education sector for higher professional studies including several universities, the panel points out acute shortage of faculty in these educational institutions as it expresses anguish on finding that out that this problem has emerged as the biggest handicap for the development and growth of higher education vis-a-vis maintaining the quality of education. It is not the first time that the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development headed by Satyanarayan Jatiya has pointed loopholes in the system for higher education. But the committee has expressed regrets that despite serious concerns expressed earlier, situation continues to be grim with no improvement foreseen in the near future. In its deposition before the committee, the Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry had said that the total number of sanctioned teaching posts in various Central Universities was 16,600 (2376 Professors, 4708 Associate Professors and 9521 Assistant Professors). Out of these teaching posts, 5928 teaching posts were laying vacant (1277 Professors, 2173 Associate Professors, and 2478 Assistant Professors) for a considerable time. Stressing that the availability of adequate and qualified faculty is a pre-requisite for quality education, the committee tries to determine the cause of the grave crisis of faculty. There can be only two possibilities, either young students are not attracted towards the teaching profession or the recruitment process is a prolonged one and involves too many procedural formalities, it tries to diagnose the problem. In either case, it is for the HRD and University Grants Commission are liable to become proactive in overcoming the crisis expeditiously, the Jatiya committee report which is already with Parliament said. This report assumes importance in view of the repeated interference by the Union government in the functioning of the institutions of higher learning in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Benares Hindu University, Hyderabad University and Allahabad University and IITs among others, thus causing an atmosphere of uncertainty in their smooth functioning. It is needless to say that the minimum qualification for faculty recruitment in IITs is a Ph.D and there is also an acute shortage of scholars who prefer to take up teaching profession in IITs. Thus, it would be desirable to evolve new strategies for attracting and retention quality faculty members which inter alia include year round selection process through video conferencing. But the shortage of Ph.D holders has intrigued the committee and it has sought evaluation report from the HRD ministry. The Committee would like to have an evaluation report, if any, about the quality and standard of Ph.D holders across the country to understand why suitable candidates are difficult to find for the vacant positions. Maybe we need to reorient the entire system of evaluation of Ph.D and other research scholars, the committee said. Besides the paucity of faculty members to teach in the institutions, the committee observes that the projected demand in respect of National Institutes of Technology (NITs) was to the tune of Rs 3000 crore (Rs 2000 crore for 20 old NITs and Rs 1000 crore for 10 new NITs). But an allocation of only Rs 1444.90 crore has been made available to NITs. Theres been steep rise in the number universities and colleges since 1950. While the number of universities has gone up to 740 (about 34 times) from 20 since 1950, the number of colleges has also shown multiple increase from just 500 to 40160 now. It may be pointed out that millions of students are rendered jobless even after completing their studies in 46 Central Universities, 342 State Universities, 227 State (Private) Universities and 125 Institutions Deemed to be Universities. The 12th Plan Approach Paper mentions that about 18 per cent of all Government education spending or 1.12 per cent of GDP be spent on higher education. But the committee finds this allocation is insufficient, thus it has recommended rise to 25 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively. However, the overall scenario regarding the declining allocation over the years shows altogether a different picture. This is also reflected in the low achievement of the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) which is taken as an indicator of the growth and development of Higher Education Sector in the county. It is however disturbing that India low with respect to GER. To achieve higher GER and for making India an educational hub globally, the government needs to make more allocation of funds and ensure efficient utilisation of money. It may be pointed out that Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) was created to increase GER from 18% to 30%. The governments apathy towards higher learning can also be judged from the fact that against a demand of Rs 4000 crore raised by RUSA for 2016-17, the government doled out only Rs 1300 crore. Similarly, the demand raised by UGC for 2016-17 was Rs 3698.71 crores but the Budgetary Expenditure allocated to the schemes is Rs 2105 crores for same fiscal. The slashing of funds, needless to say, hampers functioning of the institutions. In the mid-1980s, a district collector in Kurnool of Andhra Pradesh did something unacceptable on Gandhi Jayanti, he agreed to have a separate well dug for the Dalits because the upper-castes wanted it, knowing fully well that the 'Father of the Nation' would have more than winced at the move. There is a reason for this recall. Tina Dabi, this years UPSC topper wants to opt for Haryana because it offers challenges she would like to deal with: patriarchal mindset and gender inequality which is rife in that State. That is laudable for a 22-year-old, who also happens to be a Dalit. She wants to change that. By her assertion, she comes from a progressive family. The twist is that the collector who was insensitive about the dignity of Dalits was also a Dalit, and by his conduct, had shown that he may have, by his official status, migrated from a caste to a class, especially a class that is inured to the plight of the other, and when in public administration, see the other as a statistic, no more. A report in The Hindu describing it all did not lead to a whimper from the gentleman, much as it had not the previous year when he had attended a community lunch to foster a positive attitude towards the Dalits. He and the VIPs had their lunch served, and after they left, the Dalit had their community lunch. That he had helped foster discrimination did not dawn upon him. Tina Dabi should continue to hold her view and strive hard to beat the forces that keep the society divided. Being a woman in a state wedded to a patriarchal system is going to make it difficult for her but she has picked up the gauntlet. More power to this young lady, who in Haryana may already be evoking a derisive response: 'Kya samajh rakha hai khud ko! (What does she think of herself?)' Ansar Ahmad Shaikh, who also cracked the UPSC is a Jalana boy, he came to Pune to study, took a degree from the eminent Fergusson College. When he was turned away when seeking paying guest accommodation because he was a Muslim, he used a friends name, Shubham and secured one. He was forced to keep his identity a secret. His experience only underscores a reality which we wink at. The Indian Express reported, "having faced religious discrimination," Shaikh said that promoting Hindu-Muslim unity and bridging disparity is one area that he would like to work on. This could be as difficult for him to achieve as possibly it could be for Dabi. His first-hand experience would already have moulded the man even as he enters the arena of public administration. The question is, would these plans, dreams, intents, or whatever, survive? Public administration is part of politics. It is a hard life out there, whether it is in the IAS or the IPS people on the outside only see them as people with power. A Collector, for instance, is king in a manner of speaking wielding enormous clout within the four corners of the statute. People speak of wanting their children becoming a bada officer, ek Collector (Big officer, a Collector). While the statutes job description is one thing, how it is put to use is another. A good man is also forced to bend this shows that politics is more powerful than officialdom. Of course, the entire crop of IAS or IPS officers are not all bad as in bent. However, it is common knowledge that the level-headed and the honest, and especially them, if inconvenient, can be and are harassed by being pushed to innocuous posts. Remember Ashok Khemka? Pushed around like the discs in a game of carrom. Not all are like the civil servants in Yes, Prime Minister, in that they manage to outwit the politician and the system. The fear is the bright and the brilliant those in IAS and IPS are the best brains who enter the system with the hope of doing something positive should not end up disenchanted and fall in line with the system. Probably, they havent read about a Food and Drugs Commissioner being moved out because he scanned some multinational drug companies, or a collector shifted out since the sand mafia was quickly neutered, saving the state enormous loss of royalties. They would have to reach into deep into their inner resources and sustain their optimism, and even their will to do something. The realisation of their ambitions is what the country requires, but they are unfortunately reality thwarts at every step. It is not the rules, but the politicians who call the shots. Manorama Devi, Bihar MLC and mother of Rocky Yadav (accused of murdering a teenager), has been absconding after the state government issued an arrest warrant against her on Tuesday, for storing liquor bottles in her house thus defying the state wide liquor ban imposed by Nitish Kumar. Possession of liquor in the state under the new law entails a minimum imprisonment of 10 years which may extend to life imprisonment and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh. The JD(U) has suspended Manorama from the party for possession of liquor as well as for shielding her son Rocky Yadav - accused of murdering teenager Aditya Sachdeva, according to India TV. The report further said that her suspension came shortly after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar returned to Gaya from Dhanbad. Her security cover has been withdrawn and she was, in fact, present at when the police raided her house on Tuesday night. At least six bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor were recovered from her residence in AP colony house, where the police had gone looking for Rocky, in connection with the Gaya road rage death case, reported Zee News. A directive to arrest Manorama Devi and seal her house had been issued to the Gaya district administration by the state excise deparment, the report further said. The suspension and issuing of arrest warrant of Manorama Devi, therefore, not only legitimises the CM's resolve but also indicates that the JD(U) is aiming to blunt criticism of favouritism and shielding of the MLC in the controversial case, as reported by Hindustan Times. Gaya Police has also registered fresh cases against Rocky Yadav and his father Bindi under the new excise act after recovering the liquor bottles from Devi's residence. Rocky was arrested on Tuesday, for the murder of Sachdeva, a 19-year-old schoolboy. Sachdeva was shot dead, after his vehicle had reportedly overtaken Rocky's range rover on the night of 7 May. "In his statement, Rocky Yadav admitted to committing the crime. I assure you that we will soon arrest others who were involved in the crime," Gaya's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Garima Malik had told reporters. His father, Bindi Yadav, a criminal-turned-politician, was with him in the car along with a bodyguard when the crime took place. While Rocky had been on the run since the incident, his father and the bodyguard were arrested and sent to 14 days' judicial custody on Monday by a local court. Bindi Yadav had also claimed that Rocky had fired from his pistol "by mistake". Eye-witnesses, Sachdeva's friends who were in the same vehicle as the victim, though, contradicted this claim and explained how Rocky Yadav had threatened them just because their car had overtaken his. Bindi Yadav too has had a criminal record. He was earlier arrested after a huge cache of AK-47 cartridges was seized from him. The killing had reverberated inside and outside parliament as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) President Nitish Kumar for allowing the "return of jungle raj" in the state. The BJP had called a shutdown of Gaya town on Monday. Nitish Kumar, in response, had said his government will not spare anyone found guilty of the crime as no one is above the rule of law. New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rapped Haryana, Gujarat and Bihar on the drought issue and directed the Centre to convene an urgent meeting with their chief secretaries to assess the drought situations in these states. In an unsparing indictment of the attitude of the three state governments, the apex court remarked that these states lacked the will to even admit to the drought-like situation in their jurisdictions. The court directed the union agriculture secretary to hold a meeting within a week with the three chief secretaries in view of the available data and, if so advised, persuade the state governments to declare drought in whichever district, taluka or tehsil it was necessary. The court also ordered for the setting up the National Disaster Response Force and the National Disaster Mitigation Fund within six and three months respectively. "It should be emphasised that there is no loss of face or prestige or dignity in the state government declaring a drought if it is warranted, although succour to the distressed might be too late in the day," said an apex court bench comprising Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice N.V. Ramana. Saying that the agriculture secretary "might also consider convening a meeting of the National Executive Committee and issue directions, if necessary, to Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana and their authorities in response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster", the bench quoted Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak: "The problem is not lack of resources or capability, but the lack of will." Justice Lokur said: "This lack of will is amply demonstrated, in which Bihar, Gujarat and Haryana are hesitant to even acknowledge, let alone address, a possible drought-like situation or a drought, by not disclosing full facts about the prevailing conditions in these states." "A candid admission does not imply a loss of face or invite imputations of ineffective governance -- it is an acknowledgement of reality. An ostrich-like attitude is a pity, particularly since the persons affected by a possible drought-like situation usually belong to the most vulnerable sections of society." "The sound of silence coming from these states subjects the vulnerable to further distress", the bench said in its judgment. It pointed out that the "humanitarian factors such as migrations from affected areas, suicides, extreme distress and the plight of women and children are some of the factors that ought to be kept in mind by the state governments in matters pertaining to drought and the government of India in updating and revising the Manual". The court said the availability of adequate food grain and water is certainly of utmost importance but they are not the only factors required to be taken note of. Seven directions were issued to the Centre, including on "setting up of a National Disaster Response Force within six months from today with an appropriate and regular cadre strength" as mandated under Section 44 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. The Centre was also asked to establish a National Disaster Mitigation Fund within three months from today as required under Section 47 of the Act of 2005. The court referred to Section 11 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, which requires the formulation of a National Plan relating to risk assessment, risk management and crisis management in respect of a disaster. "Such National Plan has not been formulated over the last 10 years, although a policy document has been prepared. We can appreciate that the formulation of a National Plan will take some time, but surely 10 years is far too long for such an exercise." The apex court then directed or the formulation of the National Plan in terms of Section 11 of the Act of 2005 at the "very earliest and with immediate concern". Appreciating the Drought Management Manual, the court direct that the Manual be revised and updated on or before December 31, 2016. The court said weightage be given to rainfall, storage water levels in reservoirs, surface and ground water as well as sowing and crop conditions to determine drought and its duration. This direction came after the court found Haryana, Bihar and Gujarat were using factors like perennial rivers, nature of soil and other factors for not declaring drought. The court was hearing a plea by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan seeking its intervention for relief in 11 drought-affected states. Hyderabad: The Special Sessions Judge of Ranga Reddy district court complex on Tuesday convicted Faisal Dayani, a gym instructor, and six of the gang's members, who would threaten their victims with snakes, under IPC Section 452 (house-trespass), 395 (dacoity), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354B (assault or use of criminal force to any woman with the intention of disrobing). The eighth accused was convicted only under IPC Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), while the ninth accused, was acquitted of similar charge. Pronouncing the quantum of punishment, Judge V Vara Prasad sentenced Dayani and six others - Khader B, Tayyab B, Mohd Pervez, Sayyed Anwar, Khaja Ahmed and Mohd Ibrahim - to life imprisonment under Section 395 (dacoity) of IPC, and directed them to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each. Besides the life sentence, they were also sentenced to seven years imprisonment under IPC sections 452, 506 and 354B and were fined Rs 5,000 each under each section, Public Prosecutor Ponnam Devaraju Goud said. However, all the sentences will run concurrently.The eighth convict Ali B was sentenced to 20 months RI though he has already undergone this period in jail.All the eight convicts were present in the court at the time of pronouncement of judgement. In August 2014, Pahadishareef Police arrested members of the gang, including Dayani, after the 18-year-old girl alleged she was sexually assaulted by them at a farmhouse in Shaheen Nagar here on July 31.The gang members had entered the farmhouse to commit a robbery. They forced the victim to strip by threatening to set a snake on her and then allegedly raped her in front of her fiance, police had earlier said. The seven convicts, who were also booked for gang rape, were acquitted of the charge, as the victim did not confirm the same during the trial and was silent on the allegation before the court. According to police, the gang members used snakes to scare women and sexually assault them and then film their acts. Some of them were also involved in land grabbing, acting as arbitrator between disputing parties, and other offences. New Delhi: Troubled by forest fires, wild animals are migrating from upper reaches of Uttarakhand to lower forests close to human habitats, causing alarm. Elephants and leopards are venturing close to human habitats near two of Indias biggest tiger reserves, the Rajaji national park and the largest, Corbett national park. We have had many sightings of more than 100 elephants in one herd which is very, very unusual, says Ashish Pradhan, who lives close to the Rajaji National Park. Late last month, Pathak joined more than 500 protestors in the holy Haridwar city to protest what he called total negligence on part of the authorities to control the fires and find safe zones for the animals. Increased animal sightings are also reported from the Corbett national park. While visitors to the park are excited, residents claim they live in fear of the animals which routinely stray into their villages. The deer, boars are getting too close to our farmland, drawing other wild animals to our doorsteps, says Subhas Negi who lives on the edge of Corbett national park. Someone needs to act fast to secure our lives. We are not tourists, we live here. Tour operators claim sightings have increased manifold during the time forest fires swamped the upper reaches of Uttarakhand. Sighting of leopards, which is rare in both Corbett and Rajaji, is now a routine affair, said one operator. In one recent incident, a barking deer was hit by a speeding car near the holy town and the carcass eventually deposited to the wildlife authorities. The news would have been buried away except for a report in Hindi daily Amar Ujala which carried an image of two locals carrying the carcass of the deer to the offices of the forest division. The man-animal conflict is growing, slowly yet steadily. Residents living in the foothills of the forest mountain terrain of Shivalik, Bilb, Rajaji and Corbett Reserve Parks complain they had been left on their own by the administration. The state machinery is inordinately slow. It reacted late in controlling the fire, it has not yet reacted in tackling the animal menace, says Jay Prakash Pandey, a wildlife activist who lives close to the Rajaji National Park. Pandey has been demanding compensation for those affected, saying many villagers were forced to leave their households and take shelter in safer places. There has been severe loss to our farms due to the forest fires and now we are saddled with animal intrusion into our agriculture fields. The fire has gutted around 1600 hectares of forest in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, affecting approximately 1500 villages in the neighbouring areas. The Corbett Tiger Reserve and Kalagarh Tiger Reserve have reported 48 incidents of fires that destroyed 260.9 hectares of forest. The Corbett tourist visit season will be closed from June 15 but Negi, and others in his village, have a valid point of argument and fear. Samir Sinha, project director of Corbett Reserve, however, has a different theory. He feels the animal influx is mainly because of drying up of riverbeds and waterholes in the forests. It is natural for animals to congregate in one location. But thats because its routine and it happens every summer. The forest fires cannot be held solely responsible for this influx, Sinha said in a telephonic interview from Ramnagar, a sleepy town which is the gateway to the countrys largest tiger reserve. Sinha said his officers were making efforts to create waterholes - both natural and artificial - inside the Corbett reserve to ensure animals get proper water and remain within the periphery of the forest. But the government is rattled, Uttarakhand governor KK Paul recently met up with top officials of the Forest Department, the Rajaji and Corbett Tiger Reserve Park authorities and the district administration to gauge the loss of forest and farm land and also issues of man-animal conflict in the region. Locals have alleged that frequent forest fires in Uttarakhand are the handiwork of timber and land mafia to encroach land but they have not substantiated their claim. There have been movement of animals but officers in all protected areas are taking great care of their wild species, says BP Gupta, nodal officer for forest fire in the state. Hitting out at the Opposition over the killing of Class 12 student in Bihar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav on Wednesday said that if a road rage incident in Bihar is termed as 'jungle raj', then shouldn't Delhi be called the same, considering the number of such incidents occurring in Delhi? Comparing the lawless incidents being handled in other states, including the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase, Yadav said: "Why is frequent waving of Pakistani flags on our land not called 'jungle raj'? Slew of murders of witnesses in the Vyapam scam; terrorists infiltrating country's most secure airbase... Why these incidents are not termed as 'jungle raj'?" "We condemn this incident, and we will see to it that the guilty is brought to book," Tejaswi added. On Tuesday, Yadav alleged that BJP and "BJP supported media" were targetting the state government through use of word like "jungle raj." "The BJP and media supported by the party are advertising the Gaya incident in a way as if it is a rare and first incident of road rage," Tejaswi Yadav, the son of RJD president Lalu Prasad said in a statement as part of "Dil ki Baat" programme run by him. "If a relative of any accused is member of a party (it) does not mean that the lawbreaker enjoys protection of the power that be," he said. Vyapam scam in MP,attack on airbase,rape during #JatQuotaStir,isn't all of these examples of 'jungle raaj'?: T Yadav pic.twitter.com/d07HsrMkWk ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016 The Deputy CM in the Nitish Kumar government and younger son of Lalu Prasad alleged that the saffron party has maximum numbers of people with criminal background who enjoy its patronage. "In Madhya Pradesh, an officer was killed brutally by sand mafias... then this is not called a 'jungle raj'," he said. "When an engineer was killed in Jharkhand neither conscience of BJP was pricked nor the BJP-supported media remembered 'jungle raj' jumla (euphism)," he added. Tejaswi referred to violence during quota agitation in Gujarat and Haryana to hit at BJP. The RJD leader came down heavily on a larger section of media, print as well electronic, "which is singing in tune with a particular party (BJP) after giving a go-bye to principles of journalism". Tejaswi Yadav said "our supporters neither express opinion by sending SMS to prime time channel nor air views on facebook and twitter. They give answer only by pressing EVM button at the time of election." He strongly defended the grand secular alliance government in the state and asserted rule of law prevails and would continue to be like that in future too. With inputs from PTI Many people think death metal is music which is too dark or harsh. But what American rock band Eagles of Death Metals has done proves those people wrong. In an effort to help the victims of the November 2015 Paris attacks, the band has teamed up with a Canadian brewery to craft an India Pale Ale (IPA) beer. The interesting thing about this beer is that a dollar from each bottle will go into the band's charity towards those who were killed in the Le Bataclan theatre. Interestingly, the band was performing at the time of the attack. National Post reported that the beer is named after the bans's frontman Jesse Hughes, whose nickname is Boots Electric. The beer, produced by Toronto based brewery Manantler, was launched during the band's performance in Hamilton on 6 May. The charity proceeds from the sales will be channeled through the band's co-founder Josh Homme's Sweet Stuff Foundation. I think they liked the idea and they liked that we came up with it based on being musicians ourselves and being moved by the events that happened there and also just ultimately being really big fans of Eagles of Death Metal. They didnt have too many reservations. They just had faith that we were outgoing dudes enough to email them audaciously and do it, James Gorry, co-owner of the brewery was quoted by The Toronto Star as saying. Eagles of Death Metal was formed in 1998 in California. It quickly embraced Salman Rushdies motto on the response to terrorism: Dont be terrorized," added National Post. The acronym OPD usually refers to the outpatient department but, for certain hospitals in the country, it might equate to 'our party department'. A bizarre video of about 20 women staff members of the Diwaliben Mehta Hospital dancing and having a merry time in the OPD on 2 March has been received by the health department of BMC as part of an anonymous complaint. An official inquiry against the staff, including the doctors, nurses and Class IV workers of the Chembur hospital has been ordered by the BMC. According to a Mumbai Mirror report, the celebrations in the first floor OPD began at around 10 am on 2 March. The staff decorated the OPD and arranged food for themselves. They also put up speakers and started dancing on popular songs. Children of some staff members can be seen performing lavani in the video. According to the complaint, only about 300 patients were examined that day as compared to 800 on usual days, reported NewsX. The claim of the hospital authorities, however, differ from what was said in the report. The report added that even though they did not want to reveal much information, they claimed to have treated a substantial number of patients that day in spite of the ongoing celebrations. The Mumbai Mirror report added that the Hospitals Chief Medical Officer Vikrant Tikone said that it is an annual programme which is usually hosted on the hospital terrace. Since the terrace was under renovation, it was planned in the OPD. NewsX also reported that some patients were denied treatment or sent to the ground floor OPD which only manages basic cases. The staff, however claimed that they started their programme in the afternoon when the OPDs are over. This is not the first eccentric incident of hospital staff denying treatment to patients and having a gala time. A similar episode was reported in an Ahmedabad hospital in October 2015. Soon after the inaugration of a new kidney dialysis centre, the staff of the Sola Civil Hospital played garba in the intensive care unit. The primary difference between the two cases is the involvement of hospital authorities. While the medical supritendent of the Sola Civil Hospital was unaware of the dance episode, the Chief medical officer of Diwaliben Mehta Hospital was complicit in the celebrations. Lavani in Maharashtra, garba in Gujarat seems like the hospitals are taking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's advice to take pride in our heritage a bit too seriously. You can watch the video of the celebrations in the Diwaliben Mehta Hospital here: Panaji: Goa Lokayukta has decided to refer to the state Governor the names of all the legislators and public functionaries who fail to declare their assets and liabilities for the financial years between 2012 and 2016. Several MLAs had failed to file their statement of assets and liabilities before the state Lokayukta, which is mandatory as per law. Subsequently, the Lokayukta had on Monday issued a public notice asking the public functionaries to file their statement of assets and liabilities before 30 June. "We have issued notice to all the MLAs and public functionaries to submit their assets and liabilities by 30 June. If they fail to do so, we will issue a two months' notice two them. And despite that if they don't furnish, we will submit their names to Governor who is the competent authority," Goa's Lokayukta Justice (Retd) Prafulla Kumar Misra told PTI. "The Governor then might place the matter before the state Legislative Assembly for further action," he said. Those issued notices have been asked to furnish the statements for the financial years 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16. Justice Misra said the Lokayukta has no right to punish anyone under the Goa Lokayukta Act. "We can also publish the names of those who fail to submit their statement in two prominent newspapers in the state," he further said. He said as the post of Lokayukta was vacant since 2013, some people might not have filed their assets before the authority. "There was some doubt whether they require to file the statements or not when Lokayukta was not there. Now they have to file (asset details) for previous years," he said. Justice Misra was sworn in as Lokayukta on 28 April, filling the post which was vacant since 2013 following the resignation of the then Lokayukta Justice (retd) K Sudarshan Reddy on personal grounds. New Delhi: Expelled Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Wednesday blasted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his alleged attempts to lower the prestige of the office of prime minister and "hurting the sentiments of 125 crore people" of India. He also took a critical stand against the Aam Aadmi Party leadership for its comments on Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "Kabhi Sonia Gandhi ko jail bhejo, Kabhi pradhan mantri ko jhuta kahata hae (Sometimes he says, Sonia Gandhi should be sent to jail. Sometimes he says prime minister is a liar)," the MP from Madhepura said in Lok Sabha during zero hour. Without taking any name, he said the same person and the party themselves do not show decency to decorum and established norms. "They have passed as many as 16 such bills which do not come under their domain," he said alluding to Delhi chief minister and the assembly. He wanted to know whether such leaders should not be asked to tender apology to the nation. Should there be a CBI probe or not on how by "uttering all falsehood" they (AAP) have created an atmosphere of "satta-ka-mahol (power game)" for themselves. Yadav, who was expelled from Lalu Prasad-led RJD on the eve of Bihar assembly elections last year, had also floated Jan Adhikar party. He said such utterances and allegations like questioning the educational qualifications of the prime minister is irrelevant to Indian politics. "....but all these only show the country in poor light as if India's prime minister is so weak that people are questioning his educational credentials," Yadav said. At one point, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked the member not to take any names. Kejriwal's AAP has four members in the Lok Sabha but none were present when the issue was raised. On April 26 also, Pappu Yadav had flayed the Kejriwal regime in Delhi over the odd-even traffic scheme stating that the measure has only added to people's problems. Gaya (Bihar): Suspended JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi is in fresh trouble after a minor domestic hand was found at her home on Wednesday, making her liable for prosecution under the Child Labour Act. During a search of Manorama Devi's home in the posh Anugrah Puri colony which was subsequently sealed today, a child domestic hand was found to have been employed by the absconding MLC. The district administration took the child under its care and Labour Department officials interrogated him. The child has identified himself as Dev Nandan Kumar and gave his age as 14 years, District Labour Superintendent Rakesh Ranjan told PTI. The boy said he was a resident of Chatra in neighbouring Jharkhand and was employed at the MLC's home only eight days ago, Ranjan said. After recording his statement the Labour Department officials would take the boy to the Child Welfare Commission, he said. "We would then give a prosecution notice in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) for action against MLC Manorama Devi and her husband Bindi Yadav under Section 86 of the Child Labour Act," Ranjan said. Gaya District Magistrate Kumar Ravi said he had given the go-ahead order to the district Labour Department in the matter. The presence of a child domestic hand would spell fresh trouble for the MLC who is on the run after an arrest order was issued against her following seizure of liquor bottles from her residence. Devi is also facing the charge of harbouring her son Rocky Yadav who is accused of killing a class XIIth student Aditya Sachdeva in a case of road rage on Saturday night. New Delhi: A BJP member, who was part of three-member team sent by the party to Kerala in connection with rape and murder of a Dalit girl, on Wednesday made a demand in Lok Sabha for a CBI probe, alleging "several lapses" in the investigation carried out by the local police. The law student was brutally raped and murdered on 28 April, triggering a political controversy in Kerala, which is going to polls on 16 May. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Arjun Ram Meghwal said there have been "several lapses" in investigations into the incident. Underlining that it is a "sensitive case", he said CBI should investigate the matter. In this regard, he said, he would be writing to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. Meghwal was part of BJP's "fact-finding" committee which visited Kerala earlier this week. Other members of the committee were Meenakshi Lekhi and Udit Raj, both Lok Sabha members. Meghwal also said the special investigation team set up should be headed by DGP. According to him, immediately after the incident, the provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act were not used and no medical board was set up. He also alleged that FIR was not filed on the same day and even after filing the FIR, the medical board was not set up. Congress, which is in power in Kerala, hit back, with its member Gaurav Gogoi saying the rape case of a 13-year-old girl in BJP-ruled Rajasthan should also be handed over to the CBI, eliciting strong protests from the BJP. New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday claimed in the Rajya Sabha that the "real opposition" to the long-pending GST bill was coming from within the government and that the main opposition was ready to give full support to it provided its three key recommendations are accepted. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also questioned the credibility of the current GDP growth figure of 7.6 percent, claiming that nobody believes these numbers as they are "suspicious". The former minister asked the government to come out with "credible" GDP figures and suggested setting up a committee under the chairmanship of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. He also raked up the issue of alleged irregularities by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in its KG basin gas project and demanded a probe into it, while asking the government not be selective in investigating NPA cases. Participating in a debate on the Finance Bill, Ramesh harped on '3 Gs' GST, GDP and Gas (of GSPC). The Congress member insisted that his party wants GST and that it was ready to give full support to the government if its three suggestions are incorporated in the bill. "We have three suggestions. One is setting up of independent committee to adjudicate disputes, elimination of one per cent tax and introduction of capping...If consensus on these three is arrived, we are ready to support," he said. The GST bill, which proposes to overhaul the indirect tax regime, has been pending in the Rajya Sabha for a number of years because of resistance mainly by the Congress which wants changes in it. On capping upper limit for GST, Ramesh said the government says this cannot be accepted as there is no provision in the Constitution for this purpose. But the Article 276 (2) provides for capping and "with creative use of language" the government can accomodate. Referring to a media report that said some people in the government believe that GST is undesirable, the former Minister said, "the real opposition to GST is not coming from the Congress, it is coming from within the government." He attacked the government for using Congress as "smoke screen" for the current situation of GST. Speaking about GDP growth figures, Ramesh said today nobody believes India's GDP figures. "Chief Economic Advisor, RBI Governor, London economists and Wall Street Journal do not believe our GDP numbers," he claimed. "Nobody is denying that we are having a high growth rate. But the number put on GDP are highly suspicious. It (GDP growth) is somewhere between 5.9 percent and 6.5 percent and not 7.5 percent," he said. Stating that India is growing and the country should grow much faster, Ramesh said, "For the first time, the credibility of GDP numbers are questioned. It has served the government purpose. I urge the government to pause a bit and come out with a credible set of figures." . Thiruvananthapuram: Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda on Wednesday criticised the Centre's policy for the agriculture sector, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has not launched any direct programmes" to check farmers' suicides in the country. "I am not happy with the measures taken by the Modi government for farmers. I do not think Modi has launched any direct programmes to prevent farmers' suicides," he said at a meet-the-press programme. "Some of the programmes Modi announced for farmers are not going to create any short term impact. I have discussed this with Prime Minister. But he never answered," the JD(S) party supremo, who is here to campaign for LDF candidates for the 16 May Assembly elections, said. The direct transfer of subsidies has not reached beneficiaries and 'achieved the desired results', he said adding that farmers' suicides was still rampant in the country, especially in states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Kerala. To a question whether BJP would open its account in Kerala, he said Modi and other union ministers are vigorously campaigning but "I do not know whether they will make an entry into the state assembly. I do not know the ground reality." On his reported support to beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the former Prime Minister said, "I want to clarify that unnecessarily my and my party's names had been dragged into it. I only said that not only Mallya, but there are so many other people who have lakhs and lakhs of rupees of NPAs (Non-Performing Assets)." "But I do not want to name and hurt any of them. I am not supporting Mallya," he said. JD(S), an ally in the CPM-led LDF, has put up candidates in five constituencies for the upcoming polls. It was a good day for Congress in Uttarakhand on Wednesday as the Attorney-General informed the Supreme Court that sacked Chief Minister Harish Rawat had clinched the numbers in the floor test in the Uttarakhand Assembly with 33 of the 61 MLAs said to have voted for him. "It has been proved Harish Rawat has got majority on the floor of house," ANI quoted the Attorney-General as saying. Supreme Court also reportedly said that Harish Rawat can resume charge as the chief minister. The Supreme Court also said that no irregularities in the trust vote and voting pattern were found. "AG has told the Supreme Court that they are likely to complete proceedings to revoke President's rule in Uttarakhand today," ANI quoted advocate KC Kaushik, appearing for Harish Rawat, as saying. Reacting to this victory for the Congress, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted and said that he hopes that PM Narendra Modi learnt a lesson from the people of the country. They did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand! Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) May 11, 2016 Hope Modiji learns his lesson-ppl of this country &the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy! Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) May 11, 2016 With nine disqualified Congress MLAs kept away, 33 MLAs voted for Rawat while BJP MLAs conceded that their side got only 28 in a House with an effective strength of 61. Keeping in mind that the Congress appears to have barely managed to cross the required number of 31 needed for a majority, one of the key factors that must have been responsible for saving the Congress would have been external support. After all, in a situation where literally every vote matters because of such close competition, the support of allies and the issue of rebels within a party assume much greater significance. Apart from the most significant issue of the nine disqualified MLAs, here are the other different factions which played a crucial role in the Uttarakhand floor test: The Progressive Democratic Front One of the most important factions that supported the Congress was the PDF, that comprises two Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) legislators, one from the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (UKD) and three Independents. The PDF has been supporting the Congress government in the state since its formation in 2012. There had been rumours earlier that the PDF might break away from its alliance with the Congress, especially after two BSP MLAs Sarwat Karim Ansari and Haridas were believed to be in talks with the BJP, according to The Times of India. However, when the BSP MLAs joined Harish Rawat outside the state assembly gate just a few minutes before they entered inside, it became evident that they would support the Congress. BSP chief Mayawati had on Tuesday announced her party's support for the Congress in the Uttarakhand Assembly. "We have always opposed communal forces. Our two MLAs have reached the assembly. They will vote for the Congress," Mayawati had told reporters outside Parliament in New Delhi. The cross-votes The floor test on Tuesday also reportedly saw two cross-votes, the first by Rekha Arya, a Congress MLA who ended up voting against the Harish Rawat government during the floor test, according to NDTV. Rekha Arya gave the indication that she would support the BJP during the floor test when she walked into the Assembly with BJP leader Ajay Bhatt on Tuesday morning. The report added that the Congress had been unable to contact her for the last three or four days, even though the party had said that it had talked to her family and was confident that "her heart is with the Congress". On the other hand, BJP MLA Bhim Lal Arya walked into the Assembly with Harish Rawat and voted for the Congress during the floor test. According to The Indian Express, the BJP had taken disciplinary action against Bhim Lal Arya around six months ago. The report also said that Arya was known to have praised Rawat publicly and the House, further angering his own party. He is in the kabza (grip) of Harish Rawat. They flew him to Corbett National Park. There are always two persons guarding him even when he goes to the restroom, the report had quoted a BJP leader as saying. With inputs from agencies Lucknow: BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday alleged that the Modi government was being "remote-controlled" by the "communal and fascist" organization of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. "The Modi government has bowed in front of RSS. The recent meeting of Modi with RSS has shown that the remote control of the government is with the communal and fascist organization," she said in a statement issued. The BSP leader was referring to the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers with the top brass of RSS earlier this week to review matters of internal security, naxal problem and situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Condemning reports of Union Ministers presenting their 'report cards' to RSS, Mayawati said an elected government should only bow to the constitution and sentiments of the people and not an organization like RSS, which is "communal, fascist and spreads hatred" in the society. "The BJP used to allege that previous government ran on 'remote control' but the recent developments have shown that the headquarter of Modi government is at RSS office in Nagpur. This is not good signal for democracy," she said. Stating that the Modi government was a failure at all fronts, Mayawati expressed surprise that the "RSS did not see it" and was satisfied with its functioning. "While Sangh Pariwar and its affiliates are given a free hand to spread hatred, those talking logic are being dealt with strictly," she said. On One Rank One Pension policy (OROP), Mayawati said that the Centre's decision was not satisfactory as it did not accept several crucial demands of the armymen due to which there is resentment. "The Centre should not act miser on OROP at least", she said. Mayawati added that Prime Minister's tall talks would not help the country as his ministers were acting against his will. Chandigarh: To bridge Haryana's "caste divide", Aam Aadmi Party will launch 'My Caste Hindustani' campaign in the state and its 'Kranti March' will start from 14 May from Rohtak - the epicentre of Jat stir for quota earlier this year. "Haryana needs positive energy and we want to create an atmosphere where all 36 'biradaris' (communities) stand shoulder-to-shoulder and not look at each other with suspicion," said Naveen Jaihind, the newly-appointed Convener of AAP's Haryana unit on Wednesday. He said the "Kranti March" would start from Rohtak and subsequently would be taken out from other places as well. "The state government remained a mute spectator to the widespread violence. Leaders of ruling BJP went into hiding leaving the state to burn. Some senior politicians from the ruling outfit and the opposition were out to sharpen the caste polarisation for political gains," Jaihind alleged. Asserting that the violent stir had created a "divide" among various sections, he claimed, "the situation has come to such a pass that people from one community are seeing the other with suspicion. Haryana's 'bhaichara' (brotherhood) was targeted just because of vote bank politics." The AAP leader claimed that the situation "suited" ruling BJP also "as it has nothing to show of the tall promises it made to people before the 2014 Assembly polls". "They promised pay scales for employees on par with Punjab, unemployment allowance but they have nothing to show the people," he claimed. The battle for the Indira Nagar Constituency in Puducherry seems to have taken on divine proportions. Apart from the normal political campaigning, the two main candidates All India NR Congress' candidate and Chief Minister N Rangasamy and Congress candidate V Aroumougam have been spending precious pre-election time performing a number of rituals to ensure their victory. In the run-up to the elections, neither Rangasamy nor anyone from his party held any formal talks with other parties, and made no announcements. Instead, through March-April, Rangasamy visited a series of temples and performed several pujas, culminating in a series of 21 yaagas in one night, before he announced his preliminary list of candidates. Aroumougam, on the other hand, performed ashwamedhayaaga, riding his horse around the constituency for 108 consecutive days to ensure his victory. The ashwamedhayaaga was performed by kings earlier to mark the extent of their territory. I am performing this yaaga so that I will be successful, and also so that I can defeat Rangasamy, he said. It is common knowledge in Puducherry that Rangasamy believes in divine intervention. This is not unusual for Rangasamy, a party member said. In fact, what is unusual is that he has cancelled a trip to Malaysia to visit the Murugan temple there, and a couple of other pilgrimages, he added. It is impossible to see Rangasamy start any new venture at an inauspicious time, and he constantly checks his watch before signing an important document. According to a friend from his school days, the religiously-inclined politician visited his guru, Appa Paithiya Swamy, as often as possible while growing up. Appa Paithiya Swamy, himself, was an unusual saint. A chain smoker, he would curse people who visited him. Now, whenever Rangasamy is offering prayers, he takes a puff of a cigarette, places it on the lips of the idol, and then speaks. He believes that Appa Paithiya Swamy is offering him advice, the friend added. The Chief Minister even built a temple dedicated to him in Puducherry, and regularly serves food to people there. Although Puducherry politicians have extreme religious inclinations, religion and superstitions play a huge role in both Tamil Nadu and Puducherry politics. The most prominent example is that of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's. She is often seen in either a green or a maroon saree, and people close to her say she believes that these two colours help her. For all important events, like her swearing in, and court appearances, she wears her green saree. She is also very particular about time, and follows her astrologers advice every step of the way, AIADMK sources say. On her way to court or the airport, she always stops at the small Varasiddhi Vinayagar temple near Kotturpuram bridge, and the temple priests offer prayers in the sanctum sanctorum as she passes by. Jayalalithaa makes it a point to visit a number of temples, and even visited the Mahamaham in Trichy (in 1992), sources said. During this visit, her presence caused a stampede which took 50 lives and injured 74 following which she never went back to the festival. According to sources, Vijayakanth, leader of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam(DMDK), and Chief Ministerial candidate for the Peoples Welfare Front (PWF), too, depends on a little support from the gods. In the past three elections, he has stood in three different constituencies in the South Arcot region: Vriddhachalam, Rishivandiyam and now in Ulundurpet. Vijayakanth believes in temples dedicated to Lord Shiva, and he looks for temples where the deities names end with Ri, sources say. Rishivandiyam and Ilavanasur (in Ulundurpet), both have Ardhanariswarar temples, while Vriddhachalam has the Vriddhagiri temple. Even though he stands in the South Arcot region due to his huge fan base there, he makes it a point to choose a constituency with a temple that will be favourable to him, he said. Even the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), known for its atheist ideology, has relaxed its rules a bit. According to party sources, many cadres are religious, and offer prayers for the partys victory. Recently, DMK leader MK Stalins visit to an ancient Vaishnavite temple raised some eyebrows. He visited the Sowmya Narayanaswamy temple in Tirukoshtiyur in Ramanathapuram district along with his wife, Durga. This temple is believed to be the place where the Vaishnavite saint Ramanujar revealed a secret mantra to the people of the village. Karunanidhi even scripted a serial on Ramanujar that is being telecast on Kalaignar TV. The family believes in the message of equality delivered by the saint, which is why they have chosen to patronise him, a senior DMK member said. Whether party head M Karunanidhi is actually a believer or not, one cannot miss the yellow towel draped around his shoulders. Karunanidhi will never leave his house without the yellow towel around his shoulders, which he believes is his good luck charm, the party member added. 12:43 (ist) Manohar Parrikar explains AgustaWestland deal: "AgustaWestland chopper was 100 cCore. We had to test the helicopters in Indian conditions. The other two vendors didn't agree to do so and conducted the test outside the country. this was against the clause in the country. Out of the 6 vendors who were given tenders, AgustaWestland Italy was also one of the vendors. But AgustaWestland UK took over the tender. Only AgustaWestland got the concessions. They created a single vendor situation. In 2008, the price oh AW101 was 15 million Euros and oin 2010, it was listed as 27 million. Benchmark cost given by CNC(Contract negotiations committee) was 6 times higher than that of AoN (Acceptance of Necessity) There was no explanation for this.In 2012 February, then the government had written to the embassy through the MEA. The government even went to the investigating agency but nobody wrote to the company. This deal should have stopped in 2012. But yet, 3 helicopters were delivered in December 2012 and we accepted it. In January 2013, Chief exec of Finmenccancia was arrested, Within hours our defence minister wrote to CBI immediately. If he wasn't arrested, they would not have taken this up. After the CBI took it up, in Feb 2013, there was a notice issued to stop the deal. Legal action forced the termination of the deal, it was not a proactive step, it was forced. Bank guarantee needed to be revoked and that was done. When the Milan Court argued, they said that 166 Euros could be returned and the money for the 3 helicopters will not be returned. I am not making allegations, but it is our Endeavour that we will take action. Defence Ministry initiating procedure to blacklist AgustaWestland. If that is our job, why is the Congress worried? " Allahabad: Allahabad University vice-chancellor, who recently drew flak from BJP leaders over his handling of a students' agitation, said "political interference" has brought the administrative machinery of the varsity to a "standstill". "This is a central university and used to be called the Oxford of the East in the past. There can be no possibility of the institution regaining its lost glory if political interference continues," Allahabad University V-C R L Hangloo told reporters. He said if a university is supposed to be run as per the opinions of political leaders, then it would be better to have MLAs or MPs as V-Cs in place of academicians. He was responding to queries about the University's decision announced yesterday to keep offline option open for entrance tests for post-graduate courses in the upcoming academic session. The decision, whereby the varsity reversed its earlier stance that entrance tests would be held only through the online mode, reportedly followed a meeting between some BJP MPs and Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani. The BJP lawmakers reportedly drew Irani's attention towards the fact that a number of students' union leaders, including its vice-president and general secretary, who belong to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), were on a hunger strike to press the demand for the offline option, which was important for candidates hailing from remote areas with poor internet connectivity. A group of BJP MPs and MLAs had on May 5 visited the University and strongly criticised the V-C for "mishandling" the crisis. They were particularly livid over the fact that the varsity administration went on to lodge a police complaint against the union leaders when they staged a demonstration in front of the V-C's office earlier this month. Subsequently, a few of the BJP MPs met Irani and an ensuing communication from the Union HRD Ministry is said to have prompted the varsity authorities to modify its decision. Interestingly, Hangloo has been repeatedly accused by the students' union president Richa Singh of being partisan towards those owing allegiance to the BJP and Sangh Parivar. In March, Singh - who is a Samajwadi Party member - had charged the V-C with ordering a "politically motivated" inquiry against her on the basis of "flimsy" complaints from her ABVP rivals. The latest crisis, however, witnessed the union leaders burying their differences and putting up a joint fight. Prime minister Narendra Modi's much-touted Kerala campaign is fast turning out to be a major embarrassment for the BJP's state unit after #PoMoneModi started trending on Twitter. #PoMoneModi is a subtle way of saying 'get lost son' and is coined from super star Mohanlal's hit dialogue "nee po mone Dinesha" in the film Narasimham. Dineshan is the villain in the movie. The hashtag started trending as a reaction to Modi's speech in Kasargod on Monday where he compared Kerala to Somalia. "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 percent of their requirement of agricultural products. Even after 70 years of Independence, Kerala depends other states for 70 percent 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," Modi said at a rally in the state. The Kerala twitteratti were not amused and rolled out data sets comparing Gujarat and Kerala. Might be useful for this hashtag #PoMoneModi pic.twitter.com/P8ZEeiaQlc Davis Sebastian (@lunatic_D) May 11, 2016 .@narendramodi Ji - Please compare the rankings of Kerala & Gujarat. Stop insulting people of Kerala . #PoMoneModi pic.twitter.com/hIcwPXssfh Alankar (@AlankarTweets) May 11, 2016 An elected PM of d Nation calls one of The best states in d country as #somalia. no wonder y evry1 s questioning his edu degree.#PoMoneModi WithRG (@withRG) May 11, 2016 Somalian Foot in the mouth moment! #PoMoneModi Chitra Narayanan (@ndcnn) May 11, 2016 Modi's ignorance is so appalling huge racist nature of his gaffe in comparing Kerala to Somalia! Foreign relations Mr PM? #PoMoneModi swati chaturvedi (@bainjal) May 11, 2016 Just when you thought Narendra Modi can't get more stupid, he took it as a challenge and compared Kerala to Somalia #PoMoneModi Joy (@Joydas) May 10, 2016 PM sir you questioned the DNA of Biharis you got a resounding answer now you compare Kerala to Somalia..Awaiting 19th may !!#PoMoneModi msgpahujaa (@msgpahujaa) May 10, 2016 Earlier reacting sharply to the PM's comments, chief minister Oommen Chandy wrote a letter urging him not to bring disrepute to his office. "You made statements that had nothing to do with reality and likened Kerala to Somalia. This is unbecoming of a prime minister and has created a great deal of agony," Chandy said in the letter. "You spoke of a Kerala boy eating from a waste dump at Peravoor (in Kannur district). Two probes on this were done and the truth was far from what you said. I can assure you that no child in Kerala takes stale food. In Kerala, 25.02 lakh schoolstudents are provided with free midday meal, and egg on one day and milk on another day in a week," Chandy said. This is not the first comment by Modi that has attracted sharp reaction on the social media. His promise to make Kerala into Gujarat was also mocked by many. It is particularly embarrassing for the BJP as the social media backlash has come at a time when the party is leaving no stone unturned to get a foothold in the state. New Delhi: Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi will not be able to visit Kerala even on Thursday due to health reasons, party sources said today. Gandhi had earlier cancelled his two-day visit to Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which was to commence yesterday as he was suffering from high fever. "Unfortunately, I have been down with high fever since Sunday, and the doctor has advised rest for the next two days," the 45-year-old Congress leader had said on micro-blogging site Twitter, on Monday night. "My apologies to the ppl of Puducherry, Tamil Nadu & Kerala for missing this opportunity of being with them on 10th & 11th May as planned. "Shall keep everyone updated about the rescheduled visits," Rahul had said in his tweets. The cancellation had come close on the heels of reported threat to his life after former Union minister V Narayanasamy received an anonymous letter written in Tamil. Rahul had later rescheduled his Kerala trip on May 12 and 13. Unfortunately I have been down with high fever since Sunday and the Doctor has advised rest for the next two days(1/3) Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) May 9, 2016 On Thursday, Gandhi was supposed to arrive at Pattambi in Palakkad district and address a public rally for Congress candidates of Thrithala, Shornur and Ottapalam, besides some other events. On Monday, top Congress leaders had met Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking adequate security for the party Vice President following an anonymous letter threatening to attack Rahul and Narayanasamy at an election meeting in Puducherry. Narayanasamy, an AICC General Secretary, had said in Puducherry that he had received an "unsigned letter" threatening to attack him and Rahul. The Special Protection Group and the Intelligence Bureau were on Monday ordered by the Government to take maximum precautions for Rahul Gandhi's security in the wake of the threat letter. Chennai: The kin of several leaders are testing their fortunes in the 16 May assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Among the prominent faces are five-time MLA MK Stalin, who is DMK Treasurer and son of party chief chief M Karunanidhi, and Anbumani Ramadoss, son of PMK founder S Ramadoss. 93-year-old Karunanidhi himself is seeking re-election from his native Tiruvarur, as he eyes a sixth term as chief minister. Stalin, the youngest son of Karunanidhi and considered his political heir, is contesting from the Kolathur constituency in the city for the second time. In the 2011 election, he had won from there, defeating AIADMK's 'Saidai' Duraisamy. 63-year-old Stalin plunged into politics early in his life and made steady progress to reach the present position of DMK Treasurer and Secretary of Youth Wing. Stalin first entered the poll fray in 1984 from the Thousand Lights constituency but failed. However, he later won from there in the 1989, 1996, 2001 and 2006 elections. In 2006, he was inducted as Municipal Administration Minister and later elevated as Deputy Chief Minister. He had also served as Mayor of Chennai between 1996-2001. Anbumani Ramadoss, the party's chief ministerial candidate, is seeking his maiden entry in the state assembly from Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district. A former union health minister, Anbumani is a sitting Lok Sabha member from Dharmapuri constituency, which includes the Pennagaram segment. He was a Rajya Sabha MP from 2004 to 2010. Interestingly, his father has never contested elections. Senior DMK leader and former union minister TR Baalu's son TRB Rajaa is seeking election from Mannargudi constituency for the second straight time. Rajaa is pitted against S Kamaraj who has a 30-year-old association with AIADMK. Credited for upgrading the Mannargudi Railway Station during his tenure, Rajaa, however, faces criticism for allegedly being 'inaccessible'. Another member from the DMK family is 'Veerapandi' A Rajendran alias A Raja, contesting from the Veerapandi constituency in Salem district. Rajendran is the son of the late DMK leader and former state minister 'Veerapandi' S Arumugam. While Arumugam was unsuccessful in the 2011 elections, his son is making his maiden attempt from the constituency in this polls. Arumugam, considered a close associate of Karunanidhi and the party's strongman in the western region, has won five times from the constituency. In an interesting duel, he is pitted against his cousin S Manonmani of AIADMK. BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan, a doctor, contesting from the Virugambakkam constituency also comes from a family with a political background. While her father Kumari Anandan, is a veteran Congress leader and former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, her uncle is noted businessman and Congress leader, H Vasantha Kumar, who is in the poll fray from Nanguneri segment. New Delhi: With Harish Rawat set to be reinstated as Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Opposition parties on Wednesday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to Parliament, with the Congress hoping that he "learns his lesson". As the Congress, AAP and other opposition parties hailed the return of Rawat, asserting that democracy has won, the CPM said the "anti-constitutional conspiracy" hatched by the BJP to topple the state government has received a "big setback". The BJP on its part sought to fend off the attack on the party after the Supreme Court gave its nod for Rawat's return, claiming that the Congress has "bought" majority in the state but it has lost "Uttarakhand people's majority". "They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand! Hope Modiji learns his lesson people of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy!," Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said in a series of tweets. "Prime Minister should apologize in Parliament and sack the Minister who advised him to impose President's Rule in Uttarakhand," Congress leader Kapil Sibal told reporters. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to hit out at the Modi government. "Modi Govt should apologise to the nation for acting in unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand," Kejriwal tweeted. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) said the reinstatement of Rawat is a big setback for the BJP. "This is a big setback to the anti-Constitutional conspiracy hatched by the BJP of trying to topple the government in the state and impose its rule there. "The BJP should learn that its resort to such methods at subterfuge to remove democratically elected state governments headed by opposition parties will not succeed," the party said in a statement. BJP said that Congress has imposed President's rule in the country on more than 100 occasions and alleged they have "bought" the majority in Uttarakhand but the party has lost the majority of the people of the state. "Congress has put President's rule in the country for more than 100 times. It (Uttarakhand episode) was Congress's internal strife. There was revolt among the Congress MLAs due to the anti-people policy of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. "The MLAs revolted against Harish Rawat as he was involved in corruption," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged, adding," That is why their government fell and President's rule was imposed in the state. Congress has bought majority, they did not get majority. But Congress has lost Uttarakhand people's majority." Baghdad: The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for three attacks that killed at least 86 people Wednesday in Baghdad, the deadliest spate of bombings in the Iraqi capital this year. The worst bombing struck a market area in the Shiite area of Sadr City, killing at least 64 people. The jihadist organisation said in a statement posted online that a suicide bomber identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated a car bomb there. It said in a separate statement later that the other two attacks that took place a few hours later in the neighbourhoods of Kadhimiyah and Jamea were also carried out by suicide bombers. The jihadist group named them as Anas al-Ansari and Abu Abdel Malik al-Ansari, respectively. IS said all three attacks targeted Shiite security forces but it routinely claims so, even when bombs are detonated in civilian areas. The bombing that struck the frequently targeted Sadr City area of northern Baghdad at around 10 am (0700 GMT), killed at least 64 people and wounded 82 others, officials said. The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street. Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage. "The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali. "The politicians are behind the explosion." Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger. "The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," the local resident said. The politicians "should all get out." Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father. Another suicide car bomb attack killed at least 14 people at the entrance of the northwestern neighbourhood of Kadhimiya, which is home to an important Shiite Muslim shrine. Access to the neighbourhood, which has also been repeatedly targeted over the years, is heavily controlled. Several members of the security forces were among the victims, hospital sources said. In the Jamea district in western Baghdad, another car bomb went off in the afternoon, killing at least eight people and wounding 21, an interior ministry official and medics told AFP. Political crisis The UN's top envoy in Iraq, Jan Kubis, condemned the bloodshed. "These are cowardly terrorist attacks on civilians who have done nothing but going about their normal daily lives," he said. IS, which overran large areas in 2014, considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings. Iraqi forces have regained significant ground from IS, but the jihadists still control a large part of western Iraq, and are able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas. The months-old political crisis has led to repeated mass demonstrations that required a huge security deployment and hampered government action at a time when Iraq is still battling jihadists on several fronts. Security forces are currently engaged in large-scale military operations in the provinces of Anbar and Nineveh as they close in on Fallujah and Mosul, IS's two major remaining hubs in Iraq. The United States and the United Nations have warned the political impasse could undermine the fight against IS. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sought to replace the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers with a government of technocrats, a move opposed by powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. Angry demonstrators last month broke into central Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and stormed parliament after lawmakers again failed to approve new ministers. While the protesters withdrew the following day, parliament has still yet to hold another session. Zainab al-Tai, a lawmaker from Sadr's political movement, said the most recent efforts to resume the parliamentary process were still floundering Wednesday. "Some disagreements remain, there is no session and we have yet to set a date for the next session," she told AFP. "Parliament is divided in three groups... I don't think we can reach a result, the decision will be in the hands of the people," she added. Dhaka: Bangladesh late Tuesday executed a top Islamist leader for crimes committed during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971, the law minister said. Motiur Rahman Nizami, 72, was hanged after he lost his final appeal against the sentence. Nizami led Bangladesh's largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami. Previous executions of party leaders have sparked violent protests. He was convicted of genocide, rape and torture, charges the defence said were not proven beyond reasonable doubt. Security was tightened across the country ahead of the execution. Supporters of Nizami protested outside Dhaka's Central prison, where the sentence was carried out. Nizami was the fourth leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party to have been executed since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina set up a war crimes tribunal to look into abuses during the independence war. A former government minister, Nizami was one of the most important figures to be found guilty. He was convicted of setting up a militia which helped the Pakistani army identify and kill pro-independence activists. Supporters and some rights groups said the executions were politically motivated. Nizami will be buried in his village home in the northern part of Bangladesh. His family met him briefly before his execution but left without speaking to the media, Bangladesh's Daily Star reported. The hanging comes amid a spate of killings of liberal activists, secularists, foreigners and members of religious minorities that the government has blamed on Islamists. London: British Prime Minister David Cameron was caught on camera describing Nigeria and Afghanistan as "fantastically corrupt" in a conversation with the Queen. At a Buckingham Palace reception on Tuesday afternoon, a television microphone caught Cameron saying: "We've got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain... Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world," RT online reported. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby intervened, however, to defend the Nigerian premier. "This particular president is not corrupt ... he's trying very hard," said Welby. It was not known whether Cameron knew his comments were being recorded. Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari has embarked on a sweeping anti-corruption crusade since taking office last May. However, critics have slammed the campaign as a politically motivated witch-hunt, accusing Buhari of using corruption as a cover for weeding out political opponents. Despite having the highest paid public officials in the world and Africa's biggest economy, oil-rich Nigeria is one of the largest beneficiaries of British aid, with Britain committing to spend 860 million ($1.2 billion) on the country. Afghanistan's president Ashraf Ghani took office in 2014 amid rampant allegations of fraud, pledging to eradicate corruption, but graft is widely believed to have worsened across the country during his tenure. Cameron has pledged to use Thursday's summit in London, organised before the Panama Papers leak, to clinch an agreement committing world leaders to tackling corruption and ensuring greater financial transparency. It will bring together a bevy of political leaders, officials from the financial world and Fifa and Uefa representatives. Watch Cameron's slip of tongue here: Washington: Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that he will spend millions of dollars from his own savings and plans to raise $1 billion for November general elections which might end up being the costliest US presidential polls ever. "I am raising money for the party. I am also going to continue spending money on myself. I think, I will raise a lot. I think, it is going to be a billion. I will raise whatever we need," Trump, 69, told Fox News in an interview on Tuesday after his primary wins in West Virginia and Nebraska. With these two wins Trump increased his delegate count to 1107, just 130 delegates short of being officially declared as a presumptive nominee. He would officially be declared as Republican's presidential nominee at the party's Cleveland Convention in July. During the primary campaign, Trump spent more than $ 47 million from own savings, which is far less than the amount compared to some of his rivals like Jeb Bush who raised more than $ 140 million for his White House bid but had to drop out midway. Noting that he would continue self-funding his campaign, Trump said he would raise the money for the rest of the general elections so that the party can retain its majority in both the House and the Senate. To reach the target of $1 billion, Trump last week named Steven Mnuchin as National Finance Chairman. Chairman and CEO of Dune Capital Management, a private investment firm, Mnuchin is said to be well connected in Hollywood and Wall Street industries with uncertain loyalties to Republican presidential candidate. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump is a late entrant to the fund raising race. His potential Democratic rival for general elections Hillary Clinton has raised $213 million this past year. In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, Mnuchin said his role in the campaign stems from a "long-standing personal and professional relationship" with Trump after their first meeting 15 years ago. "Do we expect that we will be raising funds and will get support from the film and finance industry? We do," he said, adding that Trump's negative comments about Wall Street were "very specific as opposed to broad-based comments." US media reported that Mnuchin also had ties with the Democrats. In the past two decades, he contributed more than $120,000 to both Democrats and Republicans, Politico reported, adding that of this about $64,000 went to Democratic candidates and $40,000 to Republicans. Announcing his appointment, Trump said Mnuchin brings unprecedented experience and expertise to a fundraising operation that will benefit the Republican Party and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton. John Oliver, sarcasm extraordinaire and host of popular YouTube show 'Last Week Tonight' took on Rodrigo Duterte, the man famously known as the Trump of the East who has won the electoral race for President in the Philippines, offering viewers a detailed profile of the politician. A preliminary ballot count by the election commission showed that Duterte had won close to 39% of the counted votes. His opponents Grace Poe and Manuel Mar Araneta Roxas have already conceded. These results suggest that when the election commission declares the official results in June, Duterte could be the winner, states a BBC report. In his no-holds barred commentary, Oliver calls him out on his homophobia and reminds his audience of when Duterte once called the pope "a son of a bitch." He also talks about Duterte's alleged links to the infamous Philippino 'death squad' that has killed more than a 1000 people since he was elected mayor of Davao. Duterte, who is originally a lawyer, became the vice-mayor of Davao in 1986. He became the mayor in 1988 and has held the post ever since. His popularity amongst Filipinos is because of his tough stance on fighting crime, militancy and corruption. He promised that if he is elected to become President, he would continue with this same tough attitude and went so far as to promise to kill five criminals every week. He has also vowed to execute 100,000 criminals and dump them into Manila Bay to 'fatten the fishes', says a report by CNN. It was this tough approach that earned him the nicknames "The Punisher" and "Duterte Harry". During a televised presidential debate, he said he would kill his own children if they took drugs, says a report by BBC. In the video, Oliver also goes on to say that Duterte seems as though he is trying to "test the limits of basic human decency" and goes on to discuss the speech Duterte made during a rally. The speech discussed the murder and rape of an Australian missionary in 1989 and Duterte, in all seriousness, was recorded telling the crowd, "I was angry she was raped but she was so beautiful. I thought, the mayor should have been first. What a waste." Oliver remarks in the video, "The next time we want a politician who tells us what he thinks, we should make sure the politician isn't a total f**king monster." He ends the video with an image of Duterte and Donald Trump shaking hands. It's not difficult to see the similarities between the two men. Both are famous for their controversial statements at rallies, both have been accused of being homophobes, and both of them are winning, in their respective countries. You can watch the full video here: Tokyo: Barack Obama's trip to Hiroshima this month is a chance for him to see how the city suffered after its atomic bombing, and to renew his push for global nuclear disarmament, local officials said Wednesday. On 27 May, Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima, the White House said Tuesday, stressing there would be no apology for the city's devastation in the final days of World War II. Obama, who will be in Japan for a Group of Seven summit, will make the pilgrimage to Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park accompanied by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "I hope that here in Hiroshima he will conceive concrete steps towards a nuclear-free world," said city mayor Kazumi Matsui. About 140,000 people died after US forces dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August, 1945. Tens of thousands were killed by the fireball that the powerful blast generated, with many more succumbing to injuries or illnesses caused by radiation in the weeks, months and years afterwards. Vast swathes of the city, including many of its military and industrial installations, were flattened. The southern city of Nagasaki was hit by a second bomb days later, killing 74,000 people, in one of the final acts of World War II. Hidehiko Yuzaki, the governor of Hiroshima prefecture, told reporters he hoped Obama would see "the reality of how the atomic bomb hurt people here, and would come away with a deep understanding of the scale of the damage." Although many survivors of the attack may hope for an apology, Yuzaki said the key issue was simply that humanity "should never ever suffer such an experience again." Hiroshima is now a thriving, modern city, little different from many others in Japan, although the bombed-out remains of a domed building stands tribute to those who died in the world's first ever atomic attack. Last month US Secretary of State John Kerry laid a wreath near the building, and visited the "gut-wrenching" memorial museum that shows the human cost of the bombing. Japan has long urged world leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see the horrors of the atomic bombings and join efforts to eradicate nuclear arms. Former president Jimmy Carter visited Hiroshima after leaving office, while Richard Nixon went to the city a few years before assuming the presidency. Baghdad: An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least 45 people and wounding dozens in an attack that was swiftly claimed by the extremist Islamic State group. Shortly after the explosion, one of the deadliest recently in the Iraqi capital, the Sunni extremist group which sees Shiite Muslims as apostates said it was behind the assault. IS said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, but Iraqi officials denied that. The bombing showed that while IS has suffered a number of territorial defeats in the past year, the militants are still capable of launching significant attacks across the country. They also have recently stepped-up assaults inside Baghdad, something officials say is an attempt to distract from their recent battlefield defeats. Wednesday's bomb struck a crowded outdoor market in Baghdad's eastern district of Sadr City, two police officials said, adding that the blast also wounded up to 65 people, several seriously, prompting fears the death toll could rise further. Ambulances rushed to the scene where dozens of residents walked through the twisted and mangled wreckage of cars and other debris that littered the pavement, trying to help the victims. The street was stained red with blood in many places and front-side facades of several buildings were heavily damaged. Smoke billowed from ground-level stores gutted out by the explosion. Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer, said the bomb was a pickup truck loaded with fruits and vegetables that was parked by a man who quickly disappeared among the crowds of people. "It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," Salih told The Associated Press. "The force of the explosion threw me for meters (yards) away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes," the merchant added. He suffered no injuries, but two of his workers were wounded. Four medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to release the information to reporters. In its online statement, IS said it had carried out a suicide attack that targeted a gathering of Shiite militiamen. The AP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the claim but it appeared on a website commonly used by the Sunni militants. IS also a controls significant area in northern and western Iraq, including Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul. Commercial and public places in Shiite-dominated areas are among the most frequent targets for the Sunni militants seeking to undermine Iraqi government efforts to maintain security inside the capital. In February, the group carried out devastating back-to-back market bombings in Sadr City, the stronghold of followers of an influential Shiite cleric. That attack claimed the lives of at least 73 people. According to the United Nations, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April due to ongoing violence. The U.N. mission to Iraq put the number of civilians killed at 410, while the rest it said were members of the security forces. A total of 1,374 Iraqis were wounded that month, UNAMI said. In March, at least 1,119 people were killed and 1,561 wounded in the ongoing violence. Paris: Fierce protests broke out on Tuesday across France after the government forced through controversial labour reforms. Hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the National Assembly in Paris on Tuesday, calling for President Francois Hollande to resign, with the protests continuing late into the night, BBC reported. The government said the reforms are essential to help cut high levels of unemployment. The changes would make it easier for employers to hire and fire but opponents fear they will also enable employers to bypass workers' rights on pay, overtime and breaks. Police used tear gas against protesters in Grenoble and Montpellier. Lille, Tours and Marseille also saw demonstrations. In Toulouse, two young protesters were injured in clashes with police, according to Le Parisien daily. The decision to invoke an article of the constitution to force through the reforms was made after the government failed to reach a compromise on the bill with a group of rebel MPs within the country's largest Socialist Party. This tactic has only been used once before under President Hollande, again to push though disputed economic reforms.The only way the bill can now be stopped is by the motion of censure a vote of no confidence that was filed by two right-wing parties on Tuesday. Between them they have 226 of the 288 votes needed to topple the government on Thursday. Fresh protests are set to be held on Thursday to coincide with the confidence vote. London: London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Tuesday slammed Donald Trump's "ignorant" view of Islam, after the Republican presidential contender suggested Khan could be exempted from a proposed temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Last year Trump proposed "a total and complete" ban on foreign Muslims entering the US "until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on." Asked how that policy would affect London's first Muslim mayor, Trump told The New York Times that "there will always be exceptions." But Khan said "this isn't just about me it's about my friends, my family and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world." "Donald Trump's ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of the extremists," Khan said in a statement. Khan, the London-born son of Pakistani immigrants, was elected last week by a wide margin after a campaign that saw his Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith accuse him of having shared platforms with Islamic extremists. Khan, a former human rights lawyer and Labour Party lawmaker, accused Goldsmith of trying to frighten and divide voters in a multicultural city of 8.6 million people more than 1 million of them Muslims. In his victory speech, Khan said the result marked the triumph of "hope over fear and unity over division." The mayor said Tuesday that Trump and people who agree with him "think that western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam - London has proved him wrong." Trump said he was "happy to see" Khan's election and hoped "he does a good job." The mayor declined to lend Trump his support. "I'll be backing the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, who I suspect it will be and I hope that she trounces him," Khan told the BBC. New York: It's now beyond the shadow of a doubt that the US is investing in a long-term strategic partnership with India, and has identified Chinas growing military assertiveness as a threat. Since the US and India are not treaty allies, Democratic Virginia Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn have introduced legislation in the Senate to institutionalise the US-India security partnership. "The US-India Defense Technology and Partnership bill bestows upon India the status it deserves as a partner in promoting security in Asia and around the world," said Senator Warner on Tuesday after introducing the bill in the Senate. The legislation seeks to elevate India to the same status as Americas allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, as well as its other major treaty partners like Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Israel, for the purpose of arms-sales notifications. Both China and Pakistan are likely to sit up and take note of the move as many countries have sought and been denied this status. "As an important partner with a flourishing economy, India has huge potential as a market for American defense manufacturers," noted Senator Warner. The US-India Defense Technology and Partnership Act underlines the dramatic change in todays political environment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is likely to address a joint session of the US Congress in June will further cement bilateral defense ties during his visit to Washington. The Modi government knows it cannot aggressively pursue military modernisation without access to advanced US weaponry and technology. Of course, the prime minister has his work cut out: he has to sell the pact to New Delhi's intractable defense establishment, people who struggled through the era of harsh US sanctions after Vajpayee's government conducted the 1998 nuclear tests. In a telling sign of a bolder strategic engagement between Washington and New Delhi, the US may be willing to examine the sale or joint production of missile shield systems to help New Delhi guard against nuclear threats. US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, who has vigorously pushed for an effective defense partnership over the past eight years, first mooted this idea in 2012. But without key legislation in place, the Americans have had to watch from the sidelines while New Delhi approved the procurement of Russian S-400 systems. Last year, India become the second foreign buyer of the advanced Russian surface-to-air ballistic missile defense system after China. According to defense analysts, the US is hoping to sell India the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 missile defense system but India is more interested in building its own systems than buying some from the US. The hit-to-kill American PAC-3 missile is the worlds most advanced and can destroy enemy-fired tactical ballistic missiles carrying weapons of mass destruction, advanced cruise missiles and aircraft. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, a mix of PAC-3 missile interceptors and PAC-2 air defense missiles destroyed a series of short-range ballistic missiles fired by Iraq. Pakistan and China will obviously follow any US-India anti-missile cooperation with great interest, as cooperation in this area is not only an indication of their shared strategic interests, but also has implications for India which is developing its own indigenous Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) system to defend against both Pakistani and Chinese missiles. India started its own BMD programme in 1995. The US-India Business Council (USIBC) hailed Senator Warner and Coryns leadership in introducing this bill in the Senate. Republican Congressman George Holding from North Carolina introduced similar legislation in the House of Representatives in March. "The commercial and security imperatives for a robust defense partnership between the US and India could not be clearer. Defense trade has risen from some $300 million to over $14 billion over the last 10 years and there is every reason to expect it to rise further," said USIBC President Mukesh Aghi. The Indian military is considering purchasing major weapons systems from American companies. The countries are also holding talks on the supply of F-16 and F/A-18 fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. The Modi government has pursued three "foundational defense agreements" the Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMA), the Communication and Information Security Memorandum (CISMOA) and the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA). The previous UPA government opposed these three agreements as they argued that they would undermine Indias policy of nonalignment. The logistics agreement will allow both countries to access each others supplies, spare parts, and services from military bases and ports, making it easier to coordinate their military activities. The Modi government has asked the United States to modify the agreements so that Indias security and sovereignty are not compromised. That Motiur Rahman Nizami, former head of Jamaat-e-Islami would be sent to the gallows was a given, considering the War Crimes Tribunal had already pronounced a guilty verdict. He was found guilty on eight counts for war crimes during the in 1971 liberation movement. The question is whether this will further aggravate an already volatile situation in a deeply polarized country. Will this further shrink democratic space in Bangladesh and drive anti-government factions underground? Nobody knows for certain. But Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina needs to break the current deadlock with the Opposition. For the families of the victims of the brutal 1971 killlings, the hanging will come as a just closure for the murder of their loved ones and of a gory chapter in the countrys history. For Sheikh Hasinas government the series of hangings are a promise kept. But those who are not with the Awami League are critical of the workings of the War Crimes Tribunal and say it has more to do with politics than the law. "Few object to trying those who had engaged in atrocities in 1971, but the present mdus operandi have been questioned mainly because legal experts and human rights activists have felt there are procedural flaws which has brought the entire process under a cloud, with some calling it more of a political exercise rather than legal action," said Fazal Kamal, a columnist in Dhaka. Bringing those responsible for genocide to book was a commitment made to the people ahead of the 2008 national polls by the Awami League. In her earlier term as prime minister Sheikh Hasina did not have the numbers to do so. The War Crimes Tribunal was set up in 2009, and hearings began in 2010. The purpose of the trials were "to bring to justice the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity and genocide, including the well-identified masterminds, who actively collaborated as auxiliary forces with the occupying forces during our War of Liberation in 1971," according to a note issued by the Bangladesh government. Initially, 16 charges were brought against Nizami, but the prosecution was able to prove eight of them. These are genocide killing professionals and intellectuals murder, rape, detention, torture, and persecution on religious and political grounds in collaboration with occupying Pakistan army. Nizami, 73, was hanged at the Dhaka Central jail after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal. The Jamaat leader was a former agriculture and industries minister in a coalition government headed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Nizami had been elected from the Pabna constitutency from 1991-1996 aand again from 2001 -2006. He was defeated by an Amwami League candidate during the 2008 national elections, which brought back Sheikh Hasinas party to power with an overwhelming majority. As a young man in 1971, Nizami was a member of the Islamic Chhatra Sangh, the student wing of the Jamaat. The party was against independence from Pakistan, and worked closely with the Pakistan army. Nizami, who was also a religious preacher, refused to appeal for clemency to the President. It is unlikely that the mercy petition would have been granted. US and Western criticism The situation in Bangladesh is being closely monitored by the US and other Western democracies. The War Crimes Tribunal had evoked much criticsm in the US and European capitals. They have charged Sheikh Hasinas government of not giving a fair trial to the accused. Pakistan naturally had also criticised the Awami League government and believes that the government had put in place kangaroo courts to pass rapid fire sentences on those who supported Pakistan in 1971. Sheikh Hasina's responsibility The problem in Bangaldesh today is the governments increasing intolerance of dissent. It is also not able to nab those elements responsible for attacks on secular writers and others who were recently hacked to death. The authorities continue to blame the opposition, but is unable to apprehend and prosecute the real culprits. This had led to a fear psychosis among intellectuals and secular groups in the country. It is time for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to step down from her high horse and initiate a dialogue with the BNP. After all it is one of the two main parties in the country. The government must show greater flexibility in reaching out to the BNP. "It is for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to realise that she cannot run a one-party show. The Opposition needs to have its space in a democracy. Blaming the Opposition for everything is not the answer," Srinath Raghavan of the Centre for Policy Research said. Lisa Curtis, a South Asian expert at the Heritage Foundations Asian Studies Centre in Washington makes the same point. "The government is increasingly targeting the Opposition and closing off its legitimate political activity, but its precisely that polarised political environment and limiting of the oppositions space to participate in the political process that is creating new space for extremists." Jamaat calls for strike The Jamaat has called for a 24 hour general strike on Thursday. Funeral prayers are being held in many places across Bangladesh and on Friday, Jamaat will offer prayers at several mosques in the country. Reports have come in from Chittagong and Rajshahi of protesters and police clashing. Today the Jamaat is no longer as strong as it used to be. The government has cracked down on Jamaat supporters, and the kind of crowds that the party could mobilise till around 2013, is not possible now. In 2013, conviction of the Jamaat leaders triggered clashes between violent supporters and the police, which led to several hundred deaths. The violence gave the government the perfect excuse to act against the leaders. Most of the party leadership has left the country. Many of the cadres are in prison. Whether the Jamaat can shut down the country as it had done in the past is not known. Karachi: Pakistan's Maritime Security Agency on Tuesday arrested 10 Indian fishermen and seized two boats for allegedly fishing illegally in the country's territorial waters. A spokesperson for the agency said that the fishermen were repeatedly warned to leave Pakistan's territorial waters. "They were violating Pakistan's territorial waters by fishing illegally in our area in the open sea," he said. The spokesperson added the fishermen were arrested from near Sir Creek, along the maritime border between Sindh and Gujarat. He said that police have registered cases against the Indian fishermen under the foreign and fisheries acts of the law. Pakistan and India frequently arrest fishermen as there is no clear demarcation of the maritime border in Arabian sea and these fishermen don't have boats equipped with the technology to know their precise location. Last month, Pakistan had arrested 59 Indian fishermen and seized 10 boats while earlier in February they had arrested 20 Indian fishermen. Although both countries have frequently released these fishermen from jails as goodwill gestures but according to official figures still more than 300 Indian fishermen are currently languishing in Karachi prisons. Islamabad: Gen Pervez Musharraf was, on Wednesday, declared an "absconder" by a special tribunal trying the former Pakistani dictator for high treason, as he failed to appear in person despite repeated summons, and directed authorities to produce him before the court within 30 days. The three-member court headed by Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Minakhel, directed the government to publish advertisements in newspapers declaring Musharraf an absconder, and also place similar posters outside the court and former military ruler's residence. The 72-year-old flew to Dubai, this month, for purported medical treatment after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on his foreign trips, and it's believed that he may never return to face a slew of several high-profile cases against him. The court which had earlier asked the government to give a written explanation as to why it allowed Musharraf to go abroad without its consent declared him as "absconder" after he failed to appear in person despite several summons. It also ordered the prosecutor to submit a record of all properties owned by the accused by the next hearing on 12 July, besides directing the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to produce Musharraf before the court within 30 days. The court, which includes Justice Syeda Tahira Safdar and Justice Mohammad Yawar Ali as members, launched the trial of Musharraf in 2013 for abrogating the constitution in 2007. Such an act is considered as high treason under Article 6 of the constitution, which is punishable by death. Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, he resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai. He returned in 2013 to contest elections, but was implicated in several high-profile cases and was not allowed to leave the country. He is facing trial in illegal detention of judges, also in 2007. In January 2014, Musharraf suffered a "severe heart attack" on his way to a special court to face the high treason charges, following which he was admitted to an army hospital. Musharraf has also been charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In Janury, he was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2006 murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. He had said before leaving Pakistan in March that he was going abroad to seek medical treatment for a spinal cord ailment which has now developed several complications and will "come back in a few weeks or months". Plumbers in Western Australia may be the most highly paid of all the trades. But they have also been a victim of the mining downturn, according to new research. WA plumbers are able to earn $87.67 an hour, which is 9.5 per cent lower than the hourly rate they were able to earn last year. Electricians in the west are the second most highly paid of all the trades, earning on average $87.33 an hour, according to trades website ServiceSeeking, which produced the research. But the big winners this year are builders in NSW. They earn $77.85 an hour, a 27.7 per cent increase compared to last year's result. The modelling comes days after part-time truck driver Duncan Storrar sparked political furore over budget fairness when he asked Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer on ABC TV's Q&A why low-income earners like him missed out on tax relief. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has made fairness an "absolute objective" for government reforms and said last week "the budget is very fair". But the ANU modelling shows the least well-off 40 per cent of families "are the most heavily impacted" when everything in the budget is taken into account. The modelling also challenges Labor's claims to fairness because it supports a big hike in tobacco excise. Implementing a further four annual 12.5 per cent increases in tobacco excise from September 2017 will "more significantly impact low-income families", the report said. This policy was first proposed by Labor and was subsequently adopted by the government in last week's budget. The modelling puts a dollar figure on how different income groups will be affected in 2018-19 by all the provisions in last week's budget. This includes some so called "zombie measures" left over from the Abbott government including cuts to family tax benefits and childcare reforms due to be implemented in the next term of government. The report's author, Dr Ben Phillips, said the modelling showed low-income families with children were shouldering "most of the responsibility" for budget repair. "It's not as extreme as the previous two budgets but, again, high-income groups are largely unaffected with the exception of a small number of high-wealth families impacted by the superannuation changes," he said. Superannuation changes in the budget that target high-income earners mean a typical family with children in the wealthiest fifth of households stands to lose $664 a year 0.3 per cent of average incomes for that cohort. The report said the super changes helped provide a "more progressive budget impact" but this was offset by other measures. "The superannuation changes, while significant, are not enough to alter the conclusion that this budget has a regressive impact," the report said. The modelling did not include the tax benefit that will go to high income earners after the 2 per cent deficit repair levy is withdrawn, as planned, in mid-2017. Modelling reveals how the mix of budget measures affects different household types Every budget is released amid a storm of spin. But now it doesn't take long for independent modelling to reveal the true impact on households. Analysis of the controversial 2014 budget by the National Centre for Economic Modelling revealed how the poorest 20 per cent of families would pay $1.1 billion more into government coffers than the richest households to help repair the budget. Experienced modeller Ben Phillips was involved in Natsem's modelling of the 2014 and 2015 budgets and has now crunched the numbers on the 2016 budget for the Australian National University's Centre for Social Research and Methods. Dr Phillips says modelling plays an important role in helping people understand how complex budget changes will affect them. "Obviously, governments aren't always that keen to provide great detail about the impact of budgets because there are often losers," he said. "But modelling provides the cold hard facts." What did this modelling do? The University of Sydney has launched an investigation into students at one of its oldest colleges after a journal was distributed that labelled female college students as "hoes" and "bitches" while shaming women who had allegedly slept with the most men. The publication, produced by residents of the University of Sydney's Wesley College, devotes a page to "The RackWeb," a map that identifies sexual relationships between different students at the 99-year-old college. The Wesley College Journal. Credit:Christopher Pearce "[First year university students] have a willingness to put out for their seniors and for enabling all the hook-ups a sleazy, pussy-hungry adolescent could dream of," the journal states. "We might be sexist, but you lovely bitches and hoes should know we're trying to correct this." Flanked by his PR queen wife Roxy Jacenko, Sydney investment banker Oliver Curtis cut a tense figure as he appeared in court for the first day of his criminal trial for insider trading. Mr Curtis, 30, is charged with conspiring with his childhood friend, John Hartman, to commit insider trading offences that netted the pair an alleged $1.43 million between May 2007 and June 2008. "Not guilty, your honour," he said clearly after the charges were read out in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney on Wednesday. The court heard the men, aged in their early 20s at the time of the alleged offences, grew up together in Mosman on the lower north shore, went to the same school and rented an "expensive apartment at Bondi" with another friend. A Chinese student has gone missing in Sydney, sparking a public appeal to find her. Police say they hold concerns for the welfare of 23-year-old Zhejuan Huang - also known as Janice - who has not been seen since she attended an inner Sydney church on Sunday afternoon. Found: Chinese student Zhejuan Huang. Credit:NSW Police Officers have searched the woman's Ultimo home and notified her family in China, and are urging anyone with information to contact them. AAP CRESTWOOD The police department here has become the first in the St. Louis area to join the Teamsters union. Earlier this year, city officials explored outsourcing police services in the community of about 11,000 people to St. Louis County. Crestwood Officer Dion Olson said union talks were occurring in January, before officers knew their department might be disbanded. Ultimately, city leaders opted to keep the department after residents voiced strong support for it, despite declining sales tax revenue. Olson said 18 officers voted unanimously April 29 to join the union. Eight supervisors will not be in the union. The timing was completely coincidental, Olson said. We have a great relationship with the staff and the officers are here because we love the community. Were looking at things such as health care costs, which are continuing to go up and down, and we want to lock in those costs at a rate we and our families can afford. Olson said the Teamsters also offer a legal defense fund that was attractive to officers. Now we have our own representation instead of waiting for the city to get an attorney should we need one, if they even will, Olson said. We wanted a voice to be able to, if we did have a grievance or an issue, have some sort of recourse. City Administrator Kris Simpson said, This is something that the officers thought was in their best interest, and I look forward to working with the Teamsters in negotiation to address whatever needs they may have. We have a common interest in that we want whats best for our employees, so thats what were going to do. The new members joined the Teamsters Law Enforcement League. Kevin Ahlbrand, president of Missouris Fraternal Order of Police, the states largest police group, said he was surprised. Im happy that these officers have some type of labor representation, he said, but added, No one can represent cops better than other cops. EAST ST. LOUIS A man from North Carolina who travels for work on car-sales promotions was found shot to death early Tuesday in the Edgemont neighborhood. The body of Anthony Bush, 47, of Charlotte, was found in the 700 block of North 85th Street about 4:50 a.m., said Illinois State Police Sgt. Matt Weller. He said East St. Louis police arrived after receiving a call about a shooting. Bush suffered a single gunshot wound. His body was near the street on a lawn. Weller said police didn't know why Bush was on 85th Street and had no suspects. He said Bush was in the St. Louis area working for a company that puts on auto-sales events in many locations. Fu Ying, the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman A call for more dialogue and communication between China and the United States to build new consensus for joint ties has been made by senior Chinese official Fu Ying. Fu, who chairs the National People's Congress' Foreign Affairs Committee, sees a gap between a worrisome perception of China-US relations and the reality that ties are closer than ever. The countries' presidents hold meetings at least twice a year; China has become the US' biggest trading partner on a monthly basis; nearly 5 million people traveled between the two nations last year; and the two countries together pushed for the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change. But all these accomplishments occurred as some experts in the US predicted that if China continues to grow at its present speed, conflict between the countries will be unavoidable, Fu said. "The need for cooperation and the impact of competition are both growing. The gap between perceptions and real life may reflect the need to rebuild consensus," Fu said on Tuesday at a seminar at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, titled Rebuilding Trust: China-US Relations. Despite a sizable number of "optimistic voices" on US-China relations in the US, Fu said there are also some there who wonder whether "the constructive engagement" policy pursued by eight successive US administrations should continue. "In the past 30 years, we had friendly moments, but never very close; we had problems, but the ties were strong enough to avoid derailing. Now we are at a high level, and if we work together, we are capable of making a difference in the world, but if we fight, we will bring disaster to the world," Fu said. She found the message coming from the US to be rather confusing sometimes, reflected in its reluctance to acknowledge China's efforts in providing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative. Fu sees recent tension over territory in the South China Sea as reflecting the risks involved in the relationship. She also said that in recent years, "after the US launched its pivot to Asia, more blatant provocations to China's sovereignty have happened, and there are even attempts to expand disputes". She called on the two countries to follow up on President Xi Jinping's proposal that China and the US move toward a new model of major-country relations, avoiding conflict and confrontation and respecting each other in cooperation. Contact the writers at hezi-jiang@chinadailyusa.com First came the videos, half a dozen graphic spots re-enacting "real life" racist and anti-Semitic acts. Then giant posters appeared along roads and transportation hubs literally offering a black-and-white message about workplace discrimination. A year after Frances leftist government announced a three-year, $115 million plan to fight racism and anti-Semitism, a pair of national publicity campaigns are taking aim at the issue. We had no choice but to act very thoroughly and effectively against increased threats, notably far-right hate speech and virulent anti-Semitism from a tiny minority of radical Muslims, says Gilles Clavreul of DILCRA, an inter-ministerial office that works to counter racism and anti-Semitism in France. The government plan includes an array of proposals, from deepening sanctions and the Internet fight against hate speech, to launching school and citizen education programs. Despite an overall increase in hate acts last year, Clavreul cites signs of progress. New figures in May show what he calls a "significant" drop in anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim acts. A report released by Frances National Consultative Commission of Human Rights (CNCDH) also finds an increase in French tolerance of diversity, even after a year bracketed by two Islamist terrorist attacks in Paris. There is a need for fraternity and social cohesion that is making people open up to those who are different, says the commission president, Christine Lazerges. Looking more closely at last years figures, she adds, anti-Muslim acts peaked after each terrorist attack, but were generally on par with previous years. Long road to tolerance France is not the only European country grappling with intolerance. Far-right groups are gaining ground across Europe, feeding on the immigration crisis and rising fears of militant Islam. In March, the Council of Europe warned hate speech in France has become commonplace. The issue is all the more sensitive since France has the regions largest communities of Muslims and Jews, many of North African extraction. While the government's communications campaigns have drawn mixed reviews, most observers agree on one thing: it will take much more than a three-year crusade to bring about a more tolerant and egalitarian society. Theres a real political will, but it will take 20 years to achieve success, Lazerges says, describing major changes needed in the educational system and in turning around Frances disenfranchised suburbs. Backing her assessment are 2015 government statistics that show hate offenses jumped by more than one-fifth in 2015 to more than 2,000, compared to the year before. Anti-Muslim acts and threats tripled last year. Activists say the true figures are higher, since many acts go unrecorded. Other forms of discrimination are more subtle. An October survey on French hiring by the Montaigne Institute, a Paris-based research group, finds Christian men are four times more likely to get a call back from job recruiters than Muslims. Jews also face discrimination, but to a lesser extent. Its a very serious phenomenon, said Montaignes deputy director, Angele Malatre-Lansac, pointing to study estimates showing discrimination against Muslims in France was far higher than against African-Americans in the United States. In many cases, she says, employers are fearful of the countrys staunchly secular laws, and uncertain how to treat religious expression, like Muslim prayers, at work. Its not necessarily that racism is pervasive, but religious practice can make recruiters afraid, she said. In March, the government launched six 30-second TV spots re-enacting "real life" racist and anti-Semitic acts including: distraught Muslims finding a pigs head stuck to a mosque gate, a black man being beaten up, and Death to Jews scrawled on a synagogue door. We had to create a shock, to say, Hey, stop; we have to address these issues," said Clavreul. Nonetheless, some anti-discrimination groups have criticized the spots as offering a narrow, violent take on the subject. It can be even counterproductive, because weve worked for years to show that racism is subtle, and even those who are not racist can have humiliating, wounding words, adds Lazerges. Publicity spots are good; they can help educate people, says Abdallah Zekri, head of the Observatory Against Islamophobia. But how many people were arrested; how many people were found guilty? Others look for results Roger Cukierman, president of the Jewish umbrella group CRIF, says education is whats needed must. The task is immense, because the atmosphere is such that Jews are not sending their children to French public schools anymore, he says, describing cases of Jewish students who do attend being insulted and beaten. Its impossible to change the atmosphere just by a ministerial decree. The government has taken a different approach with its second campaign, rolled out in mid-April. Giant posters portray job seekers with their faces split in half, white and non-white, with the tagline, Skills First. Next to the white side are messages like, You start Monday. On the non-white: You dont have the profile. While awareness-raising efforts are excellent, Malatre-Lansac says, The question is how will this action be followed in the long term? If theres work to be done, it has to be done at the grassroots level, says Yasser Louati, spokesman for the Collective Against Islamophobia, who believes state-organized campaigns to fight it cannot work. Clavreul notes efforts in southern France to get businesses to hire locally, and to harness volunteerism for school education and job mentoring programs. We dont have a one-sided strategy, he adds. We are very pragmatic. We have to be holistic in our approach. Some residents of Gori, the area in the Republic of Georgia that was the birthplace of the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, apparently still revere the former Kremlin leader. Villagers in Ateni, just outside Gori, erected a bust of Stalin on Monday to celebrate the 71st anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. The bust was taken down immediately, a government statement said Tuesday, because the unauthorized display violated a long-standing ban on "the public display of symbols of totalitarianism." Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said his government unequivocally condemns the abuses of the Soviet regime, both in Georgia and throughout the Caucasus region, according to a statement. Although most people in the West chiefly remember Stalin as the absolute ruler responsible for the deaths of millions of people, he still has "favorite son" status in the hearts of many Georgians. A Stalin museum a reverent record of the personality cult that surrounded the dictator still survives in Gori, but the government removed a large statue and monument to the Communist Party ruler in 2010. While opinion surveys have shown that many Georgians have a positive attitude toward Stalin, Western visitors have seen no nostalgia for the former Soviet Union or a risk of a return to authoritarianism. Presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump talks tough on foreign policy and global trade, promising to make America great again." Among Trumps headline-worthy promises: forcing Mexico to pay for a giant border wall and raising trade tariffs against China by nearly 50 percent. China enjoys a huge trade surplus with the United States, which in 2015 bought a record $482 billion worth of Chinese-made goods. China, on the other hand, took in only $116 billion worth of U.S. exports. To correct the $366 billion trade deficit, Trump has proposed raising tariffs against China from about 1.5 percent right now to as much as 45 percent. The real estate mogul has accused China of robbing the United States. We have a $500 billion trade deficit with China, and we're going to turn it around. And we have the cards. Don't forget: We're like the piggy bank that's being robbed. We have a lot of power with China, Trump said. Its an attractive and bold proposal to some of the millions of Americans who have lost jobs to lower-paid workers in China. Labor organizations blame trade and globalization not only for the massive job losses, but also for contributing to lower pay and living standards in the United States. Even nonpartisan groups such as Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch say pending U.S. trade deals with Asia and Europe remain a big threat to American jobs, wages and patents. Unrealistic ideas Some Trump supporters think his ideas are so bold and so far outside the current orthodoxy that they just might work. But closer examination of Trumps trade talk suggests otherwise. Trade policy expert and economics professor Gordon Hanson at the University of California-San Diego said Trumps proposals are not rooted in economic reality. You can see why he does it politically, but the economic foundation for it, shockingly enough, isnt there, Hanson said. Not only would a 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods be illegal under the World Trade Organizations current laws, economists say the probable international retaliation could prove costly. American economist C. Fred Bergsten, co-founder of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, recently penned a scathing review of Trumps trade proposals, calling them a big loser for the United States. Bergsten said his analysis suggested that "if you limit imports from a single country like China, those imports are going to be available in most cases from other countries." And if Americans could buy most of the products elsewhere, few U.S. jobs would be saved or restored, he said. Former World Bank economist Chad Bown said a likely outcome would be an all-out trade war between the United States and China. China has shown over the last few years that in any instance that a country has imposed new trade barriers on its exports, it has responded in kind, whether legal or not," he said. "But even under what Donald Trump is proposing it would be legally authorized under the WTOs rules to retaliate in kind. Even if China went along with a tax hike on U.S.-bound goods, Hanson said it would not bring back any of the manufacturing jobs lost to China. Deportation damage Neither would Trumps plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. Conservative Washington research organization American Action Forum said deporting illegal immigrants from the United States would shrink the economy by about 2 percent. That could prove disastrous for an economy that grew by only 2.4 percent last year. Critics may be missing the point, said Trump, who says his economic policies are all about winning. "You're going to look back and you're going to say, 'You know what? That's when we started winning again, when Trump took over,' and we're going to win, we're going to keep winning. But whether Trumps plans for higher tariffs against the competition prove to be a win or not, Bown worries the damage may already be done. I suspect that trading partners would be less likely ... to negotiate with us because they would think were not going to live up to these rules that we signed up to in the first place, he said. From a global perspective, that would not be good for anyone. The Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which was carrying 227 passengers, predominantly Chinese, mysteriously disappeared in March 2014. Despite the extensive search, the plane is still missing, giving no closure to grieved families. The search for MH370 challenged the airline to develop numerous strategies to handle the incident, however several tactics couldnt be applied as the aircraft is still unsearchable. Vice President, Operations Control Centre of Malaysia Airlines of Malaysia Airlines, Fuad Sharuji was in Macau as part of a conference on crisis management. The crisis director for flights MH370 and MH17 has told the Times about his role in the immediate response and crisis communication plan of the troubled airline, stressing that several strategies had to be devised, ranging from proactive to reactive. A lot of the strategies couldnt be applied so we had to change strategies as we went along, said Mr Sharuji on the sidelines of the Asia Emergency Management Conference yesterday. Mainly because we had to react to a lot of media about conspiracy theories regarding MH370. And so we were more in reactive mode, so that makes it very, very difficult, he added. Meanwhile the crisis director admitted that the aircraft MH17, which was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in July 2014 and was shot down, killing nearly 300 on board; was easier to handle despite his claims of the gruesome scenario. Sharuji, an Aircraft Maintenance Engineer who has over 35-years experience working for Malaysia Airlines, recalled that the airline had collaborated with the Malaysian government team and its special forces and would go to the crash site in Ukraine. The window given to us was very slim. There was only a good two hours to be at a crash site because it was a war zone, he said. Conversely, Sharuji implied that the Malaysian government was fully involved in the search for the MH370 missing aircraft, along with the support of around seven states including Australia, Singapore and Vietnam. He stressed that the search was fully coordinated and undertaken by its government. The Dutch government, however, had a vital role in the investigation, recovery of remains and repatriation of passengers in the crashed aircraft MH17. As for the Dutch government, [they] contributed a lot to the MH17 search, including tactical and criminal investigation [] they helped carry all of the nearly 9,000 personal belongings [of the passengers] and flew them to Holland. Then we sanitized them and returned them to their loved ones, explained the director. Sharuji admitted that they struggled with the communication strategy despite hiring a media consultant as several communications were to be done in Mandarin. Moreover, Malaysia Airlines had held daily family briefings for MH370 passengers relatives for nearly two months in Beijing, providing meals, accommodation and medical assistance services. The airlines also established five family assistance centers in the area. The challenge is that theres a lot more of what we dont know than what we know, the director admitted. Theres not much that we can tell them. The airline also continues to provide post-traumatic stress assistance with local Chinese counselors from Beijing. Though the director claimed that they have requested to stop the family meetings, he revealed that the Chinese government has advised them to continue with lesser frequency, resulting in only once a month face-to-face meetings. Sharuji also revealed that several relatives have accepted compensation from the airlines but admitted that many are still in deep grief, and some are still refusing to accept explanations from the airlines, as they strongly believe in the conspiracy theories regarding the planes disappearance. Nevertheless, the director told the Times that there were certain departments in the airline that didnt function well during the search for the missing aircraft in supporting and handling the crisis more effectively. We never expected the lightning to strike twice, [] but we had our business continuity plan and enforced the normal business plan to go on, he added. Staff reporter A delegation with representatives of the governments of the Great Pearl River Delta will travel to Portugal next June to explore business opportunities, said Gloria Batalha Ung, director of the Macau Institute for Trade and Investment Promotion (IPIM), according to Portuguese-language newspaper Tribuna de Macau. The executive member of the Board of IPIM said the mission, which will include three or four representatives of the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan and the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong, shows that the Macau services platform is not only intended for companies but also for governments. The delegation of the Great Pearl River Delta, known as 9+2, plans to analyse investment opportunities in trade and deepen knowledge of the Portuguese experience in the area of environmental protection, including the wind energy sector. Gloria Ung also said that Portugal is the first stage, and that at a later stage such visits may be arranged every year to the Portuguese-speaking countries. Ung said that during the recent visit by a Macau mission to Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre, in Brazil, there were proposals for cooperation and business for entrepreneurs who joined the delegation. She noted that the cooperation protocols proposed by Investe Sao Paulo and the Commercial Association of Porto Alegre, were due to be signed in Macau when both institutions travel to the territory during the Macau International Fair. MDT/Macauhub Two airstrikes struck a northwestern Syrian town yesterday, killing at least 10 people, wounding many others and knocking out the dome of a mosque, opposition activists said. The air raids on the town of Binnish in the northwestern province of Idlib came hours after a fragile and limited cease-fire in the nearby city of Aleppo and its surrounding countryside was extended for the third time, for another 48 hours starting at 1 a.m. yesterday morning. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll is expected to rise as some of the wounded are in critical condition. The Local Coordination Committees said some of the wounded have not been identified. A Facebook page known as the Coordinators of the Revolution in the city of Binnish posted the photo of a wounded child with blood stains on his face, saying he was referred to the intensive care unit in the town of Bab al-Hawa near the border with Turkey. The posting said the child will be referred to a hospital in Turkey and added that he has no adult to accompany him asking any relatives who identify the boy to come forward. Another photo posted on the Facebook page showed at least three dead bodies in dark blue bags placed on a pavement. Most of the 10 people killed were passersby, said Muayad Zurayk, an opposition activist based in the nearby Jabal al-Zawiya region. The situation is appalling in this region because of daily massacres. The LCC said the warplanes were Syrian while the Observatory said it wasnt clear if they were Syrian or Russian. The Observatory said those killed included a local rebel commander of a faction linked to the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham militia. The militia is part of the Jaish al-Fatah coalition, made up of several groups including al-Qaidas branch in Syria known as the Nusra Front, and other jihadi militias. Binnish, a Jaish al-Fatah stronghold, is in Idlib province, which borders Turkey. Jaish al-Fatah, or Army of Conquest, last week launched a wide offensive near Aleppo, capturing the village of Khan Touman and killing dozens of fighters including 13 members of Irans elite Revolutionary Guards. The extremist Nusra Front and its more powerful rival the Islamic State group, are not included in the cease-fire agreement that was brokered by Russia and the U.S. Just hours before the government announced the cease-fire, the United Sates said that a new agreement with Russia would replace localized, piecemeal cease-fires in Syria with a revived, nationwide truce. It was not clear if other announcements regarding cease-fires in the rest of the country would follow. The Observatory also reported that IS launched an offensive in the northeastern province of Hassakeh where the extremists have lost large swaths of territory in the past few months in battles with predominantly Kurdish fighters. It said the attack near the former-IS stronghold of Shaddadeh began with two suicide attacks that targeted the U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces. The Observatory and the LCC also reported intense clashes between IS and government forces near the T4 air base in the central province of Homs. Bassem Mroue, Beirut, AP The Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) called off all classes yesterday morning due to a rainstorm warning while classes in kindergartens and primary schools were cancelled for the day. Despite some heavy showers during the morning, weather conditions had improved during the day. Some caregivers opted to take the classless students to play outside in public parks. According to TDM reports, a warning was raised by the Macau Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) at 06.39 a.m, advising that a rainstorm alarm would be issued later at 8 a.m. In SMGs audio announcement, unstable weather with showers was announced. SMG cancelled the first alarm at 9:05 a.m, only to announce another at 9.20 a.m., which in turn was cancelled at 14:35. DSEJ then instructed all grades of preschool, primary school and special education institutions to call off classes for the whole day, and middle schools to call off classes only in the morning. However, some parents, who had already sent their children to school, considered this to have been unnecessary. After 8 a.m, students are already in school. What effect could the rainstorm make? questioned a father when interviewed by TDM. He noted that he managed to arrange to have his daughter supervised at a tutoring center, adding that the school where his son is studying even forbade students from entering the campus. He thought that the school would take care of the children, as the DSEJ instructions apparently indicate. According to the bureaus instructions, as posted on its website and broadcast on TV during bad weather days, schools should keep the campus open and arrange staff to take care of those kindergarten, primary school and special education students who have arrived at the school until the situation is safe for students to go home. The Times also knows of cases of kindergarten students who arrived with their caregivers to the schools in the morning unaware of the rainstorm warning (as it was not even raining) and were not even invited to enter the school. A security officer at the entrance of a local kindergarten was left to inform parents that the school day had been canceled and that the infants should return home. TDM reported on the case of an older student who had already arrived to school and was surprised, saying: Is it raining? He explained that he had indeed heard rainstorm news on TV, but that he thought it concerned Hong Kong and hence he still went to school because he saw no rain in Macau. DSEJ told the Times that it received no complaints regarding what many regard as a wrong call to cancel the school day. According to the SMG website, the weather today is expected to be fine apart from cloudy periods. DSEJ and SMGs credibility in handling weather events has decreased Last month, the Times published a letter to the editor by reader Luke Lienau, that addressed the issue of DSEJs wrong calls when cancelling school due to bad weather. Our reader alleged that SMG doesnt understand their own classification systems and that DSEJ lacks using reasonable caution when it comes to student safety in these situations. There is an imperative need [for] accurate and confident predictions by the SMG and considered delays and suspensions by the DSEJ to ensure the safety of Macau students and families transporting their children to school, Lienau said. Following the incident back in March in which a delay and suspension were issued inaccurately, despite the fact that it was likely necessary given the potentially dangerous conditions, DSEJ and SMGs credibility in handling weather events has decreased, he added. TWIN FALLS Canyon Ridge High Schools student council is planning activities Wednesday to remember their classmate 15-year-old Vason Widaman, who was killed Saturday in a drive-by shooting. The student council is encouraging all employees and students to wear tie-dye shirts to school. During lunchtime, anyone is invited to leave flowers, candles and stuffed animals outside next to Canyon Ridges school rock. The student council will also set out candles in memory of Widaman, who would have turned 16 on Thursday. Security has been tightened at the school and at Robert Stuart Middle School, where three students were arrested Friday after bringing handguns to school. One of the weapons discharged in a classroom. No one was injured, and police are calling it an unrelated incident. Meanwhile, police said Tuesday theyre continuing to search for potential suspects in Widamans slaying. No arrests have been made. Weve looked into numerous leads, city spokesman Joshua Palmer said. The department couldnt reveal what those leads were for fear of jeopardizing the investigation, Palmer said. In a press conference Monday, police released grainy surveillance photos that show a dark car they believe may have been involved. They asked the public to report anything that could be helpful in the investigation, particularly anything suspicious that may have happened at Canyon Ridge High School on Saturday afternoon. Thats where Widaman may have had an altercation with his assailants just before he was gunned down outside an upper middle class subdivision as he rode his bicycle toward his home. Dozens of flowers and candles have been placed in the landscaping under the subdivision sign, creating a spontaneous memorial thats been growing steadily since the weekend. TWIN FALLS Three of the four inmates charged last week with beating a black inmate in the Twin Falls County Jail have now been charged with a hate crime. Twin Falls County Deputy Prosecutor Rosemary Emory told a judge during the arraignments Tuesday that the likelihood of conviction is quite high because its all recorded on video cameras at the jail. Those charged last week with misdemeanor counts of battery for beating their fellow inmate were David Gonzales Ceballos, 24, of Jerome, Vicente Borja, 20, of Twin Falls, John Vernon Moore, 28 of Twin Falls and Alan Bryan Fife, 35, of Twin Falls. Ceballos is in jail on an attempted murder charge out of Blaine County, Borja is charged in Twin Falls with a violent home-invasion robbery and Moore is accused of coercing his 8-year-old stepson to hide his drugs. The three were arraigned in Twin Falls County Magistrate Court on amended felony counts of malicious harassment, the Idaho statute used to prosecute hate crimes. Court records show Fifes battery charge has also been amended to malicious harassment, but he was not arraigned Tuesday. The men are each accused of causing physical injury to the person of William Morgan, because of his race and/or color. After the April 15 beating, Morgan told a deputy that before he was jumped by the four men, someone yelled no n on the block, meaning black men werent welcome in that cell block. The deputy later reviewed the surveillance video of the incident and confirmed someone had yelled the racial slur. The video also showed Ceballos, Borja, Moore and Fife pinning Morgan against a door and punching and kicking him, the deputy wrote in an affidavit. Morgan is in jail on several burglary charges and has been accused of assaulting a police officer. The Idaho State Police, which tracks hate crimes in Idaho, defines a hate crime as a criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated in whole or in part by the offenders bias against a race or national origin, religion, sexual-orientation, mental or physical disability, or ethnicity. ISP reported that in 2014, the most recent year data was available, there were three hate crimes in the Magic Valley two in Cassia County and one in Jerome County. Across the state, there were 26 hate crimes, including 12 anti-black hate crimes. The last time a hate crime occurred in Twin Falls County was in 2013, according to ISP. That year there were 35 hate crimes reported statewide, including one each in Twin Falls, Cassia and Blaine counties, and 13 anti-black hate crimes. In 2012, there were two hate crimes in Jerome County, one in Twin Falls County and one in Blaine County. That year there were 36 total hate crimes and 10 anti-black hate crimes. Bond was set at $50,000 for all three men and preliminary hearings in each case were scheduled for May 20. No arraignment date was set for Fife. BURLEY Cutting off an ankle monitor and fleeing to Twin Falls in July 2015 will cost the boyfriend of missing Burley woman Tiffani Streling some jail time. During Tuesdays probation violation status hearing in Cassia County, Judge Michael Crabtree commuted James McLaws sentence to six years in prison with two years fixed. The 34-year-old, who faces cases in three counties for one July escape to Twin Falls, was silent in court as McCord Larsen, Cassia Countys deputy prosecutor, asked for a unified six-year prison sentence with three fixed. This is not Mr. McLaws first go-around with criminal behavior, Larsen said. And I think the sentence is merited ... July 2015 wasnt the only time McLaws fled from officers. In September 2012, McLaws, who had an active warrant, led police on a chase on the interstate that clocked at more than 110 mph. He wrecked his car in a field east of the 500 West overpass and took off on foot, court records said. He was caught in the weeds by two Cassia County deputies who found on him a small container that had residue and wet cotton balls, court records said. An Idaho State Police trooper found in McLaws car three plastic bags, one which contained 0.9 grams of white crystals, a large spoon with white residue and three syringes. He was charged in Minidoka County and ordered to probation for eluding an officer and possession of a controlled substance. Less than three years later, in May 2015, McLaws was dating then-21-year-old Streling. After the Burley woman went missing, an attorney for McLaws at the time revealed in court his client was a person of interest since he was the last person to see her. As the one-year mark of her disappearance approaches, Streling, now 22, has yet to be found. There were rumors that placed her in Washington, Canada and Arizona. Nothing checked out. Law enforcement officials werent available on Tuesday to comment on the investigation and whether McLaws is still a person of interest or if there is even a suspect one year later. Instead, the last person to see Streling will spend at least two years in prison concurrent with his sentences in Twin Falls and Minidoka County. Last summer, McLaws, serving probation for unrelated charges in Cassia County, took off his ankle monitor and fled to Twin Falls. In a dramatic scene, he hit a parked vehicle and took off running into an industrial area, where several officers found him and held him at gun point. He admitted to smoking marijuana and methamphetamine. The incident reopened the two Mini-Cassia cases and introduced a new one in Twin Falls, where he was sentenced on May 3 to 15 years in prison with four fixed for possession of a controlled substance. On Tuesday, his attorney said his client will likely appeal. Back in Cassia County, Judge Crabtree informed McLaws he has the right to appeal his sentence. Good luck to you, sir, he said. McLaws is scheduled for a May 16 evidentiary hearing in Minidoka County for two probation violations stemming from the Twin Falls incident. JEROME Police have identified a suspect in an attempted robbery Tuesday afternoon and are working to determine if the incident is related to the attempted robbery Monday night just blocks away. A day after a Monday night attempted robbery at a restaurant on South Lincoln Avenue, officers Tuesday responded to the report of an attempted robbery at a pawn shop on West Main Street. It is not known for certain if the two crimes are connected, Jerome Police Chief Dan Hall said in a statement. But police are looking into the possibility the crimes are connected, and the suspect description in both attempted robberies was similar, Hall said. The restaurant is less than a block south of the Jerome police station and the pawn shop is less than a block northwest of the station. Police identified 29-year-old Andrew Michael Brooks as a suspect in Tuesdays attempted robbery and are asking the public for help finding the man who fits the description in both cases. Brooks is 6 feet 2 inches, 195 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. A search of the residence where Brooks was supposed to be staying came up empty Tuesday, Hall said. At 7:29 p.m. Monday police responded to an attempted robbery at Carnitas y Barria Cheverria, 222 South Lincoln Ave., where a man wearing sunglasses and a bandana over his face asked to buy gum and then demanded money from the restaurant employee, Hall said. The employee refused and slammed shut the cash register, prompting the would-be robber to flee empty-handed. At 12:21 p.m. Tuesday cops were called to an attempted robbery at Express Pawn and Loan, 101 West Main Street, where a man asked an employee about buying a pawned item and then tried making off with a box of jewelry, Hall said in the statement. After a struggle, the man fled the store without the jewelry and was last seen near Main Street and Lincoln Avenue running northeast. As police searched for a suspect, officers notified the Jerome School District and students at all campuses were asked to stay inside, but there wasnt a lockdown, Superintendent Dale Layne said. Police notified Layne again at 2:20 p.m. that there wasnt a safety concern anymore. Since it was so close to the end of the school day, students stayed inside until the regular dismissal time, Layne said. Additional adults were also outside supervising after school as students were picked up by parents and got onto school buses, the superintendent said. Anyone with information about Brooks or either robbery is asked to call the Jerome Police Department at 208-324-4328 or SIRCOMM at 208-324-1911. TWIN FALLS As Twin Falls police were on the hunt Saturday for a suspect in the drive-by killing of 15-year-old Vason Widamam, others scoured Rock Creek Canyon, where a 20-year-old man with a warrant fled after being spotted by a cop. Zachary Matthew Fugate, who has no connection to Saturdays deadly shooting, was wanted in Harney County, Ore., on charges of delivering and possessing methamphetamine. Just before 7 p.m. a police officer who was patrolling the area saw Fugate riding a bicycle on the corner of Shoshone Street South and Minidoka Street South. When the officer recognized Fugate as being wanted and turned on his emergency lights, the 20-year-old changed direction across several lanes of traffic, jumped off his bike and ran into the canyon, court records said. Police saw Fugate jumping into the creek underneath the Old Towne Bridge at Maxwell Avenue and Shoshone Street, court records said. From the top, several police officers scanned the bottom with a police dog. Minutes later, an officer with the dog ran across Shoshone Street through industrial buildings. Because Fugate may have been armed, the officer deployed the service dog, named Enzo, court records said. Enzo found Fugate hiding under water and brush underneath an overhang in the creek. When the officer told him to show his hands, Fugate began to swim away, pushing himself into the current and floating 50 yards downstream to avoid, to no avail, the dog capturing him, court records said. Fugate was arrested and taken to St. Lukes Magic Valley, where he was treated for hypothermia. At the hospital, Fugate told police he heard them telling him to surrender at the canyon but wasnt going to give up, court records said. While trying to slip out of his handcuffs underneath the blankets, he told police they were lucky to have captured him, court records said. Fugate was treated and taken to the Twin Falls County Jail and booked on his warrant along with resisting and obstructing arrest. Twin Falls County Monday Arraignments William James Agnew, 55, Twin Falls; aggravated battery, $150,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing May 20. Shelah Renee Barnes, 29, Twin Falls; assault or battery upon certain personnel, possession of marijuana, possession of paraphernalia, driving without privileges (third or subsequent abuse), false information, $5,000 bond, public defender continued, preliminary hearing May 20. Esteberto Lucas Diaz, Jr., 18, Filer; failure to purchase or invalid drivers license, own recognizance release, public defender appointed, pretrial July 6. Esteberto Lucas Diaz, Jr., 18, Filer; driving without privileges, own recognizance release, public defender appointed, pretrial June 28. Michelle C. Rathe-Assel, 44, Filer; domestic battery, own recognizance release, public defender appointed, pretrial June 21. Alexandra Nicole Fisher, 22, Twin Falls; domestic battery, own recognizance release, public defender appointed, pretrial June 21. Zachary Matthew Fugate, 20, Twin Falls; resisting or obstructing, $1,000 bond, public defender appointed, pretrial July 6. Zachary Matthew Fugate, 20, Twin Falls; fugitive Oregon warrant, to be held without bond, public defender appointed, extradition May 20. Patterson Franklin, 38, Twin Falls; sex offender fail to register, $10,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing May 20. Tuesday Arraignments Scott A. Dains, 46, Kimberly; violation of protection order, trespass, possession of paraphernalia, two counts open container, $2,500 bond, public defender appointed, pretrial Jun 28. Theresa Kae Staker, 45, Hansen; possession of a controlled substance, $10,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing May 20. Theresa Kae Staker, 45, Hansen; possession of paraphernalia, $500 bond, public defender appointed, pretrial July 6. James Robert Shell, 32, Twin Falls; domestic battery or assault (in the presence of a child), $50,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing May 20 . Vicente Borja, 20, Twin Falls; malicious harassment, $50,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing May 20. John Vernon Moore, IV, 28, Twin Falls; malicious harassment, $50,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing May 20. David Gonzales Ceballos, 24, Jerome; malicious harassment, $50,000 bond, public defender appointed, preliminary hearing May 20. WENDELL A Twin Falls man died Wednesday in a crash on Idaho 46 two miles north of Wendell. Shane Chamberlin, 36, was pronounced dead at the scene, a statement from Idaho State Police said. About 9:20 a.m., Chamberlin was driving north on Idaho 46 when his Lincoln LS crossed into the southbound lane, colliding with a Kenworth semi driven by Phillip Clements, 71, of Gooding. Clements was not injured. Officers havent determined why Chamberlins sedan crossed the center line. The southbound lane was blocked for about five hours. The Gooding County Sheriffs Office and the Idaho Transportation Department also responded. Both drivers were wearing seat belts. Progress has been steady for the last few months as architects, engineers and other design team members work to complete the necessary documents for a new elementary school in Burley. The original concept was developed last summer by various groups of teachers, administrators and district personnel (food service, custodial, maintenance, etc.) The foundation of the working design came from proven designs at elementary schools around the state. The local team was able to fine tune and customize the particular needs. The School Board has made the new elementary school its priority for the Burley construction budget. On the same priority list for Burley is the heating systems at Burley Junior High School and Dworshak. The remodel at Mountain View also makes the priority list. There are 2000 elementary students in Burley, which is 38% of all student enrollment for the Cassia school district. A fourth elementary school will take pressure off existing elementary schools in Burley, particularly White Pine intermediate, which has an enrollment of 877. White Pine is second in enrollment to Burley High School at 917. The process for assigning school attendance zones at four elementary schools in a K-6 setting has yet to occur. Bid packages are being prepared by the construction team, Starr Corporation, and construction is slated for a July start date. There will be a 12-15 month construction phase for the elementary. Once completed, students from Mountain View Elementary will attend school in the new building for the 2017-2018 school year. During that time, a remodel of Mountain View will take place. All four elementary schools are slated to be online for the 2018-2019 school year. As we eye a construction start, Cassia Trustees would like some help in naming the new elementary school. They are sponsoring a contest and asking patrons to submit suggestions for the new school. The winning name will be selected by the Board and the winner will receive a $50 cash prize, along with the satisfaction of giving the school its name. The contest deadline is May 27, which is the last day of school. There are no requirements, other than being a resident of Cassia County and the Board is open to any suggestions, that are reasonable, of course! Suggestions can be made via email to webmaster@cassiaschools.org or dropped off in person to the school central office on South Overland. The new elementary school will be located to the east of Dot Foods, approximately, 50 south and Parke Ave. Although the majority of growth and development is to the south of Burley, the Board investigated three locations for the school. The chosen location places two schools on either side of Overland. One improvement that every school will notice is a reduction in traffic congestion and more efficient bus patterns. This summer is a season of building as both Oakley and Malta see the start of their projects, as well. The community of Declo will have the opportunity to view a concept for their elementary and junior high needs in the coming weeks. Its been a long haul since bond monies were first approved by patrons in 2015. Its been a rocky road to say the least, but residents wont have to drive far to see the improvements in store for Cassia schools. Incumbents are most vulnerable when times are tough and problems persist. Incumbents are least vulnerable when things are going great and problems are small. So it makes little sense to unseat Sheryl Koyle in the race for Minidoka County commission. The countys workforce is one of the best in the Magic Valley. As the American Civil Liberties Union blasts Idahos unfair public defender system, it touts Minidoka Countys as a model system, Koyle said. And the county is enjoying unprecedented economic growth. So whats there to complain about? Not much if you ask challenger Richard Schafer. I have no bones to pick with any of the commissioners or any of the issues, he told our editorial board. Schafer, a retiree, says hes running because he wants to serve the public and he has the time to do it. Problem is, hes not entirely up to speed on the issues, and he hasnt examined the county budget to any great degree. We dont doubt his sincerity; he just doesnt bring much new to the table. Koyle, on the other hand, is already looking 30 years out. She supports the concept of a regional approach to Burleys airport problem; an airport is key to long-term economic stability. She touts the countys relationship with the College of Southern Idaho to train and attract a new workforce. And shes thinking long-term about upkeep for public buildings, especially the countys aging courthouse. Minidoka County is well positioned, thanks in part to Koyle. Voters would be wise to keep her in office. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is set to visit Israel and Palestinian West Bank this month, in a bid to relaunch the dead peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis. Manuel Valls will be in the region from 21 to 24 this month to lead the French initiative to bring rival camps to peace table after President Obama-led initiative collapsed two years ago. France has announced its intention to revive talks between Palestine and Israel based on the two-state solution. Valls will be in Israel on 22 and will be meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the following day. Meetings with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres and opposition leader Isaac Herzog are also planned. The second leg of his trip will take him to Ramallah in the West Bank on May 24 where he will hold talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah. The forthcoming trip will pave the way for an international ministerial meeting Paris is planning to host on May 30 and which will gather 20 countries. The Paris meeting will also lay foundation for another international meeting in the second half of 2016, which would include the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, reports say quoting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. Palestinians have supported the French initiative and last month upon Frances demand, they renounced to circulate a draft resolution at the UN seeking to condemn Israeli continued occupation. Analysts say Valls will also use his coming meeting to dissipate tension with Israel following Frances recent endorsement of a UNESCO resolution condemning Israels actions in Palestine. Netanyahu blasted the resolution calling it absurd. Moise Katumbi, the Democratic Republic of Congos opposition presidential candidate on Monday appeared before a prosecutor amid accusations from the government that he hired foreign mercenaries. Katumbi was summoned to the prosecutor generals office in the DRCs second city, Lubumbashi, on May 9. Key opponent of Kabila, Katumbi is tipped to become the next president if free, fair and timely elections are held. But allegations that the former governor of the mineral-rich Katanga Province hired mercenaries could stop his presidential bid dead in its tracks. Katumbi, the owner of successful Congolese club TP Mazembe, declared last week that he would run for the presidential elections scheduled to take place in November. Katumbi was a former ally of current president Joseph Kabila and governed the mineral-rich Katanga province from 2007 until September 2015, when he left the ruling party after accusing Kabila of attempting to delay the 2016 elections. Kabila is due to step down in November after two consecutive terms as president of DRC, one of Africas largest and mineral-rich countries but which has been blighted by conflict for decades. DRCs electoral commission said in January that it would take at least 13 months to update voter lists, pushing the election back into 2017. Guinea-Bissau President Jose Mario Vaz is planning to reshuffle his cabinet, the west-African nations Prime minister said. President Vaz who held discussions with party representatives, the Prime Minister, religious leaders and military chiefs was clear and straightforward that he would dissolve the government, AFP reported. The west-African nation has been in turmoil last year after the dismissal of its Prime Minister Mr. Domingo Simoes Pereira. The president said his dispute with Pereira arose from a number of issues including the appointment of a new armed forces chief, a post of key influence in the small nation ill-famed as a hub in drug trafficking between South America and Europe. Donors pledged more than 1 billion ($1.11 billion) to support the country after June 2014 elections. The International Monetary Fund also hailed the countrys progress on economic reform, saying it had become eligible for a $23.9 million loan. The former Portuguese colony has suffered nine coups or attempted coups since 1980 but the army has so far declared its neutrality in the current row. The government plans to retire nearly half the armys 5,000 soldiers, including former coup leaders, over the next five years as part of military reforms seeking to ensure long-term stability. Landlocked Nigers economy is expected to grow by 5.2 percent this year, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday. The economic perspectives in the medium-term remain favorable but are subject to considerable interior and exterior risks, the IMFs Cheikh Anta Gueye said in a statement. The international lender said agriculture and expected improvements in mining and oil production will help the West-African nation achieve its expected growth. However, Regional security, economic and environmental issues remained threats to the countrys economic growth, the IMF said. The countrys economy grew by 7 percent in 2014 but growth slowed last year to 3.5 percent because of problems in the agricultural sector and decreased oil and mining production, the IMF reported. Niger is seen as an important ally of Western powers in the fight against militant Islamists in the fragile Sahara region. The country is rich in natural resources, including uranium and oil, but is one of the worlds poorest countries, ranking last in the UN Human Development Index. Nigers President Mahamadou Issoufou who was sworn in for another five-year term in April, after a controversial election boycotted by the opposition, promised to bring prosperity to the impoverished uranium-rich country. He also vowed to put a stop to further attacks from jihadists in the vast and remote north region and from Nigerias Boko Haram Islamists in the south. South Sudans first Vice President, Riek Machar on Tuesday renewed the governments commitment to combat sexual violence by its armed forces. He made the statement during a meeting with the UN Special Envoy on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Bangura, who was visiting the country. Bangura is on a four-day visit to the country to validate and launch the implementation plan of the joint communique that she co-signed with President Salva Kiir in October 2014. Now we are settling in and very soon, we will start this project and increase awareness among the army and the police and other security organs, Machar said. We hope we will develop a manual, a training manual for the forces and for the other security sector so that we really combat sexual violence in the armed forces and also in the other security sectors, he said. Conflict broke in December 2013 between forces loyal to President Kiir and rebel soldiers aligned with now first vice president Riek Machar. Since then, conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence has been widespread. Over a five-month period last year, more than 1,300 rapes were reported in South Sudans Unity State just one of the countrys 10, UN reported. According to Amnesty International, cases of sexual slavery and incidents of gang rape of girls have been reported. In a 12-month period ending November 2015, there were an estimated 10,553 deaths in Unity State 7,165 of which were due to violence. Some 829 were caused by drowning. Georgia welcomes 20% more tourists in April Georgias reputation as a tourist hotspot is growing; the country hosted 20 percent more tourists in April 2016 than in April last year, official figures show.The number of tourists who spent more than 24 hours in Georgia last month made up 37 percent of the total number of monthly visitors.Georgias Ministry of Internal Affairs released data that showed 462,480 international visitors (tourist, transit, other) came to Georgia in April 2016. This was 17.2 percent more compared to the same month of 2015.Visitors to Georgia in April 2016 can be separated into three categories: 171,235 tourists (37 percent of the total number of monthly visitors) a 20 percent increase y/y; 107,500 transit visitors (23.3 percent of the total number of monthly visitors) a 13 percent increase y/y; and 183,745 other visitors (39.7 percent of the total number of monthly visitors) a 16.8 percent increase y/y.In April 2016 the most international visitors came from Turkey (12 percent increase), Azerbaijan (17.6 percent increase), Armenia (8.7 percent increase), Russia (26.7 percent increase) and Ukraine (25.9 percent increase).A positive trend was retained regarding visitors from European Union (EU) countries. In January-April 2016 growing numbers of EU visitors came from Italy (26 percent increase), Latvia (25 percent increase), and France (14 percent increase).From Eastern European countries the majority of guests came from Belarus and Moldova (both enjoyed 36 percent increase), while the leaders among central Asian countries were Uzbekistan (64 percent more) and Kazakhstan (29 percent more) and from the Near East Israeli took first position with 106 percent more guests.The Ministry figures revealed visitor numbers in April 2016 were up 141 percent from the United Arab Emirates.Meanwhile in January-April (Q1 2016) Georgia hosted 1,596,916 visitors. This was 15.4 percent more y/y. @ByKristenMClark A three-judge panel of the First District Court of Appeal on Tuesday grilled attorneys for the state and for Floridas largest teachers union, as the union argued why it should have its day in court to challenge a voucher-like education program the Legislature approved 15 years ago. There was no immediate ruling from the judges following the 50-minute hearing. The judges are considering two primary questions at this stage in the lawsuit: whether the union and its allies have standing to sue the state over the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship program and whether the union is articulating a specific harm the program does to public schools. Florida Gov. Rick Scott isn't ready to let his transcontinental barbs with California Gov. Jerry Brown end quite yet. In Naples today, Scott ripped into California for finishing 50th in a set of rankings done by a business magazine that looked at the best states in the nation for business. Scott noted that Chief Executive Magazine ranked Florida No. 2. "I love Jerry Brown," Scott said facetiously to more than 100 state and government officials on Wednesday. "I think he's doing a great job as governor out there." Scott said Brown has the highest taxes, the highest home prices and "successful people are just leaving California." The comments come a week after Scott was in California criticizing the state for increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour and trying to convince businesses there to move to Florida. Brown responded with a letter, tweets and comments to the media. "California is the seventh largest economic power in the world," Brown wrote in the letter to Scott. "We're competing with nations like Brazil and France, not states like Florida." Brown then blasted Scott for not taking climate change seriously. "It's time to stop the silly political stunts and start doing something about climate change two words you won't even let state officials say," Brown told Scott. "The threat is real and so too will be the devastating impacts." Scott didn't address those criticism on Wednesday, but noted Brown didn't talk about jobs at all in his letter to him. Scott said it is clear Brown didn't appreciate him being there. "He was so excited I was there," Scott said sarcastically. @PatriciaMazzei Politico has a barn-burner of a story about a behind-closed-doors spat between U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando. Reid backs Grayson's rival, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter. Grayson confronted Reid about it, throwing in a little Destiny's Child while he was at it: Rep. Alan Grayson angrily confronted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday, disrupting a meeting of the Congressional Progressive Caucus in front of dozens of staffers and members of Congress. Grayson (D-Fla.), who Reid vehemently opposes in his bid for the open Florida Senate seat, arrived at the meeting with Reid's February statement in hand, according to two sources in the room. In that statement, Reid said Grayson has "no moral compass" and "used his status as a congressman to unethically promote his Cayman Islands hedge funds." As each member took a turn to speak to Reid, it was Grayson's turn. He asked Reid if the Nevada senator knows who he is. After Reid answered in the affirmative, Grayson went on the attack. Say my name, senator. Say my name," Grayson told Reid as Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) tried to shut the confrontation down. Ellison chided Grayson, asking him what he was doing and why he was distracting from the meeting's goals. More here. (Happy Wednesday.) @ByKristenMClark For the second time this spring, Vice President Joe Biden is campaigning for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Murphy in Florida. But this time, it'll be on the turf of Murphy's Democratic opponent -- in Orlando. Biden's official schedule for Thursday has him delivering remarks at 10 a.m. at an event for Murphy, which is being held "at a private residence." After a speech in Tampa this morning, Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, came to Orlando this afternoon to attend the 2016 Invictus Games. The Bidens are staying overnight in Orlando for the event with Murphy, before leaving Florida on Thursday afternoon to go to Wilmington, Delaware, according to the vice president's official schedule. Murphy, a congressman from Jupiter, is in a fierce primary contest with fellow U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who lives in Orlando and whose congressional district represents part of the city. . In late March, Biden headlined a luncheon fundraiser for Murphy in Miami-Dade County, after which the pair made a brief appearance at a restaurant in Miamis Overtown neighborhood. Biden's repeated presence in Florida is symbolic of both the significance of the U.S. Senate race here and the Democratic establishment's fervent support of Murphy over Grayson in the Aug. 30 primary. The Senate seat being vacated by Republican Marco Rubio is seen as one of a handful of seats nationwide that could flip and, potentially, help Democrats win back control of the chamber. Top Democrats -- including Biden, President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- have lined up behind Murphy's campaign. The lop-sided affair that has become a bit of a flashpoint in the primary contest. Some of those tensions boiled over on this afternoon, when Grayson -- who has garnered most of his support from progressive leaders and grassroots donors -- confronted Reid during a closed-door progressive caucus meeting in Washington, D.C. @PatriciaMazzei Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado remembers walking to school as a young man in Miami and getting heckled. "They said, 'Spic, go back home,'" he recalled in an interview with the Miami Herald. "Because I had very dark hair." That discrimination still feels raw for the 68-year-old, now silver-haired, mayor, who was born in Cuba. And the memory is one of the reasons why he said he won't vote for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in November. "No, of course not," said Regalado, a Republican in a non-partisan post. Regalado, who backed Trump rival Marco Rubio, said he won't be casting his ballot for likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, either. "I'm not going to vote for one or the other," he said, echoing fellow Miami Republicans like former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Reps. Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The highest-ranking local Republican, Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez, didn't respond to requests for comment. More here. Photo credit: C.M. Guerrero, el Nuevo Herald file @ByKristenMClark Republican Gov. Rick Scott is headed to Washington, D.C., this afternoon to visit with eight members of Florida's congressional delegation. The topic: Federal aid to prepare for and combat the mosquito-borne Zika virus. "We've got to have a federal plan," Scott told reporters on Tuesday. "My job is to help get the state prepared and that is what this trip is to do." MORE: Daily Florida Zika Virus Tracker Scott's daily schedule includes meetings on Capitol Hill with only Republicans: U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Carlos Curbelo, both of Miami, Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor, Ander Crenshaw of Jacksonville, Tom Rooney of Okeechobee, Curt Clawson of Bonita Springs and David Jolly of Indian Shores, and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio. "It's going to get warmer, we're going to have more rainfall, we're probably going to see more mosquitoes in our state," Scott said Tuesday. "Our federal government has a variety of plans they're talking about. ... We've got to address the Zika issue. Hopefully, we can get ahead of it." Scott did not specify what amount of funding or resources he's seeking from the federal government. "We're working through our Department of Health and our mosquito boards -- whether it's more money for our mosquito boards, whether it's to make sure they have the right testing kits or to make sure, if we have a significant outbreak, do we have all of the resources?" he said. As of Tuesday, the Florida DOH reported 109 known cases of Zika. All were travel-associated from people returning to the U.S. from other countries; no one had contracted the virus in Florida. Scott said DOH continues to work with local mosquito boards to get ahead of the virus, and he said it's time for the federal government to step up. "I think of it like a hurricane," Scott said. "The way you prepare for a hurricane is you get prepared and the federal government needs to come together, work together and provide the funding for the things that are necessary to our states." The weather is warming; the beaches will soon be crowded and the movie theaters, too. As Hollywoods annual lineup of summer jams approaches, we face the eternal question: Will the new releases be hot fun in the summertime, or blowouts of summertime blues? While its unpredictable at this point whether theyll hit or miss, here are 10 big releases high on the want-to-see list. X-Men: Apocalypse: Jennifer Lawrences Mystique finally has control of her killer urges. This time, the mutant walking the razors edge is Magneto (Michael Fassbender), who joins with supervillain Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac). With Xavier (James McAvoy) captured, Mystique teaches the X-Men how to fight, without any boring lessons on ethics. (May 27) Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping: After making music industry-lampooning videos for Saturday Night Live, the Lonely Island trio Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer hit the big screen. The satire parodies recent egotistical music infomercial/documentaries such as Katy Perrys Part of Me. (June 3) Finding Dory: This sequel to 2003s Finding Nemo is Pixars entrant in the competition among 10 family-friendly films this summer. Andrew Stanton, who helmed the original, returns as writer/director, following the amnesiac blue tang (Ellen DeGeneres) as she searches for something important she has forgotten: her family. (June 17) Independence Day: Resurgence: Exactly 20 years after their 1996 attack, those extraterrestrial invaders still dont like landmark monuments on Planet Earth. They return in very big, very bad spaceships to launch a second strike that is disastrous for insurance companies across the globe. Now theres an anniversary party. (June 24) The BFG: Following last years Bridge of Spies, Steven Spielberg directs Disneys fantasy-adventure reworking of Roald Dahls charming childrens novel. Orphaned Londoner Sophie (played by Ruby Barnhill) has never visited Giant Country. She gets a personal tour from a kindly, mysterious giant (Mark Rylance, best supporting actor winner for Bridge) who introduces her to the marvels and hazards, becoming her unexpected friend. (July 1) Ghostbusters: If you have a problem with eruptions of ectoplasmic barf, you call in a particle physicist, right? Plus a nuclear engineer, a paranormal expert and a subway worker. And if youre going to reinvent a 30-year-old comedy classic, you fill it with very good comedians (led by Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig). This female-fronted remake is written and directed by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), who is to ensemble comedy what Paganini is to the violin. (July 15) Star Trek Beyond: As the sci-fi franchise enters its 50th year, the third film in the rebooted version puts Fast & Furious director Justin Lin in the big boots of J.J. Abrams. Largely written by Simon Pegg, a geeked-out longtime Star Trek fan, it pushes the Enterprise crew far from its usual side of the universe. Idris Elba joins the cast. (July 22) Jason Bourne: With a plot that borrows from WikiLeaks and the Edward Snowden revelations, the fifth entry returns Matt Damon to action-heavy spycraft. Details are as secret as an NSA lunch menu, but with scenes of economic rioting in Greece and worried CIA surveillance suites, you can tell that sinister things are going down. (July 29) The Founder: A biopic of the emperor of fast food, the man who saw billion-dollar potential in the humble hamburger McDonalds Ray Kroc. Michael Keaton, having starred in two Oscar-winning best films in a row, has the mental machismo to play a business shark. Whether the film is more nourishing than a Big Mac remains to be seen. (Aug. 5) Suicide Squad: DC Comics latest isnt entirely all-star (Joel Kinnaman, really?), but it features enough villains to fill a comic shop (with Will Smith, Viola Davis and Jared Leto as the Joker). David Ayer (writer of Training Day) is aiming for a punk-noir look and a dose of meta humor to keep it from being Batman v Superman depressing. (Aug. 5) Supporters of the unfinished Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project ramped up their efforts Tuesday, releasing the first of a series of videos asking Montanas congressional delegation to support the campaign. The 10-year-old project combined a mix of wilderness designations, timber supply improvements, recreation areas and habitat restoration work on public land between Lincoln and Condon, around the fringes of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex. It was one of three components of Sen. Jon Testers Forest Jobs and Recreation Act, which has not made it out of Congress since it was proposed in 2008. A lot of the timber provisions and restoration provisions were included in CFLRP (Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program) and Southwest Crown of the Continent legislation, Loren Rose of Pyramid Mountain Lumber said during a news conference Tuesday. It would be easy for Pyramid to walk away now, but that isnt what a partner does to another partner. This is the right thing to do for the landscape. Rose was part of a group of timber workers, wilderness advocates, ranchers, businesspeople, snowmobilers and other stakeholders whove been pushing for the land-management compromise since 2006. Proposals first raised in early versions of the bill have gone on to create or sustain 138 jobs and $19 million in federal investment. Left undone are designations for the proposed 2,000-acre Otatsy Recreation Area for snowmobile riding near Ovando, and wilderness protection for the North Fork of the Blackfoot River, Monture Creek, the Swan Front, Grizzly Basin and the West Fork of the Clearwater River. Those areas amount to about 83,000 acres added to the Bob Marshall and Scapegoat wilderness areas. Weve been at this 10 years, and everybodys still together, said Mack Long, retired Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 2 supervisor and now backcountry outfitter. At first everyone was holding their cards real close to the chest, but eventually people gave up a little here and there, and gained a lot in the process for timber, ranching, wilderness and business. But now it feels like our window is starting to close. Things change. Landscapes change. We need something done now, and were asking our delegation to step up and grab hold of this. Long and wife Connie are featured in the first video put up on the blackfootclearwater.org website. They testify about the value of protecting public lands and the business they maintain as traditional horse-and-mule outfitters. Weve learned from past experience, what worked and doesnt work, Connie Long said. Were using the website as an avenue to showcase the folks involved in this. The appeal got a mixed response from Democratic Sen. Tester and Republicans, Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke. Both Zinke and Daines said they were still collecting public input on the Blackfoot-Clearwater concept, and were focusing current efforts on forest management legislation. I will continue to engage with Montanans on this proposal, Daines said in an email. However, what Im hearing from many is first we need to improve the health of all our forests to reduce the severity of fires and create good-paying jobs. Ive been working with this partnership for years, and Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project is just the kind of collaborative, balanced approach to public land management that we need more of in Montana, Tester wrote in an email. Im thrilled that folks on the ground are continuing to work together on this, and I will look for their help to build support for it so we can increase recreation, conservation and timber harvest on our public lands. However, Tester has not resubmitted his Forest Jobs and Recreation Act in the current congressional session. The bill passed committee review in the previous session but did not make a full Senate vote. Were not in a position to tell either senator or Rep. Zinke how to take this forward, Rose said. If it needs to come out stand-alone legislation, so be it. Were supporting this effort. Outfitter and wilderness advocate Smoke Elser of Missoula said while Testers attempt to increase logging and wilderness in the Kootenai, Blackfoot and Beaverhead-Deerlodge areas of Montana was a great effort, a smaller approach might be successful now. You cant eat an elephant by eating the whole thing, Elser said. The Blackfoot-Clearwater Stewardship Project is a smaller portion of FJRA, and it sets an example of how other communities might do the same thing. I think places like Dillon and Darby might want to get in on something like this, so they can eat the elephant one small bite at a time. Jordan Scott Bahr, accused of raping a Missoula woman at his house last October, pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of sexual intercourse without consent on Tuesday. Bahr entered his plea in front of Missoula County District Court Judge Robert Dusty Deschamps via a video call from Fargo, North Dakota. According to a court affidavit, the woman he is accused of raping met 29-year-old Bahr downtown on Oct. 13 while out with friends. She later biked home, with Bahr riding with her because he lived along the route. When they reached his house, the woman asked if she could stay on his couch, according to court documents. The affidavit said when she refused to sleep in his bed, Bahr allegedly laid down on the couch with her and sexually assaulted the woman, including licking her breasts and inserting his fingers and genitals into her vagina. The woman told police she froze up during the incident, and later got dressed and left the house on her bike. In an interview with police, Bahr said he had thought the woman was interested in having sexual contact with him because she came to his house. According to the affidavit, he added that she had not touched him during the incident, but he felt she had given him "mixed signals." Bahr was arrested March 9 in Morris, Minnesota, after a warrant was issued for his arrest in February. After he was taken into custody in Minnesota, Bahr posted his $30,000 bail and was released with GPS monitoring. His next court hearing is an omnibus set for May 31. Paxson Schools architects worked within a challenging budget." A&E Architects principal Chris Martison updated the Missoula County Public Schools board of trustees Tuesday night, explaining renderings of designs that will add classroom space to the elementary school. Because Paxson is one of the newest in the district it was rebuilt at its current site in 1991 there are fewer infrastructural and technology issues as are found in other decades-old schools. Paxsons project will take about $2.1 million out of last falls voter-approved $88 million elementary district bond, making it one of the smaller elementary projects. We came out of the chute pretty hot, Martison said. The budget was tight and the site is tight to work around. And the programming, I wouldnt say it was difficult, but we had to make a pretty quick decision pretty early on. The upgrade will build an addition to the schools east side and open up some classroom space in the existing building. The entryway will be pushed back into the building to create a secure entrance. Visitors will have to check in to be allowed entry as the doors will be locked. The lobby and everything going out to the east becomes a collaborative space environment, he said. It will be very active, there will be small work groups happening and lots of opportunities for learning outside the classroom in a more collaborative work space. The architects also designed the addition to align aesthetically with the existing building and with the neighborhood, giving the neighbors not so much an institutional-type building but more playful, more colorful. At public meetings, Martison said he heard people felt Paxson was very institutional and cold. When we began looking at the school, there were challenges with the budget again, obviously, he said. We really wanted to respect Paxson as a design. Its a very well-designed school. We went through a lot of scrutiny when it was first built its a 100-year building thats built to last, so we wanted to carry that tradition forward. We wanted to use very good quality materials knowing that long-term maintenance costs are a key component with all these schools. With a $2 million budget, Martison said he didnt want to sacrifice programming to add a couple more movable walls or amenities inside the classrooms. He said A&E Architects also didnt want to cheapen the building with lower-quality materials. We focused the budget on actual need, he said. *** The district is also moving forward, somewhat hesitantly, with another bond project: resurfacing the MCPS Stadium track and exchanging the stadiums grass for artificial turf. At a previous meeting, some trustees were worried about the use of artificial turf due to concerns nationwide about the possibility of crumb rubber being carcinogenic. Operations and maintenance supervisor Burley McWilliams came back to the board Tuesday night after researching the issue. A deal-breaker for whichever company the district chooses, McWilliams said, will be that they use EPDM rubber rather than SBR. The difference, he said, is that EPDM is not tire rubber. We will not accept SBR rubber, we are looking for virgin EPDM rubber, he said. Its a polymer, its used in many different applications, like lining holding tanks for bottled water. Its a rubber that, by what most people say in the industry, is much safer rubber than SBR. Were leaning toward the side of its better safe than sorry. EPDM rubber has no studies against it. Theyre working on a tight timeline, as the first game at the stadium is Aug. 26. The district isnt required to speed it along according to any bond obligation, executive director of business and operations Pat McHugh said. They dont necessarily have to be done at the same time, but the turf project has to happen before the track resurfacing, said Superintendent Mark Thane, in order to avoid putting heavy equipment on a new track. Its more connected to pushing as many projects through as we can to avoid escalation charges, and also the connection to the state track meet, it would be a good time to do that, McHugh said. McWilliams said the district also hopes to work with a company with Montana references. Its important that we look at Montana references from a weather and climate standpoint, he said. *** The trustees accepted the canvass of the May 3 school board election. Trustees Diane Lorenzen and Michael Beers retained their seats, and voters elected Vicki McDonald to the board. Missoula County elections administrator Rebecca Connors said a discrepancy of 42 ballots was found during MCPS ballot recount Monday. It did not change the results of the election, she said. What we have concluded is that during the process of when staff was bringing votes to the tabulation machine, either another staff member took them thinking they were counted and scanned by the machine, and filed them with the voted ballots which I think is most likely or it was operator error and it canceled out a batch that were scanned but didnt scan correctly, she said. McDonald was separated from the next candidate, John Fletcher, by 569 votes. Missoula Federal Credit Union will celebrate its 60th anniversary by giving away $60,000 to three local nonprofits. The three to receive $20,000 apiece will be decided by online voting that started at noon Tuesday and continues until noon June 10, a Friday. Credit union members can vote once a day for any of the seven organizations selected by members of the credit union board. The contestants are: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Missoula Court Appointed Special Advocates Five Valleys Land Trust Flagship Program Garden City harvest Missoula Food Bank Zootown Arts Community Center. Members can vote by logging into their online baking accounts at MissoulaFCU.org. The winners will be announced at a member event on June 14. CEO Jack Lawson said in a statement Tuesday that a core part of Missoula Federal Credit Union's mission is to support the health and prosperity of the community. So it makes sense to celebrate this significant anniversary by expanding our support of the causes that truly enrich Missoula, Lawson said. Missoulian Staff Every Trump critic had "Oh, hell" moments during the primary season. They were when Donald Trump demonstrated a keen, gut-level political instinct that even an exceptionally talented conventional politician would be hard-pressed to match. An example: During a Republican debate in Florida in February, Trump was asked about former Mexican President Vicente Fox's comment that his country wouldn't pay for Trump's "[expletive deleted] wall." "The wall just got 10 feet taller," Trump shot back. The rejoinder was funny and memorable. A Republican senator told me that his cellphone instantly lit up with constituents thrilled at what Trump had said. In slapping down el presidente, Trump advertised his toughness and nationalistic bona fides in a way a $10 million ad buy never could. Oh. Hell. Then there was the time he turned Ted Cruz's "New York values" attack into a riff about 9/11, leaving the college debate champion no option but to applaud Trump's answer. Or when he made the disruption of a Chicago rally by protesters into an advertisement for his stalwartness against thuggery. Or his temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S. You could have locked 100 political consultants in a room and told them not to leave until they had a perfect response to the San Bernardino terror attack, and they never would have come up with it. When Trump proposed the ban, the world collapsed around his head. No one agreed with Trump except Republican voters. According to exit polls, it was his strongest issue. The ban is completely unreasonable and, if you were going to try to implement it, impractical. Trump's insight was that it didn't matter. Its emotional punch, and the way it differentiated him from the other candidates, was the important thing. Trump's achievement is difficult to fathom. With no pollsters, no speechwriters, no fundraising staff, little campaign organization, few TV advertisements, no debate prep and a paper-thin knowledge of public affairs, he has won a major-party presidential nomination. This is a 100-year event. Trump did it by pounding a simple message over and over again in big rallies and media appearances. His shibboleths are burned into the consciousness of his supporters in a way we haven't seen since the Barack Obama of "hope and change." The Trump supporter with whom Cruz argued a few days before the Indiana primary wasn't highly informed, but he sure knew to shout "Lyin' Ted!" The standard rules for political candidates are not to offend and not to court unnecessary controversy. Trump, a creature of the tabloids, has an ingrained instinct to do the opposite. It made him stand out from an initial field of 17, and almost every act of outrageousness reinforced his image as the "truth-telling" outsider. Trump also was fortunate. For the longest time, there wasn't any organized effort against him. He won three out of the first four contests while his rivals squabbled among themselves. The establishment initially bet on Jeb Bush, and then, tapped out financially and psychologically, did nothing to rally around Cruz, whom many insiders hate more than Trump. It seemed that Cruz's Wisconsin victory was a watershed. In retrospect, it was the beginning of the end. Once it became clear that the only alternative to a clean Trump nomination was a contested convention with the agony of the primary prolonged two more months and perhaps punctuated by riots in Cleveland Republican voters seemed to want to shut down the process as soon as possible. Now it's on to the next test. At the same time he has lit up 40 percent of the Republican Party, Trump has alienated large swaths of the general public and key voting groups, who are (understandably) not as charmed by his bombast and free-swinging insults. It would be foolish to discount his chances. But it may be that he's just good enough at this to get into the general, where he will take down a lot of good conservatives with him. Oh, hell. The hub of the five valleys is a special place. A unique place. We are rich in character, diversity and strength. In Missoula, we are so fortunate to live in a place where, when any one of our friends or neighbors struggle and are in need of clothes, we pitch in and clothe them; when someone in our community needs a warm, dry place to sleep, we shelter them; and when anyone, for any reason, is hungry, we feed them. It is shocking but true, hunger impacts one in six people in our community. Thats simply not an acceptable statistic and we are taking action to change it. The Missoula Food Banks current facility on Third Street is too small and antiquated to provide the services Missoula needs to not only feed those who are hungry but to also deliver programming that lifts people out of the vicious cycles of hunger and poverty. Through lead gifts, savings and creative partnerships, Missoula Food Bank is securing or has secured $5.5 million of the needed $6 million to build a new Missoula Food Bank home on the corner of Wyoming and Caitlin, a 22,500-square-foot facility that will serve the twin needs of filling empty bellies and delivering programming that will reduce and, hopefully, end hunger in our community. This project will have a tremendous impact. It will change the one in six number. It will make life better for our friends and neighbors, who are struggling which will make life better for all of us. Please join us now as we enter the final and public phase the fundraising campaign to build this new facility. Join us because it is important to raise the last $500,000 for this project together, to make a collective statement that in Missoula we care, and that no one should go hungry in this great community. In 2015, Missoula Food Bank supported our friends and neighbors struggling with hunger 119,000 times. There are children in our schools who do not go home to a healthy dinner or any dinner. There are seniors, our elders upon whose shoulders we stand as we pursue great opportunities, living hidden in poverty, making excruciating choices between food, rent, health care and transportation costs which do they go without this month? We have working families, piecing together multiple jobs, who are skipping meals to scrape by. Missoula Food Bank is a compassionate safety net helping all of these folks make it through challenging times. We are proud of this work yet we know we can do better. Our food bank is on the forefront of confronting hunger in Missoula. Thanks to a supportive community held up by thousands of volunteers, Missoula Food Bank nourishes with dignity, compassion and healthy food. Today, we are coming together as Missoulians to help build a needed new facility for this important organization, and for the one in six people who face the threat of hunger in their day-to-day lives. So now we ask you, help us in this endeavor, help us with your financial support, and through your financial support help send a strong, unified message about the values of our community and what it means to live in Missoula. So many of our neighbors children, families, veterans, seniors are counting on you. We are grateful for your consideration. Donations can be made at www.oneinsixmissoula.org or by mail to Missoula Food Bank, 219 South Third Street West, Missoula, MT 59801. Come see Bernie Sanders on Wednesday and vote for him on or before June 7. Why? Sanders is the only presidential candidate we can trust to protect Montana from three disastrous, corporate-written/rigged trade treaties: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Trade in Services Agreement each worse than the North American Free Trade Agreement. Montana is in the crosshairs of greedy B$G multinational corporations that want to swoop in to rape and pillage our massive natural resources. Under the Trans-Pacific Partnership now in Congress, every inch of Montana would be vulnerable. Any laws the B$Gs deem barriers to trade (i.e. Save Our Smith river from mining, protected lands, Buy Montana, labor protections, etc.), could result in Montana being sued for future profit losses. Under the investor-state dispute settlement provision of these rigged-trade treaties, millions to trillions could be sucked out of our tax coffers for each lawsuit. These suits would take place on foreign soil, be decided by three corporate attorneys and there would be no appeals. Learn more at "Expose the TPP," "Flush the TPP" and #StopTPP.) Voters realize those pushing to fast-track the TPP are likely sold out to the multinational corporations or their billionaire puppet masters. (Check Open Secrets.) Secretary Hillary Clinton was an architect and major marketer of the TPP, calling it the gold standard 45 times. The president of the National Chamber of Commerce, the Kochs and other TPP pushers seem confident Clinton would pass these deals if she were the president of the United States, no matter what she claims now. Please watch Youve Been Trumped on YouTube. Then, rally with Bernie in Missoula on May 11 at the Caras Park Pavilion (doors open 10 a.m.). Remember (via Facebook and gmail): Montana women love Bernie Sanders! Lisa Kate Morrow, House District 6 candidate, Kalispell. Deb Gentry, House District 4 candidate, Kalispell, Alecia Davis, Eureka The bulk of America's daily television news is relentlessly feeding us fear-laden rhetoric and visuals. This was brought home to me clearly through a captivating video on "TED Talk" by a 35-year-old young lady, Dalia Mogahed. At age 17 she devoted herself to the study of the Muslim faith. Her study of the Koran was deep and thorough. Dalia Mogahed is presently director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Dalia Mogahed reported this: "One or more studies in neuroscience show that when we are afraid, three things happen and we become accepting of them. They are 1. authoritarianism, 2. conformity, 3. prejudice." Wow! How does that relate to the eager followers of Donald Trump's inflammatory rhetoric, for example? It hits all three right on the head. Consider what fear-based thinking is doing to America right now in our all-important race to the White House. Fear is forefront in much of the rhetoric while faith and facts are taking a back seat. Another most important insight from her talk: "ISIS has as much to do with Islam as the KKK has to do with Christianity." And this: "How does consuming fear 24 hours a day affect the health of our democracy, our free thoughts?" How about our media on this point? Here's an idea: How about one national week a year named "Transformation Week" or "Inspiration Week" where every major television newscast fills its time with the likes of Dalia Mogahed and other "TED Talk" type of discourses. This week would be mandated and sanctioned though a federal law with federal grants to help with any unfortunate loss in advertising revenues for individual news outlets. The news panels would be required to discuss the content among themselves. Public responses would be eagerly reported. National assessments would be made to see if such a radical TV news cycle would actually begin to change minds, change attitudes and actually be transforming and/or inspirational. The way I see it, nothing will really change until individual minds and attitudes change. Bob McClellan, Polson ST. IGNATIUS If there is to be a showdown over who sits on the Flathead Joint Board of Control, it will come later. Two commissioners from one of the irrigation districts that make up the joint board administered, with only a couple of objections from the audience, the oaths of office Tuesday to two people who unseated incumbents in a disputed election last week. David Lake and Janette Rosman then took their seats on the five-person Flathead Irrigation District Board, during what was called a reorganization meeting, and elected Dick Erb as their new chairman, and Paul Guenzler as vice chairman. Rosman was chosen as secretary-treasurer. The majority of the FBJC has denounced the election as corrupt, maintains it canceled it Lake County, which administered the election, says the board had neither the authority nor a legal reason to do so and also voted to ignore the results until such time as it is satisfied with the administration of a second election. Under a resolution the joint board passed, it would continue operating as if no election had taken place, and with three commissioners continuing to serve even though their terms have expired. All three of those commissioners lost in the May 3 mail-in election. Unless one side backs down, the issue could come to a head next Tuesday. The joint board has not met since the election, but FJBC executive manager Johanna Clark said she expects Boone Cole, the chairman of the joint board, to schedule an FJBC meeting at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 17, in St. Ignatius. *** Right after Lake, and just before Rosman, took their oaths, an audience member did question whether there was a quorum present. Flathead District commissioners Erb and Guenzler, who support the Confederated Salish and Kootenai water compact, were present. Not there were commissioner Bruce White, or Wayne Blevins and Shane Orien, the two incumbents who lost last week. They all oppose the compact. Erb said there was a quorum because two of the three current commissioners are present, and the other two are former commissioners because their three-year terms had expired. He also noted that Lake County commissioners this week certified the May 3 election results. The four commissioners then discussed several matters, including a Flathead Irrigation District bylaw read by Erb that calls for the five Flathead commissioners to meet once a month, separate from the joint board. I think it would bring local accountability to this board, Lake said. Theres some tension to be defused, he added, and suggested monthly meetings that focus on irrigation issues rather than the water compact, lawsuits and elections could help unify irrigators who are often at odds over the compact. We have a lot of work to do that doesnt have anything to do with arguing, Lake said. The board agreed and scheduled the next Flathead District-only meeting for Monday, June 13, at 1 p.m. at the Round Butte Clubhouse. *** Irrigation district elections were once such hum-drum affairs that there werent actual elections, Erb said. Commissioners' terms would expire, and they would either file for re-election with no opposition, or someone else would be recruited to run in their place and no one else would file. With no opposition, the lone candidates would be declared winners by acclimation and the districts would save themselves the expense of an election with a foregone conclusion. When he first ran for a seat on the board about a decade ago, Erb said, it was the first FJBC election in 22 years. That changed as a final proposed water compact worked its way through years of negotiations, and irrigators split into pro and anti sides, often pitting neighbor against neighbor. The 12-person joint board which also includes representatives from the Mission and Jocko Valley irrigation districts and one at-large member remains largely against the compact, even with Lake and Rosman joining Erb and Guenzler as Flathead District commissioners. There also was an election this year in the smaller Mission District, which has three commissioners. There, challenger Ray Swenson defeated incumbent Jerry Laskody. There were two candidates for the two seats open in the Jocko Valley District, Cole and newcomer Jennifer Kaplan. As in the past, no ballots were cast because there were no challengers. Cole retains his seat, but it remains unclear whether the board will seat Kaplan, since it maintains there was no election to begin with. *** As Erb was entertaining a motion to adjourn, two people in the audience of about 40-50 people spoke up against the seating of Lake and Rosman. Elaine Willman of Ronan said she wanted the meetings minutes to reflect that the joint board had canceled the election and had voted to continue the terms of Blevins and Orien. How do you think todays actions will restore cooperation and unity with the FJBC? she asked. Guenzler said he had told Blevins, Orien and White that voting to proceed as if the election hadnt occurred would do nothing but pull us father apart. So obviously unity wasnt that important, he said. The joint board maintains the county disenfranchised approximately 600 voters by imposing new rules requiring land with multiple owners to formally designate a single voter, and requiring out-of-state voters to designate a proxy. It also says the county broke a law when people who complied with the requirements after ballots were mailed out were given ballots prior to 8 p.m. on May 3, when the election closed. The county maintains that by ignoring the election, the joint board would be disenfranchising more than 2,500 voters who received ballots. The countys only goal, County Attorney Steve Eschenbacher said, was to make sure the election was conducted in accordance with Montana law and the FJBCs own bylaws. Eschenbacher maintains every ballot that could be mailed out was mailed out, and that providing ballots to other voters who complied with the requirements prior to the election deadline was legal. The Flathead District has organized in accordance with state law and our own bylaws following an election thats been certified by the county, Erb said after Tuesdays meeting. Now its time to do our job representing irrigators. Many irrigators want us to focus on irrigation issues, and thats what wed like to do. KALISPELL (AP) An October trial date has been set for a man charged with killing a Kalispell woman in eastern Montana in February 2013. Cody Wayne Johnston's deliberate homicide trial is set to start on Oct. 17 in Sidney. It had been scheduled for this month, but both sides wanted more time to prepare. Johnston was charged in August 2015 with the death of 31-year-old Nicole Waller. Court records say Waller told family and friends on Feb. 14, 2013, that she was returning to Kalispell from Fairview after breaking up with Johnston. She was reported missing two days later. Prosecutors say evidence suggests Johnston killed Waller, disposed of her body in a barrel and left her vehicle on the side of the highway near Poplar. Her body has not been found. A message for Texans, Ted Nugent and the New York Times: Montana is The Last Best Place. A recent sprawling feature exploring the shifting cultural identity of Texas used the popular phrase in passing reference: Before he was elected in 2014, Sid Miller, the Texas agriculture commissioner, traveled the state using an unofficial campaign slogan supplied to him by his campaign treasurer, the rocker and conservative provocateur Ted Nugent: Keep Texas the last best place. The notion of Texas as the best place, the exceptional place, is an old one. In his 1961 book about Texas, John Bainbridge described the state as a mirror in which Americans see themselves reflected, not life-size but, as in a distorting mirror, bigger than life. He called the book The Super-Americans. Some Texas readers assumed the line was their own as they shared the story on social media. One realty company wrote, "Texas is the last best place!" Another Texan said, "The last best place. Texas forever." But Montanans, current resident or not, took notice. It was only a few years ago that Las Vegas businessman David Lipson sought to trademark the term for use by his various ventures, including the Resort at Paws Up. Our elected leaders -- former Gov. Brian Schweitzer and then-Sens. Max Baucus and Conrad Burns -- stood up to the commercialization effort. For years, our congressmen added a line in each federal appropriations bill to ban the Commerce Department from spending any money to approve such a trademark application. In 2012, Baucus announced that the U.S Patent and Trademark Office had made a permanent ruling to deny any trademark attempt. (The New York Times and The Washington Post also wrote about the dispute.) Missoula author William Kittredge is widely credited for popularizing the term, which he developed as the title for the 1988 anthology he co-edited with Annick Smith, The Last Best Place. Others have claimed earlier uses of the phrase, including Whitefish author Douglas Chadwick in his 1983 book A Beast the Color of Winter. For a deep dive on the origins, inspirations and iterations -- from presidential speeches, Butte mines and a state political campaign -- read Robert Struckmans story, which includes this synopsis: Kittredge, Smith and other contributors had been mulling a number of possibilities. The anthology was almost complete, but lacked a title. Kittredge had his mind stuck on an 1862 address by Abraham Lincoln that described the United States as "the last, best hope of earth." A lament from a Richard Hugo poem was also rattling around in his head: "The last good kiss / you had was years ago." In an offhand moment, while pouring a drink, the phrase came to Kittredge. We get it. The phrase is catchy and loaded with meaning. I worked in Texas before moving back to Montana, so I can understand a little of why Nugent and the state might associate with the phrase. (Full disclosure: I grew up in Wyoming, but made Big Sky Country my home years ago.) Like Montanans, Texans are proud of their state and are loathe to forget the heritage they perceive to have been crucial to its exceptionalism. The Last Best Place hints at the history that made us who we are while demanding we still uphold those values. But we are not Texans. Or corporations. We are Montanans. HELENA Three owners of Montanas much-discussed Colstrip coal-fired power plant sat down Gov. Steve Bullock in Helena on Wednesday to start talking about what happens to the aging power plant as forces seem to push the eventual closure of its two older units. Kimberly Harris, CEO of Puget Sound Energy in Washington; Paul Farr, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Talen Energy; and Bob Rowe, CEO of NorthWestern Energy, discussed the future of the plant, which sits about two hours east of Billings. The ownership picture in Colstrip is complex. Six companies have a stake in the plant. Talen owns 50 percent of Units 1 and 2, a 30 percent share of Unit 3 and also operates the entire four-unit Colstrip complex. The plant and the town that exists mostly because of it and a nearby coal mine face challenges from laws passed in Washington and Oregon to push utilities based in those states with ownership in Colstrip to drop coal from their portfolio. The market is also favoring the low price of natural gas. Farr said Talen, which spun off PPL Montana when that entity sold its hydropower production to NorthWestern Energy a few years ago, is looking at its departure from a state where it now owns a very narrow portfolio. Farr said Talen is willing to look at a path to transition ownership and will be as constructive as it can be, but there are other forces at work. We are under time and cost pressures, he said. Ill lose millions in terms of operating Colstrip through the balance of the year. Talen, unlike NorthWestern, is a merchant provider and not a regulated utility, meaning it cannot pass its expenses on to regulated customers for an above-market cost. Puget Sound Energy has been involved in Colstrip since the plant was built about 40 years ago, Harris said. Washington state's legislature earlier this year passed a bill that gives Puget a way to get out of its ownership in the older 1 and 2 units at Colstrip and also provides money for decommissioning costs. "We've been at Colstrip from the start," she said. "We've been operating in Colstrip and contributing to the welfare of that community for the last 40 years. We continue to remain committed to that community today." *** Bullock focused on who would provide power to large industrial customers, like Montana Resources mine in Butte, who have long benefited from lower prices because they didnt have to pay high transmission fees from far-away plants. Right now Talen serves between 225-250 megawatts of the 300-350 those customers need, and Farr said if groups of those customers could sign a contract to guarantee enough revenue to cover costs, that would make providing that energy in the future more feasible for whoever is an owner at Colstrip. Power from the plant is also attractive to industrial customers because it's extremely reliable, he said. Colstrip plays a role, though not a large one, in the electricity NorthWestern Energy provides to Montana consumers, Rowe said. The utility's largest assets are the hydroelectric dams purchased from PPL in 2009. The utility also gets more electricity from its wind generation than Colstrip. What the plant offers NorthWestern is a reliable backup for high-demand periods. "What Colstrip does ... is provide us with pretty much 24/7 availability," Rowe said. "That's why our interest in Colstrip matters." Lower natural gas costs are part of why coal power is less in demand, though Farr said he worries about what happens when those prices rise again and coal plants shut down. "What happens when gas goes to $4? That doubles the fuel cost, and if you don't have that coal fired generation capability, if you can't turn to that ... " Rowe also is concerned about the transmission system, which is key to serving NorthWestern customers around Billings. The company leaders took turns emphasizing the importance of the jobs both the power plant and nearby coal mine create in the community of Colstrip, though none talked about what happens to those employees if and when the older two units shut down. "We all recognize this is an incredibly complex issue," Harris said. "We're not just dealing with megawatts, we're dealing with a community, our employees, the future of that community." The companies involved are trying to be as transparent as possible, she said. "What's important is we continue to look forward, we continue to look for opportunities, we continue to address the challenges one by one," she said. "I know we are all up to that challenge of what is the secure and safe transition for these units." BILLINGS - A Billings man suspected of multiple crimes was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the Two Moon Park area after attempting to escape on foot from police. Joseph Allen Keith, 38, was wanted for assault with a weapon, obstructing a peace officer and violating a restraining order after an incident Monday night, according to Billings Police Department Sgt. Jason Gartner. Keith was also wanted on an outstanding warrant. Details of Monday night's incident were unavailable Tuesday night but Gartner said officers had received a report after Monday night that Keith was armed and dangerous. When officers spotted him Tuesday at around noon in the Heights, Keith took off running before he was apprehended and handcuffed along Yellowstone River Road near Reece Drive. Keith appears in the Yellowstone County Detention Facility's online roster with charges for one felony count of "aggravated assault broken bones, severe laceration," two misdemeanor charges stemming from warrants of failure to appear, one charge of bond revocation, one misdemeanor charge of obstructing a peace officer and one misdemeanor charge for violation of a protective order carrying a $15,000 bond. Going into its postwar and contemporary sale on Tuesday night, Christies had reason to be anxious about a perceived softening in the market fears that appeared to have been confirmed by Sothebys Impressionist and modern auction on Monday night, when a whopping one-third of the 62 lots failed to sell. But Christies management was soon breathing a sigh of relief: Its centerpiece canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold for $57.3 million, a high for the artist at auction. And its final tally was $318.4 million with fees, against a low estimate of $281 million. The auction house was ultimately pleased by what Brett Gorvy, Christies worldwide chairman of postwar and contemporary art, described as strong but deliberate buying. The evening confirmed contemporary arts continued status as the hottest category in the market, which showed unexpected resilience given that many potential sellers had decided to sit out the auctions this season in wait-and-see mode, keeping their best pieces on their walls (or in a free port). The Basquiat was the most highly valued of the 61 lots on Tuesday night, and 87 percent of them sold. Q. Youve said that choosing to be an artist has made you the black sheep of your family. Why? A. My parents always knew that I was an artistic kid, but they are practical people. Im very much from the middle class, so its not like Im coming from a very comfortable background. My parents have worked hard to be where they are. And so I think for them it was important that I be financially independent. They sort of tried to steer me toward studying architecture, because they thought at least Id have a job. Three months into it, I was like, Oh my God, what am I doing here? I started skipping classes. One day, my dad went to pay my fees and was told, Your daughter is not enrolled. I had to come clean to them and told them my hearts not in it, that I would rather do something that Im passionate about. At first they didnt understand it. Is it hard to find opportunities in Pakistan? Historically yes, although the good thing is that things are picking up. And in a way Im grateful to be here. If I were doing the same thing in Berlin, I think it would be much harder to get noticed because there are a lot of brilliant people doing a lot of brilliant things over there. But in Pakistan the market for it is still new. People are just realizing that, Hey, being a D J. or being an illustrator can be a job. An awakening is taking place, and the opportunities are really ripe. The video that your taxi design appeared in has received some backlash for promoting cliches about the subcontinent. How does that strike you? I have been thinking about this idea of cultural appropriation whether it be Indian or African-American culture being used by other people. Being Pakistani, I think theres a lot of things that we adopt, especially in the younger generation. Everyone I know watches English movies, listens to English music. If we can adopt their things, if I can wear jeans and pants instead of my traditional outfit, and expect not to be pointed out, and feel just like myself, then I think its alright for the West to do the same thing. But maybe not just as an aesthetic? Maybe they should go a little deeper? It should not be used only as ornamentation. Thats what people did not like about the video. I personally did not mind the video so much because it has my taxi in it. [Laughs]. But I can understand what people are saying. In addition to your artwork, you also do editorial illustrations, some of which are quite provocative, tackling topics like religious terrorism or the Pakistani military. Do you think its dangerous to address such issues? Butte police reports DRUG TRAFFICKER Butte police arrested Susan Hund, 55, Tuesday night at a home on the 1200 block of Short Street on marijuana trafficking charges. Officers knocked on the door, and she went without incident, police said. The arrest was prompted by notification from Lewis County officials in Central Idaho that a warrant was out for Hund on the trafficking charge. Hunds bond was set at $100,000 in Lewis County. WHATS IN A NAME? Howard Hiner, 49, told police his name was Donald Duck, then George Washington, after being stopped by Butte police Tuesday around 10:30 a.m. at Sherman and Porter streets for screaming at residents and looking in parked cars. He was arrested for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. AGGRAVATED DUI Police spotted Khalid Almutairi, 21, driving the wrong way on a one-way street and speeding through two stop signs about 2 a.m. Wednesday, they said. He was stopped in the 100 block of South Idaho Street, where he failed a field sobriety test. Police then took Almutairi to jail, where he failed a second sobriety test and blew twice over the legal limit. He was arrested for aggravated DUI, driving without a valid drivers license and traveling the wrong way on a one-way street. BILLINGS -- Former President Bill Clinton will speak at a campaign rally in Billings for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on May 20, according to a news release from the campaign. Bill Clinton also will attend public events in Sioux Falls and Fargo, N.D. on that day. North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Executive Director Robert Haider said Wednesday he didnt have details about the time and location. Hillary Clintons state director for North Dakota, Marcella Jewell, responded to a request for comment with a text message saying a press advisory will be going out later. Hillary Clintons competition for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, announced on Tuesday that he will speak Friday in Fargo at the Ramada Plaza & Suites. Sanders is in Missoula and Billings on Wednesday. HELENA Three owners of Montanas much-discussed Colstrip coal-fired power plant sat down with Gov. Steve Bullock in Helena on Wednesday to start talking about what happens to the aging power plant as forces seem to push the eventual closure of its two older units. Kimberly Harris, CEO of Puget Sound Energy in Washington; Paul Farr, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Talen Energy; and Bob Rowe, CEO of NorthWestern Energy discussed the future of the plant, which sits about two hours east of Billings. The ownership picture in Colstrip is complex. Six companies have a stake in the plant. Talen owns 50 percent of Units 1 and 2, a 30 percent share of Unit 3 and also operates the entire four-unit Colstrip complex. The plant and the town that exists mostly because of it and a nearby coal mine face challenges from laws passed in Washington and Oregon to push utilities based in those states with ownership in Colstrip to drop coal from their portfolio. The market is also favoring the low price of natural gas. Farr said Talen, which spun off PPL Montana when that entity sold its hydropower production to NorthWestern Energy a few years ago, is looking at its departure from a state where it now owns a narrow portfolio. Farr said Talen is willing to look at a path to transition ownership and will be as constructive as it can be, but there are other forces at work. We are under time and cost pressures, he said. Ill lose millions in terms of operating Colstrip through the balance of the year. Talen, unlike NorthWestern, is a merchant provider and not a regulated utility, meaning it cannot pass its expenses on to regulated customers for an above-market cost. Puget Sound Energy has been involved in Colstrip since the plant was built about 40 years ago, Harris said. Washington state's legislature earlier this year passed a bill that gives Puget a way to get out of its ownership in the older 1 and 2 units at Colstrip and also provides money for decommissioning costs. "We've been at Colstrip from the start," she said. "We've been operating in Colstrip and contributing to the welfare of that community for the last 40 years. We continue to remain committed to that community today." Bullock focused on who would provide power to large industrial customers like Montana Resources mine in Butte, who have long benefited from lower prices because they didnt have to pay high transmission fees from far-away plants. Right now Talen serves between 225-250 megawatts of the 300-350 those customers need, and Farr said if groups of those customers could sign a contract to guarantee enough revenue to cover costs, that would make providing that energy in the future more feasible for whoever is an owner at Colstrip. Power from the plant is also attractive to industrial customers because it's extremely reliable, he said. Colstrip plays a role, though not a large one, in the electricity NorthWestern Energy provides to Montana consumers, Rowe said. The utility's largest assets are the hydroelectric dams purchased from PPL in 2009. The utility also gets more electricity from its wind generation than Colstrip. What the plant offers NorthWestern is a reliable backup for high-demand periods. "What Colstrip does ... is provide us with pretty much 24/7 availability," Rowe said. "That's why our interest in Colstrip matters." Lower natural gas costs are part of why coal power is less in demand, though Farr said he worries about what happens when those prices rise again and coal plants shut down. "What happens when gas goes to $4? That doubles the fuel cost, and if you don't have that coal fired generation capability, if you can't turn to that ... " Rowe also is concerned about the transmission system, which is key to serving NorthWestern customers around Billings. The company leaders took turns emphasizing the importance of the jobs both the power plant and nearby coal mine create in the community of Colstrip, though none talked about what happens to those employees if and when the older two units shut down. "We all recognize this is an incredibly complex issue," Harris said. "We're not just dealing with megawatts, we're dealing with a community, our employees, the future of that community." The companies involved are trying to be as transparent as possible, she said. "What's important is we continue to look forward, we continue to look for opportunities, we continue to address the challenges one by one. I know we are all up to that challenge of what is the secure and safe transition for these units." Montana Tech will celebrate its 116th commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 14, at 11 a.m. in the Butte Civic Center. The university is expected to award 596 degrees and certificates to 567 students. Commencement week activities begin on Thursday with graduates going through a rehearsal ceremony in preparation for Saturday. The rehearsal will take place in the HPER at 3 p.m. Montana Tech will honor the members of the classes of 1956, 1961, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1981, and 1986 at the Alumni Reunion Banquet and at the commencement ceremony. The Alumni Reunion Banquet will take place Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Treasure State Room at the Hotel Finlen. On Friday evening, approximately 260 alumni, graduates, and families will gather in Montana Techs HPER for the Graduates Banquet, held in honor of the graduating class of 2016. The event begins at 6 p.m. with no-host cocktails followed by the banquet at 7 p.m. This event is sponsored by the Montana Tech Alumni Association. Saturday morning will kick-off with the Nursing Pinning Ceremony in the Library Auditorium at 8:30 a.m. The Montana Tech Nursing Pinning Ceremony is a symbolic welcoming of newly graduated nurses into the nursing profession. At the ceremony, 17 Associate of Science (ASN) students and 10 Bachelor of Science Completion (BSN) students will be presented with nursing pins by Montana Tech Nursing Department faculty. Shannon Davis will be the ASN student speaker. The Order of the Engineering Ring Ceremony will also take place on Saturday at 9 a.m. at the Butte Civic Center. At approximately 10:15 a.m. on May 14, degree candidates will begin assembling in the halls of the Butte Civic Center in preparation for the Commencement Ceremony. A reception for graduates, family members, and friends will occur immediately following the Commencement Ceremony (approximately 1:15 p.m.) in the annex of the Butte Civic Center. Butte-Silver Bow Chief Executive Matt Vincent did not violate Montana laws by meeting with commissioners behind closed doors about wanting to fire Lindsey Moe as the countys human resources director, the Montana Supreme Court has ruled. The five justices backed a lower court ruling against Moes claims that the closed session violated open meeting laws and her due process rights. But as District Judge Ray Dayton also determined in May 2015, the high court ruled Tuesday that Moes claims she was wrongfully terminated on Oct. 18, 2013 were matters for a jury to decide. The city-county wanted those claims tossed out. Vincent met with commissioners in a closed meeting two days before seeking their consent to fire Moe. He said she was disloyal, in large part because she did not immediately inform him about a lawsuit a group of employees was considering based on wage issues. She says she did nothing wrong. He said he closed the meeting to the public to protect the privacy rights of other employees who had provided information about Moe during a personnel investigation. The meeting was opened again before commissioners voted to give their consent. Moes lawsuit said the meeting should have been open and she should have been allowed to speak and present her own evidence. Montana has strong sunshine laws and the public had a legitimate interest in matters discussed during the closed meeting, she claimed. The states high court disagreed, saying Dayton was correct in ruling that employees who initiated complaints against Moe had individual privacy interests that society is willing to recognize as reasonable. The District Court determined that public disclosure of workplace harassment and retaliation complaints may discourage employees from pursuing such complaints, Tuesdays ruling said. A phone message seeking comment was left Wednesday morning with Moes attorney, Frederick Sherwood of Helena. Land art lecture set Thursday The Imagine Butte Resource Center, 68 W. Park St., will host an art history lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 12. Melissa Ragain, PhD, will present the lecture on Land Art. Ragain is an assistant professor in the Art History department at Montana State University-Bozeman. This lecture will include a discussion of how artists work with the land and the intersection of art and ecology. The program is part of A Watershed Moment, a month-long exhibition at the Foreground Gallery that studies the history of Buttes waterways and invites the public to engage with the gallery as a place of learning. Details: IBRC Facebook page. Kiwanis membership social Thursday The Kiwanis Club of Butte is hosting a Membership Social for members and guests from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 12, in the back of Hops Pub & Casino at the Butte Plaza Inn. Details: Don Davis, 406-494-2585. Animal Control lists impounds These animals have been picked up by Butte Animal Control. Details: Call Chelsea Bailey Butte-Silver Bow Animal Shelter at 406-497-6528 or stop by from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Cat: One-year-old male shorthaired, black and white, neutered, picked up Tuesday on Beef Trail Roosters: Two, one silver laced Wyandotte and one Rhode Island Red, picked up Saturday near Little Basin Creek Candidates forum in Twin Bridges TWIN BRIDGES The Rotary Club of Twin Bridges invites the public to a Meet The Candidates Forum at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 19, in the Twin Bridges School Montana Room. Invited candidates are: State Senate District 36: Jeff Welborn, Dale Stewart; House District 71: Ray Shaw, Bob Wagner, Dennis Lester. Commissioner District 1: Dave Schulz, Dan Allhands, Ellis Thompson. Refreshments will be served. Details: Krista Beal 406-842-5441. Benefit gala Sunday at St. Johns A Scholarship Benefit Gala, presented by members of the Butte-Anaconda Area Music Teachers Association, students and friends, starts at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 15, in the Fellowship Hall of St. Johns Episcopal Church, Broadway and Idaho. The concert is in memory of Lilianne LeTourneau, BAAMTA piano teacher, and David Ricci, well-known jazz bass virtuoso. A free will offering will be taken but admission is free. The scholarship program was founded 34 years ago; it provides financial help to area students who study music in college. To date, 35 students have received scholarships, said Donna Jean Pickett, BAAMTA president and scholarship chairperson. A segment of Sundays Gala will celebrate Norwegian Independence Day, which is May 17. Two songs of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and a duo-piano arrangement of Morning Mood from his Peer Gynt Suite will be featured. The concert will include classics, Broadway tunes, gospel music, ragtime and jazz. Guest artists who will perform are Rene Crosby and Sue Walsh, vocalists, J.P. LeTourneau on trumpet, and Janette Reget, soprano. Student musicians are Britta De Groot and Ray Shipman, Dillon pianists; Heather Martin, Butte clarinetist, and pianists Nancy Wang, Margaret LaFave, Larysa Blavatsky and Joshua Cox, all of Butte. BAAMTA teachers scheduled to appear are Charlene Loge, Dillon, and, Shelly Clark, Donna Jean Pickett, Gloria Clark and Ruth Rotondi of Butte. A reception follows featuring Norwegian-type treats. Everyone who loves music and is interested in helping our area students to continue studying music in college is invited to the Gala, according to BAAMTA President Pickett. Butte Chamber hosts fun color run The Butte Chamber of Commerce's Paint the Town 5K Fun Color Run starts at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 2, at 1000 George St. Registration, which begins at 9 a.m., includes a T-shirt. At the end of the race the shirt will be colored by the non-toxic powder, which will be thrown at people as they run/walk the trails. The cost is $20 a person, or $80 for a five-person team or family. It is $10 for each additional team member. To be a sponsor for this year's run, contact Stephanie at marketing@buttechamber.org or call 406-723-3177. Career fair slated Sept. 8 People are invited to plan for the 17th annual Montana Tech career fair in September in the HPER Complex on campus. The fair runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 8. Pre-fair activities begin Wednesday evening, Sept. 7, with the reception for recruiters. Employers will have the opportunity to conduct face-to-face interviews on Friday, September 9. Employers can register online now through DIGGERecruiting and find additional recruiting information at www.mtech.edu/career/employers. Contact Career Services at 406-496-4140 for details. Montanans have a fundamental choice right now that will dictate how competitive our energy economy will be for decades to come. Do we take charge of our energy future, or do we bury our heads in the sand and wait to see what happens? The thing is, our energy economy is in crisis. More than half of all electricity generated in Montana is exported to buyers in Oregon, Washington, and California. The majority of that is coal-powered electricity. But demand for coal-powered electricity is drying up as West Coast states gradually phase more renewable energy into their portfolios. Our first instinct might be to dig in and protect the status quo. But if we sit around complaining and resisting for too long, the market for our electricity is going to dry up before our eyes. Then well have to figure out what Montana looks like without all that energy revenue and those energy jobs. At the same time, Montanas clean energy resources are abundant but underutilized. Our wind resource is second best in the nation, but were only 21st in terms of wind energy development. And while solar provides only a small fraction of Montanas electricity today, the cost of solar power has dropped by half in the last five years, putting energy self-reliance within reach for Montana homeowners and businesses and kicking off a boom in the solar market around the country. Nationwide there are three times as many jobs in solar as there are in coal mining, and solar jobs are growing 10 times faster than the national average employment rate. Thats an opportunity Montana cant afford to pass up. Together, wind, solar, and energy efficiency have the potential to meet demand while creating jobs in Montana, diversifying our energy portfolio, and keeping Montana competitive in the energy industry for decades to come. Coal isnt going away tomorrow, but Montana has a narrow window of opportunity to prepare for the future. Montanas major energy customers are telling us what type of energy they will buy ten and twenty years from now. California plans to obtain 50 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. Oregon will reach 50 percent by 2040, and its two largest utilities are required to phase out of coal-fired electricity by 2035. And in Washington State, lawmakers have created a fund to pay for the retirement costs of Colstrip Units I and II. As these states phase out coal powered electricity, they will be demanding more clean energy. Where will they buy it from? Well, thats kind of up to us. The biggest challenge to building a clean energy economy isnt cost or logistics. Its finding the political courage to recognize and engage in this new energy economy. This is understandablecoal has been an important part of Montanas economy for a long time. But we have to separate the big picture debate (old vs. new, coal vs. renewable) from the situation right here in Montana. We cant sell our coal power. What can we sell instead? For Montanans, clean energy is not a threat to our energy economy. It is the solution to a threat to our energy economy. Thats why the Montana Renewable Energy Association and Renewable Northwest launched a new campaign calledCharge! last month. Because we dont think we can afford to wait and see what happens as regional and global markets shift around us. Charge! is about focusing the conversation on whats really driving change in Montanas energy economy and taking control of our energy future. The question isnt whether things are changing, its how to respond. Fortunately, Montanas next energy boom has been here all along, blowing through our fields and shining down on our rooftops. If we play our cards right, we can take advantage of a new energy boom that creates thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars in new revenue. Or we can settle for nothing. The choice is ours. Go to ChargeMT.org and tell us what you think. -- Diana Maneta is executive director of the nonprofit Montana Renewable Energy Association, Missoula. 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. Governor 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 Governor Bullock. -- Maxine Pogreba, Boulder, Colorado ORIGINAL NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association Plaintiff, vs. Ruth Champagne; Parties in Possession; Unknown spouse, if any, of Ruth Champagne, et al. Defendants. You are notified that a petition has been filed in the office of this court naming you as a defendant in this action. The petition was filed on March 29, 2016, and prays for foreclosure of Plaintiffs mortgage in favor of the Plaintiff on the property described in this notice and judgment for the unpaid principal amount of $109,925.22, with 5% per annum interest thereon from August 1, 2015, together with late charges, advances and the costs of the action including (but not limited to) title costs and reasonable attorney's fees, as well as a request that said sums be declared a lien upon the following described premises from June 19, 2009, located in Muscatine county, Iowa: The West 180 feet of the following described tract of land, to-wit: Commencing at a point on the East line of Columbus Street in the City of West Liberty, Iowa, which is 30 feet East and 76 1/2 feet North of the center Section 12, Township 78 North, Range 4 West of the 5th Principal Meridian, and running thence East 180 feet, thence South 76 1/2 feet to the quarter section line, thence East along the quarter section line, 806.7 feet, thence North 146 1/2 feet, thence West 986 1/2 feet to the East line of Columbus Street, thence South along the said Street line to the point of beginning, commonly known as 804 North Columbus Street, West Liberty, IA 52776 (the "Property") The petition further prays that the mortgage on the above described real estate be foreclosed, that a special execution issue for the sale of as much of the mortgaged premises as is necessary to satisfy the judgment and for other relief as the Court deems just and equitable. For further details, please review the petition on file in the clerk's office. The Plaintiffs attorney is Halley Ryherd, of SouthLaw, P.C.; whose address is 1401 50th Street, Suite 100, West Des Moines, IA 50266. NOTICE THE PLAINTIFF HAS ELECTED FORECLOSURE WITHOUT REDEMPTION. THIS MEANS THAT THE SALE OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY WILL OCCUR PROMPTLY AFTER ENTRY OF JUDGMENT UNLESS YOU FILE WITH THE COURT A WRITTEN DEMAND TO DELAY THE SALE. IF YOU FILE A WRITTEN DEMAND, THE SALE WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL TWELVE MONTHS (OR SIX MONTHS IF THE PETITION INCLUDES A WAIVER OF DEFICIENCY JUDGMENT) FROM THE ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS YOUR RESIDENCE AND IS A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING OR UNTIL TWO MONTHS FROM ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS NOT YOUR RESIDENCE OR IS YOUR RESIDENCE BUT NOT A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING. YOU WILL HAVE NO RIGHT OF REDEMPTION AFTER THE SALE. THE PURCHASER AT THE SALE WILL BE ENTITLED TO IMMEDIATE POSSESSION OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY. YOU MAY PURCHASE AT THE SALE. You must serve a motion or answer on or before 15th day of June, 2016, and within a reasonable time thereafter file your motion or answer with the Clerk of Court for Muscatine County, at the county courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa. If you do not, judgment by default may be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the petition. If you require the assistance of auxiliary aids or services to participate in a court action because of a disability, immediately call your District ADA Coordinator at 563-326-8783. If you are hearing impaired, call Relay Iowa TTY at 1-800-735-2942. By: Jeff Tollenaer CLERK OF THE ABOVE COURT Muscatine County Courthouse 401 East 3rd Street, Muscatine, IA 52761 IMPORTANT: YOU ARE ADVISED TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE AT ONCE TO PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS. Civil #: 16-000795 Special Execution Community Bank And Trust Company A/K/A Community Bank VS. Paladin Resolutions, LLC; Kelly D. Dennis; Nile E. Watkins-Schoenig; Corrie Cottrell; Getaway Grill & Bar, LLC; Muscatine County Treasurer, Iowa; And All Unknown Parties In Possession As a result of the judgment rendered in the above referenced court case, an execution was issued by the court to the Sheriff of this county. The execution ordered the sale of defendant(s) Real Estate Described Below. To satisfy the judgment. The property to be sold is Commencing at the Northeast Corner of Section 29, in Township 77 North, Range 1 West of the 5th Principal Meridian, in Muscatine County, Iowa; thence South 1551 feet to the Northerly Right-Of-Way line of Highway No. 22, formerly Highway 61; thence North 88 degrees 50 minutes West along said Highway, 2000 feet; thence South 74 degrees 40 minutes West 1345 feet; thence South 88 degrees 8 minutes West 1044 feet; thence South 68 degrees 4 minutes West 415 feet to the point of beginning; thence South 64 degrees 4 minutes West 373.5 feet; thence North 3 degrees 0 minutes West 50 feet; thence North 53 degrees 35 minutes East 362.3 feet; thence North 52 degrees 45 minutes East 164 feet; thence South 36 degrees 41 minutes East 146.5 feet; thence South 64 degrees 4 minutes West 189.7 feet to the place of beginning. Property Address: 2921 Hwy 22 East, Muscatine, IA 52761 The described property will be offered for sale at public auction for cash only as follows: Sale Date: 06/14/2016 Sale Time: 9:30 am Place of Sale: Muscatine County Jail Lobby, 400 Walnut Street, Muscatine This sale not subject to redemption. Property exemption: Certain money or property may be exempt. Contact your attorney promptly to review specific provisions of the law and file appropriate notice, if applicable. Judgment Amount: $243,022.43 Costs: $11,818.04 Accruing Costs: Plus Interest: $12,701.77 Sheriffs Fees: Pending Date: 04/27/2016 Attorney: R. Craig Oppel 115 E. 2nd St. Muscatine, IA 52761 (563)263-1960 C.J. Ryan Muscatine County Sheriff Melissa Hurlbut Civil Deputy Present: Trustees Bradford, McGinnis, and Eversmeyer. Trustee Heidbreder was present by phone. Trustee Tubandt was absent due to previously scheduled travel plans. There were no public comments. Motion passed, on roll call vote, to close the meeting to the public in accordance with Iowa Code 21.5 (closed meetings), for the purpose of discussing the details of a proposed Wind Power Purchase Agreement. The specifics of the documents pertain to competitive and confidential information protected under 388.9 (protecting competitive information). The meeting reconvened to open session. Motion passed authorizing the General Manager to enter into an Amended Wind Power Purchase Agreement Pending Successful Negotiation of Remaining Terms. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m. BOARD OF WATER, ELECTRIC, AND COMMUNICATIONS TRUSTEES OF THE CITY OF MUSCATINE, IOWA Jerry Gowey Board Secretary MUSCATINE, Iowa The City of Muscatine will hold a public information meeting from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, at Pearl City Station, 100 Harbor Drive. The open forum meeting will be held to discuss proposed roadway improvements to Grandview Avenue from Pearl Street to Highway 61. City staff will be present to informally discuss the proposed concept for improving the roadway. No formal presentation will be made. The meeting space is accessible to persons with disabilities. Notify City Engineer Jim Edgmond by May 20 for special accommodations. For more information contact Edgmond at jedgmond@muscatineiowa.gov. FRUITLAND, Iowa The Fruitland City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night to pursue opposition to the annexation of properties that was approved by trustees of Joint Drainage District 13 last month. On Friday, April 14, Trustees of Joint Drainage District 13 voted unanimously to proceed with the annexation of over 2,800 parcels of land to the drainage district, a decision that will affect more than 1,500 land owners. The Fruitland City Council confirmed JDD 13 Trustee Rodd McNeals prediction from the public hearing in April that the matter would proceed to court. It doesnt matter if we proceed today or a month from now, its probably going to go to court, because thats how the system works ... we've heard a lot of objections but as trustees we have to look at the big picture, McNeal stated after he, Terry Martin, and Robert Cook, Jr. unanimously voted to proceed with the annexation. Fruitland Mayor Wayne Walter stated that Fruitland filed an appeal by May 5, and the council needed to decide whether or not to continue pursuing the appeal. Walter said that Muscatine Power and Water, GPC, Kent, the City of Muscatine, and Muscatine County filed appeals before the May 5 deadline. Attorney Scott Edwards, of Allbee and Barclay, said that joining other entities in the appeal would be the best option for Fruitland. "What we can do is go ahead and continue, piggy back with them to get the petition in, because the way this code is written if you mess up one thing in this process youre out. So we get the petition in, and then we would ride herd on keeping in touch, keeping you all apprised of whats going on and how the fees are looking, until we can see how this is working out, so you have more information on whether or not it is worth it, Edwards said. Councilman Tom Haynes said that while he would like to know the cost, he would agree to stay in the appeal until that information became available. The council unanimously passed a resolution to continue with the appeal and to file a petition before the 20-day deadline. The Fruitland Council also considered the first reading of an ordinance that would allow 60 chickens per one acre in Fruitland, and requested that the chicken committee that had proposed the ordinance return to council with a smaller number, and expressed concern that the ordinance did not include specifications regarding roosters. The ordinance was tabled pending an updated report from the chicken committee for the next months meeting. MUSCATINE, Iowa The new radio system and the dispatch center for Muscatine County Joint Communications (MUSCOM) are operating, and public safety agencies in Muscatine are optimistic about the outcome. The Muscatine County Sheriffs Office, Muscatine Police Department, and Muscatine Fire Department are all part of the new radio system, which spans the entirety of Muscatine County. The system should improve communication throughout the county, according to Muscatine County Emergency Management Director Matt Shook. The equipment upgrade was approved by the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors, which funded the project. Other agencies, including volunteer fire departments, will be online in a couple of weeks, after the last tower, located in Conesville, is in place. By moving everyone on to this system, every first responder, every police officer, every firefighter, every EMT, has the capability of speaking to one another and speaking to MUSCOM on the same system, Shook said. Dispatch Center MUSCOM, which dispatches for 22 agencies, relocated to the basement of the Muscatine Public Safety building, and the equipment has been updated to be public safety grade. The network that the radios use is also part of STARCOM21, a statewide public radio network in Illinois, which Shook said means that while MUSCOM has all of the equipment, STARCOM21 works on the issues on the transmission side. "So we essentially contracted with STARCOM, which is a Motorola company, to use their equipment, so also when we go to Illinois, we now have the capability of operating throughout Illinois, which we couldn't do before, so it's pretty exciting," Shook said. The center itself is cleaner and neater, and dispatchers have multiple screens to work on, which allows them to monitor several radio channels, and all of the calls are now recorded, which allows for them to be reviewed if the need arises. Before they had essentially one screen that they would talk to everybody on; now they have the capability of talking over all the talk groups, so they can pull those up and see what they are doing and interact with them, Shook said. Updated mapping, something Shook said was necessary in an age of cellphones, has improved the ability of dispatchers to see where 911 calls come from. This allows us to more accurately pinpoint where calls are coming from, and it also gives us a vast amount of information that is available just from the call, he said. The versatility of the new system allows for improved interdepartmental communication, including with Scott County, as well as improving the capability of dispatchers to direct public safety officers, Shook said. Delainey McCulley, who was a dispatcher at MUSCOM before the system was changed, said that she much prefers working with updated equipment. I like it. The old system was outdated and this is very nice. It's much more efficient, she said. Radio coverage The system has been running for about a month, and one improvement is wider coverage throughout Muscatine County, which Sheriff C.J. Ryan said has already made a difference in officers safety. Feedback from the officers has been, from day one, that this was just a godsend, because its kind of tough if youre out there in harms way and you dont know for sure if your radio is going to work, and now they have a renewed sense of confidence in the radio system. I think that theyre safer at their jobs, and when theyre safer, the publics safer also, he said. Police Chief Brett Talkington said that Motorola has been helpful in assisting with any spots where the radios lose coverage, and Fire Chief Jerry Ewers said he is cautiously optimistic. We have policies in place for when we have issues with radio coverage, so if we have an issue with a radio we log it and let them know, and Matt Shook, along with Motorola and electronic engineering have been diligent in working through any bugs or issues that weve had, Ewers said. The new radio system also warns officers if a radio will not transmit, so they are not surprised by lack of a functional radio like they were with the old system. The very few spots that we have it are very easy to identify where they are so you dont have to wait until someone gets in trouble to figure that out, Ryan said. The updated radio system also covers a wider range, which allows officers to communicate reliably across the county. Now we can do things like have a guy with a walkie-talkie in Stockton talk to a guy who has a walkie-talkie in Conesville, and that was not possible prior to this, Ryan said. Channel options The addition of frequencies has also improved efficiency, by providing channels for major events or different departments using the radio system. "We're all working off of one channel but we can switch to different channels, so when RAGBRAI comes to town we'll be working on a different channel for that event and then the patrol guys can be working off the regular channel, so that does give us a lot of flexibility with what we can do," Talkington said. There are also encrypted talk groups for the investigators and drug task force, and the jail has been added to the system. The hospital, although not online yet, will be coming online in the near future, according to Shook. Although there is still one more tower to put in place and the final testing and approval is not done, Ryan is optimistic about the system. Its still a work in progress, but were finding that its working very well and people are very happy, he said. MUSCATINE, Iowa Tanned and smiling after returning from a trip to Florida for a reunion with sorority sisters, Holly Oppelt pulls no punches in talking about the diagnosis of breast and uterine cancer that turned her world around in 2013. Its a shocktheres no other word for that, she said. It was hard to tell people I am close to. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment quickly followed the diagnosis. Her last chemo treatment was in July of that year. Since that time, she has worked on behalf of cancer patients and survivors in Muscatine through her position as a board member of Gildas Club Quad-Cities. And on June 3, she will take a leading role in the American Cancer Societys Relay for Life of Muscatine as the event's designated Hero. Her role in the annual event will include welcoming participants, giving remarks as the event opens and telling her story of survival at the luminaria ceremony. Active in Muscatine civic projects for years, Oppelt, retired vice president and trust officer at CBI Bank & Trust, says she is honored by the title of Hero. It (cancer) is an unfortunate thing that happens in life, she said. I am lucky that both were caught in Stage 1. Diana Tank, a volunteer committee member for the local Relay for Life and laboratory director at UnityPoint Health Trinity Muscatine, said Oppelts story is an inspiration. I think because she really battled two different types of cancers, we felt her journey was quite awesome, Tank said. She just seems to be so positive. Support for those going through cancer treatment is important, Oppelt said. That's one reason she is active in the Gilda's Club-sponsored support groups that are scheduled at 6 p.m. on the first and third Thursdays at First Presbyterian Church. While Oppelt said she loved her job in banking, she is happy, and certainly, busy, in retirement. In addition to her Gilda's Club leadership, she is vice president of Trinity Muscatine Friends, and will assume the presidency next year. She is also on the Trinity Foundation Muscatine board. Still, she says with a smile, she also enjoys her quiet times reading in a chair with a cat on her lap. To date, 18 teams have signed up to participate in Relay for Life, which goes from 5 p.m. to midnight on June 3 at the Muscatine High School track. Rain has forced the event to move inside the past few years, but Tank said they're hopeful to be outside this year. "We will make that call fairly early," she said. A survivors lap kicks off the walking at 6 p.m., followed by a caregiver lap. The luminaria ceremony takes place at dusk, usually around 9 p.m. Tank says organizers are hopeful more teams will sign up. Information on signing up can be found at relayforlife.org/muscatinecountyiowa. ATALISSA, Iowa Warning lights at the site of a May 5 railroad collision in Atalissa were working as intended, according to the findings of an investigation conducted by the Iowa Interstate Railroad. Matthew J. Carlson, 40, Muscatine, drove a John Deere fertilizer sprayer across the Oak Street crossing where he was struck by the eastbound train. The accident was reported about 7:20 p.m. Adam Sutherland, director of safety and security for Iowa Interstate, said the train was traveling 38 mph, just under the maximum 40 mph posted for train travel in Atalissa. Sutherland said railroad officials determined operator error was to blame for the accident. Carlson apparently came out of a facility on the southwest side of the road and was heading north when he was hit, according to the railroad. The train had two engines and 107 cars. There are no gates or crossing arms at that intersection. The placement of warning devices at railroad crossings is regulated by the Iowa Department of Transportation. Carlson was taken by AirCare ambulance to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City for treatment. No information is available about his condition. Peggy Senzarino of the Muscatine Journal MUSCATINE, Iowa Muscatine's Carl Yerington offers a friendly hello and a big smile as riders get on his transit bus Wednesday morning. The retired Muscatine Police lieutenant has been driving for MuscaBus for nearly 23 years. "I was running a teen center at MCSA (Muscatine Center for Social Action.) I got tired of doing that. I am retired anyway. I decided I really didn't want to do that anymore," he said. His wife Debbie suggested he get a job driving a city bus. "I applied for the job. I don't think anybody else applied. I just had to go out and take the test. I passed it, and I started a few days later." Yerington works from three to six hours a day Monday through Friday. His seniority allows him to get Saturdays off. "I spend that time with my wife. We go to movies," he said. No horror movies for the former police officer. He likes romantic comedies and admits to being a softy for a love story. He was driving the Red Route on Wednesday, traveling from City Hall to the Muscatine Mall and back downtown every 30 minutes. He chats with people as they get on and off the bus. "You meet a lot of people. Unusual people. We have elderly and disabled. They are all pretty nice," he said. He knows the names of most of his passengers and where they are going. "Goodbye, Alberta," he said as a woman and her friend get off the bus to do a little shopping. "My wife wanted me to take this job because I'd put miles on the buses instead of our cars," he said with a chuckle. Some days on the bus can be eventful. "Yesterday I was training a new driver and he's driving and we were at the hospital. He pulled around the circle and turned. Some lady was standing there smoking. All of a sudden she jumped up and yelled 'Stop.' We didn't know she wanted to ride. She didn't make any motion," Yerington said. The woman told the driver she was ill just before collapsing on the steps of the bus. They pulled her inside and took her to the emergency room. "It's just one of those things that happen," Yerington said. He posts sticky notes to remind him where passengers are going so he doesn't miss any stops. He's had more than his fair share of collisions due to other inattentive drivers. A lady ran a stop sign and smashed into his bus. Another woman talking on her cellphone rear-ended his bus. He was T-boned by a male driver looking at a pretty girl in front of the Muscatine Journal office. Pabatha Coleman, Muscatine, has been riding the bus since moving to Muscatine about a year ago. "I ride with this nice young fellow," she said pointing to Yerington. "He is a good driver and a very nice guy." MUSCATINE, Iowa The monthly entrepreneurs meet-up event, Startup Grind Muscatine, is moving to a downtown Second Street location for greater accessibility to the local business community. Beginning with the May 24 event, Startup Grind Muscatine will meet at Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant located at 208 E. Second St. Melissa Osborne, founder of Creations by Oz, will be the Startup Grind Muscatine fireside chat guest. Osborne has been designing custom jewelry eight years. Last year she opened her downtown Muscatine studio and gallery in the historic jewelry store established by George Volger in 1913. Each month since September 2015, Startup Grind Muscatine Director, Jim Elias of Muscatine Community College and The E-Center, had a conversation with a local business founder about their entrepreneurial journey as they share lessons learned with others interested in starting and growing business in Muscatine. Startup Grind Muscatine has also interviewed: Mark Mitchell, Contrary Brewing Co.; Tulio Gonzalves, 2Dream Video Games; Freda Sojka, Bug Soother; Gregg Mandsager, City of Muscatine; Ethan Anderson, Big Imprint Marketing & Websites; Daniel Wang, The China Windows Group; Jens Zalzala, and Shaking Earth Digital. In November, Startup Grind Muscatine hosted an international Skype Conference featuring four entrepreneurs from four parts of the world all on one call. Startup Grind is the largest independent startup community, actively educating, inspiring, and connecting 215,000 founders in over 185 cities, in over 70 countries. Founded in Silicon Valley, Startup Grind has now hosted 2,000 fireside chats since its founding in 2010. To date, Startup Grind has helped millions of entrepreneurs find mentorship, connect to partners and hires, pursue funding, and reach new users. Startup Grind is built on these values: we believe in making friends, not contacts; we believe in giving, not taking; we believe in helping others before helping yourself. For more information visit: startupgrind.com/Muscatine. WILTON, Iowa Complaints about discharge from a residential sump pump resurfaced during Monday night's Wilton City Council meeting. Neighbors of Matt Fox, 1105 Maurer St., first brought their complaints to the council on March 28, saying the discharge from Fox's basement had resulted in flooded yards, ice dams, sewer smell, and an electric box being covered with water. During Monday night's meeting, Mitchell Smith, 111 Addies Court, directly behind Fox's residence, said he has experienced rudeness from City Administrator Chris Ball, and the runoff continues to flow. "Mr. Ball keeps saying it's rainwater," said Smith. "It's not rainwater. For a week it's been running straight." Smith claimed it's obvious Fox has tapped into an underground spring. "Mr. Ball refused to help from the beginning," Smith told the council. "I'm going to interrupt here," an agitated Ball interjected. "I didn't get cooperation from the beginning." Smith responded that city code says the situation is a nuisance, and the city has failed to abate a nuisance. "It's not just me," Smith said. "It's the seniors who check their mail every day. And now we have a slick moss growing underneath where the water flows." Ball said the natural water flow is down Addies Court. "My understanding of the Iowa law is if the water flows down the natural water way, that's fine," he said. Ball added he told Fox he can't discharge water by hose onto someone else's property. "This is definitely a health concern for myself and my neighbors," said Smith. He asked if the water samples he brought to the March 28 meeting had been tested. Ball said they had been, and they showed no indication of chlorine or sewage. Smith said the council had discussed on March 28 the possibility of granting Fox a one-month variance from city code to discharge the water directly into city sewer, but council members didn't recall the discussion Monday night. "We talked about that," Mayor Bob Barrett reminded them. "There's only so much the city can do." Barrett said the matter may have to go to civil court. "There's some things the city can't fix," he said. Ball said he will talk to Fox and report back to the council. "I don't disagree with him (Smith) that we were slow to react," said Ball. "The original plan was to put a drain between the two properties. Mr. Fox didn't want to do it, so we dropped it. I've been sitting on it to see what the council wants to do. I was trying to work with the residents to solve the problem." Ball added Fox has raised his sump pump, and the water doesn't run as often. SEAL COATING APPROVED Wilton will dip into cash reserves to cover costs of annual street maintenance. The council approved a $136,400 proposal from LL Pelling of North Liberty for seal coating designated streets. Only $100,000 is budgeted for the project. Ball told the council the balance is available from the fund balance and the emergency fund. "We've done that in the past," he said. "It really hasn't hurt us that much." The motion for approval came from council member Keith Stanley. "With the recession and everything else, we cut back," he said. "And we've been behind ever since." HABITAT FOR HUMANITY Habitat for Humanity has identified a Wilton family to build a house for, Larry Marine told the council. "We told them we would work with them," he said. "We're just looking for ideas and suggestions so we can make this happen." Marine said he wants to provide a lot from a block he owns that's bordered by Cypress, Locust, First and Jackson Streets. But he asked the lot's orientation be changed from the current north-south to east-west. Ball said a replat plan would have to go to the Planning and Zoning Commission and to the council for final approval. "It can happen, but probably not as quick as you'd like," Barrett told Marine. IN OTHER BUSINESS The council approved an agreement not to exceed $25,800 to $28,300 for planning the first phase of the Wastewater Treatment System Improvements Project, which will include a rate study. Barrett read a declaration setting May 17 as Poppy Day in Wilton. Red poppies will be available for donations during the annual Jake Davies Smorgasbord that evening to benefit disabled veterans. WAPELLO, Iowa Less than one month after it approved a five-project package of capital improvements on a split 3-2 vote, the Wapello School Board reversed itself Monday and unanimously approved a new package that drops a planned elementary school multipurpose room. The decision came after the board reviewed the latest cost estimates provided by project architect Jean Underwood, BLDD Architects, Davenport. According to revised estimates provided by Underwood, the budget for the five projects, which included the multipurpose room, a new gym at the high school, security and office improvements at both the secondary and elementary buildings, and upgrades to the high schools family and consumer science room, would be $3,539,308. Underwood said that was slightly higher than an earlier estimate because she had received new numbers from the engineer. She also identified around $413,158 in contingency fees that would cover any additional costs for design, construction or bidding. Board members Duane Boysen and Matt Stewart both said they felt the contingency amounts were too low. Every project I have been involved in (with the school) we have always been over (the bid amount), Stewart said, explaining if that happened with these projects, the school would need to tap into its annual maintenance budget to fund the extra cost. Boysen agreed and said the school board needed to reduce the project budget. We need to be under that by $500,000, otherwise well blow by it and then what do we do? he asked. Both board members focused on the elementary multipurpose room and its estimated $664,000 cost as the place to cut. Both emphasized they did not want to see the elementary building shortchanged over improvement projects, but insisted there were better alternatives. I think we need to look at different options with the elementary, Boysen said, explaining new lighting and other upgrades would help improve the building. Board members Eric Smith and Doug Housman, who have helped spearhead design development of the five proposed projects, which were selected following a series of public and board meetings, said they felt the project budget proposed by Underwood was reasonable. Weve crossed our 'Ts' and dotted our 'Is', Smith told the rest of the board, explaining the only concern the committee had on the costs was the potential expense for installing a fire wall at the elementary as part of the multipurpose room. Underwood agreed the contingency she had calculated should be sufficient, although she acknowledged there was no guarantee it would be enough. Boysen said that was the problem. Im just scared to death we are going to go over budget and then what kind of confidence is the public going to have with us? he questioned. The board finally agreed to drop the multipurpose room and move forward with the other four projects. In the meantime, Superintendent Mike Peterson and elementary Principal Brett Nagle will meet Wednesday with the elementary staff to determine what projects they favor at the elementary. The board will then hold a special meeting May 16 to discuss potential projects at the elementary campus. In other action, the board approved the districts 2016-17 master contract with the Wapello Education Association. The contract calls for a $300 boost in the schools base salary, raising it to $29,380. The two sides also agreed to an eight-hour work day, with teachers in the building from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 7:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. America is nearly gagging over its two probable choices for president. The upcoming general election feels like an indigestible dinner menu: Would you like boiled liver or the five-day-old pot pie? Can't there be a third option? For those with that fervent yet unrealistic wish and that likely includes a substantial number of voters a new book on the political circuit will appeal. "A Declaration of Independents: How We Can Break the Two-Party Stranglehold and Restore the American Dream" is the title. It was written by Greg Orman, who tried to blaze a trail around politics as usual in a run for the U.S. Senate, and failed. Orman's 15 minutes of national attention came in 2014, when he threatened to end the congressional career of Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, who was a three-term incumbent at the time. Orman, a Princeton-educated, self-made businessman, ran as an independent. Through a confluence of breaks, savvy and hard work, he drew enough support to freak out the GOP. Losing Roberts' seat would have put the party's control of the U.S. Senate in jeopardy. Suffice it to say, it was an all-hands-on-deck moment for Republicans. The heavy hitters of the party were trotted out to Kansas. Their job was to tar Orman as a liberal in disguise, a stooge of Harry Reid who would solidify the Obama White House agenda. It worked. Orman lost, although he garnered 43 percent of the vote. Many of Orman's positions on issues fell in the middle of the political spectrum; some aligned with views more typical of Democrats, others with Republicans. His platform was nuanced not what voters get from the typical candidate of either party. The experience of that election confirmed in Orman a determination to address America's political malaise head-on. Hence the book. One of his guiding insights is this: "Partisanship has become the new prejudice." Consider these statistics, highlighted in the book: In 1960, 4 percent of Democrats and 5 percent of Republicans said they would be "displeased" if their child married someone from a rival political party. By 2010, one-third of Democrats and half of Republicans said they would be "somewhat" or "very" unhappy at the idea of their child marrying a person of the opposing political party. On the other hand, a full 43 percent of Americans identify as independents. And 35 percent say they are moderates. The problem is they often don't have a candidate to support. So they hold their nose and choose. Or they sit out Election Day. In the book, Orman details the many factors that have contributed to this problem: the gerrymandering of congressional districts, the negativity that has chased moderate (often female) candidates from the field, the rise of partisan think tanks and news outlets, the shrill voices of talk radio, the ethical pollution of lobbyists and campaign contributions. Orman writes: "[I]ndependence from the party line, from the special interests that control both major political parties through campaign cash, and from extremists who control each party's primary process that's what this country needs to move forward." Orman's plea is for the centrist, unaffiliated electorate to back independent candidates who can run up the middle to victory while the two other parties push candidates on the extremes. Yet in the political scene as it's now constituted, independents run the risk of becoming ciphers in Congress, shut out by party loyalists. They also face the question that stymied the Orman campaign: Who will you caucus with? Orman's answer on the campaign trail was simple: Whichever party is working to solve the problem under consideration. He was branded a liar. That dynamic might change if even a handful of such candidates are elected at the national level say, five true independents in the Senate. That is a long-term goal of the Centrist Project, which backed Orman's campaign. The Centrist Project reports that 74 percent of Americans are angry about the way government works. And 89 percent disapprove of how Congress does its job. Sadly, those very people are likely backing opposing candidates in the current election cycle and might not recognize each other for all the shouting and finger-pointing. People fed up with Washington are largely fueling the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. One wonders what might be possible if those people could be persuaded to recognize their shared values, to research the roots of their problems dispassionately and to withhold assigning blame to scapegoats. Mary Sanchez is an opinion-page columnist for The Kansas City Star. Readers may contact her at msanchez@kcstar.com. Iowans and other Midwesterners are known to be friendly. They are sought after for their work ethic and moral standards by employers nationwide. I experienced this firsthand when I made the decision to leave Muscatine in the fall of 2014 for a position in the Sunshine State. While I have had many valuable experiences, I kept finding myself drawn to other Midwesterners. My closest friends were fellow Orlando Iowa Club members. Transplants from Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan were no longer the enemy, but friendly faces. Suddenly you were representing an entire conference, state and region, and I did so proudly. As I sat a week ago in a room full of talented, energetic and dedicated individuals all gathered to promote RAGBRAIs ending in Muscatine, it hit me how good it felt to be home. I served on the committee 10 years ago and celebrated from my home in Florida when Muscatine was named the ending town for 2016. I knew how hard Charlie Harper and others had worked to make the pitch year after year, and I celebrated their accomplishment. I even made plans to be in Muscatine that weekend for the RAGBRAI and Great River Days celebrations. I looked forward to enjoying the weekend as a visitor to the community. Turns out, Ill be marking the weekend in a very different way. Upon accepting the position of general manager of the Muscatine Journal, I was instantly on a RAGBRAI committee, invited back to the organization of Great River Days and thrust front and center of the Annual Ping Pong Drop, and I couldnt be happier. I look forward to providing top notch coverage of the event to our loyal readers inside the pages of the Muscatine Journal. RAGBRAI is a big deal. I sat with organizers in Clermont, Fla., who are working to complete a coast-to-coast trail and dream about starting something as big as RAGBRAI. They brought me along as the token RAGBRAI expert (which I knew would make my friends back home laugh) but I was glad to be there representing something that is great about my home state. I listened while past riders from out of state shared their experiences and told about all of the great cities in Iowa that opened their homes and businesses to the 10,000-plus riders and support crew. What a fantastic opportunity this is to showcase Muscatine to the world! Please consider joining me and getting involved in rolling out the welcome mat! From hosting riders on your lawn or in your home to event day assistance, volunteers are needed in a big way. To get involved or just to learn more, log on to ragbraimuscatine.com. Jaime Limoges is the general manager of the Muscatine Journal. You may contact her at 563-262-0552 or by e-mail at jaime.limoges@muscatinejournal.com. 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 [] Columinate has released the results of its fifth annual Internet Banking SITEisfaction survey, which revealed the best digital bank, Internet banking site, and mobile banking experience in South Africa. The survey is a measure of customer satisfaction with digital banking services in South Africa. The study has put questions to close to 10,000 Internet banking users, focusing on the trends that shape the digital banking industry, said Columinate. The survey revealed that 22% of Internet banking users have only used this form of banking for two years or less. Despite having access to the Internet, many consumers have still not embraced this form of banking. Lack of trust (36%) remains the top reason why banked and connected customers do not make use of Internet banking. Best digital bank in South Africa FNB took first place in the best digital bank category, which measured online and mobile banking platforms satisfaction as a whole. The results along with each banks SITEisfaction score are: FNB 80 Capitec 69 Standard Bank 61 Nedbank 59 ABSA 54 For four out of the five years, FNB has won the best online banking service and has also won best mobile and overall digital bank for the two years that these aspects have been tracked, said Columinate. Best Internet banking site This category focussed on the banks Internet banking websites. FNB 78 Capitec 63 Standard Bank 52 Nedbank 52 ABSA 37 Best mobile banking experience This category looked at all the mobile banking solutions banks offer, from apps to mobi-sites for both mobile phones and tablets. FNB 81 Capitec 72 ABSA 70 Standard Bank 70 Nedbank 66 The infographic below details the results of the report. More about banking Warning: online banking fraud on the rise in South Africa ABSA downtime planned details Government will buy a new VVIP jet for the presidency, Defence and Military Veterans Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said on Wednesday. She however rubbished that it would cost up to R4 billion. Buying the VVIP aircraft, we will. But not for [President Jacob] Zuma. There will be a president after Zuma. The VVIP aircraft is not being procured because there is President Zuma who will use it, she told reporters ahead of her budget vote speech in Parliament. There would be another president after Zuma retired in 2019, even if he was from another party. The VVIP aircraft will still be there. It would be bought to ensure that government officials, the president and deputy president, were always safe. Mapisa-Nqakula said they had never mentioned the cost of the aircraft, and she did not know where the R4 billion figure had come from. We would never ever sit here and say we will spend R4 billion on aircraft. Not when South Africans are starving and students are calling for fees to fall. It would be irresponsible of her to mention a figure of how much they were willing to spend. She said they had wanted to get the new jet by March, but had missed the deadline. As a consequence, government had to charter planes whenever there was a problem with the existing jet. At present, government was preparing to lease an aircraft, while waiting to buy the new one. One thing we are not going to do is to compromise the security, safety of our principals, she said. She said several times this year, Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa were left stranded or late for events due to breakdowns of the presidential Boeing 737, known as Inkwazi. News24 More on President Zuma Zuma may only pay back R1 million for Nkandla We will never have load shedding again: Jacob Zuma Devolution Works! Heres another great use of our taxes. Isiolo governor Godana Doyo over the weekend hired a chopper to ferry stranded students from Cherab due to heavy rains. Its not clear whether he was taking them to school or home from school. On Facebook, the governor wrote, I hired a chopper today to ferry stranded students from Cherab due to heavy down pour. I also visited families whose houses were damaged as a result of the rains in Bassa. In the meantime, we are in discussions with the department of special programme to offer relief to the affected families Ferrying stranded students and families from Cherab due to heavy down pour . I call on relief Agencies like Kenya Redcross to work together with the county government in supporting the affected families It is a shame that the governor resulted to spending hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, to hire a chopper because of his own governments inadequacies. Im surprised he thought posting pictures on Facebook would give him positive PR. Reading through the comments, he must have regretted instantly. The message was clear; Spend money building roads not hiring choppers. The Jacob Juma assassination saga continues. Aspiring politician Robert Alai has sensationally claimed that we have state assassins. In a Facebook post yesterday, Alai said that the assassins operate inside the security apparatus and use regular tags to hide their real job. Heres that post. ************************************ #RIPJacobJuma : We have official state assassins in Kenya. They operate from one of the security units HQ. They are career police officers with paramilitary training. They use the regular units tag to hide their true work and intentions. They have been assigned two cars at their disposal. They dont want any cartridges or eye witnesses. They are lethal. In their assignments, they only need a name and phone number to execute. They monitor the subject for at least two weeks before striking. They trail you to learn your habits, routines, likes, dislikes and social circles. They use the gathered intelligence to properly execute the task without lifting a veil on who they really are. Be afraid. Very afraid but dont stop asking the questions. We must speak out and sacrifice our sweat and blood to make Kenya a better country. I value the security men and the work they do. They sacrifice a lot and are not well remunerated nor appreciated. They need to sometimes eliminate the bad guys for us to be free and secure. But we should never breed a dog which bites us. It is wrong to have Kenyans do the dirty work of assassinating citizens whose crime is just to ask the questions which would make Kenya a better country. Questions about the public expenditures. Kenya will be a better country if we allow dhana pishana or diverse perspectives on issues. We cant breed nation of yessir-men and expect to progress. Democracy is built on agreeing that someone has a right to hold a contrary opinion as yours. Democracy is cemented on the foundation of respect for diversity. I have lived in a police line. I know the suffering of our police officers. I think that they are voiceless. We must speak for them. But we must also support those of them who defy unlawful orders. We must stand with them through thick and thin. We have failed in this regard. To our police officers employed to kill citizens asking the hard questions, know that after finishing the activists, bloggers, journalists and politicians, they will execute you too to hide the trail of evidence. It has happened in the assassination of Robert Ouko, Tom Mboya, JM Kariuki, Mungiki adherents, Tribal Clashes and PEV foot soldiers etc.. They killed all those they hired to do the dirty work for them. Many know this. They will never allow you to retire peacefully knowing what you know after doing for them the dirty work. Be smart, know that they will come for you and eliminate you after all is quiet. Freedom was never won by citizens sitting at home and praying or singing kumbaya. We must chant, shout and call out the oppressors. Mitt Romney, John McCain and other prominent Republicans have distanced themselves from Donald Trump, but the billionaire businessman's list of delegates from California released Monday includes Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. House. Trump's line-up of delegates also includes Reps. Darrell Issa and Duncan Hunter and Dennis Revell, a son-in-law of Ronald Reagan. In California, Republican presidential campaigns select delegates that are awarded in the June 7 primary, based on the outcome of voting in its 53 congressional districts and the statewide tally. Trump's list also includes Harmeet Dhillon, vice chair of the California GOP, state Senate GOP leader Jean Fuller, former congressman Doug Ose and former state Sen. Tony Strickland. "I think what you are seeing is Republicans coming to a clear understanding that we have to coalesce and let's get on with it," Ose said. Issa, a former backer of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, endorsed Trump last week. WASHINGTON Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland detailed his most significant cases in thousands of pages of documents submitted to Congress Tuesday, including his role as a federal prosecutor in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing case and the prosecution of Unabomber Ted Kaczynski. The lengthy questionnaire isn't likely to sway many minds in Congress, where Republicans have insisted on delaying the Supreme Court fight until after the presidential election. But the White House still had Garland fill out a questionnaire, and the committee posted the document online, as is routine with nominations. Garland is currently the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Garland's account of his most significant opinions as a judge includes one that upheld a ban on campaign contributions from federal contractors. Another affirmed the application of the Endangered Species Act to a commercial real estate project that threatened a protected toad. Two others sided with people mounting job discrimination lawsuits. In his long career on the bench and as a Justice Department official before that, Garland developed a reputation for being pro-prosecutor and pro-government. But in his listing of significant opinions, he includes one case in which he voted to throw out a criminal conviction for a drug trafficking conspiracy, a second dissenting opinion in which he would have allowed lawsuits to continue against private contractors over allegations of abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and a third that sided with a Uighur detainee at Guantanamo Bay who challenged his status as an "enemy combatant." He also cites his role as a federal prosecutor Oklahoma City bombing and Unabomber cases as a lawyer before becoming a judge, noting that both were convicted. McVeigh was executed, while Kaczynski was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In the thousands of pages of documents, he also lists details of his work experience, his biographical background, his memberships and associations, his most significant cases, pro bono work and financial information. Garland's submission was missing forms typically included to provide a more detailed description of his net worth. The White House said it would provide that information if the Senate Judiciary Committee requested it. Garland reported that he was first called by the White House about the Supreme Court vacancy on Feb. 29 16 days after Justice Antonin Scalia's death. He said he was interviewed by President Barack Obama on March 9, a week before Obama announced his nomination. The White House said the questionnaire is intended to present "an exhaustive picture" of Garland's service on the bench and of his "impeccable credentials." The questionnaire is a standard early step in the vetting of any judicial nominee. The lengthy survey typically is drafted by the committee, completed by the nominee, and then reviewed and made public by the committee in advance of committee hearings. In this case, the Senate Judiciary Committee didn't send a questionnaire to Garland because Republicans said they have no intention of acting on his nomination. So the White House had Garland fill out what it described as a standard form and sent it, unsolicited, to the committee. So in Garland's atypical nomination, the questionnaire has become another tool in the White House pressure campaign. Senate Republicans have maintained that the next president should choose the Scalia's replacement. Shortly after the questionnaire was posted online, Senate Democrats used it to call once more on Republicans to hold hearings and vote. In a news conference, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee warned Republicans that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump could pick the next justice. Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin joked that Trump might bring television personality Judge Judy out of retirement. "I don't want to make light of the situation because it's extremely serious," Durbin said. "But imagining Donald Trump picking a Supreme Court justice is something I never thought would cross my mind." Garland has been meeting privately with senators on so-called courtesy visits and conducted some prep sessions with the White House. He was scheduled to meet Tuesday with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, the White House said. "We expect that upon receiving the questionnaire, Senate Judiciary Committee members will do their jobs by reviewing the information, scheduling a hearing so that the American people can hear directly from Chief Judge Garland as he answers questions under oath, and giving him a fair up or down vote," Hoffine said. Garland plans to continue his meetings with lawmakers this week. Garland is slated to meet Wednesday with Democratic Sens. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Tom Carper of Delaware, then Thursday with Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, the White House said. Getting teenagers to focus on issues, be they personal or political, can be a challenge sometimes for adults. But collaboration between a new club on the American Canyon High School campus and the local Chamber of Commerce has demonstrated it is possible to get students engaged and at least talking about what matters most, whether it is bowling alleys or college tuition. On Tuesday morning, the ACHS Theater was mostly filled with juniors and seniors attending a town hall meeting featuring local political officials discussing topics that students care about. The fact that most of the seats were occupied was itself a sign of progress in the effort to turn young people into active citizens. The last time the Chamber of Commerce organized a similar event at ACHS, two students showed up. Two. Back in 2014, there were more people up on stage talking than there were kids listening in the theater audience. This time, at least 200 students were present to hear remarks by City Councilmember Mark Joseph, Communications Director John Moreno from Assemblyman Bill Dodds office, and Maira Ayala, field representative for Congressman Mike Thompson. A big difference from the 2014 student no-show was the involvement this time of a new club at ACHS: Give Us the Floor. The club is just one chapter of several found on high school campuses in the Bay Area, where the nonprofit organization started. Give Us the Floor describes itself as a teen-led community where we help each other and share our concerns and experiences, according to the organizations website. The ACHS club was responsible for getting kids to the town hall meeting and choosing the topics, following a survey distributed to students. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO James Cooper got Joseph, Moreno and Ayala to participate in the panel discussion. Joseph, 60, was assigned what might have been the toughest topic for an adult to address with kids: what to do for fun in American Canyon. He started out by admitting there was a big age gap between you and me. I apologize if Im not relevant to you, said Joseph with a big smile. After noting the obvious that American Canyon doesnt have a mall and questioning whether such a venue was still important nowadays to teens, Joseph implored the students to take advantage of the citys two outdoor jewels: the wetlands and the Newell Open Space Preserve. During a Q&A with Joseph, some students made it clear what they would like to see American Canyon add for young people: an In-N-Out Burger and a bowling alley. Anyone who has visited the packed In-N-Out in Napa on a Friday or Saturday night can attest how popular the burger franchise is with teens. The bowling alley came as something of a surprise, but some students were serious about getting such a business in the city. How do we make it happen? one student asked from the audience. Joseph encouraged them to research the issue, and bring their case to the city, which is still figuring out how to develop the Broadway District along Highway 29. It wouldnt take a petition with lots of names to get the council to start thinking about bowling alleys, Joseph said afterwards. If five students showed up to talk about it, he remarked, it would get city leaders attention, particularly since City Council meetings arent that well attended by residents. Food and fun werent the only issues on students minds. When it was Morenos and Ayalas turn to talk, the problems of getting into college and how to afford it were brought up by multiple teens. Some complained it has been getting very difficult for California students to get accepted at California universities. Social studies teacher Tom Solberg, who advises the ACHS Give Us the Floor club, said college acceptance rates for California students are at an all-time low. Moreno acknowledged the problem, saying budget cuts during the recession resulted in many higher education institutions recruiting more out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition rates than in-state residents. In addition to getting California admissions departments to accept more local applicants, students said the ever-rising cost of going to college is forcing them to change their plans after high school. Senior Jordan Jackson told the panel that getting a scholarship to pay for tuition is more competitive than ever, even for kids like her. Im black, Im low income, she said from the microphone in the theater aisle. And yet out of 45 scholarships for which she applied, Jackson said she got only one. Jackson added she wanted to attend California State University Dominguez Hills. But after an out-of-state university offered her a better financial arrangement, she decided to leave the state next fall. We need change for college funding, she implored. Moreno said he was sorry to hear about her predicament. We priced you out of the market for California colleges, he said, adding he hopes she returns to the Golden State after she graduates. Both Moreno and Ayala, who work for Democratic politicians, urged the students to register to vote and cast ballots come election time. Joseph also was supportive, saying young people need to learn the importance of civic participation. Whether you think politics is boring or not, or you like it or not, said Joseph, you have to be involved because politicians can make or break a community. Voter turnout among young people has never been significant in sheer numbers. Moreno said even in good years turnout is usually about 12-15 percent among eligible youth. But during the last election in 2014, the rate plummeted to about 8 percent. If 20 percent of you voted, Moreno told the audience, you could swing the election because of the large number of teens and 20-somethings in the country today. At the end of the town hall meeting, Solberg said it will be important for these students and others like them to bring about change. Were the ones who screwed it up, said Solberg, referring to the adults of today. We know what the problems are, we know what the solutions are, he said, but were not the ones who will do that because well rely on these generation Zs and Millennials to fix it. Thats what we hope to do through Give Us the Floor, said Solberg, to show that real change only happens when you get involved directly. One of the largest schedules of summer classes has been released by Napa Valley College in anticipation of summer registration. Summer classes begin as early as June 1, featuring credit classes starting at $46 per unit for residents. Classes are free for high school students 15 years or older who are entering grades 10, 11 or 12 this fall, provided they register in person, beginning Thursday. Summer school sessions are five, six or eight weeks long and feature day and evening classes that help students train for a variety of occupations, including emergency medical technicians, psychiatric technicians and welders. With an additional emphasis on courses that transfer to California State University and University of California, the college is also offering an array of classes that can help families whose college-enrolled sons and daughters may be coming home for the summer and need to complete a few more units before returning to school. At the Upper Valley Campus in St. Helena, students will have multiple opportunities to take a variety of courses that satisfy various CSU transfer requirements. Other classes help students who may be looking to advance to careers in business, accounting, computers, speech, politics, criminal justice and hospitality. NVC students this summer will also find a wide range of classes in the arts and humanities, science, math, social and behavioral sciences, physical education and health sciences. Five-week sessions begin June 1; six- and eight-week sessions start June 13. A complete Summer 2016 Class Schedule, including registration information, is available at the college Welcome Center, located in the north lobby of the 1300 Building. It is also available at napavalley.edu/academics/schedule/pages/welcome.aspx. The staff at the Upper Valley Campus in St. Helena is also available to assist students with registration, at 967-2903 or uvc_sthelena@napavalley.edu. Students can also enroll at NapaValley.edu. The website also provides information about student services, including counseling, financial aid, fees and child development center services. For information, call the Office of Student Services at 256-7362. Angwin remains a small hub of land use issues, ranging from a reconfigured Pacific Union College property sale offering to timber harvest requests to a possible year-end resumption of county rezoning deliberations. About 3,000 people live in what is essentially a village combined with a college located on Howell Mountain overlooking north Napa Valley. Growth debates there occasionally grab a countywide spotlight. That happened in 2012 when county voters turned down Measure Us attempt to strip residential development potential from some Angwin properties. Measure U arose from controversies surrounding PUCs efforts to sell land near its campus. The Seventh-day Adventist college wanted to raise money for its endowment. PUCs latest land sale effort, a modified version of its ongoing attempt to market 578.5 acres of agricultural land in the Howell Mountain wine appellation, has so far generated no outcry. Were not selling land for massive development, apartments, all of that, PUC spokeswoman Jennifer Tyner said last week. The 578.5 acres can be broken into five individual estates, each marketed as being suitable for vineyards and a home. The asking price for the five estates added together is $51.5 million, according to a marketing brochure. Howell Mountain Estates represents a microcosm of characteristics that combined make the Napa Valley a major attraction, the marketing brochure says. Rugged ridge lines and rolling hillsides border verdant valleys and meadows replicating the greater valleys stunning scenery. The brochure, which recently came to the attention of some Angwin residents, is from Newmark Cornish & Carey, the listing agents. Tyner said the college has had this area on the market for several years, but subdivided it into five parcels to make the offering more attractive. Lot line adjustments are almost complete and the property is now being advertised with the ability to purchase individual parcels or a combination of parcels. Potential buyers have looked at the land, but no deals are pending, she said. Buyers would have to let the college retain access to its forest preserve. Tyner said that PUC is working to permanently protect 600 acres to 800 acres. Duane Cronk of Save Rural Angwin the group that spearheaded Measure U said its hard for the community to know what the college is doing. He didnt know if the latest property sale offering configuration is new, though it is new to him. That said, he didnt think this particular, proposed sale would have a big impact on Angwin. It wouldnt change the nature of the village, it wouldnt create traffic, he said. But that doesnt mean a sale might not lead to concerns. Angwin resident Mike Hackett said he hopes a lot of trees wouldnt be cut down to make room for vineyards. The marketing brochure says the potential for 297 acres of vineyards assumes 40 percent conversion of forests. This is part of a trend that is happening, said Hackett, who is chairman of Save Rural Angwin. The valley floor is planted out in vineyards. Hackett is among those seeking a November ballot to limit timber harvests in the countys watersheds. The effort is opposed by Napa Valley Vintners, Napa County Farm Bureau, Winegrowers of Napa County and Napa Valley Grapegrowers, which say the county already has stringent laws for hillside vineyard development. Meanwhile, the landscape around Angwin faces some degree of change, even if the PUC property on the market doesnt become vineyards. Three timber-clearing requests for the area are pending with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. They are: Ciminelli Estate 1 mile north of Angwin. The project would create 17.8 acres of vineyards and maintenance areas on 40 acres and would require removing 16.3 acres of forest. Le Colline Vineyard at 300 Cold Springs Road southeast of Angwin. The project would create 35 acres of vineyards and maintenance areas on 88 acres and require removing 32 acres of forest. It is near the Land Trust of Napa Valleys Linda Falls preserve. Davis Estates Friesen Vineyard at 1875 Friesen Drive near Angwin. The project would create a 14-acre vineyard on 38.7 acres and require removing 10 acres of forest. A draft environmental impact report is out for the Ciminelli request and a final report for the Davis Family Estates request. Neither report found any significant effects, such as on water quality, that couldnt be mitigated to less than significant status. However, the Davis report prompted letters of concern from groups ranging from Napa Vision 2050 to California Fisheries and Water Unlimited to the Land Trust of Napa County, which owns the neighboring Dunn-Wildlake preserve and submitted comments on a vineyard project for the first time in its 40-year history. It also prompted letters of support for the project from several vintners, among them Stuart Smith of Smith-Madrone Vineyards & Winery and Davie Pina. Go to http://calfire.ca.gov/resource_mgt/resource_mgt_EPRP_PublicNotice to read the reports. On yet another front, Napa County is considering whether to change the designation for two key Angwin areas from urban residential to a mix of agriculture, public institutional and commercial. The Board of Supervisors discussed the matter on July 22, 2014. PUC officials asked the board to take no action and Save Rural Angwin representatives asked for some of the land to be designated for agriculture and open space. Supervisors reached no consensus. They instructed county staff to come back with options. Planning, Building and Environmental Services Director David Morrision said on Wednesday that the issue could go to the Planning Commission this fall. It would then go to the Board of Supervisors. That will be very significant, Cronk said. The original posting of this story gave the incorrect name of Davis Estates. Under the watchful eye of the federal Department of Justice, Napa County is stepping up efforts to serve Spanish-only speaking voters. Board of Supervisors Chairman Alfredo Pedroza, Registrar of Voters John Tuteur and County Counsel Minh Tran traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with Department of Justice officials. The quick trip they left late April 26, met with federal officials on April 27 and returned that night involved matters relating to the Voting Rights Act, county officials said. Pedroza said that the goal of the talks is to make certain no voting barriers or hindrances exist, particularly for Latinos. Thats been a fluid conversation since 2014, Pedroza said. All of this has its roots in a list released by the U.S. Census Bureau in October 2011 requiring Napa County to publish election materials in Spanish. Census data showed that more than 5 percent of voting-age residents belonged to the Spanish language minority group and have limited English proficiency. In November 2014, the Department of Justice announced it would monitor polling place activities in 28 jurisdictions in 18 states, including Napa County. One purpose was to make certain jurisdictions complied with the minority language provisions of the Voting Rights Act. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday pulled a report on the trip to Washington, D.C. from the agenda, prompting some members of the public to ask for details. Tran said a report will come at the May 24 Board of Supervisors meeting. Well be reporting out on it once we have more concrete information, Pedroza said, adding discussions with the Department of Justice are continuing. Officials with the Department of Justice couldnt be reached for a comment on Wednesday. The Voting Rights Act requires all election information available in English to be available in the minority language so all citizens can register, learn election details and cast a free and effective ballot, according to the agency. Tuteur announced Tuesday that he is convening a Spanish Language Assistance Advisory Council composed of leaders among local Spanish speakers. It will review Spanish-language outreach programs and efforts to recruit Spanish-speaking poll workers for the June 7 election and beyond. The first meeting will be at 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Election Division, 900 Coombs St. suite 256. The public can attend. Its a part of the process were undertaking to optimize Spanish-language outreach to eligible citizens, Tuteur said. In that way, its related to our discussions with the Department of Justice. Tuteur said voting barriers under the Voting Rights Act can include not having bilingual speakers or Spanish-speakers at all polling places. Its very hard to do, Tuteur said. We have not achieved it yet. We are working on it. For the upcoming June 7 election, the county will have 13 polling places. It will also have six vote-by-mail assistance centers that operate on June 4, 5 and 6, and these centers also will need Spanish-speaking workers. Thats one of the reasons were doing all of this reaching out, Tuteur said. Ive been working with the Spanish-speaking community for the last few months. Napa County employs a number of bilingual workers. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors created a program encouraging county workers to volunteer to staff the polls and vote-by-mail assistance centers. They would receive the same stipend as all volunteers, plus their regular wages. The trip that Pedroza, Tran and Tuteur made to Washington, D.C. appears to be the latest chapter in an ongoing story. That trip apparently came on short notice, causing the Board of Supervisors to end its April 26 Syar appeals session at 3 p.m. so Pedroza could fly out. Tran said the need for the trip arose on April 25. Napa Valley Adult Education has selected a replacement for retiring Principal Rhonda Slota, who was recently honored with a statewide award. Slota, who is leaving after 17 years as principal and 30 years of service with the Napa Valley Unified School District, received the Donald A. McCune Collaborative Award last month from the California Council for Adult Education at a special luncheon in San Francisco. She will be replaced by Lori-Leanne Parris, a program coordinator at Hayward Adult School, starting July 1. NVUSD Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said Parris brings corporate and public sector expertise, along with a contagious enthusiasm to prepare adult learners for college and careers. She has excellent experience working with business partners, community colleges and K-12 school systems, said Sweeney. She helped create strategic alliances to capitalize on resources and provide courses to maximize employment skills. We are very excited to welcome Lori-Leanne Parris to a great adult education team. Parris has been a program coordinator since 2015 at Hayward Adult School where she managed many of the schools instructional programs, including Career Technical Education, Adult Basic Education and General Educational Development (GED). She also has been an adult school instructor in San Leandro and Oakland Adult schools since 2009. Prior to her work in education, Parris was a business consultant and strategist for Price Waterhouse, Silicon Graphics and Autodes. Id like to share with you why I am endorsing Supervisor Mark Luce to continue as our District 2 County Supervisor. Why would we want to see anyone else in that position as long as Mark Luce is performing so very well and is willing to remain? I like everything about Mark Luce: his love of his wife, Kathy and his four grown children, his strong faith in God, his values and his consciousness in looking out for the safety of seniors, as well as the rest of the county population. An example would be his getting the FAST team (Financial Abuse Specialist Team) process working to investigate alleged elder abuse more quickly and collaboratively. Another example would be his strong support of the original county Caregiver Ordinance certification, and his avocation for subsequent changes, recently, to close loopholes. He also advocated for the inclusion of referral agencies in the Caregiver Ordinance. Thanks also to Supervisor Luce for his advocacy of filling the position of Veterans Administrator, Patrick Jolly, who has done an amazing job for our Vets. He also supported Napa County Commission on Agings legislative advocacy efforts for reform at the state level. He is a strong advocate for supporting efforts to assist the elderly in maintaining their independence, the homeless or abused to find shelter and the hungry to find food, all a part of funding priorities. Thats a small part of what he has done in his 20 years of service, for seniors, the elderly and for veterans. Lets talk about the larger county issues. Civic issues are very important to Luce, and have been ever since he became active in them in 1983, saying 'no' to city sprawl and protecting Napa County from over-development has always been a priority for him. Its very important, he believes, to preserve our agricultural legacy and sustain our family farms and ranches. One of his really huge successes was his championing the work proximity housing program that received a state wide award for innovation. To date, seventy two low to moderate income families working in Napa are now homeowners in Napa as a result of this program. How it works is: the county provides a qualified buyer 10 percent of the purchase price of a home and requires that when they sell the property, the county gets 10 percent of the future sales price. No interest is accrued. Essentially, the county takes a 10 percent silent equity stake. If the homeowner builds equity, the county builds equity. The qualified buyer is a low to moderate income worker in Napa who intends to buy a home within 20 miles of where he works. This program has been in operation for five years and there are more than 70 families in home ownership. He helped direct the development of the Bay Area Green Business program from its beginning and it now has over 2,000 green business members. In addition, Luce serves on many committees. Ill list only a few as he belongs to so many. Hes a member of the Association of Bay Area Governments; California State Association of Counties; Napa County Transportation & Planning Agency and Napa County Legislative Subcommittee; Metropolitan District Commission. Lets vote to keep him in the District 2 chair. Why would we want to replace him? Hes just getting warmed up! Please join me in casting your vote for the re-election of Mark Luce for District 2 Supervisor. Betty Rhodes Napa Each year, approximately 1 in 5 Americans is affected by a mental health condition, and every American is affected or impacted through their friends and family. With proper treatment, people can realize their full potential, cope with the stresses of life, work productively and make meaningful contributions to the world. Without mental health, we cannot be fully healthy. In Napa County, treatment and stabilization of mental illness are hindered by a lack of appropriate housing. Lack of safe and affordable housing is one of the most significant barriers to recovery for people living with mental illness. Without options, individuals living with mental illness too often find themselves in homeless shelters, hospitals, emergency rooms and jails and prisons. But when a community has housing that meets the needs of individuals living with mental illness, it can have long lasting positive effects. Housing needs follow a continuum of care from supervised group housing, where 24-hour supervision is provided to situations with greater independence, including apartment rental. Napa County has a critical need for housing for adults with mental illness, especially for those requiring the most structured environments. The Napa County Mental Health Division places 70 percent of adults with mental illness out-of-county, in Enhanced Board and Care and Institution for Mental Disease (IMD) facilities. At the same time, board and care options in Napa County and statewide are shrinking, and with the closures of Californias Developmental Centers, demand for board and cares is increasing. Conservative staff estimates indicate that Napa County could fill a 20-bed enhanced board and care facility (board and cares that provide the structure and staff required for those who are unable to stay in traditional board and care facilities) and a 16-bed board and care for adults with mental illness (including seniors.) It is in Napa Countys best interest financially and the interest of adults with mental illness to provide adequate and appropriate housing in our county, close to community and family, offering a more seamless flow among a continuum of housing and avoiding expensive out-of-county placements. This past year, Napa County Mental Health Board workgroups researched and reported on housing issues. During our 2014-2015 Annual Report presentation, we informed the Board of Supervisors of the critical need in Napa County for access to housing for adults (including seniors) with mental illness. Although this information has been received with nodding heads when presented to political, nonprofit, and staff leadership, we have yet to see action on this critical issue. Therefore, we continue to monitor the housing issue, advocating for increased leadership, planning and implementation by the Mental Health Division, political leadership and leadership by organizations with experience in the areas of new housing, project management and administering programs. Serving on the Napa County Mental Health Board is one of the most effective ways citizens can influence services and policies about mental health. The Mental Health Board provides education and advocacy on mental health issues within the community and reviews and evaluates the mental health programs of the Napa County Health and Human Services Agency. The board is ideally composed of approximately equal numbers of mental health consumers, family members of consumers, and interested citizens along with a member from the Board of Supervisors. Of great value is the involvement of consumers and family members of consumers on the board since they offer direct experience dealing with mental health issues and stigma, and provide valuable guidance regarding mental health treatment programs and services. The board has two openings (countyofnapa.org/ceo/committeesandcommissions). We encourage interested folks to submit applications. As a public board, we conduct open meetings, and encourage members of the public to attend. The Mental Health Board meets the second Monday of every month, currently at Health & Human Services, Building F Conference Room from 4-6 p.m. Kristine Haataja is a member of the Napa County Mental Health Board Member. Theresa Comstock chairs the board. ANGWIN Pacific Union College, a small Seventh-day Adventist school, is in the midst of a debate about academic freedom after a controversial psychology professor said he was going to be fired. About 60 PUC students marched through the Angwin campus on May 4 in defense of the professor. Heather Knight, college president, met with the demonstrators outside her office, led them in prayer, and agreed to hold a town hall meeting the next day that was attended by about 250 students. The march came a week after psychology professor Aubyn Fulton wrote on his Facebook page that he would be fired at the end of the spring quarter for having invited a well-known Seventh-day Adventist pastor-turned-atheist to speak to psychology students last fall. Knight cancelled the invitation once she heard about it four days before Ryan Bells scheduled appearance. Fulton, who has a doctoral degree in psychology and previously worked as a staff psychologist at Napa State Hospital, has been a professor in PUCs Psychology and Social Work Department for 28 years. His sometimes provocative teaching style and championing of liberal causes has made him a controversial figure at PUC. He previously clashed with the administration in 2013-2014 over comments he made during lectures regarding premarital sex and homosexuality. You either love him or you hate him, said Miranda Mailand, a psychology major set to graduate in June. She praised Fulton for showing unconditional love for all, Christian or non-Christian, gay or straight. He gave us permission not just to think and inquire and learn in class, but to live the way that we should as psychologists and social workers, practicing unconditional love toward everyone, even if we disagree, Mailand said. Fulton declined to comment, but in a Facebook posting last fall he referred to Knights cancellation of Bells appearance as the most egregious violation of academic freedom hed ever encountered at PUC. Students started a Free PUC movement on social media, and marched on Knights office last week to request a town hall meeting. In an interview with the St. Helena Star, Knight called Fultons statement that he was going to be fired misleading, and said he has not been told that by me. I have not fired anyone, and I have not personally told anyone that theyre going to be fired, said Knight, adding that confidentiality laws limit what she can disclose about personnel matters. Knight said the college has set up an Academic Freedom Task Force to foster a campus-wide conversation about the issue and examine the wording of the colleges academic freedom policy. She said shes also open to a proposal by the colleges Academic Senate to create an Academic Freedom Advisory Council where professors could consult with their colleagues on potentially controversial topics or guest speakers. Atheist speaker invited Aj Scarpino, a film and television major whos set to graduate in June, filmed and participated in the march and the town hall meeting. He said theres a perception among many on campus that the college is catering to its more conservative alumni, parents and donors, and being less than transparent with students. Theres a lot of anger and passion and miscommunication right now, said Scarpino. But if we go the rest of our lives without standing up to what we deeply feel is wrong, then we have no point in being given this wonderful blessing to be at PUC. Mailand, whos taken many of Fultons classes, was disappointed that the administration cancelled the scheduled appearance by Bell, who became an atheist after spending a year without God as a thought experiment. I was looking forward to hearing him speak, especially because he was going to be interviewed by Fulton, whos not an atheist, Mailand said. There was going to be an interesting give-and-take between them. Bell has publicly criticized the Adventist church, including for its attitudes toward women, gays, lesbians and transgender people. Knight said Fultons Facebook post announcing Bells scheduled appearance praised Bells courage, honesty and vulnerability. If youre going to bring someone like that whos repudiated church doctrine, who has publicly attacked the church and publicly attacked God, you wouldnt want to seem like youre making this person into a hero, Knight said. She said faculty members would ideally consult with colleagues or the administration before inviting such a controversial speaker. She said there might have been an appropriate way for Bell to address students. But since she heard of the appearance only four days in advance, as she was preparing for an out-of-state trip, there wasnt enough time to figure it out. Were not saying students shouldnt be exposed to these ideas, Knight said. I think its how its done, and by whom. But I cant think of a topic that we couldnt discuss here at PUC. Academic freedom Knight said academic freedom at PUC should be seen in context with the colleges religious mission. The colleges motto is They shall be all taught of God, and faculty sign a contract pledging to support basic church tenets. The colleges academic freedom policy states that professors will not teach as truth what is contrary to the Adventist churchs fundamental beliefs. Professors who disagree with those beliefs are not to express their views to students or in public without first consulting with their peers. Truth, they will remember, is not the only product of the crucible of controversy; disruption also results, the policy states. Dedicated scholars will exercise discretion in presenting concepts that might threaten Church unity and the effectiveness of Church action. Academic freedom does not simply give you carte blanche to do anything you want to do or say anything you want to say in the classroom, Knight said. Its a contested concept. Knight confirmed that the issue of academic freedom has been raised during the colleges re-accreditation process with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). Were paying attention to the topic, were having campus conversations, and we even have a proposal that could help us process this issue better in the future, Knight said. I think all of this will be very helpful for PUC. Resignations, retirements Four other professors in the Psychology and Social Work Department have resigned or retired since 2014, with three faculty members publicly expressing concerns about academic freedom. Department Chairman Greg Schneider, whos been at PUC since 1977, announced his resignation of the Chair last week, effective July 1, although he will continue to teach at PUC for at least another year. In his resignation letter, he criticized Knight for promoting a policy "that the President is the arbiter of academic freedom at PUC and that the President at her sole discretion may legitimately direct any teacher at any time what to say or not say in the classroom and that dissent from the President's direction constitutes insubordination, a firing offense." He called Knight's cancellation of Bell's appearance "the most direct and destructive application" of that policy. Knight said the department is a distinguished, longstanding department that was already at a point of transition, with many professors nearing retirement. To frame this as a protest move is not totally accurate, Knight said. But students like Mailand are troubled by the high turnover. It kind of feels like watching your home fall apart, she said. We marched in part because we wanted answers, but also because we wanted to do anything we could to prevent this from happening to other departments. Mailand said the administration should encourage students to explore other peoples perspectives. As Christians I feel like we talk a lot about people without talking to them, Mailand said. As future psychologists and social workers, we cant afford to let ourselves be uncomfortable around people we disagree with or even disapprove of. Scarpino said students need to be allowed to make our own mistakes and use their critical thinking skills to decide for themselves whats right and wrong. There are a lot of students who are standing up and saying we dont want our education to be closed off based on what other people tell us we dont need to hear, said Scarpino. The administration is doing this with the best intentions based on what they think is right and wrong, but it feels like were being cut off at the knees. We all just need to sit down and talk, he said. Everybody needs to have a say, including the people who oppose me. Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that Greg Schneider retired. He actually resigned as department chair, but will continue teaching at PUC for at least another year. Nearly 20 years ago, Tuesdays With Morrie was a best-seller. Its the tender story of the relationship between writer Mitch Albom and his favorite college professor, Morrie Schwartz. On graduation day, Albom gives Morrie a gift and promises to stay in touch, but he never does. Sixteen years later, Albom remembers his promise and reconnects with Morrie, who he learns is dying. For the next 14 Tuesdays, a student and teacher meet again for their final class together to discuss the meaning of life. Last Friday, I attended a retirement reception for former St. Marys College Dean Steve Sloane. Before losing their Lake County ranch to last summers devastating fires, professor Sloane and his wife, Kit, ran a foundation that helped people with disabilities gain self-confidence by learning to ride horses. His Politics Department chair eloquently recalled Steves many contributions. Then, fighting back tears, Steve reached out to embrace several former students, saying, It was always all about you. Last week, I also attended a celebration for another former St. Marys colleague, Dr. Paul Zingg, who is retiring after 13 years as president at CSU Chico. Numerous faculty, staff and community leaders praised Paul for his remarkable record of achievement at Chico; however, it was Student Body President Taylor Herrens comments that were among the most compelling. Ms. Herren recalled how, as a first-year student, she charged into the presidents office to demand a meeting to discuss consideration of a student proposal that urged the university to no longer include fossil fuel companies in its investment portfolio. To her surprise, President Zingg came out, invited her into his office to listen to her concerns, and then took her group to lunch to talk more and plan a response. Ms. Herren, who also heads the California State Student Association, thanked President Zingg for being willing to listen to a student who had no power or credibility. Dr. Zingg recalls, I took Taylors concerns seriously, treated her as partner in the work of the university, and recognized that no one could speak better for students than students. While I long ago forgot the specifics of Tuesdays With Morrie, I often begin campus talks with an adapted quote therefrom: Teachers touch eternity, they never know where their influence stops. On Sunday, my wifes former student Sami Abusaad came to visit. Sami traveled to St. Marys College years ago from the historic town of Bethlehem and currently lives in Yountville. I left them alone in the living room but could hear them talking and laughing over the next two hours. As they reminisced, it was clear that a young man who came from halfway around the world had forever been positively influenced through a relationship that would eternally bind him and his former teacher. The next day he texted, Thank you, Nushi, youve been such a blessing to me and countless others. I feel so privileged that our paths crossed. My boyhood friend and longtime colleague, Dr. Mario Rivas, often shares with students and educators that he flunked out of Oaklands Laney College at the end of his first year. After serving in the Air Force, Mario eventually returned to Laney and went on to obtain a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. When asked why he went back to Laney, Rivas quickly answers, Mrs. Johnson, adding, She smiled at me! Mario and I went to an all-boys Catholic high school and few teachers ever smiled at us I recently visited Mario and my alma mater, St. Marys High School in Berkeley, with another of my wifes students from Barcelona, Dr. Tono Pena, who would like his daughter to study there. While touring the campus, I encountered two of my own former students. Amy Gonzalez, or Ms. G. as her students call her, invited me into her Diversity Club meeting, gave me a hug and whispered, Youll always be my dean. Andrea Panlilio and I also embraced as she asked about my granddaughter, Briahn, whom she had advised about college last year. As high schools and colleges graduate another class of young men and women in the coming weeks, countless teachers and students will say goodbye to one another many promising to stay in touch. The years will pass and some students will recall, or someday realize for the first time, the powerful impact that a former teacher had on their lives. Many will reunite in the years ahead and rediscover that they are bound together forever. Tom Brown is a St. Helena resident who served as a dean at Saint Marys College of California for 27 years. He currently is a consultant and speaker at colleges and universities that are seeking to keep more of the students they enroll. Send comments, questions or suggestions for future columns to: thedean@tbrownassociates.com. NATO Allies and Partners together with representatives of the donors community reaffirmed their commitment to continue supporting the financial sustainment of the Afghan security forces, at the plenary meeting of the Afghan National Army Trust Fund Board, today (Wednesday 11 May 2016). Participants also discussed the ongoing coordination in Afghanistan between the Afghan authorities and the various funding streams, including the Afghan National Army Trust Fund itself, the Law and Order Trust Fund for the Afghan Police, the budgetary contributions of the Afghan Government, and the bilateral contributions, especially the bilateral Afghan Security Forces Fund of the United States. The adapted Afghan National Army Trust Fund is NATOs response to the International Communitys commitment in the framework of the 2012 Chicago Summit to continue to support the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in its efforts to sustain sufficient and capable National Defence and Security Forces. The Afghan National Army Trust Fund has been an important part of NATOs contribution to this endeavour, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said. Todays meeting was an important stepping stone towards the NATO Warsaw Summit in July, as well as the EU Development Conference in October. Both meetings are connected as security and development are two sides of the same coin, Mr. Stoltenberg said. During the meeting announcements were made of continued financial support for the sustainment of the Afghan security forces up to 2020. I am confident that we will be in a position to announce at the Warsaw Summit, that we have firm commitments to support the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces for the period up to 2020, NATO Secretary General highlighted. In December last year, NATO and Resolute Support Partner Foreign Ministers agreed to work towards national decisions to be announced at, or prior to, the Warsaw Summit confirming financial commitments to support the Afghan security forces until 2020. The Afghan National Army Trust Fund board is composed of national representatives of donor nations and the Trust Fund manager (represented by the United States). NATO Secretary General and a donor nation representative co-chair the Board. Plenary meeting of the Board were held on 1 September 2014 and 26 June 2015. Mr. Zia Haleemi, Director General of Budget of the Afghan Ministry of Finance took part in todays meeting. Rene Marie, the outrageous (Wall Street Journal) vocalist has taken the recording process one giant step further with the release of her most personal album on May 13. As the follow-up to 2013s Grammy award-nominated album I Wanna Be Evil (With Love to Eartha Kitt), Sound of Red is her first album of all-original songs written and co-produced by the contemporary jazz chanteuse herself.Its been a remarkable path to jazz (NPR) for Rene. As a fearless force in the contemporary jazz world, Rene has never been afraid to look into the more challenging places of human experience where love and contentment give way to discord and struggle. Sound of Red is a musical statement that according to Rene, attempts to cover the spectrum of human emotion. The albums 11 songs most of them autobiographical provide glimpses of the many small but profound turning points that are a part of an individuals life.She explains, I wanted to make a record that people could go back to again and again to excavate their emotions, says Rene. We cover things over every day. We have to in order to move through the day and move through our lives. We cant always afford to be vulnerable to things like pain, loss, confusion, hurt and frustration. I want this record to provide some kind of architecture to provide support in those moments when our emotions are not necessarily happy ones.The album features two-thirds of her longstanding triobassist Elias Bailey and co-producer, drummer Quentin Baxter, both of whom have been a part of her backup crew for fifteen years, with newcomer pianist John Chin. Rene summoned special guests for final polishing, like saxophonistwho delivers a bold solo on its title track. Trumpeteris another guest of honor who performed on and arranged the horn sectionson trombone andon tenor saxophonefor If You Were Mine, and the endorphin-lifting tune Joy of Jazz. The rich and sensual Certaldo, dedicated to the Italian town of the same name, gets its sensibility from guest guitaristCompassion and despair fuel This Is (Not) a Protest Song, a song tackling the plight of homelessness that affected her family as a young girl. We were homeless for a few months. It was an experience that you dont forget after youre through it, said Rene. Her tumultuous past coupled with a wealth of perspective on lifes highs and lows inform these songs that dig deep into the hearts of a broad audience. I wrote these songs to create a safe place for people to tune in to their emotions and perhaps deal with them in a way that they might not be able to do otherwise.Rene and her live band Experiment in Truth plan to tour this spring and summer. More dates are expected to be added in the coming weeks.1. Sound of Red2. If You Were Mine3. Go Home4. Lost5. Stronger Than You Think6. Certaldo7. Colorado River Song8. This is (not) a Protest Song9. Many Years Ago10. Joy of Jazz11. Blessings4/4- 4/8: Conference On World Affairs: Boulder, CO4/23: Exit 0 Festival: Cape May, NJ5/12: Academy Art Museum: Easton, MD5/13: Montpelier Arts Ctr: Laurel, MD ^5/14: Montpelier Arts Ctr: Laurel, MD ^5/20: Chicago Symphony Center: Charleston, SC5/28: Charleston Symphony Center: Charleston, SC5/29: Spoleto Fest: Charleston, SC !7/02: Garth Newell Ctr: Hot Springs, VA8/13: Deer Isle Jazz Fest: Stonington, ME9/08: Hilton Head Jazz Corner (at The Sonesta Resort): Hilton Head Island, SC !10/21: Krannert Center: Urbana, IL10/27: The Jazz Standard: New York, NY^ Eartha Kitt special concert! Features horn section Kremlin says Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents prepare to meet Leading Party Sponsor: Conservative Party is not fit to run Britain 'From Old Memory': Drivers can't see road signs on section of North-South highway under construction in Yerevan Russian MFA: We are sure that attempts of external forces to split Moscow and Yerevan will not succeed Yair Lapid: Israel is deeply concerned over Russia and Iran's military ties Another school shooting in U.S.: 3 dead, including shooter Azerbaijani Armed Forces shell Armenian positions Kenyan police shoot and kill prominent Pakistani journalist OSCE representatives visit villages affected by Azerbaijani aggression in Syunik Province US presidential adviser calls OPEC's decision to cut oil production political move Lavrov: Russia and Iran gave comprehensive answers about alleged use of Iranian drones Netanyahu's comeback dominates Israel's elections Georgian president complains that she was not informed about Aliyev's visit S&P Global Market Intelligence: Recession in Eurozone looks increasingly inevitable Benny Gantz tells his Ukrainian colleague that Israel will not supply weapons to Kiev Greek Armed Forces can effectively respond to any provocation by Turkey Qatar urges to depoliticize oil and gas General Staff of Armed Forces head discusses Ukraine with his British colleague Zelenskyy: Russia wouldn't cooperate militarily with Iran if Israel had not denied air defense systems to Kyiv Azerbaijan sends note in connection with 'anti-Azerbaijani statements' on Channel One Goldman Sachs foretells European business worst year since global financial crisis Artificial intelligence leads political party in Denmark Aliyev says Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route should be increased U.S. State Department official expresses support for Armenia's sovereignty Iranian MFA: IRGC exercises on borders with Azerbaijan are not directed against any neighboring state Pashinyan: Damage caused to country by corruption must be restored Rishi Sunak to become UK PM Armenia official: Defense sector expenses will increase the most, state budget allocations will increase by 160bln drams Iranian president congratulates Xi Jinping: Tehran is determined to expand comprehensive relations with Beijing Russian MOD: Work on Ukraine's 'dirty bomb' comes to end Dollar drops, euro goes up in Armenia Fly Arna planning to conduct 2 weekly flights between Yerevan and Beirut Ilham Aliyev: Azerbaijan doubles gas and oil exports to Europe via Georgia Two quakes hit near Tbilisi Aliyev: Azerbaijan-Armenia agreement signing will be guarantee of peace in entire South Caucasus Over 1.5 million light bulbs lit simultaneously in India: New Guinness World Record Garibashvili: Georgia is ready to support peaceful neighborhood initiative in South Caucasus Azerbaijan to export 157 GW of electric energy via Georgia 3, including one foreigner, arrested after illegal weapons, ammunition found in Armenia town house Milliyet: Turkey has tightened control over the Bosphorus Strait due to mines in the Black Sea Northern France hit by tornado Armenia FM to head for Vatican on official visit NYT: Israel gives Ukraine intelligence data to fight UAVs Police detains opposition activists in Azerbaijan Armenia, Azerbaijan deputy PMs to meet in Brussels in first week of November Azerbaijani Defense Minister goes on working visit to Turkey Artsakh ombudsman shows Azerbaijan destruction of Armenian cultural heritage Naryshkin urges international community not to allow Ukraine's nuclear status Azerbaijan president visits Georgia Macron: Ukrainian conflict should not make us forget about Armenia, Syria, Iraq and other wars Charles Michel: Ukraine itself must decide when to resume talks with Russia Finance ministry: Armenia national debt will decrease in dram terms but we will borrow new debts Man, 38, dies after being hit by car in Armenia Partial solar eclipse set on October 25 Foreign cyclist, 38, dies in Armenia road accident Marukyan: Why are you so nervous about expected international presence in Armenia if you aren't planning new aggression? Driver dies in hospital 25 days after Armenia road accident Gold weakly appreciates Komsomolskaya Pravda: PM Pashinyan is handing over Karabakh in order to take Armenia to the West Vedomosti daily: Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia leaders to hold face-to-face talks Russia to evade G7 plan to cap oil prices, export 90% of its oil? Russia military forces announce reason for fighter jet crash in Yeysk OSCE fact-finding mission visits Armenias Syunik Province (PHOTOS) US dollar may be closer to peak than markets think Syunik governor in Frances Vienne, sister city of Armenias Goris, discusses implemented projects, future cooperation Climate protesters throw mashed potatoes at Monet painting in Germany museum There is chance for peace in Ukraine, Macron says US, Russia defense chiefs discuss Ukraine situation for 2nd time in last few days Turkey plans to set up 2 more military bases in northern Syria Germany wants to use Israel UAVs to protect its key infrastructures UK defense secretary holds phone talk with Russia counterpart US to attempt set Russia oil price cap above $60 per barrel? Russia, Turkey defense ministers confer about Ukraine situation Armenia official: Terms for buying, building houses for those displaced from Artsakh have improved Saudi Arabia forum set to draw American business leaders despite existing tensions Iran plans to increase natural gas exports to Turkey Iran army ground forces holding exercise in West Azarbaijan Province Sovereignty renunciation to be punished in Armenia with 12-15 years of imprisonment, as per justice ministry draft 2 pilots killed in Russia fighter jet crash Russia, France defense ministers discuss Ukraine Fighter jet crashes into house in Russias Irkutsk 150 residents of 3 Karabakh settlements handed over to Azerbaijan get compensation certificates Rishi Sunak confirms UK premier bid Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson hold talks Biden slammed for 'scary' long pause during interview Elite US troops conducting exercises on Ukraine border Iran MP: Military exercises on Azerbaijan border are decisive response to Israel Xi Jinping elected Communist Party of China Central Committee general secretary Armenia envoy presents credentials to Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency chair Hungary to approve by years end Sweden, Finland petitions to join NATO US researchers debunk main theory for origin of life Iranian MP: Iran will conduct military exercises wherever it deems necessary Finnish delegation to visit Ankara to discuss NATO membership Social media giants are likely to oppose Turkey's new law Pastor steals $900,000 to buy stocks and car in U.S. Lithuanian President Nauseda is named most popular politician in country Charles III will embark on longest tour of world in history of royal family Deputy Director of Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS: Baku's goal is that Karabakh has no Armenian population Hurricane Roslyn in Pacific Ocean intensifies to third category Italy's new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, begins forming government YEREVAN. Executive director at Union of information technology enterprises(UITE) Karen Vardanyan stated that the main emphasis will be given to the development of military industrial complex during upcoming Digitec business forum in Armenia. According to him, by the order of Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan, a commission featuring the representatives of the Armenian Armed Forces and of UITE was established, which is already working on a solution to existing problems. During the discussions three issues will be discussed on this topic: - Seeking short-term decisions (within five months, since April) to oppose Azerbaijan in this sphere. Here it is both about purchase of the new technological arms, and about modernization of those available. And according to Karen Vardanyan, the role of the IT sphere is very important in this modernization. - Seeking medium-term decisions: how to create new military industry on the basis of the available achievements of the IT sphere. Karen Vardanyan expressed his opinion that "war is no longer the fight of machines, it is the fight of technologies". And in light of this, the role of IT-sphere in defence must be changed radically. We need to understand what concrete steps should be taken in order to use the potential of the IT sphere in this direction. - And finally, seeking long-term strategic decisions. It is necessary to answer the question what kind of military industry we want to have 15-20 years later. "We count on active participation of representatives of the Armenian armed forces in these discussions, and at the end of a forum we will be more focused on how to continue to improve our work in this direction , Karen Vardanyan said. The chairman of UITE Alexandr Yesayan noted that the Armenian IT-companies are consolidated over the issue, and there are already a lot of suggestions and solutions that are actively discussed with the Ministry of Defence. "We hope that in the course of the business forum, we will be able to provide specific solutions just in the short term, which will find the application in the sphere of defense and there are such solutions today, he said. When asked by journalists what specific suggestions they have, Alexandr Yesayan noted that specific design will be presented at the forum, and today it is still too soon to speak about it. The traditional annual Digitec business forum will be held in Yerevan on June 17-18. For continuation of negotiations by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs mediation, it is necessary to consolidate the cease-fire regime. It is impossible to negotiate when shooting is continuing. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan stated the abovementioned to Die Presse, a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria, in response to the query on whether Armenia is ready for negotiations with Azerbaijan. The cease-fire was established in 1994 by the trilateral (Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia and Azerbaijan) cease-fire agreement signed. Despite regular violations, it is in force up to date, Kocharyan added. On April 2, Azerbaijan breached the agreement, unleashing military actions. The 1994 agreement was restored under an oral arrangement of April 5. Azerbaijan tries to undermine the Minsk process. It is now important to consolidate the cease-fire. Our servicemen were killed also after April 5. To the remark that, The same is on the other side, as is informed from Baku, the Armenian Deputy FM noted: I cannot exclude that, as the Nagorno-Karabakh Army is forced to respond to the firing. In response to the question as to why this war happened over this very period of time, Kocharyan stated: This question should be addressed to Baku. There might be different reasons. It is Bakus policy to resolve this issue through use of force. Obviously, they had an illusion of carrying out a blitzkrieg. They failed. There is a huge discontent in the country, concerning the corrupt regime. War may distract attention. In his words, The war is a threat to all of us, both to Armenians and Azerbaijanis. They revealed that they do not follow those arrangements. When it comes to military equipment, I should mention, that yes, Baku is a leading champion in arming. But this did not help in carrying out a pre-planned blitzkrieg. The Armenian deputy FM added that, International mediators should openly condemn Bakus offensives; one should no longer turn a blind eye to this. All the time Baku demands withdrawal from occupied territories, however, withholds the fact that there are regions of Nagorno-Karabakh that are under the Azerbaijani control. Madrid principles read about self-determination of Nagorno-Karabakh and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, and there is a possibility for compromise here. Asked whether the Armenian party is ready for this compromise, Kocharyan replied: There will not be any one-sided concession. One should realize that there are issues which are beyond Armenias jurisdiction. Yerevan cannot say we are ready to return territories, when it concerns Nagorno-Karabakh. Yerevan cannot make a decision on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. They [i.e. Nagorno-Karabakh] are the ones to decide. We do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh in order to preserve the negotiation process. And as per the possibility of Armenia recognizing the Nagorno-Karabakh, Shavarsh Kocharyan stressed: President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan stated that once Azerbaijan launches a large-scale aggression, this would lead to the recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic by Armenia. YEREVAN. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is financing a street rehabilitation program in Gyumri, the second largest city in Armenia, with a 14.6 million sovereign loan. The EBRDs office in Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that the financing will fund the rehabilitation of the citys major streets, as well as modernization of street lighting, and will be disbursed in three tranches. The loan agreement was signed during the EBRDs Annual Meeting in London Wednesday by the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, Vache Gabrielyan, and EBRD Managing Director for eastern Europe and the Caucasus, Francis Malige. The street rehabilitation program will include new asphalt pavements, upgraded drainage infrastructure, improved facilities for pedestrians, and overall road safety improvements. The street lighting refurbishment will introduce new energy-efficient LED lighting, a control and monitoring system, pole replacement and renovation as well as power cable replacement. This will reduce energy consumption and minimize operating and maintenance costs, resulting in better service quality and improved environmental standards. The new LED lighting is expected to cut the cost of energy consumption significantly and will result in annual electricity cost savings for the municipality. Gyumri, located some 125 kilometers north-west of Yerevan, is an important economic centre whose commercial significance will be further enhanced by an improved urban infrastructure. The project will help the 146 thousand inhabitants of Gyumri and visitors to enjoy better, safer streets. The project will be co-financed by investment grants to a total amount of 7.3 million provided by the EBRD Special Shareholder Fund (SSF) and other international donors. A pre-investment feasibility study was implemented with the help of technical cooperation funds provided by the government of Austria. Mark Davis, Head of the EBRDs office in Armenia, said: This important project will bring considerable improvements to the safety and quality of life of the citizens of Gyumri. It is also a great example of increasing the quality of infrastructure through private sector involvement. Since the start of its operations in Armenia in 1992, the EBRD has invested over 1 billion in 149 projects in the countrys financial, corporate, infrastructure and energy sectors, with 88 percent of these investments in the private sector. YEREVAN. - Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (HBC) Armenia CJSC, which is the branch of one of the worlds largest companies producing non-alcoholic beverages, has been operating in Armenia for already 20 years. During the official event commemorating the 20th anniversary of its activity, Coca-Cola HBC Armenia summed up the activity and achievements recorded during the previous years. Coca-Cola HBC Armenia is an important member of Coca-Cola Hellenic family. Thanks to the efforts of the experts, Coca-Cola HBC Armenia is distinguished for its quality which is in line with the best international standards, the Regional Director of Coca-Cola Hellenic group Keith Sanders said. For her part, the Director General of Coca-Cola HBC Armenia, Sayora Ayupova stressed that three key spheres have been targeted during 20 years: sustainable development of activity, establishment of competitive company and becoming fully-fledged member of the society through investments in community development. According to Ayupova, the success of their company is due to the staff and activity which they have been carrying out for many years. She noted that the companys workers are their main wealth, and that they often recruit university graduates and later train them. For the last 20 years, the investment package of Coca-Cola Hellenic Armenia constituted about 21.5 mln AMD, over 300 work places having been opened. Together with its successful business activity, Coca-Cola HBC Armenia has also carried out different corporate social responsibility programs. Management of water resources, energy saving and climate protection, development of communities and youth, as well as promotion of healthy and active lifestyle are the key directions of the companys corporate social responsibility. Being one of the fist investors in Armenia, Coca-Cola HBC Armenia certainly had a significant role in the economic development of the country. Entering the Armenian market, Coca-Cola HBC Armenia introduced business culture and practice which complies with the highest international standards. Congratulations on the success achieved during 20 years. I wish new achievements in the future, Greek Ambassador to Armenia Ioannis Tayis said. During the event, President of Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen of Armenia, Arsen Ghazaryan, handed a special prize to the companys Director General Sayora Ayupova for her input in the area of corporate social responsibility during 20 years. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, representatives of the Armenian government, diplomatic missions and NGOs, as well as foreign heads of Coca-Cola Hellenic Groups other branches and various partners also attended the event. The attendees highly appreciated the 20-year activity of the company, attaching importance to the input in the sphere of the development of the Armenian economy. Posted by Mark Williams | May 10, 2016 When you build a new heavy-duty pickup truck (meaning a three-quarter or one-ton pickup), you know its going to be pushed to its limits in ways no other type of vehicle is going to be pushed. Thats why the engineers at Ford find creative ways to test new pickups up to and past their limits. Ford recently devised a clever way to test roll stability in its HD pickups at its Arizona Proving Grounds. Engineers used a custom-built mock-up of a slide-in camper to simulate a real camper to see what effect its higher center of gravity might have on the 2017 Super Duty. The simulated camper can be modified to weigh as much as 7,500 pounds, which is considerably more than any one-ton pickup is legally allowed to carry. The testing provided engineers with valuable data from high- and low-speed lane changes, mock slalom runs and emergency braking. The tests allowed engineers to fine-tune stability controls on the Super Duty. Were sharing Fords most recent test video, which demonstrates how Ford tests roll stability control on the 2017 Ford Super Duty. Manufacturer image 14:22 India is home to four of the five cities in the world with the worst air pollution, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The Reuters report says that the dirtiest air was recorded at Zabol in Iran, which suffers from months of dust storms in the summer, and which clocked a so-called PM2.5 measure of 217. The next four were all Indian: Gwalior, Allahabad, Patna and Raipur. New Delhi was the survey's ninth worst city, measured by the amount of particulate matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic metre of air, with an annual average PM2.5 measurement of 122.Tiny particulate matter can cause lung cancer, strokes and heart disease over the long term, as well as triggering symptoms such as heart attacks that kill more rapidly. But while WHO experts acknowledge India faces a "huge challenge", many countries are so bad that they have no monitoring system and cannot be included in its ranking. The WHO says more than 7 million premature deaths occur every year due to air pollution, 3 million of them due to outdoor air quality. New Delhi was ranked worst in 2014 with a PM2.5 reading of 153. It has since tried to tackle its toxic air by limiting the use of private cars on the road for short periods. Maria Neira, head of public health, environmental and social determinants of health at the WHO, praised India's government for developing a national plan to deal with the problem when others have been unable to. "Probably some of the worst cities that are the most polluted ones in the world are not included in our list, just because they are so bad that they do not even have a good system of monitoring of air quality, so it's unfair to compare or give a rank," she said. Common causes of air pollution include too many cars, especially diesel-fuelled vehicles, the heating and cooling of big buildings, waste management, agriculture and the use of coal or diesel generators for power. Pic: Gwalior fort in Gwalior. The city along with Allahabad, Patna and Raipur rank among the world's most polluted cities. BENGALURU: Giving a cold response to Indias security interests has been more than just an option for MNCs like Google and Apple. This wont take place any more since they might soon require a license for satellite mapping in India, alleges a proposed legislation. As reported by Business Insider, a draft of Geospatial Information Regulation Bill was issued last week which said that anyone mapping India by a satellite or aerial platform will require a license from a government "security vetting authority. This act is being condemned as return of the Licence Raj" and "digital nationalism"."India as a responsible power must have instituted guidelines. We won't create hurdles for business and technological development, but national security contemplations must not be endangered either," said Kiren Rijiju, MoS for Home, reacting to the criticism. A fine adequate to Rs 100 crore invited by a jail sentence for seven years can be confronted if any kind of non-compliance is made against the above regulation. One individual who seems to be keen about campaigns for such a regulation and law is BJP MP Tarun Vijay. He has asked patriotic citizens of India to utilize the countrys own Bhuvan software application for maps. "Why do we require Google? We should discontinue becoming Google's instruments," said Tarun. "The patriotic government of Narendra Modi has called for a correct step in a large alleviation to the security establishment. UPA did not take any action in spite of my supplications to the then Defence Minister AK Antony. I compliment the Modi government for demonstrating spine in expression of arrogance of these IT giants, Google has been behaving as if it were above Indian law. A government official aware of the situation reported that maps of Indias sensitive installations were available on Google Maps. This vitally boosts the security risks of those sites. "Pathankot air base, which was lately assailed, can be seen on Google Maps. Terrorists plan strikes on sensitive places analyzing Google Maps," he said. If the legislation receives a thumbs up from the judiciary, companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple, would be critically and instantly hit as they have myriads of Indians depending on their maps. Furthermore, companies like Ola, Uber and Zomato rely on these maps and their interfaces to deliver their services, and they too will be severely affected from the results. Mishi Choudhary, legal directorSoftware Freedom Law Centre averred that since nearly all online businesses nowadays rely on geo-location for their services, they will be pushed to seek a license under the proposed law, which is a menace to digital India. "This type of digital nationalism is a mode to create a government-controlled monopoly on all geographical information regarding India, conveniently transubstantiating Digital India to License India, digitally this time," she said. However, a senior government official has contributed that firms should not have any trouble to arrive under regulations on security contemplations, given that the bill is looking for public remarks. If the public condemns the decision, they can lodge their discernments. "We are not forbidding anyone from mapping India - just that the mapping has to be in line with Indian security considerations with regard to its sensitive facilities and right boundaries being described like not showing PoK and Arunachal Pradesh as outside India," this official said. Meanwhile, a faction of techies has made a website called savethemap.indirected to educate people regarding the subject and send out their answers and views. Read Also: Whatsapp to Introduce Video-Calling Soon, Beta-Testing Live On IOS EMC In Race To Develop Smart Cities In India Law students mentor Boys and Girls Club members by Pete Rosenbery CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A project with the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale is giving Southern Illinois University School of Law students a chance to introduce young people to life skills and the wide range of careers within the legal profession. For the past five weeks, law school students have met weekly with youths between 11 and 18 years old to discuss a variety of topics: college and careers; privacy; introduction to law; and voting. A few days prior to the sessions, first- and second-year law students meet to decide on the topic and how best to present it. The classes meet Thursday afternoons at the Boys and Girls Club and last about one hour. This is an early opportunity for youths to begin utilizing life skills and gain interest in a career path, Mike Ruiz, assistant dean for career services and special projects, said. The earlier we can talk to someone and plant the seed and the idea, the better. Students need time to think about what they have to do in school now to reach their goals. They need time to build a foundation of knowledge and skills. Students recently met to discuss how to best present ideas that involve personal finance and the importance of saving money and spending wisely. The group will use simulated cellular telephone purchases, and then plug in associated costs involving service plans and other features. The hope is that the youths realize that just buying a phone is not the only cost involved, and that they must plan according to their individual budgets they receive during the activity. Timothy J. Woemmel, a first-year law student from Jefferson City, Mo., participated in an earlier activity involving elections. The activity involved showing kids not only the importance of voting, but that todays voters at one point were disenfranchised based on factors including age, gender, race, whether they were property owners, and how that impacted the countrys history. It was really fulfilling to see their eyes opened up when they realized that not everybody in this country had the opportunity to vote at various times in our history, Woemmel said. SIUs program is based on one started in the early 1970s by students at Georgetown University Law Center to teach high school students in the District of Columbia about law and the legal system. SIU also has it as a part of the law schools pro bono requirement, where students must complete 35 hours of approved pro bono work prior to graduation. The work is law related, uncompensated, supervised by an attorney and not for academic credit. The SIU School of Law was the first in the state to create the pro bono requirement. Tina Carpenter, director of operations for the Boys and Girls Club, sees the program as a win-win situation for the organization, the law school and the university. Club members learn about legal careers through the various topics, build relationships with law students and see their own potential to be a law student or at the very least a college student studying a career of their choice. Law students share their passion and career aspirations, and the university is building the potential for future students and relationships with community agencies, Carpenter said. The hope is that this will be a pipeline of engaging youths as young as fourth grade to learn more about careers in the law profession and not only being an attorney, she said. Career exploration needs to start young so that the youths can start planning how they will get to their dream. If youths start setting goals and have the assistance of mentors as to what steps do they need to take to meet those goals, their chances of success are greater. The program will continue this summer, and Ruiz would like to see it expand to other communities and schools. Kacey Eisenhauer, a second-year law student from Du Quoin, said she was excited about her opportunity to meet with the youths. She was part of the inaugural group that discussed college and career paths, examining with club members their career goals and the level of education it takes to accomplish them. Eisenhauer, who is considering criminal law when she graduates, said she was looking for something to do through the law school that would make a difference in the surrounding communities. I believe we achieved our goal, which was to spark interest in the kids and to get them thinking about their futures, she said. The US warship, USS William P. Lawrence, "illegally entered" China's waters near the Nansha islands on Tuesday without the permission of the Chinese government, Xinhua news agency reported citing Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang. He added that the warship was monitored, tracked and issued a warning. Bill Urban, the spokesman for US Department of Defence, has said the freedom of navigation operation was in direct challenge to "excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea". "The action by the US threatens China's sovereignty and security, endangers the safety of people and facilities on the reef, and harms regional peace and stability," Lu said. "China strongly opposes such action by the US and will continue to take measures to safeguard our sovereignty and security," Lu said, adding that China and other coastal states in the South China Sea have been working together to keep navigation and overflight free in the South China Sea for a long time. Lu said the flexing of US military muscle in the name of freedom of navigation is "the biggest threat to peace and stability in the area". --IANS lok/rn/dg ( 217 Words) 2016-05-10-18:46:09 (IANS) "The Afghan National Army, in collaboration with police and intelligence agency personnel, carried out several military operations in separate provinces killing 12 armed militants, wounding five and detaining seven armed suspects on Tuesday," Xinhua news agency cited a statement by the ministry. The security forces also seized weapons, defused four landmines and confiscated a motorcycle during the raids in 12 of the country's 34 provinces, the statement added. --IANS lok/ksk/vm ( 97 Words) 2016-05-11-12:36:07 (IANS) Kazakhstan is looking forward to India's participation in one of its significant defence-related exhibitions, KADEX-2016, said a senior official of the Embassy of Kazakhstan in New Delhi. Lt. Colonel Bisenov Mahambet, the Defence Attache at the Embassy of Kazakhstan in New Delhi, told ANI that KADEX-2016 will be held in Kazakhstan's capital Astana between July 2 and July 5 and added that the event is part of plans to develop his country's military-industrial complex. He said that KADEX-2016 will be the largest international exhibition of weapons system and military equipment in Central Asia, where at least 400 domestic and international defence manufacturing companies would be exhibiting their products, including some firms from India. Lt. Col. Khomutov further told ANI that this exhibition would contribute to the development of military-technical cooperation and the overall strengthening of strategic relations between Kazakhstan and India. He said that over 15000 military personnel are expected to visit KADEX-2016, which would have seven thematic areas, namely, aviation technology, unmanned aerial vehicles and space technologies; weapons and equipment of ground and naval forces; air defense systems and assets; logistic and technical support of troops; IT, communication systems and assets; robotics; alternative energy sources in the military sphere. He also informed that Kazakhstan is celebrating the Fatherland Defender's Day today and Victory Day on May 9, both of which were highly symbolic to the people of Kazakhstan. Both of these days, he said, "show the continuity of the military traditions of the winners of the Great Patriotic War (World War-2) and the present generation of our country's defenders." Lt. Col. Khomutov said that the armed forces of Kazakhstan are a powerful shield that safeguards his country and their main aim is to ensure the security of Kazakhstan and its people. "The current generation of the defenders continues the traditions of bravery of ancestors and devoted to mandates of the older generation. Today, Kazakhstan has created a modern, compact sized, well-equipped and capable army, air defense force and naval force," he said. However, he cautioned that modern challenges and threats require the armed forces of Kazakhstan to remain vigilant and be prepared to give rapid and effective responses to security-related challenges. In this regard, he said that the Supreme Commander of the Kazakhstan Armed Forces and the nation's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has provided guidelines for the armed forces to train and fine tune their work in areas such as combat, operational and mobilization training; development of the military-industrial complex; construction of military infrastructure; improving of the military education system; international cooperation; ideological work. He said that the armed forces of Kazakhstan have been tasked with the responsibility of protecting the nation's core values - independence, peace and stability. (ANI) In all, there were seven tourists hailing from Nawanshahr subdivision of Punjab's Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, of them three were rescued and shifted to a local hospital. The victims have been identified as Saranprit Singh (S/o shamsher Singh), Harpreet Singh, Abanjot Singh, Amana (S/o Jalaman Singh) and Titu, a guide of Trimurti Rafting Company, who are still unaccented for. A search operation is on, according to police sources. The three rescued travellers have been identified as Sukhbir Singh (S/o Sardar Darshan Singh), Fateh Singh (S/o Baldev Singh) and Kamaljit Singh. The tourists, along with the guide, were on their way to the Sutlej for rafting. Superintendent of Police D.W. Negi said four people and a local tourist guide have been swept away by a cloudburst, while three people, who had been rescued, were been shifted to a hospital in Suni. Negi said the four tourists, who had come here for river rafting, were travelling in a Scorpio SUV when the cloudburst struck on Tuesday afternoon. (ANI) Heaping praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has said what the Prime Minister is doing for the nation building is not an easy task to do. In an interview with ETV News Network head Jagdeesh Chandra, the 'Devdas' actress said whatever Prime Minister Modi is doing is for the benefit of the nation and the people. While downplaying her chances of joining politics, the 42-year-old actress said she is currently satisfied with her role as a mother, wife, daughter and above all as a responsible citizen. Exuding big hopes from her upcoming film 'Sarbjit', Aishwarya observed that the world realised the power of the media during the Sarabjit Singh case as it showcased how the media can become the voice of the common people. Sarbjit is a biopic on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who crossed over to the Pakistani territory inadvertently, and was sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for his alleged involvement in terrorism and spying. He was, however, attacked by inmates at a Lahore prison in April 2013 and died a few days later. (ANI) The apex court is expected to open the sealed envelope around 10.30 am and announce the result, which Congress claims to have won by a margin of 33-28 yesterday in the assembly. The Harish Rawat-led Congress government sought a vote of confidence in the assembly yesterday following an apex court order. With nine Congress rebels barred from voting, the strength of the 71-member assembly was 62. Sources said, 28 MLAs voted for the BJP. Branding the outcome of the Uttarakhand Assembly floor test as the 'defeat of communal forces', the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre should learn a lesson from the entire episode and mend its 'unconstitutional ways'. Echoing similar views, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the BJP's defeat in the Uttarakhand floor test has come as a huge setback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA. Centre had imposed President's rule in the state on March 27, arguing that Harish Rawat government lost majority when nine rebel Congress MLAs voted against the state government's annual budget. (ANI) The Iconic Sea Harrier's will be decommissioned from the Indian Navy today as it will mark the end of an era in India's naval history, with an official ceremony phasing out the last of its iconic Sea Harrier jets. The Harriers will be replaced by a squadron of Russian Mig 29k jets and the ceremony will be held at INS Hansa base in Vasco at Goa. Admiral R K Dhowan, Chief of the Naval Staff, will be the Chief Guest for the ceremony. In a statement, Indian Navy said that its usage in the Falklands War was its most high-profile and important success, where it was the only fixed-wing fighter available to protect the British Task Force. The aircraft, developed by the British in the 1960s, are best known for the ability to take off and land vertically, and for being the only class of jet that can hover like a helicopter. The Sea Harrier was used by the British during the Falklands War, both Gulf Wars, and during the NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The retired aircraft will be put on display in museums. (ANI) A massive search operation has been launched in the woods in the frontier district of Kupwara in north Kashmir following a tip off about the presence of militants, official sources said here today. However, a defence ministry spokesperson said search operation in the forest area near the Line of Control (LoC) was a daily routine to foil any attempt by militants to infiltrate into this side from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK). Sources said on a tip-off, security forces and state police launched a joint operation in Watsar forest, Handwara, in the frontier district of Kupwara last night. However, the operation was suspended due to darkness and resumed only this morning with the first light. There was a brief exchange of fire between the militants holed up in the forest and security forces late last night, they said, adding that there was no report of any casualty. Additional security forces have already been rushed from nearby camps to foil any attempt by holed up militants to escape. Details are awaited, they said. A soldier was killed last week when alert troops foiled an infiltration attempt from across the border in Keran sector while another soldier died after he slipped from a top near the LoC while repairing border bending damaged due to snow in winter.UNI BAS SV RAI0851 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-726223.Xml Pondicherry University Vice-Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy, who is now on compulsory wait following a direction from the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD), has resigned from the post. According to sources in the university, she submitted her resignation to the MHRD. The resignation comes close on the heels as she ran out of options to defend charges of corruption, irregularities and plagiarism against her. It is not immediately known whether the MHRD will accept her resignation since, the acceptance of resignation will enable her to get away with the charges. It may be recalled that MHRD had initiated steps and had sought legal opinion before making further moves for the removal of Chandra from the post following allegations of irregularities, corruption and plagiarism against her. Also, there were charges that she did not possess the right qualification for holding the post of Vice Chancellor. Following the students' agitation last year, the Union MHRD ministry had initiated an inquiry into the allegations of plagiarism, misrepresentation and charges of maladministration raised against Chandra Krishnamurthy. There were charges of punishing the victims, two girls students of the university, who complained against sexual harassment and attempting to save a professor, who was involved in the detention and torture of a Tamil Department student. The MHRD had kept her on compulsory wait following the students' stir and appointed Prof Anisa B Khan as the Vice-Chancellor (in charge) in August last year. A Show Cause notice from the MHRD was served on Chandra Krishnamurthy following which she approached the Madras High Court with the intention to scuttle the process of her lawful dismissal. But the High Court had dismissed her petitions directing her to comply with the orders of MHRD. She had gone on appeal against the order of the single judge and once again the High Court had dismissed her appeal. Following this, she moved the Supreme Court, the sources said, adding that the Apex Court had asked her to reply to the show cause notice in three weeks time and the deadline ended in April.UNI PAB CS 1144 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-726376.Xml The Centre today sought to assuage the feelings of MPs from Uttar Pradesh who complained none of the cities from their state has been selected to be developed as smart city."I can assure you there is no discrimination against any city or the state. My own city Nellore has failed to make to the first 97 list, despite I being the Urban Development Minister, what can I tell you about others," Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu told a Member from UP agitated over not finding any city from his State's in the list.In a reply during Question Hour in Lok Sabha , Mr Naidu said there has been a detailed and impartial analysis of all the factors associated with each city by Indian and foreign experts team and people of each city were also involved in arriving at the final assessment shortlisting of 20 city."It also not true that there was bias against the eastern states. If that was, how Bhubaneswar made to the top? We have maintained a fair and regional balance in our assessment," Mr Naidu said.UNI PRA SB/RSA 1403 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0384-726589.Xml Talking to reporters here, AIPMK Founder A M Moorthy Thevar said he had resigned as the General Secretary of the Nadalum Makkal Katchi of actor M Karthik in protest against his improper functioning and formed the new party. He said his party has decided to support the AIADMK in the elections and campaign in all the 234 Assembly constituencies to ensure that the ruling party win the polls with a massive mandate and extend the golden rule of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for the second successive second term. He said he had met Ms Jayalalithaa and pledged his party's support. Mr Moorthy Thevar also hailed the AIADMK's election manifesto and said it contained several promises aimed at the welfare of the people of the state.UNI GV CNR -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-726587.Xml The Bharatiya Janata Party in Kerala today accused Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of attempting to cover the infant deaths in tribal areas of the state and defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing Kerala with Somalia while highlighting the image of a boy seen eating from a waste dump at Peravoor in Kannur District recently. Talking to newsmen here BJP State President Kummanam Rajasekharan claimed that the backward classes in Kerala were facing severe poverty and social negligence and accused the State Government of hiding these facts to save its image. The Chief Minister responded to the Peravoor incident only after the Prime Minister brought the matter into public domain, he alleged. Referring to his visit to Peravoor, Mr Rajasekharan said even a village officer did not visit the place. ''Why the Chief Minister is not able to see the pathetic conditions of Dalit communities in Kerala'' he asked and alleged that Mr Chandy had failed to take cognasance of 143 infant deaths in tribal areas in Kerala. He accused the state government for not implementing the provisions of the Centre's Forest Act that ensured land to the tribals. Responding to Mr Modi's comparison of Kerala with Somalia, Mr Chandy had written a letter to Mr Modi yesterday requesting to withdraw the statement that was insulting the State. The Prime Minister made the comment when he was here on May eight to attend the election campaign of the NDA for the May 16 Assembly elections in the State. UNI DS CNR -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-726603.Xml A 22-year-old activist of the Republican Party of India (RPI) was killed allegedly by a group of eight people over a dispute in the district's Ulhasnagar township, the city police said today.The victim, Deepak Sansare was called by the accused to a specified spot to settle the dispute. As soon as thevictim arrived at the spot, the accused persons attacked him, killing him on the spot, police informed.The assailants have been identified and a search was on, they added.The accused and the victim had a long-pending dispute.They were armed with lethal weapons including chopper, sword and iron rods. Police have registered offences under sections 302, 120B, 143, 144, 147, 148, 149 of the IPC and also section 4 (25) of the Arms Act, and also BP Act sections 37(1) the police said.As the news about Sansare's murder spread like a wildfire in the township, the activists of the party came out on the streets and damaged more than two dozen vehicles. Now, situation is under control, the police added.UNI XR NV SV SB1350 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-726446.Xml Khandhari who has numerous projects in the Navi Mumbai-Panvel region was undergoing treatment at MGM Hosptial. The motive behind the suicide attempt was yet to be asertained, but it is said that he was depressed. On October 7, last year, a Thane based prominent builder Suraj Parmar shot himself dead at one of his construction sites and what followed was history. He left the suicide note in which he blamed many including the system. Four Thane corporators have been facing prosecution for driving him to end his life.UNI XR NV SV AN1432 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-726511.Xml The RBI, in exercise of powers conferred on it under Section 45-IA (6) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, has therefore cancelled their Certificate of Registration. Companies who have surrendered their certificate of registration are M/s V.H Doshi & Sons Investment Pvt. Ltd, M/s Vinodchandra Doshi Investment Co Private Limited, M/s Samarth Doshi Investment Co. Private Limited,M/s Echjay Overseas Trades Private Limited,M/s HariMahavin Investment Private Limited,M/s Baroda Industries Private Limited,M/s Eureka Finvest Private Ltd. As such, the above companies cannot transact the business of a Non-Banking Financial Institution, as defined in clause (a) of Section 45-I of the RBI Act, 1934.UNI JS NV HK1407 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-726626.Xml New political alignment has emerged in Uttar Pradesh just around eight months away from the crucial assembly polls, with BSP supporting the Congress government in Uttarakhand and Quami Ekta Dal (QED),a political outfit of Ansari brothers of eastern UP, supporting the ruling Samajwadi Party candidate in Jangipur assembly bypoll in Ghazipur district. The bypolls for Bilari assembly seat in Moradabad district and of Jangipur would be held on May 16. Though both the BSP as well as the Congress have denied that their action in Uttarakhand should not be deemed as future alliance between the parties in UP polls. While BSP chief Mayawati in New Delhi flatly refused any truck with Congress in the UP polls even after she supported the Harish Rawat government in yesterday's floor test against the BJP. Similarly AICC general secretary and in-charge of UP Madhususan Mistri too denied that there is no possibility of any alliance with BSP in the state. But some senior Congress leaders hinted that though at present there is no such talks between the BSP and Congress but in future nothing can be predicted." BSP was forced to support the Congress government in Uttarakhand as the party did not want to align with BJP at any circumstance which could have cost them heavily in the UP elections by sending wrong indications to the muslims," a Congress leader claimed. But the surprise support of Quami Ekta Dal (QED) for the SP candidate in Jangipur assembly bypolls have given a positive signal to the ruling party and it also indicates its strategy to bring smaller parties in the fold before the 2017 polls. QED is the party led by mafia don Mukhtar Ansari and his two brothers Sibutullah and Afzal, and the party have good support base particularly in the muslim belt of eastern UP. A senior SP leader told UNI here that with the support of QED in Jangipur assembly bypolls, now the SP candidate would sweep the elections. " The support of QED in the bypolls is a good signal before the 2017 polls and it proves that the ruling Samajwadi Party have started attracting smaller parties in its fold before the assembly elections," the leader opined. The bypolls of Bilari and Jangipur assembly constituencies on May 16, is being held due to death of SP members, and hence it is termed as a test for the ruling SP before the next year's assembly polls in the three cornered contest with BJP and Congress. BSP is not contesting the bypolls.UNI MB PR AS1430 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-726550.Xml Tension has gripped Kamalpur area of Dhalai district in North Tripura Following allegation of attack on a BJP supporter student in the government-run degree college.Both left-backed student wing SFI supporters and BJP supporters yesterday lodged separate FIRs against each other. However, there no arrest has been made so far. Administration has made extra deployment in the college and other locations of Kamalpur.Sub-divisional police officer Uttam Banik said police had been investigating the cases and also held meeting with the college authority to cease the tension, betides security had been tightened across sensitive locations.BJP State President Biplab Deb alleged that SFI supporters had summoned Alok Deb, a student of second year in the college on May 7 to become a member of their party, but he refused."The SFI cadres beat up Alok when he went to fill up the exam form. They compelled him to drink urine of one of them. Finally, after release he lodged a complaint with the college principal, which went wnnoticed. At night Alok lodged FIR an against three of the accused. ''Till date police did not arrest them," Deb alleged. He however, pointed out that Alok and his family belongs to BJP party and his grandfather Tajendra Deb (82) served as former district president of BJP. Again when Alok and his grandfather went college to meet principal, SFI cadres beaten both of them in presence of police.Allegedly, when they were shifted to Kamalpur district hospital, SFI students attacked another BJP supporter in the hospital. Later, SFI lodged FIR against Alok and three other for allegedly for attacking SFI supporters.BJP also demonstrated in the police station, demanding arrest of five accused students identified as Debanjan Das, Monaj Sinha, Birajit Debbarman, Soleman Ali and Raja Majumdar for assaulting Alok on two occasions and attacking others. Meanwhile, SFI state secretary Nabarun Deb alleged that BJP supporters have been terrorising the situation for past few months in the college. Regarding assault on Alok, he said they did not get such information.UNI BB KK PR PM1435 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-726362.Xml Police today launched a massive manhunt to nab suspended ruling JD (U) MLC Manorama Devi, mother of Rocky Yadav, who is the main accused in the road rage killing of a youth here after she went underground apprehending her. The Nitish Kumar government had issued an arrest warrant against the fugitive legislator as a joint team of district police and excise department under the leadership of Deputy Police Superintendent Alok Kumar Singh did not find her at her residence at A.P. Colony under Rampur police station area in the city. Police personnel drawn from three different police stations and excise department officials conducted raids in connection with the recovery of liquor bottles from her residence despite imposition of the total prohibition in the state by the government.State JD (U) President Vashishtha Narayan Singh had suspended her from the party yesterday on the charge of possessing liquor bottles despite total prohibition. The party leadership had also served a show cause notice, asking her to clarify her position within 14 days. Gaya's Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Mallik said here excise department sleuths had sealed her house. She said police had recovered foreign liquor bottles during raids conducted at her residence on Sunday to arrest legislator's son Rocky Yadav, who allegedly shot dead the son of a prominent businessman Aditya Sachdeva on Bodh Gaya-Gaya road on Saturday. Her husband Bindeshwar Yadav had been arrested on Sunday along with her official bodyguard in connection with the killing. Rocky opened fire on Aditya in road rage when Aditya and his friends were returning from Bodh Gaya after attending a birthday function.UNI XC DH PR SV SB1432 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-726469.Xml Police said here that nearly 40 extremists of banned CPI (Maoist) late last night raided the base camp of the private company, engaged in the construction of Belaganj-Barabar road. Later, the ultras chased away employees and drivers of the company from the camp by brandishing firearms and set aflame two JCB machines, four heay trucks, an oil tanker, a jeep and three motorcycles. An FIR has been launched against unknown naxalites on the statement ofthe owner of the company Satyendra Singh. Police have launched amassive search operation to nab ultras.UNI XC- DH KK SV AS1427 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-726554.Xml The Enforcement Directorate had last week arrested Chhagan Bhujbal's associate and chartered accountant Sunil Naik in connection with the case. The special PMLA court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against Naik, who was the CA at Bhujbal- owned Mumbai Education Trust (MET) at Bandra. The Enforcement Directorate is probing Bhujbal, his son Pankaj and nephew Sameer in the case concerning a contract the former allegedly gave a builder in 2005 without inviting tenders when he was the state's PWD minister. Earlier, a special trial court issued a non-bailable warrant against Pankaj Bhujbal and 28 others accused in a Rs. 800 crore money laundering case. The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau had earlier filed two FIRs against the Bhujbals and others under the provisions of the PMLA to probe the Delhi-based Maharashtra Sadan scam and the Kalina land grabbing case. (ANI) An ecstatic Harish Rawat on Wednesday hailed the judiciary after passing the crucial floor test in Uttarakhand Assembly, saying they were the 'final educator' of democratic values. Rawat, who got the support of 33 of the 61 MLAs, praised the Centre and Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi for their 'magnanimity'. "I want to thank the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court and High Court were the final educators of democratic values. I also want to thank the Centre and Attorney General for their magnanimity," he told the media here. Rawat said that he would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming days and seek the Centre's support for development of Uttarakhand. "I will need active support of the Centre to move the state forward. I will meet Prime Minister and I will tell him that Uttarakhand needs him," he said. Rawat further said that he would also be meeting the Congress top brass in the national capital and thank them for their unconditional support. Responding to posers about the CBI summons likely to be issued to him on charges of alleged horse trading, Rawat said he is willing to cooperate with the investigative agency. "I have told the CBI I will cooperate with them, although it seems like they are in a hurry to investigate the matter. I called them on the same day when the floor test was conducted," he added. Rawat also thanked the MLAs of the PDF, UKD, BSP and independent candidates for their support in the floor test. "I want to thank and tell my friends in the BJP, let us forget the past experience and begin a new chapter," he added. Rawat is all set to resume power in Uttarakhand with the Centre informing the Supreme Court that it would revoke President's Rule in the hill state. (ANI) Local police has arrested the kingpin of a blackmailer gang from Mankapur police station area here.According to police, mastermind of the gang Deepak Awle, who had been dodging the police since long, was finally nabbed yesterday, during a raid.The arrested criminal was being interrogated.Earlier, police had arrested four members of the gang, including two women and booked them under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). UNI RS PK JW RJ 1544 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0364-726833.Xml A police outpost in-charge along with a constable have been suspended after they beat to death a dalit youth on the charges of robbery under Kotwali police station area here today. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manjil Saini said that FIR under section 302,452,323,504 and 427 of the IPC and another section of the SC/ST act were registered against the police outpost incharge Yogendra Sharma and constable Rohit Choudhury along with four others for the death of one Ravindra Pasi. Later the SSP suspended both the policemen after villagers staged a protest against the killing. The SSP also ordered the postmortem of the body by a panel of doctors with full videography besides has recommended compensation for the family of the deceased. Ravindra(18), who was also working at a private clinic, was beaten up badly by the policemen on May 4 and he was admitted to a hospital thereafter. Ravindra died late last night and the family members put his body at the Nagar Palika roundabout this morning at 0800 staging a protest demanding action against the policemen and compensation. UNI XC-MB CJ RJ AS1621 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-726787.Xml Police said they have also seized bank accounts lockers from Sangeeta, accused in illegal transportation of red sandalwood to other states. Laxmanan , who was arrested by the police under PD Act, was currently in in jail. During interrogation, laxmanan revealed about Sangeeta's involvement in smuggling. Sangeeta was involved in Rs 10 crore hawala transaction through online after the arrest of laxmanan. However, Sangeeta secured bail before Chittoor police bring her to Chittoor on transit warrant. The red sandalwood reportedly smuggling to China through Nepal and Burma. Red sandalwood are in huge demand in China and and is often sold at Rs 10 crore per tonne as against its value of Rs 15 to20 lakh per tonnewithin the country.UNI KNR CNR -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-726671.Xml Jet Airways, India's premier international airline, will upgrade its daily flights between Mumbai and Singapore by deploying its state-of-the-art Airbus A330-200 aircraft, effective June 1, 2016. The upgrade to a wide body aircraft will result in a 50 per cent increase in capacity compared to the Boeing 737 currently operating on this route.The A330-200 offers guests a customised two-cabin seating configuration of 18 seats in Premiere and 236 in Economy.Announcing this here today, Gaurang Shetty, Wholetime Director, Jet Airways said, "tThis upgrade will enable guests on this high demand sector to experience enhanced cabin comfort on board the wide-body aircraft, while offering convenient connections from Mumbai to Australia and the ASEAN region over Singapore on codeshare and interline partner airlines. Jet Airways flight 9W 10 will depart Mumbai at 0955 hrs, and arrive in Singapore at 1810 hrs (LT). On the return, Jet Airways flight 9W 11 will depart Singapore at 2005 hrs (LT) and arrive in Mumbai at 2305 hrs. Guests on incoming flights from Singapore will be able to avail convenient onward connections to key destinations on Jet Airways' domestic network and beyond to international destinations from Mumbai.Mr. Shetty said, "this sector has seen a growth in traffic by over 34 per cent in last two years, particularly among business travelers. In addition, connecting traffic over Singapore to Australia and the ASEAN destinations booked through code share and interline partners is also growing rapidly. The combination of comfort and luxury of wide body services and attractive frequent flyer benefits makes Jet Airways the perfect option for travelers to Singapore and beyond." Jet Airways' capacity addition comes at a time when India's bilateral trade and investment with Singapore and Australia is on a growth curve. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from Singapore in 2015 was an impressive USD 11 billion, covering sectors such as information technology, real estate, construction, renewable energy and pharmaceuticals. India is Australia's seventh largest trading partner. Two-way trade in goods and services between the two countries has grown significantly in the last decade and now stands over USD 11 billion. The additional capacity will also provide further impetus to growing tourism between India and Singapore. UNI ADP CJ AS1716 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0429-726968.Xml New Delhi, May 11 (ANI-BusinessWire): South Korean multinational conglomerate company Samsung on Wednesday showcased India's first Digital Inverter Compressor in direct cool single door Refrigerator series. The new range is powered by Digital Inverter Compressor, which delivers efficient energy savings and an ease to connect with the home inverter during power cuts. With this launch, Samsung extends its innovative and unique Digital Inverter Compressor to the direct cool single door refrigerator category which is currently available in its frost-free range of refrigerators only. The revolutionary 'Smart Convertible 5 in1' range which caters to the diverse storage needs of Indian consumers was also displayed at the event. The revolutionary Samsung Smart Convertible 5-in-1 Refrigerator is powered by Twin Cooling Plus technology that enables consumers to be flexible with cooling storage depending on their needs. The true independent cooling system allows turning the freezer into a fridge when required. "Samsung is committed to address diverse consumer needs and preferences of Indian consumers with meaningful innovation. The largest range of Samsung Smart Convertible 5-in-1 Refrigerator with Smart Digital Compressor is energy efficient and durable, and addresses the unique storage needs of Indian consumers while also offering ultimate convenience," said Rajeev Bhutani, Vice President, Consumer Electronics, Samsung India Electronics. "Our Smart Digital Inverter series is a blend of freshness, energy efficiency, even cooling and durability. It is a perfect solution to provide savings on electricity bills, retain uninterrupted cooling and freshness during power cuts. With these new products, we are confident that we will sustain and further grow our share in the home appliances category," Bhutani added. Samsung continues to combine its technical expertise and meaningful innovation to bring consumers a new range of products designed to enhance and simplify modern living. Delivering convenience, efficiency and design, the new range is aimed to deliver a more comfortable home. The five modes are Normal, Extra Shopping, Vacation, Seasonal, and Home Alone Mode. So now if you bring home more bags home just convert your freezer into fridge with 'Extra Shopping Mode'. If you are going out on vacation and need to store some food in freezer, simply switch on 'Vacation Mode' and keep only the freezer on and turn off the fridge section. With change of season just switch to 'Seasonal Mode' keep only the fridge on and switch off the freezer. When alone at home and don't have a lot to store just switch to 'Home Alone' that switches off the fridge and converts freezer section into fridge. And not only the 5 conversion modes are the perfect solution to different storage needs but every mode also saves energy giving more savings. Smart Convertible 5-in-1 also ensures freshness and taste are maintained. When fruit and vegetables lose their natural moisture in low humidity conditions, the surface becomes dry and wrinkled, and obviously no longer fresh. Optimum levels of moisture within the refrigerator are needed to keep freshness and taste locked in. The Twin Cooling Plus independent cooling system ensures that the right temperature and humidity level up to 70 percent is maintained throughout the fridge, so no matter where food is stored it stays fresh for upto seven days. All food odours can change the taste of frozen foods and affect the flavours of finished dishes. Twin Cooling Plus is a truly independent cooling system, with separate airflows in both the fridge and freezer. This prevents unpleasant smells from foods moving between the fridge and freezer, ensuring the original flavour of ingredients stored in the freezer is perfectly preserved and odourless. Samsung Smart Digital Inverter Single door refrigerator is India's first and only refrigerator which offers 5 Star Rating, 10 year warranty on compressor & runs on home inverter during power cut. It is also India's first Digital inverter compressor and Smart Connect inverter series in the single door category. The 2016 range of Smart Convertible 5-in-1 refrigerators are available in multiple sizes, starting from 393L and will go up to 670L and will be priced at INR 45,000 to INR 82,500. (ANI-BusinessWire) Patna High Court today issued bailable warrant of arrest against Gaya`s Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Mallik for not submitting case diary despite the court's repeated directives.While hearing a bail petition, a single bench of Patna High Court Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh issued the bailable warrant of arrest against Gaya SSP for not sending the case diary despite two reminders to her in this connection.Patna High Court hearing the bail petition filed by Umesh Shah had asked the SSP to send case diary in connection with an FIR lodged with Fatehpur police station in Gaya district.The next date of hearing has been fixed on May 16.UNI XC DH BM RJ VN1828 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-727322.Xml The Government today assured the Lok Sabha that it would make all out efforts to ensure water, food and fodder supply in each and every village and would face the drought situation in the country in consultation with all members irrespective of the party affiliation. Replying to three-day-long debate under Rule 193 on prevailing drought and drinking watercrisis in different parts of the country, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the present Modi government has been dealing with the situation with full sensitivity and seriousness, keeping a vigil eye on it, addressing the needs of states and providing them all possible help to maximum possible working on all possible remedial measure that included a time bound and expeditious completion of irrigation projects. Lauding the present government's performance during its two-year regime, the Minister said, "We had brought better projects and programme, provided more allocations to the states and relief and assistance to crisis ridden farmers by amending norms and rules, as compared to the previous UPA regime. "Our performance during the two-year-long rule on most of the fronts, including agriculture, outclass the achievements and performance of 60 to 70-year-long regimes under various governments, he asserted. Taking a dig at the Congress-led previous governments, Mr Singh said, "The entire House has been discussing the situation of drought for three days, the Supreme Court and the people of the country have also expressed their concern over it. This itself is clear reflection over works and performance of those who ruled the country for decades. "There are many irrigation projects pending implementation for past 20 years. Our government hasbrought PM Irrigation Yojna under which district irrigation projects for 300 districts have already beenformulated and those for remaining districts of the country would be prepared soon and all those wouldbe completed in a time bound manner. As many as 23 major irrigation projects are targeted to be completed within two years, he said.More UNI SS SW 2031 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-727836.Xml Lashing out vigorously at Congress and the Communist, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today alleged that both these parties were playing ''drama'' and making people ''fools'', and it was high time for them to realise their compromise politics. Winding up his third and final leg of electioneering for the NDA candidates in the May 16 elections at Tripunithura, about 25 km from here, Mr Modi asked the mass, ''people in Kerala were well educated and intelligent, why did they fail to realise that those parties were making them ''fools'' and ''cheating'', as they were helping each other whenever they needed, whether it was in Centre or in states?'' Alleging that both the Communists and the Congress were misleading people by introducing themselves as two different political parties and fighting each other, Mr Modi said it was nothing but to eye wash the people and what they were doing was an understanding to cover up the corruption cases of both the governments, who ruled the state in alternative terms. Though political pundits had thought that he would reply to the recent controversies about his comparison of Kerala with Somali, he did not try to touch those topic, whereas he took the 59-minute speech to attack both the Congress and the Communists and disclosing the development measures and the welfare measures undertook by the NDA government during the past two years.He arrived at the venue about 45 minutes before schedule, started his speech by giving a happy news to people in Kerala that the union government had succeeded in rescuing nine women nurses, including six from Keralists, who were found missing in Libya during the past several days and would arrive in a short span.MORE UNI CGV PY SW 2242 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-727961.Xml Sandu Waghmare (57) had sought Rs 5,000 as bribe from the farmer for issuing quotation of a new electric single -phase connection in his farm house, for which he had applied in February this year and had submitted all the necessary documents, a release issued by ACB here today said. Reluctant to shell out bribe money, the farmer approached the ACB's office here and registered the complaint against the technician. After verifying the facts of the complaint, an ACB team today afternoon at around 1320 hours laid a trap near Hindu hotel at Latur station and caught red-handed Waghmare while accepting bribe money from the farmer. An offence under sections 7, 12, 13(1)(D), 13(2) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has been registered with the Sillegaon police station against him and further investigation was on, the statement added.UNI VKB SS SW NS2311 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-727989.Xml A 25-year-old man from Mumbra of the district who was found guilty of brutally killing his four month pregnant wife in 2011 was today sentenced to imprisonment for life by the Thane district court here.District judge VV Bambarde held Abdul Rehman Sayeed, guilty and handed him life imprisonment.The two other accused who were also tried in the case his sister and her husband were acquitted for lack of sufficient evidene and giving them the benefit of doubts. The two acquitted were Yunus Noor Mohammad Khan, and Rashida Yunus Khan.Investigating officer Inspector PD Patil of the Mumbra police station who probed the crime told the court that the accused and Yasmin,24 lived in the Sri Lanka colony of Kausa in Mumbra.The accused had gone to Dubai for a couple of years for service and his mother also stayed in Dubai with him.After his return in 2011 he picked up quarrel with his wife and it was on November 23, 2011 the victim walked into the police station to register complaint against her husband who was haressing her.According to the prosecution the accused suspected the charechter of his wife which lead to frequent quarrels. After the complaint she had gone home at about 1800 hrs to get her cloths after informing the police. At the residence after picking up the cloths and when she walked down the steps and was about to board the rickshaw the accused followed her and stabbed her several times due to which she sustained severe wounds. The victim was rushed to the hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead.The Mumbra police registered a case under section 302 read with section 34 against the accused and roped in the couple also. But the case against the couple and their involvement was not proved and hence they wereset free.UNI XR SW VN2328 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-728027.Xml Voters in the country will be asked in the referendum whether they choose to allow the EU to order the mandatory re-settlement in Hungary of non-Hungarians without parliamentary approval. Antal Rogan, head of the Prime Minister's Cabinet Office, said recently that he envisaged holding the referendum in September or early October, Xinhua news agency reported. Last year the European Parliament voted for a quota system to relocate and resettle asylum seekers among EU states, and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker proposed in September that 160,000 asylum seekers be distributed among EU states under a new migrant quota system. The EU interior ministers approved the proposal despite objection from Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Last December, Hungary submitted its appeal to the European Court against the EU mandatory quota system. --IANS lok/rn/dg ( 165 Words) 2016-05-10-18:06:17 (IANS) Bulgaria's deputy prime minister and labour minister, Ivailo Kalfin, resigned from his post today after his centre-left ABV party said it would withdraw its support from the centre-right government.Prime Minister Boiko Borisov has accepted his resignation.Kalfin stepped down one hour after his party leadership said ABV would be ending its backing for the government over disagreements in the cabinet's overall policy and changes in the election code.It will make its final decision at a party congress on Sunday.ABV is not part of the ruling two-party coalition, but had declared its support for it and was given a minister's post as result.The move will increase the instability of Borisov's minority government, which took office in October of 2014 on pledges to spur economic growth. It may be forced to seek broader support in parliament to stay in office. REUTERS AKC NS2002 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0432-725882.Xml The massive blast occurred when a booby-trapped car went off at a popular outdoor market in the Shia bastion of Sadr city district, an interior ministry source told Xinhua. The death toll could rise many of the injured were in critical condition. --IANS lok/ksk/mr ( 78 Words) 2016-05-11-13:58:04 (IANS) When Jodie Foster wanted to explore the human relationship with technology and virtual intimacy in her latest directorial effort "Money Monster," she opted to use Wall Street as her setting and raise the dramatic stakes by holding George Clooney hostage."I wanted to see how those things affected these two human beings, in this small little room, who are confined with each other," she said.Sony Pictures' "Money Monster," premiering at the Cannes Film Festival this week and opening in US theaters on Friday, sees Clooney play Lee Gates, a suave, showboating host of a money news TV program, held hostage live on air.Gates and his producer Patty (Julia Roberts) are forced by the captor, who lost his life savings investing in stock that Gates had vouched for, to dig deeper into the technical glitch that wiped away millions of dollars of people's savings."George's disaffected old school journalist has to learn some new tricks, he has to become more of an activist journalist," Foster said.The film taps into millennial disillusionment through the captor Kyle (Jack O'Connell), a young man unable to provide for his family, which Foster said "did tap into something, there's a certain rage of a generation of people.""That's the smack in the face, it's almost classist in a way, in that we told (millennials) that you could achieve something and actually you're not going to be able to get a job. That's enraging," she said.While the film presents an American story, the larger social and financial themes of "Money Monster" will resonate around the world, Foster said."Europe is going through massive financial crisis ... so this isn't foreign to them. I feel like this feels pretty international, I don't feel like it's purely an American film," Foster said."Money Monster" is the fourth feature film directed by Foster, 53, who started acting as a child and has won two best actress Oscars for 1989's "The Accused" and 1992's "The Silence of the Lambs."Amid the hot button topic over the lack of gender diversity in Hollywood, Foster said things haven't improved much for female directors over her career, and have been made worse by studios not wanting to take risks in the current economy."I don't know why women are seen as a risk, that's really the question," Foster said."Forty, fifty years I've been working in the film business, why would I be a risk? But it's gender psychology."REUTERS RSD SB1311 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-726490.Xml British police seized cheques for $22 million related to a suspected Russian organised crime scam that used the London futures market to launder cash through two Russian companies, a Swiss firm and a British Virgin Islands investment group.After a four-month investigation by police and exchanges operator Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE) into suspicious trading on the futures market, City of London Police said on Wednesday they had seized four cheques six weeks after the arrest of a Russian broker on suspicion of money laundering."Our investigation points towards a suspected Russian organised crime group using London's futures market to launder millions of dollars worth of criminal revenue," Detective Inspector Craig Mullish from the City of London Police's Money Laundering Unit said.The Russian broker was arrested in London on March 23 on suspicion of fraud and has been released on bail until July, the police said in a statement on their website.No further details were immediately available.ICE in London was not immediately available for comment. REUTERS SDR JW AN1503 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0431-726748.Xml Ali Haider Gilani, son of Pakistan's former premier Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was rescued in Afghanistan after being kidnapped three years ago, received a poignant welcome in Lahore today.Ali Haider was kidnapped on May 2, 2013 during an election rally in his hometown Multan. According to The Express Tribune, he was rescued by US and Afghan forces yesterday in Afghanistan and brought to the Ministry of Defence in Kabul by Afghan Special Forces personnel. Addressing the local media, Mr Ali Haider said, ''I would like to thank Afghan government and US forces for their efforts. It takes a lot of effort to bring back someone from another country.''In another development, Pakistan Army chief General Raheel Sharif is said to have urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resolve a ballooning controversy, sparked by the revelations in Panama Papers that three Sharif family members were among dozens of world politicians, who have secret offshore holdings.Gen Raheel's advice came amid an unabated war of words between the government and the opposition on the scope of a judicial inquiry the Pakistan Prime Minister has ordered into the Panama leaks. -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0098-727228.Xml A SpaceX Dragon capsule headed back to Earth today, filled with more than 1,678 kg of experiment results and cargo from the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed.It was the first return load from the station in a year, following a SpaceX launch accident in June 2015 that destroyed another Dragon capsule.The company's Dragon capsules are currently the only ships that can return cargo from the station, a 100 billion dollar research laboratory that flies about 400 km above Earth.SpaceX resumed Dragon flights to the station last month.On Wednesday, ground controllers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston used the station's robot arm to pluck the unmanned capsule from its berthing port at 1632 IST and position it for release into space.British astronaut Timothy Peake, working from inside the space station's cupola module, then commanded the crane to free its grip at 1849 IST as the station sailed over Australia so Dragon could begin its ride back to Earth."Dragon spacecraft has served us well. It's good to see it departing full of science and we wish it a safe recovery back on planet Earth," Peake radioed to Mission Control in Houston.Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California is expected at 0015 IST.Dragon's returning cargo includes blood and urine samples from the one-year mission of former US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. The men returned to Earth March 1.REUTERS PY AS1912 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0298-727559.Xml 3 more held for Tamana murder According to reports, officers led by Superintendent Moses and including Sgt Dedier, Cpl Tewarie and others cordoned off several areas in the Tamana area for several hours on Monday where they detained the three brothers. On Friday, four other suspects, including two other brothers of the three teenagers, were also detained and handed over to officers of the Homicide Bureau. Newsday understands one of the suspects detained has been providing key information which could lead to a breakthrough in the murder probe. Goora was on her way home from work last Wednesday when she was attacked by a man armed with a knife who stabbed her once in the chest. She subsequently died at the Sangre Grande hospital and was cremated on Saturday. Newsday understands villagers of Tamana had arranged a meeting with senior officers of the Northern Division which was to be held last night to discuss crime in their district as well as to ask for additional patrols in wake of the latest murder in their once Man in court for wounding neighbour PC Blackwell of the Southern Division laid the charge which alleges that Johan went into the yard of the virtual complainant (Ming Hon) where he stabbed her on Sunday. She sustained minor injuries to the left side of her head and right hands, police said, and was treated and discharged at hospital. Court prosecutor Cleydon Seedan did not make any recommendations yesterday on how to proceed with the matter and as such, the accused labourer was not called upon to enter a plea. Attorney Kayode Saunders told the court his client had been in police custody since Sunday. The attorney added that Johan had to seek medical care at hospital, for injuries he suffered. Attorney Saunders added that medication was prescribed to his client and up to the hearing yesterday, Johan had not received it while he was in police custody. Magistrate Forde-John granted Johan cash alternative bail of $15,000. She then adjourned the case to June 7. Boy, 15, pleads guilty The 15 year-old appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John, in the San Fernando First Court, charged alongside two others ages 16 and 17. After the boy entered the guilty plea, court prosecutor Cleydon Seedan said that at about 10.45 am on February 10, Hamid Beharry 84, and his wife, Juanita 63, were at their Cocoyea home, when three bandits entered. One of the intruders, armed with a gun, demanded that the couple hand over personal items. The bandits stole $600, a quantity of gold jewelry and a several bottles of alcohol before fleeing. Cpl Crawford of the Mon Repos CID laid the charge. Yesterday, the boys attorney Marissa Bubb informed the magistrate that her client attended the Edinburgh Government Primary School but, didnt make the transition to secondary school. He is the eldest of four children to a single mother and despite his young age, assisted her in taking care of his siblings. Bubb, in mitigation, added that her client kept bad company but prior to 2015, did not associate with such persons. She added that while being transported to court in March he sustained injuries in a vehicular accident. He lives at St Margarets Village, Claxton Bay. Magistrate Forde-John ordered a Probation Officers report and remanded the accused into police custody to re-appear on June 7. A party of officers including Insp Don Gajadhar, Sgt Ramroop, PCs Moses and Goddard, arrested the three youths at Circular Courts, Circular Road, San Fernando. The other two youths are to also return to court on June 7 Locked vault at Arima courts causes adjournments The vault was locked and the only person with the key was a Justice of the Peace, who did not show up at the court yesterday, because he had to attend his mothers funeral. Magistrates in various courts adjourned their matters to later dates. Matters in the Second Court were adjourned to May 18 and those in the Third Court were adjourned to May 20. One court official said Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno would have court at 1 pm, once the vault was opened. One man was seen with a saw walking out of the court at about 11.15 am. Court officials said they were working on getting the vault opened. Many persons who had matters at the court expressed their frustration with the situation. So imagine I have to take another day from work next week because they cant get the vault open. That is unfair to people like me, how am I going to explain to my boss that I need another day. The matter I had should have been attended to today, one woman said. Father of four charged for stealing $500 Patrick appeared in the First Court before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde- John who read the charges which alleged that on Monday last, he attempted to steal $4,100 as well as $1,017 from Broodys Bar located at Caratal Road in Gasparillo. A third charge against Patrick, a taxi driver, alleged that on the same date and place he stole $500. Constable Castillo of the Gasparillo Police Station laid the charges. Court prosecutor Cleydon Seedan did not make any recommendations on how to proceed with the matter. Defence attorney Perusha Lord represented the accused and told the court he is a father of four. The attorney added that based on instructions, her client has very old matters pending before the courts. She also asked the court to be lenient on her client. Magistrate Forde-John granted Patrick $25,000 surety bail with a cash alternative of $8,000 and adjourned the matter to June 7. (LW) Ministry workers complain of late pay One worker, who asked to remain anonymous, explained that temporary workers normally get paid on the last day of every month, but for the past few months they have been getting paid in the first and second week of the following month. When we get pay late, we now have to spend additional money in late fees to credit cards, late fees at the day care centres; we need to buy food and have other bills. It is unfair to the short-term workers to receive our salary late. It is like our salary is not a priority to the ministry, the worker said. Most of the time, he said, temporary workers conduct the majority of the work at the ministry and go out their way to ensure the work is completed. We do all the work when regulars do not want to work and we are the ones who are being affected...it is really unfair, the worker said. Another worker who also did not want to be named said most of the temporary workers are forced to stay away from work due too not having Mobile library launched I want to appeal particularly to the housewives who find comfort in the soap operas; to the single and specifically teenage mothers who, because of previous decisions now find themselves trapped in bad relationships or unable to finish their education; to the young men who use violence to deflect from their inability to read and write at levels commensurate with their ages; and to our retired and elderly, to make utmost use of this service, urged Cuffie. Borrow books, use the internet, read and give yourselves the opportunity to be, even now, what you always dreamt you could be. Cuffie hoped that the community centres were the mobile library will regularly visit will now become places, not just to socialize, but from where the next generation of Naipauls, Walcotts and Lovelaces will emerge. To the young people who will have access to these services at your schools, I encourage you today to cultivate a love for reading and the arts, he recommended. Cultivate a love for language and expression beyond what passes now for conversation. Borrow a book and get a life. He said the mobile library, offered by his Ministry and the Ministry of Community Development, is an innovative way to serve many areas despite the countrys current economic challenges. Cuffie said the mobile library will serve 10 community centres, three primary schools, five preschools, one youth camp and one Servol centre. It serves community centres at Chickland, Flanagin Town, Mayo, Macaulay, Tabaquite, Todds Road, Warrenville, Waterloo and Whiteland. He said stops will also be made Claxton Bay Anglican, Flanagin RC, and Longdenville Presbyterian Primary Schools. It will also visit the Tabaquite and La Quesa Early Childhood Centres; the Doorman, Nestor Patrick and Waterloo Preschools; plus the Presto Praesto Youth Camp and the La Quesa Servol Centre. The facility has internet connectivity and is air-conditioned, he revealed. Judgement reserved in dead mans case Justice Boodoosingh gave his ruling in an application by the State to have the claim dismissed since James was dead and no one was appointed as his substitution. The judge also turned down a request by the State to consider the issue of security of costs. Attorneys representing James, whose case went as far as the Appeal Court, although he was dead, were accused of engaging in highly improper conduct and abusing the Courts process by not informing the Court that their client was dead. James died in October 2013, a month after the lawsuit was filed on his behalf. In his ruling, Justice Boodoosingh held there was nothing unusual about a claim being advanced or continuing after the death of a person. In their defence, Ramdeen and Debideen maintained that neither of them withheld from the court that their client had died, since they did not know of his death until it was brought to their attention in October 2015. Gunman arrested on Rowleys tour According to a news report done by one of Ghanas television stations, a worker of the Tema Oil Refinery Senanu Asbeit Akpade, was taken into custody by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for possessing a gun as security officials, refinery management and staff were awaiting President Mahama. This was reported by tv3network. com which indicated the detained man was in wait for President Mahama. Akpade is said to be a worker with the Environmental Department of the Tema Oil Refinery and is a known supporter of the governing National Democratic Congress. He was among staff and management of the refinery who were waiting for the President and visiting State leader Dr Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago. According to the report, recorded on the television stations website and compiled by Martin Asiedu- Dartey, President Mahama was at the refinery on Monday with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Dr. Keith Christopher Rowley to assess the companys performance since it resumed full operations in February this year. The report added, Ahead of the Presidents arrival however, National Security officers who had gone ahead of the presidential convoy arrested the man after realizing that his behaviour was suspicious. The report continued, When he was arrested, a gun he was trying to conceal was found. Another worker at the company who spoke on condition of anonymity said, before the President arrived yesterday, one of the known NDC guys in the office had been arrested having a gun on him. The television station reported that news of the mans arrest started trickling in yesterday morning, but after working its sources the station said it emerged that most workers had no knowledge of what had gone on prior to the Presidents arrival. The report quoted its source as saying that the action took place around the frontage of the old administration block, precisely around where the Managing Director parks his car. He had the gun on him before coming to work that day, the source told the television station. Apparently he has been bringing the gun to work for some time now without the knowledge of his colleagues and the security at the gate. He is currently in the grips of the BNI and that is where we know he is at the moment. AG comes out swinging Initially, Senate President Christine Kangaloo said the ayes had it since to her, they sounded more than the nos. When the division was taken for the bill to be read a second time, Independent Senators Hugh Russell Ian Roach and Temporary Independent Senator Justin Junkere voted with the Government for this to happen. Roach and Junkere were the only Independents to attend Mondays meeting at Tower D of the Port-of-Spain Waterfront International Centre with technocrats on the bill. The remaining seven Independent Senators voted with the Oppositions six senators for a division of 17 for and 13 against. As he wound up the debate, Al Rawi revealed that as the two year anniversary of the assassination of former Independent Senator Dana Seetahal SC approaches this month, it was the SSA which is responsible for persons being brought before the court with respect to her murder. Thats a fact, he declared. Al Rawi also produced a legal opinion from the Solicitor General dated May 8, 2016, which said the bill does not require a three-fifths majority as claimed by the Opposition and does not infringe upon the rights of any citizen of this country. Recalling that Opposition senators alleged that the Government would only receive clerical legal advice about the constitutionality of the legislation, Al Rawi held the opinion of the Solicitor General aloft for all senators to see. Her opinion means something in this country. he declared. Al Rawi promised to circulate the Solicitor-Generals opinion to all senators. Stressing crime and criminality has been rising in TT, Al Rawi declared that while the SSA Bill may be perfect, the Government was not prepared to do as the Opposition suggests and leave it as it is. Observing that detection was going the wrong way under the former Peoples Partnership (PP) government, Al Rawi said Opposition senators misrepresented all that was said to them earlier in the day about the bill in their meeting with technocrats at Tower D. As an example, Al Rawi said it was the National Operations Centre (NOC) not the SSA which dealt with a situation involving bush fires which an Opposition senator referred to. Reiterating his defence for the separate meetings arranged for Independent and Opposition Senators ahead of yesterdays sitting, Al Rawi said this was also necessary since the Opposition had sent packages of amendments to the Independent Senators. He added, I didnt get one. Disclosing that SSA reports from 2010 to 2014 (while the PP was in power) all spoke to the Agency operating with expanded powers, Al Rawi said the Opposition was silent on this and could not now accuse the Government of giving the SSA too much power. Al Rawi also disclosed that Government was seriously considering the establishment of a major anti-corruption and organised crime agency that would deal with several issues such as cyber-crime which Independent Senator Melissa Ramkissoon has called for action on. In his concluding remarks on the bill, Al Rawi said, Ultimately, this will be put to the test. AGs meeting a good idea, wrong time Al-Rawi last week invited Independents to a meeting on Monday. However, only two Independents Ian Roach and temporary Senator Justin Junkere attended. All other Independents did not attend. Al-Rawi declined to disclose details of attendance when questioned by reporters on Monday. As debate on the legislation resumed yesterday in the Senate, Independent Senator Taurel Shrikissoon said while he welcomed any opportunity to be provided with relevant information, this should have taken place before the debate began. I just want to say at this point in time that as an Independent senator I appreciate any opportunity to (be provided with) all relevant information as it pertains to the advancement of Trinidad and Tobago, Shrikissoon said. However, I would have preferred as in the case with the Opposition that the information being presented before the commencement of the debate would have been the same. Shrikissoon further said, So I know, and I am assuming here that there was no real ill intent on the part of the Office of the Attorney General in using the opportunity to transmit more information out. But I am just thinking that in the spirit of the debate, which had commenced, that it would not have been in the best interest to serve that invitation at this point in time. Independent Senator Paul Richards said the intention behind Al-Rawis meeting was welcomed. However it was a question of timing. The timeliness of the meeting is in question but the intention is one that should be commended, Richards said. Both Richards and Shrikissoon commended Al-Rawi and the Government on the intention behind the Bill, meant to combat crime. But they said there were concern Solomon: SSA at Tobago Jazz Festival He said, We are not satisfied we have the full picture, Solomon implored Attorney- General (AG) Faris Al-Rawi to reveal the legal opinion of any Senior Counsel on the bill that he might possess, or alternatively to commission such an opinion. He particularly wanted the opinion to discuss the bills constitutionality, including what recourse exists for citizens affected? Solomon repeated the Oppositions call for the bill to be sent to a Joint Select Committee (JSC) which could make proper decisions on very complicated matters, Solomon said that at the Oppositions earlier meeting with SSA staff as facilitated by the AG, the Opposition had been told the aim of the bill was to allow the centralising of information held in various silos by different intelligence agencies, but he queried that claim, We said, where in this legislation does it say that the SSA can compel agencies to share intelligence, There is none. The AG said so. So why are we here? So lets do this in JSC. Complaining about being rushed into the meeting before yesterdays Senate sitting, he said that if instead the Government had properly met the Opposition and Independent Senators, the latter would have supported the bill, Solomon queried Government assurances that a safeguard on the bill will be oversight of the SSA by the National Security Council, saying this is in fact a case of himself unto himself, The bill needs to go to JSC to address all these matters in an all-encompassing piece of legislation, he said. If we go to JSC, youll have our support, once its done properly. AG, Khan: No issue with timing Both men presented their respective defences during the tea break in the Senate and during the pretea sitting of the Senate in the continuing debate on the bill. Also during the sitting, in a response to Independent Senator Paul Richards, Al Rawi said there is a right to privacy in TT. He told Richards, It isnt that we dont have a right to privacy. What I was saying it was a qualified right and that the Judiciary has recognised that and called for better legislation to deal with privacy. Speaking with Newsday during the tea break, the AG said he was not disappointed that only Independent Senator Hugh Russell Ian Roach and Temporary Independent Senator Justine Junkere attended the meeting. No, not at all.We received requests from two other Independent senators who unfortunately could not make the meeting in time, for the provision of information as well, he said, Al Rawi reiterated, That was an opportunity for those who wished to ask questions to attend and ask questions of the technocrats, which were questions of a national security nature, which would be best not discussed on the floor of the Parliament. Responding to concerns raised by some Independent senators about the timing of the meeting, one day before the SSA Bill debate resumed in the Senate, Al Rawi said, It is only after you hear expressed concerns in relation to a bill, particularly a simple majority bill, that you ought to stop and reassess where you are, and if necessary make available and opportunity. He also said a parliamentary joint select committee (JSC) , is prescribed by the rules of being limited to six persons in number from both Houses (of Parliament). Saying six senators could not be the entire Independent bench (which has a total of nine senators), the AG explained, Therefore it would not be appropriate to have a JSC or even a special select committee to consider this, because none of the Independents are allowed to caucus with each other. The Opposition has called for the bill to be referred to a JSC. The view of one Independent Senator on JSC, is not going to be the view of all Independent Senators, he added. Al Rawi also said there are rules against the anticipation of bills and, therefore you cant properly anticipate the debate of a bill, until it starts. He explained this was pertinent to the issue of referral to JSC or special select committee. In his contribution to the debate, Khan explained there is a bi-cameral parliamentary system in TT. Explaining that bills with a simple majority will always pass in the House of Representatives because the Government has the majority there, Khan said, We as the Government side are debating primarily to the Independent bench to ask you, to convince you that what we are doing is putting forward good legislation. Khan, who is also Rural Development and Local Government Minister, said when matters become complicated and based on certain responses, it is imperative and it is our prerogative to speak to the Independent bench to bring further clarity to the legislation before you (Independent Senators). Looking at the Independent Senators, Khan added, It is as simple as that. It has nothing to do with lobbying, you are independent, You are independent in your own right. Nine of you are nine independent republics under a coordinator (Dr Dhanayshar Mahabir who is not a whip. Reiterating the Government was well within its rights, Khan told the Independent Senators that Al Rawi ensured the SSA Directors presence at Mondays meeting, to answer your questions. Opposition Senators confused The meeting, held in the Parliament Building, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain yesterday morning, lasted for approximately one hour and 15 minutes. It was organised by Attorney General (AG) Faris Al Rawi to allow United National Congress (UNC) Senators the opportunity to address their concerns and queries about the Bill to experts and technocrats including current SSA Director George Robinson. A similar meeting for Independent Senators was held on Mondayre (Monday) Mark told reporters the Opposition was unable to get clarification during the meeting about how the proposed amendments relate to serious crime as it relates to offences related to treason, homicide and acts of terrorism. We believe this is because it is at the discretion of the (SSA) Director and his deputies to interpret what serious crime really means, and that is very dangerous, Mark warned. He added, We left that meeting not fully appreciating what the concept of this matter of serious crime was all about, in the context of the directors interpretation and application...It is as wide as it is broad. It can really capture a broad network of personnel in this arena. We are very concerned about this matter. AG facing Cabinet axe What I am hearing is that the first political head on the block is the Attorney General and if that is not true, she said, he should be removed for his role in the Malcolm Jones affair, for his role in the SSA (Strategic Services Agency) affair, for his role in ArcelorMittal and so many others that we can rain on his doorstep, Persad-Bissessar said. Addressing supporters at the Aranjuez Community Centre, Persad-Bissessar said there have been discussions about who were and who were not members of Government. Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, she said, made statements about abortion for which Rowley later, came out and bouffed him, saying Deyalsingh was not the Government and that the debate should continue. Similarly, she said Rowley came and bouffed Al-Rawi for saying he was investigating the decriminalisation of marijuana, but that he was not speaking for Government. Section 75 of the countrys constitution, she said, states that Cabinet shall comprise such ministers as the Prime Minister decides one of whom must be the AG. So when Rowley tells Al-Rawi that he was not speaking for Government, Persad-Bissessar questioned, Who is the Government? Is it the Prime Minister or the big people party behind the strings of the Prime Minister? Questioning Al-Rawis statements, Persad-Bissessar said that on more than one occasion, he had referred to a 2014 annual parliamentary report laid in the Parliament. Up to (Monday), I checked with the Parliament staff. There is no 2014 annual report laid in the Parliament. We cannot believe a word Mr AG says. We cannot trust him and anything he now has to say about this SSA bill or any other bill, we do not believe him. Yesterday, as the Senate was sitting to debate the SSA Bill, she noted that there was going to be the Universal Periodic Review of the Implementation of the Human Rights Treaty for TT in Geneva. I want to ask the AG, she said, Have you submitted our international human rights report? Who in Geneva is representing us, because I believe the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Dennis Moses) is somewhere down in Ghana. Claiming that the SSA Bill makes provision for sedition which, she said, was very dangerous to all of us, especially the media and political activists who like to talk, she said that the freedom of expression will be interfered with. On arguments that parliamentary safeguards were in place to ensure that new provisions will not be abused, Persad- Bissessar said the Auditor Generals reports and the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on National Security were not safeguards. AG: Kamla is not PM Speaking in Aranjuez at the UNCs Monday Night forum, Persad-Bissessar claimed to have heard rumours of a major Cabinet reshuffle being imminent. But speaking to Newsday prior to the resumption of debate on the Strategic Services Agency (SSA) Amendment Bill 2016 in the Senate, Al-Rawi declared, Mrs Persad- Bissessar is not the Prime Minister. Al-Rawi, who is also the Peoples National Movement (PNM) San Fernando West MP, continued, The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago appoints and/or removes ministers to and from ministerial portfolio. He added, This is a well-known prime ministerial privilege under the Westminster system. 2 Independents heed AGs call Roach yesterday said that after the two-hour meeting, at which technocrats and officials were present, he left it more enlightened. However, he also said he was also enlightened by a submission sent to all Independents by former Senate President Timothy Hamel-Smith, who has expressed deep concern over the bill. What I will tell you...every bit of information is valuable, Roach said yesterday morning. I came out more enlightened than I went in. The brief from the former President of Senate was also welcomed. It can only be helpful in making the right decision. I have not received anything from the Law Association, Roach said. Hamel-Smith, in a letter sent to media houses, called for amendments to the bill. It cannot be right to permit: (1) politicians to appoint the Director of the SSA who is responsible for interception of communications; (2) a politician to direct the activities of the Director (Section 4(5) of the SSA) in relation to his functions under the Interception of Communications Act; and (3) wire-tapping/ spying on citizens without first obtaining the approval of a Judge by issue of a warrant. (Section 6(2) (b) (i-iv) and (c) of the Interception of Communications Act), Hamel- Smith said. Hamel-Smith said these provisions amounted to, an unacceptable interference of the Executive with the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens granted to them under the Constitution, which no society that has a proper respect for the rights and freedoms of the individual, would consider to be reasonably justifiable. AOI not happy with NOC-SSA link On the former issue, the AOI, in a statement yesterday, said the director must be named in a manner so as to avoid any stigma that he or she is beholden to any politician. The AOI urged, It is mandatory that there must be a more structured system for this appointment, based on ensuring a certain degree of qualification and expertise, not just in National Security in general, but specifically in intelligence. The AOI queried the new relationship between the SSA and the NOC. Previously, the NOC had provided a theatre to meet, discuss and operationalise intelligence to efficiently maximise assets and carry out intelligence- led operations. But the AOI complained that now the shifting of the NOC to be under the SSA has diminished the NOCs original role from being a coordinating centre to just another intelligence arm of the Ministry of National Security. What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames news Clinton paid money to tech company that specializes in destroying hard drives As the 2016 presidential contest narrows further to just two candidates Hillary Clinton for the Democrats and Donald Trump for the Republicans one thing is becoming crystal clear for the former candidate: Her checkered, legally questionable past is catching up to her in a big way, and her chief rival is likely to begin using it against her, and soon. As if campaigning under the cloud of an ongoing FBI investigation into whether she misused highly classified information and whether any of it was compromised on a personal email server she kept in her home an unprecedented act for a serving secretary of state the Washington Free Beacon reported in recent days that Clintons campaign actually made payments to a firm that specializes in destroying hard drives and their contents. Why would an innocent person with nothing to hide do that? As the WFB noted, her campaign made multiple payments that were recorded in February and March earlier this year to the Nevada-based American Document Destruction, Inc., a company that claims expertise in destroying hard drives or anything that a hard drive can come from. Our hard drive destruction procedures take place either at your site or at our secure facility in Sparks, NV, the companys web site notes. This decision is yours to decide based on cost and convenience to you. In either situation, the hard drive will be destroyed by a shredding. We have a dedicated machine for hard drive destruction, the website continues. We will also record the serial numbers of all drives to be destroyed to be kept in our records. A copy of this log can be provided to you as well. Our equipment is powerful. Whether you require ON SITE or OFF SITE service, performed at our Sparks facility, large volumes can be quickly destroyed regardless of staples, clips or fasteners, the site says. Office paper, folders, binders and computer media can be destroyed in just minutes. As a result, we pass the savings on to you! A new service we also offer is computer hard drive destruction, either ON-SITE or OFF-SITE. Indeed, it wasnt as if the Clinton campaign paid a fortune for whatever it had destroyed; the first payment from the campaign to the destruction company came on Feb. 3 in the amount of $43, Federal Election Commission filings shows, the WFB reported. Continuing, the WFB noted that two additional payments of $43 and $58 were made on Feb. 21. A fourth payment of $43 was made on March 26, bringing the amount paid to the destruction company to $187. The web site contacted the company to inquire about rates and was told it gets $10 per hard drive and $5 per cubic foot of paper, meaning that Clintons camp potentially had 14 hard drives or about 38 cubic feet of paper destroyed. On this heels of the WFB report came another bombshell that may also help explain why the FBI has been viewed as dragging its feet with the Clinton probe. Fox News reported exclusively May 4 that the Romanian hacker known as Guccifer said in an interview that he not only hacked into Clintons personal server, but that it was easy to do and, more importantly, while he was inside, he saw electronic evidence that at least 10 other IP addresses had gained access, meaning the possibility that her server was hacked multiple times is real. As an aside, and not surprisingly, a member of the dying Left-wing mainstream media NBC News had the Guciffer story as well for some weeks but sat on it. In their interview with Guccifer AKA Marcel Lehel Lazar scoffed at the claim by Clinton that her server was very secure. Keep in mind, also, that previous reports have said that FBI investigators have found some 2,000 emails on Clintons server that were classified, and at least 22 that were deemed to contain Top Secret information. Keep in mind also that Clintons primary excuse they werent marked classified at the time I sent/received them means nothing under U.S. statutes for handling such material. The onus is put on the sender/receiver that he/she should know what is and is not classified material, regardless of whether it is marked as such. Government officials, as The Daily Beast notes, have gone to prison for mishandling classified information. More: Submit a correction >> What the Obama regime has done to due process for males on college campuses is absymal (Freedom.news) The principle that every person in the United States is entitled by right to due process of law, is so firmly embedded in the legal and cultural fabric of our society, that it hardly bears reminding. Yet, if you happen to be a male student at any college or university that receives federal funds, and an allegation of sexual misconduct has been leveled against you, you quickly realize that due process is a luxury you no longer enjoy. Thanks to the Obama Administrations effort to institutionalize political correctness throughout our nations education system, due process for male college students has been redefined out of the college curriculum. Now, according to Due Process 101 as taught by the United States Department of Education, male college students are no longer innocent until proven guilty; they are simply guilty if accused, and due process is a one-way street favoring the accuser not the accused. Two parents, however, have decided to take on the Obama Administration, and to give it a lesson in constitutional due process. Last month in my home state of Georgia, State Representative Earl Ehrhart and his wife, parents of a son who attends Georgia Tech, filed a Complaint in federal court in Atlanta. The Ehrharts ground-breaking Complaint states that the U.S. Department of Education acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally when it asserted in a 2011 Dear Colleague Letter addressed to schools receiving federal dollars, that allegations of sexual harassment by a college student at any school receiving federal funds must be handled in such manner as to make it next to impossible for a male student thus charged, to defend himself. The threat to cut-off federal monies to any school not complying with the Dear Colleague Letter was thinly-veiled. The Complaint describes how the Department of Education has aggressively dictated how colleges and universities handle sexual assault and sexual harassment on campus, and created a veritable kangaroo court for such crimes based on the excessively low preponderance of the evidence standard . . . as opposed to the clear and convincing evidence standard traditionally used in college disciplinary hearings. The consequence of these changes, the Ehrharts note, is causing schools to brand more students rapists, and placing further restrictions on the due process rights of the accused. Sexual assault whether on-campus or off is a serious crime; and allegations of such need to be taken seriously, investigated thoroughly, and prosecuted where warranted. But there is a right way and a wrong way to pursue justice; a process that should not depend on whether or not a suspect is a student at a school receiving federal funds. The appearance and the substance of constitutional due process must be maintained for both the victim and the accused. However, in the Bizarro World system of justice being pushed by the Obama Administration, the focus now is on simply making it as easy as possible to get a guilty verdict once an allegation of sexual harassment (defined very broadly) has been made. For male students accused of such conduct, the road to redemption is much like that traveled by the character Andy Dufresne in the movie The Shawshank Redemption a harrowing crawl to freedom that is exceedingly difficult, dirty, ugly, and something that will forever haunt them. Male students are not the only victims in this drive for social justice. Ultimately, it is the American taxpayer who winds up footing the bill for each college and university having to establish a multi-tiered system by which to run roughshod over the rights of these students. Taxpayers must also pay the often massive legal fees incurred by the schools to defend the many lawsuits brought by families of students who had their lives ruined after being falsely accused in such a system. As noted in the journal, Insider Higher-Ed, several dozen such lawsuits are currently pending against universities by those wrongly accused. As detailed also in the Ehrharts Complaint, the result of the undermining of fundamental due process on college campuses by the Obama Administration, is made worse by the fact that these changes should not have been implemented as they were in the first place. Rather than announce its plans in 2011 as standard rule-making proposals according to which public input is solicited and considered in a transparent and public process the Department of Education rammed its plan through as a Dear Colleague Letter, with no meaningful opportunity for colleges or universities (or any other interested parties, for that matter) to comment. Where the Ehrharts lawsuit goes from here, and whether other suits will follow, remains to be seen. However, at the very least, this courageous couple is setting an example for others, by standing up to bureaucratic bullies who seek to vilify male college students and undermine our Bill of Rights on the altar of political correctness. Used with permission. Bob Barr, founder of Liberty Guard, represented Georgias 7th district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 -2003 and as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia from 1986-1990. More: Freedom.news is part of the USA Features Media network. Check out our daily headlines here. Submit a correction >> Kejriwal government has totally ignored the report of a Rs. 400 crores water tanker scam: Satish Upadhyay New Delhi, Wed, 11 May 2016 NI Wire Delhi BJP URGES THE Lt. GOVERNOR TO ORDER ACTION AGAINST CULPRITS OF 400 Crores DELHI JAL BOARD TANKER SCAM & SEEK REPORT FROM THE CHIEF MINISTER OVER THE FEAR OF DESTABILISING GOVERNMENT or LOSS OF HIS JOB AS EXPRESSED BY MINISTER KAPIL MISHRA IN HIS 28th August 2015 LETTER TO THE C.M. New Delhi, 11th May: Delhi BJP Leaders led by the State President Shri Satish Upadhyay today met the Lt. Governor of Delhi Shri Najeeb Jung and submited a memorandum raising the issue of the contents of a letter written by Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra to the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressing fears of loosing job alongwith possibility of destabilising government if action is taken against the culprits of the Rs. 400 crores Delhi Jal Board Water Tanker Scam that took place under the Congress government era in Delhi. The delegation included Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Shri Vijendra Gupta, National Secretary Sardar R P Singh, Delhi BJP General Secretaries MP Shri Ramesh Bidhuri, Shri Ashish Sood & Smt. Rekha Gupta, MLAs Shri O.P. Sharma & Shri Jagdish Pradhan and Media Incharge Praveen Shankar Kapoor. The memorandum says that it is really surprising that Minister Kapil Mishra wrote a letter on 28th August 2015 to the Chief Minister citing findings of a inquiry committee report establishing that a Rs. 400 crores Water Tanker Scam took place in Jal Board during the tenure of Congress government led by C.M. Smt. Sheila Dikshit who headed the Jal Board too but no action has been ordered by the Chief Minister of Delhi against the Tanker Scam accused even after almost 9 months. BJP leaders have in the memorandum said that the present government of C.M. Kejriwal claims to be working on a agenda of zero tolerance of corruption and politically speaks a lot against corruption but the Kejriwal government has totally ignored the report of a Rs. 400 crores water tanker scam in Delhi Jal Board during the tenure of a previous government. Memorandum says it seems either the present government is under a malafide deal with the erstwhile C.M. Smt. Sheila Dikshit or the C.M. finds a threat to his government if he acts in the matter of the tanker scam as indicated by Minister Mishra in his letter. The people of Delhi have all the right to know who is posing threat to Kejriwal Cabinet in case it acts against corruption deeds of Sheila government era. BJP Memorandum urges the Lt. Governor to seek a immediate report from C.M. Arvind Kejriwal on the contents of the Minister Kapil Mishra's letter dated 28th August 2015 and the silence of his cabinet on the Rs. 400 crores scam. Memorandum says that at the time when Minister Mishra wrote this letter he was working in dual capacity as Law Minister & Jal Board Chief. As a Law Minister he could have directly ordered arrest of the scam accused or filling of case against them. Fearing an independent action the Chief Minister shunted out Minister Mishra from the Law Department within 2 days and later from Jal Board too. Delhi BJP President Shri Satish Upadhyay said that it is really surprising the a self proclaimed Mr. Clean Kejriwal has time to speak on international issues but goes silent on a major 400 crores scam of his predecessor government. Shri Upadhyay said people of Delhi want to know from the C.M. as to towards whom Minister Kapil Mishra indicated while expressing fears of threat to the government or self if arrests are made in the 400 crores scam ? People want to know why the C.M. Kejriwal has been silent on the scam even after 9 months of the report ? LOP Shri Vijendra Gupta has said that this 400 crores water tanker scam referred in Minister Mishra's letter is not even tip of the iceberg. For last 15 years Delhi Jal Board has been a corruption den where over 75% of development funds are looted. Shri Vijendra Gupta said that BJP will go all out to demand a thorough probe into all deals & development projects of Delhi Jal Board during the Sheila Dikshit regime and under the present Kejriwal government. Nebraska is facing one of the worst droughts in years. We see the effects of this drought in our everyday lives. When driving down the highway, we see our once verdant landscape replaced with yellowing and desiccated crops and plant life. This dryness provokes hardships for the economy and a 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. US justice authorities Tuesday announced they will not seek death penalty against main suspect of the 2012 attacks on the US embassy in Benghazi which caused the death of the US envoy and three other people. The United States of America hereby gives notice that the government will not seek imposition of the death penalty if the defendant is convicted of any capital crime charged in this case, US Attorney Channing Phillips wrote in a notice filed with the US District Court in Washington. The decision is said to have been made after US Attorney General Loretta Lynch discussed the matter with state prosecutors. Ahmed Abu Khatallah, a Libyan said to be 45 is suspected for masterminding attacks against US embassy in Benghazi in 2002, is facing an 18-count indictment over the killing at an American diplomatic and intelligence compound. He was captured in 2014 by US Special Forces and transferred to the US on board a US navy ship. Khatallah appeared several times before the court flanked by his lawyers who unsuccessfully battled to have charges against him dropped and secure his return to Libya. Even though the prosecutors are dropping the death penalty, Justice Department spokeswoman Emily Pierce indicated that Khatallahs prosecution will go ahead. The department is committed to ensuring that the defendant is held accountable, Pierce said in a statement. The defendants lawyers praised the US Attorney Generals decision to abandon the death penalty indicating that it was the correct decision. A group of armed men stormed the US embassy in Benghazi in 2012 killing in the attacks, US envoy to Libya, Chris Stevens along with Sean Patrick Smith, a State Department information management officer. The mission was set on fire and a CIA annex not far from the mission also came under attack. Two American security agents namely Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty also died in the attack. US officials blamed Libyan Ansar al-Sharia for the attacks. Tunisian Prime Minister called, on Tuesday, for regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism, which is putting the whole region into jeopardy. Speaking at a press conference in Rabat after a meeting with his Moroccan counterpart Abdelilah Benkirane, Habid Essid indicated that the region would be better secured if the region countries, namely Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, work closely to stamp out terrorism. We have been able to bust numerous terror plots thanks to our security cooperation with Algeria, mainly at the borders, Essid said. With Morocco, we shared information, and in my exchanges with the Moroccan Prime Minister, we decided to increase this cooperation, said Essid who started on Tuesday a two-day visit to Morocco. His comments came as the Tunisian Interior Ministry announced Monday they were able to prevent so far this year 2,000 Tunisians from joining conflict zones, mainly in the Middle East region. Tunisia has been facing growing movement of terrorism by jihadists who sometimes crossed in from war-torn Libya. The North African country knew last year its worst terror attacks. Three major attacks plotted by the Islamic State claimed lives of 71 people. Security forces have also encountered regular insurgency near the Libyan border. Prime Minister Essid also re-iterated Tunisias rejection of any military intervention in Libya. Any intervention in Libyan internal affairs is a mistake, he insisted. Essid made an unannounced visit to Libya recently and promised at his talks with Prime Minister-designate Faiez Serraj Tunisias support to the GNA. King Mohammed VI of Morocco who started on Wednesday an official visit to China signed with his host President Xi Jinping a joint statement on establishing strategic partnership between the two countries. The strategic partnership will be a milestone for the development of bilateral ties and will open new opportunities for bilateral cooperation in all areas. During the signing ceremony, King Mohammed VI hailed the traditional friendship between the two countries and said he is convinced that this strategic partnership will inject new vitality into Moroccan-Chinese relations, reported Xinhua. The Moroccan sovereign also voiced his countrys willingness to join hands with China to expand trade and infrastructure cooperation, and strengthen coordination on development issues and climate change. Morocco is willing to be an important cooperative partner of China in Africa and among the Arab states, the king said, according to the Chinese news agency. President Xi Jinping on his part underlined that China attaches high importance to relations with Morocco, and will steadily support its efforts to maintain national stability and promote social and economic development. China also appreciates Moroccos adherence to the one-China policy and its support on major issues concerning Chinas core interests, President Xi Jinping was quoted as saying by Xinhua. Under the joint statement establishing the strategic partnership, the two sides will increase exchanges between heads of state, government leaders and officials, strengthen communication and coordination on strategic issues, and enhance cooperation and exchanges between legislative bodies and political parties, reported Xinhua. The two sides reaffirmed the principle of respecting all countries sovereignty and territorial integrity, and vowed to support all sides efforts to maintain peace and stability of the regions they belong to. They likewise called for peaceful solutions to international and regional crises and disputes; opposed interference in others internal affairs, use of force or threat by force; and condemned terrorism in all its forms. The two sides will implement the cooperation consensus reached under the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Before the signing of the joint statement at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, the two leaders held talks in the presence of the Moroccan kings accompanying delegation and a number of Chinese officials. The two leaders afterwards presided over the signing ceremony of some 15 agreements and memoranda of understanding covering cooperation in the judicial; economic; financial; industrial; and energy sectors. They also cover cooperation in the areas of infrastructure; tourism; culture; science, technology and defense industry; and the safety of imported and exported foodstuffs. A Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of the Economic and Industrial Cooperation Zone was also signed during the ceremony. These accords will enhance relations between the two long-time friends and partners, promote their exchanges and boost a mutually beneficial cooperation. King Mohammed VI gave instructions for the abolition of entry visas for Chinese nationals as of June 2016, said Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Salaheddine Mezouar. King Mohammed VI announced his decision to President Xi Jinping during the meeting they held Wednesday at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, Salaheddine Mezouar told the Moroccan news agency. The Foreign Minister said this decision confirms the sovereigns vision and his commitment to deepen and diversify Moroccan-Chinese relations. It shows also Moroccos determination to intensify human, cultural, economic and political relations between the two long-time friends and partners. Talks between King Mohammed VI and the Chinese Head of State took place in an atmosphere of friendship, commitment and sincerity, said Mezouar. Both leaders have voiced commitment to implement the strategic partnership between Beijing and Rabat signed on Wednesday, he said. King Mohammed VI who started an official visit to China Wednesday held talks with President XI Jinping, before the two leaders signed the joint declaration on the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries. The two leaders also presided over the signing ceremony of some 15 agreements and memoranda of understanding, all meant to boost cooperation between the two countries. The central banks of China and Morocco on the other hand signed a three-year currency swap deal worth $1.53 billion (10 billion yuan.) The deal will facilitate bilateral trade and investment, according to a statement posted on the website of the Peoples Bank of China. The puppet master. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images Youll never read a more captivating profile of a White House flack than the one about deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes in this weeks New York Times Magazine. The story has all the trappings of a Don DeLillo novel (including a winking self-awareness of that fact): A would-be novelist witnesses the 9/11 attacks and decides he has more important stories to tell. Rapidly rising through the ranks of the national security community, he becomes the chief note taker for the Iraq Study Group, where he subtly shapes the commissions conclusions through his selective transcriptions just as the protagonist did in his only published short story! Then, he catches the eye of a certain charismatic presidential candidate, who boasts little foreign-policy experience of his own. Over the next eight years, he uses his literary skills and the credulity of a beleaguered political press to reshape the narrative of American foreign policy around his idiosyncratic vision. You may have never heard his name, but much of what you believe to be true about the world is a fiction he wrote into your brain. All of which is to say: David Samuelss profile of Rhodes is a fun and incendiary piece of writing. Its also terrible journalism. And the combination of those qualities has generated a staggering number of takedowns since the story first appeared online last Thursday. Here are the ten biggest problems with Samuelss story. 1. Samuels never mentions the extremely relevant fact that he thinks Obamas foreign policy is apocalyptically bad. The thesis of Samuelss piece is that Ben Rhodes used a storytellers skills to help the Obama administration actively mislead the public about the Iran deal. In the reporters telling, Rhodes constructed overarching plotlines with heroes and villains, their conflicts and motivations supported by flurries of carefully chosen adjectives, quotations and leaks from named and unnamed senior officials, that allowed the president to evade what might have otherwise been a divisive but clarifying debate over the actual policy choices that his administration was making policy choices that amount to nothing less than a large-scale disengagement from the Middle East. There are several problems with this narrative which well get into in a minute but all those other issues stem from the fact that Samuels entered this assignment with very strong feelings about the policy choices in question. And despite the fact that the story is told in the first-person, he never discloses those potential biases to the reader. As Slates Fred Kaplan notes, Samuels wrote a piece titled the rational case for an Israeli attack on Iran in 2009. In April 2015, he participated in a panel discussion on the question, Whats wrong with the proposed nuclear deal with Iran? Samuelss answer was that it would lead to the greatest surge in nuclear proliferation that weve seen since the Second World War. Samuels further suggested that Obamas foreign-policy vision was an experiment thats unlikely to end well for humans. Samuels could have disclosed the fact that he believes Obamas foreign policy threatens the survival of the human race. But instead he chose to evade what might have otherwise been a divisive but clarifying debate over the actual biases he was bringing to this story. 2. Samuels quotes his own knowing chuckle. According to Samuels, Rhodess propaganda proved so effective because reporters today arent nearly as smart or courageous as David Samuels. In a world where experienced reporters competed for scoops and where carrying water for the White House was a cause for shame, no matter which party was in power, it was much harder to sustain a narrative over any serious period of time, Samuels laments. Now the most effectively weaponized 140-character idea or quote will almost always carry the day, and it is very difficult for even good reporters to necessarily know where the spin is coming from or why. Samuels argues that the slow death of print journalism and foreign bureaus staffed by policy experts has left newsrooms full of the young and underqualified. Rhodes who entered the foreign-policy elite in his mid-20s, on the strength of his creative writing skills and his mothers connections agrees. Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington, Rhodes tells Samuels. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. Thats a sea change. They literally know nothing. In another passage, Samuels chats with Rhodess assistant Ned Price about all the lapdog journalists they both know. We have our compadres, I will reach out to a couple people, and you know I wouldnt want to name them I can name them, I said, ticking off a few names of prominent Washington reporters and columnists who often tweet in sync with White House messaging. Price laughed. Ill say, Hey, look, some people are spinning this narrative that this is a sign of American weakness, he continued, but In fact its a sign of strength! I said, chuckling. The Washington Posts Carlos Lozada argues that this smug self-satisfaction shared by writer and subject alike is one of the things that makes the piece aesthetically gross: It is the knowing chumminess of a journalist finishing sentences for a White House official who is mocking other prominent Washington journalists for getting so easily spun and then quoting himself as he finishes the sentence, even letting us know that he did so with a chuckle. (It takes a special kind of journalist to quote his own chuckle.) But the problem with this mutual smugness is more than just aesthetic: Its what allows Samuels to dismiss everyone who doesnt take his dim view of the Iran deal as an empty-headed sycophant brainwashed by an immensely talented propagandist; and then allows Rhodes to tell him that hes right. 3. Samuels suggests that national security experts didnt support the Iran deal because they thought it was good they supported it because Ben Rhodes is awesome at Twitter. His sole evidence for this are Rhodess prideful boasts. Samuels writes: In the spring of last year, legions of arms-control experts began popping up at think tanks and on social media, and then became key sources for hundreds of often-clueless reporters. We created an echo chamber, he admitted, when I asked him to explain the onslaught of freshly minted experts cheerleading for the deal. They were saying things that validated what we had given them to say. Other than the fact that a communications operative took credit when prompted for a messaging success, Samuels offers no evidence to support the implication that the legions of arms-control experts who publicly opined about the deal were actually just puppets controlled by the administration. As Joe Cirincione notes in Politico, Israeli chief of staff General Gadi Eizenkot called the deal a historic turning point that made Israel safer an assessment shared by many other Israeli intelligence and military leaders. To claim that Eizenhot and senior Israeli military leaders were swayed by Ben Rhodes Twitter account is ludicrous, Cirincione writes. Samuels provides no compelling evidence to suggest otherwise. 4. Samuels attributes a quote to Samantha Powers sneakers. Just getting around 2 this Ben Rhodes profile...What the hell does Samantha Power's clothing have to do w/ anything? pic.twitter.com/60Zwmdt6fz Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) May 9, 2016 5. Samuels smears a journalist by blatantly misrepresenting a key quote. He smears another without offering any supporting evidence whatsoever. In the pieces most infamous passage, Samuels discusses social media with a White House digital strategist named Tanya Somanader: People construct their own sense of source and credibility now, she said. They elect who theyre going to believe. For those in need of more traditional-seeming forms of validation, handpicked Beltway insiders like Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Laura Rozen of Al-Monitor helped retail the administrations narrative. Laura Rozen was my RSS feed, Somanader offered. She would just find everything and retweet it. As Goldberg explains in his response to the piece, Samuels appears to either misinterpret or else willfully misrepresent Somanaders quote: Rozens Twitter feed, for those of us who covered the Iran negotiations, was famous. She was absolutely frenetic, who was talking to whom in the hallway, which foreign secretary had stepped out to go the bathroomand she seemed to retweet everyone, from Ayatollah Khamenei to Benjamin Netanyahu. In other words, when Somanader says that Rozen tweeted everything, she doesnt mean that the reporter was doing the administrations bidding, but rather that she, well, tweeted everything. Its hard to see how Samuels missed her meaning, unless he doesnt know what an RSS feed is, and was too incurious to inquire. As for his implication that Goldberg retails the administrations message, he fails to provide even a misleading quote to substantiate that claim. (Goldberg makes a case that Samuels has personal animus toward him and ought to have disclosed that in the story.) 6. This sentence is insanely wrong. It has been rare to find Ben Rhodess name in news stories about the large events of the past seven years, unless you are looking for the quotation from an unnamed senior official in Paragraph 9. Rhodes is one of the most frequently quoted officials in the Obama administration. 7. The piece suggests that Obama kept the public in the dark about the deals origins. He didnt. The central fiction in the Obama administrations narrative about the Iran deal, per Samuels, was that the diplomatic effort was only undertaken after Hassan Rouhani beat regime hard-liners in an election and then began to pursue a policy of openness. While its true that the Obama administration emphasized this development in its messaging around the deal, the president publicly expressed interest in the talks before Rouhanis election. And the secret 2011 talks that opened engagement were exposed well ahead of the congressional vote thanks to the investigative reporting of the aforementioned narrative retailer, Laura Rozen. 8. The piece portrays a communications official defending his administration through the assertion of facts as an Orwellian nightmare. The pieces first illustration of Rhodess nefarious talents comes when Iran captures ten U.S. sailors the day of Obamas final State of the Union address. Samuels watches as Rhodes stumbles upon a winning angle.Were resolving this, because we have relationships, the strategic communications official declares. The reporter narrates what follows: I watch the message bounce from Rhodess brain to Prices keyboard to the three big briefing podiums the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon and across the Twitterverse, where it springs to life in dozens of insta-stories, which over the next five hours don formal dress for mainstream outlets. Its a tutorial in the making of a digital news microclimate a storm that is easy to mistake these days for a fact of nature, but whose author is sitting next to me right now. Here, Samuels dystopic tone masks the fact that Rhodes message is, well, true. The Obama administration was able to resolve the crisis in less than 24 hours because, as Slates Kaplan writes, top-level officials in Washington and Tehran had relationshipssomething that hadnt been the case in the previous 37 years (since the 1979 revolution). 9. This phrase is not accurate. Samuels writes that Rhodes is invisible because he is not an egotist. Which is why he has agreed to participate in a magazine feature story about how incredible he is at his job. 10. Samuels suggests that Rhodes made the Iran deal possible by stifling a rational debate that could have galvanized dissent. He offers no evidence for this claim. Finally, even if you granted all of Samuelss other premises, his thesis still wouldnt hold up for the simple fact that the administrations messaging effort on the Iran deal wasnt particularly successful. As Dan Drezner notes, Americans dont actually have a very high opinion of Obamas foreign policy. The Iran deal didnt go through because Americans overwhelmingly supported it; it went through because Americans didnt care all that much either way. As Drezner writes: Opponents of the Iran deal massively outspent and out-advertised proponents. Furthermore, contra Samuels, this blitz had an effect; in polling, the Pew Research Center found that there was an appreciable increase in opposition to the deal over the summer. But Pew also found something else: despite the blizzard of advertising and media coverage surrounding the Iran deal, respondents stated that they knew less about the contours of the deal two months after the debate started. Why? Because the issue had not resonated widely with the public. If you read Samuelss profile as a literary work rather than a journalistic one its fundamental flaw becomes a transcendent virtue: A lamentation of Ben Rhodess talent for seeding narratives in an unsuspecting public is itself an attempt to covertly perpetuate the unreliable narrators ideology. Form dissolves into content, subject into object. Like Rhodes, Samuels is a storyteller who uses a writers tools to advance an agenda that is packaged as journalism but is often quite personal. He is adept at constructing overarching plotlines with heroes and villains, their conflicts and motivations supported by flurries of carefully chosen adjectives, misleading quotations, and leaks from named and unnamed senior officials. He is a master shaper and retailer of neoconservative foreign-policy narratives. And he has a bright future ahead of him in the field of strategic communications. The face of regret. Photo: Drew Angerer/2016 Getty Images Ted Cruz will not be galloping in on a third-party platform to save skittish Republicans from Donald Trump. On Tuesday afternoon, Cruz spoke to a mob of political reporters outside his Senate office to clear up a statement hed made earlier that day on Glenn Becks radio program. We launched this campaign intending to win, he told Beck at the time. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory. If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly. To many, that was Cruz hinting that his dearly departed campaign might be revived. But Cruz said otherwise. We have suspended the campaign because I can see no viable path to victory, he told reporters. Of course, if that changed, we would reconsider. But lets be clear: Were not going to win Nebraska. When asked if hed consider a third-party bid, Cruz was less evasive: I have no interest in a third-party bid, he said, and left it at that. So what will he do now that hes back in the Senate? Im going to continue fighting for the American people, he said, overlooking the fact that the American people are the reason hes no longer running for president. And if fighting for the American people makes you an outsider in the Senate, then I will happily remain an outsider. Because at least to date, Congress, both parties, both houses, far too often havent been listening to the American people. Sanders parts the red sea. Photo: Justin Sullivan/2016 Getty Images Good morning and welcome to Fresh Intelligence, our roundup of the stories, ideas, and memes youll be talking about today. In this edition, Tuesdays primary results surprise no one, Trump does the opposite of distancing himself from white supremacy, and Uber drivers are placated with a guild. Heres the rundown for Wednesday, May 11. WEATHER Today will offer no relief for the middle states as severe storms continue to batter areas from Wisconsin to Texas with tornadoes possible along the way. Meanwhile most of the East Coast will see milder showers and gray skies, although New York should stay dry, if cloudy, with temperatures in the mid-70s. [Weather.com] FRONT PAGE Whats the Opposite of an Upset? Yesterdays primaries in Nebraska and West Virginia held few surprises. West Virginia went to Bernie Sanders the Democratic candidate who did not promise to put coal miners out of jobs and Donald Trump, while Trump won Nebraskas Republican primary handily. He also happens to be the only Republican still in the race, but whos counting? Trumps two victories Tuesday night could put him just 99 delegates shy of the 1,237 needed to become the Republican nominee. EARLY AND OFTEN Trump Campaign Includes White Supremacist on List of Delegates, Blames Computer Glitch The Donald Trump campaign submitted William Johnsons name on a list of prospective delegates for California. The only problem is that Johnson is an infamous white supremacist and the head of the equally noxious American National super-pac. The campaign blamed a computer glitch for including the name, which it claimed had already been considered and rejected. Even if thats true, its pretty scary on its own. [NYT] Trump and Cruz Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Ted Cruz gave his first interview since dropping out of the race yesterday to outspoken Cruz fan and radio personality Glenn Beck. During the interview, Cruz said that he was not supporting Donald Trump calling peoples wives ugly and accusing their dads of being a part of the Kennedy assassination can have that effect and even hinted a bit mysteriously that he might rejoin the race, especially if he won in Nevada, which we now know he did not do. [NYT] Obama Will Make Historic Hiroshima Visit, Declines to Make Historic Apology President Obama will become the first sitting president to visit Hiroshima when he makes a trip to the site of the historic nuclear blast on May 27. Obama is expected to use the trip to emphasize his commitment to nuclear nonproliferation and the strength of the relationship between the U.S. and Japan. But the White House is making it very clear that he will not will not apologize for America dropping the bomb in the first place. [Reuters] Trump Doesnt Realize Hes Breaking Carsons Heart Donald Trump responded to a tough question yesterday with yet another inscrutable answer: When asked about potential running mates, Trump said he already had a list of five or six people in mind. He also said hell announce his VP pick at the convention, and that he is choosing potential mates with the help of Ben Carson, which is totally like one of those movies where someones best friend secretly loves them but gives them advice about dating other people just to be close to them. [Politico] THE STREET, THE VALLEY Wall Street Tastes of Mouse Tears Walt Disney, the darling of children and investors, disappointed the latter yesterday when it announced weaker revenue than expected. The fault seems to lie with Disney cash cow ESPN, where advertising and subscriptions were both down, and with the companys under-visited theme parks. [Reuters] Feds Halt Another Megamerger The federal government has effectively halted another megamerger, this time in the world of office supplies. Staples and Office Depot announced yesterday that they were calling off a merger after a federal judge granted the Federal Trade Commissions request for a preliminary injunction. [Reuters] Good Enough for Renaissance Weavers, Good Enough for Uber Drivers Uber is standing by its decision not to let its drivers unionize, but drivers in New York City will be allowed to join something called a guild albeit a guild partially funded by Uber. The 35,000-strong Independent Drivers Guild wont give them the full protections or bargaining power of a union, but it should help drivers be heard in negotiations with their San Franciscan overlords. [Bloomberg] Country Literally Going Down the Drain Beginning May 23, Budweiser-lovers had better love the USA, too, because Anheuser-Busch will replace the brand name of its most iconic beer with the word America on all of its cans. The re-branding will last through election season. Who wants to shotgun some America? [CNN] MEDIA BUBBLE Senate Republicans Investigate Facebook After Gizmodo released a story detailing how Facebook cherry-picks the stories that run in its Trending Topics section, favoring liberal stories and suppressing conservative ones, the GOP sprang into action. Now the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has sent a letter to Zuckerberg himself looking for answers and saying staff involved in Trending Topics should be prepared to brief the committee. [Gizmodo] ESPN, Verizon Settle Lawsuit: Illusion of Choice Must Remain Illusionary ESPN and Verizon have settled a lawsuit stemming from Verizon Fios offering skinny cable bundles that allowed viewers to not include ESPN in their cable packages, which is just not the American way. The actual terms of the settlement are being kept confidential, but you can expect other disagreements like this to become increasingly common as cord-cutting becomes de rigueur. [The Verge] Will YouTube Go the Way of the Independent Bookstore? Not content to dominate pretty much every other market, Amazon has set its sights on YouTube by launching its own video-posting platform. Amazon announced yesterday that it will begin to open the site up to users, who will be paid advertising and royalties on a sliding scale based on how popular their content is the same strategy Amazon uses for e-book publishers. [Bloomberg] PHOTO OP The VIP of MVPs Stephen Curry became the first player in history to become an MVP unanimously yesterday. Even Jordan cant touch that. Steph posing with one of two. Photo: Noah Graham/NBAE/2016 NBAE MORNING MEME Ladies and gentlemen, the definitive best correction of all time. OTHER LOCAL NEWS Fun-Hating Man Pushed Too Far Not for the last time, a bounce house nearly led to bloodshed when a 59-year-old Nowthen, Minnesota, man pulled a shotgun on two teens who accidentally tried to deliver a bounce house to his address. The teens blamed their mistake on a GPS error, while the man blamed his on alcohol. [CBS] Missouri Man Exercises Right to Bear Arms A St. Louis, Missouri, man who attacked a police officer at a car dealership with his own prosthetic arm over the weekend will be charged with assault. The assailant, angered over a rental car, grabbed the officer by the neck and began pummeling him over the head with his prosthesis. The most newsworthy part? The man was not shot. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch] HAPPENING TODAY Oh My God, Its a Literal Pipe Dream Following yesterdays announcement, Hyperloop Technologies Elon Musks futuristic transportation company will conduct a public test in the Nevada desert of one possible propulsion system for the Hyperloop. The system is based on magnetized tracks in a vacuum-sealed tube that can send pods traveling at speeds of more than 300 miles per hour, cutting the trip from San Francisco to L.A., for example, from seven hours down to 30 minutes. [Gizmodo] Very Little, Very Late The U.S. House of Representatives will begin talking about legislation to alleviate Puerto Ricos growing debt and humanitarian crisis today. All earlier attempts at addressing the crisis have failed, and Puerto Rico now owes $70 billion that it cannot pay. [Reuters] Sextortion-Studies Findings Released Sextortion, or the use of explicit pictures or videos to pressure victims into providing more explicit material or cash, is a booming criminal enterprise in the darker corners of the internet, and for the most part, the law has been caught off guard. Today the Brookings Institution will release the first two in-depth studies of the phenomenon. [NYT] Donald Trump has created the first real crisis of conscience within the Christian Right since Reagan. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Politically active conservative Christians together known as the Christian Right have certainly experienced defeat in GOP presidential primaries before. But the defeat of the candidate most conspicuously identified with the Christian Right, Ted Cruz, at the hands of Donald Trump feels different. In part thats because Trumps candidacy created a schism within the Christian Rights own ranks. Trump pretty evenly split the conservative evangelical and traditionalist Catholic vote with Cruz and others in the GOP primaries, to the chagrin of many conservative Christian leaders who viewed Trump as a man whose policy views, personal morality, and all-around hatefulness made him an inappropriate candidate for people claiming to follow the Prince of Peace. Now that Trump has triumphed, however, theres a stirring among Christian conservatives that goes far beyond the usual pre-convention demands that the party and its candidate make social issues a priority and eschew any heresies. Its best reflected in the war of words that has broken out between Trump and his camp and Russell Moore, chief political spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention. Throughout the 2016 primaries, Moore has excoriated Trump and warned conservative evangelicals to reject his devilish charms. But now hes lashing out at Trump-supporting evangelicals with a level of contempt usually reserved for liberal secularists (per this passage from his recent New York Times op-ed): A white American Christian who disregards nativist language is in for a shock. The man on the throne in heaven is a dark-skinned, Aramaic-speaking foreigner who is probably not all that impressed by chants of Make America great again. In a tweet after Trump started attacking him as a nasty man via social media, Moore cited chapter and verse (1 Kings 18:1719): When he saw Elijah, he said to him, Is that you, you troubler of Israel? the verse reads. I have not made trouble for Israel, Elijah replied. But you and your fathers family have. You have abandoned the Lords commands and have followed the Baals. What Moore is doing is urging his fellow believers to take a prophetic stance a protest against fundamental social wickedness against Trump and the Christians who support him. No prominent conservative Christian has done anything like this with a Republican political leader since Ronald Reagans 1980 campaign rang in the political marriage of conservative Christians and the GOP that created what we know as the Christian Right. Moore doesnt speak for all Christian conservative leaders, obviously. Some, like longtime Christian Right leader Tony Perkins, seem to be following the old formula of fencing in the GOP nominee with platform planks and pledges on particular issues before putting on the party yoke and supporting him. And a few others, most famously Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., dived into the churning waters of Trumps brand of cultural conservatism from the get-go. But the fact remains: This once unified movement has split and could for the first time in decades stay split through a general election. One of our most insightful observers of the Christian Right, Sarah Posner recently observed that Trump may represent a subculture of American Christianity thats declaring its independence from the larger tribe: Deliberately or not, Mr. Trump may be the perfect candidate for an evangelical subculture that has increasingly become enamored with the prosperity, or health and wealth, gospel. In trying to build a singular religious faction that agreed on some core issues (like abortion), the Republican Party has courted that subculture, even though many evangelicals consider prosperity theology to be heretical. Mr. Trump acts more like a televangelist than an evangelical. To put it more broadly, Christian Right leaders have for a long time encouraged the people in the pews to conflate their faith with cultural conservatism and nationalism, standing as Christian soldiers against the secularist trends that were transforming Gods Redeemer Nation from its Judeo-Christian moorings in patriarchal families and bourgeois values. What Trump has exploited, like many political leaders in 20th-century Europe, is that a lot of culturally threatened conservative white Christians are willing to throw away the cross in favor of their flag, their race, their tribe, and everything thats familiar. The big question is whether fear and hatred of the secular-socialist enemy can once again paper over the growing division between Christian nationalists and people who follow Moore in arguing that Christ has no nation. The headline the Times chose to give Posners column on the conservative Christian split was: Is This the End of the Religious Right? Thats a question that many observers have been asking for decades. Posner herself isnt answering it positively; in a separate piece for Rolling Stone she agrees with the Trump-hating Erick Erickson that conservative evangelicals may just suck it up and back the mogul. Id add that if Trump goes down in ignominious defeat, his candidacy could actually strengthen the Christian Right in the long run by disciplining or expelling its fascistic elements. But in the meantime, one of the fascinating subcurrents of this election will be the hurling of Old Testament thunderbolts by conservative Christian figures at the leader of the political party their predecessors claimed as Christs own. The George Washington Bridge. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images While two former Chris Christie allies await trial for their involvement in the Bridgegate scandal, a federal judge has ruled that the names of other individuals who were aware of the politically motivated scheme to shut down lanes of the George Washington Bridge must be released. The names of those people, who havent been charged, had been provided under seal to defense attorneys in the case, but had been kept secret from the public by federal prosecutors. A consortium of news organizations went to court to force the disclosure of the names. NJ.com reports that U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton ruled that the public has a right to know who else was involved in the scheme and its subsequent cover-up. In her decision, Wigenton said that while privacy for third parties was important in criminal cases, this court is satisfied that the privacy interests of uncharged third parties are insufficiently compelling to outweigh the publics right of access. Wrote Wigenton: There is very little that is private about the lane closures or the lives of the people allegedly connected to them. Further, individuals thus far identified as being involved in the lane closings have been public employees and/or elected and appointed officials. Federal prosecutors have said the lane closures were designed to deliberately cause a traffic jam in Fort Lee, New Jersey allegedly to punish its Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, who didnt back Republican Governor Chris Christie in his bid for reelection. William Baroni, the former Port Authority deputy executive director, and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christies former deputy chief of staff, were both charged last year with conspiracy and fraud, and are awaiting trial. David Wildstein, another former Port Authority official, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors. Christie, who has said he was unaware of the lane-shutdown plan, has not been charged. No timetable was set for the release of the names of the co-conspirators, but well soon have a better sense of exactly how many people it takes to orchestrate a New Jersey traffic jam. Poor little Marco. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images Marco Rubio has called Donald Trump an erratic con artist who cant be trusted with Americas nuclear codes and is wholly unprepared to be president of the United States. On Tuesday, Rubio said that he stands by all his stated reservations about his partys presumptive nominee but will vote to give the madman access to atomic weapons, nevertheless. As Ive said before, my policy differences and reservations about Donalds campaign are well-established, Rubio told the Hudson Institute, a right-wing think tank in D.C.Ive said them often, and I stand by those. Those remain, and I hope theyll be addressed but those remain. But later in the day, the Florida senator who once sold #NeverTrump bumper stickers from his campaign website told CNNs Jake Tapper that he stands by his pledge to support the GOP nominee. The difference between Speaker Ryan and myself is I ran for president, I signed a pledge, Rubio told CNN, alluding to Paul Ryans decision to withhold an endorsement, pending a meeting with Trump this Thursday. I said I would support the Republican nominee and thats what I intend to do. .@marcorubio: The difference between me and @SpeakerRyan ...I signed a pledge and said I would support the nominee https://t.co/osmtSdSqHm The Lead CNN (@TheLeadCNN) May 10, 2016 Rubios tepid endorsement moves him several notches down on Trumps enemies list. Former Florida governor (and deeply sad presidential candidate) Jeb Bush has said he will not vote for Trump, while Ted Cruz refuses to say what he intends to do in the ballot box this fall. Several other Republican elder statesmen have said they will not be attending the Cleveland convention, including both former presidents Bush and former GOP standard-bearer Mitt Romney. Rubio told Tapper he wasnt sure whether he would attend, but said that, if he did, it wouldnt be for Trumps sake. It would be primarily because Ive gone to the last three conventions, Im an elected Republican at a national level, Rubio sad. On Monday, the Florida senator announced that he has no interest in being Trumps vice-president and would turn down the position if offered. The Donald replied: Darn technology! Photo: Ricky Carioti/2016 The Washington Post Once again, Donald Trump finds himself getting a little too cozy with a white supremacist thanks, ostensibly, to a computer glitch. In late February, Trump claimed a bad earpiece kept him from condemning David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, and yesterday evening, the Trump campaign said a database error was responsible for its choice of noted white supremacist William Johnson as one of Trumps delegates in California. Johnson happens to be the leader of the American Freedom Party, which exists to represent the political interests of White Americans and to uphold the customs and heritage of the European American people, according to its website. Johnson is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of the groups leaders, which begs the question: Does the Trump campaign Google? Press Secretary Hope Hicks said the snafu was due to a database error that led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaigns list in February 2016. But according to emails obtained by Mother Jones, where the story originally broke, Katie Lagomarsino (Trumps California delegate coordinator) was in contact with Johnson as recently as Monday well after its February database error. For his part, Johnson promised to resign as a delegate, saying he didnt want to gainsay the Trump campaign. Hed previously told Mother Jones he was excited to be a white nationalist and be a strong supporter of Donald Trump and be a good example to everybody. I just hope to show how I can be mainstream and have these views, he said. Hicks also said Johnsons name would be removed from the delegate list, but according to a statement from the office of California secretary of State Alex Padilla, that might be impossible. All delegate names must be submitted to Padillas office by a certain deadline, and Trumps people didnt ask to change their list until May 10. That, said Padilla, is past the statutory deadline to submit delegate lists. But perhaps Trump will keep Johnson on the list anyway he wouldnt want to offend anybody. Photo: Henrik Sorensen In just a few weeks, the residents of New Yorks first micro-apartment building can move in to their new homes. And when they say micro, they mean it: The studios at 335 East 27th Street top out at 360 square feet, with some as small as 265. That includes kitchen, bathroom, a place to sleep, a place to be when youre not sleeping, and enough open space to maneuver between the door and the sink and the bed. But it seems that the building picked a particularly good time to open its doors between the tiny house movement, the TV show Tiny House Hunters, and the decluttering dogma of Marie Kondo, living smaller appears to be having something of a moment. The term micro-apartment may be a newish one, but the concept, of course, is not: Plenty of people cram together in tight spaces out of economic necessity, and they often face dire health consequences. As Jacoba Urist has reported for The Atlantic, overcrowded homes have been linked to higher rates of substance abuse and domestic violence. But even when its by choice, living smaller can also have a psychological downside. In her Atlantic story, Urist laid out some of the other ways that tiny apartments can take their toll on the mind: Spending extended amounts of time in a crowded space can be stressful; if the unit holds multiple people, the occupants especially kids can suffer as a result of the lack of privacy. And creative space-saving layouts, she explained, can become a source of mental fatigue: Because micro-apartments are too small to hold basic furniture like a bed, table, and couch at the same time, residents must reconfigure their quarters throughout the day: folding down a Murphy bed, or hanging up a dining table on the wall. What might seem novel at the beginning ends up including a lot of little inconveniences, just to go to sleep or make breakfast before work. In this case, residents might eventually stop folding up their furniture every day and the space will start feeling even more constrained. Still, there are ways to stay sane, happy, and comfortable within the confines of a crazy-small space, says environmental psychologist Sally Augustin, founder of the design firm Design With Science. For one thing, micro-units may be more affordable than regular-sized homes (not at 335 East 27th, where studios go for $2,700 but, you know, in theory), allowing people to cut down on the number of roommates, which can come with its own psychological benefits. Take a bunch of new college graduates who go to New York and they need five incomes to rent a three-bedroom apartment, she says. In those cases, having a place of your own can be a great advantage, offering a greater sense of privacy than would otherwise be affordable. It also offers more autonomy, another perk that can help make cramped quarters feel more appealing than than a larger space with more people. Remind yourself that you can control what it looks like. When you get down to it, thats a lot of what distinguishes one of these small homes from a prison cell, she says. When you have your own tiny apartment, you can make your own rules. Past research has shown that employees feel more in control and less stressed when they can personalize their work space; similarly, Augustin says, theres something soothing about having an entire living space to make your own even if its not that much bigger than your office cubicle. That being said, some ways to decorate a tiny space are more psychologically healthy than others. Plants can help small rooms feel less stuffy; cabinets that hide clutter make for a more calming setup than shelves that display it. And especially in a compact setup, Augustin says, its important to find the sweet spot in terms of pattern: Too many different visuals crammed into one small space can be sensory overload, but on the other end of the spectrum, a lack of visual stimulation in the form of plain-white everything can be stressful, too. Of course, these apartments are only likely to attract a certain type in the first place, and part of dealing with the close quarters could be having the right disposition for it. The move to a tiny house or micro-apartment can also be a form of identity signaling, a tool people use to communicating something about themselves to the outside world that theyre concerned about the environment, say, and want to cut down on their own impact by living smaller. Or that theyre a nonconformist, bucking the rules of what a normal living space ought to look like. And certain personality types might be more drawn than others to living small: As long as tiny houses remain a novelty, Augustin says, people who are more open to experience one of the big five personality traits may find them especially appealing. Same goes for people who enjoy puzzles and problem-solving. In those cases, the creativity required of small layouts can seem more like a game than a frustrating hurdle. Theres no getting around the fact that a 200-square-foot space is a 200-square-foot space, in other words, but depending on the person occupying it, those 200 square feet can feel like a cage, or they can feel like a home. No matter who you are, though, definitely dont forget to buy a plant. Sadly, the feel-good/feel-embarrassed-about-how-little-youve-accomplished story of a Canadian 15-year-old discovering a previously undiscovered Mayan city isnt quite as impressive as first hoped.* The tale, as it went viral (and as we originally wrote it), was simple: Canadian 15-year-old William Gadoury thought hed found an abandoned Mayan city deep in the heart of Mexicos Yucatan Peninsula. Using star maps, Gadoury discovered that 22 major Mayan cities correlated with the brightest stars in constellations. He was the first person, teen or otherwise, to use this method, the Telegraph reported, and using the location he determined from the third star, Gadoury connected with the Canadian Space Agency, who sent the teen satellite images showing visible geometric shapes consistent with a lost city. Gadoury (as well as Dr. Armand Larocque, a remote sensing specialist from the University of New Brunswick) believes its a central Mayan pyramid, with several other nearby structures. Sadly, Larocques endorsement wasnt shared by the academic community. Since this story was first published, several skeptics have voiced concerns with Gadourys potential discovery. This current news story of an ancient Maya city being discovered is false, David Stuart, an anthropologist from The Mesoamerica Center-University of Texas at Austin, wrote on Facebook. The whole thing is a mess a terrible example of junk science hitting the internet in free-fall. The ancient Maya didnt plot their ancient cities according to constellations. Seeing such patterns is a rorschach process, since sites are everywhere, and so are stars. The square feature that was found on Google Earth is indeed man-made, but its an old fallow cornfield, or milpa. Weve reached out to Stuart and will update this post further if we hear back. IO9 has also updated its post with quotes from other Mayan experts, who agree that the corn field is most likely a milpa. UC San Diego Anthropology professor Geoffrey Braswell explained via email that the zones shown in Gadourys images are places that are well known to archaeologists who work in the area and that the images are not of Maya pyramids. But he did also say one of the sites could contain active marijuana fields, so at least theres that. *This post has been updated throughout to reflect skepticism about the discovery from authorities in Mayan studies. Protests in Paris. Photo: DOMINIQUE FAGET/Getty Images Oh, so you thought that this whole circus of sexism against female politicians was limited to just America? Did you think that Hillary Clinton and Megyn Kelly have been the only women on the receiving end of misogynist and gendered barbs in the political sphere? Please. Have you even heard about whats going on in France? The AP reports that protests have erupted outside the parliament building in Paris on Wednesday after the release of a revealing book called LElysee off and new media reports on sexual harassment within government. Frances finance minister Michel Sapin is accused in the book of touching a journalists underwear during the World Economic Forum. But hes not the only one, the AP says: Paris prosecutors are investigating allegations of breast-grabbing and other behavior by green party politician Denis Baupin, who resigned as vice president of the lower house of parliament this week after investigative website Mediapart and France-Inter radio released testimony by women who say he abused them. He denies misconduct. The latest allegations, including a BuzzFeed report that a top French minister was physically abusive of a female aide, have incited female politicians to take to radio interviews to say that they wont stand for this misconduct anymore. Genevieve Couraud, a former politician who is now the leader of Assembly of Women, a French group that wants to stymie violence against women, said that these specific incidents are not isolated, but the men who are guilty need to be called out. These dirty guys are deforming human relations, she said. Huh. Sounds just like America. Photo: Justin Sullivan/2016 Getty Images Donald Trump is all out of Republican opponents to bash, so hes turning his attention toward Hillary Clinton. After reassuring his supporters that the Democratic front-runner and likely nominee is only winning because she plays the womans card and certainly not because shes an experienced and deftly competent politician, Trump debuted an attack ad in which he revisits one of his favorite subjects: her laugh. The video, which has all the cinematic charm of Chucky, shows a clip from Clintons infamous Benghazi speech followed by shots of the victims family members saying Clinton lied to them about why the U.S. consulate in Libya was attacked. It ends with a clip of Clintons laughing face superimposed over the burning wreckage of the consulate. Trumps Instagram caption (so on trend, Donald) reads, Hillary has bad judgement! Trumps team has used the final shot before in an ad that aired last November and featured multiple clips of Clinton laughing over headlines about everything from Benghazi to her private email server. Its typical for Trumps ads to attack his opponents based on their one-off remarks or perceived character flaws, but in this case wed bet the Republican nomination he has a Clinton laugh track playing on loop as he drifts off to sleep in Trump Tower. The man is obsessed. "The film follows a modern couple who joke with friends about the idea of a One Night Pass one night of passion with a famous star that would not be considered infidelity. Then the husband unexpectedly meets his One Night Pass. and falls in love with her." How unromantic Reply Thread Link We re getting more and more latin america shows Violetta, Soy Luna and now this ^^ It s great Reply Thread Link it really isn't Reply Parent Thread Link I like it too. I know that Latin American telenovelas are very popular in Eastern Europe but this Disney thing is more mainstream. After all the European and North American cultural presence everywhere, I have nothing against something like this happening. Reply Parent Thread Link I've watched a little bit of Violetta on Netflix, and I think it's amazing how well the show and the music has connected with people who don't even speak Spanish. I wish more Latin American Tv had a following in the US because I love seeing how popular it is in other parts of the world. Reply Parent Thread Link but aren't they all argentinian? It would be great if different countries were producing new stuff. Reply Parent Thread Link I agree but living in France we usually get nothing from latin america tbh. So even that is good so far. I hope they will expand to more countries. Reply Parent Thread Link MTE, I'm not her biggest fan but come on, Shakira >>>>> Reply Parent Thread Link Have you ever seen Lali perform? She's amazing! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link No thanks we already have those boring uninspired movies from Hollywood Reply Thread Link So, OP, how did the Saga of this girl and her on-off bf go? Did they get back together? Reply Thread Link no, their contract expired Reply Parent Thread Link They haven't. Yet. I think they will though, they keep on flirting on social media, it's so obvious. Reply Parent Thread Link is "Latin American" a movie company? the name is making me a bit confused in following this story Reply Thread Link mte the wording is confusing Reply Parent Thread Link well if that gif is an indicator of things, the next shakira by no means. Reply Thread Link Embarrassed for my country Reply Thread Link same Reply Parent Thread Link LALIIIIII, no sabe cantar, no sabe bailar, no sabe actuar, es un enano con extensiones dios. Reply Parent Thread Link que envidiosa, dices eso pero estoy segura que nunca la has visto en vivo. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link no la tolero, es tan moncha la pobecita Reply Parent Thread Link barf like, the only "man cheats but it doesn't count" scenario I would be willing to entertain is "man discovers he's gay, proceeds to come out", and even then I would prefer for it to be the woman who does that. Reply Thread Link oh please, she's a terrible actress and even more so, a terrible singer. She doesn't even have good songs, their production is so cheap Reply Thread Link So a Latin American version of that movie Hall Pass? Reply Thread Link Lali Esposito the next Shakira? she's not even the next Paulina rubio. Lali has no talent, can't sing, dance or act. And she's not pretty either, she looks like a Pennywise with long hair. Also the movie sounds horrible. Reply Thread Link Completely agree with you! Can't stand her either. Reply Parent Thread Link LOL I love how OP loves to hype her fave and everyone just comes in and shits all over her. Reply Thread Link they're just jealous of my queen Reply Parent Thread Link what a terrible plot Reply Thread Link Stickers on his phone? Lmaooo Reply Parent Thread Link they look like the stickers you peel off fruit Reply Parent Thread Link definitely see a resemblance Reply Parent Thread Link He looks like him tho Reply Parent Thread Link I see it. Reply Parent Thread Link is he single? Reply Thread Link He's in jail, so probably. Reply Parent Thread Link Taken in every hole. Reply Parent Thread Link same. i am his son too Reply Thread Link Everybody already knows I'm Prince's son, it's just common knowledge. Where my money at? Reply Thread Link If all this bullshit is teaching me something it's the importance about having a will. jfc what a mess. Reply Thread Link I find it so odd that he didn't have one. I get that he was fairly young but I just figure if you amass a certain amount of wealth/assets you should just automatically have a gd will. Reply Parent Thread Link Its really odd considering how much control he had over his music. Took every bit of his music not for sell off the internet but didn't have a will? Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Especially for someone as controlling as him. Reply Parent Thread Link i find it really odd too. do jehovah's witnesses have any views on wills i wonder? like maybe there's something about not worrying about your worldly possessions after you've passed? idk. either that or he just literally didn't think he'd die so soon and wasn't worried about it yet. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Watch his claim be legit... Reply Thread Link TBH if Prince turned out to have like, 60 kids I wouldn't be surprised. Reply Parent Thread Link 600 people have claimed to be half-siblings. If he's a son, he goes to the front of the line and gets it all... Reply Parent Thread Link Yep. In that state if you die with a child (or children) and no spouse, the children get everything. Reply Parent Thread Link Same if you're divorced and didn't remarry but you have kids. The oldest becomes the executor of estate. Reply Parent Thread Link 100% to any child or children. Siblings only will get money if there are no children. That's the law in MN if there is no will. Reply Parent Thread Link and this is why he should have had a will lol Reply Thread Link We must be family then! Because I'm totally Princes daughter! Can I have money now?? Reply Thread Link Please leave my family alone, you interloper? We need time to grieve and to plan how to spend our rightful inheritance in peace. Reply Parent Thread Link EXCUSE U. I will need some DNA! Obviously I can't provide mine b/c of religious reasons, but I'll need some of yours! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link A likely story Reply Thread Link this is sad Reply Thread Link i, for one, totally believe him. Reply Thread Link nice to know all you have to do is apologize and you can get away with anything Reply Thread Link right?! What in the actual fuck, ugh Reply Parent Thread Link Not surprised she settled out of court. Who would want to go through what those other women did? It just sends a terrible message. I'm sure he'll be back on satellite radio in a year or something. Disgusting. Reply Thread Link I hope terrible things continue to happen to him. Isn't it great to live in a world where saying sorry without even admitting guilt is enough to get away with sexual assault? Go to hell, you piece of shit. Reply Thread Link I'm so disgusted. Reply Thread Link I'm so glad he has been able to forgive himself, that takes so much strength. /sarcasm I hope someone sets him on fire, or injects windex into his jugular Reply Thread Link I noticed his ~apology~ was a lot of "me, me, me" as usual. Everyone knows he's always been a narcissist but it was especially clear during the trial. Reply Parent Thread Link I hate this world. there's no hope for women. Reply Thread Link imgur doesn't work here "Borel also felt this would subject her to more abuse from him and she wanted that to stop. Said that for the three years she worked for Ghomeshi he made it clear he could do whatever he wanted to her and her body. Also says when she initially went to the CBC for help they said "When I went to the CBC for help, what I received in return was a directive that, yes, he could do this and, yes, it was my job to let him. The relentless message to me from my celebrity boss and the national institution we worked for were that his whims were more important than my humanity or my dignity."" :((((((( endless sadface, how horrible :( Reply Thread Link reuploaded to tinypic, sorry about that. though really who'd want to look at this pos Reply Parent Thread Link http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/dec/02/-sp-jian-ghomeshi-sexual-harassment-cbc-ignored Read this instead of his half assed apology: Reply Thread Link I work with some women who think his lawyer is amazing and badass and that it's the victim's fault for the trial outcome :/ Reply Thread Link Yeah, when it comes up I steer the conversation towards other topics because it frustrates me, lol. Reply Parent Thread Link She is a very good defense lawyers. Very good defense lawyers are also often quite scummy, but she's still very good at her job. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link There's nothing wrong with her, at all. Her job as a defence lawyer is to defend her clients, the end. Considering that one of the foundational elements of most western democratic societies that is that everyone has the right to a lawyer, if she didn't defend him someone else did. All lawyers do is take the facts and present them in a light that is most favourable to their client. If she didn't do it, it would have been done by somebody else in almost the exact same way. If people are suggesting that accused criminals shouldn't have a lawyer, or that any lawyer who defends an accused criminal is a terrible human, then I guess our entire society as we know it is about ready for a collapse. Reply Parent Thread Link my sister (who's just finished law school) saw her speak at their school and got a photo with her and were all like ~** MY HERO~*~*~* and i was like hmmmmm Reply Parent Thread Link Maybe Billy Bob Thornton will come back and dispose of this useless piece of utter garbage. He is trash and even now, this still 'isn't an admission' and is completely self-serving, no acknowledgement of responsibility. I hope he goes completely broke and has to move to like... Kitchener or somewhere else equally terrible and ends up like serving double doubles at a drive thru. Reply Thread Link woah i didn't come here for the KW hate Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Lmfao gurl Kitchener is too good for him. Send him to Hamilton the Devil's City instead! Reply Parent Thread Link What did Kitchener do you? He should stay in Thornhill Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Don't force him on Kitchener! He's more like Peterborough trash. Reply Parent Thread Link Also I always love how Torquil Campbell talks about his experience @ Q. Someone screenshot his tweets from earlier today. Woah did @torquilcampbell just disappear after that tweetstorm? pic.twitter.com/sRGJ3R3YMO Terry Sutton (@saltcod) May 11, 2016 Edited at 2016-05-11 08:29 pm (UTC) Cue his attempted apology tour and career rehabilitation. If I ever saw him walking the streets of Toronto I'd be repulsed. I hate how technically it's not an admission of guilt when we all know damn well he's a serial abuser. It's clear he has no idea about boundaries or consent. The piece in the Guardian about how Q/CBC handled it from Kathryn's POV was really sad and depressing.Also I always love how Torquil Campbell talks about his experience @ Q. Someone screenshot his tweets from earlier today. Reply Thread Link I'm terrified for the inevitable apology tour - the sad interview, the teary pics, the quotes from prominent media friendly feminists who think him reading a Gloria Steinem book will be enough proof of his penance (even though his appropriation of feminism and progressive causes was one of the ways he concealed his abusive bullshit to get close to women). Reply Parent Thread Link I still think it's funny that CBC 're branded' Q to q .... Like... lower case changes everything? Also I hope he doesn't try to write a book from this. I tried to read his first book before any of this came to light and I couldn't believe how terrible it was. Unreadable. Reply Thread Link ~this is a problem all over the industry, so let's not zero in on how my movie is part of the problem too~ ~if the movie had another title no one would be mad~~ but they're playing egyptian gods...he is so dumb i can't Reply Thread Link you accepting roles that should be going to egyptian actors is part of the problem, too. asshole. Reply Thread Link I think that criticism on Gods of Egypt and accusations simply relied on the title. Lol, what an idiot Reply Thread Link sigh Reply Thread Link That picture needs more jpg Reply Thread Link "On the other hand, I think that criticism on Gods of Egypt and accusations simply relied on the title." Flop semantics. Reply Thread Link We must talk about lack of diversity. But do not discuss a single film or why someone they have not nominated. ~please only discuss diversity in broad terms so you dont hurt my feelings or hold me accountable~ rme Edited at 2016-05-11 09:15 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link the more he talks the more I hate him. Reply Thread Link Did the Egyptian gods have a human form? I thought they were all animals? I'm not sure why this movie gave them a human body. Reply Parent Thread Link Basically all gods had a human form, whether with an animal head or not. Gods like Osiris and Isis are fully human, Anubis is either a jackal or has a jackal head, Hathor is a cow but also has a form that's just human. It depends. Reply Parent Thread Link We don't have to guess. They drew them and they're clearly not white. Reply Parent Thread Link uh, no. the problem was it was Egyptian gods in the movie, not just random gods at war. Don't be OBTUSE, sir Reply Thread Link if only Roots had been titled People Can Be From Anywhere *tsk tsk* Reply Parent Thread Link I just u gly laughed atthis for about a minute lmao Reply Parent Thread Link but you were literally playing Egyptian gods??? what Reply Thread Link To me it made me very happy that I was offered this role and I had great fun doing it. Now imagine how happy a POC actor who doesn't get as many chances in Hollywood would have been. Reply Thread Link what a dumb bitch Reply Thread Link why would it be called gods at war when the movie is about egyptian gods...nice deflecting asshole Edited at 2016-05-11 09:15 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link Seriously. It'd be one thing if there were other pantheons more peripherally involved and he was playing a god out of Celtic myth, say, but he is literally playing Horus. There are white people playing Isis and Nepthys and Set and so on. GIVE ME A BREAK. Reply Parent Thread Link Lmao "we must discuss this issue, but not when I'm involved". Reply Thread Link Exactly Reply Parent Thread Link "I wanted to find a strong, unique Latino voice," said Sutter of James in a statement, "Because I didnt think a white guy from Jersey should be writing about Latin culture and traditions. Elgin is that voice." important. important that rather than stopping at "i shouldn't do this," he thought "i should find someone who can and give them a platform." first couple seasons of SoA are leg, so i'm up to give this a try. Reply Thread Link did u hate jax as much as i did? he was insufferable. the only people i gave a 10% crap about were tara, tigg, opie, and gemma. Reply Parent Thread Link nah i was jax/tara trash so i loved him for at least season 1. opie and gemma were good eggs too. there were other characters i liked, but it's been a really long time, i can't remember their names. after the trip to ireland and borderline incest or whatever the fuck that was, i kind of brain bleached everything about this show. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Tara was everything and the last season was painful. Jax started off as an anti-hero with some qualities that made him sympathetic but he quickly became irredeemable - like when he beat up the porn actress and attacked his ex wife by injecting her with drugs. Plus he killed his Mum then himself. Like, good job asshole now your kids have neither parent. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Excuse you. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I was the biggest Jax trash until the end of season 5. Now, I look back tara should have left his ass back in season 1. Reply Parent Thread Link But I'm pretty sure Elgin isn't Latino. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'll check it out. SoA was hardly high art but it was entertaining enough. I enjoyed it on a popcorn.gif level I watched 50 Shades last night and I think it's a damn shame it wasn't Charlie Hunnam. Jamie Dornan's acting is so bad and at least Jax would have been hot. The movie is actually not as horrible as expected? Like, I watched Secretary a couple days ago and it was 100x more unhealthy and fucked up tbh. Reply Thread Link He emotes more than that other guy, and the sex scenes would have been WAY hotter, plus Charlie has shown everything but the tip of his dick, so the male nudity would've been better. Reply Parent Thread Link exactly, Jamie Dornan was so wooden and I know Charlie Hunnam is capable of pulling off a steamy sex scene and yes, he has a better ass too lol Reply Parent Thread Link Jamie Dornan has shown his entire dick sooooooo Reply Parent Thread Expand Link That's what I was thinking the entire time I was watching 50 Shades "Why couldn't Charlie have stayed???" Reply Parent Thread Link I know I'm in the minority, but I really enjoyed The Bastard Executioner. Loved all the characters and thought the budding romance between Wilkin and Love was cute as hell. That and seeing Stephen Moyer with his little French boyfriend made me smile (when Stephen's character wasn't being an abusive asshole I mean.) Reply Thread Link yes! i'm sad as hell it was cancelled Reply Parent Thread Link I really thought it had so much potential =\ I actually got invested in the characters. Reply Parent Thread Link I'll check it out. Reply Thread Link I'll check it out. And I definitely appreciate him saying "I didnt think a white guy from Jersey should be writing about Latin culture and traditions. Elgin is that voice". Too many writers/show runners don't do this and butcher characters or make them insulting characatures, and I think it's wonderful he's recognizing his lack of knowledge and addressing it, rather than writing it anyways or not including latin@s at all. Reply Thread Link Elgin is not Latino. He is mixed race white and black from the US. He was adopted by two white parents from Boston. All this can be found with a simple google search so I'm not sure what Sutter is talking about. Edited at 2016-05-11 11:34 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link you can be black and white and latino all at the same time, jsyk Reply Parent Thread Link Trust me, I am aware of this. But it does not sound like he is. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I thought SoA ended perfectly. but damn that show became a terrible fucking mess. maybe without sutter as lead writer it won't become so awful. Reply Thread Link Would you watch another Sutter drama that eventually goes off the rails for seven seasons ONTD? MY BODY IS FUCKING READY Reply Thread Link No Chibs, no chikn. Reply Thread Link Hell no. I'll never forgive him for Tara. Reply Thread Link I hate Sutter as much as the next person BUT he does have sensible moments and I can appreciate what he said in that statement. Reply Thread Link i stopped caring about SOA midway through s3, and even then only watched for tara and tig's shenanigans. i'm still fucking bitter about Tara and Opie's deaths while fucking Gemma got to live. ugh. Edited at 2016-05-12 02:03 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link i will be forever bitter about Opies death Reply Parent Thread Link Opie's death was so heart breaking and one of the best things about the show tbh. If they'd used it right, the show would have been amazing. Reply Parent Thread Link I still haven't watched the last season but yes. And cast Francis Capra please. Reply Thread Link It might not be a great time to start offshore drilling, with oil prices as depressed as they are, but it might just be a great time to buy an offshore drilling rig for a cut-rate pricein fact, you might be able to get one for only one tenth of what they cost in 2011. This is the cost coup recently pulled off by Ocean Rig, a company controlled by shipping billionaire George Economou, who has landed a drillshipthe Cerradofor only US$65 million at auction, which represents less than 10 percent of the estimated price when it was built over six years ago. Its only to be expected that the slump in oil and gas prices would spread to all parts of the industry, but until now, offshore drilling tended to get less specific attention. That may be changing. Related: Global Rig Count Continues To Fall As Bloomberg notes, companies from this sector have accumulated $24 billion of distressed debt. The holders of this debt may be facing their own version of a subprime crisis: The Cerrado vessel is hardly the only asset thats lost 90 percent of its value over the last couple of years. As E&Ps focus on cost-cutting and efficiency improvements, offshore drilling contractors are being stripped of options. The industrys largest player, Norwegian Seadrill, for example, also has the largest debt, with its debt to equity ratio at 118.80, which it just recently agreed to restructure partially. Sector player Harkand has been less fortunate, and filed for administration earlier this month, unable to meet repayment obligations on a $230-million bond issued two years ago. Related: Turkey, At Energy Crossroads, Sliding Towards Authoritarianism In financial performance, their peer Pacific Drilling reported a net loss of $2.5 million for the first quarter of 2016 and revenues of $205.4 million, down from $267 million in the previous quarter. Diamond Offshore Drilling and Helmerich & Payne, however, were both in the black in the period, despite some decline in revenues. In terms of performance, then, not all is lost. In terms of new business that would help maintain this performance, however, things dont look so good. Basically, as pointed out in this analysis, offshore drillers need new business, and they are finding it hard to come by. What makes things even harder for those operating in the U.S. are new regulations aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that resulted in 11 deaths and a colossal environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. In response, the Obama administration worked to put in place more stringent controls on offshore drilling. These, however, were unwelcomed by the embattled oil industry. According to Exxon, the implementation of the new rules will cost $25 billion over the next 10 years. This might have been an acceptable sum a few years ago when oil was expensive, but now E&Ps are reluctant to spend anything more than the bare essentials. U.S. regulators insist the new rules will not cost as much as the industry says. Related: Oil Reverses As Stronger Dollar Offsets Canadian Concerns Wood Mackenzie added to the pessimism by warning that exploration investments in the Gulf Coast will fall by as much as 70 percent as a result of the new legislation, with the loss of 190,000 jobs. The Gulf Coast is, of course, not the whole world, but for international offshore drilling equipment and services suppliers it is a major revenue source that will shrink under the new legislation as E&Ps give up projects. The value of assets is likely to fall further, making the debt situation in the industry even more precarious. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The UK is only a few weeks away from a June 23 referendum that will decide whether or not it exits the European Union. British leaders are stepping up their campaign, urging voters to reject a Brexit, warning that doing so would lead to huge economic losses. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said a Brexit would leave Britain permanently poorer, resulting in an economy that is 6 percent smaller in 2030. But the economic effects that will stem from breaking up with Europe are not as clear cut as the government of Prime Minister David Cameron tends to argue. Take the electricity sector, for example, where there are some upsides from a Brexit for electricity generators. If the UK withdrew from Europe, the British government would be allowed to put up new tariffs on electricity imported from France and the Netherlands, two countries that have strong linkages with Britain. That would correct for some market imbalances, according to Dr. Vladimir Parail, a senior consultant at the London-based consultancy Oxera, who spoke with Oilprice.com in an interview. Related: Petrobras Offloads $1.4B In Assets Amidst Political Turmoil Despite the UK being part of the EU single market, there is currently no truly leveled playing field where UK generators can compete with their EU counterparts. Notably, the UK has a higher CO2 tax than the rest of Europe, as well as higher transmission and balancing charges levied on generators, giving thermal generators in continental Europe a competitive advantage over their UK peers, Dr. Parail said. British electricity generators pay about 8 to 8.5/MWh more than their competitors in France and the Netherlands, according to Oxeras research, equivalent to about 25 percent of traded UK electricity prices. Oxeras analysis finds that if the UK imposed new border charges on imported electricity, there would be several effects. First, electricity imports would fall by one-third as domestic coal and gas-fired generation becomes more competitive. Second, there could be higher investment in power plants within the UK, as the tariffs provide a level playing field. Related: Can Saudi Arabia Really Break Its Dependence On Oil? Dr. Parail argues that the effect would be to increase the security of Britains electricity supply. A Brexit followed by new tariffs would not only provide a jolt to domestic generation, but the drop in electricity imports would mean that imports could then be ramped up in a time of need. Overall, raising tariffs on electricity imports could act as an insurance mechanismconsumers would pay more in exchange for greater security of supply, since they would not be as dependent on electricity imports and would have greater flexibility to increase imports in case of a supply crunch, he said. The insurance policy would not come without costs. While British electricity generators would see gains under a Brexit plus new trade barriers, UK consumers would see higher electricity bills. Oxeras research finds that consumers would spend an additional 140 million per year under the new system. Still, that only equates to about 2 per person each year. Moreover, a Brexit could lead to higher levels of investment in British natural gas production, according to Penelope Warne from CMS, an international law firm. To try to enhance the overall security of supply picture, there may be a case for investment in new indigenous sources of gas (such as shale gas) and new UK gas storage and LNG facilities in a Brexit scenario, Warne wrote on CMS blog. More trade barriers would mean a greater need for domestic energy. Related: How Suncor Has Become The King Of Canadian Oil Sands A Brexit would also free the UK to subsidize generation types that it chooses. For example, the UK could choose not to close existing coal plant, and could promote specific new nuclear plant with substantial concessions free of EU procurement/state aid/competition rules, Warne wrote. The UK would probably choose to stay aligned with many EU energy and decarbonization initiatives even if it did leave the Union, but the Brexit would open Pandoras box, Warne argues. Another uncertain element would be what happens to the Republic of Ireland, which as a member of the EU would lose direct geographical access to the Union through the UK. With all of this said, energy is not exactly dominating the debate surrounding the Brexit. The most hotly debated issues come down to things like immigration, the effects on the broader economy, and British sovereignty independent of Brussels. Voters will ultimately decide the countrys future on June 23. According to The Economist, polls right now have the Leave and Remain campaigns neck and neck. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Despite compounding obstacles, the Iraqi Kurds have managed to increase oil exports to Turkey, with new April figures showing an average of over 511,000 barrels per day, even without Baghdads oil coming through the Kirkuk pipeline. The average for April was 511,888 barrels per day of Iraqi Kurdish oil going through Turkey, up from 327,371 barrels per day in March. In February and March, a pipeline was taken offline for reasons that still remain enigmatic. This was followed by a move on the part of the central government in Iraq to suspend its own exports through the Kirkuk-Turkey pipeline. This move was punishment by Baghdad for the Iraqi Kurds unilateral exports to Turkey. Before these complications, Iraqi Kurdistan was exporting 600,000 barrels per day to Turkey. Related: What OPEC Has To Fear From The New Saudi Oil Minister In April, revenue from exports to Turkey totaled U.S. $376,395,901, of which $58,895,901 was allocated to oil producers in the region, according to the Iraqi Kurd Ministry of Natural Resources. An additional cargo of 1,025,828 barrels of oil was allocated to a contractor against its 2015 prepayments. In the meantime, the renewed conflict in the Kurdish-majority area in southeastern Turkey has trimmed trans-border trade with Iraqi Kurdistan by a whopping 60 percent, officials said. In a statement carried by Ekurd.net, the Kurdistan Regions Directorate explained trade had been on the wane since 2013, but the resumption of fights between the Turkish military and Kurdish rebels has brought to its lowest levels, especially through the main Ibrahim Khalil (Habur) border crossing. Related: Libyas Oil Exports Could To Go To 0 bpd Within One Month In November 2014, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu said trade volume with Iraq stood at U.S. $12 billion, of which $8 billion was with Iraqi Kurdistan. A year later, trade volume fell to $8.5 billion. Officials in Baghdad have long warned that Turkeys military actions, which has now seen deployment of troops to northern Iraq, would affect economic ties. Last year, Iraq responded to such an incursion by placing an embargo on Turkish imports and closing commercial offices in Istanbul. By James Burgess of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Ukraines security services on Wednesday raided the headquarters of the countrys largest gas company Ukrgazvydobuvannia, as an ownership battle emerges. Ukrgazvydobuvannia, wholly owned by state-run Naftogaz Ukrainy, is Ukraine's largest gas producer, accounting for about 75 percent of the overall gas production in the country. It also operates the Shebelynka gas refinery. The company confirmed searches today at its headquarters, but provided no further details. In February, the Prosecutor Generals Office searched four branches of the company during which documents concerning the companys relation with its equipment suppliers in 2014-2015 were confiscated. Related: Oil Spikes After EIA Reports Surprise Draw The renewed searches come as Ukraines energy community discusses the possibility of removing Ukrgazvydobuvannia from ownership of the national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy due to risk linked to the litigation between Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom in the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce. In March, Gazprom filed adjusted claims with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce against Ukraine's Naftogaz relating to a gas contract dated January 19, 2009. The overall claims, including a new claim for $2.549 billion on take or pay terms in Q3 2015, are $31.759 billion. A decision from the court is expected in June. If the court ruling is not in favor of Naftogaz Ukrainy, the company risks losing some assets due to claims of creditors, Ukraines Energy Ministry argued. Related: Big Oil Pulls The Plug On Arctic Oil, Relinquishes Drilling Rights But after months of deliberations, Ukraines Energy Community Secretariat has recommended that public joint-stock company Ukrgazvydobuvannia remain with Naftogaz Ukrainy, despite concerns voiced by the Energy Ministry. "The Secretariat believes that separating Ukrgazvydobuvannia from Naftogaz Ukrainy is a snap decision. It is viable and effective to leave Naftogaz in control over Ukrgazvydobuvannia," Mykhailo Bno-Airiian, director of the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry's Planning and European Integration Department, wrote on his Facebook page. By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: When it comes to restaurants, we all have our beloved go-to spots. And for at least five regulars, that favorite spot is Five O'Clock Steakhouse, 2416 W. State St. To prove it, they shared their memories as part of a contest celebrating the Steakhouses 70th anniversary an occasion made possible in part by a woman named Jeanne Ricci, who was married in 1945 at the steakhouse's predecessor, Five O'Clock Club. Jeanne, who turned 97 years old on Feb. 19, is pictured below (right) with her daughter Jackie Bayer. "We were deeply moved by the stories submitted," said Stelio Kalkounos, managing partner of the steakhouse. "It is amazing to see how Five O'Clock Steakhouse has been ingrained in customers' lives for generations. We received stories of birthdays, proposals, weddings, acts of kindness and even one story of college roommates stealing leftovers." But, despite the plethora of worthy submissions, only five made the cut. Here are slightly abbreviated versions of the entries from self-declared "ultimate fans," each of whom won 12 complimentary dinners (one per month for a year). 1. Kari Gundrum, Butler Gundrum visited Five OClock Steakhouse for the very first time in the late '80s. Shes fond of both the king cut filet and the ribs because, as she says, "you gotta love the leftovers!" She and her husband Bob often go together and order one of each so that they can share. "Old man Coerper would stand guard at the hostess spot keeping track of the comings and goings of everyone in his restaurant. For those of you who have never had the chance to meet Mr. Coerper, he was a man of small stature, gruff, with a full head of snow-white hair. Even with his petite frame, he would boss around those waitresses like there was no tomorrow. It was funny to watch the constant herding of his waitstaff." 2. Ron Phelps, Madison Phelps says hes visited Five OClock Steakhouse "hundreds of times" in his life. His favorite dish is the king cut filet. He always orders parmesan peppercorn dressing with his salad, and requests extra pepperoncini. "My very first experience at the Five OClock Steakhouse was when I turned 8 years old and my dad took me there for my birthday. He told me when dinner came, my steak would look like a slice of chocolate birthday cake as it was blackened on the outside and it would be the best steak I have ever tasted or would ever taste in my life. The steak came out, blackened in a pool of au jus with a few button mushrooms on the plate. It looked like a piece of chocolate cake just as my dad said it would. A medium rare, blackened on the outside, perfectly done on the inside best steak I have ever had. I have been to over 40 countries and have tried every type of steak on multiple continents, and still bring new people I meet here for the best steak they will ever have." 3. Jay Crapser, Milwaukee Jays first visit was 18 years ago on Valentines Day. At the time, he says, he brought his girlfriend Debbie to a different restaurant each year. On this particular occasion, he took special pains to get a reservation at Five OClock. "Because they didnt pick up the phone until Tuesday at 4, and the line was always busy, I missed out on the opportunity for two years straight. On the third year of this ritual, I gave up. I took two hours off of work (on the south side of Racine) so I could make the drive. I promptly knocked on the door at exactly 4, and Ted flung the door open. He said, how many and what time? I was in!" Crapsers plan was to propose to Debbie that evening, and present her with a special '50s wedding ring display shed fallen in love with (and that he secretly purchased) that would later serve as their wedding cake topper. As he says: "I could hardly concentrate on my dinner. They brought a salad that could have fed five, and when the steaks came we were horrified. We asked for medium rare! Why were they so black? One bite of the beautiful, pink, meat-flavored butter, and we were hooked. I was more nervous than a cat on a marble floor the entire time [When dessert was served, along with the display] I got down on my knee, and told her that she was everything to me, and I couldn't imagine spending my life without her. The restaurant stopped for that brief moment. I stood up and said, "she said YES!", and everyone applauded." Debbie and Jay are celebrating 16 years of marriage in October, and they still go to Five OClock Steakhouse for Valentines Day, anniversaries and birthdays. "It may have never happened if it weren't for the Five O'Clock!" he notes. 4. Carl Movrich, La Grange, Ill. Movrich is a Marquette graduate who started visiting Five OClock in the '70s. Among his fond memories is an evening at the bar when he met the farmer who supplies all the beef the restaurant uses for its steaks. "I visited Five O'Clock for the first time with my former roommate, Carmen Manaco in 1970. In the 80s our own children, nephews and nieces were students attending Marquette and when we would come up for our visits we would always treat them and their roommates to steak at the Five Oclock Club. Our favorite spot was sitting under the stairway and at the bar. Our most memorable times were always enjoying an incredible steak dinner and seeing the looks on the eyes of the students that were only used to eating dorm food. The portions were unbelievable and the black steaks were 'best in the world.' And of course, we always left with two big handfuls of jelly beans. In the fall of 1994 we took Tony, Carmens son, who was attending Marquette at the time, for a steak dinner. During dinner Carmen admitted to us that he had to break a promise to his wife (she was expecting to go out on a date with him that same night) that he could go to Milwaukee only if he would bring back a Five OClock steak for her. So, of course, during dinner he ordered another New York strip steak to go. After our fabulous dinner we drove back to Chicago. As I was driving for about an hour I noticed that Carmen had stopped talking with me and when I looked over to the passenger seat he was already halfway through eating his wifes steak. I looked at him in disbelief but what I saw in Carmens face was the most guilty, satisfied look I have ever seen on anyone, before or since. Eating two Five OClock steaks in one evening says it all." 5. Craig Cohn, Northbrook, Ill. Cohn says he first visited Five OClock with a colleague who worked at the Milwaukee office (of his company) and claimed that the restaurant had "the best steak." Skeptical at the time, he went along and says his mind was blown by the steak he ordered. Since then, he says hes traveled around the U.S. in search of steak that compares to Five OClock's. The closest hes come but still in second place is St. Elmo in Indianapolis. Cohn says he still visits Five OClock regularly with his wife, Suzie. "Since it is illegal to officially label any product Champagne, unless it comes from the Champagne region of France and is produced under the rules of the appellation; and scotch whiskey must be distilled in Scotland, in a manner specified by law, in order to legally be labeled scotch; and bourbon whiskey, while it may be distilled anywhere in the United States, is strongly associated with Kentucky in particular; then a law should be passed making it illegal to label meat "steak" unless it is butchered, grilled, served and eaten at Coerpers Five OClock Club." Remember when coups and assassinations were secretive, when presidents were obliged to go to Congress and tell lies and ask permission for wars, when torture, spying, and lawless imprisonment were illicit, when re-writing laws with signing statements and shutting down legal cases by yelling "state secrets!" was abusive, and when the idea of a president going through a list of men, women, and children on Tuesdays to pick whom to have murdered would have been deemed an outrage? All such resistance and outrage is in the past by mutual consent of those in power in Washington, D.C. Whoever becomes the next president of the United States could only unfairly and in violation of established bipartisan precedent be denied the powers of unlimited spying, imprisoning, and killing. That this is little known is largely a symptom of partisanship. Most Democrats still haven't allowed themselves to hear of the kill list. But the widespread ignorance is also a function of media, of what's reported, what's editorialized, what's asked about in campaign debates, and what isn't. The new book, Assassination Complex: Inside the Government's Secret Drone Warfare Program, from Jeremy Scahill and the staff of The Intercept, is terrific to see even more for what it represents than for what it actually teaches us. We've already learned the details it includes from the website of the Intercept, and they fit with similar details that have trickled out through numerous sources for years. But the fact that a media outlet is reporting on this topic and framing its concerns in a serious way around the dangerous expansion of presidential and governmental power is encouraging. The United States is now working on putting into action drone ships and ships of drone planes, but has never worked out how in the world it is legal or moral or helpful to blow people up with missiles all over the earth. Drone wars once declared successful and preferable alternatives to ground wars are predictably evolving into small-scale ground wars, with great potential for escalation, and nobody in any place of power has considered what candidate Obama might have called ending the mindset that starts wars, perhaps by using the rule of law, aid, disarmament, and diplomacy. I recommend starting The Assassination Complex with the afterword by Glenn Greenwald, because he reminds us of some of Senator and candidate Obama's statements in favor of restoring the rule of law and rejecting President George W. Bush's abuses. What Obama called unacceptable at Guantanamo, he has continued at Guantanamo and elsewhere, but expanded into a program that focuses on murder without "due process" rather than imprisonment without "due process." "Somehow," writes Greenwald, "it was hideously wrong for George W. Bush to eavesdrop on and imprison suspected terrorists without judicial approval, yet it was perfectly permissible for Obama to assassinate them without due process of any kind." That is in fact a very generous depiction of the drone murder program, as The Assassination Complex also documents that, at least during one time period examined, "nearly 90 percent of the people killed in airstrikes were not the intended targets." We should think of drones more as random killing machines than as machines killing particular people who are denied the right to a trail by jury but are suspected of something by somebody. "It is hard," writes Greenwald, "to overstate the conflict between Obama's statements before he became president and his presidential actions." Yes, I suppose so, but it's also hard to overstate the conflict between some of his campaign statements and others of his campaign statements. If he was going to give people a fair hearing before abusing their rights, what are we to make of his campaign promises to start a drone war in Pakistan and escalate the war in Afghanistan? Greenwald is assuming that the right not to be murdered ranks somewhere fairly high alongside the right not to be spied on or imprisoned or tortured. But, in fact, a war-supporting society must understand all rights to have particular protection except the right to stay alive. The advantage that comes from viewing small-scale drone murders as an escalation of small-scale imprisonment -- that is, as a violation of rights -- really comes when you carry logic one step further and view large-scale killing in war as also a violation of rights, as indeed murder on a larger scale. In fact, among the top areas in which I would add to Greenwald's summary of Obama's expansions of Bush powers are: torture, signing statements, and the creation of new wars of various types. Obama has made torture a question of policy, not a crime to be prosecuted. Frowning on it and outsourcing it and hushing it up does not deny it to the next president in the way that prosecuting it in court would. Obama campaigned against rewriting laws with signing statements. Then he proceeded to do just as Bush had done. That Obama has used fewer signing statements is largely due, I think, to the fact that fewer laws have been passed, combined with his creation of the silent signing statement. Remember that Obama announced that he would review Bush's signing statements and decide which to reject and which to keep. That is itself a remarkable power that now passes to the next president, who can keep or reject any of Bush's or Obama's signing statements. But as far as I know, Obama never did actually tell us which of Bush's he was keeping. In fact, Obama announced that he would silently assume any past signing statement to apply to a new and relevant law without restating the signing statement. Obama has also developed the practice of instructing the Office of Legal Counsel to write a memo in place of a law. And he's developed the additional technique of creating self-imposed restrictions, which have the benefit of not being laws at all when he violates them. A key example of this is his standards for whom to kill with drones. On the question of starting wars, Obama has radically altered what is acceptable. He began a war on Libya without Congress. He told Congress in his last state of the union speech that he would wage a war in Syria with or without them (which statement they applauded). That power, further normalized by all the drone wars, will pass to the next president. Lawyers have testified to Congress that drone killing is murder and illegal if not part of a war, but perfectly fine if part of a war, and that whether it's part of a war or not depends on secret presidential memos the public hasn't seen. The power to render murder possibly legal, and therefore effectively legal, by declaring the existence of a secret memo, is also a power that passes to the next president. In reality, there is no way to even remotely begin to legalize drone murders, whether or not part of a war. The seven current U.S. wars that we know of are all illegal under the UN Charter and under the Kellogg-Briand Pact. So, any element of them is also illegal. This is a simple point but a very difficult one for U.S. liberals to grasp, in the context of human rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch taking a principled stand against recognizing the illegality of any war. If, on the other hand, the drone murders are not part of an illegal war, they are still illegal, as murder is illegal everywhere under universal jurisdiction. The defense that a foreign dictator, exiled or otherwise, has granted permission to murder people in his country, so that sovereignty is not violated, misses the basic illegality of murder, not to mention the irony that helping dictators kill their people conflicts rather stunningly with the common U.S. excuse for launching wars of overthrow, namely punishment of a dictator for the ultimate sin of "killing his own people." Sovereignty is also an idea very selectively respected; just ask Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, or Syria. Reporter Cora Currier, in The Assassination Complex, looks at Obama's self-imposed, but never met, restrictions on drone murders. Under these non-legal limitations it is required that drone missiles target only people who are "continuing, imminent threats to the American people," and who cannot be captured, and only when there is "near certainty" that no civilians will be killed or injured. Currier points out that Obama approves people for murder for months at a time, rendering dubious the already incoherent idea of a "continuing imminent threat." It's not clear that "capture" is ever a serious option, and it is clear that in many cases it is not. The "near certainty" about not killing civilians is thrown into doubt by the constant killing of civilians and, as Currier points out, by the White House claiming to have had that "near certainty" in a case in which it killed civilians who happened to be American and European, thus requiring some accountability. Scahill and Greenwald also document in this book that sometimes what is targeting is a cell phone believed to belong to a particular person. That of course provides no "near certainty" that the targeted person is there or that anyone else isn't. Twitter's making it just a little bit harder for the US intelligence community to surveil your online activity. As Kevin McCoy of USA Today reports , the company "told Dataminr, the business partner that sifts through and provides access to the full output of Twitter's social media postings known as tweets, that it didn't want the service provided to government investigators." I'm sure the National Security Agency and other organizations will come up with their own tools to monitor your 140-character descriptions of what you had for lunch, but it's still a nice gesture on Twitter's part -- the latest little bit of welcome pushback against the surveillance state by American tech companies. From the use of "warrant canaries" -- a way of getting around government orders to not reveal government demands for information -- to an increasing ethos of companies making it impossible for themselves to decrypt their users' data, to Apple's refusal to build a backdoor into its iPhone operating system for the FBI's use, there's a seeming sea change occurring in the relationship between Silicon Valley and Washington, DC. To what extent that change is real and not just public relations theater, I can't say. But either way it reflects increasing public understanding of two key lessons taught to us by Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers: First, almost nothing you do could possibly be any of the US government's business; we should make it as hard as possible for government to pry into our affairs. Second, everything the US government does is YOUR business. You pay the bills and the people claiming to be "your employees" have proven, over and over, that they can't be trusted with the privilege of keeping secrets from the boss. For those two reasons, if there's going to be a differential in technological power between citizens and government, that differential should work to the advantage of citizens, not government. Somehow the US government managed to win World War Two without digital computers and put men on the moon with, rumor has it, less computing power than most of us have on our desktops these days. Let's get back to that ethos. Instead of letting politicians limit our computing power and access to encryption, let's limit theirs. Because I'm a moderate, I won't call for a complete regression to pen and paper. I think we can allow the FBI and NSA to have old circa-1983 Commodore VIC-20 machines with 4.5 kilobytes of RAM, cassette tape drives for storage and 300-baud acoustic coupler modems for communications don't you? Heck, in the spirit of compromise, maybe even Commodore 64s with floppy disk drives! But modern computers, smart phones and strong crypto? Sorry, bureaucrats. That stuff is reserved for your bosses. Update: The claim that Hillary is winning the popular vote is one of the most deceptive, specious claims the Hillary Clinton campaign and her surrogates are making. The mainstream media is echoing and giving a total pass on this egregiously dishonest claim. This is very important for several reasons. 1- Superdelegates are arguing that they are, by supporting Hillary, representing the majority of voters. The truth is that this not true. 2- The mainstream media repeat the "Hillary is winning the popular vote" mantra, or allow Hillary and her surrogates to make the specious claim many many times every day. Actually, the claim is an affront to the truth, based on the numbers. MSM shills are perpetuating the lie (Image by Donald Turner) Details DMCA The truth is that caucus states don't have a popular vote. That doesn't make their vote less important. It just changes how the people of that state choose to make the decision on who to select in the primary. Most people making claims about Hillary's popular vote advantage talk about her having around a three million vote lead. I went to the 2016 Democratic Popular Vote page on RealClearPolitics. The page, not including West Virginia, shows Hillary with a 3,135,834 lead. Then I took a list of the caucus states that Bernie has won, and he's won almost all of them. I dug up 2015 census data on the populations of those states and then pulled from Real Clear Politics, the total votes and the winning spread for Sanders in the caucus states. The numbers are below. First observation-- for states totaling roughly 35 million people, some which Bernie won by 70%, he is given a total spread advantage of 160,000 votes. That's outrageous. Caucus states: 2015 populations according to wikipedia (Image by rob kall) Details DMCA Take a close look at Washington state, which Bernie won with 72.7% of the votes. RealClearPolitics gives him zero votes, with its 7.2 million population. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Reprinted from worldbeyondwar.org Bernie Sanders may have been chivalrous when he told a beleaguered Hillary Clinton, "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails." But when it comes to actually reading some of Clinton's confidential exchanges, that's another matter. In December 2014, Hillary Rodham Clinton began providing the State Department with personal emails sent or received during her tenure as Secretary of State. The final batch was released on February 29, 2016. The entire collection is now posted on the State Department's Public Reading Room and is searchable via this link. But the collection is not complete. Clinton admits to having deleted 32,000 emails "deemed private." Among the missing are a number of politically charged emails sent to Secretary Clinton by a trusted colleague named Sidney Blumenthal. Blumenthal's emails were allegedly captured and copied by Marcel Lazar Lehel, an unemployed Romanian taxi driver better known as "Guccifer" and "Small Fume." In April of this year, Lehel became an instant celebrity after he was identified as the cyber-savvy interloper who had hacked into Clinton's official email account during her time as Secretary of State. (Lehel was recently awarded an all-expenses-paid trip from a Romanian prison to the US where he will spend his days in an American jail cell under 18-month extradition order.) Guccifer's sudden celebrity may seem a bit odd, given the fact that he initially released Clinton's compromised communiques some time ago--back in 2013, to be precise. Before Guccifer became tabloid-fodder in the West, he had already popped a number of eyes by sharing his disclosures with the Russian media organization RT ("Hillary Clinton's 'hacked' Benghazi emails: FULL RELEASE") on March 20, 2013. (A second bundle of Guccifer's Blumenthal-Clinton emails was released on March 22, 2013.) email from Seymour Blumenthal (Image by Rt.com) Details DMCA Given the current frenzy over Guccifer and his revelations, it is remarkable that his headline-grabbing "leaks" went virtually unreported when he first twisted the spigot back in 2013. At the time, the mainstream media took little notice. The only "news outlets" to pick up on Guccifer's cyber-pranks were a few conspiracy sites like The Smoking Gun and Cryptome. [Note: You may experience trouble trying to access the Cryptome website.] The tranche of Clinton's "damn emails" subsequently posted by RT included some pretty damning revelations. Perhaps none was more shocking than the disclosure that the deadly attack on the American consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012--which took the life of US ambassador John Christopher "Chris" Stevens--was secretly financed by powerful figures in Saudi Arabia. This information was contained within the text of four messages Secretary Clinton received from Blumenthal. It should be noted that Blumenthal was not an employee of the US State Department. He was an employee of the Clinton Foundation, earning salary of $10,000 a month as a consultant providing memo-worthy Intel to Secretary Clinton. On the side, Blumenthal also was serving an entrepreneurial role inside a Libyan company called Osprey that was hoping to reap lucrative medical and military contracts under the new post-Qadaffi government. (Since such business deals could require State Department approval, Hillary Clinton might be asked someday whether this relationship with Blumenthal posed a "conflict of interest.") The Saudi's Role in the Benghazi Attack One confidential memo dispatched to Clinton on February 16, 2013 bore the warning: "The following information comes from extremely sensitive sources and it should be handled with care." In this memo, Blumenthal included a lengthy report from an "individual with sensitive access" who, "speaking on condition of absolute secrecy" described the role of the Mokhtar Belmokhtar (a former Al-Qaeda fighter from Algeria who became the leader of the Al-Murabitoun militia) in a January 16, 2013 hostage-taking incident at an Algerian gas facility. (A four-day battle eventually freed 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners and left 39 foreign hostages dead). Blumenthal's source then turned to the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi which was mounted by Ansar al Sharia, another radical militia. "This individual adds that this information provided by the French [intelligence] service indicates that the funding for both attacks originated with wealthy Sunni Islamists in Saudi Arabia. During July and August 2012, these financiers provided funds to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Mahgreb (AQIM) contacts in southern Europe, who in turn passed the money onto AQIM operatives in Mauritania. The money was used to recruit operatives and purchase ammunition and supplies." "In a separate conversation," Blumenthal's memo continues, "Algerian DGSE [the state intelligence agency] officers note in private that Libyan intelligence officers tell them that the Benghazi attacks were funded by these financiers in Saudi Arabia." Alleged Saudi funding of the attack in Benghazi is particularly troubling in light of the mounting suspicions that the 28 censored pages of Washington's official 911 report spell out the role that powerful officials in Saudi Arabia played in supporting the hijackers who brought down the World Trade Center towers in 2011. It is disturbing to discover that Hillary Clinton was informed of Saudi involvement in the death of Ambassador Stevens in 2013 and has opted to remain silent. The Blumenthal memos make many references to the complex role of foreign intelligence--most prominently the CIA and Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS)--both during Qaddafi's reign and after the unraveling of Libya's government. For the majority of people in the United States who have no idea, yes, draft registration still exists, but only for males. However, the U.S. House of Representatives is interested in adding young women to the rolls. In fact the House Armed "Services" Committee passed such a measure in April, and it is now part of the National "Defense" Authorization Act pending review, amendment, debate, and passage. An amendment proposed by Congressman Pete Sessions would undo this "progressive" development. Some rightwing groups that consult the Bible for their standards of women's rights also want to stop the extension of "selective service" to all 18 year olds. Some peace activists believe that the key to ending warmaking is actually activating the draft in as big a way as possible. And liberal humanitarian warriors want equal war rights for women. Much of the rest of the world, meanwhile, believes the United States has overdosed on military madness. As a helpful public service, I offer this guide on how (and why) to oppose extending draft registration to women without being a sexist pig. 1. Oppose the draft extension while wearing a Hillary hat. 2. Just kidding. The goal here is to prevent wars, not launch a dozen new ones. Stay principled. This isn't actually that hard. 3. Join a growing movement backing legislation to end draft registration in the United States for everyone. 4. Take an opportunity if it offers to build an uncomfortably large coalition that treasures young women and views sending them off to kill and die and suffer and commit suicide (top cause of death of U.S. troops) for war profiteers as cruel rather than respectful. Then add the treasuring of young men to the agenda and start treating them accordingly. 5. Respect the fact that young women and men did not live through the era of the war on Vietnam and have not bought into the twisted sense of priorities in which creating a larger peace movement outweighs the damage of creating a larger war. Yes, the draft was a big part of U.S. opposition to the war on Vietnam, but that opposition didn't stop that war until the U.S. military had slaughtered approximately four million people. No U.S. war since the ending of the draft has done remotely as much damage. The purpose of a peace movement should be to abolish war, not to enlarge the budgets of organizations in the peace movement by facilitating much larger wars. 6. Respect the fact that young women and men have grown up in a political system so thoroughly corrupted that you'll never convince them that a draft would be applied fairly to the children of the elite. It wouldn't. 7. Honor the men and women who died resisting the draft. When voting rights are threatened, when elections are corrupted, and even when we are admonished to hold our noses and vote for one or another of the god-awful candidates regularly placed before us, what are we reminded of? People bled for this. People risked their lives and lost their lives. People faced fire hoses and dogs. People went to jail. That's right. And that's why we should continue the struggle for fair and open and verifiable elections. But what do you think people did for the right not to be drafted into war? They risked their lives and lost their lives. They were hung up by their wrists. They were starved and beaten and poisoned. Eugene Debs, hero of Senator Bernie Sanders, went to prison for speaking against the draft. What would Debs make of the idea of peace activists supporting a draft in order to stir up more peace activism? I doubt he'd be able to speak at all through his tears. 8. Help find young women and men career prospects outside the machinery of death. Help create the universal right to free college. Repair the unfairness of the poverty draft and the stop-lossing of troops by giving young people alternatives and ending the wars. When we end the poverty draft and the actual draft, when we actually deny the military the troops it needs to wage war, and when we create a culture that views murder as wrong even when engaged in on a large scale and even when all the deaths are foreign, and even when women are equally involved in the killing, then we'll actually get rid of war, not just acquire the ability to stop each war four million deaths into it. 9. Build a movement with women and men from around the world to create a global treaty banning all military conscription for all people. 10. Build a movement to abolish sexism, racism, environmental destruction, mass incarceration, poverty, illiteracy, and war. Winona LaDuke's latest book reads like a prayer. These are holy words-- inspirational stories taken straight from the heart of indigenous communities throughout the world. The Winona LaDuke Chronicles: Stories From the Front Lines in the Battle for Environmental Justice is lyrical, instructional, and infused with wry humor when the weight of the message becomes unbearable. LaDuke provides a roadmap through tribal nations' belief systems; offering a spiritual compass and invaluable insight into the relationship of prophesy to the realities of climate change, economic collapse, food scarcity and basic human rights. As it happens, prophesy does come true and redemption is possible despite this encyclopedia of environmental and spiritual insults. Are we hell-bent on embracing environmental calamity or is atonement and redemption possible through the lessons offered by indigenous belief systems? How fascinating to learn that corn has a history, that seeds have a profound spiritual meaning, and that plants have a sacred relationship with humans. Provide the environment in which food will flourish and there will be no need for genetic crop engineering. LaDuke is one of the great overlooked orators of our time, and she brings this prowess to every page. Her standard biography is well known. A two time Green Party vice-presidential candidate, LaDuke has 40 years of activism behind her. A graduate of Harvard University, LaDuke is an Anishinaabekwe (Ojibwe) enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabeg. In the preface to Chronicles, she offers testimony to all that life teaches. As for those two losing vice-presidential campaigns, in the essay, "Recovering from the Drama of Elections," LaDuke calls out Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and offers valuable and obvious advice. "People want to be heard." American politics should be defined by diversity rather than establishment money and corporations afforded the status of personhood. The metaphors of fire and resurrection infuse the story telling. "I have now more winters behind me than before me. It has been a grand journey. I am grateful for the many miles, rivers, and places and people of beauty," LaDuke writes. It was after the loss of her home to fire in the early days of a bleak 2008 winter; a loss that included books, a lifetime of memorabilia, and sacred objects, that the orator and writer temporarily lost her voice. LaDuke says she could not write, could not sleep and could barely speak. Memory became tenuous as she struggled with the even more profound losses of her father, the father of her children, and her sister. She equates the rock bottom feeling of PTSD with being "a casualty of the modern Indian Wars." She had lost her loves, her heart and some of her closest friends. But "after the burn" indigenous people know that the fields, the forests and the prairies rebound with new growth. LaDuke found this growth in the writing and the story telling. Now a self-described "modern day bard," she travels across the land, sharing stories from other lands and writing them down along the way. These are her chronicles, at once universal and very personal. In these days of the great Canadian fire that has devastated Fort McMurray , it is a stunning coincidence that in the early pages of Chronicles, LaDuke tells the story of a 2014 meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu there. The town, which has endured much suffering in the current news cycles, is the booming center of the Alberta Tar Sands projects. It is also the ancestral home of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Tutu was there to speak about climate change and global warming. Media coverage criticized Tutu as being misinformed. Tutu warned that pipelines and oil contribute to the devastation of First Nation lands and livelihood and that the resulting climate change would be devastating. Scientists attribute the Alberta firestorms to climate change. A prophecy fulfilled? The essay "My Recommended Daily Allowance of Radiation," slams the North Dakota Department of Health for approving the increase of radioactive materials scuttled in landfills by a factor of 10 or 1000 percent. (from 5 pico curies per liter to 50) It seems the fracking industry was dumping 27 tons a day at 47 pico curies per liter and the illegal dumping issue needed a quick fix. This all scary stuff and LaDuke lays out the rationale for avoiding radioactive materials, especially since not all of it was making it to the landfills. Radioactive filter socks were thrown in ditches and kids found them to be interesting toys. In that characteristic flash of wry humor, LaDuke quotes a female representative from the North Dakota Oil and Gas Industry. "Nuclear radiation isn't so bad," the rep said. "It's not like Godzilla or anything. It's more like Norm from Cheers, just sitting at the bar." "I want more of whatever psychedelic drug she's taking," LaDuke writes. "In the Time of the Sacred Places" describes two paths to the future. One is scorched and one is green, and the Anishinaabeg would have to choose. (So do we all) Ancient teachings speak of a mandate to respect the sacred. In the millennia since the ancient prophecy, sacred Beings still emerge. LaDuke writes that they emerge in "lightning strikes at unexpected times, the seemingly endless fires of climate change, tornadoes that flatten" and floods. As the Haudenosaunee teaching says, "...Our future is seven generations past and present." We must assume responsibility. LaDuke's fine book is our map. Full disclosure. LaDuke requested a photo taken by this writer for a previous article. It appears on the back cover with credit and was donated. (Article changed on May 10, 2016 at 21:53) Drug traffickers exploit women for a variety of reasons. (Image by theglobalpanorama) Details DMCA Drug traffickers exploit the naivety of women. Also, women and children are more vulnerable towards the use of illicit drugs due to various changes they face during their lifetime that includes lack of support, poverty, unemployment, medical treatment and psychological stress, etc. There are numerous factors that hinder the implementation of programs whose only motive is to stop people from using this substance and to provide psychological support to those in need. Lack of anti-illegal drug abuse education in school curriculums and poor knowledge about addiction also contributes to the use of this substance in abundance. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Executive Director Yury Fedotov states, "Women in particular appear to face barriers to treatment - while one out of three drug users globally is a woman, only one out of five drug users in treatment is a woman" We need to invest in long term, medical evidence-based solutions." Many users, both men and women, get infected with the HIV virus while sharing the same needle that compels them to live a short and lonely life, introducing depression and other psychological stress which in turn makes them use drugs as the only solution to their problems. Cape May County is also struggling to cope with growing drug abuse and addiction. Therefore, New Jersey needs to have a strong, educational program with counseling whereas social support and medical care go parallel. Awareness about the effects and harms while using this substance is equally important in schools due to the vulnerability of the age groups during school years. It is highly essential to address this problem through collaborative efforts. In some counties, heroin was a major narcotic that caused a steep increase in the number of users over the past year. A recent report by New Jersey Advance Media also notes that the "heroin eclipses homicide, suicide, car accidents and AIDS as a cause of death in the state." A friend of mine from Cape May said, "I support your cause to work on an anti-drug awareness program. My daughter is in the rehabilitation program now and is doing great. It is indeed inspiring." I really appreciate her willpower towards her daughter's rehabilitation. She expressed her strong commitment towards her daughter's well-being, which made me happy. I think if people having similar agendas come together there can be thousands of people generating and supporting ideas that can make this mission successful. Unfortunately, drug addiction has been a big threat to our society. It is easier to avoid this problem but hard to eliminate it and hence avoiding it is not the solution. Being optimistic and bringing progress through effective measures will enable one to solve the problem for the benefit of everyone, including women and children. Media awareness and community can play complementary roles. We must demonstrate a strong commitment to moving forward and undertaking concrete actions in the respective sectors. Millions of people are confused and frustrated with this problem, so eliminating it is not a role of a single individual, but is for all. Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121 "In Bottom-Up, Rob Kall offers important insights on why our society is in such disarray and what we must do to change it. He demonstrates how "top down" thinking is what has produced our current mess, and how bottom up thinking is much more efficient for solving problems and producing change. Rob shows how lasting change must come from the people themselves and not from the leaders. This was as true in the days of the Magna Carta as it was for the Bill of Rights as it was for the Union movement that first gave workers' rights and protection in this country, as it is today. Indigenous elders have told me, "if you want to change the world, start talking and keep talking." Rob is doing this with this book and with his OpEdNews, and he is making a difference. I recommend this book to all who wish to see lasting, human-friendly, compassionate change that will sustain humanity is this crazy world of today." Lewis Mehl-Madrona, MD, author of the Coyote trilogy that discusses healing practices from Lakota, Cherokee, and Cree traditions and how they intersect with conventional medicine So this past weekend, the politicians and political pundits dominated the headlines with questions as to whether and how presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump could unify the Party. Before you get all nervous about this lets remembers a couple of things. First, controversy is the mothers milk of political reporting. I mean, who wants to report about some kumbaya gathering? Thats one news cycle at best while controversy, conflict and mayhem can go on for days. And second, the news people that are reveling in the reports of more difficulty for Mr. Trump are the same people who routinely predicted the doom and demise of Mr. Trump at every turn in the road. Even the staid Wall Street Journal has joined the Armageddon crowd in publishing an article by some nitwit named Bret Stephens who suggests that the best thing for the Republican Party is the election of Hillary Clinton. The sheer lunacy of suggesting that a money-grubbing, corrupt, congenital liar who has made the politics of personal destruction including the destruction of the women her husband abused an art form, as a plausible solution for what ails the nation or the Republican Party, consigns Mr. Stephens to the lowest rungs of stupid. In a twist on the immortal words of Charles Barkley they may be right, but I doubt it. Does Mr. Trump have an obligation to unify the Republican Party? Absolutely! But just who constitutes the Republican Party? Is it the 301 Republican members of Congress? I doubt that. The rise of Donald Trump is largely due to the unwillingness or inability of the Republican Congress to do anything to address the nations problems despite the fact that they control the purse strings absolutely. Is it the Republican political elites? I doubt that. That group put up thirteen of their best and brightest and each fell woefully short of attracting even a plurality of votes during the primary season. Well maybe it is the vast middle class of Americans who have given Republicans at the state level a majority of governors, state legislators and statewide elected officials. Maybe it is those state level Republicans who have repeatedly pulled their states out of the economic doldrums caused by the failure of President Barack Obama to actually understand or address an anemic economy where marginal growth and massive unemployment (as evidenced by the lowest national labor participation rates in nearly four decades) have become the new normal and the Congressional Republicans have sat idly by critical but unwilling to act. Maybe it includes the working men and women who now earn less than when Mr. Obama took office, and pay more for healthcare with fewer choices before Obamacare was imposed on them by lying, cheating and paying for critical votes. Maybe it includes men and women who fear for their safety waiting for another attack by Islamic terrorist and cognizant that Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton are unwilling to condemn the attacks as emanating from the radical wing of Islam, unwilling to secure the borders through which these terrorists pass, and unwilling to suspend the wholesale immigration of Muslims from countries currently engulfed in wars with Islamic terrorists until a verifiable screening process is in place. (Remember, the Obama administration procedures admitted a fully radicalized Tasheen Malik prior to her entry and thus unleashed her on the San Bernadino community resulting in the deaths of fourteen people and the serious injury to twenty-two others.) Yes, Mr. Trump has an obligation but it is to unify the disaffected before he unifies the party stalwarts. Is Mr. Trump a Republican a conservative? Well sort of. There is no question that he believes in economic growth, smaller and more effective government, less governmental intrusion, a strong national defense and an immediate reduction in the nations massive and unfunded debt. He doesnt believe in international free trade but he does believe in international fair trade. He does believe in the importance of America as a stabilizing force in the world but he does not believe that it should be free to those nations who benefit from that stabilization. And in that regard he does not believe that America must necessarily be universally loved but he does demand that we be respected there is a difference that has escaped Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton for eight years. But more importantly, there is not a single one of those principles with which Ms. Clinton agrees a fact that the not Trump idiots seem to miss. Regardless of what you may think of the man, the principles to which he adheres are definitely mainstream Republican, and more importantly, mainstream America. However, unifying the Republican Party is not enough. Mr. Trump needs to change. First, stop rising to the bait. In the calm aftermath of one of his blowtorch responses, Mr. Trump must recognize that the press is goading him. He needs to turn that back against them. My favorite response has always been: Thats the dumbest effing question I have ever heard and Im not going to answer it. Second, get a thicker skin. Ms. Clinton and the Clinton machine are masters of the politics of personal destruction. What they are going to say about Mr. Trump virtually all of which will be based on innuendo, half-truths and guilt by association will devour the normal person like piranhas on prey. Dont get angry, get even by winning the election and then loosing the Justice Department on the Clinton crime family. And finally, be prepared to apologize when you are wrong. There is a telling exchange between Mr. Trump and FOX News journalist Megyn Kelly in an upcoming television special hosted by Ms. Kelly. Mr. Trump acknowledges that he has great respect for Ms. Kelly because of her willingness to reach out to Mr. Trump for an interview despite an eight-month feud between the two. In doing so, he admits that he personally doubted that he could have done the same. And yet he has to be able to do precisely that. If you aspire to be the leader of worlds most powerful nation, you must accept the humility to admit mistakes as a prerequisite to lead. (Contrast that with the arrogance of Mr. Obama and his insipid presumption that he is the smartest man in the room.) In the end, the presidential race boils down to one of two choices Mr. Trump or Ms. Clinton. You can wish like hell that it was somebody else on either or both tickets but this is what it is. The third choice of not voting simply leaves the decision in others hands and far from washing your hands of any responsibility for the outcome, you are precisely responsible for not having acted. An Election Message to Second Amendment Supporters by Rob Taylor The election is upon us and many voters are still wondering who to cast their vote for and who will be the right representative to protect the rights of the individual, especially those who believe in the Right to Bear Arms. Oregon State House District One Last year State Rep Wayne Krieger met with groups in the local community, including the leading activists in the Coos County Watchdog network. He asked them who they would like to see as a candidate. Wayne was planning on retiring from his position and he wanted an idea of who the people might like to see run for the district, so he could recruit at least one good candidate. It is a great way to carry on the rural legacy, plus nobody else was concerned enough to file for this position previous the deadline, so it was a good idea to have a quality candidate ready to campaign for the election. There were several names bantered about, but the only name that seemed acceptable to most of the groups was Curry County Commissioner David Brock Smith, because Mr. Smith has a record of working with others including those he disagrees with politically. Smith also is well known for standing up for the rights of the individual over the excesses of the federal and state government. During his career as commissioner Smith was able to enact one of the strictest county coordination programs in the state, which forces the feds to coordinate with the local governing body before a federal agency can begin some overblown project, such as the US Fish & Wildlifes Bandon Marsh Mosquito Preserve. He worked to stop those types of land grabs and went even further by joining in the effort to garner resolutions from every city, county, and port on the south coast to oppose NOAAs plans for a National Marine Sanctuary, which would have eliminated the few remaining fishing jobs up-and-down the west coast. The commissioner should be commended in his valiant efforts. When a group of concerned citizens approached the Curry Board of Commissioners to ask that the board pass a resolution against the overreach of state law, SB941 the background checks bill, Smith was the only commissioner to show any interest, because he knew his county had to take a stand for the peoples withering freedoms. He openly supported the county resolution, while the other two commissioners had no clue as to the impact of that very bad anti-gun legislation. Their constituents had to drag them to the table to make the right choice, and the board did so unanimously under Smiths direction. With a solid record on the Second Amendment and property rights, David Brock Smith is not only the right choice for state house district one, but the only choice for serious gun owners. Oregon State House District Nine People who still believe in the US Constitution have a decent candidate to write-in for House district nine, Republican Teri Grier. She is relatively new to the state, but has shown a commitment to the community. Teri organized numerous candidate forums drawing in several governor and federal congressional candidates. Unfortunately, one turncoat Republican, Dave Kronsteiner, who is the current Port Commission President for the Port of Coos Bay, is trying to win district nine for the Democratic Party by asking his family and friends to write-in Caddy McKeown for the Republican Party write-in candidate. His support of a big-government Democrat shows a deep betrayal to fellow Republicans, while projecting the continuing attitude of the countys unelected Port Commissioners, who are better known locally as todays equivalent of the Old Boys Network. More reasons to write-in a legitimate fiscal conservative and Second Amendment supporter, Teri Grier. She will work to get the port under the authority of the voters again, so the people will no longer have to live under the misguided decisions of governor appointed lackeys. Oregon State Senate District Five The only candidate in the Republican primary for district five is currently a city councilor and named 2014 Man of the Year for Lincoln City, Dick Anderson. The best thing about Mr. Anderson is that he is NOT, Arnie Roblan. Senator Roblan voted for SB941 and he will continue to vote for more gun regulation until the state has disarmed every citizen in Oregon, leaving the honest defenseless. The Oregon Firearm Federation gave Arnie an F for continuously voting against the Right to Bear Arms. Mr. Anderson received a B+ from OFF and he firmly supports the Second Amendment. Remember to sign and seal your ballots before sending. Rob Taylor is the founder of a virtual network of local activist at www.CoosCountyWatchdog.com, and the chief petitioner for the Second Amendment Preservation Ordinance. Inside the U.S. Armys Cyber Operations Center at Fort Gordon, Georgia. Credit: Army-Cyber/flickr Recently, United States Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work publicly confirmed that the Pentagon's Cyber Command was "dropping cyberbombs," taking its ongoing battle against the Islamic State group into the online world. Other American officials, including President Barack Obama, have discussed offensive cyber activities, too. The American public has only glimpsed the country's alleged cyberattack abilities. In 2012 The New York Times revealed the first digital weapon, the Stuxnet attack against Iran's nuclear program. In 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden released a classified presidential directive outlining America's approach to conducting Internet-based warfare. The terms "cyberbomb" and "cyberweapon" create a simplistic, if not also sensational, frame of reference for the public. Real military or intelligence cyber activities are less exaggerated but much more complex. The most basic types are off-the-shelf commercial products used by companies and security consultants to test system and network security. The most advanced are specialized proprietary systems made for exclusive and often classified use by the defense, intelligence and law enforcement communities. So what exactly are these "cyberbombs" America is "dropping" in the Middle East? The country's actual cyber capabilities are classified; we, as researchers, are limited by what has been made public. Monitoring books, reports, news events and congressional testimony is not enough to separate fact from fiction. However, we can analyze the underlying technologies and look at the global strategic considerations of those seeking to wage cyber warfare. That work allows us to offer ideas about cyber weapons and how they might be used. A collection of capabilities A "cyberbomb" is not a single weapon. Rather, cyberweapons are collections of computer hardware and software, with the knowledge of their potential uses against online threats. Although frequently used against Internet targets such as websites and forums, these tools can have real-world effects, too. Cyberattacks have disrupted cellphone networks and tricked computers controlling nuclear centrifuges into functioning differently from how they report their status to human operators. A simulated attack has shown how an enemy can remotely disrupt electric power generators. The process of identifying potential targets, selecting them and planning "cyberbomb" attacks includes not only technological experts but military strategists, researchers, policy analysts, lawyers and others across the military-industrial complex. These groups constantly analyze technology to develop the latest cyber weapons and tactics. They also must ensure the use of a given "cyberbomb" aligns with national interests, and follows national and international laws and treaties. For example, as part of their counterterrorism efforts, electronic intelligence services (such as the American NSA and British GCHQ) routinely collect items like real names, user IDs, network addresses, Internet server names, online discussion histories and text messages from across the Internet. Gathering and analyzing these data could use both classified and unclassified methods. The agencies could also conduct advanced Google searches or mine The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. This information can be linked with other data to help identify physical locations of target computers or people. Analysts can also observe interconnections between people and infer the types and strengths of those relationships. This information can clue intelligence analysts in to the existence of previously undiscovered potential Internet targets. These can include virtual meeting places, methods of secure communications, types of phones or computers favored by the enemy, preferred network providers or vulnerabilities in their IT infrastructures. In some cases, cyberattacks need to be coordinated with spies or covert agents who must carry out physical aspects of the plan, especially when the electronic target of a "cyberbomb" is hard to reach such as the computers inside the Iranian nuclear facility targeted by the Stuxnet worm. Cyberattack purposes can vary widely. Sometimes, a government entity wants to simply monitor activity on a specific computer system in hopes of gaining additional intelligence. Other times, the goal is to place a hidden "backdoor" allowing the agency to secretly take control of a system. In some cases, a target computer will be attacked with the intent of disabling it or preventing future use by adversaries. When considering that kind of activity, planners must decide whether it's better to leave a site functional so future intelligence can be collected over the long term, or to shut it down and prevent an adversary from using it in the near term. Although not strictly a "cyber" attack, "cyberbombing" also might entail the use of decades-old electronic warfare techniques that broadcast electromagnetic energy to (among other things) disrupt an adversary's wireless communications capabilities or computer controls. Other "cyberbombing" techniques include modifying or creating false images on an enemy's radar screens ahead of an air attack, such as how Israel compromised Syria's air defense systems in 2007. These may be done on their own or to support more traditional military operations. Finally, using an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon to disrupt and/or disable all electronic circuits over a wide area such as a city could be considered the "Mother of All Cyber Bombs." As such, its effect would be felt both by enemy forces and local (likely) noncombatant citizens, all of whom suddenly would be unable to obtain fresh water and electricity, and find their local hospitals, banks and electronic items ranging from cars to coffee pots unable to function. Depending on the heat and blast from the bomb's detonation, some people might not notice though those dependent on electronic medical devices like pacemakers probably would feel effects immediately. EMP is commonly associated with nuclear weapons, but even using nonnuclear EMP devices in a populated area would presumably cause enough "collateral damage" that it would violate international laws. Fighting against nongovernment groups In addition to the above techniques, and particularly when fighting opponents that are not foreign governments such as ISIS a unique type of "cyberbombing" seeks to target the online personas of terror group leaders. In this type of attack, one goal may be to tarnish their online reputations, such as publishing manipulated images that would embarrass them. Or, cyber weaponry may be used to gain access to systems that could be used to issue conflicting statements or incorrect orders to the enemy. These types of "cyberbombs" can create psychological damage and distress in terrorist networks and help disrupt them over time. The United Kingdom's JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group) within GCHQ specializes in these tactics. Presumably similar capabilities exist in other countries. Making cyberwar public Until recently, few nations publicly admitted planning or even thinking about waging offensive warfare on the Internet. For those that do, the exact process of planning a digital warfare campaign remains a highly guarded military and diplomatic secret. The only people announcing their cyberattacks were assorted hacktivist groups such as Anonymous and the self-proclaimed "Cyber-Caliphate" supporting ISIS. By contrast, the most prominent cyber-attack waged by a nation-state (2011's Stuxnet) allegedly attributed to the United States and Israel was never officially acknowledged by those governments. Cyber weapons and the policies governing their use likely will remain shrouded in secrecy. However, the recent public mentions of cyber warfare by national leaders suggest that these capabilities are, and will remain, prominent and evolving ways to support intelligence and military operations when needed. Explore further The next Cold War has already begun in cyberspace This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Four green-colored, spheroid-shaped, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria, as they were in the process of being enveloped by a much larger human white blood cell. Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/NIAID Together with colleagues from Brazil and China, Hamburg scientists working on DESY's X-ray light sources have developed a promising approach for outsmarting hospital germs that are resistant to antibiotics. Instead of attacking such MRSA bacteria directly, the scientists meddle with a metabolic pathway that is essential to the survival of the germs. As a result, the bacteria produce a useless variant of the vitamin B1, and in the absence of functional vitamin B1 the germs die. The team surrounding Christian Betzel, a professor at the University of Hamburg, and Carsten Wrenger, a professor at the University of Sao Paulo, is presenting its findings in the journal Scientific Reports. Resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem in the field of healthcare. More and more strains of bacteria are becoming immune to certain antibiotics they learn to adapt to the attacks and are no longer vulnerable to them. As a result, the most important weapon against bacterial infection is threatening to be dulled. So-called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA) are often immune to all the usual types of antibiotics and can only be treated using emergency and fall-back drugs. Initially, MRSA only occurred in hospitals, where resistances develop more easily due to the high incidence of germs and antibiotics; but in the meantime MRSA infections are also being observed outside healthcare institutions. In the search for new agents with which to fight the resistant germs, Betzel and Wrenger's team tried a new approach. "Classical drugs block a particular function of the bacterium," explains Betzel. "In such cases, the bacteria can come up with a way of by-passing the blockade, which makes them resistant to that particular drug." Instead, the researchers cleverly interfere with the vitamin B1 pathway of the staphylococci, without actually blocking it. The bacteria have to manufacture this vital vitamin themselves. At the synchrotron beam line P14 of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) at DESY's X-ray light source PETRA III, the scientists determined the precise atomic structure of one of the enzymes involved in this process. The scientists then "fed" this enzyme with a custom-made, seemingly useful ingredient; however, the so-called substrate is slightly modified compared with the natural version, so that the form of the vitamin B1 produced is in fact useless. The enzyme ThiM forms a trimer. Credit: Christian Betzel/Universitat Hamburg "By doing this, we trick the organism," explains Betzel. "We give it something that it believes it needs but in a slightly modified form so that ultimately it is unable to use it. Ideally, the bacterium won't notice what is wrong, because the vitamin B1 pathway continues to work as it should." The researchers believe that this vitamin is particularly suitable for their approach, for two reasons. "The vitamin B1 pathway is absolutely essential. There are virtually no alternatives," says Markus Perbandt, assistant professor at the University of Hamburg and one of the co-authors of the study. And on top of this: "Human beings do not have a similar enzyme. That is extremely important in order to avoid cross reactions." But what must the ideal substrate look like in order for the bacteria to accept it? To find that out, the scientists used the DESY X-ray light sources to examine the atomic structure of the enzymes involved. "Six enzymes are involved in the vitamin-B1 pathway. Four of them have already been analysed," reports Betzel. "The most interesting of these is an enzyme by the name of ThiM. We only have to alter two atoms in the substrate we 'feed' to this enzyme, in order to render it useless." ThiM is a so-called trimer, meaning that it consists of three individual ThiM molecules, which form a complex. "The trimer therefore has three active sites, each located on the interface between the three molecules," explains Betzel. "Once you know the precise structure of the active sites, you can specifically develop a useless substrate," says Perbandt. But the enzyme must not only use the wrong substrate; it should also prefer it to the right one, which is also available. To achieve this, the researchers make their fake substrate more chemically attractive by attaching certain molecular groups to it. "It's a bit like offering the bacteria a piece of chocolate next to a piece of dry bread," says Betzel. "You can only do this if you know the precise atomic structure of the enzyme you are targeting." Medical scientists refer to such agents as prodrugs. Prodrugs only become pharmacologically active once they have been metabolised inside an organism. "Of the twelve original candidate drugs, three have proved to be promising," reports Perbandt. "These are now being tested on cell cultures." Whether this will eventually lead to a new treatment, is not yet certain, but the approach of custom-designing an active agent by knowing the precise atomic structure of a biomolecule is not only suitable for medication used for treating MRSA. "This new method of structure-based drug development is a promising means of fighting other pathogens too," says Perbandt. And the method has additional advantages: "Structure-based drug development not only saves money, but also greatly reduces the need for animal testing." Explore further A small molecule outclasses larger ones in combating drug-resistant bacteria that cause skin infections More information: Julia Drebes et al. Structure of ThiM from Vitamin B1 biosynthetic pathway of Staphylococcus aureus Insights into a novel pro-drug approach addressing MRSA infections, Scientific Reports (2016). Journal information: Scientific Reports Julia Drebes et al. Structure of ThiM from Vitamin B1 biosynthetic pathway of Staphylococcus aureus Insights into a novel pro-drug approach addressing MRSA infections,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/srep22871 Credit: Writtle College It's easy to tell when your friends and family are ecstatic or upset. People are human-centric, and hardwired to pick up the physical cues and social signals that indicate relaxed or stressed states. But animals have their own world of signals that are hard for us to pick up on. Not only that, they have a life-or-death interest in hiding their true physical state from predators further up the food chain, including people. "The thing about cows and sheep is that as plains-living herd animals they are very discrete with their health problems, so they aren't so obvious a target for predators," says Dr Jonathan Amory from Writtle College. "That means you don't get much by way of obvious behaviour even for 10 seconds unless they are very unhealthy or very stressed." And it's this silent, but potentially significant, number that might be suffering that animal welfare scientists like Amory and his team want to know how to find. Humans get a lot from animals from food to leather and wool to waxes and our relationship with domesticated animals goes back centuries. It's only right that we look after them and protect them from suffering and disease throughout their lives especially if they are going to make the 'ultimate sacrifice' and grace our plates. BBSRC-funded research groups across the UK are using innovative new techniques to get a closer and more accurate look at an animal's welfare state, particularly those relevant to farming and agriculture. Cows say more than "moo!" Amory's team is developing a cow-tracking project in collaboration with the University of Essex, Royal Veterinary College and the University of Exeter that can autonomously monitor their behaviour over prolonged periods. "The aim of the project was to identify behaviours in dairy cattle which could be used as predictors for common diseases like lameness and mastitis," says Amory. To do this, his team have used a new type of cow-mounted biosensor that combines real-time local positioning, a 3D accelerometer to sense movement, a magnetometer for orientation, and a temperature sensor. This smartphone-like package is then worn around an animal's neck and has been capturing the cows' activity budgets, their proximity to herd mates and the locations of these interactions. "We are finding changes in behaviour associated with diseases," Amory explains. "We also know that there is very wide variation between individual cows and also between days for individual cows, so this may well give us more questions to ask of the data." The sensors each collated over 1 million rows of data each day, and the team is only now beginning to analyse the data in full. Challenges along the way ranged from everything from limited battery time, to working out the best place on a cow to mount the sensors so they could tell whether the cow was standing or lying. "We had think 'inside the box' for this one," says project research assistant Dr Zoe Barker. "The solution was small plastic boxes filled with sensors and extra batteries, lots of sewing, and even more gaffer tape!" Being aware of abnormal behaviours might be a quick way for farm workers to take a closer look at an individual, and in the future the system is easily adaptable to send farmers or vets instant updates of an animal's health, welfare and location. Credit: University of Lincoln A pig's-eye-view Attaching sensors and monitors to animals is nothing new these days they are smaller, less intrusive and collate and send more data than the more cumbersome radio transmitters of old. But there are still inventive ways to use these devices. Dr Lisa Collins' group at the University of Lincoln used a GoPro camera to capture a pig's eye view of the animal's environment and their experimental set-up (see video above) before their main experiments began. "This was to determine whether there were any distractions at eye level that could potentially affect our study later on," she explains. Her team are using a combination of cross-disciplinary techniques to investigate how individual animals respond to particular conditions, including information processing and personality assessment, as well as mathematical, statistical and systems-modelling approaches. In one of their experiments animals had been trained to run to one location (either far left or far right) to receive a reward (M&Ms) from a bowl, and to avoid the bowl when it was in the opposite location, where it contained something they like less (coffee beans). As seen in the video on this page, the bowl was exactly halfway between the place they usually get M&Ms and the place they get coffee beans. "We see how two different pigs interpreted this ambiguous location, and decide whether it is likely to yield a reward or not, based on how quickly the pig runs to the bowl," says Collins. Like Amory's team, she's also found differences on the individual level. "We've known for a long time that there is a great deal of variation in indicators of animal welfare between individuals, but we are only just starting to understand the factors that are driving this variation," she says. Emotional and cognitive processes in humans are well studied, and Collins' group is using analogous studies in animals, as described and seen above, to determine whether the processes observed in humans are also shared by other species. "Previously, it has been suggested that animals in a better mood would interpret an ambiguous stimulus more optimistically than animals in a worse mood," she says. "We find that whilst this is true, animals can also have more optimistic or pessimistic personalities, and that they combine these predilections with their mood to interpret ambiguous stimuli." This means that while elements of a response to a stimulus may remain consistent, other elements of that response may have the potential to vary just as in people. "By maintaining both stable and flexible traits in their responses to unknown features in their environment, humans and animals are able to respond appropriately to both constant and changing aspects of their surroundings," says Collins. "How this impacts on animal welfare is as yet unknown. We are only just starting to scratch the surface of this research area, and there is a vast amount we are yet to uncover." The stress is cool Other BBSRC-funded researchers have been looking into novel ways to find out if an animal is stressed. Chickens are a challenging target, because they typically share their barns with thousands of other chickens, so individuals are harder to observe. Dr Dorothy McKeegan and her group from the University of Glasgow have been experimenting with infrared thermography technology (IRT) a 'heat camera' that shows the relatively hot and cooler parts of the chicken through the colours of the visible light spectrum. "Infrared thermography technology is a promising welfare assessment measure largely because it allows us to assess stress in a completely non-invasive way," she says. "This means we can potentially assess welfare from a distance, without physical interference with the animals, over a long period of time." It works because of a phenomenon in endotherms (warm-blooded animals) called stress-induced hypothermia, where core body temperature rises after stress exposure as blood flow is directed to the body's organs and away from the surface in preparation for a flight-or-fight response, for example. Following a stressful stimulus (such as handling or a sudden, unfamiliar sound), the IRT is sensitive enough to pick up this surface temperature drop as blood flows to organs. This allows identification of stressed birds and, crucially, gives us an indication of how stressed they are. Credit: University of Glasgow However, McKeegan says the technology isn't quite at the stage of being used in a commercial setting. Their experimental studies are following individual hens at present, in a controlled setting, which won't always be feasible. Another problem is that a lot of physiological processes are the same after positive and negative experiences, such as the release of 'stress hormones'. "This makes these physiological reactions a measure of 'emotional arousal', rather than of whether something is good or bad [valence]," she explains. "One of our hopes is that IRT can tell us more about valence, which would be a really important benefit compared to other physiological measures of welfare." McKeegan adds that their results are encouraging and with more translational research, infrared thermography has the potential to be used a non-invasive stress measure in commercial settings. Fish have feelings, too It's not just livestock animals that deserve attention and awareness of their welfare. "Fish welfare is important, and monitoring has been a neglected area," says Dr Lynne Sneddon of the University of Liverpool. An estimated 200,000 experimental procedures are performed on zebrafish in the UK each year, principally for developmental studies and toxicology testing for the pharmaceutical industry. One reason they are valued as an experimental model is because humans and fish share many similarities. For example, fish and humans produce cortisol as a hormone, whereas rodents have corticosterone. In addition, using fish is more economical than using mammals, hence the increasing number being used from 195,000 procedures (7% of the total) in 2004 to 419,000 (11%) in 2014. "It is therefore vital to ensure this species is properly cared for, not only to safeguard their welfare, but also to ensure data is collected from only healthy individuals thereby increasing the validity of experimental results," says Sneddon. It's not an easy job with hundreds of different fish in the same tank. So working from a joint BBSRC/NC3Rs call, Sneddon and her colleagues have developed a system that so far can simultaneously and autonomously monitor fish. Future development of the system will be to link an alert system so when errant behaviour from the fish is spotted, so an intervention like adding pain-relieving drugs to the tank can be made. "The system is designed for use in laboratories primarily so researchers have an accurate means of assessing health," Sneddon explains. "But it first could be adopted by other industries, such as pet fish and public aquaria, where it is necessary and desirable to keep fish in good welfare." Some 4000 freshwater and marine species are kept as pets or held in public exhibits, totalling an estimated 20-25M individual fish. Animal magic These are just a few examples of how BBSRC-funded researchers are using the latest technologies from animal-mounted cameras to autonomous tracking software to give us never-seen-before insights into animals' internal states. Dr Francoise Wemelsfelder from Scotland's Riral College (SRUC) says we can measure welfare on many levels, in terms of physical health, behaviour, or the animal's experience. Clearly, understanding what animals feel is not an easy task. "We have to be very careful not to view animals through human-tinted glasses, and make the mistake of thinking they will necessarily experience things the way we do." Credit: University of Liverpool Animal welfare is a serious issue in farming and agriculture, and no-one in their right mind would want another sentient being to suffer unnecessarily. By trying to better understand how 'happy' or 'unhappy' animals are, as well as why, we can make sure that we keep and treat animals in ways that minimise stress and maximise wellbeing. Explore further New technique shown to significantly improve welfare of laboratory animals More information: Find out more about BBSRC's work in this area using the links below: Find out more about BBSRC's work in this area using the links below: Research briefing: Animal Welfare http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/research/briefings/animal-welfare/ News: New projects funded to improve animal health and welfare http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/health/2016/160413-n-new-projects-to-improve-animal-health-welfare/ Funding: Animal Welfare Research Network call http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/filter/animal-welfare-research-network-members-call/ Funding: Animal Health and Welfare (ANIHWA) ERA Net http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/filter/animal-health-and-welfare-era-net/ Responsive Mode funding priorities: Welfare of managed animals http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/grants/priorities/welfare-managed-animals/ Following its annual winter break, the most powerful collider in the world has been switched back on. Geneva-based CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC)an accelerator complex and its experimentshas been fine-tuned using low-intensity beams and pilot proton collisions, and now the LHC and the experiments are ready to take an abundance of data. The goal is to improve our understanding of fundamental physics, which ultimately in decades to come can drive innovation and inventions by researchers in other fields. Scientists from SMU's Department of Physics are among the several thousand physicists worldwide who contribute on the LHC research. "All of us here hope that some of the early hints will be confirmed and an unexpected physics phenomenon will show up," said Ryszard Stroynowski, SMU professor and a principal investigator on the LHC. "If something new does appear, we will try to contribute to the understanding of what it may be." SMU physicists work on the LHC's ATLAS experiment. Run 1 of the Large Hadron Collider made headlines in 2012 when scientists observed in the data a new fundamental particle, the Higgs boson. The collider was then paused for an extensive upgrade and came back much more powerful than before. As part of Run 2, physicists on the Large Hadron Collider's experiments are analyzing new proton collision data to unravel the structure of the Higgs. The Higgs was the last piece of the puzzle for the Standard Modela theory that offers the best description of the known fundamental particles and the forces that govern them. In 2016 the ATLAS and CMS collaborations of the LHC will study this boson in depth. Over the next three to four months there is a need to verify the measurements of the Higgs properties taken in 2015 at lower energies with less data, Stroynowski said. "We also must check all hints of possible deviations from the Standard Model seen in the earlier datawhether they were real effects or just statistical fluctuations," he said. "In the long term, over the next one to two years, we'll pursue studies of the Higgs decays to heavy b quarks leading to the understanding of how one Higgs particle interacts with other Higgs particles." In addition, the connection between the Higgs Boson and the bottom quark is an important relationship that is well-described in the Standard Model but poorly understood by experiments, said Stephen Sekula, SMU associate professor. The SMU ATLAS group will continue work started last year to study the connection, Sekula said. "We will be focused on measuring this relationship in both Standard Model and Beyond-the-Standard Model contexts," he said. SMU physicists also study Higgs-boson interactions with the most massive known particle, the top-quark, said Robert Kehoe, SMU associate professor. "This interaction is also not well-understood," Kehoe said. "Our group continues to focus on the first direct measurement of the strength of this interaction, which may reveal whether the Higgs mechanism of the Standard Model is truly fundamental." All those measurements are key goals in the ATLAS Run 2 and beyond physics program, Sekula said. In addition, none of the ultimate physics goals can be achieved without faultless operation of the complex ATLAS detector, its software and data acquisition system. "The SMU group maintains work on operations, improvements and maintenance of two components of ATLASthe Liquid Argon Calorimeter and data acquisition trigger," Stroynowski said. Intensity of the beam to increase, supplying six times more proton collisions Following a short commissioning period, the LHC operators will now increase the intensity of the beams so that the machine produces a larger number of collisions. "The LHC is running extremely well," said CERN Director for Accelerators and Technology, Frederick Bordry. "We now have an ambitious goal for 2016, as we plan to deliver around six times more data than in 2015." The LHC's collisions produce subatomic fireballs of energy, which morph into the fundamental building blocks of matter. The four particle detectors located on the LHC's ring allow scientists to record and study the properties of these building blocks and look for new fundamental particles and forces. This is the second year the LHC will run at a collision energy of 13 TeV. During the first phase of Run 2 in 2015, operators mastered steering the accelerator at this new higher energy by gradually increasing the intensity of the beams. "The restart of the LHC always brings with it great emotion", said Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director General. "With the 2016 data the experiments will be able to perform improved measurements of the Higgs boson and other known particles and phenomena, and look for new physics with an increased discovery potential." New exploration can begin at higher energy, with much more data Beams are made of "trains" of bunches, each containing around 100 billion protons, moving at almost the speed of light around the 27-kilometre ring of the LHC. These bunch trains circulate in opposite directions and cross each other at the center of experiments. Last year, operators increased the number of proton bunches up to 2,244 per beam, spaced at intervals of 25 nanoseconds. These enabled the ATLAS and CMS collaborations to study data from about 400 million million protonproton collisions. In 2016 operators will increase the number of particles circulating in the machine and the squeezing of the beams in the collision regions. The LHC will generate up to 1 billion collisions per second in the experiments. "In 2015 we opened the doors to a completely new landscape with unprecedented energy. Now we can begin to explore this landscape in depth," said CERN Director for Research and Computing Eckhard Elsen. Between 2010 and 2013 the LHC produced proton-proton collisions with 8 Tera-electronvolts of energy. In the spring of 2015, after a two-year shutdown, LHC operators ramped up the collision energy to 13 TeV. This increase in energy enables scientists to explore a new realm of physics that was previously inaccessible. Run II collisions also produce Higgs bosonsthe groundbreaking particle discovered in LHC Run I25 percent faster than Run I collisions and increase the chances of finding new massive particles by more than 40 percent. But there are still several questions that remain unanswered by the Standard Model, such as why nature prefers matter to antimatter, and what dark matter consists of, despite it potentially making up one quarter of our universe. The huge amounts of data from the 2016 LHC run will enable physicists to challenge these and many other questions, to probe the Standard Model further and to possibly find clues about the physics that lies beyond it. The physics run with protons will last six months. The machine will then be set up for a four-week run colliding protons with lead ions. "We're proud to support more than a thousand U.S. scientists and engineers who play integral parts in operating the detectors, analyzing the data, and developing tools and technologies to upgrade the LHC's performance in this international endeavor," said Jim Siegrist, Associate Director of Science for High Energy Physics in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. "The LHC is the only place in the world where this kind of research can be performed, and we are a fully committed partner on the LHC experiments and the future development of the collider itself." The four largest LHC experimental collaborations, ALICE, ATLAS, CMS and LHCb, now start to collect and analyze the 2016 data. Their broad physics program will be complemented by the measurements of three smaller experimentsTOTEM, LHCf and MoEDALwhich focus with enhanced sensitivity on specific features of proton collisions. Explore further Large hadron collider prepares to deliver six times the data Antibiotic-resistant bacteria most often are associated with hospitals and other health-care settings, but a new study indicates that chicken coops and sewage treatment plants also are hot spots of antibiotic resistance. The new study surveyed ecosystems of bacteria and their capacity to resist antibiotics in low-resource communities, including Pampas de San Juan de Miraflores, a densely populated slum outside Lima, Peru. The research, led by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is published May 12 in Nature. Credit: Pablo Tsukayama Antibiotic-resistant bacteria most often are associated with hospitals and other health-care settings, but a new study indicates that chicken coops and sewage treatment plants also are hot spots of antibiotic resistance. The research, led by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, is published May 12 in Nature. The scientists surveyed bacteria and their capacity to resist antibiotics in a rural village in El Salvador and a densely populated slum on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. In both communities, the researchers identified areas ripe for bacteria to shuffle and share their resistance genes. These hot spots of potential resistance transmission included chicken coops in the rural village and a modern wastewater treatment plant outside Lima. "Bacteria can do this weird thing that we can'texchange DNA directly between unrelated organisms," said senior author Gautam Dantas, PhD, an associate professor of pathology and immunology. "That means it's relatively easy for disease-causing bacteria that are treatable with antibiotics to become resistant to those antibiotics quickly. If these bacteria happen to come into contact with other microbes that carry resistance genes, those genes can pop over in one step. We estimate that such gene-transfer events are generally rare, but they are more likely to occur in these hot spots we identified." While the study was done in developing parts of the world, Dantas suggested ways the data could be relevant for the U.S. and other industrialized countries. If the chicken coops of subsistence farmers are hot spots of resistance gene transfer, he speculated that bacteria present in industrial farming operationswhere chickens regularly receive antibioticswould see even more pressure to share resistance genes. Dantas expressed concern about such bacteria getting into the food system. Further, the wastewater treatment facility the investigators studied in Lima is a modern design that uses technologies typical of such facilities around the world, including those in the U.S., suggesting these plants may be hot spots of antibiotic resistance transmission regardless of their locations. The study is the first to survey the landscape of bacteria and the genetics of their resistance across multiple aspects of an environment, including the people, their animals, the water supply, the surrounding soil, and samples from the sanitation facilities. While the densely populated slum surrounding Lima has a districtwide sewage system and modern wastewater treatment plant, the village in El Salvador has composting latrines. Rural villagers who rely on subsistence farming, and residents of densely populated, low-income communities surrounding cities make up a majority of the global population; yet their microbiomes are largely unstudied. Most similar studies to date have focused on heavily industrialized populations in the United States and Europe and on rare and so-called pristine communities of people living a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle. "Not only do the communities in our study serve as models for how most people live, they also represent areas of highest antibiotic use," Dantas said. "Access to these drugs is over-the-counter in many low-income countries. Since no prescription is required, we expect antibiotic use in these areas to be high, putting similarly high pressure on bacteria to develop resistance to these drugs." In general, Dantas and his colleagues found that resistance genes are similar among bacteria living in similar environments, with more genetic similarity seen between bacteria in the human gut and animal guts than between the human gut and the soil, for example. In addition, the researchers also found that bacteria that are closely related to one another have similar resistance genes, which might be expected as bacteria pass their genes from one generation to the next. "The general trends we found are consistent with our previous work," Dantas said. "We were not terribly surprised by the resistance genes that track with bacterial family trees. On the other hand, the genes we found that break the hereditary trend are quite worrisome. Genes that are the exceptions to the rulethat are not similar to the surrounding DNAare the ones that are most likely to have undergone a gene-transfer event. And they are the resistance genes at highest risk of future transmission into unrelated bacteria." Of the locations sampled in the study, resistance genes that are most likely to be mobile and able to jump from one bacterial strain to another were found in the highest numbers in the chicken coops of villagers in El Salvador and in the outgoing "gray" water from the sewage treatment plant outside Lima. Not suitable for drinking, most of this water is released into the Pacific Ocean, and some is used to irrigate city parks, the researchers said. "Soils in the chicken coops we studied appear to be hot spots for the exchange of resistance genes," Dantas said. "This means disease-causing bacteria in chickens are at risk of sickening humans and transferring their resistance genes in the process. Our study demonstrates the importance of public health guidelines that advise keeping animals out of cooking spaces." As for the wastewater treatment plant, Dantas called it the perfect storm for transmitting antibiotic resistance genes. Such facilities are excellent at removing bacteria that are well-known for causing disease and can be grown in a petri dish, such as E. coli. But that leaves room for other types of bacteria to grow and flourish. "The system is not designed to do anything about environmental microbes that don't make people sick," Dantas said. "But some of these bacteria carry resistance genes that are known to cause problems in the clinic. We are inadvertently enriching this water with bacteria that carry resistance genes and then exposing people to these bacteria because the water is used to irrigate urban parks." Dantas and his colleagues suspect that the antibiotic resistance they measured in microbes that survive the plant's treatment process is driven by the presence of over-the-counter antibiotics in the sewage being treated. The researchers measured antibiotic levels before and after treatment, and while most of these drug residues are removed during the process, the fact that they're present at the beginning favors the survival of bacteria that are resistant to them. "All the antibiotics we detected in the pre-treated water were among the top 20 sold in Peru," Dantas said. "These findings have implications for public health, perhaps in designing future wastewater treatment plants and in making policy decisions about whether antibiotics should be available without a prescription." Explore further Antibiotic resistance genes increasing More information: Pehrsson EC, Tsukayama P, Patel S, Mejia-Bautista M, Sosa-Soto G, Navarrete KM, Calderon M, Cabrera L, Hoyos-Arango W, Bertoli MT, Berg DE, Gilman RH, Dantas G. Interconnected microbiomes and resistomes in low-income human habitats. Nature. May 12, 2016. Journal information: Nature Pehrsson EC, Tsukayama P, Patel S, Mejia-Bautista M, Sosa-Soto G, Navarrete KM, Calderon M, Cabrera L, Hoyos-Arango W, Bertoli MT, Berg DE, Gilman RH, Dantas G. Interconnected microbiomes and resistomes in low-income human habitats.. May 12, 2016. nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature17672 One of 60 micrometeorites extracted from 2.7 billion year old limestone, from the Pilbara region in Western Australia. These micrometeorites consist of iron oxide minerals that formed when dust particles of meteoritic iron metal were oxidised as they entered Earth's atmosphere, indicating that the ancient upper atmosphere was surprisingly oxygen-rich. Credit: Andrew Tomkins Using the oldest fossil micrometeorites - space dust - ever found, Monash University-led research has made a surprising discovery about the chemistry of Earth's atmosphere 2.7 billion years ago. The findings of a new study published today in the journal Nature - led by Dr Andrew Tomkins and a team from the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment at Monash, along with scientists from the Australian Synchrotron and Imperial College, London - challenge the accepted view that Earth's ancient atmosphere was oxygen-poor. The findings indicate instead that the ancient Earth's upper atmosphere contained about the same amount of oxygen as today, and that a methane haze layer separated this oxygen-rich upper layer from the oxygen-starved lower atmosphere. Dr Tomkins explained how the team extracted micrometeorites from samples of ancient limestone collected in the Pilbara region in Western Australia and examined them at the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy (MCEM) and the Australian Synchrotron. "Using cutting-edge microscopes we found that most of the micrometeorites had once been particles of metallic iron - common in meteorites - that had been turned into iron oxide minerals in the upper atmosphere, indicating higher concentrations of oxygen than expected," Dr Tomkins said. "This was an exciting result because it is the first time anyone has found a way to sample the chemistry of the ancient Earth's upper atmosphere," Dr Tomkins said. Imperial College researcher Dr Matthew Genge - an expert in modern cosmic dust - performed calculations that showed oxygen concentrations in the upper atmosphere would need to be close to modern day levels to explain the observations. Monash University scientists Dr Andrew Tomkins and Dr Sasha Wilson, who were part of the team that have discovered 2.7 billion year old micrometeorites preserved in ancient sedimentary rocks, an example of which is shown in the background. This research team have recognised that fossil micrometeorites sampled the chemistry of the Earth's ancient upper atmosphere, opening a new avenue for investigating atmospheric evolution in deep time. Credit: Steven Morton "This was a surprise because it has been firmly established that the Earth's lower atmosphere was very poor in oxygen 2.7 billion years ago; how the upper atmosphere could contain so much oxygen before the appearance of photosynthetic organisms was a real puzzle," Dr Genge said. Dr Tomkins explained that the new results suggest the Earth at this time may have had a layered atmosphere with little vertical mixing, and higher levels of oxygen in the upper atmosphere produced by the breakdown of CO 2 by ultraviolet light. "A possible explanation for this layered atmosphere might have involved a methane haze layer at middle levels of the atmosphere. The methane in such a layer would absorb UV light, releasing heat and creating a warm zone in the atmosphere that would inhibit vertical mixing," Dr Tomkins said. "It is incredible to think that by studying fossilised particles of space dust the width of a human hair, we can gain new insights into the chemical makeup of Earth's upper atmosphere, billions of years ago." Dr Tomkins said. Dr Tomkins outlined next steps in the research. "The next stage of our research will be to extract micrometeorites from a series of rocks covering over a billion years of Earth's history in order to learn more about changes in atmospheric chemistry and structure across geological time. We will focus particularly on the great oxidation event, which happened 2.4 billion years ago when there was a sudden jump in oxygen concentration in the lower atmosphere." Explore further Flying observatory detects atomic oxygen in Martian atmosphere More information: Andrew G. Tomkins et al. Ancient micrometeorites suggestive of an oxygen-rich Archaean upper atmosphere, Nature (2016). Journal information: Nature Andrew G. Tomkins et al. Ancient micrometeorites suggestive of an oxygen-rich Archaean upper atmosphere,(2016). DOI: 10.1038/nature17678 Detego In-Store for RFID fixed-reader infrastructure for fashion retailers Graz Detego, the market leader in real time business intelligence for fashion retail, is the first vendor to offer in-store software that provides out-of-the-box support for fixed RFID readers. Removing the need for store assistants to manually scan using handheld RFID readers, the hands-free reader system with Detego InStore creates complete inventory transparency and near 100% inventory accuracy and provides completely new insights into the in-store business. The implementation of Detego InStore and state-of-the art, hands-free RFID technologies enables fashion retailers to both automatise processes and reduce administrative duties, freeing staff to focus on customer service. In combination with increased inventory transparency, this leads to an enhanced shopping experience and a higher sales conversion rate. For retailers looking to implement an omnichannel strategy, Detego InStore and fixed reader infrastructure lays the right foundation through constant real-time transparency on item level. Retail digitalisation and omnichannel strategies put a burden of transparency on merchandise flow and efficient channel coordination. Detego InStore with fixed reader infrastructure enables fashion retailers to automatically collect data from their entire range of articles in real-time with no scanning needed. This provides them with a reliable inventory and transparency without human intervention, meaning high quality data at a low operational expense. The implementation of fixed reader infrastructure and real-time analytics opens up completely new opportunities for fashion retailers to gain deeper insights into their in-store operations and how to actively manage them. Through constant transparency of the flow of goods, a retailer can analyse the movement of products in-store, revealing insights such as which items are most frequently tried-on and subsequently bought; or those which never make it to the fitting room or Point of Sale. This analysis helps to avoid out-of-stock situations and enables fashion retailers to optimise their offerings and product presentation for higher revenue generation. The RFID-based Detego Suite for real-time analytics and article transparency is already successfully in use by many leading fashion retailers. For Detego InStore with fixed reader infrastructure, Detego provides a competitive fixed monthly rate, including the hardware and software as a complete package, allowing customers to benefit from measurement and analysis of customer behaviour at a low cost. Uwe Hennig, CEO of Detego, commented: In todays world of omnichannel retailing, article accuracy across all systems is no longer optional. RFID applications in fashion retail have already proven their business benefits. Fixed ceiling readers have now reached a level of technical sophistication and price point that allows for constant and fully automated stocktaking on the sales floor. We are glad to be the first software provider to offer in-store software for fixed readers for the fashion retail market. Successful customer implementations of this software have proven that hands-free reader infrastructure and real-time analytics open up completely new possibilities for managing and optimising in-store operations. Other Point of Sale blogs that may interest you: SARATOGA SPRINGS | City police on Tuesday announced two arrests for first-degree rape stemming from a 2014 incident in which an adult woman allegedly had sex with a boy under the age of 13. Kaitlyn N. Fox, 22, was arrested in late April in the Chicago area and returned to New York on Monday, police said. They also announced that an accomplice was arrested last June, but said his arrest wasn't publicized due to the ongoing investigation. Fox faces charges of first-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child, and is currently in the Saratoga County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail after being arraigned in Saratoga Springs City Court. The alleged incident occurred on Dec. 20, 2014. City police said they received a referral from state police concerning Fox and the youth, which also said Nicholas P. Beer. 40, was also present and permitted the sex to take place. The incident was investigated by police and Saratoga County Child Protective Services, but when investigators sought Fox and Beers, they had left the area, and were believed to be in Florida. In January 2015, Beers was located in Florida and brought back to New York on unrelated charges. In June, he was arrested on a warrant charging him with first-degree rape, endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree criminal contempt, police said. Police said they didn't announce the arrest because it was believed it could have a negative impact on their continuing search for Fox. Police said they learned in 2015 that Fox had moved to the Chicago area, and working with U.S. marshals, they located her in Bolingbrook, Illinois, and arrested her on April 24 on the Saratoga Springs warrant. BALLSTON SPA | A Saratoga County grand jury has indicted a Corinth man on six charges, four of them felonies, for alleged sexual assaults and protective order violations. The charges stem from incidents reported to have occurred in Hadley and Milton in March and April, which led to his arrest by State Police. He is accused of violating an order of protection after his arrest in the attempted rape case March 20. FORT EDWARD | A Hudson Falls woman who was arrested late last year in a heroin sale case has been sentenced to 3 years in state prison. Mariah L. Simpson, 21, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, a felony, for a heroin sale in Hudson Falls last fall. Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan sentenced her to 3 years in state prison to be followed by 2 years on parole. A co-defendant, Raymond F. Alger, 23, of Hudson Falls, was sentenced earlier this month to 4 years in state prison. Police said he was involved in three heroin sales during an investigation by the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Mail carriers do not usually measure their loads in tons of food, nor do they usually tote those tons of food back to the post office at the end of the day. Well, except on National Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Day, which is scheduled for Saturday throughout Washington and Warren counties and across the country. Were asking people to put food out next to their mailboxes, and our carriers will pick it up and bring it back with them, said Glens Falls Postmaster Dan Cronin, who noted his office processed more than 17 tons of food during last years drive. It filled a large portion of our garage, he said, adding that this is the 24th year letter carriers have done a food drive. It went really well. Cronin said all residents in the region should have received a postcard telling them about the event, and he noted that most residents in Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, South Glens Falls and Queensbury will receive bags to put the food in. The Postal Service is looking for non-perishable food for the drive. Specific items needed include cereal, pasta, pasta sauce or spaghetti sauce, rice, canned fruits and vegetables, canned meals, such as soups, chili and pasta, 100 percent juice, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, canned tuna, chicken and turkey and canned or dry beans. Cronin said the distribution is a community effort, involving the Warren-Hamilton Counties Community Action Agency, Washington County Economic Opportunity Council and the Glens Falls City Department of Public Works, which handles moving the food. It can take up to a week to get it all distributed because there can be so much, Cronin said. Community Action will distribute food mainly to the Salvation Army, Moreau Community Center and the Family Service Association of Glens Falls. Food will also be distributed in Washington County. Back in 2011, when the Hudson Falls carriers started working out of Glens Falls, people in Washington County were a little worried, but we make sure that the food they collect goes back to Washington County, Cronin said. The National Association of Letter Carriers, the U.S. Postal Service and other partners sponsor the event, which collected 71 million pounds of food last year. Thats 35,500 tons. CHESTER North Warren school officials are planning to start a backpack program to provide food for students to take home on weekends. Interim Superintendent Bernard McCann said a committee of himself and faculty members has been working on the project. Im very excited about it, he said. Hopefully, well be able to start the second, third week of September. North Warren is the latest school to join the BackPack Program, in which the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York provides a bag full of food including breakfast items, entrees, bread, a milk card, vegetables and fruit snacks for students to take home on weekends. The Helpers Fund, a Chester-based nonprofit, has agreed to help pay for the project, according to McCann. The organization provides financial assistance to families in the area and also helps run a food pantry and provides scholarships to North Warren students. McCann said he also has reached out to some other community groups, looking for money to provide additional food when the school district has three-day weekends and extended holidays throughout the year. Ive got pledges of over $1,500. Im hoping to reach about $2,000 and I think that would cover it, he said. It will also allow us to buy fresh food. The food bank is only able to provide nonperishable food, and McCann said he would like to be able to also provide fresh fruit, such as oranges or apples. Several local school districts are participating in the program, including Corinth, South Glens Falls, Bolton, Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, Johnsburg, Warrensburg, Greenwich, Fort Edward and Whitehall. In other business, the school board held a public hearing on its Smart Schools plan. North Warren is set to receive nearly $300,000 in state funds as part of a bond proposal that passed in 2014. Vivienne Frederick, the districts technology coordinator, outlined what school officials intend to do with the money. The district was an early adopter of wireless technology in the building, according to Frederick. Its current system is old and slow. The plan is to replace the wireless switches and install a wireless access point in every classroom. The new system would be much faster, she said. The district is spending about $236,000 on the upgrades. About $152,000 of that would be paid for by Smart Schools funds, according to Frederick. The rest is coming from another state funding source that districts can tap for technology projects. Queensbury at-large Supervisor Rachel Seeber has been elected as a Donald Trump delegate to represent the 21st Congressional District at the Republican National Convention in July. Im so excited, she said, discussing her election as people gathered for an EDC Warren County forum at The Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls on Wednesday. Seeber said she was elected at a regional convention Tuesday as one of three delegates and three alternate delegates all pledged to Donald Trump to the national convention July 18-21 in Cleveland. The congressional districts delegates are pledged to Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, based on his receiving more than 50 percent of the vote in the district in New Yorks presidential primary on April 19. Seeber said she is the districts only delegate or alternate delegate from the Glens Falls region. She said she has no qualms about supporting Trump, as she has been a die-hard supporter of his candidacy for months. I am a Trump supporter, and certainly, more important, the people have supported him, she said, referring to his majority vote in Warren County in the primary. Trump received 3,761 votes, just under 50 percent of the total 7,867 votes cast in Warren County, according to official final results. John Kasich received 2,772 votes and Ted Cruz received 1,200 votes, with a handful of votes going to other Republican presidential candidates who had suspended their campaigns prior to the primary. Some prominent politicians nationally and in the region have expressed reservations about Trumps candidacy. U.S. Rep. Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, said at a speech in Queensbury on Friday he was not supporting Trump at this point, but would consider supporting him if Trumps positions evolve. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Willsboro, has said she will support the Republican nominee, but she will not be attending the convention. Seeber said she is confident the Republican Party will rally around Trump. The people want change. They are asking for change, she said. Seeber is in her second two-year term as an at-large supervisor representing Queensbury on the Warren County Board of Supervisors, and she is considering challenging incumbent Democrat John Strough for town supervisor in 2017. She is a Warren County representative on the state Republican Committee. In 2015, the state Republican Committee selected her as its rising star for Warren County. GLENS FALLS | Architect Gary McCoola showed a sketch that depicted an aerial view of a mall planned for downtown Glens Falls in the early 1970s as part of the citys Urban Renewal program. The sprawling suburban-style complex was planned for the intersection of Warren and Glen streets, in the vicinity of what is now Burger King and Glens Falls Civic Center. Construction was started but halted a month later when the developer pulled out. Im very happy this project was never built, McCoola said, suggesting its architecture would have clashed with a historic downtown. McCoola, who owns a local architecture firm, was one of four panelists who spoke Saturday at Chapman Historical Museum, in conjunction with a new museum exhibit, A Look Back: 50 Years Ago, that focuses on the citys Urban Renewal program. The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 4, includes photographs of more than 30 buildings along Glen, Warren and Ridge streets scheduled for demolition in 1966, when Glens Falls started its Urban Renewal program. The Glen, Warren and Ridge streets project was one of three Urban Renewal projects in Glens Falls. The others were farther down on Ridge and in the Hudson Avenue neighborhood. The design for the mall was a harbinger of what might have been in downtown Glens Falls if the Urban Renewal strategy, prevalent around the country at the time, had continued unabated. Virtually the entire downtown of Ilion, a village in Herkimer County, was razed, said Paul Cummings, another panelist. Officials in cities like Glens Falls embraced the Urban Renewal strategy because it was tied to federal redevelopment funding, he said. It really was a top-down approach of you go where the money is, said Chris Round, another panelist. Cummings and Round are both planners with The Chazen Companies. Urban Renewal was a strategy to demolish large blocks of older buildings and replace them with large-scale new development. It was big and it was sweeping and there were all sorts of factors going on, Round said. At times, the new development never got built and property sat empty, he said. Le Corbusier, a French-Swiss architect, influenced the Urban Renewal strategy with his Radiant City concept, later used in the design of Empire Plaza in Albany, Cummings said. Urban Renewal concepts started showing up in federal legislation in the 1940s, and the term was first used in a 1950 appropriations law. Glens Falls officials embraced the concept as a way to get federal funding to revive a downtown that was losing businesses to Queensbury and was facing a perception that downtown parking was limited, panelists said. As a grant writer, you work from the context that you go where the money is, Cummings said. Our community leaders knew that there were problems here, said Timothy Weidner, the museums executive director. But residents were not convinced it was a wise approach. Even now you see lots of bitter commentary in the community about Urban Renewal, Weidner said. Glens Falls officials reversed course in 1979 when then Glens Falls Mayor Edward Bartholomew recruited Rutland furniture retailer Gilbert Godnick to renovate, instead of demolish, the building at 229 Glen St. Spot Coffee is now located in that building. Around that same time, a group that included architect Robert Joy redeveloped, instead of demolishing, a row of nine buildings stretching from the building that houses Morins Dive Center on Warren Street, around the corner with Ridge Street to where Cornerstone Pizza Cafe is located now. Local redevelopment strategy now focuses on determining the best reuse for one building at a time, instead of mass redevelopment of whole blocks, panelists said. Restoring cant always be the answer. Sometimes because of the empty blocks and the missing teeth, you do want to build new, said Nina Oldenquist, another panelist. Panelists said it is important to advocate for local control of how state and federal redevelopment funds are used. Theres a real political element to this conversation that we havent gone to because thats not part of our expertise, said Oldenquist, a planner at JMZ Architects and Planners. QUEENSBURY Increased calls to a state program that is designed to improve assistance to those in need of long-term help and support have prompted Warren County to add a new employee to help deal with the influx of inquiries. The new staff member of the Office for the Aging will assist with an increase in calls stemming from the federal Balancing Incentives Program. Queensbury at-Large Supervisor Matt Sokol said calls to the county through the program have increased 93 percent over the past year, from 337 to 650, with indications it is working well to get people to the right services. Christie Sabo, director of the Officer for the Aging, said BIP is an expansion of the New York Connects program that is used to funnel those in need of help to the right assistance programs. Those who field the calls are trained in the types of assistance that are available locally and through the state. BIP was started in 2013 as part of the federal Affordable Care Act with a goal of increasing use of home-based and community services for long-term care as an alternative to more expensive institutional care in nursing homes or other facilities. The program is administered by the Office for the Aging, but isnt just for senior citizens, Sabo said. Those in need of help are referred to different local and state agencies, such as the Office of Mental Health or Office for People With Developmental Disabilities. Funding through the federal Medicaid program pays for the New York Connects and BIP assistance. A salary for the new employee and timetable for the hiring have not been set. Sokol said the county would not fund the position if the grant funding is discontinued. If the grant funding goes away, so does the position, Sokol said. To learn more about New York Connects, log on to www.nyconnects.ny.gov/. Although it has become more popular in recent days, delta-8-THC isnt particularly new. It has been around for quite a President John Mahama during the recent State of The Nation Address mentioned that the process of finding a strategic investor for the shipyard was underway.The workers, last week, asked the president to back his words with action and gave him a 14-day ultimatum to sack the MD and also dissolve the board of the company. They blamed the situation on bad policies being implemented by the MD coupled with refusal to increase workers salary for the past three years.However, the chairman is accusing the workers of tarnishing the image of the company.Over 98 percent of the vessels that call in for repair are tanker vessels, he said. Currently, due to the economic downturn in the oil sector, most of them have rescheduled their repairs to a future date. Dr Spio-Garbrah made the suggestion when he paid a working visit to Nestle Ghanas factory in Tema.. The minister who seems to be particularly enthusiastic about the plight and success of local businesses and manufacturers said the sugar factory which has been completed, has the capacity to produce 1,250 tonnes of white sugar daily and a with the support from multi-national companies like Nestle, the factory would operate at full capacity and propel the countrys industrial success. Dr Spio-Garbrah appealed to Nestles management to use the made-in-Ghana logo on their products to help market the country to the international community where Nestle Ghana exports some of its products, since as a multi-national company, it produced to international specifications. The Managing Director of Nestle Ghana, Mrs Freda Duplan said the company had more than 1,300 employees, most of whom were Ghanaians. With a daily production capacity of 250 tonnes, the company, she added, sourced most of its raw materials which included maize, rice and millet locally. Mrs Duplan also said to help boost the capacity of farmers who produced for the company, over 52,000 farmers had been trained to produce quality cereals. According to the Belembe hit-maker, Adomaa is a talented musician and needs experienced people to handle her. This, he believes will help the youngster realise her dreams of becoming one of the most celebrated musicians the country has produced. Adomaa is going to be a big star. She would have to be in the right hands. I tell you, she is the next export for Ghana. She needs someone who has been there and has seen the international way of doing things. If we groom, package and market her very well, she will be a great export for this country Bessa Simons told Hitz FMs MzGee. Adomaa after performing at the VGMAs has won the heart of a section of industry players. She secured a spot to perform alongside Sarkodie, Efya, Bisa Kdei, Stonebwoy at the 2016 VGMAs held at the Accra International Conference Centre as the winner of the Unsung category. She beat competition from Nii Funny, Feli Nuna, Ebony Reigns, Perez and Wan O. In 2015, she was featured in The Guardian UK's most powerful female voices on the African continent. Some comments suggested that he was one of the personalities who dressed shabbily for the event. But speaking to Abrantepa on Radio Univers mid-morning show, Brunch2Lunch on Tuesday, Blakk Rasta expressed surprise at the comments. Well, opinions are like noses. I dont disrespect peoples opinion. For me, I dressed African as usual. Im surprised that people are surprised because I always dress like that, he said with laughter. I dont wear European attire. I saw a post like Blakk Rasta dresses like a boarding school pantry woman. If thats what your eyes tell you, then thats okay. For me, I dressed like a priest. Everybody wants to appear in glitz and glamour even if they dont have money I dont do that. I can wear what I sewed twenty years ago In that case, if Jesus Christ comes right now, people are going to run away because he will dress like the way I dressed, he noted. The VGMAs becomes the fashion playground and battlefield for most Ghanaian celebrities every year. The myth is cemented by history books. These are replete with stories of scientific innovators from the developed world. I am not suggesting that the role these people played should be dismissed altogether. They contributed enormously to the modern world. There must, however, also be room to celebrate African innovators who have not yet been recognised for their contributions to science, medicine, technology and food security. These would include the likes of biomedical engineer Selig Percy Amoils, electrochemist Rachid Yazami, nuclear scientist Sameera Moussa, palaeontologist Berhane Asfaw, surgical pioneer Haile Debasand plant geneticist Gebisa Ejeta. There are plenty of innovators on the continent today who are doing remarkable work. Zack Salawe Mwale is making it easier for people to cook one of Malawis staple foods. Nigerias Kunle Adeyemi built a floating school to deal with his neighbourhoods flooding issues. Gloria Asare Adu is pioneering the use of bamboo in Ghana. Therese Izaycreated a humanoid traffic robot to make the Congos roads safer. Jamila Abass is using cellular technology to empower small-scale farmers in Kenya. But a list of names alone will not bust this myth. Building more young scientists Africa needs to start demonstrating to the world that it is capable of producing its own innovators. It can do this in two ways: by investing in the continents youth and creating opportunities for the new generation of African inventors and innovators to take up their place on the global stage. Africa is home to the worlds largest population of 15- to 24-year-olds. This is set to double by 2045. In response to this, African governments have recognised that in order to build a sustainable future, they must equip their populations with the skills that are needed to build the continent from within rather than relying on technologies and ideas from elsewhere. There is some work being done in this regard already. For instance, in 2005 the African Youth Forum for Science and Technology programme was launched to provide young African people with a platform on which they can actively play a role in policy and decision-making processes. Another initiative in this vein is the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement. It gives young graduates the chance to get involved in advancing science and technology. Far more of these initiatives are needed to motivate young people in Africa to take science and technologys potential seriously. Only then will the continent start to recognise its own potential in these fields. Universities lag behind Although most African governments have come to recognise that the only way forward is through homegrown science and technology, many universities arent keeping pace. Research suggests that more and more African graduates want to work for themselves and are committed to changing their societies. This also suggests that many are innovators at heart. Neither their schools nor their universities appear to be equipping them for life as inventors or self-starters. These concerns have been raised by both scholars and educators, among them Bame Nsamenang and Therese Tchombe who argue that the current African education system does not seem to reflect the realities on the ground. The system needs to be altered so that it is in tune with these realities and so that it teaches children just how much people in Africa are able to do to address their own continents problems. It is also important that schools and universities in Africa not only highlight and idealise theories and thinkers from elsewhere in the world. This will help their graduates see what is possible and stop thinking of their continent as a place without innovators. Some institutions are setting the pace here. South Africas University of the Western Cape is offering a flagship programme on Critical Thought in African Humanities through its Centre for Humanities Research. The Pan-African University, which is being established by the African Union Commission, is another example. It aims to prioritise science, technology and innovative research thats uniquely African, and to highlight the kind of work thats coming out of the continent. Police said appropriate actions will be taken against the three after their exams. Superintendent Adu said the alleged incident happened on May 9, between 10pm to 11pm, where the teenager girl said she was at the dormitory when her boyfriend, a form two student of Akuapeman High School visited her. He said the two decided to go into the visual arts block to have sex. They were spotted by three other, older students also from the Mampong Senior High School. The commander named them as Benjamin Kortey, 18 years, David Obadai Okine, 19 years and Alex Kyei Boadi, now at large. He said the three were allegedly holding canes and threatened to have sex with the victim or whip her and reveal the act to the school authorities. "For fear of the threat, she gave in and all the guys slept with her in succession. While the act was going on, one of the students saw them and reported to another friend and they both came to rescue the victim." Some private businesses have already tended in a bid for a Public- Private Partnership deal with the Electricity Company of Ghana, according to the Millennium Development Authority. Under the deal, government is supposed to go for one of several options of a Public- Private Partnership that will help the ECG collects its debts more efficiently. And government has opted for a concessional partnership which will see a partner that will have exclusive rights to operate, maintain and invest in the ECG for a number years. But several of the ECG workers who are unsure of their fate on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss the way forward as the deadline for announcing who gets the concessionaire job draws to a close. Deputy General Secretary of the Public Utilities Workers Union, Michael Nyantekyi has told Accra-based Joy FM that "the cabinet decision is that the concessionaire should refrain from declaring any staff redundancy within the first five years." "So the issue is what happens after the first five years?", he asked. Mr. Nyantekyi further asked Government why it has made some support promises to the concessionaire when that support can be given to ECG to make it more efficient. In a response, Deputy Minister of Power, Mr. John Jinapor said government does not anticipate any layoffs after the five years. "We expect that within that five years there will be more retraining and realignment...we do not anticipate any layoffs," he added. According to the deceased's neighbour, Akua, the attack followed an argument with her husband, Agyaku. Abena was pronounced dead at dawn on Wednesday, May 11 at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi. Read More: Three students accused of rape allowed to finish WASSCE before police action Narrating the incident, Akua said she rushed to the room of the deceased after she heard her yelling. Akua also said, Abena was naked when she opened the door and her skin was peeling off. She then rushed to knock on her [Abena's] husband's door but he did not respond. Some of the corrosive substance dripped on her limb when she tried to hold her. She said she felt her skin burning. She added that she called other neighbours in the house to help her get the victim to the hospital. She said when she returned, the victim crawled out of her room and told her Agyaku had poured acid on her. The suspect suddenly set his room on fire and sneaked out, another neighbour told Luv News' Kwasi Debrah. The victim was rushed to a hospital in the area but was transferred to the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, where she later died. The neighbours are yet to file an official complaint at the Nkawie Police Station. The humorous Ayariga is no more because this is what people dont understand, if somebody is humorous it doesnt mean the person is not serious. If I smile with you, it doesnt mean I am not a serious person The APC leader says he plans to offer something no politician has offered to Ghanaians with his new party and hopefully government if he wins the 2016 election. The APC was purposely created for two things win power or share power. What we want is to give everybody the equal opportunity, the platform and equal chance to serve mother Ghana. He says an APC government will bring everybody on board, regardless of the political affiliation. Ayariga has been accused of being sympathetic towards the NDC and in some instances supported President Mahama and touted his values on several occasions. When asked how he expects Ghanaians to take him serious and separate him from the NDC he said: " when I say the president is modest; of course every human being is modest, most people are modest human beings and if somebody in human nature is that way, that is his human nature, his leadership style could be different. He ambitiously states that the APC will either win power or share power after the 2016 election. According to leaders of the two main political parties, the NDC and NPP, the EC did not anticipate the large numbers that turned out to register and hence did not map out the centres properly. According to them, many citizens were unable to register as a result, who will be unfairly disenfranchised if the exercise is not extended. However, the EC maintains the exercise was near perfect, citing the fact that it had recorded a 92% success rate in the exercise and will therefore not give any additional time for those who could not register to do so. Meanwhile, The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has called on the Electoral Commission (EC) to extend the limited voters registration exercise by at least two more weeks. In an interview with Accra based radio station, CITI FM, Executive Director of the IEA, Jean Mensa, urged the EC to reconsider the decision. I will say that to some extent it has gone very well and a number of people have been registered. However we followed the process quite carefully and we are also aware that there are many others who would wish to be registered who did not have the opportunity and I know that we have said it will be proper that we do not disenfranchise people who are willing to vote or cast their vote for the first time . According to him, such a move will contravene the key principles of the internet which requires accessibility, sanity and freedom to use the internet. The NCA in a subsequent statement mentioned the numerous benefits of social media platforms to the average Ghanaian, but bemoaned the revenue loss caused by the use of these platforms for voice calls. The authority, which also bemoaned the inability of these calls to be taxed, and regulated, has said it is yet to take a decision on the matter. But cyber security expert, Mr. Boasiako has strongly indicated that banning calls through social media is not the way to go. "I must say that the ban on such services is fundamentally wrong. And that will be a backward attempt to deal with an issue which is dominating discussions globally. "But I also have to admit here that Over-The-Top apps with platforms like the skype, viber, tango and the rest, they are impacting on the revenues of the telcos," he told Accra-based TV3. He added that "This is a global problem and possibly ITU could be one of the avenues to look at." For a solution, the cyber security expert said "practically, we may in our regulation to also propose certain innovative billing and data bundling system." 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! The 'too' vocal rapper has reportedly been dropped from her headlining role at the Rinse Born and Bred festival in the United Kingdom over her exchange with yesterday, May 10. The organisers of the festival made the announcement today, May 11, 2016, indicating that the brand is made for everyone and is all about "inclusivity and equality," ideologies Banks hardly represents with her Twitter rants. A concerned fan had attacked Banks for failing to be on Lady Gaga and Rihanna's albums, adding that Banks has not been able to beat Nicki Minaj and Lil Kim's rap superiority and yet all she seemed concerned about is trading words with a child on Twitter. Banks had only taken stars to the cleaners over the comparisons, calling Riri a slut, while adding that Gaga's career is over and Nicki is ripping off Lil Kim's rap skills! As previously reported on numerous occasions, Banks is best known for her Twitter rants than her music and has taken shots at other Hollywood stars apart from the above mentioned, such as Donald Trump, Eminem and Iggy Azalea. The fact that she had been dragged by a 14-year-old only makes it more obvious that Banks has a lot of reevaluating to do, and as soon as possible before she completely sinks her 'barely existent' brand. See some of Skai tweets below. Lets hope this loss will effect some much needed changes. He wrote, "LET ME TALK ABOUT (FAITHIA BALOGUN) Faithia or Igwa as she is also called was the first actress to play my wife in a Yoruba movie, that was in the movie ELEBUTE by Oga Bello. We connected instantly on the Ikorodu set and I believe I got her into trouble with her former husband Saidi then when I said I wanted to try the famous Ikorodu barbecued fish and she, Funso Adeolu and the late Diallogue Director, Alhaji Lateef I think, offered to take me to one of the popular fish spots in town. I think Saidi somehow found out she had left set with some men and came after her. It was not funny I swear but we became friends since then. Despite the obvious distraction from her domestic life then, she displayed such professionalism that I found myself wondering how she pulled dat off (she had enough practice I guess) We have done countless jobs since then and bn married on more occasions that I can recall. I dare say @faithiawilliamsbalogun is one of my favorite screen wives and no doubt someone I look forward to working with all the time. All hail Igwaa!!! #FemiBranch25YearsActing." Each performance opened with traditional and contemporary Nigerian music played live and accompanied by energetic dances with rich dialogue. The high energy level was astonishingly the same all through the three shows. Each show lasted for two hours as every scene, move, song, dance and word told the Nigerian story in the most acerbic yet humorous way that stunned the audience. Each scene weaved through the famous "Agege bread seller turned super model story, the infamous "what if you are a widow? Go and die" story, a prominent politicians 3-page letter, amongst other themes. The shows highlighted the prevalent issues of fuel scarcity, Boko Haram insurgency, political instability, and the unfortunate kidnap of the Chibok girls, all narrated in the most comical yet thought-stirring way that left audiences giving resounding applause scene after scene. The budding 12- year old actress Chantel Edgar, played one of the rescued Chibok girls. She delivered a heart-wrenching monologue that left the audience in tears as they clapped. She cried for peace and asked that the younger generation be given the chance to lead Nigeria. In an interesting twist of events, one of the cast members, Paul Alumona together with other cast members, serenaded the audience with a dance to "kokoro ife" by Gabriel Afoloyan before proposing to his girlfriend, Adebola on stage. It was so magical the excited audience initially thought it was all part of the show. As the play ended, the director, William Benson, introduced cast members and there was a standing ovation as he introduced veteran Tunde Alabi, who gave a brief yet terrific performance that awakened memories of the good old soap opera "Village Headmaster" in which he played "Aditu". It was indeed an awesome experience evoking a myriad of feelings from audiences. Feedback from the audience revealed tremendous acceptance and a yearning for a repeat of the performance. More wit, humour and directness has never been seen on screen nor adapted into a stage play so impeccably. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! ALSO READ: Bonang Matheba visits Pulse Nigeria [PHOTOS] The 'media girl' who is face of Revlon in Africa as well as an ambassador for Ciroc is a self confessed style lover, revealing her taste in fashion was gotten from her mother who herself is fashionable. ALSO READ: Check out fun photos from Bonang Matheba's press brunch For a while now, a lot of her fans have asked how the South African got the name Adebimpe, which she has added to her Instagram names. Well, it turns out the name can be traced back to Nigerian TV host and media personality, Toke Makinwa. ALSO READ: Bonang Matheba on her 5 style must haves, what makes her tick Bonang reveals she's self styled, meaning her looks are always hand picked by her (she doesn't have a stylist). She further dished oh how she comes up wit her fabulous looks, saying that fashion is a universal language and if you are gonna conquer the world, why not do it through fashion. According to the State Police Command who arrested him, Igiri had arranged with two of his friends and abducted the boy and was even the one that led the search party for the boy when he went missing but unknown to them, he was the devil that masterminded his kidnap. After he was arrested, Igiri allegedly confessed that he was behind the kidnapping, saying that was his first attempt. I invited a lady and a boy to handle the operation. When the little boy returned from school and was riding his bicycle, the people I arranged came in. So, I asked him to open the gate and that was how the lady picked him. When my madam came out and was looking for the boy, I also joined her in the search for the boy. The second day I felt bad over what I did as I became troubled seeing my Madam crying and calling the boys name. When I wanted to confess, I always saw faces of two people discouraging me. I always see two men standing in front of my madam with strange faces. There was a day my madam and her friend took me in her car and as I was alighting, the friend gave me one thousand naira. I wanted to tell them I was behind the abduction, but a strange face again appeared and I could not say anything. I told the kidnappers to collect one million but they said they will collect N20 million. After disagreeing with the kidnappers, I agreed with them that if she paid the N20 million, that I will use my share to go back to school. Though the Madam did not pay the ransom. My share was to be N7 million if the ransom had been paid." The mother of the missing boy, Telalo Georgina said: ALSO READ: Angry youths attack new village head The reports reveal that the homes of the victims, Sen. Kabiru Gaya in Gaya LGA of Kano State as well as Abdullahi Mahmoud had been razed, as well as the campaign office and poultry farm. The youths had reportedly started a protest in the locality at about 11am, today, May 11, 2016, before setting some of the aforementioned properties of the politicians, ablaze. The reports reveal that the youths had also attempted to set ablaze the residence of their local government chairman, but his security detail had been able to over power the aggravated youths, and successfully dispersing them. ALSO READ: Angry youths burn 7 assassins to death in Benue Ronald Van der Plaat had reportedly kept his own daughter as a sex slave for 23 years, continuously raping her while her head was inside a box. The reports reveal that Plaat is one of New Zealand's most dreaded rapist following his discovery and had been jailed for 15 years for the sexual abuse of his daughter identified as, Ms Darke. Plaat had reportedly abused his daughter in the most unthinkable manners, and would hang her up by her ankles or lock her head in a box with a padlock before he raped her. The rapist has now been released to his Te Atatu address, where he had reportedly abused Ms Darke. Plaat had been released briefly in 2010, but had been sent back to jail two years later after being seen 'walking beside an Asian girl holding her hand' at a museum in Auckland. The court conditions for Plaat's release at the time, had been that he must wear a GPS bracelet at all times, was not allowed to leave his home between the hours of 10pm and 6am every day and was ban from going to places where children younger than 16 may frequent, including, parks, kindergartens, schools, childcare centres and libraries. Operations Director Northern Region, Lynette Cave revealed that Plaat would be subject to 'nine standard and 12 special release conditions for a period of six months', but residents in the area are reported to believe that he could begin his raping spree all over again. Member of Parliament in Te Atatu, Phil Twyford, said: "There are real and just concerns in the community about the risk this man poses to the safety of vulnerable people given his appalling behaviour and the circumstances when he was last released." Nyathi, a resident at Hostel 2, Vhundu Flats, Makokoba, was said to have lost control of himself when he found himself behind when he stood behind 30-year-old Melody Mavhura in the queue and before she knew it, he had removed his manhood and ejaculated on her. Public Prosecutor Takawira Sibanda, told the court that on May 7, at around 2pm, Mavhura was standing in a queue at a Western Union outlet in Bulawayo intending to withdraw some cash with Nyathi was standing behind her in the queue. Sibanda said at a point, Nyathi removed his erect penis from his trousers and rubbed it against Mavhura's bottom until he ejaculated on her left leg. Mavhura felt some movement and upon checking, noticed that Nyathi had his manhood protruding from his trousers and that she had sperm flowing down her left leg and when she confronted him, Nyathi apologised before fleeing the scene. ALSO READ: Woman gives birth to quadruplets after 12 years of childlessness The pensioners identified as Daljinder Kaur, 72, from Amritsar, and her 79-year-old husband, Mohinder Singh Gill, have reportedly been blessed with a healthy baby boy on April 19, 2016. The couple reportedly from India have been married for 47 years without an issue before seeking fertility treatment following a family fued. Gill, who is a farmer, revealed saying: "I felt upset as I was unable to produce a child. After sometime we thought of having a baby, once again." The reports reveal that the couple have been travelling from their home in Amritsar, Punjab, to the National Fertility and Test Tube Baby Centre in Hisar, Haryana, to receive IVF treatment since 2013 when they had finally sought help. Daljinder Kaur who is reportedly beside herself with excitement, is happy to have a baby boy, who has been named Arman Singh, as she says: "It was very important for us. I can live happily now. My life is complete." Workers at the fertility clinic are reported to have initially been sceptical about offering Dajinder Kaur, treatment until medical reports had proved that she was a suitable candidate. Anurag Bishnoi, who is in charge of the fertility clinic, said: "I first tried to avoid the case because she was very weak, but then her medical reports were normal and she was fit to conceive." The reports reveal that this is the second case at the centre where a woman in her seventies has delivered successfully following IVF treatments. Read her letter here: "My name is Nora and I have been married for three years but the marriage is on the verge of a collapse because I allowed myself to fall into the temptation of sleeping with an ex-boyfriend who came into the country after almost 15 years in the USA. I know many would blame me and I have blamed myself so much and cried to God to forgive me but Denis, my husband, is not ready and willing to forgive me after he found out what I did with Josh. I was dating Josh right from my secondary school days and he was in fact the first man to have sex with me. I was so much in love with Josh and I never thought a time would come that I would ever be separated from him till he travelled to the USA. I was heartbroken but he kept assuring me that he would always come back for me but after two years, he stopped communicating and all my attempts to get through to him were abortive. Even his close friends and relations did not know what had happened to him or they refused to give me his contact. For 10 years, there was no news of Josh and as I was no longer getting younger, my parents advised me to move on with my life and forget about him. I was dating now and then but no man could ever be like Josh. Then I met Denis and though I did not love him as much as I loved Josh, he was able to make me forget the pains in my heart. Denis loved me so much and when he proposed, I had to accept. Our marriage all these years have been great till Josh appeared from no where and shattered everything. I was surprised when a strange number called me in the office and it turned out to be Josh. He told me he had been in the country for over a month and really wanted to see me. I wanted to see him as well but I never ever thought our meeting would lead to sex. On the day we were supposed to meet, I told my husband I was going to see my sister and would come back late. I met Josh at an eatery and without knowing why, I felt a rush of the love I had for him sweeping over me. After our meal, he took me to the hotel he stayed and one thing led to the other and we ended up having sex. In fact, I could not go back home that day and called Denis that my sister was not feeling too well and I had to sleep over. In the morning while going back home, I felt so much guilt but with the determination that such would not happen again. A month later, I did not know how, but Denis called me one night and accused me of seeing my ex and even having sex with him. He described how we met and how I slept with him in his hotel room. I was so shocked that I confessed to him and begged for his forgiveness but he would not hear of that. The next morning, he threw my things out of the house and forbade me from ever stepping into his house. I have sent his friends, relatives and even our pastor to beg him but Denis has refused to forgive me. Can someone out there tell me what to do before I lose my marriage? Nora." The teaser for the day was: How Nigeria voted: Yes, I will forgive him/her if he/she confesses - 31% No, I will never forgive him/her - 32% I will forgive but never forget - 38% The death of Lagos-based banker, Ronke Shonde, who was allegedly beaten to death by her husband, Lekan, over allegations of infidelity, may have opened the eyes of women and they are no more dying in silence. Sequel to the call made by the wife of the state Governor, Bolanle Ambode, for women to come out of the closet and tell of their experiences, another woman has decided to come out and narrate how her pastor husband has been brutalising her for years. Her plight was made known by a Twitter user, Akinsanya Olabode, who tweeted at reknown women rights activist, Dr. Joe Okhei-Odumakin, asking her to come to the aid of the battered woman. This is what Olabode wrote: "Please dis woman is constantly been abused my a man that calls himself a Pastor. Please how can u help?" With the military efforts which have led to the recapture of some communities in Adamawa, there is still religious distrust in Mubi, Michika, Hong and Maiha communities. The growing general threats due to the effects of the Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa state is that of distrust and suspicion among the returnees, Musa Bala told Pulse. In some of the liberated communities especially Michika, some of the returnees have been tagged Boko Haram members by neighbours. Aliyu Adamu, a resident of Michika has blamed the incident to bad governance. Michika is sitting on a time bomb, Aliyu said adding that, if something urgent is not done, this time bomb might exploit any moment. Whether you are a Christian or a Muslim, we are all Nigerians, he added. "At least all communities have been captured from the control of Boko Haram. We are happy that our communities have been liberated. What is left now is a social problem which could be more dangerous than the Boko Haram crises," another resident Emmanuel Ayuba told Pulse. "As am talking to you, there is a tense enmity between Michika Muslims and Christians who are now shifting blames to each other. They are now accusing themselves of bringing Boko Haram to the community. Innocent people suspected to have joined the Boko Haram group are being killed daily. The community market has been dived along religious line, another resident of the area, Umar Musa said. Religious leaders in Adamawa are not happy with the development as innocent youth have been killed for being members of Boko Haram. President of Ekkilisiyar Yan Uwa a Nigeria (EYN) also known as Church of the Brethren in Nigeria, Rev Joel Billy, said authorities must encouraged residents to see the need to live in peace with one another. Rev Billy, who is also the Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the area, added that many people returned to Michika after the Nigeria Military declared the area a safe place only to discover a ruined town. Nothing is working, he said. We don't have electricity, no water and our health system is second to none," Billy added. The Chief Imam of Michika Mosque, Mallam Iya Abubakar, who acknowledged that the area has been divided along religious lines, added that it was not like that in the past. The weekly market that used to be one day for all has now been divided to two days due to distrust and suspicion among returnees, Abubakar said. "The market does not belong to any tribe or religion. The market is for everyone that wants to buy or sell. Government must not allow this to continue," he added. The Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN) Chairman in Adamawa State, Bishop Mike Moses, said the Michika incident is worrying. The Bishop said recaptured towns like Mubi, Michika, Hong, Maiha still suffer from skeleton services in Banks and telecommunication. Buhari further said that the only compensation hes interested in is the return of stolen assets which have been stashed in the United Kingdom by corrupt Nigerians. The president made the remark while speaking at the Commonwealth Tackling Corruption Together Conference in the United Kingdom today, May 11, 2016. "No. I am not going to demand any apology from anybody. What I am demanding is the return of assets," Buhari said according to BBC. "I have already mentioned how Britain really led and how disgraceful one of the Nigerian executives was. He had to dress like a woman to leave Britain and leave behind him his bank account and fixed assets, which Britain is prepared to hand over to us. This is what I am asking for. "What would I do with an apology. I need something tangible," he added. Cameron was caught making the comment while speaking with the Queen during an event in Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning. We talked about our anti-corruption summit. We've got...leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain, Cameron was heard saying. Nigeria and Afghanistan are possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world, he added. The Nigerian Presidency had earlier responded to Camerons comment by saying that he was looking at an old photo of the country. Buhari said As I said, Federal Government alone cannot deliver on the high expectations of our people. Katsina State government and people have shown the way by assembling the brightest and best from the business world. The brightest and the best from the development partner community; the best and the brightest from MDAs and regulatory bodies. Katsina State is doing its part. He also praised the initiative, saying his government is committed to putting an end to poverty by attacking corruption. Buhari said the aim of the summit was to attract investment from local and foreign investors. Buhari said Employment is the quickest way to escape poverty. And we must lift our people out of poverty. But for this laudable transformation to occur, every player must do his best, including the Federal Government, but in particular, the people and government of Katsina State. For global players, some of whom I am pleased to see represented here, to take the deep plunge, they must be offered attractive incentives. The Katsina State Government appears to make I cant refuse offers to investors through a liberal set of tax incentives, infrastructural support, faster and shorter government responses to business requests. Mr. President also said his administration will reduce the level of poverty by creating a lot of jobs for the unemployed. Buhari made the comment while speaking at an anti-corruption conference in London today, May 11, 2016. He also spoke on steps that his administration had taken to curb corruption. We have implemented the Treasury Single Account whereby all federal government revenue goes into one account, Buhari said. This measure would make it impossible for public officers to divert public funds to private accounts as was the fact before. We have been able to remove 23,000 ghost workers from our payroll thereby saving billions that would have been stolen, he added. Buhari also said that he would not demand an apology from British Prime Minister, David Cameron after the latter described Nigeria as . "No. I am not going to demand any apology from anybody. What I am demanding is the return of assets," Buhari said according to BBC. "I have already mentioned how Britain really led and how disgraceful one of the Nigerian executives was. He had to dress like a woman to leave Britain and leave behind him his bank account and fixed assets, which Britain is prepared to hand over to us. This is what I am asking for. "What would I do with an apology. I need something tangible," he added. Cameron was caught making the comment while speaking with the Queen during an event in Buckingham Palace on Tuesday, May 10. We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning. We talked about our anti-corruption summit. We've got...leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain, he said. Nigeria and Afghanistan are possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world, he added. Transparency International, posted a statement on their website, which was signed by its Managing Director, Cobus de Swardt, saying There is no doubt that historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day. But the leaders of those countries have sent strong signals that they want things to change, and the London Anti-Corruption Summit creates an opportunity for all the countries present to sign up to a new era. This affects the UK as much as other countries: we should not forget that by providing a safe haven for corrupt assets, the UK and its Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are a big part of the worlds corruption problem. According to Daily Post, Olu-Adegboruwa is the legal counsel to ex militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo, aka Tompolo. Sahara Reporters say the lawyer was arrested for collecting money under false pretence. He allegedly rented a property located at House 105 NICON Town Estate, Lekki- Lagos state, to Shelf Drilling Nigeria Limited for N61, 631,944.65, reports say. The lawyer was said to have received payment for the property and disbursed to others. In January 2016, Olu-Adegboruwa said President Muhammadu Buharis fight against corruption seems more like a distraction than achievement. He also file a case against Buhari on June 22, 2015, at the Federal High Court in Lagos, asking the court to compel him (Buhari) to appoint ministers or cease to be President. Olu-Adegboruwa also sued the former acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Amina Bala Zakari, claiming that her continued stay in office was a constitutional aberration. He also accused President Buhari of humiliating Judges, due to his comments on Nnamdi kanu during the presidential media chat. Premium Times reports that Fayose said By the powers conferred on me by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as the Executive Governor of Ekiti State, I reserve the rights to allocate land in the state to people and we will not give an inch of our land to any cow rearer. Moving cows from one place to another is no longer fashionable. It is very primitive, provoking and could lead to another civil war. We cannot open our eyes and watch as cows destroy our farmlands. We need to ask some questions. The herdsmen who go about carrying AK 47 to kill people, who gave them the licences for such arms? Or are they above the law? How did they get those guns? Who purchased the guns for them? What is their agenda for arming them? Has the Boko Haram translated to the herdsmen? Fayose said from the various clashes involving the herdsmen, it is risky to allow them move around from one place to another. The Governor also said he is very qualified to be the Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The remark was made on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, by Minister of State for Agriculture, Heineken Lokpobiri during a public hearing on the attacks. We have discovered that the herdsmen, attacking Nigerians across the country, are not Fulani but another gang of Boko Haram insurgents from other countries, he said according to Punch. Those arrested cannot speak Fulani or any other Nigerian language. Fulani herdsmen are going about with their legitimate business, looking for something to take care of their family, he added. President Muhammadu Buhari, who is Fulani, has been severely criticized for his response to the attacks which many believe is inadequate. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Lokpobiri also said some of the herdsmen that were arrested by security agencies said they were not Nigerians. The minister said the suspected Fulani herdsmen who were apprehended, also could not speak any Nigerian language. Punch reports that he said We have discovered that the herdsmen, attacking Nigerians across the country, are not Fulani but another gang of Boko Haram insurgents from other countries. Those arrested cannot speak Fulani or any other Nigerian language. Fulani herdsmen are going about with their legitimate business, looking for something to take care of their family. Lokpobiri also explained that the increase in movement of the herdsmen from the North to other parts of the country, is due to drought and the activities of Boko Haram in the North East. Meanwhile, the Ekiti state Governor, Ayo Fayose has rejected the idea of creating grazing reserves for Fulani herdsmen in the state. The attacker is said to have only succeeded in killing himself after the bomb he was carrying detonated prematurely today, May 11, 2016, according to Vanguard. He reportedly arrived with a companion who later escaped without detonating his own bomb. The suicide bomber who disguised as a worshipper attempted to enter the nearby Masalacin Kofar Shehu Councillor (mosque) when Muslim faithful were performing their morning prayers, but the IEDs he was carrying exploded few metres to the mosque leaving the suicide bomber dead with few others who were about to enter the mosque injured, a source said. Immediately after the blast, worshippers had to desert the mosque for dear lives, before men of the Civilian JTF and military arrived the scene and cordon off the whole area, as I am speaking to you now, the charred body of the suicide bomber is scattered all over the place, a resident Mallam Ali Aji also said. The incident is yet to be confirmed by relevant security agencies. ------------------------------------------------------ Speaking to newsmen on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, the Assistant Director, Army Public Relations, 2 Brigade, Captain Eli Lazarus said various arms and ammunitions were recovered, including dynamites. He also added that the arrested suspects will be handed over to the appropriate authorities as soon as possible. According to Punch, Lazarus said The 2 Brigade of the Nigerian Army has stepped up its operations to stem the tide of criminal activities in its areas of responsibility. To this end, several raid operations were conducted on suspected criminal/cultists hideouts. Therefore, the public is hereby enjoined to continue to provide security agencies useful and timely information that could lead assist in arresting criminals in the society. Punch also reports that the Army spokesperson listed the following arms recovered from the hoodlums: 16 AK 47 rifles, five General Purpose Machine Guns, two fabrique national rifles, six pump action rifles, 11 dane guns and three G-3 rifles, three G-3 magazines, 11 fabrique national magazines, 15 AK 47 rifle magazines, 508 rounds of 7.62mm (NATO) ammunition, 313 rounds of 7.62mm (special) ammunition, two Berratta pistols, three cartridges, 14 rounds of 0.9mm ammunition and two revolver pistols. While lamenting the effect of attacks on oil installations at the federal governments town hall meeting which held in Kaduna state, the minister said he got millions of phone calls from Nigerians last week after his number was published on SaharaReporters. One of the first phone calls I took not knowing who was calling me was from a militant somewhere and when I picked up the phone, he said Are you the minister of petroleum, I said yes. He said I dey go blow pipeline tomorrow, and I said why would you do that my brother if you love Nigerians? He said are you sure you are the minister, I said yes. Then he said for being so humble, I will drop the plan. Thats the kind of environment under which we operate, Kachikwu said. He urged Nigerians not to be discouraged by the current challenges facing the country, saying the present administration has the capability of turning the situation around for the better. The reality of our situation is that wherever I turn when I was appointed, I had problems. If I turn to the refineries when I joined in October, they were not working. If I turned to the pipelines, they were non-existent, he said. But I wasnt discouraged, because if I had problems, what will I say of a man who at his age took over the mantle of this country? His Excellency, the president so that gave me a lot of encouragement. Other ministers at the meeting were Lai Mohammed,(information and culture), Kayode Fayemi (solid minerals), Abdulrahman Dambazau (interior), Adebayo Shittu (communications), and Zainab Ahmed (state for budget and national planning). Isa Ado, the spokesperson for the task force said The location came under fierce attack and three of our soldiers, who were hit by bullets, died on their way to the hospital. There were so many casualties on the side of the militants, but we cannot precisely know the number. The morale of the troops remains high and the sacrifices of these soldiers shall never be in vain; we remain resolute in our determination to stamp out oil theft and illegalities in the Niger Delta region. These soldiers gave their lives for peace in the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta Avengers threatened to blow up more crude oil facilities until the Federal Government meets their demands. The Nigeria Army has also vowed to crush the the new Nigeria Delta militant group. The fuel subsidy removal was announced on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The government had hinted on Tuesday, May 10, that it would announce new policy on fuel subsidy today. While preparing Nigerians for the hardship ahead, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had said that the government would have to take tough decisions on the desirability of retaining fuel subsidies, adding that it had become necessary to remove them. No matter how we slice it, we are in economic times that are challenging, but they provide us with some of the best opportunities for making a real difference in our economic life. I think that we are at a point that a lot has been said about subsidies and what to do with subsidies. I think we are at a point where we must make many difficult decisions and make very tough choices. But I think the Nigerian people are prepared for all what is required and all it would take to make a real difference," Osinbajo, who spoke at the third Ogun State Investors Forum held in Abeokuta on Tuesday, said. However, details of the subsidy removal are still sketchy. UPDATE: The fuel subsidy removal was announced in Abuja at a meeting of stakeholders - the leadership of the Senate, House of Representatives, Governors' Forum and the Labour Unions (NLC, TUC, NUPENG and PENGASSAN). According to a statement signed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo presided over the meeting, where it was agreed that putting new pump price at N145 per litre is the best solution to the current fuel crisis across the country. Check out six things you should know about one of the most notable events on the international film calendar. Here we go; 1. The 69th annual Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to be held from May 11 to May 22, 2016. 2. Australian director George Miller, who premiered his movie "Mad Max: Fury Road" at the Cannes in 2015, was announced as the president of the Jury for the main competition. ALSO READ: undefined 3. French actor Laurent Lafitte will host the opening and closing ceremonies. 4. "Cafe Society," a film by Woody Allen, has been selected to open the festival. 5. Japanese director Naomi Kawase would serve as the Short Film Jury president. ALSO READ: undefined 6. Africa Magic Viewers Choice Award winners Kemi Lala Akindoju and OC Ukeje are currently in Paris for the 69th Cannes Film Festival. ALSO READ: In 2015, South African film "Ayanda" from award-winning director Sara Blecher Ukeje screened at the Cannes Film Festival. On Wednesday night, May 13, 2015, 54 years old Julianne Moore declared the 68th edition of the annual Cannes Film Festival open in France. Named after popular UNILAG restaurant and hangout spot Jeka Play, the sitcom will have Davis reprising his role as the owner of the popular hangout spot. Set to premiere on May 31, the sitcom is based on the interesting everyday events and happenings at Jeka Play, which is considered the centre of the UNILAG social scene. ALSO READ: undefined My experience of running Jeka Play at UNILAG has been a very interesting one because by nature of the kind of venue it is and the campus environment around, we get some really interesting characters coming in all the time and there is never a dull moment with them around, Davies said on the inspiration behind the show. From the genuinely beautiful girls and guys to the I must belong by force students, right down to the aristos, not forgetting the student politicians with good, bad and funny motives, and of course a few randy lecturers. It occurred to me that these everyday comedic experiences at Jeka Play should be promoted to a wider audience thus the idea for the sitcom was born, he added. The show also features appearances from Hafeez Oyetoro, Wazobia FM Presenter Nedu amongst others. ALSO READ: undefined Davis is popular for his comedy show "Stand Up Nigeria," a platform for upcoming stand-up comedians to showcase their talents. Jeka Play premieres on TV Continental, Star Times Channel 115, at 6:30PM. The revelations were made during the hour special of the "My Worst Day" show with Peace Hyde on the new Forbes Africa TV. The show opened to about 35,000 views in just a few days and as the dust gradually settles, here are the 15 biggest things we learnt from the exciting first episode: 1. Did You Know about the Kingdom of Kano? Emir Sanusi is now the religious leader of Kano, which is a hereditary role. Apparently, the Kano kingdom has been in existence for over 1000 years and his particular dynasty has been ruling Kano for over 200 years. Emir Sanusi is in a religious traditional role but his role is also one that has tremendous influence in terms of advice to political authorities and collaboration in the delivery of public services. 2. How bad is the Nigerian Education System? It turns out that the Emir of Kano initially wanted to continue with his studies to get a Masters and a PHD and become an academic economist. However, the government at the time, faced with similar economic conditions as today decided to put a ban on Nigerians studying abroad for fellowships and scholarships to avoid brain drain. Because the major attraction at the time for masters was an international recognition and the Emir of Kano did not want to get one from Nigeria, he opted for a career in banking instead. Could the Nigerian education system be the reason why there are so many Nigerians in the diaspora? ALSO READ:undefined 3. Not everyone in banking is smart Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who works in the banking industry is as clever as you would like to believe. According to Emir Sanusi, I have always been attracted to the more intellectual aspects of banking and risk management at that time was the most cutting edge of banking. If there is a more intellectual side of banking, then the question is, which aspects of the banking industry is less intellectual and most importantly, What does this revelation mean for those who enter the banking field to attain prestige? 4. Thou shalt not steal It is no surprise that Emir Sanusis Worst Day corresponds with one of the 10 commandments. According to the Emir, My Worst Day will have to go down to the moment I came to the conclusion that money that belonged to the Nigerian people was being taken away from them as governor of central bank. The NNPC who the Emir accused of the $20 billion theft broke the sacred commandment and we all know what happened afterwards in the Holy Book. 5. There is always two options to any crisis. When faced with a dilemma, there is always the right way and the wrong way and the Emir of Kano was faced with the same two choices. So when I was faced with the banking crisis, I knew I had two options. One option is to do what most central banks in the world would do and say let the banks fail. But when a bank fails, people just see that one bank has failed but what they dont see is the hundreds of thousands of people who have been destroyed who had money in those banks and these people are generally voiceless. The other option was to say no matter how much it costs the system; we need to make the investment necessary to protect those people, says the Emir. ALSO READ: undefined 6. Everybody needs to be known for something I am sure everyone has pondered over the million-dollar question, what do I want to be remembered for and if you havent well then you certainly should. For the Emir, his life has always been defined by the commitment to speak the truth to people in power. If you actually just Google my name you will see all sorts of articles and all sorts of debates Ive had over the past 30 years with different people on politics and religion and it has always been my life to say things as I see them, he said. 7. Did you know about the Government Consultative Committee within the Central Bank? Turns out the Central Bank of Nigeria have a committee made up of all the departmental directors, the deputy governors and the governor himself who meet once in a quarter to review the economy. At several of these meetings, Emir Sanusi had complained that he was not at all satisfied that we had understood what was going on in revenues because the numbers were not adding up to him. The complaints led to an investigation into the revenue books of Nigeria, which initially exposed a deficit of $49 billion. 8. The famous letter Emir Sanussi wrote to the president was ignored for 4 months It was only after Emir Sanusis letter to Former president Jonathan about the missing $20 billion was referenced by former president Obasanjo in his open letter that the news broke about the fraud. According to him, all hell broke lose after former president Obasanjo made the details of his letter public to the media. ALSO READ:undefined 9. The Petroleum Minister is the most powerful minister in Government According to Emir Sanusi, nobody who had touched Diezani had survived due to her status as the most powerful minister in GEJs administration. Is this the reason why President Buhari initially opted to handle the petroleum portfolio himself? 10. It is always better to say it in person The final encounter with the Emir and former President Jonathan took place in a face to face meeting. According to the Emir, he was summoned to the presidents close quarters where the president advised him to either fire someone from his administration or resign. According to him, everybody assumed it was a telephone conversation but in fact the final meeting was done in person. As the Emir puts it; Once I mentioned the minister he got very angry, his countenance changed and he said you know whether you like it or not you are going to leave that office, I cannot continue to work with you either you or I will leave government. So I knew I was not going to see the end of my time so I thanked him and shook his hands and left." 11. You need to understand the psychology of a prince When Senator Ben Murray Bruce highlighted the risks involved in fighting the Nigerian government, Emir Sanusi answered saying, the best place for a prince to be is where he can be a hero. If he got taken down by the president, he goes down defending $20 billion of the Nigerian peoples money and if he brings the president down he is a hero for bringing down the president whiles defending $20 billion of the peoples money so there was no way he could lose. It pays to be of royal heritage. ALSO READ: undefined 12. Power is transient As the saying goes, nothing remains the same forever. One minute you are on top, the next, at the bottom. As Emir Sanusi eloquently puts it, where is Jonathan right now? He is in Bayelsa, no body hears about him anymore. Where are all those people that everybody was so scared of? It is important to build a good reputation when you are at the top of your game so that when things change, people will always remember the legacy you left behind. 13. Always be prepared for the worst If the president wants me to go to prison, he doesnt need to go through all of that, he should just tell me what prison to go to and for how long and I will drive myself, says the Emir. If you have nothing to lose, doing what you think is right comes very easy. However, prison is definitely a scary place so I wonder if he would actually have gone to prison for a crime he did not commit? 14. Speak now or forever hold your peace If you dont have the courage to speak when you should then you should have the honour and the dignity to keep quiet after that. According to the Emir, I take more pride in saying to a sitting president that you are wrong than someone who is no longer in power. ALSO READ: undefined 15. Marcus Aurelius was a wise man According to Emir Sanusi, if you are faced with a choice of doing what is popular and doing what is right always do what is right. That saying was coined by the great Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who coincidentally was also renowned for being the voice of the people during his rule in ancient Rome. One of the four attempts to get here was with Tunde Bakare, when people said Im a religious bigot, I decided to take a pastor so that I can shut their mouths up. So Tunde Bakare has decided to be with me all the time, the president said. Reacting to the announcement in a statement issued by his spokesman, Lere Olayinka, the Governor accused the Federal Government of deliberately orchestrating the fuel scarcity that experienced in the country in the last three months, so as to pave way for the increment. When they were seeking for votes from Nigerians, they promised to reduce petrol pump price to from N87 to N45 per litre, they promised to create three million jobs per year, they said $1 will be equal to N1 and above all, they promised to pay unemployed youths N5, 000 stipend and provide one meal a day to pupils nationwide, the Governor said in the statement. The over 70 per cent increment is another vindication of my predictions on what to expect in 2016. It is now clear that the scarcity of petrol being experienced in the last three months was deliberately orchestrated by the federal government to pave way for the already conceived increment. Nigerians are now left at the mercy of political liars who took over power by deception and are governing by deceit. Instead of fulfilling their promises, they have increased petrol pump price to N145 per litre, increased electricity tariffs, retrenched thousands of workers and imposed untold hardships on Nigerians. As they did in 2012, if labour leaders do not also stand up for the people at this time, posterity will not forgive them, Fayose said. Olayinka is contesting to become the PDPs National Publicity Secretary. He made the comments during an interview with Vanguard. Excerpts below: Why do you want to be the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party? Im a committed member of the PDP. I have never belonged to any other party since I joined party politics. Again, I will say that I have paid my dues in terms of projecting the PDP, in Ekiti State, Southwest and Nigeria as a whole. Most importantly, the leader of the party in this state, Dr. Ayodele Fayose is interested in me becoming the National Publicity Secretary of the party. How would you assess the present Publicity Secretary of your party, Chief Olisa Metuh performance? Lere Olayinka Im a forward looking person, I dont dwell on the past, I dont go about condemning and castigating people, the environment in which Mr. A operated last week, may be different from which Mr. B is operating now and the environment in which Mr. C will operate tomorrow might be different. So the strategy that worked yesterday would obviously be different from the one that might be applied tomorrow. Im not saying those who have handled the media in the past have not done their best, in the political environment they operated, they did their best, Im willing to pick up from where they stopped. Do you think you have what it takes to be Publicity Secretary of a Political Party? Im a journalist and have been in this job for 19 years. I started active journalism since my days in the Nigeria Institute of Journalism, I have practiced as a publisher, as a reporter, I have been involved in broadcast journalism, print journalism and even social media journalism. What are your other plans for the projection of the image of your party? Political communication is simple, you tell the people what your party is capable of doing, you tell the people what your party would have done differently, by making the people see that if our party is the party in government, we would have done things differently. It is about marketing your party and de-marketing your competitors; my job is to market the PDP and de-market APC. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The state's governorship election is slated for September 10, 2016. The National Organising Secretary of the party, Osita Izunaso, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday, May 10, while addressing newsmen. However, Izunaso said female aspirants will be given the forms free of charge. He also added that in line with the Electoral Act and the party guidelines, the party has approved the timetable for the governorship primaries in Edo state. We will start on Monday, May 16 with a stakeholders meeting in Abuja. By Tuesday, May 17, the sale of forms will commence. That will be available until June 3, 2016. By June 6, we expect all the aspirants who obtained the forms to have filled them and submitted the forms at the partys national headquarters in Abuja, he said. He said from June 8 to 12, the screening exercise for all aspirants will be conducted. If there are issues arising from the screening exercise, the Appeal Committee will look at them from Monday, June 13 to June 15. The governorship primary election will hold in Benin City on Saturday, June 18, 2016. The Election Appeal Committee will hold its sittings between Monday, June 20 and June 23, 2016, Izunaso said. The scribe also stated that due to the crisis that appear to mar the process in the state, the national headquarters has set up a fact-finding and reconciliation committee. He said the committee has two weeks to finish their job, which commenced on Monday, May 9. The United States is the biggest bilateral donor to Mozambique, with a focus on health, agriculture and education. The southern African nation has been seen as an African success story that recorded blistering rates of economic growth before the downturn in commodity prices, which has derailed development of coal fields and stalled offshore gas projects. "The United States joins other donors in the review of assistance to Mozambique," the U.S. embassy in Mozambique said in a statement released on Monday. Mozambique's admission of hidden debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in April has hit cash inflows, with the World Bank delaying approval of development loans and rating agency Moody's saying the situation was a "credit negative". "We appreciate the initial steps taken by senior government officials to clarify the debt situation. These are the first important steps to restore confidence," the U.S. embassy said. "But the government must now act quickly to account for these loans and how the funds were used, as well as outlining a plan to mitigate its impact on the economy of Mozambique." The results could signal a close fight between the two likely White House rivals as Americans make up their minds ahead of the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama. As recently as last week, Clinton led Trump by around 13 points in the poll. In the most recent survey, 41 percent of likely voters supported Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, and 40 percent backed Trump, with 19 percent not decided on either yet, according to the online poll of 1,289 people conducted from Friday to Tuesday. The poll had a credibility interval of about 3 percentage points. The group, consisting of 15 members, met at Irenes Casino on Saturday to celebrate the Kentucky Derby, followed by observing Mothers Day on Sunday. The group, consisting of 15 members, met at Irenes Casino on Saturday to celebrate the Kentucky Derby, followed by observing Mothers Day on Sunday. They call themselves the Unclub and they meet roughly twice a week at various locations in town. The bevy, at the direction of leader Karen McCoy, decided to do something creative this year, as they all made Kentucky Derby-style headwear to welcome in whats considered the most exciting two minutes in sports. We began this by getting together once a month and coloring in our coloring books and just chit-chatting, McCoy said. We decided on doing that instead of the coloring books. We then decided to make Kentucky Derby hats out of foil and of course it will protect us from anything coming out of Area 51. Each hat speaks to the individual personality of the group members. Some hats are fashioned with tassels or feathers, while some have netting and other materials. McCoy said its just a way for the group to express themselves. We have all made our own version of hats. I happen to have a tassel hanging off mine and a piece of old drapery, along with some feathers. Some of the gals put netting on theirs but theyre all made with tin foil. This was my own wackadoodle idea, and this was very exciting and a lot of fun for everyone, she said. We are such a diverse group and I would like to see us make this an annual event to coincide with the Kentucky Derby. Member Dee Hansen said the group of women came together as result of their husbands fondness of auto racing. When our husbands are watching NASCAR or anything like that, we all get together and meet up, she said. We meet at different places around town, while sometimes we meet at a friends house. We also meet for dinner on Friday nights at local restaurants. Member Jacquie Jensen recalled the group was hanging out at her home when the idea first came about. We were having our regular coloring book get-together and we decided that we wanted to dress up for the Kentucky Derby and make hats, she said. Karen came up with the idea of using tin foil and decorating the hats. We just all sat down and did it and we all came up with different ideas. We also jokingly say it will repel anything out of Area 51. McCoy meanwhile, spoke about her pick to win the Kentucky Derby, only to learn her horse, Gunrunner, was bested by derby winner Nyquist. We had our own little pool going with the Kentucky Derby where we offered up wagers on the race, she said. Additionally, McCoy said the group came up with another, somewhat risque nickname recently. This is what we call an NPG, which stands for the no penis gang, she said with a laugh. Of course, its not meant in a nasty way. We are just all involved in something and have our hobbies. Its great because everybody has something to offer, and we all love to help each other out. Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes Incumbent District 36 Assemblyman James Oscarson said he wants to continue to move Nevada forward as the Pahrump resident seeks his third term. Incumbent District 36 Assemblyman James Oscarson said he wants to continue to move Nevada forward as the Pahrump resident seeks his third term. In an interview with the Pahrump Valley Times, Oscarson said that he wants to continue bringing businesses to the state, support health care, which includes telehealth and community paramedicine, similar to what is planned for the Nye Regional Medical Center in Tonopah. All those things are very important to rural Nevada, the Republican lawmaker said. Im not anything more than just a facilitator for services that the state needs and I represent what I believe are the majority of the voters in this Assembly District to move the state forward and to move the counties that I represent forward, he added. Oscarson announced his bid for re-election to a third term in the Nevada State Assembly in November 2015. He was first elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 2012 and represents Nye and Lincoln counties and portions of Clark County. In 2015, Oscarson was part of the majority of the Nevada Legislature that overwhelmingly voted for a $1.1 billion of extended and new taxes that represented one of the largest tax packages in states history. The bill was meant to support Gov. Brian Sandovals statewide education plans. Oscarson was repeatedly criticized for supporting the initiatives by some in his district. In an interview, he said that he still stands by his vote. We were faced with some shortages, and it was a way to balance out what we needed to do. And much of the criticism is unfortunately not thought-out very well because businesses came and asked for those kinds of reforms simply because they were not able to bring people to the state of Nevada to work, he said. In October 2015, a group called RIP Commerce Tax that was spearheaded by Nevada State Controller Ron Knecht, filed a referendum petition with the Secretary of State to repeal a new commerce tax that puts a levy on businesses that gross $4 million or more annually. The commerce tax was part of the package. Oscarson however argued that the tax package was necessary to move the education system forward in the state. I still believe its the most comprehensive package that we could have offered. Its broad-based. It picks up businesses that havent been paying in the past. We so long depended on mining and gaming for our tax revenue. This goes across the board, he said. Oscarson said he has no intention of lowering the cap or hiking the current rates. The package would have passed without his vote, he added. I dont like taxes any better than anybody else. But when you are forced with some decisions that you have to make to move the state forward and you are bringing great big companies to the state of Nevada, you have to have an education system thats viable for them to look at, he said. Oscarson picked up endorsements from the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce, Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and Lt. Governor Mark Hutchison. The Oscarson campaign has put campaign signs throughout his district. Some were planted along Highway 160 in Pahrump. I have a tremendous amount of support from people. I believe that theres a sentiment in the community that we are going to move the state forward and we are going to move this county forward. Because when the state moves forward, I believe the counties do as well, he said. Oscarson will be on the June 14 Republican primary ballot against Rusty Stanberry, a business analyst at Boyd Gaming in Las Vegas, and Pahrump resident and former Las Vegas broadcaster Tina Trenner. Early voting begins May 28. The winner will face brothel owner Dennis Hof in the general election Nov. 8. The man charged in the shooting of a woman at a cafe inside the Pahrump Nugget back in January, entered into a guilty plea agreement on Monday. The man charged in the shooting of a woman at a cafe inside the Pahrump Nugget back in January, entered into a guilty plea agreement on Monday. Lee Anthony Daniels, 46, pleaded guilty to battery with the use of a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm, a felony. Sentencing is scheduled for August 1, at 9 a.m. before Judge Robert Lane. He remains in custody on $50,000 bail. As part of the negotiations, defense attorney Jason Earnest said prosecutors will not seek a habitual offender classification, while noting the charge is probationable. Daniels would have faced prison time had he been found guilty in a trial. I believe the penalty is two-to-15 years, Earnest said. Were going to stipulate to a forfeiture of $744 in the case, and the state will not be seeking habitual criminal status. Earnest also requested his client to be released on his own recognizance, to which prosecutor Daniel Young strongly objected. I dont have his criminal history, but my client is a resident of Nye County, Earnest told Lane. Id like to have an OR, but in light of the charges, you may be disinclined to do that. Earnest was able to argue successfully for a bail reduction on behalf of Daniels down from $260,000. However, the request to $10,000 was quickly denied. I would ask that the bail be reduced to $10,000 to reflect the category B Felony, Earnest said. Young meanwhile, agreed to a bail reduction, but he thought amount was too low. Im going to oppose that request for an own recognizance release, and I think $10,000 is too low based on the nature of the charges in this case and to protect the community, Young told Lane. He pleaded guilty to the charges. He went over to the casino and had some words with the victim and for some reason he pulled out a gun and shot her in the leg. This was inside the cafe at the Pahrump Nugget Casino. Numerous people were there. Under the circumstances, I think the bail should be set at $50,000. My concern is what I need to do to make sure you show up at the next hearing date for sentencing, Lane said. Based on the seriousness of this charge and the background allegations, if I set the bail too low or give you an own-recognizance release, you would rabbit, and thats my concern. I like to err on the safe side. I concur with the calculation of a $50,000 bill for this kind of charge as well as the background of the charge. That would be an appropriate bail amount. Daniels was initially charged with attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon, assault with a deadly weapon, discharging a weapon in a casino and possession of firearm by prohibited person. On Jan. 9, Nye County Sheriffs deputies and detectives were dispatched to the casino after reports of a man firing a gun at a female inside the cafe following a verbal altercation. The incident was witnessed by several employees and customers, as well as captured on video surveillance. Daniels was located and arrested in Las Vegas with the assistance of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The victim was transported to UMC Trauma in Las Vegas by helicopter after sustaining a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to her leg. Co-defendent Desiree Lewis, 36, was facing similar charges when arrested with Daniels. Lewis copped to a guilty plea agreement back in March for attempted accessory to battery with a deadly weapon causing substantial bodily harm. She was released on her own recognizance pending June 13 sentencing. Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes LAS VEGAS State officials are ready to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions final supplement to the Department of Energys environmental impact statement for a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. LAS VEGAS State officials are ready to fight the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions final supplement to the Department of Energys environmental impact statement for a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects Director Robert Halstead said the state is ready to challenge every conclusion in the 300-page document before the licensing board. On technical and legal grounds, this final EIS supplement is so defective, that if the NRC were about to take final action, we would be going to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in less than 30 days to make them do it all over again, Halstead said. The supplement that was released on Thursday evaluated the potential environmental impacts on groundwater and impacts associated with the discharge of potentially contaminated groundwater to the ground surface in the event of a radionuclides release from a repository at Yucca Mountain. In a preliminary analysis of the document, state officials said the NRC ignored most of Nevada officials comments on the draft that was released in August 2015, as it again concluded that the Yucca Mountain impacts on groundwater over one million years would be small. Our initial review of the final EIS supplement finds that NRC staff have failed to correct any of the major deficiencies we identified in our comments in November, and if the NRC were about to take a final agency action based on this document, we would have grounds for an immediate legal challenge, state officials said in a statement. Halstead said the evaluation of impacts on Native American tribes is especially deficient. For example, the NRC added some map information as we suggested, showing the contamination plumes reaching the springs at Furnace Creek, under the no pumping at Amargosa farms future scenario, but their map does not include the Timbisha Shoshone trust lands near Furnace Creek, which are potentially impacted, or the tribal lands near Death Valley Junction, he said. Officials discussed the final supplement at the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects meeting on Tuesday. The event brought Nye County, state officials and several affected parties, including tribal members to the Grant Sawyer Building in Las Vegas. Ian Zabarte, a member of the Western Shoshone tribe and board member of the Native Community Action Council that stands in the NRCs licensing proceedings, said the NRC didnt sufficiently address the Western Shoshone health and environment. The government of Newe Sogobia does not consent to be a global sacrifice zone for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste from the world. We reaffirm opposition to U.S. violation of the territorial integrity of Western Shoshone domain as identified by the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, Zabarte said in a statement. Darrell Lacy, director of the Nye County nuclear waste project, said the final supplement is consistent with past findings such as the Safety Evaluation Reports where the NRC staff found that Yucca Mountain could be built and operated safely. The next step would be licensing for the Yucca Mountain design, Lacy said. If Congress decides to provide funding for the licensing process, we hope they provide the needed funding for Nye County and the other local and state agencies to participate. The DOE previously declared the site unworkable and declined to go forward with the project. Halstead said the NRC is down to $1 million-to-2 million in Yucca Mountain funds and will need at least $330 million for full licensing over three-to-five years. U.S. senators Harry Reid and Dean Heller have long opposed new funding for the licensing of Yucca Mountain. In recent months however, several U.S. Congress members renewed their call to restart the licensing process. On April 19, the House Appropriations Committee adopted a fiscal year 2017 appropriations bill that provides $150 million for the nuclear waste disposal program and $20 million for the NRC to continue the adjudication of DOEs Yucca Mountain license application. The bill also includes $5 million for affected units of local government (AULGs), 10 counties that are located in the nearest proximity to Yucca Mountain and would conduct oversight and participate in the licensing process, if the nuclear waste repository moves forward. A plan to permanently store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain was mothballed by the Obama administration in 2010. The NRC restarted work on the DOEs license application to build and operate a repository because of a 2013 federal appeals court decision. The states technical experts and legal team will prepare a detailed analysis of the final EIS supplement during the next 90 days, officials said. Contact reporter Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77 With their win, Pahrump Valley has clinched a playoff spot in the 3A southern regional tournament. The Trojans need just one more win or a tie by Equipo Academy to lock up the No. 1 seed in the Mountain League. Nye County settled a lawsuit with Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada that stemmed from a water rights dispute for county buildings at the Calvada Eye. Nye County settled a lawsuit with Utilities Inc. of Central Nevada that stemmed from a water rights dispute for county buildings at the Calvada Eye. In a settlement, Nye County officials agreed to dedicate the water rights that it promised to UICN as part of the contract that both parties signed in 2010. The water rights were necessary to serve the expansion at the Nye County chambers located at the Calvada Eye in Pahrump. The lawsuit doesnt carry a monetary compensation. The parties determined that the best interests of its respective citizens and ratepayers were not being served by continuing to litigate and decided to enter into a mutually-agreeable settlement, Nye County and UICN said in a joint press release. The parties hope that this will be the start of a more positive relationship in the future. One of the conditions of the written statement agreement that was executed on July 23, 2010 was the countys dedication of water rights. The county however, didnt dedicate water rights after it entered into a written service agreement to receive water and wastewater treatment service from UICN for county buildings at the Calvada Eye. Nye County officials said the county believed that it had a right to modify the agreement after signing it. The county was only obligated to deed water rights if it was going to get service from UICN, officials said. That changed when the county decided to dig its own well. In December 2013, UICN filed the lawsuit to enforce the contract and UICNs tariff requiring Nye Countys completion of the condition after then-district attorney Brian Kunzi told UICN that the county had would not dedicate the water rights. UICN does need the water rights at issue, per Public Utility Commission of Nevada regulation and only asked the county to follow requirements, officials said. UICN disagreed that the county had the legal right to drill the well. Despite using the well for partial irrigation of the property, UICN continues to provide water to the buildings and grounds. I am hoping that this will be the beginning of a positive change in relationships between UICN and Nye County, UICN President Wendy Barnett said. Contact report Daria Sokolova at dsokolova@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @dariasokolova77 I recently got my first smart phone (Ive been a late adopter in that particular area of technology). I recently got my first smart phone (Ive been a late adopter in that particular area of technology). One of the first things I noticed about it was that I could use my fingerprint, rather than a pesky pass code, to unlock it. Much more convenient, isnt it? A password can be forgotten, but it takes pretty severe physical trauma to lose ones fingerprint. If your hand gets cut off, your phone is the least of your worries, right? Unfortunately, the convenience of biometric identification comes with a cost. When you take that route, at least two judges (first a Virginia circuit court judge and now a federal judge in California) have ruled, you can be forced to put your finger on the phone to unlock it. This has serious and unfortunate implications for rights protected by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Fourth Amendment: Even when theres a valid search warrant for a premises or a phone actually executing the warrant is law enforcements job, not yours. If the door is locked, they can break it down, but you dont have to unlock it for them. If they find your hidden compartment full of evidence, they find it. But you dont have to show them where it is, or even tell them that it exists. And thats how it should be. Fifth Amendment: Giving the police access to your phone is no different than telling them about every call you made, every text you sent, every note you wrote, etc. It is testifying against yourself, which you cannot constitutionally be required to do. The usual response from proponents of unlimited state power to such arguments is that the framers of the U.S. Constitution couldnt possibly have imagined a future of smart phones, unbreakable encryption, and so forth. Maybe theyre right. But what the framers COULD imagine was the possibility that the Constitution would require occasional amendments to keep up with changing times. Those who want to repeal the Fourth and Fifth Amendments have clear instructions for doing so. All they need is the support of two thirds of both houses of Congress and ratification by three quarters of the states legislatures. A high bar, but not at all unclear. Until and unless that happens and it wont resist much, obey little. And secure your phone with a long and complex pass code, not with your fingerprint. Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida. MUSCATINE CBI Bank & Trust of Muscatine is expanding into the metro Quad-Cities with the pending acquisition of MidWestOne Bank's office in Davenport, the banks announced Tuesday. CBI Bank announced it has an agreement with MidWestOne Financial Group of Iowa City to purchase MidWestOne Bank's only Quad-City branch, located downtown at 101 W. 2nd St. The agreement includes all the accounts of the office consisting of $12 million in deposits and $33 million in loans. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. "While this will be our first location in the Quad-Cities, we already have a number of commercial and mortgage loan customers in the area," said Greg Kistler, president and CEO of Central Bancshares Inc., CBI Bank's parent company. "Were excited by the opportunity to build on this strong base." The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to be close in the third quarter of 2016. "The Quad-Cities obviously has been on our radar strategically," Bob Howard, president and CEO of CBI Bank, said in an interview. "It's just been trying to find the right opportunity." CBI Bank and F&M Bank, located in Galesburg, Ill., are the subsidiary banks of Central Bancshares. Although CBI Bank considered various options, including opening its own branch, Howard said, "We'd rather buy someone who has customers and complements what we've been able to do from 30 miles away." With five of CBI Bank's locations in Muscatine and Rock Island counties, he said the new Davenport center "is an excellent extension of our existing service area." Howard added the CBI Bank, the largest bank in Muscatine, also is enthused by the growth and development occurring in downtown Davenport. "I'm really excited about being the community bank downtown," he said. Howard and his team met with MidWestOne employees Monday to discuss the purchase. They will retain the seven branch employees, he said. When the deal is complete, CBI Bank will assume MidWestOne's offices in the building, which is the former Northwest Bank & Trust building. Howard said final details still are being worked out regarding the office space, which is a condo space. But the bank will have naming rights to the building, which also houses other tenants. It will not own the building. With the deal, MidWestOne will exit the Davenport market, where it has had a presence since 2006. MidWestOne President and CEO Charlie Funk said the bank had tried over the years to "grow to a sustainable level in the Quad-Cities." In fact, MidWestOne was the runner-up to acquire the failed Valley Bank. "For whatever reason, we haven't been able to grow via acquisition," he said, adding that when Valley Bank went to Great Southern Bank, MidWestOne realized its best chance for expansion in the Quad-Cities was gone. "Banking is a game now where you really have to have some size in the markets or it's hard to make money," Funk said. In the meantime, MidWestOne Financial Group merged with Central Bancshares Inc. of Golden Valley, Minn., effective May 1, 2015. The move, he said, "brought 24 offices in three states and $1.2 billion in assets into our company." For its Quad-City branch, Funk said "We did want to select someone who would be a good buyer, and it became clear that CBI would be a good buyer, and it's fair to say, had the most interest. We are confident CBI will continue to take great care of our customers in Davenport." Kistler said the bank is committed to a smooth transfer for the customers. "We have successfully handled several acquisitions over the past couple of years, so we have a pretty good sense of what it takes to make them work well for customers ... And we realize that they value working with bankers they know and trust, so we place a high priority on bringing over the current MidWestOne staff to the CBI Bank & Trust organization." Regus, the world's largest provider of flexible office space, has reached a new corner of globe with the opening of its first office center in the Quad-Cities. The company's new Birchwood Fields Offices, located at 4620 E. 53rd St., Davenport, was unveiled Wednesday during a grand opening celebration. The center, which includes 60 office suites of varying sizes available for lease, marks Regus' fifth Iowa office joining three offices in Des Moines and one in Cedar Rapids. "Regus' mission is to help businesses grow," said Jason Hill, the center's general manager. He said the flexible workspace, which is available for lease for any period of time, is attractive to entrepreneurs who are in the startup mode, small businesses not ready to commit to long-term leases as well as professionals and companies who need space in a new market for a temporary project. Regus clients can rent private or shared office space and have access to a range of amenities in each Regus center, including a conference room, a receptionist, technical support and other business services. "The goal with this new center is to provide companies with a professional space where they can network with their peers, meet with clients and focus on success without worrying about their office needs or long-term agreements," Hill said. The move is part of the company's expansion into mid-sized markets, according to Jeff Twite, area vice president. "On average, we are opening two new centers a day. The Quad-Cities was one of the largest markets we weren't part of," said Twite, whose region includes Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska. In addition to office space, each client has access to a board room with video and conferencing technology, a kitchenette, a business lounge and a meeting room. Regus has a network of 3,000 locations in 900 cities and 120 countries. Regus Businessworld members, who pay a $59 monthly membership, can access any of the company's drop-in business lounges worldwide. "Over 2 million people visit a Regus center every day," Hill told a crowd of visitors from the Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce as well as city officials and business leaders. While offices are available by the day, week or month, Twite said most tenants are signing on for one or two-year leases. He said rents vary depending on the space. Offices are fully furnished and can be "customized" for each individual client. The Davenport center occupies the second floor of a two-story building that also houses Tippie College of Business' part-time Professional MBA Program, which moved into its dedicated classroom facility earlier this year. The college occupies the ground floor of the building developed by Russell Construction. Jim Russell, the company's founder, credited his daughter Caitlin Russell, who is the company's development manager, with putting together "the very complicated economic development deal" to bring Regus to the Quad-Cities. "Regus is a market leader on a worldwide basis in providing this type of space," he said, adding that there was a void of this office space option in the Quad-Cities. Russell said his company assisted Regus in looking for space in the Quad-Cities to renovate, but when the search came up empty, the concept of the new shared building evolved. "It's challenging to make new space work (for the office concept) because of price," he said. "Most Regus' spaces are not in new construction; they usually re-purpose space." He added that Regus' arrival will add to the synergies in the office park, which now includes a newly opened Dunn Bros. coffee shop. The park also is home to several major office tenants, including Russell's own headquarters and Mississippi Valley Blood Center. The Iowa Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a Davenport man who is serving a 55-year prison sentence for a double-fatal DUI crash in September 2014. Kai Miller, 25, was convicted in April 2015 of two counts of homicide by vehicle while intoxicated, two counts of homicide by vehicle while driving recklessly, serious injury while operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, serious injury by vehicle while driving recklessly and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated following a weeklong trial. Witnesses testified that Miller was driving nearly twice the speed limit on Brady Street early on Sept. 28, 2014, when he crashed his Hyundai XG into the side of a Hyundai Elantra driven by Andrew Adams, 21, of Orion, Ill., at the intersection of Brady and 12th streets. Adams and his front-seat passenger, Daniel DeBacker, 22, also of Orion, died from their injuries. Kaleb Hougland, 23, who was in the backseat of Adams' car, was seriously injured. Miller had a blood alcohol content of .165 after the crash, more than twice the legal limit of .08. He also had marijuana in his system, according to trial testimony. Adams had a blood alcohol concentration of .114 and also had marijuana in his system, according to trial testimony. On appeal, Miller did not dispute that he was intoxicated at the time of the crash but argued that Adams also was intoxicated and that [c]ausation could have been attributed to either driver or both. The court wrote in a written opinion issued Wednesday that a reasonable juror could have found that Adams intoxication did not break the chain of causal connection between the defendants actions and the deaths and serious injuries. The court noted that Adams had stopped at the Brady Street intersection before driving forward and had nearly cleared the intersection when Millers vehicle hit his. Even if Adams had seen Millers vehicle from the corner of his eye, a juror could have surmised he could not have avoided the crash regardless of intoxication, given his position within the intersection, Millers speed and the lane in which Miller was driving, according to the written opinion. The court also rejected Millers argument his attorney should have requested additional jury instructions regarding causation. Davenport might have turned a scheduling conflict into a new riverfront amenity. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was looking for a place to dock its giant towboat, the Motor Vessel Mississippi, when it passes through the Quad-Cities on Aug. 1. But Davenport's Oneida Street Landing was booked that day. So, the city's Levee Improvement Commission development director Steve Ahrens suggested an alternate location just downriver the city's new River Heritage Park. One problem River Heritage Park has a long promenade, lawn and gazebo but no place to embark passengers. The Corps is willing to cut the promenade's railing, install a gate and make a few other modifications, and it can do so on its own dime, Corps spokesman Ron Fournier said. The Corps would be happy to return the site back to its original condition after the towboat leaves, but the city had another plan in mind. "I see this as an additional port of call for Davenport," Ahrens said Wednesday after briefing the Levee Improvement Commission on the plan. "If that can all be done within our budget, we can do that and leave it that way," Fournier said. Could, say, Viking River Cruises one day dock at River Heritage Park? "I don't want to speak for them, but I don't know why not," Ahrens said. "Everyone knows that the water is deeper in the pool above (Lock and Dam 15)." Viking has announced a future Mississippi River itinerary that includes a stop in Davenport, and the city has talked about welcoming the European cruise giant in LeClaire Park, just downriver from the lock and dam. Meanwhile, River Heritage Park is surfacing as an alternative for cruise operators closer to home. Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch told levee commissioners Wednesday that the Celebration Belle might be interested. Scott Schadler, operator of the Moline-based excursion boat, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Klipsch told commissioners he has a "long-term vision for boats all along the river." The city has no written agreement with the Corps yet, but Ahrens could not hold back his excitement of the prospect at the Levee Improvement Commission meeting. "Let's make this happen," he said. "This is great." "It fits the theme of River Heritage Park," commissioner Bill Ashton said after the meeting. River Heritage might pose another problem limited parking. Currently, the parking lot has 30 spaces. Fournier said the Corps will need to look at the parking issue as it plans its Aug. 1 public tour of the towboat. He said the boat's public hearing room alone can hold 200 people. One parking solution might be found across the street where the former Howard Johnson hotel was torn down in December, Fournier said. Ahrens said a dirt mound at River Heritage Park that is supposed to be cleared for greenspace could be used for special event auxiliary parking. The Corps should have plans finalized in a couple of weeks, Fournier said. The towboat last visited Davenport in 2013. The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice is moving forward with closing a youth detention center in Kewanee over objections from a bipartisan legislative oversight panel. Agency Director Candice Jones said in a statement Tuesday that the panel's advisory vote last week is "disheartening," but it's hard to justify keeping the maximum-security facility open. She said outcomes have been poor and the state can transition to smaller centers proven to rehabilitate youth. Last week, members of the state's Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability voted against the closure. Some suggested using the 15-year-old facility in other ways to ensure it won't be left abandoned or deteriorate. Tuesday's announcement drew a rebuke from Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Ill., who lobbied to keep the youth center open. "We had an opportunity to raise the bar by providing the highest quality care for the kids at this facility, however, Governor Rauner refused to give nearly 200 hard working men and women at the Kewanee Center a chance. My heart breaks for the families who are losing their jobs," Bustos said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. She said the center is the only juvenile justice center designated as a special treatment facility. She also called it a "major driver" in the area economy. Jones says the state agency was prepared for the opposition and officials will work with employees at the northwestern Illinois center to find other placements. (Times reporter Ed Tibbetts contributed to this article.) As Davenport aldermen are poised to vote Wednesday to approve a three-year contract with private security firm Per Mar to provide enforcement for downtown parking, they heard from city finance staff Tuesday that outsourcing the job is the cheaper choice. Davenport Finance Director Brandon Wright briefed aldermen on the comparison, saying that contracting the private firm is less expensive "two-to-one" than hiring and training a city employee for the position. "The outsourced option gets you twice the number of hours for the same cost versus doing it in house," Wright told aldermen. He said the cost per hour of service of an in-house employee is $29 to $34 whereas the outsourced worker would cost $16. At 40 hours, the total cost to do it in-house is $60,000 to $72,000 whereas the total cost to outsource is $33,000. The contract with Davenport-based Per Mar Security Services is worth $67,000 per year. While the contract is for three years, it includes a six-month trial clause in which the city can rate Per Mar's performance and choose at the end of that period whether to back out. The city already tapped Per Mar for a trial run that began in January. Nicole Gleason, deputy public works director, said Tuesday that 400 tickets were written the first month and has since dropped to an average of 220 tickets a month. On average, Davenport receives about $100,000 in parking fines a year, Wright said. Before January, a city employee belonging to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union provided the service. AFSCME Iowa Council 61 President Danny Homan previously told the Quad-City Times that "outsourcing" the service "would diminish oversight because the city will no longer directly control the employees." Scott County and Augustana College announced a partnership Wednesday that's aimed at reigniting efforts to rid homes of lead-based paint, a key concern in an area with a lot of older housing stock. Officials from the Rock Island college and the county health department said the partnership initially will focus on identifying the areas most at risk but also will include efforts to identify strategies to raise money to solve the problem. Lead-based paint is seen as the prime culprit in lead poisoning in the Quad-Cities. Ed Rivers, director of the Scott County Health Department, said about 50 children per year test positive for lead in their bloodstreams. High lead levels, which often can be contracted through exposure to chipped or peeling paint, can lead to a range of health problems, including in the brain and nervous system. Lead-based paint was banned in 1978, but officials say 17,000 homes in the county are at risk for lead-based paint because of their age. About 8 in 10 homes in Davenport were built before 1980, according to city data. A third were built before 1950. Lead abatement efforts have been under way in Scott County for years, but they stalled in 2014 when the city of Davenport returned most of a $2.5 million federal Department of Housing and Urban Development grant that officials said was too onerous to administer. In addition, a separate but smaller source of funding has been largely idled because of cumbersome federal rules, according to the Scott County Housing Council. Scott County officials, who had initially expressed a desire to re-apply for HUD grant funding this year, said Wednesday they hope this new initiative will build a broad range of support for tackling the problem, both in the public and private sector locally, thus making the area less dependent on federal grants. "The criteria for participation in those is somewhat restrictive. We want to broaden the number of houses that can be remediated rather than the more stringent criteria the federal grant imposes," Rivers said. The city of Davenport's grant was aimed at removing lead from about 200 houses over three years. This new partnership will utilize the Augustana's Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative, which focuses student and faculty on problems in their communities. Over the summer, students will identify the most at-risk areas by using publicly available data and known risk factors for lead exposure, Michael Reisner, director of the Upper Mississippi Center for Sustainable Communities at Augustana, said. That number will then be refined, perhaps to about 2,000 homes, he said. "The goal would be to focus the resources in subsequent years in those highest-risk areas," Reisner said. Officials at the college said the initiative gives Scott County the expertise of Augustana's faculty, the creativity of students and in-depth analysis from more advanced students. It is costing about $7,000. There still appears to be a desire to use federal Housing and Urban Development funding. Rivers said there will be an attempt to build a coalition to re-apply for those funds again but not before 2018. Potential local funding sources have not been identified yet. Officials say they hope this effort will build community support for resolving a problem they say is quite serious. "This is re-energizing us on the issue," said Scott County Administrator Dee Bruemmer, who previously has raised concerns about the dwindling efforts at remediating lead-based paint. The partnership with the Sustainable Working Landscapes Initiative is the second. During the 2015-16 school year, Augustana worked with the city of Clinton on projects including urban forest management, regional transportation and transit routes and helping small business owners with marketing and financing challenges. The 4-H Teen Ambassadors are hosting a free meal Thursday for anyone in need in the Quad-City area. The meal, which runs from 4:30-5:30 p.m., will be served at the University of Illinois Extension offices, 321 W. 2nd Ave., Milan. The ambassadors help prepare and serve a monthly meal and work on other projects to address food insecurity. Following Thursday's meal, teens can attend the 4-H Career Club, a monthly meeting that helps students explore job opportunities, write resumes and develop interview skills and more. To learn more information about either club, contact 4-H at 309-756-9978, or bakerd@illinois.edu. Law officials are again trying to get the word out to the public about another phone scam making the rounds. This time it is from and about the Illinois State Police. A news release from the department says the scam works like this: An individual will call and claim to be associated with the ISP or the Illinois Police. The caller will then ask for a donation or advise you there is a warrant out for your arrest and you need to send money. The caller ID may say Illinois Police or Illinois State Police. The phone number associated with the call is usually (618) 855-0185 but phone scammers have the ability to quickly change the phone number that is displayed on caller ID. Citizens should be wary of calls soliciting money regardless the phone number, particularly if threats are made by the caller or they become pushy. The ISP never calls to solicit money on behalf of the Department or ask you to send money to us for any reason, officials say. If you feel as though you have been the victim of a phone scam call (800)243-0618 and report it to the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. So, now what, Congress? More than 100 members of Congress got what they wanted this past week. The Treasury Department rejected Central States Pension Fund's last-ditch effort at self-preservation, a plan that would have slashed benefits for 270,000 Teamsters and other beneficiaries. Central States' application was deeply flawed, Treasury Special Master Kenneth Feinberg concluded. The pension's managers made wildly unrealistic projections about future earnings on investments, he reasoned. The 8,000-page plan was so convoluted that it violated statutory requirements that it be readable to the average beneficiary, he said. Few are quibbling with Feinberg's assessment. Even Central States brass admits the application wasn't perfect, though they're critical of Feinberg's three main points. But that doesn't change the reality in which the private retirement plan finds itself. It bleeds $5 million every day. It is billions short of meeting its liabilities. Central States is going broke. Liberal firebrand Sen. Elizabeth Warren wasn't wrong last month when she stood on the Capitol lawn and railed against Central States managers, who gambled on shaky investments just prior to the 2008 market crash. Pensioners themselves aren't incorrect when they argue that they were made a promise and held up their end of the deal. Quad-Cities Democrats Reps. Cheri Bustos and Dave Loebsack also lobbied Treasury to deny the plan. So did dozens of others. Teamsters are voters, after all, and unions are gifted at getting the vote out. Supporters of the sweeping cuts hoped President Barack Obama's coming exit means the politically shielded administration would OK Central States' controversial plan. The likes of Warren, Bustos and Loebsack got their way. So, again, what now, Congress? At this rate, Central States will go bust. It's only a matter of time. If pensioners and politicians thought the proposed benefit reductions, which averaged 22 percent, were bad, wait until the Central States is wholly insolvent in 2026. The political realities haven't changed. Congressional Republicans are dead-set against a bailout. Many Democrats, including Bustos, supported the omnibus spending package that included the Treasury review system Central States managers hoped to tap. And Feinberg's rebuke of the Central States application saved those Democrats some serious political heartburn. But Treasury's rejection leaves just two options. Either Central States is allowed to fold, or Congress bails it out. Pensions are becoming increasingly rare. The private sector has all but entirely moved to 401(k) systems, shifting all of the risk to the employee. There's no indication that this trend will change anytime soon. As such, pensioners will become increasingly siloed in government. Private pension holders, such as the 40,000 Iowans and Illinoisans invested in Central States, will continue to hemorrhage political influence. And Central States will bleed cash by the billions. Feinberg didn't have to reject all of Central States' plan. He could have convened meetings with Teamsters. He could have tried to work with stakeholders to craft a more workable proposal. Instead, Feinberg offered Democrats, such as Bustos and Warren, a short-term victory. But, in so doing, the Central States fiasco will amble forward until Congress ponies up some cash. SPRINGFIELD The Illinois House is advancing legislation that would provide $700 million in "stogap" funding to social services and other programs that have been deprived of money amid the state's almost yearlong budget impasse. A House appropriations committee unanimously approved the measure Wednesday, though the committee's Republican spokeswoman, Rep. Patti Bellock of Hinsdale, said GOP members have some questions they'd like answered before a final vote on the House floor. The measure, sponsored by Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, would authorize spending about $450 million from the commitment to human services fund, which receives dedicated revenue that can only be spent on those programs. The Senate unanimously approved a similar plan last month. The House plan would add another $250 million from other special funds and would be spent on their specific purposes, such as affordable housing and foreclosure prevention. The money has "just been sitting, essentially, in a bank account waiting to be spent," Harris said. His plan would provide enough money to cover about 46 percent of what social service providers and other programs received from the state last year. It would go to programs and services that haven't been receiving money through the court orders and consent decrees that have driven most state spending since the budget year began July 1. The bill includes money for services such as indigent burials, mental health and addiction treatment, rape crisis centers, and autism diagnosis education. Harris compared the measure to a plan Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law late last month that provided $600 million for public universities, community colleges and grants to low-income students. The higher education package also drew its revenue from a dedicated state fund. Rauner has vetoed several previous spending bills that would have covered a full year's expenses because he said there was no way to pay for them. Bipartisan groups of legislators have been meeting in recent weeks in an attempt to forge agreements on the budget and reforms that Rauner and fellow Republicans are pushing, but Harris said much of their focus has been on next year's budget. This is intended to get funding to programs that need it now, he said. Like supporters of the higher education funding bill, Harris said he wants to get more money to providers before closing the books on the current year. "I hope this is not the end," he said. Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly wrote in an email that the governor "supports full-year funding for human services, public safety and public health in the context of a complete balanced budget for Fiscal Years 2016 and 2017." Emily Miller, director of policy and advocacy for Voices for Illinois Children, said this legislation would "provide some much-needed cash to human services and public safety programs that are in danger of going under." "It does not serve as a substitute for a fully funded yearlong budget," Miller said. "But to the extent that it can actually prevent some real damage and some real pain right now on the ground, it's a good thing." She said the long-term solution is for the Democratic-controlled General Assembly and Rauner to come to an agreement on a budget that provides adequate revenue to pay for the services the state has committed to providing. "Until we have an actual revenue solution, we will not have a fully funded yearlong budget," Miller said. SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Senate approved a bill Tuesday aimed at overhauling the way the state distributes money to public schools to get more funding to poorer districts that need it most. The legislation from Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, which passed on a 31-21 vote, has become a focal point of debate as the General Assembly nears its scheduled May 31 adjournment. Democratic supporters say it would address the inequities in the current funding formula, considered one of the least equitable in the country. Meanwhile, Republicans, including Gov. Bruce Rauner, have panned it as a bailout for Chicago Public Schools. Manar, who has been working on the issue since being elected to the Senate in 2012, called the funding formula change "one of the most profound anti-poverty measures we will take up in any number of years." "This bill will attack poverty in the classroom, plain and simple," Manar said, noting that on average Illinois spends $2,400 less per year educating a low-income student than a wealthier one. Opponents criticized previous versions of his proposal for shifting money away from wealthier districts to funnel it to poorer ones. In response, Manar added language to the final version that would prevent any district from losing money in the first year. The so-called "hold harmless" provision would phase out over the following three years, resulting in some districts seeing a decline in state funding. The bill also includes another provision, called "adequacy grants," that would prevent districts from losing money if they're taxing at or above the state average but aren't able to meet a benchmark for adequate spending. That would stay in place until 2024. Together, those provisions would cost $442 million in the first year, according to Illinois State Board of Education projections. Under Manar's plan, the state also would begin picking up the tab for Chicago teachers' pensions, something it already does for the rest of the state. That would cost another $205 million. During debate on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, continued GOP criticism of the bill as a bailout for Chicago schools. "No one disagrees that the formula that exists today is broken," Barickman said, later adding, "This isn't the fix that millions of students around this entire state want and deserve." He said he's preparing to introduce legislation that would shift Illinois to an "evidenced-based" school funding formula. "It's disappointing that Sen. Manar wanted to ram this through on a partisan vote," Barickman said afterward. From Manar's point of view, what's disappointing is the lack of support for his plan from downstate Republicans, most of whom represent school districts that stand to benefit from it. "Why are Republican members of the Legislature voting against a bill that is in the best interest of their districts, particularly downstate members?" he asked. "Here's the answer: because Gov. Rauner told them to." Rauner is pushing to fully fund schools under the current formula, which Manar and other Democrats argue would only perpetuate existing inequalities. This has led the governor to accuse Democrats of threatening to hold school funding hostage over passage of Manar's plan. The issue isn't merely a partisan one, however. House Democrats haven't lined up behind the Senate plan, and a panel convened by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, to study the issue was holding a hearing about the same time Manar's bill was being debated in the Senate. Earlier Tuesday, several House Democrats, including Reps. Pat Verschoore of Milan and Andy Skoog of LaSalle, held a news conference with school superintendents from the Quad-Cities, Streator and elsewhere across the state to call for funding certainty for next year. "We need to determine exactly what we want in Illinois for education for our students in the public schools," Rockridge Schools Superintendent Jack Bambrick said, "and then we need to figure out how we're going to fund it adequately." A roundup of state government and Capitol news items of interest for Wednesday, May 11, 2016: CAT GRANT AWARDS: The Vision Iowa Board awarded more than $1.82 million in Community Attraction and Tourism, or CAT, grants to a park project in Sioux City, an environmental learning center in Allamakee County, a skate park in Winterset, and a trail and library project in Bloomfield. The grants were approved by the Vision Iowa Board at Wednesdays meeting in Winterset. Board members awarded $300,000 toward a $3.8 million Cone Park Development project in Sioux City that features an open green space, a tubing hill, ice-skating rink/splash pad and four seasons day lodge. Another $486,386 was awarded to the Driftless Area Education and Visitors Center in Lansing as part of a $2.9 million project that includes the construction of a 10,000 square foot, three-level center along the Mississippi River to provide youth, residents and visitors the opportunity to learn about the natural sciences, conservation and history of the area. The board also awarded $36,160 for Winterset to develop a skate park and just under $1 million toward a $2.75 million Bloomfield/Davis County Library and Trail Enhancement project that includes renovating a historical library, building a 3,200-square-foot addition and constructing a trail to connect the library, downtown square, community center and campus of the Davis County Community School District. Since the Vision Iowa programs inception, 422 CAT awards have been granted by the board, totaling $157.5 million. GAS PRICES STEADY: Iowans were paying about 2 cents per gallon less at the pumps with Tuesdays average price for regular unleaded gasoline averaged $2.13 across Iowa, according to AAA. That price was about seven cents lower than the national average of $2.20 a gallon for regular unleaded ga and about 46 cents lower than one year ago. Retail diesel fuel prices in Iowa were a penny higher with a statewide average of $2.18 a gallon. That compared to the national average of $2.22 and a price of $2.73 per gallon a year ago in Iowa. Meanwhile, natural gas prices were 12 cents higher this week at $2.04/MMbtu. COST-SHARE MONEY AVAILABLE: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said Wednesday the 2016 sign-up period is open for cost share funds to help farmers install nutrient reduction practices. The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship received $9.6 million for the Iowa Water Quality Initiative in fiscal 2016. Water-quality funds are available for cover crops, no-till or strip till practices, or for using a nitrification inhibitor when applying fertilizer. The cost share rate for farmers planting cover crops is $25 per acre ($15 per acre for past cover crop users) and for farmers trying no-till or strip till is $10 per acre. Farmers using a nitrapyrin nitrification inhibitor when applying fall fertilizer can receive $3 per acre. Farmers who already have used cover crops on their farm are eligible for a reduced rate of $15 per acre. FEEDLOT LEAK: State Department of Natural Resources officials said the owner of a cattle feedlot located about six miles southeast of Carroll reported a leak from a runoff holding basin to DNR officials on Wednesday. Lee Schon found the leak at the base of the basins bank while doing morning chores, department officials said. He tried to repair it, but the seepage will be ongoing until soils dry out enough to fix the basin, they noted. The feedlot runoff was flowing about 400 feet across a field to an unnamed tributary of the Middle Raccoon River. A DNR field specialist took samples of the discharge, and was working with Schon to minimize effects downstream, according to the agency. Field test results and high stream flows indicated there likely would be little impact to aquatic organisms. Schon planned to land apply runoff remaining in the basin to a nearby pasture when soil conditions permit, said DNR officials, who planned to monitor the situation and work with the producer to ensure permanent repairs are completed. Former President Bill Clinton is planning a trip to South Dakota and North Dakota to campaign for his wife, Hillary Clinton. Campaign officials say the events are scheduled on May 20, first with a rally in Sioux Falls and followed by an appearance in Fargo. Further details have not been announced. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is competing with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic endorsement, has scheduled a campaign stops in South Dakota on Thursday and North Dakota on Friday. An area author and illustrator brought lots of energy to class discussions with a handful of Newell High School students and English teacher Meg English. Author Joanna Jones and Illustrator Laurie Williams Hayes spoke to four classes on Monday, May 9, about several of their children's books. The guest authors were invited by English, who is currently teaching her students to create their own children's books. Monday's first period English class had five sophomores. It was an intimate discussion primarily surrounding Jones' and Williams Hayes' book 'Shakespeare and the Crown Jewell: A Story of the Matthews Opera House.' The 32-page book tells the history of the 1906 Matthews Opera House and Arts Center in Spearfish. Both women are from Spearfish. "I loved the energy that Joanna and Laurie gave off," said Newell ninth grader Katie Eichler. "They were both so happy and excited. I loved how the book took you through a walk back in time and it made you feel like you were actually in the opera house." Using their recent publication as a way to relate to the students' experiences writing their books, Jones and Williams Hayes broke down the time frame it took to complete the book, discussed grant money and other funding sources for writers, and also discussed the creative process. "This book was about taking history and going through many artifacts and turning it into something interesting for children," Williams Hayes said. Doing a project in children's literature helps kids become connected with a time when they liked reading better, English said of her classes. "Devices in children's literature are easy to identify and it's a good review of the standards," she said. Jones and Williams Hayes also discussed "secrets" in the book, such as the historical inspiration for the characters' names. Reading a short explanation at the back of the book, Jones reviewed how the Matthews Opera House was named for Thomas Newton Matthews and son Thomas Williams Matthews, whose ranch was founded at the headwaters of the Belle Fourche River after driving 3,000 head of cattle to the Wyoming open range from Texas. Within a year, the family established a home in Spearfish, the book states. "We had to make sure you knew that information," Jones told the students. "It's fun to realize you have this Tommy running around (in the book) to do all of these things and then try to think about what he did while he was there." Williams Hayes also illustrated a termesphere on one of the pages, as well as a portrait of John Wilkes Booth's brother. "No one knows about these things until we come to schools and classes like these and talk about it," Williams Hayes said. The students' projects incorporate art, literacy, reading, speech and didactic reading aspects. They reviewed concepts such as exaggeration, metaphor and rhyme, English said. The students illustrated their books using online sources and clip art and will read their books to elementary students this week. Each of them could write about whichever topic they chose. The classes also presented their books, and the entire class was involved in the editing process. "Art has a life of its own, and it comes through you," Williams Hayes said. English agreed. "Art is a form of self-discovery," she said. Danielle Kathol doesnt expect life to be easy. Hers hasnt been. In fact, at age 26, Kathol has already overcome more adversity than most people will in an entire lifetime. Shes okay with that. Everything Ive been through has made me who I am, said Kathol. I just keep moving forward for my son. Im not going to fail him. Hes what I live for. Kathol turned 27 Friday. On Saturday, the Chadron native received the best birthday present shes ever had - becoming the first person in her family to receive a college degree. Im the first one in my family to go to college at all, said Kathol. I always said I was going to make it through by the time I was 27. No one thought I could do it. I knew I would. Proving people wrong has become an underlying goal of hers over the years. It started when she was in elementary school. When I finished fifth grade, I was given a $20 gift certificate, said Kathol. When I asked why, my teacher told me, As a Native American student, you were never expected to make it this far. After that, I signed up for karate and every other activity out there to show the kids around me that I could be just as good as they were. Eventually, the pressure got to her, and by age 15, Kathol had become a meth addict. She dropped out of high school during her sophomore year in 2005. Kathol was sent to the Pine Ridge Job Corps, a residential education and vocational training program for economically disadvantaged youth. Temporarily back on track, she began working toward a GED. I got perfect scores on all my GED tests, said Kathol. So, Pine Ridge High School decided to go ahead and issue me a high school diploma. Unfortunately, her success was short-lived. Kathol was kicked out of Job Corps for drinking and soon found herself working a string of jobs at fast food restaurants and hotels. In 2008, she followed her boyfriend to Casper, Wyo. By that time, Kathol was off the drugs, but living in her car. Thats when she found out she was pregnant. Knowing a car was no place for an expectant mother to spend a winter in Wyoming, Kathol returned to Chadron and took a job as a hotel housekeeper. In the fall of 2009, after giving in to pressure from family members, she began taking Certified Nursing Assistant classes through Western Nebraska Community College. Kathol put everything she had into her studies, but the result was still a surprise to some. I was the only one at class 10 minutes early every day, said Kathol. Despite that, my instructor told me at the end of the year that the class had voted me Least likely to graduate because of everything else going on in my life. Her first CNA job was for a nursing home in Chadron. Kathol lasted four months, until she witnessed a death, and realized the job wasnt for her. Kathol went back to Job Corps and took a position as a dishwasher in the cafeteria. She eventually worked her way up to head cook. I thought I was doing pretty well, said Kathol. I was making good money, but then one day I looked around. I was surrounded by other women who had been working there for 20-30 years, and I didnt want to end up as one of them. What she really wanted to do was work with diesel engines. My dad discouraged me from that, though, said Kathol. He turned wrenches his whole life and wanted something better for me. It was the summer of 2014. Kathols son was ready to start kindergarten, which freed her up to go back to school without feeling like she was missing out on time with him. I just wanted a job I could take with me anywhere, said Kathol. I wanted something that paid well enough that I could support myself and my son without having to work three other jobs on the side. At that point, I was starting to feel like I rented him from daycare he spent so much time there. He had already had one parent walk out on him. I didnt want to be the second. She checked into WyoTech, but couldnt afford it. It was through a conversation with her stepfather that she learned about North Platte Community College. He had helped construct some of the buildings on NPCCs North Campus. Kathol researched the diesel technology program on the colleges website, applied, was accepted and had three weeks to move. I sold most of what we owned and closed out retirement accounts so I could put down a cash deposit on a rental house, said Kathol. When we got to North Platte, someone else was moving into that house. Devastated, broke and homeless, Kathol took her son to Cody Park where they camped in a tent. We spent two night there, said Kathol. The first night it was pouring rain. We woke up in a mud puddle and spent the rest of the night in the car. She started classes at NPCC anyway and found another rental property she could afford on Craigslist. There was no running water in the home for three months, but it was close enough to her sons school that he could walk there. Things were looking up - until she was robbed. I arrived home to find a guy carrying out a TV, fireworks and my sons crayons, said Kathol. We had to start all over again. Her family showed up, prepared to move her back to Chadron. Kathol refused to go. I told them I wasnt going to let a burglary scare me out of an education and a future for my child, said Kathol. We had already lost everything. The only direction we could go was up. By mid-fall of 2015, Kathols luck had turned around. She moved into a different rental house and received a Pell Grant with the assistance of NPCCs financial aid office. Workforce Development awarded Kathol additional scholarship money and offered to pay for her to take a professional truck driving course through NPCC this summer so she can get a commercial drivers license (CDL). Kathol graduated at the top of her class with an Associate of Applied Science degree in diesel technology. She plans to continue her education by taking an online course through Bellevue University this fall. Her goal is to pursue a bachelors degree in business management and eventually open her own diesel shop. I just love the sound of a diesel engine starting up, said Kathol. I also love the look I get when people see a woman is going to be fixing their diesel engine. Kathol was presented with the NPCC Diesel Technology Award during an Honors Convocation on April 14. The award is given to outstanding students in the diesel technology program who demonstrate a strong work ethic and excel in the classroom. She definitely has the drive, said Steve Kramer, diesel instructor. I guess thats what I appreciate about her the most - her enthusiasm, willingness to learn and willingness to jump into a project with both feet. Kathols father, Jerry, brother and son were at the Honors Convocation to support her. Jerry couldnt have been happier or more proud. She did it all on her own, and I admire her for that, Jerry said. Danielles always been a little unorthodox, but she was never scared to try. I think she can be a role model for a lot of people. She by far outdid me, but I guess thats every parents hope. You always want your children to be better than you are. I pray a lot, and not every prayer gets answered. In this case, one did. Danielle was terrified to walk across the stage during the Honors Convocation, but having the support of her family, especially her son, gave her the courage to do it. He was the whole reason I was there, Danielle said. To see the smile on his face, to accept the award in front of him and to know that I had finally done something to make him proud that was the greatest feeling. Its a confidence she doesnt plan to lose. Now that Ive found out I can be successful, I want to keep going, Danielle said. I hope my son sees that if you love something, you should go after it even when people doubt you along the way. Im living proof that you can make it this far. STURGIS | Verna Harlen, manager of the Sturgis Burger King, was presented with a Patriot Award March 28 by Francie Ruebel-Alberts, awards chair for the South Dakota Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. Harlen was nominated for being highly supportive of the Army National Guardman Private Jordan Littleton, an employee at Burger King Sturgis. Supportive employers like Verna Harlen are vital to the success of our mission and the defense of this nation, said Ron Milke, South Dakota ESGR state chair. "Our Guard and Reserve members could not perform their military duty without knowing their civilian employer supports them 100 percent." Harlen has 25 employees at the Sturgis Burger King with one being a member of the Army National Guard. She works around the service member's schedule so he can meet the obligations of his military career. Littleton has been a member of the 842 engineer unit for three years and employed at Burger King for three years. ESGR, a Department of Defense office, seeks to foster a culture in which all employers support and value the employment and military service of members of the National Guard and Reserve in the United States. ESGR facilitates and promotes a cooperative culture of employer support for National Guard and Reserve service by developing and advocating mutually beneficial initiatives, recognizing outstanding employer support, increasing awareness of applicable laws and policies, resolving potential conflicts between employers and their service members, and acting as the employers principal advocate within DoD. Paramount to ESGR's mission is encouraging employment of Guardsmen and Reservists who bring integrity, global perspective and proven leadership to the civilian workforce. Sturgis Burger King signed a Statement of Support for the military services. The Statement of Support states the employer: Fully recognizes, honors and enforces the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA). Managers and supervisors will have the tools they need to effectively manage those employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve. Appreciates the values, leadership and unique skills service members bring to the workforce and will encourage opportunities to hire Guardsmen, Reservists, and Veterans. Will continually recognize and support our countrys service members and their families in peace, in crisis, and in war. For more information about ESGR outreach programs or volunteer opportunities, call 1-800-336-4590 or visit www.ESGR.mil. Lincoln County's Emergency Management Department is getting a drone to help with search-and-rescue missions. The remote-controlled unmanned aircraft system will be able to take photos and video, and also produce thermal imaging scans to help spot people in the dark, Emergency Manager Harold Timmerman told the Argus Leader newspaper (http://argusne.ws/1XkWz5h ). "We've had definite times when it would have been useful when searching for people," he said. The drone should be delivered this week. Authorities will need to register it with the Federal Aviation Administration and train employees on its use. The county will be among only a handful of public safety agencies in the Dakotas to own a drone. Others include Brown County Emergency Management and the Brookings County Fire Department in South Dakota, and the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office in North Dakota, which uses its drone about 10 times a year. "It's a relatively low number, but we're a sparsely populated area," Deputy Alan Frazier said. "The quality of the assistance is high." The Grand Forks unit, known as the Northeast Region Unmanned Aircraft System, recently received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly drones nationwide. It's one of only a handful of law enforcement agencies with the capability of responding to incidents such as natural disasters, crime scenes and search-and-rescue missions. Lincoln County officials plan to share their drone with law enforcement agencies in the immediate area. The Rapid City Police Department has yet to apprehend an eighth-grade boy who used a knife to attack a fellow student at North Middle School three weeks ago, and school officials haven't seen him either. The boy fled from North Middle School on the morning of April 18 after cutting a classmate with a knife in the gymnasium locker room. The boy escaped on foot from a school office after the attack was reported. Police have not made contact with the boy, and he has not returned to school, according to Rapid City school district Superintendent Tim Mitchell. The situation is not, however, being treated as a missing person case, said Rapid City Police spokesman Brendyn Medina. The RCPD has no reason to believe this juveniles safety is at risk, Medina said, adding that, I think its fair to say we have got some idea of where the juvenile might be. Though Medina wouldnt elaborate on the boys suspected whereabouts, he stated that it is only a matter of time before the situation is resolved. The RCPD is doing everything it can to follow up on leads to find this suspect, Medina said. The suspect has been entered into the National Crime Information Center. That means, regardless of location, any law enforcement agency that comes into contact with them is going to know that were looking for this particular person. Medina said the boy is being considered a fugitive, and will likely be charged for aggravated assault when he is found. Added Mitchell: Were always concerned when a kid doesnt return to school, but disciplinary sanctions await. If and when the student is apprehended, he will likely face expulsion in addition to the criminal charge leveled against him, Mitchell said, in which case he would not be allowed to enroll in any other school district in the state under South Dakota statute. The knife attack occurred at about 10 a.m. on April 18 in the boys locker room of North Middle School at 1501 North Maple St. in Rapid City. Two eighth-grade boys, whose identities have not been released, began to argue and physically wrestle with one another. One boy was on the floor when he drew a knife and sliced up at the other boy, cutting him on the back. The victim received a superficial, non-life threatening knife wound, and did not have to be transported to the hospital. According to school district spokesperson Katy Urban, the attacker had two knives, both of which were seized by a North Middle School administrator after the incident occurred. The attacker was interviewed in the principal's office, then fled out of the school on foot before he could be arrested. Medina emphasized that police believe the boy does not represent a threat to the community, and that his safety is not believed to be a serious concern at this time. If such belief existed, we would take every measure we could to protect that individual, Medina said, Seeking prosecution does not outweigh the importance of safety. Law enforcement officers and private citizens are searching for three Pine Ridge men who were last seen Saturday afternoon, after saying they were going for a drive in the countryside. No one can confirm their whereabouts since. A crime analyst with the Pennington County Sheriffs Office has issued a multi-state missing persons advisory on Juan LaMont, 24, Tevin Tyon, 21, and Tyrell Wilson, 23. The advisory included information on the car they were last seen in, a 2006 Buick LaCrosse with S.D. plate number F2893, owned by Tyon. The Oglala Sioux Tribe police and sheriffs offices in surrounding counties, meanwhile, have been searching roads within a continuously widening area in and around the Pine Ridge reservation. They are being assisted by Joe Herman, a deputy of the Oglala Lakota County Sheriffs Office, who is coordinating the efforts of volunteers. Relatives and friends last saw the young men on Saturday, around 3 p.m., as they left LaMont's home in Pine Ridge. They told a friend they were gonna go for a cruise and go to the country, Stepheny LaMont, Juans mother, said in a phone interview. Juans family started worrying about the mens safety soon after they left, Stepheny said, when Juans wife sent him a text message to be careful and he replied, Ill try. When his family called Juan and his companions, their cell phones could not be reached. On Sunday afternoon, their families got in touch with the Pine Ridge Police Department to report them missing. It was Mothers Day and not one of them called their moms, Stepheny said. The tribal police chief, Eugenio White Hawk, said Tuesday afternoon they will be asking the National Guard to assist in the search by flying over some areas on the reservation. Maybe they went off the road and possibly crashed or maybe theyre stuck in the mud out in the country, White Hawk said in a phone interview, adding that his office was also conducting interviews to determine if foul play might be involved. Through the South Dakota Fusion Center, part of a national network of data-sharing hubs for homeland security, information on the missing men has already gone out to law enforcement agencies in Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana, said Bill Davis, a crime intelligence analyst with the Pennington County Sheriffs Office. If law enforcement officers find the men, they will be told that their families are looking for them, said Davis, who also serves as West River liaison for the states Fusion Center. The officers who find them will then notify tribal police that they have been found. The traffic stop by a Nebraska State Patrol trooper occurred on U.S. Highway 385, near mile marker 163, on March 23 at around 1:30 p.m. Jegeris was fined $75 for speeding and $48 in court costs. Jegeris said he was driving his personal vehicle, a 2015 Chevy Tahoe, when the incident occurred, and has paid the fines of $123. "Like anyone else, my position does not exempt me from the consequences of not following the speed limit," Jegeris said in a written statement to the Journal. "Integrity is one of the core values that drives every employee of the Rapid City Police Department, and integrity can only be maintained as long as you accept accountability." Guess I'll never stop being a sergeant in the United States Marines. Memories of those days are fading, but they do occasionally surface in real life when I see lockstep displays of obedience without question. That system worked with some excellent effect when I was in a skirmish in Vietnam, but it does make me a little uneasy when I see it on display by our elected officials. Last week's reflexive support of Donald Trump by our three Republicans in Congress makes it plain as day that Rep. Noem and Sens. Rounds and Thune are more committed to political partisanship than to the principles of conservative government that propelled their campaigns. I guess it's too much to ask of these partisan ciphers to take a principled and reflective stand, a la GOP House Majority Leader Paul Ryan, before clambering aboard the Trump bandwagon with the rest of the presumptive Republican nominee's unquestioning devotees. It would have been far less unseemly if an eventual endorsement had followed a period of examination and evaluation of Trump's philosophies and agendas. Certainly an explanation to South Dakota Republicans about their respective reasons for endorsing Trump would have at least clarified the discrepancy between their political and ideological imperatives. I would certainly like to know how they can get behind the nominee who wants to wipe out the positive effects that American trade agreements have had on South Dakota's leading industry, agriculture, for the past several decades. South Dakota's exports grew 139 percent between 2003 and 2013, thanks largely to free trade agreements (FTAs), per the Business Roundtable, which also notes that the rate of export growth is about twice the rate of the state's GDP growth. Did our unquestioningly obedient Congressional delegation consider the impact of Trump's well-known hostility toward trade agreements on their home state's economy? I don't see any evidence. I'd like them to explain how they can so casually ignore this ultra-important element of the coming campaign by supporting a candidate who is poison to South Dakota's economic interests. Meantime, even though I'm not the strong social conservative that many of my S.D. Republican peers are, I have to note that our U.S. representatives also seem plenty oblivious to Trump's lack of credentials as a conservative on issues too numerous to list here, including many of the social ones. The virtual flagship of American conservatism, Breitbart, trashes him, commenting that "of course he's not a conservative. He was for Nancy Pelosi before he was against Nancy Pelosi." Similar sentiments ("Trump doesn't represent the Conservative base") have been expressed by National Review Online, the conservative journal founded by the legendary William Buckley. It seems pretty clear to me that many of his followers, including our Congressional delegation, are more smitten by Trump's populist bombast than any coherent stream of positions that actually do reflect conservative thought. On Sunday, Trump on "Meet The Press" said his tax plan is actually a proposal, subject to political modification. Considering how consistent that utterance is with his chameleon-like history, I challenge our conservative Congressional delegation to explain to us why they embrace him with such ardor. WASHINGTON | There must be 50 ways to leave your leader. Some slip out the back. "In this election, I do not support either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.). Some are making new plans. "I cannot support Donald Trump," said Sen. Ben Sasse (Neb.), calling for a third-party choice. A few are being coy. "Conventions have never been very appealing to me," said Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.), explaining why he would miss this summer's. Others on this bus won't discuss much. "I'm not going to take any more stupid questions about Donald Trump," said Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, explaining that he was not endorsing any candidate. The rest drop off the key "I don't think he has the temperament or judgment to be commander in chief," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and get themselves free. There is a mass displeasure with Trump among elected Republican officials. But each seems to have a different way of expressing the disdain. A few are overtly hostile to Trump and categorical in their refusal to support the demagogue, including Reps. Bob Dold (Ill.), Scott Rigell (Va.), Richard Hanna (N.Y.) and Justin Amash (Mich.). But most are painstakingly nuanced, trying to keep their distance from Trump without antagonizing his supporters. There are those who say they aren't "yet" supporting Trump, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (Wis.), who is "not there yet," Rep. Barbara Comstock (Va.), who says Trump hasn't earned her vote "at this time," and Rep. Ann Wagner (Mo.), who says she's not for Trump "thus far." Some feign deliberation. "I would like to ask him questions about some of the statements he's made," said Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), a House GOP leader. A few are dissing Trump by omission. Both former presidents Bush said they won't attend the convention, nor support Trump, though they supported past Republican nominees. But Jeb Bush (like 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney) is more high-energy on this point: "I will not vote for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton," he says. Probably the most delicate in their Trump distancing are the most vulnerable Republican senators up for re-election in November. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) is a profile in parsing. "Kelly plans to support the nominee," a spokeswoman explained. But she "isn't planning to endorse anyone this cycle." Sen. John McCain won't go to the Cleveland convention, but he told CNN's Manu Raju that he could support Trump. Still, he won't share a stage with Trump unless "a lot of things" happen including a retraction of Trump's statement disparaging American prisoners of war. Sen. Rob Portman, who is vulnerable in Ohio, has an additional problem: He can't really skip the convention, because it's in his home state. Instead, he's planning to have a "mini-convention" with his supporters somewhere in Cleveland. Sen. Richard Burr, potentially in trouble in North Carolina, told a crowd that "having our preferences is no longer an option" and that the nominee is going to be Trump. So will he campaign with Trump? "I'm going to be focused on my own re-election," he told the Raleigh News & Observer. In Illinois, Sen. Mark Kirk had said he would support Trump if he were the nominee but now says Trump is a "riverboat gamble" and pronounces himself "probably the best-positioned Republican to weather the institution of Trumpism." The website TPM is keeping a running tally of where elected Republicans stand on Trump: 11 who have endorsed Trump (including Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie); 23 who are "supporting the nominee" with varying levels of discomfort (including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California); five who refuse to say (including Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder); five "NeverTrump" types (including Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada); and eight "fuzzballs" trying not to commit (including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania). But TPM is surely low-balling the number of fuzzballs. The Chicago Tribune reports that Gov. Bruce Rauner won't "formally endorse" Trump (he's apparently open to supporting Trump casually). Rep. John Katko (N.Y.) declares himself "concerned" about Trump, while Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.) says Trump "has a great deal of work to do to convince many Americans, myself included." By comparison, Rep. Carlos Curbelo (Fla.) is refreshingly clear. "I will not support Mr. Trump," he told the CBS Miami affiliate. "That is not a political decision; that is a moral decision." There. Was that so hard? McDonalds appeals courts refusal to proceed with lawsuit against Moscow authorities MOSCOW, May 11 (RAPSI) Moscow-McDonalds company has appealed the Moscow Commercial courts refusal to recover 51.8 million rubles ($784,000) from the Moscow Department of City Property for construction of a real estate object, RAPSI learned in the courtroom on Wednesday. The company has filed an appeal with the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals. The appeal in question is set to be reviewed on May 31. According to McDonalds, the company had constructed a three-store extension for the building located at Bolshoy Nikolopeskovskiy per., 15 and paid the necessary costs on its own. The construction was carried out in accordance with the regulations established by the Moscow authorities. However, earlier the Moscow Commercial Court has ruled that property rights for the constructed real estate object should go to the city of Moscow. The court ruled that the plaintiff had not constructed a new real estate object, but merely carried out renovation and reconstruction of an existing building and extended its size without proper documents. Also, according to the court, the plaintiff failed to provide any evidence of the costs it paid for the construction of the extension. The court dismissed the report on the market value of the real estate property as evidence in the case. In January 2015, the Supreme Court of Russian Federation refused to revise rulings of lower courts dismissing the Moscow-McDonalds companys claim for property rights to some non-residential premises in Moscow. Prosecutors ask to sentence prominent Russian art expert to 4 years in prison MOSCOW, May 11 (RAPSI) The prosecutor in the criminal case against prominent Russian art expert Yelena Basner, who is charged with fraud, asked the court to sentence the defendant to 4 years in prison, Alexander Kasatkin, the lawyer for Andrei Vasilyev, the aggrieved party, told RAPSI on Wednesday. Besides, the prosecutor asked the court to impose on Basner a fine in amount of 500,000 rubles ($7,575) and rule in favor of the aggrieved party in the framework of a 16.5 million rubles ($253,800) civil lawsuit. Basner, 58, is being investigated over a painting, In restaurant, attributed to Boris Grigoryev, a well-known Russian artist of the first half of the 20th century. The painting, which was allegedly examined by Basner in 2009 and sold for $250,000, was proven to be a fake in 2011. Basner, a former employee of the Bukowskis auction house as well as the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, was detained by the Investigative Committee on January 31, 2014. She was charged with large-scale fraud. On February 5, 2014, she was placed under house arrest. According to investigators, in summer 2009 Mikhail Aranson, who is now wanted by police, in collaboration with unknown co-conspirators invited Basner to the criminal conspiracy of selling the fake painting. Investigators allege that Basner made up a sham story about the paintings history and found the buyer, a publisher Leonid Shumakov. He, convinced of the paintings authenticity, proposed his close friend, St. Petersburg art collector Andrei Vasilyev, to buy the painting. Eventually, Vasilyev bought the fake painting for 180,000 (13.5 million rubles), whereas its real price was 12,000 rubles ( 160). Russian Trust Banks $85 million claim against Edenbury trading ltd to be heard in July MOSCOW, May 11 (RAPSI) The Moscow Commercial Court will examine a claim lodged by Trust Bank, currently undergoing rehabilitation procedures, requesting to recover 5.6 billion rubles (about $85 million) from Edenbury trading limited (Bermuda), a court representative told RAPSI on Wednesday. This is not the first claim Trust Bank has filed against various offshore firms. Yet on April 27, the Ninth Commercial Court of Appeals confirmed the recovery of over 2 billion rubles ($29 million) from Cyprus-based Siberiankd Timber Enterprises Limited as requested in a claim put forward by Trust Bank. Besides, on May 30 a court of appeals will examine a complaint submitted by a Cypriot frim TIB Investments Limited against a court ruling ordering it to pay 1,996 billion rubles (about $30.5 mln) in favor of the bank. Altogether, for the first half of 2015, Trust bank filed about 20 lawsuits against companies registered in the offshore jurisdictions worth over 32 billion rubles ($464.5 mln) and over $94 million. Business media outlets reported that some of these companies were associated with the former owners of the bank. In late December 2014, the Central Bank of Russia decided to reorganize Trust Bank, which at that time was on the list of the top 30 Russian banks, placing it under the temporary supervision of the Deposit Insurance Agency. FC Otkritie Bank, part of Otkritie Holding, was selected as a bridge bank. JR Iman Incumbent County Commission District 3 Republican Q: What is your opinion on the ballot issue to reduce the commission from five to three commissioners? Should the office remain a partisan position? Please explain your position on both questions. A: Most counties in Montana operate with three commissioners, and depending on their size, employ experienced management to assist in programs and operations. Five commissioners may or may not offer a wider range of experience at this level and allow voters more access to government. There is a cost to having five commissioners paid by the taxpayers. Under a three-member commission, open meeting laws may be violated if discussion on county matters is held outside a public forum. Business is more focused and each commissioner is more accountable to the voter. I will vote for three commissioners. As commissioner for the last eight years, I have twice experienced the four-year cycle first hand where three commissioners with similar political views were elected at one time. The first day they were in office they had the ability to change public policy or reverse commitments to programs already in place. Within six months of their election they were responsible for and had control of the entire Ravalli County budget, with limited understanding of the responsibilities, obligations, or commitments of previous decisions affecting Ravalli County. Decisions on numerous issues ended in a 3-2 vote and some ended up being litigated at great cost to the taxpayer. I believe that commissioners should be elected for and serve six-year staggered terms. It takes time to learn and understand all of the management responsibilities, budget, programs and operations of Ravalli County. On the issue of partisan or nonpartisan elections, I believe the voters need all the information they can get regarding how a candidate will vote on issues affecting the county. This includes not only fiscal responsibility but understanding their background, history and previous experience. I believe in the organized political party system. Candidates that work through an organized system tend to have a better understanding of the needs of an elected office and gain support in a vetting process within their party structure. Independent candidates that have gone through the petition process deserve consideration on the ballot. I support retaining partisan elections in Ravalli County. Q: In 2008, Ravalli County residents voted to repeal the countys growth policy. Without a growth policy, the county is unable to do any long term planning. The economy appears to be on an upswing, which could eventually create some additional development pressures. Should the commission consider developing a new growth policy? Why or why not? A: The Ravalli County Growth policy in place in 2008 had legal language that allowed the county commissioners to implement zoning in the county without the consent of the voters. An aggressive top-down zoning plan was developed that was not flexible or considerate of existing uses and in many cases limited landowner participation and tied the farmer to his plow. The general public, through the petition process, got the issue placed on the ballot and the voters approved the repeal of the growth policy, which prevented the county commissioners from implementing zoning. A second petition passed by the voters requires that any future growth policy must be approved by a public vote. Without the growth policy, there are many land planning options in the county. Citizen initiated zoning and covenants are land use planning options for landowners who wish to put restrictions on their property. This requires the consent of those involved. Ravalli County can encourage planning by supporting citizen initiated zoning or covenants. With owner consent, the county has initiated TEDD districts that offer incentives for economic growth in designated areas looking for infrastructure improvement and development opportunities. The Open Lands Bond passed by Ravalli County voters is a land use planning tool that directs the county to consider and reward landowners who voluntarily restrict certain uses of their land by placing conservation easements on the property. Q: A gubernatorial candidate recently said he would like to see county commissions in Montana take a role in managing local forests. The Ravalli County commission recently took a stand on the national issue of Syrian refuges. County commissions across the state are pulled in a variety of different directions. From your point of view, what is the role of a county commission? Where should its emphasis be? A: County Commissioners serve in all three branches of government at the local level. By law they are charged with creating a balanced budget for the operation of the county with cooperation and assistance from county elected officials and department heads. The state provides the amount of the aggregate levy under which the county must operate. Any funds over the aggregate levy must be approved by a vote of the people in the form of a levy for a stated purpose. After adoption, they are responsible for the administration of the budget. They are responsible to provide audited records to the state and the taxpayers. In the legislative role, commissioners make and adopt rules and policies that govern operations in the county, enter into contracts and agreements that provide services to the county, approve the hiring of personnel to accomplish county business, and oversee the general services of county business. In their judicial role, commissioners act as regulators, determining the legal compliance with subdivision rules and regulations, hear and handle complaints on all items involved with county business. As administrators, they are responsible for the management of all county business not specifically assigned to another entity and act as stewards of the county in business that affects our county. I believe this stewardship extends to include comment on and cooperation with other government entities that operate on county land and pay compensation to the county for that activity through PILT or SRS. This extends to any and all affects that impact the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Ravalli County. For the first time in 40 years, the Bitterroot National Forest officially has a new updated travel management plan. The effort follows nine years of public involvement, a record 13,400 comments and court decisions that altered the process midstream before the final document could be released to the public. Forest Supervisor Julie King signed off on the Bitterroot Forests Travel Management Plan Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision Wednesday. The plan dictates how both summer and winter motorized use is managed on the 1.6 million acre national forest. Todays decision is well crafted and incorporates public comments received throughout the entire process, King said. This decision will provide quality recreation experiences for both motorized and non-motorized users, reduce conflicts, and protect the forests natural resources and wildlife. While the travel plan designates 2,246 miles of forest roads and trails open to motorized use which equates to nearly the driving distance between Hamilton and New York and 543,840 acres open to snowmobiles, there will be some who lose motorized access to their favorite places. In particular, mountain bike riders, motorcyclists, ATV riders and snowmobilers, wont be allowed to access more than 180,000 acres of lands designated as Wilderness Study Areas and Recommended Wilderness Areas. The plan goes into effect immediately, but forest officials said their initial focus will be on providing education about the change as they fan out across the forest to begin marking the routes that will be open to motorized travel. Visitors anxious to steer clear of closed routes will need to stop by any Bitterroot Forest offices to pick up a couple of new maps. New Motor Vehicle Use Maps and Over-Snow Vehicle Use Maps are now available free of charge. The maps identify the areas open to motorized use, the types of vehicles allowed and any seasonal restrictions that might apply. The black and white maps provide limited geographic detail. They are designed to be used in combination with the Forest Visitor Map to clearly locate and identify routes open to motorized travel. I urge all motorized users to obtain a free travel map from their local Forest Service office before going out so they know where they can ride, King said. Riders are responsible to know which routes are open. The travel plan maps could be updated annually to incorporate changes on the ground, including potentially adding new motorized routes. The travel plan currently designates 30 miles of new roads and trails and proposes to add another 10 miles of new trails for vehicles 50-inches or less in width. It also closed about 355 miles of road to motorized travel, including the popular Chain of Lakes Trail in the Sapphire Wilderness Study Area. King said most of the roads and trails that were removed from the system werent being used as regular travel routes. She predicted that most people traveling through the national forest wont notice a difference. The plan also reduces the area open to snowmobiles by about 205,000 acres. Most of thats found in either Wilderness Study Areas or areas recommended for wilderness. Most of the contention over changes in the travel plan focus on the 101,974-acres set aside by Congress in the Montana Wilderness Study Act of 1977 as Wilderness Study Areas in the Sapphire Range and the Blue Joint areas. Congress ordered that the two areas be managed so as to maintain their presently existing wilderness character and potential for including in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Back then, Congress suggested it would make its determination in a five-year time period. Congress has yet to act. A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2011 that ordered national forests to manage Wilderness Study Areas in accordance to the kinds of recreational use those areas experienced in 1977 was one of several reasons that it took so long for the Bitterroot Forest to complete its travel plan update. It set us back, King said. We had to do a good deal of research to learn what kinds of uses those areas saw back then. Of course, there was no mountain biking back then. And snowmobile use was extremely light. ATVs really werent on the scene yet either. The courts ruling made it clear that the Bitterroot Forest had to back off all motorized use in the WSAs to match those prior levels of use, King said. West Fork District Ranger Ryan Domsalla will lead the implementation effort for the new travel plan. Initially, Domsalla said the focus will be educating user groups and individuals and getting maps distributed while crews spread out across the national forest to begin marking the routes that will be open for motorized travel. Enforcement will still be one of our tools, Domsalla said. Unlike in years past, when routes were considered open to motorized travel unless signed closed, the new travel plan follows national standards that totally change that equation. Under the new travel plan, if a road doesnt carry a sign that shows that its open, it is to be considered closed. Domsalla expects that it will take Bitterroot Forest employees this summer and into the next to get all the routes signed. Until then, the maps are ultimate authority, he said. During the first season, motorized users may find some instances where the new travel maps dont match the travel plan. There will be forms available at all the Bitterroot Forest offices to document those inaccuracies. The travel plan and its accompanying maps are available electronically at www.fs.usda.gov/bitterroot. Copies are also available for review and on CD at all Bitterroot Forest offices and at local libraries. In the past Domsalla said that hes heard people say the Forest Service is attempting to lock people out of national forest lands during the travel management process. He said thats not true. The national forest is still open to the public, he said. This doesnt preclude people from going to a certain area. It just restricts their mode of travel. Thanks for election coverage Id like to thank the Ravalli Republic for their profiles of county and legislative candidates running for public office. Seeing them describe their backgrounds, qualifications and personal principles relative to public service is invaluable in helping voters like myself make informed decisions in the voting booth. These profiles make clear how important it is having a local newspaper hyper-focused on local issues. On a slightly different subject, Id like to voice my appreciation for the news coverage provided on Theresa Manzellas complaint filed with the Commissioner of Public Practices. In brief, Manzella claimed her opponent, Democrat A. Jo Young, defamed her by commenting on the Republicans voting record in Helena. Commissioner Jonathan Motl tossed the complaint as being frivolous since proper attribution regarding voting records is required only in paid political advertising, not legitimate news coverage. Its rare that two simple news stories, the original on the complaint and subsequent follow-up, can highlight so clearly how unqualified for public office a candidate like Manzella is. Newspapers, distilled to their essence, are simple. They consist of paid content, display advertising and classified ads, and news stories, written by reporters and prepared for publication by editors. If Manzella cant comprehend this simple concept which she obviously cannot how can she be expected to analyze, understand and cast reasonable votes on the myriad of complex issues she will confront in the Montana Legislature? Thanks for helping voters decide. Wayne Adair Hamilton Kathmandu, Nepal: Nepali Congress President and Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has clarified that his statement on Monday regarding the Kathmandu Tarai Madhesh Fast Track Project was distorted by some media. Deuba has a saying that negotiations with investor to develop the project as per the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer Act is yet to be concluded. I had a saying that the case is sub judice and I was concerned that negative message should not be disseminated to investors, he has stated in the statement. Kathmandu, Nepal: With the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Kathmandu has come into function, job aspirants as the migrant workers would be benefited. The new embassy in Kathmandu was inaugurated amidst a function in Kathmandu on Tuesday. Earlier, its embassy was in New Delhi and had been concurrently looking after Nepal. Foreign Minister of UAE, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, had inaugurated the embassy building in Lazimpat, Kathmandu amid a function on Tuesday. During the function Nahyan had expressed his optimism that opening of the embassy in Kathmandu would strengthen the bilateral relationship between Nepal and UAE. The relation between the Nepal and UAE has reached a new height with the establishment of the Gulf nations residential mission in Kathmandu, he said in the function. Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa also said establishment of the UAE embassy in Kathmandu would facilitate hundreds of thousands Nepali workers seeking employment in the UAE. Seguin, TX (78155) Today Thunderstorms early, then becoming clear after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low near 55F. SSW winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms early, then becoming clear after midnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low near 55F. SSW winds shifting to NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. New study suggests California's prison population reduction via realignment has been generally successful | Main | "Retribution and the Limits of Criminal Justice" May 11, 2016 How many death sentences nationwide would get overturned if juror unanimity were constitutionally required for death sentences? The question in the title of this post came to my mind after seeing this Los Angeles Times opinion piece headlined "Florida's death penalty should require unanimous jury votes." Here are excerpts from piece: In a criminal jury trial, a conviction requires a unanimous verdict of guilt, whether the crime is a low-level drug possession charge or capital murder. But in Florida, after all 12 members of a jury have found the accused guilty, only 10 of them have to agree that the defendant should die for the crime. Its absurd to require a lower level of agreement to send someone to death than is required to find the person guilty in the first place. Florida Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch reached the same conclusion in a decision Monday that declared Floridas latest death penalty law in violation of the states constitution. That decision followed arguments a few days earlier before the states Supreme Court over whether the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Hurst v. Florida, which found the states sentencing-decision process unconstitutional, meant that all 390 people on Floridas death row should have their sentences converted to life. Yes, it does. If the sentencing process is unconstitutional, then the sentences are, too.... In the Hurst case, the Supreme Court affirmed that only a jury can make a finding of fact. Florida, in an effort to save its death penalty, rewrote its law to say the jury must decide whether the death penalty was appropriate. But the U.S. Supreme Court didnt say how many jurors must make that call, and the revised state law raised the threshold to 10 of the 12 jurors. Hirschs decision on Monday said that no, under the states constitution, a super-majority is not enough. His logic is a bit attenuated, but sound. Floridas constitution guarantees trial by jury but doesnt specify that a unanimous verdict must be reached. However, decades of practice, and common law, set unanimity as the standard threshold for a verdict. And since the revised law calls the jurys finding for the death penalty a verdict, then it must be unanimous.... The least Florida can do is require unanimity by a jury before deciding to kill someone. And it should either grant fresh sentencing trials for those on death row or and this is the preferred, more humane solution commute the death sentences to life sentences. Notably, two of the four states in the US with the largest death rows (Florida and Alabama) have sentenced a significant number of murderers to death without a unamimous jury recommendation to that effect. Though it is not clear that roughly all 600 persons on those states' death rows would be sure to get relief from a constitutional rule requiring jury unanimity for death recommendations, a suspect a significant number would. And even if only half of those condemned would get relief, that could cut the size of the US death row population down by more than 10 percent. The Supreme Court's ruling in Hurst studiously avoided weighing in on this jury unaniminty issue, but I am not sure it is point to be able to avoid it for too much longer in light of what is going on in Florida and perhaps other places in the post-Hurst world. A few prior related post: May 11, 2016 at 12:49 PM | Permalink Comments The Supreme Court in recent years appears to look down on diversity of constitutional rules in the area of criminal justice and the Bill of Rights generally. Allowing outliers to continue their non-unanimous jury rules might be on their way out especially with people like Eugene Volokh out there pushing for such a move. Will the grand jury requirement be the last remaining rule where the states and federal government are different? See also, the discussion of juries in McDonald v. Chicago, the "Powell" (and Stevens/Harlan) approach seen as atypical and perhaps questionable. Posted by: Joe | May 11, 2016 1:03:29 PM A small quibble with the opening premise of the op-ed: SCOTUS hasn't said that unanimous jury verdicts are required in state court. Though am I right in recalling that all but 2 states require it? Posted by: Jen | May 11, 2016 1:19:35 PM Have we so hit the bottom of the constitutional barrel that judges can actually find that a super minority of 1,2,3 or 4 should rule over the super majority of 11,10.9 and 8, respectively? A super majority cannot be deemed unconstitutional. By reason and law: Guilt is a fact issue. The sentence an opinion issue. Posted by: Dudley Sharp | May 12, 2016 4:02:22 AM I know three states that allow non-unanimous recommendations of death (those are the judicial override states) - Alabama, Florida, Delaware. At least one of those (Delaware) requires unanimous jury verdicts elsewhere. I don't know if there are other states where the jury decides the recommendation of death but allows non-unanimous recommendations. Posted by: Erik M | May 12, 2016 8:39:15 AM I thought Florida was one of the states that did not require a unanimous jury on guilt. Posted by: tmm | May 13, 2016 3:05:01 PM Post a comment It's Etiquette Week at SFist, in which SFist's editors dole out some prescriptive advice for how to behave in this city we all share in order not to overly annoy, offend, or otherwise piss off your fellow citizens. Please read carefully. Splitting the bill at a restaurant has, with the invention of Venmo and other such apps, become a bit less of a fumbling, theatrical experience in our contemporary times, provided someone at your table understands how to use the calculator on their phone as well. That's not to say it's always a simple matter however... Splitting a Check When Not Everyone Has a Job In general, we've believers in the rule of just splitting it evenly, for the sake of ease and lack of awkwardness. However, this breaks down if one person is super broke and intentionally orders the cheapest thing on the menu. While the super broke should probably just avoid these group dining situations with people who aren't good friends, this is always going to crop up in certain friend circles, and there are a few options here. 1) If cash is tight and your group is large, it may be easiest just to identify a daddy/mommy/close friend at the table to spot you specifically for the night rather than asking the whole group to deal with you shorting them. Then you just pay daddy later. 2) If you're the rich one in the group and a poor lamb has hinted that they're just going to order one appetizer and share a beer because they're broke, you can be the magnanimous one and quietly offer to cover their share. Say, "Get me later when you're famous," and they will smile and perhaps even offer sexual favors. (But never expect such things!) 3) If you're with two good friends and everyone knows your current sitch, you say, "Hey, I got the $9 burrito and one $3 beer, so I'll Venmo the two of you each $7.50" (that being the total, plus tip, divided by two). Chances are, somebody's just going to volunteer to spot you that burrito and beer, but if not, everyone's happy. Splitting the Tab On a Date Especially if this is a boy-girl date for drinks, and especially if it's with someone roughly your age, you should both expect to pay for yourselves, at least for drink one. The politics of paying for someone's booze or having them pay for yours is, to put it gently, fraught as fuck. Best not to get into the topic, here or on a first date. If you're dying to buy something for someone, at least wait until round two, when you have more information about your date. For women who date men: Regardless of where you fall on the feminism scale, offering to split the check (which you should) is a great red flag meter in so many ways! Most guys will be pleased that you offered, and didn't just expect them to pay. Other guys will get weirdly angry, and that's fantastic, because now you know they were basically looking for a sister wife/slave instead of a real woman and you can make your escape. Still other guys will go overboard in their excitement that you offered to pay your share, and will eagerly use it as a chance to complain about all other women who don't make that offer as "gold-diggers" or "entitled." Run away from those dudes, because their seething distaste for women will end up getting to you eventually. Birthdays Really though, who has birthdays out at restaurants? OK, we know a lot of you do. We all like a nice meal out and want a place to celebrate, and many of us either don't cook or don't have homes big enough to host everyone. But here's the thing, and twentysomethings who have not learned this yet should take heed: If you are inviting people out to celebrate you, then you need to pay the bill. Sorry, you're an adult now, and that's how it is. Now, if someone else wants to arrange a birthday dinner for you, they can make a determination either everyone else pays them or splits the check evenly, or they, the arranger pays, and that has been explained to invitees in advance. In truth, assuming you have some space, it's a lot nicer and less awkward just to invite people over for your birthday, tell them to bring a bottle of something, and cook them something you can afford to foot the bill for (or order in!). You'll have more fun, no one will feel bitter about paying for their third birthday dinner that week, and you won't be pressured to leave the table after paying a bill, leading to more drunken fun times. This is the French way. We have much to learn from the French. Tipping In Concert Larry David insists on it. But you know what? Who cares about what Larry David thinks. Tip what you think is fair, and if you're insecure about it, ask your friends what they're tipping. The end. Should You Offer to Pay the Tip When Someone Rich Covers the Tab? The answer to this is basically No. Especially when you're dining with a wealthy friend who often covers the tab, constantly getting weird and saying, "Oh let us pay the tip" is going to grow tedious for all concerned, and everyone knows you don't mean it. The best thing is simply to be gracious and say, "Oh thank you. Are you sure?" That gives the rich person the chance to say, "No sweat! If you want to throw down for tip, feel free." But chances are they will just appreciate the acknowledgement. How to Deal When Someone at the Table Isn't Drinking First of all, those in recovery don't need the shame and awkwardness of the fact of their not drinking turned into a *thing* every damn time a check arrives, so friends should be sensitive to that and use their good sense to make as little a deal out of this process as possible. It's the responsibility of the drinkers, however, to make clear to the table that the non-drinker should pay less when everyone else had three rounds of $15 cocktails. Most of the time, non-drinkers are so used to this they may just say "Oh let's just split it evenly" and let's face it, if they actually don't drink ever, they have plenty of money to spare. But if it's just someone on Sober October or whatever, or if they are simply wise enough not toss back several drinks on a school night, it's easiest just to come up with a fair sum for their meal, have them toss that in (in cash if possible), and everyone else splits the balance of the check and gratuity evenly. How to Deal When Someone at the Table Over-Orders We should all have the tact to realize that when we are not out with a significant other or BFF who is used to our bullshit, we should keep our spending/drinking habits in check when in a group-dining situation. Don't order the 40-ounce ribeye if everyone else is just having pasta. If everyone at the table is ordering wine by the glass, you do the same, and don't lap everyone twice without acknowledging that yourself when the check comes, and paying accordingly. If you're grabbing the bottle list and being given responsibility for ordering the wine, be sensitive to everyone's budgets and perhaps suggest a few options to the table at different price points. If you're going to take it upon yourself to order a $400 Burgundy because you've heard the vintage is exceptional and underrated, guess what: You should be picking up the whole tab. The whole tab. Because only then will you be forgiven for using the phrase, "I've heard this vintage is exceptional and underrated." Eve Batey, Jack Morse, and Caleb Pershan also contributed to this article. All other Etiquette Week 2016 posts. Remember this awful collision at Embarcadero and Bryant last month involving that BMW that had to be pried open with the jaws of life? As CNet is reporting, the other vehicle, the Jeep SUV that collided with the BMW was being driven by a Luxe valet driver, i.e. that app you can pay to get an on-demand driver to park your car for you. A 56-year-old woman from Napa who was the passenger in the BMW died in the collision. This is the first fatality to involve a driver working for Luxe, and a company spokesman says that they're cooperating with the investigation and "Because it is an open investigation, we are not able to comment further." We don't yet know which driver may have been at fault in the collision, only that the BMW was attempting to make a left turn when the SUV being driven by the Luxe driver in the northbound lanes struck the BMW. The Luxe driver involved has been identified as Armani Diles of San Francisco, and Luxe confirmed that he worked for them though, like most on-demand apps, he is an independent contractor and not an employee, creating a potential insurance issues that have been identified earlier involving ride-share drivers. Killed in the crash was Janet Gelow, who was headed to the Giants game that afternoon, on April 27, with her husband Mark Gelow behind the wheel. Mark, 59, was badly injured but survived the crash. Previously: Two Critically Injured In Vehicle Collision At Embarcadero And Bryant There's An Absurd War Happening Between On-Demand Valet Parking Apps After a series of delays (at least four), engineers working on the eastern span of the Bay Bridge are finally confident enough in their progress to give a projected date for the completion of the bridge's bike path. NBC Bay Area reports that Caltrans officials have pegged the opening date to September two years behind schedule. Thats been a bit of a challenge, the Caltrans engineer managing the bike path project, Steve Whipple, told the channel. He was speaking of attempts to design a secure way to attach the bike path to the bridge. "We had to find the right locations where we could drill holes and insert large bolts into it which the cantilever beams will ultimately be connected to. The path, which when completed will connect the East Bay with Yerba Buena Island, has met with numerous delays stemming from various causes. Design, materials, and the need to remove structural elements of the old bridge before continuing all played rolls in the repeated delays. The decided upon design involves cantilevered beams, and was a projected $1.1 million redesign of the original braced design that (of course) is now expected to actually cost $2.5 million. Bike advocates, having long ago resigned themselves to the slow moving nature of Caltrans, appear cautiously optimistic about the news. We have about 4,000 members in the East Bay who ask me all the time 'when are we going to ride to Treasure Island," explained the executive director of Bike East Bay, Renee Rivera. Weve had quite a few delays. Were really hoping it will happen this summer. However, even when the path is done, biking from the East Bay to Yerba Buena isn't going to be the smoothest of tasks. The path down from the bridge will overlap the highly trafficked Hillcrest and Treasure Island Roads until, a few years later, a direct bike path can be built following Macalla Road. As to when you'll be biking all the way to San Francisco, no one can really say. Previously: Second Redesign Of Bay Bridge Eastern Span Bike Path May Delay It Yet Again The scandalous tale about Facebook's news "curators" and allegations that the Trending Topics section took on some anti-conservative bias at the hands of those curators has blown up Tuesday with CEO Mark Zuckerberg receiving a letter from the US Senate Commerce Committee asking a series of questions it wants answered by Facebook staff. Among them: If Facebook has "rigorous guidelines in place for the review team" on Trending Topics as a rep from the team says in a statement, what are they and how long have they been in place? Trending Topics team lead Tom Stocky issued the statement late Monday after Gizmodo released the second part of their story, which drew on quotes from former Facebook contract employees. Those anonymous employees say they were hired for their journalism backgrounds to help manage the Trending feed, and allege that trending news from conservative news sources was routinely blacklisted based on the biases of whoever was on duty at the time. Says Stocky: We take these reports extremely seriously, and have found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true. Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum. There are rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality. These guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspectives. Nor do they permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or one news outlet over another. These guidelines do not prohibit any news outlet from appearing in Trending Topics. ... We are proud that, in 2015, the US election was the most talked-about subject on Facebook, and we want to encourage that robust political discussion from all sides. We have in place strict guidelines for our trending topic reviewers as they audit topics surfaced algorithmically: reviewers are required to accept topics that reflect real world events, and are instructed to disregard junk or duplicate topics, hoaxes, or subjects with insufficient sources. Facebook does not allow or advise our reviewers to systematically discriminate against sources of any ideological origin and we've designed our tools to make that technically not feasible. At the same time, our reviewers' actions are logged and reviewed, and violating our guidelines is a fireable offense. The GOP led Commerce Committee, however, didn't blink an eye before starting this inquiry, given just how influential they know Facebook could be as a news source in this year's election. Any hint that Republicans may suffer any further from the suppression of good news about them, for obvious reasons, has them foaming. And they want to take this discussion back to January 2014, in fact. Per their tersely worded letter, which you can read in full on Gizmodo: 1) Please describe Facebooks organization structure for the Trending Topics feature, and the steps for determining included topics. Who is ultimately responsible for approving its content? 2) Have Facebook news curators in fact manipulated the content of the Trending Topics section, either by targeting news stories related to conservative views for exclusion or by injecting non-trending content? 3) What steps is Facebook taking to investigate claims of politically motivated manipulation of news stories in the Trending Topics section? If such claims are substantiated, what steps will Facebook take to hold the responsible individuals accountable? 4) In a statement responding to the allegations, Facebook has claimed to have rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to prevent the suppression of political perspectives or the prioritization of one viewpoint ver another or one news outlet over another. a. When did Facebook first introduce these guidelines? b. Please provide a copy of these guidelines, as well as any changes or amendments since January 2014. c. Does Facebook provide training for its employees related to these guidelines? If so, describe what the training consists of, as well as its frequency. d. How does Facebook determine compliance with these guidelines? Does it conduct audits? If so, how often? What steps are taken when a violation occurs? 5) Does Facebook maintain a record of curators decisions to inject a story into the Trending Topics section or target a story for removal? If such a record is not maintained, can such decisions be reconstructed or determined based on an analysis of the Trending Topics product? a. If so, how many stories have curators excluded that represented conservative viewpoints or topics of interest to conservatives? How many stories did curators inject that were not, in fact, trending? b. Please provide a list of all news stories removed from or injected into the Trending Topics section since January 2014. The letter asks for the company to "arrange for your staff including employees responsible for trending topics to brief committee staff on this issue." It's unclear how or when that briefing may occur. On Monday, after the allegations of anti-conservative bias arose, Facebook told SF Gate that they would be investigating these, and the post by Stocky which went up just before midnight appears to suggest the conclusion of that investigation. Says Stocky, "We take these reports extremely seriously, and have found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true." But, he also concludes, "Our review guidelines for Trending Topics are under constant review, and we will continue to look for improvements." Zuckerberg has previously made some grand statements about how he hopes that Facebook will ultimately be the "primary news experience people have." Stay tuned to see if Zuck will actually wear a hoodie to a Senate committee hearing. Previously: Facebook's 'News Curators' Choose Trending Topics, Suppress Conservative News, Say Former Employees Last time in Ask a San Francisco Native, I answered a question about the best depiction of San Francisco in a movie, and I decided to go decade by decade, starting with 1940s, and ending with the 1970s. This week will cover the 1980's to now. Once again, I am picking movies that aren't necessarily the "best" movies set in San Francisco, but movies that were able to capture something about the city better than other films of the era may have. I am sure you will have thoughts, and I look forward to reading them in the comments. 1980s: Chan Is Missing Now, there were quite a few popular films set in San Francisco during the 1980s. For instance, there's the Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte buddy comedy 48 Hours which includes a famous scene in one of the city's many redneck bars, (eyeroll); Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in which Kirk, Spock, and the crew are transported back to 1986 San Francisco to rescue some whales (!); and, of course, Big Trouble In Little China, the kung-fu mashup starring Kurt Russell. Now, I love Big Trouble In Little China. I think it is, like many of John Carpenter's best films, hilarious, ridiculous, and a whole lot of fun. But even though it's supposed to take place in San Francisco's Chinatown, it doesn't use a lot of the actual Chinatown in the movie. There are a few exterior shots, sure, but I hate to break it to everyone: The underground tunnels in the real Chinatown aren't actually filled with beautiful lairs and mythical monsters. (At least, not anymore.) So my 1980s pick is another Chinatown movie, 1982's Chan Is Missing, the breakout film from local director Wayne Wang. It's a super low-budget, black-and-white, film noir comedy centered on a couple of cabbies who are looking for a mysterious friend who has run off with their savings. Filmed primarily in Chinatown, it gives viewers a glimpse into a culture not usually depicted in mainstream movies. Watch it and see how much Chinatown has changed, (and how much it hasn't). The film isn't available to via Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon, but there is a version available on YouTube, included above. 1990s: Mrs. Doubtfire The '90s was the decade that brought us a whole slew of thrillers set in San Francisco, like Jade (the movie that did NOT launch David Caruso's big movie career); Pacific Heights (which was actually filmed on Potrero Hill); and The Fan (which did use Candlestick, though most of the movie was shot in LA). But the most famous of the lot was, of course, Basic Instinct, featuring Sharon Stone and her beaver. The film also set off a firestorm of controversy centered on Hollywood's depiction of lesbian and gay characters as crazy, amoral, and duplicitous. Looking back, that was really giving that movie way more credit and attention than it deserved. But the '90s also brought what has ended up being one of Robin Williams's most beloved films, 1993's Mrs. Doubtfire. Personally, I can't stand the movie. I think Williams' character is an annoying asshole, and I never bought that he and Sally Field's character would have ever been married at all, let alone long enough to produce three kids. I think I'd prefer the horror movie version parodied above. But, I will grant that the film does include an affectionate portrayal of San Francisco. Or, at least, the Pacific Heights version of the city, which makes sense since both Robin Williams and director Chris Columbus called San Francisco home for many years. Also, the movie gets extra props for the cameo appearance by Buster, of the locally produced children's show, Buster and Me, something many a native San Francisco of a certain age will remember with either fondness, or annoyance. Early 2000s: Cherish San Francisco was in the midst of its first dotcom boom in the early aughts, and there were a few movies that used the industry as backdrop. 40 Days and 40 Nights, from Heathers director (and San Francisco native) Michael Lehman, was probably the most cliched, with good looking twentysomethings toiling away on laptops in coffee shops while working for dotcoms with names like CyberNanny. And while there are some location scenes within the movie (including one on a Muni bus) Hawaii was actually used as a stand-in for a lot of the exterior shots. So, once again, I am going to go with a film from a director with ties to the Bay Area. Cherish, from Oakland born and San Francisco State alum Finn Taylor, is a strange little indie movie, starring Robin Tunney, Tim Blake Nelson, Liz Phair, and Jason Priestley. Tunney stars a socially awkward computer animator with a fondness for one night stands and classic top 40 radio hits. After she's wrongfully accused of murder, she's forced to live under house arrest in a warehouse loft that's presented as a dump, but would probably get snatched up for a million bucks these days, even if it DID mean never being able to leave it. Yes, much of the film takes place indoors, but I appreciate the film's peppering of offbeat San Francisco types, and also love the ridiculous run through the city the heroine must make against the clock. Somehow, the film would like us to believe that it would take someone two full hours, running at full speed, to get from Market and Montgomery to Dogpatch. I suppose yes, it could take that long if you choose the route she does in the film, which weaves her past Dolores Park and through the Mission. But I prefer to think the film is just sticking to the honored tradition started in Bullitt, in which our city's actual geography would never trump getting some pretty scenery into a shot. (We'll also pretend we don't see that Oakland Tribune clock tower when she gets back to her "Dog Patch" warehouse.) 2010s: Blue Jasmine I'll probably be slaughtered for choosing Blue Jasmine, the Woody Allen comedy tries to convince us that the majority of San Franciscans are actually from New York, and that a large Victorian apartment in heart of the Mission would be considered a step down for anyone. But I'm picking it because the decade isn't over yet, and it's really the best that we've been given so far. Plus, it does have some good location shooting, and if that final scene featuring Cate Blanchett's modern day Blanche DuBois talking to herself on a bench in South Park doesn't look remarkably like a scene you pass by on a daily basis, you don't actually live in San Francisco. Rain Jokinen was born and raised in San Francisco and, miraculously, still calls the city home. Her future plans include becoming a millionaire, buying a condo complex, and then tearing it down to replace it with a dive bar. You can ask this native San Franciscan your questions here. Not shockingly, the man accused in the killing of three innocent people last November in Colorado Springs, as he attempted to storm a Planned Parenthood location there and be a "warrior for the babies," as he later admitted, has been declared by a judge to be unfit for trial. Robert Dear, 58, has been found by two state psychologists to be delusional and unfit to stand trial, as the New York Times reports, after a competency evaluation that was ordered after Dear fired his public defenders and tried to act as his own attorney. Per the Times: Mr. Dear has insisted that he is competent and ready to stand trial. A Colorado Springs police detective said at a hearing last month that Mr. Dear had told him during more than seven hours of questioning after the shooting that he feared an insanity ruling would diminish his anti-abortion message. As the Colorado Springs Gazette reports, Dear couldn't contain himself as 4th Judicial District Chief Judge Gilbert Martinez read from his eight-page ruling, screaming out, "That's called prejudiced. Prejudiced! Filthy animal!" In his ruling, Martinez cited "roughly two dozen instances when Dear's beliefs appeared to break from reality," per the Gazette, including the fact that Dear believes the "feds" have been surveilling him for 20 years, and had installed a listening device in his pickup truck. Dear also seems to think that President Obama created the Islamic State. To be clear, Dear was not found to be schizophrenic as he did not have accompanying hallucinations. Dear will be remanded for treatment to the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo until such time as he may be found competent for trial. He stands accused of 179 counts including first-degree murder and attempted murder. While all 15 staff members at the Planned Parenthood survived during the November 27 siege, Dear is accused in the murders of 44-year-old University of Colorado police officer Garrett Swasey, 29-year-old Ke'Arre M. Stewart, and 35-year-old Jennifer Markovsky, as well as injuring nine others. At a hearing in December, Dear confessed to the shooting, saying, "Im guilty. Theres no trial. Im a warrior for the babies." Below, one more classic shot from that hearing. NEW: Colorado Planned Parenthood shooter ruled mentally incompetent to continue case https://t.co/PxUnzeu5Xh pic.twitter.com/OoqgP3TQm8 CBS News (@CBSNews) May 11, 2016 Previously: Gunman Identified In Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood Shooting Around age 25, I realized I loved tacos more than any other food. Id like to believe that the innate glory of the taco revealed itself to me, like some kind of divine tortilla-wrapped vision, and that a couple of trips to Mexico broadened my horizons. But who really knows. Eight years and a literal thousand nights of tacos later, Ive come up with some helpful tricks to improve your taco game at home. Because all most people want is to eat better tacos more often, right? First, a strict definition: tacos equals tortilla + filling + salsa. Any so-called taco missing one of these components is a fraud. Tacos are temporal. Dont sit around and idly chat while hot tacos sit in front of you ready to be devoured. Eat them immediately. Tacos taste better standing up. I dont know why. Dont let inflexible ideas of authenticity get in the way of deliciousness. OK, lets break this down: TORTILLAS Tortillas are the soul of the taco. You cant have a great taco with a terrible tortilla. In a battle of sturdiness, flour tortillas beat corn tortillas every time. Use flour tortillas for larger, messier tacos. The slight structural deficiency of corn tortillas pales in comparison to the superior flavor and fragrance they lend to each bite. I use corn tortillas 99 percent of the time. Corn tortillas are simple to make at home, but frustratingly hard to master. Feel no shame in purchasing top-quality corn tortillas for most of your taco needs. Buy them the same day you plan to use them. Warm corn tortillas until soft, supple and fragrant. Place tortillas in a heavy skillet set over medium-high until you notice steam wafting off. Flip and wait until you spot steam again. At this point, the tortilla should be very soft. If not, continue heating for a few more seconds. Wrap warmed tortillas in a towel when done, and let them hang out for a few minutes to further steam. Heating tortillas on top of the grate over an open flame of a gas stove is also a great idea. One tortilla is usually enough. Some saucier taco fillings will soak through one, thus requiring two, but there is nothing automatically better about doubling up. If anything, two tortillas make it harder to appreciate the filling. FILLINGS Free your mind of what constitutes a taco filling. Veggie tacos are a thing, and they are exceptional. If I can advance one, ahem, opinion here, it is that vegetables make incredible taco fillings. Great vegetables for tacos: zucchini, mushrooms, kale, squash blossoms, potatoes, Swiss chard, huitlacoche (a prized corn fungus), refried black beans, poblanos, butternut squash and pumpkin. I love griddled steak tacos, too, but you can braise beef shoulder for barbacoa or cure round for cecina. Heck, you can eat tongue, intestines, brains and all kinds of other fun parts of the cow. And thats just one kind of animal! Chorizo is the bacon of the taco world; it makes everything taste better, but it needs a partner. A taco with only chorizo is like a cake made entirely out of frosting. Grilled fish tacos are almost always mushy. Fried fish tacos are great but messy to make on a weeknight. Dont forget about shrimp tacos. Adding rice is almost always a terrible idea. SALSA Salsa isnt optional. Salsa separates tacos from wraps and other tepid creations. Salsa requires chilies. Chilies bring excitement and vibrancy to our dull, drab lives. Make roasted tomatillo salsa. Ive got nothing against fresh pico de gallo (made with plump summer tomatoes, of course), but tomatillo salsa is what I usually make, because its acidic and flavorful, and tomatillos are available year-round. (See recipe.) The broiler and blender are your best salsa friends. If you want to go hardcore authentic, you could toast all the ingredients on a comal and then grind them by hand using a stone molcajete. Or you could replicate this process in a 10th of the time by broiling the vegetables and then processing them in a blender. You can combine salsa and the filling into one dish. If you braise chicken and tomatillos together (which you should), theres no need to waste time making a completely different salsa. Guacamole counts as a salsa. Hot sauce is different from salsa. Its main purpose is to add a final flash of intense heat, which is quite convenient if youre serving tacos to a group of people with varying levels of spice tolerance. TACO CONSTRUCTION Small tacos are usually better than large tacos. Its tempting to stuff each tortilla with as much as possible, but always consider proportion. You want to get a bite with all the components, which is hard if you can barely fold the tortilla over the mass of fillings and toppings. Better to make a slim and satisfying taco, and eat more of them. Additional toppings are completely optional but can separate a good taco from an exceptional one. Great toppings: pickled red onions, pickled jalapenos, shredded cabbage, radishes, queso fresco. Boring toppings: lettuce, chopped tomatoes, pre-shredded Mexican cheese, canned black olives. Chopped white onions and cilantro are great toppings but unnecessary if youve included both in your salsa. OTHER TACO THOUGHTS The problem with the pre-fried U-shaped shells the kind made famous by Taco Bell and Old El Paso is that when you bite in, the filling slides out the side too easily. Plus, they are usually structurally unsound, crumbling apart after one bite. But fried tacos can be amazing. You just need to fry the tortilla with the filling already inside. Try fried potato tacos (see recipe). Break any of these rules if you want. The goal is not to adhere strictly to these tips but simply to eat more tacos. Experiment. Cook. Repeat. Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Prep: 10 minutes Cook: 10 minutes Makes: about 1 cup 8 ounces tomatillos, husked, rinsed 1 to 2 serrano chilies 2 cloves garlic, unpeeled 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped 1/2 white onion, chopped Place tomatillos, serranos and garlic cloves on a foil-lined baking sheet. Cover garlic with an additional layer of foil. Place under a hot broiler and cook until tomatillos are blackened on top, about 6 minutes. Flip tomatillos and serranos; blacken on the other side, about 5 minutes. Remove baking sheet from oven; allow everything to cool. Stem serranos and peel garlic. Transfer tomatillos, serranos garlic and salt to a blender. Process until almost smooth. Taste, and season with more salt if necessary. Transfer to a bowl; stir in cilantro and onion. Nutrition information per serving: 9 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 0 g protein, 73 mg sodium, 1 g fiber Fried Potato Tacos Prep: 15 minutes Cook: 20 minutes Makes: 12 tacos 1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cubed into 1/2-inch pieces 1 teaspoon salt 12 corn tortillas 1 cup vegetable oil Roasted tomatillo salsa, see recipe 1/2 head red cabbage, thinly sliced 1/2 cup queso fresco 3 limes, quartered Heat a medium saucepan of water over high heat until boiling. Add cubed potatoes; reduce heat to a strong simmer. Cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain potatoes in a colander. Transfer to a bowl, add salt and use a fork to mash until smooth. Heat a large skillet over medium. Warm the tortillas for a few seconds on each side until pliable. Spoon 2 tablespoons of mashed potato into each tortilla. Fold each tortilla over, pressing firmly to close. Heat the oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add as many tortillas as will fit in one layer, usually three. Cook until lightly browned on the bottom, 1-2 minutes; flip and brown on the other side, 1-2 minutes. Transfer tacos to a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat with remaining tortillas. Serve tacos topped with salsa, a handful of sliced cabbage, queso fresco and a wedge of lime. Nutrition information per taco: 141 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 2 mg cholesterol, 18 g carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 3 g protein, 251 mg sodium, 3 g fiber Zucchini, Chorizo and Almond Tacos Prep: 25 minutes Cook: 15 minutes Makes: 12 tacos 8 ounces fresh Mexican chorizo 1 large white onion, sliced 1 pound zucchini, ends trimmed, thinly sliced crosswise 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin Salt and pepper 1/2 cup slivered almonds 12 corn tortillas 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped 3 limes, quartered Roasted tomatillo salsa, see recipe Add chorizo and onion to a large skillet set over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent and chorizo is starting to brown, 8-10 minutes. Add zucchini, garlic, cinnamon and cumin; stir well. Cook, stirring often, until zucchini softens, about 5 minutes. Taste, and season with salt, if necessary usually about 1/2 teaspoon and pepper to taste. Meanwhile, toast almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until lightly browned, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tortilla; warm until you notice steam rising off, 5-10 seconds. Flip and warm until very soft, another 10 seconds. Wrap in a towel and repeat with remaining tortillas. Spoon some of the filling into the tortilla; top with a sprinkle of almonds, cilantro, a squeeze of lime and roasted tomatillo salsa. Nutrition information per serving: 180 calories, 10 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 17 mg cholesterol, 16 g carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 7 g protein, 440 mg sodium, 3 g fiber Editor's note: Iowa's 2016 legislative session adjourned on April 29. Today, in Cheers and Jeers fashion, we offer our top 10 session disappointments and accomplishments. THUMBS DOWN Water quality In what we believe was the single biggest disappointment of the session, lawmakers reached no compromise on funding for water quality. In our view, Republicans in the Iowa House crafted the best compromise solution on water quality of the session. The proposal would have produced $478 million for water initiatives, both urban and rural, over the next 13 years. Money would have come from the state's Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund, which is funded by gambling revenue, and from the state sales tax Iowans pay on their water bill. Governor Terry Branstad and Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey supported the plan. Water quality should be the signature issue of next year's session. Sales tax for school infrastructure State lawmakers failed to extend, without strings, the one-cent local option sales tax for school infrastructure. Because its benefits speak for themselves in the form of school improvements throughout the state, we believe the tax deserves extension (the tax is scheduled to sunset on Dec. 31, 2029). To help local school districts plan and bond for future building projects, extension needs to happen sooner rather than later. Medical cannabis We supported 2014 legislation through which patients afflicted by epilepsy can legally possess an anti-seizure medicine derived from cannabis. Since its passage, though, Iowans have raised reasonable complaints about a shortcoming of the bill. In simple terms, the bill didn't address production and distribution of the drug within the state. In other words, an Iowan can legally possess the drug for treatment of epilepsy, but it remains illegal in the state to produce or distribute it. The end result is Iowans who would benefit from the drug can't get it here, so they are forced to travel to another state. This makes no sense, but Iowa lawmakers failed to address the shortcoming by legalizing the production and distribution of cannabidiol. Bullying After three consecutive sessions of discussion and near-passage of a bill to strengthen state anti-bullying law during the last session, the Legislature this year virtually ignored the issue. This year produced no bill and no money for bullying prevention. Move school board elections Iowa lawmakers failed to take the common-sense step of moving school board elections from September to general election day in November. We can conceive of no good reason for continuing to hold Iowa school board elections in September. It's a complete mystery to us why this change didn't happen many years ago. Ban hand-held cell phone use by drivers The Legislature failed to improve the safety of Iowa's roads by making it illegal to use a hand-held cell phone while driving. Lawmakers even failed to make texting while driving a primary offense. Iowa was right in 2010 to make texting while driving illegal, but because the prohibition is enforceable only as a second offense, or only when a law enforcement officer stops a driver for a primary offense, the law lacks impact. THUMBS UP Medicaid oversight We supported Iowa's transition to privatization as a means by which to rein in the state's Medicaid costs. Those costs have risen by 73 percent since 2003, resulting in an increasingly smaller piece of the state budget pie for everything else. In other words, Medicaid status quo wasn't in the best interests of Iowa as a whole. However, privatization of Iowa's $5 billion Medicaid program, which began April 1, shouldn't mean the state embraces an entirely hands-off approach. Proper oversight of state contracts with the three private managed-care organizations is essential, something state lawmakers recognized in bipartisan fashion. Sentencing reform We give Rep. Dave Dawson, a Democrat from Sioux City, credit for taking a leadership role in pushing to passage a package of criminal justice reforms. In particular, we commend Dawson for establishment within the reforms of a strong mandatory minimum sentence for individuals convicted of child endangerment resulting in death. The legislation requires anyone convicted of child endangerment resulting in the death of a child or minor to serve a minimum of 15 to 35 years of a 50-year sentence. Currently, the average prison stay for the crime is an appalling 4.6 years. Biochemical production tax credits We commend the Iowa Legislature for passage this year of tax credits designed to encourage extraction of chemicals from biomass for use in consumer products such as pharmaceuticals, plastics, textiles and cosmetics. In 2014, Iowans celebrated the start of a new chapter for the renewable fuels industry in our state as cellulosic ethanol production, which uses corn plant residue left in the field, began. Biochemical production represents another new frontier of promise for the future. Earlier decision on K-12 school funding Because we were critical of the Iowa Legislature last year for dragging its feet on making a decision about state funding for K-12 public schools, we commend lawmakers for a more expeditious approach to the issue this year. Last year, the Legislature didn't agree on fiscal 2017 funding for schools until June 1, some seven weeks after the April 15 date by which local school districts must certify budgets for the next school year. This year, lawmakers reached a decision before the end of March. We understand disappointment exists within education about the size of the 2.25 percent increase in funding for K-12 public schools, but at least school districts this year were armed with certainty about the level of state aid as they completed work on their budgets. SIOUX CITY | The city of Sioux City faces hefty state environmental penalties for discharging improperly treated sewage containing high levels of harmful E. coli bacteria into the Missouri River. Iowa Department of Natural Resources staff want Attorney General Tom Miller to take civil action against the city for illegal discharges over an 803-day period between March 2012 and June 2015, according to state documents. The state Environmental Protection Commission will be asked to refer the case to the AG's office at its monthly meeting Tuesday. "Because the city did not properly disinfect its wastewater, the city was discharging wastewater high in bacteria," the DNR said in its 10-page litigation report. "Bacteria have known harmful effects on human health." The state agency noted the Missouri is a recreational river where swimmers, boaters, canoeists and water skiers may come into "prolonged and direct contact with the water." According to the DNR, the city violated one Iowa code provision, seven Iowa administrative codes and 12 federal permit conditions. The state attorney general can seek higher civil penalties than the DNR, whose penalties are capped at $10,000. City Attorney Nicole Jensen did not immediately return calls to the Journal late Tuesday. Referring the case to the state's top prosecutor would be the latest chapter in an investigation the DNR launched after receiving a tip on April 21, 2015, that the city was operating the disinfection system for its wastewater treatment plant in violation of its National Pollutant Discharge Eliminating System, or NPDES, permit. In interviews with investigators on June 9, 2015, two plant supervisors, Jay Niday and Pat Schwarte, admitted to dramatically raising chlorine and bisulfite doses on days that E. coli samples were taken and then turning the levels back down. The DNR found "overwhelming evidence" that at least four other city employees also engaged in the manipulation of the test results, according to agency documents. Baskins said the DNR did not identify the other city workers, who told investigators they were directed by Niday and Schwarte. Niday and Schwarte were later fired by the city, and they voluntarily surrendered their NPDES permits. The operating manual for the city's disinfection system calls for 16 to 17 gallons per hour of chlorine every day to properly treat wastewater to meet NPDES limits. On days when samples were taken, the plant employees used 90 gallons per day. On other days, only 3 gallons per hour were used, according to the DNR report. Niday, the former wastewater operator in charge, told investigators the city saved at least $100,000 in one year when workers administered the smaller levels of chlorine. In July and August 2015, the DNR said the city violated the permit limit for E. coli, an intestinal bacterium that can cause food poisoning symptoms. In August 2015, the city also violated the 30-day average NPDES permit limit for ammonia nitrogen, according to the state agency. In March 2016, the city had one violation for its daily maximum of total residual chlorine. DAKOTA CITY, Neb. | A woman will be the next state senator to represent northeast Nebraska's District 17. Joni Albrecht, of Thurston, and Ardel Bengtson, of South Sioux City, easily won the top two spots in Tuesday's primary voting as they advanced to a general election matchup in the November general election. The third primary candidate Tuesday, Louis Benscoter, of Wayne, was far back as he was eliminated from contention. In unofficial returns in the district, which includes all of parts of Dakota, Thurston and Wayne counties, Albrecht dominated with 63 percent of the vote. Bengtson had 31 percent and Benscoter trailed with 6 percent, according to the Nebraska Secretary of State website, The District 17 incumbent, Sen. Dave Bloomfield, of Hoskins, could not run for re-election due to Nebraska's term limits law. DENISON, Iowa | "Rosie the Bus" took a hit and kept rolling this week, cruising into Cronk's Cafe at Denison on Tuesday in search of Republican-leaning women to register for the November general election. It's a novel approach, the GOP faithful seek to prevent scores of voters from sitting on the sidelines come November, not wanting to choose between presumptive presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. The message was direct, adorning no-frills buttons worn by those with the National Federation of Republican Women, brains and brawn behind this bus: "Republicans who stay home elect Democrats." The tour started in Des Moines on Monday and headed to Lincoln, Nebraska, to meet Gov. Pete Ricketts, a donor to this cause. While in Lincoln, a hail storm struck, as did several thunderstorms, prompting tornado warnings. "It was awful," said Carrie Almond, of Chillicothe, Missouri, president of the National Federation of Republican Women. "I think Rosie has a little hail damage on top, on her first day." The sun broke through the clouds on Tuesday morning as Almond greeted 20 Republicans at Cronk's. She spread her sunny disposition, spinning a get-out-the-voter effort. "I went to the RNC (Republican National Committee) when I was elected and they told me there are millions and millions of unregistered women voters out there," Almond said. Almond noted that volunteers with the National Federation of Republican Women logged more than 4.2 million hours of volunteer work during the 2014 election. Putting those hours to work in 2016 might make a difference. That is, if volunteers focus on identifying and registering would-be voters. "Let's focus these volunteer hours on registering women to vote," she said. "Let's focus those hours and take back the White House." State Sen. Rick Bertrand, a Sioux City Republican, hailed the group's effort. Bertrand, who is engaged in a GOP primary battle with Rep. Steve King, of Kiron, said it is time for the party to heal its wounds and move forward. "The message is very clear," Bertrand said of the bus tour, noting that if voters stay home come November, the reverberations may be felt by Republican candidates further down the ballot, in state and county races. "We passed a unity resolution in March," Almond said, indicating the group would unite behind the candidate at the top of the ticket. "We want to take back the White House, from the courthouse to the White House." While the Cronk's gathering was modest on Tuesday, the effort netted one additional registered voter in Rae Clinkenbeard, who celebrates her 18th birthday in two days and will be eligible to vote in her first presidential election come November. Almond invited those present to autograph the bus before she readied for a trip east across Iowa, as additional stops were planned in Holstein, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Walcott, home of the "World's Largest Truck Stop." After that, Rosie steams on to Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Hampshire and Maine, with stops in other states along the way. Shortly after Memorial Day, the bus zooms to Virginia and then prepares for a summer of fairs, festivals and finding voters. "We won't visit Hawaii or Alaska, because Rosie can't swim," Almond said. "But we'll see as many states as we can." SIOUX CITY | A Sioux City man is in jail facing charges stemming from a police chase in March, authorities said. Levi Hamilton, 35, was seen late March 3 driving on the wrong side of the road near the 2000 block of Jones Street. When Sioux City police attempted to stop Hamilton, he sped away, according to court documents. Hamilton continued southbound on Jones, driving in the opposite lane of traffic and then speeding through several stop signs, documents said. When police found Hamilton, officers could smell the odor of marijuana on his breath, his eyes reddened. Hamilton refused field sobriety tests or giving a sample for drug testing, documents said. Hamilton was booked Tuesday at the Woodbury County Jail, facing charges of driving with a revoked license, eluding, operating while intoxicated and eluding simple. He is being held on $17,000 bond. His court date is set for Thursday. SIOUX CITY | A 25-year-old man faces several charges of sexual abuse for alleged acts with three girls, ages 13, 14 and 15. According to court documents, Lawrence John Hoffman, of Sioux City committed the acts in 2012, having intercourse with the girls in a period of weeks during March at his home at 715 Burton St. One incident with the 13-year-old was in the parking lot of a pharmacy near UnityPoint Health -- St. Lukes hospital. Hoffman was previously convicted of lascivious acts with a child in Plymouth County in January 2011 for an incident in 2009 and was on probation and was wearing an ankle bracelet. Hoffman would frequently hang out with the underage girls, giving them car rides and providing them cell phones, cigarettes and taking them out to eat, the documents state. Hoffman allegedly told a woman that he was having sex with the underage girls. The 15-year-old girl reported what was going on to her father, who told a mandatory reporter, who contacted police on April 7, 2012. One of the girls disclosed the abuse to a Sioux City police officer and again at the Mercy Medical Child Advocacy Center. Hoffman initially denied any sexual activity, but later told a detective of the activity between him and two of the girls. He also later admitted to his probation officer what had happened, the documents state. Data from his tracking device corroborated with one of the girls reports as to where Hoffman was at what times. Condom wrappers and a pair of female underwear were taken as evidence at Hoffmans residence. He said the underwear was his mothers, which she denied, documents said. The other two girls eventually disclosed the sexual abuse to authorities, including evidence of a love note from the 14-year-old to Hoffman found in his vehicle. The 13-year-old girl disclosed information while maintaining that Hoffman should not get in trouble for his actions, according to the court document. Multiple underage girls were listed in Hoffmans cell phone contacts, with calls to and from the girls in his call log despite being restricted from interacting with underage girls due to his probation. Hoffman was booked into Woodbury County Jail on Monday. He is charged with three counts of third degree sexual abuse and is being held on $100,000 bond. His court date is May 20. SIOUX CITY | A man wanted out of Omaha for failing to register as a sex offender in Nebraska, was arrested by Sioux City police on warrants Wednesday. Bobby Joe Baer, 31, was captured by police after a short foot pursuit near the 3200 block of Pierce Street after being spotted by a caller, according to police Sgt. Scott Hatting. Baer was convicted of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl in 2005. He was booked into the Woodbury County Jail for charges of carrying a weapon, possession of drugs, furnishing contraband to an inmate and eluding. His bond is set at $6,600 and he is being held for Nebraska. SOUTH SIOUX CITY | Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a two-part, $38 million bond issue to build and renovate classroom space in the South Sioux City school district. The bond was divided into two proposals, which each needed a simple majority for passage. Bond A, which would have raised $28 million, was defeated by a vote of 1,205, or 66.32 percent, opposed to 612 votes, or 33.68 percent, in favor. Voters struck down Bond B, which would have raised $10.5 million, by a vote of 1,339, or 74.31 percent, opposed to 463 votes, or 25.69 percent, in favor. Bond A called for building a new school for fifth- and sixth-graders that would emphasize Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM). It would also have provided additions to Cardinal Elementary and Harney Elementary, as well as building renovations to Dakota Elementary. It also included a career center for high school students. Proposition B would have constructed a new early childhood center to help prepare 4-year-olds for kindergarten. The bonds were slated for repayment over 25 years. If Proposition A had passed, but B failed, Proposition A would still have moved forward. If B had passed and A failed, both would have failed. If both bond issues had passed, property taxes on a home assessed for $100,000 would have increased by $147.90 per year, and $85.20 should just prop A have passed. Overcrowding, as well as the desire to introduce more career readiness programs, was a big factor in the move to address some of the facilities. The middle school was built with a capacity of 596 students. Currently 823 students are enrolled in the building. Cardinal Elementary has a student body of 394 students, with a capacity of 291. The high school and remaining three elementary schools are also over the constructed occupancy rate. The middle school currently has two portable units that provide an additional four classrooms. Under the new arrangement, seventh and eighth grade would have remained in the middle school building, fifth and sixth grade would have had its own building at 39th Street and Bennet Avenue, and the high school would remain grades 9 to 12. ORANGE CITY, Iowa | For 37 years, the family of Jean Marie Homan has dealt with her murder while knowing the man responsible for her death would never be released from prison. But with John Mulder's original mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole declared unconstitutional in 2012 because he had been a juvenile at the time, Homan's family was back in Sioux County District Court Wednesday, urging District Judge Steven Andreasen to issue a new sentence that would keep Mulder in prison for the 1976 shooting death. "I don't want this to happen to anyone else. He needs to stay in prison as long as possible," Homan's daughter Nancy Rieken said during one of six victim impact statements given by family members. After carefully and deliberately walking the audience through all the required legal considerations in deciding a new sentence, Andreasen sentenced Mulder to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 42 years. By his calculations, Andreasen said, Mulder would be eligible for parole in September 2020 at age 59. Andreasen said he could not pinpoint one reason behind his decision. He mentioned that though Mulder had numerous prison disciplinary reports in his younger years, he had had only one behavioral violation in prison since an unsuccessful escape attempt in 1998. Mulder has also received numerous favorable reports on his behavior from the Iowa Department of Corrections in recent years. Andreasen said there was no guarantee that Mulder will someday be released from prison. "This court is not deciding if or when Mr. Mulder will be released from prison. That decision will remain with the Iowa parole board," Andreasen said. Speaking directly to Homan's family, Andreasen acknowledged his ruling would not be popular. "I am not going to even begin to ask you to agree with this sentence. I would expect you to disagree with it, and I respect that," he said. Homan was killed April 23, 1976, after she and her husband had fallen asleep while watching television in the bedroom of their Alton, Iowa, home. At trial, Carl Homan had testified that he woke up at about 11:45 p.m. to see an intruder standing in the room aiming a .22-caliber rifle at him. A first shot misfired, then the intruder turned his aim to Jean Homan and shot her once in the right side, killing her while she slept. Mulder, who was three days shy of his 15th birthday at the time of the shooting, was later arrested for stealing the rifle, which was found in a well a short distance from the Homan home, with other items. He was serving a sentence at the Iowa State Training School for Boys in Eldora, Iowa, for those crimes when a Sioux County grand jury indicted him for murder in September 1978. A jury found Mulder guilty of first-degree murder in January 1979, and he was sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole in February 1979 by District Judge James Andreasen, the father of Wednesday's sentencing judge. Two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings gave Mulder, now 54, hope of someday getting out of prison. In 2010 and 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences without parole given to juvenile offenders are cruel and unusual punishment, making them unconstitutional and requiring judges to have discretion about whether the juvenile offender would have a chance for parole. In 2015, the Iowa Legislature amended state sentencing laws to give judges three sentencing options for juveniles found guilty murder: life in prison without parole, life in prison with parole or life in prison with parole after a mandatory minimum is served. On Wednesday, Homan's family members told Andreasen that some of them continue to suffer from depression and anxiety attacks. The family has never recovered from losing the person they said was the heart of their family, a woman who was loved by everyone in Alton. Mulder, who has a graying mustache and hair past his shoulders, appeared unmoved by the testimony. Given a chance to speak, he said he had listened closely to everything the Homan family had said. "I understand how they feel. I don't want to add to their grief, so at this time I'd just like to say I'm sorry," he said. Relatives of Mulder declined to comment after the hearing. After the hearing, Rieken, who lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, said she and her relatives would continue to fight to keep Mulder in prison. They will appear at any future court or parole board hearings. Wednesday's decision ensured that the family will continue to feel the pain of their mother's loss. "It's been excruciating. It's going to continue to be excruciating," Rieken said. SIOUX CITY | Rain that fell Monday afternoon pooled in a few places along the one-mile frontage road in Moville, Iowa, and vehicles flung the water as they passed. For the second time in less than a year, Moville Mayor Jim Fisher has asked the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors for help in fixing the east-west road, which several decades ago was an original route of U.S. Highway 20. The road, which has cracks and drainage problems, now lies about 100 yards north of the current Highway 20. County Supervisor Matthew Ung said the work to improve the road could reach $1 million, and one important step could involve annexing the road into the city of Moville. The supervisors discussed the road during their weekly Tuesday meeting. Ung said the talks of county financial help are preliminary, as the Moville City Council has not fleshed out the topic at a meeting. Ung said Fisher has roughly discussed a proposal for the city to provide new water and sewer lines for the road, if the county would pay for paving it. "It is a compelling location for growth," Ung said of the road, which has a few businesses such as Chet's Foods and a Subway restaurant. A future new pharmacy and Dollar General store are being built adjacent to it. The supervisors held a board meeting in Moville in June 2015, when Fisher first asked the supervisors for help with the frontage road. Ung, Fisher and Woodbury County Rural Economic Development Department Director David Gleiser recently met to talk about the town and county combining to improve the road. Ung said Fisher has estimated it would cost the city $435,000 to place water and sewer infrastructure, while a dated estimate showed the paving could run from $400,000 to $500,000. Ung said County Engineer Mark Nahra will update that paving estimate in a few weeks. Outside of the meeting, Fisher told the Journal the Moville City Council will discuss the proposal in the near future. Fisher said financing a large project like the road could be a problem, but he likes the concept. "The city would grow, (a modernized) frontage road would give us better visibility to Highway 20," Fisher said. County Supervisor Larry Clausen said it would be hard for the county to help with the project, given insufficient money in the Secondary Roads Department budget. Supervisor Jackie Smith said the county board needs to come up with a process to weigh such projects pitched by towns. "We are going to be getting a lot of requests," Smith said. Moville, which has a population of 1,620, is the third-largest town in Woodbury County, behind Sioux City and Sergeant Bluff. SIOUX CITY | About 180 Army Reserve soldiers based in Sioux City are preparing to be deployed to the Middle East. Maj. William Geddes says soldiers in the 960th Quartermaster Company will deploy to Kuwait and Iraq on Sunday. A send-off ceremony is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at East High School in Sioux City. The company's mission will be to supply ammunition, fuel and portable water purification. Geddes says the soldiers are expected to stay for about nine months. -- Associated Press DES MOINES | Emboldened by polls, critical media coverage and persistent advocacy, Democrats are growing ever more confident that Chuck Grassley, Iowas popular and longtime Republican U.S. senator, is vulnerable in this falls election. Republicans, meantime, are rallying to defend Grassley, setting the stage for a campaign battle in Iowa over the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy and Donald Trump atop the Republican ticket. Since first being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980, Grassley has been re-elected five times, never by fewer than 30 percentage points while each time garnering at least 60 percent of the vote. But Democrats think a confluence of factors this year means Grassley may be unable to coast to re-election; they think he is beatable. Namely, those factors are Grassleys decision not to hold hearings on President Barack Obamas nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy and the potential down-ballot impact of Trump, for whom some Republicans have said they refuse to support or vote for. A memo distributed Wednesday by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the national party organization that works to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate, claims Grassley is increasingly vulnerable. Senator Chuck Grassley likely thought he would coast to re-election this November. How far away those days must seem now, the DSCC memo stated. Grassley has stood firm in the face of much criticism on the Supreme Court nomination, saying he thinks the vacancy should not be filled during an election year and voters should have a voice in the process by electing the next president, who then would submit his or her nomination. Liberal and judicial advocacy groups have held media events and attended Grassleys public events in Iowa to demand he hold a hearing on Merrick Garland, Obamas Supreme Court nominee. This week, a few of those advocacy groups took a group of Iowans some of whom said they have voted for Grassley in the past to Washington, D.C., to speak with Grassley at his office. Grassley spoke with the group for about a half-hour. He always seemed like a man of integrity and a man that could work with people and get them to agree, said Vickie Bouska, a retired small business owner from Hiawatha who said she voted for Grassley in 2010. At this point, it seems like hes really changed. Some recent polls have suggested voters like Bouska are not alone. The DSCC memo notes two polls one from the liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling and another commissioned by the liberal End Citizens United PAC that say a majority of Iowa voters want the Senate to take action on the Supreme Court vacancy. These polls clearly showed the divide between Iowans and Senator Grassley, the DSCC memo stated. Newspaper editorial boards across the state have added to the chorus of calls for Grassley and Senate Republicans to at least hold a hearing for Garland. And this week, the Constitutional Responsibility Project began airing a television advertisement attacking Grassley on the Supreme Court issue. The group is headed by Stephanie Cutter, Obamas 2012 deputy re-election campaign manager, according to The New York Times. Conservatives are not sitting idly by. The Republican Party, locally and nationally, has defended Grassleys stand on the Supreme Court vacancy. And conservative advocacy groups also have become involved. The Judicial Action Network, a conservative legal organization, for weeks has been running television advertisements in Iowa defending Grassleys position on the Supreme Court vacancy, and on Wednesday, it hosted a conference call on which Brenna Bird, a former member of Republican Gov. Terry Branstads staff, and others expressed their support for Grassley. I think most Iowans and Americans agree this isnt a decision to be made lightly. The direction of the court will certainly have an impact for generations to come, Kathy Pearson, owner of Kaas Employment Services in Cedar Rapids, said on the conference call. I thank Sen. Grassley for standing up for his values that most Iowans share. Four Democrats are running to challenge Grassley this fall: former lieutenant governor and state ag secretary Patty Judge, state Sen. Rob Hogg and former state legislators Tom Fiegen and Bob Krause. The primary election is June 7. The DSCC, which has actively campaigned against Grassley, has supported Judge in the Democratic primary. DES MOINES | The three privately run managed care organizations now administering Iowas Medicaid system have received, processed and paid more than 300,000 claims since taking over the states duties on April 1, the states Medicaid director said Wednesday. Its good news right now for the first month of where we are, Mikki Stier told members of the Iowa Council on Human Services. Billing is moving, said Stier, who noted that Medicaid claim processing time is averaging about 10 days, which is below the 14 days allowed under the state MCO contracts with Amerigroup Iowa, AmeriHealth Caritas Iowa and UnitedHealthcare of the River Valley. Contacts with the state Department of Human Services call centers set up to handle problems from Iowas 580,000 Medicaid recipients during the managed care transition have dropped from 3,000 daily to about 1,500 each day and up to 97 percent of Iowas providers have signed up with at least one MCO while three of our four providers had registered with all three as of mid-April, Stier added. Weve seen our call centers coming down, which tells us that were getting there, she said. DHS Director Chuck Palmer said change is an upsetting and threatening thing to go through, especially when it involves health-care services, but fear is being allayed via a clear, sincere effort to make the transition a success on the part of a lot of people pulling together. Most people, when you go into change, usually look for where they think the negative impacts could be, Palmer said in an interview, so you usually assess whats coming at you by where are my vulnerabilities, wheres my risk; most people dont rush to wheres my opportunity? So, yes, there are those individuals who say, oh, my gosh, heres what Im afraid of. As theyve found that some of the things they were fearful of have not materialized, then the fear has gone down and the comfort has gone up. So I think youve got some of that going on, he added. Cynthia MacDonald, plan president for Amerigroup Iowa, told council members Wednesday her company has received about 131,000 claims from Iowa Medicaid clients since April 1 and paid out about $15.5 million with an average response time of 4.6 days. About 6 percent of claims have been denied for reasons such as services not allowed or covered, coding issues or claims that exceeded the contracted rate, she said, but noted denials are subject to further review. MacDonald said her company has hired 371 employees across Iowa to assist in delivering services to about 185,000 Medicaid members in Iowa including 7,500 in the Hawk-I childrens health insurance program and to work with more than 27,000 providers statewide that have contracted with Amerigroup. Were actually very pleased in how things have rolled forward, MacDonald said. I think its such a good thing for Iowans just to have it not be full of chaos and trauma. Its working very well. LINCOLN, Neb. | Donald Trump added Nebraska to his list of primary victories on Tuesday less than a week after he forced his last Republican opponents out of the race and eliminated virtually all of the suspense in the state's late-season contest. Because the race was no longer competitive, campaigns in down-ticket races worried that a smaller showing would affect their races. Now, with the Republican contest settled, candidates were left to wonder how a Trump candidacy would affect their prospects for the November general election. Voters picked a Republican challenger to the lone Democratic member of the state's congressional delegation and settled several nonpartisan primaries for the Legislature. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 2 With retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Don Bacon handily winning the GOP nomination for the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District, it remains to be seen whether a presumed Trump presidential nomination will help him oust Nebraska's lone congressional Democrat. Bacon easily defeated former state lawmaker and Douglas County commissioner Chip Maxwell on Tuesday and will face incumbent Brad Ashford in November. Ashford a moderate Democrat who had unsuccessfully run for the same seat as a Republican 20 years earlier is hoping to make it to a second term after defeating former U.S. Rep. Lee Terry in 2014 by such a thin margin that the race wasn't called until the day after the election. Ashford's win came as a surprise in a heavily conservative state against a Republican incumbent seeking his ninth term, and political insiders at the time speculated that the seat would revert to the GOP in 2016. Bacon has said he'll support Trump if the business mogul becomes the GOP presidential nominee, but the 2nd District race won't be swayed by presidential politics, said Bacon campaign manager Mark Dreiling. "People here are going to be looking at who is running for this seat, and Don's an outsider who has a record of achievement outside of politics," Dreiling said. "I think that people will support Don Bacon on his own merits." Ashford said in a written statement that he's looking forward to "talking to voters about my independent record in Congress to get things done for Nebraska." Republican incumbents Jeff Fortenberry in the 1st District and Adrian Smith in the 3rd District ran unopposed for their party's nomination. Fortenberry will face Norfolk doctor Daniel Wik in the general election. Smith will run unopposed in November. CHAMBERS TOP VOTE-GETTER Nebraska's longest-serving state senator has triumphed over a Democratic and Republican challenger in his north Omaha district. Independent Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha was the top vote-getter in Tuesday's primary election. He and Republican John Sciara will advance to the November general election. The 78-year-old Chambers is known for his encyclopedic knowledge of the Legislature and its rules, which he frequently uses to block bills he opposes. Chambers served in the Legislature from 1971 to 2009, when newly enacted term limits forced him from office. He was re-elected in 2013 after sitting out for one four-year term and is eligible to serve one additional consecutive term. INDEPENDENTS OUT Some registered independents learned only when they showed up at the polls Tuesday that they have no voice in Nebraska's presidential primary process. Alice Compitello, 84, is one of them. She had planned to vote for businessman and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, saying she considers herself a Republican. Unfortunately for her plans, she's registered as an independent, meaning she was barred from casting a vote in the presidential primary. "Nebraska's system is entirely too difficult," Compitello said as she walked out of her northwest Nebraska polling place. "I could only vote on one race, for Congress. I gave them an earful about it, too." Nebraska rules allow independents in primary elections to vote in nonpartisan races only. The exceptions are federal Senate and House races, in which independents may vote if they declare a party preference at the polls. Award-winning Alaskan artist Ray Troll is in town to open a new exhibit at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History titled "Buzzsaw Sharks of Long Ago," based on his noted prehistoric marine life illustrations. May 13, Troll will be hosting a free lecture on "Swimming with the Big Fish: How to Market Your Art Globally." Artists from around the state are invited to gain a new perspective on what it means to be a successful, full-time artist by following Troll's life and scientific interests. Reserve seats now at kimotickets.com. Buzzsaw Sharks opens at NMMNH&S on Saturday, May 14, at 10am with a book signing by Troll. KiMo Theatre Fri May 13 7-9pm View on Alibi calendar WINTERSET, Iowa | The Vision Iowa Board on Wednesday approved a $300,000 grant for Sioux City's proposed Cone Park, allowing the long-awaited all-seasons outdoor recreational area to open as early as late 2017. The state award is contingent on the city raising an additional $16,684 from other sources in the next 90 days. "Without the continued support from the community, we won't be able to finish the project," said Matt Salvatore, the city's parks and recreation director. Salvatore said the city has established a webpage -- coneparksiouxcity.com -- to help raise the remaining funds. Donations of $1,000 or more will be recognized on a donor wall inside the four-seasons day lodge. Once the remaining funds are secured, construction could begin this summer, with completion anticipated for December 2017. The park, estimated to cost about $4 million, features a tubing hill, splash pad/ice rink, day lodge and snowmaking equipment. The park is named for Ruth Cone, a Sioux City philanthropist who died in 1981. With interest, the gift she left the city for the establishment of a park has grown to roughly $2.6 million. The city, which has committed $800,000 toward Cone Park, previously received $200,000 from Missouri River Historical Development and $50,000 from Woodbury County. Since December, the city has collected an additional $43,000 in private donations and pledges. The city applied in December for a $318,000 grant from Vision Iowa, a program of the Iowa Economic Development Authority that provides financial assistance for major recreational, cultural, entertainment and educational attractions. City officials later asked IEDA staff to delay scoring the application for two months because the Cone Park costs had shuffled, meaning numbers in the application were no longer accurate. Salvatore, City Manager Bob Padmore and Craig Berenstein, who co-chairs the Cone Park committee, met with state officials in Des Moines Tuesday to negotiate the grant terms. "We're extremely pleased to have received the grant," Berenstein, a former mayor and city councilman, said Wednesday. "The recognition by the state board solidifies the support we've had for this project, and it will allow us to move forward pretty quickly." If you buy something through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Learn more. Thanks to their dubious reputation as annoying distractions, you may be reluctant to create website popup and popover ads for your own website. Fear not however, theres lots of evidence that popups increase online conversions in everything from newsletter signups to sales. (Just search for are pop up ads effective on Google.) There are businesses use them to great effect without alienating either existing or potential customers. So with that concern out of the way, heres a guide for creating website popup and popover ads of your own. Below, youll find 5 website popup definitions you need to know before you get underway. Following that, well list 20 of the best website popup creation tools so you can get started. 5 Website Popup Definitions You Need to Know 2 Types of Popups Popup Popup is the generic term used for website popups. More specifically, they are the type of popup that appears on top of your current browser page. Popups can appear like a highlighted image, however, they can also extend from any side of a webpage including the top and bottom. Popups used to appear in new browser windows or tabs, but these days theyre typically modal, which means that they run as part of the page your visitor is browsing and cannot be blocked by popup blockers. Pop Under A pop under is a type of popup that appears in a new window underneath the web page youre currently browsing. Theyre less obtrusive since they open in a new window. However, theyre also more easily blocked by popup blockers. 3 Ways to Trigger Popups Time-Driven Popup A time-driven popup appears after a visitor is on your site for a set amount of time, giving them some space to learn what your site is about before being hit with an ad or offer. Behavior-Driven Popup The behavior driven popup appears after a certain condition is met. For example, a behavior-driven popup may appear after a visitor gets to their third page on your site, scrolls 66 percent down one of your pages or opens a specific page. Exit Popup The exit popup shows itself when a visitor browses to a site different than yours. It behaves just like a regular popup and is a great opportunity to extend a special offer to entice visitors before theyre gone. 20 of the Best Tools to Create a Website Popup Whether your website was built from scratch or on a platform such as WordPress or Drupal, youll find a tool that fits your needs in the list below. One point of interest: Many email service providers (e.g. AWeber, MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc.) offer their own version of mailing list signup popups. We have not included them in the list below, so you may want to head over to your provider to learn more about what types of sign-up form options they provide. Best All-Round Popup Tools While they offer integration with many of the top website hosting platforms, these tools can also be used on stand alone websites. PopUp Domination PopUp Domination is like the Swiss-army knife of popup tools. Offering both a WordPress plugin and a stand alone solution that can be plugged into any website, the tool enables you to easily build popups with your choice of behaviors and design. You can also choose from a gallery of pre-built templates. Marketizator Another full-featured solution, Marketizator offers robust personalization features up to and including the ability to personalize based on a visitors local weather. (Now thats what we call location-based marketing!) To use the tool, you have to insert some JavaScript code at the beginning of your sites HTML code and then forget about it. Any changes you make over in Marketizator will take effect on your site. One highlight: The tool integrates with Google Analytic for in-depth reporting. WisePops As shown above, WisePops aims to make it easy to create and deploy website popups. The tool offers integration with many of the most popular website hosting platforms including WordPress, Drupal and others. One nice touch: WisePops enables you to target your popups at visitors based on source, frequency, browser and device (e.g. only show to first time visitors from Facebook). Best WordPress Plugin Popup Tools The next group of tools was created to specifically work with WordPress websites. Some of these tools are free with paid upgrades for additional features. Some are premium, which means you need to pay up front. Weve indicated which is which for each tool. Popups WordPress Popups The free version of Popups WordPress Popups offers most of what your business will need including conditional rules and filters. When your needs grow, the premium upgrade will help this tool grow with you. PopupAlly From the get-go, PopupAlly offers numerous features and templates for free. Upgrading to the Pro version adds more functionality and a bigger collection of templates. WP Popup Plugin An easy-to-use popup plugin, WP Popup does a lot out of the box and offers even more, such as conditional rules, after a premium upgrade. OptinMonster A premium WordPress plugin, OptinMonster offers display rules, targeting options and much more. One standout feature is the many different types of popups from regular center-of-the-screen popups to footer bars and even WordPress sidebar widgets. Ninja Popups for WordPress Ninja Popups for WordPress is a robust premium plugin that offers more options than you may ever need. Its standout feature however, is the number of built in integrations it offers with both email service providers and social media networks. PopupPress The premium plugin PopupPress has taken the popup and added multimedia. With the ability to display popup sliders and videos, this plugin is a real attention grabber. Unlimited Pop-Ups WordPress Plugin With nine types of plugins, 66 animation styles and unlimited design options, the premium Unlimited Pop-Ups WordPress Plugin has a huge number of features for designing a popup. Indeed Smart PopUp for WordPress Claiming over 100+ features, the Indeed Smart PopUp for WordPress premium plugin is one of the most fully complete WordPress popup plugins available. Options include targeting, templates, display rules and even mobile device optimization. Best Stand-Alone Website Popup Tools These JavaScript popup tools can be used on any website, no matter where its hosted. adPopup Pro for jQuery adPopup Pro for jQuery is a premium popup tool for any website that offers a hefty number of features including options for design, display rules, targeting and more. ScreenPopper ScreenPopper is a web-based tool that anyone can use to create website popups no mater their level of technical expertise. In this tool, youll find targeting, display rules, design and even analytics. And for beginners, they offer a package where theyll manage your popup campaigns for you if you like. Best Top-of-the-Page Popup Tools Hello Bar As shown above, Hello Bar is a specialized type of popup that appears as a bar across the top of a webpage. Its a handy way to draw attention to your newsletter signup, featured content or an upcoming event. This tool offers display options such as scrolling the bar so its always at the top of the webpage. Theres also a toggle that enables you to control whether the bar can be hidden by visitors or not. Here again the tool also offers analytics for better insights into your visitors behavior. WordPress Notification Bar An alternative to Hello Bar, the WordPress Notification Bar plugin is a free customizable top-of-the-page popup tool. Best Bottom-Popup Tools Qualaroo The first of our popup from the bottom tools (see image above), Qualaroo is a pioneer in capturing customer feedback. Using this tool, you can quickly create a popup to capture a variety of information. Qualaroo even has a huge library of questions compiled for you to use based on your needs. WebEngage Though weve listed WebEngage in this section, it actually does more than just popup from the bottom surveys. In fact, the tool also offers feedback forms that scroll in from the side and notifications that get pushed to visitors about specials, sales and more. The included display rule and visitor targeting options offer even more versatility. Servicate A real smarty, Servicate enables your site to capture customer insights which then trigger automated responses such as targeted question sequences and calls to action. So this gives users a variety of actions. LeadConverter In addition to bottom-popup surveys, LeadConverter offers several different types of popups including top-of-the-page, over the page, discount offers and more. It even enables you to engage website visitors directly using a dialog popup similar to the one shown below. Add in targeted messaging, browsing history tracking for each visitor and additional analytic and this tool provides a variety of insights to your business. FeedbackDaddy FeedbackDaddy is the only tool in this section that offers a free level of service. Similar in many ways to Qualaroo, this is the tool for cash-strapped businesses to use as they get used to creating website popups. No matter what kind of site you run for your business, popups can increase conversions and gather insight about your visitors and potential customers. Be sure to pick the kind of popup that best fits your sites needs. Websites are essential for businesses and entrepreneurs in pretty much every industry. For photographers in particular, its important to have sites that show off their photos in the best light possible. But building those websites doesnt have to be difficult. In fact, Siftr specializes in making websites for photographers automatically. Read more about Siftr and its offerings in this weeks Small Business Spotlight. What Siftr Does Creates websites for photographers using image recognition engines. Romil Mittal, co-founder of Siftr Labs told Small Business Trends, Our platform automatically generates photo websites for photographers based on their Instagram, Flickr and Facebook photos. Business Niche Creating websites within 10 minutes. Mittal explains, We use the most cutting edge artificial intelligence technology to analyze the photos. It helps us in finding the best photos and also to categorize them in meaningful galleries. How the Business Got Started Because of the pain of website creation. The company got started in November 2015 and was founded by two Adobe employees, Mittal and Mayank Bhagya, who were very familiar with how difficult it was for people to set up their own websites. So they created the platform to solve that problem. Biggest Win Building a satisfied user base. Mittal says, We have more than 5000 photographers on board, who are using our product and are really happy with it. Biggest Risk Going against user feedback. Mittal explains, Instead of focusing on the showcase side of websites (i.e providing more themes and layouts), we decided to put our energy more into the analysis of photos against what customers were earlier asking for. That risk however worked for us, and our users are very happy with the analysis that we do for their photos, as it helps them in creating much better websites. How Siftr Would Spend an Extra $100,000 Marketing and improving the product. Favorite Team Activity Spontaneous road trips. Mittal says, While leaving the office one evening (at around 8 p.m.), we casually discussed how fun would it be to go to Agra (a popular tourist destination 200 miles away) some day. Interestingly, after 10 minutes, we all were in the car heading towards Agra. * * * * * Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight program Images: Siftr 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 COLUMBIA, Md. (May 11, 2016)Students in Maryland are one step closer to potentially shorter standardized tests and more projects. The Commission to Review Maryland's Use of Assessments and Testing in Public Schools met again Tuesday, though no official decisions were made about the future of standardized tests. "Teachers have told us, and parents and everybody, that there is way too much testing that's taking instructional time," said Cheryl Bost, the vice president of the Maryland State Education Association and in attendance at the meeting. The commission discussed making a statewide test on civics and social studies, the Government High School Assessment, not mandatory for graduation. Commission members like Laurie Halverson, a parent in Montgomery County, suggested putting test scores on transcripts to motivate students to take them seriously. None of the proposals will be final until the commission presents a final draft of its proposals and findings to the General Assembly, State Board of Education and local boards of education in July, but Tuesday's meeting helped focus some of the ideas. Rather than setting a firm limit on testing, commissioners focused on ways the tests could be changed. Commission members proposed letting districts choose a more demonstrative assessments, like a project, like a paper or presentation graded on a rubric, instead of a test. They also debated a similar proposal for assessing social studies in middle school as well. "We know some type of assessment needs to be done," said Guffrie Smith, president of the Maryland State Board of Education. "In this climate of too much testing, having an eighth grade test is not the best thing, because that's one of the areas that has the most testing as it is." Instead of mandating a state test in eighth grade, the commission considered modeling social studies assessment after guidelines for measuring environmental literacy, which would value things like participating in Maryland History Day, doing rubric-based projects, administering a final exam or using quarterly tests that already exist. Reducing stress of tests In a high school setting, commission members worked on methods to de-emphasize the stress and importance of testssuch as the High School Assessments that are required for graduationby changing the length and structure of the test so that it can be administered during class periods. Currently, these tests are given to hundreds of students at a time in one room with several proctors, which disrupts schedules and stresses students, according to Harford County math teacher and commission member Laura Potter. "It becomes an event," Potter said of the large tests. In response to teacher complaints that another testthe college and career readiness assessment or PARCCwas not "developmentally appropriate" for the lower grades, the commission also considered ways for the districts to gather more feedback from teachers about the tests to pass along to testmakers. The commission also considered implementing local audits to find out if tests at the school and district level in each jurisdiction were duplicative and if the results were being reported and used in a timely way, according to Janet Wilson, the superintendent of Garrett County Schools. Commission member wary of setting specific limits There was discussion in the Maryland General Assembly this session of limiting testing to 2% of class time. Though they agree with the idea of limiting testing, Potter said she didn't support the 2% cap because it puts the state in a position to dictate to local school districts. "The LEAs (local education associations) should be responsible for looking at their assessment practices and looking at how to reduce testing in their own school systems," Potter said. Del. Eric Ebersole, D-Baltimore, said part of the issue is convincing parents and communities that tests have value in improving teaching methods. "Right now it's being used to pit schools against each other, who has the better scores and where do you want to live it would have to be a change in the way people look at things," he said. Rachel Bluth can be reached at rbluth@umd.edu. A Harris Corporation StingRay device, shown in a trademark application. "Stingray" has become the common/generic term for cell site simulators, or IMSI-catchers . Source: Wikipedia. COLLEGE PARK, Md. (May 11, 2016)Police were waiting for Deon Batty when he stepped off a Baltimore City bus traveling along a commercial strip near the public Douglass Homes on Valentine's Day three years ago.When authorities asked Batty to empty his pockets, he pulled out a cell phone and handed it over.An officer dialed the number of a 77-year-old woman who had been robbed of her phone and other items at gunpoint the night before. The phone in the officer's hand rang.The seamless chain of events baffled Batty's public defender, Janine Meckler. How did police know he was on that particular bus? Why had they stopped him without a warrant? How did they know he had the woman's phone?The mystery deepened in the hours before Batty's trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court in September 2014. As Meckler shifted through case files, she discovered something she'd never noticed in her 25 years on the job: an after-action police report from the city police's Advanced Tactical Team. Though she'd seen after action reports, what was unusual about this one was the phrase "target phone."A phone call to another attorney and a Google search led Meckler to a Stingray , the commonly adopted name for a cell site simulator (also referred to as an IMSI-catcher ), but also the specific product name ("StingRay") for such a device manufactured by Harris Corporation. It is a suitcase-size device developed for the foreign battlefield that mimics a cell tower, tricking nearby mobile phones into answering it with identifying information and location data.Cell site simulators are among the most controversial of intelligence devices to have worked their way into the hands of law enforcement in recent years.Because they indiscriminately scan phones while searching for their target, data from bystanders is also scooped up, dragnet-style.Citing unusual secrecy agreements with the FBI or the need to protect an investigatory tool, most local law enforcement agencies using the equipment in Maryland refuse to answer questions about what happens to this data, or other rules governing its use.Without this information, defense attorneys say they can't challenge how they operate, like they can with radar equipment or even fingerprints. "We have no clue how it's being used, whether the machine is being used properly there's no accountability. That's a huge problem," Meckler said.The problem, said lawyers and experts in law enforcement surveillance issues, is that technology has outpaced local laws. As public disclosures about cell site simulators increased in the last year, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security began requiring their employees for the first time to obtain search warrants before they can use their devices, with some exceptions.Each agency also enacted rules for deleting data. Those rules include provisions that say data must be deleted as soon as a target is found, and in no less than every 30 days in cases where the equipment is used to identify unknown devices. Each also added auditing requirements.These new federal guidelines, however, don't apply to local law enforcement. But some states, including California, Virginia and Washington have enacted similar legislation."The main problem is that the police may be doing something illegal and we have to use mental gymnastics to try and uncover these secret aspects of an investigation that are never written down and turned over to us," Jason Ricke, a Prince George's County assistant public defender, said. "The police may be violating our clients' rights and we will never know it." OUTCon, Floridas first LGBT targeted fandom convention, is a one-day event happening on Saturday, May 14 at the Miami Airport Convention Center. The convention was founded by Jonathan Stryker who saw the need for an LGBT geek convention in South Florida, knowing there were several emerging geek-oriented queer conventions in bigger cities like FlameCon in New York City and GaymerX in San Francisco. I'm a huge anime geek. I love everything anime, love comic books a lot too, anything geeky I was into, Stryker said. I feel the LGBT geek community wasn't represented in the way that other states are doing it. Someone needed to start it down here, and that really inspired me to want to have representation for LGBT down here. A Miami native, Stryker has attended numerous conventions since 2005 and developed a growing passion for his geeky pursuits. His main interests are primarily with anime conventions, based on gatherings in which fans discuss and embrace Japanese animation and pop culture. I just really loved the environment. The people are super friendly, they love the same thing that you love, just share the fandoms and all the crazy things you love with other people, Stryker said regarding his enthusiasm of attending anime and comic conventions. By becoming involved in cosplaythe Japanese-coined term combining costume and playStryker began to make his own costumes by scratch, posing in character and uploading them online. Through social media, he has gained notoriety in the cosplay scene under the names J Stryker and Stryker-kun, which he goes by on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube respectively. A majority of Strykers cosplay portfolio is from an anime called One Piece, a popular anime and manga in Japan about a group of pirates in search of the ultimate treasure of the titular name. There are themes about LGBT in [One Piece], the main character is super accepting of everybody, one of their friends is gay, there is a whole gay island full of drag queens, and all kinds of human species, Stryker said. It's so inspirational to me, it has literally changed my life. OUTCon is also aiming to help the community, as portions of the convention profit will go to Miami-Dade County Animal Services shelter. Ive always had a deep passion for animal rescue, shelters and helping animals, Stryker said. So I wanted to do something where I could attach [it to] that and donate to charity. OUTCon will have convention staples such as video game tournaments, local vendors and a costume contest. However, it will also include unique panels like Your Voices and Experiences Matter on the subject of bullying and discrimination, a Lip Sync for your Life-uh contest inspired by RuPauls Drag Race, and night shows like Drag Show Extravaganza! and a performance from Internet sensation Ms. Prada. OUTCon Miami takes place Saturday, May 14 at Miami Airport Convention Center, 711 NW 72nd Ave, Miami, FL 33126. Doors open at 11 a.m. and admission is $10 at the door. Visit OUTCon Miamis Facebook page for more details. LESBIAN Girl Says She Was Thrown Out Of Her Prom For Wearing A Suit (AP) A Pennsylvania high school student said 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 (http://bit.ly/1T5K6lV ). She and her mother, Carolyn Wolf, said the family got a last-minute email saying girls had to wear dresses to attend Friday's prom. Carolyn Wolf said 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. 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. "Bishop McDevitt will continue to practice acceptance and love for all of our students. They are tremendous young men and women," the school said. "We simply ask that they follow the rules that we have put into place." TRANS Reversal Unlikely As Deadline Approaches On N Carolina Law (AP) North Carolina government and university officials were given until Monday to tell federal attorneys whether they would stop enforcing a new law blocking LGBT protections, particularly provisions requiring transgender people to use public restrooms that correspond to their biological sex. The Justice Department is "trying to define gender identity, and there is no clear identification or definition of gender identify," Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said on "Fox News Sunday." McCrory has called the law is a common-sense measure designed to protect the privacy of people who use bathrooms and locker rooms and expect all people inside the facilities to be of the same gender. DOJ last week demanded McCrory, University of North Carolina leaders and the state's public safety agency to respond by Monday whether they intended to stop enforcing the law. Repealing the law also would satisfy the attorneys, but GOP lawmakers who run the General Assembly had no plans before to do so by the deadline. Civil liberties groups and several individuals already have sued to challenge the law, which also prevents local governments from passing rules giving protections to lesbians, gays and bisexual and transgender people while using public accommodations like restaurants and stores. The state law was designed to block an ordinance by the city council in Charlotte. BISEXUAL Analyzing James Francos Sexuality Taking on gay and straight roles alike, many fans wonder which side James Franco pitches for or if hes interested in both. The 36 year-old actor involves himself with many roles across the spectrum as sexuality including his role in 2015s I Am Michael alongside co-star Zachary Quinto, about a gay activist who rejects his sexuality and embraces religion. Yeah, Im a little gay, and theres a gay James, he told Vulture in an interview. In an issue of FourTwoNine, Franco interviewed himself as Straight James talking to Gay James. In the interview, Straight James asked Gay James: Are you fucking gay or what?, to which Gay James responded Well, I like to think that Im gay in my art and straight in my life. Although, Im also gay in my life up to the point of intercourse, and then you could say Im straight. So I guess it depends on how you define gay. So whether Franco identifies himself as gay, straight or somewhere in between, one thing is for sure hes keeping people guessing. The controversy over North Carolinas anti-LGBT bathroom law escalated dramatically this week, dominating much of the national medias attention. The U.S. Department of Justice threw down the gauntlet Friday, threatening to cut off federal funds to the state if North Carolina enforces the law and, on Monday, Governor Patrick McCrory picked up that gauntlet and promised a major effort to defend the law. The Republican governor filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday morning, seeking a declaration that the law is not discriminatory. And at a press conference Monday afternoon, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch responded with strong words, indicating that the DOJ and the Obama administration would do everything we can to protect [transgender people] going forward. Lynch likened the North Carolina law to Jim Crow laws that, for decades following the Civil War, tried to segregate blacks from whites. She also compared it to laws that attempted to ban same-sex couples from obtaining marriage licenses. Lynch said the DOJ would file a federal civil rights lawsuit against McCrory, North Carolina, and other North Carolina entities, seeking to have the state law declared in violation of federal law. She said DOJ would also retain the option of curtailing federal funding to the state. The state received more than $4 billion from the federal government in 2015 for educational programs and $1 billion for highway and transportation needs. Noting that she is a native of North Carolina, Lynch said the bathroom law is a pretext for discrimination and harassment that inflict[s] further indignity on a population that has already suffered. This is not the first time that we have seen discriminatory responses to historic moments of progress for our nation, said Lynch, referring to Jim Crow laws that sought to enforce racial segregation. State-sanctioned discrimination never looks good and never works in hind sight, she said. It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had other signs above restrooms, water fountains, and on public accommodations, keeping people out based on a distinction without a difference. Weve moved beyond those dark days. McCrory signed House Bill 2, also known as House Bill 2 or HB 2, on March 23, setting off an onslaught of protest and media scrutiny, prompting a number of corporations and celebrities to cancel activities in the state. While most of the widespread national media attention has focused on the bills requirement that people use public restrooms based on the gender indicated by their birth certificate, the law also prohibits any local jurisdiction in the state from enforcing non-discrimination laws to punish any discrimination beyond that based on race, religion, color, national origin, age, biological sex, or handicap. The latter provision is aimed at undoing local ordinances that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. DOJ official Vanita Gupta, the principal deputy assistant attorney general at DOJ, sent a May 4 letter to McCrory, saying the law violates Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act and the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It notes that Title VII prohibits an employer from discriminating based on sex and that the U.S. Supreme Court, in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins in 1989, ruled that discrimination based on sex includes any sex-based consideration. The DOJ gave North Carolina until 5 p.m. EDT Monday, May 9, to confirm whether it intends to enforce House Bill 2. After first asking for an extension of the deadline, McCrory instead announced Monday morning that the state would sue for relief. The lawsuit, McCrory v. U.S., says DOJs claim against the state law is a baseless and blatant overreach by DOJ. It notes that the governor issued an executive order on April 12 to expand discrimination protections to state employees on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, among others. And it asks the court to declare that HB2 does not violate federal law. In various interviews and press statements since last Friday, McCrory has claimed that North Carolina has not taken away any rights that currently existed in any city in the state. He said opponents of the law have distorted the truth and are smearing our state in an inaccurate way. He characterized HB 2 a basic, common sense bill that protects the privacy rights of individuals. McCrorys lawsuit and public statements this week stood in stark contrast to his reaction last month to a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling. That ruling, in Grimm v. Gloucester, said Title IX of the federal Education Amendments Act prohibits discrimination based on gender identity. McCrory said then that he would respect the 4th Circuit panel decision as it applies to federally funded educational facilities. North Carolinas HB 2 has been the subject of many news reports during the past month, including the 2016 presidential campaign. Only one candidate Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruzspoke in favor of the law. He tried to use the issue to drum up support for his campaign in Indianas primary last week. But Cruz came in a distant second in that primary and subsequently dropped out of the race. In her remarks Monday afternoon, Attorney General Lynch spoke director to transgender people, promising that the DOJ and the entire Obama administration see you stand with you and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Lambda Legal and the ACLU, which have filed their own federal lawsuit against the North Carolina law, applauded the DOJs actions Monday. Jon Davidson, legal director for Lambda Legal, issued a statement Monday afternoon saying, We are fighting this case with everything we have. We have the law on our side, we have the facts on our side, and we have the federal government on our side. The Williams Institute estimates that more than 336,000 LGBT people live in North Carolina. (EDGE) The California HIV/AIDS Research Program has announced that it has funded three new demonstration projects - including two in the Bay Area - to learn more about PrEP for transgender women and men. "These studies will provide critical information on the implementation of PrEP among transgender people in California, and will help guide state and national efforts to address the epidemic in this often neglected population at high risk for HIV," said CHRP director Dr. George Lemp. The international iPrEx study, which enrolled about 2,500 men and transgender women who have sex with men, found that once-daily Truvada reduced the risk of HIV infection by 44 percent overall, rising to 92 percent for those with measurable blood drug levels. In an open-label extension of iPrEx, no one who took Truvada at least four times a week became infected. One team, which will receive $2.9 million over four years, is a collaboration between UCSF, the Gladstone Institutes, the Gender Health Center in Sacramento, and La Clinica de la Raza in Oakland. This team will develop a demonstration project for trans women of color dubbed TRIUMPH (Trans Research-Informed Communities United in Mobilization for the Prevention of HIV). The program involves community-led efforts to increase knowledge and acceptability of PrEP, using advocates from within trans communities and trans-specific educational materials. To improve drug adherence, the project will feature peer-led health workshops and one-on-one counseling sessions. The other Bay Area team - with a four-year budget of $2.6 million - includes the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Tom Waddell Urban Health Center, Castro Mission Health Center, and Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center, along with the Tri-City Health Center in Fremont. This team will use a patient-centered "medical home" approach to develop a comprehensive PrEP education, access, and support package for trans women and men. "To date, PrEP has largely been framed as an HIV prevention tool for gay men," lead project investigator Dr. Albert Liu from the DPH told the B.A.R. "Our project will partner with four Bay Area clinics highly experienced in delivering transgender care and integrate PrEP provision into transgender services. Through the San Francisco DPH's Transgender Advisory Group, we will work closely with the transgender community in developing and implementing all phases of this project." The team will develop a trans-specific social marketing campaign and online education to increase knowledge about PrEP, as well as a sexual risk assessment tool, peer navigators, and adherence reminders delivered via text messaging. "The transgender community's HIV risk is 49 times greater than the general population, but so often transgender people are an afterthought in HIV prevention," co-investigator Dr. Tri Do of the API Wellness Center told the B.A.R. "We hope to show that PrEP delivery is most successful when medical care and HIV prevention are provided in the context of safe, trusted community spaces like API Wellness Center and its Trans: Thrive program." Finally, the third team - with a $3.75 million budget - is a collaboration between the UC San Diego School of Medicine, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Family Health Centers of San Diego, the University of Southern California, and Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. These researchers will evaluate whether a trans-focused case management approach to contextualize PrEP within the needs of the whole person can improve engagement with and adherence to PrEP. All three teams will look at potential drug interactions between PrEP and gender-affirming hormone therapy. The UCSF project will include a pharmacokinetic drug interaction study, while the UCSD team will evaluate whether protective PrEP drug levels are reached in trans women on hormonal therapy and if PrEP is associated with any changes in hormone levels. "Our overarching goal is to really determine the best practices for engaging trans women with PrEP and getting trans people to say 'PrEP is for me if I'm at risk for HIV,'" said Deutsch, who is a co-principal investigator for the UCSF project. "We not only need to get 165 trans people to take PrEP at sites in Oakland and Sacramento, but also get them to tell two friends - the way the gay community has promoted PrEP." Orion Undergoing Testing NASA Engineers at Kennedy Space Center in Florida recently conducted a series of pressure tests of the Orion pressure vessel. Orion is the NASA spacecraft that will send astronauts to deep space destinations, including on the journey to Mars. The tests confirmed that the weld points of the underlying structure will contain and protect astronauts during the launch, in-space, re-entry and landing phases on the Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), when the spacecraft performs its first uncrewed test flight atop the Space Launch System rocket. The Orion pressure vessel contains the atmosphere that a crew would breathe during a mission. It also will provide living and working space for the crew, and withstand the loads and forces experienced during launch and landing. In late April, Orion was lifted by crane from its assembly and tooling stand and moved to a test stand inside the proof pressure cell. The assembly and tooling stand is called the birdcage because it closely resembles a birdcage, but on a much larger scale. To prepare for the test, technicians attached hundreds of strain gauges to the interior and exterior surfaces of the vehicle. The strain gauges were attached to provide real time data to the analysts monitoring the changes during the pressurization. The analysts were located in the control room next to the pressure cell. The large doors were closed and sealed and Orion was pressurized to over the maximum pressure it is expected to encounter on orbit. Lockheed Martin, the manufacturer of the Orion crew module, ran the test at incremental steps over two days to reach the maximum pressure. During each step, the team pressurized the chamber and then evaluated the data to identify changes for the next test parameter. The results revealed the workmanship of the crew module pressure vessel welds and how the welds reacted to the stresses from the pressurization. We are very pleased with the performance of the spacecraft during proof pressure testing, said Scott Wilson, NASA manager of production operations for the Orion Program. The successful completion of this test represents another major step forward in our march toward completing the EM-1 spacecraft, and ultimately, our crewed missions to deep space. It gives the team a lot of pride to see Orion coming together for EM-1, said Ed Stanton, a systems engineer for Orion Production Operations in the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program. Orion was tested inside the proof pressure cell in the high bay of the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building. After being moved back to the birdcage assembly stand, technicians will begin the intricate work of attaching hundreds of brackets to the vessels exterior to hold the tubing for the vehicles hydraulics and other systems. Future tests include a launch simulation and power on. Orion also will be sent to NASA Glenn Research Centers Plum Brook Station facility in Sandusky, Ohio, for acoustics and vibration tests. The uncrewed Orion will be outfitted with most of the systems needed for a crewed mission. NASAs Space Launch System rocket with the Orion spacecraft atop will roar into space from Kennedys Launch Pad 39B. EM-1 will send Orion on a path thousands of miles beyond the moon over a course of three weeks, farther into space than human spaceflight has ever travelled before. The spacecraft will return to Earth and safely splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. This mission will advance and validate capabilities required for human exploration of Mars. Brussels, May 10, 2016 (SPS) - A weeklong tribute to the Sahrawi political prisoners and their determination to struggle for right and justice is organized since Monday at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles by the Belgian committee of support to the Sahrawi people. Placed under the theme Western Sahara, spark of the Arab spring, this week was inaugurated by a photo exhibition entitled Gdeim Izik, the camp of dignity-tribute series, a photo report produced by amateur photographer Anthony Jean. His photos, exhibited Monday in Brussels, show Gdeim Izik camp erected in October 2010 by the Sahrawi population to call for the respect of their social and economic rights in the legal context of the occupied territories of Western Sahara, waiting for a referendum on their self-determination since 1991. They also highlight the Sahrawi populations determination to fight until the satisfaction of their claims, like a photo showing a rushing wind in the Sahrawi peoples tents, testing their resistance. This exhibition has been organized to remember a strong moment of the struggle of the Sahrawi people who, under the suppression and in the absence of any reaction from the international community, are leading a strong revolt, said the head of the European Conference for Support and Solidarity with the Sahrawi People (EUCOCO) Pierre Galand at the inauguration of the weeklong tribute to Sahrawi political prisoners.SPS 125/090/700 Perhaps the Army would like to allow independent monitors in to the barracks to verify conditions? @LudovicaIaccino @IBTimesUK Daniel Eyre (@DanRLEyre) May 11, 2016 In an interview with Amnesty, researcher Daniel Eyre, has revealed not only the horrific conditions but also how regular calls for the detention center to close have been ignored. "It's hard to say that's a question for the current government, when there was the change in government last year and new military appointment, there was the belief that they would not repeat the same mistakes of the previous administration as they met the minimum standards. Sadly that has not been the case, the number of people who have been detained in the barracks has increased, and we see overcrowding leading to a lack of food and water and horrible conditions have been documented," Eyre told Sputnik. Mr Eyre reveals that the reason for detention is down to something as simple as people fleeing their villages after the area they live in becomes affected by Boko Haram. After they flee the military conduct mass arrests, there are no court cases where people can contest their detention. "A lot of people have told us there were mass arbitrary arrests as people fled from their villages and went to government controlled areas pretty much all of the young men were arrested on mass. "So hundreds of people at a time, imagine if you are doing that over the size of the state, the numbers will very quickly add up, so that's one of the reasons why we think there is such overcrowding," Eyre said. "Then the second problem, once people are detained they are never brought before a court and never charged with a criminal offence and they don't have access to lawyers so they cannot detest the legality of their detention. Unless the military decides to release them they are stuck," Eyre told Sputnik. There is also a risk that many of the detainees could be innocent, especially those under the age of 12, who are too young to bear any responsibility for crimes. "These people are never brought to court, so there's no opportunity to review whatever evidence has been brought against them. The very worrying information that we have of the techniques that they have to arrest people, suggested that these arrests are arbitrary; that they are not based on reasonable suspicion of people committing an offense. That particularly applies when you are talking about children, who are so young that they are too young to bear responsibility for crimes. I mean below the age of 12 you can't hold someone criminally accountable for what they have done. "So clearly, detention is not right for these people and they should be released or handed over to child protection authorities." Daniel describes the heartbreaking account of one girl, who at the time of her detention was 13-years-old. The young girl describes the military beat her legs and arms at Giwa Barracks with the fan belt from a car. This is just one account of the terror these people are subjected to on a daily basis. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Monday, European parliamentarians from the Civil Liberties Committee said in a statement that a visa-free regime should not be granted to Turkey before all of the EU benchmarks concerning human rights and other issues have been met. The statement follows a European Commission proposal to lift the visa requirements based on the understanding that Ankara would fulfill the remaining commitments later. "Obviously we cannot and must not make any discounts or concessions to Turkey in this matter. All the criteria must be met, otherwise no visa-free regime should be granted to Turkey," Chrysogonos, a member of both the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, said. Some parliamentarians have criticized the EU leadership for leaving the European Parliament outside the talks with Ankara on a visa-waiver program. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Earlier in the day, the European Parliament suspended its work on granting Turkish citizens visa-free travel to the European Union, citing Ankaras lack of progress in meeting all 72 criteria necessary for such a move. The five outstanding criteria include a revision of Turkeys national anti-terrorism laws. "One of the 72 criteria that Turkey must fulfill for the visa exemption agreement is to ensure its anti-terrorism laws compliance with the EU standards. And this step will mean the democratization of Turkeys legal framework. But with the current understanding its not possible for the Turkish government to implement this criterion," Saruhan Oluc said. The event started at 10 am sharp with the appearance of Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea Kim Jong-un, who was hailed by scores of demonstrators, gunfire and fireworks which saw thousands of multi-colored balloons. Speaking at the demonstration, Kim Yong-nam, for his part, called the 7th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea an important contribution in developing ideology related to North Korea relying on its own strength. "Our wheat production is stuck at 18 quintals per acre for the last so many years. We will see if they have the technology to improve its yield further. Similarly, there is a plateau of productivity of wheat, rice and other crops. Can that plateau be broken? The quality of the grain can be improved. The same is the case with fruits and vegetables and so many things." Even Shanghai Agriculture Commission VC Mr Feng Zhioyong considers Punjab having a huge scope for investment in the food processing sector Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) 9 May 2016 According to a statement from Punjab's government, producers of soya bean will now be able to use Chinese processing technology. It also said that farmers will be encouraged to grow vegetables used in Chinese cuisine. Met with Mr Feng Zhioyong, VC Shanghai Municipal Agricultural Comm. fr cooperation in Food processing & Agriculture pic.twitter.com/PTjG6mHj6F Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) 9 May 2016 This comes against the backdrop of an alarming farming crisis in Punjab, a region which was once the mainstay of India's green revolution. More than 50 distressed Punjabi farmers have taken their lives in the last three months. The hardships were prompted by simultaneous crop failures, drought and spurious pesticides, driving the farmers to amass huge debts. Experts believe that instead of growing the staple rice and wheat, the farmers should be encouraged to diversify their produce in order to tide them over during the crisis. TOKYO (Sputnik) Obama's visit to Hiroshima is a part of his trip to Japan for Group of Seven in May, White House press release announced Tuesday. He will be the first US president to visit the site of the atomic bombing. "It does not matter whether he [Obama] says sorry or not, whether he bends his head or not. The most important thing is that Obama will see Hiroshima, where terrible bomb was dropped, he will visit Peace Memorial Museum and feel what people felt here," Mimaki, who survived the disaster at the age of three, told RIA Novosti. MOSCOW (Sputnik)Myanmar parliament's lower house, Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, has approved an enhanced agreement on military cooperation with Russia at armed forces' request, local media reported Wednesday. The Defense Ministry's proposal was adopted by the parliament without objections on Tuesday, The Myanmar Times newspaper said. Myanmar Deputy Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Myint Nwe said the two countries had a long history of military cooperation and more deals were likely to follow. AMMAN (Sputnik)Russia will counter weapon exports of some countries that sell Russian weapons under the guise of their own, an official in Russias military export corporation Rosoboronexport said Wednesday on the sidelines of the SOFEX-2016 military exhibition in Jordans capital. "During the exhibition, we were once again convinced of the existence of unfair competition at the stands, I will not name the country, were even represented shells of our production and [Russian] labeling," head of Rosoboronexports delegation Valery Varlamov said. According to Varlamov, Rosoboronexport will not leave it that way. MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova On June 2, Vienna is expected to host the 169th OPEC meeting to discuss the current state of affairs in the global oil industry. Several non-OPEC states, such as Russia and Oman, are expected to participate in the meeting. "The Minister is not attending the OPEC meeting in Vienna. The Ministry will have an observer at the meeting, but not attend the actual meeting," the spokesperson said. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Volkswagen has admitted its diesel vehicles were rigged with software designed to lower emission levels when being tested. "The surprising resilience of VW's [Volkswagens] overall business since our October scenario analysis, buoyed by continued strong consumer demand in the European automotive market, has contained the market impact of the crisis," Moodys analyst Yasmina Serghini stated. Volkswagen has admitted its diesel vehicles were rigged with software designed to lower emission levels when being tested. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia's agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said Wednesday it will impose temporary restrictions on imports of two types of lettuce from Turkey starting May 16. "Due to the discovery of a quarantine subject Western flower thrips in green leaf lettuce and Iceberg lettuce arrived to Russia from Turkey, Rosselkhoznadzor imposes from May 16 temporary restrictions on imports, including through third countries, of this produce originated in Turkey," Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement. UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) The foreign minister stressed Kazakhstan was absolutely committed to the Paris Climate Change Agreement and was looking forward to signing the deal. "Although our country is rightly known for its abundance of conventional energy resources, we are absolutely committed to developing green economy. We have set ourselves ambitious goals, for example, to generate 50 percent of our electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2050," Idrissov told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. In December 2015, UN member states signed the so-called Paris Agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference. The deal aims to limit global average temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The agreement also aims to create more financing to curb greenhouse gas emissions and support more climate-resilient development. WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is aiding the Ukrainian government in its efforts to fix the countrys weak anti-money-laundering regulations, the IMF said in a staff discussion note on Wednesday. "The IMF is providing assistance to Ukraine to address the risks of laundering the proceeds of corruption," the note stated. The IMF explained that "weak" anti-money-laundering frameworks allow individuals to transfer ill-gotten funds abroad, while using commercial banks and offshore corporate vehicles. MOSCOW (Sputnik)The Interior Ministry sent troops on Monday to guard prisoners in Brussels and in the southern Wallonia region after wardens walked out in protest against pension age rises and overtime work. Hundreds have been deployed to guard nuclear power plants and boost police security operations. "I had to cut training programs for 1,800 men involved in homeland operations. This is a red line for me," Gen. Maj. Jean-Paul Deconinck told Le Soir newspaper. "I cannot guarantee general training that will allow having two companies or a battalion on permanent stand-by." Security has been stepped up across Belgium after Brussels-based jihadists with links to international terror groups staged gun and bomb attacks first in Paris in November and then in the Belgian capital in March. A recent survey of the housing market evaluated that 240 of Sweden's 290 municipalities suffer from a shortage of housing, a 30-percent increase in comparison to last year's figures. According to the National Housing Board, this is due to the rapid growth of the population as a result of the dramatic influx of asylum immigrants from the Third World. According to the report, the situation is particularly difficult for the young, the elderly and the new arrivals, with the outlook rapidly deteriorating. According to the government's calculations, 250,000 new homes are needed, whereas the public housing organization SABO indicated the need for a whopping 426,000 new homes in a country of less than 10 million people. BERLIN (Sputnik) The four chief diplomats are expected to gauge Ukrainian peace progress and steps taken to implement last years Minsk accords, which aim to stop fighting in Ukraines southeastern areas. #Karasin: Kiev authorities are either unable or unwilling to move forward in the implementation of Minsk agreements https://t.co/8qi8Ozzr2F MFA Russia (@mfa_russia) 11 May 2016 The focus will be on Kievs amnesty promises, prisoner swaps, constitutional reforms, and local elections in the breakaway Donetsk and Lugansk provinces. Orzechowski thinks that this reluctance is not an example of xenophobia in Poland. Referring to some recent reported attacks on foreigners there, he sought to make clear that they are likewise not an example of a wider tendency. "Some of these cases that occur here and there might be provoked. Of course, I'm not trying to justify it, any violation of another person's dignity and integrity is a crime. But I think it is very easy to create a provocation, or state on the basis of a made-up, unproven example that this is a manifestation of Polish chauvinism. There isn't any," Orzechowski said. "The majority of Poles are Catholics. That doesn't mean that we are all saints, but we are filled with compassion, mercy towards others, but taking into account our own security." "Each of these issues requires its own analysis. At the end of the day, we are not dealing with cases like in Germany attacks on centers for foreigners. However, I don't want to say that Germans are bad and we are good. In Poland, we only have some periodic cases, which need to be investigated further." Orzechowski said that to the recent large wave of migration has resulted in demands from the public and government for stringent requirements about the acceptance of asylum seekers. "I want to stress once again that Poles' prudence should not be confused with a dislike of foreigners. At the end of the day, there are Muslims in Poland who have lived here for centuries, Orthodox, Protestants, and we live together fine." "One the other hand, the phenomenon of total migration, this exodus from the Middle East and North Africa is something new and unknown for us." LONDON (Sputnik) UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond on Wednesday arrived in the country's overseas territory of Gibraltar to discuss defense issues, as well as the forthcoming referendum on Britain's EU membership, UK government's press service announced Wednesday. Excellent talks w/ #Gibraltar Chief Minister @FabianPicardo. We both agree that #Gibraltar & the #UK are better off remaining in the #EU Philip Hammond (@PHammondMP) 11 May 2016 "Mr Hammond will this morning meet Chief Minister Fabian Picardo to discuss the UKs commitment to Gibraltars defense and security, the territorys economic successes and challenges, and the Government of Gibraltars stated wish to remain in the EU," the press service said in a statement. Good morning from #Gibraltar. Visited @RoyalNavy RFA Mounts Bay preparing for its next mission. A reassuring sight. pic.twitter.com/cr7d8xTqH7 Philip Hammond (@PHammondMP) 11 May 2016 Gibraltar is one of the British overseas territories, located on the Iberian peninsula, controlled by London since 1713. At the moment the territory has broad autonomous powers, but London is responsible for the issues of Gibraltar's defense and relations with foreign states. ECR's Notis Marias labeled the Greek program as "violent and leading to a social Armageddon," while S&D leader Gianni Pittella, said that the problem is not with Athens, but with the IMF's policy of preventive austerity. If the #IMF wants to sabotage the agreement with #Greece, we have to have the strength to go it alone as European Union @giannipittella S&D Group (@TheProgressives) May 10, 2016 Green leader Philippe Lamberts, said he did not share the optimism after yesterday's Eurogroup meeting on Greece: "The austerity of its creditors and the IMF is socially unacceptable. That's too high a price to pay." Haircuts Excluded Divisions within the Troika were revealed in a leaked letter from IMF chief Christine Lagarde, who said: "We do not believe it will be possible to reach a 3.5% of GDP primary surplus [in 2018] by relying on hiking already high taxes levied on a narrow base, cutting excessively discretionary spending and counting on one-off measures as has been proposed in recent weeks." BRUSSELS (Sputnik) The European Parliament has suspended its work on granting Turkish citizens visa-free travels to the European Union, citing Ankaras failure of meeting all the necessary criteria, the EUobserver online newspaper reported earlier in the day. Erdogan rejects narrowing Turkey's overbroad anti-terrorism law, jeopardizing EU visa deal. https://t.co/tPVg4EEDIY pic.twitter.com/9q2T1nvpuY Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) 6 May 2016 "They [political groups of the European Parliament] will not start the legislative process until all requirements are met by TR [Turkey]," Armin Machmer told RIA Novosti. #Turkey may have cleared most of 72 benchmarks for #EU visa-free travel, but @EU_Commission clear a big one remains pic.twitter.com/MIHk8FuxzD Peter Spiegel (@SpiegelPeter) 4 May 2016 The European Commission recommended last week the European Parliament to vote on visa-free regime for Turkey once the country had met all 72 required benchmarks. A decision on the matter is expected in June. The public transport operator STIB-MIVB and the insurance company Ethias have made repeated assurances that they would pay compensation to anyone injured in the attacks. At the same time, Ethias has stated that the level of compensation would be determined by a special commission. The Belgian La Derniere Heure newspaper reported that five victims of the explosion were not satisfied with the procedure proposed by the insurance company and the possibility of receiving only partial compensation. In 1990, there were only three officially acknowledged "exclusion areas" in Sweden, whereas a 2014 survey compiled by anti-immigrant researcher and economist Tino Sanandaji, himself of Kurdish origin, showed that the number of 'parallel societies' has risen steadily and reached no less than 186. "The situation in Sweden shows what a naive and goody-goody immigration policy can lead to," Norway's immigration and integration minister Sylvi Listhaug said, commenting on last week's incident, when a Norwegian TV crew topped by an experienced war correspondent was forced to flee one of Stockholm's migrant-dominated suburbs after being assaulted by young thugs. "I think everyone who saw the report from Sweden on the evening news was stunned by the situation in our neighboring country," Sylvi Listhaug told Norwegian national broadcaster NRK earlier this week. Mariusz Kaminski, who heads a government body controlling domestic intelligence ABW, testified at a parliament hearing, saying the security agency abused its power under the former ruling Civic Platform party in 2007-2015. "Special services spied on 52 journalists. They tapped phone calls, collected their addresses and data on families," Kaminski told Sejm, the lower house of the Polish legislature. PLEASE NOTE! Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate! All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited! (One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!) Latvia will be the second Baltic state to join the OECD after Estonia. Lithuania is currently engaged in accession negotiations. "The economic and financial crisis has underlined the need for our countries to work together to find appropriate policy responses to restore growth and confidence," Gurria added, commenting on OECD expansion. The next milestone Latvia must pass before becoming a full-fledged member is the signing of a special association agreement at a special ceremony June 2. The OECD was established in 1961 to advance growth-oriented policies. With 34 members, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan, the organization also has partnerships with major emerging economies, including Brazil, China and India and delivers specific country programs. Merkel's Christian Democrat Union (CDU) party, which campaigns in all of Germany except Bavaria, has been in coalition with the CSU since the Second World War and although there have been rough moments in the marriage over the years there has never been a rift that threatened to split the parties at a federal election. However, the rise of AfD caused by heavy criticism of Merkel's handling of the Eurozone and migrant crises as well as rising fear of Islam has caused her ratings to tumble and CSU leader Horst Seehofer, has said he will not rule out his party standing against hers (CDU) in the 2017 election. Merkel has been heavily criticized over her handling of the crisis in the Eurozone, calling for austerity measures across the zone as a way out of the crisis. The AfD began its attack on her leadership over the issue, calling for her to back a shift from austerity to focus more on economic growth, garnering support from many Germans tired of the effects of tough austerity in the Eurozone. MOSCOW (Sputnik) UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday he was happy to commit to introducing the British bill of rights in place of a similar law as soon as possible. "I am happy to make that commitment," Cameron told the House of Commons at the weekly Q&A session in parliament. .@David_Cameron says he is happy to commit to introducing British bill of rights as soon as possible #PMQs https://t.co/HRVf9SfHFi Sky News (@SkyNews) 11 2016 . Prime Minister Cameron announced last November he planned to replace the UK Human Rights Act as part of Britains initiative to reform its ties with the European Union. However, many Eastern European countries are refusing to take part, including Hungary which continues to fight against the EC over its plan to ease the burden of refugees from Italy and Greece. Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, Peter Szijjarto claims the referendum is to give the people of Hungary the choice not the European Commission. "The Hungarian government initiated a referendum on illegal migration precisely so that the Hungarian people decide their destiny and not the Foreign Minister for Luxembourg," Peter Szijjarto, Hungary's minister of foreign affairs and trade, said in a statement to Hungarian news agency MTI. Taking a swipe at Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister, Szijjarto accused him of acting with "usual arrogance" and "rating those who don't agree with him as second class Europeans." In 2014, more than a million 1,255,600 asylum seekers to be precise applied for protection among EU member states double the number from the year before. A year later, the Hungarian parliament approved a bill to legally change the definition of "asylum seeker" to "economic migrant," allowing it to refuse asylum seekers now classed as migrants any rights they would usually be entitled to under EU law. A razor wire fence was also built on Hungary's border with Serbia and Croatia. Compared with the population of each member state, Hungary received the highest number of asylum seekers between July and September 2015; above Sweden, Austria, Finland and Germany. Towards the end of 2015, Germany, Sweden, Austria and Netherlands continued to record increasing numbers of applicants in contrast by the end of last year Hungary recorded a decrease. Smaller Detention Space On May 9th 2016, along with voting 'yes' for a referendum to ask the Hungarian people if they want to join the EU resettlement plan, the country's parliament adopted even stricter measures towards asylum seekers. People who are deported back to Hungary under the Dublin regulations will now be detained in rooms to be made smaller. MOSCOW (Sputnik)Home Secretary Theresa May said the change reflected "the continuing threat from dissident republican activity," according to UK's public broadcaster BBC. The threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism is set separately for Northern Ireland and Great Britain England, Wales and Scotland, MI5 indicated. MI5 increases terror threat to GB from Northern Ireland to substantial. Home Sec: Terror attack from NI dissidents is a strong possibility. Rob McDowall MEA (@robmcd85) 11 May 2016 In Northern Ireland, the level of terrorist threat remains at "severe," which means an attack is highly likely. Finland is currently pondering legislative restrictions in order to limit the dual-citizens' access to civil service careers. This measure is expected to hit Russians hardest, as there are about 60, 000 Russians living in Finland, and one third of them are dual nationals, Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported. The debate about the risks invoked by dual citizenship was initially sparked two years ago under the pretext of avoiding international disputes. At present, however, the tightening of the screws is largely blamed on Russia's reunification with Crimea, as Moscow had previously vowed to safeguard the interests of its citizens beyond the country's borders. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Council of Europe (CoE) recommended the Macedonian border police on Wednesday to undergo human rights training, following multiple reports that officers are maltreating refugees on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border. "The Special Representative [on Migration and Refugees of the Council of Europes Secretary General] was concerned at reports of push-backs and allegations of ill-treatment by those guarding the border of 'the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.' He recommended human rights training for all relevant personnel," a press release to the Council's latest report on the situation on the Macedonian-Greek frontier said. LONDON (Sputnik) Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday that she is "reasonably confident" that Scottish voters would support the idea of London's membership in the European Union, during the forthcoming Brexit referendum. Earlier this year, Sturgeon, who is also the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), has already said that if the United Kingdom decides to leave the 28-nation bloc, Scotland will be able to hold a second referendum on independence. "At this stage I am reasonably confident that there will a significant vote in Scotland to stay in the European Union," Sturgeon said at a press conference. MOSCOW (Sputnik)Brexit supporters have already donated around 8.2 million pounds (some $11.8 million), while those who campaign for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union have donated almost 7.5 million pounds (some $10.8 million), a statement issued by the Electoral Commission revealed. The first report on donations and loans ahead of the referendum covers the period between February 1 and April 21. Twelve campaigners out of 70 registered have reported donations, the statement showed. TBILISI (Sputnik) The first official NATO Response Force (NRF) unit will be deployed to Georgia following the US-Georgia Noble Partner 2016 joint military exercises currently underway in the country, Georgian Defense Minister Tinatin Khidasheli said Wednesday. The drills are underway on May 11-26 at Georgias Vaziani Air Base, 12 miles from Tbilisi. They are aimed at enhancing US and Georgian interoperability within the NATO Response Force, which is a high readiness force established in 2003 to respond to emerging security situations. "After ending the drills, the first certified NATO Response Force unit will be deployed to Georgia. It will be the first official NATO unit in Georgia with NATO stripes," Khidasheli said adding that Georgia will surely become a NATO member. Earlier in the day, a meeting of the foreign ministers of the so-called Normandy Four group on Ukraine has concluded in Berlin. The four chief diplomats from Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine were expected to gauge Ukrainian peace progress and steps taken to implement last years Minsk accords aimed at putting an end to hostilities in Ukraines southeastern areas. "In case Kiev had a political will, it could solve the conflict, it could end it much earlier. Now all the actions of Kiev are pushing Ukraine closer to the final breakdown," Denis Pushilin told RIA Novosti in an interview. Between April and July 1994, it's estimated between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Rwandans, mainly from the Tusti population were slaughtered during the Rwandan Civil War between the Hutu-led government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) composed of Tutsi refugees. The perpetrators of the mass genocide were members of the Hutu majority-led government backed by the Rwandan army, police force, militias and civilians. In 1990, four years before the mass genocide occurred, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by a force of 4,000 rebels from Uganda advanced into Rwanda. In retaliation, France and Zaire deployed forces to support the Rwandan army. Meeting with #Turkey minister @volkan_bozkir. Times are certainly difficult but all doors must be kept open pic.twitter.com/RjFDJN6JCE EP President (@EP_President) May 11, 2016 Former Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu brokered the deal with the EU to allows for "irregular migrants" those not meeting the criteria for asylum in the EU to be returned to Turkey, in exchange one-for-one for Syrian refugees to be relocated from Turkey to EU member states. Pleased to meet w/ @SyedKamall, leader of ECR Group & exchanged views on our EU process, visa & migration crisis pic.twitter.com/FiDAptsheq Volkan Bozkir (@volkan_bozkir) May 11, 2016 In return, Turkish citizens would be allowed visa-free travel within the Schengen area and Turkey's accession into the EU would be accelerated. Davutoglu who has since been sacked by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded visa-free access be agreed by the end of June. Part of the deal is that Turkey passes legislation to meet 72 demands from the EU, covering various areas, including a loosening of its controversial anti-terror law that has been used to target journalists and academics, a condition which Erdogan has refused to commit to, according to German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere. On Wednesday, Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party is unveiling a report on the work of the previous government, which led the country from 2007 to 2015. The speeches of ministers are being broadcast live on Polish television. According to Kaminski, the agency received images of the crash site from US intelligence two days after the crash and was obliged to hand them over to the prosecutor's office immediately, but this was only done 10 months later when the latter learned about the images from the US side. MOSCOW (Sputnik) In December 2015, the government promised 300 million euros ($342 million) in compensation for the victims of the Paris attacks. These people did not die for their business or old age. They died for France. This is what they said at the Invalides Memorial Service after the attacks. If they died for France, then France owes them, one of the survivors told BFM TV. Paris was the target of a series of terrorist attacks in November 2015. At least 130 people were killed, while another 268 were wounded. The Islamic State terrorist group, which is outlawed in Russia, France and many other countries, claimed responsibility for the attacks. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, a professional association of airport operators, has offered Russia to cancel the screening of passengers at the airports' entrance, the ACI director general said. "These checks are potentially creating new security vulnerabilities. In particular, the screening on entry to airport terminals is counterproductive from a counter-terrorism perspective. The crowd (which can be large at peak times) presents an ideal target for those with bad intent," Olivier Jankovec said in a letter seen by RIA Novosti on Wednesday and sent to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on April 29. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The so-called Normandy Four group on Ukraine made significant progress with regard to security issues and agreed on specific measures during the ministerial meeting on Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. Earlier in the day, the 12th meeting of the foreign ministers of the Normandy Four group on the Ukrainian conflict settlement took place in Berlin. The four chief diplomats from Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine discussed issues related to security and local elections in Ukraine's southeastern regions. "We have made progress in all important points in terms of security. We have agreed on a number of specific measures that are now to be implemented quickly," Steinmeier said after the meeting, as quoted by the German Foreign Ministry's press release. MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov The plans to enlarge the German armed forces the Bundeswehr are seen as a positive factor for regional security by the Dutch Ministry of Defense, the ministry's spokesperson told Sputnik on Wednesday. On Tuesday, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced plans to enlarge the country's armed forces for the first time since 1990. "Yes, the changed security environment demands the enhancement of the readiness, responsiveness and robustness of the European armed forces. We all need to re-invest in our security, as part of a collective, step-by-step approach. We cannot keep relying on others to deal with our security problems," the spokesperson said, answering a question whether the Bundeswehr enlargement is seen as a positive factor for European security. MOSCOW, May 11 (Sputnik) Sviridov's case has been included in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring reports on freedom of the media, which documents violations of journalists' rights within OSCE member states. "An official request to exclude Leonid Sviridov from the list of persons banned from entering the country [Poland] and other countries of the Schengen area, since this ban violates the Polish Act on Aliens, was sent by mail to the Polish Office for Foreigners," Chelstowski told RIA Novosti. On October 24, 2014, the Polish Foreign Ministry annulled Sviridov's accreditation. In April last year, the Polish authorities deprived him of residence permit and ordered the correspondent to leave the country. In mid-December, Sviridov left Warsaw for Moscow to begin legal proceedings against the authorities' decisions. VIENNA (Sputnik) The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) representative on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovi, expressed Wednesday her concern over journalists security in Ukraine in the wake of recent leaks of personal information. This is a very alarming development which could further endanger the safety situation for journalists. Journalists report on issues of public interest and they should not be harassed for doing their job, Mijatovi said in a statement. She referred to a Tuesday publication of more than 4,000 journalists from various Ukraine and international media outlets on the website Mirotvorets. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The head of Brussels railway police, Jo Decuyper, was sent an email on his personal account telling him to shut the underground down four minutes before the March explosion at Maalbeek metro station , local media reported on Wednesday. Decuyper told the parliamentary commission investigating the March bombings that even if he reacted on the email immediately it would not have made any difference. If I had had a button to put everything down and to evacuate which evidently does not exist then it would have happened anyway, he said as reported by Belgian newspaper De Standaard. There are 149 points in the project and it is supposed to be transferred to the Parliament commission for discussion, according to local news outlet La Vanguardia. According to the project, Catalonia will become a presidential republic where elections must be held every 5 years. Catalan and Aranese are considered as the official languages of the Catalonia while Spanish received special legal status. Furthermore, the questions such as freedom of the speech, information, religious freedoms, euthanasia are discussed in the project. European countries decided to strengthen security measures following terrorist attacks in November 2015 in Paris and in March 2016 in Brussels, with Daesh jihadist group, banned in Russia, responsible for the ferocious acts. Last year, the Czech Republic experienced some domestic security problems. An armed man broke into a restaurant in a small east Bohemian town of Uherske Hradiste and opened fired at the people inside. He killed eight people and committed suicide, with local police unable react to the situation urgently. On Monday, Trump asserted that he would make an exception for Khan, which the London mayor quickly rejected. He explained that it isnt just about him, and that Trump has an "ignorant" view of Islam. There will always be exceptions, Trump told the paper when asked about mayor Khan, who was elected Friday as London's first Muslim mayor. When asked about Khans election, Trump used words suggesting that it was a very good thing. I was happy to see that, Trump said. I think its a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good. . If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the Access to the chat has been blocked for violating the rules . You will be able to participate again through:. If you do not agree with the blocking, please use the feedback form The discussion is closed. You can participate in the discussion within 24 hours after the publication of the article. "The historic opening of Cuba is a natural opportunity for us to take action, and we are. That's the Un-carrier way!" John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile, a German telecom company with subsidiaries abroad, said in an official statement. Bienvenidos, Cuba! Introducing voice, text, and data roaming in Cuba starting this summer. https://t.co/xDBhwAVa9s T-Mobile (@TMobile) May 9, 2016 The mobile giant struck an historic deal with state-owned Cuban carrier, Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (ETECSA), allowing visitors to the island more affordable voice calling, as well as text and data roaming. The move by the telecoms company is the latest in a number of technology businesses offering their services to Cuba, a country that was once listed on the state sponsored terrorist list and an old enemy of the US, now has endless opportunities from foreign businesses and investors wishing to tap into this new and exciting market. At least 41 senators, or over half of the Federal Senate, must vote in favor of the impeachment for Rousseff to receive a 180-day suspension. Should she be suspended, Vice President Michel Temer would temporarily take over the presidency, and the senate would return to the impeachment issue at a special session under the chairmanship of the president of the Supreme Court. If two-thirds of the senate, or 54 lawmakers, support the impeachment at that session, Rousseff will be forced out of office. On April 17, two-thirds of lawmakers in the lower house of the National Congress voted in favor of impeaching Rousseff. MOSCOW, May 11 (Sputnik) On Wednesday, Brazils Senate is debating whether the president should face an impeachment trial, in which case she would immediately be suspended from her job for up to six months. On Tuesday, Brazil's Attorney General Eduardo Cardozo asked the Supreme Court to annul impeachment proceedings against Rousseff. Supreme Court Minister Teori Zavascki ruled that the court has no jurisdiction to examine issues related to the presidents prosecution for criminal responsibility. Brazils leader has been facing rising discontent over the country's struggling economy and a major corruption scandal in the state-owned energy corporation Petrobras. She headed the company between 2003 and 2010, the period during which most of the corruption reportedly took place. The leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Islamic political party was sentenced to death in October 2014. On Thursday, the Bangladesh Supreme Court rejected Nizami's plea to review the capital punishment. A civil war broke out in Pakistan in 1971, which was divided in two parts at the time, after West Pakistan launched a military operation in East Pakistan that was seeking independence. SAMRAH (Sputnik)A militant group in control of the Syrian village Samrah has laid down arms and signed a truce with the Syrian government, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation said Wednesday. "A lot of work was done to make this happen. The elders in the village of Samrah and members of the Syrian government signed a truce there," Russias Col. Sergei Ivanov, of the Hmeimim-based reconciliation center, told reporters. The Russia-mediated ceasefire deal was also inked by the governor of the Hama province and its security chief, who urged villagers to return to their peaceful ways. BEIRUT (Sputnik)The arrested Lebanese national has confessed to having facilitated the transportation of would-be jihadists to Syria and Iraq together with an accomplice. The Lebanese army said earlier it had arrested a Syrian national, Mahmoud Hussein Ossman, for being a member of the Nusra Front jihadist group and fighting against the Lebanese military in 2014. Islamic State and the Nusra Front are outlawed by many nations as terrorist organizations. They have been excluded from all peace talks and ceasefire deals in neighboring Syria. MOSCOW (Sputnik) An explosives-laden car exploded near a busy market in Baghdads eastern neighborhood of Sadr City, the Al-Arabiya channel reported. Reports that 34 Shi'a civilians killed and 65+ wounded after a car bomb blast in a market in Sadr City, E. #Baghdad. pic.twitter.com/Tsycb5EDcG Haidar Sumeri (@IraqiSecurity) 11 May 2016 There were no immediate reports of terrorist groups claiming responsibility for the attack, but Daesh group, banned in Russia and many other countries, said earlier this May they were behind a car bomb blast that killed 18 Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad. The radical Daesh group considers Shiites to be apostates. The five were arrested in a 2015 operation by Turkish security forces that were tracking members of the jihadist groups Turkish cell, the Hurriyet daily reported. A Turkish court proved the suspects were guilty of smuggling large numbers of weapons to Syria but cleared them of Daesh membership charges. Police intelligence still urged to boost security measures in their regard. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Next Tuesdays talks in the Austrian capital will seek to reaffirm the patchy ceasefire in parts of Syria, according to the US Department of State. "We have not received an invitation yet. It could be that the meeting will be held by major international actors Russia, the US and others without Syrians," Abd Salam Ali, a PYD member, told RIA Novosti in Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US State Secretary John Kerry are due to attend the meeting. The PYD member said the Kurds expect the ISSG meeting to focus on Syrias future political system, including outlooks for federalization. According to the information released by the staff's press service, three PKK militants were killed in the district of Nusaybin, located in the province of Mardin, while four more were killed during the operation in the province of Sirnak. It was added in the released information that 11 militants were killed in the aerial operation of the Turkish Air Force conducted in the Turkish province of Hakkari and in the neighboring regions of northern Iraq. BEIRUT (Sputnik) The Syrian army has an outpost situated nine miles from the T4 military air base or about 43 miles south of Palmyra and according to the source, terrorists managed to gain a foothold close to the air base on the territory of an abandoned barracks on Monday. "Daesh troops tried to advance to T4 from Qaryateyn again last night. However, the attack was weak and easily repelled. The army firmly controls the situation and the strategic road from Homs to Palmyra," the source told RIA Novosti. He also pointed the finger at Erdogan, whose "political ambitions and projects turned the figure of the President into the main source of instability in Turkey." Insel also berated Erdogan for being behind the resignation of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, which was announced on May 6. "By insisting on the presidential system of ruling, Erdogan, who should be the main guarantor of the Constitution, in fact violated its provisions. This very fact is sufficient to recognize the depth of the crisis and the chaos that is currently in place in Turkey. Well, the fish rots from the head," Insel pointed out. GENEVA (Sputnik) The UN-mandated Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic strongly condemned on Wednesday recent attacks on civilians and medical facilities in Syria, notably in the northern Aleppo province, considering them to be violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes. "The Commission calls on all parties to cease the unlawful attacks on civilian areas, especially humanitarian locations and specially protected sites under international humanitarian law. The Commission has repeatedly noted that international humanitarian laws foundational principle of distinction which underlies a number of war crimes requires all parties to a conflict to distinguish between lawful and unlawful targets. The recent unlawful attacks are violations of international humanitarian law; some are war crimes," the organization set up by the UN Human Rights Council said in a statement. "According to former Egyptian ambassador to the US Abdel Raouf al-Ridi, the two countries are 'the two major regional powers in the Middle East', and the union between them is the basis for the stability of the entire region. It was announced that Cairo and Riyadh's top priority was 'Arab national security', which is the 'key issue in the face of the Iranian threat'." "Much attention was focused on the development of strategic cooperation in the military sphere, traditionally important to the Saudis, which may be expressed through regional joint military exercises. An agreement was signed on the establishment of a 'Council for the Implementation of the Cairo Declaration', involving the creation of a united Arab armed forces and [promises of] a joint response of Arab states to security challenges in the region." Riyadh sweetened the pot through economic aid, promising $4 billion in investments for the development of infrastructure, agriculture and energy (adding to the $400 million already agreed to in February). Another $1.5 billion in Saudi investments are expected to be forthcoming for the expansion of the Suez Canal, and a joint investment fund with $16 billion in capital was also announced. One of the most significant moments of the visit was the agreement on the construction of a bridge across the Red Sea which to link the two countries. "The project," Tyukaeva recalled, "is one that has been discussed for several decades. No less sensational was Cairo's decision to transfer the Sanafir and Tiran islands. The 'gift' is comparable in generosity to the Saudi investment promises, especially in view of the grave condition of the Egyptian economy, which has been kept afloat in recent years exclusively thanks to its Gulf partners. However, the attempt by the Egyptian leadership to present the decision as an issue separate from financial deals failed, resulting in ongoing anti-government protests." Moving on, in the course of his Ankara visit, where he was met at the airport by President Erdogan personally (something "unprecedented and not part of Turkish diplomatic protocol"), Salman was awarded the highest Turkish honor the Order of the Republic, "and named 'the guarantor of stability and security in the region'." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Riyadh plans to continue to provide military support to the Syrian opposition, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said. "We will continue to support the opposition. Our argument has been from the very beginning that we should provide the opposition with more weapons and more lethal weapons, including surface to air missiles, including more sophisticated anti-tank weapons, so that we can change the balance of power," Adel Jubeir told France 24 on Tuesday. However, the foreign minister underscored that Riyadh would only support the opposition on the basis of a consensus with other countries that also support the opposition in Syria. Fadavi also criticized a recent resolution in the US Congress against Irans activity in the Persian Gulf, saying neither the US administration nor other international players are in the position to meddle in this issue. Earlier this month, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei rebuffed the US governments demands that Iran withhold from staging military drills in the Persian Gulf, according to a Press TV report. The Persian Gulf coast and much of the coasts of the Sea of Oman belong to this powerful nation; therefore we have to be present in this region, [stage] maneuvers and show off our power, the Leader then said. Fadavi explained that the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman are important strategic areas for the whole world and especially for Iran, as it has a longer maritime border than any other coastal state in the region. The official added that the worlds future depends on the Persian Gulf as it is the center of the worlds energy resources. Mohammad Ali Mohtadi, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Middle East Strategic Studies however told Sputnik Persia that the tensions in the Persian Gulf are just a pretext, the real root of the standoff between the US and Iran lies in the USs failure in the Iran nuclear deal. ANKARA (Sputnik) The Turkish army killed 3,000 Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syria but nevertheless suffered the most from the terrorist group, President Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. "No country has suffered such a loss from Daesh terrorist and put up such a fight against it as Turkey. The number of militants killed by our military has reached three thousands now," Erdogan said while addressing army chiefs from Balkan countries in Istanbul on Wednesday. Turkey's Chief of the General Staff Hulusi Akar, speaking at the same meeting, cited the lower number of 1,300 militants killed by the Turkish military. For example, 17 men in Yemen were reported killed or targeted multiple times. Missile strikes on these men killed 273 other people and accounted for almost half of all confirmed civilian casualties and 100 per cent of all recorded child deaths. Each of the 17 men were killed over three times according to official US, Yemen and Pakistani documents, whilst further evidence suggests that at least three of these men are still alive. For example, Qassim al-Raimi, was reported to have been killed over six times, with one of the last reports documenting his death in 2012. However, it appears this suspect is still alive and according to recent reports is a key terrorist recruiter. In all of these reported killings of terrorist suspects, someone else filled their body bags before they did. Reprieve has listed the several case studies; one was that of eight-year-old, Noor Syed. On February 14, 2009, a covert drone operation led by the US fired two missiles at a car and three compounds in the Makeen, South Waziristan region. The intended target of the attack was Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Pakistani Taliban. However the strike missed Mehsud and hit the eight-year-old instead. Noor's grandfather was distraught, and in an interview after the child's funeral said: "How can the US invade our homes while we are sleeping, and target our children?" Reprieve lists several other cases of "mistaken identity." "Our data suggests that the US fell far short of meeting the first criterion in most strikes. This raises questions about whether it is even possible to meet the second. If the US intelligence is so poor that it is repeatedly missing its target, how can it know whether those killed are civilians?" Reprieve stated in the report. In a recent investigation into the US drone operation, it has been revealed that they carried out 486 drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen combined. Overall 4,400 people have been killed in these attacks and the vast majority remain unnamed. What is the Government's policy on the use of drones for targeted killing? Read our report: https://t.co/yIMNIxHbxA pic.twitter.com/dXVwd2azk5 Human Rights Ctte (@UKParlJCHR) May 10, 2016 It's not just the US that is under fire for their drone activity, the UK also will face questions if they cannot clarify their targeted drone attacks. The joint committee for Human Rights published a report on May 10, 2016, on the UK's drone killing operations. The report was launched after the killing of suspect terrorist and British national Reyaad Khan. The committee said that British drone pilots and intelligence officers could face murder charges, if the targeted killing policy is not clarified by the UK government. "If they're killing people in cold blood outside war zones it's very serious" @HarrietHarman MP on drone strikes https://t.co/UChe7DTcLU Victoria Derbyshire (@VictoriaLIVE) May 10, 2016 In a statement, former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman MP expressed the view that the need for information on this matter is crucial: "We owe it to all those involved in the chain of command for such uses of lethal force to provide them with absolute clarity about the circumstances in which they will have a defense against any possible future criminal prosecution, including those which might originate from outside the UK." Celik was arrested alongside 13 others in the Turkish city of Izmir in early April on charges of illegal gun possession. The suspect previously said he did not shoot at Peshkov, but had accepted the responsibility for the killing as a commander of a militant group. Celik insisted he had repeatedly ordered his men to take the Russian pilot prisoner, and not to shoot at him. AMMAN (Sputnik) Russia is ready to consider the issue of arms supplies to Libya, Somalia and South Sudan should the situation improve in these countries and provided permission to do so is granted by the highest state authorities, Valery Varlamov, the head of Rosoboronexports security department, said Wednesday. "We are very sensitive to the international situation, and if there are UN Security Council-imposed sanctions against some countries, we don't have military-technical cooperation with them. However, there is interest voiced by such states. In the event of an improved situation there, we are ready to satisfy this [interest]," Varlamov told reporters at the Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference (SOFEX) currently being held in Jordans capital of Amman. ANKARA (Sputnik) Turkey has received no funding from the European Union to-date despite providing all that is necessary for the refugees, he added. "We acted as defenders for 3 million people who had fled from tyranny and violence, we spent over $10 billion on refugees. Given the assistance of local budgets and non-governmental organizations, overall spending reached $20 billion," Erdogan said, speaking at a meeting of the army chiefs of Balkan countries in the Turkish city of Istanbul. IOM provides food, water and NFIs; cabins, tents, blankets, hygiene kits, clothing to #migrants rescued at the sea. pic.twitter.com/T0P2R3036s IOM Turkey (@IOM_Turkey) 10 May 2016 Brussels and Ankara signed an agreement on March 18, which entails Turkey readmitting migrants who entered the European Union illegally from its territory, primarily across the Aegean Sea to Greece, and sending legal Syrian refugees to the bloc in their place. In return, the European Union pledged to provide a total of 3 billion euros (over $3.3 billion) to Turkey to assist with refugee accommodation in 2016-2017, with a further 3 billion-euro provision likely in 2018. The bloc additionally promised to accelerate Ankara's EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and the Schengen area. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The fighters inside Iraqi Kurdistan, Karim added, are mostly "homegrown" jihadists. "In Kirkuk, I think this foreign fighter thing is built out of proportion," Karim stated. "[They are] not in Iraq. They are in Syria, they go through Turkey." The fighters inside Iraqi Kurdistan, Karim added, are mostly "homegrown" jihadists. ANKARA (Sputnik) Ankara believes that the peace talks in Geneva are pointless if air strikes against the Syrian city of Aleppo continue, spokesman for the Turkish president Ibrahim Kalyn said Wednesday. "Aleppo's falling apart would mean a lot more than just the loss of the city. If it falls apart, it would ruin the Syrian people's last hope for peace, freedom and dignity. If Russia, the UN and the US are candid in their desire to stop the hostilities, they need to prevent Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime from undermining the last hope. As long as the bombing of Aleppo continues, there is no point in the Geneva Talks," Kalyn told reporters in Ankara. The latest round of the intra-Syria talks in Geneva took place between April 13-27. The Riyadh-formed Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee walked out of the talks over the continuous fighting in Syria and the lack of progress on humanitarian issues. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Several people were killed in a suicide car bombing in the province of Hadhramaut in southeastern Yemen that reportedly targeted a pro-government senior general who managed to survive the attack, regional media reported Wednesday. A suicide bomber used a car to ram the convoy transporting Maj. Gen. Abdul Rahman Halili near the city of Qaten, the Gulf News newspaper reported. The blast is said to have killed several soldiers and civilians, while some others were injured. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The posture of the US military in Baghdad remains unchanged following the car bomb blasts in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday, Combined Joint Forces Land Component Command Commander Army Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky told reporters. "It has not changed our posture here," Volesky stated on Wednesday. "The Iraqi Security Forces have not asked us for any assistance, they have got that well in hand." Three bomb blasts in Baghdad killed more than 80 people and injured at least 140, according to various reports. DUBAI (Sputnik) Jordan police prevented Wednesday suicide of five young men who wanted to jump down from the tallest building of the countrys capital Amman, local media reported. Civil defense forces and ambulance immediately arrived at the site while police officers tried to persuade the men not to commit suicide. A crowd of people gathered near the building which resulted in traffic jams. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US government is not considering military cooperation with Russia to prevent the city of Palmyra, Syria from being recaptured by Daesh, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday. "There have been a number of consultation about [US-Russian deconfliction in Syria], but those consultations have stopped short of any sort of formal military cooperation and I do not anticipate that will change," Earnest stated when asked about possible US-Russian military cooperation. Black spiders with characteristic red markings on their abdomens are apparently spreading in the vicinity of the "Al Habbaniyah" US military base in western Iraq. This development has outraged the residents of Anbar province where a bloody conflict between government forces and Daesh militants is currently being waged. A resident of the Al Habbaniyah district of the Anbar province provided Sputnik with the following video footage. Yerygin was reportedly on duty, escorting Russia's Hmeymim reconciliation center vehicles, when the convoy was shelled by terrorists earlier this week. The soldier was rushed to a Russian military hospital. "The soldier had been transported to a hospital where Russian mlitary doctors fought for his life for two days, but failed to save him," a spokesman for Hmeymim base said on Wednesday. Earlier in March, Putin ordered the pullout of the bulk of the Russian contingent in Syria after the campaign's objectives had broadly been completed. Following Putins announcement of the withdrawal, Moscow said that some Russian military personnel would remain at the Hmeimim air base as well as the naval base at Tartus to observe the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria. Airborne Tactical Advantage Company [of] Newport News, Virginia, is being awarded a $43.1 million contract to exercise an option in support of the Contracted Air Services (CAS) Program, the release, issued on Tuesday, stated. The CAS Program provides contractor owned and operated Type III High Subsonic and Type IV Supersonic aircraft to United States Navy Fleet customers for a wide variety of airborne threat simulation capabilities, the Defense Department explained. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Thomson said British leaders and those of other NATO nations recognized the dangers of terrorism and other security challenges in the Central Mediterranean and were evolving their thinking week by week on how to deal with Daesh, outlawed in Russia, the United States and a plethora of other countries. Yeah, I certainly can imagine that; were already contributing to the Eastern Mediterranean, the Aegean operation, Thomson told Defense News in an interview published on Tuesday. The British government was actively concerned about the threats of terrorism and the disruptions posed by mass migrations of hundreds of thousands of refugees into European NATO nations from the Middle East and North Africa, Thomson continued. NEW DELHI (Sputnik) Two US senators, Mark Warner and John Coryn, have introduced the US-India Defense Technology and Partnership Act, which will elevate the status of the India-US defense relationship, putting it at par with America's closest allies, if Congress approves. While introducing the bill, Senator Mark Warner said: "This bill supports strengthening our bilateral relationship, particularly in defense, and bestows upon India the status it deserves as a partner in promoting security in Asia and around the world." Moreover, "in addition to missiles, between 2,500-3,000 tactical and carrier-based aircraft capable of striking targets at a depth of up to 600 km from the border can also be used in a first strike." "This," Sivkov notes, "is quite an impressive force, and absent an effective response, is capable of destroying (knocking out) 1,000 important sites of the opponent in the potential first strike." However, the analyst notes, this capability does really conform to the concept of the Prompt Global Strike, for several reasons. "Firstly, such a strike would not, in fact, be 'prompt', since the preparations for such a large-scale attack would require a great deal of time 2 months or more. At this time, the US would need to implement the strategic deployment of its air and naval forces in the area of the combat mission, to create the necessary inventories, and to conduct reconnaissance on the objects subject to attack. In other words, this would no longer be the kind of air attack proposed by the Prompt Global Strike concept, but an ordinary missile-based strike." "Second, if the impact of such an attack could really be devastating on small (or even medium-sized) countries, it will not fully deprive them of the opportunity to resistTherefore, in the continuation of warfare, the US would, in one way or another, have to switch to the use of traditional means of warfare. In other words, the strike's use makes sense only if it is part of a fairly large-scale military operation in coordination with the other branches of the armed forces, and this, again, means that it will not be 'prompt', nor global, but an ordinary missile strike as part of the first wave of an offensive." Russian experts, Sivkov says, "point to the serious threat such an attack poses to the Russian nuclear forces, the destruction of which would allow the US to move on to nuclear blackmail against our country, and the rest of the world. It is in this point that they see the main essence [and danger] of the Prompt Global Strike initiative." "Indeed," the expert notes, "if Russia takes a passive position and does not adequately respond to the aggressor, the resulting blow could result in the destruction of 80-90% of our nuclear arsenal. However, taking account of actual conditions, it is clear that such a blow against Russia is extremely unlikely." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Press secretary of the US Embassy in Moscow, William Stevens, said earlier on Wednesday that the comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran did not resolve the threat posed by Irans ballistic missiles and that Iran continued to develop and test ballistic missiles of increasingly longer range that could reach NATO Europe. "It is unclear what the assertions about the Iranian missile program posing a threat are based upon. For whom? If for the US, it's ridiculous, because the range of Iranian missiles is less than 2,000 kilometers [some 1,243 miles]. Even US forces in Europe are located farther away from Iran," Ulyanov said. Starting from 2013, al-Nusra Front has sent significant numbers of its fighters and top terrorist leaders from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Syria. Among them were Abu al-Khayr al-Masri and Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, two of the terrorists suspected of perpetrating the bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. Al-Masri previously served as the former assistant to Zawahiri, and is married to one of Osama bin Laden's daughters. A third senior figure who has come to Syria was Khaled al-Arouri, believed to be related by blood or by marriage to Islamic State founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Given the Syrian army's successful series of advances against both Daesh and al-Nusra Front terrorists in recent weeks, supported by Russian air power, it's unclear how long any possible copy-cat Syrian 'caliphate' would actually be able to last. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Tuesday, local media reported that Italian police arrested two Afghanis in the southern Italian city of Bari on suspicion of being part of a terror group that planned to strike at civilian, government and military targets in France, Belgium and Britain. "Daesh terror cells have chosen Italy for their logistic base or reception camp to assist others. That is why we have avoided terror attacks in the country. They exploited established migrant routes to smuggle terrorists into the country and into Europe," Claudio d'Amico said. The Islamists, reportedly arrested by police in Bari, confirmed plans to use Italy as a base, the politician stressed. According to him, other alleged jihadists, detained after the deadly attacks in European capitals, also admitted they had been staying in Italy. "We view this consistent 'development' of Georgian territory by NATO soldiers as a provocative move, aiming to deliberately destabilize the military-political situation in the Caucasus region," the Russian ministry said in a statement. This allegation was later denied by Georgia. "These exercises are not directed against anyone. There is no trace of provocation," Georgia's Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili said in a statement. Georgia seeks to join NATO, a move strongly opposed by Russia. The Senate had announced on Monday that, notwithstanding the move to annul the lower house vote for impeachment, the body would still take up the impeachment vote, arguing that authority transferred to the upper chamber after the April 17 vote was certified by then-lower house leader Eduardo Cunha. Cunha was suspended from office last Friday by the Brazilian Supreme Court for corruption charges, and was replaced by Maranhao. Cunha, the primary architect Rousseff impeachment, is viewed by Brazilians as the countrys most corrupt politician, having been featured in the infamous Panama Papers and linked to 23 separate Swiss shell accounts that he uses to launder kickback money. It has been alleged that Cunha bribed his lower house colleagues to vote in favor of impeachment. Speaking on Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear show on Monday, Brazilian analyst Victor Fraga told Brian Becker that the decision to annul the April 17 vote meant that Wednesdays vote "would not have any legal value because the first part of the impeachment process has been invalidated." Yet it remained unclear whether Maranhao had legal jurisdiction to annul the vote led by his predecessor. Now, following a decision to retract the annulment, another question persists as to whether an annulment of a vote can be retracted if the initial annulment had any effect in the first place. Rousseff Takes the Impeachment Battle to the Supreme Court On Tuesday, Brazils top lawyer, Attorney General Eduardo Cardozo, asked the Supreme Court to annul impeachment proceedings, arguing that they were politically motivated and had no legal basis. Many in Brazil see the impeachment effort as a coup led by the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, a center-right group that includes Michel Temer, who would assume office if the Senate votes to impeach Rousseff, as well as former speaker of the Lower House Eduardo Cunha, who instigated the impeachment proceedings, and the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros. If the impeachment proves successful, the Workers Party, winner of the past four elections in Brazil by landslide margins, would be replaced by pro-austerity and pro-privatization forces that are supported by less than 2% of the Brazilian population. With the vote expected to go against Dilma on Wednesday, many expect violent protests within Brazil, only three months ahead of the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Loud & Clears Brian Becker sat down on Tuesday with Brazilian journalist Pepe Escobar to talk about the social powder keg in Brazil and what to expect if the impeachment goes through. Will Dilma Rousseff be impeached and what will happen next? "I suggest that this is the Brazilian House of Cards," said Escobar. "Yes, the Senate has the votes and yes impeachment is going to pass the Senate." "Nobody on the planet has any clue" what will happen next, Escobar said. He cited the volatility of the situation in the past week, noting that on Monday the impeachment was off, on Tuesday it was back on again, and on Wednesday it seems all but certain to happen, unless the countrys Supreme Court intervenes which the Brazilian Supreme Court had declined to do as of Wednesday morning. That is the finding from recent analyses of smartphone keyboards which are now known to copy and store data from searches and conversations by unwitting users. Did you just write a text message to your significant other? That conversation is sitting on a computer somewhere. Were you going to write a message to your ex-girlfriend or ex-boyfriend but chose to delete it? Somewhere a computer has stored, dissected, and determined the importance of that information. On Android phones and iPhones you can swap out the traditional keyboards with emoji and gif-laden alternatives, but pay attention when you install third party keyboards because apps require full access. By choosing that option, developers "transmit anything you type" back to their servers. "The Security Council notes with concern that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant Al-Qaeda, and associated individuals, groups, undertakings and entities, craft distorted narratives that are based on the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of religion to justify violence, the Presidential Statement for Wednesday's Security Council meeting states. The narratives, according to the statement, help the Daesh recruit supporters and foreign fighters, while the terrorist group has been able to exploit information and communications technologies, including the Internet and social media. The domestic situation was also complicated by the appointment of the new attorney general, according to the website. The Ukrainian government highly relies on IMF assistance since economy severely deteriorated as an armed conflict between government forces and militia in the country's southeast escalated in April 2014. MOSCOW (Sputnik)Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, to discuss the situation in Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. During the conversation, a discussion on actual problematic issues on the settlement of Syria was held. Coinciding assessments were expressed on the importance of continuing the uncompromised fight against the Daesh and the Nusra Front, as well as the necessity of clearly observing the ceasefire regime in the Syrian Arab Republic that was confirmed in a joint Russian-US statement on Syria dated May 9, 2016, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement published on its website. On Tuesday, reports emerged that a US RC-135W spy plane was tracked down and intercepted flying over the Baltic Sea off the Russian border. That same plane was reported to have conducted reconnaissance near the Russian exclave region of Kaliningrad on May 9, where it had been intercepted by a Su-27 jet. Late last month, Pentagon officials claimed that a Russian Su-27 had performed a "barrel roll" less than 7 meters off another RC-135 flying in the same region, an allegation the Russian defense ministry later denied. In early April, the Pentagon vigorously complained about Russian Su-24 jets repeatedly harassing the US Navy destroyer Donald Cook as it sailed 70 km off a Russian naval base in the Baltic Sea. Is the Polish Proposal Realistic? Mr. Bugajski's proposals for defusing the dangerous cat and mouse game between NATO and Russia are certainly interesting, but several outstanding issues remain. Namely: Will Poland's proposal include any efforts to counter the increasing buildup of NATO forces and heavy equipment on Russia's borders, and the launching of larger and ever-more numerous NATO exercises? It's well-known that Warsaw itself has been pushing for an increased permanent NATO and US presence on its territory ahead of the alliance's Warsaw summit in July. What will become of Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz's proposal to double the funding and size of the Polish armed forces? How can this possibly serve to deescalate tensions? Are Polish officials ready to tone down their anti-Russian rhetoric, which has reached absurd heights in recent months? (Last month, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski claimed that Russia, not the Daesh terrorist group, was the real 'existential threat' to Europe. Earlier this year, Macierewicz said that the 2010 air catastrophe in the Russian region of Smolensk, which resulted in the death of the Polish president and his staff, was actually a 'terrorist attack' by the Russian government). Finally, and perhaps most importantly: Will Warsaw's proposals be heard in Washington, where the real decisions on European security policy seem to be made? That seems unlikely amid the Pentagon's plans to quadruple its European spending, and to increase its presence and activity on Russia's borders from the Baltic to the Black Sea. BERLIN (Sputnik) Moscow will use its influence on Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions so that they comply with the Minsk peace agreements, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday. "We asked our Ukrainian colleagues, Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, for the Ukrainian side not to shy away from its obligations. We, for our part, will work to ensure that the influence we have on Donetsk and Lugansk is used, so that they bear responsibility for the commitments they have undertaken," Lavrov told reporters. Anyway, Kiev needs to act fast on the reforms in the wake of the resignation of key Western-backed technocrats, Reuters writes citing a top official from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBDR). On May 10, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team arrived in Kiev to take a look at the ongoing developments and make a crucial decision whether or not to release new tranches of Western aid to Ukraine. Back in March 2015, the IMF approved a $17.5 billion loan program for Ukraine. As of yet the Fund has poured only $6.7 billion into the Ukrainian economy and taken a pause frustrated by Kiev's failure to take necessary political and economic measures. However, according to Zahoor, "the hope that the current coalition will be able to reinvigorate the reform process is nothing if not naive, and it is no surprise that the Western governments can barely hide their skepticism." Zahoor believes that it is highly unlikely that Arseniy Yatsenyuk will leave politics: he is still a faction leader of the influential People's Front with 81 votes of the current coalition. Should the Poroshenko and Groysman government fail to deliver on their promises to the Ukrainian people, a third Maidan Revolution may erupt against the present leadership, the businessman predicts. "Syria has been at war now for more than five years. Those who supported the conflict first explained it as an extension of the 'Arab Spring'. But no one uses this explanation today, simply because the governments that developed from these 'Springs' have already been overthrown. Far from being a struggle for democracy, these events were [nothing] more than a tactic for changing [out] secular regimes in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood." Today, the analyst notes, allegations are made that the 'Syrian Spring' was "hijacked by other forces, and that the 'revolution', which never existed, has been devoured by jihadists who are all too real." In his own time, Vladimir Putin pointed out that the behavior of Western and Gulf powers was incoherent. "It is impossible on a battlefield to combat both jihadists and the [Syrian government] while pretending to take a third position," the analyst said, paraphrasing the Russian leader. But "the truth," Meyssan notes, "is that this war has no internal cause. It the fruit of an environment which is not regional, but global. When it was declared by the US Congress in 2003 through the Syrian Accountability Act, Dick Cheney's objective was to steal the huge reserves of Syrian gas. We know today that the 'Peak Oil' scare did not signal the end of oil reserves, and that Washington will soon be exploiting hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico." Therefore, "the strategic objectives of the United States have changed. Now they consist of containing the economic and political development of China and Russia by forcing them to engage in commerce exclusively by maritime routes which are controlled by [US] aircraft carriers." The first reason is that it provides a clear indication that the mutual relationship between Japan and Russia has returned to its pre-Ukrainian crisis level. Toshihiko Ueno points to the agreement to hold the next round of Russian-Japanese negotiations on the peaceful treaty between the two in June as an important indicator. In addition, he says, the two leaders discussed the cooperation of the two states in the UN Security Council and joint efforts in the fight against terrorism as well as the possible renewal of ties between the Defense and Foreign Ministries of the two countries which were halted back in 2013. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) British voters will decide next month whether to leave the European Union, in a move called the British exit, or "Brexit." "From our point of view, we have an interest too in the magnified voice and strength of Britain, and we want that partnership, and we think its stronger to have a united Europe than not," Kerry said when asked if he agreed with remarks by US President Obama that a Brexit would negatively affect the US-UK trade relationship. Last month, Obama told a London audience that the United Kingdom would have to move to the back of the queue for a trade deal with the United States if the country decides to leave the European Union. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Williams reiterated that the European missile shield was not directed against Russia and would not undermine Russia's strategic deterrence capabilities. "Russian threats to target Allies because of their support for ballistic missile defense are unacceptable, unjustified and irresponsible," Williams said in a written statement obtained by RIA Novosti. Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian foreign Ministry's department for non-proliferation and arms control, said earlier on Wednesday that the upcoming deployment of US missile defense systems at military bases in Romania and Poland would undermine strategic stability in Europe. According to Russian political analyst Stanislav Stremidlovsky, by implementing the elements of the US missile defense system and deploying its troops in Eastern Europe Washington and Berlin are pursuing their own geopolitical goals. The EU member states do not regard Russia as an imminent threat to Europe. Furthermore, although Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski last month went even so far as to claim that Russia, not Daesh, poses the main security challenge to the EU, Poland is much more concerned about the ongoing refugee crisis engulfing Europe, Stremidlovsky points out in his analysis for Regnum. He cites Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of the Polish ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party, who has repeatedly stated that the party is against bringing asylum seekers to Poland since there is no guarantee that the gesture of good will would not lead to the Paris-style terror attacks in the country. Interestingly enough, experts admit that the victory of Poland's right-wing Euroskeptic party was obviously linked to its tough stance toward the EU refugee policy. Stremidlovsky emphasizes that Polish policymakers and thought leaders are aware that NATO is incapable of protecting the country from the growing terror threat and is unable to contain the increasing flow of refugees. Alas, NATO's military installations in Poland by no means meet today's needs of Warsaw: instead they are aimed at accomplishing Washington's geostrategic tasks in the region, he stresses. According to the analyst, there are clear signals that NATO member states, the US and Germany, are using the current uncertain geopolitical situation in Eastern Europe to their own advantage, de facto dividing the region into "zones of influence." However, while Lithuania and the other Baltic states are likely to welcome Germany taking them under Berlin's wing, Poland has its own geopolitical aspirations in the region. Warsaw won't agree to cede part of its sovereignty neither to the EU nor to Washington, Stremidlovsky notes referring to the fact that Poland has increasingly been adopting a more independent, more sovereign and more nationalist policy. And it means Warsaw and Washington will soon face trouble in paradise, the analyst suggests. ATHENS (Sputnik) Greece's First Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs Nikos Ksidakis said Wednesday that he believes that the policy of issuing visas should not be politicized even amid problems in Russian-EU relations. "We believe, that the policy of visas issuing should be reasonable, serious, transparent and shouldn't be politicized. The question of Russian citizens' entry to the European Union should be resolved in the same manner as the question of Turkish citizens visa-free travel to Europe. The EU should consider this issue seriously and in a clear way," Ksidakis said during Russian-Greek tourism forum in Athens. This comes as fighting rages on in Syrias largest city of Aleppo, even as the local ceasefire has been extended for 48 hours. Brazils Parliament is in chaos. The Senates upper house looks set to move forward today with a vote on impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. Two days ago the speaker of the Lower House annulled the impeachment, but reversed his decision a day later. Journalist Pepe Escobar joins Becker to analyze what's next in Brazil. Hillary Clinton is already being labeled the presumed nominee of the Democratic Party, even though Sanders has won so many open primaries and caucuses. Many in the Sanders movement are saying it should be Bernie or Bust in other words, that they wont cast their ballot for Hillary. Where is this new movement headed? Author and editorial cartoonist Ted Rall speaks with Becker. First up, it's Tuesday was a Primary Election day, this time in West Virginia and Nebraska (Republicans only). In West Virginia, many voters will be forced to vote once again on 100% unverifiable touch-screen systems, though Donald Trump tells voters not to vote at all, at least until the general election. At the same time, new polling from Quinnipiac (PDF) shows Hillary Clinton virtually tied with or losing to Trump in three key swing-states (Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania), while Sanders outpaces Clinton in each, beating Trump in all three crucial states. Meanwhile, in elections overseas, London elects its first Muslim as Mayor, though he's worried he may not be able to visit other Mayors in the U.S. if Trump becomes President and, in The Philippines, it looks as if they have elected a new President who is even more disturbing than Donald Trump. So, yes, it can happen. Then: the FDA issues insane new rules for electronic cigarette and e-liquid manufacturers which could end up killing the vaping industry that is currently helping to prevent the tobacco-related deaths of some 500k Americans each year. Chris Hughes, President of the PA Chapter of the Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association, and owner of the Fat Cat Vapor Shop, explains the new onerous regulations and how Democrats are supporting them despite scientists and experts, such as those at UK's Royal College of Physicians who recently announced: "in the interests of public health it is important to promote the use of e-cigarettesas widely as possible as a substitute for smoking." If the misguided FDA rules are finalized, it could cost as much as $1 million to receive approval for every single vaping product, e-liquid flavor (including each level of nicotine). The only companies likely to afford that process are the Big Tobacco companies that the bulk of the vaping industry is hoping to put out of business. In turn, millions of folks who have quit smoking by moving to vaping (which has almost none of the dangers of tobacco cigarettes) are likely to begin smoking again. "People smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar," explains Hughes, adding, "there are over 7,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. And many of them act in concert with nicotine to make it more addictive." That is not the case for vaping products! MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a plan on Wednesday setting out short- and long-term goals for the nations industrial development. "It is a strategy for developing the industry and construction up until 2020, with outlooks up to 2030. We need to be open to new prospects [of development] in order to prevent the building industry from losing its impetus," Medvedev said at a government meeting in Moscow. The head of state warned that the nations struggling economy depended heavily on progress in the construction industry. Earlier on Wednesday, Putins press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said flaws in Russias military operations in Syria mentioned in Putins statements on May 10 were of a "work-related character" and involve the functioning of some of the equipment used in the operations. "This type of information is pretty much work-related, but it can naturally be said that first and foremost this is about the functioning of one or another piece of equipment or the operation of one or another piece of technical equipment. And of course this is being analyzed in order to make the appropriate perfections of this technical equipment," Peskov told journalists. Peskov declined to specify which type of equipment was found to be faulty citing the "sensitivity" of the subject, but said more detailed information may be received from the Ministry of Defense. AMMAN (Sputnik) Russia is currently in talks with Middle Eastern countries on the deliveries of Su-32 Fullback multirole bomber jets, an official in Russias military export corporation said Wednesday. Negotiations are being held with many countries in the region on this aircraftand pre-contract negotiations are naturally being held, otherwise we wouldnt be represented here [in Jordan], the head of Rosoboronexports delegation, Valery Varlamov, said on the sidelines of the SOFEX-2016 military exhibition in Jordans capital of Amman. The Su-32 is an export version of Russias Su-34 that was used in operations over Syria, which so far has not been purchased by a foreign country. AMMAN (Sputnik) Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has started promoting the anti-mine robot Uran-6 that proved to be effective during the operation to demine the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, an official from the corporation said Wednesday. Concerning Uran-6, an export product design specification has been drawn up. We are already starting to pave the way for our foreign partners to express their willingness to cooperate with us in this area, Valery Varlamov, the head of Rosoboronexports delegation to the SOFEX-2016 military exhibition currently being held in the Jordanian capital of Amman, told journalists. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russia exported IT services to the value of $7 billion in 2015, Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolay Nikiforov said Wednesday. "According to the data, in 2015, Russian IT specialists, programmers and developers secured the export of IT services valued at $7 billion," Nikiforov said during a question-and-answer session in the Russian parliament. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Establishment of US missile defense system in Eastern Europe, namely Poland and Romania, will have a negative impact on strategic stability, the director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control (DNAC) of the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. On May 12-13, US Assistant Secretary of State Frank Rose will visit Romania and Poland to participate in the launching ceremonies related to the Aegis Ashore missile defense system in the two Eastern European countries. "The project of creation of missile defense system in Europe, as well as of global missile defense system, are the factors that affect the strategic stability negatively, undermine trust and contradict with the core principles of international relations, such as inadmissibility of strengthening of own security in at the expense of security of others," Mikhail Ulyanov said. While some of Frikidoctor's video indeed featured glimpses of trailers that could have been barely interpreted as copyright violation (given that trailers are essentially promotional material), one of his deleted videos depicted the independent producer wearing a Mexican Wrestler mask and talking about the popular show. In the wake of events Frikidoctor posted a question to Reddit, asking if spoken spoilers are a form of copyright violation in the United States. One commenter, claiming to be a YouTube gaming streamer, summed up the situation in four short sentences: "No, you did not break any rules / laws. No, Youtube doesn't care. Yes, HBO would lose if it went to court. Yes, HBO abused a broken system to make a false claim to take down your video." The start of construction of the military base in Poland, which is part of an US-designed ballistic missile defense system in Europe, is scheduled for May 13. The construction of the base is expected to be completed by 2018. Speaking with the Polish Radio broadcaster, Jones assured that this defensive facility was designed to prevent the threats from the Middle East and not to threaten Russia's security and that Moscow was aware of that. However, the United States is fully ready for different scenarios, the ambassador noted. Los Angeles-based Hyperloop Technologies has announced that it will hold a public test of its technology in the Nevada desert just out of Las Vegas. This comes as the company has just raked in US$80 million of venture capital funding, and has renamed itself "Hyperloop One." The long overdue rebranding will finally stave off confusion with the other firm leading the effort to build Musk's propelling system, Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, aka HTT. Corporate business aside, this will be the first time ever that an actual Hyperloop prototype is seen in action. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs will hold a hearing on Thursday about the risks of economic engagement with Iran, Committee chairman Ed Royce said in a statement on Wednesday. "The Obama administration is turning a blind eye to Irans provocative acts and offering new concessions well beyond the nuclear deal to Tehran," Royce stated. Royce explaiend the goal of the hearing is to expose the dangers of allowing Iran to have access to the US financial system while continuing to fund terrorism and moving forward with its missile program. Eccentric business magnate Donald Trump skyrocketed his way to becoming the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party earlier this month after his win in Indiana, when his remaining opponents dropped out of the race. And while his poll numbers against Hillary Clinton, the leading candidate among the Democrats, generally remain slanted against him in head-to-head polling, that's not the case among US military personnel. In polling of 951 verified active-duty troops, reservists and National Guardsmen, The Military Times found that in a matchup between Trump and Clinton, 54% of respondents said they would support the business mogul-turned-candidate, compared to 25% who chose the former secretary of state (the remaining 21% said they would not vote). At the same time, when the matchup was switched to Trump vs. Senator Bernie Sanders, Trump got 51% support, compared to 38% for the Vermont senator. Among the four branches of the US Armed Forces, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps, Trump trounced Clinton 56-24%, 48-31%, 54-25% and 60-18%, respectively. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) An attempt in the US Senate to deny the Obama administration money to buy heavy water from Iran, a key provision of the recent nuclear deal, has been blocked, according to a report published on Wednesday. "Im opposed to the Iran agreement, Im also opposed to North Korea or other countries [being able to] buy heavy water that could be used to make plutonium or nuclear weapons," US Senator Lamar Alexander said, as quoted by the publication Politico. Alexander is a Republican lawmaker who sided with Democrats in Congress in opposing the measure. Additionally, Carter announced a new team of leaders from the technology industry, including Isaac Taylor, who was previously the head of Googles research and development facility. The civilian leadership will be joined by US military reservists who work in the technology industry when they are not on duty for the Pentagon. In stressing the importance of the program, Carter revealed that DIUx will begin reporting directly to him. "I cant afford to have everybody do that, but this is to signify the importance I attach to this mission," he said. The Defense Department created DIUx last year to boost ties between the military and high-tech companies. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) President Barack Obamas administration is seeking to lay the groundwork for the Iraqi Security Forces recapture of the city of Mosul from the Daesh, but the operations success will depend on the Iraqi government and people, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday. "The goal we laid out is to try and put in place the conditions by the end of the year where Mosul could be retaken, so that is the goal we are aiming for," Earnest stated. The spokesman added that the work to recapture Mosul from the Daesh is being led by Iraqi Security Forces. Maintaining security in the country "is a problem that the Iraqi people are going to have to solve," he added, noting that previous US efforts to "impose a solution" on Iraq "didnt work out very well." WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The government of Iraq assured the United States that it will protect the US embassy in Baghdad amid protests in the city, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a briefing on Wednesday. "The nation of Iraq has [an] obligation to protect all diplomatic facilities on their soil," Earnest stated. "We have received assurances from the Iraqi government that they understand that that is their obligation." The press secretary underscored that all the necessary steps to ensure safety of the embassy staff have been taken. Why only Hindu Sena many from India are in favour of Donald Trump, you can't ignore the fact that He's the right Person for USA-ISRAEL-INDIA Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) 11 May 2016 Justifying their support for Donald Trump, Vishnu Gupta, founder of Hindu Sena told Sputnik, "Donald Trump has time and again said in his speech that Islam is the cancer plaguing the world. We Indians are also victims of this cancer. " "If terrorism was an internal issue, India would have tackled it single-handedly. But India is not in a position to carry out operations in Pakistan, Bangladesh or other Islamic states," he said. Mullahs hailing terrorist Osama Bin Laden during Bihar elections is their religious right, Hindu Sena supporting Trump is Islamophobia. Sonam Mahajan (@AsYouNotWish) 11 May 2016 In the coming months, Hindu Sena plans to increase activities in support of Donald Trump including holding a consolidation march in front of the US embassy in Delhi. Vishnu Gupta said, "I will ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appeal to US citizens of Indian origin to support and vote for Donald Trump." He also told Sputnik about his plans to write a letter to Donald Trump asking him to visit India first after becoming President. He said he would appeal to Trump to wipe out terrorism from Pakistan as he believed that Pakistan provides safe haven for terrorists. Hindu Sena was founded by Vishnu Gupta in 2011. The organization came into the spotlight when Gupta and other members of his outfit publicly slapped Syed Abdul Karim Tunda, who at the time allegedly supported the terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba. Last year, the outfit vandalized a cafeteria at a government building in Delhi for allegedly serving beef. With NATO deploying additional troops to Baltic states, Russia will respond in kind, Hagel opined, and both sides could then find themselves "very quickly in another Cold War buildup here that makes sense for neither side." The former secretary suggested that officials in Washington are failing to consider the long-term implications of its unnecessarily aggressive policies. "We continue to build up the eastern flank of NATO with more battalions, more exercises, and more ships and more platforms, and the Russians will respond," Hagel said. "Not sure where that takes you, either. Im not sure theres some real strategic thinking here. Its a reaction. Its a tactical kind of ricocheting from crisis to crisis." While opposed to a permanent stationing of NATO forces in the Baltic, Hagel does, however, support the use of rotational armored brigade teams. "Those forces are far more agile and ready. When you have stationary troops you have overhead, you have a lot of different dynamics. I just think its smarter today, for the kind of world we live in." We have some other athletes here tonight, including Olympic snowboarding gold medalist Jamie Anderson is here. Were proud of her. (Applause). Michelle and I watched the Olympics we cannot believe what these folks do death-defying feats Havent seen somebody pull a 180 that fast since Rand Paul disinvited that Nevada rancher from this dinner. (Laughter). As a general rule, things dont end well if the sentence starts, Let me tell you something I know about the negro. (Laughter). You dont really need to hear the rest of it. (Laughter and Applause). Just a tip for you dont start your sentence that way. (Laughter). Reid however, is unamused by the lawsuit, and insists that the Bundys will be brought to justice. It is hardly surprising that Cliven Bundy, a man who has been breaking federal law for decades, would file a baseless and absurd lawsuit, Reid spokeswoman Kristen Orthman said in a statement. Bundy, his sons and their believers have endangered the lives of federal officers, have defaced and damaged public lands and squandered public resources for their own benefit. They are domestic terrorists, Orthman stated. They are deadly and dangerous and will be brought to justice. The suit seeks the removal of Judge Navarro from the case, as well as over $50 million in damages. It is not known whether a psychiatric evaluation of the plaintiff has yet been ordered. "In an increasingly dangerous and rapidly changing world, we must guarantee that our military and intelligence community have the capability to defeat barbaric Islamic terror groups and deter aggressor-nations, like Russia, Iran, China and North Korea," subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen said in a written statement. The bill allocates $575.7 billion to the US Defense Department, with $517.1 billion going toward base requirements and another $58.6 billion set aside for the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund. The officers hoped that, by seizing on the stereotype of doughnut-loving cops, their parody would gain the attention necessary to keep the bakery afloat. They gambled and won, and are now expanding the brand across the state. "All we wanted to do was save this old bakery," Al "Bubba" White, vice president and one of the founding nine members of Cops and Doughnuts, told MLive. The bakery currently has 60 employees and three storefronts, and is considering expanding beyond Michigan into Indiana. Still, the enthusiasm Sanders has tapped into is about more than mere delegate totals. While the mainstream media has brushed off his victories, it ignores the meaning of his success. "Regardless of what the mainstream media would like you to believe, these victories matter," said Karli Wallace Thompson, a campaign manager for Democracy for America, a group backing the Sanders campaign, according to Common Dreams. "And not just because each win gets us closer to overtaking Hillary Clinton in the delegate count." For Thompson, the Senators victories are a sign that the American left is tired of accepting the status quo. Legislators from Germany's populist opposition party Alternative for Germany (AfD) have called for scrapping sanctions against Russia, saying that they plan to send the relevant resolution to the government of the federal state of Baden-Wurttemberg on May 11, RT reported. The resolution was initiated by local MP Udo Stein, who said that the West's restrictive measures against Russia had rode roughshod over Baden-Wurttemberg, a region with a highly developed economy where more than 900 companies have offices in Russia. "Anti-Russian sanctions should be lifted because they have turned against us and have negative consequences on the economy. Russia is one of the key partners of Baden-Wurttemberg, and our trade relations should not be dropped, "he was quoted by the Russian newspaper Izvestia as saying. The exercise will bring together 500 Georgian and 650 US service members as well as 150 UK military personnel. It will feature a full range of equipment, from US Abrams tanks and Bradley infantry vehicles to M119 howitzers and Georgias T-72 tanks and BMP-2 infantry combat vehicles. The drills are aimed at enhancing US and Georgian interoperability within the NATO Response Force, which is a high readiness force established in 2003 to respond to emerging security situations. In an open letter published ahead of the summit on Monday, over 300 internationally renowned economists called on world leaders to put an end to tax havens, writing that they "serve no useful economic purpose." One of the signatories of the letter is Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, an institutional economist specializing in development economics, a Reader in the Political Economy of Development at the University of Cambridge and author of the books "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism," and "Economics: the User's Guide." He told Radio Sputnik that people who hide money in tax havens are using "financial engineering" to freeload from taxpayers by making up paper companies and using them to avoid tax. "Individuals and their companies who are using these tax havens are basically freeriding on the rest of humanity. These individuals and companies are making money in one country, using the labor force educated by taxpayers' money, using the roads, ports and other infrastructure provided by public investment and even taking advantage of scientific research and development done in that county and taking that money away to another country where they just park the money." "What usually happens is that they set up this paper company which charges for bogus services and siphoning off profit and in the country where the real activity was done, the company says 'we haven't made any money.'" Chang said that the appeal of low taxes for businesses is balanced by the quality of infrastructure and services provided in that country, and so the appeal of areas with little or no tax is limited to the prospect of saving money rather than using the public services to conduct business there. "If low tax was so good, why doesn't every rich individual move to Guatemala, where the top income tax rate is seven percent? If low corporate income taxes are so good why don't all companies relocate to Paraguay, where the tax rate is ten percent? Of course, these people don't go there, because instead of paying little tax they get rubbish public service." VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik)Igor Borbot, ex-director of the Far Eastern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center (FESRC), is suspected of having embezzled money allocated to build a ship yard, Zvezda, in Russias Far East. He fled abroad and was red-flagged by Interpol at Moscows request. "It is true that Borbot has been detained in the United States. But preliminary data suggest that he had a problem with his visa," the source close to the investigation told RIA Novosti. The Russian presidential envoy for the countrys Far Eastern region, Igor Trutnev, said authorities had launched several criminal investigations into budget theft linked to the shipbuilding company, including schemes to artificially drive up the cost of ship repairs. As for Davutoglu, he is "more diplomatic, more tolerant and less inclined to destroy the freedom of the press" in Turkey, Pochta said, noting that Brussels had pinned its hopes on the Turkish PM in light of the EU-Turkey deal on migrants. "This could weaken Erdogan's authoritarian tendencies and he decided to nip it in the bud by actually prompting Davutoglu to resign," Pochta pointed out. In mid-March 2016, Ankara and Brussels agreed to a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the EU through its territory in exchange for Syrian refugees residing in Turkey. In return, the 28-member bloc promised to accelerate Turkey's EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between the country and the Union. In this vein, Pochta said that the outgoing Turkish Prime Minister could be made responsible for all the pressing problems in Turkey, including those related to the migrant deal. "As an Oriental country, Turkey has a particular political culture where former allies can become arch-enemies. I think that Davutoglu will be blamed for all the problems Turkey has faced in the past few years. In this regard, I don't exclude a revision of the EU-Turkey migrant deal," he said. Russia pursues its own strategic interests and the Baltic Sea is an important strategic space for its further development, Yuan Zheng from the Institute of American Studies (IAS) under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told Peoples Daily Online, referring to the recent series of incidents between Russia and the US in the Baltic Sea. With the series of actions [in the Baltic Sea] Russia has sent strong and clear signals that it will be firm in defending its state interests and strategic space, the website quotes him as saying. The US however wants to protect its global leading position and continues to suppress Russias strategic development, the expert added. In an interview with Sputnik, Michael Smith, chief operating officer of the security consulting firm Kronos Advisory, spoke of the microblogging network Twitter having already being turned into a cyber-sanctuary for Daesh (Islamic State/ISIL/ISIS) terrorists. The interview came after Twitter blocked US intelligence companies from accessing a service that provides real-time information known as Dataminr after two years of cooperation. Smith, for his part, minced no words when describing Twitter as an effective mechanism for Daesh to coordinate its activities with other terrorist groups. Last week, newly-appointed NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti listed Russia among the challenges NATO faces. On Thursday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia did not present a threat to anyone but would pay attention to actions that are potentially harmful to its interests. The military bloc is due to meet in Warsaw in July, where the 28 member states are expected to lay down a roadmap for the military buildup in the east, including the exact number of troops to be deployed there amid what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has described as a challenging regional security situation. BAKU (Sputnik) Azerbaijan is ready to purchase up to 5 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia annually, the president of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) said Wednesday. "An Azerbaijani state company, SOCAR, has sent to Russia's [energy giant] Gazprom proposals on the purchase of 3 to 5 billion cubic meters of gas annually," Rovnag Ibrahim Abdullayev told journalists. ANKARA (Sputnik) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Wednesday NATO's insufficient military presence in the Black Sea and urged the Alliance to enhance cooperation in the area. "We should enhance our coordination and cooperation in the Black Sea. We hope for concrete results from the NATO summit in Warsaw on July 8, 9 The Black Sea should be turned into the sea of stability. I told the NATO secretary general that you are absent in the Black Sea and that is why it has nearly become a Russian lake. We should perform our duty as we are the countries with access to the Black Sea. If we do not take action, history will not forgive us," Erdogan said in Istanbul. Urbelis voiced this proposal during talks on the security challenges in Eastern Europe with Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defence of Canada John McKay on Tuesday. "While addressing the security situation in the Baltic Sea region V. Urbelis expressed his delight that both Canada and Lithuania were supporters of further NATO transformation and enhancement of collective defence," the press release reads. BEIJING (Sputnik)A Washington Post article published on Monday cited the Pentagon as claiming Russia and China are developing the capability to attack the United States from space. "We have always maintained that space should be used for peaceful purposes. We are bitterly opposed to an arms race in outer space. We urge all countries, especially those with the same capacity, to refrain from doing so," Lu said during a press briefing. The spokesman added that Russia and China, as well as other countries who share their view, took the initiative several years ago to make an agreement on preventing the militarization of outer space. MOSCOW (Sputnik)Earlier in the day, the European Parliament suspended its work on granting Turkish citizens visa-free travel to the European Union, citing Ankaras lack of progress in meeting all the criteria necessary for such a move. The five outstanding criteria include a revision of Turkeys national anti-terrorism law, under which the notion of terrorism includes non-violent political activities something the authorities can exploit to jail dissident journalists and academics. "It is not possible for us to accept any change to the anti-terrorism law," Bozkir told the broadcaster NTV. He argues that the Turkish legislation in its present form does actually meet EU standards, "For me, a man who said so can be white, black or yellow, but he is a soldier in the full sense of this word. He also asked his commander to tell his family that he loves them and that he died for his Fatherland. Anyone who has a heart and loves their country cannot remain indifferent to this story," Tocchi said. He also voiced hope that his initiative will be supported "by all those who are interested in this." "The values we are talking about do not have a nationality. They are just heroes and we must honor them as heroes. And God forbid, if someone comes up with the idea that a Russian hero is less worthy of respect than an Italian hero. We speak of absolute values, and I would like to see my initiative being endorsed by all those interested in it," he added. Tocchi also said that "he would be happy if this special course in September was attended by a Russian officer-paratrooper." MOSCOW (Sputnik) Russian and US military officials on Wednesday held a videoconference call on implementation the bilateral Memorandum on flight safety during combat missions over Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "The sides agreed that the memorandum has proved its high effectiveness since its signing seven months ago [on October 20, 2015]. It has significantly minimized the risks of incidents between Russian aircraft and combat planes of US-led coalition," the ministry's press service said in a statement. According to the statement, Russian and US military officials agreed to hold a fresh video conference on the issue at the end of June, 2016. The United States, South Korea, China, Japan, and Russia make up five parties, which originally convened for Korean unification and nuclear talks with North Korea in 2003. The six party talks collapsed in 2009 after Pyongyang conducted a nuclear test and withdrew from the dialogue. On January 6, Pyongyang claimed it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. The United Nations previously imposed sanctions on North Korea for three tests it carried out in 2006, 2009 and 2013. Pyongyangs January hydrogen bomb test, as well as the launch, a month later, of a long-range rocket to allegedly place a satellite into orbit, in defiance of UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions, led to more sanctions having been imposed on North Korea by the UNSC and the United States. Chen Fengying of the Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Affairs told Sputnik that the issue of market economy status is being used by some companies and their lobbyists to put political pressure on China, but that in any case, the issue of recognition is less important than actual economic development. "I think that some organizations are reckoning on political factors in order to put pressure on China. However, it's absolutely clear that that method of behavior is a synonym for futile efforts." "The market status of China is decided only by China, it's not connected with anybody else's recognition. Today's refusal by the EU to grant the recognition is a kind of disguise of its protectionist politics, caused by a bad period in world trade." "For China it's very clear no market economy means no progress. The Chinese government has very clearly marked out the country's path of development," Fengying said. Mikhail Belyaev, head economist at Russia's Institute of Stock Market and Management, agreed that the opposition of the US and EU to China's demand for market economy status is rooted in political as well as economic considerations. "Of course, there are obvious economic issues, but there is a very strong political component. Politically, the US and Europe, but more the US, want to restrain China's development and its entry into the world economy," Belyaev said. "China is seriously strengthening its position in international financial organizations. The yuan, for example, is included in the IMF's basket of reserve currencies. To restrain China, competitors argue that Chinese companies are dumping their goods. This is one of those cases when the economy is again used by China's competitors to solve their geopolitical problems." WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US authorities should engage with all parties participating in the negotiations to resolve the Syrian crisis, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. "We have to work with the parties, with the support nations of each party, playing a role with that party, to get them to compromise," Kerry stated in in a speech to Oxford Union in London. PARIS (Sputnik) In April, UNESCO released and then adopted the resolution, calling Israel "the Occupying Power" and urging it to "stop all violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif [the Arabic name of a holy site in East Jerusalem]." At the same time the resolution did not include the Israeli name of the site, known as Temple Mount, nor did it reference its role in Jewish culture. "This UNESCO resolution contains unfortunate, clumsy, offending formulations it should have been clearly avoided, as well as the vote on the issue," Valls said in an address to the country's parliament, as quoted by the French Actualite Juive newspaper. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) US Assistant Secretary of State Frank Rose will travel to Romania and Poland on May 12-13 to take part in the launching ceremonies related to the Aegis Ashore missile defense system in the two countries, US Department of State said in a press release. "Rose will serve as the senior State Department representative on the US delegation for events in Romania and Poland, respectively, to mark progress in implementing the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) to missile defense in Europe," the release stated. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Washington Post reported earlier in the week that Frank Rose, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, had expressed concern over "the continued development by Russia and China of anti-satellite weapons." "Indeed, such statements have been made recently by official representatives of the US administration, fairly regularly. Taking them literally and seriously is impossible. After all, any country, including the United States, has the opportunity to address real concerns, if they arise, through established political and diplomatic means," Mikhail Ulyanov told RIA Novosti. The intelligence operatives explained that their goal was to collect information on Cuban extremist and terrorist groups based in South Florida which who planned and executed terrorist attacks against Cuba for decades. "It was a mission to obtain information on these groups and to learn their plans regarding assassinations and wreaking havoc not just in Cuba, but in other corners of the world as well; even in the US, where these groups have also carried out attacks sometimes," Fernando Gonzalez, one of the groups members, said. The so-called Cuban Five Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, and Rene Gonzalez were intelligence officers who were sent to Florida in 1992 to monitor US-based anti-Cuban groups. The Grand River Agricultural Society recently presented three cheques to bolster local community initiatives. The presentations took place at Grand River Raceway, which is owned and operated by GRAS. On April 27, a donation of $2,000 was awarded to the Erin Agricultural Society to build upon and improve their Equine Tent at this years Erin Fair, held in Erin, Ont. According to the EAS, the donation has made improvements possible in many different ways, offering a variety of interesting and educational, horse-related demonstrations and activities all weekend long. The large tent will be focusing on the 350th anniversary of the Canadian Horse and horse-related education and awareness, welcoming visitors for three days of interaction and experimental learning. The tent has been part of the festivities of the Erin Fair for the past five years, and last year over 12,000 people toured the exhibits and demos in the Equine Tent. This years fair takes place October 7 10 at the Erin Fairgrounds. On May 3, the Food Cycle Ride based in Fergus, Ont., was presented with a donation of $1,000. The funding supports the 2016 Food Cycle Ride, a fundraising event for the Centre Wellington Food Bank. The Food Cycle Ride is a bicycle touring event with a choice of country road or trail routes, attended by both local residents and visitors to the region. It offers participants beautiful vistas across farmlands that surround the Grand River. Now in its sixth year, the Food Cycle Ride has raised a net of over $51,000 for the Centre Wellington Food Bank, including $14,600 last year. This money has been used to support the use of the Food Banks Community Kitchen. On May 3, the Wellington County International Plowing Match & Rural Expo (IPM) was presented with a sponsorship for $10,000. The sponsorship proudly supports the 2016 IPM held and hosted in Minto, Ont. September 20 - 24. Hosted by the Ontario Plowmens Association, the prestigious event brings a fresh taste of farming and each year, over the five days, more than 75,000 people attend and participate in the International Plowing Match & Rural Expo. The Grand River Agricultural Society (GRAS) is a not-for-profit corporation, incorporated under the Agricultural and Horticultural Societies Act of Ontario and governed by a volunteer board of directors reporting to OMAFRA. The GRAS mandate is to encourage awareness of agriculture and to promote improvements in the quality of life of persons living in an agricultural community. (GRAS) Trot Insider has learned there will be a celebration of life for Ron Julien, who passed away last month at the age of 69. Julien, a longtime owner and breeder of Standardbreds in British Columbia, passed away on April 23. He is survived by daughters Jenelle and Breanne Julien. There will be a celebration of life for Ron on Sunday, May 15 at Fernridge Hall (2389 200th St., Langley, B.C.) from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m., with a sharing of words at 3:00 p.m. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Ron Julien. Spring chinook angling in the lower Columbia River will reopen Friday through Sunday, then close again, likely until early June. Washington and Oregon officials on Tuesday approved the three days of sport fishing downstream of Bonneville Dam, plus the same three days between Bonneville and the state line, east of Umatilla, Ore. A one-mile sanctuary near the mouth of the Lewis River also was approved to lessen the chances of spring chinook from a very weak run to the North Fork of the Lewis from being caught. The states also adopted a 14-hour commercial season beginning at noon on Wednesday between the ocean and Beacon Rock. The Columbia River Technical Advisory Committee met Monday and agreed the initial forecast of 188,800 spring chinook destined for the upper Columbia and Snake rivers appears on track. The update frees the states from managing with a 30 percent buffer to guard against under forecast or overharvest. Robin Ehlke, Columbia River assistant policy coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said sportsmen in the lower Columbia have 3,236 upper Columbia-Snake-origin chinook available for the rest of the spring season, which ends June 15. She said anglers are expected to catch about 1,800 chinook overall during this weekend and 1,343 upper Columbia-Snake chinook. That would have sportsmen at 83 percent of their allocation. Biologist John North of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said it appears sport fishing could reopen again about June 2 and continue until the start of the summer chinook season on June 16 without exceeding the spring allocation. Liz Hamilton, executive director of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association, said the April 8 closure of spring chinook fishing in the lower Columbia has hurt sales of sport gear. There are millions in cancelled orders right now, Hamilton said. Commercial The net fleet has 1,934 upper Columbia-Snake spring chinook on its allocation. Ehlke said the commercial catch is not expected to exceed 1,400 chinook from 85 deliveries and 1,200 upper Columbia-Snake chinook. That would bring the netters to 76 percent of their allocation. Washington and Oregon adopted the commercial season on less than a days notice. Shad numbers are building in the lower Columbia and make fishing with the live-capture 4.25-inch tangle nets difficult. The mortality of wild chinook getting released increases when the commercials need more time to clear shad from their nets. The states may meet again May 17 to review catches and consider additional fishing. A Columbia County jail levy voters approved in 2014 paid off in much higher arrest rates starting last year, Sheriff Jeff Dickerson reports. But with only one patrol deputy at a time on duty in the county, as is usually the case, it can take a few days before the sheriffs office can respond to non-urgent calls. After years of declining budgets and position cuts due to reduced resources, 2015 was a pivotal year for the Sheriffs Office, Dickerson writes in a statement accompanying his departments 2015 Annual Report. Thanks to the infusion of over $2 million in voter-authorized additional funding, the jail has been brought back from the brink of elimination, the report says. The funding is part of a three-year, $7 million levy voters passed in May 2014. Before the operating levy passed, our jail had become a place where inmates knew they would not serve their sentences, the report says. Criminals knew that only those committing the most serious offenses would be locked up before trial, which resulted in record numbers of no-shows at hearings. However, since last spring, no inmates have been released before their sentences were up because of a lack of jail staff. In 2014, only 24 beds were available and 748 inmates were released early because of a shortage of guards. One hundred beds in the jail are now available for local inmates. The additional funding also allowed the jail staff to double the number of hours of mental health care. This is very helpful because we have seen a significant rise in the number of inmates housed with significant mental health issues, the report says. A lot of them dont belong here, but we dont have any place to put them, Dickerson said in an interview. The jail also houses an average of 60 federal inmates per day who are awaiting adjudication in federal courts in Portland. The sheriffs office is the primary law enforcement agency for the 23,000 people in Columbia County who live outside of incorporated cities. However, the unincorporated area makes up 98 percent of the county geographically. The agency had four full-time patrol deputies in 2015, and generally only one was on duty per shift. The office is hiring a fifth deputy this month. Two marine patrol deputies funding mostly by the state marine board can be used to back up regular deputies. With this staffing level, it can be a few days before less serious calls for help are answered. Every call is followed up by at least a phone call, according to the report. The department also has one full-time detective, though a patrol deputy helps with investigations. The sheriffs office responded to 14,787 calls for service in 2015, compared to 9,224 calls in 2012 and 12,496 calls in 2014. However, the number of DUI arrests has dropped sharply, from 117 in 2013 to 29 last year. Dickerson said deputies are burned out from their regular shifts so the office isnt doing special DUI patrols, which require overtime pay, even though its provided by federal funds. Along with jail staff, the departments canine force increased. In November, the office welcomed a new police dog, Lars, a Belgian Malinois originally from Czechoslovakia. Its the departments first police dog in about a decade, Dickerson said. Dickersons goals for 2016 include further improving operations at the jail, and expanding cooperative efforts with the Clatskanie police department. Clatskanie and the county have discussed having the sheriffs office take over law enforcement within the city, and Dickerson said he expects an agreement will be worked out. Thie project was tied to the Oregon LNG project, which has been withdrawn, and would have enlarged and increased the capacity of the main natural gas pipeline in Western Washington to Woodland and under the Columbia River to Oregon. The project would have adversely impacted many landowners, including those in Cowlitz County. hidden By Asheeta Regidi Recent reports of Facebooks bias against conservative news stories enlisted on its trending list created a huge outcry online. The Indian equivalent of such a situation would be Facebook being found to be biased against one political party, suppressing news articles relating to it, while promoting stories of the opposing political party. If these allegations are true, then Facebook will lose its immunity as an intermediary under the various cyber laws, and can open it up to litigations around the world from affected entities. Intermediary immunity isnt unconditional The law on intermediaries under Indian laws can be found in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (the IT Act). Intermediaries host and provide information provided by third parties. This includes websites such as Facebook, search engines such as Google and even online marketplaces such as Amazon. Some of the information on these sites may be offensive to the recipients of this information. The number of third party entities who upload information on these websites can run into millions. This makes it impossible for an intermediary to monitor all content made available by it. As a result, intermediaries are protected from liability for any offensive or illegal content that may be uploaded onto their site. Effectively, if a reader is unhappy with any content he reads on his Facebook homepage, he cannot hold Facebook responsible for it. His only remedy is to sue the person who uploaded the content onto Facebook in the first place. Of course, the immunity granted to intermediaries is not without the imposition of certain responsibilities. Intermediaries are immune only so long as they play absolutely no role regarding the content available on it. As per Section 79 of the IT Act, the intermediary must not: initiate the transmission of the information, or select the receiver of the transmission, or select or modify the information contained in the transmission. As soon as the intermediary performs any one of these steps, it loses its immunity. This is coupled with several due diligence requirements imposed under the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules, 2011 (the Intermediary Rules). The basis for intermediary immunity is similar under various legislations around the world. For example, Article 12 of the European Unions Directive on E-Commerce similarly protects an intermediary only so long as it does not select, modify or initiate the transmission. Allegations of bias clearly lead to loss of immunity as an intermediary The allegations of bias relate to Facebooks trending news section. This involves a process of selection of popular new stories using an algorithm, a review of the selected stories and then publishing on the trending news section. So long as the selection is completely unbiased, Facebooks immunity remains. The allegations of bias, however, are that Facebook suppresses stories which are conservative in their view, such as stories about the right-wing CPAC gathering, Mitt Romney, and Rand Paul. Yet another report alleged that Facebook censored pro-Trump news and negative Hilary news. This is clear case of selecting and modifying the information contained in the transmission by Facebook, as prohibited under Section 79 of the IT Act. Reports also allege that Facebook restricted the access of users to about 30,322 emails and email attachments sent and received by Hillary Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state. These are instances of selecting the receiver of the transmission. Another accusation is that Facebook artificially injecting stories which were not popular into this section. This is a case of initiating transmission. If the allegations are true, therefore, it is clear that Facebook is playing a major role regarding the content being made available to its users. As a result, it will lose its immunity as an intermediary. Intermediarys right of censorship Under the Intermediary Rules, an intermediary is imposed with certain due diligence requirements. An intermediary can remove certain categories of harmful content, such as content which is offensive, defamatory, illegal, harmful to minors, or which threatens the security of the nation, and so on. This is why Facebook is justified in removing illegal content from the internet on its own account. However, the allegations here involve the removal of political content. Preventing or restricting the access of such political stories can only be justified if it falls under one of the heads, such as a threat to national security. In the absence of this, there can be no justification of a political bias on the part of Facebook. The dangers of political censorship The role social media plays in artificially influencing political viewpoints, particularly around the time of elections, has come into notice for quite some time. It is normal for a person to be biased about their political viewpoints. However, when a company like Facebook, which has the power to shape the views of millions of its users, abuses this power, then there is a lot to worry about. On its part, Facebook has completely denied all allegations of bias. It insists that there are rigorous guidelines in place to ensure neutrality. It also insists that the reviewers play a very limited role, such as putting similar news stories selected by the algorithm under one head. It is possible that the bias has crept in because of the individual bias of the reviewers. However, Facebook cannot be irresponsible about the enforcement of its guidelines. Nothing short of such rigorous guidelines will continue to protect Facebook as an intermediary. The author is a lawyer with a specialisation in cyber laws and has co-authored books on the subject. hidden When the tech giant Microsoft unveiled its AI or artificial intelligence-powered bot on Twitter for a playful chat with the people in March, little did the tech giant realise that the twitterati would begin slamming the innocent bot with racist and offensive comments. Launched as an experiment in "conversational understanding" and to engage people through "casual and playful conversation", Tay was soon taken off Twitter by Microsoft engineers. This was a soft experiment. But what if you can interact with a "chatbot" and send the AI-powered machine your financial requirements like you would text to your banker or chartered accountant in the near future? Facebook wants this to happen and at its F8 global developer conference in April, the social networking giant unveiled AI bots right into its popular messaging app Messenger -- to allow 900 million monthly active users on Messenger to interact with businesses and get updates from them. "We think you should be able to text message a business like you would send to a friend and get a quick response," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the gathering. Sounds fancy, but are chatbots the future of online businesses? "Chatbots as a concept is going to evolve and become meaningful. They will create more opportunities for new companies to explode from nothing into prominence. They will create many new business strategy opportunities. In my opinion, they will play a large role in online business but not every role," explains Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst, Adobe Digital Index. "We as humans are still very visual beings so I see them [chatbots] as part of the digital experience. I also note that when we talk to a machine, we tend to figure out how to speak to it very quickly and tend to ask it more specific questions such as asking for a specific brand in order to guarantee that the response is meaningful," Gaffney told IANS. Digital is entering a new era where technology takes on human qualities. Examples of driverless cars, voice-activated homes and AI-powered chatbots fill our minds with joy, admiration and anticipation. "In reality, our first experiences with 'smart cars' and 'Internet of Things' (IoT) video systems has left us on the rollercoaster of great expectations followed by reliability and technical difficulties. Chatbots are likely to follow the same pattern," Gaffney points out. According to Facebook, there are over 50 million businesses on Messenger and the company is aiming to provide great valuable experiences for users and added value for businesses. Facebook has released a set of tools to allow software developers to create chatbots for the Messenger in partnership with businesses. Chatbots have already been incorporated in some popular messaging services such as China's Wechat. Tech giants like Microsoft and Google are also working to bring this technology to their platforms. "Chatbots will bring the revolution in online and consumer-based industries which deal in the product and service sectors where millions of customers, buyers and sellers interact with limited sales or service executives to resolve their basic queries," notes Anoop Mishra, a Lucknow-based digital marketing and social media strategist. "It will help online businesses overcome the work load of customers or seller support division of the company, resulting in more customer satisfaction if the AI-powered bot is customised and tuned rightly," Mishra told IANS. Facebook has over 30 companies signed up to deploy chatbots on Messenger, including corporations like CNN, eBay, Burger King and Bank of America. "Many other companies are working on it and some of them have released their bots for testing purposes by evaluating its future worth," says Mishra. According to Microsoft's Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella, "bots are the new apps." But for Gaffney, "An app is such an isolated concept". She says that Apps in the future would be transparent. "They will reside as a 'permission' to use artificial intelligence on a particular device but eventually we won't even know which app is driving our experience." It will eventually become seamless for us to use our voice to activate the chatbot. "At first, it will seem clunky and 'app-like' but we are already seeing examples of apps that suddenly appear with a suggestion like how long it is going to take to get home without us even asking. So a chatbot that requires interaction will eventually be replaced by a chatbot that anticipates needs and delivers information as if it were reading your mind," explains the Adobe analyst. According to Mishra, it is too early to predict the serviceableness of chatbots in the industry because it is based on AI which works on the simulation of available words and sentences in a dictionary which is far behind human intelligence. While AI is being integrated into our lives -- with Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa -- there appears a long road ahead for bots. "Eventually, chatbots will be omnipresent but initially, they will be less than perfect. AI has many linguistic and sentiment-oriented programming requirements. Those requirements are going to be different in various regions of a country like India so a universal chatbot that covers the world with glory will be several years away," Gaffney emphasises. Till then, learn to respect chatbots like Microsoft's Tay. These are machines but deserve some compassion so give them a chance to become part of your life. IANS hidden Worried with reports of deaths due to craze for wildlife selfies, conservationists have raised concerns about enthusiasts risking their lives and endangering animals for photographs. "The trend is of people clicking selfies when they spot animals or are holding them and upload on social media. No one should die. As long as its 3D (someone taking a picture with wildlife in the background) it is okay but one shouldn't risk lives. I would suggest don't do it," said Pradeep Vyas, West Bengal's principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden. Conceding he had received reports of certain deaths which allegedly occurred while clicking selfies, Vyas urged youngsters to refrain from putting themselves at risk, at a discussion on 'Role of Civil Society in Wildlife Conservation' organised by Society For Heritage and Ecological Researches (SHER) here on Tuesday. On the same page, conservationist Bittu Sahgal said one should not go for selfies at locations that are out of bounds or could endanger wildlife. "If you are sitting in a jeep and taking a selfie then its fine. There is no harm but risking your life or breaking a rule or endangering animals is not done," said Sahgal, founding-editor of Sanctuary Asia and member of Maharashtra Board for Wildlife. Last year, a councilor was hurled to death by a tusker who charged him as he attempted to click photographs of a herd of elephants at Manikpara in Bengal's West Midnapore district. In February, a baby dolphin died after beachgoers in Argentina passed it around for selfies. IANS tech2 News Staff Foxconn, Apple's biggest contract manufacturer, is in the final phases of scouting for land to set up a manufacturing plant, according to a report in the Economic Times. Foxconn has been interested in locations in Maharashtra for over a year now. The total cost of the project is about $10 billion. The news means that iPhones could soon start to be made in Maharashtra. The manufacturing facility that Foxconn is planning to set up, is reportedly exclusive only for Apple products. The space needed for the unit is 1200 acres. Two or three candidates for the space have been identified, and the deal is in the final round of negotiations. Foxconn is in the process of finalising the deal with the Indian Government. Maharashtra bagged the project after several other State Governments tried to attract Foxconn to their territory. Once the land is obtained, it will take 18 months for the construction of the plant to be completed. Foxconn has huge manufacturing plants in China, which had come under scrutiny for less than ideal working conditions for its thousands of workers. Foxconn manufacturers products for Google, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Motorola, Dell and HP among others. The move could lead to lower production costs. A Made in India tag could attract more Indian customers to Apple products. Sheldon Pinto We recently met up with man behind Yu Televentures and the co-founder of Micromax, Rahul Sharma and there was plenty to chat about. From the company's move of ditching Cyanogen to the rise of the Chinese competition and some future launches, it now appears that there is plenty in store for YU Televentures and Micromax as a whole. Turns out Micromax's Yu will be the next company to shy away from using Cyanogen Inc's mobile operating system. Lenovo CEO recently announced that Micromax no longer holds exclusive rights to Cyanogen OS in India and soon after launched its Lenovo ZUK Z1 smartphone in the country as well. Looks like Yu Televenture's bragging rights over the exclusive Cyanogen OS makes little sense now that the exclusive bit of the deal has ended. With more Chinese competitors jumping on to Cyanogen, Yu already has a plan. The company will be looking at releasing phones with pure Android OS, something it tried with the Yu Yunique last year and even focus on its AroundYU platform as well. "We will not be going with Cyanogen OS in our future devices. They will be shipped with pure Android OS." said Rahul Sharma. "You will be seeing a lot of features on our AroundYU service which will also be present on these phones. We want to concentrate on developing AroundYU platform on our Yu phones to offer even more services. We are working towards that." he added. Oddly, Sharma also claimed that his customers preferred (based on feedback) a pure or vanilla Android as opposed to Cyanogen's slightly tweaked software. This indeed is a move very similar to what OnePlus went ahead with, a few years ago when the exclusive rights to the same was granted to Micromax in India. After the legal tussle OnePlus built its own Android-based OS called OxygenOS for select markets where it could not officially offer the initially planned Cyanogen OS. The OnePlus One was the only smartphone that was allowed to officially run Cyanogen OS. And talking about the Chinese competition, Sharma had plenty to tell us indeed. While the Chinese invasion seems to have settled, the founder admitted that he was impressed by some other their products, "Yes, there was a wave of mobile phone launches from our friends from China and we decided to wait it out. I think most of the big brands from China are already here now and some of them have some really good products." However, he added that such cut-throat pricing is indeed not a good move for the long run, "I feel the low price - high specs game is not sustainable in the long run. And we want to get out of that. Our AroundYU service is a walk in that direction. We have already been investing in startups and content providers since we started the company. And you can see we are using their expertise back in our products. For instance, AroundYU service uses the backend expertise of a lot of the startups we are working with." Obviously, we had to quiz him about future smartphone launches and turns out that there is indeed a complete portfolio of devices that are in the making. "At Yu we are always looking at the future and working. The Yu Yutopia handset, for instance, was one year in the making. Right now we are working on our portfolio which will be introduced during or before Diwali, you can call it our second generation of Yu devices. Yu is expected to launch a flagship smartphone in the country shortly and has begun putting up teasers claiming that it will redefine flagships. With inputs from Nimish Sawant tech2 News Staff Narendra Modi, the tech savvy Prime Minister of India, took to Twitter to greet the citizens of India on the occasion of National Technology Day. The Prime Minister is known for using technology to engage directly with the people he governs. Mann Ki Baat is a monthly radio show and podcast that appraises the nation of current events and what the Prime Minister is working towards. The Prime Minister also launched a collaborative cross platform app for allowing users to get involved in the governance process with different kinds of on ground and on line tasks. A popular category of tasks is voting for symbols and graphics of the people's choice in various official communications. It seemed appropriate for the PM to wish his followers on Twitter on the National Technology Day. https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/730207371721478149 National Technology Day is celebrated on May 11 every year since 1999. The day commemorates three important advancements on the same day in 1999. The first Indigenous Aircraft, the Hansa-3 took to flight in Bangalore. India test detonated three nuclear devices in Pokhran, Rajasthan. This was also the day India test fired the short range surface to air missile and anti sea skimmer Trishul, and inducted it into service. President Pranab Mukherjee will attend celebrations of National Technology Day at the Vigyan Bhavan of the Ministry of Science & Technology today. Every year, there is an event to celebrate indigenous innovations in technology. This year's theme is startups. tech2 News Staff With the booming e-commerce space, there has been a rise in conversational apps. These bring to you the best of what is available online, but what about things that you still rely on local stores for. Well, for that, there's Lookup, available on web, Android and iOS. This startup aims at becoming Google of the offline world. It recommends stores and lets you shop from anywhere nearby and also get the product delivered. It is founded by Deepak Ravindran, a serial entrepreneur whose first stint at building a company was at the age of 17. Lookup is now a team of 90 people working in the several branches spread across four cities namely, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. "Though people may have gotten used to shopping in malls or e-commerce sites, they still run to the local drugstore for stomach flu pills or the BP medication that they run out of. Most of the people were still using the traditional way of calling stores. Once, I stumbled upon my mother who was using Whatsapp to communicate with a store in order to buy groceries. This is when I thought of a solution - What if a message sent before you set out for a shop told you if the pharmacy has that pill in stock or not? Or what if you can take a picture of the doctors prescription with your phone and send it to a nearby shop? And communicate with them without sharing any confidential data like your phone number? Thats how I came up with the main idea of Lookup," explains Ravindran. Lookup gets commission by receiving a share of the revenue through orders from the businesses. It also raised $2.5 million Series A from Vinod Khoslas personal fund Khosla Impact. It has raised a total of $382,000 in seed funding from Kris Gopalakrishnan (co-founder, Infosys), Teruhito Sato (founder,Beenos,Japan), DeNA (Japan) and MKS Switzerland. "Today, local retailers have no way to beat the huge discounts offered by major e-commerce ventures without adapting to better technology. Lookup is the simplest commerce tool which makes these retailers visible online and receive traffic," he adds. Lookup targets households as its primary consumers and also uses emojis on the chat platform to connect with the younger generation. Lookup is now working at making it easy and simple to use the app. "We are building more relevant features in the Lookup Biz App which will empower SMBs to manage their stores online with one tap accesses to payment, logistics and more importantly, Lookups hyperlocal ad network," he further explains. Lookup has also embraced the wave of bot technology. So, around 80 percent chat sessions are handled by buddies (customer support) or the store itself and 20 percent are automated. "Lookup follows the example of the cockpit model of an airplane, wherein some of the operations are automated by the aircraft itself and the rest are manually handled by the pilot, he adds. 88.29 pc pass SSC, equivalent exams The results of this years Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and its equivalent examinations were published on Wednesday, showing a 88.29 percent success rate. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid announced the results at a press briefing at the Secretariat at 1pm. This year, a total of 14,52,605 students, out of 16,45, 201, came out successful in the SSC and its equivalent examinations, said Nahid. Besides, the number of pass rate has increased to 88.29 percent from previous years 87.4 percent. The total number of GPA achievers is 1,09,761 this year which was 1,11,901 last year. Earlier, the minister handed over a copy of the results to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Ganobhaban around 10:15am. The number of the institutions with cent percent pass rate decreased to 4,734 from last years 5,095 while that of institutions with zero success rate came down to 53 from 47 of last year. Some 13,00,284 students, out of 11,53,363 examinees, under the eight general education boards qualified with 88.70 percent pass rate while 2,17,314 students, out of 2,46,336 examinees, under the Madrasah Board passed the examination with 88.22 percent pass rate and 81,928 students out of 98,551 examinees passed under the Vocational Board with 83.11 percent pass rate. Besides, 353 students, out of 395 examinees, passed this years SSC exams under eight overseas centres with 89.37 pass rate. Meanwhile, the pass rate in eight General Education Boards are Dhaka-88.67 percent, Rajshahi-95.70 percent, Comilla-84 percent, Jessore-91.85 percent, Chittagong-90.44 percent, Barisal-79.41 percent, Sylhet-84.77 percent and Dinajpur-89.59 percent. The minister also said his ministry will find out reasons behind zero success rates of those 53 institutions. UNB, Dhaka. State minister Promode Mankin no more UNB, Dhaka: State Minister for Social Welfare Promode Mankin died early Wednesday at a hospital in India. He was 78. The junior minister, who had been undergoing treatment at Holy Family Hospital in Mumbai for lung cancer, breathed his last around 4:25am, said Mainul Islam, senior information officer of the Social Welfare Ministry. Promode Mankin is survived by his wife, five daughters, a son and a host of relatives to mourn his death. He was taken to India on April 21 for better treatment of his lung cancer, diabetic and other diseases, said a Social Welfare Ministry release. His body will be flown to Dhaka by a flight of Jet Airways on Thursday around 11:55am. Later, his mortal remains will be brought to Kakrail Catholic Church around 1:00pm. A prayer session will be held there. Promode Mankins body will be taken to Central Shaheed Minar around 3pm for enabling people from all walks of life to pay their last homage to the late junior minister and Mymensingh Awami League leader. Later, it will be brought to Parliament Complex around 4:30pm. From there, his boy will be flown to his home district Mymensingh and will be laid to rest at his village home at Haluaghat on Friday. Joining Awami League in 1991, Promode Mankin was elected MP from Mymensingh-1 (Haluaghat-Dhobaura constituency) for four times in 1996, 2001, 2008, and 2014 with the party ticket. In 2008, he had served as the State Minister for Cultural Affairs from July 15, 2009 to September 15, 2012. Later, he was made the State Minister for Social Welfare. He was born in a respectable Garo family at Durgapur upazila in Netrakona on April 18, 1939. Later, he migrated to adjacent Haluaghat upazila of Mymensingh. Promode Mankin obtained Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree from Dhaka Notre Dame College in 1963 and LLB from Mymensingh Law College in 1982. He played an important role in the Liberation War in 1971 as an organiser. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina have expressed profound shock at the death of Mankin. They also prayed for the eternal peace of his departed soul and conveyed deep sympathy to the family members of the bereaved. US to switch on European missile shield despite Russian alarm US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Reuters, Bucharest :The United States' European missile defense shield goes live on Thursday almost a decade after Washington proposed protecting NATO from Iranian rockets and despite Russian warnings that the West is threatening the peace in central Europe.Amid high Russia-West tension, U.S. and NATO officials will declare operational the shield at a remote air base in Deveselu, Romania, after years of planning, billions of dollars in investment and failed attempts to assuage Russian concerns that the shield could be used against Moscow."We now have the capability to protect NATO in Europe," said Robert Bell, a NATO-based envoy of U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter. "The Iranians are increasing their capabilities and we have to be ahead of that. The system is not aimed against Russia," he told reporters, adding that the system will soon be handed over to NATO command.The United States will also start construction on a second site in Poland on Friday that is due to be ready in 2018, giving NATO a permanent, round-the-clock shield in addition to radars and ships already in the Mediterranean.Russia is incensed at such of show of force by its Cold War rival in formerly communist-ruled eastern Europe where it once held sway. Moscow says the U.S.-led alliance is trying to encircle it close to the strategically important Black Sea, home to a Russian naval fleet and where NATO is also considering increasing patrols.The readying of the shield also comes as NATO prepares a new deterrent in Poland and the Baltics, following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea. In response, Russia is reinforcing its western and southern flanks with three new divisions.Despite U.S. assurances, the Kremlin says the missile shield's real aim is to neutralize Moscow's nuclear arsenal long enough for the United States to make a first strike on Russia in the event of war.The shield relies on radars to detect a ballistic missile launch into space. Tracking sensors then measure the rocket's trajectory and intercept and destroy it in space, before it re-enters the earth's atmosphere. The interceptors can be fired from ships or ground sites.The Russian ambassador to Denmark warned a year ago that Danish warships would become targets for Russian nuclear missiles if Denmark joined the shield project by installing radars on its vessels. Denmark is upgrading at least one frigate to house a ballistic missile sensor.Turkey is already hosting a U.S. radar and the Netherlands has equipped ships with radars. The United States also has four ships in Spain as part of the defenses, while all NATO nations are contributing funding. BB praises City Bank for agri loan disbursement Mashrur Arefin, Additional Managing Director of City Bank receives a \"Letter of Appreciation\" from S.K. Sur Chowdhury, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Wednesday. BB awarded city bank for achieving disbursement target of Agricultural and Rural Economic Reporter : Bangladesh Bank has awarded a "Letter of Appreciation" to City Bank for achieving disbursement target of Agricultural and Rural Credit for the fiscal year 2014-2015, according to a press release. Mashrur Arefin,Additional Managing Director of City Bank received the award from S.K. Sur Chowdhury, Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank at a simple ceremony on Wednesday. Also present at the event were Subhankar Saha, Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank and M. K. Rasedul Hasan, Acting Head of SME & Agribusiness value center of City Bank. City Bank is confident to achieve the disbursement target of Agricultural and Rural Credit for the fiscal year 2015-2016 as well, the press release said. The newly appointed Chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission Dr Mohammad Sadiq paid a courtesy call on President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban on Tuesday. Photo: Press Wing, Bangabhaban RANGPUR: Vice-President of District Corruption Prevention Committee Dr Nasima Akther addressing an anti-corruption coordination meeting at Mominpur Union Parishad Hall Room in Rangpur Sadar Upazila on Tuesday. There is nothing left for ceasefire and restore peace in Syria PARTIES have gathered in Paris this time to re-launch a ceasefire between embattled groups in Syria and give a chance to peace again after the Aleppo debacle that destroyed the previous peace process. Representatives of Britain, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and EU joined hands again to end the stalemate. Their Monday's meeting in Paris sharing a platform of 'Friends of Syria' refocused on efforts to break the impasse. US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris for the talks with moderate rival leaders in which his French counterpart, Jean-Marc Ayrault will also join. But it is not clear whether the Russian Foreign Minister is also joining the meet. They have power to destroy but they must use their power now to save a nation disintegrating in a prolonged war. The US and Russia, who support rival sides in Syria's civil war must work to revive a February "cessation of hostilities" agreement that reduced fighting in parts of the country for several weeks. Against this backdrop of renewed diplomacy, Syria's state news agency SANA said, quoting the military high command, that a ceasefire in the embattled northern city of Aleppo would be extended by 48 hours from Tuesday. The efforts in Paris came on the same day that forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fought the rebels near Aleppo and jets carried out raids around a nearby town. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said warplanes struck the town of Khan Touman, southwest of Aleppo. Rebels also fought government forces east of Damascus and fighter jet struck the rebel-held towns at other places. Piecemeal efforts to kick start peace in Syria are nothing new. They establish, at the most, hours or days of cessation of hostilities, temporary relief for those living in besieged towns, a chance for peace and quiet for a few days, maybe a release of some prisoners. But they do nothing to resolve the principal cause of the conflict - the restoration of democracy in Syria and the removal of the authoritarian Bashar al-Assad regime. Both Russia and the US governments will have to accept the truth that Syria belongs to its people and not to those who have captured power buying up army and police who betrayed with the people. It is most unfortunate that the big powers have shown more interest in maintaining their influence and allowed the Syrian people to die in thousands and flee their own country. Syria is the worst example how big power interests could be implemented most inhumanly. Our appeal to both Russia and the US that they have to save Syrian people and not Bashar al-Assad who has no legitimacy to rule Syria. He deserves to be tried for genocide. But it will be all right if he is allowed to leave the country safely. Only then there will be peace for the Syrian people. Please save the Syrian people from holocaust. Boro growers must get fair price BORO farmers are selling their produce at least at Tk 5.0 less per kg in the market than their production cost. The government announcement said it would pay Tk 23 for per kg of un-husked rice or Tk 920 per maund (40 kg) but the absence of the promised price support to farmers is forcing them to sell between Tk 600 and Tk 720 per maund. It is not affordable by farmers anyway. The situation could have significantly improved if the government announced Boro procurement drives were already launched as scheduled on May 5 but its whereabouts is still not in sight. There may be many reasons but nexus between the food officials who will press the procurement drive and the millers and middlemen is most talked-about in this case to delay the procurement drive. It allows them to buy at low cost at early season and then sell to the government at the officially scheduled prices making enormous profits. A local daily on Wednesday reported on farmers' failure to recover cost of production and blamed the vague announcement of the procurement plan without specifying the modalities. In fact, these are the loopholes, which play in the hands of dishonest officials and traders to betray farmers. It is an open secret that farming has become costlier now due to high cost of agricultural workers, seeds, fertilizers and irrigation resulting from higher cost of diesel. We know the government offers price support to farmers through public procurement drives to keep farmers in farming. This is important for protecting rural employment and to ensure the nation's food security. But failing to launch the procurement drive in time is causing enormous loss to farmers who are failing to hold their stock because they have to sell it to pay other liabilities. It is true that farmers achieved a bumper Boro production this season but a plunge in its price is denying them the due benefit. In our view the government must launch an investigation why the Boro procurement now for un-husked paddy has not started yet and those responsible for it must be punished. We can't allow dishonest people to play foul with the fate of the poor rice growers who feed the nation. It is also time for caution that the government should not allow any more import of cheaper rice from India; which they are dumping in Bangladesh market with the help of some of their local agents to clear their stock. But this in turn is forcing local farmers to sell their produce below their cost of production. In our view rice is not only a commodity for trading, it is linked to keep the rural economy vibrant and we must have a far-reaching policy to protect farmers in greater national interest. Jamaat-Shibir men clash with cops, BCL men in Ctg, Rajshahi Staff Reporter :Leaders and workers of Jamaat-e-Islami and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir on Wednesday clashed with the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and police in Chittagong and Rajshahi over holding Gayebana Janaza for executed war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami.However, no untoward incident took place in the capital Dhaka during Nizami's Gayebana Janaza at Baitul Mukarram mosque. Leaders and activists of Jamaat and Chhatra Shibir took part in the Gayebana Janaza amid tight security. After the janaja the Jamaat-Shibir leaders and activists flashed V-sign and left the mosque chanting slogan 'Narae Takbeer' and 'Allah Hu Akbar.' In Chittagong, police fired several rounds of blank gunshots when the Jamaat-Shibir activists pelted stones and brick chunks to the BCL men on Chittagong College campus at about 1:45pm. When the BCL men took position there to prevent the Jamaat-Shibir men from holding Gayebana Janaza, Jamaat-Shibir activists chased them and started pelting stones in presence of police. Our Chittagong Bureau adds: The Gayebana Janeza of Nizami was held at Chittagong Parade Ground on Wednesday afternoon. During the janaza, a number of Chatra Shibir activists entered the Parade Ground firing blank shots and left the venue soon after janaza prayers. Following the incident, the traffic movement in the area came to a halt and all the roadside shops remained shut. As Jamaat yesterday morning declared that they would hold Gayebana Janaza of Nizami after Zohr prayer at parade ground the BCL activists took position outside the ground in a bid to foil it.In Rajshahi, police opened fire on activists of Jamaat-Shibir when they pelted stones and brick chunks to the law enforcers near Hetemkha graveyard in the city.The Jamaat-Shibir men locked into a clash with police near Hetemkha graveyard in the city after holding a gayebana janaza, said Iftekhair Alam, Assistant Commissioner of Rajshahi Metropolitan Police.The law enforcers opened fire when the activists attacked them hurling brick chunks, the Assistant Commissioner said.Police picked up five activists from the scene.Meanwhile, protesting the execution of its ameer and war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami, Jamaat-e-Islami has called a 24-hour countrywide hartal for today (Thursday) to protest what it called 'planned killing' of Nizami by the government.In a statement which was published in Jamaat's website within one hour after the hanging of 73-year-old Jamaat leader in Dhaka Central Jail at 12:10am.After long six years of trial, country's top war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami was hanged in the early hours of Wednesday for the horrendous crimes he had committed against humanity during the Liberation War in 1971 to thwart Bangladesh's independence.Escorted by law enforcers, a hearse carrying the body of executed war criminal started for his village home at Manmathpur in Santhia Upazila of Pabna around 1:31 am. He was later buried at his village graveyard.With the latest execution, five war criminals have so far been executed, while two others - Jamaat leader Ghulam Azam and BNP leader Abdul Alim who had been sentenced to imprisonment unto death - died in jail. Rohingya not 'Bengalis' Many Rohingya people are forced to live in camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine state in western Myanmar. Internet photo AP, Yangon : Myanmar and the United States appeared to agree to disagree on Tuesday on what to call the Southeast Asian nation's beleaguered Muslim minority that Washington and most of the world know as Rohingya. Many Buddhists inside Myanmar prefer to call them "Bengalis", arguing that the one million or so members of the minority are mostly illegal immigrants and not a native ethnic group. In fact, the families of many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations. US Ambassador Scot Marciel said the US calls communities by the name they themselves prefer. "The normal US practice and the normal international practice is that communities anywhere have the right, or have the ability to decide what they are going to be called. And normally when that happens, we would call them what they asked to be called. It's not a political decision, it's just a normal practice." Because Myanmar does not officially recognise the Rohingya as an ethnic group, it denies most of them citizenship and basic rights. Conflict over land and resources in the western state of Rakhine, where most of the estimated 1 million Rohingya live, caused deadly violence between Buddhists and Muslims which later spread to other parts of the country. More than 100,000 Rohingya were forced to flee their homes and now live in poor conditions in decrepit camps. Marciel declined to say whether, as reported, the country's foreign minister and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi had personally asked him not to use the term. "I prefer not to publicly talk about private diplomatic conversations," he said.Suu Kyi, who won international admiration and a Nobel Peace Prize for her non-violent struggle for democracy during Myanmar's years of military rule, has in recent years disappointed many former fans by failing to speak on behalf of the Rohingya. Despite international expressions of concern, Myanmar's previous military-backed government, which handed over power this year to Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, did nothing to ease the Rohingya's plight. Myanmar foreign ministry official Aye Aye Soe acknowledged Tuesday that her office had asked Marciel not to use the term "Rohingya". She said Marciel has the right to call the minority whatever he likes, but calling them Rohingya could enflame communal tensions. "Yes, it is true that we told Ambassador Scot Marciel when he came to (Myanmar's capital) Naypyitaw not to use the term 'Rohingya' because it is not supportive in solving the problem that is happening in Rakhine state," said Aye Aye Soe, deputy director general of the ministry's political department . "And it can even worsen the situation there." "This is his right to say or call whatever he wants, but this is not leading to a solution of the problems," she said. "People are just fighting over this term instead of solving the problem. This can make things difficult for the two communities in Rakhine to gain trust again." A nationalist movement spearheaded by Buddhist monks has gained political influence by stirring up prejudice against Rohingya and Muslims in general.Last month Buddhist monks joined several hundred protesters outside the US Embassy in Myanmar to demand it stop using the term "Rohingya". The embassy had used the word earlier in a statement of concern about their situation after dozens died when a boat they were on capsized. 4,734 schools achieve 100pc pass rate Staff Reporter : The institution of the 100 percent pass rate decreased this year's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations. A total of 4,734 educational institutions achieved 100 percent pass rate in this year's SSC and equivalent examinations, while the number was 5,095 last year. Of them, 557 institutions are from Dhaka, 800 from Rajshahi, 119 from Comilla, 357 from Jessore, 88 from Chittagong, 79 from Barisal, 62 from Sylhet, 269 from Dinajpur, while 2134 are under Madrasa Board and 269 under Bangladesh Technical Education Board (BTEB). Bombings kill 88 in Baghdad ISIS claims responsibility for 3 explosions INDEPENDENT : ISIS has killed more than 80 people in a trio of explosions in Baghdad targeting Shia districts and police officers. At least 63 people died when a car bomb was disguised as a fruit and vegetable stall in a packed market on Wednesday morning, and two car bombs later in the day left another 25 dead. The terrorist group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a security checkpoint in the Iraqi capital's Kadhimiya neighborhood, killing 18 - including five police officers - and wounding 34. The area is regarded as holy for Shias and houses a mosque at the site of two imams' graves. ISIS also said it was behind a third blast at a checkpoint in a commercial thoroughfare in the Jamiya district, which left seven dead and wounded 22.The first blast hit a crowded outdoor market in a predominantly Shia area of the Iraqi capital's Sadr City district, ripping through nearby buildings and leaving cars riddled with shrapnel. The explosion at around 10am local time (8am BST) set nearby shops on fire including a beauty salon, where several brides were believed to be getting ready for their weddings. Police and medical officials said at least 63 people were killed and 78 wounded. There were fears the death toll would rise as many victims remained in a serious or critical condition. Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer, said the bomb was concealed inside a pick-up truck loaded with fruit and vegetables. He said it was parked by a man who quickly disappeared among the crowds of people. "It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," he told the Associated Press. "The force of the explosion threw me for meters and I lost conscious for a few minutes." ISIS released an online statement claiming it had targeted a gathering of Shia fighters in the attack. The terror group has carried out numerous similar massacres in recent month as it continues to control swathes of northern and western Iraq, where it is being pushed back by Iraqi forces, Shia militias and the Popular Mobilisation Forces. Barack Obama has hailed the recapture of around 40 per cent of former ISIS territory in the country but terror attacks in the capital and elsewhere have continued unabated. On 2 May, the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing 18 Shia pilgrims in another car bombing in Baghdad, while a double explosion had killed more than 30 people in the Iraq city of Samawah the previous day. Sadr City has seen several rounds of fighting since the Iraq invasion in 2003, with terror attacks rising since a vehicle bomb blast that killed more than 60 civilians in 2009. In February, ISIS carried out devastating back-to-back market bombings in the district, killing at least 73 people. The Sunni jihadist group has declared Shia Muslims apostates and has targeted them in bombings at mosques, markets and on pilgrimages in several countries. Sadr City is named after the father of a controversial Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters stormed Iraq's parliament buildings and highly protected Green Zone last month. Public anger continued after Wednesday's bombings, when demonstrators at the scene of the massacre blamed the government for the carnage. "The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," a man named Abu Ali told the AFP news agency: "The politicians are behind the explosion." The UN's Special Representative for Iraq, Jan Kubis, warned last week that a political deadlock and civil unrest threatened to undermine progress and urged Iraqi authorities not to underestimate a "formidable and determined enemy". According to the United Nations at least 741 Iraqis, including more than 400 civilians, were killed in April and 1,374 wounded due to the ongoing violence. Illegal occupation by syndicate Kamruzzaman Bablu : Railway property of crores of taka across the country is still under illegal occupation, which the railway administration has been unable to recover due to obstructions given by the influential people having political link. Railway sources said, Bangladesh Railway has a total of 61,860.35 acres of land in the country. Of the total land, the East Zone owns 24,440.93 acres and the West Zone holds 37,419.42 acres. And a total of 115.70 acres of land on the Tongi-Narayanganj section has been grabbed by different organizations and influential persons having political connection. A railway inquiry reveals that nearly 50 acres of railway land is occupied in Narayanganj only. Thousands of slums and other structures have been constructed on 10 acres of land, while the remaining land is used as bus, gas and laguna stands. Railway sources further said, the railway's eviction attempts for 12 to 15 times were foiled by the occupants. Thousands of illegal slums, markets, shops and multistoried buildings have been constructed on both sides of the rail line from Airport Station to Saydabad level crossing, and at Jurain and Postagola. At Anandabazar in the city, 2.87 acres of railway land witnesses illegal constructions, from single to seven-storied buildings. Local Bonik Samity took lease of the land in 1974. "We are regularly paying rent to the authority," said Solaiman Mia, President of the Jurain New Super Market Traders' Association. We have filled up the low land and built the market. But when he was asked, who is the authority of the land? He avoided the question. Another leader of the said association told this correspondent on condition of anonymity that they had spent nearly Tk four crore to take possession of the land. He claimed that the occupants were powerful enough to stop the evection drives several times. "About 15 to 20 eviction attempts were taken by the estate department of the railway, but every time it failed," the leader claimed. When contacted, Railway Minister Mujibul Haque said, there are progress in retrieving the grabbed property. "We will make the railway property occupation-free gradually." "We cannot work fast as the grabbers filed a number of cases claiming the ownership." The larger portion of the grabbed land, nearly 3378.22 acres, is under non-governmental organizations and individuals occupation, according to the railway ministry. "We are also mulling to conduct combined operation with the help of law enforcers," an official said. A large market has been constructed at Tejgaon by grabbing Railway land. The market has more than 400 shops with the blessings of some political leaders. The railway ministry, along with the Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Annisul Huq, failed to retrieve the railway land at Tejgaon in 2015. Slums have been occupying land on both sides of the rail line from Karwan Bazar to Tejgaon for last 24 years. Three illegal markets, including one in the name of freedom fighters' association have been set up. In addition, Maghbazar Wireless Gate railway property was grabbed nearly 24 years ago. The 3.30 acres of land in the area has slums and different types of shops. Another three acres of land in Tongi Boubazar area has been grabbed by way of building markets there. There are 200 shops built on the east side of Tongi station. Dhaka Railway Estate Officer Md Shahadat Hossain said that they were unable to regain the possession of the railway plots due to lack of adequate manpower and equipment. Railway Secretary M Firoz Salahuddin said, "Railway has taken a number of projects at private level to minimize its losses." Pakistan terms Nizami`s execution unfortunate Staff Reporter :Pakistan on Wednesday termed the execution of top war criminal Motiur Rahman Nizami 'unfortunate,' a day after Dhaka told Islamabad "not to meddle in Bangladesh's internal affairs."In a statement floated yesterday, Pakistan's foreign ministry said the country is "deeply saddened over the hanging of the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami."Pakistan is deeply saddened over the hanging of the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Mr. Moti-ur-Rehman Nizami, for the alleged crimes committed before December 1971. His only sin was upholding the constitution and laws of Pakistan.The act of suppressing the opposition by killing their leaders through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy. The execution is also unfortunate for the people of Bangladesh who had elected Mr. Nizami as their representative in the Parliament.Ever since the beginning of the trials, several international organizations, human rights groups and international legal figures have raised objections to the court proceedings, especially regarding fairness and transparency, as well as reported harassment of lawyers and witnesses representing the accused. The international community has objected to the steps taken by Government of Bangladesh to impose restrictions on the independence of judiciary.As part of the 1974 tripartite agreement, the Government of Bangladesh "decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency". The Government of Bangladesh therefore should uphold its commitments as per the agreement." Pakistan offers condolences to the "bereaved family members and the followers of Nizami." ACC arrests 4 more graft suspects UNB, Dhaka :The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday arrested four more graft suspects from different parts of the country in separate graft cases.ACC assistant director of its Mymensingh Zila office Md Nur Alam arrested warehouse keeper of Bangladesh Krishi Bank Sohrab Hossain from Mymensingh in a graft case, ACC public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told UNB. The case was filed against him for embezzlement ofonion worth Tk 3 lakh from a warehouse of the bank located at Tarakanda upazila in Mymensingh.Nur Alam also detained Khalequzzaman Chunnu, a former sergeant of Bangladesh Army, from Kishoregani in a Tk-two lakh embezzlement case. ACC assistant director Samar Kumar Jha of Tangail Zila office arrested deed writer Zahirul Islam for allegedly preparing fake deeds. ACC deputy assistant director of Dinajpur office Md Kamruzzaman apprehended Alam Hossain, an employee of Padma Islami Life Insurance Limited, from Dinajpur for allegedly swindling out 21.2 lakh from the insurance company. IU teacher, driver killed in road accident Jhenaidah Correspondent :A Professor of Al Hadith Department in Islamic University and renowned Islamic researcher Dr. Abdullah Jahangir (58) and his driver were killed in a road accident in Magura when a truck from the opposite direction hit his car on Wednesday morning. Jahangir was the son of late Anwaruzzaman Master of Naraharidra village in Jhenaidah Sadar Upazila.Family sources said, Abdullah Jahangir in his private car was going to Dhaka. At about 8.00 AM when the car reached near Magura town, it met a head on collusion with a truck that left Abdullah Jahangir and his driver killed on spot. After completion of education in Riad University, Abdullah started his carrier as a teacher there. Later he joined the Islamic University. He established a number of religious education centres in Jhenaidah.Magura Sadar Police Station Officer in Charge Azmal Huda said, the bodies will be handed over to the family members after completion of the post mortem in Magura Sadar Hospital. Increase of skilled manpower suggested Anisul Islam Noor : The importance of technical education is immense in a country's economic development. For this, a change in the mindset for increasing skilled manpower in the country is necessary to build Bangladesh as one of the middle income countries, said AKMA Hamid, President of the Central Executive Committee of the Institute of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB). Talking with The New Nation, IDEB President said, we need to create more skilled and technical manpower if we want to improve our per capita income and if we want to achieve the target of becoming middle income country by 2021. He said, sadly Bangladesh stands 6th in seven South Asian countries in this respect. Giving example, he said, about six lakh Indian citizens, who are technically skilled, work in Bangladesh's different sectors and are paid higher salaries. The situation will be worse if immediate initiative is not taken to expand technical education across the country, he said. More than 12 crore people, that means 71 percent of total population will be working manpower in Bangladesh by 2030 according to a report published in World Human Capital 2015. But till now, importance has not been attached to technical education here. In the national budget, education sector does not get priority. In 2012 national budget, 2.3 percent of the development budget was allocated for education sector and 0.032 per cent thereof was allocated for technical education. It was lowest in the Asia Pacific region countries. In contrast, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman allocated 7.09 percent of the development budget in the education sector. The same year, India allocated 3.2 percent of the national budget in the education sector, Pakistan 2.9 percent, Indonesia 3.7 percent, Malaysia 4.5 percent, Australia 3.4 percent and Japan 4.9 percent. The tiny allocation is surely a barrier to the creation of skilled manpower in the country, said AKMA Hamid. That is why poor contribution of labour force is seen in the national productivity level. It is US $111 Bangladesh, $183 in India, $2661 in Malaysia and $10794 in Japan. Bangladesh is far behind in this respect also. A golden opportunity will come for Bangladesh in 2030, when working people will be 71 percent of total population. Such opportunity approaches once in a century for a nation. After that the number of the working people will begin to fall, he opined. To make up skilled manpower, Hamid emphasized on increased budgetary allocation for education sector, specially on technical education to fill up the 70 percent vacant posts of teacher in 49 government polytechnic colleges, strengthen 64 polytechnic schools and colleges in district headquarters, introduce technical education subjects in the existing schools and colleges in the country from the upcoming budget, otherwise it will be late in plan to make skilled manpower, he assumed. As polytechnic graduate organization, IDEB will place strongly the issue of developing skilled manpower to nation by the 21st National Conference of Institute of Diploma Engineers which begins today and will continue till May 14. The slogan of the conference is selected as "Technology and proficiency will bring freedom and prosperity to working population." Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the conference at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre. About 5,000 delegates, including teachers and students, from different areas of the country will participate in the two-day conference. Besides, delegations from SAARC countries, Australia, Philippines, USA and Middle East will participate. IDEB will reward three distinguished persons for their significant contributions to different areas. They are Engineer Md Ohidun Nabi (posthumous) for Teesta Barrage, Engineer M A Gofran for renewable energy and Mamunur Rashid for cultural field. The IDEB President suggested converting human resources in expanding technical education. UN assures of recruiting more police from BD BSS, Dhaka : In the wake of playing an appreciating role by Bangladesh's peacekeepers in Darfur and Sudan in peacekeeping as well as protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian aid and helping political process, the United Nations (UN) has assured of recruiting more police personnel from Bangladesh. Assurance came at a recent meeting of African Union-United Nations (AU-UN) Special Representative for Head of African Union-United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) and Joint Chief Mediator Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi with a visiting Bangladesh delegation led by senior secretary of home ministry Dr Mozammel Haque Khan. During the meeting, the UNAMID officials praised Bangladeshi police for their competence and professionalism in peacekeeping missions and assured of recruiting more police from Bangladesh. The delegation paid a courtesy call on UNAMID Police Commissioner Priscilla and Deputy Police Commissioner Frank Kwofie Sammy. Talking to BSS yesterday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said, "Bangladesh's peacekeepers have built their image through their sincere and excellent competence in peacekeeping under the UN. He said Bangladesh police earned the trust and respect from associating peacekeepers of the UN showing competence and professionalism. "Now Bangladesh has achieved a bright image in peacekeeping due to the bold and dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Asaduzzaman Khan said. He said Bangladesh has received an offer for some key appointments in the peacekeeping missions including at the UN headquarters in New York as the government showed zero tolerance toward terrorism and violent extremism, which are also global challenges. Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque said Bangladesh police is working in the UN peacekeeping missions with high standard of professionalism and integrity. "Bangladesh has already proposed increasing individual police officers (IPO) and formed police unit (FPU) in the UN peacekeeping missions," he said. Bangladesh Police introduced a French language course for police personnel so that police can share their working atmosphere with the UN officers as well as other peacekeepers easily, Shahidul Hoque said. Currently 1,111 police personnel are working in peacekeeping mission in eight countries maintaining international standard and professionalism. They have been protecting civilians, facilitating humanitarian aid and helping political process in Darfu and Sudan. According to the Centre for Research Information (CRI), Bangladesh stepped into the family of "Blue Helmet" through participation in UNIIMOG (Iraq-Iran) in 1988 with 15 military observers from Bangladesh Army. Bangladesh Navy and Bangladesh Air Force joined the UN Peacekeeping Operation (UNPKO) in 1993, while Bangladesh Police joined in 1989. The face is one of the first places that shows signs of aging. Fine lines and wrinkles can appear as early as your twenties, and by the time you reach your forties, you may start to see more pronounced changes such as sagging skin and deeper creases. But did you know that the face shape can also affect how you age? How Face Shape Affects the Aging Process The shape of your face can impact the aging process in a few different ways. First, certain face shapes are more susceptible to sagging skin and wrinkles due to gravity. Second, the thickness of your skin can also affect how quickly fine lines and wrinkles appear. And finally, the placement of your features can also play a role in the aging process. Different Face Shapes and How They Age There are seven different face shapes: oval, round, square, oblong, heart, diamond, and pear. Each face shape ages differently due to the inherent characteristics of that particular shape. Oval Oval faces are considered to be the ideal face shape because they are well-proportioned and tend to age very well. The skin on oval faces is of medium thickness, which allows it to retain its elasticity and resist wrinkles and sagging skin for a longer period of time. Round Round faces tend to age a bit quicker than oval faces because the skin on round faces is thinner and not as resistant to gravity. Additionally, round faces tend to have fuller cheeks, which can sag over time. Square Square faces are similar to round faces in that they also have thinner skin that tends to age quicker. However, square faces are less susceptible to sagging cheeks since the cheekbones are more pronounced. Instead, square faces tend to develop wrinkles around the mouth and eyes. Oblong Oblong faces have a longer shape with less width, which can cause the skin to sag and wrinkles to form around the mouth and eyes. Additionally, the thinner skin on oblong faces makes them more susceptible to sun damage, which can further accelerate the aging process. Heart Heart-shaped faces are characterized by a wide forehead and narrow chin. This face shape ages well overall, but the skin around the chin is thinner and can sag over time. Diamond Diamond-shaped faces have a narrow forehead and chin with wider cheekbones. This face shape also has thinner skin, which can cause wrinkles to form around the mouth and eyes. Additionally, the thinner skin around the chin can cause it to sag over time. Pear Pear-shaped faces are characterized by a narrow forehead and wide chin. This face shape is similar to diamond-shaped faces in that it has thinner skin and can experience wrinkles around the mouth and eyes. However, pear-shaped faces are less susceptible to sagging skin since the chin is not as pronounced. So, which face shape ages the worst? While there is no definitive answer, square, oblong, and diamond-shaped faces tend to show signs of aging sooner than other face shapes. This is due to the thinner skin and less pronounced features of these face shapes. However, all face shapes will eventually show signs of aging. The best way to combat the aging process is to take care of your skin by cleansing, exfoliating, and moisturizing on a regular basis. You should also wear sunscreen every day to protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sun. By following these simple steps, you can help keep your skin looking its best no matter what face shape you have. Amid mounting speculation that a private equity firm has stepped in to purchase Knight Oil Tools massive debt at a discount comes confirmation from sources close to the situation that Lafayette businessman Wayne Elmore has stepped into a prominent role at the troubled oilfield services firm. The former banker/media executive did not return ABiz messages left on his voicemail at the companys Lafayette office. ABizs February phone call to the company about its financial problems was transferred to Jeff Elmore, Waynes son who is a local attorney. Its unclear what role either Elmore is playing at the company, though sources say the Elmore connection is likely tied to their relationship with Kelley Knight Sobiesk, one of the three sibling owners of Knight Oil Tools, along with their mother, Ann Knight. Wayne Elmore Wayne Elmore, who has no known experience in the oil services sector, spent most of his career as a top executive of Communications Corporation of America (or Comcorp), which was once a small-market radio and television station group co-owned by Tom Galloway. After emerging from bankruptcy in 2007, Comcorp sold all of its assets a couple of years ago. Close observers of the Knight saga and others with limited knowledge of the goings-on there believe that Wayne Elmore, whose business practices especially those related to the local school system's group health plan have been called into question by this publication, was brought in as a consultant because of his background in banking. He is the former president of Commerce and Energy Bank, which was founded in 1981 and purchased in 1989 by MidSouth Bank after it was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation during the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. From a management perspective, the company has been in shambles since late 2014 and underwent another major management shakeup over the past several months, dismissing President and CEO Earl Blackwell and other top officials. Once a thriving global entity oilfield sources believe may have been worth $1 billion only a few years ago, Knight Oil Tools has been on a steep decline due to internal strife among its family member owners and falling oil prices that left the company buckling under its massive debt. On the family side, former President and CEO Mark Knight (whom Blackwell had replaced in late 2014) stands accused of masterminding a scheme to plant illegal drugs on the vehicle of his brother, Bryan, and conspiring with others to have Bryan arrested so that he could be forced out to the lucrative family business. All have pleaded not guilty in the alleged plot. Some of the companys debt problems first came to light in court documents filed in December by Bryan Knight in his federal lawsuit against Mark and his alleged co-conspirators: Most recently, after it became apparent that new capital would be required to be infused into Knight Oil because of Marks lavish spending, mismanagement and theft of corporate assets, Mark Knight refused to allow investors to conduct their due diligence unless [Bryan Knight] dismissed his suit against him. A rental and fishing tool company that once fiercely guarded its privacy, Knight has more than 50 domestic and international locations, according to its website. Jeff Elmore ABiz has been unable to confirm speculation in some financial circles that Clearlake Capital Group, a California-based private investment firm, has negotiated a deal to buy Knights debt from its lenders debt estimated at upwards of $200 million and assume a majority ownership position in the company. Sources say Knight began exploring strategic alternatives, including a sale of the company, at some point last year, but was not able to find a buyer largely due to its negative cash flow. The company did manage to unload some assets, a source confirms, but the situation worsened to the point that it contemplated bankruptcy. Social media, of all places, appeared to confirm the severity of the company's financial situation. ABiz readers might recall this Dec. 31 Facebook post from Mark Knights daughter, which read, in part: My father was targeted, defaced, set-up, and criminalized as a result of this plot. Now, his brother and sister have had control of the company for an entire year and have brought it from a very profitable company, a pillar of the community, and the largest privately held rental and fishing tool company in the world to a company on the verge of bankruptcy. Knight Oil Tools no longer employs any of the Knight family and can no longer be considered a family company. Clearlake Capital officials declined comment for this story, as did Wells Fargo, which sources tell ABiz holds a large portion of the debt. A local source with knowledge of Clearlakes operations says the firm has been in Lafayette, but its not clear whether its presence here is tied to Knight or other opportunities that are surely presenting themselves in this down oilfield cycle. Clearlake, which has more than $3.5 billion of assets under management, did announce a similar deal with a Texas-based oilfield service company in March, confirming that it had led the successful recapitalization of Globe Energy Services in partnership with the companys management team and other stakeholders. Terms of that transaction were not disclosed in Clearlakes press release. Nothing between Clearlake Capital and Knights loan holders has been recorded in the Lafayette Parish Clerk of Courts office to indicate that the transaction was finalized, but one source tells ABiz the absence of a filing in itself does not necessarily mean that the transaction has not been finalized. This would be a complex transaction, and depending on the form that it took, there might not be a new filing, says a source who at one time had a close relationship with Knight officials. For instance, if the paperwork is set up in such a way that Clearlake assumed the position of the bank, then Clearlake might also assume the Uniform Commercial Code filing status of Wells Fargo. Again, this is a complex situation, and it is hard to draw inferences from the fact that nothing has been filed in the clerks office. And there is no reason to expect that Clearlake, even if it has already finalized the transaction, will issue a press release like it did for the Globe Energy Services deal. Its a private firm and as such can handle publicity surrounding each investment as it wishes. Should the deal with Clearlake or another entity willing to buy the debt at what is likely a deep discount materialize, one thing is almost certain: The company, with its substantially unburdened balance sheet, is much better positioned to survive the downturn, but there will be little to nothing left of this once-massive entity for the Knight family members. In a pair of letters sent to Lafayette Consolidated Government officials the first week of May, District Attorney Keith Stutes vows to file suit against LCG if his office isnt fully funded in the 2016-17 budget, which will be finalized in early September following a series of budget hearings that commence July 26. At issue in the dispute are Stutes refusal to continue paying so-called reimbursements for a portion of the D.A. staff salaries a custom established by his predecessor, Mike Harson, who served as district attorney from the commencement of consolidated government in 1996 until being defeated by Stutes following the fall 2014 election as well as an interpretation of state law regarding whether parish government or the city of Lafayette or both is responsible for funding the office. Complicated, we know, and it cuts to the heart of just how consolidated Lafayette Consolidated Government really is. Or isnt. The letters, replete with ALL CAP demands the prosaic equivalent of shouting cite legal precedents including a state Supreme Court ruling to argue that LCG is responsible for paying the entirety of his offices annual budget, which according to the current fiscal year LCG budget is roughly $2.2 million. Stutes predecessor annually paid back to LCG a portion of that funding more than a quarter in fact in the form of reimbursements. When Stutes took office in January 2015, which was just a quarter into the 2014-15 fiscal year budget, he paid LCG nearly $600,000 in four installments, but he did it under protest and refused to remit the reimbursements for the current 2015-16 budget that began Nov. 1 of last year. LCG officials, led by Chief Financial Officer Lorrie Toups, have argued that Louisiana state law requires parish government to fund D.A. offices and, because of the nature of LCG its not really consolidated since the parish and city of Lafayette have separate budgets the parish general fund is responsible for funding the district attorney. Problem is, parish government is essentially broke and, from LCGs perspective, even broker now that Stutes is refusing to remit the reimbursements. Bruce Conque The parish is experiencing a significant shortfall in revenue, says Councilman Bruce Conque, vice chair of the Council Finance Liaison Committee. This fiscal crisis can only be offset by either cutting services or reducing personnel. This applies to the D.A.s office as well as the operations of the 15th Judicial District as applied to the parish obligations under state law. What and how much is yet to be determined pending legal counsel input. Parish sales tax collections are currently down about 35 percent compared to this time last year, Conque tells ABiz; later in May council members will undertake a midyear budget adjustment that could lead to layoffs that hasnt happened, by our reckoning, in the 20-year history of LCG and will almost certainly usher in significant cuts to services in unincorporated Lafayette Parish, i.e., the parish part of Lafayette Consolidated Government. (Bear in mind that when Lafayette Parish began the process of consolidating in the early to mid 1990s, the smaller towns of Broussard, Carencro, Duson, Scott and Youngsville opted out, so really the consolidation of government in the parish was only the city of Lafayette and the unincorporated part of Lafayette Parish. Due to rabid annexations in the late 1990s and until recently, unincorporated Lafayette Parish has been shrinking as the municipalities gobble up unincorporated areas with businesses that generate sales taxes; the effect is that unincorporated Lafayette Parish generates very little revenue for the parish general fund the very fund LCG officials argue is the legal source of funding for Stutes office.) The [home rule] charter creates a fiction of city and parish funds, Stutes tells ABiz, arguing that Lafayette Consolidated Government, irrespective of where the funding comes from the parish and/or city general funds is responsible for funding his office in its entirety. [LCG] uses an allocation system and its arbitrary, Stutes adds. I cant sue the police jury because it doesnt exist. Stutes says he wasnt even aware of the shortfall in parish general fund revenue until April of this year when, he says, he was at an unrelated Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting and Toups, LCGs top bean counter, laid that shortfall at his feet, citing his refusal to continue paying the reimbursements to consolidated government. In his May 3 letter to government officials he refers to it as an ambushed revelation, arguing that LCG was aware of his issue with the legality of the reimbursements within months of him assuming office in 2015. Toups, Stutes further asserts, suggested that his refusal to pay the reimbursements could have an adverse financial effect on the budget for district court judges at the Lafayette Parish Courthouse. This is not only incorrect but scandalous, Stutes writes in the letter, adding later that if Toups declaration at that Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee meeting was a tactic to get him to the negotiating table, it not only was wrong but despicable! (His exclamation mark, not ours.) My patience is rather thin, Stutes tells us, although he isnt willing to commit to a timeline for when he might file suit against LCG to get his full funding. He tells ABiz he hasnt gotten any response from LCG in the matter since January aside from Toups ambush revelation in late April and even that was a cursory Well get to it as soon as we can type of response. ABiz reached out to Toups on May 9 seeking a meeting to discuss D.A. funding but never heard back from here. Stutes says it ultimately doesnt matter whether his funding comes from the parish general fund, the city general fund or a combination of the both: State law makes it clear that the parish governing authority is responsible for funding the district attorneys office, and the parish governing authority in this case is Lafayette Consolidated Government. If the city of Lafayette having to share the cost of D.A. operations represents an unintended consequence of consolidation the other cities in the parish, its worth noting, are not being asked to chip in thats not Keith Stutes problem. This is not about consolidation for me, he says. Its simply about the law; its about being treated fairly and following the law. by The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) A New Orleans senator's proposal seeking to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or disability has narrowly passed its first test. Democratic Sen. J.P. Morrell's bill would rework Louisiana's existing anti-discrimination laws and broaden them to cover LGBT groups and people with disabilities. A Senate judiciary committee voted 2-1 Tuesday to advance the measure for full Senate debate, with several senators absent. Supporters say the public widely supports anti-discrimination practices and Morrell's bill would streamline current law and create best practices across Louisiana industries. Business groups and the Louisiana Family Forum oppose the measure, but no organization representatives testified against the proposal. Also pending on the Senate floor is a bill that would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. 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. Paris, TX (75460) Today Thunderstorms, some with heavy rain this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 48F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%.. Tonight Thunderstorms, some with heavy rain this evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 48F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 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. CARBONDALE Carbondale School District 95's board terminated an elementary assistant principal at its board meeting Tuesday night and put a middle school teacher on unpaid administrative leave. The board voted to terminate Darryl Cox, who was assistant principal at Parrish Elementary School. Put on unpaid administrative leave was Jill Jackson, a teacher at Carbondale Middle School. School board president John Major said he could not comment on why Cox was terminated and what circumstances led to Jackson being put on unpaid administrative leave, saying both instances were personnel issues and he was prohibited from discussing either. He said board staff had met with Cox beforehand and that the board was acting on a decision it made at its last board meeting. The agenda item concerning Cox read "Consideration of proceeding with reclassification of an Assistant Principal." In an email earlier in the day, School Superintendent Michael Shimshak wrote that "The Board had already taken action in March to reclassify and non-renew employment of Parrish Assistant Principal Darryl Cox. By statute he is allowed a private and/or public hearing with [the] Board. The Board then considers whether or not to reaffirm its decision, which is the on the agenda item for this evening." Cox has been with the elementary school about four years, but had served the district previously, for several years, as an assistant principal at Carbondale Community High School. Jackson has been with the school district at least 12 years, Major said. About 35 people attended the special meeting, most waiting the nearly hour that it took the board to meet in executive session. The only person who spoke during the public comment period was Elius Reed, who asked the board for clarification about its action concerning Cox. CAIRO A class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court Tuesday on behalf of current and former Alexander County Housing Authority residents to remedy allegations of rampant discrimination based on race and family status and rent overcharges. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, in East St. Louis. The lawsuit names as defendants the ACHA and four past executive directors: James Wilson, Martha Franklin, Tom Upchurch and Joann Pink. Of the four, Wilson, also a former mayor in Cairo, had the longest tenure, from 1989 to 2013. He continued to work for the ACHA on a part-time consultant basis from 2013 to 2015, and returned to work as executive director for an 11-day period in 2015, according to the lawsuit. A call to Wilsons cellphone by the newspaper was not returned. Wilson has declined to comment since August, when The Southern Illinoisan began an investigative series about allegations of mismanagement and misspending of money on employee benefits intended for the upkeep of complexes as living conditions fell into extreme disrepair. Other defendants either couldnt be reached, or declined immediate comment without time to review the lawsuit. The ACHA has been under federal administrative receivership by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development since Feb. 22. Under federal statute, when there has been a federal takeover of a housing authority, liability remains with the public housing agency. A HUD spokeswoman said the agency does not provide comment on pending litigation. HUD was not specifically named as a defendant in the lawsuit. Seven ACHA residents of McBride and Elmwood apartments are named as plaintiffs. They are represented by Christopher Wilmes, of the law firm Hughes, Socol, Piers, Resnick & Dym. Ltd., and Katherine Walz, of the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, both of Chicago. Wilmes specializes in employment and civil rights cases, according to his biography. The presiding judge will make a determination on the class-action status of the lawsuit, which states each subclass within those alleging race and family status discrimination and rent overcharge is comprised of more than 1,000 past and current residents. The Sargent Shriver center, according to its website, has a 40-year history of working to improve lives through the development of programs and policies that advance justice and opportunity. Walz, as the centers director of housing justice, advocates on behalf of low-income individuals living in or in need of public, subsidized or affordable housing. On the rent overcharge claim, the lawsuit states that plaintiffs were charged $100-$200 more than they should have been on average. For example, the lawsuit claims that plaintiff Mary Holder, a 68-year-old African-American woman at McBride, should have been paying $130 in income-based monthly rent, rather than the $234 she has been paying. Holder also said she was inappropriately charged in the past for a shoddy repair of her sink. I would like to get some of my money back that they spent, Holder said Tuesday. The lawsuit alleges that the ACHA has engaged in a pattern and practice of segregation at its public housing developments by race, even though the U.S. Department of Justice previously found that it engaged in the same conduct more than 40 years ago. In 1974, the ACHA settled a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department, with the ACHA agreeing to no longer segregate housing on the basis of race. While claiming discriminatory practices persisted, the lawsuit also alleges the ACHA has engaged in a pattern and practice of not maintaining the Elmwood and McBride apartments that are almost exclusively occupied by African-American tenants. They are infested with mice, roaches and bedbugs, and have many structural, and health and safety deficiencies, including mold and insufficient electrical and plumbing systems, and crime is a serious issue. Yet, for years, Elmwood and McBride residents have made requests for repairs that were either ignored or repaired in a substandard manner, and crime concerns were not adequately addressed, the lawsuit alleges. Inside the home of one of the plaintiffs, Kristen Simelton, who has lived in her three-bedroom Elmwood Place unit since 2008, roaches could be seen crawling on the walls and inside a closet. She pulled her carbon monoxide detector off the wall and pointed to black spots on the back, saying she thinks it has been rendered inoperable by roach eggs. That concerns her, as does the smoke alarm, which is still working but hanging from a dangling wire nearby, because she said in the winter she has to use the oven to heat her home. The heating system doesnt do the job on really cold days, she said, but she knows that's a safety risk. Simelton, who is white, shares the apartment with her husband, Kenneth Simelton, an African-American, and her 19-year-old daughter. At times, she also watches her daughters children there, and worries about their safety. She pointed to paint peeling off the walls and ceilings, and said she has to watch closely to make sure they don't touch it, or put paint chips in their mouths. Recently, she said, raw sewage has backed up into her bathroom sink, with the strong smell of feces and urine permeating the unit. I just get so upset every time I look at it, Simelton said, growing emotional as she provided the newspaper and Wilmes a tour of her unit on Tuesday. I pray every day. Meanwhile, the lawsuit states, the ACHA adequately maintained its Connell F. Smith Sr., building on the Ohio Riverfront and provided both security cameras and security guards, even though there is far less crime and no gun violence at that complex. Until very recently, the lawsuit states, about half of Connell Smith residents were white, and almost all were older than the age of 50. The ACHA has refused to place families with children in certain public housing developments, such as Connell Smith, in order to prevent African-American families from living in majority white public housing developments, the lawsuit states. While units can be designated by HUD for the elderly and people with disabilities, Connell Smith and the nearby Shuemaker Building never were. If you go and sit on a balcony at Connell Smith and watch the barges go by in a nicely maintained unit on the sixth floor and then you go over and see some of these roach infested units at McBride, you think youre on two different planets, Wilmes said Tuesday. Further, the lawsuit alleges that while the ACHA was under the control of defendants Wilson and Franklin, the ACHA wasted resources on excessive employee retirement bonuses, unnecessary post-retirement contracts and unjustified travel expenses. These expenses are chronicled in an Aug. 23, 2015, article titled Chaos in Cairo published by The Southern Illinoisan, the lawsuit states. In part because of these unjustified payouts to current and former employees, ACHA has been unable to address the serious pest and rodent infestations or other conditions at McBride and Elmwood. It continues by alleging that none of the executive directors during the relevant time period, Wilson, Franklin, Upchurch and Pink, took action to meaningfully alleviate the pest and rodent problems at McBride and Elmwood, nor did they take action to meaningfully alleviate the crime, mold and plumbing problems. The lawsuit states that Franklin worked at executive direction from April 2013 to January 2015. It says she worked as finance director from 2015 to present. The newspaper does not have a contact number for Franklin, and has not been successful in reaching her. While this fact was not mentioned in the lawsuit, Franklin also served as finance director for years under Wilsons term as executive director. Upchurch and Pink served as interim directors during a time of leadership instability at the ACHA, and also maintained their full-time employment as executive directors of the Jefferson County and Pulaski County housing authorities, respectively. Both were paid about $6,000 monthly for their services. Upchurch served in that role from about March to October 2015, and Pink from October 2015 to early 2016. Reached by phone Tuesday, Pink said she had no other comment except to note she ended her relationship with the ACHA on Feb. 16. Upchurch said he had yet to see a copy of the lawsuit, and therefore did not have comment at this time. Upchurch previously told the newspaper that HUD reached out to him for assistance at a time when the ACHA was struggling to meet payroll and pay its utility bills. John Holland, an attorney in Cairo who represented the ACHA for a period of time, also declined comment. Holland also refused to say how long he served as the ACHAs attorney, stating it would be inappropriate to discuss a client. Police issued the update saying Debbie McCoy had been located a few hours after posting on the department's website that they were looking for her. McCoy had reportedly last been seen after leaving her job in the 900 block of West Main Street in Carbondale at 11 a.m. Tuesday. MARION Seniors walking across the stage Thursday at Rent One Park will remember every year at Marion High School as one filled with construction. Incoming freshmen and other underclassmen heading into the upcoming school year will be some of the first to enjoy the high school on Wildcat Road construction free eventually. Marion Community Unit School District No. 2 Superintendent Keith Oates said construction on the school is entering its fifth and final year of construction. The primary portion of the school is complete and students are attending classes. Just about everything is new besides the gymnasium. Ross Construction Inc., the construction manager of the project, built most of the project starting on the east side of the gym. Parts of the building that still have dust flying are the new auditorium, art rooms, agriculture rooms, shop classrooms and choir rooms. The total construction is slated to come to a finish in 2017, Oates said. The five-year program got started in 2012 when the school received a construction grant from the Capital Development Board. Oates said the school was on the list to receive the grant in 2002, and the project came up about eight years ago. Oates said the district then sold bonds to be able to reach the matching share to get the grant. He said the building had narrow halls and was starting to become outdated. The building itself was getting outdated for the program we were attempting to run, Oates said. The budget on the building is about $67 million, a couple million over the original $65 million plan. Oates said the project was complex and the district had to bid it out over several phases. Marion High School principal to resign, return to teaching MARION After two years on the job, Marion High School Principal Jason Varner will step dow It wasnt like a new piece of property and a new building, he said. Instead of getting one bid and getting those prices in one year, we have been bidding different phases over a period of years. He said the district has done its best to get estimates from the architects and construction managers, but when unforeseen circumstances happen, and prices change. However, Oates said the district is hopeful that it is in a situation where there wont be any more substantial change orders. You figure a $65 million project, a couple million dollars over isnt too bad, considering the project was done over phases, Oates said. According to the districts Chief Financial Officer Patrick Brown, the financial come from the development board grant, a sales tax and the bond sold by the district years ago. New sidewalks on the way near Marion schools MARION The lack of a sidewalk around Lincoln Elementary School is noticeable. But, in the The breakdown of money spent on the school shows $33,858,029 has come from the Capital Development Board grant, which Oates called a grant that comes around once in a lifetime. Another $20,000,000 comes from the bond the district sold and $4,691,670 comes from a County School Facility Tax a sales tax increase implemented by the county in 2008. The sales tax money can only be used to upgrade facilities in Williamson County. The total money that has been spent to this point is $58,549,699, according to Brown. There is about $8.5 million left to pay off reach $67 million. Brown said about $4.6 million will come from the grant, $2.4 will come from Health Life Safety funds, private donations and interest, and about $1.5 million additional dollars from the sales tax increase. MURPHYSBORO Members of the Murphysboro City Council have voted to stay a decision they made a few weeks ago on the city's historic train depot. The council initially voted to demolish because they felt the building's owner was allowing it to fall into disrepair. On Tuesday night, the council reversed its vote. Murphysboro's Save the Depot group temporarily stalled MURPHYSBORO A small group that formed to help support a historic city train depot seems to be stalling in its tracks. Mayor Will Stephens said council members will spend time at the next committee's meeting discussing the time frame that they want the building's owner to have corrected certain code violations, such as repairing or putting a roof covering on the structure, boarding up the windows and removing two-story scaffolding. After the board voted to seek demolition permits to the building, a public outcry against destroying the historic landmark was set into play, with people volunteering to help work out a solution; some of them showed up at the city council's April 25 committees' meeting to voice their concerns. Some left the meeting intent on forming a community grassroots group to organize volunteer laborers or raise funds, if need be, to save the structure. Restoration construction company provides second life for historic buildings CARTERVILLE A half a dozen men are standing in front of a building, two on a scaffold as t The board also heard from two owners of rental property who had questions about the city's new housing code for rental property, which is undergoing revisions. The city has not publicly released the document, which is undergoing revisions; interested residents can request a copy of the in-draft version from Mayor Will Stephens by emailing him at mayor@murphysboro.com. The mayor also issued a proclamation naming May 28 as Carl Lee Day, in honor of Lee, a longtime administrator at the once-segregated Douglass School in Murphysboro. This is the 40th anniversary of the Carl Lee Day, according to Deborah Shaffer, president of the Murphysboro Black Alumni Society, created in 1985 as the Douglass-Carver School Reunion. MITCHELLSVILLE Police continued their search of the Shawnee National Forest on Wednesday for a Bellflower man wanted for allegedly shooting a central Illinois police officer, following up on a tip he may have been seen in the Rosiclare area the day before, authorities said during an afternoon briefing. The search for Dracy Clint Pendleton is zeroing in on northern Pope County around Eddyville and the Lusk Creek area following a possible sighting near Rosiclare, said Illinois State Police Capt. William Sons. We have not been able to substantiate that as actually being him at this point, Sons said. We have also received several other leads from members of the community. As those come in, we are actively pursuing those. Pendleton is considered armed and dangerous, and police have said he may be in possession of an AK-47. Pendleton is wanted for aggravated battery with a firearm, a Class X felony, in connection to a Saturday shooting of a Mahomet police officer in Champaign County. The officer has been released from hospital care. Police said Pendleton exchanged gunfire with the officer and fled the scene. The officer was shot in the arm and it is believed Pendleton suffered a gunshot wound to the neck during the confrontation. Pendleton also may walk with a limp from a previous knee injury. Pendleton is described as a white male, five-feet and 10-inches tall, weighing 155 pounds. He has blue eyes and blonde hair. He is 35 years old. He was last seen at about 9:15 a.m. Monday, wearing a black shirt, camouflage pants and boots. He has shaved his beard and trimmed his hair. He may be driving a stolen 2007 white GMC pickup truck with Illinois registration 165533B. Sons stressed that police are seeking a peaceful resolution, sending a message to Pendleton that he turn himself in or in the least contact authorities, Sons said. We would also like to let him know that the officer is going to be OK and that there is no need for further violence, Sons said. Pendleton, 35, lived in rural north Pope County in at least 2012 and police say they are focusing on an area they know he once spent time in, authorities have said. Sons noted that police believe Pendleton is accustomed to surviving off the land. Meanwhile, the FBI has issued its own warrant for the fugitives arrest on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. The reward is in addition to a $1,000 reward offered by Champaign County Crimestoppers, Sons said. To reach Crimestoppers, call 866-765-8327. In addition to the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Office is assisting in the search. Illinois State Police can be reached at 618-542-1483. Those who see the suspect may also call 911 or a local police agency, Sons said. A Fithian man was charged with sexual abuse Tuesday, according to a news release from Jackson County States Attorney Michael Carr. Cody Baccia, 25, was arrested on May 9 on a warrant and was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony, the next day, the release said. Baccia posted $25,000 bond to get out of the Jackson County Jail, and he is scheduled to appear in court on June 1 for a first appearance. The warrant alleges that the defendant knowingly committed an act of sexual penetration with his fingers on a person under 17 years of age, who was at least 13, and that the he was at least five years older. The offense occurred on April 22, 2016, in Jackson County and it carries a minimum penalty of three years and a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. If convicted, notification must be sent to the State Superintendent of Education due to Baccias employment in the Oakwood Community Unit School District No. 76 as a teacher and his license with he Illinois State Board of Education. The Southern SPRINGFIELD The Illinois Senate approved a bill Tuesday aimed at overhauling the way the state distributes money to public schools to get more funding to poorer districts that need it the most. The legislation from Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, which passed on a 31-21 vote, has become a focal point of debate as the General Assembly nears its scheduled May 31 adjournment. Democratic supporters say it would address the inequities in the current funding formula, considered one of the least equitable in the country. Meanwhile, Republicans, including Gov. Bruce Rauner, have panned it as a bailout for Chicago Public Schools. Manar, who has been working on the issue since being elected to the Senate in 2012, called the funding formula change one of the most profound anti-poverty measures we will take up in any number of years. This bill will attack poverty in the classroom, plain and simple, Manar said, noting that on average Illinois spends $2,400 less per year educating a low-income student than a wealthier one. Opponents criticized previous versions of his proposal for shifting money away from wealthier districts to funnel it to poorer ones. In response, Manar added language to the final version that would prevent any district from losing money in the first year. The so-called hold harmless provision would phase out over the following three years, resulting in some districts seeing a decline in state funding. The bill also includes another provision, called adequacy grants, that would prevent districts from losing money if theyre taxing at or above the state average but arent able to meet a benchmark for adequate spending. That would stay in place until 2024. Together, those provisions would cost roughly $442 million in the first year, according to Illinois State Board of Education projections. Under Manars plan, the state would also begin picking up the tab for Chicago teachers pensions, something it already does for the rest of the state. That would cost another $205 million. During debate on the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, continued GOP criticisms of the bill as a bailout for Chicago schools. No one disagrees that the formula that exists today is broken, Barickman said, later adding, This isnt the fix that millions of students around this entire state want and deserve. He said hes preparing to introduce legislation that would shift Illinois to an evidenced-based school funding formula. Its disappointing that Sen. Manar wanted to ram this through on a partisan vote, Barickman said afterward. From Manars point of view, whats disappointing is the lack of support for his plan from downstate Republicans, most of whom represent school districts that stand to benefit from it. Why are Republican members of the legislature voting against a bill that is in the best interest of their districts, particularly downstate members? he said. Heres the answer: because Gov. Rauner told them to. Rauner is pushing to fully fund schools under the current formula, which Manar and other Democrats argue would only perpetuate existing inequalities. This has led the governor to accuse Democrats of threatening to hold school funding hostage over passage of Manars plan. The issue isnt merely a partisan one, however. House Democrats havent lined up behind the Senate plan, and a panel convened by House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, to study the issue was holding a hearing at about the same time Manars bill was being debated. Earlier Tuesday, several House Democrats, including Reps. Pat Verschoore of Milan and Andy Skoog of LaSalle, held a news conference with school superintendents from the Quad Cities, Streator and elsewhere across the state to call for funding certainty for next year. We need to determine exactly what we want in Illinois for education for our students in the public schools, Rockridge School Superintendent Jack Bambrick said, and then we need to figure out how were going to fund it adequately. CAIRO Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said it appears that the Alexander County Housing Authority did not test for lead-based paint at all of its properties as was required by federal regulations. Lead-based paint testing and hazard control is required in public housing built before 1978, according to information HUD provided the newspaper in response to an inquiry. When U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin visited with ACHA residents on May 2, Elmwood Place resident Kristen Simelton raised a concern about the paint chipping from the walls and ceilings at her apartment, because she watches her young grandchildren there on occasion. Simelton said that when she signed her lease, she was informed that the unit may include lead-based paint from earlier coatings since covered over. As the walls began chipping, Simelton said her worries grew. Shes one of seven plaintiffs named in a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday against the Alexander County Housing Authority and four former executive directors. Class-action lawsuit filed against Alexander County Housing Authority, past directors CAIRO A class-action lawsuit was filed in federal court Tuesday on behalf of current and former Alexander County Housing Authority residents At the meeting Durbin attended this past week, Towanda Macon, a HUD co-administrator running the ACHA since the Feb. 22 federal takeover, told Simelton she was asking all the right questions. We are in discussion with contractors to not only test for lead-based paint, but also our water, Macon said. Again, there were several things that just were not done. In a follow-up email asking about HUDs lead-based paint testing requirements, HUD spokeswoman Gina Rodriguez said lead-based paint and hazard control is required in public housing built before 1978. The ACHA units were built decades prior, and are 70-plus years old. Rodriguez, in an emailed statement, said HUD conducted a review of all property records, leases and related information upon being placed under administrative receivership. We were not able to locate lead-based paint inspection reports for all the properties, she said. At the meeting, Macon added, Were going to do a sampling from every single development. Depending on the outcome of that we will proceed with the next steps. The email from Rodriguez further stated that results will be shared with residents, and HUD management will answer any questions they may have. Exposure to lead hazards is more serous for children younger than 6 and pregnant women. HUD is contracting for these testing services, and will give priority to units where children are residing, Rodriguez said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, exposure to certain amounts of lead can cause abdominal pain, constipation, depression and other issues. Prolonged exposure may also put one at risk for high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease and reduced fertility. After noting the testing deficiency, Rodriguez said HUD contacted Southern Seven Health Department to identify resources available to parents to have their childrens blood tested. Blood testing is usually part of Head Start enrollment, well-child checkups and covered by Medicaid free of charge without co-pays for children under age 6, she said. While HUD requires lead-based paint testing as part of modernization and during substantial renovations, there is not a water testing requirement, she said. But it is an eligible use of HUD funds. Agencies sometimes test when there are concerns with the municipal water supply, plumbing or bathroom fixtures. Simelton said shes had sewage backup into her sink, and she worries about how insufficient plumbing may be affecting the water in her unit and that of others in Elmwood Place. CARBONDALE State Senate candidate Sheila Simon released her familys personal financial information earlier this month, saying she hopes doing so promotes transparency and sets an example of the depth of disclosure that should be required of candidates for public office. Simon, a Democrat from Carbondale, is running against Republican Paul Schimpf of Waterloo for the 58th Senate District seat from which longtime Sen. Dave Luechtefeld is retiring. Corrected: Schimpf cruises to victory in 58th district primary This story has been corrected. An earlier version was published with the headline "Shimkus c Included in the report are summaries of Simon and husband Perry Knops assets, including stocks, real estate and pension interest, and their liabilities. The report also includes their latest tax return. Simon and Knop have assets totaling $576,915, liabilities of $86,820 and a total net worth of $490,095, according to the report and accompanying press release. The couple owns two properties, their primary home in Carbondale on Springer Street, valued at $88,000, and a property in Makanda on Poplar Camp Road valued at $309,000. Candidates are not required to release financial disclosure reports or even the more limited tax returns. Those seeking a state position are required to fill out a Statement of Economic Interest form with the Secretary of States Office. But Simon said she would like to draw attention to the fact the form is nearly 40 years old, and not comprehensive enough to paint a true picture of a candidates financial interests. Voters could see two proposed constitutional amendments in November SPRINGFIELD Voters may get the chance to have their say on two proposed changes to the Ill She said the form may capture private financial interests that currently intersect with the state, but doesnt generally provide for disclosure of information where conflicts of interest may arise in the future. For instance, she said if an elected official owns land where he or she is pushing a state investment that would be important for the public to know ahead of when the law may trigger the disclosure requirement about the potential conflict of interest. I think everyone recognizes that public and private business are often mixed together, Simon said. Just because a business is not engaged in working with the state right now doesnt mean it wont be. If Im going to err, its going to be on the side of more disclosure rather than less. Simon said she released similar reports during previous campaigns for office, and during her tenure as lieutenant governor. Schimpf said he applauds the release of financial data and is also willing to provide similar information. Schimpf said that when he was running for attorney general in 2014, he offered to disclose his latest tax returns, but the reporter who inquired never followed up with an actual request for them, he said. Sarah Brune, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, said she loves to see politicians voluntarily offering up information that may be important to the public, and help restore trust in a state that has been rocked by numerous political scandals involving finances. This allows voters to get to know you as a candidate a little better, Brune said. It allows you to see if there are conflicts of interests in various holdings. More transparency in that way is always a good thing. Brune said its important to have conversations about ways the state can mandate more adequate disclosure of conflicts or potential conflicts of interest by candidates and office holders. But, she said, its encouraging to see a candidate lead a policy discussion by setting an example and voluntarily offering the information to the public. Simon and Knops financial report can be viewed in full here. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy With the school year quickly coming to an end and with it the graduation of high school and college students, we thought it may be an appropriate time to look at the many and varied education-related topics from the viewpoint of those attending Southern Illinois K-12 schools as well as our community colleges and universities. We, the students of Southern Illinois elementary, middle and high schools would like to say thank you. We, the students of Southern Illinois community colleges and university would like to add our note of thankfulness. The majority of us beginning with the kindergarteners among us and continuing to include most high school juniors fall below the 18-year-old threshold required to allow us to vote. We instead rely our parents, local K-12 boards of education and college boards of trustees to elect and then work with the legislative and executive branches of our state government to provide us with sound instruction and access to educational opportunities that teach us and challenge us. We would like to thank you, but we cannot. Rather than occasionally viewing life through our eyes, you insist upon protecting the eyes you gaze at when looking at yourself in a mirror. Rather than setting an example for us of the cooperation and lifelong learning that you purport to teach us, you instead place blame and appear content to preserve status-quo ignorance the very antithesis of learning. You encouraged us to hope and to dream big dreams. We have and we will, despite the poor example that you have set. We are speaking to you, Gov. Rauner, as well as all 177 members of the General Assembly. But we are also speaking to the teachers and administrators who are in our schools as well as the elected officials who oversee those schools. Specifically, we, the students, would make the following suggestions: Eliminate the perceived need for and the contention involved with votes of no confidence in our school district superintendents. We have been taught about the relationship between labor and management, but somehow that relationship seems to be missing when we see our administrators speaking at our teachers and our teachers speaking at our administrators. Are we wrong? Work with peers, both Republican and Democrat, in reaching a compromise funding plan for K-12 schools that benefits most of our Southern Illinois elementary, middle and high schools. We realize that no plan will benefit everyone. Weve heard that money is in short supply, so it seems to us that helping poorer districts, while promising to make wealthy districts whole, is contradictory. Why cant you see that? Resist the urge to take the easy way out. Term faculty adjuncts, if you will make a lot less than the full-time instructors we used to have here at our community colleges. Most of the adjuncts are nice folks, but you know and admit that the full-timers were better for us. You seem to act as if you dont believe our four community colleges will be here five years from now. Do you? Stop hiding behind the term budget impasse. Walking down the halls of our school yesterday we passed a gigantic poster that read, No whining. Yes, that poster is talking to you. Keep your promises. Especially when no one seems to be looking. If you promise December protesters demanding action on our universitys sexual assault policies at your next board meeting, do it. Even if the new protest group demanding action in March is focused on race, dont ignore what you promised in December. Please. Cooperate. Compromise. Make difficult decisions. Take responsibility. Keep your promises. Thats all we ask. The superintendent of the Calhoun County School District has been named the 2017 South Carolina Superintendent of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators. I am humbled and honored and blessed that I was able to receive this honor, Dr. Steve Wilson said Tuesday.Its always good to be recognized by your peers. Wilson said he also credits the Calhoun County School Board members, his staff, the teachers and the students with his and the districts success. Weve been about teaching and learning, Wilson said. The teachers and students have really bought into our vision for that. We are just elated over the job they have done. Board Chairman Gary B. Porth said the district has fared very well under Wilsons leadership and hes very pleased with SCASAs decision to name Wilson its Superintendent of the Year. His challenges have been many, but Wilson has constantly striven to put students first, Porth said. This very positive focus has put Calhoun County Schools on the cutting edge of student achievement and overall success, the board chairman said. He came to us with a list of focus goals that are centered on teaching and learning. He has involved the community, along with the schools, to effect the very positive changes that have occurred in the Calhoun County Public Schools. Porth added, Dr. Wilson is both fair-minded and forward-thinking and we look forward to much more success under his leadership. SCASA Executive Director Elizabeth Beth A. Phibbs said, Dr. Wilson is well respected in his community and among his peers. He is a longtime champion of children and remains a learner at heart by always finding ways to improve education for the children in Calhoun County. We are delighted that he has been chosen for this honor. Before being hired as superintendent of Calhoun County schools in 2010, Wilson served as executive director of high schools in the Richland One School District. He has been in the field of education for 44 years. Wilson said he began as a teacher and came up through the ranks. During all those years, my wife has been the backbone in terms of my career, he said. Wilson beat out other finalists for SCASA Superintendent of the Year Dr. Randall Dozier of Georgetown County Schools, Dr. Frank Morgan of the Kershaw County School District and Dr. W. Burke Royster of Greenville County Schools. Candidates participated in an application and interview process conducted by a team of South Carolina business, education and community leaders. Wilson will go on to compete for the 2017 National Superintendent of the Year award. Nikki Haley has had her share of disagreements with the Republican-led Legislature since turning aside establishment candidates in 2010 and being elected South Carolina governor. Now in her second term, Haleys influence has grown steadily over five-plus years. And her national prominence is significant, particularly in the wake of leading the push in 2015 to remove the Confederate flag from Statehouse grounds. Haley is popular. The latest Winthrop Poll puts her approval at nearly 60 percent, which is 15 points higher than the state Legislatures rating. But on this day, the governor is not very popular with the states top industry agribusiness. Haley is standing by a position she took in the wake of South Carolinas flooding in October and stating that special financial aid to farmers is not fair to other businesses and the citizens of South Carolina. She told Republicans over the weekend at the state convention and reiterated the stance on Monday that she will veto legislation approved by the House and Senate to provide assistance to farmers in planting 2016 crops. My heart breaks for farmers, Haley said Monday. But it would be wrong to bail out the farmers when we cant bail out small businesses, when we cant bail out homeowners. Haley has consistently maintained farmers have crop insurance and a number of federal programs to pay for lost yields or prepare damaged fields for planting. The governors position puts her at odds with the Legislature and leaders such as Bowman farmer and Republican Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers and Calhoun County farmer and S.C. Farm Bureau President Harry Ott, a former Democratic leader in the S.C. House. All in all, Haley may get credit among South Carolinians for holding fast to her conservative fiscal position while the assistance for farmers goes forward anyway. With the overwhelming support for farmers in the House (95-6) and Senate (33-3), both chambers could easily override the governors veto. A two-thirds vote by each body is required. A lot depends on how much political capital the governor is willing to expend to kill the $40 million aid package under which farmers could apply for grants of up to $100,000 each. The grants could equal 20 percent of a farmers total loss. The funds are meant to provide a revenue bridge so farmers can plant in 2016. The assistance is needed and needed now, as planting season is fast coming to a close. In order to qualify for the money, farmers would have to prove they sustained a 40 percent loss, and the funds can only be used for direct crop inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and expenses related to planting. Our hope is the governor will either change her position (doubtful), let the bill become law without her signature (not likely either) or simply let it be known she wont put up a fight to sustain her veto (likely). The governor and her team have frequently stated development in rural areas is a top priority of the Haley administration. While attracting new business and industry of all types is important, sustaining the local economies is imperative. In counties such as those in The T&D Region, nothing is more economically crucial than agribusiness. The states farmers suffered losses approaching $400 million from Octobers floods, and the disaster came on top of losses from a spring freeze and summer drought. According to state agricultural leaders, crop insurance payments are not enough to give many the opportunity to plant and rebound in 2016. Despite the governors position, the $40 million in assistance for farmers is a wise investment by state government. Lets just hope lawmakers continue to see it that way and move with haste to make the money available. COLUMBIA A Mexican man has been sentenced to more than 56 years in federal prison for the drug-related kidnapping of a St. Matthews man. Ruben Ceja-Rangel and others kidnapped the man in July 2014 and held him for ransom. Officials claim the mans father owed Mexican drug dealers for 200 pounds of marijuana. Ceja-Rangel, 59, of Groveland, Florida, was found guilty in U.S. District Court of kidnapping and six related charges, the South Carolina U.S. Attorneys Office announced Wednesday. Hell have to serve five years of supervised release once his prison sentence is over. He was previously convicted in Texas on federal marijuana importing charges. Officials say Ceja-Rangel conspired with Luis Castro-Villeda, 24, and Juan Fuentes-Morales, 27, to kidnap the St. Matthews man. Pretending to be police, the men stopped the St. Matthews mans vehicle one morning as he was on his way to work, according to law enforcement. The St. Matthews man was taken from his truck at gunpoint by Ceja-Rangel. He was blindfolded and taken to a residence near Garland, North Carolina, where he was held for several hours at gunpoint. The St. Matthews man testified at one point he attempted to escape and that Fuentes-Morales struck him and pointed a .25-caliber gun at his head. He was moved to Rosoboro, N.C., where he was blindfolded and chained to a workout bench. The FBI recorded multiple phone calls with Mexican drug traffickers threatening to gouge out the St. Matthews mans eyes and ultimately kill him if his father didnt pay ransom. The St. Matthews man was made to lie on the floor from July 9 to July 15, when an FBI SWAT team executed a search warrant at the home. Ceja-Rangel attempted to run out the back of the residence but was detained by federal officers. U.S. Attorney Bill Nettles said, This case is the perfect example of how drug trafficking leads to violent crime and brings the real-life violence associated with Mexican drug-trafficking organizations to the United States. The continued commitment to the war on drugs is the only way to ensure that Mexican drug-trafficking organizations know that the United States government and the FBI will do whatever it takes to ensure that lives are not lost as a result of drug trafficking and the violence associated with it. Fuentes-Morales was found guilty of kidnapping and related charges in October. Castro-Villeda was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The Associated Press previously reported the kidnapped man was charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs and faces a 20-year sentence if convicted. The U.S. Attorneys Office could not be reached for comment on the case. The case was initiated by the Calhoun County Sheriffs Department and was investigated by FBI agents from the Columbia Field Division and the Charlotte Field Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney J.D. Rowell of the Columbia office is prosecuting the case. Grits, sugar, canned vegetables, boxes of cereal, cornbread and macaroni are some of the nonperishable foods that letter carriers will collect this weekend during the nations largest one-day food drive. Letter carriers from Orangeburg and surrounding areas will join other carriers in more than 10,000 cities and towns nationwide to collect food this Saturday, May 14, as part of the National Association of Letter Carriers 24th annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. Carriers will collect the nonperishable food donations left beside or in mailboxes and post offices and deliver them to local community food banks, pantries and shelters. Orangeburg donations will be given to Cooperative Church Ministries of Orangeburg. Longtime CCMO volunteer Elizabeth Douglas, who has participated in the drive for 22 years, was among those at the Orangeburg Post Office Tuesday morning to help kick off this years volunteer effort. Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, was also there. Douglas said the food donations, which enable CCMO to feed the needy, are appreciated. It means so much because we have so many needy people. We feed about 400 families each year. We appreciate everything we can get from anybody, she said. CCMO is open 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In 2015, the nationwide drive collected approximately 71 million pounds of food from postal customers for the needy. More than 1 billion pounds of food have been collected since the NALC National Food Drive began. Local event coordinator Jon Rector said the Orangeburg Post Office gets the support of area branches, including Cope, Bamberg, North, Bowman, Denmark, Neeses, Norway, Rowesville, Santee, St. Matthews and Vance. The main reason we try to do it is because we want to make a difference. It sounds cliche, but we want to stand out in the world and stand out for the right thing, Rector said. I think that we all feel fortunate to have the jobs we have. Through our appreciation for what were given, it drives us to want to give back, he said. The best way we can do that is through giving food. Orangeburg Postmaster Dan Washington said, Its that time of the year, and we all got together as a team. This year were going to try to break records. Last year we had an outstanding year with gathering the food, and this year will probably be even better. Were going to have an exciting year feeding the hungry, he added. Canned meats, including tuna, chicken and salmon; canned and boxed meals; and canned fruits and vegetables are among the most desirable food items to donate. Items that will not be accepted are rusty, outdated and unlabeled cans; glass containers; homemade items; and opened or used products. Postal customers will receive notification cards, along with plastic bags in which to place donated items. A bin will be placed in the lobby of the Orangeburg Post Office for individuals to place food items in, Washington said. Hutto on Tuesday presented a proclamation on behalf of the Orangeburg City Council designating May 14 as Letter Carriers Food Drive Day. We thank you. I know people may not say that enough. People really do expect their mail to be there, and we thank you because it is there. People depend on what they get through the mail, the state senator said. They depend on the mail to get their bills paid and other things. So thank you very much for all that you do for everybody in Orangeburg. Rector said, There was a time in my life when I was very poor. I was definitely standing outside restaurants looking for scraps, so this is real. People really do need food. We really are being a part of something that is much bigger than ourselves. The U.S. Postal Service reports that 49 million Americans face hunger every day, including millions of children. Individuals and groups who wish to donate their time to help deliver and unload food at CCMO can call CCMO at 803-531-4913. For more information about the drive, visit www.nalc.org/news/nalc-updates or www.facebook.com/StampOutHunger. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. /By Azernews/ By Rashid Shirinov The American companies are interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan in transport sector, in particular the East-West (TRACECA) multimodal corridor. Robert Cekuta, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, made the remarks in the sidelines of the 15th Transport, transit and logistics international exhibition and the 4th Road infrastructure and public transport VI Caspian international exhibition on May 11. American companies have achieved great success in both transport construction, and creating software for this sector. And we are ready to help Azerbaijan, and to participate in projects in both areas," Cekuta said. We are very pleased to continue cooperation in this sphere. We are already working in different spheres to ensure transparency and are ready to continue our cooperation. Wavetronix, an American company specializing in intelligent traffic management, also takes part in the exhibitions. He said that the exhibitions can be considered as an example of diversified economy and development of Azerbaijan. TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) is an international transport programme connecting the European Union, 14 member States of the Eastern Europe, Caucasian and Central Asian countries. It was established in 1993 including the EU, the Caucasus and Central Asia states representatives. The Permanent Secretariat of TRACECA was established in March 2000 in Baku. Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Armenia are the member countries of the organization. Since 2009 TRACECA has been entirely financed by member countries. The major objective of the project was to develop transport corridor from Europe to Central Asia via the Black Sea, Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan, connecting the routes between West and East, plays a significant role in functioning of TRACECA. /By Azernews/ By Rashid Shirinov The final status of Nagorno-Karabakh will be determined in the context of a comprehensive settlement of the conflict, which will also include the return of occupied territories to Azerbaijani control, U.S. Ambassador James Warlick, the OSCE Minsk Group's co-chairman, said in an interview to Trend on May 10. The Minsk Group was created in 1992 and spearheads the OSCE's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is co-chaired by France, the Russian Federation, and the United States. Talking about possible recognition of the independence of Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh region by Armenia, Warlick stressed that no country recognizes Nagorno-Karabakh. "We continue to urge the parties to show goodwill and congregate at the negotiating table to achieve a lasting settlement of the conflict. Earlier, two members of Armenias National Assembly initiated an idea of recognizing Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region as a free state. On May 5, The Foreign Ministry of Armenia denied the rumors about Armenias plans to recognize the independent region, naming them groundless. It noted that the government's decision does not mean approval of that initiative. Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day. A precarious cease-fire was signed in 1994. However, the Armenian forces commit armistice breaches on the frontline almost every day. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Henk Kamp. Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Henk Kamp said he was greatly impressed with the reconstruction work carried out in Azerbaijan and in capital Baku, adding that modern buildings made a harmony with samples of historical architecture here. Henk Kamp hailed the level of relations between the two countries, praising the conditions created for Dutch companies in Azerbaijan. The head of state described Azerbaijani-Dutch relations in political, economic and other spheres as successfully developing, saying all conditions were created in the country for foreign companies, including Dutch ones, to operate effectively. Pointing to the fact that unique architectural monuments were preserved in the capital, President Ilham Aliyev said that the historic building in the Fuzuli Street was relocated by a Dutch company. The sides also exchanged views on prospects for cooperation in the fields of agriculture, environment and alternative energy. /By Azernews/ By Amina Nazarli Baku and Ankara can become sister cities soon, as the Ankara City Municipality decided to sign relevant protocols, Turkish Haberlerankara newspaper reports. The decision aims to further strengthen the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. Ankara, Turkey's capital and second most populous city after Istanbul, is a sister city of 46 world capitals. The city is regarded as a symbol for independence, development and Western values. The modern city includes government and state houses, major universities, military bases, consulates, bustling nightlife and the oldest park in the city, Genclik Park. Old castles and ruins from Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman civilizations dot the landscape. The city, is important to diplomats, bureaucrats, lobbyists and military, and has a few significant sights for visitors. And while the dynamic street-life is enough of a reason to visit, Ankara also boasts two extraordinary monuments central to the Turkish story the beautifully conceived Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the An?t Kabir, a colossal tribute to Ataturk, modern Turkey's founder. Baku, known as home to an ancient civilization dating back to 5500 BC, is a compact city in which visitors can easily walk around the city center to see most attractions, along with a mix of architecture. The capital is the location where past and present are intricately intertwined, having always attracted tourists. The city has many monuments dating to ancient ages and medieval centuries within the district. Icherisheher, also known as the Old City, is the most magnificent of the historical monuments in Azerbaijan and is included by UNESCO among the world cultural heritage items. The Shirvanshah palace complex, which is another astonishing state historical architectural museum-preserve, is its masterpiece. The open-air museum, and Bakus most majestic and mysterious monument - the Maiden Tower or Giz Galasi - is also located here. Built in the shape of a cylinder on the Caspian Sea shore, the Maiden Tower is a structure which, rather like a buttress, sticks out from the cylindrical tower on the sea side. The Flame Towers, the tallest skyscraper in Baku at a height of 190 m, is also a beautiful symbol of the city. Dubai-based emerging market investment fund Abraaj will spend up to $500 million in start-up capital for a mid-tier hospital business in Africa, tapping into demand from the continent's emerging middle classes, an executive said on Wednesday. Abraaj partner Sev Vettivetpillai said the group was well on the way to securing land for a 350-bed multi-speciality hospital in the Nigerian commercial capital Lagos, as well as buying several hospitals in Nairobi to form a healthcare 'cluster'. Its other two target cities are Addis Ababa and Johannesburg. "We're looking to build from the ground up because the assets do not exist," Vettivetpillai told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Rwanda. Besides its own cash, Abraaj was looking to attract a similar amount from other investors, meaning that the first four target cities were likely to absorb at least $1 billion between them in the next five years, he added. Even though most African countries have one or two high-end hospitals, governments are struggling to provide adequate healthcare for the vast majority of their citizens, despite a decade of rapid growth across the continent.-Reuters Trends driving the growth of financial services technology (FinTech) in the Middle East were discussed at a forum hosted in Dubai, UAE, today (May 11). FinTech 2020, hosted by FIS, a global leader in financial services technology, also looked at how these developments are empowering the local financial services industry as a whole. The event saw FIS preview its latest research into how FinTech in the Middle East will evolve between now and 2020. The company also ran a real-time poll to see how attendees plans compare to the global and regional results. More than 70 participants working in financial services, banking, asset management, private equity and other related industries took part in the survey. About 35 per cent of respondents said they would mostly look to increase investment into disruptive technologies by 2020. Other important investment targets include market expansion, customer experience, regulatory compliance and talent management. Separately, participants pointed to advancements in mobile and wearable technologies and multi-asset trading technology as the most compelling to their businesses, said the statement. The keynote speech was delivered by Dr Nasser H Saidi, a chief economist and governance reform advocate. It was followed by a panel presided by respected industry experts such as Dr Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist at Bahrain Economic Development Board. The event, held at Palazzo Versace, also offered the opportunity for attendees to network with some of FISs 20,000+ global clients. FIS acquired SunGard, one of the worlds largest privately held software and services companies, in 2015 for $9.5 billion. The deal included SunGards Middle East and Africa operations. Wissam Khoury, managing director of FIS Middle East & Africa, said: With the GCC countries FinTech industry growing at an exponential rate over the next few years, we need to be ready to make the most of all opportunities that will present themselves. Our clients are crying out for more sophisticated and efficient technology solutions to innovate and adapt to change. This is especially true of the Middle East, which has seen its financial services landscape change beyond all recognition in less than two decades. We believe that between now and 2020 we will see a radical increase in reliance on cutting edge FinTech in the region, which is why we think hosting this event has been an excellent forum to bring industry leaders together. - TradeArabia News Service Abu Dhabi state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) has selected the nine banks which lent to its subsidiary for its own euro-denominated bond issue, sources aware of the matter said. However, the bond is unlikely to be issued any time soon due to IPIC's deepening row with troubled Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB. IPIC offered guarantees against its former partner's debt and provided it with cash in exchange for assets, but both are now involved in a spat over the obligations. "Having answers to all the questions stemming from 1MDB will be important for securing investor support," said one of the sources, who declined to be named. IPIC declined to comment. Sources said IPIC has selected the lenders which provided Aabar Investments with a 3.6 billion euro loan in March - Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Intesa Sanpaolo, JP Morgan, National Bank of Abu Dhabi, Natixis, Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. Last month sources said a euro bond would be used to refinance existing IPIC debt. IPIC has a 1.25 billion euro bond maturing on May 14, according to Thomson Reuters data. The fund will likely have to repay that debt using another source, such as existing cash reserves, and then raise the new bond at a later date. Abu Dhabi state entities are lining up to sell bonds after the government's blockbuster $5 billion deal last month -- its first international debt sale in seven years which came after a lull in issuance from the emirate. Fellow state-owned investment fund Mubadala sold a $500 million seven-year bond on Monday, while banks were due to respond last Sunday to Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), which had invited them to pitch for arranger roles on a potential bond offering.-Reuters PA Consulting Group Mena, a leading consulting, technology and innovation firm, has appointed Tariq Al Beshtawi as a government sector services expert, as part of the consultancys ongoing expansion within the region. Al Beshtawi will drive the development of government services work across the region, capitalising on his experience within the Middle East public sector, including the lead advisory role on a multi-million education & government transformation programmes in the region. Joining PA from Deloitte, Al Beshtawi worked in many strategic advisory positions in the Middle East. Jason Harborow, head of PA Consulting Group Mena, said: Bringing Tariq into the regional team will have an immediate and direct impact on the service offering to our clients and the calibre of work we can provide. His experience in advising top government leaders and senior business executives is invaluable and I know he goes the extra mile to deliver large strategic programmes and exceed client expectations. This approach to business is aligned to the way we work at PA striving for and being the very best we can be. Al Beshtawi is finalising his Doctorate degree in Business Administration, with a specialisation in Strategy, Innovation and Technology Management; he holds a Master degree in Computer Science and a Bachelors degree in Computer Information Systems. His GCC client portfolio includes top level projects with the Abu Dhabi Municipality, Abu Dhabi Education Council, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in Qatar, the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia and the Prime Minister in the UAE. Harborow added: This year has seen us bring 20 new members of staff into the regional team, some of which are senior appointments such as Tariq and his colleague Andrew Ford who joined us in February. The increased headcount is vital to the ongoing delivery of work we are producing for our clients across a variety of industries. The government services, healthcare, and transport, travel and logistics sectors continue to be major areas of expansion for PA within our region. We are bringing together the best minds in the business to ensure the offering to our current and future clients is unbeatable. TradeArabia News Service Experts and business leaders in Dubai today discussed the emergence of Enterprise Leaders and their role in the UAE, as part of an initiative of Dubai Knowledge Parks (DKP) Industry and University Partnership Forums (I-UP) programme. According to CEB Global, a best practice insight and technology firm, Enterprise Leaders are typically people who share resources and best practices to improve results across an organisation. A study by the firm showed that engaging such talent can boost revenue, increase customer satisfaction, drive innovation and improve engagement. CEB Global, which partnered with DKP to hold the event, also found that only 27 per cent of business unit managers believe they have the right leaders in place to handle the future needs of an organisation. As it stands, 88 per cent of leaders fail the requirements for Enterprise Leadership, according to CEB Global. To help address this gap, CEB has developed a New Enterprise Leadership Solution where organisations can assess and benchmark leaders against CEBs own competency model. The programme also increases leader ability to model and enable Enterprise Leadership. During the half-day event which happened today, a panel discussion debated which leaders have the greatest impact and how their leadership skills can drive organisational efficiencies and employee engagement. Panelists included Matthew Mee, managing director GCC and Middle East at CIPD; Brad Boyson, executive director at SHRM MEA; Mohamed Farid, managing director for Mena region, at CEB; and Neil Jones, senior affiliate professor of strategy at Insead. The remodelled I-UP Forums are a series of initiatives that aim to bring together professionals from universities, industry, and government departments to discuss potential collaborations, partnerships, research, and business development opportunities. The I-UP forum was originally launched in 2014, but due to popular demand, the yearly event has been turned into a series of conferences to be held over the course of 2016 to cover various topics in higher education and HR sectors. TradeArabia News Service Dubai imported $3.6 billion worth of plastics and rubbers, and exported $1.3 billion worth of the same commodities in 2015, according to latest figures revealed by Dubai Statistics Centre. Dubai also re-exported $1.008 billion worth of plastics and rubbers in the same period, said a statement from the centre. These trade figures were revealed today during a press briefing held by the German trade fair organiser Messe Dusseldorf while announcing the GCCs response to K 2016, the largest international trade fair for the plastics and rubber industry, taking place from October 19 to 26, in Dusseldorf, Germany, it said The German company said that the UAE is succeeding in diversifying its economy by investing heavily in the industrial sector including the plastics industry as it is taking early steps in its bid to say farewell to the last drop of oil. The company said the UAE plastics industry growth is fuelled by industrial diversifying initiatives spearheaded by the UAE government. Erhard Wienkamp, division director, Messe Dusseldorf, said: K 2016 has been fully booked for months. More than 3,000 exhibitors from more than 50 nations will take part. As usual, the largest group of exhibitors comes from Europe, particularly from Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France and Turkey. At the same time, the K trade fair is a clear indicator of changes in the global market. Over the past few years, the number of Asian companies and the exhibition area that they booked has been rising steadily. This year, particularly China, India, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan will be impressing visitors with their strong presence, he said. As the K trade fair features a wide abundance of companies from all over the world, the spotlight is not only on the major issues that concern the industry such as energy, resource and material efficiency but also on niche segments, he added. K 2016 will spread across the entire exhibition area at Dusseldorf and exhibitors will present their products and services in all of the venues 19 halls with a total area of almost 170,000 sq m, it added. TradeArabia News Service More than 300 million active devices are now running on Windows 10 worldwide, said Microsoft, adding that over 63 billion minutes were spent on Microsoft Edge in March alone, with a 50 per cent growth since the last quarter. Windows 10 has become one of the largest online services in less than a year, the statement said. Core to delivering our more personal computing vision, Windows 10 offers experiences that are familiar, safer and more secure, and more personal and productive enabling innovative new experiences, Microsoft said. People at home, at schools, at small businesses, at large companies, and other organizations adopt Windows 10 faster than ever, and more than ever before. A few examples: People are playing games on Windows 10 more than ever before, with over nine billion hours of gameplay on Windows 10 since launch. Apps that come with Windows 10, including Photos, Groove Music, and Movies & TV are seeing millions of active users each month, including more than 144 million people using Photos. And, the Windows Store continues to grow daily with new Universal Windows Platform apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger; updated UWP apps from Vine, Hulu, Netflix and Twitter; and popular PC games including Rise of the Tomb Raider and Quantum Break. These Windows 10 services are getting better and better each month, with significant new innovations shipped in November, and many more coming in the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update this summer. Of course, as part of delivering Windows 10 as a service any Windows 10 customer can enjoy these innovations for free, Microsoft said in the statement. The free upgrade offer to Windows 10 was a first for Microsoft, helping people upgrade faster than ever before. And time is running out. The free upgrade offer will end on July 29 and we want to make sure you dont miss out, it added. TradeArabia News Service Telecom giant Ericsson outlined its strategy to drive 5G in the industry at this years 5G World Series Mena, held in Dubai. During the event, Ericsson demonstrated several 5G related technologies including Critical Control of Remote Devices; Media Everywhere; Smart Vehicles Transport & Infrastructure; and Broadband Experience Everywhere Anytime. The company also took a peek at the future of mobile networks both at its stand and through a number of keynote speeches and panel discussions. In addition to customers, partners and government officials, Ericsson booth also welcomed local university students to receive a learning experience about 5G technologies via Ericssons technology experts. By 2020, we expect 5G to start rolling out to operators networks in order to cater for the IoT applications and machine type communication. Today, it became more important than ever, for operators to establish their role in IoT by capitalising on their major asset, the network. Our participation in 5G World Series today aims to support our customers to think how to design their networks so they can leverage the full potential of IoT when 5G arrives, said Rafiah Ibrahim, head of Ericsson for the MEA region. Ericsson has been partnering on 5G with 21 major operators globally including Etisalat, Turkcell and Ooredoo in the Middle East. The company is also involved in 15 industry pilots globally to better understand how 5G will be used in the real world. Ericsson has been both driving and engaging in a large number of research projects together with industry partners and academia. Among the academic partners are key universities and research institutes around the world. Together, Ericsson and its partners plan to evolve existing technologies as well as discover new ones designed to meet current-day requirements. Essentially, these industry-level research projects, such as Metis I and II, are intended to bring multiple vendors together with academia to help drive the standardisation process. TradeArabia News Service Nine French firms are set to showcase mobile payment solutions at this years Cards & Payments Middle East. They will form the French pavilion, hosted by Business France, an organisation which supports French businesses wishing to expand abroad. The two-day event will be taking place at the Dubai International Exhibition & Convention Centre, starting May 31. The French pavilion will be showcasing innovative mobile payment solutions, as well as solutions on RFID/NFC technologies, identification and authentication. Leveraging on its cutting-edge technology, France is well-placed to meet the needs of the FinTech and the memory card, smart card and contact-less card market offering key functions such as data storage, data modification and data restoration, card and holder identification as well as authentication, said a press release. The applications are specifically geared towards the banking, financing, and government activities (e-passport) sectors. However, they have high potential for use in aeronautics, automotive manufacturing, mass market retailing, industry, logistics, and the textile and health industry. List of exhibitors - Elyctis, a firm which develops, manufactures and markets readers dedicated to Secured Identity Documents (e-passport, e-ID, etc.) - Secure-IC, which develops trusted computing security technologies for embedded systems to protect them from malevolent attacks and cyber threats. - StarChip, a company that offers controllers for the payment/id market (EMVCo/CC) and the telecom/M2M market (Native to High-end). - Smartware, one of the leading providers of software/hardware solutions and services. It designs, develops and manufactures electronic boards and embedded systems dedicated to the personalization and the test of contact/contactless smartcards and modules for Banking, GSM, ePassport, eID applications. - VFP Ink, a firm that develops, manufactures, and distributes screen printing inks, and provides many technological solutions worldwide with products specifically made for laminated plastic card market. - Smart Packaging Solutions (SPS), which provides contactless and dual interface smart cards, and high-quality inlays for e-Passports. - SELP, which is a smartcard and solutions company, provides global physical and dematerialized solutions for governments, banks, administrations, brands and retailers. SELP provides turnkey solutions for identity, banking, prepaid and loyalty markets. - Famoco, which has developed the worlds first professional and dedicated Android NFC device. FAMOCO helps companies meet their mobile digital transformation and compliance goals by providing a dedicated device that is secure, flexible, connected, remotely manageable and traceable. The device has no street value, is highly versatile and through its centralized Device Management Platform can be used in a multitude of ways from attendance tracking, localization and payments, to scheduling and access control. - MobiWire, a manufacturer specialized in the design, development and production of mobile phones and mobile payment terminals. TradeArabia News Service The UAE has the lowest level of violent crimes in the world as indicated by the Violent Crime Index, which measures the decrease in such crimes at a rate of five annual crimes per 100,000 population per year, said a senior government official. The number of crimes per 100,000 population was 119.8 in 2011, decreased to 110.2 by the end of 2013 and registered 90.6 in 2014 and 83.8 in 2015, added Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior. He was speaking at the recent Federal National Council meeting, held under the chairmanship of Dr Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, FNC Speaker at the FNCs headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Sheikh Saif said: The challenges of dealing with criminal behaviours are increasing globally; however, the UAE has registered the lowest rates, whereas assaults with swords, knives and other bladed weapons in the UAE accounted for only 0.9 per cent of the total number of violent crimes. The Ministry of Interior has taken a set of measures to achieve this objective, notably organizing awareness drives for school students, as well as awareness programmes about the dangers of carrying and using knives. Some 86.5 per cent of people in UAE are satisfied with their security during the day, while the satisfaction rate is 84.5 per cent at night, Sheikh Saif said, stressing that the UAE relies on the statistics carried out by an independent impartial entity, the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR). The speed limits displayed on the traditional road signs are the regulatory limits, and motorists are mandated to abide by these limits; and violating them will incur a fine, Sheikh Saif said. He highlighted that the number of traffic accidents fatalities has decreased by 54.7 per cent between 2008 and 2015. TradeArabia News Service Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec), Shell and BP are among many leading energy companies taking part in this years EIC Connect Middle East event on May 17 at St. Regis Hotel and Resort on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi. The event, which has already attracted over 300 delegates from leading UK energy service companies, is designed to increase foreign investment in the Emirates energy sector and bilateral trade between the UAE and the UK through a day of conferences, vendor briefings, energy project updates, exhibitions and one-to-one meetings between UAE and UK energy companies. The fifth EIC Connect Middle East event to take place in Abu Dhabi, organised by the Energy Industries Council (EIC), will be opened by Ali Al Jarwan, CEO of Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (an Adnoc subsidiary), and the UKs Ambassador to the UAE Philip Parham. The keynote speakers will provide an overview on the benefits of doing business in the Emirates and stress the importance of this event, the only one of its type in the UAE, in reinforcing the long standing business relationship between the UAE and the UK, and supporting the objective of increasing bilateral trade to 25 billion ($36 billion) by 2020. Two conference sessions will take place during the day, with speakers coming from major regional operators Adnoc, Enec, Shell, BP, Kentz, Atkins, and Endress+Hauser. These sessions will focus on current and future energy projects in the UAE and the Middle East, and the opportunities for UK companies to support these developments, which will help to meet the growing energy demand in the region, and add value to the local supply chain, said the statement. Reflecting the increasingly diverse energy mix in the region, Enec will provide an update on the Barakah project, the Emirates first nuclear power station, and provide information on how UK companies can support this project to provide clean, safe and reliable energy to the country. One of the key features of this event is its one-to-one sessions which bring together representatives from the major energy companies in the region, such as Adnoc and many of its subsidiaries, Enec, Amec Foster Wheeler, Petrofrac, McDermott and Flour with potential new UK partners, providing these with information and advice on registration processes and their specific project requirements. EIC Connect has a dedicated UAE Landing Zone, where UK companies will receive practical advice on setting up and running a business in the UAE as well as how to find and work with local partners, generating further income and employment opportunities for the Emirates, it said. The event exhibition is of great value to representatives from UAE based operators and contractors, who will be scanning the 40 exhibition stands, aware that the innovative products and expertise provided by UK companies can enable them to enhance efficiencies and maximise production, giving them an advantage in the buoyant but competitive UAE market, where low production costs mean projects are highly profitable, it added. - TradeArabia News Service Empire Aviation, a US-based aircraft sales operation established by the Dubai-based Empire Aviation Group, has signed a sales agency agreement to represent Winglet Technology, a company that designs, certifies and markets the most innovative winglet design in the world. Empire Aviation Group global aircraft asset management company. Under the new agreement, Empire Aviation USA will market and sell the Citation Sovereign and Citation X winglet kit and installation options, offering broader choice to customers, including growing the number of installation locations across the US. To date, 30 per cent of Citation X owners have chosen winglets for their aircraft, and the winglets have become standard equipment on the Cessna Citation X+. Gary Wright, director of Empire Aviation USA, commented: Empire Aviation USA is very excited to represent Winglet Technology, who have developed the most innovative winglet design in the world, and has an outstanding reputation for customer service. As a part of Empire Aviation Group, operating in all the major regional aviation markets around the globe, we believe this new partnership presents fantastic opportunities. Robert Kiser, co-founder and president of Winglet Technology, added: Our unique elliptical winglet design provides unsurpassed productivity, style, and performance for aircraft. This new agreement with Empire Aviation USA will ensure we are able to reach deeper into the US and world market through a team of highly respected and experienced aviation experts. Winglet Technology is a Wichita, Kansas, based company founded in 2001. The company has extensive experience in engineering, quality, programme management, supplier management, integration, composite technology, airplane and component testing, and certification. Winglet Technologys unique winglet design ensures that lift distribution closely matches optimum elliptical lift distribution along the span of the wing. The elliptical winglet design offers better aerodynamic performance benefits while minimising the increase in wing loading, the statement said. Empire Aviation Group, launched in 2007 in Dubai, now operates one of the regions largest managed fleets of business jets, with 27 aircraft based in Dubai, Oman, India, San Marino, Hong Kong and Nigeria. The company, which has a team of 150 aviation specialists, has expanded operations across the globe and opened branches in India and, most recently, in San Marino, as well as a dedicated sales office in the US. - TradeArabia News Service Holiday Inn Abu Dhabi, a leading hotel in the UAE capital, has welcomed Robert Clark as its new general manager. An IHG veteran, Clark has worked with the hospitality chain for 17 years, having started his career in his native New Zealand within rooms division and later moving into revenue management. In 2004 he moved to the UAE following which he spent the next six years with the commercial team as director of revenue for the opening of the IHG Dubai Festival City properties. In 2010 he took up an operational post at the InterContinental Al Ain Resort. Following a short break from IHG, Clark rejoined the group as resident manager of InterContinental Doha the City. With his strong commercial background and recent operational experience, Clark has been ideally placed to take on his first general manager post in one of the brands defining Holiday Inns. Robert said The UAE is one of the most dynamic and exciting hotel markets worldwide. I will be looking to leverage my commercial experience along with my local GCC knowledge to build on the significant success the hotel team has already achieved since opening. - TradeArabia News Service The Gulf Flight Safety Council (GFSC), a not-for-profit group of GCC aviation organisations focusing on improved safety standards, proposed the setting of regional safety guidelines, at its first 2016 meeting held in Bahrain. Through the safety guidelines, GFSC is looking to reduce flight risks and lost time accidents, as well as bring the region closer to international standards. Like the International Air Transport Association (IATA) sets international safety guidelines, the GFSC allows us an opportunity to discuss safety issues specific to this region. The GFSC has agreed this year to collaborate on the writing of a shared safety document, in which we would like the involvement of all the operators in the region. It will have no affiliation to any particular organisation, but can be used by all to improve the overall safety levels in the region. It will ensure that all the players will be speaking a common language, improving safety cooperation among them, said Captain Mohammed Malatani, chairman of the GFSC. The GFSC is deeply committed to ensuring that airlines in the GCC region comply with the highest safety standards, and these meetings are an opportunity for industry professionals to share safety-related issues with one another and to learn from each others experiences, he added. The two-day event, sponsored by Gulf Air, Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), the Gulf Marcom Group, Eventscom, and Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA), was held at the GAA. The event was attended by representatives of several regional airlines, including Gulf Air, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Saudi Airlines, Oman Air, and Flydubai. Bahrain participants also included Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA), Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA), and the Ministry of Interior (MoI). Formed by a small group of individuals in Dubai in 2000, the GFSC has grown into an important organisation, with members from all over the region and the world, including manufacturers, regulators, air traffic service providers, business jet and VVIP operators, airlines and cargo operators. It meets twice a year, in April and October, to discuss improved safety procedures, and hosts an annual Safety Summit every December. - TradeArabia News Service Millennium & Copthorne, Middle East and Africa (MEA), a leading hospitality chain, has announced the opening of the first Copthorne Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Located on King Fahd Road, the four-star hotel is close to major Government offices and to the city's business district. The hotel features 143 rooms and suites each with stylish design and facilities including eight meeting rooms, an outdoor swimming pool and a fitness centre. It also houses a spacious contemporary restaurant offering a menu of international cuisines, while Brewstars is the hotel's urban cafe, perfect for a business meeting or to relax with its fine selection of teas, coffee and pastries. The hotel is less than 30 mins drive from King Khalid International Airport, offering excellent international and domestic connections. Francois Kassab, chief operating officer, Millennium & Copthorne MEA says; "We are excited to open our first hotel in the commercial hub and capital Riyadh. It is our fourth opening in Saudi Arabia and is just the beginning of an extensive expansion across the Kingdom. We successfully launched Millennium Hotel Hail last month and are pleased to be forging ahead with rapid expansion in Saudi Arabia. "We are confident that the Copthorne Hotel Riyadh will be a great addition to the capital's hospitality offering, addressing the undersupply of midscale hotels and providing a practical alternative for business travellers. We anticipate a strong demand from the corporate segment due to its excellent location and the hotel's facilities" The opening of Copthorne Hotel Riyadh closely follows the launch of Millennium Hotel Hail in the north-west of the country and is part of the group's wider strategic plan to open over 20 hotels across the kingdom within the next five years. - TradeArabia News Service Federal officials lambasted Alpha Natural Resources restructuring plan in court documents filed Tuesday, saying the Virginia-based firms proposal lacked sufficient details and was more akin to a liquidation. The objections of the U.S. Trustee present a hurdle in Alphas attempts to emerge from Chapter 11 protection. They come in advance of a hearing next week which will determine whether the companys plan will proceed, and amid a flurry of new developments. A federal bankruptcy judge on Monday approved the companys request to reject labor contracts and retiree benefits for unionized employees. The move is expected to save the company $60 million, Reuters reported. A hearing on Alphas request to eliminate benefits for non-union miners is scheduled for May 17. None of the companys Wyoming employees is represented by a union. The future of Alphas Powder River Basin mines, Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte, hinge on the companys reorganization plan. Alpha has proposed splitting the companys assets into two groups: core and non-core. Its most valuable properties, including Belle Ayr and Eagle Butte, would be sold. A group of the companys creditors have agreed to submit a minimum bid of $500 million. Alpha will accept a higher bid if one is submitted. The companys remaining assets, marginal mines largely based in Appalachia, would form the basis of a second company. That business would largely focus on reclamation. The government, in a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, argued every aspect of Alphas business was up for sale. Nowhere in its disclosure statement, which outlined the companys plan, did Alpha say what assets it plans to keep, attorneys for the U.S. Trustee wrote. The company recently agreed to sell its natural gas assets in Pennsylvania to Rice Energy for $200 million. Although this case was originally represented to the court and the creditors as a reorganization, the proposed plan makes clear that the end-game here is more in the nature of (if not a complete) liquidation, they wrote. Particularly worrisome, the government said, was the lack of detail provided about the second firm to be based in Appalachia. Alpha provided no information on how the company would operate or generate income given that its stated purpose is to focus on reclamation. If, in fact, the Reorganized Debtor is going to conduct no business other than to comply with its statutorily required clean-up and reclamation obligations, and will be essentially winding down Alphas business, then the disclosure statement needs to fully, clearly and openly disclose that, the U.S. Trustee said. The U.S. Trustee is a division of Justice Department. The government is not the first to make that argument. The United Mine Workers of America advanced a similar line of thinking in its objection to Alphas plan to cut benefits for union employees and their spouses. Selling its core-assets would deprive a restructured company from its primary sources of revenues, the union argued. Alpha, in response, dismissed that claim, saying the company would continue operating its non-core assets in Appalachia. The debtors (Alpha) will retain the reclamation assets in order to conduct environmental reclamation, and these assets will continue to generate revenue for the purpose of paying reclamation claims and other obligations of the reorganized debtors, the company wrote. The company said Tuesday it intends to update its disclosure statement as the bankruptcy process proceeds. A hearing on the companys plans is scheduled for May 17. Northwest College will cut three of its programs and four staff positions because of Wyomings budget crisis, a decision thats drawn the ire of the schools journalism professor. Farrier Business Management, Journalism and Film/Radio/TV will no longer accept new students, the schools board of trustees decided Monday. The programs will finish next year so that current students can complete their degrees. The cuts will save the school about $2.6 million. President Stefani Hicswa said the anticipated revenue for the school is less than their cost of operations, and programs were reviewed based on cost and enrollment. The film/radio/TV program, for example, brings in about $46,000 a year but costs close to $100,000 to maintain, according to the colleges administration. The programs also have the fewest students, Hicswa said in a letter to the board of trustees. Additionally, the college is offering early retirement to some of its faculty and staff, and 18 have applied so far, according to the college. But journalism professor Rob Breeding says the decision to cut his program is in response to the student newspapers critical coverage of the schools administration. The Northwest Trails reporters wrote an editorial in the fall semester criticizing the president for giving bonuses despite looming budget cuts. The paper also covered an incident in which a member of the faculty brought a gun to school, Breeding said. The professor said he has come under personal attack from the administration. Breeding was pressured to enroll in a number of courses at his own expense or risk losing his contract, he said. His tenure review was also delayed, the result of new guidelines for community college professors suggested by the Higher Learning Commission, the body that controls accreditation for community colleges in Wyoming. The guidelines recommend that professors have a masters degree in their area of instruction or obtain additional credit hours. But Breeding said the administration has used the new guidelines punitively. They insisted that I sign up for these courses at the very time they were deciding to eliminate my job, he said. The fate of the schools 59-year-old student newspaper is now uncertain. The colleges spokesman, Mark Kitchen, said Northwest will continue supporting the paper as long as students are interested in maintaining it. But Breeding said cutting the program that supports the paper undermines the value of a free and independent press at the school. Its impossible to not see the connection between the colleges irrational actions on the HLC guidelines and now this move to eliminate the program altogether, Breeding said. They are linked, and they are linked to an administration that is not comfortable with any scrutiny. Kitchen said he is unaware of reasons for the cuts beyond those offered by the president. In response to questions regarding Breedings contract, Kitchen said he could not comment on personnel matters. ROSEBUD, S.D. The remains of at least 10 Native American children who died nearly 2,000 miles from their homes while being forced to attend a government-run boarding school in Pennsylvania more than a century ago could soon be repatriated under an effort taken up by a South Dakota tribe. The exhumation and return of the bodies of the children who as students of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School were stripped of their culture and left vulnerable to abuse wont be an easy undertaking. But leaders of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe hope that a meeting with representatives from the U.S. Army and other tribes scheduled for Tuesday will begin the negotiation process to repatriate the remains of the 10 children, and eventually, of the dozens more who died while attending the school as part of an assimilation policy intended to rid the children from Native American traditions and replace them with European culture. We are hoping that the United States government will say Yes, lets bring your relatives home, said Russell Eagle Bear, the historic preservation officer for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Back then, the military had total control over us and they took these kids, and especially during those first five years of starting that school, our youth died. Back then in that timeline, our people were basically under almost a hostage situation so our people couldnt go all the way out to Pennsylvania to retrieve loved ones. The boarding school, founded by Army officer Richard Henry Pratt, operated between 1879 and 1918 and saw more than 10,000 Native American children, who upon arrival were required to have their braids cut off and dress in military-style uniforms in an effort to grind out their heritage. Students were punished for speaking their native language and had to go by a European name. The students lived under harsh conditions that included physical abuse and were used as farm labor during the summer. Children also were left susceptible to various types of disease, such as tuberculosis, which led to their early death. Nearly 200 students died and were buried at the school, which is now part of the U.S. Army War College. Among those students was 14-year-old Little Chief of the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming, who died in 1883. He was the great-uncle of Yufna Soldier Wolf, the director of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Historic Preservation Office in Riverton. She has been working to bring his remains back to the Wind River Reservation cemetery. The Army in a statement on Monday said the meeting Tuesday would begin a formal government-to-government consultation that will help all parties better understand the legal requirements to disinter a person buried in any Army cemetery. It is the Armys desire to work with these leaders, work (a) successful resolution, and bring the young men and women home, according to the statement. Leaders from the Standing Rock Sioux and Northern Arapaho Tribes were among those expected to attend the gathering. This is the first major effort to repatriate the remains, and it began after a youth group on its way back home from a summit at the White House last summer stopped by the former school. Sydney Horse Looking, a high school senior who was part of the group, said the youth didnt like what they saw. They didnt get a proper burial, in my opinion, and the cemetery itself is pretty close to one of the main roads there, and people just drive by, said the 17-year-old, who along with the rest of the youth group pressed the tribes council to begin the repatriation effort. I think those kids should be brought home and reunited with their families. It wasnt their choice to go to that school. Eagle Bear said his office has identified 10 children who are buried at the former school. He said the process has been challenging because some records have the childrens European names, not their native names. Furthermore, he said, the graves were relocated between the late 1920s and early 1930s and some headstones lack names. Eagle Bear said that if the Army authorizes the exhumation, he will take a medicine man with him to have a spiritual ceremony to help identify the remains, and DNA testing will be a backup. He hopes the exhumation can begin as early as this summer. A lot of these moms and dads went to their graves without knowing what happened to their child and how that child was treated, Eagle Bear said. So, lets roll up our sleeves, lets lay out a plan and lets bring them back. To call The CWs new supernatural soaper Twilight, but with witches would be incredibly reductive. It would also be pretty darn accurate. The Secret Circle is custom-crafted to lure the same tweens- and- their- undersexed- moms crowd as the Twilight franchise. Its based on a young-adult fantasy series (just like Twilight). And its the perfect companion piece to The CWs current Thursday night hit, The Vampire Diaries (which, you guessed it, is also a supernatural teen romance based on a young-adult book series). That isnt to say, however, that The Secret Circle isnt rife with guilty pleasures. The series revolves around atypical teen Cassie Blake (Britt Robertson, star of The CWs short-lived Life Unexpected). After her mother dies under mysterious circumstances (cue the ominous music early), Cassie is shipped off to live with her grandmother in picturesque Chance Harbor, Wash.a fictional town wholly unrelated to Forks, Wash., from Twilight. There, Cassie meets a group of teenagers who want her to join their would-be witches coven. Turns out mom was part of a secret witches circle back in high school, before something went horribly wrong and she was forced to flee town. Now, the sons and daughters of those grunge-era spell-casters are circling around Cassie trying to win her loyalty. Adam (Thomas Dekker, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles) is a sensitive and handsome- in- a- non- sexually- threatening- way boy who manages to combine the appeal Twilights putty-faced Taylor Lautner with the appeal of Twilights wussy-voiced Robert Pattinson. Diana (Shelley Hennig, former Miss Teen USA) is the pretty go-getter who runs the coven. Faye (Australian model Phoebe Tonkin) is the bitchy brunette who watched Mean Girls a lot. There are some other kids in there too, but theyre as exciting as the token Asian guy on Glee. More important to the storyline is Dianas dad (Gale Harold from Desperate Housewives), who Im just gonna refer to as Lucius Malfoy. Lucius is the Big Bad in the black trench coat (cue that ominous music again) who wants to rebuild the witches circle so he can ... you know, do more bad things. Against her better judgment, naive little Cassie joins the titular geometric configuration. This gives her instant access to all sorts of ancestral powers she never knew she had. The most hilarious of these powers is manifested in the pilot when Carrie and Adam share a romantic moment levitating raindrops in the middle of the forest. (What? No flying through the treetops?) Throw in some romantic complications (Adam is dating Diana), some rote drama (Adams dad is an alcoholic) and a bit of foreshadowing (what did happen to the original circle?) and youve got an easily digestible formula. Although The Secret Circle steals from everything under the sunelements of Twilight, The Craft, Harry Potter, The Lost Boys and Charmed are all easily discernibleit does choose a lot of the right influences. Teenage supernatural romance lovers will eat it up like Twilight-themed Sweethearts candy from Necco. Aspen Scherck, 10, peered in awe at the black-footed ferret in a clear box, gnawing on a rat carcass in the Mills Elementary School gymnasium. A line of students trailed past the animal, grabbing slices of pizza on their way out to an ambulance parked behind the school. Scherck pulled the tarp off the vehicle to reveal a giant black-footed ferret emblazoned image on the side, along with copies of her drawing and essay explaining why the species should be featured on Wyoming Medical Centers newest ambulance. The teachers and students cheered and clapped, while she grinned and looked at the image. Schercks idea won the hospitals 2016 ambulance contest in November, and she helped unveil the new black-footed ferret ambulance at her school Tuesday. The WMC selection committee chose 10 finalists from among 170 entries submitted by Natrona County School District elementary students, according to information from the hospital. A winner was selected by public vote. This is the second year of the contest to decide which animal will appear on the new ambulances to maintain the herd of 10 vehicles, WMC ambulance manager Robert Evenson said. The new ambulance likely will carry about 2,000 to 2,500 patients its first year and joins a grizzly bear, bald eagle, pronghorn, elk, bighorn sheep, moose, mountain lion, bison and cutthroat trout, Evenson said. The black-footed ferret ambulance replaces a 2006 pronghorn ambulance, Evenson said. Scherck chose the black-footed ferret because she received a domestic ferret for Christmas and became interested in the wild species while learning to take care of her pet, she said. A black-footed ferret was believed to be extinct but was found in Meteetsee, Wyoming, Scherck wrote in her winning essay. They were being held in a building where people help endangered animals, just like they help injured people. Thats why I want a black-footed ferret on the ambulance. A 7-year-old female ferret, Rebus, arrived from the National Black Footed Ferret Conservation Center in Colorado to help the school celebrate. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service outreach specialist Kimberly Fraser and Renny MacKay of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department talked with students about efforts to recover the species in the wild. A dog found one at a ranch near Meeteetse about 35 years ago, after they were thought for years to be extinct, MacKay said. The first place chosen to release ferrets was in Wyomings Shirley Basin, followed by 27 sites across North America, he said. Some of Rebus family members will be among more black-footed ferrets released near Meeteetse this summer, he told the students. Wyoming has had a very important role in making sure there are still black-footed ferrets on Earth, he told them. We should be proud that Wyoming has a big role in helping these black-footed ferrets. Most people will never see a black-footed ferret, because the nocturnal animals spend most of their time underground hunting prairie dogs, Fraser told the students. Scherck researched and talked about black-footed ferrets at home every night for a month while working on her essay, said her mother Michele Peterson, who teaches kindergarten at Mills Elementary. But the girl learned a few new facts Tuesday, including that black-footed ferrets eat all of their prey, even the bones, she said. Scherck hopped into the flashing ambulance for a ride around the school. Students on the playground cheered when she honked the horn. Shes happy the ambulance will remind people about black-footed ferrets, and Wyomings part in helping them. It gets to show a love for ferrets, Scherck said. PHOENIX Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have allowed some developers to levy their own taxes. In his fourth veto of the session, the governor said he understands the need for community facilities districts. These are existing methods that developers can use to build infrastucture in new subdivisions. But the governor found problems with provisions that would have allowed developers to demand that cities accede to formation of such districts. The changes would allow those districts to have their own developer-controlled governing boards, complete with the power to tax homeowners. Im a strong advocate for building our economy, and I know that growth and development are key to that success, Ducey said in his veto message. However, Im concerned that this bill does not provide needed protections for the taxpayer, he continued. These districts, like all of government, need to be accountable, and when the balance of power disproportionately favors any one side, homeowners and businesses are the ones who suffer. A spokeswoman for House Speaker David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, who sponsored the measure, said he was disappointed. Stephanie Grisham called HB 2568 a bill that (Gowan) sincerely believed would help economic development throughout the state, especially in Southern Arizona. Gowan will not get another chance to air his proposal: He is leaving the Legislature in a bid for Congress. But Grisham said Gowan wants the next Legislature to take up the issue again as it is needed to help put Arizonans back to work. The law that has existed for nearly three decades sets up a system for developers to work with cities to pay for things like water and sewer lines that would serve the subdivision. The district then sells tax-exempt bonds that are paid off through a levy on property owners. But such districts can now be established and taxes levied only with permission of the affected city. Gowans bill would have allowed any developer who has at least 600 acres to form a community facilities district no matter whether the city in which it was located wanted it or not. More significant is that the developer would be able to establish the board that could levy the tax and stack it with its own people. That drew specific complaints from city officials. They said elected council members are sensitive to the needs of their constituents and would only impose taxes after giving consideration to the concerns of their constituents people who could vote them out of office. By contrast, they said an unelected board dominated by people of the developers choosing would not have that safeguard. That lack of balance did not escape Ducey. In any future efforts on this issue, I encourage more emphasis on accountability and reforms that ensure protection for both businesses and taxpayers, he said in his veto message. Ducey did not mention it in his veto but questions were raised about who would benefit from the legislation and how that affected Gowans congressional bid. Tucson developer Don Diamond, whose firm Diamond Ventures supported the bill, contributed $2,700 to Gowans congressional campaign. There was an identical amount from Joan Diamond. The man behind Tucson's oldest bar, Harold "Ted" Bair came to Tucson because he heard about "a place out in the West that air conditioned their sidewalks." His father who had taught him the business had just recently passed away in a bar related accident, says Ted's daughter Robin Dutt. So Ted came to Tucson in 1960 and bought up a rough and tumble downtown bar called the Manhattan Club that same year. After The Manhattan Club was demolished to build the Ronstadt Transit Center, Bair purchased the Buffet Bar in 1982 and owned it for nearly three decades, instituting a lot of the kitschy fun features we now think of as traditions. On April 28 at the age of 89, Bair passed away in his Safford home, and that evening The Buffet passed out bottles of Harp beer in his honor. We spoke to friends, family and regulars at the bar to find out a little more about this Tucson "icon," and how he made The Buffet a very special place to hang your hat. Feel free to share your memories of Ted here in the comments section, or email me at aberlin@tucson.com. If you'd like to raise a glass to him, there will be a Celebration of Life gathering at The Buffet, 538 E. Ninth St. on June 18th at 3 p.m. How he came up with happy minute "He did not like the idea of having to change the cash register for an X amount of time, for two hours, three hours whatever. He says, 'Everybody loves it when you buy 'em a drink. ... Every day at 6 o'clock, whosever in there, they get one free drink.' And I dubbed it happy minute and apparently it has stuck." -daughter Robin Dutt, first female bartender at the Buffet "At the end of the night when he was leaving he would always say, 'I'm gonna go to a nice place.' ... He had this loud cackly laugh, and he'd stare at you and just laugh at his own joke. ... A lot of times he was just going to the Golden Nugget or the Home Den, back then. He did it in the afternoon too, he would round up three or four people from the bar and take them down to the Golden Nugget and they'd sit there, but they always came back for happy minute." -Brad Skattum, regular, worked at the Buffet in the early '90s until he accidentally sold beer after hours to an undercover cop "We took Ted to Show Low, Arizona to see a friend Pat Murdock. While waiting for him in his room I backed up to the heater. A little while later, he said 'Diane you're smoking hot!' My coat was on fire and all I could hear was his hyena laugh." -Diane Corbin On Ted's famous pink pickled eggs "He actually had his own special recipe at home, and he would make them and I had to help him shuck all the hard-boiled eggs and get 'em into the jar, and he would pour his special pickled egg stuff on top. It's a good thing those people ate 'em fast because he wasn't a big believer in refrigeration. ... I've discovered that pickled eggs is pretty Germanic, a German/Swiss kind of snack. He didn't like the pickled eggs that you could buy that were a clear color ... but he says, 'bite into one of these and it almost looks like a rose.'" -Robin Dutt "I told him the first thing is, if you don't give me the pickled egg recipe, I'm not buying the bar." -Lisha Smith, friend, The Buffet's current owner How The Buffet became a Coors bar "He had two beer taps in the Buffet bar in all the years I was there. ... they were both Coors. So if somebody comes in and said they'd like a tap Budweiser, he'd say 'Well I've got tap.' ... And they'd say, 'Well this isn't Budweiser,' he'd say 'Well you asked for the tap. The tap is Coors and we only do Coors." - Robin Dutt "When I started working here it was just Coors, no Blue Moon. I don't know what his reasoning was behind that, I really don't. ... We were the largest Coors account in Arizona for years, and people say that we even sold more Coors than any bar in America except for Coors field in Colorado." -Brad Skattum "He got into the Coors because they gave him the best deal in town. I don't think he ever drank Coors, no." -Dan Montgomery, friend, Ted's personal lawyer What Ted drank "He liked the Harp beer because it held a proper head. ... Many bars when you go in to go drinking, the people will pour the beer and throw off all the head and just fill it right to the top. And it's not very attractive in a glass. ... And he would know, that's where all your profits go if you run a bar. So if your bartenders are throwing off all the head to fill it up right to the brim for the customers, they're really hurting the house." - Robin Dutt On Ted's obsession with beer foam "If he saw you just letting foam run down the drain, he would sit you down, he would get a brown paper bag and a pencil, and he'd do all the numbers. ... He wanted you to pour it into another pitcher and keep the pitcher in the cooler, and it would eventually turn into beer. And then we'd sell it. And so we were always afraid because a lot of times it's hard to avoid all that foam, and when you're busy you don't want to be catching foam into another pitcher, and then the customers see you ... Well we found out if you kept about (an inch) of water in the bottom of the pitcher, it wouldn't foam up. So there were a lot of week pitchers being sold, just so we didn't have to hear his wrath." -Brad Skattum That time Ted painted over all the graffiti in the bar "We came in here and all the walls were brown. ... He said it was too much graffiti. And then every six or eight months he would paint the ceiling, because if we smoked in here then, the ceiling would just get brown, and he would repaint the ceiling quite often. But that one time we came in here and all the walls were brown. It was so eery. -Brad Skattum The Buffet was Ted's life "He just had a little bar that he ran really, really well. And he was really good at it." - Robin Dutt "He was a character. He had a really kind heart. He's helped so many employees over the years, loan them money doing this, doing that. If kids worked here and they needed something, he'd send them to bartending school to learn and he'd pay for it. ... He probably knew the bar business better than anybody in Tucson by far. He was here all the time. He'd sit in the corner and just observe. He knew exactly what was going on." -Dan Montgomery "He helped people through college. He put this guy through real estate school ... He had a bartender that came in and somebody ordered a rum and Coke, and what'd she give him? Scotch and water, and he was like, you don't even know what you're doing and he fired her. So he sent her to bartending school. ... He was a tough curmudgeon but we all loved him. " -Lisha Smith "He had a lot of sayings, and I remember one of them was: If you ever get robbed, give them all the money and ask if you can help them carry out some beer." BILLINGS, Mont. Montana officials want to triple the number of gray wolves hunters and trappers can kill in an area bordering Yellowstone National Park, citing complaints the predators are eating too many elk wanted by hunters and outfitters. The potential change marks the latest turn in a dispute that kicked off when endangered species protections for wolves were lifted in Montana in 2011. Park officials and wildlife advocates argue wolves that spend much of their lives inside Yellowstone should be given special protections. But state officials, outfitters and hunters point to elk numbers that have fallen dramatically since the 1990s, when wolves were reintroduced in the park. The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks proposal would increase the annual harvest from two wolves to six in a hunting district near Gardiner. That would stabilize the population most recently tallied at 24 animals and keep it from growing, according to the agency. Yellowstone scientists and administrators have sought for years to establish a buffer zone around Yellowstone where hunting would be restricted. Even under smaller quotas, they've said too many wolves were being killed once they stepped into Montana. The quota in a second area bordering the park would not change, nor would a similar quota in an area bordering Glacier National Park in the northwestern Montana. Fish Wildlife and Parks Commissioners are scheduled to consider the proposal Thursday, with a final decision in July. The higher quota is not meant to reduce wolf numbers, but to strike a better balance with competing interests, said Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim. Aasheim added that the issue was "a lot bigger than just outfitters," with individual hunters also worried about fewer elk. Likewise, livestock producers are concerned about wolf attacks on cattle and sheep, he said. "Our guys are saying we could take a few more (wolves) and get down to a better balance with elk and other species," he said. Marc Cooke with the advocacy group Wolves of the Rockies said he's urging officials to drop their plans to up the quota in the 60-square mile hunting district around Gardiner. "It's kind of ridiculous that they would consider bumping it up to six, considering it's such a small amount of land," Cooke said. "These Yellowstone wolves and these people who go to Yellowstone to watch wildlife they need to be heard, too." There's no limit on how many wolves can be killed statewide. Hunters and trappers harvested 210 of the animals in Montana during the 2015 season. A study published last month by researchers from the University of Washington, Yellowstone and Denali National Park found that park visitors were much less likely to see wolves when hunting was allowed outside park boundaries. Several wolves well-known among Yellowstone wildlife watchers were killed in Montana during the 2012-13 hunting season. They were among 12 wolves living primarily in Yellowstone that were killed that year after crossing into adjacent areas of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Under pressure from the park and advocacy groups, Montana wildlife commissioners tried to set up a no-kill buffer zone east and west of the town of Gardiner in 2012. A judge struck down those restrictions after ranchers and property rights advocates sued. A quota of four wolves in the Gardiner area was established in 2013. That was reduced to three animals in 2014 and two last year. When I walked into the Sister Jose shelter for homeless women Tuesday, the alert quickly went out. Theres a man inside, one woman shouted to the rest of the house. It was nothing personal: Its just that theres no room, so when you walk in the front door, youre already in the living space of homeless women a cot here, a couple chairs there, and a TV on in front. That was the reason that this valuable local charity, one of few that focuses on sheltering homeless women alone, went looking for a bigger place. Theres no room at its current digs just west of Five Points on West 18th Street. So it tried to buy a fantastic, 5,000-square-foot property on North Seventh Avenue. Its a beautiful place, with a large house in front, a backyard enclosed by a wall, and a two-story building at the back of the property. The West University Neighborhood residents put a stop to that deal. After months of back-and-forth, including some inane catastrophizing from nearby residents, on April 28, Sister Jose got permission from the zoning examiner to go ahead with the deal as long as the shelter accepted 15 conditions, such as that the outside would be kept free of litter, and that lockers would be provided for belongings. The shelter was OK with the conditions, but decided not to buy the property. The reason, director Jean Fedigan told me Tuesday: The women wouldnt feel safe in an area where residents had turned so hostile. Instead, the group is making an offer on a house near Santa Rita Park. You read that right: The area near Santa Rita Park, where two murders of homeless people have occurred in the last 10 months, feels like a safer option than West University. Bravo, neighbors, bravo! Its not far from where we are now, Fedigan said of the Santa Rita area. The women would certainly come there. If they are afraid, then they wont come. Fedigan wouldnt specify the location, noting that she has only made an offer. I thought the house on Seventh was wonderful. We all did, she said. But, In order to provide a loving and caring environment, youve got to feel safe that youre not being harassed, that youre not doing something wrong, that people wont be angry with you. As council member Steve Kozachik said, Theres an unmistakable irony in a situation when clients from a womens day shelter are so intimidated by the surrounding residents that theyll choose to move out to a location thats a constant hotbed of crime. In West University, people were angry, all right, as they showed at an April 21 zoning examiner hearing and earlier meetings. That day, among the objections was that the shelter would make property values decline by 30 percent. It was an absurd exaggeration undermined by a witness who lives in Barrio Viejo, where the shelter currently operates. Laura Walton said she bought a house a couple blocks away 2 years ago for $350,000, and though she walked past Sister Jose frequently, she didnt know it was there for about a year. Meanwhile, several houses have been bought and renovated even closer to the shelter. It hasnt mattered. Others pointed to the idea that the shelter would increase crime, saying crime is higher in the area around its current location. Of course, that could have to do with the fact that it is an area with higher crime, independent of the shelters presence. And West University is no paradise either, crimewise: When I visited the proposed shelter site Tuesday, a young man was on the phone across the street, calling in a report of his car window being smashed. No homeless women were nearby to blame. The charitys attorney, Rory Juneman, pointed out that only two calls involving negative acts by shelter residents had occurred in the previous 3 years. Those two got in an argument and called police. No disturbing the peace, he said. No red tags. No incidents related to illegal drugs. No physical injuries and nothing involving public loitering or any impact to the neighbors. That didnt deter other neighbors from making this claim the shelters presence would upset the sense of safety at Mexicayotl Academy, which sits diagonally across the intersection. Neighborhood resident Sara Chavarria read a letter from the school, and said in her own words that, The winter hours in which the shelter clients will be exiting and entering the building align with hours during which parents are dropping off or picking up students at the school. Which made me say to myself, So? Neighbor Chris Leighton complained that foot traffic would increase by 150 pedestrian trips per day. Again so? I knocked on the door Tuesday of a neighbor who argued during the hearing that the shelter would set off a cycle of decay in the neighborhood. His yard was full of weeds and the paint was chipping. Perhaps the greatest of all ironic claims were those raised by neighbors such as attorney Dee-Dee Samet Chandler, who said she supports the homeless in her charitable work, but opposes this shelter being placed near her property. What the West University neighbors arguments added up to was this: Homeless shelters belong somewhere else, in a poorer neighborhood, not here. The weakness in that argument was summarized by Sister Jose volunteer Cindy Rupp: There is not a neighborhood that is going to welcome Sister Jose with open arms. I dont doubt that everyone here would like to help these women, just not here. Just not here seems to be the message of every neighborhood. We want to help the homeless as long as they are invisible in our daily lives. Its a shame that spirit made a safer neighborhood feel unsafe to people who needed their welcome. PHOENIX Gov. Doug Ducey refused Tuesday to force Arizona to join with other states to restrict what kind of gun laws each can adopt. But he did not hesitate to sign a new law that will let individuals sue local governments that enact their own firearms laws. While that measure applies statewide, it is aimed largely at Tucson, which has three specific ordinances that gun-rights advocates find offensive. The governor also penned his approval to another law creating an exception to prohibitions of firearms on the campuses of public universities and colleges. It says people do not have to disarm themselves when they walk or drive on public streets and sidewalks going through a campus. In a veto message on HB 2524, Ducey said he is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. But he said what was in the proposal by Rep. Bob Thorpe, R-Flagstaff, essentially would surrender Arizonas right to decide what laws it does and does not want about things like requiring background checks when a firearm is purchased. I believe its important that Arizona continue to chart its own course and retain its sovereignty, he wrote in his veto message. Thorpes legislation would have required Arizona to enter into compacts with one or more states, with each agreeing not to enact new laws on the transfer of firearms. That would have tied the hands not only of future legislatures but also preempted the constitutional right of Arizona voters to propose their own gun laws. Ducey said he has nothing against protecting the rights of gun owners. But the governor said these are Arizona decisions, unfettered by any interstate compact. I see no reason for Arizona to tie ourselves to other states decisions on public policy relating to the transfer of firearms, he wrote. Ducey did sign SB 1266. Existing law says local governments cannot enact any rules or regulations dealing with the transportation, possession, sale, transfer, purchase, storage, registration, discharge or use of firearms or ammunition. The problem, according to Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, is there is no enforcement mechanism. His poster child is Tucson. The city adopted one ordinance that requires gun owners to report to police when a firearm is lost or stolen. Another allows police to request a breath sample from someone who negligently discharges a firearm and appears intoxicated. Former Attorney General Tom Horne, in a formal legal opinion, declared both measures to be illegal. The response of the city was, in essence, to ignore him. This new law, which takes effect Aug. 6, declares such ordinances invalid and allows a court to assess civil fines up to $50,000 for any knowing and willful violation of the state pre-emption law. Potentially more significant, it says a judge can have a person who enacts or enforces such a local law removed from office. And it separately permits any individual or group whose members are adversely affected by any local ordinance to bring their own legal action and collect damages up to $100,000. Tucson Councilman Steve Kozachik, who supports the ordinances, said Tuesday he sees no reason to repeal either measure, even with the new threat. These are reasonable accommodations to public safety, he said. Our constituents, my constituents, have asked for them, Kozachik said. And if the state Legislature and the governor want to meet us at the courthouse steps, lets just do that. Horne, in his 2013 legal opinion, 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 that only the state can regulate. 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. Since there is no penalty under state law, that would make even a $1 fine illegal. Kozachik defended the ordinance as eminently reasonable. If somebody steals your gun, let the police know theres a hot gun floating around in the neighborhood, he said. Horne also said the city lacks the legal authority to allow police to request a breath sample from an apparently intoxicated person who shoots a gun. He said the state laws bar cities from passing laws relating to the discharge and use of firearms. And Kozachik sniffed at Smiths reliance, in pushing SB 1266, on Horne being correct. It was his opinion, which everyone has, the councilman said. And his is not superior to anybody elses. Ducey, however, defended his decision to sign the measure. The governor has been clear he is committed to protecting the Second Amendment rights of Arizonans and stopping any policies that stand in the way of those constitutional rights, spokesman Daniel Scarpinato said in a prepared statement. Duceys signature on SB 1266 drew praise from the National Rifle Association. Enhancing the states pre-emption laws guarantees that every Arizonan will be held to the same standards whether they live in Tempe or Tucson, spokesman Lars Dalseide said in a prepared statement. Now safe and responsible gun owners wont suddenly become criminals simply because they cross an imaginary line. But Kozachik suggested that lawmakers who approved the measure have a problem. The gun guys in the state Legislature suffer some sort of separation anxiety when they think about being separated from their guns for minutes at a time, he said. And he said there is nothing inconsistent between the Second Amendment and regulations like requiring stolen firearms to be reported. PHOENIX Secretary of State Michele Reagan wont cancel next weeks special election even though her office failed to mail out on time more than 200,000 pamphlets with details of whats on the ballot. The law about when voters need to get the brochures was broken, Reagans spokesman Matt Roberts conceded. And while saying the fault lies with an outside company that made up mailing lists, Roberts acknowledged the foul-up is Reagans responsibility. But Roberts rejected the contention by attorney Tom Ryan that her failure is fatal and the election for propositions 123 and 124 cannot take place as scheduled on Tuesday. Theres nothing in statute that were finding that would allow this office to not allow the election itself to move forward, Roberts said. Ryan is not relying on Reagan to act. He separately filed a complaint with Attorney General Mark Brnovich contending that Reagans failure to strictly comply with election laws including the deadline for mailing the pamphlets voids the entire vote. He wants Brnovich to order the election postponed, putting the two issues either on the Aug. 30 primary ballot or holding them until the Nov. 8 general election. There was no immediate comment from Brnovich. The facts are not in dispute. Arizona law requires Reagan to mail a copy of the publicity pamphlet to every household with a registered voter. It says they have to be mailed out in time to be delivered before voters get their early ballots. That would have meant having the pamphlets in homes by April 20. The pamphlets are considered important because they contain an explanation of the ballot measures. In this case, that includes Proposition 123 to tap state trust land proceeds to settle a lawsuit against the state by schools, and Proposition 124, which allows the state to make changes to cost-of-living increases in the pensions of police and firefighters. That pamphlet also contains arguments submitted by supporters and opponents of ballot measures. Roberts said about 200,000 of the 1.9 million pamphlets did not go out on time, largely to houses with multiple registered voters who get early ballots. That affects 400,000 would-be voters. We have identified the problem, he said Tuesday. We have alleviated some of those concerns by sending out the extra 200,000 publicity pamphlets. Ryan acknowledged he is a foe of Proposition 123, echoing the comments of Treasurer Jeff DeWit that the state has enough money to settle the lawsuit and increase aid to schools without tapping the trust account. But he denied thats why he is trying to delay the vote, pointing out that also would affect Proposition 124, which he does support. Just delaying the election, though, would have fiscal implications for schools. Lawmakers scheduled the special election May 17 to have election results before the budget year ends on June 30. If the measure is approved, schools would get an immediate $224 million infusion. But Ryan said supporters of the measure should not be upset with him for raising the issue. Angela Harrolle recalled the night she learned the news that her husband, an officer and paramedic with an Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter crew, was killed in the line of duty. It was eight years ago while on a mission to rescue two hikers in Bear Mountain in Sedona. Bruce Harrolle was struck by the helicopter's rotor blade. It was nighttime and she was getting ready to put her two children to bed when one man in a flight suit and others in Smokey hats knocked on her door, and delivered the "horrible news," recalled Harrolle, the keynote speaker Tuesday at the Tucson Police Department's Fallen Officer Memorial. Explaining the news to her children and helping them understand that their daddy was not coming back was difficult, said Harrolle to officers and families at the department's Memorial Courtyard at 270 S. Stone Ave. Harrolle gives hope and aid to those in need as chief executive officer for the 100 Club of Arizona, a non-profit organization that supports the families of police and firefighters killed in the line of duty or seriously injured. During the tribute, there was the posting of colors by the TPD Honor Guard, a presentation of roses and a wreath, a rifle salute with Taps, and a flyover by the department's air unit. Sgt. Roland Gutierrez, president of the Tucson Police Officers Association, explained that even though officers have passed "we will always hold them in our hearts and in our minds." Gutierrez, along with union vice president Sgt. Brad Pelton, and Officers Charles Foley, a co-founder of Flags for the Flagless, and Officer Travis Carpenter, of Rusted American Metal flags, will attend the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial candlelight vigil May 13 and other tributes in Washington, D.C. During TPD's ceremony, the fallen officers honored were: Erik D. Hite, who died June 2, 2008, after being shot in the head during a 20-mile chase and shootout through the city. Patrick K. Hardesty, who died May 26, 2003, shot to death while chasing a hit-and-run suspect. Jeffrey Ross, who died Feb. 18, 1982, after he was shot in the chest at the Ranch House Bar on North Casa Grande Highway. Ross was working a drug arrest operation. James Smith, who died Oct. 28, 1980, while on motorcycle patrol in the reversible middle lane of East Speedway near North Plumer Avenue. He was grazed by a station wagon and thrown into oncoming traffic. Barry Headricks, who died Oct. 28, 1974, of gunshot wounds suffered during a heroin bust on East Eighth Street. Robert Cummins, who died Sept. 7, 1936, four days after his patrol motorcycle skidded on loose gravel at the end of an American Legion convention parade in Phoenix. William Katzenstein, who died July 26, 1902, after he was shot by a man who was stalking him. William Elliott, who died July 3, 1892, after he was stabbed in the heart by a man in front of the mayor's house. Two new wildfires are burning in Southern Arizona. College Peak Fire On Wednesday, the College Peak Fire was reported east of Douglas burning on State Trust Land. The fire was about 120 acres and it was 10 percent contained. About 50 people are assigned to the fire along with several aircraft. It's burning primarily grass and brush. There are no structures threatened, officials said. Triple 2 Fire Also, the Triple 2 Fire, which began in Mexico, has crossed the international border about 7 miles west of Nogales. There are about 90 people, and three helicopters, assigned to the fire on the U.S. side. Mexican fire crews are working the fire south of the border. The fire is about 600 acres, with most of that burning on the Mexican said of the border. U.S. crews were working to stop the fire from crossing west across Walker Canyon. The human-caused fire is burning mainly brush and oak woodland on Coronado National Forest land. No structures are threatened. Helicopters are using Pena Blanca Lake to dip their water buckets in the fire-fighting effort. Motorists should be aware of heavy truck traffic on Ruby Road near the lake. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) Illinois superintendents warned of school closures and staff layoffs Tuesday as they implored state lawmakers to pass a budget to give them certainty for the fall when the new academic year begins. The challenge facing superintendents is that the epic partisan gridlock that has left the state without a budget for 11 months is spilling over into education, with ideological differences over how to proceed with funding. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is asking lawmakers for $55 million more to fully fund the general state aid to schools instead of prorating it like it's been done the past seven years to balance the books. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, say that while more money is good, the state's complicated, 20-year-old school funding formula must be overhauled now so it's fairer to property-tax poor districts. But superintendents from districts including Kankakee, Moline, and Streator expressed worry Tuesday that there's no agreement for next year yet. They say they'll have to deplete their reserves to open this fall and that some might not make it all year. Their message came on the same day the Democrat-led Senate approved their proposed change to the funding formula on a 31-21 vote. The bill now goes to the House, where its prospects are unclear. Jack Bambrick, the interim superintendent of Rockridge Community Unit School District #300 in Taylor Ridge, said they have reserves to get them through 134 days. "That's not a full school year. We can open our doors next year," he said, but added, "I don't know how long we'll be able to stay open. That's not a threat." John Pearson, the superintendent of East Alton-Wood River Community High School District 14, said the only way to balance their budget after years of cuts would be to lay off 40 percent of the staff. The superintendents said they favored Rauner's idea of adding more funding to schools without a formula change because they prefer the certainty of having the money. Some of the Democratic state lawmakers who represent them agreed. "Let's give these men and women here that run our schools that have the responsibility of educating our youth, let's give them some certainty right now moving forward," said Rep. Dan Beiser, a Democrat from Alton. Education funding is the only portion of the budget for the current year that Rauner signed, meaning schools have largely been spared the consequences of the budget impasse. Sen. Andy Manar, a Democrat from Bunker Hill sponsoring the formula change, said his plan would ensure that school districts see no cuts over the next four years with a $400 million investment from the state. His plan would gradually change districts' reliance on property taxes and take local wealth into account when distributing funds. Over time, the state would shift more of its financial support toward needier districts. One of the major criticisms from Republicans opposing Manar's plan was the amount of additional aid Chicago Public Schools would receive about $175 million more next year compared with last year. Republicans also cited several other grants for Chicago in the bill. But Manar countered that with the current system, "Chicago is underfunded. Plain and simple." Without his formula change, he said poorer districts would continue to suffer and "this system is going to continue to erode." The total budget for schools is expected to be about $10 billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1. ___ Find Ivan Moreno on Twitter: http://twitter.com/IvanJourno Mark Sykes is well equipped for his advocacy of planetary science. Sykes, president and CEO of Tucson-based Planetary Science Institute, has sung bass-baritone in the chorus of Arizona Opera for 32 years. The man needs no microphone when he speaks his truth to the powers that be. The American Astronomical Society (AAS) announced Tuesday that Sykes is this years recipient of the Harold Masursky Award, given annually by the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences for outstanding service to planetary science and exploration. The first Masursky Award was given in 1991 to Carl Sagan. Sykes said in an interview Monday that he was surprised by the selection. He has been a frequent critic of program decisions made by NASA, the primary source of funding for planetary sciences in the United States. I have been threatened over the course of my career with a loss of funding because of my advocacy for the community. Ill stand up and call somebody to task in front of 1,200 people at a meeting. A lot of people were afraid of doing that because they fear retribution and, unfortunately, theyre right. Sykes has not just managed to survive, but thrive. He spent 17 years working on space research and planetary missions as a research scientist at the University of Arizonas Steward Observatory. He became CEO and president of the Planetary Science Institute in 2004 when it had 24 employees. It now employs 107 Ph.D. researchers, 24 of whom are in Tucson, according to PSI spokesman Alan Fischer. The Tucson office also employs 18 administrative and information technology staff and five students, Fischer said. The institutes revenue for the year ending in Janauary 2015 was $10.66 million 98 percent of it from NASA. Sykes said he worries that planetary science will suffer in the coming years, with stagnant NASA budgets that are eaten up by big flagship projects. Sykes said NASA built the planetary-science community of researchers, beginning with the 1960s campaign to go to the moon. His suggestion, one he has made in visits to Capitol Hill, is to have a fixed NASA budget of about $1.4 billion a year for competed missions and competed research. The big flagship missions, such as human exploration of Mars, would need a special appropriation. Sykes said NASA needs continued investment in smaller missions if it wants to retain a community of planetary scientists to serve as native guides on its future big-scale human missions. Weve been coasting on investments and decisions made back in the 1990s up to the year 2000, he said. Small NASA missions in the Discovery and New Horizons programs were approved at the rate of one a year in that decade, he said. That included the Dawn Mission to asteroids Vesta and Ceres, on which Sykes and six other members of the Planetary Science Institute were part of the science team. The Phoenix Mars lander and the OSIRIS-REx asteroid recovery mission are examples of small, competed missions that were run from Tucson by the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, he said. Eleven such missions are currently operating, but nearing the end of their science programs, he said. In 2020, there will be one OSIRIS-REx. And so we face an uncontrolled collapse of a chunk of our profession here, and thats something to be concerned about, he said. When scientists leave planetary science they pursue other fields, he said, and they dont come back. He himself always had an exit strategy. Sykes attended law school at the UA while working at Steward and singing opera. He served an externship with the late U.S. District Judge Alfredo Marquez and was admitted to the Arizona Bar. I went to law school, in part, because I wanted to have a backup plan, Sykes said. Yes, he is also a lawyer, in addition to his singing, his CEO duties, and his research on asteroids, comets, interplanetary dust and other small bodies in the solar system. That includes Pluto. He has been a strong voice for restoration of its planetary status. RENO, Nev. Under the threat of another legal battle, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has pulled the plug on a public-private partnership in northern Nevada aimed at shrinking the size of a wild horse herd through the use of contraceptives, according to documents The Associated Press obtained on Tuesday. BLM officials confirmed they have suspended the pilot fertility-control project southeast of Carson City pending completion of additional environmental analysis. Unlike most conflicts over mustangs that pit protection groups against ranchers, the dispute in Nevada's Pine Nut Mountains has divided horse advocates themselves over the appropriate use of fertility-control drugs on the range. The federal agency approved the pilot project in 2014 working with the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and the Gardnerville-based Pine Nut Wild Horse Advocates to treat a herd that a federal judge in Reno has forbidden the agency from gathering. BLM suspended the project Monday after Friends of Animals threatened to sue based on claims the drug, PZP, harms horses and violates the judge's order, according to an internal email obtained by AP. "Administration of PZP to these wild horses is hereby suspended, pending further review," BLM Sierra Front Field Manager Bryant D. Smith wrote in informing his staff he had revoked the decision record for the Fish Springs Wild Horses PZP Pilot Project. While some groups advocate fertility control as a preferred alternative to government roundups, others say scientific research suggests PZP can have long-lasting physical, behavioral and social effects on wild horses. Among other things, they say mares that cannot get pregnant choose to leave their bands, creating instability that affects the health of the entire herd. "We are extremely happy to have killed the pilot project and to put a stop to the forced drugging of Pine Nut mares with the fertility control pesticide PZP for a second time," said Pricilla Feral, president of the Connecticut-based Friends of Animals, an international advocacy group founded in 1957. The BLM maintains the Pine Nut herd is seriously overpopulated, and it intended to round up more than 300 horses last year before U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks sided with wild horse advocates and blocked the effort. He ruled the BLM failed to conduct the necessary analysis required under the National Environmental Policy Act, and soon after the agency voluntarily withdrew its roundup plan. Meanwhile, the BLM had been stepping up its efforts in concert with the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign a coalition of more than 60 groups nationally and the local group to administer PZP to members of the herd that wander into nearby neighborhoods. Michael Harris, Friends of Animals' wildlife law program director, said arming private landowners with rifles to dart mares appears to violate the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which prohibits landowners from intentionally harassing wild horses. "It now looks as if BLM's withdrawing its 2014 management plan involving a roundup and PZP, was somewhat disingenuous," Harris said Tuesday. "Instead, they dusted off an even older plan the Fish Springs PZP Pilot Program in an attempt to drug the Pine Nut mares without complying with the court decision or NEPA." Deniz Bolbol, the preservation campaign's programs director, confirmed local residents have been "instructed to temporarily halt the program because of the lawsuit." She hopes the project will resume once the BLM completes the necessary review, but she fears some horses may end up in U.S. corrals. "This is a lawsuit filed by people sitting in an office in Connecticut against the folks in Nevada doing the hard work on the ground to keep wild horses free on the range," Bolbol said. "If this group wants to help wild horses they need to focus on the BLM's current effort to conduct barbaric spaying of wild mares and the castration of stallions on the range rather than target this type of humane birth control." Smith said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that the BLM is "proud of our partnership" with the preservation campaign and the local group. Help India! A few days after he was acquitted of all charges, Farogh Makhdoomi spoke over the telephone to Tanzil Asif and Sneha Dipika about his struggles and the efforts he had to make in proving that he was innocent. A doctor by profession, Makhdoomi is now trying to start his life again and continues to work in Malegaon. Could you tell us how you came to be implicated in the case? The area I run my clinic is mainly populated by poor Muslims who dont have much knowledge of the world and faith. I started offering my consultations in the area. I encouraged people to not resort to unscientific medical practices and got tremendous support from the people. They started visiting me to resolve their health issues, which hampered the businesses of the people who make money out of conning people in the name of medical help. Support TwoCircles So you intend to say that you were implicated because you were doing noble deeds? Absolutely. My work alarmed these people. They used to go to the police and provide them with false information. I was pressurised by the Police to relocate to a decent area. Yet, I was determined to stay put all this happened before 2006. I was targeted. The Malegaon Blasts had been planned well in advance. Police had tried to create fracas in Malegaon several times but due to our efforts a number of mosques and institutions came into existence. Who were those people? Most of these people were from Barelvi sect. However, not everyone from the sect partook in those activities. Only a few unscrupulous people were involved. I am a Barelvi too. Out of their own motives they planted false stories with the police but I did not succumb to the pressures of the police. After the blasts, the enquiry began. In the month of Ramdan, on October 19 between 12 1 am, some policemen came to my clinic in plain clothes. They asked me to accompany them to my farmhouse. In reality I do not have any farmhouse. I told them that it is a mistake, but they insisted that they have the right address and I am the right person. They again asked me to take them to the farmhouse. I told them again that I do not have any farmhouse so I cannot go and if they want me to take somewhere then they should come during the day and that my well-wishers and whos who of the city would accompany us as witnesses. I kept arguing with them the entire night at the end of which I received a written notice. I wrote down whatever I had been telling them this entire time on the paper. At the time of Sehri, I asked them to wait in the waiting room so that I can offer my Namaz. They left in the morning. I recounted the entire episode before Jamat-e-Tanzeem, Jamiat-ul-Ulema and Jamiat Ahle Hadess. I had this intuition that I am being implicated in the case. Ironically, I knew nothing of the case at that time. I used to organise religious functions and ceremonies. People who visited these functions began to be interrogated. Some of them were even arrested 20-25 days after the festival of Eid, I took exams for MA at Maulana Azad National University. I took the exams for first, second and third papers on 2nd, 4th and 6th November respectively. On the night of 6th November, probably between 11 pm 12 am a few local policemen came to my clinic and took me to City Police Station where I was arrested by the ATS. After this I was taken to the jail of Bombay ATS. What happened in the custody? In the custody abuses in the name of religion were hurled at me. I was pressurised to change my statement. I co-operated with them in the investigation. I used to tell them that I am ready to go through all scientific tests to assure them of my innocence so that they can focus on the real culprit. After this their behaviour with me improved to a certain extent. Almost 70-80% officers of the ATS started speaking in my favour. I was subjected to NARCO test twice under my insistence. They told me that the tests reveal my innocence and that I love my country, my religion, that I am dedicated to bring development within my community. All this came out of the NARCO test. They said that they would release me under Section 169. There was an ATS Officer Sanjay Khere. He refused to believe that I might be innocent. He was adamant that I was involved in the case and he had information of the same and that I should not be released. It was on his orders that I was once tortured an entire day. I was stripped naked and mercilessly tortured. Although the ATS wanted to release me under Section 169 the nationwide marches and vigils about our arrests lead to the case being transferred to CBI. Are you an RTI Activist as well? Did you send RTI applications from within the jail as well? Look, keeping in mind the corruption behind bars, I asked for the Jail Manual to know the laws, the rules and regulations. I asked for the contract details of the items being brought in the Jail Canteen. I was tortured for doing this. I complained about this to the Court. Upon Courts order I was given a reply under RTI but that was incomplete. After this, as a medical practitioner, I sent another RTI application to upgrade my medical knowledge by staying within the jail. Later I submitted an RTI about the progress of Malegaon. I even tried filing RTIs regarding my case but it was turned down every time with the reason being that the case was still being tried. It went to the State and Central Information Commission. By the grace of Allah all my appeals were heard in my favour and whatever information I had asked for were given to me. Abrar Ahmad became an approver. How was your equation with him? Abrar Ahmads brother Jaleel Ahmad is an advocate himself. The Hindu terrorists who were caught later, Superintendent of Police of Nasik SP Rajyavardhan and some officers from ATS had abducted Abrar Ahmad on the next day of the Bomb Blasts. They took him to places within the country in their own vehicle. He has the proof of it. Besides this, he was arrested all of a sudden and later it was revealed before the Court that he has become an Approver. The petition to turn him into an Approver was filed by an ATS advocate Kamlesh Ghumre. Abrar had never signed Ghumres Power of Attorney. It was signed in the name of Abrars wife Jannatunisa. The Court was misguided. Abrar knew nothing of the case. He didnt know that he has been turned into an Approver or that he has signed on any statement. Abrar says that he was made to sign papers stating that they were proofs of his innocence with statements from his family. If he signed those papers he will be released with a huge amount of money running into Lakhs and Crores. All this is mentioned in his affidavit. Sadhvi Pragya, Dayanand Pandey and other Hindu terror agents from RSS whose names were taken by Abrar through NIA and people who were arrested by ATS Officer Hemant Karkare are mentioned in the affidavit which is with the Court. Abrar never confessed anything; he never signed his approval to become an Approver. All this was conspired by the ATS. When it was thought that he is the Approver and his statements have implicated innocent youths, the entire community was disheartened and stood against him. Sensing this, Abrar wrote a letter to his Advocate brother and called him for a meeting in the jail. With his help he succeeded in bringing his affidavit before the Court. Abrar was never an Approver. How has your life changed? How is the society treating you? The area in Malegaon where we live is a simple and decent one. So nothing as such seems different in daily life. However I am defamed, my image is tarnished so people always treat me with a second glance. I often have to bear their taunts about the Bomb Blasts. For instance, I recently purchased space for my clinic by the grace of Allah which is quite far from my current clinic. My neighbours encroached in one the five buildings. When I asked them to move out showing the papers, they refused to do so. I sent them a notice. As a reply to the notice, taunts about me involved in the Bomb Blasts were run in newspapers stating that I would rot in a jail. False FIRs were lodged against me. Do you expect any compensation from the Government? Will you ask for any compensation? I just expect the government to form an enquiry committee to investigate why were we implicated and who was responsible for it. Judging the damage that has been done to us, the Government should provide us with compensation all by itself. The details of the damages I have suffered are with the Court. Even before I was arrested, I maintained my patient record, individually. Those records were evidence of my innocence. It was stated that I attended five meetings to plan the Bomb Blasts. However the records show that I was attending to my patients on those days, at that time. All of this came to light through NIA. These evidences were accepted by them and duly recorded with the Court. The details of my income are with the Centre which shows that at the time of my arrest, my income was about Rs. 65,000 per month. In 2006, the salary of a first class government officer was Rs. 13,400 per month. This means that my income was five times that of a government officer. What did your family have to suffer too through all this? Due to this case my clan had to suffer a lot, they had to bear the taunts and wrath of the people. At that time my clan was one of the most reputed ones in Malegaon. My father was a retired school headmaster; my maternal grandparents side is very honourable. My paternal grandfather was a school teacher, almost all my uncles were school teachers and more than half of the population of the city was my clans pupil. Secondly, my siblings are doctors, engineers and gynaecologist. So, my family did not have to suffer social boycott but some opportunists sold off my fathers and sisters property through forged documents. There could have been some increment in their incomes over the years but due to the stigma attached to me that could not happen. My two brothers live in Mumbai. When I was in this mess, they exhausted all their income on me, my wife and my children and today they work in a printing press of their own. Do your children complain of any taunts when they go to school? At the time of my arrest, my daughter was about 2 years old and my son was only 6 months old. So they were never told or made to feel that their father is implicated in such a case and imprisoned. They were told that I am working in a hospital in Mumbai and also pursuing higher studies. My kids were never brought to the prison to meet me. I used to ask for permission from the Court for my treatment and when I used to be brought to the hospital in Mumbai by Courts order, I could also meet my family. During my stay in the prison I did not discontinue my studies and took exams regularly. So when I went out to the examination halls, I met my wife and children. Now that the children have grown up, do they understand what happened? They knew nothing even when I was released on bail. The teachers at my daughters school congratulated her that her father is back at home. Then she sensed what her father might have gone through. However, neither my daughter nor my son ever raised this issue at home. Yet, as my kids grew and I, as a father, talked to them when they made a mistake, told them to offer Namaz without fail, my son talks back and says, It was better when you were not here. Yes, my absence in these five years led to some faults with their upbringing. It should have been me, my wife and my father who brought them up together. Since I was not there in those five years my children picked up whatever they learnt from society and got influenced. They became victims of the absence of a father figure. Also the society and my relatives have spoilt them with their excessive love. Didnt the kids ask you anything after reading about you or watching you through media? Yes, now they know what the case was. They have understood everything. They are happy that the stigma attached to their father has been erased and he has won the case. When they saw the news of my release they were told by the family that their father has won and his victory is being celebrated on the television. Tanzil Asif is a student of IIMC-Delhi and founder of Media. Gambias deputy ambassador to the United Nations has admitted to saying he will shoot to kill unarmed protesters who took part in rare protests in The Gambia if he was in charge of the security forces after an audio recording of him making the statement was released online.The diplomat maintains his decision remains unchanged with him still not ruling out the use of deadly forces in his master plan to suppress protests which he says were carried out by a bunch of useless thugs. If I was in charge of the military or police in a country where a bunch of useless thugs are paid to get to the streets to render the society ungovernable without their consideration of how many people could lose their lives, using deadly force will not be ruled out in my master plan, he said. The contentious diplomat admitted the audio recording saying the person who secretly recorded him in his office in New York should have released the two-hour conversation than the little leaked seconds in which he threatened to shoot and kill.Sarr has called the recording illegal but sources within the Gambias UN mission said he was made aware by his administrative assistant that Sanna Sarr, the visitor who wanted answers about the death of protesters in his native Gambia had a recording device. Sarr was a former commander in the Gambias army and received training from Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. Though saying his position on shoot to kill protesters and the political tension in the West African nation remains unchanged, in a contradiction to defend himself said he will not advocate the shooting of peaceful demonstrators under any given circumstances citing his knowledge of military law, the rules of engagements, and the Geneva Convention. Former junta speaker Captain Ebou Jallow however said such rules of engagement that tell soldiers to shoot and kill anyone who is unarmed and urged his former colleague to resign. UN should take immediate action Jeffrey Smith, Executive Director of Vanguard Africa Movement and consultant who has worked closely with Gambian activists said Mr. Sarr is obviously unaware of the basic rights enshrined in his own country's constitution, which protects public assembly and association. Smith believes Ambassador Sarr is clearly unfit to hold his current position and the United Nations should take immediate action against him, including revoking his diplomatic credentials. There is no place in this world for the endorsement of murdering peaceful protesters, let alone from a country's top diplomat at the world's top human rights institution Smith said. Opposition protest On April 14th, members of the opposition United Democratic Party in The Gambia staged a peaceful protest in Westfield demanding justice and electoral reforms. They were immediately rounded up by police and a dozen arrested including Solo Sandeng, the youth leader who was allegedly tortured to death under state custody. His death prompted another demonstration on April 16th led by the partys leader Ousainou Darboe and top executive members who were also arrested at the spot, detained at the state central prison of Mile II and currently undergoing trial. Electoral reform Among the new electoral law is anyone who wants to register a political party or run as presidential candidate has to pay GMD500,000, amounting to US$11,870 or 8,240, which the opposition and critics says is simply aimed at undermining pluralism in the economically-stagnant country and way of weakening the effectiveness of the opposition. The government, however, said the law was necessary to ensure parties are well organized. Gambians head to the polls in December 2016 in which current president Yahya Jammeh is seeking a fifth term. Chinese tech company Lenovo's LatAm president highlights Argentina's potential Updated: 2016-05-11 11:05 (China Daily) BUENOS AIRES -- Luca Rossi, Chinese technology giant Lenovo's president for Latin America, said Argentina will become the company's third most important market in the region and highlighted its growth prospects, local media reported on Monday. "We have been in Argentina for several years but obviously we know that we can do much more," Rossi told local daily Cronista Commercial. In terms of the potential market size, Rossi said Argentina could stay in the third place along with Colombia in one or two years. "We are very confident and very open to invest in this market." "Opening the (Argentinean) market will be very good for the consumers. They will be able to buy better computers for less money," added Rossi. Rossi said that in 2015, there was a downturn in the PC market worldwide. "However, Lenovo's philosophy is not to reduce our volume but to gain market share." "In Latin America, this year we gained a lot of market share and we are in second place, but soon we will be the number one," added Rossi. Lenovo is China's leading personal computer maker. The Beijing-based company bought Motorola from Google in October 2014 soon after its purchase of IBM's low-end server business as part of a strategy of broadening the business beyond PCs. Heavy rains flood streets in Guangzhou Updated: 2016-05-10 14:39 (chinadaily.com.cn) Police officers stop vehicles in front of a flooded road section in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, on May 10, 2016. [Photo/IC] Days of heavy rains have left many parts of Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province, under water on Tuesday. The downpour has flooded many subway stations and turned several tunnels into underground streams. On some road sections the water level was reportedly as high as one meter. Municipal employees launched a cleanup operation to drain the flooded areas. Some local residents blamed the bad drainage system for the flooding. They said the existing system is unable to meet the growing demands of the city. Manila 'may change its stance on sea dispute' Updated: 2016-05-10 08:21 By Mo Jingxi in Beijing and Chen Weihua in Washington(China Daily USA) The next government in the Philippines might change its policy and exercise more restraint over the South China Sea, according to Chinese observers. The observers, who said Manila's current policy had hurt both its own interests and regional security, were commenting as the Philippines presidential election took place on Monday. The final result is expected on May 25, and the new president will serve a six-year term. But the observers also warned that meddling by the United States in relations between China and the Philippines will cast a shadow over the newly elected administration's decision-making. Unlike outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino, who adopted a confrontational policy toward China, all three front-runners in the poll have said they are willing to seek diplomatic solutions to solving the country's maritime dispute with Beijing. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said last week that China hopes the new Philippine government can "properly handle the South China Sea dispute" and "improve China-Philippine relations with practical action". He was commenting after Philippine presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte said he would, if elected, hold bilateral talks with China to resolve the dispute if current multilateral discussions don't bear fruit within two years. Xu Liping, a senior researcher of Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The Philippine government will adjust its policy on the South China Sea issue no matter which candidate is elected, because the policy of the Aquino administration runs counter to the country's interests and threatens regional security." Xu said Manila could benefit by returning to the negotiating table to solve the maritime dispute. For example, it could undertake joint sea explorations with China or join the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative. Jia Duqiang, who also researches Southeast Asian studies at the academy, said, "If changes do happen, it is possible that the new president will exercise restraint." Chen Qinghong, a researcher of South China Sea issues at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said "stirring up" of tensions by the United States in relations between China and the Philippines will limit the new administration's room to maneuver on the South China Sea issue. mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn Chinese political advisors consulted about medical reform Updated: 2016-05-11 04:15 (Xinhua) BEIJING -- China's political advisors on Tuesday put forward proposals on reforms of public hospitals and medical insurance. A statement issued after a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the country's top political advisory body, said attendees agreed that despite progress, ordinary people still find medical services scarce and expensive. They suggested changes to public hospital management and a new system of payment and benefits for medical staff to free hospitals from dependency on revenue from drug sales, said the statement. Community medicine should be another priority with cooperation between urban hospitals and community clinics, according to the meeting, which was chaired by Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee. Vice Premier Liu Yandong attended the meeting and admitted that medical reform is at a tough stage. She promised that the government would make basic medical services a priority. Students' allegations of poisoning dismissed Updated: 2016-05-11 09:00 By Han Junhong In Changchun And Sun Xiaochen In Beijing(China Daily) Claims made by students in Jilin province, who said they were poisoned after being exposed to toxic substances at their school, were called into question on Tuesday when the local government released what it said was proof the school was free of toxins. The government in Da'an city released a statement on Monday saying an indoor environmental test conducted by a professional company on Sunday proved the student dormitory at Xin'anli Township Junior High School was safe. The move followed a claim by 15 students that they had been poisoned after living and studying at the facility since October. The claims went viral online on Monday after the students collectively posted on Weibo, China's major micro-blogging platform, that they had been diagnosed with illnesses related to formaldehyde poisoning. They cited symptoms including nausea, coughing and eye infections that they said were diagnosed at the First Hospital of Jilin University. Students also uploaded photos showing CT scan results from the hospital, and a close-up of a female student's bloodied eye. They claimed they had been exposed to formaldehyde, a colorless and highly toxic gas that can cause multiple health problems, and even cancer if exposure is long-term. However, the Da'an government said the dorm was also tested and found to be toxin-free in October 2014, one year after its construction and before the students moved in. Bao Wanguo, director of the infectious disease department at the hospital, told China National Radio on Tuesday that the hospital had never diagnosed the students as suffering from formaldehyde poisoning. None of the students or parents responded to interview requests on Tuesday afternoon. 'African Cultures in Focus 2016' opens in Beijing Updated: 2016-05-10 09:52 (Chinaculture.org) Artists of the song and dance troupe MusicFest of South Africa give a performance before the opening ceremony of the exhibition African Impression at the China National Museum of Women and Children on May 6, 2016. [Photo/Chinaculture.org] Cultural events as part of African Cultures in Focus 2016 series kicked off with the exhibition of African Impression at the China National Museum of Women and Children on May 6, 2016. More than 300 guests and 14 African ambassadors to China attended the opening ceremony. Xie Jinying, the director of the Bureau for External Cultural Relations of Chinas Ministry of Culture, delivered the opening speech. "African Cultures in Focus series will let Chinese audience have a deeper understanding and appreciation of Africa," he said. "It will enhance our strategic mutual trust and deepen our practical cooperation." Equivocating over Consensus will not give Tsai free ride Updated: 2016-05-11 08:05 By JI YE(China Daily) Taiwan's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, April 15, 2015. [Photo/IC] Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, is expected to assume the island's leadership on May 20 and deliver her inauguration speech. Asked about whether she endorses the 1992 Consensus that Taiwan and the mainland are both parts of one China, Tsai is indeed changing her tone, but toward a more vague and less convincing direction. The peaceful development shared by the mainland and Taiwan during the past eight years, has a lot to do with the political foundation that both sides of the Taiwan Straits adhere to the 1992 Consensus. Although toning down her previous rhetoric endorsing the island's "independence", Tsai has refrained from elaborating on what should be done to "preserve the status quo", and refuses to offer an unequivocal answer to inquiries about what her position is regarding the 1992 Consensus on one China. In all likelihood, she may try to keep beating around the bush in her inauguration speech by acknowledging the 1992 cross-Straits talks and the need to seek common ground while shelving differences. But as the past six decades have repeatedly proved, cross-Straits relations only enjoy peaceful development when both sides reach the consensus that the island and the mainland belong to one China. When the island seeks to challenge that consensus, relations fall prey to instability and unrest. This is an important lesson that the DPP, which led cross-Straits relations to the brink of breakdown when it governed the island from 2000 to 2008, should keep in mind. The then DPP leader Chen Shui-bian relentlessly pursued Taiwan's formal "independence", which not only dealt a heavy blow to local economy and people's livelihoods, but also served as a ticking time bomb threatening regional stability. He was eventually voted out of power in the 2008 leadership election and it was Ma Ying-jeou, the leader of Kuomintang, who put relations back onto the right track by endorsing the 1992 Consensus. Of course, it is clear that Tsai will not play with fire again in the way that Chen did. She wants to maintain the status quo as well as enjoy the dividends the island has gained as a result of the past eight years of peaceful exchanges. Nevertheless, she is dreaming if she thinks she can be a free rider on the peaceful development that has been based on both sides' adherence to the 1992 Consensus. It is no exaggeration to say that Cross-Straits relations will be bumpy over the next four years under Tsai's leadership if she refrains from making sincere amendments to her party's pro-independence stance and keeps equivocating over endorsing the 1992 Consensus. Although Tsai has acknowledged the significance of peaceful cross-Straits ties to Taiwan and has stressed that both the mainland and Taiwan are responsible for cross-Straits peace and stability, she seems to regard the mainland as a "threat" to the island's development, rather than an opportunity. The truth is, the stance she has adopted will prove counter-productive, because expressing her support for the 1992 Consensus is the only way to prolong cross-Straits exchanges and enhance mutual political trust. The author is an associate professor at the Collaborative Innovation Centre for Peaceful Development of Cross-Straits Relations. Turnball highlights China-Australia FTA as a valuable asset Updated: 2016-05-11 08:05 By WANG HUI(China Daily) Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (right) shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during their meeting on the sidelines of a series of regional summits in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov 21, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] In his 18-minute speech on Sunday formally announcing a double dissolution election on July 2, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull highlighted his government had set the stage for strong trade with China and Asia. The Australian leader obviously considers the free trade agreement with China, which was signed on June 17 last year and took effect on December 20, a valuable political asset for his coalition government. His campaign, which has put its economic management at the forefront, will likely hold up the FTAs the ruling coalition has signed with China, Japan and South Korea since winning the election in 2013 as good business for Australia. The China-Australia FTA agreement is widely perceived as a game-changer in bilateral trade, which will contribute to meaningful bilateral interaction and to the larger picture of economic integration in the Asia-Pacific as well. It opens new horizons for China-Australia trade and economic ties and enables it to emerge from the previous growth pattern that was largely driven by China's demand for Australian minerals and other natural resources. Only four months after the implementation of the FTA agreement, people on both sides have already seen a lot of changes brought about by the new arrangement. Chinese, for instance, now find themselves enjoying a much wider range of products from Australia, including farm produce, dairy foods, seafood, wines, and health products. Australia is also becoming a hot destination for Chinese tourists traveling abroad. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the 12 months to March, arrivals from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong outnumbered New Zealanders, the first time Australia's biggest neighbor has lost the top spot in the history of the survey, which dates back to 1991. And the property markets in Australian cities such as Sydney and Melbourne are heating up thanks to the zeal and zest of Chinese property investors. According to China's largest international real estate property portal, Juwai.com, Chinese buyers made 61 per cent more inquiries about Australian property in the first quarter of this year than the same period last year. Chinese visitors drive boom in New Zealand accommodation sector Updated: 2016-05-11 14:16 (Xinhua) Figures from Statistics New Zealand last month showed holiday-makers from China helped drive a record number of overseas visitors in March.[Photo/Xinhua] A rising number of Chinese visitors helped drive a surge in New Zealand's accommodation sector in March, according to figures from the government statistics agency Wednesday. Guest nights at commercial accommodation in March were up 12.3 percent year on year, said Statistics New Zealand. "Guest nights for March were boosted by an early Easter and increased visitor arrivals, and are the highest recorded for any March month," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement. "Easter this year was in March, whereas last year it was in April. Guest nights have been rising for the last two years." Domestic guests nights were up 11.5 percent and international guest nights were up 13.2 percent. Figures from Statistics New Zealand last month showed holiday-makers from China helped drive a record number of overseas visitors in March. Total visitor arrivals reach a new March record of 344,400, up 18 percent from March last year, with arrivals from China up by 9,600 to 40,400, making it the second largest source country after Australia, from where 133,300 visitors arrived. More visitor arrivals from Shanghai, Beijing and Zhejiang contributed to the rise in visitor arrivals from China, said a commentary from the agency. Fu Ying: Perception of relations belies ties Updated: 2016-05-11 11:45 By Hezi Jiang in New York and Michelle Cen in San Francisco(China Daily USA) Fu Ying, chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, discusses with Professsor Thomas Fingar of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Standford Unversity, at a seminar titled Rebuilding Trust: China-US Relations at the university in Palo Alto, California, on Tuesday. Provided to China Daily Fu Ying, chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress, sees a gap between the worrisome perception of US-China relations and the countries' closer-than-ever bonds in reality, and calls for more dialogue and communication between the two countries in building new consensus for China-US relations. The countries' presidents hold meetings at least twice a year; China has become America's biggest trading partner on the monthly basis; nearly 5 million people traveled between the two countries in 2015; and the two nations together pushed for the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change. But all those accomplishments occur while some experts in the US predict that "if China continues to grow at the current speed, US-China conflict would be unavoidable", said Fu, who is also chairperson of Academic Committee of China's Institute of International Strategy, CASS. "The need for cooperation and the impact of competition are both growing. The gap between perceptions and real life may reflect the need to rebuild consensus," Fu said on Tuesday at a seminar titled Rebuilding Trust: China-US Relations at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. Despite a sizable number of optimistic voices on US-China relations from the US side, Fu acknowledged that there are also voices in the US that wonder whether "the constructive engagement" policy that eight successive US administrations followed should continue. There are concerns about China's possible economic hard landing and its effect on the US recovery, and rising anxiety about China's global role. "In the past 30 years, we had friendly moments, but never very close; we had problems, but the tie was strong enough to avoid derailing. Now we are at a high level, and if we work together, we are capable of making a difference in the world, but if we fight, we will bring disaster to the world," Fu told the audience. She found the message from the US side to be sometimes rather confusing, reflected in its reluctance to acknowledge China's effort to help improve the existing order by providing new public goods such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road initiative. Fu saw the recent tension over territory in the South China Sea as a reflection of the risks involved in the relationship. Fu explained that "the South China Sea issue is basically territorial disputes between China and some of its neighbors about some of the land features of Nansha Islands, which is one of the four archipelagos in the South China Sea taken back by China from Japan's occupation after World War II." There were dash lines drawn on China's map 1948 to indicate China's ownership. The US knew about the claims, and its recognition of China's sovereignty also was reflected in maps and encyclopedias published in the US until 1971. She walked the audience through the history of the disputes and milestones of past decades, and pointed out that in the past few years, "after the US launched [its] pivot to Asia, more blatant provocations to China's sovereignty happened, and there are even attempts of expanding disputes." "Back in China, people are getting more and more anxious," said Fu, citing the example of Philippines navy boats entering the Huangyan Island lagoon and harassing Chinese fishermen in 2012. As China tries to prevent further encroachments and losses in the South China Sea, she said, the role of the US added a new dimension to the issue. She said that it is widely perceived in China that the "Asia-Pacific rebalancing" of the United States from the beginning targeted China not only in rhetoric but also in its actions. "According to the US, China is vying for dominance in the Asia-Pacific. But that, from our point of view, is projecting the US' own hegemon image on China," she added. Fu called on the two countries to follow up on President Xi Jinping's proposal that China and the US move toward a new model of major-country relations, avoiding conflict and confrontation and respecting each other in cooperation. "China is a newcomer on the world center stage, but it should not try to copy the US. America also needs to learn to work with countries like China, which may not be an ally, but should not be an enemy either," Fu said. Contact the writers at hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com Michigan, Guangdong sign pact Updated: 2016-05-11 11:24 By Paul Welitzkin in Detroit(China Daily USA) Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder shake hands as Cui Tiankai (third from left), Chinese ambassador to the US, Hu Chunhua (fourth from left ), Party secretary of the Guangdong provincial committee, and other guests look on during a MOU signing ceremony for Michigan-Shenzhen Trade, Investment and Innovation Cooperation Center in Detroit on Tuesday. Provided to China Daily "Tonight is a night for action," said Michigan Governor Rick Snyder at a ceremony for the sister state-province agreement between Michigan and Guangdong province. Snyder, Hu Chunhua, Party secretary of the Guangdong provincial committee, Cui Tiankai, China's ambassador to the US, and Shenzhen Mayor Xu Qin were in Detroit for the signing of the agreement Tuesday night. The pact formalizes cooperation on trade and investment, science and technology, education, tourism and culture between the two regions. Snyder said he was excited about the creation of a trade, education and innovation center. "This is a very unique part of this agreement and one that may hold the most promise," he said. "This agreement is not just a step forward for Michigan and Guangdong, it's a way to build up the bilateral relationship between China and the US." Hu said Guangdong was in the midst of upgrading its manufacturing sector. "Michigan is known for its innovation in manufacturing and this is one area that we can cooperate and have progress on," he said. Jerry Xu, president of the Detroit Chinese Business Association, which worked behind the scenes to make the sister state-province relationship a reality, said the signing represents something bigger than just an agreement. "It can be a path to progress for both regions. Detroit and Michigan are in the process of an economic revitalization while Guangdong epitomizes the new emerging economy of China and both can learn from each other," he said. Snyder has been one of the more aggressive US governors in courting the Chinese. He has led five trade missions to the mainland since assuming office in 2011 and wants his state to secure more foreign direct investment (FDI) from China. Guangdong is one of China's most economically developed regions. Its main industries include electronics, chemicals, bio-pharmaceutical, automobile parts and construction materials. Companies like Ping An Insurance, China's third-largest insurer, and China Merchants Bank are also headquartered in Guangdong and further add to the province's growing presence as a financial hub. Bordering on the South China Sea, Guangdong is situated at the southern tip of the Chinese mainland adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao. Guangdong is China's most populous province with more than 100 million people and the largest by GDP at nearly $1 trillion. Michigan remains the center of the US auto industry and is an important state in terms of manufacturing, science and technology, and agriculture. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, Michigan's GDP was about $448.2 billion in 2014. The state has a population of about 10 million. Michigan also has a sister state-province relationship with Sichuan province, Groningen province in the Netherlands and the Shiga prefecture in Japan. Guangdong also established a sister state-province relationship with California in 2013. paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com US-China Cleantech Innovation Forum held in Southern California Updated: 2016-05-11 04:15 (Xinhua) PASADENA -- The US-China Cleantech Innovation Forum 2016 was held Tuesday in the Southern California city of Pasadena, gathering nearly 200 China, US officials, business leaders and experts on clean technology fields. Organized by US-China Cleantech Center, the forum was part of a "China Week" program which includes a series of conferences and exhibitions to promote bilateral cooperations in trade, culture and environment. "By the year 2030, China's carbon emissions will reach peak level," said Jeffrey Dutton, acting director of US Commerce Department's China Office. "And China's 13th Five-Year Plan sets a goal to reduce total emissions by 10 percent. These are important milestones in the fight against climate change." He said that trade and commerce are important parts of the US-China cooperation against climate change. "Recent milestones in the global push to combat global climate change will be the increasing opportunity for clean technology confidence which translates into investments and job opportunities as well as economic growth in both of our countries," he said. The one-day forum will discuss latest developments on clean energy, water, transportation technologies and green finance and investment. German, Cuban FMs hold talks on bilateral cooperation Updated: 2016-05-11 10:19 (Xinhua) BERLIN - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met with his visiting Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla here on Tuesday. Both expressed readiness to promote bilateral cooperation between Germany and Cuba. Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Steinmeier said he was pleased to see that the German-Cuban cooperation could be promoted after years of deadlock. He was confident that agreements being negotiated on future cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy and culture could be signed in the current year. The "political, economic and cultural interest in Cuba," the minister further noted, is "great in Germany and continues to grow," adding that his country is willing to support the "Cuban way of opening." For his part, Rodriguez Parrilla believed there was great potential in the Cuban-German cooperation, particularly in the development of economic relations between the two countries. As for the current situation in Cuba, the minister said his country was pursuing "very long-term development goals" and "even as a small country" has "some very interesting competitive advantages" to offer. Tuesday's meeting is the second one between the two within 10 months. Steinmeier paid a visit to the Cuban capital Havana in July 2015 following a restoration of diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States. Rodriguez Parrilla's return visit has become the first official visit to Berlin by an Cuban foreign minister since Germany's reunification in 1990. First joint EU-China civil exercise begins in Shanghai Updated: 2016-05-11 14:41 By Chen Yingqun(chinadaily.com.cn) "EU-SCIP 2016", the first-ever joint full-scale exercise with the participation of both European and Chinese civil protection teams, starts in Shanghai Chemical Industry Park on Wednesday. The joint full-scale exercise aims to test and reinforce the Chinese civil protection system across all levels, and will last until May 13. The exercise is taking place at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, home to production plants of several large European and Chinese enterprises in the chemical sector. It is one of the highlights of the EU-China Disaster Risk Management Project, a five-year project supporting China's work in disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness. EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides said, "The close collaboration between the European and Chinese civil protection experts in this novel joint exercise visibly illustrates the achievements of the EU-China Disaster Risk Management Project. It shows that, learning from each other, we can significantly enhance disaster preparedness to limit the impact of potential future disasters." During the three-day exercise, European and Chinese civil protection teams will respond to a simulated scenario based on a series of chemical incidents resulting from a powerful typhoon striking China, affecting the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park directly and provoking the collapse of some buildings, as well as a fire in a warehouse storing dangerous chemicals. As a consequence, dense smoke and toxic gases along with the leak of a toxic liquid generating a plume of toxic vapour would threaten the health of residents in nearby districts. In addition, a ship overturned by the typhoon leaks toxic liquids and fuel, polluting the water. Due to the seriousness of the many disasters, Chinese authorities request EU assistance via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. As a full-scale exercise, the exercise includes both table-top exercises and onsite drills. On the Chinese side, professional rescue teams, volunteer civil protection units, municipal, provincial and national governments and the population of two districts of Shanghai will participate. The EU civil protection team is working in close collaboration with Chinese civil protection experts, contributing to the Chinese response efforts. Three European enterprises with large production sites in the Industry Park are participating in the onsite drills. Chinese visitors drive boom in New Zealand accommodation sector Updated: 2016-05-11 15:57 (Xinhua) WELLINGTON - A rising number of Chinese visitors helped drive a surge in New Zealand's accommodation sector in March, according to figures from the government statistics agency Wednesday. Guest nights at commercial accommodation in March were up 12.3 percent year on year, said Statistics New Zealand. "Guest nights for March were boosted by an early Easter and increased visitor arrivals, and are the highest recorded for any March month," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement. "Easter this year was in March, whereas last year it was in April. Guest nights have been rising for the last two years." Domestic guests nights were up 11.5 percent and international guest nights were up 13.2 percent. Figures from Statistics New Zealand last month showed holiday-makers from China helped drive a record number of overseas visitors in March. Total visitor arrivals reach a new March record of 344,400, up 18 percent from March last year, with arrivals from China up by 9,600 to 40,400, making it the second largest source country after Australia, from where 133,300 visitors arrived. US guided-missile destroyer visits Tonga Updated: 2016-05-11 17:27 (Xinhua) SUVA - United States guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) has arrived in the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa on a routine visit to the Pacific kingdom, local media reported Wednesday. The US naval ship, which arrived Tuesday, will be in Nuku'alofa for three days, until Thursday, according to Radio Tonga. USS Spruance is in the Pacific on a regular deployment as a part of the Pacific Surface Action Group, which also includes other US naval ships, according to a press statement from the US Third Fleet. While in Nuku'alofa, crew of the US naval ship presented gifts to students from a range of local secondary and primary schools. VIP's visit boosts Canada-China ties Updated: 2016-05-11 11:24 By Yuji Zhang in Vancouver(China Daily USA) Guangdong wishes to join hands with British Columbia in growing a strong and mutually beneficial business and trade relationship, said Hu Chunhua, Party secretary of the Guangdong provincial committee, on Monday in Vancouver. "By working together, and sharing our experiences and expertise, both of our provinces will continue to grow in harmony," said Hu, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, at a China-Canada Economic and Trade Cooperation conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Hu led a Guangdong delegation of more than 200 entrepreneurs and government officials to visit BC on Sunday and Monday. This trip aimed to continue to build on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by BC Premier Christy Clark and Governor of Guangdong province Zhu Xiaodan in November 2015, during a celebration of the 20th anniversary of sister-province relations between the two provinces. The agreement commits both provinces to collaborate on trade, investment and cultural exchange. Clark said at the conference that the meeting was another example of a commitment to strong sister-province relations with Guangdong and working together to address climate change. "China is actively exploring alternative energy and adopting clean technology, areas where BC excels," Clark said in her welcoming speech. "We are working together to grow trade and investment in this sector and create opportunity and jobs in British Columbia." More than 250 Canadian companies and 150 Guangdong companies participated in the conference. The conference included a signing ceremony for a group of Canadian and Chinese companies to build business ties and seminars on environmental protection, scientific and technological innovation, cross-border e-commerce and the One Belt One Road Initiative. As part of Hu's visit, several BC and Guangdong companies and organizations announced major partnership deals, with potential value in the billions of dollars. Among the most significant was one between BC-based Woodfibre LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) and Guangzhou Gas Group for 1 million tons of LNG to be exported to Guangzhou over the next 25 years. "What's most significant about these deals is the diversity of the sectors involved," said Clark, "from education and renewable energy to clean technology and medical research. We are diversifying our economy and creating a new future for trade and investment between BC and China." In 2015, the GDP of Guangdong reached $1.17 trillion with a growth rate of 8 percent topping the whole China, according to Hu. Exports from Guangdong to Canada reached $9.5 billion, making up a sixth of China's total exports to Canada. "In a new historic era, we believe the cooperation between Guangdong and Canada will enjoy favorable conditions and foundations, and start to write a new exciting chapter," Hu said. For China Daily China and US 'need to do more talking' Updated: 2016-05-12 01:57 By Hezi Jiang, Michelle Cen (China Daily) Fu Ying, the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman A call for more dialogue and communication between China and the United States to build new consensus for joint ties has been made by senior Chinese official Fu Ying. Fu, who chairs the National People's Congress' Foreign Affairs Committee, sees a gap between a worrisome perception of China-US relations and the reality that ties are closer than ever. The countries' presidents hold meetings at least twice a year; China has become the US' biggest trading partner on a monthly basis; nearly 5 million people traveled between the two nations last year; and the two countries together pushed for the signing of the Paris Agreement on climate change. But all these accomplishments occurred as some experts in the US predicted that if China continues to grow at its present speed, conflict between the countries will be unavoidable, Fu said. "The need for cooperation and the impact of competition are both growing. The gap between perceptions and real life may reflect the need to rebuild consensus," Fu said on Tuesday at a seminar at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, titled Rebuilding Trust: China-US Relations. Despite a sizable number of "optimistic voices" on US-China relations in the US, Fu said there are also some there who wonder whether "the constructive engagement" policy pursued by eight successive US administrations should continue. "In the past 30 years, we had friendly moments, but never very close; we had problems, but the ties were strong enough to avoid derailing. Now we are at a high level, and if we work together, we are capable of making a difference in the world, but if we fight, we will bring disaster to the world," Fu said. She found the message coming from the US to be rather confusing sometimes, reflected in its reluctance to acknowledge China's efforts in providing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative. Fu sees recent tension over territory in the South China Sea as reflecting the risks involved in the relationship. She also said that in recent years, "after the US launched its pivot to Asia, more blatant provocations to China's sovereignty have happened, and there are even attempts to expand disputes". She called on the two countries to follow up on President Xi Jinping's proposal that China and the US move toward a new model of major-country relations, avoiding conflict and confrontation and respecting each other in cooperation. Contact the writers at hezi-jiang@chinadailyusa.com 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. PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK Reel World Mix it up The New Mexico Film Foundation is hosting another filmmaker mixer in Santa Fe on Friday, May 13, from 6 to 8pm. The event will take place at the Inn at Santa Fe (8376 Cerrillos). Its a chance for people in the local film industryboth pro and amateurto meet and circulate. Find out what other filmmakers are doing. Discuss your latest projects. Hunt for a job. Locate a good sound mixer. Network like crazy. Or just hang out with a bunch of other movie-minded people. For more info go to nmfilmfoundation. org. Racism on the gridiron? Institute of American Indian Arts professor and activist Charlene Teters will be present for a screening of the documentary In Whose Honor? at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center this Saturday, May 14, from 2 to 3:30pm. The film traces Teters campaign against the University of Illinois controversial team mascot, Chief Illiniwek, as well as her evolution into a leading voice against the merchandising of Native American images. A Q&A with Teters will follow the screening. Admission is free. The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center is located at 2401 12th Street NW. View in Alibi calendar Cuckoo for cinema The historic KiMo Theatre in downtown Albuquerque is launching another classic film series. This time around, theyre digging into the American Film Institutes list of The 100 Greatest Films Ever Made. No word on how many of these films KiMo is trying to program, but theyre starting out with the 1975 Oscar winner One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. Jack Nicholson stars as rule-breaking counterculture icon Randle P. McMurphy in director Milos Formans adaptation of Ken Keseys famed novel. The film starts at 2pm and 6pm on Saturday, May 14. It screens again at 2pm on Sunday, May 15. Admission is $6 students/seniors and $8 general admission. You can score tickets in advance by going to kimotickets.com. Future AFI 100 screenings include 1974s Chinatown (May 28 and 29) and 1950s Sunset Boulevard (June 11). HCM CITY Factoring services for merchandise exports in Viet Nam will become more essential than ever before as the country integrates more deeply into the international economy, the secretary general of Viet Nam Banks Association (VNBA) said yesterday at an international factoring conference held in HCM City. Tran Thi Hong Hanh said that total factoring volume remained modest and underdeveloped in Viet Nam compared to other ASEAN countries, including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. She said that a series of free trade agreements, including the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), had opened up opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to increase production and exports, but many of the countrys producers and traders lacked the financial means to expand. Peter Mulroy, the secretary general of Factors Chain International (FCI), explained that factoring is a package of services designed to ease international trade by offering risk-mitigation tools and liquidity together to support growth in trade between importers and exporters. If you want to expand foreign sales, you will have to offer buyer-friendly terms such as an open account, which factoring can support without reducing your security or affecting your cash flow, he added. Mulroy said that global trade was moving toward open accounts, and that because of intense competition for export markets, foreign buyers often encouraged exporters to ship on open account terms. In addition, the extension of credit by the seller to the buyer is more common abroad, he said. Therefore, exporters who are reluctant to extend credit may face the possibility of the loss of the sale to their competitors. Hanh of VBSA said that factoring services would allow businesses to take advantage of imminent trade growth opportunities, both at home and abroad, by providing short-term funding against receivables, together with management solutions, such as risk protection and collection services. Kyle Kelhofer, country manager in Viet Nam for International Finance Corporation, Cambodia and Laos, said, The increased trend of globalised markets and falling trade barriers are leading to multiplication of cross-border business opportunities. Vietnamese small- and medium-sized enterprises can increasingly leverage new trade finance facilities such as factoring to improve competitiveness and attract foreign partners so that they can expand trade volume and grow business, he added. Also speaking at the conference, Jinchang Lai, principal operations officer for Finance and Market Global Practices at IFC, said factoring would be necessary to help enterprises manage their accounts receivable and provide working capital to these enterprises. According to FCI, in 2014, factoring in Viet Nam handled by FCI members amounted to 100 million euros, a fraction of the total volume of business handled by its factoring companies worldwide, which neared 2,373 billion euros. Factoring services in Viet Nam are offered by eight official providers, three of which are members of FCI, a global network of leading factoring players. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hang, deputy head of the State Bank of Viet Nams Department for Banking Prudential Regulations, said Viet Nams regulations for the development of international factoring services were inadequate, causing difficulties for the supply and use factoring services in the country. SBV plans to complete a legal framework governing factoring. With an annual international trade volume of about US$300 billion, Viet Nam has significant potential for the development of international factoring, according to Hang. Jinchang Lai said recently that the Government of Viet Nam had decided to increase the number of enterprises to one million by 2020 from the current 530,000. Experts, however, are concerned about how the country will provide financial services to the one million enterprises in only a few years time, and whether the financial industry will be prepared by that time. He said that IFC would work with the Government and the lending industry in Viet Nam, including banks as well as non-bank lenders in this area, to develop factoring services. Once businesses realise the full benefits of factoring services, the demand will increase, conference delegates said. VNS Workers produce tiles at the Viglacera Ha Long Company. Building sustainable business models in Viet Nam is challenging, and for Vietnamese and international companies the road to sustainable development is still bumpy. Photo baoxaydung.vn HA NOI Building sustainable business models in Viet Nam is challenging, and for Vietnamese and international companies the road to sustainable development is still bumpy, according to experts at a seminar. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)s Viet Nam Business Council for Sustainable Development, organised a seminar on Building Sustainable Business Models in Viet Nam yesterday in Ha Noi. This seminar was part of the Tomorrow is Green campaign initiated by the Embassy and Consulate General of the Netherlands in Viet Nam. The campaign calls for joint solutions for a sustainable and prosperous future. The seminar was an opportunity for participants to get inspired and learn experiences from real Dutch and Vietnamese business cases and to discuss how to build sustainable business models, which were the first factors to develop and retain competitive ability. oan Duy Khuong, VCCI deputy chairman, said that in fact, many Vietnamese enterprises faced difficulties in building sustainable business models, due to lack of capital, low management ability and lack of policies of the State. Exchange of views and experiences on developing sustainable business was necessary and contributed important parts to improve knowledge of the local enterprises about social responsibility and friendly-environmental production activities, he said. During the seminar, as pioneers in building sustainable business models in Viet Nam, FrieslandCampina, Unilever and Viettel, shared their first hand insights on their achievements and challenges. ING bank also shared its experiences in financing circular business models. At an interactive discussion under the seminar, participants questioned and debated with policy makers, business leaders and civil society representatives on how to overcome challenges in developing sustainable businesses. The seminar attracted local and foreign socio-economic organisations, the Dutch Business Association Viet Nam, leading Dutch companies in Viet Nam, including FrieslandCampina, Unilever, ING bank, and Viet Nams telecommunication group, Viettel. VNS HA NOI Viet Nam and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreed to increase trade promotion activities, facilitate market access and intensify ties between the Vietnamese and UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The information was announced during the Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minhs reception for visiting UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al Nahyan, yesterday. The move aims to raise two-way trade to US$10 billion in the next few years from the current $6.2 billion. Deputy PM Minh also wished for more UAEs investment in the areas of oil and gas, infrastructure, agriculture, climate change, metallurgy, renewable energy, construction materials and Halal food manufacturing, towards making the UAE the largest Middle East investor in Viet Nam. As one of South East Asias fastest growing economies, Viet Nam provides attractive business and investment opportunities, Nahyan said ahead of his visit. As such, Viet Nam is high on the Dubai Exportss 2016 agenda, which focuses on expanding markets and increasing knowledge sharing with priority countries. He noted that a number of major UAE companies have entered into partnerships with Vietnamese companies on large joint venture projects in the infrastructure, residential, and tourism sectors. For example, Dubais Emaar Properties and Viet Nams Bitexco Group are currently undertaking a $1.34 billion project to build a new urban area in HCM City. The UAE is confident that this trading and investment relationship will continue to grow stronger, the UAE minister said. The Vietnamese side presented a list of Viet Nams major projects in need of capital and preferential credit. Both sides were committed to extending joint work across the potential fields of labour, security, energy, banking, tourism and farming. During their talks, Minh and his guest also affirmed their determination to further foster friendly coordination via increased exchanges at all levels, regular political consultation between the two foreign ministries and mutual support at regional and global forums and organisations. Deputy PM Minh proposed the UAE help Viet Nam with opening bonded warehouse centres in the UAE and establishing a Halal Certification Centre in Viet Nam, making it easier for Vietnamese halal food exporters to access Islamic markets. Both Viet Nam and the UAE have young populations and seek to focus on economic prosperity that is environmentally sustainable, as well as to foster societies that are equitable and inclusive. During a reception for Nahyan yesterday, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc encouraged UAE firms to invest in renewable energy, hotel, tourism, infrastructure, seaports, aviation, real estate and farm produce production in Viet Nam. He also urged the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) to promptly respond to Viet Nams call for official development assistance (ODA) in several projects, adding that he hopes the UAE will welcome more Vietnamese labourers to work at its medical facilities. On the occasion, the PM also conveyed his invitation to his UAE counterpart Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum and President Tran ai Quangs invitation to the UAE President to visit Viet Nam. Minister Nahyan, for his part, said the UAE wants to boost multifaceted co-operation with Viet Nam, particularly in labour. The guest suggested both sides provide the best conditions for the private sectors in the two countries. The UAE will actively consider Viet Nams projects in need of ODA, he stated. Firms connect to boost profits Yesterday, at an economic forum in Ha Noi, Pham Binh am, Vietnamese ambassador to the UAE, said that trade between the two countries would grow another 20 to 22 per cent this year. The forum, hosted by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoIT) attracted the participation of more than 150 firms from both countries. Tran Quang Huy, general director of MoITs South East Asia and Africa Market Department, said the forum was a boost to the relationship and a chance to connect firms from two countries. Pham Trung Nghia, commercial counselor and head of Viet Nams Trade Office in Dubai, added that the major imports to the UAE included pepper, rice and coffee, followed by electronics and computer spare parts, textiles and garments, shoes and footwear, and aquatic products. Counselor Nghia said Viet Nam agricultural products were more and more winning the hearts of UAE consumers, with Vietnamese dragon fruit dominant in the UAE market. Vietnamese bananas and pineapples were also increasingly being ordered from the country. am said UAE investors, especially those involved in luxury hospitality and real estate development, would benefit from the rising tourism in Viet Nam, with its beautiful beaches and other natural sites. Last year, Viet Nam reported 57 million local visitors and eight million foreign visitors to the country. am said the strong wave of UAE investment in Viet Nam in the 2006-07 period, which was disrupted by the 2008 global financial crisis, now showed signs of recovery, especially when low oil prices were pushing Middle East investors to seek other channels of investment in Asia. The ambassador said, Now is the right time for such investments, adding that Viet Nam with its increasing middle class preferred luxury resorts and services for their holidays. Also, well-known for its renewable energy, UAE was seeking to invest in solar power plants in Viet Nam. am said, on the occasion that it had found potential cooperation with some local provinces. Currently, UAE has invested over $2 billion in a thermal power plant in the northern province of Nam inh. In response, Saed Al Awadi, CEO of the Dubai Export Development Corporation told Vietnamese firms at the forum that they should not consider the UAE as a single market. With about 80 million visitors to Dubai every year, it was a regional hub where products would be transferred and seen by people from all around the world. According to the Dubai Export Plan for 2016, they will host ten exhibitions dedicated mainly to the construction and food sectors with a focus on non-oil markets in Europe, Africa and Asia. In the plan, Vietnam and Cambodia were representatives for Asia. In the Gulfood Exhibition 2016 in Dubai in February, Vietnamese dairy firm Vinamilk won a $12.5 million contract to export powdered milk for babies to the UAE. VNS A Vietnamese chief executive officer (CEO) and a dozen domestic banks were honoured at the Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards Dinner in Ha Noi yesterday, among peers from the Asia Pacific and Middle East. VNS/Photo Truong Van Vi HA NOI A Vietnamese chief executive officer (CEO) and a dozen domestic banks were honoured at the Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards Dinner in Ha Noi yesterday, among peers from the Asia Pacific and Middle East. Singapore-headquartered The Asian Banker, the regions provider of strategic business intelligence to the financial services community, hosted the event with the State Bank of Viet Nam (SBV). Viet Nams awards for CEO leadership achievement and the best-managed bank went to Military Bank CEO Le Cong, who created appropriate strategies and solutions to curb credit growth and manage default risks. With his focus on the banks prudent credit growth and efficiency, the average year-on-year credit growth stood at 17 per cent in the past three years, while keeping the non-performing loan ratio below 2 per cent, the organisers said in a news release. SeABank, which leveraged its data analytics capability to offer a more customer-centric auto-loan product, won best auto-loan product in Viet Nam. The Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank won awards for best deposit product and best brand initiative in the country after it was able to grow its retail deposit size by 32.4 per cent last year. The best credit card product in Viet Nam was awarded to Vietcombank, which led its peers with 21 per cent share of the domestic credit card market. Tien Phong Bank, whose online transactions accounted for 35 per cent of its total retail transactions, was named the countrys best internet banking initiative. Agribank won the award for best microfinance product in Viet Nam, with its microfinance business contributing to half of total retail income and a net interest margin of 2.5 per cent last year. The best mortgage product in the country was awarded to the Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam, whose mortgage loans skyrocketed by 88 per cent, securing 20 per cent of the industrys market share in 2015. Viet Nam International Bank, which effectively utilised various social media platforms to increase the number of engaged users by 26 per cent year-on-year, won best social media intitiative in Viet Nam. The best cloud-based project in the country was Asia Commercial Bank, which provided real time communications and enterprise social interaction on a public cloud platform. The award for best mobile banking project in Viet Nam went to Techcombank and SAP, which achieved a notable increase in mobile banking market shares and reduced customer churn by half. The best treasury management project in the country also went to Techcombank and Misys, as the bank implemented a treasury system that enabled real-time risk management dashboard and alerts. Im very pleased to see that more Vietnamese banks have been awardedThese awards show the acknowledgement and high appreciation of the regional and international community for the achievements that Viet Nam has gained in its reform agenda, said SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong, adressing the ceremony. Yesterdays event kickstarted the three-day Asian Banker Summit 2016, where participants will discuss challenges for bank managers, infrastructure for financial markets, international banking transactions, and supply chains and technology in the banking sector. VNS HA NOI In a world reeling with political fractures, environmental disasters, spiritual confusion, and economic and familial breakdown, art holds its unique place, Suzanne Lecht, owner of Art Vietnam Gallery, said. Lecht, a curator of Bold Strokes, an event to celebrate the contemporary art in Viet Nam which gathers many Vietnamese and foreign artists, said art is also a beacon of awareness and a place of refuge. A reception with the participation of many emerging artists and art lovers will take place tonight at the Art Vietnam Gallery. Lecht said she selected the best works in the collections of the gallery to showcase the brightest evolution of art coming out of Viet Nam today. The artworks displayed are made from various materials, including The ForeFinger 2015 sculpture by Tran Tuan from Hue which was recently presented in The Land of Distortion exhibition at the Bildmusset Museum in Sweden; calligraphic works of the avant garde Zenei Gang of Five, and the photo series by Nguyen The Son. The installation artworks by Nguyen Manh Hung, The Meeting (2015) and Checkpoint (2014), continue to delight with his sardonic, humorous depictions of a country shifting from an ancient, traditional culture headlong into modern day commercialism. Many video works include Another Place across the River (2013) by Truong Cong Tung from HCM City, Mao Khe (2001) by Tran Luong which depicts the harsh conditions of the coal miners and a video by Bui Cong Khanh that exposes modern day life and the struggle for existence in a rapidly changing world. Foreign artists who have lived and worked in Viet Nam for a long time will present their highlighted works to express their point of view about the emerging society where the integration and cultural exchange occur every day. They are Donald Damask, a fine printmaker from New York, Simon Redington (the United Kingdom) with oil on canvas reflecting sombre past; Maritta Nurmi (The Netherlands) with shimmery silver leaf surfaces framed in textiles with images of the leaves of the frangipani trees, commonly found at the entrance of all pagodas, lead us into a contemplation of the world beyond the physical realm. Lolo Zazar (France) with creations of wooden sculpted Zodiac animals covered in photos of the old walls of Ha Noi present a modern, playful twist; Jorge Rivera (Spain) with sculptures of parts of the Honda Dream motorbike and Sebastien Laval (France) with photos of urban cities. David Thomas, artist and founder of the Indochina Arts Partnership in Boston, has brought over 100 artists from Viet Nam for residencies in the US and presented numerous exhibitions in his effort to expose Vietnamese art. Catherine Karnow from the United States will showcase photographs reflecting the unique perspective of the consummate insider and are evocative of a country opening its arms to the international world. We would like to honour all of the artists of Viet Nam and foreign artists living in Viet Nam who have contributed so much to the global understanding of a very unique and dynamic country, Lecht said. The collections will be open to the public until the end of this month at the Art Vietnam Gallery, 24 Ly Quoc Su Street, Ha Noi. VNS HA NOI Free shows featuring folk songs in the central province of Nghe An will be held for visitors at Kim Lien Village throughout the summer. The shows aim to promote the local vi and dam melodies, along with pop songs praising President Ho Chi Minh and the nation. The shows will last 30 minutes. A large crowd had gathered at the programme, which was first organised last September. The people visited the historical relic at Kim Lien Village, the nativeland of President Ho. VNS HA NOI Lao ong (Labour) newspaper reporter Viet Van won first prize in the food category at the International Color Awards Los Angeles in the United States for his photo The Breakfast. The contest featured 11,000 entries from 75 countries in numerous categories, including portrait, people, landscapes, architecture and food. The photos will be published in The Journal magazine in June and shown in a movie based on the award winners. Van has won 60 international awards in his career, including eight first-place prizes in France, United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. He was the only Vietnamese national honoured at the Pollux Annual Awards, conducted by the UK-based Worldwide Photography Gala Awards, on four separate occasions. In addition, Van has won the "Prix de la Photographie, Paris in France for six consecutive years. VNS WASHINGTON Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump cruised to victory in two more states on Tuesday, while Bernie Sanders beat rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia to bolster his argument for remaining in the race. The substantial wins in West Virginia and Nebraska according to early results put Trump ever closer to clinching the 1,237 delegates he needs to be declared the partys nominee at its convention in July. "Thank you West Virginia!" and "Thank you Nebraska!" Trump said in a pair of tweets. Now the sole Republican candidate in the contest after his remaining rivals dropped out last week, Trump is transitioning from the fierce primary battles with the likes of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to a general election showdown with Clinton, even amid deep Republican discord about the celebrity billionaire. He has narrowed his picks for running mate, telling Fox News he is considering five vice president options. "I think they are excellent," he added. "Ill announce whoever it will be at the convention" in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump said. With Republican concern about their nominee sizzling, a Quinnipiac University poll out on Tuesday showed Trump closing in on Clintons lead in two major battleground states -- Florida and Pennsylvania -- and overtaking her in swing state Ohio. No candidate has won the presidential election without taking at least two of those three states. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seized on the polls as a sign that Trump will mount a strong challenge against Clinton. "Its a long time til November, but the early indications are that our nominee is likely to be very competitive," McConnell told reporters. Unyielding Sanders Despite Clintons overwhelming delegate lead, Sanders ensured the race would go on with his win in West Virginia, where he was ahead of Clinton by 11 percentage points with about a third of precincts reporting. With eight contests remaining, "we think we have a good chance to win many of those states," Sanders told supporters Tuesday in San Francisco, according to CBS News. "We hope we can win some of them with big majorities." Quinnipiacs poll also found that Sanders, a democratic socialist who commands an enthusiastic following on the left, would do better against Trump than Clinton in all three states if he were the Democratic nominee. The 74-year-old Vermont senator, who defeated Clinton in Indiana, has mounted an unyielding come-from-behind challenge that has exposed weaknesses in the former secretary of states campaign. Although almost certain to win the Democratic nomination -- she is only about 160 delegates short of that goal -- Clintons ability to excite young and white working-class Democrats going into the general election has been put in doubt by Sanderss primary successes. But she has used her campaign stops in Appalachia -- including an event in Kentucky, which holds its Democratic primary on May 17 -- as opportunities to win over blue-collar white voters. "If I am so fortunate enough to be the nominee, Im looking forward to debating Donald Trump come the fall," she said in Louisville. "We cant be scapegoating and finger-pointing and blaming and demeaning and degrading and insulting our Americans." In coal-mining West Virginia, Clinton shot herself in the foot in March by telling voters in neighboring Ohio she would slash mining jobs and put coal companies "out of business." She later apologised and suggested her remarks were misunderstood, but in a state where livelihoods have hinged on coal for generations, many are unconvinced. AFP President Tran ai Quang, who is contesting a National Assembly seat, told voters at a meeting in HCM City yesterday that fighting corruption would remain a focus for the country. Photo thanhtra.com.vn HCM CITY President Tran ai Quang, who is contesting a National Assembly seat, told voters at a meeting in HCM City yesterday that fighting corruption would remain a focus for the country. Corruption has for long been a national calamity. And it is one of four major threats to the existence of the regime. He stressed his determination to eliminate corruption to strengthen the publics trust in the Party, State, and Government. As Minister of Public Security had directly overseen investigations into several cases, he said, but admitted that despite the strong resolve, corruption has not been rooted out. He urged people to take part in efforts to eliminate prevention. Le Cong Hoang, a voter, expressed concern over corruption during the Presidents meeting with voters, and asked for specific plans to fight graft. Quang replied: In order to fight corruption, peoples power should be mobilised. Priority should be given to seizing property acquired with ill-gotten means. It is a hard task and has not been done well. In future this will be done. The biggest challenge was to discover corruption cases, he said. He urged the public and the media to be more active in identifying people involved in or instigating corruption, promising there would be policies to honour and protect whistleblowers. Voter o Van Thinh, 40, told the President he was worried about the countrys public debt situation. Quang admitted that the public debt was high and said reports indicated it could exceed the permitted level. He called for cuts in public spending and practising thrift. East Sea issue Thinh and several other voters expressed concern about fishermen in the central region being attacked by foreign boats while fishing in Viet Nams sovereign waters. In response, Quang said the Party and State are deeply concerned that Vietnamese fishing boats are being attacked, and set up a [Coast guard] task force to protect fishermen. When local fishing boats are attacked, authorities will offer instant support, collecting evidence by recording video clips to protest through diplomatic channels. He stressed that "the nations sovereignty cannot be violated". The military would be strengthened to protect the nations sovereignty and independence, he said. HCM Citys constituency No 1 (Districts 1, 3, 4), from where Quang is contesting, has four other candidates: Prof Dr Tran ong A; ang Thi Thuy Dung, deputy general director of Gia inh Garment Company; Colonel Ngo Tuan Nghia, deputy political commissar of the High Command of the Viet Nam Peoples Army in HCM City; and Lam inh Thang, deputy secretary of the city chapter of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union. Election preparation On the same day, a delegation of the NA Standing Committee and National Election Council led by NA Vice Chairman o Ba Ty visited the central province of Phu Yen to inspect its preparations for the upcoming election of deputies to the 14th legislature and Peoples Councils for 2016-2021. Ty instructed the provincial authorities to review all preparation and work harder to handle petitions, complaints and recommendations regarding the election. It was also essential to speed up communication work on the significance of the election and information on voting, he said. Also yesterday, a delegation from the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee headed by the committees Vice Chairwoman Bui Thi Thanh visited the Central Highlands province of ak Lak to check on its election preparations. Meeting with local authorities, she praised the provinces efforts. She suggested that authorities disseminate more information, and welcome opinions and recommendations from candidates - particularly those from remote, mountainous and ethnic minority-inhabited areas. VNS US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel R. Russel. Photo vietnamplus.vn HA NOI US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Daniel R. Russel, elaborated on US President Barack Obamas upcoming visit to Viet Nam, which is slated for later this month, at a press conference in Ha Noi yesterday. Russel is on a working visit to Viet Nam to make preparations for Obamas visit, scheduled between May 22 - 25. He noted that an important component of the USs policy for Asia-Pacific was strengthening the US-Viet Nam partnership. Russel delivered his countrys commitment to assisting Viet Nam in effectuating the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement given it will benefit both the country and the region at large. Expanding security cooperation forms another important component of the growing bilateral partnership, covering international peacekeeping, humanitarian aid, disaster relief and maritime security, he told reporters. He laid stress on people-to-people ties, referring to academic partnerships, the inauguration of Fulbright University in Viet Nam and other English teaching programmes. How to cope with regional and global challenges is shared by both countries, according to the diplomat. The two countries have been working together to response to such global matters as climate change, health and infectious diseases, and international terrorism. Regarding the East Sea issue, the two sides have joined hands to reach an order based on law and common principles, ease tensions in the sea and ensure that all parties concerned and international laws are respected, the diplomat stated. During the visit, both sides will deal with war-era issues, including co-operation in removing unexploded ordnance, locating and returning the remains of US soldiers missing in action during wartime, and decontaminating dioxin in the central city of a Nang. The two sides will discuss and work together to expand their collaboration in human rights and legal reforms in Viet Nam in accordance with the countrys 2013 Constitution as well as universal standards, the diplomat said. While in the country, Russel has had working sessions with representatives from the Vietnamese Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defence, Public Security and Justice, and those from the Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations and the Governments Office. VNS A food safety inspection team of Ha Noi checks vegetable quality at a restaurant in Thanh Xuan District. The PM has urged ministries and localities to improve food safety management. VNA/VNS Photo Duong Ngoc HA NOI Ministers, Government officials and Peoples Committee leaders should improve management of food safety and hygiene, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in a recent directive. The directive showed continuous all-out efforts by the new Government to curb the outflow of contaminated food that overwhelms markets across the country and poses high risks to consumers health. Last month, for the first time, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired a teleconference with cabinet members and the leaders of all 63 localities to enact measures and mechanisms to tackle food safety. In a newly issued directive on the matter, the Government leader urged Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), and Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT) to step up food safety inspections, especially unscheduled ones, and impose punishments on violators. The individuals and organisations who overlook management will be subjected to fines, he said. PM Phuc directed the Ministry of Finance to compile a spending plan in which localities were allowed to spend money collected from violators on conducting inspections, technology investment and contaminated food disposal. Peoples Committees at all levels must be responsible for ensuring food safety in areas under their management. They should see food safety as an urgent task, and all sources must be mobilised to assure food is safe. The document directs a national steering committee on combating smuggling, commercial frauds and counterfeit goods, and customs, border guards, watch market forces and relevant agencies to monitor transport, export, import and trading of fresh food and beverages with unclear origins. MARD, MIT and the Ministry of Health were tasked with co-operating with relevant agencies to issue a list of banned substances and stop the use of sabutamol, antibiotics and other regulated substances in farming, food processing and production. The PM asked the Ministry of Health to stiffen controls on functional food and food additives, and direct localities to ensure food safety in street food stalls, industrial zones, tourism spots, festivals and big events. Phuc also called on media agencies to report outstanding safe food models and violations to the public in a reliable, unbiased and timely manner. In particular, the PM highlighted the establishment of planting areas that ensure raw materials for farming produce while calling for the development of safe food production models and supply chains. On Monday, MARD announced criteria to develop safe food supply chains as part of efforts to expand the model nationwide. According to the ministry, a safe farm produce supply chain is a collection of factors that have strong, stable, sustainable economic connections among farmers, manufacturers and enterprises. It oversees all steps, from choosing varieties, irrigation, fertilising and using pesticides to preliminary processing. The food quality must comply with food safety regulations and be given origin traceability when consumers buy them. Food safety in agriculture was made a priority task for the sector this year, Vu Van Tam, the MARD deputy minister said. He said the ministry had piloted safe food models in Ha Noi and HCM City from 2013 to 2015. Food supply chains would be expanded to other areas in the coming time. It requires co-operation from State agencies, production and business facilities, and media to offer safe farming products manufactured under safe food supply chains, he said. According to MARD, 280 safe food supply chains have been set up in 35 provinces and cities across the country so far. Main products include vegetables, fruit, tea, meat, eggs and aquatic products. Last week, the ministry also publicised 69 stores nationwide certified for providing food that meets safety requirements. VNS Mass fish deaths at a farm in Cha Va River in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. Photo tuoitre.vn BA RIA-VUNG TAU Thirty-three caged-fish breeding farmers have sued over a dozen seafood enterprises, claiming that wastewater discharged into Cha Va River in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau resulted in the loss of their fish. The farmers on Monday signed a lawsuit with 11 legal firms against 14 seafood processing businesses, claiming that the businesses discharged polluted water, causing mass fish deaths last September. Last years fish die-off pushed several farmers into bankruptcy, while many businesses have denied the consequences of wastewater discharge and refused to compensate farmers. After the incident, the provincial Peoples Committee set up a special working group including experts from the Department of Natural Resource and Environment to investigate the reason for the mass fish deaths. The experts said the fish died due to wastewater discharged by 14 seafood processing companies. However, the companies refuted these results and refused to pay compensation to the farmers. The companies said they had installed wastewater treatment systems and that it was impossible to discharge wastewater into the river. Most of the companies agreed to give farmers some financial aid, but not compensation. Nguyen Thanh Tinh, deputy chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee, said the companies have to pay compensation, but not financial assistance. If the companies do not agree to compensate, authorities will help the farmers complete the filings for a lawsuit, he added. Hoang Long Ha, chief of Hoang Ha Firm, said the lawsuit was complicated, but the evidence was scientific and clear. Authority agencies have collected evidence scientifically and legally to provide an argument in court, said Ha. Lawyer Truong Thi Thanh Thuy said that the discharge of wastewater into the river by the 14 enterprises must be handled by law. Under the Civil Code, any individual or entity that causes environmental pollution and damage must pay compensation, she said. Many other lawyers expressed their anger over the firms refusal to pay, despite the serious financial losses their actions caused farmers. Le Minh Thong, president of the Farmers Association in Long Son Commune, said, I believe the fish breeders will win the lawsuit. The right belongs to them. Farmer Nguyen Van An, 69, said, We believe we will win because we have all the legal evidence. We must gain equality and rights. The farmers are requesting VN18.1 billion (US$823,000) in compensation. In September, fish processing plants were fined for polluting Cha Va River in Tan Thanh Districts Tan Hai Commune. Wastewater pollution caused the mass deaths of fish in local breeding farms. The farmers carried hundreds of dead fish to the local Peoples Committee chairman, who is handling the case. The farmers losses were expected to reach VN5 billion ($227,000), according to statistics released by the department. VNS The two-day workshop Toward an ASEAN without gender-based violence non-governmental organisations (NGO) experiences with policies on gender-based violence" attracted more than 40 participants from NGOs across ASEAN. Photo thuonggiathitruong.vn HA NOI Viet Nam has been making strong efforts to secure equal rights for women and men, but violence against women and girls in the country is still a severe issue, experts said at a workshop on gender equality yesterday in Ha Noi. The two-day workshop Toward an ASEAN without gender-based violence non-governmental organisations (NGO) experiences with policies on gender-based violence" attracted more than 40 participants from NGOs across ASEAN. The workshop was planned by Viet Nams Gender-based Violence Network (GBVNet), facilitated by Care International in Viet Nam, and the Centre for Studies and Applied Sciences in Gender, Family, Women and Adolescents (CSAGA). Research from the Institute for Social Development Studies showed that many people believed that it was natural for men to commit violence against women, because men had the right to do so. More than 98 per cent of domestic violence cases were not reported. The economic loss due to gender-based violence represented nearly 1.4 per cent of the countrys gross domestic product, UN Viet Nam found. On average, women experiencing violence earned 35 per cent less than those who were not abused. Hugh Borrowman, the Australian ambassador to Viet Nam, said that one in three women in the country had experienced violence from their spouse within the past year, but not many women spoke out and sought help. "The loss due to violence against women is the same across races, nationalities and geographies," said Nguyen Van Anh, director of CSAGA and co-ordinator for GBVNet. "The only difference here is what solutions you take to prevent and stop it. The willingness for a better world without violence against women and girls brings us closer. Our actions today were important to build up a peaceful and happy ASEAN community, she said. Anh said that civil society organisations (CSOs) in ASEAN countries faced obstacles in advocating for laws and policies to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. Initiatives to advocate for necessary policies were very separate, making them less effective. Decreasing sources of funding and limited capacity also created difficulties for advocates. Care International finds the elimination of violence against women to be crucial for social justice and gender equality to blossom," said Le Kim Dung, country director of Care International in Viet Nam. I do hope that collaboration among these CSOs will be consolidated to influence the development and implementation of policies on gender-based violence across the region, including Viet Nam." At the workshop, representatives agreed that a thoughtful, planned strategy was required for success in this area. CSOs must establish a long-term view on advocacy and not expect individual meetings, partnerships or events to be successful. VNS HCM City The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre has called for greater support from international NGOs in areas like healthcare and education and combating the impacts of climate change. Speaking at a conference in HCM City yesterday on soliciting assistance from foreign NGOs, Nguyen Huu Phuoc, deputy chairman of the Ben Tre Peoples Committee, hailed the assistance provided by NGOs to the province in past years. NGOs have greatly assisted Ben Tre Province in many fields, and we need more support to deal with many emerging problems. Ben Tre is one of the provinces in the delta with modest socio - economic conditions and limited infrastructure. Besides, it is one of the few that have been seriously affected by climate change and rise in sea levels. In the first quarter of the year, the effect of climate change on the province was severe, damaging 19,500ha of rice (94 per cent totally damaged), 5,750ha of orchards, more than 500ha of other crops, 45ha of oyster farms, 27ha of clam farms and a number of livestock. The worst affected have been poor and near-poor households, who are the most vulnerable to climate change. At the end of last year the province had 61,000 poor and near-poor families, equal to 16.5 per cent of all families. There have been 75 international organisations from 10 nations and territories visiting the province and implementing socio-economic programmes since 2010. The total value of aid they have provided is estimated at US$16.2 million and focused on health care, education, agricultural and community development, water supply, environment and climate change, reduction of disaster risks, microfinance and rural transport. The programmes, projects and NGO aid are properly implemented, effectively targeting beneficiaries, gradually improving infrastructure, promoting socio-economic development and mitigating poverty, Chau Van Binh, deputy director of the provincial planning and investment department, said. In addition, most people in NGOs project areas have changed their traditional mindsets, he added. Many NGOs said their projects have received active support from the provincial government and often finished quicker than in other places. We have projects in four provinces and Ben Tre is the best, Tran inh Hoang of the East Meets West said. Local and related authorities have greatly supported us. The organisation has carried out a VN7 billion ($320,000) project in Ben Tre to improve the quality of rural water supply. Binh said, however, that the economic situation had hit NGO funding, making it difficult for them to raise money. The number of NGO projects and the areas where they work have increased over the years, but the availability of money is still low and does not meet the provinces requirements. The province would focus on areas such as capacity building in healthcare, education, green growth and sustainable development; poverty reduction and job creation; reducing environmental pollution; and capacity building for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. VNS HA NOI The recent massive fish deaths and waste water discharge in the central coastal region have demonstrated that industrial waste management is a worrisome problem, an official told a workshop held yesterday in Ha Noi. Addressing the Industrial Waste: Weaknesses in Management and Policy Recommendations workshop organised by PanNature, former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, Prof. ang Hung Vo, cited the case related to the Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corporation (FHS) in the Vung Ang Economic Zone in the central Ha Tinh Province. Even within a similar management body, there existed different judgments about whether FHS should have been permitted to release wastewater through underground pipes, Vo said. In this case FHS was allowed to do so, so what happened if the management body failed to oversee the waste dumped into the environment? he said, quoted by Vietnamplus. It was projected that wastewater from the project would flow into the Quyen River, but later it was released into the sea. Did the Ha Tinh Department of Natural Resources and Environment supervise the plant construction? Prof. Vo noted that though the official cause of the mass fish deaths had yet to be released, the public suspected that steel and thermo-electricity projects based next to the sea would have a direct impact on the sea water. I fear that we think more about economic development than we do about environmental protection. We may have thought of the latter, but we havent paid adequate attention to it, he said. The serious fish death incident has raised an alarm to monitor the countrys environmental protection. Deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trades Chemical Department, Nguyen Xuan Sinh, who joined an inter-sectorial study tour examining the environment in Vung Ang Industrial Park, said legal regulations and tools to supervise the environment were highly available, but the actual work remained limited. Sinh said the investment into the waste treatment system was costly and its operation was complicated, so certain plants operated the waste treatment system during day time and then released wastewater secretly at night. In the case related to Formosa, I think we need the environment police or local people to act as intermediary, he said. In regard to environment planning, Sinh said quite a few localities were ignoring approved planning to sign and approve projects that are not included in the planning. From the perspective of an environment management body, former deputy head of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environments Pollution Control Department Tran The Loan said the environment-monitoring tools failed to assess the environmental capacity in each region. A region might be able to accommodate a plant, but the addition of one more plant might damage the environmental capacity thereafter," Loan said. He added that the illegal and stealthy discharge of waste was true and the cases detected were lower than what actually occured. The practice depends on business ethics and responsibility towards the community. VNS HA NOI Nearly 140 samples of seafood, vegetables and water in the four central coastal provinces which suffered mass fish deaths are determined to be safe and within the prescribed level. This is according to a report by the Food Safety Department under the Ministry of Health. The department, in co-ordination with the National Food Safety and Hygiene Testing Institute, sent inspection teams to the four provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue to take samples of seafood, vegetables and water for quality inspection. Test results showed 97 samples of fresh seafood were safe. The vegetable and water samples were also within the permitted level. Nguyen Hung Long, deputy director of the Food Safety Department, said most seafood samples sent for testing were caught offshore. The department took samples of seafood twice per day and sent them to the institute to determine toxin levels, Long said. The test results are announced the following day to inform the public wether the food is safe. The government and the relevant ministries will also be informed of the results. The mass fish deaths reported in central Viet Nam since the beginning of April led to exploitation and damage to the economy, environment, farming and production, as well as to trading seafood activities, causing worries for the people. After the incident, the ministries, relevant agencies and local authorities have implemented several inspections to determine the cause and to guide locals on how to repair the damage, resume production and stabilise their lives. VNS AK NONG Heavy rainfall and whirlwinds blew away the roofs of tens of houses and severely damaged high-tech agricultural cages in the Central Highland province of ak Nong. The loss is estimated to run into billions of ong. The provincial Irrigation and Flood Prevention Department said on May 8 and May 9, Krong No and ak Glong districts and Gia Nghia Town experienced bad weather, such as heavy downpours and whirlwinds. Dozens of houses and hi-tech agricultural cages in the two communes of ak Ha and ak Nia in Gia Nghia Town were damaged and their roofs were blown away, resulting in a loss of nearly VN1.5 billion (US$67,300). In ak Nia Commune, a 2,000sq.m. area where vegetables and flowers were planted was completely destroyed. Some 1000sq.m. glass houses, homes for officials, public employees and a greenhouse nursery for seedlings at Nguyen Tat Thanh University also collapsed. In ak Ha Commune, the local authority estimated the natural disaster resulted in a loss of some VN200 million ($8,974) for the residents. KSem, vice chairman of the communal Peoples Committee, said the rainfall that lasted for one hour caused serious damage for residents in ward 6, 4 and 7. The committee has sent staff to help local residents repair their houses and clean up the area. The province has witnessed heavy rainfall and whirlwinds four times from late March until today, destroying hundreds of houses, schools and agricultural production facilities. The total loss is estimated to be nearly VN10 billion ($448,700). VNS BA RIA-VUNG TAU Authorities and relevant agencies have sealed at least 28 fabric dyeing machines of the Mei Sheng Textiles Viet Nam Co. Ltd in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau. An inspection by the environment department found the company was violating several regulations on environment protection. In particular, despite not having a licence to conduct dyeing activities, the company had still built the dyeing workshop and put it into operation. The company also drilled 26 wells and illegally exploited and used ground water for production and daily use without a licence. In addition, the company had no measures in place to protect the environment and its waste water treatment system had not been tested by the local agencies. The companys dyeing workshop will be sealed for three months for it to undertake remedial measures, the authorities said. This is the seventh time the company has been sealed for flouting environment protection rules. Earlier, on April 24, the local authorities had received a directive from the Environment General Department under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to seal the textile firms dyeing workshop, but the company managed to circumvent the order. Mei Sheng Textiles Viet Nam Co. Ltd, with its entire investment capital from Taiwan, began operations in September 2009. It is located on 21.3ha of land in the Ngai Giao industrial complex in Chau uc District. VNS HA NOI Stricter punishments are needed for violations of waterway traffic safety, illegal mineral exploiting and dyke safety in Ha Noi, said Nguyen The Hung, deputy chairman of the Ha Noi Peoples Committee in a conference held on Tuesday in the capital. Speaking at a conference assessing results of an inspection on the issues in the city, Hung said that if strict measures were not taken, violations would increase and become more serious and. In the future, the Ha Noi Police will be key in checking and fining violators related to waterway traffic safety. The police should act as advisors for the municipal peoples committee to help the committee ensure traffic safety, he said. Nguyen Xuan Hai, deputy director of the Ha Noi Department of Dyke Management and Flood Control, said that the most serious problem at present was construction firms gathering materials near the dyke systems, affecting safety. By the end of last month, the city had more than 200 construction materials gathering grounds, which were about 200ha, along the Hong (Red), uong and Cong rivers in 16 districts and towns of the city. Only 35 of them were licensed. Nguyen Van Hung, deputy director of the Ha Noi Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that another problem was companies illegally sucking sand from the river bed using a pump at bordering areas of districts causing difficulties for inspection. Kieu Quang Phuong, head of the Ba Vi District Police, said that the police at present lack specific tools and vehicles to check boats and ships. The police also did not have ship drivers or have places to impound vehicles. In March and April this year, the municipal police fined more than 4,900 waterway traffic safety violators to the tune of more than VN2 billion (US$88,800). The police also worked with traffic inspectors to fine more than 200 people for illegally exploiting sand and soil, according to the Ha Noi police. VNS HA NOI The Ministry of Health has collected samples of two beverages sold by Viet Nam URC Co., Ltd., to test for lead in response to allegations it was selling poor-quality products. The rumors went viral on the Internet recently, attracting the attention of the ministry. An inspection team, led by Nguyen Van Nhien, deputy chief inspector of the ministry, has been tasked with evaluating the companys adherence to food-safety regulations over a period of 15 days. ang Van Chinh, chief inspector of the ministry, said the tests would be conducted on the green tea C2 product and the energy drink Rong o (Red Dragon). Both branches of the company will come under the scanner. Chinh said the team would work with the company and report the results of the investigation to the ministry. Previously, the Viet Nam Food Administration had collected five samples of C2 and Rong o for tests. Rumors that the two beverages contain high levels of lead have circulated widely on the Internet and on social networks. Samples of C2 and Rong o were found to have a lead content of 0.087mg per litre and 0.085mg per litre, respectively, while the permissible limit is 0.05mg per litre. The company stands accused of using low-quality citric acid as an acidity regulator in its beverages. This year, the ministry will inspect food-safety conditions at four beverage production companies, including Coca-Cola Vietnam, Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage and Wonderfarm. VNS LONG AN One person was killed and 18 others were seriously injured when a shuttle bus carrying workers flipped over and rolled over several times in Long An Province on Tuesday night. The accident occurred at 8pm on Provincial Road 824 in Ben Luc District when the bus crashed into the pavement and turned turtle. Twenty five workers -- of Bethel Vina Company -- were stuck inside unable to get out until local residents and rescuers arrived. According to Phung Van On, deputy head of the Long An ProvinceS Traffic Safety Committee, it was hard for the rescuers since it was dark and there were no road lights in that section. It took until 11pm to pull the occupants out, and one of them, an unidentified male worker, was found dead. The injured people were rushed to Hau Nghia General Hospital in uc Hoa District. Most of the workers are residents of uc Hoa and uc Hue districts in Long An. VNS In a major setback to Indias efforts to bring back in the country soon, the United Kingdom declined the industrialists deportation request. However, it has asked India to consider the extradition route. "The UK government has informed us that under 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK, if they have extant leave to remain, as long as their passport was valid, or enter UK was conferred. At the same time,UK acknowledges the seriousness of allegations and is keen to assist the Government of India," Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson for Ministry of External Affairs, said on Wednesday. The UK is said to have informed the Indian High Commission through a note verbale turning down the countrys request. Though Mallyas diplomatic passport has been revoked, he has been staying in on a valid UK visa, the country told the Indian authorities. The Centre, in April, had requested the UK to deport Mallya to India on pending money laundering and financial mismanagement cases. They have asked GoI to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition: Vikas Swarup,MEA #VijayMallya ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016 The United Kingdom has suggested extradition based on a treaty signed between the nations in 1993. It has also offered legal assistance based on a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) signed in 1992, The Hindu reported. Deportation v/s extradition? A deportation is an executive decision, which is said to be much quicker to get an individual to the country, The Hindus report says. In case of extradition, the investigating agencies in the country have to prove a prima facie culpability in the case. ALSO READ: Disappointed over 'willful defaulter' label, says Vijay Mallya What happens in case of Mallya? The industrialists extradition will be possible when he is accused or convicted of an act which must be recognised as a criminal offence in both the nations, the report added. Red corner notice The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had earlier this week sought a red corner notice from the Interpol against the industrialist for his role in the alleged siphoning off of Rs 950-crore loan given by IDBI Bank. The legal request was forwarded to the head office of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to get a notice issued through its Interpol wing. ALSO READ: 5 counterpoints that call Vijay Mallya's bluff A day after announcement of the amended Indo-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, Hasmukh Adhia, the Union government's revenue secretary spoke to Dilasha Seth Arup Roy Choudhury on a number of issues. Edited excerpts: After over a decade of efforts to renegotiate the Mauritius treaty, it has finally been amended. What efforts went behind it? I give due credit to Mauritius for taking a matured view of the entire thing. There are two-three factors here. One is our determination to implement GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rule) from April 1, 2017. The second is global pressure being built up after (the) Panama (Papers) and so many other tax havens in which the global community is against such arrangements, wherein companies get away with double non-taxation. There is too much global pressure on all these tax havens. Third, the urgency the government has put on this matter. Negotiations took place from 1996 to 2002 and then there was a lull from 2002 to 2015. Ten working groups were held till 2002 and the 11th working group met in end-June 2015, which was after Prime Minister Modis visit to Mauritius, where he flagged this issue that we must resume the discussion. Since June 2015, we have met four times with the Mauritius delegation and finally it has been possible. What was the big trigger after the PMs visit that convinced Mauritius to agree to these amendments, considering they were reluctant all these years? Mauritius is now thinking on broader terms. They are thinking that in any case GAAR will happen, so they need to be prepared and have a transition period of two years. All they asked for was the two years of transition period, to remodel their economy. Instead of housing paper firms in their country, they want to set up a full-fledged financial centre, where global companies can come and do business, due to the natural advantage of local manpower availability and good climate. What will be the interplay between GAAR and the Mauritius DTAA? There are concerns that as GAAR has overriding provisions over tax treaties, investments or arrangements that have come up from September 2010 will be at risk, even though the Mauritius treaty amendment has provided grandfathering till 2017. GAAR will be applicable from 2017 only, not retrospective. It is an anti-abuse provision. If it is found that treaty benefits are being misused, then GAAR will apply. There is a process of adjudication under it; it has to be proven that there was abuse of treaty and then the government is free to impose any taxation, but, prospectively. In 2010, GAAR was brought into the statute but we did not implement it. It will be implemented from 2017. Will there be renegotiation of the Singapore DTAA as a consequence of the Mauritius amendment? There will be a re-signing of the treaty with Singapore. It wont be a long process of negotiation, as it is mentioned in the Singapore treaty that their benefit will continue only as long as the Mauritius benefit is there. It is a simple thing of modifying it. Will Singapore also get the two-year transition benefit of 50 per cent capital gains tax, as with Mauritius? I am not happy giving it but I am sure they will ask for it. We might have to give it, as the treaty says that as long as you give it to Mauritius, you will have to make it available to them. The Limitation of Benefit is much higher in the case of Singapore, a threshold of Rs 50 lakh as against Rs 27 lakh in the case of Mauritius. Is the government also looking at renegotiating the DTAA with Cyprus, since again they have the right of taxation? Cyprus is an inconsequential country for us in terms of inflow but, yes, we are already in discussion with them. If they do not renegotiate, then the GAAR provisions will hit them and no company will be able to come through Cyprus without getting affected by it. Renegotiating is in their interest. But, yes, the right of taxation on capital gains is given to that country. The amendment might not hit foreign inflows this year but perhaps from next year, as a lot of it is routed through Mauritius and Singapore? Why should investment be affected? If $100 billion investment has to come to India and Mauritius is chosen as a route for $17 bn of that, the rest comes directly. If Mauritius is not available, $100 bn will come directly. As long as India is an attractive market, there is no reason for us to believe people will not invest here. Tax is only a marginal benefit. If tax is the only reason for people to invest, then domestic investors will never invest in the stock market. If any other country is giving them better returns, they might divert investments irrespective of a tax treaty. If they find a better return in the European stock market, they will definitely do it. The experience is that people are happy investing in India. What progress is being made on the Panama issue and the names that have come up after the media investigation? What is the progress on the Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Panama? The matter is being investigated. I cant reveal the details but I can say that we are in the knowledge of all the names in the public domain, which have come through the media and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. We are taking very effective and prompt action for each one of these. A multi-agency group has been set up; it is reporting to me and I am reporting to the government. There has been progress in the enquiry and we are monitoring the situation very strictly. Quite a bit of progress has been made and we are satisfied so far. On a related note, we are looking to sign the Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Panama. But, they do not seem keen on the matter. What are you doing to ensure the domestic black money window is a success from the governments perspective? The window for foreign black money which was open last year is different from the one on domestic black money, which will open from June 1. The quantum of tax is also different. We will ensure due publicity and ensure everybody understands the implications of not availing of it. There are concerns related to scrutiny and harassment once those who did not reveal earlier avail of the window. Has any harassment happened after the earlier window? Does the experience show that? People who declared under the foreign black money compliance window have not been harassed. Just because they declared it once, we are not going to go after them every time. If anyone has got hidden income spread over a number of years, he or she should declare it in one go. When are the FAQs (list of frequently asked queries, and the answers) on the domestic black money window expected? We are going to come out with these as soon as possible. The first round should be out by Sunday morning or maybe Monday. Prime Minister kicked up a storm ahead of the May 16 elections in Kerala with his comments comparing the states social indicator with that of Somalia. At a rally in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, Modi looked to thrash the ruling Congress-led government for its alleged lost glory and said that Keralas infant mortality rate among the scheduled tribes was worse than that of Somalia. The unemployment rate in Kerala is at least three times higher than the national average. Infant mortality rate among the scheduled tribe (ST) community in Kerala is worse than Somalia. The state can meet only 13% of their requirement of agricultural products. Even after 70 years of independence, Kerala depends on other states for 70% of its power requirements. Similarly, most of the youth in Kerala are forced to leave their home state in search of jobs. Only through overall development, the state could be brought back to its past glory, Modi said at the rally. The comparison to Somalia has created a political row, with various parties asking him to withdraw his remark. Incumbent Chief Minister Oomen Chandy has written a strongly-worded letter asking him to have some political decency while making such remarks. The controversy quickly spread to social media with #PoMoneModi (loosely translated as Get a move on, son, Modi) trending on Twitter. Kerala is considered to be one of the best states in the county in terms of human development indicators like literacy, infant mortality, among others. Spouting economic and social data at public rallies and platforms to make a point is not new. What stands out in Modis case is that the Prime Minister in a country where PMs have historically not gotten actively involved in Assembly election campaigns has been accused of using misleading data. What seems to have stung voters and rivals alike is the comparison of the state with a poverty-ridden nation which is known for its abysmal development numbers. However, it should also be noted here that not all that Modi said was wrong or misrepresented. Unemployment, for instance. Infant mortality The Prime Minister said that infant mortality rate among scheduled tribes (ST) is worse than that of Somalia. An infant mortality rate is the number of deaths per 1,000 live births. The number is a reflection of healthcare facilities in the state, in general, and pre- and post-natal care in particular. As per latest data available from the ministry of tribal affairs, infant mortality rate among scheduled tribes in Kerala was 60 deaths per 1,000 births. Compared to that, the overall infant mortality rate in the state is just at 12 deaths per 1,000 the lowest in the country , according to data stated in the Economic Survey 2015-16. The case for comparison, Somalia, has an infant mortality rate of 85, data from World Bank reveals. The comparison and the gap is not just incorrect, but it makes you question the motive behind such selective splicing of caste-based data, knowing full well that the general population figures are impressive. Gujarat, the home state of the Prime Minister, in fact has an IMR of 36, much closer to the national average of 40. Unemployment Modi said that the unemployment rate in Kerala was three times than that of the national average. A quick mathematical calculation of the data on unemployment available would say that he is largely correct in quoting this figure. The unemployment rate per 1,000 persons for people aged 15 and above in Kerala is 99. The national average, however, is 38, data from Ministry of Labour and Employment reveals. This can also be seen in context of Modis comment on most of the youth leaving Kerala in search of a job. While it is a fact that the rate of immigration from the state is one of the highest in the country, the states economy is also seeing big remittances from the Middle East and other regions of the world. Reports state that from the entire chunk of remittances that come to India, almost 40% of it goes to Kerala. These stood at Rs 1 lakh crore ($14.9 billion) in the third quarter of 2015-16. Power situation The BJP leader said that power situation from Kerala was abysmal as the state has had to purchase almost 70% of the power from other states. While the number may be in question, it is well know that power has been a constant issue for the state, with the consumption going up exponentially. Power generation in the state has gone from 8,350 million units (MU) in 2011-12 to 7,343 MU in 2014-15, as per this report. Meanwhile, the consumption rose to 80 MU per day in April 2016, and is set to rise to 100 MU per day by 2018. The states power ministry had also cautioned regarding the need to buy more power from other states in order to meet the growing demand. Meanwhile, as per this report in The New Indian Express, in March 2015, daily power imports averaged 42 million units (MU), accounting for more than 60% of the daily consumption. Compared to that, the generation within the state stood at 28.51 million units. Apart from these, there are other social indicators that paint a very different picture than what Modis tone reflected at the rally. Literacy rate The literacy rate of Kerala stood at an admirable 94%, data from Economic Survey of 2015-16 states. This is 21 percentage points higher than the national average of 73%. Human Development Index This indicator largely talks about the quality of life of people. Indias HDI rank has been lower at 130, with a score of 0.6087 or 0.6089. Interestingly, if this is compared with the HDI score of states in India, Kerala zooms past Indias mark at 0.7117. By comparing a state that has one of the best development indicators with one of the worst in the world shows the new depths that the Prime Minister has fallen to. While it is true that politicians often use questionable data to make their point, the degree of error in this particular case is alarming. WATERLOO Seth Green recognized a business opportunity right away. For a time, the City of Waterloo didnt see things the same way, and Green had to delay plans to build a three-story 111,8000-square-foot storage building at 345 Tower Park Drive, just south of West San Marnan Drive in Waterloo. Now, as Green prepares to open Green Acres Storage, a 700-unit, $3.5 million facility, later this month, he said hes ready to put behind him the struggle he endured to get permission to build the project. Green, who is building the project himself, with the help of about 30 subcontracted workers, had run into opposition to other sites he had proposed, both in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, before reaching an agreement with Waterloo city officials on the Tower Park lot. Green said opposition had come from residents who were concerned about the aesthetics of a storage building proximate to their neighborhoods. He also said a suggestion from the city of Cedar Falls that he consider building in that citys industrial park did not fit his plan to cater to a residential customer base. We serve a residential clientele, so you want to be close to your customers, he said. Its new type of style building, so its more aesthetically pleasing to neighbors. The multi-story format fits right into a business park, Green said. I like the curb appeal, he said. Its the next generation in storage buildings. Its also climate-controlled, even for loading and unloading, he said. We have a loading area you can fit a semi truck into, he said. But it looks more like an office building. It looks nicer and nicer as we go. Were putting $60,000 in landscaping in around here, and all that adds to the curb appeal and dresses it up. Green Acres will have two or three employees, Green said. I know its not a lot of jobs, but two or three is still new jobs, he said. Plus, you have 30 full-time jobs for a six-month building process. The first Green Acres Storage facility opened in Cedar Rapids in 2003. With the addition of facilities in Marion, Dubuque and now Waterloo, the company offers a combined total of 2,400 self-storage units, Green said. Green said he has not penciled in a definite opening date for the facility, but it likely will be toward the end of May. Besides being 100 percent climate controlled, the new structure includes an inside unloading area, wide elevators, well-lit hallways, and advanced security with computer-controlled access and video surveillance, Green said. Green Acres Storage offers month-to-month or long-term leases and can provide customized units for specific needs, Green said. On-site truck rentals, moving boxes and packing supplies will also be available. Green said he already has taken a number of bookings. We maybe have 15-20 reservations, he said. Generally, storage facilities take a while to fill up, he said. Its different from opening a restaurant, where everybody floods the new hot spot, he said. With storage, if you dont need it, youre not going to rent just to try a new place. Green said has a target of 90 percent occupancy within two years. Thats where we figure were pretty much full, he said. More information is at the companys website, www.greenacresstorage.net. CEDAR FALLS Four new retail tenants have been announced for a new 120,000-square-foot power center strip mall going up at the intersection of Prairie Parkway and Brandilynn Boulevard in Cedar Falls. The Bluff Pack LLC, developer of the project, officially broke ground on the $14 million project on more than 11 acres at The Bluffs in Pinnacle Prairie and announced Dollar Tree, Famous Footwear, HomeGoods and Pet Supplies Plus will occupy about 45,000 square feet of the retail center, joining anchor tenant Hobby Lobby. Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby also said Tuesday it will close the store it currently operates at 3731 University Ave. when the new store opens during the first quarter of 2017. Hobby Lobbys other local store, at 2711 Crossroads Blvd., will remain open, company spokesman Bob Miller said. All employees at the University Avenue store will have an opportunity to transfer to the new location. Talks are ongoing with potential additional tenants for the new strip mall, said Dustin Whitehead, of Lockard Cos. and a leasing agent for The Bluff Pack LLC. We are in discussions with several prospective tenants for the remaining space in the center, he said. The interest for space in Pinnacle Prairie has certainly picked up with the amount of construction happening. Construction began in April, and grand opening events are expected to occur in the first quarter of 2017, Whitehead said. He said the project is comparable in size to nearby East Viking Plaza, which has Michaels, Old Navy and Scheels among other stores. The new retail center is the latest of several projects in the Pinnacle Prairie area, including health care facilities launched by UnityPoint Health, Care Initiatives and others. For more information on Pinnacle Prairie visit; www.pinnacleprairie.com. WATERLOO UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital is reviewing a breach of patient information that occurred over about seven years. The hospital is notifying approximately 1,620 patients a former employee inappropriately accessed their personal information in the hospitals electronic medical records. Allen Hospital staff detected inappropriate access to the hospitals medical records March 14 and opened an immediate review, said Jim Waterbury, the hospitals vice president for institutional advancement. Staff traced the employees unauthorized entries from September 2009 through March 2016. The employee was authorized to access information of patients necessary to do her job but had no need to access records of the patients in question, Waterbury said, noting that was why the inappropriate access wasnt immediately detected. Allen Hospital disabled the employees medical record access, took action consistent with its discipline policies and reported the incident to the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The alleged incident constitutes a violation of the hospitals patient privacy guidelines under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA. Such violations can result in civil or criminal penalties. Allen Hospital has received no reports of identity theft related to this incident, Waterbury said. No credit card information was involved. The employee may have seen patients names, home addresses, dates of birth, medical and health insurance account numbers and information related to treatment. In addition, for less than 15 percent of impacted patients she may have seen patients Social Security numbers. We apologize to our affected patients, and we accept our responsibility to keep this event from happening again, Waterbury said. Allen Hospital has mailed letters to all affected patients and is offering them membership in a credit monitoring product at no cost. Patients affected should receive those letters in a matter of days. The hospital has also provided patients with guidance on other precautionary measures they can take to protect their information, including placing a fraud alert, placing a security freeze and/or obtaining a free credit report. Allen also is educating to authorized users of its medical records regarding UnityPoint Healths policies on proper access. In addition, Allen Hospital is implementing additional audits to minimize the risk of a similar incident in the future. Individuals seeking more information may call a special toll-free line at (877) 332-6271 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday. Individuals may also call Allen Hospitals privacy officer at 235-3913 or contact Allen Hospital at 1825 Logan Avenue, Waterloo, IA 50701 Attn: Privacy Officer. West High to hold can drive WATERLOO The Waterloo West High Vocal Music Department will have its monthly can drive from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday in the West High School parking lot, Baltimore Street entrance. Students will come right to the car and retrieve the five-cent refundable glass, plastic and aluminum beverage containers. T.J. Craven show set for Saturday TOLEDO The T.J. Craven-Tribute to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Michael Buble is planned for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Reining Center. Tickets are available at the door. For more information, call Larry at 444-3586 or 573-4254. Part of the proceeds benefit the Childrens Miracle Network. Deere Museum field trip planned WATERLOO The Black Hawk Retired School Personnel Association will meet Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. to tour the John Deere Museum at 500 Westfield Ave. The tour will be followed by lunch at Riverloop Public Market, 327 W. Third St. The buffet lunch will be $8 plus the cost of a drink. For reservations, call 988-3245 by Thursday. Breakfast to be held on Saturday WATERLOO The Iowa Chapter of the National Action Network will be sponsoring a breakfast at Mount Carmel, 805 Adams St., from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday. The menu includes pancakes, eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, biscuits, coffee and juice. Cost is $10. Half the proceeds will go to the Alzheimers Association. For more information, call the church at 233-9482. Deadline for art show entries set REINBECK The Reinbeck Art Festival is seeking artists to display and sell work in the fifth annual Reinbeck Art Festival juried art show, set for Sept. 24. Different mediums will be accepted. The deadline to apply is May 20. To apply, contact Dana Schoenbeck at cityasst@reinbeck.net or download the application from reinbeckartfestival.wordpress.com Moose Lodge 328 to serve meals WASHBURN Moose Lodge 328 at 6636 La Porte Road will offer several upcoming events. All-you-can-eat fish will be served from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday. Brisket and burnt ends will be served Saturday, beginning at 5 p.m. An omelet and waffle breakfast will be served from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday. Drill team plans Sunday dinner WATERLOO The Crusaders Drill Team of Union Missionary Baptist Church will sponsor a Sunday Dinner on Sunday in the churchs A. Steven Reynolds Dining Hall, 209 Jackson St., beginning at 12:30 p.m. The menu features a variety of meats (poultry, pork and beef), vegetables, salads, desserts and punch. Cost is $8 for one meat or $10 for two meats. Proceeds will help support the Crusaders. CEDAR FALLS A Cedar Falls man will remain behind bars pending trial on federal drug charges in connection with the Operation Ice Pirates meth investigation. During a Tuesday hearing, Magistrate Jon Stuart Scoles said that Chad Ellis Weylands unabated use of meth despite a conviction on state felony drug charges a month ago means he has no confidence Weyland would comply with any requirements if he was released. Weyland, 38, was arrested last week in a sweep that charged eight people and seized 6 pounds of meth and about $250,000 in cash. Two others were charged in a related case. Authorities allege Weyland, a self-employed drywall installer and furniture refinisher, was selling another man meth by the pound in 2016 as part of the operation. During Tuesdays detention hearing, an FBI agent involved in the investigation recounted how Weyland was found with 12 grams of meth and $5,200 in cash during a 2013 traffic stop and how DEA agents found him with $30,000 in cash in San Diego the following year. Weyland remains in custody at the Linn County Jail in Cedar Rapids. On Wednesday, a man charged in the investigation, who had been earlier described as at large, Dennis Sharkey II, was detained and had an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Sharkey, of Dubuque, remains detained pending a further hearing. OELWEIN -- A 33-year-old Hampton resident is facing charges in Fayette County for allegedly having sex with a minor knowing he is HIV positive. Ismael Alfaro's alleged victim, a young girl, is described as "mentally incapacitated" in court documents. Alfaro was taken into custody earlier this month in Franklin County. He is accused of committing third-degree sexual abuse and criminal transmission of an infectious disease. Both alleged offenses are felonies. According to the Oelwein Police Department, authorities investigated an incident that happened in March in Oelwein. Hampton police arrested Alfaro on May 4. Alfaro is being held in the Fayette County Jail on $50,000 bond, cash only. According to court documents, Alfaro got to know the young woman online through a social media site, and they arranged to meet in person. "The defendant came to Oelwein, picked up the female and drove to Parkview Motel in Oelwein," according to criminal complaints. According to police, Alfaro admitted having unprotected sex with the girl knowing he is HIV positive. Authorities confirmed Alfaro's diagnosis using his medical records. In an application for a court-appointed attorney, Alfaro describes himself as a contractor. Seth Bonnette, a probation and parole officer with the Iowa Department of Correctional Services, recommended the court make getting out of jail difficult for Alfaro. Bonnette requested "the defendant be held on high cash bond ... due to the danger presented to the community." Bonnette also noted Alfaro is unemployed and living with his mother in Franklin County. CHARLES CITY The Iowa Court of Appeals Wednesday overturned a judges order banning a woman convicted of child endangerment from becoming pregnant. That ban, issued by District Judge James Drew against Stephanie Fatland, 24, impinges upon her fundamental right to procreation, the ruling states. Fatland was charged with three counts of child endangerment resulting in serious injury, a Class C felony, after authorities said she admitted shaking her 5-month-old son when he would not stop crying. The boy was brought to a hospital on July 20, 2014, with bleeding in his retinas and a bulge in the soft spot of his head, which were cited in court documents as symptoms of a shaken baby. Fatland, who was a resident of Rockford when she took the boy to the hospital, pleaded guilty in Floyd County District Court to reduced charges of two counts of child endangerment resulting in bodily injury, a Class D felony. The third count was dismissed through a plea bargain. In July 2015 Drew gave her a suspended five-year prison sentence on each count and put her on probation for five years. One of the conditions of her probation was that she not become pregnant during that time. Drew also ordered her not to have unsupervised contact with children younger than age 5 while on probation. Fatland filed a motion to reconsider the condition prohibiting her from becoming pregnant while on probation, claiming the court improperly infringed upon her fundamental right to bear children. Drew denied the motion. In his order he stated temporarily prohibiting the defendant from becoming pregnant is directly related to the defendants criminal conduct and her rehabilitative needs. Fatland appealed the decision. The appeals court ruled the condition of probation prohibiting Fatland from becoming pregnant while on probation should be eliminated from the sentencing order, citing numerous previous cases where such bans were overturned. The appeals court also vacated the ban on Fatland having unsupervised contact with children younger than 5 and asked the district court to create a more realistic and precise condition of her probation regarding contact with young children. The condition should contain an exception for incidental contact in public places where other responsible adults are present, the ruling stated. WATERLOO -- Waterloo Police say they found bullet casings near a Waterloo elementary school after a shots-fired call Tuesday afternoon. Sgt. Andrew Clark said shell casings were found at the intersection of Idaho and Polk streets, just across the street from Highland Elementary School, on Tuesday afternoon. "It sounds like there was some subjects shooting at a vehicle," Clark said. Highland Elementary was not locked down at any point Tuesday, according to Clark. There were no other damage reports or injuries, according to Clark. No arrests have been made at this time and police aren't looking for any vehicles in particular, according to Clark. SIOUX CITY -- A Sioux City lawyer has been charged in connection to a hit-and-run that left two men injured, one of which had to be put on an assisted breathing device due to his wounds. Thomas Cody Farrens is accused of leaving the scene of a serious injury accident, an aggravate misdemeanor. According to court documents, Farrens was driving on April 4 near 18th Street and Grandview Boulevard when he allegedly struck two pedestrians and sideswiped a vehicle. Farrens did not stop to provide aid or insurance information and his 2015 Kia was later found abandoned in Grandview Park, according to police. Dean Williams, 53, and Ryan Hogue, 29, were both taken to Mercy Medical Center. Williams suffered a hemorrhage and contusion and had to be placed on a ventilator. Farrens was later found at his home and arrested, originally charged with failure to produce insurance, but that charge has since been dropped. He was released on $2,000 bond. Farrens court date is set for May 31. Farrens received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, graduating magna cum laude. He received his law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law. He is a member of Iowa State Bar Association, South Dakota State Bar Association and Nebraska State Bar Association. CEDAR RAPIDS Two men arrested in connection with a widespread drug probe dubbed Ice Pirates will remain in jail, a federal magistrate ruled Monday. Magistrate Jon Stuart Scoles ordered Edward Behrends, 50, of Benton, Wis., and Alejandro Hernandez, 38, of Marshalltown, be detained pending trial on meth conspiracy charges. Behrends and Hernandez were two of eight people charged in a criminal complaint filed last week as a years-long investigation culminated in 29 searches and arrests in Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Denver, Marshalltown, Dubuque, Greeley and Benton, Wis. In all, authorities seized $250,000 in cash, six pounds of meth valued at $272,880, 14 firearms and five Dubuque red-phosphorous meth labs. Randall Thysse, special agent in charge of the FBIs Omaha office, said the operation, which included simultaneous search warrants using nine tactical teams, was a joint effort involving 250 officers from dozens of agencies. It is truly a team effort, and Im proud to be a part of it, Thysse said. Lt. Corbin Payne with the Waterloo-based Tri-County Drug Enforcement Task Force said his agency has been working on the case for two or three years and had received substantial help from the FBI and the other agencies involved. Several agents were able to provide us with some outstanding equipment for the past couple years involving this case. The agents in our area have put thankless efforts into some of the case that has been done, along with my investigators and the state narcotics. Its finally wrapping up, Payne said. One of the eight, Dennis Sharkey II of Dubuque, remained at large as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Thysse. He is believed to still be in the Dubuque area. Court records allege Behrends, an energy auditor at a Dubuque company, was seen traveling with Michael Bent of Denver who also was charged to Waterloo to meet someone who authorities believe was a new meth supplier. During a search of Behrendss vehicle Thursday, officers found 33 bags of meth and a loaded handgun. A search of his home turned up $10,000 in cash and five more firearms, court records state. In 2011, he was arrested on an assault charge with what one FBI agent said were activities related to the Matador motorcycle gang, court records state. The charge was later dropped. Authorities allege Hernandez was buying one-pound quantities of meth from Aldo Lopez Martinez, another person charged in the probe. He was born in Mexico, became a naturalized citizen in 2009 and currently works at a Marshalltown meat processing plant. When officers searched Hernandezs home, they found $21,000 in cash and a table covered in meth residue. Martinezs home yielded $92,000 in cash Chad Ellis Weyland, 38, of Cedar Falls, also was charged in the investigation. His detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids, but the outcome wasnt immediate available. WATERLOO -- On Saturday the National Association of Letter Carriers, union members, staff of local food banks and pantries and the Cedar Valley United Way will take part in the Cedar Valleys largest one-day Stamp out Hunger food drive. The food is sorted weighed and shared with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, The Salvation Army and St. Vincent De Paul Society. Residents on mail routes are asked to set out their donations first thing in the morning as some routes will be collected by volunteers. The top requested nonperishable food items are cereal, pasta, pasta sauce, rice, canned fruits and vegetables, juice, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, canned tuna, chicken and turkey and canned or dry beans. Volunteers interested in helping collect the food can contact the Northeast Iowa Food Bank or John Padget at the Cedar Valley United Way at 235-6211 ext. 12. Food will be collected at the Post Office Annex just off U.S. Highway 63 south of Ridgeway Avenue. Drop off locations will be the parking lots of West High off Baltimore Street, Cedar Valley Gymnastics Academy at Ansborough Avenue and Black Hawk Road and the Black Hawk Labor Temple, 1695 Burton Ave. From 1 to 1:30 p.m. trucks will be sent to the Northeast Iowa Food bank to complete sorting and weighing the donations. WATERLOO -- A Vinton man was taken to Covenant Medical Center following an accident south of Waterloo Wednesday in which his vehicle left the roadway. The Iowa State Patrol reported that an SUV driven by Ronald Marovec, 59, of Vinton, was eastbound on West Tama Road at Ansborough Avenue about 1 p.m. Marovec fell asleep, troopers reported, and the vehicle crossed the center line, went into the north ditch, hit the west embankment of Ansborough and went over the road into the east ditch, coming to rest there. WATERLOO A veterans committee is asking Waterloo to rally round the flags street flags downtown, that is. For years, the streets of downtown Waterloo were lined with American flags on light poles for patriotic holidays; sometimes, they remained up from Memorial Day through My Waterloo Days to the Fourth of July. That tradition resumed last year, with volunteers, after a long hiatus. However, many of the flags are wind-whipped, worn and need to be replaced, as well as some old wooden poles, some of which are broken. Many new street lights have been erected with flag brackets not sized correctly for the poles; others brackets were removed when existing poles were painted and not replaced. Now, some members of Veterans Memorial Hall Commission retired longtime Waterloo city employee Mike Mrzlak, Vietnam veterans Randy Miller and Rick Hurtado and World War II veteran Marcia Courbat are starting a fund drive to replace and replenish the deteriorated street flags, poles and brackets where necessary. An account at Veridian Credit Union, called Veterans for the Good, has been designated to receive the funds. For the last few years the American flags havent been flown on the streets of our city, until last year, Courbat wrote. This project was left up to the veterans organizations to do. Members aged, flags deteriorated and veterans organizations couldnt afford to replace them out of their own resources. We as veterans of this city need help with this project, Courbat said. We just think its a positive look to our town, Miller said, noting many smaller communities put up street flags. We need to get more people in Waterloo involved to do this, he said. First impressions can mean a lot. Mrzlak, a nonveteran member of Sons of AMVETS, initiated the drive to put the flags up again downtown and many flag brackets as possible were replaced with the help of Mrzlaks old traffic operations department, now headed by Sandie Greco. Many of the flags are 30 years old, purchased at that time for about $5,000, Miller said. While members of the group do not have a specific dollar goal for the current drive, they speculated it will take more than it did 30 years ago to replace flags, poles, and possibly buy additional brackets. Theres plenty of volunteer labor to put the flags up and take them down, they said. What they need is new flags. Its just a matter or beautifying, enhancing downtown and showing we care, Miller said. Especially with the history of the Sullivan brothers who died together during World War II. Their story still draws visitors here. Weve got it going, and were not quitting, plain and simple, Mrzak said. Its about being an American. Donations to the Veterans for the Good fund may be made at any Veridian branch. 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 more than $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 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. 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, their vote doesnt really count. A record turnout of voters went to the polls naively thought 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 also is a Virginia delegate, told me proudly 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 it was Ronald Reagan who had won Florida, New York, Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Massachusetts, California 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 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 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 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 at the convention, they would choose someone else. 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 saying 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? 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(1) Robert J. Samuelson, pleaseback away from the crack pipe https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-economys-real-drag-us/2016/05/08/c3b6c936-13bc-11e6-93ae-50921721165d_story.html The economys real drag: Us American consumers arent what they used to be and that helps explain the plodding economic recovery. It gets no respect despite creating 14 million jobs and lasting almost seven years. The great gripe is that economic growth has been held to about 2 percent a year, well below historical standards. This sluggishness reflects a profound psychological transformation of American shoppers, who have dampened their consumption spending, affecting about two-thirds of the economy. To be blunt: We have sobered up. Me, myself, I, you, them, they, us, those, all of you; are not spending enough money and dammit, start spending our we all go belly up. Just like that dead goldfish in you aquarium.spend, spend and spend you fools and quit saving that cold hard cash for a rainy day Yes our media is bought and paid for and has no bearing on what is really happening in the world, much less the west WtR If youre looking to try out an online casino, there are several things that will help you make a decision. Heres what you should look for when choosing an online casino Are they regulated? A lot of the larger ones have licenses issued by the authorities in their respective regions, so its worth checking this first. Do they offer games from different software providers? Some casinos just use one software provider and limit your selection. This is fine if you like playing those types of games but you may want to check other casinos as well. What does their payout percentage look like? The payout rate refers to how much money you can expect to win after every bet. A high payout rate means youll be able to play more often without having to worry about losing all your money. Its also important to know the minimum and maximum bets allowed on each game. If youre going to play roulette, for example, then you probably dont want a casino with a minimum bet of less than $2.50 or even lower than that. The players used to play the game slot online in the land based casinos in the past time. But now with time after the invention of the online casinos players play the game slot online. Online platform provide the players with the convenience in playing and even better winning. Even after keeping a good percentage of the profits, they distribute good funds to players. How many games do they offer? There are lots of different types of games to choose from. Roulette, blackjack and poker are some of the most popular options, but you might find slots, video pokers, video bingo and others as well. You can usually filter these games down to only show the ones that interest you best, so make sure that your list isnt too long! Is there a bonus offer? Many online casinos offer free bonuses as part of their welcome package which includes new players being awarded 100% up to $10 instantly, for example. These offers are great but not everyone has access to them all the time (and some require you to deposit real money). If youd prefer to avoid paying a fee, some casinos offer no-deposit bonuses where you can get a certain amount of funds before you need to put any actual money into the account. These are usually offered alongside welcome bonuses, so make sure you read both parts of the terms and conditions carefully before signing up. Does it offer live dealer games? Live dealers are much preferred by many over regular virtual versions, so it pays to check this option out too. Most online casinos now offer live dealer games in addition to their regular offerings, allowing you to experience the thrill of the real thing without needing to leave home. Now that youve got an idea of what to look for when choosing an online casino, heres some tips for making the right choice It really comes down to personal preference. No two people are exactly alike, so everyone has an opinion on what they like and dislike about each casino. That said, here are some things to consider in order to narrow down your choices Popularity. Check out reviews, forums and Facebook pages to see what other people think of the casino. Also, ask around at work or friends houses who they would recommend to you. You could always take a look at the casinos website too, to see what kind of information they provide about themselves. Reputation. Find out what the general public thinks about the casino. Check out any customer reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Amazon and Google Play to find out more. As far as gaming goes, you can also check out the Better Business Bureau to see whether there have been any complaints against the casino. Security. Make sure the casino uses SSL encryption to secure its transactions, meaning that your private data stays safe during transactions. Other than that, look for security seals on the site itself and verify that theyre legitimate. You can also check out the casinos privacy policy to see how they handle confidential information. Payment methods. Its good to have multiple payment options available, especially if you plan to play frequently. Its also nice to find a casino that accepts cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. If youre worried about safety, you can always opt for a credit card or PayPal instead. With all those criteria in mind, heres our top picks Betway: Betway is a relatively new UK casino offering online gambling to residents of the United Kingdom and European Union. They offer hundreds of games across both land based and digital platforms, with plenty of top software providers like Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Yggdrasil Gaming Network. With a generous welcome offer that gives players 100% up to 100, you really cant go wrong with Betway. Coral Casino: Coral Casino is operated by the same company that runs the famous Caribbean casino, Grand Reef. Like many casinos, Coral Casino offers a wide variety of games, including plenty of video slots and table games. New players can benefit from a huge 100% match bonus up to 1000, while existing customers enjoy 25% cash back on deposits made within 48 hours of opening an account. Ladbrokes Casino: Ladbrokes Casino is owned by the same company as the famous bookmaker that started life in 1921. With more than 500 games from leading software providers such as Amaya, NetEnt and Microgaming, you wont be disappointed by the quality of the games here. New players get a 200% match bonus up to 500, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. Paddy Power Casino: Paddy Power is another Irish-owned casino that operates throughout Europe. Not only does Paddy Power Casino offer traditional casino games like blackjack, roulette and slots, but it also provides a full range of sports betting, including football, tennis, boxing and horse racing. New players can receive a massive 100% match bonus up to 200, while existing customers can claim 35% cashback on their first three deposits. William Hill Casino: William Hill Casino is one of the biggest names in the industry, operating in Europe, Asia and North America. Founded in 1984, this online casino has more than 400 games to choose from, including slots and table games, with a wide array of software providers like WagerLogic, Big Time Gaming and Rival. 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. Canl Bahis siteleri sektoru son derece onu ack ve farkl ozelliklere sahip bir sektordur. Elbette bahis secenekleri arasnda yuksek kazanc getiren alan kuskusuz canl bahistir. Peki, canl bahis nedir? Canl Bahis Nedir? Canl bahis adndan da anlaslacag gibi devam eden musabakaya bahis yapmaktr. Bu bahis musabaka devam ederken de yaplabilir olmasdr. Basta futbol olmak uzere voleybol, tenis, hentbol, basketbol, buz hokeyi ve masa tenisi gibi spor organizasyonlarna canl bahisler yaplabilmektedir. Canl bahis siteleri bu oyunlarn hepsine yuksek oranlara bahis yapmanza imkan tanr. En fazla tercih edilen futbol canl bahisleri diger alanlara gore daha fazla on plandadr. Siteden siteye degisen sartlar ve uygulama esaslar soz konusu olsa da kurallar sabittir. Canl bahisi populer klan ve heyecan katan en onemli ozellikle musabakann basladg ana dek bahis yapabilmedir. Canl bahis icerisinde yer alan secenekler kazanma sansnz da dogrudan arttrmaktadr. Ilk korneri kim kullanr, ilk tac, gol, sar kart, krmz kart gibi futbol musabakas icerisinde olabilecek hemen hemen her seye bahis yaplabilmektedir. Normal bahisegore de son derece yuksek oranda olmas avantajl yonlerini ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim dogru secenek ksa surede kazancl ckmanza etki edecektir. Strateji ve dogru analizle 90 dakika gibi bir surede anaparanzkatlayabilirsiniz. Tabi bunu basarabilmek icin mutlaka musabakaya dair ayrntlar iyi degerlendirmek gerekir. Soz konusu musabakann detaylarn inceleyip, cezal, sakat oyuncu veya performans dusen takm oyunu gibi detaylar bilmek canl bahiste kazanc belirleyen onemli unsurdur. Guvenilir Canl bahis hem heyecanl zaman gecirmeyi hem de musabakalar takip ederken para kazanmay saglamaktadr. Canl Bahis Nasl Oynanr? Bahislerinizi guvenilir sitelerden gerceklestirdiginiz zaman herhangi bir sekilde para cekme de sorun yasamazsnz. Guvenilir bahis siteleri tespit edip sonrasnda da uyelik islemlerini tamamlamanz gerekmektedir. Belirlenen uyelik sartlarn yerine getirip hesabnza da paray aktardktan sonra bahis islemlerini sorunsuz yapabilirsiniz. Peki, canl bahis nasl oynanr? Oncelikle bahis konusunda mutlaka dogru site arastrmas yapmalsnz. Yapacagnz arastrma neticesinde buldugunuz site uzerinden canl bahisislemlerini gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Bunun icin uye olup, hesaba para atp, canl bahis bolumune girmelisiniz. Sonrasnda dahil olmak istediginiz musabakann saatini ogrenip, gerekli analizleri yapmalsnz. Tahminlerinizi belirledikten sonra karsnza ckacak olan bahis sayfasndan istediginiz hamleyi yapmalsnz. Bahis tutarn belirledikten sonra musabaka baslayacaktr. Canl bahis diger normal bahis esaslarna gore farkllklar icermektedir. Bunlardan en onemlisi musabakann gidisatna gore islem yapabilir olmaktr.Ayrca musabakann 2. Yarsna gore hamle yapp ayr bir bahisin soz konusu olmas da ciddi avantajdr. Dogru hamle ile sizde istediginiz bahisi yapp kazanc elde edebilirsiniz. Nitekim canl olarak yapacagnz bahis icin mac oncesi raporlara gore hareket etmek onemlidir. Cunku takmlarn durumlarn analiz etmek tahmin gucunu arttracaktr. Misal tamnn en iyi oyuncusu sakat ya da kart cezals ise takmn performansnda dusus yasanacaktr. Buna ek olarak takmn deplasman performans ile evinde ki performans ayr olacaktr. Burada da takmn musabakay nerede yaptgna bakmak gerekir. Bu ayrntlar da iyice analiz ettikten sonra bahsinizi yapp kazanmann keyfini yasayabilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Son derece yuksek getiriye sahip bahis sektoru uzun zamandr faaliyet gostermektedir. Cok ciddi rakamlarn soz konusu oldugu bu sektor zamanla sanal ortamlara donusmustur. Elbette guvenli ve bir o kadar da avantajl olan bu siteler cok yonlu frsatlar sunmaktadrlar. Canl iddaa siteleri gerek yeni uyelere gerekse de hali hazrdaki uyelerine bolca bonus frsatlar vermektedir. Yatracagnz tutara gore belirlenen bonuslar site icerisinde rahat hareket etmenizi de saglayacaktr. Canl bahis sitelerini kullanmadan once mutlaka guvenli olup olmadgna goz atmalsnz. Zira baz kullanclar guvenli olmayan sitelerden yaptklar islemlerden dolay magdur olmaktadrlar. Nitekim guvenli ve sorunsuz hizmet sunan yurt ds site tercih etmek en dogru secenektir. Sektorde uzun yllar faaliyet gosteren siteleri tercih edebilirsiniz. Bu alanda yer alan yabanc siteler musteri memnuniyetine onem vermektedir. Oncelik site kullanclarn sorunsuz sekilde bahislerini yapabilir olmasn saglamaktr. Bahis sitelerinde amac hem daha fazla kullancya hizmet vermek hem de sektorde emin admlarla ilerlemek onceliklidir. Dogru site tercihi ile sizde canl bahislerinizi sorun yasamadan gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Sizler icin hazrlams oldugumuz canl bahis siteleri listesi su sekildedir; Mobilbahis Tempobet Bets10 Bahigo 1xbahis Betboo Youwin Superbahis Sralams oldugumuz bu siteler sektorde basarl islere imza atms sitelerdedir. Canl bahis konusunda beklentileri karslayacak olan bu siteler sizlere kolaylk sunmaktadrlar. Bol bonuslu secenekle de sizlere farkl bahis yonlerini sunacaklardr. Sistemsel etki icerisinde her zaman etkin sonuc alabilmek icin surekli olarak faaliyet icerisindedirler. Canl Bahis Taktikleri Bahis sektorunun en fazla dikkat edilmesi gereken hususu dogru taktik ve dogru tahmindir. Elbette dogru tahmini yapabilmek icin analizi cok iyi yapmak gerekir. Canl bahis taktikleri arasnda ilk sra analiz gelmektedir. Analiz yapamadgnz zaman basarl tahminlerde bulunmanz pek de mumkun degildir. Cunku bahiste onemli olan konu musabakann analizini cok iyi yaplmas gerektigidir. Canl bahisin ozelliklerini iyi bilmek ve nasl bir hamle yapacagnz bilmek gerekir. Ozellikle riskli maclarda yaplacak degerlendirmeler cok daha onemlidir. Canl bahis yapacaklarn takip edecegi degerler takmlarn durumlar ile alakal olmaldr. Performans uzerine kurulu bahis sisteminde takm degerlendirmesine iyi bakmak gerekir. Iki takmn son 5 macta nasl bir sonuc ortaya koyduguna bakarak hareket etmek onemlidir. Ayrca hangi takm evinde daha iyi performans sergiliyor diye de ayrca bakmak gerekir. Analizlerle alakal puan durumlarna da goz atmak cok onemlidir. Puan degerlendirmesinde oncelikle takmlarn ihtiyaclar ile dogru orantl hareket etmek gerekir. Cunku olusturulan performans takmn da durumunu ortaya koymaktadr. Nitekim istenilen sonucu elde edebilmek icin tum ayrntlar bilmek gerekir. Takm ici duzenden tutunda da takmn son durumuna kadar her ayrnt onemlidir. Iki takmn birbirleri arasnda ki sonuclar da incelemek gerekir. Burada dikkat edilecek detaylarn basnda maclarda kac gol oldugu ve gollerin hangi dakikalarda atldgdr. Cekismeli gecen musabakalarda bazen goller ilk yarda daha fazla olurken baz maclarda da ikinci yarda daha cok gol olmustur. Iki takm arasnda ki maclarda gollerin cogunlugu ilk yarda geliyorsa buna gore bahis yapabilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Bonuslar ve Kampanyalar Bahis yapanlar veya yapmay dusununler sitelerin sunmus olduklar frsatlar merak etmektedirler. Cunku siteler daha fazla kullancya erismek icin her donem kampanyalar duzenleyerek kullanc odakl hamleler yapmaktadrlar. Canl bahis bonuslar ve kampanyalar oldukca populer olup, siteler bu konuda adeta birbirleri ile yarsmaktadrlar. Birbirinden farkl ozelliklere sahip olan kampanyalar size frsatlar sunmaktadr. Daha cok kazanma ihtimalinizi arttran bu bonuslar daha cesur olmanza da dogrudan etki edecektir. Nitekim bonuslar sitelerin cekiciligini ve avantajlarn arttrmaktadr. En cok kazandran canl bahis siteleri bedava bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin http://www.milano2018.com/canli-bahis-siteleri-2022/ linkinden yardm alabilirsiniz. Hos geldin bonusu ile baslayan ve sonrasnda para yatrdkca bonus veren cok sayda site bulunmaktadr. Canl bahis bonusu veren siteler yeni uyelere sunduklar frsatlar farkl kampanyalarla mevcut uyelerine de sunmaktadrlar. Hali hazrda siteyi kullananlarn da bonus frsatlarndan yararlanmalar icin donemsel kampanyalar olusturmaktadrlar. Boylece baska sitelere gidisler olmayacag gibi site de daha keyifli zaman gecirmek mumkun klnmaktadr. Bu tur eklentiler yapan sitelerde musteri memnuniyeti daha fazladr. Bahis siteleri ozellik ve uygulama bakmndan farkllklar bunyelerinde bulundurmaktadrlar. Verilen bonuslarn olusturulmas ve kullanclar aktarlmasnda yatrlan para miktarlar belirleyici olmaktadr. 1.000 TL yatran bir kullanc yuzde 20 bonus frsat olan bir kampanyadan 200 TL bonus kazanabilmektedir. Yatracag tutar 10.000 TL oldugunda bu bonustutar 2.000 TL olabilmektedir. Gerceklesen ve uygulanan esaslar tamamen donemsel olarak yaplan kampanyalarla alakaldr. Iyi Canl bahis siteleri bonuslar ve kampanyalar icin sitelerin vermis oldugu oranlar takip edebilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Yatrma Online Canl bahis yapacaklarn merak ettigi konulardan bir digeri de para yatrma islemleridir. Oldukca onemli olan bu konuda hata yapmamak cok onemlidir. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemi sanlann aksine son derece basittir. Oldukca basit ve uygulama esas dogru etki olusturan bu yapda sizde islemi rahatca tamamlayabilirsiniz. Para yatrma konusunda su yolu izleyebilirsiniz. Guvendiginiz ve herhangi bir sekilde aklnzda soru isareti kalmayan bahis sitesine uye olmanz gerekmektedir. Uyelik islemini sorunsuz sekilde tamamladktan sonra para yatrma islemine gecebilirsiniz. Kullanacagnz siteye uye olduktan sonra karsnza kullanc ad ve sifresini gireceginiz yer gelecektir. Buraya giris yaptktan sonra site icerisine islemlere devam edebilirsiniz. Sitede yer alan para yatrma sekmesine tklayp sonrasnda karsnza gelen sayfay inceleyebilirsiniz. Para yatrma bolumunde yer alan ksma ne kadar para yatracagnz yazp devam tusuna basmalsnz. Yatrmak istediginiz tutar girip sonrasnda da devam tusuna bastktan sonra karsnza kart bilgilerinizi gireceginiz sayfa gelecektir. Kredi kart kullanarak para gondermek isteyenlerin tercih ettigi bu sayfa tum bilgiler girilip islem onaylanmaldr. Canl bahis sitelerine para yatrma islemini gerceklestirmek icin hesaba havale secenegini de kullanabilirsiniz. Site icerisinde musteri hizmetleri ile iletisime gecerek banka hesap numaralarn ogrenebilirsiniz. Belirtilen IBAN numarasna istediginiz tutar havale edebilirsiniz. Havale ederken acklama ksmna yazlacak bilgilere dikkat etmelisiniz. Kredi kart veya banka havalesi ile gerceklesen para yatrma islemi sonucunda site hesabnzdan bakiyenize bakabilirsiniz. Bakiyenize gore dilediginiz sekilde bahislerinizi gerceklestirebilirsiniz. Canl Bahis Siteleri Para Cekme Canl bahiste dogru hamleler ve dogru tahminler sonucunda kazandgnz bedeli geri almak isteyebilirsiniz. Kazanclarnz istediginiz banka hesabnza cekebilmek icin uymanz gereken kurallar soz konusudur. Oncelikle bahis sitelerinden para cekebilmeniz icin uye olurken dogru bilgi paylasmnda bulunmanz gerektigidir. Cunku canl bahis sitelerinden para cekme islemi icin kullanc hesab ile talep edilen banka hesap bilgilerinin ortusmesi gerekir. Yani uye olurken verilen bilgi ile banka hesab kime ait ise o bilgiler ayn olmaldr. Bu uygulama sitenin hem kullancsn hem de kendisini guvene alma politikasdr. Ayrca frsatclarn onune gecerek yeni bir uye olusumunun da onune gecmek amac gutmektedir. Uye olan kisi farkl para cekilme talebi verilen hesap farkl oldugunda para cekme islemi gerceklesmeyecektir. Bahisleriniz sonucunda kazanc elde edebilir ve bu kazancnz da hakknz olarak almak isteyebilirsiniz. Burada son derece basit uygulama soz konusu olurken siteler aras farkl gorunumler soz konusu olabilir. Fakat yine de tum sitelerde uyenin site icerisinde para cekme bolumune girmesi yeterlidir. Burada cekilecek olan tutarn belirlenmesi ve hesap numarasnn girilmesi ile birlikte islem onay gerekecektir. Para cekme taleplerinde sizden gerekli bilgiler istenmekte ve havale islemi istenilen bilgiler esliginde yurutulmektedir. Dogru bilgi paylasmak sorunsuz para cekebilmeniz en onemli kuraldr. Istenilen bilgiler girildikten sonra site sorumlular gerekli kontrolleri yapp herhangi bir sorun yoksa ksa surede hesabnza gerekli paray aktaracaklardr. Canl Bahis Sitelerinden Para Cekmek Icin Istenen Belgeler Bahis sitelerine uye olduktan sonra baz kullanclar para cekme taleplerinin karslanmadg konusunda sikayetlerde bulunmuslardr. Bu sikayetlersektorde uzun zamandr bulunan guvenilir bahis siteleri de yer almaktadr. Fakat sikayetlerin dayanaklarna bakldgnda ise islerin tamamen farkl oldugu gorulmektedir. Yasanan bu durum kullanclarn hatal bilgi girmesi ve uyelik bilgileri ile banka bilgilerinin uyusmamas ile dogru orantldr. Birde canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler eksik ya da hatal olarak sunulmus olabilir. Ortaya ckan karsklar neticesinde para cekme talebinde bulunan kisi istedigini alamadg icin sikayetci olmaktadr. Oysa ki istenilen bilgiler dogru ve istenilen evraklar eksiksiz sunulsa para cekme islemi sorunsuz olacak. Sitelerin para cekme konusunda dikkatli hareket etmesi hilelerin ve illegal faaliyetlerin onune gecmek adnadr. Cunku baz kullanclar farkl bilgiler vererek ikinci hesap acabilmektedirler. Bazen de bilincsizce hatal bilgi girilebilmektedir. Hatal islemlerin cozumu konusunda islem yaptgnz sitenin musteri temsilcileri ile gorusebilirsiniz. Talepleriniz dogrultusunda para cekme islemlerinde ki sorunlar giderilecektir. Canl bahis para cekmek icin istenen belgeler listesi su sekildedir; Kullanc bilgileri ile banka bilgilerini karslastrmak icin kimlik fotokopisi Banka hesap bilgileri Ikametgah ve kisiye ait herhangi bir fatura. Kacak Iddaa Turkiyede dogrudan bahis yapmak icin resmi kanallar kullanlabilmektedir. Fakat tercih edilen ve oran olarak cok daha fazla frsatlar sunan kacar iddaasiteleri bulunmaktadr. Bu siteler kanunlara aykr sekilde yaplmakta olup, yasal bir dayanag yoktur. Elbette bu sitelerin kurulus merkezi Turkiye olmayp, ds ulkelerdedir ve faaliyetler belirlenen siteler uzerinden yaplmaktadr. Kacak Iddaa oldukca riskli olup, cok dikkatli olunmas gerekir. Kacak Bahis Kanunlar cercevesinde istediginiz gibi bahis yapamayabilirsiniz. Bahis yapabilmek icin ya kanuni olarak sorun olmayan ulke dsnda ki kumarhanelere gitmeniz veya kacak bahis sitelerinden islem yapabilirsiniz. Zira bu durum tehlikeli olsa da cok sayda site guvenli sekilde bu alanda hizmet vermektedir. Kacak bahiste oldukca fazla secenek bulunurken yuksek oranda kazanc sunuyor olmas da ragbeti arttryor. Illegal Bahis Bahisin bircok alanda yasak oldugu Turkiyede bu alanda cok sayda yabanc merkezli siteler hizmet vermektedir. Illegal bahis sektorunde faaliyet gosteren siteler guvenli hizmet anlays ile kullanclarna frsatlar sunmaktadr. Yurt ds merkezli bu siteler sorunsuz sekilde hizmetlerini surdururken bulunduklar ulkelerde kanunlara uygun sekildedir. Elbette faaliyet noktasnda bulunduklar ulkelerde sorun teskil etmese de Turkiyede faaliyet gostermeleri kanunin yasaklanmstr. Yasads Bahis Gerek olusturulan etkenler gerekse de ortaya konulan riskler yasads bahis de oldukca tehlikelidir. Kanunlarn mudahil olduklar bu alanlar da hem kullanclar hem de populer bahis yaptranlar tum riskleri goze almaktadrlar. Fakat yasaklardan uzak sekilde guvenli hizmet sunan siteler de bulunmaktadr. Takipler neticesinde kapatlan sitelerin muhakkak alternatifleri kurularak yollarna devam etmektedirler. Canl Iddaa Siteleri Nelerdir? Dunya genelinde kabul gormus cok sayda guvenli hizmet veren populer bahis siteleri bulunmaktadr. Elbette bu siteler dunyann bircok ulkesinde faaliyet gosterse de Turkiyede yasaktr. Sektorde yer alan cok sayda legal iddaa siteleri bulunmaktadr. Herhangi bir kanunsuzlugun olmadg bu sitelerden hzl ve guvenli islem yaplabilmektedir. Tabi bu sitelerde uygulanan oranlar yasal olmayan sitelere gore daha dusuktur. Illegal sitelerin tercih edilme sebeplerinin en onemli etkeni de olusturulan oranlardr. Peki, Iddaa siteleri nelerdir? Faaliyetleri ve uygulama esaslar nelerdir? Turkiyede faaliyet gosteren yasal iddaa siteleri listesi su sekildedir; Iddaa Bilyoner Tuttur Birebin Oley Nesine Misli Iddaa 2004 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslayan Iddaa Spor toto tarafndan kurulmus olup, ilk etapta bayilik seklinde calsmaya baslamstr. Elbette zamanla gelisen teknolojiye ayak uydurarak internet uzerinde de populer bahis severlerin hizmetine sunulmustur. Kuruldugu donemde devletin resmi kurumu olarak faaliyet gosterirken gelinen yeni donemde ozellestirilmistir. Bilyoner Turkiyede faaliyetine 2006 ylnda baslayan Bilyoner ilk ozel yasal bahis sitesi olma ozelligine sahiptir. Guvenilir bahis siteleri Turkiyede bunlardr. Ksa surede populer olan site halen faaliyetlerini sorunsuz sekilde surdurmektedir. Tuttur Ksa surede adndan bahsettirmeyi basaran Tuttur 2009 ylnda faaliyetlere baslamstr. Guvenilir bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almstr. Gunumuze dek bircok alanda populer bahis yapanlara frsatlar sunarken avantajlar ile de begeni toplamstr. Birebin Kullanc odakl calsmalar surdurse de 2011 ylnda sektore giren Birebindiger sitelere gore daha az ragbet gormektedir. Bahis oynamak ise bu sitede oldukca kolaydr. Elbette farkl yaklasmlara sahip olmasndan dolay ilerleyen sureclerde adndan sklkla bahsettirecek gibi gorunuyor. Oley 2009 ylnda Dogus yayn gruplarnn istiraki olarak kurulmus olup yasal olarak herhangi bir sorunu olmayan sitelerdendir. Bahis siteleri arasnda hzl cks yapms bir sitedir. Oley yapms oldugu yenilikler ile kullanclarn da dikkatini ksa surede cekmeyi basarmstr. Nesine Birbirini takip eden surecte Nesine de yine 2006 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslamstr. Yasal bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almay basaran firma ksa surede sevilen ve ragbet goren bir site olmustur. Misli 2009 ylnda sektore cok hzl giris yapan Misli cok sayda reklam filmi ile on plana ckmay basarmstr. Internet uzerinden hem yasal hem de sorunsuz hizmet veren bahis sitelerinden bir tanesi olmustur. Canl Bahis Siteleri Kayt ve Uyelik Islemleri Her zaman populerligini koruyan ve surekli gelisim gosteren canl bahis gun gectikce daha da gucleniyor. Bahis oynamak icin ise sitelere uye olunmas gerekir. Yuksek getirisi ve begeni toplayan faaliyetleri ile cok sayda site bu alanda faaliyet gostermektedir. Elbette sorunsuz sekilde uye olmanz ve faaliyetler gostermeniz de oldukca kolaydr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri dakikalar icerisinde gerceklestirilecek yapya sahiptir. Uye olacagnz siteyi belirledikten sonra siteye girmeniz gerekmektedir. Girdiginiz sitenin ana sayfasnda uye ol ya da kayt ol bolumu bulunacaktr. Siteler arasnda degiskenlik gosteren bu alanda temel unsurlar bulunmaktadr. Elbette farkllklar olsa da temelinde benzer bilgiler uye olmak isteyen kisilerden talep edilmektedir. Uye ol bolumune tkladktan sonra karsnza uyelik bilgi formu ckacaktr. Bu formda sizin kim oldugunuzu ogrenmek ve sitenin guvenligini saglamak adna islemler yaplmaktadr. Uyelik formunda yer alan ad soyad bolumunu eksiksiz ve dogru sekilde doldurmalsnz. Sizden bu formda istenen bilgilerin tamamn girmeniz istenecektir. Istenen bilgiler mutlaka dogru ve eksiksiz sekilde olmaldr. Eksik veya hatal bilgi uyelik islemlerinde sorun teskil edebilir. Yine de yanls bilgi girisine ragmen uyelik islemleri tamamlanabilir. Fakat boyle bir yol izleyenler sonrasnda buyuk skntlarla karslasabilirler. Bu skntlarn basnda da para cekme islemlerinde yasanan sorunlardr. Uyelik islemleri dikkatli ve ozenle doldurulmas gereken yapdadr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri gerceklestirilirken verilen bilgiler site yonetimi tarafndan muhafaza edilmektedir. Herhangi bir sekilde 3. Sahslarla paylaslmas gibi bir durum soz konusu degildir. Bu faaliyetleri surduren sitelerin guven unsurlar arasnda bu nokta onceliklidir. Bahis sitelerine uye olurken hatal bilgi paylasmnda bulunmak size faydadan cok zarar verecektir. Diyelim ki bilgileri hatal girdiniz ve uyelik onayland. Uyelik tamamlandktan sonra siteye para yatrdnz ve kazanc elde ettiniz. Kazancnz sonrasnda hesabnza almak istediginizde karsnza banka bilgileri bolumu gelecektir. Para cekme talebi gerceklestikten sonra site uyelik bilgileri ile banka hesap bilgileri ortusmez ise paranz alamazsnz. Boyle bir durumla karslasmamak adna bu hususa ayrca dikkat etmelisiniz. May 11, 2016 | By Tess Many 3D printing companies have recognized the importance of introducing students to additive manufacturing technologies at a young age, as the technology, which itself could be the future of manufacturing, is an engaging and fun way of promoting STEM education to youngsters. Wisconsin based tool and 3D printer manufacturer Dremel has been at the fore of this STEM promotion through its development of a series of kid-friendly products. In February, for instance, Dremel introduced its innovative Dremel Dreams program, geared towards integrating 3D printing technologies into classrooms through a series of educational modules, and in March it unveiled the Dremel Idea Builder 3D40 3D printer, the second generation of its classroom friendly 3D printer. Now, in an effort to further integrate 3D printing technologies into the classroom for children, the manufacturing company has released its newest product, the Dremel 3D mobile app. The app, which is compatible with the Dremel Idea Builder 3D40, was designed to help expand access to 3D printing for students by giving them a user-friendly and mobile platform for 3D modeling and printing. The Dremel 3D app, which is available for free on both iOS and Android devices, essentially provides constant remote access to its corresponding Dremel Idea Builder 3D40. Through it, students and teachers can easily access a digital library of 3D models ready to print, as well as monitor printing queues and printing statuses. Additionally, the app allows users to select Dremels own 3D model gallery, which the app can then optimize for printing using cloud processing servers. The app was also designed to give alerts and updates on prints that may be in progress to ensure an optimal printing process. George Velez, the manager of Dremel 3D Education says of the app, By adding a new level of connectivity for students and makers, this first-of-its-kind app broadens the horizons of 3D printing in the classroom. We want educators and students to have multiple access points to 3D printing as classroom technology continues to evolve. The 3D printing app is the latest addition to the Dremel Dreams 3D printing ecosystem, which has as its aim the seamless integration of 3D printing technologies into the classroom. As mentioned, this includes not only a kid friendly printer, but also easy-to-follow lesson plans, and straightforward models. In addition to the release of the Dremel 3D app, the company will also be launching an ambassador program to further connect educators, students and makers to 3D printing technology in classrooms. The program will launch later this month, will give selected ambassadors a free Dremel Idea Builder as well as 10 spools of free filament for their school. Posted in 3D Software Maybe you also like: May 11, 2016 | By Alec The J750 3D printer, Stratasys' new flagship model. Due to geographical realities, many major 3D printing companies from Europe and the US have found it difficult to establish themselves in the Australian 3D printing market without help from local partners. Its why 3D Systems set up a 3D printer distribution partnership with Konica Minolta. But Stratasys is also eying the Aussie market, and has just announced a partnership with Fuji Xerox Australia that is intended to increase the availability of their 3D printing solutions in Australia. In particular, Stratasys is looking to increase the adoption rates of their top-level 3D printing solutions in Australian automotive, education, medical, manufacturing and other industrial sectors the markets in which they built their reputation. The company currently has two headquarters, one in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and another in Rehovot, Israel. Fuji Xerox Australia might be a perfect partner to realize these efforts. The company is a well-known IT solutions developer who provides services to numerous Australian businesses. Fuji Xerox is also known for its excellent communication services and commitment to sustainability, and therefore has the name brand that Stratasys also looks for. Working with a wide range of clients and providing management products, printing systems and security services, they could be the perfect driver for local adoption of Stratasys 3D printing. Ido Eylon, the Sales Vice President of Stratasys AP, was delighted with the partnership. We are very excited about the partnership with Fuji Xerox Australia. The partnership marks an important milestone in extending our reach in Australia, assisting customers to accelerate their go-to-market strategies through streamlined product development cycle and customized production parts, he said. With Fuji Xerox Australia's rich experience and understanding of local needs, we look forward to bringing the latest 3D printing solutions to organizations that are in need of efficient rapid prototyping and cost-effective manufacturing solutions for optimized operations and business performance. Understandably, Fuji Xerox Australia was also very happy to sign a deal with one of the most important 3D printing companies in the world. Partnering with an industry leader like Stratasys allows us to offer the latest 3D printing technologies; thus fulfilling our commitment to bringing the latest technologies to local customers, said Jennifer Baile, the National Business Manager, 3D Sales & Operations at Fuji Xerox Australia. We are delighted to introduce Stratasys 3D printing solutions to our client base and network, enabling them to streamline their product development cycle, thus optimizing rapid prototyping and manufacturing efficiency. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: Ben Miller in Literary Hub: One Thursday night in 1980that interminable presidential election year now melted into the slippery coin of Reagans Shangri-La momenta Clinton, Iowa, public school teacher drove 41 miles south to the larger river city of Davenport to attend a meeting of Writers Studio, the local club for aspiring (and expiring) literary practitioners. He knew nobody seated at the folding table that spanned the jump-ball circle in the rented gym of a defunct Catholic school. Technically he was not late: we regular attendees were criminally early. I, spinsterish 16-year-old male in a Hawaiian shirt, quivered along with my peer group of genuine elders. The stranger wore a V-neck sweater, slacks and loafers, a meditative gaze and thin laconic grin. It always startled us to be found. Most first-timers suffered under the weight of an aesthetic. Either they had been evicted from another groupWordsmiths, Pen Womenor swept out of the bungalow of a fed-up aunt. To us these exiles lugged their trilogy concepts, claims to inborn talent, their influences. Rimbaud! Fletcher Knebel! They careened toward a too-little place at the pad-strewn table, exchanging glances with the uncurling tentacles of our trepidation. Not this one. This writer specimen paused a respectful distance from our tight circle. Upright, no apparent literary leanings, he stated: Im Beenk. Blink!? yelped cigarette-flicking Blanche Redman, hard of hearing. Gene B-E-E-N-K. I saw the meeting notice in the paper. More here. [Thanks to J. M. Tyree.] Mehr Khan Williams in Youlin Magazine: The vibrancy, color and cultural diversity of Lahore came to New York for two days over this Spring weekend at the Asia Society, the premier American institution which promotes a deeper cultural understanding and partnership between the United States and Asia. In a burst of dance, music, literary and policy discussions, the Lahore Literary Festival event in New York sought to showcase an image of Pakistan as a complex society with pluralistic values and an ancient and rich literary and intellectual tradition. A tradition that is alive and thriving in Pakistan today. An image which reflects the very real aspirations and lives of Pakistanis but one which is seldom reflected in news coverage in the United States, where Pakistan is often associated with terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism. Amidst all of the stimulating discussions and the joy of listening to great poetry and stirring music, both modern and devotional, there was also a moment of silence to honor the Pakistani human rights activist Khurram Zaki who was killed in Karachi on Sunday, when four men on two motorbikes sprayed Zaki with bullets as he was lunching with a friend at a road side cafe. The festival opened with a dance performance by Ammr Vandal against a backdrop of street life on a screen and followed by innovative songs by Zeb Bangash, and her creative band from Brooklyn. The music was Pakistani rendered in many languages and the band played on diverse instruments including the harpsichord. It concluded with the Qav'vali performance by the Saami brothers. Before the start of the sessions on Day 2, Azra Raza accepted the Lifetime Achievement award on behalf of Sara Suleri who could not travel to the conference. One of the most interesting sessions was on Urdu Literature Binding South Asia with Tahira Naqvi, who spoke of the ground-breaking work of Ismat Chughtai, Frances Pritchett who spoke of Ghalib and his poetry and Arfa Sayeda Zehra who spoke in Urdu and reminded the audience of the relevance today of the work of Saadat Hasan Manto. The session was moderated by Dr. Azra Raza, who urged the audience to re-acquaint themselves with some of the best literature in the world produced in Urdu and now also available in English. In this session, Arfa Sayeda Zehras contribution received a standing ovation. More here. Andrew Dickson at Literary Hub: The saga began several years earlier, in 1845, when the volatile Philadelphia-born star Edwin Forrestthe American in questionwas on tour to the UK. Stung by a poor reviews in London (the Spectator yawned that his Othello was affected and said his killing of Desdemona was a cold-blooded butchery), Forrest became paranoid that his great rival, the eminent English actor William Charles Macready, was orchestrating a campaign against him. The following March, Forrest bought a ticket for MacreadysHamlet in Edinburgh; just as the play-within-the-play scene began, Forrest hissed, loudly and publicly. The affair became a scandal, particularly when Forrest sent a letter to the London Times pouring scorn on Macreadys fancy dance of a Dane. Back in the US, Forrestnarcissistic even by the standards of most actorsexulted that he had struck a blow against anti-American prejudice. Macready, an altogether quieter and more uptight character, was shocked, but had little sense how things would escalate. On his own return tour to the US in the fall of 1848, he was astonished to discover that many American reviewerswho had praised him to the rafters on previous visitshad mysteriously turned against him. When he reached Forrests hometown of Philadelphia, he was dismayed to find that his enemy had arranged to perform many of the same dates in direct opposition. One night, MacreadysMacbeth was interrupted when the audience began fighting amongst itself. As the curtain came down, Macready protested, only to find when he opened the paper the next day that Forrest had printed a furious take-down of his narrow, envious rival. The dispute simmered: in Cincinnati a few months later, half a sheep was thrown at Macreadys feet. more here. In the Republican primary, businessman Donald Trump won 77 percent of the West Virginia vote. He is the only remaining GOP contender who is actively competing for the nomination. The exit poll results showed that he fared best among voters 45 to 64, with 83 percent. He got 69 percent among voters 65 and older, 78 percent from those 30 to 44, and 63 percent from voters younger than 30. Trump also swept the Republican primary in Nebraska with 61 percent of the unofficial vote. The Democratic presidential primary was not reported because its results were nonbinding, according to the Associated Press. Sanders won the states caucus vote in March. There were no exit polls in Nebraska. Next: On May 17, both parties will hold primaries in Idaho, Kentucky and Oregon. No additional exit polls are planned Courtesy Cinder Cone Media This weekend, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Albuquerques Cinder Cone Media is hosting Art Groove: Free Your Mind and Shine, an art and music fundraiser unlike any other. The funds from the event will go to three mental health nonprofitsNational Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Compassionate Touch Network (CTN), and the New Mexico Chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP)and will further their missions to provide crucial mental health services to those who need it most. Headlining the musical portion of Art Groove is James Whiton, one of the most talented bassists in contemporary rock music. Whiton, a Burque native who recently returned to live and work in the Duke City, has played with Tom Waits, Keith Richards and a host of other big names. Hell be performing a solo looping set as well as playing with a trio he formed especially for the occasion. Whitons trio includes Muni Kula and Greg Williams, both from Burque band Le Chat Lunatique. Whiton does a version of Billie Jean that will blow your mind, says Howard Wulkan of Cinder Cone Media. Also performing is Rock N Art Fusion, a team comprised of speed painter Michael Ostaski and composer/musician Howard Wulkan. RNAF is a performance best seen live to properly appreciateWulkan plays a live original score while Ostaski paints a 6 x 7 picture in about 7 minutes flat. The painting will then be immediately auctioned, with funds going to the organizations mentioned above. Courtesy Cinder Cone Media Several other local musicians from the Cinder Cone Media roster will be performing, including breakthrough artists Ryan Wenze (whos just released his debut EP, Embers), and CAID, a hip-hop artist who focuses on the positive and making it through hard times. On the visual art side of the spectrum, Art Groove will be auctioning many artworks by local and national artists, including an incredible piece by Rassouli, UNM graduate and internationally acclaimed fusion artist. If you fancy yourself an art collector, Art Groove is certainly the place to be this weekend. When asked about her reasons for organizing Art Groove, Cinder Cone Medias Lainie Wulkan opened up to me about the ways suicide has impacted her: I lost my previous partner to suicide. During my healing process, I learned that May was Mental Health Awareness Month, and I decided to make something happen. And make something happen she did. As Cinder Cone Media, Lainie and her husband Howard organized Art Groove as a benefit event for mental health and suicide prevention nonprofits and then watched as dozens of other sponsors flocked to the cause. Its showing me how important this [issue] is, the fact that so many people are pitching in, said Lainie. We got so much art [to auction], too! People sent art in from all over the country. I was really amazed. Suicide and mental health issues have always been widespread and serious, but only recently has national media begun to give them the attention they are due. After the death of Robin Williams in 2014, editorials about his long-hidden struggle with depression spilled across the internet, proving that the time for that dialogue is now. In New Mexico alone, one person dies from suicide every 19.5 hours on average, based on 2014 data from the Center for Disease Control. Courtesy Cinder Cone Media When she spoke about mental health and suicide prevention at an Albuquerque school recently, Wulkan asked the assembled students if any of them had been affected by suicide. Every single one of them raised their hands, she said. I was floored. The lack of mental health resources nationallyand in New Mexico in particularis a dire problem for those who find themselves or their loved ones without the help they need. The funds raised by Art Groove will go toward three of the nonprofits doing the most locally to provide some of those highly necessary services in Albuquerque. Compassionate Touch Network, a Santa Fe-based organization, is committed to promoting community mental health and social advocacy through education, healing, and the arts. They seek to end the stigma around mental illness and suicide by sharing stories through the written word and visual arts. The National Alliance on Mental Illness is a volunteer association of hundreds of local affiliates and state organizations, all working together to provide support and education about mental illness, advocate for the rights of the mentally ill, and provide assistance with a toll-free number that offers referrals, information and a friendly ear. The New Mexico chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, based in Albuquerque, conducts research and public education about the causes and ways to help prevent suicide, and advocates for policies that provide funding for mental health programs and suicide prevention training for schools and clinics. There will be a memorial at the event for those lost to suicide or mental illness. Feel free to bring a photo or memento to add to the altar. The Friday event is headed towards being one of the biggest held at Tortuga, relates gallery curator Pax Garcia and one can also buy tickets to the Art Groove After Party on Sunday, also at Tortuga Gallery from 1-4pm. Many of the same artists will be performing their sets on Sunday, with the addition of a hip-hop showcase by several UNM students. As serious as the matters at hand are, Lainie wants Art Groove to be a celebrationa recognition that being in the midst of dark times doesnt mean that you cant go out and have fun. After all, people struggling with depression and mental illness could use a little levity and community as much as, if not more than, the rest of us. We all go through rough patches, and its important not to ignore that. We need to come together and support each other during those times, says Lainie. Word. It all goes down this Friday evening, 5-9pm, and Sunday, 1-4pm at Tortuga Gallery (901 Edith SE). You can buy tickets at artgroovenm.com or by contacting Tortuga Gallery at 505-506-0820. If you cant make it out this weekend, consider donating to one (or all!) of the nonprofits on their own websites. Not guilty pleas entered by Watertown woman facing 13 fraud charges A Watertown woman is facing multiple federal charges of wire fraud in connection to checks she allegedly wrote to herself as local bookkeeper. Petsec Energy Announces Award of Main Pass Block 274 Sydney, May 11, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Petsec Energy Ltd ( ASX:PSA ) is pleased to advise that the Main Pass Block 274 lease has been awarded to Castex Offshore, Inc. ("Castex"), the operator of the Hummer Project. The block falls within an Area of Mutual Interest (AMI) for the Hummer Project participants, and as a result the Company has the right to participate for its 12.5% working interest ("W.I.") in the lease. Main Pass Block 274 was previously leased by Petsec in March 2010 as part of the Hummer Exploration Prospect, which was identified on 3D seismic as extending across portions of Main Pass Blocks 270, 273 and 274. The Main Pass Block 270 #3 Hummer discovery well (Petsec 12.5% W.I.) was drilled in late 2015 and is currently under development with the construction of a production jacket. Petsec and the other Hummer participants have maintained leases on Main Pass Blocks 270 and 273 as a result of the drilling, however the five year lease term on Block 274 expired in mid-year 2015 prior to drilling and logging of the discovery well. Main Pass Block 274 was subsequently re-offered by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in the Central Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 241 held on 23rd March 2016. Castex was the high bidder with a gross bid of US$675,576. The Company's net share is US$84,447. There was one other competitive bid on the block and, after review by the BOEM, our bid was accepted on 5th May 2016. Details of the lease are as follows: Petsec Energy Inc. W.I. - 12.5% Other Private Companies W.I. - 87.5% Successful High Bid (gross) - US$675,576 Petsec Net Share - US$84,447 Operator - Castex Offshore, Inc. About Petsec Energy Ltd Petsec Energy Ltd (ASX:PSA) (OTCMKTS:PSJEY) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. It has operations in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico and state waters of the Louisiana Gulf Coast region of the USA, and exploration activities in the Gulf Coast onshore and bay areas of Texas and Louisiana, USA and Yemen. Distribution of company announcements to the professional platforms, finance portals and syndication of important corporate news to a wide variety of news aggregators and financial news systems. NAME: Christine Trujillo POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic OCCUPATION: Retired Educator and Union Leader RESIDENCE: Albuquerque RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Served two two-year terms for House District 25. Have other extensive experience in community advocacy and leadership. EDUCATION: BA in education, New Mexico Highlands University; MA in education, University of New Mexico CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: www.christinetrujillo.com Candidate questions 1. If the states revenue downturn persists, would you favor trimming state spending or increasing taxes as a primary response? Please specify which cost-cutting or revenue-generating measures you would prefer. 2. Do you support or oppose raising New Mexicos minimum wage, currently $7.50 per hour? If so, by how much? 3. Do you support or oppose the current policy of including student achievement as part of teacher evaluations? If you support the policy, what percentage of the evaluation should achievement account for. 4. Do you support or oppose legalizing recreational marijuana use in New Mexico? 5. Current state law requires early-grade reading intervention. Coupled with that, do you support or oppose legislation that would automatically require some third-graders without adequate reading skills to repeat the grade level? 6. To provide more money for early childhood programs, do you support or oppose taking more money out of the states largest permanent fund on an annual basis? If you are in support, what sort of accountability measures would you favor? 7. Would you support or oppose the creation of a state ethics commission that publicly releases complaints and holds open hearings? 8. Do you support or oppose making New Mexico a so-called right-to-work state, by changing state labor laws so that nonunion employees would not have to pay union fees as a condition of employment? 9. Do you support or oppose banning abortions after 20 weeks in New Mexico? 10. Do you support or oppose a law banning coyote-killing contests? Do you support or oppose banning trapping and poisons on public lands? 11. Do you support or oppose updating the current prohibition in the law on assisted suicide in order to allow aid-in-dying under certain medical circumstances? 12. Do you support or oppose a change that would earmark the states existing vehicle excise and gasoline tax revenue for state road projects? 13. Do you support or oppose allowing retired law enforcement officers to return to work while still collecting pension benefits to shore up department staffing, if the program protects the solvency of the retirement fund? 14. Do you support or oppose opening the states primary elections to voters who arent affiliated with either major political party? 15. Do you support or oppose expanding the states three-strikes law for repeat violent offenders? 16. Do you support or oppose enacting a cooling-off period before former lawmakers could lobby the Legislature? 17. Do you support or oppose passing a law that would allow local governments to impose curfews on minors under the age of 16? 18. Do you support or oppose archiving webcasts of all legislative meetings for public access? 19. Do you support or oppose establishing a salary for legislators? 20. Should public employees, including teachers, be prohibited by law from serving in the Legislature? Please explain. Personal background 1. If the states revenue downturn persists, would you favor trimming state spending or increasing taxes as a primary response? Please specify which cost-cutting or revenue-generating measures you would prefer.2. Do you support or oppose raising New Mexicos minimum wage, currently $7.50 per hour? If so, by how much?3. Do you support or oppose the current policy of including student achievement as part of teacher evaluations? If you support the policy, what percentage of the evaluation should achievement account for.4. Do you support or oppose legalizing recreational marijuana use in New Mexico?5. Current state law requires early-grade reading intervention. Coupled with that, do you support or oppose legislation that would automatically require some third-graders without adequate reading skills to repeat the grade level?6. To provide more money for early childhood programs, do you support or oppose taking more money out of the states largest permanent fund on an annual basis? If you are in support, what sort of accountability measures would you favor?7. Would you support or oppose the creation of a state ethics commission that publicly releases complaints and holds open hearings?8. Do you support or oppose making New Mexico a so-called right-to-work state, by changing state labor laws so that nonunion employees would not have to pay union fees as a condition of employment?9. Do you support or oppose banning abortions after 20 weeks in New Mexico?10. Do you support or oppose a law banning coyote-killing contests? Do you support or oppose banning trapping and poisons on public lands?11. Do you support or oppose updating the current prohibition in the law on assisted suicide in order to allow aid-in-dying under certain medical circumstances?12. Do you support or oppose a change that would earmark the states existing vehicle excise and gasoline tax revenue for state road projects?13. Do you support or oppose allowing retired law enforcement officers to return to work while still collecting pension benefits to shore up department staffing, if the program protects the solvency of the retirement fund?14. Do you support or oppose opening the states primary elections to voters who arent affiliated with either major political party?15. Do you support or oppose expanding the states three-strikes law for repeat violent offenders?16. Do you support or oppose enacting a cooling-off period before former lawmakers could lobby the Legislature?17. Do you support or oppose passing a law that would allow local governments to impose curfews on minors under the age of 16?18. Do you support or oppose archiving webcasts of all legislative meetings for public access?19. Do you support or oppose establishing a salary for legislators?20. Should public employees, including teachers, be prohibited by law from serving in the Legislature? Please explain. 1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens? 2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding? 3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain. 1. We need to do both. Our government has a responsibility to be efficient and effective when spending state revenues and to adequately fund our schools and social programs. We need to close corporate tax loopholes. We can raise $50 million of new revenue by repealing the capital gains tax exemption. 2. I support raising the minimum wage to eventually reach $15 an hour, which is a living wage that will allow them to afford the basic necessities to support and raise their families. 3. I support evaluations that are valid, relevant, and approved by our teachers and communities. PARCC (currently implemented in NM against the will of most educators) is not a proven method for evaluation of our students, educators, and schools. I encourage readers to research Diane Ravitchs writings on this topic. 4. I support legalizing recreational marijuana. As seen in Colorado, legalizing marijuana can raise state tax revenues to help us fund our government and schools. There is no proof that using marijuana has any negative health effects much less any as harmful as cigarettes and alcohol are to the human body. 5. I strongly oppose third grade retention legislation. Research shows that retention is not an effective educational policy. Current law allows for the retention of struggling students with concurrence from parents. The proposed law would exclude parents and educators from having a voice in such an important decision. 6. I support using a portion of our permanent fund for early childhood education because I believe giving our children an excellent education from an early age will realize the greatest returns for our state. To learn about this issue and a thorough explanation of my position, visit this URL. 7. I support a state ethics commission. I believe all of our public officials should be held to the highest ethical standards and I believe a transparent state ethics commission would be a strong step in the right direction for ethics in New Mexico politics. 8. I am a worker rights advocate and I support collective bargaining. I believe that the U.S. Supreme Court rendered the correct decision in the case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, reaffirming that both public employees and public employers have a compelling interest in having strong and effective collective bargaining. 9. I oppose banning abortions after 20 weeks. Politicians are not medical experts and should not be making decisions that only women and their families should have the right to make. 10. I support a ban on coyote-killing contests. I support the banning of trapping and poisoning on public lands. 11. I believe that a family and their doctor should be the people to make that decision. 12. I support earmarking the states existing vehicle excise and gasoline tax revenue for state road projects and improvements. 13. I do not support allowing retired law enforcement officers to return to work while still collecting pension benefits. 14. I do not support opening the States primary elections. 15. The current law is sufficient if its actually implemented. We need to adequately fund our law enforcement officers to enforce the laws already in place and not pass redundant laws just for political gain. 16. I support a cooling-off period for lawmakers before they become lobbyists. 17. I do not support a curfew. 18. I support archiving webcasts of all legislative meetings for public access. I believe we should be completely transparent in the process of making legislation. 19. I believe that our volunteer legislator model is outdated and it currently limits who can serve to only those who have the professional and financial flexibility to attend our annual session and year-round committee meetings. 20. All law abiding citizens have a right to serve if the electorate deems it so. Personal background 1. No 2. No 3. No FORT WORTH, Texas Texas attorney general says Fort Worth schools may be violating state education law with new restroom guidelines for transgender students. Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday became the latest high-ranking Republican to condemn Texas sixth-largest school district. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for the resignation of Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner, who says hes staying put. Scribner announced rules last month allowing transgender students access to single-stall restrooms. Alternatively, theyll be allowed to use restrooms when other students arent around. Scribner didnt go through the school board, which Paxton suggests violates state law. He also questions whether the district can withhold information from parents about a transgender student. The pushback from Texas Republicans comes as the U.S. Justice Department sues over a North Carolina law restricting transgender bathroom access. Copyright 2016 Albuquerque Journal About a half dozen people at firms connected to the Santolina Master Plan have poured $25,000 into a political action committee supporting County Commission candidate Steven Michael Quezada. The committee calls itself New Mexicans for New Mexico, though about 20 percent of its money has come from Jeffrey Garrett of Phoenix. Garrett is president of the development company serving as asset manager for the Santolina project. Hes donated about $5,000 to the PAC supporting Quezada and $1,000 to another candidate in the race, Robert Chavez. The third candidate in the Democratic race for District 2, Adrian Pedroza, has been the most outspoken against Santolina, but neither Chavez nor Quezada has said he supports the plan for the massive development on the West Side. Besides Garrett, the other contributors to the PAC supporting Quezada also have ties to Santolina, either through their employer or personal involvement. Responding to a Journal request for comment, Tom Garrity, a spokesman for the Santolina Master Plan team, said the contributors know that Steven Michael Quezada and Robert Chavez are both qualified candidates and lifelong residents of the district. Each is familiar with the need for high-paying jobs in the district, Garrity said. The Santolina Master Plan a framework for growth on a large chunk of the West Mesa won approval on a 3-2 vote last year of the County Commission. But a key supporter, Art De La Cruz, is stepping down at the end of this year because of term limits. Quezada, Pedroza and Chavez are all campaigning to win the Democratic nomination to succeed him. Democrats are heavily favored in the district, based in the South Valley and Southwest Mesa. The Santolina development still is seeking county approval for land-use plans for the area and a proposal to divert a share of the future tax revenue generated there to reimburse the developer for building roads and other infrastructure. Its unclear whether the PAC will also campaign for Chavez. The treasurer for the PAC said she couldnt immediately answer questions Tuesday. Meanwhile, Pedroza blasted his rivals, describing himself as the only candidate running for Bernalillo County District 2 who has not taken money from this developer. Heres why Im not their candidate, Pedroza said, and never will be: I believe we need to take care of and invest in the people and places we value in communities we live in today. Quezada, for his part, said he didnt ask for Santolinas support. In fact, he said, he returned a donation from Garrett because Santolina is not my thing. Im not taking money to support it. Quezada pointed out that he voted against Santolina as a member of the Albuquerque school board. He has left open the possibility that he might support Santolina in some form if hes on the commission when a future vote comes up. I dont want to live next to another Pajarito Mesa, he said, a reference to a West Side community that lacks public roads and basic infrastructure. Chavez has said he would approach Santolina from a quasi-judicial perspective, meaning hed simply consider the evidence in front of him the way a judge would. New Mexicans for New Mexico paid for a billboard erected on Broadway, near Gibson, urging people to vote for Breaking Bads good guy, with a picture of Quezada and his name. Quezada, an actor and comedian, played Gomie, a drug enforcement agent, on the television show. Quezada said Tuesday that he was upset to see the billboard because hes made a point of campaigning on his commitment to public service, not his role in Breaking Bad. DENVER Colorados unusual requirement that most grocery stores sell only low-alcohol beer could be ending. A bill moving through the state Legislature would allow more grocery stores to sell beer stronger than 3.2 percent alcohol. But its far too soon to say whether state lawmakers, and not voters, will have the final say. Lawmakers were entering their final day of work Wednesday with swirling questions about how to undo the low-alcohol beer requirement without endangering thousands of liquor stores. A bill headed to a vote late Tuesday is aimed at preventing a ballot measure by grocers to see Colorado stop being one of only five states that dont allow full-strength beer in most grocery stores. The bill would allow grocers to add full-strength beer and wine over a 20-year period. Breakfast may or may not be the most important meal of the day, but its often our most vulnerable, especially when we travel. Barely awake, we reach for whats familiar when the world around us is not. When Im far from home in a time zone 12 hours or more away, I work with rather than against jet lag, and break fasts with foreign feasts. When I visited Singapore in 2013, I went on a quest for a kaya toast set, the rich national breakfast dish of charcoal-toasted bread, pandan coconut jam, butter, sweetened condensed milk coffee and soft-cooked eggs. But first I consulted a doctor. Not to get my heart checked because of the fatty foods to come, but because the doctor in question is author, photographer and family medicine physician Leslie Tay, the man behind the food blog I Eat I Shoot I Post. His blog guided me to some of the oldest coffee houses in the futuristic Southeast Asian city-state-island country thats roughly halfway between China and Australia. Coffee, toast and eggs are all familiar elements, but add a few details honed by history, and the results are alchemical. Kaya is a pale green, sweet, coconut-milk jam infused with pandan leaves, which impart color and herbaceous flavor. The eggs, always a pair and scarcely soft-cooked, may be served in the shell or cracked in a small bowl, then seasoned with dark soy sauce and ground white pepper. The strong black coffee hides a layer of sweetened condensed milk at the bottom of the cup. The story of the origin of the kaya toast set claims Hainanese Chinese galley hands adapted the foods they served aboard British ships when they landed in Singapore and neighboring Malaysia into the kopi tiam culture. Kopi is Malay for coffee, and tiam is Hokkien for shop, an early evolution for this multicultural society. There are two basic forms really, Tay said. One, thin toast, and the other, thick toast. We spoke recently by phone while he was between patients, my morning and his night. At the original Killiney Kopitiam on Killiney Road, they still make their own kaya, Tay said. At the original Ya Kun on China Street, theyre still grilling the bread over charcoal. These two are good choices. Both shops have multiple locations, including the airport. Traditionally, the dense-crumb white bread is grilled over charcoal, then served already spread and buttered. The original Killiney Kopitiam is the oldest coffee shop in Singapore, established in 1919 as Kheng Hoe Heng Coffeeshop. It grills thick slices of bread, then studs the kaya with squares of cold butter, which soften quickly from the warm toast and the perpetual tropical heat and humidity. The original location of Ya Kun is of the thin-crust school of kaya, and the butter is laid as wide-planed shavings. Its best when you toast your bread over charcoal for that flavor, Tay said. When you bite in, it has to be crunchy toast and cold butter. Then you have the coffee. Traditionally the beans are roasted with margarine and sugar. You can try adding a little butter to your coffee to get that flavor. The eggs are perfect when the white is still soft. To eat, you dip your kaya toast into the eggs, to meld the sweet and savory, soft and crunchy. Has the good doctor ever made a full kaya toast set himself? Oh, no, he said, Its a lot of trouble, isnt it? And its so cheap to get here. How are these old kopitiams able to survive Singapores modernization? I dont think they will, Tay said. Someday theyll all be gone. If that happens, perhaps with some practice, well have perfected our own kaya toast set recipes. The set is a collection of recipes. You spread kaya jam on toast, add butter, then dip that into soft-cooked eggs while drinking kopi coffee. Heres how to do it. KAYA JAM Prep, 10 minutes Cook, 15 minutes Serves about cup This kaya jam recipe is adapted from Byron Shoh, who was making kaya when I visited his Good Morning Nanyang Cafe in Singapore, which is now closed. Look for pandan leaves, which are very long and narrow, at Asian grocery stores. 4 large eggs 1/3 cup coconut milk 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar About 4 fresh pandan leaves Heat a medium saucepan of water to a simmer. Crack eggs into a medium heatproof bowl; stir until yolks are just broken. Stir in coconut milk, then the sugar. Twist and crush each pandan leaf all along the entire length, wrapping the leaves together in a circle as you go. Add them to mixture, submerging as much as possible. Place bowl over barely simmering water; cook, stirring frequently, until custard coats back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Remove leaves. Your kaya jam will be chunky and lumpy. Set aside to cool completely. KAYA TOAST Use pain de mie, Pullman bread, ciabatta or any good white sandwich bread, 2 slices per person. Slice your bread thick or thin. Toast over charcoal, in a grill pan or toaster. Let toast cool slightly. Spread 1 slice with kaya jam. Slice cold butter thick or thin to taste, then lay butter on other toast slice. Press kaya jam slice over butter slice, then serve immediately. You want to bite into cold slices of butter. KOPI COFFEE Add sweetened condensed milk and butter to a small cup to taste; then add strong, smooth coffee and serve immediately. Good cold-brew coffee has a very similar flavor to kopi o, the Singapore slang for traditional black coffee. SOFT-COOKED EGGS Make 2 eggs per person. Use a saucepan large enough to hold eggs in a single layer. Add enough water that could cover eggs; heat just until the water boils. Remove pot from heat, then add whole eggs carefully; cover and let sit to cook, 5 minutes. Remove eggs from pot. Crack 2 soft-cooked eggs into one bowl per person. Serve with dark soy sauce and ground white pepper, season to taste. Michael Herrera, 30, and his friend refused to give up the name of their drug supplier to a man visiting their motel room on April 8. So that man opened fire, killing Herrera and wounding his friend, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Authorities arrested 30-year-old Farrel Wheeler in Roswell last week. He is charged with murder, aggravated battery with great bodily harm and assault with intent to commit a violent felony and was extradited to the Metropolitan Detention Center Monday. According to the complaint Herrera, Jermain Mcgavock, and two women were drinking beer in a room at the Best Choice Inn on east Central last month when Wheeler came to ask about where to get drugs. One of the women told police, Wheeler then pulled out a gun and shot Mcgavock in the leg. She said the two men fought over the gun and Wheeler fired three or four times. Two of those bullets struck Herrera, killing him. Detectives released a description of the shooter and surveillance photos from Walmart after talking with other motel guests. They received a tip that Wheeler was the shooter and Mcgavock confirmed it, according to the complaint. Wheeler was arrested in Roswell last week after police say he fled from a traffic stop and ran into a yard, according to a report by the Associated Press. The SWAT team found him hiding in tall weeds with a handgun nearby and arrested him. SANTA FE, N.M. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is departing on a trip to Washington D.C. to attend the burial of a slain Albuquerque police officer at Arlington National Cemetery. Martinez left Tuesday for Washington D.C. to attend the burial of former Army Ranger Daniel Wester and participate in a candlelight vigil in memory of officers who died on duty last year. Wester was gunned down in October during a traffic stop. On her way, Martinez will be in St. Louis for meetings of the Republican Governors Association. Martinez will address the Nebraska GOP State Convention in Omaha on Saturday. The state of New Mexico is paying for the governors lodging in Washington. The Republican Governors Association and Nebraska GOP will pay for other portions of her travel. WASHINGTON Will Ted Cruz re-enter the GOP presidential race? The Texas senator is apparently willing. Cruz, who suspended his campaign last week after a lopsided defeat in Indiana, Tuesday told radio host Glenn Beck, a supporter of his, that he wasnt holding his breath about doing so well in Tuesdays Nebraska primary that he would restart his campaign. But he didnt close the door, either. We launched this campaign intending to win. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory, he told Beck. If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly. Later in the day, after arriving at his Senate Washington office from Texas, Cruz told reporters that we have withdrawn from the campaign. He said he expected to lose Nebraska but he repeated that he would restart the campaign if he saw a path to winning the nomination. But he was more equivocal on the timing. You may have to wait a little bit longer to make that happen, he said, sounding like he was looking toward a 2020 campaign. Cruz also ruled out a third-party bid, which some #NeverTrump forces have been promoting to deny front-runner Donald Trump the presidency. Trump last week won Indiana, where Cruz had made a last stand, with 53.3 percent of the votes, compared to Cruzs 36.6 percent. When Cruz suspended his campaign, he had won 564 delegates, whom he has not freed to vote for another candidate. Trump had won 1,068 delegates, with 1,237 needed for the nomination. Thirty-six delegates were at stake in Nebraskas winner-take-all election. West Virginia, which also had a primary Tuesday, has 34 delegates. Cruz would not endorse Trump when Beck asked him about the New York businessman. This is a choice every voter is going to have to make. I would note, its not a choice we as voters have to make today, Cruz said. Cruzs campaign communications director, Alice Stewart, played down the idea of a restart. I encourage you to listen to the interview, she told McClatchy. He and Heidi were blessed to have had the opportunity to run. The conservative movement is alive and well. He continues to stay committed to fight for conservative causes. Thats the takeaway from the Glenn Beck interview. Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said, It is hard for a politician to step out of the spotlight. This seems like a bid to remain relevant at the convention. Candidates that suspend and then restart presidential campaigns rarely do well. In recent history, independent candidate Dallas billionaire H. Ross Perot dropped out of the 1992 race in the summer only to re-enter it months later. He wound up winning 19 percent of the vote. Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo., suspended his campaign for the 1988 Democratic nomination in May 1987 after reports of an extramarital liaison and re-entered it seven month later. He never regained momentum. As Cruz returned to the Senate Tuesday, fellow Republican senators were either supportive or resigned to Trump being their partys standard-bearer. Trump plans to travel to the Capitol on Thursday to meet with Republican senators and House members, especially House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who has withheld his endorsement. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who last week issued a statement expressing lukewarm support for Trump, seemed more upbeat about Trumps prospects in November. It looks to me, at the beginning of the race, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania look pretty competitive, he said. McConnell cited a Quinnipiac University poll, released Tuesday, that showed Trump in dead heats in those three states against Hillary Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. President Barack Obama carried all three in 2012. Asked about Cruzs return to the Senate, the leader said, Were happy to have him back. Some Republicans worry that Trumps candidacy will hurt Republicans facing tough re-election battles, particularly in seven states Obama carried four years ago where incumbent GOP senators face re-election. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who represents one of those states, seemed unconcerned. You ought to just settle down and let things work themselves out as things in politics tend to work themselves out, he said. Asked what he wanted to hear Thursday from Trump, Grassley said, It isnt a case of what he says on policy issues. Just speak policy more. Senators from swing states also maintained Trump would be fine back home. I hope all Republicans are going to get behind Donald Trumps candidacy, said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. Senators dismissed the notion that Cruz could re-enter the race, and Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said, Withdrawal from drugs or presidential politics is not easy. Maybe we need a political equivalent of methadone. He added, jokingly, Cruz ran an exhausting campaign and all he got was some leftover T-shirts and a lousy Senate seat. Police have identified the two men shot and killed early Saturday morning as 33-year-old Jared Martinez and 28-year-old Tyson Payaso. Detectives will not say if the two shootings are related since the investigation is ongoing. Around 1 a.m., officers found Martinez near Gibson and Broadway SE with a gun shot wound. He died shortly after they talked to him. A couple hours later, Payaso was dropped off at Kaseman Presbyterian Hospital early Saturday morning with a gun shot wound, police said. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. Tanner Tixier, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said officers are looking for a 2006 Black Ford Escape with the license plate number 9087AR and a Ski NM plate on the bumper in connection with the death. Police had previously released a video of two women and two men who left him at the hospital. SANTA FE Advance voting for New Mexicos June 7 primary election started Tuesday at county clerks offices around the state, though nearly a quarter of the states registered voters will be watching from the sidelines. Only registered Democrats and Republicans can vote in the states primary election, as recent attempts to allow independents and voters belonging to minor political parties to participate have been unsuccessful to date both in the Legislature and in the judicial system. In addition to marking the beginning of absentee voting and in-person voting at county clerks offices, Tuesday was also the last day for New Mexicans to register to vote in next months primary. Kari Fresquez, elections director for the Secretary of States Office, said the office has been running mock elections to prepare for the June 7 primary. County clerks have also been testing vote-counting machines and training poll workers, she said. We are busy, but we are ready, Fresquez told the Journal . Although voting is limited for now to absentee voting and in-person voting at county clerks offices in all 33 New Mexico counties, early voting at alternate voting sites there are 19 such locations in Bernalillo County alone will begin May 21 and run through June 4. Santa Fe County Clerk Geraldine Salazar said Tuesday that a number of registered voters had showed up to cast their ballots on the first day of voting, adding, Not long lines, but its been steady. Meanwhile, this years primary election will be the first in state history in which some 17-year-olds are allowed to vote. Thats due to legislation approved this year and signed into law by Gov. Susana Martinez in March. However, only 17-year-olds who will be 18 by the time of the November general election will be able to vote, and the first day such voters can cast a ballot is May 18 the effective date of the new law. The recent implementation of a new state system that allows eligible voters to register online has also helped drive an increase in the states voter registration rolls. Of the more than 15,000 voters who registered from the end of 2015 through the first three months of this year, nearly one-third or about 4,800 voters did so via the online portal implemented in January. In all, there are roughly 1.22 million New Mexicans registered to vote, according to the Secretary of States Office. As of last month, about 567,230 registered voters were Democrats or 46 percent and 380,460 or 31 percent were Republicans. The rest either declined to state a party affiliation or were registered as members of another political party. A U.S. Marshals task force on Tuesday arrested one of New Mexicos Most Wanted a man accused of impersonating a police officer and other crimes, according to a news release sent out by the law enforcement agency. Shane Garcia, 34, was wanted by the Albuquerque Police Department for multiple felony warrants including aggravated burglary, residential burglary, larceny of a firearm, receiving or transferring stolen property and other charges. The U.S. Marshals task force had arrested Garcia in January for four outstanding felony warrants, according to Joseph Barreras, a Marshals Service spokesman. Garcia reemerged on their radar in April when he and another person broke into a home armed with semi-automatic handguns, Barreras said. Once inside of the home, Garcia announced his presence as the Albuquerque Police issuing a search warrant, he said. This burglary was captured on video surveillance located within the home. Marshals were able to recognize Garcia from the video and put him on the U.S. Marshals District of New Mexico Most Wanted list, Barreras said. The task force, made up of APD, the Santa Fe County Sherriffs Office and the New Mexico Probation and Parole Security Threat Intelligence Unit, tracked him across several jurisdictions and arrested him. CHICAGO So lets just posit that Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in November because her opponent, Donald Trump, is so off-putting that African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans and others Trump has insulted come out to the polls in droves. And then what? For all the talk about how the Republican Party has alienated minorities, what do the Democrats have to offer them in terms of long-term voter engagement? Lets take a look at what happened when Clinton whose husband garnered negative press last month for castigating Black Lives Matters protesters who interrupted him stopped by East Los Angeles for Cinco de Mayo. According to the website Fusion.net, people were upset to begin with there were police in riot gear and on horses and in helicopters to deal with the estimated 1,000 protesters who showed up. And the eight-piece mariachi band Clinton showed up with just set people off. Jasmin Pacheco was there to confront Clinton about her June 2014 comments supporting the deportation of unaccompanied minors from Central America. She told Fusion, I was nervous, but then I saw the mariachis and it made me angrier. She was pandering. Adding to the perception of offensive Hispandering was Clintons short speech, which was almost exclusively focused on Trumps immigration demagoguery. Hitting your opponent in a weak spot is to be expected. But limiting a brief speech to one issue in which the only thing you can say is that at least youre not the other guy telegraphs a poor understanding of the challenges ahead. A recent Americas Voice/Latino Decisions poll of registered Latino voters showed, for the umpteenth time, that when you ask Hispanics about the top priorities they think the next president and Congress should address, they rank jobs, the economy and unemployment above all else. Of course, theres no question that immigration is an important and personal topic to the overwhelming majority of Hispanics. According to this poll, 35 percent of Hispanics know someone who has been detained for immigration reasons or deported, and 57 percent know a friend, family member or co-worker who is residing in the U.S. illegally. But the key number this particular group of registered voters articulated is this: When asked why they are motivated to vote in the 2016 election, 41 percent said to vote against Trump. Only 16 percent said they were enthusiastic to vote for Clinton and 13 percent for Bernie Sanders. A lack of enthusiasm for Democrats isnt just a Latino thing. In a March analysis of the future of the Democratic party, The New Yorkers Ryan Lizza quoted Michael Render, the rapper known as Killer Mike who has been on the stump for Sanders, noting that his friends have lost all faith in electoral politics: Their mantra is Dont be a part of the political process at all. Youre leading our people into a burning house. The Democrats have, for the most part, gotten a pass from communities of color who have had little choice but to support the only candidates who werent specifically referring to them as terrorists, takers, spongers on the welfare system and/or illegal aliens. But thats hardly what youd call the makings of a long-term voter engagement and allegiance strategy. The fact of the matter is that even while 42 percent of Hispanic voter respondents said that they felt the Republican Party has become more hostile to Latinos in recent years, no one failed to notice that two Hispanics were in the running for the Republican nomination. Some politicians are figuring they can get away with alienating minorities who dont show up at polls in numbers that reflect their populations for short-term gains. But as the years go by, there will be no avoiding a demographic destiny that will demand that representatives of both parties not only respect minority voters but promote them within their ranks, hire them for key positions in their campaigns and administrations and address their specific concerns. It wont be too long before simply being the lesser of two evils is not a strategy that will help Democrats stay in positions of power. The question is: Will they finally start figuring out how to really connect with voters of color, or will they simply keep counting on hyperbolic Republicans to make them the choice of last resort? E-mail: estherjcepeda@washpost.com. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group. SANTA FE Democratic State Rep. Christine Trujillo attracted some attention in January when she shouted Shame on you! at Republican Gov. Susana Martinez during the governors speech to the Legislature on opening day. It was vintage Trujillo: impassioned and outspoken. Trujillo is a retired longtime educator and labor leader who won election to an open seat in midtown Albuquerques House District 25 in 2012. She had no Democratic primary opponent two years ago, and won re-election handily over a Republican challenger in a district where half of all registered voters are Democrats. This year, she faces another Democrat in the June 7 primary as she runs for a third term. There is no Republican on the general election ballot. Her primary challenger is Chris Berkheimer, a former state official and war veteran with a litany of legal troubles who is currently in the Metropolitan Detention Centers Community Custody Program. Berkheimer, who served in combat in Desert Storm, says some of his problems are attributable to post-traumatic stress disorder, which he says he was diagnosed with in 2003. Better treatment of veterans is a key issue for Berkheimer. Veterans are trapped in a system of hoops that often spirals downward. I have experienced it personally and have heard hundreds of stories from vets from every generation; our experiences are too often the same, the candidate said in an email to the Journal . My candidacy is to ensure that the New Mexico House of Representatives does its part to take care of our heroes again, he said. Berkheimer says that although the federal Department of Veterans Affairs overall does an outstanding job, some veterans are falling through the cracks. The state should tackle the problem of homeless veterans with a program to provide them housing, he told the Journal in an interview. New Mexico also should do a better job of partnering with its national laboratories so that it doesnt continue to lose development and manufacturing jobs to other places when products are invented, he said. And he said the problems with New Mexicos educational system are hampering job growth. What we need to do is systemically attack our education problem, which means we not only need to improve our schools for our kids, but we need to take the stigmatization of illiteracy away from adults, Berkheimer said. A graduate of the University of New Mexico School of Law, Berkheimer was named deputy director of homeland security in 2003 under Gov. Bill Richardson, for whom he had worked in Washington, D.C., when Richardson was in Congress. He later worked for the state Workers Compensation Administration as a mediator and judge a job he lost in 2007 after allegations of sexual harassment that also cost him his law license, which was suspended by the state Supreme Court. He hasnt sought reinstatement as a lawyer. He is in the community custody program after pleading guilty last year to violating a restraining order to stay away from his daughter. Trujillos rebuke of the governor during her State of the State speech was prompted by what the lawmaker described as Martinezs divisive rhetoric on issues including drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants, education and labor. Trujillo, in an interview, called the Martinez administration corrosive. A self-described progressive, Trujillo was a teacher for more than two decades and is the former president of the American Federation of Teachers-New Mexico and former president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO the first educator and woman to hold that position. She also was an appointed at-large Democratic national committeewoman. Trujillo has been a strong voice for teachers and an equally vocal critic of the Martinez administrations education initiatives, including a proposal to require that third-graders who cant read proficiently be held back, and the reliance on the performance of students on standardized tests to evaluate teachers. Her campaign literature says she would work to make our schools great by recruiting, training and retaining the best teachers in the country. She also stresses her support of abortion rights, the creation of jobs by growing the clean energy industry, a revamping of the tax code to make it fairer for working families and to force out-of-state mega-corporations to pay their fair share and investment in schools, roads and community facilities. As of the latest campaign finance reports, filed this week, Trujillo had raised about $24,000 for her race, with strong support from teachers unions and other labor groups. Berkheimer has raised just shy of $15,000, including loans from the candidate of just over $3,000. I know some people might not want me to be back because Im a thorn in their side, but thats my job, Trujillo told the Journal . My constituents are cheering me on. LAS CRUCES Two nurses at the Village of Northrise, a senior living center in Las Cruces, were summoned to Room 229 in the Hallmark Building on the morning of May 11, 2015. When the nurses entered the room, they saw a horrifying sight: An elderly male resident brandishing a gun and holding two people against their will in his apartment. The nurses managed to run away, finding a secure location in the buildings lobby, and one of them called 911. Theres a resident with a weapon, and he has two hostages, the nurse told a dispatcher in a recording obtained by the Sun-News. We happened to walk in, and then we saw two people on the floor, the nurse continued, and he pointed the gun at me and he told me to come in, and I just closed the door and ran. Later in the seven-minute recording, the dispatcher asked the nurse if she could identify the man. The nurse said she couldnt, but the dispatcher pressed for the information. You dont have it on a computer or anything? the dispatcher asked. Yes, the nurse said, before saying moments later that the mans name was Carl Harlan. Carl Fredrick Harlan, then 89, was later charged with an open count of murder in the death of his 65-year-old son, Carl Tracy Harlan, who police said died after being shot by his father. Wednesday marks a year since the shooting, and more than two months after the elder Harlan reportedly died in early March at a living facility in El Paso at the age of 90. The Sun-News confirmed Harlans death Tuesday through a family member and his Las Cruces attorney, after learning from court records that the five-count criminal complaint against Harlan had been dismissed on May 4. Father-son argument Las Cruces police suspected that Harlan and his son may have been involved in argument before the shooting inside a second-floor apartment at the Village of Northrise, 2880 N. Roadrunner Parkway. The younger Harlan, a resident of Tucson, Arizona, was shot once in his chest and was pronounced dead at MountainView Regional Medical Center. After hearing thuds and mumbles, a neighbor entered Harlans apartment. She told police that he threatened to shoot her with what she described as a revolver if she left his apartment. He held her captive until police officers arrived at the complex. When police arrived in the Hallmark buildings second-floor hallway, Harlan allegedly pointed the firearm at three officers. Court documents allege that Harlan did not comply with officers repeated requests to put down the gun and that the officers felt threatened, prompting one to fire at least one round, which struck Harlans right hand. He was transported to University Medical Center in El Paso, where he was treated for the gunshot wound. He was never arrested, despite having a warrant for his arrest, but he was charged with an open count of murder, as well as one count of first-degree kidnapping and three counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon. Competency questioned In February, nine months after the shooting, Deputy District Attorney Gerald Byers, of the 3rd Judicial Districts Attorney Office, filed a stipulated motion to determine Harlans competency to stand trial. In granting the motion, a judge allowed the case to be transferred from Dona Ana County Magistrate Court to Las Cruces Judicial District Court, which halted court proceedings in the case until Harlans mental competence was evaluated. At the time the motion was filed, Harlan was said to be still recovering from the gunshot wound and was receiving treatment for other serious, medical conditions at a secure, locked medical facility, the motion said. Harlan had to undergo surgery and lost a portion of his right hand as a result of gunshot injury, his attorney, Michael Stout of Las Cruces, told the Sun-News in February. We are hopeful that justice will be served for all concerned by the Courts careful evaluation of Mr. Harlans medical and mental situation, Stout said in a statement at the time. We agree that there is a genuine question about his ability to go to trial. It is unclear if the evaluation was ever completed. When reached for comment Tuesday, Stout informed the Sun-News of Harlans death and expressed condolences to his family. Harlans death either occurred late March 3 or early March 4, Stout said. Harlan remembered Speaking from Indianapolis on Tuesday, Harlans 83-year-old nephew, John Harlan, said his uncle was living in El Paso at the time of his death. I think he just died an old natural death, John Harlan said. The nurse told me, during the last month of his life, he was having a lot of trouble breathing and things of that nature. Harlan is buried in Indianapolis, where he was born and raised, next to his wife, the nephew said. John Harlan described his uncle as a funny individual who had a stubborn streak. But the two were close when they grew up in Indianapolis, he said. He was seven years older than I was, and we were close, John Harlan recalled. I grew up with his family. My grandparents took me in when I was 2 months old, along with nine other children. And Carl was the youngest of the bunch and he was the last one here to pass away. According to John Harlan, his uncle only had one child the son he allegedly shot and killed last year in Las Cruces. I think he had some mental problems at the end of his life he wouldnt have done what he did to Tracy (his son), he said. Carlos Andres Lopez can be reached 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter. 2016 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. _____ WASHINGTON The Navy says it is promoting the SEAL who was shot and killed by Islamic State militants in Iraq on May 3 to the rank of chief petty officer. The announcement of the posthumous promotion for special warfare operator Charles Keating IV comes two days before his funeral in Coronado, California. Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, a Navy spokesman, says Keating had been eligible to go before a promotion board this year. Christensen said that based on his evaluations and assignments there was good reason to believe he would have been promoted. While the promotion will not affect pay or benefits, Keating will be able to be buried wearing his new rank. Keating is the third U.S. service member to be killed in Iraq since U.S. forces returned there in 2014. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. A former tribal corrections officer in New Mexico has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for sexually abusing a female inmate and violating her civil rights. Prosecutors say 22-year-old Trevor Hunt, of Paguate, also was sentenced to five years of supervised release. Hell be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years after completing his prison term. Hunt was a detention officer at the Laguna Pueblo Detention Facility when he was accused of sexually assaulting the woman in the jails laundry room last May 23. He pleaded guilty in the case in January. Prosecutors say Hunt admitted the victim was in detention and under his custodial and supervisory control when he sexually assaulted her. Hunt also admitted willfully violating the victims constitutional rights when he assaulted her. New Mexico became the seventeenth state in the U.S. in December to surpass the 1,000-megawatt mark for installed wind energy capacity, following the startup of a 250-megawatt wind farm in Roosevelt County. New Mexico is now generating 1,112 MW of electricity from a dozen utility-scale wind installations, or enough electricity to power 190,000 homes every year, according to a recent report from the American Wind Energy Association. New Mexico emerged as a wind energy leader at the end of 2015, surpassing 1,000 MW of installed capacity to join 16 other states in the nations 1-gigawatt club, said Hannah Hunt, a senior industry data analyst for the association. The state is really starting to harness the benefits of wind energy. New Mexicos growth is part of a trend blowing across the country. Wind accounted for more than 40 percent of all new electric generation added to the grid last year, reflecting, in part, a rapid decline in prices. Costs for wind generation have fallen by about 66 percent over the last five years. All told, wind generation reached nearly 75,000 MW of installed capacity as of March. That represents enough electricity to power about 20 million average homes, accounting for about 5 percent of all the countrys electricity. Wind is a significant part of the grid now, and the prospects are strong for a lot more growth in the near term because its affordable and reliable, association CEO Tom Kiernan told the Journal. In some parts of the U.S., wind energy is now the cheapest source of electricity, even with todays low natural gas prices. The wind industry is also helping spur economic development, with about $128 billion invested to date in wind projects, and more than 88,000 people currently employed in wind-related jobs. In New Mexico, wind developers have invested about $1.8 billion, employing about 2,000 people as of year-end 2015. And the state has capacity for a lot more wind generation, particularly on New Mexicos gusty central and eastern plains. New Mexico stands out in terms of its rich wind resources, Hunt said. It has the potential for exponential growth. For that to happen, the state needs more transmission infrastructure, something local and national developers are working on. But even without new transmission lines, more wind farms are in the works. That includes the 298 MW El Cabo Wind Farm in Torrance County, which Oregon-based developer Iberdrola Renewables expects to bring online next year. Once operating, El Cabo will be the largest wind farm in the state. For now, that record belongs to the Roosevelt Wind Project, a 250 MW farm that California-based developer EDF Renewable Energy brought online in December. That new farm, located about 18 miles southwest of Portales, will supply all its electricity to Southwest Public Service Co., which serves customers in eastern New Mexico and West Texas. EDF also brought a second, 50 MW wind farm in Roosevelt County online in March to sell electricity through the Southwest Power Pool. ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost. Avalara kicked off its Crush New Orleans conference in the Big Easy, discussing the latest trends in sales and use taxes, excise taxes, global tax compliance and technology. Technology is in our DNA, said Avalara CEO Scott McFarlane. He pointed out how the company is always developing new technology for its users. Inertia is our enemy, he said Tuesday. Status quo is the enemy. Best practices means youre just average. I want to be better than that. Lets step out and create a world where people want to copy us, not that were copying other people. Thats what I want to challenge people today. If youre not willing to live with change, you shouldnt be at Avalara. Were going to be disruptive. Were always looking for the next thing. Its great that you can do sales tax, but can you do landed cost now? Whatever it is, were always looking for the next thing that can help our customers. During one of the sessions, a pair of Avalara executives discussed recent trends in international communications taxation. Avalara director of tax research Karen Hassman noted that more countries in the Middle East are considering imposing value-added taxes. VAT is really the pervasive scheme across the globe, she said. We are more familiar with the United States treatment of communications transactions, but VAT is actually the more common approach. The United States kind of stands alone with Greenland and part of the Middle East where they really dont have VAT because the oil revenues are so rich that they have not needed to implement VAT, but given that the price of oil per barrel has gone down, there are new plans amongst the Middle Eastern countries to start considering having at least some kind of supplemental VAT so that they are prepared for the economic changes. While the U.S. does not have VAT taxes on communications, there are extra charges, she noted, such as for Emergency 911 service. Avalara senior tax solutions consultant Sandra Thomas pointed out that Internet access is generally taxed abroad, although it isnt in the U.S. Tax rates for communications are generally lower abroad in most other countries, with some exceptions. While the VAT has not made many inroads in the U.S. so far, she noted that Puerto Rico is considering imposing a VAT, which could happen this summer. Hassman observed that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is working on harmonizing the various complex VAT rules across countries. At a later session on agile businesses, Balraj Jutla, a solutions engineer at Shopify Plus, an Avalara partner, talked about how his company uses its blog to communicate with customers and educate them about e-commerce. Avalara vice president of product strategy Webb Stevens described how the product management process at Avalara has become more transparent as the company has grown in recent years from just a few hundred employees to over 1,000. Avalara uses online tools such as wikis to keep employees informed about the latest developments and gives them the opportunity to weigh in with their own input and suggestions on products. By Guy Christopher The specter of government forcefully confiscating gold is still roaming around out there. That nagging prospect dampens many buying decisions, unfortunate at a time when gold, and especially silver, are near historically bargain basement prices when measured in fiat currency. Buy low, sell high only works for those who buy low. Somewhere in everyones buying decision is rebellion against government lunacy. So, whats the plan if government outlaws that defiance? In examples spanning eight decades over three continents, ordinary people caught in very different circumstances chose to defy government repression of personal gold ownership. In the 1930s, President Franklin Roosevelt and Nazi dictator Adolph Hitler joined global, repressive trends by outlawing private ownership of more than five ounces of gold. Many skeptical Americans responded by stiffing FDR, shipping outlawed gold overseas for safekeeping, or burying it on family farms. That gold remained hidden for four decades, until Gerald Ford lifted restrictions in 1974. Europeans targeted by Hitlers murderous genocide improved their chances of escape using outlawed gold. It paid for bribes and safe passage away from Nazi atrocities and helped refugees build new lives once they stopped running. In recent years, repressive gold policies in India jolted that continent, where gold lives deep in the DNA, essential to religious ceremonies and social structure. Tax hikes and import restrictions were meant to protect the paper rupee. Citizens rebelled by dodging taxes, launching legal challenges, and doubling down on gold smuggling, while keeping demand for gold at a steady level. New Delhi was forced to rethink its repression, pushing a unique national discussion about gold to the forefront. Today, a different crime of confiscation, stealing the value locked in gold and silver, is also failing. Illegal, documented, proven and now admitted bullion bank price manipulation has likely denied gold and silver owners realistic, much higher values. Each price suppression scheme in past years has failed when governments ran out of physical gold necessary to disguise crooked markets. As the current scheme fails, the pace accelerates, with exposed banks beginning to turn on each other. Another confiscation is taxation when metals are sold for paper profit. Your practical, legal way to avoid that confiscation is to keep your metal instead of trading it for paper. That works great for those who see metals as money and savings, not investments. That brings us to the chilling specter of that black-ops squad coming to confiscate your coins and bars. Even in the 1930s, jackboots didnt actually knock on doors to round up the gold. And the governments call for everyone to turn in their gold didnt work very well. Would it even be attempted now? Two internationally respected economists have opposing views on confiscation, but come to the same practical conclusion always be buying gold. Acclaimed Austrian School economist Dr. Marc Faber is known for predicting the 1987 stock market crash and the birth of the current gold bull market. Hes often argued the U.S. is corrupt and would force an expropriation of private gold, paying as little as possible. Faber seeks safety geographically, saying he would never hold gold in the U.S. or even in his Swiss homeland, feeling vaults in Asia are safer. Economist, author and investor Jim Rickards is the guy who used to teach financial warfare to Pentagon generals. He sees any government confiscation attempt as unenforceable and unlikely. Rickards believes the day government really wants your gold, it will simply offer a high price to coax it from you, paying with paper money freshly printed that morning. The offer would be high enough to outbid competing market expectations. Otherwise, he says the Fed doesnt mind the price gradually rising. Faber and Rickards, both recent Money Metals podcast guests, believe the planet is just one or two missteps away from a disastrous economic meltdown. Both make credible arguments the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks are inhabited by buffoons. Both men are buying gold and silver and recommending you buy gold and silver too. Rickards advises ten to twenty percent of invested wealth should be in physical gold. Incidentally, his studied math says gold today should be valued at many thousands per ounce. Faber says he buys gold every month and doesnt intend to ever sell, despite his concern for confiscation. Says Faber, we dont know how the world will look ten years from now. Whats the plan if Faber is right? Youll have warnings. News of intentions will leak. Lapdog media, fond of demonizing physical gold, will begin demonizing individual gold owners. A familiar comparison is firearms ownership. While most Americans know little about gold, they do understand whats at stake in the up-close-and-personal 2nd Amendment gunfight. Americas reaction to constant, hard-nosed threats of firearms confiscation has been buy more firearms! And extra ammo! Sales zoom every time the subject comes up. Gun makers love to say Obama is the worlds best gun salesman. A government gold grab would mimic anti-gun rhetoric, tagging gold as a national economic concern, just as Richard Nixon blamed speculators for his international gold default in 1971. Gold demand (and prices) would skyrocket at the first sign of trouble. And what if Rickards is right? The notion the Fed might engineer a red hot gold price instead of a ham-handed confiscation is suggested by credible studies and by a former Fed Governor. Dont forget Alan Greenspan saying gold is going measurably higher. Should market prices zoom ahead of banking price suppression in the race to the top, a paralyzed Fed may have no choice, just to establish its own cap on the all-important gold price. Fears of forced confiscation might all but disappear for awhile. Many gold owners would happily sell for overnight paper profits. Many others, with no trust whatsoever in government, would keep their gold, choosing to wait and see. MoneyMetals.com columnist Guy Christopher is a seasoned writer living on the Gulf Coast. A retired investigative journalist, published author, and former stockbroker, Christopher has taught college as an adjunct professor and is a veteran of the 101st Airborne in Vietnam. Just Released: A New Case For Gold by Jim Rickards Get Your Free Copy Here Cheil India has brought on board Samrat Das Gupta as Head, Experiential Marketing. Das Gupta is an accomplished marketing services and communications specialist, with rich experience spanning 16 years. He was previously associated with Grey Group India as Vice President & Business Head and has worked across brands such as BAT, P&G, GSK, Nokia, Mars and ITC. Working across the geographies of South & South East Asia has equipped Das Gupta with deep understanding of Asian consumers and emerging markets. Commenting on the appointment, Shiv Sethuraman, Group President, Cheil South-West Asia, said, Samrats track record and credentials are impeccable. Our Retail & Activation businesses are expanding rapidly and are a significant growth vector for Cheil. We are excited to have someone of Samrats calibre on board with us. On his new role, Das Gupta said, Increasingly, consumer experiences are becoming critical to the success of brands. With a growing focus on integrated marketing services, the endeavour at Cheil is to build a comprehensive experiential offering. When Shiv outlined his vision and growth plans to me, it was an easy jump on to this exciting, yet challenging, bandwagon at Cheil. Das Guptas knack for effectiveness won him recognition at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards with a Gold for Samsungs Jeet Lo Dil campaign and a Silver Effie (Asia Pacific) for Nokia Bangladeshs Lost in Translation campaign. Zee Cinema, the worlds largest movie theatre for Hindi movies, will premiere the fast paced comedy thriller Police Aur Tiger in Hindi on Thursday, 12th May at 9 PM. Police Aur Tiger is based on the Indian adaption of the Hollywood comedy-crime film- Turner & Hooch and is directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan starring Sibiraj and a Belgain Shepherd dog named Idoh in the lead. The film is based on a cop who with the help of his dog, tries to rescue his abducted wife. The film revolves around an operation to save a girl from a bunch of masked kidnappers, Karthik (Sibiraj) loses his colleague and gets hit on the leg by the gangsters. The leader escapes while one member of the gang is captured and the other is dead. Having been affected both physically & mentally, he is stuck at home when a military-trained dog comically named Idoh (Subramani- Belgian Shepherd dog) comes into his custody & brings colour to his life. Later, Karthik's wife (Arundhathi), is abducted by the same gangsters, Anbu (Balaji), the head of the kidnapping gang, and is buried alive inside the coffin. A web camera is attached into the coffin and the live stream is provided to Karthik. Through the live stream, Karthik learns that his wife can breathe for about 6 hours and she speaks to someone and with the help of deaf and dumb teacher. Karthik deciphers what she had conveyed. Suddenly, water trickles into the coffin and Karthik concludes that it has to be rainwater. He along with Subramani and his cop friends, travel to Ooty, the only place in Tamil Nadu, where it was raining at the moment. Will Karthik be able to save his wife from the clutches of Anbu Das? ~Tune-in to find out the mystery as Zee Cinema Premieres Police Aur Tiger in Hindi on Thursday, 12th May at 9 PM~ Oxigens founder, Pramod Saxena (an IIT Roorkee Alumnus) is heading into to the startup world by setting up an innovation center called Idea Lab at IIT-Roorkee and Greater Noida campus through a Start up advisory firm named Aarambh Ventures. Mr. Pramod Saxena, a visionary, with 4 decades of rich experience over diverse fields is also an Investor and mentor in early stage seed funds viz Unitus Seed Fund and IvyCap Ventures. Aarambh Ventures accelerator program is supported by several VCs, serial entrepreneurs, mentors, domain experts and industry veterans including Unitus Seed Fund, Omnivore Partners, IvyCap, LetsVenture, Design for Use, to name a few. The Aarambh accelerator identifies, support and grow startups in Technology/Mobile, Health, Agriculture, Clean Tech/Energy, IoT, AI, Big Data & Fin- Tech. Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and Aarambh Ventures have signed a MoU to foster and promote the spirit of entrepreneurship among the students of IIT Roorkee. As part of this partnership, Aarambh Ventures will set up an Idea Lab and Accelerator at IIT-R Roorkee & Greater NOIDA campuses respectively. Main objective of this partnership is to help students develop their ideas in ways that are customer-centered and market-relevant. They may have ideas that need a bit more work or are looking to bounce the idea off to experts. Either way, Idea Lab will provide ways to push their thinking further, said Prof. Pradipta Banerji, Director, IIT Roorkee. Our goal is to have 100 entrepreneurs coming out of this Idea Lab in next three years. We are extremely supportive of Aarmabh Ventures efforts to develop ideation space for IIT Roorkees budding entrepreneurs. Aarambh seeks to help entrepreneurs drive sustainable economic growth and innovation, thus making Digital India real. The Leadership team at Oxigen, being its first set of mentors, will fuel the growth of Fin tech startups at the Idea Lab through Aarambh Ventures. This effort while encouraging young entrepreneurs, will further strengthen innovation at Oxigen Wallet alongside deepening its relationship with startups, said Pramod Saxena, Chairman & Managing Director, Oxigen Services. The world-class facility at Idea Lab, opening in late 2016 at IIT Roorkee Campus, will provide a congenial environment to promote original thinking & collaborative infrastructure that is needed to succeed in the 21st century knowledge economy. Publicis has bagged the media mandate for Nilgai Foods. The account will be handled by the agencys Mumbai office. Founded in 2011 by entrepreneurs Arjun Gadkari & Abhay Jaiswal, Nilgai Foods is in the packaged food space with their brand of sauces called Pico and Cocofly fresh natural coconut water. Nilgai is reported to be one of the top 10 Indian startups to watch out for in 2016. Their brand campaign for Cocofly broke in April in New Delhi this year. Arjun Gadkari, co-founder at Nilgai Foods, said, We are excited to be working with Publicis Beehive. It is clear that the team thinks about media differently from other agencies, and focus first on finding the right consumer before formulating a plan to target them through effective campaigns. We believe that packaged coconut water in India will become the hot topic of this summer, and we are confident that our brand COCOFLY can be seen as the market leader in this nascent market with the help of Publicis Beehives contribution. Sanjit Shastri, CEO, Publicis Beehive said, This is an exciting space to be in as consumers are increasingly conscious of what they consume on a daily basis. We see Cocofly as a clear winner given the sheer goodness of the product and the dynamism of the leadership team at Nilgai. AF defenders, SKorea soldiers train to fend off opposing forces Defending the men and women of Osan Air Base is one challenge to the 51st Security Forces Squadron, but defending an entire country is quite another. To bring a force multiplier to the table, the 51st SFS defenders trained with South Korean army special operations forces during a training scenario May 11 as part of the Beverly Herd 16-01 exercise. We test our defenders by teaching them different ways attacks can happen, as well as strengthening our bonds with our (South Korean) counterparts, said Tech. Sgt. Swen Swearingen, the 51st SFS NCO in charge of armistice plans. The South Korean special operators were transported to Osan AB via HH-60P Pave Hawks earlier in the day. While at the base, their goal was to increase interoperability with the security forces for combat operation readiness. In a real situation, we need as much support to defend the base as possible, Swearingen said. They come down to help us out and give us a unique toolset to aide in our defense. While there is a sizeable language barrier between the two forces, they still get it done, he added. But when shots start getting fired, that language barrier doesnt matter; its all about taking care of each other and completing the mission. The joint forces simulated live fire, and the shoot, move and communicate actions to thwart opposing forces, which consisted of Airmen new to the base. Participating in OPFOR, you get a small taste of what youll be dealing with during your year stay here at Osan, Swearingen said. They see how our on-duty defenders respond to incidents, and hopefully bring an outside perspective to the fight. Airman 1st Class Samantha Flores, a 51st SFS fire team member, participated in the OPFOR program and caught her first glimpse of the bases readiness. This exercise is a lot more interactive than what Ive experienced in the past, she said. It was fun as well as informative. I got to see what to look forward to in the year ahead. Welsh visits Patrick AFB, focuses on people, pride Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III told Airman Keegan Atherton, "I would die for you and you would die for me too," during his closing remarks at an all call here May 9, driving home his point about what makes the Air Force unique and different to him. To emphasize his point, he reminded Atherton, assigned to the 45th Medical Support Squadron medical logistics, and the audience, that at some point in time, "You will be the most critical person in your unit and you deserve to be treated that way," which he said is the key to this Air Force being successful. In addition to the all call, the general met with members of the 45th Space Wing and its mission partners, including the Air Force Technical Applications Center, 920th Rescue Wing and Kennedy Space Center from May 7-9. The general had lunch with Airmen and met with squadron commanders during a roundtable, in which he requested Airmen to speak openly and freely. He ensured the team he wanted to know what was on their minds. Not only did the general want to know what was on the team's mind here, his wife, Betty, visited the Airman and Family Readiness Center to hear about the family programs here. She also attended a roundtable with Green Dot-trained personnel and discussed the importance of the integrated prevention program to decrease interpersonal violence across the service. The service means a great deal to the general, who comes from a long bloodline of military service. The general shared a story about the day his father pinned on his sons pilot wings. The chief of staff said that day marks a symbol of the incredibly powerful and successful Air Force being handed off to the next generation to uphold a legacy that his father played a major role in building. He also encouraged the team to look toward the future and shared three things that Airmen can do to be successful. "Number one, you have to make common sense the first standard you apply at all times," he said. "If the rules, policy, and technical orders don't align with common sense, then there is something wrong with the rules, the policy, or the technical order. We can change them. If it doesn't make sense to you, your supervisors or commander then it is not going to make sense to anyone else. "Second, we have to communicate better," he said. "Part of change is communication. Communicating across an organization that is global that has more than 600,000 people can be a challenge because everyone communicates in a different language." He emphasized that everyone gets their information from different sources. "You deserve better communication but you have to be willing to go look for it," he said. "I encourage you to talk to your supervisors and commanders and they will get you the answers." The third thing the general talked about doing to be a successful Airman is to care a little more. "You care about your career, your profession, your family, your future opportunity, and training," he said. "You also care about each other ... but I ask that you care just a little more." He underlined that every now Airmen may lose focus and something may go wrong in an Airman's life, to where they will need to be cared for. In addition to offering three successful tips, he updated the team on issues facing the Air Force, such as the future of benefits, readiness and budget changes. Welsh assured the Airmen he continuously fights for their best interests. As the budget and benefits are being worked and discussed by Congress, the general said he constantly works to defend Airmen and their ability to complete the mission. Welsh also talked about manpower concerns, and emphasized that Airmen are still charged with the responsibility to uphold and ensure the nation's defense. "Keep doing well at your job because nobody in the world is better at it than you are," he said. Welsh also thanked everyone at Patrick AFB for their service and what they represent. "I can't tell you how proud I am of the work you do, the way you do it and how proudly you represent, not just the Air Force, but our nation," he said. "Don't forget what you represent to everyone else outside of the United States Air Force. Don't forget the value of this country and what it stands for ... and, don't forget that this country leans on you to protect them. That is why you stand shoulder to shoulder with the people around you and that is why I am so proud to stand behind you." AF Ranger instructors prep Airmen for rigorous course If you dont care about the man to the left or right of you, get back on the bus and go home, shouted Air Force Master Sgt. Gabe Rodriguez, as he watched 24 pre-Ranger candidates struggle to low-crawl up a sandy hill in the New Mexico desert April 20. Rodriguez is one of less than 40 actively serving Ranger-qualified Airmen. While his full-time job is at the Air Force Security Forces Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, he has an equally important part-time job -- selecting the next generation of Airmen to attend U.S. Army Ranger School. It is a job that he, and his fellow Ranger instructors, take very seriously. About 50 to 60 Airmen a year volunteer to attend the bi-annual AFSFC Pre-Ranger Course at Fort Bliss. Passing the course, which mirrors the first two weeks of Ranger School, is a requirement to attend the school. I love getting out of my office and be with guys who volunteer to challenge themselves, said Senior Master Sgt. James Wilfong, a Ranger instructor. Its nice to get back in the dirt and train the next generation of Rangers. Wilfong, a security forces Airman at Nellis AFB, Nevada, has served as an instructor at the Air Forces Pre-Ranger school 13 times. Ranger School began in September 1950, with the first class graduating two months later. Within a few years the Air Force began sending its personnel to Ranger School. To date, over 280 Airmen have successfully completed the school. While this number may not seem very high, the Air Force is only authorized 10 slots per year. Unlike the Army, the Air Force does not have dedicated instructors who teach the course. Instead, a request is sent out to the Air Force Ranger community a few months before the start of each course, requesting volunteers to serve as instructors. This is a small community, said Air Force Capt. Ralph Johnson, a security forces officer at the AFSFC. We all pretty much know each other, and most of us have served as RIs many times. To get up to speed on any new regulations, and to make sure that they are providing the candidates with the best possible training, the instructors are assisted by the Fort Bliss Iron Training Detachments pre-Ranger instructors. The partnership and support of the Army has been phenomenal, said Chief Master Sgt. Benjamin Del Mar, a Ranger instructor. They are all trained at Fort Benning, so they are able to validate the course. Del Mar said that prior to working with the Iron Training Detachment, the Ranger School used to send an instructor from Fort Benning, Georgia, to validate the course. While the Air Force and Army Pre-Ranger Courses are nearly identical, there is one big difference. In the Army a candidate can be sent home for failing to meet course standards. In the Air Force, the only way a candidate can be dropped is due to injury or for lack of motivation. LOM, as we call it, is when a candidate requests to quit the course, Johnson said. When that happens, we immediately separate them from the other candidates, make sure they understand that by quitting they will not be allowed to return, and then let them sleep before sending them back to their unit. One of the reasons the Air Force allows candidates to remain in pre-Ranger, even when they have been eliminated for consideration to attend Ranger School is the benefit for the Airman and his unit. It is our policy that any Airman who attends our course be allowed to finish regardless of how they are doing, Del Mar said. This course is the premier leadership course the Air Force has. The candidates learn to be better more resilient leaders. Del Mar, who graduated from Ranger School in 1997, currently serves as the security forces manager at Aviano Air Base, Italy, and has been a Ranger instructor 13 times over the years. While a high number of drops are expected in a physically and mentally challenging course like Pre-Ranger School, it doesnt make it any easier for the instructors. I get upset when we have to drop guys, Wilfong said. Every single candidate wants to be here. They all volunteered to come here; we dont like sending them home. Each Pre-Ranger class has about 25 Airmen in it. About half of them will not make it through the class due to injury or LOM; of those that make it through, only about two to four will be recommended for Ranger School. However, of the Airmen that attend Ranger School, approximately 90 percent will graduate. We grade (candidates) based on leadership and performance in all graded events, Johnson said. At the end we have a board and decide who is ready to attend (Ranger) School. Johnson said that the Pre-Ranger Course is open to all Air Force specialty codes, and both genders. We welcome volunteers to step up to the challenge, he said. Another challenge for the instructors is dispelling some of the myths about Ranger School to both the candidates and their commands. A lot of Airmen think Ranger School is just infantry tactics and getting smoked, said Air Force Staff Sgt. Stephen Becker, a Ranger instructor and member of the 620th Ground Combat Training Squadron. So many dont see the benefit of going to this course; however, there is a benefit for all Airmen, regardless of their (Air Force specialty code). Becker, who graduated from Ranger School in 2014, said that the most rewarding part of being a Ranger instructor comes at the end of the course. You see the type of person they are, he said. You see the desire to be here, the desire not to quit. You see them pushing themselves through the pain and the exhaustion. You see how resilient they are. You see the pride as they realize they are capable of so much more than they thought they could be. Hill Airmen return from Afghanistan Nearly 300 active duty and Reserve Airmen assigned to the 421st Fighter Squadron, known as the Black Widows, returned here Tuesday following a nearly eight-month deployment to Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The 421st FS spent more than 10,000 hours in the skies, flying 2,800 sorties and dropping more than 100 guided bombs in support of coalition troops on the ground as part of Operation Freedoms Sentinel and NATOs Resolute Support mission, according to Lt. Col. Mike Meyer, commander of the 421st FS. As the only dedicated fighter unit in Afghanistan, we provided 24/7 close air support across the entire country, Meyer said. There are still quite a few Americans on the ground there, so we liked to think of ourselves as their guardian angels. This likely marks the final F-16 deployment from Hill as the bases fighter wings transition to the F-35, the Air Forces newest fighter aircraft. The 388th and 419th Fighter Wings were the first active duty and Reserve units to begin flying operational F-16 missions in 1979 and 1983, respectively. Hundreds of family members and community supporters lined up outside a maintenance hangar, clapping and cheering as they greeted the returning Airmen. These families are the real heroes, Meyer said. You can't even say how good it makes you feel to see the support from the base and local community. As Tech. Sgt. Cliff Calhoun embraced his four-year-old daughter, the 419th FW reservist and avionics mechanic said it was great to have another successful deployment behind him. Calhoun took a military leave of absence from his civilian career for the deployment and has deployed to Afghanistan twice previously. Theres nothing better than coming home, he said. Spangdahlem AB earns installation excellence award Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, was named the Air Force recipient of the 2016 Commander in Chief's Annual Award for Installation Excellence, Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced May 10. Spangdahlem AB, commanded by Col. Joseph D. McFall, will receive a commemorative commander in chief's award trophy and flag and a congratulatory letter from the president. The Defense Supply Center Richmond, Virginia, led by Air Force Brig. Gen. Allan E. Day, also earned the honor. Other installation winners include U.S. Army Garrison Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, California; and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington. The Commander in Chief's Annual Award for Installation Excellence recognizes the outstanding and innovative efforts of the people who operate and maintain U.S. military installations. The five recipients of this highly competitive presidential award were selected for their exemplary support of Defense Department missions. Excellent installations enable better mission performance and enhance the quality of life for military men and women and their families. Each winning installation succeeded in providing excellent working, housing, and recreational conditions. Focused Joint Capabilities and Concept Development, Joint Warfighter Training and Joint Task Force Support. MISSION STATEMENT: Recruit, develop and deploy highly trained Joint Task Force planners and Joint Staff trainers across the Total Force spectrum. MISSION: The 953rd RSPTS augments the USTRANSCOM, Joint Enabling Capabilities Command (JECC) Reserve force by providing flexible, employable packages composed of personnel who are experienced in joint operations, understand joint doctrine and are trained in the joint operation planning process. The 953rd also augments Joint Staff-Hampton Roads Joint Reserve Unit, Virginia, by providing experienced joint planners and operators to train and exercise COCOM Headquarters and Joint Task Force Headquarters in preparation for no-notice global force response. To learn more about the 953rd RSS, click on the unit fact sheet. US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in West Virginia`s primary, winning over voters deeply skeptical about the economy and signaling the difficulty Hillary may have in industrial states in the general election. The loss slows Hillary`s march to the nomination, but she is still heavily favored to become the Democratic candidate in the November 08 election. In a November match-up with Donald Trump, Hillary will need to win over working-class voters in the US Rust Belt, which includes key states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Trump, 69, won contests in West Virginia and Nebraska handily on Tuesday. The presumptive Republican nominee is set to meet with party leaders in the US Congress on Thursday, including US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. After Ryan said last week that he was not yet ready to endorse Trump, Trump said on Sunday that he would have to decide whether he still wanted Ryan to preside over the party`s July convention. Trump said in a Fox interview on Tuesday night that he would like Ryan to chair the convention as planned. He`s a very good man, he wants what`s good for the party, the New York billionaire said. Trump has zeroed in on Hillarys protracted battle with Sanders, a 74-year-old US senator from Vermont. He has taunted Clinton in recent days by saying she cant close the deal by beating Sanders, her only rival for the Democratic Partys nomination since February 01. Clinton, 68, has said she will ignore Trumps personal insults, including his repeated use of his new nickname for her, Crooked Hillary, and instead will criticize his policy pronouncements. A day after the Uttarakhand Assembly floor test, in which Congress emerged as the winner, the central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it will revoke Presidents rule in the hill state. The Centre said that Mr. Rawat, who had led the States Congress-led government before his ouster on March 27, is to be restored as Chief Minister the very moment Presidents rule is revoked on Wednesday. Rawat gets 33 votes out of 61 in the floor test. No irregularities were found in the voting. 9 MLAs could not vote due to their disqualification, an apex court bench said and directed revocation of the Presidents rule forthwith so that 68-year-old Rawat can assume office as Chief Minister. Celebrations broke out in Dehradun the moment the news trickled in from the court that Rawat has won the trial of strength in the Assembly yesterday which was carried out on the instructions of the Supreme Court. The developments have come as a major loss of face for the Modi Government at the Centre which had dismissed the Congress government and imposed Presidents rule after nine Congress MLAs sided with the BJP on the Appropriation Bill. I expect better cooperation from the Centre and thus, I will soon meet Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Rawat said. Rawat highlighted the timing of the Centres decision to impose the Presidents rule in the state. He claimed that it has obstructed the development works in the state. His plea was that April month always remains an important time for a government to take forward the development works. Uttarakhand has already suffered a lot. Aage kee sari Line bigad gai (it derailed the state from the path of development, Rawat said. He gave assurance that he would take corrective measures after returning to power. A jubilant Congress, which had started celebrating right after the vote, called it the victory of democracy. Rahul Gandhi tweeted: Hope Modiji learns his lesson-ppl of this country &the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy! Mr. Rawat had challenged the decision in one court after another; the Congress and other parties accused the BJP of misusing its powers to remove a democratically-elected government just because it was that of an opposition party. The Supreme Court ruled last week that Mr. Rawat must be given a chance to prove that he still has a majority in the state legislature. Since BJP is ruling in both places (i.e. in the state and at the centre), many questions and mysteries remained unsolved such as Sheena Bohras murder mystery to the killings of whistleblowers. The government earlier stated that there is no report to suggest any link between the murders of rationalists Govind Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar and MM Kalburgi. Pansare, a left-wing politician and author, was shot on February 16, 2015, by assailants in Kolhapur. He succumbed to his injuries five days later. Dabholkar, a rationalist and author, was killed on August 20, 2013, in Pune. Kannada writer Kalburgi was shot dead on August 30, 2015, in Dharwad district of Karnataka. Veteran Left leader Govind Pansare and his wife were shot at near their home in Maharashtras Kolhapur. The 82-year-old lawyer, a known anti-toll tax campaigner, was on a morning walk with his wife Uma when at around 8 am, unknown attackers fired at them. The shooters reportedly fired at least four rounds at close range before running away. He was the one who, appealed to workers of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) to remain aggressive in continuing the work of anti-superstition crusader Narendra Dabholkar. Pansare further forced the state government to pass the anti-superstition bill in the assembly and implement it. Pansare a communist leader has fought for years against the state governments decision to charge citizens for road development. Tolls are indirect taxation. This mode is adopted when the direct taxation is not comprehensive and many people are outside the direct tax net. What can be done is that if one has paid a certain amount as direct taxes, the tolls can be exempted for that person. However, this will require a lot of technology to be put in place to track ones direct taxes paid every year and issue him a card that can be swiped at toll plazas to exempt him from the toll. Pansare was building pressure on government against these toll mafias. He had resorted to protest against the Chief Minister Fadanviss U-turn on scrapping the levy. A panel of anti-toll activists from Ravivar Peth in Kolhapur had made CMs personal mobile phone number public, urging sympathisers to flood him with text messages demanding a rollback of the levy. The anti-toll activists displayed hoardings with these numbers in prominent localities, setting a target of sending over one lakh anti-toll text messages to the CM. Fadnaviss woes were further compounded with a prominent Marathi daily publishing these numbers along with a story regarding the unique anti-toll protest. Not amused by the mode of protest, sources said the CMs office made its displeasure known to the toll activists and the publishing house. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had also faced a similar protest following his decision to continue with the local body tax. Activists from Kolhapur were also involved then. However, the mobile number shared then was that of a senior official in the CMO and not Chavans. Anyway, nothing much has been done against toll mafias and toll tax but the revolutionary killed, within the span of few months of BJP government come in state. Similarly, Dabholkar was also shot dead in August, 2013, while he was on a morning walk near his house in Pune. The Maharashtra government had announced a reward of Rs. 10 lakh for information on his killers. Dabholkars murder comes days after the Maharashtra government assured introduction of the anti-superstition bill even as Right Wing groups continued to oppose the bill. A staunch fighter for the cause of eradication of inhuman rituals and superstitions, Dabholkar was also in the forefront of the campaign to persuade Maharashtra government to pass an anti-superstition and black magic bill, opposed by certain sections of Warkari sect, in the State legislature. Dabholkar, who had a degree in medicine, started working in the field of superstition eradication in 1983. In 1989, along with other like-minded people; he founded the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. In 2010, RTI activist Satish Shetty was also killed while he was out on his morning stroll. He was allegedly stabbed by several people. Popularly known as Satish, was a social activist, noted for exposing many land scams in Maharashtra. He had used the Right to Information Act to expose irregularities in Government offices in the last five years. He was killed on 13 January 2010, by unknown attackers in Talegaon. Shetty had used the RTI Act to expose large scale land scams involving the leading real estate firm IRB Infrastructure and its subsidiary Aryan. In 2009, he filed a complaint that forged documents had been used by these firms to acquire large swathes of land in the Taje and Pimploli villages off the Pune-Mumbai highway. After investigations, 90 sale deeds were cancelled. After this episode, Shetty started getting threat calls. In November 2009, he filed a request with the Pune rural police seeking protection. In the request, he said that he had been receiving threats. In January 2010, Shetty was stabbed by several people while he was at a kiosk reading a newspaper after his morning walk. The attack on Pansare is the third in this pattern and I am sure this would also be open and shut case like other two. Toll Mafias are powerful than Maharashtra Government, Judiciary and law enforcement agencies in the state. All the toll-ways (highways) are not maintained at all. We are suffering jarring journeys. Toll is highly unpopular and anti-people. Only the contractors are benefited. It is the biggest example of Politician-Official- contractor nexus. It is a wakeup call of reality check for all the governments that only the middle men stand to benefit. Many political leaders across political parties have indirect business interest in road construction and infrastructure through sub-contracts with Toll Mafia. Only Raj Thackeray and his MNS taught lesson to them and there on tamed down after election results. There was debate and discussion around the country about tolerance and in tolerance but so far no one is caught and government is not willing to probe these murders further and find out who killed them and what was the motive? Until this covert solved, the question will always remain who killed theses whistle blowers? (Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com) Alison M. Buttenheim, PhD, MBA David A. Asch, MD, MBA "One reason education has little potency is that it requires a rational mindset in which new information informs actions, which may make sense for economists, but rarely does for other people." The medical community seems continually bewildered by parents who question the mandated vaccine schedule. Here JAMA reports on the non-vaccinating parent. The premise is that there is no rational reason not to vaccinate, therefore there must be something wrong with these people. The non-vaxxers have long troubled medical experts who discuss them as if they're members of a religious cult or mentally ill. It seems educating them doesn't work. Really? How do you "promote vaccine acceptance" to people who know the following? ...neither the doctor nor the vaccine maker has any liability for vaccine damage. ...the government has paid out billions in claims for people who were seriously harmed or even killed by vaccinations. ...vaccines are the most poorly tested pharmaceutical products on the market. ...official safety claims are based on pharma-funded, population studies--the least reliable type of science. ...a top scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has admitted that his agency committed fraud in their vaccine research. ...the U.S. government has quietly compensated over 80 vaccine injury claims that involved autism, all the while saying there is no link between vaccines and autism. ...medical experts at HHS conceded the case of Hannah Poling, a Georgia girl who became autistic following routine vaccination. ...health officials have never done a simple comparison study of fully vaccinated and never vaccinated children to study health outcomes. ...health officials do nothing to prescreen children and find who may be at risk for a vaccine reaction. ...officials have never studied the children who were fine and suddenly lost learned skills and regressed into autism following vaccination. ...parents see more and more children with diabetes, seizures, bowel disease, autism, ADHD, and realize that we have the most vaccinated kids in the world and some of the sickest. I think it's about time we started an education outreach program to inform doctors about all the things that parents know. Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism. May 10, 2016 RAMALLAH, West Bank When Druze Mostafa Zahr ad-Din Saad turned 18, he received a notice for military service in the Israeli army. He refused to serve just like his brother had done a year and a half before and their father many years ago. On April 17, Saad posted on his Facebook page a picture of the letter that he had received informing him that he was exempted from the military service. He wrote, "Dear extended family and friends, a year ago I promised that I will never replace my violin with a firearm. Today I want to inform you that I was exempted from military service in the Israeli army, which is imposed on Arab Druze." The exemption came after Saad had refused to join the military; to avoid a prison term he had claimed that he was mentally unfit for the military service. He continued, "Thanks to the only democratic state in the Middle East, I got a certificate saying that I am crazy [and not fit for military service]." Saad is among the Druze who recently refused to enlist in the Israeli army based on nationalistic and patriotic principles. In the past few years, the number of young Druze refusing to join the army has been increasing. In the past, these cases were not made public, but Saad's brother Omar publicly announced his refusal to serve in the Israeli army in December 2014. The Druze are the only Israeli Arabs who serve in the Israeli army. It all started in July 1954 when then-Minister of Defense Pinhas Lavon decided to impose conscription on all young Arabs under the Israeli Defense Service Law. Yet in 1956 this law was amended and conscription was limited to young Druze, under an agreement with the Druze leadership at the time. The law stipulates that every Druze over the age of 18 should serve in the Israeli army for two years. The Saad brothers' refusal was inspired by their father, who had also refused to serve in the army in the past. Mostafa Saad told Al-Monitor that his refusal and that of his brother are based on principles and convictions they were brought up with, as an Arab Palestinian family. "We refused to serve as individuals, and we were never part of a group or anything. But [our refusal] was a contribution to a public cause and encouraged dozens of young people to do the same," he said. Omar Saad told Al-Monitor that the main reason for his refusal is his belonging to the Arab Palestinian people and the Palestine Youth Orchestra at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. "I could never imagine myself wearing a military uniform for an entity that occupies, kills and humiliates the Palestinian people. I could never imagine myself standing at a checkpoint on the entrance of Palestinian villages and towns and participating in the oppression of my brothers and sisters, with whom I live, laugh, eat and play music," he said. Omar Saad, whose case turned into a public opinion discussion, also spoke about the price he had to pay for taking his decision. He explained how he was sent to jail seven times, a total of 200 days, during which he was moved between the prison and a hospital after being taken ill. "Of course it was not an easy experience, but the support I got from my family and the civil support I received from around the world helped me stay strong and finish what I had started," he said, speaking about the support he got from a campaign launched to support him. Druze youths have been launching campaigns refusing to serve in the Israeli army since 2014. One of the most influential campaigns, "Refuse and your people will protect you," was launched in June 2014, when Druze young people tore up military service notices in public and collectively refused to serve. Another campaign, "[Tasahal] Tolerate others, it is not worth it," was launched in May 2014. The word Tasahal refers to the Israel Defense Forces' name in Hebrew, meaning the Israeli army does not deserve the service of the youths. The refusal of young people to serve in the Israeli army indicates that they seek obtain exemption from service. Upon their refusal, they are arrested and sent to prison for a period of time that may equal the full military service period; most of these young people have been locked up for such a time. Article 46(a) of Israel's Defense Service Law stipulates that anyone who does not serve his term under the law will be imprisoned for two years. Samer Sweid, a member of the Druze Follow-up Committee, told Al-Monitor that this was not a new phenomenon and that the media and technological developments promote the national and patriotic feeling among young Druze, who have started to get to know other communities with which they share a language, history and culture. According to Sweid, this phenomenon is perhaps spreading faster due to social networks; when a young man used to refuse to serve, only his family and friends would know about it. He said this is what happened in 1997 when he was sent to prison for seven months as punishment for his decision not to join the Israeli army. "We now ask the young people's families to make their sons' refusal public in order to spread awareness, encourage other youths and show them that they have a choice even if they have to pay for it," Sweid said. He believes young people's refusal to serve has helped change the stereotypical image of the Druze and that of the Druze soldiers in the army in the eyes of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; Druze have been considered to be the worst in dealing with Palestinians at checkpoints, courts and prisons. Sweid explained that Israeli army leaders have used the Druze to tarnish their image among Palestinians, saying, "I have been meeting with many Palestinians in the West Bank recently and they now look at the Druze differently. They accept us more and especially when they find out we refuse to serve in the Israeli army." According to Sweid, 40% of young Druze are not serving, half of whom based their decision on national and patriotic reasons, and half of whom are exempted under the law, as they are female or religious men. Speaking to Al-Monitor, Adel Shedid, a professor of Israeli studies at Hebron University, agreed with Sweid that the issue of Druze refusing to serve in the army was nothing new, but that more people have recently started to refuse serving in the Israeli army and this has turned into a phenomenon that is now becoming public. Shedid attributes the rising refusal rates of Druze young people mainly to the discrimination against Druze soldiers after they complete the military service, in terms of the privileges granted to them in particular and the discrimination against the Druze community in general. According to Shedid, the Druze are treated differently than Jewish Israelis when it comes to post-consription privileges such as housing benefits, loans, assistance in finding high-level jobs in state institutions and educational grants at universities. He further noted other reasons behind this phenomenon such as the recent awareness campaigns among young Druze as a result of technological developments that have created a sense of patriotism after years of having been separated from other Palestinians inside the West Bank. In addition, the Druze began communicating with the Palestinian society after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA), at both the popular and official levels. "In the past, the Druze used to introduce themselves as Israeli Druze; however, today they introduce themselves as Arab Druze or Palestinian Druze. They no longer see the Palestinian struggle movement in a negative way and they no longer see themselves as part of the Zionist project," Shedid said. Despite the rise of this phenomenon and its spread throughout the media, the reality shows that it would be difficult for it to turn into a comprehensive movement of refusal adopted by all young Druze mainly because the Druze young people are forced to take the economic repercussions of such a decision into account. The Israeli army service provides job opportunities that could be difficult for young people to find on their own. May 10, 2016 When I told fashion designer Dalya Bar Or that I remember my grandfather wearing Ata clothes, she laughs. "Everyone remembers a grandfather or uncle wearing Ata," she says. "The moment the topic is mentioned, that's what people say." Bar Or, both a designer and a historian of fashion, wrote her doctoral dissertation on "Ata and Israeli society, 1934-1986," which has naturally occasioned hearing this excited response from Israelis many times. In its time, Ata had a mythical and symbolic status in Israel, though the grand Zionist textile factory closed its gates 30 years ago. Its unique status is now bringing Ata back to life, as Itay Yaacov, a fashion correspondent for the XNet website, documented eight months ago. The Ata label was acquired by publicist and businessman Shahar Segal, and last month its official revival was announced with the opening of a store on Allenby Street in Tel Aviv, adjoining the urban triangle marking the hipster lifeline of the city. The location is no coincidence, and symbolizes the essential difference between the new label and what Ata once was. Passersby can now get newly excited at seeing the famous logo a blue triangle with the word Ata, proudly raised above the store. "Ata made its mark because it was planned as an aggregate concern, a company that creates an item from the thread to a finished product," explains Bar Or. "People thought it was a government factory, and [Israel's first Prime Minister] David Ben-Gurion helped popularize this notion by wearing the concern's clothes. If he wears it, the workers will wear it." The company was established in 1934 by Erich Muller, an Austrian textile manufacturer. He changed the style of young Jews in the land of Israel. Ata designs were developed in line with the self-understanding of the Israeli "sabra" image: simple, clean, efficient, ready for work and for dancing the "hora," a popular Israeli circle dance. Ata clothes became the uniform of pioneering Israel and after the creation of the state, that of [Labor precursor] Mapai representatives and their Socialist voters. The opportunity to wear clothes made exclusively in Israel as well as the clothes' practicality enchanted young idealists. "Ata wasnt only a textile factory; it fulfilled an important role in forming the nationalism of the new Israeli society. The basic products of the factory reflected 'true Israeliness': the Zionist establishment's pioneered Socialist asceticism," Bar Or wrote in her dissertation. Bar Or notes that when the Ministry of Education compiled a list of "50 Zionist terms" to mark the first 50 years of the State of Israel, Ata was one of them. Even today, Ata clothes are considered a symbol of the good and beautiful Israel of yesteryear. "Israeli society is very militaristic, and Ata clothes are basically a uniform. The combination of nostalgia and militarism creates the passion for Ata," Yaacov told Al-Monitor. The new Ata clothes will only be sold at the flagship store in Tel Aviv, apparently to make it a nostalgic as well as fashionable pilgrimage destination. They draw from the old designs with an eye to modern fashion. "Clothes there are inspired by the spirit of Ata," Yaacov explains. "Functional but fashionable work clothes, and replicas of iconic patterns like the white Sabbath shirt and the blue shorts. Fashion designer Yael Shenberger says that adjustments were made for a new era. For instance, the pockets are made to fit a smartphone. They also tried wearing the clothes while riding a bike to make sure it's comfortable to ride with them." These changes and the store's location attest to the target market: young, urban, up-to-date Tel Avivians, although Yaacov says, "Even my father got excited and said he'd visit the store to check the current clothes' quality compared to the past." The nostalgic element adds to the appeal for young Israelis, but the vintage look seems more aesthetic than ideological. Bar Or was glad to hear of Ata's return. "Its a brilliant move," she asserts. "Segal has a good sense of trends. Today people cling to nostalgia and are attracted to unisex, nongendered clothing like Ata offered. It will attract millennial Tel Avivians, for whom it will be nice and inexpensive to walk around with the Ata bag and show it to Grandma at the kibbutz. I don't think there's an ideological agenda here, but what business has one today?" While the new Ata clothes are manufactured in Israel though Segal did not promise they will be in the future the textiles aren't necessarily. That is, it won't be an Israeli concern from A to Z like the old Ata. "I got excited about the story because I have a nostalgic side," Yaacov says, "but the market is small and flooded, and you need more than nostalgia. Ata was a textile factory, and that was its vision and its power. To take only the nostalgic side without reviving the label's essence Israeli textile manufacturing is now a completely dead industry leaves it at the level of a fashion thing. They're doing a good job, but it remains on the level of 'cool.' We have to see what will happen with the second collection; it will certainly be interesting." May 11, 2016 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip The Palestinian government decided during its session on May 3 to hold local council elections in October in the West Bank, without indicating whether elections will be held in the Gaza Strip. Hamas, which controls Gaza, insists on reaching a consensus on the mechanism and the date before holding any elections, as agreed upon by virtue of the memorandum of understanding signed between the Palestinian parties in Cairo on Sept. 26, 2014. The memorandum stipulates the need to create a suitable environment to hold the various elections, the implementation of all items of the internal Palestinian reconciliation to form a government and to integrate old and new public servants, among other subjects. The Palestinian government had commissioned Minister of Local Government Hussein al-Araj to coordinate with the Central Election Commission to take all necessary measures to hold local council elections on time. The legal mandate for local councils in the West Bank ends in October; the last local elections were held in the Palestinian territories in 2012 in the West Bank only and not in Gaza as a result of the Palestinian internal division. Under Palestinian Law No. 12 of 2005, in the event local council elections could not be conducted in one day, a decision may be issued to hold them in several stages. The law seems to have been amended because of the Israeli obstacles that have disrupted the holding of elections for some time for example, those in East Jerusalem and will also impact local council elections in October, which are being held only in the West Bank and not in the Gaza Strip due to the Palestinian division. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had issued on March 30 a decree to re-establish the Palestinian Election Commission, which angered the Legal Committee of the Legislative Council that held a session in Gaza but not in the West Bank. For the committee, Abbas' decree along with his decision to establish the Constitutional Court and the government's decision to conduct local elections in October are illegal and constitute a clear violation of the Palestinian Basic Law, which stipulates that the president shall issue laws after being approved by the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) within 30 days of the date of referral. This has not happened because of the Palestinian division and the fact that the PLC sessions are not being held. Hamas has rejected these decisions. The undersecretary of the Ministry of Local Government in the West Bank, Samir Dawabsheh, told Al-Monitor that his ministry has started preparations for the local council elections following the government's decision to hold them in October. Dawabsheh said that the Palestinian territories include 400 local councils in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, indicating that he will be chairing a steering committee and an executive committee tasked with preparing the elections and communicating with the Palestinian Central Election Commission. These elections must be held since the local councils are service councils. Holding these elections is a healthy action aimed to raise the quality of services provided to citizens, he said. For his part, Hisham Kahil, the executive director of the Palestinian Central Election Commission, told Al-Monitor, The commission is ready to hold any local, legislative or presidential elections if approved by the higher authorities, pointing out that the civil register was updated in March. Kahil said that more than 2 million voters are registered with the Central Election Commission, stressing that the commission did not encounter any difficulties in updating the voter register rolls, especially in Gaza. However, he expected some obstacles on the part of the Israeli authorities at the checkpoints in the West Bank and Jerusalem during the electoral process, such as the arrest of activists who are part of the candidates' electoral campaigns and the closure of polling centers, which has previously happened. The Palestinian Central Election Commission announced April 26 that it completed the updating of the electoral register in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, with a total of 2,006,064 male and female voters, which equals 78.5% of those entitled for registration in the Palestinian territories. Hamas rejected this move. Hamas PLC member Yahya Moussa told Al-Monitor, Ever since the Palestinian government took office, it has discriminated between Gaza and the West Bank, appearing only to be responsible for the West Bank residents. Moussa blamed Abbas and the government for the decisions that were taken unilaterally, including the decisions of re-establishing the Election Commission and creating the Constitutional Court, and the decision to prepare for the local council elections in the West Bank and not in Gaza. He pointed out that these decisions prove the state of division between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. He said that Hamas does not reject the principle of holding elections, but disapproves of the unilateral decisions by the president and the government, indicating that the decision to hold elections or not in any part of the Palestinian territories reverts to the Central Election Commission and the government has nothing to do with it. Moussa warned of the government interference in the electoral process, which he described as a recipe for rigged elections. Hamas had refused to participate in the latest local council elections in the West Bank in 2012, while no local council elections have been held in the Gaza Strip since 2005. Kayed al-Ghul, a Gaza-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader, told Al-Monitor, In principle we call for holding elections at various levels including trade union, municipal, legislative and presidential elections, as well as elections at the level of the National Council to get out of the tense political situation plaguing the Palestinian political system. He said that the PFLP communicated with Hamas in Gaza to persuade it to participate in the local council elections and allow holding elections in the Gaza Strip, but that Hamas stressed the necessity of reaching a prior agreement between the Palestinian parties regarding the date of any elections that may be held in the Palestinian territories. He noted that the PFLP will continue to communicate with Hamas in order to hold the elections in Gaza and ensure the movements participation. In regard to Gaza not participating in the elections in light of the internal division, he said, Elections whenever possible must be held in any part of the Palestinian territories; the ensuing outcomes are service-related and not related to politics. However, keeping Gaza outside the framework of such elections consecrates the state of division, which means that each party controls its own Palestinian territory and imposes its authority over this territory according to its own discretion." Ultimately, the internal Palestinian division remains the main obstacle impeding Palestinian democratic elections, the latest of which took place 10 years ago when the local elections were held in all of the Palestinian territories at the same time and where Hamas won the majority of votes. May 11, 2016 The report by State Comptroller Joseph Shapira on Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip has not yet been published, but the initial draft, received by some 40 top defense and political figures, has already stirred up a storm. Reactions by associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who pounced on the report and on the comptroller with sharp and irrelevant comments, only reinforced the troubling feelings about the summer 2014 military campaign, which the Israeli public never perceived as a great military success to begin with. Now comes the draft report, which lambasts the political and military echelons for alleged negligence and infuriating irresponsibility. In a May 9 Al-Monitor article, Ben Caspit described the war of generals expected to erupt after the release of the final report. The most significant point in the comptrollers report is his assessment that putting aside the flawed conduct of the operation and attendant decision-making, the war in Gaza could have been avoided. If the Israeli political echelon had not been shackled by outdated conceptions and basic lack of understanding regarding the significance of the Gaza blockade and its inherent dangers, many lives would have probably been spared. Senior Israeli officials who received the draft which they described as more severe than the findings of the Winograd Commission that investigated the shortcomings of Israels 2006 Lebanon War said that one of the reports chapters deals with what Israel could have done to avert the clash. In the days before the military campaign, there was obvious satisfaction in Jerusalem over Egypt having joined in imposing a hermetic seal on Gaza and the new regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi conducting an all-out war against the tunnels dug by Hamas in Rafah on Gazas southern border with Egypt. The military and political leaderships failed, however, to understand one simple fact: that additional pressure on the Gaza pressure cooker would result in an explosion, as indeed it did. Although Operation Protective Edge was the peak of an escalation that began with the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli youths in the West Bank Etziyon settlement bloc, the root of the problem that led Hamas toward the conflict was the Gaza blockade and the desire to get rid of it at whatever the cost. When Hamas says whatever the cost, that includes the total destruction of extensive areas of the Gaza Strip and the lives of Gaza residents. This is the first time since former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert imposed the closure on Gaza in June 2007 that an Israeli official will do the obvious and directly link the blockade and rocket firings at Israel. Anyone who assumes that the pressure on Gaza can be sustained relentlessly, without consequence, is either delusional or ignorant about human nature. Hamas developed the Qassam rocket before the blockade as a deterrent against Israel and a way to attack without clashing with Israeli ground forces, but the blockade created a threat to its continued rule and forced it to launch an arms race that turned Gaza into a powder keg. Israel did not understand at the time that an extended blockade would mean subjecting Israeli residents in the south to a life in the shadow of Hamas rockets. When the comptroller issues his final report, senior defense and government officials will probably try to blame each other for the shortcomings exposed. After the public exchange of blows, however, officials must study the thick report and take seriously the rethinking it suggests in regard to Israels mistaken security concept, according to which one can imprison the residents of Gaza, control the supply of food and raw materials entering Gaza, cause the deterioration of Gaza's economy and at the same time enjoy calm along the border. This security concept was Olmerts basic assumption when he imposed the blockade. He assumed that economic pressure would unseat Hamas and restore the Palestinian Authority and its leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, after their violent overthrow in June 2007. Nine years have since elapsed, the blockade is still in force and Hamas has only gotten stronger. During Operation Protective Edge, Hamas fighters managed to hold their own for some 50 days in the face of a skilled and far better equipped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) army. That summer, Hamas disrupted the daily routines of millions of Israelis, from the communities on the Gaza border to the edge of Haifa in the north, threatening their lives with long-range rockets. The Israeli economy sustained serious damage. Many small businesses collapsed, and it took others months to recover. In addition to considering the warning bells sounded by the report regarding the military's preparedness for the operation and its conduct by the army brass and the government, Israel must answer the following questions: Has the blockade of Gaza improved Israel's security or eroded it? What are the blockade's implications in terms of Israels international standing? Can one assume that significant economic improvements for the residents of Gaza could have saved many lives on both sides of the border fence and spared the IDF deep embarrassment? Shapira, according to those who have read the report, does not provide direct answers to these questions, but the fact that he raises them in such a clear and sharp manner hints at the direction in which he is pointing. Publication of the full report is unlikely to force senior military or political officials to accept responsibility for their failures and resign. Former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, who comes in for the biggest share of criticism in the report, is no longer in office, while the second-most criticized figure, Prime Minister Netanyahu, is already hard at work denigrating and discrediting the document. Although Israel appears to reject the link between the hardship and despair in Gaza and the resulting security threat to Israelis, the top leadership must take this report seriously in an effort to avoid the next war in Gaza. Hamas, in its despair and that of Gaza residents brought to their knees by the deprivation-inducing blockade, has directed its resources to fighting Israel by all means to end the blockade. Netanyahu, Gantz and the top military and political brass did not understand this or if they did, they preferred to ignore it but the state comptroller understands, and he has no intention of ignoring it. On the eve of Israels Memorial Day, May 11, to honor its war dead, Judge Shapira has handed decision-makers an important guide that could save many lives in the future. Siege, poverty, pressure and despair are a dangerous cocktail for Israels security. Israels leadership would do well to adopt the comptroller's findings rather than fight them. May 11, 2016 ALEPPO, Syria Since the outbreak of the revolution in Syria five years ago, various Arab and international media outlets naturally began publishing daily reports about the various political, military and humanitarian developments in the country. Amid the great number of news flashes and articles, the amount of incorrect, distorted and groundless information became noticeable. This gave Syrian journalist Ahmad Primo the idea to launch the platform Verify. Primo spoke to Al-Monitor about the purpose of the platform giving the reader correct information that is free of lies and distortion. Primo holds a degree in programming and web development and has been working in online media for seven years. He explained that there are many reasons that lead to the spread of false information in the media. Chief among them, Primo said, Media outlets rush to spread news about Syria. In the absence of censorship, they publish news based on the copy/paste technique without following professional standards to verify whether the news comes from official or reliable sources. Verify's slogan is Responsible Journalism. Four volunteer journalists staff the platform's management and editorial team to correct, confirm and refute news items. Each journalist works from his or her place of residence in Syria, Turkey and Germany. Eight additional journalists monitor suspicious journalistic articles and submit them to the editorial team for verification. Visitors to the platform, however, play the most important role in the monitoring process, submitting the largest percentage of corrected news items. We are happy that social media users are hugely interactive with us, Primo said. Dozens of items are being sent to us on a daily basis for verification, and when the article is correct, we inform them that it is correct. But when it is wrong, we publish a correction after finding a source refuting the validity of the article. Although the platform was launched less than two months ago, on March 21, its social media accounts are attracting a large number of users. The website's Facebook page has attracted more than 32,000 likes, a good number compared with other recently launched local Syrian pages. Journalist Mustafa Muhammad, who writes for Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, said that the popularity of the platforms pages is normal given followers desire to know the truth. Muhammad told Al-Monitor, Today we are in dire need of such a platform in order to provide people with correct news at a time when social media outlets are riddled with distorted news. Asked if Verify is reliable, Muhammad replied, Yes, definitely, because this platform uses professional standards and proven evidence in its assessment of the news validity. Primo explained that his team validates news by searching for the main source of the article. The platform does not publish corrections until proven documents are found. These can be images, videos, testimonies or official statements. The number of corrected pieces thus far is about 250. Verify corrects news published by opposition and regime media outlets alike. It is unbiased, is not affiliated with any political party and does not receive foreign funding for salaries. Primo said, We are only biased in favor of the truth. Our sole goal is to correct the news for the reader. On April 1, a Facebook page published a video that the page claimed was an air raid in Syria. The video got more than a million views, but Verify checked its validity and found that the strike had been in the Gaza Strip and that the video had been published on YouTube two years ago. Verify also refuted the validity of a photo published April 29 on a Web page close to the regime. The photo reportedly showed the bodies of civilians, killed in opposition bombing, laid out in Al-Razi Hospital in Aleppo. The platform managed to prove, however, that the photo had been published on the internet four years ago. It did not specify the location. Al-Monitor found that the image is of victims of the Houla massacre, which ensued when regime security and armed forces stormed the town of Houla on May 25, 2012, killing 108 people according to Human Rights Watch. In addition to identifying mistakes by local media outlets, Verify has also corrected news and articles published by international media outlets, including Al Jazeera, Russia Today and the BBC, and has presented some of its findings in English. Our attention is mainly focused on Syrian affairs, but we correct any news related to Syria, Primo said. For example, we denied widely spread reports whereby Turkish authorities had abolished entry visas for Syrians. Our future plan is to correct any news published on the internet regardless of its content. The platform team said work is currently underway to launch an English version of the website and a mobile application. According to Primo, media outlets have been responsive to the platform. Some outlets apologized for having published false information, and others corrected their content, including BBC Arabic, which apologized for publishing footage of opposition areas in Aleppo as being regime-controlled areas. Editor's note: This article has been updated since its initial publication. May 11, 2016 On April 24, 2013, Saudi national Omar al-Muhaysini was killed in Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, alongside his fellow countryman Abdul Aziz al-Othman, aka Abu Omar al-Jazrawi, who is said to be the first Saudi national to join al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra. Muhaysini, the younger brother of Sheikh Mohammad al-Muhaysini, a leading Saudi cleric and the former head of the countrys powerful Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, was allegedly assassinated by the Islamic State (IS) along with Jazrawi. A few months later, Omar Muhaysinis nephew Abdullah Muhaysini, a renowned young cleric, announced that he was headed to Syria, leaving behind his family in Mecca. The nephew said he came to Syria to bridge the gap between IS and other factions. In an interview with the Swiss Islamic Central Council, he said, I was an admirer of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Islamic State of Iraq, and I thought they were victims of lies. He said he decided to travel to Syria despite the travel ban imposed on him by the Saudi authorities. They impose travel bans to prevent those who support the mujahedeen on the path of Allah from going to Syria. Since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, Muhaysini has taken part in several campaigns aimed at raising funds to help jihadi groups and victims of the war. His sermons in Mecca were dedicated partially to Syria. Yet it might be that the death of his young uncle was a main reason behind his decision to migrate to Syria to join the fight there. In Syria, Muhaysini presented himself as a mediator between factions. He asked to meet IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but was granted permission instead to meet the caliphs (now deceased) No. 2, Abu Ali al-Anbari. Muhaysini suggested that differences between the factions that are fighting to topple Syrias President Bashar al-Assad should have a religious court to rule among them so that they wont fight each other. In a few months, Muhaysini took sides and became hostile to IS and sided with Jabhat al-Nusra and its allies yet he was conscious about not calling himself a member of any faction. He started appearing in videos calling on Muslims to join the fight against the Syrian government at a time when his opponents started questioning the real role he was playing in Syria, with his launching a war of words on IS as well as other factions. It was not until March 2015 that the young Saudi preacher found himself a suitable position in the hierarchy of the Syrian revolutions factions. He founded Jaish al-Fatah, or the Army of Conquest, that brought together around nine factions, including Jabhat al-Nusra. Muhaysini became the general judge of the new coalition that fought several decisive battles in Idlib, Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, Quneitra and Qalamoun, appearing in several videos from the field, giving fiery speeches and taking part in the battles, such as in Tel al-Ais where he was injured for the fourth time since his arrival in Syria. His popularity was growing to the extent that an Iranian official told Al-Monitor for an April article, I can see a new bin Laden being created. Hes also Saudi, and hes now being treated as a rebel: Abdullah al-Muhaysini. Its really strange how history repeats itself. It might be true that there are some similarities between the former slain al-Qaeda leader and Muhaysini: both are Saudis, both come from rich families that work in construction Muhaysinis family owns a construction company thats worth 500 million riyals ($133 million) and both founded an umbrella group for multinational jihadis fighting in a country away from their own. Yet the era of bin Laden isnt the same as that of Muhaysini. Moreover, the legacy of bin Laden isnt easily inherited. Bin Ladens war against the Soviet Union is different from Muhaysinis war against the Syrian regime. The same applies to the status of jihad back when bin Laden was one of few jihadi leaders, while Muhaysini is one among many. According to Abdullah bin Mohammed, an al-Qaeda theorist, Muhaysini today isnt the same man who moved to Syria three years ago. He supported the Syrian revolution and made some political mistakes, yet he learned a lot from the Syrians and took into consideration their advice. Bin Mohammed told Al-Monitor that he considers Muhaysini as one of the accepted figures among the Islamic factions. Hes always present when it comes to arbitration. Hes independent, though there are some who believe hes with al-Qaeda, and they have a point in that, the theorist explained. I see his path taking him to incorporate himself with the revolutions culture year after year, the acceptance of others, coexistence, and I think this will lead to the rethinking of many issues, mainly giving up the holiness they surround themselves with. Bin Mohammeds point of view differs from that of Moussa al-Ghannami, a Saudi preacher who was Muhaysinis acquaintance. Ghannami wrote on Twitter, The leaders of the two wings of al-Qaeda were racing to sit with him, some calling him the [Abdullah] Azzam of Syria, and others the new [Osama] bin Laden, hes a limitless credit card. Ghannami accused Muhaysini of taking the side of Jabhat al-Nusra and mobilizing many young men for al-Qaeda. Ghannami said Muhaysini then stopped mobilizing after the disasters he caused in Syria and started working on support campaigns for al-Qaeda and its operations rooms. During the Ghouta crisis he launched a campaign for [financial] support. I asked our brothers there and they said they didnt receive a penny. Others tweeted with the question, Whats Muhaysinis real goal in Syria? Some accused him of being a puppet of spy agencies, and others of inciting hatred among militants. Al-Monitor asked an Iranian official about Muhaysini and how Iran sees him. He told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, Muhaysini is serving the Saudi intelligences agenda. Hes today the man in control on the ground even if he says things against Saudi Arabia; his family is there, his children, hes a Saudi Trojan [horse] in the body of the terrorists, mainly those among them who dont answer [to] the Saudis policy. Despite the aforementioned points of view, its obvious that Muhaysini has become a real factor in the Syrian equation whether hes a jihadist wonder boy, a new bin Laden or a Saudi Trojan horse, the fact is that hes in the limelight for anyone interested in Syria, not to mention that he was addressed by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in an open letter in 2014 answering questions raised by him and other pro al-Qaeda figures. May 10, 2016 Angel investors, who are widespread in Europe and the United States, have been expanding rapidly in Turkey for the past two years. Investors who support new entrepreneurs with capital infusion and advice are called "angels." But for some, these angels are also "investment hunters" who seek profitable investment opportunities for themselves. In Turkey, angel investors are encouraged with tax breaks. But to benefit from such subsidies, investments should be innovative, research and development-oriented and high-risk companies with rapid advancement prospects. Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mehmet Simsek said angel investors are exempt for up to 75-100% in their tax obligations. To benefit from tax exemptions, angel investors first have to obtain the License for Individual Capital Infusion from the Treasury. Those who get the license are entitled to 75% income tax exemption. Those who have invested in projects supported by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey and the Small and Medium Business Development and Support Administration for five years are entitled to 100% tax exemption. Simsek said that the tax exemption for angel investors in Turkey is higher than in Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Singapore, Israel and many US states. Britain, which has the second-highest incentive level in Europe after Turkey, offers 30% tax exemption. The Undersecretariat of Treasury had planned to issue licenses to 625 angel investors over five years, but this number has already reached 374 in two years because investors have expressed interest in high-risk and high-yield areas. And how does the procedure for investors benefiting from the incentives work? Former Minister of Economy Masum Turker told Al-Monitor, "Angel investors first obtain the License for Individual Capital Infusion. Then the search begins for new entrepreneurs who lack capital. There are several 'angel investment networks' on the internet to help with that. Angel investors and those who need capital find each other through such networks. If an investor and new entrepreneur reach an agreement, they go to the Treasury, which studies their request and, if compatible with regulations, approves it." Masum Turker said investments in high-innovation areas are especially encouraged. "Sirketortagim.com," one of the biggest angel investment networks, offers this information: "With regulations issued in February 2013, angel investments have been legalized and can now benefit from a minimum of 20,000 Turkish liras and a maximum of 1 million liras in tax support. Angel investors must first be licensed. According to regulations, high-income investors, or those with substantial assets or experienced investors can obtain this license." In Turkey, the average investment by angel investors is around 285,000 liras ($97,000). This rather high figure is attributed to interest shown in major initiatives, rather than new, small-scale businesses. Nevertheless, small-scale entrepreneurs also offer great hope for the future. Durmus Yilmaz, the former governor of the Central Bank, told Al-Monitor, "Angel investors bring together capital owners with those who have ideas and projects that could be implemented and turned into a commercial commodity allowing both to benefit." Yilmaz said this combination leads to new discoveries and fresh ideas. Here is one example for an angel investment: Two young men, Kerem Alper and Engin Ayaz, who were educated at Stanford University and returned to Turkey and set up Atolye Istanbul about six months ago. They started marketing new project ideas to major companies while offering support to new projects. In that short period of their existence, 10 foreign and local investors have acquired equity in Atolye by financing it. In the United States, the birthplace of angel investors, about 300,000 people have invested $23 billion. In Europe 70,000 angel investors have invested $5 billion. In Turkey, with its recent entry to this field, the level investment currently stands at $2.8 million. Simsek said there are many investors who invest without state support. Only last year this group invested 40 million liras. Simsek said although the amount may appear meager, it has the potential to contribute substantially to the system and the economy because they are technologically oriented and possess immense potential for growth. The low numbers show that Turkey has a long way to go with angel investments, though this is a field with major potential for expansion. But the most sensitive spot for angel investment is stability and an environment of trust. Turkey's political turmoil could well discourage angels as well as major investors. May 11, 2016 These days, Turkeys Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is making farewell visits to the heads of various state institutions, from the military to the Directorate of Religious Affairs. On May 22, at the snap congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), he will be replaced by a new party chair and a new prime minister. All of Turkey knows by now that this new man will keep a low profile and be fully obedient to the master of the show: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It can be safely said that Davutoglu's departure marks even greater concentration of power in the hands of Erdogan. The new power structure includes a new Erdoganist narrative, in which obedience to the leader is openly praised as a virtue and required as a duty. One example of this narrative came from Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek in a lead article published by Anadolu, one of the many pro-Erdogan newspapers that has popped up lately. Obedience to the leader is a must, the headline read, quoting Gokcek. The concept of a leader and absolute obedience to this leader exists in our faith, in our state tradition, Gokcek said. The leader can make mistakes yet still the decision he makes must be obeyed. Apparently, this obedience is an obligation for not just the party, but also the pro-AKP media world, which now makes up the majority of Turkish media outlets. In Aksam, columnist Markar Esayan underlined the nations unbreakable love for Erdogan, thanks to his manliness, faith, success, courage. This love, which he personally shares, is the steel core of the cause, Esayan wrote. It was so strong that it could not be weakened by sinister [criticism] such as authoritarianism, patriarchy, cult of the leader, dictatorship or corruption. Finally, Esayan explained how his love must be expressed by himself and all other Erdogan lovers: Let everybody be comfortable and keep his eye on the chief. Are we not a huge orchestra looking in the eyes of its conductor? Can this work be done any other way? Another pro-Erdogan pundit, Kadir Misiroglu, 83, who has been known for decades for his fez-wearing Ottomanism, took the narrative to a more theological level. In a speech presented on his popular website and that soon made its way around the web, Misirlioglu condemned Davutoglu for not being fully obedient to Erdogan. He saw obedience as being low, Misirlioglu commented, just like Satan, who refused to prostrate in front of Adam. This was a reference to a Quranic story in which God tells Satan to bow down to Adam, but Satan refuses out of arrogance, only to be condemned forever. To him, Davutoglu had shown satanic arrogance, just like all others who refuse to obey Erdogan. In the social media world, which is a major component of Turkeys political scene, calls for obedience to the leader, in a clear reference to Erdogan, have become common. There are dozens of popular Twitter feeds, some with hundreds of thousands of followers, devoted to the veneration of the Chief and the demonization of his enemies and traitors. One their recent mottos read, Whatever the Chief says, that is it. A reference used by some of these propaganda outlets is the Quranic verse 4:59, which reads, O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the messenger and those in authority among you. The authority here is taken as Erdogan. A pro-Erdogan Twitter user who recently ran for AKP deputy even offered a chilling interpretation of the verse: The chief is the head of this state, and those who do not obey him will lose both this world and the afterlife! All this suggests that the AKP, and especially Erdoganism as its latter-day ideology, may be classified as Islamist, in the sense of being a synthesizer of Islam and politics. While the aim of this self-styled Islamism may not be abolishing the secularism principle in the Turkish Constitution and establishing an Islamic state, it heavily uses religious themes to glorify the rule of Erdogan. It makes Islam serve an authoritarian project centered on a cult of personality. Luckily, that is not the only view of Islam that is being expressed in contemporary Turkey. There are also Islamic voices that extract not authoritarian but liberal messages from Islam. One example is a recent piece by former Istanbul Mufti Mustafa Cagrici, who writes a weekly column in Karar, a paper that has lately become an object of hate by hard-core Erdoganists. Under the headline The Cultural Background of Authoritarian Governments, Cagrici argued that an authoritarian political culture dominated Islam since its first century, and was not an expression but a perversion of the religion. Today Muslims need, he noted, freedom and the culture of criticism, which did not exist in traditional society. Etyen Mahcupyan, a former adviser to Davutoglu who also writes for Karar, also pointed to these two different trends in Turkish political Islam. On the one hand, there were the more numerous Chiefists, or hard-core Erdoganists, and on the other there was a smaller segment of well-educated, urban, upper-middle class, new-generation, globally minded conservatives who had more love for Davutoglu. Not surprisingly, after writing this, Mahcupyan was chided by Erdoganists for elitism. The future of Turkey will be partly defined by which of these two different understandings of Islam will become definitive. The good news is that the authoritarian one is not the only option. The bad news is that, at least at this point, it is the more powerful and assertive. May 10, 2016 Beirut is awaiting Daniel Glaser, assistant secretary for terrorist financing at the US Treasury Department. Glaser's visit, set for the end of May, has gained great importance given that it comes in the wake of the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, issued by the US Congress in December. Several delegations of the Lebanese government and banking officials visited Washington after the law was passed to discuss its impact. The delegations concluded that Beirut should wait for more details, which were then published April 15 in the Federal Register. That same day, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a list of more than 90 people suspected of being involved in financing terrorism. Under the law, the accounts of those people should be closed in all banks around the world. Any bank or commercial entity that deals with those on the list will risk US sanctions. This development exacerbated the confusion in Lebanon about the law and its potential repercussions. Lebanon's Central Bank swiftly issued a notice May 4 calling on all Lebanese banks to abstain from closing accounts or preventing the opening of accounts, except after coordinating with the Central Bank. To highlight the dimensions of the issue, Al-Monitor interviewed parties directly involved. Parliament member Yassin Jaber of the Liberation and Development Bloc, headed by parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, was one of the members of the Lebanese parliamentary delegation to visit Washington in late February. The delegation met with a number of US officials to discuss the anti-Hezbollah act. Jaber told Al-Monitor that the released documents "were completely expected." "Neither the rules and regulations nor the list of names have come as a surprise. During our mission in the US capital, we, the parliamentary delegation, wanted to make sure that the mentioned US law would affect neither Lebanon's economy nor the banking sector. We wanted to make sure it would not affect any Lebanese sector in general, and we have heard US reassurances in this regard. Lebanese parliament speaker Berri sent a letter to US President Barack Obama asking him to take these aspects and the delicate and sensitive situation in Lebanon into account." Asked about the next stage, Jaber said he expects the Central Bank to appoint an international legal team tasked with following up on the case and its complicated details and develop directions to help Lebanese banks deal with the new law. Not everyone is comfortable with the situation, however. Fares Soueid, coordinator of the March 14 alliance's General Secretariat unit, did not express the same confidence. "It is a completely new stage at the banking, official, economic and political levels. The issue cannot be taken lightly," Soueid told Al-Monitor. Asked why he is concerned, he said, "There are several examples we can mention in this regard. There is a hospital in Beirut named the Great Prophet Hospital. Everyone knows that this hospital is owned by Hezbollah. What happens if it gets included on the list of [entities] targeted by the US law? This hospital deals on a daily basis with government institutions such as the Lebanese Ministry of Health or the Social Security Fund. It also deals regularly with several Lebanese private institutions such as insurance companies and traders of medical equipment and hospital supplies, among others. What happens then? How would government institutions deal with the situation in the event that a US ban gets imposed on this hospital? How would the involved traders deal with the situation?" As another example, Soueid mentioned Jihad al-Bina, Hezbollah's nongovernmental organization specializing in construction contracting. "By virtue of its work, this institution deals with Lebanese government institutions and ministries. What happens in the event that a US ban is imposed on it?" he asked. "There are also educational institutions belonging to Hezbollah, including schools with tens of thousands of students. These schools naturally deal with the Lebanese Ministry of Education on a daily basis. What happens in the event that these institutions get included on the US list? What if Hezbollah parliament members or ministers get included on the list? This would affect their salaries, legal transactions and signatures on official banking or commercial documents, among others. There are many other examples about institutions linked to the official and private Lebanese economy on the one hand and the overall Lebanese society on the other," Soueid concluded. Given Jabers comfort and Soueids angst, Al-Monitor contacted Ali Zbib, a Lebanese lawyer who handles international law. Zbib is one of the experts the Lebanese government consults about how to deal with the US law in question. He told Al-Monitor that the implications of the US law evoke different reactions depending on the Lebanese authorities dealing with the issue. "What is new about the [law] is that it added the adjective 'criminal' to 'terrorist organization' to describe Hezbollah. This addition means that there are new US government agencies involved in or authorized to prosecute Hezbollah and everything associated with it. These are the important congressional committees, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis within the US Department of the Treasury and, of course, US authorities concerned with combating money laundering and other organized crimes. In other words, most US government agencies have become involved in the prosecution of this party [Hezbollah], which further complicates the Lebanese way of dealing with the issue." However, Zbib voiced no fear in this regard. He noted, for example, that the list of suspects the United States issued "included the name of a deceased person, namely the late Shiite cleric Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah." "And it is not Fadlallahs institutions that were mentioned as legal entities, but him as a real person, even though he passed away of natural causes in 2010. This means that there are loopholes in the law, and these loopholes could be either negative or positive. The Lebanese government has to look for these loopholes to use them and spare Lebanon from potential negative repercussions." Asked how the Lebanese government could take advantage of the loopholes, Zbib pointed out that the law grants the US president some discretion. The president isn't required to apply sanctions if he vouches to Congress, in writing, that a particular foreign financial institution "is no longer engaging in any terrorist activity or has taken, and is continuing to take, significant verifiable steps toward terminating its terrorist activity." This can be done "if the president has received reliable assurances from the government with primary jurisdiction over the foreign financial institution," Zbib said, quoting the law. He further explained, "This text allows the Lebanese government to handle any wrongdoings as far as the application of the US law is concerned, and it is the best approach, given that it emanates from the law itself and comes within the context of the US and Lebanese governments' relationship." The US law's repercussions for Lebanon and for Hezbollah in particular will unfold in time. Lebanon will closely monitor the situation at the governmental, political and banking levels, given that the United States may act on the new law in the near future possibly with Glaser's visit to Beirut in the second half of this month. Patriot 2002.JPG The 2002 Patriot ambulance by Excellance. (Courtesy) The 2002 Patriot ambulance by Excellance was recently remounted and is now known as the Phoenix. (Courtesy) An Alabama-made ambulance designed to honor the heroes and survivors of 9/11 is back in the hands of its manufacturer in Madison. Excellance, which has been making emergency vehicles in north Alabama since 1975, developed the Patriot ambulance in 2002 as a tribute to those who served or lost their lives during the 2001 terrorist attacks. The red, white and blue vehicle toured all over as a demo before it was sold to Capital Regional Medical Center, which used the Patriot as a front-line ambulance for many years. Capital later sold the vehicle to a commercial communications company in Cullman that used the Patriot as a work truck. Eventually, it was involved in an accident. Excellance Vice President of Manufacturing Mike Davis said company President Charlie Epps recently decided to buy the unit and remount it with hopes someone else will put it back in service doing the job it was made to do -- save lives. "So the legacy of the heroes of 9/11 continues on in this unit," he said. "I hope we can preserve the story in some way so that all the people who operate it in the future will know and the people whose lives are saved understand what a special unit this is." The unit, now known as the Phoenix, has been remounted and transformed into a life-saving ambulance once again. Excellance spokeswoman Amanda Dyar said some of the typical work performed during a remount includes: Accident and body damage repairs Complete electrical system replacement Interior and exterior compartment modifications Complete refinish, repainting, and graphics New suspensions New warning lights and sirens/speakers HVAC system replacements and upgrades The price of the upgraded vehicle is negotiable depending on the type of customization the customer may require. "The most important thing for us is to build quality, durable units that can last so they can save lives for many years to come," Dyar said. "The best use for the vehicle is for it to be put back into service as an ambulance and continue what it was originally built to do." The Phoenix is one of many unique Excellance vehicles. The company's Mobile Stroke Unit is one of only a couple in the world with technology to help victims receive the fastest, highest-quality care in the event of a stroke. Excellance is also the only company to design and build a custom ambulance that runs solely on compressed natural gas (CNG). The Ford Qualified Vehicle Modifier (QVM)-approved CNG ambulance was built for the fire department in Bossier City, La. and offers lower fuel costs over traditional gas and diesel engines. When the film "Woodlawn" premiered in October 2015, publications across the country were writing about the Birmingham community and the integration of its historic high school. Woodlawn has more recently been in the news for its efforts to preserve the community's history and renew its business district after years of decline. But did you know Woodlawn was an early city that was separate from Birmingham? It was founded in 1815 by pioneer Obadiah Wood and incorporated in 1891. Woodlawn's beginnings Obadiah Washington Wood and his son Edmund Wood were Huguenots, or French protestants, who came to what was then the Mississippi Territory in 1815 from Greenville, S.C. BhamWiki says. The site was chosen for its location on the strategic Georgia Road in a lush part of Jones Valley perfect for farming. The Wood settlement, then merely a cluster of farm homes, was initially called Rockville but when a railway was built in 1870 through the area, it was called Wood Station and had about 89 residents. By 1895, the city was called Woodlawn and had 2,500 residents. The City of Woodlawn built the first city hall and jail, according to BhamWiki.com. It was replaced in 1908 with a larger city hall, a building that has been restored and is in use today. Around that same time, the city boomed, adding a fire station, schools, churches and a library. The most iconic building in Woodlawn is its high school, a massive Gothic Revival structure completed in 1922. It is still in use by students but it is now part of the Birmingham City Schools system. Annexation and decline In 1910, Woodlawn was annexed into the City of Birmingham but its residents "maintained a strong community spirit that was bound up with the Wood family," BhamWiki writes. The business district continued to thrive for decades but fell victim to the urban blight in Birmingham in the 1960s and '70s. The United Methodist Church built in 1912 at the corner of First Avenue North and 55th Street peaked at 2,500 members in the 1950s. The limestone structure burned in 2009 and a new church was built on the site in 2011. Infamous murder In December 1929, 24-year-old Bettie Clyde Sullivan Keith lay in a bed at Woodlawn Infirmary after being stabbed by her husband the night before. W. Ross Keith was the owner of a local nightclub and was reportedly drunk when he entered his wife's hospital room the next morning and shot her to death. He turned the gun on himself but struck his arm, according to a 1929 article in The Birmingham News. Keith was later convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, he was paroled in 1938. The infirmary, which opened in 1922, was a three-story brick building on Third Avenue South in Woodlawn. It closed in the 1940s and the building was later used as apartments. After a fire in the building in 2002, the infirmary was demolished. "Scenes from ..." is a photo feature of small towns throughout Alabama. To suggest a town to be featured, email Kelly Kazek at kkazek@al.com. Follow her Scenes from Alabama Towns on Pinterest. Rev. Michael Jordan has a prayer. He doesn't just whisper it during quiet times. The Birmingham pastor puts it out there on the marquee at New Era Baptist Church for God, and everyone else, to see. His latest message? "Lord, please stop blacks from killing blacks." The other side reads, "Young black males must respect authority." "Our young black men are dying,'' Jordan said. "I think it gets too much attention when a white policeman kills a black male, but it gets no attention when it's black on black murders." It's a bold move for a black man, a black pastor, in a black community. But, he's no stranger to controversy. Just three years ago, Jordan expressed his outrage over the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict with a sign that read, "George Zimmerman jury supported white racism." On the other, he posted a reference to the 1983 Baby Doe's rape case in Birmingham: "Rape a white woman and you will die in prison." In 2008 he posted a sign saying, "Warning: Crack cocaine is sold on this street," as a warning about drug dealers in the neighborhood. In 2004, he put up a message on the New Era church sign that said, "AIDS is God's curse on a homosexual life." Jordan put up the most recent message for Easter. "I told the church this was my Easter resurrection prayer,'' he said. "I think the worst part of it, we as black leaders are overlooking the problem." So far in 2016, in the city of Birmingham alone, there have been 36 homicides. Four of those have been ruled justifiable, and therefore are not deemed criminal. Of the 32 criminal slayings, 15 are confirmed black on black crime, according to police. Seventeen more victims were black, but authorities have not yet identified the killer or killers. There have been 24 black males killed, and eight black females. Birmingham ended 2015 with 92 homicides. Two of these were ruled accidental, and 10 more ruled justifiable. Of the criminal homicides, 42 were confirmed black on black crime. An additional 26 victims were also black, but authorities have not yet identified the killer or killers. Sixty two of those victims were black males, and nine were black females. "We have a lot of issues as black pastors within the black community and one of them is black on black crime, male rage, and a lot of it has to do with our young black males,'' Jordan said. "The gangster rap hip-hop movement poisoned their minds with 'get quick money.''' Jordan believes, as is evident from his latest marquee, that young black men don't respect authority: their parents, their school principals, their pastors and the police. "The black pulpit is quiet about this,'' he said. "We have to deal with it or we won't have any children left, any church members left. They'll either be in jail or in a cemetery." At New Era, Jordan said he has started training for job readiness and job retention. "I tell them to get a haircut, cut your braids out and the gold out of your teeth but I'm running into a rebellious, insubordinate brick wall,'' he said. The sign, he said, really was, and is, a prayer. "Let's deal with these murders,'' he said. "I put that up hoping to ignite black pastors, and I didn't get one call. No black pastors. No black leaders." "If we focused on this as black pastors, something could happen,'' he said. "And if white pastors focused on racism, something could happen. We can always hope and pray." Jefferson County has made a few changes to its bail bond system that should prevent poor defendants from having to stay weeks or even months in jail while waiting for the help of an attorney to get their bond reduced. Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union applauded the changes on Tuesday, saying the new process will drastically change courts' treatment of defendants who can't afford bail or an attorney. The groups says this new procedure will insure for the first time in Alabama that indigent defendants will be provide legal representation at bail hearings. "For decades, Birmingham's courts have condemned people to extra jail time just because they're poor," Brandon Buskey, staff attorney with the ACLU's Criminal Law Reform Project stated in a press release. "Defendants charged with the same exact crime can either buy their freedom immediately or sit in jail for weeks on end if (they) don't have enough money. The judges' reforms will bring a welcome end to this injustice." Under the new system as of June 6, defendants who are unable to pay the bail amounts assigned to their offenses will receive a bail hearing within 48 to 72 hours of their arrest, in contrast to the weeks and sometimes months that defendants now spend in jail awaiting a bail hearing, according to the ACLU. The ACLU had been working with the Jefferson County judges, the Community Law Office (public defenders), and the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office since last August or September on a new way of protecting poor defendants from being held in jail on bonds they can't afford, Randall Marshall, legal director for ACLU of Alabama, said in an interview with AL.com on Tuesday. The ACLU had threatened to sue over the issue. Presiding Jefferson County Circuit Judge Joseph Boohaker signed the order to start the procedures for the 48-hour hearings on May 6. If arrested without a warrant then defendants must have a hearing within 48 hours. If arrested on a warrant they have to be brought for an initial appearance before a judge within 72 hours. Under the current system poor people who can't immediately make bond are held until a first court appearance within the 48 or 72 hour period, but at those hearings the judge didn't usually discuss bond and it would sometimes be weeks or months until a defendant could get an attorney to file a motion and go through a hearing process in order to get a reduced bond and be released from jail. But under the new system an attorney from the Community Law Office will be at every one of the hearings to seek bail immediately. If there is a conflict where the Community Law Office can't represent the person, the duty judge is to be notified of such a conflict, according to Boohaker's order. "We're extremely pleased. We've been advocating for these reforms for several years," said Jefferson County Public Defender Kira Fonteneau, who is over the Community Law Office. "We're glad that the judges have agreed to these procedures. ... This is a huge deal." Without an initial appearance where bond was set, defendants could get lost in jail for weeks or months, Fonteneau and ACLU officials said. "These procedures lessen that risk," Fonteneau said. Judge Boohaker in December also had issued another order that could make it easier for poor people to make bond. He issued an order that increased the bail amounts in which a person can sign a recognizance bond and be release immediately without paying any money up front. The amount of bond for felony offenses in which defendants could sign and be released on their own recognizance, the amount was raised from $1,500 to $5,000; felony offenses requiring the signature of an employed person, from $7,500 to $10,000; traffic and misdemeanor offense from $2,500 to $5,000; and traffic and misdemeanor offenses requiring the signature of an employed person was raised from $7,500 to $10,000. Excluded are sex and domestic violence offenses that fall in those categories. Boohaker stated in his order that the purpose of making it easier for people to sign recognizance bonds was to assist with jail overcrowding. Jefferson County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Randy Christian stated in an email to Al.com Tuesday afternoon that the county jail population - in both Birmingham and Bessemer - has had a daily inmate count that has remained consistent at 1000-1100 over the last 6 months. Susan Watson, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, said that their hope with the Jefferson County reforms is that poor people won't be "languishing" in jails while losing their jobs, homes, and families. "It's certainly a large improvement and we're very appreciative to judges have worked with us," Watson said. Watson urged other Alabama courts to make similar changes to their bail systems "so that they're no longer rigged against the poor." A woman accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a Birmingham non-profit organization turned herself in to authorities. Tamika Lanese Bailey, 40, surrendered Tuesday night, hours after Birmingham police announced they were searching for her. Bailey, who also goes by the names Tamika Lanese Stuckey and Tamika Lanese Hicks, was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 10:16 p.m., jail records show. She was released at 11:39 p.m. after posting $30,000 bond. Authorities today said Bailey is accused of stealing from one of Birmingham's largest churches - Sixth Avenue Baptist Church, where she was "in a position of trust." "She took the money to support a lavish lifestyle,'' said lead Birmingham police detective Sgt. L. Roby. "It wasn't her money to take. She was trusted to do a job for which she was paid, and she violated that trust." Authorities said she diverted over $93,000 for her personal use. She also diverted more than $50,000 of the organization's money to a dead relative, police said. The investigation is ongoing and authorities said more information is still coming in. A University of Alabama graduate with a degree in accounting, Bailey is charged with first-degree theft of property. Roby said Bailey diverted the money from the church to a private bank account that she controlled. That account also contained the name of one of Bailey's dead relatives. It appears the theft began in February 2014, and continued through December 2015. Church officials this afternoon said Bailey was employed as their accounting manager until January 2016. "In the past few weeks, we have conducted a thorough review of our accounting practices and can assure our members and the public that to the extent any adjustments needed to be made for security purposes, they have been made,'' according to a statement released to AL.com. "Moreover, through the grace of God, our church is, and remains, on very solid financial footing. We will continue to be good stewards in the Birmingham community and surrounding areas." Many are expecting Obama to apologise for atomic bomb during historic visit, but the White House says it wont happen. US President Barack Obama will make a historic visit to Hiroshima, Japan this month but dont expect him to apologise for the atomic attack on that city that left tens of thousands dead. In August 1945, United States planes dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, which sided with Nazi Germany against the US and its allies during World War II. One bomb destroyed the city of Hiroshima, and three days later the other devastated Nagasaki. Roughly 135,000 people died in the only attacks of their kind in the history of the world, sparking a nuclear arms race that continues to this day. Survivors account: The day Hiroshima turned into hell Historians have debated for decades whether their use was necessary. Many Americans have defended the attacks pointing to the fact the Japanese announced their surrender just days later, effectively ending the war. No US president has visited either city since World War II. The president intends to visit to send a much more forward-looking signal about his ambition for realising the goal of a planet without nuclear weapons, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters on Tuesday. But many people on both sides of the Pacific Ocean want him to go further and formally apologise. Not going to happen, says the White House. Joshua Walker, Asia specialist at the German Marshall Fund, says Obamas presence alone will be viewed as an apology and will go a long way towards settling this chapter in history. He adds the Japanese government itself is not asking for one, and the domestic ramifications of giving his [Obamas] critics ammunition would hurt him and his successor as well. The presidents visit will happen during a trip to Japan for the G7 summit in Ise-Shima. Dhaka, Bangladesh With the conviction of Bangladeshs most prominent war crimes defendant on Monday, the case of a defence witness who disappeared for six months before turning up in an Indian prison has raised questions about the integrity of the controversial tribunal. Shukhoranjan Bali who is languishing in an Indian jail in Kolkata said in a May statement given to a Bangladesh-based newspaper he was taken away by police when he stepped out of a car in front of the gates of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Dhaka in November last year. Bali was on his way to give evidence on behalf of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, another defendant accused of committing acts of genocide and crimes against humanity during the countrys 1971 independence war. War crimes verdict raises fears of violence [EPA] Balis claim that he was abducted by Bangladeshi police supports allegations made in November 2012 by three of Sayedees defence lawyers. However, the government and tribunal authorities have consistently denied that Bali had been abducted by law enforcement officers. In February 2013, the tribunal sentenced Sayedee to death by hanging for two crimes committed during the war 42 years ago, one of which involved the killing of Balis brother, Bisha. Sayedee is one of more than a dozen men, mostly leaders of the political party Jamaat-e-Islami, either convicted or currently on trial for crimes committed during the bloody fight for independence. Jamaat-e-Islami had opposed the break-up of Pakistan and the independence of Bangladesh. In the war that followed, its supporters are accused of setting up militias that fought alongside the Pakistani army. The tribunal was set up in 2010 by the Awami League-led government to try those accused of crimes during the nine-month war that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Acts of mass murder, rape and arson were routinely carried out. Jamaat-e-Islami part of the opposition alliance headed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party says the war crimes tribunal is politically motivated to target its top leaders. But many Bangladeshis want it to bring justice for the crimes committed more than 40 years ago. Ghulam Azam, 90, the head of Jamaat-e-Islami during the war, was convicted of war crimes on Monday and sentenced to 90 years in prison. There were concerns about possible violence erupting after Azams conviction. Taken away The tribunal process has been controversial from its inception, and the story of the witness Balis disappearance has added to that. According to the defence lawyers with him at the time, Bali was taken away by three plainclothes policemen who identified themselves as from the Detective Branch of the police and was put into a police vehicle that drove off. No independent eyewitnesses came forward to corroborate this version of events though two journalists working for a newspaper that supports Jamaat-e-Islami were present and confirmed the lawyers story. His wife and son also confirmed Bali had gone to Dhaka to give evidence at the tribunal. The defence lawyers raised concerns with the tribunals judges, who requested the head of the tribunals prosecution and investigation agencies look into the matter. They returned to the court an hour later saying police officers on duty all denied that Bali had been detained by authorities. For the tribunal, that was the end of the matter and proceedings resumed. Defence attorney Abdur Razzaq told Al Jazeera that Bali was a very important witness in Sayedees case. Jamaat-e-Islamis Delwar Hossain Sayedee in 2011 [AFP] He has not been allowed to come to the court and depose and say my brother was killed, but not by Delwar Hossain Sayedee.' Sayedees case is now under appeal at Bangladeshs Supreme Court. It is unclear if Balis evidence would alter the guilty verdict, as other eyewitnesses put Sayedee at the scene of Bisha Balis killing. Balis credibility may also be questioned since he previously was listed as a prosecution witness. An investigation officer has said Bali previously gave a strong statement implicating Sayedee in his brothers death. Armed Rajakers [collaborators] captured my brother Bisha Bali Then according to the order of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, alias Delu, a Rajaker shot and killed my brother, the officer quoted Bali as saying in an unsigned statement, which wasnt used to convict Sayedee. Bali also said in the statement issued from the Indian jail that he had been approached by one of Sayedees sons at his home to testify on his fathers behalf, and Bali later spent two weeks at Sayedees house. Unacceptable drama Immediately after the alleged abduction in November 2012, tribunal prosecutors issued a statement saying the whole episode surrounding Bali was an unacceptable drama and part of [Jamaat-e-Islami] trying to dismiss the tribunal and to release their leader unlawfully. When the matter came up in a habeas corpus application at the High Court, the attorney general stated the story of Balis alleged abduction was absolutely ridiculous. But in the statement obtained by Bangladeshs New Age newspaper from Bali at Kolkatas Dum Dum jail, he said he was abducted by Bangladeshi officers from outside the tribunal and taken to a police station. They tortured me and asked me what I had been doing there ... They probably did not find my answers satisfactory, and I was beaten even more profusely. by Shukhoranjan Bali They said that I will be killed and Sayedee sahib will be hanged, Bali said, adding he was not physically abused in Dhaka. He said he remained in detention in the capital for six weeks before being blindfolded and handed over to Indias Border Security Force (BSF) in December 2012. Bali said he had been detained in various Indian jails for months, during which time he alleged physical abuse at the hands of the BSF. They tortured me and asked me what I had been doing there, Balis statement said. They probably did not find my answers satisfactory, and I was beaten even more profusely. No independent confirmation exists to substantiate Balis allegations. Calls to a senior Border Security Force official in India rang unanswered. Requests for comment from Indias Ministry of Home Affairs were not responded to. Bangladeshs police, meanwhile, continue to deny involvement in Balis alleged abduction. Masuder Rahman, the media officer of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said he had no information about Balis disappearance. Call for UN intervention New York-based Human Rights Watch said Balis story raises questions about the integrity of the trial process. The apparent abduction of a witness in a trial at the ICT is a cause for serious concern about the conduct of the prosecution, judges and government, said Brad Adams, the groups Asia director. Among many questions is who ordered the abduction, and how senior the officials involved were. It is unclear why Bangladeshi police would have sent Bali to India. Human Rights Watch noted the notorious Border Security Force in the past has been known to kill Bangladeshis attempting to enter the country illegally. Those involved in his abduction may have assumed Bali would be killed by the Indian Border Security Force when he was pushed into India, or that he would permanently disappear, Adams said. The rights group has called on the Indian government to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to interview Bali. There is a real risk to Bali if he is returned to Bangladesh, as he could expose those involved in his abduction. Bali needs access to an independent lawyer and UNHCR so that he can make an informed decision about whether it is safe to return to Bangladesh. For the thousands of Syrian teenagers growing up alone in Germany, after travelling to Europe without their parents, life as a refugee can be particularly perilous. For their families, the decision to let them go was a desperate one: their last hope, they believed, that their children could have a normal life. In pursuit of that, many of these children have crossed the Mediterranean on sinking boats, slept rough on European streets and navigated the dangers of people smugglers and border guards. Often, their only way of maintaining contact with their families is via Whatsapp and social media, as they hope to one day be reunited. Here, three teenage refugees share their stories. Ahmed: In my class, at least five people left for Europe Outside the central train station in Hamburg, Germanys second-largest city, 15-year-old Ahmed, a young Syrian in a parka and skinny jeans, stands to the side of the rush-hour crowds. He rubs his thumb against the splintered corner of his phones screen, waiting for the Whatsapp call to his father to connect. Its eight months since I have seen my family, Ahmed explained. I dont want to video call because one of us will cry. This station is where he first arrived last September, after travelling alone across Europe from the Turkish border town of Reyhanli, where his family lives as refugees. When I met his family in March, on a dusty terrace above the familys apartment in Reyhanli, they were speaking to Ahmed via a shaky Whatsapp connection from Germany. His father, Mustafa, cradled the phone in his palm, his three young daughters huddled around him. Last night, I dreamed of Ahmed coming home, the youngest, six-year-old Sara, told her father. He nodded, wiping away tears with the back of his hand. She tells me that every day, he said. Ahmed calls his father every day, sometimes on his way to school on the train, at other times from the wooden picnic table outside what he calls the camp the accommodation he lives in with other unaccompanied minors. His dorm room, shared with five other boys from Syria, Afghanistan and Iran, is too noisy, he says. Ahmeds family fled their home in Ariha, northern Syria, nearly three years ago. He remembers the sounds of the tank shells and his sisters shaking to the point that he couldnt unclench their fists or stop them crying. Mustafa was an Arabic teacher and Ahmeds mother, Nahed, worked in the examination department of the local university. Now, Mustafa scrapes together a living as an unofficial taxi driver and is barely able to afford the rent. In Turkey, Ahmed was attending an unofficial school for refugees but couldnt get any qualifications. With dreams of becoming a doctor, he knew he had to get to university somehow. In my class, at least five people left to Europe, all my age, he said. I wanted to go to a better place. READ MORE: Refugee robot engineers bring hope to Syria He described how he begged to be allowed to go to Europe or to return to Syria and how his father finally relented. My father thought it was better for me to die in the sea than in Syria, he explained. [He] wanted to save at least one person from our family. Ahmed took a bus to Izmir. At the coast, a smuggler put him on a packed dinghy, heading towards Greece in the pitch dark. I was seven hours in that boat and we nearly sank four times, he said. When he didnt hear from him, Mustafa was certain his son had drowned. He still breaks down remembering that night. Ahmed flicks through photos of his journey: the last day with his mother, her cheeks wet, trying to smile; in a field in Serbia, refugees socks of drying on hedges; on a railroad tracks, his eyes heavy after 10 days without sleep. He had some help along the way. A priest in Hungary found him and some other refugees sleeping on a street one night and took them to a church, where they could rest and take a shower. After being registered as an unaccompanied minor in Hamburg, he was moved between different hostels, at one point sleeping in a room with nearly 20 others. It was seven months until he was allowed to start school. Now, he is continuing his studies and has a good support network of friends and guardians. Life is a bit easier. He has learned to cook for himself now, mainly pasta or fish, sending his mum photos for her approval. His parents tell him to take care of himself, to learn the language, to do his homework, he said. Hamburg was once called Germanys gateway to the world because of its large port. Ahmed hopes making it to the city will be the gateway to a better life for him. His father had been saving up to take the family to Europe, but with refugees being sent back from Greece, its impossible for them to reach Germany the way Ahmed had. I didnt send him to lose him, said Mustafa. I dont want to lose my son. He wants the family to be together, but Ahmed is determined to stay in Germany. I miss my family so much; I lived with them my whole life, said Ahmed. I sometimes feel worried, but if I go back, I have nothing. Fahed: I must complete my life As teenage boys mill around the front hall of the hostel for unaccompanied minors, 16-year-old Fahed explained how he travelled alone from Aleppo to Hamburg, determined not to let war stop him from fulfilling his ambitions. It was last July when he took the blessing of his grandfather and began his journey. His parents had left Syria two years before for Dubai after his father was arrested and held for 10 days. They took his two younger brothers with them, but Fahed wanted to stay in Syria. His family runs a successful money-exchange business and Fahed wants to be a wealthy businessman one day. At his prestigious school in Aleppo, he used to swim and ride horses. In his spare time, he helped out in his grandfathers shop, counting the money and chatting with customers. I miss everything, my home, my work, he said. I used to go with my father to his shop, but now the shops are gone, destroyed in the bombings. My granddad is sick and he might have to leave as well. After the attacks in Aleppo had worsened, it became increasingly difficult for Fahed to continue his studies. In school, you could hear shooting and bombing outside and it made me scared, he remembered. Sometimes we would have to hide under a table or in the toilet. [I thought] if I go to school, maybe I will die. Fahed was the first of his friends to go to Europe. His grandfather found it hard to let him go. But he said its your life, I cant stop you, he explained. He stayed for a few weeks in Turkey, but life was difficult there. His father sent money to pay a smuggler to get him to Greece. From there, he travelled overland. In Hungary, he was separated from the group of people he was moving with and ended up sleeping for three nights on the streets. Hamburg is a cool city, he said, and he thinks he blends in here. But he still misses Aleppo and would like to go back. But now, you cant make anything safe there your home or your life, he said. My dads shop was broken in the bombings. He had three shops and now they are all bombed. Im sad for my country. His father is able to fly to Germany to visit him, but he wishes his son would come to live with him in Dubai. Over Whatsapp calls, his nine-year-old brother Bashir pleads with him to join the family there. On his phone, Fahed has photos of his eight-month-old sister, who he has never met. She was born and I have never seen her, he said. He misses his family every day, but is worried that, as a Syrian, he would be discriminated against in Dubai. He said his uncle and a cousin who both worked there were recently dismissed from their jobs. Sometimes I am angry and sad that I came here. I live with six people in one room and I cant do anything, he said. But I want to be a businessman, like my father. I must complete my life. Hamouda: I didnt want to kill anyone On a patch of land near a busy motorway, security guards wander between containers stacked two and three stories high to form makeshift apartment blocks in one of Hamburgs largest camps for migrants and refugees. Seventeen-year-old Hamouda has decorated the walls of his small container with cheap paintings and drawings, bargains from a local market. All he has from his home in Aleppo is a roll-on cologne and a wooden bead necklace, a gift from his school sweetheart. He has lived here since October and wants to make it feel like home. His parents, sisters and brother are still in Aleppo. Im the baby, said the youngest of seven siblings with a shy smile. Like many teenage boys who have travelled alone to Europe, he left Syria to escape being enlisted for military service when he turned 18. I didnt want to kill anyone and I didnt want to be killed, he explained. I would like to have stayed, but the situation there is very dangerous. All of his close friends had left for Europe. They are now scattered across Norway, Sweden, Austria and Germany. A photo captures the small party his family threw before he left; his mum is smiling in front of a table with a chocolate cake and dishes of food. These goodbye parties, held when it seems safe enough for people to gather, have become routine in Aleppo. There used to be two million people in the city, Hamouda said, which is roughly the same number as Hamburg. Now, however, most of have fled the city. His father fixes watches and couldnt do much for his son, other than give him some money to help pay the smugglers. When his family decided he should leave, his older brother, Fares, a 30-year-old plumber who feared being re-enlisted, agreed to go with him. As a minor, Hamouda cant sign for anything, Fares explained. It has made getting papers more complicated for his older brother, who has to navigate the immigration process for them both. When he turns 18 this month, Hamouda will be responsible for doing everything for himself. Hamouda reflected on the things he misses from home the daily bickering with his father, who thought it was too dangerous for Hamouda to go out and play with his friends, and shopping with his mother. INTERACTIVE: Life on hold I miss my parents thats what I miss, he said. My brother takes care of me now. He tries to make it like my parents, but its not the same. The day before I met him, air strikes on Aleppo had turned a hospital to rubble. Since then, bombs have been dropping closer and closer to his house. All he can do is keep calling to check if his family is safe. There is heavy shelling on a neighbourhood nearby, his father told him over the phone. The same day, the father of one of Hamoudas friends was killed in the bombing. Sitting on his bed in his container room, he draws the hashtag #Aleppo_is_burning in pink highlighter pen on one of his school books, with sad faces and missiles falling from the sky, a hospital in flames as stick figures carry a gurney towards its doors. Its dangerous there, said Hamouda, who asked that his family not be named. We cant talk that much on the phone; my father has to use a code to explain the situation is not good. We avoid talking about any details. When he takes the train across Hamburg to school, he sometimes sees parents with their children. It makes him feel homesick, he said. When I see people my age with their family, it makes me sad. Its difficult without my parents. If the situation calms down, I will go back. The Tishrin Dam, which provides energy to the Syrian city of Kobane, is one of the countrys heavily contested frontlines. The strategic dam in northern Syria has changed hands numerous times, and was retaken from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) by Kurdish fighters last December. Today, from this area, a coalition of fighters that includes the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG, and their female counterparts, YPJ) have launched operations against ISIL. Its time for the United Nations to consider the morality of its Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism. Professor in Conflict and Humanitarian Studies at Qatar Foundations Hamad Bin Khalifa University and an Honorary Professor of the University of York As the two-year anniversary of the last round of conflict in Gaza approaches, the inhumane conditions to which 1.8 million Palestinians are being subjected threaten to reach boiling point by the summer months, when the lack of access to water and electricity available for a maximum of eight hours a day combined with the oppressive heat and the lack of a reconstruction progress, could exacerbate frustrations, culminating in a new cycle of violence. Despite the relative calm since the August 26, 2014 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, there have been more than 20 serious incidents that involved incursions, air raids, and missile exchanges with 23 Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since December 2015. As antagonistic verbal exchanges between Hamas and Israel continued over the past few months, scenes of rising violence in the West Bank and Jerusalem seemingly outside the control of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) started to further fuel peoples frustration, thus adding to the volatility of the situation. Reconstruction of Gaza The Israeli/Palestinian question has become notorious for the international communitys inaction. Nevertheless, the reconstruction of Gaza is one area where action is not only possible but is also badly needed from both strategic and humanitarian perspectives. READ MORE: Gazas jihadists can no longer be dismissed The estimates for how much construction has been completed vary depending on the source, and range from about 17 percent (3,000) of the approximately 18,000 homes destroyed or severely damaged in July/August 2014 according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; to 9 percent by the World Bank, or to nothing by the average Gazan. Regardless of the exact figure, the fact remains that more than 75,000 people remain displaced across Gaza as a direct result of the July/August 2014 war, a problem made worse by insufficient funding. There are many factors to explain the slow progress. Chief among them is the continued Israeli blockade; the underlying cause of all the wars in Gaza since Israels unilateral withdrawal in 2005. Egypts refusal to open the Rafah border crossing without the presence of the PA, along with the Palestinians inability to activate a unity government, makes the situation even worse. However, one controversial factor that has received little attention is the UNs Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism (GRM). The GRM is a complicated system of surveillance intended to: a. Enable the GoP to lead the reconstruction effort; b. Enable the Gazan private sector; c. Assure donors that their investments in construction work in Gaza will be implemented without delay; d. Address Israeli security concerns related to the use of construction and other dual use material (UN, October 2014). By attempting to be both the humanitarian and the jailer at the same time, the UN has fast become the recognisable face of the blockade. by Moral legitimacy Two years into the reconstruction process, it is now clear that the GRM not only poses difficulties for the people of Gaza seeking to rebuild their homes as it forces them to wait for a long time before they receive any construction materials but also, more importantly, erodes the moral legitimacy of the role of the United Nations in Gaza. By attempting to be both the humanitarian and the jailer at the same time, the UN has fast become the recognisable face of the blockade. For more than 70 years, the UN in Gaza has been associated largely with the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). While the Palestinian people have come to accept that the UN cannot resolve their problems, they still expect that it should at least attempt to take an impartial position, and on occasions adhere to its own values by acting as a witness and speaking up against the atrocities that Palestinians face. With the GRM, the role of the UN changed. The humanitarian imperative that the UN clings to as it delivers aid in the occupied Palestinian territory is no longer neutral. In fact, in order to facilitate the flow of construction material under the GRM, the UN is increasingly seen as favouring the status quo and siding with the one with power Israel. READ MORE: ICC must look into Egypts role in Gaza atrocities Arguably, among the four main objectives behind the establishment of the GRM, the one related to Israels security interest seems to take precedence all the time. Under the current arrangements, a person seeking construction materials must first go to the GRM administrator to be placed on a list. Once their name reaches the top of the list, the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) must approve of the request before the distribution of any materials. The process between COGAT and the GRM can take weeks. The sight of UN personnel in armoured vehicles accompanying sacks of cement (to ensure delivery and use as proposed) incenses the population of Gaza, as they view this practice as the UN placing a higher value on the protection of construction commodities than on human life. Complex politics of occupation The inability of the GRM to engage the local population has alleviated tensions over the past two years. During the conception of the GRM, the civil society of Gaza did not participate in the formation of policies governing the distribution of reconstruction materials. Among the four main objectives behind the establishment of the GRM, the one related to Israel's security interest seems to take precedence all the time. by Only the United Nations, the Israeli government, and the PA devised the plan to rebuild Gaza. Due to their pre-determined position to deny Hamas any opportunity of engagement, the process effectively resulted in excluding citizens and civil society organisations, which was a big mistake. Nickolay Mladenov and other senior UN officials understand well that the GRM has fallen victim to the complex politics of occupation and resistance. It is being used every day to punish or incentivise Hamas and/or to frustrate any possibility of reaching an understanding between Gaza and the West Bank. It has also provided a fig leaf to the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi which allowed him to close his borders while pursuing a doomed-to-fail securitisation agenda in Sinai. Its lack of effectiveness has also provided many donors with the excuse to not honour their pledges, thus compounding the suffering. In short, the situation in Gaza requires immediate action. Regardless of whose fault it is that the GRM has not been able to alleviate the suffering of the people of Gaza, it seems appropriate for the United Nations to admit to the failure of the mechanism and even to withdraw its services. In fact, a walkout by the UN from administering the crossing and use of construction material is not only the right thing to do morally, but might also force constructive action from Israel, EU governments, the Gulf states, and the US as well as Hamas and the PA. Given the security concerns in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and elsewhere, the international community would not stand by and allow for a complete meltdown in Gaza. The alternative is to continue to deny the reality of the mechanism and to watch the grievances of Palestinians in Gaza reaching an unresolvable level that explodes into another violent round of conflict, worse than the last. Sultan Barakat is professor at the University of York and director of research at the Brookings Doha Center. He is a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. Although visa-free travel is the right of Turkish citizens, widespread Turcophobia in Europe might prevent it. Cengiz Aktar is a senior scholar at Istanbul Policy Center. As a former director at the United Nations where he spent 22 years of his professional life, Aktar is one of the leading advocates of Turkey's integration into the EU. Turkish citizens ordeal with the Schengen visa covering most of Europe is quite old. The country has been a candidate to join the bloc since 1963, and its citizens met the visa wall for the first time in 1980 when the country was once again embroiled in political turmoil and generating refugees. Germany shut the door then, followed by other Europeans. Over subsequent years, abandoned by their authorities in the face of this fait accompli, Turks have filed suits against European states before European or international courts. They have won many of them but, alas, never managed to trigger jurisprudence and the waiver of the visa. Over the years, Turkish citizens have faced numerous obstacles, including having applications rejected for trivial reasons, facing expensive visa fees, enduring ill-treatment at consulates and lengthy bureaucratic application processes. Despite the Customs Union between Turkey and the European Union, since 1996, Turkish businesspeople have experienced visa difficulties while their European counterparts face none, giving them a competitive advantage. In addition, Erasmus students from Turkey were unable to join European universities, researchers trying to attend joint meetings were denied access and journalists were unable to go after a news story. There are many incidents of unfair treatment that Turkish people have experienced. A visa hotline, launched by three NGOs between November 2009 and January 2010, received almost 1,000 applications in the first two months. Keeping Turks at bay The Turkish business world, academia and civil society groups have tried to resolve this injustice by relying on legal agreements between Turkey and the EU. Over the years, courts in EU member states, such as the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice, have reviewed many applications on visa matters. A case law has emerged on the issue, leaving the EU with no legal grounds to sustain its current practice. The greatest obstacle to visa exemption remains political. The presence of Turkish nationals among ISIL ranks, huge numbers of unemployed in Turkey, as well as Turkish asylum seekers whose number is increasing due to the political situation in the country, are all extra arguments before any positive decision. by Nevertheless, nothing was sufficient to resolve the problem. Several EU member states have failed to fulfil their obligations in compliance with the case law, arguing that legions of unemployed Turkish nationals would rush to Europe in the event of visa facilitation. When the EU introduced visa exemption for visitors from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, however, the visa requirement for Turks became unsustainable. Finally in 2013, the Turkish government took up the issue and, bearing in mind the visa liberalisation deals struck with several other states, it pushed for a blanket waiver for Turkish citizens. The European Commission mandated to negotiate the deals on behalf of the EU came up with 72 technical as well as political conditions that are difficult to meet. Compliance work started immediately after the signing of the deal in December 2013, but the first monitoring report of October 2014 showed that many hurdles continued to lie ahead. The second monitoring report was released on March 4, 2016. It was no better than the first but in the meantime, the so-called refugee deal was concluded between Turkey and the EU. The final report came exactly two months later with a sea change (PDF). The Commission has suddenly decided to overlook almost all shortcomings in the compliance with 72 criteria, happily exaggerating the achievements and showing a rosy Turkey where everybody, including refugees, is happy, safe and sound. In the meantime, Turkey has hastily passed laws and regulations to comply with the requested criteria, but more decisively managed to curtail the crossing of asylum seekers to the Greek islands of the Aegean. OPINION: EU-Turkey Is refugee issue a new membership criterion? Germans were quick to applaud these achievements, with Chancellor Angela Merkel rushing to visit Turkey several times in a row. She figured in photo-ops in sanitised refugee camps and utterly disregarded all technical and political shortcomings. Under strong German influence, the Commission came up with its positive recommendation to waive visas for Turkish citizens on May 4. In other words, the 72 criteria have become meaningless in the eyes of Berlin and its obedient servant the European Commission in view of Turkeys performance. Shifting opinions But as of that day, another process started, marked by growing awareness among the European public about the issue, and they began to react immediately. For instance, 62 percent of surveyed Germans have expressed a negative opinion on the visa waiver for Turks. Right after the deal, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that one of the key requirements unfulfilled so far and pertaining to the revision of the extensive definition of terror in Turkish laws was unfeasible, pouring cold water on celebrations in both Berlin and Ankara regarding the imminent visa waiver. OPINION: The EU can learn from Turkeys refugee experience In Europe, however, French President Francois Hollande has clearly indicated that the 72 criteria are not up for negotiation, and this is disturbing for Turkey. Erdogan is actually pushing for an extension of the definition of terrorism so as to include notions such as unarmed terrorist organisation and individual terrorist. Along these lines, the European Parliaments Turkey rapporteur hinted that without full compliance, the Commissions positive proposal cant be discussed in the European Parliament, not to mention the national parliaments and the final decision-maker, the European Council, where several member states are openly against a visa waiver. More hurdles ahead At this stage, one should note that although visa-free travel is legally speaking the right of Turkish citizens, widespread Islamophobia and Turcophobia in Europe might prevent a happy ending. The greatest obstacle to visa exemption remains political. The presence of Turkish nationals among the ranks of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), the high unemployment rate in Turkey, as well as Turkish asylum seekers whose numbers are increasing owing to the political situation in the country, are all extra issues to be considered before any positive decision is taken. OPINION: The dark side of the EU-Turkey refugee deal We will soon see whether Ankara will reduce its vigilance over potential asylum seekers in order to put pressure on Europe to reduce or dump the visa-exemption conditions. This policy might backfire, as Ankaras standing in Europe is shrinking by the day in view of its human rights violations. As I have always reminded decision-makers in Europe, unless borders are tightly controlled and guarded by the military, as in North Korea, refugees without any future in Turkey will continue to flow into the EU. Turkey may keep refugees for a while, but they will keep coming. Cengiz Aktar is senior scholar at Istanbul Policy Center. A former director at the United Nations, he is one of the leading advocates of Turkeys integration into the EU. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. The UNs Ikponwosa Ero describes her visit to Malawi and the fear she and others with albinism feel there. They are taunted, hunted and mutilated. Over the past two years, at least 65 people with albinism have been attacked in Malawi sometimes mutilated and dismembered alive by machete-wielding assailants. Amnesty International has documented what it calls ritual killings of people with albinism in Malawi. And on Tuesday, a Malawi newspaper said that two days cannot pass without hearing on the local media cases of people with albinism being killed. Last week, a local activist told Al Jazeera that the situation is a crisis. Albinism, a congenital disorder where people lack pigment in their skin, hair and eyes, affects about one in every 20,000 people. It is more common, however, in sub-Saharan Africa. There are an estimated 10,000 people with albinism in Malawi a country of 16.5 million people. There have also been a number of attacks reported on people with albinism in Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi so far this year. Some in southern and eastern Africa believe that body parts belonging to people with albinism have magical powers, leading to them allegedly being sold on a black market run by criminal gangs across southern and central African countries. Last month, Ikponwosa Ero, a United Nations independent expert on human rights and albinism, said the community faced systematic extinction. But, she says, this can be stopped. Al Jazeera: You recently said people with albinism in Malawi face systematic extinction. Ikponwosa Ero: I said that this will happen over time if nothing is done. The situation is a potent mix of poverty, witchcraft beliefs and market forces which push people to do things for profit. This is all happening in a context of long-term neglect of these people. There is a lack of understanding about people with albinism, not only in developing countries but also in developed nations. You find the albino trope used in movies where they are presented as supernatural beings or strange creatures or as idiotic. So when they bring in this lack of knowledge in the context of poverty, witchcraft beliefs and economic factors, you get a dangerous combination. This is what has led to this current situation. Al Jazeera: There seems to be a lot of money in this business. Ero: I say there is allegedly a lot of money in this business. And I say allegedly because people keep on repeating the idea that there is a lot of money in this, and it would seem that the media is part of the reason some people have gotten involved. People are like, The media are reporting that body parts bring a lot of money, so it must be true, but it is allegedly. It could have some market value, which could explain why the attacks are happening. But then some countries have witnessed a reduction in the number of attacks, maybe because people are realising there is no value. There is a set of perplexing themes going on here. And this is why I say an in-depth study is really needed. But that being said, there are other indicators that seem to aggravate the attacks. Last year, for example, was an election year for many countries in the region and the attacks went up overall. This fed into the suspicion that powerful people are behind these attacks. The logic goes that powerful people go to witch doctors to win elections and to make money in their business. And witch doctors [might] say, To get that, you need to do magic, have powerful potions with rare species of people or rare animals. This is how people with albinism become a target. So its possible. I dont have concrete evidence, but given what happened last year, powerful people are involved, at least indirectly. We need to do more to get to the bottom of this. Al Jazeera: You have travelled across Malawi to meet people with albinism. How have the threats they face affected their ability to lead a normal life? Ero: What really struck me was how much fear they have. I guess you could imagine it but I saw it on their faces and heard it as they talked. I felt it myself. I felt scared being in the village and I couldnt wait to get back to my vehicle. I sensed the fear. And people should not be living like this. It is completely wrong. People said they did not know who to trust. People with albinism usually do well if their family look after or protect them. But when your protectors turn against you, or could turn against you, the fear goes to another level. Watching that play out was frightening. One lady told me about her son whose body was dug out from his grave 10 to 15 years after he was buried. It meant that someone close to the family knows that a person with albinism was buried there. How else would you find out? Another woman, who gave birth to a girl with albinism, has her sister harassing her and asking Why did you have this baby? Another man I met had survived an attack but has completely lost his mental balance. He can barely speak. There are others who say that having children with albinism means they cannot go to the farm because they have to protect them. As a result, they are struggling with even more poverty. The extent of the fear is high and the scope is very wide. Al Jazeera: We are talking about witch doctors, magical potions and mutilations in the context of the African continent, but how do we discuss these issues without raising other tropes about Africa? Ero: As the media, its important to report on the issues, but its also important to try to humanise the story. Some journalists do that, but a lot of them do not, unfortunately. For instance, its important to move away from the word albino to describe the community. Rather, it should be people with albinism because it puts the person before the condition, instead of equating them with it. They are not albinos, they are people. Its more humanising, like moving from disabled to people with disabilities. So language is a key advocacy tool. It is also important to consider the facts. For instance, albinism exists in every race, every part of the world and in every gender. The frequency of occurrence varies: In the developed world, its one in 17,000. In some places in Africa, it is one in 5,000, and in other places it is higher, like one in 1,000. Among aboriginal groups, in Panama or the south Pacific, it can be one in 70. When reporters say that body parts are sold, it is important to say allegedly sold. There is no proof of this yet. Also, showcasing successful people with albinism will go a long way. AFRICA INVESTIGATES: The trade in body parts of people with albinism Al Jazeera: What is required for this issue to be taken seriously? Ero: This issue may be seen as another problem from the region, but the main difference is that this can be solved. We can focus resources and energy and elevate the issue for just a couple of years and the difference will be massive. Look at Kenya and Tanzania. They focused energies and there have been massive improvements. I think this is one of the human rights issues that is possible in a short to medium term. Not all the countries in the region are poor. Its a case of shifting priorities to make sure this issue gets the attention it needs. In countries like Malawi, currently struggling with an economic crisis, food crisis and drought, international aid should come forward to help. In Kenya, it was the government that took charge. In Tanzania, the people who took over were the aid agencies. The success in these countries illustrates how government and civil society can change this. Follow Azad Essa on Twitter: @azadessa Party issues strike call as police use rubber bullets to disperse protests against hanging of Motiur Rahman Nizami. Clashes have erupted in Bangladesh after Motiur Rahman Nizami, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami political party, was hanged on charges relating to the massacre of intellectuals during the 1971 independence war. Police fired rubber bullets on Wednesday after hundreds of Jamaat supporters attacked them with stones in the northwestern city of Rajshahi. There were 500 Jamaat activists who were protesting against the execution. We fired rubber bullets as they became violent, Selim Badsah, Rajshahi police inspector, told the AFP news agency. He said about 20 people were arrested. Jamaat activists and supporters of the governing Awami League also clashed in Chittagong, where about 2,500 attended a service for Nizami, Masudul Hasan, the port citys deputy police chief, told AFP. Security was tight across the country, with checkpoints erected on main roads in Dhaka to deter violence and thousands of police patrolling the Bangladeshi capital. The situation in Dhaka as well in other parts of the country remains calm, Al Jazeeras Tanvir Chowdhury said. On Wednesday, absentia funerals were held for Nizami in various cities. In recent months Jamaat has not been able to organise any kind of protest on the streets, mainly due to heavy-handed tactics used by the security forces, our correspondent said. He said the government was considering to ban Jamaat. The countrys largest Islamist political party has already been barred from contesting elections since 2013. Final plea rejected Asaduzzaman Khan, Bangladeshs home minister, said Nizami was hanged shortly after midnight on Wednesday in Dhaka central jail. Earlier, the countrys supreme court rejected Nizamis final appeal against the death sentence, imposed by a special tribunal. A crowd of activists celebrated outside the jail. Nizamis body was later handed over to his family for burial in the northwestern district of Pabna, his ancestral home. We buried him in the morning, said Abdullah al-Mamun, Nizamis cousin. Jamaat issued a statement condemning the execution and issued a call for a day-long general strike across the country on Thursday. Trying suspected war criminals has posed a major challenge for the government of Sheikh Hasina. The Bangladeshi prime minister has faced strong international pressure to stop executing people such as Nizami, who opposed secession of former East Pakistan as Bangladesh. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have protested against the death sentence for Nizami. The human-rights groups also raised questions about the trial process, but Hasina and her colleagues have rejected all claims that the judicial procedures were flawed. Procedure questioned Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watchs Asia division, said Nizamis trial was neither free nor fair as the tribunal cut corners on fair-trial standards. For example, Nizami was allowed to have only four defence witnesses as a man fighting for his life. And the court did allow the defence to challenge the inconsistencies in the testimonies of prosecution witnesses, Robertson told Al Jazeera from Bangkok. Finally, we have seen a significant problem in all of these war crimes trials, where the presiding judge was having ongoing discussions about judicial strategy with external consultants and prosecutors in a way that raises concerns about the independence of the panel. Nizami was convicted of three major charges stemming from the 1971 war, including the killing of 480 people. He was also held responsible for the killings of dozens of intellectuals, including teachers, journalists and doctors, only two days before Bangladesh gained its independence in 1971. Bangladeshi authorities say Pakistani soldiers, aided by local collaborators, killed three million people, raped 200,000 women, and forced up to 10 million people to flee the country during the nine-month war in what was then known as East Pakistan, renamed Bangladesh after independence. However, independent experts have disputed the numbers put forth by the government. Nizami is the fifth senior official from opposition parties to be executed since 2013 for alleged war crimes during the 1971 war. Harassment alleged Three other senior members of Jamaat and a top leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party led by Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister, have also been hanged. David Bergman, an investigative journalist based in Dhaka, told Al Jazeera there were long-standing allegations against Nizami since the end of the 1971 war. So the fact that there was a trial in which he was accused of these crimes is not itself political, he said. There is no doubt that many members of Jamaat are concerned about the trials and executions targeting its members, and the party itself is subject to significant repression. Speaking to Al Jazeera, a senior Jamaat leader based abroad also acknowledged that Nizami was a supporter of Pakistan in 1971, but said: All other allegations of killing, murder and rape are not correct. The tribunal has miserably failed to prove any of those allegations. He said Jamaat leaders inside Bangladesh were not giving interviews because their phones were tapped and their families faced harassment if they spoke to news media. Not only leaders, thousands of middle-ranking and ordinary Jamaat workers have been forced to flee their homes due to police repression or harassment, he said. They are refugees in their own country due the vindictive nature of this government. Their agenda is to wipe out Islam gradually and whoever they think opposes their policies is being targeted. Sanders deals another blow to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in US state hit by job losses. US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has defeated Hillary Clinton in West Virginias primary, winning over voters deeply sceptical about the economy and keeping his candidacy alive against the frontrunner. Tonight it appears that we won a big victory in West Virginia, Sanders said after the results for Tuesdays primary came in, and this is a state where Hillary Clinton won with 40 points against Barack Obama in 2008. The loss slows Clintons march to the nomination, but she is still heavily favoured to become the Democratic candidate in the November 8 election. Deep concerns about the economy were key in West Virginias Democratic primary. About six in 10 voters said they were very worried about the direction of the US economy in the next few years. The same proportion cited the economy and jobs as their most important voting issues, according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll. OPINION: Muslims for Bernie Sanders A remark Clinton made at an Ohio town hall in March that the country would put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business may have hurt her chances with voters in coal-mining states such as West Virginia. During Clintons visit to West Virginia and Ohio last week she repeatedly apologised to displaced coal and steel workers for her comment, which she said had been taken out of context, and discussed her plan to help retrain coal workers for clean energy jobs. But, Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Charleston, said the damage was already done. Coal mining is the lifeblood of West Virginia, she said. Voters I talked to said they are throwing support behind Sanders, or switching parties altogether, and voting in the primary for Donald Trump. West Virginia was once solid Democratic party territory. But, thats no longer the case. The Republicans are gaining support here due to Barack Obamas clean energy policies decimating jobs in the state in the last four years, by the thousands. To secure the Democratic nomination, a candidate needs 2,383 delegates. Going into West Virginia, Clinton, a former US secretary of state, had 2,228 delegates, including 523 so-called superdelegates, elite party members who are free to support any candidate. Sanders had 1,454 delegates, including 39 superdelegates. Another 29 delegates will be apportioned based on West Virginias results. Clinton and Sanders will compete in another primary contest on May 17. Both candidates are also looking ahead to the June 7 contests, the last in the long nominating season, in which nearly 700 delegates are at stake, including 475 in California, where Sanders is now focusing his efforts. Sanders has vowed to take his campaign all the way to the Democrats July 25-28 convention in Philadelphia, and wants a say in shaping the partys platform. Sanders has repeatedly told supporters at packed rallies that most opinion polls indicate he would beat Trump in a general election match-up by a larger margin than polls show Clinton defeating Trump. When you look at a Donald Trump-Hillary Clinton match-up, Donald Trump comes ahead, but when you pair Donald Trump to Bernie Sanders in a general election, it is Sanders who comes out on top, Al Jazeeras Halkett said. This is the challenge that Hillary Clinton faces. She does have the lead in terms of the pledged delegates, the establishment if you will, but what she doesnt have is a strong support from those who are working-class. READ MORE: Trumps the choice Trump won contests in West Virginia and Nebraska handily on Tuesday. Recently, Trump has zeroed in on Clintons protracted battle with Sanders. He has taunted Clinton by saying she cant close the deal by beating Sanders. Clinton has said she will ignore Trumps personal insults, including his repeated use of his new nickname for her, Crooked Hillary, and instead will criticise his policy pronouncements. Trump, shifting into general election mode, has already begun to consider running mates. He told Fox on Tuesday night that he has narrowed down his list to five people. He did not rule out picking New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former rival who ended his presidential bid in February. Christie, who endorsed Trump and then campaigned for him, was named on Monday to head Trumps White House transition team. Protesters clash with police as majority of senators say they will vote to have Dilma Rousseff suspended for 180 days. Brazils senators are debating whether to put President Dilma Rousseff on trial over allegations that she illegally manipulated the budget to hide a growing fiscal deficit. The debate, which continued into the early hours of Thursday, will be followed by a vote that could suspend Rousseff, the first woman to become Brazilian president, for the duration of the investigation, which would be 180 days. After 18 hours of debate, in which each senator were given the opportunity to give a 15-minute speech, a majority had said Rousseff should face an impeachment trial. Al Jazeeras Latin America Editor Lucia Newman, reporting from Brasilia, said Rousseff was expected to lose by an overwhelming majority. INTERACTIVE: South Americas left Troubled times It is a dramatic time for Brazil, she said. Even the pope has weighed in, calling for prayers and dialogue. Outside Congress, where a metal fence was erected to keep apart rival protests, about 6,000 backers of impeachment chanted Out with Dilma while police used pepper spray to disperse gangs of Rousseff supporters, who hurled flares back. One person was arrested for inciting violence. If Rousseffs opponents garner a simple majority in the 81-seat Senate session, Rousseff will be replaced on Thursday by Vice President Michel Temer as acting president for up to six months. On Wednesday, Brazils Supreme Court rejected an appeal to block the Senate vote. Chaotic process In April, the lower house of parliament voted to impeach Rousseff, who has been president since 2011. But on Monday, Waldir Maranhao, the interim head of the legislatures lower house, threw the impeachment effort into disarray by annulling that vote, citing procedural problems. He then reversed the decision several hours later, setting the stage for the vote in the Senate. Deeply unpopular, Rousseffs presidency has been damaged by corruption scandals, political paralysis and a sharp economic downturn. About 11 million people are out of work. Rousseff faces impeachment over accusations of tampering with figures to disguise the size of Brazils budget deficit during her 2014 re-election campaign. She has denied any wrongdoing, and cast the efforts to remove her as a coup. UK PM praises Nigerian and Afghan leaders in parliament speech after embarrassment caused by his remarks caught on tape. David Cameron has attempted to distance himself from controversial comments he made that the leaders of Nigeria and Afghanistan were representing fantastically corrupt nations. Asked about the controversy in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Cameron said the leaders of the two countries were battling hard against very corrupt systems and had made remarkable steps forward. Earlier, Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari said he did not want an apology from Cameron, but added that Britain could return assets stolen by officials who fled to London. The diplomatic embarrassment was unavoidable after Cameron was caught on tape saying in front of Queen Elizabeth that some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries [are] coming to Britain for an anti-corruption summit. Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world, he said. The recording made waves as Buhari and Afghanistans President Ashraf Ghani were due to attend the anti-corruption conference hosted by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. I am not going to demand any apology from anybody. What I am demanding is the return of the assets, Buhari told the conference. Earlier, Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Buhari, took to Twitter to scold Cameron. This is embarrassing to us, to say the least, he wrote The prime minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria. Things are changing with corruption and everything else. Nigeria, which ranks 136 out of 168 countries in Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index for 2015, has struggled for years to fight corruption among its political elite. Since Buhari was elected to power in 2014 on a campaign that pledged to root out corruption, anti-fraud agencies have arrested several senior politicians accused of embezzlement. Shoulder to shoulder Asked whether Cameron regretted his comments, a Downing Street spokesperson said: Both leaders have been invited to the summit because they are driving the fight against corruption in their countries. The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with them as they do so. Cobus de Swardt, Transparency Internationals managing director, said the UK is actually a big part of the worlds corruption problem. There is no doubt that historically, Nigeria and Afghanistan have had very high levels of corruption, and that continues to this day, De Swardt said. But the leaders of those countries have sent strong signals that they want things to change. This affects the UK as much as other countries. We should not forget that by providing a safe haven for corrupt assets, the UK and its overseas territories and crown dependencies are a big part of the worlds corruption problem. In a letter to Cameron last month, 95 reform groups in Nigeria urged the UK to do more to prevent corrupt officials from laundering stolen money through the UKs property market. Civil society in Nigeria is calling on you to take serious action to end the UKs role as a safe haven for our corrupt individuals, who steal our wealth for their own private gain, the letter said. Salaudeen Hashim, of the West Africa Civil Society Forum, told Al Jazeera that corruption and money laundering are direct causes of poverty in Nigeria. You see poverty staring at you on the street simply because money that is meant to stimulate the economy is being used by individuals to build homes [in London], to take care of their own immediate families, he said. All of this [is] going on at the expense of the people. Babies and children have died in squalid conditions in detention centre holding Boko Haram suspects, rights group says. Babies and children have died in squalid conditions in a military detention centre in northeast Nigeria, where suspected Boko Haram members are being held, often without any evidence, according to an Amnesty International report. The UK-based human rights group said 149 people, including at least 12 children and babies, have died in the Giwa barracks, the main military prison in Maiduguri, because of appalling and unsanitary conditions, since the beginning of this year. The Nigerian military dumps bodies of detainees who died in the barracks in the Gwange cemetery nearby, Amnesty said. Thousands of Boko Haram gunmen and suspected fighters have been detained in the Giwa barracks since the battle between the armed group and the Nigerian army began six years ago. In its report, Amnesty said evidence gathered through interviews with former detainees and witnesses, and supported by video and photographs, shows that many detainees may have died from disease, hunger, dehydration and gunshot wounds. Weve spoken to former inmates. Theyve given us eyewitness accounts of seeing children dying in detention, Colm O Cuanachain, a senior official with Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera. Overcrowding and the conditions there were clearly contributing to a situation where children were dying, he said. READ MORE: Nigeria urged to investigate military war crimes The Nigerian military says that most of the detainees in Giwa are terror suspects. But Amnesty said that more than 120 of the 1,200 detainees currently being held in the facility are children, some as young as five. Many of the young children were detained when their mothers were arrested, while others were born in detention, the group says in its report. Amnesty also said operations by the Nigerian military against Boko Haram have led to thousands of people being arbitrarily rounded up, arrested, and thrown into Giwa barracks with no evidence against them. Earlier this year soldiers released 50 children. The Nigerian government and military forces are determined to destroy Boko Haram and prosecute its fighters, said Al Jazeeras Yvonne Ndege, reporting from the capital Abuja. Some Nigerians fear that deaths of innocent people, including children, are an inevitable consequence of the violence. This is not the first time concerns have been raised about Giwa barracks. A report from June last year said in the past five years, 7,000 detainees died from starvation, thirst, disease and torture while in military detention. Al Jazeera approached the Nigerian military and government for comment without getting a response. Expected presidents persona as a gun-loving, motorcycle-riding womaniser with a death squad is only part of the story. It was evident hours after the polls closed that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would be the next president of the Philippines. By 9pm, the votes he received equalled the sum of those cast for his two closest opponents. The tough-talking mayor joined political allies on Monday night at a victory dinner before taking a pilgrimage to his parents grave at 3am where he broke down crying, whimpering for his mama to guide him. It was a vulnerability that contrasts with the 71-year-old Dutertes public persona as a gun-loving, motorcycle-riding womaniser. He is only human, after all. Philippines election: Rodrigo Duterte claims victory Its consistent with his message of healing and national unity to show the human [side] in him, political analyst Ramon Casiple told Al Jazeera. He did say he will be prim and proper, as the presidency requires. This is it. Duterte is not known for following protocol or niceties. His survey ratings were on a steady rise until he shared his thoughts on the rape and murder of Australian missionary Jacqueline Hamill, then 36. The mayor shouldve gotten to her first, Duterte said as he narrated the incident in an expletive-riddled campaign speech. He was unapologetic for the remark despite the outrage it stirred, just as he was unrepentant for cussing at Pope Francis and the monstrous traffic caused by his 2015 visit. Cussing, I think, is already part of his vocabulary. But I dont think theres meat or flesh to every cuss word that he spews, said campaign volunteer Jeffrey Tupas, a former journalist. READ MORE: Why the Philippine Punisher could be president Tupas, 38, acknowledged that his boss is an alpha male full of contradictions. He is intimidating but a gentleman; a toughie who sponsored a centre for cancer-stricken children. He is intolerant of criminals, but annually throws a Christmas bash for the citys prostitutes. A private and bookish person, Duterte nevertheless frequents a local piano bar where he serenades friends with favourites such as MacArthur Park and Send in the Clowns. He is hard to explain as he is unpredictable, Tupas said, noting those close to him have learned to read subtle signs when their principal is tired, angry, or when he wants to go home to sleep. One taxi driver and supporter blamed Dutertes seemingly belligerent language on the mayors inadequate grasp of Tagalog, the predominantly spoken dialect on the island of Luzon, where the seat of government and economy and the largest media agencies are based. [Duterte] hired a friend of mine to give him a massage one time, and she swears he was very polite and gentle, unlike what we see of him on TV, the driver said. Duterte lived as a boy in his fathers home town in Cebu in the central Philippines, where people spoke another dialect. When Duterte was six, his father who later became governor of Davao moved the young family to southern Davao City where Bisaya was also spoken. READ MORE: The Philippines autocratic nostalgia A lawyer by profession, Duterte joined the city prosecution office in 1977. After the 1986 People Power revolt, he was assigned as officer-in-charge of the city after his own mother declined the post. He successfully contested the post for mayor in 1986 and, since then, has basically ruled the city under what might be described as a benevolent dictatorship. In those three decades, Davao City was transformed from a gangland to the fourth safest city in the region. Civic worker Ayrie Ching said, years ago, that people migrated to Cotabato City the heartland of the Muslim insurgency because they thought it was safer than Davao. I like living in Davao, but its something I am able to say with a bit of discomfort because Im aware of my privilege Im not a drug addict, said Ching, 28. She was referring to allegations that Duterte had practically sanctioned the murder of hundreds of drug peddlers by the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), a paramilitary group serving as the citys shadow police force. Duterte helped fuel these rumours by boasting hed killed as many as 1,700 people and pronounced that he kept his beloved city safe by butchering all criminals. Ultimately, my human rights background was what hindered me from voting for him, Ching said. I know in one way or another about the stories of the DDS and how Duterte plays into the whole thing. Tupas dismissed Dutertes links to the DDS as fiction, but confirmed that the mayor drives a cab at night and prowls the citys streets trying to catch robbers preying on taxi drivers or pedestrians. Walking around Davao City at night is safer than in Metro Manila or Cotabato City at any time of day, he said. It is that promise of a safer city that made many gravitate towards Duterte. The one thing that attracted Filipinos to agree with Duterte was that he promised quick action, cutting corners, setting aside democratic rules, even the rule of law in order to address these specific daily concerns, Casiple explained. His record in Davao is a showcase of what Duterte promised the rest of the country. This early official election results are expected in two weeks time Dutertes camp said he could apply on a nationwide basis city ordinances such as a 1am liquor ban and a 10pm curfew for minors as initial measures to address criminality. He also promised to abolish Congress and to rewrite the Constitution. But Casiple said Duterte the president may not necessarily toe the line of Duterte the candidate. Campaign requirements are different from requirements when you are president, he said. Barcelona charity offering testing of illegal drugs like cocaine and ecstasy forced to limit its service. Barcelona Drug charity Energy Control says it has been forced to turn away drug-users hoping to have the quality of their street drugs tested. Energy Control has been offering the free and anonymous service since 1997 as a way of helping to reduce the risks of recreational drug use. In recent years its popularity has increased and now more than 5,000 samples are tested each year. One drug user, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Al Jazeera he uses the service to determine if the drugs he buys on the street are safe to take. You cant always trust who you are buying from, he says. Its not a market thats controlled, so if I can have more information about what I am taking, I can decide if I want to take it or not. The service is increasing year by year, lab coordinator Mireia Ventura told Al Jazeera. We are not able to analyse all the samples we receive so we need to make some limits. Along with the free service operated out of its office in central Barcelona, Energy Control also receives samples through the post, for testing which users must pay for. Saving lives Some people say we are promoting the use of drugs because [we] are giving a safe way to consume, says Ventura. But we are giving the results in a neutral manner and are detecting dangerous products. We are saving lives. More than 70 percent of the cocaine tested by the service is found to be cut with other ingredients. Some of these are extremely toxic and include drugs intended for animals. Last year Energy Control found that a pill with a Superman branding contained a lethal mix of a substance called PMMA. An alert was raised across Europe, but not before a number of people died. One pill was enough to kill one life, says Ventura. We remove a lot of pills from the market. We only know of one death but we are sure that if it was not detected there would have been more. Predicting toxicity The incident highlighted the importance of the service to both help protect drug-users from dangerous drugs and give scientists insight into the 30-40 new synthetic drugs hitting the street each year. Our contribution to society is to provide this kind of service free to consumers, Rafael de la Torre, toxicology professor and the Director of Neuroscience at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, told Al Jazeera. But on the other side it is a way of being aware of what is going on on the street, the trends in drug addiction and drug composition and things like that. Scientists say it is often impossible to know just how dangerous the new drugs are and existing screening and testing techniques are too slow to be of much use. That is why scientists are using data from the free testing service to develop a new way to predict the toxicity of new drugs. It takes too long. We have to find a new approach to evaluating them, says de la Torre. The idea of the project is to create a database of drugs that we know very well and include the new ones in a way that will give us their predictive toxicology. You enter the structure of the compound and the machine will be able to predict what will happen when you take [the drug]. Officers killed in suicide bombing following gun battle in Tataouine, hours after raid on suspected cell near Tunis. Four security officers and two suspected fighters have been killed in two separate incidents in the south of Tunisia and near the capital Tunis, according to government sources. A fighter detonated his explosives belt after a firefight erupted in the Tatouine governorate on Wednesday, killing the officers. One terrorist element was shot dead while the other detonated his explosives belt, killing two officers and two agents of the national guard, said the interior ministry. Tunisia, the birthplace of the 2011 Arab uprisings, has suffered from a wave of violence since its revolution that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the longtime president. Earlier on Wednesday, two suspected fighters were killed during the raid in Ariana province, just outside Tunis, against a cell planning simultaneous attacks, according to AFP news agency. A national guard unit had carried out the raid acting on information from an anti-terrorist operation. Ammunition seized Sixteen others were arrested during the operation in Ariana and AK-47 rifles, pistols and ammunition were seized. The interior ministry said the suspects had gathered in the area from different parts of the North African nation. According to a resident of the Sanhaji district, a two-hour gun battle erupted with the suspects after the National Guard launched the raid at around 8am local time (07:00 GMT). They were not from the neighbourhood. We didnt know them. They rented the house recently, AFP quoted her as saying. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for attacks last year on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and a beach resort near Sousse that killed a total of 60 people, all but one of them foreign tourists. A suicide bombing in Tunis in November, also claimed by ISIL, killed 12 presidential guards and prompted the authorities to declare a state of emergency. Strike in border town In another development, a southern town in Tunisia a staged a general strike on Wednesday in protest against a decision by Libyan authorities to halt cross-border trade on which its economy depends. Ben Gardane, one of the countrys poorest towns, was the target of an assault from across the border in Libya that killed seven civilians and 13 security personnel in March as well as 55 fighters. Shops and offices in the town of 60,000 inhabitants were all closed in response to the one-day strike called by the UGTT main trade union confederation, an AFP correspondent reported. Only the hospital emergency department, a pharmacy and some schools remained open in the town, whose economy is heavily dependent on cross-border trade and where smuggling is rife. Libyan border officials say they had halted all freight traffic since the end of April through the Ras Jedir crossing in a bid to stop the smuggling of fuel, which is much cheaper across the border. Negotiations focused on customs duties have so far failed to reach a settlement. Fayez al-Sarraj, Libyas prime minister-designate, met on Wednesday in Tunis with President Beji Caid Essebsi. The anti-terrorist struggle was at the top of the subjects raised, as well as our aim of an economic partnership, Sarraj said. For its part, the Tunisian presidency said the situation at Ras Jedir was discussed in the meeting. He is the only Black lawmaker in the lower chamber of 400 deputies and one of a handful ever elected in Italys history. You'd think that a pianist who's solidly served as sideman for such pillars of the jazz community asand others (including Afro-Cuban firebrands), would be at least somewhat famous. But since his first performances in the mid-1970s, pianist Danny Mixon has maintained such a low profile that he's still relatively unknown.Mixon's first release since his self-produced Peace & Music (2008), Pass It On brings Mixon more into the public spotlight. Solidly footed in the jazz tradition, it explores famous and not-so-famous compositions by, and, plus two Mixon originals with deep roots in the blues, played with a rotating gallery of six rhythm mates (three different drummers and bassists) plus saxophonist, blues-jazz vocalist's brother.It's pretty ballsy for one pianist to open his first recording in nearly a decade with a tune not just closely associated with but flat-out named for another pianist. But that's precisely what Mixon does with "Blue Monk," tap-dancing on its melody, rocking its chords, and soulfully rolling through elegant yet blues-based runs. His solo piano rendition of "Single Petal of a Rose," simple and unadorned, allows all the beauty of Duke Ellington's original melody to fully bloom.Mixon so adeptly explores two Wayne Shorter tunes that you'd think they were composed for piano, seamlessly swapping improvisations in and out of the verses of "Yes or No" and blending jazz, blues and classical styles into "Infant Eyes," played as soft and gentle as baby's breath.Pass It On programs Mixon's two originals back to back: As basic as its title, "My Blues" rolls as steadily and powerfully as the Mississippi River through its delta homelandjust a great old school piano blues played by a pianist who truly "tickles the ivories" in his swirling mid-song improvisation, and who's lived long enough to have genuinely experienced the blues. A tribute more in feeling and tone than style, "The Sample Way" honors The' keyboardist Joe Sample with a truly sing-able melody that organically rises from solid yet shifting rhythmic footing.In the center of Pass It On, "Memories of You," Hubbard's tune "Up Jumped Spring," and "The Very Thought of You," combine to survey jazz piano fromto Thelonious Monk (especially Mixon's strongly rhythmic left hand) totoall in the space of about twelve minutes. You always run into Walmart with the best of intentions: Grab the toilet paper and laundry detergent on your list and head home. Yet somehow you always find yourself smack dab in the middle of the beauty section and before you know it, you've bought three different mascaras and five eye shadows. Since the call of the makeup aisle is too much to resist for us, too, we put together five things you need to know to at least shop smarter. 1. Take advantage of the brands sold only at Walmart. Yes, you can buy CoverGirl and Maybelline New York at Walmart, but you can also pick them up at any old drugstore. Instead take advantage of the affordable beauty brands that are exclusive to Walmart. Flower is Drew Barrymore's inexpensive makeup line, and the Flower Lighten Up Brightening Concealer ($8) even won a Best of Beauty Award . '90s kids should also scoop up as much Hard Candy as they can carry, since the iconic makeup and nail-polish brand is sold only at Walmart. 2. Keep your eye out for lower prices on specific products. According to this Reddit thread, Walmart is known for having particularly low prices on certain fan favorites, like Wet 'n' Wild eye-shadow singles and the Wet 'n' Wild Reserve Your Cabana Bronzer, as well as the Milani Baked Blush. One user remarks that she always goes to Walmart for makeup-removing wipes. "The Equate Beauty Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes are great for their price," she says. "My Walmart had the CoverGirl SuperSizer Volumizing Mascara on sale for $5, and it also had it in the bonus pack with an Intensify Me Eyeliner," writes another user. And bloggers have discovered that you can sometimes find obsession-worthy E.L.F. makeup products (which are more commonly found in Target stores) for less than $3 at Walmart: 2005 .. The May 9 announcement from Lending Club on the departure of CEO and Chairman Renaud Laplanche came as a shock to the market, as did the subsequent 35% fall in the share price. It has not been a great year for Lending Club, which had already suffered with other marketplace lenders before the news, making the stock drop that much more dramatic. The reasons for Laplanche's departure were discussed in the Lending Club quarterly results call May 9. By all accounts, the board was seen to be acting decisively to address the concerns and ensure both that Lending Club gains investor confidence in its data and that it can continue to build out the marketplace lending model. Many have compared the growth of marketplace lenders to what we saw in the subprime loan crisis, suggesting that that history will repeat itself here. They say marketplace lenders have a conflict of interest, looking to grow fee income regardless of credit quality of the loans that they issue. But there are plenty of reasons why that history just doesn't apply to marketplace lending. It is true the recent news is a setback, and concerns about Lending Club and other companies could very well slow the growth of marketplace lending. But key factors point to lenders rebounding from hits to their share prices and issues with loan buyers. On the May 9 Lending Club call, it was announced that first-quarter loans grew by 68% compared with a year earlier. It is worth pointing out that the growth of marketplace lending is a global phenomenon. The movement away from banks and toward a model where borrowers and lenders come together on a platform is now happening around the world. According to a report by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, China saw 328% growth in alternative lending between 2013 and 2015, reaching upward of $101 billion in 2015. By comparison, the same group estimated in a different publication that alternative lending in the U.S. reached about $36 billion last year, small by comparison. But as other parts of the world look to a more efficient model of distributing capital to borrowers, we should expect to see that same trend here. Another key driver of growth in marketplace lending is the relative cost of marketplace lending versus the process that traditional lenders use. According to the slide presentation that Lending Club reviewed during its first-quarter call, traditional lenders tend to have operating expenses of around 5% to 7% of outstanding loan balances versus marketplace lenders where that ratio is around 2%. Many are comparing this to the travel industry and how booking travel changed as technology was able to offer better customer experience while reducing costs. Although lending money is much different than booking a flight, the use of technology in the underwriting process has been limited in traditional lenders whereas technology has been part of the marketplace lending model since its inception. From day one, marketplace lenders have been able to reduce many of the redundant aspects of collecting client information and signatures while speeding up the process. Yet there are still aspects of the marketplace loan ecosystem that are evolving. An example is the market for loan buyers. The sell-off of high-yield bonds in the first quarter contributed to a drop in the secondary market prices for marketplace loans, and therefore a drop in liquidity. This made it difficult for funds to allow redemptions. Although marketplace lending yields are inviting, many are still reluctant to invest in this space. Lending Club has 111 different variables for each loan for potential investors to weigh, and it is not clear yet whether investors are comfortable with the diversified portfolio model. But the ability to purchase fractionalized securitized loans with the granularity and transparency that marketplace lending platforms offer is a significant differentiator. Over time, this is what will ensure the growth of this asset class. Tom Grant is a managing partner with Intelligent Lending Advisers, a Boston-based adviser for investors in marketplace loans. He was previously a managing director with BBVA in global markets. He can be contacted on Twitter @thomaslgrant. When it was enacted, the Dodd-Frank Act was advertised as the answer to the too-big-to-fail problem: the threat of taxpayer bailouts because the government is unwilling to let a large bank fail. But the law is not a viable solution, and some other ideas such as breaking up the biggest banks are not workable either. In reality, fixing TBTF is a waste of time. The right policy is to ensure that the largest banks are never in trouble, and that means adopting a simplified assets-to-equity "leverage" ratio and an improved system of prompt corrective action for the largest banks. Let's look at some of the problems with the current TBTF debate, which overlooks certain key facts. First, serious questions hamper the government's ability to implement the primary Dodd-Frank section addressing TBTF, known as Title II. Title II allows the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to resolve a systemically important financial company. But, as I point out in a paper with my AEI colleague Paul Kupiec, that title applies to nonbank financial firms, and bars the FDIC from placing a large bank subsidiary in its own Title II resolution. That leaves the FDIC with two bad options. The FDIC can resolve a subsidiary bank through the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. But to take over and resolve a failing bank requires the FDIC to tap the Deposit Insurance Fund, which would be insufficient to resolve a trillion-dollar institution. Also, in bank resolutions, the FDIC typically sells the failing bank to a healthy acquirer. If we are really worried about TBTF, selling a trillion-dollar bank to another trillion-dollar bank isn't the answer. In the second option, the FDIC deals with the subsidiary bank under a Title II resolution of its parent. But the FDIC's "single point of entry" strategy the agency's most-discussed method for implementing Title II is also unworkable for the largest banks. Under SPOE, the FDIC would close the holding company and use its assets to recapitalize the bank, keeping the bank operating. However, Title II makes clear that this can be done only if the holding company is insolvent. If the bank's failure was the basis for triggering Title II, legal questions would likely arise about whether the holding company had failed. Regulators would likely cite the "source of strength" doctrine, arguing in effect that a bank failure equals that of the holding company, but the legal basis for that doctrine is unproven. And, as Kupiec and I point out, holding companies for the largest banks have other profitable subsidiaries, allowing them to remain solvent even if their largest bank failed meaning the FDIC will not be able to use its SPOE strategy for the very banks that create the TBTF problem. Nor can we solve TBTF by breaking up the biggest banks, as some commentators have urged. In practical terms, a bank is only TBTF if the Federal Reserve believes its failure will have systemic effects. But since no one can know how the Fed will act in a future situation, it's silly to suggest that the largest banks should be reduced in size until they are no longer TBTF. It is impossible to know what that size is. Finally, consider this: our four largest banks have total combined assets of approximately $6 trillion. If we arbitrarily decide that $250 billion is the right ceiling, we could break them up into in 24 separate $250 billion banks. What happens then if one of them fails? It can't be sold to one of the others, because the acquiring bank would then be larger than the limit. Nor could any other existing bankof any sizemerge with it. So the FDIC would have to take over the failing bank and resolve it by selling off the pieces to whatever other banks could buy them without violating the $250 billion ceiling. It would take yearseven if the FDIC had the funds and the technical ability to operate the bank while selling off its assets. Meanwhile, the losses to the taxpayers and disruption in the economy would be substantial. So what are we to do? We have four trillion-dollar banks, and many others much larger than the $250 billion size we arbitrarily chose. The failure of any could cost the taxpayers billions and seriously disrupt the economy, and there is no practical way to address this problem under existing law. We can't break them up without assurance that their parts won't still be TBTFin the eyes of the Fedat whatever level is chosen; they can't be merged with a healthy bank without making the healthy one even more TBTF; and the FDIC doesn't have the financial resources to resolve them if they fail. The answer is that these very large banks cannot be allowed to fail. That sounds impossible, but it's not. Their capital level can be increased substantially, and backed up with an effective system of prompt corrective action and continuous examination. Prompt corrective action hasn't worked well for small banks because they are not widely diversified and can lose substantial capital between examinations. The largest banks, however, are examined on a continuous basis, and their diversification is further protection against unforeseen events. A thoroughgoing reform like this would abandon the risk-based capital system a complex and nontransparent way for governments to measure banks' capital. In its place, we should substitute a leverage ratio the simpler the better. A non-risk-based capital ratio is already a component of the international Basel capital regime, but it should be the only component. A risk-based capital system allows too much room for error and manipulation. It can even become a form of credit allocation. For example, before the crisis, private mortgage-backed securities were considered low risk, meaning banks would set aside less capital to cover loss in a risk-based system. But that was a recipe for disaster. On the other hand, data shows that investors and creditors reward a high equity-to-assets leverage ratio, probably because they have confidence that the banks' capital is real and not simply a gaming of the risk-based capital system. The traditional objections to higher capital requirements are that they would encourage greater risk-taking (to raise return on equity) or higher lending costs (to cover capital costs). But a credible leverage ratio will attract financing at lower cost, increasing return on equity. Excessive risk-taking would be counteracted by continuous examination and prompt corrective action to spot problems before they significantly diminish a bank's capital cushion. Given that there is no other viable solution to the TBTF problem, let's try this one. Peter J. Wallison is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. His most recent book is "Hidden in Plain Sight: What Caused the World's Worst Financial Crisis and Why It Could Happen Again." Google said Wednesday it will ban ads for payday loans to protect its customers from what it considers deceptive and harmful financial products. The ban goes into effect on July 13. The announcement is the culmination of a lengthy collaboration between a consumer and civil rights groups that have long sought to rein in payday loans. David Graff, Google's director of global product policy, said the company will no longer allow ads for loans with annual percentage rates of 36% or higher, or where repayment is due within 60 days of the date of issue. "When reviewing our policies, research has shown that these loans can result in unaffordable payment and high default rates for users so we will be updating our policies globally to reflect that," Graff said in a statement. "Ads for financial services are a particular area of vigilance given how core they are to people's livelihood and well being," he stated. "When ads are good, they connect people to interesting, useful brands, businesses and products. Unfortunately, not all ads are some are for fake or harmful products, or seek to mislead users about the businesses they represent." The ban will not affect companies offering mortgages, car loans, credit cards, student loans or commercial loans. Google, of Menlo Park, Calif., has an extensive set of policies to keep bad ads out of its system. Last year it disabled more than 780 millions ads for reasons ranging from counterfeiting to phishing. Graff said that Google hopes that "fewer people will be exposed to misleading or harmful products." The ban comes as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to propose new rules to restrict payday loans. Wade Henderson, the president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said Google's new policy addresses many long-standing concerns about predatory payday loans. "These companies have long used slick advertising and aggressive marketing to trap consumers into outrageously high interest loans often those least able to afford it," Henderson said. Last year Facebook banned ads for payday loans on its site. Consumers groups are urging Microsoft, Yahoo and other search engines to end payday loan ads as well. Into which powerful organization can you become a voting member without at least filling out an application form? Perhaps there are some, so let's clarify the question. What if that organization were a major force in establishing who would become the next leader of the free world? Presently, you can become a member of the Republican or Democratic Party simply by checking a box on your voter registration form. Doing so automatically gives you a free membership. Nobody gets rejected. Knowing nothing about civics is not an impediment to joining. Worse yet, in some states, the membership is all but meaningless. In some states, members of either political party can select who will be the nominee of the opposing party. It's called crossover voting. The purpose in doing so is often sabotage. A member of Party A can vote for an unpopular candidate of Party B, simply to prevent a more popular candidate from winning the Party B nomination. This underhanded dirty trick is entirely legal. Until this year, the general public was largely unaware of how the two-party system works, or fails to work. The biggest question in years past was, why do we get only two choices for president? Who decides for whom we can, and cannot, vote? This year, the cat is escaping the bag. Voters in some cases are shocked shocked, mind you that their political party can simply ignore their vote and assign delegates based on mysterious factors that seem intended to lock out the ordinary citizen. As Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota, told CNBC, the voters do not decide; the party does. He is right. This is actually how the two-party system is designed to work. It is also why President George Washington, in his farewell address, warned us against it. The establishment of political parties "in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, [and] is itself a frightful despotism." This was not a casual precaution, but an urgent warning that political parties are inherently horrid and despotic. What can we do? The parties are too powerful to simply be disbanded by decree. They are so embedded in the political system that many people actually believe that Republican and Democrat are the two branches of government. In some respects, they may be right. This is where the old adage "if you can't beat them, join them" may be wise. I almost did. A few years ago I had an invitation to run for something called "precinct captain." I had never heard of it before, and in the end, I did not seek the post but as it turns out, this is a relatively accessible doorway to becoming an influential member of a political party. In the grand scheme of things, it is only a local position, but if one is ambitious, it can over a period of a few years (or less) become a vital steppingstone to meaningful, and even powerful, party membership. We should now expect that voter frustration with politicians may soon reach revolutionary fervor. Among rank-and-file Republicans, it already has. In response, newly educated ordinary citizens may soon enter the parties through the precinct level, but once inside, they might wreak havoc if the "old boys" cannot fend them off. If the anger continues to mount, we may hopefully see the end of the days when Republicans get elected on promises to reduce the size of government only to increase it. There are two problems, one of which was already mentioned: the ease with which one can assign himself to a political party. The other major hurdle is that few working people have the time and resources to put into holding even the most obscure political office. For some of us, even the minor inconvenience of waking early on a Tuesday morning so as to vote on the way in to work is considered a significant patriotic sacrifice. Even so, there is hope. Here are some ideas to help remedy the defects in the present system: Require that prospective members, before joining a political party, fill out a detailed application form. Make membership in the party contingent upon a review of this form. Impose an application fee and a dues schedule. This would produce a meaningful financial commitment. Hold meetings. Party members should attend at least quarterly meetings to discuss policy positions, tactics, and prospective candidates. Without such active participation, party membership remains meaningless. Enact laws to forbid non-members from voting in party primaries. Undoubtedly, imposing costs and obligations in any form on party members will be met with outrage. "Why, this means that only the wealthy can vote!" Such nonsense can be countered by the formation of opposition parties in which the members set their own rules. If an already existing major party wishes to continue making its membership meaningless, then it is free to do so. Newly activist members can, however, thwart that fatal impulse. While a multi-party system might be chaotic, it would be an improvement, if for no other reason than that it would decentralize political power. In any case, the two-party system as it now exists is dying. It is not being killed; it is committing suicide. May it rest in peace. One of the most extraordinary things about Donald Trumps primary victory in the Republican Party is that he received more votes from people identifying as Christian than his closest competitor Ted Cruz -- the son of an evangelical pastor and one who profusely displayed his Christian identity in speech and temperament. In contrast, by standards that many believe to be the essence of Christian character as expressed in the Sermon on the Mount, Donald Trump has been anything but meek, merciful, or peacemaking in his political rise. Some have likened him to a one-man wrecking ball. So whats going on? No one doubts that these are unusual times, with more forces pulling the United States down than at any other time in history. There is plenty of blame to go around for Americas spiraling state of decline, but at the top of the list are two things: First, we have had a culture captured and constrained by secular progressive political correctness. Second, we have an overbearing federal government that has corrupted both parties, the bureaucracies, and even the supposedly independent Federal Reserve. At the grassroots, Republicans have tried to bring about a corrective, and they did succeed in getting many conservative reform candidates elected to congress in the last six years. Yet the stranglehold of political correctness and the corruption of Washington from special interests and lobbyists have proven insurmountable. Washington, DC -- a metropolis producing very little with limited industry and almost no manufacturing -- has become the richest city in the country, while driving the nation to the edge of financial ruin, as manifest in a national debt exceeding $19 trillion, 47 million people on food stamps, and a true unemployment rate that may be three times higher than the manipulated official rate released by the federal government. Even as white Christians have diminished in their overall percentage of the population at large, according to the Pew Research Center, they still account for nearly seven in ten Americans who identify with, or lean toward, the Republican Party -- about the same percentage as in the 1980s during the Reagan years. The problem is the GOP -- despite its success in gaining majorities in both houses of Congress and controlling the power of the purse -- has been ineffective as an opposition party during the Obama years. The tipping point for many Christians came with a realization that the Republican Party was as incapable of protecting their rights and values at home as it was feckless in stopping an errant foreign policy that undermined trust with allies and emboldened enemies. Two unnerving breaches of protection prompted many to recognize compelling qualities in Donald Trump over other candidates. First, he exuded an unapologetic toughness about building a wall and stopping the wave of illegal immigrants flooding over the Mexican border. Second, he was unequivocal about obliterating ISIS quickly and decisively -- ending its wanton slaughter of Christians and other ethnic groups. And bridging both of these issues, in the aftermath of ISIS-inspired attacks in San Bernardino and Brussels, Trump unhesitatingly opposed Obamas wish to take in undocumented Syrian refugees, until we figure out what the hell is going on. In that alone in the eyes of the majority, Trump demonstrated he was presidential, putting the protection of Americans as the top priority. Political correctness and intolerance, which debilitates critical thinking, discourse and debate, has been shaping American culture for more than a generation. Throughout the seven plus years of the Obama administration, political correctness has driven domestic and foreign policy -- with disastrous results. Obama has gone beyond anyone in recent memory in assaulting the First Amendment, undermining both speech and the exercise of Christian religion. We now see among liberals and secular progressives operating in the Democrat Party an Orwellian power structure that seeks to advance a statist, socialist and globalist transformation of the U.S. by silencing opposing views through the courts, misinformation, and distortion of the truth. Call it newspeak as Orwell did or the successor term doublespeak, its purpose is the same: to shape the masses thinking and obfuscate what is really going down. Political correctness has not only prevented development of an effective strategy to deal with Islamist terrorism. It has turned U.S. relations in the Middle East upside down. The Obama administration celebrated the ouster and replacement of Egypts president Hosni Mubarak, a long-standing U.S. ally, with Muslim Brotherhoods Mohamed Morsi. A similar glee was initially expressed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the news of Muammar Gaddafi being hunted down and killed, only to be followed by increased mayhem in Libya, leading to the tragedy and humiliation of the U.S. at the hands of terrorists in Benghazi. But for many Christians, the bridge too far was Obamas rebuke of Israel and his end run around the U.S. Congress, in forcing through a fundamentally flawed nuclear deal with Iran. Iran is both the top exporter of hate and the worlds largest state sponsor of terrorism whose longstanding primary targets are the United States (often referred to as the big Satan), and Israel (the little Satan). Everyone recognizes that Donald Trump is a flawed candidate. His Christian supporters certainly know this as well or better than his critics. But they also recognize that sinners are all that there are to choose from and that Americas precarious position at home and abroad requires an unconventional leader with unusual characteristics -- some of which may not be aligned with a stereotypical Christian temperament. One thing few could disagree with is that Trump deserves credit more than any conservative for fracturing the foundation of political correctness, upon which rests the entire liberal superstructure. In fact, conventional conservatives may have reached a limit in expanding their audience. In contrast, it appears to be harvest time for Trump. His style of common sense plain talk has the potential to make huge inroads into both independent and liberal constituencies who are just now waking up to the absurdities of political correctness. While many still cant see clearly, the fog is lifting, and the soul, spontaneity and humor of America is making an incipient revival, even in the midst of rancor. If one can get past the braggadocio, narcissism and other negatives of Trumps character, on the positive side he exudes confidence, ambition and a keenness to make good deals, get results and win. He is bold, direct and doesnt shy away from confrontation. Mr. Trump is quite social and clearly likes to entertain, but he is also tough as nails, unrelenting and unpredictable with adversaries. He is unquestionably and refreshingly patriotic. It turns out that some of these qualities are among those most vital to rebuilding relations with Americas allies and restoring respect -- even fear -- from adversaries. Mr. Trumps directness also suggests he is the best-suited presidential candidate to take on Americas greatest threat -- insolvency. He could break the cycle of denial that completely engulfs the Democrat Party, and has hitherto prevented predecessors from doing much of anything regarding the nations out-of-control spending, deficits and unsustainable debt. Additionally, Trumps toughness may be the key virtue needed to rule in a divided country and to successfully downsize and restructure federal agencies and get Washington out of the way of the American economy and its people. Although the GOP believes it has a big tent, understandably many party members with well-established positions and values have great difficulty in accepting for the highest office in the land a newcomer candidate as fundamentally different as Donald Trump. To them I would say, unusual times with threats on every front at home and abroad call for an unconventional candidate. And its not so hard after all to recognize qualities in Donald Trump that make him in certain ways uniquely well-suited for our times. Scott Powell is managing partner of RemingtonRand LLC, a recruiting firm focused on finding partner legal talent for many of the top law firms in the world. Email him at scottp@rrand.com What a surprise! It was revealed from the highest level that the Obama White House has been downright deceptive and had lied to the American public and media about the nuclear deal with Iran, as well as carrying on secret bilateral negotiations with Iran. In spite of arguments by the Obama administration to the contrary, it has been clear from the beginning that the nuclear deal with Iran, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed on July 14, 2015, will not stop the Iranian effort to develop nuclear weapons. President Barack Obama optimistically sent a message to Iran in March 2015 that a nuclear agreement could lead to a better path, the path of greater opportunities for the Iranian people. Those "greater opportunities" materialized on May 8, 2016 with the announcement that Iran had successfully tested a ballistic missile, with a 1,240-mile range, capable of reaching Israel with full accuracy. In spite of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 of July 20, 2015 that calls on Iran not to launch tests of ballistic missiles, this was the third test by Iran. One of the two missiles fired in March 2016 carried the slogan "Israel must be wiped out." By chance, the ballistic missile testing coincided with the publication of the extraordinary revealing article by David Samuels in the New York Times on May 8, 2016 on Ben Rhodes, the Boy Wonder of the Obama White House, the single most influential voice next to the president shaping American foreign policy. Rhodes is officially the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications in the Obama administration, but he is really the spin-doctor narrating or fabricating fantasies or half-truths to the mainstream media that he arrogantly seems to despise. The willingness of the media to consume and disseminate the inaccurate information given them has long been known, but the full extent to which the media was spun has now been revealed. The main revelation was that Rhodes presented the story of negotiations on the nuclear deal with Iran as having started in 2013 due to the fact the moderates in Iran, led by Hassan Rouhani, had won the election and became president. The moderates therefore were influential and were willing to make a deal with the United States. The media believed this, though it was disputed by well-informed individuals such as Leon Panetta, former secretary of defense, who denied any such division between hard and soft Iranians. Rhodes, with evident contempt, regards previous decision makers on Iran and Iraq the Washington foreign policy establishment, or The Blob, as he calls it, which includes Hillary Clinton as "morons." Rhodes's spin was false. The negotiations with Iran had in fact started earlier in 2012, before Rouhani was elected. The White House deliberately spun the view that Iran moderates wanted peace with the U.S. and with Middle East neighbors. What is important is his contempt for the media as well as for the Washington establishment. Rhodes observed that news bureaus today do not have foreign bureaus, as they used to have, and they therefore call the White House to find out what is happening. The result is that most of the news outlets are reporting on world affairs from Washington. Rhodes said the average reporter he talks to is 27 years old and literally knows nothing. The White House therefore shapes the news and has particular journalists it can use for spreading it and validating what the White House gives them to say. As Samuels writes, "[t]he way in which most Americans have heard the story of the nuclear deal was largely manufactured for the purpose of selling the deal." The consensus in the U.S. today is that the Iran deal was a major political blunder. Of the two main adversaries during the discussion, most informed commentators would agree that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposed the deal, was right, and President Obama was wrong. The issue is not stated in Samuel's article, but it is worth remembering how the media accepted the White House spin on Netanyahu's speech to Congress on March 3, 2015. Their presentation was that House speaker John Boehner had invited the Israeli prime minister, a foreign leader, to address Congress without first consulting Obama. Boehner suggested that Netanyahu comment on the threats stemming from radical Islam as well as from Iran. It was understood that he would discuss critically and would oppose the Iran negotiations. Two factors are involved in the White House attempt to prevent Netanyahu from speaking. The first expressed by the media was on the wisdom of the invitation, because Netanyahu was going to criticize the Obama policy. Though most of Congress expressed opposition to the negotiations, there was a genuine difference of opinion on them. President Obama believed and still appears to believe that a deal in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for relief from sanctions was the way to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu disagreed on the whole idea and believed that Iran was not negotiating in good faith. Iran has a record of secret uranium enrichment facilities, and Israel was in danger. Netanyahu argued that the sanctions on Iran, the removal of which was the real reason for Iran's willingness to negotiate, should not be removed in fact, should be increased. The second factor was the White House spin, which the media highlighted, that the invitation was unconstitutional. Either Rhodes or someone else in the White House invented something called the "presidential protocol." The White House spokesperson on January 20, 2015, slightly off the point, informed the media that the typical protocol would suggest that "the leader of a country would contact the leader of another country when he is traveling there." The media, though few of whom if any were constitutional lawyers, claimed that such an invitation had no precedent in American history. One may disagree on whether the invitation was unwise or inopportune, but it was not unconstitutional. There was no breach of any constitutional provision. The U.S. Constitution states that the president shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers, but this has nothing to do with the Netanyahu visit. The Constitution also gives Congress a role in foreign affairs the power to declare war, to finance government, rejection or approval of treaties. It was therefore perfectly appropriate for Congress to hear the views of a foreign leader, especially one whose country would be affected by the nuclear agreement. The political argument that Boehner went behind Obama's back when issuing the invitation is invalidated by the evidence of Rhodes on the White House spin. The New York Times incorrectly reported that Netanyahu had accepted the invitation to speak before the White House had been informed. This was not true, and the NYT had to issue a correction. Netanyahu did not formally accept the invitation until after the White House had been informed. It was not true, as Earnest had said, that the White House did not know about the invitation until Boehner announced it publicly. The spin converted the difference of opinion on an important issue into a diplomatic row with constitutional implications. In reality, Boehner had earlier in 2011 invited Netanyahu to speak and had informed the White House, which never responded. Many in the media bought the White House spin and deception that to oppose the nuclear deal was to support Israel against the Obama administration. That made the State of Israel a partisan issue, while in the past support for Israel has been overwhelmingly bipartisan. The White House and the mainstream media owe Netanyahu an apology for their fallacious and dishonorable presentation of a controversial issue. Recently, fears have erupted in the press about a possible Russian military action against the three Baltic countries and Poland, in reaction to the NATO announcement of the transfer of 4,000 NATO troops, including two U.S. battalions, into these countries. In response, Russia has carried out military exercises near the borders of these countries, along with close fly-bys over the Baltic Sea against U.S. military aircraft and Navy vessels. What gives? Could Russia possibly invade Poland? I have lived in retirement as an American ex-pat in Poland for the past eight years. I live near Legnica, which is a city in southwest Poland which, for several decades, was known as "Little Moscow" because half of the inhabitants of Legnica were Russian military personnel, assigned to the headquarters for the entire Western Front. If Moscow had ever issued orders for the Red Army in Germany to attack West Germany, those orders would have been processed through Legnica. The Russians will never dare attack Poland, and here's why: 1) DEMOGRAPHICS -- Russia is a country with 160 million inhabitants. 40 million people live in Poland. Any war-gamer or military strategist will tell you that when two military forces of equivalent quality are matched against each other, an attacker needs about a 4 to 1 advantage to assure his victory over the defender. Russia barely has that. However, Russia's actual ratio over Poland is really much less than 4 to 1. In the case of a war against Russia, Poland could mobilize its entire armed forces against Russia, but Russia could not do likewise, since Russia is a vast country with many thousands of miles of borders to garrison and defend. Russia's actual edge over Poland is therefore a lot less than 4 to 1. 2) LENGTH OF BORDERS -- In the event of war with Russia, Poland would have very short borders to defend. There are four possible borders across which Russia could invade Poland. These are: a) from the Kaliningrad Enclave -- 200 Km long, b) through Lithuania -- the corridor there is less than 100 Km across, c) from White Russia -- perhaps 350 Km, and d) across Ukraine -- perhaps 400 Km. Only the Kaliningrad Enclave offers Russia a border that directly abuts Poland. But Kaliningrad is a geographical island. It has no land connection directly with Russia anymore. Instead, for Russia to establish land contact with Kaliningrad, it would have to march through at least two countries. Kaliningrad is very difficult to resupply, and therefore to defend. In the event of war with Poland, there is every chance Poland could overrun Kaliningrad. For this reason alone, Russia will think long and hard before it decides to attack Poland. As for Lithuania, in order for Russia to use this corridor to attack Poland, it would first have to attack Lithuania, much as Germany in WWII attacked France by violating Dutch and Belgian neutrality. Russia will not lightly contemplate such a move. White Russia (Belarus) is a close ally of Russia and could be relied upon to cooperate. But in order for Russia to attack Poland from Ukraine, Russia would first have to invade Ukraine, a state which is hostile to Russia, and would have to march hundreds of miles across Ukraine to get to the Polish border. It is unthinkable. In short, Poland would have short borders to defend, and moreover would have much fewer problems of logistics, since it would be defending interior lines, and since Russia would be forced of necessity to use extended and exposed supply lines to fuel its attack. 3) QUALITY OF MANPOWER -- Doubtless, in the event of an attack on Poland, Russia would deploy its best, elite units. Nevertheless, the backbone of the entire Russian military remains its conscripted soldiers. Russia still practices conscription. It still calls up classes of its young men twice per year for two-year army stints. These conscripts are poorly trained, poorly equipped, and poorly motivated. They can't wait to be mustered out, and have no interest in fighting any war that they can't perceive is in defense of the survival of the "Rodina" (the "Motherland"). (This has characterized Russia's armies for the past several centuries, by the way.) Poland's army, by contrast, is an all-volunteer army. Poland observed the success of America's all-volunteer army, and decided to follow suit. And as a result, its army is well paid, well trained, and well motivated. Advantage: Poland. 4) QUALITY OF EQUIPMENT -- Poland has the latest of NATO weaponry. Russia doesn't. Advantage: Poland. 5) NATO -- Poland is a member of NATO, and an attack on Poland is an attack on all NATO member states, including the United States. 6) MOTIVATION -- Understand this about Poland: Polish people dont like Russia. Poland has never liked Russia. This goes back over a thousand years of history, to the beginnings of Polish and Russian civilizations, when both countries accepted Christianity. Russia chose Greek Orthodoxy; Poland chose Roman Catholicism instead. They did so because it wanted not to be Russian, but instead a member of Western Civilization. Consider World War II. Germany committed massive war crimes against Poland, and subjected Poland to a rigorously brutal occupation. In addition to Poland's 3 million Jews who died at Nazi hands, Poland also lost 3 million of its own Polish Catholic ethnics, and had its entire country leveled to the ground in the process. And yet, to this day, Poland is far more upset about the 20,000 or so Polish Army officers who were massacred by the Russians at Katyn than they are about the entire German occupation. Go to the waterfront of Union City, N.J. sometime, right across the Hudson River from where the old WTC stood. There you will see a statue of a Polish soldier with a bayoneted rifle sticking out of its back with the one-word inscription -- "KATYN." Nothing there about the German occupation at all, though the Germans perpetrated far worse against Poland than the Russians ever did at Katyn. Six years ago, an airplane carrying most of the Polish government crashed while flying to Smolyensk to participate in a commemoration of the Russian deeds at Katyn. Imagine that -- the Russians were set to admit, and apologize and atone for their acts, and then the tragedy occurred. It was the last thing they wanted to happen! But it did, and to this day, most Poles believe that Russia destroyed the airplane deliberately. The belief makes no sense and is nothing more than conspiracy theory. But just as millions of Americans still wrongly believe there was a JFK assassination conspiracy, so too do most Poles think the Russians downed that airplane deliberately. A few years ago, a hit movie Warszawa 1920 was made about the miracle defense of Poland in 1920 from the attacking Red Army. It was very popular. In short, Poland is generally well-motivated to defend itself. And defending itself against Russia only adds to Polish motivation. Russia is aware of all these things, and will never attack Poland. Though I reside in Poland, I'm not the least bit worried. James A. Nollet is a retired US Food & Drug Administration chemist and current author who has lived in Poland in retirement for the past nine years. When the Supreme Court ruled in a 2010 case known as Citizens United that corporations and individuals could donate unlimited sums of money to political actions committees, the left wailed that democracy had suffered a fatal blow at the hands of big money. "If you are a regular person who's ever made a campaign donation before, forget about ever having to do that again," said Rachel Maddow on her prime-time MSNBC program. "What's the point of individual people trying to influence politics with donations if Exxon or some other company can quite literally match and therefore cancel out the combined donations of every single individual donor in the nation whenever it wants in one check?" So when Jeb Bush raised $100 million from banks, oil companies, and other corporate fat cats for his presidential bid a sum that more than tripled his closest rival's those who bought the left's narrative deemed the former Florida governor the frontrunner for the GOP nomination. Similarly, when it became clear that Hillary Clinton would carry unprecedented support from the Democratic establishment, the left presumed her to be the next president. Regardless that the poll numbers of outsiders Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders were skyrocketing, sooner or later, Beltway insiders claimed, the establishment's money and resources would overwhelm the insurgents. As it turned out, these predictions were half-wrong, and the reasoning behind them was all wrong. Bush's $100-million war chest proved inept at combating Donald Trump's declamation of him as a "low-energy person," leading the former frontrunner to exit the race after the South Carolina primary. On the other hand, Trump, while telling individuals and big donors not to contribute to his campaign, defied decades of Republican establishment infrastructure and overcame over $43 million in negative advertising to become the party's nominee. The GOP establishment despises Trump so much that conservative mega-donor Charles Koch threatened to back Clinton in a general election. A similar narrative plays out on the Democratic side. After voters answered Clinton with a collective "ehhh," many turned to Sanders who also refused to create a super-PAC fueling his rise from fringe socialist to winner of the New Hampshire primary, with 3 million individual donations averaging $27 apiece. Through individual contributions, Sanders has raised just as much money as Clinton, if not more. He will fall short of the nomination because his message doesn't appeal beyond young, educated whites, not because his voice was drowned out by Clinton's big money operation. It has been rightly concluded that Trump's and Sanders's success shows that the electorate is more fed up than ever with politics as usual. But the larger takeaway from their candidacies has been dutifully ignored, perhaps because it fails in the face of the left's longstanding assumption about American politics: that big money is, ultimately, a bystander to voters' decisions. Hence, money influences elections only to the degree that it speeds up and/or enhances the dissemination of a candidate's message. Indeed, this can make a huge difference in a race where media coverage is not a given, or a race in which candidates are distinguished by policy details as opposed to values and vision. Yet if voters don't agree with the message that the money is peddling, or, as in this case, don't trust the money itself, voters hold the power to shape the race. The realization of money's true effect on politics strikes down the central argument against the Citizens United decision. Upholding the First Amendment did not corrupt popular democracy but it did...well, uphold the First Amendment. It's time Rachel Maddow and the left recognize the danger of substituting their judgment on the Founders' principles for the wisdom of the principles themselves. There are tantalizing signs that the FBI struck a nerve during an interview with close Hillary Clinton aide Cheryl Mills, conducted jointly by the FBI and Department of Justice. And that the Department of Justice is acting on Hillarys behalf to quell the flames. The account of the incident by Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post, which broke the story, was frustratingly vague. First, let us consider the sourcing of the scoop: Near the beginning of a recent interview, an FBI investigator broached a topic with longtime Hillary Clinton aide Cheryl Mills that her lawyer and the Justice Department had agreed would be off limits, according to several people familiar with the matter. Mills and her lawyer left the room though both returned a short time later and prosecutors were somewhat taken aback that their FBI colleague had ventured beyond what was anticipated, the people said. I am not too far out on a limb if I suggest that it was DoJ sources who spoke off the record. They could be the only sources for reporting that they were somewhat taken aback. Then there is the fact that FBI generally is less likely to blab to reporters than the more politicized Obama-era DoJ. So what was it that the FBI colleague of the sources brought up and occasioned the walkout? The questions that were considered off limits had to do with the procedure used to produce emails to the State Department so they could possibly be released publicly, the people said. Mills, an attorney herself, was not supposed to be asked questions about that and ultimately never was in the recent interview because it was considered confidential as an example of attorney-client privilege, the people said. If I understand this correctly, it could refer to the process by which Team Hillary handed over emails to the State Department in other words, the culling of personal emails from her private server. You know, the yoga routines, Chelseas wedding dress, and the contributions from foreign sources to the Clinton Foundation. Or it could refer to the process by which State Department officials decided which emails to release to the public. However, since there are multiple sources of information on the latter process, my money is on the former issue. And that suggests to me that there may be recovered emails in possession of the FBI that suggest illicit business was discussed in the deleted but recovered emails, and that the raising of the process question tipped off Mills that Big Trouble is ahead. I have no confidence at all in the Justice Department and its decision to rule out certain areas for questioning. I am no lawyer, but status as legal counsel, which Mills held, does not protect against involvement in a criminal conspiracy. This is all speculation. But what is certain is that this is a sign that the FBI and Justice Department are at odds over the conduct of the investigation. And the leaking to the WaPo seems to be another example of pre-emptive leaking by pro-Hillary forces, positioning her to be able to claim unfairness in the investigation once it is concluded. What if an attack on coal was like an attack on Mom or apple pie? Now, granted, coal would make a lousy mom or even pie, but coal is what helped make America great. And at least one presidential contender is for Making America Great Again via including an avenue through coal country. West Virginia voters are certainly hopeful. See results of Tuesdays voting for confirmation. Coal has traditionally been the muscle to hoist America above foreign competitors because of its relative low expense and high energy content. But, typical of the contemporary climate, that which was yesterdays hero is todays goat. Regardless, coal was and still is the top source for electricity production. And, coal is still a vital ingredient in steel production. Try to make steel without it. Yet the leftist spin is to demonize coal, an essential rock to Americas jobs and energy security and productivity. An emeritus professor, Frank Clemente of Penn State, in a popular trade publication, Power Engineering, last year had the gumption to argue for investment in coal as the solution not the problem, since energy from fossil fuels is the lifeblood of modern society. Coal provides 40 percent of electricity, the foundation of modern society. Electricity means life, argued Clemente. The professor goes on to assert that over two billion have inadequate access to electricity and another 1.3 billion have none at all. Almost three billion people use primitive stoves to burn biomass wood, charcoal, and animal dung thereby releasing dense black soot into their homes and the environment. Clemente further notes that millions die each year from the indoor air pollution generated from this burning practice, not to mention the environmental damage related to deforestation, water contamination, erosion, and land degradation. Finally, according to Clemente, [t]he road to sustainable energy, a better environment and poverty eradication will be paved by clean coal. Who knew? Anthony J. Sadar is a certified consulting meteorologist and the author of In Global Warming We Trust: Too Big to Fail (Stairway Press, 2016). As every Tom, Dick, and Harrietta tries to talk about climate change and the massive wildfire that destroyed a good portion of the northern Alberta city of Fort McMurray, in the heart of the oil sands region, there is unscientific nonsense being spewed all over the place. Take Elizabeth Kolbert's article at The New Yorker. Apparently Kolbert won the "2015 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction." Kolbert claims the following: "April was exceptionally mild." Wrong. Wrong. And even more wrong. Here are the mean daily maximum and mean daily temperatures for the month of April at Fort McMurray since records began in 1916, with the 2016 data highlighted in red. Not only was April 2016 not "exceptionally mild," but it was colder than April 2015 and quite a bit colder than many other Aprils in the past several decades. What is happening instead is that Fort Mac's annual average temperature is changing rapidly over time. That is just fact, like it or not, whatever the causes be. Annual precipitation is in a steep declining trend since about 1970, driven by trends during each of the individual seasons, but there is a clear cycle dating back to the early 1900s. Thus, overall, there is no significant reduction in precipitation for the region if we use the entire century-long climate record, since the recent drying trend is offset by the wetting trend that took place from about 1940 to 1970. Kolbert goes on to claim that the region experienced "temperatures regularly in the seventies" during April. Well, at Fort McMurray, just four days during April reached into the 70s. That is "regularly"? As well, Kolbert links to a CBC story on the disaster in which Mike Wotton, a research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service and professor at the University of Toronto, is quoted with the following: You hate to use the cliche, but it really was kind of a perfect storm. There was a mild winter and not a lot of meltwater from the mountain snow pack. Indeed, we would hate to use that cliche, particularly since I would like Wotton to explain how having "not a lot of meltwater from the mountain snow pack" in the mountains that are hundreds of kilometers away from Fort McMurray has any significant impact whatsoever on the fire at Fort McMurray itself. Levels in the Athabasca River, driven in large part by the spring melt from the distant Rocky Mountain snowpack, are effectively irrelevant when assessing fire risk in the surrounding countryside around Fort McMurray. How, indeed, do modest river level variations directly influence regional fire risks? I would like to hear that mechanistic explanation. What is relevant is the amount of precipitation that fell around Fort McMurray itself and not in far away mountains in the months preceding the fire. And, as I've previously noted, it appears to have been a very dry winter at Fort McMurray, which led to a general drying of the countryside, greatly increased fire risk, and an increased extent of the damage once the fire started. So, overall, since 1970, the Fort McMurray area has become much warmer and much drier. That will, all other things being equal, substantially increase fire risks. Throughout this election cycle, journalists and pundits characterized Trump supporters as working-class, less educated, and lower-income. While the average Trump supporter is less educated and less well off than the average Kasich or Rubio supporter, blogger Nate Silver analyzed the data and found that Trump supporters are wealthier and better educated than the average American, even when adjusted for ethnicity. Nate Silver explains: The median household income of a Trump voter so far in the primaries is about $72,000, based on estimates derived from exit polls and Census Bureau data. Thats lower than the $91,000 median for Kasich voters. But its well above the national median household income of about $56,000. Its also higher than the median income for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders supporters, which is around $61,000 for both. Trump supporters make more than Bernie and Hillary supporters, and they make more than the average American. However, Trump supporters are mostly non-Hispanic whites. How do they compare to that demographic? Since almost all of Trumps voters so far in the primaries have been non-Hispanic whites, we can ask whether they make lower incomes than other white Americans, for instance. The answer is no. The median household income for non-Hispanic whites is about $62,000, still a fair bit lower than the $72,000 median for Trump voters. Trump supporters are also better educated than the typical non-Hispanic white person: Likewise, although about 44 percent of Trump supporters have college degrees, according to exit polls -- lower than the 50 percent for Cruz supporters or 64 percent for Kasich supporters thats still higher than the 33 percent of non-Hispanic white adults, or the 29 percent of American adults overall, who have at least a bachelors degree. The data was culled from exit polls in 23 states. Earlier this year, Kevin D. Williamson sparked an uproar when he characterized Trump supporters as economically and socially frustrated white men who wish to be economically supported by the federal government without enduring the stigma of welfare dependency. This provoked a response from Michael Brendan Dougherty, and responses to Dougherty from a number of National Review writers, including David French. In his infamous article, Dougherty described two voters, Jeffrey and Mike. Jeffrey is a typical coke sniffer in Westport, Connecticut, and Mike is an opioid addict in Garbutt, New York who subsists on a fake disability claim. According to Dougherty, the Republican Party has many ideas about improving Jeffreys life (lowering the capital gains tax, private school vouchers, etc.) but little to offer Mike. Dougherty writes, In truth, the conservative movement has more ideas for making Mike's life more desperate, like cutting off the Social Security Disability check hes been shamefacedly receiving. Its fibromyalgia fraud, probably. Kevin D. Williamson and David French responded by arguing that the Mikes of the world need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and stop blaming trade and immigration for all of their problems. They suggest that Mike should put down the Oxycontin and get a job, even if that means leaving Garbutt, New York. Clearly, Dougherty, Williamson, and French never looked at the numbers. Trump supporters are not competing for jobs with illegal immigrants or Chinese factory workers. They dont work as short order cooks, landscapers, or assembly line workers. Seventy-two thousand dollars, the average household income of a Trump supporter, is likely greater than what many National Review writers make. Whatever motivates Trump supporters, it isnt personal economic hardship, because they havent personally been hurt by trade or immigration. Possibly they are concerned over the cultural and political changes that mass immigration has brought, or possibly they worry about the export-driven rise of the Chinese colossus. In 2016, a reality television star with no political experience became the presidential nominee of a major political party. So far, the media has gotten the details of how and why this happened wrong. We will have to wait on more sober and detail-oriented people to tell us what really happened in 2016. My first reaction when I saw the photos of the black female West Point graduates in their seemingly defiant, fists-raised black power poses was probably similar to that of a large segment of conservative America: "What the hell is going on here?" That was accompanied by an old Army vet's revulsion that the barracks, uniforms, and prestige of a hallowed American military institution were being used to showcase support by junior Army officers for what I consider racist black supremacist politics. Then I started reading reader reactions to the many articles that mushroomed all over the internet, including the one written here at AT. It was while reading comments to this piece that what was bothering me about the hundreds of responses I'd read here and elsewhere gelled in my mind. I'd expected the widespread angry reaction, but what I had not expected was the openly expressed racial bitterness and censure directed at a group of young women who without question had made a very thoughtless and truly dumb mistake. Some of those comments were absolutely venomous and left no doubt that their venom sprang from a very deep racial antagonism. There was much discussion that these young officers were only on that porch by virtue of affirmative action and that their demonstration confirmed a common lack of emotional control among Africans. There were many questions regarding their intellectual qualifications to be there, and only the rare commenter ventured that there might be some very bright young women in that group. Don't get me wrong; I was once an infantry NCO, and as such, I would have been furious with any second lieutenant who showed such a poor lack of judgment as to bring such public disapproval on my unit and my soldiers. Were I her platoon sergeant, I'd be having a really intense discussion with that butterbar on the basics of leadership, and if the lieutenant chose to blow me off, then she'd be having a likely more intense discussion with the company executive officer. Similar feelings to mine were expressed by many veteran commenters, both retired officers and enlisted, all of whom are well aware of the foolhardiness of any officer openly demonstrating such political racial solidarity. But the main takeaway from this incident is that had this same event taken place ten years ago, it would have drawn similar media attention but most likely fewer critical comments by readers, and most assuredly the racial intensity and hostility expressed in those comments wouldn't have been even close to what they are today. Most certainly a large number of them, especially here at American Thinker, would have been blocked for being too racially insensitive but now, after almost eight years of a black president, they're just part of the acceptable racial narrative. It's no secret that Eric Holder was speaking for his boss and setting out the racial position for the Obama administration when he described black felons as his people. Obama's recent black college commencement address where he lapsed into black vernacular demonstrates that it's still in place. Gullible voters put Obama in office and kept him there all this time based on the hope that he would end racial strife. They may as well have hoped for the Tooth Fairy to leave it under their pillows. If Obama wants to know what his real legacy is, he should start reading web comments. For the past fifteen or so years, there has been a movement among some liberals to require that the descendents of former slaves be paid for the suffering of their ancestors. Conservatives have railed against this transfer of wealth, saying (rightly, one should add) that a person or entity cannot be held responsible for the actions of another person who has been dead for over 150 years. Lloyds of London was sued in 2004 by a group of descendents of African slaves, and the British court system ruled against their claim. There have been other claims made by the descendents of African slaves. All of these have been laughed out of court. Conservatives also claim (again, correctly) that offering reparations helps to keep poorer African-Americans in a perpetual state of victimhood. But conservatives should not only welcome the concept of a reparations trial, we should also be championing it. And in doing so, we would be providing what Barack Obama would call a teachable moment about the real history of slavery in not only the Western world, but also the history of all mankind. One should note that the Jesse Jacksons of the world have only been trying to get reparations against White European nations. But for this to work as a really teachable moment, it would have to be tried in a multinational court and consider the global scope of slavery. And progressives do not want this for the following reasons. Liberals of all stripes have been trying to rewrite the history of many countries. Our liberal friends have tried to change the Holy Bible to say the descendents of Joseph were not slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but were actually paid laborers. These intellectual giants of the left have conveniently neglected to teach that the current term slave is descended from the 9th century, where the white people of East Europe (Slavs) were kidnapped and sold into slavery by Spanish Muslims. The legal discovery that would accompany any slave reparations trial would have and make public that the Ottoman Empire kept slave armies. Note that we are now talking about Muslims or the ancestors of Muslims being responsible for not only the beginnings of slavery, but also for the word slave itself. Think of how much American students might have to be forced to learn. In the 1970s, there was a wildly popular TV miniseries called Roots, in which the story of Alex Haleys supposed ancestors came to this country. Forgetting the fact that Mr. Haley was forced to admit he plagiarized the entire story, and that the story Mr. Haley told never could have occurred as it was told in the miniseries, many people today actually believe that Roots and the story told was an accurate historical account especially the part about how Kunta Kinte was captured by whites, aka Christians. In actuality, the overwhelming majority of slave trading was done through Muslim slave traders. And African nations profited off selling their black brothers and sisters. The Nyamwezi tribe of modern day Tanzania helped to establish a slave pipeline that started in Angola. The Dahomey (now Benin) nation rulers profited off the slave trade. In the 1840s, King Gezo said he would do anything the British would want apart from giving up the slave trade. We havent even touched on the number of African-Americans who not only owned but also traded slaves. One of the more famous of the black plantation owners was Nicolas Metoyer, who along with his family owned over 200 slaves. And how about the African-Americans who owned white slaves? Think this didnt occur? In the late 1600s through early 1700s, black males were buying indentured servants (usually white) for their farms. If you want to have a real debate about race relations in the USA, as all liberals say they want to have, great, lets bring it on. Talk about slavery throughout history, and how Muslims profited off the slave trade as much if not more than did Christians. How blacks have sold their own brothers and sisters into slavery. We as Americans should and need to stop being afraid of offending someone, and teach real and true history. Who knows, maybe it would get some of our youngsters to start appreciating their country again? And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, the Israelis would get a nice reparations check from Egypt and other Arab nations. Now wouldnt that be special? John Massoud is a businessman in Northern Virginia, is 6th district chair of the Shenandoah County Republican Committee, does media relations for the Shenandoah Valley Constitutional Conservatives, is an occasional contributor to the American Thinker, and is Shenandoah Countys favorite half-Afghan and half-Scots Irishman. Were excited to announce that amm.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving metals market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. The El Tatio Geyser Field, locally known as Los Geiseres del Tatio, is located within the Andes Mountains of northern Chile, about 89 kilometers from San Pedro. With over 80 active geysers and a hundred steamy fumaroles, El Tatio is the largest geyser field in the southern hemisphere and the third largest field in the world, following Yellowstone National Park in USA, and Valley of Geysers in Russia. Approximately 8% of the world geysers are located here. El Tatio is also among one of the highest-elevation geyser fields in the world, being situated at 4,200 meters above mean sea level. Despite the large number of geysers here, the eruptions are not very high, reaching an average of only 76 centimeters. For comparison, those in Yellowstone National Park, and in Iceland, shoots up to 60-70 meters. Photo credit: Robin Fernandes/Flickr The best time to see the eruptions is at early morning when are tall, billowing steam plumes. The large steam clouds diminish as daytime temperatures rise, but geyser activity continues throughout the day unabated. El Tatio is a major tourist attraction. Tourists typically arrive before sunrise, east breakfast consisting of eggs boiled in hot springs, view the geysers, and take a soak in a warm pool before returning to their hotels. Unfortunately, at El Tatio there are no boardwalks or designated roads so footprints and tire tracks are found all over the field, even over small spouters which are now filled with sediments. Many springs have also been vandalized with rocks jammed into their vents. When these vents were cleared, it was observed that many geysers erupted to greater heights. Given its generally unmanaged, unprotected status, researchers assume that a large amounts of geysers have probably disappeared over years of abuse. Photo credit: Max Besser Jirkal/Flickr Photo credit: Robin Fernandes/Flickr Photo credit: diego.aviles/Flickr Photo credit: Claudius Proer/Flickr Photo credit: karendesuyo/Flickr Photo credit: Dieter Titz/Flickr Photo credit: Max Besser Jirkal/Flickr Photo credit: Max Besser Jirkal/Flickr Photo credit: Nico Kaiser/Flickr Sources: Wikipedia / J. Alan Glennon & Rhonda M. Pfaff Are you an aficionado of emojis? Extremely vocal about safe intercourse? Do you often find yourself in situations in which youd like to have a quick way to send a tiny picture of a condom to people you communicate with via instant messaging? Durex feels your pain and is currently petitioning for youve guessed it a condom emoji. Earlier this week, the company released a video of its open letter to the Unicode Consortium nonprofit group responsible for organizing and approving new additions for the Unicode writing system. Not only has Durex openly asked Unicode Consortium to add a condom emoji into its next batch of approved Unicode characters, but the company also took the liberty of designing its very own submission. The timing of this letter is also no coincidence, as Unicode Consortium is holding a meeting at Adobe Systems in San Jose, California later this week. In its request, Durex explains that it believes a condom emoji wouldnt just be another frivolous addition to worlds visual language, but also means for empowering teenagers and young adults to openly talk about protection, noting how quality communication is vital in preventing sexually transmittable diseases. Its currently unlikely that this unconventional request from Durex will be granted by the Unicode Consortium, especially as were still waiting for approval of much less controversial additions to the Unicode writing system like bacon and facepalm emoji. Its also worth noting that some people on social networks have recognized this open letter as just a PR stunt by the company looking to draw attention to itself and its products, but Durex has a pretty solid response to those accusations given how the company originally requested this exact same emoji during last years World AIDS Day in December. Advertisement In any case, you can check out the aforementioned video from Durex below and join the discussion of this issue on Twitter with the hashtag #CondomEmoji. Its worth noting that the company is taking this issue to the Unicode Consortium because keyboards and other software such as WhatsApp cannot add new emoji without the operating system understanding them which not only requires an update of Unicode definitions, but also of the OS itself. In the United States, the status quo where networks are concerned has been the same for some time now. While T-Mobiles rise to the top appears to have destabilized things a little bit, its mostly levelled out since then. Across the pond in the UK however, and things have become quite interesting over the past couple of years. The UKs largest provider of home broadband, BT, recently purchased the UKs largest wireless network, EE, for a cool 12.5 Billion ($18.06 Billion). That deal was approved earlier this year, but a similar deal between smaller networks Three and O2 has been blocked by the European Commission, citing anti-competitive concerns as the reason behind the move. Following the news of the merger between BT and EE, Three UK owned by Hutchison Whampoa wanted to purchase O2 UK itself owned by Telefonica. The idea behind the move was that joining these two networks would provide consumers with a competitive option to the newly-formed BT/EE goliath. The European Commission has strongly disagreed however, with Margrethe Vestager summing it up in a Tweet of hers; Why? To serve UK consumers affordable prices and innovation. Advertisement The 10.25 Billion deal could have had a massive impact on the UK infrastructure on the whole, as EE and Three have a 3G network agreement, and O2 and Vodafone have a similar deal. In the UK it is not uncommon to see networks renting infrastructure, and should Three and O2 become one, they would have over 40% of the market cornered, and according to the European Commission little incentive to compete or co-operate with Vodafone or the BT/EE brands. Whether or not the European Commission is right to deny the merger a go-ahead is of course a matter of opinion, but Three arent happy and have said that they are exploring their options, including the possibility of a legal challenge. Higher prices were another of the Commissions concerns, despite a promise from Three that their prices would not change at all in a five-year period following a successful merger. With only four networks in the UK that own and operate their own infrastructure, its perhaps understandable why the European Commission is concerned at the thought of two them becoming one and reducing that number down to three, but its also arguable that BT and EE joining forces could have a wider impact outside of just the wireless industry. For now it looks as though this deal is off the table, unless the European Commission can be swayed to reconsider, but with Margrethe Vestager in charge, this might be a challenge too tough for Three and O2. Facebook debuted their private photo-sharing app last year, which they dubbed as Facebook Moments. The service is about what youd expect from Facebook, with it being a way to store all of your photos without needing to share them publicly. And the company used facial recognition to combine photos of friends together. However, that feature is missing in the expansion to Canada and Europe, which the company announced this week. Youll still be able to group pictures of the same person together in the app, but its not as simple as it normally would be with facial recognition. The reason for Facebook omitting that feature in Europe and Canada is likely due to their legal battle that they are currently a part of. In Illinois, a judge ruled that Facebook unlawfully stored geometric representations of users faces, which were then used to create a faceprint for individual users. These faceprints are what is used when Facebook suggest tags for certain friends or other Facebook users in photos. With the EU going after Google pretty strong right now, it looks like Facebook wanted to avoid any unnecessary attention with Facebook Moments. We could even see this feature go away in the US, depending on what happens in this case with the social network in Illinois. Advertisement While Facebook Moments in Canada and Europe do not use facial recognition, the service does still group together photos that appear to include the same face so you can tag the same person in every photo they appear in, all at once. The service will ask you Whos this? and thats where you are able to tag the appropriate person in that photo. After the initial set of tagging, Facebook can gain a better of idea of who the person is, and automatically add future pictures to the appropriate group. This is called object recognition, its a step down from facial recognition. Like Google Photos, Facebook Moments allows you to store all of your photos right there in the app. But they arent public. You can choose to share them with other users or just leave them in the Facebook Moments app. Facebook launched Facebook Moments in June of 2015, and replaced photo sync with the service in December of 2015. Its been a debate thats been raging for centuries, and something that many of us still scratch our heads about, in so much that in the year 2016 gender inequality should no longer be happening. While the tech industry is steadily getting over its own gender inequality, Google is trying to take the issue on through emoji. This might not make much sense, but given the way that everyday users have become accustomed to using emoji in everyday conversations, what Google is doing starts to make a lot of sense. In a report titled Expanding Emoji Professions: Reducing Gender Inequality Google is petitioning Unicode with 13 new emoji of Women in all sorts of different professions. Unicode is the International body responsible for approving new emoji and ensuring that they all mean the same thing across different platforms and different messaging applications. Google is asking them to consider 13 different emoji for Women in different professions. These depict a Woman in their professional environment, and while the traditional boxes are ticked for Teacher, Doctor and Nurse, Google have covered even more of the bases. These include Industry workers in welding gear or construction outfits, high tech workers, technology workers, musicians, farmers and so on. The idea is to show that Women can and do occupy all sorts of different professions, no matter misguided preconceptions. With these new emoji, it would be easier for people to explain, for instance, that their mother or their sister, or girlfriend is a technology worker or a construction worker. Google cites an op-ed from the New York Times as inspiration behind the proposals, where Amy Butcher, pondered where the emoji depicting women in all kinds of professions were. Advertisement The letter from Google linked below is of course focused on breaking down misconceptions regarding the jobs that women take, but theyve also proposed some emoji math as well. In the new emoji grids below, Google proposes using an emoji of say a generic Woman emoji + a Tractor to create a Farmer. This is something that Google could of course do in their own Keyboard using some creative code, but itd be interesting if Unicode approved these additions and changes as it could change emoji for everyone, everywhere. Along with the announcement of the latest Huawei Honor V8 smartphone, the Chinese consumer electronics manufacturer also presented its brand new Honor Band A1 wearable earlier today. This device is in no way aimed at the same type of people who would purchase the recently revealed Huawei TalkBand B3, as its a budget device in every sense of that word its priced at around $15 or $30 (depending on whether you opt for a silicon or leather band) and at this moment in time it is still unclear whether it is a device which is intended to go global. Namely, the Honor Band A1 is currently available for pre-order in China where it will start selling on May 25th, but the company hasnt made any mention of a potential worldwide release. In any case, the wearable doesnt look bad for its price range; it does what you would expect a fitness tracker to do and in addition to keeping track of your burnt calories, traveled distance, and other exercise-related statistics, it also has a few seemingly more advanced features. Specifically, the Honor Band A1 is with a UV sensor which measures UV radiation and can suggest suitable sunscreen for one to use and also comes with pre-installed sleep tracking software that analyzes your sleeping patterns and suggests beneficial changes to your routine. Not bad for a device that costs as much as four grande lattes at Starbucks. All in all, the Honor Band A1 seems like a pretty nice wearable for frugal athletes and just generally outdoorsy people. Naturally, the device can also serve as a simple smartwatch as you can connect it with your phone and receive notifications from it, thanks to its Bluetooth 4.2 support. This affordable gadget should also require little getting used to as it only weighs 20 grams so youll probably quickly forget that its even strapped to your wrist. It comes with a metal body and is IP57 certified, which means that its waterproof and resistant to quite a bit of dust. Even though Honor Band A1 is only powered by a 70 mAh battery, it is claimed the device is capable of being on standby for up to 28 days. Of course, its unlikely to survive more than a couple of days of heavy usage, so its to be expected that its microUSB port will see quite a bit of use, as its not only used for data transfer but also for charging. Every so often the latest report comes through and helps to further understand the ever-changing Android landscape. The most recent of which was released this morning from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech and looks to help shed light on how the Android operating system is being adopted on a worldwide basis. The figures noted in this report specifically relate to the first quarter of this year (the three months leading up to and including March 2016). In terms of what the latest report reveals and what seems to be the overriding headline aspect is that Android is continuing its growth across a variety of regions including Europe, the U.S. and China. However, what Kantar has focused on specifically is the growth of Android as an operating system within Europes top 5, aka the EU5. A group of countries which include Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. In this particular region, Kantar notes that Android has increased its stance by as much as 7.1-percent, taking its new adoption level to 75.6-percent. An increase which an analyst for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech described as the strongest growth for Android across the EU5 in more than two years. As a form of comparison for the wider market as a whole, the same data notes an decrease for all other mobile operating systems in the region including iOS, during the same period. Essentially, highlighting Android took away from those alternative OS options during the first three months of the year. Advertisement As mentioned, it is not only Europe that has seen gains though, with Kantar noting an equally large increase in the U.S. as well with Android gaining a market growth increase to the tune of 7.3-percent, which takes its share to 65.5-percent. With the Android gains in the U.S., said to come primarily from partner manufacturers like Samsung, Motorola, and LG and the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S6 both being name-dropped. Which is no small feat for the Galaxy S7 when you consider that this device only became available to buy in the closing weeks of the time-frame measured. In fact, Kantar made it clear that in spite of only being available for a short period within Q1, the Galaxy S7 did manage to become the fifth best selling device for the entire quarter. While the increase was not as high (percentage-wise) in China as it was in the EU5 or the U.S., the China increase still came in at close to 6-percent, taking its overall market share in China to 77-percent. Virtual reality seems to be everywhere these days. At least, everywhere in the news as reports on the platform are now coming through multiple times a day and this is in spite of the platform not really being accessible to everyone yet. In fact, in terms of its adoption, it is a platform which is still considered to be young and nowhere near the peak that it is likely to reach within the next few years and once the choice of products becomes more varied and prices more affordable. Of course, at the more affordable side of the spectrum (compared to the likes of the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift), there is always the Samsung Gear VR. The latest version of which became available towards the close of last year as a consumer version and priced at a respectable $99. Since its release, Samsung has pushed the Gear VR forward heavily thanks to the various promotions the company launched along with the release of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, essentially offering early S7 and S7 Edge buyers the headset for free. A move which likely got the Gear VR into a considerable number of hands it might not have made it to otherwise. Advertisement Speaking of which, Oculus, who collaborate with Samsung on the Gear VR, has revealed today that last month alone saw one million people using the Gear VR. Unfortunately, the statement did not come with any hard numbers. so it is difficult to know for sure how that one million users breaks down. For instance, whether it relates to one million Gear VR consumer headsets or whether the figure relates to the consumer model as well as the predecessor models. While, it could also not directly be relevant to the headset at all and instead is a number which is more related towards the number of registered users who made use of a headset within the last month. Either way though, it is an impressive figure in its own right and however it is being counted, one million users in a single month for a platform which is not even nearly at its peak does highlight that the Gear VR, Samsung and Oculus are making an impact. Not to mention, further highlights how big this industry could become and especially considering the future VR ambitions from the likes of Samsung and Google. A group of Republican Senators have recently fired a series of questions to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in response to allegations that the social networking giant wilfully suppresses specific news stories from appearing in its Trending Topics section. The news stories in question are based on topics of interest to politically conservative users and the letter to Facebook follows a story on Gizmodo yesterday which covered allegations of former Facebook employees that Facebook actively suppresses conservative news stories and replaces them with other news stories even if objective metrics do not indicate that such stories are trending. Facebook has already responded to the story on Gizmodo and maintains that its trending topics section reflects topics based on factors like engagement, timeliness, Pages liked and locations and its internal guidelines do not permit suppression of political perspectives. The letter signed off by a group of Republican Senators contains a list of questions which they demand Facebook must answer to maintain values of the open internet. Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open Internet, said Senator John Thune, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The list of questions in the letter includes one on how Facebook determines which topics to include in its trending section, who approves such topics, whether content has indeed been manipulated, if Facebook is taking any steps to investigate such allegations and the number of conservative news stories which were removed from the trending topics section since January 2014. The letter also mentions Facebooks earlier comments through which the company has stressed that it has guidelines in place to regulate trending topics. Referring to these guidelines, the Senators have also asked when such guidelines were introduced, if they were amended after January 2014 and if Facebook provides training to employees on such guidelines. Advertisement The fact that the letter was sent to Facebook did not go down well with Democrats in the Senate. Senator Harry Reid has argued that the Senate had more pressing issues to discuss and the issue with trending topics on Facebook isnt a matter of urgent national interest. However, Facebook has decided to respond to the Senators letter in detail and will provide the committee with added information on the functioning of its trending topics section. In a statement given to The Verge today, a Facebook spokesman also said that the company has seen allegations that people did not honor the intent of guidelines on trending topics and is continuing to investigate whether any violations took place. This isnt the first time that Facebook is at loggerheads with representatives at the Senate. A couple of years ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg lashed out at the government for undermining individual privacy and bypassing Facebooks data encryption practices, which he said would result in loss of transparency as well as security for millions of users. Japanese electronics giant, Sony, announced its Xperia X Performance premium smartphone last February at the Mobile World Congress, but is yet to launch the device anywhere. However, that is about to change pretty soon, as the company has now officially announced that Japanese carrier, Au by KIDDI, will be launching the smartphone on its network next month. Sony is also expected to launch the device in many of its important markets by July. One thing to note is that the Japanese variant of the device, at least the one that will launch on Au by KIDDI, will sport a 2,570 mAh battery, while the global model is expected to come with a 2,700 mAh unit. While theres absolutely no explanation from Sony for this rather strange demarcation, many of the other specs remain the same, including the Snapdragon 820 chip, a 1080p display panel, 3 GB of LPDDR4 RAM, Android 6.0 Marshmallow and 32 GB of built-in storage with support for a microSD card. The phone will also support Cat.9 LTE connectivity and sport a fingerprint scanner integrated into the physical power button. Meanwhile, the device will have a 23-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 13-megapixel front-facing selfie-cam. However, in spite of the presence of the powerful chip and the all-new camera module, video recording on the Sony Xperia X Performance will be restricted to just 1080p at 30 fps. Advertisement As a reminder, Sony introduced its new Xperia X line of smartphones at the MWC trade show in Barcelona, Spain, earlier this year. The lineup consists of three models the Xperia XA, the Xperia X and the Xperia X Performance. All three smartphones may look fairly similar from the design standpoint, but the hardware included varies significantly from one device to another. While the Xperia XA comes with distinctly entry-level hardware, the Xperia X will likely slot into the mid-range when released. The Xperia X Performance does feature some high-end hardware, but many flagships like the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge from Samsung, the LG G5 from LG Electronics and the HTC 10 from Taiwanese vendor HTC, all feature hardware thats a notch higher than what the Xperia X Performance brings to the table. (ANSA) - Strasbourg, May 11 - Luigi Di Maio, a senior MP for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), on Wednesday called for the heads of the Bank of Italy to quit over the troubles that have beset some Italian lenders. "We are calling for the resignations of the Bank of Italy executives and we appeal to (Economy Minister Pier Carlo) Padoan to make that happen," Di Maio, who is deputy Speaker of the Lower House, told a news conference at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, citing the cases of Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Banca Etruria. He said the case of Popolare di Vicenza, which is set to be taken over by new banking fund Atlante after a failed capital increase, was "an organised swindle". Investigators are probing whether the bank pressured clients asking for loans into buying its shares. Banca Etruria was one of four small banks that were saved by a rescue last year, although people holding shares and bonds in them lost their investments. Many small investors say they were deceived about the risks of buying the bonds and the government is setting up a mechanism for them to claim compensation. (ANSA) - Milan, May 11 - Some 814,000 students holding foreign citizenship attended Italian schools during the 2014/2015 academic year, 9.2% of the total and a 1.4% rise on the previous year. Growth was steady but has been slowing since 2008. The figures were contained in the report "Alunni con Cittadinanza non Italiana" ("Students with Non-Italian Citizenship"), curated by the education ministry and the ISMU foundation and presented in Milan. Some 55.3% of them were born in Italy, a number that quadrupled between the 2007/2008 and 2014/2015 academic years - from 8,111 to 34,788. Meanwhile, ever more unaccompanied minors are arriving in Italian schools due to the refugee crisis, most of whom in the Sicily, Calabria and Puglia regions. The largest groups are those from Romania (157,153), Albania (108,331) and Morocco (101,584). There are also ever more disabled foreigners - over 28,000 - accounting for 12% of total disabled students in Italy. Some 780 more children from Roma, Sinti and Caminanti ethnic groups were registered at Italian schools in 2014/2015 compared with the previous year. BERLIN - Germany said Wednesday that it had received some 369 tips since the start of the migrant crisis about possible members of terrorist organizations or radical Islamists among new migrants who arrived last year, reported the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung. The BKA, Germany's federal bureau of investigation, said that 40 of the cases were being investigated and that the country and all of Europe remain vulnerable to more terrorist attacks. EU commissioner wants 6-month border control limit. Brenner controls unjustified > BRUSSELS - EU Migration Commissioner Dimitri Avramopolous said Wednesday at a plenary session in Stasbourg that he would call for countries to keep special border control measures in place only for six months and only at certain crossings. He added that there are many migrants in Greece and the Balkans that have not been registered and that might decide to take alternative routes through other EU states, and that this should be considered a threat. Avramopolous said that the proposed reforms to the Dublin regulations on requesting asylum in the EU were balanced and that he was satisfied with them, and that there is no 'plan B' under discussion. Avramopoulos also said that new Austrian border controls at the Brenner Pass with Italy were unjustified. "I sent a very firm letter on the Brenner (Pass)," he said, "against the reintroduction of controls. The situation does not call for it". Speaking more generally abut controls across Europe, he said the Commission would "monitor the situation". He said "I expect these controls to always be on a par with the threat". Austria has said it will introduce strong new controls to address an expected rise in migrant flows from Italy. It had threatened to build a border fence. DUBROVNIK - The first EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region forum will begin on Thursday in Dubrovnik. Two days of plenary sessions and meetings organized by the European Commission and the Croatian government will take stock of the progress achieved thus far in the initiative launched in October 2014 by the European Council and dedicated to the region. Priorities will be defined for their joint work in the four thematic pillars of the strategy: 1) Blue Growth; 2) Connecting the Region; 3) Environmental Quality; 4) Sustainable Tourism. All the sectors are expected to play a crucial role in creating jobs and fostering economic growth in the area. Participants will include the foreign ministers and national heads of EU funds in the countries involved (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia), as well as EU commissioners for regional policies an the environment, maritime affairs and fisheries. Promoters say that the event will provide extensive opportunities for networking between national, regional and local administrations as well as businessmen, the academic world and civil society. Serbia: EU has donated 3 billion euros over 15 years (ANSAmed) - VRANJE, 11 MAY - Over 15 years, the EU has donated 3 billion euros to Serbia, Head of the EU Delegation, Ambassador Michael Davenport, said on Wednesday, pledging continued assistance. "Since the beginning of our cooperation, the EU has invested over 3 billion euros in various projects. We have donated for improvements in the energy sector, environmental protection, agriculture, local self-governments," Davenport told reporters in Vranje (Southern Serbia) on his two-day tour of the facilities that had been built or repaired thanks to EU funds. (ANSAmed Event dedicated to migrants lost at sea in Tunis Ardepte and Libera present 'Mediterranean Memory' on May 26 (ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MAY 11 - Tunisia's Ardepte (association pour la recherche des disparus et encadrement des prisonniers tunisiens a l'etranger) and Italian anti-mafia association Libera have organised a public meeting on the theme of migrants lost during the sea crossing from North Africa to Italy on May 26 at the Human Rights Institute in Tunis. The organizations are to present the joint initiative called 'Memoria Mediterranea (Mediterranean Memory) launched in February, involving the commitment to raise awareness of the links between international mafia organisations and migration, sensitise public opinion about human trafficking and support the families of those who have disappeared in the Mediterranean. There are 503 cases open before the commission of inquiry into Tunisian migrants who have gone missing in the attempt to reach Italian shores. The commission was established by local authorities to shed light on an issue that has been at the centre of public attention since 2011. (ANSAmed). VENTIMIGLIA - The migrant reception centre established in the Ligurian town of Ventimiglia on the border with France in 2015 closed its doors definitively on Tuesday, sources have said. The eight migrants remaining in the temporary centre in the local railway station received their last meal at midday before being made to leave. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano announced the closure of the structure during a visit to Ventimiglia last Saturday, meeting calls from local mayor Enrico Ioculano of the Democratic Party (PD) on grounds it was inadequate. The centre was open only to migrants who agreed to undergo identification procedures and they will now be relocated to other reception centres in the region. Migrants who refused to be identified found makeshift shelter in the coastal town and received food aid from the Red Cross. From now on not even this will be available to them: they wil be identifiefd by the police and made to leave. Migrants: Berlin sceptical about deal with Erdogan De Maiziere, 'no visa liberalisation if criteria not met' (ANSAmed) - BERLIN, MAY 11 - German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere is sceptical about the real willingness of Turkish Premier Erdogan to cooperate on migrants, Bild newspaper reported Wednesday. The minister believes Ankara "is not willing to fulfil the criteria" agreed between the European Union and Turkey for visa liberalisation, according to the paper. Should this be the case, "liberalisation will not happen", de Maiziere is reported to have said during an intervention at the European parliament on Tuesday. And so Berlin appears to be calling into question the deal on migrants reached with Turkey, which Chancellor Angela Merkel worked on for a long time. However, in response to recent rumours of a possible Plan B the government spokesman reaffirmed commitment to pursuing the plan with Ankara.(ANSAmed). Migrants: Brenner controls unjustified, Avramopoulos I sent very firm letter (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, MAY 11 - European Migration and Home Affairs Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said Wednesday that new Austrian border controls at the Brenner Pass with Italy were unjustified. "I sent a very firm letter on the Brenner (Pass)," he said, "against the reintroduction of controls. The situation does not call for it". Speaking more generally abut controls across Europe, he said the Commission would "monitor the situation". He said "I expect these controls to always be on a par with the threat". Austria has said it will introduce strong new controls to address an expected rise in migrant flows from Italy. It had threatened to build a border fence. (ANSAmed). Migrants: EU commissioner wants 6-month border control limit 'Extraordinary measure; many unregistered in Greece and Balkans' (ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, MAY 11 - EU Migration Commissioner Dimitri Avramopolous said Wednesday at a plenary session in Stasbourg that he would call for countries to keep special border control measures in place only for six months and only at certain crossings. He added that there are many migrants in Greece and the Balkans that have not been registered and that might decide to take alternative routes through other EU states, and that this should be considered a threat. Avramopolous said that the proposed reforms to the Dublin regulations on requesting asylum in the EU were balanced and that he was satisfied with them, and that there is no 'plan B' under discussion. (ANSAmed). (by Cristiana Missori) - ROME - ''Since there is no explanation for terrorism in the traditional doctrines of Sunni and Shia Islam, why do many terrorists raise the banner of Islam today?'' Saudi ambassador to Italy Rayed Krimly told ANSA that the answer was in political factors and that defeating terrorism requires ''winning over the hearts and minds of people. This is where religious, political and civil'' society leaders have a strategic role to play. In speaking to ANSA ahead of a seminar he will be holding entitled 'Religion and Terrorism: Various Perspectives' on Thursday at the Grand Mosque of Rome, Krimly noted that ''in less than four decades, we have seen a tsunami of wars and invasions by superpowers''. ''From the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979-1989) to the Iran-Iraq conflict (1980-1988), from the US war in Afghanistan to the US embargo against Iraq and the subsequent occupation of the country to the Syrian conflict, which is still continuing. Millions of dead and thousands of displaced,'' he said. The diplomat added that another important political factor, are the ''socio-economic failures of military and single-party dictatorships. As a result, millions of Arabs and Muslims took to the streets, demanding greater opportunities and better governance. Not even once did they consider today's terrorists as their leaders. Even in the middle of these upsets, most Muslims remained moderate and rejected extremism.'' The legitimate aspirations of Arabs and Muslims, Krimly said, cannot be satisfied by sectarian militias or terrorist groups. ''They will be satisfied only by moderates able to build inclusive political systems.'' If we want to help terrorists win, he warned, ''then we can do one of three things: dig a ditch between Muslims and the rest of humanity, in this way ensuring that terrorists are seen as the legitimate defenders of Islam; turn a blind eye and let brutal dictators like Bashar Al-Assad continue committing massacres and wipe out his own population in Syria; or entrust a specific sort of terrorist - such as sectarian militias - to fight another type of terrorists, such as ISIS, and in so doing make most Sunni communities a recruitment pool for the terrorists''. Arabs and Muslims cannot and must not wait for others to do the right thing, he said, since they are the main victims of terrorism and it is their battle. This, he said, is the reason why Saudi Arabia - victim for decades of numerous terrorist attacks, many of which ordered by Iran (as Riyadh has long said), Al-Qaeda and (since 2015) ISIS - set up the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT). Krimly said that ''Muslims clearly need to come to terms with modernity. They are not the only victims of world history. They should trust in their faith enough to welcome - instead of reject - innovation and modern progress.'' Taking part in Thursday's meeting will be Professor Olivier Roy, head of the Mediterranean program of the European University Institute of Florence, Franco Cardini, professor emeritus of medieval history and teacher at the Istituto di Scienze Umane e Sociali in Florance and the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, and Luca Margelletti, head of Ce.SI. Centro Studi internazionali. Not at all. It just seems like a lot of back-and-forth talk. Yes. I'm growing very worried over what might happen. If it keeps up, I might be a little more concerned. I think there are much larger things to concern us as a country. It's hard to tell; I can't take the leader of either country seriously. Vote View Results Most companies see increased potential for expanding businesses across the Middle East in view of the expected increase in investment in infrastructure projects, particularly airport expansions, trading activities and passenger traffic following a realisation to diversify their economies away from oil-related activities. Germany-based TEC Huenert GmbH, which specialises in the development and manufacture of airport ground support equipment for the aviation industry, has displayed their product range including passenger stairs, VIP mobile escalator stairs, water and toilet service vehicle and its innovative Rescuestair systems. We have supplied the Rescuestair system to the Maktoum International Airport and are looking at associating with other airports in the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia, which is a big market, said Viktoriya Sarafova, international sales, of TEC Huenert, displaying the companys products at the Airport Show. Our participation at the Airport Show enables us to gauge the business potential in view of the enquiries from trade visitors. Products that of much demand in the region are VIP mobile escalator stairs and ground support equipment including towed passengerstairs. A core product manufactured by TEC Huenert is its Rescuestair emergency evacuation airstair system (EEAS). Rescuestair is specifically designed to be used by airport rescue and firefighting brigades. Its main purpose is to reach quickly an aircraft, which is involved in an accident, to rescue passengers from the aircraft and to provide access for emergency services to the aircraft. Another German company topsystem Systemhaus, which offers Digital Apron Fleet Management system and cargo handling solutions, is also seeing good potential in the region and plans to extend operations across the Middle East. The Gulf area has good potential for our business and we want to be present there, particularly in Saudi Arabia, to offer our services, said Jorg Riermeier, vice president, head of sales and project management, with topsystem Systemhaus. The Trent 900 engines left the Rolls-Royce site at Derby, UK, where they were assembled, for Airbus in Toulouse, France, where they will be fitted to an A380 aircraft. Rolls-Royce is providing Trent 900 engines and TotalCare service for 50 Emirates A380s, the first of which will enter service later this year. Eric Schulz, Rolls-Royce, President Civil Aerospace, said: This is an important milestone in delivering the largest order in our history for a highly-respected customer. We look forward to celebrating Emirates first Rolls-Royce powered A380 flight and ensuring the entire fleet has a smooth entry into service. The order from Emirates was announced last year and confirmed the Trent 900 as the engine of choice on the four-engine A380. It has now secured more than 50% market share on the aircraft, in addition to being selected by the majority of A380 customers. Emirates recently confirmed that it will operate an additional two A380s that will be powered by the same engine with TotalCare service support. The launch of the Trent 900 received UK Government support and components for the Trent 900 are manufactured by Rolls-Royce facilities across the UK including Sunderland, Bristol, Ansty, Barnoldswick and Inchinnan, Scotland. The Trent 900 is assembled in both Derby and Singapore. The Trent 900 powered the first commercial A380 in 2007 and is now used by eight operators on more than 70 aircraft, having logged nearly five million in-service flight hours. The engine offers the lowest lifetime fuel burn, with the latest version including technology developed for the Trent XWB and Trent 1000 engines. Last year, well over 600,000 passengers used the facility which was opened as the first of its kind in the Middle East, Asia and Africa in 2014. The airport operator recently won the Abu Dhabi Award for Excellence in Government Performance for the terminal. Siemens was honored with a Certificate of Appreciation for its decisive contribution to this achievement. By using the facility, passengers on US-bound flights clear immigration and customs at Abu Dhabi International Airport already. On arriving in the US they are treated as domestic passengers, which allows for a faster processing. The implementation of the pre-clearance facility has brought about a number of key benefits. Siemens modern baggage handling system ensures full passenger convenience. For example, the system includes the most advanced baggage screening technology meeting US security standards. This allows air travelers booked on a US flight to have their baggage checked through to their final destination. Thanks to its location at a nodal point between East and West, Abu Dhabi International Airport is among the most important air transport hubs in the Middle East. It was opened in 1982 to replace the old airport close to the city. A second terminal was inaugurated in September 2005, followed in January 2009 by a third. Passenger capacity has been boosted by the expansion of Terminals 1 and 3 and will grow to 45 million once the new Midfield Terminal Building is operational. Best Education Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Education category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Best Business Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Business category or any of the sub-category below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Best Health Products and Services Would you like to submit an article in the Health category or any of the sub-categories below? Click here to submit your article. Would you like to have your product or service listed on this page? Contact us. Owner Alvin Barr had bought the pot, decorated with six beast-like faces, at an estate sale in a barn in Eugene, Oregon, for $300. He was naturally short of breath when Antiques Roadshows bespectacled expert appraiser Stephen L. Fletcher (specializing in clocks, decorative arts, folk art, and furniture) revealed its alleged market value. by Shafique Khokhar He tried to stop some Muslims who were insulting and beating fellow Christians at the end of the Sunday Mass. In so doing, he dared challenge one of the sons of rich local landlord. In order to punish Masih, the attackers beat his paralysed father. A peace deal between Christians and Muslims turned out to be a sham. He appeals for help to find work. Faisalabad (AsiaNews) Michael Masih, a 32-year-old Christian father of two, was wounded by gunshots for daring to defend fellow Christians from the harassment of the sons of a wealthy Muslim landlord. He tried to block an attack by a group of 35 Muslims against Christians in Paulabad (near Faisalabad, Punjab). After the incident, police threatened to detain the Muslims if they did not apologize to the injured. The Muslims agreed to apologise and signed a sham agreement with the Christians. However, they quickly went back on their word, and decided to teach Michael a lesson, attacking him after work. Speaking to AsiaNews, Michael described his story since he has no other way to raise awareness about the violence carried out by Muslims. He hopes that this way he can leave his village and find work elsewhere in order to support his family and live in peace. Nawazish Dogar, 30, and Chhada Dogar, 26, sons of Mustafa Dogar, a Muslim landowner involved in drug dealing (cocaine, heroin), residents of Paulabad in Faisalabad, have harassed the Christian community because of their faith. They often came to the Christian area in Paulabad, and used abusive language and derogatory words against Christians, like Choorah, etc. Most Christians work as daily wagers or labourers. Therefore, poor Christians were frightened of them and never faced them. Due to the fear of dire consequences they never reported the Dogars misbehaviour to police and illegal drug business in the area. On 14 February (Sunday), as people went back home after Sunday Mass at Paulabads Catholic Church, Chhada Dogar was standing outside the place of worship with about 35 of his scoundrel friends and started abusing Christians, using derogatory words like Choorah against them. They also harassed Christian women and girls. When Christian men told him to stop being rude and abusive, he started shouting at them and loudly abuse them. At that point, Michael Masih, 32, a Christian man told Dogar to stop. Thus Michael exchanged harsh words with him, and a scuffle between two followed. A few Christian men tried to resolve the matter but about 35 friends of Chhada Dogar shouted at them and started beating them. Two of Michaels friends, Khurram Masih and Liaquat Masih, suffered serious injuries to the head and legs. Some of Michaels local Muslim friends intervened and stopped the fight when they realised what was happening; however, the young Christian men had severe injuries. Chhada Dogar and his friends broke into Michaels home and started beating his paralyzed, bed-ridden father. Then the Muslim mob threatened local Christians outside of Michaels home of dire consequences and that they would put the Christian area to the torch like Gojra. Christians were badly frightened and started leaving the area to avoid any tragic incident. From the Christian community a person phoned Robin Daniel, a Christian human rights activist, who is president of the National Minorities Alliance-Pakistan and head of AAWAZ district forum. Daniel contacted other AAWAZ forum members and asked them to come for the occasion. Meanwhile Daniel and Pastor Shahid Paul, a local priest, contacted Mr Khalil Tahir Sindhu, a Christian who is Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs. Mr. Khalil Tahir phoned the city police and asked the protection of Christian community immediately. Police arrived in the area and handled the situation and tried to bring back peace to the area. Calm was restored but a sense of insecurity has remained among Christians. Lala Robin with some influential people and local Christians went to the local police station to file a First Investigation Report (FIR) against the culprits. Station House Officer Malik Waris told the Christians to get a medical report before filing a FIR against the attackers. That night Christians got the medical reports of the injured people from the hospital. Still, the row did not stop. Next morning (Monday) as Michael Masih made his way to a milk shop, Chhada Dogar stopped him and started abusing him. Meanwhile, a mob of about 20 people, armed with axes, rods and guns, went to Michaels home. Shooting in the air, they attacked Christians. The mob ran after Michael but Malik Jafar, a Muslim friend of his, drove up, and got him inside and sped away to a safe place, to a Church run by Rev Shahid Paul. At Rev Shahid Pauls church, Michael made a phone call to a parish priest, Fr Younas OP. Then, with the parish priest and Christian community leaders, he visited the City Police Office (CPO) in Faisalabad to ask for protection for the Christian community. CPO registered the application for protection and directed Police Superintendent Farooq Hundal to provide the Christian community full security. An hour later, both Christian leaders and culprits stood together at the Sadar Police Station before the senior house officer and the superintendent. Robin Daniel represented the Christian community. The superintendent asked Christian community about their demands, and Robin Daniel responded by asking for security and protection because even if a FIR against culprits is registered, they will still live in fear and dread. Robin Daniel further said that if Muslim culprits apologise for their illegal and inhuman behaviour and promise not to carry out such cruel actions, Christians would forgive them for the sake of peace and tolerance. The superintendent scolded the Muslims and threatened them with a long detention. The Muslims apologised, asked for forgiveness and promised not to utter a single word against Christians. That same day evening, about a hundred people from the Muslim and Christian communities met at the Christ Assemblies Church. The Dogars apologised in presence of the senior house officer of the local police station. AAWAZ district forum president Robin Daniel said, No one should be allowed to humiliate the poor. If anybody does that he will have to bear the consequences. We want a peaceful society here where people belonging to different religions and sects can live peacefully. If someone destroys the peace, he should be held behind bars. Michael and Chhada Dogar hugged each other and all the people present clapped for the pact to avoid any future mishap. About 5,000 people would benefit from this peace deal. About 200 Christian families could live without fear. Christian and Muslim community leaders thanked the AAWAZ district forum for their timely intervention, which saved hundreds of lives in town. When AsiaNews spoke with Michael Masih, father of two little sons, he shed light on the various aspects of his sad past and current life. In 2011, he said, I won a body building competition in Faisalabad and awarded the title of Mr Faisalabad. I graduated from the Faisalabad Education Board, but my parents were too poor to send me to college for further studies. Therefore, I went to work in a factory as a labourer. Since I was in good health, I was good at my work. This made other, Muslim labourers jealous and prejudiced against Christians. So I was forced to quit my job. Then I got a job at a body building gym as trainer. On 26 April, about 10:30 pm, I was returning home from the gym on foot, when I heard someone call my name. I turned back to see that person. They were on a motorbike wearing helmets. They shot at me twice. One bullet hit me in the chest. I fell down, unconscious. The attackers ran away. Some people took me to hospital where I was operated and received 17 stitches. The bullet is still inside my body, but I thank Jesus Christ for saving my life. As long as I have the bullet in my chest, I cannot run fast or work properly. I started serving the church and became more committed to my Catholic faith. I still have a good body; therefore, some Muslims (the Dogars) are jealous of me. They abused me many times before the incident but I avoided them. But this time, when they harassed many Christians for their faith I could not bear it and had a scuffle with them. Even though some compromise has been reached, I still feel fear. I dont want to live in such a place. If I get a job I will go anywhere. I dont feel my family is safe here in Paulabad. My father is paralysed, bedridden. My younger brother earns 400 rupees (US$ 4) a day. We have to run our household with this small amount, and this is too hard. My younger son is ill. My father is confined to his bed. We are unable to offer them proper medicine for treatment. I call on the people of God for their support. I want a job so that I can manage my home and provide medical assistance to my father and son, Michael pleaded. by Nirmala Carvalho Police arrested and took into custody Umesh Patel in Dhamtari, a city south of Raipur, where he is still held. For Christian leader, the Evangelical did not break any law. However, the Hindu nationalist BJP runs the state. Nationalist extremists benefit from political and police complicity. Raipur (AsiaNews) Police arrested an evangelical Christian in Chhattisgarh for distributing brochures with excerpts from the Gospel, Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), told AsiaNews. Umesh Patel was arrested yesterday in Dhamtari (about 70 km south of Raipur). He did not engage in any illegal activity, George said. Under Indias constitution, there is nothing coercive or fraudulent about handing out brochures. This [the arrest] is in effect a violation of the law and of human rights." Police charged Patel with forced conversion. However, people could freely choose to take or not the brochures he was handing out, the GCIC president noted. In the State of Chhattisgarh, Hindus are the majority (94.7 percent), whilst Christians constitute a tiny minority (1.9 per cent). This and the fact that the state government is controlled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) have led to violence against Christians. Hindutva-inspired extremist groups use BJP policy and police complicity to intimidate and threaten Christians. The most commonly used tool is the states so-called Freedom of Religion Act of 2006, an anti-conversion law that prevents conversion from Hinduism to other religions, but not the other way around. What is more, in many areas local councils (panchayat) have passed by-laws under the Chhattisgarh Panchayat Raj Act, which bans all forms of non-Hindu propaganda, prayer and religious speech in villages. Nirmala Carvalho Some reports claim that some Christian families still live under caliphate rule, paying the jizya. For Iraqi Church, only some captive and disabled Christians are left in the city. Car bomb in Baghdad kills scores in crowded market. Baghdad (AsiaNews) Recently, the Kurdish BasNews agency, which is based in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, reported that, according to sources inside Mosul, some Christian families are still living in Mosul and paying the jizya*, the Islamic poll tax for non-Muslims, to the Islamic State (IS) group. Each Christian family supposedly pays US$ 170 a year to the Islamist militia. They apparently stayed behind because they could not pay for their escape. The Chaldean Patriarchate has challenged the story. There are no more Christian families in Mosul, it said in a statement, only a few individuals who were unable to escape in the summer of 2014 when IS set up its self-proclaimed caliphate in the city. In a note to AsiaNews, the Iraqi Church noted that Christians fled the city en masse when IS seized Iraqs second largest city. Conversely, it is true that in recent years, there have been attempts to re-impose the jizya on Christian families. In March 2007, as various groups pursued re-Islamisation in cities like Baghdad and Mosul, which also entailed the abduction and murder of Christians, as in the cases of Mgr Rahho and Fr Ragheed Ganni, some issued orders to Christians to pay the tax. Back in Mosul, some 50 disabled Christians are left at a medical facility because they were unable to escape. Sadly, it has been impossible so far to rescue them. In addition, some Christians abducted by Daesh* are still being held, but no family. Meanwhile, a car bomb exploded at 10 am today in a crowded market in northern Baghdads Sadr City, a predominantly Shia district. The explosive device, which was concealed in a truck, killed at least 64 people and wounded 87, including women and children. IS claimed responsibility. The blast damaged nearby stores and buildings. * The jizya is a poll tax imposed on non-Muslims in accordance with the Quran in exchange for protection from the Muslim ummah. In the Ottoman Empire, it lasted until its collapse in 1918. ** Daesh is the Arabic acronym for Islamic State group. by Sumon Corraya Motiur Rahman Nizami was executed yesterday. The leader of the largest Islamic party in the country refused to seek a presidential pardon, thus conceding his crimes. He was accused of committing genocide, rape and murder in the conflict for liberation from Pakistan in 1971. The Islamic party has called a general strike; the body of the deceased buried in his native village. Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Motiur Rahman Nizami, the head of the largest Islamic party in Bangladesh, was hanged yesterday in the central prison in the capital. The death sentence was carried out at 12:10, local time. In recent days, the Supreme Court had confirmed the Islamic leaders death sentence, accused of committing war crimes during the war of liberation from Pakistan in 1971. Nizami refused to seek a pardon from President Abdul Hamid, thus conceding the crimes of which he was accused. Nizami, 75, was the leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami. At the time of the crimes attributed to him, he as leader of the partys student wing, the Islami Chhatra Sangha. In 2000 he assumed the leadership of the most popular Islamic movement in the country, and from 2001 to 2006 he was Minister of Tourism under the Khaleda Zia government. He has been in prison since 2010, and in 2014 the International Criminal Court, a special judicial body created by the current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to punish war criminals, sentenced him to death. The confirmation of the sentence came last week: the four chief judges found him guilty of having created the pro-Pakistan militia al-Badr, responsible of war crimes by working with the Pakistani army during the conflict that led to 'independence. Nizami in particular was accused of planning the murder of intellectuals, the rape of women and the deportation of the population, to both Pabna and Dhaka. Following his execution, his party have called for a hartal [general strike, ed] today. On the contrary, there have been several demonstrations of exultation for his murder, even among the Christian community. Louis Rozario, a Christian freedom fighter, says: "I'm satisfied that Nizami has been executed. Justice has been done" The body of the deceased leader of the Jamaat was transported by ambulance to his native village, where the burial ceremony was organized. This morning, at around 6:45 (local time), Nizami was buried in the village of Monmothpur, in Santhia in Pabna region. The janaza [the typical prayer of the Islamic funeral rites, ed] was led by the eldest son of the deceased, Najib Momen. Some observers believe that the execution of the Islamic leader, and others before him, fall under a specific government plan, aimed at marginalizing the opposition and to physically eliminate their opponents through a form of "political cleansing". by Mathias Hariyadi Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesias foremost moderate Islamic organisation, organised the meeting, which ended today. Some 500 Muslim leaders from 70 countries took part in the conference. Organisers want Indonesia to lead the way in solving conflicts caused by extremism. De-radicalisation programmes are already in operation for Syrian War veterans. Jakarta (AsiaNews) The three-day International Summit of Moderate Islamic Leaders (ISOMIL) ended today in Jakarta. Sponsored by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesias largest moderate Islamic organisation, the meeting brought together some 500 moderate Muslim leaders from 70 countries in a joint effort to promote understanding of Islamic teachings and the spread of moderate views. The event followed the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Istanbul a few weeks ago. According to organisers, Indonesia the worlds most populous Muslim-majority country must take a leading role in solving conflicts caused by poor interpretations of the Quran, a fact that underlies violence in the Middle East, and attacks in Paris, Brussels, Ankara and Lahore. Indonesian President Joko Widodo was supposed to open the summit, but Vice President Jusuf Kalla took his place. For the VP, all moderate Islamic nations must promote peace in Islamic societies, as well as respect for non-Muslim communities. Noting Kallas concerns, NU President Kiai Hajj Said Agil Siroj said that Muslim leaders found themselves at odds with each other on a number of issues at the OIC summit. Nevertheless, the NU has been working for years to promote a moderate version of Islam at the national and international levels, especially in the educational and social fields, including health-care. In 2001, it set up a similarly moderate organisation in Afghanistan, which now has branches in 22 provinces. Moderate Afghan leaders are concerned about and reject religious radicalism, said ISOMIL coordinator Juri Ardiantoro. On 17 January, the Sunni organisation held an interfaith rally with Catholic participation in the Indonesian capital to say no to extremism. Almost four million students attend NUs 23,000 boarding schools and educational centres. Its governing principle is that of Nusantara* Islam, promoting peace and true, mostly moderate Islamic teachings, and religious tolerance. At its 33rd congress last year, NU made this a priority. In response to President Joko Widodo call on NU leaders to fight Islamist propaganda at home, NU leader Agil Siroj said that his organisation is doing this through a nationwide programme called Nusantara Islam Expedition and a joint effort with the governments anti-terrorism agency. This entails plans to re-radicalise at least 700 Indonesian veterans from the Syrian civil war where they fought on the side of the Islamic State group. * Nusantara refers to a grouping of islands, an archipelago, by extension Indonesia. God's logic is that of mercy, it is not one for which "if you do good you are rewarded if you do bad you are punished." "Jesus reminds us that in if we dwell in the Father's house it is not to be recompensed, but because we have the dignity of children who are co-responsible". "The righteous, those who think they are right, are also in need of mercy." Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Our condition as children of God is the fruit of the Fathers love for us, "it does not depend on our merits or actions, and so no one can take it away from us. No one, not even the devil, can deprive us of this dignity". This was the lesson that Pope Francis highlighted today in the general audience today inspired by the parable of the prodigal son. The Pope stressed that the "logic" of God is that of mercy, it is not one for which "if you do good you are rewarded if you do bad you are punished." Francis focused his address to the 25 thousand people present in St Peter's Square on the figure of the father who is not "offended and resentful," but who cares only that his son" returns to him safe and sound." "The welcome of the returning son is movingly described:" When he was still far off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him". How much tenderness; He saw him from afar: What does this mean? That the father continually climbed on the roof to watch the road and see if his son was coming... He was waiting, the son had done everything, but his father was waiting for him. What a wonderful thing, the fathers tenderness is". "The father's mercy is overflowing, unconditional, and manifests itself even before the child speaks. Of course, the child knows he was wrong and recognizes it: "... treat me like one of your hired servants" (v. 19). But these words dissolve in front of the father's forgiveness. His fathers embrace and kiss make him understand that he has always been considered as his child, in spite of everything. He is his child! Jesus lesson is important: our condition as children of God is the fruit of the love in the Fathers heart; it does not depend on our merits or our actions, and so no one can take it from us, no one can take it from us, not even the devil! No one can deprive us of this dignity". "Jesus words encourage us to never despair. I think of the mothers and fathers who are apprehensive when they see their children distancing themselves, taking dangerous roads. I think the parish priests and catechists who sometimes wonder if their work was in vain. But I also think of those who are in prison, and feel that their life is over; to those who have made wrong choices and fail to look to the future; to all those who hunger for mercy and forgiveness and believe they do not deserve it ... In all of lifes situations, I must never forget that I'll never stop being a child of God, being the son of a Father who loves me and waits for my return. Even in bad situations of life, God is waiting for me, God wants to embrace me, God is waiting for me". "In the parable there is another son, the eldest; he needs to discover the mercy of the Father. He has always remained at home, but it is so different from his father! His words lack tenderness: "Behold, I served you for many years and I never disobeyed your command ... but now that this son of yours has returned ..." (vv. 29-30), the contempt. He never says 'Father', he never says 'brother', he only thinks of himself, he claims to have always remained beside his father, serving him; yet he never lived this closeness with joy. And now he accuses the father of never celebrating him. Poor father! A son was gone, and the other has never been really close!. The fathers suffering is like God's suffering, Jesuss suffering when we grow distant or leave or when we are at hand without being close". "The eldest son, is in need of mercy. The righteous, those who think they are right, they also have their need for mercy. This son is us when we wonder whether it is worthwhile to struggle so much if we do not receive anything in return. Jesus reminds us that in if we dwell in the Father's house it is not to be recompensed, but because we have the dignity of children who are co-responsible. It's not about doing a 'trade' with God, but to stand in the footsteps of Jesus who gave himself on the cross - and this - without measure. " 'Son, you are always with me and all that is mine is yours, but we must celebrate and rejoice" (v. 31). So says the father to the eldest son. The logic is that of mercy! The youngest son thought he deserved punishment because of his sins, the eldest son expected a reward for his services. The two brothers do not speak to each other, they live different stories, but they both think according to a logic alien to Jesus, if you do good you are rewarded if you do bad you are punished; and this is not the logic of Jesus, it is not. This logic is subverted by his father's words: "It was fitting to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and now he is alive again; he was lost and is found" (v. 31). The father has recovered his lost son, and now he can also return him to his brother! Without the son, the eldest son stops being a 'brother'. The fathers greatest joy is to see that his children recognize themselves as brothers". "The children can decide whether to join the father's joy or decline. They should question their own wishes and the vision they have of life. The parable ends without a conclusion and we do not know what the eldest son decided to do. And this is a stimulus for us. This Gospel teaches us that we all need to enter the house of the Father and share in his joy at his celebration of mercy and brotherhood. Brothers and sisters, we must open our hearts, to be 'merciful as the Father' is merciful!" by Sumon Corraya The 77-year-old politician died at Mumbais Holy Family Hospital, where he was undergoing treatment. Dhakas archbishop visited the family. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina chose him twice as Social Welfare minister. Dhaka (AsiaNews) Promode Mankin, the first Catholic appointed minister in Bangladesh, died at Mumbais Holy Family Hospital where he was undergoing treatment. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined Mgr Patrick D'Rozario, archbishop of Dhaka, in extending her condolences to the family of the 77-year-old lawyer. The prelate met with Mr Mankins family this morning (pictured). Born on 18 April 1939 in Mymensingh (north-eastern Bangladesh), Promode Mankin entered politics in 1991 when he joined the Awami League, a secularist party. A trailblazer for his co-religionists in politics, he was the first Catholic to get a cabinet post. Sheikh Hasina included him in her last two cabinets (last sworn in in January 2012) as State Minister for Social Welfare. Thanks to his great influence, the Catholic Church has had access to the highest offices of the state. Every year, for example, Catholic leaders celebrate an early Christmas at the Prime Ministers Residence. The countrys Catholic community is shocked at the news of Mankins death. "I cannot believe Promode is no longer with us," said Nirmol Rozario, secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association, which Mankin headed. For Daniel Costa, a Catholic, the politicians death is "a great and irreparable loss for the entire community and the country. He was soft-hearted, pleasant, smiling and with a gentle personality. He had a feeling for humanity, Costa added. He loved me very much and always encouraged me to serve in the legal field. May God grant him eternal peace and salvation for his departed soul." Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - In 2016, Aramco, the Saudi oil giant and the world's largest exporter, will increase crude oil production to meet the demands of consumers in view of the growth in global demand, announced Amin Nasser, chief executive of the group, which soon will release its own shares for a total value of more than $ 2 trillion. The heads of the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., known as Aramco, have decided to boost the production capacity of the Shaybah oil field, in the Rub Al-Khali desert in the south-east of the country. The growth will be 33% and will reach one million barrels per day of crude oil within the next two weeks. In the next decade the production of natural gas will also be doubled. At a press conference at the headquarters of oil giant in Dhahran, on one of the rare occasions when the company has opened its doors to the public, Amin Nasser stressed that "Aramco will continue the policy of expansion." In the annual report that is about to be published, he added, "you will see that there is a significant growth in our oil production compared to previous years." The goal is to establish partnerships with different countries, from China to the United States, Indonesia and India, from Vietnam to South Africa. On May 7 King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud reshuffled the government dismissing the Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi and renaming the department. The new Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources is Khaled Al-Faleh, who had previously held the presidency of the "Saudi Aramco". Since 2014 - when oil prices started to decline significantly - Riyadh has chosen the strategy of preserving the shares in the world oil market, refusing to cut production volumes. At the same time Saudi Arabia has begun to reduce its own dependence on energy exports. Earlier this year several OPEC countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, had agreed to freeze production at January levels to block the fall in prices. However at the mid-April Doha summit there was no agreement reached on how to control the production among the various exporting countries. The situation has been further complicated by Iran's reemergence, after the historic nuclear deal reached with the United States, which reopened the doors of the market. Iran, Saudi Arabias main regional rival, is increasing exports surpassing - as claimed by the Morgan & Stanley analysts - all "expectations." Also according to analysts the global market continues to have a surplus of at least one million barrels per day while global crude inventories are close to record levels. Photo caption: The question Why Study History? was the subject of a survey conducted by the firm Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies./ Photo Credit: Zhu via Flickr CC By Tazeen Inam Special to The post When we study the history of our country, should we examine it critically, use it to inform current policies, or highlight our national successes and values? The question Why Study History? was the subject of a survey conducted by the firmLeger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies. The results reveal that people under 35 saw critical thinking skills as the best rationale for the studying of history. The 55 and over cohort was more likely to endorse the strengthening of identity. The results also suggest that history educators have placed increasing emphasis on the need to develop critical thinking skills, whereas some governments feel that thickening national identities should be a component of history lessons. Jenny Carson, an assistant professor at Ryerson University and a social historian, finds this age dichotomy interesting. [The younger group encompasses] potentially people who are entering the job market and are focused of how they can use their degrees to enter the job market which is totally fair; it is more than just learning critical thinking of course, she comments. The older group seemed to take a more aspirational approach, seeking to reinforce and discover different identities. Maybe older Canadians are able to think of it in that way [more] than younger Canadians because they are not thinking about it as a way to enter the labor market, she suggests. The importance of understanding our history Carson elaborates that while understanding the past doesnt enable us to predict the future, but it may improve our ability to figure out what to do in our current situation. Understanding a woman how did we go to vote, what was it like 100 years ago when we couldnt vote how do those kinds of limitations affect us and how we were able to mobilize to overcome them? She continues, Social movements, civil rights movements those are relevant and important movements for today. We have the Black Lives Matter [movement] or the movement to end income inequality. Those movements have their roots in past social movements. Summarizing her point, Carson states, History tells us how people have created change. Professor of history from the University of Ottawa, Pierre Anctil, agrees with Carson: "A person who is not aware of the past very often will find themselves unable to understand the present. Critical thinking as a necessary tool Anctil says that while history has always been influenced by actors, history requires "complete independence of opinion, free from the whims of power groups or the actions of a state. This is where we seek critical thinkers, he says. If we study the past we have to study on the basis of what we understand of the past, not a proposed narrative that will fit what the present requires. When it comes to rediscovering or refashioning a countrys national identity, Carson emphasizes that we must analyze the actors reason for doing so. She refers specifically to the Harper governments redesign of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, which in 2012 was granted a $25 million overhaul. According to Carson, this was an attempt to create this extremely celebratory history that didnt pay enough attention to the ways on which Canadian history was about [the] displacement of indigenous people who were here first. Carson also describes a shift in the way history is taught in Canadian curriculum. While in the past it largely focused on politics and political actors who were predominantly white men, today the teachings are more diverse. Thats really important, that universities can connect themselves to whats reflected in the history, not just the people who were in power who make decisions, she states. Teaching Canadian history today Steven Schwinghamer, a historian at Pier 21, insists that history is really about a frank and front debate. Its not about certainty. Its not about finding one story. Its about an exchange, and in a country like ours where theres so much opportunity for interesting exchange, history is really valuable tool. In a country as diverse as Canada, Anctil says finding a single story is next to impossible. There is not only one narrative to Canadian history; this is a conclusion to which most historians are coming to at present, he explains. Moving forward, Carson says that in order to attract more critical thinkers to the study of history, creating personal connections is important. If you teach it as a story and try to construct a narrative and make it about people, I think that is more relatable. For Schwinghamer, History is fun. Working with history means working with mysteries, with complicated questions, he continues. Finding these answers means immersing yourself in an amazing exploration of human past. Its really satisfying. This piece was originally appeared in New Canadian Media (newcanadianmedia.ca). See http://newcanadianmedia.ca/item/34644-how-remembering-our-past-informs-our-future-how-remembering-our-past-informs-our-future The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) provides a low rate of return for younger Canadian workers, according to a new study released by the Fraser Institute. Its easy to see how average Canadians could confuse the rates of return earned by the CPP fund with what they actually receive via their CPP retirement benefits. The reality is that Canadians born after 1971 are receiving modest returns from the CPP, said Jason Clemens, executive vice-president at the Fraser Institute and co-author of Rates of Return for the Canada Pension Plan. CPP retirement benefits are determined by the number of years a person works, their annual contributions (up to a maximum of $5,088.60 this year, based on earnings), and the age they retire. The study finds that anyone born after 1955 (retiring in 2021 or later) will receive a return on their contributions of 3.0 per cent or less. Any CPP-eligible Canadian born after 1971 (retiring in 2037 or later) who worked full-time will receive an annual return of just 2.1 per cent in retirement. By contrast, eligible Canadian workers born between 1905 and 1914 (retired between 1970 and 1979) enjoyed a rate of return of 27.5 per cent. Study: People Think They Have More Friends Than They Really Do Trending News: Half The People You Know Don't Consider You A Friend Why Is This Important? Because your friend network probably isn't as big as you think. Long Story Short People tend to overestimate how many friends they have, according to a bummer of a study. The researchers found that about half of the people you believe are your friends don't feel the same way. Long Story Think you're Mr. Popular with friends far and wide? Sadly, you might want to reconsider, judging by a study published in the journal PLOS ONE. Researchers asked 84 undergraduate college students to rate every other person participating in the study on a scale ranging from I do not know this person to One of my best friends," explains New York Magazine. But while the vast majority of the participants thought the people they considered their friends felt the same way about them, the feeling wasn't always mutual. Rather, it was even worse than you'd think. Just 53 percent of the friendships people reported they had were reciprocal. These findings suggest a profound inability of people to perceive friendship reciprocity, perhaps because the possibility of non-reciprocal friendship challenges ones self-image, the study authors wrote. I know what you're thinking. Just 84 undergraduate students, pshh that's as fickle a group as they come. But the researchers took that into account and tallied up results from previous studies. What they found was that the highest proportion of reciprocal friendships was 53 percent, and the lowest was a pretty sad 34 percent. So should you start looking twice at your network extra closely to make sure they like you back? Up to you, but I wouldn't. You probably know who your close friends are based on how much they have your back. It's all about quality not quantity anyways. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question Are you sure all the people you consider your friend feel the same way? Disrupt Your Feed News flash: Just because someone is your Facebook friend doesn't mean they're your real friend. Drop This Fact According to oft-cited research by Dr. Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of Oxford, our brains only have the capacity to make connections with between 100 to 200 people. PNGs Supreme Court ruling does not mean the detention centre on Manus Island must shut, Peter Dutton said this morning. The Supreme Court ruled Australias detention of asylum seekers was illegal and ordered the Australian and PNG governments to immediately take steps to detention. Last Friday night, PNGs deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Fred Sarufa told the UK the court ruling meant the centre would close. But this morning, Dutton told ABCs Radio National that the court ruling did not mean the centre must shut. The talks will continue for some time, I think they will probably go on for the next couple of months and they can deal with some of the legal issues, he said. But obviously the Supreme Court as people now understand had not ruled that Manus needed to close. Pressure from Fijis representative at the UN hearing of the detention centre was directed at PNG. Fiji notes that the effect of this decision is that the detention of asylum seekers and refugees on Manus Island is illegal and unconstitutional and that the persons detained there must be released, Nazhat Shameem Khan said. Swedens representative also expressed concern. More than 900 asylum seekers and refugees are detained indefinitely in detention centres in Manus Island, Josefin Broden said. The conditions in these centres are poor and the prolonged and indefinite detention is a concern. Dutton told Radio National that PNG must resettle men found to be refugees. Those people that have been found to be refugees under the MOU signed between Mr Rudd and the PM in PNG the arrangement was for those refugees to be settled in PNG, he said. By Angela Daly, Vice Chancellor's Research Fellow, Queensland University of Technology Shutterstock/Denys Prykhodov Google is the worlds most popular search engine and is by far the most popular search engine used in Australia. But our research suggests that most Australians do not understand how the Google search engine works or what they are clicking on when they use it. Most of us use the Google search engine every day, whether to find information for our work, study, shopping, leisure or for pure idle curiosity. But have you taken a close look at the kinds of results Google produces when you conduct a search? And do you know the difference between an advertisement and what Google shows because it thinks it is most relevant to your inquiry? This is the question at the heart of our research on Australian internet users, which seeks to shed light on whether they understand the different search results Google produces. These results include paid-for adverts, organic or natural results produced because they are most relevant to the search inquiry and results from Googles other, affiliate services such as Google News, Google Maps and Google Shopping. We surveyed more than 1,000 Australians from different backgrounds and parts of the country with the results published this week in the International Journal of Law and Information Technology. User confusion Our results show that Australian consumers are confused about the different parts of Googles search results pages, and why Google produces them. In particular, our research indicates consumers are especially confused about the nature and origin of Googles vertical search services such as Google Shopping and its newer search features or refinements such as the Knowledge Graph box. Our research also shows that consumers are confused about the origin of organic search results. In our survey, we showed respondents two screenshots of Google search results pages from the Chrome browser on a desktop computer. Chrome is the most popular browser used in Australia. The screenshots related to the search terms apple and rolex. We boxed and labelled the different parts of the search results page. Then we asked respondents a series of questions about those different parts. Screenshot For instance, when we showed respondents the apple search results page, we asked them why Section A (advertising) appeared and 58.7% correctly believed Apple Inc had paid for placement there. But when we asked them about Section B, an organic search result, 36.4% thought incorrectly that Apple had paid for its placement and only 49% thought this section appeared because of its relevance. We also asked them about the two Google Maps results, and only a minority (13% and 21% respectively) correctly identified that these were from another Google service. About 22% of respondents wrongly believed that Apple Inc had paid to appear in the Google News results, and only 19.8% correctly identified that Google News is an affiliated Google service. We then asked the survey respondents some more general questions about how Google produces different kinds of search results and 67% were unaware that organic search results could not be purchased from Google by advertisers. Less than half of the respondents (47.9%) knew that these results were determined by Googles algorithm. Next, we showed respondents the rolex screenshot. Screenshop We were particularly interested in the Google Shopping results (Section G). Nearly 70% of respondents were unaware that this was a result from one of Googles affiliated services. Finally, we asked survey respondents some general questions about the labelling of results. While 60% of people agreed or strongly agreed that Google clearly differentiated each section of its search results page, 68% agreed or strongly agreed that Google could improve the layout and labelling of results to make their origins and/or how they were generated clearer to users. Some respondents thought this could be achieved by better, clearer labels and headings. Others wanted more transparency and honesty in Googles search results, particularly with respect to preferencing of affiliated services and perceived Google kickbacks. Legal context The prompt for this survey was the Google v ACCC case, where the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged Google had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct in violation of Australian Consumer Law regarding its publication of misleading sponsored links, including by not sufficiently distinguishing between the adverts and the organic search results. While Google was successful in defending the allegations levelled against it, the case exposed a concerning and unsubstantiated assumption. The judge at first instance, Justice Nicholas, said that Australian internet users understood the difference between organic search results and sponsored links or adverts, without reference to any empirical evidence in support. Our research, the first of its kind in Australia, directly contradicts this assumption, and should give Google (and its competitors) some cause for concern, because it potentially exposes them to a possible new legal challenge on misleading and deceptive conduct. It is true that evidence of consumer confusion does not necessarily equate to misleading and deceptive conduct against Australian Consumer Law. But evidence of confusion can be a first step towards showing that the company was not acting in accordance with the law. And our results suggest that this is an issue on which further and more thorough research into Australian consumers understanding of Googles search results would be highly desirable. From Googles perspective, it should consider taking simple steps to label the different parts of its search results page more clearly. This could protect Google against further litigation, while also delivering a better search experience to consumers. Angela Daly is a Director of the Australian Privacy Foundation. She received an internal grant from Swinburne's Faculty of Health, Arts and Design to fund this research. Amanda Scardamaglia received an internal grant from Swinburne's Faculty of Business & Law to fund this research. Originally published in The Conversation. By Peter Hiscock, Tom Austen Brown Professor of Australian Archaeology, University of Sydney The discovery of evidence of the worlds oldest axe is reported by my colleagues and I in a paper published in Australian Archaeology this week. As often happens, this announcement was the result of a surprisingly long process, and yet it has shocked some archaeologists. The response to it reveals much about the nature of archaeological argument and about the way we think about the past. The paper reported on an axe fragment found at a site in the Kimberley region in Western Australia. It wasnt a case of the discovery being a single event, a sudden moment as the object was dug from the ground and revealed for what it was. Instead, the discovery spans almost 20 years. The story began in the 1990s, when my colleague Sue OConnor now Laureate Professor at ANU excavated into the deposit. She uncovered a remarkably rich record of human activity spanning the last 50,000 years. She retrieved thousands of artefacts and bones, and found impressively early evidence of painted art. But when she and her colleagues catalogued the artefacts, they did not recognise that one small specimen had polished surfaces. In 2014, Sue and her PhD student, Tim Maloney, were relooking at the collection, and they spotted the polish on this object. To archaeologists, this is like a neon light: it shouts that the object has an unusual history. As a specialist in ancient stone artefacts, I was brought into the investigation. It was obvious on first view that this was a flake broken from the edge and a ground, or polished, axe. I have seen hundreds of similar archaeological specimens, and made them myself experimentally. What was unusual about this one was its age. It came from the same level as a piece of charcoal that was dated to 44,000 to 49,000 years old. Thus, by association, we believe the axe fragment to be about the same age. Exciting stuff. We knew that made this the oldest axe in the world! A high bar But how would we convince others of this discovery? I set about making a detailed description of the specimen, while Tim Maloney provided me with measurements of other artefacts he had measured from the site. I have four decades of experience, and it was really straightforward for me to describe this axe flake: it had the same edge angle as more recent Australian axes; it was made on the same material used for Australian axes; and it had the polished surfaces preserved with clear indications of the abrasion that created the edge of the axe from which it came. Equipped with my description, we sat down and wrote a paper. We sent it off. It was sent back. Some reviewers were not convinced the specimen was a piece of an axe. They wondered if the abrasion could have been natural and they said our photographs were not clear enough. Disappointed, but not dismayed, the co-authors and I understood this was the job of a good reviewer; a high bar should, indeed, be set for such a significant discovery. I corresponded with the journal editor and established what would be needed to make the case: a high resolution photograph and a demonstration that the smoothed surface must have come from an axe. I took the piece to our new 3D digital microscope. It eventually gave me extraordinary photographs of the specimen and quantitative measurements of the roughness of the polished surfaces. I compared the roughness indices to natural surfaces, to flaked surfaces and to the surfaces of Australian axes. I did experiments abrading the surfaces of Kimberley basalt. No surprise. The only match was the surface of other axes. Take two We re-submitted the paper. It was reviewed, again. We still got the same question: could the smoothness be the outer weathered surface of a cobble? The answer was no. In fact, we had already explained in the paper how the smoothing process ground down the highpoints of other manufacturing surfaces, and so the axe was shaped all over and then ground. It couldnt be a natural surface, and the reviewer had simply missed this point. I dont mind a high threshold of evidence, but I like reviewers to actually understand the paper. But now, several reviewers began a second line of criticism. They said this was only one specimen, so how can we be sure it is real? I am an experienced academic and I am used to the argy-bargy and politics of journal reviews, but how could I respond to this? Isnt it to be expected that the first discovery of something will usually be a singular instance? Of course, we would want this to be a repeatable observation, and no doubt it will be repeated as future archaeologists do further work. At heart I am a Popperian, and so I made the case to the editor that surely what counted was the quality of our demonstration that the specimen came from an axe, not the number of times an axe had been broken at the site. I pointedly wrote to the editor saying that, if it were a more fashionable object one pyramid, one statuette, or one hominid tooth instead of one axe fragment it would be published to inform the discipline that it existed. They corresponded with the reviewers, who merely suggested we go back and dig more. Going back to dig again would take years, hundreds of thousands of dollars and in the end may produce nothing. Because, perhaps, it was simply the only axe fragment in the site. Our final approach to the editor of the journal Australian Archaeology met with a positive response. Yes, we only had one specimen, but we had demonstrated it must have come from an axe. There were no other production systems known in Australia that would create these features. They accepted the paper. Of course, its possible there might be some problem with our announcement revealed in the future. But on balance, the current evidence shows our conclusion is likely to be true, and surely thats all we can ask for. Be resilient The announcement is significant. It reveals technological and cultural novelty and innovation in the anatomically modern humans dispersing from Africa, in the ancestors of Aboriginal people. We have had a lot of press coverage today. Much of it good, much of it fair. And there have been some criticisms. The BBC quoted American archaeologist, John Shea, saying: The evidence is essentially one flake one piece of stone out of hundreds and hundreds that theyve excavated from this rock shelter site [] They would make a stronger case if they could show that similar chips with edge abrasion occurred at a greater number of sites. Obviously, one pyramid isnt enough for some people. Young researchers reading this can take away the obvious message: while tough reviewing is a proper part of academia publishing, many reviewers comments may be way off the mark. Be reflexive and self-critical, but you may also need to be resilient because dramatic discoveries can be challenging to academics and the public alike. Peter Hiscock receives funding from The Tom AUsten Brown Endowment at the University of Sydney and the Australian Research Council. Originally published in The Conversation. Ahead of the general election in Australia in July tourism officials are reminding politicians how important the industry is to the country's economy and calling for visa costs to be slashed.In particular the Tourism and Transport Forum Australia (TTF) is calling on all of Australia's political parties to develop and announce positive policies that will support and enhance the continuing strong growth of Australia's visitor economy."This election campaign needs to see some ambition from our political parties to get behind Australia's visitor economy because it really has been one of the great economic success stories we've seen in recent time," said Margy Osmond, TTF chief executive officer."The challenge for all our political leaders is to back up their strong words of support for the tourism sector. We need to see positive policies that will allow the industry to reach its full potential as an economic wealth and jobs generator for Australia," she explained."This is an area that we have continued to see a gulf between words and action in recent times. Now is the time for political parties to get real about support for the visitor economy sectors and the jobs and opportunities they can generate," she added.The TTF will be actively working during the campaign to encourage the adoption of policies that encourage more international visitors to travel to Australia. It is calling for visa costs to be slashed, a continued freezing of the Passenger Movement Charge. In particular it wants the upcoming backpacker tax to be scrapped and more investment in destination marketing and public transport and visitor infrastructure to make cities and regions more attractive destinations.Osmond pointed out that Tourism is now generating $47.5 billion or 3% of the nations GDP and at 5.3% is growing three times faster than the total Australian economy.The industry also supports 580,800 direct jobs and when related employment is taken into account nearly one million jobs, that is one in 10 Australians in the workforce. It also employs international students and backpackers working in Australia."Tourism has been an industry in which double digit growth on key indicators has been the norm and yet we are not getting the attention the industry deserves," said Osmond.The figures also show that in 2015 some 6.8 million international visitors visited Australia, up 8% and spent $36.6 billion, a rise of 18%."The Chinese market alone is growing at 22% with more than one million now coming to our country every year and spending $8.3 billion, some 25% of all international expenditure," Osmond added. JandE said: a marriage that occurs overseas cannot be registered in Australia, an overseas marriage will generally be recognised as valid if: the marriage is recognised as valid under the law of the country where the marriage took place the marriage is between a man and a woman both bride and groom are at least 18 years of age, and neither bride nor groom is married to any other person at the time of marriage. Once married, you need to ensure your marriage is registered in that country and obtain documents as evidence of the event. www.bdm.vic.gov.au There are a few reasons where an overseas marriage is not recognised in Australia though. However, if it is all done properly and according to the law, most will be recognised. While, an overseas marriage will generally be recognised as valid if:Once married, you need to ensure your marriage is registered in that country and obtain documents as evidence of the event.There are a few reasons where an overseas marriage is not recognised in Australia though.However, if it is all done properly and according to the law, most will be recognised. Click to expand... JandE thank you for your replayWhen I came to Australia I bring my marriage certificate translated into English .Is need to give a copy of the list of immigration or any other office .I know that the embassy which had been sent all the necessary documents have a copy of that.I am not sure if they forwarded to someone in Australia.What do you think about that? I can't do car insurance because that's actually all under my parents name as it is there spare care. But we do have each other as beneficiary for superannuation! We just got private health insurance together about 2 months ago and we also have joint fly bys together. Plenty of pictures, separate and family events. Also pictures of myself and him skyping his mum and friends back home! I'll definitely start getting dinner receipts though, and we've so far gone on one little holiday together - but it was a surprise so it was all in my partners name but we have plenty of pictures from it; does that count? Travel is a bit hard for us due to money and saving for the visa at the moment haha. We are also on an electricity bill together and contents insurance but due to us moving to my parents theres only about two months worth of the insurance and there is 3 months of the electricity. The Italian bike maker has opened its first showroom in Pune. MV Agusta, in collaboration with Kinetic Group, has officially made its way into India as Motoroyale. It opened its first showroom in Pune and launched five of its products, namely the F4 at Rs 26.87 lakh; the F4 RR at Rs 35.71 lakh; the F3 at Rs 16.78 lakh; the Brutale 1090 at Rs 20.10 lakh; and the 1090 RR at Rs 24.78 lakh (All prices ex-showroom, Pune). The F4 RC, the raciest version of the F4, is expected to be priced at Rs 50 lakh (ex-showroom) and will be launched later this year. While the showroom opens tomorrow, bookings for the bikes can be made on www.motoroyale.in. Among the offerings, the F3 800 is locally assembled as a Semi Knocked-Down unit (SKD) at the bike makers Ahmednagar facility. It is powered by a 798cc, three-cylinder motor that produces 148hp and 88Nm of torque that is mated to a six-speed transmission. Standard features on the F3 include ABS, traction control and multiple riding modes. The F3 800 RC, a racier limited-edition version of this bike will be launched later this year. The upgraded version of its naked sibling, the Brutale 800, is already being homologated for India and will be launched in Q1 2017. Since the new Brutale 800 will also be brought in as an SKD unit, MV Agusta assures that it will be priced aggressively. The company also plans to start CKD assembly of its 800s, but at a later stage. Meanwhile, MV Agustas bigger, four-cylinder-engined models the F4, F4 RR, Brutale 1090 and the 1090 RR will be imported from Italy as Completely Built Units (CBU). The company, however, plans on locally assembling these bikes at a later stage. As for expansion plans, MV Agusta targets to open six showrooms in 2016, starting with Pune, moving on to Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai and aims at selling about 300 bikes this year. The bike maker plans on opening four to five showrooms in 2017. In addition to MV Agusta, Kinetic plans to bring more premium brands to India soon. The most important thing about the video... isn't in the video. The YouTube description says "Top Gear TV is coming to your screens very soon," which gives credibility to the rumor that the show will reboot at the end of May 2016.With only a few weeks separating us from the Chris Evans version of the show, let's examine the trailer and see what's going on. By "extended" Top Gear means that the 1 minute, 45 seconds are more than we've ever seen before . Likewise, there's more than one of every type of car.For example, we see that Top Gear has gathered the McLaren 570S , 650S and the P1 on the track. In a separate episode, a green LT model seems to be involved in a runway showcase and a scene where Jason Button crashes it while trying to do a fast lap.The old Top Gear team was famous for strange races, and they've kept that part, seeing as a Dodge Viper is chasing a fighter jet down a runway. Like Corvettes? There's two of them, and they have 50-cal guns on the roof.The legendary German race car driver Sabine Schmitz can be seen pushing the new Audi R8 hard on Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Yet it's not the car that gives up, but Chris Evans' stomach.Also worthy of being pointed out is the relatively minor role played by Matt LeBlanc, who is only shown briefly enjoying a Reliant Robin. Chris Harris' appearance in a Ferrari F12tdf could be called a cameo as well. But we have full confidence in his journalistic and driving skills. ABS It looks like the problem lies with one of the components of the semi-active rear monoshock, but KTM is not too keen to tell the world what's going on. To find out more details, 1290 Super Adventure customers must authenticate in the Service section of the KTM official website , as the Austrian maker requires more than the usual VIN of the bike.According to sources in Italy, KTM has already started to notify the 1290 Super Adventure owners, instructing them to contact the nearest dealership and have the bike checked.Apparently, the problem is a leak at the plug connector of the semi-active suspension, with the hydraulic fluid posing a crash hazard. The loss of suspension oil could also damage the rear suspension internal components, in case of a prolonged leak. Naturally, with low levels of suspension fluid, the rear shock absorber would malfunction, with a potentially hazardous outcome.Mattighofen adds that the inspection and repair can only be carried out by qualified technicians and is in no way a DIY operation. The KTM dealers will also upgrade the software that operates the semi-active suspensions to a newer version.Introduced in late 2014, the KTM 1290 Super Adventure is one of the most technologically advanced travel motorcycles in the world. It represents the fruition of an ambitious project aimed at building the ultimate long-distance travel machine, using the off-road experience accumulated with the 950, 990 and 1190 Adventure models and blending it with the most badass engine, that of the 1290 Super Duke R.Still, KTM took things a step further, adding more top-drawer technologies, such as multi-mode semi-active suspensions independent of engine mapping, hill hold, cornering, and more. Here is a gallery of live photos from the launch of the KTM 1290 Super Adventure at EICMA 2014. The latest news concerning Mitsubishi s MPG Gate announces nine more models that could have been tested in a manipulative way to provide better fuel economy results.The nine models are not Japanese Kei cars anymore , but SUVs. This means that Mitsubishis scandal might reach a global scale, but it all depends on the cars involved in the scandal.Among the affected SUVs is the RVR, whose ongoing generation was sold as the Outlander Sport and ASX, depending on the market.Because Mitsubishi has been selling the RVR since 1991, the year when it started cheating, its unclear which RVR is affected. Previous generations of this model were also called Chariot, Space Runner, and other names.As a Bloomberg report reveals, the Mitsubishi RVRs fuel economy was calculated using a base model, but no actual testing was conducted. The company noted, though, that the fuel economy of the nine models they suspected of being intentionally misstated did not differ from the declared figures.However, Mitsubishi raised the claimed fuel economy targets five times for its minicar models just to outperform the competition on paper. The entire cheating scheme will be unraveled by a third-party group, which will investigate the falsified fuel economy labeling used by the corporation. The investigation will take around three months, Mitsubishi Motors estimates.The automakers supervisor in charge claimed that they wanted to boost efficiency to meet stringent government targets, so they mishandled the testing. Unlike preceding situations where Mitsubishi required a bailout, the automotive branch did not request the aid of distinct Mitsubishi Group companies and planned to solve the crisis alone. According to Osamu Masuko, the company's chairman, the automaker expects to afford to compensate all parties involved.Its easy to understand why Mitsubishi Motors would attempt to work things out on its own - its shareholders might not want to bail out the carmaker for the third time in its existence.The last bailout happened over a decade ago because Mitsubishi covered up deadly defects in some models. If you take into account the fact that they have been falsely declaring fuel economy for the last 21 years , you can notice a small overlap of cheating for the carmaker. As if that were not enough, they stopped building the Lancer Evolution and will not make a replacement for it. Photo courtesy of car2go car2go joined with officials from Arlington County and Washington, D.C. to announce a way to help get millions of area commuters and the region's 53,000-plus car2go members moving more efficiently. Effective May 26, car2go members will be able to start trips in Arlington, Va., and legally end them in Washington, D.C., and vice versa. "car2go's mission is to deliver instant, flexible, and affordable mobility for people on their own terms," said Paul DeLong, president and CEO of car2go North America. "Recent surveys make it very clear that the single most important issue on the minds of D.C. area residents is transportation. By working collaboratively with policymakers, innovative mobility companies like ours are helping to bridge the gap by providing more great transportation options to the millions of people who live, work, and play here. car2go's one-way carsharing model is a proven, convenient, and affordable transportation solution that has a significant and beneficial impact in reducing traffic congestion. " Prior to cross-jurisdictional access, car2go members had to start and end their trips in the same jurisdiction, according to the company. Today's announcement will allow area residents, commuters, and tourists alike to travel between the District and Arlington County using car2go's one-way carsharing fleet of 800 cars. "Partnering with Washington, D.C. is a logical next step for Arlington's year-long demonstration study with car2go," said Dennis Leach, Arlington Countys director of transportation. "Our residents, workers, and visitors will benefit from a seamless carsharing network that allows them to cross into the District, providing another transportation option for their daily trips." Currently, car2go has waived its $35 membership fee and is providing new members with 15 minutes of free drive time, according to the company. Click here for more information and to join. The Airbus Perlan Mission II team, which aims to fly a pressurized glider to a record of 90,000 feet, is continuing its flight-test program in Minden, Nevada. Airbus CEO Tom Enders visited the site last weekend, and went for a flight in the glider with the projects chief pilot, Jim Payne. Experiencing the Perlan 2 glider in flight was truly remarkable, said Enders. Airbus Perlan Mission II is all about pushing the boundaries of innovation, refining our understanding of our environment and climate change, and inspiring a new generation of aerospace pioneers. Were honored to see this dedicated team of volunteers carry our name on a journey that will eventually take them to the edge of space. The high-altitude tests also will provide insight into the potential for wing-borne travel in the thin atmosphere of Mars, according to the team. The Perlan II glider first flew last September, in Oregon, and moved to a higher-altitude site in Nevada in December. The team has been gradually increasing the altitude and speed reached on each flight. They plan to relocate to the Patagonia area of Argentina this summer, where conditions will enable them to begin test flights to higher altitudes, ultimately reaching the 90,000-foot goal later this year. The gliders true flight speed at that altitude will be more than 400 mph. The crew will breathe pure oxygen provided by a rebreather system, similar to what astronauts use in space. 11 May 2016 10:19 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Camal Azerbaijan`s Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov and the ministry`s senior officials visited military units located on the frontline on May 10. Hasanov met with the military personnel in the recently retaken territories, and reviewed their combat, moral and physical preparedness, and checked the sustainability of defense line, fire capabilities of the troops, readiness of combat equipment, ammunition and other means. The minister viewed the enemy positions from a post of one of the units on the frontline, and was informed about the operational situation and activities on the defense line. He also met with servicemen who distinguished themselves during the April battles, and presented them with gifts. The military personnel assured the minister that they will continue faithfully serving the motherland and people, and are ready to fulfill the task of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief to liberate the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Earlier on the same day, under Zakir Hasanov`s leadership, military hardware groups located on the line of contact conducted an exercise to demonstrate combat readiness. The event also saw infantry conduct a practical live fire exercise. Azerbaijan and Armenia for over two decades have been locked in conflict, which emerged over Armenian territorial claims. Since the 1990s war, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day. A precarious cease-fire was signed in 1994. However, the Armenian forces commit armistice breaches on the frontline almost every day. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 13:33 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The growing pace of economic globalization has created more migrant workers than ever before. Unemployment and increasing poverty have prompted many workers in some countries to seek work elsewhere outside their homeland. Today, migrant workers account for 150 million of the worlds approximately 244 million international migrants. Azerbaijan, which set out to develop its non-oil sector by creating new jobs in different spheres, is attracting thousands of migrant workers to the country. Rasim Agasiyev, the representative Office of the Presidium of the ANAS said that the number of labor workers coming to Azerbaijan is increasing for the past several years. Speaking at the international seminar on Protecting the rights of migrant workers and their integration into society, Agasiyev explained the cause of labor migration, by increase of the economic reforms conducted in the country, as well as by the implementation of international projects. State Migration Services last statistics shows that the number of foreign citizens and stateless persons who have applied for residence registration in Azerbaijan reached 50,082 people. Some 3,800 people addressed for permission of temporary and permanent residence in the country. A total of 4,140 foreigners applied for Azerbaijani citizenship, he said. Azerbaijan provides a number of factors for labor migrants to temporarily engage in the country. One of the factors is business climate in the country, which is going better and better year by year. The government has been taken and continues to take steps for further improvement of the economic situation in the country. From a geopolitical point of view, Azerbaijan is of great importance for implementation of strategic social and economic projects. Moreover, the government is set favorably towards migrant workers, which cannot be said about other countries where migrants are often subjected to discrimination and moral humiliation. Migrant workers flow to Azerbaijan from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iran, Georgia, India, Russia and China. In total, Azerbaijan hosts migrant workers from 118 countries. They are generally engaged in the construction sector, in the trade market, and the services sector. There are also well-paid migrant workers in the country's oil sector, but their numbers do not exceed 10 percent of the total number of employees. Sometimes, Azerbaijan is forced to use the services of migrant workers. The fact is that the county has few experts on certain profiles. Earlier last September, Chairman of the Sustainable Development Research Center, Nariman Agayev noted that a migrant worker in Azerbaijan earns 300-800 manats ($199-$531) per month. Each month they sent home around $50 million. Azerbaijan has improved its migration legislation in accordance with international norms over the past few years. According to changes made to the Migration Code in 2013, registration of the migrants at their residences and application for other relevant standards became simplified. Foreigners and stateless persons arriving in Azerbaijan for a period exceeding three days should register with the Migration Service, providing a copy of the person's ID to the Migration Service personally, or via email within 3 days. This service is free and application forms are available at the Migration Service, post offices, and at www.migration.gov.az. The Migration Service will immediately register foreigners at the place of their stay and present written notification to the receiving party within one working day. Foreigners can be registered for the period provided in their visas, or for 90 days under the visa-free regime. After changing the place of residence, registration must be renewed. These easy steps can exempt visitors from penalties and deportation. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 15:07 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Baku and Ankara can become sister cities soon, as the Ankara City Municipality decided to sign relevant protocols, Turkish Haberlerankara newspaper reports. The decision aims to further strengthen the relations between Azerbaijan and Turkey. Ankara, Turkey's capital and second most populous city after Istanbul, is a sister city of 46 world capitals. The city is regarded as a symbol for independence, development and Western values. The modern city includes government and state houses, major universities, military bases, consulates, bustling nightlife and the oldest park in the city, Genclik Park. Old castles and ruins from Hittite, Phrygian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman civilizations dot the landscape. The city, is important to diplomats, bureaucrats, lobbyists and military, and has a few significant sights for visitors. And while the dynamic street-life is enough of a reason to visit, Ankara also boasts two extraordinary monuments central to the Turkish story the beautifully conceived Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Ant Kabir, a colossal tribute to Ataturk, modern Turkey's founder. Baku, known as home to an ancient civilization dating back to 5500 BC, is a compact city in which visitors can easily walk around the city center to see most attractions, along with a mix of architecture. The capital is the location where past and present are intricately intertwined, having always attracted tourists. The city has many monuments dating to ancient ages and medieval centuries within the district. Icherisheher, also known as the Old City, is the most magnificent of the historical monuments in Azerbaijan and is included by UNESCO among the world cultural heritage items. The Shirvanshah palace complex, which is another astonishing state historical architectural museum-preserve, is its masterpiece. The open-air museum, and Bakus most majestic and mysterious monument - the Maiden Tower or Giz Galasi - is also located here. Built in the shape of a cylinder on the Caspian Sea shore, the Maiden Tower is a structure which, rather like a buttress, sticks out from the cylindrical tower on the sea side. The Flame Towers, the tallest skyscraper in Baku at a height of 190 m, is also a beautiful symbol of the city. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 14:44 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Minister of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Henk Kamp on May 11, Azertac reports. Kamp said he was greatly impressed with the reconstruction work carried out in Azerbaijan and in capital Baku, adding that modern buildings made a harmony with samples of historical architecture here. The minister hailed the level of relations between the two countries, praising the conditions created for Dutch companies in Azerbaijan. The head of state described Azerbaijani-Dutch relations in political, economic and other spheres as successfully developing, saying all conditions were created in the country for foreign companies, including Dutch ones, to operate effectively. Pointing to the fact that unique architectural monuments were preserved in the capital, President Aliyev said that the historic building in the Fuzuli Street was relocated by a Dutch company. The sides also exchanged views on prospects for cooperation in the fields of agriculture, environment and alternative energy. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 15:59 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The Unites States is totally against the proliferation and use of mass destruction weapons, including nuclear. Robert Secuta, the U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, told journalists in Baku on May 11 while commenting on use of life-threatening phosphorus shells by Armenia and its statements about possessing nuclear weapons. He drew attention to President Barack Obama's accenting on non-use of chemical weapons by countries of the world at the nuclear summit held in USA on March 31 April 1, which the presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia attended. The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) found Armenian unexploded white phosphorus munitions in Askipara village of Tartar district on May 10. Our position at the summit shows once again that we are against the use of nuclear weapons, wherever it is,' Cekuta said. "I, as well as the co-chair Warlick, stated repeatedly that the parties must sit again at the negotiating table and we urge them towards a broad comprehensive peace treaty. We believe that this is important. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Defense organized a trip of military attaches of different countries accredited to the Askipara village placed in Tartar district. Fikrat Sadikhov, Azerbaijani political analyst believes that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and international community should react on the usage of phosphorus munitions by Armenia. The use of phosphorous ammunition by Armenia is a serious violation of the international law, the Geneva Convention over non-use of prohibited weapons. Azerbaijan, of course, should sound the alarm, to connect with the IAEA, whose mission is to control such processes, examine the situation more carefully, arm themselves with clear and substantiated facts and sound the alarm on a global scale, he told Trend on May 11. Armenian officials claimed repeatedly that Armenia possesses nuclear weapons. That should also be taken into account, he added. Sadikhov said that IAEA and other institutions express their concern about use of chemical weapons by particular countries but they do not find any evidence. But in case of Armenia the facts are obvious and they do not require excessive clarification, however, the international community still stays silent. The IAEA and world community should seriously evaluate the fact of use particularly dangerous prohibited weapons by Armenia, he concluded. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 12:34 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova The Taxes Ministry called on entrepreneurs not to evade from tax payment. "Some entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan continue to evade taxes," Taxes Minister Fazil Mammadov told journalists. He noted that it is happening in many spheres, specifically adding that tax evasion is observed in supermarket chains and in selling alcoholic beverages. Tax authorities are still conducting systematic inspections despite the fact that their number has sharply reduced, minister said. Minister also commented on the issue of VAT exemption for supermarkets. He mentioned that the appeal of a number of supermarket chains such as (Bizim Market, FRESCO, SEBET, Makromart, ARAZ, Neptun, Bolmart) with the request of VAT exemption for essential goods produced in the country particularly meat, fish, dairy foods, baked goods, eggs, rice, fruit and vegetables, and baby food is groundless. There is no use in the exemption of supermarkets from VAT. About 98 percent of the agricultural output is in the farmer markets and only the remaining part is in supermarkets. Therefore, the issue is not the matter of discussion, minister said. In their appeal heads of supermarket chains noted that after switching to floating rate of manat on December 21, 2015 it became hard to maintain staff and business profitability without price raising. Mammadov said that the Ministry of Taxes plans to start using the clearing system for the majority of goods in the future. "Currently, it applies only to alcoholic beverages, but in the future, we plan to expand the list of goods and services, the payment for which will be carried out in a non-cash form," he added. Chairman of the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patent Ramiz Gasanov also commented on abuse of government confidence by some entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs presume upon the suspension of inspections and produce poor quality products, he said. Entrepreneurs should have a correct impression of inspection. Large scale inspections are suspended but we are still responsible for revealing and eliminating existing problems. Inspections over entrepreneurial activity have been suspended since November 1, 2015. The Taxes Ministry also temporarily suspended field tax inspection and measures aimed at day-to-day monitoring of entrepreneurial entities with the annual turnover less than 120,000 manats and payers of simplified taxes. Exceptions are provided for inspections related to the conclusion of employment treaties, defining of turnover and control over the use of documentary stamps in the sale of excisable goods. As many as 70,000 taxpayers are expected not to undergo inspection. President Ilham Aliyev approved the list of inspections allowed should they endanger lives or health of individuals, the security of a state or economic interests in accordance with the law on Suspension of inspections in the entrepreneurial industry. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 15:55 (UTC+04:00) By Gunay Camal Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project will be completed by late 2016, said Ziya Mammadov, Azerbaijan's Transportation Minister. He made the remarks during the opening ceremony of the 15th Anniversary International Transport, Transit and Logistics Exhibition and the 4th Caspian International Road Infrastructure and Public Transport Exhibition in Baku on May 11. "The corridor's commissioning primarily depends on the work on Turkey's territory, since the project is being implemented on the territory with very rugged relief," said the minister. "But all the difficulties are behind, the work is underway. Primarily, the technological part, including the work on connecting the stations to the centralized control system is underway." The minister further emphasized that the BTK project is of great importance for not only Azerbaijan and the region, but also for the entire Eurasia. "This transportation corridor will connect countries, nations and even entire civilizations," he said, adding that Central Asian and Northern European countries show interest in this project. Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. The peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo per year. At the initial stage, this figure will be equal to one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo. The minister, who spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the event, said that a number of private Turkish companies want to operate in the Caspian Sea. Particularly, the private transportation companies of Turkey are interested in the cargo transit via the Baku-Aktau-Baku and the Baku-Turkmenbashi-Baku routes, he explained. "This issue is currently under discussion," said Mammadov, adding that the national and business interests should also be taken into account. "If the proposals put forward by the Turkish companies meet Azerbaijan's interests, it will be possible to fulfill them," he said, adding that otherwise, this issue won't be discussed. Earlier, Turkey's Economy Minister Mustafa Elitas told Trend that the crisis in relations between Russia and Turkey increases the relevance of the Trans-Caspian corridor in the transportation of cargos through Azerbaijan to the markets in Central Asia. He said the Trans-Caspian corridor should become a priority in the cargo transportations, adding that his country held meetings with the representatives of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on the effective use of the Trans-Caspian transportation corridor. The Trans-Caspian international transport route runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and then to Europe via Turkey and Ukraine. The first test container train on route Shihezi (China)-Dostyk-Aktau-Alat, arrived in Baku international sea trade port on August 3, 2015. The test container train on the route Ukraine-Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan-China (through the Caspian and Black Seas) departed January 15 from Illichivsk and arrived in China January 31. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine decided to apply the competitive feed-in tariffs for cargo transportation via the TITR in January, 2016. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 17:23 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Azerbaijan and France are keen to develop their bilateral cooperation in different industries. A delegation representing Movement of the Enterprises of France (MEDEF) organization has arrived to Baku to explore the perspectives of development of business ties with Azerbaijan, the French embassy reported on May 10. The delegation comprises businessmen representing different industries of utmost importance for the economy of Azerbaijan such as banking, construction, infrastructure, telecommunication, transport, logistics, municipal services, environment, power industry, tourism, consultancy, real estate, agriculture. The delegation, led by Marie-Ange Debon, Co-chairperson of Azerbaijan-France Business Council and Senior Executive Vice-President of the SUEZ Group, is keen to create additional opportunities for discussions on different perspectives and new areas of bilateral cooperation as well as for the establishment of relations with local entrepreneurs. The visit which is the six in succession is expected to provide for large meetings and discussions on important political and economic issues with high-rank representatives of Azerbaijani government, heads of large state entities, local companies and international financial institutions functioning in Azerbaijan thus giving a stimulus for the further development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and France in different spheres. French companies are actively participating in the petrochemical, food, agricultural, machine engineering, tourism and other spheres in Azerbaijan. France also assisted Azerbaijan in launching its first telecommunications satellite Azerspace which is considered to be one of the most important developments in the history of modern Azerbaijan. Some 91 French companies are involved in the oil and gas projects in Azerbaijan as subcontractors. At the same time, over 50 French companies are involved in the non-oil sectors' projects. Every year MEDEF International organizes a number of high-level global summits and meetings in France and abroad thus enabling the entrepreneurs to study the priorities of leaders, decision making networks, the business community and the terms and conditions of business doing in countries around the world, finding new partners and ventures. The board of entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan-France MEDEF International was established in 1992. The last visit of MEDEF members to Azerbaijan was in May, 2014 during the visit of French president Francois Hollande to Azerbaijan. 11 May 2016 15:55 (UTC+04:00) The International Transport, Transit and Logistics Exhibition, TransCaspian 2016 opened at the Baku Expo Center on May 11. This year the exhibition celebrates its 15th anniversary, emphasizing the significance of this important regional transport forum. The exhibition is organized by Iteca Caspian and its partner, the British company ITE Group plc, Azertac reports. Transport Minister Ziya Mammadov, addressing the event, congratulated the organizers and honorary guests. The minister highlighted the relevance of this event that keeps expanding each year and is making a worthy contribution to the development of the whole industry. The infrastructure has developed greatly in recent years, which was made possible through the use of modern innovations and technologies, and a wide introduction of engineering solutions, according to the minister. Farid Mammadov, Executive Director of Iteca Caspian LLC, thanked the Transport Ministry for its continued support of the exhibition and noted that the anniversary TransCaspian has attracted 75 companies from 9 countries. In the past 15 years, the TransCaspian exhibition was attended by approximately 700 companies, representing more than thirty countries from around the world. Newcomers this year comprise 40% of all exhibitors. Traditional participants in the exhibition are public transport departments of the country, such as Azerbaijan Railways OJSC, the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company, State Maritime Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Baku Sea Trade Port, as well as commercial firms. International and local exhibitors are producers of technology and equipment in the following sectors: rolling stock and railway infrastructure, the maritime industry, aviation, commercial vehicles, as well as transport and logistics services. The business program of the company "AVp technology" will include a seminar on the topic Railway Equipment. The exhibition is supported by the Transport Ministry, Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) and the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers') Organizations of Azerbaijan Republic (ASK). This year's exhibition was also supported by the Coordinating Council of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Transit Freight. The 6th Caspian International Road Infrastructure and Public Transport Exhibition, Road & Traffic 2016 and the 3rd Caspian International Boats and Yachts Exhibition, CIBS 2016 will be held at the same location as the TransCaspian exhibition. These exhibitions have attracted 30 companies from Azerbaijan, Denmark, the Netherlands, Turkey, Russia, Singapore, the USA, France, and the Czech Republic. As the leading specialized event in the region, Road & Traffic presents services in design, road-building equipment and materials, road safety facilities, equipment for road marking, traffic monitors, software for the design of urban infrastructure, and construction of roads, bridges and tunnels. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 17:58 (UTC+04:00) By Rashid Shirinov The American companies are interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan in transport sector, in particular the East-West (TRACECA) multimodal corridor. Robert Cekuta, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan, made the remarks in the sidelines of the 15th Transport, transit and logistics international exhibition and the 4th Road infrastructure and public transport VI Caspian international exhibition on May 11. American companies have achieved great success in both transport construction, and creating software for this sector. And we are ready to help Azerbaijan, and to participate in projects in both areas," Cekuta said. We are very pleased to continue cooperation in this sphere. We are already working in different spheres to ensure transparency and are ready to continue our cooperation. Wavetronix, an American company specializing in intelligent traffic management, also takes part in the exhibitions. He said that the exhibitions can be considered as an example of diversified economy and development of Azerbaijan. TRACECA (Transport Corridor Europe-Caucasus-Asia) is an international transport programme connecting the European Union, 14 member States of the Eastern Europe, Caucasian and Central Asian countries. It was established in 1993 including the EU, the Caucasus and Central Asia states representatives. The Permanent Secretariat of TRACECA was established in March 2000 in Baku. Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Armenia are the member countries of the organization. Since 2009 TRACECA has been entirely financed by member countries. The major objective of the project was to develop transport corridor from Europe to Central Asia via the Black Sea, Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. Azerbaijan, connecting the routes between West and East, plays a significant role in functioning of TRACECA. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 11:20 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova A grand event in the fashion industry of Azerbaijan -- Baku Fashion Week 2016 --will be hosted by Turkish top model and actress Tugce Sarikaya, Trend Life reports. Tugce Sarikaya holds the title of The Best model of Turkey 2009 and Vice Miss of The Best model of the World 2010 beauty contests. She is also well-known for her roles in Turkish cinema. It has been almost three years since I have been representing Turkey at various fashion Weeks in Tunisia, U.S., Israel and the United Arab Emirates. It's a great honor to represent my country in a brotherly country Azerbaijan, said the Turkish model. Baku Fashion Week has become the most interesting addition to the Azerbaijani fashion industry portrait of recent years. The fashion show has been organized by the "Production Center of Hafiz Agayev. In March, the "Production Center of Hafiz Agayev", FMS Models and IDFashion Tv channel joined their efforts for promotion of Baku Fashion Week fall/winter 2016 which will take place on May 13-15. Along with the Azerbaijani designers to show their collections, foreign masters of fashion-industry also join Week to present their works in Baku. Baku International Marine Station is expected to be a venue of the most expected fashion event. Baku Fashion Week was also included in the calendar schedule of world Fashion Week http://thefashioninsider.com/calendar/,making Azerbaijan more recognizable among international designers and fashion lovers. Thus local designers and models will gradually reach world podiums and attract the interest overseas. Media partners of the event are Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az --- Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 13:40 (UTC+04:00) In the latest iteration of Armenias continued hostilities against Azerbaijani civilians, Armenian militaries have used chemical weapons against the residents of the frontline regions. In the Askipara village of Azerbaijans Terter region there was found an unexploded white phosphorus artillery shell fired by the Armenian militaries. In Terter, where a significant civilian population was living, the shell fell to the courtyard, but fortunately not exploded. Weapon experts say that white phosphorus causes skin to melt away from the bone and can break down a victim's jawbone. When used as an incendiary, it can result in painful chemical burns - injuries which can often prove fatal. Protocol III of the 1980 Convention on Conventional Weapons prohibits use of the substance as an incendiary weapon against civilian populations and in air attacks against military forces in civilian areas. Aggression and terror against civilians is not a new phenomenon for Yerevan, nor has it been specific to any one regime. In the years of 1989-1994, Armenian terrorists have blasted passenger busses, passenger trains and blew up electric train at Baku subway to spread horror among the Azerbaijani population during the Karabakh war. The investigation led by the Azerbaijani authorities completely proved that all the terror attacks mentioned above were orchestrated, sponsored and logistically supported by functionaries of the illegal regime of Nagorno-Karabakh, special services and other governmental bodies of Armenia. Overall, the occupation forces had committed the crimes against humanity, including unlawful killing, torture, hostage, sexual violence, indiscriminate attack, destruction of property and even genocide during the Karabakh war, grossly violating the international human rights law and international humanitarian law. Since the renewal of hostilities on the frontline in early April, Armenians used large-caliber weapons, mortars, BM-21, D-20 and D-30 howitzers while shelling the Azerbaijani settlements, the use of which is prohibited by international conventions. Todays fact shows that the illegal occupation represents an important threat to Azerbaijani civilians. The Armenian authorities by use of globally prohibited weapons in the occupied territories threaten directly the territory of a sovereign state, targets its people, assets and way of life. Despite the strong and continuing evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the international community still not rushes to punish the aggressor state. The latest threat of nuclear weapon uttered by Armenian officials initiated no warnings neither from the international organizations, nor the OSCE MG co-chair countries. The use of chemical weapons suggests the need for urgent steps - at the very least, the world powers should force Armenia to refrain from the use of chemical weapons and drive out the occupation forces from the internationally recognized lands of Armenia. Armenias use of chemical weapons could possibly cross a legal red line that stipulates international sanctions against the state. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 17:10 (UTC+04:00) By Fatma Babayeva Due to the recent incidents happening in some oil producing countries such as wildfires in Canada and attack by unknown gunmen to the oil platform in Nigeria, oil prices experience increase in the global market as a result of supply outages alleviating glut in the market. Ole Hansen, Head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank believes that the main reason for the current increase observed in the oil prices is obviously the wildfire erupted in Canada that keeps spreading and is out of control now. "The reduction in oil output of Canada led to the decrease in its oil imports to the U.S.," he told the Trend news agency on May 10 adding that it will facilitate the slowdown in inventories over the coming weeks and months. It can be considered as a positive sign. Imports to the Gulf of Mexico can be increased in this context. However, it will not have a positive impact in the long-term as the fire will be put out, and the production will return to the previous levels sooner or later, said Hansen. Wildfires in Canada's oil-rich Alberta province have knocked off some 1.6 million barrels a day from the market. Several companies including Suncor, BP, and Phillips 66 have declared force majeure on Canadian crude. In addition to the fall in Canadian oil production, the output of the Africas largest oil exporter Nigeria also declined recently as unknown gunmen attacked an oil platform belonging to the U.S. Chevron oil company. This platform is located in the Delta of Niger River. As a result, oil production in Nigeria decreased to its lowest level over the last 22 years, according to Reuters. By commenting on the wildfire in Canada, The U.S. JP Morgan bank said in its weekly Oil Market report that it is yet to directly affect oil production. With the precautionary shut-ins already totaling around 1 million barrels per day and unconfirmed reports that the Enbridge pipeline is closed, the outage could become more pronounced, the analysts of the bank said by emphasizing that the broader question on how quickly the region can recover and how easily normal operations can be resumed may pose staffing issues for operators in the coming weeks. Analysts of the bank believe that if the production outage continues for a prolonged duration, the U.S. crude inventories will need to draw down. In addition, the current WTI spread of $0.65 per barrel on the front-month will likely strengthen and outright WTI prices may also lift temporarily to above $50 per barrel. However, the main beneficiary from such a development would be the regional crude spreads, they wrote by forecasting WTI average price to amount to $40.41 per barrel in 2016 and $52 per barrel in 2017. In addition, Brent prices are forecasted to average $41.05 per barrel in 2016 and $52 per barrel in 2017 by the bank. In the meantime, some agencies and institutions revised their forecasts for the oil prices. The Short-Term Energy Outlook revealed by the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts Brent crude prices to average $41 per barrel during 2016 and $51 per barrel during 2017, which is respectively $6 and $10 per barrel higher compared to the agencys forecasts given last month. Meanwhile, EIA forecasts WTI crude prices to average slightly less than Brent in 2016 ($40.32) and to be the same as Brent in 2017. According to the agencys outlook, the highest prices for Brent in 2016 and 2017 will be observed during the last quarters of the given years - $44.02 per barrel and $56.94 per barrel respectively. The prices for WTI during the mentioned timeframe will be equal to prices of Brent crude. The oil production in the U.S. is projected by the EIA to average 8.6 million barrels per day in 2016 and 8.2 million barrels per day in 2017. The country's production averaged 9.4 million barrels per day in 2015, according to the agencys projections. EIA estimates that crude output during April 2016 averaged 9 million barrels per day, which is 0.1 million barrels per day less than March 2016, and 0.7 million barrels per day less than April 2015 (9.7 million barrels per day). Whats more, Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia Ali al-Naimi has also been replaced recently. By commenting on new appointment, Hansen said that not much is going to change in Saudis' policy. "They will still be quite hawkish, still looking to favor their market share over the prices, which in its turn, will not lead to any major change in the near-term, he emphasized. Jason Tuvey, Middle East Economist at British economic research and consulting company Capital Economics believes that the change of the minister will not lead to a drastic change in the Kingdom's oil strategy. After all, his successor was the chief executive at Saudi Aramco company in late-2014 and thus, a key architect of Saudi Arabia's decision not to return to its traditional role as the swing producer in the market and cut oil output in order to support prices. On May 7, King Salman of Saudi Arabia announced a major government reshuffle and re-organization of key ministries. Oil minister Ali al-Naimi was replaced by former health minister Khaled al-Faleh. Now, Saudi Arabia may take even a harder stance in the negotiations with other major oil producers who ask the Kingdom to cut oil output in the global market in order to support oil prices. According to media reports, it was Mohammed bin Salman, rather than Al-Naimi, who derailed an agreement to freeze oil output during the failed Doha meeting that took place last month by insisting that Iran should also be involved, added Turvey. The mentioned Doha meeting ended without any agreement on freezing oil production of the oil producing countries as Saudi Arabia surprised the participants by reasserting a demand that Iran also should put a cap on its oil production. However, Iran who strives to bring its production to the pre-sanctions' level refused to join oil production freezing act and even did not attend the gathering. The next OPEC meeting is scheduled for June where the oil output freeze will be discussed once again. The cartel cannot fulfill its functions anymore. Recently, Russias oil giant Rosnefts head Igor Sechin said that OPEC has practically died as a single entity, the times when this organization could determine the functioning terms for the global oil market should be forgotten, reported Reuters. At the present, a number of factors impede the possibility for any cartel to dictate its will on the market, he stressed. Today, Saudi Arabia prefers to bear low oil prices rather than losing market share as lifting cost of a barrel is lower in this country compared to how much other oil producers spend to produce a barrel. The kingdom is simply taking a long-term view in the market by believing that it can afford to keep oil output high and prices low in order to squeeze out high-cost producers, Tuvey said. Previously, Khaled al-Faleh noted that Saudi Arabia is the only country with significant spare capacity. Therefore, it should be the natural beneficiary of rising demand, the Economist reported on May 8. However, Turner does not believe that Saudi Arabia would go so far to flood an already-oversupplied market. In June, Saudi Arabia plans to increase prices of the Arab Light crude which it sells to Asia by $1.1 per barrel. --- Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 18:13 (UTC+04:00) By Fatma Babayeva Azerbaijans state-owned oil company SOCAR will discuss the issue of purchasing assets of Greeces natural gas transmission system operator DESFA with the Greek government. SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev announced about this in Baku on May 11. The talks on this issue continue, he said, adding that the sides haven't yet specified how much share they intend to obtain there. "The groundbreaking ceremony for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will be held in Greece on May 17 and we plan to hold a meeting there with [Greek] energy minister and discuss the DESFA issue," he said. SOCAR won a tender in December 2013 on the sale of 66-percent share in DESFA for 400 million euros. However, in November 2014, the European Commission started an inquiry into the compliance of the deal on the acquisition of this stake with the EUs regulations. Previously, it was reported by the Greek media that SOCAR may reduce its stake in DESFA from 66 to 41 percent. Earlier, Greek Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Panos Skourletis said that SOCAR needs to sell 17 percent to a European company in order to complete the acquisition of 66 percent stake in DESFA. However, due to the failure of selling 17 percent stake to European companies, SOCAR may increase the proposed stake to 25 percent by keeping 41 percent stake in DESFA, Greek media reported. The privatization of DESFA is delayed due to the fact that the EC opposes to the transfer of a majority stake in gas operator to SOCAR. The European Commission does not want the control package of such a big Transmission System transferred to the hands of non-EU country, but remain under the Greek control. Baku has earlier claimed that from Azerbaijan's perspective, there was no conflict of interest in acquiring a majority stake in DESFA as the gas owner to be pumped through the SGC was not Azerbaijan, but the Shah-Deniz Consortium. --- Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 11 May 2016 17:34 (UTC+04:00) By Nigar Abbasova Kazakhstan is keen on transiting the country to green economy. Addressing to a meeting of the UN General Assembly Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Erlan Idrisov said that his country intends to partially transit to green economy by 2050, Ria Novosti reports. Our country is rich in energy reserves nevertheless we are adherent to develop green economy. We set an ambitious goal of generating 50 percent of power not by means of fossil fuel by 2050, minister said. In this regard, the minister assured that Kazakhstan would ratify Paris Agreement on climate change which envisions that all countries should assume measures in order to reduce emissions. With the largest and strongest performing economy in Central Asia, Kazakhstan has taken a leading role in the region in exploring the ways of transition to green economy. The country aims at diversifying the economy with alternative, cleaner sources of energy and reforms its agricultural and industrial sectors with the use of advanced brand-new technologies. The concept of green economy stands for the limitations of natural resources expense and is targeted on scarce consumption of the limited resources (natural resources such as gas, oil) and rational use of unlimited resources. Main directions of the concept of green economy are introduction of renewable energy resources other than oil and gas, promotion of energy efficiency in housing and communal services, use of organic fertilizers for crop yield, improvement of waste management system, and development of clean transport. Transition to the green economy reduces risks of global threats such as climate change, exhaustion of natural resources and deficit of water. Experts say that the implementation of green economy will also allow avoiding ecological crisis. The government has already established several organizations concerned in the smooth transition of Kazakhstan to green economy. The joint EU, UNDP, UNECE project Supporting Kazakhstans Transition to a Green Economy Model also envisages bringing of the water governance in the country into line with green economy strategy. The project envisages introduction of modern environmental governance system and water management policies, enhancement of environmental impact assessment procedures for sustainable use of water resources. Kazakhstan's Green Economy Concept policy was adopted in May 2013, in response to the Rio+20 Earth Summit held in 2012 3.0 ( - - ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com British chocolate brand Elizabeth Shaw has been acquired by Polish confectionery producer and distributor Colian Holding SA. This week, Colian purchased 100% of shares in Elizabeth Shaw Limited from Norwegian investment fund Imagine Capital AS. This also gives it control of Elizabeth Shaw subsidiary Famous Names Limited. Jan Kolanski, Colians president, said: This is a significant move which has a key and long-term purpose. He added that it was part of the companys strategy to expand into overseas territories. Colian already produces waffles and cookies for the UK market. Karen Crawford, managing director of Elizabeth Shaw, said: Colian is a strong believer in brands and has a wealth of experience in the confectionery market. These strengths in combination with a well-respected quality English brand will ensure the long-term growth of Elizabeth Shaw. She added that, with Colians plans to grow overseas and rising international interest in British chocolate products, Elizabeth Shaw wants to capitalise further on the export opportunity. Focusing on innovation Elizabeth Shaw also hopes Colian could help grow the brand through creating innovative lines using its product development capabilities. Crawford said: Continuous innovation is integral to maintaining and growing this consumer demand. Were looking forward to elevating the brand to the next level within the premium chocolate category. Another Clearwater Fire and Rescue lieutenant was the subject of a misconduct investigation after city human resources determined that his girlfriend frequently visited the fire station after hours and was in his dorm room with the door shut. Another Clearwater Fire lieutenant could face discipline Allegations say his girlfriend visited station often after hours Discipline decision expected in June Bay News 9 is not identifying the lieutenant because he has not been formally disciplined. The lieutenants are in charge of the eight fire stations across the city. The CFR employee is the fourth lieutenant to be investigated for misconduct since 2012. This latest investigation was triggered during the Lt. William Spike Fry and Fire Medic Tiffany Seabolt misconduct inquiry that resulted in both firefighters being suspended in February for having sex while on duty. The City of Clearwater human resources said they initiated its investigation after interviewing EMS coordinator Anthony Tedesco about Fry and Seabolt. When asked whether he had heard any other rumors involving possible firefighter misconduct, Tedesco said that Fire Union President Sean Becker told him a lieutenant was moved in October because his girlfriend was often visiting Fire Station 50. What I was led to believe was that there was something going on at (station) 50 that was inappropriate, that caused him to be moved to (station) 51, where there's anothers supervisor there," Tedesco said. The lieutenant admitted to HR that his girlfriend visited a lot but said it was during the approved policy hours and she stayed in the common areas. Where did she visit you while she was at the station? asked the investigator. The kitchen," the lieutenant responded. "Dinner table." Its been reported that you permitted your girlfriend to be in your dorm room with the door closed," the investigator said. "Is that accurate? No," he said. The lieutenant's answers contradicted what other employees at Station 50 told investigators who asked, "Did lieutenant (redacted) ever allow his girlfriend inside his dorm room? Yeah, I believe so," driver operator Craig Krueger said. Ive seen her go into his dorm room. I have no idea for how long. Fire Medic Chris Van Opdorp told investigators he had also seen the girlfriend in the lieutenant's dorm room, with the door closed, a couple of hours after visiting hours ended at 8 p.m. The investigator asked, Was it appropriate for him to have her in his dorm room? Probably not," Van Opdorp replied. The lieutenant told HR he could not remember whether his girlfriend stayed past visiting hours. Its been reported that your girlfriend was still at the station after 8 p.m. Is that accurate? Not that I recall," the lieutenant replied. That's an answer HR investigators are pushing back on under the direction of City Manager Bill Horne. Too many times through our investigations of the fire department we hear, I dont recall,' I dont remember and I dont know,'" the investigator said. Its all too familiar a response." "The City Managers charge is for everyone, not only the fire personnel, but everyone at the city, to be forthcoming and truthful with their answers," she said. Fire Chief Robert Weiss told investigators "that lieutenant (redacted) girlfriend was never an issue, and it was a performance-based issue." Weiss said he heard the lieutenant was being reclusive and not training with his crew. Krueger said the lieutenant would spend a majority of his day in his dorm room. He was spending 15 hours," he said. "Maybe more." Fire Union President Becker told investigators he thought the lieutenant was moved because the fire administration wanted to prevent another scandal. "I felt that the city, that the administration thought they dropped the ball with Spike and Tiffany, because I know they were well aware of those rumors for a long time," he said. "I felt that they wanted to get ahead of this game with (the lieutenant). Becker also talked about the relationship between the firefighters and the administration. The members are starving for leadership right now, and we havent had it because theres a huge disconnect between our bosses and the rank and file," he said. "Since the Spike and Tiffany thing, I think everybodys been really on their best behavior. This happened prior to that." Weiss said he plans to retire Nov. 11, and his Division Chief of Operations Richard Riley will be removed from his position at that time. "Theyre allowing the Fire Chief to wait... along with Operations Chief Riley so that they can be vested in the supplemental (pension), Becker said. We obtained an email City Manager Horne sent Chief Weiss in February after the Fry and Seabolt scandal broke. "We will need to make sure that we are promptly addressing CFR employee issues so that we don't portray a CFR Department that is unraveling before our very eyes both among the rank and file and administration levels," Horne said. "Weak links in the chain can no longer stay with us. We are now in the cross hairs of the media. Let's show them that we know what we are doing." Chief Weiss is expected to make a decision on the lieutenant's discipline when he returns from military leave in June. Meanwhile, the report states the Fire Chief is monitoring the assistant fire chief's swipe card activity to ensure they're making surprise visits at the fire stations. The department is also creating a sexual misconduct policy and in the process of purchasing surveillance cameras. A missing child alert has been issued for a 10-year-old girl in Bradenton. Authorities are searching for Emma Mischaud, who was last seen at the Palm Cove Apartments at 4000 47th Street West. Bradenton Police Lt. James Rackey said the alert was issued because Mischaud's mother, Suzanne Knight, left the apartment angry after a disagreement with other family members. Mischaud is described as a white female, 4-foot-10 and 60 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a blue sundress and blue reading glasses. According to authorities, Knight, who is 5-foot-6 inches and 130 pounds, has full custodial rights of Mischaud and was visiting from Connecticut. Officials said Knight left the apartments with Mischaud in haste, almost hitting another family member with her car as she drove off. Knight, who has blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing a blue T-shirt and gray sweat pants, is driving a 2016, red Toyota RAV4 with Connecticut tag number AD23238. Rackey said family members reported Mischaud missing Tuesday night. officials said since the alert was issued, the last place they were known to be was in Georgia. The business of marijuana is attracting thousands of professionals from across the country to Osceola County for a national cannabis trade show. Marijuana Business Conference and Expo in Kissimmee through Wednesday Floridians learning more about marijuana in case medical marijuana becomes fully legal Miarjuana businessman said group of investors would do better as a new marijuana business Its also attracting Floridians who may jump into the medical marijuana game if it is legalized by Florida voters in November. Raymond Weisbein, who runs PMS 4 DOCS LLC in South Florida, is inspired to step into the industry by his friends in Colorado. I have a degree in biochemistry and I would like to get into growing it too and also doing different strains," Weisbein said. Other Floridians were a bit more cautious while attending the Marijuana Business Conference & Expo at the Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee. Its a research expedition. If the medical marijuana industry comes to Florida, then I should be ready for it," said Robert Sanders, who runs a small information technology business in St. Petersburg. More than 3,000 marijuana professionals are in Central Florida to attend the conference, which wraps up on Wednesday. But regardless of enthusiasm, the chief operating officer of one of the most successful marijuana businesses in Colorado said the industry is tough to crack if youre a small or independent dispensary owner. Unfortunately, theyre going to be hugely disadvantaged," said Medicine Man Technologies Co-Founder Brett Roper. Roper said after initial investments of about $670,000, Medicine Man Technologies finally began to make a small profit. The smartest little guy is a group of little guys. Its a group of investors with a common passion for the product or for the space and they pretty much put their nickels and dimes together so that all of a sudden, theyre real money," Roper said. Nevertheless, Weisbein sees Florida as an untapped market. I absolutely think its extremely important to get in day one. Like I said, before when I was watching my friends in Colorado do it, they got in for a fish cake. Virtually no money and they were able to open dispensaries and get licenses," Weisbein said. Ropers suggestion for a successful foray into the medical marijuana business is vertical integration -- a co-op or collective of investors that can pool enough money to go seed to sale by growing, processing and setting up several dispensaries to sell their own cannabis. Theyre a lot stronger as a group than they are as individuals, both financially and from a responsibility perspective," Roper said. Morgan on medical marijuana campaign: This is political philanthropy Meanwhile, a well-known medical marijuana advocate is making the case for legalizing the drug in Florida. Attorney John Morgan gave a speech before hundreds of people at the Marijuana Business Conference & Expo Tuesday afternoon. Morgan told the crowd he has no financial business interest in the marijuana industry. However, he said hes seen marijuana work first hand on his brother, who is a quadriplegic, and his dad, who had cancer. Morgan said hes learned from their 2014 Election defeat. This time he says he going to focus on educating seniors about how medical marijuana can help them and their loved ones, as an alternative to prescription pills. Four hundred to 500,000 really sick and debilitated people benefit, so for me this is a legacy, this is a cause, this transcends politics. Its what I call political philanthropy," said Morgan. Morgan believes the medical marijuana industry would also be a job creator and a big tax boost to Floridas economy. So far, Morgan said hes spent about $7.5 million of his own money on the campaign. He believes it could take another $10 million in political advertising to help the medical marijuana initiative pass on the November ballot. Orange County deputies were led on a three-county chase early Wednesday morning after a bagel truck was stolen. Bagel truck stolen from gas station in Orange County Deputies pursued truck across 3 counties Stolen truck was stopped in Deltona The Bagel King truck was stolen at about 2:18 a.m., just after the driver had pulled into a RaceTrac gas station on Edgewater Drive to fill up before making a delivery, deputies said. Orange County deputies were called to the scene and given a description of the vehicle. A deputy spotted the truck traveling down Lee Road, entering the Interstate 4 eastbound ramp. Deputies followed the truck for 27 miles through Orange, Seminole and Volusia counties. Orange County deputies, with assistance from Volusia deputies, were able to pull over the driver in Volusia County along Doyle Road in Deltona. According to investigators, the driver was 27-year-old Ashley Goldson, who they say found the truck at the pump with the keys in the ignition and took off. There were no injuries or damage to any vehicle, according to deputies. A Bagel King worker said the driver of the truck is home safe after finishing his bagel delivery for the day, only being slightly behind. Goldson was taken to Volusia County Jail and faces charges of grand theft and introduction of contraband into a detention facility. Orange County deputies were led on a 3-county chase after a bagel truck was stolen from a gas station early Wednesday morning. A 27-year-old Port Arthur man arrested Tuesday in the death of a man at an apartment complex is accused of stabbing his victim in the back and cutting his throat, police said. Paris Lynn Bennette, Jr., of Seventh Street, was charged with murder after two eyewitnesses reported seeing him stab Patrick Guidry shortly before 9 a.m. at the Park Apartment complex on Jefferson Drive, PAPD Maj. Raymond Clark said. A Beaumont woman and two children are being treated in local ICUs after a Tuesday morning collision with two dump trucks on Highway 124 near Fannett. The accident happened at 7:45 a.m. when the 32-year-old woman, who was driving a 2010 Chevrolet Tahoe in the northbound lanes, met a Peterbuilt dump truck that was traveling southbound. As the vehicles passed, two rear tires came off of the Peterbuilt, striking the Tahoe, said DPS Trooper Stephanie Davis in a news release. The impact caused the Tahoe to spin and cross into the southbound lanes, where the Tahoe collided with a Freightliner dump truck that was following the Peterbuilt. Davis said the driver of the Freightliner slowed down and tried to move to the shoulder, but could not avoid the crash. After the Tahoe struck the Freightliner, the dump truck veered off the roadway and into the woods, where it struck several trees before catching fire, according to Davis. The driver of the Tahoe was taken to Christus St. Elizabeth Hospital with serious injuries. As of Tuesday afternoon, she was being treated in the hospital's ICU. The woman was carrying four passengers in her Tahoe, all under the age of 12. Davis said two of the kids were treated and released from a local hospital. The two other children were taken by medical helicopter to Hermann Memorial Hospital in Houston. Davis said both of those children were in stable condition in the hospital's ICU on Tuesday afternoon. The driver of the Peterbuilt, a 57-year-old Beaumont man, was not hurt in the crash, according to Davis. She said the driver of the Freightliner, a 49-year-old Beaumont man, managed to get out of his dump truck before it caught fire and was not injured. Davis said a preliminary investigation of the Peterbuilt indicates that some sort of equipment malfunction caused the rear axle and tires to become dislodged from the vehicle. Nude photos of a teacher in a southwest Texas town close to the border has administrators there scrambling to figure out how the images ended up online. The teacher, whose name has not been released by the school district, filed a report with the City of Eagle Pass Police Department during the last week of April that someone posted her nude photos on social media. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's 9 o'clock on a Tuesday night and Beaumont's World Gym is buzzing with late night exercisers getting in their daily workouts. Traditionally, late-night hours have been a dead zone for gyms. But in recent years, busy Americans have shifted their schedules, finding pockets of time in the evening to squeeze in workouts. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of visits to fitness studios after 9 p.m. grew 47 times over, according to Mindbody, an app that helps users schedule workouts. Beaumont is no exception to the national trend. "We're super busy at night, it stays really busy here from 8 p.m. until 10 p.m. or 11 p.m.," says Jody Nolan, owner of World Gym on Dowlen. "There's not enough hours in the day anymore. People are getting more serious about getting in their workout and don't want to work out during the peak hours of 5 and 8," he said. What's behind the shift? The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association reports a steady increase in the number of people who belong to fitness clubs, growing even as Americans log more hours at their desks. Changing tastes, which come with a younger generation's increased presence in the market, also come into play. "The later hours bring in somewhat of a younger crowd, the 20- or 30-somethings," Nolan said. "More single people take advantage of it. We only offer childcare until 8:30, so the people that do not have kids usually go before then." Pew Research Center reports that millennials are much more likely to work out than their older peers; 56 percent of millennials said they had vigorous exercise in the past 24 hours, compared to 48 percent of Generation Xer and 42 percent of baby boomers. Add the fact that classes and weightlifting sessions can double as a social hour, and the demand for later workouts comes into focus. "We have a lot of people who come with their boyfriends and girlfriends, and their friends," says Chris Caldwell, the trainer in charge of 24 Hour Fitness' 8 p.m. boot camp class. "I would say maybe about 30 to 40 percent of the people who come to class come with at least someone they know, or a significant other. Maybe even more. It's very social." In Southeast Texas, the 24-hour schedule also appeals to plant workers. "We have a crowd that comes in around 4 o'clock," Nolan said. "It's a lot of shift work people coming in to work out when they get off. Those early hours accommodate them." Although late-night workouts are increasing in popularity, they're not easy for everybody. "Working out or doing any kind of vigorous exercise in the evening, within a couple hours of bedtime, it gets all the wrong hormones excited," says Richard Castriotta, medical director for the Sleep Disorders Center at Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center and director of pulmonary and sleep medicine at UTHealth's McGovern Medical School. "The workout itself results in an increase in the secretion of adrenaline and a whole slew of chemical mediators that are geared to keeping you awake and alert - the fight-or-flight reaction." Austin Milan, 20-year-old Lamar University student, finds his daily workout at Powerhouse Gym important enough to compromise hours of sleep. "I have not always exercised late, but because I am an involved full-time college student with a job, it seems to be the only time I can go," he says, "Working out late gets my heart rate and blood flowing so I usually still have energy built up, making it more difficult for me to finally fall asleep at night." Castriotta recommends that people don't schedule workouts within a couple of hours of bedtime, noting that in addition to adrenaline, exercise also triggers the release of norepinephrine and cortisol, chemicals that should be low at night and peak in the morning to accommodate the body's circadian rhythms. Maggie Gordon is a features reporter at the Houston Chronicle. HLetulle@BeaumontEnterprise.com This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Beaumont's city manager and city attorney had a closed meeting with Council on Tuesday, with one being courted to stay beyond his recently announced departure date and the other coming under fire from at least one council member. City manager Kyle Hayes announced two weeks ago his intention to leave in December after 23 years with the city, including 14 in his current role. Mayor Becky Ames has asked him to stay until at least May 2017 so a newly elected council can vote on his replacement. The reason for city attorney Tyrone Cooper's discussion with Council was less clear, but it's been no secret that Ward 2 Councilman Mike Getz is unhappy with Cooper's performance, particularly after last week's vote to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice in a housing discrimination case. The city will pay $475,000 from its general fund to settle the case, which Getz said was ripe for fighting, particularly because none like it has been litigated in Texas. Getz has criticized retaining a San Antonio law firm to represent the city in the case. He said the firm made no attempt to depose any witnesses and simply gave in to what the Justice Department wanted. Getz also criticized Cooper for what he called a failure to answer questions about the case, which Getz said is an "inherent right" for a member of council to ask and receive answers. Council directly appoints the city manager, city attorney, city clerk and Municipal Court judges. As council adjourned its regular meeting to go into closed session, Cooper said, "I'm not leaving," smiling as he said it. He declined to comment more on the reason he asked to be included in the executive session. Ward 2 Councilman Audwin Samuel, in council member comments before the end of the public session, lamented what he called "the state of the city" and asked for a council workshop on a clear policy that outlines how council members are supposed to deal with the city administration. The City Charter makes clear that members of City Council shall not interfere in any department of the city. "Neither the City Council nor any of its committees or members shall dictate the appointment of any person to, or removal from, office or employment or discipline by the City Manager or any of his subordinates or in any manner interfere in the appointment or removal or discipline of employees under the City Manager's authority," the charter states. Samuel said, without specifying the object of his complaint, that he is witnessing for the first time in 30 years on council "the impact of council members interfering" in the city's activities. "Council members should not go to any department without going to the manager first," Samuel said. Getz countered by stating council members have "the inherent right" to ask for information. "I know I've asked for information and not gotten it," Getz said in his comments during the public meeting. In a telephone interview Monday, Getz said he sought information about the Justice Department housing discrimination case from Cooper but said Cooper did not return his calls or meet with him about it. Samuel said in his council comments that he was disturbed by a recent report that Beaumont ranked as the state's third-most dangerous city. A Houston law firm assembled the report based on criteria including police reports and the amount of investment a city makes in its public safety. "I am derelict in my duties about not paying enough attention to things we are seriously confronted with," he said. He urged council to point its attention to "the evil in our streets" instead of fighting among one another. "We're supposed to be teammates," Samuel said. Earlier in the public portion of the meeting, council members scrapped over the purchase of three new city buses to replace two that had crossed the 500,000-mile threshold or reached 12 years of service. Ward 1 Councilman Claude Guidroz wanted to table the item for "three to six months" and asked that city staff find possible alternatives to the traditional municipal transit service. Samuel said such a request meant a change in direction on providing public service instead of acting on the specific agenda item. As council members batted the issue back and forth, Mayor Becky Ames said council could table an item for a week or two but not three to six months. While Guidroz and Getz said council should consider ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft, Ames said some cities - like Austin - are pushing back on Uber for laxity in background checks for its drivers. As a result, Uber says it will leave Austin. Guidroz withdrew his motion. Council voted to buy the buses, which will be funded from a federal grant with no matching fund needed from the city. "Not everything needs to be this hard to do," Ames said. DWallach@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/dwallach This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A contract worker killed Wednesday at ExxonMobil's Beaumont refinery was the third person to die following a maintenance accident at the site since 2013, highlighting safety concerns during petrochemical plant turnarounds. Migauel Barron, 37, of Brownsville, was working on a heat exchanger when a pipe fell from overhead, striking him in the head and neck, Jefferson County Sheriff's Office spokesman Marcus McLellan said. Barron died at the site shortly before 1 a.m., said Justice of the Peace Ransom "Duce" Jones, who ordered an autopsy. Barron worked for La Porte-based AltairStrickland, an industrial engineering company that specializes in turnarounds, according to its website. An ExxonMobil spokesman, who declined to answer questions, said the company is investigating the incident. "We regret that a contractor was fatally injured in an incident at a unit under maintenance at the Beaumont refinery," the spokesman's printed statement said. "We are greatly saddened by this and express our deepest sympathy to his family and his co-workers." An AltairStrickland employee directed questions to its parent company, Emcor Group. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, colleagues and loved ones of the employee of AltairStrickland who was fatally injured early Wednesday morning, May 11, 2016," an Emcor Group spokesperson said in a printed statement May 12. "The safety and well being of our employees is a top priority at AltairStrickland," the statement says. "Following our comprehensive safety plans and procedures, we are fully cooperating with regulatory authorities as they carry out their investigation." Evidence collected by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office will be turned over to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which investigates workplace deaths, McLellan said. Reuters previously reported that ExxonMobil planned to shut down one of its crude oil units in April for a 90-day turnaround. During turnarounds, units are broken down and pieces are examined to see if repairs or upgrades are needed. Turnarounds consist of work outside the scope of day-to-day processes and require an influx of workers, making the workplace more hectic than normal, said Robert Hill, who worked at the ExxonMobil refinery for more than 39 years before his retirement. "It's not everyday work," Hill said. "People really need to be aware of what's going on in their surroundings." A 2013 flash fire during maintenance work at the ExxonMobil refinery injured 12; two later died from severe burns, according to previous Enterprise reporting. The fire erupted in a heat exchanger during a turnaround. ExxonMobil was one of three companies fined a combined $45,600 for safety violations leading up to the fire, according to OSHA. ExxonMobil's Burt Street refinery processes 365,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The company also operates chemicals, polyethylene and lube plants in Beaumont, employing 2,000 and more than 1,000 contract workers, according to corporate information. Wednesday's death was the second at local refineries in the past year. In September, Thomas Counts drowned in a scalding pit of wastewater at Total Petrochemicals' Port Arthur refinery when the bulldozer he was operating near a coke pit tipped over. Counts worked for the contractor Kinder Morgan. His widow filed suit against both companies. Counts was using a bulldozer because the overhead crane that normally tended to the work had been down for repairs for months, according to court filings. Kinder Morgan and Total were arguing about who was responsible to pay for repairing the machine, according to the suit. EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The parishioners of Beaumont's New Pilgrim Baptist Church say their top deacon rarely missed a Sunday service. Emerson Franklin, 76, always called the pastor and other deacons to let them know if he would be away. So when Brother Franklin, as they called him, was unaccounted for on June 17, 2012, they immediately worried. The only other place he could be was at Pleasant Green Baptist Church, where his brother J.C. Franklin serves as pastor, roughly seven miles north from New Pilgrim on Hillebrandt. No one had heard from him. Around 10 a.m., New Pilgrim Pastor Joseph A. Davis and Russell Hollands, a deacon and musician at the church, found Franklin dead at his home - bound and face down in a bathtub of water. Hollands fell to the floor, distraught. "I kind of lost it," said Hollands, who testified in court Tuesday that he was "very close" to Franklin. Davis helped Hollands gather himself and they went outside to phone the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. The front door to Franklin's trailer appeared to have been broken and his black Ford F-150 was missing from the driveway, Davis and Hollands said. Melvin Spikes III, now 42, is on trial this week for capital murder in Franklin's death. Spikes has pleaded not guilty. The two men had spent previous weeks painting a woman's home on Palestine Street in the city's South End. They worked for Charlie Jones, another deacon at New Pilgrim who paid them both Friday, the last day Franklin was seen alive. Franklin, a friend of Spikes' mother, drove them back and forth to the job site from the neighborhood near the church where he and Spikes lived. The kindness was typical for Franklin. "He would give you his heart," Davis said. Stolen truck Investigators at the scene learned that Franklin's truck had been abandoned near the railroad tracks at Harriot Street and Southern Pacific Road. Deputies made the 12-minute drive there from Franklin's home. They detained two men seen walking around the area but quickly ruled them out as suspects. Neither seemed to know anything about the F-150 or a trailer home on Hillebrandt. Detectives secured surveillance footage from a nearby business that showed the truck pulling up at L&P Market on Washington Boulevard Sunday at 10:26 a.m., around the same time church members and investigators were at Franklin's home searching for answers. In the video, a man matching Spikes' description entered the store and appeared at the counter inside the store, according to Tuesday's testimony. Less than an hour later, Franklin's truck was parked at Harriot and S.P. Road with the doors locked. Davis and Hollands both testified that Franklin only let others drive his pickup if he was also in it. Changing statements After police identified Spikes as a suspect, they found him at his mother's house, which is next door to New Pilgrim. Spikes initially seemed cooperative, freely riding with detectives to the police station for questioning, according to trial testimony. He gave a written statement and offered a mouth swab DNA sample, detectives testified. "He came and talked because he said he was concerned about Mr. Franklin, since he'd given him a ride to work for the past two weeks and was a friend of his mother's," said Sgt. Chad Colander, one of two detectives to question Spikes. But when he was confronted with a still photo from the L&P Market, his demeanor changed, as did his story, according to detectives. Spikes gave a new statement implicating someone else in the murder. Spikes' only role in the crime, according to his second statement, was finding a place to ditch the truck. "He said he had some things he needed to straighten out," said Tony McMillan, the sheriff's office criminal investigation division captain, who also questioned Spikes. Detectives interviewed the man Spikes implicated and found he had credible alibis. Spikes did not. Assistant District Attorney Luke Nichols, the lead prosecutor, said Franklin's murder was motivated by desperation for money. Spikes was with Jones when he paid Franklin. Mentor and friend Civilian witnesses who testified Tuesday describe Franklin as a mentor, friend and lover. Peggy Middleton, also a member at New Pilgrim, dated Franklin and last saw him the Friday morning before he went missing. He stopped by Middleton's South End home as they both headed to work for the day - Franklin for a home remodeling job and Middleton to the local hair salon where she worked. She expected to see Franklin that evening but figured he fell asleep after a long day at work. Franklin mentioned he was having issues with his cellphone. By Sunday morning, Middleton, who did not hear from Franklin on Saturday, was one of several concerned loved ones. She arrived at Franklin's house some time between Davis and Hollands discovering the body and deputies responding. Church members broke the news to her and wouldn't let her inside the house for fear of her reaction. Davis testified that Franklin had been at the church, a tight-knit congregation of about 175 members, when Davis took over as pastor in the mid-1990s. Franklin was the church treasurer in addition to his role as chairman of the deacon board. Jones said Franklin, who was even older than Middleton realized, took him "under his wing" as a carpenter. They worked closely for about five years, putting their heads together on projects. Spikes, an on-and-off churchgoer with his family, was hired several weeks before Franklin's death as "extra hands" for the job on Palestine. All three handymen attended vacation Bible school Friday night. "(Franklin) was one of the nicest people you'll ever meet," Jones said. The trial is expected to last through the week, Nichols said. If convicted, Spikes faces up to life in prison. It's a capital case because Spikes is accused of robbing and killing Franklin - another alleged felony in the commission of a murder. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty in this case. BScott@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/BrandonKScott A Houston social studies teacher faces a federal indictment on charges that he distributed, received and possessed child pornography. Officials arrested Jason Dion Johnson, 50, on Friday and he appeared before a magistrate Monday. He remains in custody pending a detention hearing Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy. (Story continues after the audio.) According to a news release from U.S. Attorney Ken Magidson for the Southern District of Texas, Johnson worked as a seventh grade social studies teacher at Beechnut Academy in Houston. The complaint says investigators found a number of videos and images showing prepubescent girls being sexually exploited, including hidden camera VHS footage of what appeared to be a changing area within a school. Officials do not think the footage was taken at Beechnut Academy. The school did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Columbus (Ohio) Eye Surgery Center was featured in Columbus CEO, a business magazine, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, according to an AmSurg report. Here are four notes: 1. Columbus Eye Surgery Center was opened in 1996 by three eye physicians. 2. The ASC offers a wide array of procedures, including Blepharoplasty, cataract surgery, trabeculectomy and corneal transplants. 3. Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care has accredited the facility. 4. The ASC includes 18 physicians. Charles Accurso, MD, medical director of the Digestive HealthCare Center and Central Jersey Ambulatory Surgery Center in Hillsborough, N.J., recently discussed his facility's experience with bundling payments for colonoscopies, according to an AIS Health report. Dr. Accurso spoke at the recent National Value-Based Payment and Pay for Performance Summit in San Francisco. Digestive HealthCare Center has signed two bundled payment contracts for colonoscopy, including a contract with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Here are six takeaways from Dr. Accurso: 1. Colonoscopies are relative easy to bundle because it is a very common procedure, the time frame for the procedure is easy to define and it's both diagnostic and therapeutic. 2. The Horizon agreement is a retrospective episode of care contract, whereas the other contract with a regional third-party administrator is prospective. Both feature evidence-based quality measures, including adenoma detection rate, cecal intubation rate and patient satisfaction. 3. The contracts achieved savings by providing the service at an ASC, which is more cost-efficient than inpatient or outpatient hospital settings. The center also standardized care to decrease variation across all contracts. 4. The first three years of the Horizon colonoscopy program has yielded a 97 percent patient satisfaction rate. Additionally, Digestive HealthCare Center has achieved shared savings every quarter since then. 5. According to Dr. Accurso, a retrospective model with fee-for-service and shared savings is easier to implement than the prospective model, unless the GI practice controls all the services. 6. Additionally, there are opportunities for bundling payments for other GI conditions, including chronic liver disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease. Hospitals across the nation face a myriad of challenges, such as underpayments from Medicare and Medicaid and, in certain markets, declining patient volumes. As hospitals weather these issues, what factors cause one hospital to close its doors while another continues operations unscathed? 1. Location. Most hospitals that have closed in recent years are in rural areas. Those in southern states have especially high rates of vulnerability to closure, such as Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia. A 2015 study commissioned by the Center for Mississippi Health Policy revealed 31 hospitals in the state are so financially challenged that they are at risk of closure because of either money-losing decisions made internally or unexpected external events they cannot control. Of the 31 hospitals at risk of closure, 20 are rural hospitals. The majority (63 percent) of hospitals vulnerable to closure are in states that have not expanded Medicaid. In Oklahoma, where Medicaid was not expanded, Sayre (Okla.) Memorial Hospital, a 31-bed nonprofit hospital, abruptly closed in February. Hospital officials said one of the main contributors to Sayre Memorial's closure was the state's decision not to expand Medicaid. However, a lack of Medicaid expansion wasn't the only reason Sayre Memorial was forced to shut down the local economy also had a negative effect on the hospital. Sayre Memorial officials said the closure of North Fork Correctional Facility in Sayre also contributed to the hospital's financial downturn. The city had helped keep Sayre Memorial afloat by making payments and funding payroll, but with the huge loss of city revenue due to the correctional facility shutdown, there was less money left to give. 2. Unexpected expenses. Hospitals operate on extremely tight margins, and unforeseen expenses leave some with no option but to close. For instance, plumbing problems pushed McNairy Regional Hospital in Selmer, Tenn., to shut down. Facility experts discovered significant plumbing problems at McNairy Regional, and the hospital needed to close for at least six months for the repairs. After considering the hospital's deteriorating patient volume and the cost of repairs, McNairy's parent organization, Knoxville, Tenn.-based Tennova Healthcare, decided to close the hospital permanently. The hospital's admissions had dropped nearly 70 percent between 2010 and 2015, and ER visits had also plummeted. "With the extensive repairs needed, disruption to operations and small number of patients using services, McNairy Regional Hospital is not sustainable," said Pamela Roberts, the hospital's CEO. Williamsburg Regional Hospital in Kingstree, S.C., was also forced to shut down due to unexpected expenses. The hospital experienced severe flooding in October 2015, which rendered the majority of the facility unusable. Although the facility ceased inpatient services, it still offers outpatient care. 3. Systemwide strategy. Sometimes a hospital closes because it is deemed the weakest link in its network. One of those hospitals was Southeast Health Center of Reynolds County in Ellington, Mo. In early February, SoutheastHEALTH in Cape Girardeau, Mo., announced plans to close Southeast Health Center of Reynolds County and its related clinics, and the hospital closed March 11. SoutheastHEALTH President and CEO Kenneth Bateman said closing the hospital was a difficult decision. However, he said the financial strength of the entire system would be compromised if it continued to absorb the hospital's losses. The system acquired Southeast Health Center of Reynolds County in 2013. In its three years of ownership, the system absorbed more than $17 million in operating losses. Saddleback Memorial San Clemente (Calif.) is slated to close May 31. This 73-bed community hospital is also dragging down the finances of its parent system Fountain Valley, Calif.-based MemorialCare Health System. Patient volume at Saddleback Memorial San Clemente has dropped dramatically, and many days there are less than 10 inpatients at the hospital, according to officials. Before deciding to shut down the facility, MemorialCare explored other strategies, but to no avail. In August 2014, MemorialCare announced plans to convert the hospital into an outpatient medical campus. The system worked with state lawmakers on legislation that would have allowed a satellite emergency department at the outpatient campus in San Clemente. However, the legislation failed in January. The following week, the San Clemente City Council voted to rezone the San Clemente campus property to require hospital services. "Without legislation to allow a satellite emergency department, and given this new restrictive rezoning that requires hospital services, the vision to convert the campus into a modern ambulatory care center cannot now be achieved," said hospital officials. In April, MemorialCare Health filed a lawsuit against the city of San Clemente, requesting potential damages of $42.5 million for losses associated with the planned closure of the hospital. In its suit, MemorialCare asks the court to repeal the zoning ordinance passed in January. MemorialCare claims when the system purchased the hospital in 2005, the city promised the facility could be altered to fit the healthcare needs of the community. More articles on healthcare finance: How CHS, Tenet, UHS, LifePoint and HCA fared in Q1 5 health systems with strong finances AHA weighs in on CMS' proposed drug payment model A long-fought battle over fair reimbursement rates for both in-network and out-of-network medical coverage has largely pitted payers against providers. Unfortunately, patients are often caught in the crosshairs, strapped with unanticipated healthcare bills that can have detrimental financial effects. The practice of balance billing refers to a physician's ability to bill patients for outstanding balances after the insurance company submits its portion of the bill. Out-of-network physicians, not bound by in-network rate agreements, have the ability to bill patients for the entire remaining balance. Balance billing may occur when a patient receives a bill for an episode of care previously believed to be in-network and therefore covered by the insurance company, or when an insurance company contributes less money than expected for a medical service. In recent years, the rise in out-of-network payer-provider reimbursement clashes have spawned a growing number of balance billing cases. Last October, Aetna discouraged members from seeking emergency medical care at in-network Allegheny Health Network hospitals in Pittsburgh after out-of-network emergency physicians began 'aggressively' balance billing policy holders. In a more drastic move, UnitedHealthcare announced last year the insurer would no longer cover medical bills for members who unknowingly received out-of-network treatment by physicians at in-network hospitals. Consumer advocacy groups and federal and state legislators are turning their attention to balance billing practices this year with renewed vigor, helping payers and providers find new ways to settle financial disagreements. Here are 30 things to know about balance billing. 1. Balance billing is on the rise nationally. In 2011, around 8 percent of privately insured individuals used out-of-network care, 40 percent of which resulted in unanticipated medical costs due to balance billing, reports Health Services Research. In 2015, a nationwide study from Consumers Union found nearly one third of privately insured Americans received an unanticipated bill when their health plan paid less than expected for medical services within the past two years. 2. Lack of provider, network transparency. The rise in balance billing is partially attributable to a lack of network transparency with patients. In many cases patients are unaware they have received out-of-network care until they receive a balance bill in the mail. Nearly 70 percent of individuals with unaffordable out-of-network medical bills did not know the healthcare provider was not in their plan's network at the time of care, according to a survey conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation and The New York Times. 3. Balance billing is a contributing factor to medical debt. The same KFF survey found among non-elderly insured adults struggling to pay their medical bills, charges from out-of-network providers were a contributing factor about one-third of the time. 4. Insurers are narrowing networks in an effort to reduce costs. As insurance companies narrow provider networks to keep premiums down, the number of patients who inadvertently received out-of-network care has jumped at hospitals, particularly with regard to contracted physicians. 5. Even though a hospital may be in-network, their ER physicians may not. A Health Services Research survey found that in 2011, about 68 percent of patients who had out-of-network care encounters said it happened during an episode of emergency care. These kinds of unanticipated medical bills arise when a hospital participates in different insurance networks than its subcontracted emergency physician group. Balance billing can also occur when a patient does not have access to in-network facilities in an emergency situation. 6. Emergency physicians feel forced out of network due to low reimbursement rates. A September 2015 survey by the AmericanCollege of Emergency Physicians found 20 percent of ER physicians reported contemplating or knowing of colleagues who opted out of insurance networks, 90 percent of whom said health plans weren't willing to negotiate reasonable market rates for services. 7. Insurance companies may choose which patients to cover, whereas hospitals cannot.Hospital emergency departments operate under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act. It requires hospitals to care for all patients in emergency care situations, regardless of his or her ability to pay. Insurance companies have the ability to decide which individuals to cover, as well as which physicians to bring into their network. As more insurance companies consolidate and narrow their network coverage of medical providers, they increase the likelihood patients may find themselves in out-of-network situations 8. About a quarter of U.S. states have laws that protect consumers from out-of-network medical bills incurred by emergency care. According to a study from Kaiser Family Foundation, 24 states have implemented laws that restrict providers from balance billing in emergency care situations, including California, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, among others. 9. Balance billing and contracted physicians. Hospitals contract with physician groups for a number of specialty positions besides emergency services. These can include anesthesiologists, pathologists and radiologists. In some cases, these physicians do not participate in the same network as the hospital, unbeknownst to the patient. When physician groups and insurers are unable to resolve reimbursement disputes, patients can be billed for the balance on out-of-network charges. In Texas, for example, the specialty services most likely to submit balance bills are anesthesiologists, lab services, surgery and radiology, reports the Texas Department of Insurance. 10. It's generally not a hospital requirement for physicians who work there to be in network. "We are sensitive to additional bills that patients may receive from affiliated physicians that practice at our hospitals," said Kimberly Johnson, director of communications for Brentwood, Tenn.-based TriStar Health, in USA Today. "We encourage those physicians to participate in the same insurance contracts in which our hospitals participate." 11. Balance billing complaints are up 1,000 percent in Texas. According to the Texas Department of Insurance, balance billing complaints rose from 112 in 2012 to 1,334 in 2015, an increase of 1,000 percent. 12. Surprise billing, or surprise coverage? Some Americans who have chosen health plans based on affordable premiums have found themselves unable to afford their high deductibles. Many times what a patient perceives as a surprise medical bill is simply the high deductible associated with low-priced premium, said Jay Kaplan, MD, president of the AmericanCollege of Emergency Physicians. In fact, nine in 10 emergency physicians said they believe health insurance companies are misleading patients by offering affordable premiums for policies that actually have very little health coverage, according to a recent ACEP survey. 13. Payer and providers break network ties over reimbursement rates. The news has been rife with payer-provider contract disputes over the past two years, largely centered on unfair reimbursement rates that shift financial responsibility onto patients and physicians. Last year, Carondelet Health Network in Tucson, Ariz., accused Blue Cross Blue Shield of offering untenable reimbursement rates. Community Health System in Munster, Ind., severed ties with Anthem BCBS earlier this year citing an inability to agree on fair and sustainable network costs, only to come to an agreement months later.As commercial payers continue to reduce reimbursement levels, to the point of not covering operating costs, "health insurance companies are driving physicians out-of-network," said Dr. Kaplan. 14. Payers are reducing reimbursements to out-of-network providers. Some disgruntled payers, upset by providers' extraordinary out-of-network rates, have continued to lower the amount they pay for out-of-network services heaping more financial obligation onto patients. Last year, health insurance giant UnitedHealthcare said it would scale back how much it pays out-of-network physicians who practice at in-network hospitals, accusing physicians of demanding excessively high reimbursement levels, according to Kaiser Health News. 15. Payers have sued providers for 'excessive' reimbursement rates. Some payers that have accused provider groups of charging outlandish rates for medical services have taken legal action. Aetna, for instance, sued a half dozen out-of-network physicians in the past few years, alleging gross over charging for medical services. Aetna has also sued free-standing ERs for excessive facility fees. In 2014, Aetna filed suit against two Houston-area ERs in federal court, alleging the clinics committed fraud by forming misleading ties with hospitals in order to charge excessive facility fees to patients. 16. Patients are taking hospitals to court over balance billing practices. As an increasing number of patients face balance bills, many are questioning the legality and fairness of hospital balance billing practices. In a recent lawsuit brought by Martinsville (Va.) Memorial Hospital against a patient, a judge ordered the hospital accept 25 percent of its chargemaster rate as payment-in-full for emergency care provided to a patient with an out-of-network insurance. The patient's lawyer argued this payment was sufficient because the hospital accepts 25 percent of prices specified in its chargemaster as payment-in-full for services to uninsured patients. 17. Air ambulance billing disputes, complaints on the rise. In rural areas of the U.S. the high price for life-saving air ambulance flights has grabbed media attention as rural residents, faced with excessive balance billing, have turned to state and federal auditors for intervention. Those in rural areas often must rely on air ambulance flights in life-or-death situations in lieu of feasible ground transportation. Reimbursement rate disputes between payers and medical air transport companies have strapped patients with devastating medical bills. For example, when Amy Thomson's newborn daughter was in heart failure, Ms. Thomson had to use an air ambulance service in rural Montana for transport to a more capable facility. At the time her insurance company, PacificSource, did not have an in-network air ambulance company near her family, reports Montana Public Radio. Ms. Thomson received a $43,000 balance bill from Airlift Northwest after PacificSource contributed a policy cap of $13,000. 18. Provider-based billing practices. Consumers have been increasingly vocal about surprise medical bills derived from provider-based billing practices. Provider-based billing allows a healthcare organization to bill patients for physician care in addition to a service charge for the patient's use of hospital facilities and equipment. In some cases, a patient may be responsible for the service bill if their insurance declines to pay or if the patient has a high deductible health plan. Large hospitals like Cleveland Clinic have faced increased scrutiny for provider-based billing practices. After paying a $30 copayment for in-network care with a Cleveland Clinic chiropractor, Julie Beinhardt reported receiving a balance bill of $3,000 for provider-based service fees her insurance plan refused to cover. 19. President Barack Obama signed legislation against provider-based billing. Last year, President Obama signed legislation outlawing provider-based billing at off-campus outpatient facilities. The legislation does not apply to existing outpatient centers that already engage in the practice, however. 20. The president's 2017 budget proposal includes a provision to eliminate surprise medical bills. Although details are minimal, the president's 2017 budget proposal includes a provision to eliminate balance billing privately insured patients. The administration would address the issue by requiring physicians who regularly provide services in hospitals to accept in-network rates for service reimbursement, even if they aren't in the insurer's network. 21. More states are proposing independent dispute resolution between payers and providers in balance billing cases. Independent dispute resolution establishes a legal space in which providers and health insurers can settle disagreements regarding balance billing without involving the patient. The states of Illinois and New York have arbitration methods in place, and Washington and Pennsylvania are currently considering a similar resolution method. 22. New York has some of the strongest consumer protection laws. Under New York law, consumers are generally protected from owing more than their in-network copayment, coinsurance or deductible on bills they receive for out-of-network emergency services. Patients can complete an assignment of benefits form that absolves them of financial responsibility and allows the provider to pursue payment from the health plan in balance billing disputes. 23. Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill banning surprise medical charges. The governor signed HB 221, which put new limits on balance billing. Under the bill, consumers cannot be charged more than the equivalent of in-network charges in emergencies and at other times where the patient has no real choice such as an out-of-network anesthesiologist for a scheduled procedure at an in-network hospital, according to a Palm Beach Post report. The bill exempts ambulance services. 24. Washington State Rep. Eileen Cody (D-Seattle) sponsored a bill to prevent balance billing in 2017. Under HB 2447, if patients receive emergency care from their health plan's approved hospital, they would pay only the expected charges, according to a statement from Washington Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. Also, any disputes over contracts or out-of-network fees would be worked out between the insurer and the medical provider or facility. 25. The extent of balance billing in Washington is a source of debate. The Consumer's Union estimates about one out of three Washingtonians with private insurance received a surprise medical bill in the past two years. However, the Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians says it leaves less than 1 percent of ER patients with a bill that is more than $250, according to a KING report. 26. Lawmakers, consumer advocates and healthcare professionals are part of an ongoing discussion in California on how to curb balance billing. Under legislation recently reintroduced by California Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), consumers who go to an in-network facility but are treated by an out-of-network provider would only be charged what they would have been charged if the provider participated in their plan, according to The Wall Street Journal. Physicians who thought they were underpaid would have the option of appeal. The California Medical Association has come out in opposition to Assemblyman Bonta's bill, and is working on a plan of its own with a different approach to the problem, according to a California Healthline report. Overall, the association wants a plan that puts more of the financial onus on insurers and provides physicians with a better deal, the report states. 27. Lawmakers in North Dakota and Montana are taking on air ambulance balance billing. The lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the federal Airline Deregulation Act aimed at protecting consumers from high balance bills after receiving air ambulance services, reports Inforum. Passed in 1978, the Airline Deregulation Act was intended to encourage competition in air passenger services by allowing customers to choose based on ticket prices, routes and schedules. The amendment would allow states to create a call list hospitals and emergency responders would use to summon air ambulances. The list would designate which transport services accept insurance payments in full for air services and which companies bill patients for the outstanding balance. 28. The "End Surprise Billing Act". Federal lawmakers are making moves to outlaw balance billing nationally. Co-sponsored by 25 lawmakers, the End Surprise Billing Act would protect patients from balance billing who went to in-network facilities for emergency services, reports Consumerist. In non-emergency cases, the legislation would require providers to notify patients within 24 hours if an out-of-network specialist will be involved in an episode of care. 29. Consumers don't know how to navigate the legal waters. According to a Consumer Union report, 57 percent of patients who encountered balance billing from contracted physicians within the last two years paid in full because they didn't know their rights to fight the bills. An overwhelming majority (87 percent) did not know which agency or department in their state government is tasked with handling complaints about health insurance. "So many times, people just give up [in surprise billing disputes]," Elisabeth Benjamin, vice president of health initiatives with Community Service Society of New York, told NPR. 30. The New York Times dedicated a series to consumer encounters with surprise healthcare bills. Elisabeth Rosenthal's series in The New York Times entitled Paying Til it Hurts examined the personal and financial implications of excessive, unexpected medical costs on Americans, their families and their healthcare consumption. Ms. Rosenthal's installments often feature individuals with unaffordable balance bills like Peter Drier, who was served a $117,000 balance bill for an out-of-network physician's assistant he never knew was present during surgery. The following data breaches were reported on Becker's Hospital Review within the past month. 1. Some patients at Cincinnati-based Mayfield Brain & Spine clinic received emails containing malware after an unauthorized person accessed the provider's account through an outside vendor. Read more 2. The Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services is notifying patients that it inadvertently disclosed protected health information of approximately 59,000 individuals after sending survey invitations on postcards instead of closed envelopes. Read more 3. A cyber attacker accessed the tax information of 2,800 employees of Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, Calif., after launching a successful phishing attack that exposed the 2015 W-2 forms of all hospital employees. Read more 4. A chiropractor's office in Berkeley, Calif., is notifying 600 patients of potential data breach after burglars stole a laptop and backup hard drive containing patient information. Read more 5. The American Dental Association is notifying members after learning it may have inadvertently sent them malware-infected USB flash drives. Read more 6. Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente reported a potential data breach after a mail truck carrying mail containing protected health information of 2,400 members was stolen. Read more 7. Two Wyoming Medical Center employees fell victim to email phishing schemes, compromising the information of 3,184 patients. Read more 8. Oneida (Wis.) Health Center reported a data breach after a flash drive containing details of patients' dental information was stolen. The flash drives contained protected health information of 2,700 patients. Read more 9. Pain Treatment Centers of America suffered a data breach after a hacker accessed patient records through a PTCOA third party vendor. Read more 10. On March 22, CVS Pharmacy learned that a laptop containing health information of patients from a Calera, Ala., location was stolen from a vendor site in Indianapolis and notified patients of a potential data breach. Read more 11. The American College of Cardiology notified 1,400 institutions some patient data may have been compromised after the data was inadvertently made available to a third party vendor. Read more 12. OptumRx, a prescription medicine delivery service offered through UnitedHealthcare plans, reported the theft of a vendor employee's laptop containing an unknown number of customer records. Read more 13. The Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County is notifying the public of an unauthorized disclosure and potential use of protected health information affecting more than 1,000 individuals. Read more More articles on health IT: St. Charles Health System's Epic implementation creates 100 jobs 4 recent vendor contracts, go-lives Phishing attack compromises tax information of 2,800 Saint Agnes Medical Center employees The top three vendors hospitals use to attest to the meaningful use program are Cerner, MEDITECH and Epic, according to March 2015 ONC data. Here are 29 hospitals and health systems that posted job listings seeking EHR and IT expertise for these platforms in the past two weeks. Note: This is not an exhaustive list. Job listings were compiled from online job seeker websites. Cerner 1. Mercy Hospital & Medical Center (Chicago): Seeks an application analyst 2. St. Josephs/Candler (Savannah, Ga.): Seeks a clinical informaticist 3. Seattle Children's: Seeks a manager of clinical applications 4. CHI St. Vincent Infirmary (Little Rock, Ark.): Seeks a support analyst for clinical informatics 5. NorthBay Medical Center (Fairfield, Calif.): Seeks a resource specialist 6. Yavapai Regional Medical Center (Prescott, Ariz.): Seeks a coding specialist 7. Adventist Health System (Altamonte Springs, Fla.): Seeks an information security application analyst MEDITECH 1. Summit Medical Center (Hermitage, Tenn.): Seeks a senior clinical analyst 2. CHRISTUS Health (Irving, Texas): Seeks a health informatics divisional director 3. Meadville (Pa.) MedicalCenter: Seeks a systems support analyst 4. Mount Sinai Hospital (Chicago): Seeks an accounting coordinator 5. Edward-Elmhurst (Ill.) Healthcare: Seeks an automation coordinator of pharmacy services 6. Boulder (Colo.) Community Hospital: Seeks a systems analyst 7. Berkshire MedicalCenter (Pittsfield, Mass.): Seeks a clinical analyst 8. Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital Plymouth (Mass.): Seeks a patient access representative 9. Mary Rutan Hospital (Bellefontaine, Ohio): Seeks a revenue cycle analyst Epic 1. Greenville (S.C.) Health System: Seeks an analyst 2. BJC HealthCare (St. Louis): Seeks an information systems clinical coordinator 3. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles): Seeks a clinical workflow optimization specialist 4. Loyola University Medical Center (Maywood, Ill.): Seeks a clinical applications specialist 5. Harris Health System (Houston): Seeks a clinical systems analyst 6. Baylor Scott & White Health (Dallas): Seeks an application analyst 7. Denver Health: Seeks an analyst of data systems 8. MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston): Seeks a clinical informatics specialist 9. Carilion Clinic (Roanoke, Va.): Seeks an application analyst 10. Seattle Children's: Seeks an interpreter services scheduler 11. Henry Ford Health System (Detroit): Seeks a senior application analyst 12. NYU Langone Medical Center: Seeks a principal trainer 13. MetroHealth (Cleveland): Seeks a systems analyst More articles on EHRs: Can EHRs adequately measure care quality for adolescents? 3 study findings Just 2 in 10 consumers use EHR data to make medical decisions 24% of physicians say their EHRs can't accommodate end-of-life planning The financially ailing Washington, D.C.-based Howard University Hospital plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce by June 30 as part of a restructuring plan, according to Washington Business Journal. Neither union nor nonunion employees will be spared from the layoffs, which will also effect those in management roles, according to the report. Officials did not provide the Washington Business Journal with comment on severance pay. The job cuts are part of a strategic turnaround plan developed by El Segundo, Calif.-based Paladin Healthcare Capital, which the hospital hired in late 2014, shortly before recording a $58 million loss for the fiscal year. By fiscal year 2015, the hospital narrowed losses to $19 million, according to the report. So far for the first eight months of fiscal 2016 the hospital's losses total $10 million, according to the report. The job cuts will help better align the ratio of staff to patients as Paladin continues to work on reducing losses and growing revenue, according to the report. More articles on leadership and management: Carolinas HealthCare System's new CEO is already 'out of the office' NYC Health + Hospitals fights back against allegations in NY Post Clinton floats plan to let people ages 50 & up voluntarily 'buy in' to Medicare: 5 things to know Memphis, Tenn.-based Resurrection Health, a faith-based health system that launched in December 2014, is merging with Knoxville, Tenn.-based Cherokee Health Systems, effective in June, according to The Memphis Daily News. Cherokee Health Systems has the largest network of community health centers in Tennessee and is also one of the largest federally qualified health centers in the U.S., according to the report. The merger with Cherokee will allow Resurrection to expand its reach into West Tennessee. Cherokee's status as a federally qualified health center also lends funding stability to Resurrection upon merging. Resurrection has a staff of 57 healthcare practitioners. It has been working to build up its primary care safety net in Memphis from its start, according to the report. Through its residency program, Resurrection Family Medicine, the health system has focused on recruiting, training and retaining premier physicians. Burlington-based University of Vermont Health Network has expanded its reach in New York by adding Malone, N.Y.-based Alice Hyde Medical Center as its third hospital in the state. UVM Health Network and Alice Hyde have been clinically affiliated since 1997. Looking to expand their relationship, the two organizations began partnership talks in April 2015. After several months of due diligence work, UVM Health Network and Alice Hyde entered a definitive agreement in October 2015, and the deal subsequently received approval by various New York State agencies. As an affiliate of UVM Health Network, Alice Hyde will have significantly greater purchasing and negotiating power, as well as access to more capital resources. "Joining The University of Vermont Health Network is the next logical step in the development of our relationship with our regional partners to bring high quality care close to home," said Douglas F. DiVello, president and CEO of Alice Hyde. With the transaction complete, Alice Hyde's name has been changed to University of Vermont Health Network Alice Hyde Medical Center. More articles on healthcare industry transactions: Allina Health to merge 2 hospitals Louisiana hospital looks to Texas management firm for financial stability 9 recent hospital transactions and partnerships An Iowa woman now faces a charge of child endangerment after she gave birth in a University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics bathroom, attempted to flush her newborn down the toilet and later abandoned it alive in a trashcan, according to a Quad City Times report. Hospital employees found the baby in the trash "shortly after delivery" on Sunday, a university spokesman told the QC Times. It is unclear if the woman was a patient at the hospital during the incident, according to the report. She did not know she was pregnant prior to giving birth and believed the baby was stillborn because it was not crying, the QC Times reported. Officers confronted the woman, who admitted to placing the child in the trash. She was arrested and faces child endangerment charges, which could come with two years in prison. Iowa has a "safe haven" law, allowing people to leave a newborn (up to 14 days old) at a hospital or healthcare facility without punishment. The number of organ donors who died of fatal drug overdoses has spiked in recent years, according to the Chicago Tribune. The coinciding of the rising death toll of drug-related deaths and an increase in the organ donor population is "a silver lining to what is absolutely tragic," Alexandra Glazier, president of the New England Organ Bank, told U.S. News & World Report. According to Organ Procurement and Transplant Network data, 848 organ donors died of drug intoxication in 2015, the Chicago Tribune reported. Organ donors overall increased by 5 percent from 2014 to 2015. "The increase in donors in the past year is pretty substantial and not really anticipated," said David Klassen, MD, CMO of the United Network for Organ Sharing. "A significant part of it can be explained by the drug overdoses as contributing to it, but not all of it. There's a lot of effort in the transplant community to increase donation and awareness of seeking every last donor and try[ing] to be as efficient as possible." Now, one of 11 organ donors has died of a drug overdose, government data found. Since 2000, the rate of drug overdose deaths has increased by 137 percent, according to the CDC. Abuse of prescription pain relievers and heroin has driven much of the increases, the Chicago Tribune reported. "It's a horrible situation," Dr. Klassen told the Chicago Tribune. "But the transplant donation is a way of potentially salvaging some good out of an awful situation." The increase in organ transplants from drug overdose victims has raised safety questions among some, but organs from drug users have been deemed acceptable for decades, according to the report. Such donors are categorized as "high-risk" because of their behavioral history. Recipients must give specific consent to receive transplants from high-risk donors, U.S. Public Health Service guidelines stipulate. Organ donors go are screened for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. In addition to these tests, high-risk donors are subject to additional scrutiny. "Truthfully, people who are dying of drug overdoses are young and tend to be otherwise healthy," Dr. Klassen said, according to the report. "In many ways, they are ... potentially excellent donors, from an organ quality standpoint." While long-term drug use can impact cardiac function or the kidneys, "those medical factors are assessed very carefully," Dr. Klassen added. The Michigan Health & Hospital Association's Keystone Center, a nonprofit, certified patient safety organization, has partnered with Sepsis Alliance to create the Michigan Sepsis Challenge Series awareness campaign. Through the campaign, MHA Keystone Center and Sepsis Alliance will work with hospitals, nurses and other medical professionals to host Stomp Out Sepsis 5K walks, runs and other events throughout the state. The activities aim to raise the public's awareness of sepsis which kills 258,000 Americans annually as well as unite healthcare providers to promote sepsis education and raise funds for sepsis awareness programs. "Sepsis has a dramatic impact on thousands of Michigan residents, and we are thrilled to be working with Sepsis Alliance to raise sepsis awareness among the public in Michigan," said Phyllis McLellan, MHA Keystone Center's director of performance improvement. "We hope we can save lives by raising awareness through the Michigan Stomp Out Sepsis events." The current yellow fever epidemic that has claimed hundreds of lives in Africa could exhaust vaccine supplies and catalyze a global health emergency, according to a viewpoint authored by two experts and published in JAMA. The yellow fever outbreak in Angola began in December 2015. As of April 26, there have been 2,023 suspected cases and 258 deaths related to the epidemic. China, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya have also reported travel-related cases of yellow fever. Initial symptoms of yellow fever include fever, chills, severe headache, back pain, general body aches, nausea and vomiting. Though the majority of those infected experience no illness or only mild illness, approximately 15 percent of cases progress into a more serious form of the disease. Of those that develop more severe illness, 20 to 50 percent may die. Licensed, live attenuated yellow fever vaccination provides 90 percent of people lifelong protection from the virus. More than 7 million Angolans have been vaccinated, and the Democratic Republic of Congo announced plans on May 2 to vaccinate 2 million people. However, the vaccine supply is limited, partially due to need for specific pathogen-free chicken eggs for production. In the JAMA viewpoint, Daniel Lucey, MD, and Lawrence O. Gostin from the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., argue that the yellow fever vaccine supply should be safeguarded. The experts suggest dosage levels should be reduced to one-fifth, though they acknowledge the duration of efficacy and level of immunity provided by such dosage levels are unknown. The experts also state that production efforts should be ramped up and that research into non-egg vaccines should be conducted. The World Health Organization serves as the secretariat for the International Coordinating Group. The ICG oversees yellow fever vaccine provisions. In their article, Dr. Lucey and Mr. Gostin urge the WHO to implement a new structural response to international health threats for fast proliferating viruses like yellow fever. "Prior delays by the WHO in convening emergency committees for the Ebola virus, and possibly the ongoing Zika epidemic, cost lives and should not be repeated. Acting proactively to address the evolving yellow fever epidemic is imperative," wrote the authors. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is responsible for the spread of yellow fever in Angola the same pest responsible for the current Zika outbreak affecting the Americas. More articles on infection control: CDC labs secretly sanctioned for mishandling bioterror germs Opinion: 5 reasons Zika should delay the Olympics Michigan hospitals, Sepsis Alliance launch statewide sepsis awareness campaign The Senate Finance Committee released a new report on physician-owned distributorships, focusing on spine surgeons. Here are five key notes: 1. The report said PODs "present an inherent conflict of interest that can put the physician's medical judgment at odds with the patient's best interests." 2. The POD surgeons saw 24 percent more patients than non-POD surgeons. In absolute numbers, POD surgeons performed fusion surgery on nearly twice as many patients 91 percent more than the non-POD surgeons, according to the report. POD surgeons performed a much higher rate 44 percent higher than non-POD surgeons as a percentage of patients seen. 3. Recommendations outlined in the report include: A federal law requiring physicians to disclose ownership or family member ownership in private device companies to hospitals and patients Federal agencies to boost enforcement actions CMS and OIG examination of current guidance on PODs The recommendations were noted in a Wall Street Journal report. 4. HHS OIG reports and the Senate Finance Committee analyses suggest POD physicians overutilize spinal implants, according to the report, and overutilization could result in higher costs for the healthcare system and Medicare. The report states, "While surgeons may contend that they replace such hardware for purely medical reasons, they would receive payout from installing the POD hardware. Our concerns about medically unnecessary services are especially acute in the case of seniors who, due to their age, are less physically capable of withstanding the rigors of complex, invasive spine surgery." 5. Their report notes a lack of transparency in the POD industry and questions whether PODs comply with financial disclosure requirements. The report indicated anecdotal evidence shows some PODs are working to obfuscate financial relationships with physicians to avoid CMS and hospital reporting requirements. Boston-based Harvard Medical School researchers analyzed the connection between physician payments and higher rates of brand-name drug prescribing, according to ProPublica. JAMA Internal Medicine published the study. Here are five points: 1. The study found industry payments to Massachusetts physicians correlated with higher brand-name drug prescriptions for high cholesterol. 2. A physician's brand-name statin prescribing rate increased 0.1 percent for every $1,000 in industry payment. 3. Brand-name statins exceed generics cost by two to four times. 4. The researchers clarified many factors impact the brand-name prescribing rates, and they are not suggesting a causal relationship. 5. The study authors hope the results will push for reduced industry influence. To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below Credit Suisse confirmed it started the year with a quarterly loss for the first time since 2008 after suffering "some of the most difficult markets on record". The Swiss banking giant reported a loss of 484m Swiss francs (344m) for the first quarter, against pre-tax profits of 1.5bn Swiss francs (1.1bn) a year earlier after client activity "drastically reduced" during market turmoil in early 2016. It marked the bank's worst first-quarter performance since the height of the financial crisis and comes as it leads a major restructuring to slash costs, including axing around 6,000 jobs. Tidjane Thiam, chief executive of Credit Suisse, said there had been "tentative signs of a pick-up" in March and April, but warned that trading would remain tough. He said: "In the first quarter of 2016 and particularly in January and February, we operated in some of the most difficult markets on record, with volumes and client activity drastically reduced. "Subdued market conditions and low levels of client activity are likely to persist in the second quarter of 2016 and possibly beyond." He said the company's priorities were to progress with cutting costs and headcount, deliver strong growth in wealth management divisions and keep a strong capital position. "We have been able to make good progress in all of these areas against an extremely challenging market backdrop," he said. Credit Suisse shares bounced back by nearly 6% despite the first quarter blow as the losses were smaller than feared, while the bank has already said that reorganisation costs were expected to push it into a loss for the first quarter. Mr Thiam joined in July last year from insurer Prudential and has been spearheading a revamp to cut costs and refocus the group on private banking and away from investment banking. The bank said it was making "good progress" on its overhaul, accelerating job cuts with more than half - 3,500 - of the roles already gone. It has cut more than 1,000 jobs in its global markets business since late March alone and said more than half of its 2016 target to cut annual costs by 1.4bn Swiss francs (1bn) was made in the first quarter. Credit Suisse revealed in February that it slumped to a full-year pre-tax loss of 2.4bn Swiss francs (1.7bn) - its first annual loss since 2008. Passenger numbers on EasyJet's Belfast to Paris route fell by 2% after the recent terror attacks, the airline said as it recorded a 24m half-year loss. Despite the decline, pre-booked Northern Ireland business and leisure passengers continued to visit the French capital after IS unleashed a wave of shootings and suicide bombings last November. However, the airline admitted that the atrocity did impact last-minute bookings for travellers in the short-term. UK director Sophie Dekkers told the Belfast Telegraph that the slight dip on the Paris flights was not "significant as it (the airline) still carried over 36,000 passengers" on the route over the full year. A 16% passenger increase on the Belfast to Reykjavik route and its London routes helped to offset the decline over the six months to the end of March, the UK director added. Ms Dekkers said the airline was "quite pleased with its results" overall and that its Northern Ireland traffic continued to increase by 13.7% over the last half year. She also dismissed any potential threat from the return of Ryanair to Belfast with its new International Airport base. Michael O'Leary's no-frills airline is already running flights to Gatwick and will bring on the bulk of its 11 routes in the autumn. "Ryanair is only replacing capacity that came out of the Aer Lingus withdrawal (from Belfast International)," said Ms Dekkers. "We are not ignoring it, but we are not too concerned as we have competed against them before in the market. "We have grown 16% on the London to Belfast routes over the last six months. We have three times as many flights to London than Ryanair has and the best choice of airport and the best slot times. Let's see what Ryanair actually does, as opposed to what they are claiming they will do." The low-cost carrier's loss for the half-year contrasted with a 7m profit recorded over the same period during 2015. It said that a 33m foreign exchange rate change mainly impacted on the airline's bottom line and that revenue was down by 2.7% per seat in the wake of the deadly Paris attacks. Reduced revenues - which were down 1.3% over the period - were down to the suspension of flights to the popular Egyptian tourist destination of Sharm el-Sheikh, following the Russian airliner disaster in October last year. EasyJet runs 85% of the flight capacity at the International Airport and has 64% of the total Northern Ireland flight travel. It bases five aircraft at the International Airport and employs 230 staff locally. The company is not alone in reporting a slow start to the year as airlines often register a loss in the traditionally weaker winter period. Its 7m profit a year ago was rare for a first-half result. The airline said lower fuel costs brought costs down significantly in the first half, but added this was offset by the impact of the terror attacks. It also noted it had seen its "best ever" ski season and offered some cheer to holidaymaker as air fares would remain low over the summer, having fallen by 6% in the first half. Extradition proceedings against businessman Vijay Mallya will begin once official charges are filed against him, it was announced The Indian government will ask Britain to extradite business tycoon Vijay Mallya to face charges of money laundering and bank demands that he pay back more than a billion dollars in loans. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday that India would begin extradition proceedings once official charges were filed against the businessman. He added that the UK could not deport Mr Mallya immediately because he entered the country on a valid passport in March, though India revoked it a month later. India's Enforcement Directorate is gathering evidence as part of its investigation into the tycoon's debts, totalling 977 million, linked to Mr Mallya's now defunct airline Kingfisher. Mr Mallya sold off his drinks firm United Spirits to Diageo in 2013 in order to prop up the airline, which went bust shortly after. Deputy first minister Martin McGuinness and the then First Minister Peter Robinson praised the company during a visit in 2010 A Northern Ireland company which made systems to help evacuations from buildings during emergencies has been wound up. Lightstep Limited, which was based in Dunmurry, was acclaimed for its technology when it was officially launched in 2003. But the firm was wound up late last month by the High Court after a petition was presented by Danske Bank, trading as Northern Bank Ltd. According to its last-filed accounts for the year ending March 31, 2015, Lightstep Limited had bank loans and overdrafts of 269,205 secured by a floating charge. A sister company, Lightstep Technologies, was wound up by the High Court in 2013 following a request from the Department of Finance and Personnel (DFP). Lighhtstep developed a lighting guidance system for floors and stairways and obtained funding for research and development from Invest NI. Then-First Minister Peter Robinson visited the company's premises with Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in 2010. Mr Robinson praised the company as "an internationally-focused business, which has significant export potential in markets including the USA and Middle East". The company was led by Co Armagh man Kieran Patterson. Sword play: Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III and Luke Treadaway as Richmond do battle in The Hollow Crown: War Of The Roses Battle scenes, brutal training and the chance to work with Dame Judi Dench ... signing up for The Hollow Crown was a no-brainer for Benedict Cumberbatch. The actor talks to Keeley Bolger about the punishing prosthetics and medieval social taboos. Benedict Cumberbatch goes topless in his next role, but in a rather unexpected way. Playing Richard III in BBC One's concluding trilogy of Shakespeare's histories, The Hollow Crown: War Of The Roses, the 39-year-old had to undergo quite the transformation to embody a king who has scoliosis and a hunchback. "In the opening shots, we have the character topless, so you can see every detail of the curvature of his spine," explains Cumberbatch, who became a father last summer, welcoming a baby son, reportedly called Christopher Carlton, with his wife Sophie Hunter, who he married last February after a 17-year friendship. "It took me three to four hours to put on the prosthetics. The weight of the silicone is incredible. It's painted to match the skin tone and it looks distressingly real," adds the London-born actor. Unlike Mark Rylance and Laurence Olivier before him, the Sherlock star doesn't don a regal dark bob for the role, keeping his own lighter locks. But appearances were vital when it came to playing the last Yorkist King of England. "Physicality has always been at the centre of playing Richard III," explains Cumberbatch, who was nominated for a Bafta for his performance in 2014's The Imitation Game. "He is very clearly described as being a hunchback with disproportionate legs. His physicality is there in the play and the script, in his own analysis and in other people's name-calling. It is unavoidable." The trilogy (comprised of Henry VI Part I & II and Richard III) sees Richard III fight his way to the throne and, as director Dominic Cooke notes, details "the story of two men, an overly empathetic man called Henry VI and an overly villainous Richard III". It's a star-studded cast. Alongside Cumberbatch, there's Dame Judi Dench as Richard's mother, the Duchess of York, as well as Hugh Bonneville, Sophie Okonedo, Tom Sturridge, Keeley Hawes and Phoebe Fox. Clearly, he relished the role. "His arc is hugely brilliant," Cumberbatch says of his character. "He gives a speech about how he's going to go and kill the king, Henry, and how this ties into his feelings about himself as a disabled man. I think that humanises him. "As an actor, you have to flesh out your character. You can't pantomime with the daggers and the looks, because that gets really dull." It's unlikely, though, that Cumberbatch's fierce legion of fans (who famously named themselves the 'Cumberbitches') will tire of him any day soon. Dubbed the "thinking woman's crumpet" the talented star attracts female admirers to his performances. The only child of two actor parents, Timothy Carlton and Wanda Ventham, he studied drama at Manchester University and soon started landing roles, coming to international prominence after gaining the titular lead in BBC One's twisting drama Sherlock, alongside Martin Freeman. Other notable credits on his CV include War Horse, The Hobbit, The Fifth Estate, Star Trek Into The Darkness and August: Osage County. And while most of us are used to seeing him on television, even while at Harrow School he was a member of The Rattigan Society, the school's principal club for the dramatic arts. Here he made his acting debut as Titania, Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream when he was 12. His appearance was lauded by his drama teacher, Martin Tyrell who described him as "the best schoolboy actor" he had ever worked with. The Hollow Crown, then, is a bit of a change from his big screen roles - and one Cumberbatch was glad to sink his teeth into. While often seen as a bloodthirsty villain - a fair appraisal given that in the play, Richard kills his nephews to become king - the actor has his own theories on the monarch. "In medieval England, if you were not born perfect, you were often drowned at birth," he says. "It was a terrible social taboo. In Shakespeare's story, Richard is fostered at a distance from the Kennedy-like family of perfect specimens. There's very little care for him. "His deep-seated anger and hurt leads to his ambition and everything we know of him." The opportunity to work with Dench, who he asked to be part of the production, was also a highlight. "It took Judi Dench a matter of days to film her scenes playing my mother, but to get someone of that ilk to do that on stage would be tricky, if not nigh on impossible," says Cumberbatch, who is currently filming the fourth series of Sherlock. Another joy of the series was getting stuck into the battle scenes. "We were carrying around weapons of steel and aluminium, which were props but could still do a great deal of damage," he recalls with a laugh. "We were fighting in fields and 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." Next up for the star is Flying Horse, a biography of pioneer photographer Eadweard Muybridge, and fantasy-adventure Doctor Strange, but right now, he's relishing being part of The Hollow Crown. "There's such humour in moments where Richard relishes his plans," he enthuses. "He's an anti-hero because he lures us in. He's very funny, hopefully. We don't necessarily side with him, but we revel in his villainy. "I also don't want to burden Freudian analysis onto him, and make him more understandable. I don't want to say, 'Oh, he's just a victim of this cruel world, what other choice did he have?' "Of course he had choices," Cumberbatch adds. "He very clearly makes the wrong ones, and suffers the ultimate downfall for that." His English charm has translated in his favour, too, with American audiences naming him as one of the '50 Coolest and Most Creative Entertainers' in Hollywood whilst also making an appearance on The Hollywood Reporter's 'New A-list' issue. And he regularly uses his fame to promote and raise awareness for charities, as well as being a strong patron of the arts. Among other issues he has identified himself as a feminist after signing Amnesty International's letter to Prime Minister David Cameron for International Women's Day in 2014, calling for women's rights in Afghanistan. The actor's approach to the characters he portrays are influenced by notable life events, such as the gap year he took after leaving Harrow. He volunteered as an English teacher at a Tibetan monastery in Darjeeling, India and to this day subscribes to a Buddhist philosophy. While in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 2005 he and two friends were abducted overnight and held at gunpoint by local guerillas. While they were eventually released unharmed, the incident changed Cumberbatch forever. He said: "It taught me that you come into this world as you leave it, on your own. "It's made me want to live a life less ordinary." The Hollow Crown: War Of The Roses continues on BBC Two on Saturday at 9pm Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp thanked the London policemen who once arrested him as he arrived in the capital at the premiere of his latest film. Depp, 52, prompted screams from the crowd as he walked on to the red carpet for the screening of Alice Through the Looking Glass at the Odeon in Leicester Square. He appeared without his wife Amber Heard, 30, but said he was grateful to her for "putting up with him". He said: "I think everybody has a sense of themselves, we are all living our lives together and living closely with someone. "I know I wouldn't be considered normal, I suppose, so I thank her for that. I thank my mum for that, I thank my father for that, for putting up with me. "I also thank the London policemen when I was arrested here, they were very nice and gave me a cup of tea." Depp was arrested in London in 1999 after a scuffle with photographers outside a restaurant and was later cautioned. His wife Heard recently avoided jail in Australia after pleading guilty to providing a false immigration document amid allegations she smuggled the couple's dogs Pistol and Boo into the country. The pair went on to record a bizarre video in which they apologised and spoke about how important it is to protect Australia's biodiversity. In his new film, Depp returns to the role of the Mad Hatter after the huge success of Alice In Wonderland, which was directed by Tim Burton in 2010. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and Sherlock star Andrew Scott join the all-star cast for the second outing, which was directed by James Bobin. Depp said: "It was a lot of fun to come back to the Mad Hatter, it was a gas to get back together with the cast and the addition of Sacha upped the stakes quite a lot. This particular film has a bit more of the Hatter's layers and things going on." He added: "The first film was something very special in terms of Tim and I working together again. Bringing in James was brilliant because he has such a profound respect for the language that Tim created and stretched it into his own vision." Cohen was joined by his wife Isla Fisher for his red carpet outing and joked about working with Depp saying: "We would do a few hours on the acting and then an hour of plotting how to get dogs in and out of countries so it became exhausting and really the film was secondary. In the end he was shipping about 300 dogs a day in and out of England." Australian actress Mia Wasikowska resumes her role as Alice, who explores her feeling about the passage of time in the film. Dressed in a blue custom Prada gown, she said: "The message in the film is really nice, that the best way to deal with time is to accept what happened in the past and not try and change it and move on freely into the future." Alice Through The Looking Glass is released in UK cinemas on May 27. New beginning: Rylan Clark-Neal will be hosting his own chat show on Channel 5 this month If there's one person in showbiz who should have their own stage, it's Rylan Clark-Neal. With his perfectly coiffed quiff and Hollywood-white smile, the reality TV star-turned-prime-time-presenter certainly ticks the boxes when it comes to showbiz; but it's the 27-year-old's infectious charisma that has seen his star rise to new heights. His latest gig, a brand new Channel 5 show called Up Late With Rylan, is a turning point for the Essex-born personality - and it's fair to say he's happy about it. "I can't wait to get started and show you how much fun we're all going to have together," he says frantically. And while Up Late With Rylan is being dubbed the UK's answer to America's The Late Late Show ("I'm very flattered; I just wish we had their budget"), the irreverent host won't be troubling James Corden for tips any time soon. "He's a bit busy, isn't he? I'll do my thing," he says. Though the new series will possess all the glitz and glamour usually associated with the chat show genre, Clark-Neal is confident there will be no comparisons. "It's not just a chat show and it's not just a music show," he reasons. "We've got celebrity guests, fun and games and live music performances. It's going to be the new place to go late at night." Airing throughout May, with four shows Monday to Thursday and a best-bits round-up each Friday, it's a fun stint. "Come on, I'm the ultimate love bird. We've got our own dating game that we're calling Bank or Bin; it's sort of like a real-life Tinder," he reveals. "I'm dreading it." Now a seasoned presenter with regular high-profile gigs on This Morning and Big Brother, Clark-Neal is accustomed to the pressure of live TV - in fact, he prefers it. "With live, if I muck anything up, I like it, because I'm normal. I'm not one of these, 'Oh I'm a presenter and I'm really professional'. I'm lucky to be doing it." Clark-Neal has come a long way since his 2012 X Factor days (he was a contestant and finished fifth). "If you look at it on paper, I'm an X Factor reject. I should have been over and done with years ago," he reflects. "It's more what you say no to than what you say yes to. I could break both my legs tomorrow and not be able to work again, so I'll do it now while I can." And it doesn't look like there'll be much time for respite in 2016, with lots of top secret changes surrounding Big Brother in the pipeline (though he did let slip "It's a brand new job this year for me") and a cameo in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie. With such a busy schedule, the performer confesses to struggling with the life-work balance, but he divulges the one rule he always sticks to. "I do like my private life - I like shutting off," admits the host, who last November married former Big Brother star Dan Neal. "I go home to Essex every single night. I lived in hotels for two years when I left X Factor. I was in a different city every day. "I always go home every night, even if it means I have to get up really early, drive to Manchester and do a job for five minutes, and drive back and get home at midnight." But his non-stop lifestyle comes at a cost, with Clark-Neal recently opening up about his own struggles during a This Morning interview with Coronation Street's Beverley Callard, discussing her battle with depression. "I think everyone, in their life, has known someone or gone through a time themselves where they've not felt right, and I couldn't help but say to Beverley, 'I totally understand'. "I wasn't saying 'I'm depressed'. What I'm saying is, 'I totally get that', and I respected her for saying it," he adds. "But this job is hard," he affirms. "I never understood why, growing up, these Hollywood stars would take drugs and kill themselves. "You look at life differently. You've always got to pay a price, and I learnt that quick." Up Late With Rylan continues tonight and tomorrow, 11pm, Channel 5 I was born in 1949 in Belfast, at 35 Northumberland Street. The little terraced house has long gone, but the street is still there. It runs between the Shankill Road and the Falls Road. Memories remain of the great summer holidays I and my older brother, John, had as kids down at Robson's farm near Doagh: herding in cows for milking, mucking out pig byres, picking potatoes ... back-breaking work, but great fun. Other days were spent 'up the road' in Woodvale Park. Like most kids with over-active imaginations, encouraged by regular celluloid adventures at the local cinemas - The Stadium or Wee Joe's - our favourite game was cowboys and indians, ambushing each other in the bushes. Those Wild West games always ended with a competition to see who could die best - that is, who could die the loudest. One lasting memory was the occasion on which John took me to the Falls Baths. John thought nothing of jumping off the balcony into the deep end of the pool. This wild flight into six feet of chlorinated and kid-infested water was usually accompanied by a firmly-held nose and a scream of 'Geronimo!' for added effect. A mad leap that usually guaranteed that ill-fitting swimwear would end up around John's ankles or drifting somewhere across the surface of the pool. This was a time - in the late-1950s and early-1960s - when Protestant kids from the Shankill Road thought nothing of learning to swim on the Catholic Falls Road. Magical shared memories that accompanied John and I into adulthood. As much as I try to hold onto these memories, some recollections are fading with age and others have been deliberately erased, callously ambushed and wiped away by men with an insatiable appetite for evil - to be replaced by a choking shroud of grief and despair. The day I learnt of John's murder changed things forever. John, an RUC officer, was off-duty when he was shot dead by the IRA while looking after the ice-cream parlour I ran on the Lisburn Road. I and my young family were on holiday in Spain at the time. My wife, Sadie, and I weren't looking for luxury; just a quick week away, anywhere with a bit of sun and some fun for the kids. We really needed a break from the hassle of work after an intense few months spent getting the ice-cream parlour, Barnam's, ready for business. The three months since we opened had been even more hectic, so a week away was just what we all needed. It wasn't summertime - this was October - but maybe, we hoped, the sun would still be shining in Spain. "Sure, doesn't the sun always shine in Spain?" our cheery travel expert had reassured us. Maybe her comment wasn't so much a confirmation of the weather we could expect, but more a question of her own that she didn't really know the answer to. We arrived at our destination late in the evening of Friday, October 7, 1988. It was dark, but our first impressions seemed okay. The next morning, we awoke with some excitement. However, we soon realised that it wasn't as cold as Belfast - it was bloody colder. And our travel expert's idea of 'a short walk' didn't match the half-hour trek we had to make to get to the nearest beach. Fortunately, though, the kids loved the pool at the hotel, despite the lack of heat. So, we did our best to enjoy the trip and make the most of our well-earned holiday. Lying reading a book on the inappropriately named 'sun loungers', as our young daughters splashed away to their hearts' content, seemed idyllic compared to the daily hassle we would be facing back in Belfast, with hordes of snotty-nosed kids pestering us in Barnam's. It was mid-morning on Wednesday, October 12. We were making our way to the stairs to go up to our rooms, inspecting ourselves in the oversized mirror in reception to see how our tans were coming along. They weren't. Our colouring was more of a healthy, all-over flush from the short dips we had managed to brave in the unheated pool. Suddenly, I heard someone call out my name. "Hola! Mr Lamar. Message please!" The man at reception was waving a piece of paper at me. "Fone home soonest" was scrawled across the piece of paper. The receptionist sensed my confusion. "You," he pointed at me. He put his fist to his ear. "Phone". "I have to phone home?" I asked. "Si," he replied. He looked pleased he had managed to impart this important message, but concerned about what it might mean. I knew exactly what it meant. I have no idea how, but at that precise moment, I knew my brother was dead. From the hotel reception, I telephoned my mum back in Belfast. The phone rang just twice before I heard my sister's voice. "Mummy, it's George" I heard her say as she passed the phone to my mother. "Are you coming home, son?" mum asked me at once. I didn't need to ask, but I did anyway. "What's happened?" "The IRA shot John last night." I didn't need to ask where, but I did anyway. "In the parlour, in Barnam's," she said, her voice beginning to crack. Although again I knew the answer, I asked the question anyway. "Is he dead?" "He is, son. Are you coming home?" "Yes, I'll be home as soon as I can. Anyone else hurt?" I asked. "Yes - two customers." "Are they okay?" "I think so." "Right, mum, I have to go, but I'll get home soon." "Please do, son. Please do." I put the phone down. My wife stood staring at me as she held our young daughters' hands. She had worked out enough from the one-sided telephone conversation to know that something was seriously wrong. "What's happened? Has your dad crashed the car?" Sadie asked at once. We had left our car behind for my father to use while we were away. Sadie had already said it might be too big for him to drive. "No, it's not dad. It's John. The IRA shot him in Barnam's last night. He's dead." I reached to grab her as I saw her slump back against the wall and her legs start to buckle. Her scream is something I will never forget. It seemed to go on forever in the stillness of the hotel lobby. The guy on reception just stared at me. The look of recognition on his face said it all. I contacted the local travel courier and hurriedly got us packed to go home. Our five-year-old was still asking why we couldn't go back to the pool when the car arrived to take us to the airport. The innocence of childhood. There were no flights leaving for Belfast that day. We managed, however, to get seats on a flight to Heathrow, with a connecting flight from Gatwick to Belfast, courtesy of British Airways - a 1,200 dent in my credit card. As the plane taxied to its allotted runway, the cabin crew handed out free UK newspapers. There was no escaping the claustrophobic wave of grief that rolled over us, as we watched row upon row of untanned tourists scan the front page headlines and turn the pages to read inside the detailed news reports on my brother's murder. According to these articles, at the request of the RUC back in Belfast, Interpol was frantically searching Spain for the murdered officer's brother, who was holidaying there with his family. They had been asked to locate me and notify me of John's murder and arrange for our immediate return home. I never did get a call from an Interpol agent. Sadly, the world's largest international police organisation, presumably with access to border passport control intelligence, proved woefully inept at finding an ordinary family of four soaking up the rain in Spain. Hopefully, they're having more success with some of the names on their Most Wanted list. When we finally arrived at Heathrow, we were tired and, even with a hectic dash, it looked as if we were going to miss our connecting Gatwick flight to Belfast. Somehow, however, British Airways ground staff were now aware of our arrival and a very pleasant and caring lady had us whisked across to Gatwick and straight onto the plane. Inevitably, when we saw them, my mum and dad looked utterly distraught, overcome with unbearable heartache. They were glad I was home, but nothing I said could ease their sorrow. I went to the funeral parlour and stood close to my big brother. I felt very lonely. Jake Brooks, Emma Patterson and Ally Millar from Macosquin Primary School help SS Nomadics Siobhan McCartney launch its search for a Petit Patisserie Chef. If your child is the Icing on the Cake or the Creme de la Creme when it comes to baking, visit www.titanicbelfast.com for a chance to win a school trip to SS Nomadic. Picture by Brian Morrison. Jake Brooks and Ally Millar from Macosquin Primary School launch SS Nomadics search for a Petit Patisserie Chef! If your child is the Icing on the Cake or the Creme de la Creme when it comes to baking, visit www.titanicbelfast.com for a chance to win a school trip to SS Nomadic. Picture by Brian Morrison. Could your child give Mary Berry a run for her money when it comes to baking? If so, the SS Nomadic needs your help.May 31st marks the very day that the SS Nomadic left Belfast 105 years ago. And to celebrate the anniversary it is looking for a Petit Patisserie Chef (aged between 8 -12 years old) to design a cake that showcases Nomadics exciting and turbulent past to be in with a chance to win a trip on-board with their class. Originally, over 100,000 people gathered in Belfast, from as far as America, to mark the occasion when it alongside, its sister ship Traffic and RMS Olympic left Belfast and RMS Titanic was launched. Last year, it was reunited with Titanic Belfast and this year it is fully open for school groups. SS Nomadic now offers guided tours and two workshops for Key Stage 2 pupils, New Beginnings which focuses on European emigration in the early 20th century and Get the Message, which allows pupils to explore and experiment with different methods of communication, including those used on the SS Nomadic and Titanic. These workshops are part of Titanic Belfasts learning programme and has welcomed more than 100,000 participants since its opening in 2012. What does it need to inlude? To win a guided tour of SS Nomadic and one of the workshops on-board for their primary school class, the cake top design must celebrate the vessel as an authentic piece of Belfasts industrial maritime history, from its launch 105 years ago, with a career spanning from serving Titanic, WW1 and WW11, to tendering celebrities such as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to its role today as a visitor attraction and a learning facility. The prize also includes 250 towards transport for the class. How do I enter? Parts of Belfast resemble the Wild West after dissidents killed two men in gun attacks and injured several others in under a month, police sources have claimed. Officers have warned they expect further bloodshed following the murder of suspected west Belfast drug dealer Daniel Murray on Monday night. It is understood that the 55-year-old father, who was known to police and had a lengthy criminal record, was targeted by dissident republicans who accused him of being heavily involved in drug dealing, including heroin. He is also believed to have refused to pay them an increased 'tax' that would have allowed him to keep dealing in the area. Delivery driver Mr Murray, who was targeted twice previously in gun attacks, was lured to an address at Lady Street in the Divis area of west Belfast, near the Grosvenor Road, with a bogus food order then ambushed in his car. His partner, Ciara Austin, the mother of his youngest child, denied he was involved in drugs and branded his killers cowards. The murder follows a surge in dissident republican shootings across Belfast in recent weeks. On the same night Mr Murray was killed, a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old youth were injured in shootings in the north of the city. And less than four weeks ago, taxi driver Michael McGibbon died following a botched punishment shooting in an alleyway in Ardoyne. It is believed that the victim, who was not known to police, may have been targeted because dissidents claimed he had "made an unfavourable comment" to one of their daughters. On Friday, Scott McHugh, who police freed without charge following the killing of Provisional IRA leader Gerard 'Jock' Davison, was left fighting for his life after being shot in the head in west Belfast. PSNI Superintendent John Roberts insisted yesterday there was no "gang culture" in the area. "It is not the case that criminals can run wild with guns in the city of Belfast," he said. However, officers on the ground warned that the situation was beginning to spiral out of control. "There are parts of Belfast beginning to resemble the Wild West with dissident republicans running around shooting people at will - there is clearly a problem," one officer told this newspaper. Another added: "I hate to say it, but I'm not very confident in our ability to keep people safe in parts of the city these days. I'm fully expecting more blood to be shed." Alliance MLA Stewart Dickson warned that a "culture of violence" was rapidly developing in the city. "Three shootings in the space of 24 hours gives the impression of a growing cycle of violence in Belfast, whether any connection exists or not between them," he said. "The thugs behind them need taken off our streets immediately." UUP Policing Board member Ross Hussey insisted it was clear "that our society is still blighted by groups who wish to impose their will on communities through both the threat of and use of violence". And SDLP West Belfast MLA Alex Attwood supported claims there was a pattern of violence, including murder, in the area. "The few seek to impose their will over the heads of the people," he said. "This threat needs to be assessed and addressed at policing and political levels." Members of Sinn Fein met with the police yesterday to discuss the spate of shootings. North Belfast MLA Gerry Kelly said: "The community has rejected those behind these attacks at public demonstrations and at the ballot box, and they want them to end. "We are also calling on anyone with any information about these attacks to bring it forward to the PSNI." In a joint statement, First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said the shootings were "barbaric and wrong". UKIP claims that the army would need to be deployed along the Irish border if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union have been dismissed by other Leave campaigners. Opponents in the Remain camp have accused Vote Leave of being split wide open on the issue of the Irish border. Last weekend David McNarry, Ukip's outspoken leader in Northern Ireland, said soldiers would need to patrol the border to maintain security in the event of a 'Brexit'. "I support patrols, active patrols. We need to have the army asserting our sovereignty," the former MLA said. "It's a hell of a job to ask anybody to do, but if you leave it then it's wide open for migration, for the clever traffickers, for the criminals." But Lee Reynolds, the Northern Ireland co-ordinator of the Leave campaign, told the BBC Radio Talkback programme: "I believe David is mistaken. I believe the systems (which) already exist and can exist whenever we vote leave will manage the issue of immigration." Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers - who is backing the Leave campaign - has said there would be no need for such border controls. "We had a common travel area with Ireland before we joined the EU and we will have one after we vote to leave," she has said. The former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, another senior figure in the Vote Leave campaign, said the border should remain "absolutely unchanged". "There's been a free travel area between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland for, I think, getting on for 100 years," he said. "There's no reason at all why that should cease to be the case." A spokesman for NI Stronger in Europe said: "When will the Leave campaign agree on this fundamentally important question, affecting tourism, trade, security and social cohesion in Northern Ireland?" The Christian owners of a bakery who refused to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage message directly discriminated against their customer, a lawyer for the Equality Commission said. Directors at the Ashers Baking Company in Belfast have insisted they did not know what the sexual orientation of the gay rights campaigner was when declining his order. The McArthur family, who run Ashers, are seeking to overturn a court judgment which found they acted unlawfully by rejecting the order placed by LGBT activist Gareth Lee in 2014 based on their religious conviction that the slogan was sinful. Commission lawyer Robin Allen QC said: "Mr Lee wanted to be associated with the class of person who have same sex orientation by purchasing this cake. "He was not allowed to do that by the defendants. "They would have allowed him to be associated with persons of opposite sex orientation by, for instance, letting him have a cake which did not have the word gay on it." He said it was very easy to say the case involving a 36.50 cake was entirely trivial but the legal profession recognised its gravity. "If you are gay you have lived in a world of prejudice for a very long time and you want to be able to engage with the world without it mattering a hoot what your sexual orientation is." He said the McArthur family personally objected to the idea of civil marriage between same sex partners. "They were objecting to the use of a particular sexual orientation in that message and that is what made it direct discrimination, because of that objection." Ashers' owners were ordered to pay 500 damages after a county court judge ruled they directly discriminated against Mr Lee in refusing to make him a cake featuring Sesame Street puppets Bert and Ernie with the phrase Support Gay Marriage for a private function marking International Day Against Homophobia two years ago. Mr Lee, a member of the LGBT advocacy group Queer Space, paid the 36.50 in full at Ashers' Belfast city centre branch, but received a phone call two days later and was told the company could not fulfil his order. David Scoffield QC represented the McArthur family at Belfast's Court of Appeal and said the person who took the order had no idea what Mr Lee's sexual orientation was and had never heard of Queer Space. He said the alleged discrimination was not against Mr Lee, it was against the message, but the law only covered harm caused to an individual. Mr Allen said conscience had to be accepted at face value by the court but its application risked making the law defunct. He said: "If you do it for evangelical Free Presbyterians saying they cannot supply goods you have to do it for all the other 148 accepted religious beliefs in Northern Ireland and then some." Mr Allen added: "At that point the prohibition on discrimination on sexual orientation becomes a dead letter. The prohibition on discrimination...on political opinions becomes a dead letter." Ashers, a name with biblical connotations, has six branches in Northern Ireland. A protest rally against recent violence held at the shopping complex on the Grosvenor Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 11, 2016 Belfast , Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) A protest rally against recent violence held at the shopping complex on the Grosvenor Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 11, 2016 Belfast , Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Fra McCann at a protest rally against recent violence held at the shopping complex on the Grosvenor Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 11, 2016 Belfast , Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) A protest rally against recent violence held at the shopping complex on the Grosvenor Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 11, 2016 Belfast , Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) A protest rally against the recent violence in Northern Ireland has been held at the shopping complex on the Grosvenor Road in Belfast. The protest at 7.30pm on Wednesday was prompted by Monday night's murder of Dan Murray just several hundred yards away in Lady Street. Dan Murray, a 55-year-old father of six, was shot in the head when he drove into the Lady Street area of west Belfast on Monday night. Mr Murray, who was known to police and had survived a previous murder bid, had been dispatched in his black Ford Focus to deliver food to a house in the street. The rally was addressed by local elected representatives and community leaders. Chairperson of the rally Conor Campbell said: "It is important that the community publicly displays its resilience in the face of these attacks and demonstrates its refusal to accept the rule of armed gangs across the city." One of the speakers addressing the protest, Gemma Weir from north Belfast, appealed for a united community response and called on the incoming Minister for Justice to establish a forum comprised of community groups, community representatives, elected representatives, statutory and voluntary organisations including the PSNI and the Department of Justice. Expand Close Gemma Weir at A protest rally against recent murders, attempted murders and maimings was be held at the shopping complex on the Grosvenor Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 11, 2016 Belfast , Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) Kevin Scott / Presseye / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gemma Weir at A protest rally against recent murders, attempted murders and maimings was be held at the shopping complex on the Grosvenor Road at 7.30pm on Wednesday May 11, 2016 Belfast , Northern Ireland ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye ) It is hoped the forum would act as a united front against armed gangs and as a coordinator of anti-violence initiatives. British security service MI5 has upgraded the threat level from dissident republicans to mainland Great Britain from "moderate" to "severe" meaning an attack is a "strong possibility". Westminster Home Secretary Theresa May informed the House of Commons that security service MI5 believes a Northern Ireland-related terror attack on Great Britain has increased. Home Secretary Theresa May said the level, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales, "reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity". The threat level in Northern Ireland remains at severe, meaning an attack is "highly likely". Theresa May, in a House of Commons written statement, said: "The Security Service, MI5, has increased the threat level to Great Britain from Northern Ireland-related terrorism from moderate to substantial. "This means that a terrorist attack is a strong possibility and reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity. "As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place. "The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains unchanged at severe, which means that an attack is highly likely. The threat level to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland-related terrorism also remains unchanged at severe. "The public should remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police." The most recent dissident republican attack in Northern Ireland was the murder of Prison Officer Adrian Ismay. A dissident republican group calling itself the new IRA claimed responsibility for the attack. Mr Ismay initially survived a booby trap bomb attack on his van on Friday March 4 in east Belfast but died eleven days later. The 52-year-old married father of three had only driven a short distance from his home when the device detonated as he went over a speed ramp. Read more Read More Previous attacks by dissidents in England Thursday, 1 June 2000: Dissidents are blamed after a device exploded under Hammersmith Bridge in west London. Wednesday 19 July 2000: Police deal with a bomb near Ealing Broadway Tube station in London. Friday, 20 September 2000: Dissident republicans launch a rocket-propelled grenade attack on the London HQ of MI6. Sunday, 4 March 2001: A device explodes in a red taxi parked outside the BBC News Centre in west London. Saturday, 14 April 2001: A bomb at a Post Office delivery depot at Hendon in north London explodes. There were no injuries. Thursday, 2 August 2001: A bomb attack targets Ealing Broadway in west London. A number of people are injured. Saturday, 3 November 2001: Explosion in a car in Birmingham. REACTION DUP Parliamentary spokesman on Home Affairs Gavin Robinson MP said the announcement was a "bleak reminder of evil". "Whilst the callous murder of Adrian Ismay illustrated starkly the continuing threat in Northern Ireland, this reassessment provides a bleak reminder of evil in our midst. "We know that nothing will be achieved through terrorism, yet with no purpose, principal or plan, there remain those intent on death and destruction. "They will not win. Our resolve remains with those in the security services who keep us safe in Northern Ireland and across the Country each and every day. Ulster Unionist Fermanagh & South Tyrone MP, Tom Elliott said: "We have seen in recent times the lethal threat still posed by terrorists operating in Northern Ireland and it is concerning to learn that the UK Government is now raising the threat level on the mainland from moderate to substantial. "I will be seeking swift clarification from the Government on the reasons for the threat level for Northern Ireland-related terrorism in Britain being raised to substantial. This is not a decision the security services or Government will have taken lightly. People need to know which organisations are now posing an increasing threat to the security of the United Kingdom and what level of co-operation there is between these groups. Irish Republican terrorists have murdered and created destruction for years. We dont want any more of these actions, it is time people were allowed to get on with their lives. "These people need to get the message that they are not supported by the law abiding majority here or anywhere in the United Kingdom. We have the fortune of living in a time of relative peace but we know that there are still people out there who have the blood lust to murder and injure members of our society. Todays raising of the threat level is a reminder of the need for vigilance." The family of a man who died in police custody have welcomed a decision to prosecute two people in connection with his death. David McGowan passed away after being arrested in May 2014. Yesterday, it emerged that a PSNI sergeant and a former civilian detention officer will be charged with gross negligence manslaughter. It is the first prosecution arising out of a recommendation by the Police Ombudsman in its 13-year history. The PSNI said the officer has been suspended from duty while the second person is no longer working in the service. Mr McGowan's uncle, Leonard McClure, told the Belfast Telegraph: "We don't hold any bitterness or a grudge against the PSNI - all we want is justice. We just want the truth to come out and for justice to prevail." Mr McGowan (28), from Lisburn, was arrested over an incident in east Belfast involving his girlfriend and another man. He died in the custody suite. A Police Ombudsman investigation resulted in the case being referred to the Public Prosecution Service. A PPS spokesperson said: "A decision has been taken to prosecute a police officer and a former civilian detention officer in relation to the death of a man in police custody. "These charges relate to the death of Mr David McGowan while in custody at Lisburn police station on May 30, 2014 and follow an investigation by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland, Dr Michael Maguire. "After careful consideration of all the available evidence in the case, it has been decided to prosecute two men, one of whom is a police sergeant and the other was a civilian detention officer, for the offences of gross negligence manslaughter and misconduct in public office." Mr McClure said the death has had a devastating impact on his mother, Elizabeth, and the wider family: "His mother has suffered the most. It has been very, very difficult for her. "I watched David grow up from a baby. He lived within a couple of doors of me. We are a very close family. "Today just brings it all back - not that it has ever gone away - but today has been very difficult." Richard Gilmore, a solicitor for Mr McGowan's family, welcomed the PPS announcement, adding: "This has been a deeply traumatic two years for David's family, particularly his mother Elizabeth, but this announcement will go some way in helping them to come to terms with David's death. "Although the family welcome the decision, they are still cautious, as they recognise it will take some time to reach the final conclusion; however, we are all quietly confident justice will prevail." PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark Hamilton said police would continue to co-operate with the PPS. He added: "This is a tragedy for David's family and we offer them our ongoing sympathy and condolences. "I recognise this is another difficult day for them. The PPS have now made a direction in relation to this case and we will continue to co-operate with them over the coming months. I can confirm that one police officer has been suspended from duty in respect of these matters. A second person who was employed by our managed service provider is no longer working in the PSNI." The Leader of the House of Commons has rejected claims the Government's controversial English votes for English Laws (EVEL) handed a huge propaganda coup those seeking to break up the UK. Chris Grayling said the "entirely sensible" move was designed to deal with resentment felt by English voters towards other parts of the UK. He told MPs on the Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee: "I have seen no evidence at all that this issue has played any part at all in any of the recent elections in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. So, I don't think I have handed a propaganda coup at all. "I see no evidence at all that this has made any difference on the ground at all to the politics of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland." Under EVEL, it is up to the Speaker of the House to decide if a piece of legislation relates solely to England or to England and Wales to give the relevant MPs the opportunity to vote. It has provoked fury, particularly from SNP MPs, who say that EVEL effectively creates two classes of public representative at Westminster. East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson accused the Government of "playing to the right" and trying to "assuage" those they feared would turn to Ukip. The Democratic Unionist added: "Y ou handed a massive propaganda coup to the SNP and those who wanted to break up this Union." There was further opposition from Independent MP Lady Sylvia Hermon who said it was "very depressing" there were no plans to abolish EVEL. SDLP MP Alasdair McDonnell raised concerns about the impact EVEL would have on the Barnett Formula - the mechanism used to allocate public funding to the regions. "Vulnerable regions like Northern Ireland might end up more vulnerable," he said. Mr Grayling also told the committee he felt EVEL respected the constitutional settlement contained in the 1998 Good Friday Peace Accord which ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. "I think it was absolutely faithful to the principles of devolution to accept the principle of a devolved United Kingdom but in order to strengthen the Union," he said. "It is my view that in order to strengthen the Union; in order to ensure that we hold together the United Kingdom it would be immensely unwise to have a situation where English voters were frustrated by the Union. "Therefore offering a degree of protection; a degree of devolution to the English which goes no further than saying 'you have the right to say no to having something imposed upon you that you don't want' doesn't actually create an English parliament (and) doesn't exclude Northern Irish MPs voting on English matters. "It seems to me to be a very sensible balance of addressing the frustrations of English voters without undermining the strength of the Union." The Conservative MP later added that the whole of the UK had been affected by the Troubles and had a vested interest in maintaining the peace process. The memorial plaque to Bobby Sands in Rosslea, with Seamus McElwains photo above it A makeshift shrine to IRA killer Seamus McElwain is causing a chilling effect in a Fermanagh village, an MP has said. McElwain - who tried to murder First Minister Arlene Foster's father, John Kelly, when she was a child - was killed by the SAS 30 years ago as he attempted to ambush an army patrol. Two weeks ago, more than 200 republicans attended a Sinn Fein-organised event in McElwain's memory at a plaque in Rosslea dedicated to IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. Since then a photograph and an Irish flag have been added to the plaque, turning it into a makeshift memorial to McElwain, who was convicted of murdering a policeman and soldier in 1980. Ulster Unionist MP Tom Elliott said local people were being terrorised again by the imagery. "Once again we see members of the Rosslea community confronted by the scourge of terrorist supporters who merely seek to remind the area of the bloody past of their comrades," he said. "It is disgraceful that this small group of pariahs choose to invest their energies into efforts aimed at dividing the people of Rosslea by provoking them with republican imagery and flags on a wall paid for by public village regeneration funding. "We have seen previous attempts to stir up immense feelings of hurt and anger on this particular wall as republicans erected a plaque honouring IRA man Bobby Sands. "Rosslea and the surrounding areas suffered for years at the hands of monstrous men such as Seamus McElwain and do not need to feel that level of fear again." Mr Elliott has also queried whether public money was used to fund the plaque to Sands. Some 66,000 was spent in Rosslea as part of the council's environmental improvement scheme to enhance the area, which included improved paving, new flowerbeds and seating. The plaque was originally erected in 2006 in memory of Sands who was elected Fermanagh South Tyrone MP in 1981 while on hunger strike in the Maze prison. He died a month later. The refurbishment of the privately-owned village square at the junction of Main Street and Church Street has included the building of a new wall, where the plaque has been erected. However, Fermanagh and Omagh Council said it is not funding the plaque. "The council carried out an environmental improvement scheme in Rosslea during which a plaque to Bobby Sands was removed," a spokeswoman said. "Following the completion of the environmental improvement scheme, this plaque was re-instated on a wall, but this was not funded or part-funded by the council. "The council has not adopted the part of the scheme where the plaque is erected." Mrs Foster blasted the memorial event for McElwain last month. She said: "McElwain was killed by the SAS as he was going out to take innocent life. Had he not escaped from the Maze prison he would not have been in contact with the SAS. "He was an evil man responsible for the murder of many border Protestants. Celebrating the life of McElwain sends a mixed signal to dissidents today. Murder was always wrong, no matter if it was 2016 or 1976." Christian bakers sued for refusing to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan face being forced to express a political opinion in conflict with their faith, Northern Ireland's top law officer has argued. Attorney General John Larkin QC told senior judges the McArthur family should have constitutional protection for turning down a customer's order based on their religious beliefs. Mr Larkin has intervened to back the owners of Ashers' bakery in their bid to overturn a ruling that they acted unlawfully. Last year Belfast County Court held that the firm discriminated against Gareth Lee on grounds of sexual orientation and religious belief or political opinion. In a landmark case, the Co Antrim-based company was ordered to pay the gay rights activist 500 in damages. Mr Lee had requested a cake depicting Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie below the motto 'Support Gay Marriage' for an event to mark International Day Against Homophobia. Bosses at the bakery, run by the McArthurs, refunded his money for the order placed at its Belfast city centre shop in May 2014 because the message went against their Christian faith. Although the family insist their problem was with the cake and not the customer, Mr Lee claimed he was left feeling like a lesser person. In a case he brought with backing from the Equality Commission, the County Court held that business was not above the law. Ashers is challenging the verdict, with its legal team insisting it was wrong to force it to choose between operating a business or adhering to its faith. The Court of Appeal was told the family believed it would have been sinful to bake a cake with the gay marriage message. Mr Larkin has now stepped in to examine sexual orientations regulations at the centre of proceedings, and whether they directly discriminate against those who hold religious beliefs or political opinions. On day two of the appeal hearing he said: "There are very large questions about the role of conscience in all sorts of business." A panel of three judges led by Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan were told the dispute centred on expression. "I say very clearly, if it was a case where Mr Lee had been refused some of Ashers' excellent chocolate eclairs because he way gay or perceived to be gay, I would be standing on the other side of the court," the Attorney General said. "But it's not about that, it's about expression and whether it's lawful under Northern Ireland constitutional law for Ashers to be forced... to articulate or express or say a political message which is at variance with their political views and in particular their religious views." In written arguments which formed part of his case, he questioned whether the Fair Employment and Treatment (NI) Order 1998 would compel Ashers to put the words 'There is no God' or 'Christianity is a lie' on a cake. According to the Attorney General, the right to decline to express a view inconsistent with religious belief is protected under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Robin Allen QC, for Mr Lee, noted the cake order was refused 10 days after the Assembly had again voted against introducing same-sex marriage. He told the court the case was indisputably about political opinion. The barrister contended: "The single core point which divides an act which would be favourable to an individual from the act which occurred - it's one word, the word 'gay'. "Take that out (and leave) 'Support marriage' or 'Support Christianity' or 'Support opposite sex marriage'... all of those things would have led to a different course of conduct." The appeal continues today. by alan erwin Injuries Dan Murray sustained in a previous murder attempt when he was shot in the face Nurdered takeaway driver Dan Murray with his partner Ciara Austin at the birth of their son Podraig (now 2) The partner of the man shot dead by dissident republicans in west Belfast on Monday has angrily denied claims "the love of her life" was a drug dealer. Ciara Austin, who called the killers "cowards", also spoke of the revulsion she felt after realising that she had spoken to one of Dan Murray's murderers on the telephone just minutes before he was shot dead. She and Mr Murray worked together in a Chinese restaurant on the Falls Road, and she took an order from a man who lured the 54-year-old takeaway driver to his death outside a house on Lady Street in the Divis area. Mr Murray, who was shot in the head as he arrived in his black Ford Focus car, had been targeted twice in recent years by dissident republicans, but he went on television and gave newspaper interviews last year to publicly reject allegations that he was involved in drugs. Ms Austin, who has the name 'Dan' tattooed on her foot, echoed his denials last night to the Belfast Telegraph, saying: "Dan was not a drug dealer. He was never convicted of any drug dealing. He was never investigated for supplying drugs." The PSNI said Mr Murray was known to them and had a criminal record, but the force still described the killing as a brutal attack that robbed a family of a partner, father and brother. Ms Austin, who claimed Mr Murray had been "hounded" by the police for a number of other offences, said the dogs in the street knew the identities of his murderers and added: "Everyone is aware of their names." She also told how she was demanding answers from the dissidents about the reasons for the murder, which came just weeks after she and Mr Murray enjoyed a romantic weekend away in the Republic. "The word 'hate' isn't strong enough to sum up what I feel about the gunmen," Ms Austin said. "A shiver runs down my spine when I think that I was talking to one of the killers on the phone without realising that he was part of the gang who were planning to murder the father of my child". The man who rang from a telephone box at the junction of the Antrim and Cliftonville Roads calmly ordered curries and chicken from an unsuspecting Ms Austin. "It's the thought that he and the rest of them then just waited for Dan that sickens me," she said. "They shot him twice in the back of the head, which shows they were just cowards who came in the night". The grieving woman also explained how her diabetic partner was wary about the order as it was not to one of his normal delivery addresses in Lady Street. "Dan was a bit iffy about it, but he said he would do it anyway, even though a lot of drivers are avoiding Divis due to all the recent shootings," she said. "But because it was before 10pm, he thought he would go." Half an hour later, Ms Austin took a phone call from one of Mr Murray's five grown-up children telling her he had been shot. "I thought it was Dan to say he was on his way back, but it was his daughter, who was screaming down the phone that I should go to Divis because there'd been a shooting," Ciara said. "I was trying to convince myself that he'd maybe only been shot in the legs, but because they tried to kill him a year ago I knew this was different. "Dan had always said that if they came back again for him, they would be there to finish him off and that he wouldn't survive another shooting." Ms Austin arrived in Lady Street just in time to see an ambulance pulling away, so she went to the Royal Victoria Hospital, where she was told doctors were trying to save Mr Murray. "I knew it was serious and though they said I couldn't see him I just burst through the doors and he was gone," she said. Ms Austin told how Mr Murray was her best friend before they became involved in a relationship nearly five years ago. "There was a bit of an age gap but he was the love of my life," she said. "He was an amazing daddy to our wee boy Podraig and my other two children. "How on earth am I going to explain what's happened to him? He was one in a million. I don't know what I am going to do without him. My whole world revolved around him and we were planning to get married a while back, but we postponed it after I became pregnant. "I told Dan that I didn't want a big fancy wedding, but he said that I deserved a fuss. Now it will never happen." Mr Murray was shot in March last year outside Ms Austin's terraced home in St James Mews off the Antrim Road. "Two masked men came to the house as Dan was leaving to go to his own home," Ciara recalled. "They pushed me onto the stairs and one of them said 'republican movement' before firing one shot at Dan. "He turned his face away, and if he hadn't done that he would have died that night. He couldn't believe that he survived." Mr Murray said at the time: "It was an execution, most definitely. It was one face shot, one head shot - they didn't aim for anywhere else. "They're accusing me of drug dealing and I want them to prove it. They've branded me a drug dealer and I'm not" In 2009, Mr Murray was shot in the legs by the Continuity IRA. Ms Austin said: "They wanted money from him, but he stood up to them, which is why they were out to kill him." She added that she and Mr Murray had celebrated her 30th birthday last month with a trip to County Donegal. "We stayed in Bundoran but also went to Ballina because that was where Dan loved to go fishing," Ciara said. "I'm so glad that he got there one last time." Ms Austin, who had to smash her way into her home through a window last night as her keys were still i n her partner's car, said people had to demonstrate their opposition to the dissident killers, adding tearfully: "Nobody is standing up to them" Peace has been declared between unionist rivals, Ruth Patterson and Emma Little Pengelly, after a bitter political battle in the Assembly elections. Ms Little Pengelly, who emerged victorious in the South Belfast contest, extended the hand of friendship to her former party comrade on social media. "Genuinely wishing @RuthMLA2016 all the very best for the next chapter," she tweeted, along with a quote declaring: "Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings." Ms Patterson accepted the gesture of reconciliation. "Thank you Emma. It was never personal. You have secured a strong mandate from the electorate. Good luck," she replied. The newly elected DUP MLA then tweeted a photograph of her little female terrier dog. "Poppy says hello to Paisley," she wrote. Ms Patterson has a male terrier, Paisley, who was born on the Twelfth of July. The friendly Twitter exchange was the first direct communication between the two women who did not come face-to-face at the South Belfast count on Friday which the firebrand loyalist councillor Ms Patterson failed to attend. Ms Little Pengelly trounced Ms Patterson in last week's election, securing 4,511 first preference votes in comparison to Ms Patterson's 475. Ms Patterson admitted she was "bitterly disappointed" by the result. "But the people have spoken and I accept their decision without reservation," she said. She added that she would not be running again for council when her term of office expires. Ms Patterson was expelled from the DUP after branding Ms Little Pengelly "a well paid blow-in" during a Belfast Telegraph interview last year. The DUP accused her of "bringing the party into disrepute". The DUP leadership had snubbed Ms Patterson, a councillor of 14 years, by selecting Ms Little Pengelly, a former special advisor to Peter Robinson, to replace retired MLA Jimmy Spratt in Stormont. Former Union flag protester Ms Patterson said she had worked hard for the party for almost two decades, "and not for 92,000 a year like Emma". Ms Little Pengelly did not respond to Ms Patterson's criticism during the election campaign. Ms Patterson's campaign manager, Jamie Bryson, last night said: "We threw everything at Emma during the election. "Our criticism was that she had gained her position without ever having fought an election but she has now done that. "She won fair and square and we wish her the best of luck as an MLA." The mother of a mentally ill man who died when he was struck by a train after going missing from a hospital while allegedly left alone has said police and health officials could have done more to save him. Jonathan Magee (29) was killed at Knockmore Bridge near Lisburn in January 2011. On the day before his death Mr Magee had been waiting more than seven hours to be psychologically assessed at Belfast City Hospital when he left and disappeared in the early hours of January 29. The remains of the Belfast man, who was known to family and friends as Jonny, were found that afternoon. His mother Maureen Smith told an inquest that in the week before her son died police mounted a search for him after the family raised concerns for his wellbeing. The hearing was told that Mr Magee believed people wished him harm and were spying on him. He also believed there were spies in hospitals. Mrs Smith said that, three days before the death, Mr Magee, who had a history of mental illness and who was said to be suffering from a psychotic disorder, suddenly rang for an ambulance while visiting her at her Newtownabbey home. She added: "I didn't know what was wrong with him, but he was in an agitated state. He got a phone call from the Mater Hospital, who said they had a bed ready for him. "Later that night I got a phone call from the hospital to say he had left, but staff didn't know where he went to." The following day Mr Magee called to his sister Julie's home, where he stayed for a number of hours. After he left she discovered that he had taken her medication. On the day before his death Julie went to her brother's home and found her medication and two knives lying on the kitchen floor, but she was unable to find him. Mrs Smith then contacted police because she was concerned for his safety and believed that he would "do something stupid". Hours later a police sniffer dog located him in the Cave Hill Country Park with both wrists slashed and bleeding. At around 6pm Mr Magee was taken to the accident and emergency department of Belfast City Hospital and treated for his injuries. Medical staff also arranged for an independent GP to assess whether he should be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The doctor was due to arrive at the hospital at 12.30am. However, he was delayed by more than an hour and 15 minutes, and at around 1.15am Mr Magee walked out of the hospital. A little over 12 hours later he was found dead near Lisburn. Mrs Smith said she believed that hospital staff could have done more to help her son and to stop him from leaving. "He was supposed to be sectioned by medical staff, but they left it too late," she added. "When he was leaving the hospital, staff told his dad Ronnie to run after him, but he could barely walk. I was contacted by police that morning to say he had left, but that was it. Then, a few hours later, two officers called to my home and said that he was dead. "The police and hospital authorities should not have left him on his own. Police should have waited with him, especially after he slashed his wrists. The police took a long time contacting me after Jonny's death - it was reported on the local news before I heard from them." A post-mortem examination conducted by State Pathologist Dr James Lyness found that the cause of death was multiple injuries sustained in the collision, including multiple lacerations of his scalp and face and injuries to the brain that would have proven fatal. The driver of the train that struck Mr Magee also told of the moments leading up to the collision, explaining that while he saw him on the tracks, it was too late to do anything. First Minister Arlene Foster and The Prince of Wales are pictured during a tour of the store where they toured the store, learning more about some of the Northern Irish produce on sale, and meeting staff and food producers. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. The Prince of Wales and First Minister of Northern Ireland Ireland Foster visit Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, London to celebrate the Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016. First Minister Arlene Foster and The Prince of Wales are pictured with The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland during a tour of the store where they toured the store, learning more about some of the Northern Irish produce on sale, and meeting staff and food producers. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. First Minister Arlene Foster with James Nesbitt and Peter Hannan, Hannan Meats during a tour of the store where they toured the store, learning more about some of the Northern Irish produce on sale, and meeting staff and food producers. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. First Minister Arlene Foster and The Prince of Wales are pictured with Alison and Will Abernethy of Abernethy Butter during a tour of the store where they toured the store, learning more about some of the Northern Irish produce on sale, and meeting staff and food producers. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. First Minister Arlene Foster and The Prince of Wales are pictured with Norman Murray, Glenarm Organic Salmon during a tour of the store where they toured the store, learning more about some of the Northern Irish produce on sale, and meeting staff and food producers. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. First Minister Arlene Foster and The Prince of Wales during a tour of the store where they toured the store, learning more about some of the Northern Irish produce on sale, and meeting staff and food producers. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. First Minister Arlene Foster with James Nesbitt and Peter Hannan, Hannan Meats during a tour of the store where they toured the store, learning more about some of the Northern Irish produce on sale, and meeting staff and food producers. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. The Prince of Wales and First Minister of Northern Ireland Ireland Foster visit Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly, London to celebrate the Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink 2016. The Prince and First Minister were accompanied by the actor James Nesbitt, who is an Ambassador for Northern Ireland food. Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye. The Prince of Wales (right) and actor James Nesbitt sampling Dunville's Old Irish Whiskey, a 46% 10-year-old single malt The Prince of Wales did not let the time of day deter him from enjoying a shot of whiskey as he met Northern Irish food and drink producers at luxury department store Fortnum & Mason. Charles drank a small shot of Dunville's Old Irish Whiskey, a 46% 10-year-old single malt, as he paid a midday visit to the famous grocery store in London's Piccadilly. He also sampled blue cheese and Northern Irish butter on crackers but turned down a taste of some smoked salmon as he chatted with the producers, accompanied by The Secret star James Nesbitt, who is from Ballymena. Charles sniffed the whiskey and toasted Nesbitt and his hosts before he drank it all in one go and remarked: "It's very good, it goes straight up the nose." Shane Braniffe, managing director of Echlinville Distillery in Kircubbin, Co Down, said the senior royal seemed to love his taste of the drink, which is on sale at the department store for 46.75. He said: "He said he might have to change his allegiance from being a Bushmills man to a Dunville man. "It was lovely to see him drink it. If he left half a glass that wouldn't have looked good but he drank it all so I'm glad he approved. It wasn't just politeness." Charles, who walked over to the department store from nearby Clarence House carrying an umbrella, also inspected Irish Lumpers potatoes from Glen's of Antrim and some Abernethy Butter, a Stilton from Mike's Fancy Cheese, Glenarm organic salmon and Glenarm Himalayan salt-aged beef from Hannan Meats as part of Fortum & Mason's pop-up "year of food in Northern Ireland celebration". Nesbitt said: "This is two weeks celebrating ordinary craftsman doing extraordinary things. "To have the endorsement of Prince Charles is very important. "As Northern Ireland continues to emerge we are trying to spread the goodness of the place. "It's a perfect fit because of the knowledge he has about the process of farming organic produce. "He seemed to be a big fan of the butter and the whiskey." Charles also paid a visit to a stand displaying food and drink from his Highgrove Estate, which is on sale at the store. Does it matter what Northern Ireland's politicians wear in the Assembly? While there is no exact dress code in the Northern Ireland Assembly members are expected to wear "business attire" but have recently been told that a "tie is not an essential requirement". In September 2015 former Sinn Fein MLA Phil Flanagan was accused of having a brass neck after appearing without a tie during a debate in the Chamber. Speaker Mitchel McLaughlin warned his party colleague that when it came to ties, he should pull his socks up. The former Fermanagh and South Tyrone Assembly member was left gobsmacked. However, as the new 108 MLAs prepare for their first plenary session on Thursday the debate over dress code has raised its head again. Read More The outgoing speaker Mitchell McLaughlin who remains in office until the new speaker is elected told new People Before Profit MLA Eamonn McCann, who hasn't worn a tie for decades, that it shouldn't put a knot in his appearance in the chamber. The official line from the assembly states: "While there is no exact dress code, the Speaker expects Members to wear business attire and dress in a way which demonstrates respect for the House. A tie is not an essential requirement. Mr McCann said that he doesn't see the logic in why, because it's an "important place," it should have a dress code. He told the BBC Stephen Nolan show: "I'm a person who hasn't worn a tie for decades, no particular reason for that, I just don't. I don't feel comfortable in it and they don't fulfill any function. "I honestly would feel uncomfortable, I wouldn't squirm over it, but I don't see why I should be asked to wear it when I can appear quite neat and tidy and quite well-dressed without putting on a tie." Commenting on the Assembly's term of "business attire" Mr McCann said it was a "vague term". He said: "I can sort of see what he means, don't come in as a ragamuffin. " "I think this may be the first step. Why on earth should a person's contribution to the Assembly or any other constitution be measured by what they happen to be wearing. "It may be what we do but we don't have to keep on doing what we do, if we did there would be no progress whatsoever. I'm not making a big issue of this I haven't made a big issue of this." He added: "I will wear a neat and tidy shirt, a neat and tidy jacket and I imagine I will look every bit as neat and well clad as anybody else, certainly in my eyes that will be the case." Actors Glenn Wallace and Genevieve OReilly as Trevor and Hazel Buchanan in ITVs The Secret Jimmy Nesbitt as dentist Colin Howell and Genevieve OReilly as Hazel Stewart carrying out the double murder Prime Minister David Cameron is to hold a meeting to discuss the impact of dramas such as The Secret on the victims' families. Dentist Colin Howell and Hazel Stewart, who then went under her married name of Buchanan, became embroiled in an affair, plotted and killed their spouses, Lesley Howell and Trevor Buchanan in 1991. ITV is currently showing a four-part drama based on the murders starring James Nesbitt. It is a dramatisation of the real-life story of how Ballymoney dentist and lay preacher Howell gassed his wife and Stewart's policeman husband to made their deaths look like a suicide pact. Their bodies were found in a fume-filled garage in Castlerock, Co Londonderry. That remained the official story until Howell confessed his crimes in 2009 admitting he had gassed the pair with Stewart's help. The couple each received a life sentence for their roles in the 1991 murders in Castlerock. Following the airing of the first episode, Lauren Bradford, a daughter of double killer Colin Howell, hit out at the programme saying that society's morbid fascination with murder can lead to media exploitation that traumatises victims for a second time. Read more: Read More On Wednesday during Prime Minister's Questions Labour Party MP Louise Haith called upon the Prime Minister to ensure that regulation could be strengthened to protect the family of victims in the future after she was contacted by Howell's daughter. She said: "I don't think anyone in this house can imagine the pain and suffering that her and her family have had to endure. "They are now having to relive this pain because ITV are dramatising their whole ordeal completely against her wishes using not only the real names of her family, but also her own. "I've raised this with ITV and Ofcom and as far as I can see no rules have been broken. "Does the Prime Minister not agree that victims' voices should have a far greater role in any accounting of their tragedy and will he meet with me and my constituent to discuss what more can be done about this situation and how we can strengthen the regulation in future to protect victims?" Prime Minister David Cameron gave his assurance that he would meet with the Culture Secretary to discuss it. He said: "I remember my time working in the television industry that there are occasions where these decisions are made that can cause a huge amount of hurt and upset to families. I will discuss this case with the Culture Secretary (John Whittingdale) and bring it to his attention and see if there is anything else other than the conversations that she has already had with ITV and with Ofcom, who are a powerful regulator, whether there is anything more that can be done." Mike Nesbitt said a police assessment of IRA structures did not make a UUP re-entry to the Executive 'any more attactive' A police assessment on IRA structures does not make an Ulster Unionist re-entry to the Stormont Executive "any more attractive", party leader Mike Nesbitt has said. Mr Nesbitt met with Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable George Hamilton to receive a briefing on paramilitary activity in the region. The UUP walked out of the powersharing administration last autumn amid a crisis sparked by a murder linked to the Provisional IRA. A subsequent independent examination ordered by the Government said all the main Troubles paramilitary organisations retained structures, though their leaders were committed to the peace process. Following last week's Assembly election, the UUP and other smaller Stormont parties are mulling whether to join a Democratic Unionist/Sinn Fein led administration or form an opposition. Mr Nesbitt had highlighted an updated assessment from Mr Hamilton as crucial to the UUP's deliberations. He has said other factors would also influence the decision, such as the need for a "progressive" programme for government and a commitment from parties to work collaboratively across departments. The UUP leader said the police briefing had become even more central in the wake of a number of recent shootings in Northern Ireland, among them a murder in west Belfast on Monday night. After the meeting at PSNI headquarters in Belfast, the UUP leader said: "The Chief Constable confirmed no change from the assessment given to the Secretary of State last October - PIRA still exists. "This is not surprising, but disappointing, given PIRA have drawn the roadmap that others are following. George Hamilton would not be drawn on this week's shootings, but these are serious criminal acts. I encourage those who have knowledge of the perpetrators to throw the guns in the streets and the perpetrators behind bars. "The Chief Constable's assessment does not make re-entry to the Executive any more attractive, but we have two other tests regarding the Programme for Government to which we expect to have answers in a few short days." Mr Hamilton said: "Over the course of the last seven months, there have been a number of very serious crimes committed in our community. Significant PSNI resources have been allocated to progress the investigations into these incidents. "This investigative activity, or wider intelligence to date, has not indicated any change to the position reflected in the October 2015 Paramilitary Assessment." Earlier, the outline of a proposed programme for government for the next Stormont Executive was circulated among the smaller parties. The DUP and Sinn Fein, the region's two largest parties, had already carried out provisional work on the coalition's new five year plan ahead of last week's election - a poll which consolidated their position as the two main players. The document was issued to the SDLP, UUP and Alliance Party - all junior executive partners in the last mandate - at the opening meeting of negotiations to form a government at Stormont. As a period of potential horse trading kicked off, Prime Minister David Cameron called both DUP leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness to congratulate them on their success in the Assembly election. While the UUP and SDLP both had relatively disappointing showings in the election, they retain sufficient strength to take one ministerial position each in the next DUP/Sinn Fein led coalition. The cross-community Alliance Party does not have the numbers to be there by right, but it is widely anticipated it will be invited to take on the politically sensitive justice portfolio, as it has done in past mandates. With recent legislation paving the way for parties eligible for government to instead enter official opposition, the smaller parties now face a significant political choice. SDLP leader Colm Eastwood indicated significant changes would be needed before the SDLP signed up to the programme for government. "We are a long, long way off," he said. "We need to work very hard and intensively over the next weeks to make sure we have a substantial programme for government that we can all sign up to - we will only sign up to one that actually meets the needs of the people who have been left behind." The parties are due to reconvene on Thursday for further discussions. They have a two-week deadline to form the executive. The new Assembly will meet in plenary session for first time on Thursday, when a vote will be taken to formally confirm Mrs Foster as First Minister and Mr McGuinness as Deputy First Minister. Passengers and crew on a United Airlines flight were injured when a co-pilot twice put the plane into a dive Seventeen passengers and crew were injured when a co-pilot on a transatlantic flight twice put the plane into a dive over fears it was going to stall. The United Airlines jet was 80 miles south-west of Dublin on October 20 2013 when cockpit instruments gave the impression of low airspeed after flying through heavy turbulence. The co-pilot pitched the nose of the Boeing 757 down twice, exceeding advised flight speeds. Inspectors from the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) of the Department of Transport said any unrestrained people or belongings in the cabin were likely to have been thrown around by "rapid changes in G loads". They found the misleading instrument readings may have been caused by icing of pitot probes which measure the actual speed of a plane. It was one of the issues identified in the crash of the Air France Airbus A330 which went down in the Atlantic in a remote area off Brazil on June 1 2009 killing all 228 people, including three Irish doctors. The AAIU report on the United Airlines incident also reported the co-pilot may have suffered startle effect - an uncontrollable fast pulse, muscle reflex and blood pressure in an unexpected event. It said this may have followed the instruments indicating low speed as the plane came out of the turbulence. Eight safety recommendations were issued by the AAIU including asking United Airlines to review some of its training and guidance for pilots. After landing safely, eight passengers and two flight attendants, including one who cut their head, were treated in the airport for minor injuries. Twelve days later a passenger contacted investigators and described being in a toilet at the back of the plane when it went into one of the dives. He hit his head on the ceiling before falling and hitting a handrail on the back wall of the unit. Another four passengers and two crew also reported being injured. Inspections inside the plane showed a ceiling panel had been damaged and tea and coffee had been thrown around in the incident. The seatbelt sign in the cabin had been on at the time as the plane was making its descent to Dublin Airport after flying from Newark. The inquiry found the co-pilot twice pitched the nose of the jet into a dive and increased speed after reading his instruments. The AAIU said control of the flight was handed over to the commander when the flight crew realised there was a problem with cockpit instruments. There was no cockpit voice record of the incident available as it had been overwritten. The AAIU said it accepted the co-pilot's word that he had unintentionally not pulled the correct circuit breakers to allow for the recordings to be recovered. A DUP MP has laughed off warnings by William Hague that leaving the European Union could threaten the peace process. Mr Hague, a former foreign secretary and ex-Conservative leader, argued that a Brexit would undermine the Good Friday Agreement and damage trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic. His comments have been backed by the former Chief Constable, Sir Hugh Orde, who said a Brexit had "deeply worrying implications for the safety and security of Northern Ireland". But Gavin Robinson, MP for East Belfast, has dismissed the claims as "utter nonsense" saying EU membership did little to bring Northern Ireland peace during the worst years of the troubles. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Hague said the right to be British in Northern Ireland, as well as in overseas territories like Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, needed the protection of the EU. "Maintaining that right involves you in an active choice, at the very least to vote in referendums to keep your links with the UK," he said. "But in Northern Ireland it is to endure decades of terrorism, and in some overseas territories to resist the habitual threats and bullying of your far larger neighbours." He continued: "The Good Friday Agreement was based on the assumption that the two countries (Ireland and the UK) would be in the EU together, and the various cross-border institutions it established are built on that." Mr Hague went on to say that with a third of all exports from Northern Ireland going to the Republic, local businesses would "be hit harder than most." He added: "By no means all of Northern Ireland's leaders would agree about this. But when the Irish Prime Minister, a proven friend of the UK, warns that a vote to leave next month could even endanger the stability of the peace process, his words must be taken seriously." Sir Hugh said the possibility of border controls between Northern Ireland and the Republic "promises to upset the delicate accord that's been built since the Good Friday Agreement". He added: "Losing (European Peace funding) in the future whilst building a new barrier along the 300-mile border will deal a heavy double blow to ongoing peace in Northern Ireland." But Mr Robinson argued: "I'm thoroughly disappointed but not surprised that William Hague is adding to the aspects of 'Project Fear' relating to Northern Ireland. I don't think anyone can credibly suggest that Northern Ireland is destined to return to violence whether we remain in or outside the EU. "Northern Ireland was a member of EU throughout the worst years of the troubles and didn't solve them. The only way you can solve difficulty is with local agreement and that's why we have such success today." On the border issue, he added: "The idea that we need security checkpoints is a nonsense. "Trade is now dealt with by digital infrastructure. Vehicles bringing goods across the border who are not EU members are billed digitally, so there's no need for any border checkpoints or extravagance." Britain's top crime fighting force has lost its legal fight to force an alleged cyber hacker to hand over the passwords to his encrypted computers in a landmark case. Lauri Love, 31, is fighting attempts to extradite him to America to face criminal charges for breaking into Federal Reserve computers. He is accused of stealing "massive quantities" of sensitive data resulting in millions of dollars of losses and Mr Love's lawyers say he faces up to 99 years in prison in the US if he is found guilty. Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) launched an investigation and raided his family home in Stradishall, Suffolk, in October 2013 when they seized encrypted computers and hard drives. No charges were brought in Britain against Love, but the NCA wants him to hand over his passwords so officers can check the data before the electronics are returned. Love's team says the application, if granted, would have been a significant blow to privacy and amount to a "power grab" by police services. Delivering her judgment at London's Westminster Magistrates' Court, District Judge Nina Tempia sided against the NCA. She agreed with Love's lawyers who argued the NCA should apply to a court under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) to force people to hand over their passwords to decrypt data. She said: "After reading the papers and hearing from the parties, I am not granting the application because in order to obtain the information sought the correct procedure to be used, as the NCA did two-and-a-half years ago, is under section 49 Ripa, with the inherent HRA safeguards incorporated therein." She added: "The case management powers of the court are not to be used to circumvent specific legislation that has been passed in order to deal with the disclosure sought." Love, the son of a reverend from Suffolk, is suing the NCA for the return of six bits of encrypted hardware being held which he says contain his entire digital life. But the NCA is fighting the case and applied to the court to force Mr Love to hand over his passwords before it returns the computers. The NCA argued that screenshots taken of the computers before the encryption kicked in show that Love had information from Nasa, the US military and the Department of Energy. Speaking outside court following the ruling, Love said he is "happy" with the result. He accused the NCA of trying to "coerce" him into handing over passwords and trying to undermine protections safeguarding individuals' property. He said: "It is a victory, although it is a more an avoidance of disaster. "It retains the status quo which means there has to be safeguards before you force people to undermine their security." He added: "If the judge had required that I am forced to pass over information just to get the chance to ask for my property back, it would mean that the police and the executive have the power to take things away without a hearing." Asked for his response to critics who say that if he has nothing to hide he should hand over his passwords, Love said a wider principle of privacy was at stake. He said: "That is like saying 'If you have nothing to say, what's the point in having freedom of speech?' "I would like us to have freedom of speech all of the time, not only when we have something to say. "And I want people to have the freedom to store their information securely all the time, not just when they have something to hide." Love is now facing his next fight against an application to extradite him to the US where he is facing hacking charges. He is facing three different extradition requests from New York, New Jersey and East Virginia. He insists he will never hand over his passwords to the security services, saying "there will be no decryption". But he said he is very scared at the prospect of being sent to the US for criminal prosecution. He said: "It is the worst thing I could imagine happening to me. "I have to get on with my work and my studies, I can't afford to be stressed or depressed or anxious about it." Love said he is working with an organisation "trying to make the world more secure and safer" and does not pose a threat to security. He said his fight against extradition to the US will be a test case for the "forum bar" which was brought in in the wake of the Gary McKinnon case. The bar is designed to allow British courts to block extradition if it is in the interests of justice for the person to be tried in the UK instead. Mr McKinnon was saved from being extradited to the US in 2012 when Home Secretary Theresa May stepped in to keep him in the UK. Love's lawyer, Karen Todner, said: "The case raised important issues of principle in relation to the right to respect for private life and right to enjoyment of property and the use of the court's case management powers. "A decision in the NCA's favour would have set a worrying precedent for future investigations of this nature and the protection of these important human rights." Mrs May said the move reflected the ongoing problems posed by 'Dissident Republican activity' A terror attack in Britain by dissident republicans is now a "strong possibility", according to a new security assessment. MI5 has increased the level of threat posed by Northern Ireland-related terrorism from moderate to substantial - the third most serious category out of five. Home Secretary Theresa May said the move "reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity". In a statement to the House of Commons, she said: "As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place." The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains at severe - meaning an attack is "highly likely". This has not been changed. Mrs May said the threat level in Northern Ireland was also unchanged, at severe. She added: "The reality is that they command little support. They do not represent the views or wishes of the vast majority of people, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, who decisively expressed their desire for peace in the 1998 Belfast Agreement and have been transforming Northern Ireland ever since. "However it is sensible, given their stated aims, that the public in Great Britain should also remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police. "But we should not be alarmed, and this should not affect how we go about our daily lives." Dissident republican groups such as the New IRA and Oglaigh na hEireann have been behind most of the deadly attacks on members of the security forces in recent years. In March, prison officer Adrian Ismay died when an undercar booby trap bomb detonated as he drove to work. In 2011, Catholic police recruit Ronan Kerr was also killed when a device exploded under his vehicle while, s everal months earlier, in November 2012 prison warder David Black was gunned down as he drove along the M1 motorway. In March 2009, the Continuity IRA shot dead police officer Stephen Carroll in Co Armagh just days after the Real IRA gunned down two soldiers outside a Co Antrim military camp. The dissidents, who derive most of their funds through criminality, such as fuel laundering and cigarette smuggling, command little community support but retain a tight grip in certain areas through fear and punishment attacks. They are heavily infiltrated with informants and have recently been hit by a number of high profile arms finds and arrests. However, police in Northern Ireland have cautioned that their capabilities, in isolated incidents, could be increasing as they acquire more sophisticated weaponry like mortar bombs and high calibre assault rifles. Dissidents have also claimed to have up to a tonne of "newly acquired" Semtex - the odourless plastic explosive which was used widely by the Provisional IRA during the 1980s. Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson expressed surprise at this latest security assessment and is seeking an urgent Privy Council briefing on the matter. The Lagan Valley MP said: "It is evident that dissident republicans are now active in Great Britain and are examining potential targets. Obviously that's a matter of concern. "We had no prior indication that the threat level had been increasing. In Northern Ireland, the threat has been severe for some time but quite clearly this is a new development in terms of dissident republican activity." Ulster Unionist MP Tom Elliott said the raised threat level reinforced the need for vigilance. "This is not a decision the security services or Government will have taken lightly. People need to know which organisations are now posing an increasing threat to the security of the United Kingdom and what level of co-operation there is between these groups. "Irish republican terrorists have murdered and created destruction for years. We don't want any more of these actions, it is time people were allowed to get on with their lives," said Mr Elliott. Indonesian president Joko Widodo said the men are in good condition Four Indonesian citizens held hostage for nearly a month in the southern Philippines have been released, President Joko Widodo said. Mr Widodo said in a televised address that the men are under the protection of Philippine authorities and are in good condition. They were kidnapped at sea in mid-April by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants, the third in a series of attacks on tugboats that sparked a regional maritime security alarm. Mr Jokowi said a meeting last week of foreign ministers and military chiefs from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines on improving security in border areas facilitated the release of the hostages. "I am grateful," he said. "This operation is one of the results of the implementation of the meeting." Earlier this month, Abu Sayyaf militants freed 10 Indonesian crewmen who were seized at sea in March and believed taken to a jungle camp in Sulu, a predominantly Muslim province about 590 miles south of the Philippine capital, Manila. Indonesia's government has denied it paid a ransom for the release of its citizens. In late April, Abu Sayyaf gunmen beheaded a Canadian hostage in Sulu after they failed to receive a large ransom by a deadline they had set. At least eight foreign and local hostages remain in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf, including another Canadian and a Norwegian who were kidnapped last September, and a Dutch bird watcher who was kidnapped more than three years ago. Investigators are looking into whether Prince died from an overdose A Minnesota doctor saw Prince twice in the month before his death - including the day before he died - and prescribed him medication, according to the contents of a search warrant. The details were revealed as authorities returned to the musician's Minneapolis estate as part of their investigation into what killed him. Michael Todd Schulenberg treated Prince on April 7 and April 20, and prescribed medications for the musician, according to the warrant. Investigators interviewed Dr Schulenberg and searched a suburban Minneapolis hospital where he worked. The warrant did not specify what medications were prescribed or whether Prince took them. A law enforcement source said investigators are looking into whether Prince died from an overdose and whether a doctor was prescribing him drugs in the weeks before his death. Dr Schulenberg is the second doctor whose name has surfaced in the investigation. Last week, a lawyer for California addiction specialist Howard Kornfeld told reporters that Prince's representatives had contacted him seeking help a day before the superstar was found dead on April 21. On Tuesday, a sheriff's car and about a dozen unmarked vehicles entered the gates of Paisley Park. Asked what investigators were doing, Carver County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Jason Kamerud said they were "being thorough". Mr Kamerud declined to answer questions about the warrant that names Dr Schulenberg, saying it was supposed to be sealed. He also said that after the contents were made public, he contacted a court administrator to ensure the warrant was sealed. The warrant was carried out last Thursday at North Memorial Medical Centre in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale. Lesa Bader, a spokeswoman for North Memorial Medical Centre, said Dr Schulenberg was a primary care physician at its Minnetonka clinic but he no longer works for the health care system. Dr Schulenberg's April 7 treatment of Prince came the day he cancelled shows in Atlanta citing illness. Prince played shows on April 14, and during his return home on April 15, his plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Illinois. Police said Prince was found unconscious on the plane and first responders gave him a shot of Narcan, which is used in suspected opioid overdoses. Dr Schulenberg told a detective he was dropping off results of tests performed on Prince when he came upon the death scene, according to the warrant. He also told the detective he had prescribed Prince "medications. The warrant sought "any and all medical records, documents, reports, charts, photographs, prescriptions, doctor notes and medical images for Prince Rogers Nelson". The warrant also notes an interview with Kirk Anthony Johnson, a Paisley Park staff member and sometime drummer for Prince, who told another detective that Prince visited the Highway 212 Medical Centre not far from Paisley Park for "an illness" in 2014 or 2015. Johnson told the detective that Prince had been given fluids during the visit. Donald Trump's campaign has blamed a computer problem after a prominent white nationalist was included on a list of the Republican presidential candidate's potential California delegates. Officials said the name of William Johnson had been withdrawn and a corrected list resubmitted to state officials. Mr Trump's California director, Tim Clark, said a "database error" was at fault. The campaign said Mr Johnson was removed from the list in February. Mr Johnson, leader of the American Freedom Party, said he had received an email from Mr Clark informing him that his name had been "erroneously listed" as a delegate. In California, Republican candidates pick potential delegates to the party's summer convention. They are selected based on the outcome of voting in the state's June 7 primary. The revelation is an embarrassment for a candidate who has been criticised before for being too slow to distance himself from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Mr Johnson runs the American National Super PAC, which made automated phone calls supporting Mr Trump's candidacy across the country. The Los Angeles lawyer said it had been a mistake for him to submit his name for consideration. "I was naive. I thought people wouldn't notice, and if they did notice I didn't think it would be a big deal." Mr Johnson said he never disclosed his white nationalist beliefs in his application. "You answer the questions that they ask, and they asked, 'What have you done to support Donald Trump?'. They didn't ask, 'Are you a white nationalist?'" Mr Trump "wants to build the wall (along the border with Mexico). He wants to cut off illegal immigration, and he wants to cut back on foreign trade, bring jobs back to America", Mr Johnson added. "We believe Donald Trump will help lead the country in a proper direction." On June 23, the people of Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom as a whole face a truly momentous decision. It is a decision about our future. This is what the debate should be about - what will provide the best future in 10, 20, 30 years from now in a fast-changing world? The Britain Stronger in Europe (BSE) campaign see it differently. They don't want to discuss the present realities of the European Union (EU) - even less the future of the European Union. They want to confuse. They want to scare. They want to browbeat. Why is this? The BSE campaign have adopted an adage of an American president; not Obama's false threat of "back of the queue", but President Truman's adage of "If you can't convince them, confuse them". With an EU in perpetual crisis and decline, they want to talk about anything else but the EU. The next aim of their strategy is to wheel out the great and good. They know best. Only they understand how the world works. The "confused" voters should just listen to them and do as they are told. These are the same great and good who benefit from the present order. The same who have done well from EU grants and enjoy the wining and dining in Brussels. Never mind these are the same great and good who never saw the largest economic collapse of our lifetime coming and have been largely protected from its effects. Their "expertise" is supposedly infallible. The Vote Leave campaign doesn't want to confuse you, scare you, or browbeat you. What we want to do is show you how leaving means more, means better and means positive. Instead, we will present the facts about the EU as it is today, where it intends to go and the alternative. In financial terms, the UK gives more to the European Union than it receives in return. The fact is, the gap between what we pay in and get out has quadrupled in the last four years - even with our rebate. The fact is, our gross contributions are double what we receive back. So when someone talks about European money, they are being misleading. The fact is, it is our money. Even in an area like the Common Agricultural Policy, the UK contributes 4.6bn every year. We only receive 2.9bn. After we vote leave, we can still provide the same level of support to our farmers ... and save 1.7bn. But this is our entry fee to a market of 500 million people; does that not make it worth it? The fact is, the UK has a massive trade deficit with the European Union. The fact is, when we joined, EU countries accounted for a third of the world market; it is now one-fifth of it. The fact is, both Northern Ireland and United Kingdom exports to the EU are in decline, while our exports to the rest of the world are growing. The fact is, it comes with the costs of over-regulation and bureaucracy. The fact is, we are paying a larger entry fee to a shrinking market that is buying less of what we produce. The EU is trapped in a number of crises of its own making. If you want to see the real face of the EU, see how it has dealt with the eurozone and immigration crises. They claim solidarity as their value, but look how they act. Where was the solidarity for the people of Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal, or even Ireland, when the euro had to be saved? While every country suffered in the downturn, more of their services, more of their jobs and more of their homes were to be sacrificed - all for the EU project. Worse is, despite all this pain, the eurozone crisis isn't over. With the immigration crisis, unprecedented numbers of people came into the EU. Solidarity collapsed and member states began competing over how much border fence they could put up. The EU couldn't hold together its two biggest policy goals of a common currency and open borders. It can't decide on a single place for its parliament to meet. It can't get its own accounts signed off, year after year. It goes on and on. When you see all this, ask yourself, if we weren't a member, would you want to join? If you wouldn't want to join, then why would you stay? Surely, reform would be the solution to this? The UK has been a member for more than 40 years. The fact is, we haven't gained the necessary reforms. The Cameron negotiation was the perfect opportunity to reform. The fact is the EU refused. If we vote remain, the EU will not consider it as a call for reform, but full steam ahead. And where is the EU going? The Five Presidents report shows that it wants to go where it has told us time and time again. The EU elite wishes to create a new supranational state. They clearly say this supranational state is the responsibility of all members of the EU to facilitate. This is what you agree to if you vote for the BSE campaign. Our alternative is to have a new relationship with the European Union. Impossible, BSE will shout. Yet Iceland does. Yet Norway does. Yet Switzerland does. Yet Turkey does. Yet Greenland does. Yet Canada is finalising its agreement. Each has its own relationship, making a British relationship not only possible, but the better option. The UK is much larger and more important to the EU economy than they are. This new relationship would recognise the economic integration and relationship between the UK and Republic of Ireland and thus protect the Common Travel Area. This new relationship would have five key benefits: When we vote Leave, we take control of our money to spend on our priorities, like health, 350m a week more. The Barnett formula, which strongly benefits Northern Ireland, would see that extra public spending spread across the UK and increases in pensions and other benefits would automatically be received here. When we vote Leave, we take control over our laws. It will be our politicians alone who make our laws again and we can punish those who fail. When we vote Leave, we would take control of our immigration system. We can build a more humane system, based on the skills we need. When we vote Leave, we take control of our trade with the world. We regain our position on global trade organisations and are free to make agreements which suit the UK, not 27 other countries. Will our trade with the EU carry on? To quote the BSE's chief cheerleader, David Cameron, "Of course we would". When we vote Leave, all of these combine to make it the safer choice for the future, as we are in greater control of our future. The world has moved on from the thinking that created the EU, even if they don't realise it. It may have been the future once, but it isn't any more. As the fifth-largest economy in the world, a member of G7 and G20, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, we can go out into the world with confidence. To do so, we must step off the spluttering and clunking EU bus and climb aboard the global jet. On June 23, choose more, choose better, choose positive. Vote Leave. Monday, May 9 was Europe Day - a designated day for the Union flag to fly proudly on many of our buildings. This is, indeed, fitting as we all should be proud of the role we have played in helping to get Europe back on its feet again after the devastation of war, division of the Continent and dictatorships in many countries (and not just those behind the Iron Curtain). Granted, the UK was not an initial signatory of the Treaty of Rome, but consider where Europe was in 1973 when it did join. We had dictatorships in Spain and Portugal, tensions over Cyprus, relations between the British and Irish governments probably at their worst since 1945. A stable, democratic EEC, with key decisions taken by elected leaders, championing fundamental rights, has allowed such countries to meet the requirements of membership. Who would have believed - even in the 1960s - that our community of nations would eventually include Poland, Spain, Portugal, Australia, a united Germany, Hungary, United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia and many other countries discussing and agreeing together? There have been - and no doubt will again be - challenges to this community, but that should not let us forget the significant achievement we have helped create by virtue of the role the United Kingdom has played in its membership since 1973. So, on Monday, as you saw the flag flying for Europe Day, you could be proud of the role the UK has played due to its membership of what is now the European Union in developing a community of nations that is a world away from the dark, divided Continent of the 1970s. CIARAN HANNA European Movement of Northern Ireland deputy chair Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Rody Duterte leaves a voting precinct after casting his ballot at a high school in Davao, May 9, 2016. There is great hope among Muslim communities in the Philippines that President-elect Rodrigo Rody Duterte will restore peace and stability in the south. Duterte, the longtime mayor of Davao City on the southern island of Mindanao, has deep ties to the insurgency-stricken region. If there is anybody who wishes that this bloody problem would end soon, it is I because I am both Moro and Christian, Duterte remarked during the lead-up to his presidential campaign. As mayor he has maintained peace in Davao City but, as president, he will face a greater challenge in the south, especially with the emergence of groups supporting the Islamic State (IS). Duterte wants to have peace in Mindanao and will reach out to Muslim groups and the Communist Party of the Philippines. The Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) rallied behind his candidacy, and he also reached out to the leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He also has opened communications with the Communist Party of the Philippines. Duterte in fact called the partys founding leader, Jose Maria Sison, before the election. IS support groups mount attacks In the immediate run-up to the presidential election on May 9, IS Philippines, led by Isnilon Hapilon (a former deputy of the Abu Sayyaf Group), attacked a Philippine Army outpost in Maluso, a town in southern Basilan province. In a communique distributed on Telegram and Twitter on Tuesday, the group reported that a group of fighters had attacked an army position in Tobijan village, engaging in a clash with the soldiers and killing one and wounding another. This is the second official claim of an attack by the IS in the Philippines, according to SITE Intelligence Group. On April 13, ISs branch in the Philippines claimed it had killed nearly 100 Philippine troops in strikes over a period of a few days, but the group exaggerated its successes. IS Central claimed the attack in Tobijan and referred to the group mounting the attack as Islamic State Philippines. This is further evidence that IS has established a branch in the Philippines, a threat underestimated by the government of the Philippines. Islamic State Lanao, another group that supports Islamic State but is not accepted by IS Central, meanwhile claimed responsibility for bombing a transmission tower in Lanao del Sur, Mindanao, on May 4. Dutertes thinking More than any other leader Duterte understands the threat posed by IS. Until now, the government in Manila and Filipino analysts have characterized the IS link to Filipino groups as wishful thinking and one sided. Without underestimating the threat, Duterte is likely to work with MILF and MNLF to fight both Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), IS Philippines and IS Lanao. A practical man, Duterte will work with the MILF and MNLF to restore peace and stability. He is tough. Duterte fights ordinary and organized crime conventionally and unconventionally, and he is likely to do this with terrorism, too. With time Duterte will realize that MILF and MNLF are serious about finding a solution within a united Philippines while ASG and IS support groups in the Philippines are not. The ASG and IS will not negotiate genuinely. They will have to be contained, isolated and eliminated. And Duterte is likely to take them on. He will launch an uncompromising military campaign after asking them to join the peace process. MNLF and ASG have links: at least a few factions of ASG are likely to embrace his offer. A dealmaker, Duterte will reach out to them as well. He will likely be an ideal president although the IS group in Mindanao will likely become one his burdens. I think he will employ the full force of the law to quell the threat of IS, a former ASG member told me. Hopes for peace While Dutertes grandmother was a full-blooded Maranao, his eldest son Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte married a Tausug. IS has already built a support group in the Lanao area, where Maranaos live, and in Basilan, where Tausugs live. Proud of his Muslim lineage, Duterte generated support from Muslim leaders. Abulajid Estino, a former assemblyman from the Mindanao region, said it was the first time that a leader with genuine Bangsamoro blood had the potential to become president of the Philippines. Duterte, the man from Mindanao who will be sworn in as president on June 30, is in a unique position to manage the violence and root out terrorism in the southern Philippines. The threat will decline if Dutertes government can either pass the basic law to create an autonomous region or grant federalism. Passing the basic law to create the autonomous region will reduce the reservoir of Muslim unhappiness that militants are harnessing. A former member of the ASG said to me: This is perhaps the reason why I also voted for him last Monday ... hoping that he can make not only Mindanao but the entire country peaceful. Man with a vision The Moro conflict is one of the worlds longest conflicts. Such conflicts are intractable. Today, with IS making inroads to the Philippines, the problem is even more complex. Political will remains at the heart of making a difference. In the lead-up to the election in the Philippines, local threat groups that support IS stepped up their operations. They are likely to test Dutertes patience. Duterte should not overreact. However, he should act too. Otherwise, the threat will remain in the Philippines and may grow with implications for the rest of Southeast Asia. Duterte has the vision and mission to make a difference. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and not of BenarNews. Indonesian President Joko Widodo (center), flanked by Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo, announces the release of four Indonesians who had been held hostage for nearly a month in the southern Philippines, May 11, 2016. Four sailors from Indonesia who were held hostage for almost a month by an armed group in the southern Philippines were freed Wednesday, Indonesian officials said. The release of the four followed the May 1 freeing of 10 other Indonesian sailors who were taken captive by a different group based in the southern Philippines, the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf. In both instances, Indonesian officials did not comment on whether a ransom had been paid to release the seamen. The release of the four sailors came after negotiations by Indonesian and Philippine officials who met clandestinely and that involved help from Nur Misuari, the founder of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an official at Indonesias National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) told BenarNews. The group who held the four crew members hostages was different from the previous one, but they know each other. A ransom was requested but it was unclear how much, BNPT staff analyst Wawan Purwanto said. At a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesian President Joko Jokowi Widodo announced the news of the release of the four sailors. Gratitude to God that, finally, [the] four Indonesian citizens were released. All four are in good health, Jokowi told reporters at the State Palace. He praised the Philippine government for cooperating with Indonesia to secure the release of the four sailors. Philippine authorities had custody of the four and promised to repatriate them soon, the president said. Im grateful that Indonesias initiative in organizing a trilateral meeting in Jakarta shows its result. This is one of the implementations from the spirit of the meeting, Jokowi said, referring to a meeting on May 5 between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. They agreed then to establish three-way hotlines and coordinate maritime patrols in order to safeguard ships from hijackings in seas that separate the three countries. Four Malaysian sailors remain in Abu Sayyaf custody after being abducted last month from a ship sailing between the East Malaysia state of Sabah and the southern Philippines. The four Indonesian sailors were kidnapped from the Indonesian tugboat Cristi when it was hijacked in waters along the Philippines-Malaysia maritime border on April 15. Six other crew members escaped and were rescued by Malaysian police. Foreign minister mum on details of release Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who joined Jokowi at the press conference, declined to give details about the release. We only focus on their safety. According to the Indonesian team, they are in good health, she said, adding that Indonesia was communicating with the Philippines about the sailors repatriation. Retno also refused to name the group that detained them. It is not important anymore, she said. Hijacked vessel rescued The release of the four sailors came within 48 hours of news that the Indonesian navy had rescued 20 crew members and a passenger from a hijacked Singaporean vessel, the Hai Soon 12, near Borneo on Sunday. Nine suspected pirates from Indonesia were being investigated and authorities believe that they worked for a transnational syndicate. The nine perpetrators were ordered by someone from Singapore to bring the hijacked ship to Timor Leste, said Darwanto, the commander of Indonesian East Region Navy. The Indonesian Navy will further investigate the networks involved in this case. The suspected pirates claimed to be fishermen but were lured by the offer of 200 million rupiah (U.S. $15,000) from the syndicate if they brought the tanker loaded with 420 tons of oil to Timor Leste. Heny Rahayu in Malang, Indonesia contributed to this report. Thai officials Wednesday presented their nations periodic report on human rights to a U.N. body reviewing Thailands performance in that area, but without commenting on criticisms leveled at the junta over arrests of government critics and restrictions on free speech. We hope we will all learn together from the review today, Justice Ministry Permanent Secretary Chanchao Chaiyanukij told a United Nations Human Rights Council (OHCHR) hearing in Geneva, as it opened a hearing into Thailands National Universal Periodic Review (UPR) report on human rights. You need to take human rights into consideration when formulating policies, he went to say. However, the protection and promotion of human rights is not the sole work of the government, but of society as a whole. Thailand submitted the report to the council in February, and is one of 14 U.N. member-states undergoing a four-year review of their human rights records by the council. The U.N. body is expected to issue its non-binding recommendations for Thailand on Friday. The Thai delegation will then announce which of the U.N.s recommendations it will accept, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said after Wednesdays hearing. OHHCR last reviewed Thailands human rights performance in 2011, when a civilian-led government was in power. While several countries commended Thailand for promoting economic, social and cultural rights, the MFA noted in statement that concerns were expressed at the session over freedom of expression, the right to peaceful assembly and other issues. But the ministry did not say more. During the hearing Thailand was criticized by other nations and rights groups over its rights record under the junta, which seized power two years ago. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) was among rights advocacy groups that slammed the junta on Wednesday. The Thai governments responses to the U.N. review fail to show any real commitment to reversing its abusive rights practices or protecting fundamental freedoms, John Fisher, the Geneva director of HRW, said in a press release. While numerous countries raised concerns about the human rights situation in Thailand, the Thai delegation said nothing that would dispel fears of a continuing crisis. Social media arrests The hearing occurred amid Thailands recent arrests of nine people over social media posts that took aim at the government and monarchy. Among those charged in recent days was the mother of an activist. On Tuesday, Thailand freed on bail eight of these people activists who were arrested on April 27 over social media posts that allegedly criticized the junta and a controversial draft constitution that will be up for a national referendum on Aug. 7, Reuters reported. In its written report to the OHCHR, the Thai government spelled out its views on free speech. Thailand fully respects freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of assembly as they form basic foundation of a democratic society. However, freedom of expression shall be exercised in a constructive manner and does not insult any faith or belief system, be they religions or main institutions. In addition, freedom of expression should also be exercised in an appropriate context, which means time, place and manner, and shall not disrupt social order and security, the report stated. It also touched on Lese-Majeste, Thailands strict royal defamation law, under which the junta has carried out many arrests for perceived slights against the monarchy. The Thai monarchy is highly revered and has been a pillar of stability in the country. The Lese-Majeste law is part of the Criminal code and gives great protection to the rights or reputations of the King, the Queen, the Heir apparent, or the Regent. It is not aimed at curbing peoples rights to freedom of expression or academic freedom, the report said. US deplores womans arrest A recent case involving Lese-Majeste was the arrest of Patnaree Charnkij, the mother of pro-democracy activist Sirawith Ja New Seritiwit. Last week, she turned herself in to police on an arrest warrant for allegedly defaming the monarchy via Facebook and violating Thailands computer-crimes law. Patnarees attorney, Arnon Nampa, said his client was charged for not dissuading another user of the social media network from posting messages online that could be construed as defamatory to the royal family. She has since been freed on bail, but her arrest has drawn criticism from the United States, one of Thailands key allies, and elsewhere. We are troubled by the recent arrests of individuals in connection with online postings, and the detention of Patnaree Charnkij, the mother of a political activist. The arrest and harassment of activists and their family members raise serious concerns about Thailands adherence to its international obligation to protect freedom of expression. These actions create a climate of intimidation and self-censorship, said Katina Adams, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Departments Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. We urge the government to allow for an open and inclusive debate on Thailands political future, she added. 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. 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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. BILD-interview with the Turkish opposition-leader | By Viktoria Dumer and Peter Tiede, Ankara He is the opposition leader in Turkey and one of President Erdogans sharpest critics. BILD met with Kemal Kilicdaroglu (67) for an interview. BILD: Mister Kilicdaroglu, give us three reasons why you think that Erdogan is a dictator. Kemal Kilicdaroglu: 1. He is convinced that he alone knows and speaks the truth. 2. He wants to lead and rule over his party alone. 3. He ignores the constitution the legislature, the judiciary, the basis of any democracy. Lesen Sie auch Which despot are you most inclined to compare him to? Kilicdaroglu: Erdogan is a unique dictator. It is hard to compare him to anyone. Did Chancellor Merkel trust the wrong people - that is, the Erdogan clan - when completing the refugee deal? Auch interessant Kilicdaroglu: No. She has followed democratic rules and, in accordance with the constitution, negotiated with the elected Prime Minister, Mister Davutoglu. Do you trust Erdogan? Kilicdaroglu: No. I ask you: how can you trust someone who tramples democracy under his feet, who does not acknowledge his countrys constitution, and under whose rule there is no freedom of the press? Plus, it is clear that the new Prime Minister will also be Erdogans puppet. Prime Minister Davutoglu, with whom Chancellor Merkel negotiated the refugee deal, was forced by President Erdogan to step down last week. Now Europe is worried: will the deal with Turkey crumble? Kilicdaroglu: No. The agreement was made with the State of Turkey, not with an individual person. Erdogan is not Turkey, nor will he ever be! But is Erdogan not in the powerful position of being able to blackmail the EU, to flood Europe with refugees again, at his discretion? Kilicdaroglu: It would be shameful to act like this, at the expense of the refugees. That would not be part of the Turkish mentality. And one thing is clear: the refugee agreement with the EU is not in danger, regardless of who becomes the new Prime Minister. Last Friday, Erdogan seriously affronted the EU in a speech. With respect to the refugee question and the agreement, he said: We are going our way, you are going yours Kilicdaroglu: Erdogan acts as if he is the state. I think the EU gave the right response agreements are made with states and not with individuals. In general, I think that Europe is too concerned with Erdogan the person. This weakens the European position and, worse, the position of the Turkish democrats. Do you think that Turkey will be able to fulfil the EUs requirements for the visa-free travel of Turkish citizens by the end of June? Kilicdaroglu: Parliament will decide this, not the President. And in parliament, there is a majority support for these reforms. It would be an enormous contradiction if the members of parliament were to demand that Turkey becomes an EU member on the one hand, while refusing to agree to European standards on the other. One of the EUs demands is that the arbitrary anti-terror laws be mitigated, so that they cannot be used at will against anybody and anything. Why does Erdogan resist this so persistently? Kilicdaroglu: Erdogan uses the fight against terrorism in order to promote his own interests and to present himself as the sole potential saviour of the nation. One thing is striking: while Erdogan is fighting the Kurdish PKK by every means, he has also massively helped ISIS. Kilicdaroglu: Objection! Erdogan has supported both including the PKK. This is his routine. He supports terrorist groups, allowing conflicts to escalate in order to then intervene as the saviour. It was the same in Southern Turkey where he told the governors not to take action against the PKKs weapons stashes. Now that Head of State Davutoglu is gone, is there a risk that Erdogan will achieve his goal: a monopoly on power by way of introducing a presidential rule, on which he will let the people vote? Kilicdaroglu: He will not win this fight against the Turkish people and the freely elected, proud Turkish parliament. We will never accept such a change to the constitution. All major Turkish newspapers are currently running a campaign selling Erdogans plan as the only solution to all problems. Kilicdaroglu: That proves, once again, that he is indirectly controlling all of the major media companies. This is how he can systematically spread his propaganda. How do you intend to oppose this? Kilicdaroglu: By means of a kind of information battle on the streets. We have to go everywhere in the country, go to the squares, and we will tell people the truth. But more than 50 percent of Turks have voted for Erdogan Kilicdaroglu: Yes, but do you seriously think that his voters can be persuaded to destroy our 150-year-old constitutional tradition? Our question to the Turks is quite simple: do you want a single family, a single man, to rule the entire country? Something completely different: do you know Jan Bohmermann? Kilicdaroglu (laughs): Yes, Ive heard of him. You two have something in common: you are both along with about 2000 other Turks being sued by Erdogan for insulting him. Bohmermann is being sued because of his defamatory poem. What was your crime? Kilicdaroglu (grins): I called him a kind of dictator. He then sued me and scolded me for being a political pervert. That is why I have now sued him. This is how things go back and forth between us At the beginning of our conversation, you talked about the suppression of the free press in Turkey. Is a country where journalists are being arrested, where the state closes down newspapers, and where demonstrations by womens rights-activists are brutally supressed, a democracy? Kilicdaroglu: No. We do not have a democracy. We have been fighting to become a democracy for a long time now. With Erdogan, however, we keep moving further away from this goal. Is Erdogans aim to establish an Islamic State of Turkey? Kilicdaroglu: No. He wants the country to become his empire. Islam merely serves as a tool for him. If he were serious about his faith, he would hardly abuse millions in tax money for his splendour and luxury for instance, for his gigantic show-off palace. Modern Turkey in which state and religion are strictly separated was born with the founder of the Turkish state, Kemal Ataturk. Is Erdogan now about to destroy Ataturks legacy? Kilicdaroglu: That is Erdogans aim. However, he is too minor and weak to destroy Kemal Ataturks legacy. For Immediate Release, May 11, 2016 Contacts: Taylor Jones, WildEarth Guardians, (720) 443-2615, tjones@wildearthguardians.org Amey Owen, Animal Welfare Institute, (202) 446-2128, amey@awionline.org Miyoko Sakashita, Center for Biological Diversity, (510) 845-6703, miyoko@biologicaldiversity.org Taiwanese Humpback Dolphin Moves Toward Endangered Species Act Protection WASHINGTON The National Marine Fisheries Service today took a step toward protecting rare Taiwanese humpback dolphins, finding that listing the species under the Endangered Species Act may be warranted. The decision comes in response to a petition from the Animal Welfare Institute, Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians seeking federal protections to help prevent the extinction of a population that now numbers fewer than 75 dolphins. The agency will now conduct a full review of the status of the species to determine whether to list it as an endangered species. These small dolphins are perilously close to extinction, said Dr. Naomi Rose, Animal Welfare Institute marine mammal scientist. Once they disappear, they are gone forever. Its an encouraging sign that the U.S. has so quickly concluded that it could help by extending protections to this population. Taiwanese humpback dolphins are threatened by pollution, illegal fishing, boat traffic, and development along Taiwans densely populated west coast. The Endangered Species Act could help the dolphin by providing technical expertise and resources to support Taiwan in conserving the rare dolphin. Its great that these rare dolphins are a step closer to endangered species protection. Small cetaceans around the world are disappearing baiji in China went extinct, and the vaquita in Mexico and Taiwans humpback dolphin are nearing extinction and we need bold action to save them, said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans director at the Center for Biological Diversity. The Taiwanese humpback dolphin, also known in Taiwan as Matsus fish, is a biologically and culturally important subspecies of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. In 2014 the Service denied a previous petition to protect the Taiwanese humpback dolphin, concluding that the population was not distinct from the Chinese white dolphin, which swims in deeper waters closer to Chinas coastline. New taxonomy studies, however, conclude that the Taiwanese humpback dolphin is a distinct subspecies with unique characteristics, whose numbers continue to decline to alarmingly low levels. Even though more than half of marine species may be at risk of extinction by 2100, only about 6 percent of species listed under the ESA are marine, said Taylor Jones, endangered species advocate at WildEarth Guardians. To combat the extinction crisis, we need more quick actions like the National Marine Fisheries Service has taken to protect this rare dolphin. The Endangered Species Act is an effective safety net for imperiled species: It has prevented extinction for more than 90 percent of plants and animals under its care. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct by 2006 if not for the Acts protections. Protecting species with global distributions can help focus U.S. resources toward enforcement of international regulations and recovery of the species. Learn more at www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Taiwanese_humpback_dolphin/. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. WildEarth Guardians is a nonprofit conservation organization that protects and restores the wildlife, wild places, wild rivers, and health of the American West. The organization is working towards Endangered Species Act protections for diverse marine species through its Wild Oceans campaign. The Animal Welfare Institute is a nonprofit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. AWI engages policymakers, scientists, industry, and the public to achieve better treatment of animals everywhere in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild. For more information, visit www.awionline.org. For Immediate Release, May 11, 2016 Contact: Michael Robinson, (575) 313-7017, michaelr@biologicaldiversity.org Study: Government Wolf-killing Reduces Tolerance, Spurs Wolf-poaching SILVER CITY, N.M. A study published today of the proportion of wolves that went missing in Wisconsin and Michigan over the course of 18 years shows that when culling of wolves was permitted, poaching of wolves increased as well; when wolves were protected from culling, poaching decreased. The study accounted for other reasons that wolves might have gone missing to identify patterns in illegal killing of wolves. The analysis was conducted by independent researchers Adrian Treves and Guillaume Chapron, associate professors at, respectively, the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. It showed that as wolves received or lost protections through various policy changes intended to either protect or cull them, the policy signal sent to the public resulted in four times more wolves being illegally killed during periods when those policies seemingly devalued wolves. The finding undermines assertions by many government officials and opponents of wolf protection that culling of wolves is necessary to mollify the segment of the population that might otherwise poach the animals. This paper disproves a convenient myth used to rationalize government persecution of wolves, said Michael Robinson of the Center for Biological Diversity. We hear over and over that individual wolves have to die in order to placate a wolf-hating public and prevent illegal killing but this shows that to decrease poaching, the government should send the message that wolves have a high public value. The study spanning the years 1994 to 2012 is the first to test as a hypothesis a widely held assumption that sanctioned wolf-killing decreases illegal wolf-killing. This important study should trigger more humane, science-based management of wolves, said Robinson. The study, titled Blood does not buy goodwill: allowing culling increases poaching of a large carnivore was published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 1 million members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. Jem's Birding & Ringing Exploits in the Eastern Province and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia In Africa's boardrooms growth is on the agenda - together with addressing stakeholders' expectations and concerns and managing the pipeline of talent, according to PwC's Africa Business Agenda,2016 survey released at the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa in Kigali yesterday, 10 May 2016. Hein Boegman, CEO for PwC Africa The key highlights from the PwC report include a focus on company business strategies to include the growth of regional operations; investing in and developing innovative and technological products and services; and strengthening of internal management structures. The African Business Agenda compiles results from 260 CEOs and includes insights from business and public sector leaders from 18 African countries. ..."We remain confident that Africas prospects remain positive... Hein Boegman, CEO for PwC Africa, says: CEOs in Africa are ramping up their efforts to innovate and find new ways to do business on the continent in a move to stimulate growth in a challenging and uncertain global business environment. The global financial and economic crisis has revealed Africas vulnerability to a number of external economic shocks. Notwithstanding a multitude of challenges, many of which are cyclical, we remain confident that Africas prospects remain positive. Anne Eriksson, country and regional senior partner for PwC in Kenya and East Africa, says: East Africa is in a good place now in terms of demographics and relative political stability. The region is seen as a good destination to invest, whether for multinationals or venture capital or private equity funds. We have seen a multitude of organisations expand significantly in East Africa what continues to be a challenge for most of them is ensuring that they can meet demand and so achieve their shareholders objectives, and at the same time maintain high standards of quality. According to The Agenda, just over a quarter of CEOs in Africa believe global growth will improve in the next 12 months. African CEOs are less optimistic about global prospects than a year ago, with 66% of CEOs (global: 73%) thinking the economy will not improve in the next 12 months; while 92% (global: 73%) are extremely concerned about exchange rate volatility. Catalysts for growth After more than a decade of urbanisation, Africa is poised for a digital revolution. Increasingly, organisations are using technology to challenge business models and disrupt competitors in markets. African CEOs that took part in the survey are cognisant of emerging technologies that can transform their businesses in the next five years. Going forward, African CEOs indicated that they will be more actively looking for partners, while keeping an eye on costs. Partnerships and alliances feature prominently in their plans, with more than half of CEOs (56%) planning to enter into a strategic alliance over the next 12 months. Stakeholders expectations The corporate landscape continues to undergo constant change, with companies being confronted by shareholders and other institutional investors who demand explanations around financial reporting and performance. In the process, businesses are encountering a range of challenges in responding to stakeholder expectations. Trust is emerging as an important differentiator in the business community. Building trust helps organisations to attract investment and build stakeholder loyalty. It is concerning to note that 65% of African CEOs are somewhat or extremely concerned about the lack of trust in business (Global: 55%). Corruption is also seen as a major threat by businesses (86%). Africa is a complex and diverse continent requiring layers of insight. Growth in Africa is taking place in individual markets and geographic regions, within industry sectors and influenced by demographic changes. Notwithstanding the difficulties and challenges that lie ahead, many organisations in Africa have learnt to adapt and be agile to respond and overcome many of these challenges in order to achieve their organisational goals, concludes Eriksson. In this exclusive interview I speak to Kevin Swanepoel, CEO of the One Club and One Show Awards taking place in New York City this week, about what true diversity means in terms of both gender and race throughout the industry. Nurock: Its an absolute privilege to be interviewing you Kevin, because not only are you the CEO of the One Club but also a South African. When did you leave South Africa? Kevin Swanepoel Swanepoel: Thanks Ann. Firstly, Im thrilled to have you here for the South Africans, and to see the great work thats going to be displayed during our Creative Week. I came to the US 19 years ago in 1998, to start the Interactive Award Show here. At that stage Id come from Apple and we were working on a thing called the internet, and I said to Mary Warlick, who was then the head of the One Show that we should do an interactive award show. I outlined that for her, she put it forward to the board, and they said Great idea, now youve got to get this guy to come out here and do it because we dont know anything about him. Thats the journey of how I got here. Nurock: There are a lot of award shows around globally and in the US. What is about the One Show Awards that is different to other awards Swanepoel: There are two fundamental differences. The one is with awards that are not-for-profit like ourselves, that look to do good for the industry. So agencies enter, they pay a fee to have their work reviewed, and if theyre good enough they win an award and then that fund is used to actually better the industry. We put it back into diversity, like with the workshops and boot camps we held down in Cape Town last year, and we put it back into professional development with other workshops we offer the industry, as well as scholarships. We give out about $36,000 in scholarships a year to students who are on the up-and-coming. The one in South of France is very much on that scale, but D&AD and ourselves are definitely not-for-profit. The other big difference that sets us apart from other award shows is that we really believe the One Show is the fairest award out there. Its the most prestigious award, and when I say fair I mean we limit discussion and dont allow lobbying, so we cut out a lot of the issues that other award shows have. To keep it fair, every piece of work gets seen, every piece of work gets judged, and if it doesnt meet the criteria for a category we move it; we dont just disqualify work. We really believe our process is very fair. Nurock: You seem to focus a lot on diversity, which is a very important need in the industry globally, especially in the US and obviously South Africa. Talk to me about the focus of diversity that you have with the One Show Awards. Swanepoel: For us, we believe that creative departments in our industry should be made up like the industry we serve. In other words, if our consumers out there are a mix of both gender and race, our creative departments should mirror that. It doesnt make any sense if its just a bunch of guys in the creative department who are then creating ads for women, it also doesnt make sense if theres a bunch of white people creating ads for Latinos or blacks. The creative department should reflect, and its not just diversity in race, but its diversity in gender as well. For the Young Ones Awards, the one brief was for gender equality. We see this throughout the organisation, whether its coming up through the Young Ones, we push really hard to get young people, both male and female, credited, we try keep our jury its really difficult to get a really top jury that is 50/50 and we have a lot of women and a lot of diversity on our jury so we dont just pay this lip service. Instead we take some of the revenue we generate and we do boot camps, well be back in Cape Town this year and were also coming to Johannesburg for a boot camp down there. We do this in 3 countries and 12 cities. Nurock: The 3% of creative directors globally being female, is a concern. Why do you think that is? Swanepoel: Some people are obviously pushing to have more women in management, in creative roles, but theres also a whole other bunch of people that are pushing to have more African Americans, Hispanics and people of various races. So theres two sides to these serious diversity issues. The one is gender equality and the other is racial equality. Cindy and the team at 3 Percent Conference are doing a pretty good job at trying to give more women great exposure. There really are great women, to be honest I think they just need to be a little more forthcoming and forward themselves, because weve had competitions for young professionals, and young students, and I can tell you that when you go to the art colleges, there are about 70% women and about 30% guys maybe its 60/40 but when its gets to the industry, the guys are the ones who dominate. When we have the One to Watch competition, which is for people under the age of 30, we have teamed up with Cindy and 3% Conference, SheSays USA, SheSays London, to try and get more women to enter. But for some reason, less women enter and I just dont get it. If women want to start dominating, and have a bigger presence within the agencies, then they really should try and participate more. Theyve definitely got the cred, ability and talent. When I see some of the art directors, young creative and writers coming out of colleges, theyve got all the talent in the world. But for some reason they dont have that raw push that guys have got. The guys are a little bit more dominant, and I just think that women have got to get a little bit hungry. Nurock: So at the end of the event on Friday night, what will success look like for you? What would you like to have achieved? Swanepoel: Well I know what success looks like for a couple of agencies because I know the results! But to be frank with you, success for me is that it already is way beyond my wildest dreams. We sold out Wednesday nights One Show Awards 8 days before the event and Thursday, we have a star-studded line-up, with David Droga doing the keynote and about 150 amazing speakers. Then on Friday night, we are going to be having sit-down dinner for about 900 people and I can tell you, being a South African who really loves meat, I have got the best restaurant in New York City serving the best steaks, so you can be guaranteed to feel at home and success will be when you sit down and watch some amazing work, and dine one of the finest meals in New York City. Nurock: Kevin thank you so much, its an absolute privilege to be here, representing Bizcommunity, and Im really looking forward to the week ahead. One Show Creative Week runs from 9 to 13 May 2016. Click through to our One Show awards special section and watch for live coverage of the One Show Creative Week from me, roving reporter, Ann Nurock. On 26 April 1986, the world was rocked by the horror of the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl in what is now Ukraine. Three decades later, the first two speakers on the second day of the 14th International Congress of the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA14) cast their minds back to the catastrophe. They looked at the fallout of that accident on the human population, and what has been learnt from the event. The human factor Whats known from Chernobyl is that 134 onsite people were diagnosed with acute radiation syndrome (ARS) shortly afterwards 28 of whom would die over the next few weeks, explained Richard Wakeford, professor in epidemiology at the University of Manchester and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Radiological Protection. Credit:Nick Rush-Cooper Checkpoint to Chernobyl exclusion zone. A further 600,000 liquidators or clean-up workers would later also be exposed to radiation. Since then, of course, there have been tens of thousands of cases of thyroid cancer, related to the exposure to radioactive iodine. Young children exposed at the time and are now young adults have been particularly hard hit, pointed out Wakeford. There have been other problems, such as a high number of cases of cataracts among the liquidators. Emotional fallout Even more problematic, however, may be the psychosocial trauma suffered by those evacuated and among liquidators, said Wakeford. These are big problems after thyroid cancer, possibly the greatest health problem from Chernobyl. To evacuate or not to evacuate? Rolf Michel, professor of radiation protection at the University of Hannover, Germany, was among those trying to work out the levels of radiation people had been exposed to at the time of the accident. He and his team have been conducting long-running studies in the fallout regions. One issue coming out of the discussion was on evacuations whether, in fact, it would have been better to simply advise residents to stay in their homes and take protective measures (like not drink the milk, likely one of the leading causes of the thyroid cancer) rather than evacuate them. The former may have been the better option, suggested Michel. Better preparedness after Fukushima This echoes a presentation by Dr Makoto Akashi of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Japan, who spoke on lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi accident in March 2011. Much had gone wrong then, said Akashi, as people including health workers had not been prepared for such an incident. This had led to many psychological and social problems, he noted. Most of them were caused by, probably, lack of knowledge of radiation and its effects. The country is much better prepared now, said Akashi. Japan has since then run a number of outreach activities, including training programmes for medical personnel and first responders. Sharing knowledge and experiences This was underscored by Yukiya Amano, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in his keynote address on the opening day of the congress. Both Chernobyl and Fukushima had caused immense suffering, noted Amano, but had prompted a wealth of precautionary measures. Chief among these is that countries now share knowledge and experiences. Important legal instruments were adopted, such as spurred on by Chernobyl the 1994 Convention on Nuclear Safety. His visits to nuclear power plants across the world have confirmed that things have improved dramatically over the past few years, said Amano. I can say that nuclear power plants are much safer now than before the Fukushima Daiichi accident, he noted. [Chernobyl and Fukushima] have led to significant improvements in global nuclear safety. The congress brings together close on 900 delegates from 72 countries at the Cape Town International Conference Centre (CTICC) from 9 to 13 May. Spark Media, a division of Caxton CTP limited, introduced its first-ever digital sales academy in September 2015 with seven interns, after a vigorous interview and selection process. These seven were then put through two Red and Yellow digital sales courses and every intern spent valuable time working at Spark Media, Caxton Magazines and Caxton Digital. They gained knowledge into all aspects of the business and have produced outstanding marks with their studies too. They now embark on their next step, after being integrated into the Caxton group for the past eight months. "Spark Media's first intake of digital sales interns has been a major success and we fully endorse these students into the media industry's working world," says Marc Du Plessis, Commercial Director at Spark Media. "We urge those companies who have positions available to look no further! We have some fantastic, hardworking individuals with serious digital knowledge and experience chomping at the bit," he adds. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us for recommendations. Spark Media is featuring the following three interns: Meet Lucky Mathabatha An energetic, enthusiastic individual that has been working in the mobile team at Spark Media since March this year as a junior channel & sales support. His role has allowed him to gain a variety of skills and knowledge in the mobile and digital space and he has been directly involved with sales, operations finance as well as channel. He would be an asset to any company and we highly recommend him. Junior Mahlangu Meet Junior Mahlangu A quick learner, full of enthusiasm and a positive attitude. Junior has been working as part of the LinkedIn team since March - checking inventory, assisting with client proposals, pulling various reports and assisting with the quarterly business review. He exhibits patience, creativity and a great sense of humour as he carries out his duties, and comes highly recommended to any future employer. Meet Andrew Mukudu Andy is an energetic, articulate young man who has been working as a digital media sales assistant at Caxton Magazines since March. From supporting the New Business Director, to compiling proposals, creating monthly newsletters and finding new business, he has shown a strong desire for success and an enormous amount of enthusiasm. Andy is a hardworking individual who has excellent communication skills and would be a valuable asset to any company. Meet Muchaneta Madavo Mucha has exceptional initiative, is highly dedicated and has brilliant digital and analytical skills. She has been working within the Caxton Magazines Insights division as a digital marketing insights intern since March and has been a true, hardworking, team player. Her responsibilities include compiling post campaign reports, analysing campaign performance, compiling proposals and providing digital expertise to the sales team. Mucha is a proven performer in the work space and it is with pleasure that we recommend her for any position in the digital landscape. To contact SPARK Media call 010 492 8390, visit www.sparkmedia.co.za, follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SparkMediasa or look for 'SPARK Media' on Facebook or Instagram (sparkmediasa). Spark Media DNA: Established in 2015, SPARK Media is a result of a fusing between NAB and Habari Media using the legacy platforms and Caxton owned print and digital products in the form of NAB and a cutting edge digital sales agency in the form of Habari Media to create this new media sales powerhouse. SPARK Media are Strategic Partners in Audience Research and Knowledge and they offer 'Insights that Ignite'. According to the CIPS Risk Index, powered by Dun & Bradstreet Sub-Saharan Africa contributed slightly less risk to the global economy in Q1, from 2.46 points in the first quarter of 2016 to 2.47 in Q2. Underlying risk to supply chains, however, heightened as countries in the region struggle with food shortages brought about by extreme weather while also trying to cope with the impact of low commodity prices and China's slow growth. Sub-Saharan Africa has been swept up in a wave of natural disasters and extreme weather systems which have hit supply chains this quarter. South Africa and Ethiopia, in particular, are struggling to cope with the prolonged drought caused by the El Nino weather system. These adverse weather systems are having inevitable implications on the agricultural industrys output within Sub-Saharan Africa. Global supply chain risk Q1 2016 South Africa in particular has seen output of white corn fall by 31% this year due to the effects of El Nino. In order to cope with this disruption to production, the country will have to import 3.8m tonnes of maize which will inadvertently place increased strain on the countrys foreign exchange reserves. In addition, the risk of floods and landslides brought by El Nino damaging the infrastructure in certain parts of the region further threatens supply chain and business continuity in the region. The impact from adverse weather conditions are compounded by economic headwinds facing the region. Sub-Saharan Africas largest economies are dependent on commodity exports to China. With commodity prices remaining persistently low and Chinas growth slowing, these continue to put stress on businesses and supply chains in the region. Andre Coetzee The global picture Globally, supply chain risk rose for the second consecutive quarter, from 79.3 in Q4 2015 to 79.8 in Q1 2016, the joint highest recorded level of supply chain risk in a first quarter since records began in 1995. Natural disasters are contributing to heightened supply chain risk in other parts of the world too, however, the extent of disruption to supply chain activity is determined by a countrys capacity to cope with such damage. Despite a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in Taiwan and a 5.8 magnitude quake in Japan, manufacturers in both countries were able to swiftly resume production, using stock reserves to plug any gaps. According to Andre Coetzee, managing director of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) Africa The latest Risk Index shows that regardless of international political relations, supply chain activity will always be exposed to the threat of natural disasters and extreme weather. The effect of drought on South Africa and the Sub-Saharan African region has quantified this in recent months. A fundamental step in sustaining a resilient supply chain is identifying areas of risk, and establishing precautions which work to minimise the disruption caused. The experience of businesses in Japan and Taiwan reflect how the magnitude of disruption was overcome effectively. Oana Aristide, Interim Lead Economist, Country Risk services, Dun & Bradstreet, said Soft commodity prices and the lack of global growth engines combined to increase supply chain risks in the first quarter. The EU established Hello Kiwi programme for the provision and promotion of kiwi fruit grown in Europe, is set to change the current situation where South Africa is exporting fresh fruit to Greece while Greece only exports processed fruit and vegetables to South Africa. This according to Panagiotis Dermetzoglou from the economic and commercial affairs office at the Greek embassy in Pretoria. Rupert Stoop (Fruit and Veg City), Nicholas Myhill (Freshmark - Shoprite Group), Darryl Rahme and John Rahme (Kiwi King) He was speaking at a dinner for stakeholders and the media after the Hostex Expo in Midrand where the Greek Kiwi Producers Association exhibited their products. The annual total trade between South Africa and Greece historically lies at a relatively low level of approximately 100 million in the past five years, standing at 92.36 million for 2015. However, while trade flows between the two countries have certainly been low, there is definitely scope to do better on both sides, he said. Apart from processed fruit and vegetables, South Africa also exported fresh citrus (2,7 million), apples and peaches (760.000) and apricots and cherries (85.000) over the past year. Exporting fresh kiwi fruit from Greece to South Africa, as part of the Hello Kiwi programme, will afford Greece the opportunity to export fresh fruit to South Africa. Agricultural trade is an essential part of the EU/SA bilateral trade relations. Cooperation at technical level has delivered important results by facilitating the continuation of trade and the processing of a number of cases related to import conditions. The green light for kiwi imports will open the door for other fruit produced by Greece, he said. According to Dermetzoglou the fruit growing seasons in the two countries complement each other and create mutual benefits for them. He emphasised that Greece is implementing a roadmap for stabilising the national economy for sustainable growth, which makes it an ideal trading partner. In a world where we all face a wide range of challenges, we definitely need to improve the overall conditions for our two countries to engage and increased trade is, of course, an important element of this, he said. Fashion designer and MRP Foundation ambassador Anisa Mpungwe teaches Jump Start pre-production students to embrace their African design heritage and how to succeed in the workplace. The award-winning designer brings a wealth of knowledge to the 10-month intensive practical and theoretical course that aims to bridge the gap between tertiary education and the manufacturing industry to address South Africas youth unemployment challenge directly. Mpungwe recently spent time mentoring the students to ensure that they can become more knowledgeable, passionate and, ultimately, more employable. This is the second year the designer and founder of popular womens-wear design house Loin Cloth & Ashes has been hands-on with the Jump Start Pre-production Manufacturing Course. Potential future leaders The Tanzania-born designer thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the young students learning journey saying: Its important always to look at potential future leaders and the MRP Foundation has made this platform available for any students who want to further their knowledge in the manufacturing, textile and footwear industry. The questions they ask are always interesting and its fulfilling to know that in a small way you can mentor eager learners who dont have access to the fashion industry just yet. Mpungwes journey with MRP began back in 2008 when she was announced the winner of the Elle Rising Star Design Award, an annual competition in association with MRP, in which she reaffirmed her herself as a force within the local fashion industry. During her week with the MRP Foundation Mpungwe enlightened the students about Africas wealth of established designers, after which they had to present a collection in a team, based on their findings. The 25 students loved learning from Mpungwe and absorbed as much workplace knowledge as they could, learning skills like professional presentation techniques and how to work effectively in groups - both vital to building careers. Think smarter Above all, Mpungwe encouraged the students to think smarter when it comes to their career dreams, imparting essential advice that will no doubt help them gain a foothold in the local manufacturing, textile and footwear industry. Dont be so hard on yourself. As long as there is a clear end goal, the road there can always alter if it needs to. Networking and maintaining relationships within the industry and people in the know is a good tool to use to for this process. A group of civil society organisations along with the Competition Commission have withdrawn their Constitutional Court appeal, which they had hoped would enable victims in the Western Cape bread price-fixing cartel to sue Premier Foods. The Constitutional Court was expected to hear the matter on Tuesday but the parties withdrew their application last week. They had planned to challenge a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling that effectively let Premier Foods off the hook for its role in the 2006 bread cartel, by setting aside a declaration that opened it up to lawsuits. Without the declaration, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the National Consumer Forum, the Children's Resource Centre Trust and other parties that are planning a class action against the bread cartelists cannot sue Premier Foods. Premier Foods, which makes Blue Ribbon bread and owns brands such as Snowflake, Iwisa and Dove, was granted immunity under the Competition Commission's corporate leniency policy in exchange for assisting it in the investigation of the cartel. It argued that the certification declaring that it had acted unlawfully under competition laws should not have been issued against it because it had immunity and the Supreme Court of Appeal agreed. Charles Abrahams, lawyer for the alleged victims, said previously that the application for class action certification, currently pending before the Western Cape High Court, against the cartelists would continue with or without Premier Foods. Pioneer Foods was fined R195.7m for its involvement in the cartel while Tiger Brands and Foodcorp negotiated fines of more than R98m and R45m respectively. Source: BDpro via I-Net Bridge Analysts are at a loss as to why the Competition Commission has asked for a further extension before it makes a recommendation on Anheuser-Busch InBev's (AB InBev) takeover of SABMiller. AB InBev had set a deadline of July to finalise the merger. In August, SABMiller will pay a dividend of about 1.5bn. If the merger is completed before the payout is made, AB InBev will get it. If the merger is pending, SABMiller shareholders will coin the cash. The brewer approached the competition authorities on 14 December 2015. In terms of the Competition Act, the commission is given 40 working days to make a decision on mergers. Extensions are granted by the Competition Tribunal, which has granted four. The latest deadline had been set for 12 May. The commission has already warned it may not make the date. "I really don't know what's delaying proceedings," said Sasfin Securities analyst David Shapiro. "We don't know where any of the complaints are coming from. As far as I know, AB InBev reached agreements with the government and unions that were key." Shapiro said SA made it difficult for companies to invest in the country because of the vast number of rules and regulations. Walmart waited a year and a half to receive approval to take over Massmart. Shapiro said the competition authorities were sending negative messages to global investors. The billion-dollar deal has received approval from authorities in Australia. It still needs the go-ahead from regulatory bodies in the US, China and Europe. Meanwhile, Fitch has downgraded the brewer's long-term ratings by two notches. It said the company was being placed on ratings watch negative, pending completion of SABMiller's takeover. Fitch said it expects to affirm the current rating or to downgrade, based on postmerger debt positions and the new company's financial policy, "especially in regard to the pace of deleveraging". Source: Business Day via I-Net Bridge Coca Cola Company, Nestle, Tesco and Alibaba are amongst the brands attending the 60th Global Summit of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) in Cape Town this year. The event will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 15-17 June 2016 and is expected to draw more than 800 delegates from over 365 companies. FMCG industry leaders and rising stars hit the stage This year, the line-up of speakers will serve to bridge the industry generation gap and will feature both legacy heavy-hitters such as Coca Cola Company CEO and chairman Muhtar Kent, Tesco CEO Dave Lewis and Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba, as well as a new generation of young entrepreneurs making waves of their own in the industry, including the CEO of Facebook Africa, Nunu Ntshingila and Affiong Williams, founder and CEO of ReelFruit, an emerging fruit processing company. With the CGFs focus on collaboration, this will be an exciting juxtaposition of ideas coming together to create mutual inspiration - each side has much to learn from the other. The Global Summit will focus on disruption in all areas of business, and the resultant opportunities. Innovators, CEOs and leaders of new business models from both emerging and developed markets will come together to challenge delegates to see disruption from new vantage points. Additional speakers set to deliver insights at the Global Summit include: Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO at WPP, on "Lessons to be learnt from disruptive communications" Doug McMillon, CEO Wal-Mart Stores, on "Responsible on retailing for the modern consumer" Francois Pienaar, former captain of the South Africa Rugby team Zelda La Grange, former private secretary to the office of the President Nelson Mandela How to go the distance in the digital world Panel discussions scheduled for day two will see invited speakers debate and evaluate key issues facing the industry on a daily basis. Topics will include health and wellness challenges and ways in which the industry can do more to improve these issues through greater collaboration. The digital disruptors will also have their say on how integral digital platforms are key to the success of business today. Other topics to be discussed include: "Positive impact, real business", where fearless, young entrepreneurs from Africa share their stories and provide refreshing, inspiring and innovative concepts for emerging markets "Retail growth success stories", bringing together both digital natives and established retailers that have successfully embraced new models and addressed new markets "Building a sustainable future", exploring how companies can build sustainable futures by looking at todays challenges and turning them into tomorrows opportunities A strategic one-stop-shop to stay ahead of the curve In addition to the speaker programme, the CGF will host its Innovation Zone, called the i-Zone, showcasing creative ideas from the retail and consumer goods industries. This display area offers a window to the most innovative concepts offered by members from across the world. A key feature of the event is the Store Visits Programme. This offers invited participants the opportunity to participate in a custom-made retail tour that will showcase the best of local retail. Guests will be given access to senior industry executives and will be privy to some sought-after information regarding their business background as well as an opportunity to benchmark their own retail offer. Peter Freedman, managing director at the Consumer Goods Forum, commented, All industries experience waves of disruption, but the consumer goods industry is arguably going through more disruption right now than we have seen in a lifetime. Digital is perhaps the biggest disruption, because it affects how we produce, buy, sell and communicate. At the same time we are seeing disruption from new entrants not just digital natives, but also many others, ranging from the local craft industry to a new breed of emerging market-based multinationals. The Global Summit is the forum for our members to discuss how they can capitalise on the opportunities that lie beneath all disruptions. We will explore how the CGFs mission to collaborate on consumer trust and industry efficiency can also unlock growth opportunities. The CGF works to create better lives through better business. Manufacturers and retailers partner with the CGF to develop common positions, drive business efficiency and positive societal change in four strategic priority areas for the industry: sustainability, health and wellness, product safety, and end-to-end value chain. Read more about The Consumer Goods Forum and TCGF Summit. The Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit convenes at the Cape Town International Convention Centre from 15-17 June. Manufacturers, service providers and retailers within the consumer goods industry can register here to attend. Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF). This year, Fairtrade SA's annual flagship campaign Fairtrade Fortnight, runs under the slogan #ThePowerOfChoice, during which Fairtrade will unwrap all the reasons why everyone should choose fair trade products. The campaign serves to illustrate how a simple lifestyle choice will allow consumers to create real impact and create a better world. "What if you could fight climate change by simply drinking your morning coffee? Or give a farm worker's kid a better education by merely sipping your Chardonnay? Look out for the Fairtrade logo on your favourite products and you could do this and more. By choosing Fairtrade you can contribute to a better world all the while enjoying your guilty pleasures. The power of choice lies with you!", so says Lynsay Sampson, marketing and media manager from Fairtrade South Africa. Which Fairtrade product will you choose this Fortnight? Coffee: Coffee plants are extremely sensitive to changes in temperature which makes it difficult for coffee farmers to grow and harvest their crop in light of the extreme weather, droughts, floods and crop disease. Choosing Fairtrade certified coffee allows Fairtrade to support farmers, enabling them to access technical knowledge and funds to successfully adapt to, and mitigate against the worst effects of climate change. Click here to see Zeddy, a Kenyan coffee farmers story about how she has been able to mitigate the effects of climate change by selling her coffee on Fairtrade terms. Cocoa: Child labour remains a reality in West African cocoa-producing communities, where 90% of the worlds cocoa is grown. Choosing Fairtrade certified chocolate allows cocoa farmers to invest in their businesses, improve the quality of their cocoa and increase their sales. Making it possible for families to send their children to school. Click here to see how Rose is able to increase the quality of her cocoa by selling it on Fairtrade terms. Wine: The delivery of basic education remains a challenge in many farming communities in South Africa. Choosing Fairtrade certified wine allows farm workers to invest the Fairtrade Development Premium into establishing functional foundation, primary and secondary education for their children. Click here to see how Crissi, a farm worker's daughter, has access to a state-of-the-art mobile library, computer training, and books. Tea Rooibos tea farmers often end up in the trade because of family ties and heritage. In many instances, rooibos farming is not economically viable. Choosing Fairtrade certified tea allows small-scale rooibos farmers to earn a minimum price for their harvest which has the ability to increase household incomes and yields. Click here to find out how Barend is able to save towards his retirement through the sale of his crops on Fairtrade terms. Your choice gives Fairtrade small-scale farmers and workers a sense of security, which allows them to plan better. Campaign highlights: The World Fairtrade Challenge (WFC), 13-15 May Fairtrade Fortnight will feature what aims to be the biggest Fairtrade coffee break in the world. Coffee lovers around the world are being urged to drink a record amount of Fairtrade coffee to show their support for the 800,000 Fairtrade certified coffee farmers, from 30 countries, affected by climate change. The goal is to achieve a record number of cups of Fairtrade coffee drunk within three days and to send a powerful message: small-scale coffee farmers have global support for their fight against climate change. To participate in the challenge, interested parties can register on the WFC website and either host or join a coffee break event. All they have to do is log the number of Fairtrade cups of coffee they drink between 13 and 15 May and Fairtrade will add them up. Visit Fairtrade Challenge for ideas and materials to help you organise an event. We invite everyone in South Africa to participate in the Fairtrade challenge, to challenge (nominate) your friends and peers to match the amount of Fairtrade coffee you drink and to share your events tagging #FairtradeChallenge on social media, says Sampson. Fairtrade pop-up shops: Companies with more than 50 staffers qualify for a Fairtrade coffee pop-up shop to visit your office during Fairtrade Fortnight! Contact the Fairtrade office on 021 44 88 911 for more info. The Fairtrade Cook-off: Keep an eye on Fairtrade SAs Instagram and Twitter pages as they have challenged some of your favourite TV and Radio personalities to cook with Fairtrade products and host an intimate dinner or lunch for close friends. Vote for your favourite contestant and stand a chance to win great prizes. Retail Promos: Customers can also look for the Fairtrade logo on products in Pick n Pay between 9 and 22 May to score double points. The ultra-premium Bosman Adama red & white wines will also be launched in Makro Stores nationwide during the Fortnight period. Twitter Chat: Consumers can join FairtradeSA on Twitter on Thursday 12 May at 10.30am to talk about all things coffee from single origin, to select blends and everything in between. Follow the hashtag #FairtradeSAChat to join the conversation. For more information, updates and spot prizes visit Fairtrade and follow @FairtradeSA and #FairtradeFortnight on Insta and Facebook. The University of Witwatersrand's School of Accountancy recently honoured top performing students for their outstanding academic talent with prizes sponsored by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). Prize winners (from left): Eleanore Angelinaidis, Shruthi Thomas, Ali Zain Ul-Abedin, Dusan Ecim and Arson Malola pictured with SAICAs Northern Region Executive, Wela Swana. It is a seven-year commitment to become a CA(SA), says Teboho Moephudi (project manager of SAICAs university projects). Therefore, keeping students on track is a top priority. One way to do this is to foster a culture of excellence and competitiveness by recognising academically talented students who consistently perform at their best and achieve top marks. This is what Wits School of Accountings annual awards ceremony does. SAICA honoured the following students for achieving the highest marks in their Bachelor of Accounting Science year and passing all their required courses on the first attempt: Eleanore Angelinaidis and Shruthi Thomas: jointly awarded prizes for the highest marks in first year Ali Zain Ul-Abedin: For the highest marks in second year Dusan Ecim: For the highest marks in third year Arson Malola: who was awarded two prizes from SAICA for the highest marks in fourth (and final) year of study and the award for most outstanding Bachelor of Accounting Science graduate, after he achieved the highest aggregate mark for his year. (Malola was also acknowledged for being the top performing African student in SAICAs January Initial Test of Competence Examination sitting coming third in the country in this, the first of two, qualifying board examinations.) Speaking at the event, Head of School, Nirupa Padia reiterated that Wits mission is to achieve the highest standard of academic excellence while also preparing students for the working world. She also acknowledged the efforts of all the staff within the Schools team for their significant passion and commitment that makes it possible to create the calibre of results and students that the university produces every year. Speaking to the top achievers, Padia urged them to stay in South Africa so that, as the business leaders of tomorrow, they could be the difference the country needs to make the place better for future generations. Guest speaker Neil Morris, director of climate change & sustainability services at KPMG, added, Thanks to todays evolving and changing world, students looking to enter the profession here in SA must expect the unexpected, as the days of the boring, grey-suited CAs are over. SAICA, Deloitte, EY, PWC, Grant Thornton, KPMG, BDO, SizweNtsalubaGobodo, ACCA, LexisNexis, Investec, Bain & Company and the Wits School of Accountancy sponsored prizes. Comair, which was given a deadline of Wednesday to reduce its foreign ownership, said on Tuesday its lawyers would argue that the regulator could not carry out its threat to suspend its licence due to technicalities. The operator of kulula.com and British Airways' South African domestic flights said it had taken the precaution of launching an urgent application to interdict the Air Services Licensing Council (ASLC) from suspending its domestic licence Wednesday, pending the outcome of a review by a court of law. Comair is 11.5% owned by British Airways via Brit Air, according to its 2015 annual report. Its largest shareholder is Bidvest, which owns 27% via BB Investments, followed by Allan Gray, which owns 12.9%. Two years ago, FlySafair lodged a complaint with the licensing council, claiming Comair's foreign ownership was higher than allowed by South African law. Comair said it made a detailed submission to the council arguing this was not true, but before the council made a decision, the terms of its members expired. It then restarted this process with the council's new members. Although FlySafair dropped its complaint last year, the new members of the licensing council continued with the case. Comair said in Tuesday's statement its "view and that of its external legal advisers is that the ASLC has not commenced suspension proceedings in accordance with the act". "The company stresses that the disagreement with the ASLC does not relate to the safety of the company's operations. "The disagreement with the ASLC relates exclusively to a shareholder regulatory issue," Tuesday's statement said. Source: BDpro Many Midrand commuters were in a state of distress recently following the traffic mayhem associated with the Mall of Africa opening. Vespa SA leveraged this 'traffic apocolypse' in an attempt to prove the efficiency of two-wheeled commuting. The opening of the mall was met with frustration when hundreds of commuters were forced to sit in traffic for up to eight hours. Pitting two wheels against four, a Vespa went up against a car to the new mall to try and purchase a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Leaving from Melrose Arch at 3pm, the Vespa arrived in fifteen minutes while the car was still stationary in gridlocked traffic over an hour later. According to Vespa SA's MD Andy Reid, rising congestion levels in outlying, developing areas, such as Midrand, as well as fuel costs involved with longer commutes are some of the reasons to swap four wheels for two. View the video footage below: On the next Biz Takeouts Marketing & Media radio show on Thursday, 12 May 2016, from 9-10am, show host Warren Harding looks at the expansion of the Cape Union Mart Group into e-commerce, and is joined by Amanda Herson, e-commerce director of Cape Union Mart Group. We look at the launch, the logistics and the running of the Cape Union Mart Group brands online, and chat about the brands: Cape Union Mart Poetry Old Khaki Tread and Miller Amanda shares her learnings on ecommerce, what the future holds and which brand is her favourite. Tune into Biz Takeouts every Thursday from 9am-10am live from the 2oceansVibe Radio studio in Cape Town as we discuss the topics that matter in Marketing & Media. How to listen Comments or questions Podcast A podcast of the show will be available in the Biz Takeouts special section on Biz later during the week. IT security experts are feeling increasingly unprepared and too out-of-date to reasonably defend against email-based threats, with a late 2015 finding that only 35% of its respondents were confident of their preparedness to deal with email attacks. Dmitriy Shironosov via 123RF The global study, created by Mimecast and March Communications, surveyed 600 IT security decision makers - 200 from the United States of America, 200 from the UK, 100 from Australia and 100 from South Africa. The focused on companies level of email security, IT preparedness and confidence in defending against cyber threats, as well as past experiences with data breaches and email hacks. It found that of the 65% of respondents who felt unprepared against email attacks, almost half had experienced such attacks in the past. Yet, despite their history dealing with the issue, they felt no more protected after an attack than they did before. These findings are disconcerting in view of the fact that email is a vital tool in business and yet, while we might appreciate the danger it poses, many companies are still not taking strong enough measures to defend against email-based threats. One-third of the respondents of the Mimecast study also believe email is more vulnerable today than it was five years ago. Popular attacks Phishing, whaling and ransom are the three most popular attack methods. In phishing, the attacker sources confidential information such as user names, passwords and credit card information by means of mass electronic communications to potential targets. The mass mailing appears to be from a trustworthy source, such as a financial institution. A whaling attack is where specific individuals who perform strategic tasks within in a company are targeted in a more structured way for maximum financial gain. A whaling target may receive an instruction from what seems to be a trusted source, like the chief executive officer or a known customer, urging them to make a payment to a fabricated invoice. The attacker counts of the target doing what seems to be their job and fulfilling the request. Targets may include prominent and wealthy personalities, senior executives in global enterprises, and commonly, financial institutions. Ransom is where attackers infect the targets network with a virus and then threaten to destroy the companys data or to publicly release confidential client data unless the company pays a specified amount or do a certain task. The recent spate of data leak stories in the media to show how well this tactic is working for attackers. Why email remains vulnerable Most companies have email security controls in place. However, the lightning-fast evolution of email attacks, the ubiquitous need for email in business and human factors mean that traditional IT security protections are not nearly enough to protect them. Fast evolution of attacks: The ransomware development trend is a good indicator of how fast malware is being developed. To illustrate, the popular Cryptowall ransomware was first seen in March 2014. The next version was released six months later, with the third version released three months later and the fourth version released after only months. Clearly the time between updates has been getting shorter, indicating that companies must adapt more quickly to deal with current threats and prepare to deal with threats they dont even know about yet. Bring-your-own-device policy bites: The popular policy for employees to use their own devices, such as smartphones, for portions of their work poses a great risk to email security. While the policy reduces the employers investment in hardware, the traditional way of controlling employees email fails, as it becomes harder for the employer to control what employees can do on their own devices. Employees a big security threat: Employees are also prone to click on unknown email links and attachments on their devices, providing a gateway for viruses into the network. Unfortunately, its difficult for companies to quash this practice, as the Basic Conditions of Employment Amendment Act of 2011 provides that an employer needs to take certain remedial measures before firing an employee. To counter this vulnerability, companies need to not only put clear email security measures in place, but to ensure that employees are fully aware of what they can and they cant do with their emails, the consequences of risky behavior on the companys data and any punitive measures the company may take. This acts as a deterrent for employees who willfully disregard the companys IT security measures by claiming ignorance. Key strategies Email security should be customised to fit the way email is used within the companys operations. However, there are some basic principles that apply across board: C-suite involvement critical: Email attacks are not just an IT problem; they can harm the entire business. And while email security was traditionally the province of the IT department, the growing risk it represents to the business means that the companys CEO, COO and CIO need to be strongly engaged with security initiatives and to collaborate to ensure that the business is adequately protected. The Mimecast research supports this view. It found that the top 20% of organisations that felt the most secure against email attacks were also 250% more likely to see email as their biggest vulnerability. It also found that confident IT security managers were 270% more likely to be from companies whose top executives very engaged in email security. Adopt zero-day approach: IT professionals need to start talking more about zero-day (0day) approach to email attacks, where IT security prepares not just for threats they have previously come across but for unknown attacks. The 0day refers to the amount of time the company has to respond to a newly discovered and/ disclosed threat. Install filtering and end-point tools: Filtering solutions are the first level of defense against email attacks. This involves the installation of a program that scans all email for threats, spam and viruses, filtering email in the cloud or, if the email server is on the premises, via a firewall gateway. These systems now also scan attachments for malware and validate web links to prevent phishing attacks. End-point protection must also be installed on all employee devices, including personal devices that have some overlap with business functions. Email protection also includes protection against human error. Such errors include sending a confidential email to a group rather than an individual. This ensures that confidential emails are sent targeted to recipients who hold a qualifying security level. This week, we find out what's really going on behind the selfie with technophile Femi Oke, host of The Stream on Al Jazeera English. This selfie was captured by sitting in front of a TV camera and taking a picture of my image in the camera monitor. Not even Kim Kardashian has taken one of those! 1. Where do you live, work and play? Oke: I live in Washington DC, work in Washington DC and play four days a week on Al Jazeera English. 2. What's your claim to fame? Oke: I once wrestled a crocodile in the mangrove swamps of Jamaica. Aside from that, viewers who follow the life and times of British-Nigerian journalists may know my work from my early days on British radio and television, the nine years I spent presenting with CNN from Atlanta, the five years I worked on public radio in New York and my current job hosting The Stream on Al Jazeera English. 3. Describe your career so far? Oke: I started reporting on London radio when I was 14 years old. I was that kid who knew exactly what they were going to do at a really early age. I would produce family newscasts at seven years old, presenting a bulletin every Friday night over rice, chicken, red spicy stew and peas. At university I worked for the BBC while I was studying for my English degree and the day after I graduated I joined BBC local radio. During the 1980s and 1990s I juggled reporting, presenting, researching and producing on radio and television in the United Kingdom. In 1999 I moved to the United States to join CNN and Ive been an international broadcaster ever since. 4. Tell us a few of your favourite things. Oke: Professionally, I love live television, passionate guests and those moments on television where I dont have to say anything, the guests are talking comfortably with each other and Im just enjoying listening to them. Personally, I love sitting in the cinema watching back-to-back movies for hours, spending time with my nephews and falling asleep at the end of yoga class. 5. What do you love about your industry? Oke: Theres never a moment in my line of work when Im not connected to the world. While most people just watch the news, Im privy to whats happening behind the scenes. I have an all-access pass to history as its unfolding. 6. What are a few pain points your industry can improve on? Oke: Credibility is critical in journalism and being a news source that your audience trusts. Often when Im covering issues on The Stream guests will criticise The Media for being biased, inciting the public and having questionable morals. Every time this happens, it makes it harder for good journalists to do their jobs. 7. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists. Oke: My day is packed, because Im either preparing for a live show, doing the live show or getting ready for the next days show. The Stream covers so many international issues that Im constantly reading or researching. Every day is like cramming for finals, taking the exam and then cramming again. 8. What are the tools of your trade? Oke: Im mostly on television these days, so I no longer carry around my radio tape recorder, headphones and laptop for editing. Al Jazeeras Washington bureau has a striking dedicated studio for The Stream and a brilliant crew. On the set I use my laptop, two pens, a highlighter, some note paper and my brain. 9. Who is getting it right in your industry? Oke: I admire the bold work of The Guardian and Channel 4 news. AJ Plus is daring, has attitude and I love the confident way the team has carved out a space in the digital arena. More generally, radio podcasts have revolutionised the way we listen to and value radio. One of my favourites is The Moth; I highly recommend it. 10. What are you working on right now? Oke: Right now Im working on getting out of the office before midnight every evening. Sometimes I make it, most nights I dont. 11. Tell us some of the buzzwords floating around in your industry at the moment, and some of the catchphrases you utter yourself. Oke: I use engaging and engagement a lot, which is basically my not-so-subtle code for lets not make this boring. 12. Where and when do you have your best ideas? Oke: I always have my best ideas at the very last minute, as Im a horrible procrastinator. 13. Whats your secret talent/party trick? Oke: If I told you my secret talent it would no longer be secret. As a journalist I have to protect my sources. Next question, please 14. What would we find if we scrolled through your phone? Oke: If you scrolled through my phone you wouldnt get very far as its password protected. 15. Are you a technophile or a technophobe? Oke: Im definitely a technophile, but Im so busy that I dont have as much time to experiment with new technology as Id like to. I think the secret to staying young and relevant is to lean into technology rather than away from it. 16. What advice would you give to newbies hoping to crack into the industry? Oke: My advice to young journalists is dont let knock backs knock you back. In my career to date I have been told that I wasnt presenter material, Ive been taken off the air, because I had a British accent and been turned down for hundreds of jobs. Im now doing the best job of my life. If you use rejection as inspiration, it will take you a long way. Read more about Oke by clicking here, and interact with her through her Twitter feed, Instagram account and on her website. You can also follow The Stream on Twitter and on their website simply stream the show live on the website from Monday to Thursday at 19.30GMT and watch replays on Al Jazeera English at 4.30GMT, 8.30GMT and 14.30GMT from Tuesday to Friday. *Interviewed by Leigh Andrews Milpark Education (Pty) Ltd, a leading private higher education institution in South Africa and part of Apollo Global, whose network includes BPP in the UK, Open Colleges of Australia and Bridge School of Management in India, is proud to present its local and international community with a new, modern, and user-friendly website: www.milpark.ac.za The goals Milpark Educations primary goal is to provide a simple and engaging user experience whilst meeting the demand for more comprehensive and easily digestible content. Another key focus area is to stimulate brand awareness and differentiate the brand within a highly competitive industry. Part of this focus is to reflect the brands premium positioning, a key industry differentiator, as well as the brands eagerness to embrace the digital tools and technology of the changing times. New site features Clean navigation allows easy login for existing students and corporate clients. Live chat services offer quick and easy access to Milpark support staff. Responsive and optimised design to ensure accessibility from most mobile devices. Stimulating visual content including professional photographs of current Milpark students, Milpark staff members and Milpark facilities. Exclusively commissioned photographs of national landmarks impart a sense of local pride and honour South Africas unique heritage. Short and engaging videos of Milpark Deans welcoming students to the institution. A helpful and easy to use course finder tool to help students choose a career path. A news section where students and alumni can keep up to date with the latest news. An alumni page where students sign up to receive customised news based on their field of study and related interests. Social Networking links to Milparks Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google Plus pages make it easy for prospective and current students to connect with the institution. Milpark Educations new website launch follows hot on the trail of yet another exciting announcement: the launch of its recently reformed Distance Learning MBA offering. Milpark's Business School has been rated in the Top 10 of Accredited Business Schools in South Africa since 2009. Milpark was rated as the number one private provider of the MBA degree in the 2015 PMR.africa national survey on accredited business schools offering MBA/MBL degrees in South Africa. Milpark Education is registered with the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) as a Private Higher Education Institution (No 2007/HE07/003). With a national footprint in South Africa, Milpark has two teaching campuses in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and a support office in Durban. For more information about Milpark Education, visit www.milpark.ac.za or call 021 673 9100. The African Innovation Foundation (AIF) this week announced the top 10 nominees for its landmark programme, the Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA), which celebrates its 5th year under the theme "Made in Africa". The Innovation Prize for Africa is the premier innovation initiative in the African continent, offering a grand share prize of US$150 000 and incentives to spur growth and prosperity in Africa through home-grown solutions. In the past five years, Ive seen innovation grow from a mere buzzword to a sturdy path for African growth in multi-disciplinary industries across the continent. As Africans, we have the talent, potential and clout to solve our own problems with ingenuity too, and IPA is testimony of this, said Pauline Mujawamariya Koelbl, IPA director at the helm of this initiative since its launch in 2011. The IPA has seen tremendous growth in applications and increasing interest from both innovators and innovation enablers over the years. To date, the competition has attracted more than 6,000 innovators from 50 African countries, making it a truly Pan African initiative. IPA 2016 attracted a record 3,600 plus innovators and received 985 successful submissions from 46 African countries. African ingenuity this year showcases new breakthroughs in malaria and other public health burdens, smart solutions for farmers and dynamic energy initiatives, including: Urine Test for Malaria (UMT) is a rapid non-blood diagnostic medical device that can diagnose malaria in less than 25 minutes. Api-Palu is an anti-malaria drug treatment developed out of natural plant extract. Exatype is a software solution that enables healthcare workers to determine HIV positive patients responsiveness to ARV drug treatment. Aceso is an imaging technology, capable of performing full-field digital mammography and automated breast ultrasound at the same time. AIF will host the IPA 2016: Made in Africa awards ceremony and its first ever Innovation Ecosystems Connector 22-23 June 2016, in Gaborone, Botswana. Collaborating partners include the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology (MIST), and the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH). Walter Fust, chairman of the AIF Board was impressed by the level of submissions for IPA 2016: As we celebrate the five year IPA journey, our mission to engage, inspire and transform is evident in the IPA process from the growing registrations, to the level of talent and ingenuity we see in the nominees, as well as the enthusiasm from our expert judges in seeing these innovations at work to solve some of Africas intractable challenges. Prior to the final announcement at a special gala ceremony on 23 June 2016 at the Gaborone International Conference Centre (GICC), the expert panel of IPA judges will once again deliberate through live pitching sessions and one-on-ones with each nominee to select the top three winners. Listed below are the top 10 IPA 2016 individual nominees, with more details available on the dedicated AIF website: Design architecture and learning platforms 1. Dr Youssef Rashed, Egypt: The Plate Package (PLPAK). The Plate Package (PLPAK) is a robust software solution that assesses the architecture of building plans or technical drawings, determining structural integrity of the end design. PLPAK applies the boundary element based method to analyse and view practical design on building foundations and slabs. This enables engineers to represent building slabs over sophisticated foundation models easily, building information modelling techniques and eliminating human error. With the rapid growth of African cities, there is increased demand for infrastructural developments to support the growing population. The infrastructure system in Africa, especially building architecture, tends to go untested due to huge associated costs in verifying structure integrity, and can lead to the collapse of buildings with many deaths. PLPAK addresses this through its low-cost, easy to use but world class tool. 2. Godwin Benson, Nigeria: Tuteria. Tuteria is an innovative peer-to-peer learning online platform that allows people who want to learn any skill, whether formal or informal, to connect with anyone else in proximity who is offering that skill. For instance, a student needing math skills can connect online with someone in their vicinity offering remedial classes in mathematics. The tutors and the learners form an online community that connects them, and once a fit is established, they meet offline for practical exchange. Both tutors and learners are thoroughly vetted to ensure safety, accountability and a quality learning experience. Globally, conventional methods of education and learning are transitioning from centralized to distributed, and from standardised to personalised. Such trends have resulted in better learning outcomes. Tuteria fits in well with this model, and has been highly recommended by the IPA judges for the African continent. Tackling malaria and other public health burdens 3. Dr Eddy Agbo, Nigeria: Urine Test for Malaria (UMT). Urine Test for Malaria (UMT) is a rapid non-blood diagnostic medical device that can diagnose malaria in less than 25 minutes. Africa has the highest number of malaria cases worldwide; more often than not, when fever is detected, anti-malaria medication is administered. However, the inability to quickly diagnose and commence malaria treatment can lead to various complications including kidney failure, build-up of lung fluid, aplastic anaemia and even death. UMT uses a dip-stick with accurate results in just 25 minutes. The technology detects malaria parasite proteins in the patients urine with fever due to malaria. The UMT is simple and affordable, and a potential game changer in managing malaria across Africa. 4. Valentin Agon, Benin: Api-Palu. Api-Palu is an anti-malaria drug treatment developed out of natural plant extract. It is significantly cheaper than available anti-malarial drugs, and has great inhibitory effects on 3D7 strains of plasmodium falciparum the causative agent of malaria. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 88% of malaria cases and 90% of malaria deaths reported globally (WHO: 2015) with some African governments spending up to 40% of their public health budgets on malaria treatment. Api-Palu manifests as a fast rate of malaria parasite clearance from the blood following short term treatment, with relatively lower doses. It is available in tablets, capsules or syrup. The drug has been approved in Benin, Burkina Faso, Tchad, and Central Africa Republic because of its therapeutic and non-toxic effects. 5. Dr Imogen Wright, South Africa: Exatype. Exatype is a software solution that enables healthcare workers to determine HIV positive patients responsiveness to ARV drug treatment. According to WHO, 71% of people living with HIV/AIDS reside in Africa. Until now, governments response has been to ensure access to treatment for all. However, a growing number of people on ARVs are resistant to drug regimens, leading to failure of the therapy, exacerbating the continents HIV/AIDS burden. Exatype processes the highly complex data produced by advanced next-generation DNA sequencing of the HIV DNA in a patients blood. Through a simple report, it detects drugs that are resistant to the patient, then highlights the need to avoid these to ensure successful treatment. Exatype has the potential to contribute towards effectively managing HIV/AIDS in Africa, and also holds promise in helping detect drug resistance for other disease burdens such as Tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. 6. Dr Kit Vaughan, South Africa: Aceso. Aceso is an imaging technology, capable of performing full-field digital mammography and automated breast ultrasound at the same time, dramatically improving breast cancer detection. Annually, there are more than half a million cancer deaths in Africa and these numbers are expected to double in the next three decades. If diagnosed early enough, the cancer can be treated successfully. However, because 40% of women have dense tissue, their cancers cannot be seen on X-ray. Furthermore, a false negative finding can have devastating consequences. Aceso is a single device that can acquire dual-modality images full-field digital mammography and automated breast ultrasound - at the same time. This world first system is protected by international patents and has been successfully tested in two separate clinical trials with 120 women. Smart farming solutions 7. Olufemi Odeleye, Nigeria: The Tryctor. The Tryctor is a mini tractor modelled on the motorcycle. By attaching various farming implements, it can carry out similar operations as a conventional tractor to a smaller scale. Farming for most small scale farmers in the continent is tough, laborious and characterized by low productivity. Small scale farmers are constrained by the costs involved in switching to mechanized agriculture and use of heavy equipment. However, through inspired alterations to a motorcycles engine, gearing system and chassis, this innovation has made it possible to mechanise agriculture in Africa for small scale farmers in a way that was previously inaccessible. Additionally, the Tryctor is easy to use and cheaper to maintain as 60% of its parts and components are locally sourced. The IPA judges were captivated by the clever adaptation of a motorised solution that is ubiquitous in Africa, largely for transportation to a solution for mechanized farming for small scale farmers. 8. Samuel Rigu, Kenya: Safi Sarvi Organics. Safi Sarvi Organics is a low-cost fertiliser made from purely organic products and waste from farm harvests, designed to improve yields for farmers by up to 30%. Rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa pay huge costs for fertiliser, which is often produced abroad and imported. Owing to such high costs farmers can only afford the cheap, synthetic, and acidulated fertiliser varieties. In many areas where the soil is inherently acidic, use of acidulated fertilisers can lead to long-term soil degradation and yield loss, at about 4% per year. Safi Sarvi costs the same as traditional fertilisers, can reverse farmers soil degradation and lead to improved yield and income. The product uses biochar-based fertiliser which can counteract soil acidity, retaining nutrients and moisture in the soil. Additionally, the carbon-rich fertiliser removes carbon from the atmosphere by at least 2.2 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per acre of farm per year. Dynamic energy initiatives 9. Andre Nel, South Africa: Green Tower. Green Tower is an off-grid water heating and air conditioning solution based on solar power that uses advanced thermos-dynamics to create up to 90% savings in electricity consumption. Water heating and air conditioning systems can account up to 60% of energy consumption in a home or building. There are a number of heating and cooling systems in the market, but few that have demonstrated consistency in efficiencies regardless of weather conditions. The Green Tower improves efficiency of a solar heat pump with solar thermal collectors, low pressure storage tanks and heat exchangers. With Africas middle class rapidly growing and demand for energy outstripping supply, this initiative has the potential for large scale roll out. Green Tower can conserve limited energy resources, diverting them from heating and cooling systems to more productive industries. 10. Johan Theron, South Africa: PowerGuard. PowerGuard enables consumers to determine the maximum amount of power supply required for daily operations. Consumers can thus reduce their power demand, especially during peak times, leading to a more efficient power supply, and helping to reduce power cuts. PowerGuard addresses electricity fluctuations, and power delivery and supply challenges by reducing the peaks, relieving pressure on the electricity network. Consumers can set their own maximum peak power usage needs. This technology substantially reduces load shedding and power rationing, diverting power to more productive industries. Africa faces a high demand for grid power, but with limited resources and an aging infrastructure, the existence of a smart grid can help reduce the pressure on existing infrastructure while moving the continent slowly towards renewable energy. Bizcommunity is celebrating Africa Day, 25 May, with a special Africa focus all month and the appointment of a senior editor to produce daily Africa media and marketing news. This is a time for celebration: Africa Day : 25 May 2016, marks 53 years since the signing of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) : 25 May 2016, marks 53 years since the signing of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Africa Month : Exclusive Bizcommunity Africa B2B focus throughout the month of May. : Exclusive Bizcommunity Africa B2B focus throughout the month of May. Daily Africa News: The appointment of veteran industry journalist and editor, Louise Marsland, as head of Bizcommunitys Africa portal and the taking of our Africa newsletters daily. Louise Marsland As one of South Africas foremost B2B media experts and a journalist with a career that spans 30 years across newspapers, B2B magazines and digital media, Marsland also has a Masters in Commerce: Strategy and Organisational Dynamics, and has spent the last two decades specialising in the media and marketing communications industry. Marsland is often credited for her role in growing Bizcommunity to its current status during her tenure as its editor from 2003-2008, and says she is looking forward to networking within new pan-African business communities. As Bizcommunitys trend curator and editor as well, I am well aware that the incredible innovation and creativity on the continent is vastly underreported and I am very excited to be able to write again about African enterprise, sustainability and innovation for Bizcommunity, she said. She went on to say that Africas dynamic media sector as well as sectors such as energy, education, retail, legal, medical, finance and commerce hold much potential for marketers and that she is looking forward to opening dialogue among Africa business thought leaders within the Bizcommunity space. Africa daily As Afrophiles within our continent and around the world, prepare to celebrate 25 May as a day of African unity, Bizcommunity will use this auspicious timing to relaunch its platform for growing African business communities. In keeping with our exciting Content Calendar Highlights packages, May is also used as an opportunity for showcasing African B2B news from 18 industry sectors under the #AfricaMonth banner. To advertise, sponsor, contribute company news or opinion, contact moc.ytinummoczib@selas or moc.ytinummoczib@swenacirfa. Show the world that BizAfrica is open for business. Join our 350,000 strong business community in May and find out how to showcase your business in Africa. Burson-Marsteller Africa has unveils its A-Generation study, with six African youth trends for 2016. Burson-Marsteller Africa, a strategic communications/PR firm recognised by The Holmes Report as African Consultancy of the Year in 2015, this week, 9 May 2016, introduced The A-Generation Study showcasing six trends that reflect the mind set and changing priorities of African youth in 2016. The A-Generation Study is the result of intensive workshops facilitated by Burson-Marsteller Africas partners in north, west, central, east and southern Africa and the Indian Ocean islands, and attended by a cross- section of participants from predominantly Millennial age groups across diverse industry sectors. Robyn de Villiers, CEO and chairman, Burson-Marsteller Africa said: Africa has the youngest and fastest- growing population in the world, and it continues to get younger as populations around the world get older. There are almost 200 million youth in Africa and that number will double by 2045. According to African Economic Outlooks 2015 report, 40% of the continents working age population is between the ages of 15 and 24. How they think and what they see as important are critical insights for marketers that want to build brands in Africa. Elaine Cameron, head of Burson-Marstellers Future Perspective Trend Analysis Group, added: The robust A-Generation Study is a cross-border collaboration reflecting a truly pan-African perspective on the continents youth. With guidance from Lola Pedro, African regional director at Trendwatching.com, we adapted their trendwatching.com Consumer Trends Canvas to provide the team across Africa with an evidence-based framework for the trends. There were notable similarities with what we found in the Indian youth study in 2015, in that both African and Indian youth are keen to be the ones to create change and both are intensely proud of their roots. . These are the youth of Africa Providing an overview of the trends, De Villiers says, Empowered by a new, technology-enabled world order and the loosening of previously restrictive social hierarchies, young, cosmopolitan Africans are taking a bold approach to creating their own futures. While the traditional narrative of hardship and struggle still contains some elements of truth, African youth are renouncing these stereotypes and bringing their A-Generation game to the party providing brands with opportunities for more creative and daring ways of engagement. The Burson-Marsteller A-Generation study revealed: 1. AFRINEWAL: Youthful desire to throw off the past and proudly celebrate African achievement. There is a spirit of renewal in Africa where the possibilities and potential of this new frontier outweigh the realities of hardship and struggle. The younger generations are proudly African, showcasing the best their continent has to offer. They are self-motivated, self-reliant and bold in wanting to make this happen. And they see it as a collaborative effort where people work together and combine efforts to achieve new recognition for Africa both at home and on the world stage. 2. A-TEAMERS: Rising young stars strive to get ahead, but without leaving others behind. In a world of more in Africa (more consumerism; more education; more access and connection through technology; more voices able to be heard) there is a hunger to have and own more. But alongside this aspiration for wealth creation, and the dream of improved well-being and quality of life, there are also social concerns and deep-rooted human connections above all, a feeling that if you are a high-achieving A-Teamer you should also be raising the rest of your team up behind you. 3. TALENT TAPPERS: Aspirational youth thrive by tapping into new entrepreneurial ecosystem. Against a canvas of aspirations, an I want attitude, a need to prosper and a need for independence, young Africans are relying less on conventional employment opportunities and adopting a more entrepreneurial mind- set to securing their own futures. They are turning away from traditional support systems (families and governments) to rely more on their own abilities. By tapping into the talent and expertise of others in inspiring innovation, providing funding and mentorship they are projecting their own stamp on how they want to succeed. 4. DATASIZEME: Expectation that personal data will be used to enhance brand interactions. A spin-off of greater consumerism across Africa is the growing spirit of ownership that the younger generations are adopting as participants in improving their brand experiences. I matter is the message youth are communicating to brands. In the newly-connected Africa, sharing real time information, opinions and insights has become easy for them. This has fuelled expectations that they will be listened to as individuals and that targeted, tailored offerings will personalise and enhance their brand experiences. 5. PARTICIPLAYERS: Enthusiastic participants in fun, interactive and rewarding activities. Young Africans see themselves not as passive bystanders, but as engaged players in a process, looking for highly interactive brand experiences. In common with youth worldwide, they have limited attention spans and look to engage emotionally in unique and unusual ways. They are looking to build relationships with brands that surprise and delight them but also create talk-ability, giving them a shared platform to get together and have fun. And they want to be thanked for their participation placing high value on recognition and reward. 6. MOVEMENT MAKERS: Young Africans demonstrate an emerging spirit of activism. During difficult social and economic times, new questions are being asked about what it means to be African and what is relevant to African youth. The status quo is being challenged with heightened social and economic debate. Even if not overtly activist, young consumers are certainly more actively interrogating and debating a wide variety of issues. They are demanding authenticity, transparency and accountability from their chosen brands and role models. *The A-Generation Study is an interpretation of the young minds that participated in Burson-Marsteller Africas workshops in South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Mauritius and does not hint at any company/individual personally. Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries SUBSCRIBE Czech police: "The injured muslim man has probably assaulted himself" 11. 5. 2016 cas cteni 3 minuty Issak T., the muslim man who was assaulted in Prague in January with a knife and ended up in hospital "may have assaulted himself", says the Czech police in its official explanation why it has decided to shelve the investigation of this crime. After three months, the Czech police has apparently come up with a number of inconsistencies which it has been unable to explain. There are three possibilities, the police says: Either someone did deliberately injure the muslim man with a knife, or someone did so unwittingly, or the muslim man assaulted himself. The victim of the crime insists that his statement to the police about the crime is correct but, the police says, the man has failed to explain the inconsistencies. Street cameras installed where the crime allegedly took place did photograph two men whose description corresponded to the descriptions of the perpetrators of the assault. These two men were also seen by a caretaker in a local park. But Issak T has refused to identify these men as the perpetrators. The wound, inflicted on Issak T. was "only" three centimetres deep and did not bleed much. says the police. Moreover, the video recording from the scene of the crime does not correspond to Issac T.'s testimony, said the police. Isaac T said that after having been knifed, he walked home with pressing his hands onto the wound. However, on the video recording, he is not doing so at all. But Issak T., told the Hospodarske noviny newspaper that the police is referring to a video recording from a different day, not from the day of the assault. "When they knifed me, it was extremely painful. I have no reason to invent my testimony. I am not an idiot who hurts himself with a knife. No normal person would do this." The assaulted man can appeal against the police shelving the investigation but his partner, a pro-refugee activist Eva Zahradnickova, said that he will probably not appeal because they have had enough of all the stress and do not trust the authorities now. Zahradnickova has been subjected to inspections from Czech social welfare officers who have assumed that since she has been helping refugees at Idomeni, she must have been neglecting her own children. Zahradnickova says that she and Issac T. have been the subject of threats and of hate mail for their pro-refugee activism. About a week before the assault someone sprayed a swastika on a car which was parked before their house. The Czech police does not understand why no one has reported this or taken a picture of the graffiti. Extreme right wing activists in the Czech Republic have often argued that pro-refugee activists deliberately stage "right-wing" assaults against themselves in order to evoke the sympathy of the public. Many people in the Czech Republic regard pro-refugee activists as dangerous or misguided left-wing extremists. Source in Czech HERE There are stories like this in the Czech Republic every day that never make it to the outside world because of a lack of translation. You can support us and help reveal what's happening in Central Europe today. Please make a contribution today on www.paypal.com and send your donation to redakce@blisty.cz. We fully rely on crowdfunding in our work. Thank you. 0 The ALP statement accused the Burma Army of forcibly recruiting local residents as porters, driving the local residents out of their villages, bringing them onto battlefields and executing prisoners of war. The Arakan State Border Affairs and Security Minister Colonel Htain Linn threatened the ALP Information Officer, Khaing Myo Tun, with arrest when he summoned him and Major Khaing Ye Linn, the ALP Kyauk Taw Relations Officer to the government offices on 27 April. According to Khaing Myo Tun, Col. Htain Linn told him: The ALP Information Department released [the statement] without strong evidence. Can you show strong evidence? Give me the evidence. If you dont have it, you can be arrested. The colonel also told him that if the ALP had credible evidence of human rights violations action would be taken against those responsible for the violations. The ALP submitted their evidence on 1 May, but has not yet heard anything back. Khaing Myo Tu said to Narinjara News on 2 May: We submitted [the evidence] about the human rights violations of the Burma Army on 1 May. They sent someone to pick them up from my home. This evidences included 20 cases of [people forcibly recruited as] porters, some of whom still have not returned home. Four of them have been beaten and tortured. No responses have been made up until today, The ALP is the political wing of the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA). It signed a state-level ceasefire with the Burmese government in 2014 and is one of the eight ethnic armed groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) in 2015. Translated by Thida Linn Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI The farmers taking part in the protest outside the CNPC offices near Malegyun Village in Kyaukphyu, Arakan State demanded that CNPC repair 34.62 acres of mud-covered farmland owned by 38 farmers from the Leikkhamaw, Gonechain, and Ohntaw village groups in Kyaukphyu Township. The farmers said that instead of compensation they would prefer it if arrangements were made to clear up their land so that they can continue farming it. The farmers estimate that their land will be unusable for thirty years. So, if they have to take compensation the farmers want to be paid for the loss of thirty years worth of crops at a rate of 300,000 kyats per acre per year, which would make for a total of 9,000,000 kyats compensation per acre. So far CNPC have only offered farmers enough compensation to cover five years of crops, which is 1,500,000 kyats per acre. U Soe Lwin from Malegyun Village said: We are holding this protest so that [the company] repair our farmlands. If they wont repair them, we demand that they give us compensation for 30 years worth [of crops]. We cant take the five years worth of compensation they are offering us. The five years worth of compensation cant repair our damaged farmlands. Thats why we demand that they give us compensation for thirty years [worth of crops]. Farmers Protest Against CNPC Pipeline. Daw Kyi Kyi Hnin from Gonechain village in Kyaukphyu Township said: Rather than the compensation, we want them to repair the mud-covered farms by building drainage and walls to prevent the mud from the pipeline flowing into the farms. We are holding the protest to make our demands because they are not meeting them. During the protest the protesters held signs that said: Solve the Pipeline Land Issue; Respect the Local Residents; CNPC Get Out; and CNPC Is Not Wanted. Forty-six farmers own land affected by the pipeline, of those eight have agreed to accept CNPCs compensation of 1,500,000 kyats per acre compensation, which is equivalent to five years worth of crops. The remaining 38 farmers have refused the offer of compensation. They have demanded that the company either restore their farmland to its original state or pay them compensation of 9,000,000 kyats per acre, which is equivalent to the value of 30 years worth of crops. Translated by Thida Linn Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI According to the Government's Relief and Resettlement Department (RRD), 1037 newly displaced people (316 house-holds) arrived in Kyaukme Town and are staying at seven sites. In Hsipaw Town, 596 people (143 households) also arrived and are sheltering in two monasteries. The Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) has distributed some relief items in Hsipaw and distributions in Kyaukme are ongoing. The RRD has also provided relief kits and food sufficient for three days in both locations. An inter-agency team of UN and NGO humanitarian staff will travel to Kyaukme and Hsipaw for an assessment of humanitarian needs, the UN body said. It looks like you have reached this page in error ... The content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake. If you believe there has been a technical error please let us know. Most Popular Destinations Plenty of Limes and Good Times Key West is a gem of an island in the Florida Keys, popular with pleasure seekers and history buffs alike. As the most southern destination in the continental United States, Key West has a fascinating history, dating back to its settlement by Spanish explorers in the 16th century. Today this little island off the coast of Florida attracts over a million cruise visitors a year through the Port of Key West. Visitors come to see Hemingway House, where Ernest Hemingway penned A Farewell to Arms. Key West Cemetery provides a unique walk through the multicultural past of the city. There are also trolley rides through the historic district of Jackson Square. Theres more than just history to Key West, however. Smathers Beach is a place to have fun in the sun, while Mallory Square provides the chance to shop and watch a magnificent sunset. The excellent bus system helps you get around the island without a car. Key West International Airport is a mere 6 kilometres to Duval Street, the heart of the city centre and a good place to stay for easily exploring the nearby sites. With accommodation ranging from resorts to B&Bs, Booking.com helps you get the best stay for the best price in Key West! NEW DELHI (PTI): Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said the Army is pursuing procurement of foreign-made Quick Reaction Surface to Air Missile, a move which comes amid reports that the force is not satisfied with the indigenously developed Akash surface to air missiles. In a written reply to Rajya Sabha, Parrikar sought to differentiate the two missile systems saying QRSAM is a separate category of missiles. Media reports had earlier said that the Army has decided to go for Israeli QRSAM to take on enemy fighters, helicopters and drones after it found that the Akash missile was not fast enough to guard its forward tactical battlefield areas. Also, the Army has argued that the Akash missiles have a higher radar ground since several vehicles and equipment is needed for the system. "The Akash weapon system falls under the short range surface to air missiles category and QRSAM is a separate category of missiles. Procurement of QRSAM is a separate multi-vendor case under the Buy (Global) category and vendors from Israel are among the competing firms," the Minister said. He added that production of Akash has also been ramped up to meet the requirements of the Air Force and the Army. "As the Akash system evolves through the process of continuous development, its current short-comings are bound to be addressed and the missile has the potential to become India's mainstay in the category of SRSAM," he said. VISAKHAPATNAM (PTI): Two Harbour Defence Systems - Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS) and Mine Warfare Data Centre (MWDC) - which would enhance the Indian Navy's surveillance capability and response to security threats were inaugurated here. The Systems were inaugurated by Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, at the Naval Dockyard, a Defence release said on Tuesday. The IUHDSS is a multi-sensor system capable of detecting, identifying, tracking and generating warnings for all types of surface and underwater threats to Vizag harbour, it added. According to the release, creation of the Sagar Prahari Bal, induction of Fast Interceptor Crafts (FICs) and commissioning of the IUHDSS are some of the Navy's measures to strengthen security. The MWDC will collate, analyse and classify data collected by the Navy's Mine Hunting Ships from various ports along the east coast and this facility will be the nodal centre for maintaining an underwater information database of harbours along the east coast. Both the IUHDSS and MWDC will function under the control of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Andhra Pradesh) Commodore Sanjiv Issar, it added. BEIJING (PTI): A US warship sailed through the disputed South China Sea, the third American vessel in less than a year to pass through the waters near the artificial islands built by China to assert freedom of navigation, triggering an angry reaction from the Communist nation. USS William P Lawrence, a guided missile destroyer, illegally entered China's waters near the islands on Tuesday without the permission of the Chinese government, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said. Lu said the warship was monitored, tracked and issued with a warning. US Department of Defence spokesman Bill Urban said in Washington that the freedom of navigation operation was in direct challenge to "excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea." China claims almost all of South China Sea which is disputed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. US has been dispatching its warships into the waters claimed by China to assert freedom of navigation. "The action by the US threatens China's sovereignty and security, endangers the safety of people and facilities on the reef, and harms regional peace and stability," Lu said. "China strongly opposes such action by the US and will continue to take measures to safeguard our sovereignty and security," he said, adding that China and other coastal states in the South China Sea have been working together to keep navigation and overflight free in the area for a long time. In fact, the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea has never been a problem, Lu said. He said the US introduced freedom of navigation operations in 1979 before the signing of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a treaty to which the United States is still not a party. The purpose of these recurring "patrols" is to disrupt the order of the seas and oceans without adhering to the UN convention, he added. The US sends military vessels and aircraft on surveillance missions against China as simple acts of provocation, Lu said, adding that the US actually considers itself above the UNCLOS and these activities are opposed by many countries. Lu said that the flexing of US military muscle in the name of freedom of navigation is the biggest threat to peace and stability in the area. WASHINGTON (PTI): Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expected visit here next month, two top American senators have introduced a legislation which if passed by Congress would elevate the status of the Indo-US defence relationship on par with that of America's closest allies like NATO and Israel. The US-India Defence Technology and Partnership Act was introduced in the Senate by Senators Mark Warner and John Cornyn co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus on Tuesday. The legislation has been sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for necessary action. The legislation, a similar version of the bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in March, institutionalises the US government's focus on the US-India security relationship while sending a powerful signal to India that the US is a reliable and dependable defence partner. "This bill supports strengthening our bilateral relationship, particularly in defence, and bestows upon India the status it deserves as a partner in promoting security in Asia and around the world," Warner said in a statement issued by US India Business Council (USIBC) which applauded the bill. As an important partner with a flourishing economy, India has huge potential as a market for US defence manufacturers, which support millions of American jobs, he said. The bill puts India on par with America's closest defence partners, including NATO member states and Israel, for the purpose of congressional defence sales notifications. For the US, it encourages the executive branch to designate an official to focus on US-India defence cooperation, facilitate the transfer of defence technology and maintain a special office in the Pentagon dedicated exclusively to the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). It urges the US government to enhance India's military capabilities in the context of combined military planning, and promote co-production and co-development opportunities. For India, it encourages the government to authorise combined military planning with the US for missions of mutual interest such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, counter piracy, and maritime domain awareness. "The commercial and security imperatives for a robust defence partnership between the US and India could not be clearer. Defence trade has risen from some USD 300 million to over USD 14 billion over the last 10 years and there is every reason to expect it to rise further. USIBC strongly supports this bill and encourages widespread support in the Senate," said USIBC president Mukesh Aghi. Employers' group IBEC has said the uncertainty around whether or not the UK will leave the European Union is having a knock-on effect on retailers here. The employer's group is releasing its new monitor for the first quarter of this year - which has found growth is beginning to stagnate. The New York Times has issued what has to be one of their most bizarre corrections after mixing up a US Muslim leader's Snapchat handle. For the article 'Muslim Leaders Wage Theological Battle, Stoking ISIS Anger on the steps Muslim leaders are taking to combat the growing spread of extremism, the Times spoke to several imams and scholars who have been publically condemned and threatened by ISIS. Imam Suhaib Webb, from Washington, is one of those leaders who has been denounced by ISIS, something which he considers one of his "greatest accomplishments in life. Webb has been reaching out to the young Muslims in his community, engaging with them through all forms of social media - including Snapchat. And this is where the Times made this unfortunate-but-funny error. It seems the article originally stated that Webb's Snapchat handle was Pimpin4Paradise786. Which is certainly eye-catching. But incorrect, as it turned out. Screengrab/The New York Times The Times subsequently issued a correction, blaming 'an editing error' and updated the article with his actual handle, the far more prosaic, imamsuhaibwebb. My snap chat handle, contrary to recent information is not #pimpin4paradise786. Here is the realness. pic.twitter.com/QLZNBcIfBz suhaib Webb (@ImamSuhaibWebb) May 9, 2016 The mix-up appears to have been caused by a video released earlier this year by Quartz in which the imam jokingly says his Snapchat name is Pimpin4Paradise786. In the video, Webb explains how he uses Snapchat to reach out to young people, deliver short sermons and even issuing a new style of fatwas which he has coined Snapwas. Welcome to the modern age - we can't blame the Grey Lady for getting a little confused. H/T: Mashable A University of Texas business professor has come up with a genius way to make Microsoft Excel appealing to his students - by enlisting the help of the Biebs. Thankfully, Justin Bieber himself doesn't make an appearance - Professor Clint Tuttle just rewrote the lyrics of 'Love Yourself' and turned it into an ode to Excel. MI5 has raised the official threat level to Britain from Northern-Ireland related terrorism, Home Secretary Theresa May has announced. The Security Service increased the level from moderate to substantial - which is the third most serious category out of five and means a terrorist attack is seen as a "strong possibility". Mrs May said the move "reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity". In a statement to the House of Commons, she said: "As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place." The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains at severe - meaning an attack is "highly likely". This has not been changed. Mrs May said the threat level to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland-related terrorism is also unchanged at severe. She added: "The public should remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police." The main focus of violent dissident republican activity continues to be in Northern Ireland "where they have targeted the brave police and prison officers who serve their communities day in and day out", Mrs May said. She added: "The reality is that they command little support. They do not represent the views or wishes of the vast majority of people, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, who decisively expressed their desire for peace in the 1998 Belfast Agreement and have been transforming Northern Ireland ever since." The Home Secretary went on: "However it is sensible, given their stated aims, that the public in Great Britain should also remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police. "But we should not be alarmed, and this should not affect how we go about our daily lives." Gardai in Raheny in Dublin are investigating an assault on a woman in her 20s. It happened in the early hours of Tuesday, May 3, between the junctions of the causeway Dollymount Beach and the Howth Road. The new Government plans to have 400 additional non-denominational and multi-denominational schools open by 2030, an Irish delegation told the United Nations today. Irelands human rights record is under the microscope in Geneva, where Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald is due to speak later. Ireland has also faced multiple calls for greater access to abortion, Travellers' rights, and rights for people with disabilities. Gavin OBrien from the Department of Education said the new Government was committed to increasing access to non-Catholic schools. "The new Programme for Government, the incoming Government, contains a commitment to strengthen parental choice in this area, and to increase diversity of school type," he said. "And there is an explicit commitment that by 2030, there will be 400 additional non-denominational and multi-denominational schools in Ireland." In today's Programme for Government, stated: "A road map has been agreed for a phased transfer of Catholic schools to new patrons, where the support of communities exists. "We will work with all stakeholders to facilitate this process whilst also considering new approaches such as the potential of different patrons on a single site. "We will publish new School Admissions and Excellence legislation taking account of current draft proposals (publication of school enrolment policies, an end to waiting lists, introduction of annual enrolment structures, and transparency and fairness in admissions for pupils). "We will seek to enact this legislation for the start of school year 2017-18." Childrens rights organisation EQUATE welcomed the announcement, but said that urgent action is required to implement the plan. These commitments are a real opportunity for a strong and comprehensive reform plan to tackle religious discrimination in our schools, director Michael Barron said. For this opportunity to be realised the Government needs to act now. Education reform takes time and the new Minister needs to move urgently so that it can become reality for families and children around the country. He added: It is vital that the new bill reform Section 7.3 (c) of the Equal Status Act which allows school admission policies to religious discriminate against children. If we truly want an admission policy that is transparent and fair, then this law must be reformed. Update (5.16pm): Responding to todays proceedings, Education Equality Chair April Duff said: The last Universal Periodic Review in 2011 was scathing of Irelands failure to provide a level playing field within the education system for families of all religions and none. It is a shocking indictment of the Irish State that it explicitly rejected the UPR recommendations with respect to achieving religious equality within our schools, while accepting, or partially accepting, the overwhelming majority of the remaining recommendations. She added: Irelands demographic makeup with respect to religious affiliation is changing fast, and the status quo in our schools, where children from non-religious and minority religious families are discriminated against on a daily basis, simply cannot be allowed to continue. A jury has been asked to carefully scrutinise the states of mind of two former Irish Life & Permanent bankers accused of conspiring to defraud. They, along with two former Anglo Irish Bank executives, have denied allegations that they conspired to mislead investors into thinking Anglo was in a healthier financial state than it actually was in 2008. The Health Minister is calling for the new National Maternity Hospital to be built as a matter of urgency. Funding is there to build the new hospital - however the project has been delayed because of a row over governance. A senior claims manager who defrauded her employer out of 220,000 over six years so she could pay off a spiralling drug debt has received a two and half year suspended sentence. Naila Zaffer (aged 38) , who is originally from Halifax in Yorkshire but is now living in Tulfarris Village, Blessington, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 10 sample charges including forgery, using a false instrument and theft from IPB Insurance on dates between April 2007 and August 2012. She stole a total of 221,685 over 18 transactions. She has no previous convictions. Judge Terence O'Sullivan said Zaffer's position enabled her to engineer the frauds and accepted that the crime was motivated by a form of physical compulsion. He acknowledged that she pleaded guilty and assisted the garda investigation. The judge said he was willing to take chance on her as he said he didn't believe society would benefit from jailing her. He suspended the sentence in full on condition that she attend for residential treatment and remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for the two and half years. I hope she will come out as a useful member of society who is unlikely to re-offend, Judge O'Sullivan said. Garda Shane Behan told Garett McCormack BL, prosecuting that the fraud was discovered when a colleague, who was covering for Zaffer as she was out sick, noticed some anomalies. This triggered an internal investigation and Zaffer was suspended. She was ultimately fired in February 2014. He said Irish Public Body Insurance were the underwriters for the County Council. Zaffer was in charge of processing claims and issuing cheques in relation to those claims. Over the course of the fraud she would add a fourth a person to a claim and forge various documentation to support the bogus claim. She would then get a cheque issued in the name of the fictitious claimant and would lodge it to a bank account which she had access to. Zaffer would use one of five names on each fake claim. The names she used were relations of Zaffer's and she would ask their permission to lodge the cheque into their bank account. She claimed her own was overdrawn and said the cheques were bonuses from work. Zaffer is still out of work and is on social welfare. She has never paid back her employer and Gda Behan said he doesn't believe she is in a position to do so. He agreed with James Dwyer BL, defending, that Zaffer denied that she was taking the rap for other people and told gardai she was taking responsibility for her own actions. She said a recreational cocaine habit had escalated and she had been spending 250 per day on the drug at the time of her arrest. Zaffer said she had initially been buying the drugs on credit and the bills escalated. Gda Behan said the bank transactions were consistent with her admissions. She would withdraw large sums of cash from the ATM on a daily basis. Mr Dwyer said his client had a degree in genetics and grew up in a strict Muslim family. She cut her ties with her family when she moved to Ireland and had never re-established contact with them. Zaffer started working in the insurance industry as soon as she came to Ireland. She progressed well and had a position of responsibility at the time of her arrest. Counsel said both Zaffer and her partner had a cocaine habit but neither of them used the drugs anymore. They were living with his sister in a rural part of Wicklow. A pitiless attacker struck a 50-year-old woman repeatedly in the head with a 2ft machete as he demanded cash writes Liam Heylin. The culprit was yesterday jailed for six years after the victim said he had seen her as nothing more than a walking ATM. At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Brian Veale, aged 31, of Dominic St, near Shandon in Cork City, and originally from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, pleaded guilty to the attempted robbery. Detective Sergeant Vincent OSullivan said Sandra Buckley was walking home from University College Cork to Farranree on the night of February 25, 2015, when she noticed someone following her from the top of Shandon St. She walked across St Marys Rd and on to Redemption Rd, but realised she was in trouble as the man was still following her. Ms Buckley decided to walk towards a house on Redemption Rd rather than going all of the way home but Veale caught up on her. Det Sgt OSullivan said: She felt two hands grab her around her neck and throat. She wriggled out of his grip. He said, Give me your money or Ill kill you, or words to that effect. He punched her in the nose and pulled out a 2ft- long machete and struck her four or five times on the forehead. She became hysterical and two passers-by came along and he fled on foot. Ms Buckley had to be taken by ambulance from the scene of the crime. The following night, the same man was caught after he struck a man and a female American student in the heads with a machete. Blood from Ms Buckley was found on the blade of Veales machete and on the care label of his jacket where he had been concealing the weapon. He pleaded guilty to the attempted robbery of Ms Buckley. Judge Sean O Donnabhain imposed a jail sentence of nine years, with the last three years suspended. Veale had more than 100 previous convictions, including two related to the machete attack on the other victims referred to yesterday. Ms Buckley said yesterday that she had been mugged in London years ago but what Veale did was not a mugging as he would have beaten her unconscious. She feared it would not end, so she screamed. Mr Buckley said he struck her repeatedly in the head with the machete and blood filled her eyes. Ms Buckley expressed gratitude for Veales plea of guilty, which means she would not have to give evidence in a trial. I hope he finds his own humanity. His eyes were cold, without pity, and hard. I am angry too that I was treated like a thing. I was treated like a walking ATM. He demanded money and I didnt have any, she said. Dermot Sheehan, defending, said Veale had a difficult background and was addicted to heroin, prescription tablets, and alcohol. Judge O Donnabhain said even after Veales release from prison, he will need constant, prolonged supervision both for his benefit and the safety of the community. This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner.. Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald will address the United Nations today to outline what the Government's done to improve human rights here. The UN is reviewing the progress on a number of issues - however abortion's expected to top the agenda. Ireland's Human Rights laws will come under the spotlight at a United Nations conference today. The Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald will outline what the Government has done to improve human rights here. Frances Fitzgerald will face her first test as Tanaiste today as she will be asked to defend Ireland's human rights record at the UN in Geneva later. Minister Fitzgerald, who is also Minister for Justice, will come in for criticism over our abortion laws, which have been described by the Netherlands as "restrictive". Mark Kelly of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has said a number of countries want to hear about the new Government's plans on the issue: Weve already seen advanced written questions from nine countries and six of them have zeroed in on the abortion issue. For example, Germany has asked if the eighth amendment to the constitution is going to be changed. And Sweden has asked what measures Ireland is prepared to take to bring legislation and medical practice at least in line with minimum International standards. Mark Kelly has said Ireland's human rights record still has room for improvement: I think we would have to give a red card on womens rights still in this country and in particular on the abortion issue, we continue to export abortion effectively to the UK. Comparatively speaking Ireland does quite well, but there are still some significant gaps. More than 80,000 evacuees from a Canadian town ravaged by wildfire are to start receiving direct financial assistance from the Alberta government and the Canadian Red Cross. Canadian Red Cross chief executive Conrad Sauve said each adult evacuated from the oil sands town of Fort McMurray will receive $600 and each child will get $300. He described the move as the most important and fastest direct cash transfer in the organisation's history. In total it amounts to $50m . The funds are in addition to the $1,250 per adult and $500 per dependent that Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said will be available starting on Wednesday. Ms Notley asked those who do not need emergency funding to let those who do line up first for the debit cards. The newly announced Red Cross payments will also start on Wednesday and will be via electronic transfers. Mr Sauve said: "We already know that the damage resulting from the wildfires will be in the billions and it will take years to recover, but also know that the needs of those affected are immediate." Fort McMurray Fire Chief Darby Allen said the wildfire is outside the city, and moving south. He said residents cannot come back until it is safe and workers have checked power and water supplies. The fire burned about 2,400 homes and buildings but 90% of the city was saved. Ms Notley has warned that police will turn people away if they try to enter before the city is reopened. She said she will meet with her cabinet on Thursday to discuss when some residents can return but repeated her vow to get information to people within two weeks of last Monday. About $67m has been donated to the Red Cross so far and both the provincial and federal governments have said they will match what is given to the Red Cross. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will visit Fort McMurray on Friday, announced he has created an ad-hoc cabinet committee to co-ordinate federal recovery and rebuilding efforts. NEW YORK: Gold prices rose more than 1% on Friday, on track for a weekly rise, as the dollar turned negative, with... NEW YORK: Earnings reports from the four biggest US companies by market capitalization in the coming week may test a... LONDON: Penny Mordaunt, one of two candidates to be Britains next prime minister, is still in the leadership race... TEHRAN: Iran has once again rejected allegations that it has supplied Russia with weapons "to be used in the war in... A former Canberra Grammar School staff member is facing allegations of historical abuse involving a student. The allegations are part of a civil matter and no criminal charges have been laid. Funding cut: Canberra Grammar School is one of the eight in the ACT that are expected to get less federal money next year. Credit:Rohan Thomson The staff member was employed in the senior school and left in the early 2000s. Head of school, Justin Garrick, informed the school community of the alleged abuse in an email on Wednesday, saying he would not provide further details given the matter was before court and he wanted to protect the privacy and wellbeing of the former student. A witness has pleaded guilty to lying to the trade unions royal commission during its Canberra hearings last year. Tuungafasi Manase, of Evatt, gave evidence at the union royal commission in July. Tuungafasi Manase gives evidence at the trade union royal commission. Credit:Screenshot Part of his evidence concerned a handwritten note, allegedly written by Manase, detailing a list of payments made by his boss, formwork contractor Elias Taleb, to construction union organiser Halafihi "Fihi" Kivalu, 39. But Manase denied being the author of the note while giving evidence before commissioner Dyson Heydon. The lower oil price has proven a double-edged sword for Emirates. The Dubai-based airline is paying less for fuel, but demand for business travel has fallen as major oil companies have cut costs, says chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum. Emirates says the decline in the oil price has lowered demand for business travel. "Many airlines not only Emirates especially in first and business class are having issues because of what is happening on the downside of oil prices and companies have really to an extent cut their travel," he said on Tuesday. "There was an effect." Sheikh Ahmed's comments came after the Qantas partner reported a record annual profit of $US2.2 billion ($2.9 billion), up 50 per cent from the previous year. The Australian Financial Review reported that in the 1990s the Prime Minister and former NSW Premier Neville Wran were on the board of Star Mining NL and its subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands, Star Technology Service, which had been incorporated by Mossack Fonseca two years earlier. Malcolm Turnbull has dismissed any suggestions of impropriety after it was revealed in Panama Papers data that he was once a director of an offshore company set up by Mossack Fonseca. Star Mining is an Australian listed company which hoped to develop a $20 billion Siberian gold mine called Sukhoi Log. The paper reports there is no suggestion he acted improperly while a director. Mr Turnbull's spokesman said the Prime Minister didn't know the company was administered by Mossack Fonseca. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Turnbull defended his involvement in the company when questioned on Thursday. "Let me say to you that the company in which you Neville Wran and I were directors was an Australian-listed company and had it made any profits which it did not, regrettably, it certainly would have paid tax in Australia - obviously you haven't studied the accounts of the company concerned," he said. "As the article acknowledged, there is no suggestion of any impropriety whatsoever. There is nothing new there." Investa Property Group has stuck with its tried and tested senior executives with the appointment of Jonathan Callaghan as chief executive and Peter Menegazzo as chief investment officer. Investa's board appointed recruitment agency Carmichael Fisher to search for external candidates, but in a back-to-the-future move, concluded that the incumbents were the best choices. Investa executives: Jonathan Callaghan and Peter Menegazzo. Credit:James Alcock The two directors who were managers of the unlisted Investa Commercial Property Fund, were the frontline defence for management control of the listed Investa office Fund, in the long-running battle that pitted them with the powerful DEXUS Property. The new owners of Investa and the Investa management platform emerged the victors when a large shareholder, CBRE Clarion, sold its strategic 9.8 per cent stake to Cromwell Corp at the 11th-hour. CBRE Clarion were in favour of the DEXUS offer, but Cromwell voted it down. After agreeing two years ago to stop subsidising petrol discounts through supermarket profits, Coles now appears to be subsidising food and grocery discounts by charging higher prices at the pump. Industry sources believe Coles has been charging a premium for petrol for at least six months to fund investment in lower grocery prices and protect margins in its food, liquor and convenience division amid increasingly aggressive industry discounting. In a recent report, Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Simotas said Australian Institute of Petrol data suggested retail fuel prices had fallen 7 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the March quarter, but Coles' sales implied that its prices had fallen only 2.6 per cent. An industry-wide shift to premium fuels and stronger sales in Coles Express convenience stores accounted for some of the gap, Mr Simotas said. The EU is poised to ban high-powered appliances such as kettles, toasters and hair-dryers within months of Britain's referendum vote, despite senior officials admitting the plan has brought them "ridicule". The European Commission plans to unveil long-delayed 'ecodesign' restrictions on small household appliances in the Northern hemisphere autumn. They are expected to ban the most energy-inefficient devices from sale in order to cut carbon emissions. The plans have been ready for many months, but were shelved for fear of undermining the referendum campaign if they were perceived on an assault on the British staples of tea and toast. A sales ban on high-powered vacuum cleaners and inefficient electric ovens in 2014 sparked a public outcry in Britain. EU officials have been instructed to immediately warn their senior managers of any issues in their portfolios that relate to the UK and could boost the Leave campaign were they to become public. The dismantling of the Fels panel follows increasing tensions between head office and the panel, which reached fever pitch after the appointment of a new chief executive, Angus McKay. Head office and the panel met on Tuesday to discuss a new set of proposals outlined by Mr McKay. 7-Eleven founder: Russ Withers and former GM operations Natalie Dalbo. Credit:Wayne Taylor Part of the original panel agreement was that 7-Eleven would have no staff involvement in the panel or the panel's assessments and all panel assessments could not be contested by head office. "Already 7-Eleven has in recent times under its new CEO broken its commitment to accept panel decisions without question," Prof Fels said. Professor Allan Fels. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "There were quite a few other proposals that also would have emasculated the panel's independence and this is unacceptable to the panel and we advised 7-Eleven of this. Clearly the action by 7-Eleven would destroy trust by claimants and deter claims from being made and even pursued." Prof Fels said he did not believe they were serious. This is no longer an independent process. It is being done by self-interested people with the aim of minimising the payout. Allan Fels "7-Eleven also proposed an impossible standard of proof from now. Originally the standard was what the panel assisted by Deloitte thought was reasonable in the circumstances of very bad and dishonest record keeping by franchisees abetted by 7-Eleven," Prof Fels said. "Now a court standard was proposed with Deloitte being asked to report to 7-Eleven as well as the panel. Besides being a complete repudiation of 7-Eleven commitments - obviously a public relations exercise partly intended to ward off a Senate inquiry - the outcome is a triumph for franchisees." Mr McKay denied Prof Fels' statements saying the company brought the panel inhouse to expedite claims and was not about minimising the amount paid out to staff. In a disturbing twist, 7-Eleven - which was savagely criticised in two separate reports by a Senate inquiry and Fair Work - said it would "fund" the regulator if the regulator wanted to take an oversight role in the new process. The panel, led by Prof Fels and the highly regarded David Cousins in conjunction with a team forensic accountants, has already processed hundreds of claims that have so far delivered more than $12 million in back pay to current and former staff. The final payout was expected to be close to $100 million, making it the largest pay-back claim in Australia's corporate history. The panel believes that about 20,000 employees worked for 7-Eleven franchisees in the past decade and most were underpaid by about half. 7-Eleven said it will instead introduce an internal "secretariat" that will use "enhanced investigative protocols and evidentiary standards". The Fels Panel will cease deliberations from this Friday. A press release from head office says a new panel will operate inside 7-Eleven and any recommendations will be made to 7-Eleven and each recommendation must be validated. Fairfax Media can reveal that tensions came to a head earlier this month in relation to one of the biggest wage fraud claims the panel has approved for payment. Maurice Blackburn principal Giri Sivaraman, who has been acting pro bono for former 7-Eleven workers lodging claims to the panel, said he and his team had used evidentiary standards aligned with those used in Fair Work court cases. "Any suggestion we have acted otherwise is appalling and we refute that," Mr Sivaraman said. "This notion that there's some sort of scam is preposterous. The scam was being run by 7-Eleven franchisees, and head office has allowed it to happen for years." Former 7-Eleven worker Sam Pendem who was robbed twice in 18 hours while working at 7-Eleven for $10 per hour, has lodged a claim with the panel and is concerned about the change. Loading It would be drawing a long bow to describe Michael Pezzullo as outspoken. Few serving public service mandarins are. The Immigration Department secretary is, however, upfront and never more so than when discussing the contributions he believes his department has made to Australia's prosperity and social coherence since its merger with Customs. And he believes the department's policy direction since that merger offers important lesson for the rest of the federal bureaucracy. Mr Pezzullo shared aspects of this thinking in an address to the Institute of Public Administration this week as part of its Australia's Secretary Series. In it, he outlined how policy makers and those setting the strategic direction of the public service needed to distance themselves from the "empire of rules" (with its focus on abstract process, groupthink and policy biases) and embrace a "commonwealth of ideas" wherein new concepts could be formulated about "how the state might best play its role in the improvement of the nation that it governs". Drawing on a paper by Martin Parkinson, secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Mr Pezzullo said that "closed systems and structures which are centrally organised with rigid modes of operation and limited openness to exterior forces" [empires of rules] were unlikely to be able to adapt to an environment undergoing rapid changes caused by technology explosions, resource sustainability, demography changes and shifts in geo-political forces. His solutions to the problem of senior bureaucrats thinking only of certainty and closure when they should be focused on the future and trying to anticipate impending change? Invest in policy research and planning, invest in cultivating institutional memory and historical perspective, equip your workforce to enable it meet those new challenges, and insist on clear and effective communication within your organisation. Let us now use this election year to get firm promises that will correct this Federal omission; and also inject some overall wisdom into the cross border planning processes rather than giving undue power to the ACT's Land Development Agency. Dr Chris Watson, president, Ginninderra Falls Association Too few on board I don't know the details of the cases quoted by Scott Matheson (Letters, May 11) but I am sure there are many successful light rail operations around the world. If they are built after careful study including a serious consideration of the alternatives, they should work. But I doubt that any of the successful ones were built after it was shown that they would have a benefit cost ration of 0.5 or in the face of the almost universal condemnation of the economic and other analysts who have looked at them. The number of letters published by this newspaper against the tram probably reflects the number of letters submitted and the fact that most Canberrans don't want this green elephant. Perhaps Matheson hasn't heard of the phrase "horses for courses". But, in case he hasn't, you choose the best means of transport for here not necessarily the means adopted by someone else in a very different city. There is nothing wrong with trams, they just won't work here. Stan Marks, Hawker Churchill bad choice Mario Moldoveanu (Letters, May 9) made a bad choice in selecting Winston Churchill as the intellectual basis for his assessment of the Budget. He'd have been better off reading 'The Economic Consequences of Mr Churchill' by J.M. Keynes, which dealt with Churchill's performance as Chancellor of the Exchequer [Treasurer]. In particular, it analysed the great man's "feather-brained" 1925 Budget decision to return Britain to the pre-war exchange rate and gold standard. Keynes predicted this would ruin British industry's competitiveness and lead to a major depression. He was spot-on it did. And Churchill later described it as his greatest mistake. Economics was not his forte. Phil Teece, Sunshine Bay, NSW Greed the real problem I strongly agree with the views of Judy Kelly (Letters, April 29) continued population growth is really insane. To continue to increase our population makes absolutely no sense when we have limited space, and limited natural resources which are already under great strain in the ACT. And our roads and other infrastucture are barely coping. More people now means more crowding, more social disruption and less of our natural resources. Yet strangely, no politician wishes to even be seen to think about the issue. I have spoken (or tried to speak) with representatives of all the major political parties in the ACT about population, and they either turn away, or just state "it is too difficult". However, underlying this stupidity is an individual and societal problem that of continued and increasing greed. Public companies fail unless they continue to grow: to be bigger than their competitors, to provide more returns to their shareholders. If our GDP fails to grow every year, we are told it is a disaster. And even personally, we are encouraged to seek more and more: more money and more things. We are in the thrall of a greed and growth paradigm which we appear unwilling and perhaps unable to challenge. These are indeed global issues greed and the pursuit of continued and increasing growth are world wide. In Australia as a whole, our unique ecosystems and biodiversity even our air and water are threatened by our obsession with more people and more things. Unless we learn to temper and control our impulses to seek more of everything, and learn to live in harmony with our environment, we will destroy it, and ultimately destroy ourselves. This is not a legacy I want to leave to future generations rather than accepting the premise that we will continue to grow, let us have a real conversation about our population size, and achieving stability. Let us start here, in Canberra. Neal Hardy, Downer Science Minister's silence over Antarctic decision is deafening So Science Minister Christopher Pyne washes his hands of the decision by the management of CSIRO to cut Antarctic research and sack 74 jobs in its Oceans and Atmosphere Division ("CSIRO set to cut research in Antarctic", May 9, p1). What a wimp! CSIRO's governing Act requires the organisation: "To carry out scientific research for any of the following purposes: (i) assisting Australian industry; (ii) furthering the interests of the Australian community; (iii) contributing to the achievement of Australian national objectives or the performance of the national and international responsibilities of the Commonwealth; (iv) any other purpose determined by the Minister". It is clear that this decision will affect Australia's international responsibilities and that the Minister can intervene when the organisation loses its way. His silence is deafening and it says a lot about the current government's commitment to our international obligations and long-term strategic research. David Denham, Griffith Elevate climate issue Reading that atmospheric measurements at Cape Grim in Tasmania show that the world is about to pass the 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide threshold ("Grim carbon threshold days away at Tassie site", May 11, p8) perhaps a point of no return fills me with anger, apprehension and some pride. I am proud that Australia's scientists in the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology have been at the forefront in measuring and modelling these changes in our atmosphere. However, I am furiously angry that neither our Government nor, it seems, the CEO of the CSIRO, sees the importance of continuing this vital research. I am also angry that, despite a professed recognition of the massive impact that climate change is having on this country and the wider world, Malcolm Turnbull and his team are taking no more than token steps towards reining in Australia's emissions. I am extremely angry to read that our Environment Minister, Greg Hunt, still seems to think that achieving a 5 per cent cut by 2020 is a matter for congratulations (when it's frankly pathetic) and his Direct Action scheme will deliver the goods. And, finally, I am hugely apprehensive that Australian voters will conclude that climate change is a second order issue, and vote accordingly, when it should be front of mind, especially for farmers, tourism operators, local councils, health professionals, engineers, town planners, architects, national security professionals and every local community. Catherine Rossiter, Royalla, NSW Right about hot air So Anne Prendergast (Letters, May 10) thinks Amanda Vanstone's article "Why the PM choice is clear" (Times2,May 9,p1) is good and worth a read. On the other hand, I regard the article as a piece of gutter journalism. Vanstone would probably qualify as one of Australia's slowest learners if, after more than 20 years in Parliament, she thinks that Australian voters elect the prime minister and that the prime minister alone decides the financial direction Australia takes. The most accurate part of her article is the opening statement that "There's a lot of hot air between now and July 2.". Her article certainly launches the hot-air balloon admirably. Brian Smith, Conder I see no correlation between running a company for the purpose of making money for the benefit of the few, to running a country for the benefit of the many. A business's sole aim is to accumulate wealth for the benefit the shareholders. Ms Vanstone's assertion that union or Labor people are not good managers flies in the face of successful labor parliamentarians such as Hawke, Curtin, Hughes, Keating. There is no past evidence that a business man would make a better PM. You could not point to Malcolm's management of the NBN as a shinning light on his CV. Robert Bruce, Fadden Checking facts Erica Mehrtens (Letters, May 9) is out of touch with modern technology. Julie Bishop uses a 'smart phone' which is an instant fax checker when the opposition speaker sprouts supposed facts. I must admit spending much time also using the instant fact checker to discover the meaning of a word, or the accuracy of a Trump one liner. It's an Oxford Dictionary, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and ABC news bulletin merged together in a hand-held package, and you don't necessarily have to be on Facebook to enjoy its use. Paul Fitzwarryne, Yarralumla Cut the cruel regime In the 1970s Australia humanely 'stopped the boats' and prevented drownings at sea by processing people in Asia and flying refugees to Australia. In the early 2000s the Government achieved the same result by the less humane means of 'turning back the boats' and temporary offshore detention, before settling people in Australia and New Zealand. In 2013 the re-introduction of 'turning back the boats' also 'stopped the boats'. This year Europe has stopped most of its boats, without resorting to Australia's unnecessary indefinite offshore detention. In an election period, with major parties supporting this inhumane policy, immediate change will be difficult. Fortunately the AMA has offered a first step that should be implemented immediately. In February this year it recommended that children in Nauru be returned to Australia. It also proposed establishment of an independent medical body reporting to Parliament on the health and welfare of asylum seekers and refugees. Such a body would provide us with all the facts about this cruel situation and undiluted recommendations for improvement to the new Parliament after the election. This unnecessary cruelty must stop and we must take the first step now. Tim McKenna, Narrabundah Passion for learning best begins at home Low participation rates in early learning are disadvantaging Australian children ("Low early learning rates hinder children", May 7, p1)? No way. Parents raise their children better than an institution! Our two children were raised at home until they were four years old, they then attended play-based, non-academic schools. During their first six years, singing, cooking, drawing, painting, cleaning, playing and creativity were their curriculum, in nurturing, homely environments. They entered mainstream public schooling at kindergarten and year one without any prior academic tutoring they were both reading chapter books within six months and were quickly among the best in the class at mathematics. This foundation prepared them well, by the time they reached public school they had developed a passion for learning, creativity and compassion for nature and their peers. Our children benefitted, they were not hindered. And, I know of other families with similar stories. Three-year-olds need not be formally educated, they need to be lovingly shown the wonders of our world. Society should encourage parents to raise and teach their children well, not run fear campaigns pushing parents into handing their children over to institutions where education is a priority and a pressure. Let children excel at being children, creative, curious and enthusiastic, and save academics till later! Carmen Tye, O'Connor ABS does the tables Les Brennan (Letters, May 10) implies that Australia does not compile input-output tables to assist in the development of plans for future growth of our economy. Mr Brennan will no doubt be pleased to learn that in fact the Australian Bureau of Statistics has been compiling input-output tables for over 50 years. The first tables were produced for 1962-63 and the most recent tables were produced for 2012-13. Annette Barbetti, Kaleen TO THE POINT KEEP UP THE FIGHT Fight on, Kay Catanzariti ("Mother distraught as justice 'fails' lost son", may 10, p1)! All the noise in the world cannot hide one voice of truth. People who lack resources to seek proper legal remedies are not properly heard are abandoned. Unfortunately, the law is not about the truth. Very sad. Many share your frustration and grief. Cecile Hunt, Paddington, NSW PROBLEM SOLVED When the election was announced on Sunday, I made up my mind that Turnbull was vastly more competent to be the prime minister of Australia, compared to Shorten no matter what policies they came up with. So I can now completely switch off from all the electioneering argy-bargy; I can now skip all the newspaper and TV chatter related to the election, which is, anyway, boring and repetitive. I'll think of better things to do with my time. John Holmes, Monash THINK HARD Howard. Rudd, Gillard, Rudd. Abbott, Turnbull. Shorten? Think hard; let's hope common sense decides the federal election. Brian Hale, Wanniassa CLEAR AS MUD Oh boy, Bogey Musidlak (Letters, May 9), this poor "elector wanting to grasp the fundamental point" that the changed Senate voting is both fairer and simpler gasps at your complications that make even the solutions of that psephological bogyman, Malcolm Mackerras, seem as clear as mud. C. Lendon, Cook LOOKING AFTER RICH I agree completely with Ann Prendergast re Amanda Vanstone's article ("Why the PM choice is clear", Times2, May 9, p1). As to the validquestion posed by Amanda, who would you like to be your personal financial adviser if you won a mega-lottery? It's a no-brainer, surely! Sonia Widdowson, Nicholls Amanda Vanstone hit the nail on the head. If you were very wealthy, she asks, would you choose Turnbull or Shorten to look after your finances? Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's first budget has already demonstrated his strong commitment to looking after the rich. Hugh Smith, Deakin TAKING IT WITH YOU I was impressed by Les Neulinger's claim (Letters, May 10) that former NSW premier Neville Wran was "currently" a multimillionaire. So you can take it with you, can you? It is common for religion to play a role in Australian election campaigns so the expectation should be that it will do so again. This is despite the fact it is not high on the agenda at the moment, and both the major political parties are now led by non-dogmatic Christians. The latter is a change from the last election when the parties were led by Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, who could be dogmatic and were long-time combatants over matters religious. Some voters do notice the religious character of political leaders, and it can change votes. In Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten we now have leaders with interesting religious histories. Turnbull is a Catholic convert who married into a strong Catholic family, the Hughes. Shorten, educated by the Jesuit order of Catholic priests at Melbourne's Xavier College, became an Anglican when he married for a second time. That combination may change a few votes, though it is hard to see the personal identification of the leaders becoming an election issue. That is something new. Rudd deliberately sought out middle-of-the-road religious voters, while Abbott's conservative orthodox Catholicism put off some voters while attracting a few others. Sydney has beaten Melbourne in the latest battle of the musicals, with Beautiful: The Carole King Musical opening at Sydney Lyric Theatre in September 2017. But the NSW government will not reveal how much money was thrown at the producer to lure the award-winning show to Sydney. Singer Rebecca LaChance performs songs from Carole King's repertoire at the launch of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which opens in Sydney in 2017. Credit:Peter Rae A spokeswoman for Destination NSW, Kate Campbell, said its investment in the musical is "commercial-in-confidence". The odour from coral bleaching is masking the smell of predators to small reef fish, a Queensland study has found. A research team of scientists from James Cook University and Sweden's Uppsala University spent two months on a field study at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef last year to determine whether coral bleaching affected small reef fishes' ability to detect their predators. Damselfish, considered the "model" fish for other reef species, were used in the study, which found degraded coral reefs muddied their ability to work out who predators were. The findings were published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The union official set be disendorsed from standing for the Labor party in West Australia could be kicked out of the party for failing to reveal historic criminal convictions during the preselection process. Opposition leader Bill Shorten is said to be "frustrated and disappointed" after it was revealed the Maritime Union of Australia official Chris Brown was disendorsed after he did not disclose that he had been convicted of assaulting a police officer and drink driving in the 1980s before being named the candidate. Mr Brown was specifically asked whether he had a criminal past as part of the Labor party's vetting ahead of his preselection for the seat of Fremantle. In addition, would-be Labor candidates are also asked a catch-all question "is there anything in your past or present that would embarrass the Labor party if made public?" Bill Shorten's chances of holding inner Sydney seats have been enhanced by the Australian Sex Party's likely decision to direct preferences to Labor. The progressive small party is intent on paying back inner-city Greens rivals for supporting the Turnbull government's reforms to the Senate. In Sydney to announce the Australian Sex Party's NSW Senate team ticket, the party's only parliamentary representative, Victorian Upper House MP Fiona Patten, said Labor would likely get their preferences in the seats of Sydney and Grayndler. The party was also considering standing in a third seat. "The door has closed for the Greens in inner city Sydney." she said. A school performance production company is being encouraged to include Indigenous history in its program after a tour bus touting its "hilarious British colonisation" show drew criticism from students groups for its "unacceptable" portrayal of Australian history. Iconic Performances, based in the Sydney CBD and owned by actor turned producer Steve Baltzois, says it has toured its Colonial Show to more than 2000 primary schools throughout Australia. Born out of the rubble of Old Sydney Town, a colonial theme park that closed in 2003, the production company is now also working on a new performance, Drum Story, with Anglo-Saxon actors playing enslaved African tribes in blackface. The company says its colonial show is its most successful, with a performance that spans the arrival of the first fleet and gives students "never before seen access to the nation's fledgling beginnings as a penal colony". Five water cooling towers in the Sydney CBD have tested positive for legionella as health authorities announce two more people have contracted legionnaires' disease. The two new cases of the pneumonia-like infection brings to five the the total number of patients linked to the recent outbreak, NSW Health said. Both patients are men in their 40s and 50s and were in the CBD at a similar time as the first three patients. The original three cases included a man in his 80s and two women in their 30s. One is in a critical condition, another is stable and the third has been discharged from hospital. Central Queensland locals have been praised for their generosity in donating clothes, hot water and blankets to a group of Chinese tourists who were forced to evacuate their burning boat in the Whitsundays on Wednesday. Police said 46 people, most of them Chinese tourists on a sightseeing tour, were aboard the Spirit of 1770 when the engine caught fire just before 4pm. Crew members were unable to contain the blaze and flames engulfed the catamaran before it sank, about 10 nautical miles off Lady Musgrave Island, which lies off the coast of Gladstone. The group of tourists evacuated the vessel in life rafts about 4.30pm, after the crew realised the fire was unable to be contained. The extradition of an alleged bikie from Serbia to face a murder charge over a 2012 shopping centre carpark shooting is a Queensland first, police say. Alleged Bandido Bogdan Cuic, 28, was flown into Brisbane and charged on Wednesday night, more than a year after he was arrested in Serbia to face extradition. Australian and Serbia do not share an extradition treaty, contributing to what Acting Detective Superintendent Damien Hansen said was already a "very difficult murder investigation". He said Mr Cuic fled the country the day after 22-year-old Jei "Jack" Lee was murdered outside the Sushi Train at the Warrigal Square shopping centre in April 2012 in an alleged drug deal gone bad. He said the 28-year-old was a Bandido at the time. For the first time in political memory, neither the Premier nor the Deputy Premier received invitations to join one of Queensland's most exclusive clubs - because they don't have the right sex organs. More than a year after the Palaszczuk Labor government came to power, Brisbane's historic Tattersall's Club, which has welcomed those who grace the seats of power in George Street since its inception in 1865, issued "honorary membership" invitations to a handful of state MPs. Not even the state's most powerful politician is invited to be a member of Brisbane's Tattersall's Club. But, in line with its stubborn "like-minded" membership rules, only to those with XY chromosomes. Despite running the state, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and Queensland's seven other women cabinet ministers didn't make the cut. South-east Queensland faces a $69 billion brake on the economy due to a looming transport crisis, with Brisbane CBD's sole rail bridge to reach capacity in 2021, two years before the scheduled completion of the Cross River Rail tunnel. Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe laid out the looming problem on day two of the Queensland Transport Infrastructure conference at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday. "By 2021 there will be no capacity to increase our services during our busiest times and passengers will face over-crowding on platforms and trains," Mr Hinchliffe said. "Without an effective transport system providing access to jobs in growth areas (Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Moreton Bay), Brisbane's economic output could be restricted by about $69 billion between 2015-2031." A Brisbane rugby league referee found dead on his garage floor just months after his house was set alight was shot between the eyes at close range, a court has heard. Tyson John Taylor, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering retired accountant Tony McGrath in May 2013, and also to an attempted murder charge stemming from allegations he set Mr McGrath's Woolloongabba home alight seven months earlier. Tony McGrath died from a single gunshot to the head. Credit:Courtesy Brisbane Rugby On the second day of his Supreme Court trial, the jury was shown pictures from the 57-year-old's post-mortem examination depicting a bloodied wound to one side of his nasal bridge. Forensic pathologist Dr Alex Olumbe told the court he managed to retrieve a bullet lodged in Mr McGrath's head that had severed the brain stem - an injury he said caused immediate death. Emergency services have been called to an Ipswich suburb after a suspicious device was located. Police were called to Raceview about 2pm after a suspicious device was discovered. It was not yet known what the nature of the device was or whether specific threats had been made. The emergency situation in Raceview, as filmed by Deputy Mayor Paul Tully. Credit:Facebook/Paul Tully An emergency situation was declared and an area around Cemetery Road has been cordoned off. Despite the mining boom being over, West Australian plumbers and electricians are still the highest paid tradies in the country, according to a report released on Tuesday. WA plumbers took out top gong on ServiceSeeking.com.au's 'tradie rich list', charging an average of $87.67 an hour for a job. WA plumbers are the highest paid trades people in Australia. Credit:Paul Bradbury WA electricians were a close second on $87.33 per hour asking for nearly $10 more than third placed builders in New South Wales who on average, quoted $77.85 an hour. Overall, hourly rates for Australian tradesmen remained steady in the first quarter of 2016 with workers earning an average of $60.88 an hour. Update: An Australian man has been placed in an induced coma after enduring severe head injuries in a vicious attack at his Bali villa. Doctors at Bali hospital placed John Bourke, a retired engineer from the Northern Territory, in the medical state in an effort to reduce his brain swelling. John Bourke, an Australian man allegedly attacked in his Bali villa. They are watching for signs of an improvement in Bourke, who is also on a respirator to assist his breathing. It was the second time that Bourke, 63-years-old, had been attacked in recent days, according to his friend Brandon Ingram. China congratulates Kim Jong-un on promotion North Korea plans to boost nuclear capability Seoul, South Korea: When the North Korean state media Tuesday published lists of officials newly selected for senior posts, at least one name came as a surprise: Ri Yong Gil, a prominent general. In February, South Korean officials said Ri had been executed on corruption charges. But according to the North Korean reports Tuesday, he is not only alive but a member of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party, as well as its Central Military Commission. The appointments were made during the Workers' Party congress that ended Monday, the first such gathering in 36 years. Ri was also named an alternate member of the Politburo, according to the reports Tuesday. Ri had been chief of the North Korean army's general staff, the third-ranking figure in the army's hierarchy, when his name abruptly stopped appearing in state media reports in January. In February, South Korean intelligence officials said Ri had been executed, apparently the latest senior official to fall in a series of purges and executions that the North's top leader, Kim Jong Un, has used to consolidate power. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with army chief of staff Ri Yong-Gil, who had reportedly been executed. Credit:KCNA Because North Korea rarely publicises the executions of top officials, most such reports cannot be independently confirmed. And doubts about Ri's supposed execution emerged in the weeks that followed. In March, a South Korean cable channel, MBN, reported that Ri had been demoted, not executed, and that he had been allowed to return to service. Pictures released Tuesday by the North Korean state media seemed to support that theory. Ri was shown wearing a three-star rather than a four-star insignia, indicating he had been reduced in rank. South Korean intelligence officials say it is extremely difficult to get reliable information about developments within the North's opaque government. Officials have disappeared from public view for months at a time, only to resurface later. Early last year, South Korean officials told reporters that Ma Won Chun, a senior general who was in charge of the renovation of the Pyongyang airport, had been purged. But Ma, it appears, was simply demoted, and he resurfaced later in the year. Latest News Westpac's second-half profit takes $824 million blow from unit sale The bank's fiscal 2022 results will be out in November Banking Code of Compliance Committee welcomes moves to boost transparency Changes supported by ABA will hold banks to account, says BCCC chair A respected economic commentator has described Australias booming apartment market as one of the biggest economic threats currently faced by the country.Speaking at an NAB event in Sydney last week, BRW founder Robert Gottliebsen said the ongoing construction of thousands of apartments in Australia, many of which have been purchased by foreign buyers, is something that needs to closely monitored in the coming years.If you asked me what I thought was the biggest threat to Australia internally in the next 12, 18 months or two years its that weve built a vast number of apartments that Asian, and mainly Chinese, investors have bought off the plan and paid 10%, Gottliebsen said.In the next 12, 18 months or two years those apartments will be completed and theyll have to pay the extra 90%. They had expected to pay 30%... and they had expected to bring the money out from China or borrow from our local banks, he said.While the issues of apartment oversupply and foreign buyers have constantly been in the headlines in recent times Gottliebsen said recent developments have increased the level of risk associated with the two.Theyre having difficulty getting extra money out of China and our local banks are saying now we won't lend to you or theyre making it very difficult, he said.If they dont go ahead with those apartment purchases, well have great disturbances in the property market.It is one of the challenges that we need to monitor and watch. Im not saying its going to be crisis, it may not be but its one of the danger points. Latest News Westpac's second-half profit takes $824 million blow from unit sale The bank's fiscal 2022 results will be out in November Banking Code of Compliance Committee welcomes moves to boost transparency Changes supported by ABA will hold banks to account, says BCCC chair More Australian lenders have taken a hard-line approach to foreign lending, stopping lending to foreign borrowers or excluding foreign-sourced income from mortgage applications amid growing concerns about fraud.Citigroup wrote to mortgage brokers yesterday with a blacklist of foreign currencies it will no longer accept as payment for Australian real estate from overseas borrowers, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported.The letter, sent by Citis head of mortgage distribution, Matt Wood, contained a list of 12 currencies that it will accept and warned that all others are not negotiable.In a statement provided to Australian Broker, a spokesperson for Citi confirmed at least five currencies have been excluded from mortgage applications.We want to continue to ensure we have a robust and healthy residential loan book catering to foreign buyers. In light of recent industry concerns regarding foreign residential loan applications relying on offshore income we have excluded certain currencies to ensure we dont attract any increases in unwanted loan applications.These currencies include the Chinese RMB, Indian Rupee (INR), Indonesian Rupiah (IDR), Malaysian Ringit (MYR) and Taiwan Dollar (TWD).Citis decision comes after Westpac and ANZ announced they will be investigating mortgages that have been backed by questionable foreign-income documentation, which forced them to stop approving such loans last month.Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has also since warned its network of brokers to halt lending to foreign borrowers and exclude foreign-sourced income. In a statement provided to Australian Broker, a spokesperson said the non-major has received a marked increase in foreign applications. Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has always had a policy which allowed funding of expat Australian borrowers and, in certain circumstances foreigners to purchase property in Australia.This financial year, in the eight months to end of February 2016, this amounted to new lending advanced of less than $60m.In March and April following policy adjustments at other banks, we have seen a marked increase in enquiry and applications, exceeding our risk appetite. As a result we are reviewing our current position in the market.The chief executive of Mortgage Choice , John Flavell, told Australian Broker he expects more lenders to announce similar bans or restrictions.Given the recent developments, I am not surprised to see many of Australia's lenders taking a hard line approach to foreign income lending.These policy changes will make it harder for foreign investors to purchase property in Australia using foreign income. Over the coming days and weeks, I expect to see more lenders tightening their policy in this area. Latest News Westpac's second-half profit takes $824 million blow from unit sale The bank's fiscal 2022 results will be out in November Banking Code of Compliance Committee welcomes moves to boost transparency Changes supported by ABA will hold banks to account, says BCCC chair Most Australian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are refused business loans because of cash flow problems and a blemished credit history, according to a national study.The first quarterly Online Small Business Lending Index, released by the online scoring tool SMECreditScore.com.au, found cash flow issues and a poor credit history accounted for three quarters of the 59% of small business online loan applications being rejected.SME Credit Score co-founder James Watson said lenders need to be more flexible and understanding when it comes to small businesses.Some small businesses, especially in trades and retail industries, transact primarily in cash and if this money never enters a bank account, it cannot be verified and can lead to a healthy business being rejected for a loan, he said.SME Credit Score co-founder Jonathan Raymond said it is also worth remembering businesses going online for loan applications tend to be owned by a younger demographic with less business experience.The approval rates from the first quarterly index reflect this, he said.All small businesses in the index have been operating for a minimum of 12 months and have between $200,000 and $5 million in annual revenue.With the rapid growth of online small business lending in Australia, this index will shine a light on approval rates for business loans.Watson added that one of the motivations in establishing SME Credit Score was to provide two million Australian small businesses with a free credit scoring service to let them see what lenders see. Latest News Westpac's second-half profit takes $824 million blow from unit sale The bank's fiscal 2022 results will be out in November Banking Code of Compliance Committee welcomes moves to boost transparency Changes supported by ABA will hold banks to account, says BCCC chair Yellow Brick Road (YBR) branches nationally will be opening up their doors to offer free financial advice to Australian consumers to help address retirement concerns.The franchise networks Ask My Advice Day will be held on Saturday 28 May and will be the fourth year running it has participated.According to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the number of over-45s who say they will not retire before turning 70 has dramatically increased, from 8% to 23% in the past decade. YBR executive chairman, Mark Bouris , says this has sparked fresh concerns that a comfortable retirement is now out of reach for hundreds of thousands of Australians.He says the key to a comfortable retirement is to start early, and brokers can play an important role in that.Everyone deserves the chance to retire comfortably but people need to take action, he said.Ask My Advice Day is an easy way to get started by just coming in and asking a qualified adviser any burning questions - whether its on your retirement, your home loan, superannuation, insurance or savings.Recent research commissioned by YBR showed the reasons people arent seeking advice from a financial adviser include the belief they dont need one, cost, reputational worries, perception that advisers are only for the wealthy and embarrassment in the state of their finances.Bouris hopes its annual Ask My Advice Day will break down these obstacles by highlighting that no question is too big or small. A Reserve Bank memo discussing the impact of changing negative gearing confirms that abolishing the practice would raise rents, a property association has claimed.According to the CEO of the Property Council of Australia, Ken Morrison, the RBAs internal briefing note made public after the ABC obtained the note under freedom of information laws, proves Labors proposal to limit negative gearing to new housing will put pressure on rental prices.We accept that the Reserve Bank were not modelling the Federal Opposition's policy but this memo clearly flags that changing negative gearing would impact rents, Morrison said.This memo confirms that policy makers have real concerns about how renters would fare under policies that make negative gearing less effective."We again call on the Opposition to release its modelling on the impact of its proposed tax changes on rents and the property market."According to the ABC, the RBA noted there would be a potential increase in rents from making the practice less attractive. However, the briefing note also claimed that any change which discourages negative gearing may be good from a FS [financial stability] perspective.Addressing this, Morrison said that levels of property investment had fallen substantially since the memo was written by the RBA in 2014.Since 2014 ATO figures show the cost to the budget of negative gearing has halved and the level of investor loans has fallen to 29%, he said.He said the concerns of the RBA that were stated in 2014 also related to the interaction of negative gearing and capital gains tax.It should be noted that since this memo was written, APRA has made changes to deposits on loans. As well, the Reserve Bank's recent financial stability report noted the possibilities of risk associated with foreign investment in property, stating there is little evidence of either occurring so far. Latest News Westpac's second-half profit takes $824 million blow from unit sale The bank's fiscal 2022 results will be out in November Banking Code of Compliance Committee welcomes moves to boost transparency Changes supported by ABA will hold banks to account, says BCCC chair Mortgage and wealth franchise Yellow Brick Road (YBR) has acquired privately owned South Australian non-bank lender Loan Avenue for $4.1 million.YBR executive chairman Mark Bouris said the acquisition of one of South Australias top three non-bank lenders, Loan Avenue, will help the franchise diversify its mortgage book geographically, diluting the reliance on Sydney and Melbourne mortgage markets.Loan Avenue is a respected B2B brand and has been in operation for ten years with a significant footprint, made up of more than 100 brokers in South Australia and Victoria. This acquisition allows us to quickly build more scale in South Australia, diversify and deepen our distribution network and funding relationships and increase our management capability, Bouris said.Loan Avenues mortgage product compatibility with YBRs own mortgage manager, YBR Group Lending (formerly RESI Mortgage Corporation acquired in FY2014), also affords simple integration minus the complexity that often comes with a scale acquisition, Bouris added.Loan Avenue founders and vendors Paul and Michelle Collins have agreed to stay on following the acquisition. They will assist in maintaining and driving existing aggregator and broker relationships as well as supporting integration.We are delighted to join such a fast growing and diversified group as YBR. Our focus will be to enhance our broker relationships and drive further product initiatives with YBR, whilst maintaining the high service levels for which we are renowned, Paul Collins said.The acquisition of Loan Avenue remains subject to a number of conditions precedent and, assuming the conditions are satisfied, completion of the acquisition is expected to occur on 31 May 2016.The maximum aggregate consideration agreed to be paid for Loan Avenue is $4.1 million. The $2.6 million cash component of the acquisition will be funded out of the companys existing cash reserves and undrawn portions of its CBA facility.The remaining will be funded by a deferred cash consideration and the issue of YBR shares. latest news October 3, 2022 Dee Gambit Hundreds if not thousands of new and returning TV shows and movies are released every month your options of what to watch are endless. Variety, they say is ... Buffalo Institute for Genomics and Data Analytics names first executive director Brian McIlroy, a seasoned life sciences professional, joins BIG from GE As BIG looks to transform New York State into a national center for genomic medicine, Brian will bring the leadership, vision and experience necessary to move the institute forward. BUFFALO, N.Y. Brian McIlroy, a veteran of the life sciences industry with a decade of experience at GE, has been named the first executive director of the Buffalo Institute for Genomics and Data Analytics (BIG). McIlroy who served in various roles at GE from 2007 to 2016, most recently as managing director of alliance management for GE Ventures in Albany started his new role at BIG on May 9. The institute, part of the University at Buffalo, is a key component of a $100 million genomic medicine initiative previously announced by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The effort partners University at Buffalo with the New York Genome Center in Manhattan to translate research advances in the field into clinical care in partnership with industry to drive economic growth in Buffalo and New York State. As executive director of BIG, McIlroy will develop and implement a comprehensive plan for advancing the mission of the institute, with a focus on driving innovation and generating economic impact through industry collaboration. He will lead the team at BIG in engaging industry and other partners on projects that transform genomic research advances into tools for treating, preventing, managing and diagnosing disease. Brian is coming to Buffalo with more than 20 years of experience in the life sciences industry, said Christina Orsi, UB associate vice president for economic development. He has a strong track record of success in building strategic partnerships and moving new technologies forward. He has worked with large companies, with universities and with startups. This experience positions him well to lead BIG. In a national search, Brian stood out for his enthusiasm and for the depth and breadth of his experience, said Venu Govindaraju, UB vice president for research and economic development. As BIG looks to transform New York State into a national center for genomic medicine, Brian will bring the leadership, vision and experience necessary to move the institute forward. At GE, McIlroy was responsible for initiatives that included developing strategic partnerships within the company and with external partners to identify opportunities for bringing new technologies to the market. He has expertise in developing these partnerships, managing alliances and creating value propositions that facilitate the development of new products. He began his most recent role with the company managing director for alliance management with GE Ventures in 2014. Prior to that, he served as clinical systems platform leader and technology leader in GE Global Research, and commercial development leader in GE Idea Works. McIlroy holds a PhD in medical biophysics from University College London. His experience in the life sciences industry began in research in 1994, completing his doctorate while working as a research assistant in the National Medical Laser Center in London, England. He conducted postdoctoral research at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto, Canada from 1998 to 2001, before serving as an assistant professor in radiation oncology and director of science for the photodynamic therapy program in the Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center at East Carolina University. From there, he was tapped to join a West Coast startup, Light Sciences Corp., where he held successively responsible positions with the company, serving initially as manager for photodynamic therapy science and optics, and rising to become the leader of the ophthalmology division before joining GE. Seal It Services, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, will be used by Bond It to open up increased export opportunities for its range across the North American continent. Specific products offered by Seal It Services will include ER Tape, originally developed for the US military. As part of the formation of Seal It Services, Bond It purchased the ER Tape brand and associated production plant from previous manufacturer, Rowe Industries. David Moore, managing director at Bond It, said: Bond It has been looking to develop its presence in North America for some time as part of plans for further global expansion. The formation of Seal It Services will play an important part in achieving this goal and will enable us to build on the reputation of ER Tape and the success enjoyed by Bond It products elsewhere in the world. WJ Group welcomes John Cook to its Hull site, in the new role of operations manager. A third generation engineer, Mr Cook has enjoyed many senior operations management roles, most recently managing product teams in manufacturing environments. Bringing experience in lean manufacturing and world class operations with him, Mr Cook is poised to help optimise many parts of WJ Groups manufacturing processes and operations across the sites in Hull and Rochester. Mark Eggleston, WJ Group managing director, said: As the company goes from strength to strength in terms of production, so too must the people and skills behind it. Mr Cook is a welcome addition to the team and we expect to learn a great deal from his experience and knowledge. As the company continues to develop, we will create further new roles across the company to ensure that we can serve our customers to the best of our ability. WATCH: Very cool camera angle of Bryce Harper's winning HR The Phillies punched their World Series ticket in dramatic fashion with Bryce Harper hitting a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Global information technology (IT) solutions and services provider Accentures recently launched automation platform myWizard seems to be gaining traction with the company planning to deploy it for 200 clients by August 2016. Over the past six months, the platform has been deployed in around 100 engagements with 60 global clients across industries. Bhaskar Ghosh, group chief executive of Accenture Technology Services, explains that automation is not new for the industry, and that players including Accenture have been driving this across their global delivery networks. The difference now is that technology landscape has transformed, taking automation to a different level. myWizard includes a large number of technology assets and intelligent tools, a strong and unique industry asset that has been built over the years. And, virtual agents and artificial intelligence bring our technology assets and industry assets together to create value, said Ghosh. With commodotised application development and maintenance coming under pressure, most major players have been focused on creating automation platforms. For instance, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced its artificial intelligence platform Ignio last year. Infosys has its Infosys Automation Platform, and has set itself an ambitious target to get 900 clients on to this platform. Bengaluru-based Wirpo launched its heuristics and ontology-based learning machines and experiential systems called Holmes. The company had stated in the past that it would offer this to at least one-third of its 1,000 clients. At Accenture, myWizard platform augments human technologists with virtual agents that are powered by artificial intelligence to analyse data, identify patterns and guide human workers to make informed decisions that drive better business outcomes. Intelligent automation will be a co-worker. In an application development area (systems integration), delivering projects on time is a big question from the chief information officer CIO. Accenture myWizard includes a concept called Time Machine which learns from the project data like metrics, defects, skill sets of people, and fast-forwards the project status to a future point in time to show whether it will be delivered in time or not. In addition, it will offer the project manager insights such as the skill areas that need to be improved, or which areas in the project need to be staffed better, to be able to deliver the project on time and as per quality required. So, the platform will actually enable the people on project, added Ghosh. This also means that repetitive tasks and entry-level processes are getting automated at Accenture, impacting the way application development and maintenance is delivered. Also, hiring patterns in the company are changing. On the people front, repetitive and manual work will disappear and we will see that people in these roles will be moved up the value chain with new skill sets. Most of Accentures work, however, is in complex Systems Integration, which doesnt involve much repetitive tasks, added Ghosh. He also stated that thanks to new technology, new roles are coming up, For example, we need more analytics in software development, platform manager, liquid architecture, and hence there is a lot of focus on upskilling to utilise people better. We need a higher agenda for training and development; in FY15, we invested $841 million in training and employee development." This also means that India's IT sector will look very different in the future in terms of skills compared to the past 10-15 years. We will see a skills transformation and see more high-end jobs in future the business environment and client demands are changing and the IT delivery needs to change along with it. At Accenture, a large part of our business today is Digital (almost 40 per cent of our revenues come from Digital), added Ghosh. Training and skilling the employee base will be crucial as Accenture goes out aggressively to customers for adoption of myWizard. We are including myWizard in new deals from Day One. We are pushing this into existing deals as well, but depends on client contractual obligations. Existing clients are very excited to see the potential of myWizard in driving productivity, added Ghosh. When European aircraft manufacturer Airbus decided to dip its hand into the start-up ecosystem, one of the biggest challenges it faced was to change mindsets within the company. "We had to do a lot of evangelisation work within the company, as many questioned us on how start-ups can help us built aircraft. This is not all. We had to also tell the finance people that they should think like investors rather than people who have budgets. We had to do a lot of convincing work," says Bruno Gutierres, head of Airbus BizLab. Airbus BizLab is an initiative initiated by Chief Executive Officer Fabrice Bregier who wanted to accelerate innovation at Airbus as well as get access to more entrepreneurial mindset into the company. It was also Bregier's idea to have a hybrid model, unlike several other accelerator programmes. The hybrid model houses both internal projects and external start-ups on the same platform. Gutierres explains that Airbus had its share of innovation within the company, but being an industrialised conglomerate, innovation at Airbus is techno-centric. "BizLab's is an effort to open our innovation and technology platforms to start-ups so that we accelerate innovation at the company. It is also about collaborating with others and bringing them into our innovation centres. We also want access to entrepreneurial mindsets than engineering mindset." BizLab, the six-month accelerator programme, has been launched in three cities - Toulouse in France, Hamburg in Germany and Bengaluru in India. As part of the programme, each start-up gets access to mentors or experts from Airbus, working space, and marketing expertise. From India, the company has enrolled six start-ups the accelerator programme. The selection of start-ups is very focused. Gutierres shared that as the name suggests that innovation at BizLab is focused on creating value. "We are looking for early-stage start-ups. It's not easy to start a business in the aeronautic industry. It's a very specific segment; it's expensive in terms of development, has long gestation and a lot of certification is required; definitely, it's not a natural playground for start-ups. So, what we're looking for is to develop a concept that we believe can be used for this industry and work with start-ups to make it viable," Gutierres adds. He says that for the first programme, BizLab has 15 start-ups - six in Hamburg, five in France and four in Bengaluru. "We limit the number because working with start-ups and supporting them is time-consuming. Trying to handle 15 start-ups in other segments would have been easy but in our industry, it's difficult. And, we want to focus on value. The decision is good, because five of them are now raising funds. Maybe, we'll start collaboration with some." In terms of funding, Airbus does not fund start-ups but once they are through the accelerator programme, they help them raise funds. Airbus however, funds internal projects. "We do not even take equity upfront. The programme is free but we ask for three per cent of the first funds raised - if it happens," says Gutierres. Besides the fact that Bengaluru is the start-up hub of India, the other reason to have BizLab in the city is that the company has 350 engineers in the city. "Thanks to the hybrid concept, we have pre-controlled projects and we can also have start-ups. We'll look at other regions as well but we want to see how these three perform before we diversify," Gutierres adds. INDIAN START-UPS SELECTED Airtel, the country's largest telecom services provider, today announced the launch of new pre-paid data packs in Mumbai on Wednesday that offer double data benefits to customers. The telecom company is slicing the market down into smaller segments to address needs of different consumers. Currently, the Rs 296 pre-paid data pack offers 1GB of 3G/4G data with a validity of 28 days. With the new double data pack of Rs 345, customers will get 2GB data (1GB 3G/4G regular plus 1GB night). This effectively doubles the data limit of the pack to 2GB, representing a saving of 30% compared to the current pack with similar benefits. The data pack provides additional data benefits at night, effectively doubling the data limits for customers. With the new packs, customers will be able to save up to 30% on recharges, when compared to existing data packs. E-commerce giant and 50 of its sellers are facing investigations for allegedly falsely claiming Central Value Added Tax (Cenvat) credit and evading tax of about Rs 118 crore. Officers of the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) have conducted search operations at Amazon's business premises across the country and at its headquarters in Bengaluru, in January. "So far, the total tax evasion we have been able to establish is to the tune of Rs 118 crore, which could increase. We will soon issue show cause notices to respective sellers," a senior officer told the Business Standard. "We have recorded the statement of executives and are assessing the details provided by them," he added. In an e-mail response, an India spokesperson said, "We confirm that the DGCEI had raised some questions around our promotion programme. We have cooperated with the authorities to the fullest extent and provided them with all the information that they needed." Traders are alleged to have misused the Cenvat scheme, which allows a manufacturer or service provider a relief from the taxes paid on inputs to manufacturing of final products or services. Sources in the said they had detected bogus invoices of declared goods were issued to merchants through dummy firms. Verifications revealed that the firms said to be providing the goods were non-existent. DGCEI has raised questions on the accountability of the products sold on Amazon. Sources privy to the development said aggregators such as Amazon pay service tax to the seller. Some sellers had not deposited the service tax with the government even after claiming it from the e-commerce giant. The DGCEI is investigating the matter. Aggregators like Amazon connect merchants with prospective customers on its platform - to provide service under the latter's brand name. In such a business model, the e-commerce website is usually paid in the form of commission. The DGCEI is also probing if Amazon had any involvement in the merchants claiming Cenvat credit. At present, a manufacturer can claim Cenvat credit (at 12.5 per cent) on amount spent on purchase of raw material, which can later be utilised for payment of central excise duty. After the Delhi high court ordered an investigation on 21 e-commerce for allegedly flouting foreign direct investment norms in November 2015, government agencies have become alert in probing said . Over the past two years, brick-and-mortar retailers have raised their voices against the e-retailers saying they are luring customers with heavy discounts funded by foreign investments. has reported a 20 per cent decline in net profit for the quarter ended March 31 while its revenues declined over 5 per cent due to rising tyre imports from China. The company's net profit declined to Rs 245 crore, impacted by an inventory adjustment of Rs 140 crore. Revenues slipped to Rs 2,966 crore. Its profit for the year ended March 31, 2016 increased 12 per cent to Rs 1,093 crore helped by the low rubber prices during most part of the year. Annual revenue, however, declined 8 per cent to Rs 11,708 crore, indicating pressure on volumes. "Our revenue in India, in the past financial year, has largely been impacted by the Chinese imports. The imported truck-bus radials, especially from China, occupied close to 30 per cent of the Indian replacement market for radial truck tyres, which not only impacted the domestic truck-bus radials, but also the truck-bus bias segment. With India having no anti-dumping duties, in the past fiscal on Chinese tyres, and numerous other geographies having imposed anti dumping duties on Chinese tyres, India has opened its market for low cost tyre imports from China, thereby putting at risk the huge investments made by the domestic tyre majors," said Onkar S Kanwar, chairman. Hit hard by the retrospective tax, Plc of the UK has offered to pay 15 per cent of the Rs 10,247-crore principal amount in return for the government lifting its freeze on the 9.8 per cent shares it holds in its erstwhile subsidiary, Cairn India. Cairn has written to the finance ministry, saying it wants to avail of the latest offer by the Central Board of Direct Taxes on staying the disputed demand on payment of 15 per cent till such time that the case is disposed, sources privy to the development said. The income tax (I-T) department had in January 2014 slapped a draft assessment order of Rs 10,247-crore tax on alleged capital gains Cairn had made on the 2006 reorganisation of its India business. Pending that, it froze the 9.8 per cent shareholding it was left with in Cairn India, its erstwhile subsidiary, which it sold to the Vedanta group in 2011. In February, the department issued a final a tax demand of Rs 29,000 crore, including Rs 18,800 crore in backdated interest. Sources said wanted to pay Rs 1,537 crore (15 per cent of the principal amount of Rs 10,247 crore) during the pendency of the arbitration it initiated against the demand. In return, it wants the stay on Cairn India shares to be lifted. It hold 18.41 crore shares of Cairn India which at today's closing price of Rs 135.25 are worth Rs 2485.69 crore. Cairn may be looking at disposing of these shares to fund its business plans. The CBDT had on February 28 issued fresh guidelines on the process of grant of stay on a disputed tax demand. Under this, "the assessing officer shall grant stay of demand till disposal of first appeal on payment of 15 per cent of the disputed demand." The company is however not keen on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's offer in his Budget for 2016-17 to waive interest and penalty if the paid the principal amount to settle the retrospective tax disputes. It believes there is no tax due on the 2006-07 internal business reorganisation that led to transfer of shares of Indian assets that were held in a subsidiary to newly incorporated Cairn India. It listed Cairn India Ltd on the stock exchanges through an initial public offering (IPO) thereafter. Through the IPO, it raised Rs 8,616 crore and then in 2011 went on to sell a majority stake in Cairn India to mining giant Vedanta Group for USD 8.67 billion. Cairn has initiated arbitration contesting the tax demand and says enforcement of any tax liability deemed due by the Income Tax Department can only be limited to its shareholding in Cairn India. Soon 'Facebooking' at work might not bother your boss. Instead, you might just be encouraged to spend more time on the social network. Facebook is planning to launch its enterprise social network (ESN) for businesses, simply named 'Facebook at Work'. The ESN, still in beta mode, is already being used by 450 companies and about 60,000 companies across the world are in the queue. The social media giant expects ESN to be a major source of revenue in the future. In India, companies like Godrej, YES Bank and L&T Infotech have already started using 'Facebook at Work'. The social media giant plans to reach out to global working population of three billion. It is targeting a host of Indian start-ups, including Paytm, Zomato, Practo, Delhivery, AskMe and Urban Ladder to ramp up the numbers. "India has turned out to be a very important market for us as the growth we have seen here is phenomenal. Start-ups as well as traditional companies have shown a lot of interest in the product," said Julien Codorniou, director, platform partnerships. "We've been adding a new company every day over the past few months, and India has seen the fastest adoption rates," he added. 'Facebook at Work' is an enterprise version of the standard Facebook platform. Similar to the popular social networking site in terms of look and feel, 'Facebook at Work' has profiles, news feed, groups and messages. The news feed shows latest facts and figures from the groups and channels an individual follows. The groups can either be open for all employees of an organisation or be accessible to specific teams. Two different companies, if they are on the platform, can connect to each other seamlessly. Facebook would also allow usage of utility software such as Office365. It retains the famous 'Like' button and other similar features. "These are things we picked up from Facebook as they are effective and have worked there as well," said Codorniou. The global launch of 'Facebook at Work' is still a few months away but the beta mode has found many takers, reinforcing the company's belief that it would be a runaway success. "At present, we are giving it to the companies with at least 5,000 employees. Once we launch it (the full version), we would open it to other companies as well," added Codorniou. "The bigger the company, the better," said Codorniou. Among the biggest global clients on the platform are Royal Bank of Scotland and Telenor. Facebook will now directly compete with Slack, HipChat, Yammer and a few others in this space. The company said the ESN would work on both mobile and desktop. "Rolling out Facebook at Work to companies in India is a significant milestone. As the workplace transforms, businesses want new ways for co-workers to collaborate effectively and be more productive. We are excited at the high rate of adoption globally, and I look forward to working with all businesses in India," Codorniou added. German software company will hire 1,600 people in India in 2016, its largest recruitment drive in the country. This is not a big number against hiring by Indian information technology (IT) services but has an engineering staff count here of 6,500. As hiring by IT services slows due to automation and onshore recruitment, global technology are ramping up their engineering and research presence in the country. Google, Microsoft, Oracle and Cisco are hiring engineers in India. "Over 10 years, Labs in India has become the second biggest R&D hub for the company," said Dilipkumar Khandelwal, managing director. Of the 1,600 people SAP wants to hire this year, 600 will be fresh campus recruits from 60 engineering colleges. Last year, the company hired 1,200 engineers. "Google is looking at hiring people for Bangalore and Hyderabad. We will build a huge new campus in Hyderabad," said Sundar Pichai during his maiden visit to India last December, after taking over as Google's chief executive officer. Microsoft is on the lookout for about a million sq ft office space in Bengaluru to house 7,000 employees. Its India-born chief executive officer, Satya Nadella, is keen on tapping local engineering talent as the company makes inroads in the Indian market. Oracle in February announced it would invest $400 million to build a 2.8 million sq ft campus here, the company's largest outside its headquarters. It will accommodate over 11,000 employees. India provides Oracle its second largest employee base, with 40,000 staff and 2,000 job openings. "All these companies are undergoing transformation," said Anand Subramaniam, engagement manager and project lead at consulting firm Zinnov. "India can play a leading role because there is a large base of talent. While being bolstered by the cost perspective, India also has the scale and the skill sets," he added. India has also emerged as a favoured location for captive technology units of companies like Walmart, Lowes and Daimler. Telecom service providers heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday after the Supreme Court struck down a compensation policy for call drops levied by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). In October, Trai ordered operators to pay Re 1 for every call drop to the user, with a maximum of three per day. The regulation was to come into effect from January 1. A Bench of judges Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said: We have held the impugned regulation to be ultra vires, arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent. The SC passed the judgment on appeals filed by the Cellular Operators Association of India, Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators. Telcos told SC last week that the sector was under huge debt and they would have to pay a big price for spectrum. Therefore, zero tolerance on call drops should not be imposed. Another contentious issue was that the regulation did not allow leeway of two per cent, which meant telcos were to pay for every call drop. Trai in its submissions to the court said it has to safeguard one billion subscribers and if companies agree to compensate call drops with free calls without pre-conditions it is open to re- consider its direction. It had also told the court that a cartel of four-five firms were making Rs 250 crore a day but not investing on their network to improve services. Telcos had termed the Trai regulation arbitrary and whimsical, contending that compensating consumers amounted to interfering with their tariff structure, which could only be done by an order, and not by any regulation. The government has been asking operators to invest in infrastructure, while operators say spectrum crunch affects call drops the most. Commenting on the order, Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said, Tariff, standards of services come in the domain of Trai. While I acknowledge the mobile operators for bringing connectivity to the nook and corner of the country, it is equally their responsibility to give good, satisfactory service. They must identify the gap and reinforce it through investment. Since July, they have added about 90,000 sites in the country, and about 5,000 in Delhi. They need to do more, and the government will continue to insist upon the operators that they must fulfill this obligation. Analysts hailed the order but stocks of major players such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications were down on the BSE. Bharti Airtel was down 2.55 per cent at Rs 359.45, Idea Cellular by 1.46 per cent at Rs 111.25 and Reliance Communications by 2.16 per cent at Rs 54.40. Kapil Sibal, who was representing telecom operators, said, (The) SC has rendered historic judgment by striking down the Trai regulation. Rajan S Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, said, We are very pleased with the Supreme Court Verdict. It affirms what we have been saying all along. Now, let us move forward and fix the real issues, like having more cell towers, affordable spectrum and working with the local authorities to get the infrastructure in place, Mathews added. Welcoming the order, Faisal Kawoosa, lead analyst, Telecoms at CMR, said, operators cant shrug off their responsibility as they are the ones who run the show and own the services and are accountable to consumers and other stakeholders, including the government, for the loopholes in the network. A CONTENTIOUS ISSUE VOICES When they [telecom operators] can expand telecom services to the nook and corner of the country, why cant they improve the quality? Ravi Shankar Prasad Communications and IT Minister Now, let us move forward and fix the real issues, like having more cell towers, affordable spectrum and working with the local authorities to get the infrastructure in place Rajan S Mathews Director General of the Cellular Operators Association of India Trai orders telcos to pay subscribers Re 1 for every call drop, subject to a cap of three call drops a day per userOperators challenge the ruling in Delhi HCDelhi HC upholds Trai orderTelcos approach SC seeking stay, but get no interim relief, hearing fixed for March 10SC strikes down Trai regulation At the end of thirty years of flying from Indian Navy aircraft carriers, the iconic Sea Harrier jump jet made its ceremonial last flight on Wednesday. Readying to take its place is the naval version of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), which recently completed a successful flight-test campaign in Goa. While the Sea Harriers operated from the INS Vikrant and INS Viraat, now both retired, the Naval Tejas will operate from the Vikrants successor, an indigenous aircraft carrier that is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018. Commodore (Retired) CD Balaji, chief of the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), which oversees the Tejas development programme, told Business Standard that taking off and landing from a 200-metre deck has been fully established. So has hot-refuelling --- topping up the aircraft after a sortie with the engine running and the pilot in the cockpit --- which allows a rapid turnaround between sorties. For the navy, it is vital to ready the Tejas for the INS Vikrant and, subsequently, INS Vishal. The MiG-29K will be the medium fighter on INS Vikrant, as it already is on INS Vikramaditya. The Tejas is crucial for filling in the light fighter slot. Balaji reveals a committed navy is funding 40 per cent of the development cost of the Naval Tejas. The MoD has allocated Rs 3,650 crore for the naval programme. The ADA chief described the flight trials in Goa between March 27 and April 25, in which two Naval Tejas prototypes flew 33 sorties from a Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) -- a full-scale replica of an aircraft carrier deck. Built on land, the SBTF allows carrier deck take-offs and landings to be validated, without unduly endangering an aircraft carrier, or an aircraft prototype and pilot. When taking off from an aircraft carrier, a fighter revs up its engine to the maximum, while held back by a restraining gear system (RGS). Then, the RGS is disengaged, and the fighter shoots forward, accelerating to take-off speed in just 200 metres of deck. At the end of the deck runway, a ski-jump lifts the aircraft upwards, after which it flies on its own power. In December 2014, the Naval Tejas had taken off from the SBTF ski-jump after rolling 300 metres. Now, the fighter has proven it can take off from just 200 metres, even carrying two R-73 close combat missiles. With this campaign, ski-jump launches are no longer a challenge. We will now explore the limits the fighter can be taken to. We will further fine-tune the control law software to take-off with higher payloads, said Balaji. In aircraft carrier combat operations at sea, the Naval Tejas must take off with up to 3.5 tonnes of payload--- more fuel for longer range; and more weapons for a lethal punch. For this, the aircraft carrier would steam into the wind, ensuring a wind-over-deck speed of up to 20 knots. That would provide added lift to the aircraft, allowing higher payloads. In aircraft carriers with catapult launchers, as the navys next indigenous aircraft carrier, INS Vishal, could be, the catapult allows higher launch speeds and, therefore, higher payloads. Similarly, fitting the Tejas Mark-2 with the more powerful General Electric F-414 engine (the current Mark -1 fighter has the smaller F-404 engine) will allow greater payloads and more ambitious mission objectives. Even more challenging than taking off from a 200-metre carrier deck is to land an aircraft back on the carrier. This requires touching down precisely at the edge of the runway, aligning the approach with the help of an optical landing system and a landing control post. At landing, an arresting gear system --- including wire cables across the deck runway --- latches onto a hook on the fighters tail and rapidly decelerates it to a halt. In the current campaign, the Tejas did over 60 approaches (without actually touching down) to gather data for fine-tuning the control law software. In the next campaign this month, we will do touch and go approaches to validate the software and then graduate to full landings, explains Balaji. Finally, the Naval Tejas demonstrated its fuel jettison capability --- a safety feature that allows the fighter to quickly jettison on-board fuel if it encounters a problem soon after launch and must quickly return for an emergency landing on the carrier. By mid-2017, we will have established on the SBTF that the Naval Tejas can be flown off an actual carrier, and we will then graduate to ship-based testing. We currently have two prototypes in testing, and will build a third by then, says a satisfied ADA chief. It is unlikely that Indian investigating agencies will be able to interrogate industrialist on Indian soil anytime soon. The United Kingdom has told New Delhi that its laws do not allow it to deport to India. In Mallyas case, the UK has asked Government of India to consider requesting mutual legal assistance and initiating extradition proceedings. However, extradition to come through is not only a much more time consuming process than deportation but will also, at least on paper, provide Mallya several opportunities to block the move by the Indian government on such pretexts that he is being persecuted for his political views or that his human rights will be violated. The recent case of former Indian Premier League Commissioner Lalit Modi, who continues to live in the UK, aside, India hasnt had a happy record in getting people wanted in India extradited from the UK. The most famous of these was the failed extradition of musician Nadeem Saifi. One part of the famous Nadeem-Shravan musician duo, Nadeem was charged for being part of the conspiracy to murder T-Series owner Gulshan Kumar. But the evidence against him was found to be weak by UK courts and Indias extradition request was rejected. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: The UK Government has informed us that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred. At the same time, Swarup said, the UK acknowledges the seriousness of the allegations and is keen to assist Government of India. They have asked Government of India to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition. India can ask the UK to extradite Mallya to India under the India-UK extradition treaty of 1993, or request for any other legal assistance under their bilateral Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty signed in 1992. Mallya is a Non Resident Indian (NRI) with UK residency permit since 1992. The External Affairs Ministry cancelled the passport of Mallya on April 24 but he is living in the UK on a valid UK visa, and his name is in the UK electoral rolls. While deportation is an executive decision for immediate removal of an individual from one country to another where he is wanted for alleged crimes committed, extradition is a more complex and protracted legal process decided upon by the judiciary of that on the basis of the evidence it receives from probe agencies of the country seeking extradition. According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) website, India has extradition treaties with 37 countries and extradition arrangements with eight. It also gives detailed dos and donts that prosecuting agencies need to follow to lodge a request for extradition. India also has mutual legal assistance agreements with 39 countries. Such agreements allow signatory countries to offer each other legal assistance in prosecuting a wanted person, including confiscation of their property in the country of their refuge. In recent times, India has managed to secure extradition of criminal Abul Salem from Portugal and deportation of gangster Chhota Rajan from Indonesia. Chirstian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore helicopter deal, said on Wednesday that he has never met Congress President Sonia Gandhi or former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to push for the purchase of VVIP choppers. "No, never," was the prompt reply of Michel when he was asked whether he had ever met Gandhi, Singh or the then Defence Minister A K Antony for pushing the deal. "I have never met any of these," he said in an interview to 'TV Today' news channel in Abu Dhabi. Michel sought to clear his name from the kickbacks scam claiming that he had "once" shaken hands with the then IAF Chief S P Tyagi in Delhi but "avoided him" for his links with Italian businessman Guido Haschke and another middleman. "I probably met him (S P Tyagi) in Gymkhana club and I think I shook his hand there. But because of his association with Haschke I really avoided him," he said. He also said that BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has not lied about the deal but it seems he has been misled. "He has authenticated (documents) what was given in the CAG report. The CAG report was prepared in great hurry as the deal was always blowing away. "They (CAG) are not aviation experts and they are bureaucrats asked to put together document way beyond their expertise. So he was misled by his own documentation," he said. Lenders to defunct Kingfisher Airlines fear their legal battle for dues from the carrier and its promoter would face a hurdle, with the UK rejecting Indias plea to deport . Public sector bank executives said the recovery and legal processes to bring him back were separate. After lenders rejected Mallyas repayment offer in the Supreme Court last month, he has not come back with a revised one, though he has re-peated his commitment to pay back lenders. Mallya offered to pay Rs 4,000 crore as settlement. But rejecting the offer, lenders indicated a settlement should be reasonable and cover principle plus interest. Lenders estimate the dues to be more than Rs 9,000 crore. This is contested by Mallya. The UK government on Tuesday told India it could not deport Mallya, who is facing money-laundering charges in India, but could consider an extradition request for him. The UK governments response came nearly a fortnight after Indias request. Deportation is done at the government level through an executive order after vetting the evidence produced by a country, where the fugitive is required for any offence he or she may have committed there. But extradition is a process where evidence against a fugitive is produced before the court for vetting. In extradition, a judicial decision is taken for sending back a fugitive to the country where he or she is required to face law. It is normally a longer process than deportation. Mallyas Indian passport has been revoked. There is also a non-bailable warrant against him. Mallya had left India for the UK in March. The head of recoveries of a Mumbai-based state-owned bank said loans to the airline have been non-performing for three years and these have almost 100 per cent provisions. Banks will continue to press ahead with the auction of Kingfisher Airline headquarters building, brands, and Mallyas property in Goa (Kingfisher Villa). The auctions of the airline headquarters building and the Kingfisher brand have failed to attract even one bid. The perception now is that Mallya, declared wilful defaulter by State Bank of India, would continue to fight a legal battle right up to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court had in April dismissed Mallyas plea for protection from disclosure of his assets and those of his family, in India and abroad, to Kingfisher Airlines lenders, saying no tangible grounds have been raised to maintain secrecy of information. It asked the debt recovery tribunal in Bengaluru to expeditiously decide within two months the pleas of banks and financial institutions for recovery of their loans. A State Bank of India-led consortium of banks, which had lent to Kingfisher, is involved in more than 20 cases in various courts, including the debt recovery tribunal, from June 2013. There have been more than 500 hearings and 180 adjournments. The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the provisional release of Sahara Group chief Subrata Roy till July 11. The five-week extension was on the condition that Roy (pictured) submit an undertaking to deposit Rs 200 crore by July 11, when the matter will come up for hearing again. As part of this arrangement, Roy has to deposit total a sum of Rs 500 crore. While Rs 200 crore is to be deposited by July 11, the remaining is to be deposited by the first week of August. Last week, the apex court had allowed Roy and his brother-in-law Ashok Roy Choudhury to attend the last rites of Roys mother, who passed away on Friday. The duo were to be accompanied by five plain-clothes policemen. The Bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur noted that the group has submitted a list of all its immovable assets both in India and abroad. The value of these assets, submitted in a sealed cover to the court by Sahara counsel Kapil Sibal, was enough to cover the dues of the group many times over, the Bench observed. However, it did not disclose the exact amount of the value of assets as Sibal requested that it not be made public. After submitting the list of assets, Sibal came up with a proposal wherein he wanted to submit two post-dated cheques of Rs 500 crore and Rs 4,500 crore as security for extending his provisional release by two more months till August 4. According to the plan proposed by Sibal, the first Rs 500 crore would be payable in 60 days and the second amount in 180 days (six months). Sibal also referred to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) status report, which said that 60 properties that are put up for sale are worth Rs 5,605 crore at circle rates. They are secure to that extent. Thakur intervened, saying: This place is full of previous promises and broken promises. He said the payment by Roy should not be linked to the sale process by Sebi, which expressed doubts about the title deeds and land use. Sebi counsel Arvind Datar said issues have cropped on the land use status of various properties that are being put on sale. There are differences in land use. In some cases, the title deed said residential, but other records said it is agricultural. Further, on large parcels of land running into acres, the circle rates are different for areas near the highway and those in the interiors, creating difficulties in valuing these for sale. To the Benchs query on how far it is from the first sale, Datar said it might take two more weeks. While Sebi expressed its concerns that the extension of the release of Roy would amount to altering the original bail order, amicus curiae Shekar Naphade asked the Bench if it should not ask the Rs 500 crore payment be made upfront. Naphade also questioned the groups reluctance to sell Aamby Valley and overseas properties. The reluctance to sell these properties creates doubt. Sahara counsels Sibal and Rajeev Dhavan explained the difficulties they faced while attempting to sell the overseas properties. They also said Sebi should be worried about the money and not which property was on sale. Judge Anil Dave remarked, What you can sell, you dont want to sell. What you want to sell, you cant sell. Diesel taxis with all-India tourist permits would now be able to operate in the national capital territory (NCT) till their permits expire. The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday modified its earlier order, which will now benefit 64,000 taxis and employees of business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, who are picked up from Delhi and dropped to their offices in Gurgaon and Noida. There will be no further registration of diesel taxis. The apex court will hear the matter again end-July. The Bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur asked the central government to frame rules on the safety and security of the passengers and fares that could be charged from them. Meanwhile, the road transport and highways ministry constituted a three-member committee to prepare a policy framework for taxi and other transport operators. "The committee will look into the issues raised by taxi operators and come up with appropriate policy recommendations to address the same in a time-bound manner," said a ministry press release. The SC asked transport authorities to renew permits subject to the operators complying with the government directive. City taxis can operate in the NCT, subject to permits countersigned by the authorities. Registration of new taxis shall be permitted only if the vehicle can operate on dual fuel technology, namely petrol, compressed natural gas or either. The court had passed an order banning registration of diesel vehicles above 2,000cc in December 2015 and extended the deadline twice, but later refused to extend the deadline further. This had created unrest among the taxi operators and aggregators such as Uber and Ola. Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar expressed his difficulty in implementing the court orders as the central government has to take into account rules affecting the whole country. The court will consider the issue at the next hearing. Senior counsel Harish Salve, assisting the court, submitted that it was for the government to fix the problem regarding rules, which have to be amended to meet the situation arising from air pollution, which made Delhi the dirtiest city. He said all-India tourist licences should not be used for operating point-to-point services like picking and dropping BPO staff. Such licence should be used only for tourist purposes, he said. The highways ministry has reached an understanding with banks on infusing funds equivalent to government equity infusion in select stalled projects. State Bank of India (SBI) and YES Bank are among a host of banks that have agreed in principle to handhold some of the troubled projects. THE NDA STRATEGY Around 83 highway projects have been identified as stranded. Barring 15-16 projects, issues concerning the others have been resolved. Following are the key features of the process: Termination of contracts because of underperformance Rescheduling contract deadlines One-time funding by the govt Infusion of matching bank equity Harmonious substitution of operators Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has said all stranded highway projects will get off the ground by May 26. Over a dozen chronic projects were still stalled, a government official pointed out. A questionnaire to the highways ministry for details of the stranded projects went unanswered but an official said banks had agreed to the funding plan. "SBI and YES Bank have been more forthcoming, which will help in reviving half-a-dozen projects. The paperwork is likely to be completed in the next 10 days," the official said. Most state-owned banks and a few private ones like ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have exposure to highway projects. "Each project has been individually examined. After identifying where fund infusion can help, banks are conducting their due-diligence," the official added. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had in October approved a one-time funding by the government to revive languishing projects. The National Highways Authority of India will recover the loan along with interest from the annuities payable through a tripartite agreement with the senior lender and concessionaire in such cases. This was applicable for projects languishing as on November 1, 2014. Besides roping in banks, the government has restructured the premium of certain projects. Contracts for another set of projects were terminated. The public works departments of state governments were asked to take over work in other cases, said the official. According to an estimate of CRISIL Ratings, issues relating to 10 per cent of projects covering 5,100 km identified by it for being at risk last year, have been resolved. The debt exposure to the remaining projects is estimated at Rs 40,310 crore. These were projects under construction. A CRISIL Ratings study in October said 7,500 km of build-operate-transfer highway projects were at risk. These included 5,100 km under construction and 2,400 km operational. "Under-construction projects require support of around Rs 28,500 crore over the next two years. Of this, about Rs 16,000 crore can be stumped up by sponsors. That leaves a significant shortfall of Rs 12,500 crore," said Sudip Sural, senior director, CRISIL Ratings. The chronic cases include the Delhi-Jaipur highway. "The government is largely responsible for delays in this crucial highway project, which should have been completed by 2011. Barring three structures, 57 of the structures, including flyovers, will be completed by December, when we will inaugurate the project," Gadkari had said in October. Work on the project started in 2008. Its completion has been a priority of both the current and previous governments. Besides land acquisition, there were contractual issues and the project cost of the 260 km highway shot up to Rs 3,000 crore from Rs 1,896 crore. Fourteen banks had financed the project that was being developed by Pink City Expressway. The Rajasthan government recently invited bids for distribution in Kota and Bharatpur for the next 20 years. Under the terms of the agreement, the distributors will be allowed to use the existing infrastructure and will collect the state-determined tariff from consumers. Rajasthan government bureaucrats say they want to replicate the famous Bhiwandi (Maharashtra) model where private distributors turned things around by reducing the very high levels of transmission losses. "We are not looking at complete privatisation but we need to bring down our technical and commercial losses," says a senior state government officer requesting anonymity. Currently, the state has offered Kota and Bharatpur to private distributors; at a later stage, the scheme could be extended to the rest of the state as well. For the Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party government, this is yet another attempt to involve the private sector for the delivery of a service after healthcare and subsidised ration. Distribution reform, especially the reduction in transmission losses, is critical if Rajasthan wants to be a part of the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) of the Centre which is aimed at revitalising the loss-making and debt-laden distribution companies in various states. At the moment, Rajasthan is groaning under a debt of Rs 80,000 crore - the highest for any state in the country. The UDAY scheme entails central assistance for states that are able to meet milestones for cutting transmission losses and raising tariff. Rajasthan has its task cut out. But given the track record of its discoms and political compulsions, both the targets seem overambitious. In order to continue borrowing from the banks and other institutions, the discoms have to lower their transmission losses from the current 25 per cent to 15 per cent by 2018-19. Data analysed by Business Standard suggests such a reduction will be a huge challenge for the discoms: they took eight years to bring down their transmission losses by 10 percentage points, and are now required to cut losses by another 10 percentage points over the next three years. The stiff target means the state government will have to launch a massive crackdown on those who steal power, install an electricity metre in each house, improve collection of dues, and upgrade its last-mile supply infrastructure which includes laying underground cables. If the state does manage to complete this mammoth exercise, without incurring the wrath of the voters, it will end up saving around Rs 4,700 crore. The other way around is to outsource power distribution to private companies on the lines of what has been done in New Delhi and Mumbai. This is the route that the Rajasthan government seems to be taking with its attempt to privatise distribution in Kota and Bharatpur. The important question is: will privatisation help it cut transmission losses? "Recent experiences across states have been mixed and (privatisation) has not got full political buy-in. It has been successful in Maharashtra and Bihar, but Madhya Pradesh has terminated all the three distribution franchise. Now, Rajasthan is making attempts to get in distribution franchisees, and Odisha is trying to privatise its Central Electricity Supply Unit," says PwC Partner (power and utilities) Sambitosh Mohapatra. State government officers say they had in the past tried to involve the private sector using a franchise model but all their efforts failed as the prospective bidders felt it was not a viable option for them. Last year, the state had invited bids for power distribution in Kota, the third largest city in Rajasthan after Jaipur and Jodhpur, but the offer didn't elicit much of a response from the power distribution companies. Though the state has taken a series of measures, including passing of the Rajasthan State Electricity Distribution Management Responsibility Act 2016, to hold power distributors accountable for their performance, its inability to increase power tariff over the years has resulted in the huge debt overhang. This perhaps prompted the Union ministry of power, coal and renewable energy to exhort the state to "enable provisions for quarterly revision of tariff to mitigate the cost increase burden". However, increasing tariff is easier said than done. The politics of power The Raje government, which came to power two years ago with brute majority, did raise the tariff by 16 per cent in 2013-14, but her party lost three of the four seats in the subsequent by-elections. Raje's government didn't raise power rates in 2015-16, which was when the state was holding municipality and panchayat elections. Her party recorded victory in both the elections. The results of the by-elections and the power tariff could be coincidental, but they clearly suggest that power tariff is a potent electoral issue and that's why successive governments have dragged their feet on increasing it. "The primary reason for increasing the loss from 2003-04 to 2008-09 was that there was just one tariff rise during the period (in January 2005)," the state government said in its "24X7 power for all" plan submitted to the Union government. It has now become imperative for Rajasthan to meet its target under UDAY to avoid a bigger and more serious crisis in its power sector after three years. It is expected that the interest burden arising due to taking over 75 per cent debt of discoms debt (or Rs 60,000 crore) will further restrict the fiscal space it has for funding development programmes. "If a state does not get its finances in place and does not meet the reforms as suggested by it, no future lending would be extended to the discom," says a senior Union power ministry official. It will serve a double blow to the state, which will have to provide operational costs for running its discoms besides servicing the interest burden. The government has inked a pact with its counterpart in Mauritius that gives it the right to tax capital gains arising in that country from sale of shares acquired on or after April 1, 2017, in Indian companies. There will be a transition period of two years for this change to a three-decade-old double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA). During the transition, the tax will be limited to half the Indian tax rate. The full rate will apply FY 20. The earlier treaty was signed in 1983 and but became significant a decade later, when foreign institutional investors were allowed to invest in Indian shares. A 2012 position paper on undisclosed money made references to these Mauritius vehicles as conduits for round-tripping of unaccounted money back into India. This evoked a strong rebuttal from Mauritius. It had expressed hope that a joint working group would come out with a structure where the interests of both countries would be safeguarded. Four years later, with the signing of the pact, investors would hope that such a structure is finally in place, ending the uncertainty and upsetting of stock that came with mention of the M-name. In a note on the development, law firm Nishith Desai Associates analysed the impact of the change on various stakeholders. Here are five key areas, which could see some action in the coming days: Grandfathering of investments in Singapore route: Article 6 of the protocol to the India-Singapore DTAA says the benefits in respect of capital gains arising to Singapore residents from sale of shares of an Indian company shall only remain in force till the analogous provisions under the India-Mauritius DTAA continue to provide the benefit. The latter provisions have now been amended. And, while the new DTAA has a grandfathering provision which protects investments made before April 1, 2017, the concern is that it might not be possible to extend such protection to investments made under the India-Singapore DTAA. And, so, alienation of shares of an Indian company acquired by a Singapore resident after April 2017 might not necessarily be able to obtain, for instance, the benefits of the existing provision on capital gains, as the beneficial provisions under the DTAA would have terminated on such date. Private equity funds and holding companies: Investments made through hybrid instruments such as compulsory convertible debentures may still be eligible to claim residence-based taxation. For, the official statement only refers to allocation of taxation rights in respect of shares and the protocol could restrict the shift to source-based taxation on such transactions. Clarity shall only be available once the protocol's text is issued, the Nishith Desai note said. Private equity funds which are raising money now and to start deploying this in the next financial year would also be required to first decide on and communicate to investors on the route they'd take. Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs): Under the income tax law, shares of listed Indian companies held by FPIs are deemed to be capital assets, irrespective of the holding period or the frequency of trading equity by the entity concerned. Income from sale of shares results in capital gains and at present, FPIs enjoy the benefits of the provisions in this regard under the Mauritius DTAA. Such investments will also be impacted by the amendment and by the protocol, shall be subject to tax in India after April 1, 2017. There is a zero per cent rate applicable on gains arising out of shares that are listed and sold on a recognised stock exchange if these are held for more than 12 months; if held for less than this, capital gains on these are subject to a tax rate of 15 per cent (exclusive of applicable surcharge and cess). During the transition period, and subject to the satisfaction of the limitation of benefits clause, this rate may be reduced to 7.5 per cent. P-Note issuers: Issuers of participatory notes (P-Notes) might be adversely affected, as the cost of taxation arising out of the changed position would have to be built into such arrangements. This would make these costlier and less lucrative for investors seeking synthetic exposure to Indian securities. As the FPI entity is issuing the P-Note which will be subject to tax in India, issues could arise with respect to the tax amounts they will be able to pass on to the P-Note holders, due to a timing mismatch with the taxability of the FPI entity. It will have to be seen whether P-Notes can still be attractive for investors. F&O transactions: Similar to the position in respect of compulsory convertible debentures, Mauritius-based entities that enter futures and options contract in India might still be able to claim the benefits of residence-based taxation, as such contracts relate to capital assets other than shares. However, complete clarity on this position shall only be available after the text of the Protocol is released. The Haryana Government and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon sign an agreement to start service from Delhi to Gurgaon. Action will also soon be taken to remove encroachments in the Haryana region for completion of the construction of Dwarka Expressway. This emerged after a meeting between Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in New Delhi today. The Chief Minister also discussed national highway projects in the state and other transportation schemes related to the Central government. The Union Minister was also presented with a proposal of Haryana Forest Development Corporation to make National Highway No, 10 a green corridor. Discussions were also held in the meeting regarding construction of a link bypass to connect National Highway No. 8 with MG Road of Gurgaon and construct bridges at Hero Honda Chowk and other places. Assuring speedy implementation of all schemes related to Haryana, Gadkari said the ministry would extend full support for such schemes. The chief Minister said with the support of the Union Minister, the process of construction of 12 new National Highways in the state was underway at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore. The Chief Minister raised the demand for construction of new bridges on Hansi bypass in Hisar-Rohtak section of National Highway No.10 and Ding Mor on Hisar-Dabwali section. He also urged the Union Minister to grant the status of National Highway to Hisar-Jind via Narnaund road. The construction of this road would reduce the distance between these two cities by almost 20kms. Gadkari said the progress of all schemes related to Haryana would be reviewed every three months. India has been consistently taking up the issue of tightening norms for skilled foreign workers with the UK at the highest level as it is seen to adversely impact Indian IT companies, Parliament was informed Wednesday. The UK has been urged not to accept recommendations of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) in the interest of the bilateral trade in services between India and Britain and its "adverse impact" not only on Indian IT companies but on the UK's own economy and competitiveness, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. She said the recommendations of MAC seem to be contrary to the spirit of the joint commitment made during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister last year. The UK has informed that the changes are not targeted at any particular country, she said. As per Nasscom's estimates, the Indian software industry is likely to incur an additional expenditure to the tune of 250 million pound, the minister said. "This would impact their competitiveness in the market. This would also make many services expensive to consumers in the UK as well," she added. India will file 16 cases against the US for violating treaties as certain programmes of the western country in the renewable energy sector are "inconsistent" with global norms, Parliament was informed Wednesday. "Yes," said Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha that "whether it is a fact that the government is going to file 16 cases against the US for violating treaties". India, the minister said, believes that certain renewable energy programmes of the US at the sub-federal level are inconsistent with provisions, particularly with respect to the obligation under GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) 1994, Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and/or TRIMS (Trade-Related Investment Measures) Agreement. In a separate reply, she said India has appealed before the WTO appellate body on the findings and recommendations of the dispute settlement panel. To promote domestic manufacturing of solar cells and modules, which is one of the components of the National Solar Mission, India set domestic content requirement for a few of the programmes under the mission. In a separate reply, the minister said India continues to be placed on the priority watch list under the US Special 301 on account of US assessment of Indian intellectual property rights (IPR) protection being inadequate. "The Special 301 report issued by the US under their Trade Act of 1974 is a unilateral measure to create pressure on countries to enhance IPR protection beyond the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement," she added. She made a point that the report which is an "extra territorial application" of the domestic law of a country is inconsistent with established norms of WTO. Last month, releasing its annual 301 Report, the US has said it will continue to put India and China on its priority watch list for IPR. Iran has ended free shipping of crude to India and has asked refiners like Mangalore Refineries (MRPL) and Essar to arrange for freight, Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. Iran had in November 2013 offered free delivery of crude oil to Indian refiners as tough Western sanctions crippled its exports. With shipping lines refusing to transport Iranian crude for fear of being sanctioned, Iran used its shipping line for the delivery and did not charge for transportation. "From April 2016, NIOC has informed oil-importing companies like MRPL and Essar Oil that the future delivery would be based on Free on Board (FOB) basis and the freight has to be arranged by the buyer," Pradhan said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha here. FOB is a trade term requiring the seller to deliver goods on board a vessel arranged by the buyer. During the last two-and-a-half years, Iran sold Indian refiners crude oil on cost, insurance and freight (CIF) basis. CIF is a trade term requiring the seller to arrange for the carriage of goods by sea to a port of destination. Pradhan said the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), however, has agreed to provide vessels and insurance till such time Indian companies are able to arrange the same. Iran came out of western sanctions in January and has since then made several changes in the way it trades its vast oil. Besides ending free shipping, it has terminated a three-year-old system of getting paid for half of the oil dues in rupees. "NIOC has asked for all the payments in euros," he added. Iran wants all bills raised from April to be settled in euros and the nearly $6.5 billion that refiners like Essar Oil and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MPRL) owe it in past dues, to also be cleared in euros. Since February 2013, Indian refiners like Essar Oil and MRPL paid 45% of their import bill in rupees to the UCO Bank account of the Iranian oil company. The remaining has been accumulating, pending finalisation of a payment mechanism. With the lifting of sanctions, the payment channels will reopen and Iran is seeking the pending dues in euros. MRPL owes close to $3 billion to Iran while Essar Oil has an outstanding of about USD 2.5 billion. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) owes over $580 million to Iran while smaller payments are due from HPCL-Mittal Energy (HMEL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation. Iran has accumulated about Rs 12,000 crore in the UCO bank account which it could use to make payments for imports of steel and other commodities from India. "In the international market, contracts for supply of crude oil are negotiated on FOB or CIF basis. Hence, the cost of import of crude oil from Iran during 2016-17 will depend on the negotiated terms and conditions between NIOC and Indian oil companies," Pradhan added. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is a planning authority, has invited request for qualification (RFQ) for the appointment of the contractor for the Rs 17,750 crore Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) project. The 22-km long six lane bridge across the Mumbai harbour connecting Mumbai and Navi Mumbai will be implemented on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) - design build basis and not on the build operate transfer model. RFQs have been called for three civil packages, including construction of 10.380 km long bridge section across the Mumbai Bay and Sewri interchange (Rs 6,600 crore), 7.807 km long bridge section across Mumbai Bay and Shivaji Nagar inter change (Rs 4,900 crore) and 3.613 km long viaduct including interchanges at state highway 52 and at state highway 54 and at national highway 4B near Chilre in Navi Mumbai. Of the 22 km, 16.5 km will be bridge component and the balance will be on the coast at Sewri and Nhava. The much ambitious project is expected to de-congest Mumbai. Bidders will have to submit bids by June 28 while MMRDA plans to appoint the contractor in October. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Monday has approved 80% loan for the project and the loan agreement will be signed soon with the government of India. The balance will be mobilised from the state government and MMRDA. Business Standard had reported today that is one of the several development projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore, proposed to be launched by December end. MMRDA in the RFQ has said the construction period will be four and half years (mid-2021). However, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has been repeatedly announcing project completion by end-2019. The project has been in discussion for the last four decades. The project cost initially was envisaged at Rs 4,500 crore which was subsequently revised to Rs 9,360 crore and later to Rs 11,000 crore. However, the cost was further revised to Rs 17,750 crore this year after JICA suggested some crucial changes in project design, including construction of rescue lane. The MTHL project hogged the limelight in 2008 when the Ambani brothers had separately bid for it. However, the state-run Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation rejected both the bids, terming them unrealistic. Thereafter, MTHL was re-tendered in 2009, but did not receive enough response after which the project was once again tendered in 2012 and Tata Realty, IRB Infrastructure, GMR, Srei Infra, and Gammon India were shortlisted for the project. However, all of them stayed away from bidding for it in August 2013, citing lack of clarity over the project's financial viability. Foreign companies with technical expertise in mine exploration would get an opportunity to be a part of India's mine exploration story. The new National Mineral Exploration Policy in the offing, would allow private companies, including the foreign companies to participate in exploration work as the government prepares to auction more and more blocks to augment mineral production in a new regime. Under the amended Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act- 2016, mineral blocks are offered on the auction route as opposed to the previous practice of discretionary allotments. "We are in the process of announcing a new mineral exploration policy to invite private sector participation in a big way for exploration of unexplored resources in the country. Those parties with prior experience in exploration will be allowed to participate. Major exploration companies, junior exploration companies and Indian companies would be allowed to take part in exploration. Foreign companies would also be allowed to participate in exploration of blocks to be put for auctions", Union mines secretary Balvinder Kumar said here on the sidelines of the 16th annual Geominetech symposium on 'New Equipment and Safety in Mines'. He said, the Government of India aims to auction 45-50 mineral blocks in this fiscal in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. So far, six mineral blocks- three in Chhattisgarh, two in Jharkhand and one in Odisha have been explored. "To expedite auctioning of mineral blocks, we have asked MECL (Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd) to upgrade the blocks to G2 and G1 level. We are taking many steps to augment mineral production", Kumar added. Asked on the upcoming meet of the Union mines ministry with state mines ministers, he said, "The meeting will be held in Jaipur (on May 27). We will take stock of the progress in auctions of major mineral blocks. The central government will also discuss about illegal of sand and other minor minerals. This is a very serious problem in many states." The meeting would also deliberate on progress made by states in promulgation of DMF (District Mineral Foundation) Rules and constitution of DMF at district level. The status of collection of the money accrued in the DMF funds and its utilisation would also be discussed. "We have asked states to collect funds for DMF on prospective basis, from the date of notification", Kumar said. In a strong indictment of Centre and states' handling of the drought situation, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said if state governments maintain an "ostrich-like attitude", Centre cannot wash its hands of constitutional responsibility, since the "buck stops" with it. O Rajagopal, the 86 year old candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala, might be one of their best bet to win a seat in the upcoming Legislative Assembly elections and open the party's account in the state. 72-year old Oommen Chandy is no doubt one of the strongest candidates for the Congress party and the United Democratic Front (UDF), Kerala. Having succesfully led the UDF government for the last five years as the Chief Minister of Kerala, he is approaching the voters with claims on various progressive actions he has taken during his tenure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to young fishermen from Vedaranyam who were sentenced to death in Sri Lanka, but returned home due to GoI's efforts Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked Tamil Nadu voters to excercise their franchise in favour of the BJP, in order to bring the state onto the growth track. He came down heavily on Dravidian parties, which has been the ruling the state for over five decades now, and alleged that the people were not getting basic things including pure water to drink and electricity. Addressing a public rally at Vedaranyam around 360 km from Chennai, the Prime Minister said Tamil Nadu wishes to see a change from the two alternatives that have been ruling the state over the years. He also wondered why the people were not getting 24/7 electricity, and why, after years of freedom there was lack of access to clean drinking water. He said, all over India, wherever the BJP had formed governments, people were getting basic things including water and 24-hour quality power. The focus of the party has been only on one thing and that is development. Modi is the first Prime Minister to visit Vedaranyam after Independence. Calling the place a historic land, associated with the Vedas, the Prime Minister said: "There was also a salt Satyagraha here led by Rajaji (C Rajagoplachari, India's last Governor-General) and local fishermen and I am happy to be here." He reiterated tha for BJP, the focus has been to build roads, schools, health facilities, it is only development. "If Tamil Nadu has to grow, it should be run by people who are not corrupt," the Prime Minister said, adding that when the previous Government (referring to the UPA) was in power, there were so many instances of corruption. Even coal wasn't spared. Then there was 2G scam, which also had involvement of DMK leaders. "I have come here to free Tamil Nadu people from corrupt parties," said Modi. Addressing the rally, which was mostly attended by fishermen, the Prime Minister said the MUDRA Yojana can help so many people including fishermen. Today, five fishermen can walk together into MUDRA to get a loan to buy boats for deep fishing. Speaking about the plight of fishermen, which is one of the foremost issues in the state, the Prime Minister claimed that he had changed the fate of five youth were sentenced to death by talking to the Sri Lankan Government. He asserted that his party would continue to safeguard fishermen. "The Central Government is happy when you are happy, and will share your sorrows and help you overcome them when you are sad," said the Prime Minister, adding that Sagarmala project is aimed at transforming the coasts and transforming lives of fishermen, creating good ports. He concluded his speech asking the voters to vote for lotus (BJP's symbol) to change the fortunes and fate of Tamil Nadu. Have multiple savings accounts? Has your bank imposed penalties due to zero balance or no funds in the account? If the answers to the questions is a yes, then you need not be worried any more. As per a directive from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), have been asked to stop imposing charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance once the balance touches zero, The Times of India reported. The central bank has also given the customers an option to approach the banking ombudsman in case lenders continue to debit charges on such accounts, creating a negative balance. In April 2015 too, the had asked to give an advance notice to a customer before applying such charges. When does an account go in negative balance? Usually, offer facilities like no minimum balance when a salary account is opened with them. However, when an individual changes his/her job this account stops getting continuous flow of funds, banks start applying charges similar to savings accounts pushing the balance into negative zone. Do banks look to recover the funds from negative balance accounts? Lenders do not pursue recovering the amount. However, the customer fails to lose money if and when he/she deposits money in this account. In some cases, lenders have continued imposing this fine even after the central banks directive. The central banks directive to seek the ombudsmans help intends to address this issue. Meanwhile, banks have maintained their stance that they do not impose penalties on negative balances. The criteria followed for specification of a community as a Scheduled Tribe are (i) indications of primitive traits, (ii) distinctive culture, (iii) geographical isolation, (iv) shyness of contact with the community at large, and (v) backwardness. Government of India on June 15, 1999 (as further amended on 25.6.2002), has approved modalities for deciding claims for inclusion in, exclusion from and other modifications in orders specifying lists of STs. Accordingly, only those proposals which have been recommended and justified by concerned State Government / UT Administration can be processed further. Thereafter, it has to be concurred with by Registrar General of India (RGI) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) for consideration for amendment of legislation. . . There is no attempt to dilute the existing criteria by the Government. . . However, a Task Force constituted by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs to examine the existing criteria and procedure has recommended for making criteria scientific and objective along with a process which is consultative, transparent and time bound. No decision has been taken on this. . . This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. . . Samir/jk Multipronged efforts are being made by the central and State Governments to ameliorate the situation of unemployment among ST population across the country. Ministry of Tribal Affairs under its Special Area Programme of Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Plan (SCA to TSP) and other Central Sector / Centrally Sponsored schemes provides funds as an additive to the State Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) for economic development of tribals in the States covering skill development and employment-cum-income generation activities. During 2014-15 and 2015-16, the Ministry has impressed upon the State Governments for promotion of need based integrated livelihood initiatives such as Dairy development with State cooperative, horticulture, floriculture, vegetable production, apiculture, sericulture, fisheries, backyard poultries etc. in order to create enabling environment for tribals to earn their livelihood and increase direct / indirect employment opportunities. Further, thrust has been put forth for . . (1) Integration of mainstream education with vocation training, with a view to primarily target dropouts, providing them employability and income-generating opportunities. . . (2) Building skill for the job market outside and rural non-farm sector, Ministry has been supporting skill development activities for both male and female tribal youth in a wide gamut of trades such as (i) Office Management (ii) Solar Technician / Electrician (iii) Beautician (iv) Handicraft (v) Skills required for day to day construction works (such as Plumbing, Mason, Electrician, Fitter, Welder, Carpenter (vi) Refrigeration and A/C repairing (vii) Mobile repairing (viii) Nutrition (x) Ayurvedic and tribal medicines (xi) IT (xii) Data Entry (xiii) Fabrication (xiv) Paramedics and Home Nurse Training (xv) Automobile Driving and Mechanics (xvi) Electric & Motor Winding (xvii) Security Guard (xviii) Housekeeping & Management (xix) Retail Management (xx) Hospitality (xxi) Eco-tourism (xxii) Adventure Tourism. . . In addition, National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation (NSTFDC) under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, promotes entrepreneurial development amongst Scheduled Tribes. This Corporation provides concessional financial assistance to individuals or groups of STs for undertaking self-employment income generation activities through its channelizing agencies. Further, Tribal Co -Operative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) imparts skill development and capacity building training to tribal Minor Forest Produce (MFP) gatherers and tribal artisans. . . Besides these, Government has also taken other steps to provide employment to tribal population. Some of the major initiatives are enlisted below:- . . (i) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) guaranteeing 150 days wage employment to STs households living in forest area who have got pattas under the Forest Right Act 2006. . . (ii) National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) which aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services. . . (iii) Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) facilitates and upscale civil society action in partnership with Government for transforming livelihoods and lives of rural households, with an emphasis on women, particularly in the Central Indian Tribal Region. . . Formulation and implementation of employment-cum-income generation programmes under Tribal Sub Plan is a continuous process and the same is carried out by the State Governments through its designated agencies. State Governments are insisted upon to timely submit Utilization Certificate as per GFR norms on regular basis. The data regarding physical targets achieved for direct/indirect employment is not centrally maintained in the Ministry. . . This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. . . Samir/jk As informed by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), a complaint dated 10.11.2015 had been received from Manipur Tribals Forum, Delhi.Consequently, NCST sought comments thereon from the State Government of Manipur. . . Tribal Affairs Hills and SC Development Department, Government of Manipur has informed that Magisterial Inquiry had been ordered by State Home Department. The Inquiry Officer has reported that the local people and Joint Action Committee did not allow him to conduct the Magisterial Inquiry. It was further reported that the State Government was trying hard to bring normalcy in the area by negotiating with the local people. . . This information was given by Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today. . . Samir/jk China's banking regulator has asked some commercial banks to suspend issuance of classified asset management products, in Beijing's latest effort to curb financial risk amid a rising number of debt defaults, people with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday. The Banking Regulatory Commision (CBRC) transmitted the so-called window guidance, a sort of informal administrative edict, orally, the three people said. The CBRC did not give an immediate comment when contacted by Reuters. Classified asset management products each have two sub-products, one priority and one secondary. The former is promised repayment first in the event of losses, but returns are smaller. The latter carries higher returns but bears the brunt of losses. Typically, classified asset management products are very risky products, particularly when the market is volatile. "The guidance was conducted orally, without giving reasons," said a source. "However, regulators are apparently worried about bond defaults or off-balance sheet risk, with urban commercial banks' businesses typically more radical than major banks." Chinese markets are pricing in increasing risks following an unprecedented number of defaults this year. A long list of high-yield bond issuers in the $8 trillion domestic debt market are due to make debt payments this month. The CBRC, in a move to rein-in the rapidly growing 'shadow loans' industry, told commercial lenders earlier this month to properly account for lending products that may appear on their balance sheets as lower-risk investments. "Classified asset management products are not the mainstream of urban commercial banks' businesses," said a bank senior executive. "Regulators are just sending a warning, which, however, will have a relatively bigger impact on those with stronger asset management capabilities." Among around 150 city commercial banks, those already listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges fall into the category referred to by the executive, such as Bank Of Beijing Co Ltd and Bank of Nanjing. Categorically ruling out himself to be considered as a Republican vice presidential candidate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio has said he would vote for Donald Trump against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton despite his sharp differences with his party's presumptive nominee. Once considered as a future of the Republican party, Rubio, 44, withdrew himself from the White House race after he lost his home state of Florida to Trump, 69 in primary. "I've never had those conversations with anyone in his campaign, so I'm not saying that anyone has offered it to me or even suggested it for me. I'm just saying to you that I believe he would be best served by someone who more fully embraces the things he stands for, and that is certainly not me," Rubio told the CNN in an interview when asked if he is in consideration for vice presidential running mate of Trump. In his first national interview after he quit the presidential race, Rubio said he would not support the Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, 68, in the November general elections. "I signed a pledge that said I would support the Republican nominee and I intend to continue to do that," he said, indicating that he is pledge-bound to support Trump in the elections. "On the one hand, I don't want Hillary Clinton to be the president of the US. I don't want her to win this election. On the other hand, I have well-defined differences with the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. "Like millions of Republicans, you try to reconcile those two things. I intend to live up to the pledge that we made. But, that said, these concerns that I have about policy, they remain and they're there. That doesn't mean that Donald needs to change his positions in order to get my support or what have you. He should be true to what he believes in and continue to campaign on those things and make his case to the American people," Rubio said. The top Republican Senator said he would not use the next six months to be critical of Trump as he advances his presidential campaign. "Here's what I'm not doing to do over the next six months is sit there and just be taking shots at him. He obviously wasn't my first shot the because I was running for president. He has won the nomination. Now he deserves the opportunity to go out and make his case to the American people. And that's what he's going to do. I don't view my role over the next six months to just sit here and level charges against him," he said. "I know what I said during the campaign. I enunciated those things repeatedly. And voters chose a different direction. I stand by the things that I said. But I'm not going to sit here now and become his chief critic over the next six months, because he deserves the opportunity to go forward and make his argument and try to win," Rubio added. rose on Wednesday as worries about supply disruptions resurfaced after Shell announced the closure of a key Nigerian pipeline. Brent crude oil futures were up 27 cents at $45.79 per barrel at 1146 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 7 cents at $44.73 a barrel. Royal Dutch Shell's Nigerian unit, Shell Petroleum Development Co (SPDC), said it had declared force majeure on Bonny Light exports following the closure of the Nembe Creek Trunk line (NCTL) for repairs after a leak. This disruption to output will likely push Nigeria's production to its lowest in more than two decades, and follows a force majeure on the Forcados crude oil grade which is likely to last until June. Production declines and disruptions in North America, Latin America, Asia, and elsewhere in Africa have also acted as a support to prices this week. The latest developments in Nigeria reversed a slight fall in prices earlier in the day after oil sands production in Canada restarted after forced closures due to the wildfires. Oil sands companies around the Canadian energy hub of Fort McMurray began to restart operations on Tuesday after an out-of-control wildfire forced a week-long shutdown. Provincial and industry officials said production in much of the region should ramp up soon. The fires in Canada's oil sands field region have knocked out around 1.5 million barrels of daily crude production, leading to a significant tightening of global . But a growing glut is back in the spotlight. Record-high inventories especially in the United States also acted as a drag on prices. Industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that US crude inventories rose by 3.45 million barrels to 543.1 million barrels during the week ended May 6, enough to meet global crude demand for almost a week. The US Energy Information Administration will release official weekly inventory data at 1430 GMT. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the EIA to report U.S. crude stockpiles likely rose for the fifth consecutive week. In a sign of a fight for market share, Iran has set its June official selling prices (OSPs) for heavier crude grades it sells to Asia at the biggest discounts to Saudi and Iraqi oil since 2007-2008. Iran on Tuesday set the June OSP for Iranian Heavy crude at $1.60 a barrel below the Oman/Dubai average in the latest sign that producers especially in the Middle East are willing to accept low prices in return for market share. Italian bike maker on Wednesday announced its entry into India, going head-to-head against premium superbikes Ducati, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha and Triumph. The bike will also go up against the iconic Harley-Davidson, a different product which sells in a similar price range. The bikes, among the most expensive in the country today are being launched through a tie up with the Firodia family-led Kinetic group. Agusta's debut also marks the Kinetic group's re-entry into a space it vacated nearly eight years ago when it sold the two-wheeler business to Mahindra & Mahindra. M V Agusta, a 70-year old bike maker, will launch three models - the F4, F3 800, and Brutale 1090 along with several variants, all priced between Rs 17-50 lakh. Some models will be partially made in India while others will be imported from Italy. India is the only country after Brazil where the company is setting up a manufacturing facility outside Italy. Judah Immanuel Sangaran, country manager (Far East), MV Agusta Motor said, "Worldwide sales increased by 30 per cent last year. India is a very important market. The country sells 14 million bikes per year and out of this 12,000 are superbikes. The demand for superbikes in India has exploded." Agusta has been on an expansion spree; apart from India, it has travelled to Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and more recently China. Sales have surged as a result with the company clocking close to 9,000 units last year. In India Agusta hopes to sell 300 units by the end of 2016 and is targeting 400-600 units next year. The bikes will be marketed, distributed and manufactured by the Pune-based Kinetic group. Ajinkya Firodia, managing director, MV Agusta India, said, "Two wheelers are very addictive. We believe it is in our blood. The rational reasons for getting ourselves back into this business are the know-how of sales, spares, and manufacturing. We have the infrastructure to assemble these bikes and make them a value proposition." Why did it take the group so long to get back? Firodia said, "We were looking for the perfect brand. Plus, our Ahmednagar plant was not ready for assembling the super bikes. We have revamped the plant and it is now fully equipped to make these bikes." The group has invested Rs 5 crore in the facility and the F3 800, priced at Rs 16.78 lakh, will be assembled here. Firodia is upbeat about the bike, which he says is Agusta's most successful product globally. "The 148 bhp bike will have three colour options. A limited edition version of the bike will also come out later called F3 800 RC. We will be delivering four of these tomorrow," he added. According to the company, several people have called in asking after the new bikes. Of the 160 enquiries so far, 115 have been for the F3 800, indicating latent demand for the bike. Another variant, the F4, the company says will come in three versions (base, RR and limited edition RC). "The top speed will be close to 300 kph. We have sold two F4 RR at Rs 35 lakh (ex-showroom). The RC is priced at Rs 50.01 lakh making it the costliest bike in India. We have one customer already for the RC from Surat," added Firodia. The fourth bike from the stable will be the Brutale 800 which saw its global launch recently. The bike is expected to be in India by December or during the January-March quarter next year. Agusta will unveil its first new showroom Motoroyale on Thursday in Pune which will be followed by five more (Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai) in the next two to three months. A further six new showrooms will be added next year. For Kinetic the launch of Agusta marks a full circle. The group was among the pioneers in the business. Its two-wheeler operations began 40 years ago with the Luna, which was the most affordable two-wheeler of its time. With Agusta it has come back into the category, but in the premium bike segment. This is the group's second stab at the superbike market. It had an association with South Korea's super bike maker Hyosung from 1998 to 2001 for the brand Aquila but the venture never really took off. The market was not ready for a superbike then, the company believes. "It was too early to be in the business. Today, the market condition is totally different. The demand for super bikes is growing and by 2020, it is estimated to reach up to 20,000 units per annum," said Firodia. Price, it seems, is no barrier for India's growing breed of bikers. In negotiations with the government of Mauritius, Indian tax officials found a bargaining chip in the tax treatment for money invested from Singapore in India. It simply says if an investor from Singapore can claim to have spent a fixed sum of money as his investment in the island, the Indian government will not lift the 'corporate veil' to demand to know the antecedents of the money. This will apply even when India rings in its General Anti-Avoidance Rules on tax from next year. The latter would arm officials with the authority to demand difficult answers from foreign investors about the tax paid by them abroad. The clause is known as limitation of benefits (LOB), typically one of several in the tax world's penchants for naming rules opposite to what they are supposed to mean. The India-Singapore tax treaty includes the clause but the treaty, being of an earlier vintage, did not. This although both have the same attraction for investors into the Indian stock market. Port Louis has, however, begun to recognise the killer impact of the clause for swinging business away to Singapore as far as investments into India are concerned. In its recent negotiations for renewal of the double tax avoidance treaty with India, it had asked for being provided a similar benefit. In other words a shell company will continue to get the benefits till August 2019 of the capital gains only if it makes the investments. This clause protects the interests of investors transiting through Mauritius, though only as a temporary measure. The cost that the former paid is in having to give up the advantage of differential taxation of capital gains forever. Even with the LOB inclusion, Mauritius has not gained much. After making the investments as mandated by LOB, for an investor the option of using Singapore or Mauritius are now equal. Rather, with the sophisticated financial sector Singapore offers, there is more probability of the investors preferring it to the Indian Ocean island. For India, it really does not matter how the two countries arrange to ensure that investors make bona fide investments in either. For, in either case, they'd be subject to the capital gains tax regime that operates for domestic investors here, partially from April 2017 and fully from April 2019. If, as expected, the capital flows do not abate, it will prove the experts right who have been asking for this for long. It is possibly the most salutary anti-black money measure the Indian government has taken in a long while. In 2005, when former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Mauritius, he had offered a deal. He asked them to remove the advantage of zero capital gains taxation for business located in the island and investing in Indian stock markets. Since Mauritius was afraid this would drain out the capital being invested in its country, he had offered them a corresponding financial support to make it good. The sum involved was less than Rs 500 crore, not even a blip in the Indian budget. That government had passed up the opportunity. Indian tax officials said there is likely to be renewed discussion on this support, very soon. India's gold imports could hit a record high this year amid widespread smuggling to sidestep government levies on overseas shipments, Australia and New Zealand Bank, Asia's biggest shipper of physical gold, said on Wednesday. The forecast by the bank's head of precious metals, John Levin, runs counter to tallies that show gold imports in decline in the world's second-biggest gold market after China. Levin said he expects 15% of India's gold this year to be "smuggled in" or arrive via "other unofficial channels" to beat a 10% levy imposed by the government. Levin also said more semi-refined gold, known as gold dore, was being imported from overseas mining companies because of a lower government levy. The import duty on gold dore is 8.5%. "You could see a record amount of gold going into India this year," Levin said, "A lot through unofficial channels and a lot of it going in as semi-refined gold." However, industry officials say unofficial imports are also coming down as Indian market prices trade at a discount to the US dollar spot price. As recently as a few weeks ago, Indian importers were offering discounts as high as $40 per ounce, or nearly 3% of the value to attract buyers.This has been discouraging smugglers as their margins have been squeezed, Daman Prakash Rathod, a director at MNC Bullion, a wholesaler in the southern Indian city of Chennai, said on Wednesday. Officially, India's gold imports in the 2015/16 fiscal year that ended on March 31 dropped 16% from a year ago to 926 tonnes. ANZ last year handled about 15% of the world's gold shipments, according to Levin. Delhi-based businessman Vishvanidhi Dalmia has filed a recovery suit in the Bombay High Court against brokerage India Infoline Commodities and four of its officials including IIFL Holdings chairman Nirmal Jain, following delay in recovery of money invested in the National Spot Exchange (NSEL). IIFL Holdings is the promoter of India Infoline Commodities. Dalmia, who has business interest in real estate, garment exports and securities markets, has filed a suit to recover Rs 11.38 crore (Rs 7.6 crore investment and Rs 3.78 crore interest). Earlier, a Mumbai-based investor had filed a similar case against another commodity broker to recover Rs 9 crore in the scam. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has formed a committee to look into the role of brokers in the case. In his petition, filed on Friday, Dalmia said an India Infoline Commodities employee informed him that investments in commodities were extremely safe, that it could fetch a return of 13-15 per cent per annum and that the payments were backed by stocks. He stated he was told by India Infoline Commodities that was regulated by various ministries and Sebi. Dalmia accused India Infoline Commodities of mis-selling, false assurance and lack of disclosure. Earlier, officials of some brokerages were arrested by the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police on charges of inducement and mis-selling of NSEL products. The Enforcement Directorate, too, is probing if the case involved money laundering. We have not received any such notice. The allegations are with an ulterior motive and mala-fide intention. We reiterate and strongly deny such allegations. As the public is aware, the matter related to NSEL defaulting to investors is under investigation/consideration for the last two-and-a-half years by the government/investigating agencies/regulators and court, said an IIFL spokesperson. Fears of removal of tax benefits on investments from Mauritius adversely affecting Dalal Street remained unfounded on Wednesday. The BSE Sensex, after dropping 360 points on opening, or 1.4 per cent, recouped most of its losses to settle 175 points, or 0.7 per cent, lower at 25,597. Experts said the stock market took the development in its stride because of prudent implementation by the government. Legal experts welcomed the governments decision to apply the tax a year down the line and the concessional tax rate for the next two financial years. These provided certainty to investors, who have been nervous about the future of the Mauritius treaty, said Mukesh Butani, managing partner, BMR Legal. Equity assets of Mauritius-based investors at the end of March were valued at Rs 3.78 lakh crore, 20 per cent of the overall foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)s equity assets of Rs 19 lakh crore. FPI on Wednesday were moderate net sellers at Rs 362 crore, provisional data by exchanges showed. The amended tax treaty will, however, hurt participatory note investments due to operational issues surrounding taxation. The costs of taxation will have to be built into such arrangements. This will make such arrangements less lucrative for investors who seek synthetic exposure to Indian securities, said legal firm J Sagar Associates in a note. Equity assets under participatory notes were Rs 2.23 lakh crore, nearly 12 per cent of the total FPI holdings at the end of March. At its peak, participatory notes accounted for around 40 per cent of foreign funds entering the Indian stock market. Around 30 per cent of investments through participatory notes are channeled through Mauritius and another 30 per cent come through Singapore, with which a Mauritius-like tax treaty is in the works. Informed investors may now prefer registration and participatory notes may no longer be appealing, said Pranay Bhatia, partner, direct tax, BDO India. The Securities and Exchange Board of India introduced new regulations in 2014 to ease entry of foreign investors. In 2015-16, the FPI count had more than doubled to 3,992 from 1,444 at the end of 2014-15. Short-term investors may not have active hurdle rates, but can see their returns fall. The increased taxation should not deter investments meaningfully. India structurally continues to offer opportunities well ahead of the cost of capital, said Sanjay Mookim, India Equity Strategist, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. At least 14 people were killed and several others were injured in a car bombing in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City on Wednesday. According to reports, the blast took place in commercial area of Sadr City neighborhood. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. However, Islamic State militants battling government troops in the country's north and west have regularly been attacking Shi'ite civilian areas in the capital. The death toll is expected to rise. The All Assam Students Union yesterday organized an invitational lecture to celebrate a 100 years of its existence as a students organisation in the state. Dr. Amarjyoti Chaudhury and Nagen Saikia were the guests of honour on the occasion. Saikia, an eminent writer and former president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, spoke about the history of the student's organisation and also reflected on how the youth of Assam, while studying in Kolkata, had come up with thoughts to work for the development of their community. Lakshminath Bezbaruah, an Assamese litterateur, was the first president of the 'Asomiya Chatra Sanmilan' (as it was known then). Carrying the legacy forward, the AASU is still engaged in protecting the identity of the state and working for the economic development of the region, while at the same time, promoting relations with other students' organisations of the north east and ethnic groups. The AASU has studiously avoided using shutdown calls as a medium of protest. In 1960, there was a movement for protecting the Assamese Language, (The Language Movement), In 1972, there was a movement for establishing Assamese language as a medium of communication , followed by Economic Movement in 1974. After the Emergency (1975), there was an Assam Movement, and after the signing of the Assam Accord in the 1985, the AASU is focused on challenging the influx of foreigners whose presence has changed the demographic and security pattern of the state. Dr. Samujjlal Bhattacharya, Advisor , AASU, said the government should respect the democratic movements done by students. "Political leaders in the centre do not think that there is a part of India beyond Kolkata. Save Assam to save India is still the message of the All Assam Students Union," said Bhattacharya. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo on Wednesday said that her party would not enter into any electoral alliance for the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab. told the media that her party works on the ideology of B R Ambedkar, who professed equality in the society. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added that the BSP would not collaborate with any other party having a different ideology. "We don't believe in alliance for the sake of elections, when my party did not ally with any other political outfit in the states where the BSP strength is weak then no question arises that we will ally with any party in our strong region. The BSP will not ally with anybody for the upcoming elections in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, we will fight the polls alone," said . The BSP supremo also made it clear that her party support the Congress in Uttarakhand yesterday as it was a mere floor test and not elections. "Contesting the elections and supporting a party to form the government are two different issues. The BSP is not only a political party, it's a movement. And our idea behind this movement is to walk on the lines of B R Ambedkar, who struggled to bring equality in all section of the society and political power is very important for ensuring the implementation of such ideology," she said. A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer committed suicide in his hostel room at the paramilitary force's training centre in Gurgaon this morning. Sources say that his body was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his room. The exact reason that led the Karnataka officer Mohammed Monusul to take such a drastic step is yet to be ascertained. The Gurgaon Police has ordered a probe into the matter. Seems like an 'obsessed' fan-love has made 'Matrix' famed actor Keanu Reeves unsafe, even in his own house. The 51-year-old actor, who portrayed Neo, a computer programmer drawn into a rebellion against the machines who simulate real life for most people in the sci-fi trilogy, was visited at home by the unnamed man last October who left a FedEx envelope in his mailbox, reports Channel 24. In a reference to the first Matrix film, the package contained a phone number with the instruction "I will call the cell provided tomorrow. We need to meet as I have already started building the new world. #masterbuilder.(sic)" Los Angeles police officers are currently looking for the man, who they believe, has an obsession with Reeves' character. The actor, on other hand, told the cops that he is concerned for his safety because the fan, who he thinks suffers from a mental disorder, knows where he lives. India's first online furniture rental company Furlenco has partnered with NoBroker, a brokerage-free marketplace for home-seekers and home-owners to connect without having to deal with brokers. As part of the alliance, people who finalize a house with NoBroker can now enjoy the option to furnish it with top quality rented furniture by Furlenco. Furlenco is now live on NoBroker's website and people looking for a house in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore through NoBroker can opt to furnish their houses with stylish and contemporary furniture on rent as listed on the latter's website. Commenting on the collaboration, Founder and CEO Furlenco, Ajith Mohan Karimpana said, "Finding an accommodation can be a tough challenge in metros. The situation becomes worse for the urban migrant population with white collar jobs who have to move cities or homes every three years. In such scenarios, they have to sell their furniture and picking up the right pieces again becomes a tedious task." "By joining hands with NoBroker, we will give home seekers registered on their platform, easy access to furnishing their new pad through our furniture rental model. Within this one year, we have already beautified almost 5000 homes in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore with our aspirational products. Through this association, we are mutually trying to create a community of furnished homes," added Ajith Mohan. "NoBroker has been disrupting the real estate space by leading brokerage free rentals for the past two years. Since our inception, we are always looking at ways to create a seamless and convenient customer experience. The tie up with Furlenco will go a long way in benefiting our nine lakh customers," said Amit Kumar Agarwal, CEO and Co-Founder, NoBroker.com. "Furnishing is one of the first things that anyone looks for once they have found a house. So it was only natural for NoBroker to partner with Furlenco. We are always looking at genuine and cost effective ways to help our customers save money. We are already helping our customers save more than 18 crores in brokerage every month. This tie will definitely help our customers and we are very happy to be partnering with Furlenco," added Amit Kumar. A novel concept in the furniture space, Furlenco makes furnishing homes quick, easy and affordable. As part of their service, they charter an array of award-winning designer furniture that is high on quality with matching furnishings and decor on a monthly subscription fee. The service also includes free doorstep delivery and installation making it an extremely convenient and hassle-free approach to own a home with dreamy interiors. One can rent beds with mattresses, sofa sets, couch sets, dining tables, recliners and much more starting at just Rs.999 per month. Months after Tajikistan closed its consulates in Kunduz and Badakhshan province citing security issues, Afghanistan has asked Dushanbe to re-open the consulates in the country. President Ashraf Ghani met Tajikistan's Prime Minister Kokhir Rasulzoda yesterday and conveyed that Afghan security forces would provide security for their consulates, Tolo News quoted a statement issued by the President's office as saying. President Ghani, who is presently on a two-day official trip here, also discussed the issue of visas for Afghan businessmen and the residents of Badakhshan province. Ghani also discussed issues faced by the Afghans living in Tajikistan, including reports of problems with police, the statement said. He also asked Rasulzoda for the handover of Afghan prisoners, who are reportedly ill. Meanwhile, Rasulzoda said that Ghani's trip to the country was important in terms of improving relations between the two countries. He assured Ghani that Tajikistan would continue to support Afghanistan and help solve issues of Afghans living in his country. Prior to this, Ghani held meetings with Tajikistan officials and signed several agreements and MoUs on economic and regional cooperation. The Afghan President yesterday described terrorism as the common threat for regional players and stressed the need for regional cooperation in the fight against this phenomenon. HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, one of India's leading private sector general insurance companies, has announced the launch of a one of its kind 'community' platform for public. This community aims to provide a peer-to-peer channel where users can get advice, discuss their experiences and share information about anything and everything under the umbrella of non-life insurance. This initiative by HDFC ERGO brings together insurance experts, existing and potential customers of non-life insurance and knowledge seekers on a single platform as a community to discuss experiences, share information and opinions on insurance products and services. The main purpose of the community portal is to provide authentic, value-added and usable information to its users, which is again user generated. Some of the key elements of the portal are insightful articles, trending topics in forums, HDFC ERGO Facebook and Twitter live feeds, polls and more insight on insurance. Speaking at the launch of the community portal, Ritesh Kumar, Managing Director and CEO, HDFC ERGO General Insurance said, "The community portal has been designed with an objective of helping users take informed decisions and/or get more insight about non-life insurance. The portal aims to educate and empower its users with the true value of insurance and help them in harnessing it properly. As the process of digitalization intensifies, we are remodeling our offerings, services and delivery mechanism to reinforce our presence in the virtual market place. We have set a target for ourselves to emerge as the preferred platform for education and thought leadership on best practices." In this digital era, where citizens have turned to netizens, it's become portent for brands to plank their presence in the digital world, leaving no stone unturned to reach out to the masses. So in this kaleidoscopic platform, today, every brand is bombarding brand-centric information and jamming the social media space too. This eventually is soon going to lead a saturation point. On the flip side, a consumer will absorb all sort of brand communication, but for making a decision, he will more likely trust the opinion of his peer/friend, as he can relate with them more. Basis this premise, we believe being there is simply not enough. It's time to leapfrog from Networks to Community; and try to convert followers/fans to evangelists/brand advocates. India's Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar on Wednesday arrived in Dhaka to hold bilateral discussions on mutual interest with Bangladesh officials. He arrived at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 4:20 p.m. by a Jet Airways flight. He was received at the airport by his Bangladesh counterpart Md Sjajidul Haque, Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other high officials, reports the Daily Star. The visiting Foreign Secretary is scheduled to call on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at 7:30 p.m. at her Gano Bhaban and Foreign Minister A.H Mahmood Ali at 9:00 p.m today. According to reports, he is expected to convey New Delhi's support to Bangladesh on countering violent extremism amid rising terrorist acts in recent months. He will also be meeting think-tanks, academic and civil society representatives at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel tomorrow morning. The visiting Foreign Secretary will hold bilateral meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Md Shahidul Haque where the duo will be discussing entire range of bilateral issues, including water-sharing, transit, development of Pyra Port, trade and investment, Indian Line of Credit, review implementation of various development projects. External Affairs Minister on Wednesday said that Santosh Bhardwaj, the marine engineer who was kidnapped by pirates near Nigeria on March 26, has been rescued. "I am extremely happy to inform that Shri Santosh Bhardwaj has been rescued from pirates in Nigeria," Sushma said in a tweet along with a picture of Santosh's wife Kanchan. Bhardwaj, working as third engineer in Singapore-based shipping company Transocean Limited, was kidnapped along with four colleagues from different countries when their ship Sampatiki was at sea, around 30 nautical miles off Nigerian capital Lagos. Bhardwaj's relatives had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, to get the marine engineer freed. Bhardwaj hails from Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi city. Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli tabled the 25th annual report of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), in the meeting of Legislature-Parliament . Similarly, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Agni Prasad Kharel presented the annual report of the Attorney General, reports The Himalayan Times. The lawmakers from the Madhesi centric parties boycotted the Parliament meeting today citing the government was not keen on addressing their demands. At the outset of the meeting, lawmaker Dimple Kumari Jha said the Madhes-centric parties had no option than to protest as their demands have gone unheeded despite the agitation in the Tarai-Madhes since long over certain provisions of the Constitution. Dimple demanded that the government immediately fulfill the demands raised by the Madhes-centric parties. Lawmakers of the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal, the Tarai-Madhes Loktantrik Party, the Sadbhawana Party, the Nepal Sadbhawana Party and the Tarai-Madhes Sadbhawana Party among others boycotted the meeting. The White House announced that President Barack Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit the site of the U.S. atomic bomb attack in Hiroshima, Japan. According to CNN, the visit fulfills a wish Obama had expressed early in his presidency to visit the location where thousands of Japanese civilians were killed in a nuclear blast at the end of War II. However, the White House has asserted that the United States does not owe Japan a formal apology for using the atomic bomb in August 1945, instead, officials say that the visit will serve as a reminder of the horrific destruction that nuclear weapons can inflict. "He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, wrote on Medium Tuesday. Rhodes added that Obama would deliver remarks on nuclear non-proliferation -- a central tenet of the President's foreign policy -- during the stop in Hiroshima, which is scheduled for May 27. In Hiroshima, Obama will tour the Peace Memorial Park, constructed atop the busy commercial district obliterated by the bomb. Earlier this year, Secretary of State John Kerry became the highest-ranking U.S. official to pay respects at the site, and hinted that Obama would soon make his own visit. Weighing in on the government-opposition tussle over the Panama Papers expose, Pakistan Army chief Gen. Raheel Sharif has called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resolve the issue at the earliest. Quoting a well-placed government source, the Dawn reports that Gen. Sharif, conveyed the pointed message to the Prime Minister in a one-on-one meeting before another huddle on national security at PM House. The army chief's expressed that the controversy over Panama Papers investigation was affecting the governance and national security of Pakistan and therefore, the issue needed to be urgently brought to a close. "Gen Sharif believes that the issue is causing instability and insecurity," the source said. The crisis erupted after the Panama Papers leaks revealed offshore financial assets of Nawaz Sharif's children. Although the leaked documents had disclosed offshore companies of several other leading politicians, the opposition has been demanding that the probe should start with the prime minister's family. The government has been unwavering that the prime minister's family had not done anything wrong by investing in overseas companies. Shyamvar Rai, the former driver of Indrani Mukerjea and Peter Mukherjee, on Wednesday agreed to be an approver in the sensational Sheena Bora murder case. Rai, who appeared before a Mumbai Court, confessed and confirmed his presence at the spot where Indrani's daughter Sheena was killed. Meanwhile, the court extended the judicial custody of Indrani, Peter, Rai and Sanjeev Khanna till May 17. Indrani along with her husband Peter, former husband Khanna and former driver Shyamvar Rai, is an accused in the murder case of her daughter Sheena Bora in 2012. While former media baron Peter was arrested in November 2015 for hiding and destroying evidences in the murder case, Indrani and two others were arrested by the police in August 2015 and continue to be in custody since. Media magnate Peter Mukerjea, a co-accused in the case, had earlier in March moved a fresh bail plea before a special CBI court, calling the allegations levelled against him as "false, baseless and unbelievable". He also put the onus on his wife Indrani, saying that she was highly ambitious and was willing to go to any length for that. In the bail application, Peter claimed it was not him, but Indrani, who objected to Rahul and Sheena's relationship. He had also denied the allegation of being informed by Indrani about the murder and stated that the said calls were made by Indrani to her daughter Vidhie. The media honcho was arrested on November 19 last year for his alleged role in the murder conspiracy in which his wife Indrani Mukerjea is the prime accused. The Afghan National Police (ANP) forces have arrested Mir Azam, a finance official of the Taliban militants group during an operation in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that Azam was arrested during an operation in Pichegeram district of Nangarhar, reports the Khaama Press. Azam, originally a resident of eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan and was arrested as he was apparently arranging funds for the group by carrying two cheques of 10 million and 30 million Pakistani rupees, Ministry of Interior said in its statement. The security forces have also confiscated a Pakistani ID card, some propaganda material, 2 Pakistani sim cards, and a Islamic Emirate ID during the operation. So far Taliban militants group has not commented regarding the report. Victory resounded for the Congress Party in the decisive Uttarakhand floor test as the Supreme Court on Wednesday announced the grand old party now has the majority in the state assembly. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the apex court that the Centre is revoking the President's Rule from the hill state as it has been proved that former chief minister Harish Rawat has got the majority on the floor of House. Celebrations broke out at the Congress office in Uttarakhand as the party workers were seen congratulating each other and exchanging sweets. The Congress won by a margin of 33-28 in the floor test yesterday. The AG told the apex court that they are likely to complete proceedings to revoke President's rule in Uttarakhand today and the matter will be taken up day after tomorrow for placing the record. The Harish Rawat-led Congress government sought a vote of confidence in the assembly yesterday following an apex court order. With nine Congress rebels barred from voting, the strength of the 71-member assembly was 62. Sources said 28 MLAs voted for the BJP. Yesterday, Harish Rawat in a very optimistic note said that the 'dark clouds' over Uttarakhand would finally drift away through the Supreme Court's formal announcement. "I thank the Supreme Court and I am sure that after the decision tomorrow, normalcy will return to the state as it is a victory for Uttarakhand. I thank the people of Uttarakhand for showing faith in us," Rawat said. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party asserted that despite the victory, Rawat will not get away with the corruption charges levelled against him. "We are rest assured that the BJP-led opposition in Uttarakhand, which had started a movement four years ago against the corruption and the ill practices of the Congress government, has been successful. It has been proved through the stings of Harish Rawat and later on his own minister Madan Singh exposed that they have given money to their MLAs," Uttarakhand BJP president Ajay Bhatt told ANI. Centre had imposed President's rule in the state on March 27, arguing that Harish Rawat government lost majority when nine rebel Congress MLAs voted against the state government's annual budget. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya who is embroiled in money laundering charges, remained elusive to India as the United Kingdom has informed the government that they cannot comply with their request to deport him, but are ready to consider the option of Mallya's extradition. According to a statement by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup, "the UK Government has informed that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred." However, the UK has acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations and has expressed its keenness to assist India in the matter and have asked the government to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition. Earlier, the Patiala House court issued a notice to Mallya on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), seeking to withdraw the exemption granted to him from personal appearance in a case of allegedly evading summons in connection with purported violation of the Foreign Exchange Rules. The court has sought Mallya's response by May 20. The ED plea also sought issuance of a non-bailable warrant against the chairman of defunct Kingfisher Airlines to secure his presence in the ongoing trial of the case. Mallya, currently in Britain, is accused of defaulting on payment of bank loans totalling Rs. 9, 000 crore. The Centre had earlier revoked Mallya's diplomatic passport and told the Supreme Court that it would soon initiate court proceedings and approach the British Government for his extradition. The Enforcement Directorate last month obtained a non-bailable warrant against Mallya from a Mumbai court in a money laundering case. BR-V. The latest contender from Honda in the compact SUV space. Not only does it bring a seven-seater option in the pool of five-seater off-roaders, the BRV made Honda debut at one of the fastest-growing segments in India. So, how has Honda equipped the BR-V to take on the Creta, largest-selling SUV of India? Lets find out. Exteriors The Honda BRV looks like it has been forced to look like an SUV. The front, courtesy the bold chrome slat and the muscular bumper with two-part air-dam, looks like an SUV. But moving to the side, one cannot deny the resemblance to the Mobilio, though things like the new sixteen-inch alloy wheels under the sturdy wheel arches and the cladding all around the car do give it an SUV-ish look. The rear spoiler adds to the sportiness of the car whereas the chrome door handles add a bit of class to the overall profile. The rear, in all fairness, looks like an MPV with the wide windscreen and the connected tail lamps. The skid plate and the bold chrome bar over the number plate do try and make it look bold. Interiors It is a fact that the BR-V is not as well equipped as its counterparts. It misses out on a touchscreen media system, navigation, and even a colour display. Also, the BR-V doesn't even have a rear proximity sensor in an age in which rear cameras have become common. But what you do get inside the BR-V is a lot of space. The dash is reminiscent of the Jazz and looks good. The music system features USB, aux and Bluetooth connectivity, and can be paired to a phone. The steering wheel is nice and small and fits right into ones hands. It comes with mounted audio controls for drivers assistance and can be adjusted for tilt but not for reach. The drivers-side door panel holds the standard controls for the power windows, door lock, window locks and ORVM adjustment. Turn 180 degrees and you spot two more rows of seating. The second row gets overhead AC vents and a 60:40 split. It also gets a centre armrest which does not feature cup holders. The third row has ample space for children and average-sized teenagers. The split is 50:50 to make more space in the boot, not that you will need it in short journeys, since the boot is ample. The second-row seat folds in a one-touch collapse system, which makes it really easy for the third-row passengers to get in. We do like the BR-V for the fact that bigger families now have an option in the compact SUV space. Honda has come late to this party but has come with plenty. We do feel that the BR-V should have had a better feature list and the carmaker should have made a better effort to make it look different from the Mobilio but, other than that, it is a good product. Watch the Honda BR-V first-drive review to know all about the car. Also Read: Honda BR-V Variants: Know Which One To Pick! Read More on : BRV price Source : CarDekho Government to set up a pool of capital to Fund Research on Green Energy Technologies Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy said that future of electricity in India rest on the pillars of affordability, sustainability and country's energy security. While delivering Keynote address at a conference on The Future of Electricity' here on Tuesday, Shri Goyal said, Future of electricity, as I see, in India, rest on the pillars of affordability, sustainability and country's energy security. Shri Piyush Goyal said that in recent years the economic growth has become stagnant in many parts of developed world. With more and more energy efficiency coming to the fore, the demand curve of electricity in most of the developed world is either flat or showing a downward trajectory. Whereas, India's electricity consumption is going to quadruple from about 1.1 trillion units to about 4 trillion units by 2030. The Minister further said that despite the massive roll out of energy efficient schemes, we still see a possible 10% jump in the electricity growth annually for the next 15 or 16 years. Indian Electricity sector, to my mind, is possibly the biggest business opportunity the world has to offer today. So India is a bright spot offering a huge trajectory of growth in the electricity consumption going forward, he added. While talking about the fresh demand for power in India, Shri Goyal said. The fresh demand for power will come from the 230 million people who will get electricity for the first time, the elimination of diesel generation sets because of access to power and from increased economic activity coming from the Make in India campaign, . The Minister said that power consumption is expected to grow at 10% annually over the next 10-15 years and added that higher personal incomes and the emphasis given to domestic manufacturing activities will significantly increase power consumption despite the improvements in energy efficiency. India has set a target of setting up 175 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022, out of which 100 GW is to come from solar. Shri Goyal said that solar power capacity, presently at 6.7 GW, will touch 20 GW by next year. Since the solar power sector is on track, the government will now focus on encouraging new hydropower and wind power capacity, the Minister added. The Minister said that the government launched Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana, UDAY' which is expected to improve health of state-run power utilities , enable them to buy more power from producers and invest more in efficiency improvement. Shri Goyal said that the government is also ready to contract at least 70 to 80 million metric standard cubic metres (mmscmd) of natural gas from global suppliers if they are ready to supply long-term at affordable rates, which will enable India to operate its idle gas-based power capacity. The Government will adopt new technologies to make coal-based power generation cleaner and also set up a pool of capital to fund research on green energy technologies with contribution from public sector companies, in which private enterprises could also take part, he said. Speaking about the environmental concerns, Shri Goyal said that the challenge before the nation is to balance development imperative with sustainability and concerns towards environment. The Minister told, India will couple maximum amount of Renewable Energy that we can feed into our grid with growing generation of coal based power, maintain that delicate balance to ensure the affordability of power and sustainability of generating and mixing this power and lastly also protect the energy security of the country. Shri Goyal took the opportunity to invite foreign investors and said I invite companies from around the world to come and participate in this great growth story that India has to offer. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Hindalco Industries rose 2% to Rs 91.65 at 15:19 IST on BSE after the company's subsidiary Novelis reported 35% rise in net income excluding tax-effected special items to $50 million in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. Novelis declared the results yesterday, 10 May 2016. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was down 181.89 points, or 0.71%, to 25,590.64 On BSE, so far 16.34 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 15.32 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit high of Rs 92.80 and low of Rs 88.20 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 145 on 11 May 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 58.85 on 12 February 2016. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 10 May 2016, rising 2.28% compared with 4.45% rise in the Sensex. The scrip, however, outperformed the market in past one quarter, gaining 34.10% as against Sensex's 8.48% rise. The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 206.50 crore. Face value per share is Re 1. Novelis' revenue decreased 14% to $2.4 billion in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015 as a result of lower average aluminum prices and local market premiums. Excluding the impact of metal price lag, adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 29% to was $277 million in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The increase was a result of record global shipments in a seasonally strong quarter, as well as positive product mix primarily driven by a 23% increase in automotive shipments over the prior year, Novelis said. The EBITDA improvement was also driven by excellent operational performance and favorable currency effects, it added. Steve Fisher, President and Chief Executive Officer for Novelis said that heading into fiscal year ending 31 March 2017, the company remains focused on driving asset efficiency as well as managing costs and working capital. In addition, the company will continue to strengthen its product portfolio through further growth in the premium automotive sheet segment while continuing to deliver quality products and service to all customers, Steve Fisher said. Hindalco Industries will declare its Q4 March 2016 results on 28 May 2016. The company's net profit fell 88.7% to Rs 40.46 crore on 5.3% decline in net sales to Rs 8021.23 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014. A part of the Aditya Birla Group, Hindalco Industries is the world's largest aluminium rolling company and one of the biggest producers of primary aluminium in Asia. Its copper smelter is amongst the largest single location custom smelter globally. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Held on 10 May 2016 Himachal Futuristic Communications announced that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 10 May 2016, has transacted the following : 1. Declared second Interim Dividend of Rs. 3.25 per share on 80,50,000 Cumulative Redeemable Preference Shares (CRPS) of Rs. 100/- each for the financial year 2015-16. 2. Approved the proposal for expansion/modernisation of existing capacities of manufacturing of optical fibre cables as per details given below: a. Existing capacity : 1,02,000 cable km/Annum b. Exiting capacity utilization : 96% c. Proposed capacity addition: 48000 cable km/Annum d. Period within which the proposed Capacity is to be added : By December 2016 e. Investment required : Rs. 20.80 Crore f. Mode of financing : Mix of term loan & internal accruals g. Rationale : Increase in demand of OFC in India as well as world Market. The Company has further informed that debts of the Company were earlier restructured under Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) mechanism and as stipulated therein, the Lenders had the right to claim recompense from the Company at the time of its exit from CDR on account of various sacrifices & waivers made by them in the CDR Package. With the improved financial performance, the Company submitted its proposal for exit from CDR mechanism to Monitoring Institution (MI) i.e. IDBI Bank. The MI has recommended recompense amount of Rs. 148.47 crore on term and working capital loans. The same has been approved by CDR-EG vide their order dated 22 March 2016 subject to the approval from Company's Lenders. Subsequent to CDR -EG's approval, the recompense amount has been approved by some of the lenders and approval from remaining lenders is expected soon. Accordingly, the Board of Directors of the Company at their meeting held on 10 May 2016 has approved the recompense amount of Rs. 148.47 crore to exit from CDR mechanism. The Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on 10 May 2016, has decided to submit the quarterly/year to date standalone along with consolidated financial results from first quarter i.e. June 2016 quarter onwards. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Receives bids for 3.54 crore shares The initial public offer (IPO) of Parag Milk Foods received bids for a total of 3.54 crore shares on the last day of bidding for the IPO today, 11 May 2016, as per data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) website at 16:30 IST. The IPO was subscribed 1.82 times. The IPO of Parag Milk Foods was earlier slated to end on 6 May 2016. The company has revised the price band of the issue to Rs 215 - Rs 227 per share from Rs 220 - Rs 227 per share earlier. The IPO opened for bidding on 4 May 2016. The company raised Rs 342.85 crore by selling 1.51 crore shares to a total of 17 anchor investors ahead of the opening of the IPO. The shares were allotted to the anchor investors at Rs 227 per share, the top end of the Rs 220 to Rs 227 per share price band for the IPO. The IPO of Parag Milk Foods, one of the leading manufacturers and marketers of dairy-based branded foods in India, comprises of fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 300 crore and offer for sale of up to 2.05 crore shares from existing shareholders. The three investors who are selling shares via the IPO are India Business Excellence Fund (IBEF) which is a unit scheme of venture capital fund Business Excellence Trust, India Business Excellence Fund I (IBEF I) and IDFC Private Equity Fund III (IDFC PE) which is a unit scheme of venture capital fund IDFC Infrastructure Fund 3. IBEF is selling 21.09 lakh shares, IBEF I is selling 39.17 lakh shares and IDFC PE is selling 82.59 lakh shares via the IPO. From the promoter group, Netra Shah is selling 20.04 lakh shares and Priti Shah is selling 11 lakh shares. Other selling shareholders are selling a combined 31.81 lakh shares. The company will utilize the proceeds of the fresh issue of shares to fund the expansion and modernisation at its existing manufacturing facilities at Manchar in Pune and Palamaner in Andhra Pradesh and improving the marketing/distribution infrastructure. The company has earmarked Rs 147.70 crore the expansion and modernisation plan. It has earmarked Rs 2.29 crore for investment in its subsidiary for financing the capital expenditure requirements in relation to the expansion and modernisation of the Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farm. A sum of Rs 100 crore will be used for partial repayment of the working capital consortium loan. Promoted by Devendra Shah, Pritam Shah and Parag Shah, Parag Milk Foods manufactures a diverse range of products including cheese, ghee (clarified butter), fresh milk, whey proteins, paneer, curd, yoghurt, milk powders and dairy based beverages targeting a wide range of consumer groups through several brands. The company currently has aggregate milk processing capacity of 2 million litres per day. The cheese plant has a raw cheese production capacity of 40 MT per day. The company's two flagship brands are Gowardhan and Go. The company operates a diary farm through its subsidiary Bhagyalaxmi Dairy Farms Private Limited. It is a fully automated cow farm housing over 2,000 holstein breed cows with superior quality yields. It produces farm-to-home premium fresh milk, which is marketed under the Pride of Cows brand in Mumbai and Pune. Based on the consolidated financial performance, Parag Milk Foods registered net profit of Rs 31.92 crore on revenue from operations of Rs 1230.60 crore for 9 months ended 31 December 2015. The company reported net profit of Rs 25.96 crore on revenue from operations of Rs 1438.70 crore for the year ended 31 March 2015. The company has stated in its Red Herring Prospectus that it has not declared any dividend in the last five financial years. The company has no formal dividend distribution policy. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Volatility continued as key benchmark indices trimmed intraday losses in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 143.66 points or 0.56% at 25,628.87. The losses for the Nifty 50 index were lower than the losses for the Sensex in percentage terms. The Nifty was down 31 points or 0.39% at 7,856.80. Concerns that future equity inflows into India would be hit in the aftermath of amendments to the bilateral India-Mauritius tax treaty weighed on the domestic bourses. As per the amendments to the bilateral India-Mauritius tax announced by India's finance ministry after trading hours yesterday, 10 May 2016, with effect from 1 April 2017 capital gains tax will be levied on sale of shares in India from a resident of Mauritius. Mauritius is the top source of foreign funds into India. There will be a benefit of 50% reduction in the capital gains tax rate during the transition period from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019 subject to the Limitation of Benefits Article, whereby a resident of Mauritius (including a shell/conduit company) will not be entitled to the benefit of 50% reduction in tax rate if it fails the main purpose test and bonafide business test. A resident is deemed to be a shell/ conduit company, if its total expenditure on operations in Mauritius is less than Rs 27 lakh (Mauritian Rupees 1,500,000) in the immediately preceding 12 months. Taxation in India at full domestic tax rate will take place from financial year 2019-20 onwards. In overseas stock markets, European shares slipped as some weak earnings pushed the market lower after two previous days of gains. Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend. US stocks registered broad based gains yesterday, 10 May 2016, as oil prices rallied. Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was weak. On BSE, 1,475 shares fell and 979 shares rose. A total of 149 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently up 0.19%, outperforming the Sensex. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently down 0.06%. The decline in this index was lower than the Sensex's decline in percentage terms. Kotak Mahindra Bank rose 0.97% after the bank announced strong Q4 results. The bank's net profit rose 31.99% to Rs 695.78 crore on 52.26% rise in total income to Rs 4947.32 crore in Q4 March 2016 over Q4 March 2015. The results are not comparable due to merger of ING Vysya Bank with Kotak Mahindra Bank, which took effect from 1 April 2015. Yes Bank rose 0.72% to Rs 956.45. The stock hit high of Rs 962 in intraday trade, which is also a record high for the stock. The stock hit low of Rs 931.50 so far during the day. Yes Bank is seeking shareholders' nod for raising up to $1 billion from issue of equity shares and other financial instruments or securities convertible into equity shares. The issue will be consummated in one or more tranches as the company's board of directors may in its absolute discretion decide, according to a notice issued to the shareholders of the bank pertaining to the company's annual general meeting to be held on 7 June 2016. The aggregate amount to be raised from the equity issue will be restricted to 15% equity dilution, the bank said in the notice. Yes Bank is also seeking shareholders' nod for an enabling resolution to raise up to Rs 10000 crore from issue of debt securities. Shares of power generation and power distribution companies edged lower. Torrent Power (down 0.53%), GVK Power & Infrastructure (down 0.46%), NHPC (down 0.01%), Tata Power Company (down 1.52%), Power Grid Corporation of India (down 0.78%), Reliance Infrastructure (down 1.13%) and Reliance Power (down 1.38%) declined. Adani Power rose 0.17%. NTPC gained 0.39% after the company after market hours yesterday, 10 May 2016, announced the commissioning of a 200 megawatts (MW) solar power project at Anantapuram. State run coal mining major Coal India dropped 0.61% to Rs 283.45. The stock hit high of Rs 284 and low of Rs 276.25 so far during the day. Most FMCG stocks gained. GlaxoSmithkline Consumer Healthcare (up 0.26%), Godrej Consumer Products (up 1.9%), Bajaj Corp (up 026%), Marico (up 0.82%), Britannia Industries (up 0.3%), Jyothy Laboratories (up 0.98%), Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care (up 1.36%), Nestle India (up 0.93%), and Dabur India (up 0.4%) gained. Colgate Palmolive India (down 0.24%), Tata Global Beverages (down 0.76%) and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) (down 0.37%) declined. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Shares of three public sector oil marketing companies fell by 0.29% to 1.69% at 14:15 IST on BSE as crude oil prices rose overnight. Among shares of public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs), BPCL (down 1.69%), HPCL (down 0.69%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.29%), edged lower. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 211.55 points, or 0.82% at 25,560.98. In the global commodities markets, Brent for July settlement was currently down 47 cents at $45.05 a barrel. The contract had surged $1.89 a barrel or 4.33% to settle at $45.52 a barrel during the previous trading session as supply disruptions in Canada offset concerns about growing record high US crude stockpiles. Higher crude oil prices could increase under-recoveries of PSU OMCs on domestic sale of LPG and kerosene at controlled prices. The government has already freed pricing of petrol and diesel. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Rome, May 11 (IANS/AKI) Police said they arrested 13 people in Sicily on Wednesday for allegedly abetting illegal immigration and holding Somali migrants hostage to extort money from them. The arrests followed a probe of an alleged criminal gang of mainly Somali nationals, spearheaded by prosecutors in the eastern port city of Catania, police said. The gang abducted migrants from reception centres in Italy, only allowing them to continue their journeys north when they received payments from the migrants' relatives or friends, according to police. A number of children were among "several dozen" Somali migrants freed by police since the investigation began in October, police said. Somalis account for nine percent of the 31,000 migrants who have landed in Italy so far this year, according to the UN's refugee agency. The majority of Somali refugees hope to reach northern Europe and, like Eritrean and Sudanese migrants, they rarely claim asylum in Italy. --IANS/AKI mr/ At least 37 people were killed and 54 others injured when a car bomb exploded at a busy marketplace in Iraq's capital Baghdad on Wednesday. "Our latest report say 37 people were killed in the explosion in Sadr City marketplace," an interior ministry source told Xinhua news agency. The massive blast occurred when a booby-trapped car went off at a popular outdoor market in the Shia bastion of Sadr city district. --IANS lok/ksk/mr Christian Michel, one of the middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, has said in an interview to a news channel that he "never met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh" and that neither the Congress nor the present NDA government "interfered in the deal". In an interview to India Today TV, Michel also said that Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, former board member of Aeromatrix, was the brain behind the scandal. He said that the only person he had met related to the Agusta deal was former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi. The BJP stepped up its attack against the Congress alleging that the Italian court judgment on AgustaWestland helicopter graft case had mentioned names of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Ahmad Patel, and former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi, among others. Firms Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, IDS Infotech Ltd (India) and Aeromatrix India are the accused companies booked by the CBI in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged in March 2013 in connection with the AgustaWestland case. The AgustaWestland case refers to alleged bribery and corruption involving several senior officials and helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland surrounding the purchase of a new fleet of VVIP helicopters by India. Khaitan, former Aeromatrix board member, and Tyagi were questioned by CBI in recent days. "No, never. I have never met Sonia Gandhi. Never met Manmohan Singh or (former defence minister) A.K. Antony. Congress never interfered in the Agusta deal. I avoid meeting leaders, my expertise is implementation," Michel told the TV news channel, which tracked him down in Dubai. "Modi government has never interfered in the deal," he added. "Gautam Khaitan is certainly the brain behind the scandal. He was responsible for moving the money. He knows everything," he said. He said that to even imagine leaders like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh involved in the deal was "ridiculous". "I think Indian leaders did their job. But to say that a man like Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh or A.K. Antony is involved is ridiculous. No one would believe that," added Michel. On meeting former IAF chief Tyagi, Michel said: "I probably met S.P. Tyagi in Gymkhana Club. I met Tyagi and others, but I wasn't keen on them. "I think Tyagi was used as a tool for (another middlemen Guido) Haschke to get inside AgustaWestland. I don't think he can play any major role. I can't say there were no kickbacks," he added. Asked about the allegations made by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, Michel said: "Subramanian Swamy has been misled on Agusta specifics. He has authenticated (documents) what was given in the CAG report. "The CAG report was prepared in great hurry as the deal was always blowing away. They (CAG) are not aviation experts and they are bureaucrats asked to put together documents way beyond their expertise," said Michel. --IANS sid/rn/dg Five men were arrested in Australia's Queensland state over an alleged plan to take a boat to Indonesia and join the Islamic State (IS) terror group, police said on Wednesday. The five men were arrested on Tuesday as they were towing a boat towards Cape York, in far north Queensland, ABC Australia reported. Australian Federal Police (AFP) Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said the men, aged between 21 to 33 years old, were "very committed" to leave the country after previously having their passports cancelled. "The fact that they'd gone all the way from Melbourne, all the way to far north Queensland, indicates that these people were extremely committed in ... their attempt to leave the country," he said. AFP alleged the men purchased the boat in Melbourne before travelling to Queensland. Under federal law, police have the power to stop people flying abroad if they suspect an individual is seeking to join the fight for or against IS in Syria and Iraq. No charges have yet been laid against the five men in question. --IANS ksk In a bid to oppose the government's reform programme for the banking sector, all the nine bank unions on Wednesday called for a one-day strike on July 29, a top union official said on Wednesday. "All the nine unions of the banking industry held a meeting on Wednesday in Hyderabad. We have unanimously decided to call for a one day strike on July 29 to oppose the government's attempt to promote privatisation in the public sector banks in name of banking sector reforms," Bank Employees Federation of India's general secretary Pradip Biswas told IANS. Central government has been desperately trying to dilute its stake in the public sector banks and heading towards a privatisation of public sector banking, he said. "We are opposing a host of issues including banks' merger in the name consolidation, employing private sector's people at the top position of the government owned banks, centre's reluctance for infusing capital into state run banks," he said. "We have been actively observing the centre's reform programmes for banking sector and also considering a direct actions against the government's move," he said. "Banking industry in the country has not been affected badly by the global economic meltdown because of the presence of public sector banks," the union leader claimed. The strike is called under the forum of banking unions. He hinted if the centre does not lend its ear to unions' protest, they might go for a larger strike. --IANS bdc/rn Expelled Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav on Wednesday blasted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his alleged attempts to lower the prestige of the office of prime minister and "hurting the sentiments of 125 crore people" of India. He also took a critical stand against the Aam Aadmi Party leadership for its comments on Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "Kabhi Sonia Gandhi ko jail bhejo, Kabhi pradhan mantri ko jhuta kahata hae (Sometimes he says, Sonia Gandhi should be sent to jail. Sometimes he says prime minister is a liar)," the MP from Madhepura said in Lok Sabha during zero hour. Without taking any name, he said the same person and the party themselves do not show decency to decorum and established norms. "They have passed as many as 16 such bills which do not come under their domain," he said alluding to Delhi chief minister and the assembly. He wanted to know whether such leaders should not be asked to tender apology to the nation. Should there be a CBI probe or not on how by "uttering all falsehood" they (AAP) have created an atmosphere of "satta-ka-mahol (power game)" for themselves. Yadav, who was expelled from Lalu Prasad-led RJD on the eve of Bihar assembly elections last year, had also floated Jan Adhikar party. He said such utterances and allegations like questioning the educational qualifications of the prime minister is irrelevant to Indian . "....but all these only show the country in poor light as if India's prime minister is so weak that people are questioning his educational credentials," Yadav said. At one point, Speaker Sumitra Mahajan asked the member not to take any names. Kejriwal's AAP has four members in the Lok Sabha but none were present when the issue was raised. On April 26 also, Pappu Yadav had flayed the Kejriwal regime in Delhi over the odd-even traffic scheme stating that the measure has only added to people's problems. --IANS nd/rn/dg The British government has turned down India's request to deport liquor baron Vijay Mallya and has called for requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition. "They have asked the Indian government to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a statement. "The UK Government has informed us that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred," he added. He also said that Britain acknowledges the "seriousness of the allegations" and is keen to assist the Indian government. Mallya, who has defaulted on payment of loans of Rs.9,000 crore to various banks, is currently in Britain. --IANS rn-aks/ksk/vm Indian news channel CNN-NEWS18 on Wednesday claimed that it has tracked down India's most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim at his Pakistan-based location. "CNN-NEWS18 has secured clinching video evidence of Dawood Ibrahim's presence in Pakistan, a claim denied by Islamabad for 23 long years," the news channel said in a statement released here. The channel reportedly has used two Pakhtun men whose "names were withheld for safety reasons" to identify Dawood's Karachi-based residence with address bungalow No. D-13 Block 4 Clifton. The location matches with one of the five addresses mentioned by India in its dossier to Pakistan. The channel claimed to have checked all five addresses of Dawood mentioned in India's dossier to Pakistan, "Only one of the addresses in Karachi, D-13, Block 4, Clifton, was in a high security zone," it said. "Starting at Clifton Marquee, a banquet hall named after the affluent Karachi locality where Dawood lives, the CNN-News18 team stopped every 100 metres, asking about Dawood Ibrahim's house. All those asked pointed to the same address D-13 Block 4 Clifton," the channel said in the statement. "They (two Pakhtun men) made four rounds separately from different directions and spotted the house of Dawood Ibrahim. During the third round of recce, they checked about Dawood Ibrahim from a streetside stall," the statement added. The news channel also claimed to have spoken to police officers in Karachi and the security guard at Dawood's mansion, "all of whom confirmed that Dawood has been living in Clifton". The channel asserted that its "evidence is proof of how Pakistan has sheltered India's most wanted terrorist". "CNN-News18 investigation reveals that Dawood's presence in Karachi is common knowledge, which contradicts the constant denial by a series of governments in Pakistan of Dawood's base there," the channel said. --IANS vin/rn/dg The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on a plea by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh challenging ED's order to provisionally attach some of their properties in a money laundering case. A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the ED to file its response by May 27, the next date of hearing. Virbhadra and his wife sought a stay and quashing of the ED's provisional attachment order of March 23 issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The petitioners said the ED attached Pratibha's assets valued at Rs.5,79,84,989 and Virbhadra's assets worth Rs.1,34,64,609. Both said there is "no charge sheet in the present case against anyone" and that the ED exceeded its jurisdiction. The plea said the ED decision was based on Income Tax department's inquiries and investigation, which were themselves under challenge. In November 2015, the ED registered a case under the PMLA at its New Delhi office against Virbhadra and his family members. --IANS gt/tsb/dg The 90-year-old Bengali Club at Kashmere Gate in the national capital's old quarters will be back in action from Saturday after a decade, starting with the celebrations of the Bengali New Year, Nabobarsho, and a Rabindra Sangeet concert, among other programmes. "A part of our club -- the heritage building next to the Kashmere Gate wall -- had collapsed five years or so ago. But even before that we had to close down all club activities. The building was rickety. But the collapse proved our fears right," said member Dipayan Mazumdar. "We had been running to various authorities to get it fixed," said Mazumdar. He said what helped eventually was a report by the Delhi chapter of the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (Intach) to Delhi Development Authority. "Intach also took on the conservation work." Now, besides the building the library, too, has been restored, club members said. While the club dates back to 1925, it is housed in a heritage building that was built in 1894, and is privately owned. A court battle is on with the owners who want the club out of their premises. Regarding the celebrations, besides Nabobarsho, the capital's leading exponents of Rabindra Sangeet such as Sanjoy Sarkar and Jayati Ghosh will also be performing to mark the grand opening of the club. --IANS ap/bg Launching an attack on Delhi University (DU) over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree, the AAP on Wednesday sought to know if the university had computers in 1978. Again highlighting the "discrepancies" in the graduation degree and marksheets of Modi, AAP leader Ashutosh said: "The name and marks of the candidate were printed in Modi's marksheets released by the BJP. "However in the documents of other candidate who passed out in 1978, the name and marks were handwritten. "Similarly, the university logo on Modi's degree is printed in modern font while the original degrees had simple font. This clearly shows that the degree is fake," he told the media here. The AAP also countered the university's claims that the degree was original and it had verified it. Referring to DU's response to an RTI filed by Maharashtra-based activist Anil Galgali, Ashutosh said the university then said it did not keep records as old as three to four decades old. "Yesterday (on Tuesday), the registrar of the university claimed they have verified the records and that Modi's degree was original. "However, when an RTI filed by Galgali in 2015 asked for a list of all the graduates of 1978, DU responded they don't keep three to four decades old records. "Either the university lied in the RTI or it lied yesterday because if there were no records how did they verify it?" He asked the university to comply with the Central Information Commission order asking it to make Modi's degree public. "Delhi University is a prestigious university. They should be loyal to the constitution of the country, not to the leaders of the ruling party," said another AAP leader, Dilip Pandey. A group of AAP leaders visited the university on Tuesday to check Modi's BA degree but could not the vice-chancellor. Egyptian authorities on Wednesday opened the Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip for two days. A source in Gaza's Borders and Crossings Commission said that Egyptian authorities requested that priority be given to those carrying Egyptian passports, Xinhua news agency reported. The source said the first two buses will transport Egyptian citizens according to ministerial records and humanitarian cases. The last time the crossing was opened was on February 13 for three days. However, Deputy Minister of the Gazan Interior Ministry Kamel Abu Madi criticized the opening of the crossing only for two days as it "does not resolve the deteriorating humanitarian crisis" in the Gaza Strip. According to Abu Madi, over 30,000 people registered to travel at the ministry. He called on Egyptian authorities to immediately open the crossing and permanently keep it open since it represents the "lungs through which the Gaza Strip breathes". --IANS ksk/dg Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his target was to double the farmers' income by 2022 when the country will be celebrating the 75th year of independence. Addressing an election rally in this coastal region, about 360 km from Chennai, Modi said his government stood for development and his dream was to take the people on the development path. He urged the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the May 16 assembly elections and change the state's fate. "By 2022, when India celebrates its 75th year of independence, farmers' income will be doubled," Modi said. He pointed out the central government's new agricultural insurance scheme would take care of the farmers' problems. Pointing out that there was no corruption charge against the BJP-run central government, Modi urged the people of Tamil Nadu to vote for his party. Modi said fishermen can now get bank loans to buy deep sea fishing vessels. He said fishermen would also be encouraged to cultivate sea weed that is finding use in the pharma sector. According to Modi, the central government's Sagarmala scheme would help the fishing community as it includes building of cold storage and other facilities. He said the BJP government had opened the doors of banks for small businessmen. With the Mudhra Bank, over three crore small businessmen were able to get loans. --IANS vj/mr The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) on Wednesday said a fresh batch of troops to help train Iraqi soldiers has left for the war-torn country. Major General Tim Gall, Commander Joint Forces New Zealand, said the training provided by the combined New Zealand-Australian military training force had a real impact in improving the effectiveness of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Xinhua news agency reported. "On a number of occasions, the Iraqi government has recognised that the quality training we are providing has helped restore the confidence of their officers and soldiers, and has contributed to some of the positive outcomes on the battlefield," Gall said. About 100 New Zealand troops left from Adelaide after about three weeks of joint readiness training with their Australian counterparts. They would join Task Group Taji, comprised of around 100 NZDF soldiers and 300 Australian Defence Force personnel, at a base north of Baghdad. Task Group Taji has so far trained more than 5,000 Iraqi soldiers as part of an international effort to combat Islamic State (IS) militants by helping to train the ISF. --IANS lok/ksk/bg The government on Wednesday said it favoured holding a general common medical entrance test for admissions in MBBS and BDS courses but the test should be conducted from next year. "The government, in principle, is in favour of a general common admission test. However, this is not the decision of the government. This is the directive of the court (to the government)," Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu told the Lok Sabha. He was responding to concerns raised by some members in the Lok Sabha during Zero Hour. The National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) replacing all other private and state medical entrance tests across the country is scheduled to be held on July 24. Naidu said if the NEET is conducted from next year, then the students can have adequate time to prepare for the exam. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also assured the members that the government will again approach the apex court in this regard through the Attorney General. "I will convey the concerns of the members to the union HRD minister and health minister. We will also try to convince the (apex) court," Naidu said. Earlier, raising the matter, Trinamool Congress member Kakoli Ghosh demanded that a legislative initiative should be taken up by the government to address the concerns of students. "How can students be asked to appear in the test within such short span of time. The government should take legislative initiative in this regard so that we can stand by students. We can't let them suffer," she said. Shiromani Akali Dal member Prem Singh Chandumajra demanded that Punjabi be included in the list of regional languages in which candidates can take the NEET exam. Congress member Rajiv Satav said that either the government should again approach the apex court or bring an ordinance to give relief to the students. --IANS bns/rn/dg Tribal activists have called a 48-hour general strike in the tribal areas of Manipur from May 15 midnight to protest against the government decision to urge the Centre to give assent to three bills passed in the state assembly. Gaidon Kamei, president of the United Naga Council, said, "Our stand against the bills remains unchanged." Naga leaders including former MLAs and MPs will hold a meeting on May 14 to reaffirm the stand. Tribals in Manipur oppose the bills for being "anti-tribal". However, many sections of people say that the tribal organisations have not pinpointed the clauses or wordings which are against the interest of the tribals since these bills are for regulating entry and stay of outsiders in Manipur. The Inner Line Permit has been enforced in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. The Kuki Inpi Manipur has also objected to the state leaders going to New Delhi over the issue. It said, "The government did not consult us on the issue." It warned all Kuki MLAs not to represent any political party on the Delhi visit. The delegates have the onerous task of making the Delhi visit successful or face the wrath of the protesters. Meanwhile, the women and student wings of the Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System (JCILP) have intensified their agitation. There have been sit-in demonstrations at various places by the students. The Naga People's Front which had four MLAs in Manipur said that it opposes the three bills. The MLAs had resigned to protest against the passing of the bills in the assembly on August 31, 2015. --IANS lok/rn/bg Inter-linking of rivers may not be feasible in most parts of India as a majority of the rivers are themselves short of water, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi said on Wednesday. Joshi was speaking to the media after the Estimates Committee of the Lok Sabha presented a report on the Ganga rejuvenation. Asked if inter-linking of rivers can be a solution to India's water woes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran said: "It is a complicated issue. Ken and Betwa rivers can be linked but Ken and Ganga cannot be. "All rivers are drying up. How can you link the rivers?" Joshi said the issue needed to be debated thoroughly. "Inter-linking of rivers needs much debate. It is feasible only in some places. The idea of linking rivers from Ganga to Kaveri is not possible," he said. "What will one beggar give to another beggar?" The BJP leader also said that the lifting of water for transfer would require a lot of electricity. "It will require power and money. We are short of power as it is... How will water cross the Malwa Plateau. Imagine the number of pumping sets required?" The plan for inter-linking of rivers was raked up during the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime of 1999-2004. Joshi was the Human Resource Development minister then. The idea behind inter-linking rivers lies in the theory that some rivers are water surplus and some have less water. The idea focuses on connecting these rivers for more equitable distribution of water. Environmentalists and scientists have warned against this, stressing that rivers cannot be treated like water pipelines and diverting the flow may destroy the ecology of the river and the river itself. Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti last month made a strong pitch for focusing on river inter-linking to tackle drought. At present, three links from the proposed series of links have been taken up. These are - Ken-Betwa link, Damanganga-Pinjal link and Par-Tapi-Narmada link. Joshi clarified that inter-linking of rivers was not a part of the report that studied the Ganga rejuvenation plan. The report has expressed concern over the Ganga being one of the 10 most polluted rivers in the world, and pointed out that the river that supplies water to 43 percent of India's population has been termed a "dying river". Joshi on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should chair a committee to oversee the progress of projects aimed at rejuvenating the Ganga. Joshi said work on cleaning the Ganga started in 1985 but even after 20 years nothing had changed. The panel, in its report, recommends creation of an overarching and empowered authority for Ganga rejuvenation to ensure uninterrupted flow in the river. Joshi added that the prime minister should himself monitor the progress of Ganga programmes. "The committee should also present a report annually to parliament over the progress," Joshi said, adding this was his suggestion and not the committee's. --IANS ao/rn/mr After starting operations in Gurgaon, British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's popular restaurant chain Jamie's Pizzeria has now opened its doors for foodies in the national capital. With an array of healthy, freshly-prepared ingredients, the pizza chain continues to set the bar high. Located in the swish Pacific Mall here, Jamie's Pizzeria, which opened in March this year, is a pizza lover's delight. The scrumptious pizzas on offer also don't burn a large hole in your pocket as they are priced well below Rs.500. Interestingly, the pizzeria has also introduced an array of appetisers, including chilli chicken wings, mutton meatballs and hand-stretched garlic bread along with salads and sides like the chicken Caesar salad and Caprese salad. Among the mains, there are as many as 15 varieties of pizzas on offer, of which nine are vegetarian and six are non-vegetarian. The menu has now incorporated new pizzas like the Jamie's super greens and the Italian sausage. While the latter incorporates pork meatballs, the former is a vegetarian's delight with its mix of broccoli and spinach. "We are new in India so the most important thing is to listen and learn from the feedback and make sure every customer is happy. If we are privileged enough for people in other cities to want a Jamie's restaurant, then we certainly have the capacity to do it," Alexander Troughton, head of marketing for Jamie Oliver Restaurants India, told IANS He explained that Jamie's super greens were all about cheese and fresh vegetables. The dough is prepped and proven overnight, then are added dollops of cheesy bechamel sauce topped with more mozzarell That's the cheesy part. Next comes the veggies: Broccoli, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes all thrown on to make a pizza. Finally, vegetarian Parmesan and lemon juice are added to give it a fresh and rich taste." The Italian meatballs are prepared by hand at the restaurant every day, Troughton informed. The presence of roasted onion, buffalo mozzarella, lemon, ginger and coriander in the Italian sausage pizza make the dish truly remarkable and appealing to those who equally relish their meat and veggies. But if you are a hardcore vegetarian, then the Jamie's super greens, which comprises broccoli, spinach, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, vegetarian parmesan and lemon is the ideal pizza for you. No wonder it is among the "firm favourites" with customers here, Troughton said. Besides these two pizzas, the menu also other new pizzas like spicy meatball, chicken peperonata and red rocket. "These three additions have all been conjured up by the Jamie's British culinary team who are just extraordinary. We listened to our customers who said that they wanted new and different flavours with a really bold taste and this is the result," Troughton said. After launching two outlets in the Delhi/NCR region, what are Jamie's Pizzeria's expansion plans in the country? "At the moment we are concentrating on making sure every customer who comes to our restaurants has a great time, loves the food and loves the atmosphere," Troughton said. FAQs: Place: Jamie's Pizzeria Location: Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden, New Delhi Timings: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Cost for two: Rs. 800 for two (approximately) (No alcohol licence yet) (Ankit Sinha can be contacted at ankit.s@ians.in) --IANS ank/nv/vm/hs/tb NASA's Kepler mission has verified 1,284 new planets - the single largest finding of planets to date - giving fresh hopes to astronomers to discover another Earth reverberating with life. Scientists from Princeton University and confirmed that 1,284 objects observed outside Earth's solar system are indeed planets. "This announcement more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler so far to more than 2,300," said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at the headquarters in Washington. "This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth," he added. The discovery hinges on a technique developed at Princeton that allows scientists to efficiently analyse thousands of signals Kepler has identified to determine which are most likely to be caused by planets and which are caused by non-planetary objects such as stars. This automated technique -- implemented in a publicly available custom software package called Vespa -- computes the chances that the signal is in fact caused by a planet. The researchers used Vespa to compute the reliability values for over 7,000 signals identified in the latest Kepler catalogue, and verified the 1,284 planets with 99 per cent certainty. They also independently verified more than 700 additional planet signals that had already been confirmed as planets by other methods. In addition, the researchers identified 428 candidates as likely "false positives" or signals generated by something other than a planet. Lead researcher Timothy Morton from Princeton developed Vespa because the vast amount of data Kepler has gathered since its 2009 launch has made the traditional method of confirming planets by direct ground-based follow-up observation untenable. "Vespa is a culmination of a change in attitude about how we deal with these large-data surveys," Morton said in a paper appeared in the Astrophysical Journal. Kepler, which ended data collection for its primary mission in 2013, operated by precisely measuring the brightness of many stars simultaneously. The satellite looked for stars that exhibited subtle and regular dimming, which indicates that an orbiting planet is passing in front of, or transiting, that star. Admiral R.K. Dhowan on Wednesday dodged questions related to the AgustaWestland scam, saying all aspects and decisions related to the probe were being looked into by the government. "Whatever is happening, as you know, the government of India is probing... Whatever decision that needs to be taken will be taken by the government of India... Whatever investigations are needed to be done are being done," Dhowan told reporters on the sidelines of an Indian Navy function here in Goa. Asked whether service chiefs should have to mandatorily undergo a cooling-off period before accepting commercial assignments post-retirement, in context of the alleged role of Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi (retd) in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam, Dhowan said: "I think this is an aspect which is looked at by the government of India (along with) all aspects related to what is going on in that connection." --IANS maya/rn/dg Rapper Nicki Minaj has blasted her ex-boyfriend Safaree Samuels for trying to sue her for physical and emotional abuse. Safaree filed a lawsuit against Minaj a few days ago, asking for a cut from her three studio albums "Pink Friday", "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" and "The Pinkprint", reports aceshowbiz.com. Claiming to be involved in the creative process, he is also looking forward to cashing out on her singles such as "Only". Minaj broke up with him in late 2014 and moved on with hip-hop artist Meek Mill in early 2015. "My man asked him to stop emailing me," Minaj tweeted on Tuesday night. "I also asked him several times. This man can't move on. It's really sad. I have the emails to prove it," she wrote. "You really want me showing these emails? I know you need a story line to be on reality TV. God punishing you and you are about to get more!" Minaj continued. Samuels reportedly is joining the third season of docu-soap franchise "Love & Hip Hop Hollywood". Minaj was disappointed that Samuels served her with the lawsuit just days after she celebrated Mill's birthday. --IANS ank/nv/vm US President Barack Obama will visit Vietnam from May 22 to 25, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The White House had said on Tuesday that Obama will meet Vietnam's leadership to discuss ways for the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership to advance, Xinhua news agency reported. The White House had said Obama would also discuss cooperation across a wide range of areas including security, human rights as well as global and regional issues. In capital Hanoi, Obama is expected to deliver a speech on US-Vietnam relations. Obama will also meet members of the civil society, entrepreneurs and the business community. --IANS lok/ksk/mr It's an all-out battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition in Jharkhand over the domicile policy announced by the Raghubar Das government. With the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) calling for a statewide shutdown on May 14, the ruling dispensation on Wednesday came out with an advertorial in the local newspapers in support of the policy. The two-page advertorial has been penned by BJP leader and former IAS officer J.B. Tubid, besides former high court judges, scholars and journalists. But the opposition is in no mood to relent. "We are getting support from all sections of the society. We are shocked to see the advertorial. It's sheer misuse of public money for writing favourable articles on the domicile policy," said JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya. The domicile policy has been a bone of contention between the ruling BJP and the opposition ever since it was notified in April. Even some BJP leaders have expressed serious reservations about the policy, saying it would adversely impact the rightS of the tribals and the Moolvasis in the state. Under the new domicile policy, anyone living in the region for 30 years and possessing immovable assets will be considered as a resident of Jharkhand. Moreover, those who were born in Jharkhand and passed the tenth standard examination will also qualify as a resident. Anyone whose name appears in the land records will also be considered as a Jharkhand resident. Those without land may qualify as a resident if the Gram Sabhas vouch for them, provided they speak the local language. Employees of the state and central governments, and other local authorities living in the state will also be considered as residents of Jharkhand. However, former Jharkhand chief ministers Arjun Munda (of BJP), Hemant Soren (JMM), Babulal Marandi (Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik) and Madhu Koda have opposed the policy. They have raised concerns over the 30-year criterion, saying anyone can "illegally" acquire land and become a resident of Jharkhand. Several BJP MPs have also red-flagged the policy on similar grounds. Ranchi Lok Sabha MP Ram Tahal Choudhary, Khuti MP Karia Munda, Jamshedpur MP Vidyut Baran Mahto and Chaibasa MP Laxman Gilua have written to Governor Draupadi Murmu, saying the policy has led to widespread discontent among the tribals and the Moolvasis. --IANS ns/bim/bg A day after ousted Chief Minister Harish Rawat won the trust vote, the union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday revoked President's Rule in Uttarakhand to pave way for the Congress government to return in the state. The cabinet decision came after the BJP-led central government told the Supreme Court that Rawat got 33 votes while 28 legislators voted against him in the Tuesday floor test supervised by the apex court. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh that there was "no doubt" that Rawat had the legislative strength to head the state government. "It is clear (Rawat) has proved the majority," Rohatgi said. The court asked the central government "to revoke forthwith the order of proclamation of President's Rule" to let Rawat return as the chief minister. Rawat's victory, which was already known but officially announced on Wednesday, sparked jubilation in the Congress camp in Dehradun as well as in Delhi. In Delhi, the Congress said it was the "victory of democracy". "Hope Modiji learns his lesson. People of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy," Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted. But Rawat, 69, said he had no acrimony with the BJP government and needed its support for the state's progress. "It has been a tense period, a period of uncertainty and the state suffered losses. But all is well that ends well," an elated Rawat told a crowded news conference in Dehradun. Congress workers in Dehradun broke into festivities. They danced and sang, distributed and ate sweets, hugged each other and burst firecrackers near Rajiv Bhavan, the party headquarters in the heart of Dehradun. A peeved Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed the Congress' jubilation would be "shortlived". "This majority is just for show. It will be a short-term glory. They have already lost the confidence of the people of Uttarakhand. The Congress majority in the assembly was a result of purchase and sale of elected members," BJP leader Shrikant Sharma told IANS outside parliament. The return of the Congress government, however, awaits President Pranab Mukherjee's proclamation. The court ruling ended Rawat's more than 45-day long legal battle after he was dismissed by the central government on March 27 citing poor governance. The crisis for the Congress began in the state when the BJP tried to leverage a rebellion in the Congress led by Vijay Bahuguna, whom Rawat replaced. The problems peaked on March 18 when the assembly passed the budget Appropriation Bill by voice vote while the opposition and nine Congress rebels sought recorded voting in the house of 70 members. Rawat's problems are not over yet. He has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to New Delhi to answer charges that he, in a sting operation, tried to bribe Congress rebels to return to his camp. Rawat has denied the allegations. --IANS sar/mr Fierce protests broke out across France after the government forced through controversial labour reforms. Hundreds of demonstrators rallied outside the National Assembly in Paris on Tuesday, calling for President Francois Hollande to resign, with the protests continuing late into the night, BBC reported. The government said the reforms are essential to help cut high levels of unemployment. The changes would make it easier for employers to hire and fire but opponents fear they will also enable employers to bypass workers' rights on pay, overtime and breaks. Police used tear gas against protesters in Grenoble and Montpellier. Lille, Tours and Marseille also saw demonstrations. In Toulouse, two young protesters were injured in clashes with police, according to Le Parisien daily. The decision to invoke an article of the constitution to force through the reforms was made after the government failed to reach a compromise on the bill with a group of rebel MPs within the country's largest Socialist Party. This tactic has only been used once before under President Hollande, again to push though disputed economic reforms. The only way the bill can now be stopped is by the motion of censure - a vote of no confidence - that was filed by two right-wing parties on Tuesday. Between them they have 226 of the 288 votes needed to topple the government on Thursday. Fresh protests are set to be held on Thursday to coincide with the confidence vote. --IANS ksk The central government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that ousted Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat had the legislative majority and his government would be restored as soon as President's Rule was revoked in the hill state. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi informed the court that Rawat got 33 votes in his favour while as 28 legislators voted against him in the floor test held on Tuesday. He said the central government, which dismissed the Rawat-led Congress government on March 27 citing misgovernance, would withdraw President's Rule on Wednesday. "I am requesting we may be granted leave to revoke President's Rule and thereafter Harish Rawat's government will be restored," Rohatgi told the court. The attorney general said: "I have advised the government to take this course." As Rohatgi informed the Supreme Court of the floor test result, the bench, comprising Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh, modified its April 22 order. The judges had had on that day taken an undertaking from Rohatgi that President's Rule won't be revoked so long the top court was seized of the matter. The court asked the central government to inform it by Thursday of its action on withdrawing President's Rule. The next hearing of the matter has been listed for Friday. The court, however, said it would hold hearing sometime in September on the central government's plea challenging the Uttarakhand High Court order that quashed the President's Rule on April 21. The then Uttarakhand Chief Justice K. M. Joseph had lashed out at the central government for acting like a "private party" and dismissing the state government by invoking Article 356. The court said it was necessary to examine justifiability of the imposition of the President's Rule as the same had been quashed by the high court citing several reasons. --IANS pk-sar/vm Russia hopes that cooperation with the US and other international partners on Syria will lead to fundamental changes in that country, says Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I hope that the mechanism we have developed together with our partners, including the Americans, in which the armed forces, our representatives and experts are taking an active part... will lead to positive and fundamental changes," Putin said during a meeting with top military officials and arms manufacturers in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday. According to the president, the situation in Syria "remains complicated," with the Russia-US-backed ceasefire still not fully implemented. A lot still must be done for the Syrian Army, but the most important thing is to form conditions for the political settlement in the country," he stressed. Putin praised the Russian military for the bombing operation it has been carrying out against the terrorists in Syria since September 30, 2015. "Since the start of the operation against the targets of international terrorists in Syria, Russian planes have flown more than 10,000 sorties and hit more than 30,000 targets, including some 200 oil producing and refining facilities," he said. Russian long-range bombers have carried out 178 combats flights, with the Navy also largely contributing to the battle against Islamic State, Al-Nusra Front and other terror groups, the president added. Over 500 populated areas were liberated from terrorists during the Russian operation, which began at the request of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Putin said. The strikes against the jihadists "were accurate, powerful and effective," he stressed. "Precisely these factors helped achieve a radical turn in the battle against the militants." According to Putin, the anti-terrorist operation in Syria "clearly demonstrated the effectiveness and high quality of Russian weaponry." However, he stressed that the operation also revealed "some problems and shortcomings," and urged for these issues to be thoroughly investigated and analyzed in order to be avoided in the future. On Monday, the co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, Moscow and Washington, issued a joint statement promising to "redouble efforts" to accomplish a political settlement of the conflict. The statement said progress has been made with respect to the cessation of hostilities, but also highlighted that there have been certain "difficulties... in several areas of the country." The civil war in Syria has been raging since 2011, leading to the deaths of an estimated 400,000 people, according to UN estimates. --IANS ahm/ The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the central government to convene an urgent meetings of the chief secretaries of Haryana, Gujarat and Bihar to assess the drought situation in their states. The union agriculture secretary should hold the meetings soon with the top bureaucrats of the three states, the court directed. An apex court bench comprising Justice Madan B.Lokur and Justice N.V.Ramana also directed the government to set up a separate disaster management fund and disaster management force under NDRF for relief work in the drought affected states. The court also directed the government to put in place effective measures for disaster mitigation in the drought-affected areas. The court was hearing a plea by the Swaraj Abhiyan NGO seeking its intervention for relief in 11 drought-affected states. --IANS pk/sar/vm A court on Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment seven members of a "snake gang" involved in dacoity, extortion and other crimes by threatening the victims with snakes. The main accused, Faisal Dayani, a gym instructor, and others were convicted for dacoity, extortion, trespass and other crimes. Those sentenced to life are Dayani, Khader Barakba, Tayyab Basalama, Mohammed Parvez, Sayyad Anwar, Khaja Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrahim. The eighth accused, Ali Barakba, was sentenced for 20 months. The Ranga Reddy district court, which on Tuesday convicted eight out of nine accused, pronounced the quantum of punishment on Wednesday. The ninth accused, Salam Handi, was acquitted. The sensational activities of the gang came to light in July 2014 when a woman lodged a complaint with the police that the gang raped her in front of her fiance. After barging into a guest house in Pahadi Shareef area on the city's outskirts, the accused also looted Rs.60,000 from the couple. The gangrape charge was not proved but they were convicted under Section 354 B of Nirbhaya Act (assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe woman). Police investigations subsequently revealed that the gang was involved in various crimes like extortion and settling of disputes by threatening their victims with snakes. Police identified 37 such victims and after collecting the evidence produced the same before the court. --IANS ms/rn/mr A group of teachers, students and education workers from various universities in West Bengal on Wednesday condemned the recent "attack" on Jadavpur University students and faculty by the "ABVP and other affiliates of the Sangh Parivar". They asked democratic-minded people and organisations, especially the academia, to stand by the JU students and faculty. "This attack, using the pretext of a film show on the campus, was specially marked by the targeting of female students who were verbally abused and molested by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarathi Parishad goons," the group said in a media statement. Referring to unrests at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Indian Institute of Technology-Chennai, Hyderabad Central University and Film and Television Institute of India, the group said the Jadavpur incident is "part of a pattern of such attacks which is happening nationwide against centres of higher learning". The varsity has witnessed unrest following the May 6 screening of Vivek Agnihotri's film 'Buddha in a traffic jam', triggering loud protests from a large section of left-leaning students loyal to Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students' Union. Following clashes on the issue, university authorities filed a police complaint against four outsiders - three of them ABVP activists - on charge of molesting female students during a commotion over open-air screening of the film. --IANS sgh/tsb/dg Markets were unnerved on buzz that JSW Steel was among those short-listed to acquire Tata Steel's loss-making UK operations. The JSW Steel share price fell almost three per cent on Tuesday, even as the indices inched up. There is a reason for the negative market reaction. First, JSW Steel, which has 14.3 million tonnes of annual steel-making capacity, is among the preferred picks of analysts in the steel sector. That is because the company has been doing well in the domestic arena as compared to most of its peers, despite a challenging business environment. Second, European macroeconomic fundamentals and business environment remain weak and have been primarily responsible for Tata Steel's decision to sell the operations, which have been making losses for some time now. Tata Steel's UK operations have been under pressure due to Chinese imports, soaring costs, and weak demand. The Street is also concerned about the liabilities that the UK assets will bring to the acquirer. Employee-related liabilities, including pensions, have been one of the issues. However, in order to avoid job losses, the UK government has offered support to the acquirer. This may include financial assistance and the UK government taking a 25 per cent stake in the acquired business. Details on all these are not yet known. (Debt/equity ratio is a debt ratio used to measure a company's financial leverage, calculated by dividing a companys total liabilities by its stockholders equity. For example, if a company has a total shareholder value of $180,000 and has $620,000 in liabilities. Its debt/equity ratio is then 3.4444 ($620,000/$180,000), or 344.44 per cent, indicating the company has been heavily taking on debt and thus has high risk. ) Meanwhile, on the acquisition front, JSW's history is varied. It has turned around entities acquired in India. These include the Maharashtra (Dolvi)-based unit of Ispat, as well as those of Maxsteel and Welspun. However, its US acquisition has not been fruitful: The steel plate and pipe mill operations of its subsidiary, JSW Steel (USA) Inc, have suffered losses during the last few years. In fact, during the quarter ended December 2015, JSW Steel made a provision of Rs 5,596 crore for the fall in value of investments. The company said this was in view of the lower long-term commodity prices forecasts and continuing losses at the US operations. As a result, JSW Steel reported a net loss of Rs 923 crore (on consolidated basis) despite an operating profit of Rs 892 crore led by domestic operations, for the December quarter. Anyway, if the company can acquire UK assets at attractive valuations and without significant liabilities, the acquisition can bring positives. Rahul Dholam at Angel Broking says that with adequate capacities and the commodity cycle at a low, JSW may be able to reap benefits of an acquisition done at the bottom of valuations. But, a lot depends on the bidding, which may be competitive as there are seven bidders for the UK-based 5.5-million-tonne annual capacities of Tata Steel. The JSW Steel stock closed 0.2 per cent higher on Wednesday at Rs 1,291 and is yet to recover from Tuesday's losses. The Mauritius route, which has long bedevilled Indias attempts to chase down black money and to introduce greater transparency into its financial sector, is finally set to become history. Thanks to a three-decade-old favourable double tax avoidance agreement (DTAA) with the small Indian Ocean island, it had become the favoured source for capital inflows into India. It accounted for over a third of foreign direct investment flows into India between 2000 and 2015. Some of that must have been regular global capital taking advantage of favourable routes into the Indian markets. But the suspicion persisted that a great deal of it was round-tripping, or black money flowing back into India. But now the government has, after renegotiating the treaty, gained the ability to tax capital gains arising in Mauritius from the sale of shares bought after April of 2017. The benefits from the treaty were also limited by the amendment. A clause in the new protocol seeks to ensure that shell companies can no longer take advantage of the DTAA only companies spending more than Rs 27 lakh in Mauritius itself in the preceding 12 months can take advantage of the DTAA. The Twitterati did not take kindly to Prime Minister comparing Kerala to Somalia. In a recent election speech Modi compared "God's own country" to the African nation which is in the news quite often for its marauding pirates. Soon, the micro-blogging site was flooded with angry anti-Modi posts with the #PoMoneModi. The hashtag was inspired by Malayalam superstar Mohanlal's punchline "Po mone Dinesha" from the film Narasimham (2000) that means "you are fired". One Vinay Dokania used statistics to justify his outrage: "Kerala literacy: 94 per cent; BJP vote share: 6 per cent. That's 100 per cent #PoMoneModi." In an open letter, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also expressed anger over the comparison. Till May this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made about 40 foreign trips to countries in five continents. In the same period, he hosted more than 30 heads of state or government. True, his predecessor travelled almost as much in the same time span. But Manmohan Singhs visits, despite including the large journalists contingents that Mr Modi jettisoned, never attracted the same intensive publicity, with selfies, tweets, rally-style speeches to non-resident Indian fans, meetings curated by Silicon Valley stalwarts, interludes for drum-playing, and informal tete-a-tete on ornate swings. Harish Rawat's return as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Wednesday was hailed by the Congress and the Opposition parties at the Centre as a victory for democracy. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court put its stamp on the results of the floor test in the state Assembly, which was conducted on Tuesday. It declared that Congress, led by Rawat, got 33 votes out of 61, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - that leads the Democratic Alliance government at the Centre - got 28. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the division Bench of Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh that the Centre was ready to revoke the President's rule in the state. Within two hours of getting permission from the court, the Union Cabinet met and revoked it, reinstating Rawat as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister. Though the BJP tried to brush off any loss of face for the central government, which had enforced President's rule in the state after its Governor reported discrepancies in procedure during its Budget in March, the Opposition was upbeat. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi tweeted: "They did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand! Hope (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji learns his lesson - the people of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy!" Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were also upbeat. Delhi Chief Minster and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: "(The) Modi government should apologise to the nation for acting in (an) unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand." The CPI(M) politbureau issued a statement: "The BJP should learn that resorting to such methods is a subterfuge to remove democratically elected state governments headed by Opposition parties will not succeed." With inputs by Kavita Chowdhury The Supreme Court on Wednesday said Harish Rawat could once again take charge as chief minister of Uttarakhand following the results of the Assembly floor test conducted Tuesday. The Rawat-led Congress government got 33 votes out of 61 qualified members. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi earlier informed the court that it had been proven that the Congress had won the floor test in the state Assembly. The order of revocation of President's rule will likely be placed before the Supreme Court on Friday, Rawat's counsel K C Kaushik was reported as saying. "No irregularities in carrying out of the trust vote and voting pattern", news agency ANI reported the Supreme Court as saying. The government also conveyed that it would take steps to revoke President's rule in the state. The Union Cabinet is expected to meet later Wednesday to discuss the revocation of President's rule in the state. "They did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand," Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said after the Supreme Court. "Hope Modiji learns his lesson-ppl of this country & institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate murder of democracy," he added. Governor K K Paul had last month recommended President's Rule in the state after nine rebel MLAs of the Congress voted against an appropriations bill. However, they were disqualified by the Speaker, and the bill was passed. Subsequently, the state High Court rescinded President's Rule on a petition filed by CM Harish Rawat; the verdict was then challenged by the central government in the Supreme Court, which stayed the HC order and ordered a court-supervised floor test on May 10. The nine rebel MLAs, however, were not allowed to vote. A total of 1,332 cases of corruption were reported in three municipal corporations of Delhi in the last three years, of which 630 have been investigated and 24 officials penalised, the Rajya Sabha was informed. "In the last three years, a total of 1,332 cases have been reported in three Municipal Corporations in Delhi and 630 cases have been investigated," Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said during Question Hour. The Minister also said that a total of 79 officials were booked by the CBI and Anti-Crime Bureau in 42 cases registered by them in the last three years. Providing details, the Minister said, a total of 194 regular departmental action (RDA) cases were registered in last three years in the three civic bodies, of which 29 cases were finalised and 165 were pending. Chaudhary said a total of 362 officials were involved in corruption cases from January 2013 to December 2015, with a maximum of 178 in North Delhi Municipal Corporation, 118 in East Delhi civic body and another 66 in South Delhi Municipal Corporation in last three years. The maximum of 75 officials were involved in 2015 alone in the North Delhi civic body, while there were 54 in East Delhi body and another 22 in South Delhi body in 2015, he said. The Minister said as many as 24 officials have been penalised so far, with 17 in North DMC and 4 in East and 3 in South civic body, while a total of 26 officials were exonerated in the last three years, with nine each in North and East and another 8 in South civic body. The number of officials involved in pending RDAs were 312, with a maximum of 152 in North, 105 in East and 55 in South Delhi Municipal Corporation. On cases registered by CBI, the Minister said a total of 57 officials were booked by it during last three years, with 3 in South Delhi MC in 2015. Another 22 officials were also booked by ACB in last three years, with 6 in 2015, including 5 in North Delhi MC, he said. To a question on whether there was a proposal to have a Mayor-in-Council in Delhi after the bifurcation of the civic body, the Minister said, "There was no such proposal pending before the government." Chaudhary said the superintendence, control and direction of municipal corporations in Delhi largely rests with the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, but Central government can give directions to them. He said the state government is taking action against the officials involved in corruption and the Central government is trying to clear such pending cases. Ten people were killed today in two incidents of violent skirmishes and one accident in which waves swept away a vehicle in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal region. In the first incident, in Parachinar, headquarters of Kurram Agency, three people were killed and 10 others injured after a row erupted between the protesters and the political administration over non-permission to a religious cleric from Punjab Maulana Ijaz Behshti to enter the agency. Tehrik-e-Hussaini had taken out a protest rally against the political administration of Kurram Agency for not allowing Behshti to enter the agency yesterday. He was stopped at Chapri Check Post by the officials of the political administration and sent back. Tehrik-e-Hussaini gave called for demonstration today and its workers resorted to violence as the law enforcement agencies had to fire aerial shots. In the ensuing clashes, three people were killed and 10 others injured. Commandant Kurram Militia Colonel Yasir said that thirty people have been arrested by the forces for their alleged involvement in inciting the mob. He denied allegations that casualties occurred due to firing by the security forces and said that the three persons were killed in firing from amidst the crowd. In Kalaya, headquarters of Aurakzai Agency, three persons including two brothers, were killed when two rival groups exchanged firing over property dispute. In Landi Kotal, headquarters of Khyber Agency, four family members -- a woman, her husband and two children -- died when their vehicle was swept away by waves. Their car was swept away by waves of a stream in Loay Shilman area. Two persons were retrieved from the water while four persons lost their lives in the incident. Over 2,100 Indians have been granted asylum by the Obama administration between 2012 and 2014, as per a report by Homeland Security of the US. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh gave details of the Indians provided asylum by the US while quoting from the report in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha. He said according to latest edition of Annual Flow Report, 425 Indians were given asylum in 2012, 1,042 in the year 2013 and a total of 716 Indian nationals were granted it in 2014. The total comes to 2,183. "The US government does not share any information with our mission or our Consulates on the number of Indians who have sought or have been granted asylum or the grounds on which the US government has granted them asylum," Singh said. To a separate question, he said government has made fitment of navigational and communication equipment mandatory in respect of all fishing vessels of 20 metres and above so that they can be tracked. He was asked about steps to prevent Indian fishermen crossing international maritime borders. Replying to another query, Singh said Indian High Commission in Islamabad issues an advisory to all visa applicants mentioning that it was illegal to carry Indian currency while entering India besides other laid down rules. Two Naxals were today killed in a gun battle between security forces and the ultras in the insurgency-hit Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, police said. A team comprising about 90 personnel, led by District Reserve Group (DRG) Commander Mudiraj and Sub-Inspector Amit Padamshali, had launched anti-Naxal operations in the interior region of Maraiguda, about 500 km from here, Sukma Superintendent of Police (SP) D Shrawan told PTI. They were on lookout for Maoists since the death of Assistant Constable Madkam Joga in a pressure mine blast on Monday, he said. The encounter took place this morning near Kanaiguda village in which two ultras were killed, the SP said. After prolonged exchange of fire, the ultras fled. Two country-made muzzle loading guns, 150-metre wire, detonators, battery and other articles were recovered from the spot, Shrawan said. The deceased were identified as Tati Sukka (28), a Gangler village RPC (Revolutionary People's Council) member, and Podiyami Deva (32), an RPC militia head, he added. With this, the total number of Maoists killed in police encounter in Bastar this year reached 53, police said. Australian police have arrested five men, including a top hardlineIslamic preacher, who were planning to join the dreaded IS terror group by sailing to Indonesia by a boat. The arreststook place inQueensland yesterday as the men with cancelled passports were towing a boat towards Cape York, in far north Queensland. The men included Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio, Shayden Thorne, the brother of another hardline Islamist, Junaid Thorne, police said. Cerantonio was deported in 2014 from the Philippines where he had been hiding out. At that time he was regarded as one of the world's most prominent online English-language preachers of the extremism espoused by the Islamic State. They have beenbeing held on suspicion of foreign incursion offences, media reports said. "Themen had been under investigation for a number of weeks. The men, aged between 21 and 33, have not yet been charged. They were in a boat that was seven-metres long," Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said. "The fact that they'd travelled from Melbourne to far north Queensland indicates that these people were extremely committed in their adventure and their attempt to leave the country," he added. "The suspicion is that they were seeking to leave Australia by (the) vessel to avoid the fact that they couldn't travel by air because their passports had been cancelled," he said. Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said police would be considering charges after the men were questioned. "We have a requirement to ensure that people can't get offshore to go and fight in other countries, can't get offshore to become hardened terrorists and come back here and pose a risk," he said. "If disruption means ultimately we don't get sufficient evidence so we can charge them, we'll accept that risk," he said. Federal Attorney-General George Brandis confirmed the arrests and said itdemonstrate the threat to Australians from those engaging in acts of terrorism, including acts of terrorism in foreign countries, remains real and present. "I want to emphasise that the offences on suspicion of which these five men were arrested were not to conduct an act of terrorism on the Australian mainland but to travel, in breach of Australian law, overseas to engage in foreign incursion against the Australian criminal code," Brandis said. "Nevertheless, the Australian government takes very seriously, whether it be acts of domestic terrorism or threats to commit acts of domestic terrorism, or attempts by Australians to travel overseas to engage in terrorist war fighting on foreign soil, in this case, as I said before, in Syria," he added. Over 60 people were today injured, six of them seriously, when a 5.5-magnitude shallow earthquake hit the remote and mountainous region of Tibet, collapsing houses and damaging roads. The quake, which occurred at 9:15 am (local time) near Tibet's border with Qinghai province to the north, was only seven kilometres deep. It was strongly felt in several townships in Dengqen County in Tibet's Qamdo City and caused houses to collapse besides damaging bridges and roads. Some media reports also said that the temblor triggered landslides. The China Earthquake Networks Centre monitored the epicentre at a depth of seven kms. Shallow earthquakes causes more damage despite moderate intensity. Soren, director of the Regional Seismological Bureau, said the epicentre is located in Kata Town, the site of two major Buddhist temples about 2,200 kilometres from here. The injured, who are more than 60 in number, are all from Kata. They are being treated in the People's Hospital of Qamdo City, state-run Xinhua agency reported. Samba, chief of Kata Town, said he had already seen two injured people while on his way to the village for rescue. Roads leading to the village have caved in, the report said. Tibet's government has urged local authorities to make every effort to support rescue work and assist quake relief. Relief supplies, including tents, clothes, food and drink and medicine are being transported to the affected area. At least 66 people have been killed and 11 others missing after days of torrential rains lashed several regions of China, affecting millions of people, the government said today. According to latest reports, over 4.66 million people had been affected, with 95,000 people relocated, the Ministry of civil affairs said. The ministry said that 68,000 people are in need of basic living assistance. 5,200 houses had collapsed and 74,000 were damaged. The rain started last week in Chongqing, Fujian, Guangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi regions. A total of 268,000 hectares of crops were damaged, including 28,300 hectares that were totally destroyed, with direct economic losses estimated at 5.33 billion yuan (USD 820 million), the ministry said. To bridge Haryana's "caste divide" Aam Aadmi Party will launch 'My Caste Hindustani' campaign in the state and its 'Kranti March' will start from May 14 from Rohtak - the epicentre of Jat stir for earlier this year. "Haryana needs positive energy and we want to create an atmosphere where all 36 'biradaris' (communities) stand shoulder-to-shoulder and not look at each other with suspicion," said Naveen Jaihind, the newly-appointed Convener of AAP's Haryana unit today. He said the "Kranti March" would start from Rohtak and subsequently would be taken out from other places as well. "The state government remained a mute spectator to the widespread violence. Leaders of ruling BJP went into hiding leaving the state to burn. Some senior politicians from the ruling outfit and the opposition were out to sharpen the caste polarisation for political gains," Jaihind alleged. Asserting that the violent stir had created a "divide" among various sections, he claimed, "the situation has come to such a pass that people from one community are seeing the other with suspicion. Haryana's 'bhaichara' (brotherhood) was targeted just because of vote bank ." The AAP leader claimed that the situation "suited" ruling BJP also "as it has nothing to show of the tall promises it made to people before the 2014 Assembly polls". "They promised pay scales for employees on par with Punjab, unemployment allowance but they have nothing to show the people," he claimed. A man accused in a case of laundering money from an international drug trafficking racket has tendered an apology in a Delhi court for violating bail condition and offered to deposit Rs two lakh in PM's relief fund to help people suffering from drought. Amritsar resident Paramdeep Singh told the court that he wanted to repent for his mistake by contributing money in Prime Minister's Relief Fund for drought-hit people. Additional Sessions Judge Rakesh Pandit recorded his statement last week. "I admit that I had violated the terms of the conditions of my bail (but under wrong guidance by my counsel). I undertake that I shall deposit Rs 2 lakh in Prime Minister's Relief Fund as many parts of India are parched and people are not getting potable water and this money may be used for the said purpose. The same will be done by me within two days," Paramdeep said while recording his statement. The court was hearing a case in which Amritsar residents Gagandeep Singh and Paramdeep Singh, Delhi-based Gaurav Gupta and firm, Raja & Co Forex Pvt Ltd have been chargesheeted by Enforcement Directorate (ED) for offences punishable under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Paramdeep had violated the bail condition by traveling to Dubai without the court's permission after which ED's prosecutor N K Matta sought cancellation of his bail. In its charge sheet, ED had alleged that the probe conducted by it showed that Gagandeep Singh, Paramdeep Singh and Gaurav Gupta by laundering the ill-gotten funds have directly and knowingly dealt with proceeds of crime and concealed the same as untainted property. The three were arrested on September 25, 2015 from Amritsar and Delhi in connection with the case. They are at present out on bail. ED had earlier told the court that the accused were involved in the illegal business of fund transfer to and from India to Australia and vice versa through banking channels and hawala route. The money, it alleged, related to funds generated from drug trafficking and it came under proceeds of crime under PMLA. It had also alleged that money was also transferred to the UK, the US, the UAE, Europe and Hong Kong. The agency had said that Australian Federal Police (AFP) has been conducting probe into activities of global money laundering networks relating to drug trafficking and a Letters Rogatory had been received from the Australian authorities for assistance regarding involvement of the accused in the syndicate. The Delhi court had also issued an LR to the competent authorities in Australia seeking their assistance in ED's probe for collecting evidence in the case. ED had claimed that Gaurav had a monthly transaction of Rs 50-60 lakh with Gagandeep and Paramdeep and he was involved in "illegal transaction and dealing with funds to the tune of Rs 365 crore" during September 2013 to September 2014. The agency had told the court that a case was lodged under provisions of PMLA on September 24, 2015 and residential and business premises of the accused were searched in Amritsar and Delhi in which some documents, electronic devices, Rs 77 lakh and assorted foreign currencies were seized. Action has been taken against two wardens of the Circle Jail here after recovery of cash, ganja and cellphones in the prison, an official said today. While one warden Chinmay Pradhan was suspended, another Mangulu Sethi was transferred yesterday on the grounds of negligence in duty, Senior Superintendent of the jail Raghunath Majhi said. Around 17 packets of ganja, 80 packets of cigarette, six cellphones, three SIMs, around Rs 83,000 cash, 200 bidi packets, over 1200 gutkha pouches, two knives and several playing cards were seized from the jail on Monday, officials said. A file containing clippings on Chhota Rajan was also found in the jail, they said. District Collector P C Choudhury said investigation would be conducted on how such items were brought into the jail. During preliminary investigation, police came to know that some hardcore criminals were operating a network from the jail, while some people received threats from the prison. China is set to host Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah for the first time next week amid criticism by Kabul that China, a member of a four-nation group initiating peace talks with the Taliban, has failed to rein in the militants. Abdullah, the number two after President Abdul Ghani in Afghanistan leadership will visit China from May 15 to 18, the Foreign Ministry here announced. Besides holding talks with the Chinese leadership in Beijing Abdullah will also visit Urumqi, the provincial capital of China's volatile Xinjiang province which witnessed protests from native Uyghur Muslims over the settlements of majority Han Chinese. The province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) also witnessed large-scale violence reportedly carried out by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) militants. China started taking active part in Afghan peace process after the high-profile visit of Ghani last year. Ghani chose to visit China first and backed the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) comprising of China, Pakistan, US and Afghanistan to facilitate process by promoting talks betweenTaliban and Afghanistan. The QCG omitted India which has strong stakes in Afghanistan's peace process. But the QCG process suffered a set back after the of the death of Taliban founder Mullah Omar. Since then violence escalated in Afghanistan following which Ghani and his administration stepped up criticism against Pakistan and asked the QCG to deliver on its promise. Ahead of Abdullah's visit Afghanistan's Ambassador to Beijing, Hekmat Khalil Karzai in recent interview to state-run Global Times said Kabul will demand answers from the QCG members about striking a deal with Taliban. China also hosted a Taliban delegation in the past. "The objective of the QCG is to bring the Taliban to the table. If the four parties are not able to do so, then the reality is that they need to take actions against all of the groups that are not going to participate in the reconciliation," Karzai had said. "So far, all the parties' efforts have not brought the Taliban to the table. Our position is that we are going to ask each country, China, the US and particularly Pakistan, to tell us what they have done to deal with the Taliban. That's their commitment," he said. "The most important thing for the QCG is to deliver. When all the four countries came, they made good progress on paper, but after that they haven't been able to show results or deliver. Every country has its own agenda, but the objective of the QCG is not for them to work on different agendas but particularly focus on bringing the Taliban to the table," he had said. Government has finalized an amended draft of an Anti-Torture Bill and will soon bring it before Parliament, the Rajya Sabha was told today. "I cannot give a guarantee on time frame that it will be brought in so many months but I assure the House that a full-fledged draft bill has been prepared. The draft has been sent to law ministry," Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary said replying to questions about bringing for passage the amended Prevention of Torture Bill 2010 before Parliament. The minister said certain amendments have been made in the earlier bill including replacing the word "hurt" with "hurt and torture". "A proposal to suitably amend Section 330 and Section 331 of the Indian Penal Code is currently under examination," he said in the written reply. In the written reply, the minister said the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 was prepared as an enabling legislation to ratify the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on May 5, 2010. The Rajya Sabha referred it to the Select Committee for scrutiny. The Select Committee referred the Bill for enactment with certain modifications. Comments of state governments and Union Territory administrations were called. Some of the state governments felt that adequate provisions already exist in the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure and suggested suitable amendments in the existing provisions of these laws. In the meanwhile, the bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in May 2014, necessiating introduction of a new bill in the House. Members wanted to know the reasons for the delay in bringing the bill. One of the members took potshots at the government saying "you bring all anti-democratic bill like on Uttarakhand so fast. Give us a specific time by when you are bringing this bill." Pawan Varma (JD-U) wanted to know whether one of the five permanent members China has decided against ratifying the Convention. Responding to another question about details of the steps taken by government to improve conviction rates in cases of custodial toture resulting in deaths, the minister said that under seventh schedule of the Constitution of India, Police and Public Order are state subjects. "And therefore, the state governments are primarily responsible for prevention, registration, detection and investigation of crime and prosecution of the perpetrators of crime within their jurisdiction, including those causing custodial torture leading to deaths. "The National Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines from time to time to be followed by the law enforcing agencies in cases of custodial death. Advisories have also been issued by the government to all states and Union Territories on measures to be taken on relevant issues like arrest of individual," he said. Indian-American Congressman Ami Bera's 83-year-old father has pleaded guilty to illegally funnelling over USD 260,000 to his son's congressional campaigns in violation of the US federal law. Babulal Bera, who could be jailed for up to 30 months, pleaded guilty in Sacramento before US District Judge Troy Nunley in the Eastern District of California. A resident of California's La Palma, Babulal is scheduled to be sentenced by Nunley on August 4. He admitted that in 2010 and 2012, he made the maximum allowable individual contributions to his son's congressional campaigns in two of California's districts during these years. Babulal said that he solicited friends, family members and acquaintances to make contributions, which he then reimbursed with his own funds to make campaign contributions in excess of the contribution limits established by federal law. The government has identified over 130 improper campaign contributions involving approximately 90 contributors in the two elections. So far, the government has identified over USD 220,000 in reimbursed contributions relating to the 2010 campaign and over USD 40,000 in reimbursed contributions relating to the 2012 campaign. Ami Bera is the only Indian-American lawmaker in the current Congress and is currently facing a tough re-election campaign against Sacramento Sheriff Scott Jones to keep his seat in the state's 7th congressional district. A report in the Los Angeles Times said quoted the lawmaker as saying that he was incredibly saddened and disappointed in learning what his father did. He said that neither he nor any campaign aides were aware of the activities until being contacted by federal prosecutors. "While I deeply love my father, it's clear that he has made a grave mistake that will have real consequences for him," Ami said in the statement. He said since he first learned about the investigation from authorities, his team and he have cooperated fully with the US Attorney's Office. The report also quoted Acting US Attorney Phillip Talbert as saying in a conference that "Congressman Bera and his campaign staff have been fully cooperative in this investigation" and so far there is no indication "from what we've learned in the investigation that either the congressman or his campaign staff knew of, or participated in, the reimbursements of contributions. Babulal had immigrated to the US from Rajkot, Gujarat in 1958. A fight over free speech involving breakdance crews and bucket drummers is brewing on the steps of a historic meeting house where American colonists began the earliest calls for revolt against England. Boston officials say they're considering imposing regulations on street performers because the breakdancers and drummers performing in front of Faneuil Hall, among the city's most visited tourist sites, are using bad language, playing music too loudly, aggressively soliciting donations and bullying other performers out. "The behavior out there is unacceptable," said City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina, a Democrat who has proposed a citywide permitting system with support from public safety officials. "I just want them to respect the people that visit our city. You can't go out there and use foul language and blast music." But breakdance crews and drummers, who for years have drawn crowds to the plaza around a statue of Samuel Adams, have disputed complaints about their behavior. They say police have been pushing them out of tourist destinations across the city but allowing them to perform at Faneuil Hall. "We're not the bullies. If anything, we're getting bullied by police and the city," Universal Fair, a member of the You Already Know crew, said between performances last week. "They say this is the only designated spot for us, and now they want to take that away from us." Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh's office didn't comment this week on the breakdancers' complaints. Other opponents warn imposing a citywide system is an overreaction that could put a damper on a vibrant busking scene. Trying to control what artists say, even if it's considered distasteful, also infringes on free speech, a concern opponents say should have special resonance at Faneuil Hall, where Adams and other Sons of Liberty railed against British taxation, leading to the Boston Tea Party and other acts of rebellion. "You can't regulate an artist's content," said Stephen Baird, director of Community Arts Advocates, a nonprofit arts organization. "This is one of the most historic free-speech spaces in the country, and yet they're trying to make it a First Amendment-free zone." City officials say a system that protects performers' constitutional rights but responsibly manages public space, especially around bustling Faneuil Hall, is overdue. William Joyce, who oversees security on city-owned property, said officers have tried to get the breakdance and drum acts to tone things down. He said there also have been complaints about marijuana, littering and crowds blocking access. A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 52 people at a market in a Shiite area of north Baghdad today, officials said. The blast, the single deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital this year, comes as the government is locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against IS. The bombing, which hit the Sadr City area at around 10:00 am, also wounded at least 65 people, the officials said. The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street. Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage. "The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali, adding: "The politicians are behind the explosion." Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger. "The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," he said. The politicians "should all get out." Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father. IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack. It said a suicide bomber it identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle. IS, which overran large areas in 2014, considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings. Iraqi forces have regained significant ground from IS, but the jihadists still control a large part of western Iraq, and are able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas. Iraq's legislature has been paralysed by a political crisis over replacing the cabinet that the United States and the UN have warned could undermine the fight against IS. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sought to replace the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers with a government of technocrats, a move opposed by powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. Angry demonstrators broke into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone and stormed parliament after lawmakers again failed to approve new ministers last month. While the protesters withdrew the following day, parliament has still yet to hold another session. A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 64 people today at a market in a Shiite area of Baghdad, in the single deadliest attack this year in the capital. The blast comes as the government is locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against IS. The bombing, which hit the frequently targeted Sadr City area of northern Baghdad at around 10:00 am, killed at least 64 people and wounded 82 others, officials said. The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street. Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage. "The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali. "The politicians are behind the explosion." Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger. "The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," the local resident said. The politicians "should all get out." Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father. IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack. It said a suicide bomber it identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle. IS, which overran large areas in 2014, considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings. Iraqi forces have regained significant ground from IS, but the jihadists still control a large part of western Iraq, and are able to carry out frequent bombings in government-held areas. The months-old political crisis has led to repeated mass demonstrations that required a huge security deployment and hampered government action at a time when Iraq is still battling jihadists on several fronts. Security forces are currently engaged in large-scale military operations in the provinces of Anbar and Nineveh as they close in on Fallujah and Mosul, IS's two major remaining hubs in Iraq. The United States and the United Nations have warned the political impasse could undermine the fight against IS. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has sought to replace the cabinet of party-affiliated ministers with a government of technocrats, a move opposed by powerful parties that rely on control of ministries for patronage and funds. Normal life was affected by a 12-hour Dima Hasao district bandh in Assam today called by different organisations demanding early release of a kidnapped person. No untoward incident was reported in the district during the bandh period, official sources said. Markets, educational institutes, banks, private offices, remained closed, while public transport and private vehicles remained off the roads, the sources said. The bandh was called jointly by the Dima Hasao District Youth Congress, Mahila Congress and NSUI demanding release of one Jibon Kemprai, the elder brother of Dima Hasao District Congress Committee president Mohendra Kemprai. The bandh sponsorers demanded immediate arrest of the culprit involved in the kidnapping and also CBI enquiry into the incident. Jibon Kemprai, 50, was kidnapped by unidentified men from his residence at Thaijuwari under Diyungbra police station on January 27 last and remained yet to be traced. A young Bangladeshi refugee has died on the Pacific island of Nauru, the second death in a month, prompting critics today to again urge Australia to stop sending asylum-seekers offshore. Australia sends all boatpeople to Papua New Guinea and Nauru -- where two refugees recently set themselves on fire -- and insists they settle there or return home. The immigration department said the 26-year-old died "from suspected heart failure". "The man admitted himself to the Republic of Nauru Hospital on May 9 complaining of chest pains," it said in a statement. "He was receiving ongoing treatment in hospital, but died early today after a series of cardiac arrests." The Refugee Action Coalition claimed it was a suicide, with the man taking an overdose of tablets, including a large amount of painkillers, ahead of his hospitalisation. "(His) friends say his suicide was driven by the same desperation as others on Nauru. There is no future," the coalition said. Earlier this month a 21-year-old Somali woman set herself on fire on Nauru, just days after an Iranian man died in a similar act of self-harm. The woman was airlifted in a critical condition to a Brisbane hospital. Advocacy group GetUp! said the Bangladeshi man had been on Nauru for more than two years, and was found to be a refugee, after arriving as an asylum seeker. "In the past two weeks two people have set themselves on fire on Nauru, including one man who has died," spokesman Matthew Phillips said. "It is time to bring those who have been unlawfully and cruelly detained to safety in our communities." Since 2013, Australia has denied people arriving in the country by boat any chance of settling here, even if found to be refugees, sending them instead to offshore camps criticised by rights groups. Nauru has since converted its detention facility into an "open centre" in which inhabitants have freedom of movement, while Papua New Guinea's government has said it will close its centre after a court found it to be unconstitutional. A BJP member, who was part of three-member team sent by the party to Kerala in connection with rape and murder of a Dalit girl, today made a demand in Lok Sabha for a CBI probe, alleging "several lapses" in the investigation carried out by the local police. The law student was brutally raped and murdered on April 28, triggering a political controversy in Kerala, which is going to polls on May 16. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Arjun Ram Meghwal said there have been "several lapses" in investigations into the incident. Underlining that it is a "sensitive case", he said CBI should investigate the matter. In this regard, he said, he would be writing to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister. Meghwal was part of BJP's "fact-finding" committee which visited Kerala earlier this week. Other members of the committee were Meenakshi Lekhi and Udit Raj, both Lok Sabha members. Meghwal also said the special investigation team set up should be headed by DGP. According to him, immediately after the incident, the provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act were not used and no medical board was set up. He also alleged that FIR was not filed on the same day and even after filing the FIR, the medical board was not set up. Congress, which is in power in Kerala, hit back, with its member Gaurav Gogoi saying the rape case of a 13-year-old girl in BJP-ruled Rajasthan should also be handed over to the CBI, eliciting strong protests from the BJP. A BJP member in the Lok Sabha today mounted a sharp attack on Nepal, saying that despite being "weak", it was seeking to "threaten" India due to backing by China. Raising the issue during zero hour, Nishikant Dubey also made a strong pitch for erecting a fence along the Indo-Nepal border like the ones along the boundaries with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Noting that Nepal has recalled its envoy to India, he alleged that it was a "conspiracy" to send back the Indian envoy in Kathmandu. He claimed that Nepal was tilting more towards China, which has been instrumental in spreading a "red corridor" from Pashupati to Tirupati in India. He alleged that despite being "weak", it was "threatening" India with the backing of China. Dubey said the porous border has turned Nepal into a "nerve centre" of anti-India forces which was witnessed also during the IC 814 hijack incident. Besides, India faces the problem of counterfeit currency His remarks including dubbing Nepal as "weak" were protested by several Congress members led by Jyotiradiyta Scindia, who reminded the ruling party that one does not speak in such a language about a neighbouring country. This led to counter protests by the BJP with Dubey alleging that the "wrong" policies pursued by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi towards Nepal created the problem. Hitting back at Scindia, Dubey reminded him that Rajiv Gandhi had once effected blockade against Nepal creating problem for the Himalayan nation. The attack came in the backdrop of a slide in Indo-Nepal ties in recent months. The visit of Nepal's President Bhidya Devi Bhandari to India was recently put off. Her government cancelled the trip amid the internal political turmoil in Nepal. There has been a fall in exports of bovine meat in 2015-16 due to factors like restriction of imports by China, Parliament was informed today. During 2015-16, bovine exports dipped to USD 4 billion from USD 4.78 billion in 2014-15 and USD 4.35 billion in 2013-14. During April-February, buffalo meat exports too went down by 15 per cent to USD 3.74 million from USD 4.41 billion in the same period previous year, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. "There has been a fall in exports of bovine meat in 2015-16 on account of reasons like restriction for imports through Vietnam by China, erosion of price competitiveness due to devaluation of Brazilian currency and disturbances in importing markets - Syria, Yemen," she said. She said the government is taking steps to increase exports of meat and meat products. Replying to a separate question, Sitharaman said the manufacturing sector recorded a growth of 17 per cent in May 2014 to February to USD 28.24 billion. In a separate reply, she said an amount of USD 19.27 billion has been received in the manufacturing sector through FDI equity inflows since the inception of Make in India programme (during October 2014 to February). Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was only hours from possibly being suspended at the start of an impeachment trial today in a political crisis paralyzing Latin America's largest country. Her government lawyer lodged a last-ditch appeal with the Supreme Court yesterday, but it was unclear whether the court would even respond in time. Barring a dramatic twist in events, the Senate was to start debating impeachment at approximately 9:00 am, with voting expected either late at night or in the early hours tomorrow. A majority of more than half of the senators in the 81-member chamber would trigger the opening of a trial and Rousseff's automatic suspension for up to six months. In the final judgement, removing her from office would require a two-thirds majority. She is accused of breaking budgetary laws by taking loans to boost public spending and mask the sinking state of the economy during her tight 2014 re-election campaign. Rousseff says the accounting maneuvers were standard practice for many governments in the past and describes the impeachment as a coup mounted by her vice president, Michel Temer, who will take over if she is suspended. A onetime Marxist guerrilla tortured under Brazil's military dictatorship in the 1970s, Rousseff therefore faces possibly her final day in power today. Journalists gathered outside the gate of the official presidential residence in Brasilia from the early morning hours. Rousseff's official agenda released daily to the public contained a solitary item: "Internal paperwork." Temer, whose center-right PMDB party broke off its uneasy partnership with Rousseff's leftist Workers' Party, has already prepared a new government, saying his priority will be to take action on the moribund economy, now in its worst recession for decades. Rousseff vows to resist. "I am going to fight with all my strength, using all means available," she told a women's forum in Brasilia yesterday. Rousseff called her opponents "people (who) can't win the presidency through a popular vote" and claimed they had a "project to dismantle" social gains made by millions of poor during 13 years of Workers' Party rule. In an effort to cripple Temer's ambitions, Rousseff allies went to the top electoral court asking that the probable acting president be barred from appointing his own ministers, Folha newspaper reported late yesterday. However, analysts say Rousseff's fightback probably comes too late and that she had already burned many of her political bridges before the crisis erupted with an awkward style and inability to negotiate. The country's first female president has also become deeply unpopular with most Brazilians, who blame her for presiding over the recession and a massive corruption scandal centered on the state oil company Petrobras. In an unfortunate incident, a bomb disposal instructor at the state government's Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College (CTJWC) in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district was today killed when a grenade exploded near him during a training session. Platoon commander Narendra Singh, a specialist instructor at CTJWC, sustained serious splinter injuries on his face in the explosion leading to his death, Kanker Superintendent of Police Jitendra Singh Meena told PTI. At around 8.30 AM, a 'grenade throwing' training exercise was underway for trainees at the CTJWC, which is located around 150 km from here on Raipur-Jagdalpur road. A grenade exploded close to Singh, who was supervising the training, causing splinter injuries on his face, the SP said. The injured trainer was rushed to Kanker hospital where he was declared brought dead, he said. Singh hailed from Nagaur district of Rajasthan. An ex-Army man (non-commissioned officer), Singh had a vast experience in counter-IED (improvised explosive device) operations in the country as well as abroad, Meena said. He had played a crucial role in defusing and destroying several landmines and IEDs during the past decade in insurgency-hit Bastar region. The Union Cabinet is likely to decide in a month shutting down terminally sick Hindustan Cables by offering a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to its 1,500 employees, Union Minister Anant Geete said today. "We are in the process of sending the individual proposal for shutting down Hindustan Cables entailing formalities like a voluntary retirement scheme, outstanding dues, etc. The Cabinet may take it up for approval in a month's time," Geete told PTI. The Cabinet had earlier approved the closure of seven terminally sick public sector units, including Hindustan Cables, which have incurred a total loss of around Rs 3,139 crore over a period of time. The ministry was tasked with firming up individual proposals entailing VRS related to the central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) falling under it, including Hindustan Cables. However, reports of revival of the company had surfaced after the Defence Ministry approved its takeover by Ordnance Factory Board. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises was supposed to take a call on it after taking into account views of all the ministries concerned. Hindustan Cables, set up in 1952 at Rupnarayanpur (West Bengal), has units in different states. However, the company's units in West Bengal and Hyderabad producing Polythene Insulated Jelly Filled (PIJF) cables had not been in production since January 2003, as there is no requirement of these cables in BSNL/MTNL. Similarly, the unit at Naini, Allahabad producing optical fibre cable had also become obsolete due to change in the product specification. The PSUs where closure had earlier been approved are HMT Bearings, Tungabhadra Steel Products, Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Co, HMT Watches, HMT Chinar Watches, Hindustan Cables and Spices Trading Corporation Ltd. Claiming that the total prohibition in Bihar had set an example before the country, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the call for has gone beyond the state's boundary. "The ban on alcohol will spread across the country," Kumar asserted at a function here. The Chief Minister referred to his visit to Jharkhand and thanks-giving by women groups from Rajasthan, Maharashtra and elsewhere for his prohibition experiment. "Bihar would become an example of successfully implementing total prohibition in the country," Kumar said. He said yesterday he attended a function at Dhanbad in Jharkhand and the women's group which organised it sought a complete ban on alcohol in their state. Recently, the daughter-in-law of late Rajasthan politician Gurusaran Chabbra who had launched a movement for prohibition in the desert state, said the total prohibition order in Bihar had boosted their confidence. Puja Chhabra urged me to come to Rajasthan for a programme against alcohol, Kumar said. Due to efforts of women, prohibition has been put into action in Chandrapur in Maharashtra from April 1 this year. "The women from Chandrapur had come to Patna to thank me and expressed strong resolve to run an agitation against alcohol across Maharashtra," he added. Voices are also being heard from Uttar Pradesh and Odisha for enforcement of prohibition, Kumar said. He asked women in particular to be vigilant and destroy illegal liquor manufacturing units they might come across for which the state government would provide support. The Chief Minister said, "By imposing complete ban on alcohol we have paid a tribute to the Father of the Nation in the centenary year of Champaran satyagraha. UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been caught on camera telling Queen Elizabeth II that Nigeria and Afghanistan are two of the "most corrupt" countries in the world. The prime minister made the remarks before the anti-corruption summit tomorrow, at which Nigeria's president, Muhammadu Buhari, will deliver a keynote address entitled "Why we must tackle corruption together". Cameron who will be the host of the summit was overheard telling the monarch that "leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries" would be attending the meeting, before singling out the two nations. "Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world," he added. The Queen did not immediately respond but Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who has worked in Nigeria when he was an oil executive, quickly cut in. "But this particular president is actually not corrupt," he said, insisting that Buhari was "trying very hard". A spokesman for Buhari, who won elections last year vowing to fight corruption, said he was deeply "shocked and embarrassed" by the comments, which he assumed must refer to problems in Nigeria that pre-dated his presidency, Guardian reported. An official in the Afghan embassy described the intervention as "unfair", arguing the country had made important progress in this area. Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani will also be attending tomorrow's conference. The Centre will take all steps required to get back boats of fishermen seized by the Sri Lankan Navy, Union Shipping Minister Pon Radhakrishnan said today. "This morning we met representatives of the fishing community here. They requested us to get back boats seized by the Sri Lankan Navy. We will take all steps to bring back those boats," he said at an election rally here. Radhakrishnan assured that the Centre would consider the fishermen's request for setting up a harbour in Aarukattuthurai-Vellampadagu and also to develop road connectivity between Vedharanyam and Thiruthuraipoondi. Taking a dig at DMK and AIADMK, he said it was BJP, which has emerged as an 'alternative front', which had been serving the fishermen community in the region, though it was not in power in New Delhi or in Tamil Nadu. He recalled that it was the BJP government headed by Modi in Gujarat which had sent the first cache of relief and rehabilitation material to those hit in the December 2014 tsunami in Tamil Nadu. "BJP government constructed 150 houses for tsunami-hit people but there were no stickers pasted on it," he said in an apparent jibe against AIADMK for reportedly pasting stickers of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on relief material sent to people during the December 2015 floods in Chennai. Senior BJP leader and Tamil Nadu in-charge P Muralidhar Rao alleged there was no power or water in Tamil Nadu and that the state has become 'TASMAC Nadu" (TASMAC refers to state-run liquor shops) as there was availability of liquor everywhere in the state. Pointing out that BJP leaders, including External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and himself had rushed to Vedharanyam when two Tamil fishermen were killed by Sri Lankan Navy, he said "the number of fishermen killed during UPA regime at the Centre and when DMK was in power in Tamil Nadu, rose to 600". "After BJP came to power two years back, not even a single fishermen was killed and even the five fishermen who faced death sentence were released by the Sri Lankan government unconditionally," he said. It was Modi who visited Colombo and assured Tamils living in Sri Lanka of his support, he said. "Chief Minister (Jayalalithaa) didn't visit flood-hit areas in Chennai during December 2015 floods... It was PM Narendra Modi who travelled 2,000 km and offered Rs 2,000 crore for relief efforts," he said. China says US Navy patrols in the South China Sea require it to increase the defense capabilities of the islands it controls in the area. The Chinese Defense Ministry has condemned Tuesday's latest sail-by by the US Navy to reinforce its position that China's new man-made islands in the strategically vital water body do not enjoy the legal rights of natural islands. The destroyer USS William P. Lawrence passed within 22 kilometers of Fiery Cross Reef, the limit of what international law regards as an island's territorial sea. The reef is now an island with an airstrip, harbor and burgeoning above-ground infrastructure. Chinese authorities monitored and issued warnings to the US destroyer as it passed. The ministry said in a statement that it may also boost patrols. Two fishermen have been detained by police in China for purchasing the meat of a 370-kg whale shark, as they launched a fresh hunt today to nab its killer after the state-protected animal was butchered. A netizen posted photos on Saturday showing a shark being pulled out of the sea off Beihai City in South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and transported away, prompting a police probe. A spokesperson with Beihai's public security bureau said that a suspect surnamed Liao bought the shark for two yuan (USD 0.3) per kg on Saturday and sold it to another person surnamed Huang for five yuan per kg. Huang is alleged to have turned the meat into fertiliser and sold it on. Whale shark is considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is a Class-B protected species in China. They are spotted in waters off the Guangxi and Guangdong regions every May and June, state-run Xinhua agency reported. The Civil Aviation Ministry has recieved a request to rename the Kochi International Airport after 8th century religious philosopher Adi Sankara. Navodayam and Faith Foundation, have also requested Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma to develop Adi Sankara Tourism Circuit in India and Nepal to spread the teachings of the man, hailed as a 'Jagadguru' (teacher of the world). In a joint appeal to Sharma, the two organisations said the minister should consider declaring the birth anniversary of Jagadguru Adi Sankara as the 'National Philosopher's Day'. They have also sought setting up of a national research centre in philosophy in his memory in Delhi. "The Indian philosophical thoughts may be part of our curricula starting from primary to research level," the organisations said. In March, Haryana Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution to name Chandigarh Airport after freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Clashes broke out between activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and police in several Bangladeshi cities today after the execution of the top Islamist leader Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. The clashes came as Bangladesh intensified security across the country following Jamaat's call for a nationwide strike tomorrow to protest the execution of its top leader, heightening tensions in the Muslim-majority nation already reeling from a series of killings of secular activists. Policemen in riot-gear fired rubber bullets when hundreds of Jamaat supporters pelted them with stones in the northwestern city of Rajshahi, where a liberal professor was hacked to death by Islamists near his home last month. 73-year-old Nizami was hanged at midnight at the Central Jail here after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal. Several hundred policemen in riot-gear kept a vigil as Jamaat activists rallied at central Dhaka's Baitul Mokarram National Mosque to offer Nizami's funeral prayer (in absentia), a ritual they also performed in other major cities. Security was tight across Bangladesh, with checkpoints erected on main roads in the national capital to deter violence, and thousands of police patrolling the streets. In the port city of Chittagong, clashes erupted between activists of the Jamaat's student wing Chhatra Shibir and police after the funeral prayer. After the funeral prayer, hundreds of Jamaat supporters broke into the ground and started hurling bricks and stones at the police which resorted to firing to disperse the crowd. Home-made bombs were also used as "pro-liberation" activists tried to drive out the Jamaat followers from the parade ground area of the port city, perceived to be a Jamaat stronghold. "Orders have been issued to keep the security vigil so no law and order situation is created anywhere," a home ministry spokesman told PTI after Jamaat called a nationwide general strike tomorrow to protest the execution of its top leader. Jamaat, the largest Islamist party in Bangladesh, described Nizami's execution as a "planned murder". "He (Nizami) was deprived of justice. He is a victim of political vengeance," acting Jamaat chief Mokbul Ahmed said in the statement urging people to observe the strike. Jamaat's previous such strike calls protesting the trial of their senior leaders for war crimes largely went unheeded. The party last called a nationwide strike on May 6, a day after the Supreme Court rejected Nizami's review petition reconfirming his death penalty. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Nizami had preferred not to seek presidential clemency as his last effort to avoid the noose "because he understood the crimes he had committed were unpardonable". Nizami was buried in line with Islamic rituals at his village home at northwestern Pabna's Sathia sub-district early this morning in presence of family members and neighbours while armed police kept a sharp vigil. Ahead of the Anti-Corruption Summit hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, the Commonwealth Secretary-General today announced several practical measures including a new "Commonwealth Standard" to combat corruption. Opening the 'Tackling Corruption Together' conference here, Secretary-General Patricia Scotland called on the government, civil society and business leaders to combine forces against corruption, and said collaboration between countries would be critical to this fight. "It's going to take all of us to tackle corruption in all its forms," Scotland said. "This isn't just about money. It's about the corruption that sees women have to trade sexual favours for access to goods and services, it's the corruption that sees children abused so they can stay in the classroom, it's the corruption that blights so many lives in so many different ways." The Commonwealth Standard scheme will be used to identify which bodies and institutions are adhering to best practice in procurement and differentiate between those that do not protect against corruption. Scotland said she would like to bring together partners to develop an international scheme for better procurement across the public and private sectors. "Collaboration and cooperation between different nation states will be critical if we are to successfully meet the challenge bribery and corruption creates for us all," she said. The conference precedes the Anti-Corruption Summit:London 2016 tomorrow, which aims to agree a package of practical steps to expose and drive out corrupt practices. Scotland described the conference and the summit as "outward and visible signs of the fresh determination, renewed vigour and practical commitment to eliminating fraud, bribery and corruption." Nigerian President Buhari gave the keynote speech at the conference. Other speakers included Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of Malta, Jose Ugaz from Transparency International and Mo Ibrahim, Founder of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which assesses the quality of governance in African countries. "Governments cannot tackle corruption alone, and we welcome the lead given by the new Secretary-General in putting corruption on the agenda, and including business and civil society as part of the discussion," Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of Transparency International, one of the organising partners, said. "Today's event will showcase some highly effective initiatives that show it is possible to fight corruption, often collaboratively. When the dust settles after the Summit, such partnerships will be crucial to seeing bold words turn into practical action. Several thousand voters in Comoros, the archipelago nation off the east coast of Africa, went to the polls today in a partial re-run of the presidential election with the result hanging in the balance. Former coup leader Azali Assoumani won last month's run-off vote by just 2,100 votes, according to provisional results, but a court ordered 13 polling stations on Anjouan island to vote again due to "irregularities". Polls closed at 1500 GMT and voting passed off without any major incidents, according to an AFP journalist. Just 6,305 voters were called to vote today, two per cent of the Comoros electorate. The results could be known as early as Wednesday night while the inauguration of the winner is scheduled for May 26. Last month's vote on Anjouan, one of the nation's three islands, was tarnished by broken ballot boxes, interruptions in voting, accusations of ballot stuffing and some incidents of violence. Turnout was high today, with hundreds of people waiting in line during the day as armed security forces stood guard to ensure voting was smooth. "We did not vote last time but today the military are protecting me and my blind husband," Boueni Aboudou told AFP. The army deployed 200 soldiers in Anjouan, according to the country's Chief of Staff Youssouf Idjihadi. In Mramani in the south, where voting had to be discontinued last month after a crush of voters, as many as 100 armed soldiers stood guard outside five polling stations located in a school, according to an AFP journalist. Assoumani took 40.98 per cent of the nationwide vote in April, just ahead of Vice President Mohamed Ali Soilihi, the ruling party's presidential candidate, who picked up 39.87 per cent. Soilihi, who is known as Mamadou, said he rejected the provisional result. Assoumani first came to power in 1999 after ousting acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde in a coup. Buoyed by the Uttarakhand Assembly floor test result, Congress today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding his apology in Parliament and sacking of the minister who "advised" him to impose President's rule in the state. "The Prime Minister should apologise in Parliament and sack the Minister who advised him to impose President's Rule in Uttarakhand," party spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters. He, however, did not name the minister. Sibal also steered clear of questions whether President Pranab Mukherjee should also quit in the wake of the Supreme Court revoking President's rule in the hill state. "It is not for me to say what the President should have done and I do not wish to comment. I don't think it is proper for me to make any comment on the actions of the President, who is a high constitutional functionary," he said. He, however, insisted that it is "not correct" to say that the President does not act on his own and acts in the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. "The President can return the file only once" in the event of such proposals, he said. Targeting the Prime Minister, Sibal alleged that the highlight of Modi's two-year rule was attack on the Constitution. "The problem is that Modi forgets he is the Prime Minister of India and not a RSS pracharak," Sibal said even as he assured Congress' full cooperation to the government if it "worked properly." "While Make in India has remained a start-up, 'Fake in India' has been launched with the product ready," he said, taking a dig at the Prime Minister. Attacking Modi for targeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland issue, he said, "The Prime Minister should understand the fundamental thing that when Parliament session is on, charges are made inside the House." Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress President, said, "Even after trying every trick in the book to topple Opposition states, Modi government has been brought to its knees. It's a victory of democracy." "Uttarakhand has taught BJP a bitter lesson. No matter how hard they try they can neither intimidate the Congress party or subvert democracy," he said on Twitter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi today accused Congress and Communists in Kerala of doing 'dramabaji' by engaging in serving each other and not serving the people. Continuing his tirade against them, he said while Congress was deep in corruption, Communists were linked to violence. The two were doing 'dramabaji' (enacting drama) in Kerala as they help each other in times of need and not keen on emergence of a third force, he told an election meeting at nearby Tripunithura, attended by a large number of people, who braved showers to hear him. Both were engaged in 'serving each other' and not serving the people, he charged winding up his second and final leg of electioneering for the May 16 assembly elections, in which the BJP is seeking to make its maiden entry in the state legislature. He alleged the Congress-led UDF and CPI(M)-headed LDF help each other in times of need. "There is an agreement between Congress and Communists. They do not want any third force to work for Kerala," Modi said indirectly referring to the bipolar politics of the two fronts that have ruled the state alternately for decades. "It is a contract rule between Congress and Communists like odd-even. For five years Congress will rule and for another five years Communists will rule," he said. UDF and LDF were fooling the educated electorate here, he said, adding "Why don't you understand this." "They have made such a 'chavi' (impression) that they are two different parties. These two parties are not different. They are one," Modi said pointing to the Congress-CPI-M tie up in West Bengal. The Prime Minister said whenever Congress was in need of help at the Centre, Communists have supported them. "In Kerala they are doing dramabaji... They are not fighting each other but enacting a drama," he added. In a bid to reach out to over five lakh government employees in the state, the Prime Minister said both UDF and LDF government had insulted them over the years with their 'discrimination'. "How can a government make such discrimination with its employees?," he asked and said the BJP would give them their due respect and recognition. Attacking Congress over various scams including 2G and Coal scam, Modi said, "There have been corruption charges against everyone in the previous UPA government." Targeting Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Modi said, "Here in Kerala, corruption happens in broad daylight and it was involved in solar 'chori' (theft)." In a sarcastic remark, Modi said while in Delhi, Congress involved in corruption in coal, in Kerala "it is from the bright Sun also" as he hit out at Chandy who is facing allegations in the solar scam. He said corruption cannot be separated from Congress and similarly, Communist were linked with violence. "Where there is Congress, there is so much corruption and everything begins with corruption, while strikes, industrial shut down and violence are what happen under Communist rule," Modi charged. On the contrary, the BJP-led states were galloping fast, he said, adding "Take any parameter of development, wherever BJP has formed government, states have done well." Whether in Kerala or West Bengal, when Communists were in power, there was violence, poverty and no signs of development, the PM said. On the BJP-led NDA government's initiatives, Modi said the whole world had accepted the strength of India and 'Foreign Direct Investment in the country is increasing'. "The country has not seen this kind of increase in the recent past," he added. "Despite global economic slowdown which affected even China, India is the only country which stood and registered economic growth. World Bank, IMF and credit rating agencies have recognised this," he said. He said the NDA government fulfilled its promise of implementing the 'One Rank One Pension' scheme, a long-pending demand of war veterans. Urging people to vote for BJP and NDA, Modi said "people of Kerala should not vote to elect an MLA or bring a party to power, but to ensure the future of the state." "Kerala's future is on your fingertips," he added. An Aizawl court today extended the police custody of suspended Assam Rifles Commandant Colonel Jasjit Singh, accused of decamping with smuggled gold, for another two days. The Chief Judicial Magistrate's court extended the police remand for Singh. Singh had been arrested on Thursday last in the Aizawl court premises after the District and Sessions Judge Lucy Lalrinthari rejected his bail plea. All the other accused, including the eight Assam Rifles personnel, and four civilians (two of them employees of Mithipi) were also remanded to judicial custody by the CJM's court. According to the prosecution, the Assam Rifles personnel, including Commander of the group Naik Subedar K. C. Roy, told the investigators that they concealed the gold bars at the quarters of Roy on December 14 night and then handed them over to Singh at his official residence in Tuikhuahtlang locality of Aizawl on the morning of December 15. They also said that the Commandant praised them for the successful mission and awarded them with money ranging from Rs 70,000 to Rs one lakh with warnings to keep their mouths shut, the prosecution said. Meanwhile, Mizoram Home Minister R. Lalzirliana today addressed a press conference about the incident which was also attended by DGP Lalthianghlima Pachuau and other top police officials including some of the members of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to investigate the sensational dacoity incident. A local court today remanded four persons to 13-day police custody in connection with the death of an ITI student at Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas district. The four, including a woman, were produced in the SDJM's court in connection with the death of Koushik Purkait, a student of an ITI institute in the district, who was fatally beaten up by a mob at Harindanga in the district on May 9 night. The judge rejected their bail plea and remanded all the four to 13 days' police custody. They were charged with causing grievous injury, illegal confinement and abduction. Five people were apprehended in connection with the murder but one was released later for want of evidence. Purkait, who came to visit his aunt's residence in the area and was roaming around when he was confronted by members of a local club and forcibly taken to a room. He was later rescued by his relatives who rushed to the spot on hearing about the incident and took him to Diamond Harbour Hospital. He died hours later at S S K M Hospital in Kolkata. Meanwhile, a mob today set ablaze a fruit orchard and ransacked some houses in the area as the student's body was brought to his aunt's village where the murder took taken place, a police officer said. The residence of local panchayat Upa-Pradhan of Trinamool Congress Tapas Mallick also bore the brunt of mob fury but Mallick, named among 10 other accused in the crime by the family of the deceased apart from the four arrested, was not found in the area ever since the incident. CPI(M) candidate from Raidighi and former West Bengal minister Kanti Ganguly also accompanied the body brought from Kolkata morgue and tried to pacify the mob but was caught in the melee. The police officer said Ganguly did not suffer any injury or bruises nor was he manhandled by the crowd. The body was later taken to youth's residence at Mandirbazar in a large procession. The youth was targetted by a section of locals who were incensed with the theft of cattle from the area in recent times and mistook him as being involved in the racket, the officer said. A Delhi BJP delegation today met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and urged him to "order" action against those involved in an alleged Rs 400 crore DJB tanker scam under the Congress government led by Sheila Dikshit. The delegation headed by Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay submitted a memorandum to Jung which mentions contents of a letter Delhi Water Resource Minister Kapil Mishra wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on August 28 last. The memorandum says that in the letter Mishra expressed "fears" of "losing (his) job" and even "possibility" of "destabilising government" if action is taken against those involved in the alleged scam. The memorandum says that Mishra wrote to the Chief Minister citing findings of an inquiry committee report "establishing that a Rs 400 crore water tanker scam" took place in Delhi Jal Board during the Sheila Dikshit government. The memorandum says that it "surprising" that no action has been ordered by the Chief Minister against the accused even after nine months. "It seems either the present government is under a mala fide deal with the former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit or Kejriwal finds a threat to his government if he acts in the matter of the tanker scam as indicated by minister Mishra in his letter," it said. Upadhyay said it's "really surprising" that "self- proclaimed Mr Clean Kejriwal" has time to speak on international issues but goes "silent" on a Rs 400 crores "scam" of his predecessor government. Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta who was also in the delegation alleged that for the past 15 years the DJB has been a "corruption den" where "over 75 percent" development funds are "looted". Jet Airways will offer 50 per cent more seats to the fliers on the Mumbai-Singapore route from next month by deploying a higher seating-capacity aircraft amid the rapidly growing demand on the sector, which has seen a 34 per cent spike in the last two years. Earlier, the full service airline had upgraded its service on the Delhi-Singapore-Delhi route by deploying the Airbus A330-200 aircraft in place of a narrow-body Boeing 737. With the deployment of wide-body 254-seater Airbus 330-200 in place of single-aisle 168-seater B737-800 aircraft, Jet Airways would operate 86 more seats daily from June 1, a release said today. The A330-200 offers guests a customised two-cabin seating configuration of 18 seats in premiere (business) class and 236 in economy, it said. The Naresh Goyal-promoted private airline, in which gulf carrier Etihad also holds 24 per cent stake, currently operates four services -- two from Mumbai and one each from Delhi and Chennai -- to Singapore's Changi Airport. Mumbai was Changi Airport's fourth fastest growing route in 2015 with an 8.2 per cent year-on-year growth, among other destinations with at least half a million passengers handled from the city during this period. "We are happy to deploy Jet Airways' spacious and modern wide body aircraft catering to additional capacity on the highly popular Mumbai-Singapore-Mumbai route. This sector has seen a growth in traffic by over 34 per cent in last two years, particularly among business travellers," Jet Airways Whole Time Director Gaurang Shetty said. In addition, connecting traffic over Singapore to Australia and the ASEAN destinations booked through code share and interline partners is also growing rapidly, he said. Significantly, Singapore Airlines' long-haul budget arm Scoot is also set to take wings in India with services to Chennai and Amritsar from Singapore from 24th of this month, which is expected to trigger competition further to the South-east Asian country from India. Besides, Australia is one of two major markets, China being the other one, for Scoot which is looking at India to enhance its presence in the land of Kangaroos. This upgrade will also offer convenient connections from Mumbai to Australia and the ASEAN region over Singapore on codeshare and interline partner airlines, Jet Airways said. Passengers on incoming flights from Singapore will be able to avail convenient onward connections to key destinations on Jet Airways' domestic network and beyond to international destinations from Mumbai, it said. Jet Airways has recently upgraded its service on the Delhi-Singapore-Delhi route by deploying the Airbus A330-200 aircraft. Opposition NC president Farooq Abdullah today termed the extension of NEET to Jammu and Kashmir as a "failure" of PDP-BJP government and alleged that there was a "systemic effort to undermine" the state's institutional autonomy. "The government had assured the students and the people of the state in general that it would ensure NEET is not extended to J-K and that the state's special status is upheld. "What happened to their appeal in the Supreme Court? They mounted a half-hearted effort and this was a pre-meditated arrangement with BJP and the central government," he told party workers in Shopian district. The former chief minister said the government should bring in an Act through the State Legislature to protect the rights and future of the students. "Our students who have studied hard for a different curriculum are apprehensive about their future while the state government has no answer to offer. The PDP-BJP government should not hesitate to bring in an Act through the State Legislature to protect the rights and future of our students if the need arises," he said. The NC president said the state government's "failure" to stop the extension of the common National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for admission to MBBS and BDS courses to J-K is an indication of PDP's "complete integration" into the BJP. "There was a systemic effort to undermine and sideline the state's institutional autonomy even in areas that specifically fall under the state list under the Constitution," he said. Abdullah questioned the PDP-BJP alliance's motives, saying "repeated attempts" were being made to "sideline" the legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir. "We saw this in the case of NFSA - where the PDP-BJP coalition government extended the Act to the state without passing a mirror act in the Legislative Assembly that would have amendments to ensure the state is not at a disadvantage. "Then we saw the state government's half-hearted effort to move to the Supreme Court on the NEET issue. These are clear and visible signs of how PDP is playing an active role in helping a certain lobby in New Delhi to dilute the state's special status," Abdullah said. The NC president said his party is consolidating its grassroots cadre and asked the workers to be ready for Panchayat elections. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today arrived here to hold talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart and discuss entire range of bilateral issues, including water-sharing, transit, trade and investment, security and review implementation of various development projects. Jaishankar was received at the airport by his counterpart Md Sjajidul Haque, Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other high officials. Soon after his arrival he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Gano Bhaban. He will also meet Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali. Diplomatic sources said Jaishankar is expected to convey New Delhi's full support to Bangladesh on countering violent extremism amid spreading of terrorist acts in recent months. He will hold bilateral meeting with Haque tomorrow and the two diplomats will discuss entire range of bilateral issues, including water-sharing, transit, development of Pyra Port, trade and investment, Indian Line of Credit, review implementation of various development projects, the Daily Star reported. His visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent killings of bloggers, secular activists and teachers, as well as the overall security situation in Bangladesh and South Asia. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar today said India and Bangladesh have set "a model" in bilateral cooperation as he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and discussed issues of mutual and regional interests. Jaishankar, who arrived here this evening on a two-day visit, called on Prime Minister Hasina at her official residence Ganobhaban here. "The model is being highly appreciated in India," premier's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim quoted Jaishankar as saying at a briefing after the meeting. The Foreign Secretary told the premier that India made 14 commitments during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Dhaka visit in June last year and eight of them have been fulfilled. "We have made good progress as eight commitments have already been fulfilled in nearly one year and we are vigorously working to meet other pledges," Jaishankar said particularly pointing out notable developments in cooperation in energy and power sector. The foreign secretary said a number of Indian companies have shown interest to set up a deep seaport in Bangladesh. Hasina told Jaishankar that the proposed deep seaport could be established through a consortium, Karim said. The press secretary said Prime Minister Hasina expressed satisfaction over the fulfilling of the pledges made during the historic visit of her Indian counterpart last year. "The bilateral ties between the two neighbouring countries reached a new height following his (Modi) visit...We are in fact enjoying the best of relations," she said. Jaishankar will meet his Bangladeshi counterpart Shahidul Haque tomorrow, with officials saying security issues were likely to dominate their meeting. They are likely to discuss entire range of bilateral issues, including water-sharing, transit, development of Pyra Port, trade and investment, Indian Line of Credit and review implementation of various development projects, sources said. Jaishankar also thanked the Bangladesh government for its support to India for its initiatives for launching SAARC Satellite. Referring to ratification of the landmark Land Boundary Agreement by the Indian Parliament, the premier thanked the Indian government, particularly members of Lok Shabha and Rajiya Shabha, for passing the bill unanimously. "It has set an example for others," she commented. Jaishankar will also meet Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali. His visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent killings of bloggers, secular activists and teachers, as well as the overall security situation in Bangladesh and South Asia. Diplomatic sources said Jaishankar is expected to convey New Delhi's full support to Bangladesh on countering violent extremism amid spreading of terrorist acts in recent months. Four members of an inter-state gang involved in fraud were today arrested and over Rs 4 lakh in cash, ATM cards of a number of banks and a car recovered from their possession. Acting on a tip-off, police stopped a car on Agra-Mumbai National Highway and nabbed the accused, identified as Satyabhan Singh, Sandeep Singh, Ajay Singh and Randhir Singh, all hailing from Haryana, SP Dholpur Rajesh Singh said. "The accused have been arrested and they have confessed about their involvement in fraudulently withdrawing money from ATMs of various banks in Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and other states," he claimed. As many as 28 ATM cards, Rs 4.10 lakh in cash and the car they were riding were seized, Singh said, adding, "Details of the ATM card holders are being collected from the banks. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls today described a UNESCO resolution on the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem as "clumsy" and "unfortunate" and said it should have been avoided. The Paris-based UN cultural body adopted the resolution on "Occupied Palestine" presented by several Arab countries in mid-April. The resolution referred several times to Israel as the "occupying power" and made no reference to the fact that the Jerusalem site, which is located at the southeastern corner of the Old City, is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and is the most sacred site in Judaism. "This UNESCO resolution contains unfortunate, clumsy wording that offends and unquestionably should have been avoided, as should the vote," Valls told parliament. Valls, who will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories later this month, said the UNESCO resolution "changed nothing" in France's approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian issue. "I want to repeat once again and clearly, with conviction -- France will never deny the Jewish presence and Jewish history in Jerusalem. It would make no sense, it is absurd to deny this history," Valls said. The UNESCO resolution, which also accuses Israel of "planting fake Jewish graves in Muslim cemeteries", infuriated the Jewish state, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing it as "absurd". The controversy comes as France is hoping to lead a revival of the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process following the worst flare-up of violence in and around the Gaza Strip for nearly two years. Goa welcomes visitors not only to its picturesque beaches and traditional food but it also takes good care of the taste palette of people from across the globe offering a wide range of continental or western cuisines like steak, pastas, risotto and cafreal, which are getting popular with tourists. "Continental or western food is quite popular among the local as well as foreign tourists. Goa being a local melting pot for everyone it's the best platform to showcase international cuisine," says chef Avinash Martins, who runs his 'Cavatina' cuchina grill and bar at Benaulim in South Goa. With tourists pouring over from all over to the world to Goa, not all appreciate the traditional Goan cuisine, and that's where the 36-year-old chef, a native of the small state, decided to innovate his cooking styles and serve a menu which appeals the taste buds of visitors from the West. "The appeal for continental food has definitely been on the increase," Martins told PTI. The entrepreneur, who not only cooks for his customers but has also done up the place in his own style, says over a period of time, he has seen new cooking techniques being developed to attract food lovers. "I have seen various cooking techniques being implemented, new flavours from unheard regions for the world, and also guests wanting to try something different," he said. The chef, who terms his cuisine as "progressive", says he designs his dishes for both foreign and domestic visitors. "My cuisine and menu is very progressive.I have designed the menu keeping in mind tourists as well as local guests," says Martins, who started his career with the Oberoi Group. He then went on to gain experience for 12 years on international platform in hotels, Michelin starred restaurants, cruise ships, airlines, etc. "So there are takes on dishes such as pulled chicken cafreal on potato crisps, which is a traditional Goan main course, but I have introduced it as a starter. There is a local chorizo in a barbecue glaze starter. And the response has been fabulous," he said while describing how he incorporates indigenous elements into his food. His signature dishes include seafood mousse stuffed chicken breast "so guests get to taste the best of both worlds seafood and meat, served with a delicate beurre blanc". "Another of my signatures is 'A la Mexicana prawns'. It's a dish where the prawns are stuffed with avocados, chilli and cheese. It's served with a salsa. So basically it was my take on Mexico where avocados are creamy and abundant and seafood at its best," he said. Martins says as per his experience, the tourists want to try both Goan as well as global food while vacationing in the coastal state. "It is really a mix and match. For long staying tourists they first go with the local cuisine and then want to try international dishes over their period of stay," said the chef whose restaurant has won the Times award for best European food. To keep his customers happy, Martins keeps innovating and puts up new ideas into his gourmet. "I always try and evolve my cuisine, the menu changes every six months. I like to travel and pick cuisines from my travels," he said. He said that contrary to the general perception, he has found Indian tourists being more experimental when it comes to food. "I see no difference amongst the younger generation of Indian tourists as opposed to the foreigners. As a matter of fact, our Indian tourists are far more experimental and more adventurous than foreign counterparts," he said. Sometimes, the chef has to customise the food, as recently while he was serving continental food from the menu, a couple of guests sprang up with a surprise demand for the traditional 'Awadhi biryani'. Martins had to roll up his sleeves and get back to the kitchen to cook it up fast to satisfy his clients. On his unique experiences over the world while exploring food, he said, "Well the most unique one in the Haitian islands, where we had a barbecue at an island where the locals were diving in for fresh lobsters and snappers in exchange for a few beers. Arunachal Pradesh Governor J P Rajkhowa today congratulated Chajat Lowang and Duyu Kampu for cracking the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Examination. Conveying his warm felicitation to them for the laudable accomplishment, the governor expressed hope that they would perform their duties with dedication, commitment, rectitude and sincerity in times to come. He also expressed confidence that they would inspire many more students from the state to go for civil services examination, on a regular basis, a Raj Bhawan communique informed. Rajkhowa while observing that their success was just the beginning of a long journey in the service of the people, hoped that both the girls would travel through it with equal confidence, zeal and enthusiasm, upholding the highest traditions of the civil services. The governor also congratulated Ramakrishna Sarada Mission Girl's School, Khonsa and North Eastern Region Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Nirjuli for the splendid performance of their alumni. 25-year-old Kampu who hails from Ziro in Lower Subansiri district secured 1034 rank while Lowang (27) of Khonsa in Tirap district secured 1039 all India rank. Both the girls are alumni of Ramakrishna Sarada Mission School, Khonsa. A BJP member in Lok Sabha today asked the government to take cognisance of a TV commercial which portrays postmen as those who respect the rich and disregard the poor. S S Ahluwalia asked Telecom and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad whether he has seen the commercial in which a postman shows disrespect towards a man whose house has a poor coat of paint. "When he gets his house painted using a costly paint of a big company, postmen, in official uniform, salute him...It portrays them as people who respect the rich and disregard the poor," he said during Question Hour. Prasad, who is also in charge of the Department of Post, said he has seen the advertisement and would bring it to the notice of Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley as TV advertisements come in the domain of Jaitley's ministry. He said he appreciates the concern of Ahluwalia regarding the poor portrayal of postal employees in the commercial. In a fresh appeal to Congress, the government today asked it to reconsider its stance on GST, particularly with regard to its insistence on judge-headed dispute resolution panel, saying it will be a "misadventure" of handing over taxation powers to judiciary which "step by step, brick by brick" is encroaching upon the legislature. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought to reach out to Congress in the Rajya Sabha after the main opposition party said it was ready to give full support to provided its three key recommendations are accepted by the government. Replying to a debate on the Finance Bill, Jaitley said, "For heaven's sake, I beseech you in the interest of Indian democracy not to go on this misadventure (judge-headed panel)...With the manner in which encroachment of legislative and executive authority by India's judiciary is taking place, probably financial power and budget making is the last power that you have left. Taxation is the only power which states have." He added, "It would be wholly misconceived for any political party to say 'let us hand over the taxation power to judiciary'. That is your (Congress) proposal." Jaitley, who is also the Leader of the House, asked the Congress to "reconsider" its stance on which has been stuck in the Rajya Sabha for long due to resistance by the main opposition party. Conceding that the Goods and Service Tax (GST) constitutional amendment bill was originally conceived by the UPA, he said he will be holding talks again with the Congress leaders so that the bill could be taken up in the Monsoon session. The Centre has initiated a probe into dumping of amoxicillin, used in pharmaceutical industry, from China to protect domestic industry from cheap imports. The Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) has prima facie found "sufficient evidence" of dumping of the chemical from China. Aurobindo Pharma had filed an application before the DGAD for initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of the duty concerning imports of amoxycillin from the neighbouring country. "The authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping and consequent injury to the domestic industry... To determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of anti-dumping duty, which if levied, would be adequate to remove the injury to the domestic industry," DGAD said in a notification. The period of investigation covers October 2014 to December 2015 (15 months). It would also cover the period of 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15. After concluding the investigation, the DGAD under the Commerce Ministry would recommend the duty and the Finance Ministry would impose that. Countries start anti-dumping probes to determine whether their domestic industries have been hurt because of a surge in below-cost imports. As a counter measure, they impose duties under the multilateral regime of WTO. The duty is aimed at ensuring fair trading practices and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers vis-a-vis foreign producers and exporters. India has already imposed anti-dumping duty on several products to tackle cheap imports from some countries, including China. Government universities have been asked to construct ponds in the villages adopted by them to preserve rain water in Rajasthan. Governor Kalyan Singh has written letters to the VCs of the universities and also asked the Divisional Commissioners and the Collectors for the demarcation and allotment of land for the purpose, a release stated yesterday. Singh, in the letter, has asked the VCs to create the water structure so that rain water could be stored and utilised for local needs. The Governor also asked them to plant trees to increase green cover around the ponds. Virtually rejecting opposition demand for debt waiver to farmers, the government today said Centre is continuously monitoring the drought situation and urged all parties to work together to deal with the problem. Replying to a short duration discussion in the Lok Sabha on drought, drinking water crisis and inter-linking of rivers, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said the Modi-government has done a lot for the farmers in two years and this work cannot be compared with the previous government's work in 60 years. On the opposition's demand of debt waiver to farmers, he said one of the members from Maharashtra had stated that such a scheme launched earlier have many faults. To buttress his point, he cited a CAG report to say that Rs 271.49 crore were recovered from people who were not eligible for a debt-waiver scheme, which was to the tune of about Rs 72,000 crore. In about 5000 cases, action was taken against bank staff and there were also instances of tampering with the records. "The country is fortunate that a son of poor has become the Prime Minister and that is why he thinks about farmers and village," he said. On the allegation that ministers are not visiting drought-affected areas and villages, Singh said several meetings have held in the Prime Ministers Office at highest levels with the Chief Ministers. "This government is continuously monitoring the situation and coordinating with the states," he added. He also asked the states to spend the amount received from the Centre for farmers on time. Enlisting the steps taken by the government for farmers, the minister said they are targeting to cover most of the area to come under irrigation. Under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojna, he said over 300 districts have prepared their irrigation plans and rest are expected to prepare by September, he added. "In India if you are to make the villages prosper, you have to give proper irrigation facilities to them...Even after 68 years of independence, we were not able to give proper irrigation facilities to farm fields," he said. Singh said that although he favours increase in the minimum support price but whatever is fixed that too was percolating to the farmers. "Some states like Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh give 4 per cent interest subsidy to farmers, other states too think about their reponsibilities," the Agriculture Minister said. He said the government has increased the agri loan target to Rs nine lakh crore from Rs 8.50 lakh crore in 2015-16. When he was giving the allocation figures, Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge said that "you please tell us what you are going to do...You have changed the norms then the figures automatically have increased. So please do not take credit for that. Tell us what relief you want to give. Will you visit Marathwada and other affected regions. Supreme Court too has directed you". To this, Singh said the court has directed because in the last 68 years nothing has been done. "The Supreme Court direction is a mirror to what all you did and did not in the last 68 years," he said, hitting back at the Congress. Giving details, he said, as per the manual drought management is responsibility of both Central and state government. State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) is available with states, he said, adding, the contribution of centre is 75 per cent while remaining is by states. SDRF has been almost doubled to Rs 61,000 crore for five years upto 2020 as against about Rs 33,000 crore for the previous 5-year period. Singh further said, the government has increased compensation to farmers affected by natural calamities. As per the revised guidelines, he said, a farmer was eligible for compensation if 33 per cent of the crop was damaged. Earlier, the compensation was granted only if damage was 50 per cent or more. Besides, he said, farmers having more than one hectare was also not eligible but the present government has raised this to 2 hectare or upto 5 acre. He also said the government has tripled the compensation amount to Rs 4.5 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh in case of death caused by natural calamities. (Reopen PAR49) Kaushalendra Kumar (JDU) demanded scrapping of MPLAD funds, which could be used to built check dams and allied activities to combat drought. He also demanded a permanent solution for the floods that occur from rivers flowing from Nepal, which often affects some 12-13 districts of North Bihar. Expelled RJD MP Rajesh Ranjan said every person should be asked to plant at least 20 trees to control the problem of afforestation. He favoured arresting of fresh water that flows into the sea. Janaradhan Sigriwal (BJP) attacked the Congress for putting the project of inter-linking the rivers, initiated by the Atal Behari Vajapyee government in cold storage. R Dhruva Narayan (Cong) demanded that the central government functionaries should visit the drought-affected areas to understand the enormity of drought and water crisis in different parts of the country. He demanded that centre should immediately release additional funds to help Karnataka government to deal with the worsening drought situation. Narayan said that government should waive interest on farm loan in a bid to provide relief to farmers. Nimmala Kristappa (TDP) said that 50 per cent of the districts in Andhra Pradesh were reeling under the drought and centre should provide liberal assistance to the state. "Where is our vikas (development)?" he said, mocking at the Modi government's slogan of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas'. Kristappa underlined the need for rejuvenating water bodies and expediting work on interlinking of rivers. Observing that interlinking of rivers was a big project involving lakhs of crores of rupee, Dushyant Chautala (INLD) suggested that government should encourage canal irrigation. He also accused the Haryana administration of not doing anything though 13 districts of the state were reeling under drought. In a scathing attack, BJP MP Vitthal Radadiya today termed Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel as "mentally unstable" and said he was trying to project himself as a "hero" of the Patel community from jail. The remarks by Radadiya, who once worked as a mediator between Patel quota agitators and Gujarat government, came a day after Hardik virtually termed him a "traitor" of Patel community, saying Patidars did not need the Porbandar MP anymore. Meanwhile, Hardik's close aide leader Mahesh Savani who met the PAAS convener in Lajpore Central Jail today claimed that his remarks on Radadiya have been "misinterpreted" by the media. "It seems Hardik has lost his mental balance in jail, that is why he talks such nonsense like a mad person. He was not consistent in his views and keeps changing his statements. I think he only wants to become a hero of the (Patel) community while being in jail," said Radadiya, a prominent Patel leader of Saurashtra region. "There was a time when he (Hardik) used to say that Vitthalbhai is a very respectable person. And suddenly, I have became a traitor to him. I don't even want to see the face of such a person who has lost his mental balance and calls me a traitor. Otherwise, I am always with the community and will come forward whenever my services are needed," he said. Radadiya had earlier announced that his role as a mediator has come to an end in the wake of the state government carving out a 10 per cent quota for the poor among unreserved category, including Patels. He added that the quota should be at least 20 per cent. Against the backdrop of Radadiya's statement, Hardik yesterday told mediapersons outside Surat court that his community "does not want people who betray their own community. We don't want Vitthal Radadiya." Radadiya also took umbrage at Hardik's comments on politicians. In a letter from Lajpore Central Jail where he is lodged under sedition charges, Hardik recently asked Patidars to stay away from upcoming programmes organised by Shree Khodal Dham Trust if it invites political leaders who want to "break the unity of the community". Hardik alleged that the Trust, one of the prominent bodies of the community, is conniving with government to create a rift among Patidars. Radadiya asked Hardik to list the work he has done for the welfare of the community. "Political leaders are not his personal property. We are not elected through his vote. I have been doing many activities for Patel community since many years, such as giving education to thousands of children, but what has he done for the community?," asked Radadiya. Terming the young leader as "arrogant", Radadiya said, "Hardik only took leadership of an agitation, nothing else. Yet, he is showing so much of arrogance. How can you (Hardik) incite people to boycott political leaders. I want to tell him that only politicians can work as mediators to arrive at a solution." Meanwhile Savani, who has been named as new mediator for PAAS, told mediapersons outside Lajpore Jail that Hardik's statement has been "misinterpreted" by media. "Today, I met Hardik at Lajpore Jail in Surat. Hardik told me that he never said anything against Vitthalbhai. He told me that his statement before media has been misinterpreted," said Savani. During the meeting, Hardik also handed over a letter addressed to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. "Hardik gave this sealed letter to us during the meeting. We will hand it over to the CM in coming days. We are not aware about the content, as the letter is in sealed cover," added Savani. As many as 25,000 employees of Haryana power distribution companies today went on a mass casual leave in protest against the state government's decision of "outsourcing" some of the operation and maintenance jobs of power sub-divisions in the state. Describing the move of the Haryana government as "anti-employee", the protesting workers threatened to intensify their agitation against outsourcing if the state government did not rollback this decision. The employees claimed that because of mass casual leave, power supply in many areas was disrupted as 500 power feeders remained non-functional across the state, causing inconvenience to consumers. "25,000 employees of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam today went on mass casual leave as we are protesting against the decision of the state government to outsource the job of operation and maintenance of 23 sub-divisions of discoms in the state," Subhash Lamba, General Secretary," All Haryana Power Corporations Workers Union said today. Employees who were on casual leave were Junior Engineers, line men and clerical staff of UHBVN and DHBVN, Lamba said. Lamba said in order to "benefit" few people, the state government had allotted the job of operation and maintenance to private hands. "If this job is outsourced, our employees will be made surplus after some time and they will lose their jobs. That is why we are protesting against this move. Moreover, it will also adversely impact the bill recovery process and line loss of discoms will also go up," Lamba said. The protest was supported by All Haryana Power Corporations Worker Union and HSEB Workers' Union. HSEB Workers Union President Kanwar Yadav said, "we will not allow privatisation of work in discoms at any cost. The Delhi High Court today refrained from passing any interim stay order on a plea challenging a recent collegium's recommendation for elevating three judges and a senior lawyer to the apex court. After a brief hearing of arguments, Justice Manmohan adjourned the matter to May 13. The petition, by a lawyer R P Luthra, has sought directions to the Centre to not act upon recommendations made by the apex court's collegium since such appointments would be "contrary to the spirit" of the judgement setting aside the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act. The petitioner argued that the recommendations were made without even finalising the memorandum of procedure. He alleged that the current system lacked transparency and has not taken into account the suggestions given by all stakeholders, including lawyers. He also alleged nepotism in the appointments to the higher judiciary. Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the Centre, opposed maintainability of the plea, saying the high court cannot under Article 226 interfere with the apex court recommendations. In response to this, Luthra said the high court can hear this matter as he has only challenged an administrative action of the apex court and not a judgement. The court also listed for hearing on May 13 a similar plea by a Mumbai-based lawyer, Mathews J Nedumpara, who apart from opposing the recent elevations, has also sought directions restraining the collegium from recommending appointments to the higher judiciary and the government from acting on the recommendations till the system is "defect-free and fool-proof". In his plea too, Luthra has sought directions to the Centre not to act upon the recent recommendations of the Collegium relating to appointment of three HC Chief Justices and a senior advocate to the Supreme Court. Recently the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur has recommended elevation of Chief Justice A M Khanwilkar of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud of the Allahabad High Court and Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan of the Kerala High Court to the Supreme Court. The collegium also recommended the appointment of former Additional Solicitor General and senior advocate L Nageswara Rao as a Supreme Court judge. The apex court's current strength of judges is 25, against the sanctioned strength of 31. With the elevation of three High Court Chief Justices and Rao the strength will go upto 29. Himachal Pradesh government has urged the Centre to include in Smart City mission and Dharamsala under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). HP Minister Sudhir Sharma yesterday met Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu in Delhi and urged him to include in Smart City Mission as it is a famous international tourist destination, besides being the state capital. "Shimla's pre-eminent position as largest city of the state and heritage status qualifies it for Smart City tag," the Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister said. had already been included under AMRUT, Sharma said. Sharma also demanded inclusion of Dharamsala, which was already included under Smart City mission, under AMRUT Mission and said a proposal in this regard has been submitted under fast-track mode to the Centre. He also urged the Union Minister to adopt a cluster approach to include more towns by clubbing small towns like Kullu-Manali and Mandi-Sundernagar under AMRUT. Sharma also demanded funds for Dharamsala sewerage scheme and informed the Union Minister that Municipal Corporation, Dharamsala has prepared a detailed report with estimated expenditure of Rs 101.36 crore for providing sewerage facility in the left out areas of the town. Veteran Bollywood actor Tom Alter, who is shooting upcoming film "Sargoshiyan" in Kashmir, says he has a special connection with the Valley and even learnt swimming in the Dal Lake here. Alter, 65, had last shot Raj Kapoor's "Ram Teri Ganga Maili" here in 1984 and turned nostalgic when he returned to shoot in the Valley after 32 long years. "I have been coming to Kashmir for many years now. Though I came here in 2010 as well, I had last shot in Kashmir for 'Ram Teri Ganga Maili' in 1984. I have a special connection with Kashmir. I even learnt swimming in the Dal Lake here," Alter told reporters here. "I see people here are very supportive and always smiling. I could find deep peace and calm in Gulmarg." The actor said the hospitality and warmth of the people of Kashmir has not changed over the years. "The hospitality of the people of Kashmir, their warmth, the Kashmiriyat (secularism) and Insaniyat (humanity) have not changed even after all these years." The actor said he came to Kashmir with a message of love and will return with the same message. "I came with a message of love and I leave with a message of love," he said. "Sargoshiyan" produced by Imran Khan is being shot extensively in the Valley and besides Alter, it stars Fareeda Jalal, Alok Nath, Shahbaz Khan, Khalid Siddiqui and Sara Afreen Khan. "Sargoshiyan" is the first movie crew to have come here after former Chief Minister (late) Mufti Mohammad Sayeed invited several Bollywood bigwigs in Mumbai last year for the promotion of Kashmir tourism. Alter said the present experience of shooting at Gulmarg had remained "fantastic" and it "felt like heaven". The ICFAI Business School (IBS) here would give special emphasis on data analytics in its curriculum for its post-graduate management programme syllabus having a duration of two years. "Data analytics will become a big game changer in the coming years. Companies coming for recruitment in the campus are now looking for students equipped with skills to handle and analyse data," Director of IBS Kolkata Ajay Pathak said today. "The inclusion of data analytics in the curriculum will give an edge over other private B-schools in the city," he told reporters here. On placements, Pathak said that several renowned companies like Philips, ITC Hotels, TCS, HDFC Bank, JP Morgan Chase, among others had recruited from the school with an average CTC of Rs 5.56 lakh per annum. The campus would shortly shift to its own building having a space of 25,000 sq feet located at Salt Lake Electronics Complex, he added. The Italian super-bike maker MV Agusta, known as the Ferrari of the bike world, today entered the country with three of its iconic models through a distribution tie-up with the city-based Kinetic Group. Started originally in 1923 as Meccanica Verghera Agusta, an offshoot of Agusta Aviation Company, which is embroiled in a controversy for a bribery scandal related to the Rs 3,600- crore VVIP chopper deal, the company has seen change of ownership over the years. In 1945, MV Agusta was founded as a motorcycle company by Vincenzo Agusta and Domenico Agusta. At an entry price of Rs 16.78 lakh (for MV Agusta F3-800) and going up to Rs 50.10 lakh (for F4 RR 1000-cc), ex-showroom Pune, these bikes are probably the costliest racing bikes being sold in the country now. Kinetic has set up a separate company, MV Agusta India, and a distribution brand called Motoroyale by Kinetic, to sell the bikes which will compete with Triumph, Ducati, Benelli and Kawasaki which are in the range of Rs 6 lakh to Rs 34 lakh. The Italian company does not consider Harley Davidson as its competition as these premium American bikes are not primarily cruising models and not for racing. The Verese, Milan-based MV Agusta makes the world's most premium high-performance superbikes, known for handcrafted designs and extremely powerful engines which are 3- and 4-cylinders, making them as good as a car engine. The first range of the superbikes which will be sold in the country comprises the F4 (1,000-cc), F3 (800-cc) and Brutale 1090 (cc), MV Agusta India managing director Ajinkya Firodia said, adding the F3 will be assembled at the Kinetic plant at Ahmednagar as SKD units. He said India is the second market for the famed Italian company where it is assembling its models after Brazil. "We hope to sell at least 300 units by December and corner at least 5 per cent of the 7,000-units a year superbikes market in the country. We have already sold 8 units (four F3s and 2 each of F4s and Brutales). Our target is to corner 10 per cent of the market over the next three years when the market is expected to hit 20,000 units per annum," Firodia told PTI. Judah Immanuel Sangaran, head of MV Agusta Motor SpA Far East, said the first Motoroyale showroom will be opened tomorrow in Pune and five more will come up over the next two months in Ahmedabad, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Mumbai. "This is the perfect time for us to enter India, as we are witnessing a surge in demand for premium motorcycles. We offer the best-in-class superbikes that boast iconic designs by the renowned Massimo Tamburini as well as superior cutting-edge technology," Sangaran said. Firodia said the domestic premium bikes market (priced above Rs 3 lakh) was around 12,000 units in 2015 while the total two-wheeler market stood at over 14 million. Around 7,000 units of the premium category are super-bikes, priced above Rs 5 lakh. The market leader is the American Harley Davidson selling close 5,000 units a year, the Italian Benelli over 2,400 units, the British brand Truimp notching up around 1,200 units, the Italian Ducati 600 units and the Japanese Kawazaki selling over 100 units a year. That apart the Japanese models Honda, Suzuki and Yahama are also present in the market, Firodia said quoting market sources. The Motoroyale showrooms will focus on sales, service, spares and after-sales support, Firodia said. MV Agusta India also has the exclusive distribution rights for all MV Agusta bikes in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, he said, adding the association does not involve any equity participation. Firodia also said he expects to start a CKD assembly line for the F3 within a year as without local assembly he will not be able to jack up the volumes. Most of MV Agusta bike models are handcrafted. The company, in which Mercedes-AMG owns 25 per cent stake and the rest is held by the promoter family, does not use a single part from outside Italy. With 3- and 4-cylinder engines, the MV bikes are as good as a car engine. An F4 can attain a speed of 0 to 100 in a flat 2.4 seconds, while a Ferrari takes over 4 seconds. The company has an installed capacity of 15000 units and clocked the best ever sales in 2015 at 8000 units, a growth of over 30 per cent over 2014. Asia Pacific contributes over 22 per cent of the total sales for the company, Sangaran said, adding Australia with 500 units last year and Japan at 400 units are the largest markets. Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), an autonomous body under Ministry of Commerce and Industry will release an international Journal of Packaging Technology & Research, which will be the first of its kind research publication in Asia. The journal will be released at the Grand Finale of golden jubilee year celebrations of the institute to be held at IIP Campus in suburban Andheri here on May 14, a press release issued by IIP today said. The event will be attended by Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre B N Suresh, among others. Institute's director N C Saha, said IIP currently has seven centres in the country including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Guwahati. "Flexible packaging industry is growing around 20 per cent and globally the size of this industry is USD 771 billion. The Indian share is around USD 24.6 billion. Today, the Indian packaging industry is growing at an annual rate of 15 per cent as against 5-6 per cent growth of the global packaging industry," he said. IIP has started 2-year full time Post Graduate Diploma in Packaging in 1985. Besides, for the last seven years, IIP has also been organising 'Residential Training Programme', an initiative developed for member countries of World Packaging Organisations (WPO), the release said. India's imports from China has jumped sixfold to USD 61.71 billion in 2015-16 from USD 10.87 billion in 2005-06, Parliament was informed today. Increasing imports from China can be attributed to the fact that these are mostly manufactured items required to meet India's demand for fast expanding sectors like telecom and power, which China, due to variety of reasons, is able to export at competitive prices, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. "India's imports from China increased from USD 10.87 billion in 2005-06 to USD 61.71 billion in 2015-16," she said. Imports in 2013-14 and 2014-15 were USD 51 billion and USD 60.4 billion, respectively. The major imports included computer hardware, drug intermediates, consumer electronics, electrical machinery as well as iron and steel. "These imports feed the growing demand in India for such goods including components and pharmaceutical ingredients needed for India's manufacturing sector," she said. She also said India's pharmaceutical exports to China grew by 17.3 per cent in 2014-15. "However Indian companies do face certain impediments in accessing the Chinese pharmaceutical market as regulatory processes for drug registration, submission of detailed clinical trials data, registration and testing of samples are cumbersome and can prolong the ongoing process for drug registration," she said. India has been raising this issue with China, she added. Former BritishPrime Minister Gordon Brown today called on Europe to impose collective sanctions on tax havens in a bid to halt the drain of trillions of dollars revenue to secretive offshore destinations. The former Labour prime minister said that only Europe could prompt an "unwilling" US into a global effort to stamp out evasion costing USD 7 trillion a year by drawing up a tax haven blacklist and ensuring there were "no treasure islands for the money launderers". "Ifwe are to ensure no hiding places for tax evaders, no safe haven for tax avoiders and no treasure islands for the money launderers who hide an estimated USD 7.5 trillion (5.2 trillion pounds) of global wealth, we need the automatic exchange of tax information worldwide," he said. "In addition to a comprehensive European blacklist of tax havens as the first step to a global blacklist, we should agree that British overseas territories and crown dependencies that fail to comply cannot be excluded from the blacklist; and the UK should now require them to have public registers of beneficial owners," Brown was quoted as saying by the Guardian. Britain cannot achieve this on its own. And with America currently resisting reciprocal tax arrangements, collective action by all 28 countries of the European Union to blacklist avoiders, impose sanctions and even levy withholding taxes - on our own overseas territories, if necessary - is currently the one game in town, Brown said. He said that the way forward lies in balancing national autonomy with continental cooperation to achieve progressive goals at a time when "wave after crushing wave of globalisation" had led to demands to "bring control back home". Tax evasion has become a potent political issue since the onset of the global financial and economic crisis eight years ago. Most developed countries have seen an upsurge in voter anger at the ability of rich individuals and multinational companies to find ways of avoiding tax during a period of austerity. India's redrawn tax treaty with Mauritius to impose capital gains tax on investments from the island nation will not apply to existing holdings of P-Notes, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said today, describing the pact as biggest step against black money and tax evasion. In an interview to PTI, he said that while the new treaty will trigger a similar amendment in India's tax pact with Singapore, New Delhi has the option to scrap agreement with Cyprus if it does not agree to similar changes. Mauritius and Singapore contributed USD 17 billion out of total FDI of USD 29.4 billion in April-December 2015. Stating that Cyprus was not a very important country with regard to investment inflow, Adhia said India was talking to it to rewrite the taxation treaty. "If they are not willing to change their stand, then we have an option of cancelling the treaty also. We are in discussion." He said the revised treaty with Mauritius will have no bearing on existing investments via Participatory Notes or P-Notes. From April 1, 2017, companies routing funds into India through Mauritius will have to pay short-term capital gains tax at half the rate prevailing during the 24 month transition period. Full rate, currently at 15 per cent, will kick in from April 1, 2019. "P-Notes is a separate decision. It is not linked to the treaty," Adhia said, adding that the provisions of the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR), which take effect from April next year, will override the tax treaty provisions in case the agreement is abused. "GAAR being anti-abuse provision can prevail over treaty if it is proved that it is an abuse of treaty," he said. "It applies in case of any situation where there is an abuse of treaty for gaining tax benefit unduly." P-Notes are derivatives that mimics an underlying Indian security and are sold by brokerages to foreign investors. They allow investors to avoid Indian taxes on direct investments. On the amendment to the DTAA signed with Mauritius, Adhia said, "It is a biggest step in the direction of removing double non-taxation, removing tax avoidance and also discouraging round tripping of funds which were taking place through tax haven countries." It also is the biggest move "in drive to remove black money and to not have any unaccounted non tax paid money," he said. He saw "no impact on foreign (investment) inflow" because of the amendment signed yesterday. Commenting on taxation on P-Notes, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said: "The SIT had given some recommendations, which are under internal deliberation. So as of now on the P-Notes matter there is status quo, there is no change." India and Mauritius had been negotiating aspects of three-decade old tax treaty since 2006 as New Delhi felt a chunk of the funds were not real foreign investment but Indians routing cash through the island to avoid domestic taxes, a practice known as "round tripping". Scientists have provided first genetic evidence to confirm the Jewish roots of the unique Bene Israel community living in the western part of India, whose history is largely unknown. The Bene Israel community has always considered themselves Jewish, researchers said. "Almost nothing is known about the Bene Israel community before the 18th century, when Cochin Jews and later Christian missionaries first came into contact with it," said Yedael Waldman of both Tel Aviv University in Israel and Cornell University in the US. "Beyond vague oral history and speculations, there has been no independent support for Bene Israel claims of Jewish ancestry, claims that have remained shrouded in legend," said Waldman. "Human genetics now has the potential to not only improve human health but also help us understand human history," said Eran Halperin of TAU, who together with Alon Keinan of Cornell University advised Waldman. According to their oral history, the Bene Israel people descended from 14 Jewish survivors of a shipwreck on India's Konkan shore. The exact timing of this event and the origin and identity of the Jewish visitors are unknown. Some date the event to around 2,000 years ago. Others estimate that it took place in 175 BC. Still others believe their Jewish ancestors arrived as early as the 8th century BCE. "In the last few decades, genetic information has become an important source for the study of human history," said Keinan. "It has been applied several times to the study of Jewish populations across diasporas, providing evidence of a shared ancestry," he said. The research team based their study on data from the Jewish HapMap project, an international effort led by Harry Ostrer of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the US, to determine the genetic history of worldwide Jewish diasporas. They used sophisticated genetic tools to conduct comprehensive genome-wide analyses on the genetic markers of 18 Bene Israel individuals. "We found that while Bene Israel individuals genetically resemble local Indian populations, they constitute a clearly separated and unique population in India," Waldman said. "The results point to Bene Israel being an 'admixed' population, with both Jewish and Indian ancestry. The genetic contribution of each of these ancestral populations is substantial," said study co-lead author Arjun Biddanda of Cornell. The results even indicate when the Jewish and Indian ancestors of Bene Israel "admixed": some 19-33 generations (approximately 650-1,050 years) ago. "We believe that the first encounter involved Middle-Eastern Jews and was followed by a high rate of tribal intermarriage," said Waldman. The research was published in the journal PLOS ONE. India has conveyed to Pakistan the need for early and "visible progress" in the Pathankot airbase terror attack probe in that country, Rajya Sabha was told today. Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in Rajya Sabha that the case of terror attack on Pathankot airbase is reported to be under investigation in Pakistan. "The government has emphasised the need for early and visible progress in the investigation in Pakistan of the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack, during meeting of the Indian Foreign Secretary with the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan on April 26, 2016," he said replying a written question. The Minister said the National Investigation Agency has provided evidences such as certified copies of post-mortem reports, medical legal reports, call data reports, DNA reports, the seizure memo articles from the scene of crime and statements of key witnesses showing involvement of Pakistan based terrorist groups/ individuals to Pakistan's Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during its visit to India from March 27-31 in connection with the Pathankot attack. Seven security personnel were killed in the terror attack on Pathankot airbase carried out by Pakistan-based JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) terror group on January 2. An Indian-American public accountant is running for a Senate seat in the US state of Nevada by employing a non-conventional anti-corruption campaign which promises to get "dirty money" out of politics. Bobby Mahindra is pinning his hope on the grass-roots campaign he built to replace Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, 76, who has held the position uninterrupted since 1987. Mahindra, 42, claimed he had "achieved the real front runner status" by building a grass-roots campaign on the Facebook and, unlike other candidates, has not taken a single penny from corrupt sources. "I am the most liked politician (on Facebook) in the State of Nevada. One of my main goal is to help get dirty money out of politics," Mahindra told PTI. "I always wanted to be able to give back to the Community through service to country, and I knew that I would run for office one day; however, I never expected it to be right now!I looked at the candidates that were offered on the political landscape, and I didn't feel that any candidate offered what I wanted," Mahindra said. Mahindra, whose father Narendra Lal Mahindra is from Gwalior and mother Sunita Mahindra from Punjab, is pitted against three other candidates including the front-runner Catnerine Cortez Masto, the former Attorney General of Nevada, in the Democratic primary seat vacated Reid. Reid, who is not seeking a re-election, has endorsed Masto to replace him. The State primary is scheduled on June 14 and the general elections on November 8. "I wanted a politician that would stand for the anti-corruption movement (ie No Money in Politics),that was socially liberal, but fiscally conservative!Eventually I realised that it's better to be part of the solution than to be part of the problem by complaining all the time," he said. Mahindra now has 21,000 supporters on his Facebook page as against less than 15,000 of Masto. Republican Senate race front runner Congressman Joe Heck has less than 17,000. Mahindra, who has lived in Las Vegas since 2011, said he is running a non-conventional campaign and hopes this would yield results in the June primaries. He is using his Facebook page as a discussion board, wherein he says he addresses Nevadans directly by posting personal responses to complex political topics that politicians deflect with the established "non-answers". "Immediately after the release of the Panama Papers corruption scandal, which includes politicians, celebrities, and extremely rich people from all across the world our campaign literally took off as frustration with the political process is now at a breaking point," Mahindra said. He alleged Masto and Heck were only front runners in raising money from corrupt special Interests, super PACs, and Corporate America with each raising over USD 5 million. "Without corruption we can easily Grow America with new leadership from Nevada! Socially Liberal, but Fiscally Conservative!" he said. The today 'de-inducted' its ageing Sea Harriers, replacing them with MiG 29K fighter aircraft. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R K Dhowan was the chief guest of the ceremony held at Goa's INS Hansa base in Vasco to bid adieu to Sea Harriers after their 33 years of service to the nation. The Sea Harriers displayed a vertical landing formation at INS Hansa during the 'de-induction' event today. "It's a distinct honour and proud privilege to induct multi-role supersonic MiG 29K in the 300 squadron. It marks the induction of multi-role supersonic technology in Indian Navy," Admiral Dhowan said addressing the gathering. He hailed all the pilots who flew Sea Harriers, which was considered as one of the most difficult aircraft to fly. "Today is also the day to salute the pilots who flew Sea Harrier aircraft which made a mark for itself by protecting our seas," he added. Sea Harriers were inducted in the following phasing out of then obsolete Seahawks. In September 1980, the Sea Harrier Project (SHARP) was formed with select naval aviators and technical personnel for coordination of trials, testing, acceptance and training. The first newly-built Sea Harrier for the (IN 601) was ready on December 21, 1982, the Navy said in a statement issued here. The first three Sea Harriers flying via Malta, Luxor and Dubai, led by Lt Cdr Arun Prakash VrC, landed at Dabolim on December 16, 1983. This was followed by the first deck landing on the carrier, INS Vikrant, on December 20, 1983, and the arrival of the first Sea Harrier T Mk 60 trainer, on March 29, 1984. "In last few years, the Harriers added a new dimension to their operations with the increased multinational exercises in which the Indian Navy participates," the statement added. Israel today observed a two-minute silence to commemorate the 23,447 IDF soldiers and civilian terror victims killed since 1860 as the Jeweish state marked the Memorial Day with ceremonies and events across the nation. Traffic came to a standstill as motorists stopped and pedestrians suspended their walk on sideways when a siren rang out at 11 am in honour of the dead. The Memorial Day commemoratingthe terror victims since 1860 - the year when the Jewish community in the Holy land first moved outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem - began at 8 PM yesterday with the first siren sounded across Israel. Those who died in the service of the country include Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers, members of the Shin Bet internal security service, the Mossad, the Israel Police, the Prisons Service and those who died while serving in the pre-state underground militias and the Jewish Brigade in the British Army. The number of civilians who have been killed in "hostile acts" since the end of the War of Independence stands at 2,576, the National Insurance Institute said. Sixty eight Israelis have been added to the list of the fallen and 31 civilians have died as a result of terrorist attacks since the last Memorial day events last year. The number of bereaved families, including parents, widows and orphans, in Israel now number at 16,307, said the Defence Ministry. Some of those included in the official Defence Ministry count died as a result of accidents or disease while serving. Disabled veterans who later died of their injuries are also included in the count. "For over sixty-eight years we have been fighting the same war, the war for our independence," President Reuven Rivlin said at a ceremony at the Western Wall yesterday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to his brother, Yonatan, who died in the Entebbe operation in 1976, saying, "There's no one who hasn't lost a son, brother, father, husband, friend, daughter - there's no one who doesn't cry out 'why?'" "I can testify that I asked exactly the same question when my brother fell. In time, I understood that this question should be asked with a slight change: 'What for?' For what purpose? And what is the significance of the price that was paid? Our sons and daughters embarked on a divine mission to establish the State of Israel and to ensure its future," Netanyahu emphasised. A torch lighting ceremony will be held at Mount Herzl, signalling the end of Memorial Day and the beginning of the celebrations of Independence Day. More than 1.5 million Israelis are expected to visit Israel's 52 military and other cemeteries today. Bangladesh's biggest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami today called a nationwide general strike tomorrow to protest the execution of its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami, the senior-most Islamist to be executed for war crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan. In a statement, Jamaat, which was opposed to Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, described 73-year-old Nizami's execution as a "planned murder" and called a nationwide 24-hour strike from 5 am tomorrow to 5 am on Friday. "He (Nizami) was deprived of justice. He is a victim of political vengeance," acting Jamaat chief Mokbul Ahmed said in the statement urging people to observe the strike. Jamaat's previous such strike calls protesting the trial of their senior leaders for war crimes largely went unheeded. The party last called a nationwide hartal on May 6, a day after the Supreme Court rejected Nizami's review petition reconfirming his death penalty. Nizami was hanged at midnight, a day after the Supreme Court verdict reached authorities at the Dhaka Central Jail. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Nizami had preferred not to seek presidential clemency as his last effort to avoid the noose "because he understood the crimes he had committed were unpardonable". Nizami was buried in line with Islamic rituals at his village home at northwestern Pabna's Sathia sub-district early this morning in presence of family members and neighbours while armed police kept a sharp vigil. An ambulance escorted by police cars carried the body straight to Sathia for burial though family members of the 1971 war victims and freedom fighters in the neighbourhood earlier declined to allow it to be buried there. After pursuance by the local administration the freedom fighters and atrocity victims backed off a planned siege on the highway leading to Nizami's home while several groups earlier demanded the body be sent to Pakistan for burial. TV footage showed hundreds of people rallying at central Dhaka's Shahbagh Square to celebrate the execution under the banner of Ganojagaran Mancha which was instrumental in building up a massive campaign seeking punishment for the war criminals. "It will serve as a source of strength to the present generation and convey the message that even 45 years after the event, we did not spare the culprits," spokesman of the Mancha Imran H Sarkar told the rally. Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT-BD) had originally handed him the capital punishment on October 29, 2014 for war crimes convicting him of "superior responsibility" as head of the notorious Al-Badr militia force manned by Jamaat men during the liberation war. The militia force is blamed for conducting a systematic massacre of a large number of intellectuals just ahead of Bangladesh's December 16, 1971 war victory. "It would be a failure of justice, unless he is handed down the death penalty," the ICT-BD commented as it pronounced the verdict to Nizami convicting him of "superior responsibility" as Al-Badr chief in 1971. The Daily Star in a front page report said "Nizami (had) let loose his militia to cripple the soon-to-be-born Bangladesh intellectually" while leading Bangla daily 'Samokal' carried a special front page commentary headlined "History forgives none". A former minister in ex-premier Khaleda Zia's BNP-led four-party coalition government, Nizami was in jail since 2010, when he was arrested to be tried for war crimes. He was particularly found guilty of systematic killings of over 450 people alone in his own village. With his execution, Nizami became the fifth top perpetrator to be hanged for crimes against humanity since the trial process began six years ago. One of the two owners of a jewellery shop, who was arrested for allegedly staging a fake robbery of their own shop, was sent to a seven-day police remand by a court here today. "Vinod Verma has been sent to seven-day police remand by local court," Chandigarh, Station House Officer, Uday Pal Singh said today. Verma, one of the owners of the jewellery shop in Sector 17, was arrested yesterday for "concocting" the story allegedly to claim insurance money. The other owner Rajnish was still absconding, the SHO said. Both the owners had claimed of being looted of jewellery worth Rs 14 crore on May 1. They were booked following a "confessional statement" of the store manager. A police inspector, who was arrested in connection with alleged suicide of a local woman journalist, was sent to judicial custody after his police remand ended, police said. The accused Amit Kumar was yesterday produced in a court here which sent him to judicial custody for 14 days, a police spokesperson said. Kumar was arrested in connection with the suicide of the woman journalist who allegedly jumped to death from her residential building on the intervening night of May 1 and May 2. (Reopens DEL 48) Congress President Sonia Gandhi also expressed deep distress and grief at the passing away of Malhotra. Extending her condolences to the family and friends of Malhotra, she said, "He was a doyen who witnessed and chronicled our evolution as a nation and his passing away has created a void that will be difficult to fill. Pop star Justin Bieber might have to apologise to his Argentinian fans for a second time after another blunder involving the South American country's national flag. Back in 2013, he was performing a gig in Argentina's capital Buenos Aires when a fan threw a flag on-stage. Not realising what it was, Bieber kicked it and used his mic stand to sweep it away. He later apologised for not knowing what it was and that he wouldn't have done so if he had. This time, a mobile phone clip surfaced earlier this week of Bieber, 22, leaving a hotel in New York and getting into a 4x4, surrounded by bodyguards and minders to keep adoring fans at a safe distance. However, the person holding the camera, apparently a 15 year old female fan from Argentina, decided to throw the small flag she had been waving at the 22 year old Canadian star, which landed inside the car via the wound-down window. Instead of accepting the gift, a clearly unimpressed-looking Bieber screws the flag up and throws it out of the window. Delhi Chief Minister was on Wednesday criticised in the Lok Sabha for attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Congress President Sonia Gandhi, with an expelled RJD member demanding apology from him and a CBI probe into his activities. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav said Kejriwal had "lowered the dignity" of the post of the Prime Minister as also the Congress President by his comments and actions. "The Delhi Chief Minister questions the educational qualifications of Prime Minister and demands that opposition leader Sonia Gandhi should be sent to jail," he said without naming Kejriwal but making the reference clear. He sought apology from the Delhi Chief Minister to the nation for this. He made certain other remarks against Kejriwal and demanded CBI probe into his activities. Some of his remarks against Kejriwal did not go down well with Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who asked him not to take any names. Kejriwal's AAP has four members in the House but none of them was present when the issue was raised. Raising another issue, a BJP member Gopal Shetty sought a debate in Parliament on the issue of "federal structure". He said that despite the Prime Minister favouring "cooperative federalism", there has not been appropriate response from the states. Through another issue, Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) made a strong case for central monitoring of Ashram Schools run by the states on the central assistance. This, he said, was necessary amid reports that as many as 882 tribal children studying in these schools have died between 2010 to 2015 with 684 deaths in Maharashta alone. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Uttarakhand issue and his purported Somalia remark, and warned him against disqualifying 21 AAP MLAs appointed as Parliamentary Secretaries by Delhi government last year. On Modi's remark comparing Kerala eith Somalia, Kejriwal tweeted, "PM's statement is an insult to the people of Kerala", while on Uttarakhand he posted: "Modi Govt shud apologise to the nation for acting in unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand (sic)." "Hope Modi ji will learn a lesson from Uttarakhand and not do similar misadventure in Delhi by disqualifying our 21 MLAs", he tweeted. However, the AAP chief was all praise for External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the rescue of Santosh Bhardwaj, an Indian who was kidnapped by pirates near Nigeria in March. "Sushma ji is doing excellent work," read the tweet. Kerala has once again been named as the best family destination in the country at the Lonely Planet Magazine India (LPMI) Travel Awards 2016. Kerala Tourism Director U V Jose received the award at a function in Mumbai on Monday, a release said here. The annual awards showcase the best travel experiences available to Indians and anoint the best service providers, the preferred places to stay and the destinations Indians most love to visit, it said. Nominations for the awards are shortlisted by a panel of travel experts and professionals, following which readers vote both online and in the magazine. Besides being judged the best place to take the family along for a holiday, Kerala was also nominated in the best destination for 'culture' and 'to relax' categories. Kerala Tourism had earlier won the Ulysses Prize of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation for its contribution as a global leader to sustainable tourism, the release added. Kin of several leaders are testing their fortunes in the May 16 assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Among the prominent faces are five-time MLA M K Stalin, the DMK Treasurer and son of its chief M Karunanidhi, and Anbumani Ramadoss, son of PMK founder S Ramadoss. 93-year-old Karunanidhi himself is seeking re-election from his native Tiruvarur in the coming polls as he eyes a sixth term as chief minister. Stalin, the youngest son of Karunanidhi and considered his political heir, is contesting from Kolathur constituency in the city for the second time. In the 2011 election, he had won from there, defeating AIADMK's 'Saidai' Duraisamy. 63-year-old Stalin has taken the plunge into politics early in his life and made steady progress to reach the present position of DMK Treasurer and also Secretary of Youth Wing. Stalin first entered the poll fray in 1984 from Thousand Lights constituency but failed. However, he later won from there in 1989, 1996, 2001 and 2006 elections. In 2006, he was inducted as Municipal Administration Minister and later elevated as Deputy Chief Minister. He had also served as Mayor of Chennai between 1996-2001. Anbumani Ramadoss, the party's Chief Ministerial candidate, is seeking his maiden entry in the state assembly from Pennagaram in Dharmapuri district. A former union health minister, Anbumani is sitting Lok Sabha member from Dharmapurai constituency, which includes the Pennagaram segment. He was a Rajya Sabha MP from 2004 to 2010. Interestingly, his father has never contested elections. Senior DMK leader and former union minister T R Baalu's son T R B Rajaa is seeking election from Mannargudi constituency for second straight time. Rajaa is pitted against S Kamaraj who has a 30-year-old association with AIADMK. Credited for upgrading the Mannargudi Railway Station during his tenure, Rajaa, however, faces criticism for allegedly being 'inaccessible'. Another member from the DMK family is 'Veerapandi' A Rajendran alias A Raja, contesting from Veerapandi constituency in Salem district. Rajendran is the son of the late DMK leader and former state minister 'Veerapandi' S Arumugam. While Arumugam was unsuccessful in the 2011 elections, his son is making maiden attempt from the constituency in this polls. Arumugam, considered a close associate of Karunanidhi and the party's strongman in the western region, has won five times from the constituency. In an interesting duel, he is locked in a faceoff with his cousin S Manonmani of AIADMK. BJP Tamil Nadu unit chief Thamizhisai Soundararajan, a medical doctor, contesting from Virugambakkam constituency also comes from a family with political background. While her father Kumari Anandan, is a veteran Congress leader and former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president, her uncle is noted businessman and Congress leader H Vasantha Kumar, who is in the poll fray from Nanguneri segment. With Sri Lanka in the process of drafting a new Constitution, two UN experts have asked the government to put in place a legal framework that will not allow human rights violations to occurand said more reforms are needed for the nation's sustainable democratisation. "Sri Lanka is taking steps to draft a new constitution, an undertaking that presents an opportunity to reinforce the independence and impartiality of the justice sector and provide more safeguards against torture and other serious human rights violations," said Monica Pinto, UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and Juan E Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The comments came in a press release issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The experts, speaking at the end of their official visit to Sri Lanka last week, welcomed that the elections in 2015 had brought an opening in the democratic space. "The change in government has led to some promising reforms, such as the reinstatement of the Constitutional Council. But more reforms are needed before Sri Lanka can be considered to be on a path to sustainable democratisation," the two experts stressed. Mendez said testimonies he heard from victims and detainees speaking despite safety concerns, "persuade me that torture is a common practice inflicted in the course of regular criminal and national security-related investigations. He said severe forms of torture continue to be used although probably less frequently while both old and new cases of torture continue to be surrounded by total "impunity". He added that while he has been assured by the authorities that confessions alone are not sufficient evidence for a conviction, over 90 per cent of convictions are either solely or mainly based on a confession. "The government has to ensure that every person detained has access to a lawyer from the moment of the arrest and that every person is properly informed about this right," Pinto added. The experts noted that legal safeguards are even more limited in the cases brought under Sri Lanka's Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) - legislation that applies to investigations into national security-related offenses. The Act allows for prolonged arbitrary detention without being charged, limits access to a lawyer and provides for statements made to a senior police officer, even when obtained under duress, to be fully admissible in court, they said. "The government should repeal the PTA. Any legislation to replace it, if considered necessary, should only be adopted after broad and transparent consultations and must fully comply with international human rights standards," the Special Rapporteurs added. The two experts also highlighted significant delays in the administration of justice in Sri Lanka. Better knowledge of the symptoms of leprosy will help reduce number of cases of the disease affecting nearly a quarter of a million people in the world with a majority of them reported from India. According to a study conducted by University of Birmingham in three Brazilian states, many patients appear to be still ignorant about the symptoms of leprosy, which is considered to be a disease affecting mainly poor people. "Leprosy is a leading cause of preventable disability worldwide and endemic in Brazil, which ranks second only to India in the amount of cases recorded," said lead author Mary Henry from the University of Birmingham. "This study highlights the need for further patient education on the disease's symptoms, as well as the reduction of stigma to encourage patients to seek earlier medical care. It also suggests the need for primary care clinicians to be better educated about the symptoms of leprosy," Henry said. The researchers also found that delays in diagnosis of more than 10 years have been reported in Brazil. "Leprosy is curable, but early diagnosis is essential. Delays in identifying and treating the condition mean that the disease is more likely to spread and the patients in question may suffer more severe disabilities," Henry said. It also found that reducing the social stigma attached to the infectious, but curable disease could encourage sufferers in Brazil to go to their doctor and seek early treatment for the condition. The study found that people who suspected they had leprosy, but feared being shunned by their community, were 10 times more likely to wait longer before consulting a doctor for their symptoms. Researchers, worked with counterparts in Brazil, also found that 42 per cent of people who took part in the study reported that doctors had not initially diagnosed leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, commonly misdiagnosing it as rheumatism and skin allergy. This social group in Brazil has low levels of literacy - researchers suggest that incorporating graphics and animation into patient education tools may help tackle the disease. The study, published in PLoS (Public Library of Science), aimed to identify factors associated with patient and health system delays that could be contributing to the overall delayed diagnosis of leprosy in Brazil. It found that stigma towards leprosy sufferers remains despite the availability of a cure. Fear of isolation was likely to lead to greater delay, with some patients concealing their symptoms and avoiding treatment for fear of social exclusion, it said. India, Myanmar and Nepal contribute 70 per cent of total leprosy cases in the world with over 50 per cent alone reported from India. The study recommends that national health programmes should be used to inform the public that leprosy is curable and preventable. Nearly half of participants (45.1 per cent) waited before consulting a doctor because they did not believe their symptoms were serious, the study said. Newly-elected London mayor Sadiq Khan today said that he was not simply a Muslim leader or a spokesperson for those who follow the faith but represented everyone in the British capital. "Let me be very clear, I'm not a Muslim leader or Muslims' spokesperson, I'm the mayor of London. I speak for all Londoners," the 45-year-old told reporters at a media briefing at his City Hall office today. Khan, however, said that his election proved "that it is possible to be Muslim and a Westerner. Western values are compatible with Islam". The Labour party politician, who won an overwhelming mandate from Londoners last week and has been described as one of the most powerful Muslim politicians in Europe, repeated his criticism of presumptive US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has proposed banning all Muslims from entering the US but offered to make him an exception. Khan, the son of a Pakistani bus driver, said Trump was "playing into the hands of the extremists". The Labour party politician also repeated his support for Britain to stay in the European Union in the June 23 referendum. "It's crucial for London to remain in the EU...Half a million jobs are directly dependant on the union," he said. Babies born with a low birth-weight are at an increased risk of death from infancy to adolescence, a new study led by an Indian-origin researcher has found for the first time. Researchers led by Sailesh Kotecha from Cardiff University in the UK examined official death rates in low birth-weight babies among over 12 million births in England and Wales. The research found that of the 12,355,251 live births between 1993 and 2011, there were 74,890 (0.61 per cent) deaths between birth and 18 years of age, with 57,623 (77 per cent) occurring in the first year of life and 17,267 (23 per cent) occurring between 1 and 18 years of age. Death rates were higher in babies with low birth-weight at both age groups, with death occurring 130 times more frequently in those born at a very low birth-weight (under 2,500 g) than normal birth weight in infancy. Events occurring around birth and premature births were important causes of deaths in infancy. Causes for deaths in those aged 1 and 18 years of age were more evenly distributed across causes, with conditions of the nervous system (20 per cent) and respiratory system (16 per cent) being leading causes of death in the lowest birth-weight group but cancers and external conditions (including accidents) being the primary causes of death in low birth-weight groups. "We know low birth-weight is associated with increased mortality rates in infancy; however, its association with mortality in later childhood and adolescence is less clear cut," said Kotecha. "This study is significant as it shows, for the first time, that low birth-weight is associated with increased death rates from infancy right through to adolescence," he said. The study reinforces the need to target factors known to contribute to low birth-weights to help cut deaths. "The study reaffirms the need to tackle important factors such as maternal smoking and deprivation which are well known to contribute to low birth weight," said Kotecha. "By better understanding and ameliorating influences that lead to low birth-weight, deaths in infancy and beyond could be cut," he said. The study was published in the journal PLOS Medicine. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today met a delegation of Parliamentarians from Belarus and invited the country to take advantage of the country's flagship 'Make in India' programme. Welcoming the delegation led by Mikhail Myasnikovich, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus, Mahajan said the relations between India and Belarus have been "warm and friendly" with regular high-level visits. Myasnikovich reiterated Belarusian support for India's candidature for UNSC Permanent Membership. Mahajan also appreciated the ready willingness of the Belarusian side to support in celebrating International Yoga Day in June 2016 in a befitting manner. Saying the visiting country has a strong defence, engineering and science and technology base, she invited Belarus to take advantage of 'Make in India' programme, an official statement here said. Indian side is already investing in Belarus in various sectors including pharmaceutical to benefit from Belarus's strategic location and its membership of Eurasian Economic Union, she said. As per the statement, Mahajan and her Belarussian guests agreed that the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2017 must be celebrated with full vigour and vitality dotted by content drawn from rich repertoire of films, dance, music from both sides. A state-run body of ex-servicemen from Maharashtra has initiated 'Veer Yatra', an effort to showcase the military might and glory to people. Maharashtra Ex-servicemen Corporation (MESCO) has envisaged to give a boost to 'military tourism' in the country through the Veer Yatra, Col (Retd) Suhas Jatkar, Managing Director of MESCO, told reporters here yesterday. The corporation plans to start the tours from tomorrow. Different tours are designed for different age groups, he said. "The project will showcase the institutions such as National Defence Academy, Armed Forces Medical College, College of Military Engineering, war memorials, military posts, Army workshops, Naval bases, warfare centres, war museums and certain spots including Sino-Indian border at Nathu La Pass, Indo-Pak border, that would instill patriotism in the civil society," he said. Asserting that the military, its heroic feats, pursuits and wars form an important part of the world history, Jatkar said, the yatra would help to generate people's interest in the armed forces. "Military tourism is a well-established concept worldwide but it has not been dealt with in a structured way in India so far," he said, adding the various facets of defence mechanism and its evolution need to be explored in detail. "The project not only aims to give people the opportunity to experience the valour and glory of the military, but also would be instrumental in inculcating a sense of patriotism among the citizens, in particular the children and youth," he said. The initiative would also provide meaningful and gainful employment to ex-servicemen and army widows, he said. India's revised tax treaty inked with Mauritius will have no bearing on investments via Participatory Notes and the existing dispensation will continue to apply on them, government said today. It also sees no impact on foreign investment inflows on account of the revision. Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said there was no separate rule provided for P-Notes in the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) that gives India right to tax capital gains arising in Mauritius on shares of an Indian company bought after March 31, 2017. In an interview to PTI, he said the amendment to the DTAC is about companies coming through Mauritius. "P-Notes is a separate decision. It is not linked to the treaty." P-Notes are derivatives that mimic an underlying Indian security and are sold by brokerages to foreign investors. P-Notes allow investors to avoid Indian taxes on direct investments. Adhia said P-Notes money can be routed through any country. "There is no linkage of Mauritius treaty with P-Notes. P-Notes are issued by foreign companies and not Indian companies." He said he saw "no impact on foreign (investment) inflow" because of the amendment signed yesterday. India and Mauritius have been negotiating aspects of three-decade old tax treaty since 2006 to check misuse by some investors who avoid paying tax and round tripping.... "As far as the markets are concerned, I don't have any fear. In fact, because there was an uncertainty so far regarding the Mauritius route, the market might have been a little sceptical. But now that there is a 100 per cent certainty brought in, the market has already taken it well so far and I don't see any negative reaction from the market, if at all it will be a positive reaction," he said. More than a third of the USD 278 billion India has received in foreign direct investments in the past 15 years has come via Mauritius. Adhia said the new treaty will trigger a similar amendment in India's tax pact with Singapore. Mauritius and Singapore contributed USD 17 billion out of total FDI of USD 29.4 billion in April-December 2015. Adhia said GAAR, which will kick in from April 2017, is to prevent misuse of treaty. General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) contains provision allowing the government to stop misuse of treaty for tax avoidance. There have been fears that the government may use it to target P-Notes. "GAAR applies in case of any company which is trying to abuse the treaty. GAAR is an anti-abuse provision. It applies in case of any situation where there is an abuse of treaty for gaining tax benefit unduly," he said. Through use of GAAR, government may try to tax P-Notes as indirect investments, which could attract a tax rate of up to 15 per cent, say experts. To avoid tax altogether under GAAR, an investor may have to prove that P-Note was not set up specifically to avoid paying taxes. Sudha Sinha, Congress candidate for the municipal corporation by-poll from Matiala ward in south west Delhi was today allegedly attacked by four motorcycle borne assailants. An FIR has been registered and efforts are on to arrest the accused who attacked her while she was headed to Nannhe Park from Dwarka for a public meeting, police said. "An FIR has been registered on the complaint of Sudha Sinha and investigation is on. No one has been arrested in this connection so far," said a senior police officer. In her complaint, Sinha alleged that her SUV was followed by four motorcycle borne youths when she was going for the public meeting. They tried to attack her near Malhotra Tyre factory and left after threatening her to pull out of the election. She demanded police protection. Delhi Congress president Ajay Maken condemned the incident and demanded arrest of the accused. "The attack on Sudha Sinha has proved that women are not safe in Delhi, even if she is a political figure, and it shows complete break down of law and order under the dispensation of the AAP and BJP," he said. Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda today criticised the Centre's policy for the agriculture sector, saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "has not launched any direct programmes" to check farmers' suicides in the country. "I am not happy with the measures taken by the Modi government for farmers. I do not think Modi has launched any direct programmes to prevent farmers' suicides," he said at a meet-the-press programme here. "Some of the programmes Modi announced for farmers are not going to create any short term impact. I have discussed this with Prime Minister. But he never answered," the JD(S) party supremo, who is here to campaign for LDF candidates for the May 16 Assembly elections, said. The Direct transfer of subsidies has not reached beneficiaries and 'achieved the desired results', he said adding that farmers' suicides was still going on in the country, especially in states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Kerala. To a question whether BJP would open its account in Kerala, he said Modi and other union ministers are vigorously campaigning but "I do not know whether they will make an entry into the state Assembly. I do not know the ground reality." On his reported support to beleaguered liquor baron Vijay Mallya, the former Prime Minister said, "I want to clarify that unnecessarily my and my party's names had been dragged into it. I only said that not only Mallya, but there are so many other people who have lakhs and lakhs of Rupees of NPAs (Non-Performing Assets)." "But I do not want to name and hurt any of them. I am not supporting Mallya," he said. JD(S), an ally in the CPI(M)-led LDF, has put up candidates in five constituencies for the upcoming polls. Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Madhya Pradesh on May 14, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today alleged that the BJP-led state government was purchasing sub-standard or spurious drugs worth crores of rupees for distribution in hospitals. "Ill-equipped and mismanaged hospitals, use of spurious and substandard drugs sans essential tests, leniency in tender conditions to favour the pet supplier companies, flagrant violation of WHO guidelines are some of the open wounds on the body of system," Singh claimed in a letter addressed to Modi, released to media here today. The former MP chief minister alleged in the letter that there was a "nexus between the higher officials and supplier companies". The MP government's Drug Policy, 2009, provides that quality inspection of drugs is to be done by the accredited laboratories with the assistance of a selected external agency, Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) every year, but why TNMSC was chosen is a mystery, Singh said. "For quality control of drugs the sample of each batch of medicine supplied by the firms has to be necessarily sent to the selected accredited lab within three days of receipts of medicine ... A matter has come to light where drugs were procured and were used sans the tests from 2010-11 to November 2013," the letter alleged. The office of Principal Accountant General (General and Social Sector) found that drugs worth Rs 28.72 crore were used without getting them tested at accredited labs, Singh said. "To assess the impact of non-testing of drugs, office of Principal Accountant General obtained the information of failed samples in drug samples tested during 2010-11 to November 2013 from the Controller, Food and Drug Administration, Bhopal," the letter said. Drugs worth Rs 59,21,174, supplied by TNMSC, which were found to be of substandard quality by the Controller Food and Drug Administration, were used by government-run hospitals, he claimed in the letter. "... Drugs worth Rs 10,46,204 purchased from the local firms were also not found to be of standard quality and these drugs were also issued to the patients," the letter alleged. Further, neither the cost of medicines was recovered from the manufacturers, nor were they black-listed, the Congress leader said, alleging that the health department was putting peoples' lives at risk. The letter, citing Modi's pre-election promise of 'na khaunga, na khane dunga (I will not indulge in corruption, nor would I allow others to), alleged that the Prime Minister had earlier failed to take action in the Vyapam scam in the state. His grandfather's dream pushed Narendra Shah to become the first person to crack the prestigious Civil Services Examination to qualify for IAS from this small Madhya Pradesh town. Shah has secured 86th rank in the highly competitive exam. Narendra, son of Ramlakhan Shah, an employee in Northern Coalfields Ltd, said he has fulfilled his grandfather's dream. "It was the dream of my grandfather that I fulfilled with the blessings of my parents and teachers," Narendra told PTI. After completing his schooling till class X from DAV School, Jhingurdah, Narendra, a resident of Chitrangi here, shifted to Kota for doing higher secondary. He then cracked Joint Entrance Examination and to got admission at IIT-Mumbai from where he completed his BTech in Civil Engineering discipline. Narendra had also worked as a Prime Minister Rural Development Fellow for a year. In his first attempt in civil services examination, he got selected in Indian Information Service. However, he never gave up and pursued his dream of becoming an IAS officer and qualified in the second attempt by bagging 86th rank. In his message to youths, he said, "One should work hard to fulfil their dreams, come what may." Meanwhile, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in a series of tweets congratulated this year's topper Teena Dabi, who was born in Bhopal and later shifted to Delhi. He also congratulated Chhattarpur's Ashish Tiwari for securing sixth rank in the country and first in MP. Thirty three years after their induction, the ageing Sea Harriers, once the mainstay of Navy's air warfare capability, today gave way to the modern supersonic Russian MiG 29K fighter aircraft. "We have great pride in inducting supersonic multi-role MiG 29K aircraft with cutting edge technology into the 300 squadron," Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral R K Dhowan told reporters on the sidelines of an event organised in Goa to 'de-induct' Sea Harriers. The Navy, which initially had 28 Sea Harriers, today deinducted 11 remaining ones. The force has till today accepted 31 MiG 29K aircraft of the 45 aircraft that it has contracted for. "As you are aware, the aircraft (MiG 29K) has already been integrated on board aircraft carrier Vikramaditya and will now perform the role of strike fighter and air defence for the fleet in the Indian Navy," he said. He said the naval aviation is on a threshold of transformation, by inducting additional helicopters and aircraft into the force. The first three Sea Harriers, flying via Malta, Luxor and Dubai, led by Lt Cdr Arun Prakash, landed at Dabolim on December 16, 1983. This was followed by the first deck landing on the carrier, INS Vikrant, on December 20, 1983. "The Indian Navy has emerged as a multi-dimensional network force which is ready to take on any challenge in the maritime domain of the Indian Ocean region in the 21st century," Dhowan said. Responding to a question, he said INS Virat will be phased out in the coming years. "We are working out details with the Ministry of Defence and it (Virat) will now be phased out in the coming years," he said. "We have our new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, which is being constructed at Kochi shipyard and it is scheduled for delivery in the end of 2018," he said. During the press interaction, Admiral Dhowan parried questions on the AgustaWestland VVIP choppers controversy. "Whatever is happening, the Union government is investigating it," he said. During the 'de-induction' event, the Sea Harriers displayed a vertical landing formation at INS Hansa. Dhowan hailed all the pilots who flew Sea Harriers, considered as one of the most difficult aircraft to fly. "Today is also the day to salute the pilots who flew Sea Harrier aircraft which made a mark for itself by protecting our seas," he added. Sea Harriers were inducted in the Indian Navy following phasing out of then obsolete Seahawks. National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Lalita Kumaramangalam today visited Delhi University's Hindu College in connection with a row over alleged "discriminatory" rules and high fee for its girls hostel and decided to raise the issue with the UGC. "The NCW chief visited the college today and interacted with the protesting students as well as the principal. She will raise the issue of the exorbitant fee with the University Grants Commission later this week, " NCW spokesperson said. Taking suo motu cognisance, the NCW had issued a notice to the college last month seeking an explanation about the hostel rules for girls which have been termed as moral policing by students. A three-member team from the commission had visited the college last week as well and extended the deadline to respond to the notice till May 15. Hindu College has been providing on-campus hostel facilities to male students for decades. However, the girls' hostel, which has been recently constructed, was supposed to be functional from the 2016-17 session. The prospectus for admission to the hostel triggered an outrage among the girl students who alleged that the rules laid down were "discriminatory" and amounted to "moral policing". The prescribed fee also irked the girl students as the male students of Hindu College pay Rs 47,000 as hostel charges while the girls were asked to pay more than Rs 82,000. The rules listed in the hostel prospectus asked students to dress as per "normal norms of the society", and made it clear that no visitors will be allowed without prior permission "including girl students". It said the residents will be allowed only one night-out in a month and also had a provision for random checks by the warden at any time. Some of the other rules included mandatory presence of all residents in the hostel by 8.30 PM and a bar on roaming inside the hostel after 11 PM. The prospectus also said a dress code may be notified for residents, if deemed necessary. Students have been protesting against the alleged discrimination between girls and boys while deciding the rules and the fee for the hostel. Following protests, the college authorities had announced there will be no admissions to the girls' hostel. Students who had taken the prospectus were asked to return those and get their fee refunded. However, later the college decided to reconsider its stand and has formed a committee to look into the issue. The Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) had also issued a notice to the college on the same issue last week. A NDFB(S) militant was killed in a joint operation by army and Assam police in Kokrajhar district today. The militant was killed during an operation launched this morning at Lalabhita area inside Ripu Reserve forest in the district, a defence spokesman said. The slain militant was allegedly involved in adivasi killings in December 2014 and in numerous cases of extortion, money collection, providing logistic support to the banned organisation and other subversive activities. An AK-56 rifle along with a magazine and 30 live rounds were recovered from him, the spokesman added. Insisting that NEET would "destroy" career of students of state boards, a DMK member today demanded in the Rajya Sabha an Act to "set aside" the Supreme Court order on the common entrance examination for admission to medical and dental colleges in the country. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, K P Ramalingam (DMK) said it is a very important issue which will "destroy" career of students studying in regional languages and state boards across the country. "Every state government has a right to fix syllabus. But the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), as a single entrance exam for medical and dental courses in the country, would affect the life of students who are studying in state board syllabus," he said. He said since the syllabus of NEET is based on CBEC, "it is totally unconstitutional and attempt to surpass" students, majority of whom are from rural areas and different educational background. Ramalingam said in 2007, the Tamil Nadu government had abolished entrance examination for medical courses through an Act. Like Tamil Nadu, some other states too allow admission based on Class 12 marks, he added. These states believe that there is a "huge difference" in terms of content in their syllabus and that of the central board. It is "impossible" for the students to prepare separately to clear NEET, the DMK member said. Criticising an argument of the Medical Council of India, he said while education is different in states, "uniformity in entrance exam is totally a matter of contradiction". "Before implementing uniform NEET based on CBEC or any other syllabus, government should come for a new Act to ban the Supreme Court order or to set aside the Supreme Court order," Ramalingam said. He got support from several members in the House. The DMK MP also warned that there could be student agitation in the country if NEET is followed. In his Zero Hour mention, K Rehman Khan (Cong) raised the issue of National Wakf Development Board and wanted to know why the body has "remained defunct". Sharad Yadav (JD-U) expressed concern over the state of government hospitals and demanded expediting of the proposal to set up more AIIMS like hospitals in different parts of the country. Swait Malik (BJP) raised the issue of a long-pending railway project in Punjab, while Narendra Budania (Cong) talked about stopping of construction work on the Kumbha Ram Arya lift canal in Rajasthan. Amidst strains in Indo-Nepal ties, Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa today said Nepal does not compare its relations with one country with that of the other and sought "cooperative and friendly" exchanges with both India and China. "We do not compare our relations with one country with that of the other. Bases and factors determining friendship and cooperation different for each country and each bilateral relation is unique," said Thapa, who is also the Foreign Minister of Nepal. "In neighbourhood, our consistent effort is to maintain cooperative and friendly relations with the two friendly neighbours-India and the People's Republic of China," he said. In a briefing to the Kathmandu-based foreign diplomats on recent political developments that nearly toppled Prime Minister KP Oli's government, Thapa said both India and China were making tremendous progress in economic growth, infrastructure development, science and technology and in transforming life standards of their people. "We are inspired by their progress. Situated between them, our legitimate desire is to benefit from their prosperity and this pragmatism is guiding our deep and comprehensive engagement with them," he said at the event attended by Oli. "Finding fault alone will not help," Thapa told the envoys adding that "true partnership means support, solidarity and appreciation of what has been gained and encouragement for continuous improvement." He also talked about the Madhesi agitation that claimed the lives of more than 50 people and crippled the economy of the landlocked country for months, creating a shortage of essential goods and also soured Indo-Nepal ties. The Madhesi-led blockade of all trading points with India, however, ended unexpectedly in February just before Oli's maiden visit to India without any political agreement. Nepal had accused India of imposing an "economic blockade", which India strongly denied. Thapa said in the past few months "the uneasy situation at Nepal-India border points have been resolved and trade, transit and supplies have been normalised." Talking about the new Constitution, which has been opposed by Madhesis, Thapa said there was a perception that the constitution was not complete, inclusive and broad-based. "The fact of the matter is that critics have either not studied the Constitution fully or they do not want to assess its content fairly and objectively." "Concrete measures have been devised to promote inclusive representation in all levels of governance," he stressed and said the government's focus was now on its implementation. He said the achievements Nepal has made so far "in empowering people, institutionalising democracy and promoting an inclusive society have not been an easy take." "We do not want to lose this time what we have gained," he said. Newly elected Gandhinagar Mayor Pravin Patel, who had defected from Congress to BJP recently, was allegedly thrashed by some Congress leaders and corporators after which nine of them were arrested, police said today. The incident took place yesterday outside Patel's office at Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) complex where he was allegedly abused and manhandled by a bunch of Congress leaders and workers, inspector of Sector-7 Police Station K M Priyadarshi said. "As many as nine leaders were arrested late last night. All of them have been released on bail early this morning. Some of them also sustained minor injuries," the officer said, adding Patel was briefly hospitalised after the brawl. The nine leaders include state Congress general secretary Nishith Vyas, Gandhinagar district president Suryasinh Dabhi, city president Kaushik Shah and corporator Shailendrasinh Bihola among others. Patel crossed over to BJP at the last moment helping the party win the polls to Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation last month. Meanwhile, Congress workers alleged that they had gathered at Patel's office to oppose his appointment as the mayor in a peaceful manner. In his FIR, Patel alleged that Congressmen, including some women, attacked him outside his office. He alleged he was first verbally abused and then punched several times by Congress leaders as part of a "pre-planned strategy". However, Congress alleged that they were thrashed by Patel and some other BJP corporators at the spot. "We were staging peaceful protest outside the mayor office yesterday afternoon. It was Patel who manhandled one of our female workers and threatened us. Sadly, police took only Patel's complaint and refused to take ours," Nishith Vyas said after coming out on bail. "We were protesting because Patel back-stabbed people of Gandhinagar who gave an equal mandate to both the parties. Due to Patel's unethical move, BJP grabbed power and rewarded Patel with Mayor's post. We have been beaten up outside his office at the behest of senior leaders of Gujarat BJP," he alleged. In the polls to 32 seats of the civic body, both BJP and the Congress won 16 seats. On May 6, when the decision as to who will form the board was to be taken through draw of lots, Patel switched sides, putting BJP in majority with 17 seats. He was also made the Mayor. Congress has been holding Patel responsible for not adhering to people's mandate and accused the ruling party of engaging in "unethical practices". A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launch a campaign for ban on liquor in Jharkhand, BJP today said he should "focus on his state to reduce the crime graph there". "The focus of Nitish Kumar should be Bihar to reduce crime graph there instead of focusing on Jharkhand," state BJP spokesperson Pradip Sinha said here. On Kumar accusing the ruling BJP of "taking away" six Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) MLAs soon after the creation of the BJP-led NDA government in the state, Sinha said the Bihar Chief Minister should have known that the matter is sub judice. "Nitish Kumar should have known that the matter is in the Speaker's court and some people have also approached the High Court. He should have waited till the verdict," he said. Kumar in Bokaro yesterday had alleged that when Raghubar Das formed government in Jharkhand, he "took away JVM MLAs, which is immoral and illegal under anti-defection law". In a separate meeting in Dhanbad, he launched a campaign for ban on sale of liquor which his government has imposed in Bihar in April this year. Amid a diplomatic row with Bangladesh, Pakistan today expressed its "deep sadness" over the execution of chief of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Motiur Rahman Nizami, saying his "only sin" was upholding the Constitution and laws of Pakistan. "Pakistan is deeply saddened over the hanging of the Ameer of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Mr. Moti-ur-Rehman Nizami, for the alleged crimes committed before December, 1971," Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement. "His only sin was upholding the constitution and laws of Pakistan," the statement added. It said that "the act of suppressing the opposition by killing their leaders through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy". "The execution is also unfortunate for the people of Bangladesh who had elected Mr. Nizami as their representative in the Parliament," it said. Pakistan said that the execution was against the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, involving Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, under which the Bangladesh "decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency". "The Government of Bangladesh therefore should uphold its commitments as per the Agreement," the FO said. Tensions between the two countries flared after Pakistan expressed "deep concern" over Bangladesh's Supreme Court verdict handing down the death penalty to Nizami for atrocities committed during the 1971 Liberation War, prompting Dhaka to ask Islamabad on May 8 to refrain from interfering in its internal affairs. The matter escalated the next day when Bangladesh summoned the Pakistani high commissioner in Dhaka to lodge a protest over Islamabad's reaction. In the statement today, Pakistan said since the beginning of the trials, several international organisations, human rights groups and international legal figures have raised objections to the court proceedings, especially regarding fairness and transparency, as well as reported harassment of lawyers and witnesses representing the accused. The international community has objected to the steps taken by Bangladesh government to impose restrictions on the independence of judiciary. Pakistan also offered condolences to the bereaved family members and the followers of Nizami. In a major setback to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, revenue officials in Goa today allowed the lenders to Kingfisher Airlines to take physical possession of 'Kingfisher Villa' in Candolim. "The North Goa Collector has given an order in favour of banks to take physical possession of the Kingfisher Villa," banking sources said late this evening. The Villa, valued at Rs 90 crore, used to be Mallya's base in Goa and also the venue of many of the famous parties hosted by him during the 'good times'. Advocate Parag Rao, who appeared on behalf of United Spirits, told PTI that the company had withdrawn its claim before the collector yesterday. "We told the collector that we will not press for the objection," he said. Representing the bankers' consortium, SBICAPS had sought physical possession of the property under Section 14 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act in late 2014. However, three of Mallya's companies -- United Spirits Limited (USL), Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries -- had objected to the move. Last week, media reports had said that Mallya put up a "villa manager" as a caretaker to thwart the bank's attempt to take it over. The villa was mortgaged to the lenders while obtaining loans for the now defunct airliner, but the caretaker, who claimed to be an employee of United Breweries, and the subsequent establishment of tenancy rights would have made it difficult for the banks to take over the property. According to reports, bankers' attempts to take possession of the villa were repeatedly stalled by USL, which claims the first right to buy the property as it is a tenant. USL had also approached a local court, citing provisions in the Portuguese Civil Code to block auction of the property in the past. There was a delay on part of the collector in allowing takeover of the property, which made SBICAPS approach the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court. The bench granted three months to the collector to complete the hearing of application filed by the consortium of banks seeking possession of the villa. So far, the banks have recovered over Rs 1,400 crore by selling shares and collaterals and over Rs 1,200 crore is blocked in escrow accounts at Debt Recovery Tribunal, Bengaluru and the Karnataka High Court. Mallya had told the Supreme Court he was ready to repay up to Rs 6,800 crore of the total dues of over Rs 9,400 crore. Last month, the consortium of banks had failed in its attempt to sell Kingfisher Airline's erstwhile headquarters Kingfisher House in Mumbai because of the high reserve price of Rs 150 crore. Attempts to sell the Kingfisher brands and associated trademarks carrying a reserve price of Rs 367 crore had also found no takers. Mallya left the country on March 2 for London. Earlier this week, the Government asked Britain to deport Mallya, citing the revocation of his passport and a non-bailable warrant against him. The number of landless agricultural labourers in the country rose to 14.43 crore in 2011 from 10.67 crore in 2001, Parliament was informed today. "The number of landless agricultural workers in India as per Census 2001 was 10.67 crore and as per Census 2011 it was 14.43 crore," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. For welfare of unorganised workers including sugarcane workers, the government has enacted Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008, besides various schemes to provide social security cover, he added. In a separate query, the Minister informed the House that registration, identification and issuance of smart card/U-WIN card to unorganised workers has come under the purview of the respective state/UT governments as per the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008. "However, the government has proposed a unified IT based platform for delivery of the services available under various social security schemes," Dattatreya added. The proposal is being reviewed on the basis of remarks/ comments received from various stakeholders, he said. "In view of near universal coverage of Aadhaar, the government is now working on a policy on delivery of various public services using Aadhaar, Jan Dhan Yojana account and existing platform without issuance of smart card/U-WIN card," the Minister added. (Reopens DCM97) Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya provided the information to the Rajya Sabha today in reply to a question raised by independent Rajya Sabha MP Parimal Nathwani. Nathwani released this data (provided by the minister) to the media here in Vadodara. There are 14.43 crore landless agriculture workers in the country and Uttar Pradesh tops the list with 1.99 crore such labourers, followed by Bihar. "Gujarat accounts for 68.39 lakh landless agriculture workers (as per the 2011 census), which stood at 51.61 lakh in 2001 census. The highest 1.99 crore landless workers are in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar with 1.83 crore. Both these states witnessed addition of 65.38 lakh and 49.27 lakh landless agriculture workers respectively between 2001 and 2011," the statement added. "Interestingly, the number of landless agriculture workers has gone down in Kerala, Goa, Pondicherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Daman & Diu," it added. Under the Unorganised Workers Social Security Act, the central government spent Rs 5,721.42 crore in 2014-15, the minister was quoted as saying. "I wanted to know about the comparative increase in the number of landless agricultural labourers/ workers in the country, the details of the schemes run by the Government to provide social security to the landless agricultural labourers and unorganised workers in the country, including the funds allotted for the purpose, and the details of the other schemes being implemented for the welfare and upliftment of such workers...," Nathwani said in the release. In 2014-15, the government spent Rs 5,721.42 crore under nine schemes, formulated by the Government to provide social security cover to the unorganised workers. "These schemes are: Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, National Family Benefit Scheme, Janani Suraksha Yojana, Handloom Weavers' Comprehensive Welfare Scheme, Handicraft Artisans' Comprehensive Welfare Scheme, Pension to Master Craft Persons, National Scheme for Welfare of Fishermen and Training and Extension, Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana," said the statement. US President Barack Obama has directed his national security team to intensify the anti-ISIS operations across all military and civilians front to degrade and destroy the dreaded terror organisation. "The president directed his National Security Council to continue to intensify our counter-ISIL operations across all military and civilians front," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday. The operations include disrupting foreign fighter networks, halting ISIS' expansion outside of Syria and Iraq, countering ISIS financing, disrupting any ISIS external plotting efforts and of course countering ISIS' propaganda and messaging, he said after Obama's meeting with his national security team at the White House. During the meeting, Obama was briefed on ongoing US and coalition efforts to degrade ISIS' hold in Iraq and in Syria while also checking ISIS' ambitions for expansion outside those countries, Earnest said. Noting that recent efforts to reinforce the cessation of hostilities in Syria, the Obama and his team also discussed options to further advance a political resolution to the Syrian civil conflict while continuing our efforts to pressure ISIS there, he added. In addition, assistance to President for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism Lisa Monaco was in Brussels to meet with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michelle and other Belgian security and intelligence officials. The meeting is part of "our shared efforts" to disrupt terrorist plotting against the US and Europe and to degrade and destroy ISIS, Earnest said. "Monaco's travel to Belgium is one of a series of high- level engagements we're undertaking with our coalition partners to discuss ways we can enhance our counter-terrorism cooperation. "The people of Brussels know all to well that ISIS continues to both plot complex attacks against our interests and seeks to inspire lone wolfs, to attack us independently of ISIS command and control. That is why we are constantly looking at ways we can intensify our intelligence cooperation and further disrupt the flow of foreign fighters," he said. "We will work to share with our partners lessons the US learned following the September 11 terrorist attacks about breaking down information stove pipes and protecting our homeland more effectively," Earnest added. An Indian-American woman elementary teacher from Texas has been honored by USPresident Barack Obamaat the White House for her excellent work in the field of education. Revathi Balakrishnan, a gifted teacher at Patsy Sommer Elementary School, was also named 2016 'Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year'. "It is not work for me. It is actually a passion," said 53-year-old Austin-based Balakrishnan who has taught in the district's talented and gifted programmes for nine years. Currently teaching math classes in third through fifth grade at Sommer, Balakrishnan, who was honoured last week, will now represent Texas in the 'National Teacher of the Year' competition. "I'm an Indian-American, so I think the Indian community is feeling a lot of pride and joy," Balakrishnan said, adding that about 30 per cent of the students at 'Sommer Elementary' are Asian or Indian. "I feel proud to represent those and I can convince a lot of younger generation Indian kids to turn to teaching for a career. So I feel I can actually have some impact on that," she said. Balakrishnan has taught at 'Sommer Elementary' for six years before teaching at Forest North Elementary for three years. Originally from Chennai, Balakrishnan was a systems analyst with Liberty Mutual, managing databases and programming for about 12 years before becoming a teacher. Terming her style of teaching as "no nonsense", Balakrishnan, who earned her economics degree from University of Madras, attributes her success in the field of education to her love of teaching. She said the excitement of teaching, learning with students and the opportunity to shape students who are the "leaders of tomorrow" drives her. "Not one day is the same, which is what I like. I don't like structure. I just go with the flow and I love what happens," Balakrishnan said. The 'National Teacher of the Year Programme' identifies exceptional teachers in the country, recognises their effective work in the classroom, engages them in a year of professional learning, amplifies their voices and empowers them to participate in policy discussions at the state and national levels. During his historic visit to Hiroshima this month, would promote his vision of a nuclear weapons-free planet by becoming the first sitting US president to tour the site where America first dropped an atomic bomb in 1945, killing an estimated 140,000 people. "The President intends the visit to send a much more forward-looking signal about his ambition for realising the goals of a planet without nuclear weapons," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday. Obama would be the first American president to visit Hiroshima -- the site of the first nuclear attack by the US on Japan -- later this month. The visit is also an opportunity to highlight the remarkable transformation in the relationship between Japan and the US. "If you would have imagined that one of our closest partners and allies in Asia was Japan just 70 years ago, it would have been very difficult to imagine, given the hostilities between our two countries," Earnest said. "But yet that's exactly what has occurred, based on a commitment of the leaders of our two countries to forge closer bonds. We've also seen deeper ties between our peoples. And even as we speak, there are thousands of US military service members who are stationed in Japan," he added. They operate on bases in Japan that enhance not just the national security of the US but also contribute in important ways to the national security of our Japanese allies, he said. The US and Japan also work effectively together, including through our militaries on humanitarian relief efforts, on other emergency response efforts, including the natural disaster that the Japanese people suffered as a result of the Tsunami and an ensuing crisis at the nuclear facility in Fukushima, Earnest said. "All of this is a testament to the way that the US-Japan relationship has dramatically changed over the last 70 years and the president is certainly interested in further marking the progression of that relationship by visiting Hiroshima," he said. Obama is visiting Japan to attend the G-7 meeting. Obama's visit to Hiroshima follows that of US Ambassador to Japan and Secretary of State John Kerry. "The President will have an opportunity to visit the Peace Park, and offer up his own reflections about his visit to that city. The President certainly does understand the US bears a special responsibility. The US continues to be the only country to have used nuclear weapons," he added. "It means our country bears a special responsibility to lead the world in an effort to eliminate them. This goal of a nuclear weapons free world has been sought by both Democratic and Republican presidents. It is a goal that would make our country and our planet safer," Earnest said. Obama's decision was welcomed by top US lawmakers and non- governmental organisations. Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi described this historic as a great testimony to Obama's bold and principled leadership. "President Obama has been a tireless leader in the global effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, and I commend him and the Administration for their strong focus on this vital challenge for global peace and security," Pelosi said. Senator Mazie K Hirono welcomed Obama's announcement that he will visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial later this month. "I commend President Obama's decision to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial which serves as a poignant reminder of the devastating cost of nuclear warfare, especially on civilian communities," she said. "We applaud President Obama's decision to visit Hiroshima, in part to recognise the innocent victims of war and in particular the experience and work of atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- the hibakusha -- who have worked tirelessly to remind the world why nuclear weapons must never be used again," said Daryl G Kimball, executive director of the independent, non-partisan Arms Control Association. However, Peace Action said Obama must not go to Hiroshima empty handed. Peace Action is the largest peace group in the US founded on abolishing nuclear weapons. "It's time for a US President to visit Hiroshima's Peace Park in Japan to honour those who died during the atomic bombing and to affirm the goal of a nuclear weapons free world. At this point, it's not enough to repeat the words Obama has said several times since his historic Prague speech calling for the abolishment of nuclear weapons. Obama must announce actions he will take in the his remaining months as President that will actually bring the world closer to being free of nuclear weapons," it said. "In a complex world of unsolved old problems and mounting new challenges, we have the vision and the ability to solve this one so that future generations might be spared from a nuclear attack. The President's commemoration at Hiroshima will put this aspiration in stark relief," Senator Ben Cardin said. Almost 140,000 people died in Hiroshima after the bombing on August 6, 1945, including those who died of severe radiation exposure. After a second bombing of Nagasaki -- the World War II ended. But opinions remain divided whether their use ended the brutality of the war and avoided a US invasion of Japan. This would be particularly sensitive for Obama's visit. This December marks the 75th anniversary of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, in Obama's home state of Hawaii. Oil prices dipped in Asia today after the previous day's rally as Canadian oil companies prepare to restart production after being closed by huge wildfires. The commodity has seen strong swings this week as traders weigh up the effects of the blazes that have torn across the vast oil sands region of Alberta as well as disruptions elsewhere. Tuesday saw both main contracts rally as data showed output in oil major Nigeria had slumped to a 22-year low because of pipeline sabotage and increasing unrest that has seen major companies evacuate staff. Rebels seeking a fairer share of revenue for locals in the oil-rich southern delta are increasingly targeting facilities, posing a fresh security challenge for President Muhammadu Buhari. Also, yesterday Canadian officials suggested output in could take time to return to normal after the fires. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said facilities could come back online "in the coming days and short weeks ahead," after a meeting with oil company executives. But analysts said they expected prices to flatline for the time being. "The sentiment around traders in the market is that they do think the disruptions are a temporary obstacle. Longer-term, should oil companies resume production, they are expecting oil prices to hover around $40," CMC Markets senior trader Alex Wijaya told AFP. At around 0445 GMT, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in June was down 32 cents, or 0.72 per cent, at USD 44.34 and Brent crude fell 27 cents, or 0.59 per cent, trading at USD 45.25 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate soared 2.8 per cent and Brent climbed 4.3 per cent yesterday. Investors are now waiting for the release of US Energy Information Administration's stockpiles report later in the day for an idea about demand in the world's biggest oil consumer. A report Tuesday from the American Petroleum Institute (API) indicated inventories had risen last week. Oil prices have been hammered over the past two years by weak demand, a huge supply glut, overproduction and a slowdown in the global economy, particularly China. While the black gold is up from near 13-year lows in February, it is well down from the levels above USD 110 touched in mid-2014. Australian scientists today claimed to have unearthed a fragment of the world's oldest known ground edge axe, created up to 49,000 years ago, around the time humans first arrived on the continent. The latest discovery, about the size of a thumbnail, was made byArchaeologists ofAustralian National University (ANU) in Western Australia's remote Kimberley region. ANU'sarcheologist Sue O'Connor said the axe dates back between 46,000 and 49,000 years, around the time people first arrived on the continent. "This is the earliest evidence of hafted axes in the world. Nowhere else in the world do you get axes at this date," O'Connor from the university'sSchool of Culture, History and Language, said. "In Japan such axes appear about 35,000 years ago. But in most countries in the world they arrive with agriculture after 10,000 years ago." O'Connor said this discovery showed early Aboriginal technology was not as simple as has been previously suggested. A hafted axe is an axe with a handle attached. "Australian stone artefacts have often been characterised as being simple. But clearly that's not the case when you have these hafted axes earlier in Australia than anywhere else in the world," she said. O'Connor said evidence suggests the technology was developed in Australia after people arrived around 50,000 years ago. "We know that they didn't have axes where they came from. There's no axes in the islands to our north. They arrived in Australia and innovated axes," she said. Once unearthed, the flakes were then analysed by Peter Hiscock from the University of Sydney. "Since there are no known axes in Southeast Asia during the Ice Age, this discovery shows us that when humans arrived in Australia they began to experiment with new technologies, inventing ways to exploit the resources they encountered," Hiscock said adding 'The question of when axes were invented has been pursued for decades. Hesaid although humans spread across Australia, axe technology did not spread with them. "Axes were only made in the tropical north. These differences between northern Australia, where axes were always used and southern Australia, where they were not, originated around the time of colonisation and persisted until the last few thousand years when axes began to be made in most southern parts of mainland Australia," Hiscock said. The axe fragment was initially excavated in the early 1990s by Professor O'Connor at Carpenter's Gap 1, a large rock shelter in Windjana Gorge National Park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. New studies of the fragment have made it public that it comes from an axe made of basalt that had been shaped and polished by grinding it against a softer rock like sandstone. This type of axe would have been very useful for a variety of tasks including making spears and chopping down or taking the bark off trees. Pakistan and Bangladesh were today involved in war of words over the execution of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami with both sides taking sharp digs at each other. Pakistan first expressed its "deep sadness" over Nizami's execution, saying his "only sin" was upholding the Constitution and laws of Pakistan. "Pakistan is deeply saddened over the hanging of the Ameer of Jamat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Mr. Moti-ur-Rehman Nizami, for the alleged crimes committed before December, 1971," the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement. "His only sin was upholding the constitution and laws of Pakistan," the statement said. Bangladesh quickly hit back, saying the content of Pakistan's statement reaffirmed Nizami's role as a "traitor" who sided with Pakistani troops against "sovereign Bangladesh" in 1971. "First of all, Islamabad's statement is complete interference in Bangladesh's internal affairs, which they have been repeating systematically," Alam told PTI when asked about Pakistan foreign ministry's statement after Nizami's execution last night. He said the content of Islamabad's statement now made it clear that Nizami was a "traitor" by being the chief of the infamous Al-Badr militia force in 1971 when he sided with the Pakistani troops with weapons even after "Independent Bangladesh's emergence on March 26, 1971 in line with the Proclamation of Independence of the Mujibnagar Government". "Their statement proved it again that Nizami was one of them (Pakistanis)...They could have taken him to Pakistan as a citizen if they are so worried about him," Alam said. The Pakistani statement said that "the act of suppressing the opposition by killing their leaders through flawed trials is completely against the spirit of democracy". "The execution is also unfortunate for the people of Bangladesh who had elected Mr. Nizami as their representative in the Parliament," it said. Pakistan said that the execution was against the Tripartite Agreement of 1974, involving Pakistan, Bangladesh and India, under which the Bangladesh "decided not to proceed with the trials as an act of clemency". Pakistani Parliament today also passed a unanimous resolution expressing "concern" and condemning Nizami's hanging. Alam accused Pakistan of "deliberate misinterpretation" of the Tripartite Agreement, saying the treaty allowed Pakistan to take back home 195 war criminals belonging to their army under a provision that they would be tried at home on their return. "Nowhere in the agreement it is mentioned that Bangladesh could not try its nationals who committed crimes against humanity siding with the Pakistan troops during the Liberation War," Alam said. Three million people were killed during the nine-month long Liberation War against Pakistan. (Reopens FGN 37) Pakistan had launched a crackdown on unarmed Bengalis on March 25, 1971, midnight while Jamaat sided with the Pakistani junta. The Pakistani statement came two days after Dhaka summoned the Pakistani High Commissioner to Bangladesh and handed a "strongly worded" protest note over Islamabad's reaction to a Supreme Court judgement reconfirming Jamaat-e-Islami chief Nizami's death penalty. Earlier also, Bangladesh's bilateral relations with Pakistan have been strained over Islamabad's reactions following executions of two major 1971 war crimes convicts -- Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury of BNP and Jamaat's secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed. Pakistan cannot offer "unilateral" trade concessions to India, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir has said, underlining that India should also provide access to Pakistani products with preferential duty regime. Khan said this while he chaired a meeting with a delegation of Pakistani members of the Pak-India Business Council here yesterday. The delegation, led by Yawar Ali Shah, briefed the minister on their recent visit to India and the outcome of meetings held with Indian business and trade stakeholders. The minister said that India should adopt a reciprocal approach as far trade concessions were concerned. "Trade concessions cannot be offered to India unilaterally. India also needs to provide access to Pakistani products with a preferential duty regime," Khan was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper. He said Pakistan is making all-out efforts to increase exports to India to USD 1 billion within a year as textile products and readymade garments have a great potential in the neighbour's market. "Due to proximity, Pakistan is the most favourite and cost-effective market for India in terms of raw material import for their agriculture and textile products," the Commerce minister said. He told the delegation that the Commerce ministry had restructured the National Tariff Commission (NTC) in line with the legal framework set under the guidance of the Supreme Court. The delegation informed the minister that Indian food manufacturers were looking for different Pakistani agricultural products like mangoes and kinnows in specific seasons. "Other agricultural products like green peas could also be exported to India as they run cold storages at a far less capacity of 200,000 tons," they said. The businessmen were of the view that both countries should cooperate in the promotion of small and medium enterprises, agriculture, tourism and culture, research, branding of Basmati rice and visits of business groups. The thousands of Russian names on a list of offshore companies suggests President Vladimir Putin's effort to crack down on such entities is ineffective, experts say, and highlights how keeping wealth abroad remains one of the few ways to keep it safe from corrupt local officials. A database published by investigative journalists on Monday showed over 6,000 Russian citizens and legal entities own or manage offshore companies through Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Spanning over two decades, the data showed no decrease in the number despite the government's efforts. The documents have sparked public outrage and investigations in the West but in Russia the response has been muted. International media outlets with access to the full database say they show a network of Putin's friends handling large sums, allegedly for the president. Moscow has dismissed this as speculation. Beyond Putin's inner circle, they also show that thousands of Russians not just tycoons but mid-size business owners use offshore companies. A record USD 151.5 billion in capital was pulled out of Russia in 2014, when investors panicked about sanctions. Some USD 57 billion flowed out last year. As Russia struggles economically, Putin has made a big show of wanting to crack down on the use of offshore companies, which can help dodge taxes. In March last year, a year after the annexation of Crimea and U.S. And European Union economic sanctions, Putin issued a public warning to a star-studded gathering of tycoons at a posh Moscow hotel: get your money back to Russia, or foreign governments might snap it away from you. Oleg Deripaska, one of the billionaire attendees, later told Russian television that Putin said: "Do it now and for good, and no one will have anything against you." In June, Putin signed a bill declaring a capital amnesty, under which funds brought back to the country would not be taxed and the owner would not be prosecuted. Six months later, only about a hundred people were reported to have brought back their fortunes with the help of the amnesty that year, and the bill was extended through July this year. The thousands of names listed in the so-called Panama Papers suggest the effort is still not yielding much. That may be due to the fact that, like some of his other initiatives, Putin's public scolding of oligarchs seemed to be largely political theater for the domestic audience. However stern Putin's message was, it was not followed by any legislative or regulatory announcements that would make doing business or keeping money in Russia more attractive. Roman Anin, an investigative reporter who helped research the Mossack Fonseca leak, says the reaction to the revelations was muted in Russia because business people have typically resorted to offshore jurisdiction for a reason fundamentally different from western Europe. For business people, it's not about evading taxes, but avoiding corrupt officials. Pandemonium continued today in Odisha assembly, which has remained paralysed over the chitfund scam for over a week, as Leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra called the government "vindictive" and the ruling BJD members protesting against it did not allow him to continue. The pre-lunch session was washed out due to protest from opposition members who demanded resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for not making a statement on the scam. Normalcy was restored in the afternoon session as Congress and BJP MLAs cooperated as per the decision at the all party meeting. However, the House plunged into pandemonium as treasury bench members protested against Mishra referring to the government's attitude towards them. When Mishra called the state government "vindictive", treasury bench members Pravat Biswal and Mahesh Sahu were on their feet and raised protests and Mishra could not proceed. This was followed by counter-protests from opposition members, who rushed to the well. Mishra blaming the treasury bench for the disruption of proceedings for a week, said, "The government wants to give a message that no one should speak against it. They threaten opposition members and make arrangements to send opponents to jail." "An old case of 2002 against me was reopened by the government and the assistant session judge court at Bolangir had been appealed to take action. The government action came only after I criticised it in the house. This shows how vindictive the state government is," he said, alleging that the government did not tolerate criticism from the Opposition. Referring to Law Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo calling him "senile" a few days ago in the assembly, Mishra said, "They even do not have regret for using bad words against the opposition leader ... I did not make allegations against the government. I just put certain questions to the chief minister on the chitfund matter." Mishra later clarified outside the house that Orissa High Court had quashed the case in 2008. Citing sudden upsurge of women power in civil services, Union Minister Jitendra Singh today said more and more candidates from inadequately represented sections of the society were making it to top government jobs. He was speaking after meeting with three toppers of civil services examination--Tina Dabi, Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan and Jasmeet Singh Sandhu--who had called on the Minister at his North Block office here. Congratulating the three youngsters for achieving the meritorious distinction, Singh said, it is a pleasant coincidence that ever since the Modi government took over two years ago, there has been a sudden upsurge of women power in civil services, according to a press release issued by the minister's office. For example, he said, in the last year's exam, four out of six toppers were girls while in this year's exam, two out of four toppers are also girls. Besides Tina, Artika Shukla is the girl who has stood fourth, Singh said. Another notable trend in the last few years is that more and more candidates were making it to civil services from those sections of society which were hitherto not adequately represented. The profile of the three toppers of this year is also a testimony to this trend, he said. "The three toppers represent the hitherto lesser represented sections of society in civil services, which is an indication that the IAS and civil services have finally moved away from being 'elite services' as they were generally described earlier. "The government is committed to make civil services more and more identifiable with the aspirations of the common man," said Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. He said the present government's thrust on citizen centric governance can be achieved by such young civil servants who come from the average common man's background and can easily identify with the aspirations of the common youth of India who comprise more than 65 per cent of the country's population today. Singh said states like Jammu and Kashmir which, till few years ago, complained of not having enough number of direct IAS officers, will also feel gratified as more and more number of candidates from J-K are now making it to the civil services and also requesting for home cadre. Wishing Tina, Athar and Jasmeet best of career, he said, they have 30 to 35 years to serve which is a long period, during which many ministers and many governments will come and go, but they would have to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining continuity in services through the transition of different time-phases. Singh said they are also lucky to enter into the services at a time when India is on the verge of becoming a world power and they would have the satisfaction of being architects of India's grand historic evolution to emerge as frontline nation of the world. Four Indonesian sailors kidnapped by suspected Islamic militants in the strife-torn southern Philippines were released today, the second group of Indonesian hostages to be freed this month. Gunmen abducted the sailors on the high seas off the east coast of Malaysia's Sabah state on April 15, shooting and wounding another crew member. Philippine Islamist group Abu Sayyaf was suspected of having carried out the kidnapping, the latest in a recent spree of abductions that saw them behead a Canadian hostage last month. Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced in Jakarta that the men had been released and were in good health. "The hostage release was successfully conducted due to good cooperation between the Indonesian government and the Philippines," he said. Philippine Foreign Secretary Rene Almendras thanked the Indonesian government for the "very close coordination" that helped secure the release of the hostages, and said efforts were aided by a recent deal aimed at halting the surge in abductions. Foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed last week to lauch joint patrols of a key waterway between their countries and to set up a hotline to communicate faster in emergencies and improve intelligence sharing. The hostages were dropped off outside the house of local politician Abdusakur Tan on Jolo, a mountainous and jungle-clad island in the far south of the Philippines known to be an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. Tan -- the governor of Sulu province, which includes Jolo - said members of a Muslim rebel group had helped negotiate the release. The Indonesians' release was secured through "persuasion and joint efforts of the military and police, and the local and provincial government. No ransom was paid for the freedom of the Indonesians". However, Abu Sayyaf does not normally release hostages without a ransom. The Philippine military said the freed Indonesians were taken to a military base for medical check-ups. "Arrangements are now being finalised for the handover of the Indonesian nationals to Indonesian authorities," it added in a statement. The group were abducted from a tugboat carrying coal that was sailing from Cebu in the Philippines back to Tarakan in Indonesian Borneo. Six other seamen, including the wounded man, managed to escape. The APP government today opposed in the Delhi High Court a PIL alleging that operations were not being carried out at G B Pant Hospital for nearly a month due to some "disputes" between doctors. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath was informed by Delhi government's counsel that since April 2016 around 121 operations were carried out in the hospital. "This petition is not in public interest and it should be dismissed," Delhi government's Additional Standing Counsel Gautam Narayan said. Supporting the contention of the government, Delhi Medical Council (DMC) also said that no medical services have been disrupted due to the above reason and also no misconduct on the part of the doctors was found. They were replying to the court's notice issued on May 4, directing them to file their replies on a PIL for directions to the authorities to ensure essential services and medical treatment are not disrupted. The court, however, asked the government to file affidavit with regard to their contention made orally before it. Beside it, the court also asked the Health Ministry to file its reply by May 26. The petitioner, D N Srivastava, in his plea has contended that "operations were not taking place in Respondent 4 (G B Pant) hospital due to certain disputes between doctors which has led to risk to the life of patients who are suffering from heart diseases and other problems and are being denied medical treatment". The plea filed through advocates Kapil Sankhla and Meghna Sankhla, has contended that patients and general public are suffering due to "ego tussle of the doctors" as operations have not been allegedly carried out in the government hospital since April 6. The petition alleges that "certain dispute arose between the CTVS Department and the Anaesthesia Department which has led to a situation where the consultants of Anaesthesia Department have refused to give anaesthesia to patients in the hospital." It has also claimed that "inaction" on the part of the authorities "has led to violation of right to life and health of the patients and increased medical expense" being incurred by patients who are poor. Srivastava, in his plea, has also sought directions to the doctors of the hospital "to perform their duty during the pendency of the writ petition" as well as initiation of "appropriate disciplinary action against the doctors who have refused to perform their duty". The petition has also sought passing of "appropriate orders/directions/guidelines in the nature of code of conduct for hospital staffs like doctors, nurses, paramedicals etc. Of the hospital for addressing their grievance without causing any disruption or prejudice to the smooth functioning of the hospital". With Harish Rawat set to be reinstated as Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Opposition parties today demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi apologise to Parliament with the Congress hoping he "learns his lesson". As the Congress, AAP and other opposition parties hailed the return of Rawat, asserting that democracy has won, the CPI(M) said the "anti-constitutional conspiracy" hatched by the BJP to topple the state government has received a "big setback". The BJP on its part sought to fend off the attack on the party after the Supreme Court gave its nod for Rawat's return, claiming that the Congress has "bought" majority in the state but it has lost "Uttarakhand people's majority". "They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand!. Hope Modiji learns his lesson--people of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy!," Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said in a series of tweets. "Prime Minister should apologize in Parliament and sack the Minister who advised him to impose President's Rule in Uttarakhand," Congress leader Kapil Sibal told reporters. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to hit out at the Modi government. "Modi Govt shud apologise to the nation for acting in unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand," Kejriwal tweeted. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) said the reinstatement of Rawat is a big setback for the BJP. "This is a big setback to the anti-Constitutional conspiracy hatched by the BJP of trying to topple the government in the state and impose its rule there. "The BJP should learn that its resort to such methods at subterfuge to remove democratically elected state governments headed by opposition parties will not succeed," the party said in a statement. BJP said that Congress has imposed President's rule in the country on more than 100 occasions and alleged they have "bought" the majority in Uttarakhand but the party has lost the majority of the people of the state. "Congress has put President's rule in the country for more than 100 times. It (Uttarakhand episode) was Congress's internal strife. There was revolt among the Congress MLAs due to the anti-people policy of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. "The MLAs revolted against Harish Rawat as he was involved in corruption," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged, adding," That is why their government fell and President's rule was imposed in the state. Congress has bought majority, they did not get majority. But Congress has lost Uttarakhand people's majority. (REOPENS DEL 46) Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee President Sachin Pilot said the judiciary has restored the faith of people in democracy. "The judiciary has protected the Constitution and showed the mirror to the adamancy of BJP. This will be a milestone in the history of politics in India," Pilot said. PNC Infratech today said it has been declared as the lowest bidder for a contract in Uttar Pradesh for resurfacing the runway at an Air Force station. "PNC Infratech Ltd was declared the L1 (lowest) Bidder for the project of extension and resurfacing of runway at Air Force Station, Bakshi Ka Talab, near Lucknow. The bid amount for this project of Military Engineering Services, Government of India, is Rs 140.6 crore," the company said in a statement. The price bids were opened yesterday with PNC's bid being declared the lowest. "This is the second EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contract won by the company in the current financial year, having last month won a Rs 120 crore bid for upgradation of a PWD road in Aligarh, UP, the company said. PNC Infratech is an infrastructure construction, development and management company, with expertise in execution of major infrastructure projects, including highways, bridges, flyovers, airport runways, power transmission lines, development of industrial areas and other infrastructure activities. The company has executed and is executing projects across various states in India including Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The company said till date it has executed 51 major projects and is working on 21 projects on EPC basis. The firm's total order book, in terms of contracts pending execution is over Rs 5,200 crore. PNC Infratech, through its various subsidiaries and associate companies, has a portfolio of 7 operational projects. The shares of the company were trading at Rs 530 on BSE, down 2.17 per cent from the previous close. Gene Gutowski, a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who was the producer of three films by director Roman Polanski in the 1960s and reunited with him decades later for the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama, "The Pianist," has died. He was 90. Gutowski's son, Adam Bardach, told The Associated Press that his father died of pneumonia on Tuesday at a hospital in Warsaw. The Gutowski-Polanski collaboration in the 1960s resulted in the 1965 psychological horror film "Repulsion," starring French actress Catherine Deneuve, followed by "Cul-de-Sac" (1966) and "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967), films that brought Polanski to Hollywood. Years later Polanski credited Gutowski with launching his international career, calling him "one of the most important figures in my existence." Gutowski was the son of a cultured and assimilated Jewish family in eastern Poland but saw his youth shattered by World War II and the loss of his family in the Holocaust. Immediately after the war he worked for US military intelligence hunting Nazis in postwar Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1947. A talented artist and sculptor, Gutowski worked as a fashion illustrator in New York before he took up film production. He led a jet-setting playboy lifestyle for many years that took him across Europe, to Hollywood and the Virgin Islands, with six wives and many lovers along the way, a life story he tells in a memoir, "With Balls and Chutzpah: A Story of Survival." For several years he was also was a consultant to Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Following the fall of communism in eastern Europe he returned to Poland, spending his latter years in Warsaw. Gutowski and Polanski met in 1963, shortly after Polanski had made his breakthrough film, "Knife in the Water," a Polish-language production that gained him acclaim and an Oscar nomination but still no eager supporters for his next film. At the time Polanski was 30 and lived in France, speaking no English. Gutowski, who was living in London, was hugely impressed by the talent of his fellow Pole and persuaded him to go to London and make a film in English, pushing for something "shocking" that would test the limits of the censors. The result was "Repulsion." Gutowski was born Witold Bardach on July 26, 1925, in Lwow, Poland (today Lviv in Ukraine). He came from a family of lawyers, doctors, concert pianists and army officers, a family so assimilated that they celebrated Easter and Christmas and never attended synagogue. Pondicherry University Vice Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy has tendered her resignation, a senior HRD ministry official said today. Earlier, Krishnamurthy had been issued a show cause notice after a UGC committee found her guilty of plagiarism and misrepresentation. "The Pondicherry VC has submitted her resignation and it is being examined," the official said. Krishnamurthy took charge on February 1, 2013 for a five-year term. Last August, she was served a show cause notice asking her to explain why she should not be dismissed. However, the VC had challenged the "procedural fairness" in issuing of the notice and after a court verdict found nothing wrong, she replied to it earlier this year. Mumbai civic administration's Health Department has launched a probe into an alleged incident of turning away patients by hospital staff as they celebrated 'Haldi Kumkum', a popular women's festival, and played loud music. The hospital authorities, however, refuted that inconvenience was caused to patients due to the celebration. In an anonymous complaint, it was alleged that in March, around 10 to 15 staff, including doctors, nurses and class IV workers of Diwaliben Mehta Hospital in Chembur turned away patients and played loud music while celebrating the festival. Medical Superintendent and Supervisor of Diwaliben Mehta Hospital, Dr Pradeep Jadhav said, "Following a complaint filed with us, we set up a committee to investigate the incident and the report would be submitted in a day or two." Jadhav added that as per initial findings, it does not concur that any rules were broken. A senior official of the Health Department, requesting anonymity, said, "The allegation levelled against the staff is baseless. Not a single patient has come forward to substantiate the charges." "The festival was celebrated in several hospitals of the city. All the patients were duly attended to as it was organised during post-duty hours. Moreover, it was a ceremony only for women, and all male staff including doctors were at work," he said. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the railways between September 2015 and February this year stood at USD 59.81 million, the Lok Sabha was informed today. As per data compiled by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the quantum of FDI during September 2015 to February this year is USD 59.81 million, Minister of State for Railway Manoj Sinha told the Lok Sabha in a written reply. He said agreements have been signed between Railways and Joint Venture Company for setting up of two locomotive factories at Madhepura (Electric) and Marhowra (Diesel) in Bihar costing about Rs 2600 crore entailing FDI inflow in rolling stock manufacturing. While precise amount of FDI further expected can not be predicted or quantified, potential projects involving FDI include Dankuni and Kancharapara rolling stock factories and annuity projects of third line between Wardha-Nagpur, Kazipet-Vijaywada and Bhadrak-Nargundi. Railways has notified sectoral guidelines on FDI and nominated PPP cell of the Ministry as the FDI facilitation cell. Over 40,000 farmers are expected to attend a three-day 'Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM) 2016' scheduled to be held here fromNovember9 this year. Arrangements and preparations for the event were reviewed by senior state government officials who held a meeting with the partner Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). "The primary objective of GRAM is to ensure economic empowerment of the people through accelerated yet sustainable growth in agriculture and to double farmer's income by 2022," Principal Secretary- Agriculture and Horticulture, Neelkamal Darbari said. "Large number of suggestions and inputs were discussed to make the event a success," she said. In addition to farmers, the officer said, the event will also be an important platform for investors, manufacturers and the academicians and researchers, content development will factor in all these tiers. Road shows will be held pan-India to promote the event. Israel, Netherlands, Canada and Australia have been invited to partner the event. Canada has already confirmed participation by way of a large contingent. Other officers and the representatives from FICCI were present in the meeting. Congress leader Harish Rawat is all set to be reinstated as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, over six weeks after he was ousted by the Centre, with the Supreme Court today putting its stamp of approval on the floor test in the Assembly yesterday. "Rawat gets 33 votes out of 61 in the floor test. No irregularities were found in the voting. 9 MLAs could not vote due to their disqualification," an apex court bench said and directed revocation of the President's rule forthwith so that 68-year-old Rawat can assume office as Chief Minister. Celebrations broke out in Dehradun the moment the news trickled in from the court that Rawat has won the trial of strength in the Assembly yesterday which was carried out on the instructions of the Supreme Court. The developments have come as a major loss of face for the Modi Government at the Centre which had dismissed the Congress government and imposed President's rule after nine Congress MLAs sided with the BJP on the Appropriation Bill. The rebel MLAs were subsequently disqualified by the Speaker under the anti-defection law, a decision that was upheld by the High Court and not interfered with by the Supreme Court. The bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh made the pronouncement today after perusing the records filed by Principal Secretary (Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs) as directed by it. At the outset, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi conceded that there is no doubt that Harish Rawat has proved his majority. "It is clear that respondent number 1 (Harish Rawat) has proved the majority on the floor of the house. I have received instructions from the Centre on the issue. The instructions are that the Centre will revoke the President's rule," the AG told the bench. "It's a fair decision," senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Harish Rawat, told the court. The bench said Harish Rawat will assume office as CM after President's rule is revoked. "We allow the Centre to revoke forthwith the order of proclamation of President's rule in the state," it said. The bench asked the Centre to file before it day after tomorrow its order revoking the President's rule in Uttarakhand. It, however, held that the justifiability of the proclamation of President's rule made on March 28, which has been assailed by the high court, will remain alive as it is under challenge before the apex court. It also noted that the nine disqualified MLAs have challenged the HC order and the matter is of debate. "We do not say anything on that," the bench said. An ecstatic Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said that democracy has won and hoped that the Prime Minister will "learn the lesson". "They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand. "Hope the PM learns the lesson that people of India and institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate murder of democracy," Rahul said on Twitter. The bench said the justifiability of the President's rule has to be gone into and observed, "Suppose we set aside the disqualification of the nine MLAs, there will be another floor test." The bench noted in its order that the proceedings of the floor test were appropriately observed by Principal Secretary (Legislature and Parliamentary Affairs), Uttarakhand, along with Secretary (Legislative Assembly). The bench also recorded the statement of AG and Additional Solicitors General Tushar Mehta and Maninder Singh that there has been no irregularity in carrying out the voting. "We have opened the result of the vote presented to us in a sealed cover by Jaidev Singh, Principal Secretary (Legislature and Parliamentary Affairs) and we find that 33 votes out of 61 were cast in favour of Rawat," the bench said. "We also clarify that nine members of the Legislative Assembly did not vote as they stand disqualified," it said. Earlier, Attorney General Rohatgi said that "it is clear from news and other reports that orderly vote did take place and Rawat proved his majority. I have taken instruction from the government and instruction from the very highest authority is that we will revoke the President's rule." "I also have an instruction that this can only be done with the leave of this court. We will revoke the President's rule from today. I have also advised the government to revoke the President's rule," the AG said. Senior advocate Sibal said, "Our appreciation is for the fair stand taken by the AG." The AG said, "His (Rawat's) government has to be restored forthwith. The bench also recorded the statement of Jaidev Singh that there was no irregularity in the voting. "We accept the same. We hasten to add the same is accepted by the Attorney General," the bench said. At this juncture, the AG submitted that the order of April 22, 2016 putting in operation the President's rule, after the high court had quashed it, has to be modified so that Union of India can take steps for revocation of the President's rule. "Keeping in view the prayer of the AG, we vary the order by granting liberty to Union of India to revoke proclamation of President's rule in course of the day. "After it is revoked, the order of revocation of proclamation of President's rule will be produced so that an appropriate order can be passed," the bench said. "Needless to say, after the revocation of the President's rule, Rawat can assume the office of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand," the bench said. The bench said there are two other aspects which needed clarification. "First, justifiability of proclamation of President's rule made on March 27 which has been annulled by the HC, will remain alive for the high court has ascribed many a reason to arrive at the conclusion that the said proclamation was not tenable in law," it said. The bench said it has to be scrutinised in judicial review whether the opinion arrived at for proclamation of President's rule was justified or not. The second aspect is that of 9 MLAs who were disqualified by the Speaker and their disqualification was upheld by the HC and has been assailed in the Special Leave Petition and "this court refused to grant interim order of stay on the relevant SLP by May 9 order and matter has been adjourned for July 12. "What will be the effect of the disqualification is the matter of debate. We do not say anything on that," the bench said and posted the matter for Friday. On Friday, it will peruse the order of revocation of proclamation of President's rule in Uttarakhand while also fixing the next date for hearing the appeal filed by Centre against the HC order quashing imposition of President's rule under Article 356 of the Constitution. Congress today claimed in the Rajya Sabha that the "real opposition" to the long-pending bill was coming from within the government and that the main opposition was ready to give full support to it provided its three key recommendations are accepted. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also questioned the credibility of the current GDP growth figure of 7.6%, claiming that nobody believes these numbers as they are "suspicious". The former minister asked the government to come out with "credible" GDP figures and suggesed setting up a committee under the chairmanship of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. He also raked up the issue of alleged irregularities by Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in its KG basin gas project and demanded a probe into it, while asking the government not be selective in investigating NPA cases. Participating in a debate on the Finance Bill, Ramesh harped on '3 Gs' -- GST, GDP and Gas (of GSPC). The Congress member insisted that his party wants and that it was ready to give full support to the government if its three suggestions are incorporated in the bill. "We have three suggestions. One is setting up of independent committee to adjudicate disputes, elimination of 1% tax and introduction of capping. If consensus on these three is arrived, we are ready to support," he said. The bill, which proposes to overhaul the indirect tax regime, has been pending in the Rajya Sabha for a number of years because of resistance mainly by the Congress which wants changes in it. On capping upper limit for GST, Ramesh said the government says this cannot be accepted as there is no provision in the Constitution for this purpose. But the Article 276 (2) provides for capping and "with creative use of language" the government can accomodate. Referring to a media report that said some section in the government believes that GST is undesirable, the former Minister said, "the real opposition to GST is not coming from the Congress, it is coming from within the government." He attacked the government for using Congress as "smoke screen" for the current situation of GST. Speaking about GDP growth figures, Ramesh said today nobody believes India's GDP figures. "Chief Economic Advisor, RBI Governor, London economists and WallStreet Journal do not believe our GDP numbers," he claimed. "Nobody is denying that ware having high growth rate. But the number put on GDP are highly suspicious. It (GDP growth) is somewhere between 5.9% and 6.5% and not 7.5%," he said. Stating that India is growing and the country should grow much faster, Ramesh said, "For the first time, the credibility of GDP numbers are questioned. It has served the government purpose. I urge the government to pause a bit and come out with credible set of figures. Raising the GSPC issue, Ramesh, whose term as Rajya Sabha member is ending tomorrow, said the country is concerned about non-performing assets (NPAs) of banks and the government cannot be "selective" in investigating NPAs be it private or public companies. "I am speaking about misappropriation in the Appropriation bill. I am forced to use this route the notice for discussion on GSPC issue was not considered by the Chair," he said. The government is investigating loan default of Rs 9,000 crore by industralist Vijay Mallya and the government should also probe irregularities at public-owned GSPC. The Congress leader said, "What about a company (GSPC) which has taken loan of about Rs 20,000 crore and has to pay Rs 8,000 crore annually, while its income is only Rs 80 crore. Is it not a fit case of NPA?" Ramesh demanded a probe into the lending of Rs 19,700 crore loan to GSPC when gas reserves had come down to one trillion cubic feet in offshore KG-basin gas project from 20 trillion gas discovery announced in 2005 by then Gujarat CM. "Yes, UPA was in power but the company was GSPC. Bank loan increased from zero to Rs 19,700 crore. Why did this happen? Investigate this aspect. How was this loan given at a time when reserves were cut by GSPC itself? What did GSPC do? What was this money used for? " he sought to know. "There can be no selective in its drive to bring down NPAs, misuse of funds and diversion of funds. The Finance Minister should investigate this," Ramesh said. He also mentioned that the state-run firm had signed two contracts -- one each with 'Geoglobal' and 'Tough Drilling', which were not key players in the oil exploration business. Referring to a Petroeleum Minister's interview in which he said ONGC was talking with GSPC for buying stake, Ramesh said the government is asking ONGC to buy 60% stake in GSPC which is a sick company and owes Rs 19,700 crore to banks. Twentynine Indians, including six families from Kerala, rescued after being stranded in strife-torn Libya, will return home in two days, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today. "I have some good for you. Six families from Kerala and three Tamil Nadu residents, who were stranded in Libya, will return home safely tomorrow or day after. In total 29 persons have been rescued," he told a BJP election meeting in nearby Tripunithura. The BJP-led NDA government has been 'very proactive' whenever Indian nationals are in distress, he said referring to the rescue of nurses in libya and of Fr Prem from the clutches of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The government had also succeeded in getting commuted the death sentence of five Tamil Nadu fishermen languishing in Sri Lankan prison. "They have been saved and they are happily living with their families," he said, adding they met him during his election rally today in Tamil Nadu. Ali Haider Gilani, the son of Pakistan's former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, was today flown from Kabul to Lahore, a day after he was rescued by US and Afghan forces from the clutches of Taliban militants who had held him hostage for three years. Pakistan said yesterday that American and Afghan security forces had recovered Haider from Taliban militants in a joint special operation in Afghanistan's Ghazni province after he was kidnapped from an election rally on May 9, 2013. The Pakistan Foreign Office said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dispatched a special plane to bring Haider from Kabul. Local media reported that the plane had landed at the Lahore airport where his family members and close relatives were present to receive him. Earlier, Pakistan's ambassador to Kabul Abrar Hussain received Haider at the Afghan Ministry of Defence around 10 am and thereafter he was taken to the airport by helicopter for onward travel to Lahore. The Foreign Office said that the Pakistan leadership deeply appreciated the successful efforts of the Afghan National Army and NATO forces in recovering Haider safely and for arrangements for his immediate return to Pakistan. "Pakistan hopes that the three nations can work together to decrease and eliminate terrorism from the region. Terrorists cannot be allowed to hold governments hostage," it said. Meanwhile, Abdul Qadir Gilani, Haider's elder brother, rejected reports that he was released after payment of ransom. Haider's release was the second successful instance of a dramatic rescue in a high-profile kidnapping case after slain Punjab governor Salman Taseer's son Shahbaz, who was abducted in 2011, was found in March after spending nearly five years in captivity. Haider, believed to be in his 30s, was kidnapped by gunmen in Multan just two days before the May 11, 2013 general elections which he was contesting. Gilani, who served as premier from 2008 to 2012, had said last year that the abductors had contacted him and demanded ransom for his son's release. In a video message last year, Haider said the kidnappers were initially demanding Rs 2 billion for his release but later reduced the ransom amount to Rs 500 million while his father had said he was ready to pay the ransom amount. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders today won the West Virginia primary defeating Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton by more than 15% points even as the former US secretary of state looks set to secure the party nomination. However, Sanders' win is unlikely to prevent Clinton from emerging as the presumptive Democratic nominee, given that she has a massive lead over him in the delegates count. At a campaign rally in Oregon, Sanders acknowledged that he has an uphill climb in terms of becoming the party's nominee, but said he would continue his fight till the end of the primary season. As a consolation, Clinton won the Nebraska primary, but she is not getting any delegate from it. The delegates were allocated in the March 5 primary, which was won by Sanders. Clinton received 10 delegates as against Sanders' 15. In the Republican party, the sole candidate Donald Trump won both the primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska taking his total delegate count to 1,107. Trump now needs 130 delegates to officially become the presumptive nominee of the party. This seems to be a forgone conclusion given that he is the only candidate left the in fray. "It is a great honour to have won both West Virginia and Nebraska, especially by such massive margins. My time spent in both states was a wonderful and enlightening experience for me," Trump said in a statement. "I learned a lot, and that knowledge will be put to good use towards the creation of businesses, jobs, and the strengthening and revival of their economies. I look forward to returning to West Virginia and Nebraska soon, and hope to win both states in the general election," he said. "Likewise, my time spent last week with the great people of Oregon will hopefully lead to another victory next Tuesday," said Trump who was attacked for the first time by Sanders. In his victory speech in Oregon, where the primary is scheduled for next Tuesday, Sanders said the country should not elect Trump. "Our message to the Democratic delegates who will be assembling in Philadelphia is, while we may have many disagreements with Secretary Clinton, there is one area (where) we agree. And that is, we must defeat Donald Trump," Sanders said. "And after all the votes are cast and counted and this contest moves to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the delegates will decide which candidate is the strongest nominee to take on Donald Trump in November. All of the evidence indicates that I am that candidate," he said. A latest opinion poll released today revealed that Sanders defeated Trump in a hypothetical match in the November general elections but Sanders conceded that he has an uphill climb. He was referring to the latest delegate count, according to which Clinton lead Sanders by 1,705 to 1,415 in pledged delegates and 523 to 39 in super delegates. Thus she has an overall lead of 2,228 to 1,454. Sanders now hopes that super delegates would tilt towards him. "Now, we fully acknowledge we are good at arithmetic, that we have an uphill climb ahead of us, but we are used to fighting uphill climbs. We have been fighting uphill from the first day of this campaign when people considered us a fringe candidacy," Sanders said. The Supreme Court is likely to get four new judges in the next couple of days as the President is learnt to have cleared the names of three high court chief justices and a senior advocate for elevation to the apex court. Sources in the government today said the file pertaining to the elevation of Justice A M Khanwilkar of Madhya Pradesh High Court, Justice D Y Chandrachud of Allahabad High Court, Justice Ashok Bhushan of Kerala High Court and senior lawyer and former Additional Solicitor General L Nageshwar Rao to the Supreme Court has been cleared by President Pranab Mukherjee. They are likely to take oath either on Friday or early next week, the sources said, adding the notification may be issued tomorrow by the Law Ministry. The Supreme Court Collegium had recommended their elevation earlier this month, the first since a new law on appointment of judges to higher judiciary was struck down by the top court. These were the first set of recommendations made by the SC Collegium for appointment as judges of the apex court after the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act came into force on April 13 last. The new law which sought to scrap the collegium system was struck down by a Supreme Court bench on October 16 last. Shiv Sena, a constituent of BJP-led government of Maharashtra, today criticised in Lok Sabha the Devendra Fadnavis dispensation over handling of the drought situation and water shortage. Putting forth his point in Marathi, Pratap Rao Jadhav said the state government provides Rs 1 lakh as compensation to farmers but gives Rs 2-3 lakh to those who die after getting drunk. Jadhav, who represents Buldhana Lok Sabha constituency, demanded that the compensation should be increased to Rs 5 lakh, with the Centre paying up the remaining share. He also demanded a separate budget for agriculture. The Shiv Sena member also criticised the state government for not opening enough cattle camps for grazing in the state, saying it is leading to people selling off their cattle. Jadhav said there are only 371 cattle camps in 4 districts, whereas 28 districts are reeling under drought. Calling for better management of tanker services in villages, the Sena MP said the villagers should at least get 40 litres of water and 45 litres of water for the cattle. He also pressed for recovery of loans from businessmen like Vijay Mallya for using the money to help farmers to recover from debt. The Shiv Sena, which was once a senior partner in the state, shares an uneasy relationship with the BJP. Seven members of the notorious 'snake gang' were today sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court in connection with a dacoity case involving a young woman in July 2014. The Special Sessions Judge of Ranga Reddy district court complex yesterday convicted Faisal Dayani, a gym instructor, and six of the gang's members, who would threaten their victims with snakes, under IPC Section 452 (house-trespass), 395 (dacoity), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354B (assault or use of criminal force to any woman with the intention of disrobing). The eighth accused was convicted only under IPC Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), while the ninth accused, was acquitted of similar charge. Pronouncing the quantum of punishment, Judge V Vara Prasad sentenced Dayani and six others -- Khader B, Tayyab B, Mohd Pervez, Sayyed Anwar, Khaja Ahmed and Mohd Ibrahim -- to life imprisonment under Section 395 (dacoity) of IPC, and directed them to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each. Besides the life sentence, they were also sentenced to seven years imprisonment under IPC sections 452, 506 and 354B and were fined Rs 5,000 each under each section, Public Prosecutor Ponnam Devaraju Goud said. However, all the sentences will run concurrently. The eighth convict Ali B was sentenced to 20 months RI though he has already undergone this period in jail. All the eight convicts were present in the court at the time of pronouncement of judgement. In August 2014, Pahadishareef Police arrested members of the gang, including Dayani, after the 18-year-old girl alleged she was sexually assaulted by them at a farmhouse in Shaheen Nagar here on July 31. The gang members had entered the farmhouse to commit a robbery. They forced the victim to strip by threatening to set a snake on her and then allegedly raped her in front of her fiance, police had earlier said. The seven convicts, who were also booked for gangrape, were acquitted of the charge, as the victim did not confirm the same during the trial and was silent on the allegation before the court. According to police, the gang members used snakes to scare women and sexually assault them and then film their acts. Some of them were also involved in land grabbing, acting as arbitrator between disputing parties, and other offences. BJP chief Amit Shah today took a dip in the Kshipra river with Dalit saints, reaching out to the community at the 'Simhasth Kumbh', a massive congregation of Hindus, as the party looks to consolidate its Hindutva vote base ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections. Mixing with the multitude, Shah later asserted the BJP-led NDA government was committed to strengthening the culture and tradition of India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to attend an event in the city on Saturday, while RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be here tomorrow, underlining the Hindutva outfits' all out attempts to expand their base during the sacred religious congregation. Shah was joined by Dalit saints, including Balyogi Umesh Nath Giri of Balmiki Dham, besides other Hindu seers during the customary dip in the river billed by the party as 'Samrasta Snan' (bath for social harmony). He felicitated them and then went to another event where he honoured the heads of various Hindu akharas. "I and my party workers seek your blessings so that the government under Narendra Modi goes on to make India the 'vishwa guru' (world leader)," he said, batting for social harmony and development. Shah also noted that today was the birth anniversary of Adi Shankaracharya, who was credited with unifying various streams of Hinduism. Later, Shah also had a 'Samrasta Bhoj' (social harmony feast) with Dalit sadhus. Prior to the 'Snan', the BJP chief, accompanied by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and others, took part in a "samagam" (meeting) at Valmiki Dham which was attended among others by Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad head Narendra Giri, Juna Akhara Peeth's head Awdheshanand and Valmiki Dham's Peethadheeshwar Umesh Nath. "BJP is the only party which believes in strengthening the country's culture and fostering the motto of world as one abode, one family (Vasudhaiva kutumbakam)," Shah told reporters. "It (snan) holds more significance as today is the jayanti of Shankracharya, who treaded the path of unifying the main streams of thoughts in Hindu religion at a young age of 32," he said. The non-Dalit sadhus who were earlier averse to the 'Samrasta Snan' today softened their stand, saying they had misunderstood the concept. They said they were under a "wrong" impression that the bath was confined to Shah and the Dalits. After coming to know that people from all castes will participate in it, they decided to join too. "Water is for everybody and saints of all hues have taken bath together. We have no reservation now against the snan," Juna Akhara Peeth's head Awdheshanand said. Valmiki Dham's head Umesh Nath Maharaj appealed to political parties and saints to propagate nationalism above caste, sect and community, a line of thought being vigorously and vociferously being pursued by BJP. Earlier, the Shankaracharya of Dwarkapeeth Swaroopanand Saraswati and Akhil Bharatiya Akahara Parishad president Narendra Giri had deplored the move, saying the sadhus have no caste and all were free to take a holy dip during Kumbh. There were media reports that Shah may skip the 'Samrasta Snan' after senior RSS leader and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh vice president Prabhakar Kelkar said on Sunday the announcement of social harmony bath gave an impression that earlier Dalits were discriminated against during Kumbh. With Narendra Modi and Amit Shah at the helm of affairs in the government and the party, BJP has made no bones about its attempts to broaden and consolidate its core Hindutva vote bank with the help of religious leaders and events. Dalits, who have been mostly wary of embracing the Hindutva agenda, are being aggressively wooed by the party. BJP has of late vigrously promoted the legacy of Dalit icon B R Ambedkar as it believes that the disadvantaged commumity's support held the key to its future. The party's immediate priority is the UP Assembly polls scheduled next year and the Dalits, who constitute over 20 per cent of the state's population, are currently seen to be backing Mayawati-led BSP. REOPENS DEL40 Terming 'Kumbh Snan' as an extraordinary event not only in India but the entire world, Shah said crores of worshippers and saints have been coming together for centuries at the same place and same time to take a holy dip without any invitation from anyone. He said that massive facilities have been created with blessings from religious leaders. Kumbh also gives an opportunity to people to seek blessings of our revered saints and gurus, the BJP chief said. "The BJP-led government is committed to strengthening the culture and tradition of the country. I also bow in front of all saints on behalf of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and pray for well being of all living beings and world at large," he said. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that while United Nations has been speaking about unity of the world in the last few decades, Indians have been taught about unification of the world and wellbeing of all living beings for thousands of years. The BJP President's "Samrasta Snan" at Kumbh with Dalits is significant since it will give much needed confidence to the community, which has faced social boycott, ostracisation and untouchability for centuries, an official statement said. The party is committed to eradication of these social ills and bring Dalits into the mainstream, it said. In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 'Social Justice and Empowerment' for weaker sections was one of the key poll planks of BJP. A 5.5-magnitude shallow earthquake hit Changdu in Tibet Autonomous Region this morning, causing casualties and damage to properties. The China Earthquake Networks Centre monitored the epicentre of the quake, which occurred at 9:15 am, at a depth of seven kilometres. Shallow earthquakes cause more damage despite moderate intensity. Local authorities have said casualties are likely as the rescue teams rushed to the area. The epicentre is located in Kata Town, the site of two major Buddhist temples, Soren, director of the Regional Seismological Bureau, was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua agency. Samba, chief of Kata Town, said he is aware of casualties in Guodong Village, some 10 kms from the township seat. He said he had already seen two injured people while on his way to the village for rescue. Roads leading to the village have caved in, the report said. Township authorities have sent machinery for emergency repairs and to assist quake relief. A Shiv Sena member in the Lok Sabha today made a strong pitch for hike in the salaries of lawmakers, contending that the current salary of Rs 50,000 is not enough to even offer tea to visitors from the constituency. Raising the issue during zero hour, Krupal Balaji Tumane lamented that the bill to enhance the pay and perks of Members of Parliament has been delayed for long. He was supported by several members. He wanted the government to act on the recommendations of the Parliamentary committee concerned "without bothering about the reaction from the media" which does not take into account the work done by the lawmakers. Besides, he said that several members of the state Assemblies including those from Maharashtra, Delhi and Jharkhand draw more salary than the MPs. He also said that the Lok Sabha this time mainly comprises representatives who hail from the "middle class". Chinese and Indian media should refrain from highlighting or hyping up divergences in bilateral ties, but instead focus on how the problems like the vexed boundary issue can be addressed, a top former Chinese diplomat has said. "I think when reporting the border issues, Chinese and Indian media should refrain from highlighting or hyping up divergences, but instead put more emphasis on how the problems can be addressed," said China's former ambassador to India Sun Yuxi, who has attended three rounds of border negotiations. He said both Chinese and Indian governments and peoples insist that the border disputes be solved through negotiations rather than wars. "This conception needs more publicity." "Until a final solution is found to border issues, the two countries have to maintain peace and stability in the border areas. Media on both sides need to urge the two governments to facilitate communication and trust between border forces of both sides and reduce misunderstandings," he told a group of Chinese and visiting Indian journalists here. The Indian journalists brought in by the Observer Research Foundation were in China to attend the annual dialogue with their counterparts from the state-run Global Times in Hobq Desert in Inner Mongolia and Guiyang, Guizhou Province. They shared their views on anti-terrorism, border issues, IT development and the "Belt and Road" initiative, the Global Times reported. "China has no particular requirement for India when dealing with bilateral ties. It only hopes the two countries can maintain a politically friendly tie and keep the momentum for cooperation," said Hu Xijin, Chief Editor of the Global Times, which is part of the official publications of the ruling Communist Party of China. "My Indian friends have said to me many times that China should help India curb terrorists in Pakistan. I don't quite understand why India has such a strong, specific requirement," he said without directly referring to China putting a technical hold on India's move to ban JeM chief Masood Azhar, who is accused of masterminding the Pathankot attack. "It makes it seem like China is mostly responsible for the failure to wipe out terrorists in Pakistan. This is a misperception from the Indian side," Hu said. Saritha S Nair, prime accused in the solar scam, today produced pen drives and CDs before a commission probing the scam, claiming it contained "evidence" linking top state politicians with the scandal. Speaking to reporters after producing the documents before the Justice B Sivarajan Commission, she said more digital proof would be produced before the panel on May 13. Saritha dismissed Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's claim that he has no connection with her and the scam. "The evidence I produced before the Commission will prove the role of some top politicians, including the Chief Minister, in the scam," she said. Saritha claimed the digital documents contained evidence of what she had written in a letter while in police custody. She had in the letter, which was recently aired by two news channels, alleged that the Chief Minister and a host of other leaders had sexually abused her. Dismissing the charges, Chandy has filed a criminal defamation case against Saritha and four journalists of two news channels, complaining that they hatched a conspiracy to defame him by airing the news item on April 3 and 4, to the effect that he raped her. The complaint filed before Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Ernakulam, said they released a "truncated letter (allegedly written by her while she was in judicial incarceration) wherein it is stated that she was raped by the complainant in his official residence--Cliff House, Thiruvananthapuram. "Common sense fails to comprehend as to how such an incident can occur in the Cliff House, where the complainant is residing with his family, and several security guards," the complaint had said. A suicide car bomber detonated outside the home of an anti-Taliban fighter in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar today, killing at least ten people and wounding 23 more, local officials said. The bomber "detonated his explosives-laden car outside the house of a local 'uprising' commander this evening", said Nangarhar police chief Zrawar Zahed, referring to Afghan villagers who take up arms against the Taliban with the government's backing. A spokesman for the Nangarhar governor confirmed the attack in Nazyan district, and said 10 "civilians" had been killed with 23 wounded. Zahed said Malek Dehqan, the target of the attack, was among the wounded. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. The Taliban are active in Nangarhar province, of which Jalalabad is the capital. But the province also faces an emerging threat from loyalists of the Syria-headquartered Islamic State group, which is making gradual inroads in Afghanistan -- challenging the Taliban on their own turf. With the country having a vast coastline, the government has instituted a task force to promote India as a destination for cruise tourism, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. "The Task Force comprises members from central ministries, state governments, various port trusts and private sector," Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said in a written reply. The task force will look at various aspects, including developing infrastructure, simplifying procedures, increasing marketing and communication activities and incentives and commissions. To an another query, Sharma said the maiden 'Maritime India Summit, 2016 (MIS-2016)' was organized by the Ministry of Shipping in Mumbai from April 14 to 16 this year with the objective of creating awareness of the untapped potential of Indian maritime sector and showcase investment opportunities. The focus was on presenting India as an attractive investment destination and encourage investment in Indian maritime Sector, the minister added. During the period between FY10 and FY14, there has been a 14 per cent decline in the number of tourists opting for cruise tours in the country, a trend the government wants to reverse. In FY10, there were 55,000 domestic and 1.35 lakh foreign tourists who boarded cruise ships, which dropped to 45,000 and 70,000, respectively, in FY14. A group of teachers and students from different varsities in West Bengal today protested against the Jadavpur University incident in which students were "attacked" after the screening of a film. Under the forum 'Campus Resists', they alleged that ABVP and their affiliates were behind the attack. "This attack, using the pretext of a film show in the Jadavpur University campus, was specially marked by the targeting of female students who were verbally abused and physically molested by the goons belonging to ABVP," Professor Sugato Roy, who teaches at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, said. He along with other academicians under the forum claimed that this incident is part of a pattern of such attacks which is happening nationwide against centres of higher learning. On May 7, JU witnessed fracas after the screening of Vivek Agnihotri-directed political film 'Buddha in a Traffic Jam' when students from the ABVP fought with activists of Left-backed student unions. A few of them had received minor injuries in the scuffle that ensued. Following this, the university authorities lodged an FIR against some outsiders for allegedly molesting girl students. The government today said the telecom sector has created 2.54 lakh jobs from 2013-14 till April 30 of 2016-17. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said a total of 89,634 jobs were created in 2013-14, 61,573 in 2014-15, 94,294 in 2015-16 and 8,682 in 2016-17 (till April 30, 2016). The numbers include both direct and indirect jobs. The government also spoke about numerous jobs likely to be generated by the telecom sector and its allies as envisaged by India Skill Report, 2016. "In fact, anticipating the need, the government has already conducted the skill gap study for the telecom sector," Prasad said. The skill gap study in the telecom space was conducted under the aegis of the National Skill Development Corporation with support of the Department of Telecom in 2013-14 to assess manpower requirements (2013-22) to identify relevant needs of the sector and prepare a road map. According to the report, the telecom industry is expected to generate a number of new jobs. "The government is fully aware of the telecom sector job generation and the need for telecom skilled manpower so that telecom industry does not feel the shortage of skilled manpower and the telecom growth story continues," the minister said. He further said skill development training has already been provided to 6,40,210 in the last 3 financial years till March 31. It is proposed to provide training to over 2 lakh candidates in 2016-17 and still further in subsequent years to meet the projected need of the sector. Thai villagers today celebrated a junta move to shutter a controversial gold mine, a rare blow to big business in a kingdom where environmental concerns are often secondary to profit-making. The Chatree mine complex straddles three provinces in northern Thailand and has been dogged by a decade of protests from locals who say its has contaminated crops and livestock. Thailand's military government said yesterday it would shut down the quarry and stop handing out new gold mining licenses across the entire kingdom to "heal rifts" sparked by the industry. "I am so happy as I fought for over 10 years," said Tanyarat Sintontammatad, the 39-year-old leader of an anti-mine group in the northeast. "But this is not a ultimate victory yet," she added. "I am still concerned about people's health and environmental damage in the area." Thailand's industry minister said an official inquiry could not conclusively link the villagers' health complaints to the mine, but recommended it be shut for the "benefit of society". The mine is owned by Akara Resources, a Thai subsidy of an Australian firm. The government says it will oversee its closure by the end of the year and contribute funds to compensate the company's hundreds of workers. Arom Khamchring, a nurse who became a leading anti-mine activist in Phitsanulok province after locals started falling ill, welcomed the ruling but raised concern that the moratorium could be overturned by a new government. "We agree with the decision and view it is a good sign that the Cabinet believes mining has damaged our natural resources," she told AFP. The order marks a rare concession to environmental activists in Thailand, who often lose out to business interests in a country where government deals are frequently greased by corruption. Thailand's junta, which came to power in a 2014 coup, has come under fire for using special powers to fast-track the construction of power plants and other projects. Gas drilling across the northeast has also stirred opposition and health complaints in recent years, despite a junta ban on protests. Danish brewer Carlsberg said today that it had "a solid start to the year" as quarterly revenue edged up two per cent in local currencies, helped by gains in the troubled Russian market. Organic revenue in the first three months of the year rose two percent to 13.47 billion kroner (1.81 billion euros, USD 2.06 billion) but slid three percent to 13 billion kroner when taking into account negative currency effects. Declining volumes in China were partly offset by a 20 percent rise in revenue in Eastern Europe, where volumes as well as sales of more expensive brands were higher. "The Russian volume growth was mainly due to easy comparisons with last year when we took significant measures to reduce stock levels at distributors," the company said in a statement. Renowned for their hard-drinking habits, Russians in recent years have started cutting down on booze as the government has tightened controls to curb rampant alcoholism. The crackdown has hit sales at Carlsberg's Baltika brewery - the largest beermaker in Russia - along with the impact of lower oil prices and the Ukraine crisis on the country's economy. Today's trading statement was a sign that "Carlsberg has fared better than their competitors in Russia," Alm. Brand Markets analyst Michael Friis Jorgensen told Danish agency Ritzau. "It is a positive signal and that is what everyone has been looking for," he added. Revenue in Western Europe, which accounts for two thirds of revenue, fell by three percent organically after British supermarket chain Tesco pulled Carlsberg products from its shelves as part of a major cull of the number of brands it sells. In November the Danish group said it was cutting 2,000 white-collar jobs, or around 15 percent of its workforce, affecting primarily Russia, China and Britain. Carlsberg, which did not disclose a quarterly profit or loss, maintained its annual forecast of "low single-digit percentages organic operating profit growth. Three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 86 people today, the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital this year. The attacks, the deadliest of which was claimed by the Islamic State group, came with the government locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against the jihadists. The worst bombing struck the frequently targeted Sadr City area of northern Baghdad at around 10:00 am (local time), killing at least 64 people and wounding 82 others, officials said. The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street. Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage. "The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali. "The politicians are behind the explosion." Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger. "The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," the local resident said. The politicians "should all get out." Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father. Another suicide car bomb attack killed at least 14 people at the entrance of the northwestern neighbourhood of Kadhimiya, which is home to an important Shiite Muslim shrine. Access to the neighbourhood, which has also been repeatedly targeted over the years, is heavily controlled. Several members of the security forces were among the victims, hospital sources said. In the Jamea district in western Baghdad, another car bomb went off in the afternoon, killing at least eight people and wounding 21, an interior ministry official and medics told AFP. IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack in Sadr City and saying a suicide bomber it identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle. There was no immediate claim for the two subsequent bombings but all such attacks recently have been perpetrated by IS. The UN's top envoy in Iraq, Jan Kubis, condemned the bloodshed. IS, which overran large areas in 2014, considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings. Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has said he will spend millions of dollars from his own savings and plans to raise $1 billion for November general elections which might end up being the costliest US presidential polls ever. "I am raising money for the party. I am also going to continue spending money on myself. I think, I will raise a lot. I think, it is going to be a billion. I will raise whetever we need," Trump, 69, told Fox News in an interview yesterday after his primary wins in West Virginia and Nebraska. With the two wins Trump increased his delegate count to 1107, just 130 delegates short of being officially declared as a presumptive nominee. He would officially be declared as Rpublican's presidential nominee at the party's Cleveland Convention in July. During the primary campaign, Trump spent more than $47 million from own savings, which is far less than the amount compared to some of his rivals like Jeb Bush who raised more than $140 million for his White House bid but had to drop out midway. Noting that he would continue self-funding his campaign, Trump said he would raise the money for the rest of the general elections so that the party can retain its majority in both the House and the Senate. To reach the target of $1 billion, Trump last week named Steven Mnuchin as National Finance Chairman. Chairman and CEO of Dune Capital Management, a private investment firm, Mnuchin is said to be well connected in the Hollywood and Wall Street, industries with uncertain loyalties to Republican presidential candidate. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump is a late entrant to the fund raising race. His potential Democratic rival for general elections Hillary Clinton has raised $213 million this past year. In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, Mnuchin said his role in the campaign stems from a "long-standing personal and professional relationship" with Trump after their first meeting 15 years ago. "Do we expect that we will be raising funds and will get support from the film and finance industry? We do," he said, adding that Trump's negative comments about Wall Street were "very specific as opposed to broad-based comments." US media reported Mnuchin also had ties with the Democrats. In the past two decades, he contributed more than $120,000 to both Democrats and Republicans, Politico reported, adding that of this about $64,000 went to Democratic candidates and $40,000 to Republicans. Announcing his appointment, Trump said Mnuchin brings unprecedented experience and expertise to a fundraising operation that will benefit the Republican Party and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton. Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump today said that he may set up a counter-terrorism commission to study his immigration policies and his controversial proposal to ban foreign Muslims from entering the US until America's security has been assured. "I'm thinking about setting up a commission, perhaps headed by Rudy Giuliani, to take a very serious look at this problem. But this is a worldwide problem. And we have to be smart," Trump told Fox . Giuliani, who was New York's Mayor from 1994 to 2001, has called Trump's idea of a Muslim ban unconstitutional. He said that a ban on Muslims would violate the Constitution and there can be no religious test on who is allowed into the country. The 69-year-old real-estate tycoon said the commission would examine his Muslim ban call, his proposal to deport anyone in the US illegally and the question of letting in Syrian refugees. Trump did not elaborate on the proposal whether this would happen if he wins the US presidential race or during his campaign. Trump's call to deny entry to foreign Muslims until America's security has been assured is a centerpiece of his presidential campaign. In the interview, Trump reaffirmed he would ban entry of Muslims - albeit temporarily- into the US if he is voted to power. "Well, we have a ban. There are obviously some very bad things going on. And we're going to figure out what's going on and we're going to be very, very careful. We are allowing Syrians to come in here. We have no idea who they are, we have no paperwork. There's no documentation. They're pouring into the country, our country by the thousands," he said. "You see what's happening in Germany. It's a mess. You look at Sweden and some of these other countries that are taking them and it's a total mess. And I want to be very, very careful. So I'm going to be extremely vigilant and careful," he said. Trump said it would be a temporary ban and went on to criticise President Barack Obama for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorism" after the attacks in France and California last year. "We have a president that won't even use the term radical Islamic terrorism. He won't even use the term," he said. "He refuses to say the term, even after Paris where 130 people were killed or San Bernardino or any other place. Our president refuses to discuss the term. It's a real problem. Not only here, but throughout the world. It's a real problem. So we'll figure it out, and we will get it going. But we have to be extremely careful," Trump said. US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will visit Israel "soon", he said told an Israeli newspaper in an interview published today. "Yes, I will be coming soon," Trump said without giving further details in response to a question from the Israel Hayom newspaper, a freesheet considered close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump had scheduled a visit to Israel for late December but postponed it a few days before following an uproar over his proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the United States. "I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become president of the US," he tweeted at the time. In the interview published on Wednesday, Trump renewed his criticism of US President Barack Obama over a July nuclear deal with Iran that was vigorously opposed by the Israeli prime minister. "The current threat against Israel is more important than ever" because of "President Obama's policy towards Iran and the nuclear deal," he said. "I think the people of Israel have suffered a lot because of Obama." White House hopefuls often visit Israel as part of efforts to bolster their foreign policy credentials. Two workers were killed in suburban Andheri here today while installing a ring well, which is usually constructed by excavating a shaft, police said. Nafova Timoppa (40) and his 35-year-old friend, whose name is not known yet, had gone down 24-feet-deep to install the well at Versova in Andheri (E). The duo had allegedly not taken safety measures and died of suffocation, a senior official said. Their bodies have been retrieved and sent for post-mortem, he said, adding police have registered an accidental death case as of now. Action will be initiated against contractors-Sunil Karekar and Hasan-if they are found guilty of not taking required safety precautions, he said. Two minor boys were drowned in a pond in Bihar's Darbhanga district today, a police officer said. The deceased, identified as Mohammed Ishan (15) and Mohammed Barqat Alam (07), got drowned while taking bath in the pond in Rampura Mircha village, Darbhanga Sub-divisional police officer(SDPO) Dilnawaz Ahmed said. The bodies have been recovered from the pond, the SDPO said. The bodies have been sent to Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem, Ahmed said. UK immigration strategy is costing the country its share in the valuable international student market, including from India, a new all-party parliamentary group said today. Students should be "disentangled" from the immigration debate, anAll-Party Parliamentary Group for international students said in a statement after its inaugural meeting. UK immigration strategy is costing the country its share in the valuable international student market, APPG said in a statement. "Indian students were already choosing Australia over the UK," said Lord Karan Bilimoria, co-chairman of APPG and co-founder of Cobra Beer. The new group echoes warnings by MPs and academics that the inclusion of international students in targets to cut net migration risks putting them off coming to the UK. Three years ago, the chairmen of five parliamentary committees wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to remove students from migration targets, but the government refused. Last month, 30,000 overseas students a year had had their visas to remain in the UK curtailed, BBC reported. The inaugural meeting heard Canada had overtaken the UK last year as a destination for international undergraduates, while Australia was projected to do so in little over a decade. The umbrella group Universities UK has described the trends in international student recruitment as "worrying". Lord Bilimoria said an "overwhelming majority" of British people appreciated the importance of international students. "There is great benefit to building bridges between Britain and international students from around the world," he said. "Their experience in the UK will support Britain's soft power and will encourage others to share in the UK's international education." According to the Home Office, visa applications from international students to study at British universities are up 17 per cent on 2010, with applications to "our elite Russell Group universities" up 39 per cent. "We welcome people who want to come to the UK to study at our world-leading institutions, but all types of immigration have an impact on our communities, on housing and on our public services," a spokesman said. Since 2010, the government had "cracked down on immigration abuse from poor qualify institutions that were damaging the UK's reputation as a provider of world-class education", he added. Britain has told India that it cannot deport Vijay Mallya, who is facing money laundering charges in the country, but could consider an extradition request for him. The UK government's response came nearly a fortnight after India made a request for the deportation of Mallya, whose Indian passport was revoked in a bid to secure his presence for investigations against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002. There is also a non-bailable warrant issued against Mallya. "The UK government has informed us that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred. "At the same time the UK acknowledges the seriousness of the allegations and is keen to assist the Government of India. They have asked GoI to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said. The extradition can happen under the 1993 treaty or any other necessary assistance under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) signed in 1992 between India and the U.K. However, India was hoping to get the liquor baron, who is facing arrest over allegations of defaulting bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore, through the expeditious route of deportation and not go through the lengthy process of extradition. Rwanda and the Netherlands, two countries embroiled in the UN's worst peacekeeping failures, have launched a push at the United Nations for blue helmets to more readily use force to defend civilians in conflicts. The initiative seeks to persuade countries that contribute troops to UN peacekeeping to agree to more robust action and more readily intervene instead of staying behind the high walls of their UN compounds. "The blue flag needs to stand for protection and it doesn't always," Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told the gathering at UN headquarters in New York yesterday. The failure of Dutch peacekeepers to defend Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1995 has been a source of shame for the Netherlands, which has recently returned to UN peacekeeping by sending troops to Mali. At the UN meeting, countries were urged to endorse the so-called Kigali principles, a pledge that troops in UN missions will take military action against "armed actors with clear hostile intent to harm civilians." "We are starting a movement today," said Rwanda's Ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana, who stressed the aim was to "save lives". "The failures of our past should not dictate our future," he added. Rwanda, which was abandoned by UN peacekeepers during the 1994 genocide, has become of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping with some 6,000 troops and police serving under the UN flag. Only 29 countries have so far agreed to endorse the principles including key troop-contributors Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Two other major peacekeeping nations, India and Pakistan, are not among the signatories and three permanent Security Council members -- Britain, France and Russia -- have yet to come on board. US Ambassador Samantha Power cited a 2014 UN report that showed peacekeepers had failed to use force in response to some 500 attacks against civilians from 2010 and 2013. "We continue to see units retreat instead of standing their ground," said Power. The United States endorses the principles and is urging the United Nations to give preference to countries that back them to serve in peacekeeping missions, she said. Some 106,000 troops from 123 countries are deployed in peacekeeping missions worldwide, most of which include the protection of civilians in their mandates agreed by the Security Council. Alleging that "political interference" has brought the administrative machinery of Allahabad University to a "standstill", its Vice-Chancellor has threatened to leave with his associates and said MPs or MLAs can be made VCs instead of acamedicians to toe the government line. "This is a central university and used to be called the Oxford of the East in the past. There can be no possibility of the institution regaining its lost glory if political interference continues," Allahabad University VC, R L Hangloo, who recently drew flak from BJP leaders over his handling of a students agitation, told reporters here. He alleged that many politicians belonging to Congress, BJP, SP AVBP, are involved in the university affairs and the varsity will not grow if politicians interfere. "We want to take the university on the path of excellence and this is a jolt to our aim. All my associates are saying this is a jolt to the university and politicians are hampering the university's growth. The political interference is a setback for the university," said Hangloo. "If politicians continue to interfere, we all will have to leave. Then government can run the university as per their opinion. Then it would be better to have MLAs or MPs as VCs in place of acamedicians," Hangloo said yesterday. He was responding to questions about the varsity's decision, announced yesterday, to keep offline option open for entrance tests for post-graduate courses in the upcoming academic session. The decision, whereby the university reversed its earlier stance that entrance tests would be held only through the online mode, is understood to have followed a meeting between some BJP MPs and HRD Minister Smriti Irani. The BJP lawmakers are said to have brought to Irani's notice that a number of students' union leaders, including its vice president and general secretary who belong to Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), were on a hunger strike to press the demand for the offline option, saying it was important for candidates hailing from remote areas with poor internet connectivity. Hangloo said that the HRD Ministry should "not interfere" in this., as "politics" is involved in it. "First there were only four persons on strike. And they were on strike because of their own problems and they don't think of the university," he said. A group of BJP MPs and MLAs had on May 5 visited the varsity and criticised the VC for "mishandling" the students' stir. They had taken exception to the university administration lodging a police complaint against the union leaders for staging a demonstration in front of the VC's office earlier this month. Subsequently, a few of the BJP MPs had met Irani and an ensuing communication from the HRD Ministry is said to have prompted the varsity authorities to modify its decision. Hangloo has been repeatedly accused by the students' union president Richa Singh of being partisan towards those owing allegiance to BJP and the Sangh Parivar. In March, Singh, who is a Samajwadi Party member had charged the VC with ordering a "politically motivated" inquiry against her on the basis of "flimsy" complaints from her ABVP rivals. The latest crisis, however, witnessed the union leaders burying their differences and putting up a joint fight. (REOPENS DES10) Meanwhile, sources said Hangloo had yesterday written a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Hamid Ansari in which he has claimed that Irani or her officers have "never interfered" with the functioning of the university. The V-C also wrote that Irani had "always encouraged us with her rare flash of brilliance" and "there have been twisted statements by the press and media which should be ignored in totality", the sources said. Mr. Mohit Shukla, MD & Head of India-Legal, Barclays, Barclays Bank PLC was of the view that even though lawyers are now being invited to management committee level discussion in board rooms, many companies still see in-house lawyers only as a support entity for formulation of principles and business-legal decisions. According to Mr. Yogesh Wadhwa, Vice President and Lead Counsel, General Motors India, striking a feasible balance between what is legally correct and what is ethically correct is extremely important in any business. There are some legal areas which are of specific relevance for certain types of business. "In-house counsels must have a deep understanding of the employment as well as all the subject matters of solicitation, especially of the country where they operate, for an insightful risk analysis of businesses per se and to settle dispute resolutions," he noted. Distinguished members at the roundtable also agreed that law schools in India needed to play an instrumental role in shaping quality workforce for this profession. The first-of-its-kind, interactive forum also generated interesting discussions on masterstrokes adapted by GCs in various business environments in the recent past. About O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU): JGU is a non-profit global university established by the Haryana Private Universities (Second Amendment) Act, 2009. JGU is established in memory of Mr. O. P. Jindal as a philanthropic initiative of Mr. Naveen Jindal, the Founding Chancellor. The University Grants Commission has accorded its recognition to O. P. Jindal Global University. The vision of JGU is to promote global courses, global programmes, global curriculum, global research, global collaborations, and global interaction through a global faculty. JGU is situated on an 80-acre state-of-the art residential campus in the Capital Region of Delhi. JGU is one of the few universities in Asia that maintains a 1:15 faculty-student ratio and appoints faculty members from different parts of the world with outstanding academic qualifications and experience. JGU has established five chools: Jindal Global Law School, Jindal Global Business School, Jindal School of International Affairs, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy and Jindal School of Liberal Arts & Humanities. For more information, visit: http://www. Jgu. Edu. In Media Contact: Kakul Rizvi Krizvi@jgu. Edu. In +91-8396907273 Additional Director Communications and Public Affairs O. P. Jindal Global University Photo: http://photos. Prnewswire. Com/prnh/20161111/438216 Source: O. P. Jindal Global University. Riot cops fired tear gas to head off a protest march today by opponents of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro who were demanding a referendum on removing him from office. Political leaders and analysts warned tensions could erupt into unrest as the center-right opposition staged rallies across the crisis-hit South American country. Protesters were demanding electoral authorities quickly approve their call for a vote on dumping the socialist leader. Security forces blocked the street to keep demonstrators away from the headquarters of the National Electoral Board (CNE) in Caracas. A small number of tear gas canisters were fired. The opposition coalition MUD said in a statement that one of its top leaders, Henrique Capriles, was affected by the tear gas as he led the march. "I am alright. We Venezuelans want a recall referendum and change," Capriles wrote later on Twitter. "Maduro will not overcome the people!" The Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) blames Maduro for an economic crisis in which Venezuelans are having to queue for hours for rations of basic food and other goods. Maduro has also imposed daily electricity blackouts and has public employees working just two days a week due to power shortages. Security forces reportedly blocked streets to head off similar demonstrations today in other towns such as Zulia in the northeast. Separately, looting reportedly broke out at a food store in the city of Maracay, state ombudsman Tarek William Saab told reporters. With robberies and violence reportedly surging, the military also said on Tuesday that nine people had been killed in a crackdown by security forces around Caracas. Some 3,000 troops and police have been deployed there to go after gangs, the government said. Thousands of supporters of Maduro also rallied separately today in the center of the capital. The US said on Wednesday it is looking forward to work with the newly elected leader of the who during his election campaign had advocated extra judicial killings to get rid of crime and drug rackets. While the official verdict is yet to come, Rodrigo Duterte, the mayor of Davao City, has emerged as the winner in all the unofficial results. "We're still awaiting the official results from officials in the . We look forward to congratulate and work with the winners of those elections which are on our active and close bilateral relationship," White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest said. He said that the US is prepared to commend the on its May 9 elections. "By all accounts, those elections appear to have gone smoothly and enjoyed historically high levels of participation. These are all indications of a vibrant democracy," he said. The White House, however, refused to comment on some of the controversial remarks of Duterte. "I don't have any comments about the campaign platforms or the rhetoric used by any of the individual candidates in the Filipino election. We'll wait for the official results and we can comment more directly about our ability to work with the winners of the election," Earnest informed. Speaking on the US security relationship with the Philippines, Earnest quoted, " We've got an important security relationship and our efforts to coordinate with the Philippines as they provide for some maritime security that has an impact on the economy here in the United States is important," he said. Both the White House and the State Department also did not respond to questions about Duterte calling for multilateral talks to resolve some of the issues in the South China Sea. "In general, our approach to the situation in the South China Sea has been that the US is not a claimant to any of the land features in the South China Sea. But the US does believe that those who have competing claims should find a way to resolve the differences through diplomacy and through established procedures. Our interest is in making sure those differences are resolved peacefully in a way that disrupt the free flow of commerce in the region," Earnest said. Three arms smugglers including one woman were arrested with arms and ammunition near Purab Sarai in Bihar's Munger district late last night, police said. Superintendent of Police (SP) Ashish Bharti said acting on a tip off, a police team arrested three arms smugglers including one woman from near Purab Sarai police outpost. Nine automatic pistols and 18 magazines and two mobile phones were seized from them, the SP said. The three smugglers were identified as Mohammad Nasim, Suraj Tanti and Neelam Devi. Investigations revealed they were on way to deliver the consingment to Howrah in West Bengal, the SP added. A woman was killed and 15 others, including the bus driver, were injured, 10 of them seriously, after a passenger bus hit a roadside tree near Banbhag village in Bihar's Purnia district today, a police officer said. The accident occured when the driver of the bus lost control over the vehicle and hit a road side tree, Purnia Sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Rajkumar Sah said. An unidentified woman died on the spot and 15 others were injured in the mishap, the SDPO said. The bus was on way to Purnia from Madhepura, he said. The body has been sent to Purnia Sadar Hospital for post-mortem. The injured are being treated at Sadar hospital, Sah added. The world's largest cargo aircraft - Antonov An-225 Mriya - is scheduled to make its first landing in India this week at the Rajiv Gandhi International airport here. The wide body An-225 aircraft, which will land here on May 13, is powered by six turbofan engines and is the longest and heaviest airplane ever built, with a maximum takeoff weight of 640 tonnes. It also has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in operational service. Specially built to undertake transcontinental route airlifting load between 180-230 tonnes, the aircraft will be coming in to Hyderabad from Turkmenistan. Reliance Defence had last month signed a strategic partnership agreement with Antonov company of Ukraine for assembly, manufacture and MRO of Antonov platforms in India, both for the commercial and the military market. Reliance Defence together with Antonov would jointly address various requirements including 50-80 seat passenger aircraft programme of the HAL, in its basic configuration and in all its variants such as transport, maritime patrol and other military roles, the company said in a statement. An class of aircraft have long served the Indian Air Force and Navy for over five decades. Currently, the IAF has more than 100 An-32 aircraft on its inventory having completed its last life cycle upgrade will be due for replacements. The partnership agreement would provide the benefits of quality and low cost solution for 50-80 seater aircraft through its core competencies, it said adding that the joint venture envisages design and manufacture of the medium lift dual use turbofan aircraft in India with transfer of niche technologies. LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Suma Chakrabarti won a second four-year term as head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank said on Wednesday. Former UK civil servant Chakrabarti, 57, secured the extension by seeing off a challenge from Polish central bank governor and former Prime Minister Marek Belka in a shareholder vote at the EBRD's annual meeting in London. In an interview ahead of the vote, Chakrabarti told that he would recommend halting the bank's recent rapid expansion and give more focus to green investments and co-operation with other development banks, such as the new Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). The EBRD was set up in 1991 to invest in the former Soviet economies of eastern Europe. It has grown considerably over the last 10 years and now spends around 9 billion euros ($10.30 billion) a year in 36 countries from Morocco to Mongolia. ($1 = 0.8741 euros) (Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Karin Strohecker) By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Brent jumped 4 percent on Tuesday while U.S. crude settled up more than 2 percent, after a late burst of buying driven in part by expectations that record U.S. crude inventories would not swell by as much as they have in recent weeks. Crude supply outages in Canada, Nigeria and elsewhere also boosted prices. Brent's gain was its biggest one-day percentage move in a month. The market pared gains briefly in post-settlement trade after the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry group, said U.S. crude inventories rose by 3.45 million barrels to record highs of 543.1 million during the week ended May 6. Analysts polled by had expected a build of only 714,000-barrels. Traders and investors will be looking out for official inventory data on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). "We should roll back a good part of today's gains if the EIA confirms the builds cited by API or comes up with even larger numbers," said Tariq Zahir, crude trader and managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors in New York. Brent settled up $1.89, or 4.3 percent, at $45.52 per barrel. More than 6,000 contracts changed hands in the final minute, data showed. The global oil benchmark rose to as high as $45.70 in post-settlement trading. After settlement, it briefly dipped more than 30 cents on the API data, then recovered to near its settlement price. U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures rose 1.22, or 2.8 percent, to settle at $44.66. WTI also fell briefly on the API data. Refined oil products joined the rally, with gasoline closing up 3 percent and ultralow sulphur diesel , or heating oil, 4 percent. Oil prices were up most of the day on worries about supply outages. Wildfires in Canada have shut in more than 1 million barrels per day of production from Alberta's oil sands region. Royal Dutch Shell Plc was the first to resume production in the area on Tuesday while others looked to restart after more than a week of halted operations. In Nigeria, attacks on oil infrastructure have pushed crude output close to a 22-year low in Africa's largest oil producer, data showed. This year's rebound in oil has been one of the strongest since the financial crisis. Prices have rallied nearly 80 percent from multiyear lows under $30 in the first quarter, supported by falling U.S. production, supply constraints in Libya and the Americas and a weak dollar. Since the end of April, the rally has stalled at around $45. (Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in LONDON and Henning Gloystein in SINGAPORE; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio) Indian plastic manufacturers from across sectors, including products, raw materials, equipment and accessories and auxiliary, are exploring business opportunities in one of the Latin Americas fastest growing economies, Peru. As a part of this strategy, nearly 48 leading plastic companies participated in the Expo Plast, which was held from May 3-6, 2016 in the Peruvian capital Lima. The expo serves as the gateway to the plastic industry and related sectors of Peru. To enhance trade and investment, two important agreements were signed an MoU between the Organisation of Processors of India (OPPI) and APPIPLAST (the Peruvian Association of Plastic Industry) and the other between FICCI and the Lima Chamber of Commerce and INCHAM. India and Peru are currently looking to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to take the bilateral trade from $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The Expo Plast Peru provided Indian companies an opportunity to explore Perus $ 2.5 billion market for and allied products which meets most of its needs through imports. Peru is ranked 42nd globally and 3rd among Latin American countries in terms of ease of doing business. Indian companies can leverage on Perus various Free Trade Agreements and alliances which gives easy access to the entire Latin American region and specifically to the Pacific Alliance countries which offer a market of almost 220 million people and contribute almost 60 per cent of Latin Americas global trade. India has a thriving industry which has expanded at 8 per cent CAGR over the last five years to reach 8.5 million tonne per annum (TPA) and Indian companies have emerged as world class plastic manufacturers serving not just the household consumer durables and packaging sector but also infrastructure, healthcare, agriculture, automobiles and electronic goods. Reasons for starting a business in Michigan Michigans economy has shown strong signs of recovery since the Great Recession, and there are various reasons the state appeals to both entrepreneurs planning to start a business and the employees they need to hire. 1. Increased focus on small businesses After the Great Recession, there has been an increase in emerging small businesses [in Michigan], said Todd Heyboer, owner of online boutique Closet Barcode. There has been a great deal in improvement, as you can see in the falling unemployment rate and the rise in median incomes. 2. Economic growth While Michigans per capita personal income is just 89% of the national average, it has consistently ticked upward since 2012. In 2018, Michigan had the 17th largest economy in the United States, and the number of workers joining the labor force has been growing since 2015. 3. Available space There is still a big surplus of available office space and, thus, low rental prices, said Monte Falcoff, principal at the Harness Dickey law firms Detroit office. 4. Strong industry One of the most important sectors of Michigans economy is manufacturing. About 16% of Michigans economy comes from manufacturing industries, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Michigan is home to many technically skilled workers, such as in engineering or chemistry. Michigan has a history of entrepreneurship and engineering, and a large concentration of engineering talent and manufacturing resources are present within a quick drive, Falcoff said, which makes it an appealing place for entrepreneurs in the manufacturing industry. 5. Cost of living The affordable cost of living in Michigan is likely to appeal to the employees you need to attract. Entrepreneurs enjoy low real estate costs and moderate taxes. Sperlings Best Places cost-of-living index found Michigan to be significantly less expensive than the U.S. as a whole, particularly in housing costs. According to MITs living wage calculator, a single adult without any dependents could meet all of their needs in Michigan on a wage of about $10 per hour. How do you get a business license in Michigan? If youre starting a business in Michigan, you may need to get one or more licenses or registrations. This is also true for independent contractors working in Michigan, who may need a license or permit depending on the type of work they do. Not every business needs a license, however. In most cases, the licenses you need are issued by a state agency, depending on the type of business you are starting. For example, a dermatology business must be licensed by the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, while a movie theater will need multiple licenses from the Michigan Department of Treasury and the Department of Agriculture & Rural Developments Food and Dairy Division. To find out if you need a business license in Michigan, visit the state license search page. The search feature allows you to look for the type of business you are starting, or you can browse an alphabetical list. Once you find your type of business, you can click through to the relevant state licensing agency. Whether or not you need a license for your business, you will need to register with the state for tax purposes. You can register through the Michigan Department of Treasury. You will also need an Unemployment Insurance Agency account number if you plan to hire employees. How do I start an LLC in Michigan? Several types of business entities, including limited liability corporations (LLCs), must register with the Corporations Division of the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. To protect your LLC from personal liability, youll need to report the name and address of your registered office and resident agent to the agency annually. If you have a partnership and want to limit the liability between partners, you can register as a limited liability partnership (LLP) from year to year. How do you register a business name in Michigan? If you wont be operating as a sole proprietor using your own name, you will need to register a business name with the state of Michigan. This business name is sometimes known as a fictitious name, trade name, assumed name or DBA (doing business as). You will first need to register your business with the county clerk for where it will be operating. Most business entities including LLCs, LLPs and corporations also need to file a form with the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs to do business under an assumed name. Every business in Michigan must have a unique name. You will need to do a business entity search before registering your assumed name with the state to ensure that your business name is not already in use. How much does it cost to start a business in Michigan? The cost of starting a small business in Michigan depends on the type of business you start. These are the general filing fees for licensing and permitting a new business in Michigan: Filing a city or county certificate for an assumed business name: $10 and up $10 and up Filing an assumed business name with the state: $25 $25 Filing Michigan articles of incorporation: $50 to $100 $50 to $100 Expedited processing for articles of incorporation : $50 to $1,000 : $50 to $1,000 Business licenses: $7 to $3,000 annually (average around $150) Other costs that vary by business include equipment, supplies and inventory; a website domain and hosting; rent for a retail or office space; a business bank account, and any other costs that your business requires to be functional. These costs range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands. You may also need to pay fees for federal paperwork or licenses, such as filing for an Employer Identification Number for federal taxes. Before you begin the process of registering your business, create a business plan to get a full picture of the startup costs involved. Business taxes in Michigan Our government instituted a flat 6% corporate tax, among the countrys lowest, and thats helped Michigan become a great place to open a new business or expand a current one, said B.J. Lennon, director of business operations for recruiting and staffing company Aerotek. This tax rate, known as the Corporate Income Tax (CIT), passed in 2013. For most businesses, it replaces the Michigan Business Tax (MBT). Business that qualify for the small business alternative credit under the CIT pay a tax rate of 1.8% rather than 6%. If your business doesnt qualify for the CIT, you will likely need to pay the MBT, which imposes a business income tax of 4.95% and a modified gross receipts tax at a rate of 0.8%. Michigan also levies a 6% sales tax and a 4.25% flat personal income tax rate. The Michigan Department of Treasury provides more information about the states business taxes. Some business sales are taxed in Michigan, while others are not. Either way, it is smart to obtain a sales tax license through the Department of Treasury. In some cases, this license will also allow you to make purchases for resale without paying taxes to the original vendor. How do I start a business in Michigan with no money? Accessing capital for startups or expansions is a little more difficult in Michigan than on the coasts. Some small business owners have found that access is improving as the economy grows, though. Heyboer noted that rapidly growing startups encounter many pain points, since access to venture capital is not as great in Michigan as it is in some other parts of the country. Young companies should prepare for a difficult time finding investors and plan accordingly. Since venture capital is not widely accessible in Michigan, many entrepreneurs turn to local federal credit unions, such as the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union. The federal Small Business Administration also provides loans, financing options and grants for small businesses and startups. There are also various nontraditional financing options available to entrepreneurs who lack the cash flow to start a business, many of them thanks to the internet. These include peer-to-peer lending and community development finance institutions. Resources for small business owners in Michigan If youre a small business owner in Michigan looking for resources to help you move forward, there are many organizations and government agencies that can answer your questions and connect you with the resources you need to get up and running. Michigan SCORE: SCOREs volunteer business professionals and expert mentors give counsel and guidance to entrepreneurs looking to start or expand their businesses. The services are entirely free and volunteer-driven. Chapters in Michigan include Traverse City, Tip of the Mitt, Muskegon and Grand Rapids. SBA district offices: The U.S. Small Business Administration has a Michigan district office where small business owners can access financing and grants as well as consultations and counseling services. There are also opportunities to apply for federal government contracts through the SBA and avenues for assistance in the wake of natural disasters. Michigan Small Business Development Centers: Michigan hosts a number of development centers for small business. Each center in the Michigan SBDC network is dedicated to supporting the development and retention of Michigan small businesses, helping entrepreneurs do everything from crafting business plans to navigating the states tax code. Michigan Economic Development Corporation: The MEDC answers many questions about starting and running a small business in Michigan. It can also connect business owners and entrepreneurs to a variety of resources, from links about regulations and permits to real estate databases that can be used to find property for new businesses in the state. Adam Uzialko contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article. R K Nanda, a Delhi-based entrepreneur who runs a travel agency, a jewellery and music CDs business, could be the man who helps CBI unravel the AgustaWestland money trail. Working closely with middleman Christian Michel, the key link in the chopper deal scam saga, Nanda allegedly received nearly Rs 19 crore from Michel. It is alleged that Nanda set up a shell company Media Exim to export jewellery and music CDs. More than three years after the CBI registered cases to probe kickbacks into the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, Nanda is now being interrogated by the CBI to get further leads to establish the quid pro quo. Dummy company Sources said Nanda's company set up in 2005 was a dummy and was used for Michel to park illegal money. On Michel's instructions, Nanda also invested some money in real estate. Four properties purchased were later sold. According to the CBI, Nanda received Rs 6.5 crore from Michel's Dubai-based company Global Services FZE between 2005 and 2007. Nanda's company Supreme Airways was used for buying air tickets for travels of Michel and his other contacts for which a payment of Rs 12 crore was made. The CBI on Tuesday questioned Nanda about the money transactions hoping to make a breakthrough in the case. Earlier, the CBI also questioned Michel's chauffer Narayan Bhadur who drove him around the power centres of the Capital. The action CBI had registered a case against former Air Force chief SP Tyagi along with 13 others, including his cousins, Bakshi, Aggarwal and European middlemen - Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Christian Michel. The allegation against SP Tyagi is that he reduced flying ceiling of the helicopter from 6,000m to 4,500m (15,000ft) which put AgustaWestland helicopters in the race for the deal without which its choppers were not even qualified for submission of bids. Tyagi has denied allegations against him and said the change of specifications, which brought AgustaWestland into contention, was a collective decision in which senior officers of Indian Air Force, SPG and other departments were involved. The CBI swung into action after an Italian court verdict in the case named Tyagi, mentioning the meetings and interactions with alleged European middlemen and officials of Finmeccanica. Tyagi has denied allegations of any corruption in the helicopter deal. SP Tyagi's three cousins, now called known as Tyagi brothers on the Agusta sacm - Sanjeev, Rajeev and Sandeep Tyagi - are the key links in the alleged corruption chain that links the Italian company and the ex-Chief of the Indian Air Force. The CBI has grilled them recently trying to establish the money trail. They were questioned about the transfer of 3 lakh euros from the middlemen to swing the deal in AgustaWestland's favour, but they maintain these were legal consultancy fees and not kickbacks. CBI sources said advocate Gautam Khaitan, Praveen Bakshi, CEO of Aeromatrix Infosolutions and Pratap Aggarwal, Managing Director of IDS Infotech were also questioned separately. As captured by American actress and Princes of Monaco Grace Kelly, "Women's natural role is to be apillar of the family", truly women play a very important part in the well-being of a family. They are the ones who foster a healthy lifestyle and take care of everyone in the family. However while they are constantly engaged with various activities at both household and professional front,in the process they tend to ignore their health. What most women don't realise is that they will be able to take care of their family only if they are hale and hearty. It somewhere correlates to the announcements made by airhostesses in an aircraft- 'First you wear a life jacket and put on the oxygen mask yourself before helping others.' It is also imperative to understand the need forhealth insurance which can save women fromhuge financial crisis in time of a medical emergency. Once a major illness is diagnosed, it not only damages our health but also has the potential to damage our entire life. The cost of hospitalisation and speciality medical treatments are so expensive today, it is almost impossible to bear that cost by self without necessary support frominsurance. Health insurance is beneficial to all age groups. Young girls can opt for health insurance for their parents and themselves, married women can opt for themselves and their extended family and so on. What is a Health Insurance and what are the benefits? Health Insurance is a broad concept that provides protection against medical uncertainties and the costs involved. There are various products available in the market and the extent of cover, benefits etc. varies between products. Health insurance for Women: There are women specific products in the market that caters only to women specific needs and critical illnesses, however there is no special premium pricing for those products available at this moment. Though not all companies offer women specific products but companies have policies that provide extra benefits like maternal benefits, child's care and also there are products catering to various age groups and life stages of a woman. Although the benefits from each and every product available in the market differs from policy to policy, few of the common one's are mentioned below. Cashless hospitalization at any of the insurance company's network of hospitals Pre and post hospitalization expenses Cost of health check-up at authorized centres Maternity benefits that cover the maternity expenses at the time of hospitalisation Pre-natal and Post Natal expenses Cover for new born babies, vaccination expenses, etc. Policies which cover the extended family of the proposer Pays a lump sum in case the policyholder is diagnosed with any critical illness including cancer, heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure Tax benefits under section 80D Policy covers women critical illness like breast cancer, cervical cancer, spondylitis Health insurance and benefits for single- married woman The medical expenses to be borne by single-married woman is very expensive. If they happen to face any critical illness in the family, which requires huge investment for treatment and care, a comprehensive health care product and a critical illness product provide the required financial support to them. If you are a single parent, you can avail the following benefits through a health insurance product Your child can be covered under comprehensive health cover along with you Child care benefits can be available under the same cover The cover includes the charges for vaccinations for child less than 12 years of age You can cover your own parents under a single cover along with your children All hospitalisation cost will be covered in case of any critical illnes Health insurance for a newlymarried couple Newly wedded women can opt for such a product and avail the maternity benefit when they start family planning. The couple can avail the maternity benefit with only two years of waiting period when both husband and wife are covered together. Health insurance for a woman staying in joint family If a woman is staying in joint family, there are options available in the market that cover as many as 15 people in one policy like self, spouse, dependent (unmarried and up to the age of 25 years) or non - dependent children, dependent or non - dependent parents, dependent siblings, daughter in law, son in law, parents in law, grandparents and grandchildren (maximum up to 15 members). Health insurance for senior citizens Senior women citizen can avail the benefits of a health insurance at time of hospitalisation when they are diagnosed with any illness. Post hospitalisation services like nursing are also provided to them and these become beneficial at times when there is no one to take care at home. In some policies, there is no age restriction to enter a new policy, the benefits to various individual may change from policy to policy. Sum assured and premium to be paid: The premium of health insurance policies varies depending upon the type of product, plan, extent of coverage as well as sum insured and age of the persons being covered. The premium can be paid through ECS, cash/cheque, and direct online payment. Claim Settlement: The insurers will give detailed guidelines to the policy holders on steps to be taken in case of a claim. In case of Hospitalisation claims, cashless facility is available in the network hospitals of the insurer, a list of which is provided to the policyholder at the beginning. If the treatment is availed at anon-network hospital, the insured has to go for a claim on reimbursement basis. How to purchase the policies? The policy can be availed online. Alternatively you may contact the nearest branch or the call centre of the insurance companies and they will depute a suitable official to get in touch with you to explain the product offerings. How to choose the insurer? One should always buy insurance from a reputed insurer that has a good record of servicing and claim settlement, as these are the features that become critical when you are actually in need.A cheaper policy may not always be the best policy for you. Choose a policy that suits your requirements in terms of coverage and sum insured. Please go through the prospectus and policy wordings to understand the waiting periods, exclusions and sublimit under the policy. Make an informed decision before signing on the dotted line. By Shreeraj Deshpande, Head - Health Insurance, Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited. Over one lakh villages in 313 districts of 13 states, sheltering roughly one-fourth of India's population, have been affected by drought and scarcity of drinking water, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday. Making a brief intervention during a general discussion under Rule 193, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh said that going by statistics, it appeared that nearly 25 per cent of the country's population was drought-hit. The governments in Bihar and Haryana have so far not declared the two states drought-hit, the minister said. "Even the Gujarat government has not declared the entire state as affected by drought. They are calling it drought only in some parts," Singh said amid repeated interruptions and slogan-shouting by Congress members. The minister said all drought-hit states collectively have at their disposal a total of Rs 3,800 crore for relief, including central contribution of 50 per cent. "Of the dedicated drought funds of Rs 3,800 crore, the state governments can spend 25 per cent independently and take all necessary steps to provide relief to the people," the minister said. Earlier, Congress members sat in silence in the Lok Sabha well to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments at election rallies in Kerala and Tamil Nadu regarding Congress president Sonia Gandhi's "Italian connection" in the AgustaWestland chopper scam. But as soon as the rural development minister stood up to make the brief intervention and answer queries raised by members, Congress parliamentarians started raising anti-government slogans. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the Congress members were preventing the house from discussing an important issue concerning the rural folks and farmers. "This is being anti-farmers," he said, a remark countered amid the din by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. When repeated plea from Hukum Singh, who was in the chair, did not calm down the agitating members, the minister said: "It's my right to make intervention and answer questions raised by members. "I know the Congress people pretty well. If you do not allow me to answer, I will bring privilege motion against you all," said Birender Singh, who was earlier in the Congress but left to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on the eve of the 2014 parliamentary polls. The minister also listed out steps taken to tackle the dry spell, adding "if we get cooperation from the states on the measures we are taking, in two years, people will certainly get relief". Chandrakant Khaire (Shiv Sena), Aparupa Poddar (Trinamool Congress) and B. Mahtab (Biju Janata Dal) also spoke during the discussion that remained inconclusive. The Supreme Court on Wednesday struck down the TRAI regulation making it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers for call drops holding it as "arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent". "We have held the impugned regulation to be ultra vires, arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent," a bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said. The apex court passed the judgement on the appeals filed by COAI, a body of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance, challenging the Delhi High Court order which had upheld the TRAI's decision making it mandatory for them to compensate subscribers for call drops from this January. The telecom companies had earlier told the apex court that the entire sector is under huge debt and they have to pay big price for spectrum, therefore zero tolerance on call drops should not be imposed on them. Refuting the allegations of TRAI that the telecom service providers are making huge gains in the sector, the firms had said they have been investing hugely on the infrastructure. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had earlier told the apex court that it will take action against the Telcos for call drops to protect the interest of consumers as these service providers are not willing to compensate them. The regulatory body had told the court that it has to safeguard 100 crore telecom subscribers and if companies agree to compensate call drops with equal number of free calls to consumers without pre-conditions then it is open to re- consider its direction imposing penalty on them. It had also told the court that a "cartel" of 4-5 telecom firms having a billion subscribers are making Rs 250 crore a day but not making investments on their network to improve services to check call drops. The counsel for telecom operators had refuted the allegations of TRAI that telecom companies are not investing on technology and towers and had said that in past 15 months over two lakh towers have been installed. The Delhi High Court had early this year upheld the October 16, 2015 decision of TRAI, making it mandatory for cellular operators to pay consumers one rupee per call drop experienced on their networks, subject to a cap of Rs 3 a day. Silicon Valley Bank has today announced a continued collaborative relationship with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, aimed at supporting the technology economy in Ireland. The bank of the worlds most innovative businesses and their investors announced plans in 2012 to commit $100m over five years to support Irelands innovation sector in collaboration with the Ireland Strategic Investment Funds predecessor, the National Pensions Reserve Fund. So far, 15 Irish companies have benefitted from the commitment including Accuris, Boxever, Clavis, and Profitero. It was today announced that Silicon Valley Bank expects to deploy an additional $100 million of new lending commitments to fast-growing Irish technology and life science businesses over the next five years, from its operations in the US and UK, subject to its standard lending criteria. As part of their collaborative relationship, Silicon Valley Bank lends to Irish technology companies and the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund helps it to identify potential lending clients in these niche sectors and also invests in funds managed by SVB Capital. Silicon Valley Banks parent company, SVB Financial Group, has established a presence in Ireland with the appointment of Clive Lennox, who has moved from London to Dublin as Director of Irish Business Development. Director of the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, Eugene OCallaghan said, "Irelands emerging and high-growth technology and life sciences companies have enormous potential but lending to them requires a real understanding of their life cycle, business model and financing requirements." He added, "Silicon Valley Bank has shown it can apply its specialist lending expertise and relationships to a critical gap in the Irish market and we look forward to seeing more Irish companies benefit from their dedication to the Irish market over the next five years." Source: www.businessworld.ie The Brexit is the most immediate and significant threat to the Irish retail recovery and consumer confidence according to Retail Ireland, the Ibec group that represents the retail sector. The organisation has warned of a sharp rise in cross border shopping if a vote to leave further weakened the sterling rate. Retail Ireland say a UK decision to leave the EU would be a major economic shock and would prompt a period of immense uncertainty that would inevitably set back the consumer recovery. The group yesterday published its latest quarterly Retail Monitor for the first quarter of 2016 with key indicators highlighting continued growth in the sector during the first quarter of 2016, largely driven by St. Patrick's Day and an early Easter. However, international uncertainty allied with domestic cost pressures would suggest that continued strong growth this year is not guaranteed. Retail Ireland currently projects consumer spending growth of 4.1% this year, but this figure would most likely be subject to a downward revision in the case of a Brexit. Retail Ireland Director, Thomas Burke says, "The recent decline in consumer sentiment reflects concerns about external risks such as a Brexit and domestic political uncertainty. The recent suggestion by leaders of the UK Leave campaign that the UK would choose to exit the EU single market post-Brexit would further increase the likelihood of the reintroduction of some form of border between the Republic and Northern Ireland and additional barriers to trade with the rest of the UK. This is a deeply worrying prospect for any retailer operating across the British and Irish markets." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us It was announced today that Cork has been selected as the location for a major international aviation conference next year following a competitive bid by Cork Airport. Next year will be the 10th year of ACI EUROPEs conference and exhibition dedicated to regional airports. It will be held in Cork in May 2017 and it is expected to see hundreds of delegates travel from across Europe. The Regional Airports Forum is intended to provide a platform for regional airports to exchange knowledge, share best practice and discuss issues of common interest. The announcement that the 2017 conference will be held in the South of Ireland was made at the Airports Council International (ACI) EUROPE Regional Airports Conference. A reception was held at the Residence of the Irish Ambassador to Lithuania H.E. David Noonan last night to formally mark the announcement that Cork will host the event. The reception was attended by members of the ACI Regional Forum, the Ambassador's wife Mrs Cliodhna Noonan as well as a Cork Airport delegation. Managing Director at Cork Airport, Niall MacCarthy said, "We are very excited to have secured this important aviation conference for Cork next year and to be shortlisted for these prestigious aviation awards once again. By bringing delegates from across Europe we have a great opportunity to show what the region has to offer and create more business links." Source: www.businessworld.ie William Fry have today released a social media and employment research report which looks at the evolving trends around social media usage within the workplace. The annual report, the fourth in the series, reveals that more than 3 out of 4 employees (78%) are accessing social media using personal devices while at work (up from 60% in 2013). The report also states that men will spend more time on social media (39 minutes) than women (25 minutes) during the working day. The continued popularity of LinkedIn and other professional networking platforms has seen a rising number of employees using social media to search or apply for new jobs and this is borne out in the report which found that 24% of employees use social media to apply for jobs. In addition, it is having an impact on how employees conduct themselves on these various channels with 46% of employees, up from 28% in 2013, stating they would now think carefully about what they post in the event of a prospective employer seeing it. Furthermore, the report highlights the ongoing contentious issue of ownership in social media. The most significant challenge presented by this area is what happens to work-related contacts, valuable assets of the employer, when an employee leaves the company. In Ireland, 44% of employees have work-related contacts on their personal social media accounts. However, an incredible 96% of employees have never discussed with their employer what will happen to these contacts once they leave employment. A Partner in William Frys Employment & Benefits Department, Catherine OFlynn says, "Our research finding that more and more employees are using personal devices to access social media at work is of note." She added, "Businesses risk serious reputational and/or financial consequences from employees inappropriate activity on social media channels. Accordingly, it is vital that organisations address use on personal devices as well as company devices when preparing their social media polices." Source: www.businessword.ie About us The Young Social Innovators of the Year 2016 were announced yesterday at Citywest Hotel and Convention Centre in Dublin. Now in its 15th year, the initiative is the biggest celebration of social innovation in Ireland and one of the largest youth events in the country. Over 6,500 students have been involved throughout the year, advocating for, and actively creating positive change in their communities through social innovation projects, with 6,000 students attending the Awards and Showcase event yesterday. Last night's ceremony was opened by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny and students from Portmarnock Community School, Co. Dublin were named Young Social Innovators of the Year 2016. When choosing the overall title award the judging panel looked for a project that excelled in innovative thinking and social impact as well as recognising a team that has the passion and support to continue to further develop their social innovation. Speaking at the event yesterday in Citywest, An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD said, "I am delighted to be here today to open this fantastic event for the young social innovators of Ireland. The energy and creativity here today is astounding and I commend each and every one of you who participated in Young Social Innovators this year." He added, "Making people's lives better in a fairer society is what this initiative is all about and I firmly believe that the projects here today are doing just that, enriching our society and bringing communities that are more diverse than ever, even closer together. Congratulations to all involved." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Irish businesses reported an average spend of 240,000 on cybersecurity in 2015 according to RSA, the Security Division of EMC. In 2015, Irish businesses reported an average spend of 240,000 on cybersecurity, with nearly half saying they spent more time than before addressing security issues. Global research firm, Gartner, predicts that by 2020, 60% of all information security budgets will be allocated to rapid detection and responseup from less than 10% in 2014. EMC warn that large businesses in particular must think outside the box when it comes to cybersecurity. Country Manager for EMC Ireland, Gerry Murray says, "IT and security teams need to be given greater liberty to act on business security in more innovative ways. Businesses essentially need to create teams of counter-hackers who apply the same sort of creative, end-goal thinking that cybercriminals use to make business networks more secure." He added, "By fostering efficiency and scalability, businesses will be better placed to respond to threats." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams A recent drunk driving incident on Westchester Square may delay the renovation of an arts center. According to police, on Sunday, April 24 at 4 a.m., a man speeding in a tow truck jumped the curb and slammed into 2700 E. Tremont Avenue, a building which was gifted to the Bronx Council on the Arts by JPMorgan Chase. The building, formerly a Washington Mutual branch, is slated to become BCAs new headquarters in a city-lead renovation project being helmed by the NYC Department of Culture Affairs and the NYC Department of Design Construction. BCAs new headquarters will include an art gallery, public program space and office space to be funded by the more than $5.3 million raised for the renovation. Deirdre Scott, BCA executive director said the non-profits leadership is assessing the damage and considering its next steps. She added BCA is reviewing the damage to the building, consulting with the insurance company, speaking with its architects at LTL architects regarding the repairs that will be required before commencing with the planned renovation. This accident does not in any way diminish our eagerness to move ahead with the project, in fact, it increases the urgency to complete the renovation and establish our presence in Westchester Square. Scott said. An engineers report on Monday, May 2 determined the property is structurally sound. As a yearly co-sponsor of the Westchester Square Business Improvement Districts Fair at the Square, BCA said it will still participate in the Saturday, June 18 activities. Were disheartened this accident has happened because that building has sat empty for so long, said Lisa Sorin, WSBID executive director. It is our hope that once Bronx Council on the Arts new headquarters is opened it will become a cultural anchor for Westchester Square bringing a dynamic array of programs to the area. When the 45th Precinct responded to the scene, the driver, Brandon Diaz, 27, of 1738 Van Buren Street was outside the blue 2011 GMC Sierra, restrained by two witnesses who claimed he was trying to flee the scene. The front seat passenger, Throggs Neck resident Pamela Crowley, claimed Diaz was speeding eastbound on East Tremont Avenue driving through steady red lights when he lost control of the vehicle. The tow truck sustained damage to its front-end and left side and its frame was wrapped around the corner of the building. Crowley sustained bruising, swelling and lacerations to her arms, legs and face and a broken right arm. Diaz and Crowley were transported and treated at Jacobi Medical Center for their injuries. No additional injuries occurred. Crowley alleged that Diaz had been drinking alcohol all night prior to the crash. According to a spokeswoman from the District Attorneys office, Diaz faces several charges including burglary, assault, reckless endangerment, grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, vehicular assault, reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Agosto Yanira, owner of the vehicle registered to Xpert Automotive Inc., informed police that Diaz did not have permission to operate the vehicle. What has Gov. Abbott done about the six mass shootings on his watch? Politics contributed photo Nueces County Judge Walter Timon (left) and John Nance Garner, a congressman in 1915 at the time of the election fraud trial that involved his Democratic supporters. U. S. District Judge Walter Burns empaneled a federal grand jury in May 1915 to investigate alleged corruptions in the general election of 1914 and determine whether local officials conspired to corrupt the ballot in Nueces County. A U.S. marshal took charge of ballot boxes and more than 200 witnesses were called. After months investigating, the grand jury returned indictments against 42 people on charges of committing "conspiracy to corrupt an election." Prominent people were indicted, all Democrats. They included County Judge Walter Timon, District Judge W.B. Hopkins, Sheriff M.B. Wright, Tax Assessor Joe Bluntzer, County Clerk August Uehlinger, County Treasurer Ed Oliver and Constable Lee Riggs. Others included Claud Fowler, city police chief, Russell Savage, city attorney, and Joe Acebo, owner of the St. Dennis Saloon. Congressman John Nance Garner, a political ally of Judge Timon, was in the courtroom when the indictments were read. The trial began in September 1915. The courtroom was overcrowded with those eager for a spectacle and extra chairs were brought in. Top officials in county government were sitting in the dock, no doubt looking startled to be there. They were street-wise politicians who knew how to round up votes but they were unsure of themselves as defendants in a courtroom. Others enjoyed the show. It was amazing, one wit said, just how much it lifted the town's spirits by putting a bunch of county officials on trial. A witness for the prosecution, Fred Headley, testified that a meeting was held in Timon's office to discuss how much it would cost to bribe voters "on the Hill." Headley testified that Timon said it would take $2,500 to $3,000 to carry the Hill "as the other side will spend money like water." Defense witnesses could not recall Timon saying that. Mayor Roy Miller testified and complained that prosecutors were impugning his integrity. The judge said Miller was perfectly able to defend himself. Timon testified that he had never found it necessary "to buy a single vote to keep Nueces County in the Democratic column." Charges against 18 people were dismissed, 16 were acquitted, and five were convicted, including Tom Dunn, Henry Stevens, Lee Riggs, Ed Castleberry, and August Uehlinger. The case against Timon was ruled a mistrial. Federal prosecutors tried to revive the case but the issue of election fraud in Nueces County was dropped. They gave it up because the root of it was a fight over the control of political patronage in South Texas and in truth, as everyone knew, both Republicans and Democrats openly spent money to "corrupt" the ballot. In the euphemism of the time, "The Hill" meant Hispanic voters on the bluff. Campaign money paid for whiskey, cigars and cash handouts to buy votes, a system of fraud that had been perfected over the years by both sides. The saying was, "As the money goes so goes the Hill, and as the Hill goes so goes the election." After the voter fraud scandal died down, county elections were soon operating as always, like an expensive well-oiled Swiss watch. Knights of the Golden Circle Large groups of strangers showed up in Corpus Christi in late 1860. They came by ship from New Orleans and they left town on foot, walking south and west. Who were they? Where were they going? No one seemed to know. The Ranchero, Corpus Christi's newspaper, solved the mystery. The men belonged to the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society. The Knights of the Golden Circle, or KGC, was founded in Lexington, Kentucky, on July 4, 1856, by George Bickley. It spread across the South and into Texas. Local units were called castles and members were formed into three orders, a military corps, a financial contingent, and a leadership cadre. The KGC advocated the creation of an empire of slavery that would extend to Central America, include Mexico and the West Indies, and the southern half of the United States, from Kansas to Maryland and from Texas to Florida. As the KGC envisioned it, this slave empire would control a monopoly on tobacco, cotton, sugar, rice, and coffee and become a world power to rival ancient Rome. The North would be free to go its abolitionist way. The KGC had an influential following in Texas, including legislators and other state leaders. There were 30 so-called castles in the state, including one in Corpus Christi. In the fall of 1860, the mysterious movement of men toward the border was part of the KGC plan to conquer Mexico, which would be divided up and great tracts of land bestowed on loyal followers of the KGC. They had it worked out exactly how many acres each man would receive, with peons assigned as slaves to till the land. In September 1860, the Knights began to arrive in Corpus Christi and left on foot, some heading for Brownsville and some for Laredo. The countryside filled with Knights and their campfires increased every night by new parties arriving during the day, a Galveston paper reported. One detachment of Knights passed through Corpus Christi and a week later another group arrived, the Ranchero reported on Sept. 15, 1860. "Those who passed through last week are at Banquete," the Ranchero stated, "and it appears they are bound to suffer disappointment, as they expect to meet a large force subsequent to a march on Matamoros." The KGC's plan to invade Mexico was badly organized and just fell apart. George Bickley, leader of the Knights, arrived in Texas and cited difficulties in raising money, buying weapons, and organizing such a large undertaking. He postponed the Mexican invasion to await the outcome of the U.S. presidential election coming in November. The dispirited Knights who had come to Texas to conquer Mexico turned tail and headed home. Corpus Christi's own "castle" held a birthday party for the KGC on July 4, 1861. Local Knights marched to Ziegler's Hall where there were speeches, toasts, and tables filled with good things to eat. It was their last hurrah. Some Confederate militia units were formed from ranks of the Knights and several Confederate leaders were high in the order. But the Knights of the Golden Circle's dream of creating a proslavery empire to rival ancient Rome became one of the first casualties of the Civil War. Caller-Times file Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will host a Lavender Graduation to honor the academic accomplishments of the LGBTQ community and their allies from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday. SHARE WEDNESDAY MEET AND GREET: The NAACP will welcome the Texas A&M University-Kingsville's new provost Heidi M. Anderson from 5:30-7 p.m. at Oveal Williams Senior Center, 1414 Martin Luther King Drive. LGBTQ: Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will host a Lavender Graduation to honor the academic accomplishments of the LGBTQ community and their allies from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Lone Star Ballroom. Cost: Free. Information: 361-825-3925. EDUCATION: Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Teacher Education Induction Ceremony will be at 6:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Cost: Free. Information: 361-825-5581. FOOD: Padre Island will kick off its first Dine Island, a unique three-course dining experience at a value price, island style from May 11-25. Participating restaurants include Angry Marlin, Boathouse Bar and Grill, Costa Sur, Island Time Sushi, Padre Pizza, Veranda and more. Information: 410-271-1167, www.facebook.Com/DineIsland THURSDAY JOBS: Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend will host its Emerging Leaders Initiative Youth Career Exploration & Job Fairs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the San Patricio County Fairgrounds Civic Center, 219 W. Fifth St., Sinton. Job seekers can preregister for the job fair online. Cost: Free. Information: www.workforcesolutionscb.org. ART: The Art Museum of South Texas, 1902 N. Shoreline Blvd., will host its Moms & Tots (and Sometimes Pops) event from 10-11:30 a.m. for children k5 to 12 years old. The event will be a house for a hermit crab. Cost: $5, members; $10, nonmembers. Information: 361-825-3500, www.artmuseumofsouthtexas.org ART: The Art Museum of South Texas, 1902 N. Shoreline Blvd., will host a Members Preview Reception for its new exhibit "Target Texas: The Meaning of Mixed" from 6-7:30 p.m. Cost: Free, members; $20, nonmembers. Information: 361-825-3500, www.artmuseumofsouthtexas.org SHARE By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is hosting its first ceremony to honor the contributions of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. The event is an informal commencement ceremony of sorts that doesn't replace the traditional graduation, but provides an opportunity for the community of students to embrace their identity. The university's vice president of student engagement and success, Don Albrecht, said the event was petitioned by a community of students for the first time this year and there were no objections on behalf of the campus of student organizations. "Members of this community feel marginalized," he said. "It's a great opportunity for them to acknowledge their successes." Seventeen students had signed up as of Tuesday, Albrecht said. Each student will receive a purple cord to wear at commencement as official graduation regalia. Lavender Graduation began at the University of Michigan in 1995, with only three graduates participating. It has since grown in popularity, with over 45 ceremonies happening annually at campuses across the country. The ceremony, to which students invite who they chose, will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the University Lonestar Ballroom. Twitter: @CallerBetty SHARE By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times Mike Anzaldua was a Renaissance man, Elizabeth Chu Richter said. Based on input from those closest to him, she can tell, the CEO of Richter Architects, said. The Richter firm is leading Del Mar College's newest expansion at the East Campus, a portion of which is fitting for his personality, she said. "The courtyard is the spine that connects the art, music, humanities and science," Richter said of the space at the heart of the planned general academic and music building. "It has that very approachable quality (Anzaldua) had and brought to his students." The Del Mar College board of regents on Tuesday voted in favor of naming the courtyard in honor of Anzaldua. Anzaldua had been teaching English composition and literature at the college since 1969. He died in 2012 at age 68. In 2010, he was awarded the title of "Professor Emeritus." As a tenured faculty member, his expertise was essential to college initiatives, including developmental education and formation of the college's newest degree program, an Associate of Arts in Mexican-American Studies. At least 24 letters in support for the naming the courtyard the Mike Anzaldua Plaza were provided to trustees and a group of more than 20 people attended the meeting to show their support. At large trustee Carol A. Scott made the motion to name the courtyard. The remaining eight regents in unison supported the measure. Regents approved the concept design for the new general academic and music building in January. The addition will house space for music, English, math, social science and other transfer classes. It's about 127,000 square-feet, 42,000 of which are for music instruction and 85,000 of which will be for general academics. The about $45 million project, funded through a $157 million bond program approved by voters in November 2014, is the first to go to the board. The addition will be one of the tallest buildings on campus, second to the library. It has seven sections, which interconnect differently on each of the facility's three floors. Potentially up to six of its components will be named, Del Mar College president Mark Escamilla said which is suitable of Anzaldua sharing nature. "That's who Mike was he was all about bringing everybody into the tent so to speak," said Escamilla, one of his many close friends. "This plaza exemplifies a process that has taught us all." A group of students, alumni, faculty, staff and residents proposed naming the courtyard for the late faculty member. No other names had been proposed for the courtyard. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES A photo of Kollyn Barton from Banquete FFA is displayed next to other scholarship recipients during the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show Association Scholarship Awards on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown. He earned a scholarship at the show, but was killed in a wreck April 15. SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Sarah Gilliam from Flour Bluff/Padre Island 4-H (right) talks to Barbie Barton, mother of Kollyn Barton, during the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show Association Scholarship Awards on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown. Barbie Barton's son earned a scholarship, but was killed in a wreck April 15. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Anna Pruski from Calallen FFA (center) looks on before receiving her scholarship at the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show Association Scholarship Awards on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Director of Scholarships Karen Wesson talks about reading application letters from the recipients during the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show Association Scholarship Awards on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Bonnie Berry displays a photo of Kollyn Barton from Banquete FFA during the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show Association Scholarship Awards on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown. By Fares Sabawi of the Caller-Times Barbie Barton had a heavy heart when John Steelhammer read the lyrics of Tim McGraw's "Humble and Kind." It was the song that played at her son Kollyn's funeral services. "That song is exactly the type of person Kollyn was," Barbie Barton said. "He had so much success but he was always willing to help someone else." Kollyn Barton, 17, set many goals for himself during his senior year at Banquete High School. He wanted to win at the Nueces County Junior Livestock Show and he wanted to win the top scholarship, worth $10,000. He was killed the morning of April 15 when his pickup rolled over, but he had accomplished both of those goals. Eighteen South Texas high school students were awarded a total of $68,900 in scholarships Tuesday evening at the 26th annual Nueces County Junior Livestock Show scholarship reception held at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds. Kollyn Barton's parents decided to distribute his award among the other recipients. "He would have wanted it to go to the other seniors he was showing with," Barbie Barton said. The audience gave Kollyn Barton's parents a standing ovation when they accepted his scholarship. After the reception, the students hugged Barbie Barton, and let them know how special her son was. "We knew he was a good kid. We just didn't know how many kids he had impacted," Barbie Barton said. Since 1991, more than $1 million has been raised for more than 500 high school seniors, helping them finance their college educations. Steelhammer, one of the scholarship judges, recalled how much the award meant to him when he won it. The money helped him go to college and it helped his daughter, too. "I think giving back is so important," he said. The recipients are going to colleges around the nation and pursuing a diverse range of careers. Kollyn Barton wanted to be a computer engineer, create a program to improve his community, and give back to the livestock show when he was done. Though his life ended tragically early, his contribution will help his peers pursue their dreams. "We pray Kollyn makes you want to be a better person because of the person he was," Mary Truesdale, president of the livestock show's board of directors, told the seniors. Twitter: @Caller_Fares 2016 NCJLS Scholarship recipients Cooper Wildman, Banquete FFA Anna L. Pruski, Calallen FFA Stephanie Plagens, Calallen FFA Logan McLendon, Calallen FFA Bailey McLendon, Calallen FFA Natalie Lopez, Bishop FFA Thomas Litton, Calallen FFA Rachel O. Lee, London FFA Renn Leber, Bulntzer 4-H Elyssa Laing, Calallen FFA Regan Hughes, Run In JM 4-H Heston Hoyle, Bishop 4-H Tyler Hastings, Calallen FFA Sarah Gilliam, Flour Bluff/Padre Island 4-H Jordon Garcia, Calallen FFA Kale Emshoff, Calallen FFA Jarrett Campbell, Calallen FFA Kollyn Barton, Banquete FFA SHARE Jesus Espino Javier Castro Mary Elizabeth Gutierrez By Natalia Contreras Natalia.Contreras@Caller.Com 361-886-3741 A woman was fatally shot while trying to intervene in a fight between her husband and three other men, according to an arrest affidavit. Police announced Wednesday they are searching for two men they suspect were involved in the May 2 shooting of Stephanie Cortina. Cortina, 27, was shot in the head at a bar in the 3100 block of Morgan Avenue. Hours after the shooting, detectives received an anonymous tip stating Mary Elizabeth Cantu had been at the shooting and had taken Cortina's ex-husband, Jesus Espino, Javier Castro and another man to Mexico, the affidavit states. Cantu, 50, initially denied helping the three men but later admitted to taking them to Mexico, the affidavit states. Cortina's husband, Norberto Cortina, told police he and his wife had left the bar when they got into a fight with Espino, Castro and the other man. According to the affidavit, Norberto Cortina saw his wife with his gun and then saw a man "kick her and take the gun away from her as he was being assaulted." When Norberto Cortina went toward the man to get the gun back, a shot was fired, grazing the top of his head and hitting his wife, who was behind him, the affidavit states. Cantu, who is also known as Mary Elizabeth Gutierrez, told detectives she was at the bar and Espino, Castro and another man were assaulted by Stephanie Cortina and a couple of other people. She told detectives she saw Cortina with the gun, Castro kick it away and then a struggle before a shot was fired and Cortina was on the ground, the affidavit states. Cantu was freed on $5,000 bail, jail officials said. Police said no arrest warrants have been issued for Espino or Castro. Staff reporter Fares Sabawi contributed to this report. Twitter: @CallerNatalia Beatriz Alvarado/Caller-Times Physicians, school nurses, public health officials and other stakeholders in the front-lines of immunization were summoned for a Wednesday afternoon town hall meeting at First United Methodist Church. The church hosted the event to provide a platform for professionals to share current data related to immunization. SHARE Nonprofit rebukes vaccine link to autism as myth By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times You are more likely to be struck by lighting than to suffer an adverse reaction from getting vaccines, a CEO of an immunization advocacy nonprofit said. Parents in Nueces County who opt out of vaccinating their children need to be educated, said Anna C. Dragsbaek, president and CEO of the Immunization Partnership. Physicians, school nurses, public health officials and other stakeholders in the front lines of immunization were summoned for the Wednesday afternoon town hall meeting at First United Methodist Church. Billy Scoggins, a nurse with Wesley Nurse Health Ministries at United Methodist, said the church hosted the event to provide a platform for professionals to share data related to immunization. "As a mother and nurse, to make decisions that affect the health of my children and others, it's important to make sure I know all the facts," she said. "The church is a pillar in the community for providing this type of information." The Immunization Partnership hosted the meeting in Corpus Christi because Nueces County is "somewhere in the middle or high end" of other Texas counties' increase in nonmedical vaccine exemptions filed with the state, Dragsbaek said. The number of such exemptions filed in Nueces County has increased 124 percent from 2010-15 and "that's alarming," she said. "Nueces County is not alone, but (the increase in exemptions) is concerning," Dragsbaek said. Parents in Texas and about 20 other states can opt out of vaccinating their children as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state allows exemptions based on philosophical, personal, or conscientious beliefs. All states permit medical exemptions. Dragsbaek said most parents who filed nonmedical vaccine exemptions did it "for reasons unrelated to science" and the choice not only makes the children vulnerable to preventable diseases, but also everyone they encounter. "There is a great deal of misinformation out there," she said. "Of greater concern is (the children) can contract diseases and pass them on to other (vulnerable populations)." Dragsbaek explained a 2003 state law and a 1998 research paper published in a British medical journal, which linked vaccinations to autism, were main drivers in the increase in exemptions in Texas. According to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services Immunization Branch, from 2003-13, vaccination exemptions shot up from 2,134 to 38,197. In 2003, the Legislature passed HB 2292. The bill reorganized the state's health services and a clause stipulated that parents of elementary or secondary school age children could decide not to vaccinate them "for reasons of conscience, including a religious belief." In 2010, British magazine The Lancet retracted a 1998 paper by Dr. Andrew Wakefield. His research contended that the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine may be unsafe. Despite the magazine's retraction, Wakefield losing his medical license and numerous studies that failed to find a link between vaccines and autism, the British doctor has a following by U.S. parent groups, Dragsbaek said. Wakefield lives in Austin, making "Texas ground zero for the movement" against vaccines, she said. The increase in exemptions correlate with increase in cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, measles and mumps, Dragsbaek said. "It's a real concern," she said. Twitter: @CallerBetty CALLER-TIMES FILE PHOTO Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick On the matter of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick inviting lawmakers to file a transgender-discriminatory bathroom bill, declaring a boycott of Target for its transgender-friendly bathroom policy, and calling for the Fort Worth school superintendent to resign because he established a compassionate bathroom policy to protect students where do we start? At the beginning? On the moral high ground that bathroom laws like the one approved in North Carolina and encouraged here by Patrick, requiring people to use the bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificates, are a mean-spirited outrage against justice? This is not the safety or religion-based moral issue that Patrick seeks to frame. It's just an ugly excuse to discriminate against transgender people. We shouldn't have to point out that discrimination is wrong. Did we all learn nothing from Dr. King? Should we start with a lieutenant governor's real priorities? He is the presiding officer of the upper house of the Texas Legislature, whose top priority in the next session should be school finance. The cyclical declaration that the state's school finance system is unconstitutional is pending. Whether the Legislature overhauls the system or not, it still will have to grapple with school finance and balancing a budget with state revenue down because of the oil crash. Should we begin instead with the doctrine of home rule? Patrick and his ilk are all for local control and less government unless somebody somewhere, like Fort Worth Superintendent Kent Scribner, isn't doing something their way. Not being a Fort Worth resident Patrick is from Houston amplifies the insult to Scribner and Fort Worth. Applause, by the way, for Scribner for declining to resign and for expressing pride in his school district's bathroom guidelines. He should be proud. Regarding the safety issue, generally, bad things that happen in bathrooms aren't perpetrated by transgender women in women's bathrooms. Usually they're perpetrated in men's rooms by men against men or boys. And it's weird, fanciful thinking that gender identity-friendly bathroom policies by Target, the Fort Worth ISD or any other entity create an opportunity for predatory males to declare themselves in touch with their feminine side on a given day so they can enter a women's room and attack women and girls. A bathroom law like the one passed by North Carolina and encouraged in Texas by Patrick creates a safety issue that didn't exist previously, by forcing transgender women into men's rooms where the reception isn't likely to be friendly. But maybe it's just a theoretical danger because a law like North Carolina's is easily ignored and tricky to enforce. A bathroom bill in Texas' next legislative session would be like the open-carry law of the 2015 session a time-draining distraction from real issues. We don't mean to demean the issue's importance to transgender people and to anyone with a sense of justice. It's a significant issue, but only if it is raised. It should be left alone. This is another example of blatant political opportunism by Patrick, who made a big show of opposing same-sex marriage and exhibits a pattern of the kind of judgmental piety Jesus opposed. He is a polarizer, not a uniter. So where do we end? Where we usually do with Patrick reminding our readers that we recommended strongly against his election in 2014. It's telling that the first comment on the Texas Tribune story about his seeking the Fort Worth superintendent's resignation addressed Patrick by the surname on his birth certificate Goeb. Patrick had his name changed legally to his broadcast stage name. Leave it to a phony to drum up a phony issue. The visiting Secretary of State in charge of Development and Francophonie to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs met with Lejeune Mbella Mbella yesterday in Yaounde. ADS Desertification, deforestation and soil degradation, amongst others, featured among key environmental issues discussed yesterday November 2, 2015 between visiting Secretary of State in charge of Development and Francophonie to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Annick Girardin and the Minister of External Relations, Lejeune Mbella Mbella. On her first visit to Cameroon, Annick Girardin sought to assess efforts made by her host country to manage various environmental protection challenges ahead of the upcoming 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21, which will be held in Paris, France from November 30 to December 11, 2015. Speaking to the press after the meeting, Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella said he assured his French guest that the President of the Republic of Cameroon attaches great importance to the protection of the forest and biodiversity because the country has part of Central Africas large Congo Basin forest; the second largest forest in the world after the Amazon Basin. To fight destruction of forests for agriculture and wood exploitation, government has put in place stringent measures and laws with implementation controlled by the ministries in charge of forestry and environmental protection. Annick Girardins fears on soil degradation equally received assurances that government is alleviating threats of desertification especially in the northern part of the country with reforestation projects to prevent climatic changes. One of the issues Cameroon will discuss in Paris, it was disclosed, will be the dwindling of Lake Chad. According to Minister Mbella, the large water body has reduced in size from 25,000 km2 to a mere 9,000 km2, negatively affecting the economic development of the area. Besides reviewing France-Cameroon relations with Minister Mbella Mbella, Annick Girardin also had words of solidarity for Cameroon which is facing security threats from the terrorist group, Boko Haram, but sparing no effort at the humanitarian level to provide care and hospitality for hundreds of thousands of refugees from Nigeria and the Central African Republic. Annick Girardins visit to Cameroon comes four months after the visit by French President, Francois Hollande, and eight months after the visit by French Foreign Affairs Minister, Laurent Fabius. ADS Les USA poursuivent leur effort d'equipement des forces armees africaines en moyens ISR. C'est ce que montrent deux avis lus dans la liste des marches annonces lundi soir par le Pentagone. ADS Trois pays africains de la region du Lac Tchad vont en profiter: Tchad, Niger et Cameroun. Cet effort s'inscrit dans l'enveloppe du "Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund" (CTPF) qui prevoit 105 millions$ pour la FY 2016 et 125 millions$ pour la FY 2017 . Deux entreprises sont citees dans ces avis: - North American Surveillance Systems - L3C North American Surveillance Systems, Titusville, Florida, has been awarded a $39,983,647 firm-fixed-price, undefinitized contract action. Contractor will provide modification and integration of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities into Cessna 208B aircraft, training, and field service representative support. Work will be performed at Titusville, Florida, and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2019. This contract involves pseudo foreign military sales to Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Philippines. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2016 Section 2282 and counter-terrorism partnership funds in the amount of $19,751,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-16-C-4015). L-3 Communications Corp., doing business as Communication Systems West, Salt Lake City, Utah, has been awarded a $14,185,927 firm-fixed-price, undefinitized contract action for Cessna 208B intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) program production of ISR capabilities and spares. Work will be performed at Salt Lake City, Utah, and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2017. This contract involves foreign military sales to Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Philippines. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2016 Section 2282 and counter-terrorism partnership funds in the amount of $7,000,673 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8620-16-C-4014). ADS PARTNER CONTENT Dear Xaxis, I wonder about the data my agency is using in the services they sell me. How do I know if its accurate? Thanks, Data Skeptic Dear Data Skeptic, Many advertisers place a lot of trust in their agencies and take what is reported based on the strength of the working relationshipthat usually enables execution of great work. But with increasing pressure all around for transparency and accountability thanks to persistent issues of fraudtrust is no longer enough. Rohan Philips For advertisers who transact online, ensuring accuracy is relatively straight forward. One could measure the accuracy of the data by measuring the cost of acquiring a new or existing user: typically you will find re-targeting, models of re-targeting, CRM and certain intent data sources outperform others. However, when you start to measure behaviour, demographics, cross-device data amongst others it starts to get a lot more complex. Using a third-party to audit will give you the best measure of accuracy. Xaxis recently went a global audit of our DMP Turbine using comScore, which measured the accuracy of the data in comparison to other data sources in the market. In this audit, comScore assessed segments for accuracy by validating Turbines audience data against the 1.9 trillion interactions observed by comScores global census monthly. The results were heartening, with Turbine outperforming its benchmark in accurately predicting consumer purchase intent and interests across its proprietary, real-time audience segments. It proved that our solution precisely mapped to the intended targets across all addressable media. Audits are daunting exercises, and the industry is still at a stage where such measures are voluntary rather than mandated. So ask your digital agency if its solutions have been independently tested and audited, or whether it has plans to do so. The proprietary nature of such solutions means you cant let everyone under the hood but if a trusted and knowledgeable third-party is involved, it is the best reassurance any advertiser can ask for. Rohan Philips Vice-president, products and strategy, Xaxis Asia-Pacific The Digital and Social Media Advertising Guidelines by the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) are expected to be finalised by the end of June this year. Professor Sze Wee Tan, ASAS chairman, tells Campaign Asia that the advisory council has been sounding out the industry about such guidelines since 2013. However, it was only after an incident involving Singtel and Gushcloud that the move to formalise social media guidelines gained traction. The industry hence saw the need to draw up ethical guidelines for social media influencers, Tan adds. The incident in question occurred in March 2015, when blogger Wendy Cheng, better known as Xiaxue, posted a brief by Gushcloud to its influencers, detailing instructions for a youth marketing campaign for Singtel in June 2014. The brief from the influencer networkwhose clients include Amazon, Coca-Cola, Citibank and Tigerairpromised perks, such as cash and discounts on mobile phones, if they drove new subscribers to Singtels Youth Plan by complaining about the services of rival telcos M1 and StarHub. After the controversial campaign came to light, Singtel fired the employee who worked on the campaign, terminated its contract with Gushcloud and CEO Chua Sock Koong publically apologised to her competitors. The countrys Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) also issued a stern warning to the telco for engaging in an online smear campaign, after it received formal complaints from M1 and StarHub. Tan says that once the guidelines are finalised, ASAS fully expects the support of members and industry players, as the guidelines work in their interest and upholds the credibility of the industry. That is why we waited all those years, he adds. We would not have gone ahead if the industry isnt behind this. Tan says that judicious guidelines can help the industry evolve positively. This means being sensitive to the special requirements of the industryin this case, social media, he adds. There is currently little insight into just how much money is involved in the influencer marketing space, with few estimates or studies being conducted, especially in the region. In addition, within the category of influencers, a distinction must be made between social media celebrities and subject matter expertsthe use of the former dominating campaigns in the region. Lack of third-party measurement aside, many brands remain convinced of the benefits. A study done by US-based digital agency RhythmOne in March 2015, claims that marketers can earn US$6.85 of media value for every dollar spent on influencer marketing. Additionally, it found that 60 percent of advertisers plan to increase their spending on influencers in the year ahead. Margaret Franco, VP of marketing for commercial sales and enterprise solutions at Dell Asia-Pacific and Japan, says marketers need to remember that earned and owned activities need to remain authentic and credible in order to be effective. Deviating from this is actually the largest pitfall associated with influencer activity. Franco believes the new guidelines encourage this and will definitely be effective for not only brands, but more importantly consumers. Interestingly enough, one of the many parties consulted in the draft process of the guidelines was Gushcloud. Co-founder Althea Lim tells Campaign that the company believes the upcoming regulations can provide more clarity on the rules of engagement and more legitimacy for the use of influencer marketing. Lim also says that influencer networks like Gushcloud will have to work with relevant parties to educate their influencers. It may take time, but we believe it progresses the industry. Lim describes Singapore as a relatively mature market with regards to the use of influencers in marketing and PR campaigns. Typically influencers in Southeast Asia help put a face to the brand, increase recall and aid in retention, she adds. This has resulted in regular spending on influencers. With the establishment of guidelines comes the question of compliance, and when asked about potential penalties in store for influencers or brands, ASASs Tan says penalties would not be in the form of criminal or civil sanctions. For example, in order to ensure compliance, the ASAS can inform trade and advertising associations to withhold trading privileges from the advertiser and publicise the advertisers actions as a form of adverse publicity. The council could also refer the matter to the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) for action under the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (CPFTA), which states that it is an unfair practice to make false claims about products and services. Dells Franco reports that the upcoming guidelines would not necessitate a change in their current influencer practices as the technology brands core strategy around social media and influencers is to always be transparent and authentic. One very pragmatic example is the standard practice and policy for every Dell marketer and employee to post #Iwork4Dell in social posts that promote Dells solutions or capabilities, she adds. Tan says that bloggers, networks and personalities are expected to comply with the guidelines as well and only accept projects that adhere to the guidelines. Gushclouds Lim remains confident that it would not be an issue with personalities the network works with. Our view: Hopefully these regulations are in time to save Singapores influencer market from itself. Did you hear the one about the Muslim woman who was asked to bake the cake for the Queens 90th birthday celebration? To the backdrop of our newspaper front pages plastered with stories of oppressed hijab-wearing Muslim women, you would never know that the nations newest sweetheart, Nadiya Hussain, winner of last years The Great British Bake Off, is the most famous member of a completely overlooked and underserved consumer segment. The female Muslim consumer has arrived but are we paying attention? The outreach of the branding and advertising community to women in general, whether in products or portrayals, has been rapidly evolving, throwing aside ideas of perfect 50s housewives in favour of the experiences of real women in the real world. Just look at the success of Doves "campaign for real beauty" or work such as "this girl can" and "#LikeAGirl". Earlier in the year, Mattel was lauded for finally bringing out a range of Barbie dolls in different skin tones and body shapes to better reflect and connect with todays female audiences. Almost instantly, a young Nigerian Muslim woman set up an Instagram account that shot to popularity with photographs of a fashion line she had created for "Hijarbie". Teen Vogue dubbed her "the best doll that Barbie forgot to create". And here we have the crux of the issue: the ad industry is oblivious to the fact Muslim women are waiting to be recognised, served and reflected on the high street. Beneath the stereotypes and political narratives is a consumer segment that is crying out for brands to reach out to them. There is a fundamental lack of knowledge about the growing Muslim consumer market that needs to be plugged. When we conducted research into Muslim attitudes around the world, we found one startling consistency: the emergence of a segment we called "Muslim Futurists". These are people who choose to live a life they feel is both faithful and modern, and who believe that both of these aspects are their right. Its the first recognition of a Muslim consumer who wants the best brands, products and services they want to be fashion-forward, for example, but only when it meets the requirements of their faith. If I was to pick one person who represents the cutting edge of Muslim Futurists, it would be a woman: educated, tech-savvy, worldly, intent on defining her own future, brand loyal and conscious that her consumption says something important about who she is and how she chooses to live her life. Interest in this market spikes regularly. A few weeks ago, the news was that Marks & Spencer in the UK was stocking a burkini. In February, Dolce & Gabbana announced a line of high-end abayas (long cloaks) and shaylas (scarves) for Muslim women in the Middle East. In 2015, we saw H&M run a corporate social responsibility campaign about sustainability featuring 60 "rule-breakers", including a fashionable Muslim woman. Uniqlo announced it was releasing a "lifewear" range in Malaysia aimed at Muslim women who choose to dress modestly. And DKNY, Tommy Hilfiger and Net-a-Porter have run Ramadan fashion campaigns. Uniqlo has a new range aimed at Muslim women The consumers these brands are targeting are young, cool and ready to spend their money. What is obvious is that, outside these spot campaigns, brands need to work hard to catch up. There are big rewards to be reaped. Muslim consumer spend on fashion and on cosmetics is estimated to be worth a respective $464 billion and $73 billion globally by 2019. And, of course, female decision-makers drive decisions in many other categories including food, finance and holidays. The aspiration that Muslim Futurists hold to lead a holistic Muslim lifestyle means that female Muslim consumers are influential and have money to spend. The Muslim lifestyle market is worth $2.6 trillion and more than 90 per cent of Muslims in our research told us that their faith affects their consumption choices overall. If you head into a local supermarket, you might find halal baby foods to support Muslim working mums alongside halal ready-meals for the young urban couple with no time to cook. Private villas abroad or Muslim-friendly hotels cater for young, affluent, independent Muslim women jetting off for hen parties. Or have you heard of the Pharrell Williams-produced Malaysian pop star Yuna, with her millions of Twitter followers? Or Fatin Shidqia Lubis, the headscarf-wearing winner of The X Factor in Indonesia? Next time a Muslim woman walks past you, or you see a mournful picture plastered on a newspaper front page, ask: what is her consumer story, and what can your brand do to reach out to her? Shelina Janmohamed is the vice-president of Ogilvy Noor, a division of Ogilvy & Mather that specialises in engaging with a Muslim audience | BY Ricki Green | How will Australia perform at Cannes this year? In the lead up to the Festival, Campaign Brief will be showcasing the work we hope will impress the judges DDB Melbourne Under the Australian sun, a parked car can easily reach temperatures of 75C. Despite the warnings over 5,000 children have to be rescued from hot cars each year. Kidsafe Australia needed to find a more unconventional way to make Aussie parents realise the dangers. Disguised as a celebrity product launch, press and media were invited to Bondi Beach for the unveiling of celebrity-chef, Matt Morans new Unconventional Oven. When the time came for the big reveal, Matt Moran stunned his audience by walking off stage and retrieving a fully cooked lamb loin from a family car parked nearby. DDB Melbourne Westpac Get Cash is a new cardless cash service.To promote it, DDB created a series of step-by-step tutorial videos and released them on facebook. But the (usually fake) codes in each tutorial were real. Hidden in plain sight. Anybody watching could enter one at an ATM to withdraw free cash. They did, and word spread. People learnt about the product online, then actually went out and used it in the real world. The campaign had over 5 million views. Use of Westpac Get Cash increased by 30%. And young bank account applications went up by an amazing 31.1%. DDB Melbourne | BY Ricki Green | On Friday May 6th, MediaCom Sydney closed its office to raise money on behalf of its recognised charity partner, Starlight Childrens Foundation. Starlight Day, an annual event held nationally, sees thousands of volunteers raise much needed funds to brighten the lives of seriously ill children through the organisations uniquely Australian hospital programs. Formed as a childrens charity in 1988, Starlight Childrens Foundation supports the well-being and resilience of children and their families who are living in and out of hospital by continuously helping restore the fun and laughter illness takes away. Participating in Starlight Day for the sixth year in a row, over 150 purple and yellow-clad #MediaComStars hit the streets to sell merchandise, collect donations and complete the inaugural photo challenge in an array of locations across Sydneys CBD. MediaComs people are truly dedicated to raising vital funds for Starlight Childrens Foundation, which make a real difference to help brighten the lives of ill children, giving them the opportunity to laugh, play and be a child again. Says Sara Durree, talent manager at MediaCom: The vibrant culture you can see and feel when you walk through the doors at MediaCom is created by our people who push the boundaries every day. We face multiple challenges throughout our working week, but we know there are others who face far bigger battles than we do on a daily basis. This is why we come together every May, as OneMediaCom to support Starlight Childrens Foundation. We are so grateful to have the opportunity to help bring some happiness back into the lives of those that need it most. Says Michelle Mowle, head of talent at MediaCom: I am so proud of our people as they have shown amazing support and dedication to Starlight Childrens Foundation. Acting as OneMediaCom, our teams are strongest when we work together to help sustain Starlights programs that help bring smiles and laughter to ill children and their families. I would like to thank all our clients for their understanding and the incredible amount of support from media owners, we are extremely grateful for their generosity. Says Holly Roberts, state partnerships manager NSW at Starlight Childrens Foundation: This Starlight Day we needed the support of our generous partner MediaCom, more than ever before. As demand for our programs increases, we plan on opening more Starlight Express Rooms nationally, including a room at The Sydney Childrens Hospital at Randwick. Without MediaComs involvement, and their dedicated teams contribution, we could not have reached as many seriously ill children and their families in their greatest time of need. Were thankful to have a such a dedicated and enthusiastic team working with us to brighten the lives of sick kids across Australia. | BY Ricki Green | Scoundrel director Tim Bullock picked up Best Direction in a TV Commercial for his Volkswagen Bear spot via adam&eveDDB at the ADG Awards, held at The Sofitel Melbourne last Friday night. The category was strongly represented by Scoundrel with Michael Spiccias Routine Republic spot for Taco Bell, and Peter Carstairs Ultrasound spot for Doritos, also nominated for Best Direction in a TV Commercial. Photoplay Filmss Husein Alicajic picked up a Highly Commended award in the TV Commercial category. The Australian Directors Guild Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements and contribution by Australian Directors in the fields of film, television and new media platforms. To see the other winners from the night click here. This is Bullocks third win at the ADG Awards. To view Tim Bullocks reel, click here. Food By: Cook Britain With layers of airy sponge and sweet buttercream balanced by decadent coffee and walnut flavours, this cake is simply divine. Read More "I think Eurovision is that really interesting event that people for many years secretly adored and secretly go themselves into - and suddenly that nerd culture is so strong that it's not something to be ashamed of again," he said. But the shift of about 10,200 inner north voters to the southern seat of Canberra held by Labor's Gai Brodtmann may even out the disparity between the margins of the newly renamed northern seat of Fenner, held by Labor's Andrew Leigh at 12.5 per cent, and Canberra currently at 7.4 per cent. History through the eyes of an Airman Leaving behind the sunshine of a too-hot-to-be-10 a.m. high plains morning, Chuck Hager, a longtime Clovis resident and recently retired business owner, sauntered through the heavy double doors of a local coffee house, causing heads throughout the shop to swivel in his direction. Wearing a sky-high cowboy hat and a crisp white button-down tucked neatly into jet black jeans, one could safely assume this particular gentleman was not commonly overlooked. Catching attention was nothing new for Hager. His life was brimming with stories of ordinary circumstances made into extraordinary experiences. One such story, particularly cherished by the Tennessee-born painter, unfolded right here at the 27th Special Operations Wing, known then as Clovis Air Force Base. I entered the service at 19 years old, Hager recalled. They sent me here to Clovis AFB in 1954 and I spent about three months working on the flightline as an airplane mechanic. Having completed an apprenticeship to become a sign painter before he enlisted in the Air Force, Hager found it difficult to adjust to the highly technical aspects of flightline life. When we were out on the line, we often worked on the wing commanders bird, Hager said. I had been a painter as a civilian, and knew it was a skill not many would have. One day an idea struck me: I wanted to change my situation and I had the means, so I painted the commanders name across the side of his plane in bright blue. The plan worked like a charm. The wing commander had my supervisor cut orders for me to go work on a special project for a few months, Hager said. I painted the Clovis Air Force Base sign that stood at the front gate. You cant tell in the pictures, but the sign was really something. It was nice enough to look at in the light, but some of it was done with paint that glowed in the dark, making it even more eye-catching after sundown. Throughout the course of his project, Hager build a rapport with the wing commander and was commissioned to complete several additional artistic tasks, including designing and painting a second welcome sign when the base was renamed from Clovis to Cannon in 1957. Eventually, Hagers work earned him an off-the-cuff promotion. After I had done a few projects for him, the commander saw to it that I got a promotion, Hager said. My experience working with him was an excellent one. He went on to become a general and do great things as a commander in Vietnam. I was proud to be able to say that I had worked with a man like him, and could call him a friend. Hager received orders to Alaska after a couple years in Clovis, but was able to forego them and remain in the town he had come to love. Two of Hagers four children were delivered at the base hospital and, day by day, the familys attachment to the small eastern New Mexico community strengthened. Even then, Clovis was home to me, Hager said. I loved the people; they would welcome you in town without a second thought. I was going to stay here as long as I possibly could. Orders to Alaska came again in 1957 and this time, Hager had no choice but to accept them. We went on to Alaska and had a fine time, Hager said. I continued to paint, and after eight good years my service came to an end. I had never forgotten Clovis and when we were able, my family and I came back. Hager went on to record a chart-topping country music album which landed him a place in the Clovis museum of history, meet several sitting United States presidents and own a successful sign painting business. Though he has enough stories to fill the 10-gallon hat that tops his head, for Hager, all roads led to Clovis. Im retired now and I do just about whatever I want, but I still feel the same about this place, these people, as I always have, Hager said. Its just home. 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. Ghaziabad/Germany: In an exclusive 59 minutes of Live Radio Session on sthoerfunk.de 104.8 MHz, students of DPS Indirapuram represented India. Twelve students from the school had participated in the Indo-German Exchange program for 22 days where they learnt the German Culture and the country's relationship with India. During the live radio session, students of both the countries discussed about the importance of English language across the world. The Indo-German Exchange program of DPS Indirapuram was with Schloss-Realschule Gaildorf, Gaildrof Germany. For 22 days, 12 students of DPS school participated in the Indo-German Exchange program. The program began with the voice of 'Namaste Germany!' which was further translated by a fellow German student. In the discussion ahead, they asked each other about their experience of learning English as a universal language medium. One of the students from DPS Indirapuram said, "She has been listening to her parents talking in English when she was barely 4 years old that gave her better understanding of English since her childhood; also the school teaches every subject except Hindi in the same language which helps in better learning and grooming of the language". DPS Indirapuram Organises Special Orientation Programme Further during the session, students introduced Punjabi, Bengali, Gujarati and Urdu as the other Indian regional language to the German listeners. During the live discussion, several Bollywood and German songs were played, where Farhan Akhtar's famous number, 'Dil Dhadhak Dhadhakne do' was also played. After discussing the importance of languages, the students of both the countries talked about the festivals; wherein, Indian students highlighted the German festivals and German students about Indian festivals. Also, their discussion on eating habits of both the countries offered a great deal of understanding about the culture of the two nations. While concluding the live radio discussion, the students spoke about their country's lifestyle and the bonding and unity of families that keep them together. It was highlighted in the discussion that in India, families are extremely united which act as a backbone of Indian culture. The discussion signed off with students bidding each other 'goodbye' in their native languages. The French group has signed two new agreements with the Chinese automaker to launch small and compact electric vehicles on a worldwide scale. The agreement between PSA and Dongfeng involves the design of an electric version of their Common Modular Platform (CMP), which was jointly developed by the two companies. The new derivative with the code name e-CMP will spawn a series of all-electric, high-performance B and C segment vehicles for Peugeot, Citroen, DS and, of course, Dongfeng, with the first cars to hit the market as early as 2019. The future e-CMP platform is a key milestone in our partnership with Dongfeng, said Carlos Tavares, Chairman of PSA Group. It will speed up the worldwide development of both of our groups, while helping us to reach the strict carbon objective set for 2020. The two, who have formed the Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile (DPCA), also signed a new Human Resources agreement to increase synergies like temporary employee exchanges in the fields of Research & Development, Marketing, Manufacturing, Finance and Human Resources. PHOTO GALLERY Paganis most potent Huayra wants to do away with fragile Italian exotic stereotypes and cope with almost everything the environment has to throw at it. Despite being introduced a few months ago, the Italian automaker has just released a new video with a prototype being tested in extreme cold conditions somewhere in Sweden, where the Bosch-developed ABS and ESP were put to the test. The philosophy of our vehicles is a combination between Art and Science, Technology and Design, Performanche and uncompromising safety. Bosch Engineering has been our partner for a number of years now in this endeavor, said founder and owner of Pagani Automobili, Horacio Pagani. All 20 units of the $2.5 million supercar were sold out even before it was revealed in March at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. The Huayra BC has a number of new aerodynamic components that pay tribute to the Zonda R and Zonda Cinque. Its mid-mounted 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12 engine has been tweaked to 789 HP and 811 lb-ft (1,100 Nm) of torque. Pagani has yet to release 0 to 60 figures, but with a power-to-weight ratio superior to that of the McLaren P1 and Porsche 918 Spyder, it should be more than capable of dealing with them. VIDEO This 1973 Datsun 240Z is armed and ready to tackle one of the most demanding rally events on the planet, the Peking to Paris Motor Challenge. Unlike other events of this type, the Peking to Paris rally is eligible for cars originally built up until 1973, with the rules stating that each entry can be modded but only with parts that existed in this time frame. So you can imagine what sort of adventurers this 10,000-mile rally attracts, with most entries using pre-WWII cars for this epic trip. Chris Bury and his father spent the last year building his 240Z, installing a roll cage, skid plates, a 26-gallon fuel cell, a full suspension with 6 inches of travel and pretty much everything required to tackle this amazing event. The straight six engine has been bored out to 2.7 litres and is running on a low compression to better cope with bad fuel in the middle of nowhere. Power is rated at 195hp and 189lb ft of torque, with the gearbox being a stock four-speed manual and a period-correct limited-slip differential. Matt Farah had the chance to get behind its wheel before the car gets shipped to China for the event, giving us some interesting info on one of the coolest builds out there. VIDEO Photo: Rido Franz Although a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder puts an end to questions about frustrating symptoms and experiences, it does not mean life instantly gets easier this is really the beginning of the lifelong work of living well while managing this condition. Whether the diagnosis is for yourself, your partner, or your child, there are things you can do to help, and some pitfalls to avoid as you move forward. Today I am going to focus on a few of the common mistakes people make when managing ADHD. A first and major hurdle is accepting the diagnosis. Many people are not willing to accept they have ADHD. There are also a lot of misconceptions floating around about what the disorder is and what it isnt. For this reason, it is important to receive your medical opinion from a professional trained in recognizing this condition. Educate yourself about the condition, and you can begin to create a plan for living with it. Another common mistake is to make too much or too little of medication use. Some people believe medication alone will solve all of their problems and make life easy to manage. Others think they should completely rule out the use of medication under any circumstance. Neither of these extremes represents a good plan when it comes to ADHD. In reality, medication is often a very useful tool in the management of ADHD. It needs to be monitored closely by a professional, and used in combination with other behavioural and organizational tools. Although it can be irksome to someone living with ADHD, planning out each day is a very helpful strategy. Without a concrete plan usually in writing it is easy for a person with ADHD to accomplish little during a day. Making a routine of writing out a plan for the following day doesnt take too much work, and can have a big positive impact. Another difficult area is time management. Not only is it more difficult to keep track of time, it is also more difficult to predict how long a task will take or move from one scheduled event to another without external cues. Setting timers can be a helpful tool, and thankfully this is easier than ever with smartphones. One of the most important pitfalls to avoid is to listen too much to ignorant people. Well-meaning friends, relations, co-workers and even random people will often try to engage in a conversation about ADHD and how it should be handled. Unfortunately, many misconceptions exist about ADHD, and there are those who will share their ill-informed opinions and advice. Try to take your support and advice from those who know about the condition and professionals who are equipped to offer solutions and tips that will actually help. Finally, life is hard. With ADHD there are some specific challenges to cope with on top of the everyday struggles we all face. Dont assume that having a good strategy will make everything perfect. So far, no one has cornered the market on making a perfect life. Create a plan using tools that work for your life. Keep the things that help, and tweak when necessary. Focus on the positive and just keep taking things one day at a time. Remember that life is a journey. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Photo: Facebook - Ponderosa Arts & Music Festival Festival organizers, Kris Hargrave and Kia Zahrabi. After a devastating wildfire forced the last-minute cancelation of the Ponderosa Arts & Music Festival last August, questions about the festivals return in 2016 lingered. Organizers of the festival put those fears to rest in February, and released the artist lineup this past weekend. Despite the financial hit Kia Zahrabi and Kris Hargrave said they took due to last years last-minute cancellation, Augusts lineup boasts an impressive group of artists from around B.C. and Canada. The festival, running from Aug. 19 - 21 in Rock Creek, will be headlined by Ontario and Quebec- based Timber Timbre on Friday night, followed by Vancouver-based psych rockers Black Mountain on Saturday. Vancouver blues duo, Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer, who had planned to play the festival last year, will close out the festival on the Sunday. In addition to the headliners, notable Vancouver favourites The Boom Booms, The Belle Game and Pack A.D. along with Manitobas Royal Canoe will be throwing down on the two stages along the Kettle River. Theres a strong possibility there may be some dancing at the festival too, with electronic acts Moontricks and Stickybuds playing sets on Friday and Saturday. Local acts include Kelownas Andrew Judah and Salmon Arms Harold Nix. Its been a tough year for music festivals in B.C., with the much larger Squamish Valley Music Festival cancelling their 2016 dates in March. Some have speculated the cancellation was due to the weak Canadian dollar relative to the American dollar, as it had boasted many big American acts in previous years. The Rock Creek Wildfire destroyed 30 homes and burned more than 4,400 hectares around Rock Creek and Westbridge in August, 2015, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents. Zahrabi and Hargrave gave the official word on the festivals cancelation just two days before it was set to begin, saying they couldnt guarantee attendees safety. This will be the third time Ponderosa has been held, as long as the wildfires behave themselves this August. With the next provincial election less than a year a way, several decisions made by the current government are getting less-than-positive reviews. The Insights West BC Government Report Card, conducted in partnership with Business in Vancouver, shows for the first time in three years, housing, poverty and homelessness (22 per cent, +5 since November 2015) is regarded as the top issue facing the province, overtaking the economy and jobs (20 per cent, -7), health care (17 per cent, no change) and government accountability (12 per cent, -1). Two-in-five British Columbians (39 per cent, +8) say the provincial government has done a good job dealing with the economy and jobs, while a third are satisfied with the way crime and public safety (34 per cent) and the environment (32 per cent, +3) have been handled. More than a quarter of residents are satisfied with the work done on energy, pipelines and LNG (28 per cent), the shortage of skilled workers (28 per cent), business taxes and red tape (27 per cent) and health care (26 per cent). The provincial government gets its lowest rankings on handling education (24 per cent), accountability (21 per cent ) and housing, poverty and homelessness (15 per cent). The provincial government continues to get its highest marks on economic management and safety, but the numbers are not particularly impressive, says Mario Canseco, vice president of public affairs at Insights West. In November 2013, six months after the last election, the government had the same score as it does now on handling the economy. When it comes to recent decisions, practically half of British Columbians (47 per cent) are satisfied with the governments work on implementing changes to legislation related to the sale of alcohol. Only two other decisions get a positive rating from a third of residents: pushing for the development of LNG (35 per cent) and handling relations with BCs First Nations (33 per cent). The rating is lower for other decisions, including managing BC Hydro (28 per cent), taking action to reduce BCs greenhouse gas emissions (also 28 per cent), dealing with the Northern Gateway Pipeline (27 per cent), dealing with the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline (24 per cent) and managing the Agricultural Land Commission (22 per cent). The four lowest-ranked decisions are managing BC Ferries (19 per cent), managing TransLink (16 per cent), dealing with questions related to political fundraising (16 per cent) and handling issues related to foreign ownership in housing (11 per cent). One third of British Columbians (34 per cent) approve of the performance of premier Christy Clark, while three-in-five (59 per cent) disapprove. The approval rating for opposition and BC New Democratic Party (NDP) leader John Horgan stands at 40 per cent, with 29 per cent disapproving. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver holds an approval rating of 32 per cent, but 48 per cent of residents are undecided when asked about his performance. Half of British Columbians (51 per cent) say their opinion of Clark has worsened over the past six months, giving her a net momentum score of -46. On this indicator, Horgan is at -2 and Weaver is even. The BC NDP is in first place with the support of 40 per cent of decided voters (+1), followed by the BC Liberals with 34 per cent, the BC Green Party with 14 per cent (-2) and the BC Conservatives with 10 per cent (+3). The New Democrats are doing especially well on Vancouver Island (52 per cent) and among women (45 per cent) and voters aged 18-to-34 (44 per cent). The BC Liberals are the top choice among male voters (40 per cent) and voters aged 35-54 (39 per cent). The above results are based on an online study conducted from May 2 to May 5, 2016, among 801 adult British Columbians. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points. Click here to view for more details on the findings. Photo: Wayne Moore - File photo A West Kelowna man facing a second-degree murder charge will be back in court at the end of May for a pre-trial conference. Jose Amestica, 50, was originally charged with aggravated assault after Kevin McNally, 44, was stabbed in a home on Solar Road on April 29, 2015. McNally succumbed to his injuries on May 2, and Amesticas charges were upgraded. At the time of the stabbing, police said the house and surrounding area were well known to them. Last month, Amestica was ordered to stand trial in B.C. Supreme Court on the murder charge following a preliminary inquiry in early April. Amestica served a six-month jail sentence in 2011, stemming from drug trafficking and breach of probation charges. His next court appearance is scheduled for May 24. Photo: Contributed The first-degree murder trial began this week for a man accused of killing his girlfriend in 2007. Former Kelowna and Edmonton resident, Shawn Lee Wruck, 42, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Shannon Collins, 29, whose remains were found just east of Edmonton in 2008. Wruck was arrested on April 4, 2013, in West Kelowna. "This investigation presented numerous challenges from the beginning, but through a strong sense of determination and a never give up attitude, investigators were able to bring this matter to a successful conclusion," said Supt. Gary Steinke, officer in charge of the Strathcona County RCMP following Wruck's arrest in 2008. "We hope by announcing charges today that this will give some degree of closure to the victim's family and friends." The investigation began on June 5, 2008, when human remains were found in a wooded area of the Belvedere Heights subdivision in Strathcona County. A homeowner called police when his dogs discovered what appeared to be a human skull. A search of the property found further skeletal remains. Shannon Collins was not reported missing until Sept. 9, 2008 after the discovery of the bones. RCMP said at the time that she lived a high-risk lifestyle. The murder trial in Edmonton is scheduled to last a month. Photo: Contributed Tanya Garost is the new Chief Financial Officer for Lake Country. With 14 years of progressive experience in local government, the chartered accountant was a front-runner candidate for the position through the extensive recruitment and screening process. She starts her new job June 20. We are pleased to have Ms. Garost join the senior management team at Lake Country, said Chief Administrative Officer Alberto De Feo. Besides a well-rounded range of experience and education, her board and volunteer teaching involvement with the Government Finance Officers Association of British Columbia is a real benefit to our community. We look forward to having her oversee the wide range of responsibilities of the finance department in Lake Country. Garost will be leaving her post as general manager of finance and corporate services with the City of West Kelowna, where she has been responsible for overseeing and providing strategic direction to information services, purchasing, finance and recreation. Photo: Facebook - District of Lake Country The District of Lake Country implemented its latest step in the shift to metered water billing recently, mailing out mock water bills to residents. The mock bills were sent to all houses that have been fitted with meters so far, about 95 per cent of all residences. The bills show what the household would be paying, based on water usage, when the new system is implemented in 2017. The primary reason the city decided to go to water meters is the water conservation aspect of it, said Kiel Wilke, engineering technician with the District of Lake Country. Its a good stewardship to protecting the local environment, its equitable billing the high water users will pay more, the low water users will pay less. Wilke says the metering will also allow the district to be eligible for more grant funding. Without water meters in place, youre in a lot worse position when youre trying to receive senior government financial support, Wilke said. For 2016, single-family dwellings are paying $735 annually, but once metering takes effect in 2017, there will be a flat rate of $468, plus 60 cents per cubic meter of use. Your average water user is still going to land on that $735, lower water users will be less than that, higher water users will be more than that, Wilke said. The district hopes the metering will encourage high water users to reduce their consumption. The move to metering is part of the Lake Country Water Master Plan, adopted by council in 2012. Photo: Contributed On Monday, the provincial government announced it would be increasing fines for those caught distracted driving. The current fine of $167 would be more than doubled at $368 and an extra penalty point would be imposed for first-time offenders. While not much can be done to change the new rules, people decided to take to social media and the Castanet comment section to voice their opinion on the matter. Pjy stated, "These penalties are meaningless without a concerted and continuous enforcement program. Perhaps it might be time for each and every policeman to meet a monthly quota. Very Madd wrote, What a Joke. I'm sick of all you Liberaltards wanting the government to watch over every step you make and fine you uncontrollably if you screw up. I think B.C. should do what Alberta has done years ago. Any kind of distraction can bring the law down on you, commented Beth Lukin. Castanet decided to hit the streets and see what residents had to say. Watch here. Photo: Twitter - CTV UPDATE: 12:20 p.m. RCMP say a house fire in Surrey that killed one person early Wednesday morning is not suspicious. Firefighters responded to the home in the Guildford neighbourhood just before 1 a.m. A severely burned 55-year-old man was found dead at the scene while a woman suffering from smoke inhalation was rushed to hospital in serious condition. Members of the RCMP's serious crime section were called, while the cause of the blaze remained undetermined. A release from the detachment confirms the fire is non-suspicious, although a cause of the fire has not been released. The matter has now been turned over to the BC Coroners Service and Mounties say they will assist with the ongoing investigation. ORIGINAL One person has died in a house fire in Surrey, and the RCMP's serious crime section is investigating. A release from Surrey RCMP says the blaze broke out just before 1 a.m. Wednesday. By the time first responders arrived at the home, on the 9000 block of 148 Street in the Guildford neighbourhood, a 55-year-old man had already died of severe burns. A woman described by police as middle-aged was rushed to hospital in very serious condition suffering from smoke inhalation. Names of the victims or a cause of the fire have not been released. Anyone with information about the blaze is urged to contact Surrey RCMP or Crime Stoppers. Photo: The Canadian Press Talking about sex can be awkward for anyone, but some people with disabilities say expressing their most intimate needs can often feel insurmountable. To challenge the taboo, a group of performers who have disabilities will bare their hearts and bodies in a new burlesque cabaret that includes a wheelchair striptease. The show weaves together comedy, sequins and silk gowns to dress up a topic that those involved say goes underexposed. "We have a libido like everybody else," said Andrew Vallance, 35, who will host the show that opens this week in Vancouver. "But there's a whole load of prejudice and institutional barriers that prevent us from expressing our sexualities. It's about time we knocked those barriers down." The show, titled "Sexy Voices," runs for three days starting Thursday. It will fearlessly thrust sex and disability into the limelight, said managing artistic director Rena Cohen, with the non-profit Realwheels Theatre company. It's not physical, but attitudinal barriers that are the greatest challenges for people with disabilities, Cohen said. The community-based performance will push boundaries through a series of vignettes by people from their 20s to 70s who self-identify as living with a disability. Along with being entertained, Cohen hopes audiences will acknowledge that many people with disabilities are denied sexual identities, ranging from overt stigma to incidentally not being perceived as having the capacity for intimacy. "People just assume that somebody who is perhaps a wheelchair user doesn't have a functionality with regards to sexuality," Cohen said. "That's often not the case. Sexuality is just as important to those who live with disabilities as anybody else." The stories on stage will range from racy and sexually explicit to quite sweet, said director Rachel Peake. The goal is to portray people with disabilities as three-dimensional through the illumination of their sex lives, she said. In one number, a woman who is quadriplegic gives a funny, frustrated retelling of how she is overlooked by men. She then busts out in a burlesque routine, stripping down to a corset while dancing with her chair, said Peake. "She's a very strong woman, very fit, she's able to cover a lot of ground. Obviously there are certain restrictions," Peake said. "She'll get some momentum going with the chair, and then she can free up her hand to pull something off and throw it." Another piece involves a performer reciting a love letter to her accessibility devices. "Which tend to be the best kinky toys that have ever been made, basically," Peake said. "We (use) shadow play and a bit of humour." While some performances air on the outrageous, others are aimed at evoking outrage. Audiences will hear how a woman in a wheelchair was once complimented by being told, "You're too pretty to be in a wheelchair." "You can't come to the show and not face your own biases, prejudices, blocks," Peake said. Vallance, who has cerebral palsy, said he grew up crushing on gorgeous, talented women like other teens. But his disability created an unspoken sexual frustration that at times led to anger, or crying out in his sleep. As he was empowered to understand the problem, he developed solutions, he said. "We're seen as asexual people. And sometimes we're even punished for expressing our sexuality," he said. "People don't want to think about people with disabilities reproducing. They don't want to think about us having kids." He hopes the cabaret will stir people toward embracing conversations about people with disabilities having sex for families and for pleasure. "Three performances will not completely destroy systemic prejudices," he said. "But it will help. If only just a little bit." Photo: CTV A group that fought to ban pay-for-plasma clinics in Ontario has taken its fight to British Columbia, joining the NDP Opposition in its call against allowing such facilities in the province. Members of BloodWatch.org were in the legislature Tuesday, when health critic Judy Darcy introduced a private member's bill in hopes of banning companies from compensating donors for plasma, the straw-coloured liquid part of blood used for various medical treatments. The BC Hemophiliac Society and the B.C. Health Coalition were also at the legislature to back the bill that is modelled after legislation banning payment in Ontario. BloodWatch.org spokeswoman Kat Lanteigne said outside the legislature that Canadian Blood Services has strict standards for people who donate blood and a private company that collects plasma may not have enough oversight. She said safeguards may not exist when the plasma is collected, or when it's exported to another country to be made into biological medication that could then be sold back in Canada. "That is confounding to me why any health minister would ever back that up," she said, adding blood and blood products should remain a public resource, collected from unpaid volunteers. The company that says it screens all applicants before accepting plasma donations has been in talks with the B.C. government since 2014 about operating clinics in the Vancouver area. Health Minister Terry Lake has said he is open to allowing them. Manitoba has a pay-for-plasma clinic, as does Saskatchewan, where it is operated by Canadian Plasma Resources, which pays donors $25 in the form of a tax receipt or a reloadable credit card in that amount. Lanteigne said Canada's tainted blood supply scandal during the 1980s led to the highest safeguards in the world after 30,000 people who received blood transfusions were allegedly infected with HIV or Hepatitis C. The not-for-profit organization Canadian Blood Services manages the supply of blood and blood products across the country. Its safeguards are the result of the landmark Krever Inquiry, which recommended that donors should not be paid. The four-year inquiry led by retired judge Horace Krever was tabled in the mid-1990s and heard from people who were living with the tragic consequences of contaminated blood. B.C. Health Coalition spokesman Adam Lynes-Ford said a family that was impacted by the health scandal was at the legislature Tuesday. He said Darlene Taylor testified at the Krever inquiry about her two sons receiving tainted blood and that one of them died of AIDS in 1993. Taylor was in disbelief that the possibility of private companies collecting plasma was even being discussed at the legislature, he said. Curtis Brandell, 44, is a hemophiliac whose life depends on receiving blood transfusions because his body doesn't have normal clotting abilities, meaning he could bleed for a long time after an injury. "I'm absolutely petrified," he said outside the legislature about the possibility that a third province could allow a private company to collect plasma. The federal NDP has also called on Ottawa to ban private, for-profit plasma clinics, citing safety concerns. Photo: RCMP Salmon Arm RCMP are asking for the public's assistance located a missing senior. RCMP were alerted on May 10 at 3:29 p.m. that 60-year-old Christopher Allbury had not been seen since May 6th at 1:30 a.m. after being dropped off at his care home facility. The care home staff and police are most concerned for Christophers wellbeing as he suffers from mental health issues and dementia, says Cpl. Dave Tyreman Allbury is described as being 6 foot one inches tall, weighing 190 pounds, he has brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing pyjama bottoms and a shirt of unknown descriptors. If you see him you are asked to call 911. Photo: Mike Biden Penticton's helicopter team was kept busy over the weekend with two requests to provide medical help in the Kelowna and Summerland areas. Penticton and District Search and Rescue was first called Saturday afternoon at about 3 p.m. to support Central Okanagan Search and Rescue with a medical emergency in the Myra-Bellevue canyon trail system. The helicopter team was launched to assist first responders on scene with a male hiker who was experiencing a significant medical event. Shortly before arriving the team was cancelled as ground support advised that air evacuation would not be required as emergency personnel on the ground had the situation under control. The second request came Sunday afternoon at about 3:45 p.m., when BC Ambulance requested assistance to evacuate a female mountain biker who had injured herself at the summit of the Test of Humanity biking trails in the Summerland area. While BC Ambulance and Summerland fire staged at Cartwright and Heron Roads, which was six kilometres from the biker, PENSAR mobilized 16 personnel and two side by side, four by four units to assist with the ground evacuation. As emergency crews were preparing to get to the injured woman, first responders began to receive reports that the biker's injuries appeared to be more serious than originally reported, resulting in a decision to launch the helicopter team. The extent of her injuries are unknown. Photo: The Canadian Press - Nathan Denette The father of Vancouver Canucks forward Linden Vey is charged in an apparent murder conspiracy scheme. Curtis Vey was charged in Saskatchewan back in 2013, along with Angela Nicholson. Charges said he conspired to murder his wife. Police in Saskatchewan contend Vey and Nicholson were having an affair and conspired to have their spouses killed. Vey's wife was apparently to die in a house fire while Nicholson's husband, Jim Taylor, was to die of an overdose. Bridgette Vey told police she overheard the pair discussing the plot and informed Taylor after recording the two discussing the murders. Vey grew up in Wakaw, Sask., a small community of about 1,000 people, situated between Saskatoon and Prince Albert. The trial is slated to begin later this month. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: CTV /Twitter/@Sheila_Scott UPDATE: 2:42 p.m. The two newly reported arrests of Michal Popek and Vaughan Englot stem from incidents earlier in 2016. Vaughan Englot has been charged with three counts of sexual assault, stemming from incidents in North Vancouver on Jan. 12 and 19, and an assault in Vancouver on Jan. 15. Michal Popek was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of break and entering for offences on Feb. 18 and March 6 in Burnaby, and March 26 and April 9 in Vancouver. Jason White, who has been charged with assault and break and enter from an April 7 offence in Vancouver, has a history of assaulting elderly women. Police say there appear to be no connection between the six people arrested, except for David Tucker and Yuan Zhi Gao, who have been charged in relation to a incident on the UBC grounds on April 30. David Singh Tucker has been charged with three counts of sexual assault causing bodily harm, three counts of robbery, three counts of confining a person, one count of disguising his face, while Yuan Zhi Goa has been charged with one count of break and enter with intent to commit sexual assault. The youth, who cant be named under the Young Offenders Act, was charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of indecent acts and one count of assault from separate incidents between March 3 and 6 in Vancouver. These men (are charged with) violent acts against women in our communities women who should feel safe to walk, work and go about their business without being victimized, or being concerned for their safety, said Supt. Mike Porteous of the Vancouver Police Department. As a result of the courage of these women to come forward and tell their story, we have been able to take a number of these violent offenders off the street. While these several men have been taken off the street, police say there are still a number of unsolved offences they are investigating. They are asking the public to come forward with any information. ORIGINAL: 11:39 a.m. Six people have been arrested in the Lower Mainland, accused in 13 different assaults. Lower Mainland police forces say the five men and one young offender are now facing charges in relation to a number of attacks and sex assaults in the Vancouver area. Charges against three of the accused David Tucker, Yuan Zhi Gao, Jason White were previously reported. The new charges are connected to assaults in Vancouver and the North Shore since January. Michal Popek is charged with four counts of sexual assault and Vaughan Englot is charged with two counts of sexual assault. Vancouver Police Supt. Mike Porteous said multiple police agencies collected video evidence and tips from the community to put together a profile of the suspects, according to CTV Vancouver. Porteous said investigators worked closely with the brave women who came forward to report the crimes, despite being traumatized and terrified. Despite the arrests, police said there are still a number of unsolved sex crimes in the area, but they are working hard to solve them. The map above shows where many of the recent assaults took place. With files from CTV Vancouver Photo: CTV A bear cub has been put down after a well-meaning B.C. woman brought it home and fed it. Conservation officers said that was the "best option. Tiana Jackson found the baby black bear near Dawson Creek Friday. It was by itself. She waited for the mother to show up but it never did. "I just knew it was alone," Jackson told CTV Vancouver. She spoke to a conservation officer who said he would come help, but he was two hours away. When the cub started to wander away, she decided to act because she worried the animal would disappear by the time the officer arrived. "He was in need of assistance. He seemed a little thin and weak. Very lost and very alone," Jackson wrote in a Facebook post. With help from her brother and sister in law, she managed to wrap the cub in a blanket and bring it home, where they put it in a dog kennel and fed it dog food. Thats when the conservation officer called and told her that the bear would have to be put down because it would be the most humane thing to do, she said. Chris Doyle, deputy chief of provincial operations for the Conservation Officer Service, told CTV Vancouver the officer had no choice but to put the bear down. "It's a difficult situation and the officer made the assessment that the cub was not a good candidate for a rehabilitation facility," Doyle said. "The assessment was made that the cub was in poor health and wasn't mobile during the assessment." Jackson said she cried and begged, but the officer gave the bear a lethal injection. Interfering with wildlife can one year sentence and a fine of up to $100,000, but Doyle said Jackson had good intentions. with files from CTV Vancouver Photo: Contributed A new report says soaring property prices and lower incomes in Vancouver are leaving many young homeowners in debt compared to millennials in 10 other Canadian cities. Vancity Credit Union finds that a typical couple aged 25 to 34, with a combined annual income of about $72,000, faces a monthly debt of $2,745 after property costs and other essentials such as taxes, food, utilities and transportation. The report says the lack of purchasing power is greatest in Vancouver, but that so-called millennials in Toronto are close behind with just over $3,300 remaining after housing and other basic costs are paid. That compares with home-owning millennials in Edmonton, who hang onto more than $47,000 in discretionary funds, the highest in Canada. The report says that when childcare is added, a Vancouver family with one youngster in full-time care faces a debt of more than $17,000 per year. Income and household spending costs in the report are based on Statistics Canada data while housing figures based on prices for March 2016 are from real estate boards across the country. Vancity warns that millennials in Vancouver may need to reconsider home ownership as the first and best way to create wealth and adds that lack of rental housing in the region is also a problem. "The status quo isn't good enough if we want this generation to be able to put down roots, possibly have a family and still enjoy a basic quality of life in Vancouver," says William Azaroff, Vancity's vice-president of community investment. Yearly costs for an average home purchased in Metro Vancouver in 2016 are $44,354, and the report says that millennials would have to give up the dream of a single-family home in order to ease the budget crunch. Buying a townhouse at an average cost leaves about $9,549 annually in discretionary income, and that climbs to $16,422 if a condominium is purchased, the report says. However, Vancouver lacks an adequate supply of townhouses as an option for families who can't afford homes. "Toronto and Vancouver are particularly difficult cities in which to raise a family and have money left over to nurture and improve well-being," the report concludes. "In these cities, basic expenses eat up the majority of income. And in Vancouver, this can be directly correlated to skyrocketing prices for stable, appropriate and affordable housing." The study makes a number of recommendations, from tax credits for new housing development to repurposing of public and community-owned land and creation of thousands more units of rental housing by 2021. Photo: Facebook Professional downhill mountain bike racer Steven Beau Smith has died following a motorcycle crash near Nanaimo. The BC Coroners Service confirmed Wednesday that Smith, 26, of Nanaimo had died. Smith, a well-known B.C. mountain biker, was operating a motorcycle on logging roads west of Nanaimo at about 1:30 p.m. on May 6 when his motorcycle crashed. He was airlifted to Victoria General Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday. The BC Coroners Service continues to investigate this death. Smiths family has been notified. Photo: Contributed A company that has partnered with a Vancouver Island First Nation to develop a liquefied natural gas facility says aboriginal consultation must be the top priority for project proponents in Canada. Steelhead LNG president Victor Ojeda and Malahat Nation CEO Renee Racette spoke to the Canada LNG Export conference about minimizing the risk of costly delays through consultation. Ojeda says the British Columbia-based company began consulting with the Malahat well before entering the regulatory process or advanced design phase of the project. The company struck a deal with the Malahat last summer to develop a floating liquefaction facility in Saanich Inlet off Bamberton, about 40 kilometres north of Victoria. Racette says the Malahat's purchase of the 5.25-square kilometre Bamberton site was one of the largest aboriginal land buys in Canadian history and that LNG is a key opportunity to grow the First Nation's economy. She acknowledges that neighbouring First Nations collectively known as the WSANEC have voiced severe opposition to the project, but she says the Malahat is working to ease their concerns through dialogue. If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... PT Semen Padang issued new forest mining licence 11 May 2016 PT Semen Padang has been granted land use of a forest area covering an area of 243.3ha in Indonesia. In accordance with IPPKH and Permit Mining limestone (IUP 412ha) owned since 1996, PT Semen Padang can continue its activities in excavating limestone in the Bukit Tarjarang area and in Bukit Karang Putih as it has done since 1910. The mining of limestone in Bukit Tarjarang is particularly associated with need for raw materials for the Indarung-VI cement plant, located at Indarung, district Lubuk Kilangan, Padang, West Sumatra. The 3Mta new kiln line is expected to start up in 4Q16 and will raise current capacity from 6.8Mta to 9.8Mta. As one of the obligations for the mining licence, PT Semen Padang District Rehabilitation activities will be carried out along the Alirian River in Kuantan Agan covering an area of 275ha. This will include the planting of tree species such as mahogany, bayur and meranti and crops such as banana, grama, mangosteen and durian. Published under Spain: Cementos Portland restructures debt 11 May 2016 The refinancing of the EUR825m syndicated loan of cement producer Portland Valderrivas, a Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas (FCC) company, has been completed, reports Spacol. FCC, the Spanish civil engineering group and main shareholder in Portland, with an 80 per cent stake, offered a 10 per cent trimming to the loan, which matures in July 2016, but the offer was rejected by creditors. More than 50 per cent of the debt of Portland is now in hands of vulture funds, such as Apollo, Davidson and Avenue, whose return requirements are different than those of traditional banks, but after its recent EUR709m capital hike FCC has set aside some EUR 300m to please creditors. Published under I made up my mind over the weekend that I would join the protest by staying away from work as requested by the NGOs regardless of what happened. As far as I am concerned that is the least I could do to show my frustration towards this government. Certainly the morning of that Monday had a different vibe to the familiar hustle and bustle that we have come to know in Port Moresby. Most schools were closed and few people commuted to work. Most Papua New Guineans were led to believe that a nationwide protest would be staged by concerned students and civil society organisations. MONDAY 9 May was supposed to have been the day when Papua New Guinea arose to demand that the government address critical issues of national importance. A lot of things that have transpired in the last few months have created an aura of confusion, doubt and anger in the populous. With the university students continuing their boycott and the NGOs and Trade Union Congress expressing concern over the governments handling of the nations affairs; there is a strong feeling of uncertainty and anxiety. The police, as usual, were in no mood to entertain any dissent. The hierarchy of the police made sure of that when they issued warnings to the public not to take part in any protest. I wondered if we would ever experience a protest march to exercise our freedom of speech and conscience in this country. It seems just about every protest in Port Moresby has been deemed illegal. Media freedom is constantly under threat from a hostile government. Even social media, the only forum available to Papua New Guineans for debate and expression, is increasingly coming under the governments microscope. The recent attempt by the government to introduce a bill to combat cybercrime is the latest step in its fight to outlaw opposition. This attitude is uncalled for, especially when democracy allows for the creation of government and opposition to ensure proper checks and balances to maintain and strengthen transparency, accountability and good governance. The term opposition is not limited to the floor of parliament but includes students, interest groups and the public. In PNG the parliament is not an effective arm of democracy because it oftentimes it just bulldozes through pro-government agendas. The way we have gone about suppressing our peoples conscience and freedom in the last decade or so makes me wonder if it is time to reconsider democracys future in PNG. Political stability is not enough to say we have a vibrant democracy. China, still a communist country, has enjoyed long period of political stability. In our attempts to regulate freedom of speech, PNG is moving closer towards a centralised authoritarian system like that of China. Papua New Guinea needs people to exercise their democratic rights. We need to give our people and democracy a fair go. So far, sadly, we are not willing to do so. We are not helping when the custodians of the law abuse their power to circumnavigate the law or violate peoples rights. For instance, informal market vendors are abused and harassed or members of the public bashed. A tolerant constituency does not necessarily mean it agrees with the governments views. PNG has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. A tolerant constituency may not even know the governments views. And a government which claims a mandate to govern through the ballot box cannot necessarily claim to have the favour of the people due to widespread cases of vote rigging. I have often felt secure when I see police officers patrolling the streets but I did not feel secure on Monday. The police presence was aimed at thwarting gatherings and it made me realise that the fight against corruption is only given lip service in this country. Are we cowards or is it because this country has lost its democracy? On numerous occasions, the erratic, unpredictable and unprecedented conduct of our government and its institutions in undermining the mechanisms of justice has raised questions about the vibrancy of our democracy. Anarchy, elements of a police state, kleptocracy, theocracy, guided democracy and dictatorship are just some of the words that describe our chameleon system of government. PNG has exhibited traits of all of them since we gained independence. Thank God we have not surrendered our democracy to extreme forms of government. Yet I cannot help but ask how long we can go on like this before that happens. No one person in this country should be allowed to exercise unrestrained power to derail justice and undermine the rule of law. No one person or group is above the law. At the same time no individual or group should have their rights denied or suppressed. Democracy was tested on Monday and it was found to be a threat. Is it time for PNG to reconsider its fate? Catholic Family News A Monthly Journal Preserving our Catholic Faith and Heritage Home Latest Archives Subscribe CFN Media - videos Contact Us CFN Bookstore Oltyn Library Services 2017 CFN Daily Blog Originally started as a daily Blog update of news reports on the Papal Conclave and ongoing news on Pope Francis, it is now a general Blog updated daily on traditional Catholic topics Updated Regularly Book mark this page click here Luxury hotels in the historic center for a Catholic family. Only luxury hotels can provide a paradisiacal vacation for a big Catholic family. A high-level vacation for families, children and not only. The gorgeous views, divine service, and the best location are all luxury hotels. Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, and more. Everyone will find their place in this corner of paradise. Popular destinations Breckenridge, CO, United States In Breckenridge, Colorado, there are plenty of places to visit, whether you're a nature lover or thrill seeker. 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Long Beach Luxury Hotels Long Beach Luxury Villas Cincinnati, OH, United States Cincinnati is a city located on the Ohio River in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. The city was founded in 1788 and named after the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of Revolutionary War officers. Cincinnati is a major U.S. city and the metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million people. The city is well-known for its German heritage, Oktoberfest celebration, and its variety of chili dishes. Cincinnati is home to three major sports teams: the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, MLB's Cincinnati Reds, and the NBA's Cincinnati Cavaliers. The city is also home to the University of Cincinnati and Xavier University. The city's historic neighborhoods include Over-the-Rhine, Mount Auburn, and Hyde Park. 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Table Rock State Park has fishing, swimming, and hiking trails, as well as a nature center. has fishing, swimming, and hiking trails, as well as a nature center. The Titanic Museum features a half-sized replica of the ship, along with exhibits about the history of the Titanic. features a half-sized replica of the ship, along with exhibits about the history of the Titanic. Branson Landing is a shopping and entertainment complex on the waterfront. There's something for everyone in Branson, Missouri come visit and see for yourself!. Branson Luxury Hotels Panama City Beach, FL, United States The white sand beaches and emerald waters of Panama City Beach, Florida, are a popular tourist destination. The city is home to numerous hotels, resorts, and restaurants, as well as amusement and water parks. Visitors can also enjoy fishing, kayaking, and surfing. Panama City Beach Luxury Hotels Panama City Beach Luxury Resorts Monterey, CA, United States Monterey is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, United States. It stands at the southern end of Monterey Bay, on the Pacific coast. The city is also the home of the Naval Postgraduate School. Monterey is the largest city in the Central Coast region of California. The main attractions in Monterey are the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, and the downtown area. Monterey Luxury Hotels Norfolk, VA, United States Norfolk, Virginia is a great place to visit for its historical places and military bases. Some places to visit in Norfolk are the Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk Botanical Garden, and the Norfolk Naval Station. Norfolk Luxury Hotels Palm Springs, CA, United States Palm Springs is a vibrant city located in the Coachella Valley and is known for its year-round sunshine, resort atmosphere and Mid-Century Modern architecture. Top places to visit include the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs Art Museum, Indian Canyons and Moorten Botanical Garden. For a truly unique experience, be sure to check out the Palm Springs Modernism Show & Sale the worlds largest vintage furniture and design event. Palm Springs Luxury Hotels Palm Springs Luxury Resorts Palm Springs Luxury Villas Rochester, NY, United States Rochester is a city in western New York State and is the county seat of Monroe County. Rochester is known for its annual festivals, including the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Rochester Fringe Festival, and the Holiday Folk Fair International. Places to visit in Rochester include the George Eastman Museum, the Strong National Museum of Play, the Rochester Museum and Science Center, and the Seneca Park Zoo. Rochester Luxury Hotels Pigeon Forge, TN, United States Visit the Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge for a unique experience. This museum is dedicated to the Titanic, one of the most infamous ships in history. Tour the ship and learn about the passengers and crew who were on board. You can even see the actual artifacts recovered from the shipwreck. If you're looking for a little more excitement, head to Dollywood. This amusement park is home to roller coasters, a water park, and plenty of other rides and attractions. Plus, the park is themed around the life and music of Dolly Parton. No trip to Pigeon Forge is complete without a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains. These mountains offer a variety of activities, including hiking, fishing, and horseback riding. Plus, the natural beauty of the area is simply breathtaking. Pigeon Forge Luxury Hotels Jacksonville, FL, United States Jacksonville is less than an hour's drive from the beaches of Amelia Island and St. Augustine, and a little more than two hours from Orlando. The city has a lot to offer visitors, including a riverwalk, museums, and a vibrant arts scene. Jacksonville is also home to the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team. Jacksonville Luxury Hotels Minsk, Belarus Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is a city that has something for everyone. If you're looking for a little history, Minsk has plenty of it, with churches and monuments dating back to the 12th century. If you're looking for a lively nightlife, Minsk has that, too, with plenty of bars, clubs, and restaurants. And if you're looking for a little nature, Minsk has parks and gardens to enjoy. Here are just a few of the places you can visit in Minsk: The Holy Spirit Cathedral, one of the oldest churches in Minsk, is a must-visit for history buffs. The National Library of Belarus is a huge library with more than 18 million items in its collection. The Opera and Ballet Theatre is a beautiful building that hosts performances of both opera and ballet. The Victory Park is a large park with a war memorial, a children's playground, and a lake. And for a little bit of nature in the heart of the city, the Botanical Garden is a great place to relax and take a break from the hustle and bustle of Minsk. Minsk Luxury Hotels Jaipur, India Jaipur is one of the most popular tourist destinations in India. It is the capital of the state of Rajasthan and is known for its palaces, forts and temples. Some of the places to visit in Jaipur include the Amber Fort, the City Palace, the Jantar Mantar Observatory and the Hawa Mahal. Jaipur is also a great place to shop for traditional Indian handicrafts. Jaipur Luxury Hotels Chicago, IL, United States Chicago is a city full of culture and history. There are plenty of places to visit, such as the Willis Tower, Buckingham Fountain, and the Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicago is also home to many restaurants and bars, so there is something for everyone. Chicago Luxury Hotels Auckland, New Zealand Auckland is a beautiful city located on the north island of New Zealand. There are many places to visit in Auckland, including the Sky Tower, the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and the Auckland Domain. The beaches in Auckland are also worth visiting, especially Karekare and Piha. Auckland is a great place to visit, and I highly recommend it!. Auckland Luxury Hotels Auckland Luxury Villas Amsterdam, Netherlands If you're looking for a city that's got it all, Amsterdam should be your go-to destination. From the city's lively and vibrant nightlife to its charming and quiet neighborhoods, Amsterdam has something for everyone. Be sure to check out the Anne Frank Huis, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum, as these are some of the most popular attractions in the city. And if you're looking for a little bit of nature, be sure to take a walk or bike ride through Amsterdam's many parks. Amsterdam Luxury Hotels Berlin, Germany There are so many great places to visit in Berlin that it can be hard to know where to start. From the iconic Brandenburg Gate to the fascinating Reichstag Building, there's something for everyone in this vibrant city. If you're looking for a bit of history, make sure to check out the Berlin Wall Memorial or the DDR Museum. And for those looking for a bit more fun, there's always the Alexanderplatz Christmas Market or the Zoologischer Garten. No matter what your interests, Berlin is a city you won't want to miss. Berlin Luxury Hotels Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok is a city of contrasts with its gleaming temples and skyscrapers, chaotic markets and tranquil canals. While it's a popular tourist destination, Bangkok is a city that can be enjoyed by visitors of all ages. Some of the top places to visit in Bangkok include the Grand Palace, Wat Arun, the floating markets and the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Bangkok Luxury Hotels Bangkok Luxury Resorts Bangkok Luxury Villas Bruges, Belgium Bruges is a city in Belgium that is worth visiting. It is full of medieval charm and there are a lot of things to see and do. Some of the places to visit include the Markt, the Belfry, and the Begijnhof. Bruges Luxury Hotels Brussels, Belgium Brussels is a city in Belgium that is best known for its chocolate, waffles, and beer. But there is much more to see and do in Brussels than just indulge in the local cuisine. There are a number of interesting historical landmarks to visit, such as the Grand Place and the Atomium, as well as a variety of parks and gardens. And, of course, Brussels is also a great city to explore on foot. Brussels Luxury Hotels Budapest, Hungary Budapest, Hungary's capital, is a city of thermal baths and medival, baroque and art nouveau architecture. Crowded with tourists, the city is bisected by the Danube River into the hilly Buda and the more developed and flat Pest. Among the main places of interest are the neo-Gothic Parliament, the Chain Bridge linking Buda and Pest, the Matthias Church and Fisherman's Bastion on the Buda bank, and the State Opera House and Heroes' Square on the Pest side. Budapest Luxury Hotels Playa del Carmen, Mexico Home to some of the best beaches in Mexico, Playa del Carmen is a favorite tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. With its lively nightlife, gorgeous coastline and ample shopping opportunities, there's something for everyone in this tropical paradise. Don't miss the opportunity to visit some of the area's most popular attractions, such as the ancient Mayan ruins of Tulum and Coba, or the eco-friendly Turtle Beach. With its friendly people, delicious food and stunning scenery, Playa del Carmen is a place you'll never want to leave. Playa del Carmen Luxury Hotels Playa del Carmen Luxury Resorts Playa del Carmen Luxury Villas Denver, CO, United States Denver is a great city for visitors. There are so many places to see and things to do. Some of the top places to visit include the 16th Street Mall, the Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Art Museum, and the Colorado State Capitol. There are also plenty of great restaurants and shops to explore. Denver is definitely a city worth visiting!. Denver Luxury Hotels Dublin, Ireland Dublin is a city located in Ireland. It's a city full of culture, with plenty of places to visit. Some popular tourist spots are the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, and the Dublin Castle. There are also plenty of pubs and restaurants to discover. Dublin Luxury Hotels Dusseldorf, Germany Dusseldorf, Germany is a city with many different places to visit. The city has a mix of old and new buildings, and a variety of activities to do. The best places to visit in Dusseldorf are the Konigsallee, the Rhine Tower, and the Oktoberfest. The Konigsallee is an open-air shopping mall that has many high-end stores. The Rhine Tower is the tallest building in the city and offers great views of Dusseldorf. The Oktoberfest is a week-long festival that celebrates German culture and food. Dusseldorf Luxury Hotels Edinburgh, United Kingdom Edinburgh, Scotland is a beautiful city to visit. The architecture is very old and unique, and there are plenty of historical places to visit, like Edinburgh Castle. There are also plenty of parks and gardens, and lots of shops and restaurants. Edinburgh Luxury Hotels Rome, Italy Rome is a city rich in history and filled with beautiful places to visit. Make sure to stop by the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and the Pantheon. Also be sure to visit St. Peters Basilica and the Sistine Chapel while in Rome. If youre looking for a little more nature in your trip, head to the Villa Borghese gardens or the Janiculum Hill for some wonderful views of the city. And of course, no trip to Rome is complete without a gelato!. Rome Luxury Hotels Rome Luxury Villas New York, NY, United States There are many amazing places to visit in New York State. Some of my favorites are the Niagara Falls, the Adirondack Mountains, and the Finger Lakes. If you're looking for a city break, New York City is definitely worth a visit. There's endless things to see and do, from touring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to visiting world-famous museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. No matter what your interests are, you'll be able to find something to enjoy in New York State. New York Luxury Hotels New York Luxury Villas London, United Kingdom London is a city rich in history and full of amazing places to visit. Some of my favorite places are Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Tower of London. There is so much to see and do in London, you could spend weeks here and never run out of things to do. If you're looking for a city full of culture and history, London is the place for you. London Luxury Hotels London Luxury Cottages Madrid, Spain Madrid is one of the most beautiful and culturally rich cities in the world. From the Royal Palace to the Prado Museum, theres plenty to see and do in Madrid. If youre looking for a little bit of nature, Madrid has plenty of parks, like the Buen Retiro Park, to relax in. And dont forget to try some of the delicious tapas and wine while youre in town. Madrid Luxury Hotels Memphis, TN, United States The birthplace of rock 'n' roll, Memphis is a city rich in history and culture. From Graceland to Beale Street, there are plenty of places to visit in Memphis. Be sure to check out Sun Studio, where rock 'n' roll was born, and the National Civil Rights Museum, which tells the story of the African-American civil rights movement. Memphis is also home to some amazing food, so be sure to try some of the city's famous barbecue and soul food. Memphis Luxury Hotels Miami Beach, FL, United States There is much to explore in Miami Beach, from the famous Art Deco district to the vast beaches and crystal-clear waters. Outdoor enthusiasts will love the opportunities for fishing, kayaking, and paddleboarding, while history buffs can explore the ancient burial mounds at Miami Beach. Shoppers and foodies will find plenty to keep them busy, with vibrant neighborhoods like Lincoln Road and Ocean Drive offering unique boutiques and award-winning restaurants. And of course, no trip to Miami Beach is complete without a visit to world-famous South Beach. Miami Beach Luxury Hotels Miami Beach Luxury Resorts New Orleans, LA, United States You can't visit New Orleans without trying some of the local food. Beignets, Po' Boys, and gumbo are just a few of the must-try dishes. While you're in town, be sure to check out the French Quarter, Jackson Square, and St. Louis Cathedral. If you're looking for some nightlife, Bourbon Street is the place to be. And, of course, no trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to Mardi Gras!. New Orleans Luxury Hotels Milan, Italy Milan is a city located in the Lombardy region of Italy. It is a popular tourist destination because of its historical and artistic heritage. Some of the places you should visit while in Milan are the Duomo, La Scala, and Castello Sforzesco. Milan Luxury Hotels Naples, Italy Naples is one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Italy. There are countless places to visit, such as the Royal Palace, the Museum of San Martino, and the Church of Gesu Nuovo. Naples is also home to excellent shopping and dining options. Be sure to enjoy a cup of coffee at one of the city's many cafes and take a stroll through the picturesque streets. Naples Luxury Hotels Paris, France Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. It's home to iconic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum, as well as a thriving nightlife and restaurant scene. If you're looking to explore all that Paris has to offer, here are some of the top places to visit: The Eiffel Tower: This iconic landmark is a must-see in Paris. Climb to the top for stunning views of the city, or take a ride on the elevator to the bottom for a closer look at the structure. The Louvre Museum: This world-famous museum is home to some of the most famous works of art in the world, including the Mona Lisa. The Notre Dame Cathedral: This beautiful cathedral is one of the most famous landmarks in Paris. Make sure to climb to the top for some amazing views of the city. The Champs-Elysees: This famous avenue is a popular destination for shopping and dining. Be sure to wander down the street and take in all the sights and sounds. The Arc de Triomphe: This towering arch is another iconic landmark in Paris. Climb to the top for some amazing views of the city. Paris Luxury Hotels Paris Luxury Villas Prague, Czech Republic Prague is a city rich in history and culture. There are plenty of places to visit, including the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, and the Old Town Square. There are also plenty of restaurants and bars to enjoy, and the nightlife is vibrant. Prague is a truly unique city and a must-visit for anyone traveling to the Czech Republic. Prague Luxury Hotels Punta Cana, Dominican Republic Located on the easternmost tip of the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana is known for its beautiful beaches and turquoise waters. This paradise is a favorite destination for travelers looking for a Caribbean getaway. Punta Cana is home to a wide variety of resorts and activities, from enjoying the sand and surf to golfing, spas, and shopping. Nature lovers can also explore the areas jungles, caves, and waterfalls. Punta Cana Luxury Hotels Punta Cana Luxury Resorts Punta Cana Luxury Villas Marbella, Spain If you're looking for an idyllic and luxurious Spanish escape, look no further than Marbella. Located on the country's Costa del Sol, Marbella is home to stunning beaches, top-notch resorts, world-class golfing, and much more. A visit to Marbella is the perfect way to experience all that Spain has to offer. Marbella Luxury Hotels Marbella Luxury Villas Marrakesh, Morocco Marrakesh is a city in Morocco that is full of culture and history. There are several places to visit in Marrakesh, including the Palace of the Bahia, the Ben Youssef Madrasa, and the Saadian Tombs. The souks (markets) are also a must-see, where you can find everything from souvenirs to spices to traditional clothing. Be sure to enjoy a meal in one of the many restaurants or cafes in Marrakesh; the food is delicious and the atmosphere is always lively. Marrakesh is a wonderful city to explore and definitely worth a visit!. Marrakesh Luxury Hotels San Francisco, CA, United States San Francisco is a popular tourist destination, and for good reason. There are plenty of things to see and do in this vibrant city. Here are some of the top places to visit: 1. Fisherman's Wharf: This neighborhood is home to a variety of shops and restaurants, as well as a popular pier where you can enjoy views of the bay. 2. The Golden Gate Bridge: This iconic bridge is a must-see for any visitor to San Francisco. 3. Alcatraz Island: This former federal prison is now a popular tourist attraction. It's a must-see for fans of history and crime dramas. 4. Chinatown: This colorful neighborhood is home to some of the best food in San Francisco. Be sure to check out the Dragon Gate entrance. 5. The Mission District: This trendy neighborhood is home to hip restaurants, bars, and art galleries. San Francisco Luxury Hotels Moscow, Russia Moscow, Russia is a beautiful city with plenty of places to visit. Some of the most popular tourist attractions are the Kremlin, Red Square, and Saint Basil's Cathedral. Other great places to see include the Bolshoi Theatre, Gorky Park, and the Tretyakov Gallery. There are also many churches and other historical buildings to explore. Moscow is a lively city with a lot of culture and nightlife. There is something for everyone to enjoy in Moscow. Moscow Luxury Hotels Venice, Italy Venice is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The city is built on a lagoon in northeast Italy and is known for its canals and gondolas. There are many places to visit in Venice, including the Grand Canal, St. Marks Square, and the Rialto Bridge. Venice is also home to many museums, including the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Venice Luxury Hotels Vienna, Austria Vienna, Austria is a city with a long and rich history. There are many places to visit in Vienna, including the Hofburg Palace, the Ringstrasse, and St. Stephen's Cathedral. Vienna is also home to some of the world's best shopping, including the Karntner Strasse and the Graben. Finally, no visit to Vienna is complete without experiencing the city's world-famous nightlife. Vienna Luxury Hotels Zurich, Switzerland Zurich is a marvelous city located in the heart of Switzerland. It is a city that has something to offer for everyone. From amazing restaurants and beautiful architecture to exciting nightlife and gorgeous parks, Zurich has something for everyone. Some of the most popular places to visit in Zurich include the Bahnhofstrasse, which is the city's most famous shopping street, the Lindenhof, which is a beautiful park with amazing views of the city, and Grossmunster, which is a stunning Romanesque church. Zurich is also home to some of the best museums in the world, including the famed Museum of Art and the Swiss National Museum. With its mix of old-world charm and modern amenities, Zurich is a city that is definitely worth exploring. Zurich Luxury Hotels Acapulco, Mexico If you're looking for a Mexican vacation spot with plenty of history and culture to explore, Acapulco is a great option. From the archeological wonders of the ancient city to the stunning coastal views, there's something for everyone in Acapulco. Plus, with its temperate climate, it's a great escape from colder winter weather. Acapulco Luxury Hotels Acapulco Luxury Resorts Acapulco Luxury Villas Nashville, TN, United States One of the United States' most interesting places to visit is Nashville, Tennessee. There's plenty to see and do there, from the Grand Ole Opry to the Country Music Hall of Fame. Music is a big part of the city's history and culture, so be sure to catch a show while you're in town. Other popular attractions include the Ryman Auditorium, the Parthenon, and the Jack Daniel's Distillery. Nashville is also a great place to eat, with a wide variety of restaurants serving up everything from barbecue to Mexican food. So if you're looking for an exciting and diverse city to visit, be sure to add Nashville to your list. Nashville Luxury Hotels Nashville Luxury Villas Atlanta, GA, United States What's not to love about Atlanta? From the iconic Georgia Aquarium to the World of Coke, from the Fox Theatre to Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta offers a wealth of destinations for tourists. Sports fans will want to check out the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and history buffs will enjoy the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum. Braves fans can take a tour of SunTrust Park, and shoppers will enjoy the many boutiques and malls in the city. There's also a great restaurant scene in Atlanta, and music lovers will want to check out the many venues offering live music. Whether you're looking for a fun family vacation spot or a place to explore on your own, Atlanta is a great choice!. Atlanta Luxury Hotels Miami, FL, United States The Magic City is a top tourist destination for a reasonthere are endless things to do in Miami! From exploring the trendy neighborhoods and dazzling beaches to soaking up the Latin culture and nightlife, Miami is jam-packed with amazing places to visit. Here are a few of our favorites: 1. Wynwood Walls: This outdoor art exhibit is a must-see for any art lover. The colorful murals are awe-inspiring and definitely Instagram-worthy. 2. Vizcaya Museum and Gardens: This estate is dripping with luxury and opulence, from the grandiose architecture to the expansive gardens. It's the perfect place for a day of relaxation. 3. South Beach: This world-famous beach is a must-visit for any sun-seeker. The crystal-clear water and soft sand make for the perfect day-long beach getaway. 4. Little Havana: Experience Cuban culture at its best in Little Havana. From delicious food to lively music and dance, there's something for everyone in this vibrant district. 5. Art Deco District: This district is home to Miami's most iconic architecture. Take a stroll down the charming streets and admire the colorful buildings that make Miami so unique. Miami Luxury Hotels Miami Luxury Villas Tokyo, Japan Tokyo is a must-see destination in Japan. There are endless places to explore in this city - temples, shrines, gardens, and more. The Shinjuku district is a great place to start, with its neon-lit streets and myriad shops and restaurants. For a taste of traditional Japan, visit the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa or the Imperial Palace. Nature lovers will enjoy the Hamarikyu Gardens or the Hama-rikyu Teien Garden. And for a unique experience, take a trip to Mount Fuji. Tokyo Luxury Hotels Tokyo Luxury Villas Buenos Aires, Argentina There are plenty of places to visit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Some popular tourist destinations include the obelisk, the Casa Rosada, and the Puerto Madero district. Every barrio (neighborhood) has its own unique culture and flavor. San Telmo, La Boca, and Palermo are some of the most popular barrios. There are also many parks and plazas, such as Plaza de Mayo and Plaza de la Republica, that are worth checking out. Buenos Aires Luxury Hotels Hamburg, Germany One of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany is Hamburg. From the lively and colorful harbor district to the grandiose City Hall, there is plenty to see and do in Hamburg. Some of the other popular places to visit include the Reeperbahn district with its pubs and nightlife, the Planten un Blomen botanical gardens, and the architecturally stunning Rathausmarkt square. Hamburg Luxury Hotels Lisbon, Portugal The capital of Portugal, Lisbon is a city of fascinating contrasts. From its coastal location, visitors can enjoy stunning ocean views, while its hilly, narrow streets are home to a maze of charming traditional homes and lively nightlife. A city of 7 hills, Lisbon is a bustling metropolis with something for everyone. Here are some of the top places to visit: The Belem Tower, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of Lisbons most iconic landmarks. This 16th-century fortress and lighthouse is a must-see for visitors. The Alfama district, with its winding streets and tile-roofed homes, is the oldest district in Lisbon. This is the perfect place to get lost and explore the citys history. The Lisbon Zoo is a great place to enjoy a day out with the family, with over 2,000 animals from around the world. The Christ the King statue, located atop a hill in the suburb of Almada, offers impressive views of Lisbon and the river Tagus. The Lisbon Oceanarium, located in the Parque das Nacoes district, is home to more than 12,000 marine creatures and is one of the largest aquariums in Europe. Lisbon Luxury Hotels Lisbon Luxury Villas Malaga, Spain Malaga is an attractive seaside city in southern Spain with a long history. There are many places to visit in Malaga, including the Gibralfaro Castle, the Alcazaba fortress, and the Malaga Cathedral. Malaga is also home to a variety of museums, including the Picasso Museum. The city is well known for its beaches, and there are many delightful places to relax and enjoy the sun and the sea. Malaga Luxury Hotels Malaga Luxury Villas Munich, Germany When planning a vacation to Munich, Germany, be sure to include these top places to visit: The Marienplatz is a must-see square in the city center, featuring a beautiful Glockenspiel show and the Old and New Town Halls. The Englisher Garten, Europes largest city park, is a great place for a relaxing stroll or a picnic. OlympiaPark is home to the famous 1972 Olympic Stadium as well as a huge amusement park. The Frauenkirche is a stunning church in the old town with a Glockenspiel of its own. Beer lovers will want to visit the Hofbrauhaus, the worlds most famous beer hall. For a bit of history and culture, check out the LudwigMaximilians-University and the Deutsches Museum. There is so much to see and do in Munich these are just a few highlights!. Munich Luxury Hotels Granada, Spain Granada is a city in southern Spain that is known for its Moorish architecture and history. The city is home to the Alhambra, a palace and fortress that was constructed in the late 1300s. Visitors can also enjoy the citys many churches, including the Cathedral of Granada. Granada is also a convenient base for exploring the other cities and towns in Andalusia. Granada Luxury Hotels Bucharest, Romania Bucharest is a city full of history and culture. There are many places to visit, such as the Palace of Parliament, which is the world's largest civilian building. Other places to visit include the old city center, which is full of charming streets and buildings, and the Botanical Garden, which is the largest botanical garden in Romania. Bucharest Luxury Hotels Bologna, Italy Bologna, Italy is a beautiful city with plenty of places to visit. Some popular tourist destinations include the Piazza Maggiore, the Tower of Asinelli, and the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. There are also plenty of museums and churches to explore, and the city is full of charming restaurants and cafes. Bologna is an excellent destination for a vacation, and there is something for everyone to enjoy in this amazing city. Bologna Luxury Hotels Porto, Portugal Porto is a port city in Portugal that is well known for its wine. It's also a city with a long and rich history. There are many places to visit in Porto, including the old city center, the Dom Luis I Bridge, and the Clerigos Tower. Porto is also home to the famous Port wine caves, which are a must-visit for wine lovers. Porto Luxury Hotels Cologne, Germany Cologne, located on the Rhine River in western Germany, is a city well worth visiting. The city has a long and rich history, dating back to the time of the Roman Empire. Some of the city's most popular tourist attractions include the Cologne Cathedral, Hohenzollern Bridge, and the RheinEnergieStadion. Additionally, Cologne is home to a wide variety of museums, shops, and restaurants. In fact, the city has been ranked as one of the best places to live in Germany. So, if you're looking for a great European city to visit, be sure to add Cologne to your list. Cologne Luxury Hotels Istanbul, Turkey If you're looking for an exotic and affordable vacation destination, look no further than Istanbul, Turkey. Filled with historical places to visit and bargains to be found, Istanbul offers something for everyone. Be sure to visit the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and the Blue Mosque while you're there. Don't forget to bargain for the best prices when shopping in the bazaars, and enjoy some delicious Turkish cuisine while you're at it. Istanbul is sure to leave you with a lasting impression. Istanbul Luxury Hotels Istanbul Luxury Villas Dubai, United Arab Emirates Dubai is a fascinating and exotic city that offers visitors a mix of traditional Middle Eastern culture and modern, cosmopolitan life. There are plenty of places to visit in Dubai, from the towering skyscrapers of Downtown Dubai to the luxury shopping malls and luxurious hotels of the Palm Jumeirah. Don't miss a chance to experience an Arabian night out on an epic dhow cruise, or take a trip out into the Arabian Desert to see the stunning sand dunes. Dubai Luxury Hotels Dubai Luxury Resorts Dubai Luxury Villas Antwerp, Belgium Antwerp is a city located in the Flemish region of Belgium. It is the capital of the province of Antwerp and has a population of over half a million people. Antwerp is a popular tourist destination due to its many historical buildings, museums, and art galleries. Some of the most popular places to visit in Antwerp are the Cathedral of Our Lady, the City Hall, the Rubenshuis, and the Antwerp Zoo. Antwerp Luxury Hotels Lyon, France Lyon is a beautiful city in the south of France that is full of culture and places to visit. Some of the most popular places to visit in Lyon are the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere, the Place Bellecour, and the Vieux Lyon. The Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere is a beautiful cathedral that is a must-see when visiting Lyon. The Place Bellecour is a large square in the heart of Lyon that is full of restaurants and cafes. The Vieux Lyon is a district in Lyon that is full of old buildings and is a great place to wander around and take in the sights. Lyon Luxury Hotels Athens, Greece If you find yourself in Athens, there are definitely some spots you won't want to miss. The Acropolis, Parthenon, and Olympic Stadium are all essential stops, but there are plenty of others, too. If you're looking for a bit of history, the National Archaeological Museum is a must-see, while nature lovers will enjoy a visit to the botanical gardens. If you're looking to relax, take a walk along the beach in Glyfada or head to the Plaka district for a charming and picturesque setting. No matter what you're interested in, Athens has something for you. Athens Luxury Hotels Athens Luxury Villas Helsinki, Finland While in Helsinki, make sure to visit these popular tourist destinations: The Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral The Sibelius Monument Ateneum Art Museum Market Square Helsinki Zoo. Helsinki Luxury Hotels Vilnius, Lithuania The capital of Lithuania, Vilnius, is a picturesque city with a rich history. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is full of charming churches, narrow streets, and pretty squares. There are also lots of museums and other places of interest to visit, including the Hill of Crosses, Gediminas Tower, and the Presidential Palace. Vilnius is a great city to explore on foot, and there are plenty of cafes, restaurants, and bars to enjoy in the evening. Vilnius Luxury Hotels Reykjavik, Iceland A city of remote beauty, Reykjavik is teeming with interesting places to visit. One of the worlds most northern capitals, Reykjavik offers stunning landscapes and a wealth of cultural experiences. From the iconic Hallgrimskirkja church to the popular Golden Circle tour, theres plenty to see and do in Reykjavik. Be sure to check out the citys lively nightlife scene, too you wont be disappointed!. Reykjavik Luxury Hotels Glasgow, United Kingdom Some of the most popular places to visit in Glasgow include the Gallery of Modern Art, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Riverside Museum, and the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. There are also many wonderful parks and gardens to explore, including the Botanic Gardens and Glasgow Green. For those interested in history and architecture, there are many fascinating old buildings to see, such as the Glasgow Cathedral and the University of Glasgow. And for those looking for a lively nightlife, Glasgow has no shortage of pubs, clubs, and restaurants. Glasgow Luxury Hotels Los Angeles, CA, United States As the birthplace of Hollywood and home to some of the world's most recognisable landmarks, there's no shortage of places to visit in Los Angeles. Start by exploring the city's iconic neighbourhoods like Beverly Hills and Hollywood, then venture out to attractions like the Griffith Observatory, Venice Beach and Disneyland. And don't forget to savour the city's world-famous cultural scene, with its abundance of museums, theatres and restaurants. Los Angeles Luxury Hotels Los Angeles Luxury Villas San Diego, CA, United States San Diego is a city located in California and is a major tourist destination. One of the main reasons people visit the city is for its many beaches. Coronado Beach, Mission Beach, and Pacific Beach are some of the most popular and are all within close proximity to the city center. Other attractions in San Diego include the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld San Diego, and the USS Midway Museum. Restaurants, bars, and shopping can be found throughout the city, and world-renowned museums, like the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, are also located in San Diego. San Diego Luxury Hotels San Diego Luxury Resorts San Diego Luxury Villas Washington, DC, United States Washington, D.C. is a city full of history and places to visit. Some popular places to visit are the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and the Smithsonian. D.C. is also home to a number of monuments and memorials, like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. There are also a number of museums in D.C., like the American History Museum and the National Air and Space Museum. Washington Luxury Hotels Cancun, Mexico Cancun is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Mexico. Aside from its beautiful beaches, there are plenty of places to visit and things to do in Cancun. Some of the most popular attractions include the ancient ruins of Chichen Itza, the eco-park Xcaret, and the nightclubs and bars in the resort district. Cancun Luxury Hotels Cancun Luxury Resorts Cancun Luxury Villas Virginia Beach, VA, United States Virginia Beach is one of the top tourist destinations on the East Coast. From the Virginia Beach Boardwalk to the miles of sandy beaches, there's something for everyone to enjoy. There are also plenty of restaurants, shops, and other attractions to keep visitors busy. Some of the most popular places to visit in Virginia Beach include: The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center : This aquarium is home to more than 20,000 animals, including sharks, dolphins, and rays. : This aquarium is home to more than 20,000 animals, including sharks, dolphins, and rays. The Virginia Beach Boardwalk: This 3.5-mile boardwalk is one of the most popular attractions in Virginia Beach. It features a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and amusements. This 3.5-mile boardwalk is one of the most popular attractions in Virginia Beach. It features a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and amusements. First Landing State Park: This park offers miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as a beachfront area for swimming and sunbathing. This park offers miles of hiking and biking trails, as well as a beachfront area for swimming and sunbathing. Cape Henry Lighthouse: This lighthouse is one of the oldest in the country and offers stunning views of the Chesapeake Bay. There are plenty of other things to do in Virginia Beach, including dolphin and whale watching tours, kayaking, and golfing. Whether you're looking for a fun family vacation or a romantic getaway, Virginia Beach is sure to please. Virginia Beach Luxury Hotels Virginia Beach Luxury Resorts Beijing, China If you're looking for an amazing cultural experience, be sure to add Beijing, China to your travel bucket list! With beautiful temples, charming hutongs (traditional alleyways), and a lively food scene, there's something for everyone in this bustling city. Plus, Beijing is home to some of the most iconic attractions in China, like the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. So if you're looking for an unforgettable East Asian adventure, be sure to add Beijing to your list!. Beijing Luxury Hotels Seoul, South Korea Seoul is a metropolitan city that is home to over 10 million people. It is a city full of culture, history, and a vibrant nightlife. There are plenty of places to visit in Seoul, including the Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Palace, and N Seoul Tower. The Jeongdongne district is a must-see for anyone interested in art and culture, and the Itaewon district is a great place to go for a night on the town. Seoul Luxury Hotels South Lake Tahoe, CA, United States Known for its dramatic lake and mountain scenery, South Lake Tahoe offers visitors plenty of places to visit and things to do. Some of the most popular attractions include floating down the river on a tube, hiking the trails in the summer and skiing or snowboarding the slopes in the winter. The city also has a variety of restaurants and nightlife options, as well as casinos for those looking to try their luck. South Lake Tahoe Luxury Hotels South Lake Tahoe Luxury Resorts Daytona Beach, FL, United States Daytona Beach is a city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. It is approximately 40 miles northeast of Orlando, and 85 miles southeast of Jacksonville. The city is known as "The World's Most Famous Beach." Daytona Beach is a principal city of the Fun Coast region of Florida. The Daytona Beach area is a popular tourist destination. It is well known for its beaches, sports events, and motorsports. Daytona Beach was the birthplace of NASCAR and home to its first track, Daytona International Speedway. Dayton Beach also features a large number of tourist-oriented businesses, such as motels, restaurants, and bars. Daytona Beach Luxury Hotels Rio de Janeiro, Brazil The coastline of Rio de Janeiro is breathtaking, and the views from Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf Mountain are unforgettable. Rio's world-famous beaches are the perfect place to relax and enjoy the sun and the surf. The city's rich culture and history can be experienced in its many museums and in the lively nightlife. Rio is also a great place to shop for souvenirs. Rio de Janeiro Luxury Hotels Rio de Janeiro Luxury Villas Jaco, Costa Rica Jaco is a town on the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. It's about an hour drive from San Jose and is a popular spot for surfers, sunbathers, and tourists. There are a number of beaches in the area, as well as restaurants, bars, and hotels. If you're looking for a place to relax and enjoy the Costa Rican sun and beaches, Jaco is a great option. Jaco Luxury Hotels Oslo, Norway Oslo, Norway is a city with plenty of places to visit. You can find the peace and tranquility of nature parks and green spaces, experience the city's vibrant nightlife, or take in the historical and cultural sights. Here are a few of the top places to visit in Oslo: The Royal Palace: Oslo's Royal Palace is the official residence of Norway's king and queen. The palace is open to the public year-round, and offers a glimpse into the lives of the royal family. Oslo's Royal Palace is the official residence of Norway's king and queen. The palace is open to the public year-round, and offers a glimpse into the lives of the royal family. Vigeland Park: Considered one of Oslo's most popular tourist destinations, Vigeland Park is home to over 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The park is a great place to spend a sunny day outdoors. Considered one of Oslo's most popular tourist destinations, Vigeland Park is home to over 200 sculptures by Gustav Vigeland. The park is a great place to spend a sunny day outdoors. The Maritime Museum: This museum is home to a variety of exhibits on Norway's maritime history. Visitors can explore everything from Viking ships to modern submarines. This museum is home to a variety of exhibits on Norway's maritime history. Visitors can explore everything from Viking ships to modern submarines. The National Gallery: The National Gallery is Norway's largest art museum, and home to a vast collection of paintings and sculptures from the country's most famous artists. The National Gallery is Norway's largest art museum, and home to a vast collection of paintings and sculptures from the country's most famous artists. Aker Brygge: Aker Brygge is a popular waterfront district in Oslo, home to a variety of bars, restaurants, and shops. The area is a great place to people watch and enjoy the view of the Oslo Fjord. Oslo Luxury Hotels Lima, Peru If you're looking for a city that's bursting with culture and flavor, Lima, Peru is the place for you! This vibrant destination is home to some of the most amazing places to visit in all of South America. From ancient ruins to lush rainforests, there's something for everyone in Lima. Here are just a few of the must-see attractions in this amazing city: The Larco Museum is one of Lima's top tourist destinations. This incredible museum is home to one of the largest collections of pre-Columbian art in the world. The Historic Center of Lima is a must-see for any history lover. This vibrant area is home to some of the oldest architecture in Lima, including the iconic San Francisco Monastery. If you're looking for a little bit of jungle in the city, head to the Parque de la Reserva. This lush park is home to beautiful gardens, a zoo, and even a butterfly farm! No trip to Lima would be complete without a visit to Machu Picchu. This ancient Inca citadel is one of the most iconic sites in all of South America. Lima Luxury Hotels Ankara, Turkey Ankara is the cultural and political center of Turkey. The city is home to many museums, including the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, and is a popular destination for tourists. The Citadel, the Ataturk Mausoleum, and the War of Independence Museum are all popular tourist destinations in Ankara. The city is also home to a vibrant nightlife and is a popular destination for students. Ankara Luxury Hotels Birmingham, United Kingdom There are plenty of great places to visit in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Some of the most popular places to go include the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and the Black Country Living Museum. These places are all great for tourists, as they offer a variety of attractions, including beautiful gardens, interesting art, and a recreation of an old-fashioned town. Additionally, there are plenty of other great places to visit in Birmingham, such as the Jewellery Quarter and the German Christmas Market. Birmingham Luxury Hotels York, United Kingdom With a rich history that spans back over 1,000 years, York is a must-visit destination in the United Kingdom. Explore the city's medieval architecture and narrow cobblestone streets, or enjoy a leisurely walk along the River Ouse. Visitors can also enjoy a variety of cultural experiences, such as the York Minster cathedral, the Jorvik Viking Centre, and the National Railway Museum. There are also plenty of shops and restaurants to enjoy in York. York Luxury Hotels Inverness, United Kingdom Inverness, Scotland is a must-see destination on any traveler's list. Filled with rolling green hills, historical sites, and plenty of outdoor activities, there's something for everyone in this charming town. Start by exploring the city center, which is home to a variety of shops and restaurants. Make sure to check out the Inverness Castle, which offers commanding views of the area, and the Inverness Cathedral, a beautiful example of medieval architecture. Outside of the city center, there are plenty of other attractions to explore. The Loch Ness Monster is said to make its home in the loch here, and visitors can take boat tours to hunt for the mythical creature. If you're looking for a more active adventure, take a hike in the hills or go fishing on the loch. No matter what you choose to do, Inverness is a beautiful and welcoming town that is sure to charm you. Inverness Luxury Hotels Marseille, France The Vieux Port (Old Harbor) is the oldest port in France. It is a beautiful place to visit with its sailboats, restaurants, and cafes. The Notre Dame de la Garde Basilica is also worth a visit. It offers stunning views of the city. If you're looking for a more lively atmosphere, head to the La Canebiere. It's a wide avenue with plenty of shops and restaurants. Marseille Luxury Hotels Marseille Luxury Villas Honolulu, HI, United States Honolulu is a city located on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, United States. It is the most populous city in the state of Hawaii and the county seat of the City and County of Honolulu. Honolulu is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is one of the most famous beaches in the world and is located in Honolulu. Other places to visit in Honolulu include Diamond Head, the USS Arizona Memorial, and Hanauma Bay. Honolulu Luxury Hotels Honolulu Luxury Resorts Honolulu Luxury Villas Bar Harbor, ME, United States Famous for lobster and stunning ocean views, Bar Harbor is a popular destination in Maine. There are plenty of things to do in the town and its surroundings, including hiking, biking, whale watching, and exploring Acadia National Park. Bar Harbor Luxury Hotels Colorado Springs, CO, United States There are many places to visit in Colorado Springs. Garden of the Gods is a popular park with beautiful rock formations. Pike's Peak is a 14,115 foot mountain that offers great views and outdoor activities. The Broadmoor is a world-renowned resort with lovely gardens and a championship golf course. Royal Gorge Bridge is the world's highest suspension bridge and a popular tourist spot. Colorado Springs Luxury Hotels Fort Myers Beach, FL, United States Just an hours drive from the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach is a popular tourist spot, especially in the winter when the snowbirds migrate down. The seven-mile-long beach is known for its white sand and clear water and is a popular spot for swimming, sunbathing, fishing, and kayaking. There are also a number of restaurants and bars in the area, as well as a few stores. Fort Myers Beach Luxury Hotels Biloxi, MS, United States There are plenty of places to explore in Biloxi, Mississippi from the citys iconic Beaches to the picturesque Bay Saint Louis. Venture into the citys downtown area to check out the many shops and restaurants, or take a walk along the shoreline. No matter what you choose to do, youre sure to have a great time in Biloxi. Biloxi Luxury Hotels Palermo, Italy If you're looking for a city with a rich and diverse history, Palermo is the place for you. This coastal city in Italy is teeming with medieval architecture, churches, and cathedrals. Be sure to check out the Teatro Massimo, the largest opera house in Europe, and the Palazzo dei Normanni, the seat of the Sicilian government. Don't miss out on the city's vibrant nightlife and vast array of restaurants that serve up some of the best food in the country. Palermo Luxury Hotels Palermo Luxury Villas Manila, Philippines The capital of the Philippines, Manila is a fascinating city with a rich history and a vibrant culture. There are plenty of places to visit in Manila, including the walled city of Intramuros, the Rizal Park, and the Manila Bay. The city is also home to a large number of churches, including the Manila Cathedral and the San Agustin Church. Manila is a great city to explore on foot, and there are plenty of restaurants and shops to enjoy. Manila Luxury Hotels Zermatt, Switzerland Zermatt is an alpine village in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It is famous for its ski resort, mountaineering and hiking trails. The views of the Matterhorn from Zermatt are iconic. The village is car-free, making it a cyclists' and pedestrians' paradise. There are many places to visit in Zermatt, including the village's beautiful churches, impressive museums, and great restaurants. Zermatt Luxury Hotels Basel, Switzerland Basel is a city located in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine. Basel has a population of about 176,000 and is the third most populous city in Switzerland. Basel has many interesting places to visit, including the Basel Munster, the Basel Rathaus (town hall), the Basel Zoo, and the Munsterhof, the old town square. Basel also has a number of art museums, including the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Fondation Beyeler, and the Schaulager. Basel is a great city to visit, and I highly recommend it!. Basel Luxury Hotels Copenhagen, Denmark There are a number of places to visit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Some of the most popular tourist destinations include Tivoli Gardens, Nyhavn, and the Rosenborg Castle Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is a beautiful amusement park that has something for everyone. It is perfect for a day of fun with family or friends. Nyhavn is a charming canal district that is popular for its brightly colored houses and lively atmosphere. Visitors can enjoy a relaxing cruise down the canal or take a seat in one of the many cafes and restaurants. The Rosenborg Castle Gardens are home to a majestic castle as well as beautifully landscaped gardens. There is plenty to see and do in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen Luxury Hotels Steamboat Springs, CO, United States Steamboat Springs is located in northwestern Colorado. The town is named for the steamboats that traveled up the Yampa River in the 1800s. Today, the town is a popular tourist destination, known for its skiing, snowboarding, hiking, and rafting. Steamboat Springs Luxury Hotels Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates and is home to many tourist attractions. Some popular places to visit in Abu Dhabi include the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, the Ferrari World Theme Park, and the Yas Island Waterpark. There are also a number of museums and shopping malls in Abu Dhabi, making it a great destination for those looking for a mix of culture and leisure. Abu Dhabi Luxury Hotels Abu Dhabi Luxury Resorts Abu Dhabi Luxury Villas Bogota, Colombia There's a lot to see and do in Bogota. Some of the top places to visit include the historical La Candelaria district, the cobblestone streets of Plaza de Bolivar, the Monserrate mountain, the Bogota Botanical Garden, and the Gold Museum. La Candelaria is home to many brightly-colored colonial buildings, churches, and plazas. Plaza de Bolivar is the center of Bogota and is surrounded by important landmarks like the Presidential Palace and the National Capitol. The Monserrate mountain is a popular tourist destination due to its stunning views of Bogota. The Bogota Botanical Garden is the largest in Colombia and features a wide variety of plants and trees. The Gold Museum is home to the largest collection of Pre-Columbian gold artifacts in the world. Bogota Luxury Hotels Cebu, Philippines Due to its location and its rich history, there are plenty of places to visit in Cebu. Some of the most popular tourist destinations include the Cebu Taoist Temple, the Fort San Pedro, the Yap-San Diego Ancestral House, and the Magellan's Cross. Cebu Luxury Hotels Cebu Luxury Resorts Lagos, Portugal Lagos is a small town in Portugal with a population of around 22,000. It's located in the Algarve region and is a popular tourist destination. Some of the places to visit in Lagos are the beaches, the old town, and the Marina. The beaches are beautiful and there are a lot of them to choose from. The old town is a maze of narrow streets and alleyways with lots of shops and restaurants. The Marina is a great place to walk around and watch the boats. Lagos Luxury Hotels Medellin, Colombia Some places to visit in Medellin, Colombia are: the Botanical Garden, the Ethnographic Museum, the Jardin Botanico, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Park of Lights, and the San Pedro Claver Church. Medellin Luxury Hotels Genoa, Italy While there are many places to visit in Genoa, one of the must-sees is the city's cathedral. Dedicated to San Lorenzo, the church features an intricate Gothic facade and a Renaissance interior. If you're looking for a place to take in some stunning views, head to the Genoa Aquarium, which is located on the promenade stretching along the city's harbor. Genoa Luxury Hotels Hoi An, Vietnam Hoi An is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Vietnam. Its a bridge town thats best explored on foot. The narrow streets are a mix of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese architecture. There are tailors, artisans, and lantern shops galore. The food is also some of the best in Vietnam. Be sure to try the local specialties, like Cao Lau and White Rose dumplings. Hoi An Luxury Hotels Hoi An Luxury Resorts Baku, Azerbaijan Baku, Azerbaijan is a city with a lot of culture and history. There are a lot of places to visit, like the Palace of the Shirvanshahs and the Maiden Tower. There are also a lot of great restaurants, like the Flame Club, which has a great atmosphere and delicious food. Baku Luxury Hotels San Luis Obispo, CA, United States San Luis Obispo is a city located in the central coast of California. It's known for its natural beauty, relaxed vibe, and abundance of things to do. Some of the top places to visit in San Luis Obispo include the Madonna Inn, Hearst Castle, and the Paso Robles wine country. The city is also home to a variety of beaches, parks, and other attractions. In addition, San Luis Obispo is a great place to live, with plenty of restaurants, shops, and other amenities. San Luis Obispo Luxury Hotels Colombo, Sri Lanka Colombo is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. The city is located on the west coast of the island and is the administrative, commercial, and industrial center of Sri Lanka. Colombo is also the center of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, with numerous Buddhist temples. There are a number of places to visit in Colombo, including the Galle Face Green, the Dutch fort, the Pettah Bazaar, and the Sri Lankan National Museum. Colombo Luxury Hotels Yogyakarta, Indonesia The city of Yogyakarta in Indonesia is home to some of the most stunning temples and historical landmarks in the country. The city is also a great place to enjoy traditional Javanese culture and cuisine. Some of the must-see places in Yogyakarta include the Borobudur Temple, the Prambanan Temple, and the Sultan's Palace. Yogyakarta Luxury Hotels Cefalu, Italy Looking for a beautiful and historic place to visit in Italy? Look no further than Cefalu. This town is teeming with history and stunning architecture, and its location on the coast makes it the perfect place to relax and take in the stunning scenery. Don't miss the Duomo di Cefalu, a 12th century Norman church that is definitely worth a visit, or the Palazzo dei Normanni, a former royal palace. Cefalu Luxury Hotels San Jose, CA, United States San Jose, California, is home to a variety of tourist destinations. Some popular places to visit include the Winchester Mystery House, the Tech Museum of Innovation, and the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. There are also a number of lovely parks, such as Kelley Park and Plaza de Cesar Chavez, that are well worth a visit. San Jose is also home to a number of great restaurants, so be sure to check out the local cuisine. Whatever your interests, San Jose has something to offer visitors. San Jose Luxury Hotels Hong Kong, China Hong Kong is one of the most popular destinations for tourists in China. There are many places to visit in Hong Kong, including the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Victoria Peak, and the Temple Street Night Market. Hong Kong is also a great place to shop, with many high-end malls and markets. Hong Kong Luxury Hotels Hong Kong Luxury Resorts Orlando, FL, United States Orlando is a city in the central region of Florida, in the United States. The city is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the metropolitan area also known as Greater Orlando. Orlando is well known for its theme parks, including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld Orlando. Other tourist destinations in Orlando include the Holy Land Experience, the Orlando Science Center, and the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art. Orlando is also home to the University of Central Florida, one of the largest universities in the United States. Orlando Luxury Hotels Orlando Luxury Resorts Orlando Luxury Villas Philadelphia, PA, United States If youre looking for a place thats rich in history and culture, Philadelphia is the place for you. The city is home to numerous iconic landmarks, including the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Theres also a great variety of museums and other attractions to explore, such as the Philadelphia Zoo and the Please Touch Museum. And, of course, Philly is the birthplace of Americas favorite sandwich, the cheesesteak. So why not visit Americas most historic city and see for yourself what all the fuss is about?. Philadelphia Luxury Hotels Nice, France France is known for its many beautiful places to visit, and Nice is no exception. With its stunning coastline and mild climate, Nice is a popular tourist destination. Some of the most popular places to visit in Nice include the Promenade des Anglais, the Castle Hill, and the Old Town. There is also a wide variety of shops and restaurants to enjoy in Nice. If you're looking for a beautiful and relaxing place to visit in France, Nice is definitely worth considering. Nice Luxury Hotels Nice Luxury Villas Singapore, Singapore Singapore is a popular tourist destination, brimming with cultural and natural attractions. From award-winning restaurants to serene gardens and pristine beaches, there is much to explore in this diverse city-state. Here are some of the top places to visit in Singapore: 1. Marina Bay: This iconic waterfront district is home to stunning architecture, world-class landmarks, and a vibrant nightlife. 2. Gardens by the Bay: These stunning gardens feature a mix of plants from around the world, as well as towering sculptures and a biodome. 3. Chinatown: This lively district is home to traditional Chinese shops and restaurants, as well as vibrant street markets. 4. Little India: This neighborhood is known for its vibrant culture and colorful temples. 5. Sentosa Island: This resort island is home to sandy beaches, lush rainforests, and a variety of entertainment options. Singapore Luxury Hotels Singapore Luxury Resorts Nottingham, United Kingdom Nottingham is a city in the East Midlands of England. It is one of the United Kingdom's major cities, with a population of over 321,000. The city is home to two universities, Queen's Medical Centre, and seven football grounds. Nottingham is known for its lace-making and bicycle manufacturing. The city has a rich history, dating back to the Bronze Age. There are plenty of places to visit in Nottingham, including the Nottingham Castle, the Sherwood Forest, and the National Ice Centre. The city also has a lively nightlife, with a variety of pubs and bars. Nottingham Luxury Hotels Cannes, France Cannes is a city located in the south of France. Some of the places to visit in Cannes are the Palais des Festivals et des Congres, the Boulevard de la Croisette, and Le Suquet. Cannes Luxury Hotels Cannes Luxury Villas Park City, UT, United States Park City, Utah, offers visitors a wealth of places to visit and things to do. Main Street, with its charming shops and restaurants, is a must-see. The Park City Museum tells the town's fascinating history, and the Park City Utah Temple is a beautiful sight. For outdoor enthusiasts, there's plenty of skiing and snowboarding in the winter and hiking and mountain biking in the summer. And don't forget to visit the Olympic Park, where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held. Park City Luxury Hotels Park City Luxury Resorts Port Angeles, WA, United States If you're looking for a quaint, small town to visit in the US, Port Angeles is worth a stop. Located in the state of Washington, it's right on the Pacific coast with stunning views of the Olympic Mountains. There's plenty of things to do in the area, from hiking and fishing to whale watching and enjoying the local restaurants and breweries. Port Angeles Luxury Hotels Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States If you're looking for a fun-filled Florida getaway, look no further than Fort Lauderdale! With its miles of pristine beaches, world-famous shopping and vibrant nightlife, there's something for everyone in this seaside city. Here are some of the top places to visit in Fort Lauderdale: Las Olas Boulevard: This popular shopping and dining district is home to some of Fort Lauderdale's most upscale boutiques and restaurants. The Beach: With its wide, sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters, Fort Lauderdale's beach is a major draw for visitors. The Everglades: Just a short drive from Fort Lauderdale, the Everglades are home to an abundance of wildlife, including alligators, bald eagles and manatees. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts: This world-class performing arts center is home to a variety of theater, dance and music performances. So what are you waiting for? Book your trip to Fort Lauderdale today!. Fort Lauderdale Luxury Hotels Fort Lauderdale Luxury Resorts Myrtle Beach, SC, United States Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is a popular tourist destination. There are plenty of places to visit in the area, including amusement parks, beaches, and golf courses. Myrtle Beach also has a lively nightlife, with plenty of bars and restaurants. Myrtle Beach Luxury Hotels Myrtle Beach Luxury Resorts Salzburg, Austria Salzburg is one of the most visited places in Austria. It is a city rich in history and culture. There are many places to visit, such as the Hohensalzburg Fortress, the Mirabell Palace, and the Salzburg Cathedral. There are also many hiking trails and parks to enjoy. Salzburg Luxury Hotels Pattaya, Thailand Pattaya is an amazing city with plenty of places to visit and things to do. One of the most popular tourist destinations in Thailand, Pattaya offers something for everyone. There are lovely beaches, interesting temples, great shopping, and exciting nightlife. With its moderate climate and affordable prices, it's no wonder Pattaya is a favorite destination for tourists from all over the world. Pattaya Luxury Hotels Pattaya Luxury Resorts Pattaya Luxury Villas Dallas, TX, United States Dallas is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the ninth most populous city in the United States and the third most populous city in the state of Texas. Dallas is also the main city of the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the United States. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position as a major transportation hub for the South. Dallas is home to the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League and the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, and transportation. The city is home to the world's largest airline hub and the third largest cargo airport in the United States. Dallas Luxury Hotels Kolkata, India Kolkata, also known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. The city is located on the east bank of the Hooghly River. It is the second most populous city in India, after Mumbai, and the third most populous metropolitan area in India, after Mumbai and Delhi. The city is notable for its colonial architecture, art and culture, and for its overwhelming poverty. Kolkata is home to the Indian Museum, the Calcutta Stock Exchange, the National Library of India, and the Indian Statistical Institute. Kolkata Luxury Hotels San Antonio, TX, United States San Antonio is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Texas. There are plenty of places to visit in this city, from the well-known River Walk to the exquisite Spanish missions. If you're looking for a fun place to spend the day, you can't go wrong with San Antonio. San Antonio Luxury Hotels Seattle, WA, United States There are many wonderful places to visit in Seattle, Washington. Some of the most popular attractions include Pike Place Market, the Seattle Space Needle, and the Museum of Pop Culture. There are also many parks and gardens, such as Volunteer Park and Seattle Chinese Garden, as well as plenty of restaurants and shops. Located on the other side of the world, Western Australia is a great place to visit for those looking for something different. Some of the most popular attractions include Rottnest Island, the Margaret River region, and Monkey Mia. There are also plenty of beautiful parks and gardens, such as Kings Park and Botanic Garden, as well as restaurants and shops. Seattle Luxury Hotels Liverpool, United Kingdom Liverpool is a city located in North West England and is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom. The city is known for its football teams Liverpool and Everton, The Beatles, and its maritime history. Liverpool is a popular tourist destination and is home to various tourist attractions including Mersey Ferry, Liverpool Cathedral, and Albert Dock. Liverpool Luxury Hotels Malmo, Sweden Malmo is Sweden's third largest city with a population of over 310,000. It is located in the province of Scania on the country's southern tip. Malmo is a vibrant city with a strong arts and cultural scene. There are plenty of places to visit in Malmo, including the Malmo Castle, the Botanical Gardens, and the Turning Torso skyscraper. Malmo is also home to a large shopping district and a lively nightlife. Malmo Luxury Hotels Gothenburg, Sweden Goteborg, Sweden's second largest city, is a major port on the country's west coast. It's a popular tourist destination, known for its lively nightlife, beautiful architecture and delicious seafood. Some of the city's highlights include the Liseberg amusement park, the Botanical Garden, and the charming old town district. Goteborg is also home to a large number of museums, including the Volvo Museum, the Maritime Museum and the Universeum science center. Gothenburg Luxury Hotels Ljubljana, Slovenia Ljubljana is the capital city of Slovenia and is a city full of culture and history. There are many places to visit in Ljubljana, such as the castle, the old town, and the cathedral. The city is also home to many museums, art galleries, and parks. Ljubljana is a great city to explore on foot, and there are many restaurants and cafes to enjoy. Ljubljana Luxury Hotels Sydney, NSW, Australia Australia is a vast country with plenty of stunning places to visit, but Sydney is undoubtedly one of the most popular tourist destinations on the continent. From the iconic Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge to the beautiful beaches and lush national parks, there's something for everyone in this lively city. There's also a thriving food and nightlife scene, so you'll never run out of things to do in Sydney. Sydney Luxury Hotels Sydney Luxury Villas Melbourne, VIC, Australia There's a lot to love about Melbourne its lively arts and culture scene, its parks and gardens, its diverse range of restaurants and cafes, and its stunning architecture. Here are some of the best places to visit in Melbourne: - Federation Square: This iconic square is a great place to people-watch and take in the city's impressive architecture. It's also home to a number of museums and galleries, including the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the National Gallery of Victoria. - Queen Victoria Market: This vibrant market is a must-visit for foodies and shoppers alike. It's the largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere, and offers a vast array of fresh produce, meat, seafood, and souvenirs. - Melbourne Cricket Ground: If you're a sports fan, be sure to check out the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which is the largest cricket stadium in the world. It's also home to the Australian Football League, and has hosted a number of major sporting events, including the Commonwealth Games and the Rugby Union World Cup. - Royal Botanic Gardens: These beautiful gardens are a great place to relax and take in some of Melbourne's natural beauty. They're home to a number of different gardens, including the Australian Garden, the Sculpture Garden, and the Japanese Garden. Melbourne Luxury Hotels Melbourne Luxury Villas Vancouver, BC, Canada The top places to visit in Vancouver are Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown, and Chinatown. These are all must-see attractions that offer an array of activities, scenery, and history. Stanley Park is a world-famous urban park that features greenery, beaches, gardens, and a stunning view of the North Shore Mountains. Granville Island is a vibrant neighbourhood with unique shops, restaurants, and art galleries. Gastown is the city's oldest neighbourhood and is home to charming cobblestone streets and funky boutiques. Chinatown is one of the largest and most vibrant Chinatowns in North America and offers delicious food, interesting history, and vibrant culture. Vancouver Luxury Hotels Toronto, ON, Canada From the CN Tower and Hockey Hall of Fame to the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Distillery District, there are plenty of amazing places to visit in Toronto, Canada. With something for everyone, Toronto is a great city to explore. So what are you waiting for? Start planning your trip today!. Toronto Luxury Hotels Montreal, QC, Canada Montreal is a vibrant city with something for everyone. There are plenty of places to visit, including the Notre Dame Basilica, the Olympic Stadium, and Mount Royal. The city is also home to a lively arts and culture scene, with theatres, art galleries, and music venues. Montreal is a great place to visit year-round, with festivals and events happening throughout the year. Montreal Luxury Hotels Seville, Spain Seville is one of the most visited places in Spain for a plethora of reasons: its stunning architecture, tapas bars, flamenco and great weather. The Giralda Tower is a must-see when in Seville as is the Plaza de Espana. Andalusian culture is heavily present in the city and is best experienced by wandering the narrow streets and alleyways, popping into a lively tapas bar for a drink and some snacks or enjoying a flamenco show. Seville Luxury Hotels Seville Luxury Villas Ocean City, MD, United States Ocean City is a seaside resort town in Worcester County, Maryland, on the Atlantic coast. It is well known for its long promenade, its fishing, and its crab cuisine. There are plenty of places to visit in Ocean City, including the boardwalk, amusement rides, shopping, and restaurants. You can also visit the Assateague Island National Seashore, which is home to wild horses, or head to the nearby town of Berlin for more shopping and dining options. Ocean City Luxury Hotels Cambridge, MA, United States If you're looking for a quintessential New England town to visit, Cambridge, Massachusetts is the place for you. With its elaborate architecture and Colonial history, Cambridge is a lively town with plenty of things to see and do - perfect for a weekend getaway. Some of the places you won't want to miss include the Harvard University campus, the charming and lively shops and restaurants in Harvard Square, and the leafy paths of the Cambridge Common. Cambridge Luxury Hotels Laguna Beach, CA, United States Laguna Beach, California is a place known for its stunningly beautiful coastline, excellent restaurants, and art galleries. But there's more to Laguna Beach than meets the eye. Here are some of the best places to visit in Laguna Beach: Crystal Cove State Park: This state park is known for its coves, tidepools, and bluffs. It's a great place to go hiking, swimming, and snorkeling. Heisler Park: This park is a great place for a walk or a picnic. It's also home to some of the best views of the Pacific Coast. Downtown Laguna Beach: This charming downtown area is home to art galleries, boutique shops, and excellent restaurants. Aliso Beach: This beach is known for its excellent surfing and swimming conditions. It's also a great place to take a walk or enjoy a picnic. Laguna Beach Luxury Hotels Hot Springs, AR, United States In downtown Hot Springs, Arkansas, you'll find historic buildings, antique shops, and art galleries. For nature lovers, there are also plenty of places to visit, including the Garland County Arboretum, Ouachita National Forest, and Hot Springs National Park. Spa enthusiasts can enjoy a relaxing day in one of the area's hot springs. And no trip to Hot Springs is complete without a visit to the world-famous Bathhouse Row. Hot Springs Luxury Hotels Sedona, AZ, United States There are many places to visit in Sedona, Arizona. Among the most popular are the Chapel of the Holy Cross, Bell Rock, Cathedral Rock, and Boynton Canyon. The town's unique red-rock formations and ancient ruins offer plenty of photo opportunities. Visitors can also enjoy hiking, biking, and horseback riding. Sedona is a great place to relax and take in the natural beauty of the Southwest. Sedona Luxury Hotels Sedona Luxury Resorts Boulder, CO, United States Boulder, Colorado is a breathtaking city nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The city is home to stunning views, ample outdoor recreation, and a lively arts scene. Outdoor enthusiasts will love exploring the city's many trails, parks, and open spaces. History buffs will enjoy checking out the city's museums and historic sites. Culture seekers will appreciate the city's many theaters, art galleries, and restaurants. No matter what your interests, you'll find something to love in Boulder. Boulder Luxury Hotels Key West, FL, United States Key West is a small island off the coast of Florida that is filled with history, charm, and fun places to visit. Its lush tropical setting and the laid-back vibe of the island make it a popular destination for those looking for a relaxing getaway. There are plenty of places to explore in Key West, from the charming historic district to the crystal-clear waters of the Florida Keys. Here are some of the top places to visit in Key West: -The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum: This iconic museum is dedicated to the life and work of Nobel Prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway, who lived in Key West for over 20 years. -Duval Street: This lively street is the heart of Key West's nightlife and is home to many bars and restaurants. -The Southernmost Point: This landmark is located at the end of Duval Street and is the southernmost point in the continental United States. -The Key West Lighthouse: This picturesque lighthouse is a popular spot for tourists and offers stunning views of the island. -The African American Heritage House: This museum is dedicated to the history and culture of African Americans in Key West. -The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory: This attraction is home to over 2,000 butterflies and a variety of other tropical plants and animals. Key West Luxury Hotels Key West Luxury Resorts Key West Luxury Cottages Key West Luxury Villas Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm, Sweden is a city with many places to visit. One place is the Vasa Museum, which is home to a ship that sunk in 1628 and was raised from the ocean floor 333 years later. The ship is preserved and on display in the museum. Another place to visit is the Royal Palace, the official residence of the Swedish monarch. The palace is open for tours, and visitors can see the royal apartments, the throne room, and the Hall of State. Stockholm Luxury Hotels Destin, FL, United States Looking for a place to visit in Florida? Look no further than Destin! This city is home to beautiful beaches, wonderful restaurants, and plenty of places to shop. No matter what you're looking for, you can find it in Destin. Be sure to check out the Destin Harbor and the fishing pier for amazing views and plenty of things to do. If you're looking for a place to relax, head to the beach and enjoy the sun and sand. There's something for everyone in Destin, so be sure to visit this amazing city!. Destin Luxury Hotels Destin Luxury Resorts Ashland, OR, United States There are many places to visit in Ashland, Oregon. Some of the most popular places are the Shakespeare Festival, Lithia Park, and Mt. Ashland. The Shakespeare Festival is a great place to see some of the best plays in the world. Lithia Park is a beautiful park with a river running through it. Mt. Ashland is a great place to go skiing in the winter. Ashland Luxury Hotels Seaside, OR, United States One of the most beautiful places on the Oregon Coast is Seaside. With its wide, sandy beach and majestic promenade, Seaside is a popular tourist destination. There are plenty of places to eat and shop, and the Seaside Aquarium is a must-see. Visitors can also enjoy fishing, whale watching, or just taking a leisurely stroll along the beach. Seaside Luxury Hotels Newport, RI, United States Newport is a picturesque town located in southern Rhode Island that is home to some of the most visited tourist destinations in the United States. The city is known for its miles of beaches and historic mansions that line the coast. Some popular places to visit in Newport include the Cliff Walk, the Breakers Mansion, the Museum of Yachting, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Newport Luxury Hotels Siena, Italy Siena, Italy is a popular tourist destination, thanks to its well-preserved medieval city center. The city is famous for its art, food, and wine. Siena is located in the heart of Tuscany, making it the perfect base for exploring this beautiful region of Italy. Don't miss the Duomo (cathedral), the Piazza del Campo, and the Torre del Mangia. Siena Luxury Hotels Reno, NV, United States Home to the University of Nevada, Reno and a wide variety of cultural and natural attractions, Reno is a great place to visit. Some of the top places to see in Reno include the Nevada Museum of Art, the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center, and the Reno Events Center. Outdoor enthusiasts will enjoy hiking and skiing at Lake Tahoe and biking and kayaking on the Truckee River. In addition, Reno is home to a diverse array of restaurants and nightlife venues. Reno Luxury Hotels Atlantic City, NJ, United States Atlantic City is a popular East Coast tourist destination, known for its boardwalks, beaches and casinos. There are plenty of places to visit in Atlantic City, from the Boardwalk Hall and the Absecon Lighthouse to the Atlantic City Aquarium and Lucy the Elephant. For a more thrilling experience, head to one of the city's casinos, where you can try your hand at blackjack, slots, roulette and more. Atlantic City also offers a wide variety of restaurants, from seafood spots to pizza places, so you're sure to find something to your taste. And if you're looking for some nightlife action, the city has you covered there too. Atlantic City is definitely a place worth visiting!. Atlantic City Luxury Hotels Atlantic City Luxury Resorts Lake George, NY, United States Looking for a place to visit in upstate New York? Look no further than the stunning Lake George. This picturesque locale is located in the heart of the Adirondacks and is known for its pristine beauty and terrific recreational opportunities. Visitors can enjoy hiking, biking, boating, fishing, and skiing, among other activities. Don't miss the chance to take in the spectacular views from the summit of Prospect Mountain or from the water's edge. Lake George Luxury Hotels Buffalo, NY, United States If you're looking for a city that has it all, Buffalo is the place to be. From its vibrant downtown district to its abundance of parks and nature preserves, there's something for everyone in Buffalo. Here are some of the top places to visit in Buffalo: 1. The Buffalo Zoo - One of the top zoos in the country, the Buffalo Zoo is a must-visit for animal lovers of all ages. 2. The Albright-Knox Art Gallery - Buffalo's answer to the Louvre, the Albright-Knox is home to some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures. 3. The Buffalo-Niagara Heritage Village - This living history museum offers a glimpse into what life was like in Buffalo in the 1800s. 4. The Buffalo River - Take a walk or bike ride along the Buffalo River, one of the city's most picturesque areas. 5. Delaware Park - This large park is home to a variety of attractions, including a zoo, a golf course, and a nature preserve. Buffalo Luxury Hotels Rochester, MN, United States Rochester, Minnesota is a city with plenty of places to visit. There's the Mayo Clinic, the Apache Mall, and several other shopping areas, as well as a variety of restaurants. There are also a few parks and golf courses. For those who love the outdoors, Rochester is also close to several state parks and the Mississippi River. Rochester Luxury Hotels Duluth, MN, United States If you're looking for an amazing place to visit, Duluth, Minnesota should definitely be at the top of your list. This city is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the United States, and there are plenty of things to do here that will keep you entertained for days on end. Some of the most popular places to visit in Duluth include the Aerial Lift Bridge, the Glensheen Mansion, and Chester Creek Park. Additionally, there are a number of excellent restaurants and shopping areas in the city, so be sure to explore everything that Duluth has to offer. Duluth Luxury Hotels Maputo, Mozambique Maputo is the capital of Mozambique and a city full of culture and history. There are many places to visit in Maputo, such as the Jose Eduardo dos Santos Museum, the Maputo Cathedral, and the Rua da Independencia. Maputo is also home to the Maputo Bay, which offers beautiful beaches and great seafood. Maputo Luxury Hotels Barcelona, Spain Barcelona, located on the northeast coast of Spain, is a renowned tourist destination and one of the most popular cities in the world. There are plenty of places to visit in Barcelona, such as the Gothic Quarter, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia, and more. The city is also home to a lively nightlife and some of the best restaurants in the country. Barcelona Luxury Hotels Barcelona Luxury Villas Split, Croatia Split is a city on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. It is the second-largest city in Croatia and the largest city in Dalmatia. It has a population of over 200,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area, which includes the City of Split and the surrounding towns, has a population of over 330,000. Split is a popular tourist destination and is the home of the Diocletian's Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Other popular tourist destinations include the Riva, the Peristyle, the Cathedral of Saint Domnius, and Sustipan. Split Luxury Hotels Split Luxury Villas Dubrovnik, Croatia Dubrovnik is a city on the Adriatic Sea in Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, a seaport and the administrative center of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Dubrovnik is nicknamed "The Pearl of the Adriatic". Dubrovnik Luxury Hotels Dubrovnik Luxury Villas Byron Bay, NSW, Australia Byron Bay is a magical place. It's no wonder that it's one of the most popular destinations in Australia. The town is set in a beautiful location, surrounded by rolling green hills and the bright blue ocean. There's plenty to do in Byron Bay, whether you're looking for a relaxing beach holiday or an adventure-filled trip. Some of the top places to visit in Byron Bay include the iconic lighthouse, the stunning beaches, and the lush rainforest. There's also a great nightlife and plenty of restaurants and cafes to enjoy. If you're looking for an amazing Australian getaway, be sure to add Byron Bay to your list!. Byron Bay Luxury Hotels Wellington, New Zealand If you're looking for a little slice of heaven on earth, look no further than Wellington, New Zealand. With its gorgeous landscape and plethora of activities, there's something for everyone here. Whether you're a nature lover or a city slicker, Wellington has something special to offer. Top Wellington attractions include the Zealandia eco-sanctuary, the cable car up to the Botanic Gardens, and the sprawling Te Papa museum. For those who love getting out into the great outdoors, there are plenty of hiking and biking trails, as well as lovely seaside towns and villages to explore. And of course, no trip to Wellington would be complete without trying some of the delicious local cuisine be sure to sample a traditional Maori hangi feast! So what are you waiting for? Book your flight to Wellington today and start planning your perfect holiday!. Wellington Luxury Hotels Saint Louis, MO, United States If you're looking for a fun place to visit with a rich history and plenty of things to see and do, look no further than Saint Louis, Missouri. This vibrant city is home to a variety of interesting attractions, including the Gateway Arch, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery. There's also no shortage of restaurants and shopping options in Saint Louis. So, whether you're looking for a place to explore new cultures and cuisines or you're just looking for a place to have some fun, Saint Louis is a great option. Saint Louis Luxury Hotels Bloomington, IN, United States The city of Bloomington, Indiana is home to a variety of attractions and places to visit. The Indiana University campus is a popular destination, as is the city's historic downtown district. Monroe County Courthouse Their efforts saw Schram re-enter Unitech, on the shoulders of cheering students, in April 2014. These events became known as the Unitech Saga. While Schram spent his exile in Australias James Cook University (where he is an adjunct professor), a coalition of Unitech staff, students and others coordinated protests calling for his return. Schrams exile came off the back of his efforts to address mismanagement within the universitys governing council, attracting the ire of university administrators and the PNG government. IN MARCH 2013, Dr Albert Schram, the vice-chancellor of the University of Technology was controversially deported from Papua New Guinea. The Unitech saga captured both local and international headlines. However, little has been written about the legacy of one of the countrys few successful anti-corruption protests. In a recent interview, Schram reflected on how both student politics and the universitys administration has changed since his return. Since hes been back, Schram stated that there had been no ethnic clashes and, until recently, no boycotts. Student leaders have been engaged by university management through regular monthly management forums, where student representatives and staff have a chance to air their grievances and work with management towards finding solutions. While protesting students helped ensured his return, Schram said he has guided students away from politics and protest. We try to tell students that real leaders do not only protest. They also graduate to become lawyers, scientists, and teachers who contribute to society. For those involved in student politics, he warns, you are not a real student leader unless you graduate. He believes that students continue to follow this advice and embrace more peaceful methods of protest, in particular through airing grievances on social media. Yet, he still encourages students to register their concerns directly with politicians. In the lead up to Christmas in 2015, Unitech was told by the government that there would be a cut of over K3 million kina to scholarship funding, which would affect about 320 ongoing students. The Minister of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, Malakai Tabar, met with Schram, while concerned students independently called the Minister. The resultant conversations between the Minister, the students and university management led to the Minister backing down. For Schram, this victory reminded students that violent protest is not the only way to achieving their goals, and negotiation can produce better results The Unitech Saga reminded university management of the importance of meeting students aspirations. If the students dont have hope that things will get better then they will become unmanageable; this is clear to everyone now, Schram said. So we must be seen to be improving services for students. Read the full article here The Transportation Security Administration should be allowed to redirect funding from its current budget to hire more security officers, three House Democrats said Wednesday. In a letter to leaders of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, U.S. Reps. Bill Keating, Donald Payne and Kathleen Rice said authorizing the TSA to tap into the funding will help shorten wait times at airports, especially during the summer travel season. Keating, Payne and Rice, who are members of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security, said there have been reports of longer wait times at airport security checkpoints due to low TSA staffing levels. The trio added that the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey informed TSA this week that private security officers may be needed at three major New York City-area airports John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport if TSA doesn't hire more security personnel. Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, one of the busiest airports in the world, may need to take similar action. "We need to act now to get more screeners on the ground at airport checkpoints, or we can expect even longer lines and wait times, more passengers experiencing travel disruptions and more airports forced to consider privatizing security," Rice, a Long Island Democrat, said. TSA asked Congress to allow $34 million to be redirected from the 2016 budget, which would give the agency much-needed funding to hire more transportation security officers and pay overtime. Senate appropriators approved the request last week, but House action is needed. "It is absolutely critical that Congress quickly acts to reallocate the $34 million already in TSA's budget to ensure that the agency can address the shortage of screeners and meet the demands of increased travel," Payne, a New Jersey Democrat, said. For the 10th time, a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Katko has been approved by the House of Representatives. The House unanimously passed the Kingpin Designation Improvement Act Tuesday. The legislation introduced by Katko, R-Camillus, would protect classified information submitted by the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control to defend why international drug traffickers were designated as kingpins. Katko said the legislation is needed because the existing law lacks protections for classified information in cases where kingpins seek to have the designation removed in federal court. Under Katko's bill, the Treasury Department would be allowed to file classified information defending kingpin designations in a non-public setting. The measure would help ensure drug traffickers may be added or kept on the list, according to Katko. "It strengthens the process by which we hold international drug traffickers accountable in federal court, while protecting classified information from disclosure," he said. "Doing so will make it more difficult for these criminals to carry out their dangerous and destructive trade." The kingpin legislation is one of several bills the House is voting on this week to address the heroin epidemic. The package contains 18 bills, including Katko's. All are expected to pass with bipartisan support. Katko, a former federal prosecutor, has made the heroin epidemic a top legislative priority. He's held four town hall meetings on the issue in central New York, including an Auburn forum in March. "In order to effectively combat this epidemic, we must take a multifaceted approach," he said. "That includes targeting high-level drug traffickers both domestically and internationally." New York's governor and senior U.S. senator are teaming up to prevent the federal government from reallocating more than $170 million awarded to the state to fund high speed internet expansion projects. The money was initially provided through the Connect America Fund, a program established to support broadband projects across the country. New York was awarded $49 million annually over a six-year period. Three companies Fairpoint, Frontier and Windstream accepted the funding and began investing in broadband projects. But Verizon opted not to accept its share of the money more than $28 million annually, according to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer's office. The Federal Communications Commission is considering taking the funds Verizon didn't use and redistributing the money nationally. But Schumer, D-N.Y., and Gov. Andrew Cuomo are urging the agency to allow other companies to bid for the funding that could be used to expand broadband in upstate New York. "The federal government should invest not divest in upstate internet access," Schumer said. A report released by Schumer's office details the need for broadband in several upstate communities. In 2015, the FCC established a new standard for high speed internet 25 megabits per second for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads. But in upstate New York, there are roughly 221,090 households that lack access to broadband at those speeds. Approximately 77,965 households are in areas eligible for the money that Verizon rejected. "We want this broadband funding to help places like Washington County, not the state of Washington," Schumer said. There are programs at the state level to support high speed internet projects, including the New NY Broadband initiative Cuomo launched last year. New NY Broadband will provide $500 million to various projects targeted underserved and unserved areas throughout the state. While the state's investment is significant, Cuomo wants to keep the Connect America Fund aid flowing in. "We strongly oppose any efforts by the federal government to pull back previously promised funding to New York for this case," he said. Forty-eight years after graduating from the Syracuse University College of Law, Vice President Joe Biden will return to campus Friday to deliver the school's commencement address. The law school's commencement ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at the Carrier Dome. Biden graduated from the Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. His late son, Beau, also earned his law degree at Syracuse. "Vice President Biden is a treasured member of the College of Law family and we are excited to bring him back this May," said William Banks, interim dean of the College of Law, in April. "He is always generous with his time, insight and leadership to the College of Law and I am sure he will deliver a poignant speech and provide our graduates and their families and friends with a memorable day." The Syracuse visit will be the second leg of Biden's final commencement tour as vice president. He delivered remarks at Delaware State University's graduation ceremony last weekend in Dover. On May 21, he'll deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Biden has visited central New York several times during his nearly eight years as vice president. His most recent appearance came in November at an anti-sexual violence rally at Syracuse University. In 2014, Biden made three stops in central New York, including a surprise trip to Auburn for his niece's wedding. Back in 2009 Biden's first year as vice president he was the speaker at the Syracuse University commencement ceremony. (Editor's note: What follows is Auburn High School senior Meghan Dann's winning essay in the Cayuga County Bar Association's Law Day scholarship essay contest. This year being the 50th anniversary of Miranda v. Arizona, Cayuga County high school seniors were asked to write no more than 1,000 words about the Miranda warning and why it and the case are important or unimportant today. For winning the contest, Meghan was awarded a $1,000 scholarship at the association's annual Law Day Luncheon May 5. Meghan's essay has been reprinted as submitted.) You have the right to remain silent and refuse to answer any questions. Anything you do say may be used against you in a court of law. As we discuss this matter you have the right to stop answering my questions at any time that you desire. You have the right to lawyer before speaking to me, to remain silent until you can talk to him, and to have him present when you are being questioned. If you desire a lawyer but cannot afford one, one will be provided to you without cost. Do you understand each of the rights that I have explained to you? With these rights in mind, are you willing to speak with me without a lawyer to represent you? The statement above is what we all know as the Miranda Warning. Many people recognize the Miranda Warning from reading about criminal cases in the newspaper or watching television shows like "Criminal Minds", but they do not truly understand the origin of this case and its meaning. Ernesto Miranda was accused of kidnapping and raping a mentally challenged eighteen year old woman in 1963. When he was arrested for this crime, he confessed to the police that he was guilty and gave a written statement. Miranda confessed to this crime without being told of his rights as a suspected criminal. He did not understand that he did not have to speak with police about the crime, or that he had the right to have an attorney represent him. Miranda was later convicted of the crime and sentenced to prison. The case was appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court which upheld the conviction. In 1966, the Miranda vs. Arizona case was presented to the United States Supreme Court. It was concluded by the court that the statements Miranda previously made to the police incriminating himself, were no longer valid because he was not advised of his rights regarding self incrimination. Following this landmark court decision, the police were required to read suspects in custody their rights before being questioned. These rights from that point forward would come to be known as the "Miranda Warning". Law enforcement personnel are required to give a suspected criminal the Miranda Warning when two circumstances exist, when the suspect is in police custody and when he or she is being questioned as part of a criminal investigation. A common misconception among the public is that Miranda must be given before any type of arrest or police questioning. However, the Miranda Warning is not required during basic inquiries or while being questioned only for identification purposes. The interrogation/questioning part of the equation is fairly easy to understand but when it comes to whether someone is in custody that is when the confusion begins. Besides the basic meaning of "custody" there are numerous court cases that have changed the interpretation. Without going into detail with court cases the easiest way interpret custody is if the suspect believes he or she is free to leave. If a member of law enforcement is questioning a suspect regarding a criminal matter and that suspect is not free to leave or does not believe he or she is free to leave then they are in custody and any questioning must be preceded with the Miranda Warning. The Miranda Warning holds great importance in our criminal justice system today. The warning is in place to protect the rights of a person (s) suspected of a crime. By choosing to remain silent, a person is protected from incriminating him or herself with their own words. It is put in place to prevent police officers from intimidating or coercing a suspect into saying something they may not want to. The common concern is that law enforcement, through whatever means, may get a suspect to confess to a crime without fully understanding their rights. By giving suspects the Miranda Warning, they are protected from this type of violation. If law enforcement personnel fail to give a suspect their Miranda Warning, anything the suspect says as a result cannot be used as evidence in the case, even if it is a confession of guilt. Being the daughter of a police officer, I have learned the level of importance this warning holds in the legal system. My father told me that one of the first things he was taught in the police academy was about the Miranda Warning, when it is required and how it can affect a case going forward. If the warning is not given when required, whether on purpose or by mistake, police officers not only can lose a case but can lose their credibility and also be subject to civil liability. After analyzing all of the information on Miranda I realize the significance the case holds in the United States legal system. The Miranda case strikes a reasonable balance between the obligation to protect the rights of all individuals and the demand on police to keep society safe. Therefore, I support the use of the Miranda Warning and believe it is a necessary element of the legal process. AUBURN The year was 1913, and Auburn Prison was at the center of a state investigation. In a report published in The New York Times, an investigator said more than two dozen inmates had gone insane at the facility, and it was all due to the treatment they had received from prison physician Dr. John Gerin. "Every nook and cranny of the prison reeks with tales of cruelty of this man," the report said, accusing the doctor of depriving prisoners of sleep, food and water in a dark 8-by-4 foot cell lined with iron rivet heads. "This punishment is worse than the old stringing-up machine and other (ancient) modes of physical torture that have been abandoned by the state." But Dr. Gerin's story was short-lived and, as the years went by, the scandal surrounding him seemed all but forgotten. That is, until now. Cayuga Museum Executive Director Eileen McHugh and curator Kirsten Wise came across Dr. Gerin's story while researching the county's criminal history for a new exhibit. "A woman called us looking to find a home for a portrait of one of her family members, and it turns out that was John Gerin," McHugh said. "We're uncovering some things we didn't even know about." Gerin's story is just one that will be on display in the museum's new exhibit, "Cops and Robbers: Law Enforcement and Sensational Crimes." Opening Friday, the exhibit will cover the 1800s and early 1900s. A large collection of items and photographs from the Auburn Police Department, the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office and the community will fill all three galleries on the first floor of the Auburn museum until Sept. 4. "I think it will be very popular this summer, both with people in Auburn but also people from outside of the county," Wise said. McHugh added, "Law enforcement is universal and it is supported by every single one of us. All of these people work in our name so I think everyone should be interested." McHugh said the community called for the exhibit. Several years ago, the museum did a successful exhibit on the history of fire departments in Cayuga County. It was so popular, McHugh decided it was time to showcase the area's police departments, as well. The exhibit covers both sides of the law, Wise said, from the stories of people who worked within the police department to those of the criminals they helped put away. Those criminals include William Freeman, who stabbed four members of the Van Nest family to death in their Fleming home in 1846. Freeman's lawyer, William H. Seward, argued that his mental state had been damaged by inhumane treatment he had received at Auburn Prison. "It was completely gripping for everyone in the area," McHugh said. "The 'Freeman murders' were probably the most sensational crime that ever happened here." AUBURN The Cayuga County Legislature's Judicial and Public Safety Committee meeting voted Tuesday evening to commence with a third party action against Auburn Community Hospital in the case of a former Cayuga County Jail inmate. The county Legislature will no longer be discussing the litigation at a special Legislature meeting Wednesday night. Chairman Keith Batman said in an email that the matter did not need as much urgency as originally thought. Legislators instead put the motion to act against the hospital under the Cayuga County attorney's purview and discussed the pending litigation in executive session Tuesday night. The motion passed and will make its way to the full Legislature meeting on May 24. The case involves former jail inmate John Guido, who claimed in a complaint against both the county and the hospital that jail staff denied him his prescription medications, which allegedly caused him to have seizures and hit his head. He had been brought to Auburn Community Hospital four times before being taken to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester to undergo brain surgery back in 2012. Guido and his attorney claim three radiologists who observed Guido's CT scans and MRI's failed to see or notify anyone about Guido's bilateral subdural hematomas, which are potentially life-threatening and occur when blood collects outside of the brain. The county's action against the hospital alleges that it was the radiologists' and hospital's negligence that caused Guido's injuries. There will still be a special Legislature meeting Wednesday night prior to the Planning Committee meeting, but the agenda states it will be an executive session to discuss the employment of a particular person. In other news: Scott Green, a Cayuga man who lost his son, Kristopher, in a car accident on Franklin Street Road in Sennett last year, came before legislators asking for support to lower speed limits and adjust signage in that area. The committee expressed its support and will likely use a resolution already passed by the Sennett Town Board as a guideline for the Ways and Means Committee meeting. Highway Superintendent George Wethey said they have hired an independent consultant to survey the stretch between Chestnut Ridge Road and County Line Road. The state Department of Transportation will also need to complete a formal investigation and Wethey said that could take some time. AUBURN The search for Auburn's next city manager goes on with city council members expected to continue interviews over the next few weeks, according to City Clerk Chuck Mason. Once the finalists are chosen, Mason said they will eventually meet with members of a focus group that was appointed in April to advise the candidates on community-wide concerns. The group will later offer their impressions to the Auburn City Council. The committee is formed of nine Auburn residents with a range of occupational and personal backgrounds. Members met at Memorial City Hall on Tuesday their last meeting before their eventual encounters with the finalists. The exact date of those meetings is to be determined, though Mason projected that they could occur at some point in late May or early June. Until that point, Mason said he will prepare a document for city councilors and the job finalists with a synopsis of the items discussed during Tuesday's meeting. The session saw community focus group members deliberate some of Auburn's strengths and weaknesses and how they would want a successful candidate to conduct herself as the city's top administrator. The committee spoke at length regarding the residency requirement for the city manager. Some of the group leaned against the requirement, citing the status of other city employees such as police officers that can be allowed to live within a certain distance from the city. A majority of the focus group favored the requirement. Shawn Butler lieutenant with the Auburn Police Department believes residency would add a personal stake for a manager to give "110 percent" to improve the community. "I think that without saying anything if the city manager chooses to live somewhere else, they're choosing to not live here and that says a lot," said member Katie MacIntyre, who is assistant vice president - marketing officer for Generations Bank. They also discussed a city manager's administrative behavior, which they delineated with two general concepts: leadership and management. Many members spoke to a balance between leading through community engagement and managing departments from behind the scenes. "If people see you in the community, they have more respect for you," said Bill Andre, who is also a member of the Auburn school board. Nevertheless, members feel a grounded perspective may allow the chosen one to perhaps get a better look at what makes Auburn tick. For many on the committee, they see the city's strengths as its history and its location, whether that means physical location in the Finger Lakes region or the city's location relative to significant historical events. However, several members spoke to not only the city's aging infrastructure, but something of an inferiority complex that exists in the community. Andre, president of the Cayuga Central Labor Council, said many in central New York perceive Auburn as "this teeny, tiny place." Auburn resident Judy Bryant said there are people in Auburn that have negative attitudes and "tend to say no before they've even heard the question." "To me, this is very important," Bryant said. "It sort of underlies all of the problems." Parade steps off Audio Article For the first time since 2019, marching bands, classic cars, dance troupes, scouts and politicians made their way along Midlothian Turnpike for the annual Midlothian Day Parade on Saturday, Oct.... Valerie Landis, left, and her dog, Izzy, greet guests Sunil Chandiwal and his wife, Mamta Chandiwal, to her Airbnb condo in the city's Fulton River District neighborhood on May 10, 2016. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) Sam Lichtenfeld says he really started noticing the changes on his Gold Coast block within the past year or so: more beer cans and other trash strewn about, even people passed out drunk in the street. On the tightknit stretch of three- and four-flats, Lichtenfeld said it wasn't hard to pinpoint which addresses were the Animal Houses. Several buildings on the block are operating solely as rental properties through online services like Airbnb, he said, drawing large groups of revelers to stay for the weekend while hitting the nearby Rush Street corridor of bars and clubs. Advertisement Lichtenfeld wants Mayor Rahm Emanuel to crack down on the online booking industry by enacting tougher rules to help protect residents. "On any given night, we can have 50 strangers staying here easily, parking, barfing, partying on a street that isn't at all equipped for it," he said. "These are people who aren't invested in the neighborhood, obviously." Advertisement The mayor is endorsing a proposed ordinance, set for a City Council vote next week, that would require any unit that is rented out on Airbnb or a similar online service for more than 90 days a year to be regulated as a commercial property. Lichtenfeld and others say that number gives too much leeway to investors who are running homes like hotels in residential neighborhoods. "I don't know about you, but 90 days seems like an awful lot of party days," he said. The legislation to regulate Airbnb and similar rental platforms is Emanuel's latest attempt to try to deal with emerging online services that are competing with more traditional businesses. For example, he has been pilloried by Chicago taxi drivers and their supporters for what they say are his moves favoring online ride-share services like Uber and Lyft. Supporters and opponents of the Airbnb plan are applying intense pressure to city officials, seeing this as a key moment for establishing how the nascent industry will be handled in Chicago. The mayor-backed ordinance would add a 4 percent surcharge to online rentals, with the money raised from the new tax going to pay for homeless services in the city. He would thereby be able to claim a win on homelessness at a time his administration has drawn fire for a controversial plan to remove about 75 homeless people living under Lake Shore Drive viaducts on the North Side. A group of aldermen is hoping to stop Emanuel from going ahead with the Airbnb ordinance this month so they have time to try to persuade the administration to rework it to include tighter controls. Ald. Brendan Reilly, of the downtown 42nd Ward, has been complaining for years that his constituents in the many residential high-rises near the lake are dealing with buildings that seem like ghost towns when Chicago's tourist traffic is low and then turn into fraternity parties when the city's weather is nice. He expressed frustration with the Emanuel administration's decision to press ahead with the legislation, saying the city doesn't have the statistics to fully understand Airbnb's impact. "I think the average age of a policy person in the Emanuel administration is about 30," he said. "So if it's cool and it's gee-whiz and it's connected to an app, let's make that good. And it's the same mentality that's connected to ride-share, any sharing economy." Advertisement A proposed Airbnb ordinance is stirring opposition from all sides. May 10, 2016. (CBS Chicago) (CBS Chicago) Citywide, just 131 units have gone through the process to legally register with the city as licensed Airbnb rentals, according to Mika Stambaugh, spokeswoman for the city Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection. The city has shut down just two such rental units because of complaints from neighbors, according to Stambaugh. Yet in the Lincoln Park neighborhood alone, Airbnb's website now says it has more than 300 rental units available. According to a 2015 report by Airbnb, 4,550 Airbnb hosts in Chicago had people stay with them from July 2014 to June 2015. One Airbnb hostess is Valerie Landis. The 33-year-old resident of the Fulton River District neighborhood listed her condo for rent through Airbnb last June and quickly realized she had hit upon a lucrative source of income. "I booked July in an hour, and then was booked every single day in the whole year, with only one or two days in a month when I didn't actually have a guest," Landis said. Though she travels a lot for her job with a health care startup and rents out the entire two-bedroom unit when she's not around, Landis said she also has people stay in her spare bedroom when she's home. "When guests stay with me, I tell them where to shop, I give them restaurant locations and key places that are hot and trending," she said. "Otherwise they would never know about those things." Landis said she made about $15,000 in the final six months of 2015, charging $125 to $200 per night. "I probably priced it too cheap because I'm right downtown, but I just was getting started and I was trying to feel out the ropes," she said. Advertisement On any given night, we can have 50 strangers staying here easily, parking, barfing, partying on a street that isn't at all equipped for it. Sam Lichtenfeld, Gold Coast resident A 90-day limit on how often she could rent a bed in her place to out-of-towners would seriously cut into her profits, Landis said. While Landis is a resident in the unit she rents, Ald. Michele Smith said her 43rd Ward in the Lincoln Park area is being hurt by the many units used solely as investments by people who list them on Airbnb. Nonresidents should be required to list the units with the city as commercial properties and meet various licensing and zoning standards, Smith said. And condominium boards should be allowed to opt out of having Airbnb units in their buildings, she said, adding that Airbnb should be required to turn over to the city the names and addresses of everyone listing a property for rent on the site. Smith said Chicago officials' hands-off attitude toward online rentals was "the rampant enabling of a shadow economy for the sake of some short-term cash" to bolster the city's economy. Emanuel spokeswoman Shannon Breymaier said the administration plans to go ahead with a committee vote next Tuesday and consideration by the full City Council on Wednesday. As with many contentious proposals, there's a good chance the Airbnb ordinance will get amended between now and then. Advertisement Will Burns, who stepped down as 4th Ward alderman this year to take a job with Airbnb, said the company hopes to persuade the Emanuel administration to loosen the regulations before council members consider the ordinance next week. At the top of Burns' wish list is that Airbnb hosts be able to rent out their homes for more than 90 days per year without a commercial designation. Burns said Airbnb is giving homeowners across Chicago a chance to make some extra money, particularly in neighborhoods that aren't close to many hotels. "There's certainly a mismatch between where hotels are located in the city of Chicago and neighborhoods," he said. "People want to go to the South Side," he said while speaking at the city's 1871 technology center. "They have family members. They have graduations at the University of Chicago or other universities on the South Side, Comiskey Park ballgames. So there's lots of reasons to be in those neighborhoods, and so Airbnb helps us solve that equation." Along with criticism from residents, Airbnb is the target of complaints by the hotel industry, which is losing profits to online booking companies. The American Hotel & Lodging Association on Tuesday called for stricter regulation, disputing the notion that the typical Airbnb host is someone occasionally renting out their primary residence to earn some extra cash. The hotel trade group released an industry-funded report showing that 58 percent of Airbnb's Chicago-area revenues come from what are essentially professional hosts who list their properties for rent for at least 180 days a year. Airbnb called the study "factually inaccurate," drawing a distinction between properties that are listed and those that are rented out. Advertisement Company spokesman Christopher Nulty said the reality is that 6 percent of full residences available in the Chicago area through Airbnb are rented for more than 180 days. And just 3 percent of all Chicago Airbnb listings, including spare bedrooms or living room couches people can pay to sleep on while the residents are home, get rented out for more than that long, he said. Also, about four out of five Airbnb hosts in Chicago are sharing their primary residences, he said. Some traditional lodging businesses say that Airbnb and other home-sharing operators are hurting their bottom line and aren't subject to the same strict regulations, putting them at a disadvantage. "Commercial landlords using short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb are operating on an uneven playing field from small businesses like my own, as they skirt rules put in place to protect our guests and the communities we operate in," Kapra Fleming, owner of House of Two Urns bed & breakfast in Chicago, said in a statement. Many of what are essentially commercial Airbnb operators aren't licensed and are also escaping the taxes that other lodging companies pay, said Marc Gordon, chief executive of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association. Although Airbnb has begun collecting hotel taxes from its hosts, others in the short-term rental industry "don't collect any," Gordon said on a conference call Tuesday. Advertisement The study was done by a real estate center at Penn State University, and was mostly funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation. The data used in the report came from Airdna, which tracks Airbnb revenues and operations and provides pricing and revenue data to Airbnb operators. The report also found that almost all of Airbnb's revenue in the Chicago area 96 percent, or more than $47 million comes from operators who list units for rent more than 30 days a year. Landis, the West Loop Airbnb host, fits that definition. But she said she's far from the corporate-type operator depicted by opponents of online booking. "We're not here to create disruption. We want to create a peaceful environment," she said. "I'm a normal, everyday citizen, homeowner for the past nine years. I'm no one special. I'm just trying to make it and be that hardworking, middle-class citizen that is paying my bills." jebyrne@tribpub.com byerak@tribpub.com Four women pilots who fly for Frontier want the airline to change policies on maternity leave and make it easier for new mothers to pump breast milk once they have returned to work. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of the four. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) Charges by four female pilots that Frontier Airlines' policies for pregnant women and new mothers are discriminatory could be seen as progress, an advocate says. Denver Decades ago, flight attendants were pushing just to keep their jobs after they became pregnant, said Phoebe Taubman, senior staff attorney with the advocacy group A Better Balance. The discrimination claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week on behalf of the pilots by the American Civil Liberties Union address leveling the playing field for women who are entering the workforce in increasing numbers and new positions, Taubman said. "It's a very different workplace," said Taubman, who is not involved in the case. Advertisement The pilots , with help from the ACLU and the New York law firm of Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, are pushing the airline to change policies on maternity leaves and make it easier for new mothers to pump breast milk in private after returning to work. "Each of us tried to work with Frontier to find a solution, but unfortunately our efforts went nowhere," one of the pilots , Brandy Beck, said in a statement Tuesday, a day after filing documents with the EEOC. "Because of Frontier's failure to address the needs of pilots who are breast-feeding on a policy level, each of us has been left to figure out these problems on her own," she said. Frontier said it complies with federal and state laws and with its agreement with its pilots association. "The duties of a commercial airline pilot present unique circumstances," Frontier added. "We have made good-faith efforts to identify and provide rooms and other secure locations for use by breast-feeding pilots during their duty travel." In documents filed with the EEOC on Monday, Beck, Shannon Kiedrowski, Erin Zielinski and Randi Freyer described their struggles to get Frontier to provide places for them to pump breast milk during work days that can last more than 12 hours and include flights of up to five hours on schedules lasting up to five days. Frontier has designated a room for breast-milk pumping at its hub at Denver International Airport, but the pilots said it was not always convenient to their gates and that such rooms were not always available at other airports. Kiedrowski told the EEOC she has pumped in an airplane restroom. On one occasion, she was given a written reprimand and told that leaving the flight deck to pump raised safety issues, she said. Advertisement Kiedrowski is the most senior of the four, having joined Frontier in 2002. Beck has been with Frontier since 2003, and Zielinski and Freyer since 2013. Jeff Nowak, a Chicago attorney who has represented employers in such cases, said the EEOC has said employers must accommodate "lactation issues" as they would any employee's medical needs. He said the Denver airport room provided for pumping might be considered adequate accommodation. Nowak is not involved in the Frontier case, The pilots also described to the EEOC failed attempts to get assignments outside the cockpit that would have let them work longer and continue earning while pregnant. Frontier, they said, requires pregnant pilots to go on maternity leave following the 32nd week of pregnancy. Taubman, of A Better Balance, said that such forced-leave policies are not uncommon and stem from concern about an employee going into labor while on the job. However, she said alternate duties can help an employer by retaining the experience and expertise of a worker, who gains critical earnings. Taubman added that airline and airport managers need to consider the needs of working women customers who are traveling and may need a place to pump milk or breast feed. "We work a lot in the context of the workplace, but it's broader than that," she said. Associated Press A Chicago-area oncologist has agreed to relinquish her medical license to settle charges by state officials that she used nonapproved and misbranded cancer drugs on her patients between 2008 and 2012. In an agreement to defer prosecution by the Federal Drug Administration, Ann Kinnealey admitted she bought and dispensed nearly $1 million in illegal cancer drugs obtained through a Canadian supplier, despite FDA notifications dating back to 2009. Advertisement The settlement with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, reached April 21, follows an earlier suspension of her medical licenses by the state. "We entered into an agreement with Dr. Kinnealey to relinquish her controlled substance license as well as her physician and surgeon license in Illinois," said Terry Horstman, a spokesman for the state regulatory agency. "That means she will no longer be able to practice medicine or prescribe controlled substances within Illinois." Advertisement Kinnealey, 68, who practiced in Evanston, was notified in 2009 that shipments of nonapproved cancer drugs she purchased were detained and not admitted into the U.S. However, she continued to purchase and administer the nonapproved drugs to her patients through 2012, according to an FDA investigation. The drugs were purchased from Quality Specialty Products, a pharmaceutical wholesaler owned by Canada Drugs, according to the FDA. The company also sells discount prescriptions to U.S. consumers through its website, CanadaDrugs.com. In 2012, Canada Drugs was associated with the sale of counterfeit Avastin, a lifesaving cancer drug, according to the FDA. In February 2012, the FDA notified 19 medical practices, including Kinnealey's, to stop using counterfeit product and other unapproved cancer medicines obtained from QSP. Kinnealey admitted purchasing nearly $978,000 of oncology drugs from QSP, paying about 25 percent less than she would have paid for drugs approved for sale in the U.S. She also billed Medicare for some of the illegal drugs she purchased and was reimbursed more than $514,000, the state said. Kinnealey was ordered to pay about $129,000 in restitution to the federal government. Brian Zachariah, chief medical coordinator of the professional regulation department, said the continued practice of medicine by Kinnealey presented "an immediate danger to the safety of the public" in the notice of her suspension April 8. Efforts to reach Kinnealey on Tuesday were unsuccessful. Kinnealey was affiliated with several Chicago-area hospitals, including Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago and Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston. Representatives from both hospitals said Tuesday that Kinnealey had retired. "She joined our medical group in July 2013 and she retired last month," Swedish Covenant Hospital spokesman Bill Ligas said. Advertisement rchannick@tribpub.com Twitter @RobertChannick United came in last in J.D. Power's customer satisfaction survey. (Julio Cortez / AP) United Airlines ranked worst among traditional carriers in customer satisfaction in a new J.D. Power survey, but the Chicago-based carrier improved its scores from last year. Alaska Airlines made its passengers the happiest among the five traditional carriers in the study for the ninth straight year. It scored 751 on a 1,000-point scale. Advertisement Delta Air Lines ranked second among traditional carriers, with a score of 725, and improved in all of the qualities that J.D. Power measures. In order of importance, J.D. Power considers: cost and fees; in-flight services; boarding, deplaning and baggage; flight crew; aircraft; check-in; and reservations. Advertisement The scores of American Airlines and United were 693 and 675, respectively. United also ranked last in the prior study, although its score has improved by 10 points. Satisfaction with airlines' costs and fees continued to improve. J.D Power said that, while lower fares are a factor in improved customer satisfaction, travelers seem to have also become resigned to paying baggage fees or for ancillary features, such as extra legroom. In-flight services remained the lowest-scoring factor, although those marks have improved. "We see satisfaction rising across all touch points of the passenger experience," Rick Garlick, head of the global travel and hospitality practice at J.D. Power, said in the report. "Airlines are making positive strides by adding value to products and services with newer and cleaner planes, better in-flight services, improving on-time arrivals and bumping fewer passengers from their flights." United spokeswoman Maddie King said the airline is modernizing its airport clubs and terminals, and upgrading its cabins and in-flight services. Among the four discount carriers assessed, JetBlue Airways had the highest ranking for the 11th straight year. Its score was 790, down 11 points. Frontier Airlines had the worst score, 662, among low-cost carriers. Advertisement J.D. Power's North America airline satisfaction study measures contentment of both business and leisure passengers. For the first time in the study's history, satisfaction among business travelers exceeded that of leisure travelers. The study is based on responses from 10,348 passengers who flew on a major North American airline between March 2015 and March 2016. A separate study released last month also showed that United's passengers are increasingly satisfied with its service, though several major rivals are still more highly regarded. Among nine airlines in that study, United ranked sixth, with a score of 68 out of a possible 100, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Report. United's score last year was 60. Other legacy carriers, American and Delta, edged it out with scores of 72 and 71, respectively. Advertisement Scores overall for the airline industry improved, according to the report, whose issuance coincided with Transportation Department figures showing a drop in domestic airfares. JetBlue and Southwest Airlines had the highest scores, at 80. Lowest-scoring was Spirit Airlines, at 62. Scores overall for the airline industry were up 4.3 percent to 72, the report said. A third study, released in April, ranked Virgin America tops among 13 airlines in a review that looks at such criteria as on-time performance, rate of involuntary denied boardings, and mishandled bags. The Airline Quality Rating is a joint project of researchers at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Industry performance improved slightly after a down year in 2014, the rating said. Advertisement United ranked eighth, a one-place improvement. Spirit ranked last. byerak@tribpub.com Twitter @beckyyerak For about a year, nurses at the Svartedalens retirement home have worked six-hour days on an eight-hour salary. They're part of an experiment funded by the Swedish government to see if a shorter workday can increase productivity. The conclusion? It does. As with any cultural shift in the workplace, the six-hour day has to prove itself more than just humane. For any employer, in Sweden or elsewhere (and perhaps especially in the U.S.), an abridged workweek can't damage productivity if it's going to have a chance. A year's worth of data from the project, which compares staff at Svartedalens with a control group at a similar facility, showed that 68 nurses who worked six hour days took half as much sick time as those in the control group. And they were 2.8 times less likely to take any time off in a two-week period, said Bengt Lorentzon, a researcher on the project. "If the nurses are at work more time and are more healthy, this means that the continuity at the residence has increased," Lorentzon said. "That means higher quality [care]." Less surprising was that the nurses were 20 percent happier and had more energy at work and in their spare time. This allowed them to do 64 percent more activities with elderly residents, one of the metrics researchers used to measure productivity. Svartedalens is part of a small but growing movement in Europe. Sweden has dabbled with shorter workdays before: From 1989 to 2005, home-care-services workers in one Swedish municipality had a six-hour work day, but it was abolished due to a lack of data proving its worth. The Svartedalens experiment is designed to avoid that problem: "This trial is very, very clean because it's just one homogenous group of workers," said Lorentzon. In Sweden's private sector, the practice is taking root in places such as Toyota service centers in Gothenburg. In the United Kingdom, a marketing agency adopted a staggered schedule to allow for reduced work hours while ensuring coverage; a survey last month found that six out of 10 bosses in that country agreed that cutting hours would improve productivity. The key result of the Swedish study-that productivity can increase with fewer hours worked-eliminates a major stumbling block to globalizing the shorter work day. "The six-hour work week has not been well accepted in many countries because organizations are worried their productivity might fall," said Pramila Rao, an associate professor of human resource management at Marymount University. Even with encouraging results, it's unlikely that the United States will soon shift to shorter days. Americans work around 38.6 hours per week, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. They get, on average, fewer than eight paid vacation days a year; only about three-quarters of workers get any paid time off at all, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics. "The Swedish model will not be easily accepted in the U.S. because we are a nation of workaholics," said Rao. "In many companies today, you still see that mentality that you have to be in the office," added Carol Sladek, work-life consulting lead at Aon Hewitt. "Reducing the workday is very foreign to our overall values." John Maynard Keynes didn't think so. He famously predicted that technological progress would lead us to shorter weeks and abundant leisure time; a 15 hour workweek should be the norm by 2030, he prognosticated. The prophecy was echoed by Herman Kahn, who in the 1960s said Americans would one day have 13 weeks of vacation and a four-day work week. That's definitely not the reality in 2016 America. The Swedish study isn't the first that made a connection between happier, rested workers and better outcomes for employers. Any link between hours worked and productivity was shown to be weak in a 2014 paper from Stanford University. The research found a "non-linear" relationship between hours worked and output: Results start to slide around the 50-hour-per-week mark. In fact, too much work can damage productivity. People who feel overworked said they make more mistakes at work, according to a study by the Families and Work Institute. While the Svartedalens experiment offers evidence that shorter hours improve productivity, nursing as an occupation may be more analogous to that of medical residents, rather than a desk job. The study equates productivity with quality of care, which doesn't necessarily translate to white-collar work. Then there's the math problem. Cutting worker hours can cost employers money if increased productivity saves less than the cost of hiring additional workers. Svartedalens had to hire an additional 15 nurses, which cost 6,000,000 Swedish krona (about $735,000). About half of that expense was offset by the decrease in sick days and time off. That said, the experiment didn't measure how the improved care affected the overall bottom line. In the U.S., companies have sought to show flexibility by adopting a four-day workweek, albeit with the same total amount of hours. In a sort of workplace sleight-of-hand, the prospect of perpetual long weekends keeps people motivated. "It helps them stay more focused," said Rao. About 30 percent of 1,060 employers surveyed by Aon Hewitt offer a compressed workweek. Almost 60 percent of organizations that were surveyed offer flextime, which allows people to decide what time they arrive and leave. Research has found that workers who have control over their schedules report lower levels of stress, burnout, and higher job satisfaction. "Employees would rather have more time off, but absent that, giving a little control is a good substitute," said Sladek. "We're like toddlers: As long as we have control over our environment, we feel good." Staples and Office Depot said Tuesday they are scrapping their planned $6.3 billion merger after a federal judge blocked the deal, saying the government had made the case that the combination would likely hurt competition in office supplies. The Federal Trade Commission had sought to block the merger of the last two national office-supply chains. It contended the deal would allow the combined company to dictate the price of supplies, especially for corporate customers that buy in bulk. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan said in a ruling Tuesday that the FTC met its legal burden by showing it was likely the Staples-Office Depot merger would "substantially impair competition in the sale and distribution of consumable office supplies to large business-to-business customers." Regulators also succeeded in showing that blocking the deal would be in the public interest, he said. The two companies said they will not appeal Sullivan's ruling. Debbie Feinstein, who heads the competition bureau at the FTC, said the ruling "is great news for business customers." "This deal would eliminate head-to-head competition between Staples and Office Depot, and likely lead to higher prices and lower-quality service for large businesses that buy office supplies," she said in a statement. In December, the FTC rejected an offer from Staples to sell $1.25 billion in contracts in a bid to work around the competition issues. Staples Inc., based in Framingham, Massachusetts, is the largest "big box" office-supply chain. Office Depot Inc., headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, is No. 2. Founded in the late 1980s, they were among a group of chains led by Wal-Mart that opened thousands of supersized stores for shoppers wanting to buy in bulk. But changing shopping patterns, like the demand for price deals and the move toward shopping online, have hurt them. Staples and Office Depot both said they were disappointed by the outcome but are moving on with new business strategies. "We are positioning Staples for the future by reshaping our business, while increasing our focus on mid-market customers in North America and categories beyond office supplies," Staples Chairman and CEO Ron Sargent said in a statement. Roland Smith, Office Depot's chairman and CEO, said "We look forward to re-energizing our business." Following news that the deal was being scuttled, Office Depot's stock tumbled more than 26 percent in after-hours trading. Shares in Staples fell more than 10 percent. Tuesday's ruling came despite a setback for FTC in the court case in March. Sullivan had suggested then at a closed-door hearing that the agency had tried to get a witness Amazon.com Vice President Prentis Wilson to make false statements in his testimony. As an online retailer, Amazon has become a prime competitor to Staples and Office Depot for corporate customers. The FTC had called Wilson to testify in the case. FTC attorney Tara Reinhart said at the time the agency "certainly never asked" Wilson to make false declarations. Associated Press Shissler noted the property's location, which is adjacent to Shorewood Park and equidistant from the Kenilworth and Wilmette Metra stations. He also cited the house's open floor plan and large room sizes, and said the house has a variety of unique details, including the fact that wood from the trees that were removed to make way for the house was used for its solid 2-inch walnut front door and oak mantels above two fireplaces. Maybe it's happened to you. Or maybe one of your friends or colleagues has fallen victim. A pink slip is handed out to a worker age late 50s to early 60s, and there is no job waiting in the wings. Now, the wage earner has several fewer years of earning to build a retirement upon, and several more years of retirement savings to fund. An AARP poll of job seekers conducted in September 2013 found 15 percent of respondents were seeking a new job over the previous 12 months due to employment uncertainties. Another 7 percent said they'd lost a job over the last 12 months. Advertisement "Unemployment rates for the 50-plus tend to be lower than for all groups, but once they're unemployed, the time spent looking for jobs is longer than among other groups," says Michael Herndon, vice president, financial resilience program with AARP in Washington, D.C. "It reached 57 weeks on average during the height of the Great Recession, and is way down now. But it is still higher than for other groups." Sometimes, however, the job loss is essentially permanent. Advertisement If workers do experience a job loss years before typical retirement age and can't find another position, there are comparatively few options other than savings to fund their lives. In an effort to gain cash flow, they may be tempted to draw Social Security at the earliest possible age, 62. They may also start drawing on their retirement plan at age 59-1/2, recognizing at that age the withdrawals are penalty free. "But there is danger in tapping these early," Herndon says. "Your Social Security payment will be lower throughout your retirement years. You will also be pulling funds out of your retirement account and not allowing them to grow." Avoiding unemployment One of the best strategies regarding late-stage unemployment is to avoid it if at all possible. To help ensure you can, take the approach at all times of assuming you are looking for a job while still employed, Herndon says. "People who demonstrate success at finding a job after age 50 are those who have worked at building a network, staying in touch with colleagues past and present, and continuing to build their careers," he says. Such people continue to learn new technology, build on their industry and professional knowledge and gain new certifications. "You should be continually updating your resume and LinkedIn page, and just staying on top of your career, rather than viewing yourself and your career on the downslope," he advises. But do more than simply work on your resume, says Karen Leland, president of Sterling Marketing Group in San Francisco, California, and author of "The Brand Mapping Strategy: Design, Build and Accelerate Your Brand." Leland has found that older workers tend to show a resistance to creating a brand for themselves that is online and searchable. Many want to update their paper resumes and list every job they've had, with all functions they held, which tends to accentuate their age. Advertisement "People are more likely to go to your LinkedIn page these days, or to look at a one-page visual resume," Leland says. "So part of the change is going from a list approach to a narrative approach. Because in a list approach, you're listing everything you've done since high school, as opposed to a narrative bio, which shows the highlights of what you've done, but weaves a story based on facts and truth about your competency and your brand." AARP has plenty of resources online at www.aarp.org. Older workers can find tips about resume writing, online training and creating a LinkedIn profile. AARP offers a new job search engine more customizable for 50-plus workers, alerting them to job opportunities with employers who particularly value older workers. Be proactive If you want to be proactive about avoiding late-career job loss, you must recognize it is a genuine risk. So says Mark Chandik, principal and founder of FDP Wealth Management in Irvine, California, and author of the book "10 Financial Strategies for the Smart Investor: How to Avoid Common Mistakes and Build Lasting Wealth." "Once you acknowledge there's a risk, you need to make a decision as to whether you can do anything about it," he says. "Maximize retirement savings now. Watch your spending, and keep the credit card expenses down. When you're out of work, what kills you is fixed expenses. "You can downshift variable expenditures, but if you are saddled with car payments and credit card debt, you risk bankruptcy. I would look at reducing debt service, and get it down to a minimum. Ask yourself: Do I have a contingency plan for this, and if so what are its components?" Many people who lose jobs and can't find another full-time job work part-time to make sure they still are benefitting from earned income. That will allow them to reduce if not delay the amount of money withdrawn from retirement plans, Chandik says. Advertisement "They also need to do an evaluation of their lifestyles, to see what changes they might need to make to survive on a lower retirement income," he says. "That might necessitate a move from, say, Chicago to perhaps Austin, Texas, where there's no state income tax. Austin is a vibrant city and growing, and has a tax-favored environment." A third notion is to consider financial instruments that guarantee lifetime income, Chandik says. Assuming longevity runs in your family, you may want to look at annuities that transfer their longevity risk to a third party like an insurer, he says. "In this case, you invest part of your retirement savings with an insurance company, which will accept the risk from gains or losses in the market. And in exchange, you will get a lifetime income stream." If you have the option to get trained for a new position, do so, Herndon says. "And if you have time, you might consider volunteering or working part-time in an industry that's growing in your community, as a means of building networks and skills," he adds. You have to think Stewart hated the fact that this played out in the media to chew over and pass judgment and worse, that she had to stoop to issuing that public apology. Whatever her actions off-set, it had nothing to do with who she is as an actor (even if, to many of her fans, it had a lot to do with her image). WASHINGTON While Donald Trump and his court were further trying to explain how they would keep every Muslim away from American borders, an important event occurred across the waters that may change everything. The good people of London in olde England, which is arguably the Western country that has had the most sobering problems with its Muslim population, has thrown care to the winds and elected Sadiq Khan as the first Muslim mayor of a major Western capital city! The handsome new mayor of the city where he was born and raised is a Labour politician and self-proclaimed feminist who supports gay marriage. Of great comfort to many English is that his website is devoted to combating radicalization and extremism in England and "empowering mainstream Muslims." Is it possible that we are beginning to see the end of the first phase of the confrontation between East and West that has been raging for the past quarter century, but especially in the last two years as desperate Muslim refugees have swarmed over Europe? Is it possible that the "moderate Muslims" who have been so difficult to find and whose voices regarding the horrors of ISIS, al-Qaida and all the other terrorists have been so silent might now be heard? The "discussion" over Islam in Europe and the United States the Western, non-Muslim world has until now been so extreme at both ends that it is no wonder Europeans, Americans and other critics could hardly understand it. It has coalesced into two alternatives that both happen to be baldly untrue. One: President Obama's "Islam is a religion of peace." And its critics: "We are at war with Islam, a religion of warfare." If one reads even a few pages of Middle Eastern history, one has to see that Islam is both. Its history reels between great aggressions in its first 600 years, Islam expanded across all of North Africa and some magnificent accomplishments. It ruled Spain in one of the greatest periods in human history, and its universities in Baghdad and Cairo preserved Greek manuscripts when others would destroy them. Today, large factions of Muslims, ISIS and all the others, are in major conflict mode, but certainly not for the first time. The majority of Muslims may not support these killers, but neither do they lend their voices nor their loyalties to the West. Here is where immigration comes in. In London, with its 8.2 million people, one in eight is Muslim and many were born in another country. The fear of immigrants, and not only in England, is the "loss of civilization." And this fear is not without basis. Islam, for whatever its good factors, holds that church and state are one. In almost all Muslim countries, there are no Christian churches and little respect for them. Therefore, out of respect for their own values and virtues, it is simply rational that non-Muslim countries should resist bringing in numbers of people from Muslim cultures who would overrun their own culture. If Sadiq Khan can bring the voice of Islamic moderation to England where, in the north, Pakistani men prostituted 1,400 British girls, and others have attempted to Islamize the schools what a joy that will be. A West with a small and appropriate number of Muslims, probably about 5 percent of the total population, could assimilate them and enjoy their differences without fear. A wise man at the top could accomplish this. Indie rock band YACHT tried to prank its fans, but ended up enraging them. Marketing gimmicks in music are nothing new. Just last week, Radiohead slowly disappeared (then reappeared) on the Internet to promote a surprise album. And speaking of unanticipated releases, Beyonce dropped her chart-busting "Lemonade" on a Saturday night along with an hour-long short film. But deleting one's Facebook page or unexpectedly releasing an album isn't generally called "reprehensible" or "horrific." Advertisement Pretending to be the victim of the unintended publication of a private sex tape, on the other hand, has the potential to deeply offend people. And that's exactly what YACHT did. The Los Angeles-based band consists of Jona Bechtolt and Claire. L Evans, who are also romantically involved. On Monday, the two released what seemed to many like a bold and honest statement on their Facebook page. Advertisement The post announced that "due to a series of technological missteps and one morally abject person, a video that we made privately has been released to the public." It went on to state that the two, who have been "romantic ... partners since 2006 made a sex tape together, which was intended only for private usage. They called its release "a true and humiliating blurring of the public and private" and expressed pain at not having a choice in the video's sharing. Three hours later, the two wrote that they decided to sell the tape. It was out there anyway, so this was a means of controlling the situation. It could be purchased online. RELATED: MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR More than 1,600 people reacted to the post. Kind, empathetic reactions poured in. "To whomever violated you, let us, the people know what we can do to help," wrote one user. "This too shall pass, and we support and love you! You have always held such integrity, you didn't lose any of that integrity today. You were violated and victimized," wrote another. The story circulated, being picked up by outlets as wide-ranging as the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork and Vulture. The pair's Facebook post ended with the words, "We hope you understand that this is not a delicious scandal. This is an exploitation." Many felt that's the only part of the statement that contained any truth, because, as it turns out, the entire post was a complete falsehood. Advertisement On the landing page where users were able to enter credit card information and "purchase" the sex tape is now a note stating that anyone who tried buying the video was not charged. It also contains a link to a real porn website that is hosting an art video (that is in no way pornographic) the two created. "This was not designed to make money or sell records, but to explore the intersection of privacy, media, and celebrity. We enjoy and have spent a decade creating multi-faceted projects that unfold over time, using the most current tools at our disposal," the statement reads. Internet users were furious. "Your fake sex tape fiasco to generate PR for your band completely and totally mocks and undermines efforts to make revenge porn a serious crime, especially given the number of suicides and personal lives that have been ruined over people legitimately doing this," wrote one Facebook user. "This publicity stunt is one of the most disturbing I've seen yet. You are completely undermining the thousands of people have had their lives completely ruined by having a sex tape or nude photos leak. I am completely shocked by the distaste here and I CERTAINLY won't be buying anymore of your music," wrote another. And more piled on, calling it "reprehensible to no end" and "horrifically disturbing." Many media outlets also decried the band. "There are ways to not do a stunt. And this is certainly one," Los Angeles Times music writer Gerrick D. Kennedy opined. "By successfully getting news organizations to give coverage to this hoax, they've lent credence to the very real and persistent assumption that victims of sex crimes are doing it only for the attention," Lizzie Plaugic wrote in Verge. "What Yacht did is troll people's innate sense of horror, disgust and compassion when confronted with a terribly violating crime," Anna Merlan wrote in Jezebel, adding, "This is one of the grossest publicity stunts I've ever seen." Advertisement Even the band's PR company took to Twitter and quickly distanced itself from the hoax. "It's time to state this. We are not involved in the Yacht situation in any way the idea was devised and executed 100% without us." Actual lives have been damaged by both leaked images of celebrities and by "revenge porn," which refers to the act of publishing private sexually explicit photographs or videos of someone as a means of hurting that person. Examples abound. Erin Andrews cried in the courtroom when testifying about being secretly filmed undressing in a Marriott Hotel in Nashville. The videos were disseminated on the Internet. Her father testified that she is now "mad. She's scared. She's terrified. She's depressed. She cries. She's full of anxiety." Following the leak of her personal nude photos, actress Jennifer Lawrence told Vanity Fair, "It is not a scandal. It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It's disgusting." And in Scotland in 2013, a 17-year-old boy committed suicide after being threatened with "revenge porn." Finally, in 2010 18-year-old Tyler Clementi was secretly taped having sex with another man in his Rutgers University dorm room. After the video was streamed to the Internet, Clementi committed suicide. The band, though, doesn't think it crossed a line. The note announcing the whole thing had been a hoax concluded: "There is one dark note we want to address. We never make light of victims of any form of sexual abuse. Frankly, it's disturbing to us that press outlets could make the incredibly irresponsible leap from 'celebrity sex tape,' which is the cultural trope this project explicitly references, to 'revenge porn,' which is unfunny, disgusting, morally repugnant, and completely unrelated." Advertisement RELATED STORIES: How indie band Yacht duped us with their sex tape stunt Moby's 'Porcelain' exceptional and incisive James Hunter says the magic is in what you're thinking Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) A: I was at a party five years ago in Bushwick (Brooklyn), sharing my old-guy New York stories when rents were cheap and crack was everywhere, and I felt a little like Grandpa Simpson, telling these young people these ancient stories. Someone said that I should write them down, and I started writing down New York memories. I wanted each chapter to hold up as a bar-room story, so that even if someone didn't like me or know who I was, they could still find something entertaining. ... There's also something about New York during that time. I went to a screening of a documentary a few years ago about the Lower East Side in the late '80s, early '90s, and everyone who went to the screening was lamenting the gentrification of New York and waxing rhapsodic about that time. What we're really saying is that we're sad that we're old. ... There's a romanticism attached to living in squalor in a dangerous crack neighborhood, but somehow emerging unscathed. It was the first time we'd ever left college and had our own spaces and could congratulate ourselves on being able to get by on $4,000 a year. The network will mark the occasion with an hour-long special on Safer's career Sunday after the regular edition of "60 Minutes." "It's been a wonderful run, but the time has come to say goodbye to all of my friends at CBS and the dozens of people who kept me on the air," Safer said. "But most of all I thank the millions of people who have been loyal to our broadcast." His craggy face and voice deepened by cigarettes are familiar to all who watched television's first and still most popular newsmagazine. Safer is a living link to the show's combustible glory years with founding executive Don Hewitt, correspondent Mike Wallace and humorist Andy Rooney, when "60 Minutes" was often the most-watched show on television. Safer's first report on "60 Minutes" in 1970 was about the training of U.S. Sky Marshals. His 919th and last, a profile of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, was broadcast in March. At 84 and dealing with health issues, Safer had cut back on work in recent years and was seen in a wheelchair at fellow correspondent Bob Simon's funeral last year. Safer interviewed Ruth Madoff in 2011 about her husband's Ponzi scheme, and his 1983 story about Lenell Geter, a Texas man wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison for armed robbery, won Geter's release. A generalist in the show's tradition, Safer was also known for stories about the art world and profiles of Anna Wintour, Jackie Gleason and Katharine Hepburn. "Morley has had a brilliant career as a reporter and as one of the most significant figures in CBS News history, on our broadcast and in many of our lives," said Jeff Fager, the show's executive producer. "Morley's curiosity, his sense of adventure and his superb writing, all made for exceptional work done by a remarkable man." Fager, who was assigned to Safer's team as a young reporter, kept on his office wall a framed remnant of a curtain that was the landing place for a cup of coffee Safer once threw at him. Fortunately, Safer missed. The Toronto-born Safer was the first Saigon bureau chief for CBS News, and his 1965 report on U.S. Marines burning the Vietnamese village of Cam Ne was a turning point in attitudes toward the war. He broadcast a report from inside China when it was still largely a closed society in 1967 and, as a Canadian Broadcast Corp. reporter, witnessed the building of the Berlin Wall in Germany in 1961. He was a London bureau chief for CBS News in the late 1960s before joining "60 Minutes." His departure leaves Steve Kroft and Lesley Stahl as the senior correspondents on the newsmagazine, still a fixture on CBS' schedule Sundays at 7 p.m. ET. Associated Press The black truffles found on Les Pastras in the southern Luberon region of southern France grow near the roots of oak and hazelnut trees and resemble firm clods of dirt. (Les Pastras) A trip to Provence isn't complete without at least one decadent meal featuring truffles. The precious fungus, also known as black gold, can sell for hundreds of dollars a pound, and its distinctive earthy flavor can be found on seasonal menus and in everything from salt to cheese. But where do truffles come from exactly? Advertisement Former Chicagoans Johann and Lisa Pepin are willing to show you if you visit their farm in the Luberon region of southern France. There, the Franco-American couple offer English-speaking visitors a unique truffle-hunting experience. The Pepins' farm, Les Pastras, is in Cadenet, France, off a narrow, winding road, about 35 minutes north of Aix-en-Provence. The truffle hunts priced around $69 to $80 (60 to 70 euro) for adults, $46 to $57 for children take place in late afternoon during the summer and winter truffle seasons, roughly May through September and mid-November to mid-March. Advertisement These subterranean treats play very hard to get, and hunting them is a highly technical, secretive business, featuring midnight poachers, sabotage and revenge attacks, to hear Johann Pepin tell it. As long as you inquire in English, the Pepins are willing to show you how they find and farm truffles on the land the family has owned for more than four decades. Johann Pepin starts the tour with an entertaining overview and history of the amorphous morsels. He describes how truffles grow naturally, near the roots of oak and hazelnut trees. Having truffles on one's land is a closely guarded secret, according to Pepin, one that even friendly neighbors don't admit to each other. (So please don't tell the locals.) Black truffles grow naturally and are farmed on Les Pastras in the Luberon region of southern France. A marbled interior and firm texture is the mark of a fresh winter black truffle. (Les Pastras) When Johann found truffles growing naturally near oak trees on the farm in 2008, he began planting oak saplings, whose roots are inoculated with spores to boost the chances of producing future tubers. It takes five to 10 years for those trees to produce, and many of them never will. Truffles are fussy little buggers, demanding the precise combination of sun, soil composition, drainage, moisture and temperature. Johann expects the success rate of the trees he plants to hover around 25 percent. Still, he plants and hopes. Visitors learn why pigs originally were used to find truffles (the tubers smell like pig pheromones) and how to detect the presence of truffles (the chemicals they emit kill the grass above). Experienced human truffle hunters can even observe the behavior of a certain fly to lead them to the prize. Way more dependable are the Pepins' two dogs, Mirabelle and Eclair. The pups have been trained to smell the truffles hiding a few inches below the surface. They roam the grounds with their handler, Jean-Marc Hennequin, and dig wherever they smell a truffle. If they're right, the dogs are rewarded with a tasty morsel of ham and the Pepins are rewarded with a highly prized nugget, which they sell to restaurants and clients. Johann Pepin also farms olive trees on Les Pastras. The truffle hunt includes a tour of the farm's other organic crops, such as grapes, berries, and fruit and nut trees. (Les Pastras) The market price for truffles fluctuates wildly. Winter tubers can fetch north of $1,000 a kilo, and summer truffles are currently going for around $225 per kilo. Advertisement The dogs worked fast the day we were there, finding several truffles of various sizes. Johann let the guests hold and smell the unearthed treasures. The winter truffles we saw resembled firm clods of dirt and emitted the telltale musky perfume. When the dogs have done their job, they leave with Hennequin, and the guests move on for a tour of the rest of the farm. Knowledgeable and passionate about his olive trees, grape vines, bees, berries and trees, Pepin has been expanding his organic farming operations steadily over the past few years. The couple offer other Provencal experiences, like an olive harvest in early November and a grape stomp in September. For $68 a person, you can learn to harvest grapes in the traditional way and then climb barefoot into a large tub and stomp to the music of Edith Piaf. (Lisa Pepin has been known to dress like Lucille Ball and join in the fun.) At the end of the two-hour truffle hunt and tour, guests adjourn to the poolside patio, where Lisa serves truffles harvested the night before. We were given thinly sliced truffles on buttered bread, truffles on salted cheese, truffles on creamy cheese and truffle ice cream. The Champagne flows freely, and so does the conversation. After the truffle hunt is over, visitors adjourn to the patio to sample freshly sliced truffles such as these atop cheese. Truffles lose their freshness within days, which adds to their value and price. (Jane Hirt / Chicago Tribune) The Pepins met in Wisconsin; she's from the Milwaukee suburb of Hartland. The couple lived in Chicago from 1999 until 2003, when they moved back to France to take over the family farm. Before farming full time, Johann worked in hedge funds, and Lisa, born Lisa Westoby, was in public relations. The couple's Midwestern warmth and passion for what they do make a unique experience a superlative one. Advertisement If you like to know where your food comes from, this is a tremendous opportunity not to be missed. Tours can be booked at www.lespastras.com. Jane Hirt is a freelance writer. Truffle talk Black vs. white truffles: In the south of France, both winter and summer truffles are black truffles though different species and look the same on the outside. On the inside, winter black truffles (Tuber melanosporum) are black with white marbling; summer black truffles (Tuber aestivum) have pale beige to darker brown interiors. True white truffles grow only in Italy, according to the Pepins. Truffles to go: Truffles lose their freshness within days, so Lisa Pepin makes a truffle salt that guests can buy and take home as a tasty souvenir. The farm is registered with the FDA and can ship products, including fresh truffles, to the U.S.; www.lespastras.com. Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Seeing Alaska's big wonders by small boat Trips and tips, from solar eclipse viewing to pricey national parks trek New museum in Kansas honors unsung heroes You might still be trying to figure out where to travel this year, so thoughts of 2017 vacations probably haven't entered your mind. But it's never too early to plan ahead, especially if you're interested in seeing an eclipse of the sun. A total eclipse will take place Aug. 21 next year, and there are a variety of U.S. locations good for viewing. Adventure travel group Explore! has seven trips scheduled ranging from nine to 16 days that include eclipse viewing as one day of the itinerary. Some take in the sight from Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming and will be accompanied by an astronomer. The Western USA Highlights Eclipse package, for example, will start in Bozeman, Mont., and spend a few days in Yellowstone National Park before moving on to Grand Teton for hiking and watching the eclipse. Post-eclipse highlights include Salt Lake City; Bryce Canyon, Zion and Grand Canyon national parks; Monument Valley; and Las Vegas. The trip is priced from $4,430 per person, double occupancy. Get info on all seven tours at tinyurl.com/hu43zc9. Parking it in high style Advertisement Privel is a new luxury tour company from Xanterra Parks & Resorts, which runs lodgings in many national parks and is linked to myriad tour operators like Austin Adventures, VBT biking and walking tours, Holiday Vacations, Country Walkers and CW Safaris. The Majestic American West: Park to Park Journey is Privel's debut offering and it's definitely aimed at high rollers. Participants in the 12-day "private journey" will visit Death Valley, Yosemite, Crater Lake, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Zion and Grand Canyon national parks, and park-to-park transportation is primarily by private jet. Other transport will include private hot-air balloons, a vintage rail car pulled by a steam engine and a helicopter. It's limited to eight people and costs $49,000 a person. Info: 866-437-1342, www.privelexperiences.com What's new, from amusement parks to zoos Advertisement Theme park fans like to keep tabs on the latest and greatest roller coasters and other attractions. That job's easier thanks to the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions, which each year puts out a list of what's new at theme parks, water parks, zoos, aquariums, museums and science centers in the U.S. and Canada. At Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., for example, The New Revolution roller coaster has 3,457 feet of track and includes a 90-foot-high loop and speeds of up to 55 mph. For water park aficionados, Six Flags White Water near Marietta, Ga., has a new 60-foot-high water slide called the Wahoo Racer that has riders reaching speeds of up to 40 feet a second (about 27 mph). If you're an animal lover, the St. Louis Zoo has a new Tasmanian devil exhibition in its children's zoo to show off two of the animals that are considered an endangered species. Find the listing of new attractions at tinyurl.com/h3p7xnz. Phil Marty is a freelance writer. RELATED STORIES: New museum in Kansas honors unsung heroes Photos: Museums that will blow your mind 12 travel tidbits, from family fun in Colonial Williamsburg to Colorado rodeo "That is what the Clinton campaign has always been about," he said. "It runs the risk of being exactly what their opponents accuse them of being: a campaign that appears to be populist but is a smoke screen that is paid and brought to you by lifetime political operatives and high-level consultants." One of the keys to a successful tourism industry is building an experience that creates lasting memories, a travel industry expert said. Joe Veneto, "The Opportunity Guy," shared tips May 4 with a crowd of about 300 during the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority's annual Tourism Week luncheon at the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond on making Northwest Indiana, it's attractions, amenities and businesses, a buzz-worthy destination for visitors from around the region and beyond. Advertisement "In fact in today's tourism environment, you won't be successful unless you engineer an unforgettable experience," Veneto said. Consumers are no longer satisfied with a show and tell approach to tourism and what a region has to offer. Consumers now want to have experiences that create lasting memories. Advertisement "Today's consumers are driving the trend of experience," Veneto said. Those memorable experiences become social commercials for a business or destination as consumers recount their unique experience to family and friends and share photos and comments via social media. "We need to create a lasting impact on a visitor's emotional bank accounts," Veneto said. By filling those bank accounts with memorable experiences you are creating a buzz about your business or attraction and the region as a whole. Making an experience memorable could be as simple as providing superior customer service from a staff that is invested in your brand. Veneto said making that connection with a visitor is an important first step to reaching the goal of having that person remember their experience, recount and refer it to friends, and return themselves. "If you can create the connection, it's easy for people to relate," Veneto said. Francisco Rosado, director of public transit for East Chicago, was among the tourism industry and city officials and workers who attended the luncheon. He said Veneto's remarks could be used in the city. "Right now the city of East Chicago is moving. We are trying to create some destination points," Rosado said. He said the tips could help the city in creating destination points that continue to draw people back. Speros Batistatos, president and CEO of the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority, lauded cities such as East Chicago, Whiting and Crown Point who have been investing in their communities' with an eye to tourism. Advertisement "All of you in this room, you are the smart ones. You get it," Batistatos said. Christine Cash, general manager at the Ramada Conference Center in Hammond, said she plans to incorporate the information and that from a corresponding seminar into the package trips she arranges for the hotel. "I can't wait until (the seminar) tomorrow," Cash said, adding she would be looking for suggestions on how to implement experiential travel with the packages she now offers. "You don't want to reinvent the wheel if somebody has already had success with something," Cash said. Carrie Napoleon is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. JORDAN Doug Russell was quick to point out that Lions as in, Lions International, the world's largest service club organization stands for Loving Individuals Offering Needed Services. Russell, a past governor of Lions District 20-Y1 and member of the Lions Club of Syracuse, and Gwen Corser, a member of the Jordan-Elbridge Lions Club, put that slogan into practice Monday morning for a half dozen children and their teacher from the Jordan-Elbridge Head Start program. Through Lions International's Screening Eyes Early program that aims to detect sight problems in children before it is too late and while they can be corrected by a medical professional, Russell worked the special camera on children's eyes while Corser kept track of the paperwork during the brief visit at Christ Episcopal Church in Jordan, where Head Start is based. "It's an international program, but it's huge in the United States," Russell said of SEE. He said the local district is among the first to get a new state-of-the-art camera that screens children's eyes in a matter of a few seconds and tells the screener whether to refer the child for a complete eye examination. With the lights turned off in a completely dark room, the operator turns on the camera, focuses on the child's eyes and tells the child to look at the colored lights coming out of the device. Seconds later, the camera signals it is done with the screening and prints out a report of the test. "These are the Jetsons compared to anything else," Russell said, noting the expedience makes the screening conducive to young children who do not sit still long. "We're able to get the screening done, and school nurses absolutely love us because of that." And adults love the free SEE screenings for another reason, he noted. In the past, two children in New York state were found to have eye cancer because of the screenings done in preschools and public schools. One child did end up losing an eye and wearing a glass eye as a result of the disease, Russell said, but both children are now healthy and cancer-free because the screening caught the problem early. "Kids can't tell you something is wrong, so their lives are saved (by the screening)," he said, noting a range of benefits of the program. "They may may not have to wear corrective lenses for life if you catch it early enough." Russell said the screening is a simple pass or fail, and while SEE is meant to focus on preschoolers and kindergartners, other children can be screened as well if a school requests a wider screening. As well as working the Jordan-Elbridge Lions Club to screen youngsters in its community, Russell said he performs more than 180 screenings a year throughout the city of Syracuse. "Some of the schools ask us to do everyone because they want to make sure nothing is wrong with the kids," he said. "We want all of the schools to be aware of it, and it comes at no cost." If a child is need of an eye exam and his parents cannot afford one but do not qualify for Medicaid, Russell said local Lions Clubs can help cover the cost of the appointment. And if a child breaks his glasses and cannot get another pair right away, the Lions can help with that, too. And, sometimes, the Lions provide assistance in other ways when they are doing screenings. Russell said he was doing a screening in Syracuse in December when he noticed children who did not have any socks on. He learned they are refugee children who do not have much in the way of clothing, so he organized the donation of pairs of socks to the school. But, he learned the children also need underwear and is now organizing another donation to the school. "We want to help children as much as we possibly can," Russell said. Blaine Elementary School Principal Troy LaRaviere, seen outside the Lakeview school in May 2014, was placed on "inactive duty" by the Chicago Board of Education on April 20, 2016. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune) Troy LaRaviere, an outspoken critic of Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the ousted principal of a Lakeview elementary school, faced a private hearing Wednesday to determine if he could formally be suspended without pay from his post at Chicago Public Schools. A school district spokeswoman said a hearing officer had not issued a recommendation on the case, a process that can take several days. Advertisement LaRaviere did not comment on the suspension hearing, which occurred behind closed doors with schools officials, but instead planned to hold a news conference to discuss the case Thursday. LaRaviere also said his attorney would not comment prior to the news conference. LaRaviere is due for an additional hearing on his dismissal with the Illinois State Board of Education. Advertisement Since last month, LaRaviere has been barred from Blaine Elementary and re-assigned to his home while he continues to draw his pay and benefits. LaRaviere, a frequent blogger, has not commented on or publicized the specific dismissal charges CPS levied against him. He did, however, say in a recent post that district security officers halted a meeting of principals on the day of his ouster because they mistakenly thought the meeting concerned a controversial school maintenance contract. LaRaviere also speculated CPS monitored his district email account and saw that he had arranged to meet with an "insider" who had information on district contracts with the Aramark and SodexoMAGIC firms for cleaning schools. That meeting was set for the same day as a gathering of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association at Stevenson Elementary School on the Southwest Side. LaRaviere is running for president of the organization. In his blog post, he said that two senior CPS officials signed nominating petitions for his opponent's campaign. His dismissal ignited a social media uproar and drew rebukes from elected officials including Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. > Emanuel's office and CPS have said the mayor had nothing to do with LaRaviere's removal. LaRaviere's role in a campaign ad for Sanders was being investigated by the CPS inspector general as a possible violation of the district's policies on political activity. LaRaviere excoriated Emanuel in the 30-second commercial that debuted in March, saying Chicago has "endured a corrupt political system." "And the chief politician standing in the way of us getting good schools is our mayor," LaRaviere said in the ad. Advertisement LaRaviere was reprimanded by the district last year after an inspector general probe found he violated CPS' ethical code barring "improper political activity" in his work in support of Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia's bid to unseat Emanuel. LaRaviere was not named in the publicly released summary of the investigation, but sources confirmed the allegations were directed at him. The school board last year issued a "warning resolution" to LaRaviere for his vocal opposition to a controversial standardized test and "insubordination" for a confrontation with a board member. jjperez@tribpub.com Twitter @PerezJr Illinois Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, listens as lawmakers debate while on the Senate floor during session at the Illinois State Capitol Wednesday, May 4, 2016, in Springfield, Ill. (Seth Perlman / AP) SPRINGFIELD Democrats in the Senate pushed through legislation Tuesday that would change how the state divvies up dollars among local school districts, a move Republicans blasted as a bailout for cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools even as the proposal faces an uncertain future in the House. Sponsored by Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, the measure is the latest in a decadeslong attempt to rewrite the state's school aid formula amid complaints that poorer districts unable to rely on property tax revenue to pad classroom funding are falling further behind their wealthier counterparts flush with property tax dollars. Advertisement But efforts to overhaul the system have had numerous starts and stops. There's a limited amount of money to go around, and relatively well-off districts don't want their share of state funding cut as lawmakers try to boost aid for poorer schools. That dynamic was on display Tuesday, when the legislation passed 31-21 along partisan lines. Manar and fellow Democrats argued a change would bring about parity for schools across the state, while suburban lawmakers decried it as an effort to shift funds away from their schools to the benefit of Chicago. Advertisement They pointed to a provision in the bill that would pick up more than $200 million a year in teacher pension costs for CPS, as well as hundreds of millions more set aside to help the district pay for transportation for special education students, early childhood education programs and private tuition. "CPS is burning to the ground. It's in dire straits. And I recognize that somehow, some way, the state's going to need to be involved in helping keep Chicago alive. I get that. But this is not honest. This is not the right way to do this," said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine. "If you are a suburbanite, they are coming after you." Republicans have instead pushed Gov. Bruce Rauner's plan to pump another $55 million into education spending this year and sort out the funding formula later, a move Manar said would only exacerbate the situation. "What we do know today is that the system the governor has proposed is $55 million that earns a whole bunch of school districts less money," Manar said. "That's what we have to measure this bill against, a system that spends more with outcomes that aren't as good." Rauner has accused Democrats of embracing the school funding formula issue as a way to prevent schools from opening on time amid the continuing budget stalemate that's left Illinois without a complete budget for the last 11 months. Rauner vetoed most of the spending plan Democrats sent him, save for the portion that ensured schools opened in the fall even though Republican lawmakers voted against the measure at his direction. That has frustrated Democrats, who see Rauner taking credit for funding schools even though it was Democrats who sent him the bill. On Tuesday, Manar balked at the suggestion that he would hold up dollars for schools in exchange for his proposal, saying, "I don't presume I have the authority to." "I don't think anybody wants to see that," Manar said. "That would inject more uncertainty into the system. That would amplify the challenges that the poorest districts face today." In a statement, Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool said the Senate vote was "an important step forward" for school districts populated with predominantly low-income and minority students."Too many districts including Chicago are struggling under the weight of Illinois' last-in-the-nation approach to educating students in poverty," Claypool said. Advertisement But there are doubts the bill will even be called for a vote in the House, where Democrats have a slimmer majority and are less willing to embrace controversial legislation that could see some of their schools lose out on dollars. Lawmakers there have been holding their own hearings on a potential change to the funding formula, though specific legislation has yet to emerge. "There's still a lot more discussion we need on (elementary and secondary education) than where we are at right now," said Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, who chairs the education appropriation committee. "Whether or not the leaders, as we would call them, have an interest in holding off on (grade and high school funding). I'm not necessarily encouraging that, but what I am encouraging here is an opportunity to really take a look at what we want to do with (that) funding, moving forward, in a substantial way." Chicago Tribune's Juan Perez Jr. contributed. mcgarcia@tribpub.com cbott@tribpub.com RIO DE JANEIRO When a measure to impeach Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was introduced to Congress late last year, the possibility that she would actually be removed from office seemed remote. The charges against her were obscure, not the variety that spurs outrage: She is alleged to have broken fiscal rules in her handling of the federal budget to hide deficits and bolster an embattled government. The allegations also came with a good dose of irony: Her main opponents in Congress are accused of crimes much worse. Advertisement Yet, what started as a long shot bid has gained momentum and, as the Senate prepares to vote Wednesday on whether to put her on trial, many analysts consider Rousseff's ouster all but a foregone conclusion. "Dilma will be impeached for a variety of reasons," said Marcos Troyjo, a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. "And the possibility of her coming back is zero." Advertisement If a simple majority of the Senate's 81 members vote to take up the impeachment measure, Rousseff will be suspended from office while a trial is conducted within the next 180 days. In the interim, Vice President Michel Temer will take over. A conviction, requiring a two-thirds vote, would remove her permanently. Brazilian newspapers' polling of senators has found that around 50, many more than necessary, plan to vote for a trial. But it's not clear that all of those would also vote to convict her. A tally by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo suggests that so far only 41 senators are willing to remove Rousseff from office permanently 13 short of the number needed. The expected Senate action comes after the lower Chamber of Deputies voted 367-137 last month in favor of impeachment, an anti-Rousseff verdict so resounding that many Brazilians believe it will influence the Senate, where she has traditionally been seen to have more allies. Rousseff has repeatedly called the impeachment drive a "coup" because she has not been charged with a crime. She argues that previous presidents used similar accounting practices. Despite being the legal basis for the case against her, however, impeachment has turned into a referendum on Rousseff's leadership. Brazil is beset by a bevy of corruption scandals connected to her Worker's Party and is struggling with its worst recession since the 1930s. The president also is criticized for an inability to negotiate with other politicians in a country where personal relationships are paramount. Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla group member who became an establishment insider, rode the coattails of her once wildly popular mentor and predecessor as president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to win the presidency in 2010. Things were fine as the region's largest economy roared, and in 2014 she was re-elected with 51 percent of the vote. But at the same time that prices for commodities that are the lifeblood of Brazil's emerging economy started tumbling, investigators began uncovering a multibillion-dollar kickback scheme at Petrobras, the state oil company. Worst of all for Rousseff, many of the people implicated are top officials in her party. The continuing probe has led to the conviction of dozens of the country's elite, from politicians to the former president of Obredecht, a major construction firm. While Rousseff hasn't been accused of wrongdoing, many Brazilians hold her accountable because much of the alleged corruption happened during her administrations and those of Silva. The popularity of both has plunged. Advertisement Rousseff was chief of staff during Silva's second term and before that she was minister of mines and energy, positions where she was in a position to know about the widespread graft at Petrobras, her critics say. "The people involved abused and took advantage of the opportunity to steal money in an absurd way," said Tiago Gomes da Silva, a 33-year-old standing in line at an unemployment office in Rio de Janeiro. "This had to come to an end. And the actual government is directly linked to this." As details of the corruption have emerged the last two years, the economy has continued downward. Gross domestic product is expected to contract 3.6 percent this year after an equally bad 2015. Both inflation and unemployment are around 10 percent and announcements of closures, from local factories to multinational chains like Wal-Mart, have become commonplace. "The problem in Brazil was the inflation," Carlos Antonio Porto Goncalves, economics professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, said of Rousseff's first years as president. "And the government, to fight inflation, raised interest rates to extremely high levels so demand decreased, and the recession came." Mixed into it all has been Rousseff's inability to work with others. She is known for bluntness, and she doesn't have the charisma or back-slapping chumminess that analysts say is often necessary to build consensus and make deals. "She is a woman with a knife in her boot," said Alexandre Barros, a political consultant in Brasilia, using a popular phrase in Portuguese to describe tough women. "But she is not a politician." Advertisement Associated Press TAUNTON, Mass. Two bystanders and an off-duty deputy sheriff were hailed as heroes Wednesday for intervening when a mentally disturbed man went on a stabbing rampage at a home and a mall hours after leaving a hospital, killing two people and injuring at least five others. Arthur DaRosa's 4-mile trail of destruction, authorities say, included entering a random home where he stabbed two people eating dinner, several attempted carjackings, driving a car into a Macy's, beating several people inside the department store and then stabbing two people in a restaurant. He was shot and killed by a deputy sheriff when he refused to drop a knife inside the Bertucci's restaurant, the Bristol County prosecutor said. Advertisement District Attorney Thomas Quinn III gave this account: DaRosa's rampage began Tuesday evening, when he suddenly left his daughter's soccer practice in Taunton, 40 miles south of Boston, in a Honda Accord owned by her mother and struck a pickup truck. Advertisement DaRosa then tried unsuccessfully to get into several houses before entering a home where Patricia Slavin, 80, and her daughter, Kathleen Slavin, 58, were eating dinner. DaRosa stabbed the women, whom he didn't know, and then ran from the house. Patricia Slavin died of multiple stab wounds. Her daughter was hospitalized in the intensive-care unit. DaRosa tried to carjack multiple people driving or stopped nearby but finally got back into the Honda, drove to the Silver City Galleria Mall a few miles away and crashed into the front entrance of Macy's. Inside the store, he assaulted at least three women. One remained hospitalized Wednesday. A Macy's employee intervened and tried to stop DaRosa, but he left and walked to the Bertucci's, where he grabbed a knife and stabbed a waitress, Sheenah Savoy, multiple times. George Heath, a visual design teacher at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, was at the bar at Bertucci's with his wife, Rosemary Heath. She said they had just ordered a drink when they heard a scream and saw DaRosa stabbing a young woman. "He had the back of her shirt and kept stabbing her, and by the time she got to me, she was screaming, 'Help me! Help me! Help Me!'" she told WCVB-TV. Rosemary Heath said she pushed the woman out of the way and grabbed the back of DaRosa's shirt. "My husband was struggling with him to get the knife away," she said. "I think he went down low on him to get him around the elbows so he couldn't raise his arm up, and then he pulled his arm back and then stabbed my husband in the head." Advertisement George Heath, 56, later died. Savoy, 26, remained hospitalized in serious condition Wednesday. Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. called Heath "certainly a hero." "He stepped up," Hoye said. "He prevented a tragic situation from getting worse." Rosemary Heath said Plymouth County Deputy Sheriff James Creed, who was off-duty and at Bertucci's eating dinner, repeatedly ordered DaRosa to drop the knife. Quinn said that when DaRosa refused Creed fired one shot at his abdomen, killing him and preventing "further carnage." Quinn said DaRosa, who was 28 and had two young daughters, had checked himself in to Morton Hospital on Monday after his sister observed him behaving erratically, was released Tuesday and went on the rampage hours later. Advertisement "This appears to be an irrational series of actions," Quinn said. "It's beyond comprehension what the man did." DaRosa's family said he didn't have a diagnosis and wasn't on medication but had been battling mental illness in recent months and suffered a breakdown. "He just snapped," aunt Liz DaRosa said. She said the killings could have been prevented had the hospital kept him longer rather than discharging him. She apologized to the families of the victims, saying, "We can't understand it, never mind what they're going through." Morton Hospital declined to comment on what type of treatment Arthur DaRosa received, citing patient privacy laws. Associated Press The case that Truman erred is familiar. Critics say Japan would have surrendered soon anyway, that the entry of the Soviet Union into the war was the real reason for its capitulation, and that Truman was acting as much to block Josef Stalin from a postwar role in East Asia. Burra Foods sells out 79 per cent to Chinese company Australian dairy ingredient processor, Burra Foods, has sold a 79 per cent stake in its business to Chinese dairy farming company Inner Mongolia Fuyuan Farming Company (Fuyuan). Existing shareholders, including founder and Chief Executive Officer Grant Crothers, retain the remaining share of the business. Burra Foods said it agreed to the restructure to help improve market access and to raise capital to fund the expansion of its dairy processing facility in Victoria. The new shareholder structure will provide Burra Foods with vastly improved access to new high value milk and nutritional powder markets, facilitating low risk growth up the value chain, and access to additional capital, said CEO and managing Director of Burra Foods, Grant Crothers. We have always been about maximising value from the milk solids we collect and process and have taken a very cautious approach to China, appreciating the significant risks that come with the increasing opportunities available, he said. There are only winners in this deal as the new structure enhances the future for our loyal milk supply partners, provides ongoing employment for our dedicated staff, while ensuring increased and stable supply to our existing customers whether they are located in Australia, Japan, China or other parts of the world, he stated. Burra said the restructure is not designed to impact business operations and the company is committed to honouring all customer supply agreements and continuing to supply milk to its partners. We are nothing without our supply partners and customers and are now in an even stronger position to meet their current and future needs with a solid business model that improves access to markets, technology and capital, Mr Crothers said. Over the 25 years of growing Burra Foods from a very modest base, we have worked hard to live by our values, one of which is nobody is smarter than the market where we respond to the markets needs. This injection of capital provides us the scope to meet the ongoing market demand for premium dairy based ingredient products, including nutritional milk powders, and move up the value chain while minimising the risks associated with penetrating volatile international markets with high value products. The takeover is subject to approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board. PR image of Budweiser beer cans, one with the proposed "America" on it. The company wants to replace "Budweiser," the name of the beer, with the word "America." (Anheuser-Busch handout photo) From a campaign season already close to blasting beyond parody comes another twist, courtesy of the nation's biggest brewer: Anheuser Busch-InBev announced Tuesday that it would rebrand its 12-ounce bottles and cans of Budweiser as "America" through the November election. "We thought nothing was more iconic than Budweiser and nothing was more iconic than America," the creative director behind the rebranding told Fast Co Design, which broke the news. Advertisement Yes, it's hard to argue with the iconic nature of Bud, the country's best-selling non-light-beer brand and one of the top sellers on Earth. Harder still to argue with the stature of the U.S. of A. And, frankly, from a marketing standpoint, it's freakishly brilliant, however shameless: Who wouldn't want a refreshing gulp of America during the sweltering summer months? Peel back the label a bit, though, and one discovers the whole thing tastes a bit thin. Why? Because Budweiser is about as American these days as a successful Green Party or ample paid maternity leave. So many other, smaller and when it comes to flavor, better beers scream "America" so much more loudly. Advertisement The maker of Bud, of course, is no longer an American company. Early this century, major shareholders in what was then Anheuser-Busch began pressing the ruling Busch family to sell the firm, the roots of which stretched to the 1860s. Its stock wasn't doing well, and the world's bigger breweries were consolidating. South African Breweries took over Miller in 2002, then SABMiller and Molson Coors merged their U.S. operations in a joint venture. In 2004, Belgium's Interbrew merged with Brazil's AmBev to become InBev, maker of brands such as Beck's and Stella Artois. August Anheuser Busch IV declared in an April 2008 speech to distributors that the brewery his great-great-grandfather had founded would never be sold "on my watch." That didn't last. Shareholders such as Barclays and Berkshire Hathaway proved a little stronger than clannish pride, and in July 2008, the Busch family nodded to the inevitable: An all-cash deal valued at nearly $52 billion rendered Anheuser-Busch a wholly owned subsidiary of InBev. While the conglomerate's North American headquarters remained in AB's longtime St. Louis home, the shots from then on have been called from InBev's headquarters in Leuven, Belgium. Anheuser-Busch InBev still operates a dozen breweries in the United States, as well as hubs that feed into commercial brewing, including a glass-manufacturing plant and hop farms. The company employs thousands of Americans, who produce brands such as Budweiser that have been phenomenally popular since at least the early 1970s, when AB accounted for nearly one-fourth of all domestic beer sales. Today, AB InBev accounts for nearly half. Nevertheless, of all the bibulous candidates to claim some kind of uber-patriotic mantle as the nation gropes for its next leader, AB-InBev is the least convincing. Not because it's foreign-controlled lots of firms operating in the U.S. market are. What really disqualifies AB-InBev is the relentless mass production of its beers, that flagship Budweiser in particular. Watery, soda-pop fizzy and ruthlessly inoffensive, if not slightly alkaline, in flavor, the beer tastes the same wherever it's made and however far it's shipped. An engineering marvel, no doubt, but not the way nature intended beer to be made and served. Beer was once an intensely local thing in the United States, with thousands of breweries dotting the landscape. Cities such as St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston and New York each boasted dozens by the early 1900s. Where beer came from mattered and idiosyncratic styles abounded. Two realities spawned such a local focus. First, the influx of German immigrants throughout the middle and late 19th century (including Donald Trump's paternal grandfather) created a demand for beer in a nation best known, libation-wise, for whiskey. Second, beer tastes best fresh, and shipping it all that far just wasn't an option before innovations such as the aluminum can, refrigeration and the Interstate Highway System, never mind the rise of preservatives now used by macro-producers. America lost this local focus on freshly made, distinct beer beginning with Prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s. The picture became that much fuzzier after repeal, which launched an arms race between the biggest surviving breweries, including Anheuser-Busch. By the 1970s, it and four other breweries produced nearly half of the nation's beer. Analysts were predicting only one or two American brewers would remain by 2000. That, of course, did not happen. Right around the time AB and its nearest competitors were starting to carve up the national beer market like a game of Risk, much smaller operations (call them craft or micro) started arising first in California, then in Colorado, then New York State, then everywhere. Advertisement Some of this was due to a sharp per-barrel excise tax cut in 1976, some due to the legalization of homebrewing two years later. A lot of it also appeared due to pockets of Americans simply getting fed up with the tepid fizz AB and its rivals were cranking out. Many a homebrewer has turned pro since the 1970s. Today, there are more breweries in the United States than ever before more than 4,100 making a kaleidoscope of styles and style iterations. The vast majority brew fewer than 6 million barrels annually (a barrel equals about two full-size kegs). That means that even larger micro or craft breweries such as Yuengling and the Boston Beer Co., which makes Sam Adams, produce far less each year than the tens of millions of barrels AB-InBev produces just for selling in the United States. Many brew only for their surrounding regional markets, a return to the local focus AB-InBev did so much to dismantle (which it is still doing, with a recent spate of craft-brewery acquisitions and subsequent expansions of those brands' reach). All brew using more traditional ingredients and techniques. More often than not, the resultant beers are bold, distinct and strong. In other words: American. Washington Post Advertisement Tom Acitelli is the author of "The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution" and, most recently, "American Wine: A Coming-of-Age Story." The CSO (that's our Chicago Symphony Orchestra) is ceasing its brilliant Beyond the Score series, and that's a shame. Personally, I'm not all that smart, so when something like this is taken away, it only exacerbates my dumbining. (See? Right there. "Dumbining" isn't a word.) Beyond the Score is an exploration of an orchestral work and its composer. It is the brainchild of Gerard McBurney, who, along with the CSO, uses the city's pool of actors, dancers, folk musicians and video artists and outsiders including cellist Yo-Yo Ma and architect Frank Gehry to bring to life what was going on in the composer's life and the world at the time of the work's creation. It takes works that some consider museum pieces and makes them relevant. No easy task. Advertisement Gerard McBurney, CSO creative director of Beyond the Score presentation, on stage at Orchestra Hall in Chicago on Nov. 10, 2014. Frank Gehry provided scenic design for the production of "A Pierre Dream: A Portrait of Pierre Boulez." (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune) Now, I know what you're saying: "Joe, who cares?" Well, I think we all should. "But Joe," you say, "I've never attended the series, much less attended a symphony performance!" OK. Stop whining. Let me explain. We are all beings of culture. Where we choose to plug in to the cultural landscape in a thriving cultural city like Chicago is about personal taste, but it doesn't dismiss those experiences in which one does not participate. It can't all be disconnected; it's a single living thing. That's how the artists see it too. Warren Zevon was influenced by his neighbor, Igor Stravinsky, and vice versa. "Star Wars" Schumann. Nas (rapper) Beethoven. That's just how it is. Advertisement So, when an engaging, informative and approachable series like Beyond the Score is discarded, it lowers the water level in the entire pool. "But Joe, that's an incremental loss. Who cares?" Again, I think we all should, or at the very least question the lowering, question the removal. Done enough times, Chicago will end up with a wading pool, which is no way to take a cultural dip. Joe Fournier is an illustrator and cartoonist who lives in Oak Park. Budweiser is renaming its beer "America" to capitalize on three things central to American life: politics, sporting events and holiday weekends. (Anheuser-Busch) In case you missed it, the makers of Budweiser are changing the name of America's greatest beer to "America." I'm serious. Starting this summer, cans and bottles of Budweiser will display the word America in place of the suspiciously non-American word "Budweiser." Advertisement It's the single greatest thing to happen since God discovered America (the country, not the beer) and declared it the No. 1 nation on Earth for all eternity. As you can see from the byline, I'm celebrating Budweiser's bold naming decision by rebranding myself "Freedom Huppke," the most all-American newspaper columnist ever to walk this grand red, white and blue land we call America (again, the country, not the beer). Advertisement Explaining the company's decision to change the name of its signature product until after the presidential election in November, Budweiser Vice President Ricardo Marques told The Associated Press: "Budweiser has always strived to embody America in a bottle, and we're honored to salute this great nation where our beer has been passionately brewed for the past 140 years." Marques, a Portuguese native speaking on behalf of a beer brand now owned by a Belgian company, makes an excellent point. Who among us has not longed to bottle this great nation and use it to chase down a large platter of jalapeno poppers? That dream becomes reality on May 23. No longer will a true patriot like myself suffer the indignity of ordering a beer with a dopey German-sounding name. I'll be able to turn to the bartender and say: "I'll have another America. Not that there is another America, there's only one, and it's the best. But I mean I'll have the beer that's called America, because I'm an American, and that's the kind of beer I want. A beer called America." And the bartender will say: "What?" Patriotic beer-ordering person that I am, I'll scowl and respond: "Never mind. I'm gonna go find a real American bar that understands what it means when an American ask for an America." Then I'll get behind the wheel of my Liberty Mustang I'm assuming all corporations, including Ford, will have jumped on the America-first rebranding bandwagon and hit the road. I'll turn up the stereo and listen to America (the band, not the beer or the country) as I cruise along, welling with nationalistic pride. Then I'll pull into a Liberty Bell drive-thru for a Star-Spangled Triumph Taco. Advertisement The taco will remind me I'm thirsty, so I'll head to a nearby Thomas Jefferson Target to pick up a few extra American flags, some Bountiful paper towels and, of course, a case of ice-cold America (the beer). On the way home I'll probably pop into Starsandstripesforeverbucks for an iced American America Americano. Then it's straight home to put my case of America into the General Douglas MacArthur Electric refrigerator so it's ready to go when "America's Got American Talent in America" comes on that night on NBC-USA. What a dream scenario that is. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Freedom Huppke, you sound like you've been pounding Americas since dawn. Have you lost your mind?" I have not lost my mind, I have just super-sized my patriotism thanks to Budweiser's selfless and spirited rebranding. What better way to remind Americans that we are American and this is America (country, not beer) and we should make America (country, not beer) great again while drinking a pickup-truck-bed full of America (beer), which tastes like America (country). I get why Budweiser decided to tie this change in with the presidential election. If there's one thing our politics have shown us recently it's that a lot of Americans don't know the first thing about America (country) and how its political system works or what principles it was founded on. It's as if some voters are drunk on America (beer) and blabbering and yelling and forgetting what it actually means to be an American. Advertisement So why not give Americans an America they can feel good about without having to think much? Why not make everything around us patriotic and red, white and blue, and great again? We may not be willing or able to appreciate how our political system is uniquely American. But we can certainly advertise our patriotism by holding a beer that says America. rhuppke@tribpub.com Featuring dance on screen and stage, the Canyon Movement Company Spring Dance Festival will include two performances this weekend. Canyon Movement Company and guests will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 13, and Saturday, May 14, at the Clifford E. White Theater on the NAU campus. Performing groups Canyon Movement Company, Human Nature Dance Theatre, Velocity Dance Company, Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, CMCs Dance for Parkinsons program, and film-maker Amanda Kapp will present two evenings of new works. This years special event is sponsored by the Arizona Community Foundation. Canyon Movement Company was awarded a grant to bring youth and seniors together in a Dance for PD/Seniors program. Students from FALA have been working with senior dancers to create choreography for this show. Admission is a suggested donation of $15, $10 for students and children, at the door. For more information visit canyonmovementcompany.org. Film fest brings 'Papa: Hemingway in Cuba' to Flag The Sedona International Film Festival will present the Flagstaff premiere of Papa: Heminway in Cuba today, Wednesday, May 11, as part of the festivals monthly Flagstaff Cinema Series. There will be one screening of the film at 7 p.m. at Harkins Flagstaff 11 Theatres. The first Hollywood film to shoot on location in Cuba since the 1959 revolution, Papa: Hemingway in Cuba is the true-life story of a young journalist who finds a father figure in legendary author Ernest Hemingway. Their relationship began in the late 1950s when Ed Myers then a junior reporter at The Miami Herald wrote a fan letter to his idol. Myers thought he was being pranked when the larger than life Hemingway phoned the newsroom a week later, inviting him to Havana. Hidden away at his private estate with his wife Mary, the elusive author mentors Myers in fishing, drinking and finding his voice while the Cuban Revolution boils up around them. In this turbulent landscape, observing an icon in his twilight years, Myers discovers his strength while recognizing that all of our heroes are human. Papa is directed by Bob Yari, whose credits as a producer include the Oscar-winning Best Picture Crash and The Illusionist. With its title derived from the Nobel Prize-winning novelists nickname, Papa is based on an autobiographical script by Denne Bart Petitclerc. Giovanni Ribisi plays Ed Myers in the film. Theater and screen veteran Adrian Sparks portrays Hemingway; Joely Richardson is his wife, Mary. This special screening will include a recorded Q&A with stars from the film and the director, hosted by Peter Travers from Rolling Stone Magazine. Tickets are $12, or $9 for Film Festival members ($6 for full-time students), and will be available starting at 6 p.m. n the Harkins lobby. For more information, visit SedonaFilmFestival.org. Left, The Mather resident and artist B Stephan displays one of her own works of art the retirement community's gallery space. Right, Chicago artist Michael Noland discusses one of his pieces with The Admiral resident Marie-Jeanne Lekas. Ever thought about retiring to an artist colony? Do you dream of spending your golden years creating, learning and exhibiting with other artists? This lifestyle is no dream, it is available right now at two senior living communities in downtown Chicago and Evanston: The Admiral at the Lake, and The Mather. These communities are so chock full of art and artists, you would think they were transplanted from Soho or Paris. Advertisement Residents enjoy on-site art gallery spaces with exhibits of resident and non-resident art (complete with wine and cheese art receptions), art studios, art classes, art therapy, and art museum trips. Even non-artistic residents who are art collectors open up their apartments for art tours. Some donate or loan their art to the community, such as a stunning, handmade tapestry on display at The Mather that was given to a resident by the Dalai Lama. Katherine Brooks, manager of repriorment (the company's word for retirement) at The Mather, estimates about half of its 320 residents are involved in the arts in some way. Advertisement "We have residents who paint, make jewelry, work in clay, sculpt, photograph, do beading, make collages, and more," she says. "One resident's jewelry is sold in art museums across the country." Art for all Retirement is the perfect time to let your artistic side flourish, says Brooks, because "80 is the new 60." Some residents are accomplished artists who find themselves with the time and attention to pursue their remarkable talents. Others are first-time creators, who perhaps have been curious about trying art for years. "People are less inhibited as they get older. They say, 'Well, I'm 80 years old, what do I have to lose? I might as well try,'" Brooks says. Mary Deppe, 88, of The Mather, studied art in college and went to work after graduation as a commercial illustrator in 1950. She drew shoes for a shoe company in St. Louis. But she soon married and moved away, so her artistic life remained dormant while raising her children and helping her husband with his advertising agency. When they retired, she found a box of pastels someone had given her and the spark was reignited. She joined a weekly outdoor painting and drawing group, then the South Florida Pastel Association. (Deppe and her husband spend the winters in Naples, Florida) When the Deppes moved to The Mather in 2013, she joined the art committee, and is now its co-chair, planning exhibits for The Mather's three galleries. "We try to find a person who has a body of work, and we rotate them every two months," she says. "Many people have their artwork with them, maybe under the bed in a box." Advertisement Once a year there is an art gala in the fall. "We shop around and try to find residents who want to put one piece of work in. We usually have 40 or 50 pieces," she says. Deppe has shown her still lifes at The Mather. "I had never had a show of my own before," she says. It emboldened her to try jewelry making and portraiture. Now she volunteers on the memory care and assisted living floors of The Mather drawing pastel and chalk portraits of residents. "I seem to have an ability to get a little bit of a likeness," she says modestly. "I'm taking a portrait workshop in the fall." Showing the work Another community gaining a reputation as an art center is The Admiral at The Lake, newly rebuilt from the ground up and relaunched in 2012. Its art committee is run by resident Jan Petry. She has been recognized in the Chicago art community for her work at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art. A wood sculptor herself, and a former advertising creative director, Petry has found her niche at The Admiral encouraging other artists and would-be artists. She also does what she knows: arranges art exhibits. Petry says gallery exhibits at The Admiral rotate out every two months now instead of three because there is so much interest and so much art. Advertisement Shows alternate between resident art and nonresident art. "We have had well known Chicago artists like painter Mike Noland and David Lee Csicsko, who is known for his stained glass and mosaic artwork in Chicago, and his Christmas decorations at the White House in 2012. They came and did talks. Some artists sold pieces residents bought for their apartments. One group went in together for a piece of art for their hallway on their floor." Petry says the artsy culture at The Admiral is attractive to potential residents and their families. "It is definitely a part of living at The Admiral," she says. Petry has not shown her work there because the exhibit space is not well suited to sculpture, but she says changes might be in the works to show more types of art. "There are at least 12 to 15 people actively involved in creating visual art here," she says. "Our goal is to get more and more people involved. What's been fun is to see people who have never painted before start participating." Deppe says she and her fellow residents are always on the lookout to broaden their circle, as well. "We are always looking when new residents come in whether The Mather has welcomed a new artist into our company." Ronald and Deborah Masters are planners. They think ahead and like to make their own decisions. So as they got older, they realized that living in their single-family home would not provide the safety net they might need in the years to come. "We thought it was good to consider how we would manage if we had a problem," says Ronald, a retired orthopedic surgeon, who still does consulting work. "I saw too many families throughout my career who waited until their mom broke a hip, and then had three days to find a place for her to live." Advertisement So the couple toured retirement communities, seeking a place that had several levels of care to meet their needs as they aged. Last September, they moved to a townhouse at Westminster Place, a retirement community in Evanston that offers different types of housing including assisted living and nursing care. "This was a good choice for us," says Ronald. "We are very protective of our independence." Advertisement What's in a name? The Masters picked a retirement home that suited their desire to plan their own lives. And that's one of the big reasons why continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), like Westminster Place, are changing their names to Life Plan Communities. The new name is the result of an industry push to rebrand CCRCs to better reflect their mission, and also to update the sector's image. By definition, CCRCs or Life Plan Communities have several levels of housing and care at one location, often on a campus. Housing includes independent apartments for those who do not need help, assisted living units, and skilled nursing care. Many of these communities also have special memory care accommodations. So residents have peace of mind knowing where they'll live and be cared for if their health declines for whatever reason. There are about 2,000 CCRCs or Life Plan Communities nationwide, housing about 600,000 residents, according to industry sources. Payment models vary. Some communities offer rental arrangements. But most have entry fees usually starting at about $200,000 along with a monthly fee. Meals are included, as well as transportation and activities. The entrance fee is typically at least partially refundable. But contracts vary, and should be reviewed carefully. Also, some contracts are called "life care" agreements a possible point of confusion with the new name of Life Plan Community. Life care contracts usually have the highest entrance fees, but have little or no increase in the monthly fee even if the resident needs nursing care. Another caution: contract language may still include the term "CCRC," but this may also change as state regulations are updated. Services stay the same It's important to note that the definition of a CCRC and what it offers isn't changing only the name. Industry groups say that "Life Plan Communities" is a better way to describe the smart, wellness approach offered by today's communities. The new name also sounds more modern and appeals to younger seniors and baby boomers who like to plan ahead. The renaming project was the idea of Mather LifeWays, a nonprofit senior living provider that operates The Mather, a Life Plan community in Evanston. Its research showed that consumers didn't understand the term CCRC. So Mather LifeWays formed a task force with the industry group LeadingAge to find a new name. A 2015 survey of community staffers and residents, and retirees, generated more than 4,100 responses. Suggested names were tested on 34 focus groups held across the country. Advertisement Results showed that 84 percent of those under age 65 preferred a name other than CCRC. The name "Life Plan" kept popping up in discussions, so it was adopted as the new name at an industry forum. Getting on board Local communities are already rolling out the new name. The Mather's website calls itself a Life Plan Community. Others are adopting the name too. "We're excited about the name change," says Liz Bush, senior vice president, Life Care Services, of Des Moines. The company operates several communities in the Chicago area: The Clare, in Chicago; Monarch Landing, in Naperville; Wyndemere, in Wheaton; and Sedgebrook, in Lincolnshire. All four communities are in the process of introducing the new name in marketing materials and educating residents about the change. "It's important to make sure current residents and their families understand what we're doing," says Bush. The new name is being introduced gradually at Montgomery Place, a retirement community in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Like many other residents, Mae Wygant and her husband Gene Gressley moved to Montgomery Place because they knew how important it was to plan for the future. "It was the wise thing to do," says Wygant, noting that her husband has Parkinson's disease, though his condition has improved since moving to Montgomery Place. Advertisement But there were other reasons to plan ahead. A retired art teacher, Wygant had lived for years in San Francisco. She also had founded and run a nonprofit organization there called LITA Love Is the Answer. It's a friendship program whose mission is to visit nursing home residents who are lonely. Because of her experiences visiting the elderly who are alone, she knew how important it would be to live in a supportive community. And Montgomery Place has not only provided a nice place to live, but also many activities and new friends. If someone gets ill and moves to the nursing floor, other residents visit, says Wygant. "People really care." Two travelers on an Overseas Adventure Travel trip cross a river by elephant in Chiang Mai, Thailand, a new adventure for most. When Joan Cicero was coming up with ways to celebrate her husband Joe's 60th birthday, she wanted to do something "really memorable." She decided to team up with the wife of Joe's longtime friend who was also turning 60. Although Joan, a Lombard resident, had never traveled outside of the United States before, she decided it was time for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to somewhere exotic and planned a 10-day trip to Belize for the two couples. The friends spent the first five days in the Lower Dover Jungle Lodge in the middle of a rain forest. Advertisement "We slept in cabanas built up on pylons 12 feet off the ground," she says. "We showered with rain water and hiked jungle trails. There was such an absolute purity about the jungle in Belize. We saw all sorts of flora and fauna, laid down in waterfalls it was unlike anything we have ever seen or done." The friends went on an all-day trek to a Mayan Cave that required a 2 mile hike crossing three rivers before they wound their way through the cave to see cathedral-like stalactites and well-preserved artifacts. "It was a highlight of the trip," says Joan. Advertisement They also spent five days on the coast at a resort in Hopkins where they snorkeled in the famous Blue Hole, a 407-foot-deep sink hole off the coast. "We pushed our limits," she says. "I'm afraid of heights and Joe hates bugs and snakes but we conquered our fears and it was a great feeling. We had never done anything like this before and now that I have experienced it, it is all I want to do." An elephant ride At 52, Joan is not alone in her interest in traveling off the beaten path. Overseas Adventure Travel, based in Boston, exclusively offers small group overseas travel opportunities for people 50-plus. Priscilla O'Reilly, spokeswoman for the company, says business is booming. "Last year we were averaging 1,250 bookings per month and this year we are averaging over 1,500 bookings per month." She feels that this age group is more interested in cultural immersion than sitting on the tour bus. "We are finding that over-50 travelers want to see the sites but they also want to ride an elephant in Thailand," she adds. "They don't want to ride the elephant all day but they do want to try it." Elder Treks is a Toronto based company also offering adventure travel for those age 50-plus. Amanda Dunning, marketing manager, says that small group size is essential for cultural immersion. "There is flexibility with a small group. In India, if there is a wedding, we might be able to get a group of 10 invited. We are able to move from a strict itinerary and take advantage of an opportunity when it arises." O'Reilly notes that her tour guides are often able to arrange meals in local homes for their groups. "People are very interested in seeing inside homes," she says. "Some of our travelers bring photos of their homes to share with host families. It's all about getting to know the local people." Advertisement Overseas Adventure Travel uses native guides as trip leaders. "We tell them to talk about the good and the bad," says O'Reilly. "We want to give a true insight into a country instead of a pasteurized look." Having it your way Instead of going along with the crowd, this age demographic wants to customize adventures, says O'Reilly. "We really try to accommodate our travelers' requests instead of only offering them a cookie cutter plan." Travelers can request favorite airlines, plan to arrive early or stay later after a tour, or make other changes to make the trip a custom fit. Another trend for this age group is the option to travel solo. If the spouse doesn't want adventure, going solo is acceptable. "In 2010, about 27 percent of our travelers were traveling alone," says O'Reilly. "Now, it's at least 40 percent or more solo travelers. About percent of the solo travelers are female. Our company doesn't charge an extra fee for solo travelers, which is a big advantage." The hot spots Both travel companies offer numerous travel adventures and open up new options every year. Advertisement "Right now, Ethiopia is very popular," says Dunning of the Elder Treks clients. "It's a very culturally different place that attracts people. Iran is also very popular. Not many companies offer trips to Iran but people want to see it. Papa New Guinea is very popular for the many tribal experiences offered during the trip." Cuba is currently the No. 1 destination choice at Overseas Adventure Travel. "It has attracted a lot of attention. India and Japan are also popular," says O'Reilly. "Trips to Africa, both southern and eastern, continue to attract travelers who are looking to go on a safari. We have a trip to Southeast Asia called "Ancient Kingdoms" that is popular. Patagonia has also been getting a lot of interest too." The travelers Since both companies specialize in travelers 50 and over, they rate the travel experience based on the amount of physical activity. Travelers can then select options based on their abilities and preferences. "Our average traveler is between 65 and 75 but we get many different ages, " says Dunning. O'Reilly notes that about one-third of Overseas Adventure Travel clients are retired educators, a group that is interested in lifelong learning. According to Immersion Active, a marketing company focusing on the mature population, people 50 and over account for 80 percent of all luxury travel. The average older adult takes four trips per year, which means a steady stream of clients for older adult travel companies. Advertisement O'Reilly points out that Overseas Adventure Travel continually adds new travel options each year and notes that 50-plus travelers "consider themselves global citizens and are ready to see the world." (Information about Overseas Adventure Travel can be found at oattravel.com. Information about ElderTreks can be found at eldertreks.com.) Crews from the Flagstaff Fire Department and Guardian Medical Transport rescued an injured hiker on Mount Elden Tuesday morning, FFD officials said. Crews responded to a 24-year-old female hiker who had sustained an ankle injury on the Elden Lookout Trail at about 11 a.m., FFD Captain Kevin Wilson said in a press release. Wilson said crews hiked up to the injured hiker, who was about three-quarters of the way up the trail. Crews stabilized the injury and loaded the hiker into a stokes basket and carried her down the trail, Wilson said. The hiker was transported to Flagstaff Medical Center for treatment, Wilson said. Wilson said FFD encourages hikers to hike with a charged cell phone, water, snacks and proper attire. Shelby Dalgai said she has known from a young age that she wanted to work in the health care field with Native American populations. In the weeks prior to graduation, outstanding seniors from individual colleges are awarded the Gold Axe, an award symbolizing their achievements and contributions to NAU. This year, 43 graduating students received the Gold Axe. Gold Axe winners are also eligible for the Presidents Prize, the highest student recognition from the university. The prize winners are chosen by NAU President Rita Cheng to honor exceptional graduates. Dalgai was one of four students chosen to receive both honors. Dalgai, who is of White Mountain Apache and Navajo descent, said she dreams to help bridge health care disparities in indigenous communities. Ive always wanted to serve as a physician in a Native American community, she said. There is a shortage of physicians on Native American reservations. Being able to go back and be familiar with the community and the traditional practices can help bridge the gap. There are a lot of barriers in terms of language and religion. In college, Dalgai worked in a research position with the Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training Program. In the program, Dalgai traveled to New Zealand to study health disparities in indigenous populations there. I had always dreamed to go to New Zealand, she said. I am fascinated with the indigenous populations there, and I learned that a lot of the disparities they are facing are similar to those faced by indigenous populations here. Dalgai also had a chance to do a summer study abroad trip to Italy, where she studied art, culture and food. That was another highlight for me, she said. Dalgai also served in various leadership roles for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, including serving as the groups president her junior year. Dalgai attended high school in Kansas, but both of her parents attended NAU and joined the military before graduation. She has family in Arizona and said she was drawn to the culture of Flagstaff. I like the Flagstaff community, and I like how close-knit it is, she said. I liked the small class sizes at NAU. I wanted to be able to build relationships with my professors, I didnt want to get lost or just be a number. Dalgai was accepted into the Pre-Medical Admissions Pathway program at the University of Arizona. The program includes a one year masters degree program and, upon completion, conditional acceptance into the universitys College of Medicine. In addition to the Gold Axe and Presidents Prize, Dalgai was also given an award by the NAU Commission for Native Americans for being an outstanding undergraduate student. Dalgai said she would encourage other young Native American students looking to pursue medicine as a career to talk to people who have done it before and ask questions. She said she is looking forward to her next steps to become a physician, but said she is especially thankful for mentors and programs at NAU that helped her find a path to her goals. Its been a really great roller coaster, she said. I met people and did programs to help me find my way, and I found my passions. Four years ago I would have never dreamed of studying abroad in Italy or doing research in New Zealand. Chicago State University is struggling and it's not Illinois' fault The state of Illinois has finally come to the aid of Chicago State University, but not in time to prevent the laying off of more than 300 employees. As expected, the governor gets the blame. The Rev. Jesse Jackson lashed out at Bruce Rauner saying he didn't care how the cuts affected the community and that "he has betrayed the people." Advertisement What is never publicized is that the school is top-heavy with administrative employees, one for every 17 students. Also kept under wraps is the fact that for one semester in 2010, the school failed to bill its students for tuition. What the state should be blamed for is not holding this school, and I'm sure others, accountable for running this facility in an efficient manner and saving dollars in the process. After all, it is the citizens carrying this tax burden and the students being penalized with higher tuition. Chicago State University should be blamed for "betraying the people." Advertisement Tony Blasco, Lemont Let's rethink our primary rules Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > The Republican primary is over. All the debating about delegate numbers and how confusing the process is needs to be addressed by both parties now before another election. Throughout the process, Republican officials could only say "it's complicated." It really doesn't have to be complicated at all. Simply, one man or one woman equals one vote. The candidate with the most votes wins! On the Democrats' side, it's worse with their "super delegates." The same simple one man, one woman vote formula should apply too, eliminating any shenanigans that we all know happen in the presidential primary process. Allow the voters to truly have a vote that matters. No more fixed elections. Bob Pritchard, Homer Glen What's on your mind? Advertisement The Daily Southtown welcomes letters to the editor. Email them to letters@southtownstar.com and include your name, address and phone number. Only your name and the town you reside in will appear with the letter. Please keep a letter to no more than about 200 words. The Southtown is not responsible for the accuracy of the opinions expressed in letters to the editor. What was seemingly a noncontroversial, cost-saving proposal presented Monday to host a professional training conference at South Elgin High School in June sparked debate among District U46 school board members over whether sections of the upcoming training were "divisive" or "inclusive." The proposal, which passed 4-2, makes way for the district to host the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) Local Path Training conference at a cost of $82,260. Advertisement Hosting the conference rather than sending teachers to a conference out-of-state, as has been done in past years, saves the district $334,000 in flight and hotel costs, according to district officials. Advancement Via Individual Determination is a college readiness instructional system for students in grades 7 through 12. The program, offered as an elective since 2008, helps students learn study, testing and note-taking skills, prepares them for the college application process, introduces a myriad of professions through visiting speakers, and helps students develop long-range academic and personal goals. Advertisement School Board member Jeanette Ward said she supports the program as well as the annual training conference. "What a great idea, to challenge students to take responsibility for their own lives and encourage those who perhaps wouldn't have considered going to college, to go to college," she said. However, she said, after reading details of the topics to be covered at the conference, she could not support the vote. In particular, Ward said at least two of the conference topics are "controversial" and their descriptions are "vague leftist speak." Ward cited the description of one session entitled "Culturally Relevant Teaching." The description she read asked how teachers could "empower students intellectually, socially, emotionally and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes?" The description continued, "Within classrooms cultivating humanity and celebrating diversity require attention both to individual and collective development. Engage in critical conversations about race, gender, class and sexual orientation ..." Ward said this course and another whose description included addressing "issues of race, class, gender and accountability" only serve to divide people rather than help students succeed or be prepared for college. Advertisement "How are conversations about race, gender, class and sexual orientation relevant to encouraging students to apply and succeed in college?" Ward asked. School Board member Traci O'Neal Ellis responded by saying she supports the conference and its teachings as they are key in bridging the gap for students between home and school. To not address cultural, linguistic, religious, ethnic and other differences in the classroom "marginalizes" students. Looking through "that very narrow lens continues to be problematic," she said. "AVID defines 'culturally responsive teaching' as 'learning environments that are authentic, culturally responsive and that build upon the language, experience, learning styles, and strengths of the students,'" she said. Although U.S. schools teach "with a culturally responsive pedagogy ... the foundation of that pedagogy has always been through a middle-class, European lens." O'Neal Ellis cited a Stanford University professor saying "(some) kids come to school everyday and have their culture validated and other children have theirs invalidated, even berated, daily." Advertisement "This is not without consequence," she said. "This cultural disconnect leads to poor academic outcomes, behavior problems, and low self-esteem for ethnic and racial minorities." O'Neal Ellis applauded the teachers who voluntarily signed up to take the "culturally relevant" courses. She said she will always cast votes that are inclusive, not exclusive. "As a black woman, I think I can speak with authority on what it means to be a minority and have your identity ignored," she said. "Contrary to some views, it is not divisive to see and embrace me as a black woman with a culture and perspective that is distinct from "the norm." School Board member Cody Holt also voted against the proposal saying he wanted more time to review the conference materials. Ward's recent votes in opposition to various programs and curriculum have led to an online petition circulating on behalf of Students for the Improvement of District U46 asking for her resignation. As of Tuesday afternoon the petition had 357 signatures. Another online petition in support of Ward generated by Americans for Free Speech had 474 names. Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter. Broadway stars Brian D'Arcy James and Sutton Foster will receive Actor of the Year Awards from the Sarah Siddons Society. (Sarah Siddons Society) Two of Broadway's brightest lights will be honored with Actor of the Year Awards at Northwestern University's Pick-Staiger Concert Hall on May 16. Sutton Foster's Broadway roles includes, "Thoroughly Modern Millie," "Little Women," "Young Frankenstein," "Shrek," "Drowsy Chaperone," "Anything Goes" and "Violet." She won two Tony awards. Television viewers know Foster from her current show "Younger" on TV Land. Advertisement Brian D'Arcy James is starring in "Something Rotten" on Broadway. Tony nominated three times, D'Arcy James has appeared in over 20 Broadway productions, including "Titanic," 'Sweet Smell of Success," "The Apple Tree" and "Shrek." He won acclaim for his role as a Boston Globe investigative reporter in the 2015 film, "Spotlight." "I wanted to honor Brian because he's our Northwestern alumni and I thought, 'Why don't I pair him with someone at the top of their career?'" said Artistic Director Dominic Missimi. He noted that the pair, who are equally successful, costarred on Broadway in "Shrek." "We'll have Fiona and Shrek reunited onstage," Missimi said. Advertisement D'Arcy James is a particularly appropriate choice since he received a prestigious Sarah Siddons Society Scholarship in 1989 when he was a Northwestern undergraduate. "I owe a great deal to Dominic Missimi," D'Arcy James said. "I was given my first professional job because of Dominic. A production of 'Hair' that was happening at Northwestern that I was in was handpicked to become the 20th anniversary production of 'Hair' downtown in Chicago. I got my union card. We've been really good friends ever since and I have such admiration and respect for him." The actor said he is "touched and flattered" to be given the Actor of the Year Award. "It's a bookend of sorts," he noted, "to be able to look back at where I was as a senior in college, getting a scholarship from this great organization. To come back at this stage is quite a moment." Although D'Arcy James has focused on his Broadway career, performing in "Spotlight" meant a lot to him. "It was great to be entrusted with that role by Tom McCarthy, the director," the actor said, "and to have been chosen to act along with these titans of the film industry Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams. And then for the movie to have succeeded in such a public way was something I never imagined would happen." That experience opened up the possibility of other film roles, garnering notice for him from people outside the theater industry. D'Arcy James laughingly noted, "It has allowed them to at the very least say, 'Who is that guy?'" Both honorees will sing, as will Christine Mild, Michael Mahler, Devin DeSantis and Will Skrip, among others. Both Mild and Mahler won Sarah Siddons Scholarships. Proceeds of the event are earmarked for the scholarship program. DePaul University, Roosevelt University, Columbia College Chicago and Northwestern students are eligible. Sarah Siddons Society Actor of the Year Awards Event Advertisement When: 8 p.m. Monday, May 16 Where: Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Northwestern University, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston Tickets: $100; $25 for students PHOENIX -- Secretary of State Michele Reagan won't postpone next week's special election even though her office failed to mail out on time more than 200,000 pamphlets with details of what's on the ballot. Reagan spokesman Matt Roberts conceded the law about when voters need to get the brochures was broken. And while saying the fault lies with an outside company that made up mailing lists, Roberts acknowledged the foul-up is Reagan's responsibility. But Roberts rejected the contention by attorney Tom Ryan that her failure is fatal and the election for Propositions 123 and 124 cannot take place as scheduled this coming Tuesday. "There's nothing in statute that we're finding that would allow this office to not allow the election itself to move forward,'' Robert said. Ryan is not relying on Reagan to act. He separately filed a complaint with Attorney General Mark Brnovich contending that Reagan's failure to strictly comply with election laws -- including the deadline for mailing the pamphlets -- voids the entire vote. He wants Brnovich to order the election postponed, putting the two issues either on the Aug. 30 primary ballot or holding it until the Nov. 8 general election. There was no immediate comment from Brnovich. The facts are not in dispute. Arizona law requires Reagan to mail a copy of the publicity pamphlet to every household with a registered voter. More to the point it says they have to be mailed out in time to be delivered before voters get their early ballots. That would have required the pamphlets to be in homes by April 20. The pamphlets are considered important because they contain an explanation of the ballot measures. In this case, that includes Proposition 123 to tap state trust land proceeds to settle a lawsuit against the state by schools, and Proposition 124 which allows the state to make changes to cost-of-living increases in the pensions of police and firefighters. That pamphlet also contains arguments submitted by supporters and opponents of ballot measures. Roberts said about 200,000 of the 1.9 million pamphlets did not go out on time, largely to houses with multiple registered voters who get early ballots. That affects 400,000 would-be voters. "We have identified the problem,'' he said Tuesday. "We have alleviated some of those concerns by sending out the extra 200,000 publicity pamphlets.'' Ryan acknowledged he is a foe of Proposition 123, echoing the comments of Treasurer Jeff DeWit that the state has enough money to settle the lawsuit and increase aid to schools without tapping the trust account. But he denied that's why he is trying to delay the vote, pointing out that also would affect Proposition 124 which he does support. Just delaying the election, though, would have fiscal implications for schools. Lawmakers scheduled the special election May 17 to have election results before the budget year ends on June 30. If the measure is approved, schools would get an immediate $224 million infusion. But Ryan said supporters of the measure should not be upset with him for raising the issue. "It should be with the secretary of state's office who failed in her basic duty to make sure an election is properly processed,'' he said. Ryan's bid to delay the election is being opposed by the organizers of Prop 124. "The intent of a May election was to get money into classrooms at the earliest possible moment,'' J.P. Twist, the group's campaign manager, said in a prepared statement. "Any delay just results in our schools being underfunded longer.'' And Twist said more than half a million votes already have been cast by mail. Ryan conceded the point but said they should be discarded. Cases filed in Chinese courts have increased 28.4 percent year on year after case registration reform, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said Tuesday. Between May 1 last year when the change came into force and March 31, over 14.2 million cases were filed, an increase of 28.4 percent, the SPC said at a seminar marking the first anniversary of the reform. Courts now accept indictments and place cases on file on the spot, without examination. Previously, courts could decide whether to file cases before they reviewed the litigation. Jing Hanchao, vice president of the SPC, told the seminar that the protection of the right to take action is more thorough and judicial procedure more transparent. "The difficulty in filing court cases has become a thing of the past," said Jing. Civil cases increased by 25.4 percent, administrative cases by 61 percent and criminal cases by 58 percent, compared to the same period of last year. Jiang Qibo, a senior judge with the SPC, said some ridiculous cases had appeared and officials in some areas had prevented some sensitive cases from being filed on the pretext of maintaining social stability. Jing urged courts at all levels to firmly implement the system and prevent officials from interfering in the judicial process. The population of a group of Pere David's deer released from captivity to live around Dongting Lake in central China in March has risen to 18, as park rangers found two cubs among them. A group of sixteen Pere David's deers are released from captivity to live around Dongting Lake in central China in March. [Photo: yueyang.gov.cn] Two of the 11 female deer among the original 16 were pregnant at the time of the release. The group was raised in east China's Jiangsu Province, but released to enrich the gene pool of the deer population around Dongting Lake in Hunan Province. Pere David's deer, endemic to the subtropics of China, have been pulled back from the brink of extinction, but they now face new uncertainty in Hunan due to Dongting Lake's rising water level in flood season. This may force them to move nearer to local villages and place them in conflict with farmers, said Zhang Hong, a manager at Dongting Lake Nature Reserve. The reserve administration has warned villagers that the deer are under state protection and must not be harmed. The administration has set up feeding crops and water supplies for the deer in the reserve. Around 100 deer were counted around Dongting Lake after the new arrivals in March. There were none in the area before a catastrophic flood drove a handful of them to escape from Shishou Nature Reserve in neighboring Hubei Province and cross the Yangtze River to settle there in 1998. Pere David's deer were named after a Basque missionary to China who introduced them to Europe in the late 19th century. The species was left extinct in China by 1900 due to natural disasters and hunting. In 1985, 22 specimens were brought to China from the world's only herd in Bedfordshire, the United Kingdom. China is now home to two-thirds of all the Pere David's deer in the world, around 3,000 living in three specialized reserves in Beijing, Hubei and Jiangsu. Hunan's Dongting Lake, however, has China's largest population of free-roaming Pere David's deer. You are here: Home China's political advisors on Tuesday put forward proposals on reforms of public hospitals and medical insurance. A statement issued after a meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, the country's top political advisory body, said attendees agreed that despite progress, ordinary people still find medical services scarce and expensive. They suggested changes to public hospital management and a new system of payment and benefits for medical staff to free hospitals from dependency on revenue from drug sales, said the statement. Community medicine should be another priority with cooperation between urban hospitals and community clinics, according to the meeting, which was chaired by Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee. Vice Premier Liu Yandong attended the meeting and admitted that medical reform is at a tough stage. She promised that the government would make basic medical services a priority. You are here: Home The killer convicted of multiple knife murders and attempts to kill in a 2014 attack on the Taipei metro was executed on Tuesday evening, said Taiwan's justice authority. Cheng Chieh, then a 21-year-old college student, randomly stabbed passengers on a subway train, killing four and injuring 22 within two minutes, on May 21, 2014. He was arrested at the scene. Last month, Taiwan's supreme court rejected Cheng's second appeal. He had been sentenced to death in two previous trials in March and October last year. Cheng had no mental disorder when he committed the crime, which caused panic and trauma to the victims and their families, said the justice authority. The execution showed social justice was served, it added. , The parents of Wei Zexi, a computer science major at Xidian University in Shaanxi province who died of a rare form of cancer, wait outside a funeral home in Xianyang, Shaanxi, on April 13. [Wan Jia/for China Daily] Ten military staff members, including two in charge of the hospital that offered an experimental cancer therapy to a young man who died last month, have been punished. The punishments were handed out after an investigation confirmed the hospital's malpractice in business collaboration and the posting of misleading medical advertisements. Two leaders from the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps were dismissed and six others received demerits. Two other officials from higher military authorities who oversaw the hospital were given warnings for inadequate supervision, a statement from the Beijing Armed Police Corps said on Tuesday. Two other individuals who collaborated with the hospital have been transferred to judicial organs on suspicion of having committed crimes, the statement said, without disclosing their identity. Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old student from Shaanxi province, died on April 12 from synovial sarcoma, a rare cancer, after taking a type of immunotherapy at the hospital's biomedical center outsourced to private entities. In an online posting before his death, Wei said he was recommended the hospital while searching for the disease on Baidu, China's equivalent of Google. No direct link has been established between Wei's death and the treatment he received. The case has attracted widespread public attention, however, as it exposed the controversial paid listing business that Baidu relied on which ranks search results based on the price advertisers pay and the poor supervision of some military hospitals. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Lei Yang's wife receives an interview from China Central Television. [Photo/people.cn] Police in Beijing have confirmed that a man who died in custody had solicited prostitutes, according to their latest statement, issued at 1:44 am, May 11. The 29-year-old Lei Yang, a master's graduate from the prestigious Renmin University of China, died on the night of May 7, after police raided a foot massage parlor suspected of engaging in prostitution in northern Beijing's suburban Changping District. The police statement said that Lei tried to evade questioning as he walked out of the foot massage parlor. Evidence showed that Lei "engaged in soliciting prostitution and paid 200 yuan for the service," read the statement. Lei's death received much public attention. Many people suspected that the police officers had abused their powers in detaining the man, leading to his death. Lei's wife Wu Tingting, who labels herself as a "reasonable person," expressed doubts over the police allegation, saying that she wishes to know the truth. Her main concern is whether the law enforcement officers involved in her husband's death strictly followed protocols. To find out what really happened, she has agreed to have a post-mortem examination performed on her husband. It will be carried out by a third-party agency under the surveillance of a local prosecutor. The local procuratorate's spokesperson announced that it has started investigating Lei's death with the assistance of forensic experts. The kidney that allegedly went missing after a man underwent surgery in east China has turned out to be right where it should be, according to a statement issued by an investigation team on Tuesday. Liu Yongwei underwent an examination in the Nanjing General Hospital last week. [Photo from Modern Express] Composed of medical experts and local health officials, the investigation team was established last Thursday in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province. Local media reported previously that Liu Yongwei, who underwent surgery in the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College after a traffic accident last June, discovered that his right kidney was mysteriously missing after the surgery. During the investigation, the Nanjing General Hospital based in Nanjing City, provincial capital of Jiangsu, was hired to examine Liu's body as a third party. Based on the examination results of the Nanjing hospital and the medical files kept by the Xuzhou hospital, the investigation team concluded that Liu's right kidney has been displaced, deformed and atrophied by injuries, but that it is still in his body. Liu has given up his demand for 2 million yuan (US$307,200) as compensation from the Xuzhou hospital. Last week, Liu claimed that one of his kidneys went missing after surgery in the Xuzhou hospital. He firmly believed so, because when he went to another hospital for further treatment, doctors there couldn't see his right kidney in CT scan photos. Tensions have recently risen up between doctors and patients in China after a string of incidents which attracted widespread public attention. Last week, Chen Zhongwei, a retired doctor in south China's Guangdong Province, was stabbed to death at his home by a patient who received treatment from him 25 years ago and had a history of mental disorder. Last month, Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old student from northwest China's Shaanxi Province, died from a rare cancer after undergoing immunotherapy at a military hospital's biomedical center outsourced to private owners. Li Baojun, former member of the municipal people's congress in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu province, appears at Xicheng District Court for illegal construction of a basement in Beijing which caused the collapse of four neighboring homes and has endangered an apartment building in January last year. [Photo: Sina Weibo of Beijing Youth Daily] A former local lawmaker has been put on trial at Xicheng District Court for illegal construction of a basement in Beijing which caused the collapse of four neighboring homes and has endangered an apartment building in January last year, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. Li Baojun, a former member of the municipal people's congress in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu province, was accused of crime of negligently causing a serious accident and may face up to seven years sentence in jail. The collapse caused economic losses of over 5.8 million yuan (US$890,000). The lawmaker had dug a basement about 18 meters deep in No. 93 Deshengmennei Street, without obtaining a construction permit legally. Two days after the collapse, Li offered an online apology, assuming responsibilities for the damages and promising to resign from his post as member of people's congress in Xuzhou. He also promised compensations for all restoration work within the area. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Media Dialogue on Connectivity, with the theme of "Promoting Public Awareness and Partnership," opens in China's south city of Guangzhou on May 9. [Photo by Li Kang / China.org.cn] Over 200 delegates, including journalists, diplomats and business leaders from Asian-Europe Meeting (ASEM) member states, attended a dialogue on connectivity between May 9 and 10 to discuss the media's role in enhancing connectivity and bridging the information and knowledge deficit between the two continents. The two-day event, which was held in China's third largest city of Guangzhou with the theme of "Promoting Public Awareness and Partnership," is the latest attempt by the ASEM to synergize media efforts through the promotion of cultural, people-to-people exchanges alongside business and political ones. The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), established in 1996, is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation, bringing together stakeholders from two continents with the objective of strengthening the relationship between the two regions. "ASEM has primarily been an inter-governmental platform focusing on G2G (government to government) and B2B (business to business) talks," said Manish Chand, founder and editor-in-chief of Indiawrites.org and a panelist at the event. He told China.org.cn that it's time to expand the focus to P2P (people to people) and H2H (heart to heart) engagement. One of the media's roles is to break cliches and destroy stereotypes, which China and Russia greatly suffer from, argued Petr Fedorov, Foreign Affairs Director at Russian State TV. He told the reporter that this kind of deep exchange of views among all ASEM parties helps to dissipate mistrust and enhance mutual understanding. As ASEM celebrates the 20th anniversary of its inauguration, Mongolia will host the 11th Summit of Heads of State and Government (ASEM11) in the country's capital Ulaanbaatar this July. The dialogue in Guangzhou laid a solid foundation for July's upcoming event, and the summit's success cannot be complete without media connectivity, Jargalsaikhan Enkhsaikhan, senior official of ASEM and advisor at the ASEM Office of Mongolia, told China.org.cn. The two-day event featured three panel discussions on "The Relevance and Role of Media as a Major Stakeholder" and "Harnessing the Power of News Media," which was followed by a plenary session discussing the future orientation of ASEM connectivity. The event was co-sponsored by Bangladesh, New Zealand, Mongolia, Pakistan and Singapore, along with China's Foreign Ministry and the State Council Information Office. Work groups from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will discuss cross-Strait cooperation in fighting telecommunications fraud from May 12 to 14 in Zhuhai in south China's Guangdong Province, said a mainland spokesperson on Wednesday. The discussions will be held under the framework of the cross-Strait agreement on joint crime crackdown and mutual judicial assistance signed in 2009, said Ma Xiaoguang with the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office at a press conference. Based on a previous round of discussions on April 21, the mainland will continue to enhance cross-Strait cooperation to fight crime, better protect victims' interests and achieve judicial and social justice, Ma said. A Taiwan delegation arrived in Beijing on April 21 to discuss telecom fraud with mainland police. They also visited a Beijing detention center that was holding 45 alleged telecom fraud criminals from Taiwan who were deported from Kenya last month. The spokesperson said the mainland had received applications to visit from the families of the detainees, and would receive them from May 15 in accordance with relevant regulations. You are here: Home In the latest case of strained doctor-patient relations in China, three people have been detained for injuring a doctor in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. One of the suspects used a knife to attack doctor Wang Yongqin early Tuesday morning at a hospital in Shizhu County after they refused Wang's suggestion for treating another suspect's finger wound, police said Wednesday. Wang sustained severe injuries to the face and back and is in intensive care. Police said the three suspects are all youth, with the oldest aged 19. Further investigation is under way. Violence against medical staff has made headlines in recent years, underscoring strained doctor-patient relations in the country. Last week, a retired doctor in south China's Guangdong Province died after being stabbed in a knife attack by a former patient he reportedly treated 25 years ago. The fathers of two men jailed in 2014 for hunting and selling endangered birds turned themselves in to judicial authorities on Tuesday for bribing law enforcement officials, according to local authorities. Vocational school student Yan Xiaotian and his friend Wang Yajun were sentenced to 10 and a half years and 10 years in prison respectively for hunting and selling Eurasian hobbies in Huixian of central China's Henan Province. The case garnered wide media attention and public discussion as to whether the penalties were too severe for the youngsters. Yan Aimin, father of Yan Xiaotian, said he and Wang Yajun's father, Wang Bujing, had bribed officials in Huixian's forestry public security bureau, people's procuratorate and people's court "multiple times" after their sons were put behind bars, according to a Wednesday statement from the Xinxiang City People's Procuratorate. Xinxiang administers Huixian. Yan said he and the older Wang had bribed the officials with sums ranging from several hundred yuan (100 yuan equals about 15 U.S. dollars) to tens of thousands of yuan in the forms of cash, shopping cards and phone bill payment. According to the statement, Yan said some of the money was returned following media attention, but the rest remains in the officials' hands. The Xinxiang procuratorate said it will investigate the case. The Chinese mainland's request for Taiwan to recognize the 1992 Consensus is reasonable, and the mainland has not made any other requests of the next Taiwan leader. Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference on Wednesday that the 1992 Consensus endorsing the one-China principle had been the foundation for the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties since 2008 and is an important part of the cross-Strait status quo. "Those who want to maintain the current situation should, of course, accept this foundation," Ma said. The spokesman said that as long as the consensus is recognized, the two sides may carry on positive interactions and move forward. Our requirement is reasonable, and we have not made any other demands, Ma said, warning that any challenge to the one-China principle would have consequences. "Cross-Strait development now stands at a crucial juncture, and the ball is in Taiwan's court," Ma said. "People are waiting to see the course of cross-Strait ties that follows." Ma said mainland policy toward Taiwan will not change with the change in Taiwan's political situation. Everyone knows who are striving to defend the common cross-Strait political foundation, and who are undermining that foundation. Those who deviate from the status quo will bear the responsibility if ties come to a standstill or even reach a crisis, Ma said. The spokesman said the peaceful development of cross-Strait ties remains a mainstream desire of people on both sides and progress made in this regard cannot be separated from the consensus. He quoted a common saying in Fujian and Taiwan that people "should not harvest the fruits without tending to the tree." Flash Warplanes carried out two airstrikes on a rebel-held city in the countryside of Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday, killing 10 people and wounding tens of others, a monitor group reported. A rebel commander with the Turkey-backed Ahrar al-Sham Movement was among those killed during the air raids that targeted several areas in the city of Binnish and the town of Nairab in the eastern countryside of Idlib, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The death toll could rise, as many people have been severely wounded, the London-based group said, stopping short of giving details about the identity of the war jets, as Syrian and Russian air forces are involved in pounding areas under the control of the al-Qaida-linked groups. Much of Idlib had fallen to the ultra-radical groups, such as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham among others. After advancing in the northern countryside of the northwestern province of Latakia, the Syrian army is eyeing Idlib as the next battle against the terror-designated groups. Flash Israel will impose a closure over the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip enclave starting from Tuesday until early Friday, the Israeli army said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson announced that the closure over the Palestinian territories will take place during the commemoration of the Israeli Remembrance Day of Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims on Wednesday, followed by the Israeli Independence Day celebrations on Thursday, until 5 am local time (GMT 0300) on Friday. During these days, Palestinians would not be allowed to leave the Palestinian territories into Israel, except for in humanitarian cases, which would be considered by the military along with the approval of the Israeli Coordinator of the Government's Activities in the Territories. Tens of thousands of Palestinians who carry work permits and can legally work in Israel will not be able to reach their jobs. Crossings from the Gaza Strip into Israel will also be closed off during these days. Israel imposes a blockade on the enclave, which is ruled by Hamas since 2007. Israeli security forces have also imposed closures on the Palestinian population during the holidays of Purim and Passover, celebrated in the past two months, amid an ongoing wave of violence which claimed the lives of 28 Israelis and 203 Palestinians. The Israelis were killed in stabbing, shooting and car-ramming attacks, whereas the Palestinians were killed either in clashes with Israeli security forces during protests, or were gunned down after trying to commit attacks against Israelis. On a related matter, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy and his cousin were convicted earlier on Tuesday by a Jerusalem court for stabbing and seriously injuring two Israelis in an east Jerusalem in October. Israeli leaders blame the Palestinian Authority for incitement to violence amid the wave of unrest which started in October, whereas the Palestinians charge it is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where they wish to establish their own state. Flash The implementation of the internationally-brokered agreement aimed to settle the Ukraine crisis is in "deplorable" shape, the Kremlin said Tuesday before the upcoming meeting of foreign ministers of the Normandy quartet. "The situation is far from being promising and productive. So far we cannot but acknowledge the deplorable situation in terms of the implementation of the Minsk agreement," the TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. However, Peskov added that the Normandy quartet remained the main foundation for resolving the crisis, and Moscow considered the work within this format extremely important. Foreign ministers from the Normandy format, composed of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine, are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in Berlin to discuss the protracted crisis. The Minsk agreement was signed in February 2015 in the Belarussian capital and is aimed at reaching a peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Since then, however, Russia has accused the Ukrainian authorities of reluctance in implementing the agreement, while Kiev has criticized Moscow for supporting insurgents in the Donbass region. The West has imposed several rounds of sanctions against Russia over its alleged role in the crisis and what it said is a failure to fulfill the agreement, which has strained ties since the start of the crisis in early 2014. You are here: Home Flash Iran's air defense system is in possession of Russian S-300 missile system, Iran's Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehqan said on Tuesday. An Iranian military truck carries parts of the S200 missile system during the Army Day parade in Tehran on April 17, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] "Today, we have been able to avail the air defense commandment of the country with S-300 missile system," Dehqan was quoted as saying by the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA). "We have also domestically designed the same (S-300) system, its performance and operation, and will launch the production line of it by the end of current Iranian calendar year (ending on March 20, 2016)," he said. The Iranian version of the air defense system is named "Bavar 373" which is able to "engage with cruise (missiles), UVAs, and fighter jets," he added. On April 17, Iran showcased parts of the imported Russian S-300 air defense system in the parade marking the army day in the country. Iran needed a powerful army to defend its geographical frontiers, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said addressing the celebration. "The powerful army inspired by religious and Islamic insights safeguards the interests of the country and defends the geographical, political and cultural borders of the country," Rouhani said. Russia and Iran signed an 800-million-U.S. dollar contract in 2007, according to which Moscow would supply Tehran with five S-300 missile systems. In September 2010, then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev canceled the contract in line with a UN Security Council resolution, which banned such deals with the Islamic Republic. Iran later sued Russia over the arms embargo. In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban as Iran withdrew the lawsuit against Russia. The original S-300 system, named SA-10 Grumble by NATO, was first deployed in the former Soviet Union in 1979 to defend the country against aircraft and cruise missiles. Subsequent modernized versions were developed to intercept ballistic missiles, and the S-300 is currently regarded as one of the most potent air defense systems. Flash Kenyan authorities said on Tuesday a security operation launched last year to flush out Al-Shabaab militants in the vast forest in the coastal region of Kwale was still underway, with 36 insurgents having been arrested so far. Head of security operation James Ole Serian said the suspects were handed over to respective security apparatus including anti terrorism police for profiling and possible prosecution as operation in Boni Forest enters its eight month in May. "The suspects were arrested within the vast forest and several weapons recovered. Some of them were released after being questioned while others were prosecuted by court," Serian said. He said they have managed to establish nine security stations which will be based in the area. The vast Boni forest area, along the Kenya Somalia border extends into Somalia to become Lacta Belt. Several people, including security forces have been killed in attacks by the militants who often used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Serian said although the operation has been successful the military group remains threat in the area hence need of maintaining vigilance in the region. He said the security has been beefed along the border with Somalia with the emergence of Islamic State militant group in the Horn of Africa nation. "We have heightened security operations along the Somalia border after intelligence reports indicate that the IS states has already established an allegiance with section of Al-Shabaab group," Serian said. According to security experts, the number of foreign fighters joining the Al-Shabaab group has declined drastically following the emergence of Islamic State (IS) group. Serian lauded local leaders for supporting the initiative that has greatly reduced terrorist attacks in Lamu region that has suffered massacre where more than 100 people were murdered by the militant group. Flash The Islamic State (IS) claimed to have downed a Syrian military helicopter in the countryside of the central province of Homs on Tuesday. Syrian army helicopters are seen parked at al-Dumayr military airport, 40 km north-east of Damascus, on April 8, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] The IS affiliated news agency, Amaq, said its fighters shot down the helicopter over the town of Huwaysis in the eastern countryside of Homs. The terror-labeled group took control of the town early this month, following battles with the Syrian troops, who have reportedly withdrawn to the nearby Jub al-Jarah area, which is only a few kilometers from the city of Homs and considered the eastern gate to that city, Syria's third largest. The report comes as intense battles raged on Tuesday between the Syrian army and the IS militiamen in the vicinity of the T4 airbase east of Homs, near the ancient city of Palmyra. The battles around the T4 airbase were coupled with airstrikes on the IS fighters who were trying to advance, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based watchdog group said the IS managed to take control of an abandoned military outpost near the airfield. Meanwhile, the IS news agency said that the IS militants killed 20 Syrian soldiers, including two officers, during the battles in the vicinity of T4. Syria's state-run SANA news agency said the Syrian Air Force struck several IS positions in the countryside of the ancient city of Palmyra, which the Syrian forces recaptured last March after falling to the IS in May of 2015. You are here: Home Flash Jordan's Defense Ministry on Tuesday signed an agreement with U.S. Department of Defense to acquire tube-launched, optically tracked, wireless-guided, or TOW, missiles made by Raytheon Company. Raytheon will begin deliveries to Jordan this year, Raytheon Company said in a statement to the press. The agreement was announced during the 11th Special Operations Forces Exhibition (SOFEX) 2016, which is held in Jordan until May 12. TOW is in service in more than 40 international armed forces and integrated on more than 15,000 ground, vehicle and helicopter platforms worldwide. Raytheon has delivered more than 690,000 TOW missiles to U.S. and allied warfighters. The TOW weapon system will be in service with the U.S. military beyond 2025. "Our international partners rely on the kind of extended-range precision TOW provides," said Scott Speet, Raytheon TOW program director. "We're looking forward to providing them this capability for many years to come,'' Speet said. Flash Brazil's Attorney General's Office appealed on Tuesday to the Federal Supreme Court in a bid to annul the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff. The Attorney General, Jose Eduardo Cardozo, will give a news conference later on the day to explain the details of the appeal to the highest court. In the Federal Supreme Court, an interim decision regarding the appeal will be made by one of the members of the court chosen at random. However, it can not be decided by the chief justice, Ricardo Lewandowski. Since the Senate will vote Wednesday on the impeachment case, the court is expected to give its response later on Tuesday about the appeal. The document, elaborated by Rousseff's defenders, questions the president's dismissal process brought forward by the now suspended President of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house), Eduardo Cunha, due to her alleged "misuse of powers." She has denied any wrongdoing. The Senate is scheduled to vote on Wednesday on the motion to open an impeachment trial against the president. Only a simple majority, or 41 out of 81 votes, is required for the Senate to greenlight impeachment proceedings, and the opposition most likely has more than enough votes. Should that happen, the president would have to step aside, leaving Vice President Michel Temer in power for up to six months during her trial. A final Senate trial would require a two-thirds majority to impeach Rousseff. Flash Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gestures as she campaigns at East Los Angeles College in Los Angeles, the United States, on May 6, 2016. [Xinhua/file photo] When Hillary Clinton delivered a 225,000-U.S.-dollar-speech to Goldman Sachs executives in October of 2013, she sounded like a "Goldman Sachs managing director," recalled one person who watched the event in a recent interview with U.S. daily Politico. Together with other two paid speeches to Goldman Sachs after she resigned as U.S. Secretary of State, Clinton earned a total of 675,000 U.S. dollars. Now, Republicans determined to prevent Clinton from winning the White House in 2016 were scrambling nationwide to find any damaging material in those highly paid speeches. According to U.S. daily The Hill, GOP opposition researchers were currently launching an aggressive campaign to seek any information about the speeches, including from Goldman employees who were in the room. As part of her contracts for the speeches, Clinton had required that all speeches not be taped in any form, said The Hill, adding that the transcriptions are kept solely in Clinton's possession. Despite the hunt for the transcription, no concrete progress had been made so far, said The Hill. More than a year into her presidency candidacy, Clinton, persistently dogged by controversy surrounding her use of a private email server and account, found herself trapped in another issue with the potential to derail her chance of winning the White House. Over the past months, Clinton had been under relentless attack from Democratic contender Bernie Sanders, as the latter repeatedly blasted her for her tie to Wall Street, including paid speeches and campaign fundraising events. She was now under tremendous pressure from the media and critics from both parties to release transcripts of her remarks to Goldman. Clinton had refused to release those transcripts, arguing that she would release the transcripts only if all candidates, including Republicans, agree to release theirs. Currently, there are only two other candidates still running for presidency in both parties, including Bernie Sanders and Republican presidential candidate billionaire Donald Trump. Flash Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed over phone on Tuesday with his U.S. and Iranian counterparts respectively, about the current situation in Syria, calling for the fulfillment of a truce regime. A nationwide ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia came into force on Feb. 27. Still, Syria witnessed escalating tensions threatening to undo ongoing efforts seeking to appease the humanitarian crisis. Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the possibility of resorting to the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) to ensure the cessation of hostilities, and voiced their support of intra-Syrian dialogue in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an online statement. During a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the two sides noted the need to establish a stable political process with the participation of representatives of the Syrian government and all parties of the opposition in line with the UN Security Councils resolution 2254 and 2268, the ministry said in a separate statement. Lavrov and Zarif also urged a continued fight against the Islamic State terrorist group and the al-Qaida-affiliated Nusra Front, the ministry added. The ISSG will meet on May 17 in Vienna, Austria, to discuss the enhancement of nationwide cessation of hostilities in the war-ravaged Syria. You are here: Home Flash Some 11 persons were killed and 23 others wounded in a suicide car bombing in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar on Tuesday, the provincial government said in a statement. One militant detonated a car bomb near the house of Malik Dehqan, a pro-government leader, in Nazyan district at around 5:30 p.m. local time. The blast killed 11 persons, including two children and the bomber, the statement said. Dehqan, who also leads a local militiamen group or the uprising group, was among the injured, the statement noted. The injured also included two brothers of Dehqan and three children in addition to several uprising group members, shop owners and passersby. The injured were shifted to hospitals in provincial capital Jalalabad city and the neighboring Ghani Khel district, where four of the injured remained in critical condition. The provincial governor, Salim Khan Kaundozai, strongly condemned the attack and instructed the local officials to provide best medical treatment for the injured. The district has been the scene of clashes between the security forces backed by the uprising group and militants over the past couple of months. No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, but the Taliban insurgent group routinely claims responsibility for such attacks. Militants of the Islamic State (IS) fighters also have presence in the district and surrounding areas. Flash A senior UN official asserted on Tuesday that the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, under a tight Israeli blockade since 2007, needs a political solution besides humanitarian aid. Bo Schack, director of UNRWA operations in the Gaza Strip, made the remarks in a meeting held with Gaza non-government representatives. He warned that in the Gaza Strip, there are 1.9 million Palestinians living under blockade for so many years and suffering from high rates of poverty and unemployment, besides daily difficulties of getting electricity and fuels. Israel has been imposing a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip since the violent takeover of Islamic Hamas movement of the coastal enclave in the summer of 2007. Hamas routed the security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In addition to the Israeli blockade, Israel waged three wars on the Gaza Strip that left large destruction in housing and infrastructure. The latest offensive lasted for 50 days during the summer of 2014. Bo Schack said that UNRWA provides educational and medical services, mainly to fix the schools and clinic destroyed during the last Israeli military operation on the Gaza Strip. Flash Nigeria's vice-president Yemi Osinbajo has opened talks with stakeholders in the Nigerian oil and gas industry as well as governors of provinces where major oil facilities were located, a move targeted at ending recent attacks on gas pipelines in the Niger Delta region, presidency sources said on Tuesday. Osinbajo had on Monday met with Nigeria's security chiefs, top government officials and others who have a role to play in stopping the menace of militants engaged in the blowing up of the country's major oil pipelines. So far, a group known as Niger Delta Avengers has claimed responsibility for the explosions which, last week, rocked an offshore production platform in the southeastern state of Delta and another pipeline transporting crude oil to local refineries in the oil rich city of Warri and the northwestern state of Kaduna. Following the attack on its facility, Chevron, the American oil company had since shutdown its offshore production platform, worsening the blackout being experienced in many parts of the West African country. Similarly, Shell's Forcados field has remained shutdown and under force majeure since February, following an attack on a sub-sea pipeline which produced 250,000 oil barrels per day. Presidency sources said more meetings will be held Tuesday and thereafter, to ensure an end to the spate of attacks by militants. In terms of output, latest statistics have shown that, partly due to recent attacks on pipeline, Nigeria has recorded a huge decline which put the financial muscle of the West African country under intense pressure. In its 2016 budget signed last week, the Nigerian government put the oil benchmark at 38 U.S. dollars per barrel and projected 2.2 million barrel per day in terms of production. However, the latest data by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which attributed the depressed production in the country to violence, noted the largest oil producer in Africa now produces roughly 1.69 million barrel per day. According to the IEA, a small reduction from any field would quickly send output to the next low, last seen in August 1994, when output reached 1.46 million barrel per day. Meanwhile, local airlines in Nigeria have said they are troubled by the limited supply of JET A1, also known as aviation fuel, in the country. Noting the oil shortage has begun to disrupt flight operations in Nigeria, the local airlines at a joint press conference on Monday, said the scarcity of aviation fuel was responsible for the recent delay and cancellation of local flight operations in the country. "We are experiencing fuel scarcity as our contract fuel suppliers are unable to supply fuel to us, while the other suppliers are unable to supply fuel to us due to scarcity of aviation fuel," an official statement said. The airline operators said they were taking appropriate measures to address the issue as soon as possible by engaging other suppliers to ensure a smooth, safe and secure flight operations throughout the West African country. Flash Germany plans to beef up its military by adding thousands of new soldiers to its ranks, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday. Von der Leyen said in Berlin that a personnel increase was "necessary as things currently stand," given the growing responsibilities and new challenges that Germany's armed forces are facing. The German Defense Ministry has foreseen additional staffing needs of 14,300 soldiers and 4,400 civilians in the next seven years. According to von der Leyen, around 7,000 new soldier positions are to be created over the next years, while other staff gaps are expected to be closed through internal restructuring. The move marks a reversal of the shrinking of Germany's armed forces, which has lasted 25 years since the country reunified in 1990. Whereas in 1990 there were 585,000 soldiers in the German army, this number has now dropped to 177,000. The new plan also represents a reversal of the policies implemented by the last two German defense ministers, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg and Thomas de Maiziere, who presided over major personnel and equipment cuts. Von der Leyen believes her plan is a necessary adaptation to modern pressures with an emphasis on new challenges, such as migration across the Mediterranean and 16 separate foreign missions. Flash U.S. space agency NASA said Tuesday its Kepler mission has verified the existence of nearly 1,300 new planets, almost doubling the number of known planets outside our solar system. NASA's planet-hunter, the Kepler Space Telescope [Photo/Xinhua] "Today, we are announcing the discovery of 1,284 new planets in the Kepler mission," lead author Timothy Morton, associate research scholar at the Princeton University, said at a NASA news teleconference. "This is the most exoplanets that have ever been announced at one time." Ellen Stofan, NASA's chief scientist, said the finding "gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth." Of the nearly 5,000 total planet candidates found to date, more than 3,200 now have been verified, and 2,325 of these were discovered by Kepler. In the newly-validated batch of planets, nearly 550 could be rocky planets like Earth, based on their size, according to the study published in The Astrophysical Journal. Nine of these orbit in their sun's habitable zone, which is the distance from a star where orbiting planets can have surface temperatures that allow liquid water to pool to potentially support life. With the addition of these nine, 21 exoplanets now are known to be members of this exclusive group. Since the discovery of the first planets outside the solar system more than two decades ago, researchers have resorted to a laborious, one-by-one process of verifying suspected planets. The latest research, which employed a new statistical analysis method that can be applied to many planet candidates simultaneously, examined 4,302 potential planets from the Kepler mission's July 2015 planet candidate catalog. For 1,284 of the candidates, the probability of being a planet is greater than 99 percent -- the minimum required to earn the status of "planet," the study said. An additional 1,327 candidates are more likely than not to be actual planets, but they do not meet the 99 percent threshold and will require additional study. The remaining 707 are more likely to be some other astrophysical phenomena. Launched in March 2009, Kepler is the first NASA mission to find potentially habitable Earth-size planets. The spacecraft completed its prime mission in 2012 and began a new extended mission called K2 in 2014. "Thanks to Kepler and the research community, we now know there could be more planets than stars," said Paul Hertz, NASA's astrophysics division director. "This knowledge informs the future missions that are needed to take us ever-closer to finding out whether we are alone in the universe." You are here: Home Flash The central banks of China and Morocco signed a three-year currency swap deal worth 10 billion yuan (1.53 billion U.S. dollars) on Wednesday. The deal, which came as King Mohammed VI of Morocco began a state visit to China, will facilitate bilateral trade and investment, according to a statement on the website of the People's Bank of China. An employee of an e-commerce division takes a nap at his desk at KSW Food Company's headquarters in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, at 5 am, on Nov 11, 2015. [Photo/IC] BEIJING - Dai Xiang has slept his way to the top. The 40-year-old Beijinger got his start as an engineer, pulling 72-hour shifts at a machinery company while catching naps on the floor. After a switch to the tech industry and around 15 years of catching naps on desks and other flat surfaces, Dai co-founded his own cloud computing firm, BaishanCloud, last year. One of his first orders of business - installing 12 bunk beds in a secluded corner of the office. "For technology, it's more of a brain activity. Workers need time to find inspiration," Dai said. "Our rest area isn't just for sleeping at night, the midday is also OK." China's tech business is booming faster than many start-up firms can hire new staff, forcing workers to burn the midnight oil to meet deadlines. "The pace of Chinese internet company growth is extremely fast. I've been to the US and the competitive environment there isn't as intense as in China," said Cui Meng, general manager and co-founder of start-up data company Goopal. The company's programmers, in particular, work overtime every day, he said. To get them through, they are allowed to sleep around lunchtime and after 9 p.m., either facedown at their desk or by commandeering the sofa or a beanbag chair. Living at the office At its most extreme, some tech company employees even live at the office during the work week. Liu Zhanyu at DouMiYouPin, a recruitment and human resources platform, bunks down in a converted conference room Monday-to-Friday to avoid the daily commute of more than an hour to his home in Beijing's far eastern suburbs. The head of the "large clients" department usually retires to the room shared with one or two others between midnight and 3 a.m. "We have to get up at 8:30 a.m. because all our co-workers come to work at 9:30 and we wash in the same bathroom everyone uses," said Liu. While workers across companies said the potential pay-off of working at a start-up was worth the long hours, they aren't without a social cost. "My kid misses me, I get home and he lunges at me like a small wolf," Liu said, speaking about his three-year-old son who he only sees on weekends. "That makes me feel a bit guilty." Programmer Xiang Shiyang, 28, works until 3 or 4 a.m. at least twice a week at Renren Credit Management, which uses big data to help firms manage financial risk, leaving little room to socialize outside of work. "I don't have that many opportunities or much time to find a girlfriend," he said. The company provides cots for workers like Xiang to sleep on during late nights. "Actually working overtime is a very casual thing," he said. "Because I've invested the whole of my being into this company." A staff of an e-commerce division takes a nap at his desk at KSW Food Company's headquarters in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, at 5 am, on Nov 11, 2015. [Photo/IC] China's financial services sector offers a better work-life balance compared with Internet-based technology firms in China, according to a research report. The China Urban Smart Transportation Report 2015, which was released on Jan 20, says financial sector employees' work day ends hours earlier, compared with the Internet sector. Jointly published by Didi Kuaidi, China's largest ride-hailing application, Watching Media and the First Finance Commercial Data Research Center, the report states those who work at Jinrongjie, a financial services cluster in western Beijing, mostly leave their offices for home between 5 pm and 6 pm. But most of those who work in Xi'erqi Software Park, an Internet business cluster in northeast Beijing, finish their day as late as 11 pm. The report showed that employees of Internet firms tend to leave for home between 5 pm and midnight. The report is based on data gathered from Didi Kuaidi, which processed 1.43 billion online requests for rides in 2015. The apps often receive requests from office workers at Xi'erqi Software Park between 9 pm and 11 pm, signaling long work hours, at Internet firms. China's online search giant Baidu Inc is one of the Internet firms located in Beijing's Xi'erqi area. The report said that on average Baidu employees finish their daily work at 8:23 pm. Baidu ranked fourth in long work hours among major Internet firms in China. The Beijing-based Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd, a software company known for its antivirus software, topped the list with the average office hours ending at 8:35 pm. On average, all of the employees at Baidu Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd, the top three among Internet companies, work past 8:15 pm. Despite the long work hours, the Internet industry in China has been gaining popularity among jobseekers. A report published in October 2015 by the China unit of LinkedIn, the world's largest online network of working professionals, showed that Internet-based technology companies are jobseekers' second-most preferred destination, after the financial services industry. Wendy Mu, senior partner with Experis, a hiring firm, said China's Internet industry has very strong demand for talent due to fierce competition in the market and rapid development in technology. "In China's Internet industry, people would know who is the best, who is the second-best, but there is no room for the third-largest player. Internet firms have high demands for its employees, that is why people often have long working hours there," she said. But hard work often comes with better payment. Mu said that Chinese Internet companies have already beaten some well-known multinationals in salary and compensation packages. "An offer with 18-month salaries a year is often to be found in the Internet industry. They have other perks like stock options, which create a large number of millionaires or even billionaires in China," said the Shanghai-based Mu. But for some jobseekers, there is more to the Internet industry than just money. Zhou Tuo, who is about to graduate from the US-based Purdue University this summer, is eager to land a job in China's booming Internet sector. "I think Internet will be the infrastructure of everything, just like electricity. Working for an Internet firm means you get to know the most cutting-edge technology and the emerging business model. That excites me," he said. View of the charging facilities at the production site in Daxing district, Beijing, July 23, 2014. [Photo/IC] In a move to support the development of new energy vehicles, the central government has devised a series of preferential policy measures in recent years, including financial subsidies and tax cuts for the fledging sector. Local governments, too, have taken measures to support the new energy vehicle sector. Since the beginning of April, Xi'an, capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, and Shanghai have adopted policies encouraging operators of battery-charging facilities to offer electric vehicles preferential prices. The catalog for the third batch of new energy vehicles, published recently by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, has added 309 new vehicle types that qualify for promotion. This increases the types of such vehicles to more than 1,000 since the first catalog was first published in January 2016. Thanks to the continuous support of the central and local governments, the share prices of companies manufacturing new energy vehicles have been rising. Indeed, the sector is booming. But it owes its boom to the huge subsidies from the central and local governments. For example, subsidies from tens of thousands of yuan to hundreds of thousands of yuan are offered to new energy vehicles, depending on their types. A 6- to 8-seat vehicle can get a subsidy of up to 500,000 yuan ($77,080) from the central and local governments. Last year alone, more than 30 billion yuan were given as subsidies to such vehicles. China has in place a set of comprehensive policies and measures to support the sector's development, including subsidies, tax cuts, government procurement and funds for research and development, and construction of supporting facilities. According to Zeng Xiao'an, an official with the Ministry of Finance, the country's financial policy should play a role in helping expedite the development of the new energy vehicle sector, which manufacturers have hailed. An expert associated with a domestic new energy vehicle company says that in the initial stage of development, it is difficult for new energy vehicles to find a niche in the market exclusively on their inherent strength, because of factors such as high investment, high risks, and the lack of an ideal environment for their consumption and a strong competition among the brands. Preferential taxation and subsidy policies thus become necessary to boost their development. But preferential policies have increased the dependence of new energy vehicle enterprises on the government and also encouraged new manufacturers to enter the market even though they don't have proper supporting facilities or innovation capability to gain a solid footing in the sector. Grabbing a piece of the government subsidy pie remains enterprises' biggest motivation to enter the new energy vehicle market, which, in turn, has given rise to some malpractices. In fact, some electric vehicle plants and leasing companies have reportedly swindled the government out of huge amounts of subsidies by, for example, falsely claiming of having massive outputs. "China started its new energy vehicle sector some years ago, but it is yet to achieve a major breakthrough in developing high-end products and core technologies," Finance Minister Lou Jiwei has said. "An important reason for this is the excessive dependence of enterprises on government subsidies and their lack of tenacity and spirit of innovation". If getting a slice of the subsidy cake becomes the only motivation for enterprises to develop new energy vehicles, the sector will inevitably suffer losses. To tackle the problem, the market has to play the decisive role in the distribution of resources, and the government's "invisible hand" should be shortened to promote the new energy vehicle sector's healthy growth. The author is a researcher on enterprises development studies. A new electric car is on show in Beijing. The future looks bright for electric cars in China amid rapidly fluctuating gasoline prices and huge investments by the government to promote use of clean energy.[Provided to China Daily] A record 175 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change at the UN headquarters on Earth Day on April 22. In his opening speech at the signing ceremony, which represents a milestone in humankind's efforts to fight global warming, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "The era of consumption without consequences is over." The grand prophecy, however, will not come true unless all countries take immediate action to tread the green path to economic growth. This is why it was inspiring to see the installation of several recharging stations for electric cars in the parking lot of my residential community at the weekend. This shows local authorities in Beijing are doing their bit to help the city embrace electric cars. Electric car owners in the community had a tough time recharging their vehicles with makeshift equipment. Stories about some electric car owners having to wait until midnight for their turn at the recharging stations were not uncommon. The installation of a couple of new recharging stations has made life much easier for people who own the electric cars in the community. The number of electric cars may be small compared with the more than 1,000 gas-engine cars in the community, but it signals a new beginning for these cleaner vehicles in the city. The sales of new-energy vehicles, including all-electric and hybrid cars, in the country more than tripled last year thanks to substantial government subsidies. Although scandals involving companies trying to cheat the government out of subsidies earlier this year slowed the sales of new-energy cars, the first quarter saw a 100 percent increase in their sales year-on-year. And of the 58,125 such vehicles sold, 42,131 were electric cars, up 140 percent year-on-year. A woman talks with a salesman at a property market fair in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province.[Photo/China Daily] China's property sales will slow over the next 12 months, but remain healthy, rating agency Moody's said in a report. "Inventory levels in first- and second-tier cities will rise slightly because of an increase in new housing starts and our expectation of a slowdown in sales growth, but will remain close to the low levels recorded in 2013," said senior credit officer Franco Leung. For the next 12 months, the residential property market should grow by a single-digit percentage, the report said. The projections reflect the high base of comparison against the second half of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016, when government action helped sales. In floor terms, sales rose 33.1 percent in Q1, much higher than the 6.5-percent gain in 2015, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. Rising land prices in higher-tier cities and the ongoing destocking in lower-tier cities will result in slowing sales and increased competition among developers with continued pressure on developers' profits, the report said. Moody's also expects limited benefit from any further stimulus. Selective regulatory tightening in some higher-tier cities with rapid price growth will reduce property demand in those cities, the report said. Regulatory measures will likely remain broadly supportive, it said, adding the government will focus on lower-tier cities where inventories are still high. View of a signboard of Bank of China (BOC) in Huaian city, east China's Jiangsu province, 21 September 2011.[Photo/IC] Bank of China Ltd announced on Monday evening it is actively preparing for China's relaunch of a pilot program on non-performing loan securitization. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, and the China Banking Regulatory Commission named six Chinese banks, the five largest State-owned commercial lenders by assets plus China Merchants Bank Co Ltd, as the first batch of participants to explore NPL securitization as a way to dispose of these loans from their balance sheets. The regulators set 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) as the initial quota for the six banks to test NPL securitization. Among the total, Bank of China has been planning to issue 1 billion yuan of securities backed by non-performing assets since the second half of 2015, Beijing-based Caixin Media reported. Wang Zuji, president of China Construction Bank Corp, the nation's second-largest State-owned commercial lender, speaking after a news conference on the bank's 2015 annual results, said: "The China Banking Regulatory Commission is doing research on NPL securitization. Once the policy framework comes out, each bank will start selling its own NPL securities at roughly the same time. Like other banks, we're also conducting studies on this type of products." "Every bank is very much in need of NPL securitization as a way to liquidize assets and improve the recovery rate for bad loans," he added. At the end of 2015, Chinese commercial banks reported 1.27 trillion yuan in NPLs, up 51 percent from the previous year. The NPL ratio increased by 42 basis points to 1.67 percent, according to statistics from the CBRC. With the continued rise in NPLs, banks have stepped up their efforts in dealing with bad loans. Bank of China said on Monday the amount of NPL principal recovery for the bank rose 46 percent to 101.3 billion yuan last year. In spite of the banks' need to clean up their balance sheets, Fitch Ratings, a global provider of credit ratings and research, said: "Prospective Chinese NPL securitization transactions will be challenging for investors due to hard-to-predict cash-flows and an uncertain judicial process. These factors may make such transactions difficult to rate at an investment grade level on an international rating scale." Fitch said the objective of off-balance-sheet treatment may itself prove hard to achieve if lenders continue holding subordinated tranches or if banks invest heavily in securitized NPLs from other banks. In past deals, subordinated tranches consisted of 20 to 50 percent of the capital structure. BEIJING -- Vice Premier Wang Yang on Tuesday stressed the efficient use of agricultural funds allocated to disadvantaged rural counties. Streamlining allocation of agricultural funds to impoverished counties is a key move to fight poverty, Wang said. More should be given to impoverished counties, which should map out scientific programs to rid themselves from poverty, he noted. China still has 70 million people living below the poverty line, according to official figures. PARIS - A Chinese long-term investment company on Tuesday announced its entrance into exclusive discussions with US company Oaktree to acquire SGD Pharma, which is headquartered in Paris and owned by Oaktree. China Jianyin Investment Ltd (JIC) said the proposed transaction will be submitted to the relevant labor council of SGD Pharma, a leading producer of primary glass packaging for the pharmaceutical industry. The transaction will be subject to competition regulations and other regulatory approvals, according to the JIC. Jurgen Sackhoff, president of SGD Pharma, said in a press release that SGD Pharma welcomes the JIC as a proposed new shareholder, as the JIC "fits extremely well" with its business model and strategic road map. Sackhoff said the combination will provide exciting new growth opportunities in Asia and benefit SGD Pharma's employees as well as its customers and partners. With a history of more than 100 years, SGD Pharma produces more than 2 billion glass containers per year and its recorded revenues last year reached 290 million euro (about $330 million). It owns manufacturing sites in Germany, France, China and India. Established in 2014, the JIC is a long-term investor with major businesses operating in finance, investment, manufacture, real estate, and cultural services. Over 300,000 Chinese tourists flew over ten thousand kilometers to New Zealand last year with increasing number of younger visitors, staying longer and spending more.[Photo/Xinhua] WELLINGTON - A rising number of Chinese visitors helped drive a surge in New Zealand's accommodation sector in March, according to figures from the government statistics agency Wednesday. Guest nights at commercial accommodation in March were up 12.3 percent year on year, said Statistics New Zealand. "Guest nights for March were boosted by an early Easter and increased visitor arrivals, and are the highest recorded for any March month," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said in a statement. "Easter this year was in March, whereas last year it was in April. Guest nights have been rising for the last two years." Domestic guests nights were up 11.5 percent and international guest nights were up 13.2 percent. Figures from Statistics New Zealand last month showed holiday-makers from China helped drive a record number of overseas visitors in March. Total visitor arrivals reach a new March record of 344,400, up 18 percent from March last year, with arrivals from China up by 9,600 to 40,400, making it the second largest source country after Australia, from where 133,300 visitors arrived. More visitor arrivals from Shanghai, Beijing and Zhejiang contributed to the rise in visitor arrivals from China, said a commentary from the agency. A man examines the Roewe e950, a hybrid sedan at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in Beijing, April 25, 2016. [Photo/IC] BEIJING - Auto sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, surged 6.3 percent year on year to 2.12 million units in April, data from an industry association showed on Wednesday. Sales of passenger cars rose by 6.5 percent year on year to 1.78 million units last month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. China is the world's largest and probably fastest-growing auto market, where breaking news happens every day: exciting innovation, history-making moments, far-reaching policies or outrageous scandals. Below are China Daily's senior motoring editors' picks of the top 10 events that shook or shaped China's auto industry since last year. They offer readers a quick review of what happened and some insights into what is around the corner. New-energy car market soars but at a cost Visitors check out a new energy vehicle powertrain in Nanjing city, Jiangsu province on April 17, 2016. [Su Yang / For China Daily] The new-energy vehicle market in China, which mainly includes pure electric and plugin hybrid automobiles, have taken off since last year because of government subsidies. In the first quarter of the year, new-energy vehicle sales doubled year-on-year to 58,125 units. Last year, sales more than quadrupled to 331,000 units. But the sector is being plagued by dozens of subsidy fraud practices from automakers. The central government launched a fraud probe at the beginning of the year and has vowed to punish cheaters. According to industry experts, the new-energy vehicle market will slow down significantly when government incentives end in 2020. As the contemporary lifestyle is increasingly defined by intelligent technologies that simplify day-to-day mobility and connectivity, German premium carmaker Mercedes-Benz wowed visitors to the Consumer Electronics Show Asia 2016 Mercedes-Benz Media Tec-Day with the latest pioneering technologies and mobility concepts, embodied by two extraordinary models. "As the inventor of the automobile, Mercedes-Benz has for 130 years maintained boundless imagination and creativity when approaching the future, always standing at the forefront of the times," said Hans-Georg Engel, senior executive vice-president of Daimler Greater China Ltd and head of Mercedes-Benz R&D China, at the 2016 CES Mercedes-Benz Media Tec-Day on Tuesday, a warm-up for the CES event, that runs from Wednesday to Friday in Shanghai. "For this event, we have brought the most cutting edge technology and mobility solutions." Last year, Mercedes-Benz wowed CES Asia visitors by displaying the "F 015 Luxury in Motion" autonomous concept car, an iridescent cocoon of personalized comfort and touch screen technology which was equal parts digital oasis and mobile conference room. Today, the company is once again bringing the legend into the future with the Concept Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile, which masterfully merges function and aesthetics and exemplifies the fundamental technological changes taking place in the automotive industry, as well as the all-new long wheelbase E-Class. "Our Concept IAA has been lauded as a 'digital transformer', with a digitalized design that is beyond imagination," Engel said. "Furthermore, the all-new E-Class L recently celebrated its world premiere, and sets a new milestone on our path towards autonomous driving with its amazing intelligent drive systems." Largely designed with digital prototyping to streamline conceptual design, engineering and manufacturing, the Concept IAA is two cars in one: a four-door coupe boasting irresistible design which can morph into a world-leading model in aerodynamics with a drag-coeficient at a record of 0.19. The Concept IAA not only ofers a glimpse of future designs, but more importantly marks a new start for digitization and intelligent technologies in the automotive industry. This representation of future mobility was further augmented by the presence of Mercedes-Benz's all-new long wheelbase E-Class, a "Masterpiece of Intelligence" which is the undisputed technology leader in its segment and beyond. The all-new E-Class L delivers an unprecedented level of connectivity, and is the first series production car to be equipped with a broad range of technological breakthroughs, such as the Car-to-X Communication system, which extends the driver's sight through an intelligent network of similarly equipped cars nearby. In terms of intelligent drive, the all-new E-Class' inaugural Drive Pilot not only automatically maintains distance with vehicles in front, but for the very first time can follow at speeds up to 210 km/h, helping the driver brake or even change lanes automatically. In order to ensure that their latest offerings, like the all-new long wheelbase E-Class, resonate with the Chinese market, Mercedes-Benz is driven to understand and satisfy diversified local needs and requirements to the highest extent possible. To this end, the research and development center of Daimler in China has around 700 fully qualified engineers and designers, and has partnered with local Internet giants to develop advanced, high-tech apps. At the event, the AutoNavi (Alibaba Group) Air Quality App jointly launched by Mercedes-Benz and the Alibaba Group created a buzz among consumers. The app shows information about the weather and gives occupants of vehicles air quality index forecasts for the next 24 hours and over the next 30 days. With Baidu CarLife, Mercedes-Benz customers can easily connect their smartphones to in-vehicle equipment via a USB port, thus allowing the use of smartphone-based services. With WeChat MyCar, co-developed by Mercedes-Benz and Tencent, Mercedes-Benz cars can become "WeChat friends" of customers. WeChat MyCar users can then send information such as points of interest to their vehicles from their smartphones or third-party websites. "Going forward, we will continue collaborating with local partners to provide more extensive and comprehensive innovative new mobility services to meet the increasingly diverse needs of our Chinese customers," said Engel. In another bid to cater to the local market, Mercedes-Benz also introduced its car2go car sharing service last month in Chongqing, a metropolis in Southwest China. As the world's largest and first car sharing service, car2go introduces a whole new concept. With hundreds of smart models, residents of Chongqing are able to search for and rent a car through their smartphones, then conveniently park them at any public parking space in their home area, without having to return them to their original location. In the words of Albert Einstein, "the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination." From its exciting, intelligent vehicles to mobility concepts that are changing urban lifestyles, Mercedes-Benz has brought this concept to life at CES Asia 2016, once again demonstrating its profound vision and industry leadership. A parent shows a photo on a mobile phone of a student who claims to have been exposed to toxic substances at her school in Da'an city, Northeast China's Jilin province, on May 10, 2016. [Photo/VCG] Claims made by students in Jilin province, who said they were poisoned after being exposed to toxic substances at their school, were called into question on Tuesday when the local government released what it said was proof the school was free of toxins. The government in Da'an city released a statement on Monday saying an indoor environmental test conducted by a professional company on Sunday proved the student dormitory at Xin'anli Township Junior High School was safe. The move followed a claim by 15 students that they had been poisoned after living and studying at the facility since October. The claims went viral online on Monday after the students collectively posted on Weibo, China's major micro-blogging platform, that they had been diagnosed with illnesses related to formaldehyde poisoning. They cited symptoms including nausea, coughing and eye infections that they said were diagnosed at the First Hospital of Jilin University. Students also uploaded photos showing CT scan results from the hospital, and a close-up of a female student's bloodied eye. They claimed they had been exposed to formaldehyde, a colorless and highly toxic gas that can cause multiple health problems, and even cancer if exposure is long-term. However, the Da'an government said the dorm was also tested and found to be toxin-free in October 2014, one year after its construction and before the students moved in. Bao Wanguo, director of the infectious disease department at the hospital, told China National Radio on Tuesday that the hospital had never diagnosed the students as suffering from formaldehyde poisoning. None of the students or parents responded to interview requests on Tuesday afternoon. Lei Yang. [File photo from web] Beijing police issued a statement on Wednesday responding to the death of a 29-year-old man, who died around an hour after he was detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitution. According to the statement, police officers in plain clothes apprehended Lei Yang as he was exiting a foot massage parlor they were about to raid at 9:14 pm on Saturday. Lei refused to cooperate with the investigation, resisted arrest, bit the police officers and knocked off their video cameras. He was put in a police car, but on the way to the police station he attempted to exit the vehicle, moved from the back seat to the passenger seat and kicked the driver, according to the statement. Lei was later handcuffed by the police officers. Police said Lei looked unwell during the journey, so they took him to hospital at 10:05 pm. He was pronounced dead at 10:55 pm after efforts were made to resuscitate him. An additional five people were also detained at the foot massage parlor and evidence showed that Lei had paid 200 yuan ($31) to hire a prostitute from the business, the police said. Wu Tingting, Lei's wife, questioned the officers' actions as she claimed to have found bruises and wounds on her husband's body. She also questioned the three hour delay between Lei's death and her being informed of it. Wu claims Lei left home in northern Beijing at around 9 pm to meet relatives at Beijing Capital International Airport who were scheduled to arrive at 11:30 pm. She said she made more than 40 phone calls to Lei after 11:30 pm because he failed to meet the relatives at the airport. She believes the police had no reason to delay informing the family about Lei's death. She was informed at 1 am. NANNING - Police in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region are hunting the killer of a whale shark after detaining two other people for purchasing the butchered state-protected animal. A netizen posted photos Saturday showing a shark being pulled out of the sea off Beihai city and transported away, prompting police investigations. A spokesperson with Beihai's public security bureau said that a suspect surnamed Liao bought the 370-kg shark for two yuan ($0.3) per kg Saturday and sold it to another surnamed Huang for five yuan per kg. Huang is alleged to have turned the meat into fertilizer and sold it on. Whale shark is considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is a Class-B protected species in China. They are spotted in waters off the Guangxi and Guangdong regions every May and June. Many colleges and universities are producing graduates in industries with little demand for new workers, according to a report released on Tuesday. Beijing-based employment consultancy Newjincin Research Institute said in its report that the employment rate three months after graduation for those who with a masters or higher degree is nearly 95 percent. Employment for university undergraduates is 89.6 percent and for college graduates it is 89.4 percent. However, not all majors are paying back the students' investment. The report said majors including political science and public administration, urban and rural planning and resource management, and material chemistry received negative comments from students for the low employment rate, poor salary standard, and little relevance of majors and career. It was suggested that majors including tourism management, teaching Chinese as foreign language and metal materials engineering control the number of students enrolled due to little market demand as well as education quality. Other majors, including software engineering, information security and auditing were given suggestions to expand their enrollments to meet growing market demand. Zhang Jingxiu, executive director of the consultancy, said many students attached more attention to the selection of majors, however, many failed to figure out the real employment situation. Wu Yan, director of the Higher Education Evaluation Center, an institute under the Ministry of Education, said in April that Chinese universities have failed to meet the market demands by adjusting majors in universities and colleges. "This is not only a problem faced by China. It happens around the world." The Ministry of Education said that it would monitor the employment rate of majors and cut enrollment and in majors that have failed to meet 60 percent employment for two years. Zhang said the reason behind the long-running problem is the isolation of Ministry of Education from the job market. "The ministry has insufficient understanding of the job market. It can't adjust to market changes in a timely fashion. However, I think there have been improvements," said Zhang. "China's higher education system has too many majors targeting only a small range of jobs. This means we are cultivating talent only for few positions. These group of graduates could not adjust flexibly to the changing market," added Zhang. "Some universities have changed their tactic to cultivate generalists. I think it is a good approach." BEIJING -- In China, there is a book that is as popular as the Bible in the West, and its popularity has persisted for decades. Last month, the Guinness World Records recognized the Xinhua Dictionary, published by China's Commercial Press, as the "most popular dictionary" and the "best-selling regularly updated book." Since its first edition came out in 1953, the dictionary had sold 567 million copies globally as of last July. It was the first dictionary written in Mandarin Chinese, as opposed to the Classical Chinese widely used before the May Fourth Movement in 1919. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, 11 editions of the dictionary have been published. Most, if not all, Chinese people use the reference book in primary school when they start learning Chinese characters. "Where there are Chinese books, there is the Xinhua Dictionary," said Yu Guilin, director of the Chinese language center of the Commercial Press. EVOLUTION The dictionary was first compiled to standardize Mandarin Chinese and aimed to eliminate illiteracy in China. "It has many pictures so people can easily understand," Yu said. Through rapid economic growth and drastic social change, the dictionary has been revised every five to seven years, he added. Revision is not easy. In the edition from 1971, when China was in a fanatic drive to eliminate old ways of thinking, customs and traditions, compilers were not sure if words like "your majesty," "monk" and "eunuch" should be retained. Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier at the time, told editors that the words should be kept. "A dictionary is a reference book," he said. "Our people need to know history. Historical things should be introduced to them faithfully." Outdated expressions have been removed, such as "commune" and the "General Line of the Party" -- terms used mainly in the 1960s and 1970s to refer to directives. New characters and words were added in each revision. Yu said that in the dictionary published in the 1950s there were 8,000 entries, while by the 11th edition the number had risen to 13,000. Internet buzz words have been also included, such as the suffix "-gate" to denote scandal, as in "Watergate," and "slave," which is defined as "someone who has to work hard to pay off a loan." For these new terms, editors sometimes have to rack their brains to give a precise explanation. Yu remembers that in 1998, the new character "ju," a kind of hair treatment, was added to the dictionary. But editors had no idea how to define it correctly. "An editor, Jia Caizhu, visited a hairdresser twice and tried the treatment before they could describe the process properly," Yu said. Now, on page 254 of the dictionary, the character is defined something like this: "A treatment for hair care and dye by applying cream to the hair, before heating with hot air. The cream is washed off after the hair cools." As awareness about animal protection has grown, some entries have also changed. Explanations like "the meat is edible" were deleted from entries about certain animals, while editors added information about their protected status. BY THE READERS, FOR THE READERS Readers sometimes give suggestions for revisions as well. "We have a motto: give all people a chance to compile the dictionary," Yu said. As education has improved over the decades, fewer pictures have appeared in the dictionary, but several still remain, including one of a lotus root. Compilers once received a letter from a reader named Peng Yun, who said he was from a village in East China's Jiangxi province. He questioned the picture of lotus root in the 1998 edition of the dictionary. "Many of us grow lotus in our hometown," he wrote. "After observing for more than ten years, I have never seen three stems from one joint of a root. I have also consulted some older people who agree with me." An editor went to a pond to check the reader's claim, and the picture was changed for the next edition. The dictionary was originally a paperback, then switched to a leather binding and, finally, to a hard cover, but its price has always been low. Some sources claim that to ensure the dictionary is affordable for everyone, its price was set to that of a half kilogram of pork. Yu said he had heard this story, and though the prices are similar, he could not confirm that this was anything other than a coincidence. At a bookstore next to the Commercial Press, an 11th edition printed in 2015 sells for 19.9 yuan (about $3 dollars), while half a kilogram of pork on Walmart's online market is 18 yuan. The dictionary has bilingual versions for Mongolian, Korean, Uygur, English and Japanese, and a mobile phone version is being developed. "The dictionary has influenced generations of Chinese," Yu said, adding that there are plans to establish a museum about the book's history. "Times are changing. So long as people are thirsty for knowledge, Xinhua Dictionary will always be edited, updated and published." Representatives from FedEx introduce its new Chengdu station to customers and the media in Chengdu, Sichuan province on Tuesday. [Photo by Huang Zhiling/chinadaily.com.cn] FedEx announced on Tuesday that it had completed the expansion of its location in Chengdu, Sichuan province. The new complex is situated in the city's Shuangliu district and with an area of about 2,000 square meters, is the largest among all foreign express enterprises in Sichuan. It consists of offices, a sorting area, security zone and a warehouse. "Thanks to the new location, a maximum of about 1,700 parcels and documents can be sorted out each hour, compared with some 1,500 before," said Bao Xiangxin, a senior specialist with the China region corporate communications division of FedEx. Designated by the State Council as a center of commerce and trade in Southwest China, Chengdu is one of the country's leading logistics centers. Last year, more than 380 million pieces of express mail, parcels and documents were handled in Chengdu, representing an increase of nearly 26 percent over the previous year. Women's public spaces stir controversy (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-05-11 20:32 ZHENGZHOU -- An elderly gentleman in Central China's Henan province was irritated when the bus he usually takes pulled over sporting a "ladies only" sign. Since late April, the bus company in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou has operated summer buses for female passengers during rush hours. Such buses are meant to reduce sexual harassment during the summer, when women often wear skimpier clothing, and to make breastfeeding mothers more comfortable, according to Kong Chaoping, a representative of the bus company. But Liu Tianhao, a male passenger, worried the "segregation" of passengers based on gender could lead to even greater negative impacts and waste of social resources. "It's discrimination against men to presume all of us are sexual harassers," a microblogger said on his Weibo account. Public spaces for women have become increasingly visible in Chinese cities, including more women's restrooms in universities as female students become the majority, and women-only parking facilities. A shopping mall in central China's Wuhan City assigned 20 parking spaces near the entrance of its underground garage exclusively for female customers earlier this year. In Shanghai, four unusually large parking spots painted pink appeared at an office building, and intercom systems for emergency calls were installed. Despite a warm welcome from some women's groups, others expressed dissatisfaction on social media. "Female drivers can back a car into a parking lot as well as their male counterparts, and I think such facilities are a gross insult to our driving skills," wrote one Weibo user. Li Yinhe, a well-known Chinese sociologist and sexologist, deemed the female parking spaces unnecessary as well. She said the hidden logic was that "women cannot drive as well as men," even though the facilities were added under the guise of caring. "Though not as serious as discrimination, women's parking does help to strengthen the stereotype of women as bad drivers," Li said. "As a matter of fact, there are plenty of women with excellent driving skills." Some believe designating public spaces for women demonstrates courtesy and consideration. The idea of "ladies first" should be valued in a civilized society, as women are still a vulnerable group in some ways, wrote commentator Yang Lan on news portal rednet.cn. Giving women priority in certain circumstances is justified, Yang added. "The 'women only' parking lots are not about prejudice, since they are meant to serve certain women with limited parking skills. It is up to the women themselves to decide whether to use them or not, and those who believe in their abilities are free to park their cars in a regular spot," Yang wrote. With the opening of Lego's largest retail store at Shanghai Disney Resort, the Danish toy giant is ambitious to further achieve strong growth in China.[Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] The largest retail store owned and operated by Danish toy giant Lego S/A officially opened at Shanghai Disney Resort on Wendesday. The opening comes three days after Disney's Chinese mainland theme park held its soft opening. Located at the resort's entrance and next to Disney's retail space, the two-story store covers 800 square meters of space. Its inventory stock holds more than 600 products, twice as much as the average number of items in the company's regular stores. Up to 250 products will be sold exclusively at the store in China, which is seen by the company as an important window to "expose Lego to millions of Chinese families", according to Jacob Kragh, general manger of Lego China. "Disney and Lego have shared a long-lasting partnership expanding more than one decade," said Kragh. Three of Lego's fewer flagship stores are situated within Disney resorts around the world. But Kragh noted that the new store, which features 3D bricked stacked models of Chinese character Huamulan and the skyline of Shanghai Pudong's highrises, will be just a beginning of Lego's more flagship stores in China. It is expected that Shanghai Disney, planned to be officially opened in June 16, would receive upwards of 15 million visitors for its first year and 25 to 30 million every year when everything is stabilized. Official's court appearance breaks new ground Ding Jiaqiang, a villager in Guizhou province, never expected the provincial Deputy Governor Chen Mingming to appear in court to directly answer an administrative dispute case against the local government. The milestone event was the first in which a ministerial-level official in China appeared in court to respond to a resident's administrative case. Previously, it was rare to see even junior officials appear at such hearings, which were usually handled by lawyers. But since May last year, when a revised administrative procedure law took effect, the situation has changed. Thanks to the revised law, which states that officials should appear in court for cases that involve them, an increasing number of officials have gone to court for such cases, said He Xiaorong, chief judge of the Supreme People's Court's administrative tribunal. By facing disputes directly, the officials helped to solve them, He said. The requirement to attend court is a highlight of the new law, and is aimed at enhancing officials' legal awareness and ensuring they answer for mistakes, He added. On April 11, Ding and his family, from Zunyi, Guizhou, experienced the change at Guiyang Intermediate People's Court. Ding claimed his land was occupied and expropriated when the city government built a highway, but said the local authorities did not reach an agreement with him beforehand. He applied to the provincial government, asking it to review the case and rule on whether the city government acted improperly, but failed. He then appealed to the courts, asking judges to decide whether the two levels of government had erred. Ding's nephew, Liu Guohua, said, "We didn't expect provincial and city officials to pay close attention to our family's case. ... We're confident the dispute will be solved now that Chen Mingming, the deputy governor, has come to court." The court has not announced a verdict in the case, but Chen's appearance was also welcomed by the top court. "Officials can prevent and reduce administrative flaws at the roots after taking part in a case," He said. Chen said his court appearance reflects the importance of the rule of law. Since the revised law took effect, the number of government officials appearing in court for administrative disputes has surged. For example, among the administrative cases heard by courts in Shanghai last year, 759 featured officials responding in person to lawsuits from the public, a year-on-year rise of 67.2 percent. But He said governments are still responding through attorneys to residents' legal disputes in some regions and that some officials do not speak at case hearings even though they attend them. He said he believes the situation will improve as more officials become aware of what is expected. Chen Mingming, deputy governor of Guizhou Making government officials appear in court to answer residents' administrative disputes, a new requirement under a revised law, will help ensure governments function legally, said the ministerial-level official who took part in a groundbreaking case last month. Chen Mingming, the deputy governor of Gui-zhou province, stood in court on April 11 to help solve a dispute between the provincial government and a villager. "It was the first time I had appeared at a trial and received such supervision from the public," he said. "Previously, it was not expected when someone sued a government in court, but now it is happening, and I think it is right for us to be defendants and participate. "Making a court appearance under the revised law is now a duty for officials. It is an opportunity to find out the cause of conflicts and solve them legally." He said responding positively to administrative disputes and personally participating in the legal process will help ensure governments operate within the law. "I did some preparation before the trial, such as clarifying the focus of the dispute, with my colleagues in charge of legal affairs, and I studied the related administrative rules," he said. After the trial, he said his participation offered "a good chance to popularize administrative regulations among residents, and make sure they know how to effectively solve their disputes in future". Contact the writer at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn China calls on the international community to help its ongoing efforts to seize suspected corrupt officials who flee overseas and recover their illicit gains. [File photo] China called on the international community on Wednesday to help its ongoing efforts to seize suspected corrupt officials who flee overseas and recover their illicit gains. The appeal came as the country has launched a new round of the "Sky Net" anti-corruption campaign this year. China is willing to work more closely with other countries in fields such as information sharing, technology, law enforcement and training to fight graft, Meng Jianzhu, the country's top law enforcement official, said at an international meeting in Tianjin. "Corruption is a cancer worldwide. To eradicate corruption is the joint mission of all countries and anti-graft agencies," he said at the opening of the Ninth Annual Conference and General Meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities. Meng said that thanks to global efforts, more than 1,000 corrupt officials and economic fugitives were brought back to China from overseas last year. China has deployed a massive crackdown against corruption since the current leadership took office in November 2012. As part of the crackdown, China launched the Sky Net campaign early last year to bring back suspected corrupt officials hiding abroad and confiscate their ill-gotten assets. A new round was launched last month for 2016. Anti-graft professionals from more than 70 countries and regions, including China, France, Russia and South Korea, are taking part in the two-day conference. The association, established in 2006, is the first anti-graft nongovernmental organization initiated by China. In another effort to strengthen cooperation, a Chinese delegation has arrived in London to attend the Anti-Corruption Summit, scheduled for Thursday, which is aimed at stepping up global action to expose, punish and eradicate graft. The one-day summit, hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron, will attempt to deal with issues including corporate secrecy, government transparency, enforcement of international anti-corruption laws, and strengthening international institutions, according to organizers. "Emerging economies such as China and India have a great role to play in combating global corruption by ensuring that their public officials and businesses act with integrity. It is gratifying to see that the leaderships in these countries are committed to fighting corruption and money laundering," said Indira Carr, a professor of law at the University of Surrey. Contact the writers at caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn The Broadway musical My Fair Lady is touring the mainland as a celebration of its 60th anniversary.[Photo provided to China Daily] The Broadway musical My Fair Lady has made its debut on the Chinese mainland as it celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The musical was first performed in Shanghai from April 29 to May 5, and will tour other cities, including Xiamen of Fujian province, Zhuhai and Guangzhou of Guangdong province, Chengdu of Sichuan province, Chongqing and Beijing, where it will be staged from June 9 to 19. The eight performances of the show in Shanghai, which drew more than 10,000 people, impressed the audiences with its energetic cast, sets and timeless music. The director, Jeffrey B. Moss, says that the experience so far has been overwhelming both for him and the cast. Speaking of the audience response, Moss, who has been to China with smaller productions, says: "They have been so captivated by the show that they have been laughing and applauding all the way through. Sometimes they laugh in places we have not heard before. They give the company a wonderful ovation at the curtain-call bows." The show, which first opened on March 15, 1956, at Broadway's Mark Hellinger Theater, is based on George Bernard Shaw's 1921 play, Pygmalion. The musical, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, tells the story of Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, who was transformed into an upper-class lady by linguistics professor Henry Higgins. After its success onstage, My Fair Lady was adapted into a film, starring Audrey Hepburn as Doolittle, which won eight Oscars awards in 1965. Moss says that although the musical is 60 years old, it presents new challenges each time it is produced. "Its story and characters are so well written and defined that finding new 'life' for the characters and interesting ways to present the story is a great joy and challenge for a director. But the authors, including Shaw, have provided a great wealth of material to draw from," he says. Songs written by the lyricist Lerner and composer Loewe in the musical, including The Rain in Spain, Wouldn't It Be Lovely and Get Me to the Church on Time, are clever, witty and very specific to each moment. The music is emotionally telling and fits each characters' needs, says Moss. "The proof is that 60 years later, most of the world is still singing or recognizing these wonderful songs," he adds. In the latest version of the musical, Sarah Cetrulo makes her international debut by starring as Doolittle. The linguistics professor Higgins is played by Chris Carsten. The director believes that the musical's longevity also lies in its story, which could happen in real life, especially today, as more and more women, like Doolittle, look to improve themselves and move to better places in their lives. "Each audience member can find their own message in this story. But I hope, at least, to present the story in an entertaining way, so that the tale of a smart young woman who tries to improve her situation in life can clearly be seen and enjoyed by all," says Moss. If you go 2:30 pm, June 9 and 18. 7:30 pm, from June 9-19. Tianqiao Performing Arts Center, 9 Tianqiao Nandajie (South street), Xicheng district. 400-615-5111. Chinese-Indonesian tycoon Mochtar Riady shares with readers his life's journey and wisdom in his autobiography. The Chinese edition was published recently.[Photo provided to China Daily] While addressing a gathering at his book launch in Tsinghua University in April, Mochtar Riady, a Chinese-Indonesian tycoon, said that even at 87, he still follows developments in the world of e-commerce and technology and is willing to share his insights on the subject. The founder of the Jakarta-based Lippo Group was in Beijing to release his autobiography and witness the opening ceremony of Mochtar Riady Library, his philanthropic project in the university. "My childhood dream was to become a banker, and I made it," says Riady. He built a conglomerate from scratch and made friends with world leaders, including former US president Bill Clinton. Riady and his family were ranked the sixth wealthiest in Indonesia on a Forbes list earlier this year, with a net worth of $2.2 billion. But he remains a generous giver who supports education not only in his home country, but also in China, where his family roots lie. "My mother died when I was 9, and my father left after he was arrested for anti-Japanese activities when I was 11. My schoolteachers played a big role in taking care of me then," he says. When still young, Riady was fascinated by a building in Malang, Indonesia, where he saw no commercial goods and the staff dressed smartly. It was his teacher who explained to him that the building was a bank, and it earned money by lending money. The idea impressed him. The Chinese version of Riady's autobiography, Autobiography of Dr. Mochtar Riady, has been published by Tsinghua University Press, and talks of his faith in education, strengthened both by families and schools. In the book, he divides his life and career into four 20-year periods. Besides the accounts of his professional ups and downs, the book has a large section on how he and his wife nurtured their children and grandchildren with the family's core values, handed down by Riady's father and rooted in traditional Chinese wisdom. "My biggest pride and comfort in life is that my children have surpassed me and are stronger than me, and my grandchildren are even stronger," he writes in the book. He talks of leaving his sons alone to cope with failures and to learn from their mistakes just as eagles teach their babies to fly. Director George Miller, President of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, holds a film clapper on the eve of the opening of the Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 10, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Logo of 26th National Book Trading Expo. [Photo provided to China Daily] Baotou is known for grasslands in the middle of downtown, rare earths and its status as the Inner Mongolia autonomous region's biggest industrial hub. It's known for the flocks of sheep and herds of deer that cover its prairies in July, when the grass reaches its annual peak and when the city will this year host the 26th National Book Trading Expo. The event will run from July 28-30 at the Baotou International Exhibition Center. Two other cities in the autonomous region Wuhai and Ulanqab will host parts of the expo, too. The event's organizing committee selected the official logo and slogans from 5,219 candidates collected nationwide. "Through the expo, we hope to showcase the region's culture and promote reading," says Inner Mongolia's vice-chairman, Liu Xinle. Liu also hopes the expo will strengthen the region's role as a key station of cultural exchanges with Mongolia and Russia. Chinese titles especially kids books enjoy ample space on bookshelves in outer Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, deputy-director of the Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of Chinas Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Pang Yamin, tells China Daily. Baotous mayor, Du Xuejun, says the city has organized reading festivals for five years, during which time more than 1,000 activities have promoted reading. "We view the upcoming book expo as a chance to boost the citys image and attract more investments," Du says. Yan Xiaohong, deputy-director of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, stresses that the expo should invite big-name writers to interact with readers. Books on the 95th anniversary of the Communist Party of China's founding and the 80th anniversary of the Long March's success two key events this year will also be highlighted, Yan adds. There will also be an exhibition of Chinese Printing Culture, a readers meeting, a gala honoring the top 10 representatives of avid readers in the country, and a dialogue between publishers and experts in the realm of intellectual-property trades for film and TV adaptations. Related: Business magnate's Chinese roots key feature of new book Actors Chen Baoguo (left) and Wang Gang. [Photo provided to China Daily] Chinese TV star Chen Baoguo and veteran TV host Wang Gang will act in a series called Pawn Shop. The upcoming series centers on the owners of two pawnbroker's shops in Beijing, and reflects the transformation of the ancient business. "Beijing locals will see something familiar and close to their daily lives. But they'll also find something to think about behind all the laughs and tears," Li Wei, the director, recently said at a promotional event for the series in the Chinese capital. Chen, 60, is a household name in the country for a number of influential small-screen roles, such as the title role of Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) ruler Liu Che in the hit series Emperor Wu. "They are places for antique treasures that survived harsh times," Chen said of the pawn trade. He was present at the same event as Li. Related: 50th anniversary exhibit of Ultraman series debuts in Shanghai The Morin Khuur Ensemble performs at the concert on May 9 [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] A traditional Mongolian music concert highlighting the unique "horsehead fiddles" and Khuumei art thrilled an audience in Beijing on Monday. As part of the World Music Series - Best of Asia project, a cultural exchange program that aims to promote intangible cultural heritage, the show was organized by Embassy of Mongolia, the Ministry of Culture and China's National Center for Performing Arts. More than 10 performances were given in Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts by the Morin Khuur Ensemble, one the most internationally-celebrated musical groups of Mongolian culture. The concert featured folk songs and symphonies. Traditional musical instruments were played, including the "Morin khuur", or "horsehead fiddles", that became the center of attention. "The horsehead fiddle is the most popular instrument among the 400 musical instruments the Mongolian people have created," Mongolias ambassador, Tsedenjav Sukhbaatar, said at the concerts opening. "It is a spiritual item kept at the most honored place of the Mongolian ger, 'or yurt.' ". A horsehead fiddle 140 different methods to play and.the strings can produce 100 different tunes and capture the sounds of various human activities, nature and animals. The instrument is listed as a UNESCO Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The concert was not only a feast for the ears, but also for the mind and soul. The beautiful yet fresh melodies carried the audiences imagination to a clear world with a blue sky, cool breeze, gurgling rivers, wide stretches of grassland and herds of cattle and sheep. Another highlight was Khuumei, a particular Mongolian throat singing technique by which one can produce two voices, both high and low pitched, at the same time. This drew bursts of applause among the listeners. The concert ended with a classic Chinese song, Jasmine Flower, bringing the whole event to a climax. The Morin Khuur Ensemble was established in 1992. As one of the most well-known Mongolian musical groups and has performed in the worlds most famous theaters in Moscow, Vienna, Milan, Paris, Tokyo and New York. This is the third time it has performed in Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts. Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email sunnews@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes A still photo of the play The Imaginary Invalid directed by Michel Didym [Photo provided to China Daily] "It is about money and body, or, wealth and health, which everyone wants in modern society," said Michel Didym, well-known French director who is staging his production of Moliere's classical play The Imaginary Invalid for the first time in China in May. The Imaginary Invalid, one of the worlds comedic masterpieces created by French playwright and actor Moliere in the 16th century, follows a wealthy bourgeois and selfish father (Argan) who wants to force his daughter (Angelique) to marry a doctor for his own good. He deeply believes that he is ill even though he is in perfect health, while his second wife (Beline) is expecting him to die so that she could inherit his fortune. The play explores a wide range of topics in life: love and betrayal, wisdom and stupidity, true faith and blind trust, health and medicine. "It is not just for the French; it talks about humanity, which is same anywhere in the world," said Michel Didym. This is the first time that the contemporary artist Didym has ventured into classic theater directing, and under his treatment the over-300-year-old work shines with modern elements. Without changing a word in the original script, and by stylizing the play through costume, stage design, and music, he presents it in a more modern way. "We wrote new music for the play and each piece that accompanies each plot development is originally created," said Didym, "the way we move and perform is also modern". A mixture of classics and modern expressions brings a unique yet interesting tone to the play. The funny dances, exaggerated movements and the modern musical rhythms generate a strong sense of freshness in the well- known classic work. "Is there not some danger in counterfeiting death, is Argans most famous retort. When he wrote The Imaginary Invalid, Moliere was both at the peak of his powers and nearing the end of his life. The work is a type of accomplishment a culmination of Molieres entire dramatic output," explains Didym. The Imaginary Invalid is a play that affects us all. After three performances in Beijing from May 6th to 8th, the troupe will visit Shanghai and Wuhan in the middle of May. The director and actor Michel Didym has been the iconic head of the Theatre de la Manufacture at the Centre Dramatique National in Nancy Lorraine. The Imaginary Invalid, his most recent production, has been performed more than a hundred times in France, Belgium and Germany. Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte talks to reporters in Davao city in southern Philippines, May 9, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] RODRIGO DUTERTE, the strongman mayor of the Philippines' southern city of Davao for two decades, is set to become the country's new president. Global Times commented on Tuesday: Regularly compared to the controversial US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, the 71-year-old Duterte has promised to end drug crime in three to six months and improve security by executing 100,000 suspected criminals if elected as the Philippine leader. His proposed hard-line policies, which are very different from those of the outgoing administration, have captured the public's attention. The triumph of Duterte points to the fact that the Philippine people are unhappy with the six-year rule of Benigno Aquino III. Although the country's economic growth has been 6.3 percent a year on average, the stable economic development has failed to narrow the income gap between the few haves and the huge population of have-nots. And Aquino's constant promotion of nationalism and accommodation of Washington has not given Manila an edge in the South China Sea disputes with Beijing either. Duterte opposes the idea of seeking a war with China and believes that the Philippine's arbitration case challenging China's territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea issue would make little difference to the situation. Of course, a new president is unlikely to cause a sea change. For one thing, Duterte, whose political career has been based in the city of Davao for decades, lacks political support to lead the whole country. For another, it will be hard to deliver on his audacious promises to reduce crime and corruption. But what he can and should do is revise Manila's aggressive China policy and seek to improve the bilateral diplomatic relations, instead of picking sides between Beijing and Washington. Lei Yang.[Photo from web] The terse statement released by the police about the death of a young man who was interrogated in Beijing at the weekend has once again provoked the public to question the official version of events. Lei Yang, 29, the father of a new-born daughter and an expert on the environmental economy with a master's degree from Renmin University of China, died on Saturday night while in police custody after he was seized during a vice raid in the capital's Changping district. The police, in a short statement issued two days later, said Lei refused to be subdued when caught, suffered a sudden illness during questioning, and was sent to hospital. He was there confirmed dead. Lei's family and friends have strongly disputed this, saying he was in good health and the bruises on his body suggest abuse. The contradiction between their words and the police statement has sparked suspicions that the police resorted to excessive use of force. To dispel these suspicions, the police should lose no time in taking the initiative to offer more information about the incident than they have provided so far, such as when and where the raid took place and whether Lei's interrogation and custody conformed to legal procedures. If they have nothing to hide, they should see the public concerns about the man's death as a chance to demonstrate their transparency and build up their social credibility. If they have any video to support their statement they should release it. Failure to address people's concerns, or any attempt to try to cover up the casefor whatever purposewill only tilt public opinion against the police and give rise to conspiracy theories, as has happened before. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (right) shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during their meeting on the sidelines of a series of regional summits in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Nov 21, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua] In his 18-minute speech on Sunday formally announcing a double dissolution election on July 2, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull highlighted his government had set the stage for strong trade with China and Asia. The Australian leader obviously considers the free trade agreement with China, which was signed on June 17 last year and took effect on December 20, a valuable political asset for his coalition government. His campaign, which has put its economic management at the forefront, will likely hold up the FTAs the ruling coalition has signed with China, Japan and South Korea since winning the election in 2013 as good business for Australia. The China-Australia FTA agreement is widely perceived as a game-changer in bilateral trade, which will contribute to meaningful bilateral interaction and to the larger picture of economic integration in the Asia-Pacific as well. It opens new horizons for China-Australia trade and economic ties and enables it to emerge from the previous growth pattern that was largely driven by China's demand for Australian minerals and other natural resources. Only four months after the implementation of the FTA agreement, people on both sides have already seen a lot of changes brought about by the new arrangement. Chinese, for instance, now find themselves enjoying a much wider range of products from Australia, including farm produce, dairy foods, seafood, wines, and health products. Australia is also becoming a hot destination for Chinese tourists traveling abroad. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in the 12 months to March, arrivals from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong outnumbered New Zealanders, the first time Australia's biggest neighbor has lost the top spot in the history of the survey, which dates back to 1991. And the property markets in Australian cities such as Sydney and Melbourne are heating up thanks to the zeal and zest of Chinese property investors. According to China's largest international real estate property portal, Juwai.com, Chinese buyers made 61 per cent more inquiries about Australian property in the first quarter of this year than the same period last year. Taiwan's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen speaks during a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan, Wednesday, April 15, 2015. [Photo/IC] Tsai Ing-wen, chairwoman of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, is expected to assume the island's leadership on May 20 and deliver her inauguration speech. Asked about whether she endorses the 1992 Consensus that Taiwan and the mainland are both parts of one China, Tsai is indeed changing her tone, but toward a more vague and less convincing direction. The peaceful development shared by the mainland and Taiwan during the past eight years, has a lot to do with the political foundation that both sides of the Taiwan Straits adhere to the 1992 Consensus. Although toning down her previous rhetoric endorsing the island's "independence", Tsai has refrained from elaborating on what should be done to "preserve the status quo", and refuses to offer an unequivocal answer to inquiries about what her position is regarding the 1992 Consensus on one China. In all likelihood, she may try to keep beating around the bush in her inauguration speech by acknowledging the 1992 cross-Straits talks and the need to seek common ground while shelving differences. But as the past six decades have repeatedly proved, cross-Straits relations only enjoy peaceful development when both sides reach the consensus that the island and the mainland belong to one China. When the island seeks to challenge that consensus, relations fall prey to instability and unrest. This is an important lesson that the DPP, which led cross-Straits relations to the brink of breakdown when it governed the island from 2000 to 2008, should keep in mind. The then DPP leader Chen Shui-bian relentlessly pursued Taiwan's formal "independence", which not only dealt a heavy blow to local economy and people's livelihoods, but also served as a ticking time bomb threatening regional stability. He was eventually voted out of power in the 2008 leadership election and it was Ma Ying-jeou, the leader of Kuomintang, who put relations back onto the right track by endorsing the 1992 Consensus. Of course, it is clear that Tsai will not play with fire again in the way that Chen did. She wants to maintain the status quo as well as enjoy the dividends the island has gained as a result of the past eight years of peaceful exchanges. Nevertheless, she is dreaming if she thinks she can be a free rider on the peaceful development that has been based on both sides' adherence to the 1992 Consensus. It is no exaggeration to say that Cross-Straits relations will be bumpy over the next four years under Tsai's leadership if she refrains from making sincere amendments to her party's pro-independence stance and keeps equivocating over endorsing the 1992 Consensus. Although Tsai has acknowledged the significance of peaceful cross-Straits ties to Taiwan and has stressed that both the mainland and Taiwan are responsible for cross-Straits peace and stability, she seems to regard the mainland as a "threat" to the island's development, rather than an opportunity. The truth is, the stance she has adopted will prove counter-productive, because expressing her support for the 1992 Consensus is the only way to prolong cross-Straits exchanges and enhance mutual political trust. The author is an associate professor at the Collaborative Innovation Centre for Peaceful Development of Cross-Straits Relations. Doves fly over the Peace Memorial Park with a view of the gutted A-bomb dome at a ceremony in Hiroshima, Japan August 6, 2006. [Photo/Agencies] The White House announced on Tuesday that US President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima later this month when he visits the country to attend the G7 Summit. It will be the first visit by a sitting US president. However, it would be wrong to interpret this as a message that the US is apologizing for the atomic bomb it dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945, which killed tens of thousands of Japanese. Hiroshima was the target for the world's first use of a nuclear weapon. A US Army Air Force B-29 called the Enola Gay the name of the flight commander's mother dropped the Uranium-235 implosive device. Around 75,000 people were killed immediately and another estimated 125,000 died in the following years from the radiation and other injuries they sustained. Three days later, the only other use of nuclear weapons against a human-inhabited target so far took place, when another US B-29 bomber carrying a more powerful plutonium device destroyed the Japanese city of Nagasaki. US policymakers led by then president Harry S. Truman approved the attacks as a desperate measure to end World War II without having to launch Operation Olympic, the allied invasion of the home islands of Japan. Sober US military assessments estimated that the invasion might cost hundreds of thousands Americans dead and millions more Japanese casualties. The war that Truman wanted to end as rapidly as possible had already cost, by most recent estimates, 80 million lives including at least 27 million Russian dead, 16 million Chinese, overwhelmingly civilians, and the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust. But what is always forgotten across the United States and Europe is that the terrible war did not begin with the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939: it began with the Japanese invasion and effort to conquer China in 1937. In the first nightmarish summer of war in 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army drove west up the Yangtze River Valley, slaughtering everyone in their path. When they reached the Chinese capital of Nanjing, they carried out the first monstrous atrocity of the war, the Rape of Nanjing, killing at least 300,000 people and the mass rape of untold numbers of Chinese women. The atrocities were so terrible they even shocked card-carrying German members of the Nazi Party who witnessed them. Ironically, the city of Hiroshima played a fateful role in these awful events. For the Imperial Japanese Army's military headquarters from which the drive up the Yangtze and the subjugation of Nanjing were directed was based in Hiroshima. In the more than 70 years since those awful events, Hiroshima has become the symbol of the feared new nuclear age. It is, therefore, understandable that the Japanese media are stressing the issue of nuclear non-proliferation. That should be a priority issue at the G7 Summit. That is especially the case since it follows so rapidly after the conclusion of US President Barack Obama's latest Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC. But as today's government in Tokyo supports the confrontational US maritime policies in the South China Sea, those attending the summit would also do well to recall the reckless, headlong charge into war of the militarist Japanese governments of the 1930s. For the road to Hiroshima truly began with the atrocities of the drive up the Yangtze eight years earlier. The author is a national columnist for the Post-Examiner online newspapers in the US and senior fellow of the American University in Moscow. He is the author of Cycles of Change: The Three Great Cycles of American History [2016-05-05 09:15] Jose is nobody more than a foreign teacher,neither a hero nor a celebrity,but we like him deeply.I am convinced that he is a positive person, otherwise how can he dare to go to an unacquainted country alone with an unsubstantial foundation of Chinese. The ancient castle in Luxembourg. [Photo provided to China Daily] Some 250,000 Chinese traveled to Luxembourg last year, often visiting neighboring countries Germany and France as part of their tours, according to Luxembourg for Tourism. Anne Hoffmann, director general of Luxembourg for Tourism, the country's official agency, recently told media in Beijing that historical sites apart, shopping was the main draw for Chinese. "Compared with bigger cities, they would find all luxury shops within walking distances and it really saves time and energy," she said. Tourists could spend half a day in the older parts of capital Luxembourg City, a world heritage site, and then head to the countryside for natural views, Hoffmann said. The country in western Europe boasts castles, cuisines, wines and four international routes for hikers. Related: Shichahai Lake's wild duck population rising Rodrigo Duterte, seven-term mayor of Davao city, gestures during an interview in Manila, Philippines, in this file picture taken December 10, 2015. [Photo/Agencies] BEIJING - Winner of the Philippine presidential election will have a fresh chance to find a win-win solution to his country's issues with China in the South China Sea. An unofficial, partial tally of votes at 2:00 am Tuesday indicated that the next president could be Davao city mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Among various challenges awaiting the new Philippine leader is finding a proper solution to South China Sea disputes. It is a chance to cast aside his predecessor's unilateral practices and bring the matter back to the negotiating table, which can only be good for Sino-Philippine relations in particular and regional peace and stability in general. During his campaign, Duterte did not rule out talks with China. By unilaterally initiating arbitration over the South China Sea, the Philippines has stirred up trouble and aggravated the situation. Filipinos may have come to realize that a die-hard confrontation will do no one any good. Since 1949, China has solved boundary issues with 12 of its 14 land neighbors via consultation. China and Vietnam have delineated the maritime boundary in the Beibu Gulf through negotiations. It is difficult to predict what attitude the new Philippine leader will take, and whether Philippine politicians will follow through with their promises, but the chance to set a course toward a positive and lasting solution should not be allowed to drift by. The door for dialogue remains, as it always has been, open. Recaptured drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City, Mexico, Jan 8, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] MEXICO CITY - A federal judge has ruled that extraditing Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States was appropriate, Mexico's federal judicial authority said on Monday. The Federal Judicial Council (CJF) said that the Third District Court for Federal Criminal Processes in Mexico City gave a favorable opinion on the issue after agreeing that the legal requirements laid out in the extradition treaty between the two countries had been met. Guzman has been wanted by the Southern District of California's federal court since 2001 on charges of criminal association for importing and possessing cocaine with the intention of distributing it in US territory, said the CJF. The legal decision confirms that Mexico meets all the necessary legal formalities to be able to deliver the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel to the United States. However, the decision is not binding and does not mean that extradition will happen. The final decision to extradite Guzman to Mexico's northern neighbor will come from the Latin American country's government through the Foreign Ministry which, until now, has not issued an official position on the matter. In the meantime, the druglord can not be extradited because his defense has obtained, from another federal judge in Mexico City, a provisional suspension against handing Guzman over to the United States. His team of lawyers also lodged an appeal with a federal collegiate tribunal in Mexico's capital against the court's decision which was in favor of extradition. Guzman, who has escaped twice from maximum security prisons since 2001, was transferred to a federal prison in Ciudad Juarez in the northern state of Chihuahua on Saturday. Guzman had to be moved to the northern prison because the Altiplano prison in the central State of Mexico, where he was previously staying, is currently undergoing maintenance to improve security, according to Mexico's government. "El Chapo" had been kept in Altiplano prison since Jan 8 after being recaptured by marines in the city of Los Mochis in the northwestern state of Sinaloa. He was recaptured six months after he escaped from Altiplano through an underground tunnel in July 2015. Before Mexican judges, the druglord faces a dozen trials for crimes related to drug trafficking and money laundering. Guzman is also awaiting a decision from another federal judge regarding a second petition for his extradition to the United States lodged by a court in Texas. This court wants "El Chapo" for offences such as organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, murder and possessing firearms. BERLIN - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met with his visiting Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla here on Tuesday. Both expressed readiness to promote bilateral cooperation between Germany and Cuba. Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Steinmeier said he was pleased to see that the German-Cuban cooperation could be promoted after years of deadlock. He was confident that agreements being negotiated on future cooperation between the two countries in the fields of economy and culture could be signed in the current year. The "political, economic and cultural interest in Cuba," the minister further noted, is "great in Germany and continues to grow," adding that his country is willing to support the "Cuban way of opening." For his part, Rodriguez Parrilla believed there was great potential in the Cuban-German cooperation, particularly in the development of economic relations between the two countries. As for the current situation in Cuba, the minister said his country was pursuing "very long-term development goals" and "even as a small country" has "some very interesting competitive advantages" to offer. Tuesday's meeting is the second one between the two within 10 months. Steinmeier paid a visit to the Cuban capital Havana in July 2015 following a restoration of diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States. Rodriguez Parrilla's return visit has become the first official visit to Berlin by an Cuban foreign minister since Germany's reunification in 1990. WASHINGTON/NEW YORK - US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in West Virginia's primary, winning over voters deeply skeptical about the economy and signaling the difficulty Clinton may have in industrial states in the general election. The loss slows Clinton's march to the nomination, but she is still heavily favored to become the Democratic candidate in the Nov 8 election. In a November match-up with Donald Trump, Clinton will need to win over working-class voters in the US Rust Belt, which includes key states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Trump, 69, won contests in West Virginia and Nebraska handily on Tuesday. The presumptive Republican nominee is set to meet with party leaders in the US Congress on Thursday, including US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan. After Ryan said last week that he was not yet ready to endorse Trump, Trump said on Sunday that he would have to decide whether he still wanted Ryan to preside over the party's July convention. Trump said in a Fox interview on Tuesday night that he would like Ryan to chair the convention as planned. "He's a very good man, he wants what's good for the party," the New York billionaire said. Trump has zeroed in on Clinton's protracted battle with Sanders, a 74-year-old US senator from Vermont. He has taunted Clinton in recent days by saying she "can't close the deal" by beating Sanders, her only rival for the Democratic Party's nomination since Feb 1. Clinton, 68, has said she will ignore Trump's personal insults, including his repeated use of his new nickname for her, "Crooked Hillary," and instead will criticize his policy pronouncements. The first Colombian Flower Showcase is held in the Colombian Embassy in Beijing, in which people could see more than 11,000 fresh flowers transported over from Colombia. [Photo by Yan Dongjie/chinadaily.com.cn] BEIJING - More than 11,000 flowers were flown all the way from Colombia to Beijing on Tuesday, and decorated the Colombian Embassy's backyard. It's the first Colombian Flower Showcase held in China, after which more flowers from Colombia will show up in the following 18th Hortiflorexpo IPM Beijing held on May 11 to 13. Dozens of enterprises and representatives from Colombia attended the showcase held at the embassy, aiming to promote Colombian flowers as well as tourism. "We want China to realize even though we are far away, we have the opportunity to bring flowers, including roses, carnations and chrysanthemums," said Carmenza Jaramillo, Columbian Ambassador to China, adding that the flower industry plays a significant role in the Colombian economy. Carmenza Jaramillo, Colombian Ambassador to China, says that the flower industry plays a significant role in the Colombian economy and she hopes for more business with Chinese companies. [Photo by Yan Dongjie/chinadaily.com.cn] Jairo Cadavid, promotion and communications director of Colombian Flower Exporters, is trying to bring Colombian products to China's market. He said that he's happy to see that 1600 species of Colombian flowers officially landed in China because of the event. Colombia ranks second in the world, only behind the Dutch, in flower production and exports. The amount of Colombian exports reaches more than 100 million dollars each year. Wang Chuncheng, deputy director of Beijing Expo 2019 coordination bureau, said that Colombian weather contributed to the high quality of Colombian flowers. "Compared to Chinese roses, Colombian roses are bigger and more expensive," said Wang. Roses from Colombia are bigger than those from the south of China, but much more expensive, and the price can be more than 20 times that of the domestically produced ones, said Yu Shui, general manager of Zhejiang Ourbloom Technology. [Photo by Yan Dongjie/chinadaily.com.cn] In recent years, the demand for flowers in the Chinese market has been growing. Yu Shui, general manager of Zhejiang Ourbloom Technology Co Ltd's, said that the company's revenue has grown to 400 million yuan ($61 million) from 2 million yuan in the past seven years. Currently, Yu's company mainly cooperates with flower providers from the Netherlands, Ecuador, Sweden and South Korea, and he looks forward to learning more about Colombian flowers but also has his reservations. "It's still new here, and the only thing I know now is that the price might be high, which won't be very competitive," said Yu. This combination of file pictures shows candidates for the upcoming UN secretary-general election: (from top left) former UN high commissioner for refugees Antonio Guterres, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) head Helen Clark, Montenegro's deputy prime minister Igor Luksic, director-general of UNESCO Irina Bokova, former minister of foreign affairs and European integration of Moldova Natalia Gherman, former president of Slovenia Danilo Turk, former Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusic, and former prime minister of Macedonia and former UN General Assembly president Srgjan Kerim, created on April 12, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] UNITED NATIONS - UN General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft said on Tuesday that another session of public auditions with new candidates for the position of next UN secretary-general will be scheduled on June 7. Lykketoft told reporters that he expects at least a couple of more candidates will be officially announced by governments during May, and he will organize additional informal dialogues for candidates being presented up till then to meet the 193-member General Assembly. Without naming the new candidates, Lykketoft said there is no official deadline for UN chief candidates being nominated and he urged member states and potential candidates to come forward now. From April 12-14, nine UN secretary-general candidates have been asked to submit their resumes and answer questions publicly raised by UN member states as well as the civil society. During those three days, more than 800 questions have been asked; around 227,000 people from 209 countries and territories watched the audition on website. Under the UN Charter, the UN secretary-general shall be appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. In practice, the 15-member Security Council and its five permanent members will make the final choice and send a single candidate to the General Assembly for approval. "EU-SCIP 2016", the first-ever joint full-scale exercise with the participation of both European and Chinese civil protection teams, starts in Shanghai Chemical Industry Park on Wednesday. The joint full-scale exercise aims to test and reinforce the Chinese civil protection system across all levels, and will last until May 13. The exercise is taking place at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park, home to production plants of several large European and Chinese enterprises in the chemical sector. It is one of the highlights of the EU-China Disaster Risk Management Project, a five-year project supporting China's work in disaster risk reduction and emergency preparedness. EU Commissioner Christos Stylianides said, "The close collaboration between the European and Chinese civil protection experts in this novel joint exercise visibly illustrates the achievements of the EU-China Disaster Risk Management Project. It shows that, learning from each other, we can significantly enhance disaster preparedness to limit the impact of potential future disasters." During the three-day exercise, European and Chinese civil protection teams will respond to a simulated scenario based on a series of chemical incidents resulting from a powerful typhoon striking China, affecting the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park directly and provoking the collapse of some buildings, as well as a fire in a warehouse storing dangerous chemicals. As a consequence, dense smoke and toxic gases along with the leak of a toxic liquid generating a plume of toxic vapour would threaten the health of residents in nearby districts. In addition, a ship overturned by the typhoon leaks toxic liquids and fuel, polluting the water. Due to the seriousness of the many disasters, Chinese authorities request EU assistance via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. As a full-scale exercise, the exercise includes both table-top exercises and onsite drills. On the Chinese side, professional rescue teams, volunteer civil protection units, municipal, provincial and national governments and the population of two districts of Shanghai will participate. The EU civil protection team is working in close collaboration with Chinese civil protection experts, contributing to the Chinese response efforts. Three European enterprises with large production sites in the Industry Park are participating in the onsite drills. People react as they see DPRK leader Kim Jong-un during a mass rally and parade in the capital's main ceremonial square, a day after the ruling party wrapped up its first congress in 36 years by elevating him to party chairman, in Pyongyang, DPRK, May 10, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] PYONGYANG - A mass rally and parade took place in central Pyongyang Tuesday to celebrate the end of the four-day Workers' Party Congress, which ended Monday in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Kim Yong-nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, delivered a speech before the parade, in which he reiterated that the DPRK has become a nuclear state and congratulated top leader Kim Jong-un for being elected as chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK). The parade mobilized hundreds of thousands of Pyongyang citizens and took months of practice. They walked past the podium, chanting in tears "Long live Comrade Kim Jong-un" and "Long live the WPK." Kim Jong-un waved to them from time to time. Kim Jong-un was elected chairman of the WPK during the 7th party congress. He had been the first secretary of the party since April 2012. DPRK leader Kim Jong-un waves from Kim Il-sung Square before the start of a mass rally to celebrate the successful Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), in this undated photo released by DPRK's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang, on May 10, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] Meanwhile, two more individuals were elected to the WPK's Standing Committee of the Political Bureau, raising the number of committee members from three to five. Previously, the members of the committee included Kim Jong-un, Kim Yong-nam and Hwang Pyong-so, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People's Army. The ruling party's 7th congress opened last Friday for the first time in 36 years. It was the first party congress since Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011. The party congress not only mapped out a course for future development and mulled state and economic policies, but also became a chance to consolidate Kim Jong-un's grip on power and strengthen the people's loyalty to the core leadership. The conceptual design rendering of hyperloop passenger transport capsule. [Photo/IC] The Hyperloop is a hypothetical mode of high-speed transportation proposed by the entrepreneur and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Musk envisioned the system as a 'fifth mode' of transportation: an alternative to boats, aircraft, automobiles, and trains. The open source technology would, according to the initial "Alpha" design released on August 12, 2013, enable travel from the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area in 35 minutes, meaning that passengers would traverse the proposed 569 kilometres (354 mi) route at an average speed of just under 962 km/h (598 mph), and a top speed of 1,223 km/h (760 mph). Pictured: LAS VEGAS - Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles company working to develop the futuristic transportation technology, on Tuesday announced the closing of $80 million in financing and said it plans to conduct a full system test before the end of the year. A hyperloop would whisk passengers and cargo in pods through a low pressure tube at speeds of up to 750 miles per hour (1,207 km per hour). Maglev technology would levitate the pods to reduce friction in the city-to-city system, which would be fully autonomous and electric powered. Hyperloop One builds off a design by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has suggested it would be cheaper, faster and more efficient than high speed rail projects, including the one currently being built in California. Speaking on the eve of the first demonstration test of the propulsion in the Las Vegas desert, Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd tried to dispel criticism that the technology is unproven and better suited for science fiction than practical use. "It's real, it's happening now, and we're going to demonstrate how this company is making it happen," he said at a press conference. He likened hyperloop technology to the emergence of the US railroad system and the era of prosperity it ushered in. Lloyd also announced a competition to determine where the first Hyperloop One system should be built, with an announcement expected next year. BEIJING -- China on Wednesday suggested the United States, when talking about "freedom of navigation," make a distinction between commercial ships and warships. Freedom of navigation for commercial vessels has never been obstructed in the South China Sea, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang at a daily press briefing. US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific Daniel Russel said on Tuesday in Vietnam that freedom of navigation operations were important to smaller nations. "If the world's most powerful navy can not sail where international law permits, then what happens to the ships of navy of smaller countries?" Russel told reporters. The United States appears to advocate freedom of navigation for military vessels in the South China Sea, which is against international law, said Lu, noting that no other country in the world would even suggest such a thing. According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), foreign vessels enjoy the right of innocent passage through territorial seas, but military vessels are not endowed with the same right, said Lu. The United States refused to ratify the UNCLOS and introduced "freedom of navigation" operations in 1979. These operations have met with opposition from the very beginning, especially from smaller nations, he said. "We hope the US will respect basic facts when talking about the feelings of smaller nations," he said, suggesting the United States sign and ratify the convention as soon as possible to give its words on international law more force. China on Tuesday expressed "resolute opposition" to a US warship patrol in the South China Sea near Yongshu Jiao in the Nansha Islands. The warship, USS William P. Lawrence, illegally entered Chinese waters near the islands on Tuesday without the permission of the Chinese government. A NASA photo shows a SpaceX Dragon capsule as it is released from the International Space Station in this image released to social media on May 11, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] WASHINGTON -- A commercial cargo ship, operated by US private space firm SpaceX, left the International Space Station on Wednesday morning, after delivering almost 7,000 pounds (3,200 kg) of cargo to the orbiting lab. The Dragon capsule, which arrived at the space station on April 10, was released at 9:19 a.m. EDT (1319 GMT) from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module as the two flew over Australia. Dragon will fire its thrusters three times to move to a safe distance from the station and a final deorbit burn will occur at about 2 p.m. (1800 GMT) sending the spacecraft into Earth's atmosphere, US space agency NASA said. The capsule was expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean at 2:55 p.m. (1855 GMT), about 261 miles (420 km) southwest of Long Beach, California. A recovery team will retrieve the capsule and its more than 3,700 pounds (about 1,700 kg) of return cargo, including the final batch of human research samples from former NASA astronaut Scott Kerry's one-year mission, which ended in March. Dragon, the only space station resupply spacecraft able to return to Earth intact, was launched on April 8 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, for the company's eighth NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission to the station. GENEVA -- China and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance partnership in the field of intellectual property (IP) protection. The memorandum was signed between China's Minister of State Administration for Industry and Commerce Zhang Mao and the director general of WIPO Francis Gurry. While placing particular emphasis on the Madrid System, a one-stop solution for registering and managing trademarks worldwide, the memorandum builds on a covenant signed by both parties in 2010. In light of China's economic growth, trademark law reforms and the country's efforts to streamline trademark registration, the agreement also takes into account China's growing role in the field of IP. According to statistics, close to 2.9 million trademark applications were made in China last year, up from 766,319 in 2006. China also ranked sixth in 2015 in terms of the number of applications filed under the Madrid System, with 2,321 applications filed by Chinese applicants. "There is a huge potential for more Chinese application filings with the Madrid System," Zhang said. "In the future, we'll continue to encourage Chinese enterprises to use trademarks in their 'Go Global' strategy, strengthen the promotion, training and consultancy of the Madrid System, and carry out universal education on international registration of trademarks," he added. The minister hoped that the Madrid System would become the favored option for enterprises seeking to register international trademarks. He also highlighted the importance of promoting Chinese brands internationally, in line with the country's status as the world's second largest economy. "We believe that, in the next decade, trademark and brand strategies will be an important driver for economic development," he said Zhang said China will continue with its market reforms and allow brands to play their active role of promoting competition, stimulating innovation and driving development. A national flag hangs across a street of houses in London, the UK, June 3, 2015. [Photo/CFP] The Chinese companies and other foreign investors which hold or want to buy properties in UK must state who really owns them, according to the press office of Prime Minister David Cameron. Cameron will be announcing a set of new global commitments at today's anti-corruption summit, to which China has sent a delegation. And it is expected that the Chinese delegation will be expressing the country's determination to continue its iron-fisted efforts in uprooting corruption. The UK has attracted a growing number of Chinese companies and individual investors who have been buying properties in recent years while the bilateral economic and trade relations have deepened. Cameron will also announce that the UK will host the first ever International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre in London to strengthen cross-border investigations. According to the press office, any foreign company that wants to buy UK property or bid for central government contracts here will have to join a new public register of beneficial ownership information before they can do so. This will be the first register of its kind anywhere in the world. Crucially, it will include companies who already own property in the UK, not just those wishing to buy. Foreign companies own around 100,000 properties in England and Wales. Over 44,000 of these are in London. The new register for foreign companies will mean corrupt individuals and countries will no longer be able to move, launder and hide illicit funds through London's property market, and will not benefit from public funds. France, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Afghanistan will follow the UK's lead and commit to launch their own public registers of true company ownership, while Australia, New Zealand, Jordan, Indonesia, Ireland and Georgia will agree to take the initial steps towards making similar arrangements. The UK will launch its own fully public register next month the first G20 country to do so. His press office reported that Cameron will say at the summit that a global problem needs a truly global solution. It needs an unprecedented, courageous commitment from world leaders to stand united, to speak into the silence, and to demand change. "That is why I am hosting this summit. Today is just the start of a more co-ordinated, ambitious global effort to defeat corruption," the press office quoted Cameron as saying. To contact the reporter: fujing@chinadaily.com.cn CRETE -- Doane College awarded 510 degrees during its Spring Commencement ceremony held Sunday, May 8 in Cassel Open Air Theatre in Crete. Delivering the keynote address for the morning ceremony for the School of Graduate and Professional Studies and Graduate Programs in Education was Jeanne Pashalek, former captain and battalion chief for Lincoln Fire & Rescue. Pashalek served as a firefighter for 25 years and became the first woman in LFR history to become an officer. She is a 1985 graduate of Doane's School of Arts and Sciences and received her Masters of Management from Doane's School of Graduate and Professional Studies in 2009. Local artist Karen Kunc delivered the keynote address for the School of Arts & Sciences ceremony in the afternoon. Kunc has taught at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 1983 and was named the Willa Cather Professor of Art in 2003. Her area of focus is printmaking, and her artwork has been show in more than 350 exhibitions nationally and internationally. In 2014, she opened Constellation Studios in Lincoln as a creative work-site for print, paper and book projects, inviting artists for residencies, workshops, print publishing and project collaborations. Local graduates included: Adams, NE Kalynn B. Fritzen, Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, Beatrice, NE Shana Townsend Ensz, Master of Education in Educational Leadership, Katherine E. Johnson, Bachelor of Arts, Sociology Damen Kent Kugel, Master of Education in Educational Leadership, DeWitt, NE Sydney M. Holtmeier, Bachelor of Science, Physical Education Du Bois, NE Janae Leigh Koester, Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration Fairbury, NE Virginia L. Chesley, Bachelor of Arts, Professional Studies in Business Ashton V. Feldkamp, Bachelor of Science, Natural Science, Summa Cum Laude Sarah A. Roesler, Master of Education in Educational Leadership, Firth, NE Brian M. Walvoord, Bachelor of Arts, Music Hickman, NE Kathleen J. Hendrix, Bachelor of Arts, Professional Studies in Accounting, Summa Cum Laude Pawnee City, NE Garrett C. Borcher, Bachelor of Arts, Elementary Education, Magna Cum Laude Michaela Louise Parks, Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration Sterling, NE Kellen R. Unvert, Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration Tecumseh, NE Zachary R. Kaster, Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry Kale D. Wolken, Bachelor of Arts, Accounting Wilber, NE Dalton Alvin Aksamit, Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration Dillon D. Bates, Bachelor of Arts, Sociology Millanna Beck, Bachelor of Arts, History Derek M. Filipi, Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration & History Caytlin Rae Haselbush, Bachelor of Arts, Elementary Education & Special Education Marysville, KS Chelsie M. Detimore, Bachelor of Science, Biology (Photo : US Army) A truck destroyed by a battlefield laser tested by the US Army. Advertisement The U.S. Air Force will test its first airborne combat lasers on AC-130 gunships and modified C-17 Globemaster cargo aircraft by 2021. This will be a prelude to deploying smaller but powerful lasers on jet fighter aircraft such as the F-35 and F-15 and on aerial drones. The lasers will give U.S. fighters virtually unlimited ammunition with which to destroy enemy aircraft such as jets, bombers and aerial drones. Currently, the combat effectiveness of U.S. fighters is limited by the number of air-to-air missiles or cannon ammunition they can carry. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement For the fifth generation F-35 Lightning II, that limitation means a maximum of 10 air-to-air missiles and about 200 rounds of 20 mm ammunition for its four-barreled cannon. The lasers destined for the stealthy F-35 will generate in excess of 10 kilowatts, the current minimum for these weapons. These weapons will be capable of firing hundreds of bursts of intensely amplified light to burn through the fuselage of opposing aircraft and shoot them down. Currently, the Air Force's developmental efforts are focused on increasing the power, precision and guidance of existing laser weapons with the hope of advancing from 10 kW to 100 kW. The first airborne tests for 100 kW airborne combat lasers are expected to take place by 2021 with probable deployment by 2023, said the Air Force. The Air Force will first test the laser weapons on larger aircraft such as C-17s and AC-130s until miniaturization allows these powerful weapons to fire from fighter jets such as the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-22 Raptor and the F-35. Ground testing of the High Energy Laser (HEL) is being conducted by the Air Force Directed Energy Directorate. Advertisement Tagslaser, U.S. Air Force, AC-130 gunship, F-35, F-15, High Energy Laser (Photo : Reuters) Disappearance of five Pacific Islands is attributed to the rising seas and erosion. Advertisement A new report from Australian researchers has revealed that five tiny Pacific islands have disappeared because of the rising seas and erosion. The missing islands, part of the Solomon Archipelago, were not inhabited by human beings. There completely disappeared under water over the past seven decades, one drawing its last breath as recently as 2011. However, the six other islands were found to have seen swathes of land turn into sea, destroying entire villages. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The study, which was published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, reviewed 33 islands using aerial and satellite imagery from 1947 to 2014 and combined it with historical insight and local knowledge. They discovered that the archipelago had seen sea levels rise as much as as 10mm (0.4in) every year for the past two decades. The study is the first scientific confirmation of what residents in the Pacific have been saying for years their islands are disappearing. The Solomon Islands are a sparsely populated archipelago of more than 900 islands that lie east of Papua New Guinea, and as low-lying islands are particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise. The study was done by University of Queensland scientists Simon Albert, Alistair Grinham, and Badin Gibbes, University of the Sunshine Coasts Javier Leon, John Church of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, and University of Wollongongs Colin Woodroffe. "The human element of this is alarming. Working alongside people on the frontline who have lost their family home -- that they've had for four to five generations -- it's quite alarming," said study's lead author Simon Albert of the University of Queensland. One of the affected islands is Nuatambu, and it has seen serious coastal erosion as water levels rise; since 2011, 50-percent of its habitable land is gone, as are 11 of the houses that used to be on that land. There are said to be 25 families living on the island. In addition, the study raises questions about the role of government in relocation planning, said a Solomon Islands official. The Solomon Islands was among the 175 nations who in April signed a global agreement reached in Paris to curb climate change. Advertisement Tagssolomon islands, Pacific Ocean, Climate Change, Paris Agreement, sea level, pacific islands (Photo : Canadian Space Agency/Facebook) Gadoury, 15, discovered a lost Mayan city in Belize with Google Maps. Advertisement A 15 year old boy from Canada claims to have discovered a lost Mayan civilization deep inside the jungles of South America using Google Maps. William Gadoury from Quebec, used an ingenious method by overlaying ancient Mayan constellation maps over important ancient Mayan cities, where he believes he saw some structures that somewhat resemble one of these cities, in Belize. Using these two maps, the Mayan cities appear to possess a master plan that is similar to important stellar constellations. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement However, Gadoury noticed that a city seems to be missing from the maps. There was this single star from the constellation map that did not match with any known Mayan city in that area. The teenager then thought that if there is an important star on that area, it must correspond to a hidden city, where he then proceeded to search for it via Google Earth. In his surprise, Gadoury successfully located this previously missing and unknown Mayan city and also verified that his theory was correct, that ancient Mayans use important constellation maps for city planning. By using transparencies from these constellations, he laid them out on top of maps obtained from Google Earth, across the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, where he was surprised to see how perfectly aligned the Mayan cities to the Yucatan. In his research, Gadoury discovered 117 Mayan cities out of those 142 stars from the ancient constellation maps, where the biggest cities and capitals also correspond to the brightest stars. When he discovered this lost ancient city, the 23rd constellation from the map revealed some telltale clues. Gadoury then checked his information with the Canadian Space Agency where the agency provided him with NASA and JAXA Japanese Agency satellite maps. In that particular region, Gadoury quickly discovered in the satellite images that a great forest fire in 2005 devastated the region which was also an advantage for him since this enabled him to make out the remnants from the Mayan city. Based on the satellite images, the ancient city appeared to be the fourth largest Mayan city to be found, where Gadoury named this lost city K'AAK 'CHI, which means "Fire Mouth". Gadoury's findings also reveal that the Mayans have meticulously selected the locations of their cities than previously known, indicating extremely controlled city planning. The Mayans apparently possess land surveying methods that are far more complex than previously thought, as they have mapped out 117 cities to match with the stars in their constellation maps, via Gadoury's discovery. Advertisement Tagsmayan civilizations, lost mayan city, ancient civilizations, Mayan, mayan maps (Photo : ANU) A fragment of the oldest hafted axe in human history? Advertisement A minute stone flake from northwestern Australia dug up by an archaeologist over two decades ago is now being touted as the world's oldest example of a "hafted axe" or an axe with a handle. That claim is being questioned by other scientists. The controversy involves a sliver of basalt just 11 millimeters long its discoverer, Prof. Sue O'Connor from the Australian National University, claims comes from the oldest hafted axe ever discovered. The fragment appears to have been ground smooth, evidence it had been worked on by human hands. She estimated the age of the axe at between 45,000 to 49,000 years old. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The fragment is 10,000 years older than the previous oldest known fragments found in 2010 in northern Australia. The discovery also coincides with the arrival of people in Australia. Archaeologists say hafted axes are normally associated with the development of agriculture. The scientists that discovered the axe fragment claim it proves an adaptation to a new environment by the very first Australians. "We know that they didn't have axes where they came from," said O'Connor. "There's no axes in the islands to our north. They arrived in Australia and innovated axes." That claim is being disputed by Prof. John Shea, a stone tool expert at Stony Brook University in the United States. Prof. Shea noted that because the flake is the only one of its kind makes it difficult to draw confident conclusions as to its significance. He noted that its smooth surface might have derived from other than human action. Even if it were an axe blade, there is no proof it was ever a hafted weapon. "The evidence is essentially one flake -- one piece of stone out of hundreds and hundreds that they've excavated from this rock shelter site," according to the BBC. "They would make a stronger case if they could show that similar chips with edge abrasion occurred at a greater number of sites." Similar objects of this kind could link this ancient discovery to times and locations where ground axes are more common. Without this link, there is "still reason for doubt" that the little fragment is, indeed, from an axe blade. Advertisement TagsAustralia, hafted axe, Prof. Sue O'Connor, Australian National University, Prof. John Shea, Stony Brook University, basalt (Photo : Getty Images) China has said it supports Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte and hopes to work with the new administration in Manila despite the current spat between the two nations over the South China Sea. Advertisement China has said it hopes to improve bilateral ties with the Philippines following the victory of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte in the country's recent elections. China's foreign ministry said it will support the new government of the Philippines and will work with President-elect Duterte to solve the territorial spat in the South China Sea. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Beijing called on Manila to exert more efforts to lower the increasing tension between the two sides over the South China Sea issue. Bilateral relations Foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a news briefing that China hopes the Philippines will meet Beijing halfway in tackling the South China Sea issue and take the necessary steps to improve bilateral relations. "Beijing hopes the Philippines will meet China halfway, taking concrete measures to properly deal with the disputes so as to put the ties between the two countries back on the track of sound development," said Lu. Lu noted that although the two nations continue to maintain their 'traditional friendship,' the bilateral relations between the two sides have been confronted with major obstacles in recent years brought about by moves of the Philippines in challenging China's claims to the disputed waters. Sino-Philippine ties hit a snag after Manila filed a territorial case against Beijing before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague three years ago. Verdict The court is expected to hand down a verdict in the coming weeks, and it is widely expected to go against China. The Philippines challenged China's claims in the South China Sea, questioning its validity under international law. While China backs bilateral negotiations with claimant countries to solve the South China Sea row, newly-elected President Duterte is pushing for multilateral talks with third party countries such as the United States, Japan, and Australia to address the conflict. Beijing and Manila have been accusing one another of encroaching into each other's territories in the South China Sea. China is laying claim to a large portion of the disputed waters. "Disputes should be properly settled by countries directly concerned through negotiation and consultation while respecting the historical facts and international law," Lu said. Chinese political observers have said the new Philippine government under President-elect Duterte would be good news for Beijing considering its public disdain for outgoing Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, who has challenged China's sovereignty over its islands in the disputed waters. Beijing also criticized Aquino's moves to enhance military ties and strengthen security cooperation with the US, Manila's key ally. Advertisement TagsPhilippine President-Elect Rodrigo Duterte, Sino-Philippine ties, South China Sea, bilateral relations, Permanent Court of Arbitration, china (Photo : University of Sydney/Australian Archaeology.) The world's oldest axe fragment, seen here under a microscope, is the size of a thumbnail Advertisement The world's oldest battle axe has apparently been unearthed in Australia, making this the first known blade to utilize a handle to add more power and force upon wielding it. Researchers from several universities worldwide have identified this broken basalt shard which originated from a 49,000 to 44,000 year old axe. According to lead author of the study, Peter Hiscock from the University of Sydney, this axe is a possible technological innovation that was first used by the earliest Aboriginal settlers in Australia. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement He explains that there are no known axes from Southeast Asia during the Ice age, which suggests that humans who first arrived in Australia began experimenting with new technologies, inventing ways to adapt to the new, Australian landscape and environment. This type of axe is not only efficient for cutting wood and meat, but also as a weapon of war. Cutting stones were used as early as 700,000 years back, however, shaping a blade out of sharp stone, making an axe head and attaching a handle to it, represents a significant leap in the evolution of humans, signifying human intelligence. When it comes to the origin and the evolution of mankind's first axe, archaeologists have been in the quest to determine the oldest one, where they discovered that axes uncovered in Australia were the oldest among other places. In this new study, this polished basalt was discovered in the early 1990s by Australian National University's Sue O'Connor, during excavation work of an ancient rock shelter in Western Australia's northern region of Kimberley in Carpenter's Gap. It is also the first known site in the continent that has been inhabited by early humans. This fragment was not examined and analyzed until 2014, where O'Connor says that these types of axes cannot be seen anywhere else especially dated this old. In Japan, similar axes are dated 35,000 years old, however, in most countries, they are dated around 10,000 years during the time when agriculture arrived and shaped modern civilizations. Researchers believe that in order to shape this basalt shard into a sharp head along with a base that can support a handle, would require several days of hard work. This in turn makes the first axe something of high value, a precious tool and asset as well. Some fragments also appear to be flaked off after resharpening. Even if the first axe technology could originate from Australia, knowledge of it did not spread among early Aboriginals beyond the north. Hiscock adds that colonizing groups may have abandoned the axe as humans spread out to deserts, in a more subtropical environment from tropical woodlands in the north. This new study is published in the journal Australian Archaeology. Advertisement Tagsfirst axe in the world, Australia, world's oldest axe, Human evolution (Photo : China Photos/Getty Images) A college student found a dead rat in the meal she ordered from her school canteen. Advertisement A student from a university in southern China found a dead rat in the food she got as a takeaway dinner from her school on Saturday, May 7. The student, from Hengyang Normal University in Henan province, was shocked to find a black hairy thing hiding behind some ingredients included in her meal taken from the school canteen, according to Peoples Daily Online affiliate Huanqiu. The black thing was a dead rat, which was perfectly camouflaged behind some wood ear fungus in the dish. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement The student posted photos of the rat and the food on Weibo, explaining that she initially thought the black thing was pigs trotter. I took it out [from the meal box], oh my god, it was a whole rat, she wrote in her post. I felt sick. I had a breakdown. The disgusted student added that she will never again touch any of the food from the university canteen. On Sunday, May 8, school officials launched an investigation to confirm the authenticity of the students post. They declared in a statement that the schools chef and his assistant were to blame for the incident, and immediately fired them both without payment. The school added that it will tighten its control over food ingredients, as well as increase the frequency of pest control operations. The school authorities have failed to explain how the rodent made its way into the students meal box. Rat Meal While the news of a dead rat hiding inside a school-prepared meal is disgusting, a Chinese delicacy composed of baby mice seems attractive to adventurous eaters. Video footage posted online in November 2015 shows a Chinese dish called San Zhi Er, or Three Squeaks, according to the Daily Mail. The delicacy is made up of living baby mice served with a plate of sauce. It is believed to be served in a restaurant in Guangdong in southern China. The video can be seen at the end of this report. The dish is given the name because of the sound the poor rodents make: first when the diner picks up the mice, second when it is dipped in the sauce, and third when it meets its demise. Although it is not widely known, the dish has existed since 1949. It is not clear if the dish is illegal. Advertisement TagsHengyang Normal University, Rat, Henan Province, wood ear fungus, San Zhi Er (Photo : Getty Images) T-Mobile's roaming service is now available in Cuba. Advertisement T-Mobile has announced that it has struck a roaming deal with state-owned Cuban network provider Empresa de Telecommunicaciones de Cuba SA (ETECSA). This deal will allow tourists and visitors to use text, voice, and data services starting this summer. The deal from T-Mobile and ETECSA follows the loosening of trade and travel restrictions between Cuba and the United States. An act pushed by the Obama administration and implemented last year. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Two more US carriers, Sprint and Verizon, announced a similar deal last fall. Tech giant Google is also looking for growth opportunities in Cuba, with hopes of expanding the country's Internet access. In a statement, T-Mobile chief executive officer John Legere said, "The historic opening of Cuba is a natural opportunity for us to take action, and we are. That's the Un-carrier way! We have more customers of Cuban descent than any other wireless provider - so connecting them with family and friends in Cuba is a message we heard loud and clear!" Legere added that T-Mobile currently provides service to 36.6 percent of Cuban-born wireless network users in the US. On top of that, the CEO said that Cuba is the number one most requested destination that T-Mobile customers ask to be added to the company's international roaming program. The network has yet to announce the official pricelist of its roaming plans. Verizon and Sprint customers pay around $2 per megabyte when they are using roaming services in Cuba. Prior to the recent historic opening of Cuba to the United States, a trade embargo that lasted for 50 years severely affected Havana's economic growth. As a result of this embargo, communications and technological infrastructure in Cuba had failed to keep up with modern standards, especially in wireless communication and the Internet. Advertisement TagsT-Mobile, Cuba, T-Mobile services, T-Mobile Cuba, T-Mobile roaming, T-Mobile News, T-Mobile services Cuba, T-Mobile Cuba roaming, T-Mobile update, Un-Carrier The page may have moved, you may have mistyped the address, or followed a bad link. Visit our homepage, or search for whatever you were looking for Do cultural, racial, or socioeconomic biases influence student discipline? Why do African American students receive a disproportionate number of short- and long-term suspensions from classroom teachers and administrators? Some have suggested that cultural, racial, and socioeconomic biases play a major role.Each year, the Consolidated Data Report includes data on school crime and violence, suspensions, expulsions, corporal punishment, reassignments for disciplinary reasons, alternative learning placements, and dropout rates. Despite slight overall increases across most categories in 2014-15, school crime, suspensions, and dropouts have been on the decline. But state education officials and leaders in the African American community remain concerned.African American students are still more likely than any other demographic to receive a short- or long-term suspension, both as a share of the racial/ethnic group and total. The number of short-term suspensions for African American students peaked at 149,654 in 2011. Five school years later, they received just over 118,100 short-term suspensions. Long-term suspensions have also been on the decline in recent years. The number of long-term suspensions for African American students in 2015 was less than half of what it was five school years earlier. But with a total of 601 long-term suspensions last year, African Americans far outnumber all other the demographics in this category.Even though fewer African American students have been given short- and long-term suspensions than in the past, NC Policy Watch reports that some are not content with the downward trends. Democratic Representatives Garland Pierce and Ed Hanes, N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, and NC Public Schools Forum program director James Ford have raised concerns about the disproportionate number of African Americans who are suspended from school. But there is disagreement about why.Rep. Pierce and Superintendent Atkinson blame cultural differences for the disproportionate suspension of African American students. On the other hand, Mr. Ford points to "implicit racial bias," subconscious attitudes and beliefs that manifest themselves through one's outward behavior. Hanes suggests that widespread opinions about poverty and socioeconomic status are responsible. Momentous data and research limitations prevent us from determining whether these theories have merit.This year, 81 percent of teachers and 72 percent of administrators in North Carolina district schools are white. We may wish for more diversity in our workforce, considering that only around half of the state's public school students are white, but we have to accept the fact that it remains a racially homogenous group. That does not mean, however, that there is a stereotypical white teacher. Each teacher, regardless of race or ethnicity, has unique educational, instructional, and disciplinary experiences that shape his or her classroom practices.Indeed, public school teachers will support high-quality professional development that helps them improve their craft. But their support will evaporate the moment you begin accusing them of being culturally insensitive, racist (implicit or otherwise), or classist for trying to maintain order in their classrooms, a challenging task under the best of circumstances.Most importantly, how would schools create racially equitable disciplinary policies in the real world? The process of maintaining a disciplinary record that mirrors racial demographics would either require schools to discipline African American children less, punish students from other racial groups more, or simply abolish traditional methods of disciplining students. In all three cases, I believe that the emphasis is misplaced. Perhaps correcting behavior that impedes the educational process, not fidelity to demographics, should be the focus of student discipline. Click here for the Education Update archive Israeli Christians believe Israel cannot be both a democracy and a Jewish state 11 May, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | JERUSALEM (Christian Examiner) Israeli Christians the vast majority of them of Arab descent are for democracy in Israel, but they're not so sure Israel is really concerned with a having a democracy that includes them, the Pew Research Center (PRC) said May 10. Christians make up just 2 percent of Israel's population, a figure actually lower than the percentage of Christians in Muslim countries throughout the Middle East (roughly 4 percent in 2010). Those few numbers make Christians wonder, the research firm said, if their interests are a concern to the Israeli government. Israeli Christians have political views similar to those of their fellow Arabs on several other issues as well. For example, majorities of Christians (80%) and Muslims (72%) say the Israeli government is not making a sincere effort to achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinians, and most Christians (79%) and Muslims (61%) in Israel also say the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank hurts Israel's security. And Israeli Christians (86%) and Muslims (75%) both overwhelmingly say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel. "Politically, Christians agree with Muslims in saying Israel cannot be a democracy and a Jewish state at the same time," the research firm said after an exhaustive study of religion in Israeli society in April. In fact, 72 percent of Israeli Christians feel that way, compared to 63 percent of Israelis who are Muslim. "Israeli Christians have political views similar to those of their fellow Arabs on several other issues as well. For example, majorities of Christians (80%) and Muslims (72%) say the Israeli government is not making a sincere effort to achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinians, and most Christians (79%) and Muslims (61%) in Israel also say the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank hurts Israel's security. And Israeli Christians (86%) and Muslims (75%) both overwhelmingly say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel." Unlike their fellow citizens who are Jewish, the survey also claimed that Israeli Christians are a fairly isolated and "close-knit" group, lacking the social and family connections share among Jewish and Muslim citizens. Some of that isolation may be the result of a lack of acceptance of Christians in Jewish society. Much of it may be because Christians have chosen to isolate themselves from Jews and Muslims. Twenty-one percent of Christians claimed all of their friends are Christian and 65 percent said their closest friends are Christian. Christians also marry almost exclusively within their faith in Israel and are uncomfortable with the idea of their children intermarrying with those of other faith groups. "Roughly nine-in-ten Christians say they would be "not too" comfortable (9%) or "not at all" comfortable (79%) with their child marrying a Jew, and eight-in-ten (80%) say they would be uncomfortable if a Muslim married into the family," the PRC claimed. PRC also writes that while Christians in Israel are generally less religious than Muslims, they are much more religious than Jews who fall into categories of religious, traditionally religious (adhering to customs but not faithfully religious), and secular. Among Christians, 57 percent claimed religion is "very important" to them, a figure 11 points lower than among Muslims. Only 30 percent of Jews claim religion is "very important" to them. Only about one-third of Israeli Christians are engaged in religious activities, such as prayer and church attendance on a regularly basis. According to the survey, 34 percent pray daily. Slightly more (38 percent) attend services weekly. Prayer and attendance at religious services was much higher among Muslims, and much lower among Jews. Israeli Christians have been feeling some pressure in recent days. In June 2015, a Christian church on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee was destroyed by arson. The church, reportedly the site of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, was set alight by extremists (likely Jewish extremists). The head of Lehava, a far-right Jewish group, Benzi Gopstein, defended the torching of the church as an act of defiance against Christian "idol worship." SBC president Ronnie Floyd agrees prayer can help alcohol temptation Editorial Staff | 10 May, 2016 by Joni B. Hannigan NEW YORK (Christian Examiner) Alcoholics don't have to look very far when fighting the urge to drink. In fact, a recent study shows staying on the wagon may be easier with a little help from the supernatural. Prayer, that is. In a formal study published earlier this month in the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, researchers reported recovering alcoholics who prayed after having no cravings leading up to the test still did not desire to drink. On the other hand, those who chose to read a newspaper reported an increase in craving alcohol. Chronic drinkers who prayed daily for four weeks, in an earlier study, ended up drinking about half that of those who did not pray. Ronnie Floyd, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and pastor of The Church at Pinnacle Hills in Springdale, Arkansas, told Christian Examiner it is not surprising that prayer helps to overcome such a strong temptation. "Anytime we face any temptation in life, the power of prayer can lead us to overcome this temptation," Floyd said. "Therefore, whether the temptation is related to alcohol or any other challenge in life that someone wrestles with, God can help anyone, anytime, anywhere, to do anything." What happens to a historic organization thats committed to circulating the Bible to as many people as possible when everyone who wants a copy of the Word of God already has access to one? How does such an institution continue its work when the Bible is so easily accessed via smart phones and apps? As we commemorate 200 years of the American Bible Society, we look back at a turning point in the organizations history. Bold Beginnings In 1829, the American Bible Society (ABS) set out on a new campaign: to provide a Bible to every family in the United States and do it in three years. It was a bold move for the relatively young organization that was founded with the sole object of encouraging the wider circulation of the Bible without note or comment. As the burgeoning United States moved westward, the leadership of the ABS became concerned that settlers in frontier regionsplaces like Alabama and Illinoisdid not have access to the Word of God. If the ABS could get the Bible in the hands of these Americans, the gospel would advance, the moral foundation of the American republic would be strengthened, and the country would remain Protestant in the midst of a growing wave of Catholic immigration. The General Supply was one of thousands of concentrated campaigns dedicated exposing people to the claims of the Bible. Founded in New York City in 1816 by some of the most prominent citizens in the nationmany of whom had led the country through the American Revolution a generation earlierthe ABS spent most of the 19th and 20th centuries bringing the Word to the world.The ABS called this mass distribution the General Supply. The work gained national attention, ... 1 One of the worlds largest advocates for the persecuted church has accused fellow Christian ministries of working against it. In January, trustees of Barnabas Aid International issued a 36-page document defending beleaguered Barnabas Fund founder and director Patrick Sookhdeo. Entitled Hard Pressed on Every Side, the public statement accused the Evangelical Alliance UK (EAUK), Open Doors, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), and Release International of sabotaging Barnabas by excluding it from joint efforts to aid persecuted Christians. Today, the EAUK released a six-page response, refuting specific allegations made by Barnabas. It is with sadness that we find ourselves needing to make this document available by way of public response to [Barnabas claims], stated the EAUK. It is our preference to conduct family business privately and relationally. However, the nature of [Hard Pressed], the wide circulation it achieved, and the ... 1 'One-Sided Neutrality': Facebook Suppression of Conservative News is Part of Censorship Pattern, NRB Says Contact: James A. Smith Sr., National Religious Broadcasters, 202-999-8714, jsmith@nrb.org WASHINGTON, May 10, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- Revelations that Facebook regularly suppresses conservative news websites from its trending section is just the latest example of a pattern of censorship by the social media behemoth, according Dr. Jerry A. Johnson, President & CEO of National Religious Broadcasters. "It's time for Facebook to face the facts," Johnson said in response to a May 9 report that former Facebook staff said the company regularly suppresses conservative news sources. "Social media users expect a level playing field and are tired of Facebook's one-sided neutrality. For some time, Facebook has shut down conservative pages or censored their comments. Now Facebook is caught burying conservative news stories and puffing liberal ones. Facebook must change if they want our trust and our participation on their platform." Gizmodo, a technology blog, quoted anonymously several former Facebook employees "news curators" that the social media company manipulated the use of its algorithm. Employees both "routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers," according to one of its former journalists, and were instructed to artificially "inject" stories that were favored by Facebook management, known for its liberal positions on cultural issues. Facebook responded to the Gizmodo report and other news accounts about the report by denying the claims. Insisting it has "strict guidelines" for the trending topics staff and does not allow discrimination of sources based on ideological origin, the social media giant noted: "Reviewers are required to accept topics that reflect real world events, and are instructed to disregard junk or duplicate topics, hoaxes, or subjects with insufficient sources." Facebook's assurances did not satisfy Johnson. "Unfortunately, Facebook's explanation does not adequately reassure us of its neutrality following this whistleblower report and previously documented incidents of censorship," Johnson said. "Facebook should take this opportunity to declare its commitment to free speech for all on its platform and to implement a transparent policy holding its employees accountable for not discriminating, consciously or subconsciously, against viewpoints they may not value or agree with including those they may wish to be 'hoaxes' or have 'insufficient sources.'" Since 2011, NRB has documented cases of internet-based censorship of Christian views and other free speech violations through its John Milton Project for Free Speech. Starting with the 2010 example of Apple removing evangelical leader Chuck Colson's Manhattan Declaration from its iTunes App Store, the Project has published a chart with instances of censorship by private corporations, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. For more on the John Milton Project, visit nrb.org/jmp. About NRB The National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) is a nonpartisan, international association of Christian communicators whose member organizations represent millions of listeners, viewers, and readers. Our mission is to advance biblical truth; to promote media excellence; and to defend free speech. In addition to promoting standards of excellence, integrity, and accountability, NRB provides networking, educational, ministry, and fellowship opportunities for its members. Learn more at www.nrb.org. About the Convention The annual NRB International Christian Media Convention is the largest nationally and internationally recognized event dedicated solely to assist those in the field of Christian communications. The dynamic Exposition consists of around 200 companies and is an active marketplace for those seeking tools and services to expand their organizations. The next Convention will be held at the Orlando World Marriott in Orlando, Florida, February 27-March 2, 2017. For more information, go to www.nrbconvention.org. Share Tweet home US Arkansas man accused of threatening to hang 7 mayors over Common Core curriculum back in jail A federal judge has ordered a man from Arkansas to be taken back into custody over threats to seven mayors in January 2015. According to Arkansas Online, Maverick Dean Bryan, a 55-year-old man from Mineral Springs, had admitted during a detention hearing to having written threatening letters to the mayors of Ashdown, Hope, De Queen, Lewisville, Murfreesboro, Nashville, and Prescott, saying that he would hang them from "mighty oaks" on courthouse lawns if his demand was not met. He demanded that religion be put back in local schools and have the Common Core curriculum removed. He also reportedly told the mayors not to honor the votes of those who worship a god apart from Jesus, as well as those of atheists, communists, socialists, homosexuals, and Muslims. Bryan also admitted to having been the one behind two advertisements on local listing Thrifty Nickel last year. He was looking for someone who would give him a loan of $23 million so he can put up a Christian army that would overthrow the government of the United States. He was arrested, but after a detention hearing on March 28, U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven allowed Bryan to be released on an unsecured bond. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Harris, who objected to the judge's decision, asked U.S. District Judge Susan Hickey to look into the case. Hickey, upon reviewing the transcript of the defendant's detention hearing, decided that Bryan should have been kept in custody. "Defendant has an extensive criminal history involving the possession of firearms. In addition to his three previous convictions involving firearms, Defendant has admitted that he was impermissibly in possession of a firearm on the day of his arrest," says the order handed down by Hickey on May 2. "Thus, Defendant has repeatedly demonstrated his unwillingness to abide by the laws concerning the possession of firearms by a convicted felon. This pattern of disobedience poses a threat to the safety of the community and gives the court little hope that Defendant would abide by any conditions set by this court." Harris' motion for pretrial detention was granted, and Bryan was taken back to jail. Hickey will be presiding over Bryan's jury trial this month. If the jury finds him guilty, he could face up to five years imprisonment for each count of sending threatening mail to the mayors, plus up to $250,000 in fines. Arkansas adopted the Common Core State Standards in 2010, and phased it in 2011 for Kinder to Grade 2, in 2012 for Grades 3 to 8, and in 2013 for Grades 9 to 12. home Faith Atheist group accused of bullying American public schools The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), an atheist group, is accused of bullying American public schools as the group warns that student field trips to a creationist museum is in violation of the separation of church and state. According to Christian Today, the group has emailed letters to Brookville High School in Dayton, Ohio; Jackson Independent School District in Jackson, Kentucky; and the Big Beaver Falls School District in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania threatening legal actions for the supposed unconstitutional students' trips to Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky. "Public schools may not advance or promote religion," reads a letter from FFRF Legal Fellow Madeline Ziegler to Nicholas Subashi, legal counsel for the Brookville Local Schools, as reported by the Christian News Network. "Bringing students on a field trip to a religious venue is a blatant promotion of religion," it adds. The group also asks the school districts to cancel their upcoming trips to the Creation Museum and to refrain from scheduling and planning any such trips in the future. On the other hand, Ham explains that the group is only bullying public schools because FFRF doesn't want students to learn about other interpretations of evolution other than the scientific theory. He reasons that the educational trip to the creation museum will only be a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution if the teachers were to teach their students that what they see in the creation museum is the only truth. "Public school officials should neither personally endorse nor diminish the museum's view, but rather present our beliefs objectively," Ham told Christian Today. According to its website, FFRF is a nonprofit educational charity and claims to be the largest association of freethinkers (atheists, agnostics), and has been working since 1978 to keep the religion and government separate. The group has 23,700 members across the country and is based in Madison, Wisconsin. home World Christian diplomat Patricia Evangelista nominated as UN climate chief Costa Rican and current United Nations (UN) Climate Change Secretariat, Christiana Figueres, is stepping down from her position in July, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is eyeing former Mexican Foreign Minister Patricia Espinosa for the said post. According to UN News Centre, the secretary-general is already in consultation with the Conference of Parties and has officially nominated Espinosa as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). Figueres also made the same announcement in a Twitter post and added that the nomination still needs to be approved by an 11-member UN bureau led by French Environment Minister SAgolAne Royal. However, Reuter reports that nominations from the secretary-general are hardly ever contested, although the diplomats expected that the post would be assigned to someone other than from Latin America. The Mexican politician, currently based in Berlin, has been Mexico's ambassador to Germany since 2012. She held the same position from 2001 to 2002. She is also known as the former minister of foreign affairs of Mexico from 2006 to 2012. What makes Espinosa seemingly fit for the position is her extensive experience in international relations, where she has served for more than three decades, focusing on issues of climate change, global governance, sustainable development, and protection of human rights. Espinosa was given a standing ovation by delegates for brokering a deal when she presided at a UN climate negotiations in Cancun, Mexico in 2010 especially after the failed and fractious 2009 summit in Copenhagen. She has then been defined as an "excellent leader of negotiations." Claudia Serno, a veteran climate diplomat and Venezuela's current ambassador to Brussels told Climate Home, "Her talent was to be able to listen to everybody carefully, and she was smart enough to put together a fantastic team, a quality that should not be disregarded." Espinosa is expected to reinforce the 2015 Paris Agreement as the world economy aims to shift to cleaner energies. home World Christian group calls for prayers for new Muslim London Mayor Sadiq Khan, newly elected UK leaders A Christian group has made a call for prayer for the UK's newly elected political leaders following local elections held last week, including new London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who is the first Muslim to hold such an office in a major western capital city. Local elections in the United Kingdom, held last week, saw Labour win 1,326 seats - a loss of 18 seats, while the Conservatives won 842 - a loss of 48. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat made a significant gain of 45 seats, giving them 378 in total. A Christian group called the results a "mixed bag" and urged Christians to pray for the newly elected leaders. David Lindsay, Head of Operations of U.K. organization Christian Concern, said in an article that "Labour undoubtedly lost support as a result of the ongoing row about anti-Semitism," which indicates that secularism has increased. The new mayor of London is Labour's Sadiq Khan, which makes him, the article says, the "most high-profile Muslim leader in the West." Just as Christians are being discriminated against and there is tension between those who have opposing views or religious beliefs, it asks how Khan would "frame London to the world." "If there is a terrorist outrage committed by British Muslims, will Khan be harder on radical mosques a or at addressing their grievances, (while ignoring the identical grievances of other communities who live in similar circumstances)?" the article says. In his first interview after being elected as London's mayor, Khan said that Labour's mission is to improve people's lives, and that is done by winning elections. According to The Independent, some are concerned that he is setting up to go against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. "Success has many parents and I think what's important is the victory on Thursday was a victory for London," he said on "The Andrew Marr Show." "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." Christian Concern says that elections is a time for renewed hope, and it urges people to encourage the new representatives "to do good and to resist evil." It reminds everyone to pray for the councilors and other leaders, regardless of their faith or which party they belong to. "Let us - and particularly those who live in London - pray for Sadiq Khan, as newly elected Mayor, and his incoming team of advisers," it says. home World Christian ministry lauds journalist who was expelled from North Korea Christian ministry Release International has given praise to the journalist who went to North Korea to cover the real news but was detained then expelled from the country. "It's the job of the journalist to speak truth to power. It's the job of the Church to do exactly the same," said Release International's Andrew Boyd in an interview with Premier. "Credit to him [Wingfield-Hayes] for telling it the way he saw it while he was still there in a position where he could be detained - and was. What Release and others would say to North Korea is: if you want the respect of the international community, give respect to your citizens. Show them the respect they deserve as human beings by granting them freedom - especially freedom of religion." BBC correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes along with cameraman Matthew Goddard and producer Maria Byrne were in North Korea prior to the Workers' Party Congress to cover a group of Nobel prize laureates who were doing research. On Friday, just as they were about to leave the country, the three were taken into custody by North Korean authorities in Pyongyang. They were questioned for eight hours and were told to sign a statement. "(Wingfield-Hayes) was separated from the rest of his team, prevented from boarding that flight, taken to a hotel and interrogated by the security bureau here in Pyongyang before being made to sign a statement and then released, eventually allowed to rejoin us here in this hotel," said John Sudworth, another BBC correspondent, as quoted by Reuters. The North's government was apparently not pleased with the way the journalist presented the nation. "They were speaking very ill of the system, the leadership of the country," said O Ryong Il, secretary general of a National Peace Committee. Prior to his detention, the journalist reportedly said that a pediatric hospital looked like a setup, with children looking healthy and with no real doctors in sight. He also did a report in front of Kim II Sung's statue, and he already surmised that the country's officials felt that they were reporting disrespectful things about the founding leader. "We are very disappointed that our reporter Rupert Wingfield-Hayes and his team have been deported from North Korea after the government took offence at material he had filed," said a BBC spokesperson. "Four BBC staff, who were invited to cover the Workers Party Congress, remain in North Korea and we expect them to be allowed to continue their reporting." Wingfield-Hayes and his team arrived in Beijing, China from Pyongyang on Monday. The Workers' Party Congress started on Friday but, according to the Financial Times, only on Monday was a group of 30 selected reporters allowed a short visit. The other 100 journalists were reportedly taken on tour to see different sites like an electric cable plant, some hospitals, a textile factory, among others. NCGOP's Woodhouse expects unified party while academics and Democrats say Trump's brashness - along with controversy over H.B. 2 - could harm Republican hopefuls CJ photo by Don Carrington Should Americans be thankful for North Carolinians setting precedent in taking a stand for their state's right to manage the safety of their public facilities, where separation of the sexes remains, or should they follow Bruce Springsteen's lead and boycott the state as bigots since they will not allow grown Transgender men to use the same bathrooms /locker rooms as pre-pubescent girls? North Carolina is right to control the separation of the sexes as a matter of decorum and safety. North Carolina is a bigoted state to not require that children of opposite sexes share the same public facilities with adults of the opposite sex, although misidentified - the Transgender. I generally prefer the natural environs of the vacant, although rather public, large tree. 236 total vote(s) What's your Opinion? RALEIGH Republicans across the country have voiced concerns that Donald Trump's likely presidential nomination could harm down-ballot Republican candidates' electoral fortunes. But some political analysts say time and Trump's unpredictable pivots to soften his image may ease some of those concerns as the general election approaches.In contrast, Democrats believe the combination of Trump's brashness, his historically high negative ratings at this stage of a presidential campaign, along with a backlash against North Carolina's Republican-led passage of House Bill 2 could boost opposition votes in November, possibly handing Democrats the governor's seat, and more legislative wins than previously expected.Earl Phillip, North Carolina state director for Trump, who won the state primary with a 40.2 percent plurality, declined to comment for this story.North Carolina Republican Party Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse dismissed any notion that Trump would be an albatross for state Republicans.Woodhouse said on Friday from the Republicans' state convention in Greensboro. U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who has been working with Trump on foreign policy issues, spoke on Saturday at the convention.Woodhouse said.Woodhouse noted that Republicans turned out 1,139,282 primary voters, 10,000 more than Democrats. He compared that to 2008, when Democratic primary voters outnumbered Republicans 1,580,726 to 517,583 and favored Barack Obama.Many unaffiliated voters voted Republican in the primary,Woodhouse said.Woodhouse said.Jim Burton, the state House of Representatives Republican Caucus director, agreed that Trump resonated with primary voters on issues such as the closure of textile mills, lost jobs, and NAFTA, but sounded a more cautionary note last week at a Raleigh event.and worry whether national polls consistently showing him trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton will translate into difficulties in their North Carolina races, Burton said last Monday.for North Carolina Republicans, said David McLennan, a political science professor at Meredith College.However, he cautioned,and his approval ratings could rise.McLennan said.on other Republican candidates.Unless state legislative candidatesMcLennan said.Congressional races "may be more of a different animal" because federal issues align more closely with presidential politics, he said.McLennan said of North Carolina's senior Republican U.S. senator, who supports Trump.McLennan doesn't envision voters casting ballots for or against Trump and then splitting their ticket on down-ballot races. But it is likely some dispirited voters might stay home rather than vote for the New York billionaire.McLennan said. Both Trump's negatives, and the Never Trump disdain, could diminish by then.N.C. State University political science professor Andy Taylor said of a Trump-led GOP presidential ticket.But, like McLennan, Taylor said,One "saving grace" for other Republican candidates is that anti-Trump donors and party activists "may concentrate their efforts on keeping the Congress, and maybe even the gubernatorial seats like the one in North Carolina," rather than devote time and resources to Trump, Taylor said.Some election observers say Trump may veer away from some of his more incendiary primary tactics and positions for the general election.Taylor said.He views Trump's candidacy as a Rorschach test for voters - many see in him what they want to see.Any talk about Trump "reinventing himself" may be limited to softening his demeanor and toning down his destructive personal attacks on opponents, while still exerting his strong personality on key issues, Taylor said.to coalesce the party around Trump, Taylor said.a phenomenon not seen in American presidential races for decades.because they are energized "more so than usual" by a Trump candidacy, said North Carolina Democratic Party spokesman Dave Miranda.Miranda said.said Democratic strategist Gary Pearce, who publishes the blog "Talking About Politics" with Republican campaign strategist Carter Wrenn.Pearce said, citing the most recent Civitas Institute poll showing Gov. Pat McCrory well behind his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Roy Cooper, and Trump trailing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.Pearce said. Polling indicates Wake County's swing districts will favor the Democratic candidates, he said, though he hasn't seen enough data to know whether it's H.B. 2 or Trump driving that momentum.While Trump claims he has attracted "millions and millions" of new voters including Democrats and independents to his camp, Pearce is not convinced.Pearce said.Voters don't cast split tickets as much as they used to, Pearce said, so if Clinton is leading in the state at the time of the election, he said it is probable most votes down ballot also will be for Democrats. home US Christians can still help public schools despite growing secularism Many Christians are worried about the growing secularism in society, but an author talks about how they can still impact public schools. "Whether promoting the ideas of the sexual revolution, strange bathroom policies, censoring Christmas from plays, violence, falling test scores or removing the Bible from libraries a I get it. It's easy to be outraged," said John Stonestreet, president of The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, in an article on CNS News. "But outrage isn't a strategy." Stonestreet, co-author of "Restoring All Things: God's Audacious Plan to Change the World Through Everyday People" along with Jim Daly and Warren Cole Smith, said that Christians need to ask four key questions in order to help them respond to society. Applicable in different areas of society, these questions about culture are: one, what is good in it that Christians can promote, protect, and celebrate; two, what's missing that they can contribute creatively; three, what's evil that they can stop; and four, what's broken that can be restored. In the public school setting, he cites examples of what Christians can do. For question #2, he said that Christians can help raise awareness on the religious freedom of both students and educators by initiating campaigns. A Biblical worldview can also be integrated into academic subjects, such as art, music, history, and social studies. Also, for question #1, he said Christians should support Christian teachers and others in the line of education. Almost half of the country's public eductors, according to a 2014 report by Barna Group, are practicing Christians, and Stonestreet says they should be celebrated. The same article by Barna says that 95 percent of Protestant pastors and more than 80 percent of churchgoing Christians believe that Christians ought to get involved in helping public schools. Thirty-six percent of respondents believe that encouraging teachers can help, 25 percent are for supporting other education options, 24 percent believe in volunteering, 24 percent think that working for a national education reform is needed, 22 percent are for working with the local school board for changes, and 19 percent think it's helping in fund-raising projects. Meanwhile, 65 percent of those who regularly volunteer at public schools are church-goers. However, there are reasons why Christians don't or are not able to help, including 44 percent who don't have kids in public schols, 18 percent who believe that the public institutions don't want help from religious individuals, 17 percent who don't know how to extend a hand, while 9 percent said public school culture goes against their religious belief. home US Donald Trump says Russell Moore 'a terrible representative of Evangelicals' & a 'nasty guy' - ERLC leader responds Presidential hopeful Donald Trump has taken a swipe at Southern Baptist Convention's head of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "Russell Moore is truly a terrible representative of Evangelicals and all of the good they stand for. A nasty guy with no heart!" Trump tweeted. In an interview with CNN, Moore said he agrees with Trump -- he said he is a nasty guy, someone who needs the grace of God, someone who needs God's forgiveness. But there are other issues that need to be addressed, he said, like having a president that people can respect and be proud of. Trump's comment came three days after Moore wrote an article on The New York Times saying that the United States is facing "a crazier election season than many of us ever imagined," zeroing in on Trump as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. "Regardless of the outcome in November, his campaign is forcing American Christians to grapple with some scary realities that will have implications for years to come," Moore wrote. "This election has cast light on the darkness of pent-up nativism and bigotry all over the country. There are not-so-coded messages denouncing African-Americansa and immigrants; concern about racial justice and national unity is ridiculed as 'political correctness.'" Moore further said that religious minorities are used as scapegoats for others' sins, and their religious freedoms questioned. He expressed that Martin Luther King, Jr., did not envision that more than half a century after his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, black protesters would be met with "Go back to Africa" messages or "that a major presidential candidate would tweet racially changed comments." "The thriving churches of American Christianiyt are multigenerational, theologically robust, ethnically diverse and connected to the globabl church," Moore wrote. "If Jesus is alive -- and I believe that he is -- he will keep his promise and build his church. But he never promises to do that solely with white, suburban institutional evangelicalism." home US Harvard law professor blames conservatives for 'culture wars,' says liberals have won A professor of law at the Harvard University says that conservatives are to blame for "culture wars," but not everyone agrees. In an article titled "Abandoning Defensive Crouch Liberal Constitutionalism," Harvard law professor Mark Tushnet has taken a jab at conservatives, saying, "Several generations of law students and their teachers grew up with federal courts dominated by conservatives. Not surprisingly, they found themselves wandering in the wilderness, looking for any sign of hope." He says that the result is defensive-crouch constitutionalism, with liberals afraid to assert their position because of possible retaliation from conservatives. Liberals should abandon defensive crouch liberalism, Tushnet says, meaning they ought to be listing down cases that should be "overruled at the first opportunity on the ground that they were wrong the day they were decided." Overruling key cases is what matters, he says, and thinking about what the doctrine should look like is "more important than trying to maneuver to liberal goals through the narrow paths the bad precedents seem to leave open." He said that fear of reversal by the courts made liberals afraid of being aggressive, but that is no longer the case, and the "ambiguities and loopholes in unfavorable precedents that aren't worth overruling" should be exploited aggressively. "The culture wars are over; they lost, we won," he wrote. "For liberals, the question now is how to deal with the losers in the culture wars. That's mostly a question of tactics. My own judgment is that taking a hard line ("You lost, live with it") is better than trying to accommodate the losers, who a remember a defended, and are defending, positions that liberals regard as having no normative pull at all." Moreover, he said, "Trying to be nice to the losers didn't work well after the Civil War, nor after Brown. (And taking a hard line seemed to work reasonably well in Germany and Japan after 1945.)" However, Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D, Public Discourse founder/editor and the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in American Principles and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation, in an article on Daily Signal, asks when liberals have ever been defensive. He says that it's the conversatives who have been in that position and not the other way around. "Liberals aggressively sought in the courts an unlimited abortion license, a redefinition of marriage, and now for transgender bathroom policies throughout the nation," he wrote. "Liberals haven't been bashful to use the courts to reshape social policy when they couldn't win at the polls." Anderson also says that Tushnet and other liberal elite "want the government to treat conservative Christians worse than racistsalike Nazis." He is urging people to make sure that Tushnet doesn't succeed as the latter "embodies a particularly vicious form of illiberal liberalism." He said that what real liberalism requires is the protection of what the Harvard professor calls "losers" -- the minority -- following the changes, as it is "an important feature of America's tradition of tolerance in the midst of pluralism." Theologian Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D., meanwhile, wrote on Breitbart that Tushner's assertions of victory sound more like a bluff -- his words ring of insecurity. He seems to be in a hurry, opposite to conservatives who seem to be in for the long haul. The war is not yet over, says Williams. home World Muslims threaten Christians and minority groups in German refugee camps Christians and other non-Muslim groups like the Yazidis are suffering from discrimination and attacks inside German refugee camps. The perpetrators have been identified as Muslim refugees as well as some economic migrants and security personnel who are also mostly Muslims. In a report, the Christian group Open Doors Germany which supports prosecuted Christians worldwide said that the centers need to give more protection. Markus Rode, the head of the organization, pointed out that newcomers are also feeling the "rising climate of fear and panic." According to Modern Tokyo Times, the Yazidis have already suffered enough being treated like slaves by Sunni Islamists. Yazidi women have also been victims of rape and the forced marriages to Sunni Islamists. The Open Doors Germany group also conducted a survey and interviewed 231 of the Christian migrants living in the German camps and 88 percent confirmed that they were discriminated because of their religious beliefs. Another 42 percent claimed that they were subjected to insults because of their faith. Another 37 percent said they suffered from physical injuries while 32 percent received death threats. Moreover almost one half of the survey participants alleged that some of the harassment and discrimination they experienced came from the guards. A proposition to separate the Christians and non-Muslim groups has been laid on the table by the organization along with other religious minorities. Some activists, on the other hand, say that there might be a need to hire non-Muslim translators and guards to mediate between conflicts and handle such complaints. Germany has accepted over a million immigrants from North America and Middle East in the past year, but since January of this year, the influx rate has decreased. home World Myanmar's religious affairs minister apologizes to Christians for Buddhist monk's stupa-building in church compound Myanmar's Union minister for religious affairs met with Christian communities in Kayin state and apologized for the actions of a Bhuddist monk, who built two stupas in the property owned by a church. President Htin Kyaw and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi reportedly instructed Minister Thura U Aung Ko to issue the apology. According to The Myanmar Times, the religious affairs minister told the people that he would submit a report to the president and the state counsellor regarding the issue, but he instructed them to try to avoid any religious conflict. He likewise asked the Kayin State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee to not retaliate or take any action against the monk in question. "We don't know how to decide on these issues because the new government hasn't told us to take action and neither did the previous government," a committee member said, as quoted by the publication. The current issue started last month when monk Myaing Kyee Ngu Sayadaw built a Buddhist shrine inside the compound of St. Mark's Anglican Church, located in the township of Hlaingbwe. He built a second stupa on May 3 within the same property, and then began constructing a Buddhist ordination hall in close proximity to it. There were reports that the church donated the land to the monk to keep peace, but this was denied by Naw Sar Wah, the secretary of the Hpa-an Anglican missionary. "This is just a misunderstanding," she said. "We won't donate the lands. The construction has not stopped yet despite the visit of the Union minister." U Aung Ko told The Myanmar Times last week that the issue is sensitive and should be handled with care; otherwise, it could lead to conflict within the Kayin State. "If we solved these issues immediately, national reconciliation and the peace process could be affected, because ethnic armed groups are involved on both sides," he said. The church has been patient since they don't want to provoke conflict. Bishop Saw Stylo of St. Mark Anglican Church said, according to Christian Today, that the new democratic government is trying to reconcile the nation, and igniting disputes while the country is seeing progress is not something good to be passed down to the next generation. Last year, the popular monk built a stupa in a Baptist compound in Mi Zine village, and another one near a mosque in Shwe Gon village. U Aung Ko intended to meet with the Buddhist monk, but the latter was reportedly in Thailand for medical reasons. home Faith Transgender rights in US schools being pushed by Obama administration The Obama administration is reportedly planning on adding pressure on schools to comply with the Title IX stipulations especially on the issue of transgender student rights in federally funded schools. This comes in a head-on collision with North Carolina's bathroom bill, House Bill 2, which says people are to use bathrooms according to their biological sex and not their gender identity. According to Politico, their unnamed sources have confirmed that the current administration plans to see through the full implementation of Title IX, taking in its interpretation of the law that transgender discrimination can also mean illegal sex discrimination. In 2014, Obama had issued a guidance highlighting this particular part of the statute, which opponents referred to as a federal overreach. The Justice Department has already warned North Carolina about its House Bill 2, explaining that it is in violation of other federal civil rights laws, namely Title IX and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and the Violence against Women Act. The Obama administration has given North Carolina until Monday to respond. "It's important to recognize that there's a lagging legal framework in the face of rapidly changing social norms," National School Boards Association general counsel Francisco NegrAn told Politico. "Our understanding of gender identity is changing, and the law hasn't kept up." A legal battle may be expected to ensue especially as the bill touches on other legal issues and rights. "Certainly that's the case here with Title IX," NegrAn added. "The lack of specificity about gender identity in the law creates all kinds of room for folks on both sides of this issue to make arguments about how the law should be taken." The state of North Carolina may lose an estimated $2 million state-funded education budget depending on how this case goes. Advocates are hopeful that just as with the same sex marriage issue, more states would pass on ruling regarding the bathroom bill so that it can be taken to the Supreme Court. home World Pakistan Christian churches will not be demolished by railway project, authorities claim amid protests Christians in Lahore, Pakistan raised a protest against the destruction of four historically significant churches which will reportedly be demolished to give way for the construction of an underground railway project. Taking to the streets, they demanded that the four churches a St. Andrew's Church, Cathedral Church, St. Paul's Presbyterian Church and Noulakha Church a remain untouched. On May 3, they gathered in front of the Lahore High Court in an effort to stop the planned demolition. Responding to the protest, the Lahore Development Authority said that the churches will not be destroyed. He clarified that although the railway development will indeed use some land from the said churches, the church buildings themselves will not be affected. Part of the land belonging to church property will be used to construct stairs leading to the underground train stations, the spokesman said. However, Christian groups did not appear to be pacified by the explanation. They said constructing stairs leading to the train stations "could create a law and order situation for Christian worshipers," especially with thousands of Muslim passengers expected to come from the trains during times of Christian prayer, Express reported. Christian communities believe that the move is an attempt of the government to "grab the land" of the churches, which are all standing on prime property. Aside from being important places of worship, the four churches all have significant historical value because they had been built before the partition between India and Pakistan was established. "These churches were built pre-Pakistan and these all churches are located at very expensive and prime locations which politicians and Islamists are jealous of," stated Nasir Saeed, director of the Center for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement, according to Christian Today. Pakistan Christians face intense persecution. Pakistan is labeled as a "country of particular concern" in the 2016 Annual Report of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom because of "systematic, ongoing and egregious religious freedom violations." home US Pat Robertson: Progressive agenda would 'destroy any semblance of the Christian morality' in America Evangelist Pat Robertson said that the move to allow transgenders to use restrooms and similar facilities that do not correspond with their sex at birth is yet another attempt at destroying the Judeo-Christian fabric of America. Robertson expressed that only a small portion -- less than one percent -- of the population "are so-called transgenders," but he questions why there is such a big fuss, why the Justice Department needs to get involved, and why federal government come up with mandates. "It's the constant driving of the agenda of anti-Christian bias. We're going to destroy any semblance of the Christian morality that exists in our country, and our government is going to be at the forefront of it," Robertson said during an interview with CSN News. "That's what you're looking at. It's one more attempt by the so-called progressives to destroy the Judeo-Christian fabric of America." He finds that there is no issue about people having to use restrooms designed for their corresponding biological organ. It's no big deal, he said, and wonders why people are making some cause about it. However, letting males enter girls' locker rooms is a worrying thought. "If you've got some voyeur who likes to look at little girls with no clothes on, and you turn him loose in a female locker room, it's crazy," he said, calling it "a breakdown of traditional morality." Patterson expressed that no one is being discriminated against, but the Justice Department came out with a ruling saying that North Carolina's bathroom privacy law is discriminatory. This is why, he said, people in the United States are calling for change and to replace "the bunch of clowns running the show." "That's why the country is mad, they're furious," he said. "They don't want this so-called progressive agenda being jammed down their throats." NC's House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act that was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory, bans people from using facilities like restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and shower rooms that do not correspond to the gender stated on their birth certificate. home World Son of Chinese religious freedom advocates talks about parents' detention The son of a Chinese couple who had been taken from their home talked to organization China Aid and described what really happened. Wen Xiaowu and Xiang Lihua, a couple from Zheijiang province known to be advocates of religious freedom, were arrested on April 25. Their youngest son said a dozen officials came to their home and demanded that his parents come with them. The officials reportedly showed a search warrant. His older brother attempted to prevent the officials from arresting their parents but was not able to stop them. About one hour after taking their parents, the officials came back, this time arresting the older son Wen Yidian who had previously tried to stop them. Two days later, Xiaowu and Lihua were detained on charges of "gathering a crowd to disturb public order," while their older son Yidian was detained on charges of "obstructing public service." The charges were issued by the Rui'an Municipal Public Security Bureau. According to the members of the local church, the couple was known to give legal counsel to Christians who have experienced persecution from the government. Aside from this, they recently met with officials from the U.S. Consulate and discussed the Chinese government's campaign to demolish crosses on church buildings. Local church members said the latter could most likely be the reason for their incarceration. China Aid, an organization that helps persecuted Christians in China, sought help from the U.S. State Department and recommended that measures be undertaken to pressure China into releasing Xiaowu, Lihua and their son. "This matter is an example of the authorities violating Wen Xiaowu's right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion," China Aid president Bob Fu said. "We call on the American and Chinese authorities to take action immediately so that Wen Xiaowu, his wife, and their son can be released." home US Target stores face protests over pro-transgender bathroom policy After announcing the store's inclusive bathroom policy that allows transgender men to use bathrooms according to their gender identification, Target faces overwhelming pressure to reconsider such, as the company deals with a boycott petition that amassed more than a million of pledges, a dramatic fall in stock prices, and just recently, protests from parents at several Target store branches. According to 16 Wapt News, those who were upset about the controversial bathroom policy gathered on Saturday at a Target store in Jackson, Mississippi to protest. The news outlet talked to some of these protestors who think that Target's policy puts women at risk. "A man could put on a dress and say, 'I identify as a transgender,' and they can go in there," Keith Daltol said. He also suggested that it would be good if the company experiences a fall in business if that's the only way for it to do the right thing. "I'm not saying that a transgender would harm a child," another protester, Johnny Brekeen, shared, adding, "What I'm saying is if men are allowed to go into the restroom, children are going to be harmed." ABC 4 Utah also reports similar protests at another Target store, this time in Layton, Utah. Carrie Peterson, a mother of four, is gathering around signatures to pressure the giant retail store to back down from its bathroom policy. She also worried that there are about 209 registered sex offenders within a five mile radius of Target store. "With Target's new policy, it's unverifiable. You cannot verify a person's intent, so these sexual predators will use these policies to gain access into the women's restroom, making it a dangerous place for women and children," she told ABC 4 Utah. On April 19, Target officially announced its inclusive bathroom policy. "Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And you'll always be accepted, respected and welcomed at Target," the company said in a statement. When Bernie Sanders proposed free tuition at public colleges and universities, Hillary Clinton responded with her rival plan, The New College Compact she declared, adding,The purpose of her proposal is to ensure thatShe closed her announcement video stating that a college education is "a right."There are many problems with her proposal.First, establishing higher education as a right really means that some people must pay for goods and services to be consumed by others. It doesn't make sense that costs shouldn't bebecause prices are barriers against excess demand and wasteful consumption. That's as true for college education as it is for pizza, movie tickets, or anything else. If students don't pay for college, many of them will put minimal effort into learning.Clinton also complains about the large increase in tuition, with costs rising by 42 percent in the decade 2004 to 2014. She fails to see that federal aid in the form of grants, and particularly in loans, is the major reason for tuition increases.There is plenty of empirical evidence for this effect. A http://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/years-of-cuts-threaten-to-put-college-out-of-reach-for-more-students by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York noted that yearly student loan originations grew from $53 billion to $120 billion between 2001 and 2012, and found similarities to the expansion of credit that led to the housing bubble of 2008.Suppose the federal government subsidized loans to millions of Americans, to enable more people to own iPads. Elementary economics tells us this would result in an increase in the price of iPads. The Federal Reserve report unsurprisingly found that tuitions rose in response to the federal loan programs. The study found the Federal Direct Subsidized Loans generated a 65 cent-on-the-dollar increase on college tuition, while Pell Grants generated a 50 cent-on-the-dollar increase on college tuition.Another problem Clinton proposes to address in her New College Compact is the decline of state aid to higher education. According to her site, "The recession accelerated the trend of state disinvestment in higher education, with states spending...20 percent less per student on average than they did 7 years ago." A Center for Budget and Policy Priorities paper , which found that 47 states spent less per student in 2014 than before the recession, supports that assertion.Reduction in state spending, however, is a logical result of the aid that Clinton proposes. State legislators must decide whether to spend more on K-12 education or higher education. When the federal government provides billions of dollars to higher education tuition in the forms of loans or grants, state lawmakers are inclined to dedicate more dollars to K-12 education than higher education.Thus Clinton's proposed expansion of federal subsidized loans will lead to the unintended consequences of higher tuition costs and less state spending on higher education.Another problem is that the Clinton proposal would lead to what Nobel laureate economist Friedrich Hayek called "mal-investment." That is, whenever government makes something artificially less expensive, people will change their behavior. Consumers demand more, and investors put more resources into fulfilling that demand.Consider how free or nearly free college affects young people who decide what to do after high school. Many choose to go to college, even though they would benefit more from going into other areas such as skilled trades. It is well documented that there is a shortage of skilled labor, particularly in the construction industry. For example, a recent industry survey found three-quarters of homebuilders reported difficulty in finding new employees.At the same time many college graduates end up in jobs that do not require a college degree. A Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found that in 2012, 44 percent of recent graduates were "underemployed"-defined as working in a job that did not require a college degree. For students who are lured into college when they'd do much better learning skilled crafts, their degrees are a mal-investment.In their 1970 book, James Buchanan and Nicos Devletoglou argued that students who were not qualified for college, or who didn't have a strong interest in pursuing education, were induced to attend college by subsidized or free tuition. In the decades since the problem of poorly prepared and weakly motivated students in college has grown far worse. Clinton's proposal will only exacerbate it.One result of marginally interested students is lower quality of education, as we saw in a recent national survey by the American Institutes for Research. It found that 30 percent of students who earned two-year degrees, and remarkably, 20 percent of students who completed four-year degrees, possessed only basic quantitative literacy skills. That means they're unable to estimate if their car has enough gasoline to get to the next gas station or calculate the total cost of ordering office supplies.That's not much learning for the huge cost of college investment.Without acknowledging many students learn very little in college, Clinton's program would require colleges and universities to "be accountable for improving outcomes and controlling costs to ensure that tuition is affordable and that students who invest in college leave with a degree." That sounds good, but the government can no more guarantee outcome improvement than it can guarantee anything else. Dictating better results while at the same time undermining student motivation is bound to fail.Finally, Clinton states on her Web site:That's pretty accurate.Unfortunately her proposed solutions will not solve the cost and value problems in our higher education system, but will instead make them worse. Archbishop of Canterbury rebukes Cameron in front of Queen: Nigeria president is NOT corrupt The Archbishop of Canterbury intervened to defend the President of Nigeria after the British Prime Minister told the Queen his country was "fantastically corrupt". Justin Welby corrected David Cameron at a reception at Buckingham Palace to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. Cameron was talking to the Queen about an international anti-corruption summit he is hosting in London tomorrow. He said: "We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption summit. "We have got the Nigerians actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain. Nigeria and Afghanistan - possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world." The Queen did not respond. However, Archbishop Welby, referring to Nigeria's president Muhammed Buhari, said: "But this particular president is actually not corrupt." The encounter was followed by another controversial conversation in which the Queen was caught on camera saying Chinese officials were "very rude" during last year's state visit by President Xi Jinping. However, on the issue of corruption in Nigeria, both the Queen and Cameron will realise that Archbishop Welby talks from a depth of huge expertise in this area. Nigeria is one of Archbishop Welby's areas of particular interest. Before ordination he worked in the oil industry and after he left the business world and entered the Church, he was made a Canon of Coventry Cathedral in 2002, leading on its ground-breaking reconciliation work. This took him to Africa and the Middle East and he became a sought-after expert in Nigeria. He still works with groups involved in ongoing conflict in the north. Also in the Niger Delta, he has worked on reconciliation with armed groups. He has lectured on reconciliation at the US State Department. Buhari and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani have pledged to clean up corruption in both their countries. Buhari said he was "shocked" and a spokesman for the Nigerian president said Cameron's remarks did not reflect the good work he was doing. Afghanistan is at number 166 in the Corruption Perceptions Index which ranks countries, beaten only by North Korea and Somalia. Nigeria is at 136. Bangladesh executes top Islamist leader for 1971 war crimes An Islamist leader has been executed in Bangladesh for crimes committed during the country's war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. Motiur Rahman Nizami, 73, was convicted of genocide, rape and torture and was executed shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning. He led Bangladesh's largest Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and was a government minister during the now opposition leader Khaleda Zia's last term as prime minister. Nizami was sentenced to death in 2014 and was executed after a final appeal was rejected last week. Hundreds gathered outside his prison in Bangladesh's capital of Dhaka to mark the execution, which the government said was necessary to heal the wounds of the past. Nizami is now the fifth and highest-ranking opposition leader to be executed for war crimes since 2013 after being convicted by a tribunal set up the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. However Nizami's party, Jamaat-e-Islami, has said the tribunal has been used to victimise Hasina's political opponents. "Nizami has been deprived of justice," said Jamaat's acting leader, Maqbul Ahmad. "He's a victim of political vengeance." The party said the charges against Nizami were baseless and called for a nationwide strike on Wednesday in protest at the execution. Similar judgments and executions have triggered violence in the past and thousands of extra police and border guards were deployed in Dhaka and other major cities. Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971 was opposed by some factions including Jamaat-e-Islami. About 3 million people were killed and thousands of women raped in the war. However, Jamaat-e-Islami denies any of its leaders committed atrocities. The US state department and some human rights groups have said the trials fall short of global standards and need oversight. "While we have seen limited progress in some cases, we still believe that further improvements to the...process could ensure these proceedings meet domestic and international obligations," said state department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau. "Until these obligations can be consistently met, we have concerns about proceeding with executions." The government denies the allegations. Additional reporting by Reuters. Fixing evangelical Christianity's addiction to control In the past year I have read stories about American evangelical groups failing to love and serve others and I suspect that each story shares a common root cause. A prominent evangelical college dictated how a celibate LGBT staff member discuss her sexual orientation in public statements. The leaders in a Texas megachurch attempted to prevent a woman from divorcing her husband in light of serious allegations, and then refused to allow her to revoke her membership. Ongoing lawsuits surround a denomination's churches in Virginia after senior leaders covered up a paedophile ring among church leaders who assaulted children but may never face charges due to statute of limitations laws. Despite consistent studies demonstrating that transgender individuals suffer bullying and assault and are at a high risk for suicide, evangelicals continue to dismiss transgender individuals and support unhelpful legislation that singles this group out. All of these cases are a far cry from preaching the gospel, moving others toward repentance, or doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. Whatever your opinions on LGBT rights, divorce, or the authority structure of the church, followers of Jesus should be able to agree that these news stories are exhibit A in demonstrating that many American Christians have significant issues when it comes to loving others and putting the message of the Gospel first. Where do American evangelicals lose our core calling to love others and preach the Gospel? How did we lose our way from being the people known for caring for others to being the ones who judge, condemn, and exclude? It's likely that the starting point for most of our troubles is a single word: control. When ministry turns into attempts to produce certain behaviors or to restrict certain outcomes, Christians are no longer ministering and serving with the message of Christ. While there's certainly a place for preaching a message of repentance and addressing sins in others, our preaching cannot veer into control and manipulation. Once we begin using legislation or authority structures to block people from make free decisions, we are leaving the domain of the gospel and entering the realm of judgment and control. Love does not seek to control others. Love is freely given and received back without ultimatums, contracts, or threats. Love is described in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 as protecting, selfless, and keeping no record of wrongs. Thankfully, scripture can guide us toward repentance and transformation so that we can leave our controlling tendencies behind and truly preach the gospel of liberation and freedom that our world needs. Jesus was far more interested in attracting people to the Kingdom than legislating or demanding their compliance: "You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16). If Christians are the light of the world, the pursuit of control turns our light into a flame thrower, scorching those who oppose us. Maintaining control over others only puts us in a position to burn them further. When Jesus speaks of us as the light of the world, there's a sense of Christians being separate and apart from the world's tactics and values, winning them over as we serve and minister. We can't force people into the light. If we want to identify the areas where American Christians need to change, we can begin by asking: "How does this issue relate to controlling others?" It's commendable to be zealous for holiness and for the spread of the gospel, but the means can completely undermine the end if we resort to control. Attempting to control others may be the single most effective way to undermine the gospel's message about love and freedom. Manipulation and control under a religious system exchanges bondage under sin for bondage under religion. As Jesus said: "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:35-36, NIV). Ed Cyzewski, MDiv, is the author of A Christian Survival Guide and Pray, Write, Grow. He writes at www.edcyzewski.com and administers The Contemplative Writer: www.thecontemplativewriter.com Greek evangelical leader urges churches to unite in service of refugees Churches must form a united front in response to the refugee crisis, leading by example rather than hiding behind politicians, according to the head of the Evangelical Church of Greece. "We cannot engage only in worshipping God without really helping persons in need," Rev Dimitris Boukis, told oikoumene.org. "Christ does exactly the same thing to us: we are the ones who are lost and He comes and saves us." As Christians, serving refugees should not come from a place of pity, but rather "they need to be treated as equals", because they are "brothers and sisters created by the same God", he said. The church, which has 35 congregations across mainland Greece, has been serving refugees for 20 years. It currently feed some 5,000 people two days a week and brings doctors, clothes and shoes to the refugee camp in Idomeni. "People donate their their time, their money, their effort, and they come together, they take the food, and they travel 60, 80, 100 kilometres just to offer it to people," said Boukis. He said churches "should not hide behind the politicians", rather "lead by our example" in caring for refugees. "There are some European countries where they are not at all welcoming the refugees. The church there needs to tell them how important it is to host people. Being silent is not good. I think we should speak loudly about human dignity, and human equality, especially as Christians if we believe that all humans were created by the same God. I believe there are people already who have it in their heart to help their neighbour. I think the churches need to encourage that." Boukis said it was crucial to recognise refugees as valuable additions to society. "I see that some of them are very gifted artists who I would very much like to engage with or listen to. I believe wherever they go, they will enrich society. They will be fresh air," he said. Greece has always had immigrants passing through its borders, but the numbers in the last year have been "overwhelming". Idomeni, for example, was once a small village: "Maybe a few hundred people used to live there," said Boukis. "The actual refugee camp there hosts 12,000 to 14,000 refugees. And 12,000 to 14,000 that's an average city in Greece. It completely changes the dynamics of society." He said many of the refugees are not economic migrants. "They were people who loved their country and who didn't want to leave. They had good jobs. Some of them had businesses, some were professors, others were musicians, and you see people that speak many languages as well, who are educated people as well. So for them, leaving their countries was not because they wanted a better future financially. They had to go, they didn't have any other opportunity in life." Serving refugees, he said, was ultimately an expression of the love of God. "If we love others as we love ourselves especially since the 'others' are people whose language and culture we do not know but in their faces we see brothers and sisters created by the same God." Italian government backs same-sex civil unions The Italian parliament has supported same-sex civil unions today in a vote of confidence for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, despite staunch opposition from Catholic conservatives. The Catholic-majority country was the last Western democracy not to legally recognise same-sex partnerships, and was ruled to be violating human rights by the European Court of Human Rights in failing to offer legal protection fro same-sex couples. The bill has given significant concessions to the socially conservative right in order to garner necessary support. Under this bill, gay people are not able to adop their partner's children, fro example. Gay couples will also not have to pledge loyalty, putting a distance between civil unions and marriage vows. However, gay couples will enjoy the same legal protections as heterosexual married couples, such as receiving a deceased spouse's pension. The vote of confidence in the centre-left Prime Minister (369-193) means the civil unions bill will inevitably become law. The final approval will take place later today in a vote which is seen to be a formality after the vote in confidence. The bil is only "a first step", according to its main sponsor, Democratic Party Senator Mocia Cirinna, who called the watered-down version a "hollow victory". "This is a very important measure, but I am also thinking of the children of so many friends," she told the BBC. Adoption is not banned, but cases will be judged on an individual basis. Despite the concessions, Renzi said: "Today is a day of celebration for so many people. We are writing another important page of the Italy we want." The official teaching on homosexuality of the Catholic Church, which is highly inflluential in Italy, is: "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil; and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder." London mayor Sadiq Khan blasts 'ignorant' Donald Trump: He would make us 'less safe' Donald Trump's view of Islam is "ignorant" and could make both the US and the UK less safe, according to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Khan is the city's first Muslim mayor and rejected the US presidential candidate's offer that he could be an "exception" to Trump's proposed policy of a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States". "This isn't just about me it's about my friends, my family and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world," said Khan. "Donald Trump's ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of the extremists. "Donald Trump and those around him think that western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam London has proved him wrong." Khan's rebuff came after Trump told the New York Times on Monday that he was happy to see Khan elected and that "there will always be exceptions" to his suggested temporary ban on Muslims. He said of Khan's election: "I think it's a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because frankly that would be very, very good. Because I think if he does a great job, it will really you lead by example, always lead by example. If he does a good job and frankly if he does a great job, that would be a terrific thing." Trump announced his controversial policy in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in San Bernadino when 14 people were killed in shooting inspired by ISIS. The New York billionaire has stuck by his ban despite outrage from world leaders. Prime Minister David Cameron labeled Trump "divisive, stupid and wrong" a comment he has declined to apologise for since Trump's rise to become the Republican presumptive nominee. New York mayor's call to boycott Chick-fil-A for traditional marriage support backfires as more customers head to the fast food chain New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has a bone to pick with Christian fast food chain Chick-fil-A because of the company's stance regarding homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The mayor recently urged his constituents to boycott the fast food joint. However, his call backfired on him as some New Yorkers accused him of being a bully. Many social media users came out to defend the fast food restaurant, The Gospel Herald reports. "Chick-fil-A does NOT spread a message of hate, but of love. They have a standard they base their business on. What is your standard Mayor De Blasio?" one supporter said. Another added: "I seldom feel more respected that I do when I visit a Chick-fil-A. Their employees are among the most friendly, courteous and respectful people. Treating people with kindness is at Chick-Fil-A's core. Just because their CEO happens to support traditional marriage doesn't make him a hate-monger. He's entitled to his beliefs. If anyone is spreading a message of hate and intolerance, it's de Blasio." Another supporter noted how people lined up for even an hour just to eat at Chick-fil-A after De Blasio called for a boycott. Meanwhile, the conservative organisation Liberty News Now has launched a petition telling De Blasio to "stop targeting Christian businesses." The group plans to deliver their petition to the mayor's office at the end of May with a Chick-fil-A nugget tray. The call to boycott Chick-fil-A all started when it opened a branch at the Queens Center Mall. Councilman Danny Dromm, who is openly gay, was displeased with the development and blasted the company for financially supporting anti-gay organisations. "I am deeply disturbed that Chick-fil-A continues to give 25 percent of their charitable contributions to anti-LGBT organisations, including over $1 million to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes," said Dromm. "I hope that the Queens Center mall will reconsider giving a company so deeply involved in anti-gay discrimination a lease on their property. Believers in equality should boycott these purveyors of hate." De Blasio supported Dromm by saying he would no longer eat at the establishment. "I'm certainly not going to patronise them and I wouldn't urge any other New Yorker to patronise them," he said. Pakistani authorities deny four churches will be destroyed for new Lahore train line Pakistani authorities have denied claims four churches will be destroyed during the construction of a new train line, after Christians protested the plans. It was previously reported that the churches would be demolished because they were in the path of the line. Christians protested in front of the Lahore High Court on May 3, insisting that they would not allow their places of worship to be destroyed and chanting slogans including "we don't give an inch of our holy places" and "we want our rights". Four churches in Lahore are said to be affected Cathedral Church, Naulakha Church, St Andrew's Church and Bohar Wala Church. Responding to the protests, the Lahore Development Authority said that the churches will not be destroyed. A spokesman admitted some church land would be used to house equipment during the construction process and to make room for stairs down to an underground station, but insisted that the churches themselves "will not be affected by the project", according to the Express. However, Christians say that the situation has not changed, and the churches remain vulnerable to damage in the plans. "For the time being, the situation is still the same," Nasir Saeed director of CLAAS-UK told Christian Today. "There is no respite for them and one problem after the other seems to follow Pakistani Christians." He had previously said that the churches were "located at very expensive and prime locations which politicians and Islamists are jealous of. They cannot stand that Christians have such prime property and...so try to use any excuse to grab the land and belittle Christians." While Saeed admitted that the churches will not be destroyed, he said that the proposed railway would disrupt worship and potentially cause significant damage to the church buildings. The government currently plans to build the metro line just 16 feet under St Andrews Church. "The church is 150 years old, and 16 feet is nothing. It will definitely still damage the church building. It is unlikely the church will survive it," Saeed said adding it was the government's responsibility to get an engineering survey but that it had failed to do so. Similarly, St Paul's church will not be directly damaged but its land will be used for a metro station, which Nasir fears will disrupt worship. The plans also involve laying tracks through the grounds of Bohar Wala Church. "If you pass a train in front of the church, it will still be disturbing for the congregation," said Saeed. "The Government shouldn't play with Christians' religious feelings and should avoid further aggrieving and pressurising the Christian minority of Pakistan." There is a fear that freedom of worship may be challenged, especially with thousands of Muslim passengers using the trains during Christian prayer, the Express reported. "The situation is not going to be resolved quickly," Saeed told Christian Today. 'Prophet' of cult-like church spat on and kicked church-goers The former leader of a "cult-like" church in Ontario has pleaded guilty to nine accounts of assault in court. Fred King, 57, formerly led the Church of Jesus Christ Restored, a fundamentalist offshoot of the Latter Day Saints Movement, in Chatsworth, Ontario. King admitted to forcing members of his church to strip in front of the rest of the congregation. He also admitted to spitting on people and kicking, punching or slapping church members, according to the Toronto Sun. The details were revealed in an agreed statement of facts read in court by Crown Attorney Michael martin. Sixteen other charges including sexual assault, sexual interference and death threats were withdrawn by the Crown. King had been known as 'The Prophet' by his followers at the church he led from 1978 to 2008. He was alleged to have had several wives, who were handed down from his father, Stan King, who led the church before him. King disappeared in 2012 after allegations of sexual and physical assault were made by former members. Carol Christie, a former church member who spent 40 years brainwashed by Stan King, spoke to police and media in late 2012 and later wrote a book about the polygamy and sexual abuse in the church. King was arrested in April 2014, after a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest. His brother, Judson King, will stand trial in June on charges of sexual assault, assault and assault with a weapon. 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. Queen at 90: 3 things we can learn from Queen Elizabeth about ageing gracefully The Queen turns 90 on Thursday and despite reaching this landmark age, she still leads a life more active than most, and that goes for those less than half her age too. As a monarch and Supreme Governor of the Church of England for more than 63 years, there's much that we can learn from Queen Elizabeth II about leadership, from how to encourage people in difficult times to the importance of exercising restraint. But as a Christian whose faith has been a great source of comfort and inspiration throughout her life, what can we learn from the Queen about ageing gracefully and faithfully? There's no expiration date on duty Despite calls for her to abdicate because of her considerable age, Queen Elizabeth has never shown any desire to relinquish her duties as monarch. Much of her motivation for this comes from her belief that her role is God-given - for life. Her public appearances and overseas visits may have reduced over the years but she still shows a determination not to let her age get in the way of her responsibilities. It's not unusual for people to respond to the prospect of a new opportunity with "I'm too old for that". But what the Queen's example demonstrates is that although we may have to adapt our lifestyles as we age, there's no age limit on serving. An ageing appearance is to be embraced The changes in physical appearance that are brought on by ageing are viewed by many people as undesirable. Instead of embracing the natural ageing process, millions of people take drastic steps to slow, reduce or reverse the visible signs of ageing each year. The world's press analyses the beauty and style of female figures to the same extent it does Hollywood A-listers and catwalk models. But Queen Elizabeth seems to be completely unbothered by the world's standards. She stopped dyeing her hair 20 years ago, embracing her grey curls ever since, and seems perfectly at home in her low heels, below the knee dresses, and signature black handbag. As someone whose faith has been a central part of her life and has influenced the choices she's made throughout her reign, it wouldn't be a shock to discover that her decision was inspired by her faith and specifically Proverbs 16:31 "Grey hair is a crown of splendour; it is attained in the way of righteousness". You can still be modest no matter how much you have or how much you've done It might seem impossible for someone with such tremendous wealth and influence to exercise modesty but the Queen's refusal to approve formal celebrations to mark the milestone of becoming the longest-reigning monarch last year is one example of when she has done just that. The longer we live and the more we've accumulated or achieved, the more we can become preoccupied with being acknowledged for our achievements and believe our own hype. But the Queen's attitude suggests she doesn't feel the need for her life's work to be the subject of elaborate public celebration and that rather, she did her duty, no more no less. Taking care of the generation following after us As we grow old, there's another generation following right behind us. Our legacy, the world we create, will be what they inherit. The Queen demonstrated her commitment to those younger than herself when she said: "The true measure of all our actions is how long the good in them lasts...everything we do, we do for the young." Rival visions highlight evangelical split over Trump's presidential candidacy Christian evangelicals are increasingly divided over Donald Trump's presidential candidacy. The leader of American Renewal Project, a conservative Christian organisation, wrote to 100,000 pastors asking them to support Trump, in the same week that the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference openly criticised him. "The choice facing America is not the lesser of two evils, but who will inflict the least damage to freedom and liberty," said David Lane, the leader of the American Renewal Organisation, according to the Washington Post. "Between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, this is an easy choice. What and how will Mr Trump do? I don't have a clue. But with Hillary we do know, the progressives that she will stack on the Supreme Court alone will set-back America for a century. ...Codifying transgender bathrooms rights will only be the beginning of nine unelected and unaccountable justices imposing a godless agenda, tearing America apart brick-by-brick." American Renewal is a conservative Christian organisation that encourages evangleicals to engage with politics. His message of support contrasts with that of Rev Samuel Rodriguez, president and CEO of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. Rodgriguez has asked to meet with Trump to discuss issues he has with his presidential campaign, including immigration, the border with Mexico and the "millions of hard-working Latino immigrants" who live in the United States. "To date, Donald Trump's comments about immigration have been inflammatory, impractical and unhelpful," Rodriguez told Charisma News. "Now that he is the presumptive nominee, we call upon him to immediately stop rhetorical commentary he has previously used that discredits groups, including Latino immigrants, and start discussing and offering real, productive solutions for comprehensive immigration reform." If he has any hope of gaining voters in the Hispanic community, Rodriguez said Trump needed to engage positively with the community: "If Trump truly wants to make America 'a beautiful and loving country', then he must personally begin by treating all black, white, Latino, male and female as they deserve to be treated. For at the end of the day, every individual is made in the image of God and merits love and respect," he said. "As we continue down the path in choosing our next president, may we remember that our great nation's future depends not on one man or one woman, but rather God." Trump has also drawn criticism from the head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore, who said that opposition to the mogul would put evangelicals on "the right side of Jesus". "The man on the throne in heaven is a dark-skinned, Aramaic-speaking 'foreigner' who is probably not all that impressed by chants of 'Make America great again'," said Moore in an op-ed for the New York Times. The Queen's Speech: What to watch out for The State Opening of Parliament is fast approaching amid a raft of government U-turns and backdowns. Somewhat overshadowed by the referendum on the European Union on June 23, it has sneaked up quickly. Other than the tradition and symbolism of the ceremony, the government will announce its plans for the next parliamentary season. So what can we expect on May 18 and what should Christians in particular look out for? Are Christians extremists? The central focus of the Queen's Speech will be a bill to tackle extremism. Cameron will announce measure to ban organisations, silence individuals and close down groups that "promote hatred". The problem is who will be defined as an extremist. The Christian Institute told Christian Today the "root of concern is a complete lack of definition". Ciaran Kelly, spokesman for The Institute said: "We don't know who could be caught up in the legislation but certainly it seems if you have an issue with same-sex marriage you could be classed as an extremist". Kelly said the worry surrounded what the threshold would be for defining an extremist. David Cameron has made clear he wants to tackle the ideology behind extremism. When he announced his counter-extremism strategy last year he said "extremism is really a symptom; ideology is the root cause". The concern for some is what other non-violent ideologies will be targeted by the government's crack down. Kelly said the threshold should be when violence is committed or advocated. "The government seems to be setting an extremely low threshold. The solution we want to see is a higher threshold where you are labelled an extremist if you advocate violence," he told Christian Today. The bill has already been delayed a number of times and was expected to have been announced by now. It is understood the delay has been caused by the struggle to define "extremism". One suggestion was "vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values", according to the Telegraph. But this was considered too loose a definition to stand up against a legal challenge. A Home Office source has admitted: "Getting agreement about the thresholds for what constitutes extremism and what needs to be protected as free speech is not going to be easy or straightforward." When the bill is published it will be particularly key how the government defines extremism and especially what it classes as a "non-violent extremist". As one commentator pointed out, Jesus would probably fall into that category. Life chances Prominent Christian MP David Burrowes has hailed the Queen's Speech as an opportunity for a "long-term social justice plan". He wrote in a blog post: "The emerging consensus is that social justice needs to be the Party's uniting mission after the EU Referendum." As Cameron looks to rebuild his leadership after the splits caused by the referendum, he will lay out plans for a "period of great social transformation" in the Queen's Speech. As well as securing his place in Number 10 he will also try to ensure the legacy of a moderniser he set out to achieve when he took over the party in 2005 is guaranteed. In the Sunday Times Cameron promised to overhaul the adoption system in this year's Queen Speech. The government will force courts to favour permanent families rather than distant relatives as the number of adoptions has halved in this past two years. This is because courts have tended to send children to relatives, many of whom are barely known and live miles away from the children. "Families matter," Cameron declared. He wrote: "I am unashamedly pro-adoption because I believe all children need a loving, permanent and stable home. "For me, a child's happiness and future life chances will always come above everything else. So we will legislate to tip the balance in favour of permanent adoption where that is the right thing for the child even when that means overriding family ties." The adoption charity Home for Good said it welcomed the decision to invest more in adoption. A spokesperson said the charity agreed that "decisions made by government should be child-centred and focused on achieving permanence for each child at the earliest possible stage". However the charity added that for some children, the best option is foster care. The spokesperson said: "Home for Good would strongly support the government investing more into foster care alongside adoption, recognising that both offer love and care to vulnerable children." This is likely to be one of a number of "life chances" features in the Queen's Speech alongside a new care leavers contract to ensure access to housing, health and job support and more powers for prison governors to control their budgets. Specialist Jessica Fertig on the wine bottle that became a Surrealist masterpiece It was a period in which it was very difficult for artists to get hold of canvas, Fertig explains. Many, like Picasso , were working on paper or board. Magritte began to paint on wine bottles because they were readily available. Those on which he painted female nudes have become among his most coveted. Rene Magritte (1898-1967), Femme-Bouteille, painted circa 1941 . Oil on glass bottle, height 11 in (29.8 cm). This work was offered in the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on 12 May at Christies in New York and sold for $725,000 Femme-Bouteille is painted in oil on a bottle used for Bordeaux wine, which the artist appears to have favoured not necessarily for its contents, Fertig clarifies, but for its tall, straight sides. Magritte very purposefully counters the curving forms of the female body he represents. His shading emphasises the illusion, following the Surrealist idea of taking an object and transforming it into something it is not. A recent discovery emphasises the works exceptional history. A letter was found from British fashion designer Hardy Amies, one of Femme-Bouteilles former owners, says Fertig. Amies had been posted to Brussels during the war. In the letter he writes, Upon leaving, I was presented with the Magritte bottle. It was a gift from painter Olivier Picard, who had been given the bottle by leading Belgian Surrealist Paul Delvaux. This is a wonderful piece, concludes Fertig. Theres always something alluring about Magrittes women. This bottle fully envelops the female form, from its curves to the hair that cascades down its back. This lot really is one of my favourites a Surrealist sculpture that combines painting. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Last year at around this time Houstonians were enthralled with the story of the newborn Busby quintuplets, an all-female gang born to League City couple Danielle and Adam Busby at the Woman's Hospital of Texas. Now they are reality-TV stars on TLC. On Tuesday night, TLC premiered the first episode of "OutDaughtered" which chronicles the challenges of raising six little girls in 2016. RELATED: First U.S. all-girl quintuplets 'doing great' in Houston hospital The five little girls made history as the first set of all-female quintuplets ever born in the United States. Busby delivered Olivia Marie, Ava Lane, Hazel Grace, Parker Kate and Riley Paige by C-section April 8, 2015, after a pregnancy of 28 weeks and two days. The last time a pregnancy resulted in the birth of five girls and no boys occurred in London in 1969. The Busby quintuplets have a big sister who is 5 years old. Their parents started a blog to show the world how they were doing and soon afterward, reality show producers came calling. Danielle Busby told People magazine that five babies requires an incredible amount of planning. RELATED: Parents prepare for massive job of caring for all-girl quints "Everything has to be planned out even something as simple as going for a walk, taking a bath, changing diapers," she said. "I mean, every single thing has its challenges." Some events, like bathing, require assembly line precision. We get to hear about million dollar medical bills and Dads vasectomy in the preview for the premiere season. Friends and family play a prominent role in helping the Danielle and Adam with everyday chores. Older daughter Blayke, they say, has handled the transition well and is a great help. Making sure that every child feels just as much love as the others seems to be Job One, though. Those without TLC can also keep tabs on the brood via the family's own Instagram account, where followers can get daily photo updates on the little ones, big sis, and Mom and Dad. We can't imagine what will happen in 15 or so years when five teenage girls are all clamoring for a new car. For now we're sure the Busby's have their hands full just the same. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Theater The Hero Squad vs. The World Angriest Cow: The nefarious Nikolai has a plan to rid the world of our heroes, just as a new enemy appears. 10:30 a.m. Wednesday- Saturday; $12; Grace Theater, 2710 W. Alabama; 713-526-2721, adplayers.org. The Christians: On the anniversary of the church's founding, Paul is about to preach a sermon that will shake the foundation of his congregation's beliefs. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; $26-$67; Alley Theatre, 615 Texas; 713-220-5700, alleytheatre.org. The Nether: A sci-fi crime drama that tells the story of a new virtual digital world that provides total sensory immersion. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday; $26-$67; Alley Theatre, 615 Texas; 713-220-5700, alleytheatre.org. Plenty of Time: Set in the late 1960s, a spoiled Southern debutant and a Black Panther fall in love. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; $30-$33; Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main; 713-520-0055, ensemblehouston.com. A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder: The uproarious story of a distant heir to a family fortune who sets out to jump the line of succession, by any means necessary. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Sarofim Hall, Hobby Center, 800 Bagby; $37.75-$124.50; 713-315-2525, thehobbycenter.org. Don Quixote: The adventures of a nameless hidalgo who loses sanity by reading many chivalric romances. 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Zilkha Hall, Hobby Center, 800 Bagby; $12-$31.75; 713-315-2525, thehobbycenter.org. Harriet the Spy: When Harriet's trusty notebook is lost, she must use all her super spy techniques to try to get it back. 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday; $16-$20; The Match, 3400 Main St.; 713-524-6706, mainstreettheater.com. Working: A musical exploration of 26 people from all walks of life. 3 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; $10-$15; Main Street Theater Rice Village, 2540 Times Blvd.; 713-524-6706, mainstreettheater.com. Dollface: Loosely borrowing from the Medusa myth, a young woman's journey goes from innocent to outcast at the hands of an unknown suitor. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; $15-$20; Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios, 1824 Spring; 832-463-0409, mildredsumbrella.com. Music Box Theater's 5 Year Anniversary Show: A concert of the best songs performed over the theater's five-year history; 7:30 p.m. Saturday; $27-$37; 2623 Colquitt; 713-522-7722, themusicboxtheater.com. Things Missing by Melissa Flower: Influenced by Melissa's three-year project interviewing women immigrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking; 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and Wednesday; $15-$30; 3522 White Oak; 832-889-7837, obsidiantheater.org. Disney's The Little Mermaid Jr.: Adapted from Disney's Broadway production and the motion picture, featuring the Monday 4-5th Grade Production Cast. 2 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Monday; $12; 12777 Queensbury Lane; 713-467-4497, queensburytheatre.org. I and You: On the night before a high school assignment is due, Anthony arrives unexpectedly at his bedridden classmate's house to seek her help with the project. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; $19-$42; Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway; 713-527-0123, stagestheatre.com. Big Fish: As Will prepares for the birth of his own son, he is determined to find the truth behind his father's epic fish stories. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; $21-$40; Stages Yeager Theater, 3201 Allen Parkway; 713-527-0123, stagestheatre.com. Hay Fever: Comedy about a weekend getaway for the eccentric Bliss family, who live in a world where reality slides easily into fiction. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; $38; 14243 Steubner Airline; 281-583-7573,texreptheatre.org. Winifred: A British orphan's story bristles with themes of innocence and guilt, sexual politics, artistic purity and familial relations. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; $32-$47; MATCH, 3400 Main; 713-868-7516, thelabhou.org. Classical After the Storm: Mining the legacy of the Great Storm of 1900 and Hurricane Ike in 2008 for this chamber opera. 7 p.m. Friday, Cullen Theater, 500 Texas; and 7 p.m. Sunday, The Grand 1894 Opera House, 2020 Postoffice, Galveston; $22-$30; 713-228-6737, houstongrandopera.org. Beethoven's Ninth: Beethoven's masterpiece performed on period instruments as heard at its premiere in 1824. 8 p.m. Saturday; $68; Wortham Theater, 500 Texas; 713-533-0080, mercuryhouston.org. Da Camera Young Artists Concert: Da Camera Young Artists' class presents a concert of highlights from the 2015/2106 season. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; free; The Menil Collection, 1533 Sul Ross; 713-524-7601, dacamera.com. Dance Houston Ballet at CWMP: "The Rose Adagio" and Act III of Ben Stevenson's "The Sleeping Beauty," plus Stanton Welch's "Romeo and Juliet" balcony scene, Act 2 of "Maninyas" and "Spring Waters." 8 p.m. Thursday, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 2005 Lake Robbins; $20 orchestra seating, mezzanine and lawn free; 281-363-3300, woodlandscenter.org. H-Town Get Down: Hip-hop dance festival with MC Outspoken Bean and performances by Wyld Styl, Riot Squad, Soul Street, HIStory and others. 8 p.m. Saturday, Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive, 281-373-3386, milleroutdoortheatre.com. FREE Generation Dance Festival: Leon Contemporary Dance presents performances by nearly 20 pre-professional and professional area companies. 5 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 3 and 5 p.m. Sunday, MATCH, 3400 Main; $17-$22, 713-521-4533, matchouston.org. Tickets are now on sale for Wine & Food Week, June 6-12 in The Woodlands. The theme of this year's festival is "New York State of Mind," and the week will showcase more than 500 wines and 75 restaurants. The special guest this year is former Houstonian Tristen Epps, a finalist on Season 3 of "The Taste." Also, restaurateur Tony Vallone will be inducted into the event's Chef of Chefs Hall of Fame. One man is accused of leaving a 65-year-old person duct-taped for several days after robbing the residence. Two other men are facing charges after officials say they each stole money from an elderly person leaving a bank with a withdrawal. All three fugitives are being sought by Houston Crime Stoppers on charges related to elder abuse. The organization is emphasizing these crimes in May, which is Elder Abuse Prevention Month. Two teens are in custody and another person is on the run early Wednesday morning after they were spotted burglarizing a middle school in southwest Houston. The incident happened about 3 a.m. at Dowling Middle School at 14000 Stancliff near Simsbrook Drive, said Lt. Larry Crowson of the Houston Police Department. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Kingwood resident Brenda Williams saw her first Little Free Library while on vacation in Florida last year. She had no idea what it was. The small, community book-exchange-in-a-box was placed near a drive-through restaurant. "Once you drove through to get your food, you could also drive up to get a book," she said. Williams went closer to inspect the intriguing structure and saw a plaque reading Little Free Library. "It was almost like a birdhouse, but bigger," she said. "When I got home, I looked it up." Williams learned that Little Free Libraries are popping up around the country in all shapes and sizes. Their motto is "take a book, return a book," inviting the passerby to look for a new read or recycle an old novel in these neighborhood bookstands. It all started in 2009 when Todd Bol of Wisconsin, who built a model of a one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a teacher who loved to read. Bol filled the interior with books and put the structure on a post in his front yard. His idea soon inspired a grass roots movement. He started a nonprofit organization to track the progress and to provide resources to individuals who wanted to build their own Little Free Libraries. There's a map to all the registered Little Free Libraries on the nonprofit's website, but Williams could not find any in Kingwood, Humble, New Caney or Porter. "The closest one was in Spring," she said. "I was surprised about that. We don't have one and so I said we're going to get one." When her husband asked what she wanted for a present last Christmas, she made a request that he build her a Little Free Library. Her husband constructed a library resembling a set of stack dryers, a perfect fit for where Williams wanted to place it. She owns Kingwood Laundromat, 22401 Loop 494. And instead of placing the Little Free Library in her yard at home, she decided to erect it in front of her business. "I see kids in the laundromat with their noses stuck in their phones," Williams said. She wanted them to read books instead. Williams hosted a grand opening celebration for Kingwood's first Little Free Library, on Sunday, April 10, in honor of National Library Week. "I was just thrilled," Williams said. "It turned out really cute." She stocked the shelves with books for readers of all ages. "It's for adults, teenagers, little kids," she said. "We have some books in English and some in Spanish." The library is accessible 24 hours a day, all week long. There are covered benches nearby for readers who are waiting on a load of laundry inside or who simply would like a break in the shade. "They can sit and just immerse themselves in a story," Williams said. She said that children have been especially excited about taking home a book. "The kids are just enthralled with it," she said. "It's gone over well." Williams said that residents have joined the effort, donating books for her Little Free Library. She hopes to inspire others to construct their own neighborhood book stands. "Maybe it will start a trend," she said. "There's a page to be turned, if you want to." Margaret Aldrich, author of "The Little Free Library Book," said there are now more than 36,000 of these structures in 70 different countries. She first learned about the libraries in 2010. "From then, I became obsessed," she said. "Having this Little Free Library, this box of books, it starts to build a sense of community. It's about place-making and creativity." Aldrich said bookworms love the libraries because they have a chance to share their favorite reads. "They don't want their books to get dusty on their shelves," she said. "They want other people to love the books as well." Aldrich still enjoys discovering Little Free Libraries and hearing stories about how they started. For more information about Little Free Libraries, visit https://littlefreelibrary.org. Lone Star College-Kingwood hosted the first of what is expected to be several forums this year that will focus on the new campus carry law. Nearly 100 students, faculty, and guests attended the first forum at LSC-Kingwood on April 28, hosted by the Student Government Association. "A topic like this needs to be discussed," said Jennifer Chiotti, associate professor of criminal justice at LSC-Kingwood. "That's why these forums are so important not just to raise awareness on our campus, but within our community." Lone Star College Police Chief Paul Willingham addressed the campus carry issue, to dispel rumors and outline what the change in the law means for students and faculty. "If you follow the news you've heard that these four year schools are doing these forums, and trying to figure out how to develop a campus carry policy that's within the confines of the statute," he said. "Lone Star College will be doing the same thing." In March 2015, Lone Star College hosted campus carry forums at the LSC-Kingwood campus, and the LSC-CyFair campus, with both events drawing in excess of 300 students and faculty. Both events were offered as a way to help students and faculty engage in discussion about the campus carry as the state legislature was engaged in the passage of the campus carry bill, known as Senate Bill 11, which ultimately was signed into law in June 2015. The campus carry law, which goes into effect at four-year universities on Aug. 1, 2016, will allow students and faculty, who are at least 21-years old, and who possess a concealed handgun permit, to carry their concealed handgun into some campus buildings. Currently, anyone with a concealed handgun permit can carry their weapon concealed on campus, but can't take them into any campus building or classroom. Weapons can be kept in vehicles even without a permit, if the owner is 21 years old and older and not a convicted felon, Willingham added. Junior colleges and two year colleges like the Lone Star College System, will not see this change until Aug. 1, 2017. "We are a year behind so we have a little bit of an advantage to see how some of these policies are applied, and how they work in the four-year schools," Willingham said. "Honestly, in order to get our policy up and going, and have the opportunity to teach the community about the policy, we need to have ours ready to rock and roll by the spring, so we won't have a lot of time to watch the (universities)." Some of the anticipated prohibitions will include excluding concealed fire arms in laboratory classroom facilities, science labs, gymnasiums, or in areas that are exclusive to minors, such as campus day care center and segments of the campus that cater specifically to high school-aged students. Areas like these would be deemed as safe zones in the new policy and would be identified with signage, Willingham said. By the same token, colleges cannot single out or maintain a database of conceal handgun permit holders. The licensee, however, has an obligation to ensure the weapon is safely secured and concealed when it is being carried. That means if the weapon is noticeable beneath the clothing - known as printing - law enforcement will likely be called. Willingham said students are unlikely to notice any changes at all once the policy changes, but students and faculty still expressed their alarm. Jordan Everett, 21, who is studying Business at LSC-Kingwood, said the thought of handguns on campus frighten her, but wanted to know more. "Guns really do scare me, because all I've heard is negatively in the media," she said. "I'm not prepared for anything. I feel a little bit more informed on the subject now, but it still worries me There is still so much more to be discussed." Many of the future discussions will be organized through the Student Government Associations. Charles Wright, president of the LSC-Kingwood Student Government Association, said he plans to meet with counterparts at the other campuses this summer to begin planning future forums. "A majority of the students - the ones that I've spoken with - disagree with this law," Wright said. "When people think about it, it really doesn't make sense." For the second year in a row, the Tomball Independent School District is looking at starting another budget year in the red. Tomball ISD Finance Director Jim Ross made the first of three planned presentations to the board of board of trustees on the proposed 2016-17 budget, which indicates the district will start the next school year with a $2 million deficit. Some of the issues addressed included the estimated taxable value, the general fund revenue estimate, staffing needs for growth, starting teacher pay, and recommendations for a general pay increase for all staff. "What we are looking at, as far as revenue, is $119.7 million - a 9.1 percent increase over the previous year," Ross said. Tomball ISD, which is also projecting $121.7 million in expenditures, is still anticipates minimal pay increases for existing staff, as well as a bump in starting teacher salaries from $51,250 to $52,000. By the same token, Tomball ISD adjusted the pay rates for custodial and non-skilled staff to $10 per hour in 2014. This year, that will increase to $10.15 per hour. Last year, trustees approved a budget that as a result of opening three new campuses, came with a $3.6 million deficit. "We took a proactive approach by setting aside funds five years ago in preparation for a potential budget deficit," Tomball ISD Superintendent Huey Kinchen said during budget discussions last year. "We knew that opening three new schools in one year could result in a deficit for the 2015-16 school year." The same can be said as Tomball ISD prepares to open Creekside Park Junior High School to students in sixth through eighth grades in August. To prepare for the opening, the district will be looking to fill 98 positions, with 63 of those being teachers. The new school, the third junior high campus in the district, will the first TISD post-elementary campus to open in The Woodlands. Although there is a projected deficit with the proposed budget, the district as a whole is seeing tremendous growth in the district resulting in an increase in taxable values. In 2014, the Harris County Appraisal District calculated estimated taxable values at $7.67 billion. Last year, the values were calculated at $8.97 billion. This year, the certified estimate for taxable value is at $9.91 billion, a 10.4 percent increase from last year. Last year, the district lowered its tax rate from $1.36 to $1.34 per $100 valuation. "This is very substantial growth that we've seen over the last five years," Ross said. Since 2013, the taxable value in Tomball ISD has increased 67 percent. Much of the increased taxable value is a result of residential growth and development, which has increased by 11 percent over the past year. Much of that is being seen in the south end of the district with new home construction in Willow Creek Ranch Estates, Hayden Lakes, Wildwood at Oakcrest and Rosehill Estates. Because of some of that growth, Tomball ISD will be classified as a wealthy district in the next budget year, and subject to recapture, Ross said. Recapture is a mechanism within the Texas school finance system in which school districts classified as wealthy support poorer school districts as a way of providing education equality to all Texas school children. There are 1,041 school districts in Texas, with 135 of those classified as wealthy, according to the Intercultural Development Research Association in San Antonio. Tomball ISD is almost solely locally funded with 86 percent of district revenue coming from property taxes. "We have very little dependence on the state; we are virtually self-funded, which is why we have to pay recapture," Ross said. "We actually received more (from state funding) that we are actually allowed to keep (per student)." The shift in the tax rate last year helped ease the financial burden of opening three new campuses and will have the same effect for recapture this next budget year, Ross said. "This worked just fine. We will get the same revenue per pupil that we did before. The difference is that taxpayers are helping fund other districts," he said. The district is expected to hold its next budget workshop in June. Playtime took a tragic turn late Tuesday when a flood-built sand dune along Spring Creek collapsed onto a man who had been digging with his daughter. The 31-year-old man's foot was still protruding from the sand with his five-year-old daughter nearby when a man and woman walking along the trails in Pundt Park responded to her cries. "It took EMS with shovels 10 minutes to get him out," Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said Wednesday morning. "We don't know how long he was actually buried." The father, who had not been formally identified by midday Wednesday, had been creating an adventure in the natural landscape by tunneling through the high mounds of sand left behind from heavy flooding last week. He had dug five to eight feet into a sand bank when his tunnel became unstable, fell and trapped him, authorities concluded. He was pronounced dead about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the park. His identity is pending release by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences. Herman said the father had visitation on Mondays and Tuesdays and was known to have outings with the child at Pundt Park, which is near where the girl and her mother live. Harris County Precinct 4 parks director Dennis Johnston said it is not surprising that the sand suddenly collapsed, because the soggy granules are heavy from recent floods that took Spring and Cypress creeks over their banks. Even without flooding, the landscape constantly shifts. Water pushes sand from place to place, leaving new dunes. "It's just dynamic geology," Johnston said. ""The creek slowed down and deposited this ridge of sand. These continuous dunes are being created and moving and shifting after a heavy rain." The particular sand mound was formed in Spring Creek beside a pile of about 15 trees and along a 15-mile greenway trail where people can easily jump to the natural landscape to enjoy creekside beaches. Debris mixed in the dune likely supported the sand enough to allow the man to dig deep. He had tunneled into the side of the dune about five feet and the cave was about five feet from the top of the dune. "It was just an unfortunate tragedy," Johnston said. "The important thing is to get the word out that you can't go down in that sugary sand. When it's wet, it gets sticky and it moves and it takes time for it to settle and compact. You have to be careful out here after these floods." The footprints of first responders remained in the sand on Wednesday morning, marking the spot where personnel attempted to rescue the man. Pundt Park, at 4129 Spring Creek Drive a few miles north of Houston Intercontinental Airport, is patrolled by deputy constables who monitor all the parks in the county. Law enforcement park oversight has increased following the tunnel collapse, with officers using four-wheeled vehicles to travel. But, there will not be barriers erected to prevent people from playing in the sand. "We'd be putting orange tape and barriers everywhere. The dunes themselves are part of the natural landscape," the constable said. "If we see people digging in the sand, we will alert people to the dangers of it. Sand is not like dirt. It's granules. It will give way." There are about 40 parks in Precinct 4. Many of the properties are along Spring and Cypress creeks. "We have signs up out here that warn the equestrians that quicksand occurs in this creek. We had to pull two horses out of here over the past two years," said Johnston, who has worked in the Harris County parks system for more than three decades. He strongly urged post-flood caution for park users. "Digging a big hole in the sand and making a sand cave is not a good idea," he said. Chronicle reporters Mike Glenn, Carol Christian, Michael Ciaglo and Dale Lezon contributed to this report. Police were investigating an apparent homicide Tuesday night in north Houston. At least one person was shot and killed at about 7:15 p.m. along Knox and West Rittenhouse, authorities said. The motive for the fatal shooting wasn't known. Police have not yet released any information about the person who was shot. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS. A Houston psychologist and her husband have pleaded guilty to tampering with mental health evaluations for peace officer candidates, a move that has left more than a dozen police agencies in the Houston area scrambling to retest officers to ensure they are fit for duty. Carole Busick and her husband, Don Busick, a licensed professional counselor, were sentenced to 10 years deferred adjudication, meaning the charges against them will be dropped if they complete the probationary term without incident. They also were ordered to each repay $8,762.50 to four agencies that had paid for their services. Houston Police Department A seventh grade social studies teacher at Houston ISD's Beechnut Academy will remain in federal custody pending trial on federal child pornography charges after a magistrate determined he would be a flight risk. On Wednesday Jason Dion Johnson waived his right to a hearing about his detention and U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy ruled that Johnson, 50, must remain in federal custody while awaiting trial for distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography. Johnson had served probation after getting deferred adjudication on an indecent exposure charge in the late 1990s. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Katy's John Graves was none too happy that his 3-year-old grandson, Kayden, had something a little extra in his Dr Pepper that was bought on a Mother's Day trip to Galveston. Graves said a 3-inch rodent was found in the 20 oz. bottle the next morning when his grandson's parents were getting ready to drop him off at day care. He originally wanted to send it to Dr Pepper-Snapple but said he was told testing results could take up to four weeks. ANGRY GRANDPA: Graves vents in Facebook post Concerned about the health of his grandson, Graves said he plans on having a forensic veterinary service perform a necropsy on the rodent within the next 48 hours. "There have been no sickness that we've noticed but the pediatrician did say the onset of the symptoms could be sudden and happen anytime within the next two to four weeks," Graves said. "I want to get a necropsy service on it so they can determine the cause of death and how long it's been dead." Graves is seeking specifics such as if the rodent was bottled alive and if it has any diseases. Chris Barnes, spokesman for Dr Pepper-Snapple, said the company takes consumer complaints very seriously and that Graves' situation is one of great concern. "The controls and safeguards we have in our production facilities make it virtually impossible for any foreign object to get into a container at any stage of the bottling process," Barnes said in a statement. "All of our containers are covered on pallets until the moment they are ready to fill. Once on our high-speed filling lines, bottles are turned upside-down and rinsed out before they are quickly filled and capped. "Based on the production code we received from Mr. Graves yesterday evening, the bottle in question was filled during the early afternoon of April 26 at our Houston plant as part of a six-hour production run. Records indicate no stoppages in production at the time this bottle was on the filling line. In addition, a City of Houston health inspector was in the plant that very day on a routine inspection, which included among other tasks reviewing pest control measures, and the inspector saw no issues." INSPECTION VIOLATIONS: Inspectors cite gross potty problem at fast-food joint Barnes is hoping Graves will provide Dr Pepper-Snapple with the rodent in the bottle so it can be examined. So far, Graves has decided to keep the rodent. "Once the story got going, they told me they can get a courier over to my house. But I'm not comfortable with that, this examination needs to be on my terms," Graves said. Graves added that an attorney has not been hired. His family's main concern at this point is the health of his grandson. "We're not making any assumption. We're just trying to get some facts," Graves said. A yearbook photograph of a Muslim California high school student wearing an Islamic head scarf mistakenly was identified as "Isis Phillips," leading to the teen's embarrassment and disgust, the Reuters new service reports. Citing a report in the New York Daily News, the news service said a student working on the Los Osos High School yearbook in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., explained that student Phillips' name erroneously was attached to the Muslim student's picture. Delegates at state convention for the Republican Party of Texas will have a chance to vote on Texas secession, after a platform item calling for independence passed a special committee on Wednesday morning. It is not expected to pass, but represents a substantial achievement for proponents of a Lone Star nation. The Houston Chronicle previously reported that activists with the Texas Nationalist Movement, a secessionist organization, had helped pass independence resolutions in at least 22 county or district conventions in March. Thousands of the most fervent Texas Republicans will gather in Dallas Thursday through Saturday to decide what kind of party they want to belong to. After a bruising Republican presidential campaign that saw Sen. Ted Cruz, their favorite son, concede the race to New York mogul Donald Trump, the Republican Party of Texas convention this week is sure to include some fireworks. Above are a few things to watch for: 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. Braves advance to semis at Unity CHEROKEE - Cherokee's volleyball girls took down Harlan 3-0 on Monday and headed to Orange City this past Wednesday to... Wolverines end season at West Bend-Mallard WEST BEND - The South OBrien volleyball team traveled to face West Bend-Mallard in the first round of the regional... Warriors suffer 44-14 loss to Gehlen Catholic ALTA - The Alta-Aurelia football team hosted Gehlen Catholic on Friday evening, but lost the game 44-14. The Warriors struck... Warriors take down Raiders to finish regular season ALTA - The Alta-Aurelia volleyball team hosted East Sac County on Thursday evening and took down the Raiders 3-1 to... Braves go 3-6 at Heelan Invite SIOUX CITY - Cherokee's volleyball team, 23-9, worked on fine tuning its skills here Saturday in a 12-team Sioux City... Even though it hasnt been that long since 10 Cloverfield Lane came out in theaters, I feel like Ive been waiting forever on the blu-ray. Its a movie that BEGS to be watched over and over, with plenty of reason to pause and search for hidden clues. I loved the film when it first released (garnering a near perfect score), and I did some serious deep-diving into its connections with the other film not too long ago. So yeah, you could say Im more than a little excitement about todays blu-ray announcement. Itll hit blu-ray on June 14th, but will land digitally at the end of the month on May 31st: Acclaimed producer J.J. Abrams and up-and-coming director Dan Trachtenberg deliver a new masterpiece that critics are calling riveting, gripping and loaded with tension (Scott Mantz, Access Hollywood) when 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE debuts on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand June 14, 2016 from Paramount Home Media Distribution. The film arrives two weeks early on Digital HD May 31. Certified Fresh by critics with a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes, 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE delivers heart-pounding fun (Patrick Stinson, Made in Hollywood) that will shock you senseless (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone). After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) wakes up in a survivalists (John Goodman, Argo) underground bunker. He claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable. His theories are supported by a mysterious stranger who is in the bunker with them (John Gallagher, Jr., The Newsroom), but as his increasingly suspicious actions lead her to question his motives, shell have to escape in order to discover the truth. With a shocking finale that will completely blow you away (Eric Eisenberg, Cinemablend), 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE looks phenomenal on Blu-ray. The Combo Pack includes Digital HD, commentary with director Dan Trachtenberg and producer J.J. Abrams, and over 30 minutes of special features. Take an extensive look behind-the-scenes with Abrams and the cast as they revisit the legacy of 2008s CLOVERFIELD, and discuss how 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE went from script to production. Continue with a tour of the ominous bunker, see how the costume designer was challenged to create a homemade Hazmat suit, follow the production team and sound designers as they work on the movies epic finale, and hear the unique scores composed for each character. Plus, for a limited time only, get a bonus Digital HD copy of the original CLOVERFIELD with the Blu-ray Combo Pack. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE Blu-ray Combo Pack The 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE Blu-ray is presented in 1080p high definition with English Dolby Atmos, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The DVD in the combo pack is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 TVs with English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English Audio Description and English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles. The combo pack includes access to a Digital HD copy of the film as well as the following: Feature film in high definition Commentary by director Dan Trachtenberg and producer J.J. Abrams Over 30 minutes of Behind-The-Scenes Footage While the bonus featurs seem a little skimpy, Im very eager to listen to the Trachtenberg and Abrams commentary. Undoubtedly some good insight will come through there from these awesome storytellers. What do you guys think? Will you be picking this up on June 14th? -Jordan Peste 300 de liceene s-au inscris in Startup School si sunt gata sa invete bazele antreprenoriatului tehnologic. Vezi cum a fost la evenimentul de lansare a programului national de educatie antreprenoriala FiveThirtyEights Nate Silver ripped into The New York Times in generaland the papers new media columnist, Jim Rutenberg, in particularon the FiveThirtyEight election podcast on Monday. The minutes-long rant included loaded words like dishonest and unethical. Silver and his operation had an alliance with the Times during the time of the 2012 election. The attack showed that theres little love lost over the split, at least from Silvers perspective. It also proved that Donald Trump, the apparent victor in a race that reporters across the spectrum called spectacularly wrong up until the very end, is still roiling the media world. The catalyst for Silvers unleashing was a column from Rutenberg, who stepped into the vacant David Carr job at the beginning of the year. The piece ruminated on the myriad errors made by the media over the course of the utter mayhem that has been the 2016 presidential race. The column wasnt entirely focused on Silver; it mentioned failures in Times prognostications as well. But Rutenberg did seem to go out of its way to bring up FiveThirtyEight, especially in noting a bad call for the Indiana Democrat primary, in which FiveThirtyEight had favored Hillary Clinton to win but Bernie Sanders ended up taking in a romp. There was subtext there, too. Several times in the piece, Rutenberg advocated for shoe-leather reportingtalking to actual humans, as he put itand concluded: Thats all the more reason in the coming months to be as sharply focused on the data we dont have as we are on the data we do have (and maybe watching out for making any big predictions about the fall based on the polling of today). But a good place to start would be to get a good nights sleep, and then talk to some voters. To those with their ears attuned to fissures in the media world related to data journalism, the use of the word data was pointed. That, plainly, was what Silver responded to. The sites election podcasts generally feature Silver and several other of the sites election team discussing the race, with particular attention paid to polls. At about the halfway point (33:15 in, to be exact) in the conversation posted Monday, Silver unloaded: Sign up for CJR 's daily email Jim Rutenberg and I were colleagues in 2012 when FiveThirtyEight was part of The New York Times. They were incredibly hostile and incredibly unhelpful to FiveThirtyEight, particularly when FiveThirtyEight tried to do things that blended reporting with kinda more classic techniques of data journalism. When we went to New Hampshire, for example, to go to The New York Times filing center the political desk is literally giving us the cold shoulder like its some high school lunchroom. This happened, right? When we filed the story pointing out before anyone else at the time that Rick Santorum had probably won the Iowa caucus and that was a story that involved a combination of data work and reporting they were apoplectic, because their Romney sources were upset and their Iowa GOP sources were upset, so a story that, no. 1, was a perfect blend of reporting, which is what Rutenberg claims we need, with data, and, no. 2, got things totally right, pissed them off because they were mad they didnt get the scoop and it went against what their sources wanted. I mean, this guy was extremely unhelpful. Rutenberg, in a telephone conversation, said he had been trying to interview Silver since February and had been talking to publicity people at ESPN, now FiveThirtyEights parent company. He declined an interview request the day before, Rutenberg said. Those interview requests stand. So Ill talk about this a little bit, but to now litigate the story I want to write through other press just feels weird. He chose to talk after the fact, and thats his right; hes obviously upset. I tried to have a constructive conversation with him about data journalism and to be educated and he chose not to. The whole thing is a little baffling to me. I asked him about the intra-office coldness Silver described. Id say there was definitely growing pains, yeah, he replied. Some of what he said Id take issue with, but generally, sure there was. That was a very new thing. There was a group that, generationally, younger reporters had come up under older reporters. There was a way of doing journalism. And heres this new thing. Since 2012 weve all learned a lot. My thinking about data journalism has evolved. There are things I want him to explain to me I still dont get. For instance, the value of saying someone has a two percent chance, way out before an election. I laughed. Rutenbergs reference was to an assertion from Silver very early on in the race that Trumps chances of getting the nomination were minuscule. No, no, he protested. Im not saying that disrespectfully. Im really not. Im sure there is a value, maybe, I dont know what he would say, because he wouldnt talk to me, but maybe its, You have to start building your model. I want to have that conversation. In the podcast, Silver is plainly exercised. He stops to take a breath at one point, to the laughter of his colleagues. Then he ratchets up the stakes: And this is someone who, by the way, doesnt talk about that we were colleagues together at The New York Times, a person who cherrypicks the facts hes looking at. So he mentions that in our Indiana prediction for the Democrat election, the underdog won [i.e., Sanders over Clinton], but in fact the favorite has won 51 of 56 times in our polls-only forecast. To me, thats dishonest and unethical, frankly. And he doesnt really take the time to truly understand whats going on. Asked to respond, Rutenberg said, What do you say to that? I wish him the best. Im not going to get into name-calling. I approached him with an open hand and open mind. Im not going to get into name-calling. I dont think hes unethical. Its probably fair to say that the Timesmans contrast of FiveThirtyEight methodology and traditional reporting was somewhat cartoonish. The site publishes reams of analysis of polling data in a fairly nuanced way. For example, for races it publishes two columns of data, for the polls-only forecast and the polls-plus forecast. The latter includes factors like endorsements. And as for shoe-leather reporting, Rutenbergs take on actual humans was highly romanticized. You can spend all day talking to folks in Austin, Texas, and still be surprised when the Texas voting results come out. A conscientious operation will do more than that, of course; it might send reporters out to different places, and factor for things like race and whether the real people they are talking to are registered voters or even likely voters. But of course, thats basically data journalism, and a poll is a highly evolved form of just that. Rutenberg: Its all good, it should all work together, its not an either/or. Some people try to force this column into a box, to say that it said thats an either/or choice when it explicitly didnt. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Bill Wyman is the former arts editor of NPR and Salon.com. Follow him @hitsville. In some respects, Facebook isnt so different from the publishers that rely on it. A report from Gizmodo this week suggests that a team of news curators subjectively selected stories for the objective-sounding trending section of the Facebook homepage. One former contractor alleged that the team suppressed conservative newsand conservative outletsthat the social networks almighty algorithm surfaced. The obvious analogy is to left-leaning journalists picking stories for a newspapers front page. Facebook, however, reaches audiences no newspaper could imagine. The allegations have stoked fears that social platforms may be pressing their thumbs on the ideological scale. The Senate Commerce Committee even requested a fuller explanation of trending selection in a letter sent to Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday. In a statement to Brian Stelter later on Tuesday, Facebook said its looking forward to answering questions about the process. Its unclear how much this small plot of homepage real estate affects stories reach; users newsfeeds have prime location by comparison, and the trending tab is hard to locate on mobile devices. Yet the report cuts against Facebooks altruistic-sounding mission to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Whats more, it alludes to the more far-reaching editorial-like decisions social networks make in sorting news and digital content. Facebook may describe itself as a platform, but it acts a lot like a publisher. As prominently argued by Emily Bell, director of Columbias Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Facebook is increasingly shaping the contours of the public square, and citizens and news organizations have little choice but to go along for the ride. The power shift raises the all-important question of how information travels in free societiesand what we know about it. This is an unregulated field. There is no transparency into the internal working of these systems, Bell said in a University of Cambridge speech earlier this year. We are handing the controls of important parts of our public and private lives to a very small number of people, who are unelected and unaccountable. News organizations once had a more central role in setting the terms of public debate, balancing money-making aspects of publishing with more civically minded accountability journalism. They also generally followed widely accepted journalistic standards. Social networks have assumed much of the same power, Bell and others have argued, though they typically use more opaque processes and have a greater focus on those profitable slices of publishing. Thats not to say this new construct is necessarily worse, but it is foreign. And Facebook has little incentive to open up about its methodology. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Indeed, the corporation occupies a historically unique position. On the one hand, its a tech giant whose in-house tools and massive user base give it omnipotence over media outlets. On the other, its a media company in its own right, relying on a steady stream of content for survival. And just as journalists have always been defensive toward claims of bias, Facebook, too, has denied its own subjectivity. The social networks response to Gizmodos story on its trending section was telling in this regard. On Tuesday morning, VP of Search Tom Stocky wrote a post denying the allegations of political bias, adding that Facebooks team of news curators merely shepherd topics already identified by its algorithm. The supposed impartiality of this algorithm acts as a smokescreen to the other charges. Wrote Stocky: We have in place strict guidelines for our trending topic reviewers as they audit topics surfaced algorithmically: reviewers are required to accept topics that reflect real world events, and are instructed to disregard junk or duplicate topics, hoaxes, or subjects with insufficient sources. We do not insert stories artificially into trending topics, and do not instruct our reviewers to do so. Our guidelines do permit reviewers to take steps to make topics more coherent. We will also keep looking into any questions about Trending Topics to ensure that people are matched with the stories that are predicted to be the most interesting to them, and to be sure that our methods are as neutral and effective as possible. To be fair to Facebook, Gizmodos report is based on interviews with anonymous and disgruntled former employees. (The same outlet reported last week that Facebook wouldnt even invite these contractors to company happy hours. The horror!) But a few key words and phrases from Stockys statement stand out, as Zeynep Tufekci, a University of North Carolina professor who often writes about technology and society, highlighted on Twitter Tuesday. What makes a hoax or a source insufficient? What, exactly, is neutral and effective? I am not saying why isnt Facebook neutral, surfacing non-hoax news only from sufficient sources. Im saying that will always be contested. Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) May 10, 2016 Facebook feed algorithm sold as what you want but it structures the experience. FB trending is sold as algorithm but is FBs preferences. Zeynep Tufekci (@zeynep) May 9, 2016 Of course, such questions speak to a larger issue: While Facebook has become the publics primary conduit for digital content, its business imperative is to maximize engagement, not objectivity. The algorithms designed to do that are human-made and therefore biased by nature. But we can only guess as to how theyre constructed. The obvious danger of the situation is that free societies have little knowledge of the systems funneling information into their newsfeeds. The sad irony is that the news organizations with the wherewithal to find out are the very same outfits that increasingly depend on Facebook for their survival. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today David Uberti is a writer in New York. He was previously a media reporter for Gizmodo Media Group and a staff writer for CJR. Follow him on Twitter @DavidUberti. The legal immunity provided physicians by Arizonas medical marijuana law for certifying patients to use pot only applies to the medical certifications, not other conduct such as making false statements in documents, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday. The high courts unanimous ruling overturns a lower courts decision that upheld dismissal of forgery and fraud charges against a physician on grounds that he was protected under the immunity provision of the pot law. Dr. Robert Gear was charged in Navajo County in 2013 after being accused of signing a medical marijuana certification for a police informant based on a physical exam but before receiving a years worth of the patients records. Officials say the state-required form completed by Gear in September 2012 said he had reviewed the records. Gears lawyer argued that the immunity provision applied to any conduct related to certification, but the state Supreme Court said that went too far and could lead to troublesome outcomes that would be difficult to square with the wording and intent of the law. For example, such an interpretation could extend immunity to theft or sexual assault committed during a physical exam for certification, Justice Clint Bolick wrote in the ruling. The ruling also brushed away a defense argument that allowing Gear to be prosecuted by narrowly interpreting the immunity provision would chill doctors willingness to participate in the medical marijuana program and make it harder for patients to obtain certifications. Physicians are trained and relied upon to be scrupulous, Bolick wrote. The ruling noted that a 2008 California Supreme Court decision similarly limited immunity from prosecution in a case involving medical marijuana caregivers. With the ruling Friday, the charges against Gear were reinstated and his case will return to trial court for further proceedings. The opinion was the first authored by Bolick, the courts newest member. He was appointed in January to fill a retirement vacancy. A call to Gear for comment on the courts ruling wasnt immediately returned Friday. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The use of opioids in California workers compensation has declined in recent years, along with the associated payments, yet these potentially addictive painkillers remain the number one therapeutic drug group used in the system according to a new California Workers Compensation Institute (CWCI) study. The CWCI research, based on pharmaceutical data from 10.8 million prescriptions dispensed to California injured workers from 2005 through 2014, identifies trends in the volume, cost, potency and types of opioids used in workers comp over the past decade. Opioids increased from 27.0 percent of all workers comp prescriptions filled in 2005 to 31.8 percent in 2009, but then retreated to 27.2 percent in 2014. That pattern was mirrored in the payment data, which showed opioid reimbursements as a proportion of total workers comp drug spend rose from 19.3 percent in 2005 to a peak of 31.9 percent in 2009 before falling back to 24.4 percent in 2014. The decline in opioid use accelerated in 2012, which coincides with increased scrutiny by utilization review and independent medical review programs and restrictions imposed by pharmacy benefit managers, medical provider networks and payors, but even with the declining use over the past 5 years, opioids remain the number one therapeutic drug group in California workers comp in both use and payments. The distribution of 2014 California workers compensation medications by therapeutic group shows opioids accounted for more than a quarter of the prescriptions dispensed to injured workers, well ahead of anti-inflammatories, which accounted for nearly 1 out of 5 prescriptions, followed by musculoskeletal therapy agents, ulcer drugs, anticonvulsants, antidepressants and dermatologicals. All other therapeutic groups together accounted for 20.3% of the 2014 prescriptions, but none of those individual groups represented more than 2.5% of the drugs dispensed in 2014. Other analyses in the study examine brand vs. generic opioid drug trends; changes in average payments for opioid and non-opioid drugs; the percentage of injured workers who received opioids at various points in the life of a claim; the number of opioid prescriptions per user and how that has evolved over time; and changes in the potency of opioids used in workers comp, as measured by the average morphine milligram equivalents per prescription as well as the average morphine equivalents per opioid user. The results of the study have been released in a CWCI Research Note, Trends in the Use of Opioids in the California Workers Compensation System, available at www.cwci.org/research.html. Source: CWIC Intact Financial Corp. may post insured losses of as much as C$1.1 billion ($850 million) from the wildfires in Alberta, which could dent the Canadian economy harder than Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Intact, Canadas biggest property and casualty insurer, said the damage claims will lead to net losses of C$130 million to C$160 million, or as much as C$1.20 a share, according to a company statement Monday. Jaeme Gloyn, an analyst with National Bank of Canada Financial, estimated the C$1.1 billion figure based on the companys per-share data. The Toronto-based insurer had net income of C$147 million in the first quarter. The devastation brought on by the wildfires is unprecedented, Intact Chief Executive Officer Charles Brindamour said in the statement. The scope of the damage and destruction that we have observed in recent days is a reminder of the important role we play in getting our customers back on track. The fires have covered 965 square miles and devastated the town of Fort McMurray, which was evacuated last week. Its likely to be the costliest natural catastrophe in Canadian history, Fitch Ratings said Monday in a statement. Insured Losses Industrywide insured losses could reach C$9 billion, according to reports from Bank of Montreal and others. With Canadas 2016 gross domestic product estimated at $1.8 trillion, or about 10 percent of U.S. GDP, the disaster could be bigger on a relative basis than Katrina, based on an analysis by Imperial Capital. Katrina, the storm that hit New Orleans in 2005, cost $60.5 billion, according to data from Munich Reinsurance and the Insurance Information Institute. The flames are scorching a region thats home to oil and gas producers including Suncor Energy Inc. and Cnooc Ltd.s Nexen. At least 1,600 homes and structures have been damaged. Thats more than triple the number from the Slave Lake Fire in Alberta in 2011, previously the countrys most costly fire and third-most expensive catastrophe, according to Aon Plc. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley plans to tour the city Monday to assess the damage. Losses could be multiples higher than the Slave Lake fire, in part due to the greater average home price in Fort McMurray, Fitch said. Intacts Estimates Intacts damage estimates imply industry-insured losses of C$4 billion to C$7 billion, according to a report Monday from National Bank of Canada. Intact rose 0.5 percent to C$87.92 at 3:04 p.m. in Toronto after falling four straight days last week, the longest streak since January, as the fires spread. Intact will easily earn their way through the impact of Fort McMurray wildfires, Gloyn wrote in a report. Intact said the assessment of insured damages, which was made using satellite imagery and exposure geocoding technology, is still early and assumes the wildfires wont return to Fort McMurray. The company received about 19 percent of its premiums from Alberta as of last quarter. RSA Insurance Group Plc and Allianz SEs Canadian unit are among other insurers that have been hurt by losses and claims from the fires, which forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. The current El Nino weather pattern thats been in place since last summer over the central Pacific Ocean is on its way out, Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said Friday, but not before leaving Texas with one of its warmest winters on record. Though above-normal rainfall is common during an El Nino, above-normal temperatures are not common, said the Texas A&M professor, noting that weather patterns in the state could change in the coming months under the influence of La Nina, a natural cooling in the Pacific that typically results in more hurricanes in the Atlantic and fewer in the Pacific. Its believed the warm El Nino waters have been responsible for above-average rainfall over the last year in much of Texas and the southwestern part of the U.S. Although there was a dry stretch in January and February, the six-month period that started in November and ended in April was the 7th wettest in Texas, based on records that go back to 1895. Nielsen-Gammon said his statistics show that if the wet October 2015 is included, those seven months are the wettest October-April period on record. The rain, however, wasnt evenly distributed. While many parts of west-central, north-central and northeast Texas received more than double their normal precipitation, parts of the Coastal Bend and much of the Panhandle and High Plains received less than normal precipitation. Temperatures also were noteworthy, with winter nearly nonexistent in many places, he said. Many cities across the state, from Amarillo to Brownsville and El Paso to Beaumont, experienced one of their 10 warmest cool seasons (November-April) on record, Nielsen-Gammon said. Midland-Odessa came closest to setting a record their average temperature was 54.8 degrees, second only to the year 2000. Low temperatures of 22 degrees in Abilene, 27 degrees in Dallas, 30 in San Antonio, 31 in urban Austin and 40 in Galveston were all records for mildness. He foresees mild summer temperatures, particularly in the early summer months, but says long-range summer weather in the state is difficult to predict. For hurricanes, the key will be how quickly La Nina develops in the tropical Pacific, he said. The sooner La Nina forms, the more active the Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be. Even so, Texas is a small target, so an active hurricane season across the entire Atlantic would not necessarily mean one or more landfalls in Texas itself. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Nine months after the Colorado theater shooter was sentenced to life in prison, some victims returned to the same courtroom Monday in hopes of holding the company that owns the suburban Denver movie theater accountable for not doing more to prevent his bloody rampage. In a civil lawsuit in state court, 28 victims and their families say theater company Cinemark should have had armed guards at the packed opening of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises and alarms that would have sounded when James Holmes slipped into the darkened auditorium through an emergency exit and opened fire, killing 12. Monday, six jurors and two alternates were selected to determine if, in an age of mass shootings, the theater should have foreseen the possibility of an attack. Opening arguments began Tuesday. The families, some of whom filled the first rows of the courtroom, will argue Cinemark knew the midnight blockbuster would attract at least 1,000 people and should have had guards patrolling the parking lot, where they might have seen Holmes suiting up in head-to-toe body armor in his car. The lawsuit says theater employees failed to check doors, lacked closed-circuit television cameras that would have allowed them to spot trouble and did not intervene as victims lay wounded and dying in the aisles. Theaters across the country had extra security for the July 20, 2012, premiere, and the Century 16 theater in Aurora typically had guards Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, said New York attorney Marc Bern, who is representing 27 of the families. The premiere fell on a Thursday. We believe if these precautions had been in place, the shooting would have been deterred and prevented, he said. The company has said in court documents that it could not have foreseen the attack. The trial is the first to come from several civil lawsuits stemming from the attack, in which Holmes was also convicted of hurting 70 people. At least 40 other victims have signed onto a similar suit against Cinemark thats slated for trial in federal court in July. Another lawsuit accusing University of Colorado officials and Holmes psychiatrist of not doing enough to prevent the attack is on hold pending the other suits. Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Holmes, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. After an emotionally grueling four-month trial, Holmes was convicted of 165 counts and sentenced in August to life in prison without parole because jurors failed to unanimously agree that he should die for his crimes. In the civil case, plaintiffs attorneys twice scheduled depositions of Holmes, hoping to interview him about his plans for the shooting and why he targeted the theater. But the depositions were canceled because Holmes was transferred to different prisons, first to another location within Colorado and then to an out-of-state prison that officials have repeatedly refused to reveal. Without Holmes testimony, attorneys will rely on the spiral notebook in which he detailed elaborate plans for the killings, including lists of weapons to buy and diagrams showing which auditoriums in the theater complex would allow for the most casualties. Holmes marked exit doors, evaluated his own visibility and even located the best parking spots and determined how quickly police would arrive. Holmes entered the theater and sat in the front by himself. About 15 minutes into the film, he left through an emergency exit that he had propped open. Holmes soon re-entered, stood before the crowd of more than 400, threw gas canisters and opened fire with a shotgun, assault rifle and semi-automatic pistol. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Akron police 3 An Akron man is accused of firing a gunshot during a home invasion. (File photo) AKRON, Ohio -- A dispute over a woman led an Akron man to break into another man's house and fire a gunshot, police said. Damion Wilt, 36, is charged with aggravated burglary and possessing a weapon as a felon. He is not in police custody and a warrant was issued Monday for his arrest. The incident happened about 9 p.m. Monday at a 33-year-old man's home in the 700 block of Baird Street. The man, a 28-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man were inside the home. Wilt made an unsuccessful attempt to kick in the door. He opened a window and shouted: "I know you're in there. I know you're in there," according to police reports. The 33-year-old man later told police that he ran to the bathroom once he heard Wilt's voice. Wilt climbed through the window. The other two confronted Wilt and tried to calm him, police reports say. Wilt threatened to kill the 33-year-old man, police said. The 28-year-old woman and 33-year-old man ran from the home when they saw Wilt pull a handgun from his waistband. The 33-year-old said that he heard Wilt outside the bathroom door. He tried to keep Wilt from getting into the bathroom by holding his foot against the door. Wilt fired a gunshot into the ceiling and left, police reports say. Wilt's criminal history includes two domestic violence convictions and a conviction for possessing a gun as a felon. He is also currently facing charges in two other felony cases. He's accused of possessing a large amount of methamphetamine, crack cocaine and heroin. In another he's charged with failing to pay child support. Wilt pleaded not guilty in both cases. If you want to comment on this story, please visit today's crime and courts comments section. BRUNSWICK, Ohio --- City council members continue to explore options for operation of the Brunswick Transit Alternative following Service Director Paul Barnett's report on operational costs at the May 9 city council committee of the whole meeting. The city has been in talks with the Medina County Public Transit to potentially merge the BTA with the county service. Overall annual costs of operating the system, including driver salaries, fuel, bus maintenance, and administration currently costs the city $141,000 annually. "That would drop to $140,000 by going with the county - so a $1,000 difference," Barnett said. "There are no deadlines or anything, so I am just waiting for council to digest the information and tell me what direction to go." Car wash approved Council members approved a motion to allow a car wash to move into the former Ponderosa Restaurant location, at 3901 Center Road. The city planning commission previously recommended approval of the project as a comparable use to an automobile filling station in the C-G General Commercial zoned district. Law Director Ken Fisher advised council members that before any permits are issued, the company must submit a site plan, which will include details such as drainage, signage, and building size and setbacks. The company will also have to submit a different business name, as the one used on the conceptual plan that planning commission approved conflicts with a similarly named business in the city, Fisher said. "There are similar companies in the city but we don't create any quota - that is a matter of free enterprise, at least from the standpoint of the law department," Fisher said. Ward 4 Councilman Anthony Capretta said the property has been vacant for too long and approving the project is a "no brainer." The motion passed 5-1, with Councilman at-Large Alex Johnson voting against and Capretta abstaining. Boston Road resident Calvin Powell questioned the approval, stating that he had proposed opening a car wash in the same area of Center Road and was told by city officials that the area was not properly zoned for such a business. "I was told we have a car wash on 303 (Center Road) and we don't need another one," Powell said. "I have no issue with (the new owner) having a car wash here, but what does a 'similar use' mean? All business is a 'similar use.' We all want customers. "But I was told this is not what is in the zoning code. What has changed? Or maybe I don't know the right person to talk to. I thought the city manager was in charge." CDBG funds for Judita Drive Council also passed a resolution authorizing the city to apply for Community Development Block Grant funding to complete the second phase of a road reconstruction project on Judita Drive. City Engineer Matt Jones said the $73,395 grant would cover construction costs and the city would be responsible for costs associated with construction and engineering services. The reconstruction would take place for approximately 240 feet north from the completed first phase - roughly the same length as the first phase, Jones said. Expenditures approved Council passed an ordinance amending city budget appropriations. Finance Director Todd Fischer explained that $135,000 of the $444,327 budget increase is not an expenditure, but rather a movement of money from one fund to another. The remainder of the appropriation includes $17,998 for three thermal imagers for the fire department, replacing two destroyed in a fire; $13,600 to replace broken city council video recording equipment; and a total of $121,000 to repair city fuel tanks and the possible acquisition of property. Fischer said even if the funds are not spent, they must first be budgeted for. City website upgrades City Manager Anthony Bales announced the city's recent website upgrade. Bales said the site now includes and events calendar and is expected to load faster overall. He urged residents to feel free to give feedback on their experience using the site. CLEVELAND, Ohio - Plans to turn one-third of the office space at the Tower at Erieview into housing are picking up steam, after years of behind-the-scenes talks about strategies to liven up downtown Cleveland's fourth-tallest building. RAIT Financial Trust, the publicly traded company that owns the tower and controls most of the adjacent Galleria, is considering a conversion project that could yield 185 high-rise apartments, along with renovations to the building's systems, lobby and other common areas. "A successful redevelopment could transform this landmark office tower into a vibrant live-work urban environment in one of Cleveland's most desirable lakefront neighborhoods," Andres Viroslav, a company spokesman, wrote in an email. "Unfortunately," he added, "there isn't anything more we can share about the potential project at this point." Developers across the central business district continue to fill obsolete office buildings with apartments, though the supply of empty properties is dwindling. Over the past few years, they've also started slicing up half-full properties into a blend of dwellings and workspaces, in a bid to diversify and take advantage of steady residential demand and a tighter office market. At the 40-story Tower at Erieview, a quiet ownership change prompted the shift from redevelopment rumors to more concrete plans. RAIT, a longtime lender on the property, took full possession of the real estate late last year, according to regulatory filings. The company, based in Philadelphia, converted a $57 million mortgage into ownership in December. The 750,000-square-foot tower was 47 percent occupied early this year, according to a document published Monday, on the heels of the company's first-quarter earnings report. RAIT indicated that it has spent $66.5 million on the property so far. Werner Minshall, a Maryland investor who had owned the Erieview complex for more than a decade, didn't respond to requests for comment. In 2012, he worked with RAIT to keep the tower out of foreclosure, in a deal that gave the Philadelphia lender and real estate investor much greater control and - it appears - laid the groundwork for Minshall's eventual exit. During a conference call earlier this year, RAIT's chief financial officer told analysts that the company sees "the potential for significant upside" in redeveloping part of the office space as apartments, which will rent at a higher price and make the property more valuable. RAIT won't talk about the details of its plans, but tenants confirm that the company hopes to convert the tower's middle floors to housing. A dozen or so floors on the bottom of the building, and a dozen or so at the top, would continue to be offices. To make the project possible, RAIT needs to move tenants - some with long-term leases - off those middle floors. "We'd like to see this project go forward for the sake of better development of this quadrant of downtown," said Dana Rose, a partner at the Weston Hurd law firm, which fills the tower's 18th and 19th floors - both earmarked for apartments. "We're trying to work with them and move as quickly as we can," Rose said. "Given the fact that we do have a lease in place that has time on the term, we have some control over the situation. They can't just say leave and have us leave." Weston Hurd is evaluating three options: Staying put in its existing offices, where roughly 75 people work; moving within the tower: or jumping to a different building. The law firm has been a tenant in the Tower at Erieview for more than a decade. On the 11th floor, Midwest Investment Management isn't under pressure to leave the space the financial advisor and portfolio-management company has occupied for 17 years. Norman Klopp, the firm's managing partner, said that floor isn't slated for conversion. But the company is approaching the end of its lease, so Midwest Investment Management is considering whether to stay or move elsewhere. Klopp said the prospect of having apartments upstairs isn't a turn-off, from an office tenant's perspective. "The proposal is for very high-end apartments, and one would think that any tenants renting those kinds of high-end apartments would expect the ... building to be maintained at a very high level," he said. "I would think it would essentially be a positive." On the 23rd floor, HLMS Sustainability Solutions is right in the middle of the potential conversion project. Laura Steinbrink, president of the small consulting company, said the firm's lease is set to end this year. She's not sure whether HLMS, which has five employees, will move within the tower or find another home. From a business perspective, the apartment proposal doesn't mean much to her. But from a personal perspective, it's significant. In what she describes as another life, Steinbrink worked in the tower in the 1990s, when the office building was busier and the adjacent Galleria still bustled with shoppers. "It's a gem," she said. "It's a gem of a building. So anything to redo it would be great." Parma burglars Christopher Nave, Oleh Yarochovitch and Rose Nemec. (Cuyahoga County Prosecutor) CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Three burglars known for preying on elderly people were sentence Tuesday to a combined 26 years in prison. Oleh Yarochovitch, 30, Christopher Nave, 31 and Rose Nemec, 31, all pleaded guilty to charges in a string of nearly a dozen burglaries in Parma, Seven Hills and Mayfield Heights. Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn B. Friedland sentenced Yarochovitch to 14 years, Nave to 10 years and Nemec to 2 years in prison. "They were literally hunting for prey. There's no better way to describe their operations and their motivation," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said. The three would drive the streets in search of older residents to target in burglaries. Prosecutors said the they would look for people working in their yards and enter their homes and lock the victims outside. Police caught the trio casing a Parma neighborhood after they were seen leaving the scene of another burglary on Aug. 21, according to the prosecutor. Securities regulators have sanctioned a broker-dealer and one of its registered representatives in related disciplinary cases involving the unsuitable recommendation of unregistered securities to clients. In the first case, the Financial Regulatory Authority found that Securities America in La Vista, Nebraska, allowed one of its brokers to sell preferred shares of an unregistered limited partnership fund without following its own rules for doing adequate due diligence on the product. A sign for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is seen outside the offices in New York's financial district. Brendan McDermid | Reuters The related case involves the broker, Stuart Horowitz, who was sanctioned for recommending the preferred notes to clients and for engaging in unsuitable trading in the fund. The cases are included in FINRA's monthly rundown of disciplinary actions taken against firms and individuals for alleged violations of federal securities laws, rules and regulations. According to FINRA, in 2009 Horowitz failed to adequately investigate multiple red flags about the fund's viability when he asked Securities America to let him sell the preferred shares to customers who already were invested in the fund. Securities America extended approval to Horowitz before receiving an independent evaluation of the fund, FINRA said. According to regulatory documents, from March 2009 through July 2009, Horowitz's branch office in Coral Springs, Florida, converted about $8 million of existing investments in the fund to the preferred shares, which required $2.5 million in additional money from clients. Horowitz, who was responsible for all but $137,500 of the conversions, received net commissions of $200,000, FINRA said. In July 2009 the fund, which invested in real estate, started making late payments to investors holding the preferred notes, and by October 2009 it had stopped making payments altogether. Without admitting or denying FINRA's findings, Securities America consented to both a censure and a $250,000 fine. One of the cases recently finalized involves a New York firm that FINRA said failed to tailor its antimoney laundering program to its penny stock liquidation business, which caused the firm to miss suspicious trading activity. Neither admitting to nor denying the findings, Horowitz agreed to a $100,000 deferred fine and a one-year suspension from working with any FINRA member. The suspension ends March 6, 2017. CNBC reached out to both Horowitz and a Securities America spokeswoman, and they declined to comment for this story. In a separate and unrelated case, FINRA has permanently banned a broker from the industry for churning customer accounts, engaging in excessive and unauthorized trading and making unsuitable recommendations to customers. Churning involves trading in and out of securities often over a short period of time in a way that serves no purpose for the investor but generates commissions for the broker. According to FINRA, Bahram Mirhashemi, who worked for Accelerated Capital Group in Irvine, California, cost clients more than $815,000 in overall commissions by churning their accounts. Overall, from Aug. 31, 2012, through Jan. 28, 2015, according to FINRA documents, Mirhashemi placed 2,000 trades for nine clients "for which he rarely obtained the requisite authorization from the customer" before making the trades. Regulators say Mirhashemi's "excessive and unsuitable" short-term equity trades in client accounts cost them more than $665,000 in commissions. He also consistently spread mutual fund purchases across multiple fund families, according to FINRA, which meant clients did not receive discounted sales charges and cost them more than $150,000 in commissions. The findings also say Mirhashemi "willfully filed untimely, false and misleading" forms with regulators, along with failing to file required forms to disclose his liens, compromises with creditors and an outside business activity. Additionally, FINRA concluded that Mirhashemi distributed "materially false and misleading" communications to customers. Mirhashemi, who agreed to the sanctions while neither confirming nor denying FINRA's findings, did not respond to a request for comment. His broker-dealer, Accelerated Capital Group, fired him early this year due to the FINRA accusations, according to regulatory records. Accelerated Capital declined to comment when reached by CNBC. Regulators also continue going after broker-dealers for failing to keep a close eye on questionable penny stock trades made in client accounts. One of the cases recently finalized involves a New York firm that FINRA said failed to tailor its antimoney laundering program to its penny stock liquidation business, which caused the firm to miss suspicious trading activity. According to FINRA documents, Legend Securities' antimoney laundering program failed to flag deposits made by at least five customers of more than 2 billion shares of penny stocks that were soon liquidated. The sale generated about $3.2 million in proceeds, which was almost immediately wired out of the clients' accounts, FINRA said. Tech enthusiasts the world over will be zeroing in on Shanghai as the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia kicks off on Wednesday. While it's considerably smaller than its U.S. counterpart, CES Las Vegas, that may not be the case for much longer. Speaking to CNBC on the sidelines of the event, Gary Shapiro, president and CEO at the Consumer Technology Association, the show's organizer, said that China's consumer technology market could soon overtake that of the world's largest economy. "The U.S. is still bigger but this year or the next, we expect the Chinese market on a dollar or yen value will exceed it," Shapiro said. China's consumer technology market is currently posting about 3 percent annual growth, Shaprio said. While that's slower than recent years, it's still stronger than the majority of the world, he added. "As unit costs come down, then you see a slowdown in total revenue. But at the same time, we're seeing tremendous new product introductions in virtual reality, augmented reality, the Internet of Thingsnew categories that are higher priced and should drive growth going forward." The U.S. meanwhile, is showing worrying signs, Shapiro said, pointing to examples such as the 4K television market, where unit sales are doing well but prices are falling. 4K televisions, also known as Ultra High Definition (UHD) TVs, offer higher resolution picture quality than previous models. With the combination of a weaker dollar and a large cash position, Cramer suspects that Alphabet's numbers could go much higher if it had a huge buyback or smart acquisition to spark growth. "Google is the one that is most intriguing. I know the company's stock seems vulnerable as it missed on both the top and the bottom line. I still think there is so much low-hanging fruit here, though," the " Mad Money " host said. As the market ramped up on Tuesday, money finally flowed back into the once-loved growth names of FANG Jim Cramer's acronym that stands for Facebook , Amazon , Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet . I think Amazon's Jeff Bezos will always find something, some growth opportunity worth spending money on. Cramer knows it is tough to value Alphabet since it failed to meet estimates. But he doesn't doubt that Alphabet could come roaring back if it demonstrated discipline with spending and acceleration in advertising. "I think both could potentially be in store for shareholders the next time the company reports," Cramer said. Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: Biggest surprise for Valeant's new CEO Cramer: Not enough $$ out there for S&P to rebound higher Valeant's new CEO: I'm not in it for the money Facebook and Amazon were also real standouts on Tuesday, and despite rumors that Facebook suppressed conservative viewpoints on its site, Cramer found that far-fetched. Either way, the rumors were a non-story when it came to earnings, which is what matters to shareholders. As for Amazon, research firm Bernstein put a $1,000 price tag on the stock, which sent it soaring above $700 for an all-time high. Bernstein believed that Amazon's platform is so robust that as spending declines, it will soon have higher profits than anyone could imagine. "I question the rationale here. I think Amazon's Jeff Bezos will always find something, some growth opportunity worth spending money on," Cramer said. Netflix was a real head-scratcher for Cramer. It's most recent quarter was a disappointing, and the stock is down 19 percent for the year. At these levels, Cramer found the risk-reward to be good for the company. And if numbers increase, the stock could really take off. But if the numbers soften, Cramer thinks it won't matter that much. So, out of the four FANG stocks, only Alphabet is classically cheap on a near-term scale. Cramer thinks Netflix is still very expensive, Amazon depends on whether Bernstein is right, and Facebook could turn out to be a lot cheaper in the future than it looks right now. To bring investors up to speed on what big money will have an eye on this week, Cramer reviewed the biggest winners of earnings season. What is unique to this week of earnings season is that finally there is evidence of introspection on Wall Street. This is the time when money managers look back and buy the stocks of best-performing companies during a losing earnings period. "It has been almost non-stop depressing, and it is hard to recall another time when the misses were so widespread," the " Mad Money " host said. It is no secret that earnings season has been horrendous. Although every sector delivered a disappointment, Jim Cramer notes that there is still a silver lining. when you get winners in a typical earnings season, they tend to stay winners like a Super Bowl champion is the king until the next season. Same with these. First, the consumer packaged goods group. Campbell Soup and Clorox caught Cramer's attention, but the star by far was PepsiCo , with 3.5 percent organic growth and earnings per share up 11 percent on a constant currency basis. The best drug company for Cramer was J ohnson & Johnson , hands down. Earnings grew at 10.3 percent a share, worldwide sales rose 6.9 percent and domestic sales climbed 9.8 percent. Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: Biggest surprise for Valeant's new CEO Cramer: Not enough $$ out there for S&P to rebound higher Valeant's new CEO: I'm not in it for the money Cramer still was singing the praise of McDonald's with its all-day breakfast concept, along with the spectacular quarters delivered by both Facebook and Amazon . Next up were the industrials, and Cramer-fave Honeywell delivered again. CEO Dave Cote delivered a beat-and-raise quarter and confirmed the strength of China, which was the opposite of what everyone else said. Next up was Accenture , the global consulting company, which surprised Cramer with how strong earnings were. As for the health care space, the only stand-out was United Health . Cramer liked all the defense stocks. The world is restocking its arms stash, and the U.S. is an arms dealer. No matter what investors pick, he thinks it will be a winner. "I know this sounds preposterous, but when you get winners in a typical earnings season, they tend to stay winners like a Super Bowl champion is the king until the next season. Same with these," Cramer said. So, until conflicting reports are received, Cramer considers these to be his go-to champions of earnings season. Tipsy Elves featured on Shark Tank. Kelsey McNeal | ABC | Getty Images It all began with a bored lawyer. "I was doing corporate law, so contracts, due diligence, pretty exciting stuff," said 31-year-old Evan Mendelsohn, looking far from enthused. "You can tell how excited I am talking about it." To break the boredom, Mendelsohn started researching search engine optimization (SEO) as "a secondary hobby" (which may be the first time someone has referred to SEO as a hobby). SEO allowed him to see what people were searching for online, and he hoped to find a business opportunity there. In 2011, he noticed a spike in searches for ugly Christmas sweaters. "It just was like that light bulb moment," he said. "It was, 'Wow, there's a ton of search for this, and no one is selling them right now.'" He decided to start selling them. Mendelsohn wanted a partner, though. "I always wanted to start a business, but I never really envisioned it being something I was doing on my own." There was only one person to call: Root canal specialist, Nick Morton, DDS, his former roommate and best buddy from their days at the University of California, San Diego. "He has a calm demeanor, and he also has good intuition," said Mendelsohn. "He would be a good business partner." My mom said my dad was eating soup, and he spit it out when she told him. Evan Mendelsohn, when he said he was giving up the law to start a company selling ugly Christmas sweaters. Tipsy Elves co-founders Evan Mendelsohn and Nick Morton met in college and are still great friends. Jeniece Pettitt | CNBC Morton, 34, had a practice in San Francisco at the time, and he remembers driving into his garage after a day at work when Mendelsohn called. "He's like, 'Hey, I have this idea about making some ugly Christmas sweaters, selling them online. What do you think?'" So, what did he think? "I was on board." Within a week the two set up Tipsy Elves, putting in all their cash and even selling stock. "Initially we put in, I think, $40,000 each," said Morton. He said they started making sweater samples and eventually went to a trade show. "We had really bad samples, they didn't look good, we kind of pinned them together," the dentist said. "The response, despite that, was really strong, and it gave us confidence that this was actually going to do pretty well." The two quickly learned how to make an e-commerce website and read up on shipping and fulfillment. "We taught ourselves Photoshop, design, it was low level but enough to be able to make designs," said Morton. "You can figure out pretty much anything." They decided to design good quality sweaters that were more humorous than ugly, but with an edge. One of the first sweaters shows the back of Santa as he stands over the snow. "Merry Christmas" is written in the snow ... in yellow. It was a hit, along with the other sweaters in their first-year batch. "We sold about 5,000 sweaters, and it was about $400,000 in sales," said Morton. Mendelsohn added, "That was enough for me to quit." Mendelsohn left the world of law and started running Tipsy Elves full-time. "My mom said my dad was eating soup, and he spit it out when she told him," he said. "I don't think he was too happy about it at the time." He's probably very happy now. Sales over the last five years have topped $20 million. Mendelsohn and Morton landed on "Shark Tank" and got a $100,000 investment from Robert Herjavec, and after that, Morton quit his dental practice. They've expanded Tipsy Elves merchandise to year-round products for just about every holiday, each more outrageous than the last. Mendelsohn said their target customer is the millennial generation "I think they're not afraid to stand out." Their latest addition is a line of well-made but over-the-top patriotic wear. Both men recently wore some of their outlandish, retro-looking red, white and blue ski suits on the slopes. "It's a totally different experience," Mendelsohn said. "People are screaming 'America!' And asking for photos. It completely changes the day." Bernie Sanders reacts to cheering supporters during a campaign rally in Sacramento, California, May 9, 2016. On the Republican side, meanwhile, Donald Trump became the party's presumptive nominee when his final two opponents suspended their campaigns last week. Voters in West Virginia took to the polls as the primary season appeared to draw to a close. Although most pundits say former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has essentially secured the nomination because of delegate math, Sanders has pledged to continue his campaign. Sanders had appeared positioned for a victory in West Virginia: Pre-primary polls had indicated he held a lead of a few percentage points over Clinton. But NBC reported that 40 percent of Sanders' West Virginia voters said they would actually support Trump over the senator in a general election match-up potentially suggesting that some independents' party affiliations for the day were more about the state's Democratic governor primary than their presidential preference. (There was no GOP gubernatorial contest on Tuesday.) Clinton has attempted to pivot to the general election, but she has been forced in recent weeks to defend her likely nomination from Sanders' continued primary strength. In fact, Sanders is positioned to have a good showing in May, which will also see Oregon voters voice their Democratic preference. There are close to 3,000 franchise companies in the United States collectively contributing more than $1 trillion annually to the economy. That said, it was no easy task to crown 50 franchise business owners one for each U.S. state as America's Star Franchisees. More than 28,500 individual franchisees, representing 364 franchise brands, were vetted by CNBC's research partner Franchise Business Review to gauge satisfaction with their franchise system and significant financial success, including an income and return on investment that is above the industry average. These successful franchisees have a lot in common. Most have been in franchising for many years. Many own multiple businesses or have grown their single business to cover a large service area. Most also work with a spouse or other family members. Many found success with low-cost franchises. And money alone wasn't the driving force: Work/life balance, pursuit of a long-held passion and frustration with other careers were all factors that influenced America's Star Franchisees. To see what it took for these entrepreneurs to succeed, read the America's Star Franchisees full methodology. Weight Watchers International 's stock inched higher in light volume, after news that a shareholder lawsuit had been dismissed. Investors had claimed the company misled them about the impact of free mobile apps, new software and enrollment at meetings, but a Manhattan judge dismissed the case, Reuters reported. Jack in the Box traded higher after posting better-than-expected results in the second quarter. The company posted earnings of 85 cents per share on revenues of $361 million, higher than the 70 cents per share on $360 million expected by analysts. CEO Leonard Comma cited healthy margins and labor cost controls for the sales bounce, along with a lower tax rate and traffic growth at Mexican fast-casual chain Qdoba. Shares of apparel retailer Michael Kors dipped after the bell, continuing their slide after a rough day for retail. Fossil Group , which counts Michael Kors Holdings as a portfolio company, slid nearly 30 percent in regular trading after posting financial guidance that fell below analyst estimates. Fossil said it predicts sales will fall 8 to 10 percent in the second fiscal quarter, netting earnings of 0 to 15 cents per share. Wall Street had been expecting earnings of 59 cents per share. First came the facts. A March 2015 report from NGO Transparency International revealing nearly one-in-ten Westminster properties and over 7 percent of those in Kensington and Chelsea belong to offshore companies. This along with the revelation that 180 million ($260 million) worth of U.K. property has been brought under criminal investigation for corruption since 2004. March 2016's Panama Papers' leak then brought famous personalities to the statistics, matching them with extravagant properties in some of London's most desirable post codes. But as tangible experiences can be more arresting, there is now the Kleptocracy Bus tour organized by The Campaign for Legislation Against Money Laundering in Property by Kleptocrats (ClampK). Founded by anti-corruption activist Roman Borisovich, the organization shines an accusatory light on those said to be dealing in illicit funds. Service providers such as lawyers or estate agents who supposedly facilitate the channeling of ill-gotten gains for their less-than-white clients, often into London property also come under scrutiny. The three-hour tour begins alongside the Houses of Parliament at Whitehall and passes through areas such as Belgrave Square, which is minutes from the royal residence of Buckingham Palace and Knightsbridge, which hosts the capital's famous department store and tourist hotspot, Harrods. Properties are pointed out along the route, as journalists and politicians on board are regaled with back histories of how their owners emerged as multi-millionaires or billionaires from the cut-throat shake-out of ex-USSR industries and companies following the state's collapse in 1991. The latest round of tours is timed to coincide with U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's Anti-Corruption Summit, hosted in London on May 12. Since the PM's speech in July 2015, at which he pledged to stomp out corruption and break its link with U.K. property, the government has launched a series of consultations and proposals aimed at taking concrete action to address the problem. Billionaire businessman Ken Langone said Wednesday he's supporting Donald Trump for president, despite previous endorsements of two Trump rivals in the GOP race. But Langone, a long-time Republican fundraiser, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" he's out of the political fundraising business. "I've done my time in jail." Langone said Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who along with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the race last week, would not take the vice presidential nod if Trump were to even offer it. Langone, a Home Depot co-founder, had originally supported New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for president. When Christie left, he swung support to Kasich. Langone has always said he'd support the GOP nominee because he does not want Democrat Hillary Clinton to be president. With his wife, Susan, Jeffrey now owns six BrightStar Care franchises and has expanded even further, opening Brightstar Senior Living, the brand's first facility designed for home-care clients who are no longer able to live safely on their own, or for whom around-the-clock in-home care is too expensive. Located in Madison, Wisconsin, this 36-resident assisted-living facility has a memory-care floor, a full-time nurse, a chef and an activities director to keep residents busy and interactive with one another. "We became the first BSL franchisee in the system, and it added an additional $2.4 million a year to our revenue stream," Jeffrey said. The couple is so pleased with the assisted-living facility, they're looking into opening a second one in the Madison area. Their biggest challenge is attracting and retaining quality staff. "Reputation is everything in our business, and our employees bring our quality care to the client," he said. To attract the best workers, the couple offers competitive wages, health benefits, a 401(k) with a match and paid time off. The booming popularity of quinoa is driving California farmers to try to make the super grain the state's next niche crop, The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday. Within the next two years, the amount of farmland in the state dedicated to growing quinoa could reach thousands of acres, according to the newspaper. Carlsberg's first-quarter sales fell 3 percent to 13.01 billion Danish crowns ($1.99 billion) as organic growth in Eastern Europe and Asia was not enough to offset a negative currency impact and a decline in Western Europe. The sales figure missed the 13.18 billion crowns expected by analysts in a Reuters poll. The Danish brewer, which did not disclose earnings figures, said it still expected low single-digit organic operating profit growth in 2016. The company also said it now expected a negative impact from currency exchange of 550 million crowns in 2016, from an earlier guidance of negative 600 million. Indeed, today Josan owns four Checkers restaurants in Queens, Brooklyn, New York City and Long Island. He said the parent brand has been helpful every step of the way, from the development of his stores to new product offerings to daily operations support. While expanding his business, Josan said he's been disciplined about site selection, always looking for locations that require minimum investment and affordable rents. "Obamacare and rising minimum wages are big challenges in the fast-food industry," he said, "so I need to pay close attention to my costs." He recommends that anyone looking to buy a franchise do more than look for a brand name. "Do your homework and find out what the franchisor is doing to help franchisees in the long term," he said. Instead, they bought the stock of Disney because of its consistent revenue stream from cable, specifically ESPN. It wasn't very long ago that Jim Cramer remembers that investors wouldn't dare touch a company that carried Disney merchandise. They thought the business would be too episodic and not lucrative. Here is the irony, though: we tend to forget the releases that Electronic Arts is depending on are from Disney. Video game company Electronic Arts skyrocketed more than 13 percent, in large because of its partnership with Disney and a successful "Star Wars" game. The company conference call emphasized the importance of the partnership, too, and Cramer thinks the story is long term. Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: When to buy Facebook & Amazon Cramer: Why this is a huge week for big money on Wall Street Cramer: Alphabet the shining star of FANG "Here is the irony, though: we tend to forget the releases that Electronic Arts is depending on are from Disney, and Disney will be the chief beneficiary," the "Mad Money" host said. It seemed to Cramer that no one seems to care what it will mean for Disney because of ESPN's growth rate and issues with advertising. Cramer heard the same story from Hasbro , which has the Disney license for its products. Hasbro's CEO Brian Goldner told Cramer on Tuesday, "The reason we have this strong partnership is we treat Disney's brands like our own brands." "I personally think EA's gotten ahead of itself, while Hasbro represents good value," Cramer said The real poetic justice behind Disney, Cramer said, is that one of the reason Electronic Arts' stock has done so well is because there were rumors at first that its "Star Wars" games were off to a slow start. Investors that sold the stock short are now paying the price, and buying it back to cover their positions as the price rises. "I know I am in the minority right now, but never forget that both Hasbro and EA are derivatives of Disney, and in the end I would always rather own the real thing," Cramer said. The best value may be the company that owns the franchises that Electronic Arts and Hasbro have executed on so well Disney. Cramer thinks that once the noise surrounding the slowdown of ESPN dies down, investors will realize that Hasbro and Electronic Arts are merely a derivative of Disney. Site selection in the fitness industry is incredibly important, so the couple spends a great deal of time and energy to make sure they pick winning locations they can afford. "I spend a lot of time looking at real estate," Steve emphasizes. "Nothing is more important than this." Their territory in Orange County, California midway between Los Angeles and San Diego gives them the right to open a total of 15 clubs, four of which are now operating. The remaining 11, Steve said, are scheduled to open within the next four years. Perhaps the biggest benefits they receive from the parent brand are their group exercise programming and great support with club design, equipment purchasing and leasing, and operational standards. "There is no way I would have the time to research and develop the variety of group exercise classes the parent company does," Steve said. The support has paid off: Their four clubs the newest will open in May are on track to bring in $6 million in revenues by the end of this year. watch now The U.S. government needs to become more agile if it's to develop the technology that will allow it to defeat its enemies, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said Wednesday. Speaking with CNBC from the Defense Department's tech innovation hub in Mountain View, California, Carter said his interactions with American tech innovators have shown there are some tensions between Silicon Valley and D.C. Along with concerns about privacy, he also highlighted the perception that "we're too slow, that we're cumbersome, that the government's hard to work with." "That's a signal to me that we on the government side need to change, we need to stay agile," he told CNBC's "Power Lunch." "It's a competitive world in military things, just like it's a competitive world in business: We need to compete with all those around the world who would do us harm, and we need to beat them." As a small-business owner, Bob said he "wears most of the hats" in running the restaurant from handling IT and purchasing to human resources and marketing and finds complying with a myriad of federal regulations concerning healthcare and unemployment to be among his biggest challenges. "Every month there seems to be another survey I need to fill out from the Commerce Dept. or the Labor Dept. or some other form from the state of Georgia," he said. "When you add it up, that's hours of extra time that I'm not able to spend working on the business." For anyone looking to buy a franchise, he advised to look closely at how financially successful the parent company is. "You will be paying a significant amount of money to the franchisor, and they will control what you can and cannot do," he said. "Ask yourself: Are they worth it, and do they have a track record of success? Are their egos in check? You want a company where they are close to the business and listen to the customer and to franchisees." Note: Sirkis is a resident of Alabama and his company's primary business address is in Alabama. Currently, his franchise locations are outside of his home state, but Sirkis told CNBC his next move may be to open a Fazoli's location in Alabama. watch now Financial technology executives' disclosure of potential conflicts of interest may come back to bite the entire online lending business, industry sources say. Start-ups have piled up heady valuations and generated billions in loans, but now investors, industry experts and even regulators, have called for greater transparency. LendingClub 's former CEO, Renaud Laplanche, turned into an overnight poster child for reported conflict of interest issues in the online lending business. What is less clear, is whether other industry executives have ties to hedge funds that buy loans originated by the lenders. Now, some see the need for fintech executives to simplify their relationship networks. "There are definitely eye-catching conflicts of interests on boards with far too much regularity," said Class V Group partner Lise Buyer, who consults with pre-initial public offering start-ups. "I do think that sitting on multiple boards in the same industry does raise issues. People too often look the other way, but it's not always black and white." Thomas Barwick | Getty Images There is evidence the LendingClub scandal has already come home to roost in the fintech industry. Some of the buyers of LendingClub loans have hit pause on their relationship with the company, according to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday. Next, according to sources, there is worry that the flow of capital into the marketplace lending arena could be choked off, which may lead to rising prices for borrowers. "There is going to be a slowdown in the growth of the lending space," said Schwark Satyavolu, a general partner at Trinity Ventures who is focused on fintech investing. "The dampening of access to capital isn't purely due to compliance issues," he added, saying the industry is experiencing a "tightening of access to capital." Laplanche wasn't the only LendingClub executive with a stake in Cirrix Capital, a fund that bought his company's loans. On top of his role at other fintech start-ups, ex-Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack serves on LendingClub's board of directors. Like Laplanche, Mack also has a stake in Cirrix Capital, according to a Bloomberg report. He's also an investor in PeerIQ, a start-up that tracks and evaluates securitized marketplace loans. An announcement from New York-based PeerIQ highlighted that Mack, along with venture firm Uprising, led a $6 million round of funding in the company last year. Read MoreLendingClub board lost trust in CEO amid probe: Sources PeerIQ says Mack is not on the company's board. The start-up declined to identify any of the members of its board of directors when asked to comment, and none are listed on its website. A representative for the company declined to say whether Mack disclosed to PeerIQ that he owned a stake in Cirrix Capital. watch now He credits the franchisor's management team for believing in him ("I was clueless about the restaurant industry," he admitted) and for being with him every step of the way in his early days. The founders brothers and former firefighters Chris and Robin Sorensen believe in giving back to the communities in which they operate. Through their Public Safety Foundation, they allow customers at each franchised restaurant to make donations that provide firefighters and first responders in the community with lifesaving equipment, such as defibrillators and dive equipment for search-and-rescue missions. With multiple locations throughout Greenville, Goldsmith said his first piece of advice to prospective franchisees is finding a business in which you really enjoy the product. "While you are in business for yourself, you're also representing a brand, so it's important to be mindful of that," he said. Goldsmith also cautions folks interested in buying a franchise to understand the operating procedures in place. "It's key to understand that you are agreeing to run your business by the standards set by the franchisor," he said, adding, "I liked that Firehouse Subs was streamlined and simple to operate and didn't require fryers and the other, more expensive equipment found in other restaurant concepts." "And it was," Johnson said. Fish Window Cleaning, which now has 250 franchisees across the country, focuses on residential and low-rise commercial customers and requires little overhead. The franchise fee includes initial training and equipment, such as the water-fed extension poles that allow technicians to reach second- and third-story windows from the ground. The brand has continued to support Johnson's business by keeping him up to date on safety issues for technicians and changes in cleaning supplies and vendors. Johnson has been operating for 12 years and has 15 employees. About 80 percent of his business comes from commercial customers, and the remainder is residential. He likes that mix because, he said, "most homeowners in Nebraska are only getting their windows washed in the spring and fall because of the winters here." He remains convinced he made the right decision by selecting Fish Window Cleaning and wishes he had done it years earlier. "You have to take your time and make certain that you are the right fit for the franchise and that the franchisor is the right fit for you," he added. "No one is going to make you successful. Success comes from hard work and determination." The brothers say they run the business with a commonsense work ethic. "Be polite and helpful on the phone when talking to a potential customer, show up on time, and if it looks like you're going to be running late, call the customer in plenty of time to make adjustments," Donald said. "Don't cut corners just to stay on schedule. If something needs more attention, then give it. Obviously, the end result of your work is important to the customer, but they will also know how much effort you put in." The majority of their business is residential, with homeowners getting their carpets cleaned about once a year, Donald said. Prior to the financial crisis in 2008, there were a fair amount of competition, but that number has decreased quite a bit, he added. "We were an established business with a good reputation when the crash happened, so we didn't really feel a hit," Donald said. Not surprisingly, referrals are their most effective marketing tool. Donald said the parent brand continues to improve existing carpet-cleaning products as well as introduce new ones, and strives to expand the services franchisees can offer, such as air-duct cleaning. His advice to other potential franchise owners: "Get some idea of how easy the company is to work with. Contact other franchise owners and get their opinion of the company." Donald actually accompanied the previous owner of his franchise on some jobs so he was able to see firsthand what a typical job was like before he signed on. "It was really helpful to see what we were getting into before we bought the business," he said. McLain buys old or rundown homes that owners simply want to get rid of, renovates them, and then flips them by putting them back on the market for sale. Prior to the housing crisis in 2008 and 2009, he would typically have between 40 and 50 houses in various states of renovation and resale. That number dropped to around six or seven houses during the crisis, but is starting to climb back up again, he says. "We were well capitalized during the housing crisis, so we didn't feel the hit as bad, but there were some HomeVestors franchisees that really suffered," he said. Though housing markets are local in nature, McLain said the parent brand is great at facilitating a national network of franchisees that consistently exchange best practices and tips. The franchisor has also arranged for national accounts with Home Depot and property insurance companies that can offer great deals to franchisees. "We would never be able to negotiate prices that low on our own," he said. McLain said, "Reining myself in from the temptation to spread myself too thin and trying to do too much" is a constant battle. He works about 50 to 55 hours a week and has also became a licensed Realtor so that he can sell his houses once they are renovated. "It's a challenge maintaining a work-life balance when the business opportunities are so exciting," he said. His advice to other potential franchise owners is to carefully consider whether you want to build everything yourself or buy into an existing system. "Do the math and see if the risks and rewards make sense to you," he said. Home health care is a "very personal business where trust and confidence of both clients and referral sources is critical," Aronson said. Not surprisingly, finding and keeping skilled and reliable home health-care workers is one of his biggest challenges. "We have made a conscious choice to focus on retention of good caregivers," he said. That means he offers pay and benefits that are at the "high end" of what's typically offered in the in-home care industry in order to keep turnover low. The parent company has been a source of support, Aronson said. They continue to market the brand nationally and work diligently to find and vet potential vendors. Aronson's best piece of advice for would-be franchisees: "Make sure you have enough cash," he said. "If you want to put your business on a growth trajectory, it will take longer and cost more than you expect." When he started, he had enough cash set aside to enable him to wait 18 months before drawing a salary from the business. When that time came, he instead used the available cash to hire more in-home workers and waited another year before taking a salary. That enabled him to grow the business faster, but Aronson acknowledges that not every franchisee can wait that long to take money from their business. "Whatever you budget for getting the business off the ground, add another 25 percent to that number," he advised. watch now House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday the GOP has an obligation to unite around common principles. A day before he meets with Donald Trump, Ryan added: "We just need to get to know each other." "What we're trying to do is be as constructive as possible but have a real unification," Ryan told reporters. "After coming through a very bruising primary, which just ended like a week ago, to pretend that we're unified without actually unifying, then we're going into the fall at half-strength." Ryan, who meets with Trump on Thursday, has said he's not ready to support the presumptive GOP presidential candidate's run for the White House. Trump then refused to rule out blocking Ryan from serving as chairman of the GOP convention in July, and Ryan, in turn, said he would step down as chairman if Trump requested him to do so. Speaking of Trump at Wednesday's news conference, Ryan said: "I don't really know him. I've met him once in person in 2012. We had a very good conversation in March on the phone. We just need to get to know each other." In a statement last week, Ryan's office said the meeting aims to "begin a discussion about the kind of Republican principles and ideas that can win the support of the American people" in November. Ryan said Wednesday that there's plenty of room for different policy disputes within the wings of Republican Party, as long as they present a united front in the November election. "We cannot afford to lose this election to Hillary Clinton," Ryan said. "To pack the Supreme Court, to keep the liberal Obama agenda going. We have to be at full strength so we can win this election, and that is why we have to go through the actual effort and process of unifying." He did his research on the home inspection industry and chose HouseMaster for a few reasons. "I liked that the business had been around for nearly 30 years by the time I got involved and that it offered a 15 percent discount on the price because I was a veteran," Davis said. That meant he was able to purchase his franchise in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 2008 for just $19,125. He was equally impressed with the management team. "This was a big company when I signed on, but they ran it like it was a small company," he said. "I would go to the annual convention and the executives always knew my name." The parent company helps Davis grow his business with ongoing support ("If I have any sort of IT or technical issue, I just pick up the phone and someone at headquarters is there to help," he said.) Proprietary home inspection software is tailored to make reports easy to generate, and the company's ability to keep up with changing regulations in the home inspection industry is a big plus for franchisees that would have a hard time doing this themselves. Davis said one of the keys to building a home inspection business is networking. "I joined a local Business Networking International (BNI) chapter as well as the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, American Legion Post and the Elks Club," he said. "I network at every opportunity to expand my business." Davis, who runs the business without any employees, also said he's committed to paying it forward by offering a 10 percent discount on his services to military veterans. His advice to other would-be franchisees sounds obvious but bears repeating: "Follow the proven method. Be professional in appearance and behavior and work hard." With tens of thousands of successful franchise owners across the United States, determining which ones were worthy of being identified as among America's Star Franchisees was not a simple task. There are close to 3,000 franchise companies in the United States collectively contributing $1 trillion annually to the economy, according to the International Franchise Association. We reviewed 28,500 franchisees, representing 364 brands, between June 2014 to December 2015 as part of our annual franchise satisfaction survey. Our approach as a franchise industry market research firm is to perform independent surveys of franchisee satisfaction and franchise buyer experiences. For our partnership with CNBC, we decided to leverage our annual research on top franchise brands as the first step in identifying top-performing franchisees around the country, those individual owners within franchise systems who exemplify a combination of financial success and professional satisfaction. The three franchise company keys There are many different metrics one can evaluate when looking for franchise business opportunities that will produce successful owners, but for this project, we first evaluated the franchise company on three key metrics: Strong proof of concept in multiple markets. Clean review of the franchise disclosure document. Solid financial performance and a good opportunity for franchisee return on investment. Proof of concept: The primary benefit of investing in a franchise is its proven track record of success in various markets. This track record only comes with more established brands of a certain size. While there are always interesting new franchise concepts, franchises with less than 100 open and operating units were removed from consideration. This narrowed down our list of applicable franchise brands to less than 500. Clean reporting: Among these 100 brands, we did not need to eliminate any for reasons of litigation or bankruptcy, but FDDs were reviewed for these items. We also made sure each franchise system had a clean audit report. Finally, we looked for high unit turnover (in excess of 10 percent annually averaged over the past three years). High return on investment: Brands were evaluated for their potential return on investment based on their required initial investment compared to average franchisee annual income. There was no minimum percentage, but companies with a higher ROI ratio (franchisee income to initial franchise investment) received a higher weighting. The median ROI ratio for franchising is a 0.4 based on median franchisee income of $63,000 and median initial investment of $165,000. Note: Initial investment and start-up cost information for brands in America's Star Franchisees is sourced from 2015 franchise disclosure documents and could be updated during 2016. The two fundamental questions for franchisees Next, we put these companies to the franchisee test, looking at two key sentiment readings from owners in these franchise systems: Broad franchisee satisfaction. High regard of management by the franchisee community. Broad franchisee satisfaction: Having surveyed franchisees from more than 900 franchise companies over the last decade, Franchise Business Review has observed how closely high franchisee satisfaction is tied to franchise performance. Nobody knows a franchise business better than its franchisees. They can truthfully answer the questions you need the answers to prior to investing in a franchise. Will you receive good training and support? Are the systems and processes solid? Do the marketing programs actually drive business? Is the business performing well financially? And most importantly, would you recommend your franchise to others? We used current data from our franchisee satisfaction research in order to eliminate any companies that did not have high satisfaction among their franchisees. This step further narrowed the number of brands that could make the top-tier franchise cut down to under 100. It's important to note that some franchise companies don't allow third-party research firms to survey their franchise owners, or if they do, they don't share this information publicly. In these cases, brands were disqualified for lack of available data. While these franchise companies certainly have top-performing franchisees, we thought it was important to only include franchisees that represent brands where data is available. Regard for management: We turned again to our research data for impressions on senior management at franchise corporations, specifically two survey questions: Do you trust your franchisor? Do you believe that your franchisor operates with a high level of honesty and integrity? Any brands that did not rate well above benchmark on both these two key questions were eliminated. When the top-tier franchise selection process was finally complete, just 68 brands made the final cut. The 9 signs of top-performing franchisees Within every franchise system, there is a small group of top-performing franchisees, the very best of the best. These were the franchisees we wanted to identify and profile for this project. With a total pool of 26,262 franchisees within the 68 select brands, we again went back to our research: 13,422 franchisees from these brands had completed surveys. The first step was to eliminate any franchisees that had not completed a satisfaction survey in the past 18 months or opted to remain anonymous. This step likely eliminated a number of highly successful franchisees, but we couldn't recommend anyone without data to back up their franchisee experience. We also eliminated all "start-up franchisees": those that had been in business for less than two years. Next, we eliminated all but the most satisfied franchisees based on completed surveys. To identify the top franchisee finalists, they had to have answered the following nine survey questions with the accompanying responses: The total investment in my business has been consistent with my expectations. (Agree or strongly agree) Today, the overall financial picture of my business is: (Strong or very strong) The long-term growth opportunity of my business is (Strong or very strong) I trust my franchisor (Strongly agree) I respect my franchisor (Strongly agree) I believe my franchisor acts with a high level of honesty and integrity (Strongly agree) Overall, how would you rate your satisfaction with this franchise (Excellent) Would you recommend this franchise to others (Yes) Annual pretax income (Preference was given to those with higher incomes. We have reviewed net income for the vast majority of franchisees on this list, though a few declined to share. We cannot disclose net income figures we have reviewed per our agreement with survey participants, but the 50 franchisees on this list make, on average, three times as much as industry average.) The International Monetary Fund's Christine Lagarde is one of this year's attendees of the Bilderberg Meetings. Adam Berry | Getty Images On the week of more corruption allegations from a second Panama Papers leak, and on the eve of U.K. Prime Minister 's Anti-Corruption Summit in , the International Monetary Fund's managing director has penned an essay addressing corruption. 's piece, divided into three parts, addresses firstly the economic and social costs of corruption. She writes that while the direct economic costs of corruption are well known, "the indirect costs may be even more substantial and debilitating, leading to low growth and greater income inequality." "[Corruption] undermines trust in government and erodes the ethical standards of private citizens." Lagarde cites a recently updated study that estimates $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion (or around 2 percent of global gross domestic product) in bribes is paid annually in both developing and developed countries. Secondly, Lagarde addresses the concept that corruption is "primarily a 'cultural' problem that will always take generations to address." She writes that there are examples of countries that have managed to make significant progress in addressing it in a relatively short time. Finally, Lagarde says that in order to fight corruption, a "multifaceted" approach that promotes transparency and introduces economic reforms that reduce opportunities for illicit behavior would be wise. "Perhaps the most important ingredient for a successful anti-corruption approach is the development of strong institutions centered on a professional civil service that is sufficiently independent from both private influence and political interference," she writes. watch now watch now watch now Low oil prices since mid-2014 have claimed many victims in the oil industry with oil workers' jobs lost, rigs closed and exploration projects shelved. And no more so than in the U.S., a country which had hoped that its shale oil and gas "revolution" could lead to U.S. energy independence by 2020. Things have changed dramatically in global oil markets since the shale oil boom around 2010, however, making those expectations more dream than reality for now. "I don't know if it's physically possible for us to ever get to a point where we don't need to import certain types of crude," Suzanne Minter, Oil & Natural Gas analyst at Platts Analytics, told CNBC. "You look at our crude imports and it's about quality. We have displaced our light, sweet (crude) imports but the barrels we bring in we need to run through our refineries and to blend with the product we make." Pump jacks and wells on the Monterey Shale formation in California David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images News Oil prices having fallen since mid-2014 on a glut in global supply -- caused in no small part by the rise in U.S. oil output which was consumed domestically, reducing the need for crude imports, and the refusal of oil group OPEC to cut production itself -- and failure of demand to keep pace, largely down to an economic slowdown, particularly in China. Oil prices fell from a high of $114 in June 2014 to the low point of around $26 in early 2016 but have recovered slightly since then with a barrel of benchmark Brent crude currently trading at $45.11 while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is trading at $44.16. Some analysts had forecast ahead of the decline in oil prices that shale oil and gas could enable the U.S. to be energy independent by 2020 but that is looking more of a pipe dream for now. While the U.S. produces around 9.2 million barrels a day of oil, according to government data from February, its net imports still totaled 7.3 million barrels in the same month. Shale oil resilient? Despite OPEC's decision in late 2014 to maintain production in order to retain its market share in the face of rival shale oil "newcomers," the shale oil industry in the U.S. was nothing new. The industry had operated in the country for decades although it accelerated in the early 2000s following a government-led shale oil development program. But with declining oil prices over the last few years, U.S. producers found it hard to break even. Read More US shale could drive prices after Doha disaster According to the last weekly rotary rig count by Baker Hughes in the week of May 6, 479 oil rigs had closed from the same period last year, leaving 451 rotary rigs in action. Showing how fortunes have changed in a short period of time, in 2011, Baker Hughes data shows that there were over 2,000 rigs in action in the U.S. Platts' Minter said that OPEC had underestimated the resilience of shale oil producers, however. "Shale has proved itself to be much more long-lived than people had thought originally," Minter noted. "People assumed that (U.S. shale oil) wells had 12-24 months of decline curves and would then go away." "What's so different about U.S. production compared to anywhere else in the globe is that there are 9,000 of us (producers) so as prices fell, if the individual producer could make it work for them, they kept making it work and I think that was what was not expected (by other non-U.S. producers)." "We're proud that the brands that we make here will now be manufactured using renewable electricity, and that we are reducing our carbon footprint in the U.K. and around the world," Barry Parkin, chief sustainability and health and wellbeing officer for Mars Incorporated, said in a statement. A partnership with sustainable business Eneco's Moy wind farm in Scotland will ensure that all of the electricity for its 12 U.K. sites will be clean, with Mars committing to purchase electricity via Eneco U.K. for the next ten years. Global food manufacturing firm Mars signaled its green credentials on Wednesday with an announcement that its U.K. operations will be completely powered by renewable electricity. Overall, the company has a goal to make its global operations carbon neutral by 2040. Parkin went on to add that the Moy wind farm would "contribute significantly to our effort to eliminate fossil fuel energy use and greenhouse gas emissions from our global operations by 2040." The Moy wind farm is located near the small city of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. Wind power is a crucial part of Scotland's renewable energy mix. According to the Scottish Government, onshore wind power is now the most common form of renewable energy there, while Scotland is also home to a quarter of Europe's "offshore wind resources." Commenting on the announcement, WWF (World Wildlife Fund) Scotland's director said in a statement that it was "great to see a company like Mars demonstrating global responsibility by supporting the use of wind power in the manufacture of its products here in the U.K." "With its huge renewable energy resources, Scotland is an ideal location to source the power needed to create products sustainably," Lang Banks added. "This is a great example of how business can help the U.K. meet its climate change targets." Mars is not the only company looking to reduce its impact on the environment. Apple says that 93 percent of its energy came from renewable sources in 2015, while Google's website states it has been carbon neutral since 2007. It's always been Holdinghausen's dream to have his own restaurant, and with Marco's he's been able to open six locations throughout South Dakota using a proven concept and system, he added. "This is a great franchisor that is constantly improving its operating and inventory systems to grow sales and become a bigger slice of the pizza industry," he said. By adding five new locations since opening his first restaurant three years ago, Holdinghausen is growing revenues at a rapid clip and now employs more than 150 people. Like many in the restaurant industry, he views the rising cost of employee labor and benefits as an ongoing challenge, as well as recruiting staff that share his vision of the business. The most important piece of advice he can give other would-be franchisees is to buy into something "you believe in, something you are proud to put your name behind, and let everyone know you are part of it." Holdinghausen says he's never without his Marco's gear, whether he's heading to the gym, grocery store or even on vacation. "I've been in business three years, and I'm still not tired of eating there, because I honestly love the food we offer," he said. watch now Those "ask your doctor about ..." drug ads on TV? Americans are asking not to see any more of them. A majority of Americans would favor banning prescription drug advertisements on television, a new poll released Wednesday suggests. Before they were asked their opinions, respondents to the poll were told that some people believe such ads should be banned because of concerns that they can encourage patients to ask for costlier drugs that might be inappropriate for them, and because marketing costs boost the price of drugs. Respondents also were told that others believe the ads make patients better informed about treatment options. After hearing those points, 57 percent of respondents said they support removing prescription ads from TV, according to the STAT-Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll. watch now Just 39 percent of respondents opposed such a ban. The poll results had a margin of error 5.1 percentage points. The poll comes six months after the American Medical Association, the nation's largest physicians' group, called for a ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs and medical devices. The AMA cited concerns that the growing number of drug ads was "driving demand for expensive treatments despite" the fact that less expensive drugs are often just as effective. The AMA said it was concerned that the costs of running the ads are "fueling escalating drug prices," Dr. Patrice Harris, the AMA's chair-elect, said at the time. Spending on drug ads has jumped by 30 percent, to $4.5 billion, since 2013, according to market research firm Kantar Media. The AMA noted that the United States and New Zealand were the only countries in the world that allow direct-to-consumer ads for prescription medication. The STAT-Harvard poll found that only 7 percent of respondents said they had considered taking a prescription drug they had seen advertised on TV in the past 12 months. Asked about the poll results, a spokeswoman for leading pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA said analysis shows information about disease and treatment options improves cooperation between health care providers and patients, and that making patients better informed is the objective of direct-to-consumer advertising. "Beyond increasing patient awareness of disease (including undiagnosed conditions) and available treatments, DTC advertising has been found to increase awareness of the benefits and risks of new medicines and encourage appropriate use of medicines," Holly Campbell said in an email to CNBC. Faster approvals? No thanks The poll also found that a majority of Americans opposed the idea of speeding up the federal approval process for new prescription drugs. Several bills pending in Congress seek to speed up the Federal Drug Administration's review process for medications. Respondents were first told that it currently takes about 10 years of development, testing and review before a drug can obtain FDA approval for sale to the public. New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key speaks to media at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices during a joint press conference in Sydney, Australia. The Prime Minister of New Zealand has been ejected from parliament after a tirade over the country's role in the Panama Papers. John Key, who has led the South Pacific country since 2008, was answering a question from a Green Party politician on why he had not apologized to charities Greenpeace, the Red Cross, and Amnesty. On Tuesday, Key surprised media and politicians by naming those organizations in connection with the papers. It was subsequently confirmed none of the three was found to have any direct link to foreign asset trusts currently under scrutiny by journalists. After a long rant defending why he named the charities, Key was told to sit down by the speaker of the house. When he then didn't, the New Zealand Prime Minister was ordered to leave the chamber. New Zealand has been mentioned in the Panama Papers more than 60,000 times and Mossack Fonseca has an office in the country, leading many to label the country a tax haven. Speaking to CNBC Wednesday, the co-leader of the New Zealand Green party Metiria Turei , said the NZ Prime Minister was failing to address New Zealand's role in the Panama Papers scandal. "Because John Key won't take the matter seriously, politicians are asking difficult questions and the prime minister is unable to handle questioning," she said. The idea proved so popular, the pair decided a few years later to franchise the business and expand to other states across the country, including Texas, where Algy and Kermie decided to set up shop. Irvin and Kermie knew the franchise founders from when they were living in New Orleans and fell in love with the concept the first time they tried it. After relocating to Houston, they decided to open their first location and now have two others. As a professional photographer, Irvin said, "the idea of making art profitable was something I understood right away." He credits the franchisor with helping him progress from working in the business to working on his business. "When you first purchase a franchise, you are initially self-employed," he said. "Everything from negotiating the franchise agreement to getting through the grand opening requires your direct involvement. However, to ensure business growth, it is important to learn to delegate tasks. Once you learn to delegate, you become a business owner." Payless ShoeSource said Tuesday it's pulling all of its boys' Jake Lighted Runner light-up shoes from the shelves while authorities investigate a report that a Texas toddler's shoes ignited and burned out the backseat of the family SUV. Attila and Jovan Virag of Katy, Texas, told NBC station KPRC of Houston that their 2-year-old son kicked off his Jake and the Neverland Pirates shoes Friday and left them in the SUV over the weekend. Saturday morning, the backseat was charred, they said. More from NBC News: Prince investigation: Warrant names doctor treating star Hacker: I got inside Hillary Clinton's server Panama Papers: Leaker claims credit No official cause for the fire has been determined, but the family blamed the shoes' penny-size lithium battery. Today his son, Ernesto junior, runs the family's five Rent-A-Wrecks in East Haven and the surrounding areas and said the business model has been a good one. "One of the most attractive things that convinced us to get involved was the fact that there are other franchisees we can turn to for help," he said. "If a customer rents a car here in Connecticut and breaks down in another state, they're not stranded. Another Rent-A-Wreck franchisee can help us out. If we did this on our own, we wouldn't have that support." Despite the tongue-in-cheek name, Ernesto junior said the franchisor has worked hard to establish a reputation as a reliable alternative to the more expensive, new car-rental brands. His business is on track to hit $1 million in revenues this year and employs 10 workers, serving approximately 150 customers per month. "Customers don't forget the name," he said. "But in reality, we rent out clean, dependable cars at good prices, and we always try to over-deliver on our service." A House panel is working on a draft of a rescue plan, but political hurdles remain, and worse, it's still not clear whether the measure can reverse the U.S. territory's prolonged downward spiral. The House Committee on Natural Resources was set to take up a series of measures, including a financial oversight board, to help Puerto Rico dig out from under a crushing debt burden that has piled up as the local economy has slowly collapsed. "What we are seeing in Puerto Rico is if you push it off, the situation gets worse, the debt gets worse, the humanitarian crisis gets worse," the committee's chairman, Utah Republican Rob Bishop, told Reuters. "If you don't want a bailout and you put it off long enough, you probably will be forced into a position of being in a bailout, and I'm not going to vote for that." Kevin Hallenbeck purchased his Sandler Training franchise nearly 22 years ago, mainly for a lifestyle change. "I was selling capital equipment to the printing industry and was always traveling," he recalls. With a wife and young family, the toll was too much. While flipping through Inc. magazine one day, he saw an ad for Sandler and made a call. The franchise provides training to companies big and small to help their salespeople better connect with existing and potential customers. Hallenbeck enjoyed selling and liked Sandler's approach of "reinforcement training," which emphasizes repetition and ongoing training in order to change the behavior of salespeople. "Plus, it allowed me to build my business locally rather than traveling all the time," he adds. Stuchel sells the tools from a Snap-on van that acts as a mobile storefront, servicing car dealerships, trucking companies, repair shops and any other businesses in need of top-quality professional-grade tools. The parent company offers financing to its franchisees, so securing the money to start the business was a much easier process, he said. The company also enables franchisees to offer credit to customers on larger purchases that cost more, which he views as a major competitive advantage. Stuchel and his wife, Suzan, now own five Snap-on vans that service the Des Moines, Iowa, metro area. In addition to the start-up financing help he gets from the parent company, he credits the growth of his business to the fact that he really believes in the products he's selling. "I saw Snap-on as an opportunity to help technicians and shop owners get the tools they need to be more successful," he says. "You have to put your customer first and make them feel like you're there for them and not just your own personal gain." Francis Yeoh, chief executive of the YTL Corporation, is the head of 20-plus Yeoh family members who work at the Malaysian conglomerate. watch now Francis Yeoh, the flamboyant, God-fearing YTL Corporation boss, is a scene-stealing figure. So much so, the fact that there are more than 20 members other Yeoh family members working at the Malaysian conglomerate passes under the radar. But none of the many Yeohs at YTL, including Francis' own five children, count themselves as shoo-ins as the company's next leader. As Jacob Yeoh, Francis' second-eldest, explains, working at the family business has never been about ego. "At a very young age we were told that you are all just family stewards of the YTL brand and the YTL name, but your ultimate role is to pass it on to the next generation," Jacob says. "It's never really for yourselves, so we never really had an ego trip to be amazing or be more amazing than the generation before us." YTL stands for Yeoh Tiong Lay, the eponymous company Francis' father founded in 1955. Starting out in construction, it is now a global player in the power generation, infrastructure, hotels, property and telecommunications sectors, with five listed arms Francis, who has frequently attributed his success to his religious faith, has been the chief executive YTL since 1988. His eldest child, Ruth Yeoh, who calls herself YTL's "chief environmental officer," is executive director of YTL Singapore and director of YTL-SV Carbon. An architect by training, Ruth joined the family business in 2005 and runs the company's sustainability committee, where the executives set targets to lower the group's carbon footprint. "This generation, we borrow it from the next generation," Ruth told CNBC's Pauline Chiou in a joint interview with Francis in Singapore recently. "Being a parent myself, I've got to think of the fifth generation, and I'd love them to know the species that I know in this lifetime. Nature, wildlife as I know it now, I wouldn't want it to disappear within the next few years. I think we're trying our best to do what we can, both in our business and in a personal capacity. Ruth Yeoh Jacob, meanwhile, is deputy CEO at YTL Communications, the group's newest venture. An electrical engineering graduate, Jacob's first job was actually in construction, the foundation of the family business. "I was there for six months learning the ropes from a lot of our veterans, people who've been with us for over 30 years so I got a lot of my grounding from the construction background," Jacob told CNBC in an interview in Kuala Lumpur. "Then we got this license to build that WiMax [4G] infrastructure." YTL launched the Yes 4G wireless broadband network across Malaysia in 2010. Jacob's brother Joseph is vice president of YTL Hotels & Properties and YTL Land & Development. One of his major projects was overseeing the renovation of the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur. Speaking to CNBC in the Malaysian capital on March 31, as he prepared for a gala dinner to relaunch the hotel, Joseph says being part of the founding family was no protection from hard work at YTL. "I think it is very easy, especially being family members to, for lack of a better word perhaps, abuse your power or to have a false sense of security," he says. "I think that's where expectation pressure help you to push your boundaries and to realize how hard one has to work, for example, in the hospitality industry...I love hospitality because it is almost an inverse pyramid because the management almost takes a back seat." Aside from the Ritz-Carlton, Joseph's portfolio includes the 5,000 rooms that YTL Hotels operates globally, including the heritage Majestic Hotel in Kuala Lumpur and the Gainsborough Hotel in the U.K. The recently refurbished Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur is one of the jewels in YTL's property empire. Goh Seng Chong | Bloomberg | Getty Images Target Chairman and CEO Brian Cornell said Wednesday its bathroom policy fits the retailer's long history of "embracing diversity and inclusion." Cornell told CNBC's "Squawk Box" he wants everyone to feel welcome at his stores but stressed that safety is also very important. Following North Carolina's law requiring people to use bathrooms matching their birth gender, Target instituted a policy to allow customers and employees to use the bathroom or fitting room that "corresponds to their gender identity." Target has faced backlash from conservative groups such as the American Family Association, which is calling for a boycott. In a statement on its website, the association said Target's policy is "exactly how sexual predators get access to their victims." The group wants Target to have separate facilities for men and women, but also have a single occupancy unisex bathroom option for the transgender community and for those who like using the bathroom alone. What's missing in the debate, Cornell said, is Target already has those options in most stores. He said it's a priority to make sure all stores have a family bathroom option in a addition to a men's and women's room. This week, the Justice Department sued North Carolina, seeking a court order declaring the state's bathroom law discriminatory and unenforceable. On Monday, California lawmakers passed legislation requiring all single-stall bathrooms to be open to people of any gender. There are many key items to review in a franchise agreement, and big red flags that should cause a prospective franchisee to walk away from the table. But it doesn't always have to be a take-it-or-leave-it scenario when an entrepreneur is reviewing a franchise company's key terms for investment. There are two parties in this business deal. In fact, Richard Rosen, a New York City-based lawyer who heads his own firm and has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs on franchise deals, and is the current chairman of the New York State Franchise Bar Association, said it's crucial to understand that a franchise corporation is typically willing to negotiate beyond what they state in franchise documents. "The franchise agreement is universally compiled to be favorable to the franchisor," said Rosen. That's not a surprise, as any company is going to act out of economic self-interest. "Most franchisees, for whatever reason, don't negotiate these agreements as carefully as they should. ... It's reasonable to ask for changes," he advised. The following seven items are the important ones that a franchise company is most likely to be flexible on. 1. Fight for the best definition of your territory Franchise companies have to state if there is no protected territory, but that's not the only case in which a prospective franchisee should be pushing back against the corporation. The territory is one of the most important franchise agreement terms to negotiate, and it is one over which many companies are willing to budge. "You can push for a better definition of this," Rosen said. 2. Fight unreasonable restricted covenants. Say you are a chef and you've just sold a restaurant franchise, but plan to open another restaurant because that's what you do. If you agreed to a lengthy non-compete period as part of the restricted covenants in your franchise agreement, you may cripple your ability to work in the industry you love and the only one in which you have an ability to generate a good income. That's why it is critical to negotiate restricted covenants related to the "post-term" period before signing a franchise agreement. If the non-compete listed in the franchise agreement is for a decade, when local legal precedent says it can only be a few years, this unreasonable restricted covenant might be the sign of an unsophisticated franchise company, and simply be a red flag signalling you should walk away from any deal. But you can try to have the covenant set aside entirely. Or, there is often room to reach a compromise. For example, using the restaurant example, you can agree to not open a new restaurant that has more than 60 percent of sales in same food niche of the franchise you have just exited. 3. Push for the strongest renewal rights, but don't expect an easy fight. Among all of the contract terms that a franchisor is likely to negotiate, the length and form of renewal rights is a tough battle for franchisees. But a franchisee should attempt to negotiate renewal rights to avoid a disaster scenario. Ideally, you want the right to renew perpetually; in the least, a lengthy renewal option. If unsuccessful, Rosen's legal advice is simple: if the renewal terms are not reasonable to you, and the franchise company does not prove to be flexible, walk away. The alternative is to be pushed out years later, likely against your will. 4. Don't let a franchise company acquire your business on the cheap. Try to eliminate the provision that gives the franchisor right of first refusal and restate to say any sale to the corporation should be at fair market value as a going concern, not "depreciated value," which is one of the biggest red flags in a franchise deal. There's one key provision that should be included in any negotiation over franchisor right to acquire a franchisee business: Internal transfers. This refers to a sale of the business to a partner, which should be exempted from the franchisor's specifically stated right to purchase. 5. Guaranties A franchise agreement will typically include a guaranty section that can be extensive and the idea is to ensure that the franchisee's new business will cover expenses that are reasonable and are owed to the franchisor. But these guaranty sections are often overly broad. Franchisors may try to include many third-parties, including landlords and suppliers or tax authorities, in a guaranties section. Rosen said something as cliched as a person slipping and falling in a restaurant and then suing the franchisee and the franchisor could be a situation in which an overly broad guaranties section leaves the franchisee on the hook for all damages when the corporation is sued. When negotiating a guaranty section it is fair for a franchisee to be responsible for financial obligations specific to their business, fees such as royalties and advertising, and terms among restricted covenants, including use of confidential information. "But for all others, try to get those out," Rosen said. Multi-unit owners: Protect your unique needs 6. Don't agree to an opening schedule that is too aggressive. Multi-unit franchise owners need to push back if a franchisor is setting an opening schedule for multiple locations that is too aggressive. It's fair of a franchise company to not expect an opening schedule for 10 locations to take 30 years, but at least one year between new location openings is a good period to ensure a franchisee has enough time to negotiate leases and secure financing, let alone deal with zoning and permitting issues, as well as contractors. Most development schedules will state that the location needs to be open and operating one year from the time of deal-signing, but Rosen said it's better to negotiate for a deal that only requires the multi-unit franchisee to have entered into a lease for the next location within a year and to be proceeding with due diligence. Multi-unit owners also need to make sure their territory is protected, even if they do not complete a full schedule of units. Say a franchisee opens three out of 10 planned units. They need to make sure those three are protected as a territory, even if the additional locations are not completed. "You can lose your territory if you don't properly complete these terms," Rosen said. "You need to make sure with respect to the units you did open that you have separate 'mini-protected territories.'" watch now Burger chain Wendy's said in its earnings report that hundreds of company's franchisees were hacked in late 2015. The revelation came after a recent class action lawsuit suggested losses stemming from the breach were greater than that suffered by retailers Target and Home Depot . The company declined to discuss specifics on its conference call with analysts Wednesday after its earnings were released, but the burger chain is expecting to spend more in the courtroom. "We did bolster up our legal reserves," the company's CFO, Todd Penegor, told analysts. Al Bello | Getty Images In the wake of the Wendy's hack that hit hundreds of franchisees, the company said its own restaurants and new point-of-sale payments system were unaffected. "The company believes that malware, installed through the use of compromised third-party vendor credentials, affected one particular point of sale system at fewer than 300 of approximately 5,500 franchised North America Wendy's restaurants," the company said in its quarterly filing Wednesday. "The [new] Aloha point of sale system has not been impacted." Wendy's also reported another 50 franchise restaurants are or have suffered "unrelated cybersecurity issues," without further defining them. Read MoreRetail businesses face big new hack liability The burger chain also acknowledged a late-April class action complaint filed against it in Pennsylvania federal court by First Choice Federal Credit Union and others, saying Wendy's "pervasive and inadequate approach to data security" caused unspecified damages. Lawyers representing the bank did not respond to requests for comment. "Taking advantage of Wendy's lax data security and delayed notification to financial institutions and the public, hackers were able to gather large amounts of consumer data," the lawsuit stated. "Unknown perpetrators also specifically targeted and drained debit accounts with large amounts of money in them, concentrating the damages and causing individual financial institutions to suffer losses much greater than what was experienced after the Home Depot or Target data breaches." Target previously said its data breach, in 2014, cost it more than $140 million. The House of Representatives has banned staffers from accessing YahooMail until further notice, Gizmodo says. Gizmodo's report on Tuesday was based on an email the House's Technology Service Desk sent to staffers in April. The email, which the site obtained, said the House had noticed a rise in ransomware attacks in which hackers attach malicious software to emails entering staffers' inboxes, particularly through YahooMail. "The House Information Security Office is taking a number of steps to address this specific attack," the email said. "As part of that effort, we will be blocking access to YahooMail on the House Network until further notice." this StackOverflow thread[^], something like this should work: VB.NET Copy Code Public Sub AddCustomHeader( ByVal mail As MailItem, ByVal headerName As String , ByVal headerValue As String ) Dim prop As String = " http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/string/{00020386-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}/" + headerName mail.PropertyAccessor.SetProperty(prop, headerValue) End Sub "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer List-Unsubscribe[ ^ ]: plain Copy Code List-Unsubscribe:
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Cruz had previously admitted he had not been 'holding his breath' before tonight's results.
'We launched this campaign intending to win. The reason we suspended our campaign was that with the Indiana loss, I felt there was no path to victory,' Cruz told talk host Glenn Beck, who was a big supporter on the campaign trail.
'If that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly,' Cruz added, saying he was not ready to support Trump.
Trump won 76.7 per cent of the vote on Tuesday's West Virginia primary and secured three delegates. The state win brings him ever closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs to officially close out the nomination.
Ted Cruz trailed behind in second with 9.1 per cent while John Kasich limped into last place with a meager 7 per cent.
Meanwhile in Nebraska, Trump took 61.4 per cent of the vote, winning 36 delegates, compared to Cruz's 18.5 per cent and Kasich's 11.4.
Following his sweeping victories, Trump said it had been an honor to win both states by such 'massive margins.'
He added that time spent in Nebraska and West Virginia had been 'enlightening' and he was hoping to repeat his success there in the primaries, during the general election.
'Likewise, my time spent last week with the great people of Oregon will hopefully lead to another victory next Tuesday,' he added.
In the Democratic camp, Bernie Sanders edged out Hilary Clinton, with 51.2 per cent to 36.1, taking home 29 delegates in West Virginia.
Exit polls had revealed that Republican voters in West Virginia were most concerned with the economy and jobs. Nebraskans had said they wanted a candidate who 'tells it like it is' - indicating early potential support for the notoriously unfiltered Trump.
Voters in both states also believed that Trump may be able to beat Clinton in the presidential election in November while the majority of Republicans say they'd vote for Trump over Hillary.
Donald Trump claimed victory in both West Virginia and Nebraska GOP primaries as his race for the Republican presidential candidacy continues almost unchallenged (pictured at Trump Tower on Tuesday)
Cruz had hinted that he could be persuaded to restart his campaign if he wins the Nebraska primary
Crushed: Trump's win in Nebraska on Tuesday ends any dreams of Cruz returning to the presidential election race
Trump had been campaigning in West Virginia in the run up to tonight's primary.
On Thursday, he launched his first general election campaign in nearly a year that didn't take a single shot at another Republican.
'I actually wish the primaries were not over. It's no fun this way,' the Republican Party's presidential nominee-in-waiting told an estimated 13,000 people in Charleston, West Virginia.
'But everybody's out. I'm the only one left!'
He even said no one needed to vote on Tuesday, claiming he had already 'won all your delegates.'
Despite his assurances, primary races will be fought out in every legislative district, including a hotly contested congressional contest.
Trump even donned a hard hat and pretended to shovel coal at the Charleston rally where he pledged to support the struggling coal mining industry.
'I'm going to put miners back to work,' the billionaire businessman said, before launching a stinging attack on Clinton.
Trump spent only a few seconds noting the expanding legal quagmire surrounding 'Crooked Hillary's' classified email scandal, focusing instead on her embarrassingly candid statement that coal mining, a West Virginia economic mainstay, should be a casualty of a new green-energy economy.
'We have to win the general election. We cannot take Hillary Clinton any more,' he said.
'We can't take any more of the Clinton stuff, which is another 4 years of Obama. You can't take it folks. You're gonna have your mines closed, 100 per cent.'
Trump had been campaigning in West Virginia in the run up to tonight's primary. On Thursday, he launched his general election campaign in nearly a year that didn't take a single shot at another Republican (pictured at a rally in Charleston last week)
The billionaire delivered on a promised blowout win in the heart of Appalachian coal country where he promised to support the struggling industry
The Republican presumptive nominee even donned a hard hat and pretended to shovel coal at the Charleston rally where he told the crowd he was going to 'put miners back to work'
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump supporters held their own rally in Charleston, on the night of the primary
With Trump now the presumptive Republican nominee, his bitter rivalry with Democratic front-runner Clinton has intensified.
Recently, Trump attacked Clinton over her husband Bill's infamous sex scandal while he was in office, telling reporters she was an 'enabler' and that the women involved were 'destroyed.'
'Some of those women were destroyed, not by him, but by the way Hillary Clinton treated them after everything that went down.'
'And they are going after me with women? Give me a break folks.'
He also claimed that men were 'petrified to speak to women any more' and that women 'got it better than we do.'
Clinton hit back and the billionaire real estate mogul, saying she was focused on her own presidential bid, not running a smear campaign against a rival, saying Trump was doing that job for her.
'I have been very clear that a lot of his rhetoric is not only reckless, but dangerous,' she said, branding him the 'presumptive' nominee.
After Trump won a blowout in Indiana, the real estate mogul's path to getting the needed 1,237 delegates eased considerably.
Top Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have held off giving their support to Trump, while others are skipping the GOP convention or withholding their support.
Trump said he was blind-sided by the decision by Ryan not to back him, but insisted he can win even with a fractured Republican party because he could bring in new, Democratic voters.
Meanwhile former Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio made it clear on Tuesday that he is not interested in being a running mate to Trump after the presumptive nominee.
On Monday night, Cruz participated in a conference call with some of his top supporters, where there was talk of being a force at the convention this summer but not about somehow trying to salvage Cruz's campaign effort.
'They made a point of saying, 'This is not something nefarious we're plotting at the convention,'' Rep. Ken Buck told Politico. 'The Cruz team really just wants to make sure the platform reflects conservative values so that conservatives are excited about turning out this November and in the future.'
Cruz is considered to be interested in keeping his political options alive for a possible run in 2020.
He quit the race after going all out to win Indiana and getting routed by Trump. Just hours before exiting the race, he delivered an extended rant against Trump, who he slammed Trump as 'utterly amoral' and a 'pathological liar' who wasn't a true conservative.
He also warned his supporters that Trump will 'betray you on every issue' while he branded the Republican a 'bully' who was terrified of strong women.
Cruz is expected to return to the Senate today for the first time since his loss.
Following Cruz dropping out the race, Trump praised his 'brave' decision saying Cruz was among a group of his former competitors including endorsers Chris Christie and Ben Carson whom he hoped would remain engaged in the party, even as they licked their wounds from a vicious season of insults and attack ads.
l said he had met 'some of the most incredible competitors that I have ever competed against, right here, in the Republican Party.'
'We've got to keep them totally involved, because we're going to win. We're going to win in November. And we're going to win big.'
'What Ted did is really a very brave thing to do,' he said of the Texan's decision to resist prolonging the inevitable by bowing out instead of subjecting the GOP to a lengthy floor fight during July's convention in Cleveland.
'We want to bring unity to the Republican party. We have to bring unity.'
'We're going after Hillary Clinton,' he said, looking ahead to what will be an expensive and protracted fall.
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A series of mesmerizing color pictures shows what life was like for circus performers in the 1950s as they traveled to amuse the crowds across the US and Canada.
The photos, published on Flashbak Monday, include a fascinating mix of acrobats in costume, animals ready to perform and a surprisingly sad clown.
Behind each of them lies a story - like that of Victoria Zacchini, originally named Agnes O'Toole, who moved to the US from Liverpool in the UK to work as a nanny.
Instead, as shown in the photo series, she became a human cannonball and even worked for the famed Ringling Brothers and Barnum Circus.
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A series of mesmerizing color pictures shows what life was like for circus performers in the 1950s as they traveled across the US and Canada. Pictured is Professor George Keller, who had his own animal show, in 1954
The photos, published on Flashbak Monday, include a fascinating mix of acrobats in costume, clowns and animals ready to perform. Pictured, a baby elephant wearing a costume as part of its act
Victoria Zacchini (pictured circa 1955), originally named Agnes O'Toole, moved to the US from Liverpool, UK, to work as a nanny. But instead, she became a human cannonball and even worked for the famed Ringling Brothers and Barnum Circus
The Christiani Bros Circus (pictured in 1956 in Nova Scotia, Canada) offered a side show in addition to its main act. The annex promised visitors they would see a variety of animals, such as a pink-eyed elephant and a monkey island
Slivers the clown (pictured in 1954) was originally interpreted by Frank Oakley, who once earned $1,000 a week thanks to his act. But he committed suicide in 1916 after getting his heart broken
Oakley, the original Slivers (an incarnation of the clown is pictured in 1954 with his car), fell in love with Broadway dancer Viola Stoll in 1913. She later stole some of his jewelry and was incarcerated. Oakley tried to marry her but failed. He was found dead in 1916
Some of the photos included in the set show performers dutifully posing for the camera in their costume. Pictured are the Barretts, wearing their stage outfit outside of the circus, in 1954
How much did it cost to go to the circus about 60 years ago? According to this sign, adults only had to pay 25 cents and children could get in for just 15 cents
Sharkey the Seal (pictured in 1954 with Billy Roe) appears ready to jump into a pull of water. His act became documented in the press in the 1940s, meaning he must have practiced for a decade when this picture was taken
Also included is an incarnation of Slivers the clown, whose original interpreter, Frank Oakley, committed suicide in 1916 after getting his heart broken.
Oakley had fallen in love in 1913 with Viola Stoll, a Broadway dancer, who was 17 at the time.
She stole some of his late wife's jewelry while he was on tour and was sentenced to three years in the Bedford reformatory.
Oakley tried to marry her but reformatory officials wouldn't let him, according to a story published in the Pittsburgh Press after his suicide.
He cried all the way back to New York and was found dead shortly after.
Sharkey the seal also appears in the photo set, looking just about ready to jump into a pool of water.
His act was documented in the press in the 1940s, so by the time this picture was taken, he must have practiced for a decade.
The photos also give an inside look at carnival life, with some pictures (like this one in 1954) revealing what went on behind the scenes or when the public wasn't looking
The clown on the left (pictured at Gainesville Circus in Texas circa 1964) is wearing a stage outfit complete with a sheath dress, little white gloves and what looks like a spectator, as if the decade's trends had translated into carnival life
This giant sign promising children hours of fun stood in Idlewild Park in 1954. The amusement park, located in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1878 as a picnic ground and remains open to this day
The set also gives a look at what stage costumes looked like for performers in the 1954. The Condors (pictured in 1954) went for a yellow and silver theme, with the men wearing bouffant sleeves and the woman going for a sparkly bra and shorts
Some performers brought an air of 1950s elegance with them, such as the Dormans (pictured in 1954) who appeared on stage wearing suits, hats and either a classic tie or a bow tie
Circus performers, such as this acrobat (pictured at Gainesville Circus, Texas, around 1954) did not wait until the 21st century to perform awe-inspiring routines high above the ground
One of the gravity-defying acts, the Sky Kings (pictured left in 1954) performed jaw-dropping stunts in the air. Others (right) became well-read in the fine art of tightrope walking and performed it as a trio
This photo, taken on a sunny day in 1954, shows Shirley, Dorrie Orton, and Gracie at the Kelly-Miller Circus, which was founded in 1938 by the Miller family and still exists today
A truck belongong to the Christiani Bros Circus (pictured in 1956) further advertised its animal acts and promised spectators they would see a reticulated giraffe, 'the tallest animal alive'
Sophie, Countess of Wessex, said Lady Louise, 12, and James, Viscount Severn, (pictured in December) should not expect to follow in their parents footsteps by working for the family firm
The Countess of Wessex has revealed her two children the Queens youngest grandchildren will have to go out and get jobs when they older.
Prince Edwards wife made clear in an interview yesterday that Lady Louise, 12, and James, Viscount Severn, should not expect to follow in their parents footsteps by working for the family firm.
Speaking about her attempts to keep the pair out of the public spotlight while they are children which has included rejecting HRH titles for them both - Sophie said: Certainly when they were very young we tried to keep them out of it. Only because for their sakes, to grow up as normally as possible we felt was quite important.
And theyre going to have to go out and get a job and earn a living later on in life and if theyve had a normal a start in life they possibly can get, then hopefully that will stand them in good stead.
Sophie and Edwards stance chimes with that of the Queens eldest son and heir, Prince Charles, who has made clear that he wants to see a slimmed down monarchy when he is king.
It is unlikely that anyone who is considered to be a senior working royal at present such as Edward and his siblings Andrew and Anne will be succeeded by their children in years to come.
Only members of the family in direct line of succession to the throne the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children as well, to a lesser extent, Prince Harry are likely to be full-time working royals in the decades to come.
Speaking to the BBC to launch her involvement in a new charity cycle ride, the Countess also recalled the first time her daughter, Lady Louise, realised her grandma was also a highly important public figure.
It happened a little while ago, said Sophie laughing.
Well for Louise, actually, it was much more of a shock to the system. It was only when she was coming home from school and saying, Mummy, people keep on telling me that grandma is the queen.
And I asked her, Yes, how does that make you feel? And she said, I dont understand.
I dont think she had grasped that perhaps there was only one queen.
Sophie also revealed the moment Louise (pictured with her brother, left, cousins' children and Queen Elizabeth) realised her grandmother was different from other grandparents was 'a shock to the system'
The Countess is currently training to cycle from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace a distance of more than 445 miles in September on behalf of The Duke of Edinburghs Award to mark its 60th anniversary.
The DofE Diamond Challenge invites participants to try something out of their comfort zone to mark the occasion and raise money for the charity.
Sophie - who is riding a 999.99 20-gear Boardman Road team carbon cycle from High Street store Halfords - said she was excited and apprehensive to be undertaking the challenge but had seen the incredible impact the awards scheme has on young people.
The Countess is currently training to cycle from the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace in September on behalf of The Duke of Edinburghs Award to mark its 60th anniversary
She said, I am both excited and apprehensive to be undertaking this challenge on behalf of The Duke of Edinburghs Award Diamond Anniversary Appeal! I have seen for myself the incredible impact the DofE has on every young life it touches, equipping young people with self-belief and motivation whatever their background or ability. So I had no hesitation in taking on a Diamond Challenge and hope this will encourage others to try their own.
Twenty-five teachers and other school staff have been withdrawn from a remote Indigenous town in northern Queensland amid fears for their safety after a gang of youths brandishing an axe stole a school principal's car when he tried to reprimand them for trying to break into two teachers' homes.
The ABC reports that the teachers and school staff were working at the Aurukun campus of the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy (CYAAA), which was temporarily shut down by Education Minister Kate Jones because of the safety concerns.
Things came to a head when youths tried to break into the home of two CYAAA teachers early on Sunday morning. But when police did not respond immediately to the disturbance, the school's principal took it on himself to intervene.
Police confirmed three people were charged over the incident and extra officers have been sent to Aurukun
'As the principal was getting into this car, he was approached by a group of teenagers, including one brandishing an axe,' Education Queensland's Regional Director Deborah Dunstone said.
'He chose to just hand over the car to the youths. There was certainly a scuffle and he has some minor bruising.
Indigenous leader Noel Pearson supported closure
'The principal [went] above and beyond the call of duty.'
The Courier Mail reports that Indigenous leader Noel Pearson, who founded the CYAAA, supported the decision to evacuate the staff.
'(There are disturbances) with fights among community members, unruly youths returning from detention and all of these problems have been rolling on for several years,' he said.
The incident resulted in nine teachers getting flown out of Aurukun on Tuesday evening and 16 left on Wednesday.
All the teachers agreed to return to work in a week if their safety concerns had been met. Police confirmed three people were charged over the incident and extra officers have been sent to Aurukun.
Detectives hunting the killers of eight people in a Ohio neighborhood have raised fears that their investigation is stalling after making a fresh appeal for public help.
The call from police and Ohios Attorney General for video evidence came 20 days after seven members of the same family were gunned down along with the girlfriend of one of the victims.
The investigators have are also resorting to placing two large billboards along a busy highway near their inquiry HQ appealing for information.
Police have revealed little of their investigation and details of the guns used, bullets and the full results of the autopsies have not been made public.
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Victim: Kenneth Rhoden was murdered execution-style - with a single shot to the head. His cousin David Stone found his body with dollar bills strewn from his knees to his feet
Husband-to-be Frankie Rhoden and his fiancee Hannah Hazel Gilley, 20, were among those killed Friday in Piketon, Ohio, according to the Morning Ledger
Prosecutors are investigating a Facebook threat that mentioned one of the eight family members killed execution-style by a rampaging gunman in Ohio. The message was directed at Christopher Rhoden Jr, 16. He and his mother Dana Rhoden (left) were killed along with six other relatives - including her ex-husband Christopher Rhoden Sr. (right)
Officers said from the day of the massacre that they expected the probe to be lengthy and today a spokesperson denied that the investigation was grinding to a halt.
She said: We do have video but we are putting out an appeal for anybody who may have some and who hasnt given it to our tip line.
Asked if inquiries were not going as well as officers might have hoped, she said: I wouldnt say thatwe are looking for any clues that can be provided.
Victim twice over: Murder victim Christopher Roden Jr., 16, was the victim of an apparent road-rage attack for which a local woman was sentenced to probation two day before the murders. His grandfather Leonard Manley, 64, told Daily Mail Online about the attack and said law enforcement had not paid attention
AN EXTENDED FAMILY WIPED OUT Christopher Rhoden, 40 Dana Rhoden, 37 - his ex-wife Christopher Rhoden Jr., 16 - their son Hanna Rhoden, 19 - their daughter Clarence 'Frankie' Rhoden, 20 - their son Hannah Giley, 20 - Frankie's fiancee Kenneth Rhoden, 44 - Christopher Sr.'s brother Gary Rhoden, 38 - the Rhoden brothers' cousin
We are looking for anything and everything.
Daily Mail Online revealed exclusively in the days after the murders that one of the bodies was left covered in dollar bills and video CCTV cameras had been taken by the assassins.
It was also revealed three of the four properties where the killers struck were being used for marijuana production leading to theories that the massacres were the result of a turf war.
Police are also examining claims that one of the victims had a long running feud with rivals involved in derby demolition car racing and had been in a fist fight with rivals.
Seven members of the Rhoden family were found shot to death.
They were 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna; Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and 38-year-old Gary Rhoden, a cousin.
Gary Rhoden (pictured above in an undated photograph), 38, was named as one of eight family members killed in Pike County on Friday, as was Hanna May Rhoden (right)
Horror: Donald Stone, 44, found his cousin dead at the camper where he lived after becoming suspicious that he had not been seen
Remembered: The road police which have closed off as they continue the forensic investigation of the crime scene has a small floral tribute to the dead
Still under investigation: The scenes of the eight murders in Piketon, Ohio, are still being examined by law enforcement
Frankie Rhoden's fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley was also slaughtered, but her four-day-old baby girl was found unharmed beside her. Another baby and a young child were spared.
The coroners report has yet to surface, but she said only one victim was shot once.
This was revealed by Daily Mail Online to be Kenneth Rhoden whose body was left with dollar bills strewn over his legs and the blanket drawn over his body, which was discovered by his cousin Donald.
Other victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including two victims shot five times and one victim shot nine times.
The funerals come after the eight members of the Rhoden family were killed execution style in their beds on April 22
Friends and relatives carried five caskets from the hearses to burial spots as hundreds of mourners looked on
Police have refused to reveal which victim was shot nine times and have withheld details on other victims.
Police said they are looking for video recorded on April 21 or April 22 in Piketon.
Space on two billboards has been donated to publicize the investigation The billboards are both located on U.S. Route 23 at Waverly.
Investigators have received more than 500 tips so far, but they still urge anyone with information to contact them with the promise that callers can remain anonymous.
Family members, including Leonard Manley, center, father and grandfather of several of the deceased, and mourners arrive at Dry Run Church of Christ for funeral services
The businessman husband of public relations queen Roxy Jacenko bought his childhood friend a $900 Blackberry phone so he could use its 'secret' text messaging system to exchange insider tips on share trades, prosecutors allege.
During his opening address at a NSW Supreme Court trial, senior Crown prosecutor David Staehli SC claimed Oliver Peter Curtis used tip offs from his former best friend John Hartman to net an alleged $1.433 million profit, which they shared together.
Mr Staelhi told the court Mr Curtis used money from the alleged scheme was to buy Hartman a $60,000 Mini Cooper vehicle and a $20,000 Ducati motorcycle. The money was also used to take the pair and their friends on a holiday to Whistler, Canada and Las Vegas.
Mr Curtis was accused of using $156,000 to pay 12 months upfront rent on the $3,000-a-week Bondi apartment where he was living with Hartman, who prosecutors said did not have to pay rent.
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Australian businessman Oliver Curtis (right) clutched the hand of his wife, public relations maven Roxy Jacenko, as the couple strode into court for the first day of his trial facing an insider trading charge
Mr Staehli said Mr Curtis went to the city and bought Hartman a Blackberry phone before the first of the 45 alleged transactions that allegedly occurred under the scheme between May 2007 and June 2008.
At the time, Hartman was an equities manager at Orion Asset Management and Mr Curtis worked as a banking analyst.
He said the good friends - who grew up together on Sydney's North Shore and attended the prestigious Riverview College together - would regularly discuss trading and financial markets because of their mutual interest and jobs.
Mr Staelhi told the court the phone was given to Hartman so he could send him tips on Blackberry's 'secret' text messaging system, known as 'pinging'.
He told the eight men and seven women on the jury the benefits of using the Blackberry meant 'you could send a message which was not capable of being intercept-able'.
'Such a message would be secret... discreet.'
Mr Curtis (centre) arrived at the NSW Supreme Court in a trim navy suit and held a grim expression on his face as he and a high-heeled Ms Jacenko, also dressed in black, strode past waiting media
Prosecutors allege Mr Curtis conspired with his former best friend John Hartman to run an insider trading account which allegedly won the pair about $1.4 million between 2007 and 2008
Ms Jacenko and Mr Curtis have two children, Pixie and Hunter. The couple are pictured above in a file photo from a happy moment
The financial instruments allegedly traded in the scheme were products called 'contracts for difference', which are related to shares.
The prosecutor said Hartman, who now lives in Perth, has cooperated with ASIC. Prosecutors said he will testify as a witness in front of the court next week.
Justice Lucy McCallum also told the jury Mr Curtis was innocent until proven guilty.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, Mr Curtis clutched the hand of his wife as the couple strode into court for the first day of his trial.
Mr Curtis arrived at the NSW Supreme Court in a trim black suit and held a grim expression on his face as he and a high-heeled Ms Jacenko, also dressed in black, walked past waiting media.
Just prior to jury selection, Mr Curtis pleaded not guilty to the charge - standing and telling Justice McCallum and potential jurors: 'Not guilty, your honour.'
If found guilty, he could face a maximum five-year jail sentence.
Mr Staehli told the court Mr Curtis and Hartman were long-time friends who attended the same school and grew up in the same suburb.
'They're not so friendly now, probably,' he said.
A lawyer rolls in documents for the case against Mr Curtis at the NSW Supreme Court
More documents prepare to be wheeled into the court house for the insider trading trial
Mr Hartman is expected in the witness box during the trial as it is expected to take place over weeks
As well as Mr Hartman, the court is expected to hear from ASIC investigators, a Canadian representative of Blackberry and employees of a company known as CMC markets.
The prosecution case will also involve documentary evidence, the court heard, with the jury having to examine whether or not Hartman and Mr Curtis conspired to use inside information.
The trial - which has been continually delayed in recent years - continues.
On Wednesday, the court building was briefly evacuated during a lunch break in proceedings due to a burning smell, with firefighters called.
Before the trial, a photo of Ms Jacenko's two children, Hunter and Pixie, sitting on a couch appeared on her daughter's Instagram account.
The photo was captioned: 'Did someone say hump day?'
Just days before the trial, Ms Jacenko and her family celebrated Hunter's birthday at the weekend.
She shared snaps of her son opening presents with Mr Curtis and of the child running down the hall with a bunch of balloons streaming behind him.
Hartman and Mr Curtis were childhood friends who lived in the same suburb and the same school
A Daily Mail investigation that exposed how four of Britains biggest charities hounded elderly victims for cash is today fully vindicated in an official report.
Charities regulator the Fundraising Standards Board found that the British Red Cross, Macmillan, NSPCC and Oxfam were all in breach of industry standards after a review of the Mails expose.
Last summer, our undercover reporter infiltrated call centres run by the fund-raising company GoGen and exposed the outrageous tactics used to raise money. It revealed how boiler room tactics were used to target the elderly and vulnerable and to take money from people with dementia.
Last summer, our undercover reporter infiltrated call centres run by the fund-raising company GoGen and exposed the outrageous tactics used to raise money (stock image of a call centre)
The FRSB report said monitoring procedures were not sufficient or adequately carried out to keep tabs on how GoGen was carrying out telephone fundraising campaigns.
More seriously, Macmillan and the British Red Cross were found to have breached industry guidelines by not telling their supporters how they were going to use their contact information.
The FSB found GoGen had breached the ban on targeting the vulnerable such as people with dementia to try to secure a donation. Officials also said it broke rules by teaching fundraisers pressurising techniques to elicit cash.
The Mails expose led to new laws to regulate the sector after David Cameron branded the practices unacceptable. The FRSB said each of the charities had implemented significant changes since the summer including closer monitoring of fundraising agencies.
New methods include more spot checks, the use of mystery shoppers and listening in to calls.
FRSB chairman Andrew Hind says: Working with telephone fundraising agencies can be an important way for charities to reach out to new and existing supporters, but it is essential that any fundraising activity meets standards laid out in the Code of Fundraising Practice.
the British Red Cross, Macmillan, NSPCC and Oxfam were all in breach of industry standards
While this investigation outlines a number of failings at the agency, ultimate responsibility rests with charities for the conduct of any third-party agencies.
We welcome the significant actions each charity has undertaken to ensure better monitoring and supervision procedures.
Changes to fundraising rules prompted by the Mail probe include a right to be left alone. A new regulator will ban charities from contacting anyone on the list if they have opted out of calls or junk mail.
It would give people who feel deluged by requests access to a reset button allowing them to put a stop to further demands for cash.
Such practices were thrust into the spotlight last year after the death of 92-year-old Olive Cooke, one of Britains longest-serving poppy sellers.
Her family described how she had received repeated requests from charities for donations, with up to 267 letters a month, as well as regular phone calls from fundraisers
Judges should be allowed to hear appeals from the likes of Abu Hamza (pictured) if their human rights are being challenged, a top legal adviser has said
Britain could be banned from extraditing terror suspects by the EU, in a new Brussels power grab.
One of the top legal advisers to the EU's European Court of Justice said that for the first time its judges should be allowed to hear appeals from the likes of Abu Hamza if their human rights are being challenged.
The move would make it far harder to boot out crime suspects and hugely undermine the Government's commitment to end the human rights madness.
Former shadow home secretary David Davis said: 'The argument that Europe is somehow improving our security is falling apart in the Government's hands.'
The EU advocate general has been considering whether the ECJ should adopt powers to rule on extradition cases.
Every other member state submitted that the EU should have no legal powers in this field. But the UK raised no objection and was even supportive of the latest power grab, according to papers released yesterday.
Advocate generals are the most senior legal advisers to the EU court, and their advice is normally accepted.
Once this happens, MPs say the Charter of Fundamental Rights will apply whenever third countries such as the US and Australia want to extradite EU citizens from the UK.
This will make it easier for foreign criminals to remain in Britain by arguing they might face 'inhuman or degrading treatment' overseas.
Some lawyers have argued that life sentences, which effectively mean a person will die behind bars with no prospect of release, fall into this category. In terrorism cases, US courts hand down sentences running to hundreds of years.
Abu Hamza was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of release by a US federal court on terrorism and kidnapping charges.
Crucially, the advocate general's advice would mean that suspects will be able to rely on the ECJ to defeat extradition regardless of what is done in the upcoming British Bill of Rights.
Questions: The case was raised with Home Secretary Theresa May, pictured, yesterday
Plans are being worked on to limit the rulings of the separate European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg.
But EU judges would simply take their place and EU verdicts are legally binding.
The Charter also contains many other rights, including a right to respect for private and family life.
Eurosceptics said this 'raises the prospect of many extraditions being delayed by spurious human rights challenges in the event of a vote to remain'.
TRADE WITH EUROPE FALLS Britain is becoming less reliant on Europe for trade, official figures showed yesterday. In a boost for the Brexit campaign, less than half of exports of goods made in UK factories went to the EU in March. It was the nineteenth month in a row that Britain has sold more to the rest of the world than to the EU. At the same time, UK imports from the Continent hit a record 19.4billion, resulting in an 8.1billion trade deficit with the EU the largest ever. It means Britain buys far more goods, such as German cars and French wine, to the EU than it buys from us. Eurosceptics claimed the report, from the Office for National Statistics, meant it was more likely than ever that the UK would strike a free trade agreement with the EU following a Brexit. The figures also undermined a warning by the National Institute for Economic and Social Research that leaving the EU would be a significant shock to the UK economy. It said Brexit could knock 7.8 per cent off gross domestic product by 2030 and send the pound tumbling. But Professor Patrick Minford, a former adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said quitting the EU would boost trade. Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, said: The EU is not working. The eurozone is collapsing, millions of people are unemployed and Europes economies are massively underperforming. That means that European countries are buying less from us than ever before as we trade more with the rest of the world. If we vote Leave we will be able to take back control of our trade and do deals with growing economies rather than being shackled to the failing economies of Europe.
Justice minister Dominic Raab said: 'This is another silent blow to the British justice system inflicted by the EU.
'Whether it's the power to deport foreign offenders, or safeguards to protect innocent British citizens from rough justice, these vital rules should be made by elected lawmakers accountable to the British people not faceless bureaucrats in Brussels or unaccountable judges in Luxembourg.
'If we vote Leave on June 23, we will end the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights to the UK immediately after the referendum, allowing us to take back control over our justice system.'
Yesterday, the case was raised with Home Secretary Theresa May at the Commons home affairs select committee.
Conservative MP Ranil Jayawardena said: 'The EU's advocate general has said that the Charter of Fundamental Rights can now be relied on by criminal and terrorist suspects to prevent their extradition from the United Kingdom to countries outside of the EU. Do you believe that this would have affected your attempts to extradite Abu Hamza to the USA because that's what it's suggesting?
'And doesn't this show that it's not the ECHR, but that it's actually the EU that is now a danger to our security?' Mrs May said: 'This is not the legally binding decision. It is the opinion of the advocate general. Of course, we wait for the final decision that is going to be taken.'
Former prime minister Gordon Brown will today make his first big intervention in the campaign, setting out 'five positive arguments' for remaining inside the EU.
He will argue that the co-operation that comes with EU membership benefits jobs, fairness in tax and security.
Mr Brown's appearance on the campaign trail reflects deep unease in the Labour ranks that it is not getting its own vote out to support the In side of the debate.
Yesterday, Foreign Office minister James Duddridge also attacked claims that EU membership is bolstering national security. He said: 'It is completely disingenuous to suggest that we are safer inside the EU.
'EU law is undermining our bilateral relationships with key allies in the Five Eyes Alliance [the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain] whilst the European Court is seeking greater controls over our intelligence and security services.
'The inability to control our own borders means that we cannot stop criminals entering the UK. And plans to give Turkey visa-free access to the EU will create a free travel zone from the English Channel to the borders of Syria and Iraq.'
Justice Secretary Michael Gove has proposed emergency legislation to end the application of the Charter to the UK immediately after the referendum in the event of a vote to leave the EU.
Debate: Former prime minister Gordon Brown will today make his first big intervention in the campaign
Rowan Williams now Lord Williams of Oystermouth (pictured) was among the religious leaders who warned ministers in a letter that lone child refugees cannot be allowed to live in limbo
Child refugees must be brought to Britain urgently, religious leaders including the former Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday.
Rowan Williams - now Lord Williams of Oystermouth, the Bishop of Barking, Rabbi Harry Jacobi and Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner are among 27 other signatories who warned ministers in a letter that lone child refugees cannot be allowed to live in limbo.
They pointed out that campaigners have identified 157 youngsters in Calais with family in Britain who will spend tonight in the mud and danger of The Jungle.
Conditions in Greece, where thousands more were stranded, were also appalling with widespread reports of children living destitute in the street.
The children should be safe, warm and in school. So while we welcome last weeks decision, we urge the prime minister to ensure that all the children in Calais with valid legal claims and the first 300 identified as most at risk in Greece and Italy, are brought to Britain by the start of the next school year, they wrote.
Their intervention follows a leading article in the Mail calling on the Prime Minister to show compassion towards the youngsters, some of whom are as young as five.
They also praised the Government, however, for the U-turn to allow in unaccompanied children stuck in camps on the continent.
As we celebrate the governments bold and decent decision to bring vulnerable refugee children in Europe to the UK, we must not forget the urgency of the situation, they wrote in thir letter to the Times.
Downing Street also faced claims from MPs that it was not processing claims quickly enough. On Monday, Number 10 suggested that refugees may be brought to Britain by the end of the year.
James Brokenshire, the Immigration Minister, told MPs that it did not necessarily mean it would take seven months to bring them here.
He insisted the Government was getting on with plans to take in vulnerable children but stressed that it is obliged to consult with councils before acting.
Yvette Cooper, Labours refugee taskforce chairman, called on the Government to accept 300 children in time for the beginning of the school year in September.
They pointed out that campaigners have identified 157 youngsters in Calais with family in Britain who will spend tonight in the mud and danger of The Jungle (Pictured: young children living in the Calais Jungle migrant camp)
She accused No 10 of dragging its feet over the plans and said processes should already be in place to reunite children who have family in the UK.
Seven months may be a fast time for a bureaucrat, it is a very long, long time for a child.
Only three or four family reunification cases are being dealt with a week when there are more than 100 pending, she added.
To have only the first children by the end of the year is simply not enough.
There are 14-year-olds who want to be surgeons who have been out of school for two years. There are teenage boys who have been abused, who are at risk of being abused again, there are teenage girls who cannot escape from forced marriages because there isnt the support for them to do so, Miss Cooper said.
Ministers last week agreed to back a demand from Labour peer and Holocaust survivor Lord Dubs take in an unspecified number of lone child refugees.
They agreed to take children as a one-off humanitarian gesture provided they had registered as asylum seekers in the EU before March 20. The Government feared that being more lenient would act as a magnet for desperate families to send their children to Europe alone and potentially into the hands of people traffickers.
To a damp patch of grass near London's Waterloo Station for the launch of Labour's 'In' campaign battle bus. As buses go, it was on the small side, with sprayed windows to prevent the outside world peering inside. A little like the European Commission, you could say.
Labour MP Alan Johnson disclosed that the bus was going to be his home for the next six weeks while he toured the provinces, spreading the word for Brussels.
It was raining. Mr Johnson, who would later accuse some Leave supporters of being 'extreme', had a silent handmaiden holding an umbrella over him. Jeremy Corbyn was offered no such protection and he was getting wet, as was a script in his hands. Soon the paper was curling under the rain.
An unconvincing Europhile: Jeremy Corbyn was on hand for the launch of Labour's 'In' campaign battle bus
Kept under cover: A silent handmaiden was tasked with holding an umbrella over Labour MP Alan Johnson
Dreary start: About 30 T-shirted teenagers stood stoical in the downpour as Labour politicians spoke
Mr Johnson gave a short, extempore speech; ditto Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson (who accused me of holding a Ukip brolly oi, it was in fact a Prayer Book Society brolly!).
About 30 T-shirted teenagers were standing nearby, stoical in the downpour. Everyone wanted the event to end quickly but Mr Corbyn, like the late Magnus Magnusson, is not a man to be rushed once he has started.
On he chuntered, glum in tone, sucking on that prominent upper front tooth as though it were a Glacier mint. The Labour leader could not quite disguise the fact that until recently he was an ardent Eurosceptic. As he read through his text one gained a sense of grim determination but little enthusiasm.
During this speech a lorry started to manoeuvre out of a nearby goods bay, emitting a 'beep beep beep' as it reversed. It was as eloquent a comment as any we could offer. As Mr Corbyn concluded his remarks, a couple of workmen booed over the fence. Minutes later Iain Duncan Smith also accused Mr Corbyn of failing to speak up for the low-paid. IDS was giving the daily sermon as one is starting to think of it at Vote Leave's low-ceilinged HQ near Lambeth Palace. Every day someone gives us a chunky, statistic-rich speech about why Brexit is a sound idea. These homilies may be good for us but so, allegedly, is cod liver oil.
The real deal: Iain Duncan Smith pleaded with 'better off Britons' to vote Leave in order to help the poor
Mr Duncan Smith pleaded with 'better-off Britons' to vote Leave in order to help their less prosperous fellow countrymen. Altruists of England, vote Leave. For the next 45 minutes he argued that although the EU has made the rich richer, it has been rotten for those at 'the back of the queue' (the echo of President Obama was intentional).
Who had done well out of Brussels? 'Wealthy Germans big banks big corporates public affairs companies with large lobbying operations in Brussels,' said IDS. By that last one he may have meant Roland Rudd, a Remain campaign schmoozer and brother of the Energy Secretary.
Who had done badly out of Brussels? 'Lower-paid Britons,' said IDS, our champion of the poor. The main reason for this was immigration by young, unmarried workers prepared to do unskilled jobs for grotty pay. This was stiffing British workers who had families to support.
All his political career, IDS has been gripped by Europe. As a new MP he rebelled against John Major on Maastricht. European anxiety brought him the Tory leadership. Now he may be within six weeks of the nation voting to leave 'the dysfunctional, declining, high-unemployment EU'. This could be the climax of his life's work.
His eyes burned pale blue. When asked if he was an 'extremist' (that Alan Johnson word), he flared with a sustained blast of proud indignation.
'In what world is it extremist to want your democracy back?' he thundered. There might well be tricky times ahead and we would deal with them better as an independent nation rather than having to compromise with 27 other countries.
Reece Jefferies, 18, broke his back in a crash in Farnworth, Greater Manchester - but says he owes his life to a ginger cake
A biker broke his back in a crash - but says he owes his life to a ginger cake.
Reece Jefferies, 18, landed on his lunch when he flipped over after hitting a car in Farnworth, Greater Manchester.
The bag of food on his back, including a Jamaican ginger cake for his lunch, cushioned the fall from his Honda Repsol and prevented him suffering more serious injury.
Reece fractured his spine and must wear a back brace for at least eight weeks.
But he felt well enough to take a selfie inside an ambulance minutes after the accident, as he was rushed to hospital.
He said: 'I was very lucky, because the bag of food that I had with me might have saved my life. It took a lot of the impact when I hit the ground, and it was all squashed when I opened my bag later. I'm very glad I had it with me.
'I had a full Jamaican ginger cake in my bag. It was crushed flat when I fell.
'I actually still have it in the fridge. I might put it in a little frame. Maybe it saved my life.
'I was on my way to work. It was in my backpack. I was going to have it for my lunch.' The crash, last Tuesday, sent Reece flying off his motorbike and onto the road, landing on his back.
He suffered a fractured L1, one of the lumbar vertebrae between the rib cage and the pelvis, and also damaged a bone in his pelvis.
He now faces a gruelling recovery after fracturing his spine.
He said: 'When I went to take a selfie while I was strapped to the stretcher, the paramedics just laughed at me.
'Fortunately they didn't tell me to stop and I wasn't in too much pain to do it. We all had a bit of a laugh about it.
The bag of food on his back, including a Jamaican ginger cake for his lunch, cushioned the fall from his Honda Repsol and prevented him suffering more serious injury (Reece pictured on his motorbike)
Reece fractured his spine and must wear a back brace for at least eight weeks but said he felt lucky that the bag of food was on him
Reece was travelling along Bolton Road, just past the Kearsley roundabout in Farnworth, when he crashed into a car as it pulled into a side street.
Reece, who works at the Aalco Metals warehouse in Farnworth, spent three days at Royal Bolton Hospital and was fitted with a back brace before being released on Friday.
He felt well enough to take a selfie inside an ambulance minutes after the accident, as he was rushed to hospital
He said: 'The car pulled out and by the time I saw him it was only three or four metres away. I tried to hit the brakes but it was too late, I didn't have enough time to stop.
'I flipped over and must have landed on my back. I have got a back brace on now. I have to wear it for at least eight weeks, then I have another appointment to see if my back has straightened enough.
'It's a bad injury but it could have been a lot worse. I could have been more badly hurt and I'm glad that I was able to go home after a few days.' He is now adjusting to life back home in Hazel Grove, Ringley, Greater Manchester, as he begins the recovery process.
Reece said: 'It has affected my life a lot, as I need a carer to look after me because I'm restricted from doing things myself like getting dressed and making my own food.
'I can't get changed properly, I can't lean down, and I can't walk any faster than two miles an hour or my back will really start hurting.
'I have got to sleep on my back and I can't even stand up by myself. It's like I have no strength in my body whatsoever.
'Fortunately, I have a big family and there are lots of people around to help and support me.' The teenager has been riding motorbikes since last January and had just purchased his Honda Repsol bike a month ago for 2,100.
Despite his accident, Reece is keen to get back on the bike as soon as he can.
He added: 'The engine still starts but the front of the bike is gone. It's badly damaged and it will cost a few hundred pounds to repair, so I have to see if the insurance will cover it.
'I won't stop riding because of this. I want to be back out there again as soon as possible.'
The National Union of Students suffered a bitter blow yesterday when a university became the first to resolve on breaking ties over its hard-left policies.
The student union at the University of Lincoln will formally disaffiliate with the NUS after a campus-wide referendum on leaving the national body.
It is the first in a string of student bodies to vote on the issue after the controversial election of radical activist Malia Bouattia last month.
It is the first in a string of student bodies to vote on the issue after the controversial election of radical activist Malia Bouattia last month
The 28-year-old has prompted disquiet among Jewish students after calling Birmingham University a Zionist outpost and decrying the influence of the Zionist-led media.
More generally, the NUS has been ridiculed for banning intimidating clapping at meetings and no-platforming a wide range of speakers which they consider offensive.
Lincoln student union leaders said yesterday that their students no longer felt the NUS was focussed on the issues they face every day on campus.
The move could spark a snowball effect as other unions at elite universities across the country adopt similar referendums.
Exeter student union is currently in the process of a campus-wide vote, while Oxford and Cambridge are expected to do the same later this month.
Losing lots regional branches would be a major blow to the NUS, which is almost a century old relies on its 600 member unions for funding.
Announcing the referendum last month, Lincoln student union wrote that four representatives returned from the recent NUS conference disillusioned with the direction that NUS are taking the student movement.
The National Union of Students suffered a bitter blow yesterday when Lincoln University (pictured) became the first to resolve on breaking ties over its hard-left policies.
The decision to hold a referendum was not connected to election of Miss Bouattia but rather the general direction the union is headed, they added.
Yesterday, Lincoln student union president Hayley Jayne Wilkinson said: As a group of elected officers, we no longer felt confident that the NUS represented the views of our students.
We agreed it was necessary to ask our members themselves if they wanted to remain affiliated with the NUS.
This debate has been about what students want from the organisation that represents them nationally and, for some time, we have felt that the focus of debate within the NUS has been far removed from the issues that our students tell us are important to them every day on campus.
Just over half of the 12 per cent who turned out to vote at Lincoln voted to disaffiliate.
The union said there would be no noticeable difference and that there would be no impact on the quality and level of services.
However, the NUS said the move would cost Lincolns union more than 150,000, and cause prices to go up on campus. Members will also lose their NUS discount cards.
Megan Dunn, NUS national president, said: NUS has always campaigned tirelessly on issues that affect students every day, most recently the cost of living crisis, housing, NHS bursaries, maintenance grants and college closures.
The student movement is stronger when we stand together, and NUS is disappointed to see University of Lincoln Students Union go.
By choosing to disaffiliate, Lincoln students have lost their collective voice and wont be part of programmes that make a real difference on campus.
A huge pelican - the largest of its kind and one of the biggest birds in the world - has been spotted in the UK for the first time in centuries.
The giant Dalmatian Pelican, whose wingspans measure up to 11 and a half feet, is thought to have been carried here on last weekend's humid weather from Europe.
The red-billed bird, native to Eastern Europe, Russia and Asia, was first seen on Saturday at Gwithian in Cornwall.
A huge pelican - the largest of its kind and one of the biggest birds in the world - has been spotted in the UK for the first time in centuries
The giant Dalmatian Pelican, whose wingspans measure up to 11 and a half feet, is thought to have been carried here on last weekend's humid weather from Europe
On Monday it had reached Sennen and Polgigga at Land's End, Cornwall.
It was photographed at Sennen by teenage birdspotter Josef FitzGerald-Patrick, 15, who heard it had arrived near his home town.
The schoolboy cycled to the scene armed with his camera and caught a spectacular shot of the pelican taking to the air, displaying its giant wings.
Josef said: 'I heard about it on the website Rare Bird Alert and I spent three hours searching all the locations that it was being sighted at.
'Finally my local knowledge helped me and some others down to a small pool behind Sennen Caravan Park.
The red-billed bird, native to Eastern Europe, Russia and Asia, was first seen on Saturday at Gwithian in Cornwall
'We walked very quietly down to the pool but saw nothing.
'I then saw this gigantic red bill move slowly across from the left-hand side and as soon as it saw us took off.
'Luckily I had my camera focusing and panning with the bird as soon as it took off so got the shots of it flying over the willow.'
Josef, from St Buryan, Cornwall, was with around 20 other bird enthusiasts who saw the rare visitor.
The same bird is thought to have previously visited Poland between 6th-11th April, Germany on 16th April-1st May, and eastern France on 3rd May.
A jump in Amazon stock prices made the company's founder $2billion richer in an instant.
Jeff Bezos net worth rose to $61.4 billion after Amazon shares closed at a record $704.55 Tuesday, Forbes reported.
The increase put Bezoz, 52, at number four on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires. He nudged ahead of Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu.
With ballooning profits and sky-high sales, 2016 has been a fantastic year for Amazon which has seen its stock price rocket along with the fortune of its owner.
Last week, the retail entrepreneur pocketed some of that hard-earned cash by selling off around 1million of his shares, netting himself around $671million.
The incredible haul, which flowed into Bezos' bank account between Tuesday and Thursday last week, represents just 1 per cent of his stake in Amazon.
Jeff Bezos pocketed $671million between Tuesday and Thursday this week after selling off 1million of his shares in Amazon, but still owns another 82million worth an estimated $55billion
He still owns almost 82million shares in Amazon, or 17 per cent of the company, worth around $55billion at today's prices.
Bezos is not keeping all of the earnings to himself, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, donating more than 3,000 shares to a non-profit organization.
Those shares are worth almost $2million if the organization, which was not named in paperwork, were to sell them today.
Bezos also made a gift of 741 Amazon shares, worth almost $500,000, but did not disclose where that money went.
While this week's trade is not the largest sale of shares that Bezos has made, it does represent his largest cash haul to date.
The Amazon founder did sell off another 1million shares in August last year, pocketing just over $500million as part of a divestment plan.
The reason for Bezos' latest sell-off is unknown, but Forbes speculates that it is likely an effort to diversify his enormous fortune.
Around 90 per cent of that value is derived from his shares in Amazon, meaning his fortunes are almost entirely tied to that of his company at the moment.
Amazon shares prices have rocketed in the last 12 months amid spiking sales and better-than expected profits, cementing Bezos' place on the list of the world's top ten richest people
However, that dependency on Amazon share prices has served him well in recent years as the firm has gone from strength to strength.
This time last year Bezos had an estimated worth of around $34.8billion, but strong sales have seen that increase by almost $25billion in just 12 months.
That leap saw Bezos make his way into the top ten of Forbes' rich list for the first time at the start of the year.
Since then he has only cemented his position in the top tier, where he currently occupies fourth place, after his company smashed profit expectations in its April earnings announcement.
Net sales increased 28 per cent to $29.1 billion in the first quarter, compared with $22.7 billion in first quarter 2015, driven by sales of Fire tablets, Kindle book readers, and subscriptions to Prime.
That report saw Bezos' wealth jump by an estimated $6billion in just 20 minutes as stock prices soared in late trading.
The elderly are being sent home to die by hospital staff under pressure to free-up beds, a report warns today.
Frail patients are routinely discharged too soon afraid and unable to cope alone.
Serious complaints about unsafe discharge from hospital have soared by a third in a year with 211 cases in 2014/15 according to figures from the Health Service Ombudsman.
The elderly are being sent home to die by hospital staff under pressure to free-up beds, a report warns today (file photo). Frail patients are routinely discharged too soon afraid and unable to cope alone
They include a 93-year-old woman who died in her granddaughters arms hours after being sent home by doctors, who had failed to carry out a basic examination.
A report released today by the Ombudsman also exposes how:
Patients are being rushed out of hospital so quickly they still have catheters and drips attached;
A tenth of hospitals discharge patients without telling relatives;
One in eight patients said they were sent home before sufficiently recovering to manage alone;
Patients are begging hospitals to be allowed to stay as they are unable to cope at home.
The Ombudsman highlighted nine harrowing cases of unsafe release from hospital, including two patients who died as a result.
One woman said she would be haunted for the rest of her life by the avoidable suffering of her mother, who was repeatedly sent home against her wishes.
Dame Julie Mellor, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said: Our investigations have found that some of the most vulnerable patients, including frail and older people, are enduring harrowing ordeals when they leave hospital.
DEMENTIA SUFFERER 'COULDN'T COPE ALONE' Distraught: Pam Little, 80, was re-admitted and discharged six times over three months last year Angela Little said she would be haunted for the rest of her life by the shocking care of her 80-year-old mother. Pam, known as Alma, was re-admitted and discharged six times over three months last year. On one occasion she was taken back to Whipps Cross Hospital in east London just two hours after being sent home. She had Parkinsons disease, dementia and heart disease, and had suffered repeated falls, but social workers insisted she could manage at her home in Chingford, north-east London. Retired Mrs Little, 63, said hospital staff never bothered to tell her when they discharged her mother. Often she would find out only when her mother called her in tears on one occasion threatening to take an overdose of pills. Mrs Little, who lives a 45-minute drive away in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, said her mother was terrified, distraught, adding: She couldnt cope. She was begging to go back into hospital. She had 15 minutes of care each day but that wasnt enough and time needed to be spent filling in forms. They also gave her the wrong medication as they were so rushed. It was awful.
The cases I find most upsetting are frail elderly people who are in effect sent home alone.
People are being sent home in the middle of the night without people being alerted and without the support they need. This affects peoples human rights to dignity. It can have devastating consequences.
The report warns hospitals are inadvertently moving the elderly out too soon as they are under pressure to free up beds and meet targets.
Health bosses are trying to crack down on so-called bedblocking or delayed transfers of care, where patients stay on wards despite being medically fit to be discharged.
Trusts are meant to ensure that no more than 3.5 per cent of beds are occupied by such patients and can be fined for exceeding this target.
But the report warns that hospitals are routinely discharging the elderly without checking they are ready to cope on their own at home.
It highlights examples of patients begging hospital staff to be re-admitted only to be refused because someone else needs the bed.
Others were forced to leave hospital in the middle of the night, including an 85-year-old woman with dementia who was left home alone with no food, drink or bedding.
The investigation follows a number of damning reports exposing poor NHS treatment of the elderly. Ministers have repeatedly pledged to improve standards and these efforts intensified after the Mid Staffordshire hospital scandal, in which hundreds died of neglect up to 2009.
But the Ombudsman said the numerous guidelines intended to ensure improvement were having little effect.
Age UKs Caroline Abrahams said: Most people would assume that in a civilised society no older person would ever be pressured to leave hospital without adequate support in place.
As such, this report and the dreadful cases it describes, mark a new low in what looks like a continuous downward trend in the capacity of our health and care system to look after our older people even in its ability to keep the most vulnerable safe and alive.
Heidi Alexander MP, Labours health spokesman, said: This report raises serious questions about why older people are still suffering these awful and completely avoidable failures of care. It should be a matter of course for relatives and carers to be told a loved one is leaving hospital.
It is also simply not acceptable for any patient to be discharged before they are medically fit.
A spokesman for NHS Improvement, which oversees hospital discharges, said: Patients should never be discharged from hospital without the appropriate safeguards in place and without families having been informed.
They already rank alongside politicians in the public's affections.
And latest figures showing estate agents in London alone raked in 1.1billion in fees last year are unlikely to endear them to us any further.
Londoners selling their house forked out an average of 10,228 to agencies, according to a report by online estate agent Housesimple.com.
Latest figures showed estate agents in London alone raked in 1.1billion in fees last year
One consumer campaigner last night said the report highlights how millions of people selling their homes are being 'ripped off'.
Soaring house prices in the capital have meant estate agents - which can charge more than 3 per cent of the sale value - have hit the jackpot again.
Estate agents in Wandsworth, South West London, took the prize for collecting the most fees. They raked in more than 70million last year, up 3 per cent on the previous year.
Having topped the list in 2014, the super wealthy borough of Kensington and Chelsea dropped to second place, taking more than 57million.
In half of all London boroughs, high street estate agents made more than 30million in fees in 2015.
But the biggest increases have been in less prestigious postcodes.
Estate agents in Barking and Dagenham jumped 16 per cent to 13.2million, while fees in Lewisham in South East London grew 12 per cent to 37.3million.
London and the South East is particularly lucrative for estate agents because of the inflated property prices.
But people around the country are saddled with hefty fees when selling their home.
Estate agents typically charge commission of between 1 per cent and 2 per cent of the sale price, plus 20 per cent VAT.
Foxtons, which has an army of agents driving around in expensive branded Minis, typically charges 3 per cent, including VAT.
But it charges 3.6 per cent on multi-agency agreements, when the seller hires a number of estate agents to sell their home.
Londoners selling their house forked out an average of 10,228 to agencies, according to a report by online estate agent Housesimple.com
This equates to almost 20,000 on the average London house which is worth 551,000 according to Nationwide.
Alex Gosling, chief executive of HouseSimple.com one of a new breed of online estate agents - described this as 'daylight robbery'.
The company's report estimated that if a fifth of London's home sellers had sold using an online estate agent they would have saved 211million.
Mr Gosling said: 'Estate agents are adept at beguiling homeowners with the strength of their local knowledge and the vast network of potential buyers they already have on their books. In many cases, the agent probably sold the property to the first person who saw the ad on one of the major property portals.'
He added: 'How London agents can continue to charge, and justify, such high commission rates when there are buyers galore desperate to purchase, is beyond comprehension. It's daylight robbery.'
Critics of traditional estate agents argue they are having to do even less to earn their handsome fees than ever before.
Most people are searching for property online, using websites such as Rightmove or Zoopla. They then simply contact the estate agent selling the property.
One consumer campaigner last night said the report highlights how millions of people selling their homes are being 'ripped off'
Online agents including emoov, HouseSimple, YOPA, and Purplebricks can charge a flat fee of between 495 and 798 for selling a home. They can charge more for London properties, with Purplebricks charging 1158.
In return the firms advertise the property on websites such as Rightmove, put up the For Sale sign and sort out the paperwork when the house is sold.
Sellers can either do the viewings themselves or pay a fee to the online estate agent to do them.
James Daley, director at consumer website Fairer Finance, said: 'This report raises further questions about whether percentage fees are right. It is no harder to sell a 500,000 house than a 250,000 house and yet the estate agent stands to earn twice as much.
It's the mass market that is being ripped off as cannier customers at the higher end are more likely to negotiate flat fees.'
Noel Ramos, 15, will graduate from her Michigan high school in 2018.
When she does, she'll be well ahead of her classmates after earning two associate's degrees from Kellogg Community College.
Noel is still a sophomore at Gull Lake High School, but after she duel enrolled, she and her mother realized she could earn the degrees before her diploma.
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Noel Ramos (pictured), 15, of Michigan, has earned two associate's degrees before graduating from high school
Courtesy of WWMT
'I was just taking college classes the first semester. Like I didn't plan on graduating at all.
'Then my mom started looking into and she was like "wait a second you like taking these classes you might as well just like get your degree". I'm like "oh my goodness that's such a good idea!"' she told Fox 4.
Noel enrolled at Kellogg when she was a 13-year-old freshman. Two years later she's earned a degree in general studies and another in art.
'I like art, I'm not going into the art field but I like art, so I was like oh yeah might as well get that too,' said Noel.
Counselors at Gull Lake have been floored by Noel's accomplishments.
Noel is a sophomore at Gull Lake High School and will graduate with her diploma in 2018. She duel enrolled when she was 13 years old
She has been taking classes at Kellogg Community College where she has earned a degree in general studies and another in art
'I just really struck me that she likes learning and exploring new opportunities.
'And it was very impressive that a 9th grader would be taking dual enrolled classes and earning an associate's degree,' Gull Lake counselor Jodee Stanton told WWMT.com.
Noel will be easing up on her community college class load because she can't get financial aid until she gets her high school diploma.
Until then, she said she'll be taking it easy in her junior and senior years at Gull Lake.
She's signing up for Model UN and might take one or two courses at Kellogg that she can afford.
She plans to major in counseling and wants to go on to become a school psychologist.
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Model Samantha Harris and her fiance Luke Hunt have been seen together for the first time after he was released from jail on Wednesday.
Hunt was picked up from St Heliers Correctional Centre in Muswellbrook, NSW, by his fiance and mother after serving two years behind bars.
In 2014 he was sentenced to four years in prison over the death of Kenneth Lay, 78, in a car accident in 2012.
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Model Samantha Harris' (left) fiance Luke Hunt (centre) seen here with his mother (right) was released from jail on Wednesday
Hunt (left) served two years for dangerous driving causing death after a car he and Ms Harris (right) were in hit another a killed the driver
Hunt's mother (right) clutched on to him tightly as the trio stopped for a break during the drive back to Sydney
They are pictured here getting into the car to head back to Sydney
The couple are pictured here kissing in an older photo - before Hunt went to jail
Ms Harris, 25, Hunt and his mother stopped off during the drive back to Sydney on Wednesday morning, and could be seen strolling through the autumn sunshine.
At one point Hunt embraced his mother, who was no doubt ecstatic to have her son back.
The pair walked arm-in-arm as Ms Harris strolled alongside them, dressed in a grey t-shirt, black leather pants and a camel coloured coat.
Ms Harris (left) and Hunt's mother (right) collected him from St Heliers Correctional Centre in Muswellbrook, NSW
At one point Hunt could be seen embracing his mother, no doubt glad to have her son out of jail
The 30-year-old was seen walking in the autumn sunshine clearly enjoying his freedom
In April the couple enjoyed a rare day together when Hunt was allowed out on weekend release
Hunt (left) has a tattoo of his fiance's face on his right shoulder, while Ms Harris has Hunt's name tattooed inside an infinity sign
In April, Ms Harris and Hunt enjoyed a taste of their life to come as he was allowed out on weekend release ahead of the end of his sentence.
Hunt served two of his four year sentence over the death of Kenneth Lay, who died when the car Hunt and Ms Harris were travelling in collided with his.
The couple had been on the way to the gym in Narweena in Sydney's northern suburbs. Mr Lay died in hospital a short time after the crash.
Hunt's mother held on to Hunt's arm as he walked alongside his fiance
Hunt served two of his four year sentence over the death of Kenneth Lay
Mr Lay died in hospital after the car Hunt and Ms Harris (pictured) were travelling in collided with his
A man who abused punched his wife and girlfriends and threatened them with butchers knives has revealed his violent past in the hope of preventing other men from harming their partners.
Jeremy Eparaima, a rugby player and hardware store manager from Levin, New Zealand, has never faced charges for abusing his partners over 30 years.
Among his worst offences, he admitted sexually assaulting one victim when he was a teenager and later threatening his partners with knives.
The 50-year-old is now an ambassador for It's Not OK, an anti-domestic violence charity.
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Jeremy Eparaima (above) has told how he domestically abused his wife and girlfriends over 30 years, opening up about his violent past to deter other men from the same behaviour
Speaking to The New Zealand Herald on Monday, he revealed his intention was to 'take out' the women when in a violent rage.
'There was punching, kicking, choking, spitting. I put butcher knives to the throats of a couple of my partners.
'The intention in my head was to take them out. It was pretty horrific.'
His violent tendencies began as a child, he admitted, when at 10 he began harming his own mother.
He was sent to a boarding school where, after being sexually abused by an older boy, he became increasingly volatile.
As a teenager Mr Eparaima said he sexually attacked one victim which brought him 'shame' and 'self-hatred'.
By the time I was in my early twenties I was a full-blown, physical and emotional abuser
He married and had children but began 'psychologically' abusing them, he said in a lengthy post for the charity.
'As a partner and then father I started off mainly a verbal abuser who would nut off and yell and scream whenever there was anything not going my way.
'By the time I was in my early 20s, I was a full-blown physical and emotional abuser to my then partner and children.'
He was encouraged to seek help when a friend who he considered violent changed his own behaviour.
'At the age of 40 a friend of mine whom I considered violent started to change and he introduced me to an anger management group.'
The 50-year-old revealed he psychologically abused victims before progressing to physical violence
Explaining why he has chosen to open up about his past, he said: 'I never thought all that happened to me and all I dealt out since would ever amount to anything good, but being given the opportunity to spread my story of change in order to change another mans and his familys future has been the most rewarding thing in my life.
'If Im speaking to 10 people or 1000 people and one person gets the message then its worth me doing this.
'My message is simple. If you are a young man heading down this dark road then ask for help before you go on to damage yourself and the ones you love.
'If you are older like I was, then it is never too late to make a change in your life to make a safe environment for your children and grandchildren and become the positive role model our families deserve.'
It's Not OK is a targeted anti-domestic violence initiative by Are You OK.
fifties are being treated in hospital
A man in his forties and a man in his
A total of five water cooling towers in the same area of Sydney have tested positive for a potentially deadly bacteria after two more people contracted Legionnaires' disease.
NSW Health said five cooling towers in central Sydney on Margaret, Kent, King and George Streets tested positive for Legionella on Tuesday following an inspection of 89 sites across the city.
They also confirmed that two more members of the public have contracted the potentially fatal respiratory infection.
A total of five water cooling towers in central Sydney - on Margaret, Kent, King and George Streets - have tested positive for a potentially deadly bacteria after two more people contracted Legionnaires' disease
Dr Vicky Sheppeard, director of NSW Health Communicable Diseases Branch, said the towers had been 'cleaned and disinfected'.
A man in his forties and a man in his fifties, who frequented the city about the same time as the three other confirmed patients, are being treated in hospital.
Dr Sheppeard said one of the men was in the intensive care unit and the other was in a stable condition.
She said Legionella bacteria flourished in water cooling towers and that was why the NSW Health Department had 'specific regulations to prevent... this type of occurrence'.
Dr Sheppeard added the warm weather could be contributing to the bacteria outbreak.
'Potentially it can be related to the very long, warm period that we've had that has required ongoing operation of cooling towers, there may be other factors and we have an expert group looking into that question ,' Dr Sheppeard said.
NSW Health said five cooling towers in central Sydney on Margaret, Kent, King and George Streets tested positive for Legionella (pictured is a stock image) following an inspection of 89 sites across the city
An elderly man and two women - who all work around Wynyard train station (stock image) - have fallen ill since ANZAC Day
The three original patients, a man in his eighties and two women in their thirties, fell ill after Anzac Day and all work near Wynyard train station.
One has been discharged from hospital, another is stable and the third remains in a critical condition.
Legionnaires' disease is a type of pneumonia caused by a bacterial infection of the lungs that can develop after someone breathes contaminated water vapour or dust.
A City of Sydney spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: 'As public health is our number one concern, we are taking the matter very seriously, and providing every assistance to NSW Health who are leading the investigation.
'The city will continue to provide the community with information about the issue as it becomes available.'
Tens of thousands of commuters pass through the suspected infection area each day, and it is also a focal point for tourists.
The cooling towers were inspected as outbreaks are often associated with contaminated air conditioning systems in large buildings.
The spokesperson said: 'Under the Public Health Act, the City maintains a register of air conditioning towers and who is responsible for their maintenance.'
The latest outbreak comes after a man aged in his 80s died in March after contracting the disease near the Town Hall area.
Only six desks have graced the Oval Office since the room was completed early in the 20th century.
Some served for several decades, while others became dear to one president only.
The next president will have to choose between keeping Barack Obama's current choice, the venerable Resolute desk that first arrived in America in 1879 and once hid Franklin D. Roosevelt's leg braces during his polio, or ditching it for a new model.
With six months to spare before the next general election, Slate has dug up some of the fascinating secrets that make up the history of the Oval Office desks.
The desk that came from the sea, hid Roosevelt's polio and stole Jackie Kennedy's heart
The current presidential desk (pictured as Barack Obama places a phone call), called the Resolute Desk, came from a doomed British naval ship
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a panel added to it to shield his legs from view, as the polio-stricken president had to wear braces. Pictured, Caroline and Kerry Kennedy play behind the panel's doors
The current presidential desk, called the Resolute Desk, came from a doomed British naval ship.
The HMS Resolute was abandoned in unnavigable waters in the mid-19th century and remained trapped in Arctic ice.
An American vessel discovered it later on when the ice thawed and released the HMS Resolute, Slate reported.
The United States gave it back to its original land after fixing it up, but the ship was taken apart in 1879.
Queen Victoria asked that the wood be used to build a desk, which was then sent back to America and placed inside the White House.
The Resolute Desk first remained in the president's study. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a panel added to it to shield his legs from view, as the polio-stricken president had to wear braces.
The panel features a presidential seal in which the eagle faces the arrows instead of the olive branches - a rarity in the White House according to Slate.
Jacqueline Kennedy was the one who saved the Resolute Desk from oblivion and had it move into the Oval Office after it was found in a broadcasting room.
But Lyndon B Johnson had it removed to make room for his own desk, and the Resolute Desk returned after Jimmy Carter's election.
Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Obama have all used it.
Ronald Reagan (pictured at the Resolute Desk), Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Obama have all used it, after Jacqueline Kennedy had it brought out of a broadcasting room
The most popular desk of them all
Seven POTUS have used the Theodore Roosevelt Desk (pictured), which was built for its namesake president in 1903, in the Oval
The first desk to ever grace the walls of the Oval Office is also the one that has been favored by the most presidents.
Seven POTUS have used the Theodore Roosevelt Desk, which was built for its namesake president in 1903, in the Oval.
William Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover all used it, later followed by Harry S Truman and Dwight D Eisenhower.
Truman even started an ongoing tradition by signing the inside of the desk's top drawer.
Although the Theodore Roosevelt Desk no longer decorates the Oval, it has been used by the country's vice-presidents ever since John F Kennedy had it moved to Johnson's office in 1961.
The top drawer still gets a new signature each time a new vice-president gets picked.
Harry Truman even started an ongoing tradition by signing the inside of the desk's top drawer. Pictured, Vice-President Cheney signing the drawer in 2009
The desk that eavesdropped - and had a secret identity
Richard Nixon thought the Wilson Desk (pictured as the then-president talks to advisers), made out of mahogany, had belonged to former president Woodrow Wilson
Richard Nixon thought the Wilson Desk, made out of mahogany, had belonged to former president Woodrow Wilson.
Nixon even referenced his predecessor during his famous 1969 speech on the Vietnam War.
'Fifty years ago, in this room and at this very desk,President Woodrow Wilson spoke words which caught the imagination of a war-weary world,' Nixon said in his address.
'He said: "This is the war to end war." His dream for peace after World War I was shattered on the hard realities of great power politics and Woodrow Wilson died a broken man.'
But the desk had actually belonged to Henry Wilson, the country's vice-president from 1873 to 1875.
Nixon kept using the desk regardless and had five microphones hidden in it to record conversations.
Gerald Ford kept it in the Oval Office after Nixon's resignation following the Watergate scandal.
The green leather desk that only Lyndon B Johnson liked
The Johnson Desk (pictured), which followed Lyndon B Johnson during his time as a senator, vice-president and president, is the only desk in the history of the Oval Office to have been topped with green leather
President Johnson brought in his own desk when he took over after Kennedy's assassination.
The Johnson Desk, which had been built specifically for government work, had followed him during his time as a senator and then as vice-president.
It is the only desk in the history of the Oval Office to have been topped with green leather.
Only Johnson used it and the desk eventually went into his presidential library in Austin.
'I am reliably told the retired president sometimes sat at the desk to surprise unsuspecting museum visitors,' former staffer of the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations wrote in 2009 in a post for the Brookings Institution.
Only Johnson (pictured) used the desk, which eventually went into his presidential library in Austin. A former staffer of the Eisenhower and Nixon administrations said Johnson sometimes sat at the desk there
The desk that declared war
FDR used the Hoover desk (pictured) during his 12 years as president and on its surface signed declarations of war with Japan and Germany in 1941, during World War II
The Hoover Desk made its Oval Office debut in 1930, during the year that followed a fire that tore through the West Wing.
Its predecessor, the Theodore Roosevelt Desk, made it out of the blaze, but Hoover accepted the new desk and placed it in the Oval after it was rebuilt.
FDR kept using the Hoover desk during his 12 years as president.
On its surface, FDR signed declarations of war with Japan and Germany in 1941, during World War II.
Truman preferred the Theodore Roosevelt desk and had it brought back to the Oval when he took over after FDR.
The desk that followed George H W Bush - and only him
George H W Bush took the C&O desk (pictured is a replica) with him when he became president in 1989, and kept the classic desk made out of walnut for the duration of his term
The C&O desk, named after its manufacturer, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, belonged to George H W Bush and only spent one term in the Oval Office.
The company donated it to the White House and Bush had it moved to his office from the Oval Office study while he was vice-president.
He took it with him when he became president in 1989, and kept the classic desk made out of walnut for the duration of his term.
Bill Clinton traded the C&O desk for the Resolute Desk in 1993, making the C&O desk the only one-term desk of the nation.
A man allegedly strangled his ex-girlfriend to death before messaging the victim's mother to apologize for murdering her daughter.
Juan Camacho, 25, was charged with murdering 28-year-old Veronica Rodriguez inside the home they shared in Philadelphia's Kensington area.
The victim's heartbroken mother said she received a chilling message early Monday morning from the alleged murderer, apologizing for killing her daughter.
'He texted me and said 'I'm sorry, I killed your daughter,' Maribel Guzman told ABC 7.
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Juan Camacho, 25, (right) was charged with murdering 28-year-old Veronica Rodriguez (left) inside the home they shared in Philadelphia's Kensington area
Mother-of-four Rodriguez had recently broken off her relationship with Camacho (pictured together), her mother added
The victim's heartbroken mother said she received a chilling message early Monday morning from the alleged murderer, apologizing for killing her daughter
Mother-of-four Rodriguez had recently broken off her relationship with Camacho, her mother added.
The night before the brutal killing, Camacho had also sent Guzman a message on Facebook asking for her advice on how to win her daughter back.
'She's a good, good woman,' she said of her daughter. 'Always happy, always bringing the family together.'
Guzman said that Rodriguez had met up with her ex-boyfriend on Sunday evening. He murdered her a short while later, she claims.
She then received this message via Facebook from her daughter's former partner: 'Suegra (Spanish for mother-in-law) sorry.
'He texted me and said 'I'm sorry, I killed your daughter,' an emotional Maribel Guzman (pictured) said
The mother-of-four was killed at the home they shared in the Kensington area of Philadelphia
Police were called to the property after Camacho called 911, telling dispatchers he had 'strangled his girlfriend to death'
'Suegra I killed vero sorry. Were arguing I came to the house.'
Camacho called 911 at 2.45am telling dispatchers that he had just strangled his girlfriend to death.
He also revealed that he suicidal.
Her four children were home at the time of the horrific crime, police say. They are now staying with other family members for now.
'I'm still in denial,' said Guzman. 'I need to see her, and I wanna bring her back home because she's in Philadelphia.'
Camacho was arrested and charged with murder, rape, sexual assault, abuse of corpse and other related offenses.
The family, who lived in Florida, are now working to try and bring Rodriguez's body home.
Police Capt. Robert Ritchie said there was no known history of domestic violence between the couple.
'We want her back so much,' said sister Vivian Saez.
Camacho was arrested and charged with murder, rape, sexual assault, abuse of corpse and other related offenses
Female students have spoken out about a shocking case of 'slut shaming' after promiscuous students were named and shamed in a university journal that details their sexual habits.
Producers of the Wesley College journal has been slammed by students at Sydney University after including a section named 'The Rackweb' - an intricate map that reveals details about the sex life of women on campus, Pulp reported.
The publication, which is funded by students of the college, includes awards for 'Best A**', 'Best Cleavage', 'Biggest Pornstar' and 'Kinkiest Collegian', while the woman deemed to have slept with the most men is awarded the title of 'Mrs RackWeb'.
Producers of the Wesley College journal has been slammed by students at Sydney University after including a section named 'The Rackweb' - an intricate map that reveals details about the sex life of women on campus
Female students from Wesley College have spoken out about the shocking case of 'slut shaming'
The journal, which is funded by a compulsory fee, defines a woman's worth by their 'willingness to put out' or their ability to enable hook ups for 'sleazy, pussy-hungry' seniors, according to Pulp.
The journal's producers willingly admit the content is sexist, stating that: 'We might be sexist, but you lovely b***hes and h*es should know we're trying to correct this'.
Students who were featured in the publication have spoken out about its vile and 'misogynistic' content, with some claiming their inclusion has caused them significant upset and embarrassment.
'It's just slander handed to everyone on a platter and students voluntarily, let alone gladly, accept itPeople just don't understand,' one woman told Pulp.
Students who have been featured in the publication have spoken out about its vile content, with some claiming their inclusion has caused them significant upset and embarrassment
The journal, which is funded by a compulsory fee, defines a woman's worth by their 'willingness to put out' or their ability to enable hook ups for 'sleazy, pussy-hungry' seniors
'They think I'm exaggerating and my disenchantment has no substance. But it's worse than people could ever imagine,' she added.
Sydney University Women's Officer Anna Hush-Egerton said it is important for instances like these to be made public so those responsible can be held accountable.
'It is really important to bring to light the culture of collages which is deeply misogynistic and shapes the day to day experiences of all the women who live there,' Ms Hush told Daily Mail Australia.
She called on the university to take a preventative approach toward the widespread sexism and sexual harassment on campus, instead of waiting for severe cases like this to highlight the problem.
The journal's producers willingly admit the content is sexist, stating that: 'We might be sexist, but you lovely b***hes and h*es should know we're trying to correct this'.
'They think I'm exaggerating and my disenchantment has no substance. But it's worse than people could ever imagine,' a student named in the book said
Ms Hush-Egerton said the university had committed to running bystander training, where students would be taught how to intervene if they witnessed sexism or harassment, however it has not yet been implemented.
A spokesperson for Sydney University told Daily Mail Australia that they will be taking disciplinary action against the students involved.
'The University of Sydney is outraged by the actions of the students and has asked the College for the names of the students responsible,' the spokesperson said.
Lisa Sutherland, Master of Wesley College, said the journal was not sanctioned by the college although staff were aware of its existence.
'Wesley College is not involved in the production of or distribution of the 'Student Journal'.I cannot comment on the validity of the contents as I have not seen nor read this publication,' she told Pulp.
A man was sent to hospital for psychiatric treatment after being detained outside of Taylor Swift's New York apartment Tuesday.
The 25-year-old man was 'acting disoriented' and 'out of it' on the street outside Swift's Tribeca residence before his detention around 6pm, police told Daily Mail Online.
TMZ reported the man was initially detained by Swift's private security guards, who then called the New York Police Department.
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An unnamed 25-year-old man was detained outside Taylor Swift's New York apartment Tuesday. He was not arrested but sent to hospital for psychiatric treatment
TMZ reported the man was carrying a duffel bag that was searched by the police. Cops told Daily Mail Online the man was 'acting disoriented' and 'out of it'
Taylor Swift, 26, has had problems with stalkers before. In 2014, she got a restraining order against a 33-year-old man who claimed the two were married
According to the celebrity news site, the man carried a duffel bag that was searched by police. Swift, 26, was not home at the time, according to TMZ.
The man, who was described as 'emotionally disturbed' and homeless, at first moved 'voluntarily' into an ambulance, police told Daily Mail Online.
But the man then started to resist, and was handcuffed, police said.
The man was taken to Beth Israel for psychiatric treatment and was not arrested, nor suspected of any crime, police said.
On two separate occasions in February, men were handcuffed by cops outside Swift's Los Angeles homes, TMZ reported.
In 2014, Swift got a restraining order against Timothy Sweet, 33, who harassed her and claimed the two were married, according to the New York Daily News.
He was killed outside Bankstown Central Shopping Centre on April 29
Walid Ahmad, who died three weeks later, was also wanted for questioning
A 32-year-old man died on April 9 in the south-west Sydney incident
The 48-year-old is wanted in connection to Condell Park Shooting
Police investigating a shooting which involving gangland figure Walid Ahmad weeks before his death have named a second man wanted in connection with the incident.
Fawaz Mohammed Elmir has been on the run since April 9 when Safwan Charbaji was shot dead in Condell Park in Sydney's south-west.
The 48-year-old is thought to have attempted to leave the country, said police, who are still trying to trace him.
Ahmad, 41, who was killed three weeks later outside Bankstown Central Shopping Centre, was also wanted for questioning surrounding the shooting when he died.
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Fawaz Mohammed Elmir (left) is being hunted by police for a shooting which is thought to have involved Walid Ahmad (right) who died in a separate incident weeks later
On Wednesday NSW Police spokesman confirmed it was the first time Elmir's image had been shared since either of the incidents.
'Fawaz Mohammed Elmir, aged 48, is wanted by virtue of an outstanding arrest warrant in relation to a shooting incident last month,' a spokesman said in a statement.
'Detectives from the State Crime Commands Homicide Squad have conducted extensive searches to locate the man; however, he has not been found.
'They are now appealing for assistance from the community in an attempt to locate him.'
At a press conference the force confirmed detectives investigating the Condell Park shooting had an outstanding for his arrest.
He is described as being 'Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance with an 'olive complexion',m short dark brown hair and brown eyes.
The 41-year-old died after being shot at the shopping centre on April 29 - weeks after another shooting in Sydney's south west. Above, paramedics work at the scene
Ahmad (Above) previously spent time behind bars for the fatal shooting of Mayez Danny at a Greenacre wrecking yard in 2002
The man is also considered to have connections in Melbourne.
It is the latest development in the unfolding investigations into the two incidents which may be connected.
Fears Ahmad's death at the Bankstown Central Shopping Centre were 'payback' for the Condell Park shooting circulated earlier this month.
Last week mourners at Lakemba Mosque paid tribute to Ahmad, gathering in the street around his coffin at his funeral.
Hundreds of mourners lined the streets surrounding Lakemba Mosque last Thursday for his funeral (above)
Hundreds of people lined the streets on approach to the mosque last Thursday and chanted 'Allahu Akbar' as he was laid to rest.
At the time of his death, Ahmad was wanted for questioning in relation to a separate shooting in Condell Park.
Safwan Charbaji died after being shot in the head and chest over an alleged dispute over money.
Two-page report stated flying home placed him at risk of 'heart failure'
She said that Pell's dinner shows his claims were 'absolute bunkum'
Ruth Lane's six children were all abused by Ballarat Brother Grant Ross
Six weeks earlier Cardinal Pell claimed he was 'too ill' to return to Australia
A mother of six children abused by a Ballarat clergyman 30 years ago says she was 'absolutely disgusted' when photos revealed Cardinal George Pell devouring a meal of steak and chips and drinking beer in a Rome restaurant.
Ruth Lane says the images show Cardinal Pell's claims of risking 'heart failure' if forced to return to Australia to face questioning at the Child Abuse Royal Commission in February was insensitive.
Mrs Lane's six children were all victims of abuse by family friend Brother Grant Ross, and her second son John took his life at age 19.
Australia's most senior Catholic was pictured on April 18 inside the Domiziano restaurant in Rome's Piazza Navona with a colleague enjoying a heavy dinner and beer.
'Hes doing that even with a bad heart?' Mrs Lane told Daily Mail Australia.
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Cardinal Pell pictured enjoying meal of steak and chips in Rome on April 18 and Australia's most senior Catholic washed down his food with a tall glass of beer. He was excused from returning to Australia to give evidence because he a health report suggested he was 'at risk of heart failure'
John Lane (left) committed suicide at age 19 after being sexually abused by a local priest. His mother Ruth Lane (right) says images showing Cardinal George Pell enjoying a large dinner with beer in Rome show his claims to be 'too ill' to fly to Australia to face a royal commission into child sex abuse was 'absolute bunkum'
The six Lane children were all victims of sexual abuse by a Ballarat clergyman. Brother Grant Ross was accused of committing sexual offences 30 years ago on the siblings - he died in 1993
Australia's most senior Catholic, Cardinal Pell has been pictured strolling through a piazza in Rome with a colleague before they sit down at a restaurant to enjoy a beer
Mrs Lane and husband Brian had long been devout Catholics, but their trust and family was ripped apart as the pedophilia came to light.
Cardinal Pell, 74, submitted a two-page medical report in February which stated a flight to Australia to give evidence would severely impact his health and possibly lead to 'heart failure'.
He was allowed to provide testimony via video link and concluded his evidence on March 3. The images of Pell eating the heavy meal and drinking a beer were taken six weeks later, on April 18.
'I am absolutely disgusted because he is protecting the church, he doesnt care about the survivors or the victims,' Mrs Lane added.
Cardinal Pell seemed to be in good spirits during a lunch at a restaurant at a piazza in Rome
'He does not give two hoots and they are all sticking by him, you wouldnt be doing that if you had a bad heart, absolute bunkum.
'They are all sticking together, they dont give a damn about the survivors and their families they are laughing at us.'
When contacted by Daily Mail Australia about the revelations, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse said it 'has no comment on this matter'.
Despite being grilled over several days in February and March Cardinal Pell, who is considered the number three in the Vatican and in charge of the organisation's finances, has always maintained his innocence and refused to resign.
He has been under fire since allegations emerged about him allegedly turning a blind eye to the sexual abuse of children by members of the clergy in Ballarat, in central Victoria.
Cardinal Pell spent four days giving evidence to the Royal Commission (left) said Gerald Ridsdale (right) was undoubtedly a capable man and was not someone people complained about to him at the time
Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale, who was jailed on pedophile charges in 1994
Cardinal Pell was questioned by the abuse royal commission over pedophile priests in the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses when he was serving there in the 1970s and 80s.
He said he regretted putting the church before victims in the past but he had never put himself before either.
Cardinal Pell was questioned over Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale, who was jailed on pedophile charges in 1994, and other pedophile priests in the Ballarat and Melbourne dioceses.
While acknowledging that his denials of a cover-up angered abuse victims who said he must have known, he said he regretted putting the church before victims in the past but he had never put himself before either.
He said the reason he sometimes came across as 'wooden' and 'armour-plated' was partly to do with how he'd been trained, partly to do with his personality and partly to do with 'needing to survive'.
Cardinal Pell said at the time the 'evil, insensitive stereotype' being pushed by the media was incorrect.
'It's very, very difficult and upsetting. There's no way around it and I've tried to put out the truth,' he said.
Cardinal Pell described claims that Victoria Police had also been investigating him over alleged abuse as 'extraordinary and completely false'.
He said he had not been approached by police.
He has always steadfastly refused to resign from his high-ranking position.
'I wouldn't resign as that would be taken as an admission of guilt,' Cardinal Pell said.
Cardinal Pell said he was in Rome trying to do with Vatican finances what he did to clean up pedophilia in Melbourne.
Cardinal George Pell (C) speaks at the end of a meeting with the sex abuse victims in Rome in March
Cardinal Pell leaves the Quirinale hotel after meeting the relatives and victims of sex abuse
An artist in New York City has spent the last four years in an unwavering attempt to traverse 1,400 feet.
Nancy Nowacek was first inspired to build a pedestrian bridge crossing the idyllically named Buttermilk Channel between Brooklyn and Governors Island in 2012.
As an avid swimmer who just moved to Red Hook, Nowacek would look out on to the channel, frustrated the water wasn't more accessible to nature-starved New Yorkers.
Seven prototypes later, with five artist residencies under her belt and countless hours spent with lawyers, engineers and volunteers, Citizen Bridge is shaping up to transform the city's waterways.
According to the Kickstarter page, 'Citizen Bridge is about the collective power of citizens to reshape their cities, from the waterline up.
'Normally, large pieces of infrastructure are instruments of political will; in this case, Citizen Bridge is an act of community goodwill.'
Nancy Nowacek has spent the last four years trying to build a bridge (pictured) across Buttermilk Channel, the body of water between Brooklyn and Governor's Island that spans 1,400 feet across
As an avid swimmer who just moved to Red Hook, Nowacek would look out on to the channel, frustrated the water wasn't more accessible to nature-starved New Yorkers
She said: 'In Red Hook, [the water] was there in my face every day, and I was like, "I live on an island, and there is a beach, and I cant get in the water. Im afraid to get in the water.'
Nowacek (pictured) has worked relentless to 'reclaim the city's waterways as public space'
After looking out her apartment window to Governor's Island, Nowacek recalled thinking: 'We should be able to walk there.'
She told website Hyperallergic,: 'I grew up in Virginia, but I was a really fat kid, and the only physical activity I was really good at was swimming.
'Being in a swimming pool was my happy place. Thats the one thing I think Ill do until I die.
'In Red Hook, [the water] was there in my face every day, and I was like, "I live on an island, and there is a beach, and I cant get in the water. Im afraid to get in the water.
'I was looking at the water and watching the boats and feeling really disempowered.'
The idea for a bridge took off after she found an article written by Walt Whitman in 1900.
He described a sandbar in the channel, where farmers would lead their cows to graze on the small island just 800 yards from the southern tip of Manhattan.
Nowacek became preoccupied with her vision, and a Kickstarter describes her goal 'to reclaim the citys waterways as public space' and 'create an intimate experience of being with the water, rather than seeing it from the shore, above from a bridge, or in transport by boat or ferry.'
But the journey over the course of four years has certainly proved to be a test of endurance.
The channel is a turbulent tidal strait, with one legend purporting the milk transported by dairy farmers across to Manhattan would turn to butter by the time they crossed the choppy waters.
Strong currents and the promise of public access meant Nowacek worked with two law firms and approached countless insurance brokers to meet the legal and safety requirements.
After enlisting the help of nearly 200 volunteers to build the first six, she formed a team of 22 people including architects and civil and marine engineers for the seventh.
The last iteration of the Citizens Bridge consisted of floating blocks of styrofoam measuring 32 feet by 16 feet, which can be connected to form the complete 1,400 feet bridge.
The channel is a turbulent tidal strait so navigating insurance policies was a tricky endeavor (pictured, one of the early prototypes)
After enlisting the help of nearly 200 volunteers to build the first six, she formed a team of 22 people including architects and civil and marine engineers for the seventh
A test in September saw one block supporting the weight of 6,000 pounds of sand, although another test is scheduled later this year utilizing barges instead of styrofoam
A test in September saw one block supporting the weight of 6,000 pounds of sand, although another test is scheduled later this year utilizing barges instead of styrofoam.
Since ferries pass through the Buttermilk Channel, a modular design means the bridge can be easily assembled and dismantled and the bridge can only be installed for 24 hours.
But Nowacek's original aims to build a bridge have evolved along with the prototypes, and a full-on festival inspired by the city's Summer Streets program is underway.
Rather than blocking off traffic in order for pedestrians to take back the streets, Summer Waterways will engage people with Buttermilk Channel by offering hands-on activities from fishing to building a boat.
So far, Nowacek has raised more than $17,000 of her proposed $25,000 goal.
According to the Kickstarter page, 'Citizen Bridge is about the collective power of citizens to reshape their cities, from the waterline up.' The project has relied heavily on volunteers dedicating their time to the cause
The sinister house where serial rapist Ronald Van der Plaat will live out his days has been photographed on a quiet New Zealand cul-de-sac.
The 82-year-old was released on Wednesday after spending 15 years in prison for hanging his daughter, Tanjas Darke, up to the ceiling by her ankles and placing her head in a box with a padlock on it as he sexually abused her.
The community have expressed their outrage the convicted rapist is allowed to return to the same home where he abused his daughter for 23 years and the local school issued a warning to parents in their newsletter.
An elderly woman donning dark sunglasses and a scarf over her head was seen peering out from behind the sheer curtains of the Te Atatu house on the day of Van der Plaat's release.
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The house (pictured) where serial rapist Ronald Van der Plaat will live out his days after being released from prison has been photographed on a quiet New Zealand cul-de-sac
An elderly woman donning dark sunglasses and a scarf over her head was seen peering out from behind the sheer curtains of the Te Atatu house on Wednesday afternoon
It is unknown if the woman bares any relation to Van der Plaat.
Later in the afternoon, she pulled the curtains shut, came of the house and locked the front gate.
'Get out, as soon as possible. I have nothing to do with it so get out,' she told reporters, according to NZ Stuff.
The address lies just 400 metres from Peninsula Primary School and the principal issued a newsletter to notify parents they would have heightened security measures.
'If you are taking your child from school, please call the office to notify them before going to class,' the newsletter read, according to Newshub.
'It is a timely reminder that we ask all adults to 'sign in' at the front desk if you come to school for any other purpose than picking up your child'.
The 82-year-old was sent to jail in 2001, and although he was briefly released in 2010, he was sent back to jail two years later after being seen 'walking beside a girl of Asian descent holding her hand' at an Auckland museum, New Zealand Herald reported.
Ronald Van der Plaat (right), 82, was sent to prison for 15 years in 2001 for hanging his daughter, Tanjas Darke (left) up to the ceiling by her ankles and placing her head in a box with a padlock on it as he raped her
Van de Plaat was released on Wednesday and the local community have expressed their outrage the convicted rapist is allowed to return to the same home where he abused his daughter
The elderly woman later pulled the curtains shut, came of the house and locked the front gate
Ronald Van der Plaat (pictured) - considered to be one of New Zealand's worst rapists - has been released from prison, despite fears he may reoffend
The conditions of his release means he must wear a GPS bracelet and has a ban on going to places where children younger than 16 may frequent.
This includes, parks, kindergartens, primary schools, childcare centres and libraries.
Te Atatu MP Phil Twyford said he had been contacted by concerned residents after news broke Van der Plaat would return to the community.
'There are real and just concerns in the community about the risk this man poses to the safety of vulnerable people given his appalling behaviour and the circumstances when he was last released,' he said.
A neighbour said she holds grave concerns for the children in the neighbourhood.
'The concerns I have is what might this do to our property values, how people might have to change their behaviour -- for example children not being about to go and play outside,' she said.
Operations Director Northern Region Lynette Cave said Van der Plaat will be subject to 'nine standard and 12 special release conditions for a period of six months'.
These include completing rehabilitation programs and continuing counselling. The 82-year-old is also banned from possessing any device capable of taking photos or filming.
'It is the view of the psychologist that Mr Van der Plaat's progressive ageing, possible cognitive decline, consistent denial of sexual deviancy and lack of insight regarding his risk, combined with collusive social supports, hinders relapse prevention planning,' the board said in parole documents.
The address lies just 400 metres from Peninsula Primary School and the principal issued a newsletter to notify parents they would have heightened security measures
The conditions of his release means Van der Plaat must wear a GPS bracelet and has a ban on going to places where children younger than 16 may frequent
The conditions of his release means he must wear a GPS bracelet and has a ban on going to places where children younger than 16 may frequent and his house lies just 400 metres from a primary school
'It is also clear from the information in front of the board that age is not necessarily seen as protective in Mr Van der Plaat's case, at least at this time.
'Mr Van der Plaat continues to deny the index offending.
'The psychologist can only conclude that Mr Van der Plaat's increasing physical frailty within external controls is likely to mitigate his risk of sexual recidivism 'over time'.'
The convicted rapist's psychological report said he could target 'vulnerable solo mothers' and 'most likely non-European immigrants'.
'He will groom their trust through offering financial, material, practical and emotional support,' he said.
'Future victims are likely to be their female children with Mr Van der Plaat assuming some form of caregiver role.'
At the time of his sentencing, the judge described Van der Plaat's offending as at the 'very upper level of seriousness in terms of cases of sustained abuse to come before the court'.
Ms Darke wrote a book about her ordeal called Flight of the Dancing Bird
'It was not ordinary sexual abuse but was bizarre in the extreme and can only be described as depraved,' the judge told the court.
The abuse of Ms Darke, who waved her right to privacy, started when she was only nine years old and continued on until she in her 30s.
She also wrote a book about her ordeal called Flight of the Dancing Bird.
Ms Darke's father would keep her in bondage with handcuffs, chains and clamps, and he would put her head in a box with a padlock on it as he carried out the rapes and shove wax into her ears, New Zealand Herald reported.
When Ms Darke was 12, she fell pregnant and caught a sexually transmitted infection after years of sustained sexual abuse.
Van der Platt's movements will be tracked by a GPS monitor and he cannot leave his home between the hours of 10pm and 6am every day.
He is not allowed to have any contact with any person under the age of 16 unless he is supervised by an adult who is over 20 years old, and knows of his criminal history and has been approved by his probation officer.
Qantas is the latest organisation to take on the Running Man Challenge as it continues its increase in popularity.
Australia's national airline took to the tarmac in choreographed style in response to a challenge laid down by Air New Zealand in a classic across-the-ditch showdown.
Featuring slick moves in front of a parked aircraft and even the flying kangaroo mascot, the Qantas staff show off their routine before challenging American Airlines.
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Qantas came to the party with a slick choreography running man routine performed in front of one of its planes
Their response to the Air New Zealand Running Man Challenge even included the flying kangaroo
Air NZ had uploaded its version of the internationally popular dance last week and challenged Qantas to do the same
The New Zealand airline carried out its take on the dance inside an airline cabin
The Air NZ video saw air hosts and hostesses performing with serving trolleys
The challenge involves strutting your stuff to the tune of My Boo by Ghost Town DJs and has gained international popularity, with police forces from New Zealand, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia all getting involved.
Each airline took a different approach to its take on the running man, so deciding whose performance was better will be a hard task.
Qantas had a kangaroo mascot who got involved, but social media users were quick to claim one of the lead dancers in the routine as a New Zealander.
Thousands of people commented, reacted to and shared the video, which Qantas posted on its Facebook page - and even Air NZ congratulated the performance, writing: 'On ya, Qantas. You sure have some slick dance moves!'
The staff of both airlines appeared to be enjoying themselves as they strutted their stuff
Debate raged on both airlines' Facebook pages about whose routine was best, with no clear ruling on the outcome
Meanwhile, on the Air NZ Facebook page, someone wrote: 'Kiwis I declare you the winners!! I'm an Aussie and I haven't seen the QANTAS reply but if it's anything like their inflight service on International flights then I wouldn't stress... You kiwis will beat the pants off them in every aspect... Always fly AIRNZ! Love it!'
Debate raged on both airlines' Facebook pages about whose routine was best, with no clear ruling on the outcome.
One person commenting on the Qantas page said: 'Love this Qantas! The kangaroo sealed the deal'.
Another of the more than 1300 commenters said: 'Go Qantas! That was really great Air New Zealand was good but I think yours was so much better!'.
Meanwhile, on the Air NZ Facebook page, someone wrote: 'Kiwis I declare you the winners!! I'm an Aussie and I haven't seen the QANTAS reply but if it's anything like their inflight service on International flights then I wouldn't stress... You kiwis will beat the pants off them in every aspect... Always fly AIRNZ! Love it!'.
However, one user said: 'But really it isn't about being better! Both New Zealand and Australia looked wicked good to see them all taking part in the challenge'.
One person commenting on the Qantas page said: 'Love this Qantas! The kangaroo sealed the deal'
Another of the more than 1300 commenters on the Qantas Facebook page said: 'Go Qantas! That was really great Air New Zealand was good but I think yours was so much better!'
Qantas' running man routine was a slick performance conducted in unison
A woman has been taken to hospital after jumping off of a public ferry in Sydney.
The passenger, who is believed to be in her sixties, was treated by paramedics after being rescued from the water at Watsons Bay Wharf.
She was taken by ambulance to St Vincent Hospital in Darlinghurst though she is not thought to have suffered any serious injuries.
The ferry master was forced to turn the boat around to search with her alongside other vessels, officials confirmed.
A woman has been taken to hospital after jumping from a public ferry into the water at Watsons Bay in Sydney (file image above)
'Crew on the 1:45pm Manly to Circular Quay service were notified of a person overboard,' said a Harbour City Ferries spokesman in a statement.
'The ferry master immediately initiated a turn around to search for the person in the water. Other vessels assisted and the person was retrieved safely.'
A NSW ambulance spokesman confirmed they were called to the scene at around 2.20pm on Wednesday.
'We were called to an incident at Watsons Bay to reports of a woman, beleived to be in her 60s, who had fallen off a ferry.
'We were on scene to assess her and she has been transported to St Vincent's Hospital with no particular injuries'.
NSW Transport said the matter had been turned over to police who were unable to provide further detail when approached.
It is not clear whether the woman was travelling to the area from Circular Quay or away from it when she fell.
For confidential support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14
A woman who became a quadriplegic after a quad bike accident on a farm in Tasmania was not wearing a helmet, had no training and the vehicle she was riding had no brakes, a court has heard.
British backpacker Holly Raper, 23, is suing a King Island dairy farm's owners for $40 million after she rolled a quad bike at the farm in December 2011, reported The Mercury.
Ms Raper was working on the farm at the time of the accident.
Holly Raper had been enjoying the adventure of a lifetime when she crashed a quad bike she was riding on a dairy farm on King Island in 2011
She became a quadriplegic after the crash and is now suing the King Island dairy farm's owners for $40 million
She is suing the owners based on the severity of her injuries, her need for 24 hour care and her loss of income.
In the Supreme Court in Hobart on Wednesday morning, Ms Raper's barrister Ken Read SC said on the day of the accident Ms Raper had been sent to herd some cattle.
He said evidence would show the quad bike Ms Raper was riding hit an unmarked drain in a paddock and rolled.
Defence barrister Campbell Bridge said the cause of the accident could not be established and therefore it could not be proved his clients were liable.
He said there were numerous possibilities, including the fact that Ms Raper could have been travelling at an excessive speed.
Preliminary proceedings have already taken place after the judge and plaintiff and defendants lawyers went to the United Kingdom to hear evidence in recent weeks.
King Island, is located in the Bass Strait, off the northwestern tip of Tasmania
Ms Raper was not wearing a helmet, had no training and the quad bike she was riding had no breaks
Ms Raper was awarded $290,000 in compensation by the Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation Tribunal in October 2013.
The farm operator was fined $3000 under the Workplace Health and Safety Act, along with a farm supervisor who was fined $1200.
Ms Rapers barrister said she was showing signs of improvement for her minimally conscious state when she was moved to her parents home.
of State said the campaign had missed the deadline to change its list of delegates but could submit alternates
Johnson said he would resign as a delegate in the California primary
The Trump campaign said this was due to a 'database error' although the campaign had corresponded with Johnson a day before the delegate cutoff
Included on the list was white nationalist leader William Johnson
The California Secretary of State published a list of delegates selected by the Trump campaign on Monday for the state's upcoming primary
The Trump campaign claims it accidentally selected a white nationalist leader as a delegate due to a database error, despite corresponding with the man one day earlier.
On Monday evening the California Secretary of State published a list of delegates chosen by the Trump campaign for the upcoming primary.
Among the members on the list included William Johnson, who Mother Jones reported is a prominent white nationalist leader.
The California Secretary of State published a list of delegates chosen by the Trump campaign on Monday evening for the June 7 primary, which included William Johnson (pictured), a white nationalist leader
Technical difficulties: The campaign released a statement saying the name had been included due to a 'database error'
The campaign released a statement saying:
'Yesterday the Trump campaign submitted its list of California delegates to be certified by the Secretary of State of California.
'A database error led to the inclusion of a potential delegate that had been rejected and removed from the campaign's list in February 2016.'
Johnson told Mother Jones if asked to, he would resign as a delegate, despite corresponding with Trump's California delegate coordinator, Katie Lagomarsino, on Monday.
Johnson said that he received an email from Trump California director Tim Clark earlier Tuesday informing him that his name had been 'erroneously listed' as a delegate.
Johnson runs the American National Super PAC, which made automated phone calls supporting Trump's candidacy across the country.
The Los Angeles attorney said it had been a mistake for him to submit his name for consideration.
In California, Republican candidates pick potential delegates to the GOP's summer convention.
They are selected based on the outcome of voting in the state's June 7 primary.
'I was naive,' Johnson said. 'I thought people wouldn't notice, and if they did notice I didn't think it would be a big deal.'
He added that he is resigning from his role as delegate, effective immediately.
However, one day before the cutoff to select delegates, the Trump campaign corresponded with Johnson (pictured) to ensure he would be one of Trump's delegates
Just one day before the error was recognized, Lagomarsino sent Johnson an email congratulating him on being named one of Trump's California delegates.
In the email Lagomarsino explains how Johnson can fill out his form to become a delegate.
He sends her the information and she responds saying his submission has been accepted.
On Tuesday night, ABC News reporter Candace Smith tweeted that Johnson remained on Trump's delegate list.
A statement posted to her Twitter read:
'The Trump campaign did not reach out to our office about removing William Johnson's name as a delegate until today (Tuesday, May 10) - which is past the statutory deadline to submit delegate list to the Secretary of State's office.'
Sam Mahood, a spokesman for the California Secretary of State's Office, confirmed the Trump campaign attempted to submit a revised list of delegates to the office Tuesday, which was rejected.
However, Mahood said state election law allows candidates to submit a list of alternates within 30 days after the June 7 primary.
Police officers around the world have put their best moves on display in their own version of the Running Man dance, but the videos have been stirring up more than cringing laughs.
Numerous viewers took to social media throughout the week to criticise the police officers for not doing their jobs and wasting taxpayers money.
The dancing phenomenon became a hit across Australia after the New Zealand's police department challenged other departments earlier this month to film their dancing skills to Ghost Town DJs track My Boo.
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Police officers around the world have put their best moves on display in their own version of the Running Man dance (pictured), but many viewers were quick to accuse them of 'wasting taxpayer money'
The dancing phenomenon became a hit across Australia after the New Zealand's police department challenged other departments earlier this month to film their dancing skills to Ghost Town DJs track My Boo
Numerous viewers took to social media throughout the week to criticise the police officers for not doing their jobs and wasting taxpayers money (pictured)
The South Australian police released a video from the Adelaide Oval on Monday featuring officers and police dogs but viewers were quick to complain.
OMG this is horriblePlease tell our cops to stick to protecting us instead of dancing, one man wrote on the departments Facebook page.
'Bloody police should just doing police work, not wasting tax payers money having fun at work, another man said.
Arent they supposed to be working? a woman complained.
The South Australian police released a video from the Adelaide Oval on Monday featuring officers and police dogs but viewers were quick to complain (pictured)
Viewers said the departments were wasting taxpayer's money and should be doing their jobs (pictured)
Western Australian police were the latest to join in the phenomenon on Tuesday when they released a cinematic video complete with overhead footage and smoke machines for their metro station and a second video for their regional police station.
Waste of resources and taxpayers money, was there no crime in WA that day? a man argued after watching the video.
Officers in New South Wales and Northern Territory also jumped on the bandwagon, accepting New Zealands challenge.
Western Australian police were the latest to join in the phenomenon on Tuesday when they released a cinematic video complete with smoke machines (pictured)
New South Wales Police Department's dance moves are much to be desired when compared against New Zealand original video, which went viral after being posted to Facebook on May 3.
Officers are seen dancing with batons at Manly Wharf on Sydney's northern beaches before breaking-down into freestyle dance steps.
Shimmying and shaking, the three police officers move back towards their car and a staggered formation of officers return to the dance floor.
New South Wales Police Department responds to the international dance challenge #runningmanchallenge after being nominated by the New Zealand police earlier this week
To finish, the officers are seen holding out their batons, before uniformly dropping them and walking off screen.
The 44 second video was posted to the New South Wales Police Facebook page and has been shared over 3,600 times in just two hours.
New South Wales police said: 'NZ Police Recruitment challenge accepted! Our rehearsals took longer than expected...#runningmanchallenge.'
In an attempt to stay involved, the Northern Territory Police Department followed suit posting their version of the dance just minutes after New South Wales. They are seen dancing with crocodiles in true NT fashion
In an attempt to stay involved, the Northern Territory Police Department followed suit posting their version of the dance just minutes after New South Wales.
In a post to Facebook the NT Police commented on their obvious omission from the challenge and said: 'Hey NZ Police Recruitment GAME ON!'
'The Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services thank everyone for their support since our unfortunate omission from the #runningmanchallenge.
Earlier in the week New Zealand Police Recruitment Organisation posted the video which has since been viewed over seven million times
'Challenge accepted (and smashed) and extended to Singapore Police Force, New Orleans Police Department, Polizei Berlin Police Nationale.'
The NT police are seen dancing in front of a large tank with a crocodile floating behind them.
One of the officers is holding a baby crocodile, while two others roll back and forth on segways.
A man who killed two people in a drug dispute and a sheriff's deputy in a subsequent shootout was put to death Wednesday in what could be Missouri's last execution for some time.
Earl Forrest died by injection for the December 2002 deaths of Harriett Smith, Michael Wells and Dent County Sheriff's Deputy JoAnn Barnes. The 66-year-old Forrest declined to make a final statement.
As his execution began, he mouthed words to his adult daughter who was among the witnesses. He stopped speaking within seconds of being injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital, but showed no outward signs of distress.
He was pronounced dead minutes later.
'We know this execution will not bring JoAnn back, but it destroyed an evil person that otherwise would be still walking this earth,' the deputy's family members said in a statement in which they also described Barnes as a pillar of her rural community and a major influence in establishing a fire department there and later serving as its chief.
Earl Forrest, convicted of killing two people in a drug dispute and a sheriff's deputy in a subsequent shootout, was put to death Wednesday in what could be Missouri's last execution for some time
While at Smith's home, an argument ensued, and Forrest shot Wells in the face. He shot Smith six times and took a lockbox full of meth valued at $25,000
The execution was delayed about an hour, partly because of severe weather in the area. Tornado sirens sounded at one point.
According to court documents, Forrest had been drinking when he went to Smith's home in the southern Missouri town of Salem and demanded that she fulfill her promise to buy a lawn mower and mobile home for him in exchange for introducing her to a source for methamphetamine.
Wells was visiting Smith at the time. An argument ensued, and Forrest shot Wells in the face. He shot Smith six times and took a lockbox full of meth valued at $25,000.
When police converged on Forrest's home, he shot Barnes and Dent County Sheriff Bob Wofford, according to court documents.
Forrest was also shot in the exchange of gunfire, along with his girlfriend, Angela Gamblin. Wofford and Gamblin survived.
Just hours before the scheduled execution, the U.S. Supreme Court and Democratic Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon declined to stop it.
Nixon denied a clemency request, and the high court refused to grant a stay of execution.
Nixon said in a statement: 'The clemency petition for Earl M. Forrest has been reviewed thoroughly, and I have subsequently received a final briefing from my counsel.
'After deliberate consideration to the merits of the petition and the facts of this case, I have denied this petition.
'This is a power of the Governor that I take very seriously, and great consideration is given to the specific facts of each case.
'Earl Forrest was convicted by a jury of murdering three people and sentenced to death on each count.
Forrest died for the December 2002 deaths of Michael Wells (left) and Harriett Smith (right), along with Dent County Sheriff's Deputy Joann Barnes
Victim Dent County Sheriff's Deputy Joann Barnes is seen in this photograph
'Among his victims was Dent County Chief Deputy Sheriff Joann Barnes, whom Forrest killed after he had already murdered Harriett Smith and Michael Wells.
'During the shootout with law enforcement officers, Forrest also shot and wounded then-Dent County Sheriff Bob Wofford.
'My decision today upholds the decision handed down by the jury and upheld by the state and federal courts.
'As preparations are made to carry out the sentence, I ask that Missourians remember Chief Deputy Barnes, Harriett Smith and Michael Wells at this time and keep their families in their thoughts and prayers.'
Forrest's attorney, Kent Gipson, had asked the court to halt the execution on grounds that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster countered that the Supreme Court has already resolved that debate.
The sentencing jury didn't hear about Forrest's prior brain injury, Lance Sandage, another attorney for Forrest, told Missourinet.
Sandage told the website: 'PET scans that were conducted showed that.
'That has really been the thrust of Mr. Forrest's claim through post-conviction, was trial counsel's failure to properly litigate that in the penalty phase of his trial.'
According to St. Louis Public Radio, The Killer Speaks, an A&E show, had an episode about Forrest.
Missouri has been one of the most prolific states for executions in recent years, second only to Texas. The state has executed 18 prisoners since November 2013, including six last year. Forrest would be the first in 2016.
Missouri's death row population is dwindling. Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, said juries today are less likely to opt for capital punishment, in part because of greater awareness of how mental illness sometimes factors in violent crime.
A&E show The Killer Speaks had an episode about Forrest (seen left and right)
Just 49 people were sentenced to death nationally last year, the fewest since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty as a possible punishment in 1976. No one was sentenced to death in Missouri in 2014 or 2015, Dunham said.
'As these executions take place, fewer and fewer people are being sentenced to death, so the death penalty is withering on the other end,' Dunham said.
None of the 25 other men on Missouri's death row face imminent execution.
Sixteen have yet to exhaust court appeals and aren't likely to do so anytime soon. Execution is on hold for nine others. Two were declared mentally unfit for execution. Two were granted stays because of medical conditions that could cause painful deaths during lethal injection.
Two had sentences set aside by the courts due to trial attorney errors. One inmate was granted a stay while his innocence claim is reviewed. One case was sent back to a lower court to consider an appeal.
And in one unusual case, inmate William Boliek was granted a stay by Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan in 1997. The case wasn't resolved before Carnahan died in a 2000 plane crash, and a court determined that only Carnahan could overturn the stay. Nixon's office has said Boliek will not be executed.
Refugee advocates say the second refugee death on Nauru in less than a month was caused by a deliberate self-overdose of drugs including paracetamol and have called for an investigation of his treatment.
A 26-year-old Bangladeshi man died on Wednesday from suspected heart failure after admitting himself to the Republic of Nauru Hospital on Monday with chest pains.
It's claimed the man deliberately overdosed because he was desperate about his situation.
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A 26-year-old Bangladeshi man died on Wednesday from suspected heart failure after admitting himself to the Republic of Nauru Hospital on Monday with chest pains. Pictured are accommodation buildings on Nauru
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul claimed about the refugee overdosed on drugs including Panadol
The Department of Immigration said despite treatment and an air ambulance being sent to Nauru, which he could not board due to his condition, he died, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul made the claims about the man overdosing on drugs including Panadol.
'While the official Immigration [Department] report says he died of heart failure, the statement conspicuously omits to mention the overdose that is almost certainly the underlying reason for the heart failure,' he said.
Refugees on Nauru saw the statement about the 26-year-old's death as a cover-up, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
An image from shocking footage of the moment Omid Masoumali set himself on fire in protest of Australia's detention laws
The 21-year-old Masoumali was heard screaming 'I can't take it anymore' before he set himself alight in front of other detainees. He died days later
Mr Rintoul also said the death should be investigated and that there were questions about whether his stomach was pumped immediately or not.
The refugee's death came as Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young claimed the Turnbull government banned her from visiting detention facilities during the election campaign, according to the Herald.
Recently, Iranian refugee Omid Masoumali, 23, died after he set himself on fire on Nauru while Somali refugee Hadon Yasin, 21, suffered critical burns after setting herself alight days later.
Earlier, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton blamed refugee advocates for the critical burns Hadon Yasin suffered - but advocates hit back at the 'disrespectful' claim.
'I have previously expressed my frustration and anger at advocates and others who are in contact with those in Regional Processing Centres and who are encouraging them to engage in behaviours they believe will pressure the Government to bring them to Australia,' Mr Dutton wrote in a statement.
Mr Rintoul responded, saying: 'Despite the Immigration Minister's attempts to deflect the blame, it is the government that is responsible for the appalling conditions they have created on Nauru.
'His dismissive attitude to the distress of the asylum seekers and refugees on Nauru will only put more people at risk. He should seek the advice of mental health experts before he makes such ill-informed pronouncements.'
Earlier, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton blamed refugee advocates for the critical burns Hadon Yasin suffered - but advocates hit back at the 'disrespectful' claim
Three Good Samaritans helped save a woman's life when they pulled her from a car just before it burst into flames on the side of a Minnesota highway, authorities said.
The Minnesota State Patrol said: 'Marie Francoise Hupalo was traveling southbound on I-35 in Pine County when the 67-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ontario, went off the road and hit some trees.
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Three Good Samaritans helped save a woman's life when they pulled her from a car just before it burst into flames on the side of a Minnesota highway, authorities said
The Minnesota State Patrol said: 'Marie Francoise Hupalo was traveling southbound on Interstate 35 on Sunday near milepost 192 in Pine County when the 67-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ontario, went off the road and hit some trees'
They have been identified as Sean Kehren (left) and Elissa and Josh Schnell (right)
'Due to her injuries, Hupalo was unable to get out of the vehicle on her own.
'Passing motorists Sean Kehren and Elissa and Josh Schnell stopped and pulled Hupalo from her vehicle as it began to burn and was eventually engulfed in flames.'
Kehren is a student at Gustavus Adolphus College, and the Schnells are a couple from Fridley, according to TwinCities.com.
Kehren has said that he was driving on Sunday as he saw a vehicle ahead of him crash
Kehren has said: 'I more or less screamed, "Ma'am, we got to get you out of this car right now"'
Kehren told the Star Tribune he was driving on Sunday as he saw a vehicle ahead of him crash.
He told CBS Minnesota: 'They ended up going down at about 65 miles per hour, swerving back and forth, until eventually [the driver] lost control and hit a tree head on.
'I slammed on the brakes, and I ended up running out of the car.
'The person in front of me did the same thing when they stopped.'
He recalled to the local news station: 'I started feeling the warmth on my legs, and I looked down and there were flames coming out of the bottom of the car.
'So I said, or I more or less screamed, "Ma'am, we got to get you out of this car right now."
'I ended up trying to pick her up, brought her out of the car, but she slipped out of my arms and fell back into the flames.
'At that point, adrenaline kind of kicked in.
'I grabbed her by her shirt and kind of began tossing her out.'
The Minnesota State Patrol said: 'The State Patrol believes that Sean, Elissa and Josh all played a vital role in saving Marie Hupalo's life by getting her out of the burning vehicle.'
A woman accused of having sex with a dog has been officially indicted over bestiality and drug trafficking charges.
Jenna Louise Driscoll was charged in October 2014 after police discovered videos of her allegedly having sex with a dog when they examined her mobile phone for evidence of dealing cannabis.
The matter of the 26-year-old Brisbane woman was listed for an indictment presentation at Brisbane's Supreme Court on Wednesday morning.
Brisbane woman Jenna Louise Driscoll accused of having sex with a dog has been officially indicted over bestiality and drug trafficking charges
She was formally charged with three counts of bestiality, drug trafficking and possession offences, as well as possessing something used in the committal of a crime.
Driscoll did not front court because she was legally represented by lawyers.
No trial date has been set.
Last year, police alleged Driscoll had been dealing cannabis.
When police were carrying out checks for suspected drug trafficking, they found three videos of Driscoll allegedly having sex with the dog.
Following her court appearance in 2014, Driscoll was pictured arriving home accompanied by a man and a dog
Following her court appearance in October 2014, Driscoll was pictured arriving home accompanied by an unidentified man and a pet dog.
The dog, believed to be a pitbull terrier, climbed the stairs to Driscoll's cream coloured residence, where neighbours say she has lived for some time.
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Heathrow is set to ban planes taking off and landing at night in a bid to convince neighbours that the airport should be allowed to expand by building a third runway.
Bosses at the airport say that they will end all flights between 11pm and 5.30am so as not to disturb residents living nearby in West London.
The move is part of a package of deals designed to encourage the Government to approve the third runway, which would be the first expansion of airport capacity in the South-East for decades.
Heathrow will also agree to a new noise watchdog and rule out building a fourth runway, it was announced today - as the airport released designs by top architects which imagine the possible future of its terminals.
Future: This design by the practice of architect Zaha Hadid shows what Heathrow could look like with a third runway
Imaginative: A proposed terminal design by HOK which melds technology with the natural world in an attempt to rethink airports
Last year the independent Airports Commission recommended that a third runway should be built at Heathrow, with additional measures intended to mitigate the impact on neighbours.
Today the airport agreed to the proposed ban on night flights - but asked for the window to be set at 11pm to 5.30am, rather than 11.30pm to 6am as previously suggested.
Bosses say that if they are banned from flying before 6am, it will pay havoc with the airport's early-morning schedules.
In a letter to David Cameron, chief executive John Holland-Kaye claimed that expanding Heathrow would boost the economy without disproportionately damaging the environment.
He said: 'You set up the Airports Commission and it unanimously recommended expanding Heathrow. You demanded ambitious plans from my team to deliver expansion with a bold and fair deal for our neighbours.
'Today, I am proud to submit a comprehensive plan that meets and exceeds your demands. This is a big commitment from us, but it is the right choice for the country, local communities and jobs across Britain.
Plan: Architects Benoy submitted a sketch of the whole airport suggesting how to improve the passenger experience
Vision: The right-hand half of of the Benoy design features a number of visionary new ideas such as a theatre and shopping streets
'We have acted now to let you and your government make the right choice, in the long-term interest of our country. It will enable you to choose Heathrow and secure a stronger economy and Britain's place in the world.
'Expanding Heathrow can help Britain win thousands more jobs and ensure that future generations have the same economic opportunity that we have enjoyed.'
The airport has committed to offer locals whose homes are due to be demolished the full value of the property plus an additional 25 per cent.
It will also publish a timetable allowing anyone living under the flightpath to work out what times they will be left in peace.
And the chief executive has vowed to step up the use of public transport and electric cars for passengers to get to and from the airport, cutting down on the pollution associated with the complex.
Heathrow also today published conceptual designs by architectural firms Grimshaw, Zaha Hadid, HOK and Benoy, which were all invited to submit their visions for the future of aviation ahead of the airport's adaptation to fit the new runway
The Airports Commission, led by top economist Sir Howard Davies, backed a third runway for Heathrow ahead of building a new runway at Gatwick.
The commission also rejected more ambitious plans such as building a whole new airport off the coast of Kent, dubbed 'Boris Island'.
However, the Goverment has repeatedly put off its decision on whether to go through with the Heathrow plan, claiming that more research is needed.
Slick: This terminal design by Grimshaw was submitted as part of a project to imagine the future of Heathrow
Critics have suggested that ministers were keen to avoid a political row ahead of last week's London mayoral election - in which both main candidates opposed Heathrow expansion - and the upcoming EU referendum.
Last week MPs on the Transport Select Committee urged the Government to set out a clear timetable for its decision, saying the arguments for and against increasing aviation capacity 'have changed little in a quarter of a century'.
Campaigners suggested today that the ban on night flights could prove to be a turning point in the ongoing debate on airport expansion.
John Stewart, chairman of the main anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan, said: 'Heathrow's decision to move on night flights could turn out to be significant.
'Hacan has long campaigned for a ban on flights before 6am but things have remained the same for decades. Heathrow's proposals may prise open a door on night flights that has been firmly closed for 25 years.'
MP Mary Creagh urged more aggressive measures to limit pollution, saying: 'Promises on future rail links and air pollution charges are seven to 10 years away.
'People living near the airport need action on air quality much sooner and one quick win would be slashing fares on 'Heathrow Express to encourage more people to use it.'
Shane Steven Allen is accused of using the dating app Tinder, pictured, to meet a woman, who he kidnapped and beat
A man kidnapped and beat a sorority student he met on Tinder and held her against her will for six days after he accused her of flirting with his friend, according to new court documents.
Shane Steven Allen, 30, is accused of using the dating app to meet the 20-year-old woman who was studying in Lawrence, Kansas.
Now he is facing one felony charge of kidnapping and four of battery after the attack took place last month.
According to an arrest warrant filed in Douglas County District Court, the woman left her sorority house to go and meet Allen at his trailer, after they pair had begun exchanging messages on Tinder.
The Lawrence Journal World reports that the documents show that Allen, two of his male friends and the victim then smoked marijuana at his home before his friends left.
Later that night, when the woman got out of bed to go and get some water, Allen is accused of following her and said she had been flirting with his friends.
The court documents then allege that Allen punched the victim in the face and then refused to let her leave his house.
He is also accused of choking her until she passed out the next day after he refused to let her leave again, saying she couldn't go home until her face healed.
Allen is also accused of pressing his knee against her throat causing bruising which extended to her jawline and ears as well as kicking and strangling her.
During her time kidnapped, the woman told police she was never left by herself although he did drive her to places including McDonalds and a relative's house.
The affidavit then states that Allen agreed to return the woman to her sorority house six days later after she said she would not contact police.
Allen is currently being held in Douglas County Jail on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear at Douglas County District Court, pictured, later today
However, when she returned home, she immediately went to Lawrence Memorial Hospital with injuries including two black eyes, bruising, swelling and broken blood vessels in her eyes.
Allen is currently being held in Douglas County Jail on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court later today.
If convicted of the five charges, he could face 32 years in prison.
Cannibal Matej Curko (pictured) was killed in a shootout with police when Markus Dubach tipped them off after he posted an ad on the internet asking to be eaten 'as a joke'
A man from Switzerland who posted an ad on an internet forum asking to be eaten alive got the shock of his life when a cannibal who killed three people in Slovakia replied and offered to carry out the gruesome request.
Markus Dubach said he was being bullied at work and had contemplated suicide when he wrote the ad which wasn't meant to be serious.
'My offer was meant to be a joke. Maybe a bit of a sick joke,' he said.
So he was shocked when he received a reply from Matej Curko which read: 'If you can come to Slovakia, I'm seriously interested in eating you. This is not a joke or a game.'
Out of curiosity Mr Dubach replied to the message and continued the conversation for several weeks.
At one point Curko, 43, wrote: 'I like chicken and pork liver so I would like to taste also the human one.'
He also sent Mr Dubach photographs of female body parts with the comment: 'This was my work.'
That freaked out Mr Dubach, who contacted the Swiss police, who notified their Slovakian counterparts through Interpol.
Curko suggested meeting Mr Dubach in woods near his home in the town of Kysak in Slovakia.
Mr Dubach told police about the meeting and Curko was fatally wounded in a shootout in May 2011. A policeman was also badly wounded but survived.
Curko had turned up to the rendezvous armed with a gun, several knives, a meat cleaver, a saw abd a body bag.
Mr Dubach was horrified when detectives told him what they had discovered in the fridge at Curko's house - body parts.
They discovered the remains of Lucia Uchnarova, 20, and Elena Gudjakova, 30, two women from Slovakia who had apparently volunteered to be eaten.
Emails between the killer and Lucia Uchnarova (left) and Elena Gudjakova (right) suggested they had both volunteered to be slaughtered and eaten
Emails on Curko's computer suggested they had both agreed to be eaten by the crazy cannibal.
Curko told Lucia in one email: 'I am not a rapist, not gay, I am just a pervert who wants to feel death, to touch a dying body.'
He said he was not bothered whether his victims were male or female.
Curko had been planning to drug Mr Dubach, stab him in the heart and then butcher his corpse before eating it slowly over a number of weeks.
Mr Dubach is now planning to write a book about how he came close to being killed and eaten.
I am not a rapist, not gay, I am just a pervert who wants to feel death, to touch a dying body Matej Curko
Curko's cannibal existence came as a complete shock to his wife Eva, who gave up using his surname afterwards such was her disgust.
The authorities buried Curko in secret to avoid his grave becoming a shrine for sickos.
Since then investigations have revealed that Curko could have killed even more victims.
The Novy Cas newspaper said he is also being blamed for the death of a 22-year-old Czech man who had been in contact with Curko and had bought a train ticket to Kysak but committed suicide after hearing the man he wanted to eat him had himself been killed.
Police found a motley assortment of weapons and utensils in Curko's bag after he was killed. They included rubber gloves (right, numbered 21) and black pepper (centre, numbered 22) which would have been used to disguise the smell of human meat after it was butchered.
The case has resurrected memories of another shocking cannibal case.
In 2001 Armin Meiwes, a 42-year-old computer technician, met up with Bernd Brandes, 43, through an internet chatroom.
Brandes agreed to travel to Meiwes's home in Rotenburg, Germany, where they had sex before Meiwes cut off Mr Brandes's penis, which the men then cooked and attempted to eat.
Meiwes later stabbed and killed Mr Brandes, before cutting him into pieces and freezing parts of his body, some of which he later ate.
The so-called 'Cannibal of Rotenburg' is serving a life sentence for murder despite Mr Brandes having clearly given his consent to being eaten.
A albino ball python slithered out of a heating duct of a Washington state hospital a month after it escaped when a visitor brought the serpent on a visit to a patient.
The visitor was carrying the snake in a cat carrier full of stuffed animals when it was able to make its break for freedom.
Staff said it was not the first time they had found a snake inside the hospital.
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The ball python (file photo) escaped from its cat cage in a Washington hospital after being brought by a visitor
The serpent escaped from the Tacoma General Hospital in Washington State, pictured
Fortunately, the ball python is not poisonous and presents a very low risk to humans.
Marce Edwards of MultiCare Health System told Q13 News that staff found the snake 'when it came out of the ceiling ventilation on April 30'.
Edwards confirmed the owner reported the snake missing and picked up the pet when it was found in a heating vent.
Tacoma resident Chris Cummings said: 'It's kind of crazy, actually. The fact is that I'd be kind of awed as to why they'd bring it in ... as a pet owner I have a snake of my own, but I wouldn't bring it to a hospital.'
Albino ball pythons normally range from 3-5 feet in length and are very rare in the wild. Normally they have been selectively bred for their unusual skin tones.
The ball python is the smallest of the species and is very docile.
It can be quite difficult to breed and a good specimen can cost in the region of $2,500.
ISIS has reportedly buried 35 of its fighters alive after they fled the battlefield in northern Iraq.
The men were fighting Iraqi government forces near the village of Bashir, 12 miles south of Kirkuk on May 1, AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA) reports.
But they were sentenced to death by ISIS leaders after they deserted the field and the terrorist group lost control of the village. The men were buried alive on the outskirts of Qayyarah, about 35 miles south of Mosul, ABNA reports.
Brutal: ISIS executed dozens of their own fighters for fleeing a battle with Iraqi government forces south of Kirkuk earlier this month (file photo)
ISIS has had several defeats in northern Iraq in recent weeks, most recently on Monday when Iraqi forces retook Kabrouk, about 60 miles from Bashir.
In March, Iraq's military opened a new front against themilitants in the Makhmour area and called it the first phaseof a wider campaign to liberate Mosul, about 40 miles further north. But progress has been slow, and to date Iraqiforces have taken just five villages.
'In a swift operation, our units took the groups of theterrorist organisation Daesh by surprise and entered thevillage (Kabrouk),' read a statement from the Nineveh Operations Command,using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
Killing squads: The 35 fighters executed by being buried alive on the outskirts of Qayyarah, about 35 miles south of Mosul, Iraq (file image)
A source involved in the operation said the militants put uplittle resistance in the village of Kabrouk.
The advance brings Iraqi forces slightly closer to the oiltown of Qayyara on the western banks of the Tigris River. Taking control of Qayyara would help to isolate Mosul from territory that ISIS holds further south and east.
An air base about 10 miles west of the river thatUS forces used following the 2003 invasion could serve as astaging ground for the Mosul offensive. Kurdish Peshmerga forcesand a range of militia groups may take part.
The offensive's faltering start has cast renewed doubt onthe capabilities of the Iraqi army, which retreated in disarraywhen Islamic State seized Mosul in June 2014.
Nineveh Operations Commander Major General Najm al-Jabouriblamed the slow pace on a lack of troops.
'If it weren't for thelimited units, we could have advanced further, but we don't haveforces to hold ground,' he told Reuters in a recent interview.
His forces had no tanks and were fighting without the elitecounter-terrorism forces that have spearheaded most of Iraq'ssuccessful offensives elsewhere, Jabouri said.
Islamic State'suse of civilians as human shields has also hampered Iraqiforces.
US Army Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the US-ledcoalition, said more troops would be deployed to Makhmour andthat 'tens of thousands' were needed for the final push onMosul.
'We knew that the fighting would get harder the furthernorth we went and we are seeing that to be the case,' he toldReuters.
A student rally has turned ugly after protesters clashed with police outside one of Australias top universities.
Students took the streets to stage heated protests against funding cuts to higher education in the Turnbull governments first budget, including $2 billion cuts to higher education.
The protest began peacefully, but scuffles with police broke out along Broadway shopping centre before the rally moved ooutside the University of Technology Sydney.
Students have taken to the streets to stage heated protests against funding cuts to higher education
The protest began peacefully, yet turned into running scuffles with police along Broadyway shopping centre
Images show students holding signs reading RIP education and no cuts as police patrol on horseback outside the university.
The protest turned physical outside Broadway shopping centre, where officers were seen scuffling with protesters.
Major cuts to education were a centrepiece for the Turnbull governments first budget, as were plans to deregulate a number of courses.
It comes after riot police forcibly removed students protesting against from the budget inside he University of Sydney library during an event attended by the federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham last week.
The heated protests ran along Broadway shopping centre up to one of Australia's top universities UTS
Students held signs reading RIP education and no cuts as police patrol on horseback outside the university
Two Afghan migrants are suspected of planning terror attacks in Britain
The anti-terror squad in Italy have been unable to crack open an iPhone seized five months ago from an associate of the jihadi gang.
Officers investigating the four-man suspected jihadi cell in Bari have been trying to unlock the Apple gadget belonging to Mansoor Ahmadzai since December.
They fear it may contain photos and information vital to thwarting any planned terror plots but believe it would be pointless to ask Apple for help.
Ahmadzai is one of a group which had terror target photos of London on their other phones.
Among them, Afghan Hakim Nasiri, arrested on Tuesday, who had pictures of himself posing with an American military rifle in what police have told MailOnline is likely to be an English supermarket.
'British supermarket': Italian police say this chilling photo of ISIS terror suspect Hakim Nasri may have been taken in a UK store. Circled are what appears to resemble British brand blue top full fat milk and plantain chips
Landmarks: Recce photos of the capital's landmarks were found on the ISIS terror suspects' mobile phones. The Emirates Airline cable car in east London was pictured (left) as was the Sunborn Yacht Hotel (right)
The gang were stopped by police in Bari, southern Italy, last December for acting suspiciously while filming a shopping centre.
Police let them go but kept their phones. They have successful cracked the Samsung and Nokia models, discovering images of target sites including the local airport and a shopping centre, but have been thwarted by Apples security.
Italian authorities said they had not asked Apple for help, because of the recent case in America in which the FBI took the iPhone maker to court to try to force it to help crack phones in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting last year.
FBI technicians eventually broke into the gunmans iPhone by themselves.
Bari prosecutor Dr Roberto Rossi told the Mail: If Apple wont open it for the FBI, they are not going to open it for us. It is useless to ask.
It cost the FBI six million dollars to break into it. We dont have that kind of money.
The iPhone 6-Plus used by Ahmadzai has military-grade encryption to protect its data including photographs.
Three members were arrested in Italy after the pictures of suspected targets were discovered on their mobile phones, although one is not considered a terror suspect.
Two - Surgul Ahmadzai, 28, and Qari Khesta Mir Ahmadzai, 30 - left the country, and remain on the run before they could be arrested.
Among the images is Nasiri, posing with a high-powered MS16 weapon, in front products with English labels, like 'Plantain Chips' and a trolley full of bottles of what resemble bottles of blue cap full fat milk.
Colonel Vincenzo Molinese, Provincial Commander of the Bari Carabinieri, told MailOnline: The phone images of Hakim holding a machine gun were probably taken in the back room of a supermarket in England.'
Gesture: Afghan Nisiri, nicknamed 'human bomb' had photos taken of himself putting up his middle fingers to a poster of Malala Yousafzai, girls' rights campaigner (left) and with an American rifle in a supermarket
Targets: These photos of Rome's Colosseum (left) and the departure lounge at Bari Airport were discovered by Italian police on the suspected jihadis' phones
Pose: Police seized the suspected ISIS jihadis' phone in December and on them found This photo of two men posing at what appears to be Bari docks was found on the gang's mobile phone
Recces: Meanwhile he was taking sinister photos of landmarks including tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants in London, Paris, Rome and Bari
The Home Office could not explain how Ahmadzai - who was arrested at an Italian refugee centre just days after he had been granted provisional political asylum on May 5 - had been able to travel to Britain, and how long he had stayed.
Police also found mobile phone photographs apparently showing disturbing reconnaissance pictures of London landmarks including the 'Emirates Air Line' cable car.
One of the hotels photographed included the Premier Inn which is situated in the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, 200 yards from the Olympic Park, and the Sunborn Yacht Hotel.
Police said there were also pictures of sites in Rome, Paris and Bari.
Also discovered was a photo of the 23-year-old Afghan putting up his middle fingers to a poster of Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for standing up for girls rights.
Police - who have not found any weapons - had the group under surveillance and swooped on Tuesday as one of them was preparing to travel to Calais.
'Peace': Nasri, 23, even had taken a selfie with who is believed to be the mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro, during a march to show solidarity with immigrant citizens in September
Terror in the crowd: The sinister suspected ISIS terror plotter (circled) was lurking in the crowd during last September's peace parade in Bari
It is suspected the cell was planning to exploit migrant routes into Europe and slip terrorists into the UK through Calais.
There were reports that one of the terror cell's members had hunted for an assault rifle in Britain for another suspect.
Discovered: Nasiri was pictured posing with two unnamed children in front of a police car on the handset seized by police
Also arrested were Afghan Gulistan Ahmadzai, 29, and Pakistani Zulfiqar Amjad, 24, both of whom are suspected of aiding illegal immigration.
The pair still on the run are believed to have fled to Kabul in Afghanistan, after slipping through the net following their European trip in December.
They were able to visit seven cities in nine days paying budget airline fares in cash.
It is understood all four suspects had been granted refugee status in Italy, meaning they would have been able to take advantage of Europe's open borders to move freely around the continent.
Italian police said the migrants had been handed documents equivalent to EU passports which enabled them to travel between countries in the Schengen zone - which does not include the UK. - despite the fact undercover detectives posing as refugees inside the camp had been trailing Nasiri since December.
The ease with which the suspects were able to fly around Europe will fuel claims that the continent's open borders are a security risk.
Investigators also found a list of prices for smuggling migrants into Europe and information about trafficking activity in Italy and Calais.
They said most of the group's activities used Greece and Turkey as access points to Europe, but were unable to explain how two members of the cell were able to slip through the net.
Italian prosecutor Roberto Rossi told a news conference there was no evidence that an attack was imminent, 'but it is clear they were making preparations'.
The suspects were all officially living near Bari, the main city in Puglia, which has become a magnet for jihadis.
This graphic shows suspected targets in Britain including several in east London's Docklands, a hotel at West India Quay, the luxury Sunborn yacht hotel in Royal Victoria Dock and an Ibis hotel nearby
They allegedly provided logistical support to an international organisation linked to Islamic State, investigators claimed.
Of the mobile phone evidence, Mr Rossi said the large number of photos of certain sites 'where tourists in general don't take pictures... they assume an extremely strong meaning'.
The two arrested Afghans were described as 'human bombs' by Right-wing politician Roberto Calderoli of the Northern League.
A wealthy New York landlord who faces up to 25 years in jail for an alleged mortgage fraud reportedly threw lavish parties at his home in the Hamptons where he recreated the infamous Studio 54 nightclub and the Playboy mansion.
Steven Croman, 49, is accused of running a $45million fraud scheme after he gradually snapped up 140 buildings in Manhattan's gentrifying areas in recent years.
Earlier this week he was arrested in a dawn raid and later sat handcuffed in court where he was charged with 20 felonies.
Steven Croman and his wife Harriet. The pair allegedly held lavish parties at their home in the Hamptons during the summer
Charged: Steve Croman faces 25 years in jail for allegedly lying about his income and driving working-class tenants out of their homes. He is pictured (center) sat next to his employee Barry Swartz, who is also charged
Facing 25 years in jail: Attorney General Eric Schneiderman branded Croman 'unscrupulous'
He was accused of deliberately driving 'countless working-class and low-income families out of their longtime homes' while lying to authorities to amass a million-dollar fortune.
And now it has been revealed that while allegedly running the multi-million dollar fraud, Croman would hold massive parties during summer season in the Hamptons attracting celebrities including Scott Disick, the ex-partner of Kourtney Kardashian.
According to Page Six, in 2013, Croman, dubbed the Bernie Madoff of landlords and his wife Harriet turned their rental property in Bridgehampton into Studio 54, which included a performance by disco band Chic, and fake lines of cocaine and pills for guests.
Meanwhile the year after, they recreated Hugh Hefner's Playboy mansion, which included creating a grotto swimming pool.
Now the couple own their own $5.5million house in upmarket Sagaponack and are said to be carrying out a raft of renovations, including a basement and rooftop swimming pool.
On Monday his success streak came to a halt as he was arrested at dawn then sat handcuffed in court
Croman was released from police custody on Monday afternoon after each posting $500,000 cash bail
And after news of Croman arrest on Monday sources told Page Six that he was 'downplaying the charges against him' while his wife was 'keeping her cool'.
The source said: 'She is acting like everything is fine. He is acting like he didn't do anything wrong.'
It comes after a grand jury found Croman and an employee Barry Swartz, a 53-year-old mortgage broker, had inflated their rent income between 2012 to 2014 to land $45 million in fraudulent loans.
Croman was also slapped with a civil lawsuit, accused of paying a police officer-turned-PI Anthony Falconite to intimidate tenants into leaving their rent-controlled apartments.
Under New York City law, a landlord can only raise the rent on a rent-controlled apartment if the tenants willfully leave and the property requires substantial renovations.
Residents in the once-gritty, now-gentrified Lower East Side and uptown's Spanish Harlem have been pressured to move out of their homes for small cash pay-offs, authorities claim.
The charges: The attorney general displayed the charges against Croman as a warning on Monday
'Paid a cop': Croman (left) was also slapped with a civil lawsuit, accused of paying a police officer-turned-PI Anthony Falconite (right) to intimidate tenants into leaving their rent-controlled apartments
There is even a website and a support group for the thousands of affected tenants, with a complete list of all Croman's properties.
Croman was released from police custody on Monday afternoon after each posting $500,000 cash bail.
Swartz, who is charged with 15 felonies, posted $250,000 bail.
Addressing the landlord case on Monday, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman slammed Croman as 'unscrupulous'.
'My message to unscrupulous landlords is simple: if you put your own profits over your tenants legal protections, we will investigate you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,' Schneiderman said in a statement.
'My office will not tolerate anyone who attempts to line their own pockets by gaming the system.
Residents in the once-gritty, now-gentrified Lower East Side have been pressured to move out of their homes for small cash pay-offs, authorities claim. Pictured: 134 Orchard Street, one of Croman's properties
It comes two months after Croman's son Jake (pictured) made headline news for abusing an Uber driver
'No one is above the law no matter how rich or powerful.'
Croman and Swartz have both pleaded not guilty.Falconite's lawyer says his client acted legally.
It comes less than two months after Croman's son made headline news for abusing an Uber driver.
Jake Croman, a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter at the University of Michigan, sparked controversy after abusing an Uber driver in March.
A runner-up bachelorette has endured a 'disgusting' interview broadcast online which zoomed in on her breasts while she deflected questions about her sexual history with the Bachelor.
New Zealand runner-up bachelorette Naz Khanjani was interviewed by George FM Breakfast hosts Thane Kirby and Kara Rickard on Wednesday morning, broadcast with video online, Stuff reports.
But the juicy interview turned sour when Kirby 'overstepped the line' by asking if Bachelor Jordan Mauger was 'well hung' and whether she had an orgasm in her sexual liaisons with him during the television series.
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New Zealand runner-up bachelorette Naz Khanjani has endured a 'disgusting' interview by George FM Breakfast on Wednesday
Disgust at the radio interview was worsened when the cameraman zoomed in on her breasts twice
'Is he well hung?' Kirby asked Khanjani.
She replied: 'No comment.'
Khanjani grew visibly uncomfortable and continued palming off questions when Kirby asked if she had an orgasm when she slept with Mauger.
'Excuse me...I will keep all those comments to myself,' Khanjani replied.
Khanjani grew visibly uncomfortable and continued palming off questions when Kirby asked if she had an orgasm when she slept with Mauger
Following the backlash, George FM removed the Facebook post (pictured) and accompanying three-minute video
After confirming her breasts were 'fake', Kirby said: 'I would love to be the rebound boy. He's in for a treat.'
Disgust at the radio interview was worsened when the cameraman zoomed in on her breasts twice.
'George FM overstepped he [sic] line with the questions they asked Khanjani and the filming. Seriously disgusting and disrespectful,' one listener wrote.
'The camera work is disgusting. It's an interview not a bikini photo shoot,' another wrote on Facebook.
'Wtf!? Words fail me over that bachelorette interview,' another viewer wrote on Twitter.
After confirming her breasts were 'fake', Kirby (pictured) said: 'I would love to be the rebound boy. He's in for a treat'
'During domestic violence week the sexist pig @thanekirby strikes again,' another wrote using the hashtag #itsnotok.
Following the backlash, George FM removed the Facebook post and accompanying three-minute video.
The interview followed The Bachelor NZ season two tell-all reunion special on Tuesday night, after Mauger made his choice on Monday night.
It's not the first time the George FM Breakfast hosts have found themselves in hot water.
In September, Kirby and Rickard were suspended and fined $8,000 when they 's*** shamed' women on-air.
The hosts had referred to women on Instagram as 'do nothing b******' and read out their full names.
Geroge FM Breakfast hosts Thane Kirby (left) and Kara Rickard (right) have been slammed on social media for their interview with runner-up bachelorette Naz Khanjani
Khanjani had confirmed in a radio interview she slept with Mauger in an overnight stay on Bachelor season two
Khanjani was Mauger's runner-up choice in the Bachelor season two, which finished on Monday night
This is the moment a man taking part in a medieval festival in Russia took down an 'annoying' drone buzzing above actors - with a perfect throw of his spear.
The quadcopter had been capturing the scenes at the International Festival of Historical Reconstruction of the Early Middle Ages in Russia's Lipetsk Oblast region.
But as it flew over the showground, its own video camera captures a man dressed in a medieval outfit and helmet hurling his spear into the sky.
Taking aim: Footage captured the moment a man taking part in a medieval festival in Russia took down an 'annoying' drone buzzing above actors - with a perfect throw of his spear
Airborne: As it flew over the showground, its own video camera captures a man dressed in a medieval outfit and helmet hurling his spear into the sky
Incredibly the man, who was involved in a medieval battle reconstruction, scored a direct hit with his lance, which clattered into the flying contraption.
According to RT, event organiser Pavel Semyonov, told Rossiyskaya Gazeta: 'The lance was not a fighting weapon, it had a softened tip. Therefore the quadcopter was not destroyed, it just dropped to the ground.'
It has been reported that the man responsible for the direct hit has voluntarily compensated the drone's owner for the damage he caused.
Impact: Incredibly the man, who was involved in a medieval battle reconstruction, scored a direct hit with his lance, which clattered into the flying contraption
Take down: The man's spear clattered into the drone before the contraption plummeted to the ground
The quadcopter had been capturing the scenes at the International Festival of Historical Reconstruction of the Early Middle Ages in Russia's Lipetsk Oblast region
Witnesses had differing views on the incident with some calling the constant buzzing from the drone 'annoying'. Some said it should not have been at an event which celebrates historic events.
But others said the man should not have taken matters into his own hands.
The festival took place between May 7 and 11 and included reconstructions of battle scenes with many dressing up as Scandinavian and nomadic tribes from the Middle Ages.
Several thousand spectators flocked to the event from clubs across Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.
The Nigerian president has demanded action from David Cameron rather than an apology after the Prime Minister branded his country 'fantastically corrupt'.
Muhammadu Buhari made his frustration clear as he addressed a Commonwealth conference in London this morning in the wake of Mr Cameron's toe-curling gaffe.
Clutching a glass as he made small talk with the Queen at a Buckingham Palace reception, the PM was caught on camera being indiscreet about the countries he had invited to a key anti-corruption summit tomorrow.
Aides to Mr Buhari, who has mounted a high-profile battle against corruption, expressed 'shock' at the unguarded comment.
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Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari told a Commonwealth conference in London that he would be demanding action rather than an apology from David Cameron
The president himself refused to criticise Mr Cameron directly when he was asked about the blunder at the conference today.
Instead he said he expected the UK to help him reclaim Nigerian assets that had been fraudulently stripped from the country.
'I am not going to demand an apology from anybody,' he said. 'What I am demanding is a return of assets.
'I have already mentioned how Britain really led and how disgraceful one of the Nigerian executives was. He had to dress like a woman to leave Britain and leave behind him his bank account and fixed assets, which Britain is prepared to hand over to us. This is what I am asking for.
'This is what I am asking for. What would I do with an apology? I need something tangible.'
Mr Buhari and Afghani president Ashraf Ghani - whose country was also singled out by Mr Cameron - are due to meet the Prime Minister at a pre-summit reception tonight.
Earlier, Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Scotland said Mr Cameron's remarks had been 'unfortunate' and countries like Nigeria needed support rather than criticism.
The former Labour minister told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "I think it was unfortunate that it was purveyed in that way.
"I think the whole point of us having this conference is that president Buhari, and many other leaders ... everyone knows that corruption is a global problem, and the fight is on against it.
"And what president Buhari did is set out an agenda that got him elected, that he was going to tackle corruption, and tackle it head-on.'
As he chatted with the Queen, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Commons Speaker John Bercow at the Palace yesterday, Mr Cameron said: 'We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption summit.
'We have got the Nigerians - actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.'
He went on: 'Nigeria and Afghanistan - possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world.'
The monarch did not respond to the PM's comment.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, left, and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani are both due to attend the anti-corruption summit in London this week
However, Mr Welby shook his head and said: 'But this particular president is actually not corrupt... he is trying his best.'
Mr Cameron's candid comments risked causing diplomatic ructions ahead of the major international anti-corruption summit in London.
The gathering of the world's political and business leaders in London will aim to 'galvanise a global response to tackle corruption' and is being staged in the wake of the Panama Papers leak, which revealed widespread tax avoidance among the world's elite earlier this year.
Afghanistan is at number 166 in campaign group Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index - second from bottom.
Only North Korea and Somalia, jointly ranked at number 167, are perceived to be more corrupt. Nigeria is at number 136.
Despite this, latest figures show that Britain gives 237million a year in aid to Nigeria and 198million to Afghanistan. The total aid spending on the two countries is 30 per cent up on when Mr Cameron came to power in 2010.
Two years ago, a report from an aid watchdog actually found that UK aid fuels corruption in Nigeria with one scheme actually increasing the likelihood that locals would have to pay backhanders to the police.
After Mr Cameron's remark, Mr Bercow - who has been repeatedly criticised over his own expenses - jokes to laughter: 'They are coming at their own expense one assumes?'
Mr Cameron went on: 'Yes ... Because it is an anti-corruption summit everything has to be open. There are no sort of closed-door sessions. Everything has to be in front of the press... It could be quite interesting.'
Downing Street said today that there was no need for Mr Cameron to apologise to the Queen for the blunder.
From left to right, Commons Speaker John Bercow, the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, David Cameron and Leader of the House Chris Grayling chat at Buckingham Palace yesterday
THE PM IS RIGHT: BOTH COUNTRIES ARE AMONG THE WORLD'S MOST CORRUPT Rankings from the charity Transparency International show that the Prime Minister is right and that both of countries are among the worlds most corrupt. War-torn Afghanistan is the third worst country in the world on the charitys corruption perception list; just behind North Korea and Somalia; while Nigeria comes 32nd from bottom. Meanwhile, Britain is ranked at number 10 alongside Germany and Luxembourg. Two years ago, a report from an aid watchdog actually found that UK aid fuels corruption in Nigeria with one scheme actually increasing the likelihood that locals would have to pay backhanders to the police. The Independent Commission for Aid Impact said that the Department for International Development was not up to the challenge of tackling corruption, often because it was concerned about offending local politicians. Here we compare the two countries' record on corruption: NIGERIA Transparency Internationals corruption perception index puts Nigeria at 136= out of 168 countries.
Corruption is endemic in Nigeria, with estimates as high as 400billion dollars lost since independence in 1960.
The discovery of huge reserves of oil and natural gas in the country have led to huge opportunities for corruption by public officials.
In 2014, a study by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact found: Petty corruption touches virtually every aspect of life and is accepted throughout society as normal and necessary. We heard stories of parents paying bribes to teachers in order to educate their children, students paying bribes to administrators to take exams, workers paying bribes to get jobs and to receive their salaries, and pensioners paying bribes to receive pensions.
It is believed that up to 20billion dollars has gone missing or misappropriated from the books of the state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The former government of President Goodluck Jonathan was involved in a series of scandals including kickbacks in the Ministry of Petroleum, and the stealing of millions of bank notes by the low-level officials at the countrys Central Bank. It has been alleged that 2.2billion dollars was illegally withdrawn from Excess Crude Oil, with half going towards President Jonathans re-election campaign.
Millions of dollars meant to be spent on vaccination and on the the fight against ebola have been illegally diverted.
Surveys show that the Nigerian police is seen as the most corrupt institution in the country, with people having to pay bribes before officers will agree to help them. AFGHANISTAN Transparency Internationals corruption perception index puts Afghanistan at 166 out of 168 countries.
The situation is so bad that the New York Times once wrote: Corruption can no longer be described as a cancer on the system: it is the system.
Corruption takes the form of the demanding and offering of bribes, nepotism, position buying and illegal land transfers.
Policemen are accused of turning a blind eye to or even colluding with criminals and insurgents in smuggling or kidnapping for ransom. One academic has written: Police officers extort goods from shopkeepers, levy taxes on vehicles at highway checkpoints, and impose fines on individuals unable to produce proper identification documents.
A UN survey in 2012 found that 50 per cent of Afghans had been forced to pay bribes for government services as high as 70 per cent in some parts of country. Money has been demanded by teachers, customs officials, judges and prosecutors.
Corruption in Afghanistan goes right the way to the top with former President Hamid Karzai himself apparently among the beneficiaries. The Kabul Bank corruption scandal saw members of his family and others accused of spending the banks money to fuel their lavish lifestyles. The bank also had favourable loans worth millions of dollars to Karzai and his brother.
A Pentagon report warned: Corruption directly threatens the viability and legitimacy of the Afghan state. But the situation has got worse since the US-led invasion of the country, with many citizens looking back to the days of the Taliban, who cracked down on it.
It's not the first time! David Cameron's greatest hits in front of an open mic include gaffes about the Queen, Alex Salmond and even Yorkshire
David Cameron has been caught out showing off near recording microphones before - most famously claiming the Queen 'purred' over the Scottish referendum result.
The Prime Minister was bragging to then New York mayor Michael Bloomberg about the vote against independence.
He said: 'The definition of relief is being the prime minister of the United Kingdom and ringing the Queen and saying: ''It's alright, it's OK.'' That was something. She purred down the line.'
David Cameron, pictured in New York with Michael Bloomberg at the scene of another embarrassing gaffe, has a long record of getting caught out by open microphones
Mr Cameron was forced to admit he was 'embarrassed and sorry' for the serious breach of protocol in September 2014.
During last year's election campaign, Mr Cameron was caught again making an off colour joke - this time suggesting former SNP leader Alex Salmond was a pickpocket.
At the end of an interview with ITV's This Morning, presenter Phillip Schofield introduced the next item about a professional thief.
But Mr Cameron's microphone was still live and he was heard to say: 'Is that Alex Salmond?'
In yet another embarrassing gaffe in September last year, Mr Cameron found himself in hot water after being recorded claiming people in Yorkshire all hate each other.
During a visit to Leeds, the Prime Minister was recorded by the BBC quipping: 'We just thought people in Yorkshire hated everyone else, we didn't realise they all hated each other.'
Merrie Tang, who lives in the Waldo area of Missouri, was buying the pool from a Walmart when she found the razor blade
A mother-of-three has warned parents to be on high alert after she found a razor blade superglued to the box of a blow-up swimming pool.
Merrie Tang, who lives in the Waldo area of Missouri, was buying the pool from a Walmart Supercenter in nearby Raymore, when she grabbed it off the shelf and discovered the sharp instrument.
She has now urged other parents to take caution when buying items for their children.
'If it's on this one box, then is it anywhere else'? she said.
Recalling the 'scary' incident, Ms Tang told Fox4 TV: 'I was looking at the pools, and it was on the bottom shelf, I grabbed a pool, it was in a box, luckily I grabbed it by the sides, and I pulled it out, and I looked down at the top of it and thought, "well that's a really weird place for a razor blade".
'I honestly thought, "did someone, like, drop their razor blade just randomly in the pool section?" It was really weird.
'I kind of shook the box, and it didn't move. I tried to move it with my finger, and it didn't move.'
She added: 'Luckily I didn't grab it from the top, like a small child could have easily done, or my girls. Thankfully I hadn't picked them up yet.'
Merrie Tang went to buy a swimming pool from this Walmart in Raymore and found a razor superglued to it
She then notified staff at the Walmart about the incident who she said were 'very attentive' and in shock.
In a statement, a spokesman for the store said: 'Walmart remains committed to the safety and security for all of our associates and customers.
'On May 2, a customer alerted a support manager of a metal object glued to the top of a Summer Waves 3D Action Pool box. The item was immediately removed from the floor and all surrounding merchandise was checked and cleared.
Council bosses spent more than 12,000 of taxpayers cash in a High Court bid trying to stop Poppi Worthington being named, it was revealed today.
The gagging order on 13-month-old Poppi, who died in 2012 following an alleged serious sexual assault at the hands of her father Paul, would have prevented her from being named for 15 years.
Cumbria County Council, which sought the secrecy clause in care proceedings for Poppis siblings, revealed the cost of their efforts was 12,271 following a Freedom of Information request.
Tragic: Poppi Worthington died in 2012 following an alleged serious sexual assault at the hands of her father
The council had originally given a figure of 700, but clarified today that this related to costs for the original court application, while the 12,271 total included fees paid to legal representatives.
The final figure was obtained by the North West Evening Mail newspaper using the FOI Act after communications experts within the authority refused to provide the sum on request.
Yesterday, Conservative opposition leader James Airey criticised attempts by the council to keep the exact amount spent on the reporting restriction order secret.
Mr Airey said: Its unacceptable - they are a publicly accountable body. First of all, they shouldnt be spending taxpayers money to hide information from the public.
Father: During a court hearing involving care proceedings for Poppi's siblings this year, a judge ruled Paul Worthington (pictured), 48, probably sexually 'perpetrated a penetrative... assault on Poppi'
But these highly-paid council officers also have a duty to be responsible and honest with information requested in the public interest, not to hide it behind closed doors.
SAD CASE OF POPPI WORTHINGTON Poppi was rushed to hospital by ambulance after she collapsed at home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, in December 2012, according to her father Paul Worthington. But during a court hearing involving care proceedings for Poppi's siblings this year, a judge ruled Mr Worthington probably sexually assaulted his daughter before her death. The 48-year-old was initially arrested on suspicion of sexual assault, an allegation he denies, but has never been charged. Authorities sought to keep details surrounding Poppi's death private but legal applications by the press meant a damning judgment into the case was made public earlier this year. The first inquest into Poppi's death in October 2014 by then Cumbria coroner Ian Smith lasted just seven minutes and called no evidence. It was later judged irregular in the High Court and a new one was ordered. A post-mortem examination found she had a fracture to her right leg and suspected acute injuries to her anus. Cumbria Police conducted no real investigation for nine months as senior detectives thought a pathologist may have jumped to conclusions in her belief the child had been a victim of abuse. The toddler was buried in February 2013, precluding a further post-mortem examination, after her body was released by a coroner. In January this year during care proceedings in relation to other children in the family, the judgment by Mr Justice Peter Jackson was made public, prompting heavy criticism of Cumbria Police and Cumbria County Council and calls for a public inquiry. The judge concluded that Mr Worthington had, on the balance of probabilities, abused his daughter shortly before her death. No charges have ever been laid against anyone over Poppi's death. The Crown Prosecution Service has said it is reviewing its original decision not to bring charges and will consider any new evidence if it emerges. The IPCC is due to present its final report on the matter following a second inquest.
The money was used to fund a team of top lawyers to represent the county councils interests at three court challenges and appeals to the super injunction over a 12-month period.
It included an 11,250 bill for two top barristers to act on behalf of the authority at the Court of Appeal in London during a challenge to the reporting restriction order in November 2015.
The total amount contributes to an overall council legal bill of 198,500 spent on issues relating to care proceedings for Poppis remaining siblings.
Papers show that officials within the authority initially applied for the media blackout in June 2014 after High Court family judge Mr Justice Jackson criticised them for failing to take any adequate steps to protect Poppis siblings for ten months after her death.
Mr Justice Jackson went on to describe the application as being scattergun in its approach and not in the public interest.
The judge also ruled that, on the balance of probabilities, Mr Worthington 'perpetrated a penetrative... assault on Poppi'.
A spokesman for the authority said it had accepted the opinion of the judge, adding it had subsequently made no objections to the lifting of the secrecy order.
He said: 'Cumbria County Councils only intention throughout this process has been to protect the identity of Poppis siblings.
'We immediately acknowledged to the court that our original application for a Reporting Restriction Order (RRO) in July 2014 was too wide ranging and we accepted the judges decision to narrow its scope.
'The judge was clear that an RRO was necessary to protect Poppis siblings from being identified, which would harm them. The original Freedom of Information request from the North West Evening Mail asked for costs related to this application. This cost was around 700.
'The subsequent Freedom of Information request asked for the total of all and any legal and administrative costs incurred by Cumbria County Council in relation to the RRO from July 2014 to date, this cost was 12,200.
'Of that total cost, 94 per cent related to the council being legally represented at a single day appeal hearing in London brought by the legal representatives of Poppis siblings, who were seeking to prevent relaxation of restrictions on media reporting.
In charge: Cumbria County Council, whose leader is Stewart Young, has been criticised over Poppi's case
'At the hearing the council was supportive of allowing the media greater freedom to report the case.'
The application for a reporting restriction order was said to have been sanctioned by a lone, mid-ranking council officer - Lyn Burns, former assistant director for children and families - without ever being referred to the council's director for childrens services or to its chief executive Diane Wood.
Last month it was revealed no social workers have ever been disciplined or sacked for their failings in the case. Mr Worthington denies any wrongdoing in relation to his daughter.
Police are hunting for a man who snuck into a woman's bedroom while she was sleeping and sexually assaulted her.
The woman, 19, was sleeping in her Clayton home in southeast Melbourne when she woke to find the unknown man in her room at about 5.30am on Saturday.
The offender threatened her and demanded cash before sexually assaulting her and fleeing through her window.
Police have issued images of a man they believe may be able to assist with the investigation (pictured)
A description of the man has not been provided and he did not make contact with anyone else in the house or steal anything.
Police have issued images of a man they believe may be able to assist with the investigation.
There is no information to suggest this man is the suspect, however detectives believe he may have valuable information that could help progress the investigation.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
But he still says Cameron must remain as PM even if voters back Brexit
Boris Johnson kicks off campaign bus tour in Cornwall, sharing ice cream with passer by and downing beer
Boris Johnson accused David Cameron of 'demented scaremongering' today as he kicked off a nationwide tour urging voters to leave the EU.
As he met locals on a rampage around Cornwall - sharing an ice cream with a passer-by, downing beer, eating Cornish pasties and brandishing asparagus that he bought at a market in Truro - he launched an astonishing attack on his friend the Prime Minister.
It followed Mr Cameron's dramatic warning earlier this week that a Brexit vote could bring war and genocide back to Europe.
But Mr Johnson insisted Mr Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit, dismissing speculation he could replace him in Downing Street.
He also accused the Remain campaign - led by Mr Cameron - of running a 'Twit-storm' campaign.
Boris Johnson (pictured tackling an ice cream in Truro, left, and drinking a pint in St Austell, right, on the EU campaign trail in Cornwall this morning) accused David Cameron of 'demented scaremongering' today as he kicked off a nationwide tour urging voters to leave the EU.
And he demanded an apology from pro-EU campaigners for misrepresenting remarks he made about the EU's role in the conflict with Russia over Ukraine.
Mr Johnson chose to kick off his 'Boris Battlebus' in Truro this morning, where he bought a bunch of asparagus, joking with market vendors that their industry will be 'just as sprouting' and 'delicious' outside the EU.
Mr Johnson also stopped off to buy an ice cream but after taking just a couple of licks he handed it to a member of the public to finish.
He also bought a traditional Cornish Pasty ahead of his UK-wide tour and waved it to the crowd of locals and journalists as he entered the giant Vote Leave bus.
As he moved on to the Cornish coastal town of St Austell, Mr Johnson poured himself pint of ale in a local brewery before posing for photos in the picturesque Charlestown harbour.
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit MP Labour MP Gisela Stuart at a brewery in St Austell today) said David Cameron was 'demented' for warning Europe could slip back into war and genocide if Britain votes to leave the EU in June's referendum
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart in Truro this morning) also demanded an apology from pro-EU campaigners for misrepresenting remarks he made about the EU's role in the conflict with Russia over Ukraine
Boris Johnson (pictured posing in Charlestown, Cornwall this afternoon) accused the Remain campaign - led by Mr Cameron - of running a 'Twit-storm' campaign
But Remain campaigners pointed out that Cornish pasties are among British products that are given 'protected status' by the EU - safeguarding the 300 million industry from other EU producers copying its recipe or brand.
BREXIT WILL MAKE UK HOMES CHEAPER FOR FOREIGNERS, OSBORNE WARNS George Osborne told MPs today that a Brexit vote would devalue the pound, making British property more affordable for overseas purchasers and more expensive for domestic buyers Britain leaving the EU would make it cheaper for foreigners to snap up homes in the UK, George Osborne warned today. He told MPs that a Brexit vote would devalue the pound, making British property more affordable for overseas purchasers and more expensive for domestic buyers. The Chancellor also revealed that the Treasury is doing 'quite a serious amount of contingency planning' into how Britain would deal with leaving the EU - despite Downing Street insisting earlier this week that the Government was not preparing for a Brexit vote. Mr Cameron has been criticised for refusing to instruct civil servants to plan for the eventuality. As recently as yesterday the Prime Minister's spokesman said: 'We are not doing any contingency planning for the referendum being a vote to leave.' But grilled by MPs on the Treasury select committee today, Mr Osborne revealed: 'I think there would be very significant financial volatility around a vote to leave, and the Bank of England and the Treasury are doing quite a serious amount of contingency planning for the impact on financial stability in the aftermath of a vote to leave. 'I don't think it's appropriate to go into too much detail on that, but we have made public various things, like the fact we would have additional liquidity auctions.' Warning that a Brexit vote could lead to more foreigners buying UK homes, Mr Osborne said: 'If anything, sterling would have depreciated which makes it more affordable to overseas purchasers and less affordable for domestic purchasers'.
Mr Johnson also faced embarrassment when it emerged that the St Austell Brewery he visited on the Cornish coast has previously benefited from EU financial support.
James Staughton, an executive at the brewery, said it had received 50,000 in EU funding in the last decade.
'It helped us at the time to enable us to have the confidence to install a bottling line. It was important to us,' he said.
Attacking Mr Cameron over his warning earlier this week that leaving the EU could destabalise the rest of Europe and could bring back war and genocide to the continent, Mr Johnson said this morning: 'I think all this talk of world war three and bubonic plague is demented, frankly.'
Accusing the In campaign of misrepresenting his arguments about the EU's role in the Ukraine conflict, Mr Johnson said this morning: 'The day before yesterday I made a perfectly innocent remark about the EU's, in my view, cack-handed handling of the problems in Ukraine, which was turned by this great Twit-storm operation that they run in the Remain campaign into my being a Putin apologist. I think they should apologise.'
Despite launching a scathing attack on Mr Cameron's 'demented' arguments for staying in the EU, Mr Johnson nonetheless insisted he should remain as Prime Minister whatever the outcome of the June 23 vote.
He denied that a Brexit vote would clear the way for him to succeed Mr Cameron in Downing Street.
Asked whether he thought Mr Cameron should remain in 10 Downing Street to oversee negotiations for Britain's withdrawal from the EU, the former London Mayor said: 'Yes, absolutely. Of course he can, and I think he must.'
While Mr Johnson was wheeled out for the Brexit vote this morning, the Remain campaign's big gun for the day is Gordon Brown, who made a high profile speech to urge Britain to 'lead in Europe, not leave it', making what he said was the 'patriotic' case for staying in the Brussels club.
Later today Lib Dem leader Tim Farron will echo David Cameron's warning of the threat posed by Brexit to peace and security, arguing that a Leave vote would risk a return to the 'mutual hostility' of a century ago, when Europe was convulsed by the First World War.
At the launch of the Vote Leave bus this morning, Mr Johnson said the referendum offered the UK a 'once-in-a-lifetime chance for us to take back control of our country and our democracy'.
The Vote Leave campaign bus boasts the slogan: 'We send the EU 350 million a week. Let's fund our NHS instead'.
Mr Johnson repeated the slogan this morning, despite a second warning from the head of the UK Statistics Authority Sir Andrew Dilnot, who on Tuesday wrote to tell the campaign it was 'disappointing' that they continue to use the 350 million figure which he regards as 'potentially misleading' and lacking in clarity.
Boris Johnson (pictured left brandishing asparagus, which he bought from a market in Truro, Cornwall) accused David Cameron (pictured right making his speech on security on Monday) of 'demented scaremongering' this morning as he kicked off a nationwide tour to urge voters to leave the EU
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart, stops off in Charlestown in Cornwall today as he kick-off the nationwide Vote Leave battle bus tour
Blue on blue: Greg Hands, the Tory Chief Secretary to the Treasury, mocked Boris Johnson on Twitter, joking how he had planned to launch the bus with a range of European foods such as 'foie gras, Bockwurst, tapas and Chianti Classico'
The Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Mr Johnson - widely regarded as a likely contender for a Tory leadership battle when Mr Cameron stands down - insisted that the Brexit camp could 'guarantee' that Britain's EU contributions would be spent on UK priorities like Cornwall's fishing and farming industries if the UK votes to leave.
He told the BBC: 'Of the 20 billion we send to Brussels a year, 10 billion we never see again. It goes on all sorts of things - Greek tobacco farming, Spanish bull-fighting.
'With that net money back in our country we could fund things like the NHS, our science base, our academic health science centres even more generously than we currently do. That argument just doesn't stack up.'
Mr Johnson was not chastened by US president Barack Obama's warning that Britain would be 'at the back of the queue' for a trade deal if it left the EU.
He pointedly told Good Morning Britain: 'Obviously, when the US wants us to be at the front of the queue for various things - the Iraq War - then that's a different matter.
Boris Johnson enjoys an ice cream in Truro (left) before moving on to Charlestown Harbour (right) during his tour of Cornwall today
Boris Johnson (left) stopped off to buy an ice cream but after taking just two licks he handed it to a member of the public (right) to finish
Boris Johnson sits at the back of his battle bus, which boasts as its slogan: 'We send the EU 350 million a week. Let's fund our NHS instead'
As Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart this morning) waved asparagus and a Cornish Pasty - which he bought at a market in Truro, Cornwall this morning - he said Mr Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit
'Most sensible people will recognise that we will do a free trade deal not just with the EU, but we will have the opportunity for the first time in 43 years to do free trade deals not just with America but with India, China, Australia and New Zealand, which we currently cannot do because we are a member of the European Union.'
BORIS ACCUSED OF HYPOCRISY: HIS BUS WAS MADE IN GERMANY! Boris Johnson (pictured launching his battle bus in Truro, Cornwall this morning) has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged his Brexit battle bus he launched this morning was made in Germany and Poland Boris Johnson has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged his Brexit battle bus he launched this morning was made in Germany and Poland. The former London Mayor - one of the leading voices in the Vote Leave campaign - kicked off his nationwide tour urging voters to back Brexit in Truro, Cornwall this morning, unveiling the 400,000 giant Vote Leave campaign bus. But it was immediately branded the 'Boris blunder bus' after research found that leaving the EU would slap an extra 56,000 to the cost of that type of vehicle. Remain campaigners pointed to Mr Johnson's own remarks this morning calling for Britain to follow an American trade model with the EU. However the US trades under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, which adds a 13 per cent tariff on vehicles that transport 10 or more people. It means the type of bus used by Vote Leave, which was made by German manufacturer Neoplan Starliner, would incur the extra tax in the US. Production of the vehicle starts in Poland, before being finished off in Germany and distributed around the continent. Attacking Mr Johnson this morning, James McGrory, chief spokesman for the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign, told MailOnline: 'This is Boris's blunder bus. 'Boris is happy to be driven round now in a German bus, when Britain enjoys all the advantages of being in the EU's Single Market. 'I doubt the British business that imported the bus would be as happy to learn that Boris wants them to pay fifty grand more for it. 'Boris's reckless plan to pull Britain out of the Single Market and move to US-style WTO trading rules would hit British businesses hard, damage trade, cost jobs and increase prices.'
He rejected the claim of Labour's Alan Johnson that Brexit campaigners were 'extremists' who could see nothing good in Europe, telling the BBC: 'I do think it's very odd that we are being called extremists and irrational when only the other day we were told World War Three was going to break out if we voted to Leave. That cannot be sensible.
'Everybody knows that peace in this continent is really guaranteed by Nato. If it really is true that World War Three and bubonic plague are about to break out, why on earth are we having this referendum?
'I love Europe. I have many happy memories of living, working, going on holiday to Europe. Most of my family come from one European country or another.
'But there's a difference between Europe and the European institutions, and they are now evolving in a way which is not compatible with the long-term health of our democracy.'
Writing in The Guardian, Gordon Brown said the referendum debate had so far pitched the Remain camp's warnings of economic instability after Brexit against the Leave side's 'appeal to the heart' with a vision of the Britain of 1940 'standing alone' as 'wave after crushing wave of globalisation' threatens the country.
He insisted that supporters of EU membership should offer a 'positive-sum' vision showing how 'the right balance between autonomy and co-operation can be struck without putting our national identity at risk'.
Britain's traditions and history are 'outward-looking and engaged with the world' rather than 'insulated and isolated', and its best interests are to balance 'the national autonomy we desire with the continental co-operation we require', he said.
Mr Brown played down fears of loss of sovereignty to Brussels, insisting that 'the future lies not in a United States of Europe, but a United Europe of States'.
Recent years had seen national governments of the 28 EU states taking over decision-making power from 'a once overbearing European Commission', as the bloc moved away from the earlier fashion for harmonising laws and practices and towards mutual recognition of each country's standards and traditions.
Britain does not need to sacrifice its political and social culture or its national autonomy to benefit from a single market which will be 'the biggest British job creator of the next decade', he said.
The former PM said cross-border co-operation and intelligence-sharing between EU states is vital to tackle terrorism, people-trafficking and illegal migration, while all of Europe would be 'at risk from Russian aggression, Middle Eastern terrorism and African instability' without a common EU security policy.
Only a united Europe - and not Nato or any single country acting alone - could deliver the necessary combination of diplomacy, aid and economic support, he said.
'The June vote should be a salute to Britain's irrepressible spirit, a tribute to our tradition of looking outwards and a progressive, agenda-setting moment that shows European co-operation is the best way to secure more jobs: the one way to curb tax havens, the main way to tackle illegal immigration and terrorism on our borders, and a progressive way to tackle climate change and set minimum standards at work,' wrote Mr Brown, who sets out his argument in greater detail in a book entitled Britain: Leading not Leaving.
'A positive-sum moment can be borne out of what can sometimes seem like a zero-sum referendum, as we demonstrate that we best honour our outward-looking internationalism by leading in Europe, not leaving it.'
Boris Johnson (pictured in Truro, Cornwall this morning) launched an astonishing attack on his friend the Prime Minister following his dramatic warning earlier this week that a Brexit vote could bring war and genocide back to Europe
Boris Johnson and Labour MP Gisela Stuart enjoy an ice cream in St Austell, Cornwall, today
Boris Johnson looks over his notes at the back of the Vote Leave battle bus this afternoon as he tours Cornwall. Earlier he insisted David Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit, dismissing speculation he could replace him in Downing Street
Mr Johnson pulled a pint at the St Austell Brewery during his tour
Brexit camp raises more than 8MILLION in donations for the referendum battle as they take the lead in the financial fight
The group of Brexit campaigns battling get the UK out of the EU have taken an early lead in the financial race to the referendum after declaring 8.1million in donations.
The main Vote Leave campaign raised 2.7million - less than the rival Leave.EU campaign which raked in 3million.
Leave.EU has also received 6million in loans from its founder Arron Banks, a Ukip donor.
The total raised by the group of Remain campaigns stood at 7.4million - the large majority of which went to Britain Stronger in Europe, the only large campaign which entered the race ahead of the June 23 referendum.
The Out campaign has raised more money in donations overall but the designated Britain Stronger in Europe campaign is ahead of its Brexit rival Vote Leave
The data shows Britain Stronger in Europe had fundraised far more than its direct rival Vote Leave as the referendum entered its main regulated period.
BSE had raised 6.8million compared to Vote Leave's 2.7million.
The biggest individual donation was 3.2million from businessman Peter Hargreaves to the Leave.EU campaign,
David Sainsbury - the Labour peer and former chairman of the family-founded Sainsbury supermarket - gave donations of 1.6million and 750,000 to Britain Stronger in Europe.
The figures were all reported to the Electoral Commission under the referendum act. Political parties report their donations in the normal way but specific party campaigns.
The donations reported today covers donations received covers the period from February 1 to April 21.
Boris Johnson took the Vote Leave campaign bus on a tour to Cornwall today as the referendum campaign continued to escalate following the local elections
The Britain Stronger in Europe campaign raised more money than its direct rival Vote Leave but the Brexot campaigns raised more money overall
Strict spending limits came into force on April 15 and the two designated campaigns - Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe - are likely to raise the greatest share of money in the final weeks.
Will Straw, Executive Director of Britain Stronger In Europe, said: 'Today it's clear the Leave campaigns have deep pockets, and they have secured twice as much as the Remain campaigns.
'They have also tried to get around strict Electoral Commission spending rules, but they have been found out.'
Mr Straw continued: 'We still don't know how much money Vote Leave have really raised. Unlike Britain Stronger In Europe, they have still not published the donations they have received prior to the 1st of February.
'It's time for them to come clean and publish all donations they have received, including those prior to the reporting period.
'This referendum is the biggest decision in a generation. We have received an excellent response from across the UK including over 10,000 individual donations for a sum of 50 and under from people who believe we are stronger, safer, and better off in Europe.'
OUT: TOTAL OF 8,180,425 GO Movement Ltd - 12,000 Grassroots Out Ltd - 2,039,925 Leave.EU Group Ltd - 3,200,000 The Bruges Group - 10,000 Trade Unionists Against The European Union - 22,000 Vote Leave Limited (designated lead campaigner) - 2,786,500 WAGTV Limited - 110,000
See more news on ISIS militants at www.dailymail.co.uk/isis
Officials denied ISIS claims the attack was the work of a 'suicide bomber'
At least 64 people - mostly women - were killed, with another 50 injured
This was the deadliest single bombing to occur in Baghdad so far this year
for an earlier deadly car bombing in Sadr City
At least 25 people have been killed in
Deadly wave of violence in Baghdad continues today with two more attacks
Two separate car bombs have killed at least 25 people in Baghdad just hours after the Iraqi capital endured its worst single bombing of the year.
The explosions hit the Kadhimiya and Jamea districts, while earlier today a pickup truck packed with explosives and disguised as fruit truck slaughtered another 64 people in Sadr City.
It brings the total death toll of all three attacks to 89 and marks an unprecedented 24 hour period of bloodshed in the capital so far this year.
The initial bombing, which occurred outside a beauty salon in a packed marketplace in Sadr City, was claimed by ISIS and was the city's single worst bombing of 2016.
A bulldozer arrives at the scene of the marketplace explosion where an ISIS car bomb killed at least 64 people earlier today. The blast was followed by two more separate attacks in which another 25 were killed
Crowds gather around the mangled wreckage of the pickup truck, which was disguised as a fruit transport
A car parked near the site of the bombing lies in ruins after the explosion blew off its windows and bumper
Two more vehicles parked nearby also lost their windscreens in the force of the explosion. Shrapnel holes can also be seen dotted across the vehicles' paintwork
Residents inspect the scene of the bombing, which occurred outside a beauty salon in Sadr City, Baghdad
A witness said the vehicle entered the market and stopped outside a beauty salon before the driver fled and it exploded
Now a second blast hit the entrance to Kadhimiya, a mostly Shi'ite Muslim district in the northwest of the Iraqi capital, killing 18 - five of whom were policemen - and wounding 34 others.
The third bombing of the day went off on a commercial thoroughfare in a predominately Sunni district of western Baghdad, killing seven and wounding 22.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the two later attacks. The death toll for both is expected to rise.
Earlier today, survivors in Sadr City described being thrown for several metres when the massive car bomb was detonated, while nearby vehicles and buildings were left badly damaged.
Most of the victims were women, and many of the estimated 50 wounded are in critical condition, Iraqi police and hospital sources said.
The car bombing occurred in the Shi'ite Muslim district of Sadr City, Baghdad, and was immediately claimed by ISIS.
Amaq news agency, which supports ISIS, said a suicide bomber had targeted Shi'ite militia fighters, though Iraqi officials denied this.
The UN's top envoy in Iraq, Jan Kubis, condemned the bloodshed, saying: 'These are cowardly terrorist attacks on civilians who have done nothing but going about their normal daily lives.'
ISIS, which overran large areas in 2014, considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings.
Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer, said the bomb was a pickup truck loaded with fruits and vegetables that was parked by a man who quickly disappeared among the crowds of people.
'It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground,' Salih told AP. 'The force of the explosion threw me for meters and I lost conscious for a few minutes.
He suffered no injuries, but two of his workers were wounded.
The vehicle, packed with hidden explosives, detonated killing or wounding more than 100 people and destroying nearby vehicles and buildings
The bombing occurred in Sadr City, a predominantly Shiite suburb of Baghdad which has been targeted by ISIS
ISIS claimed immediate responsibility for the bombing - which occurred in the area because the terrorist group views Shiites and heretics
A member of the Iraqi security forces stands guard at the scene of the bombing. ISIS has been carrying out suicide and car bombings in recent weeks in order to distract from the battlefield losses they have incurred
A local woman reacts to the scene of death and destruction with dismay
The bombing occurs just three months after back-to-back market bombings in the area killed 73 people
An Iraqi woman breaks down in tears as she looks at the damage caused by the ISIS bomber
Debris, rubble and damaged vehicles remained near the scene today as locals looked on in horror
In its online statement, ISIS said it had carried out a suicide attack that targeted a gathering of Shiite militiamen.
ISIS also a controls significant area in northern and western Iraq, including Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul.
Commercial and public places in Shiite-dominated areas are among the most frequent targets for the Sunni militants seeking to undermine Iraqi government efforts to maintain security inside the capital.
While ISIS has suffered a number of territorial defeats in the past year, the militants are still capable of launching significant attacks across the country, and have recently stepped-up assaults inside Baghdad, something officials say is an attempt to distract from their recent battlefield defeats.
In February, the group carried out devastating back-to-back market bombings in Sadr City, the stronghold of followers of an influential Shiite cleric.
That attack claimed the lives of at least 73 people.
According to the United Nations, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April due to ongoing violence. The U.N. mission to Iraq put the number of civilians killed at 410, while the rest it said were members of the security forces. A total of 1,374 Iraqis were wounded that month, UNAMI said.
In March, at least 1,119 people were killed and 1,561 wounded in the ongoing violence.
Hundreds of residents gather at the scene of today's first bombing, which killed 64 and wounded another 50
Iraqis carry the coffin of a victim of the car bombing in Sadr City, which has killed at least 64 people
A youngster helps load a coffin into the back of a car as a solitary tear runs down his cheek
A man salvages items from inside a shop destroyed by the massive bomb blast
Iraqis inspect the damage caused to the populated marketplace after the 'ISIS' bomber detonated the vehicle
Nearby shops, such as the one pictured, were damaged by the massive blast which wounded scores of people
When Christine Needham is asked to describe her relationship with daughter Kerry, her eyes mist over and she takes a deep breath.
In a word, amazing, she said. She is the most wonderful daughter you could wish to meet a very special lady.
She has never blamed me or her father for what happened to Ben. I have always felt her compassion for me right from the moment it happened.
You have to remember she was only a kid herself 17 back then but in those first few hours it was her calming me down.
She kept saying that hed have fallen over somewhere or was being sheltered by someone and that he would soon be back with us.
Pain: Ben Needham's grandmother Christine (pictured right with granddaughter Leighanna) told how her daughter, Ben's mother, Kerry doesn't blame her for the 21-month-old's disappearance while in her care
Strong: Kerry Needham fell into a spiral of depression after Ben went missing on Kos, Greece, as she went out clubbing and drink herself into oblivion to blot out the pain of losing her son
Missing: Ben was 21 months when he disappeared from his grandparents' home in Kos. In 1993 an unnamed caller phoned a journalist and said Ben was renamed Andreas and was being raised by a man called Nikos
Honestly, we thought of everything that could have happened to Ben but in that first period we never thought of someone taking him. That was beyond our imagination.
As the weeks turned into months and then years, we have always been very kind to one another. We have had arguments in that time but never about Ben.
Back in January 1991, Christine, now 64, and her husband Eddie had decided to make a new life for themselves on the Greek island of Kos.
Kerry, 17, joined them after the Easter holiday bringing Ben, then 18 months old, with her.
They were very happy days, but just a few months later the family's dream new home became a nightmare.
Ben vanished at just 21 months old in 1991 as he played with toy cars outside a farmhouse his grandparents Eddie and Christine were renovating on the Greek island of Kos.
Eddie, now 68, recalled: We were just having a fantastic life. I had plenty of building work and we were just enjoying ourselves.
Of course it is now impossible for them not to look back with a sense of bitterness and betrayal.
We have blamed ourselves absolutely, said Eddie. We were too trusting, too laid back but it was the sort of place where you wouldnt think of anything like that happening.
Christine added: When you move to a foreign country you tend to take people at face value. Whereas in Sheffield we would have put some string round the gate to stop Ben getting onto the road, there just werent those dangers over there. It made you drop your guard.
After her arrival, Kerry soon found a job in a local cafe and, after a spell working there herself, Christine said she left to look after Ben while Kerry worked.
She lived about a mile away from us in her own flat with Ben but shed drop him off every morning. Shed finish work by one and then wed take him to the pool for a swim before his afternoon nap.
The toll the disappearance has taken on the family is unimaginable and they are bitter at the lack of help they received from the authorities when they needed it most.
Support: Christine, 64, said since that fateful day it's been all about the search for her grandson. She added: 'At times we have all needed picking up but theres always been one of us there to do it for the others'
Search: Kerry's daughter Leighanna revealed that at her lowest point the only way Kerry could cope was to turn to alcohol and the transient company of nightclubs
Appeal: The family have spent 24 years searching for Ben and are convinced he is still alive. Kerry, who was just 17 when he disappeared says she knows in her gut he is still alive
Heartache: Christine said: I feel so bad for Kerry because when you are a mum you want to stop your baby feeling any pain and when she had Leighanna it was very hard for her'
Efforts: A team of detectives from South Yorkshire Police has flown out to Kos to renew the hunt for Ben. They said they want to speak to a caller from 1993 who said they knew who had taken Ben
Im really encouraged by this latest development, said Christine. Its the same information that came out in 1993 but it was not down to South Yorkshire Police at that time.
It was only after we had pestered to get funding from the Home Office that they decided they would help us.
If wed had that help back thenwho knows. It makes me really angry and sad because back then he would have been still a child and able to come back to his home.
But back then we didnt have any help. It was hell. Eddie and I were just a pair of Brits over there with nothing. We needed doctors and counselling and there was nothing for us. We came back to Sheffield three months later.
It was home but only to a different form of hell.
Wed have lots of information coming to us from the media and other places but all we could do with the information was to tell South Yorkshire Police whod tell London Interpol who would tell Athens Interpol whod tell the Kos police.
Any answers would come back along the same chain and it would often take six months. South Yorkshire Police said it was like banging your head against a brick wall.
In the end we bypassed the police and went to check on all these sightings ourselves, raising money through car boot sales and the like.
It took a terrible toll on Kerry. She would be so positive and as each disappointment has come along she has needed to be held up a bit but she always fights back.
It has, though, dominated all aspects of their lives for a quarter of a century.
Since that day, its been Ben, Ben, Ben all through my middle age and on. At times we have all needed picking up but theres always been one of us there to do it for the others.
I feel so bad for Kerry because when you are a mum you want to stop your baby feeling any pain and when she had Leighanna it was very hard for her.
When she got to the age Ben was when he disappeared, she had a proper breakdown and I had to step in and help her out.
Mummy's boy: Of Kerry, pictured with Ben, Christine said: When she got to the age Ben was when he disappeared, she had a proper breakdown and I had to step in and help her out'
Cheeky: Christine said when Kerry had Leighanna after Ben went missing it led to a breakdown because her baby daughter looked so similar to her missing son and the constant reminders were too much to cope bear
Close: Christine told how the family have stayed close despite their agony in not knowing what happened to Ben. She said that daughter Kerry has never blamed her for the disappearance while she cared for him
For Kerry, seeing Leighanna who looked so like Ben, made it impossible. It was like that awful day was frozen in time and she couldnt escape it.
But it was a short time that she was really off the rails. She has done a fantastic job of bringing up Leighanna single-handed and we are all very tight.
Leighanna is a credit to her a lovely girl with a good job and a solid relationship who is now proving to be a very good mother herself (her daughter Hermione is two).
She is as committed to finding Ben as the rest of us, despite being born after he went missing. I remember first showing her a pic of Ben and saying, thats your brother who went missing, and she said, Nana, we have to find him.
When she was Bens age we took her over to the farmhouse for a reconstruction. Her hair was cut off which made her look even more like Ben.
She says she can remember following a rubber duck down the road. I dont know. We just wanted to see how far she could get and she was out of sight within two minutes.
Now when we do any media about Ben in Greece it is always the four of us myself, Kerry, Leighanna and Hermione. The Greeks are very emotional, family-orientated people so they like to see the generations.
Christine, of course, has had enormous guilt of her own to overcome.
It wasnt easy being the rock for her daughter when she felt so responsible for the grief they were all going through.
I just had to step up and face the day, she said. I was probably extra vigilant when Leighanna was growing up like any person who loses anything of tremendous value.
I think we did wrap Leighanna up in cotton wool. It was the best thing we did. We wrapped her up and did not let her out of our sight. Kerry was very strict about where she could go especially when she became a teenager.
All her friends would be putting on make-up, going down the park, drinking alcopops and chatting to boys but Leighanna wasnt allowed any of that and it caused some friction.
They would use me as an arbiter a lot of the time. Kerry would say No and then it would be, ring your nana and ask her.
I just tried to find a compromise like if there was a guaranteed lift home and we knew where shed be, because it wasnt fair for Leighanna to miss out on all her teenage fun but her safety came first.
Now Leighanna totally accepts the way we were and even thanks us for it. She has her own daughter now so she can understand more how we were with her.
But, says Christine, there is nothing really normal about her family now.
We tend to be a bit over the top, she said, but it sends you mad. Its just our way of trying to cope.
Appeal: Detective Inspector Jon Cousins (centre) said it was possible Ben might have grown up with another identity and might have his own internal doubts about who he was and what had happened to his real mother
Hunt: A team of detectives are on the island of Kos to search the farmhouse where Ben disappeared on July 24 1991. Ben would be 26 today and may have doubts about his true identity
Dig: Ben Needham's grandfather Eddie, pictured during a visit to the island in 2012, points out to police officers where Ben was last seen
We always carry our passports with us in the hope of news and we can never say for certain what well be doing. Theres not much planning.
For newcomers to the family, it is very difficult. Kerrys marriage only lasted five years. I think she was in love with the idea of being in love when the reality was that she had so little time.
She was running a successful fencing company and she still had Ben to find.
Ive seen her spend all day on her phone driving forward the latest lead on Bens disappearance. She wont eat and its very difficult for people who love her to see her like that but you understand she has to do it.
Ive been married to her father for 45 years but we have our ups and downs. We split up for a little while but we have always stayed focused for the Ben stuff.
'Sometimes things just get too much for us but we really love each other, thats what has pulled this family through.
But he'll stay in the UK because Iran won't accept him back to its shores
He threw eggs at the Home Office claiming protest was 'perfectly right'
' was refused asylum in the UK in February
Feridon Rostami will not be deported to Iran despite being refused asylum in the UK and throwing eggs at the Home Office in protest
An illegal immigrant who hurled 90 eggs at the Home Office headquarters because they had refused to grant him asylum in UK will be allowed to stay here, a court heard.
Feridon Rostami screamed 'f***ing criminals' as he launched the barrage at the government office in Westminster in February this year.
But despite being convicted of causing criminal damage and refusing to apologise for his actions, the 32-year-old is staying in Britain because Iran refuses to have him back.
The Iranian's actions cost 405.37 to clean up from the side of the building after he was arrested at the scene on 2 February.
A security guard reportedly ran for cover as Rostami carried out the protest with 7.29 worth of eggs bought from an off-licence in Shepherd's Bush.
Prosecutor Les Rowley told Westminster Magistrates' Court: 'Mr Rostami has thrown 90 eggs at the building which we say is criminal damage because of the cleaning costs.
'He was aggravated by how the Home Office dealt with his asylum claim.'
Rostami denied causing criminal damage and using threatening or abusive words and behaviour but was convicted after a trial.
He insisted he had the right to protest at his treatment and thought the rain would wash the egg yokes off the building.
Kathleen Mulhern, defending, said: 'He's a man who feels highly aggrieved by his history at the Home Office, his choice of protest he believes was perfectly right in order to highlight his grievances.'
Magistrates rejected Rostami's defence and handed him a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay 405.35 compensation to cover the cleaning costs.
Chair of the bench Ronald Smith said: 'We have heard your own admissions that you did undertake the action alleged of throwing eggs.
'We don't consider your actions to be proportionate in the way that you protested so we find the criminal damage charge against you proved.'
Rostami hurled the eggs at this Home Office building in February after he was refused asylum in the UK
He continued: 'There is no dispute the language used took place. The offence is clearly made out in that the behaviour on that day did amount to threatening abusive or insulting words or behaviour.'
Rostami has been in legal limbo since coming to the UK illegally in 2005 claiming he was under threat of execution by the Iranian regime.
The Iranian Kurd claims his father was killed there in 1991 and he says he is at risk of 'torture then murder' because he is a 'radical atheist' and part of a threatened ethnic group.
Despite denying his asylum claim, the Home Office have been unable to deport Rostami because Iranian authorities refuse to take him without documents to prove his nationality.
Rostami has previously been detained for refusing to cooperate with the documentation process, but in August 2009 Mr Justice David Foskett ruled he should be released while there is no prospect of sending him back to Iran.
The court heard he now gets by with a weekly 35 voucher from the Home Office that he can use in Tesco or Sainsbury's.
The court heard it cost the taxpayer 400 to clean up the damage done to the building by Rostami's eggs
Speaking after his conviction, Rostami said he respected the magistrates' decision but remains frustrated with the handling of his asylum claim.
'If I go to Iran I will be tortured then murdered, I'm a radical atheist, I'm an advocate of atheism, a student of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens as well,' said Mr Rostami.
'I'm an Iranian Kurd as well so we always have problems with the regime but the main reason is the Iranian foreign policy which I have always disagreed with, particularly their attitude towards the state of Israel, their misogynist views, their treatment of women, and their disregard and neglect of the disabled.'
Hollywood A-lister Johnny Depp claimed Donald Trump would be the United States' last ever president because 'it just won't work after that'.
Speaking on the red carpet of the premier of his latest film, Depp, 52, claimed a Trump victory in November would provide excitement in a historical kind of way.
However, Depp said he could never support the controversial billionaire business mogul because he 'does not believe in that stuff'.
Johnny Depp, right, told 5 News' Minnie Stephenson, left, about his reservations over a 'President' Trump
Hollywood star Johnny Depp, pictured last night in London, claimed a Donald Trump victory in November could bring about an end of the US presidency but admitted it would provide historical excitement along the way
Depp, center, was at the European premiere of his latest movie Alice Through The Looking Glass
Depp was in London for the screening of Alice Through the Looking Glass.
He told Minnie Stephenson of Channel 5: 'If Donald Trump is elected President of the United States, in a historical way it is kind of exciting, because we will see the actual last president of the United States. It just wont work after that.'
He added: 'I'm not into that kind of stuff.'
During one visit to the British capital in 1999, Depp was arrested by police after he was involved in a scuffle with photographers outside a restaurant.
He appeared at the premiere without his wife Amber Heard, 30. He said he was pleased she was 'putting up with him'.
He said: 'I think everybody has a sense of themselves, we are all living our lives together and living closely with someone.
'I know I wouldn't be considered normal, I suppose, so I thank her for that. I thank my mum for that, I thank my father for that, for putting up with me.
'I also thank the London policemen when I was arrested here, they were very nice and gave me a cup of tea.'
His wife Heard recently avoided jail in Australia after pleading guilty to providing a false immigration document amid allegations she smuggled the couple's dogs Pistol and Boo into the country.
The pair went on to record a bizarre video in which they apologised and spoke about how important it is to protect Australia's biodiversity.
Depp claimed Trump, pictured, would doom the US presidency if he is elected to the White House in November
In his new film, Depp returns to the role of the Mad Hatter after the huge success of Alice In Wonderland, which was directed by Tim Burton in 2010.
British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen also stars in the movie.
Boris Johnson has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged his Brexit battle bus he launched this morning was made in Germany and Poland.
The former London Mayor - one of the leading voices in the Vote Leave campaign - kicked off his nationwide tour urging voters to back Brexit in Truro, Cornwall this morning, unveiling the 400,000 giant Vote Leave campaign bus.
But it was immediately branded the 'Boris blunder bus' after research found that leaving the EU would slap an extra 56,000 to the cost of that type of vehicle.
Boris Johnson (pictured launching his battle bus in Truro, Cornwall this morning) has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged his Brexit battle bus he launched this morning was made in Germany and Poland
Remain campaigners pointed to Mr Johnson's own remarks this morning calling for Britain to follow an American trade model with the EU.
However the US trades under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, which adds a 13 per cent tariff on vehicles that transport 10 or more people.
It means the type of bus used by Vote Leave, which was made by German manufacturer Neoplan Starliner, would incur the extra tax in the US.
Production of the vehicle starts in Poland, before being finished off in Germany and distributed around the continent.
Even Tory colleagues mocked Mr Johnson for using a EU-made bus. Greg Hands, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, tweeted: 'He did prepare a Plan B where he was to appear with foie gras, Bockwurst, tapas and Chianti Classico.'
Blue on blue: Greg Hands, the Tory Chief Secretary to the Treasury, mocked Boris Johnson on Twitter, joking how he had planned to launch the bus with a range of European foods such as 'foie gras, Bockwurst, tapas and Chianti Classico'
Remain campaigners pointed to Mr Johnson's own remarks this morning calling for Britain to follow an American trade model with the EU
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart in Truro today) bought a traditional Cornish Pasty ahead of his UK-wide tour and waved it to the crowd of locals and journalists as he entered the giant Vote Leave bus.
Mr Johnson also faced hypocrisy claims after launching his Vote Leave battle bus by waving a Cornish Pasty in front of the media this morning.
It was quickly pointed out that the 300 million Cornish Pasty industry relies on the EU to protect its recipe and brand.
And Mr Johnson faced further embarrassment when it emerged that the St Austell Brewery he visited on the Cornish coast has previously benefited from EU financial support.
James Staughton, an executive at the brewery, said it had received 50,000 in EU funding in the last decade.
'It helped us at the time to enable us to have the confidence to install a bottling line. It was important to us,' he said.
Attacking Mr Johnson this morning, James McGrory, chief spokesman for the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign, told MailOnline: 'This is Boris's blunder bus. 'Boris is happy to be driven round now in a German bus, when Britain enjoys all the advantages of being in the EU's Single Market.
'I doubt the British business that imported the bus would be as happy to learn that Boris wants them to pay fifty grand more for it.
'Boris's reckless plan to pull Britain out of the Single Market and move to US-style WTO trading rules would hit British businesses hard, damage trade, cost jobs and increase prices.'
The Vote Leave campaign bus (pictured) boasts the slogan: 'We send the EU 350 million a week. Let's fund our NHS instead'.
Boris Johnson claims David Cameron is 'demented' - but he's the one waving asparagus and a Cornish Pasty!
Boris Johnson accused David Cameron of 'demented scaremongering' this morning as he kicked off a nationwide tour to urge voters to leave the EU.
He launched the astonishing attack on his friend the Prime Minister following his dramatic warning earlier this week that a Brexit vote could bring war and genocide back to Europe.
But as he waved asparagus and a Cornish Pasty - which he bought at a market in Truro, Cornwall this morning - Mr Johnson said Mr Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit.
He also accused the Remain campaign - led by Mr Cameron - of running a 'Twit-storm' campaign.
And he demanded an apology from pro-EU campaigners for misrepresenting remarks he made about the EU's role in the conflict with Russia over Ukraine.
Boris Johnson (pictured left brandishing asparagus, which he bought from a market in Truro, Cornwall) accused David Cameron (pictured right making his speech on security on Monday) of 'demented scaremongering' this morning as he kicked off a nationwide tour to urge voters to leave the EU
Mr Johnson chose to kick off his 'Boris Battlebus' in Truro this morning and brandishing a bunch of asparagus, he joked with market venders that their industr ywill be 'just as sprouting' and 'delicious' after Brexit.
There were also reports that Mr Johnson stopped off to buy an ice cream but after taking just a couple of licks he handed it to a member of the public to finish.
He also bought a traditional Cornish Pasty ahead of his UK-wide tour and waved it to the crowd of locals and journalists as he entered the giant Vote Leave bus.
But Remain campaigners pointed out that Cornish pasties are among British products that are given 'protected status' by the EU - safeguarding the 300 million industry from other EU producers copying its recipe or brand.
Attacking Mr Cameron over his warning earlier this week that leaving the EU could destabalise the rest of Europe and could bring back war and genocide to the continent, Mr Johnson said this morning: 'I think all this talk of world war three and bubonic plague is demented, frankly.'
But Remain campaigners pointed out that Cornish pasties are among British products that are given 'protected status' by the EU - safeguarding the 300 million industry from other EU producers copying its recipe or brand
As Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart this morning) waved asparagus and a Cornish Pasty - which he bought at a market in Truro, Cornwall this morning - he said Mr Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit
Accusing the In campaign of misrepresenting his arguments about the EU's role in the Ukraine conflict, Mr Johnson said this morning: 'The day before yesterday I made a perfectly innocent remark about the EU's, in my view, cack-handed handling of the problems in Ukraine, which was turned by this great Twit-storm operation that they run in the Remain campaign into my being a Putin apologist. I think they should apologise.'
Despite launching a scathing attack on Mr Cameron's 'demented' arguments for staying in the EU, Mr Johnson nonetheless insisted he should remain as Prime Minister whatever the outcome of the June 23 vote.
He denied that a Brexit vote would clear the way for him to succeed Mr Cameron in Downing Street.
Asked whether he thought Mr Cameron should remain in 10 Downing Street to oversee negotiations for Britain's withdrawal from the EU, the former London Mayor said: 'Yes, absolutely. Of course he can, and I think he must.'
While Mr Johnson was wheeled out for the Brexit vote this morning, the Remain campaign's big gun for the day is Gordon Brown, who made a high profile speech to urge Britain to 'lead in Europe, not leave it', making what he said was the 'patriotic' case for staying in the Brussels club.
Later today Lib Dem leader Tim Farron will echo David Cameron's warning of the threat posed by Brexit to peace and security, arguing that a Leave vote would risk a return to the 'mutual hostility' of a century ago, when Europe was convulsed by the First World War.
At the launch of the Vote Leave bus this morning, Mr Johnson said the referendum offered the UK a 'once-in-a-lifetime chance for us to take back control of our country and our democracy'.
The Vote Leave campaign bus boasts the slogan: 'We send the EU 350 million a week. Let's fund our NHS instead'.
Mr Johnson repeated the slogan this morning, despite a second warning from the head of the UK Statistics Authority Sir Andrew Dilnot, who on Tuesday wrote to tell the campaign it was 'disappointing' that they continue to use the 350 million figure which he regards as 'potentially misleading' and lacking in clarity.
Boris Johnson (left) stopped off to buy an ice cream but after taking just two licks he handed it to a member of the public (right) to finish
The Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Mr Johnson - widely regarded as a likely contender for a Tory leadership battle when Mr Cameron stands down - insisted that the Brexit camp could 'guarantee' that Britain's EU contributions would be spent on UK priorities like Cornwall's fishing and farming industries if the UK votes to leave.
He told the BBC: 'Of the 20 billion we send to Brussels a year, 10 billion we never see again. It goes on all sorts of things - Greek tobacco farming, Spanish bull-fighting.
'With that net money back in our country we could fund things like the NHS, our science base, our academic health science centres even more generously than we currently do. That argument just doesn't stack up.'
Mr Johnson was not chastened by US president Barack Obama's warning that Britain would be 'at the back of the queue' for a trade deal if it left the EU.
He pointedly told Good Morning Britain: 'Obviously, when the US wants us to be at the front of the queue for various things - the Iraq War - then that's a different matter.
'Most sensible people will recognise that we will do a free trade deal not just with the EU, but we will have the opportunity for the first time in 43 years to do free trade deals not just with America but with India, China, Australia and New Zealand, which we currently cannot do because we are a member of the European Union.'
Boris Johnson (pictured in Truro, Cornwall this morning) launched an astonishing attack on his friend the Prime Minister following his dramatic warning earlier this week that a Brexit vote could bring war and genocide back to Europe
He rejected the claim of Labour's Alan Johnson that Brexit campaigners were 'extremists' who could see nothing good in Europe, telling the BBC: 'I do think it's very odd that we are being called extremists and irrational when only the other day we were told World War Three was going to break out if we voted to Leave. That cannot be sensible.
'Everybody knows that peace in this continent is really guaranteed by Nato. If it really is true that World War Three and bubonic plague are about to break out, why on earth are we having this referendum?
'I love Europe. I have many happy memories of living, working, going on holiday to Europe. Most of my family come from one European country or another.
'But there's a difference between Europe and the European institutions, and they are now evolving in a way which is not compatible with the long-term health of our democracy.'
Writing in The Guardian, Gordon Brown said the referendum debate had so far pitched the Remain camp's warnings of economic instability after Brexit against the Leave side's 'appeal to the heart' with a vision of the Britain of 1940 'standing alone' as 'wave after crushing wave of globalisation' threatens the country.
He insisted that supporters of EU membership should offer a 'positive-sum' vision showing how 'the right balance between autonomy and co-operation can be struck without putting our national identity at risk'.
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart in Truro this morning) has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged his Brexit battle bus he launched this morning was made in Germany and Poland
Britain's traditions and history are 'outward-looking and engaged with the world' rather than 'insulated and isolated', and its best interests are to balance 'the national autonomy we desire with the continental co-operation we require', he said.
Mr Brown played down fears of loss of sovereignty to Brussels, insisting that 'the future lies not in a United States of Europe, but a United Europe of States'.
Recent years had seen national governments of the 28 EU states taking over decision-making power from 'a once overbearing European Commission', as the bloc moved away from the earlier fashion for harmonising laws and practices and towards mutual recognition of each country's standards and traditions.
Britain does not need to sacrifice its political and social culture or its national autonomy to benefit from a single market which will be 'the biggest British job creator of the next decade', he said.
The former PM said cross-border co-operation and intelligence-sharing between EU states is vital to tackle terrorism, people-trafficking and illegal migration, while all of Europe would be 'at risk from Russian aggression, Middle Eastern terrorism and African instability' without a common EU security policy.
Only a united Europe - and not Nato or any single country acting alone - could deliver the necessary combination of diplomacy, aid and economic support, he said.
'The June vote should be a salute to Britain's irrepressible spirit, a tribute to our tradition of looking outwards and a progressive, agenda-setting moment that shows European co-operation is the best way to secure more jobs: the one way to curb tax havens, the main way to tackle illegal immigration and terrorism on our borders, and a progressive way to tackle climate change and set minimum standards at work,' wrote Mr Brown, who sets out his argument in greater detail in a book entitled Britain: Leading not Leaving.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cancelled a campaign event with Liberal MP Fiona Scott in west Sydney after awkward questions were raised about last year's leadership coup.
Ms Scott is looking to reclaim the marginal NSW seat of Lindsay in September, a position she took with the help of Tony Abbott, who famously said she had 'sex appeal' during the 2013 campaign.
Mr Turnbull was keen to talk up the candidate's intellectual qualities in Penrith today, but questions about Ms Scott's loyalty overshadowed the event,The ABC reported.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Liberal MP Fiona Scott were faced with awkward questions in Sydney
Local Liberal party member Marcus Cornish said on Monday Ms Scott betrayed Mr Abbott at last year's leadership spill, despite the fact he was instrumental in getting her the seat.
Ms Scott, who holds the Lindsay seat by a margin of three percent, was asked to respond to the criticism today.
'I take my role as a parliamentarian very, very seriously. In that, the solidarity of the party room is absolutely crucial,' she said.
'I don't leak from the party room I don't intend to start leaking from the party room.
Mr Turnbull stepped in to add: 'Fiona's spoken courageously there and, frankly, those party room ballots are secret ballots and they're secret for a reason.'
The pair were due to appear at a second event in Lindsay, but the remainder of Wednesday's campaigning was cancelled, The ABC reported.
The prime minister and Ms Scott were campaigning in the marginal seat of Lindsay in west Sydney
A road worker has been fired after a shocking video showed him spitting at a passerby in the street.
Edinburgh is notorious for its apparently endless roadworks and the gridlock they create.
But one frustrated resident who tried to document the upheaval got a disgusting response from a riled construction worker.
Acosting: John Wallace, 65, was filming the scene of the roadworks. Suddenly a worker on the truck can be seen to point at the camera, and run through the works to confront Wallace
Accusatory: The worker asks him, 'What are you taking a photo of?' Wallace replies: 'Sir, that's none of your business.' The worker then tells him, 'Well don't take a photo of me when I'm up there, okay?'
After a furious row, the workman climbed onto a lorry and spits at the cameraman - straight over a colleague working below.
Now the construction firm he works for has fired the worker - branding his behaviour 'terrible' and 'disgusting'.
The video of roadworks was taken on Raeburn Place in the capital's upmarket Stockbridge neighbourhood on the afternoon of May 3.
As it opens retired cameraman, John Wallace, 65, is filming the scene of the roadworks - which have dredged up one full side of the road.
Suddenly a worker on the truck can be seen to point at the camera, and run through the works to confront Wallace.
He asks him: 'What are you taking a photo of?'
Wallace replies: 'Sir, that's none of your business.' The worker then tells him: 'Well don't take a photo of me when I'm up there, okay?'
The sexagenarian then reminds the man that the road is a public place, where photography is entirely legal - with the road worker still objecting to being included in the background of the photo.
Wallace says: 'I'm taking photographs of the road - you just happened to be there.'
Furious: Eventually the road worker calls him a 'f** screwball'. He eventually goes back to working on truck, and Wallace returns to filming the scene
Yelling: But after one more moment the road worker is shouting at him again - knocking over a shovel and a broom and shouting: 'I'll ram it up your f** arse'
Meanwhile the other workers can be seen getting on with repaving the street - which has been dug up to install fibre optic broadband.
Eventually the road worker calls him a 'f** screwball'.
He eventually goes back to working on truck, and Wallace returns to filming the scene.
But after one more moment the road worker is shouting at him again - knocking over a shovel and a broom and shouting: 'I'll ram it up your f** arse.'
Then the worker returns to the top of the truck where he was previously working.
But after a minute he can be seen spitting at Wallace.
Describing the scene, Wallace said: 'I take different films and photographs of buildings being built and things like that.
'I was coming on to Raeburn Place, and I saw it and I started talking to the guy using the hammer thing before anything else.
'I asked him if it was waterpipe he was laying - and he said no it was fiber optics. I thought, 'I'll take a pic of whole thing.'
Outrageous: Then the worker returns to the top of the truck but after a minute he can be seen spitting at Wallace. 'When he gets on the top he shouts again and then he pulls his head back, hocks and gives that spit'
Spitting: 'I could actually see it travelling, it was going through the air towards me - another three feet and he would have got me in my left eye. I just thought the guy has got something wrong with him to go in that state
'As I took it I pointed the camera down the way and this is when the guy started shouting. And he just jumped off and as in the video you can see him running towards me shouting.
'When he gets on the top he shouts again and then he pulls his head back, hocks and gives that spit.
'I could actually see it travelling, it was going through the air towards me - another three feet and he would have got me in my left eye.
'I just thought the guy has got something wrong with him to go in that state about it.'
The roadworks were being organised by Livingston construction firm C-Plan on behalf of a nationwide move to improve internet access led by London-based firm CityFibre.
A spokeswoman for the company said: 'CityFibre has been made aware that a construction worker, engaged on-behalf of one of our sub-contractors in Edinburgh, was abusive to a member of the public.
'On investigation, it was discovered that immediately after the incident was reported, the worker who was supplied by an agency was dismissed from the project by the sub-contractor.
Formal: The meal last night allowed undergraduates from Queens' College (pictured) to dine on traditional foods and drinks from Senegal, Morocco, South Africa and Nigeria.
A Cambridge University African themed dinner has been branded racist because the invite used language from the Lion King and was held in a hall 'filled with portraits of white people'.
The formal meal last night allowed undergraduates from Queens' College to dine on traditional foods and drinks from Senegal, Morocco, South Africa and Nigeria.
But its theme led to a boycott with some students calling the event 'cultural appropriation' rather than appreciation.
The invite had to be changed because it contained the words 'Hakuna Matata' instead of hello and referred to friends as 'rafikis' - words famously used throughout the Lion King.
And the menu caused upset for trying 'to reduce an entire continent into three courses' and did not have the blessing of Cambridge University's African Society.
Student Alice Davidson said Queens' promised diners they could 'can travel far away' even though the dinner was held in a grand room 'only filled with portraits of white people'.
Writing on the feminist blog FlygirlsofCambridge she likened it to a 'Disney animated movie' like the Lion King.
She wrote: 'Perhaps if the initiative had come from members of the African Society Cambridge University themselves, who could then determine the menu and terms of cultural exchange rather than being invited as a token afterthought.
'Or maybe if the formal was more honestly named "West African" or "South African" themed, rather than attempting to reduce an entire continent into three courses.'
Some students went online to criticise the lack of involvement of the Cambridge University African Society.
Others said it amounted to a cultural appropriation - where elements of a minority culture are inappropriately borrowed by those in the majority.
Outrage: Some students were unhappy with the use of language including Hakuna Matata and also said the choice of foods for the event were insulting
Anger: One student said that the event held last night was in a room 'filled with portraits of white people'
On her blog, Alice added: 'Simplistically, cultural appropriation is the adoption of elements of one culture by members of another culture, specifically adoption of the minority culture by the majority.
'In this sense, the Africa themed formal is most definitely cultural appropriation.'
A second year Medieval Modern Language student, at Cambridge said: 'The main reason it isn't appreciation is because they haven't actually made an effort to involve African people at Cambridge.
'Also because it's homogenising an entire continent of over 50 countries - which would never happen with a European themed formal.
'The distinction is always made between different European countries.'
The Facebook page of the Middle Common Room Africa Formal event - which had an acacia tree in the Savannah as a cover photograph - featured many phrases in Swahili, popularised by The Lion King.
On Facebook this post spoke of the 'upset' the event had caused because the African Society was 'excluded'
The description, which was later edited, read: 'Fancy a break from work?
'Would you like to travel far away and escape from the library/your room/your department?
'Hakuna Matata, here comes the solution... Join us for the first themed formal of this term and discover Africa's cuisine!'
The invite ended with 'Bring your rafikis along, and see you all there!'
'Hakuna Matata' means 'no worries' while 'rafiki' means 'friend' in Swahili.
The president of the Cambridge University African Society, Halimatou Hima, confirmed that Queens' College had tried to work with them on the event, which went ahead last Wednesday.
However, communications had broken down and the society withdrew their support.
In a statement, Halimatou said: 'Given the historical (and ongoing) prejudices that have defined interactions with the African continent and its peoples, I decided as President of ASCU that it would be in our society's best interest to withdraw.'
But not everybody in the society complained about the event.
A member of the African Society Cambridge University, who asked not to be named, said: 'I think the response has been a little over-dramatic.
'I agree that one must tread the line between cultural appreciation and appropriation carefully, but this MCR's formal really isn't an enormous issue'.
Speaking to student newspaper The Tab, another undergraduate said: 'Hakuna matata isn't racist, or saying that Africa equals Lion King.
'It's a common Kiswahili phrase, used, for example, in the hit Kenyan pop song 'Jambo Bwana', meaning 'no worries' is a perfectly apt sentiment for an exam term formal to espouse.'
Queens' College and The University of Cambridge declined to comment on the events.
The university has come under fire over a controversial themed May Ball and has joined a long list of cultural appropriation accusations at the university this year.
A doctor has admitted he should have referred an unwell toddler to hospital after detecting a heart murmur days before the boy's death.
South Australian State Coroner Mark Johns has opened an inquest into the July 2013 death of 20-month-old Bailey Trent Richard Milera-Ashford.
An autopsy identified the cause of death as myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart often caused by viral infection.
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A doctor has admitted he should have referred an unwell toddler (pictured) to hospital after detecting a heart murmur days before the boy's death
The boy's mother, Nadine Milera, told the inquest on Wednesday her son was wheezing, clinging to her and did not want to walk or play when she took him to see GP Bailey Williams on July 7.
He was diagnosed with a viral infection and prescribed liquid antibiotics but his condition worsened in the days following.
'He was just flat,' Ms Milera said.
'It was out of character for him. Everything just seemed like it got worse.
The 20-month-old boy (pictured) was diagnosed with a viral infection and prescribed liquid antibiotics but his condition worsened in the days following
'You know your child. There was just something wrong. He wasn't getting any better.'
When Dr Williams examined the boy again on July 10, he detected a heart murmur but decided not to investigate it until his health improved.
The boy fell unconscious at home on July 12 and later died in hospital.
Nadine Milera (pictured) told the inquest on Wednesday her son was wheezing, clinging to her and did not want to walk or play when she took him to see GP Bailey Williams on July 7
Dr Bailey Williams expressed sympathy for the boy's family and told the inquest he accepted the criticism that he should have sent the boy to hospital for further treatment
Counsel assisting the coroner, Naomi Kereru, said a medical expert would tell the inquest the boy's GP should have sent him to hospital for further investigation.
Dr Williams on Wednesday expressed sympathy for the boy's family and told the inquest he accepted the criticism.
'With the benefit of hindsight ... I can't disagree with the validity of his comments,' he said.
The young boy (pictured) died on July 12 - two days after his heart murmur was detected
'You know your child. There was just something wrong. He wasn't getting any better,' Ms Milera (right) said
'When I heard the news I was deeply shocked. It was disbelief, really.
'I got to know this little boy very, very well indeed, so it really cuts quite deep.'
Dr Williams claimed he instructed Ms Milera to take the boy to hospital if his condition worsened, a version of events disputed by the boy's family.
German police are investigating 40 cases in which Islamic militants are suspectedof having entered the country disguised as refugees.
The number of cases being investigated has more than doubled since January, federal police said on Wednesday.
Authorities are also concerned about the large number of refugees and migrants who have been able to seek asylum in Germany without proof of ID.
The number of cases involving suspected ISIS militants having entered Germany disguised as refugees has more than doubled since January, federal police said Wednesday
In the past, the German government has played down the risksof ISIS fighters entering Europe with the tide ofmigrants, in part to avoid exacerbating public concerns aboutthe influx, which hit a record 1.1 million last year.
But Germany's domestic intelligence agency has warned that ISIS appears to have sent fighters 'the migrant route' via Greece, in order to fan fears about refugees and 'send a political signal' - despite there being more efficient ways to smuggle in militants.
'I am not telling you a secret when I say that I amconcerned about the high number of migrants whose identities wedon't know because they had no papers when they entered thecountry,' the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency Hans-Georg Maassen told a conference last week.
The number of migrants entering Germany reached peaks ofmore than 10,000 a day last autumn, but has fallen dramaticallyin recent months due to the closing of the Greek border withMacedonia and a deal between the European Union and Turkey thathas discouraged refugees from crossing the Aegean Sea.
The reduction in the numbers has eased pressure on GermanChancellor Angela Merkel, who came under fierce criticism lastyear for welcoming hundreds of thousands of migrants fleeing warin the Middle East with the optimistic slogan 'We can do this'.
The head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency Hans-Georg Maassen told a conference last week that although there are more efficient ways to smuggle in fighters, ISIS has sent some via Greece and the Balkans
A spokeswoman for the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), or federalpolice, said there had been 369 warnings about possibleextremists entering the country since the influx of refugeesaccelerated last year, of which 40 merited further investigationby federal and state authorities.
That represents a sharp increase from the 213 warnings and18 investigations that the police had recorded in early January.
'German security officials have indications that members andsupporters of terrorist organisations are being smuggled in withrefugees in a targeted, organised way in order to launch attacksin Germany,' the BKA spokeswoman said.
Two of the suicide bombers from the November 13 attacks in Paristhat killed 130 people came into Europe through the Balkan routeand so did two men who authorities believe were meant toparticipate in those attacks but were delayed and arrested in arefugee centre in Salzburg in December.
There is also evidence that Saleh Abdeslam, believed to bethe lone surviving suspect from the attacks, picked up threeunidentified militants who entered Europe with the refugees inthe southern German city of Ulm in October of last year.
In early February, German authorities arrested a 35-year-oldAlgerian man and his wife at a refugee centre in the town ofAttendorn.
The man, a suspected ISIS member, reportedlyposed as a Syrian when he entered Germany in the autumn of 2015.
The woman who successfully underwent a face transplant after a brutal attack by a friend's chimpanzee, has sat down for an interview just days after being hospitalized for complications.
Charla Nash says her face transplant started to reject last week, after she started tapering off of her anti-rejection drugs.
'I had no idea what was going on,' Nash told the Today Show. 'But then this one biopsy said a slight rejection.'
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Face transplant patient Charla Nash sat down for an interview with the Today show, to detail her recent hospitalization. The interview which was taped on Monday, aired on Wednesday
Nash, 62, was hospitalized on Wednesday when her face transplant started to reject
The 62-year-old woman says she stopped taking her drugs as part of a military-funded study to see if transplant victims could safely quit their anti-rejection medications, which sometimes cause serious side effects like high blood pressure and diabetes.
Nash is now back on her medication, and doctors say her transplant should be accepted by her body again.
While the experiment didn't work for her, she says she doesn't regret it and is glad that she is taking part in a study that could help wounded veterans.
'It would help all the service men and women and other people getting hurt and needing transplants,' she said. 'The study is not a failure. They've learned so much from all my testing and my input. It'll help with the future going forward.'
Nash sat down with Meredith Viera to give an update about her life now, five years after undergoing a successful face transplant surgery.
Nash's transplant started to reject because she was tapering off of her anti-rejection drugs as mart of a military funded experiment. Nash pictured above recovering at the hospital
Nash lost her nose, lips, eyelids and hands when she was mauled in February 2009 by her employer's 200-pound pet chimpanzee named Travis in Stamford, Connecticut.
The animal, who appeared in commercials for Old Navy and Coca Cola, was thought to be domesticated since he would open doors, drink wine from a glass, eat at the dinner table, and dress himself.
He even used the computer as his owner, Sandra Herold, treated the chimp as if he were her son.
Travis tried to escape by taking Herold's car keys and attempted to use them on several cars.
Five years after the successful face transplant surgery, Nash lives on her own in Boston. Aides check up on her part of the week
Nash gets around the city using a car service for disabled persons, and loves to pick out her own clothes
Herold, who died in 2010, tried to lure Travis back into the house and gave him an iced tea laced with Xanax.
When Nash, arrived at the house to help, the animal brutally attacked her.
Investigators suggested Travis may have mistook Nash, who was familiar with the chimp, as an intruder after she appeared with a new hairstyle.
The Xanax, which is used for anxiety in humans, may have also fueled Travis' aggression.
Herold stabbed Travis during the attack, but the 70-year-old failed to stop the animal. He was eventually shot to death by the police after he assaulted an officer.
Doctors also had to remove her eyes because of a disease transmitted by the chimp.
Nash pictured above holding a picture of herself before the 2009 attack that left her with a mangled face
The mother-of-one was attacked by Travis (pictured above with her) when she went to help her employer and his owner, Sandra Herold, when he escaped
Travis (pictured above with her) ripped off her nose, lips, eyelids, part of her jaw and hands when she was mauled in 2009
In her original face transplant surgery, doctors removed the face from the donor (left) including all underlying nerves and muscles (right)
They placed the donor's face on Ms Nash and connected each nerve, muscle and blood vessel
She later received new facial features taken from a dead woman. She also underwent a double hand transplant, but it failed when her body rejected the tissue.
'I've come a long way,' Nash said in her Today show interview, which aired Wednesday.
Despite being permanently blind, and having no fingers, fiercely independent Nash lives alone and often ventures out of her house to do her own shopping, thanks to a car service for disabled persons.
She told a Boston television station that she spends most of her days listening to audio books and exercising.
'I've always been independent. As far as the help, I have just what i need,' Nash said.
Right now, Nash is focused on getting a robotic arm, which will make it easier to feed herself. Already, a Go Fund Me page has raised more than $14,000 for this new prosthetic arm.
She's also considering moving back to Connecticut, so she can be closer to her daughter Brianna, who is a graduate student.
Her main goal at the moment is to get to the point where she can ride horses again.
But he did not seek the presidency and now Hillary Clinton is on the verge of becoming the
Vice President Joe Biden says he does not regret his decision to sit out the 2016 presidential race after his son Beau's death from brain cancer a year ago.
'No one should ever seek the presidency unless they're able to devote their whole heart and soul and passion into just doing that,' he said in a revealing interview that aired today on Good Morning America.
Biden said, 'Beau was my soul. I just wasn't ready to be able to do that. My one regret is my Beau's not here. I don't have any other regrets.'
Had he followed through, Biden told Robin Roberts, 'It's an awful thing to say, I think I would have been the best president.
'But it was the right thing, not just for my family, but for me.'
Vice President Joe Biden says he does not regret his decision to sit out the 2016 presidential race following his son Beau's death from brain cancer last year
He's chosen instead to spend his last months in office working on a 'Cancer Moonshot.' The $1 billion initiative seeks more effective treatments and a cure for cancer.
Biden said he's meet with 200 to 300 oncologists in the country to find out how the federal government could become a better partner in the fight to make cancer a non-deadly disease.
'I've committed, and I promise, before we leave, we will mow down any of the impediments that exist bureaucratically in the federal government that slow up the process,' he said.
Congress must approve the funding for the moonshoot, and Biden today stressed that it's a bipartisan issue even though it was proposed by a Democratic administration.
'It's kind of bittersweet,' Biden told Roberts of his work. 'But this is, this allows me to pour all my energies into...doing somethin' that...hopefully will....five years from now if...someone's diagnosed with what my Beau was diagnosed with, they, they live.'
He shared memories of his late son, who was 46 when he passed, and called him 'the finest man Ive ever known.'
The vice president said Beau died with 'great courage' and to the end, he was concerned that his father would be OK in his absence.
He always had a heart for others. 'That's why he volunteered to go to Iraq,' Biden said.
Beau won a Bronze Star, he noted, but refused to wear his medals when he came back to the United States.
'His commanding general made him put them on,' Biden said, 'so I guess my point is that, I think the measure of a woman or a man is in part that they die with as much courage and valor as they lived.'
Beau's passing and its effect on his father, a two-time presidential candidate and former Delaware senator, has become an inflection point in Joe Biden's legacy as his time in office comes to a close.
In April the vice president's wife said, 'Well, you know, I say every day, I really do feel that Joe would've made a great president. I think he has the character, I think that he's a convener. I think that one of his strengths is compromise.'
She told Today, 'I feel, you know, maybe America missed an opportunity. I don't know.'
'It just wasn't the right time,' she reflected.
Vice President Joe Biden his son Beau Biden at the Democratic National Convention 2008 in Denver, Colorado
The Democratic competition for the White House nearly complete, Hillary Clinton is likely to become the Democratic nominee, and if polling proves correct, the next President of the United States. The VP gave her the Biden bump in the GMA interview
The Democratic competition for the White House nearly complete, Hillary Clinton is likely to become the Democratic nominee, and if polling proves correct, the next President of the United States.
The VP gave her the Biden bump in the GMA interview.
Biden said he believes she'll prevail over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders and presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
'I feel confident that Hillary will be the nominee, and I feel confident shell be the next president,' Biden told Good Morning America's Robin Roberts.
The longtime politician said it's his belief that Trump's been 'underestimated from the beginning.'
But he said, 'I think what's gonna happen here is the constant attack coming from the Republican side, the sort of vitriol...I don't think that's gonna wear well over the next several months.'
Clinton is far ahead of opponent Bernie Sanders in votes and pledged delegates and is the predicted winner of the Democratic race.
Sanders is looking to finish strong and is refusing to drop out of the race until every state has had its say.
Biden spoke to Roberts about how he's instead chosen to spend his last months in office working on a 'Cancer Moonshot.' The $1 billion initiative seeks more effective treatments and a cure for cancer
He's won two contests this month in Indiana and West Virginia, and is the anticipated victor in several others in May leading up to the big finish on June 7 when California and New Jersey vote.
The District of Columbia's Democrats will cast their ballot after that on June 14 but it won't be relevant to Sanders' chances if he doesn't wipe the floor with Clinton the week before.
President Barack Obama has stayed out of the fight, even as he acknowledged last week that the math speaks for itself.
Biden plainly stated today what the president did not: the White House and other party officials expect that the winner will be Clinton.
And with Trump as the GOP nominee, they are circling the wagons and preparing for the general election even though the Democratic primary is still in motion.
The vice president didn't endorse the former secretary of state in the interview, and it's possible he voted for Sanders.
He suggested in an interview published the week before his home state voted that he preferred the Vermont legislator's style of politics to Clinton's.
The arrow he shot at Sanders in the GMA interview came off as a not-so-subtle suggestion that he now believes his old Senate colleague should give it up so that Democrats can focus on the general election.
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A son has tracked down the exact classic car his father owned more than 80 years ago after discovering pictures of it in an old photo album.
Robert Bluck, 68, travelled hundreds of miles for one last drive in the 1934 Sunbeam Dawn, which is one of only eight left in the world.
The retired librarian was researching his family tree when he found old photographs of his late father Bernard and grandfather Albert with the car.
The album, which was called 'Sunbeam in the Dawn', included snaps of them standing next to the vehicle with Scottish mountain Stac Pollaidh in the background.
Nostalgia: Robert Bluck, 68, travelled hundreds of miles for one last drive in the 1934 Sunbeam Dawn, one of only eight left in the world
Heritage: The retired librarian was researching his family tree when he found old photographs of his late father Bernard and grandfather (pictured) Albert with the car in the 1930s
Bygone era: The album, which was called 'Sunbeam in the Dawn', included snaps of father Bernard (pictured, alone, left, and in the car, right) them standing next to the vehicle with Scottish mountain Stac Pollaidh in the background
Survivor: Robert found out that the car was an exceptionally rare 1934 Sunbeam Dawn, which was actually on show in the West Midlands after Googling the registration number 'WF 6882'
Robert found out the green and black car was an exceptionally rare 1934 Sunbeam Dawn after Googling the registration number 'WF 6882'.
While researching it, he realised that the exact same car was being kept on display at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, West Midlands.
It was donated to the museum after it was found by a mechanic rusting in a shed in the Midlands.
Robert has now travelled over 220 miles from his home in Hexham, Northumberland, to recreate the experience of driving it enjoyed by his father and grandfather.
The author, who lives with his wife Caroline, 64, said: 'It is wonderful for me to see the car. It's absolutely fantastic. I was born in 1947 so I don't remember him having it
'But as soon as I put my head inside I could smell the same smells as the Rover my dad had when I was young. It is lovely for me to see my dad's first car because he was quite keen on cars.
Highland holiday: There were pictures of them posing with the car on a trip with the Scottish mountain Stac Pollaidh in the background. There were also pictures of Robert's grandfather, Albert, with the Sunbeam
Pristine: The 1934 Sunbeam Dawn in near perfect condition was on display at the Black Country Living Museum, and Robert has now travelled there to give it a drive, recreating the experience of his forefathers
'It is very posh inside with wooden panels. It's a top of the range car which surprised me.
'It brings back memories of my father and family memories too.
Robert's father Bernard paid 425 for the car in 1935 after he was left inheritance money following the death of his mother Emma.
Bernard, who was in his 20s and lived in Hull, then took his father Albert on a tour of the Scottish highlands in the car.
He sold the car in 1939 when World War Two broke out and joined the army - seeing action in North Africa and Sicily with the artillery platoon.
Bernard, who returned to his job as a bank manager after the war ended, died at the age of 61 in 1970.
Robert added: 'I had the pictures in my father's photo album forever but looked at them again when I was doing research into our family history for a book I'm writing.
'The first picture I saw was my grandfather stood beside the car from 1935.
'I worked out that the Dawn in the caption was the name of the car so went onto Google and got on the Sunbeam website.
'Then I saw some colour photos of the car at the museum and realised it was the exact same number plate and the same car.
Registered: Mr Bluck realised what the car was after googling the registration he saw in the photos, and that is when he found out it had been restored after spending half a century in a shed
Record: This is the incredible photo album that Robert found, showing his father and his grandfather with the classic car, which was of such good quality it was often compared to a Rolls Royce at the time
Hard at work: Robert's father Bernard paid 425 for the car in 1935 after he was left inheritance money following the death of his mother Emma when he was in his twenties and lived in Hull
'I was totally shocked when I found out my father's old car was being preserved at a museum.
'It is a miracle that the car is still around over 80 years later so to be able to come and see it in action is incredible.'
The car was found in a poor state gathering dust in a garage in Wolverhampton, West Midlands, by Jim Pease in 2002.
Mr Pease, a mechanic specialising in vintage cars, bought the car for 3,500 and spent a year restoring it to its former glory before donating it to the Black Country Living Museum.
The car has a top speed of around 70mph with its 1600CC petrol engine but normally travels at around 3mph in third gear.
Mr Pease, 63, said: 'It had been gathering dust in a garage of a private house. The gentleman who owned it was about 90 and it hadn't been used for over 20 years.
'The man who I fetched it for wanted to sell it so I bought it off him in 2002 and spent about 12 months on and off restoring it.
'I had to do different things like realigning the brakes and it had blown a gasket and the radiator was blocked solid.
Restoration: Jim, a mechanic specialising in vintage cars, bought the car for 3,500 in 2002 and spent a year restoring it to its former glory before donating it to the Black Country Living Museum.
Leather seats: The Sunbeams were built just four miles from the Black Country Living Museum, were one of the most popular vehicles in Britain in their heyday. It has a top speed of around 70mph with its 1600CC petrol engine but normally travels at around 3mph in third gear
Today: Mr Bluck took the car out for a final drive at the Black Country Living Museum (pictured, next to a picture of his grandfather, Albert)
'But all of the interior is the original from 1934 and hasn't been altered at all.
'I probably spent another 4,000 on it but it must be worth around 25,000 now.
'It's the last Sunbeam model ever built and the only one to be named. There was only around 500 made and only about eight that have survived till now.
'It still runs perfectly and we use it for corporate events at the museum and as a prop in filming.
'We have a driving day for the public so it is out once a month going around the site for
four or five hours.'
The Sunbeam cars were built just four miles from the Black Country Living Museum, were one of the most popular vehicles in Britain in their heyday.
Defiant: Yvonne Mosquito has refused to apologise for asking a murder victim's family to pray with her
A senior police official has quit her job after she upset the family of a teenage murder victim by turning up at their home and asking them to pray with her.
Yvonne Mosquito, the deputy police and crime commissioner of the West Midlands, was found guilty of serious misconduct and she is set to leave the post today.
She visited the family of 18-year-old Kenichi Phillips days after he was shot dead in Birmingham, causing them 'upset and distress', an independent panel found.
Ms Mosquito's boss, PCC David Jamieson, said that the incident had made it harder for officers to investigate the killing which took place on March 17.
She was suspended after visiting Kenichi's family, and the panel's inquiry ruled that the visit constituted serious misconduct.
The official - who is a devout Christian and an ordained pastor - was ordered to apologise to the family but has so far refused to do so and has filed a counter-claim accusing Mr Jamieson of racial discrimination.
The PCC said today: 'I regret that the deputy commissioner broke the agreement that had been reached between the family and family liaison officers on how contact with the police would be conducted.
'I am thankful to the family for explaining how the visit made a difficult time much worse, caused them additional pain and grief, and was disrespectful.'
He added: 'The panel found that, based on evidence submitted by both Kenichi Phillips' family and the force, the visit caused ongoing upset and distress to the family and, at the time, damaged the relationship between the family and West Midlands Police in the middle of a complex and sensitive murder investigation.
'I am sorry that a member of my staff, the deputy police and crime commissioner, made the already complex job of the officers investigating this awful crime more difficult.'
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Killed: 18-year-old Kenichi Phillips was shot dead in the back seat of a car in Birmingham in March
'The family confirmed that, despite being requested by the deputy commissioner to do so, they did not pray with her.
'On the basis of the panel's findings, I have issued the deputy commissioner with a final written warning and asked her to apologise, in writing, both to the force and the family. She has so far not done so.'
Ms Mosquito is currently suspended from her role, and her contract will not be renewed after it expires today.
The controversial official is also a Labour councillor sitting on Birmingham City Council for the past 20 years.
Scene: The area of Ladywood in Birmingham where Kenichi died; two people have been charged with murder
Labour sources have called for Ms Mosquito to apologise to the family and reflect on her actions.
But she has accused Mr Jamieson of racism, claiming that he belittled her in front of colleagues and dismissed her concerns about 'black-on-black' crime - allegations which the PCC strongly denies.
Kenichi was due to become a father when he was shot dead while sitting in the back of a car in the Ladywood area of Birmingham.
An engineer who almost died when he plummeted 40-feet through a glass ceiling at the Philadelphia Rodin Museum has reached a $7.25 million settlement with them and its security company.
Engineer Phani Guthula, who was 27 at the time of the November 2012 incident, was inspecting lights in the attic when he fell, suffering fractures to his femur, hip, pelvis, ribs, and elbow.
He was hospitalized for more than 45 days, has had more than 15 surgeries and his lawyer said the accident was so horrific and frightening it could have had the same title as Rodin's famous work, 'The Gates of Hell'.
Guthula had been escorted to the attic by a security guard to check on the lights and had been told that it was safe to step onto a glass paneled surface by the guard.
The incident has left him in need of constant medical attention and the Philadelphia Museum of Art and AlliedBarton Security Services agreed to pay up before the case was due to go before a jury last week.
Surveillance footage showed the terrifying moment Phani Guthula fell 38 feet through a glass floor
Guthula, who was working for engineering firm ICF International was completing an energy audit of the building, which had recently applied for an energy rebate after a $9 million renovation.
To conduct his survey he needed access to the to the museum's attic and realized he had to step onto the glass to inspect the lights.
The female security guard said that it was safe to put his weight onto the glass, but instead the glass shattered and he fell four stories to the museum's stone floor.
The floor below was open to visitors at the time, who rushed to his aid after calling security.
He suffered numerous fractures and body trauma from 'head to toe', his lawyers said.
In his lawsuit, Guthula's attorneys, Larry Bendesky, David Kwass, and David Langsam said that he was not properly warned about the dangers of standing on the glass and was on the panel for more than five minutes.
Their court filings added that Guthula has slightly recovered but has difficulty walking, suffers fatigue and head trauma means he cannot concentrate for long periods at a time.
However, they added that he is engaged and is to marry soon.
A spokesman for the Philadelphia Art Museum told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the museum, 'has always adhered to the highest safety standards and compiled with all legal requirements regarding safety.'
Mr Guthula (seen falling through the air) was left with numerous fractures and was hospitalized for 45 days
This closer picture shows Mr Guthula as he hurtles through the air after falling through the glass floor
As he crashed to the ground, the man who had been sitting on a bench at the museum immediately sprinted off
To conduct his audit he needed access to the to the museum's attic and realized he had to step onto the glass (seen above) to inspect the lights
One of his attorney's David Kwass said: 'Testimony at trial clearly would have demonstrated that the defendants failed miserably in their duty to protect Mr Guthula.
'Guard railings installed to keep people off the glass floor were not in place, security personnel who escorted him to the site were uninformed and inattentive, and there was no signage to warn against a fall hazard to which everyone - after the accident - agreed existed when he almost met his death.'
As well as Mr Kwass, the engineer was represented by lawyers Larry Bendesky and David Langham in the claims [filed in August 2013] against Philadelphia Museum of Art - which owns and operates the museum - and Allied Barton Security Services.
Mr Bendesky said: 'One of the Rodin's most famous sculptures is titled "Gates of Hell".
'The chilling picture of Phani Guthula falling nearly to his death could have the same title; his life has been a living hell every day since his fall.'
He added: 'Mr Guthula hopes that there are lessons learned by those who are responsible for workplace safety.
'The best plans and precautions are meaningless - as they were in this case - if they are not followed by everyone involved.'
Mr Guthula has returned to work as an energy consultant at a different firm but is no longer able to carry out the same kind of field work he was doing before, his lawyers said.
Guthula, who was working for engineering firm ICF International was completing an energy audit of the building, which had recently applied for an energy rebate after a $9 million renovation
People then rushed to help the stricken engineer lying in a crumpled heap on the floor of the Rodin museum
In a statement released yesterday, the Philadelphia museum of Art said: 'The Museum confirms that it has participated in the settlement of a dispute related to the tragic accident in 2012 at the Rodin Museum.
'Contrary to the press release issued by the lawyers for the plaintiff, the settlement involved several parties in addition to the Museum.
Jailed: Carina Reid (pictured in Dubai), who lived in Chelsea, had 19 bank accounts containing 180,000
A model who claimed she was so poor she had to accept free food from a mosque has been jailed for three years after benefits investigators unearthed her glamorous lifestyle on Facebook.
Carina Reid, 32, who lived in a flat on Chelseas fashionable Kings Road in West London after buying it with a deposit of 20,000, had 19 bank accounts containing 180,000.
But she claimed more than 50,000 in housing and council tax benefits to help fund holidays to Hong Kong, Dubai, Spain, Portugal, France and Switzerland and meals at luxury restaurants.
Reid, who also worked as a beautician, told the council that she had no savings and had taken no holidays between 2009 and 2014 but was jailed for three years at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday for dishonestly claiming benefits.
The court heard how self-employed Reid first claimed benefits from Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2009, stating she earned a very low income from her beauty business Enhance.
But an investigation found her Facebook profile showed her taking holidays to various countries, sipping champagne in Harrods and dining at top London establishments including Scotts, the Dorchester Hotel and the Berkeley Hotel.
A profile of Reid on the Enhance website said she was a senior medical aesthetician who had worked with a wide range of clientele, from VIP film stars, TV and radio presenters as well as on magazine shoots and celebrity events.
Her Kings Road flat was purchased with a deposit of 20,000, and she got a mortgage based on her true tax returns which showed that Enhance was a successful business.
She had also sent 116,000 abroad in 2013-2014 to acquire property in Dubai, and her LinkedIn profile indicated her desire to expand her business to Dubai and Los Angeles.
Eight of the nine dishonesty charges related to Reids failure to declare savings of 180,000 in 19 separate bank accounts.
Up in the air: Reid, who is pictured in a helicopter in Cannes, France, first claimed benefits from Kensington and Chelsea Council in 2009, stating she earned a very low income from her beauty business Enhance
Jetset lifestyle: Reid (left at Cove Beach in Dubai, and right in the Jumairah area of Dubai) claimed more than 50,000 in housing and council tax benefits to help fund her holidays
Cheers: An investigation by the council found that Reid's Facebook profile showed her taking holidays to various countries, sipping champagne and dining at top London establishments
Reid also faced a charge of making a false representation to the council after a tenancy agreement on the Kings Road property named her as a tenant, when in fact she was the owner.
The court heard that her false statements to the council saw her overpaid 51,110.37, made up of 48,395.99 housing benefits, 2,173.40 council tax benefits and 540.98 council tax reduction.
None of the monies have been repaid. Reid told the court that she did not believe she had an extravagant lifestyle despite what her social media profile might have suggested.
She added that some of the trips abroad were paid for by friends or boyfriends and some were also business training trips. She also insisted that she had always been truthful in her tax affairs.
Sentencing her, Judge Marks Moore described Reids fraud as sophisticated and premeditated and designed to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Defensive: Reid, pictured posing on a Rolls Royce at Al Bustan Rotana hotel in Dubai, told the court that she did not believe she had an extravagant lifestyle despite what her social media profile might have suggested
On tour: Chelsea resident Reid, pictured left at Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi and right at a fashion event in London, claimed that she was so poor she had to accept free food from a mosque
Causing havoc: Reid said that some of the trips abroad were paid for by friends or boyfriends over the years and some were also business training trips
He also said that this was not a passive fraud and that every time she filled in a claim form there was a positive demonstration to deceive.
Speaking after sentence was passed, Andreja Oblak, 31, a barista at a coffee shop opposite Enhances outlet in Wandsworth, told the London Evening Standard: I cant believe it.
I cant believe she was such a scammer and she was ripping us all off to pay for her lifestyle Andreja Oblak, who worked opposite Carina Reid's business in London
She always seemed so polite and sophisticated. I cant believe she was such a scammer and she was ripping us all off to pay for her lifestyle.
A neighbour at her block on Kings Road added: Its a shock. We barely saw her because of her jetset lifestyle. She was always partying and just gave the impression of being very successful.
And council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown said: Money that was intended for those in greatest need was instead dishonestly used by Carina Reid to fund a lavish lifestyle at taxpayers' expense.
I am very pleased that following our investigation, which uncovered her real circumstances, the court has handed down this custodial sentence.
Cruise liner: Reid (in Lisbon) was rarely seen by her neighbours 'because of her jetset lifestyle', one said
Up close: Reid is pictured at a snake and reptile encounter at an unknown location in Britain
A Facebook executive who cleared the company of any anti-Republican bias has donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton's campaign, public records uncovered by The Federalist have shown.
In total, Facebook employees have individually donated more than $114,000 to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign compared with nothing to her main rival Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, an anonymous former contractor with Facebook claimed the company's Trending Topics feature actively reduced the prominence of pro-conservative stories.
Tom Stockey, pictured, Facebook's vice president of search said there was no evidence that the company showed any particular political bias against the Republican party following an investigation
Stocky wrote on his Facebook page he took reports the company had tried to suppress conservative stories 'extremely seriously' but said he 'found no evidence that the anonymous allegations were true'
According to a return to the Federal Election Commission, Tom Stocky, VP, Product Management at Facebook donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton in advance of the 2016 Primary Campaign
Facebook vice president of search, Tom Stocky said his team, who are responsible for the Trending Topics feature, 'found no evidence that the anonymous allegations are true'.
He said: 'There are rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality. These guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspectives.
'Nor do they permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or one news outlet over another. These guidelines do not prohibit any news outlet from appearing in Trending Topics.'
However, federal documents show that Stocky with an address in Los Altos, California, donated $2,700 to Hillary for America in October 2015.
Employees at the California-based social media company have donated approximately $150,000 between all candidates. during the current election cycle.
Marco Rubio, who pulled out of the presidential race in March received $16,604 from workers at the tech giant.
Facebook employees have so far donated $114,000 towards Hillary Clinton's campaign for president
A senior Republican senator has written to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg seeking assurances his company is not biased following claims its Trending Topics feature discriminates against conservative stories
Facebook staff, many of them based at the California headquarters building, pictured, have donated almost $150,000 to presidential candidates during the current election cycle
According to data collected by the Federal Election Commission, candidates are not required to provide information on donors who give less than $200.
However, according to The Hill, Donald Trump's campaign has not filed any information with federal authorities about any donations from Facebook employees during the current election cycle.
The Hill discovered 78 Facebook employees have given donations to Clinton.
Clinton's challenger to the Democratic nomination received $12,000 from Facebook workers.
Jeb Bush collected $3,225 from Facebook employees compared with $3,150 for Rand Paul, $2,700 for John Kasich and $250 for Ben Carson.
Donald Trump or Ted Cruz did not receive any notifiable amount from Facebook employees.
The Social Media giant has been accused of bias by senior Republicans over claims the company excluded links to conservative political stories from its Trending Topics feature.
Republican South Dakota Republican John Thune wrote to Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg demanding answers about any possible bias in the company.
He said: 'If Facebook presents its Trending Topics section as a result of a neutral, objective algorithm, but it is in fact subjective and filtered to support or suppress particular political viewpoints, Facebook's assertion that it maintains "a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum" misleads the public.'
MI5 has raised the threat level to Britain from Northern Ireland-related terrorism, Home Secretary Theresa May has announced.
It means an attack on England, Scotland and Wales from Republican dissidents is 'a strong possibility'.
The security service increased the level from moderate to substantial for Britain, which is the third most serious category out of five.
The decision to raise the terror threat comes after heightened fears among police of a spark in violence from Republican dissidents to mark the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising - the rebellion against British rule in Ireland.
There has been an upsurge in activity from the New IRA in recent months, with the group claiming responsibility for killing a police officer in Belfast in March.
Making the announcement in a statement to MPs this afternoon, Home Secretary Theresa May (pictured) said the move 'reflects the continuing threat from Dissident Republican activity
The terror threat in Northern Ireland remains at 'severe', meaning an attack there is 'highly likely'.
Making the announcement in a statement to MPs this afternoon, Mrs May said the move 'reflects the continuing threat from Dissident Republican activity'.
She said: 'As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place.'
'The public should remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police,' the Home Secretary added.
The raised threat comes weeks after the New IRA claimed responsibility for killing police officer Adrian Ismay (pictured), 52, who died after he was injured in a bomb attack in Belfast
The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains at severe - meaning an attack is 'highly likely'. This has not been changed.
Mrs May said the main focus of violent dissident republican activity continues to be in Northern Ireland 'where they have targeted the brave police and prison officers who serve their communities day in and day out'.
She added: 'The reality is that they command little support. They do not represent the views or wishes of the vast majority of people, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, who decisively expressed their desire for peace in the 1998 Belfast Agreement and have been transforming Northern Ireland ever since.'
The Home Secretary said: 'However it is sensible, given their stated aims, that the public in Great Britain should also remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police.
'But we should not be alarmed, and this should not affect how we go about our daily lives.'
The raised threat comes weeks after the New IRA claimed responsibility for killing police officer Adrian Ismay, 52, who died after he was injured in a bomb attack in Belfast.
The father-of-three died from a heart attack after being rushed to hospital following an car bomb detonated as he went over a speed bump.
The attack happeend in the Hillsborough Drive area or Belfast, off Woodstock Road on March 4 this year.
Authorities have recorded 10 UFO sightings in the skies above New Zealand over the past six years.
A list of unusual occurrences released to the New Zealand Herald contains sightings of unidentified objects and mysterious lights - but no aliens or flying sauces.
Among witness accounts are an 'unidentified red and orange light' over Christchurch in 2015; moving lights in the Bay of Plenty and Hamilton, in the North Island, in 2013; and a star shaped object seen by a pilot within 400 to 500 of his plane's wingtip.
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An Australian film crew working in New Zealand in 2014 inadvertently recorded two objects in the sky
The reports, which were recorded by New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), do not include a number of more recent sightings, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Suzanne Hansen, of the Ufocus NZ Research Network, told the newspaper that not everyone reported UFOs as there was 'still some resistance to the idea'.
One incident that was not recorded by the CAA was a report from an Australian film crew working in New Zealand in 2014.
The crew, who were filming Colour in Your Life, inadvertently recorded two strange objects in the sky. They only noticed the objects while editing.
After slowing down the video and watching it frame by frame, the two shapes can be seen emerging from the trees, moving up into the sky and then disappearing.
All this managed to take place before a motorcyclist, also in the shot's background, rode cross the bridge they were filming near.
Certain that what they'd captured was a UFO, the team decided to post the video online and 'see what everyone thought.'
In 2010, the New Zealand Government released previously secret reports detailing thousands of unexplained sightings stretching back to 1952.
The Colour in Your Life crew said they didn't notice the flying objects until they started editing their footage
Chelsea Clinton's husband and his partners have suffered a huge loss after trying to bet on the revival of the Greek economy, and are now being forced to shut down one of their hedge funds.
Marc Mezvinsky, 38, and his partners, former Goldman Sachs colleagues Bennett Grau and Mark Mallon, raised $25million from investors to buy up bank stocks and debt from the struggling nation.
That fund however has lost 90 percent of its value, investors with direct knowledge of the situation told The New York Times, and will now be closed.
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Hedge fund: Chelsea Clinton's husband Marc Mezvisnky (above in September 2011) started Eaglevale Partners in 2011, with two of his former Goldman Sachs coworkers
Game plan: Shortly after Mezvinsky started the company he set up the Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity to buy up Greek debt and bank stock (Trudie Styler, Mezvinsky, Chelsea and Hillary, Sting and Bill Clinton in 2014)
Failure: That fund collected $25million from investors but has been forced to shut down the hedge fund after losing 90 percent of that money (couple above walking daughter Charlotte last month)
Eaglevale Partners was started in 2011 by Mezvinsky and his partners, with their former boss, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein, one of the first investors.
The flagship fund currently manages $330 million and is down 1 percent this year.
Mezvinsky was long gone from his job at Goldman in October 2013 when his mother-in-law Hillary was paid to give a speech to executives at the company during a technology conference in Arizona.
She was reportedly paid $225,000 for that appearance.
There had been news of trouble with the company's Greek bet for some time now, which was called the Eaglevale Hellenic Opportunity.
The Wall Street Journal reported in February 2015 that Eaglevalle said in a letter to investors that year that they had been 'incorrect' to bet on Greece and that is why the company had lost money two of the three years prior.
The main fund dropped 3.6% in 2014, fained just 2.06% in 2013 and lost 1.96% in 2012.
The situation in the country last year likely only made things worse, with Greece having to be saved from the brink of economic collapse at the last second thanks to a bailout.
But good news for the people working at the hedge fund, as most funds collect management fees meaning money comes in even if funds lose money.
Shortly after starting Eagleville, Mezvinsky and Chelsea moved into a $10million New York City apartment opposite Madison Square Park.
The four-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot apartment is one of only four residences in the building, which despite the low occupancy rate still has a full-time doorman.
Swank: Mezvinsky, 38, and Chelsea, 36, live in a full floor apartment located on New York City's Madison Square Park (exterior is the three window wide brick building above)
Gorgeous view: The residence, which is the length of an entire city block, was purchased in 2013 by the couple for $10million (living room above)
Location: The bedrooms meanwhile (master above) face right into Vera Wang's bridal design studio, who designed Cheslea's dress for her wedding day
Chelsea, expecting the couple's second child, spoke in New York on Tuesday
The apartment, whose hallways stretch a full city block, also has two dishwashers, two washer and dryers, dressing rooms with double-sided vanity mirrors, and two massive walk-in closets.
The bedrooms meanwhile face right into Vera Wang's bridal design studio, who designed Cheslea's dress for her wedding day.
Chelsea, 36, has stayed busy this past year campaigning for her mother while also working for the Clinton Foundation.
They had their tickets confiscated and missed the Garth Brooks
concert and they went to use the restroom before the show started
A woman in North Dakota claims that her Mother's Day was ruined after she was booted from a Garth Brooks concert before the show began for using the men's restroom.
Samantha Bergh said that her husband got her tickets to the superstar's show at FargoDome on Sunday as a Mother's Day present.
She explained to KVLY that they decided to use the restroom before the show started at the packed venue.
Kicked out: Samantha Bergh claims that her Mother's Day was ruined after she was booted from a Garth Brooks concert before the show began for using the men's restroom
Bergh said that her husband got her tickets to the superstar's show at FargoDome as a Mother's Day present. She explained that they decided to use the restroom before the show started at the packed venue
'Right before Garth Brooks was to start we went to the bathroom. The women's line was a good 100 people long,' Bergh told the television station.
'It was insanely long and there was no wait for the men's so I just went into the men's.'
Once she came out of the restroom, a Fargo police officer and a security officer were waiting for them.
Bergh, who claims she was sober and not rude to the officers, was then escorted out of FargoDome along with her husband.
'I hadn't even been drinking. I wasn't drunken belligerent, rude or anything like that,' she told KVLY.
Bergh said: 'Right before Garth Brooks was to start we went to the bathroom. The women's line was a good 100 people long. It was insanely long and there was no wait for the men's so I just went into the men's'
Once she came out of the restroom, a Fargo police officer and a security officer were waiting for them. Bergh, who claims she was sober, was then escorted out of FargoDome (pictured) along with her husband
'There was other girls in the men's bathroom actually. When I left the bathroom there was a woman in the men's bathroom using the bathroom and all along in the other bathrooms there was women using the bathrooms. It was happening all over the place.'
She said they confiscated her tickets and they missed the entire show.
The general manager of FargoDome told KVLY that women who use the men's restroom at the venue usually get a warning and they encourage everyone to move around the area to find a restroom without a long line.
Bergh said that she had been looking forward to the concert for months and that's she's devastated she missed out.
'I'll never get that back. Nothing will ever give me that experience back,' Bergh told KVLY.
Police say a Pennsylvania man hit his girlfriend's 11-year-old son with a whiffle ball bat but told authorities he only did it because the boy 'hit him first.'
The (Washington) Observer-Reporter reports that Cumberland Township police charged 34-year-old Adam D. Smith on Monday with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct.
Police say Smith was arguing with the boy's mother when the boy grabbed the bat to defend her.
Cumberland Township police charged 34-year-old Adam D. Smith (pictured) on Monday with simple assault, harassment and disorderly conduct
Police say Smith told the boy, 'Go ahead and hit me with it,' and the boy did, leaving a welt on Smith's neck.
Police say Smith then grabbed the bat and hit the boy on his left side, causing a welt the size of a softball.
Smith doesn't have an attorney and remains in the Greene County jail.
Trump pulls EVEN with Hillary in new national poll as Clinton stumbles and he's gained 12 points on her in the past week
New Reuters poll has Clinton barely ahead of Trump by a 41-40 margin
Margin of error is 3 percentage points, making it a statistical tie
Trump trailed Clinton by 13 points a week ago, vaulting up after he became the Republican party's presumptive presidential nominee
Clinton has struggled against Bernie Sanders as coal-heavy Rust Belt voters remain deeply skeptical about jobs and the economy
See more US election news at www.dailymail.co.uk/USelection2016
Clinton are in a statistical tie in the latestReuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday, showing a tight battlefor the White House as the two likely nominees turn theirattention to the Nov. 8 election.
The narrowing poll numbers are the result of both a gain byTrump and a drop by Clinton in the days since the New York realestate mogul effectively secured the Republican nomination whenhis two remaining rivals quit last week.
The national poll found 41 percent of likely voterssupporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump, with 19 percentundecided. The online survey of 1,289 people was conducted overfive days in the last week and has a credibility interval of 3percentage points.
While the general election campaign has hardly begun, thepoll marks a shift from a similar Reuters/Ipsos survey conductedover the five days before Trump effectively became the nominee.That poll showed Clinton at 48 percent and Trump at 35 percent.
CLOSING IN: Donald Trump is in a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton in a new Reuters national poll
FALLING OFF: As Clinton continues to battle Bernie Sanders, she has lost a dozen percentage points to Trump since he became the GOP's presumptive nominee
DEAD HEAT: With a margin of error of 3 percentage points, The 41-40 poll result is a statistical tie
The former U.S. secretary of state's loss in the Democraticprimary election to Bernie Sanders in West Virginia on Tuesdaysignaled possible trouble for her in industrial states inNovember.
Trump has taunted Clinton in recent days, saying she 'can'tclose the deal' against primary opponent Sanders, a U.S. senatorfrom Vermont.
But Trump still does not have some senior Republicans onboard for his own campaign after primary election battles inwhich he promised to build a wall on the Mexican border to haltillegal immigration, and temporarily ban Muslims from enteringthe United States.
Several Republican leaders including House ofRepresentatives Speaker Paul Ryan are withholding theirsupport from Trump.
The former reality TV star will face pressure to tone downhis rhetoric and clarify his policy positions when he visitsRepublican lawmakers on Thursday.
Trump's campaign has largely lacked policy specifics and hehas often said the positions he has staked out are merelyopening salvos for future negotiations with both Democrats andRepublicans.
But he may be considering an overhaul of his tax proposal, amove that could bring down the price tag and keep it in linewith conservative ideologies.
His tax plan, which carries a $10 trillion sticker price,has been under scrutiny as he has worked to tone down remarksabout raising taxes on wealthy Americans, saying the rich mightsimply get a smaller tax cut than he originally proposed.
UNITY? House Speaker Paul Ryan is meeting with Trump on Thursday in a bid to unify the Republican party behind the billionaire businessman-turned-politician
TRUMP TRAIN, ILLUSTRATED: The red line indicates Donald Trump's level of support, and the blue line is Clinton's, in Reuters polling data stretching over the past month
A possible rework of the plan has been led by conservativeeconomists Larry Kudlow, who hosts a program on CNBC, andStephen Moore, who works with the conservative think tankHeritage Foundation.
'I have worked a little bit with Larry Kudlow to help try totweak the plan to try to just... provide the maximum amount ofeconomic juice and to reduce the cost,' Moore told Reuters.
'What we were working with the campaign a little bit on is howcan we get that cost down, cut it by half or more, withoutdisrupting the main growth elements of the plan.'
Trump's attention to tax is another sign that the economywill play a major part in the election.
For Clinton, 68, her failure to win over voters deeplyskeptical about the economy underscored how she still needs tocourt working-class voters in the Rust Belt, including keystates such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. West Virginia has one ofthe highest unemployment rates in country.
Sanders, who has vowed to take his campaign all the way tothe Democrats' July convention in Philadelphia, has repeatedlysaid he is the stronger candidate to beat Trump in November, andfollowing his West Virginia win, he emphasized economic themes.
Donald Trump signaled Wednesday that he could soon take an aggressive posture against Bernie Sanders if he sees the Vermont senator as a serious threat to overtake Hillary Clinton in the race to be his November opponent.
The Republican front-runner unveiled a new nickname for the aging democratic socialist 'Crazy Bernie' the latest consequence of his ever-stronger showings in election matchups with Hillary Clinton.
Sanders won Tuesday night's primary in West Virginia, a state where Clinton easily beat Barack Obama in 2008, by a stunning 51-36 margin.
Trump framed it Tuesday morning as a sign that the former secretary of state is on the ropes.
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CRAZY: Donald Trump branded Bernie Sanders as 'Crazy Bernie' on Wednesday
REBRANDING: The new nickname joins 'Liddle Marco' and 'Lyin' Ted' on the list of Trump's repeated insults
WINNING: Sanders beat Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the West Virginia Democratic primary
'She's got a lot of problems,' he said on 'Fox & Friends.'
'The only thing this "Crazy Bernie" character. You look at him and you see what's going on, and she's got some difficulty. There's no question about it.'
Trump still refers to Clinton as 'Crooked Hillary,' hoping it delivers blow after blow to her brand and damages her the way he was able to diminish the credibility of 'Liddle Marco' Rubio and 'Lyin' Ted' Cruz.
'I don't want to hit Crazy Bernie Sanders too hard yet because I love watching what he is doing to Crooked Hillary,' Trump tweeted Monday morning. 'His time will come!'
'I call him "Crazy Bernie" because he's not very good,' he said on Fox. 'But probably beating him would be easier. Who's gonna run against a socialist and lose? I mean he's a socialist. You're gonna pay 95 per cent tax.'
Trump brushed off a reminder that Sanders outpolls him in some recent surveys.
'Well, I know but I've never hit him, don't forget,' he said. 'I haven't started on him. I haven't said anything about him. I would start maybe I'm gonna have to start.'
STRATEGY; Trump has repeatedly hammered his opponents with demeaning and derogatory nicknames
Exit polling Tuesday night in West Virginia showed that about one-third of Democratic voters there would side with Trump in a head-to-head November matchup with Clinton.
'That's pretty good. I like that number. Really!' Trump reacted on Wednesday.
'Considering they're supposed to be Bernie people, and they're going to vote for me, I like that.'
Trump also leveled new complaints against South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, two former primary rivals, saying that they haven't honored their written pledges last year to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee.
'He lied. I mean, he outright lied,' he said of Bush.
'Now you have guys like Jeb and lightweight Lindsey Graham, who's a total lightweight I mean he totally failed in his campaign and he does nothing but go on television and speak badly about me ... he also took the pledge.'
'So it's very dishonorable,' Trump said. 'When you take a pledge and you don't follow the pledge, it's very dishonorable.'
'But that's okay. That's their problem.'
'NASTY': Trump attacked Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse after he suggested a Republican should run against Trump in November to sabotage his chances
BIG NUMBERS: More than one-third of Democrats in West Virginia would support Trump in a head-to-head November matchup with Trump
BERNED: A third of West Virginia Democrats would defect to the Trump train even if Sanders were the nominee
One other Republican drew the real estate tycoon's ire Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who has openly advocated for another Republican to try to undercut Trump by running against him in the fall.
'He's a very nasty person. You know, he's got a nasty mouth,' Trump sniped. 'Not too many people know him. But he's a nasty guy.'
Might another Trump nickname be on the horizon?
This week she described the horror of Van Houten looking at her in court
Debra Tate has made a petition to get Gov Jerry Brown to intervene
Now Van Houten is recommended for parole due to 'good behavior'
was part of the two-day killing spree, she helped stab
The late actress was murdered by Charles Manson's gang in August 1969 when she was 26 years old and eight months pregnant
Sharon Tate's sister has appealed to California governor Jerry Brown to intervene in the parole release of a Charles Manson follower.
The actress was eight months pregnant when she was murdered by Manson's gang at the age of 26 in August 1969. She was one of seven people killed in two separate massacres.
Decades later, as one of the group Leslie Van Houten is recommended for parole, her sister Debra is leading calls to block the move, attending court hearings and giving interviews to garner support.
On Tuesday, Debra Tate revived her bid to get Gov Jerry Brown's attention for the case as she described the traumatic experience of facing 66-year-old Van Houten and her accomplices in court.
'They are not allowed to look at us,' Debra told Radar Online. 'But they all do through the corner of their eye. I have had direct eye contact, going to and from a room. A sideways glance.'
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Appeal: Sharon Tate's sister Debra (right) has appealed to California governor Jerry Brown to intervene in the parole release of a Charles Manson follower. The actress (left) was murdered at the age of 26 in 1969
Parole: Decades later, as one of the group Leslie Van Houten (pictured) is recommended for parole, Debra Tate is leading calls to block the move, attending court hearings and giving interviews to garner support
She added: 'I can't believe it honestly. I call it the "Perfect Storm".
'Every time I go into a parole hearing, I am very painfully aware of the fact why we are all there. I have trained myself to realize this is possible.'
Her words this week come after it emerged Van Houten admitted in her parole hearing she would have killed babies if Charles Manson told her to.
Debra balked at the revelation. 'Im just a few years younger than Leslie Van Houten, and if somebody had told me to jump off a bridge I wouldnt have done it,' she told Radar.
She has also started a petition on Change. org hoping to obtain enough signatures for California Governor Jerry Brown to deny Van Houten's parole.
As of Wednesday morning, the petition had more than 120,000 signatures.
Last month, Debra appeared on Good Morning America, and told host Robin Roberts that it is 'mind boggling' to think that a member of the group who murdered her sister would be allowed to walk free.
Van Houten, Manson's youngest disciple, was not there the night that Sharon was killed.
But she was one of the individuals who - at just 19 years old - went out the next night and murdered supermarket heir Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary.
Van Houten was deemed 'suitable for parole' in April with a two-person review board at the California Institution for Women in Chino noting that she had taken and completed self-help programs, classes and counselling.
'I do believe in rehabilitation programs. It's good that she got those, but this woman is a monster,' Debra told GMA.
She then motioned across the table to Roberts and said; 'I sat as far away from her as you and I are now. You can feel the vibe. They're still sociopathic individuals of great brutality.'
Tragedy: Sharon Tate (left at her 1968 wedding to Roman Polanski, right just days before she was killed) was 26 years old and eight-months pregnant when she was killed on August 9, 1969
Charles Manson is serving a life sentence for his role in the killing of seven people in Los Angeles in 1969
'These people are domestic terrorists and once they're released they can go anywhere in the United States. Parole isn't even the catch net. We have to stop this before it happens,' Debra went on to say during the interview.
Debra then spent some time talking about her sister, one of Hollywood's biggest stars at the time of her shocking murder.
'Sharon was physically a perfect specimen, but her heart and her soul were equally as beautiful, ' said Debra.
'Had she lived, and the rest of the people that died in her home that night ... they would have been philanthropic, they would have been of great service to humanity. They would have been a plus to society.
'And this monstrous group took the future of all of these individuals.'
Sharon was just 26 years old and eight-months pregnant on the night of August 9, 1969, when she was stabbed sixteen times and murdered along with her ex, hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and her writer boyfriend Voyteck Frytowski, and the 18-year-old caretaker at the property where they were all staying, Steven Parent.
The five were killed by Manson followers Linda Kasabian, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins and Charles 'Tex' Watson.
Sharon had been staying with the group at a home originally rented by Terry Melcher, a musician and record producer who was the son of famed actress Doris Day.
At the time of the murders Melcher and his girlfriend, actress Candace Bergen, had been staying at his mother's home in Malibu and Sharon and her husband, director Roman Polanski, had taken over the lease.
Polanski was supposed to be there that night but was unable to get the proper travel documents to travel out of London and had to delay his trip.
Cult leader: Charles Manson (above) appears in Los Angeles, California court on March 29, 1971
Senseless: Van Houten admitted holding a pillow over the head of Rosemary La Bianca (left) while other cult members stabbed her and husband Leno (right) to death
The next night, that same group was chosen to join Manson as they set out to kill the LaBiancas.
Van Houten was not picked to join the group, but asked if she could come along and join in the massacre.
Debra writes in her petition, aimed to keep Van Houten behind bars: 'Charles Manson's deranged 'family,' including Ms. Van Houten, broke into the home of Leno & Rosemary LaBianca on August 10, 1969.
'Manson had gone into their home and tied the couple up. Van Houten placed a pillowcase over Mrs. LaBianca's head, tied it with a lamp cord, and held Mrs. LaBianca down so Patricia Krenwinkel could stab the innocent woman to death.
'When the knife bent on Mrs. LaBianca's collar bone, Van Houten held Mrs. LaBianca down so Tex Watson could come in and stab her.
Homecoming: Van Houten in her freshman year of high school in 1964 (above)
'Then Van Houten stabbed Mrs. LaBianca in the lower back several times. Mrs. LaBianca was stabbed a total of 41 times.
'Words were written in blood on two walls and a refrigerator door. Van Houten then took a shower, stole one of LaBianca's dresses to wear and ate food from the refrigerator like it was her own home.
'For years Van Houten showed no remorse at all.
'When asked during her trial if she ever cried about the murder of Rosemary LaBianca, she replied: 'Cry for her death? Why? She's not the only person who has died.''
Van Houten's defense lawyers portrayed her as a young woman from a good family who had been a homecoming princess and showed promise until she got involved with drugs and was recruited into Manson's cult.
She was convicted of murder but that conviction was overturned on appeal after her lawyer was found dead during the trial. Members of the Manson family took credit for the killing, but it is believed he died in a flash flood.
Van Houten was retried twice and ultimately convicted in 1978 of two counts of murder and conspiracy.
Her first retrial ended in a hung jury, and prior to her conviction in 1978 she was out on $200,000 bond - and even attended the Oscars with a friend.
In an interview with filmmaker John Waters, Van Houten was asked what she said to people that night when they asked her if she had seen any of the films.
'If someone brought up one of the nominees, I'd just say, 'No, I missed that one' or 'I was away when that was playing,'' said Van Houten.
Van Houten, who launched her first parole attempt in 1979 and has applied for parole 20 times in total, recounted her part in the killing of the LaBiancas during her most recent hearing.
The former homecoming princess, who described herself as a hippy at the time of the murders, told of how she looked off into the distance until another Manson follower told her to do something before she joined in the stabbing.
During her five-hour testimony, Van Houten described Manson as a 'Christ-like man that had all the answers'.
She then went into graphic detail how she held down Rosemary LaBianca and secured a pillow with a lamp cord while another member of the Manson family stabbed her repeatedly.
Van Houten said: 'I don't let myself off the hook. I don't find parts in any of this that makes me feel the slightest bit good about myself.'
Followers: Van Houten (pictured right along with fellow Charles Manson cult members Susan Atkins, left, and Patricia Krenwinkel, center) arrive in court in the summer of 1970
Followers: Van Houten (pictured left along with fellow Charles Manson cult members Atkins, right and Krenwinkel, center) arrives in court to hear the formal pronouncement of her death sentence
Parole Commissioner Ali Zarrinnam told Van Houten at the end of the hearing: 'Your behavior in prison speaks for itself. Forty-six years and not a single serious rule violation.'
The grandson of the LaBiancas, Tony LaMontagne. seemed to echo Debra's sentiments in an interview with CBS News last week.
'It's kind of surreal, to be honest with you, the whole thing,' said LaMontagne.
'I get off of the phone from the parole hearing, and the first thing I do is lay down on my couch and start bawling. It's just a flood of emotions.'
'My grandfather was 44 years old. His wife was 38. I'm 44. So, I grew up with these stories about how my grandfather was an old man. He had lived a long life. That would be like if I were to die right now,' he said.
Police in Ohio are still trying to track down a fugitive who lead them on a wild chase in her minivan - with her three-year-old child in the car - but managed to escape.
Erica Barreiro-Rapp, 33, is wanted for several offenses including heroin charges, domestic issues and theft and weapons charges.
The mother-of-five was in court in Monroe on May 4, however made an excuse to leave when she was told she had outstanding warrants in Kentucky. She then fled in her brown Honda Odyssey.
An officer followed her to the car and a crazy pursuit began, with Barreiro-Rapp crossing center lines, running a red light and even driving through front yards to evade police.
On the run: Erica Barreiro-Rapp, 33, lead police on a crazy chase through the streets on Monroe, Ohio, last week after finding out she was wanted on outstanding warrants, and still remains at large
Police said they terminated the chase after confirming a child was in the vehicle and deeming the pursuit too dangerous.
Later in the day, police discovered the van parked at a hotel.
Upon seeing officers, Barreiro-Rapp ran into the room of another guest and jumped out of the first-story window while holding her child.
She again managed to escape.
'She's very desperate to stay out of jail. If she is doing what she did, with her own child in the car, she's very desperate,' Monroe police Sgt. Tom Cobaugh told WLWT.
Wild chase: At one point during the chase, Barreiro-Rapp - in a brown Honda minivan (right) - crosses through the front yard of a house to get past police in the street
Dashcam video shows the mom swerving back onto the road as the cruiser tries to stop her in reverse
Barreiro-Rapp then crosses onto another yard (far left) to evade another cruiser, and manages to get away
Cobaugh said he has had cases like this before.
'They start out with minor problems and it escalates into theft problems, drug charges, more thefts. It just keeps going until situations like these come up,' he said.
'If she's that desperate to get away, she's liable to do anything and it makes it that much more dangerous for the child involved, and the innocent people out there on the street as well.'
She is wanted on several felony warrants in Kentucky, including drug possession, carrying conceal weapons, and tampering with evidence.
She is now also wanted on charges of eluding police and child endangerment.
At the start of the chase, Barreiro-Rapp mounts a curb to leave an exit ramp and get back on the freeway
Dangerous: The mother also ran a red light at a busy intersection during the crazy chase
Police in Ohio are still looking for Barreiro-Rapp, and anyone with information is urged to call authorities
Florida Senator Marco Rubio says he'll vote for the man who ridiculed him as 'little Marco' during the campaign because failing to vote for Donald Trump amounts to supporting Hillary Clinton.
'This is the position obviously I didn't want us to be in,' Rubio told NBC's 'Today' show Wednesday morning.
'The only other choice then would be to vote for Hillary Clinton or to abstain both of which would be supportive of her. And I have even more policy differences with her, and I'm even more scared about her being in control of the U.S. government,' Rubio said.
'Donald Trump obviously wasn't my first choice,' Rubio continued. 'I ran for president. I did the best I could, and it didn't work out. Republican voters have chosen a different direction. I have to respect that result even though it's not necessarily the one I wanted.'
Happy warrior? Rubio says to vote for Clinton or to abstain amount to the same thing
During the campaign Rubio ripped Trump as a 'con-artist' while Trump denigrated him as 'Little Marco'
Rubio spoke a day after another failed presidential primary candidate, Texas senator Ted Cruz, ducked questions on whether he would endorse Trump.
'We suspended our campaign one week ago today,' said Cruz told reporters Tuesday. 'There are two and a half months until the Republican Convention, six months until the general election. There will be plenty of time for voters to make the determination who they are going to support.'
Rubio brought up a 'pledge' that Trump and each of his GOP rivals signed during the primary to support the nominee.
'As a candidate for president I signed a pledge to support our nominee, and so that's what I intend to do,'' he said. 'Of course support means voting.'
Trump has blasted South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush for not keeping the pledge, after the two failed primary candidates said they wouldn't support Trump.
There clearly are limits to what Rubio will do for Trump. Asked if he would campaign for him or speak at the GOP convention, Rubio responded: 'I would just say that I think Donald Trump would be best served by having people out there working on his behalf that agree with him on these public policies and that are enthusiastic about his campaign and enthusiastically support the things he has stood for.'
'My reservations about him have been clearly stated and they remain unchanged,' Rubio said.
Former rival Ted Cruz says there is 'plenty of time' for voters to decide what to do in the election
His support for Trump could be as limited as pulling the lever for him in Miami. 'Obviously as a voter in Florida, the primary way to support people means vote for them,' Rubio pointed out.
'Obviously this is the quandary everybody finds themselves in,' Rubio lamented, in an apparent reference to establishment Republicans who are reluctantly making their peace with Trump.
'What I don't intend to do is spend the next six months taking shots at Donald,'' Rubio said. 'Whether we like it or not, he has earned the right to make his case to the American people. He earned it at the ballot box, and I'll respect that.'
Rubio said he has 'strong differences' with Trump on policy and 'deep reservation' about the way he conducted his campaign.
'On the other hand, the only other choice is someone I have even more reservations about,' he said.
Rubio didn't get asked about his statement this week that he didn't want to be Trump's vice presidential running mate. Trump sent out a tweet Tuesday saying the only people who withdraw from consideration are people who weren't being offered the job.
His comments come as senior Republicans are grappling with how to handle Trump. Many leading GOP lawmakers say they'll support the nominee, while others are skipping the convention or waiting to see if Trump abandons key positions like a ban on Muslims or a wall on the southern border that Mexico will pay for.
During the run-up to Super Tuesday, Rubio slammed Trump as a 'con-artist' and an 'embarrassment' who wasn't a conservative, and even made fun of the size of his hands. Trump countered by calling Rubio 'little Marco' and a 'lightweight.'
The 27-year-old man who killed one person and wounded three others in a knife attack at a German train station has been sent to a psychiatric hospital.
The man, whose name hasn't been released due to German privacy rules, stabbed four people in an apparently random early-morning attack Tuesday at the Grafing Bahnhof station east of Munich.
A medical expert concluded that the man is mentally ill and at most he can be held only partly legally responsible for his actions, police and prosecutors said in a statement.
This afternoon, police revealed that the man had been released from psychiatric care just two days before the attack.
The 27-year-old German national who stabbed one man to death and injured three others in a knife attack at a station in Grafing near Munich, Germany, has been committed to a psychiatric hospital
Officers said the man had spent a day in hospital in central Germany, after his grandparents begged him to seek psychological help - but that he left the facility on Monday morning.
The attacker first knifed a newspaper seller in the back, shortly before 5am. He then struck out at three more victims, aged 43, 55 and 58, before running away.
The 55-year-old male victim, who has been assaulted as he boarded the carriage, died later on Tuesday.
The attacker man shouted 'Infidel, you must die!' and 'Allahu akbar' (Arabic for 'God is great') during the attack but authorities found no evidence of links to Islamic extremists.
The man shouted 'Infidel, you must die!' and 'Allahu akbar' (Arabic for 'God is great') during the attack but authorities found no evidence of links to Islamic extremists
Investigators probe the crime scene where a 27-year-old man attacked four passengers at Grafing station near Munich leaving one dead and three injured
Police also collected evidence from the platform including a mobile phone that was pulled from the gap between the train and platform
Before the attack, the man, who apparently had a history of drug abuse, had taken off his shoes because he believed them to be infested with bugs which he blamed for the blisters on his feet.
He was later identified as an unmarried carpenter, who had been on unemployment benefits, from the town of Giessen in Hessen.
Police said he appeared confused during the initial questioning and that it was difficult to get coherent information from him.
A cellphone and data files were found during a search of his apartment in Giessen, in central Germany.
Wednesday's statement said investigators found no evidence pointing to a religious motivation for the crime.
A judge ordered him sent to a psychiatric hospital at a closed-door hearing.
The man did not have immigrant roots.
Victim: Public schoolboy Morgan Huelin died after a drug-fuelled party with friends in Jersey
Four teenagers who tried to cover up the death of a friend after a drug-fuelled party have been spared jail and sentenced to community service.
The boys moved the body of public schoolboy Morgan Huelin, 16, from the garage of a home and left him in a lane to be found by a passer-by.
Today the defendants, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were told to carry out unpaid work instead of going to prison by a judge at Jersey's Youth Court.
Another teenager was allowed to walk away with no punishment after co-operating with police throughout the investigation.
The five boys denied perverting the course of justice, but were convicted in March after a trial.
The court heard that they had found Morgan, a pupil at Jersey's elite Victoria College, 'foaming' at the mouth in July last year but did not call an ambulance.
His body was dumped in a country lane with a pillow under his dead and a blanket over him, and the teenager was dead by the time a passing dog-walker alerted paramedics.
Tests found that he had taken at least four different drugs while partying with friends before his death.
Advocate Mike Preston, acting for the 'instigator' known as Defendant One, claimed there were issues with drugs among students at the school.
His 17 year-old client was also found guilty of possessing class A drugs and four indecent images of children at the youth court.
Elite: Morgan was a pupil at Jersey's Victoria College, pictured, before his death last year
Tributes: Flowers were left at the scene of the lane where Morgan's body was found by a passer-by
He was sentenced to 140 hours of community service and fined 100 and put on the sex offender's register for two years.
Two other boys - aged 16 and 17 - were each given 100 hours community service and a fourth aged 17 was given 50 hours community service.
The judge said there was no evidence that carrying Morgan down the road contributed to his death.
One of the boys' lawyers asked the judge to be lenient as his client's life had been 'turned upside down'.
Much-missed: Morgan, pictured with his younger brother, wanted to be a doctor helping poor patients
All of the defendants and their parents were offered the chance to address the court and explain their actions.
Only two did - one father said that it had been a traumatic case, with the Huelin family suffering the most.
After the teenagers were convicted, Morgan's parents paid tribute to their son who was hoping to become a doctor working with needy patients.
left out of a Nine deal to release the program's crew
Australian-British man Adam Whittington has failed to get bail for his involvement in the botched 60 Minutes child abduction attempt.
Whittington has been in a Beirut prison since April 6. Despite high expectations he would be freed on bail on Wednesday lawyer Joe Karam said the process was 'ongoing'.
Deliberations over his release from a Lebanese prison will continue on Thursday when the judge will examine new evidence in the case, his lawyer says.
Judge Rami Abdullah was 'looking into new documentation, new evidence and he will decide when and what to do,' Karam said outside the court.
Australian-British man Adam Whittington has failed to get bail for his involvement in the botched 60 Minutes child abduction attempt
Media wait for the release of Adam Whittington at the Palace of Justice in Beirut, Lebanon
Along with his colleague Craig Michael and two Lebanese men, Khaled Barbour and Mohammed Hamza, Whittington was left out of a Nine Network deal.
The deal resulted in the release on bail of Australian mother Sally Faulkner, whose children were at the heart of the saga, and a 60 Minutes team in Lebanon to film the recovery.
Faulkner, along with Nine Network journalist Tara Brown, producer Stephen Rice, sound recordist David Ballment and cameraman Ben Williamson spent almost two weeks in prison before being released on April 21. They left the country soon after.
They were all arrested soon after they snatched Faulkner's two children - five-year-old Lahela and Noah, three - from a Beirut street in an attempt to 'recover' them from their Lebanese father, Ali Elamine.
Elamine agreed to drop personal charges of kidnap against them in return for what is believed to be a significant payout from Network Nine.
The network had already paid a large sum for the story that aimed to document the recovery of the children after Elamine took them for a three-week holiday to Lebanon in May 2015 and then refused to return them to Faulkner in Australia.
Adam Whittington's lawyer Joe Karam speaks on his phone as he leaves the Palace of Justice, where deliberations over his release are underway
Judge Rami Abdullah was 'looking into new documentation, new evidence and he will decide when and what to do,' Karam said outside the court.
Whittington's lawyer Joe Karam two sets of documents that indicate Nine was a key driver of the botched child abduction plot, paying $A115,000 to Whittington's company for his services.
In an email dated March 16, 2016 to Whittington from a Nine official whose name has been concealed, the news organisation states: 'Our stories are based on our reporter being involved at critical moments and that's how I've been able to get approval here for this story.'
The email also asks Whittington to 'send me an invoice for the final payment of AUD 46,000 as our accounts department needs an invoice to process payments'.
Whittington was left out of a Nine deal to release the program's crew last month
Despite high expectations he would be freed on bail on Wednesday Mr Karam said the process was 'ongoing'
That is in addition to the electronic funds transfer statement from a Network Nine bank account of $A69,000 to an account associated with Whittington's business, Child Abduction Recovery International.
Faulkner's lawyer Ghassan Moughabghab, said today the children's father was continuing to prevent the children from having any contact with their mother, in contravention of the agreement the parents signed last month.
That agreement required Faulkner to give up custody of Lahela and Noah in return for her freedom.
Sir Philip Green's Arcadia group today wrote to MPs to 'correct' evidence given by the pensions regulator
Sir Philip Green has accused the pensions regulator of giving incorrect evidence to MPs about the collapse of BHS.
In a highly unusual move, Adam Goldman, company secretary for Sir Philip's Arcadia Group, has written to the work and pensions committee to insist last year's sale of BHS was clearly outlined to the regulator in advance.
Lesley Titcomb, the chief executive of the watchdog, told MPs on Monday she had first learned of the BHS sale through press reports.
BHS collapsed into administration last month, threatening thousands of jobs and leaving a blackhole in the high street chain's pension fund.
Sir Philip has been fighting accusations he was responsible for 'asset stripping' the chain before selling it and last week wrote another angry letter to committee chairman Frank Field protesting statements made about his him in the press.
The Arcadia letter said on March 4 last year it outlined to the regulator the 'key terms of the proposed sale of BHS... the position of the BHS pension scheme and the plan for the business.'
The letter said the 1 sale of BHS was disclosed to the regulator, as were details of the current position of the BHS pension scheme.
The letter warns the evidence given to MPs has been 'widely reported' before setting out a detailed clarification.
It added: 'There was a suggestion that BHS had been paying dividends up until around 2012. This is wholly inaccurate.'
Arcadia said no dividends had been declared in the past 12 years.
Sir Philip is due to give evidence to the committee next month but no date has been finalised.
Arcadia is Sir Philip's company that owns several brands, including Topshop.
He owned BHS for 15 years then sold it in March last year to Retail Acquisitions, a group of investors, for a nominal sum of 1.
The cost to the Pension Protection Fund of closing the BHS pension scheme deficit would be about 270million based on its 2012 valuation.
A 571million deficit figure has circulated based on what an insurance company would pay if it were to buy out the fund.
The Pensions Regulator is investigating whether BHS's previous owners sought to avoid their obligations and should be pursued for a contribution to make good the deficit.
Ms Titcomb told the committees it had not accepted a 23-year recovery plan for the BHS scheme it received in August 2013.
Pensions regular chief exective Lesley Titcomb said the regulator was in dialogue with the BHS pension scheme when it learned of Retail Acquisition's purchase of BHS through the media
She said it was in dialogue with the scheme when it learned of Retail Acquisition's purchase of BHS through the media. It then immediately launched a formal 'anti-avoidance' inquiry.
Ms Titcomb said the regulator was investigating 'whether any of the parties connected with all of this, of which there are a large number, have walked away from their responsibilities.'
She said she expected the investigation to have made significant progress by the end of 2016.
'A contribution notice can be enforced through the courts in the same way as any other debt can be enforced,' Nicola Parish, the regulator's director of case management, told the committees.
Animal hospitals in Colorado are reporting a troubling trend of increasing marijuana intoxication among dogs, who are unwittingly ingesting edible pot products.
Wheat Ridge Animal Hospital reports treating at least five dogs that have ingested marijuana per day.
Other vets, while not as frequent, say that treatments for 'stoned dogs' have skyrocketed since marijuana was delegalized in Colorado in January 2014.
'We used to see it maybe once or twice a year. Now we see it once or twice a month,' Ted Henderson, a doctor at Fox Hollow Animal Hospital, told KWGN.
Worrying increase: Animal hospitals in Colorado are reporting a troubling trend of marijuana intoxication among dogs who are unwittingly ingesting edible products, such as Cocoa the golden doodle
Large menu: There is a wide variety of edible marijuana products available in Colorado, from cookies and cakes to candies and condiments, such as 'Potella', a weed-infused Nutella
One of the most recent cases treated by Wheat Ridge was Cocoa, a 13-week-old golden doodle who went for a walk with her family through the outdoor amphitheater Red Rocks.
However, upon returning home to Lakewood, the dog was unresponsive.
Her head was just shaking back and forth,' Cocoa's owner Linda Gryski told KWGN.
She kept wobbling and falling over ... I was really nervous she was drying - Owner of dog with marijuana intoxication
'We were trying to get her to walk and she kept wobbling and falling over.'
'We're so attached to her and I was really nervous she was dying.'
Gryski said that doctors at Wheat Ridge recognized the symptoms immediately and asked if she smoked pot.
'They proceeded to ask me several times and I was getting frustrated,' she said, stressing that she did not smoke marijuana.
Doctors then determined that Cocoa must have eaten an unknown amount of marijuana on the walk at Red Rocks, likely from an edible product that had been left at the site.
Sick: Cocoa was taken to the clinic struggling to walk after ingesting some marijuana on a walk at Red Rocks
'We used to see it maybe once or twice a year. Now we see it once or twice a month,' Ted Henderson, a doctor at Fox Hollow Animal Hospital
Doctors treat marijuana intoxication in dogs by administering an IV and letting the animal rest off the drug.
Dogs brought to the vet within four hours of ingesting marijuana can be induced to vomit, however any longer and the drug is too pervasive in the system for vomiting to help.
A similar thing happened to another pet owner, Kate Pinto, who lives in Denver's Highlands community.
Pinto says she came home recently to find her dog, Tembo, out the front of the house drooling 'like a faucet from his mouth'.
Pinto and her roommate took the pup to an emergency veterinarian, who told them Tembo must have consumed a lot of marijuana.
'It was terrifying': Kate Pinto also had to rush her pet dog Tembo (pictured together) to the clinic for marijuana intoxication
Pinto's third roommate denied having marijuana in the home, however once Pinto was better, she walked into the person's room and sniffed out a bag of weed.
The roommate was then asked to move out.
'It was just so terrifying, infuriating and sad,' Pinto told KWGN.
The Georgian army has begun twoweeks of military exercises with the United States and Britain - despite Russia's anger as American tanks rolled into its backyard.
Hundreds of soldiers gathered at the military base of Vaziani - once used by Russia, just outside the capital Tbilisi - for the opening ceremony of the exercise, dubbed 'Noble Partner 2016'.
As the sky filled with paratroopers while some 650 American, 150 British and 500 Georgian soldiers watched on in front of a fleet of tanks, Moscow's anger was almost palpable.
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The two week exercise, which began today, included about 650 U.S. soldiers, 150 British and 500 Georgians
The news of the exercise, called Noble Partner 2016, angered Russia, who said it could destabalise the region
Last week, it said the decision to hold the exercise on its doorstep was 'provocative' and 'aimed at deliberately rocking the military-political situation in the South Caucasus'.
The Russian Foreign Ministry went as far as to accuse the United States - which has also dispatched an entire mechanised company, including eight Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and, for the first time, eight M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks - was indulging the 'revanchist desires of Tbilisi'.
It is a charge which Georgia has strongly denied.
'These exercises are not directed against anyone. There isno trace of provocation,' Georgia's Prime Minister GeorgyKvirikashvili said in a statement.
Georgia's Defence Minister Tina Khidasheli said the drillswere an important event for the South Caucasus republic.
'This is one of the biggest exercises that our country hasever hosted, this is the biggest number of troops on the ground,and the largest concentration of military equipment,' Khidasheli said.
Moscow also accused the United States was indulging the 'revanchist desires of Tbilisi'
Russian forces used to be based at the base where the exercises are being carried out
Russia defeated Georgia in a short war in 2008 over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.
Moscow continues to garrison troops there and to support another breakaway region, Abkhazia.
Russian forces used to be based at the base where the exercises are being carried out until they withdrew atthe start of the last decade under the terms of a European armsreduction agreement.
Russia defeated Georgia in a short war in 2008 over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia. Pictured: U.S. servicemen attend an opening ceremony of U.S. led joint military exercise "Noble Partner 2016"
Moscow continues to garrison troops there and to support another breakaway region, Abkhazia. Pictured: Georgian NRF servicemen take a rest before the official opening ceremony
'The importance of these exercises is to improveinteroperability between Georgia, the United States and theUnited Kingdom. ... It enables us to prepare Georgia'scontribution to a NATO response force,' Colonel JeffreyDickerson, the U.S. director of the exercises, told Reuters.
A Muslim student who was misidentified in her school yearbook as 'Isis' has spoken out to slam her school for claiming it was a typo - and says she is too scared to return after classmates began attacking her on social media for speaking out.
The picture of Bayan Zehlif, an eleventh-grader at Los Osos High School, in Rancho Cucamonga, California, shows her smiling and wearing a hijab.
A caption underneath identifies the 17-year-old as Isis Phillips.
'I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this,' Zehlif wrote on Facebook.
'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.'
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Bayan Zehlif, who was misidentified in her school yearbook as 'Isis', has spoken out to slam Los Osos High School for claiming it was a typo
'I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this,' Zehlif wrote on Facebook
Mat Holton, Chaffey Joint Union High School District superintendent, said in a statement that Zehlif was misidentified as another student with the first name of Isis - a widely-used acronym for the extremist Islamic State group.
The other student, who no longer attends the school, was also misidentified in the yearbook on a facing page, Holton said.
He said an investigation is being conducted.
'The families of both students were immediately contacted and offered a sincere apology,' and another apology was offered at a second meeting Monday with Holton and the school principal, he said.
He said the school noticed the mistake last week, but only after some 300 copies had already been distributed.
Yearbook distribution has been halted until the error is fixed, and those who already received them have been asked to return them.
'The remaining yearbooks will be corrected before the end of the week and distributed to students,' he said.
But Zehlif said that even worse than the mistake was that classmates have been criticizing her for speaking out about it.
Zehlif (pictured) says she finds it coincidental that a Muslim student was misidentified with a name widely associated with a terror group
Zehlif told reporters at a press conference in Anaheim, California, on Monday that she was upset after seeing her picture misidentified in the yearbook, but even more upset by her classmates' reaction to her calling attention to it.
She added that now will not return to the school for the last few days of the year, after she began receiving hateful messages on social media.
Zehlif is not returning to school for now out of fear of a backlash from some of her classmates, but hopes to attend graduation next week as her relatives from Jordan have traveled for the ceremony, she said.
'It makes you forget about all the support you're getting because you know those people, you're supposed to be proud to be one of them, graduating with them - and now I'm scared to even walk,' she said.
A video that circulated on social media, obtained by Fox11, shows students tearing down a poster at the school that declared support for the teenager.
She added that she finds it coincidental that a Muslim student was misidentified with a name widely associated with a terror group.
'For something like that to happen to me and the name Isis to be used for me knowing what it means for Muslims, it really hurt,' she said.
A video that circulated on social media shows students tearing down a poster at the school that declared support for the teenager
Zehlilf says the school has apologized and promised to investigate. But she says she doesn't know if it was a mistake, as officials have told her.
She said she didn't personally know Isis Phillips, but she has heard a girl with that name had attended the school in Rancho Cucamonga. The mix-up occurred on a candid photo, and her class photo lists her name correctly, she said.
Trevor Santellan, a student who worked on the yearbook, said Isis Phillips was a student at the school but had transferred earlier in the year.
The school's yearbook Twitter account issued an apology, saying the mistake was unintentional but 'absolutely inexcusable'.
'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 school's yearbook staff issued an apology on Twitter saying that it was 'absolutely inexcusable'
The school's principal, Susan Petrocelli, apologized for the mistake, writing: 'LOHS is taking every step possible to correct & investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook'
It added that staff should have 'checked each name carefully' and there 'was no intention to create this misunderstanding'.
It added: 'It is our fault and this is absolutely inexcusable on our part.'
The school's principal, Susan Petrocelli, added on Twitter: 'LOHS is taking every step possible to correct & investigate a regrettable misprint discovered in the yearbook. We sincerely apologize.'
Meanwhile, The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged an investigation into the incident that 'deeply embarrassed' Zehlif and her family.
'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,' Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of CAIR's Los Angeles office, said in a statement.
'No student should have to face the humiliation of being associated with a group as reprehensible as ISIS.'
Police are searching for a young student who went missing after visiting a church in Sydney on Sunday afternoon.
Zhejuan Huang, also known as Janice, was last seen about 4pm at St Barnabas Anglican Church on Broadway, in Sydney's inner south-west.
The 23-year-old Chinese student has not been seen since.
Police are searching for Zhejuan Huang (pictured), also known as Janice, who went missing after visiting a church in Sydney on Sunday afternoon
'Police hold concerns for her welfare,' a NSW Police statement read.
'Her home in Ultimo has been searched by police, and officers from Sydney City Local Area Command are continuing to conduct inquiries into her whereabouts.'
Police also called for anyone with information about Ms Huang's disappearance to come forward.
Missing author Helen Bailey's partner Ian Stewart (pictured with her, right) issued a poignant plea begging her to come home
The partner and brother of missing author Helen Bailey have pleaded for her to get in contact a month after she vanished.
Ms Bailey, 51, who is best known for her Electra Brown and Daisy Davenport books for teenagers, disappeared from her home in Royston, Hertfordshire, after leaving a note saying she needed time alone.
Today, exactly one month after she was last seen walking her brown miniature dachshund Boris on Monday, April 11 her partner Ian Stewart and brother John Bailey put out heartfelt appeals asking the author to contact them.
In a message, computer software expert Mr Stewart, 55, wrote: 'Helen wherever you might be I hope you hear this message and listen carefully.
'We miss you and Boris so much. We are shattered in so many ways. Your Mum, Dad, John, Tracey, the lads and me plus so many others all need you. You bring so much to so many people in ways you don't even realise.
'You not only mended my heart five years ago but made it bigger, stronger and kinder. Together we learnt to live with our grief and move forward with our lives but never forgetting. Now it feels like my heart doesn't even exist. Our plans are nowhere near complete and without you there is no point.
'We promised each other 30 years please keep that promise and come home. Whatever has happened, wherever you are I will come and get you and Boris and give you whatever you need.
'Love you more. Ian.'
Police said there had been no sightings of Ms Bailey in four weeks, her bank account has not been accessed and her car was left at her home.
Appeal: Helen Bailey's brother John, pictured today, pleaded with his sister to make contact with the family
Note: Author Ms Bailey, pictured, left a message before she disappeared, saying she 'needed space'
Officers have carried out specialist searches of the area near to her 1.3 million home which she shares with Mr Stewart.
Detectives say there her disappearance is 'perplexing' as there is very little evidence to show her mystery was pre-planned or spontaneous.
Mr Bailey also appealed to his sister to make contact and let her family know she is safe. The note left for Mr Stewart said she was going to their holiday home in Kent - but after four days of no news or evidence that she went there, she was reported missing.
'I can't believe it's been a month since my sister Helen disappeared,' he said in a press conference at Hitchin Police Station.
'As you can imagine this has been an extremely difficult time for our family and as more time passes since she was last seen, the more concerned we become.
'As you know there is little information for the police to work on. We are all so worried.
'If anyone has any information concerning my sister, where my sister may be, I would urge you to call the police.
'I would also ask Helen, Helen if you see or read this appeal please let someone know you are ok.
Ms Bailey was last seen walking her brown miniature dachshund Boris (pictured) on Monday, April 11
Her brother John Bailey (left) also put out a heartfelt appeal asking the author to contact her family
'I know you had said that you wanted some time and space, and we don't want to intrude on that unless you want us to.
'We will do anything you want us to. All we need is for some information that you are ok.
'Even if that comes from someone you know and trust. Please let someone know.'
The best-selling author tragically lost her husband of 22 years, John Sinfield, when he drowned in an accident in 2011 in Barbados. She wrote about the grief in a blog, Planet Grief, which was later turned into a book called Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis.
She has since suffered from depression, but detectives said Ms Bailey has not gone missing before and that her disappearance was out of the ordinary.
Hours of CCTV footage are being studied in the hope of spotting her and potentially finding clues as to where she could be.
Detective Chief Inspector Julie Wheatley of Hertfordshire Police said: 'I think it is safe to say we are more concerned that the amount of time that has passed with absolutely nothing to go on - it is concerning.
'But I echo what John's said. It is everyone's right to a private life. If Helen has decided for whatever reason that she wanted to have some time to herself - we'll respect that, that's absolutely fine.
The best-selling author tragically lost her husband of 22 years, John Sinfield, when he drowned in an accident in 2011 in Barbados
Ms Bailey, 51, who is best known for her Electra Brown and Daisy Davenport books, disappeared from her home in Royston, Hertfordshire (pictured), after leaving a note saying she needed time alone
'We are just concerned, and her family are really concerned, regarding her safety. And that is my appeal to Helen direct.
'We respect your privacy Helen, please just let us know that you're safe and well and normal service will be resumed.'
Officers looking for the author have even searched septic tanks and have told people to check sheds and outbuildings.
This afternoon police will be out in Royston handing out leaflets and speaking with people in the area to see if they have any information which could assist the investigation.
CI Wheatley added: 'Whilst this very much remains a missing person's inquiry at this time understandably as the days and weeks pass we and Helen's family and friends are becoming increasingly concerned for her welfare.
'There is no evidence at this time to say she left the North Herts area however, we are of course keeping an open mind as to her whereabouts, particularly as she said she wanted some time to herself and has links to Broadstairs in Kent and Northumberland.
'We are grateful to the media for their support in covering our appeals so far. I would also like to thank the public for their support in reporting information. If you know of anything which can assist officers to find Helen please don't hesitate to call 101.'
Ms Bailey is described as slim, with long black hair but it is not known what she was wearing at the time she went missing but is believed she had her handbag with her.
Ben Butler, accused of murdering his daughter, went out looking for trouble, a psychologist said
The father accused of beating to death six-year-old Ellie Butler admitted looking out for fights as a way to 'improve his mood', a court heard.
Ben Butler is on trial at the Old Bailey accused of murdering his daughter in October 2013, 11 months after winning a custody battle to get her back from care.
The prosecution say Butler was a volatile character and was frequently on the verge of losing his temper.
The court today heard how psychologist Dr Tim Green interviewed Butler over four hours to compile a report after Butler pleading guilty to carrying out an assault on a man in Kingston upon Thames.
In the early hours of April 17 2004, he had punched Mark Evans in the face believing the victim had attacked a friend of his in a nightclub.
Prosecutor Ed Brown QC read sections of the report in which Dr Green noted Butler was 'co-operative' and answered questions 'frankly'.
Dr Green wrote: 'He stated that he had in the past hoped that situations might present themselves where he could engage in violence.
'He believed that violence could help him improve his mood when he was upset. Historically he would become angry and punch people.
'He was adamant he had never hit anybody without a reason. He also said at times he would find it difficult to control his violence when he felt humiliated or was made fun of.
'Mr Butler stated he believed he would continue to hit out at other men when he felt he has been threatened. This is more likely when his mood is low which happens about two or three times a week.'
Butler is accused of murdering Ellie, pictured, in a fit of rage at their home in Sutton, south London
The prosecution cite abusive text messages to his partner Jennie Gray, 36, in which he appears enraged and on the brink of violence.
The court has heard he had a string of convictions for assault, including two attacks on his ex-girlfriend in public, all of which he admitted.
Jurors were told Dr Green was unable to give evidence in the Old Bailey murder trial because he is 'gravely ill' in hospital.
Butler, 36, formerly of Sutton, denies murder and child cruelty. Ellie's mother, Gray, admits perverting the course of justice but denies child cruelty.
Their trial continues.
Italy's parliament has given the green light to the introduction of gay civil unions, becoming the last major Western country to legally recognise same-sex relationships.
The Roman Catholic Church has strongly opposed the legislation and in January tens of thousands of protesters packed a square in central Rome to demonstrate against the laws.
But Italy's left-wing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has said it is a key issue for equality and he said on Facebook before the vote on Wednesday that it was a 'day of celebration'.
Earlier this year tens of thousands of people, many of them holding flags reading 'No to civil unions', protested (pictured) against the proposed law in Rome
Politicians in the Chamber of Deputies voted 369-193 in favour of a vote of confidence in Mr Renzi's government, which makes final approval of the civil unions bill automatic.
The bill itself is expected to be passed later today.
Although the legislation has been hailed as a civil rights landmark there has been criticism by some gay rights groups who say it still does not give homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual couples in regards to issues like adoption.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said: 'We are writing another important page of the Italy we want'
Mr Renzi said: 'Today is a day of celebration for so many people. We are writing another important page of the Italy we want.'
He said it was 'no longer acceptable to have any more delays after years of failed attempts'.
A clause which would have allowed gay couples the right to adopt their partner's biological children was dropped at the last minute.
Family judges will instead decide on a case-by-case basis.
Massimo Gandolfini, an opponent of the legislation, told supporters in January: 'A man and a woman form a marriage. The others are alchemy.'
Mr Renzi leads a coalition government and two ministers in his Cabinet, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano and Environment Minister Gian Luca Galletti, have been out of line on the issue.
Mr Alfano has opposed civil unions altogether while Mr Galletti said he supported civil unions but not the so-called 'step-child adoption' clause.
One Illinois couple's dream to get married in Jamaica was crushed when the bride-to-be was suddenly diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, and advised to consider hospice care.
But Destini Schafer and Brandon Thomas got the surprise of a lifetime when one loving nurse planned a wedding with 50 of the couple's closest family and friends - in just five days time.
Schafer, 24, was devastated when doctors at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield told her she was too weak for chemotherapy.
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Destini Schafer, 24, and Brandon Thomas, 31, were surprised with a wedding just two weeks after the mother-of-three was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer
The couple had called off plans to elope in Jamaica after Schafer's diagnosis. Pictured is Schafer with Thomas' daughter Nyna at the Memorial Medical Center in Springfield, Illinois
The mother-of-three revealed to her nurse, Ashley Shipley-Lovekamp, that she and Thomas, 31, had decided not to go through with a wedding after all.
But Shipley-Lovekamp had other plans and, with the help of the other nurses on the oncology floor, she made them happen fast.
The sandy beaches of Jamaica was traded for the hospital's courtyard, where flower petals dotted the makeshift aisle and streamers were threaded across the borrowed chairs on May 6.
Another nurse on the floor altered the dress Schafer had chosen for herself, while the tuxedos, rings and bridesmaid dresses were donated by local businesses.
Shipley-Lovekamp began planning the wedding last Monday. By that Friday, Schafer was walking down the aisle.
'Everyone should get the wedding they deserve,' Shipley-Lovekamp told The State Journal-Register.
Schafer and Thomas share their first kiss and walk down the aisle after saying 'I do'
Schafer and Thomas, who have an eight-month-old son together, walk down the aisle together after exchanging their vows
Schafer's nurse, Ashley Shipley-Lovekamp, came up with the idea and quickly planned the wedding in the hospital's courtyard (pictured) with 50 of the couple's closest family and friends
Schafer's son Jacob, 6, proudly served as ring bearer for the ceremony
The couple's children from previous relationships, Schafer's son Jacob, 6, and daughter Bella, 3, and Brandon's daughter Nyna, served as the flower girls and ring bearer for the occasion.
A cream and green wedding cake with pink flowers was waiting for the couple to cut at the reception, where the couple happily cuddled their newborn son, eight-month-old Noah.
Schafer and Thomas couldn't believe how above and beyond the nurses went to give them a wedding that they said was better than Jamaica ever could have been.
'You never would have expected them to go out of their way like that,' Thomas told the paper. 'The nurses are just awesome and really here for her.'
Schafer and Thomas couldn't believe how above and beyond the nurses (pictured left is Brenda Hagemann, right is Shipley-Lovekamp) went to give them the wedding of their dreams
Jacob, Nyna and Bella, 3, happily smile at the reception on their parents' wedding day
Schafer, pictured left with Thomas before the garter toss and right with her husband and attendees at the ceremony, called the wedding the 'best day' she has had since her diagnosis
'Today is the best day I've had since my diagnosis,' Schafer said. 'I can't begin to describe how thankful I am.'
And it seems a wedding was just what the doctor needed to order. Schafer's health has improved 'ten-fold' since the ceremony.
'You could tell her spirits were definitely lifted after that,' Thomas said.
Just five days after she said 'I do', Schafer found out she was strong enough for chemotherapy.
The couple is looking forward, planning a benefits concert and setting up a GoFundMe page for the family.
But now Schafer will always have the beautiful memories of her wedding day to look back on.
It seems a wedding was just what the doctor needed to order. Schafer's health has improved 'ten-fold' since the ceremony
Woody Allen, who famously married his own step-daughter 35 years his junior, has called a potential love story involving a younger man and an older woman 'a comic idea' as he dodged questions about age-gap love at this week's Cannes Film Festival.
The 80-year-old spoke on the subject as he unveiled his new film Cafe Society, which - in true Woody Allen-tradition - features a love story between a young woman and a powerful older man.
When asked about why he keeps returning to the same storyline of young, beautiful women falling for older men, he claimed not to understand the question, blaming his hearing aids.
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Woody Allen has called a potential love story involving a younger man and an older woman 'a comic idea'
Allen, 80, is married to Soon-Yi Previn, 45, his ex-partner Mia Farrow's adoptive daughter and sister to his biological children Dylan and Ronan Farrow.
The couple began a relationship when Soon-Yi was just 21 years old, and the couple now have two adopted daughters of their own.
During Wednesday's press preview and Q&A session of Cafe Society, starring Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively and Jessie Eisenberg, he was asked about issues of love and age differences.
Allen managed to dodge a question about why he always returns to the storyline of a younger woman and older man, or affairs ruining a marriage by claiming he could not understand the journalist's question.
'What did she say? You know I have hearing aids and I put the microphone over my hearing aids to give me a double shot and it's still not working,' said Allen.
Allen promotes Cafe Society - which features a love story between a young woman and an older man - with castmembers Kristen Stewart Blake Lively, Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stoll at the 69th Cannes Film Festival
Still going strong: Woody and wife Soon-Yi previn in July at the premiere of his film Irrational Man. The pair are now parents of two teenage daughters
Back in the day: Allen and Ronan's sister Soon-Yi Previn shortly after they began dating in 1993
Allen was asked if he would ever consider switching the roles, and said he would not rule it out, but claimed he had no experience of such a love - before going on to talk of his unrequited love of an older woman.
'I wouldn't hesitate to do that if I had a good idea for a story with a 50-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man. It's a perfectly valid comic idea,' said the 80-year-old, drawing a few awkward laughs.
'I just don't have any material on it, anything really to draw on. I wouldn't hesitate if I had a good story,' added Allen.
However despite claiming he had 'no experience' in the matter, Allen, proceeded to tell what some might argue was a good story, based on his own experience.
'When I was 30 years old I had a big crush on a 50-year-old who was great looking and beautiful, but she was married and wouldn't go near me with a 10-foot pole. These things happen all the time.'
As Cafe Society premiered at the 69th Cannes Film Festival his son Ronan Farrow published a scathing essay questioning the festival's and the media's continued embrace of Allen.
A delusional mother who pretended to be a doctor and stole medical equipment has been banned from every hospital in Britain.
Sarah Caine presented herself as an experienced medic and took surgical scrubs, saline solution and other items from the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, Hertfordshire.
After admitting the offences of theft and imitating a doctor, magistrates imposed a ban which prevents the 30-year-old from entering a hospital except for medical emergencies.
She is also banned from contacting any employee of Lister Hospital and may not own or purchase any medical uniforms or clothing.
Fake: Sarah Caine has been banned from hospitals after she pretended to be a doctor
Stevenage magistrates' court hear that Caine had posed as a doctor at her local hospital twice in January this year.
Police later found she had taken surgical scrubs, bandages, syringes, saline, cannula equipment, blood culture bottles, three blood bottles, two disposable tourniquets and blank hospital forms.
Caine, who is not believed to have any medical qualifications, has written on Twitter about her ambitions to become a doctor.
She posted in 2014: 'What sort of doctor do I want to be, gynaecologist which I got more experience or emergency medicine which seems more of a challenge?'
Hospital: A court heard that Caine stole equipment from the Lister Hospital in Stevenage, pictured
A close friend described her as a 'Walter Mitty' character who had often boasted of being a doctor even though it was not true.
'I think she just wanted people to think she was a doctor to make herself look better,' the friend said. 'She liked to think she was better than everyone else.
'She didn't say what kind of doctor she was. I used to question her but she would never give me an answer.
'She said she was a doctor despite never studying for it. As far as I know she hasn't even got GCSEs.'
Message: She posted this tweet suggesting that she was studying to become a doctor
The woman, who did not want to be named, met Caine when both of their children were being treated at Lister Hospital and bonded on the ward.
Caine was released on conditional bail ahead of sentencing next month, when she was warned she could face jail.
Following the hearing, a spokesman for East and North Herts NHS Trust said: 'The trust is aware that Ms Caine has pleaded guilty to several very serious charges, including attempting to impersonate a doctor.
Queen guitarist Brian May says he and wife Anita Dobson are being forced out of his London home after neighbours' mega-basement plans turned their street into a 'hellhole'
Queen guitarist Brian May has claimed he is being forced out of his London home after his neighbours' mega-basement plans turned his street into a 'hellhole'.
The musician has hit out at residents in his plush neighbourhood in Kensington, west London, for blighting the area with noise and causing 'unbearable disruption' to his quality of life.
In an open letter to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, May writes that over the past decade his 'oasis' has been shattered by the 'unreasonable' building schemes.
He says the use of piling rigs, massive removal of earth and deployment of huge machinery has resulted in intolerable noise, dust, polluting fumes and a loss of privacy.
The guitarist highlights examples of underground extensions in his street, and says he anticipates more proposals will follow.
A series of posts on his website detail the 'misery' and 'stress' he and his wife Anita Dobson, along with their neighbours, have endured for almost a decade.
In a post called 'Basement Building Hell can Kill You' - an apparent play on the title of his solo release, Too Much Love Will Kill You - May says the renovations have left 'anger inside me, frustration, feelings of being abused'.
'And although I've occasionally let out a cry of something like 'Basement Building B*******', mostly this feeling of powerlessness in the face of an enemy that hides behind planning permissions has been bottled up.'
May suggests that by granting planning permission for individuals to build basements, the council is ignoring the well-being of other residents.
The musician asks the council to refuse all future planning applications, adding: 'In the coming months, I will not be backing off an inch in the fight against the Basement Building Barbarians.
'I will be battling on, for Common Decency, and the quality of life of the remaining residents.
'But I may do it from a home where I don't wake up to being persecuted every day of the week.'
May said the leafy borough of Kensington (pictured) had become a 'hellhole' due to the amount of building work
May explains that after working hard to buy the home he dreamed of one day owning, he and Dobson are now planning to leave London, having reached 'breaking point'.
'Anticipating permission for these new basements to be constructed, we are now planning to sell up, quitting Kensington entirely, and to move out of London,' he said.
The musician says the use of piling rigs, massive removal of earth and deployment of huge machinery has resulted in intolerable noise, dust, polluting fumes and a loss of privacy
'Its a massive disruption, and one weve been trying for years to avoid, but were now at breaking point.'
May added: 'Kensington truly has become a Hellhole. You only have to walk around it to see.
'We will now be seeing more and more decent people quitting in disgust, in search of a decent place to live.'
Citing noise made by lorries in the area reversing, he continued: 'We have allowed our entire environment to become toxic hazardous to our quality of life.'
On Tuesday the council said it has the 'toughest basement development policy in the country' thanks to new powers ensuring that all basements must receive planning permission.
Until recently, homeowners in Kensington and Chelsea had freedoms from central Government known as 'permitted development rights' which allowed them to build a basement under the footprint of their home without applying for planning permission.
Last April the council made 'an Article 4 Direction' which came into effect last month and now all basements have to go down the planning permission route.
Councillor Tim Coleridge, the Royal Borough's Cabinet Member for Planning Policy, said: 'To ensure that all future basement development conforms with that policy, we needed this Article 4 Direction.
At least 40 criminals with a 'lengthy criminal history' will be
Violent criminals will be released from jail to visit shopping centres and go on picnics under a new NSW corrections scheme.
Inmates, including rapists, drug addicts and people suffering from mental health issues will be allowed out of prison 12 months before their release for day trips supervised by volunteers,The Daily Telegraph reports.
At least 40 criminals with a 'lengthy criminal history' will be allowed out each year under the plan.
Violent prisoners at Long Bay Correctional Centre (pictured) in Sydney could be released into the community for day trips supervised by volunteers
The $1.3 million Volunteer Mentoring Scheme will see inmates travel on public transport and 'attend an approved pro-social activity eg visit a shopping centre, picnic, fishing', according to a tender document obtained by the paper.
They will be supervised by an approved sponsor and not necessarily corrections staff.
Non-governmental organisations are being invited to take part in program.
Under the plan, inmates that have been 'convicted of a sexual and/or violent offence', attracted media attention, and 'demonstrate impulsive and pro-criminal thinking' will all be eligible.
Offenders that have mental health issues and drug dependency will also qualify.
Inmates, including rapists, drug addicts and people suffering from mental health issues will be allowed out of prison 12 months before their release
The Daily Telegraph reports that the program will focus on correctional facilities in Hunter, Greater Western Sydney and South Coast areas.
It will include Silverwater, Long Bay, Emu Plains, Nowra and Cessnock correctional facilities.
The program has been attacked by Opposition Corrective Services spokesman Guy Zangar, who said the public had the right to expect inmates will be supervised by prison staff.
Minister for Corrections David Elliott said day parole programs were not new, and the only change under the scheme was the use of volunteers.
At least 40 criminals imprisoned in NSW jails, including Cessnock, will be allowed out each year
Donald Trump may no longer be the only pol doling out nicknames as Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi bestowed one on the presumptive Republican nominee via a slip of the tongue.
'But our purpose here today, and we can do it better in a non-official setting, is to show you a split screen of what Ronald ... of what Donald ... I think of him as Ronald McDonald, I don't know why,' the former House Speaker said during a Capitol Hill press conference aimed at linking Trump's rhetoric to the words of the House GOP as well.
Ronald McDonald is the mascot for the McDonald's fast food chain. And is a clown.
Pelosi and four other top Democrats took turns quoting House Republicans and comparing their comments to those of Trump, who will make an appearance tomorrow in Washington and meet with House Speaker Paul Ryan who has sporadically condemned The Donald's remarks.
'Today we gather to ask, "Since when?"' said Pelosi, taking the podium. 'Since when have the House Republicans been so concerned about intolerant statements and discriminatory ideas?'
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi led a press conference where she accidentally gave Donald Trump a new nickname and hammered the House GOP for being just as 'intolerant' as the presumptive nominee
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was joined by four Democratic House leaders and they took turns quoting members of the House GOP comparing their statements to those made by Donald Trump
Last week, Ryan who has spent his speakership thus far trying to preach about a more polite politics said he was not yet ready to back Trump, leading to the scheduling of the meeting.
One reporter asked Pelosi if it wasn't a good sign that Ryan was trying to draw a contrast with some of the more eye-brow raising things Trump has said on the campaign trail.
'And our position is: 'Why?" Pelosi replied. 'They never said boo, they never said boo, when their members were saying this every day.'
'So our point is, what is happening in this campaign is that Donald Trump has pulled back the veil,' she continued.
'What is said is what they say and now people can see the connection between them,' the former House Speaker added. 'Unless the Republican leadership is going to be as critical of their own members for what they say as they are of Donald Trump, it's all a show.'
Pelosi, along with Reps. Steny Hoyer, Jim Clyburn, Xavier Becerra and James Crowley, all members of the House Democratic leadership, took turns giving examples of comments the Republicans have made, including Rep. Joe Wilson's famous 'you lie' during the State of the Union and Rep. Steve King's 'calves the size of cantaloupes' aimed at immigrants coming from Mexico and south.
Clyburn linked Republicans' plotting against the Obama presidency to Trump's involvement in the 'birther' movement, which has started to become an issue on the campaign trail, with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders hammering The Donald on it last night.
'On the evening of [Obama's] inauguration, [Republicans] met at a local restaurant to plot their program of undercutting and undermining his authority as president of the United States and, as if on cue, Donald Trump picked up his efforts to lead the birther movement,' Clyburn pointed out.
'But he didn't stop with just the birth certificate. He began to raise issue with the president's college transcripts as if not only to delegitimize him as president, but to devalue him as a human being,' Clyburn continued.
The Democrats also played a video of some of what they considered to be the most heinous quotes.
Pelosi claimed that some of the rhetoric is far worse, but since they held today's presser on Capitol Hill they were barred from showing material Republican candidates had used on the campaign trail.
There's 'not a dime's worth of difference,' she said, between her GOP House peers and their presumptive nominee.
'They appear to be shocked by their candidate,' she said.
'My point has been since when?' she repeated.
'Since when has the Republican leadership in this House been appalled by anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, anti-Barack Obama, anti-woman comments made by their members?' she mused.
A family including three children have been burned alive as punishment for trying to flee from ISIS held territory.
The children and their parents were reportedly set on fire in public in Riyadh district 25 miles south west of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.
They had been accused of trying to flee the area amid fierce fighting as Iraqi forces attempt to retake Mosul to the city's north west.
There are reports that the five family members were doused in fuel before being set on fire.
A family including three children have been burned alive as punishment for trying to flee from ISIS held territory (file picture)
It comes on the same day that it was revealed ISIS had buried 35 of its fighters alive after they fled the battlefield in northern Iraq
The men were fighting Iraqi government forces near the village of Bashir, 12 miles south of Kirkuk on May 1, AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA) reported.
But they were sentenced to death by ISIS leaders after they deserted and the terrorist group lost control of the village.
The men were buried alive on the outskirts of Qayyarah, about 35 miles south of Mosul, ABNA reports.
ISIS IN LIBYA FORCE MAN TO DIG HIS OWN GRAVE BEFORE EXECUTING HIM ISIS has released a brutal new execution video showing a man being forced to dig his own grave moments before he is shot dead. Pictures show the prisoner dressed in an orange jump suit standing in a hole and holding a shovel at Cyrenaica in Libya. ISIS has released a brutal new execution video showing a man being forced to dig his own grave moments before he is shot dead. Brutal: The killing was one of three shown in a gruesome video released by the terror group A masked ISIS executioner then opens fire and the man falls to the ground in the grave. The killing was one of three shown in a gruesome video released by the terror group. A second man is shot at close range after making an apparent confession while a third is beheaded. It is not yet clear what crimes they were accused of committing.
ISIS has had several defeats in northern Iraq in recent weeks, most recently on Monday when Iraqi forces retook Kabrouk, about 60 miles from Bashir.
In March, Iraq's military opened a new front against themilitants in the Makhmour area and called it the first phaseof a wider campaign to liberate Mosul, about 40 miles further north.
But progress has been slow, and to date Iraqiforces have taken just five villages.
A promotional stunt for Portland indie rock band Yacht, in which the duo pretended to suffer a sex tape leak, has left their fans horrified and disgusted - with many saying they're making light of real victims of 'revenge porn.'
The band's stars, Jona Bechtolt, 35, and Claire L Evans, 31, claimed on their Facebook account Monday that they had become romantically involved, and that a sex tape they had made was being sold online.
They even made a website where people could 'buy' the video. But on Tuesday the fake video was posted on Pornhub and the leak was revealed to be a hoax - outraging their fans, The Washington Post reported.
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Fake: Claire L Evans (left) and Jona Bechtolt (right), aka Portland band Yachts, claimed Monday that their sex tape had been leaked and they were taking control by selling it to fans - but it was all a lie to promote the band
Sex tape: The band later released the 'sex tape' (pictured) on Pornhub. It features no actual sex. Instead, the pair pose for the giggle and kiss while filming themselves before undergoing a weird transformation
Satire: Towards the end, the pair remove their skins and reveal themselves to be aliens who engage in slimy simulated 'sex.' The video was intended to satirize the 'trope' of celebrity sex videos, the band said
In their original post on Monday Bechtolt and Evans announced that they had been 'romantic and artistic partners' since 2006, and they had recorded a sex tape that had been released by a 'morally abject person.'
Describing the release of the tape as 'a true and humiliating blurring of the public and private,' they said the disclosure of their 'unconventional' lovemaking preferences was 'not a delicious scandal' but 'an exploitation.'
Fans clamored to offer support and encouragement to the pair, who have released four albums as Yacht since 2007 - Bechtolt had previously released two solo albums under the name.
In a second post three hours later, they put a link to a website that offered the video in exchange for credit card information.
They claimed that they had decided to 'take ownership' of the video since it was 'out there now,' and told fans that if they had to see it, they could at least pay the band. The band later said credit cards were never charged.
And when the video was revealed to be a prank, they uploaded it to be viewed for free on the porn sharing site Pornhub.
It features around two minutes of the pair posing, giggling and kissing, before pulling off their skin to reveal that they are aliens, and engaging in gruesome, slimy parodies of sexual acts. It currently has 95,637 views logged.
Fans were appalled when the band's prank was revealed as an 'exploration of the intersection of privacy, media, and celebrity.'
'I CERTAINLY won't be buying anymore of your music,' Trillain Patrick commented on their initial Facebook post. I felt sad for you both yesterday, and today I say f*** you both and anyone who approved this.'
That comment - one of 424 - had 214 likes.
'Love and respect': The band described the fake leak as 'exploitation' - which is what many fans felt about the stunt after the truth was revealed
'Gross': This fan, who had previously posted in support when he believed they were victims, instead said that what the band had done was 'pretty f******* gross'
'Disturbing': This former fan has sworn off Yachts' music saying the stunt undermined 'thousands of people who had their lives completely ruined by having a sex tape or nude photos leak'
Unexpected: The video is reminiscent of real leaked sex tapes that resulted in upset victims - a connection that the band said they did not expect. They claimed they only expected 'skepticism and laughter' from fans
Spooky: The band said they were inspired by 'The X-Files' as much as celebrity sex videos
Brandon Skjefte, who had previously said 'muuuuch respeck! own ur art own yrselves!' when they gave the link to the 'video,' later said: 'Pretty f******* gross the lengths you went to just for PR. All the while exploiting real victims.
'I've been a fan since "Psychic City" but honestly you're losing fans on this one. I appreciate the thoughts provoked but don't lie to your fans and expect them to remain fans.'
And Blaine Richard complained: 'This is horrifically distributing that you think faking a revenge porn sex tape is in any way acceptable.
'How many teenage tape victims have committed suicide because of revenge porn? And non consensual release of pornographic material?'
He concluded: 'No matter your reasons, you're clearly both self centered egotistical psychopaths.'
In a statement on the band's video download page (note that the URL of the page includes a swear word), the band said it didn't 'anticipate the outpouring of genuine support' and had intended to only provoke 'skepticism and laughter.'
The band also said that it was parodying the 'cultural trope' of the celebrity sex tape, and not revenge porn, which it described as 'unfunny, disgusting, morally repugnant, and completely unrelated.'
However, the band never apologized for the video, and only promised to 'try much harder' to 'fool' their fans.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday that the 'bruising' Republican primary season has left his party in desperate need of unity, but welcomed Donald Trump as just another voice in a 'big tent party.'
The two men will meet Thursday in Washington, days after Trump said he doesn't need the entire GOP in lockstep behind him in order to beat Hillary Clinton in November.
'Does it have to be unified?' Trump asked Sunday on ABC's 'This Week' program. 'I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office. I actually don't think so.'
Ryan, though, is embracing the role of peacemaker in order to hold his coalition of moderates and tea partiers together in an atmosphere of distrust and acrimony.
'To pretend we're unified as a party after coming through a very bruising primary, which just ended like a week ago if we pretend to be unified without unifying, we go into the fall at half-strength. This election's too important,' Ryan told reporters at the U.S. Capitol.
TIME FOR PEACE? House Speaker Paul Ryan said ahead of a meeting with Donald Trump that the Republican Party needs to find a way to unify behind the billionaire
VICIOUS CYCLE: Trump beat 16 challengers in a 'bruising' primary, Ryan said, requiring 'a lot of work' to rebuild all the burned bridges left in the contest's wake
'We need a real unification of our party,' he said, 'which, you know look, after a tough primary that's going to take some effort.'
Trump said Wednesday morning on the Fox News Channel's 'Fox and Friends' that he expects smooth sailing but is prepared to be disappointed.
'I think I'm doing very fine with Paul Ryan. I have a lot of respect for Paul Ryan,' he said.
'We're going to have a meeting tomorrow, we'll see what happens. If we make a deal, that will be great. And if we don't, we will trench forward like I've been doing and winning, you know, all the time.'
Ryan revealed Wednesday afternoon that he has only had two contacts with Trump in the past: a brief meeting in 2012 and a phone call two months ago.
But he remains confident that the Republican Party can absorb the billionaire's sometimes belligerent brand of populism that doesn't always agree with the congressional Republican conferences.
'This is a big tent party,' Ryan emphasized. 'There is plenty of room for different policy disputes in this party.'
'We come from different wings of the party. The goal here is to unify various wings of the party around common principles.'
WHO NEEDS IT? Trump said Sunday that if the GOP doesn't fall in line behind him, he can win anyway
That won't be easy, he predicted.
'We just finished one of the most grueling primaries in modern history,' Ryan reiterated. 'It's going to take some work, and that's the kind of work we're dedicated to doing.'
He also said confirmed that he has spoken with Ben Carson, now a Trump surrogate after failing to upend him in the primary season.
'Ben Carson's a great guy,' said Ryan. 'And Ben Carson is just trying to provide a constructive role to help.'
'He wants to be a force to help all the various wings of the Republican party, the conservative movement, to come together. He's trying to play a constructive role.'
Carson spoke on the phone with Ryan Tuesday night, hinting to The Washington Post afterward that he expects to see a Trump endorsement from the speaker at some point after the two strong-willed leaders sit down together..
Asked about the possibility that there won't be an endorsement in the works, Carson said: 'If that's his decision I'd respect that.'
The man suspected of killing two teenagers and a young child more than 20 years ago allegedly confessed to the still-unsolved murders when speaking to another prisoners, court transcripts reveal.
Jay Hart, who has previously been linked to the disappearances and deaths of Colleen Walker-Craig, 16, Clinton Speedy-Duroux, 16, and Evelyn Greenup, four in Bowraville, NSW, allegedly described the killings of two people to a fellow inmate while he awaited trial, The Australian reports.
Transcripts from a 2004 hearing into the deaths include testimony from another person, identified as 'Witness X', who claimed Mr Hart explained how he killed Mr Speedy-Duroux and dumped his body.
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Jay Hart (pictured), the man suspected of killing two teenagers and a young child more than 20 years ago allegedly confessed to the still-unsolved murders when speaking to another prisoners, court transcripts reveal
'Clinton had pulled a knife on him and he took the knife off him and, yes, he dealt with it gave it to him about the head,' the transcript reads, according to the newspaper.
The transcripts go on to say Mr Hart allegedly explained how he wrapped his victim's body in a blanket and dumped him in a 'marijuana patch'.
Mr Speedy-Duroux's body was found near field where marijuana was grown just outside Bowraville.
According to The Australian, 'Witness X' also told the hearing Mr Hart spoke about a young girl who died from having her head 'smashed against a wall', and a '15, 16-year-old white girl (a) young girl. Woolgoolga. Maclean, something or other.'
Clinton Speedy-Duroux (pictured), 16, and Evelyn Greenup (pictured) went missing outside Bowraville in NSW more than 20 year ago
Colleen Walker-Craig, 16, also went missing and her body has still not been found
Evelyn died from head injuries she suffered, while Ms Walker-Craig had planned to travel to Wollgoolga the night she disappeared.
The information will be presented by NSW Police in a submission calling for Mr Hart's to face a re-trial.
The three people disappeared over several months between 1990 and 1991.
Police officers around the world have been filmed performing their best moves in creative renditions of the 'Running Man' challenge - but not everyone is charmed by the craze with many taking to the internet to express their scorn.
The phenomenon began in New Zealand after their police force challenged other departments earlier this month to film their dancing skills to Ghost Town DJs track My Boo.
It was taken up by police in New South Wales and Northern Territory as well as Western Australian Police and Southern Australian Police before racing to the other side of the world to the UK.
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Busting a move: The phenomenon began in New Zealand after their police force challenged other departments earlier this month to film their dancing skills to Ghost Town DJs track My Boo
Getting in the groove: Officers took to the world-famous promenade in Blackpool to perform a combination of arm waving and twirls for the 'Running Man' dance routine on the seaside town's comedy carpet
Kingston Police and Scotland Police picked up the gauntlet, and now Lancashire Police have too.
Officers took to the world-famous promenade in Blackpool to perform a combination of arm waving and twirls for the 'Running Man' dance routine on the seaside town's comedy carpet.
The video starts with six cops disembarking from a blue A-team-styled van to drum music and then break into a choreographed routine to My Boo.
However many people are horrified that the police are wasting their time and taxpayer's money with the frivolous activity and have taken to social media to express their outrage.
Having fun: However many people are horrified that the police are wasting their time and taxpayer's money with the frivolous activity and have taken to social media to express their outrage
Larking around: Scottish police have entered a high stakes international dance competition - by doing the 'running man' in front of Edinburgh castle
'All nice to see police making fools of themselves but shouldn't you's be out fighting crime, looking for missing people or some paperwork instead of making ya selves look like idiots???' a man commented on Lancashire Police's Facebook page, 'Do ya job instead of wasting tax payers money on dance lessons!!!
Some people were just ashamed: 'Very poor , why oh why do we think it is acceptable to do stuff like this - just following the Met , sorry in the nicest possible way very embarrassing'
One person wrote on Police Scotland's Facebook page.'Instead of d**king about on camera and raising the social media profile of the police force why not spend the time catching criminals or responding to burglary call outs?'
Another accused: 'So when the police turn up late after a murder, rape or kidnapping we now know what they are doing before hand'
Kingston Police too faced backlash: 'I counted approximately 10 police officers who should have been out arresting criminals instead of faffing around in a video please stop this crap!'
Shake it! The dancing phenomenon became a hit across Australia after the New Zealand's police department challenged other departments earlier this month to film their dancing skills to Ghost Town DJs track My Boo
A second angry Facebook user wrote, 'I thought you were struggling with cuts? Considering the number of rapes in Kingston has more than doubled from March 2015 compared to March 2016, how about you get on with what the public pay you to do and leave the comedy and time waisting to others' (sic).
The Antipodean contingency were similarly criticised.
OMG this is horriblePlease tell our cops to stick to protecting us instead of dancing, one man wrote on the South Australian Police departments Facebook page.
'Bloody police should just doing police work, not wasting tax payers money having fun at work, another man said.
Arent they supposed to be working? a woman complained.
Taking it seriously: Earlier in the week New Zealand Police Recruitment Organisation posted the video which has since been viewed over seven million times
Pulling out all the stops: The Antipodean contingency were similarly criticised
The backlash in the UK comes in a week where police refused to send divers to search for Ellis Downes' body after the 16-year-old fell in the River Thames.
The teenager jumped into the water near Culham in Oxfordshire to swim with friends on Saturday night but got into difficulty as he tried to head back to the riverbank and disappeared.
Thames Valley Police launched an investigation that was later allegedly scaled down.
His family then launched their own manhunt to find the boy and slammed police efforts, claiming they were under-resourced.
Tragic death: The backlash in the UK comes in a week where police refused to send divers to search for Ellis Downes' (pictured right with his dad) body after the 16-year-old fell in the River Thames
His father Darren has since savaged the police delays in sending in divers and was shocked by how his family had been treated by both officers at the scene, citing a complete lack of compassion.
The discovery of the body came as volunteer divers from Surrey-based Specialist Group International claimed yesterday that police refused to let their high-security cleared team into water.
SGIs chief executive Peter Faulding said: This is the most disgusting police response I've ever seen in 20 years of policing and forensic searches. I've never been so humiliated in my life.
Thames Valley Police defended themselves on Monday, saying that the involvement of an unauthorised dive team could hinder a planned and coordinated police search operation, which was met with derision by those close to the search, who said the police efforts had been a disgrace.
Donald Trump says he is considering tapping former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to head a commission on radical Islam.
He floated the idea of bringing on Giuliani, who ran a failed campaign for president of his own in 2008, in an interview with 'Fox and Friends' Wednesday.
'Our president refuses to discuss the term [radical Islamic terrorism] and it's a real problem, not only here but throughout the world,' Trump said.
'It's a real problem, so we'll figure it out and we will get it going but we have to be extremely careful. In fact, I'm thinking about setting up a commission perhaps headed by Rudy Giuliani to take a very serious look at this problem. But this is a worldwide problem and we have to be smart,' Trump said.
Calling on Rudy: Trump says he might have ex-New York mayor run commission on Islamic extremism
Back in December, after Trump first called for a 'total and complete shutdown' of Muslims entering the United States after the attacks in Paris, Giuliani slammed the idea as an 'absolute violation' of the Constitution.
'It violates the First Amendment. You have no reasonable basis for it,' he said.
Giuliani said Syrians shouldn't be let in, but made the case against a religious test.
'You cannot use religion as a basis for discriminating, and honestly, there's no factual basis on which to assume that the vast majority of Muslims are terrorists,' Giuliani told Fox.
'Look at the stats. How many Muslims are there in the world? And what percentage are terrorists? A minuscule percentage,' he said. 'You couldn't possibly get away with this,' Giuliani added.
'I don't know how you can possibly think that you can exclude people based on religion. It's fundamental,' he said.
Like Trump, Giuliani has blasted Obama by saying he 'will not say the words 'Islamic terrorism.''
Trump also said during the campaign the nation needed to 'look at mosques.'
'There we agree absolutely 100 percent,' Giuliani said during his December appearance on the cable network. 'I was the one who first put police officers in the mosques,' Giuliani said, saying he did it in response to the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center.
Giuliani expressed support for Trump right before the New York primary in April, while also keeping some distance from The Donald.
A message to you, Rudy: Trump wants to put Giuliani to work on commission
'I'll endorse, but I'm not a part of the campaign,' Giuliani told CNN. 'I'm Rudy Giuliani, I mean a lot in New York politics, I endorse Donald Trump, but I'm not a part of the campaign,' he added. 'I'm not a part of the campaign apparatus and I don't want people to think I am.'
Trump on Wednesday continued to support the Muslim ban a stance leading GOP lawmakers have held up as something Trump needs to back away from to get their support.
'Well, we have a ban. There are obviously some very bad things going on and we're gonna figure out what's going on and we're gonna be very, very careful,' Trump told Fox.
'We're allowing Syrians to come in here, we have no idea who they are, we have no paperwork, there's no documentation, they're pouring into the country, our country by the thousands. You see what's happening in Germany, it's a mess. You look at Sweden and some of these other countries that are taking them it's a total mess and I want to be very, very careful so I'm gonna be extremely vigilant and careful,' he added.
Trump is standing by his 'temporary ban' on Muslims entering the U.S.
'It's a temporary ban ... And we're gonna look at it and we're gonna study a problem we have a problem. Now if you don't want to discuss the problem, we're never gonna solve the problem,' Trump said. 'We have a president that won't even use the term 'radical Islamic terrorism.'
Trump didn't say whether the commission was something he would pursue as a candidate or set up after he got elected president.
He also expressed a firm commitment to building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
'The wall is the wall, people want the wall; drugs are pouring into our country. You know, the wall is something that people want and the Republican Party wants,' Trump said.
'Forget about polling, cause I don't care about polling I do what's right. But the wall is the wall and it's gonna be built and the Mexicans are going to pay for it. I tell you, it's gonna happen.'
Trump and Giuliani have a political relationship going back years and the two also once had some fun during the 'Inner Circle' dinner where media and political elites mingle. During the stretch, Giuliani is dressed in drag and admonished Trump after he snuggles up to him. ''Oh, you dirty boy,' Giuliani says.
After he left office, Giuliani set up a lucrative consulting business called Giuliani Partners.
Close association: Trump and Giuliani embraced during a comedy sketch in 2000 while Rudy was in drag
Australian students are recording a dramatic drop in grades for critical subjects such as reading, mathematics and science, a reports has revealed.
The study from Australian Council for Educational Research found student's plunging grades could have a devastating impact on the nation's workforce.
The research said students grades had been receding since the year 2000, despite other countries recording considerable advances, according to Daily Telegraph.
Australian students have recording a dramatic drop in grades for critical subjects since the year 2000
Australian students reading literacy fell by 16 points and mathematical literacy by 29 points between the year 2000 and 2012, the report found.
'The problem is not that Australia is standing still relative to other countries we are actually going backwards. We ignore these warning signs at our peril,' said ACER chief executive Professor Geoff Masters.
Not enough Australian students were taking up high-level mathematics and science and often teachers were ill-equipped to teach the core subjects.
The top 10 per cent of Australian students are recording comparable grades to the top 40 to 50 per cent of students in Singapore, South Korea and Chinese Taipei.
The reports called for a national action plan using effective strategies to bolster Australian student's performances.
'We can't keep doing what we have been doing and expect performances to improve,' said prof Masters
Former first lady Laura Bush and her daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, made an appearance on The Tonight Show to discuss their new children's book and also chatted about president George W. Bush's portrait paintings.
Jenna and her mother joined Jimmy Fallon on his popular show Tuesday night and was asked by the host about how the president was doing and they discussed the evolution of the former world leader's notable artwork.
Since leaving the oval office in 2009, president George W. Bush surprisingly turned into an artist and has spent time painting portraits of world leaders, his family members and celebrities.
'He's doing really well, he's doing a lot of painting,' Laura Bush said of her husband.
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All smiles: Laura Bush and her daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, (pictured) made an appearance on The Tonight Show to discuss their new children's book and also chatted about George W. Bush's portrait paintings
Jenna and her mother joined Jimmy Fallon on his popular show Tuesday night (pictured). They discussed the evolution of the former world leader's notable artwork, as Laura said he's 'doing a lot of painting'
Since leaving the oval office in 2009, president George W. Bush has spent time painting portraits of world leaders, his family members and celebrities. Above he is pictured giving a portrait to Jay Leno in 2013
Fallon enthusiastically said that he's 'obsessed with his paintings' and that he thinks they are 'fantastic,' before Laura jumped in and added that 'you've only seen the very early ones.'
Jenna said that her father 'has progressed', and jokingly mentioned the 'naked' portraits he painted of himself in the shower and bathtub that were leaked in 2013.
Fallon inquired with the women about how the former president even got into painting.
'He got the app on his iPhone the Penultimate and he drew these very funny stick figures,' Laura explained.
According to the app's website, it's a digital handwriting app that 'combines the natural experience of pen and paper with power of Evernotes sync and search features.'
Jenna, who is a mother-of-two, jokingly added: 'There was actually a period where he only communicated through his 'art.'
'He would send Barbara and me a text that said 'Going on an airplane' and would do a stick figure of an airplane.'
Fallon enthusiastically said that he's 'obsessed with his paintings' and that he thinks they are 'fantastic.' Above the president is pictured with one of his earlier portraits
George W Bush had an exhibit as his presidential library that showcased his portraits in 2014 including the two he created above of himself and his father, George H.W. Bush
The 34-year-old daughter said that her mother who is the 'always supportive wife saw one of these and said 'George that's very interesting lines' and then it took off.'
The mother-daughter duo were on the show to discuss their new children's book, Our Great Big Backyard, that was published May 10.
'Well maybe for the next book, he has to do at least one in there,' Fallon said while holding up a copy of Our Great Big Backyard.
'Well, he doesn't really do drawings like this,' Laura answered.
'No, these are amazing, these are fantastic,' Fallon added.
This isn't their first children's book together, as they wrote Read All About It! in 2008.
Malcolm Turnbull was once a director of an offshore company set up by Mossack Fonseca, data from the now public Panama Papers reportedly shows.
The Australian Financial Review reports that in the 1990s the Prime Minister and former NSW Premier Neville Wran were on the board of Star Mining NL and its subsidiary in the British Virgin Islands, Star Technology Service, which had been incorporated by Mossack Fonseca two years earlier.
Shortly after joining the board in 1993, the pair were appointed as directors of the subsidiary, which had plans to develop a $20 billion gold mine in Russia named the Sukhoi Log.
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Malcolm Turnbull was once a director of an offshore company set up by Mossack Fonseca, the Panama Papers reportedly shows
The Prime Minister (left) and former NSW Premier Neville Wran (right) were on the board of Star Mining NL, which had been incorporated by Mossack Fonseca
A spokesman for Mr Turnbull told the AFR that the prime minister didn't know the company was administered by Mossack Fonseca
Kept busy with work commitments in their home country of Australia, Mr Turnbull and Mr Wran resigned from both Star Mining and its subsidiary in September, 1993.
A spokesman for Mr Turnbull told the AFR that the prime minister didn't know the company was administered by Mossack Fonseca, and was unaware of donations that had allegedly been made by the company to Russian politicians.
There is no suggestion he acted improperly while a director, the AFR reports.
The Australian Taxation Office is investigating more than 800 citizens after the leak of financial data, which was obtained anonymously and broadcasted by a German newspaper, before being spread to a number of international news outlets.
The leak of documents revealed how world leaders, celebrities and the global rich are using offshore tax havens to hide their wealth.
It also shows how Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca has allegedly helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.
The Australian Taxation Office (pictured is ATO Deputy Commissioner Michael Cranston) is investigating more than 800 high net worth Australians after a leak of financial data shows how the world's rich hide their money
The ATO (pictured) has linked more than 120 of the 800 Australian high net worth individuals to an associate offshore service provider situated in Hong Kong
Brexit: The Movie 'shows a side of the EU they don't want us to see'
Durkin's previous films include 'Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice to All', 'Did we Nuke Juipter?' and 'Extreme Ironing: Pressing for Victory'
It gets the red carpet treatment with a world premiere in Leicester Square
Filmmaker Martin Durkin raised more than 100,000 through crowdfunding campaign to produce the pro-Brexit film
Nigel Farage, Iain Duncan Smith and a host of other anti-EU campaigners will be on the red carpet in Leicester Square tonight for the glitzy world premiere of Brexit: The Movie.
But the question awaiting them on the red carpet is whether they expect to learn as much from the movie as the director's previous films, including Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All, which offers viewers sex advice from the animal kingdom.
Other highlights on filmmaker Martin Durkin's CV feature science films that attempted to answer those all-important questions such as 'Did We Nuke Jupiter?', which was an episode in a series titled 'Nasa's Unexplained Files'. Another episode includes 'Nazi Ice Fortress'.
He once produced a documentary on extreme ironing - a 'performance art' in which people take boards to remote locations and iron items of clothing.
Film star? Nigel Farage arrives at last night's Leicester Square premiere of Brexit: The Movie
All smiles: Mr Farage is seen with TV presenter and model Lizzie Cundy at the premiere. The 80-minute film combines archived footage of the EU, animation, skits and interviews from politicians and commentators
David Davis, seen with Ms Cundy, was another guest at the premiere
Prominent Eurosceptics and former cabinet member John Redwood, left, and Nigel Lawson were also in attendance
Attempting to move his career onto more serious matters, Durkin launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for Brexit: The Movie earlier this year.
He smashed his target of raising 100,000, with 1,800 individuals donating a total of 114,000 to help make the anti-EU movie, along with a 50,000 cheque from asset manager Spitfire Capital.
The 80-minute film combines archived footage of the EU, animation, skits and interviews from politicians and commentators from across the political spectrum, promising to 'show a side of the EU they don't want us to see'.
The trailer whets our appetite by pledging to reveal the 'sprawling self-serving bureaucracy, the lack of accountability, the perks, the waste, the corruption'.
Giving a sneak preview of the movie, Tory MP and leading member of Vote Leave Steve Baker: 'We now seem to talk about going on holiday with a single currency as if that's the highest aspiration of mankind. But surely one of the highest aspirations is to have the dignity of self-government.
The filmmakers want the film to 'reach out to undecided voters and those who haven't thought that much about the debate'.
Filmmaker Martin Durkin (pictured in the film's trailer visiting the European Parliament in Brussels) raised more than 100,000 from crowd-sourcing to pay for a movie that he says will 'show a side of the EU they don't want us to see'
Brexit: The Movie features archived footage, skits and interviews with politicians, including Ukip leader Nigel Farage (left) and the party's only MP Douglas Carswell (right)
Brexit: The Movie features scenes from riots that were seen across Europe's capitals during the euro crisis - including in Athens (pictured), where protesters clashed with police as Greece was on the brink of crashing out of the single currency
Martin Durkin's previous films include Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All, which offers viewers sex advice from the animal kingdom and features a range of different animals mating
Durkin's Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All explores the 'breathtaking array of truly bizarre animal mating habits' and poses the question: 'What can humans learn from the mating habits of the creatures of the animal world?'
A synopsis of the movie on Durkin's production company website Wag TV attempts to lure in viewers by saying: 'Meet the worm with a hundred penises, and the beetle who gives birth to her son, has sex with him and then eats him. This is the most entertaining natural history series you will ever see.'
The Britain Stronger In Europe campaign mocked the Brexit campaign for featuring Durkin's 'eclectic' work.
'Viewers will learn even less from Brexit the Movie than they did from Dr Tatiana's Sex Advice To All Creation,' the In campaign's James McGrory said.
'Mark Durkin's eclectic previous work could leave the Out campaigns in a compromising position.'
Durkin said he decided to make the pro-Brexit film because other coverage of the referendum campaign - in particular on the BBC - had been 'deplorable'.
Insisting his film was sufficiently neutral, he said: 'I think it's balanced because I think it's true... it is a very entertaining film so hopefully it will appeal to younger people.'
Durkin's Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All explores the 'breathtaking array of truly bizarre animal mating habits' and poses the question: 'What can humans learn from the mating habits of the creatures of the animal worl
Martin Durkin produced a documentary on extreme ironing - a 'performance art' in which people take boards to remote locations and iron items of clothing, while another was titled 'Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All,' which offers viewers sex advice from the animal kingdom
The 80-minute film, produced by documentary maker Martin Durkin (pictured left with Ukip leader Nigel Farage in TV programme 'Who Are You?') combines archived footage of the EU, animation, skits and interviews from politicians and commentators from across the political spectrum, promising to 'show a side of the EU they don't want us to see'
Boris on the rampage! Former mayor fuels up on ice cream and beer and brands David Cameron 'demented' as Brexit battle hits the streets
Boris Johnson accused David Cameron of 'demented scaremongering' today as he kicked off a nationwide tour urging voters to leave the EU.
As he met locals on a rampage around Cornwall - sharing an ice cream with a passer-by, downing beer, eating Cornish pasties and brandishing asparagus that he bought at a market in Truro - he launched an astonishing attack on his friend the Prime Minister.
It followed Mr Cameron's dramatic warning earlier this week that a Brexit vote could bring war and genocide back to Europe.
But Mr Johnson insisted Mr Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit, dismissing speculation he could replace him in Downing Street.
He also accused the Remain campaign - led by Mr Cameron - of running a 'Twit-storm' campaign.
Boris Johnson (pictured tackling an ice cream in Truro, left, and drinking a pint in St Austell, right, on the EU campaign trail in Cornwall this morning) accused David Cameron of 'demented scaremongering' today as he kicked off a nationwide tour urging voters to leave the EU.
And he demanded an apology from pro-EU campaigners for misrepresenting remarks he made about the EU's role in the conflict with Russia over Ukraine.
Mr Johnson chose to kick off his 'Boris Battlebus' in Truro this morning, where he bought a bunch of asparagus, joking with market vendors that their industry will be 'just as sprouting' and 'delicious' outside the EU.
Mr Johnson also stopped off to buy an ice cream but after taking just a couple of licks he handed it to a member of the public to finish.
He also bought a traditional Cornish Pasty ahead of his UK-wide tour and waved it to the crowd of locals and journalists as he entered the giant Vote Leave bus.
As he moved on to the Cornish coastal town of St Austell, Mr Johnson poured himself pint of ale in a local brewery before posing for photos in the picturesque Charlestown harbour.
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit MP Labour MP Gisela Stuart at a brewery in St Austell today) said David Cameron was 'demented' for warning Europe could slip back into war and genocide if Britain votes to leave the EU in June's referendum
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart in Truro this morning) also demanded an apology from pro-EU campaigners for misrepresenting remarks he made about the EU's role in the conflict with Russia over Ukraine
Boris Johnson (pictured posing in Charlestown, Cornwall this afternoon) accused the Remain campaign - led by Mr Cameron - of running a 'Twit-storm' campaign
But Remain campaigners pointed out that Cornish pasties are among British products that are given 'protected status' by the EU - safeguarding the 300 million industry from other EU producers copying its recipe or brand.
Mr Johnson also faced embarrassment when it emerged that the St Austell Brewery he visited on the Cornish coast has previously benefited from EU financial support.
James Staughton, an executive at the brewery, said it had received 50,000 in EU funding in the last decade.
'It helped us at the time to enable us to have the confidence to install a bottling line. It was important to us,' he said.
Attacking Mr Cameron over his warning earlier this week that leaving the EU could destabalise the rest of Europe and could bring back war and genocide to the continent, Mr Johnson said this morning: 'I think all this talk of world war three and bubonic plague is demented, frankly.'
Accusing the In campaign of misrepresenting his arguments about the EU's role in the Ukraine conflict, Mr Johnson said this morning: 'The day before yesterday I made a perfectly innocent remark about the EU's, in my view, cack-handed handling of the problems in Ukraine, which was turned by this great Twit-storm operation that they run in the Remain campaign into my being a Putin apologist. I think they should apologise.'
Boris Johnson (pictured left brandishing asparagus, which he bought from a market in Truro, Cornwall) accused David Cameron (pictured right making his speech on security on Monday) of 'demented scaremongering' this morning as he kicked off a nationwide tour to urge voters to leave the EU
Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart, stops off in Charlestown in Cornwall today as he kick-off the nationwide Vote Leave battle bus tour
Blue on blue: Greg Hands, the Tory Chief Secretary to the Treasury, mocked Boris Johnson on Twitter, joking how he had planned to launch the bus with a range of European foods such as 'foie gras, Bockwurst, tapas and Chianti Classico'
Despite launching a scathing attack on Mr Cameron's 'demented' arguments for staying in the EU, Mr Johnson nonetheless insisted he should remain as Prime Minister whatever the outcome of the June 23 vote.
BORIS ACCUSED OF HYPOCRISY: HIS BUS WAS MADE IN GERMANY! Boris Johnson (pictured launching his battle bus in Truro, Cornwall this morning) has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged his Brexit battle bus he launched this morning was made in Germany and Poland Boris Johnson has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged his Brexit battle bus he launched this morning was made in Germany and Poland. The former London Mayor - one of the leading voices in the Vote Leave campaign - kicked off his nationwide tour urging voters to back Brexit in Truro, Cornwall this morning, unveiling the 400,000 giant Vote Leave campaign bus. But it was immediately branded the 'Boris blunder bus' after research found that leaving the EU would slap an extra 56,000 to the cost of that type of vehicle. Remain campaigners pointed to Mr Johnson's own remarks this morning calling for Britain to follow an American trade model with the EU. However the US trades under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, which adds a 13 per cent tariff on vehicles that transport 10 or more people. It means the type of bus used by Vote Leave, which was made by German manufacturer Neoplan Starliner, would incur the extra tax in the US. Production of the vehicle starts in Poland, before being finished off in Germany and distributed around the continent. Mr Johnson also faced hypocrisy claims after launching his Vote Leave battle bus by waving a Cornish Pasty in front of the media this morning. It was quickly pointed out that the 300 million Cornish Pasty industry relies on the EU to protect its recipe and brand. Attacking Mr Johnson this morning, James McGrory, chief spokesman for the Britain Stronger In Europe campaign, told MailOnline: 'This is Boris's blunder bus. 'Boris is happy to be driven round now in a German bus, when Britain enjoys all the advantages of being in the EU's Single Market. 'I doubt the British business that imported the bus would be as happy to learn that Boris wants them to pay fifty grand more for it. 'Boris's reckless plan to pull Britain out of the Single Market and move to US-style WTO trading rules would hit British businesses hard, damage trade, cost jobs and increase prices.'
He denied that a Brexit vote would clear the way for him to succeed Mr Cameron in Downing Street.
Asked whether he thought Mr Cameron should remain in 10 Downing Street to oversee negotiations for Britain's withdrawal from the EU, the former London Mayor said: 'Yes, absolutely. Of course he can, and I think he must.'
While Mr Johnson was wheeled out for the Brexit vote this morning, the Remain campaign's big gun for the day is Gordon Brown, who made a high profile speech to urge Britain to 'lead in Europe, not leave it', making what he said was the 'patriotic' case for staying in the Brussels club.
Later today Lib Dem leader Tim Farron will echo David Cameron's warning of the threat posed by Brexit to peace and security, arguing that a Leave vote would risk a return to the 'mutual hostility' of a century ago, when Europe was convulsed by the First World War.
At the launch of the Vote Leave bus this morning, Mr Johnson said the referendum offered the UK a 'once-in-a-lifetime chance for us to take back control of our country and our democracy'.
The Vote Leave campaign bus boasts the slogan: 'We send the EU 350 million a week. Let's fund our NHS instead'.
Mr Johnson repeated the slogan this morning, despite a second warning from the head of the UK Statistics Authority Sir Andrew Dilnot, who on Tuesday wrote to tell the campaign it was 'disappointing' that they continue to use the 350 million figure which he regards as 'potentially misleading' and lacking in clarity.
The Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP Mr Johnson - widely regarded as a likely contender for a Tory leadership battle when Mr Cameron stands down - insisted that the Brexit camp could 'guarantee' that Britain's EU contributions would be spent on UK priorities like Cornwall's fishing and farming industries if the UK votes to leave.
He told the BBC: 'Of the 20 billion we send to Brussels a year, 10 billion we never see again. It goes on all sorts of things - Greek tobacco farming, Spanish bull-fighting.
'With that net money back in our country we could fund things like the NHS, our science base, our academic health science centres even more generously than we currently do. That argument just doesn't stack up.'
Mr Johnson was not chastened by US president Barack Obama's warning that Britain would be 'at the back of the queue' for a trade deal if it left the EU.
He pointedly told Good Morning Britain: 'Obviously, when the US wants us to be at the front of the queue for various things - the Iraq War - then that's a different matter.
'Most sensible people will recognise that we will do a free trade deal not just with the EU, but we will have the opportunity for the first time in 43 years to do free trade deals not just with America but with India, China, Australia and New Zealand, which we currently cannot do because we are a member of the European Union.'
He rejected the claim of Labour's Alan Johnson that Brexit campaigners were 'extremists' who could see nothing good in Europe, telling the BBC: 'I do think it's very odd that we are being called extremists and irrational when only the other day we were told World War Three was going to break out if we voted to Leave. That cannot be sensible.
'Everybody knows that peace in this continent is really guaranteed by Nato. If it really is true that World War Three and bubonic plague are about to break out, why on earth are we having this referendum?
Boris Johnson enjoys an ice cream in Truro (left) before moving on to Charlestown Harbour (right) during his tour of Cornwall today
Boris Johnson (left) stopped off to buy an ice cream but after taking just two licks he handed it to a member of the public (right) to finish
Boris Johnson sits at the back of his battle bus, which boasts as its slogan: 'We send the EU 350 million a week. Let's fund our NHS instead'
'I love Europe. I have many happy memories of living, working, going on holiday to Europe. Most of my family come from one European country or another.
'But there's a difference between Europe and the European institutions, and they are now evolving in a way which is not compatible with the long-term health of our democracy.'
Writing in The Guardian, Gordon Brown said the referendum debate had so far pitched the Remain camp's warnings of economic instability after Brexit against the Leave side's 'appeal to the heart' with a vision of the Britain of 1940 'standing alone' as 'wave after crushing wave of globalisation' threatens the country.
He insisted that supporters of EU membership should offer a 'positive-sum' vision showing how 'the right balance between autonomy and co-operation can be struck without putting our national identity at risk'.
Britain's traditions and history are 'outward-looking and engaged with the world' rather than 'insulated and isolated', and its best interests are to balance 'the national autonomy we desire with the continental co-operation we require', he said.
As Boris Johnson (pictured with pro-Brexit Labour MP Gisela Stuart this morning) waved asparagus and a Cornish Pasty - which he bought at a market in Truro, Cornwall this morning - he said Mr Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit
Boris Johnson (pictured in Truro, Cornwall this morning) launched an astonishing attack on his friend the Prime Minister following his dramatic warning earlier this week that a Brexit vote could bring war and genocide back to Europe
Boris Johnson and Labour MP Gisela Stuart enjoy an ice cream in St Austell, Cornwall, today
Mr Brown played down fears of loss of sovereignty to Brussels, insisting that 'the future lies not in a United States of Europe, but a United Europe of States'.
Recent years had seen national governments of the 28 EU states taking over decision-making power from 'a once overbearing European Commission', as the bloc moved away from the earlier fashion for harmonising laws and practices and towards mutual recognition of each country's standards and traditions.
Britain does not need to sacrifice its political and social culture or its national autonomy to benefit from a single market which will be 'the biggest British job creator of the next decade', he said.
The former PM said cross-border co-operation and intelligence-sharing between EU states is vital to tackle terrorism, people-trafficking and illegal migration, while all of Europe would be 'at risk from Russian aggression, Middle Eastern terrorism and African instability' without a common EU security policy.
Only a united Europe - and not Nato or any single country acting alone - could deliver the necessary combination of diplomacy, aid and economic support, he said.
'The June vote should be a salute to Britain's irrepressible spirit, a tribute to our tradition of looking outwards and a progressive, agenda-setting moment that shows European co-operation is the best way to secure more jobs: the one way to curb tax havens, the main way to tackle illegal immigration and terrorism on our borders, and a progressive way to tackle climate change and set minimum standards at work,' wrote Mr Brown, who sets out his argument in greater detail in a book entitled Britain: Leading not Leaving.
'A positive-sum moment can be borne out of what can sometimes seem like a zero-sum referendum, as we demonstrate that we best honour our outward-looking internationalism by leading in Europe, not leaving it.'
Boris Johnson looks over his notes at the back of the Vote Leave battle bus this afternoon as he tours Cornwall. Earlier he insisted David Cameron should remain as Prime Minister even if voters back Brexit, dismissing speculation he could replace him in Downing Street
Mr Johnson pulled a pint at the St Austell Brewery during his tour
Brexit camp raises more than 8MILLION in donations for the referendum battle as they take the lead in the financial fight
The group of Brexit campaigns battling get the UK out of the EU have taken an early lead in the financial race to the referendum after declaring 8.1million in donations.
The main Vote Leave campaign raised 2.7million - less than the rival Leave.EU campaign which raked in 3million.
Leave.EU has also received 6million in loans from its founder Arron Banks, a Ukip donor.
The total raised by the group of Remain campaigns stood at 7.4million - the large majority of which went to Britain Stronger in Europe, the only large campaign which entered the race ahead of the June 23 referendum.
The Out campaign has raised more money in donations overall but the designated Britain Stronger in Europe campaign is ahead of its Brexit rival Vote Leave
The data shows Britain Stronger in Europe had fundraised far more than its direct rival Vote Leave as the referendum entered its main regulated period.
BSE had raised 6.8million compared to Vote Leave's 2.7million.
The biggest individual donation was 3.2million from businessman Peter Hargreaves to the Leave.EU campaign,
David Sainsbury - the Labour peer and former chairman of the family-founded Sainsbury supermarket - gave donations of 1.6million and 750,000 to Britain Stronger in Europe.
The figures were all reported to the Electoral Commission under the referendum act. Political parties report their donations in the normal way but specific party campaigns.
The donations reported today covers donations received covers the period from February 1 to April 21.
Boris Johnson took the Vote Leave campaign bus on a tour to Cornwall today as the referendum campaign continued to escalate following the local elections
The Britain Stronger in Europe campaign raised more money than its direct rival Vote Leave but the Brexot campaigns raised more money overall
Strict spending limits came into force on April 15 and the two designated campaigns - Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe - are likely to raise the greatest share of money in the final weeks.
Will Straw, Executive Director of Britain Stronger In Europe, said: 'Today it's clear the Leave campaigns have deep pockets, and they have secured twice as much as the Remain campaigns.
'They have also tried to get around strict Electoral Commission spending rules, but they have been found out.'
Mr Straw continued: 'We still don't know how much money Vote Leave have really raised. Unlike Britain Stronger In Europe, they have still not published the donations they have received prior to the 1st of February.
'It's time for them to come clean and publish all donations they have received, including those prior to the reporting period.
'This referendum is the biggest decision in a generation. We have received an excellent response from across the UK including over 10,000 individual donations for a sum of 50 and under from people who believe we are stronger, safer, and better off in Europe.'
OUT: TOTAL OF 8,180,425 GO Movement Ltd - 12,000 Grassroots Out Ltd - 2,039,925 Leave.EU Group Ltd - 3,200,000 The Bruges Group - 10,000 Trade Unionists Against The European Union - 22,000 Vote Leave Limited (designated lead campaigner) - 2,786,500 WAGTV Limited - 110,000
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Camille Grammer headed back to court last week to demand that her ex-boyfriend Dimitri Charalambopoulos be fined $25,000 after her personal medical records were released to the public.
Grammer claims her medical records were publicly filed by Charalambopoulos in violation of a court order that was part of an ongoing legal battle between the former couple.
She said on Friday that as a result, information about the medications her doctor prescribed her, medical diagnoses made and details about her mental health were made public for the world.
Grammer claims that a judge signed off on a protective order that sealed the deposition of her personal doctor so it would be hidden from the public.
Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Camille Grammer has asked the court to fine her ex, Dimitri Charalambopoulos, after her medical records were publicly filed in violation of a court order
The former couple have been in an ongoing legal battle since last year, after Grammer accused Charalambopoulos of domestic violence in a Texas hotel room in 2013
But the deposition was made public by Charalambopoulos, Grammer claims, saying he did not follow the order he had originally agreed to.
Grammer and Charalambopoulos slapped each other with dueling lawsuits last year after the reality star accused her ex-boyfriend of domestic violence in a Texas hotel room in 2013.
Charalambopoulos filed a lawsuit accusing Grammer of defamation, claiming she made up the incident and said he never beat her.
He said that he was never charged by police due to lack of evidence and claimed that Camille faked the incident because she believed he was cheating on her.
Grammer said she did not make up the incident and pointed to statements she made to Texas police.
She demanded his claims be thrown out and then counter-sued Charalambopoulos for assault and battery.
The case is still pending, and Grammer and Charalambopoulos are battling it out in court during discovery.
Grammer said she is furious that Charalambopoulos violated the protective order and demanded the judge to issue substantial sanctions against him for filing the deposition in direct violation of the courts order.
She said she believes she is owed sanctions to compensate her for the damage she has suffered as a result of the actions of her ex and his legal team.
Any claim that the filing was inadvertent rings hollow, she said in the complaint.
Grammer provided a series of photos as her evidence of the alleged assault to the court showing a bruised face and arms. Charalambopoulos filed a lawsuit accusing Grammer of defamation, claiming she made up the incident and said he never beat her
The RHOBH star asked that Charalambopoulos be sanctioned $25,000 to remedy for her medical records being made public and to teach her ex a lesson to prevent any further information from being released.
She is also seeking $3,750 in attorney fees for having to even take this issue before the court and asking the judge to shut down Charalambopoulos request to compel more discovery to him in the legal battle.
According to documents filed in the case, Grammers personal doctor, Dr Bethany Tucker, was recently deposed by Charalambopouloss lawyers.
She was questioned on everything from her divorce with Kelsey Grammer - including an incident where he allegedly hit her - to the stress from Real Housewives and her diagnosing the reality star with PTSD following the alleged assault with her ex-boyfriend.
According to the deposition, Tucker has been treating Grammer as a patient since 2005, when she was still married to Kelsey Grammer.
Following the divorce, the doctor treated Grammer for anxiety, stress and the inability to sleep or eat well.
The divorce took such a toll on her that she was prescribed Klonopin and other medications for her irritable bowel syndrome something she has spoken publically about in the past.
Then the lawyer briefly touches on an incident where Kelsey Grammer allegedly grabbed her arm/injured her shoulder. The doctor said they spoke about the incident but it took place before she starting seeing her.
According to the medical records released in court documents filed in the case, Grammers personal doctor, Dr Bethany Tucker, was recently deposed by Charalambopouloss lawyers. Tucker has been treating Grammer as a patient since 2005, when she was still married to Kelsey Grammer (pictured)
Charalambopouloss lawyers questioned Tucker about Grammers developments since the alleged assault involving their client.
The doctor said that Grammer feared for her safety - something she did not experience after her divorce - and was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after the incident.
She began taking a medicine called Effexor, but it was later changed due to it being too strong and is now taking Lexapro.
The also asked Tucker about an incident in which Grammer threw two of Charalambopouloss laptops off of her balcony in an attempt to destroy them. She said she was aware of at least one similar incident.
She said that Grammer was consistent with her story about Charalambopouloss alleged assault and showed signs of someone who had experienced trauma.
Grammer and Charalambopoulos' cases are ongoing but in March, Grammer won a small victory when a judge ordered her ex to pay more than $119,000 to her lawyers along with more than $2,300 for other expenses incurred by Grammer in successfully defending against some of his claims.
Miguel Kakaie (pictured), 45, was jailed for two years after he fraudulently claimed 180,000 of camera equipment had gone missing
An aircraft engineer who stole 180,000 of high-quality camera gear and falsely claimed it went missing on a British Airways flight was today jailed for two years.
Miguel Kakaie, 45, hired the expensive cinema-grade recording gear for 7,000 from rental firm Take 2 before travelling to Istanbul in Turkey in April 2013.
When he arrived he claimed his bags never appeared on the luggage carousel and complained to the Turkish authorities.
Kakaie successfully claimed 10,000 for the loss of his own personal camera equipment and insurers Zurich ended up paying out 250,000 to Take 2.
But X-rays of his luggage at Heathrow Airport revealed his bags were empty before they were loaded on to the plane.
Kakaie wailed I didnt do anything as he was convicted of theft and two counts of fraud.
The Old Bailey heard he now faces losing his job and his Brazilian wife may be deported.
Judge Paul Worsley QC told him: Early in 2013 you hit on a way to make money using your knowledge of airports and the way in which luggage can go missing.
You decided you could make a lot of money by hiring valuable photography equipment. You were an amateur camera man but you decided to hire equipment worth 180,000.
I am satisfied that the luggage you sent off was empty cases. I am quite satisfied that the luggage arrived and in some way it was spirited away by you and disappeared.
What you were doing was shipping non-existent equipment to Istanbul and claiming equipment had not arrived and then making an insurance claim.
There is a high degree of sophistication involved in what you did.
Kakaie claimed he hired the camera gear to promote his talent video website iammuchbetter.com, which boasts it allows people to watch and share and compete in talent videos all around the world.
He contacted Take 2 on 6 February 2013 to arrange for the hire of high-specification camera equipment used in the film and TV industry.
Kakaie successfully claimed 10,000 for the loss of personal camera equipment and insurers Zurich ended up paying out 250,000 to Take 2, which rents out professional equipment like the picture seen above
X-rays of his luggage at Heathrow Airport (pictured) revealed Kakaie's bags were empty before they were loaded on to the plane and he was jailed for two years
On 4 April 2013 he travelled to London from his family home in Aberdeen to collect the hired equipment before checking in four bags and boarding the flight at Heathrow.
Prosecutor Simon Connolly said: In fact he simply booked on a number of empty boxes and bags, got rid of those boxes and bags in Turkey and tried to pretend the cameras had all been lost in the bags.
The reality is he had a plan to make these false claims to steal this equipment and that he had to pack something to make them think there was something missing, added Mr Connolly.
Kakaie did not give evidence at court but told police the bags must have been stolen at Heathrow.
Jurors heard there were no other reports of bags being lost on the flight.
Judges ruled that the drop was not visible and would not be obvious
English Heritage was held responsible because there was no warning
A pensioner has won the right to compensation from English Heritage after he fell into a moat at a historic castle because there were no warning signs.
Ian Taylor suffered serious head injuries when he stepped off a 12ft sheer drop at Carisbrooke Castle, on the Isle of Wight, while trying to take photographs.
The 69-year-old sued English Heritage, claiming that they should have told visitors about the danger, and a panel of top judges has ruled that the charity must pay damages.
Lawyers for English Heritage warned that the decision reinforces Britain's 'compensation culture' and could lead to a plague of unattractive signs around historic monuments.
Castle: A man suffered head injuries when he fell into a moat at Carisbrooke Castle, pictured, on the Isle of Wight
Mr Taylor, a retired engineer, was visiting Carisbrooke with his wife and grandchildren at the time of the accident in April 2011.
He walked away from his family to take photos and was descending a steep grass path when he lost his footing and was 'propelled' over the sheer face of the bastion wall into the moat.
'He was not seen or heard of for 10 minutes or so, and was then seen to be lying in the moat unconscious', the court was told.
Mr Taylor, from East Grinstead, sued English Heritage and the charity was found 50 per cent liable for his injuries by a judge last year.
Judge David Blunt QC said the sheer drop into the moat from the bastion wall would not have been visible, and ruled that English Heritage were to blame for not putting up a warning sign.
Danger: English Heritage must pay compensation following the incident at the historic castle, pictured
Challenging the decision at the Court of Appeal, Derek O'Sullivan QC, for English Heritage, said the body viewed the case as 'extremely important'.
Mr Taylor's victory in court would 'fuel the popular conception that this country is in the grip of a compensation culture', he argued.
Sensible people could assess risks for themselves and owners of historic sites would be forced into 'an unduly defensive approach', Mr O'Sullivan said.
Ruling: Lord Dyson, the Master of the Rolls, turned down English Heritage's appeal in the case
He argued that the case will lead to 'an unwelcome proliferation of unsightly warning signs', telling visitors about 'obvious risks'.
However, the Master of the Rolls, Lord Dyson, said there was nothing obvious about the threat posed by the vertical drop into the moat.
The judge, sitting with Lords Justice McFarlane and Beatson, accepted that English Heritage and others faced 'difficult borderline decisions' about when to put up warning signs.
But, in Mr Taylor's case, the absence of a sign meant 'reasonable steps' had not been taken to keep him safe.
Lord Dyson added: 'The decision in this case should not be interpreted as requring occupiers like English Heritage to place unsightly warning signs in prominent positions all over sensitive historic sites'.
A civil servant for 22 years, Mr Taylor was a top mechanical and electrical engineer who worked on the development of the Tornado fighter jet and helped Parliament prepare for debates to be televised.
He also worked as a maths teacher at schools in Sutton and Tunbridge Wells and was still involved in education when the accident forced his retirement.
Mr Taylor's barrister, John Foy QC, argued that the drop to the moat was 'masked' from those on the artillery platform and constituted a trap for the unwary.
He was a 'careful and rational' man who would not have taken any unnecessary risks, he told the court.
The amount of Mr Taylor's compensation will be assessed by a judge at a later date, unless the two parties are able to settle.
The origins of Carisbrooke Castle lie in the pre-historic era, and the current building was first erected in the medieval period with later additions. King Charles I was imprisoned in the fortress ahead of his execution.
It was just an old, dusty painting found in the basement of a New Jersey home during a clear-out by relatives of a couple who had passed away.
The tiny 9-inch picture was taken to Nye & Company, a local auction house, who listed it for $600 - $800.
Little did they know it was a long-lost work by Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn and worth many, many times the list price.
The auction house said it didn't know the painting was an original Rembrandt because it was so old and dusty that the artist's signature was obscured. They believed it to be a copy, NBC New York reported.
Two eagle-eyed Paris art dealers, however, recognized the piece for what it was, and registered an opening bid of $250.
The painting, having been restored, revealed the monogram 'RF' on the upper left corner of the canvas, which stands for 'Rembrandt Fecit' or 'Made by Rembrandt'.
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From a Jersey basement to the world's stage: This painting, which had been languishing at a home in Bloomfield, turned out to be one of the earliest works of master Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn
A visitor to the booth of Galerie Talabardon & Gautier at the TEFAF fine art fair looks at a newly discovered painting by Dutch master Rembrandt titled The Unconscious Patient (Sense of Smell)
The painting, titled The Unconscious Patient (An Allegory of the Sense of Smell), is part of a set of five works depicting the five senses. The fifth piece in the series, an allegory of taste, has never been found
'We weren't completely certain at the time that it was authentic. ... Maybe 90% certain, 'one of the dealers, Bertrand Talabardon, told The Los Angeles Times.
Master: A recovered painting from Dutch artist Rembrandt (pictured in a self-portrait) goes on display for the first time Wednesday in California
However, the pair went on to buy the painting - after competing with two other European dealers - for $870,000.
'It is believed to be the earliest signature by Rembrandt on a work of art,' Talabardon said, adding that he and his partner identified the painting by comparing the exotic costumes of the subjects to other Rembrandt paintings.
The painting, titled The Unconscious Patient (An Allegory of the Sense of Smell), dates from 1624, when Rembrandt was around 18-years-old.
The painting is part of a set of five works depicting the five senses.
It shows two men trying to revive a young man with bath salts.
It has since been sold to billionaire New York financier and art collector Thomas Kaplan, who heads the investment firm Electrum Group, and is founder of the Leiden Collection, one of the world's largest private collections of Dutch Golden Age art.
Kaplan has refused to say how much he paid for the painting after negotiating with Talabardon for 'about an hour'.
In 2009, a Rembrandt sold at auction for a record breaking $43 million.
In 2013, a painting long believed to have been the work of one of Rembrandt's students was identified as having been done by the artist himself, and valued at $30 million.
The Unconscious Patient will put on display for the first time at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles from Wednesday, May 11.
The exhibition will also feature two of the other works.
The Stone Operation (An Allegory of the Sense of Touch) and The Three Musicians (An Allegory of the Sense of Hearing) - both of the Leiden Collection - will also be on display.
The fourth piece, the Spectacle Seller (An Allegory of the Sense of Sight) remains in the Lakenhal Museum in the Netherlands, according to The Smithsonian magazine.
The fifth painting of the series, an allegory of taste, has never been found.
The exhibition will stay at the J. Paul Getty Museum until August 28 and will then travel internationally.
Accused: John Ali Hoffman (pictured) is accused of killing his wife Aracely and their children Clara, 7, and John, 5, in Puna, Hawaii, Friday. He had called 911 earlier that night saying intruders shot his wife
A Hawaii man who allegedly killed his wife and two kids has been sent for mental evaluation after he made a series of bizarre remarks in a court hearing Monday.
John Ali Hoffman, 49, is alleged to have killed wife Aracely, 7-year-old daughter Clara and 5-year-old son John last Friday at their home in Puna, Hawaii.
But in his first court appearance Monday, Hoffman told the judge he wanted to represent himself and that he had top-secret information.
'It's a breach of national security, and if information is divulged there is going to be a lot of consequences to - uh, there will be a lot going on here,' he said in footage released by HawaiiNewsNow.
He was unable to explain why the 'information vital to this case' would breach national security.
He also demanded that Judge Harry Freitas 'recuse himself because of a conflict of interest' and claimed that as a 'sovereign person' he would represent himself.
The judge ignored his demands, giving him a court-appointed attorney for representation and ordered him to undergo mental evaluation.
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Confusing: When he appeared before court on Monday (pictured), Hoffman unleashed a bizarre tirade that said 'national security' was at stake in his trial, and that as 'a sovereign person' he wanted to represent himself
Conflict: Hoffman continued by saying that Judge Harry Freitas (pictured) should leave court because of a 'conflict of interest.' Hoffman could not explain what he meant and will undergo mental evaluation
Evaluation: The judge told Hoffman he would have to keep his court-appointed lawyer while he underwent mental evaluation. Hoffman will next go before court on June 14
Police say that Hoffman called emergency services to his home in rural Puna district of Hawaii's Big Island 1:30am Friday, saying that three-to-four intruders had entered his home and shot his wife, HawaiiNewsNow reported.
As they approached the home, officers say they saw Hoffman driving his car with the headlights off and blood dripping from the trunk.
They claim that they pulled him over and found Aracely Hoffman's body stuffed in the trunk with a gunshot wound to the head, and a gun on the front seat.
Police said Hoffman also had blood on him.
They then went to Hoffman's house and found the bodies of his two children, both dead, with gunshot wounds to the head.
Aracely Hoffman was identified by fingerprints, but because of limited dental records the children had to be identified by her brother, their uncle, the Houston Chronicle reported.
'We were trying to avoid that,' Hawaii Police Captain Robert Wagner said. 'It's a lasting impression.'
Aracely Hoffman was born Aracely del Carmen Monroy Urruela in El Salvator, and had moved to Hawaii with her brother in search of a better life, the Houston Chronicle reported. It was not clear when that move took place.
Once on Hawaii's Big Island, she met John Hoffman, who has lived in Hawaii for 16 years and who she married in 2008. However, their relationship was troubled, neighbors said.
Shot: Hawaii Police say when they pulled over Hoffman on Friday his wife was found dead in his trunk and he was covered in blood. She had been shot - and so had his kids, back at his hom
Report: The police report said that Hoffman had called 911 to report that three-to-four intruders had shot his wife, an El Salvador citizen who had moved to Hawaii before marrying Hoffman in 2008
Hoffman would not allow Aracely, a devout Catholic, to have their children baptized in the Catholic church, a friend told the Chronicle.
They also lived 25 miles away from Malia Puka O Kalani Catholic Church. She would have to make long trips to be with fellow Spanish-speakers.
'I know there were some language difficulties,' Rose Bautista, an attorney who helped her with immigration issues and joined her at Mass, told the Chronicle.
'That's why she sought comfort in coming to a church ... where she could speak the language.'
And her immigration issues also caused friction, Bautista said. Although she declined to go into detail, she said Aracely Hoffman was having trouble getting a Green Card.
She added that Hoffman seemed to be 'always angry at the world... Angry at the system,' though she never saw him direct that anger at his wife.
And a neighbor, Tim Mullins, told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that the pair were 'not a happy couple.'
'They would argue and fight and I would hear it from time to time,' he said. 'But before it got too bad, it would quiet out.'
He also said he thought he could hear her shouting on the night she was killed, though bad weather made it difficult to hear.
And he added that he often saw Hoffman acting out. 'A lot of times in the mornings, I would hear him outside, ranting and venting,' he said.
John Hoffman has been charged with the murders of his wife and children and is still being held on $2.75million bail.
A further hearing to discuss the findings of the medical panel examining Hoffman's mental health has been set for June 14.
A 62-year-old mother claims she managed to escape serial killer Ted Bundy after he used his charm and persuaded her to get in his car.
Rhonda Stapley was waiting at a bus stop in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 11, 1974 when a stranger she thought was 'cute' allegedly pulled over and offered her a ride in his Volkswagen Beetle.
The then 21-year-old University of Utah pharmacy student thought he had a 'friendly and inviting smile' with 'boy next door' looks so she climbed in.
But, according to Stapley, she suddenly became nervous when the kind-looking man - who dressed like a law student - pulled over, shut off the engine, and leaned close to her.
Rhonda Stapley (left pictured now) claims she managed to escape serial killer Ted Bundy (right during his trial in 1979) after he used his charm and persuaded her to get in his car
She said was waiting at a bus stop in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 11, 1974 when a boy she thought was 'cute' pulled over and offered her a ride in his Volkswagen Beetle. The then 21-year-old University of Utah pharmacy student thought he had 'boy next door' looks
She was afraid he would try and kiss her, but the monster actually said: 'Do you know what? I am going to kill you now.'
Bundy, who was executed by electric chair in 1989 for admitting to slaying at least 28 women, raped her and left her for dead outside the car.
Shapley suddenly became nervous when the kind man - who dressed like a law student - pulled over, shut off the engine, turned to her and leaned closer. She was afraid he would try and kiss her, but the monster actually said: 'Do you know what? I am going to kill you now.'
After the attack she regained consciousness, waking up to find her pants around her ankles.
She recounted the alleged ordeal, and how she says it changed her life in her book: I Survived Ted Bundy: The Attack, Escape & PTSD that changed my life.
Stapley reveals how she was so ashamed of herself, she wouldn't tell anyone, not even her family.
The mother even kept the memories from her children and her husband until 2011, when a confrontation at work triggered flashbacks.
In an interview with People, she said: 'He was the boy next door. He didn't have fangs and he didn't have black circles under his eyes. He was normal. He fit in with the community.
'The crime doesn't end when the attack ends,' she continued. 'I would like people who have experienced trauma, even if it's different from mine, to find the courage to talk and begin their own healing.'
In a new extract also published in People, she wrote: 'Ted looked like a typical university student. He had slightly curly dark brown hair, a nice complexion, and his smile was friendly and inviting.
'He was polite, he didn't talk much, but when he did, his voice was confident, his conversation articulate.
'He turned off the engine, and we sat alone, isolated in his Volkswagen... I didn't want to kiss him, but I didn't know how to get out of the situation without embarrassing myself by making a fuss.
'His face was inches from mine when he finally spoke. Very quietly he said: "Do you know what? I am going to kill.'
His hands, she says, then started squeezing her throat.
'I was surprised to be alive,' she continued. 'My adrenaline pumping, I turned away from the light - away from the Volkswagen and my attacker.
'I could not see a thing in front of me but fear propelled me forward into the night.'
TED BUNDY CONFESSED TO RAPING AND KILLING AT LEAST 28 WOMEN, BUT BRAGGED ABOUT SLAYING MORE THAN 100 Ted Bundy was executed in 1989 for his spate of horrific crimes in the 1970s. But some say his killing spree may have started even earlier Before he was executed in 1989, Ted Bundy confessed to raping and killing at least 28 women. He claimed, however, his victims numbered more than 100. Past attorneys have said he confided in them and admitted he killed many more. He was known as a charming man, who earned the trust of his victims before luring them to a secluded place to murder them. He would also enter the rooms of sleeping college students and bludgeon them to death. Traveling across state lines, he was known to prefer female victims with long, dark hair, parted down the middle. At the height of his murder spree, female college students disappeared at a rate of one per month. Since he killed before DNA analysis was readily available, it was difficult to match the murderer with his victims. His thirst for blood as well as his ability to fool officials resulted in two escapes from official custody. He has been implicated in murder sprees in California, Seattle and some say he may have even been the Zodiac killer. One family believes he was 14 when he took his first victim. Advertisement
Stapley then took a few steps and fell into a mountain stream that carried her away from the scene.
Three more girls went missing in the area, but Stapley still kept her story secret.
'I felt with all my heart that it was my fault,' she went on. 'I believed that if I had come forward, the bad guy would have been warned.
'I did not have the courage to speak up.'
It wasn't until 2011 that she was finally able to tell the story after he family persuaded her to go to therapy.
'As I gathered up the painful memories and prepared to release them, they became so vivid that it was the as if the specter of Ted Bundy was in that room. I tasted blood. I smelled his sweat.
'I needed to remember that I had value. I am smart and strong and capable. And I survived.'
You can buy Rhonda Stapley's book here
Ted Bundy's body is taken away by the coroner following his execution by electric chair in Florida in 1989
a flight crew and is allowed to remain free until the two-day trial July 12
On Tuesday he pleaded not guilty to one-count of interfering
didn't serve him beer on an Alaska Airlines March 14 flight
Federal indictment says Luke Watts, 32, threatened to become violent if flight
A passenger who authorities say forced an Alaska Airlines flight to be diverted after he didn't get a beer has pleaded not guilty in Portland, Oregon, to a charge of interfering with a flight crew.
A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday says 32-year-old Luke Watts of Portland threatened to become violent if flight attendants didn't serve him a beer during a March 14 flight from Sacramento, California, to Seattle on Alaska Airlines.
Assistant US Attorney Benjamin Tolkoff says Watts then locked himself in the bathroom and screamed and pounded on the door. He also demanded hugs from flight attendants.
Luke Watts, 32, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge of interference with flight crew members after he allegedly forced a March 14 Alaska Airlines flight to be diverted because he didn't get a beer (file photo above)
Concerned about the potential for violence on the March 14 flight, the pilot decided to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon Live reported.
It's unclear whether the flight attendants had refused to serve Watts alcohol.
US Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta on Tuesday allowed Watts to remain free while awaiting trial for the charge of interference with flight crew members.
The judge ordered that he be subjected to alcohol and drug testing while awaiting his two-day trial that was set for July 12.
The Ministry of Defence has told war widow Susan Rimmer (pictured with current husband David) she must divorce and remarry her second husband if she is to claim her first husband's military pension
The Ministry of Defence has told a war widow she must divorce and remarry her second husband if she is to claim her first husband's military pension.
Susan Rimmer, from Otley, West Yorkshire, branded the situation 'ridiculous' and is set to meet with Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss it.
The 62-year-old remarried following the death of her husband Private Jim Lee, who was killed while serving in Northern Ireland in 1972.
Under the rules at the time of her second wedding to current husband David Rimmer in 1989, Mrs Rimmer was aware that she would lose her first husband's pension.
But in 2014 the Government announced changes to the rules - which had denied about 4,000 war widows and widowers a military pension.
From April 2015, it was agreed that those who 'remarry, cohabit or form a civil partnership' would be entitled to the pension for life, the Ministry of Defence said.
It benefited those who lost loved ones serving between 1973 and 2005 - women whose partners died or were killed during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, or the wars in the Falklands and Iraq.
Mrs Rimmer thought she would be included in this, but because she remarried in 1989 she - like hundreds of other war widows - is unable to claim her dead husband's military pension.
That is because only widows and widowers who remarried after 2005 are currently entitled to claim.
'I think it is absolutely ludicrous,' said Mrs Rimmer. 'The fact that we could get a divorce and re-marry the day after it goes through to get the pension, it just seems stupid.
'Why do we have to go through this? Nobody wants to get a divorce, especially when you love your husband and have a good one like I do.
'It is not about the money but the principal. All war widows should be treated the same. If it really comes down to it, we might have to do it but it is just really sad. I don't want to have to get divorced.'
Mrs Rimmer was aged just 19 when Private Jim Lee, 25, of the 1st Battalion the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, was killed by a terrorist bomb in July, 1972.
First husband: The 62-year-old remarried following the death of her husband Private Jim Lee, who was killed while serving in Northern Ireland in 1972. The pair are pictured together on their wedding day in Otley in 1971
Acknowledgement: Under the rules at the time of her second wedding to current husband David Rimmer in 1989 (pictured), Mrs Rimmer was aware that she would lose her first husband's pension
The great grandmother-of-three was six months pregnant with their daughter Donna-Marie at the time and depended on the pension for a number of years.
Seventeen years later Mrs Rimmer found love again and married her current husband David, aware that she would lose the pension.
She believed that would change when new rules came into force more than two decades later, only for the MOD to tell her otherwise.
Mrs Rimmer was informed that the only way she would get the pension was if David, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year, passed away or she could divorce him and remarry.
The retired post lady said: 'I thought I would get it in April but I later found out that those who married at a certain time would not be eligible for the pension.
'The MOD told me that I could only get it if I got divorced or if David dies. It is not a nice thing to be thinking of, as last year was very difficult after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Jim Lee was killed while serving in Northern Ireland in 1972. He is pictured a few weeks before his death
'I contacted our MP Greg Mulholland who has been fantastic. He brought my situation up at Prime Ministers Questions and we will be meeting the Prime Minister about this. It is not just about me, but the several hundred other war widows affected by this.'
Mrs Rimmer's husband David, a 59-year-old former soldier who served nine years in Duke of Wellington's Regiment, said: 'It is a crazy situation. I am actually dumbfounded with it.
'I think this shows a lot of discrimination, as Susan and the others affected are still war widows at the end of the day, no matter what year they remarried.
'There is talk of other war widows on social media that there is going to be a mass divorce and mass remarriage.
'When I was serving in Northern Ireland, I was told don't worry, your family would be looked after. There was enough stress going on at that time without having to think about if your wife or family would be taken care of when you were gone.'
Mr Mulholland, Liberal Democrat for Leeds North West, spoke about Mrs Rimmer's situation in the House of Commons last week.
He said: 'This a disgraceful way to treat those who have lost loved ones serving our country'.
Mr Mulholland called on the Prime Minister to arrange a meeting with him and Mrs Rimmer, to which David Cameron responded by saying she 'would get the meeting that she deserved'.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Mulholland said: 'I was pleased to raise Susan's case and this important campaign with the Prime Minister and delighted to have secured a meeting to discuss this.
'It is a national disgrace that there are some people who lost loved ones serving their country who receive not a penny from the Government to compensate them for their huge loss.
'The Coalition Government made welcome changes that meant that war widows and widowers could marry again and not lose their support, but Susan is part of a group who get nothing at all, which is clear discrimination as well as injustice.
'Absurdly Susan has been told, in writing by ministers, that she can only get compensation reinstated if she divorces her second husband, but can keep it if she then marries him again straight afterwards!
'This is clearly ludicrous but also offensive to her current marriage and a slap in the face of people who have gone through the heartbreak of the loss of a spouse serving their country.
Peter Chapman, 54, bribed an official at the Nigerian mint to secure a 'multi-million-euro' contract
A businessman was convicted of making bribes to secure a Nigerian bank note printing contract after a judge warned a jury to ignore David Camerons controversial remarks about corruption.
Peter Chapman, 54, bribed an official at the Nigerian mint to secure a 'multi-million-euro' contract for an Australian manufacturer that he managed.
His conviction comes a day after Mr Cameron's toe-curling gaffe where he was caught on camera being indiscreet about the countries he had invited to a key anti-corruption summit tomorrow.
The Prime Minister was clutching a wine glass and making small talk with the Queen at a Buckingham Palace reception when he branded Nigeria 'fantastically corrupt.'
But at Southwark Crown Court Judge Michael Grieve, QC, warned the jury that the Prime Ministers remarks were gross generalisation.
The court heard that the central bank of Nigeria were making the political decision whether to convert bank notes from paper notes to polymer notes.
Chapman made payments totalling 136,000 between July 2007 and March 2009 to secure orders of polymer substrate for his company.
Chapman sent the money via a private company he used as a consultancy business to help agree oil contracts between Russia and the UK.
Before they returned their verdicts, jurors had been advised to completely ignore the Prime Minister's unguarded comments.
Judge Grieve told them: You must try this case on the evidence before you in this court and nothing else.
I am doing so because of certain remarks made by the Prime Minister yesterday on the subject of corruption which have been widely reported by the press and other parts of the media.
You must completely ignore anything you may have seen or heard or read about what the Prime Minister said.
It was almost certainly a gross generalisation and certainly had no direct relevance to anyone involved in this case.
UNGUARDED: THE PM'S COMMENTS TO THE QUEEN AT THE RECEPTION As he chatted with the Queen, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Commons Speaker John Bercow at the Palace yesterday, Mr Cameron said: 'We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption summit. 'We have got the Nigerians - actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.' He went on: 'Nigeria and Afghanistan - possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world.' The monarch did not respond to the PM's comment. However, Mr Welby shook his head and said: 'But this particular president is actually not corrupt... he is trying his best.' From left to right, Commons Speaker John Bercow, the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, David Cameron and Leader of the House Chris Grayling chat at Buckingham Palace yesterday Mr Cameron's candid comments risked causing diplomatic ructions ahead of the major international anti-corruption summit in London. The gathering of the world's political and business leaders in London will aim to 'galvanise a global response to tackle corruption' and is being staged in the wake of the Panama Papers leak, which revealed widespread tax avoidance among the world's elite earlier this year.
Chapman sent the money in transactions to an official at the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc to secure the contract for his Securency International Pty Ltd.
John McGuinness QC, prosecuting on behalf of the Serious Fraud Office, said: The prosecution say that they were effectively bribes to facilitate Securency getting orders.
The first contract for Securency to supply polymer substrate so that it could be produced at the mint was in 2006 - further contracts and supplies followed.
This was a valuable business to Securency worth many millions of Euros.
Chapman arranged for hundreds of thousands of dollars to be transferred through a web of offshore companies and accounts.
Payments initially went straight to the official from a company named Swingaxle that Chapman had registered in the Seychelles for various side projects.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, left, and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani are both due to attend the anti-corruption summit in London this week
Later bribes went by a more complicated route - to a company the official had set up using false documents including the photograph of an unwitting driver who worked for the mint.
Mr McGuinness added that as part of Chapmans pay package he would be entitled to commission on deals that he had brokered.
At the time of the payments Securency were putting pressure on Chapman and other staff members to try and secure valuable contracts, Mr McGuinness said.
Chapman claimed the money he was paying was just paying back a loan made to him by the mint official to cover his expenses in Nigeria.
One of the companies involved in the money transfer claims to work in general contracting and janitorial services which would not have been needed if Chapman was just paying back a loan.
Chapman was known as being very particular for expenses - including making a claim for a 4.21 lunch - but there was no record of his claiming the expenses that he used as an excuse for the bribe payments.
Chapman, of Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, was found guilty of four counts of corruption and cleared of two other counts.
He will be sentenced tomorrow morning.
Barely married a year, Bethani and Tim Webb have just celebrated becoming parents for the first time.
But this was no ordinary delivery.
On Friday, Bethani gave birth to four identical quadruplet girls via cesarean section in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
The chance of that happening is about one in 15 million.
Bethani, 22, and Tim, 23, had planned to start a family slowly.
That changed.
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One in 15 million! On Friday, Bethani Webb, 22, gave birth to her first children: four identical quadruplet girls
Newlyweds: Bethani (left) and her husband Tim (right) celebrate their one-year anniversary in June
The couple from Hythe, near Edmonton, had planned to start a family slowly. That changed
As of Wednesday, all four of the girls were doing well at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, according to the couple's Facebook page.
Abigail was born first, weighing 3lbs. Next came Emily, 4lbs 1oz, then Grace, 3lbs 15oz, and finally McKayla, 3lbs 11oz.
'God blessed Bethani and I with four beautiful and cute baby girls this morning, Bethani and girls are doing great!' Tim wrote on Facebook hours later.
A relative running their Facebook site titled 'Webb Quadruplet Updates' said Tim is 'overwhelmed'.
At Bethani's first ultrasound the doctor counted out all four babies (pictured) who are named Abigail, McKayla, Grace and Emily
Speaking to TODAY ahead of the birth, Bethani described the moment she found out about the four girls.
'She turned the screen and she started counting babies and she counted baby one, baby two, baby three - I was thinking "OK you can stop at baby three. Baby three is enough" - and she counted out the fourth baby,' she said.
'I'm definitely glad I was laying down because I could not believe that there were four there. I thought there had to be some kind of mistake my husband almost fainted.
'He had to sit down for a moment.'
The couple did not use fertility drugs or in vitro fertilization to conceive their children.
'It was completely and totally natural. It was very spontaneous,' Bethani said.
Having quadruplets without the aid of fertility treatments is one in 729,000, Dr. James Bofill, a professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Mississippi, told TODAY.
However, identical quadruplets like the Webb's happen approximately every one in 15 million.
Newlyweds Bethani, 22, (right) and Tim Webb, 23 (left) were married about three months when Bethani became pregnant
The couple married in June (pictured) and by September they were expecting their four girls
Bethani (pictured) did not have any complications with her pregnancy, and said the babies were 'very active'
Bethani had no complications in her 33.5-week pregnancy.
She said the babies were very active and sometimes she felt two or three kick at a time.
Bethani added that while she was excited for the babies, the notion of how much they would need to care for them is overwhelming.
'I'm thinking we have no van, we have no car seats, we have no crib. I thought we were good just having one.
'Going from one to four is like four times everything. Four strollers, four car seats, Four cribs. Diapers. Diapers everywhere,' Bethani said.
The Webbs will use approximately 48 diapers a day now that their daughters have arrived.
They may return to Chapman soon - together - to pursue graduate degrees
The siblings play professionally as the Wimberley Bluegrass Band, appearing at California music festivals and touring the South
They live together, study together, play music together - and now these four California siblings, aged 17 to 22, will be graduating college together.
On Chapman University's commencement day, the Wimberley siblings will all be handed their degrees on the same stage.
It was Danielle, 22, who was the first to enroll in the Orange County college before her brothers, James and Mark, 20, and Michael, 17, followed along.
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The Wimberley siblings (Danielle, 22, twins James and Mark, 20, and Michael, 17) will all be graduating from Chapman University in Orange, California on the same day
Danielle was the first to enroll at Chapman. Michael (middle) told the Daily Mail Online the three boys then 'doubled up' on their school work to catch up to their big sister and join her
'Then they all wanted to join me,' she told KTLA. 'Because we're all really close and we just like doing things together.
Michael told the Daily Mail Online that the three boys of the family 'doubled up' on their school work to catch up to their big sister.
'We dual enrolled at Santiago Canyon College (our local community college) and eventually found ourselves taking 19 units per semester,' he said.
'We three younger siblings were able to graduate with associates degrees before we graduated high school...allowing us to complete our goal of walking at commencement together.'
The siblings were all homeschooled by their mother Tina, a registered nurse, at their Santa Ana home, sometimes found themselves back in the classroom all together again.
Michael told the Daily Mail Online that all four siblings also became involved in a number of extracurricular activities together on campus, including hosting their own radio show.
'I really think the best part of going to Chapman with my siblings was that I didnt have to separate who I am to go to college,' he said. 'We were able to share these exciting times together.'
Michael swears that the siblings have never gotten tired of each other - and said they have no plans to go their separate ways once they graduate.
The four siblings are collectively known as the Wimberley Bluegrass Band. They have released three albums, played in California bluegrass festivals and tour the South every summer
The siblings, from Santa Ana, California, formed their band in 2008
Danielle, James, Mark and Michael are collectively known as the Wimberley Bluegrass Band, which they formed in 2008.
The foursome first began playing together after they begged their parents to gift them a musical instrument in Christmas 2006, and have been sharing the stage ever since.
Danielle plays the mandolin, James and Mark are on the guitar and banjo, respectively, and Michael often takes the lead vocals and also plays the fiddle.
They have released three albums together, are a fixture at California bluegrass festivals and tour the South every summer.
Last year the band had one of their songs, Hard Working Man, featured in an episode of the ABC sitcom The Middle. Their dream is to play at the Grand Ole Opry.
'Lord willing, we're going to be playing bluegrass 'till we die,' Mark told KTLA.
The siblings all specifically chose majors they believed would help them with the business aspect of being a professional band
The siblings all specifically chose majors they believed would help them with the business aspect of being in a professional band, Michael told Chapman's student newspaper The Panther.
Danielle is graduating with a business degree, James majored in math, Mark chose computer information systems and Michael studied strategic and corporate communications. #
The foursome may even return to Chapman to pursue graduate studies, with Michael considering law school, James considering a Masters in Computational Data Studies and Danielle and Mark considering Masters in Leadership Development.
But for now the siblings are focused on releasing a new album and entering the world of post-grad life.
Kristen Stewart is defending her decision to work with Woody Allen on his film Cafe Society in a new interview.
The 26-year-old actress, who shot to fame with the Twilight series, said she spoke with her co-star Jesse Eisenberg before she took the job, having known him from their work on the films Adventureland and American Ultra.
'I was like, "What do you think? We dont know any of these people involved. I can personalize situations, which would be very wrong,"' said Stewart in an interview with Variety.
'At the end of the day, Jesse and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of s*** thats been said about us thats not true, our lives would be over.
'The experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful for the two of us to go on with it.'
The interview came as Allen's estranged son lashed out at actors who choose to work with the director.
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Dream team: Kristen Stewart spoke about her decision to appear in Woody Allen's new film Cafe Society in an interview (above on Wednesday night at the Cannes Film Festival)
Chat: 'Jesse and I talked about this. If we were persecuted for the amount of s*** thats been said about us thats not true, our lives would be over,' said Stewart (above with Allen on the red carpet)
Angered: The interview came as Allen's estranged son Ronan Farrow (above in April 2015) lashed out at actors who choose to work with the director
Ronan Farrow took some time to chide those individuals who work with Allen in an essay he wrote for The Hollywood Reporter.
'Actors, including some I admire greatly, continue to line up to star in his movies. "It's not personal," one once told me,' wrote Farrow.
'But it hurts my sister every time one of her heroes like Louis C.K., or a star her age, like Miley Cyrus, works with Woody Allen.
'Personal is exactly what it is for my sister, and for women everywhere with allegations of sexual assault that have never been vindicated by a conviction.'
He went on to write; 'Tonight, the Cannes Film Festival kicks off with a new Woody Allen film. There will be press conferences and a red-carpet walk by my father and his wife (my sister).
'He'll have his stars at his side Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, Steve Carell, Jesse Eisenberg. They can trust that the press won't ask them the tough questions.
'It's not the time, it's not the place, it's just not done.'
Farrow's essay came one week after a cover story on the acclaimed auteur in the same magazine
He had voiced his displeasure shortly after the release of the story, writing in a tweet directed at The Hollywood Report's editor-in-chief Janice Min; 'Love you, Janice, but what's next, a Bill Cosby cover?'
He then retweeted some of his friends who lashed out at the magazine for making a false statement about the molestation claims Ronan's sister Dylan made against their estranged father.
Essay: 'Tonight, the Cannes Film Festival kicks off with a new Woody Allen film. There will be press conferences and a red-carpet walk by my father and his wife (my sister),' wrote Farrow (Allen and Soon-Yi at the premiere above)
Awful: Farrow claims that when he was a child Allen would climb into his sister Dylan's bed and make her suck his thumb (Woody Allen, Dylan, Mia Farrow and Ronan above in January 1992)
The story initially said that the accusations made by Dylan, who was 7-years-old at the time, were 'dismissed after an investigation.'
The magazine later changed 'accusations that Allen abused their then-7-year-old daughter Dylan were dismissed after an investigation' to 'accusations that Allen abused their then-7-year-old daughter Dylan were not pursued by police after an investigation.'
Stewart though was eager to work with Allen despite the allegations, and even auditioned for her role in the film - only the second time she has done so in her career. The other film was Twilight.
Allen meanwhile said of working with his latest female ingenue in her Variety interview; 'I told her she walked like a relief pitcher coming in from the bullpen.'
The father of one of the two 14-year-old friends lost at sea last year said today that Apple cannot restore his son's severely water-damaged iPhone.
Florida boys Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen vanished on a fishing trip nine months ago and their bodies have never been found.
Their capsized boat was finally located last month 100 miles off Bermuda and Austin's iPhone 6 was intact inside despite being submerged in salt water.
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Florida boys Austin Stephanos (pictured) and Perry Cohen vanished on a fishing trip nine months ago and their bodies have never been found. Apple cannot recover Austin's phone because the device is severely water damaged
The boys' capsized boat was finally located last month 100 miles off Bermuda and Austin's iPhone 6 was intact inside despite being submerged in salt water
Austin and Perry (pictured) went missing on July 24 last year after setting out on a fishing trip from Jupiter, Florida, but never returned. A Snapchat (right)sent by the boys to their friends as they left the Florida coast was revealed last month
The discovery prompted renewed hopes for answers about the boys' disappearance as well as a legal wrangle between the two families over what should be done with the phone.
Austin's father, Blu Stephanos, eventually agreed to hand it over to Apple so that experts could attempt to restore the device and view Austin's last calls, texts and images.
Stephanos said in a statement to Daily Mail Online, however, that the tech giant's experts had been unable to retrieve any data.
'On Tuesday evening I was notified by my attorney, Michael Pike, that he had a conference call with the team leader at Apple, Inc. who informed him that, unfortunately, Austins iPhone could not be restored to working order,' he said.
'They also told him that the phone is currently in several pieces, since testing required them to disassemble it in order to run the diagnostics, clean and restore components and perform a chemical workup.
'Although they were unable to restore the phone to a functional state, I want to thank Apple, Inc. for their hard work and generous assistance.
'If the FBI turned to Apple when they needed help, I see no reason to doubt that every possible means was employed to get Austins phone working again.
'Its our understanding that Apple had a team assigned to the iPhone around the clock, and for that we are truly grateful.'
'Needless to say, we were disappointed, having hoped to get some information or maybe just some final memories from Austins phone.
The discovery of the boys' boat - and Austin's phone - prompted renewed hopes for answers about the boys' disappearance as well as a legal wrangle between the two families over what should be done with the phone
The family of Austin Stephanos (left) were initially confident he and Cohen are still alive. The families used a GoFundMe page to raise almost $500,000 for a private search, but that was called off after it failed to yield any new evidence
Cohen (left) grew up on the water fishing and is a strong swimmer, his family said. His mom, Pam Cohen, wanted the boat subjected to a full forensic examination as if officials were investigating an abduction or a homicide
'But the fact that it can no longer function as a phone doesn't diminish its value as a cherished memory of my beloved son. It's a small piece of him; something he used to call me at night when he needed to talk to someone, something he put his stickers on and carried with him every day.
'As any parent would understand, to me, it's not a broken phone, but a memory of my son that I will hold close to my heart and treasure for the rest of my life.'
The two boys' disappearance off the coast of Jupiter on July 24 last year sparked a an eight-day Coast Guard search of the Atlantic spanning 50,000 nautical miles, as well an an enduring, tragic mystery.
Their 19-ft single engine boat was spotted several times but only retrieved on March 18 by a Norwegian supply boat and is due to be returned to the United States in the next week.
Official reports into Perry and Austin's disappearance reveal that the two families had differing theories from the offset, with Perry's stepfather Nick Korniloff immediately raising fears they had been abducted.
He and Perry's mom, Pam Cohen, want the boat subjected to a full forensic examination as if officials were investigating an abduction or a homicide.
Cohen also filed a lawsuit to prevent officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commision (FWC) from handing back the recovered iPhone to Stephanos and Austin's mother, Carly Black.
Officials had long closed their investigation, however, and duly gave the phone to Stephanos, who said he would have experts comb through it for clues before notifying the other family of the findings.
The Cohens insisted that they should have full access and the spat was settled by a Palm Beach County judge who ordered that the iPhone should be couriered to Apple and a full report sent back to the court.
Their boat passed by a home with a security camera, which captured the final moment they were seen together alive
Pilot Bobby Smith claimed he is certain he saw one of Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen on this piece of debris two days after the pair vanished
Cohen is yet to respond to Stephanos's statement, however experts had previously warned that the phone would likely be damaged beyond repair.
She previously said on Facebook: ''This is an open Missing Persons case, and we hope that FWC reopens their investigation and utilizes the expert resources of other government agencies as well as the private sector if necessary to extrapolate the data from the recovered iPhone'.
Austin and Perry were last seen at about 1.30pm on July 24 when they went on a fishing excursion to Bermuda without adult supervision.
The pair had stocked up on $110 worth of fuel and the alarm was raised when they did not return to shore that night.
After just two days, the Coast Guard found the teens' vessel capsized some 67 miles off the shore of Daytona Beach however they were unable to retrieve it due to bad weather.
Items missing from the boat - including a white Yeti cooler and life jackets - gave the impression that the boys made improvised flotation devices, while a missing engine cover suggested they may have tried to work on the engine.
Also missing were a translucent Plano tackle box and a pair of white Royal brand fishing boots.
Two life jackets and a boat cushion were later found off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, but they could not be linked to the missing teens.
The families used a GoFundMe page to raise almost $500,000 for a private search, but that was also cancelled after it failed to yield any new evidence.
An official report concluded that the boys' boat had probably been overwhelmed by a huge storm that passed over the region that day. They remain classified as missing persons.
Their 19-ft single engine boat was spotted several times but only retrieved on March 18 by a Norwegian supply boat and is due to be returned to the United States in the next week
Study found flyers are more willing to pay extra for baggage and legroom
JetBlue has been favorite among low-cost carriers for over a decade
Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airways still rank highest in the annual J.D. Power survey of passengers on the nine largest North American airlines, and the firm says overall traveler satisfaction with the industry is at a 10-year high.
J.D. Power said Wednesday that Alaska Airlines ranked highest among traditional airlines for the ninth straight year and JetBlue was the top-rated low-cost carrier for the 11th year in a row.
The researchers said that satisfaction about airline cost and fees improved significantly over 2015. They credited lower fares and more acceptance of paying more for baggage and extra legroom.
Widespread fees on checked bags began in 2008 but are now common and raised $3.8 billion for U.S. airlines last year.
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Alaska Airlines, pictured, and JetBlue Airways still rank highest in an annual survey of passengers on the nine largest North American airlines. The survey found traveler satisfaction with the industry is at a 10-year high
A JetBlue plane takes off in view of the air traffic control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, in Seattle. JetBlue was the top-rated low-cost carrier for the 11th year in a row
The study's findings of happy travelers ran counter to the rising number of consumer complaints to the government about U.S. airlines. Those complaints spiked 34 percent in 2015, although they accounted for a tiny fraction of the millions of people who fly every year.
J.D. Power reported results only for nine airlines that have at least $1 billion in annual passenger revenue, at least 40 destinations in the U.S. and Canada, and for which there were at least 100 survey responses. Smaller carriers such as Spirit Airlines and Allegiant Air were not included.
The research firm said that Alaska Airlines, which flies mostly on the West Coast and recently agreed to buy Virgin America, raised its 2015 score more than any other airline. Among other traditional carriers, Delta Air Lines ranked second, American Airlines was third, Air Canada fourth, and United Airlines last.
The recent study found Alaska Airline ranked highest among traditional carriers, and Delta Air Lines came in second place
In the low-cost category, JetBlue Airways beat Southwest Airlines by a slim margin
Southwest Airlines finished second among low-cost carriers, then Canada's WestJet, with Frontier Airlines last.
There is something unusual about these pictures of Kim Jong-un and dozens of his closest advisors - and it is not just the fact one was believed to have been executed months ago.
The pictures have broken with years of tradition, and appear to have foregone the re-touching many have come to accept as standard for the dictatorial regime.
It means, for the first time, a grinning Jong-un is on show to the world, pores and all, in an officially sanction picture.
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A grinning Kim Jong-un poses for a photo following the end of the Workers' Party Conference which observers has said is unusual, thanks to the lack of retouching which the secretive state has become known for
Pictures of 27 high ranking officials were also released - also untouched - alongside the photo of Jong-un
More surprising than Jong-un and his few grey hairs is the appearance of military officer Ri Yong Gil, who South Korean intelligence officials believed was executed months ago after upsetting the secretive state.
Pyongyang-watchers have suggested the high-definition pictures are part of an attempt by North Korea to sell a more natural and positive image of themselves following the end of the party conference - which saw them throw open their doors to hundreds of journalists over the last week.
Chang Yong Seok, a North Korea expert at Seoul National University, said the authoritarian country might be trying to create an image as a 'normal country' that is not much different from others.
Meanwhile, analyst Cho Han-bum at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification said North Korea may want to portray Jong-un as humble yet confident.
He is the only one of the 28 leaders pictured smiling. The government officials, 20 in suits and seven in military uniform, as also all wearing lapel pin bearing the faces of his grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung, and father, Kim Jong Il, which their young leader is not.
It has beensuggested that the pictures are an attempt by Pyongyang to promote a more 'normal' image following the party conference. Pictured: A celebration marking the end of the seventh congress
But unlike their leader, they are not smiling, and are wearing a badge with his father's and grandfather's face on their lapels. There is also a visible age gap between Jong-un and the men at advising him
More surprising than Jong-un and his few grey hairs is the appearance of military officer Ri Yong Gil, who South Korean intelligence officials believed was executed months ago after upsetting the secretive state
Pictures released of Jong-un usually show some sign of retouching - although officials always deny it.
Visitors to the country have suggested it goes further than a bit of Photoshop. It was noted a children's hospital toured by foreign officials was lacking any visibly sick youngsters just last week.
BBC journalist Rupert Wingfield-Hays included this observation in one of his reports from Pyongyang, and was detained as he tried to leave the country.
Mock terror gripped a British suburb today as dozens of armed forces leapt from helicopters and eliminated AK-47-toting 'jihadis' in a training exercise outside a former children's home.
The latest anti-terror drill was part of a three day-long training operation and follows on from the controversy sparked by a masked 'suicide bomber' storming the Trafford Centre yesterday.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) were accused of 'bowing to political correctness' after issuing a grovelling apology for allowing the 'terrorist' to scream 'Allahu Akbar'.
Anti-terror drill: Mock terror gripped a British suburb yesterday as dozens of armed police leapt from helicopters and eliminated AK-47-toting 'jihadis' in a training exercise outside a former children's home
The latest anti-terror drill in in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside (pictured) was part of a three day-long training operation and follows on from the controversy sparked by a 'suicide bomber' storming the Trafford Centre
In yesterday's exercise, balaclava-clad officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit were seen taking on terrorists in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside.
Some of the heavily armed officers wore camouflage gear and had dogs with them as they raced across a field outside Red Bank Community Home - once responsible for the care of one of James Bulger's killers.
Jon Venables spent eight years there after being convicted of murdering the toddler in 1993.
Codenamed Exercise Winchester Accord, GMP said the operation - the precise details of which have not been made public - had been in the planning since last December.
Special forces troops are also believed to have been involved in the exercise.
In today's exercise, balaclava-clad officers from the North West Counter Terrorism Unit were seen taking on terrorists in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside
GMPs Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe said: 'This exercise is part of a national programme that has been planned extensively for five months.
'Our priority is to stop terrorists from planning and orchestrating attacks and with exercises like this, we can put our response to the test in a safe environment, so we are fully prepared for a time when it may be critical.
'I want to make it clear that this is not linked to any specific terror threat or attack, but is an opportunity for us to make sure we are in the best position possible, should a terrorist attack happen in the North West.'
It comes a day after the force came in for criticism with a drill aimed at preparing its officers for a 'Daesh style' extremist assault similar to those that killed hundreds in Paris and Brussels.
Footage of the terror exercise showed a masked 'suicide bomber' storming into the Trafford Centre and yelling 'God is great' in Arabic before fireworks exploded representing his suicide belt being detonated, while 800 bloody volunteers acted out being killed or injured as armed officers swept the mall for other jihadis.
But within hours the force issued a humbling apology after being accused of Islamophobia for assuming terrorists would be Muslim.
The decision to apologise then backfired, with Twitter outraged by the constabulary's political correctness, saying they were right to make the exercise as similar to previous ISIS planned attacks such as Belgium and Paris as possible.
Greater Manchester Police were forced to apologise after a man playing a terrorist in a training exercise aimed at preparing officers to combat an extremist attack shouted 'Allahu Akbar' before detonating a bomb
Victims: A 'suicide bomber' detonated his explosive in the entrance to the Trafford Centre in Manchester, 'killing and wounding' dozens of the 800 volunteers recruited to test the emergency response to an attack
Wounded: One of the 800 volunteers involved in the overnight exercise is forced to the ground with a gunshot wound to her right arm
Most young people believe descendants of slaves should receive reparations for their suffering, a new study shows.
More than half (51 per cent) of millennials questioned in a PBS-run survey backed the idea.
It marks a stark shift in opinion from their older relatives, with 80 per cent of pensioners saying the opposite.
The same study showed a vast majority of white Americans say there should not be reparations for African-American descendants of slaves.
But more than half of blacks say it's a good idea and Hispanics are almost evenly split.
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Most young people believe descendants of slaves who were brought over from Africa to work on plantatations in the US (such as this, pictured) should receive reparations for their suffering, a new study shows
Time may bring about a shift in those numbers as millennials of all races swing in favor.
The Exclusive Point Taken-Marist Poll was released Wednesday in conjunction with the PBS debate series Point Taken.
Overall, 68 per cent of Americans say that reparations should not be paid to descendants of slaves, according to the poll.
Americans over age 69 say by an 80-12 margin that reparations should not be paid to those related to slaves.
Baby boomers between ages 51-69 are similar, with a 79-17 per cent margin against reparations.
The numbers start changing when it comes to Generation Xers, with Americans between the ages of 35-50 breaking 73 per cent to 25 per cent against reparations.
The biggest shift comes with millennials, with a majority 51 per cent saying that reparations should be paid or they were unsure of whether reparations should be paid.
Forty per cent of millennials were in favor of reparations and 11 per cent were unsure, compared with the 49 per cent of the millennials questioned who said reparations should not be paid to slave descendants.
Among the races polled, 81 per cent of white Americans said no to reparations for slave descendants, the highest number among all races.
The numbers were much closer among blacks and Hispanics, with 58 per cent of blacks supporting reparations and 35 per cent against the idea.
Hispanic Americans were almost evenly divided, with 47 per cent against and 46 per cent for providing money for slave descendants.
The numbers shift when age is taken into account, with the idea more popular with younger Americans.
Storyteller and dramatist Gloria Barr Ford, dressed as a slave, speaks to tourists at the Boone Hill Plantation on July 16, 2015 in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
'Maybe there's yet a different moment for this conversation given the increasing ascendency of millennials in society and culture,' said Carlos Watson, who hosts 'Point Taken.'
Researchers say the differences in opinion may have something to do with the increasing diversity of millennials.
According to the Census Bureau, millennials are more diverse than the generations that preceded them, with 44.2 per cent being part of a minority race or ethnic group.
Conversations around reparations have increased lately, with the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent recommending in January that the United States consider reparations to African-American descendants of slavery.
'The colonial history, the legacy of enslavement, racial subordination and segregation, racial terrorism and racial inequality in the U.S. remains a serious challenge as there has been no real commitment to reparations and to truth and reconciliation for people of African descent,' the U.N. report said.
Donald Trump gushed that John McCain is a 'hero' and a 'good guy' in is latest effort to mend fences with leading Republican figures but stopped short of saying he regrets controversial comments he made about McCain last year because his own poll numbers went up.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee got asked in an appearance on Don Imus's radio show whether he would apologize to thousands of former POWs for his comments last year regarding McCain that, 'I like people who weren't captured.'
'Well I've actually done that, Don,' Trump said. 'You know frankly, I like John McCain, and John McCain is a hero.'
'Also, heroes are people that are you know whether they get caught or don't get caught they're all heroes as far as I'm concerned. And that's the way it should be.'
Donald Trump (left) called John McCain (right) a 'hero' but stopped short of expressing regret
They were Trump's most laudatory comments about McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential candidate who sustained brutal treatment during five years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.
But Trump wouldn't go so far as to say he regretted his original comments after Imus pressed him on it.
'I like not to regret anything. You do things and you say things,' Trump explained.
'What I said, frankly is what I said. And some people like what I said, if you want to know the truth. There are many people that like what I said. You know after I said that my poll numbers went up seven points.'
'You understand that I mean, some people liked what I said. But I like John McCain, in my eyes John McCain is a hero. John McCain's a good guy,' Trump added.
McCain has already indicated he won't be attending the GOP convention in July where Trump will formally get the Republican nomination.
McCain's close friend, Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, said last week he won't support Trump who has continued to label Graham a 'lightweight.'
Trump said at a rally last summer, speaking of McCain: 'He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.'
Service and sacrifice: McCain recovers in a Hanoi hospital from injuries sustained after his plane got shot down
Now that he is the party's presumptive nominee, Trump needs to find ways to make peace with powerful House and Senate Republicans, many of whom revere McCain and his war service, even though McCain has sparred repeatedly with the Tea Party and occasionally annoys party leaders.
Trump meets Thursday with House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has yet to give Trump his support.
McCain told reporters in Kansas City this week, 'I've always believed, and seen, that the victor reaches out to the others. The winner should be gracious in victory,' the Kansas City Star reported.
The mother of vanished toddler Ben Needham has defended officers sent to Greece to investigate her son's 1991 disappearance after one was sent home following an eight-hour drinking session.
She reacted with fury to reports of showing the group drinking at a bar and claimed without their help, the mystery of her son's disappearance will never be solved.
The team from scandal-hit South Yorkshire Police had enjoyed a late-night drinking session in Kos hours after renewing the campaign to find the vanished toddler.
Twelve members of the Operation Ben team flew to the Greek island this week to relaunch the search for the Briton who disappeared there in 1991 aged 21 months.
The Sheffield toddler vanished while on holiday with his mother and grandmother. His familys hopes have been boosted by the new search funded by 1 million of public money.
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Late night: Members of the Operation Ben team at a pizzeria on the Greek island of Kos just before midnight
The team began drinking beers in the sun at 5pm on Tuesday on the terrace of their boutique Aktis Hotel
Missing: The Sheffield toddler (pictured) vanished while on holiday with his mother and grandmother in 1991. His familys hopes have been boosted by the new search funded by 1 million of public money
Nine detectives, three support staff and two press officers were appointed to the project, with a maximum of 12 people in Kos at one time. Some of the core team flew to the popular holiday resort on Sunday and will stay for the entire two-week duration.
But on day one of the campaign - just hours after the press conference to launch it the police team started sampling the delights of the island.
And according to The Mirror, Detective Superintendent Matt Fenwick has been summoned back to the UK for an emergency meeting with his South Yorkshire bosses.
However, Ben's mother Kerry Needham, defended the officers at the centre of the row, telling ITV's Good Morning Britain she is confident they are doing all they can to discover the truth behind her son's disappearance.
She said: 'They work so, so hard, putting every ounce of energy into trying to find out what happened to Ben and for this to come out, it could hinder the case.
'I know that without these officers we will not find the answers to Ben. I am so angry about it. No-one can understand how much hard work these officers put into this case. It is very, very cruel what has happened.'
She said she 'fully' supported the police team and disagreed with the decision to send the senior officer home.
Detective Inspector Jon Cousins (right), who is spearheading the campaign, was seen drinking beer with four other detectives who had arrived on the island just hours before
The majority of the group came together at 8pm at a family pizzeria, Amaryllis, to drink more beer and wine
The group left the restaurant to walk into Kos Old Town for dinner, but returned at 11.30pm for nightcaps, and to watch the second half of West Hams match against Manchester United
Det Supt Fenwick (centre) had moved on to red wine by the time the jovial group returned to the restaurant, and he left at 12.33am
DI Cousins (pictured in the royal blue shirt) was the last person to retire to bed, at 1.24am. The next morning, the police-hosted Press conference started 20 minutes late, and lasted less than half an hour
She told the programme: 'Matt Fenwick is an amazing detective; he has been by our side for a few years now and we have never had any problem with his work.
'These police officers, they are human beings at the end of the day. What they choose to do in their own time is their business, not anybody else's.
'It is horrendous. I can't believe what has happened. We work together - the police, the media and myself, we work together as a team. This is just not team work.
'We are supposed to be trying to find the answers to what happened to Ben along with these detectives, and this could just hinder it. And I'm angry this report had to come out, it is just not nice.'
COPS HUNT FOR SWEDISH COUPLE WHO 'SHOWED AN INTEREST' IN TODDLER South Yorkshire police investigating Ben's disappearance are now hunting for a Swedish couple who 'showed an interest' in the youngster before he vanished, it has been reported. Officers believe the couple may help shed light on the case after they were seen 'making a fuss over him', Ben's family claimed. According to The Mirror, Det Insp Jon Cousins said: 'There was a Swedish couple at the hotel who spent some time with Ben and showed some interest in him. 'An appeal went out a couple of months ago across Scandinavia asking people that may have stayed at the Palm Beach to get in touch with us. 'We do have the details of the people that stayed in the hotel but this couple has not been ruled out.'
The group began drinking in the sun at 5pm on Tuesday on the terrace of their boutique Aktis Hotel, which boasts sea views, a spa and a chauffeur car service. Detective Inspector Jon Cousins, who is spearheading the campaign, was seen drinking beer with four other detectives who had arrived on the island just hours before.
Det Supt Fenwick who was heavily criticised for leaking details of a raid on Sir Cliff Richards home in 2014 joined the group at 5.30pm, and the majority of the group came together at 8pm at a family pizzeria, Amaryllis, to drink more beer and wine.
The group left the restaurant to walk into Kos Old Town for dinner, but returned at 11.30pm for nightcaps, and to watch the second half of West Hams match against Manchester United.
Det Supt Fenwick had moved on to red wine by the time the jovial group returned to the restaurant, and he left at 12.33am.
DI Cousins was the last person to retire to bed, at 1.24am. The next morning, the police-hosted Press conference started 20 minutes late, and lasted less than half an hour. The team downed 17 pints of beer at the Amaryllis restaurant, whose owner described the officers as being good for business after recognising them from previous trips.
Theyve stayed at the Atkis before, he said. They like a drink to wind down and enjoy themselves but [theyre] never any trouble.
The inquiry comes after a Metropolitan Police team was nicknamed the Sunshine Squad after spending 21 months in the Cayman Islands during a 4 million undercover operation into police corruption that did not result in any convictions.
Although the majority of the South Yorkshire team were involved in Tuesdays drinks session, it was unclear how many were part of the Operation Ben team and how many were acquaintances.
Afternoon jog: One of the team went for a run (left), before later sharing an ice cream with a colleague (right)
Ice work if you can get it: A detective enjoys a treat in Kos as he walks alongside another member of the team
One of the Operation Ben detectives was seen jogging in Kos Old Town (left) before stopping for a break (right)
One of the twelve members of the Operation Ben team who flew out to Kos is seen enjoying an ice cream
Yesterday one of the Operation Ben detectives was seen jogging in Kos Old Town at 3.55pm and was later seen strolling in the 28C (82F) sunshine enjoying an ice cream.
Det Supt Fenwick said last night: There is no alcohol [bought] on public money. Were not going out and drinking loads of alcohol. Were desperately trying to find Ben and were working really hard.
We were up at seven this morning and weve got officers still out now [at 8.30pm] interviewing people.
DI Cousins said the officers were raising awareness of Bens disappearance among locals because weve had extremely limited information... from people who actually live here.
But the investigation in Kos with the hotline numbers not being read out during the launch and no local newspaper adverts being taken out has often been chaotic.
It comes in the week that five South Yorkshire officers appeared in court accused of using the force helicopters thermal imaging camera to film couples having sex.
The force has also been under fire for its handling of the Rotherham sex abuse scandal and its cover-up of the true events of the Hillsborough stadium disaster.
Pain: Ben Needham's grandmother Christine (pictured right with granddaughter Leighanna) says her daughter, Ben's mother, Kerry doesn't blame her for the 21-month-old's disappearance while in her care
Mummy's boy: Of Kerry, pictured with Ben, Christine said: When she got to the age Ben was when he disappeared, she had a proper breakdown and I had to step in and help her out'
Cheeky: Christine said when Kerry had Leighanna after Ben went missing it led to a breakdown because her baby daughter looked so similar to her missing son and the constant reminders were too much to cope bear
Close: Christine told how the family have stayed close despite their agony in not knowing what happened to Ben. She said that daughter Kerry has never blamed her for the disappearance while she cared for him
A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: 'We're absolutely committed to this investigation and require the highest possible standards from all of those involved. The team must now get on with the important task in hand.'
She said: 'Following concerns raised regarding the behaviour of some of those involved, the senior officer has been recalled to the UK with immediate effect to provide the details of exactly what has happened. An internal investigation will follow.'
And today South Yorkshire PCC Dr Alan Billings said: 'Officers who work abroad on sensitive cases in what may appear to be an exotic location need to think all the time about how they will be perceived, both on and off duty.
He told her dead body: 'F***you! How's that. That's where we just went'
Smith was heard hurling abuse at the victim before a gunshot, police say
Detectives found a recording on Webb's phone of moment she was killed
Smith then tried and failed to take his own life before police arrived
Police say the 42-year-old shot her in the chest with a 12 gauge shotgun
Keith Smith (pictured on his arrest) shot dead his girlfriend Wesley Webb during an argument
A mother-of-three 'shot dead by her own boyfriend' recorded audio of her own murder, police say.
Wesley Webb, 40, was allegedly shot dead by Keith Smith at the home they shared in Schuylkill Township, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, while her children were still inside.
The 43-year-old gunman then turned the weapon on himself and attempted to take his own life before emergency services arrived.
Police later discovered the audio recording the victim had made on her cellphone moments before she was shot.
Webb had pressed record after she and Smith got into an argument, District Attorney Tom Hogan said. The row had quickly escalated after she announced she was leaving and taking two of the children.
The recording captured Smith screaming abuse at his partner, calling her a 'b***h, before shooting her in the chest with a 12 gauge shotgun, authorities say.
After the sound of gunshot, he is heard telling her now lifeless body: 'F***you! How's that. That's where we just went.'
'This was a savage, selfish, and cowardly murder,' Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan told NBC Philadelphia.
'The defendant did not hesitate to kill his girlfriend. But he flinched when it came to killing himself. Now, the victim is dead, the defendant is alive, and three kids have been badly traumatized.'
Webb, 40, was shot in the chest at the home the couple shared in Schuylkill Township, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, while her children were still inside, police say
Detectives say Smith had shot the victim at around 11.30pm on May 2 at their home on Buckwalter Road, Chester County.
Smith had pulled out the shotgun and fired once at his girlfriend's chest as she sat in the living room couch.
He then reloaded and shot himself in the face in a failed suicide attempt.
On hearing the commotion, Webb's children called 911 and police and ambulance crews arrived to take Smith to hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound.
He remains in hospital until he is cleared by medical staff upon which time he will be transported to Chester County Prison.
CBS News veteran Morley Safer, who's been a correspondent on 60 Minutes for all but two of the show's 48 seasons, is retiring.
The network said Wednesday it will mark the occasion with an hour-long special on Safer's career Sunday after the regular edition of 60 Minutes.
At 84 years old, he has cut back on work in the past couple of years and has dealt with health issues.
His last 60 Minutes report was a profile of Danish architect Bjarke Ingels and was broadcast in March. It was the 919th report he's done for the show since he began there in 1970.
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So long: Morley Safer (above in 2008) is retiring from CBS after 46 seasons on the show 60 Minutes
Back in the day: Safer got his start on the network in 1964 and worked in London and Saigon (above in 1965) before joining the news magazine in 1970
Safer had a noted career as a reporter even before joining 60 Minutes, particularly covering the Vietnam War for CBS News.
Her joined CBS as a London-based correspondent in 1964, and the next year opened the network's bureau in Saigon.
He remained there until 1967, at which point he went back to London where he had been named bureau chief.
Then, in 1970, he joined 60 Minutes as the show entered its third season.
Safer, who was born in Toronto, has remained a Canadian citizen but lives in New York City with his wife Jane Fearer.
The couple have a daughter Sarah who is a freelance journalist.
Family: He and his wife Jane (above in 1987) live in New York City and have an adult daughter Laura while is a freelance journalist
Over the course of his prestigious career Safer has been awarded 12 Emmys, three Peabody Awards and the Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
More than a dozen people spent the night in hospital after a tourist boat went up in flames on Wednesday afternoon, forcing those on the ship to jump overboard.
There were 46 people aboard the Spirit of 1770 when a suspected explosion in the engine room which forced tourists - many of them Chinese nationals - to flee the boat in fear of their lives.
Queensland police said 19 people spent the night in hospitals in Bundaberg and Gladstone, with various ailments ranging from mild hypothermia and seasickness to suspected fractures.
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Shocking footage has emerged of the moment the Spirit of 1770 went up in flames on Wednesday
Pictures have also emerged of the 46 passengers forced to jump overboard when their ship caught on fire
Dozens of people spent the night in hospital after the were forced to leap into the water
The boat was off the coast of Lady Musgrave Island on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, when the inferno started about 4pm.
Those on board the boat were evacuated on life rafts, however as temperatures dropped below ten degrees on Wednesday evening many are now suffering from hypothermia.
The 23-metre long catamaran is now laying at the bottom of the ocean, and none of the passengers have serious injuries.
Witnesses said the fire was 'the biggest thing they had ever seen' and described it as 'very awful'. the Gladstone Observer reports.
Wayne Mellick told the newspaper that police boats, helicopters and other rescue crews could be seen from shore.
One woman said they were in the water for a 'long time' after the boat caught fire
Those on board the boat (pictured) were evacuated on life rafts
It had dozens of tourists onboard while travelling off Lady Musgrave Island on the Great Barrier Reef
This marks the second time in a year the Spirit of 1770 has hit troubled waters, after running ashore in January 2015.
The boat was hit by a 'freak wave' and smashed into the shore, while ferrying passengers back from Lady Musgrave Island.
Lady Musgrave Island is a popular tourist spot, with sightseeing cruises to the island and limited numbers of campers allowed to stay on the island.
It is the second in a chain of islands in the Great Barrier Reef.
Most of those onboard were in hospital overnight suffering from hypothermia
Experts predict that up to 50,000 incomers are not recorded each year
A bombshell report by the Office for National Statistics will be published
Dishonest politicians have misled the British public over the true scale of mass immigration from the EU, Boris Johnson declared
Dishonest politicians have misled the British public over the true scale of mass immigration from the EU, Boris Johnson declared last night.
He hit out on the eve of the publication of a bombshell report expected to reveal the numbers pouring into the UK have been under-counted for years.
The study is intended to explain why an 1.3million more National Insurance numbers have been given out to EU citizens than are accounted for in official statistics.
Experts predict the number of incomers could be 50,000 more than are recorded every year.
MPs and ministers accused Number Ten which is rattled by its failure to take a commanding lead in the EU referendum - of trying to bury bad news.
The Office for National Statistics report was due to be published at the end of the month only a month from polling day.
But the timing has been brought forward to today, when it will clash with major Government statement to the Commons on the future of the BBC and the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
Mr Johnson, speaking at the launch of the Leave campaigns road campaign, said there had been a huge rise in immigration without consent from the public.
He said politicians had been driven to dishonesty because they did not want to admit they cannot control immigration while Britain is inside the EU.
The Tory big-hitters comments will be seen as a further swipe at David Cameron over his long-standing promise to reduce net migration to below 100,000-a-year a target he has consistently failed to meet.
Mr Johnson went on: It has been misleading. There is no question that it has been misleading. Politicians have been driven into this dishonesty about it by the EUs arrangements.
He went on: Politicians, if theyre going to have a pro-migration policy, should take responsibility for it, stand up and explain why they want hundreds of thousands as opposed to tens of thousands and then say it.
Mr Johnson said politicians had been driven to dishonesty because they did not want to admit they cannot control immigration while Britain is inside the EU. Pictured, migrants break through fences in Macedonia
I think weve got a crazy situation now where we cant control immigration from the EU 28. To add a city the size of Newcastle every year to the UK. We have seen nothing like it in I think 80million years or so. To put it this way it is too high to do without consent. That is the issue. Theres no consent.
It might be that a party or a Government or politicians could persuade people if they genuinely believed that this was a good thing that it was going to turbo charge the economy and all the rest of it. What is not is acceptable is to say theres nothing we can do.
MPs accused Number Ten of putting pressure on the ONS to bring forward the publication date for the report on National Insurance numbers.
Experts predict the number of incomers could be 50,000 more than are recorded every year. Pictured, Boris Johnson in his Vote Leave campaign bus
Last night, one minister told the Mail: The ONS should never allow itself to be used like this in what has to be a totally political way.
Tory MP Anne Main said: The Government is doing its level best to hold back as much negative information on the referendum as possible. Even when asking fairly simple questions, backbenchers are finding that there are delays, or the answers are vague and unsatisfactory if our questions are even being answered at all.
Mr Duncan Smith said: I have always been in favour of full disclosure on immigration'
Ex-Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Duncan Smith said: I have always been in favour of full disclosure on immigration, which is why I unreservedly welcome the publication of this data at last.
A row has been raging over the true scale of EU immigration since the Government refused Freedom of Information requests at the end of last year.
Figures from the ONS - which are supposed to count people into the country - show some 919,000 EU migrants have arrived in Britain since June 2010. But, in the same period of time, officials have issued 2.2 million NI numbers to EU migrants.
MPs say the gap suggests huge numbers of incomers may have been missed by the ONS leaving officials in the dark about the true scale of the pressure being placed on hospitals and schools.
In a sustained campaign, backed by the Mail, Brexit campaigners and economists have called for the release of the active NI numbers, which means those which are currently being used to claim benefits or pay taxes.
After resisting for months, the HMRC agreed last month to pass the information to the ONS. The ONS originally planned to release it on May 26 less than a month before the referendum.
Last month, a study by Migrationwatch predicted net migration from inside the EU was around 50,000-a-year higher than official statistics admit.
Number Ten denied being involved in the timing of the release. A spokesman said: Its their publication. The ONS decide on when the publish it.
A terror suspect toured potential targets in Britain while posing as an Afghan refugee.
Hakim Nasiri was described as a human bomb when arrested in Italy this week accused of being in an Islamic State cell.
A chilling image found on his phone shows the 24-year-old brandishing an M16 assault rifle in a British supermarket.
Easy rider: Nasiri travelling through Orpington, south-east London on the train
The discovery raises fears of a Paris-style gun rampage in this country.
And a Mail investigation can reveal Nasiri made suspicious journeys around Britain and mainland Europe under a series of bogus names.
On social media he claimed to be the manager of a takeaway in Birmingham and also a student in the city all while supposedly living under refugee status in an asylum hostel in Bari.
He boasted on his Facebook page about travel to Paris and Milan and shared pictures of himself in London outside Buckingham Palace and at the Shard. He also posted images of jihadi symbols and weapons.
Pose: Nasiri in Star City shopping centre in Birmingham (left) and in front of the Shard with his iPad on August 12, 2015 (right)
Italian police believe he was in a five-strong terror gang scouting London hotels and restaurants as well as the Thames cable car. Two members of the gang are still on the loose.
Vincenzo Molinese, who is a colonel in the Bari carabinieri, said: The phone images of Nasiri holding a machine gun were probably taken in the back room of a supermarket in England.
The photo is believed to have been taken on July 7 last year the 10th anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings.
Target: Nasiri scouted the area near Buckingham Palace
British security sources say Nasiri used more than one identity when passing through UK passport checks. They suggested the rifle might be decommissioned or even a fake.
But they are checking whether he had any links to Mohamed Abrini, a Brussels airport attack suspect who was in Birmingham at the same time as Nasiri last July.
Abrini, 31, had pictures of Aston Villas stadium on his phone when was arrested last month.
As police and the Home Office work to unravel his multiple identities, photographs emerged of Nasiri posing in a bustling British shopping street. One of him wearing an Afghan flag around his neck was entitled: Me and my life in GB.
Last July he told his online followers that London was too hot today. Later that month he was in Birmingham wishing his friends a happy Eid and throwing a party at his rented home in the north of the city.
Last night his landlords wife said he had left the address some time ago and she didnt know what had happened to him.
On August 3, Nasiri posed for photos outside the Shard before he moved on to Paris, Milan and then to Bari.
Four days later, on August 12, he was in Calais the entrypoint into Britain for migrants and would-be jihadis. He later posted thumbs-up pictures of himself on a train passing through south-east London.
But he was soon back in Bari, where he had been granted humanitarian residence status after arriving as a refugee in 2013.
He supposedly lived in a hostel for asylum seekers that overlooks the Adriatic.
Jet-setter: Nasiri by the sea in Bari, Italy (left) and outside an Italian pizza restaurant (right)
Nasri even had taken a selfie with who is believed to be the mayor of Bari, Antonio Decaro, during a march to show solidarity with immigrant citizens last September
Yet Nasiri claims on Facebook that he had studied at Birmingham City University a claim the institution emphatically denies.
And workers denied knowing anything about him at the Dixy Chicken restaurant he claims to have worked at.
Italian police had been monitoring Nasiris alleged terror gang since December when they were detained after being seen filming a shopping centre in Bari.
TOTING A GUN IN A BRITISH SUPERMARKET This is terror suspect Hakim Nasiri posing with an assault rifle in what Italian police say is probably an English supermarket. He is pictured wearing a yellow polo shirt as he raises the M16 assault rifle, one finger apparently on the trigger, his other hand supporting the barrel of the weapon. The American M16 rifle is a highly effective weapon. Jihadis usually favour the Russian-designed AK-47 because it is easy to use and readily available in conflict zones. However, it is less accurate and reliable than an M16. Mike Yardley, a former Army officer and firearms expert, said: This was the favoured weapon of the Provisional IRA because they were relatively easy to train people to use. It may have been imported from Ireland. He said another option was it could have leaked from US bases in the UK.
He was arrested at the hostel on suspicion of international terrorism, while fellow Afghan Gulistan Ahmadzai, 29, was picked up at a similar hostel in Foggia. He has also spent time in London.
Zulfiqar Amjad, a 24-year-old Pakistani, was arrested in Milan. He and Gulistan are suspected of operating a smuggling route for migrants and terrorists.
Surgul Ahmadzai, who is accused of scouting for targets in London, and fellow alleged jihadi, Qari Khesta Mir Ahmadzai, 30, have gone on the run. Surgul, 28, described himself on social media as a London student and had an address in Stratford, close to the Olympic park. They are believed to be in Kabul.
They had been tracked visiting seven cities in nine days paying budget air fares in cash. All five suspects had been granted refugee status in Italy, meaning they would have been able to take advantage of Europes open borders to move freely around the continent.
Among the potential targets found on their phones were hotels in Londons Docklands.
Pictures of a footbridge to Canary Wharf and the Premier Inn outside Westfield in Stratford were also discovered. The cell was allegedly planning attacks in France, Italy and Belgium as well as on Romes Colosseum.
Pictures of mutilated US soldiers were discovered on the phones, along with recordings of prayers to prepare recruits for martyrdom.
On Mir Ahmadzais phone, Barack Obama was depicted as a donkey, along with gruesome images of disfigured American soldiers and British soldiers arriving home in coffins.
Prosecutors said they had material showing an ideological hatred of the West and support for terrorism in Afghanistan and a checklist of Western symbols to destroy.
Surgals phone contained pictures of alleged targets in London, Rome and Bari.
The two Afghans were described as human bombs by right-wing politician Matteo Salvini, leader of the Northern League.
This is the Oregon man whose life was saved by Domino's Pizza staff after they realized their favorite customer hasn't ordered food in 11 days.
Kirk Alexander, 47, was found on the ground of his home on Sunday after staff at a Salem Domino's Pizza called 911 when he wouldn't answer his door.
Employees at the Salem shop became worried after Alexander - who has been a regular customer for seven years - hadn't called in to the store in nearly two weeks, so they sent a delivery driver to his home to check up on him.
Tracey Hamblen, an employee, knocked on Alexander's door on Sunday, just after midnight, but he didn't respond. She could see lights and a television on inside.
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Kirk Alexander, 47, was found on the ground of his Salem, Oregon, home on Sunday after staff at a Salem Domino's Pizza called 911
Sarah Fuller, a general manager at a Domino's Pizza in Salem, Oregon, says her staff helped save the well-known customer after becoming worried that he hadn't ordered from the store in 11 days
A delivery driver was sent to Alexander's home (pictured) for a wellness check just after midnight on Sunday, and after he didn't answer the door, she called 911. Marion County sheriff's deputies found Alexander suffering medical problems that could have ended his life
Hamblen tried to call the customer, but it went straight to voicemail.
After not hearing from Alexander, Hamblen called 911, while Jenny Seiber, a Domino's assistant manager, called authorities' non-emergency line, according to Oregon Live.
Marion County sheriff's deputies arrived and heard a man calling for help from inside the home.
They found Alexander suffering medical problems that could have ended his life, Marion County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt Chris Baldridge said.
He was taken to the hospital and was in stable condition as of Monday morning, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The office would not reveal what medical problems Alexander was experiencing, but said he suffers from severe health problems.
Paramedics told KOIN, however, that Alexander was on the ground of his home when they arrived, and that they believed he had a stroke. It is unknown when he suffered the medical problems.
Seiber said that Alexander is a very well-known customer, but he doesn't have a regular order - he'll order anything from pasta or pizza to sandwiches or wings.
'It's never the same thing every time,' she said.
She added that Alexander is quiet, but friendly and nice, saying employees at the restaurant were 'worried a little bit' after not hearing from him for 11 days.
Staff said Alexander is a very well-known customer at the restaurant (pictured), but he doesn't have a regular order - he'll order anything from pasta or pizza to sandwiches or wings
Video courtesy KATU
General manager Sarah Fuller told KOIN that Alexander has been ordering from the restaurant since 2009.
'He orders every day, every other day,' Fuller said. 'His order pops up on the screen because he orders online. So we see it come across the screen and we're like, "Oh, Kirk's order".'
She added that Alexander is 'just an important customer that's part of our family here at Domino's.
'He orders all the time, so we know him. I think we were just doing our job checking in on someone we know who orders a lot. We felt like we needed to do something.'
Jenny Fouracre, director of public relations at Domino's headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, told the Statesman Journal that the store's efforts were consistent with the company's customer service standards.
She said: 'We are proud of our team members who took the initiative to reach out and help a regular customer who was in distress.
'There are thousands of Dominos stores across the country, but every store is really a part of their neighborhood, delivering to people in their homes, which means we often get to know our customers well.
'We have many stories of how our stores have helped regular customers in ways that are big and small over the years, which is a level of customer service and commitment to our communities that we hope everyone will emulate.'
Fuller told the Statesman Journal that she agreed with Fouracre's statement.
'We're like a family here, and we were glad we were able to do something to help,' she said. 'We hope he's able to fully recover from this.'
Popular cooking appliance Thermomix was responsible for 87 burns cases, according to consumer advocacy group CHOICE.
Eighteen of these cases required treatment from a doctor or a nurse and eight people reported hospitalisation, with some spending time in the specialist burns unit for up to three weeks.
The information collected by CHOICE related to two recent Thermomix products, the TM31 and TM5.
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Popular cooking appliance Thermomix was responsible for 87 burns cases, according to consumer advocacy group CHOICE. Pictured is stock image
Eighty-three complaints were about the TM31 and four were about the TM35, according to the mass incident report.
The group also received complaints about 26 near-misses where hot liquid exploded from a Thermomix but did not hurt anyone.
According to CHOICE, customers had complained to Thermomix about the failure of its popular TM31 at least a year before the product was listed on the national recalls website.
'Based on the incidents identified in our report, it appears Thermomix should have made at least two mandatory reports before October 2014 and another eight after that date,' CHOICE's Tom Godfrey said.
Eighty-three complaints were about the TM31 and four were about the TM35, according to the mass incident report. Above is a picture one consumer shared with CHOICE
Another photo of burns sent to the consumer advocacy group. The group called on the ACCC to investigate Thermomix safety concerns
An Adelaide mother developed a huge blister on her hand after her Thermomix's lid 'blew off' and sprayed hot liquid on her
'A responsible company should have acted quickly to address any dangers with products but based on consumer reports Thermomix Australia took more than a year between initial notification and recall.'
Under ACCC's mandatory reporting guidelines, a manufacturer must provide written notice to the Federal Minister for Consumer Affairs within two days of becoming aware that someone suffered a serious injury or illness from their product.
THERMOMIX INCIDENTS A total of 94 report were received, with 87 relating to a Thermomix The cases related to two Thermomix products - TM31 and TM5 Eighty-three of the reports related to the TM31 and four reports were about the TM5 In 45 of the reports, a consumer was harmed - with two cases involving the TM5 and 43 from a consumer using the TM31 Eighteen people had to be treated by a doctor or a nurse after they were injured, with eight people hospitalised Of these eight people, five were treated in a specialist burns unit for a number of days, some up to three weeks
The consumer advocacy group undertook the report after it was revealed the company was forcing customers to sign non-disclosure agreements and gag orders before granting burn victims refunds.
Following the release of this report, CHOICE has called on the ACCC to issue a safety warning about the machine and investigate further.
The group also alleged Thermomix tried to downplay the dangers of its product.
'These reports also allege the company has attempted to blame victims and downplay the danger this product presents,' Mr Godfrey said.
'It is deeply concerning that, in a number of cases, when the company was informed of an incident they blamed the consumer by classifying the products failure as "user error".'
In a statement, a Thermomix spokesman said 'the safety, welfare and support' of its customers was their 'highest priority'.
'Thermomix in Australia (TiA) and Vorwerk, the manufacturer, are aware of the allegations made in CHOICEs report to the ACCC,' he said.
Perth mother Danika Jones (pictured) was rushed to hospital with second-degree burns after her appliance burst open while she cooked pasta sauce earlier this month
Another picture of Ms Jones' burns to her arm after using her Thermomix
Adelaide mother Tennille Pooley was left in a 'world of pain' with horrific second degree burns to her left hand, arm and chest
'We have always fully cooperated with the ACCC and will continue to do so.
'We do not wish to prejudice the outcome of the ACCCs review of matters reported to it by commenting further at this time.'
One of the customers involved in 87 of these cases was Perth mother-of-two Danika Jones who was rushed to hospital with second-degree burns after her appliance burst open while she cooked pasta sauce in March.
Following Ms Jones' incident, two more mothers came forward after suffering serious burns when their Thermomixes exploded.
Tennille Pooley, from Adelaide, said she was cooking dinner with a two-year-old Thermomix when the lid 'blew off' and sprayed hot liquid all over her.
This is the shocking moment a high-speed police chase ended in violence as New Hampshire officers appeared to beat a suspect after he surrendered.
Video taken by a Fox News helicopter show the moment a suspect climbed out of his pickup truck and laid down on the floor after a 100mph police chase that crossed two states.
Apparently unaware they are being watched by a news crew, two officers leap on the suspect and appear to beat him in the head and back while other cops hold him down.
Helicopter footage has captured the moment a police chase ended in violence in new Hampshire after two officers appear to beat a suspect after he surrendered
The disturbing footage was captured in Nashua, New Hampshire, at around 5pm following an hour-long chase.
The pursuit began at around 4pm in Holden, Massachusetts, when a man wanted on multiple arrest warrants refused to stop for police, WMUR reports.
The man, who has not been identified, then led officers through the towns of Concord, Chelmsford, and Billerica, before crossing the border into New Hampshire.
There the suspect raced through the town of Hudson before being cornered in Nashua, New Hampshire, where the arrest was made.
Officers say that at one point during the pursuit the man hit a pole at the side of the road, damaging his vehicle, but kept driving.
Officers said the man was pursued after failing to stop despite being wanted on several outstanding warrants before being cornered in the town of Nashua, where this footage was taken
One officer (far left) can be seen aiming at least seven blows at the suspect's head while another cop wearing a blue shirt (second left) also appear to punch the man at least four times
Images show that the pickup truck had lost at least one tire, with its back left wheel reduced to riding on the metal rim, though it is not clear how this occurred.
Cops also said that at certain points the pursuit speeds exceeded 100mph.
Footage of the arrest shows the suspect's truck surrounded by officers with their weapons drawn and at least one police dog on a leash nearby.
The door of the truck opens and the man can be seen climbing out and going to lay on the floor when one uniformed cop strides forward and aims a punch at the side of his head.
The man collapses on to the floor as the cop aims another six blows at his head, appearing to strike him several times on the back of the skull before throwing several uppercuts into his face.
No further details have been released about the suspect or the arrest, and a spokesman for Nashua Police Department refused to comment to the Dailymail.com
Another officer, wearing a blue t-shirt also appears to assault the man as he lays on the concrete, hitting him at least four times.
Another four officers can also be seen holding the man down while the arrest is taking place.
The campaign to keep Britain in the EU is being bankrolled to the tune of 2 million by global banks who were fined billions for bringing the world's economy to its knees.
Between them, Goldman Sachs, J P Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Citibank had to pay $27.7 billion to the US Government for mis-selling mortgages and other scandals which inflicted misery on countless Britons.
The official Britain Stronger In Europe (BSE) group backed by No 10 has also taken major sums from wealthy businessmen who previously insisted the UK would be 'isolated' if it did not join the disastrous euro.
Bankrolling: J P Morgan which warned Britain would be left 'isolated' if it didn't join the euro has donated 500,000 to Britain Stronger In Europe. Pictured, the bank's headquarters in New York City, New York
Figures on campaign donations, published yesterday, also reveal that BSE took a 20,000 loan at a rate of just 1 per cent from Lloyds the bailed-out bank which is still part-owned by the UK taxpayer.
And Eurostar gave the group thousands of pounds, despite the fact its majority shareholder is the French government, meaning another EU country is effectively paying to try to keep Britain in a club to which it is a huge net contributor.
The official Vote Leave campaign said last night it was involved in a 'David v Goliath' battle in which the global elite were pulling out all the stops to protect their own interests.
The Leave camp, led by Michael Gove and Boris Johnson, declared 2.79 million in the period from February 1 to April 21 this year, the first stage of the official referendum campaign. BSE declared 6.88 million.
Donation: Labour peer Lord David Sainsbury has given 3.75 million to Britain Stronger in Europe
Vote Leave said its rival had accepted donations from 'companies which are majority owned by foreign governments and companies based offshore'. In addition, the In campaign has benefited from 9.3 million of spending by the Government on a hugely controversial pamphlet sent out to homes across the UK last month.
Former Labour foreign secretary and foundder of the SDP, Lord Owen, said: 'The EU works in the interests of the elite the 1 per cent so it is entirely unsurprising to find that the campaign to keep us in the Union is financed by big banks like Goldman Sachs and J P Morgan.
'With their unlimited cash, they are lobbying the British people to act in a way that benefits their profit margin. Remember, these banks are the very people who crashed the economy in 2008 mis-selling toxic mortgages and cooking the books to allow Greece to join the single currency. Millions of ordinary people paid for their mistakes and many are still suffering.
'These figures show again that we are in a David vs Goliath fight, but it is one we are determined to win.'
Goldman Sachs has been accused of 'cooking the books' to allow Greece to join the euro with disastrous consequences. In 2016, the bank reached a settlement with the US Government under which it paid $5.06 billion over its 'conduct in the packaging, securitisation, marketing, sale and issuance of residential mortgage-backed securities'.
J P Morgan which warned Britain would be left 'isolated' if it didn't join the euro has donated 500,000. The bank reached a $13 billion settlement with the Department of Justice 'for misleading investors about securities containing toxic mortgages'.
Citibank, which reached a $7 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice, and Morgan Stanley, which was fined $2.6 billion, both gave 250,000 to BSE.
BSE also accepted millions from wealthy businessmen who had previously campaigned for Britain to join the euro, with Labour peer Lord David Sainsbury giving 3.75 million. Lobbyist Roland Rudd a close friend of Lord Mandelson, and the brother of pro-EU Environment Secretary Amber Rudd gave 32,500. Eurostar gave 7,508.
'David v Goliath': The Leave camp, led by Boris Johnson, pictured, declared 2.79 million in the period from February 1 to April 21 this year, the first stage of the official referendum campaign. BSE declared 6.88 million
The BSE campaign said it had been fully transparent about its donors, going beyond the legal requirement to publish only money received after February 1. It said Vote Leave had not done the same. The group said the various different Leave campaigns had raised twice as much as the overall Remain campaigns, including 6 million of loans from businessman Arron Banks.
Mr Banks, a self-made millionaire, supports the Leave.EU group which failed to secure the designation as the official campaign. Overall the various Leave campaigns secured 14,180,425 in the reporting period of February 1 to late April. That compares to 7,542,652 for Remain campaigns for the same period, including loans and donations.
BSE executive director Will Straw said: 'It's clear the Leave campaigns have deep pockets. They have also tried to get around strict Electoral Commission spending rules, but they have been found out.'
Labour said several prominent Leave campaigners were hedge fund bosses, such as Michael Farmer, the former treasurer of the Conservative Party. MP Ian Mearns said: 'It's becoming increasingly clear that those backing Brexit simply don't have the interests of ordinary working people at heart.'
The man was arrested and has been charged with entering a restricted area
He ran through an alarmed emergency exit but was stopped within 15 steps
Witnesses say the passenger, who has not been named, had been drunk
The man tried to catch his flight by running onto tarmac at Detroit Airport
A man has been arrested after running onto the tarmac at Detroit Metro Airport to catch his plane after missing his flight.
The passenger, who has not been named, seemed to determined to make his flight earlier today after he left through an alarmed emergency exit door in the airport's North Terminal.
He had only taken 15 steps, heading towards the taxiing plane, when he was stopped by airport staff and detained for questioning.
'It appears a customer missed his flight and thought he could catch his plane by leaving the North Terminal,' said Erica Donerson, an airport spokeswoman.
A man has been arrested after running onto the tarmac at Detroit Metro Airport to catch his plane after missing his flight (stock image, a Northwest Airlines jet at Detroit's Metro Airport)
'He managed to momentarily access the restricted ramp area through an emergency exit but was quickly apprehended and taken into custody,' she told Detroit Free Press.
She said that he had not made it anywhere near the planes during the incident at just after 9am Wednesday.
Witnesses at the scene said the man appeared to have been drunk at the time.
'I think he was inebriated because he looked like he was lost when the police got him, because he was as walking around like he was a little drunk, crew member Charlie Flowers told ClickonDetroit.
Flowers said it had been terrifying to witness the breach, in the wake of terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and attacks on airports such as in Brussels.
'I didn't know his intentions,' he said. 'With all the things happening... It's scary.'
The crew member added that the desperate passenger had been very lucky that security had stopped him as walking down the runway could be fatal.
The passenger, who has not been named, seemed to determined to make his flight earlier today after he left through an alarmed emergency exit door in the airport's North Terminal (stock image of the tarmac at Detroit Airport)
'If you get on the wrong side, the plane might suck you up in it because you know they have a lot of power.'
The man, whose unexpected presence on the tarmac had caused a security alert at the airport, is said not to fly very often.
He was taken into custody and charged with entering a restricted area, and has since been released.
Despite the drama, no flights were delayed or cancelled as a result.
Donerson said that that no-one was at risk during the incident and that the airport took its security very seriously.
'The speed at which he was stopped and detained shows that our security procedures are effective.'
Taiwan has executed a university student who went on a random stabbing spree two years ago killing four and injuring 22.
Cheng Chieh, a university student who was 21 years old at the time, slashed passengers on the Taipei metro with a four inch fruit knife on May 21, 2014.
Cheng was anaesthetized and then shot three times by a firing squad on May 10, reports the People's Daily Online.
Killer student: Cheng Chieh was 21 years old at the time of the attacks on the Taipei subway system
Horrifying attack: The student killed four people and injured 22 others in the attack on May 21, 2014
Shocking: There was public outcry after the incident with many people demanding the killer be put to death
Cheng Chieh went on a random stabbing spree during the afternoon rush hour on the Taipei metro on May 21, 2014.
According to reports, it took Cheng just 6.8 seconds to kill each person.
He was given four death sentences for each of his victims along with 13 counts of attempted murder and the attempted murder of nine under-aged persons.
Focus Taiwan reports that the four fatalities were a woman aged 47, another woman aged 62, a man aged 20 and another man aged 30.
Deputy Justice Minister Chen Ming-tang told reporters: 'Cheng Chieh was anaesthetized and then shot three times by a firing squad at a jail outside Taipei a little before 9pm'.
According to Chen Mingtang, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, the man was anaesthetized and then shot once by firing squad however it was discovered that he had not yet died and therefore two more shots were fired.
The execution comes just three weeks after he was handed his sentence in a trial that went on for two years. This is the fastest execution in the country's history.
After the incident, there was public outcry and many demanded his execution. The man's family also said his acts were unforgivable.
However the man's state of mind was questioned by his defence lawyer Zheng Jie who argues that the man's psychiatric evaluation highlighted some issues.
Despite carrying out no executions between the years 2006 and 2009, capital punishment resumed in 2010 after a shift in policy.
According to reports, the man had been a social recluse at the time of the incident and had been bullied at school. He was determined to seek revenge and then be sentenced to death.
Causing upset: Even the man's family said his actions were unforgivable and made a public apology
Cheng was given four death sentences for each of his victims along with 13 counts of attempted murder
Horrifying footage has emerged of a male nurse beating a female patient in a hospital in China.
The vicious incident took place on May 10 at a hospital in Linli, central Hunan province, reports Huanqiu, affiliated with the People's Daily Online.
The hospital has released a statement saying that the nurse was a temporary member of staff who has since been removed from his post.
Brutal attack: According to reports, the woman had been knocking on the door and asking for water
Horrifying: In the footage the man can be seen dragging the woman and pushing her against the wall
Shocking: Other people in the corridor stand by and watch while he brutally attacks her
Sacked: The hospital says the man was temporary staff and has since been removed from his post
Surveillance footage caught the moment the male nurse turned around and attacked the female patient.
According to reports, the patient had been continuously knocking at the door to ask for some drinking water.
This seemed to enrage the nurse who rushed out of the room and viciously attacked the woman.
The man can be seen pushing her against the wall of the hospital, hitting and kicking her.
He then pushes her to the floor and kicks her as she lies on the ground.
Meanwhile other people in the corridor watch.
The male nurse can then be seen brutally slapping the woman across the face multiple times.
A woman comes over to try and talk to the man but he continues to hit the patient.
The man then viciously kicks the woman in the face multiple times as she attempts to get back up.
According to Chinese media, the woman had a mental illness and suffered from seizures. She also had apparently verbally abused staff in the past.
After the incident, the patient received treatment at the hospital and is still in a stable condition.
Saddening: The man then viciously kicks the woman in the face multiple times as she attempts to get back up
Unjustified: According to reports, the woman had been asking for some drinking water at the time
Xiaomi today unveiled a 6.4-Inch smartphone - it's largest yet.
Dubbed Mi Max, the phone is designed with a sleek, all metal ultra-slim frame measuring 7.5mm thin and weighing 203g.
Although the $229 device is larger than most, Xiaomi insist you can keep this one in your pocket because it's so thin.
Mi Max has a 6.44- inch display and a sleek, all metal ultra-slim design. Although the phone is larger than most, Xiaomi insist you can keep this one in your pocket because its is only 7.5mm thick
WHAT ARE THE FEATURES? Dubbed Mi Max, the new smartphone has the largest screen in its line-up, which has a sleek, all metal ultra-slim design. The 7.5mm thick metal body has curved edges, a 2.5D front glass surface and the Mi logo etched on the back, reports Engadget. Inside, its designed with a Snapdragon 650 and 652 processor although other brands are using 820 processors. But the firm does offer three internal storage options: 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, in addition to a microSD support for cards up to 128GB and fingerprint sensor. The 652 processor comes 64GB storage (3GB RAM) and 128GB storage (4GB RAM) and will go for $260 (yuan 1699) and $306 (yuan 1999).
Mi Max wont be the largest display on the market when it launches only in China next week, but it might be a way for Xiaomi to compete with the other smartphone makers.
The 7.5mm thick metal body has curved edges, a 2.5D front glass surface and the Mi logo etched on the back, reports Engadget.
Inside, its designed with a Snapdragon 650 and 652 processor although other brands are using 820 processors.
But the firm does offer three internal storage options: 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, in addition to a microSD support for cards up to 128GB and fingerprint sensor.
Mi Max with Snapdragon 650, 3GB and 32GB will be available for $229 (yuan 1,499)
The 652 processor with 64GB storage (3GB RAM) and 128GB storage (4GB RAM) and will go for $260 (yuan 1699) and $306 (yuan 1999).
Other source say if you order Mi Max from China, be prepared to pay the extra shipping costs.
All of the three versions will be available in silver, gold and dark grey, which seems to be the standard for the smartphone color scheme.
Mi Max has a 16-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture, phase detection, autofocus and LED flash.
CEO Lei Jun shows off the 7.5mm thick metal phone as he announces Mi Max will launch next week. Mi Max with Snapdragon 650, with 3GB and 32GB will be available for $229 (yuan 1,499). The 652 processor with 64GB storage (3GB RAM) and 128GB storage (4GB RAM) and will go for $260 (yuan 1699) and $306 (yuan 1999)
Xiaomi offers three internal storage options: 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, in addition to a microSD support for cards up to 128GB and fingerprint sensor. Mi Max also has an infrared emitter that acts as a remote controls, in addition to an ambient light sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer, and proximity sensor
And a 5-megapixel for snapping selfies that has 85-degree wide-angle view and f/2.0 aperture.
The system supports 4g LTE with VoLTE, GPS that uses Glonass, Bluetooth and WiFi with Mimo.
All of which are powered by a 4850mAh battery.
The handset also has an infrared emitter that acts as a remote controls, in addition to an ambient light sensor, gyroscope, accelerometer, and proximity sensor.
Mi Max isnt the only smartphone Xiaomi is releasing this year.
The Chinese smartphone maker released the Mi 5 last month that has a Snapdragon 820 processor, a 16 megapixel camera and a 5.15-inch screen with front fingerprint sensor.
This variant comes in three versions: The cheapest version will cost 1,999 yuan ($305).
The Mi 5 Pro has 128 GB of flash memory, 4 GB of RAM memory.
The basic Mi 5 has 32 GB of flash memory, 2 GB of RAM and a glass body.
Mi Max wont be the largest display on the market when it launches next week, but it might be a way for Xiaomi to compete with the other smartphone makers. The 7.5mm thick metal body has curved edges, a 2.5D front glass surface and the Mi logo etched on the back
Do you think the moon-landings were faked, vaccines are a plot for mind control, or that shadowy government agencies are keeping alien technology locked up in hidden bunkers?
If so, chances are you're simply suffering from stress, according to psychologists.
Research has shown people who believe in conspiracy theories are more likely to have experienced stressful events in recent months than non-believers.
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Research has shown people who believe in conspiracy theories are more likely to have experienced stressful events in recent months than non-believers. Examples of the conspiracies studied included that the Apollo moon landings (pictured) were staged in a Hollywood film studio
Led by Professor Viren Swami of Anglia Ruskin University, the study is the first to assess the relationship between psychological stress and belief in conspiracies.
The researchers surveyed 420 adults aged between 20 and 78.
Participants rated their belief that various conspiracies were true on a nine-point scale, ranging from one (completely false) to nine (completely true).
Examples of the conspiracies included that the Apollo moon landings were staged in a Hollywood film studio and that the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr was the result of a plot by US government agencies.
The study found a stronger belief in conspiracy theories was significantly associated with more stressful life events in the last six months and greater perceived stress over the last month.
STRESS AND CONSPIRACIES The researchers surveyed 420 adults aged between 20 and 78. Participants rated their belief that various conspiracies were true on a nine-point scale, ranging from one (completely false) to nine (completely true). The study found a stronger belief in conspiracy theories was significantly associated with more stressful life events in the last six months and greater perceived stress over the last month. Women and men did not significantly differ in their belief in conspiracy theories. Younger participants were more likely to believe, but there was no significant correlation between belief in conspiracy theories and social status. Advertisement
Women and men did not significantly differ in their belief in conspiracy theories.
Younger participants were more likely to believe, but there was no significant correlation between belief in conspiracy theories and social status.
Professor Viren Swami, of Anglia Ruskin University's Psychology department, said: 'More stressful life events and greater perceived stress were both linked to greater belief in conspiracy theories. We think there are a couple of reasons why this might be the case.
'Stressful situations increase the tendency to think less analytically.
'An individual experiencing a stressful life event may begin to engage in a particular way of thinking, such as seeing patterns that don't exist.
'Therefore stressful life events may sometimes lead to a tendency to adopt a conspiracist mind-set.
He added that once this worldview has become entrenched, other conspiracy theories are more easily taken on board.
'Alternatively, it is not stress that is driving someone's way of thinking, but rather a threat to their sense of control,' Professor Swami continued.
Another conspiracy study was around the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr (pictured). The study found a stronger belief in conspiracy theories was significantly associated with more stressful life events in the last six months and greater perceived stress over the last month
Through a number of online studies, researchers at the University of Kent recently showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and those with narcissism (stock image) and low self-esteem
'In the aftermath of distressing events, it is possible that some individuals may seek out conspiracist explanations that reinstall a sense of order or control.'
The findings were published by the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
This latest study builds on a growing area of research that has looked at why some people believe conspiracy theories, and why others don't.
Over the course of three online-based studies, researchers at the University of Kent recent showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and negative psychological traits.
NARCISSISM VS LOW SELF-ESTEEM Typically, narcissists tend to be cocky, full of themselves and have an inflated sense of self-worth, so having low self-esteem may seem like a paradox. But psychology studies have shown that people who score as highly narcissistic can also have very low self-esteem. Psychologists have suggested that in this group, the outwardly inflated self-confidence may be them overcompensating for a lack of belief in themselves. There is also a subset of those who are highly narcissistic who, while having a strong sense of entitlement, may feel easily challenged and threatened. Advertisement
Writing in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, the team explained: 'Previous research linked the endorsement of conspiracy theories to low self-esteem.'
In the first study, a total of 202 participants completed questionnaires on conspiracy beliefs, asking how strongly they agreed with specific statements, such as whether governments carried out acts of terrorism on their own soil.
Alongside this, they were asked to complete a narcissist scale and a self-esteem assessment.
The results showed those people who rated highly on the narcissism scale and who had low self-esteem were more likely to be conspiracy believers.
But they wanted to test whether the individual's beliefs were due to their over inflated sense of self-worth, or because they had inflated sense of worth for others who held the same belief which psychologists call collective narcissism.
Lead author of the study Dr Aleksandra Cichocka, a lecturer in social psychology at Kent, told PsyPost.org: 'Because conspiracy theories often refer to malevolent actions of groups, we wanted to distinguish whether it is a narcissistic image of the self or the group that predicts the endorsement of conspiracy theories.'
In practice, this could be someone wanting others to accept the beliefs of people who think the moon landings were faked, rather than just accepting that they, as an individual, believe they were a hoax.
Over the course of three studies, the Kent researchers showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories - such as government control through vaccination (illustrated left) or faked moon landings (illustrated right) - and negative psychological traits
A second study, in 276 people, confirmed it was the narcissistic individuals with low self-esteem were likely to believe in conspiracies even when they didn't show collective narcissism.
And the final study, which questioned more than 500 people, showed low self-esteem could be largely explained 'by the general negativity toward humans'.
LINKS BETWEEN CONSPIRACY, NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM Over the course of three online-based studies, researchers at the University of Kent showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and these psychological traits. The results showed that those people who rated highly on the narcissism scale and who had low self-esteem were more likely to be conspiracy believers. However, while low self-esteem, narcissism and belief in conspiracies are strongly linked, it is not clear that one - or a combination - causes the other. But it hints at an interesting new angle to the world of conspiracy and those who reinforce belief. Advertisement
However, while low self-esteem, narcissism and belief in conspiracies were strongly linked, it is not clear that one - or a combination - causes the other.
Dr Cichocka told MailOnline: 'Narcissists think that they are better than other people. At the same time, they are convinced that others are constantly trying to undermine them.
'This fosters paranoia and a conviction that others might conspire against them.'
Explaining the findings, she adds: 'We find that people high in narcissism are more likely to believe in various conspiracy theories.
'This does not mean that all narcissists believe in all conspiracies. It also does not mean that everyone who believes in some conspiracy theories is necessarily a narcissist.'
And as for how the findings might be applied to the real world, Dr Cichocka told MailOnline: 'The findings might be important for understanding how conspiracy theories are treated in politics.
'Leaders who are narcissistic might be more likely to believe that their political opponents conspire against them, or that an important political event was caused by a secret plot.'
While such psychological studies paint conspiracy believers as more likely to have negative psychological traits, physicists aren't doing them many favours either.
Another recent study suggested that if people really were hiding the truth about events such as the UFOs (pictured), it would only take four years to come to light. The researchers created an equation to express the probability of a conspiracy being deliberately uncovered by a whistle-blower, or inadvertently revealed
Another recent study suggested that if people really were hiding the truth about events such as the moon landings, it would only take four years to come to light.
Dr David Robert Grimes from Oxford University created an equation to express the probability of a conspiracy being either deliberately uncovered by a whistle-blower, or inadvertently revealed by a bungler.
This factored in the number of conspirators, the length of time, and even the effects of conspirators dying, whether of old age or more nefarious means.
In each case, the number of conspirators and the time before the conspiracy was revealed were over-estimated to ensure that the odds of a leak happening were a 'best case scenario' for the conspirators.
The extraordinary discovery of a lost Mayan city by a 15-year-old boy in the jungle of Mexico may have seemed too good to be true when it emerged earlier this week.
Now archaeologists are casting doubt on the teenager's claims to have spotted the ancient settlement in satellite images, saying he may have discovered an abandoned cornfield instead.
William Gadoury, from Saint-Jean-de-Matha in Lanaudiere, Quebec analysed astronomical charts after hypothesising the Maya located their cities according to the constellations.
William Gadoury, from Quebec has named the 'lost city' in the Yucatan jungle K'aak Chi, or Mouth of Fire. This satellite photograph shows the outline of a structure that may be a pyramid
When he mapped out the ancient Mayan constellations, he was able to pinpoint objects that look like buildings in an unexplored area of the Yucatan jungle.
His findings were supported by experts from the Canadian Space Agency and the University of New Brunswick, and are due to be published in a scientific journal.
But after the discovery made headlines around the world, some archaeologists who have had time to study the satellite images believe he may have found something far less interesting.
Teenager William Gadoury (pictured) discovered the missing Mayan city using a theory he developed himself. He came up with the idea that the Maya built their cities so they lined up with star constellations
The teenager used satellite images from the Canadian Space Agency and Google Earth to search the dense jungle for any signs of buildings - possible evidence is shown above, but archaeologists now say the shapes may in fact be fallow cornfields
Dr Diane Davies, a consultant archaeologist and specialist in the ancient Maya, told MailOnline: 'As much as I commend the student for his interest and enthusiasm in learning about the ancient Maya and their remarkable achievements, I am afraid the satellite image looks like a milpa (corn field) that has been left fallow.
HOW DID HE MAKE THE FIND? William Gadoury became interested in the Maya after he read about their calendar announcing the end of the world in 2012. He found 22 constellations in a Maya Codex Madrid and connected the stars in them to create a kind of map. He was able to overlay this on satellite images from Google Earth, to find the stars correspond to the locations of cities. In all, 142 stars to 117 correspond Mayan cities and the brightest stars indicate the largest cities.
'Any hypothesis needs to be supported by evidence, and in this case - on the ground survey.
'The rapid spread of this news story in the UK highlights the ongoing misinterpretations we have about the Maya.'
Theses doubts were shared by others in the field.
Professor Elizabeth Graham, a researcher in Mesoamerican Archaeology at University College London, told MailOnline: 'It doesn't look like the ruins of a Maya site based on its configuration and the nature of the vegetation.'
Professor Graham added: 'I dont think we know what criteria they [the Maya] used to build their cities, but Williams idea is certainly interesting.
'Also, I dont know how one builds a city in line with a constellation. But I suppose it is certainly possible.'
While Thomas Garrison, an anthropologist at the University of Southern California Dornsife who specialises in remote sensing, told Gizmodo: 'The rectilinear nature of the feature and the secondary vegetation growing back within it are clear signs of a relic milpa.
'I'd guess it's been fallow for 10-15 years. This is obvious to anyone that has spent any time at all in the Maya lowlands'
But he added he hoped Mr Gadoury would not be put off such research in the future.
David Stuart, an anthropologist from the University of Texas at Austin, described the discovery as 'junk science' on his Facebook page.
He said: 'The square feature that was found on Google Earth is indeed man-made, but it's an old fallow cornfield, or milpa.'
Mr Gadoury spotted the strange shapes in the satellite images after wondering why the ancient Maya built their cities far away from rivers and in inhospitable mountains.
Armand La Rocque, from the University of New Brunswick believes one of the images shows network of streets leading to a large square, which may be a pyramid. The Kukulcan temple at Chichen Itza is shown
Gadoury named the new city in southern Mexico as Fire Mouth or La Bouche de Feu in French. It may be among the five biggest Mayan cities known to archaeologists eager to shed light on the ancient civilsation
As the Maya are known to have had a strong connection with the stars, he came up with a theory the Maya built their cities so they lined up with star constellations.
The teenager analysed 23 Mayan constellations, finding if he connected them, the 142 stars corresponded to the position of 177 Mayan cities.
THE ANCIENT MAYA AND THE STARS Mayan civilisation thrived for more than 2,000 years with its heyday being 300 to 900 AD. During that time, the ancient people built incredible cities using advanced machinery and gained an understanding of astronomy, as well as developing advanced agricultural methods and accurate calendars. The Maya believed the cosmos shaped their everyday lives and they used astrological cycles to tell when to plant crops and set their calendars. It's therefore likely the Maya may have chosen to locate their cities in line with the stars. It's already known that the pyramid at Chichen Itza was built according to the sun's location during the spring and autumn equinoxes. When the sun sets on these two days, the pyramid casts a shadow on itself that aligns with a carving of the head of the Mayan serpent god, History.com reported. The shadow makes the serpent's body so that as the sun sets, the terrifying god appears to slide towards the earth.
The brightest stars appeared to line up with the largest Mayan cities.
'I was really surprised and excited when I realised that the most brilliant stars of the constellations matched the largest Maya cities,' Mr Gadoury told The Journal of Montreal.
He was said to be the first to make the connection which could lead to further finds.
It was in the 23rd constellation, containing three stars, that he found two matching cities on the map, suggesting one has not yet been re-discovered.
He has named the city K'aak Chi, or Mouth of Fire.
To investigate further, Mr Gadoury used satellite images from the Canadian Space Agency and Google Earth to search the dense jungle for any signs of buildings.
The photographs revealed linear features that 'stuck out,' Daniel De Lisle, from the Canadian Space Agency told The Independent.
'There are linear features that would suggest there is something underneath that big canopy,' he said.
Armand La Rocque, from the University of New Brunswick believes one of the images shows network of streets leading to a large square, which may be a pyramid.
'A square is not natural, it is mostly artificial and can hardly be attributed to natural phenomena,' he said.
The researchers identified 30 possible buildings accompanying an impressive pyramid at the site.
The Canadian teenager, pictured left, compared the locations of 117 existing Mayan cities with a map of the stars. When one constellation of three stars only related to two cities, he searched Google maps for answers
If true, the lost city would be one of the five largest known to archaeologists, built by the Mayans.
Mr de Lisle told The Journal of Montreal: 'What is fascinating about the project of William, is the depth of his research.
'Linking the position of stars and the location of a lost city and the use of satellite images on a tiny territory to identify the remains buried under dense vegetation, is quite exceptional.'
Dr la Rocque thinks Mr Gadoury's technique could lead archaeologists to pinpointing the location of more possible lost Mayan metropolises.
The teenager would like to see the Mayan's Mouth of Fire for himself and as yet, no-one has ventured into the jungle to confirm his 'find'.
Mr Gadoury's discovery will be presented at Brazil's International Science fair in 2017 and published in a journal.
Almost two years since it was first unveiled, Google has made its Cardboard VR headset available to buy in the UK.
A single Cardboard can be bought from the Play Store for 15, or a pack of two is on sale for 25.
Alternatively, if you'd rather not pay 15 for a piece of folded cardboard, Google has also released instructions to make your own.
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Almost two years since it was first unveiled, Google has made its Cardboard VR headset available to buy in the UK. A single Cardboard (pictured) can be bought from the Play Store for 15, or a pack of two is on sale for 25
The headset is made from corrugated cardboard folded to form a no-frills enclosure. A mobile phone is then slotted in to act as a display.
When the headset is put on, lenses in the viewer show images from the screen as a left an right eye image.
Using a special app developed by Google, 3D images and videos can then be viewed.
The first models of Cardboard were handed out to its developer conference in June 2014.
Earlier this year, rumours began circulating that the California-based is working on an update to Cardboard, and is expected to release the high-end gadget later this year.
The rumours also claimed Google is bolstering its Android support for VR and is developing a smartphone-based system to rival Gear VR, the Samsung-Oculus Rift collaboration.
Alternatively, if you'd rather not pay 15 for a piece of folded cardboard, Google has also released instructions to make your own (pictured) The headset is made from corrugated cardboard folded to form a no-frills enclosure. A mobile phone is then slotted in to act as a display
GOOGLE'S LOW-TECH VIRTUAL REALITY HEADSET Google last year revealed a bizarre low-tech toy - a virtual reality headset made of cardboard. The gadget was given out to attendees at the firm's annual developer conference, and can also be created at home. It uses a mobile phones as the display, with a special app to show 3D images and video. The 'cardboard' gadget was passed to attendees when they left the firm's keynote, which revealed new version of android for phones, TVs, cars and watches. 'With your phone and a piece of Cardboard you can see some pretty amazing stuff,' the firm said. 'We want everyone to experience virtual reality in a simple, fun, and inexpensive way.' 'Virtual reality has made exciting progress over the past several years,' it continued. 'However, developing for VR still requires expensive, specialized hardware,' Google said on the project's page. Advertisement
Google is also reportedly set to challenge Samsung in the virtual reality arena with a high-tech headset of its own which could be released later this year. The smartphone-based system will rival Gear VR (pictured), the Samsung-Oculus Rift collaboration which has been available since last year
The rumours were first reported in the Financial Times.
The site explained the new headset will support a wider range of devices than Samsung's Gear, which is limited to Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
GOOGLE'S NEXT-GEN VR HEADSET The tech giant is reportedly working on an update to its current entry-level Cardboard, and is expected to release a headset this year. The firm is bolstering its Android support for VR and is developing a smartphone-based system which will rival Gear-VR, the Samsung-Oculus Rift collaboration which has been available since last year. The new headset will support a wider range of devices than Samsung's Gear, which is limited to Samsung Galaxy smartphones. In addition, Google plans to solve the lingering latency problem with VR the slight delay between head movements and the video stream which can be disorientating and leave users dizzy. Advertisement
In addition, Google plans to solve the lingering latency problem with VR the slight delay between head movements and the video stream - which can be disorientating and leave users dizzy.
Future developments could also see Google develop its Android operating system to incorporate VR support, rather than using a dedicated VR app, as currently.
During the Mountain View-based firm's recent quarterly earnings announcement, chief executive Sundar Pichai said that Cardboard was the first step for the global search firm's aspirations for VR.
He said: 'Beyond these early efforts, you'll see a lot more from us and our partners in 2016,'
At the end of January, Google provided an update on its official blog on the success to date of Cardboard, its low cost first foray into the world of VR.
The headset, which costs just a few pounds and is made of cardboard is a build-it-yourself set of goggles which contains the user's android smartphone.
Cardboard uses the smartphone's display, with a special app to show 3D images and to split the video stream into stereo channels.
Google's development team previously hinted that Cardboard is only the beginning and the firm's chief executive recently told us to expect more from Google in the VR arena in 2016
To date, more than five million units of the cardboard viewers have been shipped worldwide and more than 25 million cardboard apps have been installed from Google Play, the Android app store.
Earlier this year, the firm posted a number of job adverts dedicated to consumer VR hardware.
In an interview with Time magazine, head of development for the Cardboard project, Clay Bavor, alluded to the future iterations of Google's VR.
'The amazing thing about Cardboard is that it's truly VR for everyone with a smartphone,' he told the magazine.
'We think there's something powerful and important in that. Is that the end of the line? Of course it's not the end of the line.
'I think if you imagine the types of things that a company with the ambition and the technical resources and the know-how of Google would be working on, we're working on a lot of those things.'
Around 350 years ago, a plague claimed the lives of 257 people in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire.
It could have killed far more people had the selfless villagers not cut themselves off from the outside world in a bid to stop the infection spreading to neighbouring parishes.
Now experts have analysed official documents from the devastating event to reach the surprising conclusion that only a minority of people contracted the plague from rats.
Around 350 years ago, a plague claimed the lives of 257 people in the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. This graph shows the epidemic plot assuming an 11-day infection period. The green line shows the susceptible population, orange - the infected population and red, the number of deceased
It is thought plague arrived in the village in 1665 when a flea-infested bundle of cloth was delivered to the local tailor from London.
Within a week, his assistant, George Vicars was dead and the disease ripped through his household.
The Reverend William Mompesson and Minister Thomas Stanley introduced a number of precautions to slow the spread of the illness from May 1666.
For example, families had to bury their own dead and no-one could pass the village's boundary, marked with a stone.
The church in the village of Eyam is shown. Plague Sunday has been celebrated in the village since the plague's bicentenary in 1866
The stone allowed people to exchange money soaked in vinegar, which was believed to kill infection, for food and medicine.
While heroic, there is a suggestion the quarantine itself prolonged the epidemic and exacerbated the human death toll, according to the study.
The plague was caused, like others before it, by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is often spread by rodents and has proven one of the most infectious diseases known to man.
It is still present in animal populations today, so by studying how the disease spread in history, can help experts understand how an outbreak could begin and take hold today.
Scientists from Imperial College London determined the different routes of disease transmission to show humans were more responsible for spreading the infection than rats.
Their results are reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
They studied Parish registers and tax documents to gain an understanding of Eyams population and were surprised to find it was twice as large as previously thought, with 700 inhabitants.
The Reverend William Mompesson, who was the rector of Eyam at the time of the plague, recorded in the Eyam parish register the names of all victims of the plague and their dates of burial from the first case on 6 September 1665 to the last on 1 November 1666.
The Eyam parish register revealed the true size of the village's population as well as the gender, date of baptism and burial of villagers,with the cause of death noted too.
These records revealed that during the 14 months of the outbreak between September 1665 and November 1666, 257 people died as a result of the plague.
While this was catastrophic for the community, the mortality rate was 37 per cent - far less than the 75 per cent estimated.
Experts analysed official documents from the devastating event to reach the surprising conclusion that a minority of people contracted the plague from rats. This graph shows the probability infection was caused by rodent-to-human transmission
THE IMPACT OF PLAGUE IN HISTORY Plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, has been one of the most deadly infectious diseases throughout human existence. The bacterium has been implicated in three worldwide pandemics, including the Justinian Plague of 541767AD which is thought to ahve killed up to half of the popluation and contributed to the fall of the Roman Empire. In the 14th century, the Black Death ravaged Europe, reportedly killing 25 million people. The third pandemic started in the mid-nineteenth century and lasted a century, focusing mostly on China and India. Advertisement
The documents allowed the experts to develop a statistical model to show the spread of the disease between rats and humans and among villagers.
The progression of the epidemic was plotted over time by inferring the number of susceptible and infected villagers using the assumption of a fixed 11-day infection period before death.
'The epidemic can be described as being made of three periods: the initial peak in October 1665, followed by a period of relative abatement over the winter, during which only a handful of plague infections occurred in each month, before the onset of a second, more deadly phase from June 1666 until the last death in October 1666,' the study says.
The researchers found that, contrary to popular belief, the plague was largely spread by humans and not rats.
In fact, the much maligned rodents were only responsible for a quarter of infections, while three quarters were caused by contact between humans.
The plague is so contagious because it can be passed via lice and human fleas, which would have been common in unsanitary conditions, and also perhaps coughing and sneezing.
The plague was caused, like others before it, by the bacterium Yersinia pestis (illustrated), which is often spread by rodents and has proven one of the most infectious diseases known to man
The Reverend William Mompesson and Minister Thomas Stanley introduced a number of precautions to slow the spread of the illness from May 1666 - that families had to bury their own dead and no-one could pass the village's boundary, marked with a stone (example pictured) The holes were for money and filled with vinegar
The researchers, Lilith Whittles and Xavier Didelot, wrote: 'We found evidence for both rodent-to-human and human-to-human transmission routes, with these two routes accounting, respectively, for a quarter and three-quarters of all infection cases.
'It should be emphasised that under the formulation of the model, human-to-human transmission incorporates infection via vectors, such as the human flea P. irritans and the human louse, and not only through aerosols caused by the relatively rare form of pulmonary plague.'
The researchers also found the risk of infection was higher within households than the rest of the village, perhaps because people lived together in confined spaces.
Being part of a poor household increased the risk of catching the plague, but it decreased with age. This graph shows the number of infected people in a house over the course of the plague
Histograms of the proportion of plague victims that were (a) from wealthy households, (b) male and (c) under 18 years old male based on a thousand simulated epidemics using model parameters taken from the posterior distribution are shown above. The dotted lines show equivalent proportions observed in the Eyam data
'An infectious individual in the same household is almost 100 times more likely to transmit to a susceptible host compared with an infectious person living elsewhere in the village, which explains why so many members of the same families died in close succession,' the experts said.
Being part of a poor household increased the risk of catching the plague, but it decreased with age.
The researchers wrote: 'There is evidence that in some cases the quarantine was broken, notably by the Reverend Mompesson, whose children were sent away to safety in Yorkshire.
No announcement made, but sources say it did not find hidden rooms
Scientists have dashed hopes of finding the burial chamber of Queen Nefertiti in King Tutankhamun's tomb.
Radar scans have failed to find any hidden rooms in the boy king's tomb, disproving the theory that the Queen lies behind the walls.
The news follows nearly a year of speculation after British Egyptologist, Nicholas Reeves, said he found signs of a hidden doorway in King Tut's tomb.
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Scientists have dashed hopes of finding the burial chamber of Queen Nefertiti in King Tutankhamun's tomb (pictured). Radar scans have failed to find any hidden rooms in the boy king's tomb, disproving the theory that the Queen lies behind the walls
'If we had a void, we should have a strong reflection,' Dean Goodman, a geophysicist at GPR-Slice software told National Geographic News, which published a feature on the research.
'But it just doesn't exist.'
Goodman has not yet replied to a request by DailyMail.com for more details on the work.
However, a number of unnamed sources contacted Live Science, and have confirmed that the scans did not find evidence for a secret chamber or any indication of Queen Nefertiti's tomb.
It contradicts previous work by Japanese radar expert Hirokatsu Watanabe who last year said he had evidence of two hidden chambers in the King's tomb.
Previously, researchers had said they believe there is a 90 per cent chance King Tutankhamun's tomb contains at least one, if not two, hidden chambers. The announcement followed infrared thermography tests (shown) that revealed one area of the northern wall was a different temperature to others (marked)
Some experts believe 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
'There is, in fact, an empty space behind the wall based on radar, which is very accurate, there is no doubt,' he said at the time.
This prompted Egyptian antiquities minister Mamdough al-Damaty to issue a statement claiming he was almost certain there was a chamber behind the walls.
'We said earlier there was a 60 percent chance there is something behind the walls,' he in November.
'But now after the initial reading of the scans, we are saying now its 90 percent likely there is something behind the walls.'
GHOST DOORS TO THE CHAMBER After analysing high-resolution scans of the walls of Tutankhamun's grave complex in the Valley of the Kings, Dr Nicholas Reeves spotted what appeared to be a secret entrance. They feature very straight lines that are 90 degrees to the ground, positioned so as to correspond with other features within the tomb. Dr Nicholas Reeves recently claimed to have found evidence for the bricked up entrances. These include the burial chamber for Queen Nefertiti, who Dr Reeves claims was the boy-kings co-regent and may even have been his mother, and a new hidden storage room, as shown above He uncovered the 'ghosts' of two portals that tomb builders blocked up, one of which is believed to be a storage room. The other, on the north side of Tutankhamun's tomb, contains 'the undisturbed burial of the tomb's original owner - Nefertiti', Dr Reeves argued. These features are difficult to capture with the naked eye, he said. Reeves said the plastered walls could conceal two unexplored doorways, one of which perhaps leads to Nefertiti's tomb. He also argues the design of the tomb suggests it was built for a queen, rather than a king. The dark blue border shows the walls that were scanned. The area alongside the antechamber is believed to be empty, while Area 1 contains metal and organic material, and Area 2 contains just organic material. This organic material could be human remains In particular, he believes these chambers are behind the northerns and western walls of tomb and that one contains the remains of queen Nefertiti, the chief wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten and mother to six of his children, who is Tutankhamun's mother. Advertisement
However, experts raised doubts about the claim after radar images from Watanabe's scans were released.
The National Geographic Society conducted a second series of radar scans in the hope of finding clearer evidence of a tomb.
They scanned the walls in question at five different heights, switching between two radar antennae with frequencies of 400 and 900 megahertz, respectively.
'One was for depth perception, and one was for feature perception,' said Eric Berkenpas, an electrical engineer at National Geographic who was accompanied by Alan Turchik, a mechanical engineer.
But results have come up blank.
Live Science says Egypt's antiquities ministry has refused to accept the new results.
'Other types of radar and remote-sensing techniques will be applied in the next stage. Once they are determined, we shall publish the updates,' the ministry told Live Science in a statement.
Crouched by King Tut's stone sarcophagus, National Geographic technicians Eric Berkenpas and Alan Turchik prepare the radar unit to scan the tomb's walls. Experts have disagreed over how the search for the chambers was handled with the former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass claiming the project lacked any real science
Two leading experts recently suggested King Tut's tomb may have been built for a woman, based upon the layout of the chamber. The gold death mask (pictured) could also hold clues. The face was originally separate from the headdress and they were welded together, while pharaohs' masks were usually made in one piece
At a conference discussing the claims this weekend, archaeologists sitting on each side of the fence clashed over the controversial theory and plans to drill a hole in the wall.
Experts even disagreed about how the search for the chambers was handled with the former antiquities minister Zahi Hawass claiming the project lacked any real science.
The researchers who conducted the radar survey were not allowed to present their research at the conference, according to Live Science.
Speaking at the conference, the famed Egyptologist Hawass rejected the theory undiscovered chambers lie behind the tomb.
'In all my career ... I have never come across any discovery in Egypt due to radar scans,' Hawass said.
At the time, he said 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 suggested the tomb contains two open spaces, with signs of metal and organic matter lying behind its western and northern walls.
The mood at Sunday's conference was sceptical months after former minister Mamduh Damati (pictured) said the secret chambers probably existed, raising expectations of another historical find. Damati inspected the tomb last September with the theory's proponent, British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves
THE BIZARRE BURIAL RITUALS OF KING TUTANKHAMUN Researchers from the American University in Cairo believe the king's appendage was embalmed at a 90-degree angle to make the young pharaoh appear as Osiris, the god of the underworld. The angling of the penis was a feature worn by 'corn-mummies', created in honour of Osiris. The mummy was also covered in black liquid to resemble Osiris' skin. Elsewhere, Tutankhamun's heart was missing when the tomb was discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Religious texts claimed Osiris' heart was similarly removed by his brother Seth.On the outside of the tomb, decorations depicted Tutankhamun as Osiris. Advertisement
'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.'
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.
Damati inspected the tomb last September with the theory's proponent, 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 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.
Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Anani (centre), who attended the conference, said scans of the tomb would continue in line with the group's recommendations, but that no physical exploration would be allowed unless he was '100 per cent sure there is a cavity behind the wall'
Reeves theorised 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 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.
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.
A HISTORY OF QUEEN NEFERTITI AND WHY HER TOMB HASN'T BEEN FOUND By Harry Mount She was the most beautiful queen ancient Egypt ever laid eyes on. She was the stepmother, and perhaps even the mother, of Tutankhamun, the boy-pharaoh of Egypt. Still, today, the 3,300-year-old sculpture of her face, in the Neues Museum in Berlin, has the power to bewitch, with her almond eyes, high cheekbones and chiselled jaw. Even her name, Nefertiti, is enchanting. Her full name, Neferneferuaten Nefertiti, means 'Beautiful are the Beauties of Aten, the Beautiful One has come'. Her power and charms in 14th-century BC Egypt were so great that she collected a hatful of nicknames, too from Lady Of All Women, to Great Of Praises, to Sweet Of Love. Neferneferuaten Nefertiti - or Queen Nefertiti - was the wife and 'chief consort' of King Akhenaten, an Eyptian Pharoah during 14th century BC, one of the wealthiest era in Ancient Egypt (bust pictured) Despite her epic beauty, she remained a model of fidelity to her husband, the Pharaoh Akhenaten. The same could not be said of Akhenaten, who had his wicked way with a series of royal escorts, including, some say, his own daughters. Nefertiti was Egypt's most influential, and most beautiful, queen, who ruled at the height of the country's power, in the years of the late 18th Dynasty. Yes, Cleopatra is more famous, but she ruled Egypt in its declining years, in the first century BC. After her death, Egypt became just another province of the Roman Empire. Nefertiti lived during the richest period in ancient Egypt's history from around 1370BC to 1330BC, a time when Greece, let alone Rome, was centuries away from the peaks of its magnificent civilisation. As well as marrying a pharaoh, she was probably born the daughter of another pharaoh, as well as possibly ruling alongside Tutankhamun. There is even a suggestion that she ruled Egypt alone after her husband's death. So from cradle to grave she ruled the roost. Thus her other nicknames: Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt, and Lady of The Two Lands. Nefertiti and Akhenaten had six daughters, although it is thought that Tutankhamun was not her son. DNA analysis has indicated that Akhenaten fathered Tutankhamun with one of his own sisters the first indication of his penchant for regal incest. He is thought to have fathered another pharaoh with yet another wife, who is named in various inscriptions. The list of consorts didn't end there. Among his other conquests are two noblewomen. On top of that, it is even suggested that he slept with one of his six daughters. The jury is out on that one, although he probably did install one of them in the ceremonial if not necessarily sexual role of Great Royal Wife. Despite all her husband's rumoured lovers, Nefertiti's name lives on as his loveliest, and most important, wife. Again and again, her beauty and power were depicted in temple images. Sometimes like Prince Philip with the Queen she is shown walking behind her husband. But she's also often shown on her own, in positions of pharaoh-like power. In one limestone sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, she is seen hitting a female enemy over the head on her royal barge. She is power and beauty combined Margaret Thatcher meets Princess Diana. In another sculpture, now in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, her slim, lissom body is depicted in all its glory, leaving little to the imagination. Still, today, the bright red of her lips and the kohl-black edges of those almond eyes smoulder across the passage of a hundred generations. Together, Akhenaten and Nefertiti blazed a trail across Egypt, building spectacular temples. In Karnak, the pharaoh erected one temple, the Mansion of the Benben, to his beloved, stunning wife. This image shows a computer reconstruction created using the skull of a mummy found in an earlier tomb. It bears a resemblance to Nefertiti But it wasn't enough just to build temples. The royal couple's devotion to the god Aten representing the disc of the sun was so great that they created a whole new capital in his honour at Amarna, a city on the banks of the Nile. They built the new city from scratch, putting up two temples to Aten and a pair of royal palaces. It was like the Queen and Prince Philip deciding to up sticks from Windsor Castle tomorrow and building a new royal palace in the middle of Cumbria. Here, too, in Amarna, images of the lovely Nefertiti abound, sporting her distinctive, tall crown. She and her pharaoh are also shown receiving great piles of jewels and gold from their subject people. They ruled over a civilisation of astonishing sophistication. Among the discoveries are the Amarna Letters, more than 350 tablets excavated in the late 19th century, with 99 of them now in the British Museum. They tell the tale of a great nation with a highly developed diplomatic service. There are also rare chunks of poetry, parables and similes in the Amarna Letters. One striking line reads: 'For the lack of a cultivator, my field is like a woman without a husband.' Nefertiti is thought to have lost her own cultivator her husband around 1336BC; it is then she may have reigned over Egypt alone. Her own death is shrouded in mystery. She is reckoned to have died about six years after her husband, possibly from the plague that struck Egypt at that time. In 1331BC, Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun and moved the Egyptian capital to Thebes, where he died in 1323BC. 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The world's youngest mummy has been found in a small Egyptian coffin at a British museum.
The foetus is believed to have been no older than 18 weeks of gestation when it was preserved during an ancient burial ritual.
The discovery reveals 'just how precious the unborn child was' to the Egyptians, and how they dealt with miscarriage, historians have said.
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The world's youngest mummy has been found in a small Egyptian coffin at a British museum. The foetus is believed to have been no older than 18 weeks of gestation when it was preserved during a burial ritual
The discovery reveals 'just how precious the unborn child was' to the Egyptians, historians have said. Pictured is a micro CT scan image of the upper limbs and skull of foetus
MUMMFICATION IN EGYPT The Ancient Egyptians mummified bodies because they believed in the afterlife and thought that by preserving their bodies, they would stand the best possible chance of living in the eternal world. The process involved washing the dead body as a symbol of purification with wine and water from the River Nile. An incision was then made to remove all of the organs. These included the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines but the heart was left as it was integral to the life eternal. These organs were wrapped in linen and reinserted, and the body was then stuffed and covered with salt in order to dry it out for 40 days. It was later cleansed for a second time before being covered with oil to keep the skin elastic. In this instance, mummifying the unborn baby involved wrapping it in bandages, over which molten black resin had been poured before the coffin was closed.
The landmark discovery was made by experts at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge who examined a wooden coffin donated to it by archaeologists in 1907.
Tutankhamun's tomb contained two small foetuses that had been mummified and placed in individual coffins.
But these infants were both significantly more developed, at about 25 weeks and 37 weeks into gestation.
Julie Dawson, head of conservation at the Fitzwilliam Museum said: 'Using non-invasive modern technology to investigate this extraordinary archaeological find has provided us with striking evidence of how an unborn child might be viewed in ancient Egyptian society.
'The care taken in the preparation of this burial clearly demonstrates the value placed on life even in the first weeks of its inception.'
Curators at the Fitzwilliam made the discovery, during their research for their bicentennial exhibition 'Death on the Nile: Uncovering the Afterlife of ancient Egypt.'
The tiny coffin, just 44 cm long, was excavated at Giza in 1907 by the British School of Archaeology and came into the collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum the same year.
It is a perfect miniature example of a wooden coffin of the ancient Egyptian late period dating from 664-525 BC.
The landmark discovery was made by experts at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge who examined a wooden coffin donated to it by archaeologists in 1907. Pictured is the open coffin with its contents. Although the coffin has deteriorated, it is clear that the wood was carefully carved in painstaking detail
The lid and box are both made from cedar wood.
Although the coffin has deteriorated, it is clear that the wood was carefully carved on a painstakingly small scale and decorated.
This gave the curators at the Fitzwilliam the first clear indication of the importance given to the coffin's contents at this time in ancient Egyptian society.
The diminutive wrapped package inside was carefully bound in bandages, over which molten black resin had been poured before the coffin was closed.
For many years it was thought that the contents were the mummified remains of internal organs that were routinely removed during the embalming of bodies.
Examination using X-ray imaging at the Fitzwilliam Museum was inconclusive.
It was decided to micro CT scan the tiny bundle at Cambridge University's Department of Zoology.
The cross-sectional images this produced gave the first pictures of the remains of a tiny human body held within the wrappings, which remain undisturbed.
Dr Tom Turmezei, former consultant radiologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge collaborated with the Fitzwilliam Museum, alongside Dr Owen Arthurs, academic consultant paediatric radiologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.
Five digits on both hands and feet and the long bones of the legs and arms were all clearly visible. Pictured is the unborn baby's left tibia, which is just 1.6cm long
The ground-breaking results were based on their extensive knowledge of CT scanning imagery and paediatric autopsy.
Five digits on both hands and feet and the long bones of the legs and arms were all clearly visible.
Although the soft skull and pelvis were found to be collapsed experts agreed that a human foetus estimated to be of no more than eighteen weeks gestation was inside.
It was impossible to give a gender to the specimen and it is thought that the foetus was probably the result of a miscarriage, as there were no obvious abnormalities to explain why it could not have been carried to full-term.
From the micro CT scan it is noticeable that the foetus has its arms crossed over its chest.
This, coupled with the intricacy of the tiny coffin and its decoration, suggest the importance and time given to this burial in Egyptian society.
Very few other examples of burials of miscarried babies have so far been identified from ancient Egypt.
The miniature coffin is currently on display as part of the exhibition Death on the Nile: Uncovering the Afterlife of ancient Egypt until May 22, 2016 at the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge.
A pair of space rocks found in Antarctica could help save the planet.
The 4.6 billion-year-old meteorites have survived violent collisions in the asteroid belt before raining down on Earth.
They are now in the hands of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where they are being vaporised by a high-powered laser.
Scientists hope the data they yield on asteroid deflection could one day save Earth from an Armageddon-style disaster.
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A pair of space rocks found in Antarctica could help save the planet. The 4.6 billion meteorites survived violent collisions in the asteroid belt before raining down on Earth
HOW LASERS COULD SAVE EARTH Scientists believe lasers could save Earth from asteroid impact - and they say they have now created a system to do so. A device known as DE-STAR - or Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and exploRation - will use laser beams to intercept and deflect space rocks. The concept has been around for several years, but a new paper is now presenting it as a viable solution to ward off dangerous 'Near Earth Objects' (NEOs). The system is the brainchild of UC Santa Barbara physicist Philip Lubin and Gary Hughes, a researcher and professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Another, smaller system, is also being developed, called DE-STARLITE The researchers say the orbital planetary defense systems could heat asteroids to the point of vapourise. Advertisement
'It's not a matter of if, but when,' said LLNL researcher Megan Bruck Syal, referring to the eventual certainty of a large celestial object impacting the Earth.
'Our challenge is to figure out how to avert disaster before it happens.'
So far, Nasa has identified 14,000 near-Earth objects a number growing by more than 1,500 per year.
Included in that group are more than 1,600 'potentially hazardous asteroids' that come within 20 times the moon's distance to the Earth.
But even with all these objects mapped, it doesn't do any good to see the catastrophe coming if nothing can be done to avert it, Bruck Syal said.
Bruck Syal is a member of the Laboratory's small planetary defence team, which includes researchers from Nasa.
The challenge facing this international coalition of scientists is to detect and deflect the next large Earth-bound object.
Over the years, the team has focused its research on two principle methods of asteroid deflection: nuclear explosions and hypervelocity projectiles.
are now in the hands of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) where they are being vaporised by a high-powered laser. Scientists hope the data they yield on asteroid deflection could one day save Earth from an Armageddon-style disaster
So far, Nasa has identified 14,000 near-Earth objects a number growing by more than 1,500 per year. They have also calculated the probability of impact for each. Included in that group are more than 1,600 'potentially hazardous asteroids' that come within 20 times the moon's distance to the Earth
The goal isn't to destroy inbound space objects, but rather to nudge their trajectory just enough to make them miss.
But it's difficult to be certain how best to deflect an asteroid, and even more difficult to be certain that it will work at the Earth's most urgent moment.
'Each comet and asteroid has its own unique character, which presents a challenge for predicting how an individual target would respond to a deflection attempt,' Syal explained.
THERE'S AN ASTEROID WITH OUR NAME ON IT, SAYS BRIAN COX Science presenter, Brian Cox, told DailyMail.com we are at risk of being wiped out by asteroids and we're not taking the threat seriously While the March 5th asteroid poses no threat, scientists have long said that these space rocks could threaten life on Earth. Last year, Brian Cox said we are at risk of being wiped out by asteroids and we're not taking the threat seriously. 'There is an asteroid with our name on it and it will hit us,' Professor Cox told DailyMail.com. In fact, the Earth had a 'near-miss' only a few months ago. 'We didn't see it,' says the 46-year-old. 'We saw it on the way out, but if it had just been a bit further over it would have probably wiped us out. These things happen.' The bus-sized asteroid, named 2014 EC, came within 38,300 (61,637km) miles of Earth in March - around a sixth of the distance between the moon and our planet. And it wasn't the only one threatening Earth. Nasa is currently tracking 1,400 'potentially hazardous asteroids' and predicting their future approaches and impact probabilities. The threat is so serious that former astronaut Ed Lu has described it as 'cosmic roulette' and said that only 'blind luck' has so far saved humanity from a serious impact. Advertisement
'The makeup may vary significantly from asteroid to asteroid. An individual body may have an abnormal orbit or rotation, and its size would also affect which method we might use to deflect it.'
Space rocks aren't like most laser targets.
They tend to be much more heterogeneous, often containing chondrules, which are pebbly inclusions that were melted early in solar system history and embedded in afiner-grained material.
'There's very little known about asteroid strength,' Bruck Syal said.
'We're doing everything we can to know more about how asteroid materials respond under extreme conditions.'
Experts arent exactly sure how Saturns moon Iapetus formed, but one Martian researcher believes it was 'made from scratch' by an alien civilization.
An image taken by Nasas Cassini in 2004 shows a line stretching around the moon's equator and a massive crater on top that some say looks identical to a fictional artificial weapon.
Conspiracy theorists claim Iapetus could be an alien Death Star, as it is actually two separate pieces welded together to form one massive artificial structure-- just like the one in Star Wars.
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An image taken by Nasas Cassini in 2004 shows a line stretching around the moon's equator and a massive crater on top that some say looks identical to a fictional artificial weapon. Conspiracy theorists claim Iapetus could be an alien Death Star, as it is actually two separate pieces welded together
WHAT IS THE CONSPIRACY THEORY FOR IAPETUS? Conspiracy theorists claim Iapetus has the same line stretching around its equator and massive crater on top as the Death Star from Star Wars and might have been the inspiration for the films. Tyler from Secure Team suggests the moon is actually an artifical object of two seperate peices that were once welded together. This idea stems from the 16,000 kilometers long, 20 kilometers wide and 12 mile high 'mountain range' that stretches around Iapetus. Other angles of Iapetus suggest it is not circular like all of the other moons, but forms a hexagon shape as terminator lines form these razor-sharp right angles more evidence Tyler says proves its an artificial object. But according to astronomers, when the moon was still young it spun very quickly causing a thick crust to freeze over it, which formed the odd shape. Advertisement
There some very prominent researchers out there who have theorized that Iapetus is a constructed object, its artificial, explained YouTuber and alien hunter Tyler from Secure Team in a recent video.
We go back to Hollywood drip feeding us bits of truth.
We didnt even have close up images of Iapetus, supposedly, when the Star Wars films came out in the 70s.
Yet decades later we finally have some great close-up image and its identical to this fictional artificial weapon that is disguised as a planet in the Star War films.
Iapetus has been called the ying-yang moon, as it has a light and dark face that creates a contrast on the surface.
It is one of Saturns 62 known satellites, which was discovered by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1671.
But the images taken by the Cassini unmanned spacecraft from this century reveal an array of unusual anomalous features around Iapetus.
A massive ridge that is 16,000 kilometers long, 20 kilometers wide stretches around the equator that Tyler says is the middle cut of two separate pieces.
It looks as if there were two separate pieces and its almost as if they were welded together, he explains.
There is a large welding mark wrapping around the crater as if they were two separate pieces that were cut down the middle and connected together.
At 20 kilometers high, the ridge is about twice the higher of Mount Everest and some say it could possibly be the tallest mountain range in our solar system.
STRESS, LOW SELF-ESTEEM, NARCISSISM AND CONSPIRACY THEORIES The researchers surveyed 420 adults aged between 20 and 78. Participants rated their belief that various conspiracies were true on a nine-point scale, ranging from one (completely false) to nine (completely true). The study found a stronger belief in conspiracy theories was significantly associated with more stressful life events in the last six months and greater perceived stress over the last month. Women and men did not significantly differ in their belief in conspiracy theories. Younger participants were more likely to believe, but there was no significant correlation between belief in conspiracy theories and social status. Over the course of three online-based studies, researchers at the University of Kent showed strong links between the belief in conspiracy theories and these psychological traits. The results showed that those people who rated highly on the narcissism scale and who had low self-esteem were more likely to be conspiracy believers. However, while low self-esteem, narcissism and belief in conspiracies are strongly linked, it is not clear that one - or a combination - causes the other. But it hints at an interesting new angle to the world of conspiracy and those who reinforce belief. Advertisement
Conspiracy theorists claim it could have been a deliberate modification of an existing natural object or an artificial structure built by an alien civilization, reports Inquisitr.
While others believe icy material may have seeped out of the surface that eventually hardened or Iapetus once had a ring system that formed the ridge.
Other angles of Iapetus suggest it is not circular like all of the other moons, but forms a hexagon shape as terminator lines form these razor-sharp right angles more evidence Tyler says proves its an artificial object.
A massive ridge that is 16,000 kilometers long, 20 kilometers wide stretches around the equator that Tyler says is the middle cut of two separate pieces. It looks as if there were two separate pieces and its almost as if they were welded together, he explains
Other angles of Iapetus suggest it is not circular like all of the other moons, but forms a hexagon shape as terminator lines form these razor-sharp right angles more evidence Tyler says proves its an artificial object
But according to astronomers, when the moon was still young it spun very quickly causing a thick crust to freeze over it, which formed the odd shape.
But Tyler stands by the Death Star theory and explains the fictional Star Wars weapon and Iapetus both have identical massive crater in the exact location on top.
Iapetus has been called the ying-yang moon, as it has a light and dark face that creates a contrast on the surface. It is one of Saturns 62 known satellites, which was discovered by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1671. But alien hunters stand firm that it is a massive alien base camouflaged as a moon
From what experts have learned about Iapetus is that it has a low density of just 1.083 grams per cubic centimetres and most believe it is made of mostly water and rock makes up less than a quarter of the composition.
It has a diameter of 914 miles and travels 2.213 million miles around Saturn, which is considered the longest distance of Saturns satellites.
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Summer signals festival season but forget events packed with celebrities, for committed music fans outdoor performances are characterised by mosh pits, extreme temperatures and bartering as the only currency.
From freezing cold temperatures at the SnowGlobe Festival to bare knuckle brawling at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, these global gatherings are not for the faint-hearted.
If you fancy yourself as a hardcore festival-goer, here are this year's top ten most physically challenging festivals.
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AfrikaBurn, South Africa
With freezing temperatures at night, and daytime temperatures that can get into the 40s, AfrikaBurn is as tough as they come
For those who haven't heard of the AfrikaBurn festival, think Burning Man, 20 years ago.
Thousands of people attend the week-long cultural festival in the Karoo desert, South Africa, which was held this year on April 25 - May 1.
Although it is based on the Burning Man festival in Nevada, AfrikaBurn is even more basic and remote. Cash serves very little purpose in the temporary city as nothing is for sale, and generally, if you want something, like food and water, you barter for it.
With freezing temperatures at night, and daytime temperatures that can get into the 40s, AfrikaBurn is as tough as they come.
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, United States
Those who visit the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota should be prepared for the body shots and bare knuckle brawling
Between the body shots and bare knuckle brawling, there's a ton of old-fashioned rock, country, and comedy at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
The festival is certainly a sight to behold, as over 700,000 bikers head to the Black Hills and the remote town of Sturgis (population 6,627) every summer.
This year the rally will be revving up during August 8 - 14.
SnowGlobe Festival, United States
Get your dancing shoes on: SnowGlobe Festival is held at South Lake Tahoe, with temperatures dropping to about -12C
If you shy away from the cold, the SnowGlobe Festival, which is held outside in the dead of winter, may not be the one for you.
The Californian gathering is held at South Lake Tahoe, with temperatures dropping to about -12C. You'll need to get those dancing shoes on and have a few drinks to avoid frostbite.
But the event could be the perfect way to end the year and kick start the next, as it is running on December 29 -31 this year.
Burning Man, United States
Visitors at the Burning Man festival are responsible for their own water, food and necessities as there are no shops at this festival
In order to attend the Burning Man festival you have to head out into the middle of nowhere.
With the only city of any size six hours away, you will need to be truly committed for this one. 'Burners' are responsible for their own water, food and necessities as there are no shops at this festival, meaning planning is a must.
The celebrations are held in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada and this year are taking place on August 28 - September 5.
Don't forget a scarf or cover up, as the dust clouds tend to swing by from time to time.
Sziget Festival, Hungary
Crowds at the Sziget Festival in Budapest are advised to book the entire week off work as it is one of the largest, and longest festivals in Europe celebrating music and culture
Visitors at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary are advised to book the entire week off work as it is one of the largest, and longest festivals in Europe celebrating music and culture.
If seven days isn't quite enough, don't worry you can even take the party train to the festival with resident DJs and fellow festivalgoers to really get you in the mood.
This year the festival is running on August 10 - 17.
Trna Festival, Norway
Getting to the Trna Festival in Norway isn't straightforward as first you have to get to Norway, then to Northern Norway, and then you take a ferry over to the islands of Husoya
The most gruelling part of the Trna Festival in Norway is the journey it takes to reach it.
Getting there isn't straightforward as you'll have to get to northern Norway and then you take a ferry over to the islands of Husoya.
This music festival, being held this year on July 7 - 10, celebrates the culture and history of Trna by introducing Norwegian music and artists.
The sun shines for 23 hours a day here so you only have an hour a day to get any sleep. Some of the venues have included ancient caves, a church with blacked-out windows and tents.
Glastonbury, UK
One of the most gruelling parts of Glastonbury is the British weather. Being caked in mud for five days with limited access to showers is something reserved only for hardcore music festival fan
Glastonbury is infamous for putting its patrons through the best and worst of British weather. After all, rain and mud is not the most pleasant of combinations.
The Pilton-based festival year-on-year seems to suffer from terrible British summer weather. Being caked in mud for five days with limited access to showers is something reserved only for hardcore music festival fan.
Those up the task will be heading to the musical Mecca on June 22-26.
The EXIT Adventure - EXIT and Sea Dance Festival, Montenegro and Serbia
The EXIT and Sea Dance Festival is definitely not for those who prefer to relax as it includes two festivals, two countries, ten days and one ticket
Two festivals, two countries, ten days and one ticket. The EXIT and Sea Dance Festival has a diverse music line up and is definitely aimed at the more energetic festival-goer.
Founded in 2000 by students who were fighting for democracy and freedom, the award-winning EXIT festival is held in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia.
A few days later attendees can head over to the second part of their festival experience at Jaz beach in Budva, Montenegro to dance away to world-class performers on the seafront.
The event, visiting Novi Sad, Serbia & Budva, Montenegro this year, will be running during July 7 - 10 and July 14 - 16.
Roskilde Festival, Denmark
The eight-day Roskilde Festival in Denmark hosts 130,000 festivalgoers and one of the highlights is an annual naked run
One of the most noteworthy parts of the Roskilde Festival in Denmark is a run that is undertaken completely in the nude.
The eight-day festival in Denmark hosts 130,000 festival-goers and one of the highlights is an annual naked run, which is held by the Roskilde Foundation, a non-profit organisation for the development of music and culture.
In 2014 the foundation gave the festival attendees the opportunity to nominate and vote for which charitable organisation received the profits raised at the festival.
Those who think they can bare all can take part on June 25 - July 2.
Download, UK
Those who travel to Leicestershire for Download festival should be prepared for intense music and mosh pits
As a popular rock and metal festival in the UK, Download certainly deserves a mention.
Guests who are travelling to Leicestershire for the annual gathering should be prepared for intense music and mosh pits.
Download is being held on June 10 - 12 this year.
A new infographic has revealed what you could buy for 100 in 10 popular city destinations around the world - so very handy if you're travelling on a budget.
Hanoi, Havana and Budapest have proven to be excellent value for money as they will give you plenty of spending money after paying for essentials like accommodation and food.
In contrast, you might find yourself strapped for cash in San Francisco where after paying for a three-star hotel and a pint of beer, you're left with just 9.98 from 100.
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Value for money: A typical day in Hanoi can be incredibly cheap with hotels at just 18 while a beer is only 45p
A taxi ride in Havana is relatively expensive but thanks to the lost cost of the other items, it's still good value
Budapest is the cheapest city in Europe in the graphic with six different items adding up to just 57.66
The infographic, created by Staysure, looked at the average price for six different things that tourists might have to fork out for in 10 different cities.
These included a night in a three-star hotel, a three course meal, a pint of local beer, a couple of visits to museums or other attractions as well as transport for a 20 mile trip by taxi.
Offering the best value for money was Hanoi in Vietnam, where the cost for the six items is just 35.38, leaving you with more than 60 of spending money.
Thanks to the strong pound, a night in a hotel costs just 18 in Hanoi while a pint of beer is just 45p.
While not quite as cheap as Hanoi, Havana in Cuba and Budapest in Hungary were also good value for money, with the six items costing 56.68 and 57.66 respectively.
Spain's Barcelona also fared well for a European destination, leaving travellers with 10.63 in spending money.
Heading up to the summit of Table Mountain is a relatively expensive Cape Town attraction
In the popular Spanish city of Barcelona, 20 miles in a taxi costs the same as a night in a three-star hotel
The cheapest 20-mile taxi fare out of the 10 cities can be found in Singapore - just 8.40
On the opposite end of the scale, a trip to San Francisco on the west coast of the USA can prove to be surprisingly expensive.
Expensive entry fees to famous tourist attractions, costly hotels and taxi rides mean that the six items will set you back 203.26.
Even a night in a three-star hotel and a three-course meal will cost more than 100 in the Golden City.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, London was the next most expensive city, coming in at 170.02.
The taxi ride is the most expensive item, but at least admission to the world-class British Museum is free.
While Norwegian capital Oslo has a reputation of being expensive, it's actually cheaper than London at 157.13.
It has the most expensive pint of beer and the most expensive three-course meal out of all the cities.
Melbourne is the first of the 10 cities to go over budget at 125.19, but if you forsake the taxi, it comes in at just under 100
Oslo has the most expensive three-course meal and pint of local beer for the 10 cities, but it's not as expensive as London
A visit to the British Museum might be free but a 20-mile taxi ride will cost you a whopping 67.60 - more than in any of the other 10 cities
The most expensive of them all is San Francisco where a night in a three-star hotel will set you back 86
Thirteen passengers and four cabin crew suffered cuts and bruises as they were thrown around the cabin of an aircraft when the co-pilot twice put it into a controlled dive, an investigation has revealed.
The incident occurred when the United Airlines Boeing 757 encountered severe turbulence on its approach to Dublin on a transatlantic flight from Newark, New Jersey, on 20 October 2013.
When the turbulence eased, the co-pilot, who was in control of the plane, took the drastic measures over fears the aircraft would stall after noticing a low airspeed reading that turned out to be incorrect.
The incident occurred as a United Airlines Boeing 757 flew from Newark to Dublin in October 2013 (file photo)
A report from Irelands Air Accident Investigation Unit stated the incident occurred around 70 miles south-west of Dublin shortly after 5am.
The report stated: The co-pilot, believing that the aircraft was about to stall, immediately pushed the control column forward and applied full power without disengaging the autopilot or autothrottle.
The co-pilot stated that following this, his airspeed went back up into the normal range, but as soon as he began to raise the nose and reduce power, it went back into a stall or the indications of a stall. The co-pilot then commenced a second pitch down manoeuvre.
The investigation later revealed that the warning the co-pilot heard in the cockpit was an overspeed warning and not a stall warning as initially thought.
Passengers were thrown around the cabin, suffering cuts and bruises, during the incident (file photo)
After the second controlled dive the 59-year-old captain and 43-year-old co-pilot concluded that the co-pilots airspeed was reading incorrectly, and the captains airspeed indications were correct.
The captain then took control and stabilised the plane, which was carrying 131 passengers and eight crew, and then returned controls to the co-pilot once his controls displayed the correct airspeed, the report stated.
An alert indicated a loss of hydraulic pressure and after going through a checklist the flight crew continued on to Dublin.
The pilots then received reports that flight attendants and passengers had suffered minor impact injuries, and requested emergency services to meet the plane on arrival at Dublin Airport.
The plane made a safe landing despite suffering significant damage
One of the injured passengers suffered a slight laceration to the head and was taken to hospital.
Investigators later spoke to a passenger who said he was in a lavatory as the drama unfolded, and he hit his head on the ceiling and fell, striking a handrail mounted on the wall.
The seatbelt light had been switched on before the plane was rocked by severe turbulence and went into the controlled pitch.
In its report, the AAIU said the incorrect airspeed reading was likely due to icing in a pitot probe used to determine the planes speed.
It said a contributing factor to the incident may have been a startle effect suffered by the co-pilot due to a sudden unexpected indication of low airspeed.
Unreliable airspeed measurements, likely due to icing in the pitot tubes, was one of the major factors when Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean while flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.
There was no cockpit voice record of the incident because the pilots did not pull the circuit breakers after the plane had landed, allowing the relevant recordings to be overwritten.
The co-pilot told investigators he had missed the cockpit voice recorder circuit breakers when he pulled flight data recorder breakers the night before and it was not intentional.
Investigators made eight safety recommendations, including reviews of United Airlines pilot training and operating procedures.
A United Airlines spokesperson told MailOnline Travel: 'At United, the safety of our customers and employees is paramount and we are immediately reviewing all safety recommendations issued in the Air Accident Investigation Unit Ireland report through our safety management system process.
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Hidden in the heart of the Finnish wilderness, is a determined young woman who traded city life for an existence of near solitude with 85 huskies for company.
Not many people would be up to the challenge of braving temperatures that hit -45C but they aren't Tinja Myllykangas who values her privileged interaction with nature over material goods.
Tinja lives without electricity, relying on a wood stove for heat and candles for light and she allowed photographer Brice Portolano to spend two weeks with her capturing her unique way of life.
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Not many people would be up to the challenge of braving temperatures that hit -45C but they aren't Tinja Myllykangas who values her privileged interaction with nature over material goods
Tinja lives off the grid, in a hut near to the Muotkatunturi nature reserve. She cooks on a wood stove and lights her home with candles
The strong-willed blonde decided to leave behind her biological studies in the city of Jyvaskyla, Finland, for the Arctic landscapes of Lapland, in 2008.
She yearned for the untouched wilderness that she had on her doorstep rather urban life because she grew up surrounded by animals.
And so she embarked on finding a spot to raise sledding dogs, eventually settling down near to the Muotkatunturi nature reserve - 180 miles from the closest town.
Tinja cultivates a strong relationship with the dogs, who she said need a lot of exercise. Part of strengthening her bond with them is getting to know each pack member individually.
She also keeps horses and dog wolfs, canines where one of their parents or grandparents was a wolf. According to Tinja, the breed are extremely faithful and follow her wherever she goes.
She told Portolano: 'I like being on my own with the dogs and horses. I think being alone is the most peaceful way of life there is.'
Chores never feel like a burden for Tinja, who said she doesn't feel the need for material possessions and is energised by the beauty of nature around her.
Tinja's wooden home is devoid of running water and food is cooked outside on an open fire or on the wood stove.
But according to the French photographer, the hardest thing about Tinja's life is not necessarily the conditions or harsh temperatures, but the absence of daylight, which can last for over a month.
'She lives a very basic life and has to break the ice of the river every morning to get her water,' Portolano told MailOnline Travel.
For Tinja, urban life did not compare to the untouched wilderness on her doorstep, so she embarked on finding a spot to raise sledding dogs
One of the few individuals that Tinja interacts with on her remote husky farm is Anna, who resides in Helsinki and regularly comes to lend a hand with the horses
Tinja cultivates a strong relationship with the dogs, who she said need a lot of exercise. Here she is pictured getting to know them individually
Tinja's livelihood comes from offering dogsledding tours to people keen to stay on the husky farm and experience Arctic life, although she stated that she doesn't run this for commercial profit.
Attracting visitors from far and wide, many are impressed at her nomadic life and resilient character.
One individual who stayed on the husky farm wrote on the ScanAdventures website: 'Tinja is the woman we sneakingly all harbour to be: independent, strong willed, eschewing the modern world's temptations without self regard.'
Between tours Tinja is not completely alone, as she has lived with her boyfriend Alex, a former professional skier who now works as a race musher, a sport powered by dogs, for two years.
The only other contact she has with people is when she heads to the far-off town, 180 miles away. The long journey may seem extreme, but it provides the chance to stock up on food, charge batteries for her computer and phone and to take a real shower.
Tinja's livelihood comes from offering dogsledding tours to people keen to stay on the husky farm and experience Arctic life, although she stated that she doesn't run this for commercial profit
This picture was taken on a crisp January morning. Each day Tinja goes around the cages of her husky farm to feed her 85 dogs
The only other contact she has with people is when she heads to the far-off town, 180 miles away. The long journey may seem extreme, but it provides the chance to stock up on food, charge batteries for her computer and phone and to take a real shower
Portolano has been working as a photographer for three years, focusing on stories that showcase humans relationship with nature.
His experience with Tinja, entitled Arctic Love, formed part of an on-going project called No Signal, which documents various individuals in the wilderness.
For his next projects he is working on a book and documentary TV series.
Portolano's work can be followed on his website, Facebook and Instagram.
This is a drawing by Tinja that describes the farm's population. It shows several Icelandic horses and the various dogs in her pack
Chores never feel like a burden for Tinja, who said doesn't feel the need for material possessions and that is energised by living close to nature, witnessing sights like this beautiful aurora
Between tours Tinja is not completely alone, as she lives with her boyfriend Alex, a former professional skier who now works as a race musher, a sport powered by dogs
Part of the work on the farm includes dealing with meat, including that of reindeer. When everything is frozen in winter, an axe is the only tool that cuts the meat
An unidentified woman is furious after she was charged 398 Yuan (42) to travel just 984 foot on a shuttle from the plane to the terminal at a Chinese airport.
The incident caused outrage online in China, leading to an investigation by the Municipal Price Bureau into Wenzhou Airport.
However, a representative from the airport claims that the traveller was warned that she was boarding a bus for first class passengers and she had agreed to pay the additional fee.
A female passenger was travelling from Beijing to Wenzhou in east China on May 4. When she landed, she boarded a shuttle bus similar to the one pictured above
The journey from the plane to the terminal was just 984 foot but she was charged 398 Yuan (42) for it
The details of the controversy emerged this week after the passenger reported the incident on May 6.
According to Huanqiu, the female passenger, identified by her nickname Xiao Xin, was travelling from Beijing to Wenzhou with a colleague on May 4.
While her colleague was booked into first class, Xiao Xin only had an economy class ticket.
Xiao Xin decided to board the first class shuttle bus as she reportedly needed to help her colleague, identified by his surname Chen, with the luggage.
Mr Chen said: 'Xiao Xin thought that the price for the shuttle was a bit expensive so she asked for a receipt after she paid.'
When she later contacted the airport, she was allegedly told it was 'airport regulation'.
According to the report, the airport claims that the shuttle was linked to the first class lounges so the price she paid also included lounge access.
The woman was given a receipt after she agreed to pay. She later complained but the airport said she received VIP services for first class passengers
However, Xiao Xin was not happy with this response.
She told reporters: 'Who would spend several hours in the first class lounge on a return flight? Why is the shuttle bus linked to VIP services like the lounge? It's aggressive pricing.'
A representative for Wenzhou Airport told ynet.com: 'Our services are guided by the market price and not set by the Municipal Price Bureau.
'We have the right to adjust the prices according to sales. This information is on our website and on the service counters.'
The representative also claims that similar services are generally more expensive and the 398 Yuan included 'dedicated tunnel for check in and check out, VIP rooms and tea service'.
He added: 'It is a package and it's not possible to eliminate any aspect of it or pay for a service separately. The practice is the same for services all over the country.'
A mother and her infant son were allegedly kicked off of a flight for taking a portable oxygen tank on board - despite it being the only way the child could breathe.
Yamile Quitero had boarded the Frontier flight from McCarran International Airport in Nevada with her son Roman on Friday when the duo were stopped by officials.
Quitero claims that the youngster's tank, which helps Roman - who has a chronic lung disease and a heart murmur - to breathe, was not allowed on the flight and she was asked to leave the plane.
Quitero alleges that she called a representative for Frontier prior to her flight to ensure she would be able to bring the child's portable oxygen tank on board (file image)
Speaking to abc13, the mother from Nevada, who was flying with her son to visit family in Florida, said that the airline took her first Mother's Day away from her.
Quitero alleges that she called a representative for the airline prior to her flight to ensure she would be able to bring the child's portable oxygen tank on board.
Despite claiming she was told that it would not be a problem, she said that after sitting herself and Roman in their seats a flight attendant stated that she would not be allowed to stay on the flight with the tank and was asked to disembark.
Speaking to abc13, she said: 'I did all the proper protocols. I called, I double checked at the door, I double checked at the gate, I double checked everywhere. I did everything. I followed all the procedures and I'm getting kicked off the plane like I'm some type of criminal.
Yamile Quitero was set to board the Frontier flight from McCarran International Airport (pictured) in Nevada with her son Roman when the duo were stopped by officials
'Multiple times I stated it was a portable oxygen tank. And they said it was fine, and it wasn't. And they kicked me off the plane for it and humiliated me.'
A spokesman for the airline told MailOnline Travel that Quitero actually needed an FAA-approved oxygen concentrator to be allowed on the plane, which she did not have.
Richard Oliver, a Frontier Airlines representative, said: 'While we apologise for the confusion that happened at the airport, the passenger had been informed prior to her date of travel that she would need to confirm that the device she was travelling with was FAA approved.
'The phone agent told her where this information could be found on our website.
'For safety reasons the passenger was asked to get off the plane as traveling with an oxygen tank is prohibited by the federal regulations.
Furry handcuffs, a wooden meat hammer and a large bundle of cash are among the strangest items that passengers have tried to bring on planes in the last year.
The objects were intercepted by security officials at London City Airport, which today revealed the most unusual and common prohibited items confiscated from travellers hand luggage.
The airport recently commissioned a study that found around one in eight people (13 per cent) in the UK have had to surrender an item in their hand luggage - from snow globes to horse treats - because it didnt meet aviation or immigration rules.
On average, two pairs of furry handcuffs are intercepted by security at London City Airport every month
Potato forks for fondue are prohibited items because they could be used as weapons
London City Airport's security seized four tubs of horse treats, in flavours such as garlic, from one traveller
Around 150 snow globes are seized from passengers' hand luggage at London City Airport every year
Delicious jams and spreads from Fortnum & Mason and Harrods or other shops violate liquid restrictions
MOST UNUSUAL ITEMS 1. 40,000 IN cash 2. Aesop dog shampoo 3. Hamleys Bubble-ator with bubble fuel 4. Horselyx (horse food treats) 5. My Little Pony Make N Style ponies 6. Potato forks for fondue 7. Waitrose pickled gherkins in vinegar 8. John West tuna chunks in sunflower oil 9. Belt made of bullet casings 10. Wooden meat hammer
MOST COMMON ITEMS 1. Snow globes 2. Harrods/Fortnum and Mason jams 3. Toiletries 4. Nutella chocolate spread 5. Jarred chutneys and pickles 6. Olive oils 7. Wine 8. Spirits 9. Marmite 10. Furry handcuffs
One passenger flying out of London City Airport was forced to surrender 40,000 in undeclared cash after a security officer spotted a dark mass on an X-ray screen last month.
Passengers flying to a country outside the EU must declare cash of 10,000 or more (or the equivalent in another currency).
Due to liquid restrictions, passengers had to leave London without a bottle of posh dog shampoo worth 25 and a Hamleys bubble-making gun with bottles of bubble fuel.
Horse food, Play-Doh My Little Pony Make N Style ponies, potato forks for fondue and pickled gherkins were also intercepted at the airport in the Royal Docks.
One child was likely disappointed, as Play-Doh My Little Pony Make N Style ponies didn't make it through
Due to liquid restrictions, security staff intercepted a Hamleys bubble-making gun with bottles of bubble fuel
Confiscated goods are regularly passed on to the local Newham food bank or used for charity hampers
Staff also seized tinned tuna, a belt made of bullet shell casings, and a wooden meat hammer.
Depending on the nature and condition of an item, confiscated goods are regularly passed on to the local Newham food bank or used for charity hampers.
Souvenir snow globes are the most commonly seized items from travellers' hand luggage, with security finding nearly 150 a year.
Harrods and Fortnum & Mason jams and spreads, including cognac butter and marmalade, were second, ahead of toiletries, jars of Nutella and chutneys and pickles.
A bottle of Aesop dog shampoo worth 25 and a four-pack of tinned tuna chunks weren't allowed on board
Posh jams and spreads are the second most common items seized by security at London City Airport
The list also included olive oils, wine, spirits, Marmite and furry handcuffs.
On average, two pairs of furry handcuffs are intercepted by security every month.
Declan Collier, chief executive officer at London City Airport, said: Last year the airport welcomed 4.3million passengers along with an eclectic range of restricted items.
Snow globes continue to be a favourite souvenir, perhaps as a paperweight for the business travellers who make up more than half of our passengers.
Travellers have long left graffiti at tourist spots to indicate that they've made it to a destination.
But now China will be blacklisting visitors who leave their mark on the stone memorials at Everest's Qomolangma Base Camp.
It comes as staff are forced to clean the monuments in Tingri County in Tibet twice a month due to the huge number of scribbles appearing on the plaques each day.
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Memorials at Qomolangma Base Camp, China, are being defaced regularly by tourists visiting the site. Above, the plaque is pictured in 2013
The graffiti is so heavy that it's difficult to see the official writing on the plaque underneath it (pictured in 2016)
The base camp sits at more than 17,000 feet above sea level.
It's a key stop for those hoping to scale Mount Everest and many people visit the site for a photo opportunity.
In 2015, it received some 40,000 visitors according to state agency Xinhua and during peak season, this averages to about 550 people per day.
But according to Gu Chunlei, deputy director of Tingri County's tourism bureau, visitors are destroying the scenic site with their graffiti.
He told The Paper that the scribbles have ranged from people's names to poetry and drawings and has increased with the growing number of visitors.
Most of these are in Chinese.
In photographs taken of the memorial in 2013, the entire plaque was covered with black ink.
He said: 'The site used to be so beautiful but it's lost its beauty thanks to the graffiti on the memorial. This uncivilised behavior should be strongly condemned.'
Many of the comments are people's names but there are also drawings and even poetry, all written with marker pens
The peak season starts from about May each year and during this time, staff have to clean the memorial at least twice a month to remove the graffiti.
Gu said: 'The uncivilised behaviour by a few tourists is impossible to control. Staff are even being verbally abused when they go and stop them.'
He hopes that increased awareness and education on the issue would mean that tourists will stop behaving in this way.
In addition, for the first time this year, graffiti culprits will be 'blacklisted and be exposed in the media'.
It's likely that they will be banned from the site as a result.
Under current regulations from China's tourism bureau, blacklisted tourists remain on the list for one to two years.
Gu also revealed that Qomolangma Base Camp will be equipped with special graffiti boards like the ones offered in similar attractions to detract would-be vandals.
Many of the vandals so far have been Chinese, judging by the graffiti left on the plaques.
It's the latest in a string of misdemeanors by Chinese holidaymakers.
Last week, MailOnline Travel reported that visitors to the new Disney theme park in Shanghai have already been trashing the place - even before it officially opens.
They were seen dumping rubbish, trampling flowers, leaving graffiti and letting children urinate in public.
Earlier this year, MailOnline Travel also reported that a Japanese television presenter has actually called for Chinese tourists to be given their own photography areas in Japan after groups of visitors from China were seen destroying cherry blossoms so they can get the perfect picture.
It comes just weeks another similarly destructive scenes were spotted around China itself.
China has previously public blacklisted five tourists after they were involved in altercations and other unruly behaviour on flights.
Trashed: Groups of tourists visiting the Disney town outside the new theme park in Shanghai have been leaving rubbish everywhere
Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone - and as usual the there were rocks flying everywhere.
Lady Gaga got embroiled in a row with a Catholic blogger on Wednesday.
The 30-year-old lashed back after she was called out in an article on the website Catholic Link, entitled 'From Lady Gaga to Steph Curry: 5 Things To Remember When Celebrities Share Their Faith'.
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Let he who has not sinned: Lady Gaga got embroiled in a row with a Catholic blogger on Wednesday
'It seems that it has become somewhat of a trend for celebrities to share their faith,' author Becky Roach opened with, in that uniquely judgmental tone reserved for religious types who preach against being judgmental.
'Many celebrities are sharing Bible verses, quoting priests, and singing Christian music while at the same time still leading a typical Hollywood lifestyle void of Christian values such as modesty and purity.'
Roach proclaimed that 'Even in cases such as Lady Gaga, a woman who has unfortunately done a variety of obscene things,' this was an example of how 'anyone can turn back to the faith', before obliviously contradicting herself by finishing that same paragraph with 'only God can judge' her lifestyle.
But Gaga got wind of the piece and immediately fired back on Instagram, pointing out that Jesus himself did not judge Mary Magdalene, a prostitute.
See Lady Gaga updates as she gets embroiled in row with Catholic blogger over her faith
Fight: The 30-year-old lashed back after she was called out in an article on the website Catholic Link , entitled 'From Lady Gaga to Steph Curry: 5 Things To Remember When Celebrities Share Their Faith'
The Magdalene Defense: But Gaga got wind of the piece and immediately fired back on Instagram, pointing out that Jesus himself did not judge Mary Magdalene, a prostitute
'Someone society shames as if she and her body are a man's trash can,' she wrote. 'He loved her and did not judge.'
Gaga's example was perhaps not the best illustration, as she went on to point out that Jesus 'let her cry over him and dry his feet with the hair of a harlot' in his non judging.
'We are not just "celebrities" we are humans and sinners, children, and our lives are not void of values because we struggle,' Gaga wrote. 'We are as equally forgiven as our neighbor. God is never a trend no matter who the believer.'
Unfortunately, when Tweeting her response, instead of tagging @catholiclink_en, she tagged @catholink, an account that primarily posts links to articles on increasing penis size.
False idol: In the original article, Roach called out the Mother Monster specifically, who on Sunday had Instagrammed a picture with 'her favourite priest'
Only God* can judge me: The article went on to suggest '5 Things to Remember About Christian Celebrities,' including the fact that 'They arent God just because they are famous', and that 'we need to pray for them'
So close: Unfortunately, when Tweeting her response, instead of tagging @catholiclink_en, she tagged @catholink, an account that primarily posts links to articles on increasing penis size
In the original article, Roach called out the Mother Monster specifically, who on Sunday had Instagrammed a picture with 'her favourite priest'.
'Thank you Father Duffell for a beautiful homily as always and lunch at my pop's restaurant,' Gaga wrote at the time. 'I was so moved today when you said.. "The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect but the food that God gives us." - Father Duffell, Blessed Sacrament Church. Nourishment.'
The article went on to suggest '5 Things to Remember About Christian Celebrities,' including the fact that 'They arent God just because they are famous', and that 'we need to pray for them'.
Roach did applaud the fact that Gaga's Catholic post had got her followers talking about the Eucharist... even if it was inadvertently.
Quick change! On Tuesday, the Golden Globe winner - who relies on stylist Brandon Maxwell - was later spotted emerging from her Manhattan apartment in a striped-knit jumper and leathery leggings
The natural look: Gaga - born Stefani Germanotta - went make-up and wig-free beneath her circle shades and trilby topper
The Victoria's Secret Angels came out to play for a photo shoot on Miami Beach on Tuesday afternoon.
Vita Sidorkina was just one of several models to make a big splash as she posed beside the surf in a flirty coral pink bikini that put her gorgeous body on full show.
The 22-year-old Russian model wore her golden, sun kissed locks down in a straight and beachy hair 'do.
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Making a splash: Vita Sidorkina looked carefree as she splashed in the surf for a Victoria's Secret photo shoot on Tuesday in Miami
She added a glam touch with her silver cuff bracelet and polished off her complexion with peach pink blush and little else.
Vita looked right at home as she posed up a storm in front of the camera, and looked more than happy to put her pert bottom on display as she piled up her hair.
Life's a beach! Vita looked right at home as she posed up a storm in front of the camera, and looked more than happy to put her pert bottom on display as she piled up her hair
Heavenly: Vita looked radiant as she modelled the feminine ruffled halter-style bikini
Perfect posterior! The stunner showed off her pert derriere in the tiny bikini bottoms which left little to the imagination
Show off: Vita piled her hair up as she strolled towards the water
Power pose! Vita slithered along the sand for the provocative swimsuit photo shoot
Curvalicious! Vita's ample cleavage was on display in the revealing bathing suit with plunging neckline
Costume change: The 22-year-old changed several different swimsuits that day, including a bohemian chic pink one with a floral design and string tie at the cleavage
Vita changed several different swimsuits that day, including a bohemian chic pink one with a floral design and string tie at the cleavage.
The beauty struck a sexy pose as she sensually raised her arms up into the air, clasping her hands together.
She also slipped into a pair of high-waist plum purple bottoms and a vibrant blue top which enhanced her cleavage.
Bronzed beauty! The blonde bombshell changed into a boho inspired red and white graphic number with lace up bikini top
Boho babe! Vita showed off her flawless figure in the skimpy vintage inspired two-piece
Flirty: Sidorkina placed her fingertips near her mouth
Colourful: The Russian beauty also slipped into a pair of high-waist plum purple bottoms and a vibrant blue top
Revealing: The stunner donned a bikini top with plunging neckline which enhanced her cleavage
Picture perfect! Vita modelled with a breathtaking view behind her
The statuesque supermodel changed swimsuits once more into a playful leopard print two-piece.
Her suit included a white cropped top style with barely there black bikini bottoms.
Both were cinched with a beaded string in the middle and the bikini top read: 'Stay Wild' in bubblegum pink lettering.
Wild style! The statuesque supermodel changed swimsuits once more into a playful leopard print two-piece
Pert posterior: Her suit included a white cropped top style with barely there black bikini bottoms
'Stay Wild': Her bikini top and bottoms were cinched with a beaded string and her top was emblazoned with pink writing
Vita was spotted once she had completed her day's work in a short silk pink robe which revealed a matching bra beneath.
She flashed a huge smile and the peace sign as it appeared she was likely elated to be done with a hard day's work.
Rounding out her off-duty ensemble was a pair of white flip flops, simple silver bracelet and dainty ring.
Rosy robe: Once Vita had completed her day's work she sported a short silk pink robe which revealed a matching bra beneath
That's a wrap! She flashed a huge smile and the peace sign as it appeared she was likely elated to be done with a hard day's work
Fun in the sun: Elsewhere on the beach, model Josephine Skriver donned a white bra and a summery lace skirt
Carefree: Skriver looked to be having a blast as she bounced on a lounge chair while playing with her hair
Elsewhere on the beach, model Josephine Skriver donned a white bra and a summery lace skirt.
The 23-year-old looked carefree and seemed to be having a blast as she jumped on a lounge chair, playing with her hair.
She then ditched the skirt and continued posing, now in a pair of see-through lace panties which hugged her hips.
Oh la la: Skriver's lacy ensemble put her figure on full show
Look who's here! Jasmine Tookes, meanwhile, looked absolutely gorgeous in a white lace vest, halter crop top, and Daisy Dukes that put her sublime legs on show
Summer stylin': Stella Maxwell looked hippie chic in a white lace playsuit and olive green bandeau top
Heavenly! The 25-year-old Irish stunner looked angelic in the see-through feminine garb
Jasmine Tookes, 24, meanwhile, looked absolutely gorgeous in a white lace vest, halter crop top, and Daisy Dukes that put her sublime legs on show.
The beauty couldn't hide her smile as she strolled onto set with a wide and contagious smile on her face.
She also sizzled as she changed into a skimpy lavender floral-patterned bikini while frolicking along the coast.
Stunning! Jasmine Tookes, 24, sizzled in a skimpy lavender floral-patterned bikini
Leggy display! Jasmine's endless supermodel stems glistened in the sun as she posed in the tiny two-piece
The statuesque beauty showcased her enviable figure as her endless supermodel stems glistened on the sunshine-soaked sandy beach.
She donned the skimpy bikini bottoms which were striped and included shades of lavender, bubblegum pink and daffodil yellow.
Stella Maxwell looked hippie chic in a white lace playsuit and olive green bandeau top.
She has great jeans: Elsa Hosk had also joined in on the fun, stepping out in a jean skirt, green triangle bikini top, and sheer sweater
Legs eleven! The beauty showed off her long limbs as she continued on her way
The model was spotted strolling beneath the shade during a break from the cameras.
Elsa Hosk had also joined in on the fun, stepping out in a jean skirt, green triangle bikini top, and sheer sweater.
She wore her blonde hair down straight and looked flawless thanks to a coat of expertly applied makeup.
Taking a breather: The ladies looked to be taking some direction during their shoot
Three's company! The ladies took a break from the sun under the awning
Strike a pose: The looker looked flawless with a perfect coat of makeup
She also had a wardrobe change and slipped into a hot pink bikini as she frolicked on the sun-soaked sandy beach.
The 27-year-old Swedish model showed off her enviable figure in the skimpy two-piece.
Elsa also donned a lace bikini top with tiny white string bikini bottoms as she posed while lying in the sand.
Pretty in pink! Elsa had a wardrobe change and slipped into a brightly-coloured neon bikini
Flawless! The 27-year-old Swedish model showed off her enviable figure in the skimpy two-piece
Leggy blonde! Elsa's endless stems were on display in the high cut bikini bottoms
Padma Lakshmi put on quite the sartorial display as she exited her home in New York on Tuesday.
The author and television presenter waved to fans and photographers as she left her home in a chic but laid back outfit.
The 45-year-old looked cute in a pastel blue sweater which perfectly complimented her light denim skinny blue jeans.
Loyal to her fans: Padma Lakshmi put on quite the sartorial display as she exited her home in New York on Tuesday
She left her raven locks to fall naturally to one side as she accessorized with a big pair of sunglasses, a beige tote bag and a pair of leather ankle boots.
The actress and model recently stunned at the 2016 Ellis Island ceremony in New York City on Saturday where she received a medal of honor.
The 45-year-old dazzled in a two-piece sequinned gown as she showed off her toned tummy in the revealing number.
Natural beauty: She left her raven locks to fall naturally to one side as she accessorized with a big pair of sunglasses and a beige tote bag
Effortless but chic: The author and television presenter waved to fans and photographers as she left her home in a chic but laid back outfit
The Top Chef star flashed a hint of her bare midriff in the sparkling gown which included shimmering shades of silver, blue and black.
Padma received The Ellis Island Medal of Honor which is awarded each year to exceptional immigrants who have become naturalized citizens.
According to their site the award recognizes 'individuals who have made it their mission to share with those less fortunate their wealth of knowledge, indomitable courage, boundless compassion, unique talents and selfless generosity.'
Adding: 'All while maintaining the traditions of their ethnic heritage as they uphold the ideals and spirit of America.'
Cute style: The 45-year-old looked cute in a pastel blue sweater which perfectly complimented her light denim skinny blue jeans
No doubt it is an exciting time in Padma's life as she released Love, Loss And What We Ate on International Women's Day in March.
It's described as an intimate story of food and family, which details Padma's life story from an immigrant child to a Hollywood life in front of the camera.
Her book chronicles the fierce devotion of the people who shaped her along the way, from her headstrong mother who broke conservative Indian convention to make a life in New York.
A new adventure: She released her book Love, Loss And What We Ate on International Women's Day in March
Showstopper: The actress and model recently stunned at the 2016 Ellis Island ceremony in New York City on Saturday where she received a medal of honor
The raven haired beauty tweeted a picture of the book with the caption: 'What started as a book about healthy eating became a book about what really feeds me. Visit: http://amzn.to/1OuANIN'
The Emmy nominee has already published two cookbooks but the new release is her first personal account.
Easy Exotic - a compilation of international recipes - was awarded Best First Book at the 1999 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards at Versailles.
Her second cookbook - Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet - was released in October 2007.
She divided opinion with a daring see-through netted dress at this year's Logies.
And Jesinta Campbell has hit back at her critics by posting an empowering message to all women, saying 'fashion is freedom'.
The model, 24, who is engaged to AFL star Buddy Franklin, said she was inspired after meeting Iranian designer Tala Raassi who was thrown in jail and endured 40 lashes just for wearing a skirt.
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Risque: Jesinta Campbell, 24, turned heads in a very daring olive green bodysuit worn underneath a completely see-through netted dress by local designers, Camilla and Marc, at the Logies 2016
Her post came after she called TV and radio personality Kate Langbroek 'nasty' after the 50-year-old shared an image of Jesinta's dress, saying: 'This cannot be for real. #desperate (for pants).'
Jesinta quoted Tala in the lengthy post, writing: 'I want to empower women to follow their dreams, I want to empower them to wear what they desire and not to be judged or punished.
'And that's where my point of the story comes from. Do what you want, follow your dream and wear what you want.'
Empowering message: Jesinta hit back at her critics by posting an empowering message to all women, saying 'fashion is freedom'
Harsh punishment: Tala Raassi (pictured) was thrown in jail and endured 40 lashes just for wearing a skirt
Revealing: The 24-year-old cut a daring figure in her ensemble that showed off her pert derriere and long legs
The beauty queen, who turned heads in a risque olive green bodysuit by Camilla and Marc, revealed that fashion never really meant much to her until she met Tala.
She spoke about how the young designer grew up in Tehran, the capital of Iran, 'where women don't always have a choice in what they wear.'
Jesinta wrote: 'During a swimwear fitting I asked her the reason behind her career and how she came to be a designer and work in the world of Fashion.
'At 16 years old, Tala was invited to a house party with her friends. What should have been a fun and very normal experience for any teenager was something that changed Tala's life forever.
'Not long into the evening, Government officials stormed into the house and arrested her alongside other guests.
Lashing out: Jestinta Campbell has lashed out at Kate Langbroek after the 50-year-old television and radio personality criticised her risky Logies dress on social media
'Nasty': Kate, who was watching the event from the comfort of her own home, posted a picture of the Miss Universe Australia star on Instagram, writing: 'This cannot be for real. #desperate(for pants)'
Back and forth: Jesinta commented under Kate's post, calling the radio star 'nasty'
'In Tehran, being uncovered as a women around the opposite sex was unacceptable so she was thrown into jail for five nights then sentenced to 40 lashes, across her back, because she was wearing a skirt and a t-shirt.
'It was through this experience that Tala realised that fashion is freedom. Being able to chose what you want to wear as a woman is a freedom that not all women have access to.'
Jesinta said that from the day she met Tala she developed a strong passion for fashion.
'From the day I met Tala my lack of thought and care for fashion grew into a strong passion. I am proud to work in the fashion industry and promote self expression and freedom of choice.
'Every day that I get I up I am grateful that I can chose whatever the hell I want to wear without the fear of punishment or violence or imprisonment.'
'Tala, Thank you for opening my eyes to how important fashion and the freedom of choice is for all women!!'
Inspiration: Jesinta said that from the day she met Tala (pictured) she developed a strong passion for fashion
Daring: Jesinta is one of the biggest names in Australian fashion as a model, former beauty queen and brand ambassador
Jesinta is one of the biggest names in Australian fashion as a model, former beauty queen and brand ambassador.
So there were big expectations when she stepped out at the Awards in Melbourne on Sunday, and she didn't play it safe.
The brunette beauty cut a daring figure in her ensemble that showed off her pert derriere and long legs.
Jesinta pumped up her already statuesque height with a pair of strappy black heels which could barely be seen underneath the thick lace.
But while the model's appearance stole the show, her fiance Lance 'Buddy' Franklin was less than impressed.
'He thought it was a bit much,' she told the Daily Telegraph. 'I think he preferred me to be fully covered. head to toe. But he's always encouraging.'
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Jesinta penned a tribute to her mother ahead of Mother's Day, saying she was 'blessed 'and shared a stunning black and white picture of them.
She officially became a Victoria's Secret Angel last year.
But Jasmine Tookes has rocked the famed VS Fashion Show and modelled their lingerie and sexy swimwear for several years before.
And the 24-year-old didn't disappoint on Tuesday as she sizzled in a bikini-clad photo shoot for the brand while she frolicked on the sand in Miami Beach.
Stunning! Jasmine Tookes, 24, sizzled in a Victoria's Secret photo shoot in Miami Beach on Tuesday
The statuesque beauty showcased her enviable figure in a floral patterned two-piece swimsuit with halter style top.
Her endless supermodel stems glistened on the sunshine-soaked sandy beach as she paraded along the coast.
She donned the skimpy bikini bottoms which were striped and included shades of lavender, bubblegum pink and daffodil yellow.
Like Venus: The model proved she may be the next hottest thing
Flawless! The Victoria's Secret Angel showcased her enviable figure in a skimpy lavender bikini
The Huntington Beach, California native looked radiant and was clearly enjoying the sea breeze as her silky brunette tresses blew in the hot spot beach community.
But it's not only the famous lingerie retailer that Jasmine has graced her beauty with as she has also worked with DKNY, Vogue Italia, Tom Ford, Prada, Miu Miu and Versace.
The 5ft 9in stunner was also featured in a racy Calvin Klein Eternity Now ad with her real-life beau, male model Tobias Sorenson, 27.
Jasmine and Tobias have been dating since 2012 and the pair stunned in a steamy campaign for the fragrance.
Pretty as a petal! The statuesque beauty donned a floral patterned two-piece swimsuit with halter style top
Leggy display! Jasmine's endless supermodel stems glistened in the sun as she posed in the tiny two-piece
And just before Valentine's Day this past February Glamour quizzed them on how well they know each other.
The publication asked Jasmine what is Tobias' biggest pet peeve about women.
'When they have on too much makeup,' she answered.
'Yeah, or when they wear leggings as pants,' he added. 'I hate that. I don't mean workout tights, I love those, but like going out in a club wearing leggings and nothing over I think that's weird.'
Beach babe! The California native frolicked on the sunshine-soaked sandy beach as she paraded along the coast
She's recovering from surgery on a sore wrist after having recently injured herself during a big night out.
And after putting aside that pain to get a tattoo of a wolf etched on the inside of her right wrist, all that was on the mind of Married At First Sight's Clare Verrall was her new inking.
The effervescent 31-year-old couldn't stop flashing her elaborate body adornment as she posed for snaps at the launch of Australian Laser & Skin Clinic in Ivanhoe in Melbourne on Tuesday.
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Grrh: Married At First Sight's Clare Verrall flashed her new inking inside her wrist at the launch of Australian Laser & Skin Clinic in Ivanhoe, Melbourne, on Tuesday
Howl did you get that? The 31-year-old couldn't stop flashing her elaborate tattoo of a wolf
'Didn't hurt at all!' Clare previously shared an image of her first ever tattoo of a wolf on Instagram
Sporting a pink manicure, the reality star held up her wrist and beamed broadly as flashbulbs popped.
Wearing a black floral dress, the blonde real estate recruitment consultant struck a contented figure as she was reunited with fellow MAFS star Erin Bateman.
Clare, who was popular with viewers, had previously Instagrammed her tattoo adding the hashtags: 'First and only tat,' and 'Now I have two sore wrists,' referring to wrist injury she had sustained while clubbing.
Reunited: The blonde real estate recruitment consultant struck a contented figure as she joined fellow MAFS star Erin Bateman (L)
Selfie time: The reality stars snap their best sides on the night
The friends joined Rhiannon Tracey who is currently making headlines after setting up a Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Centre for paraplegics and quadriplegics.
Also at the launch party was AFL star Brent Harvey's wife, Shayne McClintock and celebrity stylist Kate Bollard.
Clare previously shared an Instagram snap of her tattoo joking 'It's not bad...didn't hurt at all!'
Cheers! They toasted the launch of the new venture holding flutes of bubbly
Smiling through the process, she added: 'It's not near as bad as I thought.'
Clare's injured wrist is seen in the video, covered up with layers of bandages.
She recently returned home after spending ten days in hospital due to her injury.
Support: The friends were happy to pose for numerous snaps on the night. Pictured with Rhiannon Tracey who has set up a Spinal Cord Injury Recovery Centre for paraplegics and quadriplegics
An upbeat Clare appeared to see the funny side of the situation, despite the fact she has to undergo surgery to fix her wrist.
'Next up 'pulling the bones back into position' which sounds SUPER FUN then surgery, then I'm in a cast for 6 weeks,' she wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her heavily bandaged arm.
'Who wants to sign my cast?
'This is why I went on #MarriedAtFirstSight I SUCK at even attempting to go to clubs to meet people,' Clare wrote on Instagram.
Not that bad: She put on a brave face and revealed she wasn't in pain as her tattoo artist got to work
Wild night out: Clare's club outing with fellow Married at First Sight star Erin ended with a mad dash to the emergency room
Bella Thorne wore a sexy red top while on the set of her new thriller You Get Me.
The 18-year-old looked relaxed in the plunging red one-piece and flirty black shorts as she goofed around with a stuffed animal on set in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
The former Disney star wore her long red hair down in curls as she strolled across the set with friends.
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Plunging look: Bella Thorne wore a low-cut red top and held a stuffed toy while on the set of her new movie You Get Me in Los Angeles on Tuesday
Earlier, the teenager was dressed down in a grey Good Mood Unisex Crew sweatshirt from Sub_Urban Riot as she grabbed an ice cream treat.
She added comfy grey sweats and white sneakers.
The Blended actress, who plays a sexy new girl in town in the film, was seen carrying her iPhone around as she arrived on set.
On her phone: The actress accessorized with gold necklaces and bracelets and wore cute black shorts
New pal: Bella laughed as she snapped some selfies and goofed around with the toy on set
Bella accessorized with gold necklaces, and added black sandals that showed off a dark manicure.
The teenager appeared to be in high spirits, laughing as she snapped some selfies with the stuffed toy.
Earlier, the former Shake It Up! star looked far more relaxed in grey sweats as she indulged in an ice cream treat.
Sweet treat! Bella went for a more laid back look as she snacked on an ice cream while wearing a 'Good Mood' sweatshirt on set Tuesday
Snack time: The 18-year-old added grey sweats and white Adidas sneakers
Thriller You Get Me also stars 23-year-old Halston Sage, 18-year-old Vine star Nash Grier and Taylor John Smith.
The film, written by Ben Epstein, will be directed by Brent Bonacorso and produced by Awesomeness Films Brian Robbins and Matt Kaplan.
The movie follows Tyler - played by Taylor John Smith - who after an argument with his perfect girlfriend Ali - played by Halston Sage - lands in the arms of sexy new girl Grace, played by Bella.
Good mood? Bella flashed a number of rings and kept a close grip on her phone as she arrived on set
Laid-back look: The 18-year-old beauty sporte a full face of make-up but dressed down in grey sweats
The morning after he finds out that Ali wants to take him back, but at the same time he realizes that Grace is actually a new student at their school and is hell-bent on getting her new man.
The movie is slated for digital release some time later this year.
Bella's career also got a boost after she recently signed with top Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Natural look: The red-haired beauty left her hair down in curls with a small braid
Hot new role: The Blended actress, who plays a sexy new girl in town for the film, wore her pretty red hair in curls
Bella has been dating actor Gregg Sulkin, 23, for eight months.
Also spotted on set Tuesday was her costar Halston, who wore ripped Daisy Dukes and flashed her toned tummy in a stripped crop top.
The 23-year-old added a grey coat and brown gladiator sandals as she stopped for a coffee break.
Coffee break: Actress Halston Sage wore ripped Daisy Dukes and flashed her midriff in a crop top as she grabbed a coffee on set Tuesday
First a whirlwind trip to Washington D.C. and then a bus ride to Legoland in Carlsbad, California with sister Kylie.
Kendall Jenner carried on with the travel in her own stylish way as she arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday ahead of a flight.
The 20-year-old was solo and looking chic in a beige pleated jumpsuit that fit her loosely in the trousers and snugly on top.
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Stylish traveler: Kendall Jenner livened up her beige jumpsuit with a rust-colored duster coat while arriving at LAX ahead of a flight on Tuesday
Kendall dressed up the bland tan clothes with a rust-colored duster coat that also boasted a floral embossed design.
The wrap flowed with each and every movement as the model made her way through the busy airport terminal.
Kendall wore minimal make-up on her face and kept her shades on while her dark hair was caught up in a hassle-free updo.
See Kendall Jenner updates as she is stylish in beige jumpsuit and rust-colored duster
Textures are cool: The 20-year-old matched her pleated outfit with an embossed wrap
Taking wide strides: Kendall has flown to Washington D.C. and bused it to Legoland in Carlsbad, CA and she was off again
Lucky charms? Kendall carried with her some colourful keychain puffs
The daughter of Kris Jenner and Caitlin Jenner (formerly Bruce) has been making great strides in her travels.
Kendall may not have joined her famous Kardashian siblings on their two-day trip to Havana, Cuba, but she did attend the White House Correspondents' Dinner in Washington D.C. on April 30.
The slender brunette struck a graceful pose in her long and sleek dark dress with the dipping sweetheart neckline.
Builders emporium: Kendall and sister Kylie were certainly creative during their day trip to Legoland
Touch up: The sisters laughed while applying lip gloss during the 'bumpy' bus ride to Legoland
She even got to meet and shake hands with President Barack Obama, who mentioned her in his speech.
'Kendall Jenner is also here. We had a chance to meet her backstage and she seems like a very nice young woman, the President said.
'Im not exactly sure what she does but I am told that my Twitter mentions are about to go through the roof.'
Magic bus: Kendall and Kylie and their friends traveled two hours from Calabasas to Carlsbad in a yellow bus
Then on Monday, she and sister Kylie descended upon Legoland with some pals for an adventurous day among the miniature masterpieces - including a lego White House.
'Our Lego squad on top of the White House. thanks Legoland,' Kendall captioned one snap.
The group traveled the two hours from Calabasas to Carlsbad in their own magic yellow bus too.
She's spent time relaxing in the pool of the five-star Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes ahead of her busy Cannes schedule.
And Bella Hadid, 19, swapped one luxury establishment for another on Tuesday when she arrived at the Hotel Martinez, where she was greeted by scores of photographers.
The stunning model looked typically chic in a navy denim jacket embellished with floral detailing which she teamed with shorts showcasing her slim pins.
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Life of luxury: Bella Hadid, 19, swapped one luxury establishment for another on Tuesday when she arrived at the Hotel Martinez where she was greeted by scores of photographers
The brunette beauty carried a cute pale blue handbag with a vibrant orange handle and finished her look with an elegant pair of white heels.
Before leaving the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Bella posed for a stunning selfie in front of the extravagant building.
With her jacket hanging loosely off her shoulders, she placed one hand behind her head and flaunted her enviably slim midriff.
Stepping out: The brunette beauty carried a cute pale blue handbag with a vibrant orange handle and finished her look with an elegant pair of white heels
Leggy display: Bella's toned pins were accentuated her her eye-catching heels
Bella covered her eyes with a pair of shades and showed off her plump pout which was given a slick of berry lipstick.
The star appeared to time her earlier visit to the pool to perfection with the weather becoming overcast later in the afternoon.
Bella was pictured arriving in Cannes, via Nice airport, along with a host of other stars on Monday.
Star attraction: Bella proved a popular draw with the photographers who snapped away as she made her way into the hotel
Making an entrance: The model put her best foot forward as she entered the revolving door
And later in the day she had cut a fabulously fine figure as she attended a party hosted by French fashion house Christian Dior before the two-week long movie event begins.
As ever, Bella proved she looks just as wonderful in clothes as she does in tiny swimwear, wowing in a clean-cut A-line white dress with an asymmetric neckline.
If she was feeling at all fatigued from her busy lifestyle - the past week has seen her jetting across the world and also attending the star-studded Met Gala in New York - she didn't show it as she posed for pictures.
She always draws admiring glances due to her stunning efforts whenever she hits the red carpet.
But on Tuesday, Rebecca Gibney proved she is human as the rest of us when she showed off her natural complexion in a makeup-free snap, posted on her social media sites.
The 51-year-old actress snapped a candid picture of herself, looking virtually unrecognisable as she ditched the heavy slap for a seriously bare-faced selfie.
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Keeping it real! Rebecca Gibney showed off her natural complexion in a makeup-free snap (left), posted on her social media sites on Tuesday - days after her stunning appearance at the Logies (right) on Sunday
Relaxing in bed with a pair of reading glasses on, the Packed To The Rafters pursed her lips and pulled a cheeky smile while her pretty face was completely void of cosmetics.
Alongside the image, she wrote: What? Post a photo after the Logies with no makeup in your glasses?!?! Don't be stupid! #imadag #havinalaugh #keepinitreal #nightlovebuds [sic]
The Instagram post comes days after her exquisite appearance at the 58th TV Week Logie Awards, which took place in Melbourne on Sunday night.
City chic: Turning heads as she passed by, the 51-year-old cut a stylish figure as she dressed her slender curves in a classic two-piece black suit at the Logies, which took place in Melbourne on Sunday night
Attention to detail: She teamed her attire with a chic bodice, which featured a plunging heart-shaped neckline, a diamond encrusted necklace and earrings to match
Turning heads as she passed by, Rebecca cut a stylish figure as she dressed her slender curves in a classic two-piece black suit.
She teamed her attire with a chic bodice, which featured a plunging heart-shaped neckline, and a chic pair of suede heels as well as a diamond encrusted necklace and earrings to match.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand born beauty recently returned to TV screens in Channel Sevens new show, Wanted, which sees her play supermarket worker Lola Buckley.
Meanwhile... The New Zealand born beauty recently returned to TV screens in Channel Sevens new show, Wanted, which sees her play supermarket worker Lola Buckley
Speaking about her latest venture, Rebecca told News.com.au: 'Its two women, at a bus stop, poles apart, nothing in common.
'Theyve been standing at this bus stop every morning at 5am for 18 months, have never spoken a word to each other.
Then one morning this incident happens at the bus stop which is going to change their lives irrevocably, and they are forced to look after each other and become friends to survive.'
He's had a taste of the A-list life since hooking up with Australia's greatest swimmer, Ian Thorpe.
And on Monday the gold medal-winner's boyfriend Ryan Channing got the opportunity to attend the Invictus Games Foundation in Orlando, Florida.
Also at the event was none other than Prince Harry, who founded the Invictus Games for injured war veterans in 2014.
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Enjoying himself! Ryan Channing attended the Invictus Games Foundation in Orlando, Florida this week with his famous swimming boyfriend Ian Thorpe
Taking to social media to gush about the experience, Ryan, 26, wrote: 'Great to see our Aussies bring home medals so far in rowing and strong lifting.'
Ryan has been enjoying the perks of fame since he and the athlete went public with their relationship in February.
The male glamour model quickly secured a gig as an ambassador for Sydney's Star Casino alongside his high-profile boyfriend, appearing on television to promote the role.
Royal event! Prince Harry, who founded the Invictus Games, was also at the event
Having a chat: While Ian got to mingle with Prince Harry, his glamour model boyfriend Ryan was nowhere to be seen
'It's a pretty good gig because it's not a lot of hard work,' he told The Daily Edition at the time.
He added: 'I'll be in The Star VIP marquee most of the day mingling with the guests and I'll hop out for the Star Doncaster Mile which is the premiere event of the day.
The law student has also enjoyed attending exclusive events, flaunting photos of himself on social media at the Holden Spark launch brunch in Sydney earlier this month.
'It's not a lot of hard work:' The underwear model has been enjoying the spoils of fame since hooking up with Thorpie, and was even recently named an ambassador for Sydney's The Star casino alongside Ian
Despite his new-found fame, Ryan has insists that he's always been in the limelight, even before finding romance with Thorpie.
'This is the kind of thing I do all the time, between photoshoots, TV ads and doing ambassadorships ... the cameras have always been around me, he told The Daily Edition.
Meanwhile Ian, 33, has kept relatively quiet about his relationship, simply telling Sunrise in March: 'Yes, I am, absolutely, [in] a good space'.
Social circle: Thorpie and Ryan appear to be enjoying their time together since going public with their relationship in February
He was spotted getting his groove on at the Met Gala with Taylor Swift just last week.
And Tom Hiddleston was back on the dance floor after the BAFTA TV awards on Sunday night as he once again impressed with his fancy footwork and natural rhythm.
The handsome actor was more than happy to boogie with his female fans as he attended an official after party.
Master of the dancefloor: Tom Hiddleston was back on the dance floor after the BAFTA TV awards on Sunday night as he once again impressed with his fancy footwork and natural rhythm
The 35-year-old was happy to show that he is a man of many talents as he performed moves that would certainly score well on Strictly Come Dancing.
Tom then took his dancing feet over to the Mondrian Hotel in London where he got dancing with a blonde female.
The Night Manager star may not have won an award on the night but he was still in the mood to celebrate as he cut some shapes on the dance floor.
See BAFTA TV Awards after party updates as Tom Hiddleston busts a move with fans
He's got the moves: The handsome actor was more than happy to boogie with his female fans as he attended an official after party
Smooth operator: Tom then took his dancing feet over to the Mondrian Hotel in London where he got dancing with a blonde female
Ladies' man: The Night Manager star may not have won an award on the night but he was still in the mood to celebrate as he cut some shapes on the dance floor
Tom even got involved with the music selection on the night as he hoped into the DJ booth alongside KISS 100 presenter Melvin Odoom.
The actor had lived up to his stylish reputation when he attended the British Academy Awards 2016 - where he revealed some very exciting news for fans of The Night Manager.
The Thor star was as sharp-suited as ever in a navy tuxedo, which featured contrasting satin lapels and a coordinating bow tie.
Fun night: Tom even got involved with the music selection on the night as he hoped into the DJ booth alongside KISS 100 presenter Melvin Odoom
Here he is! Tom lived up to his stylish reputation when he attended the British Academy Awards 2016 - 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.
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
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
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.
Kate Beckinsale bared her shoulders, taut tummy, and thighs at a Manhattan premiere of her film Love & Friendship on Tuesday.
Stylist Taylor Jacobson put the 42-year-old actress in a navy, off-the-shoulder, cut-out mermaid dress and T-strap fishnet Louboutins.
Eschewing jewelry, the SAG Award nominee sported flawless make-up, a tendril-strewn updo, and equally dark manicure.
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Six-pack abs: Kate Beckinsale bared her shoulders, taut tummy, and thighs at a Manhattan premiere of her film Love & Friendship on Tuesday
With not an inch to pinch, it's hard to believe Beckinsale has a 17-year-old daughter Lily with ex-partner Michael Sheen.
Kate - born Kathrin - shared a selfie with two members of her team in the car on the way to Landmark Sunshine Cinema.
Tuesday marked the day the British beauty finally decided to join Instagram, and she already boasts 33K followers.
Feathered frock: Stylist Taylor Jacobson put the 42-year-old actress in a navy, off-the-shoulder, cut-out mermaid dress and T-strap fishnet Louboutins
Not an inch to pinch: Eschewing jewelry, the SAG Award nominee sported flawless make-up, a tendril-strewn updo, and equally dark manicure
Yummy mummy! With not an inch to pinch, it's hard to believe Beckinsale has a 17-year-old daughter Lily with ex-partner Michael Sheen
'Rolling up to @loveandfriendshipmovie's NYC premiere... #WeDemBoyz': Kate - born Kathrin - shared a selfie with two members of her team in the car on the way to Landmark Sunshine Cinema
'I got Instagram!' Tuesday marked the day the British beauty finally decided to join Instagram, and she already boasts 33K followers
Making an exit: Kate was later seen leaving the screening with her make-up artist Adam Breuchaud and heading to the after party at Vandal
Close: Kate put on a tactile show with a member of her glam squad as the headed to the New York hotspot
The single mother-of-one later posed with her castmate in the romantic comedy, Chloe Sevigny.
The 41-year-old Oscar nominee showcased her signature eccentric style in a white-collared and cuffed pink Prada gown.
The American Horror Story actress rocked a tight plaited updo by hairstylist Blake Erik, and wild brows and red lips by make-up artist Tsipporah Liebman.
Reunited: The single mother-of-one later posed with her castmate in the romantic comedy, Chloe Sevigny
Sharing a laugh: It's hard to believe it's been 18 years since this talented duo shared the screen in The Last Days of Disco
#LoveandFriendship #katebeckinsale #ChloeSevigny #janeausten #ladysusan A video posted by George Whipple (@georgewhipple) on May 10, 2016 at 4:40pm PDT
Hipster for life: The 41-year-old Oscar nominee showcased her signature eccentric style in a white-collared and cuffed pink Prada gown
Apple Watch spokesmodel: The American Horror Story actress rocked a tight plaited updo by hairstylist Blake Erik, and wild brows and red lips by make-up artist Tsipporah Liebman
#loveandfriendship #steppinout takes a posse @prada @tsipporah1 @blakeerik A photo posted by Chloe Sevigny (@chloessevigny) on May 10, 2016 at 4:06pm PDT
At the helm: The Connecticut-born blonde and the London-born brunette reunited with filmmaker Whit Stillman, who also directed them in Last Days of Disco in 1998
The Connecticut-born blonde and the London-born brunette reunited with filmmaker Whit Stillman, who also directed them in Last Days of Disco in 1998.
In Love & Friendship, Kate replaced Sienna Miller as the widowed Lady Susan Vernon and Chloe plays her close American friend Alicia Johnson.
The period film - based on the 1790 Jane Austen novella - hits US theaters this Friday and UK theaters May 27.
Feminist flick: In Love & Friendship, Kate replaced Sienna Miller as the widowed Lady Susan Vernon and Chloe plays her close American friend Alicia Johnson
Female leads: The period film - based on the 1790 Jane Austen novella - hits US theaters this Friday and UK theaters May 27
Sevigny - who's dating music video director Ricky Saiz - will next attend the May 20 Cannes Film Festival premiere of her directorial debut, Kitty.
The Refinery29 short film - adapted from Paul Bowles' short story - features Ione Skye, Lee Meriwether, and Edie Yvonne.
Also attending the Love & Friendship premiere in not-so-basic-black were The Misshapes' Leigh Lezark and Tony winner, Lena Hall.
Let's boogie, sister! The premiere's after-party was DJed by none other than Sevigny's older brother Paul, who reportedly lives three blocks away from her Brooklyn apartment
Power siblings: The 45-year-old broker-turned-nightlife king owns Tribeca karaoke bar Baby Grand
Behind the lens: Sevigny - who's dating music video director Ricky Saiz - will next attend the May 20 Cannes Film Festival premiere of her directorial debut, Kitty
Becoming a cat: The Refinery29 short film - adapted from Paul Bowles' short story - features Ione Skye, Lee Meriwether, and Edie Yvonne (pictured)
Raven-haired duo: Also attending the Love & Friendship premiere in not-so-basic-black were The Misshapes' Leigh Lezark and Tony winner, Lena Hall
He's the actor set to host the much-anticipated Australian version of Survivor.
And Jonathan LaPaglia admits his role on the show will be more complex than he first thought.
'When the job was first presented to me, I looked at it and thought, "That's simple enough," but when I really looked at it, I realised that it's not that simple,' the 46-year-old told Nova 96.9's Fitzy and Wippa show on Wednesday.
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Tough gig: Jonathan Lapaglia, 46, has revealed his job as the host of upcoming reality show, Australian Survivor, is a lot more complex than he realised
Praising the show's long-standing host Jeff Probst, the Adelaide-born actor added: '[Jeff] is so good at it, he makes it look easy.'
During his appearance on the breakfast radio show, Jonathan was also pressed by hosts Ryan Fitzgerald and Michael Wipfli to reveal who some of the contestants are.
While he remained tight-lipped about the details, the actor did say that one of the participants may be recognised by the public as a former sportsman whose profession involved a 'round ball'.
Big shoes to fill: Jeff Probst has been the host of U.S. Survivor since the first season, which aired in 2000
TV star: The Adelaide-born star is famed for playing Dr Patrick McNaughton on Channel Nine's mini-series Love Child opposite Logie award winning actress Jessica Marais
As for the age of contestants, the Los Angeles-based actor said: 'The age [range] is from mid 20s to mid 60s.'
This will be Jonathan's first foray into hosting as well as his move from drama to reality TV. He previously admitted he was surprised by the producers' choice to pick him for the gig.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, he said: 'I'm not sure why they singled me out.
Big fans: The actor and his family, including wife Ursula Brooks, has been polishing up on the Survivor back-catalogue in preparation for his role as host
'They know Im into outdoor pursuits and I guess they wanted someone who had some humanity for the contestants, but was also an authoritative figure.
The hunky star has been polishing up on the Survivor back-catalogue in preparation for the role and has his whole family - including actress wife Ursula Brooks and their 11-year-old daughter Tilly - are 'totally hooked and obsessed' with the show.
Jonathan is famed for playing Dr Patrick McNaughton on Channel Nine's mini-series Love Child opposite Logie award winning actress Jessica Marais, and for his work on The Slap.
Penguin A&E With Lorraine Kelly
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Have you noticed how every documentary these days has to be billed 'With Someone Famous'? It isn't enough to give us a show about flower arranging: it must be called Brilliant Bouquets With Bear Grylls or Ross Kemp's Perfect Posies.
So a new series set in Cape Town about the struggles of a wildlife hospital rescuing endangered seabirds, was naturally called Penguin A&E With Lorraine Kelly (C5).
There was a slight problem, though. Lorraine was barely there. We glimpsed her once at the start, when she knelt on the city's famous Boulders beach, where humans and African penguins sunbathe side by side.
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS said the problem with Channel 5's Penguin A&E With Lorraine Kelly was that the television presenter 'was barely there'
And we spotted her briefly at the end, when she stood nervously and watched while volunteers at the Sanccob centre coaxed the birds into cardboard crates, to be released after treatment.
The rest of the time, she was doing the voiceover . . . but nowhere to be seen in person. Why was she not in the operating theatre, when vets battled to remove a fishing hook from the gut of a bird called Bandit?
How come we didn't see her with a patient clamped between her knees, coaxing a fish into its razor-sharp bill? Could it be that Lorraine, the most touchy-feely and soppy presenter on telly, didn't actually like penguins very much?
The TV presenter was captured at the start but she mostly did voiceover during the Channel 4 programme
Proper penguin fans, and I proudly count myself as one, have an inkling. A few years ago, the no-nonsense wildlife expert Michaela Strachan, who lives in Cape Town, also made a series about the work of Sanccob, which stands for the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds and she revealed that nursing these birds is dangerous, smelly work.
Even when their nurses wear thick neoprene gloves, the penguins can break a finger or leave a deep gash. 'They've got beaks like pliers,' Michaela told me.
TORCH TIP OF THE NIGHT In the Aussie rainforest, naturalist Steve Backshall hunted lethal spiders for Fierce (ITV) with a flashlight in broad daylight. Its beam made their eyes glow. Since the venom of funnel-web spiders is twice as lethal as cyanide, its a good job his batteries didnt run out.
And the stench of fish could take weeks to scrub out. Michaela admitted that when she turned up on the school run after a day on the penguin wards, other mothers would edge away from her.
That's not cute, not fluffy and it's definitely not Lorraine. No wonder the queen of breakfast TV makeovers decided to stay out of the picture.
Sanccob doesn't need celebrity endorsements. The sight of penguin chicks snuggling up to soft toys, so that they don't become too attached to humans, is fascinating and adorable as is the makeshift steam bath invented to help a penguin with a wheezy chest breathe more easily.
Penguin A&E made a perfectly good show. So what was the point of 'With Lorraine Kelly'?
Old School With The Hairy Bikers
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BBC2's Old School With The Hairy Bikers saw presenters Dave Myers and Si King with 'their work cut out'
By the same law, the education experiment at an Oxford comprehensive that paired pupils with OAP mentors couldn't just be called Old School it had to be Old School With The Hairy Bikers (BBC2).
This time, though, the presenters had their work cut out.
The youngsters were sceptical, the oldies were camera-shy, and if it hadn't been for our bearded heroes, Dave Myers and Si King, we would have spent half the show staring at blank blackboards.
Luckily, the boys were the ideal choice for this experiment. Both had a difficult time in adolescence Dave had to miss months of school to act as carer to his parents, while Si's father died when he was eight.
They didn't harp on hard times, but they weren't afraid to confide in the children and build up a bond of trust. By the end of the first episode, we were only a month into the trial and it was hard to tell how much the youngsters were benefiting.
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS said the presenters didn't harp on hard times, but they weren't afraid to confide in the children who featured on the show
For the pensioners, though, this was plainly a mind-blowing experience. A 71-year-old former car factory worker called Dave couldn't believe the standard of school equipment gleaming buildings packed with computers, instead of leaky Nissen huts.
He was shocked by the respect that teachers showed to young 'uns, too: no clipped ears here.
And he was so impressed by his young charge, Wezley, that he called him 'a good son to have' on the first day.
Cymbeline
Royal Shakespeare Theatre
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There is a frantic fashion for gender-swapping in Shakespeare.
The Royal Shakespeare Company joins it by turning the peculiar story of King Cymbeline into one in which Cymbeline is a Queen, dressed in Ugg boots.
There is almost as much of director Melly Still as of W. Shakespeare. That might not matter were the show voicing a clear, surprising message. Instead, the whole thing is a bit of a multicultural mess.
The Royal Shakespeare Company joins it by turning the peculiar story of King Cymbeline into one in which Cymbeline is a Queen, dressed in Ugg boots
There is almost as much of director Melly Still as of W. Shakespeare. That might not matter were the show voicing a clear, surprising message. Instead, the whole thing is a bit of a multicultural mess
Ancient Britain (cue world music, some didgeridoo and mixed-race casting) is under the cosh from imperial Rome. The empire is demanding annual payments.
The shows programme contains an essay about the EU referendum and there was internet chat from early previews about the EU flag fluttering over the stage, but at Mondays final preview this touch had disappeared.
Yet there is still a frisson of topicality as Britons shout to one another to stand, stand and fight! the foreign power.
Gillian Bevans Cymbeline strides about the place like a character from Absolutely Fabulous. Cymbelines consort, usually an untrustworthy stepmother, has become a duke (James Clyde). Various other parts have had their gender altered.
Ancient Britain (cue world music, some didgeridoo and mixed-race casting) is under the cosh from imperial Rome. The empire is demanding annual payments
Gender swap: Gillian Bevan
Dimwit Cloten has his head chopped off by a long-lost princess rather than a long-lost prince more a Zara Phillips than a Duchess of Cambridge, plainly.
The central character of Innogen remains unchanged and is played with fey tenderness by Bethan Cullinane.
The most successful scene is the bedroom moment when intruder Iachimo (Oliver Johnstone) spies on her heaving bosom. Shakespeares verse is here allowed to rule unchallenged by visual stunts.
Anna Fleischles design positions two swivelling gates at the back of the stage and a central pit of mud. A grave? A ditch? Elsewhere we have Banksy murals, a Dads Army map and surtitles while characters speak Italian and Latin.
Theatregoers seated near me grumbled about the surtitles (hard to see) and there was much interval muttering about volume levels, particularly about Hiran Abeysekeras Posthumus.
Susan Lucci was proudly joined by her young grandson who has cerebral palsy on the red carpet at an awards luncheon in New York City.
The 69-year-old soap opera star and her daughter Liza Huber co-hosted the 15th annual Women Who Care awards luncheon by United Cerebral Palsy Of New York City on Monday and it marked seven-year-old Brendan's public debut.
'For the first time he can stand up straight. His feet are flat on the floor,' Susan told People in an article on Tuesday.
Public debut: Susan Lucci was joined by her grandson Brendan and daughter Liza Huber on Monday at the United Cerebral Palsy Of New York City awards luncheon in New York City
Brendan underwent a selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery a few months ago that involved cutting sensory nerves in the lower spinal cord.
The surgery made it easier for Brendan to walk.
'It's just really changed his life. It's his first time at any kind of event like this, and he's doing a great job,' said Liza, the founder & CEO of Sage Spoonfuls.
Susan and Liza, 41, opened up last October about Brendan's cerebral palsy.
Recent surgery: Brendan was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 2010 and recently underwent selective dorsal rhizotomy surgery to make it easier for him to walk
Brendan was born nine weeks early and was in intensive care for six weeks at the same time that Susan was competing on Dancing With The Stars in 2008.
He was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 2010 when he was aged two.
Liza also has a nine-year-old son Royce, five-year-old daughter Hayden Victoria and three-year-old son Mason Alexander.
Family portrait: Susan is shown with Alex Hesterberg, Liza, husband Helmut Huber, son Andreas Huber and Courtney Velasco in October 2015 in New York City
The former Passions star has been married since March 2004 to Alexander George Hesterberg III.
Liza during the awards luncheon by United Cerebral Palsy of New York City said she remained committed to a vow she made to herself and Brendan.
'I don't ever want him to feel bad about himself. I want him to feel good and proud and celebrate the way he overcomes challenges,' she said.
Husband and wife: Susan is shown with husband Helmut in November 2015 in New York City
Susan has been married since 1969 to Austrian businessman Helmut Huber and they also have a son Andreas Huber.
The luncheon by United Cerebral Palsy of New York City honored female role models including triathlete, author and mother Jenny Long, TV producer and DJ Beverly Bond, TV journalist Deborah Norville and Accenture executive Ellyn Shook.
Susan is best known for her portrayal of Erica Kane on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children and currently stars in the Lifetime series Devious Maids.
She is one of the best dressed stars in Hollywood.
So it's no surprise Blake Lively was sure to bring her A-game as she put on a typically stylish display for her first promotional duties at Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday afternoon.
The American actress gave fans a look at her first stunning look by sharing images on Instagram as she got ready for her romantic drama, Cafe Society.
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Wow-worthy: It's no surprise Blake Lively was sure to bring her A-game as she put on a typically stylish display for her first promotional duties at Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday afternoon
The 28-year-old looked gorgeous in a plunging cold-shoulder maxi dress as she wrote: '#Cannes2016 fashion inspo day 1: Esmerelda.'
She had given a teasing glimpse of her ensemble earlier in the day as she shared: 'Putting my strap on. #Cannes2016 #CafeSociety @lorealmakeup Sneak shot by @rodortega4hair.'
As she prepared for promotional duties, she shared fun snaps of herself and a film poster writing: 'One of these is not actually the poster.'
Blake was certainly glowing on her arrival at Nice Airport in France, in anticipation of the Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on Wednesday.
Leggy display! In an earlier picture, Blake flaunted her lovely long legs in the split-skirted number as she put on her heels
When in France: The American actress gave fans a look at her first stunning look by sharing images on Instagram as she got ready for her romantic drama, Cafe Society
Well-heeled: She had given a teasing glimpse of her ensemble earlier in the day as she shared, 'Putting my strap on. #Cannes2016 #CafeSociety @lorealmakeup Sneak shot by @rodortega4hair'
The soon-to-be mother-of-two wore a casual cream trench coat belted at the waist, and a pair of matching trousers with a sophisticated black piping detail along the seam.
Paired with towering brown and gold stilettos, the 28-year-old star kept her jewellery to a minimum, with just a simple gold chain around her neck.
With dewy, natural make-up and a smudge of pink lip gloss, the Gossip Girl wore her trademark blonde locks long and loose, falling over her shoulder in a waterfall of loose waves.
She added a large black quilted tote bag to carry all of her hand-luggage and the Californian actress looked happy and relaxed, as she walked through arrivals to collect her bags.
Soon to be mother-of-two: Actress Blake was certainly glowing on her arrival at Nice Airport in France, in advance of the Cannes Film Festival which kicks off on Wednesday
Effortless style: Paired with towering brown and gold stilettos, the 28-year-old star kept her jewellery to the minimum, with just a simple gold chain around her neck
Blake gave birth to her daughter James in December 2014; her first child with Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds.
The actors, who married in September 2012, did not announce the name of their first child until she was around a year old.
'Everything is different,' Lively said on Live! With Kelly and Michael in April 2015.
'You see a balcony and you're like, "Oh God, the hotel needs to demolish this balcony because my child can't go anywhere near it." So, everything is just like, so much more heightened. We're crying all the time for no reason.'
Natural beauty: With dewy natural make-up and a smudge of pink lip gloss, the Gossip Girl star wore her trademark blonde locks long and loose, falling over her shoulder in a cascade of loose waves
Tanned and happy: With a large black quilted tote bag to carry all her hand-luggage, the Californian actress looked happy and relaxed, as she walked to collect her bags
Ryan, who has shared photos of the child on social media, has said the little girl takes after him.
'Baby looks like me,' the actor said. 'Im not saying that like any kind of gloating. Ive heard, like, there is a sort of genetic predisposition, like an evolutionary tactic to make sure the father stays.'
'I do want to just enjoy this moment,' the cover girl told People.
'But I also feel like my first child is going to be the oldest sibling to the next kid, and that may change with each and every year. Im looking forward to how one baby influences the other, and to my family as a whole, to every single chapter.'
Foreshadowing: The trailer begins with the water woman befriending some surfers on a remote beach where she learns that the locals call the spot 'paradise'
Last month, the couple announced they were expecting their second child, with a source telling People, 'Blake is absolutely thrilled and so is Ryan.'
Blake has recently been busy filming scenes for her forthcoming action thriller, The Shallows.
In the film, which pays homage to the iconic movie Jaws, she plays Nancy, a surfer who is forced to do battle with a great white shark when she is injured in an isolated area.
Filmed in Malibu, the thriller is due in theaters on June 29 in the US and August 12 in the UK.
Natasha Oakley has traveled around the world for her blog, but it seems the model is very much enjoying her trip to tropical Jamaica.
The 25-year-old Australian stunner, her business partner and best friend Devin Brugman, and a whole host of models all donned Brazilian bikinis as they lounged on a luxury catamaran on the island on Tuesday.
The girls all showed off their pert derrieres in their skimpy swimsuits as they reclined on the ship's netting, with Natasha captioning the image: 'Greetings from Jamaica.'
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The dream boat: Natasha Oakley, business partner and best friend Devin Brugman and their model pals showed off their pert derrieres as they lounged about on a boat in Jamaica on Tuesday
A dream in cream: Tash also donned a cream two-piece for the day, which amplified her deep bronze tan as she was joined by fellow model Rocky Barnes at the ship's helm
She and Devin are joined by fellow Aussie model Rocky Barnes, American model Hailey Clauson, Brazilian model Ludi Delfino and model Alexis Ren.
The blonde Aussie beauty donned a cream two-piece for the day, which amplified her deep bronze tan.
In another snap she is seen at the helm of the boat with Rocky.
Appearing to be makeup free, she grins at the camera and runs a hand through her blonde hair.
Her pal Rocky meanwhile, pulls on a rope in a cream tasseled bikini.
She captioned the shot: 'Welcome aboard the dream boat.'
Lady in red: Tash has also worn clothes during the trip, donning a red and cream patterned dress for a night out in Jamaica
While in Jamaica - which is located in the Caribbean - the girls have also enjoyed dressing up and ditching the bikinis.
Natasha recently stunned in a red and cream plunging mini dress, which showed off her ample assets.
The girls' trip is to celebrate Tash and Devin's collaboration collection with Revolve clothing.
The Bondi-raised beauty has created an empire through her blog, A Bikini A Day, where she and Devin document their swimsuit-clad adventures around the globe.
Meanwhile, last month, the pair unveiled their six-week fitness programme called Body Love, which includes a total of ten workouts with strength and cardio training.
Showing off: Tash also posed in a bikini at sunset creating the perfect silhouette
PR maven Roxy Jacenko shared an adorable picture of her young children cuddling on the sofa in their pjyamas before arriving at court with her husband Oliver Curtis on Wednesday.
She was seen clutching the banker's hand as they strode into court for the first day of his trial where Mr Curtis is facing an insider trading charge.
Just before leaving for the NSW Supreme Court, Roxy took the time to share a picture of her daughter, four-year-old Instagram sensation Pixie Curtis, and her younger brother Hunter.
Cute snap: PR maven Roxy Jacenko shared an adorable picture of her young children cuddling on the sofa in before arriving at court with her husband Oliver Curtis on Wednesday
The businesswoman, who founded Sweaty Betty PR, posted the cute snap on her daughter's Instagram with a caption saying: 'Did someone say hump day!?'
Pixie was seen snuggling up to her younger brother and two Teletubbies toys in the picture which was shared to her 110,000 followers.
Roxy cut a sombre figure as she arrived at court in a conservative all-black ensemble, consisting of a high-neck top and a flared A-line skirt.
His main support: Roxy Jacenko arrived at NSW Supreme Court with husband Oliver Curtis for the first day of his trial, where he faces an insider trading charge
Perfectly preened: Holding hands with her beau Oliver Curtis, the Sydney PR maven cut a conservative figure in a chic all-black ensemble, consisting of a high-neck blouse and a flared A-line skirt
The mother-of-two dressed up her professional attire with a pair of strappy leather heels and a gold embellished Louis Vuitton belt.
She wore her blonde locks in waves, while her facial features were concealed behind a set of Ray-Ban sunglasses.
The married couple kept composed as they walked down the streets.
Prosecutors allege Mr Curtis conspired to commit insider trading with his former best friend, John Hartman.
They told the court the alleged scheme made the pair about $1.43 million between May 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008. The trial continues.
Covering her face: She wore her blonde locks in waves, while her pretty facial features were concealed behind a set of Ray-Ban sunglasses
Professional: The mother-of-two dressed up her professional attire with a pair of strappy leather heels and a gold embellished Louis Vuitton belt
Just prior to jury selection, Mr Curtis pleaded not guilty to the charge - standing and telling Justice Lucy McCallum and potential jurors: 'Not guilty, your honour.'
If found guilty, he could face a maximum five-year jail sentence.
Over the weekend, Roxy took to her social media sites to share candid family snaps as they celebrated Hunter's second birthday together.
The PR guru paid a sweet tribute to her beloved little tot as she shared the snap, which saw Oliver kissing their son tenderly on the forehead.
Roxy captioned the sweet image: 'Such a joy my little boy'.
Bonding: Oliver Curtis, pictured with son Hunter who celebrated his second birthday was last weekend
Celebrations: Hunter Curtis and his big sister Pixie who blows out the candles on his 2nd birthday cupcakes as the family celebrated ahead of Dad, Oliver Curtis's Supreme court trial which starts on Thursday
Businesswoman: High flying fashion PR Roxy Jacenko (pictured) is married to former investment banker Oliver Curtis
She was rejected twice by lingerie brand Victoria's Secret because she wasn't in 'good enough shape.'
But Bridget Malcolm has definitely worked hard since to sculpt a physique envied by women near and far.
The 23-year-old Australian beauty who managed to secure a spot on the famed lingerie brands runway for the first time last year, showed off her incredible gym-honed figure in a pre-workout mirror selfie shared to Instagram on Tuesday.
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In tip-top shape: Bridget Malcolm showed off her incredible gym-honed figure in a mirror selfie shared to Instagram on Tuesday
Proving exactly why is is a catwalk queen, the model showed off her runway ready body as she posed in a white Nike crop top and fitted black gym leggings.
Taking the snap in her bathroom ahead of a gruelling workout, the Perth-born stunner's incredibly taut abs were on full display in the midriff baring ensemble.
The blonde beauty's hair was tied back into a messy high ponytail whilst her pretty face looked fresh and make-up free.
As well as flaunting her enviable physique, Bridget also provided fans with some insight into how she maintains her incredible body, revealing she was headed to a Pilates Reformer class at Brooklyn Bodyburn.
'Great lighting in my new bathroom - got a date with a mega reformer now,' she captioned the shot.
Flawless! The 23-year-old previously admitted she was rejected twice by lingerie brand Victoria's Secret because she wasn't in 'good enough shape,' before making her debut with the label last year
Last year Bridget debuted on the Victoria's Secret runway alongside fellow newcomers Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid.
However, Bridget previously revealed to Daily Mail Australia it was a case of third time lucky, as she'd been knocked back twice before during casting.
'This was the third year I cast for the show...The first two years I was turned away,' she said.
'The first year was because I wasn't in good enough shape and the second year I wasn't confident enough to pull it off.'
She also added that she believed her figure wasn't in shape at that time because she only 'went to the gym once before the casting' and wasn't aware of the commitment that was needed.
'The first two years I was turned away': Last year Bridget debuted on the Victoria's Secret runway but it was a case of third time lucky, as she'd been knocked back twice before during casting
Although she originally hails from Western Australia, Bridget is currently based in New York where her career continues to soar.
The glamazon was discovered in 2007 when she placed third in an annual Vivien's model search in Perth.
She has since walked for Australian retailer David Jones, Ralph Lauren and Stella McCartney while also posing for Harper's Bazaar, Elle and V magazine.
Bridget became engaged to her musician beau Nathanial Hoho last year after dating for a year.
In demand: Although she originally hails from Western Australia, Bridget is currently based in New York where her career continues to soar
Striking: The glamazon was discovered in 2007 when she placed third in an annual Vivien's model search in Perth
After wowing crowds in a stunning backless gown at the London premiere of Alice Through The Looking Glass, Mia Wasikowska stripped back the glamour for the after party on Tuesday night.
The 26-year-old - who reprises her titular role as Alice - headed to Fortnum & Mason in a simple, all-black ensemble for the star-studded festivities.
Looking perfectly preened, the Australian beauty shrouded her lean and slender frame in a comfy overcoat with a bold white trim over a black outfit.
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Black to basics! Mia Wasikowska stripped back the glamour for the Alice Through The Looking Glass after party in London on Tuesday night
She rounded off the sartorially chic attire with a pair of black tights and patent leather heeled shoes, while keeping her accessorises to a bare minimum.
Her short blonde locks were worn in a slick style from a side-parting, and the star looked fresh-faced with her perfect pale complexion glowing underneath a muted application of makeup.
Just hours before at the special screening, Mia looked elegant in a shimmering backless Prada dress with a plunging v-neckline and a dark brown tie around the waist.
City chic: The 26-year-old - who reprises her titular role as Alice - headed to Fortnum & Mason in a simple, all-black ensemble for the star-studded festivities
Perfectly preened: The Australian beauty shrouded her lean and slender frame in a comfy overcoat with a bold white trim over a black outfit
The Hollywood beauty exuded style and glamour as she posed up a storm on the red carpet with co-star Johnny Depp, who looked dapper in his black three-piece suit.
Speaking on the carpet, Johnny said: 'It was a lot of fun to come back to the Mad Hatter, it was a gas to get back together with the cast and the addition of Sacha upped the stakes quite a lot. This particular film has a bit more of the Hatter's layers and things going on.'
He added: 'The first film was something very special in terms of Tim and I working together again. Bringing in James was brilliant because he has such a profound respect for the language that Tim created and stretched it into his own vision.'
A beauty: Her short blonde locks were worn in a slick style from a side-parting, and the star looked fresh-faced with her perfect pale complexion glowing underneath a muted application of makeup
Beaming: She appeared to be in great and relaxed spirits after the festivities
Standing tall: Mia rounded off the sartorially chic attire with a pair of black tights and patent leather heeled shoes, while keeping her accessorises to a bare minimum
Mia is currently on the promotional trail for Alice Through Looking Glass, having played the lead role in Tim Burton's original fairy tale fantasy.
The sequel, based on the novel by Lewis Carroll, picks up with Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) three years after we last met her.
Having returned from sailing the high seas, she re-encounters Absolem, finds a magical looking-glass, and returns to the nonsensical realm of Underland.
A vision: Just hours before at the special screening, the actress looked elegant in a shimmering backless Prada dress with a plunging v-neckline and a dark brown tie around the waist
Not alone: The Hollywood beauty exuded style and glamour as she posed up a storm on the red carpet with co-star Johnny Depp, who looked dapper in his black three-piece suit
Last week rumours emerged that model Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) was five months pregnant.
And on Tuesday, the Australian beauty was covered up as she tried on clothes in Sydney.
In the mirror selfie, taken during a fitting for an upcoming project, the 28-year-old model stood side-on.
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Is she or isn't she? Lara Bingle went to some fittings on Tuesday and posted a mirror selfies of herself following reports she is pregnant with her second child
For the snap, which appeared to be originally posted on Snapchat, the mother-of-one also utilised a large overlay of text to obscure some of the frame.
The white font read: 'Fittings' and the post was simply captioned: 'Yesterday'.
The model had slipped into a long black shift dress by French luxury brand Celine, which featured a large zipper down one side and a high-neck.
The wife of actor Sam Worthington accessorised the minimalist look with a pair of statement hoops from Sophie Buhai as she held her phone up to take the selfie.
Wearing her cropped blonde locks styled effortlessly into her signature tousled style, Lara also sported a flawless application of makeup, including a dark smokey eye.
In the background of the fitting room, Lara's bra and black trousers can be seen hanging on hooks behind her head, while her jumper was strewn across the ground.
Baby on the way? Over the weekend The Daily Telegraph reported that Lara is five months pregnant with her second child with husband Sam Worthington. (Seen here with son Rocket, 13 months, in New York last month)
Over the weekend, The Daily Telegraph reported that Lara is five months pregnant with her second child.
The publication claimed the former bikini model, is slowly telling family and friends news that she and Sam are expecting a sibling for their first-born, son Rocket Zot, 13 months.
They also reported that a condition from her team has been slapped on all media interviews, with members of the press not being allowed to ask if she is pregnant.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Lara's management for comment.
Big news? The publication claimed the former bikini model, is slowly telling family and friends news that she and Sam are expecting a sibling for their first-born, son Rocket Zot, 13 months (Pictured in New York last month)
Proud mother: Lara and Sam welcomed their son in March last year
Motherhood: The couple are seen here in Malibu, in the US, in February last year when Lara was pregnant with Rocket
Last week, Lara spoke to Today Extra and said she and her actor husband plan to expand their brood.
I would love to have more children, definitely, Lara said on the show.
She also opened up about her son - who she welcomed in March last year - discussing his development.
He does a little bit but you can't really make out it (sic), but he walked very early at 10-months so he's almost running now,' she said.
Hes an Aries baby so he's quite strong so when he doesn't want to eat something he doesn't want to eat it.
But Sam's very headstrong as well, he's a Leo, so I've got two, she added.
They want more children: Last week, Lara spoke to Today Extra and said she and her actor husband plan to expand their brood. They are seen at the Sabotage premiere in LA in March 2014
Last month, OK! Australia reported Lara and Sam were ready to welcome another child and wanted to have a daughter.
'Sam and Lara have been talking about this for months now. They agreed when they got engaged that they don't want a big age gap between their kids,' a source claimed to the magazine.
They added the couple would like to give their son Rocket a little sister.
Lara has also previously told KIIS FM's Kyle and Jackie O that she and Sam wouldn't mind having four kids.
The Aussie model - who is the founder of tanning and skincare range The Base - married Sam in December 2014 when she was six months pregnant.
The notoriously private couple wed at a home in Melbourne.
They also never confirmed Lara was pregnant with son Rocket until after he was born.
Mariska Hargitay's role in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit led her to createThe Joyful Heart Foundation as a way to help survivors of abuse in 2004.
The 52-year-old actress had reason to smile as she was supported by TV co-star Stephanie March and others at the 2016 Joyful Revolution Gala in New York City on Tuesday.
While Stephanie simply dazzled in a shining silvery gown, Mariska was the epitome of glamour in a vivid rose and silver patterned gown with flowing train.
Silver sirens: Mariska Hargitay hosted the 2016 Joyful Revolution Gala in NYC on Tuesday and got support from her Law & Order: Special Vcitims Unit co-star Stephanie March
The strapless bodice made Mariska's waistline virtually disappear while the skirt was a dreamy bell shape befitting the belle of the ball.
Mariska, who plays Olivia Benson on the long-running series, was joined by her husband of 12 years, Peter Hermann, and their son August, who turns 10 next month.
Stephanie, who plays Alexandra Cabot on the NBC show, looked pale and willowy in her silver number that reflected the light at every turn.
Everything's coming up roses: The 52-year-old actress reigned supreme in a rich rose-patterned gown with fitted bodice and cascading train
They match: While Mariska exuded glamour in her strapless number, Stephanie was shining in her slinky silvery gown
Family turnout: Mariska was joined at the event by her husband Peter Hermann and their son August
The blonde actress, 41, whose ugly divorce from celebrity chef Bobby Flay was finalised in July of last year, appeared to be in a chipper mood.
Stephanie and Mariska were all smiles as they posed together on the red carpet.
Also rallying to support Mariska's cause were sisters Samantha and Charlotte Ronson.
Rallying Ronsons: DJ Samantha Ronson, left, and designing sister Charlotte Ronson, right, showed up to support their friend
All heart: Anthony Edwards couldn't resist giving Mariska a big hug in front of the cameras
While the English DJ donned a flashy tuxedo with strapping boots, her designing sister Charlotte showed off her appeal in pale blue-over-pink dress with belt and ruffle adornments.
Kathy Najimy was an elegant sight in a black gown with ruffles around the scoop neckline.
Former ER star Anthony Edwards couldn't resist giving the hostess a big hug in front of the cameras either.
Classy ladies: Kathy Najimy was radiant in a black gown while Ellen Burstyn was a burst of fresh air in her green and chartreuse ensemble
A VIP ticket to the gala bought interested parties a walk down the red carpet, cocktails and dinner, followed by a show with performances from Natalie Merchant and Raul Esparza, Samantha Ronson in the DJ booth, and Tina Fey, according to the organization's website.
Joyful Heart, which has branches in New York City, Los Angeles and Honolulu, Hawaii, strives to help victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse.
Vin Diesel is probably furious his former partner is trying to pull a fast one.
The 48-year-old is being sued by an ex business associate, according to TMZ.
George Zakk, who once ran the action star's production company One Race Films, claims he is owed a cut of the upcoming xXx sequel.
XXX you! Vin Diesel is being sued by his former business partner who wants $275k cut from his upcoming film - even though they haven't worked together for NINE YEARS
However the film producer has not been involved with the company since 2007.
In the court documents, Zakk claims that his original deal with Diesel entitles him to between $250k to $275k plus a producer's credit on each of his films.
The deal stood for films such as Chronicles of Riddick, The Pacifier and the original xXx in 2002.
But despite not working for Diesel in almost a decade, Zakk insists the agreement still entitles him to the same slice from xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage, set for release next year.
Mine: George Zakk, who once ran the action star's production company One Race Films, claims he is owed a cut of the upcoming xXx sequel
The video production company was set up by Diesel in 1995, and was run by Zakk for 12 years until his departure.
Nevertheless, he is now suing Diesel for breach of contract.
The company has credits in the last four Fast & Furious films, and will have in Fast 8 when it is released in 2017.
Vin recently made history by shooting Fast 8 in Cuba, making it the first American film to be shot in the Caribbean island nation.
Still going? The deal stood for films such as Chronicles of Riddick, The Pacifier and the original xXx in 2002 (pictured)
His character in the franchise Dominic Toretto is said to have Cuban heritage, which the thrilled star referenced in a video which he shared on Instagram to mark the moment last month.
We're at a place that nobody ever thought would be possible,' he said.
'We are in Havana, Cuba. And you can see how beautiful it is, with all these beautiful people. They didn't think it could be done. And we're here, we're doing it. And there is a lot of love here.
'We're just really proud to be here, man,' he added. 'This is paradise. We're in Cuba, where the Torettos started. It's Fast 8.'
Scheduled for release on April 17, it also stars Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Eva Mendes, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham, Charlize Theron and Scott Eastwood.
Besides 2006's Tokyo Drift, it will be the first film in the franchise not to star Paul Walker, who died in a car accident in 2013.
She is a Hollywood actress who is passionate about keeping dolphins safe.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Isabel Lucas called for legislation in Australia to stop the majestic salt water mammals from being kept in captivity.
The former Home And Away star, 31, appealed to her 47,400 followers to support a campaign by Australia For Dolphins to stop the imprisonment of the wild creatures in zoos and aquariums, a cause fellow actress Hayden Panettiere also feels strongly about.
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Making an appeal: Former Home And Away actress Isabel Lucas is campaigning to introduce legislation to stop the captivity of dolphins in Australia
Supporters: In 2007, actress Hayden Panettiere (left) and Isabel (right) joined activists from Australia and the U.S. and paddled out on surfboards to try to prevent a pod of dolphins being slaughtered in Japan
As some of you may know, I care deeply about dolphins, the Australian actress wrote alongside a picture of herself looking out into an open field.
In 2007 I went to Taiji, Japan, to witness the cruel dolphins hunts and slaughters there, but the thing is, dolphins are also being treated cruelly back home.
'They are being bred in tiny, chlorinated tanks and made to perform. They never get to know the ocean, many suffer anxiety and mostly they die young.
'That is why I'm behind @australiafordolphins efforts to introduce a law to end dolphin captivity.'
Wanted: The famous pair were wanted by Japanese police after they were issued with an arrest warrant. Isabel is seen in a white T-shirt and Hayden is seen right
The blonde beauty, now based in LA, said she was also lobbying to establish a world-first sea pen in Australia 'so that captive dolphins can live out the rest of their lives in peace.'
'I invite you stand with me in support of australiafordolphins campaign,' she added. 'Let's end the suffering of captive dolphins. Thank You!'
Apart from acting, the devout vegetarian is a seasoned environmental campaigner.
Sadness: The actress, left, and Heyden, right, have tears in their eyes after attempting to rescue the pod of dolphins in 2007
Green thumbs: The Hollywood A-listers have long been campaigners for the ocean and its fragile ecological system
Making a stance: The pair were pictured holding their surf boards as they protested the annual hunt. Isabel is pictured far right
Swimming out: Isabel joined protesters in the water which was left blood red where dolphins had been slaughtered. Pictured in the sea were Isabel and Hayden
She has worked with anti-whaling groups to help protect the ocean's ecosystem and was an ambassador for The Whaleman Foundation as well as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
The blonde beauty also supported the non-for-profit volunteer organisation Aussie Action Abroad, and in 2007 she spent two-months helping out in a village in Namibia, in Southern Africa.
Later that year, Isabel joined activist group Surfers for Cetaceans to protest against the annual dolphin hunt in the Japanese town of Taiji.
Holding hands: The group held on to each other as they tried to save a pod of dolphins
The past: The beauty first made her star studded appearance on Australian soap, Home And Away
She along with Heroes actress Hayden Panettiere and activists from Australia and the U.S. paddled out on surfboards in an attempt to prevent a pod of dolphins being driven into a cove and slaughtered.
After her daring protest, the Melbourne native became a wanted woman after Japanese police issued an arrest warrant for the star.
Speaking about her charges - which included 'interfering with international commerce' - at the time, Isabel said: 'I'm not scared in the least about going back there (to Japan).'
'In fact, now I think it would draw even more attention to the barbaric act.'
She has been determined to stay positive since the painful loss of her two children in a lengthy international custody battle.
And Kelly Rutherford continued to put on a brave face just shortly after she spent Mother's Day without her kids - Hermes, nine, and Helena, six.
On the special holiday, the 47-year-old actress posted an Instagram quote which simply read: 'Motherhood is always an act of courage.'
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Courageous: Kelly Rutherford, 47, was all smiles and put on a brave face just after spending Mother's Day without her two children since losing custody in an international legal battle
The Gossip Girl was all smiles as she was spotted rocking a pair of suede thigh high boots while out in New York City on Tuesday.
The A-list beauty flashed a hint of her endless stems in the sexy heels which she donned with a crisp white minidress.
She was dressed to impress with a leather taupe designer handbag, silk paisley scarf loosely wrapped around her neck and a silver cuff bracelet.
Her signature blonde tresses were styled straight and parted down the middle for a dramatic flare, and she opted for a smokey matte eye and deep rosy lip.
Leggy blonde! The Gossip Girl alum looked chic as she rocked a pair of suede thigh high boots while out in New York City on Tuesday
The Mysteries of Laura actress was spotted with her Gucci manager older boyfriend, Tony Brand, who was polished to perfection in a fitted black suit and tie with checkered button-up shirt.
In a recent interview with Sweden With Love, Kelly revealed what keeps her spirits up during these difficult times.
'The strength comes from my kids,' she admitted. 'I have to stay positive for my children, because I want to be the best mom I can be.'
She continued: 'I have to keep love in my heart for them. We all know if our mom is upset, the world is not good.'
Chic couple! The Mysteries of Laura actress was spotted with her Gucci manager older boyfriend, Tony Brand, who was polished to perfection
Hermes and Helena currently live in Monaco with their father, 41-year-old German businessman Daniel Giersch.
Rutherford and Giersch married in August 2006 and gave birth to their first child, Hermes, two months later in October.
While the actress was pregnant with Helena, Rutherford filed for divorce in 2008 and the two had been fighting over guardianship of their two children since.
But in December a Monaco judge ruled that Rutherford can no longer bring her kids to the United States for visits.
'The strength comes from my kids': Kelly said in an interview with Sweden With Love where she explained how she stays positive during the difficult times; here she is seen with Hermes, nine, and Helena, six, in July in New York
'The day the final ruling came down, there was two choices for the judge,' Kelly explained.
'The first one was for the kids to stay in the country in which they were born and had lived all their lives, to stay in their schools and to stay with their primary caretaker which was their mother.'
'My daughter was two years old at the time and my son was five, so it was very traumatic for them,' she added.
'The other option was to take the kids out of school, away from their mother, away from their country, and plop them into a brand-new school, a brand-new environment and a brand-new country which no one had any connection to.'
Michael and Lindy Klim have gone out of their way to be great co-parents to their three children since sadly announcing their split in February.
And on Tuesday, it was Lindy's turn to do mummy duties as she celebrated her son Rocco's eighth birthday with a sweet selfie.
'My baby. My Rocco. Happy birthday 8 today,' the 37-year-old wrote on Instagram.
'My baby. My Rocco. Happy birthday 8 today:' Lindy Klim took to Instagram to gush over her son Rocco's eighth birthday on Tuesday
She added: 'Mumma loves you!'
The Balinese princess also added the hashtag 'bowling party,' indicating the type of celebration Rocco was having on the day.
When she's not with her three children, Lindy is busy working on her career as a professional fashionista and blogger.
Happy days: Lindy has three children to her ex-husband, Olympic swimmer Michael Klim
The model mum hit the social scene last week, attending a dinner celebrating the launch of a new Omega watch in Melbourne.
The stunner dazzled in a white Toni Maticevski dress that highlighted her slender frame.
Posing with the dial of the timepiece on show in a shot posted to Instagram, the 37-year-old couldn't distract the eye away from her sexy satin trim skirt with swathes of fabric in a ruffled layered look.
Looking all white! Lindy was at it again on last week, dazzling in a Toni Maticevski design at a dinner celebrating the launch of a new Omega watch
The high-cut slit showed a generous amount of her right thigh and the sun-kissed stunner flaunted her trim pins.
Wearing matching white pointed-toe heels, the brunette beauty gave the camera a steely glare to accompany her model pose at St Kilda's George Ballroom.
Lindy, who has long been a supporter of Toni Maticevski, provided a great advertisement for his clothing, wearing the asymmetric dress with sultry poise.
She wore her shoulder-length brunette locks out in a centre part, falling around the centre of her shoulders.
Captain Klim: The model was back in Australia this month, attending the new pilot uniform launch for Qantas and shared a cheeky selfie donning a pilot's hat
While Lindy added dark eyeliner, bronzer and a brown pout for a dramatic night-time make-up look as well.
The new single mother has been back in Australia this month and was spotted at the Qantas pilots uniform launch last Friday.
She took to social media to share a selfie of herself at the event as she donned a captain's hat for the cheeky snap.
Lindy and Michael announced their separation after ten years of marriage in a joint statement in February after months of speculation.
'I am determined to work harder': The mother-of-three has opened up about life after her separation from her husband of ten years, Olympic swimmer Michael, in a new interview
The former couple have three children together Stella, 10, Rocco, and Frankie, four.
They currently split their time between Bali and Melbourne, with the children going to school on the beautiful Indonesian Island.
Last month, Lindy opened up to Moda Familia about her new life as a working single mother.
It has definitely made me really determined to work harder and I think it's important for me to show my children how essential it is for women to work and to have their own independence, she told the publication.
Gigi Hadid's interest in criminal psychology was disclosed during a cameo on Tuesday on The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills: Secrets Revealed.
The 21-year-old model was shown with mother Yolanda Hadid and stepfather David Foster while they were being visited by Erika Girardi and her lawyer husband Tom Girardi.
'That's the road she was heading down and then she got sidetracked by this little thing called supermodeling,' David said of Gigi's interest in criminal psychology to Erika and Tom.
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Criminal psychology: Gigi Hadid's interest in criminal psychology was revealed on Tuesday during The Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills: Secrets Revealed
'She's that fascinated with criminal law and psychology that I could see her in a couple of years going back to school and getting a degree,' Yolanda added.
Gigi, however, did not seem so keen to return to full-time studying.
She said: 'I don't know if I would ever want to practice. For me I realised the reason I wanted to be in university was because I loved being in class and I loved being part of a conversation and learning about it. Not necessarily that I want to be a criminal psychologist, I just liked it.
'I think there's other ways besides me going to college to keep my brain going,' Gigi added.
See more on Gigi Hadid as she discusses interest in criminal psychology on RHOBH special
Back to school: Yolanda Hadid said she could see Gigi going back to school in a few years and getting a degree
Down the road: David Foster said Gigi was interested in pursing her interest and then supermodeling happened
Tom, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who won the case that was the inspiration for the movie Erin Brockovich, told the supermodel she could accompany him to work after she returned from a trip to Australia.
'When you get back, someday we'll go down to the courthouse together,' he suggested.
'Yes please I'd love that,' Gigi excitedly replied.
Other ways: Gigi said there were other ways to keep her brain going besides college
Hair up: Tom Girardi met Gigi as she was fixing her hair
Top lawyer: The Los Angeles-based attorney won the case that inspired the movie Erin Brockovich
Nice offer: Tom offered to take Gigi to the courthouse after she returns from Australia
Lisa Vanderpump also was shown during the post-season special tricking husband Ken Todd into getting Botox injections in his face.
The restaurateur shouted out in pain when cosmetic dermatologist Simon Ourian pushed the needle into his face, much to his wife's delight.
'Ah f***. This is worse than the hip replacement,' Ken complained.
In the face: Ken Todd was tricked by wife Lisa Vanderpump into getting a Botox injection
A defiant Lisa insisted: 'Ken needs Botox. I don't care what he says. Half of Los Angeles has got Botox in their face. No one in this town can raise their eyebrows and he needs just a little bit because he's going to be bloody 70.'
But Lisa's smile became a frown when her husband had a reaction to the treatment and small bumps appeared on his face.
'Look at all the bumps on my face. What have you done to me?' Ken asked.
Didn't care: Lisa said she didn't care what Todd said about it as she tricked him into the procedure
'Oh my god I've never seen that before,' Lisa gasped.
Lisa lured her husband to the doctor's office by telling him that she needed to have a mole removed from her shoulder.
But she confessed to the camera: 'Ken is going to get some Botox whether he likes it or not, so I have to drag him there under false pretenses, then I can stab him in the face with some Botox while he's sitting in the chair.'
Bad reaction: Ken had a bad reaction to the Botox treatment and it left bumps on his face
A stubborn Ken initially refused to sit in the chair, exclaiming: 'I can see my face in the mirror. It's perfect.'
He added: 'If she wanted a younger man, why doesn't she go and get one? What's Botox going to do for me?'
But the grey-haired Brit came around to the idea after being forced to look closely at a reflection of his own face.
British restaurateur: The restaurateur underwent the treatment at his wife's urging
'See what I have to look at?' Lisa asked.
'I didn't have Botox until I was 45, maybe 50, which was four years ago, but that's because it wasn't invented then.'
Ken was also seen attempting to carry an ailing swan into the back seat of their Range Rover, but he ended up getting bitten on the hand while Lisa cooed: 'There's a good boy Hanky.'
The host: Andy Cohen hosted the post-season special
Asked about her pet swans, Lisa explained to Andy Cohen: 'I've hand-reared them. They're right outside my front door, so I pick them up all the time.
'I have another six that aren't so friendly. I was given them when they were very young.
Fellow Housewife Kyle Richards quipped: 'They're very pretty but they have come after me, so I just run really fast over the bridge.'
Reality stars: Erika, Yolanda, Kyle Richards and Lisa were shown in a clip from the reunion show
Other side: Lisa Rinna, Eileen Davidson and Kathryn Edwards also were shown on the special
Sexy outfits: Lisa and Eileen were shown in new footage trying out sexy outfits while shopping with Erika
Good times: Erika liked what she saw in Eileen's outfit
New video: Clips also were shown from Erika Jayne's new music video for So Many F***s
'I show them your picture,' Lisa joked.
Kyle, meanwhile, revealed she had received a huge credit card bill after her young daughter Portia accidentally spent her money on an iPad app.
She explained to older daughters Farrah and Sophia: 'She downloaded an app and they go onto red carpets on this app on the iPad.
App purchases: Kyle told her older daughters Farrah and Sophia how Portia racked up charges on an iPad app
Actual money: Portia was purchasing coins on the app that lead to a five-digit credit card bill
'Every time they go out they need to buy a dress or shoes and different thing and she was purchasing coins. Each of those coins was actual money being charged to our credit card.
'We went to look at the account 37 pages. It was five digits.'
Portia, bursting into tears, wept: 'Dad's gonna kill me. I don't want you to tell Daddy,' but was reassured by her family that her father would not be upset.
In tears: Porta did not want anyone to tell her father about her monster bill
Kyle, who was visited by troubled sister Kim Richards on the show, also took Portia for horse-riding lessons and said she was hoping to steer her daughter's life choices in the right direction.
She said: 'I do not think that Portia is going to be a professional jockey, but I still don't want her to be an actress. I want her to be whatever makes her happy but then also makes me happy too.'
Lisa Rinna told Andy she had some explaining to do after discussing intimate details of her sex life on the radio with Jenny McCarthy and insisted she only claimed to have used a sex toy on husband Harry Hamlin because she was confused.
Riding around: Kyle's youngest daughter also was shown getting horse-riding lessons
Protective mother: Kyle insisted that she did not want her daughter going into acting
New closet: The Secrets Revealed show also included a discussion on Kyle's newly renovated closet
Getting along: Kim Richards also was shown getting along better with sister Kyle
'I would tell you if I did it. I really would,' she insisted. 'We were talking about dildos and it turned into a strap-on and I never have, I swear to you. I've never put on a strap-on.
'I would tell you. He was horrified by it, actually. What can you do? This mouth gets me in trouble,' Rinna said.
Yolanda, meanwhile, had a dig at Andy when she caught him yawning while she was discussing the benefits of cryotherapy.
Too much information: Lisa Rinna during a radio show interview made it sound like she used a strap-on sex toy with husband Harry Hamlin
She was confused: The reality star said she got confused and denied ever using a strap-on while adding that Harry was horrified by her strap-on slip up
'Is it boring?' she snapped.
'No, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,' the host said..
'I am a yawner. I really apologise to all of you if I yawn. I yawned when Erika was talking too,' Andy added.
Has yet to decide if split is permanent
'He's given me an unbelievable life and he's given me three gorgeous children and I love him,' she said
Confirmed she had thrown Ozzy out of the home after he cheated on her - but said he had since moved home and she had moved out
His estranged wife Sharon confirmed they had split during a segment of The Talk on Tuesday.
But that same day Ozzy Osbourne was seen in Los Angeles still wearing his wedding ring.
The 67-year-old looked a bit frazzled as he headed to an office building while wearing all dark clothes.
Not letting go? His estranged wife Sharon confirmed they had split during a segment of The Talk on Tuesday; But that same day Ozzy Osbourne was seen in Los Angeles still wearing his wedding ring
Earlier that day Sharon Osbourne insisted 'I'm doing great' as she returned to The Talk for the first time since her split from husband Ozzy.
The mother-of-three confirmed reports that she had kicked Ozzy out of the house after he allegedly cheated on her - but said he had now returned and she had since moved out.
'I'm 63 years of age and I can't keep living like this,' she told her co-stars.
The straight-talking TV personality opted to take a personal day and skip her show on Monday, hours after her split from her husband of 34 years became public knowledge.
The 67-year-old looked a bit frazzled as he headed to an office building while wearing all dark clothes
Moved home: Ozzy was seen on Monday in Los Angeles; his estranged wife said he was living in the marital home, while she had moved out
'I can't keep living like this!' Sharon Osbourne returns to The Talk after split from husband Ozzy on Monday
Serious moment: Sharon admitted she wasn't sure if her marriage had any future following her husband's affair with a hair dresser
It was revealed at the weekend that Ozzy had cheated on his wife with a hairdresser.
'He's given me an unbelievable life and he's given me three gorgeous children and I love him,' said Sharon, before saying she had yet to decide whether the split was permanent.
'I'm just trying to take it all in, take it all in and process it,' she explained.
Sharon said she had avoided reading any media reports about the breakup drama.
'I've been avoiding looking at any pictures or reading anything. I know whats gone on, and I don't need to read about it, it's like putting salt in a wound and I don't need to.'
Cheers! In a pointed reference to Beyonce's infamous cheating reference in her new album Lemonade, Sharon sipped on a glass of the non-alcoholic soft drink as she talked
Support: The 63-year-old's co-hosts all reassured her they were on her side
Despite the drama the 63-year-old has a positive outlook about her future.
'I'm doing great. I really, really am. I'm honestly empowered and I have found this inner strength and I'm like, "What's next".'
But, just three days after her split became public, the mother-of-three was honest about her uncertain future.
'I don't know where I'm going, who I'm going with, and I just need time to sit and really think about myself and what do I really want for my life,' she told her co-hosts.
'The final chapter': Sharon admitted she was still in contact with her husband
Opening up: Sharon said she was happy to talk about her personal life
Referring to her age, she added: 'This is like getting to the last chapter of this book and I really want to think about what I really want.'
But Sharon admitted she was still in contact with her husband.
'We're talking, I spoke to him last night. I'm not with him but I speak to him for sure.'
In a pointed reference to Beyonce's infamous cheating reference in her new album Lemonade, Sharon sipped on a glass of the non-alcoholic soft drink as she talked.
Her daughter Kelly also referenced the album, tweeting in obvious reference to the family drama: 'Guess whos turning [lemon emoji]s into #lemonade?'
The couple have previously split and then reunited - with Sharon even admitted she has previously asked her husband for a divorce.
In her 2013 autobiography Unbreakable, Sharon wrote that their 30th anniversary marked 'one of the worst periods' in their marriage.
On Saturday Ozzy broke his silence to tell reporters for E! that he was sober.
'I have been sober for three and a quarter years,' he said. 'I have not touched drugs or alcohol in that time. Any reports that I am not sober are completely inaccurate.'
Ansel Elgort whipped out his beach body for some fun in the sun on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old star was pictured in Miami showing off his toned torso as he bolted it up a sandy beach after a chilly dip in the ocean.
The Fault In Our Stars heartthrob wore a pair of blue swim shorts as he did his best Baywatch impression.
Baywatch moment: Ansel Elgort stripped off for some beach fun in Miami on Tuesday
The actor is enjoying a break in Florida with some pals as well as girlfriend Violetta Komyshan.
He shared a snap of the lovebirds posing on the wing of a private jet as they prepared for take-off on Sunday.
Ansel captioned it: 'Jet setters.'
Heartthrob: Ansel showed off his toned torso in a pair of blue swimshorts
Water boy: The Paper Towns star braved the icy waves for a cooling dip
Had enough: But it wasn't long before the actor decided to make a break for dry land
In another photo that Ansel shared once he landed in Miami, the actor poked fun at himself as he soaked up the stunning scenery.
'Mandatory Miami dbag shot' he joked in the caption of the photo which showed him gazing out to the ocean wearing a black jacket and shades.
Ansel was most recently filming his new movie Baby Driver in Atlanta, Georgia, and was pictured on set in March.
Just chilling: The 22-year-old star appeared to be enjoying some downtime in his busy schedule
Fun in the sun: The actor is enjoying a break in Florida with some pals as well as girlfriend Violetta Komyshan
Ansel's 19-year-old high school sweetheart supported him during shooting of the crime thriller which also stars Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm and Kevin Spacey.
The movie is about a getaway driver who participates in a dangerous heist after being forced to work for a crime boss.
Ansel and Violetta first started dating in 2012 but broke up two years later in August 2014 due to his busy schedule.
Drying off: The movie heartthrob soaked up some sun as he made his way back up the beach
'Jet setters': The Divergent star shared this photo posing on the wing of his private jet with girlfriend Violetta Komyshan on their way to Miami on Sunday
They rekindled their romance in January 2015 after five months apart; since then, the good looking couple have been going strong.
Last year, the movie star talked about his love life to Elle magazine revealing: 'I think I could say this: If you like someone and the sex is really good and you enjoy spending time together, why wouldn't you make that person your girlfriend?'
Adding: 'Why go around dating random girls and having terrible sex when you can be with someone you really like?'
She is rarely seen looking anything less than flawless.
And model Jessica Gomes yet again looked sensational as she posed in an eye-catching monochrome ensemble in a picture uploaded to Instagram on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old David Jones ambassador showed off her phenomenal figure in a daring white and black singlet top with a deep V-neckline, revealing her ample cleavage to her 189,000 followers.
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Daring to bare: David Jones ambassador Jessica Gomes took the plunge in a sheer lace top and black trousers during a late night styling session on Tuesday
The slinky shirt included sheer lace detailing around the bodice, as well as a strap on the front which held her ample bosoms in place.
She teamed the edgy singlet top with a pair of flared black trousers which not showed off her lithe and toned legs but gave them an elongated appearance.
The catwalk model styled her luscious brunette locks into loose waves which danced around her face, while keeping her make-up fresh faced and clean.
Jessica completed her daring ensemble with a nineties inspired choker around her neck.
Staying put! Jessica (centre) will continue her runway duties closer to home, reportedly re-signing with Australian retailer David Jones for another 12 months for a rumoured $350,000
Despite the late hour for the fitting, the beauty looked to be in good spirits.
She later captioned the post: 2 N I T E// Late fittings with @dalemckie we are feeling this @celine.world cameo..& @strateascarlucci pant & @nataliechapmannc choker. I'm not feeling the time. Goodnight.
Days earlier, Private Sydney claimed the 30-year-old will stay on with the department store for another 12-months, for a rumoured $350,000.
Top spot: Miranda Kerr previously held the same brand ambassador position with David Jones before she left in 2013, promoting Jessica to the top spot for the retail giant
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.
Miranda Kerr previously held the position as lead model for David Jones before she left the brand in 2013 to pursue her career in the US.
Jessica's renewed commitment to the store, means Jesinta Campbell will continue to be number two to the LA-based model.
Big guns: Proving that she is one busy woman, Jessica will appear beside Hollywood heavyweights Bruce Willis and Owen Wilson in two upcoming films
Meanwhile Jessica has begun her transformation from the catwalk to the silver screen, recently speaking to Today Extra about her foray into acting.
The brunette beauty got her first taste of Hollywood appearing in the 2014 film Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Acting has always been there and I felt like now was the right time and a lot of doors have opened for me, she told the morning program.
Proving that she is one busy woman, Jessica will appear beside Hollywood heavyweights Bruce Willis and Owen Wilson in two upcoming films.
She has previously hinted at an eventual move away from the runway saying it's important for models to show depth and their inner being.
Chloe Grace Moretz had a self-admitted millennial moment on Tuesday during her appearance on The Late Show.
The 19-year-old actress was telling chat show host Stephen Colbert about her family's dress up parties and described the themed events.
'It's not super bougie,' the Kick-Ass star said of the parties celebrating Halloween, the 4th Of July and Christmas.
Millennial moment: Chloe Grace Moretz tried to explain the meaning of 'bougie' on Tuesday on The Late Late Show
Stephen asked Chloe about the meaning of 'bougie' and she said it meant 'extra'.
'I'm being real millennial right now. I'm sorry,' Chloe said while decked out in a pink long-sleeved sheer blouse with a red tie and long floral print pink, red and green skirt.
'Bougie' actually is truncated slang for the French word bourgeois that was defined by Karl Marx as the economic ruling class and usually refers to someone acting beyond their social status.
Chloe has been making the rounds promoting her upcoming comedy Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.
New movie: The actress has been promoting her new movie Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
Themed parties: Chloe was talking about her family's themed parties that she said were not 'super bougie'
The actress during an appearance on Monday on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live confirmed she was in a relationship with 17-year-old Brooklyn Beckham.
Chloe unlike some child actors has avoided the crash and burn syndrome so Stephen asked her to choose her own scandal.
The Carrie star joked that she'd choose throwing a glass of red wine at Angelina Jolie during the Met Ball as both of them tumbled down the steps in a 'big catfight'.
Self aware: The Kick-Ass star at least was aware she was having a millennial moment
Politically involved: Chloe also talked about recently campaigning on behalf of Hillary Clinton
Chloe recently attended the Met Gala and Stephen said he was also in attendance.
Stephen told Chloe that she can throw wine at him next year at the event.
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising opens on May 20 and also stars Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne and Zac Efron.
Katie Couric, 59, and The Breakfast Club co-host Charlamagne Tha God, 35, also were guests on the chat show.
She may be one of Hollywood's most down to earth stars but that does not mean she's not afraid to splash some cash when it comes to fancy footwear.
Amy Schumer and sister Kim Caramele pounded the pavement along New York's Hudson River on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old comedian and her producer sibling did their best to get their heart rates racing despite the weather and their footwear choice being against them.
Walk it out: Amy Schumer and sister Kim Caramele pounded the pavement along New York's Hudson River on Tuesday afternoon
According to an onlooker, the pair did a bit of jogging before turning to a power-walk, as no doubt the fact Amy was in snow boots and Kim in ballet flats ensured setting new personal best run times was not on the cards.
But Amy was not just wearing any old snow boots, instead the Trainwreck star was trotting along in a pair of Isabel Marant Nowles boots.
The shearling-lined boots have a hidden wedge heel and retail at over $800.
While the star's shoes - which are a personal favourite of hers - came with a hefty price tag, the rest of Amy's look was far from designer.
Not made for power-walking: Amy tried to get her sweat on in a pair of snow boots by Isabel Marant which are a little bit pricier than standard workout sneakers
Keeping the cold out, the star threw on a pair of grey sweats and a hooded sweatshirt - which she must have picked up during her travels to Hawaii from aviation company, Paradise Helicopters.
Amy drew in the top's hood around her face in last ditch effort to give herself some extra warmth.
Her sister meanwhile, headed out in a pair of black loose pants with zebras printed on them with a cardigan and matching scarf.
That's better: Keeping the cold out, the star threw on a pair of grey sweats and a hooded sweatshirt - which she must have picked up during her travels to Hawaii from aviation company, Paradise Helicopters
Walking along at a brisk pace, the pair still found time to check their phones perhaps running through script ideas for Amy's show or next big movie.
Kim has worked alongside her sister as both a writer and as a producer of Inside Amy and the star's movie Trainwreck.
Kim used to be a school psychologist but quickly showed talent runs in the Schumer veins, joining her sister in Hollywood.
She's isn't afraid to put the time in when it comes to her gym-honed physique.
And Nicola Hughes couldn't resist flaunting the results of her hard work on social media on Tuesday as she shared a number of snaps from her recent Maldives getaway on social media.
The first of the two saw the blonde beauty share a pose against an idyllic ocean backdrop as she wrapped her arms around co-star and best friend Tiffany Watson.
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Sizzling! She's isn't afraid to put the time in when it comes to her gym-honed physique and Nicola Hughes couldn't resist flaunting the results of her hard work on social media on Tuesday as she shared a number of snaps from her recent Maldives getaway on social media
The girlfriend of Alex Mytton stands in a vibrant pink two-piece, the perfect shade to offset her bronzed skin, while also exposing her seriously taut abs.
Her trademark blonde locks cascade in a voluminous, yet sleek, style around her make-up free face, which is concealed beneath a pair of stylish aviator shades.
Tiffany arguably rocked the more sultry bikini style of the two in a floral number that boasted daring cut-outs around the waist.
See Made In Chelsea updates as Nicola Hughes flaunts her taut torso in pink bikini
Besties: The first of the two saw the blonde beauty share a pose against an idyllic ocean backdrop as she wrapped her arms around co-star and best friend Tiffany Watson
'Take me back @tiffanyc_watson,' she captioned the envy-inducing image, though that was just the first of the envy-inducing shots as she later posted a sexy solo snap.
The second shot depicted Nicola standing along the beach in the same two-piece, though her toned torso was more prominent as the sunny rays reflected against the curves of her stomach.
Despite possessing the body most girl's long for, the reality star opted for a more modest caption, simply writing: 'Peaceful'.
Not again: The pain of Tiffany Watson's betrayal was renewed for Sam Thompson on Monday night's episode of Made In Chelsea
But viewers of Made In Chelsea will know that the girls' getaway wasn't always quite so tranquil, particularly for Tiffany who made a shocking revelation.
Previously dumped by boyfriend Sam Thompson after she admitted to kissing another man while in Hong Kong, Tiffany confessed that their intimacy didn't end there.
Renewing the pain of the betrayal for Sam during Monday night's episode, she revealed that she had, in fact, slept with the mystery man during her trip.
An understandably devastated Sam was seen telling his tearful partner: 'I despise you, you've done this again and again.'
Devastated: Sam previously dumped her over the revelation that she kissed another man while in Hong Kong
The blonde reality star found herself revealing the whole truth during a group trip to the Maldives which had been organised by Stephanie Pratt, but ended up doing more harm than good for the American beauty and her British troop.
The explosive conversation took place towards the end of the show as Sam approached a visibly upset Tiffany.
She began by saying: ' Stephanie has been threatening me about something. It wasnt just a kiss in Hong Kong and I shouldnt have lied about it.
See Made In Chelsea updates as Tiffany Watson admits she cheated on Sam Thompson
I'm so sorry: Tiffany admitted that she had, in fact, slept with the mystery man during her trip
'Theres no excuse for what Ive done and I should have told you.'
Sam couldn't hide the horror in his face as he reacted to her news replying: ' Oh Tiff, You f****d him, I cant do through this all over again.'
Tiffany sobbed: 'Im sorry, I know in myself that Ill never do anything like that again. I know it. There is nothing else ever to come out.'
But the damage had been done as Sam replied: ' Im so frightened about what Im going to have to go through again now. I cant trust you.'
Distraught: An understandably devastated Sam was seen telling his tearful partner, 'I despise you, youve done this again and again'
Horrible end: The blonde reality star found herself revealing the whole truth during a group trip to the Maldives which had been organised by Stephanie Pratt
The dramatic events were kicked off by a conversation that Tiffany had with Stephanie earlier in the day where Stephanie admitted she wasnt sure why she was still guarding Tiffanys secret.
The petite blonde admitted, I feel terrible every day about that lie, to which Stephanie quipped, Really? Because you were playing the victim the whole time.
Tiffany fought back saying: 'You threatened to tell that secret, what friend does that?'
Drama in paradise: The dramatic events were kicked off by a conversation that Tiffany had with Stephanie earlier in the day where Stephanie admitted she wasnt sure why she was still guarding Tiffanys secret
Unpopular: The petite blonde admitted, I feel terrible every day about that lie, to which Stephanie quipped, Really? Because you were playing the victim the whole time
Annoyed: Tiffany fought back saying, 'You threatened to tell that secret, what friend does that?'
The episode started with Sam and Tiffany revealing their excitement for the upcoming trip to the Maldives with Stephanie, Louise Thompson, love birds Binky Felstead and JP Patterson as well as Alex Mytton and his girlfriend Nicola Hughes.
Stephanie didn't enjoy the trip she had envision as she endured a tense talk with Louise admitting: I care about you but Im getting tired of having to keep trying so hard.
And the following morning saw her clash with Nicola as she let the emotions from the night before take over and stop her from listening to the Irish beautys thoughts about her friendship situations.
Happier time: The episode started with Sam and Tiffany revealing their excitement for the upcoming trip to the Maldives
Not invited: While Lucy Watson revealed that James had managed to patch things up over his little lie by buying her a Chloe bag to go with his grovelling apology
Meanwhile Toff revealed that she had hooked up with Richard to Mark Francis, much to the amusement of Jess Woodley.
And her pals were clear with their advice as they told the blonde star she had to accept being more than just a hook up.
Toff admitted: I cant sit in front of Richard again and be told were just friends. I cant.
Elsewhere, Richard shared his feelings with Ollie Locke as he admitted that he was surprised by just how much he enjoyed spending time with Tuff.
Seeking advise: Meanwhile Toff revealed that she had hooked up with Richard to Mark Francis, much to the amusement of Jess Woodley
Unsure: Elsewhere, Richard shared his feelings with Ollie Locke as he admitted that he was surprised by just how much he enjoyed spending time with Toff
He told his stylish pal: We had one of the most fun nights I have had in a long time. Twice.
The pair met up for tea to discuss things further as Richard said: It was really nice seeing you the other night. We had a lot of fun.
Toff revealed she regretted the events because it was making her feel second best to someone else.
Richard asserted that he didnt want them to go back to being awkward and not talking.
Meanwhile, Jamie Lang and Frankie made a pinkie promise to date each other as she told him: 'Yeah for real, but I dont think youre going to stick to it.
Blossoming romance: The pair met up for tea to discuss things further as Richard said, It was really nice seeing you the other night. We had a lot of fun
However, his close friendship with Jess seemed to be verging on the line of inappropriate as hinted by Lucy.
But she seemed to be happy for Jamie and his new found love interest after meeting the smiling blonde.
Lucy and Stephs crumbling friendship was the topic of conversation back in London as Lucy, James, Jamie and Jess enjoyed a night out having drinks.
And when Steph sent a text to Lucy stating, Missing you, wish you were here, the fiesty brunette chose not to reply.
Mark Francis and Victoria enjoyed a catch up over drinks as Mark revealed to her that Richard and Tuff had enjoyed a night together.
Promises, promises: Jamie Lang and Frankie made a pinkie promise to date each other as she told him, 'Yeah for real, but I dont think youre going to stick to it
They started dating after being partnered on Strictly Come Dancing and Georgia May Foote couldn't stop gushing about her boyfriend Giovanni Pernice while on Lorraine on Wednesday.
The 25-year-old said she was making quite the gesture of love towards the professional dancer as she is trying to pick up his language.
'My boyfriend is Italian, so I'm trying to learn a little bit,' she said.
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In love: Georgia May Foote revealed she's learning Italian for her boyfriend Giovanni Pernice during an interview for Lorraine on Wednesday
Soulmates? She met her man (pictured) when they were partnered on Strictly Come Dancing together
'Even if we didn't end up together, he would be my friend for life. I know it's cringey to say but we're like one big happy family.'
Georgia also talked about her former Coronation Street co-star Michelle Keegan and said she stole her clothes from her.
'She nicked one of my leather jackets,' she said.
Fun in the sun: The cute couple recently enjoyed their first holiday to the Maldives
She said: 'My boyfriend is Italian, so I'm trying to learn a little bit,' she said.
Adding: 'Even if we didn't end up together, he would be my friend for life. I know it's cringey to say but we're like one big happy family'
'But I took one of hers so I was walking around for a couple of years with a jacket that had Tina written on the inside.' [Tina was the name of Michelle's character on the show.]
As well as learning Italian, Georgia also revealed she is having to learn the guitar for her latest role as Holly Golightly in a theatre adaptation of Breakfast At Tiffanys.
She will play the part from September 19 to November 19, and will share the role with pop star Pixie Lott and The Inbetweeners actress Emily Atack.
'I might sing Moon River in my Bury accent,' she said, while singing an example.
Dancing queen: Georgia and Giovanni first met while appearing on Strictly Come Dancing together in 2015
'It's my first stage role and it's a real honour to be playing such an iconic character.'
Georgia also talked about her best red carpet outfit which was the black jumpsuit she wore to the TRIC Awards at London's Park Lane.
'It was just something I threw together, I had it in my wardrobe for a while and I hadn't worn it. I teamed it with red lipstick and to this day it's still my favourite look.'
Plenty to smile about: The couple (pictured at the launch of Matalan's spring/summer 2016 launch in London in March) have seen their romance go from strength to strength
It's one of the most terrifying films to have ever come out of Australia, known for its basis in reality, a maniacal antagonist and the isolated backdrop of the outback.
But Wolf Creek star John Jarratt believes tourism in the Northern Territory has been positively influenced by the multi-award nominated horror.
Speaking with News Corp in an interview published on Wednesday, the 63-year-old actor said there's an unrelenting, albeit seemingly morbid fascination with the desolate landscape.
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'I think it probably attracts people': Wolf Creek star John Jarratt said on Wednesday that he believes the horror flick has been good for Northern Territory tourism
'Every time a foreigner gets eaten by a crocodile in the Northern Territory, tourist numbers actually go up,' he said.
'I think [Wolf Creek] probably attracts people.'
The controversial horror franchise includes the original film in 2005, after which a sequel followed in 2013.
Menacing: The 63-year-old actor stars as the maniacal serial killer Mick Taylor
The story has now been turned into a miniseries, and will take place over six episodes.
It it set to delve back into the crazed outback world of the iconic film and serial killer character Mick Taylor.
24-year-old Australian actress Lucy Fry joins the cast as an American backpacker who is the sole survivor after Mick slaughters her entire family.
'It's still wonderful, but it's eerie': 24-year-old actress Lucy Fry joins the cast as an American backpacker in the six-part miniseries for Stan
Terrifying: Wolf Creek (2005) is regarded as one of the most terrifying films to have ever come out of Australia
Though she acknowledged the uneasy isolation of the outback having spent some time there when she was a child, she was able to also appreciate its beauty.
'It's still wonderful, but it's eerie,' she said.
Wolf Creek will premiere exclusively on Stan on May 12, when all six episodes will become available at once.
He's famous for taking on character's who live outside the normal realms of society.
But Christian Bale was the archetypal doting dad on Tuesday, as he spent some quality time with his young son Joseph in Los Angeles.
Obviously enjoying some downtime in-between projects, the 42-year-old Batman star cut a very casual figure as he doted on the 21-month-old tot.
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Doting dad: Christian Bale was the archetypal doting dad on Tuesday, as he spent some quality time with his young son Joseph in Los Angeles
Heading out for a stroll in Brentwood with his youngest child, the American Psycho star looked delighted to be enjoying some quality father/son time with Joseph.
And it was safe to assume the actor and his son were enjoying a boys' day out, as Christian's glamorous wife Sibi and their daughter Emmeline, 11, were absent from the outing.
But it seems that the Bale boys were enjoying their bonding time, and Christian couldn't help but crack a smile as he picked Joseph up - only for the toddler to start playing with his father's face.
Striding down the pavement with his small son in one arm, the muscular action star barely broke a sweat.
Some Quality father/son time: Obviously enjoying some downtime in-between projects, the 42-year-old Batman star cut a very casual figure as he doted on the 21-month-old tot
Cutting a very casual figure, the Oscar-winning actor wore a white tee-shirt and black Adidas track top hoodie.
He teamed the items with a pair of baggy black sport shorts, rounding his laid-back look off with a pair of red trainers.
The Hollywood hardman sported his familiar bushy beard, which he's been cultivating outside of work, alongside a shaggy and tousled hair do.
Joseph looked equally ready for a chilled day with his dad, and wore a pair of colourful short teamed with a tee-shirt and a gillet.
Christian appeared to be squeezing in some valuable time with his young son before filming begins on his next project, Hostiles.
The Western, which is helmed by Black Mass' Scott Cooper and also stars Rosamund Pike, is set in 1892 and sees an Army captain reluctantly agrees to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory.
They're two of Australia's most beautiful faces, having graced covers and inside the pages of magazines nation-wide.
And together, Jessica Gomes and Jesinta Campbell were almost too hot to handle as they posed for retail giant David Jones on Tuesday.
The department store's ambassadors smouldered as they stood in close quarters next to one another for a beach-side shoot in Maroubra, New South Wales.
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PICTURE EXCLUSIVE: David Jones ambassadors Jessica Gomes and Jesinta Campbell cosied up during a beach-side photo-shoot for the retail giant in Sydney on Tuesday
Jestina, 24, was dressed in a navy, V-neck slouch dress.
Meanwhile Jessica, 30, was styled in equally relaxed attire in the form of a white linen shirt with an open collar, over the top of navy tracksuit pants.
In keeping with the subdued feel of the shoot, neither of the models were seen to be wearing any jewellery.
Natural beauties: Both the beauties' hair was salt-sprayed with gentle waves to reflect their coastal surroundings
Relaxed: Jesinta looked completely at ease as she posed, smiling and laughing as she ran her fingers through her chocolate hair
Strong cheeks: Their makeup was kept as natural as possible, with strong blush to highlight their high cheekbones
Itchy nose? It seemed it wasn't always pristine and calm for the beauties, who at one point appeared to have been bothered by the wind before settling back down
Rocking it: One photograph showed the pair leading slightly against a rock formation, with Jessica's hand resting gently on Jesinta's shoulder
Smizing: The girls put on their best 'smizes' - a term coined by supermodel and creator of America's Next Top Model franchise Tyra Banks
Former beauty queen: Jesinta won Miss Universe Australia 2010
Both the beauties' hair was salt-sprayed with gentle waves to reflect their coastal surroundings, with their high cheekbones highlighted with strong blush.
Jesinta looked completely at ease as she posed, smiling and laughing as she ran her fingers through her chocolate hair.
One photograph showed the pair leading slightly against a rock formation, with Jessica's hand resting gently on Jesinta's shoulder.
All in a day's work! Jesinta joined the David Jones family as an ambassador earlier this year, having walked for the retailer many times in the past
Little touch-ups: The girls laughed as they received minor touch-ups by hair and makeup
Working it: The dark-haired stunners are both ambassadors for retail giant David Jones
Adding some bling: Later, Jessica was seen posing with some exotic jewellery while her raven locks were styled
Mates: The pair have become good friends since Jesinta joined the David Jones family
Subtle changes: The beauties were seen in several slightly different poses throughout the course of the shoot
Sexy: Jessica ran her fingers through her long raven hair
The pair have become good friends since Jesinta joined the David Jones family as an ambassador in February 2016, though she has walked for the department store on catwalks many times.
On Sunday, Mother's Day, Jesinta joined her fellow ambassadors Montana Cox, Jessica and retired AFL champion Adam Goodes for the charity run the Mother's Day Classic.
Jessica shared a happy snap having finished the run, accompanied by her mother and Jesinta looking incredibly fresh-faced and radiant.
Subtle: In keeping with the subdued feel of the shoot, neither of the models were seen to be wearing any jewellery
He's a man much in demand when it comes to his profession.
And there was no time for Idris Elba to rest following his stint back in London for the BAFTA TV awards over the weekend, as he landed back in Cape Town, South Africa, on Tuesday.
After sparking rumours of a reunion with Naiyana Garth by arriving on the red carpet with her on Sunday, the 43-year-old actor looked sombre as he prepared to recommence filming on The Dark Tower.
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there was no time for Idris Elba to rest following his stint back in London for the BAFTA TV awards over the weekend, as he landed back in Cape Town, South Africa, on Tuesday.
Idris sported a casual yet slick and stylish look as he arrived back in Africa to film the big screen adaption of Stephen King's fantasy saga.
Flying into Cape Town International airport, the Luther star looked surprisingly fresh-faced following the long-haul flight from London.
And it will come as no surprise that Idris, a constant contender for best dressed male on any red carpet, looked the definition of casual cool.
A surprise appearance: After sparking rumours of a reunion with Naiyana Garth by arriving on the red carpet with her on Sunday, the actor, 43, looked sombre as he prepared to recommence filming on The Dark Tower
Slick style: Idris sported a casual yet slick and stylish look as he arrived back in Africa to film the big screen adaption of Stephen King's fantasy saga
Teaming a tobacco leather jacket with a white tee, the actor channelled a classic look seen on the likes of everyone from Steve McQueen to David Beckham.
And ever the practical dresser, the London-born star made sure he was travelling in comfort too by wearing bootcut denim jeans and a pair of Toms classic espadrilles in red.
The Pacific Rim actor appeared to have kept to his practical theme with his hand-luggage, sporting a black rucksack on his back.
Fresh-faced flyer: Flying into Cape Town International airport, the Luther star looked surprisingly fresh-faced following the long-haul flight from London
Cool and comfy: Teaming a tobacco leather jacket with a white tee, the London-born star made sure he was travelling in comfort too by wearing bootcut denim jeans and a pair of Toms classic espadrilles in red
Back to the grind? The actor has been hard on the promotional trail for his latest film The Jungle Book, but appears to be getting back down to the hard grind - with the actor shooting The Dark Tower
Idris sported his usual rugged look when it came to his grooming, and left his famous features with a layer of stubble.
The actor has been hard on the promotional trail for his latest film The Jungle Book, but appears to be getting back down to the hard grind - with the actor shooting The Dark Tower.
But in-between his work commitments it appears that Idris and Naiyana may be giving their romance another go, as the former couple looked cosy as they stepped out on the red carpet on Sunday night.
Naiyana - the mother of the star's 23-month-old son Winston - and the Beast of No Nation actor put on a loved-up display as they smiled and cuddled up to each other outside The Royal Festival Hall.
However, it seems that Winston and Naiyana have stayed at home in London, as Idris arrived in South Africa on his own.
The Cannes Film Festival has barely started and Eva Longoria has wasted no time in kicking off the glamour.
The American actress was seen posing up a storm bright and early on Wednesday - the first day of the annual movie extravaganza - by the pool at the Hotel Martinez.
The 41-year-old actress looked fabulous in a white bra and sheer lace top, which she teamed with a pair of tailored matching shorts.
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Kicking off the glamour: Eva Longoria was seen posing up a storm bright and early on Wednesday by the pool at the Hotel Martinez in Cannes
Flashing her bling: The former Desperate Housewives star gave her outfit a splash of colour with her ruby and diamond engagement ring
The former Desperate Housewives star completed her look with a pair of towering nude strappy sandals, while she gave a splash of colour with her ruby and diamond engagement ring.
Ahead of the shoot, Eva shared a candid snap of herself and fellow L'Oreal spokesmodel Doutzen Kroes on Instagram, larking around while getting primped by hair and make-up artists.
She wrote: 'Having too much fun getting ready with Doutzen... and snapchatting, of course! Snapchat RealEvaLongoria #LorealCannes2016 #RedCarpetReady.'
See Cannes 2016 updates as Eva Longoria flashes her bra at a photoshoot
Ready for her close-up: An assistant on the shoot adjusts Eva's ensemble as she patiently waits on location
Working it: Eva looked fabulous in a white bra and sheer lace top, which she teamed with a pair of tailored matching shorts
She arrived on the French Riviera on Tuesday after hosting the Global Gift Gala in Paris on Monday night.
However, after flying into Nice airport, Eva was dismayed to find some of her luggage had gone missing.
Posting a photo on Instagram she wrote: 'Ok bad news is two pieces of luggage are lost... good news is WE ARE IN CANNES! #Lorealista #BecauseWeCannes.'
Eva has been a regular at Cannes for years due to her role as a L'Oreal spokesmodel.
She's worth it! Eva has been a regular at Cannes for years due to her role as a L'Oreal spokesmodel
Jet-setter: Eva was in Paris earlier this week to host her Global Gift Gala
L'Oreal make sure their famous models appear at the nightly premieres during the festival, as well at the amfAR: Cinema Against AIDS fundraising gala next week.
The actress is also due to host a Cannes event for the Global Gift Foundation on Friday, with her friend Victoria Beckham rumoured to attend.
Eva's close pal Victoria posted a photo of herself boarding a private plane for Cannes on Wednesday so fans will no doubt expect to see the two women hanging out together on the Croisette.
All change: Eva later changed into fitted black David Koma dress with cut-out sections
Keeping busy: The actress is also due to host a Cannes event for the Global Gift Foundation on Friday
Pamper stations: Eva and supermodel Doutzen Kroes had fun with snapchat while getting ready for the day's events
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She's expecting her second child with Ryan Reynolds but Blake Lively still stole the show sartorially when she arrived at the photocall for Woody Allen's new movie, Cafe Society at the opening day of the 69th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old looked absolutely beautiful as she led the star-studded arrivals wearing a beautiful red jumpsuit which allowed a hint of her baby bump to be seen.
The fitted number was low-cut and had spaghetti straps and had a matching neck tie which added an extra touch of elegance to the look.
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Stunning: She's expecting her second child with Ryan Reynolds but Blake Lively still stole the show sartorially when she arrived at the photocall for Woody Allen's new movie, Cafe Society at the opening day of the 69th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday
You guys are all here for me? Actress Blake wore her caramel blonde locks up in a ponytail and she gave a glimpse of her pretty metallic silver sandals as she ascended some steps ahead of her photo opportunity
Actress Blake wore her caramel blonde locks up in a ponytail and she gave a glimpse of her pretty metallic silver sandals as she ascended some steps ahead of her photo opportunity.
The movie tells the story of a young man who arrives in Hollywood during the 1930s hoping to work in the film industry. There, he falls in love, and finds himself swept up in the vibrant cafe society that defined the spirit of the age.
Blake plays the character of Veronica in the movie and stars alongside Kristen Stewart, who plays Vonnie and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Bobbie. It is slated for release on July 15 in the USA.
See Cannes Film Festival updates as pregnant Blake Lively shows a hint of her bump in a jumpsuit at Woody Allen's Cafe Society photocall
A good choice: Blake plays the character of Veronica in the movie and stars alongside Kristen Stewart, who plays Vonnie and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Bobbie. It is slated for release on July 15 in the USA
Growing their family: Blake and husband Ryan are already parents to one-year-old daughter James, who they named after Ryan's late father
That's her story and she's sticking with it: Kristen Stewart looked as though she was alerting everyone to Blake's braless assets but she was in fact looking at something behind her
What's going on here? Luckily Blake had a team on hand to make sure she didn't have a wardrobe malfunction
Wow thing: An illuminating flash bulb highlighted her beautiful features as she showed her stunning smile
What a vision: The girls appeared to be getting on very well as they stood by the branded podium
She was in good company on the day as she giggled with Kristen who looked elegant in a white Chanel skirt, flashing a hint of her toned tummy in a cropped T-shirt.
Of course, she added a punk vibe to her chic ensemble, flaunting her platinum blonde locks and dark roots as she smiled for the cameras. Flashing an inking on her arm, she added some inches to her height with a pair of black and white Christian Louboutin heels.
Clearly they weren't the most comfortable of footwear as she soon whipped them off and carried them in her hands.
A polished look: She was in good company on the day as she giggled with Kristen who looked elegant in a white Chanel skirt, flashing a hint of her toned tummy in a cropped T-shirt
Not comfortable? She soon whipped off her Louboutins after the pain got a little too much
Happy: Blake had a huge smile on her face as she talked to the movie's director Woody Allen and co-star Kristen (right)
Oi oi! Kristen appeared to be in high spirits as she stood with a giant crowd behind her (left) as she snapped away on a disposable camera (right)
Anyone got any sunglasses? Kristen shielded her eyes from the sun as she posed for snaps with Blake and Woody
Talk about popular: The trio attracted mass attention as they worked their magic at the photocall
All stars: (L-R) Kristen Stewart, director Woody Allen, Blake Lively, Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stoll
She wore a smattering of gold chains around her neck and even took some snaps of her fans on a disposable camera.
Director Woody Allen stood alongside the girls and later sat alongside them and Jesse as he accepted questions and answers about the movie from journalists.
He was spotted sneakily checking his phone for messages during a quiet moment.
Hang on, I've got a voicemail! Woody was spotted sneakily checking his phone for messages during a quiet moment as he and Blake were joined by actors Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stroll (far right)
Keeping it real: Jesse cut a casual figure in his jeans and New Balance trainers as he posed with his hands in his pockets
Centre of attention: Blake and Kristen were sat next to the famous director at the busy press conference
Deep in thought: Corey Stoll and Jesse Eisenberg were also happy to answer question as they spoke to members of press
Happy girl: Blake seemed delighted to be taking a place by Woody's side as they spoke about their film
EastEnders viewers were left inconsolable on Tuesday night when it was revealed Peggy Mitchell's cancer had spread to her brain.
But as the audience watched Dame Barbara Windsor put on an impassioned performance in the BBC One soap, the veteran actor was busy overseeing the funeral arrangements for her iconic character's death.
Giving her the send-off she deserved, the cast gathered to film Peggy's burial on Tuesday in scenes due to air in the upcoming months - with her children looking on in agony.
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Her final scenes: Peggy's son Phil (Steve McFadden) was seen in new images carrying his mother's coffin alongside her niece Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) and Phil's son Ben (Matthew Silver)
Peggy's son Phil (Steve McFadden) was seen in new images carrying his mother's coffin alongside her niece Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) and Phil's son Ben (Matthew Silver).
Looking in total agony, the family teamed together to act as pallbearers while Danniella Westbrook's character Sam looked on with her face contorted with sadness.
With a horse drawn hearse wheeling the coffin into the churchyard, a wreath spelling out Mum in white and pink roses lined the windows of the carriage.
More filming for the funeral took place earlier in the day which saw more members of the cast come out to pay their respects.
See Eastenders updates as the cast turn out to film Peggy Mitchell's funeral
Feeling low: Looking in total agony, the family teamed together to act as pallbearers while Danniella Westbrook's character Sam looked on with her face contorted with sadness
Standing strong: Phil looked in total turmoil as he acted as pallbearer
Lowering: The family were stoic as they looked on and watched the coffin lowered
Peggy's death has been in the works for months, and saw her return to Walford in January to reveal she was dying, after Barbara told bosses she wanted her character to be killed off because she is leaving the show permanently.
Speaking about filming her final scenes, the 78-year-old actress was overcome with emotion as she appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday.
She said: 'They were hard but, sorry I'm going to get upset, I did my crying afterwards, I had to.'
Behind the scenes: Between shots the stars set their grief aside and relaxed
Grieving gang: Outside the church the group stood strong together as they overlooked the coffin
Sent off in style: Peggy Mitchell's (Barbara Windsor) iconic character had scenes from her funeral filmed this week which saw a horse drawn hearse wheeling her coffin into the churchyard
End of an era: Peggy's death has been in the works for months, and saw her return to Walford in January to reveal she was dying, after Barbara told bosses she wanted her character to be killed off
Paying their respects: Peggy's niece (L) Roxy Mitchell (Rita Simons) was seen on set, alongside Billy Mitchell (Perry Fenwick) and his wife Honey (Emma Barton)
Tributes: More filming for the funeral took place earlier in the day which saw more members of the cast come out to pay their respects including Jack Branning played by Scott Maslen
She added: 'I had to give this performance and she's quite tough and I hope people accept the way I played her with cancer because I have to tell all the viewers that everybody's different.'
Speaking about her career break and the big part EastEnders has played, Barbara continued: 'They were showing those Carry On's and that was all people were knowing me for, but once they showed them on television, that actually affected my career a hell of lot, because that was it, not that I was in the West End doing musicals ...but that I was that girl.
'So I will always be eternally grateful that EastEnders gave me that chance.'
Expert skills: The group were working hard in front of the camera to film the upsetting scenes
Sheridan Smith has pulled out of her West End musical Funny Girl for the third consecutive day due to health concerns after a massive Twitter meltdown following the Baftas.
The Savoy Theatre announced today that the star's understudy, Natasha Barnes, would be playing lead role Fanny Brice yet again for this afternoon's matinee and tonight's performance.
Today's withdrawal means she hasn't stepped out on stage for a third day since Sunday's Baftas award ceremony, after which she was seen drinking and flirting with stars including Professor Green.
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Smith (pictured in Funny Girl) has now withdrawn from a third night of the show, increasing concerns over her health after she complained that
The Savoy Theatre informed fans today that understudy, Natasha Barnes, would be playing lead role Fanny Brice yet again for this afternoon's matinee and tonight's performance
Sheridan Smith (left) cancelled a second appearance in Funny Girl less than 24 hours after partying with stars after the Baftas including Professor Green (pictured together) due to health concerns
Smith is currently dealing with her father's cancer diagnosis and she yesterday hit out at a critics during a Twitter meltdown, telling her: 'Come say your s*** to my face, see what happens'
Just after noon today, the Savoy Theatre tweeted: 'Due to the indisposition of Sheridan Smith, Fanny Brice will be played by Natasha J Barnes at today's matinee & evening perfs of Funny Girl.'
Smith is currently dealing with her father's cancer diagnosis and she yesterday hit out at a critics during a Twitter meltdown, telling one: 'Come say your s*** to my face, see what happens'.
She is also said to be suffering from 'cyber-bullying' after she was seen to be visibly disappointed not to win a Bafta when she was nominated for two on Sunday.
Some fans reacted furiously to her withdrawal, demanding refunds for their tickets.
One disappointed fan Tara Wavre tweeted: 'How disappointing she has let everyone down again. What is your returns policy please?'
Another, Gill Taylor, said: 'So unprofessional. You owe refunds to everyone who booked specially to see Sheridan Smith.'
Debbie Race wrote: 'Hi, if for future performances Sheridan is unable to perform, are we able to claim a refund? Hope she is ok BTW.'
But some were lambasted by other vans who demanded they be more sympathetic to what the star is going through since the death of her father, thanks to the 'vile' press.
One user, Charlotte, posted sarcastically: 'How selfish of her to have her dad suffering with cancer! What a terrible person she is.
A number of fans reacted with disappointment to the news Smith would not be performing and some demanded refunds from The Savoy Theatre after booking specifically to see the star
The first performance of Sheridan Smith as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (pictured) was cancelled midway through, with bosses citing 'technical difficulties' as the reason
Yesterday she appeared to blame the press for her cancellations, saying she is 'not strong enough', which is believed to be a reference to her father's cancer diagnosis
Tara Wavre pointed out that her father was diagnosed in March and she has blamed the press, not his illness, but Charlotte fired back: 'Yes because the press are being vile, and so are you. You don't even deserve to see her if you're going to behave like this.
Tweeting under the handle @souchy-boyy, said: 'Hoping Sheridan is ok. This is the downside of theatre. But asking for refunds is daft. You've paid to see a show.'
A number of celebrities have also come out in support of Smith, with Rylan Clark-Neal writing: 'Everyone needs to leave Sheridan Smith alone. She's one of our biggest talents and is hurting at the moment. Stay strong girl. We love ya x.'
Sad to see people having a go at Sheridan Smith. I think shes a legend...I don't get it... One of our best actors? Deserves support right? Chris Stark, BBC Radio One
Chris Stark, BBC Radio One sidekick, said: 'Sad to see people having a go at Sheridan Smith. I think shes a legend...I don't get it... One of our best actors? Deserves support right?'
Some fans who were disappointed not to see Smith have also praised the performance of understudy Natasha Barnes.
James Levey wrote: 'Our disappointment was blown away by your amazing performance Natasha Barnes as Fanny tonight! You absolutely nailed it!'
Sally wrote: 'Natasha Barnes & the cast were flawless tonight, laughed out loud and THAT voice. Incredible.'
A member of staff in the box office confirmed that Smith wouldn't be playing the role - and sounded like she was now getting very used to reeling off the line.
She said: 'No it won't be Sheridan Smith due to indisposition, but it will be understudy Natasha Barnes who's outstanding.'
But she confirmed the show was still sold out, adding: 'We haven't had to exchange many tickets and I think it was sold out tonight.
'All the seats were full and not many people have asked to exchange.'
Katrina Maxwell, and husband Julian, both 51, were disappointed to learn the actress wouldn't be in the show, after a long journey from Cardiff just to see the her.
Katrina said: 'I like the show because I'm a Barbara Streisand fan and a Sheridan fan but I've just heard Sheridan isn't going to be in it tonight.
'I do like the show but when I saw she was going to headline that was what pulled us.
'We have been on a coach for ten hours because of the lorry that crashed on the M4 this morning.
Celebrities including Chris Stark from Radio One and Rylan Clark-Neal have come out in support of Smith
'The understudy is meant to be good but it's not the same is it?
'You shouldn't be disappointed as sometimes understudies are better but sometimes you do want to see a show because someone is in it.
'It's a bit like if Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen were in a show, you probably wouldn't go and see it without them would you?'
One theatre-goer, John Scahill, was also disappointed at the award-winning actress's no-show as he waited for his friend who was travelling all the way back from Stuttgart especially.
He said: 'I'm disappointed but I think it's unfair on her as they have marketed the show around her and the social media attacks have been very unfair.
'If you look at normal runs of productions the stars do have time off for whatever reason.
'My friend has flown back from Stuttgart just to see her - it's a star vehicle so it's very difficult.
'But the theatre has been very fair in terms of offering alternative seats.'
Matthew Madeley, 24, only found out the star wouldn't be appearing as he picked up his tickets for the show.
He said: 'Hearing things about her dad I can understand where it's come from but it's a disappointment at the end of the day isn't it.
Natasha Barnes poses with co-star Darius Campbell (left) and fans (right) after the performance on Monday
'I think it's too late to exchange tickets, whether the theatre is offering it as a goodwill gesture I don't know.'
Phyllis and Brian Sewell had come all the way from Newcastle to see Sheridan perform and were very sad not to be able to see her.
They said: 'We are very disappointed we have come all the way just to see her.
'We have been a fan of her for a long time, we liked Legally Blonde and Cilla, so it's disappointing, yes.'
Other fans of the actress were very quick to defend the star however, and said they were just as happy seeing the understudy perform.
Louise Ellard-Turnbull and Angela Sturgeon were sympathetic to the actress and said she wasn't 'superhuman'.
They said: 'It's sad for her and if she is ill it's better to see an understudy than an actress who is tired and needs a rest.
'We came to see her and the show. It's a shame she's being given such a hard time, these guys are only human.
'It's a bit of a disappointment but she's not superhuman so we are going to enjoy the show and watch someone else have their moment of glory.'
The cancellations are said to be due to ill health but it comes less than two weeks after a performance was cancelled half way due to 'technical difficulties', but fans said she appeared drunk.
On Sunday, Baftas host Graham Norton publicly mocked her, joking that they could have a few drinks, 'or as we call it in the industry, a couple of glasses of technical difficulties'.
She has appeared to blame the press for her cancellations, writing on Twitter: 'Well done press! You let down me, the cast and everyone who paid to see me'.
The tweet finished with message: 'Sorry, sorry, I'm not strong enough'.
According to sources, an executive from theatre group ATG, which owns The Savoy, has now been drafted in specifically to assess 34-year-old Smith before each show.
Sheridan Smith looked disappointed when she lost out at the Baftas with viewers calling her expression 'priceless', and 24 hours later she dramatically pulled out of the production of her West End show Funny Girl
Smith was said to be 'desperate' to win a Bafta because she wanted to honour the woman whose battle with breast cancer inspired her TV drama The C-Word.
Smith pulled out of the West End smash for the third day running, amid reports she is struggling to cope with cyber-bullying since leaving the Baftas empty-handed.
She had been nominated for Best Actress for her portayal of writer Lisa Lynch in BBC drama The C-Word. Lynch died of cancer in 2013, aged just 33. The C-Word had also been nominated for Best Single Drama.
The role as Lisa Lynch was considered particularly poignant for Smith, whose 18-year-old brother Julian also died from cancer, when she was just eight-years-old.
She quit a previous run of Funny Girl at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London back in March after her father Colin was diagnosed with cancer.
Sheridan quickly arranged herself, smiling and clapping the actors who took the Best Single Drama award
She openly hit out at show bosses by tweeting to the official Twitter page for the production, alleging they were breaking their contract by pressurising her to return to the stage.
She attacked producers for trying to 'pressure' her to perform in her emotional state, and tweeted: 'They don't give a f*** about my dad,' after she pulled out, just three hours before curtain call.
In a tweet that has since been deleted, Sheridan wrote: 'covering your asses! No contract signed Sonia, Sarah camlett or presuming we 'desperately' need u? Either way.See u in court.'
Another performance was then cancelled midway at the Savoy, with bosses citing technical difficulties, although fans said she appeared drunk on stage and was slurring her words.
She made an unforgettable red carpet debut at Cannes Film Festival in 2015.
But Kendall Jenner's return to Nice was once again marred by the addition of her mother Kris on Monday, as the Kardashian matriarch followed her daughter through arrivals in a tracksuit.
Kendall, 20, was looking stylish in a kimono-style coat and slick loungewear, while 60-year-old Kris favoured comfort in a red fleece and sporty bottoms.
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Back in Cannes: Kendall Jenner made her return to Cannes on Wednesday morning after a flight from Los Angeles' LAX airport
With her lithe, catwalk-ready figure, Kendall pulled off a tricky look, which comprised a knitted tabard top and loose-fitting trousers by Elle Sasson.
She didn't even need the addition of heels because she was naturally statuescue in flat and comfortable trainers.
Kendall certainly towered over her mother, who was also in trainers and loose clothing, but it was less a style statement and more in favour of ease.
See Kendall Jenner updates as she prepares for her return to Cannes Film Festival
With mum in tow: She brought along her mother Kris Jenner (right) who was comfortable for the flight
Follow the leader: The brunette lead her mother through arrivals, both in matching trainers
Going through searches: They breezed through security like pros
Kendall appeared to be back with another show-stopping red carpet display in mind.
Last year, she attended the Youth premiere in eye-catching Azzedine Alaia piecesat the Grand Theatre Lumiere at the Palais des Festivals.
The supermodel was top-to-toe in black for a gothic image, rubbing shoulders with stars of the film Jane Fonda, Rachel Weisz and Harvey Keitel.
Effortless: The stylish star wore a knitted tabard and loose-fitting trousers for her travels
Head down: A silk kimono-style coat completed her image to elongate her lithe figure
No pictures: She's soon to return to the red carpet for another wow-worthy red carpet moment
Throwback: She flashed back to last year at Cannes with an Instagram pictures, as soon as she arrived in the Cote D'Azur
Referencing her incredible debut, Kendall Instagrammed with a shot of last year as she arrived in the Cote D'Azure on Wednesday.
She said: 'Flashback Cannes 2015. I'm back' beside a picture of her gorgeous ensemble fanned out on a luxury yacht in the sun.
It's not yet known whether Kris will join Kendall on the red carpet or which film Kendall will step out to see, but they'll surely be in good company with Naomi Watts, Blake Lively and Eva Longoria, all in attendance this year.
Not-so glam: Kris was in tow, sporting a fleece top and tracksuit bottoms
She's a new mum ready for a night out on the town.
And Sarah Harris ensured she glammed up and had some fun as she headed to the Survivor Australia launch in Sydney on Wednesday.
The mother-of-one donned a sequins and fringed cape blazer by Australian label Ginger & Smart over the top of a black camisole with cropped black trousers.
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'Wonder if they'll wear sequins in Samoa?' Sarah Harris enjoyed a night out on the town on Wednesday at the launch of Survivor Australia in Sydney, dressed in a sequins and fringed cape blazer by Ginger & Smart
Posing with one arm firmly on her hip, the Studio 10 panelist showed off the breezy detailing of the design while sharing a hearty laugh on entering the event, held at Simmer On The Bay.
Adding strappy heels to her outfit, the blonde beauty showed off her dark-coloured pedicure, which not only matched her manicure but also the TV presenter's vamp lipstick.
Wearing a gold bangle and earrings by Mezi Australia, the popular personality posed for a selfie showing off her look for the night.
'Feelin fierce': The new mum dressed to impress with a black camisole and cropped trousers to go along with her dazzling statement jacket
'Embracing the berry lip': The popular presenter shared a selfie to Instagram as she made her way to the party showing off her make-up look for the night and giving a sneak peek of her outfit to fans
The tribe has spoken: Jonathan LaPaglia will host the new series of Survivor Australia, which will begin filming in Samoa shortly
Posting the image to Instagram, Sarah excitedly announced: 'Embracing the berry lip and feelin' fierce for the #Survivor launch party!'
And going on to ponder: 'Wonder if they'll wear sequins in Samoa?'
The blonde beauty's shoulder-length locks were left out and straight, which looked lighter juxtaposed with lashings of black eyeliner and thick mascara.
Party time! The morning show presenter joined her cast mates Ita Buttrose (left) and Jessica Rowe (right) in Melbourne for the annual Logie Awards on Sunday
It's not the first big night out of the week for the morning show presenter, who joined her cast mates in Melbourne for the annual Logie Awards.
While Studio 10 wasn't nominated Sarah happily posed alongside her co-hosts Jessica Rowe and Ita Buttrose on the red carpet inside the Crown Hotel atrium on Sunday evening.
The bubbly presenter donned a stunning floor-length emerald gown by Veronica Al Khoury Couture, which featured a thigh-high split at the front of the dress along with a plunging neckline and cape detailing.
They are not only colleagues but also best friends.
And Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are sure to inject fun into their work - as illustrated when they filmed an al fresco segment of This Morning on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old blonde beauty looked sensational as she braved the London rain to frolic around with her co-star, 54, while discussing glamping.
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Having a laugh: Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield are sure to inject fun into their work - as illustrated when they filmed an al fresco segment of This Morning on Wednesday
Holly, who is ringing in seven years as host of the show, nailed winter chic in high-waisted navy trousers by Alexander McQueen paired with a stylish blouse with an intricate cat pattern adorned across.
While in the studio the Brighton-born beauty wore a pair of pointed heels, although when she left to film the exterior shots she went for a wholly different look.
Pulling on a powder blue winter coat, she also shed her heels in anticipation of the rain as she pulled on less-glamorous wellington boots with the ensemble.
Ensuring her preened hair and make-up was not compromised by the rain, she carried a huge see-through umbrella - void of pattern to avoid clashing with her ensemble.
It's raining men! The 35-year-old blonde beauty looked sensational as she braved the London rain to frolic around with her co-star, 54, while discussing glamping
No fear: Phillip meanwhile looked dashing in a long black coat and black trousers paired with a stylish charcoal coloured top - nicely offsetting his silver locks
Stunner! Holly nailed winter chic in high-waisted navy trousers by Alexander McQueen paired with a stylish blouse with an intricate cat pattern adorned across
Her blonde tresses were perfectly styled into thick waves while her make-up was typically flawless - no doubt with the assistance of a vast glam squad.
Phillip meanwhile looked dashing in a long black coat and black trousers paired with a stylish charcoal coloured top - nicely offsetting his silver locks.
Talking extra precautions, Phil sported a pair of khaki-coloured wellingtons for his splash in the puddles but Holly was careful to stay out of the water.
Chilled: Throwing themselves into the segment with force, Phil kicked back on a purple bean bag and seemed to catch a quick nap before Holly helped him get up
Glamping it up: Clearly having a giggle, the duo could not help but crack up as they filmed their segment on glamping - a glamorous form of camping
Clearly having a giggle, the duo could not help but crack up as they filmed their segment on glamping - a glamorous form of camping.
Throwing themselves into the segment with force, Phil kicked back on a purple bean bag and seemed to catch a quick nap before Holly helped him get up.
In no fear of getting himself wet, his larks into the puddles were much to Holly's shock as she was helped aside by an aide to prevent ruining her outfit.
A happy pair: Talking extra precautions, Phil sported a pair of khaki-coloured wellingtons for his splash in the puddles but Holly was careful to stay out of the water
Trousers? It was shocking to see Holly in trousers as she has made her favourite white 450 Roland Mouret pencil skirt her go-to item in recent weeks, wearing it no less than six times since the end of February
After the al fresco slot, Holly revealed she is celebrating her seven year anniversary of starring on the show.
The blonde presenter wished her seven-year-old son Harry a happy birthday live on air on Wednesday and revealed she first started on the ITV morning show the year he was born.
Holly said: 'It's my son Harry's seventh birthday today and I always wish him a happy birthday. But I use his birthday to work out how many years I've been on the show because that's the same year I started on 'This Morning'. So I've been on 'This Morning' for seven years today.
Her co-star quipped: 'I don't even know when I started now, a long time ago.'
Holly took over as co-presenter in 2009 when Fern Britton stunned fans by quitting after 10 years in the role, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family.
Struggling: Phillip appeared to struggle to get off the bean bag
And Holly recently admitted that she and Phillip are often mistaken for a couple.
The pair have worked alongside one another TV, first on 'Dancing on Ice' and later on 'This Morning' for over a decade and, although they're both happily married to other people, Holly said they're often on the receiving end of funny looks and bizarre comments about their platonic relationship because the two families regularly go on holiday together.
She said: 'I do think that when we would bump into people, we went to Portugal, and when people would see us in a bar, they'd all be looking at us as if to go, "Oh my God are you like actually together in real life?" I'd be like, "No It's just a coincidence that we're away!"
'He has been holidaying in Portugal for years and I've been going the last few years so we tend to accidentally bump in to each other... not that accidentally.'
Splashing around: Phillip threw himself wholeheartedly into the puddle
Allison Williams says she 'just clicked' with Katy Perry when they first met 'a couple of years ago'.
The 28-year-old discussed her famous best friend while appearing on Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday night with Scandal star Tony Goldwyn.
Allison looked stunning for the occasion in a coral halter-neck dress by Cinq a Sept which clung to her slender figure, along with black heeled sandals.
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Cute in coral: Allison Williams looked great for an appearance on Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday
The Girls star pulled her chestnut brown hair into an updo and sported bright red lipstick and lots of eyeliner.
During her appearance on the show, a caller phoned in to ask Allison how she became friends with Katy.
After struggling to remember for a moment, the actress recalled: 'My now husband is very close with a girl named Sophia who introduced us to Katy a couple of years ago, and we just clicked. Shes the coolest.'
The 31-year-old pop star sang at Allison's wedding to Ricky Van Veen in September, which was attended by several famous faces including her Girls co-stars Lena Dunham and Jemima Kirke, and officiated by Tom Hanks.
Stunning star: The actress wore a tight coral halter-neck dress as she sat in the New York City studio
'We just clicked': Allison talked about how she became friends with Katy Perry 'a couple of years ago'
'How do you think Tom Hanks did at officiating a wedding?' Allison quipped when asked how the actor did. 'He was brilliant. I remember it verbatim, it was so special. It was perfect.'
The brunette beauty is close pals with Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen, who said that he was sitting next to Mindy Kaling during the exchange of vows, and noted that they both cried.
Andy joked about enjoying the open bar, and when he asked Allison which guest got the most drunk during the big day, she teased: 'I think you already answered that question.'
Famous faces: The 28-year-old appeared on the show with Scandal star Tony Goldwyn
Star-studded: Allison also discussed her wedding to Ricky Van Veen in September, which boasted a lot of celebrity guests
The daughter of Brian Williams also confirmed rumours that she and her CollegeHumor co-founder husband Ricky had set up an entire decoy wedding to try and fool the paparazzi.
'Yes we did,' she admitted. 'It was on a property wed already rented. We tried setting up all of our other equipment we didnt need. It did not work because the sky is giant and planes can see a lot.'
But despite being unable to keep it a secret, Allison said her wedding was 'kind of perfect' - particularly in comparison to her Girls character's disastrous on-screen nuptials.
'Yes we did': The Girls star confessed she and her husband set up a decoy wedding to try and fool the paparazzi
'The sky is giant and planes can see a lot': Allison said the plan 'didn't work', but her wedding was still 'perfect'
'I got it all out of my system filming Marnie's wedding,' she joked.
In lieu of wedding gifts, Allison and Ricky asked guests to make donations to education charity Horizons, and they were incredibly generous.
'We raised enough to start a whole new program. So thank you!' the stunning actress shared.
Meanwhile, one caller wanted to know what it was like having Christopher Abbott return to Girls for an episode after his abrupt exit at the end of season two.
In a spin: The pair played a game called Keeping It Wheel, where they had to answer random questions
'I think you already answered that question': Allison joked that host Andy Cohen was the guest who got the most drunk at her wedding
That's a bit pants: The brunette beauty and the actor were both presented with underwear on the show
'Lena wrote this episode and she sent it to me pretty quickly after she finished writing it, and I obviously saw Charlie in it, and I was like, OK. Here we go.' Allison said.
'And I think Lena just thought this episode really needs him and lets see if hell do it. And I dont know weve never talked about why he left the show, I dont think hes really talked to Lena about it, he kind of just left.'
She added: 'And so it was very meta actually when he came back, I hadnt talked to him since he left, so I had a lot of questions but I didnt ask any of them because I wanted them to all exist in the episode.'
Time for a makeover: Allison decided to brush the Watch What Happens Live host's hair
Touching: Andy confessed he and Mindy Kaling - who he was sitting next to at Allison's wedding - both cried
Andy admitted he found it 'hard to believe' that she and Lena had no idea why Christopher left, but Allison assured him that was the case.
'I swear on my life, Ive never talked to him about it,' she said. 'Ever in my life. And even, I never heard from him that he was leaving.'
Girls will be finishing after its sixth season, which is currently filming.
Meanwhile Allison is also currently working on horror movie Get Out, which is being written and directed by Jordan Peele.
Best friends: Allison gushed that Katy - who she is pictured with last month - is 'the coolest'
She is the Australian actress taking the world by storm.
And on Wednesday Sophie Lowe put Hollywood behind her as she attended the 2016 Heath Ledger Scholarship event in Sydney.
Upon attendance the 25-year-old stunned as she dressed in a plunging neckline jumpsuit.
Making a statement: Sophie Lowe stunned as she dressed in a plunging neckline jumpsuit while attending the 2016 Heath Ledger Scholarship event in Sydney on Wednesday
The black sleeveless garment hugged tightly around her toned torso before freely falling inches above the floor.
Sophie added a black and white pin stripped jacket to her look, which she rested off her shoulders and in the creases of her elbows.
She added some height to her red carpet attire with a pair of black peep toed heels which showed off her nude colour pedicure.
Showing off: The black sleeveless garment hugged tightly around her toned torso before freely falling inches above the fall
The What Lola Wants actress accessorised with a matching black leather clutch which she held onto tightly while posing in front of the photo wall.
She kept her jewellery to a minimum as she opted for a black material choker and multiple chains which rested on her bare chest.
The Aussie beauty tied her long blonde locks back and in a high bun while allowing loose strands to fall freely beside her face.
Accessorising: Sophie added a black and white pin stripped jacket to her look, which she rested off her shoulders and in the creases of her elbows
While keeping her blemish free complexion on show, she opted for a nude base makeup look that included a deep pink lipstick.
Heath's mother Sally, sister Kate and father also attended the event on Wednesday night.
While making an appearance on behalf of their late son, the pair opened up about the actor's daughter Matilda.
Natural: The Aussie beauty tied her long blonde locks back and in a high bun while allowing loose strands to fall freely beside her face while displaying her blemish free face
Presence: Heath's mother Sally (R), sister Kate (L) and father also attended the event on Wednesday night
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph Sally said: 'Shes such a reminder of her Dad.'
Her husband and Heath father Kim went on to add: 'Matilda is exactly like her dad, she looks just like him.'
During the event the finalists for the annual scholarship were announced, and they were - Antidormi, Mojean Aria, Natasha Bassett, Chloe Bayliss, Harley Bonner, Shareena Clanton, Ashleigh Cummings, Georgia Flood, Sean Keenan, Uli Latukefu, Sara West and Meyne Wyatt.
The recipient will be revealed next month in a ceremony in Los Angeles.
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Ice Cube - whose real name is O'Shea Jackson - has purchased actor Jean-Claude Van Damme's waterfront home in Marina Del Rey for $7.25 million, three million below its original asking price.
The five year old home was first placed on the market last year for $9.999 million, according to Curbed LA, but it was listed more recently at $7.949 million, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The spectacular six bedroom property was built in 2011 and boasts a breathtaking view of the neighboring canal.
Home sweet home: Ice Cube - real name O'Shea Jackson - has purchased Jean-Claude Van Damme's waterfront home in Marina Del Rey for $7.25 million, three million below its original asking price
Cosy: The home was built in 2011 and features six fire places
Home owners: Jean-Claude (pictured in Hollywood in 2016) purchased the waterfront home in 2012 for $6 million, and still made a profit from his sale with Ice Cube (pictured in West Hollywood in 2016)
Though Jean-Claude's asking price has gone done, he still came away with the profit - he snapped up the home for $6 million in 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Located in Marina Del Rey's Silver Strand community, according to Trulia, Ice Cube's new home comes with all the bells and whistles.
Wine and dine: The home was complete with a stunning wine cellar
The home's luxurious amenities include a gym, a wine cellar, elevator, and even six fireplaces - one of which is located inside one of the property's eleven bathrooms.
The home features wide and expansive windows to bring in plenty of natural lighting.
Stylish hard wood flooring wrapped around the house added a chic and modern touch.
Buttering them up: The kitchen had bar and was easily adjoined to the dining room
Added convenience: A stunning silver chandelier hangs over Jean-Claude's sea foam green dining table, which sits just feet away from one of the home's elevators
Getting down to business: The home's study featured dark wood walls and plenty of lighting
The bathroom is complete with a chic white porcelain bath tub, tile walls, and dark wood accents on the wall.
A bar rounds off the spacious kitchen, which is conveniently adjoined to the dining room and a sitting area.
A stunning silver chandelier hangs over Jean-Claude's sea foam green dining table, which sits just feet away from one of the home's convenient elevators.
Kick back and relax! Plush couches, a piano, and yet another fireplace finished off one of the home's many rooms
Luxury: The home's luxurious amenities include a gym, a wine cellar, and even six fireplaces - one of which was located inside one of the home's eleven bathrooms
Chic polish: Dark hard wood floors rounded off the interior of one room
Ice Cube shot to stardom as one of the members of the rapping group the N.W.A.
They have once again shot to prominence due to the release last year of the film Straight Outta Compton, which charted their dramatic rise and fall.
Since exploding onto the scene, he has enjoyed a prolific career in both music and film, going on to star in a slew of films, including the popular movies Friday and Next Friday.
Metallic touch: An eye-catching chandelier was the center piece to this room
Going up: The glass stairwell curved through the home
Rise and shine! The home's spacious bedroom was also complete with a stunning view outdoors
He will next appear in Fist Fight, which also stars Christina Hendricks, Charlie Day, and Tracy Morgan.
The movie is scheduled for release in February 2017 and is about a school teacher (Charlie Day) who is challenged to an after-school fight after he gets one of the other teachers (Ice Cube) fired.
Jean-Claude, meanwhile, is best for his martial arts skill and roles in films like Bloodsport and Timecop.
R&R: One room was adorned with plush leather couches, perfect for some R&R
Fresh air: Planters and ceramic tile were the finishing touches to the property's patio
The great outdoors! The property's yard had an exquisite view of the Pacific ocean
Jean has tied the knot five times with four different women and has three children.
The Bloodsport actor was previously divorced from Gladys Portugues back in 1992 before they remarried seven years later; then in March of last year she filed for their second divorce, but then appeared to call it off.
Speaking with TMZ in 2015, the actor suggested things were back on track, citing 'love' and family obligations for inspiring a reconciliation with the mother of his two children.
'The JCVD family is still strong,' the film action hero said. 'The kids are strong, the wife is strong. There's so much divorce around the world and it's very bad for the children.'
Picture perfect: The three story home had a gorgeous view of the neighboring canal
He's known for his love of surfing, residing in the quiet Australian coastal town of Byron Bay.
But not everything went quite according to plan for Chris Hemsworth recently as he hit the waves recently.
The 32-year-old Thor star appeared in a social media snap alongside his personal trainer Luke Zocchi and another friend, each showing their bloodied gashes on differing parts of their legs.
'Sunday is meant to be fun day!' A shirtless Chris Hemsworth and his personal trainer Luke Zocchi (right) and another friend showed off their muscles and surfing injuries to social media recently
The supremely buff father-of-two flexed his sculpted abdominals in the snap as he held up his right foot showing a cut across his foot.
Meanwhile his trainer appeared to be injured in two places, showing blood on his right knee and across his left foot.
Chris' trainer Luke shared the snap to social media, writing in the caption: 'Sunday is meant to be fun day, not getting bloodied and smashed up on the rocks!'
See Chris Hemsworth updates as he and his friends reveal their bloodied surfing injuries
Thor blimey! The Australian actor often shows off his incredible rippling physique at the beach
The former Home And Away star has recently returned from a surfing trip to Fiji with champion Kelly Slater.
Chris' passion for surfing is well-documented, and he is often seeing catching waves near his coastal New South Wales home.
The star's friendship with Kelly, 44, goes back several years - with Chris previously telling Vanity Fair he grew up idolising the Florida athlete.
Muscular: Chris resides in the coastal town of Byron Bay
Meeting his idol! The former Home And Away star has recently returned from a surfing trip to Fiji with champion Kelly Slater (right)
He even recalled a story when he 'started crying' after discovering his father Craig Hemsworth went surfing with Kelly, but Chris missed out because of theatre class.
Chris and his family reportedly splashed out on a $7.2 million property in Byron Bay in September 2014 - and has made no secret of wanting his children to grow up in Australia.
The following month, the ex-Home and Away star told Daily Mail Australia: Were spending more and more time back in Australia and I definitely want the kids to grow up here and spend time here.
'We were in California a lot I missed it here and my wife missed it too so that was our goal to get back here.'
Whoever said mothers can't dress sexy hasn't met Kristin Cavallari.
The mom-of-three revealed ample cleavage as she showed off a lacy bra underneath a sheer top for dinner at celebrity hotspot Craig's in West Hollywood on Tuesday.
The 29-year-old looked sultry as she was spotted with a friend walking into the trendy restaurant.
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Sexy Mama! Kristin Cavallari revealed ample cleavage as she showed off a lacy bra underneath a sheer top for dinner at celebrity hotspot Craig's in West Hollywood on Tuesday
Night out: The 29-year-old and mom-of-three looked sultry as she was spotted with a friend walking into the trendy restaurant
Kristin, who just gave birth in November to her third child, donned a provocative ensemble for the night out.
All eyes were on Kristin's decolletage and her delicate black underpinning.
She paired her unmentionable with a coordinating long-sleeved tight see-through blouse and a short suede skirt.
The brown mini featured six brass buttons on the front of the design and highlighted her toned and tanned gams.
Provocative ensemble: All eyes were on Kristin's decolletage and her delicate black underpining which she paired with a coordinating long-sleeved tight see-through blouse and a short suede skirt
The Laguna Beach alum's legs were further accentuated by a pair of strappy black open-toe heels.
She accessorized with a black choker necklace and carried a large black classic quilted Chanel bag showing off the CC logo in her hand.
Kristin's blonde tresses were styled casually and tousled with a little wave to it.
Blonde beauty: Kristin's tresses were styled casually and tousled with a little wave to it. The glowing star opted for a natural make-up look as well and accessorized with a black choker necklace
The glowing star opted for a natural make-up look as well. While black eye-liner highlighted her brown eyes Kristin's lips donned a nude gloss.
The hot mama appeared to be in great spirits for her night out sans children.
At one point Kristin threw her head back laughing as she and her pal both showed off large grins and their beautiful pearly whites.
Fun evening: The hot mama appeared to be in great spirits for her night out sans children. At one point Kristin threw her head back laughing as she and her pal both showed off large grins and their beautiful pearly whites
This outing comes soon after she debuted her post-baby body in April in a sexy black bikini for the cover of an upcoming issue of Modeliste magazine in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
The former reality star and her athlete husband, Jay Cutler, welcomed their third child - daughter Saylor James - in November.
The couple - who tied the knot in 2013 - also share two sons, three-year-old Camden Jack and one-year-old Jaxon Wyatt.
Leggy lady: The brown mini featured six brass buttons on the front of the design and hightlighted her toned and tanned gams which were further accentuated by a pair of strappy black heels
Kristin told People in an article on Wednesday that she has a laid-back approach to losing post-pregnancy weight.
'I still have a fat roll that hangs over my jeans. I'm okay with it. Because it is my third time, I know that eventually it does come off, and so Im not stressing about it,' Kristin said.
The busy mom just debuted a jewelry collection called Emerald Duv, while her new book Balancing in Heels recently landed on the New York Times Best Seller list.
He plays a ruthless hedge fund king in new drama Billions.
And Damian Lewis fittingly opened the London Stock Exchange ahead of the show's UK debut on Thursday evening.
Promoting the new series, which will air on Sky Atlantic, the 45-year-old actor put on a smouldering display as he posed for snaps in a dapper navy suit and crisp white shirt.
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Smouldering: He plays a ruthless hedge fund king in new drama Billions and Damian Lewis fittingly opened London's Stock Exchange ahead of the show's UK debut on Thursday evening
The Homeland stand-out, who has more than his fair share of female admirers, oozed sex appeal as he wore his shirt partially unbuttoned to reveal a glimpse of his chest and sultrily swept his red locks back from his face.
The British star posed against the city's St Paul's Cathedral and was also pictured sharing a conversation with Xavier Rolet, CEO of the London Stock Exchange.
Hot on the promotional trail of the slick new series, Damian also stopped by the BBC's Radio One studios to talk about the new series.
Suave: Promoting the new series, which will air on Sky Atlantic, the 45-year-old actor put on a smouldering display as he posed for snaps in a dapper navy suit and crisp white shirt
Hearthrob: The Homeland star oozed sex appeal as he wore his shirt partially unbuttoned to reveal a glimpse of his chest and sultrily swept his red locks back from his face
What a view! The British star posed against the city's St Paul's Cathedral
Mingling: Damian was also pictured sharing a conversation with Xavier Rolet, CEO of the London Stock Exchange
The show debuted to record figures and rave reviews when it aired in the US in January.
Showtime said that the drama was the best opening ever for one of the premium cable network's original series, bagging 2.99 millions views to date.
About 1.6 million watched the series premiere early on a variety of platforms and another 1.4 million tuned in to watch it live, according to Deadline.com.
Success: Billions debuted to record figures and rave reviews when it aired in the US in January
Record figures: Showtime said that the drama was the best opening ever for one of the premium cable network's original series, bagging 2.99 millions views to date
Impressive: About 1.6 million watched the series premiere early on a variety of platforms and another 1.4 million tuned in to watch it live, according to Deadline.com.
The actor enjoyed huge success on Showtime's Homeland for which he won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his portrayal of U.S. Marine Sergeant and former prisoner of war Nicholas Brody.
He's paired opposite Golden Globe and Emmy winner Paul Giamatti, 48,in the timely show about the financial sector and Wall Street.
The English actor plays a ruthless hedge fund king Bobby 'Axe' Axeford while Giamatti stars as U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades who has the money man in his sights.
Always a hit: The actor enjoyed huge success on Showtime's Homeland for which he won both a Golden Globe and an Emmy for his portrayal of U.S. Marine Sergeant and former prisoner of war Nicholas Brody
Kim Kardashian West is to receive a Break the Internet award.
The 35-year-old reality star - who has 69.6 million Instagram followers, 45 million Twitter followers, and a hugely successful mobile game, Kim Kardashian's Hollywood - will be the first-ever recipient of the accolade at the annual Webby Awards on May 16 in recognition of her 'bold and creative' use of online platforms.
Announcing the honour, Webby organisers said: '[The award is given] in recognition of her unprecedented success online and the bold and creative ways she has used the Internet, social media, apps and video to connect with a truly global audience.'
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She has grabbed attention for shots like this: Kim Kardashian will win a Webby Award on May 21; she has followers for being creative on social media, like she was here on Instagram
Kim - who has children North, two, and Saint, five months, with husband Kanye West - is expected to receive her Webb from tech legend and Re/code founder Kara Swisher.
The Keeping Up With the Kardashians star joins her husband in being recognised at the awards, which have previously been described as the Oscars Of The Internet.
See Kim Kardashian updates as the KUWTK star is set to receive a Webby Award
She has been ambitious: The 35-year-old reality wonder tried to break the internet with this naked Paper cover from 2014
As was previously announced, Kanye, 38, will be named Webby Artist of the Year at the upcoming ceremony, which will take place at New York's Cipriani Wall Street, in recognition of the record-breaking streaming release of his latest album 'The Life of Pablo'.
The record was streamed 250 million times via Tidal in its first 10 days of release and later became the first album to top the Billboard 200 off of mostly streaming-equivalent LPs.
His award was announced at the same time as Webby Best Actress winner Krysten Ritter, who has been honoured because of her role in Netflix original series 'Marvel's Jessica Jones'.
She's generous with her images: The E! doll shared a wedding photo with Kanye West in 2014
Webby Awards' Executive Director David-Michel Davies said in a statement last week: "Kanye West and Krysten Ritter are two standouts who have successfully leveraged the immense influence and addictive elements of streaming media to drive innovation on the Internet."
Other winners at the 2016 Webby Awards will include Lena Dunham and Jennifer Konner, whose Lenny Letter newsletter has earned them a Special Achievement Prize, and HBO drama 'Game of Thrones', which will pick up Best Overall Social Presence.
He's a flamboyant character with a quirky fashion sense.
And Jonathan Ross, 55, showcased his unique sartorial style on Wednesday when he arrived at BBC Radio 2 studios in a black jumpsuit.
The television and radio presenter pulled up in his vintage Morgan convertible which was befitting of his gentlemanly style.
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Flamboyant: Jonathan Ross, 55, showcased his unique sartorial style on Wednesday when he arrived at BBC Radio 2 studios in a black jumpsuit
As he pulled up near the studios he was seen puffing on a cigar from behind the wheel while wearing a pair of shades.
His floppy brunette locks were unmoved despite being exposed to the air as the pristine motor slowly powered down the road.
Once he parked his pride and joy, Jonathan walked to the studio with a spring in his step, wearing a black suede satchel over his shoulder.
All-black: Once he parked his pride and joy, Jonathan walked to the studio with a spring in his step, wearing a black suede satchel over his shoulder
Class act: The television and radio presenter pulled up in his vintage Morgan convertible which was befitting of his gentlemanly style
He wore a chunky pair of black high-tops with white laces and continued holding his cigar as he strolled along the street.
The unusual jumpsuit was covered in large zips giving the star plenty of storage space for his essentials.
Film fanatic Jonathan has been an ever-present at industry events this year, attending the Empire Film Awards and the InStyle EE BAFTAS party with his daughter Honey Kinney and screenwriter wife Jane Goldman.
One of a kind: He wore a chunky pair of black high-tops with white laces and continued holding his cigar as he strolled along the street
Jonathan, who also shares children Betty Kitten and Harvey with Jane, ensures he spends quality time with his family in the midst of his filming commitments for The Jonathan Ross Show.
The TV star previously revealed he would love to have more children, but thought it was more sensible to wait until his kids give him grandchildren.
'I miss having little children around. But then we think we enjoyed the experience so much the last time, what if it wasnt the same?
'And at the same time, if and when they decide to have children of their own, I want to make sure we are free to help them.
'So I might wait for the grandchildren', he explained in an interview with the Sunday Mirror.
Jessica Alba is one multi-tasking woman.
She has two children under seven, she founded the Honest company and she is an award-winning actress.
So it shouldn't surprise that the ombre-haired beauty was seen at a TechCrunch Disrupt event in New York on Wednesday to talk about her budding business.
Multi-tasking goddess: Jessica Alba was seen at a TechCrunch Disrupt event in New York on Wednesday
Jessica took the stage to discuss The Honest Companys latest news.
She spoke about a new cosmetic line, Honest Beauty.
They recently opened their first retail store in Los Angeles and Jessica went on to describe how Honest wants to take control of a customers shopping experience, instead of leave it up to a third party department store.
Getting honest: Jessica took the stage to discuss The Honest Companys latest news
She plans to expand to another location in LA, and then hopefully set up stores in New York, given these are their two biggest markets.
The 35-year-old actress stunned in a sleek monochrome outfit as she delivered her speech.
Alba teamed a form fitting knee length pencil skirt with a chic white blouse for the event.
The Into The Blue star left her blow-dried light brown locks down as she was seen sporting minimal make-up.
They're expanding even more: The brunette actress spoke about a new cosmetic line, Honest Beauty
The actress made sure to finish off her look with a pair of black and white pointed heels.
Jessica - who has been married to husband Cash Warren since 2008 - wrapped filming last year for her new movie Dear Eleanor.
The film follows two teenage girls - played by Isabelle Fuhrman and Liana Liberato - who travel across the country in 1962, during the chaos of the Cuban missile crisis, in search of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Black and white: The 35-year-old actress stunned in a sleek monochrome outfit as she delivered her speech
Jessica plays Aunt Daisy in the adventure comedy.
The star-studded cast also includes Josh Lucas, Luke Wilson and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
The brunette beauty also just recently wrapped filming for another movie - Mechanic: Resurrection.
Not her only venture: Jessica - who has been married to husband Cash Warren since 2008 - wrapped filming last year for her new movie Dear Eleanor
Arthur Bishop - played by Jason Statham - thought he had put his murderous past behind him until his enemy kidnaps the love of his life Gina - played by Jessica.
Arthur is now forced to travel the world to complete three impossible assassinations and to make them look like accidents.
Also in the film is Tommy Lee Jones and will hit theaters 26 August this year.
It was her marriages to John F Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis for which she was most famous.
But it was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' last romance - with her long-term companion Maurice Templesman - which was in focus as Katie Holmes got into character as the former First Lady on Wednesday.
As cameras rolled Katie was seen sharing a rather chaste kiss on the lips with an actor dressed as the diamond merchant.
It was the first time the actress and her co-stars had been seen on the Toronto set of The Kennedys After Camelot.
O Jackie! Katie Holmes gets into character with a kiss in new miniseries The Kennedys After Camelot in Toronto on Wednesday
Pucker up! The Reelz miniseries will see Katie reprise her role as Jackie Kennedy, which she first played in 2011 miniseries The Kennedys
Katie was wearing a camel wool coat and brown leather gloves, her hair hidden by an Hermes silk scarf.
The scene recreated a well-known photo of Jackie and Maurice, who was Jackie's companion for the last 14 years of her life, although the pair never wed.
The original was taken shortly before Jackie's death from cancer aged 64 in 1994.
Although Jackie was in her 50s when she dated Maurice, 37-year-old Katie did not look to have been overly aged to play the part.
Last love: A kiss marked the romance between Jackie Kennedy and Maurice Templesman
Ready to go-go: The actress later changed into a a green dress with knee high boots, that showed off a little leg
The Reelz miniseries will see Katie reprise her role as Jackie O, which she first played in 2011 miniseries The Kennedys.
The show will focus on Jackie's later life following the November 1963 assassination of her first husband.
She went onto wed Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968, before his death in 1975. It was in 1980 that she began dating Maurice.
Last love: The scene recreated a famous photo of Jackie and Maurice, who was the former First Lady's companion for the last 14 years of her life, although the pair never wed
The original: Jackie Onassis and her companion Maurice Templesman in 1994
Reelz announced the four-part show back in 2014, but it has only just begun filming.
Katie will serve as an executive producer and direct one of the installments.
Jon Cassar, who directed all eight of the original series, will helm the other three.
Romantic: Katie, 37, will serve as an executive producer and direct one of the installments
In costume: Katie was seen on set wearing a camel wool coat and brown leather gloves, her hair hidden by a Hermes silk scarf
When the show was announced, Reelz CEO Stan E Hubbard explained: 'Katie elegantly portrayed Jackie Kennedy in the first miniseries and now will continue the role as Jackie grows into the Jackie O that the world knows best
'Katie is brave, committed and perfect for this role.
'She is a strong, talented woman who understands how special and respected Jackie Kennedy, and then Jackie Onassis, was as an international icon.'
Lunch break: Reelz announced the four-part show back in 2014, but it has only just begun filming
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The 69th annual Cannes Film Festival kicked off in glorious style on Wednesday evening.
Hollywood stars landed on the prestigious red carpet at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres in the French Riviera-based town for the opening ceremony, a screening of Woody Allen's film Cafe Society.
Leading the glamour on the first night were the likes of actresses Naomi Watts and Julianne Moore, as well as Cafe Society's star Blake Lively who all paved the way for the other stars who arrived on the crimson runway in their well-dressed droves.
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And they're off! (L-R) Blake Lively, Naomi Watts and Julianne Moore led the way on the opening night of the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday, at the screening of Woody Allen's film Cafe Society
Cafe Society's leading lady Blake Lively, who is expecting her second child with husband Ryan Reynolds, meanwhile stole the spotlight in her jaw-dropping gown.
The sparkling number in a nude hue skimmed over the actress' stunning figure, with her small bump on show.
The glittering dress flowed out into a dramatic train which swept along the red carpet, with the slightly sheer chiffon skirt flashing a hint of leg. Style icon Blake added some statement jewels, adorning her hands with diamond rings.
She kept her hair simple, tossing her blonde locks over one shoulder while she added a pop of colour with a bold pink lip.
See more Cannes Film Festival 2016 news as Naomi Watts, Julianne Moore & Eva Longoria attend the premiere of Cafe Society
Simply stunning: Cafe Society's leading lady Blake Lively, who is expecting her second child, meanwhile stole the spotlight in her jaw-dropping gown
Lovely in lilac: Naomi, 47, was a true beauty in a pale lilac strapless column Armani Prive dress which was covered with pretty metallic embellishments
Beauty in black: Julianne, 54, stunned in an all-black gown, adorned with glittering cobra designs
Wow factor: The sparkling number in a nude hue skimmed over the actress' stunning figure, with her small bump on show
Having some trouble: The blonde beauty seemed to struggle with the flowing train of her beautiful gown as her director Woody Allen helped her up the stairs
Careful! The pregnant star nearly tripped as her delicate dress got caught in her silver heels
Every last detail: She kept her hair simple, tossing her blonde locks over one shoulder while she added a pop of colour with pink lip
Curves: Blake showed off her form hugging dress from every single angle on her way down the red carpet
Jewels: Blake accessorised with a pair of stunning drop earrings which sparkled in the evening light
Looking absolutely drop-dead gorgeous in a pale lilac Armani Prive number, British-Australian star Naomi, 47, cut a divine figure in a strapless column dress that clung nearly to her slender curves, the fabric covered in delicate mirror-like embellishments.
The chiffon-style material was slightly layered all the way down the skirt, which hit the floor, disguising her no doubt flawless choice of footwear.
Naomi completed her ravishing look with a heavily-adorned necklace on her bare decolletage, and little else, her pale golden locks coiffed to perfection in a wavy style bouncing just above her shoulders.
Work it! Looking absolutely drop-dead gorgeous in pale lilac, Australian star Naomi, 47, cut a divine figure in a strapless column dress
What a dress! The chiffon-style material was slightly layered all the way down the skirt, which hit the floor, disguising her no doubt flawless choice of footwear
Looking good: Naomi Watts was resplendent in her choice of attire, which offered a seasonal vibe to the proceedings
One to watch: While Naomi posed like a pro for the cameras, Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon looked on
Turning on the charm, as she always does, was Julianne, who stunned in an intricate black gothic number. The Oscar-winning star, 55, beamed for the hundreds of tuxedo-clad photographers along the red carpet, showing off her beautiful gown for all to see.
The weighty number was covered with silver and gold shimmering whirls, going up to her chest into the shape of two cobras covering her chest over the incredibly sheer fabric that made up the base of the dress.
The red-haired superstar wore her russet mane slicked back into a chic, straight 'do, falling behind her, and her make-up was simple, showing off her ageless natural beauty.
In the spotlight: Julianne stunned in an intricate black gothic number. The Oscar-winning star, 55, beamed for the hundreds of tuxedo-clad photographers along the red carpet, showing off her beautiful gown for all to see
Having her moment: Julianne turned on her Hollywood smile and worked her poses like a pro as the cameras clicked away at the star-studded opening
Stars are in town: Julianne, Susan and Naomi all had their own spot on the vast red carpet
Helping hand: An aide made sure Julianne's intricate dress didn't trip her up and was shown off to perfection
Around her trim waistline was a large obi-style belt, topping off a beautiful pristine white skirt with a long train at the back, only emphasising her enviable physique more.
Blake arrived with Cafe Society's director Woody Allen, 80, and the rest of his cast for his 49th movie, including a glam Kristen Stewart.
Kristen stuck to her typically edgy sense of style in a head-turning look, with her bold dress featuring an almost completely sheer top.
Strategically placed pockets and seams preserved some of her modesty under the camera's glare. The floaty black shirt-style top flowed down in a full skirt, adorned with a monochrome print with studded detail.
Platinum blonde Kristen accessorised with a pair of towering black satin Louboutin heels and added a bold red lip.
All-star lineup: Blake arrived with Cafe Society's director Woody Allen, 80, and the rest of his cast for his 49th movie, including Jesse Eisenberg, a glam Kristen Stewart and Corey Stoll
Loved-up: The film's director, Woody Allen, and Soon-Yi Previn attended the 'Cafe Society' premiere hand-in-hand
Good times: Director Woody Allen jokes with cast member Kristen Stewart on the red carpet as they arrive for the opening ceremony and the screening of the film Cafe Society
Fashion fan: Kristen stuck to her typically edgy sense of style in a head-turning look, with her bold dress featuring an almost completely sheer top
Style statement: Strategically placed pockets preserved Kristen's modesty, while she added a bold red lip to her edgy ensemble
Quirky: The stand out dress featured a full skirt with a bold print, while the actress added towering Louboutin heels
The little details: Kristen's floral print skirt looked stunning in the evening light
Leading ladies: Both Blake and Kristen dressed to impress for their film's big night in Cannes
Talented cast: Blake looked on as her co-star Kristen kissed President of the Cannes Film Festival Pierre Lescure hello
Cast and director: (L-R) Cafe Society stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, director Woody Allen, Blake Lively and Corey Stoll posed for snaps outside the Palais des Festivals et des Congres
A warm welcome: President of the Cannes Film Festival Pierre Lescure (L) and the General Delegate Thierry Fremaux (R) welcomed Blake and co
Support: Acclaimed director Woody arrived hand in hand with his partner Soon-Yi Previn
A world of their own: Woody was seen taking Kristen's arm as they shared a moment
Close: The actress and director have obviously struck up a close bond while working together on Cafe Society
Line-up: US director Woody Allen, US actress Kristen Stewart and US actor Jesse Eisenberg arrive for the screening of 'Cafe Society' and the Opening Ceremony of the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival in Cannes
His other leading lady: Leggy Blake towered over the diminutive director
Jessica Chastain stood out in a bright yellow number as she took her turn in front of the cameras on the vast red carpet.
The Jurassic World star showed off her curves in the stunning strapless number, accessorised with a sparkling diamond leaf necklace.
The perfectly fitted dress hugged every single curve as the beautiful actress turned to pose for the cameras.
Adding a touch of angelic style to proceedings, 41-year-old Eva Longoria stunned in a white and pale gold dress that showed off her petite curves with ease.
Turning heads: Jessica Chastain stood out in a bright yellow number as she took her turn in front of the cameras on the vast red carpet
Dapper duo: Jessica arrived on the arm of suave French actor Vincent Lindon
Laugh a minute: Jessica got a fit of the giggles as she kept close to Vincent for the red carpet walk
Wow-worthy in white: Eva Longoria, 41, was a vision in her angelic, pristine white skirt and glittering long-sleeved top combination
Curve appeal: Appearing as two separates - a skirt and a top - the intricately beaded number covered her trim waistline and fell down her arms in long sleeves
What a view: Eva looked simply stunning from every single angle on the vast red carpet
Appearing as two separates - a skirt and a top - the intricately beaded number covered her trim waistline and fell down her arms in long sleeves.
Also arriving and leaving a seriously stylish lasting impression was fashion designer and Eva's best pal Victoria Beckham, who shunned a dress in favour of a snug black look of a top and trousers.
The 42-year-old showed off her slender form in the strapless bustier, which included a slight sweetheart neckline - showing off her cleavage - which a white stripe across the top.
She teamed this lingerie-inspired piece with high-waisted trousers - complete with a line of buttons, adding a touch of masculinity to the look - that fell down her legs in a straight style.
Strike a pose: The gorgeous actress and producer flashed a big smile for the pack of cameras
What a pro: Despite being in the spotlight in front of a huge crowd of the world's cameras, Eva handled her moment perfectly
What a spectacle: The stars all posed at the bottom of the venue's famous steps before negotiating the stairs in their heels and gowns
Keeping it simple: Victoria Beckham arrived in a typically stylish ensemble, a pair of high-waisted trousers with a bustier top
And pose: Victoria broke out her best pro poses for the snapping cameras
Spicing up Cannes: Victoria even flashed a small smile as she basked in the Cannes atsmosphere
Caroline Scheufele and Victoria attend the 'Cafe Society' premiere and the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival
Caroline and Victoria attend the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival at the Palais des Festivals
A pair of pointed court shoes added height to her look, as did her back-combed brunette mane, which was fixed up at the back of her neck with a slight lift at the crown.
And of course, there was the model contingent making their elegant journeys down the red carpet, with supermodel stunner Bella Hadid leading the leggy pack.
Following in her glorious wake were the likes of Doutzen Kroes and Lily Donaldson, the two ladies cutting flawless figures in black, sweeping gowns.
Model army: (L-R) Doutzen Kroes, Bella Hadid and Lily Donaldson added to the roll-call of A-list names making their way up the crimson runway on Wednesday evening
Oozing glamour: Bella looked sensational in glamorous nude gown as she wowed on the red carpet for the premiere of Cafe Society
Glamour puss: Her slender frame was highlighted by the form-fitting dress which featured gold lace and bronze sequin detailing
In good company: The rising supermodel was accompanied by Fawaz Gruosi who helped the model to look picture perfect in his fashion house's elegant creation
Hold on tight: Bella was forced to stop and lean against her designer date when her dress became caught on the heel of her shoes, with the pair giggling together about the incident
Dark-haired beauty Bella certainly made an impression as she arrived to the star-studded red carpet in a simply gorgeous cut-out gown by De Grisogono.
Her slender frame was highlighted by the form-fitting dress which featured gold lace and bronze sequin detailing.
The 19-year-old accessorised with a statement silver choker and an equally glitzy bracelet.
Stunner: Former VS model Doutzen Kroes also chose to kick off her red carpet appearances at the film festival in a revealing black gown as showcased her enviable frame at the premiere
Wowing them: The mother-of-two posed up a storm in the black dress which had a velvet top which connected to a flowing front-split skirt
J'Adore: The model blew kisses for the crowd as she worked the red carpet like a pro
Let me take a selfie! Doutzen stopped to snap a snap with her pal and Cannes regular Eva
In demand: The camera flashes were dazzling as Doutzen made sure everyone had their shot
Former VS model Doutzen Kroes also chose to kick off her red carpet appearances at the film festival in a revealing black gown as showcased her enviable frame at the premiere.
The mother-of-two posed up a storm in the black dress which had a velvet top which connected to a flowing front-split skirt.
She let the dress take full attention as she swept her hair into a chic half-up do and wore black heels. The 31-year-old Dutch Frisan model's beautiful blue eyes were highlighted by bronze eyeshadow while she rocked a pretty pink lip.
Say cheese! The fun-loving pair struck a pose for the camera
Strike a pose: Lily drew attention to her modest cleavage in the low-cut gown which she teamed with a trendy black choker
All in the detail: She added to the goth vibe with a deep red lip, while her long locks were styled into an oh-so-chic messy plait
Lily flashed the flesh in a daring black dress, with a plunging neckline that barely covered her assets.
The blonde model's racy dress flowed into a floor-length skirt with a subtle shimmering print, while she accessorised with an on-trend choker necklace.
She added to the goth vibe with a deep red lip, while her long locks were styled into an oh-so-chic messy plait.
Pretty in pink: Kirsten Dunst, 34, took to the red carpet for the first time at this year's Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday for the premiere of Woody Allen's Cafe Society along with her fellow jurors
Perfect peepers: Kirsten's piercing eyes were brought out by the lashings of dark mascara and the purplish hue of her eyeshadow
Graceful: Kirsten looked fantastic from every angle as she elegantly made her way up the famous steps
The people to impress: The entire nine-person judging panel assembled side by side on the red carpet for photographs with Kirsten positioned first on left while Vanessa Paradis, 43, was two places to her right
Striking: Vanessa Paradis looked incredible in an artistic white lace dress with pale pink and yellow undertones
Wow-factor: Anna Kendrick pulled out all the stops when she attended the Cannes premiere of Woody Allen's latest movie on Wednesday, joining her Trolls co-star Justin Timberlake on the red carpet
Crowd-pleasers: The pair delighted countless film fans as they posed for the world's media
Suited up: Susan Sarandon oozed class in her stylish black suit worn over a pristine buttoned-up white blouse
Found her buddy! Susan made her way up the steps arm in arm with her pal Naomi Watts
Windswept: Julianne, Susan and Naomi had some trouble with the breezy weather
Backless: Julianne always cuts a classy figure and Wednesday night's proceedings were no different
Three's a cool crowd: Julianne Moore, US actress Susan Sarandon and British actress Naomi Watts arrive for the screening of Cafe Society
Making waves on the other side of the world: Aussie actress Melissa George wowed in white
Standing out: Indian star Mallika Sherawat and Chinese actress and singer Li Bing Bing both chose dramatic gowns
Getting sassy: Li Bing Bing couldn't contain herself at the Opening Night Gala during the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival
Monochrome style: Li Bing Bing kept it simple in a black and white dress which added plenty of glamour
Gold flecks: Gianna Simone dazzled in her strapless number, which was brought to life with gold flecks
Sophisticated: French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay was typically stylish in a black gown
Kirsten Dunst was at her glamorous best in an elegant Gucci dress adorned with large poppy detailing and tied at the waist in a bow with some delicate black fabric.
Posing on the crimson runway in front of the world's media, Kirsten looked beautiful with a full face of make-up expertly applied to ensure she was at her very best.
Smoky eyeshadow and subtle contouring to enhance the definition in her cheeks worked perfectly together for a super-glamorous finish, while her blonde locks were styled in an effortless updo.
Strike a pose: Lily drew attention to her modest cleavage in the low-cut gown which she teamed with a trendy black choker
Centre of attention: Eva got a fit of the giggles as she greeted her friends on the red carpet
Time for a fun one! Eva and Doutzen were captured in a candid moment as their friend took a picture
Beauty: Victoria looked incredible as she lapped up the attention of the world's press
Flawless from every angle: Bella showed off the detail of her gorgeous beaded gown
What a look: Captured in black and white, Eva's dress looks simply stunning
Smile! Doutzen Kroes was seen from above flashing a huge smile as she posed in her glam gown
Stunning shot: Bella Hadid was captured in the evening light as the sun set on the Cannes red carpet
What a dress! Actress Araya A. Hargate had one of the most elaborate gowns of the night
Putting on a show: Once inside the celeb guests were treated to an opening dance number from French actor and Master of Ceremony Laurent Lafitte
The decision makers: Australian director and President of the Jury George Miller (L) and jury members (from 2ndL) Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes, Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, Iranian producer Katayoon Shahabi, Canadian actor Donald Sutherland, French director Arnaud Desplechin, US actress Kirsten Dunst and Italian actress and director Valeria Golino
Talented lot: The jury took to the stage as the 69th annual film festival officially kicked off
Pals: Blake was seen chatting with her shoe designer friend Christian Louboutin once inside
Getting close! Master of Ceremony Laurent Lafitte had quite the smooch ready for French star Catherine Deneuve
Earlier in the day, during the first day of the Cannes Film Festival, the star of the film - Blake - had cut a stunning figure as she attended the photocall for Cafe Societly.
The 28-year-old looked absolutely beautiful as she led the star-studded arrivals wearing a beautiful red jumpsuit which allowed a hint of her baby bump to be seen.
The fitted number was low-cut and had spaghetti straps and had a matching neck tie which added an extra touch of elegance to the look.
Stunning: She's expecting her second child with Ryan Reynolds but Blake Lively still stole the show sartorially when she arrived at the photocall for Woody Allen's new movie, Cafe Society at the opening day of the 69th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday
You guys are all here for me? Actress Blake wore her caramel blonde locks up in a ponytail and she gave a glimpse of her pretty metallic silver sandals as she ascended some steps ahead of her photo opportunity
Actress Blake wore her caramel blonde locks up in a ponytail and she gave a glimpse of her pretty metallic silver sandals as she ascended some steps ahead of her photo opportunity.
The movie tells the story of a young man who arrives in Hollywood during the 1930s hoping to work in the film industry. There, he falls in love, and finds himself swept up in the vibrant cafe society that defined the spirit of the age.
Blake plays the character of Veronica in the movie and stars alongside Kristen Stewart, who plays Vonnie and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Bobbie. It is slated for release on July 15 in the USA.
See Cannes Film Festival updates as pregnant Blake Lively shows a hint of her bump in a jumpsuit at Woody Allen's Cafe Society photocall
A good choice: Blake plays the character of Veronica in the movie and stars alongside Kristen Stewart, who plays Vonnie and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Bobbie. It is slated for release on July 15 in the USA
Growing their family: Blake and husband Ryan are already parents to one-year-old daughter James, who they named after Ryan's late father
That's her story and she's sticking with it: Kristen Stewart looked as though she was alerting everyone to Blake's braless assets but she was in fact looking at something behind her
What's going on here? Luckily Blake had a team on hand to make sure she didn't have a wardrobe malfunction
Wow thing: An illuminating flash bulb highlighted her beautiful features as she showed her stunning smile
What a vision: The girls appeared to be getting on very well as they stood by the branded podium
She was in good company on the day as she giggled with Kristen who looked elegant in a white Chanel skirt, flashing a hint of her toned tummy in a cropped T-shirt.
Of course, she added a punk vibe to her chic ensemble, flaunting her platinum blonde locks and dark roots as she smiled for the cameras. Flashing an inking on her arm, she added some inches to her height with a pair of black and white Christian Louboutin heels.
Clearly they weren't the most comfortable of footwear as she soon whipped them off and carried them in her hands.
A polished look: She was in good company on the day as she giggled with Kristen who looked elegant in a white Chanel skirt, flashing a hint of her toned tummy in a cropped T-shirt
Not comfortable? She soon whipped off her Louboutins after the pain got a little too much
Happy: Blake had a huge smile on her face as she talked to the movie's director Woody Allen and co-star Kristen (right)
Oi oi! Kristen appeared to be in high spirits as she stood with a giant crowd behind her (left) as she snapped away on a disposable camera (right)
Anyone got any sunglasses? Kristen shielded her eyes from the sun as she posed for snaps with Blake and Woody
Talk about popular: The trio attracted mass attention as they worked their magic at the photocall
All stars: (L-R) Kristen Stewart, director Woody Allen, Blake Lively, Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stoll
She wore a smattering of gold chains around her neck and even took some snaps of her fans on a disposable camera.
Director Woody Allen stood alongside the girls and later sat alongside them and Jesse as he accepted questions and answers about the movie from journalists.
He was spotted sneakily checking his phone for messages during a quiet moment.
Hang on, I've got a voicemail! Woody was spotted sneakily checking his phone for messages during a quiet moment as he and Blake were joined by actors Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stroll (far right)
Keeping it real: Jesse cut a casual figure in his jeans and New Balance trainers as he posed with his hands in his pockets
Centre of attention: Blake and Kristen were sat next to the famous director at the busy press conference
Deep in thought: Corey Stoll and Jesse Eisenberg were also happy to answer question as they spoke to members of press
Happy girl: Blake seemed delighted to be taking a place by Woody's side as they spoke about their film
His mother Pamela Anderson starred for years on the iconic Baywatch series.
But it turns out Dylan Jagger Lee has never even seen the show that catapulted his mom into super stardom.
The 18-year-old made the revelation in a new interview for the May issue of Nylon, which sees him model on the beach in what the magazine says is his 'first major photo shoot and interview'.
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Not for him: Dylan Jagger Lee modelled for Nylon magazine as he revealed he hadn't seen a single episode of his mother Pamela's hit series, Baywatch
'I've never even seen one episode,' he told the magazine. 'One time we were in Europe somewhere, and they were still running the show.
'My mom was like, "What? I didn't even know that they still did this." And I was like, "You know what? I've never watched it, and I'm going to keep it that way."'
Dylan's parents are Pamela and rock star Tommy Lee, who were married from 1995 to 1998.
But the teen, who made a splash earlier this year when he starred in a Saint Laurent campaign, is aware he can't rest on his parents laurels.
Surf's up: Lee's jeans were drenched as he struck a pose beside in the surf
The young star described reminding this fact to his friends, who are also the children of successful parents.
Speaking about going to boarding school in British Colombia, Canada, Dylan said: 'Now I think it was so good for me to get out of L.A., because you can get lost.
'A lot of my friends have really successful parents, and they think they can bank on that for the rest of their lives, which they cant.
Introspective: The young model said he was aware he couldn't rest on his parent's laurels
'They're like, "I don't have to go to school." I ask them, "What do you do?" and they're like, "Uhsurf?" You've got to step your game up.'
Earlier this year Dylan starred in what he said on his Instagram account was his 'first shoot ever' - a campaign for Saint Laurent.
The video sees him standing shirtless on the beach in Malibu, holding a surfboard and looking moody. He also plays guitar, strumming in the sand and atop an old car.
Launching pad: Earlier this year Dylan starred in what he said on his Instagram account was his 'first shoot ever' - a campaign for Saint Laurent
Dylan says that while his parents have laughed about his new career in modelling, they both have reacted positively.
'My dad, since I really like music, he likes that. My mom's always been in the fashion-acting [world], and she thinks it's so funny that its starting to happen to me,' he said.
Proud mom Pamela also shared the video, and she has spoken out in the past about how proud she is of him and his older brother Brandon.
'Im really fortunate because it could have been a disaster... I mean, they're genetically loaded,' she told Ellen DeGeneres.
'And I'm so proud of them that theyre such gentlemen, and they're good to their girlfriends and they spoil everybody rotten. And they spoil me rotten. They're just real sweethearts.'
Iconic: Pamela Anderson starred for years as C.J. Parker on the hit series Baywatch
Nicholas Hoult showed up for work in New York on Wednesday with a big smile on his face.
The actor, 26, appears to be relishing his latest role as brilliant but reclusive author J.D. Salinger in the biopic Rebel In the Rye.
The British star, who has had his hair dyed dark brown and cropped for the part, arrived at his trailer on the location set in Greenwich Village in jeans and a t-shirt and clutching a green beverage.
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Happy: Nicholas Hoult smiled as he arrived at his trailer on the location set of Rebel In The Rye on Wednesday. The British actor, 26, is playing reclusive author J.D. Salinger int he biopic
But the About A Boy and X-Men star soon shed his modern apparel for an outfit more suited to the early years of the 20th century.
He was transformed into Salinger with a pair of dark brown trousers with a lighter colored jacket and brown brogues.
The movie tells the story of the writer's rebellious youth, his frontline experiences during the Second World War that left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and the great love and loss of his life - all of which inspired his greatest work.
Back in time: Later, Hoult was seen ready shoot scenes with co-star Kevin Spacey on a street in Greenwich Village, after changing into brown trousers and a lighter jacket from the period
Dramatic story: The two stars headline the film that details Salinger's rebellious youth, his service on the front lines during World War Two that left him with PTSD and the great love and loss of his life
Joining Hoult on set was his co-star Kevin Spacey, who plays noted writer and teacher Whit Burnett.
Burnett edited the magazine Style in the 1940s which published many works of authors who would go on to become major talents.
Spacey, 56, wore two pieces of a gray check suit with a lighter gray shirt and brown tie.
At one point, he picked up a vintage Polaroid camera and smiled as he snapped away while Hoult had his make-up touched up between takes.
Snapper! During a break in filming, Spacey, 56, picked up a vintage Polaroid camera and took photos of Hoult as he was getting his make-up touched up
Say cheese! The Oscar winner also took selfies with his co-star as they stood by a classic burgundy car from the era complete with furry dice
Old technology: Spacey was seen carefully holding the Polaroid photos until they were dry
Spacey also took selfies of the pair as they stood next to a classic burgundy motor from the era.
The House Of cards star then was seen holding the photos by his finger tips as he waited for them to dry.
And as on other days, Spacey was seen tooling around in costume on his beloved Fuzion motorized scooter.
The actor used it to get from his trailer to where the scenes were being shot on the Manhattan street.
Own transport: The American actor was costumed in a waistcoat and trousers from a gray check three-piece suit along with a shirt and brown tie and used his Fuzion motorized scooter to get from his trailer to the shoot
She was considered a siren in her hey-day.
And, clearly, French actress Catherine Deneuve hasn't lost her touch - as she proved when she attended the Cannes Film Festival's opening gala on Wednesday.
The 72 year-old was seen locking lips with French actor and master of ceremony Laurent Lafitte, who is equally a heart-throb.
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Getting close: French actress Catherine Deneuve hasn't lost her touch - as she proved when she attended the Cannes Film Festival's opening gala on Wednesday, where she kissed Laurent Lafitte
The critically-acclaimed star certainly wasn't feeling shy as she took to the stage of the Palais des Festivals et des Congres.
Wearing a floor-length gown with an orange trail for the occasion, she had evidently dressed to impress for her tactile moment.
Sweeping her hair coiffed hair into a classic bouffant, she looked younger than her years - and game for a laugh, too.
See Cannes 2016 updates as Catherine Deneuve kisses actor and host Laurent Lafitte
She's not shy! Wearing a floor-length gown with an orange trail for the occasion, she had evidently dressed to impress for her tactile moment
Locking lips: The critically-acclaimed star certainly wasn't feeling shy as she took to the stage of the Palais des Festivals et des Congres
Embracing the impossibly handsome host as she made her way to the microphone, he leaned out in a comedy pose - expecting a kiss.
She playfully waited a moment, then locked lips with the suited star, who cut a dapper figure in a black tuxedo.
Generating cheers from the audience, the embrace certainly caused quite a stir and got people talking on social media.
Mwah! Embracing the impossibly handsome host as she made her way to the microphone, he leaned out in a comedy pose - expecting a kiss
She playfully waited a moment, then locked lips with the suited star, who cut a dapper figure in a black tuxedo
One said: 'French actress Catherine Deneuve,72, walks onto stage and without a word gives a long smooch to Cannes MC Laurent Lafitte. #OnlyinCannes'.
Ms Deneuve, who was married to celebrated British photographer David Bailey between 1965 and 1972, is widely regarded as one of French cinema's greatest exports.
Last year - Catherine, famed for her roles in The Beauty of the Day and Repulsion - spoke out at Cannes Film Festival this year about her feelings towards social media.
Demure: The veteran actress was given a standing ovation as she walked onto the stage on Wednesday
Getting close: The pair shared a public kiss which generated plenty of interest from the crowd
The star accused a new generation of celebrities for spending too much time projecting their private lives across different online platforms.
Calling the 21st-century celebrity phenomenon a 'pity', she claimed being a star necessarily entails a degree of secrecy, adding it is 'hard' to keep the mystery in a world of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
She said: 'It's the social networks that don't allow people to dream any more.'
Catherine, famed for her roles in The Beauty of the Day and Repulsion, was a major sex symbol in her day
Ms Deneuve, who was married to celebrated British photographer David Bailey between 1965 and 1972, is widely regarded as one of French cinema's greatest exports
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She never fails to impress on the red carpet with her elegant style choices.
And Wednesday night was no exception for Naomi Watts as the A-list actress descended upon the Palais Des Festivals at the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival in the South of France.
The 47-year-old screen star looked sensational in a beautiful lilac gown as she mingled with her fellow Hollywood heavyweights at the opening ceremony gala, which kicked off with a screening of Woody Allen's new film Cafe Society.
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Gorgeous gown: Naomi Watts was the belle of the ball as the 69th annual Cannes Film Festival got underway in the South of France on Wednesday night with a screening of Woody Allen's new film Cafe Society
Work it! Looking absolutely drop-dead gorgeous in pale lilac, Australian star Naomi, 47, cut a divine figure in a strapless column dress
Naomi's elegant column dress boasted pretty silver beading and sequinned embellishment in tiny clusters all over the bodice.
The Australian actress's floor-length number featured subtle gauze tiers running along the length to give the strapless ensemble an extra edge.
The Impossible star added a funky touch to the classic number thanks to a colouful beaded Bulgari necklace, paired with simple silver earrings.
See Cannes 2016 red carpet updates as Naomi Watts stuns in a lilac gown at Cafe Society premiere
What a dress! The chiffon-style material was slightly layered all the way down the skirt, which hit the floor, disguising her strappy silver stilettos
Centre of attention: Naomi worked her magic on the red carpet as the wall of photographers snapped her picture
Pretty in pastels: The striking screen siren looked incredible in the lavender number with its ultra feminine detailing
One to watch: While Naomi posed like a pro for the cameras, Julianne Moore and Susan Sarandon looked on
Elegant as ever: Naomi proved a classic look is often best, turning heads thanks to her modest and sophisticated attire
Stunning: The Impossible actress looked every inch the Hollywood leading lady as she graced the red carpet
She toned down her make-up for the occasion with just a rosy blush and pink lip, styling her locks in deliberately tousled waves.
Naomi proved a classic look is often best, turning heads thanks to her modest and sophisticated attire.
The premiere marked Naomi's second appearance at Cannes since she had attended a promotional event for L'Oreal cosmetics alongside Susan Sarandon.
Fab threesome: Julianne Moore, Susan Sarandon and Naomi joined forces at the opening ceremony
Glittering goddess: Naomi's elegant column dress boasted silver beading and sequin embellishment in tiny clusters all over the bodice
Touch of bling: The actress added some sparkle to her look thanks to a colourful statement Bulgari necklace
Effortless: The classic beauty captured all the attention as she celebrated the opening of the 69th annual film festival
Close friends: Naomi laced an arm around fellow actress Susan's shoulder as they walked the red carpet together
Quick change: Following the red carpet, Naomi arrived at the Opening Gala Dinner in a navy strapless number
Edgy accessories: The actress covered up in a leather jacket and carried a sparkling silver clutch bag in one hand
Keeping the party going: Naomi and Susan were in great spirits as they hit the after-party together
'My L'Orealista sister. We got this,' wrote Naomi on Instagram as she posed next to the 69-year-old Thelma & Louise actress.
Whilst Susan repaid the favour by posting the same snap on her own page, captioned: 'Ready for @naomiwatts to show me the ropes.'
Posing on the balcony of the Hotel Martinez, the stylish stars may have opted for contrasting outfits, but were sartorially in sync with their choice of oversized sunglasses.
Curves: Blake showed off her form hugging dress from every single angle on her way down the red carpet
Having her moment: Julianne turned on her Hollywood smile and worked her poses like a pro as the cameras clicked away at the star-studded opening
Wow-worthy in white: Eva Longoria, 41, was a vision in her angelic, pristine white skirt and glittering long-sleeved top combination
Turning heads: Jessica Chastain stood out in a bright yellow number as she took her turn in front of the cameras on the vast red carpet
Model army: (L-R) Doutzen Kroes, Bella Hadid and Lily Donaldson added to the roll-call of A-list names making their way up the crimson runway on Wednesday evening
Keeping it simple: Victoria Beckham arrived in a typically stylish ensemble, a pair of high-waisted trousers with a bustier top
Earlier in the day, Blake Lively stole the show sartorially when she arrived at the photocall for Woody Allen's new movie, Cafe Society at the opening day of the festival.
The 28-year-old looked absolutely beautiful as she led the star-studded arrivals wearing a beautiful red jumpsuit which allowed a hint of her baby bump to be seen.
The fitted number was low-cut and had spaghetti straps and had a matching neck tie which added an extra touch of elegance to the look.
Stunning: She's expecting her second child with Ryan Reynolds but Blake Lively still stole the show sartorially when she arrived at the photocall for Woody Allen's new movie, Cafe Society at the opening day of the 69th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday
You guys are all here for me? Actress Blake wore her caramel blonde locks up in a ponytail and she gave a glimpse of her pretty metallic silver sandals as she ascended some steps ahead of her photo opportunity
Actress Blake wore her caramel blonde locks up in a ponytail and she gave a glimpse of her pretty metallic silver sandals as she ascended some steps ahead of her photo opportunity.
The movie tells the story of a young man who arrives in Hollywood during the 1930s hoping to work in the film industry. There, he falls in love, and finds himself swept up in the vibrant cafe society that defined the spirit of the age.
Blake plays the character of Veronica in the movie and stars alongside Kristen Stewart, who plays Vonnie and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Bobbie. It is slated for release on July 15 in the USA.
See Cannes Film Festival updates as pregnant Blake Lively shows a hint of her bump in a jumpsuit at Woody Allen's Cafe Society photocall
A good choice: Blake plays the character of Veronica in the movie and stars alongside Kristen Stewart, who plays Vonnie and Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Bobbie. It is slated for release on July 15 in the USA
Growing their family: Blake and husband Ryan are already parents to one-year-old daughter James, who they named after Ryan's late father
That's her story and she's sticking with it: Kristen Stewart looked as though she was alerting everyone to Blake's braless assets but she was in fact looking at something behind her
What's going on here? Luckily Blake had a team on hand to make sure she didn't have a wardrobe malfunction
Wow thing: An illuminating flash bulb highlighted her beautiful features as she showed her stunning smile
What a vision: The girls appeared to be getting on very well as they stood by the branded podium
She was in good company on the day as she giggled with Kristen who looked elegant in a white Chanel skirt, flashing a hint of her toned tummy in a cropped T-shirt.
Of course, she added a punk vibe to her chic ensemble, flaunting her platinum blonde locks and dark roots as she smiled for the cameras. Flashing an inking on her arm, she added some inches to her height with a pair of black and white Christian Louboutin heels.
Clearly they weren't the most comfortable of footwear as she soon whipped them off and carried them in her hands.
A polished look: She was in good company on the day as she giggled with Kristen who looked elegant in a white Chanel skirt, flashing a hint of her toned tummy in a cropped T-shirt
Not comfortable? She soon whipped off her Louboutins after the pain got a little too much
Happy: Blake had a huge smile on her face as she talked to the movie's director Woody Allen and co-star Kristen (right)
Oi oi! Kristen appeared to be in high spirits as she stood with a giant crowd behind her (left) as she snapped away on a disposable camera (right)
Anyone got any sunglasses? Kristen shielded her eyes from the sun as she posed for snaps with Blake and Woody
Talk about popular: The trio attracted mass attention as they worked their magic at the photocall
All stars: (L-R) Kristen Stewart, director Woody Allen, Blake Lively, Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stoll
She wore a smattering of gold chains around her neck and even took some snaps of her fans on a disposable camera.
Director Woody Allen stood alongside the girls and later sat alongside them and Jesse as he accepted questions and answers about the movie from journalists.
He was spotted sneakily checking his phone for messages during a quiet moment.
Hang on, I've got a voicemail! Woody was spotted sneakily checking his phone for messages during a quiet moment as he and Blake were joined by actors Jesse Eisenberg and Corey Stroll (far right)
Keeping it real: Jesse cut a casual figure in his jeans and New Balance trainers as he posed with his hands in his pockets
Centre of attention: Blake and Kristen were sat next to the famous director at the busy press conference
Deep in thought: Corey Stoll and Jesse Eisenberg were also happy to answer question as they spoke to members of press
Happy girl: Blake seemed delighted to be taking a place by Woody's side as they spoke about their film
There is no denying that his relationship with Blac Chyna has changed Rob Kardashian's life.
Since he began dating his now fiance in January the formerly reclusive sock designer has come out of hiding, lost weight, and embraced life.
And now even his reluctant sisters Kim and Khloe are giving the relationship their backing - albeit in begrudging fashion.
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'It's a miracle!' Kim and Khloe Kardashian credit Blac Chyna with transforming Rob... but complain he 'has no loyalty' in KUWTK preview
Opening up: In a new preview clip from Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the pair discuss the romance - eventually deciding that it must be a good thing
In a new preview clip from Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the pair discuss the romance - eventually deciding that it must be a good thing.
Khloe introduces the subject by asking Kim in an obviously planned but meandering fashion: 'D on't we kind of think it's a miracle that Rob, who doesn't even show up to Christmas for the past three years, literally he wouldn't leave his room, but the fact that now he's created a Snapchat, the fact that now he wants to be so public, blows my mind.'
And Kim agrees in the clip for the E! show published on Us Weekly, mentioning Rob's pregnant fiancee by name: 'She gave him confidence, more power to her.
'After Rob and Blac Chyna started dating, Rob is now, like, all over social media and, like, out and about.'
See Kim Kardashian updates as she and Khloe credit Blac Chyna with transforming Rob
All credit to Chyna: Kim lists the ways Rob has changed since he started dating the former exotic dancer back in January; the couple are now engaged and expecting their first child
Baby on the way: Rob and his pregnant fiancee Blac Chyna celebrated her latest business venture on Wednesday night, ahead of her 28th birthday the next day
Chyna found the Kardashian family far from welcoming when she started dating Rob.
Although she was once a friend of Kim's, she was ditched from the inner circle after her ex Tyga dropped her and started dating Kylie Jenner.
That romance is still ongoing - putting the other family members in an undeniably awkward position, not least because Tyga and Chyna share custody of their young son King Cairo.
Not happy: Khloe points out that she was the one to give little brother Rob a home during the years he struggled to cope with the family's fame
Disloyal: Khloe talks about how Rob is no longer talking to her, and didn't pre-warn his little sister Kylie Jenner that he was dating her boyfriend's ex
Kim explained: 'He hasn't been like this in so long that even though there's been some drama then if this is what it takes, then I don't care who he's dating. I'm just so happy that he's feeling better about himself.'
But Khloe points out that she was the one to give little brother Rob a home during the years he struggled to cope with the family's fame.
And she adds with obvious anger: 'He just has no loyalty.'
Got an axe to grind? Despite sticking to the script by offering her brother's relationship support, it's clear Khloe is very annoyed with him
But she finally concludes, in a rather mean-spirited comment: 'If some p**** is getting him to remove his braces and shave his beard and work out...'.
Keeping Up With the Kardashians airs on E! Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
Is that you Khloe? The 31-year-old's face looks very strange as she chats to the camera
She might have had multiple mobile phones in hand, but Lady Victoria Hervey still found herself unable to reach her driver on Wednesday night.
The British socialite was spotted arriving in Nice airport in a casual ensemble and could be seen attempting to contact her driver.
Lady Victoria, 39, was hard to miss as she rocked a brown fur coat and a navy hat with spelled out LA.
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No worries: Lady Victoria Hervey still found herself unable to reach her driver on Wednesday night
She wore the statement outwear over a beige top and grey jeans, while she rocked brown trainers.
Her blonde locks flowed freely underneath her hat while her glowing complexion showed no signs that she had been on a late night flight.
The socialite was recently promoting her book, 'Lady In Waiting', the first title in the 'Wristband Diaries' series.
Walkabout: The British socialite was spotted arriving in Nice airport in a casual ensemble and could be seen attempting to contact her driver
Casual ensemble: The 39-year-old was hard to miss as she rocked a brown fur coat and a navy hat with spelled out LA
Lady Victoria is known for being a model, socialite and aristocrat but she has now been signed on a three book deal with publishers, Totally Entwined.
Speaking to The Bookseller, she said: 'I'm really excited to see my characters and story come to life.
'It's been a dream for as long as I can remember.
Where are you? The socialite was seen calling her driver as she made her way out of the airport
No stress: Her blonde locks flowed freely underneath her hat while her glowing complexion showed no signs that she had been on a late night flight
'I hope the readers will enjoy it as much I have writing it and for those who can relate to it or just use it as a guide book to growing up.'
The books detail the life of a young woman as she struggles to find her place in the world.
Lady Victoria looked a vision in gold as she wore a lemon mini dress that was embellished with delicate flower detailing.
Busy lady: The socialite was recently promoting her book, 'Lady In Waiting', the first title in the 'Wristband Diaries' series
Booming business: Lady Victoria is known for being a model, socialite and aristocrat but she has now been signed on a three book deal with publishers, Totally Entwined
And she styled her golden tresses in a fashioned half-up do the cascaded into curls over her shoulder.
The author went all out on the jewelry front with diamond earrings, a large cuff and a ring so large it almost completely covered her knuckle.
She also off-set her sun kissed glow with eye-popping lashes and a delicate pink lip.
They are two of Australias biggest fashion exports.
So its no wonder Jesinta Campbell and Montana Cox managed to pose up quite the storm for a new swimwear shoot, which was taken in Maroubra, Sydeny on Tuesday.
Basking under the balmy climes beside the beach, Jesinta proudly paraded her incredibly toned physique in a white bikini with detailed blue floral prints.
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Australias biggest fashion exports! Jesinta Campbell and Montana Cox managed to pose up quite the storm for a new swimwear shoot, which was taken in Maroubra on Tuesday
Working their magic: The David Jones ambassadors perfected their alluring pouts and poses as they joined forces for the smouldering beachside shoot
The skimpy two-piece made the most of her sun-kissed frame and emphasised her taut waist to perfection as she worked her magic in the glorious sunshine.
With her long brunette tresses scraped away from her face, the 24-year-olds striking complexion was clearly visible, made-up in muted tones appropriate for the idyllic location.
Meanwhile, fellow model Montana showcased her enviably slim frame in a burnt orange strapless swimming costume for the day's proceedings.
Working their magic: The David Jones ambassadors perfected their alluring pouts and poses as they joined forces for the smouldering beachside shoot
Beach babe: Basking under the balmy climes, Jesinta proudly paraded her incredibly toned physique in a white bikini with detailed blue floral prints
Bronzed beauty: The skimpy two-piece made the most of her sun-kissed frame and emphasised her taut waist to perfection as she worked her magic in the glorious sunshine
The 22-year-olds perfect pins were impressively lean, while her trim hips and slender waistline were accentuated thanks to the seriously low-slung design of the swimwear ensemble.
Her short tousled locks were worn loose for the day, giving her the ultimate beach babe vibe, and she accentuated her complexion with shimmery bronze eye wear.
The David Jones ambassadors perfected their alluring pouts and poses as they joined forces for the smouldering beachside shoot.
A beauty: With her long brunette tresses scraped away from her face, the 24-year-olds striking complexion was clearly visible, made-up in muted tones appropriate for the idyllic location
Bright move! Fellow model Montana showcased her enviably slim frame in a burnt orange strapless swimming costume for the day's proceedings.
Leggy lady: The 22-year-olds perfect pins were impressively lean, while her trim hips and slender waistline were accentuated thanks to the seriously low-slung design of the swimwear ensemble
Working their magic: The David Jones ambassadors perfected their alluring pouts and poses as they joined forces for the smouldering beachside shoot
Montana was crowned the winner of Australia's Next Top Model in 2011, and as the champion she received a modelling contract with Chic Model Management, twenty thousand dollars in cash, a Ford Fiesta and an overseas trip to New York to meet with Next Model Management.
She has since enjoyed a successful career in the modelling industry, signing with international modelling agency IMG and appearing on the catwalk for some of the most highly-regarded fashion houses in the world such as Chanel and Christian Dior.
Doing their thing: The David Jones ambassadors perfected their alluring pouts and poses as they joined forces for the smouldering beachside shoot
Wow things: Their enviably slim figures were impossible to miss as they soaked up the warm climate
Stand-out stars: The models are no stranger to the limelight and were clearly enjoying having all eyes on them during the alluring shoot
Quick fix: At one point, Montana was seen carefully adjusting her strapless swimsuit
Beaming: Both Jesinta and Montana appeared to be in great and content spirits during the shoot
Montana has also appeared on the David Jones catwalk numerous times, starred in campaigns for Australian label Witchery, and taken part in Australian Fashion week - walking for Manning Cartell and Toni Maticevski.
Meanwhile, Jesinta - who is engaged to AFL star Lance 'Buddy' Franklin - was announced as ambassador for David Jones earlier this year.
The Australian beauty is known for winning Miss Universe Australia 2010, before her turn at Miss Universe pageant.
Daring to bare: The striking stars happily put their heavenly bodies on full display
TV fame: Montana was crowned the winner of Australia's Next Top Model in 2011, and as the champion she received a modelling contract with Chic Model Management
Hot talent: She has since enjoyed a successful career in the modelling industry, signing with international modelling agency IMG and appearing on the catwalk for some of the most highly-regarded fashion houses in the world such as Chanel and Christian Dior
In demand: Montana has also appeared on the David Jones catwalk numerous times, starred in campaigns for Australian label Witchery
Popular: Jesinta - who is engaged to AFL star Lance 'Buddy' Franklin - was announced as ambassador for David Jones earlier this year
He was catapulted fame as the dapper Dr Who.
But Matt Smith was clearly off duty when he stepped out in London's Islington on Wednesday afternoon, where he cut a casual figure.
The 33 year-old was seen in Archway, where he was clearly keeping a low profile on a rare day off.
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Fighting fit: Matt Smith was clearly off duty when he stepped out in London's Islington on Wednesday afternoon, where he cut a casual figure
The TV star, who remains one of the better-looking actors to play the timelord, looked hunky in a his choice of attire as he emerged from Dowe Dynamics Gym.
Mixing it up with a pair of grey jogging bottom trousers and some well-worn trainers, he also sported a hooded top and purple, scoop-neck T-shirt.
Decidedly low-key, he still managed to turn heads with his masculine display, while listening to music on his smart phone.
Hunky: The 33 year-old was seen in Archway, where he was clearly keeping a low profile on a rare day off
Looking good: The TV star, who remains one of the better-looking actors to play the timelord, looked hunky in a his choice of attire as he emerged from Dowe Dynamics Gym
Matt recently returned from the US where he filmed two forthcoming productions: Patient Zero and Maplethorpe.
The latter is a look at the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and from his rise to fame in the 1970s.
The latter is a dramatic horror movie which sees a global pandemic turn the majority of humankind into violent infected zombies. Matt's character leads the last survivors on a hunt for Patient Zero and a cure.
The British star played the eleventh Doctor Who from 2010-2013 before returning in 2014 in a cameo capacity, which delighted the show's fanatical sci-fi fans.
He's set to star in Netflix series The Crown as Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh, later in the year.
Busy boy! Matt recently returned from the US where he filmed two forthcoming productions: Patient Zero and Maplethorpe, which are expected to be released later this year
Off-duty dude: Decidedly low-key, he still managed to turn heads with his masculine display, while listening to music on his smart phone
Sadly, there was no sign of Matt's gorgeous girlfriend, Lily James. The pair made their red carpet debut as a couple in February 2015 at the Milan premiere of her film, Cinderella.
The couple are quite private when it comes to their relationship and speaking previously, Lily admitted she was worried about talking publicly about her love life in case it all went wrong.
She told InStyle: 'In regards to your love life, youre just entering into a whole of pain if you talk about it. If youve never said anything, there are no sound bites to haunt you when youre crying into a box of Kleenex after it all goes wrong.'
However, things are going so well between them that the two British stars were recently rumoured to be searching for their first house together in London's Primrose Hill.
Less is more: Mixing it up with a pair of grey jogging bottom trousers and some well-worn trainers, he also sported a hooded top and purple, scoop-neck T-shirt
They are gearing up for the release of their highly-anticipated film, Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
And Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are very much in the midst of their promotional campaign as they were pictured stepping out of global radio studios in London on Wednesday.
The comical duo were seen getting helped out of the studio building and making their way into a waiting car as they no doubt headed off to their next interview destination.
On to the next one: Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley are very much in the midst of their promotional campaign as they were pictured stepping out of global radio studios in London on Wednesday
Jennifer wrapped up in an all navy ensemble while Joanna teamed her dark ensemble with a floral patterned scarf and a khaki fedora hat.
Joanna and Jennifer are no strangers to rubbing shoulders with stars, as no less than sixty celebrity guest stars have joined the Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
As well as Kate, designer to the stars Stella McCartney, Mad Men's Jon Hamm and Aussie A-lister Rebel Wilson, the cameos keep coming, with appearances from the likes of Barry Humphries aka Dame Edna Everage, Graham Norton, Jeremy Paxman, Jerry Hall, Dame Joan Collins, Pam Hogg, Perez Hilton and Wanda Ventham.
This way, dahling: The comical duo were seen getting helped out of the studio building and making their way into a waiting car as they no doubt headed off to their next interview destination
Ab fab: Jennifer wrapped up in an all navy ensemble while Joanna teamed her dark ensemble with a floral patterned scarf and a khaki fedora hat
The official synopsis for the film reads: 'Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around Londons trendiest hotspots.
'Blamed for a major incident at an uber fashionable launch party, they become entangled in a media storm and are relentlessly pursued by the paparazzi.
'Fleeing penniless to the glamorous playground of the super-rich, the French Riviera, they hatch a plan to make their escape permanent and live the high life forevermore!'
Busy ladies: Joanna and Jennifer are no strangers to rubbing shoulders with stars, as no less than sixty celebrity guest stars have joined the Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
Ta-rah: The official synopsis for the film reads: 'Edina and Patsy are still oozing glitz and glamour, living the high life they are accustomed to; shopping, drinking and clubbing their way around Londons trendiest hotspots
Meanwhile Jane Horrocks as Bubble, Celia Imrie as Claudia Bing and June Whitfield as Mother are back reprising their roles.
As well as starring in the film, Saunders wrote the script, which was directed by Mandie Fletcher, produced by Jon Plowman and Damian Jones.
The original TV series was first broadcast in 1992 and continued for five seasons.
The film hits cinemas in the UK on July 1, 2016 with US and Australia release dates of July 22 and August 11, respectively.
Legal culling of wolves increases poaching: study
Allowing the legal culling of wild wolves in order to discourage illegal poaching is counter-productive, researchers reported Wednesday in a study that challenges long-practised conservation strategy.
During a 15-year period when wildlife management policies in two US states flipped half-a-dozen times, growth in wolf populations slowed systematically whenever culling was permitted, even after controlling for the number of animals legally killed, they found.
"Ours is the first study to quantify this mechanism," said Guillaume Chapron, a professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Riddarhyttan, of the research published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
For decades, local and national authorities in Europe and the United States have authorised the controlled killing of wolves within the framework of conservation efforts Jussi Nukari (Lehtikuva/AFP/File)
"What we found is that when the government allowed culling, the wolf population grew 25 percent less," he told AFP. "And this is due to poaching."
For decades, local and national authorities in Europe and the United States have authorised the controlled killing of wolves, bears, big cats and other endangered species within the framework of conservation efforts.
In calling for the removal of protected status for grizzlies in Yellowstone Park, for example, the US Fish and Wildlife Service argued earlier this year that legal hunting would "increase tolerance and local acceptance of grizzly bears and reduce poaching."
Governments in Norway, Sweden, Finland, France and other European countries have put in place similar policies, even as they acknowledge that there was no scientific literature to back up their claims.
In Finland, for example, 20 percent of the wolf population was legally eliminated last year, roughly 50 out of 250 individuals.
To see if this widespread approach actually works, Chapron and Adrian Treves of the University of Wisconsin took advantage of a legal tug-of-war between wildlife advocates and state governments in Wisconsin and Minnesota that resulted in twelve distinct time periods when culling was alternately allowed and banned.
- Fair game -
"For us scientists, it created a quasi-experiment that we would never have been able to set up otherwise," Chapron said.
But once the researchers had determined that wolf numbers declined even beyond the number culled during periods of legal hunting, they still had to figure out why.
One hypothesis was that the wolves somehow knew that they were suddenly fair game and migrated across state lines beyond the reach of hunters.
This, obviously, was more than unlikely. A second theory, however, was harder to dismiss.
Sometimes populations of big carnivores -- which require large areas to hunt -- hit a saturation point, something scientists call "density dependence."
It was theoretically possible that this had happened each time culling was authorised, thus accounting for the reduced rate of growth.
But that would only be true if there was less breeding, which turned out not to be the case.
"What remained -- the only other plausible explanation -- was illegal killing, or poaching," Chapron said.
Exactly why people might feel more inclined to kill endangered species when culling is allowed is a question for social psychologists, he added.
But other research has suggested that when governments start to dispatch big carnivores, or issue permits for other to do so, it leaves the impression that the animals are not truly in need of protection.
"Maybe the poacher is thinking, 'OK, now the state is killing wolves, so why can't I do it myself?'," Chapron said.
In calling for the removal of protected status for grizzlies in Yellowstone Park, the US Fish and Wildlife Service argued earlier this year that legal hunting would 'increase tolerance and local acceptance of grizzly bears and reduce poaching' Karen Bleier (AFP/File)
Trump rolls unrivaled, Sanders takes West Virginia
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump cruised to victory in two more states, while Bernie Sanders beat rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia, bolstering his case for remaining in the race.
Massive wins in West Virginia and Nebraska put Trump ever closer to clinching the 1,237 delegates he needs to be declared the party's nominee at its convention in July.
"Thank you West Virginia!" and "Thank you Nebraska!" he said in a pair of tweets.
US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally in Atlantic City, New Jersey Jewel Samad (AFP)
Now the sole Republican candidate in the contest after his remaining rivals dropped out last week, Trump is transitioning from the fierce primary battles with the likes of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to a general election showdown with Clinton, even amid deep Republican discord about the celebrity billionaire.
He has narrowed his picks for running mate, telling Fox News he is considering five vice president options.
"I think they are excellent," he added. "I'll announce whoever it will be at the convention" in Cleveland, Ohio, Trump said.
With Republican concern about their nominee sizzling, a Quinnipiac University poll out Tuesday showed Trump closing in on Clinton's lead in two major battleground states -- Florida and Pennsylvania -- and overtaking her in swing state Ohio.
No candidate has won the presidential election without taking at least two of those three states.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell seized on the polls, telling reporters, "the early indications are that our nominee is likely to be very competitive."
- Unyielding Sanders -
Despite Clinton's overwhelming delegate lead, Sanders ensured the race would go on with his win in West Virginia, where he won more than 51 percent to Clinton's 36 percent with more than 95 percent of the vote counted.
With eight contests remaining, "we think we have a good chance to win many of those states," Sanders told supporters Tuesday in San Francisco, according to CBS News.
"We now have won primaries and caucuses in 19 states," Sanders was reported as saying at another rally in Oregon. "Let me be as clear as I can be: We are in this campaign to win the Democratic nomination."
Quinnipiac's poll also found that Sanders, a democratic socialist who commands an enthusiastic following on the left, would do better against Trump than Clinton in all three states if he were the Democratic nominee.
The 74-year-old Vermont senator, who defeated Clinton in Indiana, has mounted an unyielding come-from-behind challenge that has exposed weaknesses in the former secretary of state's campaign.
Although almost certain to win the Democratic nomination -- she is only about 160 delegates short of that goal -- Clinton's ability to excite young and white working-class Democrats going into the general election has been put in doubt by Sanders's primary successes.
But she has used her campaign stops in Appalachia -- including an event in Kentucky, which holds its Democratic primary on May 17 -- as opportunities to win over blue-collar white voters.
However, in coal-mining West Virginia, Clinton shot herself in the foot in March by telling voters in neighboring Ohio she would slash mining jobs and put coal companies "out of business."
She later apologized and suggested her remarks were misunderstood, but in a state where livelihoods have hinged on coal for generations, many are unconvinced.
- Trump challenges -
While Clinton still has Sanders to worry about, Trump faces a rebellion within the Republican leadership over the insulting tone and shifting substance of his candidacy.
House Speaker Paul Ryan last week announced he was "not ready" to support Trump, a rare rebuke that put the power struggles within the Republican Party on very public display.
Ryan and other Republican congressional leaders were due to huddle with Trump Thursday in Washington in highly anticipated meetings that could help gauge GOP support for the real estate tycoon.
Trump appeared to offer an olive branch late on Tuesday, saying he wants Ryan to remain chairman of the Cleveland convention.
"I'd love frankly for him to stay and be chairman," he told Fox News.
McConnell said he expected "a cordial meeting to discuss the way forward."
It may be thorny, however. Although a defeated Cruz ruled out a third-party bid, when pressed by reporters as he returned to the US Senate he declined to say whether he would endorse Trump.
Rubio said he would "support the Republican nominee" but not offer an outright endorsement.
The Republican establishment is still reeling from Trump's hostile takeover of the party, aghast at positions he's taken on trade, foreign policy and taxes that fly in the face of conservative dictums.
But Trump has shown no sign of backing down as some Republicans are looking to heal, embrace the nominee and turn to defeating Clinton in November.
"I think the party needs to come together," said Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican nominee.
Now the sole Republican candidate in the contest after his remaining rivals dropped out, Donald Trump is transitioning from the fierce primary battles to a general election showdown Timothy A. Clary (AFP/File)
Although almost certain to win the Democratic nomination Hillary Clinton's ability to excite young and white working-class Democrats has been put in doubt Gabrielle Lurie (AFP)
Children, babies dying in Nigeria camp for Boko Haram suspects: Amnesty
Amnesty International on Wednesday urged Nigeria to shut down a military detention facility for Boko Haram suspects after nearly 150 people, among them children and babies, died there in custody.
The human rights monitor has previously criticised the treatment of civilian detainees and "inhumane" conditions at the Giwa barracks in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria.
In a new report, it claimed at least 149 people had died at the camp this year alone, 12 of them children. The victims included 10 boys and two girls, most of whom were under five. The youngest was five months old.
Nigerian troops patrol in Maiduguri in Borno State, a region of northeast Nigeria where Boko Haram is active Stefan Heunis (AFP/File)
"The discovery that babies and young children have died in appalling conditions in military detention is both harrowing and horrifying," said Amnesty's Africa director Netsanet Belay.
"We have repeatedly raised the alarm over the high death rate of detainees in Giwa barracks but these findings show that, for both adults and children, it remains a place of death.
"There can be no excuses and no delay. The detention facilities in Giwa barracks must be immediately closed and all detainees released or transferred to civilian authorities."
- 250 people per cell -
In a report entitled: "'If you see it, you will cry': Life and death in Giwa barracks", Amnesty interviewed former detainees and eye-witnesses who said many died from disease, hunger, dehydration and injury.
In March, a total of around 1,200 people, including some 120 children, were believed to be detained at the barracks in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions.
Improvements put in place since previous criticisms of the facility, appear to have been cancelled out by an increase in mass detentions in the ongoing military counter-insurgency, the report stated.
Witnesses were quoted as saying 12 children had died since February and that disease was rife because of overcrowding in three women's cells where young children and babies were being held.
Since last year, the number of detainees had risen from 25 per cell to 250, the report said.
"There are many children with us in the cell (aged) between one month and one year. The cell is too congested, you can't turn from right to left when you sleep," one woman was quoted as saying.
Witnesses said soldiers ignored pleas for medical attention, diseases such as measles and diarrhoea were common, and there was a lack of cleaning facilities.
"It is like a toilet," said one man.
Other complaints included the splitting up of families who were arrested together, and a lack of food and water.
- Bodies in rubbish trucks -
Nigeria's military has not denied it has detained children.
On February 12, the army said it had cleared and released 275 detainees, including 50 children, who had been detained on suspicion of involvement in "terrorism or insurgency".
Amnesty claimed that none of them had been brought before a court or allowed access to lawyers while in detention, in violation of domestic and international law.
Gravediggers at Maiduguri's biggest cemetery in the Gwange district told AFP in February that civilians who died in Giwa barracks were buried at the site.
The report said 136 men had died in addition to the 12 children since January and that bodies from Giwa were brought to a local mortuary in a rubbish truck "two or three times a week".
The London-based rights group has previously accused the military of summarily executing more than 600 detainees who escaped from Giwa in March 2014 after a Boko Haram attack.
Last June, Amnesty catalogued a list of actions carried out by senior army commanders during operations against Boko Haram that it said constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to look into those claims, saying the government "will not tolerate or condone impunity and reckless disregard for human rights".
N. Korea looks back to the future
North Korea's first ruling party congress for nearly four decades proclaimed the formal start of the Kim Jong-Un era, but the event was more notable for nods to the past than promises for the future.
Analysts looking for signs of substantive policy shifts or reforms under the young leader were given little to go on, as the 33-year-old Kim signalled few changes at home and a continued foreign policy of belligerent defiance backed by an expanding nuclear arsenal.
Widely seen as a formal coronation for Kim, who inherited power after the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il, in late 2011, the congress had always threatened to be more about spectacle than substance.
Performers take part in a torchlight parade on Kim Il-Sung square during festivities marking the end of the 7th Workers Party Congress in Pyongyang on May 10, 2016 Ed Jones (AFP)
But even the symbolic highlights were backward looking, with the final session of the four-day conclave on Monday appointing Kim to the post of party chairman.
The "chairman" title was used by his grandfather, the country's revered founding leader Kim Il-Sung, during the 1950s and 60s -- a relative golden period of rapid post-Korean War recovery and industrialisation that saw the North's economy race ahead of the capitalist South's.
The young Kim bears a striking physical resemblance to his grandfather -- a similarity he has played up in a clear attempt to co-opt the founder's legacy.
During the congress, Kim sported a western-style suit and tie -- a look also favoured on occasion by Kim Il-Sung, while Kim Jong-Il always opted for a so-called "Mao suit" buttoned to the neck for formal events.
-- Party time again --
If the leader's new title and sartorial choices harked back to a previous era, so in one sense did the entire congress, which sealed a comeback -- engineered by Kim Jong-Un -- for a ruling party that had ceded significant political power to the military during his father's rule.
"It's a return to the ruling structure of his grandfather, when the whole governing system was more functional," said Michael Madden, editor of North Korea Leadership Watch website.
"It seems Kim Jong-Un is not only interested in looking like his grandfather, he also wants to govern in the same way," Madden said.
Elections to key party organisations at the congress saw a cut in the number of uniformed military officers in senior posts, and the downsizing of the party's central military commission.
But the generational shift in the senior leadership that some analysts had predicted never came about.
"You have to remember that these systems move at a glacial pace," said Madden. "We were never going to see a bunch of 25-year-olds suddenly climbing on to the rostrum."
-- Policy stagnation --
On the policy front, the congress largely opted to reinforce the status quo, trumpeting the North's view of itself as a full-fledged nuclear weapons state and firmly endorsing the push to both improve and expand the country's nuclear arsenal.
There were few signs of any economic reform, with Kim Jong-Un unveiling a new five-year plan that was short on detail but full of rhetorical ambition about boosting production.
"The pivot to the economy disappointed," said Stephan Haggard, a North Korea expert at the Petersen Institute for International Economics.
"It showed a leadership still unable to clearly distinguish between grandiose objectives and showcase projects, and the less glamorous slog of incremental reforms," Haggard said.
"If this congress sought to send any messages to the outside world ... the message was 'get used to us continuing to do what we have been doing'," he added.
-- Political theatre --
The lack of policy innovation raises the question of what the congress -- the first to be held since 1980 -- was actually for.
For some, it was essentially nothing more than a piece of political theatre, with Kim Jong-Un firmly front and centre stage for the duration.
After more than four years in power characterised by purges, nuclear tests and missile launches, Kim has consolidated his position as North Korea's only leading man, and one who will remain top of the bill for the foreseeable future.
"The congress was a purely political event for the leadership to justify itself," said Chang Yong-Seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University.
"It was all about idolising Kim and demonstrating loyalty. In the end, that was really the only purpose," Chang said.
Participants and military personnel look at North Korea's leader during a mass parade marking the end of the 7th Workers Party Congress in Kim Il-Sung square in Pyongyang on May 10, 2016 Ed Jones (AFP)
Participants wave flowers during a mass parade marking the end of the 7th Workers Party Congress in Kim Il-Sung square in Pyongyang on May 10, 2016 Ed Jones (AFP)
Clear, crunchy and counterfeit: China's fake jellyfish
A tonne of man-made "jellyfish" has been seized by China's police, adding a new ingredient to the country's long recipe of fake foods.
The marine animal is a popular appetiser in China, known for its crisp but fleshy texture, often shredded and pickled in salt, vinegar and a little sugar.
Fake "jellyfish", made from chemicals, was first found at a food market in Huzhou, in the coastal province of Zhejiang, the local government said on its website.
Jellyfish are a popular appetiser in China, known for its crisp but fleshy texture, often shredded and pickled in salt, vinegar and a little sugar Wang Zhao (AFP/File)
They had a high aluminium content, long term consumption of which can damage bones and nerves, and lead to memory loss and mental decline.
China is prone to food safety scandals as businesses, sometimes in collusion with corrupt officials, often ignore standards and regulations in pursuit of profit.
The vendors' suppliers in neighbouring Jiangsu sold more than 10 tonnes before being caught, and between them the two gangs raked in over 170,000 yuan ($26,000), the local government said.
A total of six suspects were detained in two raids and police were investigating further, it added.
In 2008, several infants died and thousands fell ill because of baby milk powder tainted by a chemical additive.
Alone and at risk: Sierra Leone's baby-faced mothers
Dizzy and sweating, 15-year-old Isatu Koroma sits with her eyes closed in the maternity ward in Sierra Leone where she has spent the last 10 days, as her tiny little daughter begins to cry.
Koroma badly needs blood after a complicated delivery -- relatives are expected to donate here but none has visited, also leaving the nurses to pay for her to eat.
Health workers in the west African country are battling a teenage pregnancy epidemic that peaked when the Ebola crisis was at its height late in 2014, and they say it shows no sign of slowing.
Isatu Koroma, 15, breastfeeds her baby at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital in Freetown Marco Longari (AFP)
Ward sister Josephine Samba describes the girl's pregnancy as "an accident", whispering that Koroma's own mother died two months after she was born as she cajoles her into breastfeeding the as yet unnamed baby.
Schoolgirls are so regularly admitted to Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH) in Freetown that they attract little attention.
Coyness about discussing sex in Sierra Leone veils the fact that during the chaos of the Ebola crisis many teenagers were raped or forced to have sex for money to contribute to household expenses, according to research by several children's charities and UN agencies.
"There were a lot more (teen pregnancies) during the Ebola breakout. Most of them were at home. There was no school, so everything was just upside down," Samba says.
After Sierra Leone announced its first Ebola cases in May 2014, schools were closed and movement severely restricted, leaving girls more vulnerable to abuse.
Since then the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has counted more than 18,000 teenage pregnancies, with the number of pregnant girls up by 65 percent in certain districts.
- Unsafe abortion -
Internationally recognised as the country with the world's highest maternal mortality rate, at 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births, Sierra Leone could ill afford the blow to its health system that Ebola dealt, diverting resources and staff away from maternal health.
The result is thousands of girls who will never live to become women, as UNFPA estimates that 40 percent of all maternal deaths occur among those under 18.
A lack of birth control and conservative abortion laws mean that many girls, upon realising they are pregnant and fearing they will be forced to drop out of school, attempt to abort with drugs or seek out backstreet providers who employ methods such as bicycle spokes to terminate pregnancies.
Louise Nordstrom, a Swedish midwife working on a UNFPA training programme for birth attendants at the hospital, described a recent, typical case of a young student who arrived at PCMH with severe stomach pains.
"You could see she was in agony. I asked her if she knew she was pregnant," Nordstrom said, keeping one eye on a screaming woman waiting to be taken to theatre for an emergency caesarian section.
"Soon after she went to pee in a bed pan and out came the dead foetus. It was very obvious she had been taking some drugs at home; she knew she was pregnant; she was afraid and didn't want to have the baby so she induced an abortion herself."
Many girls wait until it's far too late before seeking hospital care, says Alimamy Philip Koroma (no relation to the teenage mother), one of Sierra Leone's pre-eminent obstetric and gynaecology specialists.
"Some of them don't even come to the antenatal clinic, they stay at home because of fear of their (school) colleagues seeing them," he told AFP.
"Sometimes their pelvis is not prepared enough to have a child," he said, also referring to haemorrhage and septicaemia as particular risks for girls arriving after attempting unsafe abortions.
- School dropouts -
In this difficult context, Mohammed El Hassein, reproductive health specialist at UNFPA, said the three priorities were to improve progress in the uptake of family planning, bolster the image of midwives and ensure access to emergency obstetric care.
But the problem is particularly entrenched among young people.
"We are trying to train the (contraception) providers to be youth-friendly," he told AFP.
And for those who survive childbirth, life choices are restricted.
The government has only recently allowed school-aged mothers to go back to class and many of those who do lack the support they need.
"Before the reopening of school the child was very small and on breast milk. There was no one to take care of her except me," said Neima Foday, 19, speaking to AFP in the town of Kailahun with 13-month-old baby Ishmail on her knee.
"I'm a bit worried because my friends are attending school and I'm not," she said, adding that without an education she knew money would always be a problem.
Asked if Ishmail's father was contributing to his son's upkeep, Foday shook her head.
"I haven't seen him since I told him I was pregnant," she said.
Health workers in Sierra Leone are battling a teenage pregnancy epidemic that peaked when the Ebola crisis was at its height late in 2014 Marco Longari (AFP)
Coyness about discussing sex in Sierra Leone veils the fact that during the chaos of the Ebola crisis many teenagers were raped or forced to have sex for money Marco Longari (AFP)
The UN Population Fund has counted more than 18,000 teenage pregnancies in Sierra Leone, with the number of pregnant girls up by 65% in certain districts Marco Longari (AFP)
'Flesh banquets' of China's Cultural Revolution remain unspoken, 50 years on
In the frenzy of China's Cultural Revolution, victims were eaten at macabre "flesh banquets", but 50 years after the turmoil began, the Communist Party is suppressing historical reckoning of the era and its excesses.
Launched by Mao in 1966 to topple his political enemies after the failure of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution saw a decade of violence and destruction nationwide as party-led class conflict devolved into social chaos.
Teenage Red Guards beat teachers to death for being "counter-revolutionaries" and family members denounced one another while factions clashed bitterly for control across the country.
Chinese police stand guard in front of a giant portrait of ex-leader Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Mao's Cultural Revolution lasted from 1966-1976. Mark Ralston (AFP/File)
But the Communist Party -- which long ago decided that Mao was "70 percent right and 30 percent wrong" -- does not allow full discussion of events and responsibility.
Some of the worst excesses happened in Wuxuan, in the far southern region of Guangxi, where the hearts, livers and genitals of victims were cut out and fed to revellers.
Now, five decades after the declaration of the Cultural Revolution on May 16, the town has frozen yoghurt shops, men fish a river beneath mossy limestone karsts, and red banners hang from trees proclaiming the ruling party's dedication to the people.
Some residents say they have never heard of the dozens of acts of cannibalism, motivated by political hatred rather than hunger, that once stained the streets with blood.
At least 38 people were eaten in Wuxuan, a high-ranking member of an early 1980s official investigation told AFP, asking not to be named for fear of repercussions.
- 'No meaning' -
"All the cannibalism was due to class struggle being whipped up, and was used to express a kind of hatred," he said. "The murder was ghastly, worse than beasts."
Scholars say the violence resulted from Wuxuan's remote location, the ruthless regional Communist leader, poverty and bitter factionalism.
"In 10 years of catastrophe, Guangxi not only saw numerous deaths, they were also of appalling cruelty and viciousness," the retired cadre wrote in an unpublished manuscript seen by AFP.
"There were beheadings, beatings, live burials, stonings, drownings, boilings, group slaughters, disembowellings, digging out hearts, livers, genitals, slicing off flesh, blowing up with dynamite, and more, with no method unused."
In 1968 a geography instructor named Wu Shufang was beaten to death by students at Wuxuan Middle School. The body was carried to the flat stones of the Qian river where another teacher was forced at gunpoint to rip out the heart and liver. Back at the school the pupils barbecued and consumed the organs.
Today the institution has been relocated and rebuilt, and current students shook their heads when asked if they were aware of what happened.
Residents of the old town say they do not know the history or meet questions with silence. The few willing to discuss the violence say memories are fading and the town is eager to escape its past.
- Breaking the silence -
"Cannibalism? I was here then, I went through it," a man named Luo told AFP. But Wuxuan has developed rapidly in recent years and now, he said, that history "has no meaning".
"This was not cannibalism because of economic difficulties, like during famine," X.L. Ding, a Cultural Revolution expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told AFP.
"It was not caused by economic reasons, it was caused by political events, political hatred, political ideologies, political rituals."
For 15 years, rumours of the carnage in Guangxi -- which one official estimated left as many as 150,000 people dead -- rippled across China, and eventually authorities sent a group to investigate.
The report was never released publicly. The outside world only learned of the slaughter when journalist Zheng Yi smuggled documents out of China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings and published his book "Scarlet Memorial" -- banned on the mainland.
More recently a senior inquiry team member has sought to spread awareness in China, but his efforts have been suppressed, he told AFP.
The cadre once wrote an article for a small-circulation liberal Chinese magazine, describing the investigation findings, and saying tens of thousands died, with more than 100 people taking part in cannibalism.
- Suppressed history -
Retired regional officials responded with a written denunciation sent to top Communist bodies, accusing him of falsifying facts and demanding he submit a self-criticism, rectify his errors, and apologise personally.
"They said I was anti-party, anti-socialist, anti-Mao Zedong Thought," he said.
In recent months he took a manuscript to a publisher, but refused to cut some passages.
"Before I retired I didn't dare say 'no' to the Party," he said.
Nowadays government control over the media and public opinion is tightening, said the cadre: "It's absolutely clear, that to establish their own authority, they control public opinion."
No official commemorations of the anniversary are expected.
Academic Ding said the Communist Party fears recalling the officially-sanctioned chaos and violence could undermine its legitimacy.
"The more you talk about such things, the more current CCP leaders are worried," he said.
The suppression of knowledge and discussion worries author Zheng, who is now a dissident living in the United States.
He told AFP: "Because the government has never permitted a deep examination of history, it's impossible to say that lessons have been learned."
An artwork depicting the violence of the Cultural Revolution on display at Fan Jianchuan's museum near Chengdu, in Sichuan province Mark Ralston (AFP/File)
Chinese Red Guards wave copies of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book," in Beijing at the start of the Great Cultural Revolution in 1966
A poster is displayed in late 1966 in a street in Beijing showing how to deal with so-called "enemies of the people" during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution Jean Vincent (AFP)
A family in their house with a portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong in the old town of Wuxuan, in south China's Guangxi province Greg Baker (AFP)
Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966 and the campaign resulted in a decade of violence and social chaos across China
A vendor sells Cultural Revolution-era memorabilia at a Beijing weekend flea market Frederic Brown (AFP/File)
Clashes in Bangladesh after Islamist leader's hanging
Bangladesh police fired rubber bullets at protesters on Wednesday, after the execution of a top Islamist leader heightened tensions in a country reeling from the murders of several secular and liberal activists.
The violence came as police charged Khaleda Zia, leader of the main Bangladesh opposition, with masterminding arson attacks during anti-government protests last year -- the latest in a string of charges she claims are politically motivated.
Hours earlier her main political ally, Motiur Rahman Nizami, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, was hanged at a Dhaka jail for the massacre of intellectuals during the 1971 independence war with Pakistan.
Bangladeshi activists gather outside Dhaka's Central Jail where Nizami was executed for war crimes, early on May 11, 2016
Police said hundreds of Nizami's supporters attacked them with stones in the northwestern city of Rajshahi, where a liberal professor was killed by suspected Islamists last month.
"There were 500 Jamaat activists who were protesting the execution. We fired rubber bullets as they became violent," Rajshahi police inspector Selim Badsah told AFP, adding that about 20 were arrested.
Jamaat and ruling party supporters also clashed in Chittagong, where about 2,500 Islamists attended a service for the executed leader, the port city's deputy police chief Masudul Hasan told AFP.
Security was tight across the country, with checkpoints erected on main roads in Dhaka to deter violence and thousands of police patrolling the capital.
Nizami, a 73-year-old former government minister, was the fifth and most senior opposition figure executed since the secular administration set up a controversial war crimes tribunal in 2010.
Pakistan's foreign ministry said Wednesday it was "deeply saddened" by the hanging.
Security was also stepped up at Nizami's ancestral district of Pabna, where his body was taken under armed escort for burial in his family's grave.
Jamaat called a nationwide strike for Thursday in protest at Nizami's execution, saying the charges against him were false and aimed at eliminating the party's leadership.
- Jamaat 'death knell' -
Executions of Jamaat officials in 2013 triggered the country's deadliest violence in decades. Around 500 people were killed, mainly in clashes between Islamists and police.
But another wave of bloodshed is considered unlikely following a major crackdown by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government that has seen tens of thousands of Jamaat supporters detained.
Secular protesters cheered the midnight hanging, and hundreds gathered outside the jail and at a square in central Dhaka overnight to celebrate what they described as an historic moment.
Mubashar Hasan, an assistant professor at Bangladesh's University of Liberal Arts, said Tuesday's execution may sound the death knell for the already embattled Jamaat.
"With the execution of Nizami, the Jamaat leadership who revived the fortune of the party in the post-1971 period are now almost gone," he said.
The hanging comes amid a wave of gruesome murders by suspected Islamists, with an atheist student, two gay rights activists, a professor, a Hindu tailor and a Sufi Muslim leader hacked to death since last month.
The Islamic State and a Bangladesh branch of Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for several murders, but the government blames homegrown extremists and accuses the opposition of trying to destabilise the country.
Opposition leader Zia, the premier's bitter rival, was charged earlier this year over a deadly fire-bombing of a bus in Dhaka during a 2015 nationwide transport blockade aimed at toppling the government.
Nizami took over as Jamaat leader in 2000 and played a key role in the victory of an Islamist-allied government in the 2001 general election.
The 1971 conflict, one of the bloodiest in world history, led to the creation of an independent Bangladesh from what was then East Pakistan.
Prosecutors said Nizami was responsible for setting up the pro-Pakistani Al-Badr militia, which killed top writers, doctors and journalists in the most gruesome chapter of the war.
He was convicted in October 2014 by the International Crimes Tribunal, which has sentenced more than a dozen opposition leaders for war crimes in trials criticised by rights groups.
Motiur Rahman Nizami, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Bangladesh, pictured here in 2014, was hanged on May 10, 2016, at a prison in the capital Dhaka
Secular protesters cheered the hanging, with hundreds gathered outside the jail and at a square in central Dhaka overnigh
Bangladeshi security personnel stand guard outside a jail in Dhaka on May 10, 2016, where convicted Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami was being held
India to seek tycoon Mallya's extradition from Britain
India will seek to extradite indebted tycoon Vijay Mallya, the country's finance minister said on Wednesday, after Britain turned down its request to deport him.
Arun Jaitley told parliament that Britain had refused to deport Mallya, who left India owing $1.34 billion, because he entered the country on a valid passport, even though it was later revoked.
The 60-year-old beer baron, once dubbed the King of Good Times for his lavish lifestyle, is being chased by a group of lenders over unpaid loans made to his collapsed carrier, Kingfisher Airlines.
Vijay Mallya is being pursued by a group of mostly state-run lenders over loans made to his collapsed carrier Kingfisher Airlines Mark Thompson (Getty/AFP/File)
He faces a money-laundering probe by India's financial crimes agency.
"Their (UK authorities') procedures say that if his entry into the country was on a valid passport and later it got cancelled then that doesn't result in an automatic deportation," Jaitley told parliament.
"There is another legal procedure for extradition which will continue."
New Delhi revoked Mallya's diplomatic passport last month after he repeatedly failed to appear before investigators, and asked Britain to deport the tycoon, who left India on March 2.
His massive debt has become a symbol of Indian banks' vast volume of bad loans -- meaning in default or close to it -- seen as a threat to financial stability in Asia's third-largest economy.
In declining the request, the UK government cited the 1971 Immigration Act which does not require an individual to hold a valid passport to remain in the country if they entered on one, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said.
"At the same time, the UK acknowledges the seriousness of allegations and is keen to assist the government of India," Vikas Swarup said.
"They have asked (the) government of India to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition."
An Indian court has issued an arrest warrant for Mallya.
The Enforcement Directorate, India's financial crimes agency, has accused him of siphoning off money from his now-defunct Kingfisher airlines to buy property abroad -- a claim the company denies.
Critics say the Indian government has not done enough to tackle the issue of wealthy individuals such as Mallya, who obtain huge loans that they later fail to repay.
In an interview with the Financial Times last month, Mallya said he was prepared to settle millions of dollars owed to banks but had no plans to leave Britain.
A former MP, Mallya last week resigned from his seat in the parliament's upper house ahead of a likely expulsion over his huge debt defaults.
Doctor prescribed Prince medication before death: report
Investigators in Minnesota have questioned a doctor who prescribed medication for Prince during the weeks before he died, a police search warrant shows.
Michael Schulenberg, a local family practice doctor, had treated the musician twice, including the day before he died, and showed up at his Paisley Park estate the morning of his death on April 21 with test results, the document obtained by the Los Angeles Times showed Tuesday.
Prince, 57, had already been pronounced dead by the time the physician arrived after the musician was found collapsed in an elevator.
Music legend Prince died suddenly at age 57 on April 21, 2016, the cause of his death still unknown Bertrand Guay (AFP/File)
The warrant does not say what Schulenberg prescribed, for what ailment or whether Prince took the drugs, from a prescription to be filled at a Walgreens pharmacy.
The police also conducted another search of the pop star's Minneapolis home and seized medical records from the hospital where Schulenberg worked, it shows.
The cause of death is still unknown, and investigators are examining whether he died of an opioid overdose.
Authorities found prescription painkillers in Prince's possession after his death, officials said.
A medical examiner has said full results of a post-mortem examination could take several weeks to obtain, although the Carver County Sheriff's office said there was no sign of trauma or evidence of suicide.
Police were investigating the scene of Prince's death again early Wednesday morning.
Comoros presidential vote re-run ends under tight security
Several thousand voters in Comoros, the archipelago nation off the east coast of Africa, went to the polls Wednesday in a partial re-run of the presidential election with the result hanging in the balance.
Former coup leader Azali Assoumani won last month's run-off vote by just 2,100 votes, according to provisional results, but a court ordered 13 polling stations on Anjouan island to vote again due to "irregularities".
Polls closed at 1500 GMT and voting passed off without any major incidents, according to an AFP journalist.
Voters cast their ballot in Mitsoudje during the second round of Presidential elections in Comoros on April 10, 2016 Ibrahim Youssouf (AFP/File)
Just 6,305 voters were called to vote on Wednesday, two percent of the Comoros electorate.
The nation's constitutional court will announce the final results in the coming days, it said in a statement, adding that no provisional results would be released before that.
The inauguration of the winner meanwhile is scheduled for May 26.
Last month's vote on Anjouan, one of the nation's three islands, was tarnished by broken ballot boxes, interruptions in voting, accusations of ballot stuffing and some incidents of violence.
Turnout was high on Wednesday, with hundreds of people waiting in line during the day as armed security forces stood guard to ensure voting was smooth.
"We did not vote last time but today the military are protecting me and my blind husband," Boueni Aboudou told AFP.
The army deployed 200 soldiers in Anjouan, according to the country's Chief of Staff Youssouf Idjihadi.
In Mramani in the south, where voting had to be discontinued last month after a crush of voters, as many as 100 armed soldiers stood guard outside five polling stations located in a school, according to an AFP journalist.
- 'Concrete benefits' -
Assoumani took 40.98 percent of the nationwide vote in April, just ahead of Vice President Mohamed Ali Soilihi, the ruling party's presidential candidate, who picked up 39.87 percent.
Soilihi, who is known as Mamadou, said he rejected the provisional result.
Assoumani first came to power in 1999 after ousting acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde in a coup.
He then won the presidential election three years later, stepping down when his term ended in 2006.
"I expect concrete benefits for my vote: a decent price for cloves, work for my children and food at affordable prices," said Idrissa Ahmada, a farmer and father of nine.
The three islands that make up the Comoros -- Anjouan, Grande-Comore and Moheli -- have a total population of just under 800,000 people, nearly all of whom are Sunni Muslims.
The fourth island of Mayotte voted against independence and is still governed by France.
The islands, situated between Madagascar and Mozambique, have been plagued by coups and political instability, and a disputed election result could revive tensions.
A first-round vote in February between 25 candidates took place only on Grande-Comore island, in line with electoral rules to choose the president on a rotating basis from the three islands. The April 10 run-off was expanded to all three islands.
Comoros' system was established in 2001 after about 20 coups or attempted ones, four of which were successful, in the years following independence from France in 1975.
The election winner will take over from outgoing President Ikililou Dhoinine, who completed his five-year term in office.
Comoros exports vanilla, cloves and ylang-ylang perfume essence, but poverty is widespread.
Comorians from Mrijou queue to cast their ballot in a re run of the presidential elections on May 11, 2016 in Mrijou on Anjouan Island, Comoros Ibrahim Youssouf (AFP)
Syrian army battles jihadists near Palmyra
Syrian regime forces Wednesday battled jihadists who cut a key supply route west of ancient Palmyra, after new bombardments hit Aleppo city where a ceasefire was due to expire at midnight.
The latest fighting comes as world powers prepare to meet in Vienna next week to try to revive peace talks aimed at ending a five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said the Islamic State (IS) group on Tuesday cut the main road from Homs city to Palmyra just weeks after the army recaptured the city, a UNESCO world heritage site.
Opposition fighters drive a tank in a rebel-held area of the southern Syrian city of Daraa, during re-newed clashes with regime loyalists on May 10, 2016 Mohamad Abazeed (AFP)
A military source told the SANA official news agency that the Syrian air force had carried out strikes against IS around the main facility in the Shaer gas field, northwest of Palmyra.
A security source told AFP: "Military operations are ongoing in the Shaer gas field."
IS last week seized the Shaer gas field -- one of the biggest in the central province of Homs -- from the regime.
Both sides have been battling each other in the desert around Palmyra since the jihadist group was ousted from the city in late March.
President Bashar al-Assad's troops retook Palmyra with support from Russian air strikes on March 27 -- an achievement his regime celebrated with concerts in its ancient amphitheatre last week.
But IS now surrounds Palmyra from all directions except the southwest, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, adding that IS was within 10 kilometres (around six miles) of the city.
- Civilians killed -
In Deir Ezzor province further east, at least seven civilians were killed, including a child, in regime air strikes on an area held by IS.
They died in "regime air strikes on the Shuhail district in the east of Deir Ezzor province targeting a health facility and other areas in the district", the Observatory said.
The Russian defence ministry's coordination centre in Syria meanwhile said there had been five breaches of a ceasefire in Aleppo over last 24 hours, killing eight civilians.
The local truce -- brokered by Russia and the United States after a spike in violence in the city last month -- was set to expire at midnight on Wednesday.
It has previously been extended twice after 11th-hour diplomatic intervention from major powers, but there was no immediate word of any new extension.
While the truce has brought casualties down, violence has by no means come to a halt.
Two civilians in a rebel-held area of Aleppo were killed when a regime air strike hit their vehicle, according to civil defence volunteers.
The Observatory meanwhile said a woman and a child in the regime-held west of Aleppo were killed in shelling.
The former economic hub has been divided between the regime-held west and rebel-controlled east since 2012.
The latest truce took effect last Thursday after a surge in fighting killed more than 300 people in the city and threatened to unravel a nationwide ceasefire between regime forces and non-jihadist rebels in force since February.
- Last obstetrician dies -
In the rebel-held bastion of Eastern Ghouta, outside Damascus, the area's last obstetrician and gynaecologist died of wounds sustained during fighting between rebels around the city of Douma, the Observatory said.
The foreign ministry in Russia, where media reports said Wednesday one of its soldiers had been fatally wounded by rebel fire in the central province of Homs, has said global powers would gather in Vienna on May 17 to discuss the crisis in Syria.
Moscow and Washington pledged on Monday to redouble efforts to shore up the nationwide ceasefire and reach a political settlement to the conflict.
The February 27 ceasefire applies to all areas except those where IS and Al-Nusra Front, Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate, are present.
Britain, France, the US and Ukraine on Tuesday blocked a Russian request to add two rebel groups -- Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) and Ahrar al-Sham -- to a UN terror blacklist and sideline them from the peace process.
The main opposition group that has taken part in peace negotiations in Geneva counts Jaish al-Islam member Mohammed Alloush as its chief negotiator.
Since it erupted after the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011, the civil war has also pushed millions to flee the country.
Syrian regime forces are fighting jihadists who cut a key supply route west of ancient Palmyra Kun Tian (AFP)
Members of the Syrian army patrol the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra Louai Beshara (AFP/File)
A rebel fighter from the Jaish al-Fatah (or Army of Conquest) brigades fires artillery during clashes with Syrian pro-government forces near the village of Om al-Krameel, in Aleppo's southern countryside on May 5, 2016 Omar haj kadour (AFP/File)
A local truce took effect in Aleppo after a surge in fighting killed more than 300 people Karam Al-Masri (AFP/File)
Philippines' Duterte set for wild foreign policy ride
After proposing a jet-ski mission to defend remote islands against China, daring the United States to sever ties and joking about burning Singapore's flag, Rodrigo Duterte is set for a wild foreign policy ride as the next Philippine president.
The firebrand politician stormed to victory in national elections this week using an incendiary brand of populism and nationalism that his aides insist he will moderate once he has the keys to the presidential palace on June 30.
Duterte branded the pope a "son of a whore" and angrily told the US and Australian ambassadors to "shut their mouths" after they criticised a joke he made about rape.
Rodrigo Duterte won a landslide victory in the Philippines presidential elections despite making a string of incendiary comments during his campaign Noel Celis (AFP/File)
The 71-year-old offered no apologies when asked by AFP on election night for a message to members of the international diplomatic community who may be concerned.
"It is not to contribute to the comfort of other nations. I have to make the Filipino comfortable first before I give you comfort, outside my country," he said.
Duterte, the long-time mayor of southern Davao city, thrilled his supporters but outraged his critics with a series of diplomatic firebombs on the campaign trail.
While his insults caused gasps in various capitals, his foray into a delicate maritime dispute with China -- involving many nations but with the Philippines a key player -- may have the most far-reaching impact.
Playing to nationalist sentiment, Duterte vowed to ride a jet ski to plant a Philippine flag on remote South China Sea islands, where Beijing is accused of using bully-boy tactics to intimidate smaller nations with rival claims.
But he also signalled a potentially signficant reversal of government policy, saying he would be prepared to hold direct talks with China on the issue -- potentially shattering the united front of claimant nations backed by the United States.
"By the Philippines breaking ranks over this issue, it might affect... efforts to fend off Chinas intrusion. There is a need to be united over this issue, said Faisal Syam Hazis, head of the Centre for Asia Studies at the National University of Malaysia.
- Insults fly -
Other foreign policy stumbles sprang from Duterte's no-holds-barred election pitch. At one rally he recounted how he had personally killed inmates who had staged a 1989 Davao prison riot.
But he also said that in the aftermath of the riot he discovered that an Australian missionary had been raped and murdered.
"I was mad she was raped. But she was so beautiful. I thought: 'The mayor should have been first'," said Duterte, who on the campaign trail also repeatedly boasted about his mistresses and sexual prowess.
The Australian and US ambassadors criticised the comments, triggering a furious reaction from the contender, who told them not to interfere and raised the prospect of cutting diplomatic ties.
Duterte also enraged Singapore when he said at a rally he would burn its flag in reaction to its embassy disavowing a hoax statement which purportedly said it endorsed him.
- A different Duterte? -
Diplomats can expect a different Duterte when he becomes president, according to his spokesman, Peter Lavina.
"You have to understand the Philippine style of elections. The context is most of our politicians need to communicate to our audience so many of our politicians sing and dance," Lavina told reporters on Tuesday when explaining that the Singapore flag burning remark was a joke.
"Some make jokes, some make funny faces. Some dress outrageously. So it is all in this context that all these jokes, bantering, happen during the campaign. We don't expect the same attitude of our officials thereafter."
Lavina acknowledged there were "problems" with the US, Australian and -- particularly -- the Singaporean embassies.
"We need to send out personal envoys to open lines of communication and express openness to cooperate," he said.
However on election night Duterte appeared to still be in campaign mode when asked if would seek to fix ties with the United States and Australia.
"I will not mend," he said. "It is up to them if they want to mend their ways."
- China thaw? -
In China, at least, his foreign policy platform has been welcomed -- despite the jet ski jibe.
Relations went into deep freeze during the current administration of President Benigno Aquino due to the maritime dispute which has seen Washington send warships close to the islands.
"The United States will be concerned if, in the new regime, they have a leader that is more willing to negotiate some of the... red lines that are shaping up around the South China Sea disputes," said Ashley Townshend from the University of Sydney.
The Communist Party-backed Global Times on Wednesday sounded a hopeful note.
"He opposes the idea of going to war with China, wants direct negotiation with Beijing about the South China Sea, and doesn't believe in solving the conflict through an international tribunal," it said.
"If there is anything that can be changed by Duterte, it will be diplomacy."
How the world sees the Philippines
Rodrigo Duterte holds his national addresses his supporters at an election campaign rally in Manila on May 7, 2016 Mohd Rasfan (AFP/File)
Return stolen assets, Nigeria's Buhari tells Cameron
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday urged Britain to return assets stolen by corrupt officials in pointed remarks after Prime Minister David Cameron called his country "fantastically corrupt".
"I am not going to demand any apology from anybody. What I am demanding is the return of the assets," Buhari told an anti-corruption event in London.
He noted the case of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, a former governor of oil-rich Bayelsa state who was detained in London on charges of money laundering in 2005, but skipped bail by disguising himself as a woman.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks at a conference to tackle corruption, at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London on May 11, 2016 Leon Neal (AFP)
Alamieyeseigha, who died in Nigeria in October, left behind "his bank account and fixed assets, which Britain is prepared to hand over to us. This is what I'm asking for", Buhari said.
"What would I do with an apology? I need something tangible," he said at the event organised by the Commonwealth secretariat.
Cameron was asked during a parliamentary debate about measures to clamp down on corruption, particularly in the London property market.
"Action is necessary by developed countries as well as developing countries," he said.
"The steps we are taking to make sure that foreign companies that own UK property have to declare who the beneficial owner is will be one of the ways we make sure that plundered money from African countries can't be hidden in London."
He also joked about his unguarded comments, telling MPs that "tips on diplomacy are useful, given the last 24 hours" and quipped that "first of all I had better check the microphone is on before speaking".
Cameron is hosting a major anti-corruption summit on Thursday, which Buhari is attending alongside Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
- 'An old snapshot' -
Ahead of the talks, Cameron was caught on camera telling Queen Elizabeth II that the leaders of some "fantastically corrupt" countries were attending, adding that Nigeria and Afghanistan were "possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world".
A spokesman for Buhari said the comments were "embarrassing" and reflected "an old snapshot of Nigeria".
Buhari has embarked on a widespread anti-corruption campaign since taking office last year, although his critics have accused him of a political witch hunt.
The president said corruption was a "hydra-headed monster" that was "endemic and systematic" in Nigeria, and thanked Britain for helping his country tackle it, including by arresting some former state governors accused of fraud.
But in general, "our experience has been that repatriation of corrupt proceeds is very tedious, time consuming, costly", Buhari said.
Other Nigerian politicians were less forgiving about Cameron's comments.
"I am taken aback. I am not happy about it," said Chukwuka Utazi, chairman of the Senate committee on anti-corruption and financial crimes, who was attending the Commonwealth event.
"If there's no market for stolen goods, then there would not be a thief. As long as the criminals steal, and Britain is ready to welcome them over here... it smacks of irresponsibility."
- 'Takes two to tango' -
Senator Dino Melaye said he thought Cameron should apologise for his "reckless" and "demeaning" remarks, which were "insulting the integrity of my nation".
"Nigeria, like many other countries across the globe, is corrupt, but corruption is a two-way traffic," he said.
"The UK cannot continue to encourage and warehouse the proceeds of corruption and then accuse nations of being corrupt."
Melaye, a public supporter of Senate president Bukola Saraki who is currently on trial for fraud, said the money involved "billions of pounds stolen from Nigeria, deposited in properties and cash in the UK".
James Ibori, the former governor of the oil-rich Delta state who was acquitted in Nigeria on corruption charges but jailed in London for a similar offence, had owned six properties in London, according to anti-poverty group ONE.
These included a six-bedroom house with an indoor pool worth 3.28 million today (1.27 million euros, $4.73 million).
The properties have been seized but the proceeds have not yet been returned to Nigeria.
Jose Ugaz, chairman of global advocacy group Transparency International, told the Commonwealth event that Cameron's comments had only told part of the story and there was a "complicit participation" on the part of developed countries.
"It takes two to tango," he said.
Prime Minister David Cameron described Nigeria and Afghanistan as "possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world" in a conversation with the Queen and the Archbishop of Canterbury Paul Hackett (Pool/AFP/File)
Patricia Scotland (L), secretary-general of the Commonwealth, speaks with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on arrival at the corruption conference in London on May 11, 2016 Leon Neal (AFP)
Trump says to visit Israel 'soon': newspaper
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will visit Israel "soon", he told an Israeli newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday.
"Yes, I will be coming soon," Trump said without giving further details in response to a question from the Israel Hayom newspaper, a freesheet considered close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump had scheduled a visit to Israel for late December but postponed it a few days before following an uproar over his proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the United States.
US Republican Presidential hopeful Donald Trump, addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) 2016 Policy Conference in Washington, in March Saul Loeb (AFP/File)
"I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become president of the US," he tweeted at the time.
In the interview published on Wednesday, Trump renewed his criticism of US President Barack Obama over a July nuclear deal with Iran that was vigorously opposed by the Israeli prime minister.
"The current threat against Israel is more important than ever" because of "President Obama's policy towards Iran and the nuclear deal," he said.
"I think the people of Israel have suffered a lot because of Obama."
Tunisia kills two 'suspected jihadists' in anti-terror raid
Two suspected jihadists were killed on Wednesday during a security operation near the Tunisian capital against a cell planning "simultaneous" attacks, the interior ministry said.
Sixteen others were arrested during the operation in Ariana province just outside Tunis, and Kalashnikov assault rifles, pistols and ammunition were seized, it said.
The ministry said the suspects had gathered in the area from different parts of the country "to prepare simultaneous terrorist operations".
A Tunisian policeman stands guard outside a house where two suspected jihadists were killed in Mnihla, on May 11, 2016 Fethi Belaid (AFP)
A resident of the Sanhaji district told AFP that a two-hour gunbattle erupted with the suspects after the national guard launched the raid at around 8 am (0700 GMT).
"They were not from the neighbourhood. We didn't know them. They rented the house recently," she said.
Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of jihadist violence since its 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The Islamic State group claimed brazen attacks last year on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and a beach resort near Sousse that killed a total of 60 people, all but one of them foreign tourists.
A November suicide bombing in the capital, also claimed by IS, killed 12 presidential guards and prompted the authorities to declare a state of emergency.
Thousands of Tunisians have joined jihadist groups in conflict zones such as Iraq, Syria and Libya over the past few years.
Strike in Tunisia town over halt to Libya border trade
A town in southern Tunisia went on strike on Wednesday in protest at a decision by Libyan authorities late last month to halt cross-border trade on which its economy depends.
Ben Guerdane, one of the North African nation's poorest towns, was also hit by jihadist violence from across the border that killed seven civilians and 13 security personnel in March as well as 55 extremists.
Shops and offices in the town of 60,000 inhabitants were all closed in response to the one-day strike called by the UGTT main trade union confederation, an AFP correspondent reported.
Tunisian protesters in Ben Guerdane set fire to tyres during a strike on May 11, 2016 Fathi Nasri (AFP)
Only the hospital emergency department, a pharmacy and some schools remained open in the town, whose economy is heavily dependent on cross-border trade and where smuggling is rife.
Libyan border officials say they halted all freight traffic since the end of April through the Ras Jedir crossing in a bid to stop the smuggling of fuel, which is much cheaper across the border.
Negotiations focused on customs duties have so far failed to reach a settlement.
Libya's prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, whose unity government is trying to assert its authority over the violence-plagued country, met on Wednesday in Tunis with President Beji Caid Essebsi.
"The anti-terrorist struggle was at the top of the subjects raised, as well as our aim of an economic partnership," Sarraj told reporters, while the Tunisian presidency said the situation at Ras Jedir was also raised.
Despite the oppressive heat, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the union offices in Ben Guerdane but a planned march failed to take place.
"They tell us there are contacts (with the Libyan side) but we don't see anything. We want radical solutions at Ras Jedir. The people are very dissatisfied," local UGTT official Mohsen Lachiheb told AFP.
A man in his 30s who asked not to be named blamed the town's economic woes on Tunisia's politicians.
"In March, we faced a terrorist attack. They wanted to kill us with bullets. Our politicians want to kill us with their policies," he said angrily.
Several tyres were earlier set alight on the town's streets but there was no intervention by the large number of police present.
On Monday, police used tear gas to disperse a protest by hundreds of demonstrators.
Kenya earmarks $10 mn to close world's largest refugee camp
Kenya said Wednesday it had set aside $10 million to help fund the closing of the world's largest refugee camp, home to around 350,000 mostly Somali refugees, citing security fears.
Kenya hosts around 600,000 refugees, some of whom have lived in the country for a quarter of a century.
On Friday an interior ministry official announced a plan to refuse new refugee arrivals and shut Dadaab on the Kenya-Somalia border.
Kenya hosts some 550,000 refugees in camps in the north of the country Tony Karumba (AFP/File)
"For reasons of pressing national security that speak to the safety of Kenyans in a context of terrorist and criminal activities, the government ... has commenced the exercise of closing Dadaab Refugee Complex," Interior Minister Joseph Ole Nkaissery told a press conference in Nairobi.
"The refugees will be repatriated to their countries of origin or to third party countries for resettlement," Nkaissery said.
Nkaissery said the government would provide $10 million (just under nine million euros) "to kick-start the repatriation process and subsequent closure of Dadaab", adding that a timetable was being drawn up.
Charities and the UN refugee agency are dismayed by the plan while human rights groups have warned that forcibly repatriating refugees would break international law.
Nkaissery repeated claims that terrorist attacks on Nairobi's Westgate shopping mall, at Kenya's Garissa university and elsewhere, "were planned and deployed from Dadaab refugee camp by transnational terrorists," but no credible evidence has yet been provided to support these allegations.
Nkaissery compared Kenya's Somali refugees to Syrian refugees in Europe.
"ISIS has taken advantage of refugee inflows and processes to install its destructive cells. So much so that governments across Europe and the Middle East have taken unprecedented efforts to limit refugee inflows into their countries on the grounds of national security," he said.
Nkaissery said Kenya, too, faces a potential threat from the Islamic State group, adding: "Kenya cannot look aside and allow this threat to escalate any further."
"This decision has been made by government reflecting the fact that the camps have become hosting grounds for Al-Shebab as well as centres of smuggling and contraband trade besides being enablers of illicit weapons proliferation," Nkaissery said, referring to Somalia's Al-Qaeda aligned group.
Bangladesh opposition chief charged over arson attacks
Police on Wednesday charged Bangladesh's main opposition chief, Khaleda Zia, with masterminding arson attacks during deadly anti-government protests last year, a day after the execution of one of her key political allies.
Police said they had brought charges against Zia, a two-time former prime minister, and 27 officials from her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) for their roles in the fire-bombing of two buses in the capital Dhaka.
"We've submitted charge sheets against 27 people including Khaleda Zia to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court," local police chief Mohammad Selimuzzaman told AFP.
Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia waves to supporters after a court appearance in Dhaka, on April 17, 2016 Munir Uz Zaman (AFP/File)
"She has been charged as a mastermind in the arson attacks."
It came hours after the execution of Zia's main political ally, Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Motiur Rahman Nizami, for war crimes committed during the country's 1971 independence conflict with Pakistan.
His hanging late Tuesday sparked several outbreaks of violence and heightened tensions in the Muslim-majority country, already reeling from a string of killings of secular and liberal activists.
Zia, a bitter political rival of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, is already on trial for corruption in a long-running case.
She also faces around half a dozen other charges stemming from her tenure as the premier of the country from 2001-06 -- charges she rejects as baseless and politically motivated.
There was no immediate comment from Zia on the latest allegations, which relate to fire-bombings in Dhaka's Darussalam neighbourhood in March 2015, which caused no injuries or deaths.
Earlier this year Zia was charged over a separate deadly fire-bombing of a bus in Dhaka during a nationwide transport blockade she ordered last year in an effort to topple the government.
The blockade unleashed a wave of bloody violence, leaving more than 120 people dead as opposition activists fire-bombed hundreds of buses and trucks, and police responded by firing live rounds.
Zia was confined to her office compound in the capital for months after she threatened to lead an anti-government rally through Dhaka on the first anniversary of a disputed national election.
Prime Minister Hasina has vowed to prosecute Zia and other top opposition officials over the violence.
The BNP boycotted the 2014 general election, leaving the field clear for Hasina's Awami League.
SpaceX's Dragon cargo ship splashes down in Pacific
SpaceX's unmanned Dragon cargo ship left the International Space Station Wednesday, carrying 3,700 pounds (1,678 kilograms) of gear and science experiments, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
"Good splashdown of Dragon confirmed," SpaceX wrote on Twitter, almost five hours after the spaceship was released from the orbiting research lab.
The capsule launched on April 8 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. SpaceX's next supply ship is scheduled to depart Earth in June.
This NASA TV image shows the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship just after release from the Canada Arm for departure to Earth from the International Space Station, on May 11, 2016
"This cargo includes samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities," NASA said in a statement.
The spacecraft also contains the final batch of human research samples from the one-year mission completed in March by US astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.
French PM says UNESCO Jerusalem resolution 'unfortunate, clumsy'
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Wednesday described a UNESCO resolution on the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem as "clumsy" and "unfortunate" and said it should have been avoided.
The Paris-based UN cultural body adopted the resolution on "Occupied Palestine" presented by several Arab countries in mid-April.
The resolution referred several times to Israel as the "occupying power" and made no reference to the fact that the Jerusalem site, which is located at the southeastern corner of the Old City, is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and is the most sacred site in Judaism.
The Dome of the Rock is seen on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound surrounded by houses in Jerusalem's Old City Thomas Coex (AFP/File)
"This UNESCO resolution contains unfortunate, clumsy wording that offends and unquestionably should have been avoided, as should the vote," Valls told parliament.
Valls, who will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories later this month, said the UNESCO resolution "changed nothing" in France's approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
"I want to repeat once again and clearly, with conviction -- France will never deny the Jewish presence and Jewish history in Jerusalem. It would make no sense, it is absurd to deny this history," Valls said.
The UNESCO resolution, which also accuses Israel of "planting fake Jewish graves in Muslim cemeteries", infuriated the Jewish state, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing it as "absurd".
Kabila pressured to hold election after controversial ruling
DR Congo's President Joseph Kabila came under fresh pressure Thursday to hold elections on schedule following a controversial court ruling enabling him to stay in office when his mandate ends late in 2016.
The nine-member Constitutional Court on Wednesday ruled that Kabila could remain in a caretaker capacity beyond the expiry of his term in December.
The main Congolese opposition party on Thursday slammed the decision as "a sham", while former colonial power France urged the head of state to prepare elections "in good faith."
Democratic Republic of the Congo leader Joseph Kabila has been in power since 2001 Carl De Souza (AFP)
"The ruling handed down by the Constitutional Court is a sham, it modifies the constitution," Bruno Tshibala, spokesman for the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), told AFP.
"If the presidential election is not held before the deadline, Mr Kabila must leave on December 19," he said. "We will not allow Mr Kabila to rule indefinitely."
In Paris, France's foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said "the priority must be to actively prepare elections in good faith, as they are the only source of popular legitimacy."
In power since 2001, when he took over on his father's assassination, Kabila was elected president in 2006 and 2011 but is constitutionally barred from standing for a third term.
The court was responding to a request for clarification by the ruling party over Kabila's fate should the polls fail to be held on schedule, as is widely expected.
Kabila's supporters want the election delayed for two to four years due to logistical and financial difficulties.
But the opposition suspects Kabila is simply planning to amend the constitution to extend his rule.
Nadal denounced the "deterioration of the political and security situation" in the vast mineral-rich central African nation.
Just as the controversial ruling was released, thousands of people protested in the second city, Lubumbashi, over the criminal trial of leading opposition figure Moise Katumbi, who is accused of using foreign mercenaries as private guards.
Katumbi, 51, is the former governor of Katanga province and the owner of the prestigious Tout-Puissant Mazembe football club, three-time winners of the African Champions League.
Human rights groups have said the allegations against him are politically motivated and one of France's top lawyers, Eric Dupond-Moretti, told AFP this week he was joining Katumbi's legal team.
Katumbi was an ally of Kabila for a decade but quit the ruling party in November when the president split several provinces, including Katanga. Formerly the size of Spain, it now has been carved up into four separate entities.
Moise Katumbi Chapwe, Governor of Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga province, is pictured during an interview, on June 2, 2015 in Lubumbashi Federico Scoppa (AFP/File)
Three women in one family murdered for 'honour' in Pakistan
Three young women in one family were shot dead by male relatives who suspected them of having "illicit relations" with other men, police in eastern Pakistan said Wednesday.
The women, aged 22, 28 and 29, all lived in the same house in the city of Faisalabad.
"The men suspected that the three women had illicit relations with other men and shot them in the chest and face and fled after the murders," police investigator Mohammad Ayub told AFP.
Pakistani human rights activists hold placards during a protest against honour killing in Islamabad on May 29, 2014 Aamir Qureshi (AFP/File)
Police have launched a manhunt, he said, added that it appeared to a case of "honour killings".
Officials at the local police station confirmed the account.
Last week a teenage girl in the country's northwest was strangled and her body set ablaze after a village council ruled she must die for helping a friend to elope, sparking anger from rights activists.
Hundreds of women are murdered by their relatives in Pakistan each year on the pretext of defending family "honour".
Pakistan amended its criminal code in 2005 to prevent men who kill female relatives escaping punishment by pardoning themselves as an "heir" of the victim.
But it is left to a judge's discretion to decide whether to impose a prison sentence when other relatives of the victim forgive the killer -- a loophole which critics say is still exploited.
"A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" -- a film telling the story of a rare survivor of an attempted honour killing -- won the Academy Award for best documentary short in February.
Chilly in the chocolate factory: Togo finds melting fix
Organic, fair trade chocolate has proved popular in recent years, especially with ethically minded Western consumers keen to give cocoa farmers around the world a better deal.
In Togo a small cooperative has embraced the idea but also stumbled upon a unique selling point in a tropical country where access to refrigerators is limited -- heat-resistant chocolate.
"It doesn't melt up to 35 degrees (Celsius, 95 degrees Fahrenheit)," said Komi Agbokou, who promotes the "Choco Togo" brand made from locally grown cocoa beans.
Togo's cocoa farmers have looked to organic farming and to obtaining fair-trade labels to give added value to their product Philippe Huguen (AFP/File)
With bars containing between 60 and 100 percent cocoa, the rough texture makes it perfect for households without fridges and market stallholders wanting to sell it, he added.
Togo produces about 10,000 tonnes of cocoa beans every year, making it a relative lightweight compared with neighbouring Ghana or Ivory Coast, which make up nearly 60 percent of world output.
"As we can't compete with Ivory Coast and Ghana in terms of quantity, we can only bet on quality," smiled Kodjovi Mgbayom, from Togo's coffee and cocoa sector workers body.
Togolese cocoa has a "special aroma due to the soil and the fact that everything is done by hand. Drying is done in the sun. There aren't any machine fumes here", he added.
There is nothing to single out Togo's cocoa from regional competitors or the more sought-after Latin American beans, Michel Barrel, from French cocoa consultancy KawaCao, told AFP.
But Togo's cocoa farmers have looked to organic farming and to obtaining fair-trade labels to give added value to their product, he said.
- Italian course -
"Togo has been growing cocoa for more than 120 years but we only export it. Cocoa farmers don't even know the taste of chocolate," said Agbokou.
Anyone wanting to actually eat chocolate had to go to a supermarket to buy an expensive, imported bar containing sometimes less than 30 percent cocoa, he added.
But now beans grown by 1,500 small farmers in the Akebou region in Togo's southwest are being shelled by about 40 local women, and then transformed into chocolate bars in the capital, Lome.
The 80-gram bars are sold for 1,000 CFA francs ($1.70, 1.50 euros) in shops.
Agbokou is a trained psychologist and fell into chocolate by chance.
His initial idea was to create opportunities in a labour market that was increasingly hard to access. Through his non-governmental organisation, European Union funding and the backing of an Italian cooperative, six unemployed young people were chosen in 2013 to go on a chocolate making course.
On their return to Togo from Italy, they started producing 100 percent Togolese chocolate.
Now a dozen employees are paid by the hour to transform cocoa into chocolate at the cooperative's premises in Lome, with a single, hand-cranked, locally made cocoa roaster.
- Trade fairs -
One tonne of chocolate was made in 2015 but production has accelerated since then, with more than two tonnes in the first quarter of 2016.
"Choco Togo" gets its supplies of cocoa solely from Akebou, where the cocoa is organic and certified by Ecocert and the Rainforest Alliance.
The international organisations ensure that production meets rigorous environmental and social standards.
As the cocoa is transformed on the spot, transport costs are kept to a minimum and the farmers are better paid, said Mgbayom.
Then, they see the chocolate bars produced with their beans, he added.
"Choco Togo" also uses the farmers' wives to shell the beans, giving local families extra income.
The small chocolate bars, wrapped in kraft paper and available in natural, ginger, peanut or coconut flavours, have been shown in Milan and at the last chocolate trade fair in Brussels in February.
So far, it seems to have gone down well, according to head of production Nathalie Kpante.
"We left for Brussels with 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of chocolate and all the stock was gone on the first day," she said proudly.
Cattle rustling crackdown fuels kidnapping in N. Nigeria
Abdulaziz Umar thought he was going to be robbed when about 16 armed men on motorcycles dragged him from his car as he drove to Nigeria's capital, Abuja, from the northern city of Kaduna.
It was only when he was taken into the bush that he realised he'd been kidnapped. He was released 12 days later after his family agreed to pay a one-million-naira ($5,000, 4,400-euro) ransom.
Umar, 37, considers himself lucky. The kidnappers, who operated from thatched huts in the thick vegetation of the forest with machine guns for security, initially demanded $25,000.
Nigeria has increased security across Borno state in response to Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency which has killed at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009 Stefan Heunis (AFP/File)
"They're never hostile to their victims but they won't think twice about shooting you dead once they are sure they're not going to get any payment from your family," he told AFP.
Kidnapping for ransom has been a longstanding problem in Nigeria's oil-rich south, where criminal gangs target the wealthy and expatriate workers.
But the problem has now spread to the north, normally associated with Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency which has killed at least 20,000 people and made more than 2.6 million homeless since 2009.
Security personnel say the kidnappers' camps dot connecting forests between the northern and northwestern states of Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara and Niger.
Kidnappings have increased since the middle of last year and more than 200 people are believed to have been abducted since January, said a senior police source.
"This is only a fraction of the true number of abductions because many cases are never reported," said the officer, who is involved in tackling the issue.
Nigeria's federal police in early April declared a state of emergency in Kaduna following the murder of an army colonel who was kidnapped from Kaduna.
- Fall-out -
Vigilante groups sprung up to spot potential kidnappers, and villagers in the southern part of Kano state, near the Falgore Game Reserve, began leaving in droves to avoid the threat.
The authorities in the north and many victims blame nomadic Fulani tribesmen.
Armed bandits have regularly attacked Fulani settlements in the region, stealing cattle, setting fire to homes and raping women, prompting the herders to move south and across the border.
In response, young Fulani men have become involved in cross-border rustling and armed robbery syndicates in West Africa, according to the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), the umbrella body of Fulani herders in Nigeria.
They have turned on their kinsmen for not helping them out during decades of conflict between herders and farmers over grazing and watering rights, which led to loss of their entire herds, creating poverty, said MACBAN national secretary Saleh Bayeri.
In July 2015, the seven state governments formed joint military and police squads, raiding hideouts that led to the recovery of stolen herds. But that prompted a change in direction.
"The issue of kidnapping... is a fall-out of the fight against (cattle) rustling," Katsina state governor Aminu Bello Masari said in January.
- 'Renegade Fulani' -
"The culprits may have decided to go into kidnapping since they have been blocked from stealing cattle."
Emmanuel Dziggau, a Pentecostal Christian priest, was kidnapped with two colleagues in March from a church property on the outskirts of Kaduna.
He was held for nine days and said he was in no doubt his abductors were Fulani "from their accent".
But Fulani herders themselves are still the most targeted of the kidnappers, said Aliyu Harazimi, the local chief of Doguwa district near the Falgore reserve, where more than 100 people, including women and children, have been seized since February.
"Instead of stealing cattle, the rustlers either kidnap a member of the herding family and demand ransom or send a letter asking for protection money, which is always huge," he said.
The kidnappers also keep informants in the community, he added.
Some 30 suspected kidnappers have been arrested in Kamuku National Park and 13 have been charged, according to Kaduna state police spokesman Zubairu Abubakar.
In Kano, 22 suspects were apprehended in the Falgore reserve, state police commissioner Maigari Dikko has said.
But Bayeri said military deployments would not end the problem, calling for more community surveillance and the greater involvement of MACBAN.
"No amount of military deployment can check the activities of these criminal elements without the involvement of MACBAN because they are a trans-national syndicate of renegade Fulani who know the forests very well," he added.
"We know many of these criminals and their collaborators among community leaders who we are ready to expose.
Nigeria's federal police declared a state of emergency across Kaduna in April 2016
Nigerian police seized a cache of weapons during the raid on the kidnappers in Kamuku National Park
St. Vincent Healthcare announced a partnership Tuesday with a nationally recognized children's hospital and medical school in Utah to enhance its medical care for children.
"This is a great day for St. Vincent, for Montana and for children as a whole," said Michael Skehan, St. Vincent chief operating officer.
The Billings health care center will work with Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital and the University of Utah School of Medicine, both in Salt Lake City, to provide more specialty pediatric care in the area while sharing information and resources, officials said.
The idea behind the partnership is to use the Utah organizations' physicians, resources and expertise to improve care for complex pediatric patients in Billings, while easing the transfer of patients to the 289-bed Primary Children's center if the care needed isn't available in Billings.
Primary Children's is a comprehensive pediatric care facility that offers surgery, orthopedic care, neurosurgery, ophthalmology and other services.
"We will be able to help provide the high level of quality care to the children right here," said Dr. Chris Maloney, the children's hospital's chief medical officer and chief of pediatric inpatient medicine at University of Utah Health Care.
Dr. Janis Langohr, a pediatrician and medical director of the St. Vincent Children's program, said the partnership is an agreement between organizations that share a mission that "will transform how we care for our children at every level."
The partnership will focus on several key areas, said Katy Welkie, CEO of Primary Children's. First, it will work to combine expertise in the organizations' clinical programs, followed by expanding training options.
In addition, they plan to create joint research opportunities to improve patient experiences and outcomes.
For families who seek pediatric care at St. Vincent, Welkie said, it not only provides more specialized services and care closer to home, but also makes transportation of their children, and any relevant information or resources, to Salt Lake City for more advanced care much easier.
"I'm hoping that this partnership both increases the quality of care and reduces some of the burden on parents," Welkie said.
Also speaking during Tuesday's announcement were Jon and Tosha Vavak, and their adopted 2-year-old girl daughter Davette, who suffers from a complicated medical condition that, among other things including heart problems and a cleft palate, resulted in her being born without thumbs.
On Langohr's recommendation, the Vavaks took Davette to Primary Children's for a reconstructive surgery that repositioned and rebuilt her index finger to serve as a thumb and improve hand function. The family left impressed with the staff's care and dedication to what turned out to be a more-complex-than-planned surgery.
"Our experience at Primary Children's has helped us let down our guard, breathe and even have a little fun," Tosha Vavak said.
Steve Loveless, president and CEO of St. Vincent, said that a committee put together to recommend a children's hospital partner unanimously put forth Primary Children's and the university because of the breadth and depth of services they provide along with the patient experiences they foster.
"The relationship felt very right and very natural from the very beginning," he said.
Federal charges for US cop who shot dead black motorist
A former US police officer has been indicted on federal charges over the fatal shooting of a black motorist in South Carolina last year, one of a series of incidents that sparked protests over perceived racist abuses by law enforcement.
A grand jury on Tuesday formally charged Michael Slager with deprivation of rights under color of law, use of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime and obstruction of justice.
He faces up to life in prison for the civil rights violation and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
A memorial site setup near where Walter Scott was killed on April 11, 2015 in North Charleston, South Carolina Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File)
Slager was dismissed from the North Charleston police force and charged with murder after shooting Walter Scott.
Scott was shot in the back five times as he tried to run away from Slager on April 4, 2015 after being pulled over, reportedly for a broken brake light.
Slager "shot Walter Scott without legal justification, willfully depriving him of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution of the United States, to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer," read the indictment filed in US District Court in Charleston.
The weapon was a .45 caliber Glock pistol.
According to the indictment, Slager "knowingly misled... investigators by falsely stating that he fired his weapon at Scott while Scott was coming forward at him with a Taser."
"In truth and in fact, as defendant Michael Slager then well knew, he repeatedly fired his weapon at Scott when Scott was running away from him."
Slager, 34, was arrested and charged with murder three days after video of the incident emerged. He fired his weapon eight times, hitting Scott five times.
His trial for murder is scheduled to begin October 31.
After the federal counts were announced, Scott's mother Judy said the charges were an answer to her prayers.
"This is a sad day for me. But I thank God that 'the prayers of the righteous availeth much.'" she said, quoting the Bible. "God knew from the beginning what went on."
Judy Scott said she hoped Slager's prosecution will also help end a pattern of police malfeasance.
"They tried to cover it up again. But it's time that the cover was pulled. I thank God that my son was the one that was used to pull the cover."
The death of Scott, who was 50, set off protests in the city and followed a string of highly publicized incidents of deadly police violence against African Americans around the country.
Microsoft tells UN more can be done to combat digital terror
Microsoft told the United Nations on Wednesday that technology companies can do more to combat digital terror, but warned there was no single solution to prevent terrorists from using the web.
"There is no silver bullet that will stop terrorist use of the Internet," Microsoft's vice president Steven Crown told a special Security Council debate on counter-terrorism.
It was the first time an IT company addressed the Security Council, which has been increasingly concerned by the use of the Internet and social media by jihadists such as the Islamic State group.
"There is no silver bullet that will stop terrorist use of the Internet," Microsoft's vice president Steven Crown told a special UN Security Council debate on counter-terrorism Loey Felipe (United Nations/AFP/File)
Crown said the challenge posed by terrorism on the web was daunting but that the industry was willing to discuss ways to counter "misuse of our technologies to spread violence, to destroy and to kill."
"We know that there are tens of thousands of terrorist Internet accounts that refuse to die. As one is taken down, another quickly springs up in its place," he said.
During the 15 minutes that followed the Paris attacks in November, there were 7,500 tweets and within two weeks, one million views of videos on the Internet praising the attacks, he said.
"Any technology can be used for good or for evil," said Crown.
"This was true of fire -- think of arson - of gunpowder, of the printing press and it is also true of our information technology products and platforms."
Microsoft and other ICT companies are taking part in a new initiative under the UN's counter-terrorism committee to agree on ways to address the threats, he said.
- Industry response -
The Microsoft official likened the new cooperation in the diverse sector to the joint effort to combat child pornography on the Internet.
"Microsoft services and Microsoft the company are different from Google, which is different from Facebook, which is different from Twitter," he said.
"We compete fiercely at times, incredibly fiercely, but we have come together when our platforms are misused."
He suggested that steps could be taken to make it easier for governments to report to companies any misuse of the Internet and to help them with investigations.
Crown warned, however, that respect for the rule of law, human rights and upholding freedom of expression must be a "foundation" for any action.
"Our activities in this realm must be principled, but we must press beyond what we are doing today," he said.
A UN report last year raised alarm about the "growth of high-definition digital terror: the use of propaganda, primarily by Islamic State and its sympathizers, to spread fear and promote their distorted ideology."
IS recruiters have made savvy use of the Internet and social media to build up the group's pool of foreign fighters.
Iraq says part of country under IS control down to 14%
Areas under the control of the Islamic State group in Iraq have shrunk from 40 to 14 percent of the national territory, the government's spokesman said Wednesday.
"We declare that Daesh's presence has receded in the cities and provinces of Iraq," Saad al-Hadithi said in televised comments.
"They were occupying 40 percent of Iraq's territory but now only 14 percent is under their control," he said.
Iraqi Kurdish and Turkmen Shiite forces from the Popular Mobilisation units drive in a convoy on May 1, 2016 in the northern Iraqi town of al-Bashir after they recaptured the town from the control of the Islamic State (IS) group Marwan Ibrahim (AFP/File)
The jihadist organisation launched a massive offensive in Iraq in June 2014 and conquered swathes of territory. Its stopped advancing before it could reach the capital Baghdad.
A counter-offensive was subsequently launched with heavy involvement from Tehran-backed Shiite militia groups and a coalition of military powers led by the United States.
IS has since lost several key cities, such as Tikrit and Ramadi. The "caliphate" it proclaimed nearly two years ago has been shrinking steadily for a year.
Iraqi security forces are currently battling IS on several fronts, including in the provinces of Anbar and Nineveh in a bid to retake Fallujah and Mosul, the group's two major remaining hubs in the country.
IS has nonetheless retained the ability to strike in Iraqi cities by carrying deadly suicide bombings, such as the three attacks that killed at least 86 people in Baghdad on Wednesday.
Syria regime strikes kill seven civilians: monitor
Syria's regime killed at least seven civilians, including a child, in air strikes Wednesday on an eastern part of the country held by the Islamic State group, a monitor said.
They died in "regime air strikes on the Shuhail district in the east of Deir Ezzor province targeting a health facility and other areas in the district", the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Dozens including children were wounded and the number of casualties is likely to rise, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.
A Syrian man walks past destroyed buildings on May 2, 2016, in Aleppo's Bab al-Hadid neighbourhood which was targeted recently by regime air strikes Karam Al-Masri (AFP/File)
IS controls most of oil-rich Deir Ezzor province, he said, as well as more than half of its provincial capital.
Syria's war has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions since it started with the repression of anti-government protests in 2011.
4 police, 3 jihadists killed in Tunisia raids: ministry
Four policemen and three suspected jihadists were killed during security operations Wednesday near the capital and in southern Tunisia, in the latest violence to hit the country, officials said.
Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, has suffered from a wave of jihadist violence since its 2011 revolution that ousted longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
In Wednesday's deadliest confrontation, four policemen were killed when a militant detonated his explosives belt after a firefight erupted in the Tatouine governorate, said the interior ministry.
Tunisian special forces on March 8, 2016 Fathi Nasri (AFP/File)
A national guard unit had carried out the raid acting on information from an "anti-terrorist" operation earlier the same day near Tunis.
"One terrorist element was shot dead while the other detonated his explosives belt, killing two officers and two agents of the national guard," said the ministry.
In the earlier raid, two suspected jihadists were killed near the capital in the operation against a cell planning "simultaneous" attacks, the same source said.
Sixteen others were arrested during the operation in Ariana province just outside Tunis, and Kalashnikov assault rifles, pistols and ammunition seized.
The interior ministry said the suspects had gathered in the area from different parts of the country.
A resident of the Sanhaji district told AFP that a two-hour gunbattle erupted with the suspects after the national guard launched the raid at around 8:00 am (0700 GMT).
"They were not from the neighbourhood. We didn't know them. They rented the house recently," she said.
The Islamic State group claimed brazen attacks last year on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis and a beach resort near Sousse that killed a total of 60 people, all but one of them foreign tourists.
A November suicide bombing in the capital, also claimed by IS, killed 12 presidential guards and prompted the authorities to declare a state of emergency.
- Strike over Libya trade -
On Wednesday, a southern town hit in March by deadly jihadist violence from across the border in Libya staged a general strike in protest at a decision by Libyan authorities to halt cross-border trade on which its economy depends.
Ben Guerdane, one of the North African nation's poorest towns, was the target of a jihadist assault that killed seven civilians and 13 security personnel in March as well as 55 extremists.
Shops and offices in the town of 60,000 inhabitants were all closed in response to the one-day strike called by the UGTT main trade union confederation, an AFP correspondent reported.
Only the hospital emergency department, a pharmacy and some schools remained open in the town, whose economy is heavily dependent on cross-border trade and where smuggling is rife.
Libyan border officials say they halted all freight traffic since the end of April through the Ras Jedir crossing in a bid to stop the smuggling of fuel, which is much cheaper across the border.
Negotiations focused on customs duties have so far failed to reach a settlement.
Libya's prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, whose unity government is trying to assert its authority over the violence-plagued country, met on Wednesday in Tunis with President Beji Caid Essebsi.
"The anti-terrorist struggle was at the top of the subjects raised, as well as our aim of an economic partnership," Sarraj said, while the Tunisian presidency said the situation at Ras Jedir was also raised.
Despite the oppressive heat, hundreds of protesters gathered in front of the union offices in Ben Guerdane but a planned march failed to take place.
"They tell us there are contacts (with the Libyan side) but we don't see anything. We want radical solutions at Ras Jedir. The people are very dissatisfied," said Mohsen Lachiheb of the UGTT.
A man in his 30s who asked not to be named blamed the town's economic woes on politicians.
"In March, we faced a terrorist attack. They wanted to kill us with bullets. Our politicians want to kill us with their policies," he said angrily.
Tyres were earlier set alight on the town's streets but there was no intervention by the large number of police present.
On Monday, police used tear gas to disperse a protest by hundreds of demonstrators.
Tunisian gendarmes walk inside a house where two suspected jihadists were killed during a security operation on May 11, 2016 in the town of Mnihla, in Ariana province just outside Tunis Fethi Belaid (AFP)
Tires burning on a street as the town went on strike in protest at a decision by Libyan authorities late last month to halt cross-border trade on which its economy depends on May 11, 2016 Fathi Nasri (AFP)
Uganda opposition chief held on eve of Museveni inauguration
Police on Wednesday arrested Uganda's main opposition leader, a day before President Yoweri Museveni was to be sworn in for a fifth term in office after winning a controversial February election.
Kizza Besigye, who came second in the February 18 presidential poll, was detained as he greeted supporters in the central Kampala, on a surprise public appearance in the capital, which is an opposition stronghold.
"Yes, he was in town but we have taken him to Naggalama police station where he will be detained," city police spokesman Patrick Onyango told AFP, referring to a location some 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Kampala.
Ugandas opposition leader Kizza Besigye arrives at a polling station to vote in his home town of Rukungiri, some 400 kilometres west of the capital Kampala on February 18, 2016 Stringer (AFP/File)
He did not say on what charges Besigye was being held.
A long-standing opponent of Museveni, Besigye has been frequently jailed, placed under house arrest, accused of both treason and rape, teargassed, beaten and hospitalised over the years.
Museveni, who has been in power for three decades, was declared winner of the February poll with 61 percent of the vote and has rejected claims his victory was won through cheating and fraud.
But Besigye denounced the vote "the most fradulent electoral process" and international observers said it was carried out in an "atmosphere of intimidation" by the regime.
In a posting on Twitter, Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) said that just before his arrest, he had been sworn in as president in an alternative ceremony.
His arrest came just 24 hours before Museveni was to be sworn in at a ceremony which will be attended by more than a dozen African heads of state, among them South African President Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.
The arrest drew a sharp rebuke from London-based rights group Amnesty International.
"President Musevenis inauguration comes amidst a crackdown on the rights to the freedom of expression, association and assembly," said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty's Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
The arbitrary detention of opposition figures and supporters, the ban on TV coverage of their events, and the violent disruption of their gatherings were a violation of Uganda's constitution "but also fly in the face of its regional and international human rights obligations," he said.
In New York festival, opera shows diverse incarnations
New York is famous for the Metropolitan Opera but the city is home to more than 50 smaller opera companies, performing everywhere from parks to bars to private homes.
In a first-of-a-kind festival, an alliance of the small companies is putting on performances across New York, hoping to reach new audiences but also to cross-pollinate by showing opera aficionados the breadth of offerings across the metropolis.
The New York Opera Alliance chooses not to define "opera" or to set quality benchmarks, admitting to its fold any group that thinks it fits the bill and can chip in $75.
Jessica Kiger (L), executive director and producer of On Site Opera, and Eric Einhorn, the artistic director, pose at the site of her company's latest production at the ornate house known as 632 on Hudson in New York City on April 9, 2016 Shaun Tandon (AFP/File)
The inaugural New York Opera Fest, which runs throughout May and June, features classics plus innovative fare including operas designed for video and pieces about sex education performed by Opera on Tap, which plays in bars and other public spots.
One company, On Site Opera, will put on Marcos Portugal's version of "The Marriage of Figaro" inside an ornate house in Manhattan, which will serve as the count's palace with the audience watching inside.
Jessica Kiger, the company's executive director and producer, said that such on-location performances were complementary rather than a replacement for grand opera as seen at the Met.
"For us it's just important to match the space with the story. So it's not just about taking opera outside the opera house, but to find a space that really resonates with the story or where the characters live, or would be, so that we can have a truly immersive experience," she said.
Kiger, whose previous productions included staging Rameau's "Pygmalion" inside the Madame Tussauds wax museum, said that on-site operas were also more fluid, with performers reacting more to the audiences and developing their characters.
"That to me has always made a huge difference. It's a lot of talking about who your character is and less about, 'Now I cross here in the music,'" she said.
- Reaching broader audience -
Some opera companies reflect their neighborhoods. The Bronx Opera Company, based in New York's northernmost borough, aims to bring performances that are accessible and affordable.
The Bronx Opera keeps some of the trappings of grand opera, playing in proscenium theaters with a conductor and orchestra, but its two performances a year are always in English.
During the New York Opera Fest, the Bronx Opera staged Rossini's "Cinderella" sung in English rather than Italian.
"The art form doesn't have to look like it looks at the Met," said Ben Spierman, the company's associate artistic director.
"The Met's a fantastic thing in the city but it almost doesn't necessarily relate to the kind of thing that we all do, which is a little more grassroots and community-driven both in terms of the artists and where we perform," he said.
- Return to opera's roots? -
The rise of the opera alliance comes amid financial challenges for the Met and other major US music institutions, which enjoy less generous government funding than counterparts in much of Europe.
The New York City Opera, created as a more populist alternative to the Met, went bust in 2013 as it faced mounting debts.
But a group of philanthropists and businesses recently revived the "people's opera," staging Puccini's "Tosca" at a theater near the Met in Lincoln Center.
The reborn New York City Opera next month will reach a Spanish-speaking audience with "Florencia en el Amazonas," a work of magical realism by Daniel Catan.
Small companies have seen a growth of interest since the New York Opera Alliance was created five years ago as they benefit from unique characteristics in the metropolis -- a huge potential audience and a cultural shift toward independent art.
Annie Holt, executive director of the alliance, said that the festival's lively, small-scale productions may be more in line with opera as envisioned in the art forms formative years in Italy.
"For me it's Wagner who engenders the sort of modern way that we thought about opera across most of the 20th century -- it's high art, it's through-composed, you sit down in your seat and you're quiet and the lights are off," she said.
More casual productions "are actually in some ways for me a return to the origins of opera, not a departure from it," she said.
Sow and you shall reap, Burkina advises jobless youth
The government of Burkina Faso, which is battling high unemployment, on Wednesday urged young people to return to the soil and take up farming, previously written off as the lot of losers.
In an appeal published in daily newspapers across the west African nation, the government said it wanted to "break with society's view of farming activities, previously seen as the last resort of men and women having tried everything else in life, in vain."
Declaring "the land doesn't lie" the government promised to supply 4,000 tonnes of seeds, 16,000 tonnes of fertiliser, 11,000 ploughs, carts and sowing machines and 6,000 draught animals to spur growth in the sector.
A Burkina Faso farmer harvests rice on April 23, 2008 in Bagre in eastern Burkina Faso Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)
It also announced plans to set up a bank for farmers and boost the national network of agricultural advisors.
Agriculture is mainly a subsistence enterprise in Burkina Faso, one of Africa's poorest countries, which is prone to drought.
The rudimentary tools used contribute to the image of farming life as one of hard slog.
President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, who came to power in November a year after the ouster in a popular uprising of longtime leader Blaise Compaore, has pledged to tackle high youth unemployment.
There is no recent data on unemployment available in Burkina Faso.
Russian soldier dies after coming under fire in Syria: military
A Russian soldier has died in Syria after coming under fire from rebels in Homs province, a representative of Russia's Hmeimim air base told Russian news agencies on Wednesday.
The soldier, named as Anton Yerygin, "sustained serious injuries after coming under fire by rebels while escorting vehicles of the Russian coordination centre mediating between the warring sides", the unnamed official told Interfax news agency.
Yergyin died after doctors fought for his life for two days at the military hospital where he was taken shortly after the assault, the official added.
Russian soldiers ride an armoured vehicle near the ancient Syrian city on March 31, 2016 Joseph Eid (AFP/File)
He did not specify however when the assault had taken place, or when exactly the soldier died.
The soldier will be decorated with a posthumous medal, the official said.
The death came after the body of a Russian special forces officer killed in late March close to Palmyra was flown back to his home town on May 5 in a full military ceremony.
Russia said Tuesday it had delivered bread to parts of Homs province and extended the ceasefire to one more area of the battered region.
The announcement of the latest casualty also came hours before the expiry at midnight of Wednesday of a Russian and US-brokered ceasefire in Aleppo.
Regime forces and rebels in the battleground city have already agreed to extend the truce twice.
Saudis braced for release of hidden pages of 9/11 report
Saudi Arabia is confident nothing in a secret 28-page section of a US congressional report on the September 11 attacks implicates its leaders.
But some officials worry its eventual publication -- 15 years after the assault on New York and Washington -- will stir suspicion at a time of tense ties.
In December 2002, a year after the attacks, the House and Senate committees on intelligence published a report into the US investigation into them.
The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, if passed by the Senate, would allow the families of loved ones killed in the 9/11 attacks to sue the Saudi government - fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi citizens Beth A. Keiser (POOL/AFP/File)
But the then president, George W. Bush, ordered that 28 pages of the report be classified to protect the methods and identities of US intelligence sources.
Last month, former senator Bob Graham said the pages should be made public and alleged Saudi officials had provided assistance to the 9/11 hijackers.
Graham, who was the Senate intelligence committee chairman, said the White House had told him they will decide by June whether to declassify the pages.
The issue of alleged -- and fiercely denied -- Saudi involvement in the attacks has been brought up again by attempts to lodge a law suit against the kingdom.
Relatives of some of the American victims of the hijackers are lobbying Congress to pass a law lifting Saudi Arabia's sovereign immunity from liability.
- Mystery pages -
But Riyadh insists it has nothing to fear from the mysterious 28 pages and that US investigators have thoroughly debunked all the allegations they contain.
"Our position, since 2002 when the report first came out, was 'release the pages'," Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir told reporters in Geneva last week.
"We know from other senior US officials that the charges made in the 28 pages do not stand up to scrutiny. And so yes, release the 28 pages."
For most in Washington, the congressional report was superseded in July 2004 by the final report of the separate 9/11 Commission set up by Bush.
This found no evidence of official Saudi complicity -- but the ongoing secrecy surrounding Congress' earlier 28 pages has continued to stir suspicion.
"We can't rebut charges if we're being charged by ghosts in the form of 28 pages," Jubeir said.
"But every four or five years this issue comes up and it's like a sword over our head. Release it."
Jubeir added that, thanks to multiple leaks in the years since the congressional report was locked away in a safe on Capitol Hill, he can guess what it says.
"Nothing stays a secret," he said. "So we know that it's a lot of innuendo and insinuations."
So what exactly are the secret allegations?
The 28 pages are thought to include a claim that Princess Haifa, the wife of then Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar, sent money to the hijackers.
Princess Haifa sent thousands of dollars to Osama Basnan, a Saudi living in San Diego who befriended 9/11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.
Investigators were told the money was to pay to treat Basnan's wife for thyroid cancer. The 9/11 Commission found no evidence it was passed to the hijackers.
Another likely allegation in the missing pages concerns Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi civil aviation official who had been studying in California.
Bayoumi was arrested in England 10 days after the September 11 attacks and questioned by British and US authorities before being released without charge.
It is thought the missing pages cite allegations that he met Hazmi and Mihdhar at a Los Angeles restaurant.
- Clandestine ties? -
Later he helped the pair settle in San Diego, leading to suspicions that he was acting on behalf of Saudi paymasters to help prepare the Al-Qaeda attack.
But the 9/11 Commission report said FBI investigators found Bayoumi to be "an unlikely candidate for clandestine involvement with Islamist extremists."
Whatever allegations are in the missing pages of the congressional report, Saudi Arabia's defenders will point to the later 9/11 Commission report.
"Saudi Arabia has long been considered the primary source of Al-Qaeda funding," it said.
"But we have found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization."
But if Riyadh is so confident in its defense, why then the nervousness about the release?
Reports allege the kingdom threatened to withdraw $750 billion in investments from the United States if Congress strips it of its immunity in US courts.
This claim triggered outrage -- the tabloid New York Daily News reported it under the headline "Royal Scum" -- but Jubeir denies it amounted to a threat.
"Nonsense," he declared, arguing Riyadh had simply warned the legislation being considered by Congress would overturn the idea of sovereign immunity.
"It's a simple principle and it protects everybody, including the United States," he said.
"We said a law like this is going to cause investor confidence to shrink, not just for Saudi Arabia but for everybody," he added.
"But this idea that 'Oh my God, now the Saudis are threatening us'? We don't threaten things."
A federal judge in Billings sentenced a Mexican citizen to three years in prison after he admitted to having six pounds of methamphetamine in his vehicle.
Jetsee Alberto Nunez-Guzman, 35, apologized for his actions and asked to be sent back to Mexico so he could support his family.
Nunez-Guzman was in the country legally on a tourist visa and had no criminal record when he was arrested after a traffic stop by a Billings police officer in June 2015 for having a broken brake light.
Nunez-Guzman pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute meth.
U.S. District Judge Susan Watters sentenced him to less than the guideline range, which was about five years to six years. She noted his lack of criminal record and lack of drug use and said his actions appeared to be aberrant behavior.
Defense attorney Jack Sands recommended a time-served sentence of 11 months and deportation to Mexico.
Prosecutor Brendan McCarthy sought a guideline sentence because of the amount of the meth.
Nunez-Guzman said he was transporting the meth for a person in Billings. He had met the person earlier in Mexico, he told the judge. Nunez-Guzman said he was to have been paid $1,000 but got nothing. The defendant also said he was in the United States looking for work in the construction field.
Officers arrested Nunez-Guzman after he appeared nervous and was sweating during the traffic stop and said he was driving from Townsend to Yellowstone National Park.
The officer asked for consent to search the vehicle and took as denial Nunez-Guzmans response that he didnt understand the question. The officer then had a narcotics-detecting dog sniff the exterior of the vehicle and the dog indicated the presence of drugs.
A search of the vehicle turned up a space heater containing seven bags of meth totaling about 6.1 pounds, the prosecutor said. Nunez-Guzman admitted to agents to transporting the meth from Los Angeles to Montana.
Japan start mooted for 2018 Giro d'Italia
Japan could host the opening stages of the Giro d'Italia in 2018, various sources have suggested to AFP.
The three-week Tour of Italy is no stranger to staging a start beyond its national borders, with Denmark welcoming the Giro in 2012, Ireland in 2014 and this year the Netherlands.
But visiting Japan would be a new and far more ambitious undertaking and would also mark the first time one of the 'Grand Tours' (Giro, Tour de France and Vulta d'Espagna) have begun outside Europe.
Visiting Japan would mark the first time one of the 'Grand Tours' (Giro, Tour de France and Vulta d'Espagna) have begun outside Europe Luk Benies (AFP/File)
Aside from the novelty and exotic nature to the idea there is also the not inconsequential aspect of financing such a move.
According to La Stampa, holding a proposed four stages in Japan, one of which could see the peloton tackle the iconic Mount Fuji, could be worth in the region of 35 million euros ($40m) with each team likely to receive between 250,000-500,000 euros as compensation for the vast logistics involved.
Tokyo is almost 10,000 kilometres from Rome, with a flying tome of over 12 hours.
Most of the team chiefs consulted by AFP stressed the complexity and cost of such an enterprise.
"(For this year's race) you need two different structures, one in the Netherlands for the first three stages and another in Italy for the rest of the Giro. Only the riders remain the same," said AG2R La Mondiale boss Julien Jurdie.
"These ideas only make sense from an economic point of view," added the team's general manager Philippe Chevallier.
"Even if you give the riders a rest day after the travel (back to Italy), athletes need proper rest. To have to suffer from jetlag after racing hard for three days kind of goes against the idea of sporting ethics at a time when we're trying to put some credibility back into the sport.
"It's just not reasonable."
FDJ team manager Marc Madiot also voiced his concerns, claiming the only interest for such a move is economic.
"It would create a lot of logistical problems and that makes life difficult for the other (race) organisers," he said.
"But there's a non-negligable sum to be made from it. And money talks."
In the 1980s, the Tour de France flirted with the possibility of holding a start on the other side of the Atlantic in the French overseas territory of Guadeloupe only to ditch the plan due to the huge costs involved.
Journalists are not enemies, US says at Egypt-led UN debate
Journalists should not be treated as enemies of the state but rather as allies in fighting terrorism, the US ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday, in remarks seen as a swipe at Egypt.
Ambassador Samantha Power told the Security Council that counter-terrorism measures "should never be used as an excuse to suppress political dissent" and that jailing journalists was "counter-productive."
The 15-member council was holding a special debate on confronting terrorism ideologies chaired by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, whose country holds the council presidency this month.
US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power attends the 102nd White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2016 Nicholas Kamm (AFP/File)
Egypt's journalists' union this month accused the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of being "at war" with the media after two reporters were accused of incitement.
A total of 29 journalists are behind bars in Egypt, some of whom have been held in custody for nearly three years, according to the journalists' union.
Without referring specifically to Egypt, Power told the council that "arresting journalists, sentencing reporters to death; treating media as an enemy of the state - such actions are thoroughly counterproductive."
"The media is an ally when it comes to showing the truth about terrorist groups," she added.
Asked about the statement, Shoukry told reporters that Power's remarks were not directed at Egypt but he added that the US ambassador was off-topic.
"I think it is important that we keep a focus and that we send a clear message and not confuse issues related to the battle against terrorism with other issues," said the foreign minister.
Human rights activists accuse Sisi of running an ultra-authoritarian regime that has violently suppressed all opposition since toppling Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Shoukry denied there had been arbitrary arrest of journalists in Egypt.
"We believe that journalism is an important contributor to the development of Egypt," he said.
UN peacekeepers urged to use force to 'save lives'
Rwanda and the Netherlands, two countries embroiled in the UN's worst peacekeeping failures, on Wednesday launched a push at the United Nations for blue helmets to more readily use force to defend civilians in conflicts.
The initiative seeks to persuade countries that contribute troops to UN peacekeeping to agree to more robust action and more readily intervene instead of staying behind the high walls of their UN compounds.
"The blue flag needs to stand for protection and it doesn't always," Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told the gathering at UN headquarters in New York.
A new initiative from Rwanda and the Netherlands seeks to persuade countries that contribute troops to UN peacekeeping to agree to more robust action and more readily intervene instead of staying behind the high walls of their UN compounds Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)
The failure of Dutch peacekeepers to defend Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1995 has been a source of shame for the Netherlands, which has recently returned to UN peacekeeping by sending troops to Mali.
At the UN meeting, countries were urged to endorse the so-called Kigali principles, a pledge that troops in UN missions will take military action against "armed actors with clear hostile intent to harm civilians."
"We are starting a movement today," said Rwanda's Ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana, who stressed the aim was to "save lives".
"The failures of our past should not dictate our future," he added.
Rwanda, which was abandoned by UN peacekeepers during the 1994 genocide, has become of the largest contributors to UN peacekeeping with some 6,000 troops and police serving under the UN flag.
Only 29 countries have so far agreed to endorse the principles including key troop-contributors Bangladesh and Ethiopia.
Two other major peacekeeping nations, India and Pakistan, are not among the signatories and three permanent Security Council members -- Britain, France and Russia -- have yet to come on board.
US Ambassador Samantha Power cited a 2014 UN report that showed peacekeepers had failed to use force in response to some 500 attacks against civilians from 2010 and 2013.
"We continue to see units retreat instead of standing their ground," said Power.
The United States endorses the principles and is urging the United Nations to give preference to countries that back them to serve in peacekeeping missions, she said.
Some 106,000 troops from 123 countries are deployed in peacekeeping missions worldwide, most of which include the protection of civilians in their mandates agreed by the Security Council.
US cool on France Mideast peace push, may not attend
The United States appears reluctant to support a French plan to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with a major conference this month.
The State Department was unable to say on Wednesday whether Secretary of State John Kerry will attend a planned May 30 meeting in Paris.
And outside experts say Washington is unlikely to want to allow France to take the lead on an issue that it traditionally sees as its own.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (R) talks to the press as French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault listens prior a meeting about Syria at the French Foreign ministry in Paris on May 9, 2016 Philippe Lopez (AFP/File)
"We remain concerned about the continued violence on the ground and we welcome all ideas on moving this forward," US spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said.
"On this specific conference, on the May 30 event, no decision's been made on participation."
"We still remain in consultation with the French and other international partners on it," she said.
Kerry was in Paris on Monday to see his counterpart Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, and his deputy Antony Blinken was there again on Wednesday.
France's prime minister, Manuel Valls, will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories this month to try to drum up interest in the French initiative.
But Israel opposes the plan to bring ministers from 20 countries to Paris, insisting peace will come only through direct talks with the Palestinians.
And there is clearly little enthusiasm in Washington.
"They're reluctant on at least two fronts," said Ghaith al-Omari, a fellow of the Washington Institute of Near East Policy and a former adviser to Palestinian peace negotiators.
"One front is that there's always been American reluctance to engage in anything about the peace process that is not American led," he told AFP.
"The other component is that the administration has not decided yet whether or not they will be doing something American in the next few months."
Reports in Washington have suggested that President Barack Obama, due to leave office in January, may be planning a major speech to outline terms for peace.
And Washington may decide to take a blueprint for the "two-state solution" to the conflict to the UN Security Council to be enshrined in international law.
But Obama has yet to decide whether to insert himself into an issue that has frustrated so many of his predecessors -- or whether to let the French try.
"Until there's a decision it's unlikely that the US will engage in any external initiatives," Omari said.
Depp to star in Dominique Strauss-Kahn-inspired film
Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard are set to star in a movie inspired by the scandal that brought down the former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The film, entitled "The Libertine," will be directed by Brett Ratner and is "loosely based on the DSK incident," Ratner's spokesperson Kate Rosenbaum told AFP.
Several media reports said Depp will play a character based on the disgraced former French politician, who stepped down as head of the IMF after he was accused of assaulting a hotel maid in 2011. The criminal case was later dismissed and a civil suit was settled out of court.
US actor Johnny Depp arrives at a court in the Gold Coast on April 18, 2016 Patrick Hamilton (AFP/File)
The Wrap website said the script "offers a comedic take" on Strauss-Kahn's brush with the law.
The scandal has already been the subject of another drama, "Welcome to New York," which starred French actor Gerard Depardieu.
The US military is at the forefront of futuristic tech from lasers on aircraft to stealth jets and now it has been showing off its developments designed to help its soldiers and patients.
At a science fair-style event at The Pentagon, the $3 billion agency has demoed its advanced prosthetic arms able to restore the sense of touch and feel to amputees.
It also showcased implants that can help restore the memory of people suffering brain injuries or in people with post traumatic stress disorder.
At a science fair-style event at The Pentagon, Darpa has demoed prosthetic arms able to restore the sense of touch and feel to amputees. One of the amputees at the event was Johnny Matheny (shown)
One of the amputees at the event was Johnny Matheny.
Mr Matheny, 61, lost his left arm to cancer in 2008, and now works with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better know as Darpa.
'In the beginning, you had to think pretty hard about individual movements,' said Matheny as he demonstrated his mastery of the black metallic limb, clenching the fist and swiveling his wrist in a natural-looking motion.
'It just comes natural now, I don't even have to think about it.'
'SOFT' EXOSUIT WILL LIGHTEN LOAD Engineers have created a flexible exosuit designed to make their lives slightly easier because it reduces the energy cost of walking when carrying heavy load. The textile suit, using cables and motors, could also be used by hikers and emergency professionals who are first on the scene of an incident. The suit, produced by engineers at Harvard University, comprises a waist belt, two thigh pieces and two calf straps, connected by cables to two motors mounted on a backpack. The energy from the motors travels via cables to the suit which transfers it to the wearer. The suit becomes active only when it detects a walking motion. It assists the hip and ankle joints which together contribute about 80 per cent of the power produced by the leg joints during walking.
To see Darpa's other impacts, look no further than the phone in your pocket.
Many of the technologies inside - including the accelerometers that tell the phone which way is up, the voice recognition software and the touch screen - are all rooted in Darpa research.
Even the web has Darpa ancestry, as the agency helped build the first connections between computers.
Mr Matheny's prosthetic arm is experimental, meaning it must still clear regulatory hurdles before it is commercially available.
It clips directly onto his body thanks to a metal device surgically placed into the remainder of his arm, amputated above the elbow.
Mr Matheny controls it through sensors that pick up signals in the residual nerves that once ran to his fingertips.
Standing in the next stall was Fred Downs, 71, a former combat soldier who ran the US Department of Veterans Affairs' prosthetics program for 30 years.
Mr Downs lost his left arm when he stepped on a 'bouncing Betty' landmine in Vietnam in 1968. The devices shoot out the ground and explode at waist height.
'When you are a strong healthy solider, you get blown up and your whole life changes,' Lieutenant Downs said.
'You look at the array of prosthetic devices, it gives you hope and makes you realize that you are going to be able to become functional again and independent.'
Such technology was once the realm of science fiction - like the 1980 classic movie 'The Empire Strikes Back,' where Luke Skywalker gets a prosthetic hand after losing his own in a lightsaber dual with Darth Vader (shown)
Mr Matheny's prosthetic arm is experimental, meaning it must still clear regulatory hurdles before it is commercially available. It clips directly onto his body thanks to a metal device surgically placed into the remainder of his arm, amputated above the elbow (pictured)
More than 1,600 US troops underwent amputations during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, often after hitting roadside bombs.
Lieutenant Downs uses a silver-coloured prosthetic called a Deka arm that he controls by twitching muscles in his feet.
These signals are transmitted wirelessly to the arm, which also can be controlled in a manner similar to Matheny's.
First developed in 2006, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the Deka for commercial sale.
Such technology was once the realm of science fiction - like the 1980 classic movie 'The Empire Strikes Back,' where Luke Skywalker gets a prosthetic hand after losing his own in a lightsaber dual with Darth Vader.
Other technologies on display included a phone app that allows the real-time translation of spoken Iraqi Arabic to English and a model of a vertical takeoff aircraft (pictured)
The showcase also featured climbing pads that mimic the structure of a gecko's foot to let a human scale almost any surface (pictured being demonstrated at the Washington event)
Darpa is pushing such technologies further still.
Already, scientists have tested artificial limbs that let a wearer 'feel' sensations, and a paralyzed woman controlled two robotic arms with thought alone, through wires connected to the brain.
'We are just getting into what's possible,' said Justin Sanchez, the director of DARPA's Biological Technologies Office, which is developing memory implants for people suffering from traumatic brain injury.
About 340,000 current and former US troops have the condition, which can be caused by concussion or explosions.
Mr Sanchez said patients have shown a 20-30 percent improvement in memory, but he expects that number to rise.
Retired Lieutenant Fred Downs, who lost his arm to a land mine in the Vietnam War, uses his robotic hand that moves and provides sensations similar to a normal limb during the Darpa Demo Day at The Pentagon
Engineers recently created a flexible exosuit designed to make their lives slightly easier because it reduces the energy cost of walking when carrying heavy load. An exhibitor is pictured discussing a similar under suit that helps people on long marches reduce fatigue and avoid injuries at the event
'That shows how the accelerated pace of Darpa work can change how we think about these problems,' Mr Sanchez said.
Other technologies on display included a phone app that allows the real-time translation of spoken Iraqi Arabic to English, climbing pads that mimic the structure of a gecko's foot to let a human scale almost any surface and radio technologies that let military operators communicate when their signals are being jammed by an enemy.
'Sometimes, it doesn't work well enough, it may just die on the vine or perhaps get picked up years down the line,' Darpa spokesman Rick Weiss said.
IS in Iraq losing terrain 'every single day': US general
The Islamic State group is losing ground in Iraq, struggling to replenish its ranks after it is attacked and is increasingly unable to mount major operations, a US general said Wednesday.
Baghdad-based Major General Gary Volesky said efforts are paying off for US-backed Iraqi security forces, who are trying to recapture vast tracts of territory seized by IS jihadists in 2014, including the key cities of Mosul and Fallujah in the Anbar and Nineveh provinces.
The jihadists' "ability to conduct large-scale offensive operations has primarily stopped," Volesky told Pentagon reporters in a video call.
Iraqi Kurdish and Turkmen Shiite forces from the Popular Mobilisation units sit on top of a tank on May 1, 2016 in the northern Iraqi town of al-Bashir after they recaptured the town from the control of the Islamic State (IS) group Marwan Ibrahim (AFP/File)
"They're more on the defensive, trying to delay Iraqi security forces just to buy time."
He added that the IS group is "losing terrain every single day."
In August 2014, the United States launched an international coalition to fight back against the IS group after they captured large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Much of the work is being conducted through US-led air strikes, although coalition trainers are also helping advise and equip Iraqi forces and moderate Syrian fighters.
Volesky said that at the start of the campaign, it wasn't unusual to see dozens of jihadists attack at once, but that is less frequently the case now.
"When we used to see, you know, 50, 60, 70 fighters, now what we're seeing is five to eight, maybe 15, with a VBIED (car suicide bomber) associated."
"We're not seeing them generate these large operations. We expect it's about a two- to three-week cycle after they do an operation to be able just to try to generate enough combat power to maintain relevance, frankly."
Still, the jihadists did mount a surprise attack on May 3 in northern Iraq, when a Navy SEAL was killed while on a mission to rescue US advisers working with peshmerga forces.
And three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 94 people Wednesday. The IS group claimed all the attacks.
A government spokesman said the IS group now only controls 14 percent of Iraq, down from 40 percent.
The Latest: SEAL to be buried at national cemetery
SAN DIEGO (AP) The Latest on the burial of U.S. Navy SEAL Charles Keating (all times local):
4:30 p.m.
A U.S. Navy SEAL killed in Iraq will be buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego.
In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Charles Keating IV, 31, of San Diego. Navy SEAL Keating was shot and killed Tuesday, May 3, 2016, in Iraq during a gunbattle that involved more than 100 Islamic State fighters. (U.S. Navy via AP)
SEALs spokeswoman Lt. Beth Teach says the body of Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Keating IV will be laid to rest Friday after a private funeral in Coronado, California, with his family.
Teach says a public procession to honor Keating will also take place Friday in Coronado, where Keating's SEAL Team 1 is based.
On Thursday, Naval Special Warfare will hold a private memorial service at Tidelands Park in Coronado for family, friends, and members of SEAL Team 1.
The Latest: Basquiat sells for $57.3M at Christie's sale
NEW YORK (AP) The Latest on a Christie's contemporary art sale Tuesday evening in New York City: (all times local):
9 p.m.
A monumental self-portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat (zhahn mee-SHEHL' BAH'-skee-aht) has set a worldwide auction record for the artist, selling for $57.3 million at a Christie's contemporary art sale.
FILE - In this Friday, April 29, 2016 file photo, an employee inspects "No. 17 (blue and green) by Mark Rothko, on display during the press preview of "Bound to Fail" at Christie's auction house in New York. The large blue and green painting by Rothko and a monumental self-portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat are among the major highlights of Christies contemporary art sale. Rothkos No. 17 is estimated to bring $30 to $40 million. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Basquiat's self-portrait, "Untitled, 1982," portrays the young artist as a fiery demonic figure. It had a $40 million pre-sale estimate for Tuesday evening's sale.
A large blue and green painting by Mark Rothko also was a top seller at the auction. It fetched $32.6 million.
Other top lots include an important work by the abstract expressionist artist Clyfford Still and a group of nine sculptures by Alexander Calder that were inspired by his visit to India in 1955.
The Still painting, "PH-234, 1948," had only two previous owners and sold for $28.2 million.
Most of Still's works are in collections and museums, including at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver, Colorado.
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1 a.m.
A large blue and green painting by Mark Rothko and a monumental self-portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat (zhahn mee-SHEHL' BAH'-skee-aht) are among the major highlights of Christie's contemporary art sale.
Other top lots at Tuesday evening's sale include an important work by the abstract expressionist artist Clyfford Still and a group of nine sculptures by Alexander Calder that were inspired by his visit to India in 1955.
Rothko's "No. 17" is estimated to bring $30 to $40 million.
Basquiat's self-portrait, "Untitled, 1982," portrays the young artist as a fiery demonic figure. It has a $40 million pre-sale estimate.
The Still painting, "PH-234, 1948," has had only two previous owners. It could bring $25 to $35 million.
The Latest: Authorities identify suspect in stabbing attacks
TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) The Latest on stabbing attacks at a Massachusetts mall and a home that left three dead including the suspect (all times local):
11:35 p.m.
Authorities have identified a man who they say killed two people in stabbing attacks at a home and a shopping mall in Massachusetts before being shot dead.
The suspect in attacks at Silver City Galleria mall is transported on a gurney into an ambulance by medical personnel in Taunton, Mass., Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Multiple people have been stabbed in separate deadly attacks at the mall and a home in Massachusetts. Authorities say an off-duty law enforcement officer shot and killed the suspect. (Charles Winokoor/The Daily Gazette via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday that 28-year-old Arthur DaRosa crashed a car outside a home, walked inside and stabbed an 80-year-old woman and another woman. The 80-year-old was taken to a hospital, where she later died. The other woman is being treated for life-threatening injuries.
Authorities say DaRosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria mall and crashed a car through the front of a Macy's store. They say he assaulted multiple people inside the store before running to a restaurant and stabbing two people, including a 56-year-old man who later died.
Investigators say an off-duty sheriff's deputy fatally shot DaRosa.
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9:25 p.m.
Three people have been killed including a suspect and two others injured in attacks at a shopping mall and a home in Massachusetts.
State police say a man stabbed two people at a home in Taunton on Tuesday, then crashed a car through the front of a Macy's store at the Silver City Galleria and stabbed two other people at the mall. It's unclear which victims have died.
Authorities say an off-duty law enforcement officer shot and killed the suspect.
Witnesses reported a chaotic scene.
A motive for the attacks remains under investigation.
Officials say the suspect also may have been involved in an earlier car crash on the street where the first stabbings took place.
Taunton is about 40 miles south of Boston.
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This story has been corrected to show authorities said DaRosa stabbed two people, not four in mall restaurant.
The suspect in attacks at Silver City Galleria mall is transported on a gurney into an ambulance by medical personnel in Taunton, Mass., Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Multiple people have been stabbed in separate deadly attacks at the mall and a home in Massachusetts. Authorities say an off-duty law enforcement officer shot and killed the suspect. (Charles Winokoor/The Daily Gazette via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
A man was sentenced to three years of supervision for firing a gun in the Cherry Creek subdivision that injured to a pregnant woman.
Shonn Stewart Kober, 27, was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Michael Moses to three years with the Montana Department of Corrections, all time suspended, for one felony count of criminal endangerment. Kober received credit for the 216 days he served in Yellowstone County Detention Facility.
Kober was arrested after an incident last July on Danube Street in the Cherry Creek subdivision. According to court documents, multiple people reported a man in a gold Toyota had shot at a couple driving a red car.
The man driving the red car said Kober shot at him because the man owed Kobers friend $100, according to court documents. The man said Kober fired twice through the back window of his car while the mans pregnant girlfriend was attempting to enter the car.
The woman was dragged a short distance before the man stopped, allowing her to get into the car, according to court documents.
2 men in line for Brazilian presidency accused of corruption
Impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff have put a spotlight on endemic corruption in the ranks of Brazil's lawmakers. Watchdog groups say about 60 percent of the 594 legislators in both chambers of Congress are being investigated for wrongdoing or are facing corruption charges, including the two men in line to replace Rousseff if she is impeached and a third who would have been in line.
FIRST IN LINE: Vice President Michel Temer.
A former senator turned state's witness recently accused Temer of appointing a lobbyist to distribute bribes between 1997 and 2001 in ethanol deals through Petrobras, the giant state-run oil company. He denies wrongdoing.
FILE - In this March 2, 2016 file photo, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff talks with her Vice President Michel Temer at Planalto presidential palace in Brasilia, Brazil. Temer is the first in line to replace Rousseff if she's impeached, but is himself under investigation in the Petrobras corruption scandal. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
Temer also is accused of arranging the appointment of a Petrobras director who was involved in a series of corruption cases linked to Temer's Brazilian Democratic Movement Party. He denies knowing the man.
Temer is being investigated for receiving more than $ 1.5 million in funds from a construction company that works with Petrobras. Temer says they were legal campaign donations.
Authorities seized spreadsheets from the construction company Camargo Correa that listed Temer's name 21 times alongside numbers that added up to $345,000, allegedly in bribes. While the case was thrown out in the courts, the investigation is credited with having led to the current broader Petrobras probe.
SECOND IN LINE: Senate leader Renan Calheiros.
Calheiros would be acting president if Temer travels. Brazil's Supreme Federal Tribunal is currently considering seven investigations against Calheiros in the Petrobras probe. He denies wrongdoing.
Among the cases are accusations by a lobbyist that Calheiros was paid $600,000 to stop a Senate probe of corruption in Petrobras.
Calheiros is accused by a former Petrobras director of threatening to withhold support unless he was paid off. The same ex-director says Calheiros was paid $1.7 million through a Petrobras lobbyist in a case related to drill ship contracts.
In a plea bargain, another former Petrobras director accused Calheiros of using a legislator in the Chamber of Deputies, Anibal Gomes, to be paid bribes for contracts with constructors.
OUSTED: Former Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha.
Cunha would have been second in line but was removed as speaker last week by Brazil's highest court while he is investigated in several cases. Cunha, who led the impeachment push against Rousseff in his chamber, denies wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have accused Cunha of corruption and money laundering for his role in negotiating contracts for drill ships, including a payment of $5 million.
Swiss prosecutors say Cunha held secret bank accounts at Julius Baer bank, with media reports putting their value in December at 2.4 million Swiss francs. Brazilian investigators suspect the funds are linked to corruption at a Petrobras oil operation. Brazilian investigators say Cunha also has had undeclared accounts in the U.S. since 1990 holding more than $20 million.
A senator-turned-government witness has said Cunha and his Brazilian Democratic Movement Party were paid more than $10 million by BTG Pactual bank to get an executive order approved by the lower house. A lobbyist who pleaded guilty in another case alleged Cunha was paid more than $12 million in bribes by big construction companies to win contracts to renovate Rio's port area ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games.
Police: Man detained outside Taylor Swift's NYC home
NEW YORK (AP) A man described by police as emotionally disturbed has been detained outside Taylor Swift's home in Manhattan.
Authorities say the unidentified man was spotted on the street near the pop star's Tribeca apartment by her security guards.
It happened at about 6 p.m. Tuesday. Police say the man was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. There have been no arrests.
FILE - In this Monday, May 2, 2016 file photo, Taylor Swift arrives at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala, celebrating the opening of "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology" in New York. A man described by police as emotionally disturbed has been detained outside Swift's home in Manhattan. Authorities say the unidentified man was spotted on the street near the pop star's Tribeca apartment by her security guards on Tuesday evening, May 10, 2016. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
Police say Swift was not home at the time.
Artists fight for free speech at a cradle of US independence
BOSTON (AP) A fight over free speech involving breakdance crews and bucket drummers is brewing on the steps of a historic meeting house where American colonists began the earliest calls for revolt against England.
Boston officials say they're considering imposing regulations on street performers because the breakdancers and drummers performing in front of Faneuil Hall, among the city's most visited tourist sites, are using bad language, playing music too loudly, aggressively soliciting donations and bullying other performers out.
"The behavior out there is unacceptable," said City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina, a Democrat who has proposed a citywide permitting system with support from public safety officials. "I just want them to respect the people that visit our city. You can't go out there and use foul language and blast music."
In this Friday, May 6, 2016 photo, Scoogie performs with Breeze Team at Faneuil Hall, rear, in Boston. Officials are considering regulations on street performers citywide because they say breakdance crews and bucket drummers performing in front of Faneuil Hall, one of Boston's most visited tourist sites, are using inappropriate language, playing music too loud, aggressively soliciting donations and bullying other performers out of the high traffic area. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
But breakdance crews and drummers, who for years have drawn crowds to the plaza around a statue of Samuel Adams, have disputed complaints about their behavior. They say police have been pushing them out of tourist destinations across the city but allowing them to perform at Faneuil Hall.
"We're not the bullies. If anything, we're getting bullied by police and the city," Universal Fair, a member of the You Already Know crew, said between performances last week. "They say this is the only designated spot for us, and now they want to take that away from us."
Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh's office didn't comment this week on the breakdancers' complaints.
Other opponents warn imposing a citywide system is an overreaction that could put a damper on a vibrant busking scene.
Trying to control what artists say, even if it's considered distasteful, also infringes on free speech, a concern opponents say should have special resonance at Faneuil Hall, where Adams and other Sons of Liberty railed against British taxation, leading to the Boston Tea Party and other acts of rebellion.
"You can't regulate an artist's content," said Stephen Baird, director of Community Arts Advocates, a nonprofit arts organization. "This is one of the most historic free-speech spaces in the country, and yet they're trying to make it a First Amendment-free zone."
City officials say a system that protects performers' constitutional rights but responsibly manages public space, especially around bustling Faneuil Hall, is overdue.
William Joyce, who oversees security on city-owned property, said officers have tried to get the breakdance and drum acts to tone things down. He said there also have been complaints about marijuana, littering and crowds blocking access.
Boston repealed its laws against street performers, some of which dated to the 1850s, in 2004, after they were challenged in federal court.
But Faneuil Hall Marketplace, the privately operated shopping and dining complex adjacent to the meeting house, has long had a system for permitting acts, though performers staged protests last year when new fees and other changes were proposed.
Other cities have seen recent battles over street performers, too.
New York this year approved regulations aimed at restricting costumed characters and nearly naked painted women in Times Square and other pedestrian plazas to certain designated zones. Las Vegas did the same late last year along freewheeling Fremont Street.
Joshua Rodriguez, who has been drumming on buckets around Boston for more than a decade, said he's concerned the current permitting and application proposal leaves too much discretion with city officials. He'd prefer a lottery system like those in place at Los Angeles' Venice Beach and Seattle's Pike Place Market, where artists are randomly designated performance spots and times.
Boston resident Anthony Plant said he'd be open to seeing different acts get shots at working the plaza, which he crosses at least twice a week. But he's doesn't find anything particularly objectionable about their performances.
"They've got jokes, but I don't have a problem with it. It's all in humor," Plant said. "They're just trying to draw a crowd."
But Femke Verbeck, a graduate student visiting from Belgium, said she wasn't sure the location was ideal for their acts.
"It sort of disturbs the vibe," she said. "I'm here for the historic scene and everything."
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Follow Philip Marcelo at http://www.twitter.com/philmarcelo. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/philip-marcelo
In this Friday, May 6, 2016 photo, Breeze Team performs at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Officials are considering regulations on street performers citywide because they say breakdance crews and bucket drummers performing in front of Faneuil Hall, one of Boston's most visited tourist sites, are using inappropriate language, playing music too loud, aggressively soliciting donations and bullying other performers out of the high traffic area. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
In this Friday, May 6, 2016 photo, Breeze Team performs at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Officials are considering regulations on street performers citywide because they say breakdance crews and bucket drummers performing in front of Faneuil Hall, one of Boston's most visited tourist sites, are using inappropriate language, playing music too loud, aggressively soliciting donations and bullying other performers out of the high traffic area. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
In this Friday, May 6, 2016 photo, Scoogie performs with Breeze Team at Faneuil Hall in Boston. Officials are considering regulations on street performers citywide because they say breakdance crews and bucket drummers performing in front of Faneuil Hall, one of Boston's most visited tourist sites, are using inappropriate language, playing music too loud, aggressively soliciting donations and bullying other performers out of the high traffic area. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
In this Friday, May 6, 2016 photo, street performer Mallick Young plays trumpet on Congress Street in Boston. Officials are considering regulations on street performers citywide because they say breakdance crews and bucket drummers performing a few blocks away in front of Faneuil Hall, one of Boston's most visited tourist sites, are using inappropriate language, playing music too loud, aggressively soliciting donations and bullying other performers out of the high traffic area. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Shallow quake hits Tibet, state media say casualties likely
BEIJING (AP) A shallow earthquake has struck the mountainous region of Tibet and Chinese state media say casualties are likely.
The U.S. Geological Survey says a 5.5 magnitude quake struck at 9:15 a.m. (0115 GMT) Wednesday 70 kilometers (44 miles) northwest of Gyamotang village at a depth of just 10 kilometers (6 miles). The epicenter was near Tibet's border with Qinghai province.
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted the regional seismological bureau as saying that the epicenter was in Kata Town, the site of two major Buddhist temples. The town's chief administrator, identified by the single name of Samba, told Xinhua he had seen two injured people.
Japanese welcome Obama's upcoming Hiroshima visit
TOKYO (AP) Japanese are welcoming U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to visit the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima.
They expressed happiness Wednesday that he will come later this month after attending a Group of Seven summit in Japan. Those interviewed said they weren't seeking an apology.
Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, a city almost entirely destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb in the final days of World War II. Some 140,000 people were killed, and others have endured after-effects to this day.
FILE - In this March 31, 2016, file photo, U.S. President Barack Obama speaks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their meeting at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. Obama will travel to Hiroshima in May 2016 in the first visit by a sitting American president to the site where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb. The White House says Obama will visit along with Abe during a previously scheduled visit to Japan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
An elderly woman who prayed in Tokyo Wednesday morning for the victims said she is "overcome with emotion when I think that someone who wants to offer understanding is finally about to arrive."
FILE - In this Sept. 8, 1945 file photo, an allied correspondent stands in the rubble in front of the shell of a building that once was a movie theater in Hiroshima, Japan, a month after the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the U.S. on Monday, Aug. 6, 1945. In a moment seven decades in the making, President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb during World War II, decimating a city and exploding the world into the Atomic Age. (AP Photo/Stanley Troutman, File)
FILE - In this April 11, 2016, file photo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, fourth from left, puts his arm around Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida after they and fellow G7 foreign ministers laid wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan. U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Hiroshima in May 2016 in the first visit by a sitting American president to the site where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb. Obama's visit will bolster his call for denuclearization and honor victims of the bombing that killed 140,000 Japanese on Aug. 6, 1945. The president's visit had long been anticipated. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Dogs in Flint getting tested as well for lead toxicity
FLINT, Mich. (AP) Humans aren't the only victims of the water crisis in Flint, as pets also may have been exposed to the toxic lead. An effort coordinated by Michigan State University is now helping dogs get tested.
The school's College of Veterinary Medicine has hosted screening events with professors, students and technicians volunteering to draw blood from dogs. State veterinarian James Averill said 266 dogs have been tested so far, with seven documented cases of lead toxicity.
"I thought the water was OK, and I was giving it to my dogs," said Katie Jobe, a Flint resident who brought Missy and Molly in for testing after discovering spots on Missy's hindquarters.
This Saturday, April 16, 2016, image taken from video shows a dog being held by a volunteer after having its blood drawn during a lead screening event held at the Humane Society of Genesee County in Burton, Mich. Professors, students and technicians associated with Michigan State Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine volunteered to assist at the event, which was geared toward dogs that live in Flint, Mich., and potentially were exposed to lead in their drinking water. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Flint is under a state of emergency after the city, under state management, switched to using the Flint River but failed to add the proper chemical treatment. Lead from old pipes leached into the water, and people and pets were exposed for months before the emergency declaration was made in October.
"The major focus so far has been on human health, and rightfully so," Michigan State assistant professor Daniel Langlois said while overseeing a recent screening clinic at a Flint church. "But at the same time, there are a lot of pets that live in the city of Flint, and we just wanted to make sure their health wasn't ignored."
Lead can cause developmental delays, learning disabilities and health problems in children. Averill said the effects are similar in animals.
"When you start getting further, longer-term exposure to high levels of lead, then you might start seeing neurologic or brain changes. You could get seizures," he said.
Averill said owners in Flint should make sure their pets drink only filtered or bottled water, and keep toilet lids closed. If they suspect a problem, they should seek veterinary care and testing.
Dogs could show lead toxicity in different ways. For a symptom like diarrhea, veterinarians might not do much, but for more severe effects, they could consider aggressive remedies like injections of substances to bind up or remove the lead. But Averill cautioned that aggressive remedies can come with harmful side effects.
Other pets also could have lead-related issues, but the focus of the public clinic testing is on dogs. Averill said the effect on cats is a concern, but testing them can be difficult. Bringing cats into an unfamiliar setting with dogs around puts owners and volunteers at risk for being scratched and having the cats run away, Averill said.
Greg Howe had no such difficulty when he brought in his Siberian husky to "make sure she ain't poisoned like the rest of the city of Flint is." Patting Diamond, Howe said: "I hope she lives a long, healthy life."
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Follow Mike Householder on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mikehouseholder
This Saturday, April 9, 2016, image taken from video shows a volunteer holding a dog having its blood drawn during a lead screening event held at a church building in Flint, Mich. Professors, students and technicians associated with Michigan State Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine volunteered to assist at the event, which was geared toward dogs that live in Flint and potentially were exposed to lead in their drinking water. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
This Saturday, April 16, 2016, image taken from video shows volunteers drawing blood from a dog during a lead screening event held at the Humane Society of Genesee County in Burton, Mich. Professors, students and technicians associated with Michigan State Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine volunteered to assist at the event, which was geared toward dogs that live in Flint, Mich., and potentially were exposed to lead in their drinking water. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
4 miles of violence: Disturbed man is killed to end rampage
TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) Two bystanders and an off-duty deputy sheriff were hailed as heroes Wednesday for intervening when a mentally disturbed man went on a stabbing rampage at a home and a mall hours after leaving a hospital, killing two people and injuring at least five others.
Arthur DaRosa's 4-mile trail of destruction, authorities say, included entering a random home where he stabbed two people eating dinner, several attempted carjackings, driving a car into a Macy's, beating several people inside the department store and then stabbing two people in a restaurant. He was shot and killed by a deputy sheriff when he refused to drop a knife inside the Bertucci's restaurant, the Bristol County prosecutor said.
District Attorney Thomas Quinn III gave this account:
Taunton, Mass., Mayor Thomas Hoye, Jr., right, speaks about Tuesday's stabbings at a Taunton home and shopping mall, Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Fall River, Mass. Behind him are Taunton Police Chief Edward Walsh, left, and Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III. Arthur DaRosa, described by his family as mentally disturbed, went on a stabbing rampage hours after leaving a hospital. He killed two people and assaulted and stabbed others before being fatally shot by an off-duty sheriff's deputy at the Silver City Galleria mall. (Jack Foley/The Herald News of Fall River via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
DaRosa's rampage began Tuesday evening, when he suddenly left his daughter's soccer practice in Taunton, 40 miles south of Boston, in a Honda Accord owned by her mother and struck a pickup truck.
DaRosa then tried unsuccessfully to get into several houses before entering a home where Patricia Slavin, 80, and her daughter, Kathleen Slavin, 58, were eating dinner. DaRosa stabbed the women, whom he didn't know, and then ran from the house.
Patricia Slavin died of multiple stab wounds. Her daughter was hospitalized in the intensive-care unit.
DaRosa tried to carjack multiple people driving or stopped nearby but finally got back into the Honda, drove to the Silver City Galleria Mall a few miles away and crashed into the front entrance of Macy's. Inside the store, he assaulted at least three women. One remained hospitalized Wednesday.
A Macy's employee intervened and tried to stop DaRosa, but he left and walked to the Bertucci's, where he grabbed a knife and stabbed a waitress, Sheenah Savoy, multiple times.
George Heath, a visual design teacher at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School, was at the bar at Bertucci's with his wife, Rosemary Heath. She said they had just ordered a drink when they heard a scream and saw DaRosa stabbing a young woman.
"He had the back of her shirt and kept stabbing her, and by the time she got to me, she was screaming, 'Help me! Help me! Help Me!'" she told WCVB-TV.
Rosemary Heath said she pushed the woman out of the way and grabbed the back of DaRosa's shirt.
"My husband was struggling with him to get the knife away," she said. "I think he went down low on him to get him around the elbows so he couldn't raise his arm up, and then he pulled his arm back and then stabbed my husband in the head."
George Heath, 56, later died. Savoy, 26, remained hospitalized in serious condition Wednesday.
Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. called Heath "certainly a hero."
"He stepped up," Hoye said. "He prevented a tragic situation from getting worse."
Rosemary Heath said Plymouth County Deputy Sheriff James Creed, who was off-duty and at Bertucci's eating dinner, repeatedly ordered DaRosa to drop the knife.
Quinn said that when DaRosa refused Creed fired one shot at his abdomen, killing him and preventing "further carnage."
Quinn said DaRosa, who was 28 and had two young daughters, had checked himself in to Morton Hospital on Monday after his sister observed him behaving erratically, was released Tuesday and went on the rampage hours later.
"This appears to be an irrational series of actions," Quinn said. "It's beyond comprehension what the man did."
DaRosa's family said he didn't have a diagnosis and wasn't on medication but had been battling mental illness in recent months and suffered a breakdown.
"He just snapped," aunt Liz DaRosa said.
She said the killings could have been prevented had the hospital kept him longer rather than discharging him. She apologized to the families of the victims, saying, "We can't understand it, never mind what they're going through."
Morton Hospital declined to comment on what type of treatment Arthur DaRosa received, citing patient privacy laws.
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Lavoie reported from Boston.
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This story has been corrected to show that Kathleen Slavin is 58, not 48.
The suspect in attacks at Silver City Galleria mall is transported on a gurney into an ambulance by medical personnel in Taunton, Mass., Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Multiple people have been stabbed in separate deadly attacks at the mall and a home in Massachusetts. Authorities say an off-duty law enforcement officer shot and killed the suspect. (Charles Winokoor/The Daily Gazette via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
The suspect in attacks at Silver City Galleria mall is transported on a gurney into an ambulance by medical personnel in Taunton, Mass., Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Multiple people have been stabbed in separate deadly attacks at the mall and a home in Massachusetts. Authorities say an off-duty law enforcement officer shot and killed the suspect. (Charles Winokoor/The Daily Gazette via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Wolves born at Brookfield Zoo released into wild of Arizona
BROOKFIELD, Ill. (AP) Two Mexican gray wolf pups born at the Brookfield Zoo outside Chicago are starting new lives in the wild of Arizona as part of a project to save the animals.
A news release from the zoo says the pups were born there last month and flown to Arizona. They were then placed in a den of wild wolves where pups had recently been born something that increases the chances they will be accepted by the wild wolves.
Brookfield Zoo officials say there are only 97 such wolves in the wild and it is important to add new ones to improve the genetic diversity of the wild wolf population. The effort marks the second time wolves from the zoo have been released to a wild wolf den.
In this April 30, 2016, photo provided by the Chicago Zoological Society, CZS veterinary and animal care staff perform neonatal examinations on Blaze and Brooke, two 5-day-old Mexican gray wolf pups prior to their departure from Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Ill. As part of the Mexican Gray Wolf Recovery Program, the pups were flown to be placed in the Arizona-based Elk Horn Pack of wild wolves, which will foster them with its own litter. (Chicago Zoological Society via AP)
In this April 30, 2016, photo provided by the Chicago Zoological Society, Blaze, left, and Brooke, 5-day-old Mexican gray wolf puppies born at Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Ill., sleep while in transit to Arizona to be placed with the Elk Horn Pack of wild wolves, which will foster the pups along with its own litter as part of a recovery program for the species. The fostering of Blaze and Brooke is only the second time in the history of the program that pups born in professional care were placed with an established wild pack. (Photo Courtesy of Chicago Zoological Society via AP)
27.8 million people internally displaced last year
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) A major aid agency said Wednesday that 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflicts and natural disasters last year, calling it a global crisis.
That's as many as the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo or an average of 66,000 people displaced every day in 2015.
A report by the Norwegian Refugee Council said that 8.6 million of last year's internally displaced were uprooted by conflict, more than half of them in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.
FILE- In this Wednesday, May 20, 2015 file photo, Ibrahim Omar, 45, right, and his children, Aseya, 3, Heyam, 6, Maryam, 10, and 1-year-old Saeed, pose for a photo as they stand next to their father in their room, at an orphanage that has been turned into a center for Yemeni refugees, in Obock, northern Djibouti. A major aid agency says 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflict and natural disasters last year, or as many as the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)
The group says Yemen alone accounted for one quarter of conflict-related displacement worldwide last year, with 2.2 million people uprooted, or 20 times more than in 2014.
The impoverished Arabian Peninsula country, which is gripped by a war pitting Yemen's Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies against forces loyal to the internationally backed government, which is being aided by a Saudi-led coalition and its airstrikes' campaign targeting the rebels.
Yemen was followed by Syria with 1.3 million displaced and Iraq with 1.1 million, the report said.
The group's Middle East director, Carsten Hansen, said that while the world's attention was focused on Middle Eastern refugees, or those who fled their homelands, millions were displaced internally in the region.
"While richer, stable countries have been scheming to keep asylum seekers out of their borders and deny them protection, millions remain trapped in their own countries with death ... just around the corner," he said.
The total of those internally displaced by conflict in the world now stands at 40.8 million, including the newly displaced 8.6 million last year.
"This is the highest number ever recorded, and twice the number of refugees worldwide," said Jan Egeland, the head of the NRC.
FILE- In this Tuesday, May 19, 2015 file photo, Ashwaq, 12, stands outside her family's tent, at the Markaze refugee camp in Obock, northern Djibouti. The Middle East has accounted for more than 50 per cent of the world's population internally displaced by conflict in 2015, with nearly 4.8 million new people forced to flee their homes. A major aid agency says 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflict and natural disasters last year, or as many as the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)
FILE- In this Wednesday, May 4, 2016 file photo, Syrian refugee boys await approval to enter Jordan at the Hadalat reception area on the Syrian-Jordanian border, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of the capital of Amman. A major aid agency says 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflict and natural disasters last year, or as many as the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh, File)
FILE- In this Tuesday, May 19, 2015 file photo, Abo Bakr Mohammed, 12, who suffers from epilepsy, covers himself with a mosquito net in his family's room, in an under-construction orphanage that has been turned into a transit centre for Yemeni refugees, in Obock, northern Djibouti. A major aid agency says 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflict and natural disasters last year, or as many as the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy, File)
FILE- In this Thursday, May 5, 2016 file photo, migrants and refugees are silhouetted as they stroll through a makeshift camp at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece. A major aid agency says 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflict and natural disasters last year, or as many as the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
FILE- In this Wednesday, May 4, 2016 file photo, a Syrian refugee man and boy cross into Jordan at the Hadalat reception area on the Syrian-Jordanian border, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northeast of the capital of Amman. A major aid agency says 27.8 million people around the world were internally displaced by conflict and natural disasters last year, or as many as the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh, File)
Lets just call it a Bern notice.
Jennifer Merecki and the rest of the Billings for Bernie Sanders contingent had for months been lobbying for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders to visit Montana. They expected he might come, but werent convinced Billings would be the place.
Then news broke Saturday that Sanders would be appear at MetraPark in Billings on Wednesday night. Other Montana communities have larger pro-Sanders contingents. The Independent senator from Vermont gets rallies regularly in Bozeman and has strong support in Missoula. But Billings has the voters.
I think its because Billings has the biggest population in Montana, Merecki said. As far as political demographics in Billings, its so diverse between Democrats and Republicans. I think it was the hot spot to spread the word.
More than one in eight Montana voters votes in Yellowstone County. Doors at the MetraPark Montana Pavilion open at 5 p.m. for the Sanders event. The main floor of the venue is about 18,000 square feet.
Admission is free and first come, first served. Personal bags are not allowed for security reasons. Electronic devices and small personal items are permitted, but amounts should be limited. Any potentially harmful object, such as signs or banners on sticks, sharp objects, weapons or chairs are banned. There will be a security check at the entrance.
The Billings event will be Sanders second of the day. He will be making an earlier appearance in Missoula.
The Billings event kicks off with a performance by the Red Lodge band Satsang at 5:30 p.m.
Sanders is the first presidential candidate to visit Montana in primary election season since Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in 2008. Both Clinton and President Obama visited Billings that year.
Theres been no announcement of a Clinton appearance in Montana this month. Montanans began voting in person at county election offices Monday. Absentee ballots will be mailed to Montana voters Friday. The final day of voting is June 7.
Philippine poll chief to Marcos: Prove vote count anomaly
MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine election officials challenged Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Wednesday to prove his allegation of irregularities in the counting of votes for vice president, where he has been overtaken by his closest rival.
They also rejected Marcos' request for a stop to the unofficial tally by an accredited citizens' watchdog, which uses the same election returns that are transmitted to the Commission on Elections.
The son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. had initially led the partial count by the watchdog known by its acronym PPCRV. But as of Wednesday afternoon, the administration's candidate, Rep. Leni Robredo, was leading by more than 230,000 votes, putting her 0.6 percentage points ahead of Marcos.
FILE - In this Thursday, May 5, 2016, file photo, vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., waves to supporters on his last campaign rally for the presidential elections in suburban Mandaluyong city, east of Manila, Philippines. The son of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos asked for a stop to an unofficial vote count that shows his rival has overtaken him. Marcos' adviser Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said Tuesday, May 10, 2016, the campaign had sent an urgent request to the election commission to halt a tally released by an accredited citizens' group, saying the numbers showed "an alarming and suspicious trend" that was contrary to independent exit polls. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File)
The tally is based on results from 95.5 percent of precincts nationwide. Ballots from overseas Filipinos are now considered crucial in the race for vice president.
Rodrigo Duterte, the bombastic mayor of southern Davao city, is poised to become the new president, based on PPCRV results that gave him an unassailable lead.
The official count and proclamation of the president and vice president are done by Congress, which will convene May 24.
If Marcos wins, that would put him a step away from the presidency 30 years after his late father was ousted by a public uprising amid allegations of plunder and widespread human rights abuses.
On Tuesday, Marcos campaign adviser Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz said they sent an urgent request to the Commission on Elections to halt the PPCRV count because it showed "an alarming and suspicious trend" contrary to independent exit polls and the campaign's estimates.
"These accusations are not true ... we are committed to being impartial, to be neutral," elections commission chairman Andres Bautista said.
He said any complaint would be acted upon based on evidence.
Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said there was no reason to stop the official count.
Marcos appealed to his supporters, who have been calling through social media for protest rallies, to stay calm.
The Marcos family fled to Hawaii four days after a 1986 "people power" uprising in which rosary-clutching nuns and ordinary citizens knelt before tanks, and protesters stuck yellow flowers into the muzzles of assault rifles of pro-government troops. His father died in exile three years later, after denying any wrongdoing.
After the Marcos family returned to the Philippines in 1991, Marcos Jr. became governor, congressman and, in 2010, a senator.
President Benigno Aquino III, whose parents were democracy champions who helped topple the senior Marcos, campaigned against his son, who has never clearly apologized for abuses of his father.
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This story has been corrected to show that the tally is based on results from 95.5 percent of precincts, not votes.
Philippine vice presidential candidate Maria Leonor "Leni" Robredo, center, talks to reporters after a press conference in suburban Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Robredo is slightly ahead of Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., the son of the late strongman, in an unofficial count of votes for the vice president. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A resident checks the damage of a tarpaulin billboard of leading presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte along a boulevard at his hometown in Davao city in southern Philippines Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Duterte has widened his lead in an unofficial tally but still refuses to claim victory. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
An enterprising vendor waits for customers as he sells various souvenir items such as commemorative car plates, t-shirts and stickers of leading presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte at his hometown in Davao city in southern Philippines Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Duterte has widened his lead in unofficial tally but still refuses to claim victory.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
A supporter poses beside a life-size cutout of leading presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte at his hometown in Davao city in southern Philippines Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Duterte has widened his lead in unofficial tally but still refuses to claim victory.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
A resident takes stays in the shade behind a campaign billboard of leading presidential candidate Mayor Rodrigo Duterte along a boulevard at his hometown in Davao city in southern Philippines Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Duterte has widened his lead in unofficial tally but still refuses to claim victory.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Shallow quake hits Tibet, causing landslides, 60 hurt
BEIJING (AP) A shallow magnitude-5.5 earthquake struck the mountainous region of Tibet on Wednesday, injuring 60 people, collapsing houses and damaging bridges and roads, authorities said.
The quake struck at 9:15 a.m. (0115 GMT), 70 kilometers (44 miles) northwest of Gyamotang village at a depth of just 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake region is near Tibet's border with Qinghai province to the north.
Serious injuries were sustained by six of the casualties, according to a statement on the website of the Dingqing county government. It gave no estimates for numbers of collapsed houses or damaged roads and bridges.
The China News Service reported that the earthquake had set off landslides.
China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted the regional seismological bureau as saying that the epicenter was in Kata Town, about 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) from the capital Beijing and the site of two major Buddhist temples.
The town's chief administrator, identified by the single name of Samba, told Xinhua he had seen two injured people on his way to help with rescue efforts in a village 10 kilometers (6 miles) away. Roads leading to Guodong village crumbled, Xinhua said, hampering rescuers.
Calls to the town, county and city authorities rang unanswered, although the Tibetan regional fire service had said in an online statement that rescuers were on their way to Kata.
The region of western China in the foothills of the Himalayas is an active earthquake zone, and a 2010 quake in nearby Yushu killed almost 3,000 people.
Wide arrests in Egypt signal no-tolerance policy on critics
CAIRO (AP) Hours after marching in a peaceful protest against the government late last month, Yassin Mohammed and his friends were lingering in the area in a district of the Egyptian capital when police descended on them, piled them into a minibus and took them to a police station. There, he said, he was blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten by security agents.
Now the 21-year-old Mohammed, released on bail, faces trial on charges of breaking a 2013 law that virtually bans any street demonstrations. He knows how heavy the penalty can be. Two years ago, he was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison for joining protests and he said he nearly committed suicide in his cell out of despair until a fellow inmate stopped him.
Mohammed is among those caught up in one of the biggest waves of arrests in the past two years in Egypt, a sweep that signals a fierce zero-tolerance stance by the government of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi over any sign of unrest.
This undated handout image provided by Yassin Mohammed shows, Egyptian activist Yassin Mohammed posing for a photograph in Cairo, Egypt. Hours after marching in a peaceful protest against the government late last month, Yassin Mohammed was standing with friends in a district of the Egyptian capital when police descended on them, piled them into a minibus and taken to a police base outside the city. There, he said, he was blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten by security agents. (Courtesy of Yassin Mohammed via AP)
The detentions were sparked by demonstrations against el-Sissi's decision last month to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, which galvanized activists who had been largely silenced by previous crackdowns.
But activists have been startled by the scope of the arrests and how little it takes to bring severe charges, including accusations of seeking to overthrow the government or fomenting terrorism, over demonstrations that gathered only a few hundred people.
In just the last three weeks, human rights lawyers say nearly 1,300 were detained. Most of them have been released, but 277 have been formally charged and face trial, according to Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, a rights lawyer who has been tracking the arrests and is representing 20 of the detainees.
In recent speeches, el-Sissi has demanded that all criticism of the handover of the islands stop. He told a visiting U.S. congressional delegation that human rights issues in Egypt should be not approached from a "Western perspective" because of the challenges it faces, including a fight with an Islamic militant insurgency. El-Sissi also increasingly repeats that Egypt faces existential threats from "evil forces" or "evil people" conspiring to push the country into chaos and bloodshed like Syria or Iraq, though he has never explained what these forces are.
"It is like an old dam and the state is worried that allowing one crack to open will unleash a flood. The regime has no solution except suppression," said rights lawyer Gamal Eid.
Besides charges of violating the protest law, detainees often face other, broad and undefined charges, including spreading propaganda that harms security and hurting or disrupting national unity, security or social peace.
In recent days, police arrested five members of a satirical street performing group that produces videos on social media mocking el-Sissi. One of them, 19-year-old Ezzedeen Khaled, was detained Saturday and, though a court ordered his release on bail, was charged with inciting protests and posting videos containing foul language and insults directed at state institutions, according to his lawyer, Mahmoud Othman. The remaining four were arrested Monday and have been slapped with an even heavier charge of inciting terror attacks and protests.
A prominent rights lawyer, Malek Adly, who had filed a legal suit against the decision to hand the islands to the Saudis, was arrested last week and is under investigation for a range of allegations, including attempting to overthrow the government.
Another rights advocate, Ahmed Abdullah, whose non-governmental group had been advising the family of an Italian student kidnapped, tortured and killed in Egypt earlier this year, was arrested last month and has been charged with a long list of accusations including membership in a terror group and inciting protests.
On April 25, when activists called for protests against the islands' handover, police appeared to sweep up any young men who they believed intended to join in or were just in the area of planned demonstrations. Abdel-Aziz said that among the 20 defendants he represents are young men who were detained just for being at the wrong place at the wrong time or because anti-government material was found stored on their mobile phones. Others, he told The Associated Press, were picked up from downtown Cairo cafes, a favorite hangout for secular activists.
Mohammed told the AP he and his two friends were detained well after the day's marches were dispersed. They were still in the area looking for other friends who were missing.
Mohammad had previously been sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison in two separate cases for involvement in protests. A 15-year sentence handed down in one of the cases was reduced to three years in a retrial. He was then pardoned for that case last September, but his appeal against the remaining two-year sentence in the second case was rejected last month. So he now faces that prison term and a trial on the new arrest.
"Nothing is really achieved by arresting me and others," he said. "It is the other side that is losing the love of the people when they arrest anyone they see."
Another of those arrested said he and several friends were detained six hours before the protests were to start on April 25, when they arrived in the area.
"We parked our car and started to walk looking for a place where we can eat breakfast. Five minutes later we were cordoned off by police and detained," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid further police retaliation. The 26-year-old said he was taken to a riot police base on the city's outskirts where he was interrogated and beaten. He was released on bail and faces charges that include seeking to overthrow the government.
El-Sissi and government officials have argued that strict measures are necessary at a time when Egypt is battling Islamic militants based in Sinai and trying to repair an economy gutted by years of turmoil since the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been killed by the militants most recently eight policemen gunned down this week in an attack on the southern outskirts of Cairo.
Officials and the media also drum up vague fears of threats to the nation. Cairo airport officials often report the seizure of "spy" drones and secret cameras found hidden in the luggage of arriving foreigners, but there's never any further word on the "spies" or the nations behind them. Newspapers often speak of unidentified conspiracies and enemies. Hosts of political TV talk shows nightly engage in conspiracy theories complemented by incitement against government critics.
"Sadly, there is a significant level of social acceptance for these arrests because of the fear-mongering by el-Sissi and his loyalists in the media," Abdel-Aziz said.
El-Sissi still appears to enjoy widespread public backing, though it has shown some erosion. The Egypt-based polling agency Baseera, one of the few that conducts polls in the country, said its latest survey in April showed 79 percent approve of el-Sissi's performance, though that was down from 85 percent in November. The poll surveyed 1,541 people above the age of 18 with a margin of error of 3 percent.
Since leading the army's July 2013 ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, el-Sissi has overseen what is possibly Egypt's biggest ever crackdown on opposition. Initially, and most bloodily, the crackdown targeted Islamists, arresting thousands and killing hundreds who protested demanding Morsi's reinstatement. But security forces have also crushed the ranks of secular young activists.
Middle East analyst Michael W. Hanna of New York's Century Foundation does not see anyone or any group currently in Egypt that is capable of seriously challenging el-Sissi's rule.
"They are overreacting, of course, no question about it, in ways that are both strange and inappropriate," Hanna said.
FILE - In this Monday, April 25, 2016 file photo, Egyptians demonstrate against President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Mesaha square in Cairo's Dokki district. In just the last three weeks, according to rights lawyers, nearly 1,300 were detained by police as the highly militarized force went after organizers and demonstrators protesting the surrender of control over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in a deal that raised suspicions about a sell-off. (AP Photo/Mostafa Darwish, File)
FILE - In this Friday, April 15, 2016 file photo, Egyptians shout slogans against Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during a protest against the decision to hand over control of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in front of the Press Syndicate, in Cairo, Egypt. In just the last three weeks according to rights lawyers, nearly 1,300 were detained by police as the highly militarized force went after organizers and demonstrators protesting the surrender of control over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in a deal that raised suspicions about a sell-off. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
FILE - In this Friday, April 15, 2016 file photo, Egyptians shout slogans against Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during a protest against the decision to hand over control of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in front of the Press Syndicate, in Cairo, Egypt.In just the last three weeks according to rights lawyers, nearly 1,300 were detained by police as the highly militarized force went after organizers and demonstrators protesting the surrender of control over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia in a deal that raised suspicions about a sell-off. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
Man charged with capital murder in Kansas detective's death
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) A man accused in the fatal shooting of a police detective in Kansas was charged with capital murder Wednesday, a day after Missouri authorities charged him with shooting and wounding a woman during the same incident.
Curtis Ayers, 28, is accused of fatally shooting Kansas City Police Detective Brad Lancaster. He also is charged with several other felonies arising from his alleged carjacking of three vehicles after Lancaster was shot on Monday, and his fleeing to Kansas City, Missouri, where he was shot and arrested by police.
The intentional killing of a police officer carries a possible death sentence in Kansas.
This undated image provided by the Kansas City Police Department shows Brad Lancaster. The police detective was fatally shot Monday, May 9, 2016, while investigating reports of a suspicious person near a racetrack in Kansas City, Kan. He died after undergoing surgery, his department said in a statement. (Kansas City Police Department via AP)
Jerome Gorman, district attorney in Kansas' Wyandotte County, said he hasn't decided whether to seek the death penalty, but said he hoped the Kansas case takes precedence. Gorman noted that Ayers remained hospitalized Wednesday in Missouri, saying he wasn't in critical condition but not well enough to be transferred to Kansas.
No possible motive has been released, but Gorman said Ayers was armed with two guns when he was arrested.
"He was very capable of doing a lot more damage," Gorman said.
Police were called to the Hollywood Casino near the Kansas Speedway on Monday after a casino security agent saw Ayers loitering in the parking lot. Lancaster confronted Ayers, who shot the detective several times and then fled in Lancaster's unmarked car, investigators said.
Ayers is accused of abandoning Lancaster's car and carjacking another vehicle with two children inside. He abandoned that vehicle, leaving the children unharmed, and took another car that he wrecked in Kansas City, Missouri, where officers shot him moments after Ayers shot and wounded a woman in a failed carjacking, investigators said.
He is facing numerous charges related to the incidents, including aggravated robbery and kidnapping in Kansas, and first-degree assault in Missouri.
New charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and criminal possession of a firearm were filed Wednesday against Ayers in Leavenworth County, where he is accused of stealing one of the cars, the Kansas City Star reported.
High-tech devices take cheating to new level in Thai schools
BANGKOK (AP) Glasses with embedded cameras and smartwatches with stored information seem like regular spy equipment for the likes of James Bond, but for three students applying to medical school in Thailand, they were high-technology cheating devices.
Bangkok's Rangsit University canceled its examinations on Saturday and Sunday for admission to its medical and dental faculties following the discovery of the unusual modus operandi by three female students.
While cheating has long been a problem in Thai schools and colleges, the use of high-tech gear the cameras were used to take pictures of the test sheet and the smartwatches to receive answers from someone outside has taken the practice to a whole new plane.
In this Saturday May 7, 2016 photo by Asst.Prof.Pakarat Jumpanoi, shows a smartwatch used by students caught cheating in exams for admission to medical and dental faculties in Bangkok, Thailand. Glasses with embedded cameras and smartwatches with stored information seem like regular spy equipment for the likes of James Bond, but to three students applying to medical school in Thailand, they were high-technology cheating devices.(Asst.Prof.Pakarat Jumpanoi/Rangsit University via AP)
"We've never found cheating of this level involving high-technology," university official Kittisak Tripipatpornchai told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "We've had some cases of students copying from one another, which is quite normal. But now we're going to be paying much closer attention," said Kittisak, the director of academic standards office at the private university.
Cheating is a marked aberration in the list of good behavior expected of Thais. From a young age, Thais are taught to be polite, tolerant, respectful and to avoid confrontation. But educators say cheating has flourished because of an education system that makes exam scores the only criterion for assessing a student's ability and granting admission into places of higher learning.
The three students caught red-handed have been blacklisted by the university and will not be allowed to take the replacement exams on May 31 and June 1.
It was an elaborate scheme.
Three agents posing as students photographed the question sheets with tiny cameras embedded in their eye-glasses. They left the room after the mandatory 45 minute lock-in period and transferred the pictures to a laptop manned by another person. That person transmitted the images to one or more private tutorial institutes where the three students were enrolled. Exam answers were then electronically transmitted to the smartwatches worn by the women, still in the examination room.
Test supervisors were alerted after the first watch was seized during the Saturday morning session, the second was found on the same day in the afternoon session. The third watch and two glasses were seized Sunday.
Kittisak said the three students purchased 100 percent-guaranteed admittance packages from the private tutorial institutes for 800,000 baht ($23,000).
Cheating is so rampant that schools have tried to find creative ways to combat it. Chulalongkorn University installed overhead cameras in some of its examination rooms, while in 2013 Kasetsart University created anti-cheating hats made from stapling two A4 paper sheets to a headband to resemble blinders worn by horses.
Rangsit's president, Dr. Arthit Ourairat, posted pictures of the electronic devices on his Facebook page, getting nationwide attention from the media and the public.
"If you can't take responsibility for your own life, you don't deserve to become a doctor, which is a career that has to take responsibility for others' lives," wrote Namstok Punika, a Facebook user in response to Ourairat's pictures.
One student's parents met with university officials.
The father said he didn't know anything about the cheating, said Kittisak. "But then how would a high school student be able to pay 800,000 baht on their own?"
In this Saturday May 7, 2016 photo by Asst.Prof.Pakarat Jumpanoi, shows three smartwatches used by students caught cheating in exams for admission to medical and dental faculties in Bangkok, Thailand. Glasses with embedded cameras and smartwatches with stored information seem like regular spy equipment for the likes of James Bond, but to three students applying to medical school in Thailand, they were high-technology cheating devices.(Asst.Prof.Pakarat Jumpanoi/Rangsit University via AP)
In this Sunday May 8, 2016 photo by Asst.Prof.Pakarat Jumpanoi, shows a set of glasses with a hidden camera used by students caught cheating in exams for admission to medical and dental faculties in Bangkok, Thailand. Glasses with embedded cameras and smartwatches with stored information seem like regular spy equipment for the likes of James Bond, but to three students applying to medical school in Thailand, they were high-technology cheating devices. ( Asst.Prof.Pakarat Jumpanoi/Rangsit University via AP)
Defiant Trump brushes off GOP critics on eve of Ryan meeting
WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump declared Wednesday he doesn't need support from House Speaker Paul Ryan or other leery Republican leaders, brushing off his Capitol Hill critics even as he prepared to sit down with them. His defiant message came amid new signs that he might be right, with GOP voters becoming more willing to embrace the New York billionaire.
Their public differences are overshadowing the GOP rank and file's movement toward Trump and his own efforts to broaden his appeal as general election campaign takes shape.
"If we make a deal, that will be great," Trump told Fox News Channel when asked about Thursday's meeting with Ryan, who has so far refused to endorse him. "And if we don't, we will trudge forward like I've been doing and winning all the time."
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump's allies echoed his contention that he can claim the White House with or without leading congressional Republicans, who continue to express reservations about his tone and inconsistent policy prescriptions. Their public differences are overshadowing prospective voters' movement toward Trump and his own efforts to broaden his appeal as the general election campaign takes shape.
His likely November opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, still has Sen. Bernie Sanders opposing her for her party's nomination. But she all but ignored him Wednesday as she campaigned in Blackwood, New Jersey.
She focused instead on Trump's statement in an Associated Press interview that he doesn't plan to release his tax returns until an ongoing audit is completed. Should Trump not release his returns before the November election it would mark a break from precedent for presidential nominees.
"So you've got to ask yourself why doesn't he want to release it? Yeah, well, we're going to find out," Clinton told supporters.
Meanwhile, more Republican voters appear to be moving behind Trump, despite big-name holdouts such as Ryan, both former president Bushes and the party's 2012 nominee Mitt Romney.
Almost two in three Republican-leaning voters now view Trump favorably, compared to 31 percent who view him unfavorably, according to a national Gallup Poll taken last week. The numbers represent a near reversal from Gallup's survey in early March.
"Despite the contentious primary process, the party is healing itself and scabbing over," said Republican pollster Greg Strimple.
Ryan insisted Wednesday that Republican Party unity is paramount, even if he's not yet willing to endorse the GOP's presumptive presidential nominee.
"What we're trying to do is be as constructive as possible and have a real unification," Ryan said at a Capitol Hill news conference. "We have to be at full strength to win this election."
Trump is to meet with Republican leaders Thursday morning at the Republican National Committee headquarters. The private meetings represent his first tangible steps toward repairing his strained relationships with the nation's most powerful elected Republicans.
While Thursday's meetings may highlight party divisions, Trump's team sees them as a win-win.
They'd like to secure Ryan's support, but believe that signs of continued opposition from congressional Republicans would simply reinforce his outsider appeal. Additionally, Trump's team doesn't believe Ryan or the GOP's other congressional leaders, have any significant influence on the majority of general election voters.
"Donald Trump is unifying the party already," said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's chief Washington ally. "The party is the people who vote."
New York Rep. Chris Collins, also a Trump supporter, said the billionaire businessman would be stronger with Ryan's support, "but frankly, Donald Trump is going to win regardless of who supports him and who doesn't support him."
While Trump's team is prepared to shrug off much of the party's establishment, that does not include the Republican National Committee.
The political novice plans to rely heavily on the committee's expansive political operation to supplement his bare-bones campaign, which has so far ignored seemingly vital functions such as voter data collection, swing-state staffing and fundraising infrastructure.
"As we turn our focus toward the general election, we want to make sure there's the strongest partnership," said Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee's chief strategist.
Absent a viable Republican alternative, there were new signs on Capitol Hill that Trump's conservative critics were beginning to fall in line.
"As a conservative, I cannot trust Donald Trump to do the right thing, but I can deeply trust Hillary Clinton to do the wrong thing every time," said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., adding that he would vote for Trump if that's the choice he has.
Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho., said he will support Trump, although "I'm not enthusiastic about it."
"He can get us enthusiastic if he comes to talk to us," continued Labrador, who is part of the House's conservative "Freedom Caucus." ''These are the people who are going to go out to the districts that he needs to win overwhelmingly so he can win the nominations."
Trump on Thursday is to meet first with Ryan and RNC chairman Reince Priebus, then have a second meeting with Ryan, this time with his House leadership team. Trump is also expected to meet with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other top Senate Republicans.
Another Trump supporter, Rep. John Fleming, R-La., predicted it was "very unlikely" that Ryan would not ultimately back the Republican nominee.
"He wants to unify the Republican Party, and it all sort of begins tomorrow," Fleming said of Ryan.
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Associated Press writers Erica Werner, Alan Fram, Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Lerer contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton laughs as she is introduced by Camden County, N.J., Freeholder Susan Shin Angulo at a campaign rally, Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Blackwood, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Polanski producer and Holocaust survivor Gene Gutowski dies
WARSAW, Poland (AP) Gene Gutowski, a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who was the producer of three films by director Roman Polanski in the 1960s and reunited with him decades later for the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama, "The Pianist," has died. He was 90.
Gutowski's son, Adam Bardach, told The Associated Press that his father died of pneumonia on Tuesday at a hospital in Warsaw.
The Gutowski-Polanski collaboration in the 1960s resulted in the 1965 psychological horror film "Repulsion," starring French actress Catherine Deneuve, followed by "Cul-de-Sac" (1966) and "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967), films that brought Polanski to Hollywood.
In this May 2002 photo, producer Gene Gutowski, right, chats with film director Roman Polanski in Cannes, France. Gutowski, a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who collaborated wit Polanski in the 1960s to produce three of the directors earliest classic films in English and reunited with him decades later for the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama The Pianist, died Tuesday, May 10, 2016. He was 90 years old. (AP Photo/Adam Bardach)
Years later Polanski credited Gutowski with launching his international career, calling him "one of the most important figures in my existence."
Gutowski was the son of a cultured and assimilated Jewish family in eastern Poland but saw his youth shattered by World War II and the loss of his family in the Holocaust. Immediately after the war he worked for U.S. military intelligence hunting Nazis in postwar Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1947.
A talented artist and sculptor, Gutowski worked as a fashion illustrator in New York before he took up film production. He led a jet-setting playboy lifestyle for many years that took him across Europe, to Hollywood and the Virgin Islands, with six wives and many lovers along the way, a life story he tells in a memoir, "With Balls and Chutzpah: A Story of Survival."
For several years he was also was a consultant to Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. Following the fall of communism in eastern Europe he returned to Poland, spending his latter years in Warsaw.
Gutowski and Polanski met in 1963, shortly after Polanski had made his breakthrough film, "Knife in the Water," a Polish-language production that gained him acclaim and an Oscar nomination but still no eager supporters for his next film.
At the time Polanski was 30 and lived in France, speaking no English. Gutowski, who was living in London, was hugely impressed by the talent of his fellow Pole and persuaded him to go to London and make a film in English, pushing for something "shocking" that would test the limits of the censors. The result was "Repulsion."
Gutowski was born Witold Bardach on July 26, 1925, in Lwow, Poland (today Lviv in Ukraine). He came from a family of lawyers, doctors, concert pianists and army officers, a family so assimilated that they celebrated Easter and Christmas and never attended synagogue.
After his mother was sent to the death camp of Belzec, young Witold knew he couldn't survive if he stayed in Lwow. So he made his way to Warsaw alone and struggled to survive by passing as an "Aryan." His father was killed by the Germans while his beloved younger brother, Roman, died when an uncle poisoned himself and the 13-year-old boy in the final days of the Lwow ghetto.
For a time Gutowski worked for the Luftwaffe at Warsaw's Okecie airport, stealing radio transmitters for the Polish underground, an activity that nearly got him killed.
When he was being hunted by the Nazis for stealing the radio equipment he was given shelter by his Polish girlfriend's mother. She provided him with the documents of a worker, Eugeniusz Gutowski, who had died in an accident.
After making a name for himself as Gene Gutowski he never considered returning to his original name, though the youngest of his three sons, Adam Bardach, eventually took it. A filmmaker, Bardach has documented his father's wartime experiences in a 2014 film, "Dancing Before The Enemy: How a Teenage Boy Fooled the Nazis and Lived."
After their professional collaboration in the 1960s, Gutowski and Polanski parted ways professionally but remained friends. They eventually reunited to produce the 2002 film "The Pianist," the wrenching Holocaust drama that mirrored the wartime experiences of both men. (Polanski escaped the Krakow ghetto and also survived by passing as a non-Jew, while his mother died in Auschwitz.)
Gutowski told the AP in 2014 that he and Polanski never discussed the war, saying he always felt it was a taboo topic. In his memoir he also described denying his Jewish roots and distancing himself from other survivors.
"When on occasion I was asked point-blank by either Polish or Jewish former (concentration camp) inmates if I was Jewish, I would deny it, thus creating a duality of existence which I have maintained for most of my life," he wrote. "It's not something I'm particularly proud of. Through denying it I have obviously tried to block off the past, the deep pain of losing my entire family and the subconscious guilt of being the sole survivor."
So distanced was he, in fact, that once while producing a TV series in the 1950s he thought it would be funny to march a group of actors dressed in German army and SS uniforms into a Jewish deli in New York during a lunch break. He was run out of the place by furious customers, some of them Holocaust survivors.
He said making "The Pianist" was "a personal catharsis."
"Watching crowds of terrified helpless people being pushed into a train to the gas chambers recalled the last journey of my entire family in the summer of 1942," he wrote. "And thus 'The Pianist,' a film crowned with three important Oscars, was also in many ways the crowning moment of my life."
He is survived by wife Joanna Smaga-Gutowska, his companion of 16 years; sons Andrew Gutowski, an architect; Alexander Waugh, a yacht captain; Bardach, and four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Bardach said the family had not yet made funeral arrangements.
This 1967 photo shows film producer Gene Gutowski, left, and director Roman Polanski. Gutowski, a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who collaborated wit Polanski in the 1960s to produce three of the directors earliest classic films in English and reunited with him decades later for the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama The Pianist, died Tuesday, May 10, 2016. He was 90 years old. (AP Photo/Judy Dreszer)
In this 2000 photo, film producer Gene Gutowski, right, poses with actor Adrien Brody during the production of the Oscar-winning Holocaust film The Pianist. Gutowski, a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who collaborated with film director Roman Polanski in the 1960s to produce three of the directors earliest classic films in English and reunited with him decades later for The Pianist, died Tuesday, May 10, 2016. He was 90 years old. (AP Photo/Adam Bardach)
This Oct. 14, 2014 photo shows film producer Gene Gutowski at his home in Warsaw, Poland. Gutowski, a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who collaborated with film director Roman Polanski in the 1960s to produce three of the directors earliest classic films in English and reunited with him decades later for the Oscar-winning Holocaust drama The Pianist, died Tuesday, May 10, 2016. He was 90 years old. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Ryan's hometown says he's doing the 'best he can' on Trump
JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) Voters in House Speaker Paul Ryan's southern Wisconsin district see him as the last and best hope for bridging the Republican Party's divide.
But ahead of Ryan's Thursday meeting with Donald Trump, they concede he's unlikely to succeed in tempering the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
"He's too much of a loose cannon," 53-year-old Mike McCann said of Trump.
In this photo taken May 9, 2016, Miguel Maravillo is seen at the Tienda y Taqueria La Fiesta Mexicana in Janesville, Wis. Maravillo, 40, has criticized Donald Trumps generalizations about immigrants, saying it was brave of House Speaker Paul Ryan to voice his hesitation. (AP Photo/Bryna Godar)
In Ryan's hometown of Janesville, Republicans and Democrats alike mostly found no fault with Ryan's stunning comments last week that he's "just not ready" to back Trump. Ryan told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that the party needs a "real unification."
"We have to be at full strength to win this election," Ryan said.
Voters in his district don't see Ryan facing any consequences for his stance in his re-election bid against a longshot primary challenger, but neither do they see Ryan persuading Trump to tone down his provocative rhetoric or otherwise fall in line with the party.
"I think he's a very smart, reasonable, honorable man, who is trying to get his party organized and whole again," Lynn Westphal, a 55-year-old nurse and self-described independent, said of Ryan.
In an interview at a Main Street cafe just across from Ryan's Janesville office, Westphal said she thought Ryan was handling the situation "the best he can." Patty Schumacher, a 59-year-old banker and independent, agreed.
"It's going to take a bigger push than just him," she said.
Her sister, 61-year-old Maryanne Kessel, chimed in: "But he's a good one to lead it."
Ryan was first elected to the House in 1998 and represents the southeast corner of the state along the Illinois border. He was tapped to be Mitt Romney's running mate in 2012 and was elected House speaker in October.
His hometown of Janesville is a Democratic, blue-collar, union city in Rock County, still reeling from the closure of its General Motors plant in 2009. The downtown has lost its vibrancy, and the main employers are now Mercy Health System, the school district and the county. The town of around 65,000 is peppered with people who are Ryan's old high school buddies, are friends with his wife or worked on his campaign.
"What I like about Paul is he calls a spade a spade," said Dave Dobson, who leans Democratic but said he would back Ryan for president if he entered the race. "He doesn't play political games."
Dobson, a siding and window contractor, poured two overflowing spoons of sugar into his coffee as he joined his friends at the counter of Citrus Cafe. MSNBC played above the bar, running coverage of Ryan telling a reporter earlier that morning that he would step down as chairman of the Republican National Convention if Trump wants.
Miguel Maravillo, a 40-year-old worker at a Mexican grocery store in Janesville who criticized Trump's generalizations about immigrants, said it was brave of Ryan to voice his hesitation. Maravillo said in Spanish that many people criticize Trump in private, but they don't say it "to the four winds."
Trump didn't do all that well in the district, finishing well behind Ted Cruz in the state's April presidential primary. And even the Trump supporters here had few harsh words for Ryan.
"I think we need Ryan on board, but I understand," said Kevin Anderson, a 49-year-old welder who lives in Beloit, just south of Janesville.
In a series of interviews here, no one gave much of a chance to Ryan's primary challenger, businessman Paul Nehlen, even though Sarah Palin vowed to work against Ryan.
In fact, many said they still held out hope that Ryan would change his mind and join the presidential race. That included Anderson, the Trump backer.
"I almost wanted it to go to a contested convention," Anderson said.
But McCann, a pharmacist who usually votes Republican, says he is holding out for a Ryan candidacy in 2020.
"I don't think this is his time yet," McCann said.
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Bombings kill 93 in Iraqi capital's bloodiest day this year
BAGHDAD (AP) In the deadliest violence in Baghdad this year, three car bombs claimed by the Islamic State group killed 93 people across the Iraqi capital Wednesday, demonstrating the extremists' ability to mount significant attacks despite major battlefield losses.
The separate bombings, which also wounded 165 people, came at a time of turmoil and deadlock in Iraq's government and parliament. The Interior Ministry blamed the attacks on "political bickering" that is increasingly threatening the security of the civilian population.
The largest car bomb ripped through a crowded outdoor market selling food, clothing and household goods in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City during the morning, killing at least 63 people and wounding 85.
Citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Streets were stained with blood, building facades were heavily damaged and smoke billowed from stores gutted by the blast. Dozens of people walked through mangled wreckage of cars and other debris as ambulances ferried away the injured.
The bomb was in a pickup truck loaded with fruit and vegetables. It was parked by a man who had quickly disappeared into the crowd, said Karim Salih, a 45-year-old grocer who escaped injury.
"It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," Salih told The Associated Press. "The force of the explosion threw me for meters away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes."
The sprawling slum of Sadr City is home to 2.5 million people almost half of Baghdad's population of about 6 million.
Two more car bombs exploded elsewhere in the afternoon, killing at least 30 and wounded 80, police officials said. One bomb targeted a police station in the northwestern Kadhimiyah neighborhood, while another struck in the northern neighborhood of Jamiya.
The casualty figures were released by medical officials who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
In online statements, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bombings, which were condemned by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, as well as the United States.
The IS group said it had targeted Shiite militiamen, but hospital and security officials said the vast majority of the victims were civilians. The AP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the IS claims, but they appeared on a website commonly used by the Sunni extremists.
"These attacks demonstrate that terrorists carry out these abominable attacks without regard to innocent civilian life in order to stoke tensions between these communities even further," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.
"What is clear from this incident is that a lot of innocent people have been killed, and it certainly is consistent with ISIL's strategy of wreaking havoc and sowing chaos and violence and sectarian tension," he said, using an acronym for the extremist group.
Earnest said al-Abadi has tried to unite Iraq against the threat.
"He has worked hard across sectarian lines to build diverse support for his government and for the effort to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL," he said. "And that's why the United States has found Prime Minister Abadi and the Iraqi central government to be effective partners, and it's why we continue to stand with them as they confront this serious threat."
The militant group, which swept across Syria and northern and western Iraq in 2014, has been pushed back by government forces and U.S.-led airstrikes over the past year, losing more than 40 percent of the territory it held.
Although security has improved in Baghdad, Wednesday's violence again demonstrated its ability to launch devastating insurgent-style attacks across the country and in the heart of the capital. Back-to-back bombings on Feb. 28, also in Sadr City, killed 73 people.
"Politicians are fighting each other in parliament and government while the people are being killed every day," said Hussein Abdullah, an appliance store owner who suffered shrapnel wounds from the blast in Sadr City.
"If they can't protect us, then they have to let us do the job," said the 28-year-old father of two.
Months of protests and sit-ins led by influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr have demanded the overhaul of the political system put in place by the United States following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
On April 30, hundreds of al-Sadr's supporters stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad and broke into the parliament building. The move was a dramatic show of power by al-Sadr that has further fractured Iraqi politics, delaying action on proposed reforms.
"All of these things distract from the fight against IS," said Matthew Henman, the head of IHS Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center. "The more the government is distracted with political upheaval, the more the Islamic State can capitalize on that lack of attention."
IS extremists still control significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including the second-largest city of Mosul. Commercial and public places in Shiite-dominated neighborhoods are among the most frequent targets for IS militants who want to undermine government efforts to maintain security in the capital.
As the extremist group continues to be pushed back in Anbar and Ninevah provinces, Henman expects attacks like Wednesday's bombings to increase in Baghdad and other territory far from the front-line fighting.
"Even if Mosul, Fallujah, Raqqa ... if all the major territory (the Islamic State group) holds is recaptured, the threat doesn't go away," he said.
According to the United Nations, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April due to ongoing violence. The U.N. said 410 were civilians and the rest were members of the security forces. In March, 1,119 people were killed, it said.
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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Murtada Faraj contributed to this report.
Citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Civilians help a municipality bulldozer cleans up while citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
A municipality bulldozer cleans up while citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Civilians help a municipality bulldozer clean up while citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Security forces and citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Security forces and citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Street vendors try to rescue their goods at the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
A municipality bulldozer cleans up while citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. An explosives-laden car bomb ripped through a commercial area in a predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians, a police official said. (AP Photo/ Khalid Mohammed)
Egypt temporarily reopens Gaza border crossing
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) The militant Hamas group says Egypt has temporarily reopened its border with the Gaza Strip, the first time the border was opened in three months.
The Rafah crossing is Gaza's main gateway to the outside world. The crossing this time is to operate on Wednesday and Thursday.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, says 30,000 people have applied to travel for various reasons, including humanitarian cases. The group's Interior Ministry called on Egypt to extend the opening period to meet the demand.
A Palestinian family sit next to their luggage as they wait for their turn to enter the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Hamas says Egypt has temporarily opened its border with the Gaza Strip for the first time in three months. The Rafah crossing, Gaza's main gateway to the outside world, will operate Wednesday and Thursday. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
Egypt has kept the crossing largely sealed since 2013, when ties with Hamas worsened after the ouster of Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Last month, Hamas boosted security forces along the border with Egypt in response to Egyptian accusations that Hamas was aiding Islamic State militants in the Sinai Peninsula.
A Palestinian man sleeps on his luggage while waiting for his turn to enter the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Hamas says Egypt has temporarily opened its border with the Gaza Strip for the first time in three months. The Rafah crossing, Gaza's main gateway to the outside world, will operate Wednesday and Thursday. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
A Billings businessman said he has the experience to provide effective management in the Yellowstone County clerk of district courts office.
Richard W. Nixon, a Republican, is running for election for the clerk of courts job. He faces incumbent Clerk of District Court Kristie Boelter and challenger Terry Halpin, a judicial assistant, both Republicans, in the June 7 primary election.
Because no Democrat filed for election, the race will be decided in the primary.
Nixon said people contacted him about running for the office and indicated there were problems.
As a longtime levy officer, Nixon said has to know state and federal laws, has worked with the court system and gone to the courthouse daily. A levy officer collects judgment fees.
Its a question of leadership, Nixon said.
If elected, Nixon said he would identify the issues, then work with staff as a team to fix problems.
District court, Nixon said, has been running well but that it needs to be running great. Theres room for improvement.
Nixon said he wouldnt be working cases unless there was a staff shortage but that he wasnt abandoning the deputy clerks. At the same time, they dont need to be micromanaged. Its important for deputy clerks to be empowered, he said.
Customer service is another area Nixon said he would improve. People have told him that clerks don't want to wait on them when they go the office, he said.
Judges also need customer service, Nixon said.
As clerk of court, Nixon said he would talk to the judges to find out what they want and need and to fix what is wrong.
I want to know what works. The biggest thing you have to do is listen, he said.
The clerk of courts office is responsible for filings in state District Court and it issues marriage licenses. Yellowstone Countys office is the busiest in the state, with about 10,000 new cases filed each year. The office has 21 deputy clerk positions and the clerk of court. The office works with the districts six judges.
The position is a four-year term and pays a base salary of $66,363.
A controversy in the clerks office over the issuing of same-sex marriage licenses would never have escalated to the level it did if he were in office, Nixon said.
A federal judge in Montana overturned in 2014 a voter-approved constitutional amendment banning gay marriages as unconstitutional. A deputy clerk who occasionally issues marriage licenses as part of her duties objected to the task based on religious grounds.
Boelter told county commissioners she objected to having to make accommodations for the clerk but said she would try. Commissioners and the county attorney warned her to follow the law and to make accommodations for the clerk or risk potential personal legal liability of the county were sued.
Nixon said a way to solve the matter would have been to find someone in the office who wouldnt have been offended. Saying he understands both sides of the issue, Nixon said, the law is the law and that he has to follow the law and not make judgments.
Nixon retired in 2012 from self-employment as a levy officer. He then earned a bachelors degree in administration and accounting from Montana State University Billings and a masters degree in business administration from the University of Montana.
Nixon ran unsuccessfully for Yellowstone County treasurer in 2014. He currently works as a financial officer for Division Mortgage Group.
A man who acknowledged killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic is mentally incompetent to continue with his criminal case, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The decision by Judge Gilbert Martinez puts the case against Robert Dear, 57, on hold until his mental competency can be restored through treatment. He will be sent to the state psychiatric hospital, and his mental health will be reviewed in August.
As he was led out of the courtroom, Dear yelled at the judge: 'That's called prejudiced, filthy animal!'
Mentally incompetent: The decision by Judge Gilbert Martinez puts the case against Robert Dear (pictured in December 2015) , 57, on hold until his mental competency can be restored through treatment
State psychologist B. Thomas Gray leaves the courtroom during a recess from a competency hearing for Robert Dear, Jr., Tuesday, May 10, 2016, in the El Paso Country Judicial Building in Colorado Springs
The case will resume when Dear is found to be mentally capable of understanding the court proceedings and able to assist in his defense.
He is charged with 179 counts, including murder and attempted murder, stemming from the Nov. 27 shooting at the Colorado Springs clinic that also left nine injured.
During courtroom outbursts, he has declared himself a 'warrior for the babies' and said he was guilty. He told investigators he attacked the clinic because he was upset with the reproductive health organization for 'the selling of baby parts.'
Martinez ordered the competency exam in December after Dear announced that he wanted to fire his public defenders and represent himself. His ruling came after two psychologists who interviewed Dear testified that they agreed he suffers from a delusion disorder and is not competent.
Public defenders Rosalie Roy, left, Dan King and Kristen Nelson leave the competency hearing for Robert Dear who is charged with 179 counts, including murder, attempted murder and assault
The evaluators said Dear's disorder makes him believe the FBI is persecuting him and keeps him from trusting almost anyone, including his lawyers.
Dear told people in phone calls from jail that he believes his attorneys' attempt to have him declared incompetent is part of a plot to diminish his message opposing abortion. He claims they want him committed to a psychiatric hospital so they can 'silence him forever.'
He told the psychologists he did not want to be declared incompetent because it would mean 'forced medication.'
Prosecutors argued that Dear's courtroom disruptions showed he understood the case against him. They have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against the man described by family and acquaintances as a man with a violent temper, anti-government sentiments and longstanding disdain for abortion providers.
Recently released court documents show he idolized Paul Hill, an abortion foe who killed a Florida doctor more than two decades ago. Dear also told investigators he put glue in the locks at an abortion clinic when he lived in South Carolina, a common protest technique among activists trying to shut down such facilities.
He spent most of his life in North and South Carolina before moving recently to an isolated community in Colorado's mountains, where he lived in a trailer with no electricity.
He held police at bay for more than five hours during the attack, scattering hundreds of post-Thanksgiving shoppers who scrambled to hide inside surrounding buildings until the standoff ended.
Japanese welcome Obama visit to Hiroshima, apology or not
TOKYO (AP) After being taught that atomic bombs are inhumane and terrible, high school student Kaho Matsuki's first reaction when she heard U.S. President Barack Obama would visit the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima was that he should apologize for America's use of the weapons.
But then the Tokyo native remembered her emotional meeting with atomic bomb survivors at a nursing home in Hiroshima, which she visited last year during a school trip to hear their stories.
"What struck me most was that those elderly ladies really wanted us to know what they went through so the same mistake would never be repeated, rather than wanting to get (America) to apologize," Matsuki, 17, said Wednesday.
Mieko Mori prays in front of the Flame of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a memorial monument for A-bomb victims where the flames collected from the ruins in the two cities since dropping of atomic bombs in 1945 have been kept burning at Ueno Park in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Japanese are welcoming President Barack Obama's decision to visit the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima, and those interviewed Wednesday said they aren't seeking an apology. "I don't live in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but I am overcome with emotion when I think that someone who wants to offer understanding is finally about to arrive," said Mori. a 74-year-old woman who stopped at the memorial in Tokyo to pray for the victims. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Japanese are widely welcoming Obama's decision to become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, with few public demands for an apology.
Even those who want one realize that such a demand would have ruled out a U.S. presidential visit.
"Of course everyone wants to hear an apology. Our families were killed," said Hiroshi Shimizu, general secretary of the Hiroshima Confederation of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations.
"However, by setting conditions we limit world leaders from visiting, so we decided to eliminate that," he said in Tokyo. "We would first like for them to come and stand on the grounds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and take a good look at what is in front of them and give it good thought."
Obama will visit Hiroshima with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on May 27, after attending the annual Group of Seven summit in Japan. The city was nearly destroyed by a U.S. atomic bomb on Aug. 6, 1945. Some 140,000 people mostly civilians were killed, and others have endured after-effects to this day.
The U.S. dropped a second devastating atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki three days later. Japan announced it would surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II.
A poll released this week by public broadcaster NHK found that 70 percent of Japanese want Obama to visit Hiroshima, and only 2 percent were opposed.
"I don't live in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but I am overcome with emotion when I think that someone who wants to offer understanding is finally about to arrive," said Mieko Mori, a 74-year-old woman who stopped at a memorial in Tokyo to pray for the victims.
The visit is contentious in the U.S., where many believe the atomic bombs hastened the end of the war, saving countless other lives, though some historians say the U.S. was eager to use the weapons and Japan would have surrendered soon anyway.
The White House went out its way to stress Obama will not apologize. Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said Tuesday that Obama would "not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb," and instead spotlight the toll of war and offer a forward-looking vision of a non-nuclear world.
Since the bombings, most survivors have chosen to be living testimonies of the horrors of atomic weapons to remind the world to never repeat nuclear war.
"It seems there is a consensus that insisting on an apology would be counterproductive," said Chris Winkler, a Hokkaido University professor of Japanese studies. "From the Japanese perspective, it is certainly preferable to have a U.S. president visit Hiroshima even without an apology in his luggage, than him not coming at all."
Given the divided U.S. public opinion, an apology demand could have torpedoed Obama's visit, or renewed resentment toward Japan over its mistreatment of American prisoners of war and other sensitive issues, countering government initiatives to strengthen the bilateral alliance, he said.
"I hear America is still divided over atomic bombings, but it's been almost 71 years since the war ended, and I think it's about time Obama should be able to visit Hiroshima," said Kohachiro Hayashi, a retired teacher who was reading a newspaper at a Tokyo park.
Hayashi, 59, said asking for an apology would only cause a fruitless debate over various wartime acts.
"We should just accept his visit as a gesture of sincerity," he said. "It's OK as long as he makes clear his commitment never to use atomic weapons. ... I hope he will learn what happened and feel a little bit of it himself while being there."
Another retired teacher said demanding an apology would be rude. Takatsugu Sakamoto, 80, said by telephone from Nishinomiya that Japan was also trying to develop nuclear weapons but Americans were faster. "Mr. Obama doesn't need to apologize," he said.
But the praise for Obama could quickly turn into criticism if victims' groups and others don't see concrete steps taken toward further nuclear disarmament, Winkler said.
Terumi Tanaka, another senior member of the survivors' association, said his members want Obama to clearly state his intention to eliminate nuclear weapons.
"To me, that would be a true form of an apology," he said. "For 70 years we have said this and felt this all along, that no one should have to suffer the same thing. Answering to that wish is a true sign of an apology to us."
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Associated Press photographer Eugene Hoshiko and writers Yuri Kageyama and Ken Moritsugu contributed to this report.
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Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/mari-yamaguchi
High school student Kaho Matsuki, right, speaks while her classmate Mayu Uchida looks on during an interview with The Associated Press at their school in Tokyo Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Living in Tokyo and taught how atomic bombs were unhuman and damaging, Matsuki naturally thought President Barack Obama should apologize to the survivors when he visits the atomic-bombed city of Hiroshima later this month. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)
FILE - In this Sept. 8, 1945 file photo, an allied correspondent stands in the rubble in front of the shell of a building that once was a movie theater in Hiroshima, Japan, a month after the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the U.S. on Monday, Aug. 6, 1945. In a moment seven decades in the making, President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb during World War II, decimating a city and exploding the world into the Atomic Age. (AP Photo/Stanley Troutman, File)
FILE - In this April 11, 2016, file photo, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, fourth from left, puts his arm around Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida after they and fellow G7 foreign ministers laid wreaths at the cenotaph at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima, western Japan. U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to Hiroshima in May 2016 in the first visit by a sitting American president to the site where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb. Obama's visit will bolster his call for denuclearization and honor victims of the bombing that killed 140,000 Japanese on Aug. 6, 1945. The president's visit had long been anticipated. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool Photo via AP, File)
White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Earnest discussed President Barack Obama's upcoming visit to a memorial to the victims of the U.S. atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima during World War II, and other topics. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Do blunders mean South Korea's spying apparatus is broken?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) When it comes to spying on North Korea, rival South Korea seems to be wrong almost as much as it's right.
Seoul's intelligence agents get battered in the press and by lawmakers for their gaffes, including one regarding Ri Yong Gil, the former head of North Korea's military. Officials in Seoul's National Intelligence Service, the country's main spy agency, reportedly said Ri had been executed, but at this month's ruling-party congress, he was seen not only alive but also in possession of several new titles.
While spying on perhaps the world's most cloistered, suspicious, difficult-to-read country is no easy task, repeated blunders raise questions about whether South Korea's multibillion-dollar spying apparatus is broken.
In this photo distributed on Wednesday, May 11, 2016, by the North Korean government, Ri Yong Gil, then North Korean military chief, poses for a photo. Seouls intelligence agents get battered in the press and by lawmakers for their gaffes, including one regarding Ri Yong Gil, the former head of North Koreas military. Officials in Seouls National Intelligence Service, the countrys main spy agency, reportedly said Ri had been executed, but at this months ruling-party congress, he was seen not only alive but also in possession of several new titles. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION
Knowing what's happening in North Korea is crucial for the South, whose capital city, Seoul, is within easy striking range of thousands of North Korean missiles bristling along the world's most heavily armed border. But it's also important for the United States and Japan, who rely in part on South Korean spies for details about the North and its push for nuclear-armed missiles.
There's no single answer for what's going wrong, but the mistakes have been linked to the closed nature of North Korea, the way information is verified and disseminated, and agents' alleged penchant for playing politics and for choosing face-saving over gathering solid information.
Internal South Korean politics and the near-constant state of animosity between the Koreas also play a part.
A decade of liberal government rule in Seoul that encouraged regular travel to the North by South Korean diplomats, government and business leaders, reporters, aid groups and others ended in early 2008. Those exchanges have crumbled under conservatives, who have ruled for nearly a decade and are deemed hostile by the North.
This means that spies don't have the same high-quality information that was once gathered by South Koreans previously in constant contact with the North, according to Kim Kwang Jin, an opposition lawmaker from the National Assembly's intelligence committee, which regularly receives closed-door briefings from senior National Intelligence Service officials.
The ruling conservatives blame liberals, who they say drastically downsized espionage operations that have been difficult to rebuild.
The way spies release information could also be a problem.
The NIS gives closed briefings to lawmakers, who then relay what they hear to South Korean press. Foreign media commonly cite those local reports, but by that point the information has passed through several hands. That makes it difficult to gauge the NIS's level of certainty, understand how the information was obtained or determine how reliable its sources are.
When spies leak information directly to the local press, they usually demand that reporters refer to them only as "a source familiar with North Korea affairs." This allows the NIS and other South Korean spy agencies to deny they were the source if the information is bad, which is what's currently happening in the Ri case.
There's also criticism that wild stories about the North, whether originating with spies or others, are meant to serve a political purpose.
Cheong Seong-Chang, an analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute, said intelligence authorities under back-to-back conservative governments have tended to disclose incomplete, unverified information about North Korea if they thought it would justify South Korea's hard line policy by portraying North Korea as an unstable, dangerous country. This explains embarrassments like the Ri case, he said, and underlines the need to get multiple sources to verify information, even if it's coming from someone in Pyongyang.
South Korean spies are thought to closely monitor Pyongyang's media for details, to talk to defectors in Seoul, especially those who claim sources in North Korea, and to cultivate contacts in the North. The problem is that it's unclear how reliable the sources are.
A spokesman for the opposition Minjoo Party, Park Kwang-on, called the decision by South Korean spies to publicize rumors about Ri's execution "absurd" and "shameful." ''But what matters more is their lax intelligence capacity," which "is directly related to national security," he said.
The NIS, founded in 1961 by current President Park Geun-hye's dictator father, Park Chung-hee, was linked to the detention, torture and alleged killing of the elder Park's political opponents. After Park was killed in 1979 by his spy chief other abuses occurred under his successors.
Recent criticism comes mostly from failures over North Korea intelligence. For instance, South Korean spies only learned about former leader Kim Jong Il's death two days after it occurred, in December 2011, when Pyongyang's state TV announced it.
Some have accused South Korea's spies of playing politics. When South Korean intelligence officials circulated word of Ri's execution, Seoul was under criticism for failing to find out in advance that North Korea had been preparing to conduct its fourth nuclear test in January. The news also came a day after the government announced that it would suspend operations at a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.
"If the government discloses information on Ri Yong Gil's execution to try to create a public sentiment favorable for withdrawing from the Kaesong complex, we cannot help but say that they are foolish," South Korea's biggest-circulation newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, said Wednesday in an editorial. "Using shallow tricks definitely brings out disaster."
The editorial also said that if South Korean spies are treating "uncertain information as if it's 100 percent fact, it's a serious problem because it means that they can be fooled by the North's spread of disinformation."
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AP writers Hyung-jin Kim and Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report from Seoul.
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Divine intervention? Indian Hindus ask gods to help Trump
NEW DELHI (AP) Donald Trump may find it tough to get Republican leaders behind his campaign, but he's got some faraway fans trying to get the gods on his side.
Around a dozen members of a right-wing Indian Hindu group lit a ritual fire and chanted mantras Wednesday asking the Hindu gods to help Trump win the U.S. presidential election.
While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on extremist groups abroad have earned him some fans in India.
Activists of right-wing Hindu Sena or Hindu Army conduct Hindu rituals to ensure a win for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in faraway India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
"The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity."
Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out in a New Delhi protest park along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman as well as photos of a smiling Trump.
Above them hung a banner declaring support for Trump "because he is hope for humanity against Islamic terror."
The group chanted Sanskrit prayers asking the gods to favor Trump in the election, and threw offerings such as seeds, grass and ghee or clarified butter into a small ritual fire.
Activists of right-wing Hindu Sena or Hindu Army make offerings to the fire god while conducting Hindu rituals to ensure a win for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in faraway India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
Erdogan says Turkey killed 3,000 IS extremists
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkish forces have killed some 3,000 Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, insisting that no other country has matched Turkey's efforts against the extremist group.
In an address to the military chiefs of Balkan nations on Wednesday, Erdogan also denounced nations who have accused Turkey of supporting IS as "vile."
At the same meeting earlier, the Turkish military chief, put the number of IS militants killed Syria and Iraq at 1,300. Erdogan's aides could not immediately be reached to explain the differing figures.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, poses for photographs with military chiefs of Balkan nations following his speech at their conference, in Istanbul Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Erdogan said Turkish forces have killed some 3,000 Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, insisting that no other country has matched Turkey's efforts against the extremist group. At the same meeting earlier however, the Turkish military chief, put the number of IS militants killed Syria and Iraq at 1,300. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Erdogan said: "There have been those who have ... been vile by showing Turkey as a country that helps Daesh (Islamic State). No country in the world has conducted the struggle we are conducting."
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, centre, poses for photographs with military chiefs of Balkan nations following his speech at their conference, in Istanbul Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Erdogan said Turkish forces have killed some 3,000 Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, insisting that no other country has matched Turkey's efforts against the extremist group. At the same meeting earlier however, Turkey's Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, left, put the number of IS militants killed Syria and Iraq at 1,300. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
German FM: Ukraine talks made progress on security issues
BERLIN (AP) Talks between Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France produced several agreements aimed at improving security in eastern Ukraine but no deal on holding local elections in the separatist region controlled by Russia-backed rebels, a top German diplomat said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who hosted the talks at a lakeside retreat near Berlin, said the atmosphere was better than at their last meeting in Paris but acknowledged there had been no breakthrough.
"In the area of security, we made significant progress," he told reporters, citing a plan to separate military units along the front line and to create demilitarized zones. "There were proposals from both sides with concrete coordinates and deadlines."
From left Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia, Pavlo Klimkin, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Foreign Minister of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister of Germany arrive for a photo prior to talks at the German foreign ministry's guest house Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP)
The parties also agreed to improve communications and to halt military training along the front lines to prevent any escalation of the conflict, he said, cautioning that the plans still have to be put into action.
Steinmeier warned earlier that the 2015 Minsk peace accord for Ukraine would be undermined if there was no progress on its implementation, and that could escalate the conflict that has already killed more than 9,300 people in two years.
Officials on Wednesday failed to agree on a proposal for how to stage local elections in eastern Ukraine, including whether those who fled the region would have a vote.
"These are questions of detail that might appear small, but they are important for creating the basis for local elections in Ukraine," Steinmeier said.
"Security isn't everything in eastern Ukraine, but there can't be anything without security and so I'm quite satisfied with this part of the talks today," he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said after the talks that security is the main priority but stressed that it is tied to the issue of elections. Russia has rebuffed a proposal for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to send an armed monitoring mission to the region for the elections.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country sees no need to deploy such a mission, though OSCE officials are welcome to observe the vote.
Lavrov also insisted that Ukraine's Parliament has yet to approve parts of the Minsk accord, including the passage of bills on holding elections in the east and an amnesty for the separatists.
Germany is pressing for progress in Ukraine ahead of the scheduled expiration of European Union sanctions against Russia at the end of July. A decision on whether to prolong, modify or drop the sanctions which were for Russian actions in Ukraine will have to be made by EU leaders in six weeks.
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Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
From left Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia, Pavlo Klimkin, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Foreign Minister of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister of Germany pose for a photo prior to talks at the German foreign ministry's guest house Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP)
From left Sergei Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia, Pavlo Klimkin, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Jean-Marc Ayrault, Foreign Minister of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Foreign Minister of Germany talk as they pose for a photo prior to talks at the German foreign ministry's guest house Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP)
Sergei Lavrov, left, Foreign Minister of Russia, and Pavlo Klimkin, Foreign Minister of Ukraine, right, stay next to each other as they pose for a photo prior to talks at the German foreign ministry's guest house Villa Borsig in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP)
N. Korea offers particularly good look at Kim, other leaders
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) North Korean state media on Wednesday released high-resolution headshots of more than two dozen top officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, that appear to be missing something Pyongyang-watchers have come to expect: signs of retouching.
It's common for photos of Kim released through North Korea state channels to show signs of manipulation, though North Korea officials deny altering images. So it's unusual to receive a pore-level view of the young leader.
Chang Yong Seok, a North Korea expert at Seoul National University, said the North might be trying to sell a more natural and positive image of Kim and his senior officials following the ruling-party congress that ended Monday. He said the authoritarian country might be trying to create an image as a "normal country" that is not much different from others.
In this photo distributed on Wednesday, May 11, 2016, by the North Korean government, Kim Jong Un, endorsed as party chairman of North Korean Workers' Party at the Workers' Party congress on May 9, poses for a photo. North Korean state media on Wednesday released high-resolution mug shots of more than two dozen top officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, that appear to be missing something Pyongyang-watchers have come to expect: signs of retouching. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION
Analyst Cho Han-bum at the Seoul-based Korea Institute for National Unification said North Korea may want to portray Kim as humble yet confident.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency also released photos of 27 other members of North Korea's top leadership 20 in suits and seven in military uniform. Kim is the only one grinning, and the only one seen without a lapel pin bearing the faces of his grandfather, national founder Kim Il Sung, and father, Kim Jong Il.
One top official was looking much better than some had expected: Ri Yong Gil, who South Korean intelligence officials had said was executed months earlier.
Pictures of 27 high ranking officials were also released - also untouched - alongside the photo of Jong-un
In this combination of photos distributed on Wednesday, May 11, 2016, by the North Korean government, elected members and candidates of the Politburo of the North Korean Workers' Party pose for a photo at the Workers' Party congress. North Korean state media on Wednesday released high-resolution mug shots of more than two dozen top officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, that appear to be missing something Pyongyang-watchers have come to expect: signs of retouching. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION
Aquinos' legacy clouded by Duterte win, support for a Marcos
MANILA, Philippines (AP) Philippine leader Benigno Aquino III had called this week's election a referendum on his "straight path" style of reformist governance, but his candidate lost by millions of votes to a shoot-from-the-lip mayor.
And if the vice presidency goes to a son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted 30 years ago by a revolt led by Aquino's mother, that will cloud the political legacy of a family that has been regarded as a bulwark against authoritarianism.
An unofficial tally of Monday's votes shows Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. closely trailing Aquino-backed Rep. Leni Robredo in a cliffhanger vice presidential race.
FILE - In this file photo from March 22, 2016, Philippine President Benigno Aquino III delivers a speech south of Manila, Philippines, on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. Aquino has called this week's election a referendum on his "straight path" style of reformist governance, but his candidate Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has lost by millions of votes to a shoot-from-the-lip mayor. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)
Aquino campaigned against tough-talking Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who has won the presidency by a wide margin based on the unofficial count, and Bongbong Marcos, warning both could be looming dictators. He said they could set back the country's democracy and economic momentum achieved in his six-year term, which ends in June.
Aquino, who was constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, remains popular indeed, his approval ratings are among the highest for a departing Philippine president in the post-Marcos dictatorship era. But the rise of Duterte, whose tough talk has reinforced perceptions that he could become a strongman, is a reality check on the extent of public dissatisfaction and perceived failures during the reformist Aquino's watch.
The disaffection may have been felt mostly by the growing middle class, said Julio Teehankee, dean of a college dealing with political science and international relations at Manila's De La Salle University.
Under Aquino, the government expanded a program that provides cash to the poorest of the poor in exchange for commitments by parents to ensure their children would attend classes and receive government health care. Big business, meanwhile, benefited from government partnership deals that allowed them to finance major infrastructure projects such as highways and airports for long-term gain.
"The middle-class," Teehankee said, "felt shortchanged."
He said they must endure maddening traffic by land and air, infrastructure problems, taxes that are high relative to the Philippines' neighbors and even what's known as the "bullet drop racket." Many travelers have accused Manila airport personnel of slipping bullets into their luggage, then extorting money from them in exchange for not being criminally prosecuted.
Aquino won a landslide victory in 2010 on a promise to fight corruption and poverty, which afflicts more than a fourth of the more than 100 million Filipinos. But his victory was also seen as a protest vote due to widespread exasperation with the scandals that rocked the presidency of his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is currently detained on corruption charges.
The expectations were high and while Aquino moved against corruption detaining Arroyo and three powerful senators over corruption allegations and initiated anti-poverty programs, the problems remain daunting.
Critics have also pounded on what they say were his administration's bungling of a number of crises, including a Manila bus hostage crisis that ended with the shooting deaths of eight Chinese tourists from Hong Kong by a disgruntled police officer, and delays in recovery efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.
Aquino backed Mar Roxas in the presidential election. Roxas served as the president's transport secretary and later interior secretary, leading departments that were regularly criticized.
On the campaign trail, Aquino and Roxas highlighted how the government's anti-corruption drive and other reforms allowed the Philippines to register one of the highest growth rates in Asia from 2010 to last year. Once regarded as the sick man of Asia, they said the country is now considered "Asia's bright star."
Duterte won voters with promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months, although police officials say that would be almost impossible to accomplish.
If Bongbong Marcos becomes vice president, that might be a more bitter pill for Aquino to swallow.
Last February, Aquino evoked horrific memories of Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship in a speech marking the anniversary of the 1986 "people power" revolt led by his mother, Corazon Aquino. His father, anti-Marcos politician Benigno Aquino Jr., was assassinated in 1983 while under military custody at the Manila airport, which now bears his name.
The younger Aquino railed against Marcos Jr.'s refusal to clearly apologize for the brutal rights violations and plunder that happened during his father's strongman rule.
"This is not about the Aquinos versus the Marcoses," Aquino said at the anniversary. "It is clear to me that this is about right versus wrong."
Frustrated by descriptions of the Marcos era as a golden age, Aquino countered that it was "one of the most painful chapters of our history."
Bonifacio Ilagan, an activist who was detained and tortured during the dictatorship, said Filipinos still cherish the power they demonstrated to remove Marcos in 1986, but were disappointed that expectations of a better life and an easing of the deep inequality that has long plagued Philippine society hasn't been realized three decades after the revolt.
If Marcos Jr. wins, "It will really be a slap, a complete repudiation of the 1986 revolution," Ilagan said.
The successive presidencies after the dictator failed to institutionalize widespread hatred over the abuses and plunder under Marcos by including them and the lessons comprehensively, for example, in school teachings, he said. Criminal cases against the dictator and some of his family members were far from over, he said.
Duterte has declared he would allow Ferdinand Marcos' remains now displayed in a glass coffin in his northern hometown of Batac to be buried in the national heroes' cemetery. That is vehemently opposed by nationalists and activists like Ilagan, whose activist sister remains missing since she disappeared in the early 1970s while helping in the anti-Marcos movement.
Damaging storms possible for Plains, North Carolina
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) Forecasters say damaging winds and large hail stones are possible in parts of the central U.S. and in North Carolina as separate springtime storm systems move through.
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, says scattered storms are likely Wednesday from parts of north Texas and Oklahoma into the Midwest. Another system could pelt parts of North Carolina with hail and damaging winds.
Television station KETV in Nebraska reports that so much hail fell early Wednesday that a car had to be towed from a "hail drift" in Omaha.
Cole Lyons, from left, Austin Reel and Cameron Reel look at a submerged car in the parking lot of Town Square Mall, Tuesday, May 10, 2016, in Owensboro, Ky., after heavy rains swept through Daviess County and flooded the lot. (Greg Eans/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Storms have buffeted parts of the country with hail this week and have even spawned tornadoes. The storms killed two people in Oklahoma on Monday and injured 10 people in Kentucky on Tuesday.
Wanted Massachusetts man was charged in prior attack
GARDNER, Mass. (AP) Court documents show that a missing Massachusetts man wanted in the fatal stabbing of a 76-year-old college professor was charged with brutally slicing a neighbor about five years ago.
Greenfield District Court files say 24-year-old Tyler Hagmaier admitted there were sufficient facts to convict him of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the 2011 knife attack on his 41-year-old neighbor in Montague. He was sentenced to probation.
Police have been searching for Hagmaier since Friday, when his car was found near the Connecticut River in Gill. Investigators believe Hagmaier jumped into the river, but there's been no sign of him.
Lockwood school trustees voted to renew 16 of 26 paraprofessional contracts Tuesday night, leaving 10 of the educators in limbo.
School officials said the cuts were a necessary part of budget planning that projects a roughly $300,000 shortfall, but paraprofessionals said that they were bearing the brunt of the cuts in the midst of negotiations after unionizing last fall.
Paraprofessionals often work as teacher assistants, providing one-on-one or small group support for students, assisting with classroom tasks and helping teachers prepare for class.
We have to make sure were not offering contracts we cant pay for, Lockwood Superintendent Tobin Novasio said. We may offer contracts in the future.
However, Lockwood Paraprofessional Association president Angela Pederson said that she absolutely believes the cuts are related to the unionization of paraprofessionals last fall.
I feel our school board and superintendent took it personally, she said. She was also concerned that any further employment offers would be for part-time positions with reduced salaries and benefits.
School officials were adamant that the cuts were strictly a budgetary matter. Novasio said that the school is looking at cutting teaching positions and has three unfilled custodial positions.
As far as your educational staff, a lot of the time (paraprofessionals) are the most expendable, he said.
Paraprofessionals disputed that notion.
I am here tonight to put a name and a face to one of those numbers, said Elizabeth Johnson, who has spent seven years in the district as a substitute teacher and paraprofessional, in addition to 10 years as a teacher and paraprofessional in Florida. The cuts seem very arbitrary, she said.
She estimated that, as a special education paraprofessional, she frequently works with about 20 students, similar to the other paraprofessional positions who were not renewed.
Thats 200 students who will not receive extra help they need to succeed next year, she said.
A major reason for the budget problems is increasing health care costs in the face of a decline in enrollment, which leads to a dip in state funding, Novasio said.
Costs for health care and salaries are lower than other employees, Pederson said. She also cited increased costs in other areas, like extra-curricular additions, although the funding sources are not the same.
Despite being aware of the upcoming budget crunch for several months, Lockwood officials decided against offering a levy that could have bolstered funds available for staff salaries if passed.
We just didnt think that there was a way we were going to pass a levy next year, Novasio said. Blue Creek was the only local district to pass a levy of any kind in school elections earlier this month.
A mediator has led talks between district officials and the union recently, including a session earlier this month were the two camps were stationed in different rooms, and the mediator communicated between the two rooms.
We got really close to a settlement, new Lockwood Board Chairman Tim Sather said. Officials said that not having a contract in place creates uncertainty when planning for next year.
The union has conceded several points recently in an effort to try to reach an agreement, Pederson said. The two sides are slated to meet again May 31.
In other board news:
New Trustee Michelle Gomez was sworn in. She, Sather and Don Reed all ran unopposed for trustee seats. Vicki Krause, who was appointed as a trustee last year, did not run this spring.
Sather was appointed board chairman. Kat Luhman was appointed vice-chairwoman. Current board Chairwoman Sue Vinton is running for a seat in the state legislature this fall.
The board approved seventh-grade football for the upcoming school year. Lockwood added eighth-grade football this year.
The Latest: House committee chairs endorse Donald Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign (all times Eastern Daylight Time):
9:15 p.m.
Republican Donald Trump's presidential campaign is announcing new endorsements from several House committee chairs ahead of his trip Thursday to Washington.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses a gathering of medical personnel at Cooper Hospital, Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Camden, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
In a press release posted on his Facebook page Wednesday evening, Trump announced the backing of House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price of Georgia, Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas, Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway of Texas, and Lamar Smith of Texas, who chairs the Science, Space and Technology Committee.
Trump already had the public backing of Reps. Candice Miller, Jeff Miller and Bill Schuster, also committee chairs.
The seven say in a joint statement that the path for Republicans winning in November "comes through unity."
"It is paramount that we coalesce around the Republican nominee," they say.
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8:40 p.m.
Michael Bloomberg says he will "think about" whether to endorse either of the two presidential candidates likely to face off in the November election, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
The billionaire former New York mayor says, "I'm not sure what I'll do."
But he says only three of the candidates this year had the skills to "run the railroad" as president: Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Clinton.
Bloomberg earlier this year decided not to pursue the White House as an independent, and in announcing that decision blasted Trump for running "the most divisive and demagogic presidential campaign I can remember."
He now says he will spend "nowhere near as much" donating to the presidential campaigns as he will on down-ballot matchups. He has tended to back mostly Democrats as he focuses on issues such as gun control and stopping climate change.
Bloomberg was making the comments Wednesday at the SALT Conference of finance industry leaders being held in Las Vegas.
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8:30 p.m.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is speaking at a party fundraiser on Long Island, New York.
"These are my people," Trump declared when he saw the crowd before launching into a variation of his normal rally speech.
The "Patriots Reception" event, which cost $200 a ticket and was expected to draw about 2,000 people, is to raise money for the Nassau County GOP.
But it comes as Trump, who has largely self-funded his campaign to this point, moves to expand his fundraising effort for the general election. His team announced Wednesday that he will hold its first fundraiser later this month in Los Angeles.
The celebrity billionaire agreed to the Long Island event after speaking to local Republican leaders who attended his rally in nearby Bethpage last month.
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5:15 p.m.
Mitt Romney is keeping up the pressure on Donald Trump to release his tax returns.
The 2012 GOP presidential nominee is suggesting the real reason Trump is not releasing his tax returns is that the billionaire is hiding "a bombshell of unusual size" in the documents.
The accusation came in a pointed Facebook post Wednesday as likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton slammed Trump over the transparency issue.
Trump said in an AP interview Tuesday that he doesn't believe he has an obligation to release his tax returns and won't release them before November unless an ongoing audit of his finances is completed before Election Day. He said he wouldn't overrule his lawyers and instruct them to release his returns if the audit hasn't concluded by then.
Romney called any refusal by Trump to release his tax returns before Election Day, "disqualifying."
It has become tradition over the last three decades for presidential nominees in both parties to release their returns.
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4:43 p.m.
Donald Trump has booked his first campaign fund-raiser, to take place in two weeks in Los Angeles.
That's according to Steven Mnuchin, Trump's newly named national finance chairman. Mnuchin would not share details of the event, but he tells The Associated Press that he's had a "very good reception" and that it will be hosted by a "high-profile" donor.
Mnuchin says more fundraising details will soon be announced, including the names of state- and regional-level fund-raisers. He says the campaign and Republican Party are "very, very close" to inking a joint fund-raising deal.
Mnuchin spoke with the AP in Las Vegas, where he's attending a financial industry conference hosted by Anthony Scaramucci. Scaramucci last week told The AP he'd signed on with Trump's fund-raising team.
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4:09 p.m.
T. Boone Pickens, a billionaire oil investor, is feeling bullish about presidential candidate Donald Trump.
He says it's time to "try somebody different" as the GOP presidential nominee, whose unorthodox bid has given other major GOP donors pause.
Pickens, one of the party's most prolific donors, says Trump called him on Monday and the two had a chuckle about how he'd given big money to GOP rivals Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina before Trump beat them.
Pickens says he told Trump he's with him now.
The blunt-talking 87-year-old says he would contribute to Trump and likely to a pro-Trump super PAC, as well, although he says is too early to put a dollar amount on it.
Pickens made the comments Wednesday at the SALT conference, an annual gathering of financial industry leaders held in Las Vegas.
Pickens says he agrees with one of Trump's more controversial plans, to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country.
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3:29 p.m.
GOP Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa says he doesn't believe Donald Trump would try to pay America's creditors less than full value on the government debt they hold, as the presidential candidate last week suggested.
Grassley told reporters Wednesday that when Trump is president, "he won't pursue that policy."
When asked how he knew that, Grassley said the United States' "credibility and credit is very important" to the country and the world. He declined to answer whether Trump's idea would undermine that.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee suggested recently that he would buy U.S. debt back at a discount from investors in hopes of refinancing them at lower rates. Economic experts have criticized the idea, arguing it would send rates soaring, slow economic growth and undermine confidence in the world's most trusted financial asset.
Trump later backed off that claim, indicating that the government could avoid default by printing money. This proposed strategy would likely spark inflation, economists have said.
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3:19 p.m.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has taken to Twitter again to bash Donald Trump. It's the latest in a series of Internet "tweetstorms" calling Trump on the carpet for his treatment of women and his insults toward her.
The Massachusetts Democrat has far fewer followers than Trump and she is a cleaner Twitter fighter than the billionaire. But she is scrappy.
In her latest volley, she tweets: "Your policies are dangerous. Your words are reckless. Your record is embarrassing. And your free ride is over."
This followed a couple of anti-Warren tweets lobbed by Trump.
Says one: "Goofy Elizabeth Warren has been one of the least effective senators in the entire U.S. Senate. She has done nothing!"
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2:01 p.m.
Hillary Clinton says Donald Trump's tax agenda was "written by a billionaire for billionaires" and will benefit the wealthy at the expense of middle-class workers.
Clinton says in Blackwood, New Jersey, that Trump would add trillions to the debt in exchange for tax cuts for people earning more than $1 million a year.
The Democratic presidential candidate says Trump should also release his tax returns. The Republican candidate told The Associated Press in an interview that he doesn't plan to do that until an audit of his finances is complete. And he doesn't expect that to be before November.
Clinton says releasing tax returns is "kind of expected" by the presidential nominees of each party and she notes she has put out more than three decades of returns.
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1:55 p.m.
West Virginia's tricky primary rules could cost Donald Trump four delegates. It won't matter Trump has 92 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination.
But it illustrates the whacky ways in which some states award convention delegates.
Trump easily won the West Virginia primary. However, most of the state's delegates are elected directly by voters.
Twenty-two delegates were elected based on the statewide vote, and the top 22 vote getters were all Trump delegates. However, no more than two can be from the same county.
Trump had 13 from one county and three from another. As a result, he will get 30 of the state's 34 delegates. Three are uncommitted and one went to Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
Trump has 1,134 delegates. He needs 1,237 to win.
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11:22 a.m.
Bernie Sanders is trailing Hillary Clinton by 283 delegates.
He won West Virginia on Tuesday, but was only able to close the gap by seven delegates.
With 29 delegates at stake, Sanders won 18 to Clinton's 11.
That means based on primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton now has 1,716 and Sanders has 1,433.
He still needs to win 66 percent of the remaining primary and caucus delegates if he hopes to close the deficit.
When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton holds a much wider lead.
She has 2,240 to Sanders' 1,473.
Just 143 delegates short, Clinton remains on track to reach the 2,383 needed to win the nomination by early next month.
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10:43 a.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan says the Republican Party needs to be unified to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in the November election.
Ryan spoke to reporters Wednesday morning ahead of his Thursday meeting with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. Ryan stunned the GOP last week when he said he wasn't ready to endorse the billionaire businessman.
Ryan said the party needs a "real unification" and must be at full strength to win the presidential election.
The speaker has faced some criticism for his reluctance to embrace Trump's candidacy.
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8 a.m.
Donald Trump says he may set up a commission to study his immigration policies and his proposed ban on foreign Muslims entering the U.S. The man he may ask to lead the commission is the former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani, who's called Trump's idea of a Muslim ban unconstitutional.
Trump floated the idea of a commission Wednesday on Fox News and addressed it only briefly, not saying if this would happen if he wins the White House or during his Republican presidential campaign.
Trump's call to deny entry to Muslims from abroad until America's security has been assured is a centerpiece of his campaign. So are his proposals to deport all people who are in the country illegally.
He says a commission would examine all those issues, as well as the question of letting in Syrian refugees, and it would be "possibly headed" by Giuliani, the mayor when New York was attacked on 9/11.
Giuliani said in December that Syrian refugees should not be let in. But he said a ban on Muslims would violate the Constitution and there can be no religious test on who is allowed into the country.
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7:40 a.m.
Donald Trump has won nearly the all the delegates who were at stake in the West Virginia and Nebraska primaries.
Overall, Trump now has 1,135 delegates, 92 percent of what he needs for the Republican presidential nomination.
He won all 36 delegates in Nebraska in Tuesday's contest and 31 of the 34 delegates at stake in West Virginia.
West Virginia's complicated rules could cost him the other three, who are uncommitted. In West Virginia, most of the delegates are elected directly by voters.
Twenty-two delegates are elected according to the statewide vote. However, no more than two delegates can be from the same county.
Thirteen Trump delegates ran from Kanawha County, home to Charleston, the state capital.
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7:30 a.m.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio says he'll live up to his pledge to the Republican Party to support the GOP's presidential nominee. But that doesn't appear to mean he will campaign on behalf of Donald Trump.
Rubio says he still has the same deep reservations about Trump's ideas and conduct that he voiced as his rival in the primary campaign. He says Trump would be better served by having help in the campaign from people who agree with his policies and are enthusiastic about his candidacy.
Rubio is clearly not enthusiastic about Trump at all. But he says Democrat Hillary Clinton will be a worse choice in the fall campaign. The senator says he's "even more scared about her being in control of the U.S. government."
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7:20 a.m.
Donald Trump says he understands why the Bush family "is sitting out" the Republican presidential campaign.
Trump says he doesn't have the support of former candidate Jeb Bush because "I hit him really hard." Even so, he says it was "dishonorable" of Bush to back out of a pledge to support the party's nominee.
Former presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush have also declined to back Trump.
Trump spoke Wednesday morning on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends."
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7 a.m.
A key House Republican is brushing aside talk of a possible third-party candidacy in the presidential election campaign.
Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma says it's awfully late for anybody to make such a move. There have been rumblings of a possible independent bid organized by conservative Republicans who don't like Donald Trump.
But Cole, who is deputy whip for House Republicans, says on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" he thinks such an effort would be a waste of time. And he says a third-party effort from the political right would probably ensure that Democrat Hillary Clinton becomes president.
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Supporters attend a campaign rally for Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, in Salem, Ore. (Danielle Peterson/Statesman-Journal via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Activists of right-wing Hindu Sena or Hindu Army conduct Hindu rituals to ensure a win for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in faraway India. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)
The Latest: Aunt says mall killer sought mental health help
TAUNTON, Mass. (AP) The Latest on stabbing attacks at a Massachusetts shopping mall and home (all times local):
5:25 p.m.
The family of a man who fatally stabbed two people and assaulted others inside a Massachusetts mall before he was shot and killed says he had been discharged from a hospital without being treated for his mental illness.
Crime scene tape is seen inside the Macy's at the Silver City Galleria mall in Taunton, Mass., Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Multiple people have been stabbed separate attacks at the mall and a home in Massachusetts. (Charles Winokoor/The Daily Gazette via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Authorities say Arthur DaRosa stabbed two women at a home in Taunton on Tuesday, killing one. They say he then drove to the Silver City Galleria Mall and stabbed two people at a Bertucci's restaurant, killing one.
DaRosa's aunt Liz DaRosa said Wednesday he admitted himself to a hospital on Monday and was discharged on Tuesday "without the proper treatment." She says he wanted help but didn't receive it.
She says he wasn't a terrorist and was "someone's child."
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3:40 p.m.
A Taunton woman says her teenage daughter watched in horror as a man crashed his car into a Macy's department store, then threw a store employee to the floor.
Authorities say 28-year-old Arthur DaRosa stabbed two women at a Taunton home Tuesday, killing one, then drove to the Silver City Galleria Mall. There, he beat at least three people in Macy's, then stabbed two people at a Bertucci's restaurant, killing one.
Lynn Coffey said her 17-year-old daughter, Amanda Stroud, was in Macy's with a friend buying makeup for her prom. Coffey said her daughter made eye contact with DaRosa after he threw an employee down. She said her daughter and her friend ran out and called police from the car.
Coffey says she's worried about how the incident will affect her daughter, but grateful that she wasn't hurt.
___ 3:20 p.m.
Acquaintances of the suspect in fatal stabbings in Taunton, Massachusetts, say they are struggling to make sense of the rampage.
Police say 28-year-old Arthur DaRosa stabbed four people, two of them fatally, and assaulted others inside a mall before he was shot and killed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy.
Thirty-six-year-old Wendy Mason lives two doors down from the Taunton home where DaRosa grew up and where his family lives. She says DaRosa was always respectful and didn't give any indication of struggles with mental health. She says no one will "be able to make any sense" of the rampage.
Jared Green says his older brother was friends with DaRosa. The 22-year-old Green says DaRosa was always cracking jokes but also had a temper. He says he doesn't know why DaRosa would "do something like that."
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3 p.m.
A Massachusetts sheriff is praising one of his deputies for stopping a deadly knife attack at a mall.
Plymouth County Sheriff Joseph McDonald Jr. said Wednesday that Deputy James Creed was off-duty, out of uniform and dining with his wife when Arthur DaRosa attacked staff and patrons Tuesday at a Bertucci's restaurant in the Silver City Galleria Taunton, 40 miles from Boston.
Creed fired one shot from a personal firearm, killing DaRosa.
McDonald says he's proud of Creed's "heroic actions and his ability to apply his professional training and restraint in an obviously traumatic and perilous situation."
Creed has worked for the sheriff since 2005.
A sheriff's department spokesman says Creed won't be available for comment. Creed has been placed on administrative leave, which is routine in such cases.
Authorities say DaRosa's stabbing rampage killed someone at the mall and someone at a house.
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2 p.m.
Authorities are hailing three people as heroes for intervening when a man went on a stabbing rampage at a home and a shopping mall in Taunton.
District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said Arthur DaRosa was shot and killed by James Creed, an off-duty deputy sheriff who was eating dinner at Bertucci's in the Silver City Galleria on Tuesday when DaRosa stabbed two people.
The prosecutor said teacher George Heath was in Bertucci's and tried to get the knife away from DaRosa. Heath was fatally stabbed. Waitress Sheenah Savoy suffered serious injuries.
DaRosa also beat three women in Macy's, where an unidentified store employee tried to stop him.
Quinn said the rampage began after DaRosa left his daughter's soccer practice, crashed his car, then walked into a home and fatally stabbed 80-year-old Patricia Slavin. Her 58-year-old daughter, Kathleen, received serious injuries.
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12:30 p.m.
Authorities have identified the second victim who was fatally stabbed by a man who went on a rampage at a home and later attacked people at a shopping mall.
Eighty-year-old Patricia Slavin was killed, while her 58-year-old daughter, Kathleen Slavin, was seriously injured when Arthur DaRosa walked into their home while they were eating dinner Tuesday.
Bristol District Attorney Thomas Quinn III said DaRosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria and crashed his car into a Macy's department store, where he beat three women.
Quinn said DaRosa then walked to a Bertucci's restaurant in the mall, where he stabbed a waitress multiple times. She survived, but DaRosa fatally stabbed George Heath, a teacher who tried to take the knife from him.
DaRosa was shot and killed by an off-duty Plymouth County deputy sheriff.
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9:30 a.m.
One of the people killed by a man who went on a stabbing rampage in Massachusetts has been identified as a teacher.
The superintendent-director of Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical School says George Heath was a visual design teacher there.
The 56-year-old Heath was fatally stabbed Tuesday at the Silver City Galleria mall in Taunton.
Superintendent-director James O'Brien called Heath a "true gentleman" who had worked at the school for four years.
O'Brien says, "Heath was a tremendous educator with a great passion for teaching; he was influential in sparking creativity and a love of learning in all of his students."
Authorities say assailant Arthur DaRosa also killed an 80-year-old woman before he was shot and killed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy.
DaRosa's family says he was mentally disturbed.
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7:45 a.m.
Family members of the man who killed two people during a rampage in Massachusetts say he was mentally ill and has just been released from a hospital psychiatric ward.
Arthur DaRosa was shot and killed by an off-duty sheriff's deputy after fatally stabbing one person at the Silver City Galleria mall in Taunton on Tuesday, shortly after he stabbed an 80-year-old woman in her home.
Kerri Devries, DaRosa's sister, tells the Boston Herald her brother has been battling depression for years. She says he has recently been suicidal, and the "devil was playing tricks on him." She says he was admitted to the hospital Monday.
DaRosa's father, also Arthur DaRosa, tells the newspaper he was surprised when his son returned from the hospital Tuesday morning, but said he appeared "normal" and calm."
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2:30 a.m.
Authorities are trying to determine why a man went on a stabbing rampage in Massachusetts, killing two people and assaulting and stabbing more in a house and a shopping mall before being shot dead.
The suspect in Tuesday's attacks has been identified as 28-year-old Arthur DaRosa.
Authorities say it all began when DaRosa crashed a car outside of a house in the city. They say he walked inside the home and stabbed two women, including an 80-year-old who later died.
Authorities say DaRosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria mall, where he crashed into the front of Macy's department store. They say he assaulted multiple people inside the store before running to Bertucci's restaurant and stabbing two more people, including a 56-year-old man who died at a hospital.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei travels to Gaza for refugee project
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei is visiting the Gaza Strip as part of a documentary he is making about Middle East refugees.
The activist crossed into Gaza through Israel with a crew of 10 people on Tuesday. The film will highlight the plight of millions of Syrians who fled the civil war in their homeland to neighboring countries or took perilous voyages in boats to Europe.
On Wednesday, Ai said he is including the Palestinian refugees in the film because they constitute "the longest history" of displacement and their numbers complicate any settlement of their cause. The number of Palestinians who were displaced during the 1948 war surrounding Israel's establishment, along with their descendants, is estimated at over 5 million people, according to the United Nations.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, films Palestinians using his mobile phone, as they wait to travel through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
"The Palestinian refugees really play a very important factor in the whole refugee situation," Ai told The Associated Press. With such a big population, he said it is "not easy" to find a solution.
Ai's crew has worked on the documentary in Jordan, Turkey, Greece and several other countries that have hosted Syrian refugees.
In 2011, China detained Ai for 81 days for being an outspoken critic of its human rights record. Last year, he managed to move to Germany after Chinese authorities returned his passport. He is famous for works addressing human rights abuses, official corruption and the collision between Chinese culture and Western consumerism
The visit, Ai's first to Gaza, coincides with the 68th anniversary of what the Palestinians call the "nakba," or catastrophe caused by their displacement during the 1948 war.
"We have to come here to interpret this into our film," he said.
During the three-day visit, Ai and his team will be shooting in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. They also will look at the worsening living conditions in Gaza, which has suffered under an Egyptian and Israeli blockade and the rule of the Hamas militant group. Israel and Egypt imposed the blockade after Hamas seized power in 2007, saying the restrictions are needed to prevent Hamas from importing weapons.
"The condition here is unbelievable," Ai said as his crew filmed Palestinians trying to leave Gaza through Egypt, which temporarily opened its border with Gaza for two days Wednesday after nearly three months of closure. "Gaza is really suffering from this isolation and blockade from all over," he said.
Ai said the film should be complete by the end of 2016, and he will organize an exhibition with works related to refugees before the opening of the documentary.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, films Palestinians using his mobile phone, as they wait to travel through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is on a three-day visit to Gaza, where he is filming scenes of the coastal territory to be included in a documentary he is producing about the migrant crisis. The artist says the plight of Palestinian refugees is an integral part of the broader crisis. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, stands with his crew while filming for a documentary about refugees, at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is on a three-day visit to Gaza, where he is filming scenes of the coastal territory to be included in a documentary he is producing about the migrant crisis. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, stands with his crew while filming a documentary about refugees, at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The artist says the plight of Palestinian refugees is an integral part of the broader crisis. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)
Federer wins comfortably after last-minute decision to play
ROME (AP) Roger Federer put his full array of shots on display in a 6-3, 7-5 win over Alexander Zverev on Wednesday in the second round of the Italian Open, an encouraging performance considering he only decided to play moments before stepping onto the court.
"I was expecting to lose in straight sets today. That was the mindset going in, so to win in straights is actually a really big surprise to me," said Federer, who has been having problems with his back. "I played cautious, and I only decided after the warmup that I was actually going to play."
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and seven-time Rome champion Rafael Nadal also advanced in straight sets on the red clay courts at the Foro Italico.
Switzerland's Roger Federer returns the ball to Germany's Alexander Zverev during their match at the Italian Open tennis tournament, in Rome, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Claudio Onorati/ANSA via AP Photo) ITALY OUT
In women's action, Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka and last week's Madrid Open winner Simona Halep each lost.
After withdrawing from Madrid with lower back pain, Federer looked sharp from the start against the 44th-ranked Zverev, using his backhand slice drop shot especially well.
"I'm happy I was able to play a full match without any setbacks," said Federer, who also missed 10 weeks earlier this year after surgery on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus. "I'm coming off a brutal last few months, and I'm just happy to be able to play normal tennis to some extent. ... So for me it's a big day and huge step in the right direction."
The 19-year-old Zverev, considered a potential future Grand Slam champion, often found himself running down shots wide in the alleys. At one point, the 6-foot-6 (1.98-meter) German was pulled so far off the court he ended up in the lap of a line judge then hugged the official after Federer put away an easy volley.
On the first point of the final game, Federer surprised Zverev by following his second serve to the net and Zverev lost his footing as he attempted to chase down Federer's volley. Zverev fell to the clay, dirtying his shorts and shirt, and had to go over to his chair to dust himself off.
Still, Federer was impressed with Zverev.
"Clearly he has a big game and nice technique and good attitude and all that," the 17-time Grand Slam champion said.
Federer will next meet 13th-seeded Dominic Thiem, who beat Joao Sousa of Portugal 6-3, 6-2, but he couldn't immediately confirm that he would play Thursday.
"I don't know how I'm going to feel tomorrow," Federer said. "I hope so. But I'm literally going practice after practice. Every 15 minutes I speak to (coaches) Ivan (Ljubicic) or Severin (Luthi) and say, What else can we do?
"It's baby steps right now. So to even think of tomorrow is already a big ask," he added.
Back to No. 2 in the rankings this week, Federer is attempting to win this tournament for the first time. It's his 16th appearance in Rome and he's a four-time runner-up.
"It would be wonderful to win, but not this year," Federer said. "I'm too far off."
Rome is the last major warmup for the French Open, which starts May 22.
Djokovic beat 35-year-old French qualifier Stephane Robert 7-5, 7-5 as he seeks a third straight title in Rome and fourth overall.
Robert unleashed a series of winners followed by wild fist pumps as he broke Djokovic's serve early in the second set and when Djokovic eventually broke back, the Serb let out a loud demonstrative scream.
Robert hit more than twice as many winners as Djokovic, 33-16, but also committed far more unforced errors, 32-14.
Murray never dropped his serve, hitting seven aces, as he eliminated Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3.
Nadal defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3 and will next meet rising Australian player Nick Kyrgios, who beat big-serving Milos Raonic 7-6 (5), 6-3 on the statue-lined Pietrangeli court.
Eugenie Bouchard, the 2014 Wimbledon runner-up, beat the second-seeded Kerber 6-1, 5-7, 7-5; Irina-Camelia Begu, ranked 35th, defeated Azarenka 6-3, 6-2; and last year's semifinalist Daria Gavrilova eliminated Halep 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in a match that was temporarily interrupted by rain.
Azarenka said she was still affected by a back injury that prompted her to withdraw in Madrid.
"I thought I was OK and was ready to play and came back, so I'm just disappointed," Azarenka said. "It's just unfortunate that I can't play my best tennis."
Also, Johanna Konta of Britain upset U.S. Open runner-up Roberta Vinci before the Italian's home crowd, 6-0, 6-4.
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Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampf
Inmate serving life sentence in Guam brothel case dies
HAGATNA, Guam (AP) Officials say the former owner of a Guam karaoke lounge serving life in prison for running a prostitution operation at the business has died of natural causes.
The Pacific Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/1ZDZVix ) 74-year-old Song Ja Cha died at a hospital Monday. Department of Corrections official Carla Borja says Cha was taken to the hospital after telling prison staff she hadn't been feeling well.
Cha was given a life sentence after being convicted in 2012 of federal crimes related to human trafficking and prostitution.
Authorities say she persuaded women and girls from Chuuk to come to Guam and forced them to work at her lounge, which secretly operated as a brothel.
Cha appealed her conviction in February. Her attorney argued that giving an elderly woman a life sentence was unreasonable.
The former owner of a Guam karaoke lounge serving life in prison for running a prostitution operation at the business has died of natural causes, according to a prison official.
Department of Corrections Deputy Director Carla Borja said Song Ja Cha, 74, had told prison staff she wasn't feeling well on Monday and she was taken to a hospital. Her condition worsened and she was placed on life support before she was pronounced dead later that day, Borja said.
It is unclear if Cha had pre-existing medical conditions, which could have led to her death, The Pacific Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/1ZDZVix).
Cha was given a life sentence after being convicted in 2012 of federal crimes related to human trafficking and prostitution.
Authorities said she persuaded women and girls from Chuuk to come to Guam by promising them good paying jobs. Once they arrived, she allegedly forced them to work at the Blue House lounge in Tamuning, which secretly operated as a brothel. There were nine victims in the case.
Cha had appealed her federal conviction in February. Her attorney, Jonathan Libby, argued that sentencing an elderly woman to life behind bars was unreasonable.
US gears up missile defense system in Europe to Russia's ire
WARSAW, Poland (AP) A U.S. missile defense system aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats is moving into higher gear this week, with a site in Romania becoming operational on Thursday and officials breaking ground at another site in Poland a day later.
The system has been under development for years and is, NATO and U.S. officials say, aimed against potential long-range threats from the Middle East, mainly with Iran in mind. Yet Russia is adamantly opposed to having the advanced military system on its doorstep and the development is certain to further exacerbate tensions between Russia and the West that are more strained than at any time since the Cold War.
The United States and NATO say the missile shield which is able to track and shoot down incoming missiles is purely defensive and is, in any case, powerless against Russia's large stockpile of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
FILE- In this Tuesday, June 7, 2011 file photo, a US Navy officer, name not available, stands on the weapons control deck of the USS Monterey as screens display the Black Sea region, in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. A U.S. missile defense system aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats is moving into higher gear this week, with a site in the village of Deveselu, Romania becoming operational on Thursday, May 12, 2016, and officials breaking ground at a separate site in Poland a day later.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
"We have had very, very difficult challenges," dealing with Russia, said Frank Rose, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance in Bucharest, Romania on Wednesday. "Russia has been building an advanced system for a long time and they do it very well. We don't have the technical capability to deal with that threat."
While the Kremlin doesn't view the NATO missile defense system as a threat to its nuclear forces in its current limited shape, it fears that the U.S.-led missile shield may eventually erode the deterrent potential of Russian nuclear forces when it grows more powerful in the future.
Russian officials have shrugged off the claim that the planned missile shield is intended to fend off missile threats from Iran, and President Vladimir Putin has pointed at the determination of the U.S. and NATO to pursue the project even after a nuclear deal with Iran as a proof that it's aimed against Russia.
Western officials deny that.
"Ballistic missile proliferation is a growing threat," said NATO deputy spokeswoman Carmen Romero. "More and more countries are trying to develop or acquire ballistic missiles. Moreover, missile technology is becoming more sophisticated, lethal and accurate, and increasing in range."
"For us to discount or ignore that very real missile threat would be irresponsible," Romero said.
Russia has threatened to react to the planned site in Poland by deploying Iskander missiles to Kaliningrad, the Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania that is the most militarized zone in Europe.
The Iskanders, which can be fitted with either nuclear or conventional warheads, have a range of up to about 500 kilometers (300 miles), putting much of Poland in reach. They were temporarily deployed to Kaliningrad during military maneuvers last year to demonstrate Russia's quick deployment capabilities. Polish defense officials are convinced some are still there.
"What the Russians are protesting against are forces that are unable to threaten them," said Michal Baranowski, the Warsaw office director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an institute devoted to trans-Atlantic affairs.
"Their protests are disingenuous," Baranowski added. "We know and they know that these are defense forces that are at a level that could be easily overwhelmed."
U.S., NATO and Romanian officials will hold a ceremony Thursday to mark the start of operations of the site in Deveselu, a village in southern Romania, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg due to deliver a speech. A day later Polish and U.S. officials will take shovels in hand to break ground at a planned site in the Polish village of Redzikowo, near the Baltic Sea. It is set to go online in 2018.
Both sites will be part of a system dubbed the European Phased Adaptive Approach, nomenclature indicating that its capabilities will grow as different elements become operational. For now the system also includes radar in Turkey and four naval destroyers with a home port in Spain. With only interim capabilities, it is now under command of the U.S. Navy but will be transferred to NATO once fully operational.
The program was launched by former President George W. Bush but adapted significantly by President Barack Obama, who eliminated a component intended to be in the Czech Republic. Prague saw its own relationship with Moscow strained by agreeing to take part, leaving some lingering bitterness toward the U.S.
In the initial years of planning, Russia and NATO were still working on what they called a "strategic partnership." Today the relationship is in a more confrontational phase, something on display recently in close encounters between the U.S. and Russian militaries in the Baltic Sea.
Russia buzzed a U.S. warship last month, coming within 30 feet (9 meters) from the destroyer in what the U.S. Navy called a "simulated attack," while a Russian jet barrel-rolled a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane. U.S. officials have denounced those maneuvers as unprofessional and dangerous, with Secretary of State John Kerry saying that under U.S. military rules of engagement, the Navy ship could have opened fire.
The Russians have downplayed the incidents, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying the warplanes took a look at the ship "from a safe distance."
Ties between Russia and NATO took a sharp turn for the worse when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and began supporting a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine. That led NATO to ratchet up military exercises in Central and Eastern Europe to reassure allies who threw off Moscow's control a quarter century ago and fear that they could be targeted next.
A large-scale war game involving some 25,000 troops, Anakonda 16, is due to take place in Poland next month, one of the largest in recent years.
NATO is also discussing a plan to deploy a continuous rotation of about 4,000 troops to the Baltic states and possibly Poland to reassure the nervous allies. NATO defense ministers are expected to discuss that in June, with a final decision on deployment to be taken the following month by Obama and other NATO leaders at a NATO summit in Warsaw.
Baranowski, the analyst, said even with that expected build-up, NATO will still only have about one-tenth of the forces that Russia has deployed along its front.
"That's peanuts compared to what Russia already has there," he said.
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Associated Press writers Jim Heintz and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels and Alison Mutler in Bucharest, Romania contributed to this report.
FILE- In this Tuesday, June 7, 2011 file photo, US Navy Commanding Officer James Kilby speaks to the media on the deck of the USS Monterey back dropped by interceptor missile silos, in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. A U.S. missile defense system aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats is moving into higher gear this week, with a site in the village of Deveselu, Romania becoming operational on Thursday, May 12, 2016, and officials breaking ground at a separate site in Poland a day later. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
FILE- In this Tuesday, June 7, 2011 file photo, a US Navy officer, name not available, stands on the weapons control deck of the USS Monterey, in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. A U.S. missile defense system aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats is moving into higher gear this week, with a site in the village of Deveselu, Romania becoming operational on Thursday, May 12, 2016, and officials breaking ground at a separate site in Poland a day later.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
FILE- In this Tuesday, May 3, 2011 file photo, a Romanian officer salutes during while national anthems are played as an employee of the US embassy holds an umbrella at the Deveselu Air Base, southern Romania. A U.S. missile defense system aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats is moving into higher gear this week, with a site in the village of Deveselu, Romania becoming operational on Thursday, May 12, 2016, and officials breaking ground at a separate site in Poland a day later.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
FILE- In this Tuesday, June 7, 2011 file photo, a US Navy officer of the USS Monterey walks to the weapons command deck of the USS Monterey, as screens display the Black Sea region, in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. A U.S. missile defense system aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats is moving into higher gear this week, with a site in the village of Deveselu, Romania becoming operational on Thursday, May 12, 2016, and officials breaking ground at a separate site in Poland a day later.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
FILE- In this Tuesday, June 7, 2011 file photo, US Navy 1st Class Petty Officer Jerry Bolton, of Lesley, Michigan, reads a book on the weapons control deck of the USS Monterey, in the Black Sea port of Constanta, Romania. A U.S. missile defense system aimed at protecting Europe from ballistic missile threats is moving into higher gear this week, with a site in the village of Deveselu, Romania becoming operational on Thursday, May 12, 2016, and officials breaking ground at a separate site in Poland a day later.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)
VW board proposes approval of execs' work despite scandal
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) Volkswagen's board of directors has recommended shareholders formally approve the work of the company's top management team for last year despite the scandal over cars rigged to cheat on U.S. diesel emissions tests.
The recommendation is part of the agenda for the company's annual shareholder meeting on June 22. A vote to approve management's work for the year is mostly a legal formality at German annual meetings, though shareholders can show annoyance by withholding votes.
The company said Wednesday the board based its decision on information from the not-yet complete investigation by U.S. law firm Jones Day. It said that so far "no serious and manifest breaches of duty" by top managers had been found. That includes former CEO Martin Winterkorn, who resigned.
The decision reflects the board's confidence in the ability of current management, including CEO Matthias Mueller, to "manage the diesel matter and steer the Volkswagen Group and its brands toward a successful future."
But the board hedged its position by saying it retained the right to seek compensation from any executives found to have misbehaved.
Results of the investigation are to be published by year-end. The company said it regretted it can't reveal any results before then on advice of its lawyers.
Volkswagen has admitted equipping some 11 million diesel-powered vehicles worldwide with software that turns off emissions controls except during testing. It said the scandal cost it 16.2 billion euros ($18.5 billion) for 2015, with more costs to come in. The company lost 1.4 billion euros last year, and would have made a profit without the emissions scandal.
The company is working to complete a plan in U.S. federal court to fix or buy back some 600,000 vehicles sold there. It faces recalls in other countries as well.
Despite the costs of the scandal so far, ratings agency Moody's Investors Service said that better-than-expected vehicle sales have allowed the company to contain the market impact of the scandal. It noted that the company plans to conserve cash by cutting investment spending, reducing overhead, and cutting its dividend.
Moody's warned that the Wolfsburg-based company needed to take more decisive action to restore its reputation and change the culture that allowed the tinkering with engine software.
"The lack of meaningful reforms thus far to VW's internal culture and governance puts negative pressure" on the company's credit rating, Moody's said.
The Latest: Brazil police, president's supporters clash
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) The latest on the debate and vote in Brazil's Senate on the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff (all times local):
9:40 p.m.
Protesters supporting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff have clashed with police on the lawn outside the Senate as senators debated whether to impeach the leader.
Pro-government demonstrators run from a cloud of pepper spray during clashes with the police outside Congress, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Brazil's Senate is nearing a historic vote on impeaching President Dilma Rousseff, likely ending 13 years of government by her party amid a spate of crises besetting Latin America's largest nation. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
It wasn't clear what sparked the short but intense confrontations. Police used pepper spray to drive back protesters. Demonstrators largely from feminist groups threw firecrackers at police lines. Emergency service workers took several people out of the area after they fell ill with the effects of the clouds of pepper spray.
On the Senate floor, Communist Party Sen. Vanessa Grazziontin expressed worry about what she called spiraling levels of "unnecessary violence" directed at pro-Rousseff demonstrators.
A wall erected down the center of the lawn separated several thousand Rousseff supporters from a similar-sized group of pro-impeachment protesters. On the pro-impeachment side, a Carnival-esque spirit reigned, with demonstrators sipping beers while decked out in the yellow and green jersey of Brazil's beloved national soccer team.
Both groups were much smaller than the crowds that turned out for the April 17 impeachment vote in the lower house of Congress.
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8:55 p.m.
The pace of the Brazilian Senate's historic session to decide whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff is anything but brisk. In the first 10 hours, fewer than 30 of the 69 senators scheduled to speak had made their addresses by Wednesday evening.
Under rules for the impeachment process, each senator is allowed up to 15 minutes to speak, and many have made full use of their moment in the spotlight.
That despite admonishments from Senate President Renan Calheiros for speakers to limit themselves to only five to 10 minutes. That suggestion sparked anger from Rousseff's supporters, who insisted it was a bid to curb their right to express their positions.
Calheiros has pledged not to take a recess and push the proceeding through to a vote. If he holds to that, with more than 40 speakers remaining, the session looked likely to drag well into the wee hours of Thursday.
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8:40 p.m.
The president of Brazil's Senate has chided his fellow senators to cut down on the chatter during the body's debate on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff.
Senate President Renan Calheiros made the call after a senator complained that he wasn't able to follow the speeches due to rampant chatting on the floor of the Senate. Calheiros reminded senators of the historical weight of the institution and stressed that "the eyes of the world" were on them.
He also urged senators to avoid emulating the lack of decorum seen at the lower house of Congress' impeachment vote last month. Raucous behavior during the Chamber of Deputies vote April 17 was widely mocked on Brazilian social media. Deputies broke into locker-room chants, brandished Bibles, fired confetti cannons and dedicated their votes to everything from their unborn grandchildren to the state of Israel to a stretch of highway.
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6:55 p.m.
The Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo says President Dilma Rousseff has packed up all her personal belongings at her office in the Planalto Palace and had them sent to the Alvorada Palace, the official presidential residence.
The move took place Wednesday as the full Senate was meeting in a session that is expected to culminate in Rousseff's impeachment.
The newspaper says Rousseff's books and photos of her daughter and her two grandsons were among the items taken to the Alvorada Palace.
Citing office staff members, the newspaper says paper shredders and document scanners were working nonstop during the day.
Calls to the presidential office to confirm the report went unanswered.
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4:40 p.m.
Brazil's highest court says it has rejected an appeal filed by President Dilma Rousseff's government to halt the impeachment process against her in the Senate.
The Supreme Court says on its website that Justice Teori Zavascki rejected the appeal. Her solicitor general's office argued that last month's vote in the Chamber of Deputies recommending impeachment was riddled with irregularities.
The appeal was turned down as the full Senate was meeting in a session that's expected to culminate in Rousseff's impeachment.
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3:10 p.m.
The atmosphere in Brazil's Senate is subdued as lawmakers debate whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff.
Most of the seats on the Senate floor has been empty, and the few senators who sitting through their colleagues' speeches have been fiddling with their phones or chatting among themselves.
It's a vivid contrast with the circus-like atmosphere at last month's vote in the lower house. Then, members of the Chamber of Deputies broke into raucous cheers and occasionally popped confetti cannons as they declared their votes.
The Senators speaking Wednesday are taking pains to mention the allegations of fiscal mismanagement that are the basis of the impeachment proceedings. Most of the lower house lawmakers dedicated their votes to God, country and family.
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2:50 p.m.
Even allies of Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff are signaling they expect the Senate will impeach her and suspend her from office.
The head of her Workers' Party in the Senate appeared to concede defeat as he spoke to reporters on the sidelines of Wednesday's session.
Sen. Humberto Costa says "there is no other path for us than opposition." But he added that it would be "very firm opposition."
A simple majority of the 81 senators would be enough to start an impeachment trial that could last six months. It would take a two-thirds majority following the trial to permanently remove the president.
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12:30 p.m.
Pope Francis is addressing the political crisis expected to result in the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. He's calling for "prayer and dialogue" in Latin America's biggest country.
During his general audience on Wednesday, the pontiff said he hopes that Brazil "proceeds on the path of harmony and peace."
His statement was posted on the Vatican Radio Web site.
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9:50 a.m.
Brazil's Senate has kicked off a session that's expected to culminate in a vote on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff.
If a simple majority of the 81 senators vote in favor, Rousseff will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months pending a decision on whether to remove her from office permanently.
Senate President Renan Calheiros has said he wants the vote to happen Wednesday night.
The impeachment hinges on allegations Rousseff violated fiscal rules in handling the federal budget. But it's also become largely a referendum on her presidency amid a deep recession and a vast kickback scheme in state oil company Petrobras.
Rousseff denies any wrongdoing and insists the impeachment amounts to a "coup" aimed at removing her left-leaning Workers' Party, in power for 13 years.
Commission special investigator Sen. Antonio Anastasia reads from his prepared speech at the start of a Brazilian Senate session that's expected to culminate in a vote on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. If a simple majority of the 81 senators vote in favor, Rousseff will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months pending a decision on whether to remove her from office permanently. Calheiros has said he wants the vote to happen Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
Brazil's Senate kicks off a session that's expected to culminate in a vote on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. If a simple majority of the 81 senators vote in favor, Rousseff will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months pending a decision on whether to remove her from office permanently. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A group of congressional representatives hold up placards with a message that reads in Portuguese; "Impeachment without a crime and a coup" in protest against the impeachment proceedings against Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, in the Chamber of Deputies, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Brazil's Senate on Wednesday neared a historic vote on impeaching Rousseff, likely ending 13 years of government by her leftist party amid a spate of crises besetting Latin America's largest nation. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A television is tuned to the live broadcast of the Brazilian Senate session that's expected to culminate in a vote on whether to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, at a local bar in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. If a simple majority of the 81 senators vote in favor, Rousseff will be suspended from office and Vice President Michel Temer will take over for up to six months pending a decision on whether to remove her from office permanently. Calheiros has said he wants the vote to happen Wednesday night. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff walks outside Alvorada Palace, the presidential residence, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Rousseff is facing possible impeachment by Congress, with the Senate expected to vote today on a measure to suspend her. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
State: Mom killed 5-year-old son because he was 'burden'
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) A New Jersey prosecutor painted a damning portrait Wednesday of a woman charged with murdering her 5-year-old son in 1991, telling jurors in closing arguments at her trial that the young mother killed the boy and dumped his body in a ditch because he had become a burden to her.
The image contrasted sharply with the one offered to jurors by Michelle Lodzinski's defense attorney in his summation, in which he cast her as a loving parent who worked two jobs to send the boy to a private school and had made plans to travel with him to Florida that summer.
Lodzinski, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, is charged with killing Timothy Wiltsey in May 1991 when they lived in New Jersey. She told authorities at the time she lost track of her son at a Sayreville, New Jersey, carnival, then changed her story several times to claim the boy was abducted.
Jurors are expected to begin deliberations Thursday.
"She was a young, struggling mother, struggling to survive and take care of her child," Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua told the jury. "Timothy was a burden on her. He was just no longer wanted, and her solution was a life without Timothy."
After weeks of searching in the Sayreville area turned up nothing, Wiltsey's remains were found 11 months later, several miles away in a marshy area near a building where Lodzinski once worked, prosecutors said. Near the body were a blanket, a sneaker and a balloon both sporting logos of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Timothy's favorite cartoon characters.
Despite suspicions about her changing stories, Lodzinski wasn't charged until 2014, a few years after prosecutors reopened the case after finding three of Timothy's former baby sitters who identified the blanket as coming from Lodzinski's apartment.
People who knew Timothy and were at the carnival didn't see him there on the night in question although they saw Lodzinski, Bevacqua said. Leaving the blanket by the body was something "only a mother would do," she told jurors.
"The carnival was a cover-up," she said. "It was a way the defendant sought to escape detection. Timothy was in the ditch around the corner from where she worked, with his blanket and a balloon."
Gerald Krovatin, Lodzinski's attorney, focused on the lack of any hair or fiber evidence on the blanket that could connect it to Lodzinski or Wiltsey. He noted that one of the baby sitters had expressed anger at Lodzinski in the past over a custody issue, and said the recollections of the other two were suspect.
Meanwhile, he said, three carnival workers told authorities at the time that they saw a boy who looked like Wiltsey, including one who said she saw a woman calling the boy "Timmy" or "Jimmy" and, later, saw her on her own and looking for him.
"There is enough reasonable doubt in this case to drive a truck through," Krovatin told the jury.
Krovatin disputed prosecutors' characterization of Lodzinski and said she was a loving, devoted mother to her little boy.
"She didn't wake up one day and out of the clear blue sky say, 'I'm going to murder my son,'" he said.
Home of wealthy French family member searched in Belgium
BRUSSELS (AP) Belgian authorities have searched the home of a member of one of France's wealthiest families in what local media report is an investigation in three European countries into suspected tax fraud and money-laundering.
Assistant prosecutor Frederic Bariseau told The Associated Press on Wednesday that "the search took place at the residence of Patrick Mulliez."
The Mulliez family runs an empire worth tens of billions of dollars, with brands including supermarket group Auchan, sporting goods retailer Decathlon and home improvement chain Leroy Merlin.
Bariseau said that Tuesday's search was done on the basis of an international warrant and that material had been seized. He declined to provide details. The warrant was for search purposes only and no arrest was made.
Mulliez's home is in Nechin, just across the border from Roubaix in France, where the Mulliez group has its headquarters.
Belgian business daily l'Echo said that searches of Mulliez properties were also conducted in France and Luxembourg.
Bariseau said the search was a one-off, given the nature of the warrant, but that "based on their findings, the French authorities could ask us to do more."
The author of a book on the Mulliez family and its business, investigative journalist Bertrand Gobin, said that "on a demographic level, it has no parallel in Europe."
"Usually at this level companies are on the stock exchange. The Mulliez have self-funded their expansion," he said.
He said that the family's roughly 700 adult members control the companies through a "cascade" of holding companies.
"The Mulliez are experts in tax optimization," he said, adding that they had - so far - worked hard to minimize their tax burden while staying on the right side of the law. "This would be the first time they've been nabbed."
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Shane Ketterling has been promoted to assistant director of Billings Aviation and Transit Department, according to a news release from Aviation Director Kevin Ploehn.
Ketterling was selected from a field of more than 25 candidates in a national search and was a top pick of a selection committee.
Shanes past experience at the Billings airport will enable him to hit the ground running, Ploehn said.
Ketterling has worked at the airport for the past 24 years as an airport operations supervisor, with responsibilities over airport maintenance, aircraft rescue firefighting, airfield construction and snow removal operations.
Ploehn called Ketterling well versed in federal airport regulations.
As the airports assistant director, Ketterling will manage the facilitys day-to-day operations, overseeing airport police, building maintenance, aircraft rescue firefighting, airfield maintenance and engineering and construction.
Hell also participate in the oversight of the citys MET Transit system.
He earned a bachelor's of science degree in airport management from the University of North Dakotas Center for Aerospace Sciences in 1992.
He has a private pilots license and is a member of the American Association of Airport Executives, where in 1997 he achieved the status of accredited airport executive.
US, British troops hold joint exercises with Georgia's army
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) About 1,300 U.S., British and Georgian troops are conducting joint exercises aimed at training the former Soviet republic's military for participation in the NATO Response Force.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said at Wednesday's opening of the two-week exercises that his country would one day become a member of the Western military alliance.
Georgia has 870 troops taking part in the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.
Russia's Foreign Ministry last week called NATO's ongoing "exploration" of Georgian territory a "provocative step" aimed at destabilizing the region. The ministry statement noted that unlike last year, when the first such exercises were held, the U.S. forces brought Abrams tanks with them to Georgia.
UAE's Happiness Minister wants to see more positive stories
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) The United Arab Emirates' minister for happiness says part of her mission is to encourage local media to tell more positive stories because "happiness is contagious."
Minister of State for Happiness Ohood Al Roumi, who was appointed to the newly-formed post in February, says focusing on positive aspects of everyday life could help give people in the Middle East hope. She says when people are optimistic, they are more productive and creative.
Speaking Wednesday at Dubai's Arab Media Forum, she said the media cannot ignore the hard realities facing the region, but that to focus on negative stories exposes people to depression and leads to people "thinking the world is an awful place."
UAE first Minister of State for Happiness, Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi reacts as she is talking during the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
The Happiness Minster said for every terrorist, there are thousands of inventors, inspirational teachers and doctors too.
An Emirati visitor attends the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Jordan's foreign minister is saying that Palestinian statehood is the most important issue now facing the world and fuels the extremism gripping the Mideast. Nasser Judeh made the comment Tuesday at the Arab Media Forum, an event taking place in Dubai, the commercial hub of the United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
UAE first Minister of State for Happiness, Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi talks during the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
UAE first Minister of State for Happiness, Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi reacts as she talks during the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
UAE first Minister of State for Happiness, Ohood bint Khalfan Al Roumi talks during the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
An Emirati television anchor and his guest prepare for a program at the Arab Media Forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. Jordan's foreign minister is saying that Palestinian statehood is the most important issue now facing the world and fuels the extremism gripping the Mideast. Nasser Judeh made the comment Tuesday at the Arab Media Forum, an event taking place in Dubai, the commercial hub of the United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)
The Latest: Czechs establish new force to deal with migrants
BRUSSELS (AP) The Latest on Europe's migrant crisis (all times local):
6:10 p.m.
The Czech Interior Ministry says the government has approved its plan to establish a special police force to deal with migrants at home and abroad.
A woman hangs out clothes at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Wednesday May 11, 2016. About 54,000 people are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
The ministry says the unit of 181 officers will focus on dealing with illegal immigration into the country and, if needed, guard its borders. But it says the officers will also be ready to be deployed abroad to help guard the external borders of the European Union's visa-free Schengen zone.
Interior Minister Milan Chovanec says the new unit makes it possible to "better and faster react ... to hardly predictable risks in connection with the migrant crisis."
Chovanec said Wednesday that although the migrant wave has not hit the Czech Republic, "the situation in Europe has not improved yet."
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2:50 p.m.
A Hungarian man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for robbing four migrants from Afghanistan last year.
An appeals court in the western city of Gyor on Wednesday confirmed a lower court ruling which declared the man was guilty of taking cash, mobile phones and clothes with a total value of $1,400 from the migrants.
The man was identified only by his initials, S.F. The court said he promised to take the Afghans from the Gyor train station to a nearby reception center for migrants on June 9, 2015.
Instead, he and an unidentified accomplice drove them to a wooded area outside the city, where they held a meat cleaver to the neck of one of them and forced them to hand over their possessions.
The court considered the man's attempt to exploit the migrants' dire situation and an earlier prison term as aggravating circumstances.
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2:45 p.m.
Spain's foreign minister says the European Union's deal with Turkey to halt the flow of migrants to the bloc has had good effects but is still "a botched job."
Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told Spain's Cope radio Wednesday he doesn't like the idea that the matter is in the hands of a third country Turkey in exchange for certain conditions. He added that until the EU sets up a European Asylum Agency "everything will be a botched job."
Garcia-Margallo recognized that the accord with Turkey was halting the dangerous sea crossings, "which is good because they (the migrants) were risking their lives" and were at the mercy of mafias.
But, he added, "that doesn't stop it being a botched job."
He said migrants seeking asylum must be identified, registered and relocated at the point of entry into the bloc. But he said the situation now was "a bottle-neck" and "not working."
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2:30 p.m.
The Greek ambassador has returned to Austria, formally ending strains that began after the shut-down of the migrant route to central Europe left tens of thousands stranded in Greece.
The closing of the West Balkan route was orchestrated in Austria, and Greece reacted by pulling its ambassador back to Athens in late February. For weeks, chaos ruled on Greece's western border, where many of the more than 40,000 stranded migrants tried to push into Macedonia, the first stop on the now-closed Western Balkans route.
The crisis has eased, with arrivals dropping since Greece started returning people arriving clandestinely from Turkey under a March deal with the EU.
Ambassador Chryssoula Aliferi returned Wednesday, accompanying Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias on his official visit.
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2:15 p.m.
Europe's leading human rights body is calling on Greece to provide alternatives to detaining children under an agreement between the European Union and Turkey to limit migration.
Several hundred children remain detained at camps on the Greek islands since the agreement took effect in late March.
In a report published Wednesday, the Council of Europe urged Greek authorities to address the issue "urgently" and to follow up on reports that refugee children were involved in criminal activities, including prostitution and drug trafficking.
An envoy from the Strasbourg, France-based body visited refugee shelters at six sites around Greece in March.
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11:20 a.m.
The European Commission says it's ready to start negotiating an agreement with Nigeria to send back Nigerian migrants who do not qualify to stay in the European Union.
The Commission said in a statement Wednesday that the move would ensure that returns are done "rapidly and efficiently." It said the so-called readmission agreement would respect international law.
Around 22,000 Nigerian nationals crossed the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe last year, according to the EU's border agency, Frontex.
The EU only provides international protection to people fleeing conflict or violence.
EU member states must still give the green light for the readmission talks with Nigeria to begin.
Sebastian Kurz, left, Foreign Minister of Austria and his counterpart from Greece, Nikos Kotzias, right, address the media after a meeting at the foreign ministry in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, May, 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
Clothes hang over a rope as refugees walk in front of tents at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Tuesday May 10, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece with 10,000 camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Children walk next to a train carriage behind placards, at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Tuesday May 10, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece with 10,000 camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A young woman sits outside her tent as refugees and migrants queue to receive food at the at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Wednesday May 11, 2016. About 54,000 people are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Two Syrian twin sisters chat with a relative as they stand inside a train wagon that their family use it as a shelter at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Tuesday May 10, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
two Afghan men pray near railway tracks at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Tuesday May 10, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A Syrian woman holds a 9 days old baby who was born in the camp as refugees and migrants queue to receive food at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Tuesday, May 10, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Police: Officers shoot man who confronted them with a gun
WYTHEVILLE, Va. (AP) Police say officers checking on a possible break-in at a southwestern Virginia home shot a man who confronted them with a gun.
State Police said a woman called police early Wednesday when she came home and heard someone inside.
Police said two Wytheville officers who arrived found the back door open and someone inside. They say a 59-year-old white man came toward the officers and pointed a handgun at them. State Police said the man was 60 years old.
Authorities say officers shot the man several times and performed first aid on him. He was flown to a Tennessee hospital.
State Police Spokeswoman Corrine Geller said both officers are white. She didn't have any information about the man's condition.
Father wanted in San Antonio child abuse case surrenders
SAN ANTONIO (AP) A third person wanted in a San Antonio child abuse case in which one toddler was chained to the ground and another tied to a door with a dog leash has surrendered to authorities, Bexar County Sheriff's authorities said Wednesday.
Deandre Dorch, 36, turned himself in at the county jail late Tuesday and was charged with two counts of serious bodily injury to a child by omission, sheriff's spokesman James Keith said.
Keith said Dorch is the father of several of the eight children found alone at the home about two weeks ago. Six were inside.
This photo provided by the Bexar County Sheriff's Office shows Deandre Dorch. Dorch, wanted in a San Antonio child abuse case in which a toddler was chained to the ground and another tied to a door with a dog leash has surrendered. Dorch turned himself in at the county jail late Tuesday, May, 10, 2016 and was charged with multiple counts of serious bodily injury to a child by omission, the Bexar County Sheriff's spokesman said. (Bexar County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Deputies have said Dorch and his wife, Porucha Phillips, 34, the mother of the six children inside the house, were supposed to be caring for the two left in the yard. Phillips, who is pregnant, and the toddlers' mother, Cheryl Reed, 30, have also been charged in the case and remain jailed. Reed was arrested last week at a San Antonio motel.
Keith said Reed's son and daughter the two children in the yard had been in the custody of Dorch and Phillips since February. A preliminary investigation shows Dorch may have threatened Reed after she left the state and that Dorch and Phillips wanted money from her.
It's still not clear who restrained the children in the yard, Keith said.
"Dorch admits he failed to get care for the two children after seeing Reed whip both children with a switch from a tree on multiple occasions between November 2015 and February 2016," Keith said Wednesday. "He told investigators it wasn't his place to report child abuse because he's not a 'snitch' and he's not 'God.'"
Doctors have told investigators the two children in the yard had "hundreds of injuries and scars that ranged from fresh injuries to old injuries ... that could have taken place over months or years," according to Keith. The girl also suffered hypothermia.
The two were taken to a hospital after they were discovered by deputies April 29 responding to a call about a child's prolonged crying.
The children, who have been released, initially were believed to be 2 and 3 years old but authorities say they may be a year older. The six inside the house were from 10 months to 10 years old.
All eight children are now under the care of child welfare officials.
The Latest: Lawyer: Indicted ex-cop bears burden of history
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) The Latest on a former South Carolina police officer indicted on federal charges in the death of a black motorist. (All times local):
5:45 p.m.
The lawyer for a white former South Carolina police officer now facing federal charges for killing unarmed black motorist Walter Scott says his client is "carrying the burden of many past cases that were handled differently."
Attorney Andy Savage issued the statement Wednesday a few hours after Michael Slager pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal counts including a civil rights violation.
Savage says the penalties on the new charges, which could carry a life sentence, seem extreme and the timing is curious. He says Slager continues to believe in the justice system.
Slager also faces a state murder charge for shooting a fleeing Scott after pulling him over for a broken brake light in North Charleston in April 2015.
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4:40 p.m.
The state prosecutor heading up the murder case against a white former South Carolina police officer accused of killing motorist Walter Scott says she is pleased the federal government has brought its own charges.
Charleston-based Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said in a new release Wednesday that she has met numerous times with federal officials and believes it makes sense for their parallel cases to move forward.
Former officer Michael Slager pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal counts including a civil rights violation. He already faces state murder charges in the April 2015 shooting of Scott after a traffic stop in North Charleston and is scheduled for trial in October.
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3:10 p.m.
Slain motorist Walter Scott's family and lawyer say they are thankful the Justice Department has brought charges against the white former police officer charged with gunning Scott down while he ran from a traffic stop last year.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday charges Michael Slager with federal counts and he could get life in prison. He already faces a murder charge in state court.
Scott's mother Judy Scott told reporters on Wednesday that she thanks God for justice but hopes other mothers don't have to go through what she experienced.
Family attorney Chris Stewart says he's proud of the federal government for bringing the charges. He says that while there are good officers, this sends a message to the ones who abuse their authority.
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2:10 p.m.
A white former South Carolina police officer facing a state murder charge in the shooting death of unarmed black motorist Walter Scott is being allowed to stay out of jail while new federal charges are pending.
A federal judge on Wednesday made that determination at a hearing in Charleston for Michael Slager.
Slager will not have to post additional bond. He entered a not-guilty plea.
Slager was indicted this week on federal charges including depriving Scott of his civil rights. He's also charged with obstruction of justice and unlawful use of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
Slager faces state murder charges in the April 2015 shooting of Scott after a traffic stop in North Charleston and is scheduled for trial in October. Slager was released on bond in January on those charges and has been on house arrest.
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11:10 a.m.
An attorney for relatives of a black motorist who was killed by a white North Charleston police officer says the U.S. Justice Department is making history by indicting the former officer in the case.
Attorney Chris Stewart tells the Associated Press it's amazing that after all the cases over the past 20 years the federal government has decided to indict an officer.
Stewart, who represents the family of Walter Scott, says he thinks the Justice Department deems this a case the government can win, and in the process send a message to police departments nationwide.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday charges 34-year-old Michael Slager with three federal counts, including violating Scott's civil rights. Slager appears before a federal judge later Wednesday.
The AP left a message seeking comment from Slager's attorney.
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10:45 a.m.
A federal judge will decide whether a former South Carolina police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist can remain free on bond.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday shows that 34-year-old Michael Slager is charged with violating Walter Scott's civil rights and two other federal charges.
Slager faces state murder charges in the April 2015 shooting the 50-year-old Scott after a traffic stop in North Charleston and is scheduled for trial in October. He's been free on a half million dollars bond and under house arrest since January in the state case.
A federal magistrate issued an arrest warrant for Slager on Tuesday and the order says the issue of bond will be taken up by a federal judge. Slager appears for an initial hearing on the federal charges later Wednesday.
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10:00 a.m.
A white former South Carolina police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of a fleeing, unarmed black motorist now faces federal civil rights charges.
An indictment unsealed Wednesday shows that Michael Slager is charged with violating Walter Scott's civil rights. He's also charged with obstruction of justice and unlawful use of a weapon during the commission of a crime.
Slager faces state murder charges in the April 2015 shooting of Scott after a traffic stop in North Charleston and is scheduled for trial in October. Prosecutors have asked that the trial be held before or after the trial of the man accused of shooting nine people to death at a black church in Charleston last summer.
Clinton on track despite sound defeat by Sanders in WV
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Bernie Sanders has won his 19th state, only four short of Hillary Clinton's tally, but that's not the gap that counts.
Despite his decisive victory in West Virginia on Tuesday, winning 51 percent of the vote to her 36 percent, Sanders trails nearly hopelessly in the contest for delegates needed to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
Clinton is in the mop-up phase now, 94 percent of the way to the magic number when the party insiders known as superdelegates are included, and on track to clinch the nomination in early June.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally at Louisville Slugger Field's Hall of Fame Pavilion in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Republican Donald Trump is closing in on his prize, too, 92 percent of the way there after wins in West Virginia and Nebraska on Tuesday in a field with no rivals left.
Sanders is vowing to fight on. He campaigned in Oregon and California on Tuesday and his victory in West Virginia highlighted anew Clinton's struggles to win over white men and independents weaknesses Trump wants to exploit in the fall campaign.
"Let me be as clear as I can be, we are in the campaign to win the Democratic nomination," Sanders said at a campaign event in Salem, Oregon. "We are going to fight for every last vote."
Among those voting in the West Virginia Democratic primary, about a third said they would support Trump over either Clinton or Sanders in November. An additional 2 in 10 said they wouldn't vote for either candidate. But 4 in 10 also said they consider themselves to be independents or Republicans, and not Democrats, according to exit polls.
While Sanders is still attracting thousands to rallies, his campaign has grown more difficult as Clinton closes in on the nomination. His fundraising has fallen off and so, too, has his advertising, with only about $525,000 in ads planned for California and $63,000 each in West Virginia and Oregon, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG.
That's a significant decline from the wall-to-wall advertising campaign he ran earlier in the primary, during which his $74 million in ads outspent Clinton by $14 million.
Edward Milam, of Cross Lanes, West Virginia, is a self-described socialist who gave money to the Sanders campaign but his vote Tuesday to Clinton.
"After about six-seven months of debating and watching, I think Hillary has a lot more to offer than Bernie internationally," the 68-year-old retiree said. "I think she handles herself well. I've known about her for 30 years, just like everybody else has. I don't think there will be any surprises."
Even as the primaries continue, Clinton has largely shifted her focus to the general election.
"I don't care about what he says about me," she said of Trump in Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday night. "But I do resent what he says about other people, other successful women, women who have worked hard, women who have done their part."
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Lerer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers John Raby in West Virginia and Josh Funk and Grant Schulte in Nebraska contributed to this report.
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Follow Lisa Lerer and Ken Thomas on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/llerer and http://twitter.com/kthomasdc
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks with young parents during a roundtable discussion at the Family Care Center in Lexington, Ky., Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks during a campaign rally on Tuesday, May 10, 2016, in Salem, Ore. (Danielle Peterson/Statesman-Journal via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump takes a telephone call from his daughter Ivanka during an interview with The Associated Press in his office at Trump Tower in New York, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Greek ambassador back in Austria after spat over migrants
VIENNA (AP) The Greek ambassador returned to Austria on Wednesday, formally ending strains that began after the shut-down of the migrant route to central Europe left tens of thousands of people stranded in Greece.
The closing of the West Balkans route was orchestrated in Austria, and Greece reacted by pulling its ambassador back to Athens in late February. For weeks, chaos ruled on Greece's western border, as many of the nearly 55,000 migrants in the country tried to push into Macedonia, the first stop on the now-closed Western Balkans route.
The crisis has eased, with arrivals dropping since Greece started returning people arriving clandestinely from Turkey under a March deal with the EU. But Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz warned against complacency, suggesting that Ankara could exploit the agreement to press for concessions the EU may be unwilling to make.
Sebastian Kurz, left, Foreign Minister of Austria and his counterpart from Greece, Nikos Kotzias, right, address the media after a meeting at the foreign ministry in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, May, 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
"Even if there is a certain easing, the Turkey deal in particular is something where we have to be careful that we do not fall into dependency" on Ankara, he said at a news conference with Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias. Kotzias flew into Vienna on an official visit early Wednesday, accompanied by returning Ambassador Chryssoula Aliferi.
Austria earlier this year swung from an open-door migrant policy to imposing strict restrictions. While the country still backs EU-wide migrant quotas, Kurz expressed understanding for the opposition among some states to such quotas.
With "differing concepts in the refugee question," one priority must be ending open border policies and focusing instead on financing and organizing aid to front-line states to the Middle East conflict zones, Kurz said. This, he said, could lead to a possible rethink of quotas by countries now opposed because they see no end to the influx.
"The most important point is reducing the inflow, creating a normal situation," he said. "I believe that then we then will also be more capable of acting in the search for a common European solution."
Kotzias suggested that the EU itself was to blame for the lack of unity, criticizing perceived inaction in failing to develop a common strategy at the outset of the migrant crisis despite his country's warnings that thousands were arriving daily.
And he urged the more than 10,000 migrants still camped out at the main Idomeni crossing to Macedonia not to believe "actors and foreign NGOs" claiming that the West Balkan route will reopen."
"They lie," he said. "The borders are closed."
Sebastian Kurz, Foreign Minister of Austria, addresses the media after a meeting with his counterpart from Greece, Nikos Kotzias, at the foreign ministry in Vienna, Austria, Wednesday, May, 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
Pilot accused of being drunk is in treatment, case postponed
ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) The case against an American Airlines co-pilot accused of drunkenness at Detroit Metropolitan Airport has been delayed because the man is at a treatment center.
John Maguire is charged with operating under the influence of alcohol on March 26. The Wayne County prosecutor's office says a hearing scheduled for Wednesday has been adjourned until June 22 at the request of his lawyer.
Defense attorney Frank Manley tells The Associated Press that Maguire is at a treatment center in California and they want to make sure any issues are handled properly.
FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Wayne County Airport Authority shows John Maguire. A court hearing is planned Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in the case of the American Airlines co-pilot who was grounded at a Detroit-area airport because of alcohol. (Wayne County Airport Authority via AP, File)
Nearly 90 years after the death of Luther Sage "Yellowstone" Kelly, the community he loved is just about ready to return that affection.
A Billings Chamber of Commerce committee raising money for the Yellowstone Kelly Interpretive Site at Swords Rimrock Park, where the scout, explorer and soldier is buried beneath an unmarked, cracked crypt prone to vandalism, announced Wednesday it has raised nearly $384,000 of the up to $500,000 price tag to develop interpretive signs and markers, an amphitheater and other amenities honoring an important and colorful figure in Billings history.
Why go to all the effort? Its because he was a very important player in Montana history, and he led a fascinating life, said Bill Cole, the incoming chamber board chairman whos been leading the three-year effort to give Kelly an honorable resting place as well as an interpretive spot that students will want to visit along with other Billings attractions, including ZooMontana. Kelly represents a very important era that in many ways was the Billings story.
On hand during the wind-whipped festivities were groups that have most recently helped the committee to nearly reach its fundraising goal:
The Billings Tourism Business Improvement District, a group of about 50 hoteliers, donated $50,000. Boothill Inn & Suites General Manager Shelly Mann said she learned during last months aspirational visit to Oklahoma City that when something is built to improve peoples quality of life, it directly affects tourism. She said a group of 40 Civil War re-enactors with an interest in Kelly will arrive in Billings next month. Theyre expected to spend $20,000 over a long weekend.
The Billings Gazette, which General Manager Dave Worstell pointed out was here when all this history was happening, donated $20,000. Worstell said connecting and completing Billings trail system including the extensive system throughout Swords Rimrock Park is important both to employers considering a move or expansion to Billings and to their employees.
Philanthropist Joseph Sample couldnt attend Wednesdays event, but hes donating $30,000 to, in part, keep the interpretive site as vandal-proof as it can be.
Coles Dartmouth College classmates, Scott and Beth Stephenson of New York City, donated $20,000. Theyre learning more and more about Yellowstone Kelly whether they want to or not, Cole joked. They may live in New York City, but they love Montana.
Kevin Kooistra, community historian at the Western Heritage Center, said hes led many tours of the site with the sweeping view of Billings, and he always finishes at Yellowstone Kellys gravesite. I just tell people this is the next step in the Heritage Trail System," he said. "Many people dont even realize theres a gravesite here.
Sanderson Stewart's final design plans were also presented during the event.
He said he cant wait to lead tours once the sites completed, with work scheduled to begin next year. People will be able to learn the full breadth of his experiences, Kooistra said. This will be a quiet, sacred space.
A number of Yellowstone Kelly-related activities will be held this summer as the committee seeks to wrap up fundraising. A wreath will be laid at the site on June 21. From Aug. 21-27, Yellowstone Kelly Week activities will include the Montana Warrior Run; an airing of the 1959 Warner Brothers film on Kellys life, called, Yellowstone Kelly, complete with a Kelly re-enactor; and the first Yellowstone Kelly Mountain Man Triathlon.
On Sept. 15, a Yellowstone Kelly exhibit will open at the Western Heritage Center.
Learn more about plans for the Yellowstone Kelly Interpretive Site at www.yellowstonekelly.org.
Migrant deal in question as Turkey refuses terror law change
BRUSSELS (AP) Turkey has officially refused to change its anti-terror laws to satisfy European Union demands as part of its efforts to secure visa-free travel to Europe for Turkish citizens, raising questions about the future of the EU's migrant deal with Ankara.
"This change in an anti-terror law is completely impossible," Turkey's European Affairs Minister, Volkan Bozkir, said Wednesday.
The EU says Turkey must narrow its definition of "terrorist" and "terrorist act" to secure a visa waiver. The bloc is concerned that journalists and political dissenters could be targeted.
A woman walk with her baby on fields as a group of refugees and migrants leave the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Tuesday May 10, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Bozkir's remarks came after talks with European Parliament President Martin Schulz.
Schulz said the scope of Turkey's anti-terror laws "is so far reaching that we think that some of the measures are touching not directly the fight against terrorism but, for example, the freedom of expression and of media."
The EU assembly has refused to endorse the visa waiver, which would allow 90-day stays for leisure and business purposes, until Ankara has met 72 conditions. Turkey still has to satisfy five of them.
The waiver is an incentive along with up to 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion) and fast-track EU membership talks for Turkey to stop migrants leaving for Europe and take back thousands who have left since March 20.
The agreement foresees a visa waiver for Turkey by June 30, a target now in danger of being missed.
"We cannot start yet for the time being," Schulz said, at a news conference at the assembly in Strasbourg, France.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that the entire migrant deal could collapse if the Europeans renege on their pledges, but Bozkir declined to say that.
"We want to save the package," Bozkir told reporters, but he added that "we are facing a difficulty where the timetable will be missed."
Bozkir said Turkey cannot change its laws when security personnel are being killed in battle with Kurdish separatists and suicide bombers are attacking the country.
He said the problem had only come to light in recent days, and that "press freedoms have not been part of the visa liberalization roadmap."
Commission officials say this condition was known to Ankara when the whole process started in 2013.
A Syrian woman cooks at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, on Tuesday May 10, 2016. About 54,000 refugees and migrants are currently stranded in Greece as 10,000 are camped in Idomeni, after the European Union and Turkey reached a deal designed to stem the flow of refugees into Europes prosperous heartland. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
New play explores life, legacy of slain teen Trayvon Martin
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Trayvon Martin has often been in the thoughts of playwright and activist Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj in the four years since the 17-year-old unarmed black boy was shot and killed after a confrontation with neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman.
He has wondered about Martin's dreams, his life and the moments before he died.
Maharaj has channeled those thoughts into a two-hour play debuting Thursday at Philadelphia's New Freedom Theater. "The Ballad of Trayvon Martin," co-written with Thomas Soto, explores the idea of the dangerous consequences for black boys and men of being perceived as a threat through the lens of Martin, whose death in Sanford, Florida, on Feb. 26, 2012, was a galvanizing event for many black Americans and seen by some as the nascent origins of the Black Lives Matter movement underway across the country.
In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016, photo, actor Amir Randall, playing Trayvon Martin, acts out a scene during a rehearsal for The Ballad of Trayvon Martin at the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia. The play, about the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, opens Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Maharaj wrote the play six months after Zimmerman was acquitted of Martin's death in 2013.
"My grandmother would say, 'There are things that are put on you and they never go away,'" Maharaj said in an interview with The Associated Press. "That was something that was put on me. It angered me so deeply, and I just didn't know what to do. We're left with the question of, How do we move ahead and make sure Trayvon's death is not in vain? The theater is a great place where we can do that. For me, it's the great equalizer."
The star's message to the audience: Feel me. See me. Don't shoot me.
Martin is played by 16-year-old Amir Randall, who was 12 when Martin was killed.
"I remember (Martin's death) very vividly, but I wasn't socially aware then, so it didn't affect me the way that it should have," Randall said. "I didn't understand that he had dreams. I researched other black children who met their demise. ... This has happened for so long. I have all these names and lost souls to portray on stage and make people understand. Kids my age are losing their lives."
As he prepared for his role and learned more about Martin, Randall found the two shared a dream of becoming a pilot, were both interested in girls and liked football. Randall said the experience of playing Martin has made him wonder whether he will live to reach his goals as he approaches his own 17th birthday this year.
"Most of my friends are thinking about college and jobs," said Randall, a high school sophomore. "I'm thinking, 'What am I going to do tomorrow? Can I wear my suit in this neighborhood?' You can have all these dreams, and in a second, they disappear. I'm trying to put all of my strength into this, just in case something does happen to me."
Maharaj envisions Martin's death as a bridge between Black Lives Matter and the civil rights movement. Emmett Till, whose 1955 lynching in Mississippi spurred black people into action more than 60 years ago, is a spirit guide in the play, which also recalls the deaths of other black men. But Maharaj, whose previous work has reached back to civil rights era figures from the Little Rock Nine to Lorraine Hansberry and James Baldwin, also intentionally fuses the modern element of the Internet into the play a key element of the power of Martin's story, one of the first to gain traction on social media.
In one scene, Martin asks Till, "Will there be others?" Till responds, "Listen," as the cast speaks the names of those who have died before and after him.
"The struggle continues," Maharaj says. "Trayvon Martin has been a rallying call that we have a lot of work to do in this country. That generation did not let go of Emmett Till. That's what the Black Lives Matter movement is doing, stirring something that has been there."
"The Ballad of Trayvon Martin" runs through May 22.
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Online:
New Freedom Theatre: https://www.freedomtheatre.org/
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Errin Haines Whack covers urban affairs for The Associated Press. Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/emarvelous and read more of her work at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/errin-haines-whack
In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016, photo, director Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj pauses while talking with an AP reporter after a rehearsal for The Ballad of Trayvon Martin at the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia. The play, about the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, opens Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016, photo, actors Stanley Morrison, from left, Amir Randall and Julian Darden act out a scene as director Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj watches during a rehearsal for The Ballad of Trayvon Martin at the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia. The play, about the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, opens Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016, photo, cast members Amir Randall, from left, Angel Brice, Donna Cherry and Christopher David Roche rehearse a scene for The Ballad of Trayvon Martin at the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia. The play, about the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, opens Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016, photo, people walk past the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia. The Ballad of Trayvon Martin, a play about the death of the 17-year-old, opens Thursday at the theater. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016, photo, director Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, right, leans on actor Amir Randall, who plays Trayvon Martin after a rehearsal for The Ballad of Trayvon Martin at the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia. The play, about the death of 17-year-old Martin, opens Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
In this Tuesday, May 10, 2016, photo, director Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, left, watches a rehearsal for The Ballad of Trayvon Martin at the New Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia. The play, about the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, opens Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Panama files show Russian crackdown on offshoring is failing
MOSCOW (AP) The thousands of Russian names on a list of offshore companies suggests President Vladimir Putin's effort to crack down on such entities is ineffective, experts say, and highlights how keeping wealth abroad remains one of the few ways to keep it safe from corrupt local officials.
A database published by investigative journalists on Monday showed over 6,000 Russian citizens and legal entities own or manage offshore companies through Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Spanning over two decades, the data showed no decrease in the number despite the government's efforts.
The documents have sparked public outrage and investigations in the West but in Russia the response has been muted. International media outlets with access to the full database say they show a network of Putin's friends handling large sums, allegedly for the president. Moscow has dismissed this as speculation.
FILE - This is a Friday, April 29, 2016 file photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin as he attends a meeting with members of the Legislative Council in St. Petersburg, Russia. Monday May 9 Panama Papers release showed Russia as one of the top nations whose citizens are connected to offshore companies, which flies in the face of President Vladimir Putins anti-offshore push calling on businessman to repatriate their businesses and money. (Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Beyond Putin's inner circle, they also show that thousands of Russians not just tycoons but mid-size business owners use offshore companies. A record $151.5 billion in capital was pulled out of Russia in 2014, when investors panicked about sanctions. Some $57 billion flowed out last year.
As Russia struggles economically, Putin has made a big show of wanting to crack down on the use of offshore companies, which can help dodge taxes.
In March last year, a year after the annexation of Crimea and U.S. and European Union economic sanctions, Putin issued a public warning to a star-studded gathering of tycoons at a posh Moscow hotel: get your money back to Russia, or foreign governments might snap it away from you. Oleg Deripaska, one of the billionaire attendees, later told Russian television that Putin said: "Do it now and for good, and no one will have anything against you."
In June, Putin signed a bill declaring a capital amnesty, under which funds brought back to the country would not be taxed and the owner would not be prosecuted. Six months later, only about a hundred people were reported to have brought back their fortunes with the help of the amnesty that year, and the bill was extended through July this year.
The thousands of names listed in the so-called Panama Papers suggest the effort is still not yielding much.
That may be due to the fact that, like some of his other initiatives, Putin's public scolding of oligarchs seemed to be largely political theater for the domestic audience. However stern Putin's message was, it was not followed by any legislative or regulatory announcements that would make doing business or keeping money in Russia more attractive.
Roman Anin, an investigative reporter who helped research the Mossack Fonseca leak, says the reaction to the revelations was muted in Russia because business people have typically resorted to offshore jurisdiction for a reason fundamentally different from western Europe. For business people, it's not about evading taxes, but avoiding corrupt officials.
"They have no trust in Russian courts, law enforcement agencies or other institutions," he said in a piece in Novaya Gazeta. "Their offshore firms are not a sign of a good life but it's a rare possibility for them to protect their property."
Russian companies and individuals have fled to foreign jurisdictions also because of outdated laws, such as a lack of protection for shareholders of a company.
"De-offshoring presumed certain government actions to improve doing business in Russia: financial regulation, legal structuring. Nothing has been done," says Andrei Movchan, director of the Economic Policy Program at the Carnegie Moscow Center.
Police statistics testify to the troubles businesses face. Owners often decry the heavy-handedness and unannounced visits of law enforcement officers as well as extensive bureaucracy. President Putin described the problem as "bringing a nightmare to businesses."
The office of the ombudsman for Russian business this week reported a staggering 20 percent increase in criminal cases launched against business people.
"People are afraid that information about their assets and money (will be revealed) because the environment is highly criminalized," Movchan says. "Information about how much money is kept can bring about an attack on that money."
The links between law enforcement agencies and criminals has been well documented in recent trials. In one high-profile case, Moscow regional prosecutors were detained and charged with making millions in protection money from illegal casinos.
Despite the Panama Papers' revelations, the government is not expected to take action against any high-profile business people who got around the state's anti-offshoring campaign.
That's because owners of Russia's largest companies on the list are major tax payers and have supported the government in multiple ways: from keeping jobs in economically depressed areas to buying up media outlets previously critical of the government.
The Kremlin even made an effort to come to their defense.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said the revelations in the Panama Papers do not run counter the government's push against offshore accounts.
"No one has banned offshores, there's nothing illegal about them," he said. "What is illegal is tax evasion and trying to dodge your country's taxes."
Experts say that the Russian government does not need evidence of a person's offshore account to crack down on them.
Take the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man and later the country's best-known prisoner for 10 years. He was convicted in the first of his two trials for tax evasion and his oil company was dismantled and sold off in pieces, largely to a state-controlled firm.
Alabama man sentenced in fatal shooting at doctor's office
CLANTON, Ala. (AP) A man who fatally shot his wife at a central Alabama doctor's office has been sentenced to prison.
Multiple media outlets report that Eric Heath Price was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in prison in the death of his 24-year-old wife Leaj Jarvis Price.
Investigators have said Price fatally shot his wife after she fled to a doctor's office near their home in Jemison on April 13, 2015. Officials have said the two had been involved in a domestic dispute.
Price then barricaded himself inside their house for hours and shot himself in the head but survived.
Timberlake, Kendrick preview 'Trolls' with a Lauper tune
CANNES, France (AP) "Anna and Garfunkel" is how Justin Timberlake introduced himself and Anna Kendrick for an acoustic performance of Cindi Lauper's "True Colors" at the Cannes Film Festival.
The pair was in Cannes on Wednesday to promote the DreamWorks Animation release "Trolls," for which they voice the main characters. Timberlake is also executive producer of the soundtrack, which includes original songs by him.
After previewing footage for the film, DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg introduced the duo, who strode out on the stage with Timberlake bearing an acoustic guitar. Held in the Palais des Festivals, it was the first time Cannes had lent its headquarters for a promotional screening of early footage.
Actors Justin Timberlake, left, and Anna Kendrick pose for photographers during a photo call for the film Trolls at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Katzenberg has long been an annual presence at Cannes but that may be coming to an end. Last month he sold the studio to Comcast for $3.8 billion, a sale expected to be completed by the end of the year. "Trolls" is due out in November.
Cannes is just the first stop on Timberlake's European trip, however. He will perform his hit single "Can't Stop the Feeling" on Saturday in Stockholm as part of the Eurovision song contest rare territory for American pop stars of his caliber.
"I'm excited. They asked and said 'No one has ever really gone over and done it other than people that are in the competition.' And I said 'Well, let's do it,'" Timberlake said after the "Trolls" performance. "So, it'll be fun. It's like crazy right? It's like a crazy competition. I'm actually looking forward to how big it is."
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Zara Eldridge contributed to this report.
Actors Justin Timberlake, left, and Anna Kendrick pose for photographers during a photo call for the film Trolls at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Actors Justin Timberlake, centre, and Anna Kendrick pose for photographers during a photo call for the film Trolls at the 69th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)
Families of missing teen fishermen again clash over phone
JUPITER, Fla. (AP) The parents of two teen fishermen who disappeared in a storm off Florida clashed again Wednesday after Apple said it could not retrieve any data from an iPhone discovered in the wreckage of their boat eight months after they capsized.
Blu Stephanos announced Wednesday that the iPhone belonging to his son Austin was too damaged to be fixed. Pamela Cohen, whose son Perry also vanished, doesn't want to give up yet.
Austin and his friend Perry Cohen, both 14, disappeared last July after their 19-foot boat overturned during a storm off the coast of Jupiter, Florida. A massive sea and air search never found their bodies, but a Norwegian cargo ship picked up their boat near Bermuda in March. Austin's phone was found on board, and the families hoped it would provide clues to what happened.
Other remnants of their lives are on their way home: The boat and recovered fishing gear are scheduled to arrive back in Florida on Monday aboard a cargo ship.
Meanwhile, Stephanos said in a statement that he will keep the phone as a memento of his son.
"The fact that it can no longer function as a phone doesn't diminish its value as a cherished memory of my beloved son," he wrote. "It's a small piece of him; something he used to call me at night when he needed to talk to someone, something he put his stickers on and carried with him every day. As any parent would understand, to me, it's not a broken phone, but a memory of my son that I will hold close to my heart and treasure for the rest of my life."
Perry's mother, Pamela Cohen, issued her own statement, saying she wants to work with the other boy's family to have the phone examined by more experts.
"I owe it to Perry to exhaust every possible avenue in pursuit of finding out what happened to him," wrote Cohen, who took Stephanos to court last month when he balked at having Apple examine the phone.
"According to Apple, there are other experts in the field who may be able to pick up where Apple left off, to continue the work," she wrote. "We are not giving up on the iPhone's potential for evidence until all viable efforts have been exhausted."
US senators want air pollution reduced at ports, railyards
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) A group of U.S. senators, all Democrats, are asking federal regulators to do more to cut air pollution around port cities and railyards.
New Jersey Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker joined New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin and Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley on Wednesday in a letter urging the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions at ports and freight railyards.
"The large volumes of air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emitted by heavy duty diesel trucks, ocean-going vessels, cargo handling equipment, railroad locomotives and harbor craft are heavily concentrated in the communities," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to EPA administrator Gina McCarthy.
The lawmakers said many of the ports and railyards are located near lower-income neighborhoods and those residents are disproportionately exposed to high levels of air pollution resulting in serious health problems.
"The impacts, especially on children, result in increased risk for cancer, missed school days and more hospital visits," the lawmakers said.
Azerbaijan alleges white-phosphorus use in Karabakh fight
ASKIPARA, Azerbaijan (AP) Azerbaijan says Armenian forces have used white phosphorus weapons in the fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region and is calling for an international investigation.
Fighting escalated sharply last month, killing at least 75 soldiers. It was the worst outbreak of hostilities since a 1994 cease-fire ended a full-scale separatist war.
Nagorno-Karabakh is in Azerbaijan, but since 1994 has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told journalists on Wednesday that Azerbaijan had found a white phosphorus round in a field and it is asking the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to investigate.
Lawsuit: Police beat Maryland man, used racial slurs
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) A Maryland man has filed a lawsuit saying police officers wrongfully detained, beat and insulted him with racial slurs.
The Capital reports (http://bit.ly/24NXCQQ) Towhee Sparrow Jr. of Hyattsville sued the City of Annapolis and two city police officers Monday in federal court.
The lawsuit involves a June 2014 incident in which Sparrow says he was unlawfully detained, violently assaulted and called a racial epithet by officers who had mistaken him for a suspect they had been searching for.
Sparrow says the incident has left him with lasting injuries and is part of a larger pattern of abuse within the Annapolis Police Department.
City spokeswoman Rhonda Wardlaw says the city has not been served and has not seen the lawsuit. The police department declined to comment to the newspaper.
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Illinois Senate campaign targets 'war hero' veterans record
CHICAGO (AP) Rep. Tammy Duckworth lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, then went on to hold leadership roles in the Illinois and U.S. Veterans Affairs departments.
Yet, the Democratic Senate hopeful now finds her record on helping military veterans under attack by her opponent, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk, as he tries to hold on to a seat Democrats believe is key to their efforts to regain the Senate majority.
Kirk, one of the Republican's most endangered incumbents, has accused Duckworth of failing to protect veterans in her care and putting her political ambitions ahead of her duties. He's also touted the more than two decades he served in the Navy Reserve and his own high-profile efforts to highlight problems at the VA.
FILE - In this March 16, 2016, file photo, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, left, greets supporters at a restaurant in Springfield, Ill., a day after winning the state's Democratic primary. Duckworth's record on veterans issues has become a target as she tries to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, a former Navy commander, in the November election. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
This week, Kirk's campaign launched an online ad featuring a hearing on a lawsuit two Illinois VA employees filed against Duckworth, accusing her of retaliating against them when she led the agency complaints that have twice been dismissed. Kirk also has repeated claims by two whistleblowers who say Duckworth ignored their reports of misconduct at a federal VA hospital west of Chicago.
Trying to take down Duckworth on veterans' issues is a bold move for Kirk, with even some Republicans saying they don't think voters will buy it.
The strategy also could backfire. Kirk acknowledged during his 2010 Senate bid that he had exaggerated some of his own military record. And he risks alienating voters who see Duckworth as a hero.
Duckworth was born in Thailand to a Chinese mother and an American father, who fought with the Marines in Vietnam. She joined ROTC during graduate school and later signed up with the Illinois National Guard. She was co-piloting a Black Hawk in 2004 when Iraqi insurgents hit it with a rocket-propelled grenade.
Garrett Anderson, who lost part of one arm and suffered traumatic brain injury in a roadside-bomb attack in Iraq, said Duckworth was the first service member the U.S. Army sniper spoke to when he woke up from a coma at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in 2005.
The 39-year-old University of Illinois graduate student plans to vote for Kirk this fall for a simple reason: Anderson is a Republican. But he said the ads targeting her are out of bounds and called Duckworth "a nice person" who has a strong track record of looking out for veterans.
"I've seen a few of (the ads) and I don't like them because she served her country very well, and she's a decorated war veteran," Anderson said.
Kirk's campaign says Duckworth's record is a legitimate area for criticism, and that there's no shortage of people who agree.
They point to two employees at Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital near Chicago who say they took their concerns to Duckworth and other Democrats but heard nothing, and to an Illinois Auditor General report of the state Department of Veterans' Affairs that found inadequate financial controls and programs that were supposed to be implemented but weren't during the time Duckworth was leading the office.
The two other employees, whose lawsuit is in court Thursday, say she tried to fire one employee and gave another a bad review that cost her raises after the women complained about facility leadership at an Illinois VA home, where they still work. Duckworth was appointed to lead the Illinois VA in 2006 by now-imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"Of course Duckworth is a war hero, and that's what makes this entire court case even more tragic," said Kirk campaign manager Kevin Artl. "These VA employees only wanted to prevent veterans from being abused, but instead were ignored and punished by Duckworth while American heroes suffered,"
Deputy campaign manager Matt McGrath called it "a cynical and desperate ploy." He said Duckworth gets most of her own health care at Hines and is "deeply familiar" with issues at VA medical centers.
Among Duckworth's accomplishments, her campaign says, is launching the first 24-hour hotline for suicidal veterans and introducing legislation to improve mental health treatment that was signed by President Obama.
Jon Soltz, who leads the liberal political action committee VoteVets, which is backing Duckworth, said the group is prepared to spend significant money to attack Kirk.
"It's just a very dangerous strategy for them to continue to try to define Tammy Duckworth in this way, when if you just look at a picture of her you can see she's a war hero," Soltz said.
Anderson, who works at the University of Illinois' Center for Wounded Veterans in Higher Education, doesn't believe either candidate has clear offered a plan for veterans.
"They haven't given us a blueprint of what their objectives are," he said.
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Associated Press reporter David Mercer contributed from Champaign, Illinois.
FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2014, file photo, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., appears at a brunch in Springfield, Ill. Duckworth, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, in the November 2016 general election. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
FILE - In this March 16, 2016, file photo, U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks to supporters and reporters in Springfield, Ill., a day after winning the state's Democratic primary. Duckworth's record on veterans issues has become a target as she tries to unseat U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, a former Navy commander, in the November election. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File)
FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2014, file photo, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill. speaks at a Veterans Day commemoration ceremony at Soldier Field in Chicago. In his re-election bid, Kirk, a former Navy commander, faces U.S. Rep Tammy Duckworth, a veteran who lost both legs in the Iraq war, in the November 2016 general election. Kirk has attacked Duckworth's record on veterans issues in his campaign. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FILE - In this June 9, 2014, file photo, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk R-Ill., speaks in his office in Chicago. Kirk faces U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth, in his re-election bid in the November 2016 general election. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
Montanas business equipment tax became a gubernatorial campaign issue recently when Republican candidate Greg Gianforte promised to abolish it.
The Class 8 business equipment tax that Gianforte proposes to eliminate raised $81.6 million last year. That revenue was split between the state, which kept $15.6 million and local governments and school districts statewide, which got $65 million.
Gianforte proposed that the state would come up with the money to cover what schools and counties are due, if the business equipment tax was axed.
Local governments, however, may well be skeptical of state revenue promises. The law enacted more than a dozen years ago that sends most tax collections to Helena for distribution back to local governments hasnt returned as much as the old system of counties collecting and keeping the local share first would have.
The lions share of a Class 8 business equipment tax cut would go to some of the states largest businesses. In the 2016 tax year, the biggest payers were:
1. CHS refinery $10.1 million
2. Phillips66 $8.5 million
3. ExxonMobil $4.5 million
4. Stillwater Mining $3.7 million
5. REC Advanced Silicon Materials $3.8 million
6. Montana Refining Co. Inc. $3.5 million
7. Western Energy Co. $1.4 million
8. Signal Peak Energy $1.4 million
9. Spring Creek Coal $1.3 million
10. Montana resources $2 million
11. Plum Creek Lumber $1.3 million
12. Glaxo Smith Kline Biologicals $1.1 million
Those 12 taxpayers paid more than half of the entire business equipment tax last year. If the tax were scrapped, they would get more than half of the tax relief.
Two decades ago, Montanas business equipment tax was well above 10 percent. It has been whittled down by bipartisan legislation. The most recent reduction was in 2013, which eliminated the tax for two-thirds of the Montana businesses that had been paying, and gave the remaining businesses a tax cut.
That law reduced the property tax on business equipment in two ways, reducing tax revenues about $9 million the first year. It exempted the first $100,000 worth of business equipment from taxes, up from $20,000. It also reduced the tax rate to 1.5 percent on the first $6 million worth of equipment. The previous tax rate was 2 percent on the first $2 million and 3 percent on the remaining value of equipment.
That law combined a proposal to raise the exemption, which was sponsored by then-Rep. Mary McNally, D-Billings, at the request of Gov. Steve Bullock, with a rate-cut bill sponsored by Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell. The final bill passed the Legislature with bipartisan support and Bullock signed it.
In the 2015 session, a bill sponsored by Rep. Mike Miller, R-Helmville, proposed to raise the Class 8 business tax exemption from $100,000 to $500,000. The bill died in the House Appropriations Committee.
The Class 8 business equipment tax cut Gianforte included in his tax relief plan apparently doesnt address another business equipment tax, which last year brought the state about $150 million. Thats a tax on equipment owned by utilities and other centrally assessed businesses whose operations cross county lines.
Revenue Director Mike Kadas, a Bullock appointee, said that eliminating the tax for some businesses while keeping it in place for the others creates an equal protection issue. Would it be legal to tax a front-end loader owned by NorthWestern Energy, which is centrally assessed, and not the same piece of equipment if owned by CHS?
The state might have to eliminate the tax for non-Class 8 property if it was abolished for Class 8, Kadas said. That would shift $150 million of the tax burden away from the states largest businesses and onto all taxpayers.
Thats a choice that state leaders could make. The question for voters is whether they agree with a policy that would cut taxes a lot for a few and a little for many.
Venezuelans clash with police in march to demand recall
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuelan protesters clashed Wednesday with police who fired tear gas on marchers demanding that election officials start counting signatures for a vote to recall President Nicolas Maduro.
High-profile opposition leader Henrique Capriles was among those affected by tear gas released during the scuffle.
Opposition leaders hoped to march to an electoral building in Caracas, but police cordoned it off. The officers threw tear gas containers at protesters to keep them away when some tried to proceed on the blocked route.
A protester with a Venezuelan flag is pushed away by National Guard soldiers trying to keep demonstrators from reaching the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching against the country's administration, demanding that election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Opposition congress president Henry Ramos condemned the use of tear gas and said it was unacceptable that anyone be hurt during what was supposed to be a peaceful protest.
Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, later said he was fine.
President Nicolas Maduro accused the opposition of trying to make a show of violence.
The electoral authority has said it will wait weeks before starting to count the signatures in favor of a referendum. The opposition wants them counted immediately.
The opposition roiled the country with bloody nationwide protests in 2014. But protests have tended to be small and peaceful since then.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, center, reacts to the effects of pepper gas as he is led away by his bodyguards after soldiers fired the gas to repel marchers protesting against the government, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Thousands of Venezuelans are marching against the country's socialist administration, demanding that elections officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Bolivarian National Police advance as they fire tear gas at anti-government protesters to keep them from reaching the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching to demand election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A National Guard soldier's shield is covered by the Spanish message: "Peace, freedom," written by a protester during an anti-government march in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching to demand election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Anti-government demonstrators push against Bolivarian National Police blocking them from reaching the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching to demand election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A protester holds a sign that says in Spanish: "Any mandate is revocable" during an anti-government march in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching to demand election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuelans react to the effects of pepper gas after riot police fired the gas to repel marchers protesting against the government, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Thousands are marching against the country's socialist administration, demanding that elections officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. On Wednesday, law enforcement cordoned off the electoral building opposition leaders had planned to march to. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles is pictured in baseball cap, back center. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Anti-government demonstrators push against Bolivarian National Guard soldiers blocking their march to the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching to demand election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
A bodyguard for opposition leader Henrique Capriles is aided by Capriles' supporters after police fired tear gas to keep demonstrators from reaching the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching against the country's administration, demanding that election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A bodyguard for opposition leader Henrique Capriles is helped up by Bolivarian National Police after police fired tear gas to keep anti-government demonstrators from reaching the National Electoral Council (CNE) in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The opposition is marching to demand election officials start counting signatures that could lead to a presidential recall vote. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Residents near New Mexico nuclear test site seek Obama visit
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Residents of a historic Hispanic village near the site where the U.S. government tested the first atomic bomb have praised President Barack Obama's planned visit to Hiroshima the Japanese city devastated by the first a-bomb used in war.
The residents, however, also want Obama to visit their village of Tularosa.
They say generations of villagers have suffered from cancers and other health problems resulting from the Trinity Test, but the federal government has yet to fully acknowledge those effects.
FILE - This July 16, 1945 photo, shows an aerial view after the first atomic explosion at the Trinity Test site, in New Mexico. Residents of Tularosa, an historic Hispanic village located next to the Trinity Test site, are praising President Obama's plan to visit Hiroshima the Japanese city where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb. However, they also want Obama to visit their village where they say generations of descendants have suffered from various cancers and health problems resulting from the Trinity Test in a remote stretch of New Mexico desert. (AP Photo/File)
"It's high time that the federal government acknowledges the sacrifices New Mexicans made," said Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders. "We are still suffering from it."
The White House announced Tuesday that Obama will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima.
The Aug. 6, 1945, attack on the city killed 140,000 people. Another bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later killed 70,000 people. Japan surrendered less than a week later.
Scientists working in the secret city of Los Alamos, New Mexico, developed the atomic bomb as part of the Manhattan Project. The bomb was tested in a stretch of desert near towns with Hispanic and Native American residents.
Residents did not learn it was an atomic bomb until the U.S. dropped the weapon on Japan a month later.
Cordova said Tularosa will hold a candlelight vigil on July 16 the anniversary of the Trinity Test and invite Obama to attend.
She said her group is collecting health surveys from affected residents using a $25,000 Santa Fe Community Foundation grant and hoping to get more money to organize the data.
Tularosa and other area residents were not included in the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act program, which provides a $50,000 payout as compensation for health problems.
The law only covers areas in Nevada, Arizona and Utah that are downwind from a different test site.
Officials with the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Division, which oversees the program, said Congress would have to amend the act to expand payouts to New Mexico residents.
Cordova said affected people in New Mexico may have been excluded because of racism since many are Hispanic and American Indian.
In a statement, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., said residents of Tularosa deserve recognition from their government and coverage under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
"But while our nation has long recognized the horrific suffering endured by the victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we have not adequately recognized the suffering endured by the victims of the Trinity blast right here in New Mexico," Udall said.
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Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/russell-contreras .
FILE - In this July 14, 2015 image from video Tina Cordova speaks from Albuquerque, N.M. about her late father, Anastacio Cordova, who she believes was affected by the atomic bomb Trinity Test, in New Mexico. Residents of Tularosa, an historic Hispanic village located next to the Trinity Test site, are praising President Obama's plan to visit Hiroshima the Japanese city where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb. However, they also want Obama to visit their village. Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders, says the U.S. government has never acknowledged how the Trinity Test hurt Tularosa residents. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 8, 1945 file photo, an allied correspondent stands in the rubble in front of the shell of a building that once was a movie theater in Hiroshima, Japan, a month after the first atomic bomb ever used in warfare was dropped by the U.S. on Monday, Aug. 6, 1945. In a moment seven decades in the making, President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb during World War II, decimating a city and exploding the world into the Atomic Age. (AP Photo/Stanley Troutman, File)
Why deliver a pizza to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro?
Because it's there and, for Pizza Hut, also to celebrate its new store in Tanzania, the African nation where Mount Kilimanjaro rises more than 19,340 feet.
With a multiday ascent that ended May 8, a team of employees and Randall Blackford, general Manager of Pizza Hut Africa, landed the Guinness World Record for the highest altitude pizza delivery by land.
General Manager Randall Blackford, centre, celebrates setting a world record pizza delivery to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania by offering the team a slice of hot pizza at the summit - sent by Pizza Hut
Thankfully the slices had been kept warm along the days-long trek by a battery-powered heater
The intrepid team was led by professional guides to the top part of the mountain, Uhuru Peak, where slices of pepperoni pizza were passed around to celebrate.
Thankfully the slices had been kept warm along the days-long trek by a battery-powered heater.
This was incorporated into a special pizza box backpack that had been designed specially by Pizza Hut.
As well as consuming the pizza, the team also offered a donation to Msasani Primary School in Tanzania, the town where the new Pizza Hut is opening.
The heater was incorporated into a special pizza box backpack that had been designed specially by Pizza Hut
The intrepid team was led by professional guides to the top part of the mountain, Uhuru Peak, where slices of pepperoni pizza were passed around to celebrate
Pizza Hut, with its entry into Tanzania, is now in the triple digits for countries that have access to its bacon spinach alfredo pizza with a bacon-stuffed crust, and other sumptuous concoctions.
The chain has spread far and wide, with the busiest Pizza Hut restaurant in the world being one inside the Sao Paulo Airport in Brazil.
Brain scans find protein a marker of Alzheimer's decline
WASHINGTON (AP) Scientists are peeking inside living brains to watch for the first time as a toxic duo of plaques and tangles interact to drive Alzheimer's disease and those tangles may predict early symptoms, a finding with implications for better treatments.
It's not clear exactly what causes Alzheimer's. Its best-known hallmark is the sticky amyloid that builds into plaques coating patients' brains, but people can harbor a lot of that gunk before losing memories.
Now new PET scans show those plaques' co-conspirator the tangle-causing protein tau is a better marker of patients' cognitive decline and the beginning of symptoms than amyloid alone. That's especially true when tau spreads to a particular brain region important for memory, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
This photo provided by Washington University shows associate professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine Beau Ances MD, PhD, right, and Matthew Brier an MD/PhD student at the university, examining PET (positron emission tomography) scans of Alzheimers disease patients, in St. Louis. Scientists are peeking inside living brains to watch for the first time as a toxic duo of plaques and tangles interact to drive Alzheimer's disease, with implications for better treatments. (Robert Boston/Washington University via AP)
"It's a location, location, location kind of business," said Dr. Beau Ances of Washington University in St. Louis, who led the work. The plaque "starts setting up the situation, and tau is almost the executioner."
The new study is very small and more research is required to confirm the findings. But it highlights the importance of developing drugs that could target both amyloid and tau buildup, something researchers hope one day could help healthy but at-risk people stave off the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's.
"This is exactly the type of information we're going to need" for better treatments, said Alzheimer's Association chief science officer Maria Carrillo, who wasn't involved in the new study. "It's cool to see the utility of this new imaging technology actually being deployed and used."
About 5 million people in the U.S. are living with Alzheimer's, a number expected to more than double by 2050 as the population ages. Today's medications only temporarily ease symptoms, and finding new ones is complicated by the fact that Alzheimer's quietly ravages the brain a decade or two before symptoms appear.
Doctors have long known that many older adults harbor amyloid plaques that increase their risk of developing Alzheimer's but don't guarantee they'll get it. The latest theory: Amyloid sparks a smoldering risk while tau pushes patients over the edge.
Only recently have scientists developed a way to perform PET scans to see tau deposits like they can see amyloid buildup, so they can test that theory. Currently, the expensive scans are used only for research doctors don't know enough yet to use them for routine patient care.
Ances' team analyzed both amyloid and tau PET scans from 10 patients with mild Alzheimer's and 36 apparently healthy older adults. They compared patterns of amyloid and tau deposits with a battery of standard memory tests.
Sure enough, the Alzheimer's patients had a lot of amyloid in their brains, as did some healthy people who scored fine on the memory testing. Some cognitively normal people also had bits of tau deposits.
But tau tangles that clustered in the temporal lobe, a region linked to memory, most closely matched cognitive impairment on those memory tests, the researchers reported.
The findings suggest that while amyloid is an early sign of Alzheimer's risk and people can tolerate some tau tangles, the toxic tau spreading to the wrong spot is the "interaction to tip the person over," Ances said.
He plans to study larger groups of people to better understand that decline into full-blown Alzheimer's.
The approach "is very important, both to understand the basic disease process and in development of new therapies," said Dr. R. Scott Turner of Georgetown University. He wasn't involved in Wednesday's research but is using PET scans of amyloid and tau in a different study, to see if an experimental anti-amyloid drug protects against Alzheimer's.
A number of drugs that target amyloid build-up have failed in recent years; many researchers think the treatment wasn't started early enough, before patients showed symptoms. A handful of anti-tau drugs also are being developed.
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Online:
Research at Washington University in St. Louis: http://knightadrc.wustl.edu/
Israel celebrates 68th birthday after solemn Memorial Day
JERUSALEM (AP) In a jarring contrast, Israel transitioned Wednesday night from melancholic reflection to remember its fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism to joyous Independence Day festivities in celebration of 68 years since the modern Jewish state was formed.
The grouping of mournful Memorial Day with Independence Day celebrations is intentional, to show the link between the costly wars Israel has fought and the establishment and survival of the Jewish state.
At a ceremony marking the end of collective mourning and the start of the celebrations, 14 Israelis were given the honor of lighting torches at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Israel's national cemetery.
Two girls hang roses on the wall of names of fallen soldiers, at the Armored Corps memorial, before a ceremony marking the annual Memorial Day for soldiers and civilians killed in more than a century of conflict between Jews and Arabs, in Latrun near Jerusalem, Israel, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Israel came to a standstill on Wednesday as sirens wailed across the country on its annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation in a short speech broadcast at the ceremony. "One of the fundamental requisites for independence is the willingness to fight for it, but that exacts a painful price our fallen sons and daughters, brothers and sisters," Netanyahu said. "We owe them everything. We know that we cannot exist without a defense force, we cannot maintain our independence if we do not build up our strength."
At the ceremony, performers sang and danced, soldiers marched in formation, and fireworks lit up the sky. Israelis traditionally party long into the night and downtown areas are packed with revelers.
Celebrations continue on Thursday, with traditional cookouts, flybys by air force jets and other festivities.
The celebrations are in sharp contrast to the Memorial Day commemorations held during the day Wednesday. A siren rang out at 11 a.m. as motorists pulled over to the sides of highways and roads and pedestrians stopped in their tracks. People stood with their heads bowed to remember and honor the fallen. Israelis attended remembrance ceremonies across the country. Radio and television networks broadcast programs about battle and loss.
The commemorations came as Israel copes with an eight month-long wave of Palestinian violence that has killed 28 Israelis and two Americans. About 200 Palestinians have been killed in that time, most of them were attackers, according to the Israeli military.
Israeli soldiers stand in formation during an official state Memorial Day service for the countrys fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism during a ceremony held on Mount Herzl Cemetery on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Heidi Levine/Pool Photo via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu places a wreath of flowers during an official state Memorial Day service for the countrys fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism with a two minute siren during a ceremony held on Mount Herzl Cemetery on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Heidi Levine/Pool Photo via AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) stands with President Reuven Rivlin during an official state Memorial Day service for the countrys fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism with a two minute siren during a ceremony held on Mount Herzl Cemetery on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. (Heidi Levine/Pool Photo via AP)
School children sit on a tank on display as they listen to an Israeli soldier speaks about Israel's wars, at the Armored Corps memorial, before a ceremony marking the annual Memorial Day for soldiers and civilians killed in more than a century of conflict between Jews and Arabs, in Latrun near Jerusalem, Israel, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Israel came to a standstill on Wednesday as sirens wailed across the country on its annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Israeli soldiers stand by the wall of names of fallen soldiers, at the Armored Corps memorial, before a ceremony marking the annual Memorial Day for soldiers and civilians killed in more than a century of conflict between Jews and Arabs, in Latrun near Jerusalem, Israel, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Israel came to a standstill on Wednesday as sirens wailed across the country on its annual Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Close to 20,000 convicted criminal immigrants were released from jail by Homeland Security last year, it has been revealed.
Among the more than 19,700 convicts freed was Jean Jacques, an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, who killed a Connecticut woman just six months after he was allowed out.
The U.S. tried repeatedly to deport Jacques, but his native Haiti wouldn't take him back after he served more than a decade in a state prison for attempted murder and committed multiple parole violations.
ICE has released tens of thousands of convicted criminals. Combined, those people have been convicted of hundreds of thousands of crimes, including murder and sexual assault (file photo)
Each time Jacques was arrested on a parole violation, he would serve a sentence in state prison and then be released to immigration custody.
At least three times, Haiti refused to take him back, so Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in early 2015 did the same thing they do thousands of times a year they released a violent criminal immigrant from jail.
Six months later, Jacques killed Casey Chadwick, a young Norwich, Connecticut, woman. He was convicted of murder last April and faces sentencing this summer.
Jacques is a textbook example of the kind of immigrant living in the U.S. illegally that the Obama administration says should be returned to his home country. But that's easier said than done.
Jacques' release and that of more than 19,700 convicted criminal immigrants during the 2015 budget year reveal yet another complication in the country's complicated immigration system. ICE has released tens of thousands of convicted criminals. Combined, those people have been convicted of hundreds of thousands of crimes, including murder and sexual assault.
Jacques' case and those of others like him show how difficult it would be to carry out proposals by some politicians, including presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, that immigration officials simply find and deport the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally.
ICE Director Sarah Saldana told Congress recently that agents routinely have little choice but to release immigrants.
Jean Jacques (left), an immigrant living in the U.S. illegally, killed Casey Chadwick (right). He was convicted of murder last April and faces sentencing this summer. The U.S. tried repeatedly to deport him, but his native Haiti wouldn't take him back
Saldana said the agency is bound by a complex set of immigration laws and rules that govern which immigrants have to be detained and which ones can be set free while they wait for an immigration judge to rule on their case.
Add to the mix a years-long immigration court backlog of nearly half a million cases and some criminal immigrants could be free in the United States for years before being ordered out of the country.
'What is unacceptable is even one (release). Why did you release even one person?' Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, asked Saldana.
Saldana also told lawmakers that an effort to develop a system to alert local authorities about a newly released criminal immigrant is underway.
But lawmakers and others say it's not enough.
'They got caught committing a crime. They were convicted of the crime and instead of following the law and deporting them, you released them... and they commit more crimes,' Chaffetz said. 'That is so wholly unacceptable.'
ICE Director Sarah Saldana (pictured) said the agency is bound by a complex set of immigration laws and rules that govern which immigrants have to be detained and which ones can be set free while they wait for an immigration judge to rule on their case
Chester Fairlie, the Chadwick family's lawyer, said criminal immigrants like Jacques need to stay in jail. And the government could pressure other governments to take back their citizens, he said, by cutting aid packages or reducing the number of visas available for their citizens to come to the United States.
'It seems to me that our State Department should have enough leverage to say to them, you cannot arbitrarily refuse to take these people back,' Fairlie said.
The House Judiciary Committee approved a bill in March 2015 that would allow the U.S. to continue to detain some criminal immigrants even if their home country won't take them back. It hasn't progressed beyond the committee.
But Chaffetz said the administration already can pressure foreign governments to take their citizens back by curbing visas. He said Homeland Security officials need to ask the State Department to impose those visa sanctions.
'By U.S. law, these countries must accept deportations or we won't give any more visas,' Chaffetz said. 'All I'm asking is that the administration enforces current law.'
The State Department said Wednesday it has been asked to curb visas in the past, and a meeting is planned between State and DHS officials.
It is expected that DHS officials will make a new request for some visa sanctions, but it's unclear which countries may be targeted.
Jacques' case and those of others like him show how difficult it would be to carry out proposals by some politicians, including presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, that immigration officials simply find and deport the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally
The government has briefly stopped issuing some temporary work visas for immigrants from certain countries that have refused the return of their citizens, including Guyana in 2001.
Such efforts can be a sort of signal to other nations considering blocking the return of some criminal immigrants.
'You can do it in a targeted way and stop issuing certain categories of visas,' said Igor Timofeyev, a former director of immigration policy and a special adviser for refugee and asylum affairs at DHS during President George W. Bush's administration.
But the effort can be fraught with political and diplomatic complications, Timofeyev said. In the case of China, for instance, a complicated political and economic relationship means that being able to send home criminal immigrants is not the only consideration for an administration.
Nevertheless, Chaffetz and other Republican lawmakers have repeatedly pressed DHS officials to kick-start efforts to penalize countries whose governments have refused to cooperate with deportation efforts.
Work finished on Indiana's Asian carp barrier to Great Lakes
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) Environmental officials are celebrating the completion of a nearly 2-mile-long, 80-foot-wide earthen berm designed to keep Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.
The $4.4 million project at the Eagle Marsh Nature Preserve in Fort Wayne is designed to block floodwaters and prevent carp from crossing from the Wabash River watershed into the Maumee River watershed, which empties into Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio. The nature preserve drains into both watersheds.
"This is a great example of how a smaller investment up front can save a whole lot of money and heartache after the fact, after damage could have been created," Cameron Davis, who coordinates Great Lakes policy for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette (http://bit.ly/1Onz5VJ ).
Little River Wetlands' Betsy Yankowiak poses for a photo with the rebuilt drainage ditch berm at Eagle Marsh Nature Preserve in Fort Wayne, Ind. on Tuesday, May 10. 2016. Yankowiak along with State and local officials spoke Wednesday at Fox Island County Park in Fort Wayne to discuss the Eagle Marsh berm, which has been rebuilt and enlarged to stop the possible spread of Asian carp. (Rachel Von/The Journal Gazette via AP) NEWS-SENTINEL OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT; NO SALES; MAGS OUT
Eagle Marsh is considered the second-most important spot, after the Chicago Area Waterway System, for stopping the voracious invasive species from reaching the Great Lakes. Scientists say Asian carp could disrupt food chains and out-compete native fish.
The berm, which is 1.7 miles long and averages 7 feet high, has been planned since 2014 and construction work began last fall.
"We don't want to ever get to that point, where the fish are right there at the gate. We want to keep beating them back so that they never get to the Great Lakes," Davis said.
The federally-funded project is complete except for plantings along the berm, said Betsy Yankowiak, director of preserves and programs for the nonprofit Little River Wetlands Project, which manages and co-owns Eagle Marsh.
Jane Hardisty, Indiana state conservationist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service, said the project has benefits beyond stopping the Asian carp.
"The restored wetlands reach well beyond their boundaries to improve watershed health and the local economy," she said.
Eagle Marsh, which covers more than 700 acres, is co-owned by the Little River Wetlands Project and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources
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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net
Mali army vehicle hits land mine that kills 2 soldiers
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) A Mali official says two soldiers have been killed and one wounded after their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the north.
Col. Diarran Kone, spokesman for Mali's Defense Ministry, said the vehicle hit the land mine Wednesday morning while the soldiers were traveling between the towns Gossi and Hombori. He said fighters from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb are present in the area.
A Malian army post was attacked in April in the town Boni in the same zone. The extremist group Ansar Dine claimed responsibility for that attack.
A French convoy struck a land mine in April while approaching the far-northern town of Tessalit, killing three French soldiers.
Briton accused of killing wife, her mom in California caught
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) A British man suspected of slashing his wife and mother-in-law to death with a knife at a central California home was found hiding 150 miles away at a coastal homeless camp after a four-day manhunt, police said Wednesday.
A tip from a homeless person led investigators to a sleeping Dave Thomas McCann, 49, and he was taken into custody on suspicion of killing his wife, Tierney Cooper McCann, 36, and her mother, Judith Cooper, 68.
Tierney McCann's sister, Cortney Rider, said she was at the home in Clovis on Saturday when Dave McCann kicked down the door and attacked her family. She told KFSN-TV in Fresno (http://abc30.tv/1NqGmJy ) that she watched him cut her sister's throat.
This Wednesday, May 11, 2016, photo released by the Clovis Police Department shows Dave Thomas McCann, center left, being escorted by officers in Clovis, Calif. McCann, a British man suspected of killing his wife and mother-in-law with a knife at their central California home, has been arrested after four days on the run, police said Wednesday. (Clovis Police Department via AP)
"He looked at me and said, 'You're next,' and I immediately ran out the front door and ran to the next door neighbors," Rider told the TV station.
She said her mother was hiding in a bedroom, but he knocked down the door and slit her throat. McCann's failing marriage and folding business may be what caused him to snap, Rider said.
After the slayings, McCann drove a moving truck toward the coast, abandoning it two hours away in the city of Paso Robles, police say. From there, he may have ridden a bicycle and hitched rides north to the coastal town of Seaside, investigators said.
McCann did not use a cellphone and did not withdraw money from an ATM, which could have pinpointed his location, Clovis Police Chief Matt Basgall said at a news conference in Seaside after the arrest.
"This is a case where Mr. McCann went off the grid," Basgall said.
A break in the search came when a homeless person tipped off investigators to McCann's whereabouts. Officers found McCann asleep at the homeless camp, Basgall said.
A day before the slayings, McCann had gone to the Clovis Police Department and asked an officer to accompany him to the home to collect some of his personal belongings, which happened without incident, said Janet Stoll-Lee, a police spokeswoman.
McCann is a British citizen living in the United States on a green card, she said. She did not know what country he is from or whether he had an attorney yet to comment on his behalf.
Its no secret that our nations prisons are overcrowded and failing to keep our communities safe. Compared to peer nations around the globe, no country has more of its population behind bars. Our per capita incarceration rate is five times higher than Great Britain, nine times that of Germany, and 14 times higher than Japan. Almost one-quarter of the prisoners worldwide are in American jails, despite the United States accounting for just 5 percent of the worlds population.
The reasons for our prison overcrowding are many, but one factor has been the tough mandatory minimum sentencing laws that were enacted in the 1990s. The intent behind these laws was good: to bring consistency to sentencing. At the time, judges were given wide discretion in sentencing criteria, which led to some disparities in sentences for similar crimes.
But over time those mandatory minimum laws meant that some offenders could get very long sentences for relatively minor offenses. For instance, the federal mandatory minimum sentence for nonviolent drug offenses is 10 years.
In fact, most of the offenders behind bars today are nonviolent drug offenders. Instead of using the sentencing to hold them accountable and treat the root of their crime, we are keeping them in jail, making their re-entrance into society much more difficult.
Im not suggesting we should suddenly go soft on crime. What I am suggesting is that we need to become smarter about how we sentence criminals. Because not only is our corrections system the largest in the world, its by far the most expensive as well.
And believe it or not, there is a very good chance that reform of our justice system could be passed by Congress this year. Already, 34 senators (19 Democrats and 15 Republicans) have co-sponsored the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015. One of the most recent additions to that co-sponsor list is Montanas Sen. Steve Daines.
The SRCA is good step toward relieving overcrowding while focusing tougher sentencing on repeat and violent offenders. The SRCA would allow judges more discretion in sentencing for lower-level crimes.
Most significantly, it would allow a judge to lower the mandatory minimum from 10 to five years for drug offenses for defendants who have never had a violent offense, do not participate in gang activity, were not involved in the production or wholesale level of drug trafficking, and had never distributed drugs to a minor.
The SRCA also expands the so-called safety valve which allows judges to waive mandatory minimum sentences altogether for some first-time, nonviolent drug offenders.
Sentencing reform is never an easy task. For basic public safety, we need to make sure that the people who should be behind bars are behind bars. But prescribing a sort of one-size-fits-all approach to sentencing and taking away discretion from judges has produced the new problem of expensive prison overcrowding we have today.
The SRCA is a measured approach that has attracted significant support from conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats alike. Thats rare in Washington these days. So lets encourage our congressional delegation to work to keep the momentum going.
Thank you, Sen. Daines, for taking a leadership role on a difficult issue. It really will make a difference for Montana and our nation.
North Carolina's transgender law creates tangle of lawsuits
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) The dueling lawsuits over North Carolina's law on bathroom use by transgender people have landed in the hands of three federal judges appointed by Republican presidents, with both sides trying to maneuver into the most favorable courtroom possible.
Legal experts expect some or all of the five cases to be combined. But it remains to be seen whether they will be decided in the court picked by the law's opponents for its moderate reputation, or in the more conservative court chosen by the measure's GOP supporters.
"This is definitely a strategic decision by the plaintiffs to file in the district they like best," said Tom Metzloff, a Duke University law professor and expert on civil procedure.
FILE - In this April 11, 2016 file photo, opponents of House Bill 2 protest across the street from the North Carolina State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C. Dueling lawsuits over North Carolinas law limiting protections for LGBT people have landed in the hands of three federal judges appointed by Republican presidents, with both sides trying to maneuver into the most favorable venue possible. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
Either way, the dispute could ultimately be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court for a ruling once and for all on whether federal laws including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protect transgender people from discrimination.
At issue is a state law that says transgender people must use public bathrooms, showers and changing rooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate. Supporters say the law is needed to safeguard people's privacy and protect women and children from molesters. Opponents, including the Obama administration, say the danger is imaginary and the law discriminatory.
With economic pressure on the state mounting, the U.S. Justice Department and North Carolina's governor sued each other over the measure Monday. Lawsuits for and against the law have also been filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, leaders of the Republican-controlled state Legislature, and a conservative legal organization.
As for possible clues to how the judges might rule, one of them has already decided in favor of a transgender plaintiff in a separate case. Another sided with state GOP leaders in a high-profile case on voter ID laws, while the third riled environmentalists with a ruling on a bridge project in the ecologically fragile Outer Banks.
Still, whatever the judges' backgrounds, opponents have a strong hand because of a recent federal appeals court ruling in favor of a transgender teen who was seeking to use the boys' bathroom at his Virginia high school. The ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees North Carolina, interpreted the federal discrimination law Title IX in a way that directly affects a key aspect of the North Carolina case.
"It's going to be hard for the judge not to follow the 4th Circuit precedent. And if he does that, the language of Title VII the '64 Civil Rights Act is basically the same as the Title IX language. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex," said William Yeomans, a legal scholar who spent 26 years at the Justice Department during Democratic and Republican administrations.
The five cases are split between two districts one in the eastern part of the state that is considered more conservative, the other in the middle section.
Legal scholars agree that opponents of the law chose the middle district because of the more moderate overall reputation of its six judges. That strategy only goes so far, however, because cases are initially assigned at random, Metzloff said.
The two cases challenging the North Carolina law one filed by the ACLU, the other by the Justice Department wound up before U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder.
In April, Schroeder rejected arguments by the Justice Department and the NAACP in a ruling upholding a voter ID law passed by the Legislature. He wrote that "some segment of the state's African Americans endure socioeconomic disparities that can be linked to state discrimination," but the plaintiffs "failed to show that such disparities will have materially adverse effects on the ability of minority voters to cast a ballot."
He was nominated to the federal bench in 2007 by President George W. Bush.
While perceived as more moderate than some of his colleagues, "he is certainly not known for being liberal," said Maxine Eichner, a law professor at the University of North Carolina.
To the east, the case filed by the governor in defense of the law wound up before U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, a former aide to archconservative Sen. Jesse Helms who was denied a seat on the 4th Circuit by the Democrats after a 16-year standoff. He was first appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.
Still, observers say his conservative reputation may be overstated. In 2015, he gave a favorable ruling to a transgender job applicant who alleged gender discrimination when she applied for a job as a nurse in High Point.
"In this case, Judge Boyle doesn't exactly decide that transgender is protected by Title VII, but he comes pretty close," said Katharine Bartlett, a Duke University law professor and expert on gender and law.
Two other cases filed this week in support of the law are also in the eastern district, before Judge Louise Wood Flanagan, who was nominated by Bush in 2003 and served as the district's chief judge for seven years. In 2013 she sided with the state transportation department in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups over a bridge on the Outer Banks.
While it's difficult to predict how the North Carolina judges will unknot the tangle of cases, Bartlett said: "Because of the division now among federal courts, ultimately the Supreme Court is going to have to decide if transgender discrimination is sex discrimination. I don't know how soon, or under which of these laws."
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Associated Press writers Emery P. Dalesio and Martha Waggoner in Raleigh contributed to this report.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch pauses during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Monday, May 9, 2016. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory's administration sued the federal government Monday in a fight for a state law that limits protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Solar plane on global trip headed to Oklahoma from Arizona
GOODYEAR, Ariz. (AP) A solar-powered airplane that landed in Arizona last week after a daylong flight from California is headed to Oklahoma next on the latest leg of its around-the-world journey, project officials announced Wednesday.
The Swiss-made Solar Impulse 2 is scheduled to take off from Phoenix Goodyear Airport at 3 a.m. Thursday with a destination of Tulsa International Airport.
The aircraft took off from Mountain View in northern California in the early hours of May 2 and landed at the airport southwest of Phoenix 16 hours later.
The Solar Impulse 2's wings, which stretch wider than those of a Boeing 747, are equipped with 17,000 solar cells that power propellers and charge batteries. The plane runs on stored energy at night.
It began its globe-circling trip last year and flew from Hawaii to Mountain View last month.
After Oklahoma, the plane is expected to make one more stop in the United States before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to Europe or northern Africa, according to the website documenting the journey.
The aircraft began its voyage in March 2015 from Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, and made stops in Oman, Myanmar, China and Japan.
The plane had a five-day trip from Japan to Hawaii and three-day trip from Hawaii to California's Silicon Valley.
The crew was forced to stay in Oahu, Hawaii for nine months after the plane's battery system sustained heat damage on its trip from Japan.
Organizers said the layovers give the two Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg a chance to swap places and engage with local communities along the way so they can explain the project, which is estimated to cost more than $100 million.
Piccard is scheduled to be at the controls for the Arizona-to-Oklahoma leg.
Editorial Roundup: Excerpts from recent editorials
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:
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May 11
China Daily on North Korea:
Besides officially crowning Kim Jong-un as supreme leader, the just-concluded party congress of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea offered the rest of the world a rare glimpse of the country's actual policy orientations.
In contrast to the past months of harsh, sometimes intimidating, rhetoric regarding its pursuit of nuclear weapons and relations with Seoul and Washington, Pyongyang sounded impressively less-aggressive, even reconciliatory at the congress.
But Kim's assertion that the DPRK is a "responsible nuclear state" may ring hollow outside Pyongyang, because, suspicions about its nuclear capabilities aside, few would embrace it as a responsible nuclear power.
If Pyongyang is sincere about denuclearization, the best way to demonstrate it would be to stop its nuclear brinkmanship.
However, Kim just ruled that out.
He promised not to use nuclear weapons first unless threatened; yet Pyongyang feels under constant threat.
Kim did extend olive branches to both Seoul and Washington by stressing the need for talks to ease cross-border animosities, and reiterating Pyongyang's longstanding formula of reunification under a "federal system". He even announced his readiness to befriend hostile countries.
And in a move that seems like a break from his father's songun, or military first, strategy and one which inspires hope that he will switch his focus to the economy, Kim announced North Korea's first five-year economic plan since the 1980s and vowed to improve living standards in the country.
He pledged to boost the power supply, agriculture, and light manufacturing. He even identified the needs of increasing international trade and engagement with the global economy.
However, byongjin as the new key word of North Korean national policies indicates economic development and nuclear capabilities are two parallel goals that appear to carry equal weight on Kim's agenda.
This is where the trouble arises.
Byongjin does signify a step forward from songun, as it indicates Kim has finally come to terms with North Korea's grim economic reality and is showing he has the political will to handle it. But it is simply beyond Pyongyang's competence to pursue the twin goals at once. The country's limited resources can't support both. Nor will the international community allow its nuclearization.
Kim has seen the need to make peace with and engage the outside world in order to save his country's suffering economy.
But he appears unaware that his nuclear ambitions are poison for his country's economy. They will not only exhaust his country's very limited resources, but will further isolate his country from the rest of the world, politically and economically.
Online:
http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/
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May 10
The New York Times on President Obama's upcoming visit to Hiroshima:
President Obama added a couple of firsts to his list of achievements when he became the first sitting president to visit Myanmar in 2012 and to visit Cuba in modern times. He will add another at the end of this month when he visits Hiroshima in conjunction with the Group of 7 leaders meeting in Japan. Though the White House is playing down expectations, the visit gives him a significant opportunity to offer some tangible new initiatives to advance his vision of a nuclear-free world a major goal at the outset of his administration that has since faded against a host of other foreign policy challenges.
Although American ambassadors, John Roos and Caroline Kennedy, have visited Hiroshima in recent years, and Secretary of State John Kerry did so last month, senior American officials have largely avoided the war memorial for the 200,000 people who lost their lives in the two nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the war in the Pacific. Given the 70-year alliance between Japan and the United States that has flourished since the end of the war, Mr. Obama's decision to visit the memorial seems well overdue.
Yet it was arrived at only after an intense monthslong debate within the administration. Some officials were concerned that such an appearance would be interpreted as an apology for America's wartime actions and further inflame this year's presidential election. During Mr. Obama's first year in office, his critics unfairly accused him of making an "apology tour" when he traveled to the Middle East and Europe in an effort to reset relationships that had deteriorated during the Bush administration.
News reports have said that most Japanese are not looking for an apology, and Mr. Obama is not planning to offer any. Instead, according to one senior official, he will "offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future."
Japan and the United States have much to celebrate. The alliance constructed from the ashes of devastation and war has helped keep the peace in Asia. The two countries continue to work together on development and security projects in other parts of the world as well.
Though he has fallen well short of his lofty aim of a world "without nuclear weapons" announced in 2009, Mr. Obama can justly claim important achievements. Among these are the 2015 nuclear deal that seeks to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, and the 2010 New Start Treaty mandating cuts in the number of strategic warheads deployed by the United States and Russia to 1,550 warheads each.
One big obstacle to further progress has been Russia's increasingly aggressive president, Vladimir Putin, who has opposed more arms reduction. Other impediments include a Senate that refuses to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and Pakistan, which has blocked negotiations on a treaty to halt production of fissile material.
Mr. Obama's missteps have made his goal harder to achieve. Nothing is more at odds with his vision than his befuddling support for a $1 trillion program to rebuild the American arsenal over the next 30 years. But there are still opportunities to improve his credibility small steps like canceling the new air-launched, nuclear-armed cruise missile and persuading the United Nations Security Council to endorse the nuclear test moratorium that all countries but North Korea observe. Perhaps, too, in his visit to Hiroshima, a strong speech and even a new initiative.
Online:
http://www.nytimes.com/
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May 10
The Sante Fe New Mexican on Donald Trump:
Pity the poor Republican leaders. They must choose whether to back a candidate whose rhetoric is hateful, whose policy positions often make no sense and who isn't even a true conservative. Or, they must choose to turn their backs on their party's presidential nominee in 2016.
Some prominent Republicans political consultant Mary Matalin, for example have switched their party registration. She's now a libertarian. They aren't necessarily supporting Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side, but they view Donald Trump as commander in chief as too big a risk. One prominent journalist, Jamie Weinstein of the conservative Daily Caller website, put it this way: "In a White House race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, I'd prefer Clinton, just as I'd prefer malaria to Ebola. In most cases, malaria is curable. Ebola is more often deadly." Even two former presidents, the two George Bushes, are saying they will not endorse Trump in the 2016 race.
Other members of the GOP are hedging their bets, postponing endorsements to see if nominee Trump holds up better under scrutiny than candidate Trump. House Speaker Paul Ryan is walking perhaps the tightest rope. He is the 2016 convention chairman and the highest-ranking GOP elected official in the country. Yet Ryan has said he won't endorse Trump yet. He's even offered to step down as chairman of the Republican convention if that's what the nominee wants. Ryan told interviewers that, "I think he needs to do more to unify this party. Saying we're unified doesn't in and of itself unify us." This is a principled (if self-serving, since Ryan will look prescient should Trump lose in a blowout) stance.
Similarly on the fence is New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez. She says she wants to know Trump's position on federal spending in New Mexico, its military bases and, of course, the national laboratories (while she's wondering, she might want to find out more about that wall Trump wants along the border; it would be an ecological disaster.) Martinez's one step into presidential endorsement politics for Sen. Marco Rubio fizzled after Rubio had to drop out.
Even though she leads the Republican Governors Association and likely will be out stumping for Republicans in the fall, there's nothing that says the governor can't focus her attention down ticket and leave presidential politicking for others. This might be a fence she straddles until November. New Mexicans should ask her why she would even consider supporting a man who threatened to deport all Muslims and encourages supporters to violence.
Beyond the endorsement dilemma is the reality that the Trump nomination could be an epic disaster for the GOP some reluctant Republicans are still exploring a third-party option beyond the usual libertarian (where former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson is a candidate for the nomination). The Economist magazine calls the potential Trump nomination one of the party's worst moments. The headline from May 7: "Donald Trump's victory is a disaster for Republicans and for America."
From there, The Economist states: "During its 160-year history, the Republican Party has abolished slavery, provided the votes in Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act and helped bring the cold war to a close. The next six months will not be so glorious. After Indiana's primary, it is now clear that Republicans will be led into the presidential election by a candidate who said he would kill the families of terrorists, has encouraged violence by his supporters, has a weakness for wild conspiracy theories and subscribes to a set of protectionist and economically illiterate policies that are by turns fantastical and self-harming. The result could be disastrous for the Republican Party and, more important, for America."
And that, citizens, is what Republican Party leaders, elected officials and just average voters must keep in mind. Donald Trump is not going to make America great again. He is bad for America. Fervent Sanders or Clinton supporters need to consider the dangers well this election isn't about who is more progressive than thou; it's about whether Trump should be president. Period.
Weinstein, the clever writer who compares Trump to Ebola, summed it up like this: "But as bad as Hillary would be as president, there is little threat another Clinton presidency would end the American system as we know it. You can't be so sure with Trump. What are the odds a President Donald Trump would attempt to become honest-to-God American dictator? Five percent? Ten percent? No one can say for sure, but certainly greater than any other presidential contender in my lifetime."
Online:
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/
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May 9
The Charlotte Observer on North Carolina's new law limiting LGBT anti-discrimination protections:
In his 10-page lawsuit Monday against the U.S. Department of Justice, Gov. Pat McCrory offered a hauntingly familiar defense of North Carolina's anti-LGBT law: HB 2 doesn't discriminate against transgender individuals, because transgender identity isn't really real.
That's a rationale, legal and otherwise, that was used against gays and lesbians during their fight for equality. It's no less disturbing now - and no more valid.
The governor's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court early Monday, first argues a technicality - but an important one. Transgender people can't be discriminated against under Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, McCrory says, because unlike blacks, women and other minorities, they are not recognized by Title VII as a protected class.
The governor cites several federal court rulings, from 2008 and earlier, that agree. But DOJ, which filed its own lawsuit later Monday, has recent court decisions on its side. Those include a U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling last month that requires educational institutions to treat transgender students "consistent with their gender identity."
To which the governor says: What gender identity? Regardless of whom Title VII might protect, McCrory says, HB 2 doesn't treat transgender individuals differently from non-transgender individuals. "All state employees are required to use the bathroom and changing facilities assigned to persons of their same biological sex, regardless of gender identity, or transgender status," the lawsuit contends.
In other words, if everyone just goes to the restroom that corresponds with their genitalia, what's discriminatory about that?
It is, essentially, a denial that a transgender person has claim to a different "gender identity," which is the same rejection that was made of gays' and lesbians' claim to "sexual orientation." It's not biology, the reasoning goes. It's a choice.
Scientists and physicians disagree, including 20 pediatric endocrinologists from across North Carolina who wrote to McCrory last month urging him to consider the science behind gender assignment.
"There are babies born in whom chromosomes suggesting one sex do not match the appearance of the genitalia," the doctors wrote, adding: "Our patients already face major medical and social challenges, and HB 2 creates unnecessary hardship."
On Monday, the governor insisted on prolonging that pain, and in doing so, he also continues to jeopardize billions in federal funding for North Carolina. McCrory, however, tried to frame his lawsuit as a public service of sorts, saying it was an attempt to clarify who gets protection from discrimination, and who gets to decide.
The reality is that the governor and N.C. Republicans already made that decision. With HB 2, they decided Charlotte couldn't protect gays and lesbians from discrimination, and that transgender individuals shouldn't get to choose which bathrooms they use.
The arguments behind that law were made clear Monday: The Civil Rights Act doesn't recognize transgender people, and our state doesn't recognize a transgender person's gender identity. Because if "gender identity" doesn't exist, then neither does the discrimination in HB 2.
It's a rationale that denies not only identity, but dignity. It should be rejected by the courts, and by the people of North Carolina.
Online:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/
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May 9
The Post and Courier on meeting between NATO and Russia:
There is now a new Cold War in Europe. Speaking in Germany on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter warned of Russian aggression and denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin for "nuclear saber-rattling" and "going backward in time" to an earlier era of military confrontation.
A mid-April meeting between NATO and Russia the first in two years was highly confrontational on the Russian side, according to various reports. Russia denounced NATO moves to strengthen its Eastern defenses as a threat to Russia. And it has heightened intelligence and military operations in Eastern Europe as evidence of its rejection of NATO's decision, under President Bill Clinton, to accept nations bordering Russia as members.
Defense Secretary Carter said the United States "will continue to hold out the possibility that Russia will assume the role of a constructive partner moving forward," adding, "We do not seek to make Russia an enemy."
But NATO's departing Supreme Commander, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, said he and his advisers believe that President Putin is just one of a small group running Russia who have made their objectives clear and are likely to be in power "for some time to come."
He also said Russia has made "drastic" improvements in its military in the past three years and that NATO now has to refocus its operations, tactics and intelligence capabilities on Russia after 14 years of fighting a counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan. He added, "Now that we see that Russia has not accepted (the) hand of partnership but has chosen a path of belligerence, we need to readdress where we're heading."
In his remarks at the U.S. European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Secretary Carter said Russia's talk about using nuclear weapons was the "most disturbing" aspect of Russia's new posture.
"Moscow's nuclear saber-rattling raises troubling questions about the commitment Russia's leaders have to strategic stability, their respect for norms against the use of nuclear weapons and the profound caution that nuclear-age leaders showed with regard to brandishing nuclear weapons," he said.
Russia should "make no mistake," Mr. Carter continued. "We will defend our allies, the rules-based international order, and the positive future it affords us."
The New York Times reports that one concrete demonstration of this renewed commitment is a plan to deploy one additional U.S. Army combat brigade to Europe next year and to consider establishing the continuous rotation of a brigade-sized force to the territory of threatened NATO partner nations on the Russian border.
The history of the Cold War suggests that Russia will likely make counter moves that NATO will have to match to reassure its members. A new Cold War appears to be well under way, and it will require a renewed commitment to the defense of our allies and our national interests.
Online:
http://www.postandcourier.com
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May 8
The Boston Herald on Puerto Rico bailout:
A bipartisan group in the House of Representatives is expected to unveil a bill this week for a non-monetary rescue of Puerto Rico from financial disaster. Passage is urgent; what happens will demonstrate whether Congress is capable of reasoned action in an election year.
Puerto Rico has been in economic decline for a decade, living on borrowed money. It missed a principal payment of $367 million on $422 million due last Monday. The island government paid $22 million in interest and was able to roll over $33 million into obligations of later maturity.
This was the overture. Total debt exceeds $70 billion. Puerto Rico has no hope of coming up with it. On July 1, $2 billion is due. If Congress procrastinates, expect lawsuits galore. Not surprisingly, holders of Puerto Rican debt have been lobbying for the most favorable provisions they can get.
The draft under consideration reportedly includes a financial control board more or less like the Massachusetts board that ran the city of Springfield from 2004 to 2009. The new board could reduce debt under the supervision of a federal court, as in a true bankruptcy.
Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla insists that a board not have final say on some matters like taxation, which he wants reserved to the island legislature. Some face-saving vagueness may emerge in any law, but if one passes, Congress will have to be strict.
Congress is involved because only municipalities, not other governments, may claim bankruptcy protection. Some hard-pressed states like California and Illinois may try to wiggle in under provisions of a Puerto Rico bill. If so, they should be rebuffed.
These are age-old issues. Congress refused financial aid to defaulting states in the 1840s on the grounds it would encourage extravagance.
This bill should not be the final act. Congress should attack the crazy quilt of laws that helped cripple Puerto Rico in the first place.
Online:
Colorado Planned Parenthood shooter mentally incompetent
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) A man who acknowledged killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic is mentally incompetent to continue with his criminal case, a judge ruled Wednesday, stalling the proceedings and potentially setting the stage for a mental health defense.
The decision by Judge Gilbert Martinez puts the case against Robert Dear, 57, on hold until treatment restores his ability to understand the proceedings and assist in his defense. He will be sent to the state psychiatric hospital, and his mental health will be reviewed in August.
Two psychologists have found he has a delusion disorder, which they said keeps him from trusting almost anyone, including his lawyers. Martinez agreed with their findings, writing in his order that Dear's "perceptions and understanding are not rational and are not grounded in reality."
FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, Robert Lewis Dear talks to Judge Gilbert Martinez during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo. The judge is set to rule on the mental state of Dear who acknowledged killing three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado. Martinez is expected to announce Wednesday, May 11, 2016, whether criminal proceedings should continue against 57-year-old Dear. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, Pool, File)
As he was led out of the courtroom, Dear yelled at the judge: "That's called prejudiced! Prejudiced! Filthy animal!"
Dear is charged with 179 counts, including murder and attempted murder, stemming from the Nov. 27 shooting at the Colorado Springs clinic that also left nine injured.
During previous courtroom outbursts, he has declared himself a "warrior for the babies" and said he was guilty. He told investigators he attacked the clinic because he was upset with the reproductive health organization for "the selling of baby parts."
Martinez ordered the competency exam in December after Dear announced that he wanted to fire his public defenders and represent himself. Two psychologists who interviewed Dear testified that they agreed he is not competent and that his delusion disorder makes him believe the FBI is persecuting him.
Dear told people in phone calls from jail that he believes his attorneys' attempt to have him declared incompetent is part of a plot to diminish his message opposing abortion. He claims they want him committed to a psychiatric hospital so they can "silence him forever."
He told the psychologists he did not want to be declared incompetent because it would mean "forced medication."
The Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, where Dear will be sent, can force people to take medication over their objections. His treatment will likely include a mix of psychotropic drugs and therapy to treat his disorder, as well as education about the proceedings against him.
Restoring Dear to competency could take months or longer. But the overwhelming majority of defendants initially determined to be incompetent are eventually able to understand the proceedings and stand trial, said Steven Pitt, a forensic psychiatrist who has conducted competency exams but is not involved in Dear's case.
Prosecutors argued that Dear's courtroom disruptions showed he understood the case against him. They have not decided whether to seek the death penalty against the man described by family and acquaintances as a man with a violent temper, anti-government sentiments and longstanding disdain for abortion providers.
Dear has not entered a plea. If and when his court case resumes, the incompetency finding could help the defense during the trial and a potential sentencing phase.
"In a case of this magnitude when a defendant is initially found incompetent to stand trial and is then restored to competency, there is a strong possibility that there will be a mental health defense," Pitt said. "It is an absolute certainty that the defendant's mental health history will be front and center during the penalty phase."
The psychologists who interviewed Dear recently released court documents showing Dear idolized Paul Hill, an abortion foe who killed a Florida doctor more than two decades ago. Dear also told investigators he put glue in the locks at an abortion clinic when he lived in South Carolina, a common protest technique among activists trying to shut down such facilities.
He spent most of his life in North and South Carolina before moving recently to an isolated community in Colorado's mountains, where he lived in a trailer with no electricity.
He held police at bay for more than five hours during the attack, scattering hundreds of post-Thanksgiving shoppers who scrambled to hide inside surrounding buildings until the standoff ended.
Public defenders Dan King, right, and Rosalie Roy, lawyers for accused Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Dear, leave the courtroom after a hearing for Dear, who acknowledged killing three people at the clinic on Nov. 27, in Colorado Springs, Colo., Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Dear is mentally incompetent to continue with his criminal case, a judge ruled Wednesday. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP, Pool)
The Latest: Los Angeles arson suspect ordered to stand trial
LOS ANGELES (AP) The Latest on a man charged with setting a massive fire that destroyed an unfinished Los Angeles apartment complex (all times local):
3:10 p.m.
A man has been ordered to stand trial for arson over a fire that incinerated a Los Angeles apartment building and caused $100 million in damage.
Fifty-seven-year-old Dawud Abdulwali appeared in court Wednesday. He earlier pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Abdulwali set fire to the unfinished De Vinci complex downtown in December 2014. The seven-story complex was completely destroyed and the heat blew out windows at nearby office towers.
At Wednesday's hearing, a witness testified that Abdulwali bragged at a party about burning the building and said he did it because he was angry about the police killing of an unarmed black man in Missouri.
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8:20 a.m.
A witness has testified that the man charged with sparking an inferno that destroyed an unfinished Los Angeles apartment building bragged about the blaze at a party and was angry about high-profile police killings of African-Americans.
The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/1ZFflmB ) that the testimony came Tuesday during a preliminary hearing in the arson case against Dawud Abdulwali. The 57-year-old is accused of starting a 2014 fire that gutted a seven-story complex and damaged adjacent downtown office towers.
The witness, Popaul Tshimanga, says he and Abdulwali attended a party a week later. Tshimanga says Abdulwali ranted about the August 2014 killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
The witness testified that Abdulwali also said he burned the building.
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An unlikely duo, Clinton and Romney challenge Trump on taxes
BLACKWOOD, N.J. (AP) Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton took aim at Donald Trump on taxes Wednesday and quickly found an unlikely ally: 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
Clinton noted at a New Jersey campaign rally that Trump had yet to release his tax returns and said he would slash taxes for the nation's wealthiest people if elected president. Hours later, Romney issued a withering post on Facebook, accusing Trump of hiding a damaging revelation in his tax returns.
"There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump's refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them," Romney wrote. "Given Mr. Trump's equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it's a bombshell of unusual size."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses a gathering of medical personnel at Cooper Hospital, Wednesday, May 11, 2016, in Camden, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Clinton and Romney called on Trump to release his tax returns following an Associated Press interview Tuesday, in which the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said he doesn't have an obligation to release the records and won't do so until an audit of his finances is completed.
"There's nothing to learn from them," he said in the interview.
While Trump will likely face Clinton in the general election, the Democratic front-runner took a much softer approach than Romney in New Jersey, which holds a June 7 primary. When a man in the crowd yelled, "What about his tax returns," Clinton said the nominees of both parties typically release them.
Clinton pointed out that she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, had put out more than three decades of tax records. "You've got to ask yourself why doesn't he want to release it," she said.
The state's governor, Trump ally Chris Christie, said it was "ironic" that Clinton was talking about the issue given her use of a private email address and server while serving as secretary of state.
"I hardly believe that Hillary Clinton is in any place to be giving a critique on transparency," he said.
In challenging Trump on taxes, Clinton turned to a well-worn strategy that President Barack Obama used against Romney in 2012, pressuring him to release his personal taxes. Romney eventually made public two years of his tax returns.
Romney, who has been critical of Trump's rise in the GOP primaries, rejected Trump's reasoning for not releasing documents.
"There is nothing that prevents releasing tax returns that are being audited. Further, he could release returns for the years immediately prior to the years under audit," Romney wrote.
Clinton delivered a broadside on Trump's plans for the nation's tax code, saying it would provide $3 trillion in tax cuts for those earning more than $1 million a year. She said his tax plan was "written by a billionaire for billionaires."
Trump released a tax proposal in September that would reduce the number of tax brackets to four and envisions a top income tax rate of 25 percent, down from the current 39.6 percent. Under his plan, no business of any size would pay more than 15 percent.
While low-income and middle-income earners would also pay less couples earning $50,000 or less would send in a one-page form to the IRS declaring, "I win" the plan would disproportionately benefit the wealthy as well as Trump himself.
Trump has recently backed away from the plan, describing it as a starting point for negotiations, and said he would try to do more to help the middle class. And he has said recently that he would support a higher rate for the wealthy than the rate he originally proposed.
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Associated Press writer Michael Catalini contributed to this report from West Trenton, New Jersey.
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Brazil president faces impeachment over creative accounting
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) THE IMPEACHMENT CASE: The proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff are based on accusations that she broke fiscal laws in 2015 to hide budget problems. The main allegation is that her administration delayed moving treasury funds to state-owned banks to pay for government programs. Her critics say that made public finances look better than they were. Rousseff insists the practice is not an impeachable offense, pointing to other Brazilian presidents who used such creative accounting techniques and were not punished in any way.
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INCIDENCES OF CREATIVE ACCOUNTING: The fact-checking website Aos Fatos counted such incidents involving state-run bank Caixa Economica Federal. It says Rousseff used creative accounting during her first five years in office 35 times more than the combined total of the two previous presidents, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Allegations against Rousseff also include funds for all federal programs and the state-run banks BNDES and Banco do Brasil. The case against her cites only irregular accounting maneuvers done in 2015, which was the first year of her second term, because Brazil's constitution says a president can be impeached only for wrongful acts in the current term.
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff blows kisses during the opening of the National Conference of Women, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. The impeachment proceedings against Rousseff took another hairpin turn Tuesday after the acting speaker of Congress' lower house Waldir Maranhao put the impeachment process back on track a day after he sparked chaos and sowed further discord among Brazil's fractious political class by annulling an April 17 vote by the Chamber of Deputies for impeachment. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
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DILMA ROUSSEFF: In 2011-2015, Rousseff's administration used creative accounting in delaying payments to Caixa totaling almost $10 billion. These funds were paid back, but Brazil's fiscal laws say state banks should not make loans to the federal government. Rousseff denies those were loans. The funds involved unemployment benefits, bonuses to public workers and Bolsa Familia benefits, which is the government's flagship social program to provide minimum incomes for the poorest Brazilians. The delays stopped after a government watchdog ruled in October 2015 that the creative accounting mechanisms used by Rousseff were irregular.
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VICE PRESIDENT MICHEL TEMER: Questions have been raised on how the case against Rousseff might affect Temer, who is next in line to take over her duties. As acting president when Rousseff was on trips outside Brazil, he authorized creative accounting measures. Temer argues he was not responsible for the economic policies and says his signature doesn't mean any involvement in the decision to delay payments.
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LUIZ INACIO LULA DA SILVA: Silva, who was Rousseff's mentor and predecessor, used similar accounting practices in September and November 2003 and in November 2006, shortly after his re-election. The amounts involved totaled $144 million. The funds were for unemployment benefits and Bolsa Familia benefits.
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Johnny Depp recalls arresting experience as he reprises Mad Hatter role
Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp thanked the London policemen who once arrested him as he arrived in the capital at the premiere of his latest film.
Depp, 52, prompted screams from the crowd as he walked on to the red carpet for the screening of Alice Through the Looking Glass at the Odeon in Leicester Square.
He appeared without his wife Amber Heard, 30, but said he was grateful to her for "putting up with him".
Johnny Depp arrives at the Alice Through The Looking Glass European premiere
He said: "I think everybody has a sense of themselves, we are all living our lives together and living closely with someone.
"I know I wouldn't be considered normal, I suppose, so I thank her for that. I thank my mum for that, I thank my father for that, for putting up with me.
"I also thank the London policemen when I was arrested here, they were very nice and gave me a cup of tea."
Depp was arrested in London in 1999 after a scuffle with photographers outside a restaurant and was later cautioned.
His wife Heard recently avoided jail in Australia after pleading guilty to providing a false immigration document amid allegations she smuggled the couple's dogs Pistol and Boo into the country.
The pair went on to record a bizarre video in which they apologised and spoke about how important it is to protect Australia's biodiversity.
In his new film, Depp returns to the role of the Mad Hatter after the huge success of Alice In Wonderland, which was directed by Tim Burton in 2010. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and Sherlock star Andrew Scott join the all-star cast for the second outing, which was directed by James Bobin.
Depp said: "It was a lot of fun to come back to the Mad Hatter, it was a gas to get back together with the cast and the addition of Sacha upped the stakes quite a lot. This particular film has a bit more of the Hatter's layers and things going on."
He added: "The first film was something very special in terms of Tim and I working together again. Bringing in James was brilliant because he has such a profound respect for the language that Tim created and stretched it into his own vision."
Cohen was joined by his wife Isla Fisher for his red carpet outing and joked about working with Depp saying: "We would do a few hours on the acting and then an hour of plotting how to get dogs in and out of countries so it became exhausting and really the film was secondary. In the end he was shipping about 300 dogs a day in and out of England."
Australian actress Mia Wasikowska resumes her role as Alice, who explores her feeling about the passage of time in the film.
Dressed in a blue custom Prada gown, she said: "The message in the film is really nice, that the best way to deal with time is to accept what happened in the past and not try and change it and move on freely into the future."
HELENA Three owners of Colstrip's coal-fired power plant sat down with Gov. Steve Bullock in Helena on Wednesday to begin talking about what happens to the aging power plant as forces push toward the eventual closure of its two older units.
Kimberly Harris, CEO of Puget Sound Energy in Washington; Paul Farr, CEO of Pennsylvania-based Talen Energy; and Bob Rowe, CEO of NorthWestern Energy discussed the future of the plant.
The ownership picture in Colstrip is complex. Six companies have a stake in the plant. Talen owns 50 percent of Units 1 and 2, a 30 percent share of Unit 3 and also operates the entire four-unit Colstrip complex. The plant and the town that exists mostly because of it and a nearby coal mine face challenges from laws passed in Washington and Oregon to push utilities based in those states with ownership in Colstrip to drop coal from their portfolio. The market is also favoring the low price of natural gas.
Farr said Talen, which spun off PPL Montana when that entity sold its hydropower production to NorthWestern Energy a few years ago, is looking at looking at its departure from a state where it now owns a very narrow portfolio.
Farr said Talen is willing to look at a path to transition ownership and will be as constructive as it can be, but there are other forces at work.
We are under time and cost pressures, he said. Ill lose millions in terms of operating Colstrip through the balance of the year. Talen, unlike NorthWestern, is a merchant provider and not a regulated utility, meaning it cannot pass its expenses on to regulated customers for an above-market cost.
Puget Sound Energy has been involved in Colstrip since the plant was built about 40 years ago, Harris said. The Washington Legislature earlier this year passed a bill that gives Puget a way to get out of its ownership in the oldest units 1 and 2 and provides money for decommissioning costs.
"We've been at Colstrip from the start," she said. "We've been operating in Colstrip and contributing to the welfare of that community for the last 40 years. We continue to remain committed to that community today."
Bullock focused on who would provide power to large industrial customers like Montana Resources mine in Butte, who have long benefited from lower prices because they didnt have to pay high transmission fees from far-away plants.
Right now Talen serves between 225-250 megawatts of the 300-350 those customers need, and Farr said if groups of those customers could sign a contract to guarantee enough revenue to cover costs, that would make providing that energy in the future more feasible for whoever is an owner at Colstrip. Power from the plant is also attractive to industrial customers because it's extremely reliable, he said.
Colstrip plays a role, though not a large one, in the electricity NorthWestern Energy provides to Montana consumers, Rowe said. The utility's largest assets are the hydroelectric dams purchased from PPL in 2009. The utility also gets more electricity from its wind generation than Colstrip.
What the plant offers NorthWestern is a reliable backup for high-demand periods. "What Colstrip does ... is provide us with pretty much 24/7 availability," Rowe said. "That's why our interest in Colstrip matters."
Lower natural gas costs are part of why coal power is less in demand, though Farr said he worries about what happens when those prices rise again and coal plants shut down.
"What happens when gas goes to $4? That doubles the fuel cost, and if you don't have that coal fired generation capability, if you can't turn to that ... "
Rowe also is concerned about the transmission system, which is key to serving NorthWestern customers around Billings.
The company leaders took turns emphasizing the importance of the jobs both the power plant and nearby coal mine create in the community of Colstrip, though none talked about what happens to those employees if and when the older two units shut down.
"We all recognize this is an incredibly complex issue," Harris said. "We're not just dealing with megawatts, we're dealing with a community, our employees, the future of that community."
The companies involved are trying to be as transparent as possible, she said. "What's important is we continue to look forward, we continue to look for opportunities, we continue to address the challenges one by one. I know we are all up to that challenge of what is the secure and safe transition for these units."
William not 'regular attender of libraries' at university, Oxford students learn
The Duke of Cambridge has confessed he was not the most diligent student when it came to using the library at university.
On a visit to Oxford to officially open two libraries, William admitted that he did not often use the library at the University of St Andrews, where he studied for a geography degree and met his future wife, Kate.
Speaking to students and benefactors at Magdalen College's new Longwall Library, he said: "I can't say I was a regular attender of libraries."
The Duke of Cambridge tours Magdalen College's recently renovated Longwall Library
Dayna Hamilton, a third-year engineering student at Magdalen, was among those the Duke spoke with.
She said William claimed he would have gone more often if he had a library like Magdalen's, which has recently undergone an 11 million refurbishment.
"He said if this was his library he would have gone a little bit more," she said.
More than 100 students gathered in the quad to watch the Duke arrive, while some looked on from their bedrooms while sleepily eating breakfast.
William spoke to students who were sitting at desks in the library but he was quick to realise that they were not really studying hard.
Jack Barber, 21, who is reading history at Magdalen and helped raise money for the library's refurbishment, said William spotted that his book had been placed as a prop for the visit.
"He saw my book and it was obviously the first one I plucked off the shelf.
"He said 'Enjoy your pretend studying'."
William unveiled a plaque officially opening the new library before moving on to another - Oxford's Weston Library.
The library - which is part of the Bodleian Library - has reopened following an 80 million transformation.
The Duke took a tour through the revamped special collections library, seeing a display of historical objects including the key that his great-grandfather, King George VI, used to open the library in 1946.
There, William revealed that his favourite book, The Gruffalo, was also loved by Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
He told a group of children that he and his family enjoy the popular story as he chatted to them about school and lessons.
Xiomara, eight, a pupil at Pegasus Primary School, gave William a picture of a toucan.
"He really liked it and he said he'd show his son George," she said.
The schoolgirl added: "His favourite book was The Gruffalo."
Asked if he said the book was his favourite book or his children's, she said: "His and his children."
The Gruffalo, which has sold millions of copies, tells the story of a mouse taking a walk through a forest.
Before declaring Weston Library officially open, William said: "It is very good to be back at Oxford, and thank you for your warm welcome. I suspect today is the noisiest this library will ever be."
Later, he officially opened Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government, where he met students and those involved in the design and construction of the building.
A scholarship in his name was announced by the school's Dean, Professor Ngaire Woods, after William gave a short speech.
He said he hoped the school would "inspire" students to make a "real, positive contribution to good government wherever they find themselves in the world".
William congratulated Leonard Blavatnik for his donation to the university which enabled the creation of the School of Government.
The Duke of Cambridge Scholarship will fully fund a British student to undertake a Masters degree in public policy at the school.
While touring the school, the Duke joked with one student who had taken a year off from working as a journalist at the BBC in Indonesia.
Alice Budisatrijo, who is studying for a Masters degree in public policy, said of her conversation with William: "I said I work for the BBC and he said 'I won't hold that against you'."
William also spoke to Dr Richenda Gambles, who works at the school.
She said: "I was impressed about how engaged he was in global affairs ... in the way he was able to talk to people about the places they came from."
The Duke met several students during his visit to the school, which has people from 54 different countries and territories studying for Masters in public policy.
William unveiled a plaque and then had lunch with students, staff and benefactors. He signed the visitors' book on his departure.
Biology student Katie Shepherd, 20, holds a banner welcoming the Duke of Cambridge to Magdalen College
The Duke of Cambridge is given a tour by the president of Magdalen College Professor David Clary
The Duke of Cambridge looks at a banner as he arrives to tour Magdalen College's recently renovated Longwall Library
The college's previous library, a converted Victorian schoolhouse, was opened by William's great-great-uncle, Prince Edward
Builders await the arrival of the Duke of Cambridge at the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford.
William talks to Len Blavatnik during a tour of the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford.
UK attack by dissident republicans 'a strong possibility'
A terror attack in Britain by dissident republicans is now a "strong possibility", according to a new security assessment.
MI5 has increased the level of threat posed by Northern Ireland-related terrorism from moderate to substantial - the third most serious category out of five.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the move "reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity".
Mrs May said the move reflected the ongoing problems posed by 'Dissident Republican activity'
In a statement to the House of Commons, she said: "As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place."
The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains at severe - meaning an attack is "highly likely". This has not been changed.
Mrs May said the threat level in Northern Ireland was also unchanged, at severe.
She added: "The reality is that they command little support. They do not represent the views or wishes of the vast majority of people, both in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, who decisively expressed their desire for peace in the 1998 Belfast Agreement and have been transforming Northern Ireland ever since.
"However it is sensible, given their stated aims, that the public in Great Britain should also remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police.
"But we should not be alarmed, and this should not affect how we go about our daily lives."
Dissident republican groups such as the New IRA and Oglaigh na hEireann have been behind most of the deadly attacks on members of the security forces in recent years.
In March, prison officer Adrian Ismay died when an undercar booby trap bomb detonated as he drove to work.
In 2011, Catholic police recruit Ronan Kerr was also killed when a device exploded under his vehicle while, s everal months earlier, in November 2012 prison warder David Black was gunned down as he drove along the M1 motorway.
In March 2009, the Continuity IRA shot dead police officer Stephen Carroll in Co Armagh just days after the Real IRA gunned down two soldiers outside a Co Antrim military camp.
The dissidents, who derive most of their funds through criminality, such as fuel laundering and cigarette smuggling, command little community support but retain a tight grip in certain areas through fear and punishment attacks.
They are heavily infiltrated with informants and have recently been hit by a number of high profile arms finds and arrests.
However, police in Northern Ireland have cautioned that their capabilities, in isolated incidents, could be increasing as they acquire more sophisticated weaponry like mortar bombs and high calibre assault rifles.
Dissidents have also claimed to have up to a tonne of "newly acquired" Semtex - the odourless plastic explosive which was used widely by the Provisional IRA during the 1980s.
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson expressed surprise at this latest security assessment and is seeking an urgent Privy Council briefing on the matter.
The Lagan Valley MP said: "It is evident that dissident republicans are now active in Great Britain and are examining potential targets. Obviously that's a matter of concern.
"We had no prior indication that the threat level had been increasing. In Northern Ireland, the threat has been severe for some time but quite clearly this is a new development in terms of dissident republican activity."
Ulster Unionist MP Tom Elliott said the raised threat level reinforced the need for vigilance.
"This is not a decision the security services or Government will have taken lightly. People need to know which organisations are now posing an increasing threat to the security of the United Kingdom and what level of co-operation there is between these groups.
Johanna Konta claims another top-10 scalp in Rome but Heather Watson falls
Johanna Konta claimed another top-10 scalp with victory over home favourite Roberta Vinci in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.
The British number one continued her remarkable season by seeing off the world number seven 6-0 6-4.
Konta was exceptional in the opening set, dropping just seven points and outclassing last year's US Open finalist.
Heather Watson, pictured, lost to Barbora Strycova in the second round in Rome
Vinci stopped the rot after seven games and the second set was much more of a battle as a boisterous home crowd attempted to unsettle Konta.
But the 24-year-old held her nerve superbly to serve out the victory after an hour and 13 minutes.
Heather Watson was unable to capitalise on a flying start in a 6-4 6-2 loss to Barbora Strycova.
The British number two won the opening four games against her Czech opponent but then lost 12 of the next 14 to slip to a second-round defeat.
Watson's second serve was exploited by Strycova, who won 19 of the 27 points on which the British player missed her first delivery.
Imam accused by David Cameron 'has faced death threats'
An imam accused of being an Islamic State supporter has faced threats to his life as a result of David Cameron's "smears", according to Muslim leaders.
The Prime Minister apologised for "any misunderstanding" after he branded Sulaiman Ghani a backer of the jihadi group and Defence Secretary Michael Fallon also said sorry for his "inadvertent error" in echoing the comments.
The Muslim Council of Britain called for them to make formal retractions in the House of Commons and urged the Con servatives to launch a probe into Islamophobia in the party.
Downing Street said David Cameron was referring to reports that Sulaiman Ghani supports 'an' Islamic state
Secretary general Shuja Shafi said: "I welcome the Prime Minister's long overdue apology to Imam Sulaiman Ghani, a London imam who has thus far been unable to challenge claims made in Parliament that he supports Daesh or terrorism.
"As a result of these smears, we understand that Imam Ghani has been subject to abuse and threats on his life.
"I call on both the Prime Minister and the Defence Secretary to make that apology in Parliament as well."
Mr Ghani is in discussions with lawyers over his legal options.
In the run-up to the local elections, the Prime Minister used question time in the Commons to accuse Labour's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan of repeatedly sharing a platform with Mr Ghani, a former imam at Tooting Islamic Centre.
Mr Cameron told MPs: ''Sulaiman Ghani, Mr Khan has appeared on a platform with him nine times. This man supports IS."
His comments were made under the protection of parliamentary privilege.
Dr Shafi urged the Tory party to learn from the "disreputable" campaigning.
He said: "Imam Ghani became the innocent casualty of a wider Islamophobic attack on the now mayor of London and the Conservative Party needs to apologise for this too.
"Such smear-by-association has become all too common for Muslims and Muslim organisations. It is a cancer blighting sections of our political and media class and has infected the solemn business of government.
"For the real extremists we are all opposed to, such tactics will only provide fresh new examples of a society not willing to accept Muslims for who they are.
"I also call for an urgent review of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party. Just as the Labour Party is rightly conducting an inquiry into anti-Semitism, it is important for the Conservative Party to reflect upon the extent of Islamophobia in its own ranks. We should have zero tolerance for both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
"We urge the Conservative Party to reflect and learn from this disreputable period of campaigning so that we can all draw a line and move on."
Downing Street said Mr Cameron was referring to reports that Mr Ghani supports "an" Islamic state when he made the comments.
Irish opposition to test new government with mortgage rate bill
DUBLIN, May 9 (Reuters) - Ireland's main opposition party said on Monday it would table a law to give the Central Bank power to intervene in the setting of mortgage rates, in one of the first legislative tests of the new minority government.
Prime Minister Enda Kenny's coalition last year used its majority to vote down a similar proposal. But his new minority government, formed on Friday, controls just 59 of parliament's 157 seats, leaving opposition parties with enough votes needed to pass legislation if they act together.
Fianna Fail, Ireland's second largest party, has agreed to abstain on key votes on government appointments and budgetary issues to the end of 2018, but the agreement does not prevent it from proposing its own legislation.
The party's finance spokesman, Michael McGrath, said it would take advantage of this "new reality" to give the Central Bank powers to intervene if the market fails to provide home loans at a reasonable rate.
The bill will be proposed within the next two weeks.
"Additional powers are needed to ensure that customers are not being fleeced, because that is what is happening," McGrath told state broadcaster RTE, noting that some bank rates were over 4 percent, double those in some other euro zone countries.
The Central Bank has indicated it does not want the powers, and Governor Philip Lane last month described a cap on mortgage rates as a "very crude instrument".
But McGrath said the central bank was obliged to operate within whatever legislative framework parliament decides.
Most banks reduced variable rates after Finance Minister Michael Noonan last May threatened that the authorities could take control of setting mortgage rates.
Allied Irish Banks, the country's second largest lender, on Monday said it was reducing rates by 0.25 percent, its fourth cut in 18 months.
Afghan Taliban tighten squeeze on Helmand capital
By Mohammad Stanekzai
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, May 10 (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents killed at least 15 Afghan policemen when they overran two checkpoints in Helmand province in an attack on Tuesday that sharply increased pressure on the beleaguered provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, officials said.
The attack on checkpoints in Gereshk, on the main highway through Helmand, a few kilometres to the north of the governor's compound in Lashkar Gah, and Nad Ali, to the west of the town, underlined the growing pressure on security forces clinging on in the southern province.
"The situation is very critical near Lashkar Gah," said a senior provincial security official, adding that 15 policeman had been killed.
"If the government does not act soon, there will be a disaster," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Helmand, a Taliban heartland and the biggest source of Afghanistan's opium, has been under pressure for months, with government forces pulling out of several districts to regroup around Lashkar Gah.
The province is one of the key battlegrounds for the Taliban, who launched a spring offensive last month, vowing to drive out the Western-backed government in Kabul and restore strict Islamic rule.
After briefly capturing the northern city of Kunduz last year, the insurgents, who control more territory than at any time since 2001, appear determined to gain control of a province to use as a base for their campaign.
Hundreds of American troops were sent to Helmand this year to bolster its defence with a beefed up training and advisory mission but a promised offensive by Afghan forces has not materialised.
After a few weeks of relative calm during the opium harvest, expected to be a bumper crop, fighting has picked up, underlining the fragile hold government forces have on the province.
"Over the past few days, the Taliban have been attacking security belts near Lashkar Gah," said Bashir Shaker, a member of the provincial council.
He said 17 policemen had been killed in the latest fighting.
"The threat is becoming bigger minute by minute. If the government does not take action soon, we will witness the collapse of Lashkar Gah."
British and U.S. forces struggled for years to control Helmand and many of the more than 450 British servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan lost their lives there.
In a statement, Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the insurgents had overrun two checkpoints in Gereshk.
At least 10 killed in Afghan suicide bombing
KABUL, May 10 (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed and 23 wounded on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew up his car near the house of a pro-government militia commander in the province of Nangarhar, a provincial official said.
The car drew up in front of the house of the commander in the Nazian district of Nangarhar, in eastern Afghanistan, according to Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor. It was unclear whether the militia leader, whose name was given only as Dehqan, was injured in the attack.
"The commander was leading fighting against Taliban and Daeah insurgents in Nazian district," Khogyani said. "The bomber was in front of his house and as soon as people from the village came together, he detonated himself."
The commander belonged to a volunteer pro-government militia movement known as Public Uprising.
A statement from the governor's office said 10 people had been killed, including three children, and another 23 wounded in the explosion.
Nangarhar province has been the main base for militants from Islamic State, generally known in Afghanistan as Daesh, where they have battled both government forces and the Taliban.
Argentina's farmers take hit as fuel prices surge
By Maximilian Heath
BUENOS AIRES, May 10 (Reuters) - Argentina's farmers are facing a sharp increase in transportation costs after fuel prices were hiked in recent months, dismaying a sector that has been one of center-right President Mauricio Macri's biggest allies.
Shortly after taking the reins of Latin America's third-largest economy in December, free-market proponent Macri dropped the trade and currency controls applied by his leftist predecessor, Cristina Fernandez.
He eliminated corn export duties and reduced soy export taxes, winning the favor of the farming sector.
But his government, blaming exchange-rate corrections, has also overseen a jump in fuel prices, up 31 percent so far in 2016.
That has boosted the cost of ground transportation for Argentina's grains producers, most of whom rely on trucks to transport their harvest to the country's ports.
"As of today, fuel prices have already neutralized the gains of the tax reduction," Eliseo Rovetto of the Argentine agrarian federation told Reuters.
Although Macri has won plaudits on Wall Street for his economic policies, the rapid adjustments are causing pain for many Argentines and sending his approval ratings down.
The fuel cost situation is especially troublesome for farmers in Argentina's northern provinces, many of whom have to cover as much as 1,200 km (750 miles) to reach the country's ports. Nearly 80 percent of agricultural products are shipped from the central port of Rosario.
Argentina's farm belt is concentrated in the country's central provinces, but about 11 percent of the 20 million hectares (49 million acres) of soy plantations for the 2015/16 season are in the north, as well as 19 percent of corn plantations, according to the Buenos Aires grains exchange.
For farmers in the north, the cost of shipping to Rosario can represent over half of what the shipment is worth, said Ernesto Ambrosetti, an economist at Argentina's Rural Society, which represents large farm owners.
Sao Paulo mayor to authorize Uber with mileage fee
SAO PAULO, May 10 (Reuters) - The mayor of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city, laid out regulations on Tuesday to allow the use of Uber and other ride-hailing apps in exchange for a mileage fee, triggering anger among taxi drivers who blocked major avenues.
Mayor Fernando Haddad plans to formalize the decision with a decree on Wednesday, overriding attempts by city council members to ban Uber and other apps they accuse of unfairly competing with licensed taxis.
Under the decree, Brazil's congested business hub will charge an average fee of 10 centavos (3 cents) per kilometer for drivers working with Uber Technologies Ltd and newly arrived Spanish rival Cabify, the mayor's office said.
The city expects to raise around 40 million reais ($11.5 million) a year with the measure, said Ciro Biderman, head of innovation for development agency SP Negocios, which designed the new regulations.
Irate cab drivers blocked a major artery during the evening rush hour and television footage showed a crowd pounding on the windows of a black car with tinted windows, fitting the profile of a standard Uber vehicle.
Uber embraced the mayor's decision, calling it "the first step toward guaranteeing that apps intermediating travel with technology have a place in the city."
Cabify declined to comment.
After 30 years in Thailand, a glimmer of hope for refugees from Myanmar
By Alisa Tang
MAE SOT, Thailand, May 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Ta Mla Saw was about seven when she and her family fled from Myanmar troops attacking her village in the country's ethnic Karen region, and crossed the river into Thailand to the safety of refugee camps dotted along the border.
Confined for decades in the camps and supported by aid agencies, the refugees nourished themselves with education and anything they could do to better their community, said Ta Mla Saw, who is now 34 and joint secretary for the Karen Women Organisation (KWO), a community social welfare group.
"I feel like the refugee camp was a learning place for us. We didn't have to be afraid of anything life-threatening, we didn't need to worry about the fighting, dying," she said at KWO's small office outside Mae Sot, a border town that serves as a base camp for aid agencies working with refugees from Myanmar.
"All you had to do was run for your life, then survive," she said, her green polished nails flashing as she described the role of education in a future back in Myanmar. "It's like preparing ourselves so we are ready when the time comes."
Many of the mostly ethnic Karen refugees in the nine border camps have spent more than 25 years away from home, more than the average duration of the world's longest refugee crises.
The World Humanitarian Summit is being convened in Istanbul later this month as the number of people who have been forced from their homes globally hits record levels.
At the first summit of its kind, governments will be asked to commit to tackling forced displacement in a new way - that both meets the immediate needs of the world's 60 million displaced, and builds their resilience and self-reliance.
The Thai camps offer useful pointers for a longer-term approach. Barred from leaving or seeking employment, refugees here have spent decades working with the aid groups providing services, learning everything from healthcare and food distribution to the nuts and bolts of democracy.
They elect leaders of the committees that run their camps, as well as KWO members such as Ta Mla Saw, whose organisation focuses on health, education, social welfare and women's rights.
Working with foreign donors and organisations has required them to learn about transparency and accountability.
These lessons have put them ahead of most people in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, whose first civilian government took office in March after half a century of military rule.
"In Burma, everything was cloak and dagger," said Sally Thompson, executive director of The Border Consortium (TBC), which provides food, shelter and other support to refugees in the camps. "You didn't leave a paper trail, for your own protection. You didn't talk about things openly, you didn't share information because you couldn't trust anybody."
By contrast, refugees in the camps who receive assistance from the international community have to report it. "They have to be financially accountable," she said.
"NOT THE RIGHT TIME YET"
Myanmar has fought ethnic groups in its borderlands on and off for decades, causing huge displacement inside the country and forcing hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Thailand.
More than 100,000 refugees have been resettled to third countries, with the United States taking in 80,000. The most educated - the camps' teachers and medics - often moved first.
About 100,000 remain in the Thai camps, but with democratic changes afoot in Myanmar and a ceasefire inked last October, the possibility of going home is now on the horizon.
Nonetheless, the refugees worry about their safety back home and are reluctant to let go of their official refugee status for fear they will be unprotected if fighting erupts again.
Seven of the 15 armed ethnic groups invited to sign the ceasefire agreement declined, in part because of distrust of Myanmar's government and its still-powerful military. Sporadic fighting continues in Kachin and Shan states.
George, the 65-year-old vice chairman of the Karen Refugee Committee who goes by one name, said donors are interested in supporting refugees once they return to Myanmar.
But the respected elder, who fled Myanmar in 1975, tells them "it's not the right time yet", and says that refugees in Thailand still rely on their help.
"We have no income, no livelihoods here ... We are not greedy, but we need to survive," he said.
"A GOOD SELL" FOR DONORS
On the last day of March, dozens of refugee leaders met aid workers on the outskirts of Mae Sot to discuss their return.
Refugee representatives sat around a U-shaped table and heard updates about preparations for them to go home. They raised their hands to voice concerns and share findings from their own visits to suss out the situation in their villages.
"In the camps, every house has a toilet, but at home, in some villages, there are 30 houses but only two toilets," said Zaw Gaw, general secretary of the committee for Nu Po camp south of Mae Sot, who visited Myanmar with 20 people in late March.
"Last year we heard about a diarrhoea outbreak because there were no latrines," he said, speaking through a translator.
About 12,000 refugees have left the camps over the last four years, but it is unclear whether all of them have gone back to Myanmar, said Iain Hall, Mae Sot-based senior coordinator for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) in Thailand.
Hall said it would be "grossly irresponsible" not to prepare for the refugees' voluntary return to Myanmar, but there would be no pressure for them to leave.
"People do get anxious ... This is normal, particularly for those that have been in the camps for so many years," he said on the sidelines of the meeting.
No one would be sent back, he said. "If they don't want to go home, they don't go. We are here to protect them."
With the war in Syria and the refugee crisis in Europe, it has become increasingly difficult to secure humanitarian funding for long-lasting refugee situations, said Hall, a 24-year veteran with UNHCR who has worked in Africa, Europe and Asia.
"We need to be smart," Hall said, putting forward a case for why donors should support the Karen refugees.
"After 30 long years, when all we have in the world is displacement, here we have a glimmer of hope. Here we have a chance of success. That is a good sell."
As the Bureau of Land Management's staff wades through 140 letters raising protest points to American Prairie Reserve's latest request to graze bison on a new allotment in Phillips County, the conservation group is seeking a one-year temporary grazing permit.
"They're just applying for something in the interim so they can make use of the allotment," explained Adrienne Lipka, a rangeland management specialist for the BLM's Malta office.
Under the request for the one-year grazing permit, American Prairie Reserve would not remove internal fences on the federal land and would keep the same previously allocated Animal Unit Months and grazing season May 1 to Nov. 15. The BLM is taking comments on the proposal until May 25.
In the meantime the agency is wading through the protests to American Prairie Reserve's original request in which it asked to change the use of the 13,000-acre Flat Creek Allotment from cattle to bison, to remove interior fencing and manage their private lands along with the public lands as one common pasture, and to change the grazing season to year-round.
After a yearlong public planning process, in December the BLM completed an environmental assessment on American Prairie Reserve's initial request with a Finding of No Significant Impact. Then the objections rolled in.
Early this year the Montana Farm Bureau protested the BLM's decision saying the approval was "a step toward establishing a wild bison herd in Montana.
"In light of the protests received, the BLM is vacating the proposed decision and will revise the (National Environmental Policy Act) analysis of the long-term application to address the protest points raised," the BLM said in a news release.
The BLM has previously approved two other grazing lease requests from American Prairie Reserve to accommodate bison: the 12,000-plus-acre Telegraph Creek Allotment in 2005 and the 6,500-acre Box Elder Allotment in 2008.
Since 2001, American Prairie Reserve has purchased ranches in northeastern Montana that, together with associated federal and state grazing leases, has created a 353,000-acre reserve stretching across five counties. The group's most recent acquisition announced last week was the 47,000-acre PN Ranch along the Missouri River in Fergus County.
This spring APR's bison herd is estimated at 800 animals. Concerns by northeastern Montana residents about bison replacing cattle on the landscape has prompted several counties containing APR land to approve or put to a vote conservation district-driven ordinances requiring management and conservation plans for bison operations, unlike any similar plans required for cattle. The ordinances have drawn opposition from bison ranching groups.
The BLMs Malta Field Office is preparing to conduct an environmental analysis of APRs request. Comments about the temporary application must be submitted in writing by May 25. Comments may be sent to the Malta Field Office, 501 South 2nd Street East, Malta, MT 59538 or via email to brhodes@blm.gov.
For more information contact the Malta Field Office at 406-654-5100.
PROFILE-Securing aid access in S.Sudan: "I communicate, negotiate, cajole"
DAKAR, May 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - John Ayang is the deputy head of delegation in Malakal, South Sudan for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), reuniting separated families and negotiating access with warring factions in the world's youngest country.
"Childhood is not supposed to be an apprenticeship for war, but I grew up in what is now South Sudan in the 1980s, a time of bloody conflict.
As a 13-year-old boy, I remember collecting unexploded bombs from the land where I grew up, and putting those tools of war in my pocket to contribute to the independence movement from Sudan.
It was dangerous and foolish, but that's what we boys did at the time to help the cause.
My childhood was interrupted when the fighting reached our home in Tonga, where my tribe, the Shilluk, live. My family and I were uprooted and headed to Malakal.
This was the start of a journey that saw me train as a priest, teach at a primary school, and study philosophy in Sudan, before I ended up in this role - a jack-of-all-trades.
MOST DANGEROUS MOMENT
"I communicate, negotiate, and even cajole to ensure our work is accepted and that our teams can work safely, obtaining security guarantees from all sides involved in the conflict.
Exchanges with fighters, authorities and communities are my everyday work. While my work demands that I remain calm and collected, the atmosphere of conflict can be very tense.
My most dangerous moment came two years ago in Malakal.
Six armed men entered our office to loot and kill - they wanted to murder people from certain ethnic groups.
A colleague and I were separated from the others in the office, and the bandits held us for 15 very long minutes with three guns pressed against my forehead and body.
Amidst the vitriol and threats, I was able to persuade the men to leave, talking to them in their own language.
Before leaving, they fired warning shots and said they'd return and kill everyone, regardless of tribe or nationality.
FAMILY REUNIONS
"This low point is an exception among many happier memories.
I have helped many separated families find one another, a necessary and popular part of our work in this land of violence.
It reminds me of when I lost contact with my brother when my family was displaced, and how overjoyed I was to find him again.
My work is powered in part by knowing how difficult a life of conflict can be for families.
I am the father of seven children who live in Uganda since it is not safe for them here. They will remain there until our country can put a stop to this cycle of violence.
I yearn for a day when my country protects medical clinics, hospitals and healthcare workers. Whenever I speak to a person in power, I explain my hope that we will achieve it one day.
I no longer pick up unexploded bombs off the ground. Instead, I meet with community leaders to try to secure access to injured fighters so they may be evacuated for medical care.
These are the kinds of acts that put a smile on my face, persuading someone to make the decision to save a life." This aid worker profile is one of five commissioned by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ahead of the first ever World Humanitarian Summit on the biggest issues affecting the humanitarian response to disasters and conflict. For more on the World Humanitarian Summit, please visit: http://news.trust.org/spotlight/reshape-aid
Suspect dead after four stabbed at Massachusetts mall, home
May 10 (Reuters) - A man was shot and killed by police on Tuesday night after stabbing four people, two of whom later died, in twin attacks at a Massachusetts house and shopping mall, state police said.
Two people were stabbed at a mall outside Boston by an assailant who crashed a car into the front of a store after two other people were stabbed at a nearby residence, police said.
The suspect died after being shot by an off-duty law enforcement officer at the Silver City Galleria, Massachusetts State Police said in a statement.
State police said in a Tweet later on Tuesday evening that the suspect and two of his victims had died, and that more information would be released by a county prosecutor.
Taunton Fire Department dispatcher Mike Marshall said reports started coming in around 6:37 p.m and that the department sent out "a lot" of ambulances.
Witnesses told local television station WHDH-TV that they saw people running out of the mall and heard gunfire. The station reported that people in the area, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Boston, saw police officers with guns drawn and that the mall had been evacuated and put on lockdown.
The motivation behind the attacks was unclear. A number of state and local police units were at the crime scenes, authorities said.
M'bishi Motors used wrong mileage tests on most Japan models - Asahi
TOKYO, May 11 (Reuters) - Mitsubishi Motors Corp used improper mileage tests on almost all its vehicles sold in Japan since 1991, the Asahi newspaper reported on Tuesday, raising the possibility that the practice was widespread at the Japanese automaker.
Non-compliant tests were used on dozens of Mitsubishi models sold in the past 25 years, including the Pajero SUV and the Lancer sedan, the newspaper said without identifying its sources.
The company declined to comment on the report, saying investigations were ongoing. Mitsubishi last month admitted falsifying fuel economy readings for four domestic mini-vehicle models, including two it produced for Nissan Motor Co.
The automaker has also said that since 1991 it compiled data for fuel economy tests on some vehicles using standards approved in the United States, where higher-speed, highway driving is common, rather than Japanese standards, where more prevalent city driving consumes more fuel.
Mitsubishi officials have said the U.S. testing method may have been used as it is shorter and would save time.
The Transport Ministry is investigating Mitsubishi Motors over the falsified mileage data and its use of non-compliant data. It has ordered Mitsubishi to submit information on the issue by Wednesday.
Oil dips on record U.S. inventories; Canada output to improve soon
By Henning Gloystein
SINGAPORE, May 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Wednesday as Canadian oil sand production was expected to gradually ramp up following forced closures due to wildfires, and as record crude inventories especially in the United States put pressure on markets.
An ongoing fight by Middle East producers for market share in Asia also weighed on prices, countering production declines and disruptions around the world.
International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $45.49 per barrel at 0153 GMT, down 3 cents from their last settlement, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 8 cent at $44.58 a barrel.
ANZ bank said that recent "gains in prices were capped as concerns over further disruptions in Canada eased as producers looked to return to their operations."
Oil sands companies around the Canadian energy hub of Fort McMurray began to restart operations on Tuesday after an out-of-control wildfire forced a week-long shutdown.
Provincial and industry officials said production in much of the region should ramp up soon. Facilities north of Fort McMurray that had been shuttered largely because of heavy smoke rather than fire were seen as likely to come back online in a matter of days in many cases.
The fires in Canada's oil sand field region have knocked out around 1.5 million barrels of daily crude production, leading to a significant tightening of global markets, supported by more production declines and disruptions in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
With Canadian oil sand production gradually coming back and U.S. crude inventories hitting record highs, some analysts say that a price rally away from decade low prices hit early this year may fizzle out.
Industry group American Petroleum Institute (API) said on Tuesday that U.S. crude inventories rose by 3.45 million barrels to a record 543.1 million barrels during the week ended May 6.
In a sign of an ongoing aggressive fight for market share, Iran has set its June official selling prices (OSPs) for heavier crude grades it sells to Asia at the biggest discounts to Saudi and Iraqi oil since 2007-2008.
Ahead of inauguration, China says Taiwan to blame for any crisis
BEIJING, May 11 (Reuters) - Taiwan's new government will be to blame for any crisis with China that erupts once it assumes office, Beijing said on Wednesday, heaping on the pressure ahead of the inauguration of a new president from a pro-independence party.
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 presidential and parliamentary elections by a landslide in January, in part on rising anti-China sentiment.
Beijing has never renounced the use of force to take the island which it considers a breakaway province, particularly if it makes moves toward independence.
Tsai, who assumes office on May 20, has said she will maintain the status quo, but has never conceded to a key bilateral agreement referencing the "one China" principle, which has angered Beijing.
Under the "1992 consensus" with the Nationalists, Taiwan and China agreed there is only one China, with each having their own interpretation of what that means. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan at the end of the civil war with the Communists in 1949.
Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said it was clear who was "destroying bridges" and trying to change the status quo.
"If there are those who are unclear on this point, or are offering encouragement from the wings, this is really not a sensible act," Ma told a briefing live on state television.
"We must repeat, if there is deadlock across the Taiwan Strait, or if there is a crisis, the responsibility will be on the heads of those who change the status quo."
China has been pressuring Taiwan since the January election, forcibly repatriating Taiwanese fraud suspects from Kenya and Malaysia and establishing diplomatic ties with a former Taiwanese ally in Africa, Gambia.
On Sunday, the incoming Taiwanese government accused China of "political interference" after Beijing cast doubt over the island keeping its observer status at the World Health Organisation.
Ma said Taiwan's previous participation had been predicated on acceptance of the "one China" principle, something recognised by the United Nations, of which the WHO is a part.
"With a challenge to the one China principle which has the recognition of the international community, the relevant arrangements will be hard to continue," he said.
Indonesia's Inalum plans to double aluminium output to 500,000 T/yr by 2020
JAKARTA, May 11 (Reuters) - Indonesia's state-owned aluminium producer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) plans to increase its output to 500,000 tonnes a year by 2020 from its current production level of 260,000 tonnes, said Dante Sinaga, who heads the firm's coal power station development project.
China stocks rebound on consumer, healthcare sector; Hong Kong eases
SHANGHAI, May 11 (Reuters) - China stocks rebounded on Wednesday, recovering some of the heavy losses suffered in recent sessions, as buyers snapped up consumer and healthcare stocks.
But Hong Kong shares fell as investors waited for more clues on whether a recent pick-up in China's economy was just a seasonal blip or something more sustainable.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 0.9 percent, to 3,097.08 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent, to 2,850.05 points. But the indexes are still down more than 1 percent so far this week.
After a front page article in the official People's Daily judged that China's economic trend would be "L-sharped", barring the possibility of a strong rebound, investors feel further gains in the stock market will be limited.
"You don't expect a bull market in an L-shaped economy," said David Dai, Shanghai-based investor director at Nanhai Fund Management Co.
Trading remained thin as many investors stood on the sidelines, with some media attributing the phenomenon to the government's excessive market interference.
China's "National Team" of state-backed investors should refrain from frequent trading, as their recent "buy low, sell high" strategy distorts stock market behaviour and discourages new investors, the state-run Economic Information Daily reported on Wednesday.
All main stocks rose in China, with the consumer and healthcare sectors leading the charge, both jumping 3.6 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 0.6 percent, to 20,115.03 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 0.4 percent, to 8,452.63.
Thailand defends rights restrictions at U.N. review
By Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Patpicha Tanakasempipat
BANGKOK, May 11 (Reuters) - Thailand on Wednesday defended its curbs on freedom of expression at a review of its rights record by the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying the measures were aimed at "those who stir up violence".
At a time of fresh arrests of online critics accused of criticising Thailand's junta, U.N. member states attending the review in Geneva expressed concern over the deteriorating rights situation since the military took power in a May 2014 coup.
Some U.N. members urged the military to review controversial laws, such as a royal insults law, that rights groups say have increasingly been used to silence critics.
Thailand should "allow all Thai people to fully participate in the political process," the United States said in a brief statement to the council, and called for the elimination of "mandatory minimum sentences for lese-majeste".
The restrictions were "meant for those who stir up violence", a representative of Thailand's justice ministry said in a live broadcast of the meeting, responding to the concerns raised at the review, the country's first since 2011.
The military seized power in May 2014, saying it had to end a bitter cycle of political unrest that had rocked Thailand since 2006, when the army ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Rights groups say the junta has tightened its grip on power and severely repressed rights in the past year. It has jailed critics, introduced new laws aimed at curbing freedom of speech, censored the media and restricted political debate.
The military government has stepped up prosecutions of those accused of defamation, handing down harsher sentences.
The latest crackdown comes as the military government prepares to put a widely criticised military-written constitution to the public in August.
Thai authorities on Tuesday released on bail eight activists arrested in April over Facebook comments critical of the junta and the draft constitution.
Two of the eight activists face separate charges of royal insult. They were charged on Wednesday with insulting the revered monarchy in private Facebook messages.
Thailand's strict royal defamation law makes it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent. Those found guilty face prison terms of up to 15 years for each offence.
Thailand is one of 14 countries being questioned at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a cyclical review of the human rights record of the 193 United Nations members.
More than a decade of political strife has seen at times violent street protests by both Thaksin's supporters and their opponents.
Malaysia's c. bank says confident government will honour debt obligations
KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia's new central bank governor said he was confident the government would honour all its debt obligations, as a deadline loomed on Wednesday for troubled state fund 1MDB to make a coupon payment on a $1.75 billion bond.
"I'm quite confident the government will honour all of its debt obligations," Muhammad Ibrahim told reporters at the sidelines of an event in Kuala Lumpur.
"Also, with the resolution of 1MDB, it will improve market sentiments," he added.
1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) has to make a payment on a $1.75 billion bond on Wednesday, but there was no indication yet on whether it would be paid.
'I knew it was her, it was unbelievable!' Matt Goss claims he was visited by his late mother's ghost FIVE times in one night after being voted off Strictly
Former President Bill Clinton will campaign for Hillary Clinton in Billings on Friday, May 20, according to his wife's campaign.
The former president will discuss why Hillary Clinton "is the best candidate to break down all the barriers holding families back."
Bill Clinton also will attend public events in Sioux Falls, S.D., and Fargo, N.D., on that day.
More details about the visit will be released soon, according to the campaign.
In 2008, Bill Clinton campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Billings, where he spoke at the Yellowstone County Democratic Party's Truman Dinner.
Hillary Clinton also spoke at MetraPark that year.
North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party Executive Director Robert Haider said Wednesday he didnt have details about the time and location in Fargo.
Hillary Clintons state director for North Dakota, Marcella Jewell, responded to a request for comment with a text message saying a press advisory will be going out later.
Hillary Clintons competition for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, announced on Tuesday that he will speak Friday in Fargo.
Sanders was in Missoula and Billings on Wednesday.
Poland - Factors to Watch May 11
Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Wednesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):
ENERGA
Poland's No.4 utility said on Wednesday its net profit in the first quarter fell to 8 million zlotys ($2.1 million) from 352 million a year earlier due to a write-down on its wind farms.
GRUPA AZOTY
Poland's largest chemicals maker disappointed with a 1.4-percent fall in its first-quarter net profit, as falling fertilizer prices outweighed lower gas costs, it said on Wednesday.
DEFICIT
The European Commission is unlikely to launch the excess deficit procedure against Poland if the country's deficit remains below 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, Puls Biznesu daily said quoting a source in Brussels.
VAT
Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said on Wednesday that she wants to lower the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate next year and that the final decision will be taken in the second half of 2016.
Szydlo also said she would not overestimate the decisions by rating agencies apart from that they could have a negative impact on debt costs.
KGHM
The Polish state-run copper miner scrapped plans to build a photovoltaic panel producing unit, as the country's planned law on renewable energy does not lend enough support to such projects, daily Rzeczpospolita reported.
Lack of any solid government ideas to cut Poland's mining tax, which hits almost solely KGHM, lured company unions to plan talks with the management on limiting the levy's curb on wages, daily Parkiet reported.
BANKS
Poland's financial watchdog KNF has suspended the operations of SKOK Arka, one of many troubled credit unions, saying that it would file for the SKOK's bankruptcy.
****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
Poland's PM says wants lower VAT rates next year - paper
WARSAW, May 11 (Reuters) - Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said on Wednesday that she wants to cut the value-added tax (VAT) rate next year and that the final decision will be taken in the second half of 2016.
"I do not foresee levying any new taxes on particular branches of economy. I want a move in the opposite direction - returning to lower VAT rates next year," Szydlo told Puls Biznesu daily in an interview.
In April, Finance Minister Pawel Szalamacha said that he would rather not cut VAT rates next year.
"Minister Szalamacha has to be more pessimistic - this is his role, but after the middle of the year, we will assess the budget condition, we will analyse the effects of our actions and will decide what to do with the VAT rates," Szydlo said.
She added that the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party will carry out its election promises, but in a "sensible" way and the schedule of reforms will depend on the economy and budget condition.
Changes to the constitutional court and public media introduced since PiS came to power late last year led to the European Union launching an unprecedented rule of law procedure against Poland.
Arguments that the new government has weakened key institutions have also led rating agency Standard and Poor's (S&P) to downgrade Poland in January. Nearly half of analysts polled by Reuters expect Moody's to follow suit on Friday.
"I would not overestimate these decisions, apart from that they could, unfortunately, have a negative impact on the cost of debt," Szydlo said.
New Zealand warns hikers away from "Lord of the Rings" volcano
WELLINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - New Zealand has warned hikers and climbers to steer clear of a volcano in a national park whose jagged volcanic rock formations and eerie barren landscapes featured in "The Lord of The Rings" movies.
Quake and volcano monitoring service GNS Science raised the alert for Mount Ruapehu, in the North Island's Tongariro National Park, which last erupted in 2007.
"There are more signs of life at the volcano," said Volcanologist Brad Scott.
The Department of Conservation warned trekkers to stay out of the Summit Hazard Zone, within two km of the centre of Crater Lake.
"Recent visits to the volcano have confirmed an increase in the output of volcanic gas," GNS Science said.
The temperature of the lake has risen from 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) to 46 degrees Celsius (115 F)since mid-April. The volcanic alert level has been lifted to "heightened unrest" from "moderate".
Each year, thousands of people trek the so-called Tongariro Crossing, a 20-km (12-mile) alpine crossing that passes all three volcanoes in the area.
PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - May 11
SOFIA, May 11 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
-- Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev has sent back to parliament for further consideration parts of recent changes to the Electoral Code that set restrictions on voting outside the Balkan country (Trud, 24 Chasa, Standart)
-- Nationalist Patriotic Front, which supports Bulgaria's minority government, said it is ready to backtrack on curbs to voting abroad (Trud, 24 Chasa, Standart)
-- The new leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Kornelia Ninova, has been elected head of the party's parliamentary group (Trud, 24 Chasa, Standart, Duma)
-- Gas wholesaler Bulgargaz has offered a 9.97 percent decrease in the natural gas prices in the third quarter of 2016 due to an expected drop in the price of gas supplies (Standart, Capital daily)
Metro core profit bolstered by Media-Saturn cost cuts
By Emma Thomasson
BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Metro reported a bigger-than-expected improvement in quarterly profitability at its Media-Saturn consumer electronics chain on Wednesday, helped by cost cuts as the German retailer prepares to split the business from its food operations.
Metro said in March it wanted to separate its wholesale and food business from its consumer electronics arm by mid-2017 to help each focus and grow faster.
Chief Executive Olaf Koch told a conference call for analysts that preparations for the demerger were on track, with no major issues identified since the March announcement, but he declined to give details.
Metro reported quarterly earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), before special items, of 11 million euros ($12.5 million), on sales down 0.9 percent to 13.57 billion, ahead of analysts' average forecast for a loss of 6 million on sales of 13.54 billion.
That was largely driven by an improvement in profitability at Media-Saturn, which Metro said was due to cost cuts as well as positive contributions from commissions and suppliers.
Metro shares were down 0.1 percent at 0832 GMT, compared with a 0.7 percent weaker European retail sector
"A solid set of results for Metro and on track to achieve full year guidance. The improvement seen at Media-Saturn is encouraging," said Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne.
Metro flagged a 35 percent jump in online sales at Media Markt and Saturn as well as a 50 percent increase in service sales after it bought repair company RTS last year.
Media Saturn was initially slow to embrace ecommerce due to a protracted dispute between Metro and the chain's billionaire founder Erich Kellerhals.
But it is now doing a better job of linking its stores with ecommerce, with 40 percent of goods ordered online collected in a store, and it is also seeking to offer more services such as repairs to differentiate itself from website-only players.
Meanwhile, the cash and carry business, which Metro plans to spin out and list separately, took another hit from the weak rouble, but Koch said there were encouraging signs consumer demand in Russia had turned positive.
Metro also made some progress at reining in losses at its struggling Real hypermarket chain after it closed unprofitable stores, trimmed costs and secured better purchasing conditions.
Oil jumps on first U.S. drawdown since March; Brent up 4 pct
By Barani Krishnan
NEW YORK, May 11 (Reuters) - Oil jumped on Wednesday, with Brent up more than 4 percent for a second day in a row, after the U.S. government unexpectedly said crude inventories fell the first time since March, adding to concerns over supply outages in Canada and Nigeria.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude inventories fell 3.4 million barrels last week, compared with analysts' expectations for an increase of 714,000 barrels and the American Petroleum Institute's (API) build of 3.5 million barrels in preliminary data issued on Tuesday.
The EIA report "has been quickly viewed as bullish, with the crude draw just about exactly opposite to what API had," said Dominick Chirichella, senior partner at the Energy Management Institute in New York.
Oil markets extended gains after the data. Brent crude futures settled up $2.08, or 4.6 percent, at $47.60 per barrel. In the previous session it gained 4.3 percent.
The EIA, in a separate report on Wednesday, said it expected Brent to trade at $76 a barrel in the next year on continued increase in demand.
U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate futures rose $1.57, or 3.5 percent, to settle at $46.23.
The rally in crude crossed over to refined oil products, with gasoline settling up 6 percent and ultra-low-sulfur diesel, or heating oil, 4 percent. The refining margin, or "crack," for gasoline <_1RBc1-CLc1> had its biggest daily gain in three months, rising more than 14 percent to above $20 a barrel.
Crude prices had risen earlier after Shell announced a Nigerian pipeline closure while Canadian energy companies tried to restart closed facilities that had halted more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd) in supply after a huge wildfire in Alberta's oil sands region.
"We were not totally surprised with the draw after the shut-in in Canadian production," said Tariq Zahir, trader and managing partner at Tyche Capital Advisors, New York. "But while the fires have taken tar sands production offline, we believe this will not be a prolonged event."
In Nigeria, a refinery official said crude flows were halted to the Kaduna and Warri refineries after a pipeline attack. Nigeria's state petroleum company says the Kaduna refinery produces 1.5 million liters (12,579 liquid barrels) of fuel per day, while the one in Warri had a capacity for 125,000 bpd.
Bangladesh refugee dies of heart failure on protest-hit Nauru
By Matt Siegel
SYDNEY, May 11 (Reuters) - A Bangladeshi refugee died of heart failure on Nauru on Wednesday, Australian officials said, the second death in as many weeks on the tiny South Pacific island where detainees have been hurting themselves in protests.
Controversies arising from Australia's immigration policy have become a major headache for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during campaigning for elections set to be held on July 2.
Under Australia's hard-line immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach the country by boat are sent to camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or to Nauru.
The camps have drawn criticism from the United Nations and human rights agencies for their harsh conditions and reports of abuse there.
"The man admitted himself to the Republic of Nauru Hospital on May 9, complaining of chest pains," Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement.
"He was receiving treatment in hospital, but died early today after a series of cardiac arrests."
A department spokesman declined to discuss the medical history of the 26-year-old man, or respond to allegations by a refugee activist that his illness had been caused by an intentional overdose.
Officials in Nauru could not be reached by telephone and did not respond to emailed questions.
The activist, Ian Rintoul, said refugees on the island had told him the man, to whom he referred by a single name, Rakib, had committed suicide by taking an overdose of pills.
"Rakib's friends say his suicide was driven by the same desperation as others on Nauru," said Rintoul, the coordinator of the Refugee Action Coalition, which is based in Australia.
Two asylum seekers, a 23-year-old Iranian man and a 21-year-old Somali woman, have set fire to themselves in protest over their lengthy detention on Nauru. The man died and the woman is in a critical condition.
More than 100 refugees and asylum seekers at the centre have signed a petition to be allowed to buy boats to leave the country.
"We have been living in Nauru as prisoners for three years now," they said in the petition. "We've decided to rescue ourselves by getting on boats once again."
Last week Australia said it had agreed to pay compensation to a charity it wrongly accused of inciting refugees to harm themselves in a Nauru protest in 2014.
Kidnapped son of former Pakistani PM heads home from Afghanistan
By James Mackenzie
KABUL, May 11 (Reuters) - The son of a former Pakistani prime minister who was rescued in Afghanistan three years after being kidnapped from his home town looked tired but otherwise healthy on Wednesday as he was handed over to Pakistani officials before being flown home.
Ali Haider Gilani, son of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, was rescued on Monday by a joint force of Afghan and U.S. commandos who attacked a house held by al Qaeda militants in Paktika province, just across the border from Pakistan.
Gilani, with long hair and a grey-streaked beard, thanked his rescuers after being brought by helicopter to the Afghan defence ministry.
He said pressure from Pakistani forces fighting militants in lawless frontier lands had forced his captors to take him over the border into Afghanistan.
"I really appreciate the Afghan government's efforts and the Afghan forces' efforts for someone, these sacrifices, for someone from another country," he told reporters in a brief statement.
"That shows the efforts of the Afghan government to bringing peace in the region," he said.
"I would also like to thank U.S. forces which, at the critical moments of my release provided me with shelter, food and medical care," he said. "I'm just looking forward to being reunited with my family and just getting back to normal life."
He was due to be flown home on a chartered aircraft sent from Pakistan with his brother aboard, Pakistan's foreign ministry said.
Gilani was abducted outside an office of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in his home town of Multan on May 9, 2013, two days before an election.
His rescue occurred partly by chance, as Afghan and U.S. special forces raided the suspected al Qaeda compound.
The force had an "inkling" a hostage was being held there but was not aware it was Gilani, said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the NATO-led force.
He said four al Qaeda fighters were killed in the raid. Gilani was with his captors but was identified as a hostage after he did not try to resist.
The incident offered a rare moment of warmth and respite in long-running tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, which many in Afghanistan blame for fostering and sheltering Taliban leaders on their soil.
Pakistan denies it helps the insurgents and says it is itself the target of militants from Afghanistan.
Gilani's father, a veteran PPP politician, was prime minister from 2008 to 2012.
Ali Haider's was not the only high-profile abduction in Pakistan in recent years.
Kidnapped son of Pakistani ex-PM arrives home from Afghanistan
By James Mackenzie and Mubasher Bukhari
KABUL/LAHORE, Pakistan, May 11 (Reuters) - The son of a former Pakistani prime minister who was rescued by Afghan and U.S. forces from al Qaeda captors in Afghanistan arrived home to a rapturous welcome in Pakistan on Wednesday, three years after being kidnapped from his home town.
Ali Haider Gilani was rescued on Monday by a joint force of Afghan and U.S. commandos who attacked a house held by al Qaeda militants in Paktika province, just across the border from Pakistan.
Before his departure from Afghanistan, Gilani, with long hair and a grey-streaked beard, thanked his rescuers.
Looking tired but otherwise healthy, the son of former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said pressure from Pakistani forces fighting militants in lawless frontier lands had forced his captors to take him over the border into Afghanistan.
"I really appreciate the Afghan government's efforts and the Afghan forces' efforts for someone, these sacrifices, for someone from another country," he told reporters at Afghanistan's Ministry of Defence where he was handed over to Pakistani diplomats.
"That shows the efforts of the Afghan government to bringing peace in the region," he said.
"I would also like to thank U.S. forces which, at the critical moments of my release provided me with shelter, food and medical care," he said. "I'm just looking forward to being reunited with my family and just getting back to normal life."
The rescue offered a rare moment of warmth and respite in long-running tensions between Kabul and Islamabad, which many in Afghanistan blame for fostering and sheltering Taliban leaders on their soil.
Pakistan denies it helps the insurgents and says it is itself the target of militants from Afghanistan.
FOUR MILITANTS KILLED
Gilani was flown home on a chartered aircraft sent from Pakistan and was later showered with rose petals as he got out of a vehicle outside the family home in the city of Lahore.
He waved to the crowd and was mobbed by well-wishers and journalists.
Gilani was abducted on May 9, 2013, outside an office of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in his home town of Multan, two days before an election.
His rescue occurred partly by chance, as Afghan and U.S. special forces raided the suspected al Qaeda compound.
The force had an "inkling" a hostage was being held there but was not aware it was Gilani, said Brigadier General Charles Cleveland, spokesman for the NATO-led force.
He said four al Qaeda fighters were killed in the raid. Gilani was with his captors but was identified as a hostage after he did not try to resist.
Gilani's father, a veteran PPP politician, was prime minister from 2008 to 2012.
Ali Haider's was not the only high-profile abduction in Pakistan in recent years.
Mitsui to trim thermal coal assets amid climate concerns -CEO
TOKYO, May 11 (Reuters) - Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co plans to trim its thermal coal investments amid growing pressure worldwide for companies to cut reliance on the fossil fuel after last year's landmark climate pact in Paris, its president said on Wednesday.
Mitsui owns mine stakes that had an equivalent annual output of about 13.5 million tonnes in the year ended March 31, and it expects that figure to drop to 9 million tonnes in three years.
"Considering the result of the global climate summit, we basically plan to reduce thermal coal assets," Mitsui President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tatsuo Yasunaga told an analyst meeting on Wednesday.
Global leaders clinched a climate-protection deal in Paris in December to transform the world's fossil-fuel driven economy, and calls have grown since for the global power sector and other industries to reduce coal use.
Under the pact, Japan, the world's No.5 emitter of carbon dioxide, has agreed to cut greenhouse emissions by 26 percent from 2013 levels by 2030, but it has come under pressure for not doing more to reduce its dependence on coal.
"We will consider reducing thermal coal output or selling stakes in thermal coal mines," Yasunaga said, although adding that Mitsui will continue to invest in coking coal assets.
The Tokyo-based company agreed in 2014 to buy stakes in Vale's Moatize coking coal mine and port project in Mozambique for $763 million, and is now planning to close the deal by March 2017, according to Yasunaga.
"We are working on a finance deal with Vale and we expect to close the deal soon," he said.
As for a final investment decision (FID) on a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off the coast of Mozambique, Yasunaga said negotiations with the local government are in final stages. He did not project an exact timing of FID, but said he expects "an advancement" in the process by next March.
Thanks to falling construction and development costs, the Mozambique LNG project is becoming competitive even with the current low oil prices, he said.
Mitsui on Tuesday posted its first annual loss since being established in 1947, booking massive writedowns for the year ended March 31 after iron ore, copper and oil prices plunged.
The company plans to step up selling assets, include some metal holdings, Yasunaga said without further elaboration.
Mitsui plans to continue to invest in other resource assets, however, with a focus on areas where it has some strength such as in iron ore and natural gas, Yasunaga said.
The Huntley Project School District will replace the roof on its 5-year-old school building this summer.
The ongoing investigation into the severity of the damage, as well as who's at fault, may lead the school and its contractors to court.
The Huntley Project board of trustees approved a bid for the roof replacement at a cost of about $580,000. And according to a report commissioned by school officials, the design and construction firms that worked on the first roof should foot the bill.
Were just really disappointed," said Steve Erb, chair of the board. "Its a new building, and I was thinking it should be good for eight to 12 years.
Attorneys from construction firm Fisher Construction and designer JGA Architects, Engineers and Planners have been meeting with school district lawyers to determine who's responsible for some or all of the cost for new construction.
The parties have gone back and forth since spring 2015, when the district brought in an outside consultant to examine the roof. The resulting report suggested that both design and construction flaws necessitated replacement for the entire roof.
"We actually have some mediation scheduled," said district Superintendent Wes Coy.
Construction on the building finished in 2011 three years after four teens broke in and set fire to the school. It was a loss that devastated the community and forced students to take classes in portable trailers.
The suspects were all arrested and later sentenced for arson and burglary charges.
Erb was on the school board throughout the ordeal. Money for the new $13.5 million building came from an $8 million insurance payout and a $9.75 million bond issue, which was approved by voters in 2009.
Funds for the roof replacement will come from reserves retained from insurance and bonds, Coy said. But the matter may be far from finished.
The roof was constructed with space for air ventilation, which was supposed to keep the foundation parts of the roof dry. Over the short life of the building, officials began to notice premature degradation and water spots from moisture buildup.
Apparently there wasnt enough ventilation and spacing in how the roof was constructed," Erb said. "The ventilation wasnt adequate enough to remove the moisture."
The school hired an outside consultant, Madsen, Kneppers and Associates of Washington state, to examine the roof. Workers cut out four sample sections from the roof and performed other studies.
In a 64-page report issued in March 2015, the consultant said there was widespread moisture intrusion that was visible on the inner parts of the roof and at spots inside the building.
The problem, according to the report, was that incomplete barriers allowed moisture to get into the roof and that improper ventilation failed to remove it.
The consultants laid blame equally on Fisher Construction and JGA architects.
"We believe there are too many design and construction issues that would allow the shingle roof assemblies to be repaired without full removal and replacement," the report said.
Work on the roof will begin this summer, right after the school year ends. Coy said that with construction and associated fees, the total cost could end up being closer to $700,000.
"It's just frustrating that the taxpayers have to foot the bill," he said.
Isolated incident?
Fisher Construction and JGA Architects, Engineers and Planners both display the Huntley Project building on their online portfolios. Fisher has done some repair work through the years on the roof, including work after a bad wind storm in March 2015 that led to some shingle replacement.
JGA president Terry Sukut declined to comment. A spokesman for Fisher Construction deferred to the company's attorney.
The Billings attorney, Kevin Funyak, said that Fisher followed the design in building the roof.
We feel that we and our contractors put it on according to those plans and specifications," he said. "So if its a bad design, why are we being looked at?
Madsen, Kneppers and Associates, the school's consultant, reported deficiencies that were described as both design and construction-based. Among the design flaws were ventilation areas that were too small and gaps that allowed moisture to seep into the wood.
"The roof did not contain a single air barrier that was continuous to prevent air-transported moisture from entering the roof assembly," the report said.
In addition, the consultant claimed that Fisher workers didn't construct the roof in accordance to the architect's plans. They left missing wood spacer blocks at the ventilation layer and "excessive" gaps in the insulation layer.
These problems led to deformation of the roof material and deterioration of the layer of oriented strand board, which is like particle board. That warping also prevented ventilation and led to moisture buildup, the report said.
In a letter to the school's consultant and in an interview with The Gazette, Funyak said that the problems were in isolated spots, and some of them had been fixed.
He said that it's too early to call for an entire roof replacement after the removal just four sample sections for examination.
Until that roof is taken off, you're never really going to know, he said.
In his letter, Funyak also disputed some of the consultant's findings, including that there were gaps in the material. He wrote that "not all of those areas reflected gaps, let alone excessive gaps." Funyak said that he was present for the examinations.
In July 2015, Madsen, Kneppers and Associates responded to Funyak's rebuttals and affirmed its stance that the problems are fundamental to the overall design and construction.
The eve of new eaves
Whatever the legal wrangling turns up, Huntley Project will move ahead with its roof replacement. Coy and Erb said that other than roof issues, the building as a whole has been great for the schools.
The three-story, 103,000-square-foot building tripled the size of the previous school. It houses middle and high school students and connects to the older elementary wing.
The debate over fault may end up in the courts, though that will come after the school district has spent the money for construction. Informal mediation is ongoing, and Funyak said that they hope to find a root cause for the moisture issues.
The school board accepted the bid from Diamond Construction for the roof replacement. Erb said that everything in the project, even the material supplier, will not include businesses that worked on the first job.
Through fire and water, the Huntley School district's facility issues have nearly reached a decade. Erb said that he hopes the board can soon focus on something other than that.
Its been a really good experience, but the only problem is weve spent more time on building issues than on education issues.
PRESS DIGEST - RUSSIA - May 11
MOSCOW, May 11 (Reuters) - The following are some of the leading stories in Russia's newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
VEDOMOSTI
www.vedomosti.ru
- Russia's Economy Ministry has proposed to the government to oblige oil company Transneft to pay its 2015 net profit in dividends, the paper writes.
- Russian car maker Avtovaz sold 7.8 percent more cars year-on-year in April. The company's sales rose for the first time since 2014, the paper reports.
- The Moscow city authorities may spend some 4 billion roubles ($60.39 million) on a system of traffic management. Russian long distance operator Rostelecom plans to take part in a tender, the daily says.
- Russian pharmaceutical companies wind up production of cheap vital drugs due to fall in profits, the paper reports.
KOMMERSANT
www.kommersant.ru
- Russia's lower house of parliament will ease legislation regarding the status of NGOs. "Foreign agent" status will be lifted from the so-called "socially responsible" organisations, the paper writes.
- Some 63 percent of Russians put their salary above their professional development at work, the paper cites a recent study by the Moscow-based Higher School of Economics.
- The Russian Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) insists on breaking Gazprom's monopoly on gas exports. Independent gas producers may get access to export pipelines after 2018, the paper reports citing analysts.
NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA
www.ng.ru
- Russia's budget may lose some 2 trillion roubles ($30.19 billion) in 2016, the paper reports citing Accounts Chamber data.
Abraaj to spend $500 mln growing African hospital business
KIGALI, May 11 (Reuters) - Dubai-based emerging market investment fund Abraaj will spend up to $500 million in start-up capital for a mid-tier hospital business in Africa, tapping into demand from the continent's emerging middle classes, an executive said on Wednesday.
Abraaj partner Sev Vettivetpillai said the group was well on the way to securing land for a 350-bed multi-speciality hospital in the Nigerian commercial capital Lagos, as well as buying several hospitals in Nairobi to form a healthcare 'cluster'.
Its other two target cities are Addis Ababa and Johannesburg.
"We're looking to build from the ground up because the assets do not exist," Vettivetpillai told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum on Africa in Rwanda.
Besides its own cash, Abraaj was looking to attract a similar amount from other investors, meaning that the first four target cities were likely to absorb at least $1 billion between them in the next five years, he added.
German government agrees tighter rules for temporary labor
BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and their Social Democrat (SPD) coalition partners have agreed on plans to force employers to give temporary workers permanent contracts after one and a half years, ending months of wrangling over the issue.
The new rules, which also make it mandatory for employers to give temporary workers the same salaries as their permanent peers after nine months, would benefit the 1 million workers on limited contracts and is a victory for the centre-left SPD.
Employers can under current rules offer limited contracts of up to two years, after which they must decide whether to terminate the contracts or offer employees permanent jobs.
Turkish air strikes in southeast Turkey, northern Iraq kill 11 Kurdish militants
ISTANBUL, May 11 (Reuters) - Turkish air strikes in the southeastern province of Hakkari and in northern Iraq killed 11 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters on Tuesday, the armed forces said in a statement on Wednesday.
It also said security operations in southeast Turkey killed three PKK fighters in Nusaybin and four in Sirnak on Tuesday, bringing the militant death toll in the two towns to around 700 during the operations of recent months.
Turkey has killed 3,000 Islamic State fighters in Syria, Iraq -Erdogan
ISTANBUL, May 11 (Reuters) - Turkey has killed 3,000 Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday, adding that no other country is fighting Islamic State as Ankara is.
NATO member Turkey was initially a reluctant partner in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State and faced criticism in the earlier stages of the Syrian war for failing to stop foreign fighters crossing its borders and joining the radical group.
Turkey has meanwhile said it needs more help from Western allies in the fight against Islamic State, particularly near the Syrian border, where the Turkish town of Kilis has been hit for weeks by repeated rocket fire.
Colombia's President Santos says peace deal with FARC in "very near future"
LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday his government hoped to conlcude a peace deal with FARC rebels "in the very near future".
Drought-hit South Africa partners with Iran to build desalination plants
CAPE TOWN, May 11 (Reuters) - South Africa has partnered with Iran to develop desalination plants along all coastal communities to boost water supplies, the water minister said on Wednesday, as the worst drought in living memory dries dams.
South Africa last year record its lowest annual rainfall levels since comprehensive records began in 1904 as an El Nino-driven drought rips through the region, putting millions at risk of food shortage.
"Now with the partnership that we have entered into through the binational commission between South Africa and Iran we want to go full steam," Nomvula Mokonyane told reporters.
She said the first investment meeting with Iran, where President Jacob Zuma visited last month, takes place next month and that there were no indicative costs at this stage.
The largest desalination plant in South Africa, which converts salty seawater to drinkable water, is situated in Mossel Bay along the Western Cape where it helped supply water to state oil company PetroSA's gas-to-fuel refinery.
"We have been over-dependent on surface water," Mokonyane said, adding that government would focus on all coastal municipalities in three provinces, including the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal.
British police seize $22 mln in suspected Russian gang's scam
LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - British police seized cheques for $22 million related to a suspected Russian organised crime scam that used the London futures market to launder cash through two Russian companies, a Swiss firm and a British Virgin Islands investment group.
After a four-month investigation by police and exchanges operator Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE) into suspicious trading on the futures market, City of London Police said on Wednesday they had seized four cheques six weeks after the arrest of a Russian broker on suspicion of money laundering.
"Our investigation points towards a suspected Russian organised crime group using London's futures market to launder millions of dollars worth of criminal revenue," Detective Inspector Craig Mullish from the City of London Police's Money Laundering Unit said.
The Russian broker was arrested in London on March 23 on suspicion of fraud and has been released on bail until July, the police said in a statement on their website.
No further details were immediately available.
France's Engie eyes $500 mln from Asia oil and gas assets sales
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - French utility Engie is looking to offload its oil and gas assets in Indonesia and Malaysia as a package in a sale process being run by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, according to a document seen by Reuters.
Engie, which joins a number of European utilities in selling oil and gas exploration and production assets after a sharp drop in energy prices, is looking to raise up to $500 million from the sale, several banking sources close to the process said.
The first bidding round for the assets is scheduled to be completed in mid-June, a banking source said.
The package consists of five assets including a 33.3 percent working interest in the Muara Bakau offshore gas and very light oil project in Indonesia operated by Italy's Eni. In Malaysia, Engie is selling 20 percent stakes in two exploration blocks, according to the document seen by Reuters.
"Engie's preference is to divest the entire interests in its upstream portfolio in Indonesia and Malaysia in a single package," the sales memorandum said.
Engie and Bank of America declined to comment.
Potential buyers include Asian oil firms such as Indonesia's Pertamina, Malaysia's Petronas, Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) and Japan's Inpex and Mitsui, as well as companies backed by private equity funds, the sources said.
Several other major oil companies have put assets in Southeast Asia on the block in recent months, including Chevron and ConocoPhillips.
Deal making in the oil and gas sector has significantly slowed down since the sharp fall in oil prices nearly two years ago while the number of assets on the market has climbed as companies seek to raise cash.
Other European utilities such as RWE, EDF , Enel and Centrica are also looking to sell upstream oil and gas assets.
In a separate process, the French utility, formerly known as GDF Suez, is selling its 60 percent stake in the Bonaparte natural gas project in Australia, one of the sources said.
Congo police fire tear gas at supporters of opposition leader
By Kenny Katombe
LUBUMBASHI, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 11 (Reuters) - P olice in Democratic Republic of Congo fired tear gas on Wednesday at thousands of supporters of Moise Katumbi, a leading opposition candidate for president who is being questioned over government allegations of hiring mercenaries.
Katumbi is a favourite in the race to succeed President Joseph Kabila who must step down after elections in November and his supporters say the accusations, which could lead to jail, are aimed at derailing his campaign.
The popular former governor of Congo's copper-mining region is accused of hiring mercenaries, including former U.S. soldiers, in a plot against the republic.
Police arrested at least 10 people outside the prosecutor general's office in Congo's second city of Lubumbashi who surged toward the building when Katumbi arrived at about 11 a.m. local time (0900 GMT) for a second day of questioning, witnesses said.
The government denies the allegations against Katumbi are politically motivated. Kabila's opponents accuse him of trying to delay the presidential election to hold onto power beyond the two five-year terms allowed by the constitution.
Lewis and Clark County Undersheriff Dave Rau said the man was in a vehicle with three others on the way to a job site northeast of Craig on Wednesday when the .45-caliber gun discharged, hitting the victim in the shoulder. The 911 call came in at about 9:45 a.m.
Turkey digs in heels over terrorism law, to EU's chagrin
By Tulay Karadeniz and Gabriela Baczynska
ANKARA/STRASBOURG, May 11 (Reuters) - Turkey refused again on Wednesday to make changes to its anti-terrorism laws demanded by Brussels in a hardening of its stance that could jeopardise a major deal with the bloc covering migrants, free travel and militants.
EU officials and rights groups have accused Turkey of using broad anti-terrorism legislation to stifle dissent. Ankara says it needs the laws to battle Kurdish militants at home and threats from Islamic State in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
Brussels wants Ankara to narrow its legal definition of terrorism and change some other laws to meet EU standards - as part of the wide-ranging deal to secure Turkish help in reducing the flow of migrants into Europe.
But Ankara's minister for EU affairs, Volkan Bozkir, told broadcaster NTV Turkish legislation already met EU standards.
"It is not possible for us to accept any changes to the counter-terrorism law," Bozkir said, echoing earlier comments by President Tayyip Erdogan who last week told the European Union: "We're going our way, you go yours."
Bozkir's assertion that there had never been a deal over the laws will upset EU officials already worried by the departure of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the main Turkish broker of the deal under which Turkey takes back migrants reaching Europe from its shores in return for concessions including the scrapping of visas for Turks visiting the EU.
Davutoglu announced last week he would step down after weeks of tension with Erdogan.
"PURELY POLITICAL"
The migration deal has sharply reduced the flow of refugees and migrants after some 1.3 million people passed through Turkey to reach Greece and Italy since the start of 2015.
For many Turks, visa-free travel to Europe is the main reward in the deal. But Turkey has still to meet five of 72 criteria the EU imposed, including the narrower definition of terrorism.
One Erdogan adviser and a member of Turkey's parliament for the ruling AK Party, Burhan Kuzu, tweeted late on Tuesday: "The European Parliament will discuss the report that will open Europe visa-free for Turkish citizens. If the wrong decision is taken, we will send the refugees (back to Europe)."
Many members of the European Parliament, which needs to sign off on visa liberalisation, have criticised the proposal.
"This is not about meeting the criteria or not, it's a purely political process in which the EU has shown it is prepared to go very far in accepting violations of human rights and freedoms," said Malin Bjork, a left-wing Swedish lawmaker.
The parliament's head, Martin Schulz, has said lawmakers will not deal with the proposal before Turkey meets all the criteria, adding he did not see this happening before July.
Several lawmakers said the parliament's stance would eventually hinge on the political call made by EU capitals, which are keen to prevent a repeat of mass arrivals from Turkey.
During a debate in its Strasbourg chamber, members across the political spectrum denounced Erdogan and Turkish "blackmail" over the refugees. Many insisted there could be no visa deal if all criteria are not met. But others also defended the measure as a way to show ordinary Turks that Europe was open to them.
German government spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said Berlin expected Ankara to meet its side of the migrant accord but declined to speculate on would happen if it did not.
Adding to concerns about Ankara's rights record, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, said on Tuesday he had received "alarming" reports about violations allegedly committed by Turkish security forces in the largely Kurdish southeast during their offensive against militants.
They include reports of unarmed civilians being deliberately shot by snipers and other military, he said.
A spokesman for Turkey's foreign ministry, Tanju Bilgic, rejected the assertions and cited the multiple security threats that Turkey faces, including the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Islamic State and the far-left DHKP-C.
Sturgeon "reasonably confident" Scotland will vote to stay in EU
EDINBURGH, May 11 (Reuters) - Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday she is "reasonably confident" Scotland will vote to remain in the European Union in next month's referendum.
All five parties in Scotland's devolved parliament support British membership of the European Union, arguing that important trade and political links need to be preserved.
UKIP, a party which supports a British exit, did not win any seats at last week's election for Scotland's devolved parliament.
"At this stage I am reasonably confident that there will a significant vote in Scotland to stay in the European Union but (...) I have a job to do to make sure that is the case," she told a news conference.
Scotland has about 3.9 million registered voters, out of a total of 44.7 million across the United Kingdom's four constituent parts, according to official statistics.
Sturgeon has raised the possibility of another Scottish referendum on independence if Scotland votes to stick with the EU in the June 23 referendum and Britain as a whole votes out.
She said it was important that those who are supporting a vote to remain run a positive campaign.
"One of the things that a campaign could do is encourage people to think about the opportunities that are on offer rather than cowering in a corner feeling fearful, and I hope that (the campaign) will do that," she added.
So far Scottish support for staying in the European Union is 57 percent, a Survation poll for the Daily Record showed earlier this week, higher than other polls indicate for Britain as a whole. However the same poll also found 21 percent of Scots were undecided.
Scotland voted 55 percent to 45 percent against independence from the United Kingdom in a 2014 referendum. But a few days earlier it had looked like Scotland might vote to split and British politicians offered Scotland's devolved parliament new powers to encourage Scots to reject secession.
Egypt opens Gaza crossing for 48 hours after 85-day closure
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA, May 11 (Reuters) - Egypt opened its border with Gaza for the first time in three months on Wednesday, giving Palestinians a two-day respite from a closure stemming from friction between Cairo and the enclave's Islamist rulers.
Egypt's shuttering of Rafah and destruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels, along with tight restrictions imposed by Israel along its own frontier with Gaza, have deepened economic misery for many of the 1.9 million Palestinians in the enclave.
Egypt's military-backed government has kept its border with the Gaza Strip largely closed since Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted as president three years ago.
Egyptian officials view Gaza's governing Hamas group as a threat, accusing it of supporting an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula bordering the Palestinian territory. Hamas denies the allegation.
Some 30,000 Gazans are on a waiting list to cross at Rafah. Only a few thousand, including patients, students and holders of residency permits in third countries, were likely to do so on Wednesday and Thursday before it closes again.
"I have been waiting for several months to get a chance to have advanced cancer checks in Cairo," said Umm Ahmed, a 55-year-old Gaza resident, urging Egypt's president to reopen the Rafah crossing for good because "we are brothers, not enemies".
For Gazans who live or work outside the enclave, a visit home is hard to schedule, and it carries the risk of being stuck in the territory and losing residency rights in host countries.
"You never know when the crossing will be open, so if you want to come and visit your family at home, you should be prepared to risk your job," said a Gaza merchant who does business in the Gulf.
The Palestinian Embassy in Cairo said Rafah was opened at the request of West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who met Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week.
Hamas ousted Abbas's Fatah movement from power in Gaza in a brief civil war in 2007.
At Cairo international airport, immigration sources said 90 Palestinians from Gaza, stranded in third countries, had arrived and would travel by bus to Rafah. The sources said another 120 Palestinians were expected to land later.
Last week, Israel said it planned to reopen a second border point for commercial traffic into Gaza, a step toward gradually easing the blockade it imposed since 2007.
Israel says its blockade prevents the movement of militants and stops construction materials that could be used by Hamas to make bunkers and tunnels. Palestinians there say they are under siege and are unable to rebuild homes destroyed by Israeli bombing in a 2014 war.
India's new Mauritius treaty signals end of shopping for tax havens
By Rafael Nam and Abhirup Roy
MUMBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - India's move to plug suspected losses in tax revenue through Mauritius, a top source of foreign investments into the country, has not sent financial markets into a tailspin as it would have just a few years ago.
But while markets took the move in their stride, analysts warn India is likely to expand its crackdown on tax treaties and make it harder for investors to shop around for new havens.
India will start imposing capital gains tax on investments coming from Mauritius starting next year, after the two countries agreed to amend a three-decade old treaty.
Now, funds from Mauritius interested in India will have to weigh paying capital gains taxes that could range from zero to as much as 20 percent versus the expense of setting up a new structure.
Investors say they will wait for final details and consider how it will affect India's tax treaty with Singapore. The rules state any changes to the capital gains exemption provided to Mauritius will lead to changes in the agreement with the city-state.
Mauritius and Singapore account for the bulk of the $278 billion in foreign equity investments since 2000.
Even with capital gains, analysts say shopping around for a new tax haven may not make sense. India will next year toughen the criteria under which offshore funds can claim tax benefits abroad, a key priority for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.
"World over, the wind is blowing against tax treaty shopping and treaty abuse. Structures set up only for the purpose of claiming tax exemptions but without adequate substance are no longer likely to work," said Suresh Swamy, a partner at PwC in Mumbai.
Investors were relieved the taxes would only apply to investments starting next year and not affect existing investments. India's main share index fell 0.5 percent.
India has become a favourite destination of foreign investors under Modi on hopes of major reforms targeted to revitalise Asia's third-largest economy. Gross foreign investments reached a record $55.5 billion in the year to March 2016, up 23 percent from the previous year, according to brokerage Religare Capital Markets.
The tax changes could hurt short-term foreign investment inflows, but investors say they may still choose Mauritius if it proves cost effective.
"I don't think shifting everything lock, stock and barrel for an existing fund is going to be that easy," said a director for a private equity fund in Mauritius, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the subject.
A hedge fund manager who had been considering setting up in Mauritius said his firm would also keep its options open, while exploring other locations such as Delaware or Cayman Islands.
Israel's nominee for Rome envoy quits, raising selection questions
By Luke Baker
JERUSALEM, May 11 (Reuters) - Israel's nominee as ambassador to Rome has withdrawn her candidacy, marking the second time this year a high-profile diplomatic nomination has fallen through and raising questions about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's choices.
Fiamma Nirenstein, an Italian-born journalist and former conservative lawmaker who emigrated to Israel in 2013, was proposed as envoy to Italy last year but withdrew her name on Tuesday citing "personal reasons". She did not elaborate.
Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported last month that Italian officials had cited possible conflicts of interest arising from the fact that Nirenstein would continue to receive a salary as a former Italian parliamentarian and that her son works for Italy's intelligence services.
An official at the Israeli prime minister's office said Italy's prime minister had not asked Netanyahu to withdraw her name and Netanyahu had not requested she drop out either.
Her withdrawal marks the second time in as many months that a senior diplomatic appointment has fallen through at a time when Israel's relations with its key ally the United States and with some European countries have become more testy.
In March, Israel's nominee as envoy to Brazil, former settler leader Dani Dayan, was reassigned to become Israel's consul-general in New York after a lengthy stand-off with the Brazilian government.
Dayan, who was born in Argentina and emigrated to Israel in 1971, is a forthright advocate of Jewish settlements and opposes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His views were sharply at odds with those of Brazil's government.
"DAMAGING TO ISRAEL"
Tal Schneider, a leading political reporter and blogger in Israel, said the failure to push through the two appointments raised questions about judgment and the selection process, which ultimately rests with Netanyahu, who is also foreign minister.
"He has a problem picking people," she said, citing among other issues the fractious relationship Israel's ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, is said to have with the White House.
"It's damaging to Israel," Schneider told Reuters. "When you take an ambassador to an important country like Brazil and the process works like that, it's embarrassing."
A foreign ministry official defended the overall appointment process and noted that in Israel the foreign minister is allowed to make up to 11 political appointments to the diplomatic corps following a separate procedure.
The case of Dermer, who was born in Miami but gave up his U.S. citizenship in favour of Israel and was appointed ambassador to Washington in 2013, has been one of the more headline-grabbing of the past 18 months.
Dermer was instrumental in arranging for Netanyahu to address the Republican-led Congress last year, where he was outspokenly critical of the Obama administration's nuclear negotiations with Iran.
The tensions with the White House have persisted and Israel's efforts to negotiate a new, 10-year defence agreement with Washington have become bogged down.
In an interview with the Jerusalem Post published on Wednesday, Dermer called Netanyahu's Congress speech the highlight of his time in Washington, saying the prime minister had "fulfilled a fundamental moral obligation to speak out about a potential threat to the survival of our country".
Schneider said that, while Dermer was clearly committed to Netanyahu, that still raised problems for the nation.
Sherpa first to climb Everest after Nepal disasters
KATHMANDU, May 11 (Reuters) - A Nepali sherpa climbed Mount Everest on Wednesday, becoming the first person to scale the world's tallest peak from the Nepali side since a deadly earthquake in 2015 and a fatal avalanche the year before forced climbers to retreat.
"Sherra Gyalgen Sherpa reached the top of Sagarmatha at 5.05 p.m. (1120 GMT)," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), referring to the mountain by its Nepali name.
Bangladesh refugee dies of heart failure on protest-hit Nauru
By Matt Siegel
SYDNEY, May 11 (Reuters) - A Bangladeshi refugee died of heart failure on Nauru on Wednesday, Australian officials said, the second death in as many weeks on the tiny South Pacific island where detainees have been hurting themselves in protests.
Controversies arising from Australia's immigration policy have become a major headache for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during campaigning for elections set to be held on July 2.
Under Australia's hard-line immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach the country by boat are sent to camps on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea or to Nauru.
The camps have drawn criticism from the United Nations and human rights agencies for their harsh conditions and reports of abuse there.
"The man admitted himself to the Republic of Nauru Hospital on May 9, complaining of chest pains," Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection said in a statement.
"He was receiving treatment in hospital, but died early today after a series of cardiac arrests."
A department spokesman rejected allegations from a refugee activist that the 26-year-old man's illness had been caused by an intentional overdose.
"There is currently no evidence to support these claims," the spokesman said, adding that the department rejected outright any suggestion of a cover-up.
Officials in Nauru could not be reached by telephone and did not respond to emailed questions.
The refugee activist, Ian Rintoul, coordinator of the Australia-based Refugee Action Coalition, said refugees on the island had told him the man, to whom he referred by a single name, Rakib, had taken an overdose of pills.
"Rakib's friends say his suicide was driven by the same desperation as others on Nauru," Rintoul said.
Two asylum seekers, a 23-year-old Iranian man and a 21-year-old Somali woman, have set fire to themselves in protest over their lengthy detention on Nauru. The man died and the woman is in a critical condition.
More than 100 refugees and asylum seekers at the centre have signed a petition to be allowed to buy boats to leave the country.
"We have been living in Nauru as prisoners for three years now," they said in the petition. "We've decided to rescue ourselves by getting on boats once again."
Last week, Australia said it had agreed to pay compensation to a charity it wrongly accused of inciting refugees to harm themselves in a Nauru protest in 2014.
Brazil's Temer calls for unity, confidence for Brazil recovery
By Lisandra Paraguassu and Alonso Soto
BRASILIA, May 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's interim President Michel Temer called on his country to rally behind his government of "national salvation," hours after the Senate voted to suspend and put on trial his leftist predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, for breaking budget laws.
Temer, a 75-year-old centrist now moving to steer Latin America's biggest country toward more market-friendly policies, told Brazilians to have "confidence" they would overcome an ongoing crisis sparked by a deep economic recession, political volatility and a sprawling corruption scandal.
"It is urgent we calm the nation and unite Brazil," he said, after a signing ceremony for his incoming cabinet. "Political parties, leaders, organizations and the Brazilian people will cooperate to pull the country from this grave crisis."
Brazil's crisis brought a dramatic end to the 13-year rule of the Workers Party, which rode a wave of populist sentiment that swept South America starting around 2000 and enabled a generation of leftist leaders to leverage a boom in the region's commodity exports to pursue ambitious and transformative social policies.
But like other leftist leaders across the region, Rousseff discovered that the party, after four consecutive terms, overstayed its welcome, especially as commodities prices plummeted and her increasingly unpopular government failed to sustain economic growth.
In addition to the downturn, Rousseff, in office since 2011, was hobbled by the corruption scandal and a political opposition determined to oust her.
After Rousseff's suspension, Temer charged his new ministers with enacting business-friendly policies while maintaining the still-popular social programs that were the hallmark of the Workers Party. In a sign of slimmer times, the cabinet has 23 ministers, a third fewer than Rousseff's.
A constitutional scholar who spent decades in Brazil's Congress, Temer faces the momentous challenge of hauling the world's No. 9 economy out of its worst recession since the Great Depression and cutting bloated public spending.
He quickly named respected former central bank governor Henrique Meirelles as his finance minister, with a mandate to overhaul the costly pension system.
ROUSSEFF DEFIANT
The Senate deliberated for 20 hours before voting 55-22 early on Thursday to put Rousseff on trial over charges that she disguised the size of the budget deficit to make the economy look healthier in the runup to her 2014 re-election.
Rousseff, 68, was automatically suspended for the duration of the trial, which could be up to six months. Before departing the presidential palace in Brasilia, a defiant Rousseff vowed to fight the charges.
In her speech, she reiterated what she has maintained since impeachment proceedings were launched against her last December by the lower house of Congress. She denied any wrongdoing and called the impeachment "fraudulent" and "a coup."
"I may have made mistakes but I did not commit any crime," she said.
Rousseff's mentor, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who now faces corruption charges, stood behind her and looked on dejectedly. Even as outgoing ministers wept, Rousseff remained stolid.
"I never imagined that it would be necessary to fight once again against a coup in this country," Rousseff said, in a reference to her youth fighting Brazil's military dictatorship.
"This is a tragic hour for our country," said Rousseff, an economist and former Marxist guerrilla, calling her suspension an effort by conservatives to roll back the social and economic gains made by Brazil's working class.
The Workers Party rose from Brazil's labor movement in the 1970s and helped topple generals who had held power for two decades ending in 1985.
In the heady days of Lula's presidency, starting in 2003, it helped lift millions of people out of poverty before running into recession and scandal, with many of its leaders now tainted by corruption investigations and criminal convictions.
Despite Rousseff's vows to fight, she is unlikely to be acquitted in the Senate trial. The size of the vote to try her showed the opposition already has the support it will need to reach the two-thirds majority required to remove her definitively from office.
"It is a bitter though necessary medicine," opposition Senator Jose Serra, who became the new foreign minister, said during the marathon Senate debate. "Having the Rousseff government continue would be a bigger tragedy."
ECONOMIC CHALLENGES
Temer aides said the incoming government would soon announce a series of austerity measures to help reduce a massive budget deficit. An immediate goal is a reform of Brazil's costly pension system, possibly setting a minimum age for retirement, said one advisor.
Brazilian markets, which for weeks have rallied because of expectations for a business-friendly Temer administration, traded similarly to a day earlier.
Upon being notified of her suspension early Thursday, Rousseff dismissed her cabinet, including the sports minister, who is in final preparations for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August. The central bank governor, who has ministerial rank, was the only minister to remain.
As suspended head of state, Rousseff can continue to live in her official residence, and is entitled to a staff and use of an Air Force plane.
Fireworks erupted in cities across Brazil after the Senate vote, but the country took the change in stride. Some celebrants in Sao Paulo and other cities draped themselves in Brazil's green, yellow and blue flag, while some Rousseff backers protested.
Temer, of the grab-bag Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, must stabilize the economy and restore calm at a time when Brazilians, increasingly polarized, are questioning whether their institutions can deliver on his promise of stability.
In addition to the gaping deficit, equal to more than 10 percent of its annual economic output, Brazil is suffering from rising unemployment, plummeting investment and a projected economic contraction of more than 3 percent this year.
"Only major reforms can keep Brazil from moving from crisis to crisis," says Eduardo Giannetti da Fonseca, an economist and author in Sao Paulo who has written extensively about the country's socioeconomic problems.
But those changes, including the pension effort, overhauls of tax and labor laws and a political reform to streamline fragmented parties in a mercenary Congress, could remain elusive at a time of turmoil.
Elected leaders from parties that had been in the opposition expressed optimism on Thursday that they could come together to help spur a recovery. Even some leftists said Temer may enjoy Congressional goodwill because, after his long experience there, he could ably negotiate with disparate parties and interests.
"Temer is someone who knows Congress, said Hugo Leal, a socialist Congressman from Rio de Janeiro. "He understands the logic."
Wild cards remain for Temer himself, including still-pending investigations by an electoral court into financing for his and Rousseff's 2014 election campaign.
Then there is the far-reaching kickback probe around state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA), which has ensnared dozens of corporate and political chieftains, and helped set the scene for the discontent that engulfed Rousseff.
Nine sherpas first to climb Everest after Nepal disasters
By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU, May 11 (Reuters) - A Nepali sherpa led a nine-man team to the top of Mount Everest on Wednesday, becoming the first to scale the world's tallest peak from the Nepali side since a deadly earthquake in 2015 and a fatal avalanche the year before forced climbers to retreat.
The mountain guide was part of a rope-fixing team preparing the final stretch to the 8,850-metre (29,035-foot) summit, running along the Southeast Ridge route, for teams to make their own attempts in the next few days.
"Sherra Gyalgen Sherpa reached the top of Sagarmatha at 5.05 p.m. (1120 GMT)," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA), using the mountain's Nepali name.
"In all nine sherpa climbers scaled the top," tourism official Gyanendra Shrestha told Reuters from Everest Base Camp.
Laying the final stretch of ropes was delayed slightly on Wednesday by heavy snow high on the mountain.
The ascents were the first in three years after two years of tragedy halted climbing on Everest.
An avalanche in the treacherous Khumbu Icefall killed 16 mountain guides in 2014, and 18 people died a year ago when an earthquake sent a massive snowslide careening into Base Camp.
In total, 9,000 people were killed across Nepal in the 7.8 magnitude quake whose first anniversary the country has just commemorated.
Climbing outfit Jagged Globe tweeted that its Everest team was at Camp 3 and in good spirits. "If rope fixed to summit today, they'll move to South Col Thursday for summit attempt," it said.
At least 289 climbers and their guides were at different high camps waiting for a "window" of clear weather to open for a final ascent, officials said.
Multiple teams, perhaps 100 people, were looking to summit from May 14 to 16, veteran mountaineer and blogger Alan Arnette said in a post on Wednesday.
Canada upholds broadcast regulator's decision on fiber-optic lines
May 11 (Reuters) - Canada upheld a decision by the country's telecommunications regulator that the biggest providers must share their 'last mile' fiber-optic connections, saying on Wednesday that the government was committed to enabling competition in the sector.
The government denied on Wednesday an appeal from BCE Inc , Canada's largest telecommunications company, against the ruling by the country's broadcast regulator, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
The CRTC decision means that firms that dominate the market will have to share what fiber connections they do have to homes and businesses. This will allow smaller firms to expand.
CASPER, Wyo. The Wyoming Attorney Generals office wants a judge to dismiss a sexual harassment lawsuit against the state Military Department.
The Justice Department filed suit against the Wyoming Military Department in March, alleging it failed to protect a female worker who reported being sexually harassed by her immediate supervisor.
The Attorney Generals office, which is representing the military, asserts the woman did not effectively prove her boss created a hostile work environment. Nevertheless, counsel also argued, the Justice Department filed the womans claim outside the statute of limitations for civil cases.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S District Court for Wyoming, alleges the woman suffered sexual harassment regularly from her boss, the former director of the Wyoming Military Departments Youth Challenge program, Don Smith.
The program, located at Camp Guernsey, serves at-risk youth by providing a 22-week residential course instilling values, skills, education and discipline using a military-type structure, the lawsuit states.
The alleged harassment began in late 2010 and included unwanted emails about Smiths personal life, unwanted written expressions of affection toward the woman, including songs and poems, and the invasion of her work space to discuss personal issues, according to the lawsuit.
The woman repeatedly rejected her boss advances and filed multiple complaints with the department related to the alleged harassment, and Smiths failure to stop the behaviors. The woman ultimately resigned in September 2011 over the continued harassment and agencys lack of assistance, the suit alleges.
A four-year statute of limitations exists for civil actions according to federal law, Deputy Attorney General Van E. Snow wrote in his motion filed May 2. The Justice Department filed its complaint four years and six months after the woman resigned from her position, meaning her case cannot be litigated.
Snow also claims the woman failed to prove Smiths actions created an abusive work environment. He concedes she was subjected to unwelcome sexual harassment. However, Smiths behavior was not abusive, intimidating or degrading and he did not touch the woman, Snow wrote.
The deputy attorney general also asserts the woman did not prove she had no other choice but to quit her job.
Merely establishing that the plaintiff resigned in response to the defendants actions is not enough. Snow wrote. The plaintiff must further demonstrate that the defendant created working conditions that were not only tangible or adverse, but intolerable and that he or she had no other reasonable choice but to resign.
Federal Judge Kelly H Rankin is overseeing the case.
U.N. footage highlights worsening food crisis in South Sudan
May 11 (Reuters) - The U.N. World Food Programme on Wednesday released video highlighting a worsening food crisis in South Sudan, where up to to 5.3 million people could face severe food shortages over the March to September lean season.
WFP footage showed young children waiting at a food distribution centre in the northern Bahr El Ghazal region for malnutrition tests as well as one family saying they were leaving South Sudan for Darfur because of the food crisis.
From January to March, some 2.8 million people were classed as being in "crisis" or "emergency" food situations, with about 40,000 thought to be suffering an outright famine.
The crisis comes despite attempts to end more than two years of fighting, which began in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked his first vice president Riek Machar, triggering ethnically charged violence.
Suicide bomber strikes Yemen military convoy, kills 8-official
ADEN, May 11 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least eight people and wounded 17, including a senior commander, when he rammed a car laden with explosives into a government military convoy travelling in eastern Yemen on Wednesday, a security official said.
Nigeria oil output set to fall to 22-yr low on pipeline outage
YENAGOA, Nigeria, May 11 (Reuters) - Nigeria's oil production is set to fall to its lowest in more than two decades after Royal Dutch Shell's local operation said it had shut a major pipeline.
Nigeria's oil output fell close to a 22-year low this month due to attacks on oil pipelines in the southern Niger Delta, home to much of the country's oil and gas wealth, compounding the impact of low oil prices on Africa's largest economy.
On Wednesday, Shell Petroleum Development Co (SPDC) said it declared force majeure on Bonny Light crude exports on Tuesday after closing the Nembe Creek Trunk line (NCTL) for repairs after a leak. NCTL carries all the country's Bonny Light.
A Shell spokesman blamed technical issues, without giving further details. However, a community leader in the Delta said an explosion had shut down the pipeline.
The outage pushed oil futures higher, with benchmark Brent crude trading up 5 cents at $45.57 per barrel by 1321 GMT, after being slightly lower before the announcement.
Nigeria was due to export around 217,000 barrels per day of Bonny Light crude in June, out of a total of 1.7 million bpd.
If all Bonny Light production is cut, it would bring output to below 1.5 million bpd for the first time since September 1994, according to Energy Information Administration data. Nigeria exports almost all its production.
Nigerian oil production was above 2 million bpd as recently as 2013, the EIA data shows.
Shell and Chevron have evacuated oil workers in the past few days due to a surge in attacks on oil facilities, according to Nigerian labour unions.
Recent violence has raised concern that militants might resume an insurgency that has been quiet for the past several years. A labour union on Tuesday called for the evacuation of oil workers from the region.
Last week, a group known as Niger Delta Avengers attacked a Chevron facility in the Delta after claiming a strike in February against a Shell pipeline, which shut down the 250,000 bpd Forcados export terminal.
Suicide bomber kills 8, wounds senior army commander in Yemen attack
By Mohammed Mukhashaf
ADEN, May 11 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded a senior army commander in an attack on his convoy in eastern Yemen on Wednesday, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's state-run news agency reported.
No one claimed responsibility for the attack, which appeared to resemble recent bombings carried out by Islamic State or al Qaeda militants against military and security forces in southern and eastern Yemen.
A local security official said the suicide bomber targeted General Abdul-Rahman al-Halili, commander of Yemen's First Military Region, which has its headquarters in the city of Seyoun, while on a trip to inspect his forces.
The blast near the city of al-Qatan killed six members of Halili's security team and two civilians, and wounded 17 other people, including Halili, the official said.
Hadi's state news agency said Halili later visited wounded soldiers at Seyoun hospital and vowed to keep pushing to "uproot this malicious plant from our midst".
The agency had earlier reported that only three people were killed in the attack -- one soldier from Halili's security and two civilians.
Hadi supporters, backed mainly by United Arab Emirates (UAE) forces in the Saudi-led coalition, drove al Qaeda militants from the Hadramout provincial capital in a military offensive last month.
Islamist militants have exploited a civil war pitting supporters of the Saudi-backed Hadi and the Iran-allied Houthis to extend their control over areas in southern and eastern Yemen and recruit followers.
The growing militant threat has spurred U.N.-sponsored peace talks between Hadi's government and the Houthis now underway in Kuwait.
Serbia warns against violence at Bosnia protests
By Ivana Sekularac
BELGRADE, May 11 (Reuters) - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic urged Serb political leaders in neighbouring Bosnia to set aside their differences and prevent street protests scheduled for Saturday from turning violent.
Both the opposition and the ruling party in Bosnia's autonomous Serb region, the Serb Republic, have called on supporters to take to the streets of the capital Banja Luka for demonstrations ahead of local elections in October.
The opposition will protest against unemployment and corruption, while the ruling party urged people to express support for government policies.
Vucic said Serbian police had indications the protests in Banja Luka could turn violent. He said he had spoken to political leaders in the Serb Republic, including its president Milorad Dodik.
"We don't need conflict," Vucic told a news conference. "Peace and stability are conditions without which Serbia cannot progress."
Dodik has repeatedly tried and failed to persuade opposition leaders to cancel the protests but says he does not envisage any problems with having two rival protest meetings on the same day.
Vucic's remarks reflect pressure that Belgrade feels from the West to support stability in the Balkans if it wants to make progress in talks on joining the European Union.
"If there is conflict, the survival of the Serb Republic would be in question while Serbia would be put in an unfavourable position," Vucic said.
Bosnia is made up of the Serb Republic and the Federation shared by Bosnian Muslims, or Bosniaks, and Croats. They are linked via a weak central government whose decisions are usually disputed by the Serb region, which often threatens secession.
Serbia, which supported Bosnian Serbs during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia that killed 100,000, has signed an agreement on special ties with the Serb Republic that includes financial aid.
But as Serbia progresses towards EU membership, its leaders including Vucic are less supportive of polices of the ruling Bosnian Serb Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) seen as challenging the survival of Bosnia as a state.
Last July, Vucic told the SNSD, which is led by Dodik, to think again before it holds a referendum on the authority of one of Bosnia's most important courts, a vote the West says would challenge the state's integrity.
Political tensions in the Serb Republic have risen since elections in 2014, when Dodik's party lost its place in the Bosnian government to the Alliance for Change, a reformist, pro-Europe group, and remained in control only of the Serb Republic government.
Putin says Crimea now free of reliance on Kiev for its power
By Vladimir Soldatkin
SOCHI, Russia May 11 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the launch of a fourth and final line supplying electricity from Russia to Crimea on Wednesday, saying the project had broken an energy blockage he accused Kiev of imposing on the peninsula.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014. Moscow has since faced international condemnation and the logistical challenges of sustaining a region that depended on Ukraine for much of its supplies and has no land border with Russia.
In November last year, Crimea was plunged into darkness when unidentified individuals blew up the power lines through which the peninsula received the bulk of its power from the Ukrainian grid. Kiev denied responsibility for the sabotage.
"I congratulate all of you on the completion of building this energy bridge which has tied Crimea to Russia," Putin said in a video link from his Black Sea residence in Sochi, Russia, addressing workers and engineers on the power line.
"We managed to break through the energy blockade of Crimea within a brief period of time, and we will likewise do away with any other blockade against Russia, should someone wish to test us again," said a visibly upbeat Putin, accompanied by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak.
The energy bridge is a series of cables along the seabed across the Kerch Strait that separates Russia from Crimea.
The new line will bring total power supplies from Russia to Crimea to 800 megawatts, which combined with the peninsula's own capacity should be enough to satisfy its demand.
Novak said the peninsula would have enough electricity to see it through the holiday season, when tourists swell the population and provide Crimea with a major source of revenue.
The peninsula will have complete power self-sufficiency after completion of power stations that are under construction in the Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol.
Russia denies annexing Crimea which it took over after street protests in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev chased a pro-Moscow president from power.
It says residents there voted to become part of Russia, and that Moscow acted to protect their freely-expressed will.
The next phase of Moscow's project to end Crimea's isolation is the construction of a 19 km (12 mile) road and rail bridge across the Kerch Strait.
Top Congo court says Kabila would stay in power if election delayed
By Amedee Mwarabu Kiboko
KINSHASA, May 11 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's highest court ruled on Wednesday that President Joseph Kabila would stay in power beyond the end of his mandate if his government failed to hold an election due in November.
Kabila's opponents denounced the ruling - they had previously argued that an interim president should serve after Kabila's term expired if the election was delayed.
Kabila succeeded his assassinated father as president in 2001, then won his first election in 2006. The constitution requires that he step down in December after two five-year terms in office.
The government has said the election to choose Kabila's successor is likely to be delayed by budgetary and logistical obstacles.
"Article 70, clause two, (of the constitution) permits the president of the republic ... to remain in office until the installation of the new elected president," the constitutional court's president, Benoit Lwamba Bindu, said from the bench on Wednesday.
Opposition leaders say Kabila is trying to delay the election so he can hold on to power. He has declined to comment publicly on his intentions and called instead for a national dialogue to allow elections to take place.
Eve Bazaiba, secretary-general of the opposition Movement for the Liberation of Congo, said the court is not independent or politically neutral.
"If the court violates the constitution, we are not going to follow the court," she told Reuters. "On Dec. 19, the mandate of Kabila is over. On Dec. 20, if he continues, we will consider that there has been a constitutional coup d'etat."
Ramazani Shadari, the deputy secretary-general of Kabila's political party, said outside the courthouse that the ruling is a "victory for the people" and thanked the court.
Political tensions are high in Congo over the question of Kabila's succession. On Wednesday, police in Congo's second city, Lubumbashi fired tear gas at thousands of supporters of Moise Katumbi, a leading opposition candidate to succeed Kabila.
Katumbi, a former provincial governor and one-time Kabila ally, faced a second day of questioning over government allegations that he plotted against the republic by hiring mercenaries, including former U.S. soldiers.
The charges could send Katumbi to jail and prevent him from running. Katumbi denies the allegations, which he says are politically motivated.
Denmark picks Lockheed Martin to supply 27 fighter jets -TV
COPENHAGEN, May 11 (Reuters) - The Danish government has picked U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin Corp to supply 27 of its F-35 Lightning fighter jets, TV2 News said on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.
Denmark's decision has been closely watched, as several other nations also have to decide whether to replace their aged warplanes with Lockheed Martin's brand new F-35 or choose cheaper, older-generation planes such as Super Hornets.
Dubai police seek Canadians, Iranian after property investor shot -paper
DUBAI, May 11 (Reuters) - Dubai police are seeking at least two Canadians and one Iranian in connection with the fatal shooting last week of a real estate investor in an upscale neighbourhood, media reported on Wednesday.
In a killing linked to organised crime, the Turkish citizen of Iranian origin was shot nine times in his car in the Dubai Marina on May 4, the daily Emarat al-Youm cited police chief Khamis Matar al-Muzaina as saying.
Muzaina said police had identified suspects involved in attack, though some had left the country, according to the newspaper.
One was an Iranian citizen and others were Canadian citizens, he said. The police had provided information about the suspects to the Canadian authorities, he was quoted as saying.
Muzaina declined to comment when reached by phone, referring Reuters to the report in Emarat al-Youm.
The gunmen used silenced pistols, and the crime was only discovered later when a security guard discovered the body in the car, parked in a residential building, Emarat al-Youm cited police sources as saying.
Street crime is rare in Dubai, one of the seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates federation. Walking around the Marina, it is not unusual to see wallets laid on cafe tables and keys left in car ignitions.
Nevertheless, authorities periodically uncover crimes including money laundering, drug smuggling and human trafficking, newspaper report.
The emirate has also seen assassinations of political figures in recent years, including a senior Hamas official and a Chechen rebel leader.
Ukraine recovers 17 paintings stolen from Verona museum
KIEV, May 11 (Reuters) - Ukraine has recovered 17 paintings, including works by Peter Paul Rubens and Tintoretto, stolen by armed robbers from the Castelvecchio museum in Verona last year, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday.
Ukrainian authorities will now invite Italian experts to authenticate the paintings -- which have an estimated value of more than 16 million euros ($18.3 million) -- and prepare for them to be handed back, his office said in a statement.
Footage released by the president's office showed Ukrainian border guards unwrapping the paintings, which had been covered with plastic sheets.
The artworks were found about 1.5 km (1 mile) from the border with Moldova, the statement said, without elaborating.
The paintings were stolen on Nov. 19 by thieves who acted just after the Verona museum's 11 staff had left but before a remote alarm system with the police station was activated. They tied up the museum cashier and forced an armed guard to hand over keys to his car, which they used to get away.
The robbery prompted recriminations in Italy over the lack of security at the museum, which some critics blamed on public spending cuts.
Poroshenko, whose government needs to convince its Western backers that it is serious about tackling corruption, said recovering the paintings was a measure of what Ukraine was capable of.
"Today, this brilliant operation reminds the world about the efficient struggle of Ukraine against smuggling and corruption, inter alia, smuggling of works of art," Poroshenko said.
CASPER, Wyo. The bankrupt coal mining companies operating in the Powder River Basin paid nearly all of their Campbell County taxes before a Tuesday deadline, bringing relief to officials in state and local government, which desperately need the money at a time of an economic downturn and smaller revenues.
Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources paid $34.5 million and $14.5 million respectively, squaring their tax bills with the county. Peabody Energy sent $38 million the production tax portion of its bill with the county. The company still owes nearly $3 million in taxes for land, other property, such as equipment, and from a state audit that found the company didn't pay enough in 2008, said Becky Brazelton, the county treasurer.
The money is vital to the state and the northeastern Wyoming county, which is reeling after layoffs of some 500 miners in March. Questions have lingered over whether the bankrupt companies would come through.
The deadline for production tax on coal mined in 2014, and land and equipment in 2015, was 5 p.m. Tuesday. Companies can pay the entire bill at once or in two installments. Interest will accrue on Peabodys outstanding $3 million unless the company sends the check by mail and the postmark is May 10, Brazelton said.
The Casper Star-Tribune left a message with Peabody about whether it intends to pay the remaining $3 million. Of that amount, $2.2 million was for land and property and $750,000 was from a Wyoming Department of Revenue audit that found the St. Louis-based company didn't pay enough in 2008 in taxes. The company did not return the message.
Campbell County School District gets the largest share of the tax payments. The Wyoming Department of Education receives some money as does Campbell County Memorial Hospital. Taxes also flow to the countys cemetery district and weed and pest control. County government operations are also dependent on taxes.
Brazelton described feeling relieved that Arch came through and Peabody mostly paid its bill.
Weve been in contact with the schools, letting them know they have paid because everybody was on pins and needles, she said.
The money represents the largest source of revenue for the 9,000-student Campbell County School District. The money pays salaries, benefits, supplies, computers and other parts of education operations, said Don Dihle, the districts business manager.
The district has 1,750 employees, making it one of the largest employers in Campbell County, he said.
Nearly every second German opposes fourth term for Merkel -poll
BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Nearly half of Germans surveyed in a new poll oppose Chancellor Angela Merkel remaining in office for a fourth term after an election next year - a sign that her handling of the migrant crisis is still weighing on her popularity.
Conducted by pollster Insa for German magazine Cicero, the survey showed on Wednesday that some 48 percent did not support the statement: "I'm in favour of Angela Merkel remaining chancellor also after the federal election in 2017."
Around 27 percent said they wanted the conservative Christian Democratic leader to stay in office for a fourth term while roughly 25 percent said they did not have an opinion on the matter or did not give a reply.
Leaving out those undecided and indifferent, nearly two-thirds of respondents with a clear opinion were against Merkel staying in office, Cicero said.
"This shows that Germans are getting increasingly tired of Merkel with her being in power for 11 years now," Cicero editor-in-chief Christoph Schwennicke told Reuters, adding that her handling of the migrant crisis was also an important factor.
"Her solo run in the refugee crisis last summer was a mistake, both on the national as well as the European level."
Merkel decided to keep Germany's borders open for hundreds of thousands of refugees from war-torn countries such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Greek ambassador returns to Austria after spat over migrants
VIENNA, May 11 (Reuters) - Greece's ambassador returned to Austria on Wednesday, three months after Athens recalled her to protest over border closures agreed between Vienna and several Balkan states that left tens of thousands of refugees stranded in Greece.
Athens angrily recalled its envoy, Chryssoula Aliferi, in February after being excluded from a meeting hosted by Vienna that coordinated the border restrictions across the Balkans to limit the northward flow of migrants.
As a result of the restrictions, about 10,000 people set up Europe's biggest refugee camp on the Greek side of the Macedonian border.
But the number of new arrivals has dropped sharply since the European Union struck a deal with Turkey. Under the accord Turkey takes back migrants who leave for Greece from its shores in return for cash, a pledge to scrap visas for Turks visiting Europe and an acceleration of Ankara's EU accession talks.
"The situation has improved a lot," Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias told a joint news conference in Vienna with his Austrian counterpart where he announced the envoy's return.
Kotzias said the EU-Turkey deal had alleviated the problem, adding: "I hope Turkey stays on a cooperation course with the EU and that the proposed arrangements do apply."
But amid tensions with Ankara over some terms of the deal, Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz cautioned that the EU should avoid becoming dependent on Turkey.
Venezuela opposition protests for Maduro recall referendum amid clashes
By Andrew Cawthorne and Mircely Guanipa
CARACAS/PUNTO FIJO, May 11 (Reuters) - Soldiers fired tear gas at stone-throwing protesters on Wednesday as Venezuela's opposition marched to pressure electoral authorities into allowing a recall referendum against unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
The Democratic Unity coalition has ramped up its push to oust Maduro amid a worsening economic crisis, but says the government-leaning electoral body is intentionally delaying the verification of signatures in favor of the referendum.
Waving flags and blowing whistles, hundreds marched in the capital of Caracas as well as the provinces - where food scarcity and power cuts are worse - but authorities blocked them from reaching election board offices.
Protesters and National Guards squared off on a Caracas highway, where demonstrators chanted "freedom" and waved copies of the constitution.
Some covered their faces and tossed stones.
"They don't let us march. They don't let us eat. They don't let us live peacefully. What else can we do? We have to fight however we can against this tyranny," said Juan, declining to give his surname as he donned a bandana.
At one point, an officer appeared to squirt pepper spray on two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, a video showed. Capriles later tweeted he was fine.
REFERENDUM THIS YEAR?
A new election would be held if the opposition succeeds this year in recalling Maduro, whose term ends in 2019.
But if a successful recall referendum is held in 2017, the presidency would fall to the vice president, a post currently held by Socialist Party loyalist Aristobulo Isturiz.
The opposition says Maduro, elected in 2013, is pushing the OPEC country towards economic catastrophe. One recent poll showed almost 70 percent of Venezuelans want Maduro, 53, gone this year.
"We have to suffer a queue of nine to 10 hours for corn flour, we walk from pharmacy to pharmacy looking for medicine," said Irma Rojas, who was protesting in northwestern Falcon state.
"For that and so much more, we want this man out."
In the western opposition hotbed of Tachira, protesters brandished signs reading "we don't want to do die of hunger" while some masked youths blocked streets with trash and prepared Molotov cocktails.
The Socialist Party blasts protesters as dangerous coup-plotters and held a separate march on Wednesday. Officials have said a referendum is unlikely this year and have cast doubt over the legitimacy of the signatures.
IMF: Global corruption costs trillions in bribes, lost growth
By David Lawder
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Public sector corruption siphons $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion annually from the global economy in bribes and costs far more in stunted economic growth, lost tax revenues and sustained poverty, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.
In a new research paper, the IMF said that tackling corruption is critical for the achievement of macroeconomic stability, one of the institution's core mandates.
The Fund argues that strategies to fight corruption require transparency, a clear legal framework, a credible threat of prosecution and a strong drive to deregulate economies.
"While the direct economic costs of corruption are well known, the indirect costs may be even more substantial and debilitating," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde wrote in an essay accompanying the paper.
"Corruption also has a broader corrosive impact on society. It undermines trust in government and erodes the ethical standards of private citizens," Lagarde added.
The paper, titled "Corruption: Costs and Mitigating Strategies," follows Lagarde's warning to Ukraine in February that the IMF would halt its $17.5-billion bailout for the strife-torn eastern European country unless it takes stronger action to fight corruption, including new governance reforms.
Lagarde is due to participate in a British government-sponsored anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday that will include U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior officials including the presidents of Nigeria and Afghanistan.
Extrapolating from 2005 World Bank research, the paper estimated that around 2 percent of global gross domestic product is now paid in bribes annually. But it said corruption's indirect costs are substantially higher, reducing government revenues by encouraging tax evasion and reducing incentives to pay taxes, leaving less money available for public investments in infrastructure, health care and education.
While some argue that bribes are simply grease for the wheels of commerce, the IMF said that corruption often drives investment away from countries where it is rife and boosts lending costs.
Without naming any particular countries, the IMF said that dependence on non-renewable natural resources can often encourage corruption, as well as conflicts over control of them.
In helping its 189 member countries design and implement anti-corruption strategies, the Fund said it emphasizes the need for both appropriate incentives and deterrents.
The paper said stronger anti-corruption laws and prosecution capacity was needed, but also said that reduced regulations can limit bribe opportunities and provide companies more opportunity to grow without them.
Canadian oilfield workers readying return after wildfire
By Nia Williams and Ernest Scheyder
CALGARY/LAC LA BICHE, Alberta, May 11 (Reuters) - Workers for one of the largest oil sands companies affected by a wildfire in northern Canada will begin returning to the shuttered facilities on Thursday, a union official said, the latest indication the key petroleum production area was slowly coming back online.
Meanwhile, also on Wednesday, the premier of the province of Alberta and the head of the Canadian Red Cross announced that residents of Fort McMurray, the oil-boom town that was evacuated last week because of the fire, would be offered direct financial aid.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau established an ad hoc cabinet committee to coordinate federal relief efforts. Trudeau will tour the fire zone on Friday.
Ken Smith, president of Unifor Local 707, the union that represents 3,400 Suncor Energy Inc workers, said the company would start to fly employees back to its oil sands base plant from Thursday.
"It will take a few days to get the plant up and in condition to start handling feed," Smith said.
Facilities north of Fort McMurray that had been shuttered largely because of heavy smoke rather than fire were likely to come back on line first, in a matter of days in many cases.
Roughly 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of output were shut down during the fire, about half of the oil sands' usual daily production.
Late Wednesday, Enbridge Inc said it had restarted its 550,000 bpd Line 18 pipeline, which carries crude from the company's Cheecham terminal 380 kilometers (236 miles) south to the regional crude trading hub of Edmonton.
Enbridge also said crews were on site at its facilities in the Fort McMurray region and confirmed its terminals were not damaged by the wildfire.
Royal Dutch Shell Plc was the first company to resume operations in the area, restarting its Albian Sands mines at a reduced rate. The facility can produce up to 255,000 bpd.
Syncrude, controlled by Suncor, restarted power generation at its oil sands mine in Aurora, north of the city, on Tuesday as it began planning to resume operations. The site has a total capacity of around 315,000 bpd.
Dozens of repair trucks and other vehicles headed for the oil fields on Wednesday, driving north along the main highway into the area, a Reuters eyewitness said. Some were towing heavy equipment.
Still, some projects to the south and east of Fort McMurray remained unreachable as the fire threat persisted.
The town remained shut to residents.
"The area is still very ... dangerous with some hot spots still throughout the city and areas of concern," said Kevin Kunetzki of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Around 300 RCMP members are patrolling the town and have found 100 homes showing signs of break-ins. This could be a result of concerned residents trying to check on neighbors, rather than burglars, he told a news conference in Edmonton.
The size of the fire was little changed on Wednesday at roughly 229,000 hectares (566,000 acres) and moving away from the community.
There are 700 firefighters, 32 helicopters, 13 air tankers and 83 pieces of heavy equipment units working on the Fort McMurray fire, the government said.
Alberta is making cash available immediately to the 90,000 evacuees from the fire zone. The funds, C$1,250 per adult and C$500 per child, would be distributed by debit cards beginning immediately to evacuees in Edmonton, Calgary and Lac La Biche.
Canadian Red Cross Chief Executive Conrad Sauve said his agency was making C$50 million in funds available to the relief effort now, out of C$67 million that had been raised so far. The money will be distributed as electronic funds transfers of C$600 for each adult and C$300 for each child, he said.
"This is the most important cash transfer we have done in our history and the fastest one," he told a news conference with Alberta premier Rachel Notley.
The local government council held its first meeting since the evacuations in Edmonton on Thursday. The mood was somber and defiant.
Authorities in Lac la Biche, a small town south of Fort McMurray where many evacuees are staying, opened its fishing season four days early to provide temporary residents "with a well-deserved family recreational opportunity," a statement said.
Trump draws even with Clinton in national White House poll
By Ginger Gibson and Amanda Becker
WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Republican Donald Trump pulled even with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday, in a dramatic early sign that the Nov. 8 presidential election might be more hotly contested than first thought.
While much can change in the six months until the election, the results of the online survey are a red flag for the Clinton campaign that the billionaire's unorthodox bid for the White House cannot be brushed aside.
Trump's numbers surged after he effectively won the Republican nomination last week by knocking out his two remaining rivals, according to the poll.
The national survey found 41 percent of likely voters supporting Clinton and 40 percent backing Trump, with 19 percent undecided. The survey of 1,289 people was conducted over five days and has a credibility interval of 3 percentage points.
"Very happy to see these numbers," Trump said in a written comment to Reuters. "Good direction." A spokesman for Clinton's campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the poll.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in the five days to May 4 had the former secretary of state at 48 percent and the New York magnate at 35 percent.
Republican strategist Dave Carney said the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed the vulnerability of Clinton, who is still battling U.S. Senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination.
"She has been in the public eye for decades, served in high office, and now she's in a dead heat with Trump, in a race that everyone thought she would win easily," said Carney, who has been critical of Trump. "Everyone thought it would be a romp."
REPUBLICAN RELUCTANCE
Trump has his own problems, though. He is struggling to bring some senior Republicans behind his campaign after primary election battles in which his fiery rhetoric rankled party elites.
Several Republican leaders -- including House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan -- are withholding their support.
"After a tough primary, that's going to take some effort," Ryan said about unifying the party. "We are committed to putting that effort in."
The former reality TV star will face pressure to tone down his rhetoric and clarify his policy positions when he visits Republican lawmakers, including Ryan, on Thursday.
Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized Trump on Wednesday for not releasing his tax returns, saying the only explanation was that the documents contained a "bombshell."
Trump has said that he will make public his tax returns on the completion of an audit.
Clinton and Trump both poll well with voters of their respective parties, but independent voters continue to express uncertainty about who they will support, with 38 percent in the Reuters/Ipsos poll saying they are unsure or would vote for someone else.
With the party's primary season winding down, the two likely nominees have turned their attention to attacking each other, both on policy and personality.
Clinton took aim at Trump's tax reform plan at a rally in New Jersey on Wednesday.
With a typical American family earning $54,000 per year, Clinton said, "It would take that family 24 years of work to earn what Donald Trump's tax plan will hand out to people like him in just one year. That is no way to create good job with rising incomes for the vast majority of Americans, is it?"
Trump has taunted Clinton in recent days for failing to "close the deal" against Sanders.
University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said Trump - who has promised to force Mexico to pay for a border wall to halt illegal immigration and called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country - could also face a wall of opposition among minority voters.
"This is an election that will be determined as much by the demographic composition of the American electorate as anything else - and that didn't change in a week," he said.
Clinton's loss in the Democratic primary election in West Virginia on Tuesday also signaled possible trouble for her in industrial states in November, underscoring how she still needs to court working-class voters in the Rust Belt.
Roughly six in 10 voters in West Virginia, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in country, said they were very worried about the direction of the U.S. economy in the next few years, according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll.
The same proportion cited the economy and jobs as the most important issue in the election.
U.S. envoy targets Egypt at U.N. over journalist arrests
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (Reuters) - Attacking journalists and prosecuting critical voices fuels violent extremism rather than preventing it, the United States told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday in a thinly veiled warning to Egypt, which chaired the meeting.
"Arresting journalists, sentencing reporters to death, treating media as an enemy of the state - such actions are thoroughly counterproductive," said the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power.
Amid rising dissent against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, police earlier this month raided the country's press syndicate and arrested two journalists. On Saturday an Egyptian court recommended the death penalty for three journalists charged with endangering national security.
"Legal action is a critical tool in the campaign against ISIL (Islamic State) but it must not be wielded like a cudgel against those who voice unpopular speech or criticize authorities," Power said.
"Such behavior doesn't prevent violent extremism, it fuels it," she said.
While she did not name Egypt, Power directed her comments at Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who chaired the Security Council meeting on countering terrorism because Egypt is president of the group for May.
Shoukry said Power's comments were general and not directed toward Egypt, but that they had diluted the emphasis of the meeting. He met with Power privately on Tuesday.
Ukraine, Russia agree some security measures - Germany
BERLIN, May 11 (Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia agreed on Wednesday to create demilitarised zones and implement other security measures in separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine, but they remained at odds over how to move towards local elections.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after talks in Berlin with the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine and France that it would be "a big step forward" if the measures were actually implemented and helped strengthen a fragile ceasefire.
Other steps agreed during the three-hour meeting included greater information-sharing and a halt to military exercises along the dividing line between the separatist territories and Ukraine proper that has led to violence in the past, he said.
The parties also agreed to new measures aimed at resolving conflicts more quickly which would be monitored by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, he said.
More than 9,000 people have been killed since fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine erupted in April 2014. A ceasefire agreed in Minsk in February 2015 is largely holding despite regular skirmishes and violations.
Steinmeier said the ministers had failed to reach agreement on a process for holding local elections, but said Russia and Ukraine had for the first time at least presented some concrete plans on the issue which would be worked on.
"The greatest danger is that the conflict will escalate again," Steinmeier said. I assume the parties to the conflict want to see progress in the discussions. Only this can prevent a flare-up of hostilities."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Kiev continued to insist on the right of Ukrainian refugees to vote and run for office in the separatist areas as well as on the need to ensure full and universal access for all media.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated accusations that Kiev was dragging its feet in fulfilling its obligations under the Minsk peace agreement.
Chile's 'red tide' outbreak widens in threat to fishing industry
SANTIAGO, May 11 (Reuters) - A "red tide" outbreak is widening in southern Chile's fishing-rich waters, the government said on Wednesday, deepening what is already believed to be one of the country's worst environmental crises in recent years.
The red tide - an algal bloom that turns the sea water red and makes seafood toxic - is a common, naturally recurring phenomenon in southern Chile, but the extent of the current outbreak is unprecedented.
The southern region of Los Lagos has been affected in recent weeks by the largest red tide in its history, prompting fishermen deprived of their livelihoods to angrily demand more support from the government.
Now there are signs that Los Rios, the neighboring region to the north, has also been affected, local officials warn.
"The red tide zone is going to grow, it is a changing phenomenon," Raul Sunico, the deputy minister for fishing and aquaculture, told local radio station Cooperativa.
"Highly toxic samples have been taken in the region of Los Rios, which obliges us ... to close areas of the region to resource extraction."
The red tide has caused tonnes of dead shellfish to wash up on southern beaches and paralyzed the fishing industry, which is the mainstay of many coastal settlements. Fishing accounts for about 0.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
Fishermen have blocked access to the island of Chiloe in protest over what they consider to be inadequate government compensation for their losses, leaving locals and tourists alike stranded.
The government initially offered 100,000 Chilean pesos ($147) to each family affected crisis, but increased it to 300,000 pesos after complaints.
Scientists say this year's El Nino weather pattern is likely a key factor in the red tide, as it warms the ocean and creates bloom-friendly conditions.
Some fishermen are blaming the local salmon industry, the world's second largest, for exacerbating the problem, citing the dumping of dead fish in March by salmon farmers after a bloom killed off much of their stock.
The government estimates some 100,000 tonnes of salmon were lost, leading to a jump in global prices for the fish.
The disruption of sealife along Chile's coast, in turn, has caused birds such as albatrosses and petrels to leave for other areas with better food sources. The bloom also was a factor in the mass beaching of whales and sea-lions, authorities say.
Sardine fisherman in the Bio-Bio region have reported an abundance of octopuses but scarce numbers of sardines. Elsewhere, enormous jack mackerel have been seen while the usual hake have almost disappeared.
U.S., Britain, France block Russia bid to blacklist Syria rebels
UNITED NATIONS, May 11 (Reuters) - Britain, the United States, France and Ukraine blocked a Russian proposal at the United Nations to blacklist Syrian rebel groups Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham for links to Islamic State and al Qaeda militants, diplomats said on Wednesday.
Russia made the proposal late last month and the U.S. mission to the United Nations had signaled it would oppose the move, saying it would undermine attempts to get a sustained halt in the fighting in Syria.
The U.N. Security Council's 15-member Islamic State and al Qaeda sanctions committee has to agree by consensus before individuals or groups can be blacklisted.
Jaish al-Islam (Islam Army) is a major armed rebel group in Syria and part of the High Negotiation Committee, which was set up in Riyadh last December to negotiate on behalf of opposition groups at U.N.-brokered peace talks with the government.
The High Negotiation Committee is backed by Western nations and key Arab states.
Ahrar al-Sham withdrew from the Riyadh meeting, saying "revolutionary groups" were sidelined. But the group did attend the last round of peace talks in Geneva.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has long said that Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham should not be involved in Syria peace talks.
Ahrar al-Sham is an ultra-orthodox Salafist group and has fought as part of a military alliance including the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, which was not part of a cessation of hostilities agreement brokered in February.
CASPER, Wyo. Andy Johnsons battle with the Environmental Protection Agency is at its end.
The Pacific Legal Foundation, who helped represent Johnson, announced this week that they have reached a settlement with the federal government about the pond Johnson built on his property in Uinta County.
Johnsons pond has drawn the EPAs ire for years. The fight started a few years ago when the EPA wrote to Johnson and said that the pond he built for his animals to drink from may have violated the Clean Water Act. Johnson was told he would be fined $37,500 each day if he didnt restore the land.
As part of the settlement, Johnson agreed to plant willows by the pond and temporarily fence off part of it from livestock, according to the foundation. In a statement, the EPA said the agreement was the result of a dialogue between the EPA and Johnson to resolve compliance issues.
While the two sides may not agree about Johnsons pond, the Wyoming resident said the settlement was in his favor.
"It was actually more than we could have ever hoped for, even going to court," he said. "It's good. It's a win-win."
Jonathan Wood, Johnson's attorney with PLF on the case, said that the foundation represented Johnson pro bono.
"Obviously he has unfairly suffered for the past two or three years with these illegal EPA threats, demanding that he rip out his pond, threatening him with tens of millions of dollars in fines," Wood said. "And really putting his property and his family's financial future at risk. The settlement gets rid of all of that, that risk and all of the threats."
The pond will remain, Wood said, and Johnson won't have to pay any fines.
There was public backlash after news of the EPAs order broke in March 2014, according to Casper Star-Tribune archives. Both of Wyomings senators, John Barrasso and Mike Enzi, joined Louisiana senator David Vitter in speaking out against the EPA's compliance order.
In their letter, the senators wrote that the "EPA appears more interested in intimidating and bankrupting Mr. Johnson than it does in working cooperatively with him."
Part of the problem concerned the effect Johnson's work had on Six Mile Creek. The EPA pointed to the fact that Johnson didn't follow rules that required him to receive a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The state approved Johnson's initial plans and issued a permit, the Star-Tribune reported. Johnson's camp also argued that the order was illegal due to the fact that stock ponds like Johnson's are exempt from the Clean Water Act, according to the PLF.
Johnson didnt back down. His legal team maintained that the pond helped rather than hurt the area, allowing for new wetlands and habitats for wildlife and fish, according to a news release from the legal foundation.
On Tuesday, Barrasso released a statement saying that the issue "shouldn't have come to this."
"Local land-use decisions should never be driven by Washington, and the EPA should never be able to fine someone millions of dollars for building a pond on their own land," he said in the statement.
In a separate statement, Enzi said he's supported Johnson since his battle with the EPA began in 2013.
Its nice to see the EPA put in check a little bit," Enzi said in the statement. "All the worry and angst that Mr. Johnson and his family had to go through, and even the embarrassment that the EPA should be experiencing right now, could easily have been avoided if only the EPA would follow the law instead of trying to make new laws on its own. I appreciate Mr. Johnsons determination to stand up to a bully."
Wood said another part of the settlement was that neither side would admit wrongdoing. Johnson doesn't have to admit that he could have violated the Clean Water Act. The EPA doesn't have to admit that the compliance order Johnson received could have been illegal.
In an email, the EPA maintained that Johnson's dam for the pond didn't follow the "well-known and well-established" Clean Water Act permitting process.
The Wyoming resident is ready to move on from the uncertainty of the last few years.
"We didn't even know if we were going to have it," Johnson said about the pond. "I didn't know if I was going to go to jail. We didn't know if we were going to pay these astronomical fines. We had a lot of plans. Right now, our kids enjoy it, our friends and family enjoy it. Our animals enjoy it. It's been a huge benefit in every way you can imagine."
Libya's ancient sites not exposed to same risk as in Syria, Iraq - experts
By Aidan Lewis
TUNIS, May 11 (Reuters) - Libya has not faced the same risk to its antiquities as Syria and Iraq, though there is evidence Islamic Sate is involved in the smuggling of antiquities, Libyan and international experts said on Wednesday.
The most famous classical sites have remained largely undamaged, though some illegally excavated artefacts are being smuggled out of the country and Islamist fighters have targeted mosques and Sufi shrines, the experts said on the sidelines of conference on how to protect Libya's cultural heritage.
Libya is rich in ancient sites, including some of North Africa's finest Roman and Greek ruins as well as prehistoric rock art in the desert region of Fezzan. But their preservation has been threatened by the political chaos and security vacuum that followed the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Islamic State took control of the coastal city of Sirte last year and established a presence in several other parts of the country, leading to fears that it would attack and damage key ancient sites as it has done in Syria and Iraq.
Though Islamic State may still try to attack classical sites as they "search for visibility", a bigger risk is from illegal excavations and looting, and illicit construction by locals, said Stefano De Caro, the director-general of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property.
"The big difference from Syria is that here they are attacking the Islamic heritage sites more than the classical heritage," he said.
Ahmed Abdelkarim, head of Libya's department of antiquities, said extremist violence was the top risk one year ago, but that since Islamic State recently lost ground in and around the eastern cities of Benghazi and Derna, preventing illegal building around ancient sites was now the primary concern.
Looting is also a problem, he said, with international mafia-style groups smuggling artefacts through Libya, and security forces had found antiquities last week in the recaptured house of an Islamic State commander in Benghazi.
"They found prehistoric objects, maybe from Fezzan, and Roman and Byzantine objects. This was a collection from different parts of Libya, for trade."
Authorities had recovered artefacts on two other occasions in Benghazi and Derna, Abdelkarim said. "All these incidents together give us the impression that they are involved in the smuggling of antiquities," he said.
Ramadan Alshebani, a senior official from the department of antiquities in Tripoli, said Roman ruins at Leptis Magna and at Sabratha, where local brigades forced out Islamic State fighters after a U.S. air strike in February, had not been damaged. He said the director of the archaeological site of Medinat Sultan, about 30 km east of Sirte, had told him by telephone about two months ago that it was also intact.
Party leaders often disliked their nominee. It's the public vitriol that's new.
By Matthew Dallek
May 11 (Reuters) - GOP leaders have unleashed a stunning level of vitriol against their party's most successful presidential candidate.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), emphatically declared last week that he was not ready to endorse Donald Trump, his party's presumptive presidential nominee. This move was unprecedented in modern American history. Trump's response was that Ryan may need to be replaced as head of the Republican National Convention.
Ryan's rebuke reminds Americans that Trump is deeply unpopular, particularly among a significant number of powerful Republicans. Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney belittled the GOP's new leader as a moral cretin unfit to be the standard bearer. Former President George W. Bush and his father, President George H.W. Bush, both say they are not attending the GOP convention in Cleveland.
Such attacks, however, are nothing new.
Political elders have lambasted their party's leading presidential contenders throughout U.S. history. The big difference now is that this battle is playing out in public. In the past, attacks were largely in party backrooms, behind closed doors.
To be sure, some serious breaks have been acted out in public. With dire results. President Theodore Roosevelt, for example, realized in 1912 that his progressive agenda was being abandoned by his chosen successor, William Howard Taft. TR challenged Taft in the Republican primaries. "We stand at Armageddon," Roosevelt thundered at the convention, "and we battle for the Lord!"
When Taft prevailed, Roosevelt bolted the party. He ran as a third-party candidate in 1912 on a Progressive Party ticket. Ultimately, the Democratic nominee, Woodrow Wilson, won.
In most other cases, however, the internecine bloodletting took place in private, preserving the appearance of party unity and making it easier to heal any rifts.
The 1944 Republican nominee Thomas Dewey ignored former President Herbert Hoover at an important state funeral that October and drew the national leader's ire. "Dewey has no inner reservoir of knowledge on which to draw for his thinking." Hoover sneered to a friend. "A man couldn't wear a mustache like that without having it affect his mind."
Hoover, though, sought to keep his beliefs private.
Former presidents have kept mum even when they see a nominee as a threat to their legacy. In 1964, for example, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower didn't have much regard for Senator Barry Goldwater. The conservative firebrand had repudiated Eisenhower's presidency as a "dime-store New Deal." Nonetheless, Eisenhower gave only halting support to the party's anti-Goldwater forces. Despite Eisenhower's contempt, the Arizonan became the Republican nominee, only to lose in a landslide to President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Four years earlier, the Democratic power brokers were not as reticent. They viewed Senator John F. Kennedy, their party's leading candidate in 1960, as too conservative and inexperienced. They disliked the campaign role of Joseph Kennedy, JFK's father, and his controversial past. In addition, party leaders worried that JFK could not win national office because he was a Catholic.
During the primaries, Truman, the titular head of the party, told a TV news conference that a nominee should have "the greatest possible maturity and experience" -- a clear dig at JFK's relative youth. The former president beseeched his party to hold a brokered convention and find a way to avoid nominating Kennedy. Eventually, however, Truman endorsed Kennedy in the general election, reasoning that GOP nominee Richard M. Nixon was worse.
Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic nominee in 1952 and 1956, also refused to back Kennedy during the primary. Even Kennedy's promise to name Stevenson as secretary of state could not persuade him.
Still, most of the party elders' scathing criticism against JFK was confined to backroom conversations. Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, who also wanted the nomination, privately mocked Kennedy as "a scrawny little fellow with rickets." Johnson urged Eisenhower to oppose Kennedy during the primary contest, calling him "a nobody" and "a dangerous man."
But Johnson's efforts to stop Kennedy were not aired before the country in real time. In fact, 1960 demonstrated how the Democratic elders were able to prevent serious rifts from destroying their party's chances. After securing the nomination, JFK offered -- and LBJ accepted -- the second slot on the ticket.
The resentment of party elders toward party nominees was often rooted in a sense that the candidate was repudiating a mentor's record. In the 1960 GOP presidential race, for example, Eisenhower resented Vice President Nixon's implication that he would offer more robust leadership. Close to Election Day, Ike was asked to name an instance when Nixon's advice influenced a presidential decision. "If you give me a week," Eisenhower replied, "I might think of one."
In the reverse situation, Vice President Al Gore sought to distance himself from President Bill Clinton during the 2000 presidential campaign. Gore declared in his announcement that he would provide "moral leadership" and defend the American family -- not-so-subtle knocks against Clinton's sexual relationship with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The bitterness between the two men festered and Gore never asked Clinton to campaign with him. After Gore lost to George W. Bush, Clinton upbraided his former vice president for running a lame, visionless campaign.
The current spectacle -- in which former Senator Bob Dole will likely be the only past Republican presidential nominee to come to the convention and endorse the party's standard bearer -- is partly a function of Trump's scorched-earth multi-media campaign. His attacks have been leveled personally, in real-time, via Twitter and cable news. Wounds are deeper, and could be harder to heal.
Trump's presidential primary campaign is the apotheosis of the anti-Washington mood that has gripped presidential politics since Jimmy Carter's 1976 White House run. One reason Trump vanquished his foes was because he ran against the GOP's leadership as out-of-touch and inept.
This played out even as party elders have less power to shape national tickets -- and outsiders more ability to tear down anything that smacks of Washington politics-as-usual.
Republican-on-Republican hits on Trump and his main rival, Ted Cruz, have contributed to the fraying of the GOP. The anti-Trump former presidents, as well as current and former party chairmen and congressional leaders, have much at stake. They are fighting for, as they see it, their legacies, their party's future, their professional identities -- and their own power.
In recent decades, party elders have been clinging to an increasingly tenuous position. Think former Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who lost a primary election, as Sarah Palin recently noted. Or former House Speaker John Boehner, who was unable to control his party's Tea Party wing. Boehner is still so incensed that he called Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) "Lucifer in the flesh."
Argentina opposition lawmakers ready jobs bill
BUENOS AIRES, May 11 (Reuters) - Opposition lawmakers in Argentina could start debating as soon as Thursday a bill that would put a moratorium on job cuts for 180 days and guarantee generous redundancy payments for workers that are laid off, likely setting up a confrontation with President Mauricio Macri.
Free-markets proponent Macri has pushed through a string of painful reforms since taking the reins of Latin America's third largest economy in December, aiming to close a gaping fiscal deficit and revive a stagnant economy, but fueling the ire of public sector unions. Macri has warned that he could veto the bill.
"We don't have to wait for the problem to keep growing ... If it's not tomorrow, it'll be Monday or Tuesday that the bill is sent to the floor (for debating and a vote)," said Marco Lavagna, lawmaker of the Frente Renovador opposition party.
Peronist opposition lawmakers, including former President Cristina Fernandez's Frente para la Victoria party, have put forward different proposals that are being debated so that a unified bill can be voted on.
Bill proposals include plans to put a halt to private and public sector job cuts for six months and double redundancy payments for those workers that are actually laid off, a copy of the one of the bills seen by Reuters showed.
"I'm confident that we're going to bring a bill to the floor (for voting) and are going to generate a consensus that results in a comprehensive bill," said Lavagna.
As of mid-April, Macri's efforts to trim government payrolls had closed a net 10,000 public sector jobs, while the private sector had also lost around 15,000 informal jobs and about 30,000 formal jobs.
Opposition lawmakers have warned that up to 150,000 jobs could be lost this year.
A look at some Americans held prisoner in North Korea
May 11 (Reuters) - A Korean-American missionary detained for two years in North Korea, where he served time at a labor camp, said on Wednesday two Americans held in the reclusive country should remain hopeful that U.S. officials will obtain their release.
The following is a look at some of 13 Americans held by North Korea since 1996. Most of them were sentenced to years of hard labor but held for less than a year.
* Evan Hunziker, then 26, was held for three months in North Korea on spying charges in 1996. After he was apprehended by North Korean farmers, Hunziker spent a month in a detention center near the border before being moved to a Pyongyang hotel. U.S. government officials suggested Pyongyang was using the young drifter as a pawn in a game of international diplomacy. Then-U.S. Representative Bill Richardson secured his release in November 1996. Hunziker committed suicide about a month later.
* Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV were arrested in March 2009 along the North Korea-China border while reporting on human trafficking. They were accused by Pyongyang of illegally entering North Korea with "hostile" intent and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. They were released in August 2009 after former U.S. President Bill Clinton went to Pyongyang to secure their return.
* Robert Park, a Christian human rights activist trying to raise global attention to the suffering of the North Korean people, crossed into the reclusive state in December 2009. Park told Reuters just before entering the North that he saw it as his duty as a Christian to make the journey and did not want the U.S. government to try to free him. He was arrested shortly after entering. In February 2010, he was released. The North's official KCNA news agency said Park confessed to entering the state illegally and had changed his mind about North Korea after being treated kindly there.
* Aijalon Mahli Gomes, then 30, of Boston had been working as an English teacher in South Korea and was arrested in January 2010 for illegally entering North Korea from China. He was sentenced to eight years of hard labor and freed after eight months when former U.S. President Jimmy Carter went to North Korea to retrieve him. Gomes' family described his captivity as "a long, dark and difficult period," and thanked Carter for his trip.
* Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary, returned to the United States in November 2014 after being imprisoned in North Korea for two years. The North convicted him of trying to overthrow the state and sentenced him to 15 years' hard labor.
UK's Cameron hopes for anti-graft progress despite slip
By Elizabeth Piper
LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron will urge dozens of nations to redouble efforts to combat corruption at a summit meeting on Thursday, days after he described two of the countries attending as "fantastically corrupt".
Cameron is hosting representatives of about 50 states at the anti-corruption conference, including the presidents of Afghanistan and Nigeria, which he said were "possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world", when he was caught on camera talking about the conference to Queen Elizabeth this week. Cameron has since said the leaders of both countries are working hard to fight corruption.
Cameron is expected to announce on Thursday that foreign companies that own property in Britain will be forced to make public their true ownership in a register of beneficial ownership information to be launched next month, a senior British official said.
"The evil of corruption reaches into every corner of the world. It lies at the heart of the most urgent problems we face - from economic uncertainty, to endemic poverty, to the ever-present threat of radicalisation and extremism," the British Prime Minister will say at the London conference, according to his office.
"A global problem needs a truly global solution. It needs an unprecedented, courageous commitment from world leaders to stand united, to speak into the silence, and to demand change."
France, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Afghanistan would also commit to launching public registers of true company ownership, Cameron's office said.
Australia, New Zealand, Jordan, Indonesia, Ireland and Georgia will agree to take the initial steps towards making similar arrangements, it added. Some of Britain's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies have also signed up to share their beneficial ownership registers with other countries.
Cameron put tackling corruption, including tax avoidance, at the heart of his agenda when he hosted a summit of the Group of Eight leading industrialised democracies in 2013.
Thursday's summit, which brings together leaders such as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and a deputy foreign minister from Russia, is seen as a milestone in those efforts.
But after Cameron described Nigeria and Afghanistan as "fantastically corrupt", a senior British official said Britain would not be lecturing other countries.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said on Wednesday he would not demand an apology from Cameron. Buhari, who has a reputation for personal probity and has pledged to crack down on corruption in Nigeria, said Britain should instead return assets held by corrupt officials.
Cameron has come under pressure over his fight against corruption since the release of the "Panama Papers", leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca that named the prime minister's late father Ian Cameron among the list of clients.
He said he once had a stake in his father's offshore trust and had profited from it, but that was before he became prime minister.
Soon after the freshly graduated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his informed speech in Cochin comparing Kerala to Somalia, I landed in Mogadishu from where this report is filed.
"Was Mr Modi right?" I asked a Somali at the central market, selling fish with one hand, a gun in the other.
"What has he gone and said now?" Hasaad Azad asked.
"He said Kerala is like Somalia in many ways?"
"Where's the problem with that? You guys are very hard on this man?"
"Kerala is advanced," I said. "High per capita income, highest unemployment rate best arrogant state, most bearded, one and a half woman for one man, 93 per cent literacy rate"
"Wait. I might be a Somali but I am not a moron. And all my brothers, like yours, are in Dubai. And 1.5 woman for 1 man? I call it misogyny."
"Who said you are a moron? Mr Modi did not say that, believe me. I can't comment on the 1.5 to 1 ratio. Sorry. I am not allowed."
"What happened to the remaining 7 per cent?"
"7 per cent what?"
"You said literacy was 93 per cent? What about the rest?"
"The Kerala chief minister Mr Oommen Chandy is looking for them. When we find them we will teach them a lesson."
Narendra Modi in Kerala, which is basically Somalia.
"You will shoot them?"
"If you insist. Is that what you do here?"
"You see this gun in my hand?"
"Yes."
"What do you think this is for?"
"To protect the fish?"
"That, of course. The gun is to shoot people who don't go to school and learn Sanskrit."
"Isn't your language Somali, and Arabic?"
"It all comes from Sanskrit. We African-Aryans spoke a mix of Arabic and Sanskrit. Your Panini is an Italian, you realise? P.A.N.I.N.I. It's an international language, truly."
"You have one school of thought, we have another. But is the method working?"
"The gun method? I would think so. We have only 7 per cent population in the city today. The rest have all died by means of guns in the villages. We use spears when we run out of bullets."
"In Kerala, we don't use the gun. We use swords. If you don't want to join our party, then we hack you to death. That is one reason why our population figures are steady. Soon they will show a negative growth rate as in advanced countries."
"Jesus. That sounds like us. Our tribes have fought each other to bits for the longest time."
"Are you a Christian?"
"Do I look like a freaking Christian? I could throw this fish in your face and walk away from it all."
"No, sorry, you look like a Sunni Muslim?"
"Not bad. How did you guess?"
"In Kerala, we have a whole district for Sunni Muslims. It's a sort of reserved area. Like tiger protection? They all look like you."
"The tigers?"
"No, the Kerala Muslims, Mr Hassad Azad."
"So, maybe your friend Modi is right after all."
"Maybe. I am here to investigate, unbiased reporting, that's what we believe in. The journalism of courage. Still, I am curious to know. Despite the fact that you have killed most of your people, you still have some 13 million left. In Kerala, we have only 3. 5 million, having killed, or exiled the rest to Saudi Arabia. "
"We manage, kid. You don't want to know."
"Please, I am from Kerala. We feed our children android there. The older ones like me had Shakeela and Silk Smitha for baby-sitters. None of us have a childhood in Kerala."
"Well, no childhood here either, let me tell you. My first memory is a head on a spear in the living room. Ah, now, the population issue. We have 6.5 children borne by every mother. Every mother, you understand? That's the average. That way we can kill as many as we like, but we will always be left with the 7 per cent."
"Oh. That's why. Kerala is different. Every mother bears 1.7 children."
"That's odd. How can you have a .7 child? Is that possible?"
"Well, how do you have a .5 child?"
"We are not Keralites, are we? Besides we eat a lot of fish."
So very fishy.
"We also eat a lot of fish. There seems a lot in common to both of us after all."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Yes, no. That fish you have in your hand. What is it called?"
"We call it Mogambo. It's code for Pomfret. Somalians go berserk at its sight. So in trade we use Mogambo so the tribes don't come to blows. But a gun is necessary for its protection. Jesus, sometimes I believe I have become a bodyguard to the goddamn fish, Insha'Allah."
"Pomfret. That's what I thought. In Kerala, too, they fancy Pomfret very much. How is it priced?"
"Well, in Indian rupees or Somli heads?"
"An Indian rupee is easier to understand."
"150 rupees a kilo. If you are a Sunni, I will give it you on a banana leaf with a ten rupee discount."
"Hey Ram. This fish costs Rs 750 a kilo in Cochin where Mr Modi (BA, MA; M.Ed pending investigation) compared you guys to us."
"No wonder, all your sons and fathers are Sheiking it up in the Mid East."
"You got a point there."
"You want the damn fish or not?"
"No."
"This is what I hate about Indians. You guys haggle all day, buy nothing. Get on that plane before I shoot you."
***
My work done, I took the AI flight back. It was empty but for a few Chinese millionaires who had tried to offload some Alibaba shares, which had crashed. They looked unhappy. Somalis are very smart people, I thought, even though they have not seen a Mohan Lal movie. In Kerala if you don't appreciate Mohan Lal as a genius, you are called gigolo. Don't ask me why. At the very back of the plane, I discovered two Indians. They too looked down in the mouth.
"What happened?" I asked.
"We had gone to sign a billion dollar mining project."
"And?"
"Just as we were about to sign, a man with a fish in one hand and a gun in the other barged in and whispered something in a mix of Sanskrit and Arabic into the ears of the Somali CEO."
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on May 11 took a holy dip (samrasta snan) with Dalits at Valmiki Ghat on the banks of river Shipra in Ujjain, where the Simhastha Kumbh is being held.
BJP president Amit Shah took a holy dip with Dalit sadhus at Valmiki Ghat.
While critics may call it symbolic, the event holds significance as it underlines BJPs sustained effort to bring Dalits into the mainstream and ensure that they too lead a life of dignity and respect.
Most political parties have so far engaged in politics of symbolism and used Dalits as vote bank. However, now the BJP-led NDA government has ushered in a refreshing change with a genuine attempt to reach out to the community and create an enabling environment through multiple measures for their all-round growth and development.
Thanks to caste-based reservation introduced by Babasaheb Ambedkar, it was initially the Congress that became the natural beneficiary of the policy and secured a lions share of Dalit votes at the national level for decades.
However, in the last two decades, Dalits have gradually moved away from the Congress as the grand old party failed to initiate any impactful programme to uplift the community.
Since then a number of parties entered the political fray to take advantage of the disenchantment of Dalits from the Congress but it is only the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) that has managed to make a substantial dent in the communitys vote bank.
The BSP rose in the 1990s in the Hindi heartland and its supremo Mayawati became chief minister of the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh on four different occasions.
However, even Mayawati failed to usher in any structural changes for the welfare of the Dalits, and instead, drowned the opportunity by chasing politics of symbolism when she installed statues of Dalit leaders of the yore across the state.
Most political parties have used Dalits as vote bank.
No wonder, in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, her party drew a blank in Uttar Pradesh. However, most political outfits have not learned from the plight of Congress and BSP and continue to dabble in politics of symbolism while ignoring real issues concerning Dalits.
Perhaps this is the reason that the unfortunate suicide of Hyderabad Universitys Dalit student Rohith Vemula was given so much political colour. In the last ten years, as many as eight Dalit students have committed suicide in Hyderabad University which clearly indicates caste-based discrimination in this centre of learning.
Of the eight suicides, seven took place when both the state and the Centre had Congress governments but there were no protests by any political party, nor did Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi dash to Hyderabad to express his solidarity with the family of the deceased student.
In fact, BSP chief Mayawati, who created a ruckus in Parliament over Rohiths suicide, had never spoken a word before on the issue of atrocities against Dalits in Hyderabad University. It is evident that those shedding crocodile tears over Rohiths tragic death are only indulging in politics and they have nothing to do with the welfare of the Dalits.
Besides social integration, the creation of a strict law and its effective implementation is the only way to ensure justice for Dalits. In this regard the BJP government in Maharashtra has taken a commendable step by bringing Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill in the state Assembly.
This bill has made discrimination and social boycott a punishable offence with maximum punishment of seven years in prison or fine up to Rs 5 lakh or both.
This law will go a long way in curbing the practice of discrimination by local institutions, like panchayat bodies, against Dalits. The central government also introduced similar effective laws a couple of weeks ago to rein in crimes against Dalits and adivasis. Such stringent laws can play an effective role in ending bias against Dalits and pave the way for their empowerment.
The intolerance shown towards Dalits in Hindu temples and other places of worship for centuries has also created a feeling of inferiority among the community. Thus, both religious leaders and religious institutions also need to play a key role in instilling confidence among the Dalits.
The religious places that discriminate against Dalits need to be identified and appropriate steps need to be taken to put an end to this evil practice. While it is a fact that some social ills need to be tackled to ensure rightful place for Dalits in the society but the key to their upliftment and progress eventually lies in education and economic development.
Modi government has taken several steps for Dalits.
The BJP government under Narendra Modis leadership has taken several effective steps in these two crucial areas for the benefit of Dalits and these measures are likely to deliver results in the long run.
It is often seen that the benefit of reservation has largely been confined to the educated and well-heeled in the Dalit community. Generation after generation, it is only people from the same family and community, who have been getting cushy jobs.
Thus, it is necessary that the policy of reservation is targeted better so that its advantages accrue to other sections of Dalits as well and they also get an opportunity to rise and shine.
Perhaps, the concept of creamy layer can also be introduced in Dalit reservation as has been done in reservation for backward castes.
The reservation for Dalits in private sector cant be advocated in a liberalised modern economy. However, big corporates can still contribute in this noble cause by giving preference to Dalits on merit basis on the lines of their CSR initiative; this can create a new window of opportunities for the community.
Since Dalits have, traditionally, never been landlords in rural areas, they remained illiterate due to lack of funds and evil practice of social boycott. Hence, manual labour has been their only source of income.
Skill development can provide better livelihood to Dalits in rural areas.
In this context, participation in Modi governments "Skill India" programme can prove to be a blessing for the Dalit community. It is essential that the government introduces effective and result-oriented programmes under the "Skill India" initiative keeping Dalits in focus.
Similarly, entrepreneurship can prove to be a milestone for financial empowerment and prosperity of Dalits. While "Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce" is a welcome move, a common Dalit person may not be able to derive benefits from such an institution due to lack of education, skill and funds.
Hence, effective implementation of government initiatives like "Stand Up India" for supporting entrepreneurship, Mudra Bank for easy finance and "Jan Dhan Yojana for access to banking services will go a long way in awakening the spirit of entrepreneurship among the Dalit community.
Thus, Narendra Modi government and BJP under Amit Shah have taken some serious initiative for long-term welfare of Dalits.
CASPER, Wyo. A Casper man who caused up to $1 million worth of damage at a local bentonite mine could face 10 years in prison after admitting his involvement Tuesday.
Mark Faulcon pleaded guilty in Natrona County District Court to felony property destruction, conspiracy to commit property destruction and conspiracy to commit burglary.
Authorities say Faulcon and another man, Adam Melikian, burglarized and damaged several buildings and vehicles in January at the mine, which is at the intersection of Poison Spider and Gas Hills roads. The damage appeared to have been caused by large machinery, according to court documents.
Faulcon could serve up to 10 years in prison as part of a sentencing agreement with state prosecutors. He will also be required to pay restitution, though that figure has not yet been decided. Faulcon has bonded out of jail pending sentencing.
Melikian pleaded not guilty in March to multiple property destruction and burglary charges. He has also bonded out of jail.
The Natrona County Sheriff's Office began investigating the case Jan. 4 after receiving a call from the mine.
LONDON - England - The Britain Stronger in Europe (BSE) campaign has released a report claiming the UK is safer in the EU.
Responding to claims from Charles Clarke, Lord Carlile of Berriew, and Peter Neyroud that the EU makes us safe, Foreign Office Minister James Duddridge said:
It is completely disingenuous to suggest that we are safer inside the EU.
EU law is undermining our bilateral relationships with key allies in the Five Eyes Alliance, whilst the European Court is seeking greater controls over our intelligence and security services.
The inability to control our own borders means that we cannot stop criminals entering the UK. And plans to give Turkey visa-free access to the EU will create a free travel zone from the English Channel to the borders of Syria and Iraq.
In order to strengthen our national security, we must take back control on 23 June.
The British public will take no lectures from Charles Clarke on security, who was forced from office due to his inability to protect the public from foreign national offenders.
In 2006, Charles Clarke was sacked as Home Secretary. This followed the Home Offices decision to release 1,023 foreign national offenders from prison without being considered for deportation. Those released into the community included killers, rapists and child abusers.
Charles Clarke knows how dangerous it is for the European Court to be in control of our borders. As Home Secretary, he tried to exclude suspected terrorists the courts have concluded must remain in the UK because of EU law.
In 2005, the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, refused the French-Algerian national ZZ readmission on return from a trip to Algeria and expelled him on the grounds of public security.
The European Court of Justice ruled that where the Home Secretary believes a suspected terrorist should be excluded from the UK, but also considers disclosing the case to the suspect would damage national security: the person concerned must be informed, in any event, of the essence of the grounds on which a decision against him is taken.
The Court of Appeal observed that these rights under EU law cannot yield to the demands of national security. This means the Home Secretary either has to disclose information that might prejudice national security or allow suspected terrorists into the UK.
In 2015, the Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal ruled the UK could not exclude ZZ from the UK because of EU law, despite the fact that he was a suspected terrorist. The Tribunal concluding that: We are confident that the Appellant was actively involved in the GIA [Algerian Armed Islamic Group], and was so involved well into 1996. He had broad contacts with GIA extremists in Europe. His accounts as to his trips to Europe are untrue. We conclude that his trips to the Continent were as a GIA activist.
Lord Carlile of Berriew knows how dangerous it is for the European Court to be in control of our intelligence agencies. He has supported surveillance legislation which has since been struck down because of the EUs Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Lord Carlile supported the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Bill in 2014, stating: I support the Second Reading of the Bill on the understanding that its purpose is to preserve evidence of a kind that is currently available to the courts There is a necessity to ensure that such crucial evidence remains available.
The Home Secretary, Theresa May, described the legislation as crucial to fighting crime, protecting children, and combating terrorism.
In July 2015, the Divisional Court in London annulled the Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act 2014 for being inconsistent with the EUs Charter of Fundamental Rights.
In November 2015, the Court of Appeal referred the legislation to the European Court to see whether or not it is allowed. Lord Justice Lloyd Jones made clear that the European Courts decisions will remain central to the validity of all future legislation enacted by the Member States in this field.
The European Court heard the case on 12 April, but it will not issue a decision until after the referendum on 23 June. The Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, has proposed emergency legislation in the event of a leave vote to prevent the European Court interfering with our security services.
We have given up control of our borders to the European Court. This means we cant ensure migrants have proper documents to come to the UK. The only way to take back control of our borders is to Vote Leave.
The UKs border controls are under constant attack from the European Court of Justice. In December 2014, the European Court said that the UK cannot require family members of EU citizens from other EU member states to have a permit issued by UK authorities. This is despite the fact that a High Court Judge had found permits from other EU countries to be systematically forged, stating Systemic abuse of rights and fraud calls for systemic measures. The European Courts rulings make it easier for terrorists and criminals to enter the UK using forged documents.
The 2014 judgement of the European Court also means that the UK cannot require persons purporting to be EU citizens to have a document issued by the British Government which attests to that status in pursuit of an objective of general prevention of terrorism and serious crime.
This constitutes a threat to the UKs security, in light of the fact that eight Schengen countries were on the list of the top 10 nations reporting stolen or lost passports in Interpols databases, according to the former Secretary General of Interpol, Ronald K Noble. This is a risk to security. The Italian ID card, for example, is made of laminated card. In April 2016, Frontex noted that: The number of persons aiming to get to the UK with fraudulent document significantly increased (+70%) compared to 2014. This trend is mostly attributable to the increasing number of Albanian nationals often misusing Italian and Greek ID cards followed by Ukrainian nationals abusing authentic Polish ID cards.
The UK is obliged to admit EU citizens with ID cards as well as passports.
The European Court has also held that the UK cannot automatically refuse persons entry because of an alert on the Schengen Information System, without having first verified whether their presence constituted a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society.
The European Court has made it much harder to remove terrorist sympathisers and convicted killers.
On 4 February 2016, Advocate General Professor Maciej Szpunar issued an opinion stating that it was in principle contrary to the Treaties to remove CS from the UK, notwithstanding the fact that she had been convicted and sentenced to a years imprisonment. It was subsequently revealed under parliamentary privilege that CS was the daughter-in-law of Abu Hamza, who was convicted of attempting to smuggle a SIM card to him in high security prison (Guardian, 6 February 2016, link).
EU law prevents us from removing serious criminals, such as violent killer Theresa Rafacz, a Polish national who killed her husband, including by kicking him in the face with a shod foot while he lay on the ground defenceless and drunk. Mr Justice Hart ruled the offence involved gratuitous violence. She was sentenced to four years imprisonment. Nonetheless, Mr Justice Blake later ruled that EU law prevented her removal, stating that there was no basis which could justify her deportation on the grounds of public policy.
In 2014, the Home Secretary said that ending the European Courts control of our criminal justice system, which the Government accepts is the risky option, would form part of the renegotiation. It didnt and the European Court remains in charge of many areas such as extradition and child protection.
In November 2014, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, called for the jurisdiction of the European Court over justice and home affairs to be renegotiated, saying: I am certainly no enthusiast for the European Court of Justice I understand the concerns raised about the European Court of Justice in the many debates we have had on protocol 36. I believe we must look again at this matter in our renegotiations with the European Union before the referendum that a Conservative Government will deliver by the end of 2017.
In November 2015, the Home Office admitted that: The current Government would not have ceded CJEU jurisdiction over the field of policing and criminal justice during negotiation of the Lisbon Treaty. It is clear that accepting CJEU jurisdiction over measures in the field of policing and criminal justice is not risk free. This is because the CJEU can rule in unexpected and unhelpful ways The Government considers, however, the risk of CJEU jurisdiction to be at its greatest as concerns matters relating to substantive criminal law. This is a matter that should be determined by our sovereign Parliament, particularly given that the relevant measures are often open to wide interpretation. This also reduces the risk of the EU obtaining exclusive external competence in relation to such matters.
The European Courts jurisdiction over justice and home affairs was unaltered by the renegotiation. As a result, it has jurisdiction over many sensitive areas, including extradition, child protection and victims rights.
In January 2015, the Government called for greater action on the sharing of criminal records. Nothing has been done since. The EU institutions are too sclerotic to protect our security.
In January 2015, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, said: We must work to share more data about criminal convictions, and must accelerate work to consider how we share conviction data proactively. We are making some progress through the SOMEC project on mobile criminals, but there is more to do. We need to ensure that all member states retain and share information about spent convictions for serious offences for appropriate lengths of time.
Nothing has been done to adopt these proposals since.
The failure to share criminal records facilitates the movement of dangerous criminals across the EU. Those who have come to the UK include Victor Akulic, a Lithuanian with many convictions including for child rape, who within a year of entering the UK committed rape, with Lady Justice Hallett asking, do we have to take in anybody, even if they have a conviction for raping a child?, and Ireneusz Bartnowski, a Polish national with previous convictions who killed Guiseppe and Caterina Massaro within weeks of arriving in the UK in an attack the judge described as evil beyond belief.
It is not necessary to be in the EU to have working extradition arrangements.
This deliberately conflates EU membership with the ability to have working extradition agreements. We have extradition agreements with many countries around the world, including the United States, without accepting the supremacy of EU law.
Recently, we extradited a murder suspect from Ghana in just over a month. The suspect subsequently pleaded guilty to murder at the Central Criminal Court.
The UK could continue to be part of the European Arrest Warrant if we Vote Leave. As the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC, has confirmed, police and security cooperation would continue if we Vote Leave. Asked: But we could still have tools like the European Arrest Warrant and sharing of databases even if the UK left the EU?, David Anderson replied: I think thats very likely (BBC Daily Politics, 1 March 2016).
If we end the supremacy of EU law, we could also stop the European Arrest Warrant being abused by foreign prosecutors which is currently illegal under the EUs Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Leaving the EU will not affect intelligence sharing.
Most intelligence sharing is bilateral. It will not be affected if we Vote Leave. The crucial intelligence sharing agreement the UK has is the Five Eyes Agreement with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and America, but this is under threat from the European Court (see above). The respected former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Richard Dearlove, has said: The crucial practical business of counter-terrorism and counter-espionage is conducted, even in Europe, through bilateral and very occasionally trilateral relationships. Brussels has little or nothing to do with them if Brexit happened, the UK would almost certainly show the magnanimity not to make its European partners pay the cost.
Leading counter-terrorism experts have made clear that Europol is irrelevant to counter-terrorism. Richard Walton, head of Counter Terrorism Command at New Scotland Yard from 2011-15: Europol, while a useful discussion forum, is largely irrelevant to day-to-day operations within the counter-terrorism sphere.
The former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, Sir Richard Dearlove, has said: though the UK participates in various European and Brussels-based security bodies, they are of little consequence: the Club de Berne, made up of European Security Services; the Club de Madrid, made up of European Intelligence Services; Europol; and the Situation Centre in the European Commission are generally speaking little more than forums for the exchange of analysis and views.
A Century High School senior walked out of an Advanced Placement exam earlier this month to a plethora of messages when she turned on her phone.
Friends and family of Sedalia Mahlum had found out she was named one of 160 U.S. Presidential Scholars. Naturally, they rushed to congratulate her.
My first reaction was surprised, she said. Im thrilled.
The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars selects the students each year based on academic success, artistic excellence, essays, community service, leadership and commitment to high ideals. High achieving students have a chance to apply, and at least two are selected in each state.
Mahlum said its an honor to be recognized among the other names on the list, as she knows several through her work for the High School Democrats of America.
She serves as national programs director, a role that put her to work organizing a voter registration drive nationwide on high school and college campuses. High school Democrats registered 5,000 voters during the drive this year.
Currently, shes planning a national summit in Washington, D.C., this summer to bring together high school Democrats throughout the country.
The week before, she will attend a ceremony at the White House to honor the Presidential Scholars. President Barack Obama will be there as well.
Its unbelievable, Mahlum said. Im very excited. Washington, D.C., is one of my favorite places.
Mahlums interest in politics prompted her to serve as a page for five months in the U.S. Senate spring semester her junior year.
While there, she attended academic classes at a school just for pages beginning at 6 a.m. The pages completed their coursework during breaks throughout the rest of the day.
Any time the Senate is in session, the pages are there, she said. I worked some long days.
Mahlum is also active in four choirs, National Honor Society Club, student council and First Presbyterian Church. She is a deacon and sits on the churchs outreach committee.
The members of the congregation had such a large role in raising me, she said. I have a lot of supportive adults in my life because of church.
After graduating from Century later this month, Mahlum plans to attend Columbia University in New York and study human rights. She aims for a career doing advocacy work helping refugees immigrate legally to the United States.
Gordon Brown is now a destitute tramp who doesnt wash or sleep under a roof, residents of his constituency of Kirkcaldy have told the BBC.
Ever since he was ousted as PM, you may have wondered where Gordon Brown has been. Well, the answer is he has been seen moping around the streets and canals of Kirkcaldy with no possessions apart from a black bin bag and tattered book about courage which he claims to have written.
Its very sad indeed. After Gordon was finally booted out of Number10, he went downhill fast. He started on the booze, then his wife Sarah kicked him out for throwing stuff around and his boozed up temper tantrums. We see him daily roaming the streets shouting at people, calling old women bigots and generally showing a very bitter face to the world. Oh how the times have changed. One minute he was a high felooting Neo-Stalinist control freak being bussed around the world and country ruining the economies of Britain and the world, next he was back in Kirkcaldy, a nobody. He was a beaten man. Eventually his wife and kids could not take it anymore. All the fax machines and mobile phones being constantly thrown at them, a fed up resident of Kirkcaldy told the BBC.
Things have been very tough for Mr Brown as of late. When he is not hanging outside the local Londis with a can of Special, he can be seen scrounging for scraps in bins and the kebab shop on the high street.
He does get quite abusive sometimes. He keeps muttering something about saving the world. Everyone gives him a wide berth thats for sure. If you see Gordon coming, you best get out the way or youll get a load of aggro. Were hoping he moves on somewhere else, he should go back to London. Maybe he could become a fixture at the tent city in Parliament square, Reverend Pilkington, the local vicar for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath told the KirkCow Gazette.
Officials representing charities say granting North Dakotas five American Indian tribes exclusive rights to host online gambling could effectively end charitable gambling in the state. The tribes want Gov. Doug Burgum to approve the idea under tribal-state agreements known as compacts. The current compacts expire at the end of this year and only Burgum can approve them. The tribes argue that their casinos have been hurt by the explosion of the charities Las Vegas-style pull tab machines. Burgum heard arguments from the charities and tribes on Friday. He says the terms of the compacts are still being negotiated and should be completed next month.
North Dakota tribes want to organize to promote tourism. Its an effort that makes sense and will benefit the entire state.
Theres a lot of interest in Native American culture in this country and abroad. Its not unusual to find European tourists on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation or Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, so its only logical to try to increase the numbers.
Plans to organize were discussed last week at the North Dakota Native Tourism Summit in Bismarck. The new tribal tourism association would be an affiliate of the national American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association. The new group would develop plans to draw more tourists to the reservations.
There are five reservations at least partially in North Dakota and they are scattered across the state. If they become larger tourist destinations they will attract more visitors to other tourism locations. Visitors to Fort Berthold might want to package trips to Medora, Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Fort Union into their stop at Fort Berthold.
Because everyone benefits from increased tourism, partnerships with the new tourism association can play a key role in making the effort a success. The tribes can work with state government for marketing, other towns in creating a larger tourism package and colleges in providing a workforce.
Les Thomas, vice chairman of the Turtle Mountain Tourism Association, said "Tourism in North Dakota is all about partnerships." The new tourism group has a chance to make these partnerships work. Tourism has been the states third leading industry behind energy and agriculture and theres no reason we shouldnt be able to grow it.
The new tourism association will report to the United Tribes Board of Directors and will meet again at the annual Tribal Leader's Summit in Bismarck in September. They may adopt a strategy for seeking a state appropriation, possibly as part of the Tourism Division's budget, to help fund tribal marketing and tourism development.
A financial boost from the state would be helpful. The tribes, however, aren't looking for much from the tourism budget. The cooperation of everyone involved and a good strategy should spell success.
Your recent editorial, "Lignite industry to seek increased help from state," really hit home for me as a worker in the coal industry.
For decades, North Dakota has enjoyed stable jobs, low electricity rates and clean air as a result of the coal industrys investments in technology and the state itself. The industry has a $3.3 billion annual economic impact on North Dakota, with more than $100 million in tax revenue generated on a yearly basis.
All of this could change, though, if EPAs latest attempt to shut down coal is successful. The Clean Power Plan would be devastating to the jobs, electricity rates and economy of North Dakota. As Mac McLennan, CEO of Minnkota Power Cooperative rightly said, The Clean Power Plan changes the world we live in today. Its the biggest challenge facing the industry today.
The coal industry is leading the development of sustainable solutions that balance affordability, reliability and environmental impacts. New technology is being developed for a near zero emissions lignite plant. I applaud our state leaders for supporting this transformational research in 2015. Its critical that our state legislators continue to support the Lignite Energy Councils requests for funding from the state to research and eventually build this new plant. North Dakota can be a leader in clean coal energy but it needs to start taking action now.
We cant afford to see the steady, high-paying jobs and low electricity prices in North Dakota disappear. I encourage our state legislators to invest in our future by supporting the development of transformational near zero emissions coal technologies.
GRAND FORKS -- After a February visit to North Dakota, a Norwegian unmanned aircraft systems manufacturing firm is back again and is looking to jump into the area's existing business climate.
Leaders from Robot Aviation arrived in Grand Forks this week for a site visit that includes touring potential facilities and meeting with organizations it could partner with for various flight and equipment testing and development initiatives.
"In this area, you have all of the experience we need," co-founder and CEO Per Haga said. "You have the best flight school in the whole state, and we need pilots."
Guiding Haga and co-founder Ole Homleid through meetings and presentations was Terry Sando, UAS sector senior manager for the Grand Forks Region Economic Development Corp.
"They had a great discussion at UND yesterday, and I think there's a number of partnerships there for training and some of the systems coming in," Sando said Tuesday.
In addition to the presence of UND's flight school, Haga cited the expertise of other UAS-focused businesses and open airspace as attributes that make the state an attractive place to set up business.
One factor not deterring the group is the harsh climate that moves into the state over the winter months.
"We have more of the same climate that you have, we're flying in snowy and windy conditions all of the time," Haga said.
Founded in 2008, Robot Aviation manufactures fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, but the product that will likely spur collaboration with other local companies is its autopilot computer program, which can be adapted to numerous aircraft systems.
The program can utilize various autonomous flight models and can accommodate sensors, which are instruments attached to aircraft that often include various types of cameras.
"You have to have some sensor technology, but we don't do that ourselves," Haga said. "In this place, we find a lot of (sensor companies), so that's one more reason to establish in this area."
In addition to regional companies, Robot Aviation leaders also envision a partnership with the Northern Plains UAS Test Site, a research organization sanctioned by the Federal Aviation Administration that is headquartered at UND.
Among other duties, the test site collaborates with commercial clients to research possible uses of unmanned aircraft, also known as drones, in the client's field of work. It also has special flight permissions from the FAA that could allow Robot Aviation to fly the larger aircraft it manufactures.
Federal guidelines are strict for operating unmanned aircraft weighing more than 55 pounds. Those under the threshold are considered small UAS, and regulations regarding their operation in the U.S. airspace are expected to come out later this year.
Getting set up in Grand Forks would put Robot Aviation and its smaller aircraft models in an optimal position once those regulations and others are in place, Haga said.
Robot Aviation is the one of the latest UAS companies to visit Grand Forks to explore the possibility of conducting work in the area.
The Parshall School Board split its vote again Monday night and decided to accept the resignation of its business and technology teacher, rather than move forward with a hearing to fire him.
Kevin Turner, an eight-year employee of the school, was not present at the meeting. He has been on unpaid leave since March for documented instances of making sexual comments to students and staff, according to his file.
Board member Billy Johnson said he disagreed with the move because it amounted to accepting a plea agreement worked out by attorneys, rather than taking action that fit the facts. Johnson said he was especially bothered that the board accepted a negotiated resignation from a teacher accused of sexual misconduct, while non-renewing the contract of elementary school principal Lewis Reese based on less severe complaints.
Reeses contract was non-renewed last month on a 3-2 vote primarily for causing a hostile work environment, and Johnson said all the teachers who threatened to leave if Reese was not let go have quit the district in the past few weeks anyway.
Johnson said hes hopeful that Reese can be reinstated and said his record of improving student achievement speaks for itself.
Im going to try like heck, said Johnson, who read a lengthy letter during the meeting, overriding admonitions from the schools attorney that he should stop.
In the letter, provided to the Tribune, Johnson said he was sick of being gagged by the administration and raised the belief that Reese was targeted by the administration for making his own complaint about Turner for sexual taunts the teacher made to Reeses daughter.
School superintendent John Weidner and school board attorney Rachel Bruner were contacted for comment, but were not available.
Weidner recently announced his own resignation.
On March 5, 1969, Specialist Don Bosch and 109 other soldiers were dropped on the west side of Hill 947. The Vietnamese had reportedly wiped out the alpha company, and they were to look for survivors.
Bosch was pulling point as they marched across the hill. Heading down the steep grade of the other side, an American soldier came running up the hill screaming at them to turn around.
Theres hundreds of them, he shouted.
Just as Bosch and the others got behind the trees the Vietnamese opened fire. Bosch began throwing his half a dozen grenades down the hill and, before he knew it, the other soldiers nearby began rolling up their grenades for him to throw.
They managed to run back to the top of the hill, where a bomb had previously created a crater. It was there that they set up headquarters, and the soldiers were told to start digging in. They dug three-man foxholes all around the perimeter of the hill.
From there, they would fight for 2 days straight.
Bosch said, as it neared evening, the Vietnamese would drop mortars on the hill. Then they would start to come up. The trees were tall, making it dark. Not being able to see, they had to listen for the Vietnamese soldiers.
Nine men were killed in the battle, 39 stayed on the hill, the rest of the 109, including Bosch had to be medevaced out. Reinforcements were brought in to replace half the wounded.
Boschs injury came when engineers were using explosives to drop trees so the helicopters could come in. One of the charges was set off early and Bosch was thrown down the hill. The engineers carrying the explosives were never found.
At 19, Bosch had been drafted and left for basic training at Fort Lewis in Washington. He hadnt thought about college so the military took him. He was then shipped to Fort Polk in Louisiana to be made into an Army infantryman.
Arriving at Fort Lewis, everyone had told Bosch he didnt want to be sent to Fort Polk, known as Tigerland. Of 160 men, he would be the only one to go. After getting out of the war, though, he saw Tigerland as a blessing.
I think the training was better; I was ready when I got there, he said.
When Bosch was sent out, the Vietnam War was at its height.
He had been in Vietnam two weeks and the first two times he was in a helicopter he was shot at, the second time going down. The Chinook crashed through the trees and split in half. Crawling out of the cabin area, he saw the back end on fire and the aircraft would blow up not long after. All but one of the 10-man crew escaped.
The rescue helicopter dropped Bosch and the others in Pleiku. Coming across the tarmac, he ran into Johnny Green of Johnny Green and the Greenmen and his then-girlfriend, Marilyn Winters. Bloody and beat up, Boschs infantry badge was hanging from his uniform. When Winters asked him about it, he gave it to her.
Bosch would later run into Green at a show in Mandan. He told Bosch Winters still had a board of Vietnam memorabilia, his medal included.
Stationed in the Central Highlands with the Fourth Infantry Division, Bosch bonded with two other soldiers: Ralph Marquez, He was my brother, and a Native American man from Oklahoma they called Indian. The three often went out on four-man patrols together.
They would take C-rations for three days and Bosch said they always had 21 magazines of M16 ammunition with them.
You carried so much ammo because you never wanted to run out, he said.
In small groups, they would sneak through the brush rather than taking trails to avoid detection. It was on one of these patrols that Bosch stepped in a booby trap, a hole with sharp bamboo shafts. He had to be medevaced out and treated four days for blood poisoning.
Another time, Bosch and his friends had been in camp. Another 10- to 12-man group had gone out on an ambush in the middle of the night and fell under attack. When asked for volunteers to go find the injured group, Bosch agreed to go. Marquez and Indian were right behind him.
Bosch was in Vietnam for 11 months. He took a job driving a truck the last couple weeks rather than taking a short leave so he could go home sooner.
I didnt want to stay a day longer; I thought Id be pushing my luck, he said.
Upon leaving the military, Bosch went to work for Midwest Motor Express in Bismarck, driving a truck for 20 years. Then he worked for OK Tire another 20 years delivering tires and still delivers auto parts three days a week to stay busy.
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed release of jailed Sahara chief Subrata Roy on parole for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of his mother early this morning.
A bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur, Justices A R Dave and A K Sikri allowed the plea of Roy seeking permission to attend cremation rites of his mother.
"An application has been filed by Subrata Roy seeking provisional release as his mother passed away early this morning at Lucknow...We direct that Roy shall be released on parole for four weeks," the bench said.
Besides Roy, the apex court also granted parole to one of the jailed Sahara director Ashok Roy Choudhary. The court, however, said that Roy would be under the protective custody of the police with an assurance from his counsel Kapil Sibal that his client would not try to escape or run away.
Roy has been in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014 on the orders of the apex court in relation with a long running dispute with market regulator SEBI.
Roy's mother Chhabi Roy, 95, passed away in Lucknow today after a prolonged illness.
New Delhi: In a breather to Sahara chief Subrata Roy, the Supreme Court on Wednesday extended his parole till July 11 to enable him to deposit Rs 200 crore with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur, however, directed Roy and Sahara Group director Ashok Roy Choudhary, who were released on parole on May 6 for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of the Sahara chief's mother, to furnish individual undertaking to prove their "bona fide" and seriousness.
Roy has been in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014 on the orders of the apex court in relation to a long running dispute with market regulator SEBI.
"We are inclined to give one chance to Subrata Roy and Ashok Roy Choudhary to prove their offer to deposit 200 crore by July 11.
"We, accordingly, direct that the May 6 order would continue till July 11 subject to the individual undertaking being furnished by them," the bench, also comprising justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, said.
If they fail to deposit Rs 200 crore to SEBI by July 11, they will have to surrender and go back to Tihar jail, the court said in its order. It also said Roy and Choudhary were free to meet prospective buyers of properties and move within the country in police escort as per May 6 order.
It also held that SEBI would meanwhile continue with the auction of properties of Sahara.
The bench also said Saharas can also go ahead with the sale and alienation of their other properties to raise the amount of Rs 5000 crore as a bank guarantee they have to deposit in addition to Rs 5000 crore to get bail.
The order was passed after the submission of senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Rajeev Dhawan on behalf of Roy which did not receive objection from SEBI's senior counsel Arvind Datar.
However, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, who is appointed as amicus curiae in the matter to assist the court, said there are questions as to why Sahara was averse to sale of Aamby Valley and overseas hotels.
On May 6, the court had directed release of Roy on parole for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of his mother Chhabi Roy and allowed him to visit Haridwar and Ganga Sagar for the rites and ceremonies.
Prior to this, the bench had directed the Sahara group to furnish details of all its properties in a sealed cover to ascertain the fact as to whether they are sufficient for paying back the entire amount to the investors.
SEBI had told the court that it has engaged services of SBI Capital Markets and HDFC Realty to sell 66 properties of the Sahara Group.
The apex court had earlier asked SEBI to initiate the process of selling "unencumbered" properties of Sahara group, whose title deeds are with the market regulator, to generate the bail money for release of its chief.
SEBI was asked to devise a suitable mechanism for the sale in consultation and under the supervision of Justice Agrawal, former Supreme Court judge, and also seek help of experts or expert agencies, if required in the process.
The regulator was also asked to keep the Sahara group "duly informed about the steps taken by it in which event Sahara shall be free to provide such inputs as may be considered necessary so that the properties fetch a fair price towards sale consideration".
SEBI was also asked not to sell any property owned by the beleaguered group for a price less than 90 per cent of the circle rates for the area in question without the permission of the court, the Supreme Court had ordered on March 29.
For the interim bail of 67-year-old Roy, the court had put conditions like depositing Rs 5,000 crore in cash and a bank guarantee of equal amount and tough terms including payment of the entire Rs 36,000 crore, which includes interest. The money will be paid back to the investors of Sahara.
Mr Sen cautioned the government against ad hoc policies, which could impact the growth of the automobile sector in the country.
Hyderabad: After the criticism from automobile industry body Siam, Japanese carmaker Honda said on Wednesday that the ban on diesel cars with higher capacity engines has created confusion among people, making them hesitant to buy diesel vehicles.
The Supreme Court had banned diesel vehicles with an engine capacity of above 2,000 cc in Delhi and NCR.
While Hondas diesel engines do not fall under the said category, the company is witnessing a trend wherein consumers are hesitant to buy diesel vehicles. As a result, the demand for petrol vehicles in on rise, said Jnaneswar Sen, senior vice-president (sales and marketing) Honda Cars India Limited here on Wednesday.
Mr Sen was in Hyderabad to launch his companys new model Honda BR-V compact SUV. The models petrol variants are priced between Rs 8.9 lakh to Rs 12.2 lakh and its diesel variants are in the range of Rs 9.9 lakh to Rs 13.13 lakh.
Mr Sen cautioned the government against ad hoc policies, which could impact the growth of the automobile sector in the country.
The uncertainty in demand is because there is no clarity of policy. This is affecting everybodys growth... there have been many ad hoc decisions that have been taken. In the auto industry, the investments involved are huge therefore it requires logical, transparent policy which is also long-term in nature, he said.
Early this week, Toyota Kirloskar Motor vice-chairman Shekar Viswanathan said the ban would be the worst advertisement of India. Automobile industry body Siam had also cautioned the government that the ban will be hit countrys image as an investment destination.
New Delhi: In a huge setback to Indias efforts to get back Vijay Mallya, who is pro-bed on charges of money laundering, Britain on Wednesday told India that the liquor baron cannot be deported and asked India to instead consider seeking his extradition.
But the British government said it acknowledges the seriousness of allegations against Mr Mallya and was keen to assist the Indian government. India is likely to begin the lengthy process of requesting Britain for extradition under the 1993 treaty between the two countries despite the fact that no one has been extradited by Britain so far under the treaty.
The British governments response came nearly a fortnight after India made a request for the deportation of Mallya, whose Indian passport was revoked in a bid to secure his presence for investigation against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
In the Rajya Sabha, finance minister Arun Jaitley said India will now have to initiate an extradition process after a chargesheet is filed to bring back the embattled tycoon to face money laundering charges as well as recovery of the Rs 9,400 crore of loans to his defunct Kingfisher Airlines.
Cancellation of passport does not result in automatic deportation; that is the stand taken by UK, Mr. Jaitley said. The finance minister said public sector banks are making all efforts to recover the loans and investigating agencies are inquiring into violations of law.
MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, The UK government has informed us that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred.
At the same time the UK acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations and is keen to assist India. They have asked India to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition.
New Delhi: The government on May 11 said the telecom sector has created 2.54 lakh jobs from 2013-14 till April 30 of 2016-17. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, said a total of 89,634 jobs were created in 2013-14, 61,573 in 2014-15, 94,294 in 2015-16 and 8,682 in 2016-17 (till April 30, 2016). The numbers include both direct and indirect jobs.
The government also spoke about numerous jobs likely to be generated by the telecom sector and its allies as envisaged by India Skill Report, 2016. "In fact, anticipating the need, the government has already conducted the skill gap study for the telecom sector," Prasad said.
The skill gap study in the telecom space was conducted under the aegis of the National Skill Development Corporation with support of the Department of Telecom in 2013-14 to assess manpower requirements (2013-22) to identify relevant needs of the sector and prepare a road map. According to the report, the telecom industry is expected to generate a number of new jobs.
"The government is fully aware of the telecom sector job generation and the need for telecom skilled manpower so that telecom industry does not feel the shortage of skilled manpower and the telecom growth story continues," the minister said.
He further said skill development training has already been provided to 6,40,210 in the last 3 financial years till March 31. It is proposed to provide training to over 2 lakh candidates in 2016-17 and still further in subsequent years to meet the projected need of the sector.
New Delhi: With the Supreme Court annulling the call drop compensation regulation, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on May 11 said telecom operators must "heed properly" his call for improving service quality.
"When they can expand telecom services to the nook and corner of the country, why can't they improve the quality" Prasad asked soon after the court judgement. The apex court on May 11 set aside the call-drop penalty provision put in place by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which mandated mobile providers to compensate consumers Re 1 for every dropped call subject to a maximum of Rs 3 a day.
It called the regulation "ultra vires, arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent". Commenting on the order, Prasad said, "As far the judgement is concerned, TRAI regulation is under scrutiny. Therefore, TRAI needs to take a call.
As far as government obligation is concerned, we shall continue to persuade telecom operators to provide good service." Invoking the social commitment card, Prasad held that consumers expect good service from mobile operators, and as a minister, it is his responsibility to keep persuading and monitoring them to ensure they fix gaps in their network.
"I would expect, I repeat, I expect operators to heed my appeal properly because if Digital India is expanding, they will have enough scope for good business," he said.
Telecom operators' argument is resistance to install mobile towers by resident welfare associations and local authorities are main reasons for poor network that result in call drops. TRAI, however, has blamed the operators for investing less in infrastructure required for providing good quality of service.
A picture of Katrina, soaking up the sun in a black bikini has turned up online.
Newly single Katrina Kaif is setting temperatures soaring with her sensual, sexy and seductive bikini photoshoot. A picture of the Bollywood beauty, soaking up the sun in a black bikini has turned up online.
The picture is believed to be from a recent photoshoot for a fashion magazine. Katrina was in the Philippines early this month to shoot for the fashion spread at the Chebu islands. The smouldering hot photo has Katrina dressed in black and blue bikini with a fishnet overall.
Katrina Kaif photographed while shooting for a fashion magazine spread in the Philippines.
Katrina reportedly shot for this magazine spread for five days, before heading out to Morocco to shoot for her upcoming film Jagga Jasoos, with Ranbir Kapoor. The actress will be seen showing off her bikini bod in the upcoming romantic flick Baar Baar Dekho, where she will star opposite Sidharth Malhotra.
Emma Watson arrives at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala, celebrating the opening of "Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology". (Photo: AP)
Emma Watson finds it bizarre when she is referred to as a diva or difficult if she spoke about the gender pay gap.
In order to focus on promoting her organisation HeForShe, which helps raise awareness of womens right in the world, the Harry Potter star has taken a one-year sabbatical from acting.
An issue that has been stirred up quite a controversy in the last few months is the lack of equality in pay between men and women in Hollywood. Stars including Jennifer Lawrence openly slammed this trend.
Well aware that she will be criticised for raking up this issue, Waston insists she will still go ahead with her attempts to bring this issue to the forefront.
Talking to Britains Esquire magazine, she said, We are not supposed to talk about money, because people will think you're difficult or a diva. But theres a willingness now to be like, Fine. Call me a diva, call me a feminazi, call me difficult, call me a first world feminist, call me whatever you want, its not going to stop me from trying to do the right thing and make sure that the right thing happens.
She continued, Because it doesnt just affect me. Whether you are a woman on a tea plantation in Kenya, or a stockbroker on Wall Street, or a Hollywood actress, no one is being paid equally.
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)
Gaya: Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadav, the son of ruling JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi who allegedly shot dead a 20-year-old youth for overtaking his vehicle, was arrested from his father's mixer plant in the district on Tuesday. Police have recovered the weapon used in the crime.
"The main accused Rocky Yadav was arrested from his father Bindi Yadav's mixer plant located at Mastpura village of Bodh Gaya Police Station of Gaya district. Rocky was arrested along with the weapon (Bretta pistol) used in the crime," Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Mallik told reporters.
Pistol recovered from Rocky Yadav (Photo: ANI Twitter)
Mallik claimed that Rocky, who was produced before mediapersons during a press conference with a mask on his face, had admitted to his crime in a statement. However, minutes later Rocky Yadav pleaded innocence and denied that he was involved.
"I was in Delhi...when my mother called me I came and presented myself before the SSP... I did not open fire," Rocky Yadav told reporters "I'll tell everything in the court," he said.
#WATCH: JDU MLC's son & main accused Rocky Yadav denies having fired shots at the deceased Aditya Sachdeva in Bihar.https://t.co/NIfVjl9Pnn ANI (@ANI_news) May 10, 2016
Rocky Yadav would be presented in a Gaya court later in the day.
To a query whether Rocky has surrendered or was arrested, the SSP said, "It is definitely an arrest."
Aditya Sachdeva was shot dead allegedly by Rocky Yadav for overtaking his vehicle near police lines in Gaya district on Saturday night.
Rocky's father, known in the area for his muscle and money power, and Manorama Devi's bodyguard Rajesh Kumar were arrested on Sunday for allegedly helping the accused escape.
The SSP said that the license of the pistol had been issued in the name of Rocky Yadav from Delhi and the vehicle had also been registered in the name of Rocky Yadav.
The police had conducted searches at the residence of Manorama Devi in Gaya during which some bottles of liquor were found. An FIR would be lodged in this connection against Bindi Yadav and Rocky Yadav.
Asked about the political pressure on police, Mallik said, "There was no pressure on the police except moral and professional pressure of arresting the main accused at the earliest."
The murder of Aditya Sachdeva had triggered protests and the state government faced criticism from the opposition for the alleged law and order break down.
While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had strongly condemned the incident and asserted that nobody could escape from the "long arms of law", opposition BJP claimed that "jungle raj" had returned to the state. The victim's mother demanded that a speedy trial be carried out in the case
A bandh was observed in Gaya town yesterday in protest against the incident. Shops and business establishments in Gaya remained shut on the bandh call by the NDA and Chamber of Commerce, besides other socio-political outfits to protest against the murder of 20 year-old youth.
A Gaya court yesterday remanded both-- Bindi Yadav and Rajesh Kumar--in 14-day judicial custody in connection with the incident.
Four friends of the slain youth travelling with him in a car on the fateful night three days ago, yesterday recorded their statements under section 164 CrPC before the first-class judicial magistrate Rakesh Ranjan Singh narrating sequence of events leading to the murder.
Patna: Rocky Yadav, son of Bihar MLC Manorama Devi who was arrested for the murder of teenager Aditya Sachdeva in a case of road rage, was fond of guns, especially AK-47s and SLRs (self-loading rifles).
Read: After arrest of son Rocky Yadav, warrant issued against JD(U) MLC Manorma Devi
According to a report, Rakesh Ranjan Yadav alias Rocky Yadavs Facebook page shows his fondness for testing and acquiring new guns. He seems to have had this hobby at least since 2014.
On his Facebook page, there are quite a few political posts as well. Some are in favour of the Grand Alliance of the Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), while others attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Aditya Sachdeva was shot dead allegedly by Rocky Yadav for 'overtaking' his Land Rover near police lines in Gaya district on Saturday night.
Rocky's father, known in the area for his muscle and money power, and Manorama Devi's bodyguard Rajesh Kumar were arrested on Sunday for allegedly helping the accused escape.
Read: JD(U) MLC's son Rocky Yadav, accused of shooting Bihar teenager, arrested
Rockys father had unsuccessfully contested assembly elections in 2005 and 2010 once as an Independent candidate and once on a RJD ticket. His mother Manorama Devi was arrested on Tuesday after liquor bottles were found in her house.
Read: Bihar road rage: JD(U) suspends accused's mother Manorama Devi
Rocky is now in jail with the Rs 1.5-crore Land Rover in police custody. Meanwhile, his father Bindi Yadav and Rajesh Kumar have been sent to 14-day judicial custody.
The murder of Aditya Sachdeva had triggered protests and the state government faced criticism from the opposition for the alleged law and order break down.
A bandh was observed in Gaya town on Tuesday in protest against the incident.
Read: Bihar road rage: Rocky held; victims kin demands death penalty
While Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had strongly condemned the incident and asserted that nobody could escape from the "long arms of law", opposition BJP claimed that "jungle raj" had returned to the state. Some BJP MLAs have even approached Home Minister Rajnath Singh to invoke Presidents rule in the state.
In 2011, Bindi Yadav was arrested after police recovered a huge cache of explosives, rifles and ammunition from his vehicle, meant to be supplied to Maoists ahead of the 2010 elections.
Hyderabad: Seven members of the notorious 'snake gang' were on Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court in connection with a dacoity case involving a young woman in July 2014.
The Special Sessions Judge of Ranga Reddy district court complex on Tuesday had convicted Faisal Dayani, a gym instructor, and six of the gang's members, who would threaten their victims with snakes, under IPC Section 452 (house-trespass), 395 (dacoity), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354B (assault or use of criminal force to any woman with the intention of disrobing).
The eighth accused was convicted only under IPC Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property), while the ninth accused, was acquitted of similar charge.
Pronouncing the quantum of punishment, Judge V Vara Prasad sentenced Dayani and six others -- Khader B, Tayyab B, Mohd Pervez, Sayyed Anwar, Khaja Ahmed and Mohd Ibrahim -- to life imprisonment under Section 395 (dacoity) of IPC, and directed them to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each.
Besides the life sentence, they were also sentenced to seven years imprisonment under IPC sections 452, 506 and 354B and were fined Rs 5,000 each under each section, Public Prosecutor Ponnam Devaraju Goud said.
However, all the sentences will run concurrently.
The eighth convict Ali B was sentenced to 20 months RI though he has already undergone this period in jail.
All the eight convicts were present in the court at the time of pronouncement of judgement.
In August 2014, Pahadishareef Police arrested members of the gang, including Dayani, after the 18-year-old girl alleged she was sexually assaulted by them at a farmhouse in Shaheen Nagar here on July 31.
The gang members had entered the farmhouse to commit a robbery. They forced the victim to strip by threatening to set a snake on her and then allegedly raped her in front of her fiance, police had earlier said.
The seven convicts, who were also booked for gangrape, were acquitted of the charge, as the victim did not confirm the same during the trial and was silent on the allegation before the court.
According to police, the gang members used snakes to scare women and sexually assault them and then film their acts. Some of them were also involved in land grabbing, acting as arbitrator between disputing parties, and other offences.
Hyderabad: A Special Protection Force sub inspector was arrested for allegedly raping an advocate in Musheerabad. The advocate had lodged a complaint against the SI claiming he had lured her with the promise of marriage. The accused, Adinarayana, 31, is posted at the Secretariat and was once part of the Chief Ministers security detail.
According to Musheerabad police officials, a 29-year-old advocate had lodged a complaint against Adinarayana alleging that he sexually exploited her on many occasions promising he would marry her.
The complainant alleged that he got close to her a few months ago and started having a physical relationship with her, after promising marriage. But he has now got engaged to another woman. The complainant has demanded a rape case should be booked against him, along with charges of cheating, an official from Musheerabad police station said.
Police have now registered an FIR against him. We arrested Adinarayana and sent him to judicial custody for alleged rape and cheating. A case was booked against him under Section 376 (rape), 417 and 420 (for cheating), said Musheerabad inspector B. Mohan Kumar. An investigation has also been launched. Sources said that the SIs wedding was scheduled to take place this week.
New Delhi: Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the controversial AgustaWestland chopper deal, is ready to come to India and face investigators provided he gets an assurance he will not be arrested, his lawyer Rosemary Patrizi Dos Anjos said today.
Anjos also said that Michel is living in Dubai and is willing to speak the truth.
He has arrest warrant and that is why he can't go to India. He is not free to go. He would like to go and answer everything and tell the truth but not with arrest warrant, Anjos said from Milan.
She said Michel is available to answer all questions in front of a judge but he must be assured that he is not going to be arrested. Anjos said if her client gets formal invitation from Indian authorities and assurance that he will not be arrested then he will have to go to India and answer all the questions.
However, the Italian middleman has told a news magazine that turning approver was out of question. Michel, denying his lawyers claim, said, I am ready to submit documents and proof related to the case through the Indian embassy, adding that he will be hiring an Indian lawyer very soon and was willing to move Indian courts very soon.
Michel also made it clear that he had never met the Gandhi (Sonia and Rahul) family ever. He said, I have sued Hascke and am willing to give proof.
Meanwhile, former IAF Chief S.P. Tyagi was on Tuesday questioned by CBI for the second consecutive day as part of the probe into the controversial AgustaWestland helicopter deal with the agency claiming he has accepted having met a senior functionary of the firms Italian-based parent company Finme-ccanica.
Tyagi, who has been named in the CBI case registered in March 2013, was summoned to the agency headquarters again on Tuesday during which he was shown some visitor diary entries and other documents. He was questioned for nearly nine hours.
While the CBI was not willing to come on record on Tuesdays questioning, sources in the agency claimed that Tyagi has accepted that he had a meeting with Chief Operating Officer of Finmeccanica Georgio Zapa in Delhi on February 15, 2005 when he was the IAF chief after he was shown various documents including diary entries and visitors register.
The sources claimed that Tyagi was evasive on Monday when asked about his meetings with representatives of Fin-meccanica or Agusta-Westland but after persistent questioning he accepted that a meeting did take place. The sources did not clarify if it was an official meeting but their reference to visitors diary suggested it was in the records.
The deliberations to alter specifications of the VVIP chopper--flying ceiling of 6,000 metres and a cabinet height of 1.8 metres--started from March, 2005 in which senior officials of Indian Air Force, Prime Minister's Office and Defence Ministry had participated, according to Government records.
These deliberations continued till September 2006 and suggestions to reduce the flying ceiling were accepted which brought Finmeccanica's subsidiary Agusta-Westlands helicopter in contention for the deal to sell 12 VVIP choppers to India.
Tyagi, who has been acquitted by an Italian court last year in June, was not immediately available for comments. However, he has always denied any involvement in the case. CBI, which started investigations in 2013, is also claiming that it is still examining travel details of Tyagi and his meetings besides sources of funding for his travels.
The sources claimed that while the agency had come to know about three Noida-based companies owned by the former air chief he has accepted ownership of one more company by him and his wife.
KANYAKUMARI: Do not vote for this alliance or that alliance, but vote for BJP for the better future of Tamil Nadu, extolled Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi at the BJP election rally here on Sunday.
Recalling his campaign at Kanyakumari in the same ground two years ago during the Lok Sabha polls, Mr Modi expressed his appreciation and gratefulness for electing corrupt-free candidate, Pon Radhakrishnan, to represent the district in the Lok Sabha and in the Central government.
It is because of Pon Radhakrishnan that Kanyakumari district has been sanctioned the commercial port at Colachel, said Narendra Modi, adding, that the preliminary works for the port project to tune of Rs 21,000 crore have been already started.
Further taking the credit for the road development projects and bridges implemented in Kanyakumari district, the Prime Minister said that the ongoing road project to connect Kanyakumari with the Thiruvananthapuram airport would further enhance tourism industry in Kanyakumari district. It would ensure better livelihood opportunities for more number of poor families dependent on tourism industry in Kanyakumari, he reasoned.
Brushing aside the Tamil Nadu governments claim of giving free rice for the poor, Mr Narendra Modi said that the Rs 27 worth per kg rice distributed freely to the poor in Tamil Nadu was being supplied by the Central government. We, however, do not paste our faces on the rice bags supplied to the poor brethren of Tamil Nadu like the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, added Modi.
He also reminded the people about the quick Central assistance sent to flood-hit Chennai victims. Mr Modi further assured free LPG supply to around five crore poor households in the next three years so that the health of the poor women would be taken care of.
The Prime Minister added that his government in Delhi is ready with a plan to implement free medical care facilities for the aged poor to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore.
Lashing out at the DMK-Congress combine, whose coalition rule at the Centre for 10 years from 2004 was filled with corruption, he came down heavily on the Congress for the helicopter scam, Modi said that in the two years of NDA rule, they had brought to light the acts of corruption committed by the previous rulers and ensured a corruption-free and development oriented administration in India.
Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan and BJP national general secretary, Muralidhar Rao were present along with the BJP candidates contesting in the three southern districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi.
New Delhi: Over 2,100 Indians have been granted asylum by the Obama administration between 2012 and 2014, as per a report by Homeland Security of the US.
Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh gave details of the Indians provided asylum by the US while quoting from the report in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
He said according to latest edition of Annual Flow Report, 425 Indians were given asylum in 2012, 1,042 in the year 2013 and a total of 716 Indian nationals were granted it in 2014. The total comes to 2,183.
"The US government does not share any information with our mission or our Consulates on the number of Indians who have sought or have been granted asylum or the grounds on which the US government has granted them asylum," Singh said.
To a separate question, he said government has made fitment of navigational and communication equipment mandatory in respect of all fishing vessels of 20 metres and above so that they can be tracked.
He was asked about steps to prevent Indian fishermen crossing international maritime borders.
Replying to another query, Singh said Indian High Commission in Islamabad issues an advisory to all visa applicants mentioning that it was illegal to carry Indian currency while entering India besides other laid down rules.
Chandigarh: To bridge Haryana's "caste divide" Aam Aadmi Party will launch 'My Caste Hindustani' campaign in the state and its 'Kranti March' will start from May 14 from Rohtak -- the epicentre of Jat stir for quota earlier this year.
"Haryana needs positive energy and we want to create an atmosphere where all 36 'biradaris' (communities) stand shoulder-to-shoulder and not look at each other with suspicion," said Naveen Jaihind, the newly-appointed Convener of AAP's Haryana unit on Wednesday.
He said the "Kranti March" would start from Rohtak and subsequently would be taken out from other places as well. "The state government remained a mute spectator to the widespread violence. Leaders of ruling BJP went into hiding leaving the state to burn. Some senior politicians from the ruling outfit and the opposition were out to sharpen the caste polarisation for political gains," Jaihind alleged.
Asserting that the violent stir had created a "divide" among various sections, he claimed, "the situation has come to such a pass that people from one community are seeing the other with suspicion. Haryana's 'bhaichara' (brotherhood) was targeted just because of vote bank politics."
The AAP leader claimed that the situation "suited" ruling BJP also "as it has nothing to show of the tall promises it made to people before the 2014 Assembly polls".
"They promised pay scales for employees on par with Punjab, unemployment allowance but they have nothing to show the people," he claimed.
BJP President Amit Shah takes holy dip with Dalit sadhus during the Simhastha Mahakumbh in Ujjain on Wednesday. (Photo: PTI)
Ujjain: BJP chief Amit Shah onb Wednesday took a dip in the Kshipra river with Dalit saints, reaching out to the community at the 'Simhasth Kumbh', a massive congregation of Hindus, as the party looks to consolidate its Hindutva vote base ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh elections.
Mixing with the multitude, Shah later asserted the BJP-led NDA government was committed to strengthening the culture and tradition of India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to attend an event in the city on Saturday, while RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be there on Thursday, underlining the Hindutva outfits' all out attempts to expand their base during the sacred religious congregation.
Shah was joined by Dalit saints, including Balyogi Umesh Nath Giri of Balmiki Dham, besides other Hindu seers during the customary dip in the river billed by the party as 'Samrasta Snan' (bath for social harmony).
He felicitated them and then went to another event where he honoured the heads of various Hindu akharas. "I and my party workers seek your blessings so that the government under Narendra Modi goes on to make India the 'vishwa guru' (world leader)," he said, batting for social harmony and development.
Shah also noted that today was the birth anniversary of Adi Shankaracharya, who was credited with unifying various streams of Hinduism. Later, Shah also had a 'Samrasta Bhoj' (social harmony feast) with Dalit sadhus.
Prior to the 'Snan', the BJP chief, accompanied by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and others, took part in a "samagam" (meeting) at Valmiki Dham which was attended among others by Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad head Narendra Giri, Juna Akhara Peeth's head Awdheshanand and Valmiki Dham's Peethadheeshwar Umesh Nath.
"BJP is the only party which believes in strengthening the country's culture and fostering the motto of world as one abode, one family (Vasudhaiva kutumbakam)," Shah told reporters.
"It (snan) holds more significance as today is the jayanti of Shankracharya, who treaded the path of unifying the main streams of thoughts in Hindu religion at a young age of 32," he said.
The non-Dalit sadhus who were earlier averse to the 'Samrasta Snan' today softened their stand, saying they had misunderstood the concept.
They said they were under a "wrong" impression that the bath was confined to Shah and the Dalits. After coming to know that people from all castes will participate in it, they decided to join too.
"Water is for everybody and saints of all hues have taken bath together. We have no reservation now against the snan," Juna Akhara Peeth's head Awdheshanand said.
Hyderabad: The Panama Papers mentions the name of industrialist Motaparti Siva Rama Vara Prasad thrice, for having offshore companies in Ghana and Togo in Africa.
Mr Prasad has been linked with entities called MP Holdings Associates Limited, Ballyward Limit-ed and Bitchemy Ventures Limited. Several companies wherein he is a beneficiary are registered or have jurisdiction in the British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man, Ecuador, Ghana and Panama.
Mr Prasad is an NRI who owns a vast business empire and is director of several companies based in Hyderabad. He is also a director of Heritage Foods, which is run by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidus family.
Asked about his name figuring in the Panama Papers, Mr Prasad told this paper: I am an NRI based in Ghana. I have been living outside India for 30 years. I do have companies in Panama. I started business in 1985 and I own several companies, mostly cement factories, including in Ghana and Togo. I have companies in the US too. They are all holding companies and are genuine. I am an engineer and a professional.
Asked whether Mossack Fonseca were his agents, he said, I dont know. Usually the process of formation of companies is dealt with by accountants and lawyers. I dont know which agent they retained. We establish companies wherever the cost is less. There is nothing new in setting up offshore companies.
He added that he was only an independent director with Heritage Foods. Mr Prasads son Sunil Motaparti of Bitchemy Ventures invested $6 million in start-ups based in Hyderabad and the US.
Bengaluru: Sofia, the Bulgarian capital known for its rocking night life was scouted for its spectacular locales by former CM and State Janata Dal (Secular) president H D Kumaraswamy, set to launch his son, Mr Nikhil Gowda as the hottest young debutant in the Kannada movie industry in the upcoming movie, Jaguar that is set for a Dasara release.
Ringed by spectacular snow-capped mountains, fir forests, log cabins and ski resorts, HDK and a key aide returned early Tuesday, from Bulgaria after zeroing in on the perfect locations for the young cub, in the second leg of shooting that is set to commence in the former Soviet state, in ten days. HDK plans to return to Sofia with a 50 man crew of national and international technicians for a 30 day long location shoot.
Son first, party last?
The JD(S) leader H.D. Kumarswamy has taken a leave of absence from politics to concentrate on launching his son Nikhil Gowda's career. He takes no calls from party legislators or friends in the media.
All his political commitments are 'temporarily' on hold. Personally present when the shoot was on, in and around Mysuru, HDK skipped the budget session of the State Assembly.
Managing the party is JD(S) patriarch, Mr H.D. Deve Gowda, whose party legislators, Mr C N Balakrishna, Mr Zameer Ahmed Khan, Mr N. Cheluvarayaswamy, Mr Iqbal Ansari, Mr Akhanda Srinivas have boycotted meetings, demanding that a working president be appointed to run the party.
Is an exit on the cards?
The BJP minister was speaking to the media when he said drinking and eating non-veg is a fundamental right. (Representational Image)
Jaipur: At a time when anti-liquor movement is gaining momentum across the country and prohibition is becoming a major poll issue, Rajasthans industry minister on Wednesday struck a divergent note and said drinking and smoking is a fundamental right of people.
Gajendra Singh Khimsar, who is a hotelier by profession, was speaking to the media at the BJPs headquarters when he said, Smoking, drinking and eating non-vegetarian food are fundamental rights of people.
Khimsar spoke about the adverse impact of prohibition and asserted that it not only increased liquor smuggling in states where the liquor ban is in force but also encouraged manufacturing of spurious liquor. According to the BJP minister, the youth in the country have started looking at other alternative sources of getting high, like drugs due to liquor ban.
The Ministers statement has stirred a political controversy with the Congress hitting him out for giving out a morally wrong message.
The ministers statement describing drinking as fundamental right is wrong both morally and legally. Article 47 of directive principles clearly states that since alcohol is under state control, it is governments responsibility to discourage drinking, a Congress leader said.
Khimsar however found some support in the form of his cabinet colleague Surendra Goyal who said that liquor was being smuggled to Gujarat from Haryana through Rajasthan and the police was doing nothing to act against it. Ironically, all three states are currently under the BJP rule.
Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out at Jantar Mantar, along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman - as well as photos of a shouting Trump (Photo: AP)
New Delhi: Around a dozen members of right-wing Hindutva group Hindu Sena lit a ritual fire and chanted mantras Wednesday asking the Hindu Gods to help Donald Trump win the US presidential election.
While Trump has dominated the Republican primary race to decide the party's candidate for the November election, his calls for temporarily banning Muslims from America and cracking down on terrorist groups abroad have earned him some fans in India.
"The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena group. "Only Donald Trump can save humanity."
Members of the group gathered on a blanket spread out at Jantar Mantar, along with a collection of statues depicting gods including Shiva and Hanuman - as well as photos of a shouting Trump.
Above them hung a banner declaring support for Trump, "because he is hope for humanity against Islamic terror."
The group chanted Sanskrit prayers asking the gods to favour Trump in the election, and threw offerings such as seeds, grass and ghee into a small ritual fire.
New Delhi: India has been consistently taking up the issue of tightening norms for skilled foreign workers with the UK at the highest level as it is seen to adversely impact Indian IT companies, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
The UK has been urged not to accept recommendations of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) in the interest of the bilateral trade in services between India and Britain and its "adverse impact" not only on Indian IT companies but on the UK's own economy and competitiveness, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
She said the recommendations of MAC seem to be contrary to the spirit of the joint commitment made during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister last year.
The UK has informed that the changes are not targeted at any particular country, she said. As per Nasscom's estimates, the Indian software industry is likely to incur an additional expenditure to the tune of 250 million pounds, the minister said.
"... This would impact their competitiveness in the market. This would also make many services expensive to consumers in the UK as well," she added.
India says it will file 16 cases against the United States for violating WTO treaties. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: India will file 16 cases against the US for violating World Trade Organisation (WTO ) treaties as certain programmes of the United States in the renewable energy sector are "inconsistent" with global norms, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied in positive to a question in the Rajya Sabha that "whether it is a fact that the government is going to file 16 cases against the US for violating WTO treaties".
She said that India believes that certain renewable energy programmes of the US at the sub-federal level are inconsistent with WTO provisions, particularly with respect to the obligation under GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) 1994, Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and/or TRIMS (Trade-Related Investment Measures) Agreement.
In a separate reply, she said India has appealed before the WTO appellate body on the findings and recommendations of the dispute settlement panel.
To promote domestic manufacturing of solar cells and modules, which is one of the components of the National Solar Mission, India set domestic content requirement for a few of the programmes under the mission.
In a separate reply, the minister said India continues to be placed on the priority watch list under the US Special 301 on account of US assessment of Indian intellectual property rights (IPR) protection being inadequate.
"The Special 301 report issued by the US under their Trade Act of 1974 is a unilateral measure to create pressure on countries to enhance IPR protection beyond the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement," she added.
She made a point that the report which is an "extra territorial application" of the domestic law of a country is inconsistent with established norms of WTO.
Last month, releasing its annual 301 Report, the US has said it will continue to put India and China on its priority watch list for IPR.
Seven security personnel were killed in the terror attack on Pathankot airbase on January 2. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: India has conveyed to Pakistan the need for early and "visible progress" in the Pathankot airbase terror attack probe in that country, Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday.
Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in Rajya Sabha that the case of terror attack on Pathankot airbase is reported to be under investigation in Pakistan.
"The government has emphasised the need for early and visible progress in the investigation in Pakistan of the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack, during meeting of the Indian Foreign Secretary with the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan on April 26, 2016," he said replying a written question.
The Minister said the National Investigation Agency has provided evidences such as certified copies of post-mortem reports, medical legal reports, call data reports, DNA reports, the seizure memo articles from the scene of crime and statements of key witnesses showing involvement of Pakistan based terrorist groups/ individuals to Pakistan's Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during its visit to India from March 27-31 in connection with the Pathankot attack.
Seven security personnel were killed in the terror attack on Pathankot airbase carried out by Pakistan-based JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) terror group on January 2.
During the last four months, as many as 200 fishermen, along with 36 of their boats, were captured by PMSA in seven separate incidents (Photo: FIle)
Ahmedabad: As many as 10 Indian fishermen were apprehended and their two boats seized off Gujarat coast by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), a National Fishworkers' Forum (NFF) official said on Wednesday.
All the 10 fishermen had sailed from the coastal town of Porbandar few days back and were apprehended by the PMSA near the International Maritime Border Line (IMBL) off Jakhau coast on Tuesday, NFF secretary Manish Lodhari told PTI.
"We have learnt that 10 fishermen on two boats were apprehended by PMSA near Jakhau coast on Tuesday afternoon. Pakistan authorities have informed us today that the boats and fishermen have been taken to Karachi, where they landed this morning," he said.
The boats have been identified as 'Devnandan' and 'Shana', each having five fishermen on board, said Lodhari, who is also president of Porbandar Fishermen Boat Association.
This is the second incident in past one month of fishermen being apprehended by Pakistan from near the Gujarat coast. On April 14, the PMSA had apprehended 24 fishermen and seized four boats off Jakhau coast.
The PMSA has been capturing Indian fishermen at regular intervals off Gujarat coast, claiming they violated laws by entering into Pakistan territory after crossing the IMBL in the sea.
During the last four months, as many as 200 fishermen, along with 36 of their boats, were captured by PMSA in seven separate incidents, including Tuesday's incident.
New Delhi: The Special Protection Group (SPG) guarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi should show courtesy to Members of Parliament, Congress members demanded in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Raising the issue T Subbarami Reddy (Congress) said he has given a breach of privilege notice under rule 188 against the SPG for being "rude" and "discourteous" to MPs.
At a recent function of Modi at Vishakapatnam, "They were rude to me," he said. "We don't question their duty but... they should show courtesy to MPs."
"How can they be rude to MPs," He asked. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman will examine the notice Reddy has given.
Anand Sharma (Cong) said when a member was narrating from personal experience, the issue should not get restricted to notices. "How can MPs be ill-treated... it is most unfortunate," he said.
Kurien said Reddy himself has said he has given a notice which will now have to be decided by the Chairman.
Subramanian Swamy (BJP) said the scope of the notice should also include the SPG guarding Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi.
This led to a brief retort from Congress members but order was restored soon after and the House continued with its business.
New Delhi: Launching a counter offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party for its 'return of jungle raj' remark, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav on Wednesday said if the killing of a youth in a road rage incident symbolised that, then even the national capital was no different.
"If one road rage incident takes place in Bihar and it is called 'jungle raj', then the maximum number of road rage incidents take place in Delhi. So is there 'jungle raj' in Delhi? Pakistani flag is unfurled on the country's soil, isn't it jungle raj?
"Terrorists enter the most secure air base, isn't it jungle raj? If there is a Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh, where one after the other, murder takes place, IPS officer is killed, nobody says there is jungle raj. In Haryana, there was such a big riot and such unfortunate incidents of rape took place but it is not called 'jungle raj'," Yadav, who was in the national capital on an official visit, told reporters.
Rocky Yadav, son of a ruling JD(U) MLC, was on Tuesday arrested for allegedly killing a 20-year-old youth Aditya Sachdeva in an incident of road rage in Bihar's Gaya district.
Read: JD(U) MLC's son Rocky Yadav, accused of shooting Bihar teenager, arrested
Tejaswi, the younger son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, said several political leaders and engineers have been killed in BJP-ruled states but nobody raked up the issue and said law of the jungle prevailed there.
He said the way people of Bihar voted the grand alliance of JD(U)-RJD-Congress to power will continue to echo in BJP's ears for the next five years and it is their main cause of worry.
Read: Bihar road rage: Rocky held; victims kin demands death penalty
"In BJP ruled states, if their leaders rape somebody, they are made ministers at the Centre by Modiji," he said. Expressing sadness over the road rage incident he said there is a need for social grooming and spreading awareness among the people about such incidents.
"We condemn the incident. We assure that strict action will be taken against the culprit. We will fight the case properly. Within two days, arrests have been made," he said.
Read: After arrest of son Rocky Yadav, warrant issued against JD(U) MLC Manorma Devi
Tejaswi said the rule of law prevails in Bihar and justice with development will take place in the state. "People of Bihar have made up their mind that they will teach BJP a lesson in 2019 (Lok Sabha polls). There will be a non-BJP government after 2019. Bihar should not be defamed," the Deputy Chief Minister said.
"Since the imposition of prohibition, the crime graph in Bihar has gone down but media never shows that," he said.
Read: Sacked JD(U) MLC to be booked for employing minor domestic help
After the Gaya road rage incident, Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly Prem Kumar, who is also the local MLA, had said the incident marked the return of 'jungle raj' in the state.
The RJD supremo's rivals had coined to term to refer to alleged lawlessness during the Lalu-Rabri regime.
PDF chief Mantri Prasad Naithani offers sweets to Congress leader Harish Rawat during celebrations in Dehradun on Wednesday after the Supreme Court approved the stand that Mr Rawat won the trial of strength in the Uttarakhand state Assembly. (Photo: PTI)
New Delhi: In one of the biggest setbacks for the Modi government, the Congress, led by Harish Rawat, won back Uttarakhand as the results of the floor test in the state Assembly were revealed to the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The top court asked the Centre to immediately reinstate Mr Rawat as chief minister and the government promptly recommended revocation of Presidents Rule, which it had imposed amidst much hue and cry. It was lifted late in the evening.
With the top court announcing, Rawat gets 33 votes out of 61 in the floor test. No irregularities were found in the voting. Nine MLAs could not vote due to their disqualification, celebrations broke out in Dehradun. A jubilant Mr Rawat said, Judiciary in a way came forward as an adjudicator of Constitutional and democratic values. From the Supreme Court to the High Court, I want to thank the judiciary... What ends well remains well. And from here, making a new start will be beneficial for the state. If it was celebration time for the Congress, BJP heavyweights were busy introspecting.
All saffron fingers are now pointing towards BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.
Rawat thanks Sonia, Rahul
The humiliating defeat has severely dented the image of BJP general secretary Kailash as a master strategist. Mr Vijayvargiya was made election in-charge of the party in West Bengal, where the party now seems certain to receive another electoral drubbing. As for Mr Rawat, there was no chest-thumping or rhetoric against the Centre.
I will meet the Prime Minister and seek his cooperation, a beaming Mr Rawat told the media in Dehradun. He also thanked Congress president Sonia gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other party leaders for their support.
Hyderabad: As many as 400 doctor-teachers will have retired from the five government medical college hospitals in four years, at the end of the academic year 2016-17. As many as 176 doctors will retire later this year.
The five medical colleges Osmania, Gandhi, Nizamabad Kakatiya and Mahbubnagar have 2,500 faculty in 35 departments, including professors, associate professors, assistant professors and tutors.
According to data with the director of health and medical education, two professors are retiring every month. There is no professor for anatomy, pharmacology, anaesthesia, general medicine and physiology in Osmania, Kakatiya and Nizamabad medical colleges.
Associate professors have been made in-charge professors and are teaching at the colleges and monitoring at the hospitals. A senior associate professor said, We have been made in-charge professors and given the work of professors. To qualify as a professor we need to do research and submit the thesis which must be accepted and published in a medical journal. This procedure has to be followed strictly but that is not the case now.
While bifurcation is being cited as one of the reasons, TS doctors are upset as AP has appointed more than 300 doctors and filled the vacancies at the post-graduate and associate professor levels.
Dr Kukashekar Rao, who retired as head of ophthalmology at Gandhi Hospital, said, We have been asking the government to increase the age of retirement from 58 years to 65 years. This is according to the guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India. This has been done in AP, which has helped ease the shortage and the doctors experience is well utilised.
In TS, private colleges are reaping the benefits as the retired doctors are joining them as professors. A senior doctor said, The salary of `1.5 lakh is a huge incentive. The demand had been put forth but with no action from the government doctors are looking at private colleges.
Teaching is affected at the government colleges. Dr S. Shanker, a junior doctor, explained, One professor is teaching 200 MBBS students. Ninety per cent of them opt for private tutorials as the professor has no time to clear doubts.
In Kakatiya Medical College, new post-graduates are teaching MBBS students due to the severe shortage.
The Telangana Government Doctors Association has asked the government to give promotions on the teaching side. Association member Dr P. Naik said, No one has been promoted for four years. Associate professors have to be promoted to professors so vacancies are created in the lower rungs which can be filled with fresh recruitments. Presently, associate professors are doing the work of professors on the same pay scale which is very unfair.
The principal secretary health has now asked the director of health and medical education to prepare a list of promotions and vacancies.
MCI tracks I-T data of doctors
For the academic year of 2016-17, the Medical Council of India has linked the income-tax certificates of professors in government colleges with their data pool.
Sources said this was done to track faculty movements during MCI inspections.
When inspections are carried out, there are sudden transfers of faculty from one college to another to show the strength, a source said. This can no longer happen as the MCI will look at the financial calendar and from where the last salary was drawn.
He said the clause was put in place as colleges were increasing the number of seats though they did not have adequate teaching staff. Private medical colleges will be monitored in the same way.
The MCI has prepared a database of professors in different colleges and those who shift for a short duration ahead of the inspections will be questioned.
Hyderabad: Union minister for chemicals and fertilizers Hansraj Gangaram Ahir has backed the irrigation projects proposed by the TS government across River Godavari.
TS irrigation minister T. Harish Rao, along with party MPs, met Mr Ahir and other MPs from Maharashtra in New Delhi on Wednesday to apprise them of the proposed irrigation projects that will benefit both the states and cause no submergence of villages.
He told Mr Ahir, MP from Chandrapur in Maharashtra, that the Congress in Maharashtra was trying to stall the projects by spreading disinformation.
Convinced by the argument put forward, Mr Ahir, in whose Lok Sabha constituency the irrigation projects are being taken up, said Maharashtra was positive about the projects.
Maharashtra and TS governments are taking up irrigation projects across Pranahita and Penganga at Medigadda, Tammidihatti and other places. It will benefit both the states, he said.
Mr Ahir added, Congress charge that it will cause loss to Maharashtra is not true. Maharashtra will extend all cooperation to the TS government and expect similar cooperation in return for completion of the irrigation projects and other bilateral ties.
Mr Harish Rao said, We showed the project designs. Five barrages are being taken up across Godavari. We want to tell the truth to them in the wake of a Congress disinformation campaign and attempts to stall projects. Congress leaders speak in different tones in different states.
He asserted not a single village will be submerged by the irrigation projects designed by the TS government. Mr Harish Rao said that the TS government has invited Maharashtra Chief Minister Devender Fadnavis, Mr Ahir and others for the Godavari Board meeting slated to be held in Hyderabad after June 1.
Finance minister Etela Rajender, TRS MPs A.P. Jitender Reddy, B. Narasaiah Goud, B.B. Patil and Kotha Prabhakar Reddy accompanied Mr Harish Rao.
Had there been a Congress government today, it would have certainly pumped more funds, says T. Subbarami Reddy Senior MP
Visakhapatnam: Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy on Wednesday flayed the Union government for not allocating enough funds for construction of APs new capital Amaravati, and to meet the states fiscal deficit.
Taking part in the discussion on Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Subbarami Reddy said, Hyderabad is a well-developed metropolitan city and yields sizeable income and revenue. But following bifurcation, it has been given to Telangana.
So, AP has to develop its own state capital from scratch. There is a commitment in the AP Reorganisation Act for grant of special assistance for development of the state capital for AP.
The Centre has given a paltry amount of Rs 850 crore for construction of Amaravati city. No substantial amount has been earmarked in the General Budget towards fulfilment of commitments made in the Act. The senior MP demanded the Centre reimburse the revenue the residuary AP lost due to Hyderabad capital city going to TS.
He said that the Congress government provided a clause in the Reorganisation Act saying that the Centre will bear the entire cost of capital city construction. Had there been a Congress government today, it would have certainly pumped more funds for the Amaravati capital city, Mr Subbarami Reddy said.
The senior MP added that Polavaram is a national project and it would provide irrigation and power to both the states, but the Centre is not allocating adequate funds for the expeditious completion of the project.
Only Rs 100 crore has been released in this years Budget for the project. At this rate, when would it be completed? The Central government must do justice to the six crore people of AP, who are very much agitated over the issue. I want the finance ministers response to all the points raised in my speech, he added.
The senior MP said that Section 2 of the Act clearly says the revenue deficit of AP should be borne by the Central government till the state became financially viable.
Mr Subbarami Reddy observed that the estimated revenue deficit was around Rs 4,868 crore and the fiscal deficit was estimated at around Rs 20,497 crore.
According to the state government, the Centre has provided only Rs 50 crore per district per year for the seven districts four in Rayalaseema and three in north coastal AP. At this rate, how do you expect AP to make economic progress along with other states? the senior MP questioned. He also demanded MPLADS funds for MPs be raised to Rs 10 crore from the present Rs 5 crore per annum.
New Delhi: The marksheets of candidates who appeared in civil services examination will be disclosed within 15 days, the Union Public Service Commission has said.
As many as 1,078 candidates, including 499 in General category, 314 belonging to Other Backward Class, 176 from Scheduled Caste and 89 from Scheduled Tribe, have qualified in the exam, results of which were declared yesterday.
"Marks will be available on the website (of UPSC) within 15 days from the date of declaration of result," it said.
The civil services examination is conducted by the UPSC annually in three stages -- preliminary, mains and interview -- to select candidates for the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among others.
Delhi girl Tina Dabi has topped the 2015 civil services examination, while railway officer Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan from Jammu and Kashmir got second rank. Also, Delhi-based Jasmeet Singh Sandhu, an Indian Revenue Service officer, has secured third position.
There are 172 other candidates in the waiting list.
It has emerged that the OPD turned away patients because the staff were busy participating in a dance performance by minor girls.
Mumbai: Mumbai civic administration's Health Department has launched a probe into an alleged incident of turning away patients by hospital staff as they celebrated 'Haldi Kumkum', a popular women's festival, and played loud music.
The hospital authorities, however, refuted that inconvenience was caused to patients due to the celebration.
In an anonymous complaint, it was alleged that in March, around 10 to 15 staff, including doctors, nurses and class IV workers of Diwaliben Mehta Hospital in Chembur turned away patients and played loud music while celebrating the festival.
WATCH: Minor girls dance as part of cultural program inside OPD of a Mumbai's civic hosp (Mar 2)(Source: unverified)https://t.co/KokUOacSzL ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016
Medical Superintendent and Supervisor of Diwaliben Mehta Hospital, Dr Pradeep Jadhav said, "Following a complaint filed with us, we set up a committee to investigate the incident and the report would be submitted in a day or two."
Jadhav added that as per initial findings, it does not concur that any rules were broken.
A senior official of the Health Department, requesting anonymity, said, "The allegation levelled against the staff is baseless. Not a single patient has come forward to substantiate the charges."
"The festival was celebrated in several hospitals of the city. All the patients were duly attended to as it was organised during post-duty hours. Moreover, it was a ceremony only for women, and all male staff including doctors were at work," he said.
New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday again raised in Rajya Sabha the issue of alleged irregularities by Gujarat government firm Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in its Krishna-Godavari basin gas project and sought a discussion and reply by the government.
When the House met for the day, Madhusudan Mistry (Cong) said he had 10 days back given a notice seeking a short duration discussion on the issue. "Why this has not yet been listed," he asked Deputy Chairman P J Kurien. "I have a right to know what has been decided on it."
Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GPSC) operated the KG basin block on a contract given by the Central government and loans were extended to the company for the project by public sector banks, he said justifying a discussion on the issue. Kurien said the Chairman decides on notices given for short duration discussion after seeing pros and cons, availability of time, merit of subject and availability of minister concerned to reply.
"All such notices are under consideration of the Chairman," he said, adding all aspects will be examined in deciding on them.
But Mistry along with other Congress members persisted with their demand to know when a short duration discussion will take place. "You can ask. You are within your rights to enquire what happened to your notice. I told you, Chairman is examining it. You cannot question the Chairman," Kurien said.
Mistry asked why was the minister concerned not available to reply to the discussion. "It is his first responsibility to answer to Parliament."
Kurien, however, did not allow him to raise the issue any further and moved on to zero hour submissions. Sanjay Sinh (Cong) raised the issue of allowing water-guzzling eucalyptus plantation in western Uttar Pradesh where ground water table was already depleting.
Bhupinder Singh (BJD) also raised the issue of ground water depletion and wanted steps to be taken for ground water recharging, compulsory plantation in schools and promoting organic farming.
A V Swamy (Ind) raised the issue of bonded labourers living in unhygienic conditions and not being paid even minimum wages in Odisha and sought proper rehabilitation for them.
Dehradun: Set to return as Chief Minister after one-and-a-half months of dramatic twists and turns, Harish Rawat on Wednesday said the judiciary has restored the faith of people in democracy in Uttarakhand even as he pledged to start afresh forgetting the "bad patch" to take the state forward.
Celebrations broke out in Dehradun the moment the news trickled in from the court that Rawat has won the trial of strength in the Assembly yesterday which was carried out on the instructions of the Supreme Court.
"Rawat gets 33 votes out of 61 in the floor test. No irregularities were found in the voting. 9 MLAs could not vote due to their disqualification," an apex court bench said and directed revocation of the President's rule forthwith so that 68-year-old Rawat can assume office as Chief Minister.
Rawat, who thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other party leader for lending support, said the state would need active support of the central government and that he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
The judiciary has restored the faith of the people in democracy, he said, stressing that the state will start a "new chapter" by forgetting the past experience.
"Judiciary in a way came forward as an adjudicator of constitutional and democratic values. From the Supreme Court to the High Court, I want to thank the judiciary. With this, the trust of people in the constitutional set up has increased further," Rawat told reporters here.
Read: Prez Rule revoked in Uttarakhand after Harish Rawat wins floor test
Observing that in the past one-and-a-half months the state suffered losses, Rawat said, "What ends well remains well. And from here, making a new start will be beneficial for the state."
He said, "It will be beneficial for the state if we think all this as a bad patch or a troubled patch and forget it and think of the way forward. I want to thank the Attorney General and the central government for showing magnanimity and telling the court that they are going to withdraw President's rule.
"We believe that after all the other sad chapters and questions (that have arisen out of this episode), the central government will come out with solutions," he said.
Read: Uttarakhand trust vote 'victory for democracy': Sonia Gandhi
Noting that the state needs "active support" of the central government, Rawat said that he would meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
He said Sonia Gandhi, Rahul initiated the 'save democracy' campaign to give a lead to democratic forces, other political parties and the people who gave moral support.
"I want to thank Mayawati for supporting us. The people who supported us are very precious for me. When I go there (to Delhi), I will also meet the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister and will tell them that the state of Uttarakhand needs your support," Rawat said.
Chennai: Asserting that he will be the Chief Minister if his party wins the May 16 Assembly elections, DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday said his son M. K. Stalin will don the mantle only after him.
In an interview to NDTV, the DMK chief said M K Stalin is foremost among those who want him to take over as Chief Minister for a record sixth term. M.K. Stalin does not want to become Chief Minister. He has himself said the DMK president has to be the Chief Minister of the DMK Government. I have never lost an election since 1957 when I entered the Assembly for the first time. I should become the Chief Minister for sixth term after elections. M.K. Stalin is foremost among those who want me to take over as Chief Minister for the sixth term, Mr Karunanidhi said.
He was responding to a question whether he would hand over the mantle of Chief Ministership to someone who is young, especially to his son Mr Stalin, who is the favourite of the party cadre.
Stalin can become Chief Minister only if nature does something to me, the channel quoted Mr Karunanidhi as saying. This is not the first time that the DMK chief is making it clear that he will be the Chief Minister if his party, the DMK, wins the polls. A fortnight back, speaking to Puthiya Thalaimurai and NewsX, the DMK chief had exuded confidence that the Dravidian party would win enough seats in the election to form the government on its own, without having to depend on alliance partners like the Congress.
The 92-year-old DMK chief hit the campaign trail on April 23 and has been canvassing for votes and addressing public meetings across the state. He also shared the dais with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in Chennai on May 5.
Ranchi: A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar launch a campaign for ban on liquor in Jharkhand, BJP today said he should "focus on his state to reduce the crime graph there".
"The focus of Nitish Kumar should be Bihar to reduce crime graph there instead of focusing on Jharkhand," state BJP spokesperson Pradip Sinha said here.
On Kumar accusing the ruling BJP of "taking away" six Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) MLAs soon after the creation of the BJP-led NDA government in the state, Sinha said the Bihar Chief Minister should have known that the matter is sub judice.
"Nitish Kumar should have known that the matter is in the Speaker's court and some people have also approached the High Court. He should have waited till the verdict," he said.
Kumar in Bokaro yesterday had alleged that when Raghubar Das formed government in Jharkhand, he "took away JVM MLAs, which is immoral and illegal under anti-defection law".
In a separate meeting in Dhanbad, he launched a campaign for ban on sale of liquor which his government has imposed in Bihar in April this year.
Chennai: AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday said people had "suffered a lot" in the previous DMK government and urged voters to give her party a successive term in the May 16 polls as the party led government had ensured them "spring" in the last five years.
In a whirlwind election campaign, Jayalalithaa visited all the 16 Assembly constituencies in Chennai and mounted an offencive against her party's arch rival at Kolathur, from where DMK Treasurer M K Stalin is seeking another term.
"In the previous DMK government, you had suffered a lot. Nobody can forget the power cut situation prevailing then, nor the sufferings of the people. There was 10-15 hours of power cut due to which students could not study and entire Tamil Nadu was in darkness," she said.
While law and order had "collapsed," property like land was grabbed or encroached upon during the DMK government of 2006-11, Jayalalithaa said.
"But the AIADMK government has given you spring. Tamil Nadu is no more facing power cut. Law and order is best maintained while police is promptly acting on land grab charges," she said.
Such usurped property had been retrieved and handed over to rightful owners, and for such a "spring to continue" people have to vote for AIADMK, Jayalalithaa said and assured for the uplift of the poor and overall peace and welfare if her party was voted to power again.
The AIADMK General Secretary had made power cuts and land encroachment allegations against DMK leaders, including former ministers, a key poll issue in 2011, where she led her party to a massive win.
Independent of parties and leaders, and also the search for a viable third alternative, the May 16 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu will be watched, and remembered, for the possibility of chief minister J. Jayalalithaas AIADMK breaking the states historic electoral jinx. Will the Tamil Nadu voter give the AIADMK a second term in a row, after its triumph over its rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in 2011?
Historically, Tamil Nadu has voted out the incumbent almost since 1967, or even earlier when a viable alternative in the united DMK, leading a disparate group of anti-Congress parties, came into sight. If it did not happen, may be it was due to linguistic reorganisation of the post-Independence Part-A Madras State, where the pre-split Communist Party was the main Opposition.
In the first general election of 1951-52, the Congress, with no visible challenger anywhere in the country, lost in Punjab, and in a way even in Madras state. After Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru talked Rajaji into becoming chief minister, it was left to the latter to engineer the wholesale crossover of two Vanniar-led parties.
Yet in the confidence vote the nominated MLC chief minister (another first), Rajaji could win only on the casting vote of Speaker A. Sivashanmugam Pillai. Two decades later, in neighbouring Kerala, chief minister C.H. Mohammed Koya (with the shortest term in office) won through the Speakers casting vote.
Some questions remain. Would the DMK have won the 1971 snap Assembly polls had it not been for the split in the Congress at the national level under Indira Gandhi in 1969? The united Congress had polled 42 per cent in 1967 against the DMKs 40 per cent, with the latters disjointed alliance partners contributing the five per cent victory margin overall.
Post-1972 late actor-politician M.G. Ramachandran split from the DMK and founded the ADMK, later renamed AIADMK, to meet the Emergency era needs of a nationalist all-India image. Kamaraj died before the 1977 Assembly polls, which MGR swept and kept the state with himself till his death in 1987.
Its easy to say that the MGR wave kept the DMK and former chief minister M. Karunanidhi in vanvas for 13 long years until 1989, but its only a half-truth. In 1977, there was a perceptible shift in the traditional 10 per cent swing vote in the state, from the Congress (1947) to the DMK (1957) and AIADMK (1977).
Its another matter that the swing voters would go to the post-MGR Janaki faction of the AIADMK in actor Sivaji Ganesans company in 1989, to Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) in 1996 (despite the Rajiv Gandhi assassination in 1991 and the anti-Jaya wave five years later). It went with the late G.K. Moopanars Tamil Maanila Congress in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls he contested in the company of VCK and Puthiya Thamizhagam (PT) and to Vijaykanths DMDK in 2006.
MGRs succession of victories was really a half-myth. After 1987, the AIADMK under his leadership won the 1980 Assembly polls due to two factors. One, desperate to return to power early, there was cross-voting between the DMK and the Congress, which negotiated as hard as it did in 2011 (68 seats) and got 100-plus in a total of 234. Their mutually-destructive, collective defeat was written into the script from the word go on both occasions.
It should be recalled that after Indira Gandhis return to power in 1980, she dismissed nine state governments, of which MGRs was one. The actor-politician tasted defeat in the Lok Sabha polls just six months earlier, when his party won only two of the states 39 Lok Sabha seats against the DMK-Congress combine.
In the subsequent Assembly polls, MGR asked the people for justice against his unfair dismissal, as he was neither an active participant on the Janata Party side, nor anti-Indira like the Emergency-era DMK.
Five years later, in 1984, MGR swept the polls on a sympathy wave as he was away in an American hospital and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been assassinated by her bodyguards.
Since MGRs departure and the 1989 Assembly polls, the two Dravidian majors, DMK and AIADMK, have been alternating at Fort St. George, the seat of power, but only after winning polls in the company of other allies. This is the first time the AIADMK is fighting the Assembly polls without any major ally, as in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The party won 37 of 39 seats in that election, and the Lady won against Narendra Modi, BJP PM candidate, who became the NDAs victory mascot elsewhere. Its still a dicey question if the AIADMK and all of Ammas perceived achievements while in power and promised freebies for the future will do the trick.
The questions and doubts are not without reason either. One, the traditional anti-incumbency vote is virtually split between the DMK-Congress combine with smaller allies on one hand, and the DMDK-led combine on the other, and the go-it-alone PMK approach on the third side.
This is not to leave out the BJP, whose traditional two-plus per cent voteshare has surged in the past two decades only when it has a PM candidate in the Lok Sabha polls that the party had won later on. A sixth, more insignificant force, is that of filmmaker-politician Seeman, with his pan-Tamil outfit Naam Tamizhar Katchchi contesting in all 234 constituencies.
If Ms Jayalalithaa has not bothered about relatively bigger allies, it may be due to the perception that they exist only in name, without any substantial voteshare to add against the seats they would demand. It is no different in the DMKs case. While Mr Karunanidhi was seen as openly wooing the DMDK, the issue was again over seat-sharing and the perception that Vijaykanth had lost much of his clout of 2006 (8%) and 2009 (10%). But Mr Karunanidhi couldnt do without the Congress (41 seats) and Muslim parties, if only hoping for minority consolidation in their favour than whatever vote the individual parties bring.
The question is: Can Ms Jayalalithaa break the jinx of Tamil Nadu, or is a third alternative in the DMDK-led combine, even if as a spoiler for either the AIADMK or DMK, or both, thus technically leading to a hung Assembly, still a possibility in realistic terms?
Nepalese journalist-activist Kanak Mani Dixit, who was arrested on April 22 and released on May 2 on the orders of that countrys Supreme Court, is now free, and it is in the nature of the media to think that he thus no longer needs to be the centre of attention. That is unfair to Mr Dixit; and it also indicates a shallow understanding of the politics of Nepal and of South Asia as a whole.
Mr Dixit is in many ways a man who has fought for an imaginative rethinking of Southeast Asia. He knows a vitalised South Asia and a resurgent democracy in Nepal are organically connected. To the third part of a triangle, he wants an India that goes beyond the clerical nationalism of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), to think of a South Asia that is pluralist, with a non-hegemonic India carrying with it new notions of democracy and development.
Years ago Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes described the situation in his country as Poor Mexico, too far from God and too close to the US.
Mr Dixit feels an equivalent angst and has been outspoken about it. Given this, many in India and in foreign policy circles must be secretly, even openly, delighted with the arrest of the Nepalese gadfly.
Incidentally, the Commission for Investigation of the Abuse of Authority (CIAA), the watchdog vigilance body that arrested him, was quick to point out it had not arrested him for his journalistic activities. It claimed he was arrested as chair of a cooperative bus service that is virtually owned by the state.
But the circumstances of the arrest were worrying. Mr Dixit was arrested on a Friday night to prevent him from having legal access for 72 hours across the weekend. Second, he was kept in detention with ordinary prisoners, and denied his entitlements.
Sadly, both the Nepalese journalists association and the bar association mumbled a whispered protest. They must have known the arrest was a part of a vendetta as Mr Dixit was one of the principal dissenters against royal misrule.
More urgently, as a democrat, he was among the first to protest against the appointment of Lokman Singh Karki as CIAA commissioner. As Nepal struggles towards democracy and a normative process of institution-building, the biggest danger is from the forces of counter-revolution conniving their way through the bureaucracy.
The appointment of Lokman Singh Karki, a former secretary and monarchist, as chief ombudsman was a cynical act. Mr Dixit and lawyer Shambhu Thapa were the most vocal among those opposing it. Mr Thapa was immediately harassed and Mr Dixits arrest followed soon after.
What is sad is that Mr Karki used one of the most hallowed institutions established to guarantee the norms of institution-building for a personal vendetta. His acts were so blatant that he did not even recuse himself from the task, given his personal stake. An act of objective investigation merely masked a personal witchhunt as Mr Karki attempted to arrest Mr Dixit as a recalcitrant witness.
However, institutions produce their own surprises, partly as a karma of past maturity and intelligence. The Supreme Court struck again this time, through Nepals first woman Chief Justice. C.J.N. Sushila Karki, who distinguished between the rule of law and the rule of fear to give Mr Dixit back his liberty. He is recovering at a civil hospital penning articles on his protest while wife Shanta and brother Kunda take care of him.
What is remarkable about Mr Dixit is his humour. His sense of the corruption around him is real. He showed how the India boycott, while harming ordinary citizens, became a win-win situation for the Nepalese elite and for India. The Army and police became suppliers of petrol, and corruption in essential goods became a source of quick profit. Mr Dixit claimed Nepal was not just landlocked but locked into a set of bad ideas about politics and development. As a Saarc nation, Nepal, he claimed, had only two choices.
Firstly, to be bled by World Bank consultants, savage in the pursuit of consultations and development, or the mediocrity of playing constant second fiddle to a big bully India. He suggested many of us work together to create a new template for South Asia where Saarc is dead, so that the idea of South Asia as a region, as a sacred place, and as a conversation of civilisations could be born again.
Arresting him was like literally arresting a whole stream of life-giving process the rituals of democracy in Nepal, a critical view of development, a new dream of South Asia and touch of laughter to the very processes of politics.
Mr Dixits arrest finds an echo in India. One saw a similar pattern in the arrest and harassment of Teesta Setalvad. In both events, the act of arrest, the piety of the discussion, becomes a diversion. In Ms Setalvads case, one of the key witnesses to the killings of 2002 was harassed.
Ms Setalvads was a Cassandra-like voice, but Cassandras are not exiled or buried today, they are harassed for their tax returns. They have to be delegitimised into the corruption of everydayness so that their presence can be erased from memory.
The tactics against Mr Dixit follow a similar pattern. He is shown as a reluctant citizen, unwilling to cooperate with the authorities. Every act of transparency on Mr Dixits part was discounted and every act of resistance read as recalcitrance. When Mr Dixit sought clarifications, he was condemned as obstructionist.
The Nepalese government realises there is lethal pedagogy to its politics. It wants to teach dissenters a lesson, and sends a message to all in the intelligentsia that they could be next. Silencing Mr Dixit was an act of triumph for tyranny, as its impact would be stark and wide.
Many Indians might ask: Why bother about Nepal, which many of us treat as a failed state trapped between the monarchy and the Maoists?
But at a deeper level, Nepals evolving democracy threatens our static democratic imagination that makes a fetish of the electoral ritual. One could almost say India suffers from democratic envy when it comes to Nepal. Nepals return to democracy demands India rethink its politics, both domestic and international, in many ways. Mr Dixits presence is a constant reminder that the pomposity of Indian democracy is almost as dangerous as its fetish of majoritarianism.
Both create a bullyboy politics India could do well without. Mr Dixits presence is a reminder that the reinvention of democracy is long overdue both in Nepal and India. One only hopes the forces of reaction dont destroy this. India and Nepal owe Mr Dixit and other courageous dissenters at least that much.
Mumbai: A few days after a journalist involved with Facebooks Trending news project alleged that the companys staff had been silently suppressing conservative news stories, Facebook brushed off the allegations on Tuesday, technology website Gizmodo reported.
According to a former report, the journalist who wished not to be named, explained that some of the social networking websites staff manually prevented conservative news from appearing in the trending news section, even though they were popular among the sites audience.
Other than that, several other former Facebook news curators also revealed that they were instructed to artificially insert a few stories to the sites trending news section, even if they were not as prominent.
Moreover, the so-called curators were also strictly directed not to put any controversial news pertaining to Facebook itself in the trending section.
Gizmodos Technology editor Micheal Nunez pointed out in the article that Facebooks news sections works similarly to regular newsrooms; there is significant bias among the companys curators, and also the focus is more on the institutional imperatives of the company.
The fact that it imposes human editorial values on to a set of algorithmically maintained list of topics goes against what the companys claims regarding the mechanism followed by the trending news module.
Fresh allegations surfaced after Gizmodo had revealed the inner functions of the companys trending new team. Some of the curators also accused the company of having an 'aversion towards right-wing news sources'.
If this report is genuine, it will have a significant impact on what people read and comprehend. Facebook is a platform where billions of people log in to view trending content; most news websites depend on the platform for extending their target audience.
While the report has cited numerous sources who used to worked as curators for the companys trending section, Facebook has vehemently denied the accusations.
In a statement to BuzzFeed and TechCrunch, a spokesperson said, We take allegations of bias very seriously. Facebook is a platform for people and perspectives from across the political spectrum. Trending Topics shows you the popular topics and hashtags that are being talked about on Facebook. There are rigorous guidelines in place for the review team to ensure consistency and neutrality. These guidelines do not permit the suppression of political perspectives. Nor do they permit the prioritization of one viewpoint over another or one news outlet over another. These guidelines do not prohibit any news outlet from appearing in Trending Topics.
Also, The Vice President of Search at Facebook, Tom Stocy, posted a statement condemning the report.
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London: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari demanded on Wednesday that Britain return assets held there by corrupt Nigerians, pointing the finger back at London after Britain's prime minister suggested Nigeria was "fantastically corrupt".
David Cameron's remarks during a conversation with Queen Elizabeth, caught on camera on Tuesday, have so far dominated the build-up to a global anti-corruption summit he is hosting on Thursday which Buhari will attend.
During a pre-summit event in London, Buhari was asked to respond to Cameron's comment that Nigeria and Afghanistan were "possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world".
He has since noted that the leaders of both countries are working hard to combat corruption.
"I am not going to demand any apology from anybody. What I am demanding is the return of assets," Buhari said at an event, to applause from Nigerians in the audience.
"What would I do with an apology? I need something tangible," he said, rubbing his fingers together in a gesture commonly used to refer to money. The audience laughed.
Buhari has a reputation for personal probity and has pledged to crack down on corruption in Nigeria, Africa's top oil producer and most populous nation where generations of politicians have looted public coffers for their personal gain.
Buhari did not specify which assets he was talking about.
British police have conducted several investigations in recent years into assets held in Britain by Nigerian politicians, including two former state governors and a former oil minister. One of the ex-governors is serving a prison sentence in Britain after pleading guilty to money-laundering.
Nigeria is listed at number 136 out of 167 in campaign group Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index, an annual ranking of countries in which a higher number indicates a higher level of perceived corruption.
Runaway Governor
Britain lies equal 10th with Germany and Luxembourg.
But British opposition politicians and anti-corruption campaigners have said Cameron was ill-placed to criticise Nigeria when Britain's own record on combating corruption was less than glorious.
They have said that corrupt politicians and business people from Nigeria and many other countries have laundered their ill-gotten gains in Britain's property market, while London also has ties to numerous tax havens routinely used to hide stolen money.
In his remarks on Wednesday, Buhari alluded to the case of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, former governor of the oil-producing state of Bayelsa in the Niger Delta, who was arrested in London in 2005 on suspicion of money-laundering.
Alamieyeseigha skipped bail and fled back to Nigeria dressed as a woman. He was later impeached, tried and convicted in Nigeria of stealing millions of dollars of public money.
"He (Alamieyeseigha) had to dress like a woman to leave Britain and leave behind his bank account and fixed assets which Britain was prepared to hand over to us. This is what we are asking for," Buhari said.
Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) could not immediately provide details of any assets returned to Nigeria.
Johannesburg: A South African judge has stirred outrage on social media and is facing backlash for allegedly claiming that gangrape of a baby, daughter or ones own mother is a pleasurable past time for black men.
Mabel Jansen, a High Court Judge in Pretoria made a string of shocking comments while debating how women are treated by black men with social activist Gillian Schutte on Facebook.
"I still have to meet a black girl who was not raped at about 12. I am dead serious. Murder is also is not a biggy. And gang rapes of baby, daughter and mother [are] a pleasurable pastime, the judge said during their discussion.
Appalled at the thoughts of a person who is directly in charge of passing judgement on people, Schutte decided to publish the entire 2015 conversation, triggering massive outrage.
Activist Schutte published the Facebook discussion for everybody to view.
In the conversation, the judge says, "in their culture a woman is there to pleasure them. Period". Jansen also says that many African mothers are so brainwashed that they teach their daughters its their fathers right to be the first.
Facing criticism, the High Court judge took to Twitter to clarify her stand and said that her statements where taken out of context.
"What I stated confidentially to somebody in a position to help has been taken completely out of context and referred to specific court cases," she said in her tweet.
However, Schutt in her post categorically states that the statements made by the judge were a part of public discussion.
Judge Jansen has landed herself in a lot of trouble due to the public outcry and a complaint has been lodged against her by the Chairperson of the Advocates of Transformation.
The judicial service commission of South Africa released a press statement saying that a proposal has been made to send Judge Jansen on special leave and it has been forwarded to the Minister of Justice and correctional services for consideration.
The UN has urged Kenya to reconsider its decision to close Dadaab camp. (Photo: AFP)
Nairobi: The Kenyan government will close Dadaab refugee camp which has hundreds of thousands of Somali refugees and is often referred to as the world's largest camp, the East African country's interior security minister said Wednesday.
The decision has been condemned by domestic and international rights groups and organizations dealing with refugees.
Dadaab camp, with an estimatated 328,000 refugees mostly from Somalia, compromises Kenya's security because it harbors some of Somalia's al-Shabab Islamic extremists and is a conduit for smuggling weapons, Joseph Nkaissery said.
He said al-Shabab planned three large-scale attacks from Dadaab.
A child sits next to cooking pots in a displacement camp in Dadaab, Kenya. (Photo: AP)
Last week the Kenyan government announced it intends to close Dadaab as well as Kakuma, a refugee camp housing 190,000 people, mostly South Sudanese fleeing civil war. At the same time the interior ministry said it had disbanded the department of refugee affairs, which oversees the registration and welfare of refugees. But on Wednesday Nkaissery said Kakuma will not be closed because it does not present a security risk.
The UN has urged Kenya to reconsider its decision to close Dadaab camp. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that the UN is calling on Kenya's government to avoid any action that is at odds with its international obligations.
Eleven non-governmental organizations operating in Kenya issued a statement Tuesday urging the government to reconsider the intended closure of the refugee camp.
Those signing the statement include the International Rescue Committee, World Vision, the Danish Refugee Council, Jesuit Refugee Service, Action Africa, Help International, the Lutheran World Federation, OXFAM, the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Heshima Kenya.
The group urged other countries to expand their resettlement quotas for refugees coming from the Horn of Africa in order to help Kenya and share the burden of hosting refugees.
Jerusalem: US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will visit Israel "soon", he said told an Israeli newspaper in an interview published today.
"Yes, I will be coming soon," Trump said without giving further details in response to a question from the Israel Hayom newspaper, a freesheet considered close to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump had scheduled a visit to Israel for late December but postponed it a few days before following an uproar over his proposal to bar all Muslims from entering the United States.
"I have decided to postpone my trip to Israel and to schedule my meeting with @Netanyahu at a later date after I become president of the US," he tweeted at the time.
In the interview published on Wednesday, Trump renewed his criticism of US President Barack Obama over a July nuclear deal with Iran that was vigorously opposed by the Israeli prime minister.
"The current threat against Israel is more important than ever" because of "President Obama's policy towards Iran and the nuclear deal," he said.
"I think the people of Israel have suffered a lot because of Obama."
White House hopefuls often visit Israel as part of efforts to bolster their foreign policy credentials.
Houston: An Indian-American woman elementary teacher from Texas has been honoured by US President Barack Obama at the White House for her excellent work in the field of education.
Revathi Balakrishnan, a gifted teacher at Patsy Sommer Elementary School, was also named 2016 'Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year'.
"It is not work for me. It is actually a passion," said 53-year-old Austin-based Balakrishnan who has taught in the district's talented and gifted programmes for nine years.
Currently teaching math classes in third through fifth grade at Sommer, Balakrishnan, who was honoured last week, will now represent Texas in the 'National Teacher of the Year' competition.
"I'm an Indian-American, so I think the Indian community is feeling a lot of pride and joy," Balakrishnan said, adding that about 30 per cent of the students at 'Sommer
Elementary' are Asian or Indian.
"I feel proud to represent those and I can convince a lot of younger generation Indian kids to turn to teaching for a career. So I feel I can actually have some impact on that," she said.
Balakrishnan has taught at 'Sommer Elementary' for six years before teaching at Forest North Elementary for three years.
Originally from Chennai, Balakrishnan was a systems analyst with Liberty Mutual, managing databases and programming for about 12 years before becoming a teacher.
Terming her style of teaching as "no nonsense", Balakrishnan, who earned her economics degree from University of Madras, attributes her success in the field of education to her love of teaching.
She said the excitement of teaching, learning with students and the opportunity to shape students who are the "leaders of tomorrow" drives her.
"Not one day is the same, which is what I like. I don't like structure. I just go with the flow and I love what happens," Balakrishnan said.
The 'National Teacher of the Year Programme' identifies exceptional teachers in the country, recognises their effective work in the classroom, engages them in a year of professional learning, amplifies their voices and empowers them to participate in policy discussions at the state and national levels.
Members of the Moranbong Band, North Koreas most popular all-female pop group formed by leader Kim Jong Un, perform with the State Merited Chorus during a concert. (Photo: AP)
Pyongyang: North Korea Wednesday sang the praises of the ruling party in a two-hour concert extolling its achievements and those of the Kim dynasty that has ruled the country for its entire history.
The show entitled "Always follow our party" was staged to celebrate a Workers' Party congress, the first for 36 years, which ended Monday.
That meeting was widely seen as a coronation for current leader Kim Jong-Un, who took power after the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-Il in December 2011 and has been working to claw back power from the military.
The concert featured the country's first all-women group, the Moranbong Band, whose members -- clad in white outfits ending above the knee and matching hats -- were said to have been chosen by the leader himself.
Members of the Moranbong Band perform during the concert. (Photo: AP)
Also featured in the event at a 10,000-seat Pyongyang stadium were the Chongbong Band, formed in 2015, and the military's State-Merited Chorus.
While the Moranbong Band made nods to Western popular musical influences, songs about love referred to love of the party, the country or the ruling family -- which are taken to be one and the same.
A song entitled "Mother Party" described its love for the people as "higher than the sky, deeper than the sea".
The concert echoed the North's historical narrative -- that it won the 1950-53 Korean War and went on to build a thriving economy in the teeth of adversity.
Archive film or computer-generated images projected behind the performers showed smiling Stakhanovite workers achieving miracles of production in industry and construction, or heroic soldiers struggling through snowdrifts.
'Nothing to envy'
There was also footage of recent achievements such as the launch of a rocket which put a satellite in space -- an exercise seen in the West as a disguised ballistic missile test.
The overarching theme of the performance was the good life the party had given its people, played out in numbers such as "We have nothing to envy in the world" and "Glory to the Workers' Party of Korea".
Images of golden wheatfields and bountiful rice crops suggested a theme of plenty at odds with the North's history of famine in the 1990s and the serious food shortages international agencies say continue today.
While praising the "motherly party", the concert also paid tribute to all three members of the ruling dynasty: national founder Kim Il-Sung, his son and successor Kim Jong-Il and the current ruler, whose smiling portrait closed out the event.
"We only follow you, no others," was the title of one song, referring to Kim Jong-Un.
Western analysts say the party congress delivered little of political substance, restating Pyongyang's continued foreign policy of belligerent defiance backed by an expanding nuclear arsenal.
But the North has spared no effort to celebrate the event, staging a parade in Kim Il-Sung Square Tuesday, followed the same day by a mass dance and torchlight parade.
Party delegates, including several members of the politburo standing committee, made up most of Wednesday's audience in the auditorium, which was decked out in the party colours of red and gold.
London: Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday called on Europe to impose collective sanctions on tax havens in a bid to halt the drain of trillions of dollars revenue to secretive offshore destinations.
unwilling US into a global effort to stamp out evasion costing $7 trillion a year by drawing up a tax haven blacklist and ensuring there were no treasure islands for the money launderers.
If we are to ensure no hiding places for tax evaders, no safe haven for tax avoiders and no treasure islands for the money launderers who hide an estimated $7.5 trillion (5.2 trillion pounds) of global wealth, we need the automatic exchange of tax information worldwide, he said.
Citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market. (Photo: AP)
Baghdad: Iraqi police and hospital officials say two additional bombings in Baghdad have left more than 25 dead and 56 wounded Wednesday, bringing the day's total death toll to 88.
A suicide car bomb targeting a police station in Baghdad's northwest Kadhimiyah neighborhood killed 18, of whom five were policemen. The attack also wounded 34.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement posted online by the group.
Read: Iraq: Car bombing in Baghdad kills at least 64 people, 82 wounded
In Northern Baghdad a suicide car bomb in the neighborhood of Jamiya killed seven and wounded 22. Earlier Wednesday a car bombing of an outdoor market in Sadr City killed at least 63 people.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the press.
Islamic State in its statement posted online that a suicide bomber identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated a car bomb there.
It said in a separate statement later that the other two attacks that took place a few hours later in the neighbourhoods of Kadhimiyah and Jamea were also carried out by suicide bombers.
Security forces and citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded market in the Iraqi capitals eastern district of Sadr City. (Photo: AP)
Baghdad: A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 82 people at a market in a Shiite area of north Baghdad on Wednesday, officials said.
The blast, the single deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital this year, comes as the government is locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against ISIS.
The bombing, which hit the Sadr City area at around 10:00 am, also wounded at least 65 people, the officials said. The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street.
Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage. The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims, said a man named Abu Ali, adding: The politicians are behind the explosion. Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger.
The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians, he said. The politicians should all get out. Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father.
ISIS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack. It said a suicide bomber it identified as Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle.
ISIS cuts regimes supply route to Syrias Palmyra
The Islamic State group cut a key supply route between Syrias Homs and the world heritage site of Palmyra just months after the army recaptured the ancient city, a monitor said.
ISIS was able to cut the supply road between Homs and Palmyra near the Tayfur military airport after an attack launched from the east of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday.
Both cities are controlled by the regime after troops recaptured Palmyra a UNESCO world heritage site from the jihadist group in late March, backed by Russian air strikes. Cutting the road came as part of ISISs biggest assault since the army recaptured Palmyra with Russian support on March 27.
Islamabad: Pakistan cannot offer "unilateral" trade concessions to India, Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir has said, underlining that India should also provide access to Pakistani products with preferential duty regime.
Khan said this while he chaired a meeting with a delegation of Pakistani members of the Pak-India Business Council in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The delegation, led by Yawar Ali Shah, briefed the minister on their recent visit to India and the outcome of meetings held with Indian business and trade stakeholders.
The minister said that India should adopt a reciprocal approach as far trade concessions were concerned.
"Trade concessions cannot be offered to India unilaterally. India also needs to provide access to Pakistani products with a preferential duty regime," Khan was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.
He said Pakistan is making all-out efforts to increase exports to India to USD 1 billion within a year as textile products and readymade garments have a great potential in the neighbour's market.
"Due to proximity, Pakistan is the most favourite and cost-effective market for India in terms of raw material import for their agriculture and textile products," the Commerce minister said.
He told the delegation that the Commerce ministry had restructured the National Tariff Commission (NTC) in line with the legal framework set under the guidance of the Supreme Court.
The delegation informed the minister that Indian food manufacturers were looking for different Pakistani agricultural products like mangoes and kinnows in specific seasons.
"Other agricultural products like green peas could also be exported to India as they run cold storages at a far less capacity of 200,000 tons," they said.
The businessmen were of the view that both countries should cooperate in the promotion of small and medium enterprises, agriculture, tourism and culture, research, branding of Basmati rice and visits of business groups.
After a public outcry, the state government today announced the inclusion of the City Mayor in a vision group formed to find solutions to resolve Bengaluru's infrastructure and civic bottlenecks.
"We have included City Mayor and also Vivek Menon, an urban development expert, in the vision group, which will give suggestions to resolve the city's infrastructure and civic bottlenecks," Bengaluru Development Minister K J George told PTI.
The non-inclusion of City Mayor in the action group was being seen by some social activists and BJP as an attempt by Congress government to face any eventuality of their BBMP member not winning the post-August mayoral election.
Some section of social activists and BJP have vehemently opposed the non-inclusion of Mayor in the Vision Group, alleging that the move undermines the authority of the democratically constituted Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.
The Bengaluru Vision Group, also known as Bengaluru Blue Print Action Group, includes eminent Bengalureans like N R Narayana Murthy of Infosys, Azim Premji of Wipro, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, Sachin Bansal of Flipkart, Ramesh Ramanathan and Swati Ramanathan of Janaagraha, as members.
While Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is the chairman of the vision group, George will be the chairman.
Asked if the Mayor will enjoy decision-making power as the Chief Minister and other members, George said the mayor will have an advisory role, and will not exercise any decision-making powers as chief minister and some other members.
"Here (vision group), the mayor will work in the capacity of an advisor. He will not have the powers of making decisions as does the chief minister and some other members."
George said the vision group will hold discussions before submitting the recommendations to the Metropolitan Planning Committee, which is the decision-making body.
Responding to a query, George said MLAs and corporators are not included in the group, but neverthesless, they would be reached out for suggestions to improve Bengaluru's infrastructure.
A similar vision group in 2014 could not materialise following a stay order issued by High Court. The case was later disposed of.
Last year, the state government paved the way for reviving the vision group after it sought an opinion from the Additional Advocate General, who gave a green signal by saying there were no subsisting High Court orders.
Britain has told India that it cannot deport Vijay Mallya, who is facing money laundering charges in the country, but could consider an extradition request for him.
The UK government's response came nearly a fortnight after India made a request for the deportation of Mallya, whose Indian passport was revoked in a bid to secure his presence for investigations against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.
There is also a non-bailable warrant issued against Mallya.
"The UK government has informed us that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred.
"At the same time the UK acknowledges the seriousness of the allegations and is keen to assist the Government of India. They have asked GoI to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition," MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.
The extradition can happen under the 1993 treaty or any other necessary assistance under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) signed in 1992 between India and the U.K.
However, India was hoping to get the liquor baron, who is facing arrest over allegations of defaulting bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore, through the expeditious route of deportation and not go through the lengthy process of extradition.
Harish Rawat was today restored as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, 46 days after he was ousted by the Centre in a political battle that ended in a setback to Narendra Modi government as the Supreme Court today put its stamp of approval on the floor test in the Assembly.
"We have opened the result of the vote presented to us in a sealed cover by Jaidev Singh, Principal Secretary (Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs) and we find that 33 votes out of 61 were cast in favour of Rawat," an apex court bench said seeking revocation of President's rule forthwith so that 68-year-old Rawat can take over as Chief Minister.
Celebrations broke out in Dehradun with Congress workers bursting firecrackers, singing and dancing and distributing sweets the moment the news trickled in from the court that Rawat has won the trial of strength in the Assembly yesterday which was carried out on the instructions of the Supreme Court.
Amidst celebrations, a happy and smiling Rawat was restrained in his comments by saying the judiciary has restored the faith of people in democracy and pledged to start afresh forgetting the "bad patch" to take state forward.
The denouement in the political saga that took various twists and turns and a number of court battles has come as a major loss of face for Modi government at the Centre which had dismissed the Congress government and imposed President's rule after nine Congress MLAs sided with BJP on the Appropriation Bill.
The rebel MLAs were subsequently disqualified by the Speaker under the anti-defection law, a decision that was upheld by the Uttarakhand High Court and not interfered with by the Supreme Court.
Shortly after the court's directions, the Union Cabinet met in Parliament House and recommended to the President lifting of the President's rule to enable restoration of the Rawat government.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi met the President and explained to him the Cabinet's recommendation against the backdrop of the court hearing before he approved the recommendation and a notification ending Central rule was issued at night.
Congress and other opposition parties attacked the Centre for dismissing Rawat government but BJP fended off saying Congress has "bought" majority in Uttarakhand but "lost people's majority".
"The Prime Minister should apologise in Parliament and sack the Minister who advised him to impose President's rule or the Minister should himself quit", Congress spokesman and senior advocate Kapil Sibal told reporters.
At the outset in the court hearing, Rohatgi conceded that there is no doubt that Harish Rawat has proved his majority.
"It is clear from news and other reports that orderly voting did take place and Rawat has proved his majority. I have taken instructions from the government and the instruction from the very highest authority is that we will revoke the President's rule.
"I also have instructions that this can only be done with the leave of this court. We will revoke the President's rule from today. I have also advised the government to revoke the President's rule," the AG said.
Senior advocate Sibal, who appeared for Rawat and the Uttarakhand Speaker, said "our appreciation is for the fair stand taken by the AG."
The AG said that "his (Rawat's) government has to be restored forthwith."
The bench said Harish Rawat will assume office as CM after President's rule is revoked. "We allow the Centre to revoke forthwith the order of proclamation of President's rule in the state," it said.
The bench asked the Centre to file before it day after tomorrow its order revoking the President's rule in Uttarakhand.
It, however, held that the justifiability of the proclamation of President's rule made on March 27, which has been assailed by the high court, will remain alive as it is under challenge before the apex court.
It also noted that the nine disqualified MLAs have challenged the HC order and the matter is of debate. "We do not say anything on that," the bench said. An ecstatic Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said that democracy has won and hoped that the Prime Minister will "learn the lesson".
"They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand. "Hope the PM learns the lesson that people of India and institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate murder of democracy," Rahul said on Twitter.
The bench said the justifiability of the President's rule has to be gone into and observed "suppose we set aside the disqualification of the nine MLAs, there will be another floor test."
The bench noted in its order that the proceedings of the floor test were appropriately observed by the Principal Secretary (Legislature and Parliamentary Affairs), Uttarakhand, along with Secretary (Legislative Assembly).
The bench also recorded the statement of the AG and Additional Solicitors General Tushar Mehta and Maninder Singh that there has been no irregularity in carrying out the voting.
"We also clarify that nine members of the Legislative Assembly did not vote as they stand disqualified," it said.
The bench also recorded the statement of Jaidev Singh that there was no irregularity in the voting. "We accept the same. We hasten to add the same is accepted by the Attorney General," the bench said.
At this juncture, the AG submitted that the order of April 22, 2016 putting in operation the President's rule, after the high court had quashed it, has to be modified so that Union of India can take steps for revocation of the President's rule.
"Keeping in view the prayer of the AG, we vary the order by granting liberty to Union of India to revoke proclamation of President's rule in course of the day.
"After it is revoked, the order of revocation of proclamation of President's rule will be produced so that an appropriate order can be passed," the bench said.
"Needless to say, after the revocation of the President's rule, Rawat can assume the office of Chief Minister of Uttarakhand," the bench said. The bench said there are two other aspects which needed clarification.
"First, justifiability of proclamation of President's rule made on March 27 which has been annulled by the HC, will remain alive for the high court has ascribed many a reason to arrive at the conclusion that the said proclamation was not tenable in law," it said.
The bench said it has to be scrutinised in judicial review whether the opinion arrived at for proclamation of President's rule was justified or not.
The second aspect is that of 9 MLAs who were disqualified by the Speaker and their disqualification was upheld by the HC and has been assailed in the Special Leave Petition and "this court refused to grant interim order of stay on the relevant SLP by May 9 order and the matter has been adjourned for July 12.
"What will be the effect of the disqualification is a matter of debate. We do not say anything on that," the bench said and posted the matter for Friday.
On Friday, it will peruse the order of revocation of proclamation of President's rule in Uttarakhand while also fixing the next date for hearing the appeal filed by Centre against the HC order quashing imposition of President's rule under Article 356 of the Constitution.
The Shakurpur drain was covered within hours of the eight-year-old boys death on Tuesday morning.
Locals claimed that a cow had also fallen in the 12-feet drain around three months back.
No lessons were learnt by the civic agencies in all these months. They have now covered the drain to save their jobs, Manish Arora, a local, told DH.
The cow was saved from the drain which was constructed three years ago. A portion on the Britannia Chowk-Rani Bagh Road, however, was left uncovered.
Street lights non functional
It is charged that the street lights were also not functioning for several months. There are several street lights on these roads, but none of them work. We have filed many complaints and are waiting for action, added another local named Digamber.
On Tuesday morning, teams of the municipal corporation and Public Works Department arrived in the area and were working on the drain and street lights. They are working as a probe has now been ordered by the Delhi government. The BJP leaders also visited the spot on Tuesday, Arora said.
Locals also claimed that police and the fire department reached at the spot over 30 minutes after the incident. Mohammad Anas had already drowned by then. Police cleared the area, but failed to do anything to get the body, Digamber said.
Uncle tried best
Anas maternal uncle Mohsin was brave enough to launch the rescue operation. Mohsin runs a grocery store in Uttar Pradeshs Saharanpur district. He reached Delhi hours before the incident on Monday. I am here for the treatment of my uncle Tahir at Lok Nayak Hospital, Mohsin told police.
Mohsin along with Tahir went to the hospital and reached Anas house in the evening. I later went with Anas to play in the nearby park. I failed to rescue him after he fell in the drain, Mohsin added.
Police have ruled out involvement of foul play and are treating the death as an incident of negligence.
Three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 86 people today, the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital this year.
The attacks, the deadliest of which was claimed by the Islamic State group, came with the government locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against the jihadists.
The worst bombing struck the frequently targeted Sadr City area of northern Baghdad at around 10:00 am (local time), killing at least 64 people and wounding 82 others, officials said.
The blast set nearby shops on fire and left debris including the charred, twisted remains of a vehicle in the street. Dozens of angry people gathered at the scene of the bombing, blaming the government for the carnage.
"The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims," said a man named Abu Ali. "The politicians are behind the explosion."
Abu Muntadhar echoed his anger.
"The state is responsible for the bombings that hit civilians," the local resident said. The politicians "should all get out."
Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who spearheaded a protest movement demanding a cabinet reshuffle and other reforms, has a huge following in the working class neighbourhood of Sadr City, which was named after his father.
Another suicide car bomb attack killed at least 14 people at the entrance of the northwestern neighbourhood of Kadhimiya, which is home to an important Shiite Muslim shrine.
Access to the neighbourhood, which has also been repeatedly targeted over the years, is heavily controlled. Several members of the security forces were among the victims, hospital sources said.
In the Jamea district in western Baghdad, another car bomb went off in the afternoon, killing at least eight people and wounding 21, an interior ministry official and medics told AFP.
IS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attack in Sadr City and saying a suicide bomber it identified as "Abu Sulaiman al-Ansari" detonated the explosives-rigged vehicle.
There was no immediate claim for the two subsequent bombings but all such attacks recently have been perpetrated by IS. The UN's top envoy in Iraq, Jan Kubis, condemned the bloodshed.
IS, which overran large areas in 2014, considers Shiites, who make up the majority of Iraq's population, to be heretics and often targets them with bombings.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday told the Union government to act on setting up a Human Rights Commission in Delhi, keeping aside its political differences with the Aam Aadmi Party government in the National Capital.
A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice T S Thakur reminded Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said that the directive for setting the rights panel in Delhi was to the Central government, which it has to comply with.
You look at the issue and find a solution or we will pass the order, the bench told the Attorney General (AG), while hearing a PIL filed by Indu Prakash Singh.
We know that it has got political implications, tell us if you have any problem, we can resolve it legally, the bench further told the AG, who maintained that Delhi has been treated as Union Territory which did not require a separate state panel for
human rights.
Govt pulled up
The court also pulled up Delhi government, represented by senior advocate C U Singh, who submitted it has already shortlisted name of Justice Umanath Singh as head of the panel and two others as members.
Jumped the gun
You have also jumped the gun. You dont have the jurisdiction. The direction was issued (In the D K Basu case) to the central government to set up the rights panel, the bench told him.
Asking the AG to keep political differences aside, the bench further told, Do something for the sufferings of the people for human rights violations. If a state like Tripura with 20 lakh population can have a Human Rights Commission, why not Delhi which has over one crore population?
Rohatgi, on his part, contended that the human rights violations cases in Delhi can be handled by the National Human Rights Commission here. He also maintained that Delhi is not a state.
Delhi is not a state but it has a HC and a state Election Commission. Why dont you agree for State Human Rights Commission, the bench asked him.
The court put the matter for further consideration on July 26.
The Union government had earlier said that it was seriously considering amending Section 21 (dealing with formation of state Human Rights Commissions) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
However, it maintained that in accordance with a nine-judge bench decision of the SC in 'NDMC Vs Punjab' (1997), Delhi has been not granted status of a full state, so it does not require a State Human Rights Panel.
Gen Parvez Musharraf was today declared an "absconder" by a special tribunal trying the former Pakistani dictator for high treason as he failed to appear in person despite repeated summons and directed authorities to produce him before the court within 30 days.
The three-member court headed by Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Minakhel directed the government to publish advertisements in newspapers declaring Musharraf an absconder, and also place similar posters outside the court and the former military ruler's residence.
72-year-old Musharraf this month flew to Dubai for purported medical treatment after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on his foreign trips and it is believed that he may never return to face a slew of several high-profile cases against him.
The court - which had earlier asked the government to give a written explanation as to why it allowed Musharraf to go abroad without its consent - declared him as "absconder" after he failed to appear in person despite several summons.
It also ordered the prosecutor to submit a record of all properties owned by the accused by the next hearing on July 12 besides directing the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to produce Musharraf before the court within 30 days.
The court, that includes Justice Syeda Tahira Safdar and Justice Mohammad Yawar Ali as members, launched trial of Musharraf in 2013 for abrogating the constitution in 2007.
Such an act is considered as high treason under article 6 of the constitution, which is punishable by death.
Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, he resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.
He returned in 2013 to contest elections but was implicated in several high-profile cases and was not allowed to leave the country. He is facing trial in illegal detention of judges, also in 2007.
In January 2014, Musharraf suffered a "severe heart attack" on his way to a special court to face the high treason charges following which he was admitted to an army hospital.
Musharraf has also been charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
In Janury, he was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2006 murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
He had said before leaving Pakistan in March that he was going abroad to seek medical treatment for a spinal cord ailment which has now developed several complications and will "come back in a few weeks or months".
In a breather to Sahara chief Subrata Roy, the Supreme Court today extended his parole till July 11 to enable him to deposit Rs 200 crore with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
A bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur, however, directed Roy and Sahara Group director Ashok Roy Choudhary, who were released on parole on May 6 for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of the Sahara chief's mother, to furnish individual undertaking to prove their "bona fide" and seriousness.
Roy has been in Tihar jail since March 4, 2014 on the orders of the apex court in relation to a long running dispute with market regulator SEBI.
"We are inclined to give one chance to Subrata Roy and Ashok Roy Choudhary to prove their offer to deposit 200 crore by July 11.
"We, accordingly, direct that the May 6 order would continue till July 11 subject to the individual undertaking being furnished by them," the bench, also comprising justices A R Dave and A K Sikri, said.
If they fail to deposit Rs 200 crore to SEBI by July 11, they will have to surrender and go back to Tihar jail, the court said in its order.
It also said Roy and Choudhary were free to meet prospective buyers of properties and move within the country in police escort as per May 6 order.
It also held that SEBI would meanwhile continue with the auction of properties of Sahara.
The bench also said Saharas can also go ahead with the sale and alienation of their other properties to raise the amount of Rs 5000 crore as a bank guarantee they have to deposit in addition to Rs 5000 crore to get bail.
The order was passed after the submission of senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Rajeev Dhawan on behalf of Roy which did not receive objection from SEBI's senior counsel Arvind Datar.However, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, who is appointed as amicus curiae in the matter to assist the court, said there are questions as to why Sahara was averse to sale of Aamby Valley and overseas hotels.
The bench, which gave relief to Roy, noted that the fresh list of properties provided in the sealed cover speaks that "value of your properties was far more than your liability".
"Why person with this kind of fortune shall be hesitant to make payment," the bench asked.
Sibal replied, "What is your fear? I will run away. I am going to give an undertaking that I will get Rs 500 crore in two months".
At the outset, Datar filed a status report indicating the progress made in the sale of properties belonging to Sahara group.
During the proceedings, Sibal submitted details of all the properties of Sahara group in India and abroad in a sealed cover and requested the court not to disclose the details of properties.
When the court saw the list of Roy's assets it expressed surprise why "such a rich person didn't pay a fraction of wealth and stayed in jail for two years."
Seeking extension of interim parole for Roy till August 4, Sibal said the Sahara chief has already spent more than two years in jail and his client was ready to give an undertaking that he would pay a substantial amount of money in a span of 180 days.
"We have already suffered a lot. We have learnt the lesson. We have done everything we could do. We have even authorised SEBI to sell our properties at circle rates. Give us an opportunity. Give me a chance, I will arrange the money once I come out," Sibal said.
On May 6, the court had directed release of Roy on parole for four weeks to attend rituals following the death of his mother Chhabi Roy and allowed him to visit Haridwar and Ganga Sagar for the rites and ceremonies.
Prior to this, the bench had directed the Sahara group to furnish details of all its properties in a sealed cover to ascertain the fact as to whether they are sufficient for paying back the entire amount to the investors.
SEBI had told the court that it has engaged services of SBI Capital Markets and HDFC Realty to sell 66 properties of the Sahara Group.
The apex court had earlier asked SEBI to initiate the process of selling "unencumbered" properties of Sahara group, whose title deeds are with the market regulator, to generate the bail money for release of its chief.
SEBI was asked to devise a suitable mechanism for the sale in consultation and under the supervision of Justice Agrawal, former Supreme Court judge, and also seek help of experts or expert agencies, if required in the process.
The regulator was also asked to keep the Sahara group "duly informed about the steps taken by it in which event Sahara shall be free to provide such inputs as may be considered necessary so that the properties fetch a fair price towards sale consideration".
SEBI was also asked not to sell any property owned by the beleaguered group for a price less than 90 per cent of the circle rates for the area in question without the permission of the court, the Supreme Court had ordered on March 29.
For the interim bail of 67-year-old Roy, the court had put conditions like depositing Rs 5,000 crore in cash and a bank guarantee of equal amount and tough terms including payment of the entire Rs 36,000 crore, which includes interest. The money will be paid back to the investors of Sahara.
Charging the two Dravidian parties--DMK and AIADMK--with keeping Tamil Nadu under their "control", Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said people wanted a change from them and billed BJP as an alternative, saying its sole mantra was development.
Without naming either party, Modi said the two had come to power alternately, "sometimes this (party) and sometimes the other," and they had kept Tamil Nadu under their "control".
"People of the state want to be freed from them. And the turnout is a statement to that," he said addressing an election rally here. He said corruption has "ruined" Tamil Nadu and that none of the schemes or their benefits would reach the poor if graft was not done away with.
Engaging the audience, Modi asked them if they had power supply 24 hours a day, to which they replied in the negative, and then alleged that people of the state had no access to clean drinking water despite 67 years of Independence.
However, the situation was not so in BJP-ruled states as they were focused on power generation, employment creation and ensuring other basic amenities like education and health care, Modi said.
The PM reiterated that development is the only solution for all of the country's problems and that it was the main aim of his party, the BJP. Modi, who started his address in Tamil, said he had come to the southern state seeking votes for development.
"My party's sole mantra is development. And vote for it to change the fortunes of Tamil Nadu. Give victory to BJP," he said.
He slammed the previous Congress-led UPA government on corruption, saying two years ago newspapers and TV channels were abuzz with some scams breaking frequently.
"Corruption scandals used to tumble out and the country was concerned. They did not spare even coal even as there was corruption in 2G. They did nothing other than looting the country," he said.
Modi, who expressed joy on being informed that he was the 'first' Prime Minister to visit this part of Tamil Nadu, thanked the crowd for turning up to "bless" him and the party candidates.
The Prime Minister reiterated his commitment to the welfare of the fishermen community and said that the Central scheme 'Sagar Mala' envisaged their overall benefit.
The scheme would ensure coastal development and included facilities for fishermen like processing centres and education for their children, he said.
Modi recalled that he had recently given away e-boats to fishermen of his Varanasi constituency and said that it had saved them a lot on diesel. The PM said his government was working hard to fulfil his dream of doubling farmers' income by 2022, the 75th year of Independence.
He listed out various pro-people measures like Prime Minister's Crop Insurance, saying it will immunise them from vagaries of nature and the Mudra Bank scheme.
Economic measures like depositing subsidy for LPG cylinder directly into beneficiaries' bank accounts had resulted in eliminating over three crore bogus connections and saved hundreds of crores of Rupees for the government, he said.
Further, one crore people had given up LPG subsidy, which has enabled the government supply gas to poor, he said, adding various steps had been taken for ending corruption.
For instance, doing away with interviews for Class III and IV in government vacancies had resulted in eliminating brokers as aspirants used to pay them money for a job, he said.
Recalling his government's efforts to save five Indian fishermen from the gallows in Sri Lanka, Modi said he met those "children" today and was happy to do so.
He had then taken up the matter with the Lankan government and was not only particular that their death sentence be reviewed, but that they be released and sent home, which was promptly done. "The Central government partakes in your joy and sorrow," he said.
Lodhi Colonys main market was quite, almost desolate on a warm Saturday afternoon. But our destination was conspicuous with its signature red-coloured-fork-cum-fish motif.
Without losing a minute, we headed straight to the entrance. It was from here a series of surprises popped up at this most-popular contemporary Japanese bar and kitchen Guppy by ai. First was the choice of wall colours: mint-green, cool-blue and silver grey; second: its excellent design aesthetics, with clever utilisation of space, and third, undoubtedly the food.
The intimate dining space was buzzing with conversations. Inside, the mood was upbeat and music restrained. We chose a table adjacent to the live sushi counter. As the restaurant is celebrating Hanami, traditional Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival, Metrolife was here to review their Hanami summer menu.
Sous chef Nitin Bhardwaj took us through the menu and noted down our preference. Before food arrived, we ordered two cocktails: Sendai and Cucumber Cooler. While the former is a concoction of vodka, fresh kiwi, melon and lime; the latter is a mix of gin, fresh cucumber, thyme, lime and sugar. Both do justice to the word fresh. But it is addition of thin slices of melon and kiwi in Sendai that we loved the most. With each sip, one savours freshness.
In between drinks, we were served Japanese snack edamame which is boiled soyabean in the pod, sprinkled with salt. This healthy snacking option reveals the secret of Japanese way of life. Our contemplation ended with the arrival of the first meal Tomato, Edamame, Gingo Nut and Konjac Jelly Ceviche which basically is a combination of three-day cured tomatoes, konjac jelly, palm hearts and is served with chuka sauce. It was the sweetness of palms that blended well with citric-soya taste of the tomatoes, and balancing these two extreme flavours was konjac jelly (made of seaweed) and gingo nuts.
The burst of flavours had given us a good start. It was followed by Mango and Tuna Roll whose hero indeed was Alphonso mango that gave the usually-bland sushi a sweet, summery twist. The space was almost full by now, with people of different nationalities and age groups flitting in and out. It was the soothing Japanese music that was our constant companion.
It was time for some technique now. The moment Smoked Pumpkin Salad arrived on our table, we knew the simplicity of the dish was belying. The salad is an interesting combination of sakura(cherry blossom) wood chips, home-smoked pumpkin, palm hearts, crumbled tofu and is served with chilled seaweed and miso-mustard dressing. Thin slices of raddish and cress rolled in smoked pumpkin(which gets smokiness from sakura chips) highlight the finesse with which the menu has been thoughtfully created. That wooden smokiness stays on the palate for some time, after all not every day you get that flavour.
After this we settled for Hiyashi Tanuki Cha Soba, a vegan dish. It is a combination of chilled green tea flavoured buckwheat noodles, topped with tanuki tempura fritters in a soy flavoured dashi broth. The combination of cold noodles with crunchy fritters worked really well for the dish.
The lone desert on the menu didn't disappoint us. It was the only dish on the menu that just had a touch of Japanese flavour, or ingredient in this case. Mango, Liquorice with Coconut Ice-Cream was dusted with sansho (Japanese pepper). It played cameo in the desert where coconut and mango were in the leading roles. As the meal ended, it reinforced one thing: there is more to Japanese cuisine than raw food. This place is all about masterstrokes and techniques.
The festival is on till May 30.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu seems to have hit a roadblock with the shortlisted model submitted by Japanese designer Maki Associates.
The model resembles French architect Le Corbusiers Assembly building of Chandigarh. This dilemma comes at a time when he faces increasing pressure to start construction of new state capital Amaravati.
Taking a full circle, the AP government has called for new designs that suit the local culture. It was on March 25 that the AP government chose Japans Maki as master architect to design government buildings in its new capital Amaravati.
A jury of six expert architects selected Maki from a list of three short-listed firms Maki & Associates, Richard Rogers (England) and DV Joshi Architects (India). Maki was supposed to design APs secretariat, legislature complex, high court, Raj Bhavan and other important buildings. All the three models were exhibited at a local hotel for the general public to view.
However, the visitors particularly architecture and planning students from different universities and netizens blasted the core design of APs capital, stating it resembled factory chimneys and the five-decade-old Chandigarh Assembly building, which has a single chimney-like structure that allows sun light to illuminate the Assembly hall.
The opinion was almost unanimous that the half-domed Assembly resembles the cooling towers of the nearby thermal power station in Ibrahimpatam.
An architecture student from Acharya Nagarjuna University, K Srinivas, said that the structures should reflect the history of the Andhra region. Look at the Telangana Assembly building, it is a true representation of Deccani architecture, Srinivas the final year student said.
Kunapareddy Krishna a local of Rayapudi who pooled his land for the capital said that he liked the models of Indian firm of DV Joshi. I wonder why we need a Japanese firm to design Andhra capital, their ideas are foreign to us, he said.
Some netizens commented that the AP Assembly building looked like a nuclear power reactor and not an Assembly building.
Sources in CRDA said that the state government has not approved the designs prepared by world-renowned Maki and Associates for capital city buildings, but have simply asked the architects to prepare new designs.
The BJP state unit has given a rating of 3 out of 10 to the Siddaramaiah government which will be completing 3 years in office on Friday.
The BJP also brought out a report card listing out failures of the government. Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar and other leaders of the state unit of the BJP released the report card on Wednesday and termed the government as corrupt and anti-people.
Shettar also called Siddaramaiah a liar for misleading the people and for failing to keep his promise of providing a corruption-free and transparent government. If Veerappa Moily was a liar, Siddaramaiah has turned into a bigger liar, he added.
Among the failures listed by the BJP include failing to mitigate the sufferings of the people reeling under severe drought, deliberate attempt to weaken the institution of the Lokayukta to protect ministers and corrupt officials, failing to provide proper power supply in rural areas and allowing corruption in various departments. He said while the government had killed the Lokayukta institution, the Anti-Corruption Bureau had become defunct.
DH News Service
CM dismisses charge sheet
Dismissing the BJPs allegations that the government has failed on all fronts, Siddaramaiah said he had given corruption-free government, reports DHNS from New Delhi.
Reacting to the charge sheet released by BJP, the CM said the BJP should know that during their rule, many of their senior leaders and their family members were involved in corrupt practices and some even went to jail.
The BJP which fought the Assam Assembly polls with its promise to drive away illegal migrants from Bangladesh if voted to power in Assam is now pulling up its socks to strengthen its minority base.
On Wednesday, the party promised to make Assam a model state for minority development in the country if it comes to power. The Assembly election results will be declared on May 19.
Assam has the second highest Muslim population after Jammu and Kashmir. Muslims made 34% of the total 3.12 crore people in Assam. The lion share is that of the Bengali speaking Muslims of lower and central Assam, who are often branded as illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
The two-phased election in Assam did see the top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet colleagues and party national president Amit Shah campaign against illegal migrants and asked voters to form a government of the indigenous.
Plan of action
The BJP is now looking forward to bringing genuine Bengali speaking Muslim to its fold now. The partys minority morcha national president Abdul Rashid Ansari on Wednesday met different Muslim organisations in Guwahati.
We do not want people from minority to continue doing odd jobs, there must be overall development. Our first task will be to plug the leakage of funds meant for minorities. Assam has seen rampant leakage of funds, Ansari told reporters in Guwahati.
BJP in its vision document for Assam polls has promised protection of culture of the indigenous Muslims in Assam, party sources added.
Several districts in the State received good rainfall on Wednesday. Three persons suffered injuries after they were struck by lightning while travelling in a vehicle in Chikkamagaluru. In some districts power supply was hit and traffic came to a standstill due to heavy rains.
Hubballi-Dharwad
The twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad received a light drizzle on Wednesday evening. Even though clouds have been hovering over the twin cities since last few days, it was only today that the two cities received a light drizzle.
Davangere
Holalkere in Chitradurga district and parts of Davangere district received rainfall accompanied by gusty winds for nearly an hour on Wednesday afternoon. Rainfall brought cheers to the people and farmers of the region.Drizzling continued till evening.
Mangaluru
Parts of Mangaluru city received first rains on Wednesday evening for a brief period.
Dakshina Kannada district, parts of Sullia, Puttur and Belthangady taluk received some rains in the evening.
Udupi
Most of the areas in the district received mild showers during the evening hours on
Wednesday.
Interiors like Ajekaru, Amasebailu, Sanoor, Siddhapuar, Kollur, Manipal, Shankarpura, Shirva, Padubidri, Manipal, Jadkal, Hemmadi, Navunda, Uppunda and Hebri received mild showers.
Kodagu
Parts of Kodagu district received rains on Wednesday too. Rainfall accompanied with thunder and lightning lashed many areas including Abbey Falls and Napoklu in the evening.
Chikkamagaluru
Three youth from Delhi who had been to Charmadi Ghat suffered injuries after they were struck by lightning on Wednesday. The injured are Yakoob, Irfan and Nadeef from Delhi.
The trio were on their way to Mangaluru from Chikkamagaluru in a private vehicle. When the vehicle reached Charmadi ghat, they alighted to view the beauty of hills when lightning struck them.
While Yakoob and Nadeef collapsed on the spot, Irfan managed to reach the main road and inform the public, who arranged for an ambulance. All the three are recuperating and are said to be out of danger.
Belagavi
M K Hubli and surrounding villages in Bailhongal taluk and Hirebagewadi in Belagavi taluk received light rain showers along with hailstones on Wednesday evening.
Cloudy environs had been prevailing during the day and by evening it poured in M K Hubli and Hirebagewadi and surrounding.
There were also reports of rains at Itagi Cross and Dastikoppa near Kittur.
Strong winds were also witnessed in Belagavi and surrounding that cooled off the day time temperatures, but there were no rains.
Shivamogga
Shivamogga and various parts of the district received moderate rainfall. Sagar, Bhadravathi, Hosanagar and Theerthahalli taluks received good rainfall.
Haveri
Heavy rainfall accompanied with gusty winds, thunder and lightning lashed Hangal taluk and the surrounding regions. Several trees were uprooted and electricity poles were also damaged. Traffic and power supply were hit.
Sky was overcast in Haveri, Shiggaon, Savanur, Byadagi, Ranebennur and Hirekerur taluks for most part of the day.
Bagalkot
Hungund in Bagalkot district received good rainfall. Dhannur, Karadi and Ameengad in the taluk also reported to have received heavy rains.
DH News Service
Dominant Telugu and a sizable Kannadiga population would decide the election in the border constituency of Hosur, where the sitting Congress MLA Gopinath is facing a tough fight from AIADMK.
Though Gopinath has a small edge, the AIADMK has nominated P Balakrishnan from the Telugu community, making the challenge particularly tougher for the incumbent. Gopinath is banking heavily on the Telugu electorates here as he makes the third attempt to enter the Tamil Nadu Assembly. In 2011, he defeated DMDK challenger S John Timothy by 10,000 votes.
Local people said AIADMK and Congress will have a straight contest this time. BJP candidate Balakrishnan received an unexpected boost as Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally in Hosur. For several decades, the border constituency has elected a Telugu as its representative, the reason for political parties including Congress and AIADMK to pick their nominees from the community.
Hosur district administration told DH that about 50% of people in the town are Telugus, while Kannadigas who came down from Bengaluru and settled here constitute 20%. Out of the 2.9 lakh voters in this town bordering Karnataka, those from Balagondarayanadurgam, Baliganapalli, Berigai, Nallur Agraharam Muthali prefer Gopinath.
"He (Gopinath) worked hard to prevail upon Karnataka government to release water in Kelavarapalli dam, which helped us a lot, T G Nagaraj from Muthali Taluk said.
However, people from Boopalapurm, Chenathur and Chennapalli said the municipality should find a permanent solution to the water problem instead of digging public bore-wells as a temporary remedy.
"We need a permanent solution for the water issue", S Ramarao, a farmer from Chenathur, said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah might have dropped the plan to celebrate the completion of the three years of his government in view of severe drought in the state.But he has decided to make use of the occasion to highlight the 'success' of various Bhagya schemes.
The government has chalked out a programme called Janamana to be organised at Dr Babu Rajendra Prasad International Convention Centre located on GKVK campus in Bengaluru on May 13, the day the Chief Minister completes three years in office.
About 2,000 people are expected to take part in the event, official sources in the Chief Minister's office said.
The government has decided to highlight 15 various subsidy schemes, mainly the Bhagya schemes.
The Department of Information and Public Relations has, in association with various other departments, shortlisted altogether 450 beneficiaries of these schemes from across the State 15 beneficiaries from each district to attend the event.
The beneficiaries are scheduled to interact with the chief minister at the event, share their views and thank him for implementing the schemes. Anna Bhagya (free rice to BPL families), Ksheera Bhagya (free milk supply to school children), Krishi Bhagya (construction of small ponds) are among the 15 schemes that will be highlighted at the event.
Besides, the chief minister is scheduled to release a booklet, listing out the achievements of his government in the last three years, the sources said.
The sources said none of the Congress leaders is likely to take part in the event. The government is planning to invite only five ministers representing Bengaluru to the event.
The government does not want to project the event as a celebration by inviting all the ministers. Instead, the ministers will be directed to organise the event at the district level on May 14, they added. The government had earlier planned a mega programme event to celebrate the occasion in a big way.
The event was planned to be organised at Palace Grounds in Bengaluru by getting two lakh people to witness it. Some key departments were even directed to organise a separate exhibition to showcase their achievements. But the plan was dropped due to severe drought in the State, the sources said.
No interview of CM
The chief minister, the sources said, has decided not to give interview to the media on the occasion of him completing three years in office.
His office had lined up some interviews with the chief minister following requests from certain media organisations. But they were all cancelled citing severe drought.
The proliferating information technology (IT) sector has vastly impacted the society, including Urdu-speaking community in the State, lamented retired IPS officer Khaleel Mamoon.
Addressing the gathering during the opening of a two-day seminar, here, on Wednesday, on The Changing Scenario of Urdu Language and Culture, organised by the Department of Studies in Urdu, University of Mysore, as part of its centenary year celebrations, in collaboration with Karnataka Urdu Academy, Mamoon cited the example of Bengaluru, where even if one converses in the State language Kannada either in a bus or stores conductors and storekeepers reply in Hindi.
The status of the Urdu-speaking community is no different with the dwindling number of people speaking the language. In Kashmir too, the situation is no different, as youths prefer either Hindi or Kashmiri languages, with English also making inroads, he said.
Mamoon, also former chairman of the academy, said, there were not much takers for literary works in Urdu, as is evident with the recent limited publications. Such is the pathetic situation that a meagre 10 to 15 copies are published only for the sake of financial assistance from the authorities concerned, added Mamoon, quoting a genuine source.
However, Mamoon had a praise for the neighbouring Kerala State, where he could find a chaste Urdu-speaking community. The film and TV industry should also take the credit for promoting the language, he said.
The II PUC Chemistry question papers were leaked from the Hangal sub-treasury in Haveri district, with a second division assistant (SDA) providing the keys of the strongroom to the nephew of the prime suspect, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has said.
Kumaraswamy alias Kiran, the nephew of the alleged kingpin Shivakumaraiah, enlisted the support of Santosh Parshuram Agasimani, the SDA, by paying him Rs one lakh in cash.
Agasimani gave him the keys of the strongroom where the question paper bundle was kept.
On the night of March 19, two days before the exam was held, Kiran opened the seal of the bundle, photographed the paper on his mobile phone and resealed it.
He gave him the money on the spot and left for Tumakuru. But the image of the paper was not good.
So, Kiran jotted down the questions on a sheet of paper, photographed it and sent it by WhatsApp to a close circle of friends, which included Obalaraju, the personal assistant of Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil, Manjunath, a physical education teacher at a private school in Vijayanagar, and another man named Rudrappa.
The select few then sold the question paper to eager students for hefty sums. Roughly 3,000 students had the question paper before the exam was held on March 21, a senior officer in the CID said.
As the leak emerged and the government announced re-exam on March 31, Kiran
decided to get the paper again.
He contacted Agasimani again, paid him Rs one lakh and got the paper on the night of March 29. Thus, the paper leaked for a second time, hugely embarrassing the government and almost costing the Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakar his job.
Acting swiftly after the first leak, the CID arrested Manjunath, Obalaraju, Rudrappa and two others. But Kiran didnt know about Manjunaths arrest. He sent him the second paper too by WhatsApp. The CID, which had Manjunaths mobile phone, began tracking Kiran.
The deft modus operandi of the paper leak was revealed by Kiran whom the CID arrested from a farmhouse in Tumakuru on Tuesday. He is in police custody for 10 days.
The CID sleuths also arrested Agasimani, a native of Uttara Kannada who was living in Adoor, Haveri district. Agasimani had injured himself during a fight with a relative over a property dispute.
The CID got the doctors permission to bring him to Bengaluru for further investigation. The sleuths also examined the sub-treasury in Hangal. A CID officer said more arrests were likely as the investigation had been intensified.
DH News Service
2 held in Haveri for paper leak
Santosh Agasimani, the second division assistant of the Hangal sub-treasury, was arrested on Tuesday, in connection with the II PU chemistry paper leak, reports DHNS from Hangal, Haveri.
Agasimani was picked from a hospital in Haliyal, where he was undergoing treatment for injuries sustained in a domestic fight.
There were also rumours that the CID officials arrested a man from Akki Alur in the taluk. The suspect is said to be a friend of Agasimani. It is said that a senior official in Haveri is also involved in the question paper leak. The suspects would take pictures of the question paper kept in the sub-treasury on their phones and send it to all parts of the state, a day before the exam.
The Kannada Development Authority (KDA) has urged the Human Resource Development Ministry and the state government to conduct the second phase of NEET exams in the regional language, Kannada.
KDA Chairman L Hanumanthaiah, in his appeal, has said that though the Centre had pushed for conducting NEET exams in the regional languages, Karnataka had been left out. The Supreme Court has allowed NEET exams to be conducted in Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati and Assamese. He has demanded that in Karnataka, the exams should be conducted in Kannada.
Christian Michel, one of the middlemen in the AgustaWestland scam, has said that he never met Congress president Sonia Gandhi or the then prime minister Manmohan Singh seeking their help in the deal.
He also said the Narendra Modi government has not interfered in the deal. Asked about him meeting politicians for pushing the deal, Michel told India Today TV in Abu Dhabi: No, never. I have never met Sonia Gandhi. Never met Manmohan Singh or (then defence minister) A K Antony. Congress never interfered in Agusta deal. I avoid meeting leaders, my expertise is implementation.
He said to say that people like A B Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh or Antony is involved is ridiculous and no one would believe that.
Michel, Indian investigators claim, was one of the middlemen who lobbied for the deal in New Delhi and through him the bribes were paid. Fearing arrest, he has refused to come to India to face the agencies, while offering to appear via video link from the Indian embassy in Dubai.
Asked about former Air Chief S P Tyagi, who is facing investigation in the deal, Michel said he probably met him in Gymkhana Club in New Delhi. Met Tyagi and others and I wasnt keen on them. I was introduced to Julie Tyagi (former Air chiefs cousin) as a powerful industrialist. Julie is a very nice man. He didnt promise me of any deal. I was very nervous of them.
But because of his association with (businessman) Guido Haschke I really avoided him, he said. Speaking about nominated MP Subramanian Swamy who has raised the issue, Michel said Swamy has authenticated documents which were given in the CAG report.
He said CAG report was prepared in great hurry and the auditors are not aviation experts but bureaucrats asked to put together document way beyond their expertise. So he was misled by his own documentation, he said.
Swamy later said: Christian Michel is a Red Corner Interpol Noticee. The ED has asked for his extradition. And now TV channels are celebrating him.
The Congress was an energised lot after its victory in Uttarakhand and displayed great vigour in attacking the Centre for its misadventure in imposing Presidents Rule in the state.
They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted. Rahul hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi learns his lessons. People of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy, he said.
Former Union minister Kapil Sibal demanded that the prime minister apologise to Parliament for the misadventure in Uttarakhand and also sack the minister who had advised him to do so.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi described the Uttarakhand win as Congress victory and victory of the people.
There was spring in Congress members step as they told the Modi government in the Lok Sabha they hoped that the Centre would refrain from such wrong and malafide moves.
As news trickled in about Supreme Court declaring Rawat as the winner of Tuesdays floor test, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge apprised the Lok Sabha of the result.
Hope that the Centre would refrain from using Article 356 and stop the murder of democracy, he said, amid thumping of desks by Congress members, including Sonia.
Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal demanded that the Modi government apologise to the nation for acting in unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand.
The CPM Polit Bureau said the reinstatement of Rawat was a big setback for the BJP.
The BJP should learn that its resort to such methods at subterfuge to remove democratically-elected state governments headed by Opposition parties will not succeed, a Polit Bureau statement said.
The BJP tried to fend off criticism by claiming that the Congress had bought majority in Uttarakhand but lost the peoples majority.
The MLAs revolted against Rawat as he was involved in corruptionThe Congress has bought majority, they did not get majority. But Congress has lost Uttarakhand peoples majority, said BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma.
Taking a tough stand on Congress blocking the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday asked the main Opposition party to make up its mind before the Monsoon session of Parliament.
Alternatively, the bill should be allowed to go through the parliamentary process of decision through voting, he urged.
Replying to the debate on Finance Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Jaitley also appealed to the Congress not to surrender the power of taxation to the judiciary which had already encroached upon executive and legislative powers of the government.
Jaitley said that he had spoken to all chief ministers of Congress-ruled states and found that almost all of them supported the bill. He said that it was only the Congress party at the Centre which was opposing the bill by raising three unjustifiable demands.
When we meet again during Monsoon session, I think that will be an appropriate time to take a view. The governments position is very clear. Every state has to implement the GST. So I would want all parties and all states to come on board.
Therefore, I want you (Congress) to reconsider your position. If you do not, please allow the parliamentary process of decision by voting, Jaitley said, replying to demands raised by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh during the discussion.
The Congress has put forth three demands 18% cap on GST rate in the Constitution, formation of a GST disputes settlement authority headed by Supreme Court judge and scrapping of the proposed 1 % additional tax that ends up favouring producer states.
On the dispute settlement issue, you are suggesting that if states cannot decide on GST dispute, a body headed by Supreme Court judge should decide on the matter. For heavens sake, I beseech you in the interest of Indian democracy, not to go for this. And I give you a good reason. The manner in which encroachment of legislative and executive authority by Indias judiciary is taking place, probably financial power and budget making is the last of powers left. It will not be in good wisdom if any party says that taxation power may also be taken over by the judiciary, Jaitley said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it was a matter of debate if another floor test could be ordered in Uttarakhand Assembly in case the court decided in favour of disqualified 9 Congress party MLAs.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh, which noted the Centres decision to revoke Presidents Rule in the state, paving the way for Harish Rawats reinstatement as chief minister, also clarified that the matter did not end there.
The Uttarakhand High Courts judgment quashing the Presidential proclamation will remain alive and it will be tested on the anvil of the law and the Constitution, the court said.
The High Court has ascribed many a reasons to arrive at the conclusion that the said proclamation was not tenable in law. It required to be scrutinised whether within the scope of judicial review, such a finding could have been arrived at or for that matter whether the opinion arrived at by the President of India to proclaim the Presidents Rule at the relevant point of time was justified or not, the court said.
Advocate M L Sharma, appearing for rebel Congress MLA Shaila Rani Rawat, contended she was disqualified by the Speaker a day after the imposition of Presidents rule. Rawats advocates countered the plea saying she had raised similar argument before the High Court, which had rejected her contention.
If this man (Rawat) becomes Chief Minister and supposing we set aside the disqualification of the MLAs in the future, there will have to be another floor test to be seen, the bench said, pointing out the issue relating to the disqualification of 9 rebel Congress MLAs will be examined on July 12.
What will be the effect, if in the ultimate eventuate case the disqualification is set at naught would be a matter of debate. We say nothing on that score at present, the bench said in its order.
As the Supreme Court declared that Harish Rawat won the trust vote in Uttarakhand, several BJP leaders began privately indulging in internal blame game.
The state BJP leaders are accusing the central party leadership of keeping them out of strategy-formulation to install a government in the hill state close to the Assembly polls.
The attack is aimed at party general secretary and Uttarakhand in charge Kailash Vijayvargiya, who was camping for months in the state to aid 9 Congress rebel MLAs to topple the Rawat government, which did not happen.
But party sources said he was merely the face of the strategy that was being directed by the central leadership. The setback has come in succession to back-to-back defeats in Assembly polls in Bihar and Delhi.
Party leaders believe only a positive outcome in Assam elections will arrest string of debacles and enthuse cadres before the BJP faces the mother of all state battles in Uttar Pradesh next year.
When asked to comment on the Congress seeking sacking of a NDA minister who advised imposition of Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand, a senior Cabinet minister quipped, I have not done it.
The decision for imposing Presidents Rule was not unanimous, party sources pointed out, though the Cabinet recommended it. Some party leaders feel the move was unnecessary as the BJP ended up cleaning the anti-incumbency wave against the Rawat government close to the Assembly polls.
By accepting the 9-rebel Congress group led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, the BJP has welcomed Opposition troublemakers who were giving a headache to Rawat, a Rajput leader. Accommodating them during the Assembly polls would also be a hassle for the BJP and will impact the elections in adjoining Uttar Pradesh.
Rawats victory has created a buzz in the BJP against the political strategy adopted to unsettle Congress-ruled states to increase their numbers in the Rajya Sabha, as stated by the Opposition.
Citing examples of Bihar and Delhi, not many BJP leaders are hopeful that the Uttarakhand discomfiture would lead to any changes in the architecture, but it would halt its expansionist design started after installing a government in Arunachal Pradesh by supporting rebel Congress MLAs.
Having won in Uttarakhand, the Congress is now hoping for reinstatement of its government in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on petitions challenging the imposition of Presidents Rule in Arunachal as questions were also raised on the validity of the state governors action of summoning the Assembly without the aid and advice of the council of ministers.
We are awaiting the judgement of the Supreme Court. We hope the judgment comes before the vacation. But that is only a hope, senior Congress leader and former law minister Kapil Sibal said in reply to a question.
Privately, Congress leaders claim to have received indications that the matter could be taken up on Friday, after which the court would take its summer vacation. Buoyed by Harish Rawats victory in the floor test, Congress leaders are confident that Nabam Tuki would be back at the helm of affairs in Arunachal Pradesh sooner than later.
Arunachal Pradesh was put under Presidents Rule on January 26 after Congress members revolted against the then Chief Minister Tuki. The Congress rebels had sided with BJP members at a special session of the Assembly summoned by Governor J P Rajkhowa.
The Congress said the session was illegal as it was not called on the advice of the council of ministers. Before the session began, Speaker Nabam Rebia had disqualified 14 rebel MLAs, who later moved the Gauhati High Court challenging it. The High Court had stayed the disqualification.
The Congress had moved the Supreme Court challenging the governors actions and the validity of the imposition of Presidents rule in Arunachal Pradesh.However, the Centre decided to revoke Presidents rule on February 19 and Congress rebel Kalikho Pul was sworn in as chief minister the same night.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed the regulation mandating telecom companies to pay the consumers for call drops, saying it was manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable.
A bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said such a compensation ordered by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) could in fact be a unjustifiable windfall for the consumers who could themselves be at fault.
The regulation which has been in force since January 1 provides Re 1 compensation per call drop subject to an upper limit of Rs 3 per day.
The court allowed a batch of appeals by Telecom companies, noting that Trai had no empirical evidence to corroborate that call drops were attributable to deficiency in services by the service providers, especially when its own technical paper had in 2015 showed that an average of 36.9% can be call drops owing to the fault of the consumer.
We, therefore, hold that a strict penal liability laid down on the erroneous basis that the fault is entirely with the service provider is manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable. Also, the payment of such penalty to a consumer who may himself be at fault, and which gives an unjustifiable windfall to such a consumer, is also manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable, the bench observed.
The court said regulation would be an unreasonable restriction on the telecom firms fundamental rights to carry on business.
Senior advocate and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who represented the telecom companies, termed the regulation as a populist measure. Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked the companies to improve service quality.
Congress leader Harish Rawat has returned as Uttarakhand Chief Minister after President's Rule was lifted in the state on Wednesday.
The Union Cabinet earlier recommended revoking Presidents Rule in the state after the Supreme Court declared the result of Tuesdays floor test in the Assembly declaring him winner with the support of 33 MLAs.
Even before a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh could open the sealed envelope containing the results of the confidence vote, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi expressed readiness of the Centre to lift Presidents Rule. He conceded that Rawat has won the confidence vote.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A M Singhvi and Rajeev Dhawan, appearing for Rawat, described the stand taken by the Union government as very fair.
This prompted the court to declare, After the Presidential Rule is revoked, Rawat can assume the office of the chief minister of Uttarakhand.
Appointed as independent observer, Jaidev Singh, Principal Secretary, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs, Uttarakhand produced the confidence vote result stating Rawat has obtained 33 votes out of 61 votes.
Nine rebel Congress MLAs, led by former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, could not participate in the proceedings as they remained disqualified.
The bench recorded the Union governments undertaking and modified its previous order of April 22 whereby the Centre was restrained from revoking President's rule. Minutes after the court's proceedings, the Union Cabinet met briefly at Parliament House at around 12.45 pm and recommended revocation of President's rule in Uttarakhand. The order of revocation has to be placed before the apex court on Friday.
In a subsequent development, Rohatgi met President Pranab Mukherjee, leading to issuance of notification for revocation of emergency provision under Article 356 under the Constitution. Rawat will be chairing a Cabinet meet on Thursday morning.
There is no need for swearing in as Rawat has been reinstated by the Supreme Court as chief minister, a senior Congress leader said.Reacting to the development, 68-year-old Rawat hailed the Union government for showing magnanimity in revoking President's rule in the state. He said the judiciary has restored the faith of the people in democracy.
In a move to end the political impasse in Uttarakhand, the court had on May 6 ordered a floor test in the special session of the Assembly under its own supervision on Tuesday. The court, however, refused to allow the 9 rebel Congress MLAs to cast their votes, stating that the appeal against their disqualification was pending before the Uttarakhand High Court.
A prestigious school in Agra, about 350 km from here, sent a legal notice to a class VIII student seeking Rs 1 crore in damages after he sought to know why the school did not promote him.
According to reports, the student, Mohammed Shehjan, is from St Francis Convent School.
After the results were declared, Shehjans father Mohammed Sageer, a mechanic, gave a representation to the district education department officials stating that under the Right to Education (RTE) Act, no student can be failed up to class VIII.
The officials, in turn, sought an explanation from the school principal. After the school management failed to reply to the letter, education officials sent a reminder notice to the school management, which chose to ignore it.
Legal notice to school
Sageer then sent a legal notice to the school seeking the same information. In reply, the school also sent a legal notice to the student seeking damages of Rs 1 crore for harming the reputation of the school, sources said.
Either tender an unconditional apology or pay damages of Rs 1 crore within 15 days, the notice said, according to Sageer. He said the school management was infuriated at being served a legal notice as it felt that it would bring bad name to the school.
The school management said it was a minority institution and was not covered under the RTE Act.
We do not have enough money to take care of our needs.... we cannot arrange Rs 1 crore even if we sell all our possessions, Sageer said.
Shehjan said he had been studying at the school from the lower KG level and had never failed in any class. Now, it seems I will have to study in class VIII again, he told the local media on Tuesday.
After being headless for the last 14 months, city-based Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) has finally got a new director. Prof M G Chandrakanth, head of agricultural economics, University of Agricultural Sciences, has been appointed to the post.
The Raj Bhavan on Tuesday issued orders in this regard. The appointment, however, has led to discontent within ISEC as Prof Chandrakanth was not the first preferred, candidate by the search committee.
The search committee constituted by Governor Vajubhai Vala had shortlisted three names - Dr Sandeep Shastri, pro-vice-chancellor, Jain University, K S James, professor, Population Research Centre (PRC), ISEC and Chandrakanth in that order of preference. The list was forwarded to the Raj Bhavan late last month.
Sources said that Prof Chandrakanths name was added to the list in the last minute. The long-held practice at ISEC of selecting the first candidate from the list submitted by the search committee was also not followed.
The search committee comprised of Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president and chief executive of the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi-based think tank, Dr S Parasuraman, Director, Tata Institute of Social Science and Prof A Balasubramanian, former professor at the media department of Karnatak University, Dharwad.
According to sources, Mehta and Parasuraman were the nominees of the ISECs Board of Governors (BoG) and selected Dr Shastri and Prof James for the top post. Balasubramanian, the governors nominee selected Prof Chandrakanth.
The first name on the list is usually the one favoured for the post. It is the entire point of appointing the selection committee. ISEC is unlike other universities as it is governed by a society that appoints the board members and its chairman. The new appointment is a tragedy, said a source. Even the government's nominee to the search committee was not a known academician, said the source.
There, however, is no written rule that the governor has to mandatorily select a candidate preferred first by the search committee as pointed out by M V Nadkarni, former professor, ISEC and former vice-chancellor, Gulbarga University.
The search committee gives the order of priority. However it is for the governor to change it, there is no constraint or mandate that it has to be the first one in the list as the director.
Vijaykumar Torgal, secretary to the governor, who refused to divulge the order of the shortlisted candidates, said, The selection was based on merit and there was no question of seniority or preference.
Past row
The institute was at the centre of a controversy in December 2014. A professor of the institute, T N Bhat lodged a complaint with the Upalokayukta alleging financial and administrative irregularities against the then director, Binay Kumar Pattnaik. On February 3, Pattnaik resigned citing health reasons.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths busted a prostitution racket and arrested five persons and rescued a foreign national.
Based on credible information, the police raided a house on Nandidurga road and arrested Nandish, Suman Saha and Parimal Paul who were running the racket. Girish and Dinu Kumar, who were said to be customers, were also arrested.
They rescued Gulnab Subrevo, an Uzbek national and recovered a Jet Airways boarding pass. The police have suspected that she might be overstaying as she failed to produce her passport and visa.
The accused and the woman are being questioned to ascertain if more foreign women are involved in the racket. Also, they are checking if the woman was forced into the trade or she volunteered.
A consumer forum here has ordered the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to a senior citizen for causing mental agony to him by issuing an invalid monthly pass.
The 3rd Additional Bangalore District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum gave the order on a complaint filed by S Sangameshwaran, a 67-year-old resident of Banashankari 3rd Stage.
Forum president H S Ramakrishna and member L Mamatha directed the BMTCs general manager (traffic) to pay the compensation in 30 days, failing which an interest of 18% must be paid from the date of the order till the date of realisation. The forum also directed the corporation to refund Rs 945 towards the pass and Rs 1,000 as litigation cost.
Sangameshwaran had bought the pass at the Majestic bus stand in May 2015, but the BMTC officials punched the month of validity as April 2015. The senior citizen was not allowed to verify the particulars, citing long queue.
Sangameshwaran didnt realise the inaccuracy and went on to travel by BMTC bus. During one such travel, a BMTC ticket inspector checked the pass and found it inaccurate. The inspector shouted at him for travelling on an invalid pass, fined him Rs 200 and deboarded him.
RTI application
When Sangameshwaran went to the counter where he had bought the pass, the staff asked him to approach the BMTC head office in Shanthinagar. Determined to make the BMTC pay for its mistake, Sangameshwaran filed an RTI application.
The reply affirmed that it was the BMTCs fault. Then he moved the forum, accusing the BMTC of deficiency of service for not providing proper service to the commuter.
A woman aged 35-40 years was found dead in an abandoned house located behind the Hosakerehalli bus stand in Girinagar, south Bengaluru, on Wednesday.
The body was found after a few people sensed foul smell. They went into the house and called the police. The police suspect the woman was murdered elsewhere four days ago and her body was dumped in the house.
Her body bore stab wounds. The police are waiting for the post-mortem report to ascertain if she was sexually assaulted before being murdered. They are investigating if there is any police complaint about the woman having gone missing.
by Tad Lindley
Have you ever been hurt by someone until it is hard to sleep at night without thinking about them? They ripped you off, or lied about you. Maybe they bullied you or humiliated you on Facebook, and you lay there night after night thinking about how you should have really put them in their place right then and there. Can I get more real? You think how you wish you could have been laying there with a knife or a gun when your abuser came after you in the dark. These are mental videos that we play over and over in our minds. We have a hit list of people that we wish were either dead or suffering because of what they did to us.
Davids hit list
Even the godly king, David, had a hit list (I Kings 2:1-9). The King was nearing the end of his life, and he had a talk with his son, Solomon. David had selected Solomon to be the next king, and there were a couple of guys that David wanted killed:
1. Joab- Joab had been a general in Davids army. Joab had killed Davids son Absalom, which sounds terrible until you know that Absalom was chasing David in order to kill him. And so David told Solomon (paraphrasing here), I want Joab to die an unpleasant death. Joab was crossed off the hit list, only one more name to go.
2. Shimei- At the time that David was fleeing from his son, Absalom, who was trying to kill him, Shimei approached David and his soldiers and began to curse David and throw rocks at him. King David told Solomon, Make sure he dies a bloody death.
The fate of the names on the hit list
Joab sealed his own fate, and ended up dead because of his own treachery. Solomon gave great mercy to Shimei. Solomon changed Shimeis death sentence to life on probation. Unfortunately for him, Shimei violated the conditions of his release and ended up dead because of his own choices. You can get all the details in I Kings 2:28-46.
Jesus hit list
The Bible says, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (Romans 12:19) Getting revenge is not our job. It is Jesus job. We want to be out front, punching the guilty in the throat, seeing them in handcuffs, seeing their name in the paper, but Jesus is pretty straightforward about it. He wants us to get out of the way. He is the expert.
Expert hit man
Have you ever been doing a job, and you needed it done fast, and you had a clumsy person wanting to help? Perhaps it was a child who thought they could help you pick fish, but this was not the time for them to pick fish, and so you told them, just sit back there and run the motor for me. Jesus is the expert and we are the child.
Heres how we can help Jesus get revenge
In Romans 12:19, Jesus tells us, Get off the way, this is a job for me. If you want to help, here is what you can do to help while I get vengeance:
1. Love your enemies
2. Bless them that curse you
3. Do good to them that hate you
4. Pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you
Sound familiar? It is from Matthew 5:44, word for word.
But Bro. Lindley you dont what they did to me
This isnt good self-help talk from Bro. Lindley, this is the word of God. He does not need our suggestions or our interference. He needs us to love, bless, do good, and pray while he works it out for the other person. Even if you do get to punch them in the throat, or see them suffer worse than you and your family members did, you will never be satisfied. There is only one way to get people off of your hit list (four ways actually). But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. (Matthew 5:44) If you can do these four things, even though you might not mean it, eventually, you will be set free from the victimhood of your past. And it may take months or years, but these are the actual directions from the very mouth of God.
Bro. Lindleys misery back guarantee
Try it. If it doesnt work, you can always go back to tossing and turning the night away running over your hit list and your plans for revenge.
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
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by YKHC Staff
On January 22, 2021, the YKHC Board of Directors met and adopted a resolution opposing the formation of a regional tribal government in the YK Delta. YKHC Resolution No. 2021.01.01.
For nearly 30 years, and most recently in 2013, efforts have been made by several entities including the Calista Corporation, to form, or to encourage the formation of, a regional tribal government in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region with executive, legislative, and judicial branch powers.
Previously, in January, 2014, the YKHC Board of Directors passed Resolution No. 2014.01.01, which found that a single regional tribe was not in the best interests of YKHC, and it strongly opposed the efforts.
Over the past several years, Calista and others have renewed their campaign. As noted in media reports, Calista engaged an outside consultant to assist in these efforts. According to the consultant, a regional tribal government would put it in better position to develop resource projects like the Donlin mine (See https://www.kyuk.org/post/calista-corporation-leads-effortregional-tribal-government). Calista prepared a draft constitution and a draft resolution to facilitate the creation of a regional tribal government and distributed them to tribes.
However, as noted by the YKHC Board, YKHCs 58 member tribes have functioned as autonomous tribal entities throughout history, consist of distinct communities, govern and maintain political influence or authority over their members as single autonomous political entities, and their members have descended from these historic tribes.
In addition, YKHCs 58 member tribes are already federally recognized tribes as determined by the Department of Interior and evidenced by the Departments 1993 list of all tribes which the Secretary of Interior recognized to be eligible to receive services from the United States because of their status as tribes.
The United States Congress subsequently ratified the Department of Interiors federal recognition of these tribes, evidenced by Congress enactment of the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994.
Moreover, the YK-Deltas large geographical size; diversity of environments; diversity of tribes; diversity of distinct political communities; diversity of language dialects; diversity of cultures, dances, foods, histories and ways of knowing; there is no basis in either federal Indian law or policy to support a single regional tribe in the YK Delta.
As a result, the YKHC Board expressed its continued support for its 58 member tribes exercising governmental authority over their own villages and members, and not a single distant regional tribe making decisions about villages and people with whom it has no relations to or political ties.
According to Dan Winkelman, YKHC President and CEO, This is another sad attempt to take legitimate tribal authority away from the already existing 58 tribes of the YK Delta that govern themselves and place power into the hands of a few.
The YKHC Board concluded that a regional tribal government would not unite the villages of the region and would not be in the best interests of its 58 federally recognized member tribes. It expressed its opposition to Calistas draft resolution and constitution, and any other effort by any entity that would encourage the establishment a single regional tribe in the YK Delta.
The YKHC Board forwarded its resolution and a draft resolution in opposition to the formation of a regional tribal government to the tribes for review and consideration at the next meeting of their tribal governments.
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by Dave Cannon
By now you might have heard about the recent mine tailings dam collapse in Brazil that killed 58 people with hundreds still missing.
You may, or may not, be aware of the recent Op-Ed about the Donlin Gold Mine by the new Commissioner of DNR Corri Feige that appeared in several papers around the state. In her Op-Ed, she more or less gave several assurances that the States approval of the mine would guarantee few, if any, impacts to the environment here in the Kuskokwim.
Commissioner Feige states: Alaskans often ask how we can protect the environmentand especially about long-term, post-closure water management. Ourcommitment to addressing these requirements has grown significantly in recent decades.
She doesnt mention that the State has never before permitted a mine designed with a pit lake two-miles long and 1,800 deep filled with toxic wastewater that will require water treatment in perpetuity. What about human and mechanical failure? Dont forget, this project is off the road system. Perpetuity is forever!
Here is what else Ms. Feige had to say. Overall, I have been very impressed by the rigor of the baseline data collection and analyses that have been conducted for the Donlin Gold project. From tailings management to mercury and cyanide risks, to potential impacts on fish and subsistence resources, the project has undergone a high level of scrutiny. In every case, Donlin Gold has never shied away from tackling difficult questions, and has often gone above and beyond what is required by the statutes and regulations.
Donlin Gold didnt go beyond the requirements in addressing the impacts of a substantial failure of the eventual 470 tall tailings dam; they only considered a 0.5 % material release. This excerpt is from a scoping letter that Stan Foo, the then General Manager for Donlin Gold, submitted to the Corps of Engineers (COE) in 2013: Some participants at the scoping meetings stated that the EIS needs to address catastrophic failures such as pipeline breaks or dam failures we encourage the Corps to give due consideration to those impacts which are foreseeable and essential to the consideration of alternatives versus those which are remote and highly speculative we know of no other EISs that evaluated impacts due to a tailings dam failure, and we think that scenario should not be evaluated in the Donlin Gold EIS.
That scoping letter was written a year before two other catastrophic tailings dam failures the Mount Polley Mine (MP) in British Columbia and the Brazilian mine in Mariana that killed seventeen people both relatively new projects. Unfortunately for the residents of the Kuskokwim region, neither the COE nor the State have yet to require an adequate assessment of such catastrophic failures.
The Donlin folks, however, are quick to point out how different the planned tailings dam above Crooked Creek will be from the MP dam that collapsed in 2014. They say, 1) the Donlin dam will be anchored to bedrock rather than built on glacial silt, 2) the Donlin dam will be built with a downstream design as opposed to the upstream design for MPs, and 3) the Donlin tailings storage facility will be lined as opposed to MPs. They also note that it will be designed similar to the one at Fort Knox, which they say, easily withstood the 2002 Denali earthquake of 7.9 magnitude.
The Fort Knox dam was less than 300 feet high at the time of the quake, but as noted, Donlins will be at least 470 feet high. No matter what, there are no guarantees that problems wont arise either during the life of the mine (which is when all of the previously mentioned failures occurred) or after closure. And the tailings dam in the Kuskokwim will be around forever and ever possibly affecting future generations.
Yet another questionable statement by Ms. Feige: Ive also seen the extensive and meaningful public outreach throughout the Y-K region by Donlin Gold and the agencies.
From my experiences after visiting over twelve Kuskokwim villages from Kwigillingok to McGrath, many local residents feel they havent been adequately kept informed about the project. Prior to the FEIS being released, I contacted the COEs Project Manager and asked if anyone from his agency would be coming to the region and explaining the contents of a document that stands over a foot high and is filled with highly technical jargon. Because it was so voluminous and expensive to print, people were expected to download the materials online. However, the Internet in most villages is too slow to effectively do that. The Project Manager informed me that there were no such plans.
Ask yourselves this: How many of you really know what was in the Draft or Final EISs?
Is Donlin doing everything they can to minimize or eliminate impacts to the resources we rely so heavily on? Lets look at a Letter to the Editor that appeared in the Delta Discovery last October by Andy Cole with Donlin and Andrew Guy with Calista regarding Ballot Measure #1. They started out with: Truth is important, especially when the stakes are as high as they are with Ballot Measure 1, the salmon-habitat initiative.
Huge companies some of the largest in the world often make little ones to their benefit. Heres what they wrote: Donlin Gold is an Alaska limited liability company created in 2007 to develop and operate the project. It is owned by NovaGold Resources Alaska Inc., an Alaska company, and Barrick Gold US Inc., a California company. Their parent companies are registered in Canada, and their shares are publicly traded on stock markets both in Canada and the U.S.
If you look at Nova Golds Board of Directors, theyre from all over the world; likewise, for Barrick that recently merged with a company from across the Atlantic. The truth is, the main players involved with making the Donlin Mine decisions are not really from Alaska. What will bear that out is if one day, the Chinese arent part owner in this endeavor. That is something that some local miners have expressed concern to me over.
Mr. Cole and Mr. Guy wrote this: As part of the six-year Environmental Impact Statement process, state and federal regulators kept the public comment periods open for more than nine months and held over 50 public meetings, primarily in the YK region. More than 7,500 substantive comments were received and considered.
My response to this would be the same as above for Ms. Feiges similar assertion. The proponents of the Donlin Mine would like everyone to think that the people of region had meaningful input into the process. But the truth is, most of the comments from local residents were disregarded (including some state and federal biologists); for example, the routing of the pipeline location in the vicinity of McGrath and Nikolai.
Dont buy into statements like this: Further, the compensatory mitigation to which Donlin Gold agreed will rehabilitate Crooked Creek tributaries that were affected by old placer mining done by other miners before Donlin Gold even existed, providing better fish habitat than what exists now in the tributaries that the project will affect.
The habitat that theyre talking about was marginal fish habitat at best, even before it was impacted from past mining operations. Regarding salmon, very few salmon ever used those streams. What the mine operation will do is remove a good proportion of Crooked Creeks water, 80-100% near that improved habitat area, and roughly 30 % or more down near Crooked Creeks mouth where it enters the Kuskokwim River.
That dewatering will have a negative impact on the spawning salmon adults, but more importantly the developing eggs that are in the gravel during the winterthe most critical period. Without adequate flows, the delicate eggs could be left high and dry during the late summer or fall and easily freeze in the winter.
However, this, to me, is the most erroneous statement of Mr. Guy and Mr. Coles Letter to the Editor and should be a concern to all of us: Both Calista and TKC take very seriously their responsibility to ensure that development of the Donlin Gold project is carried out in a thoughtful manner that safeguards Shareholders way of life and protects all resources, including salmon and rainbow smelt.
The FEIS determined that a medium to high level of injury or mortality could occur to incubating eggs during years of low water: Because of the narrow width and relatively shallow depth across this particular channel segment, it is unlikely that impacts to incubating rainbow smelt eggs could have been avoided by altering the line of travel of barge traffic.
The mitigation in the FEIS is woefully inadequate to protect the smelt. Five of the last ten years the Kuskokwim River has experienced low flows during May and early June. If Donlin Gold, the State, and the COE were sincere about ensuring no impacts to the smelt, those 3,000 h.p. tug/barge tows would cease for a one-month period from the time the smelt reach the spawning grounds to the time the juveniles safely migrate out.
That is the truth; anything else is just a hollow promise.
Dave Cannon is a resident of Aniak, AK.
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I always look for your articles for advice. I dont always have that type of advice. Im grateful you share.
Brittany Laraux
Bethel, AK
Vaccine Eligibility Expanded in AK!
Yesterday (March 3rd, 2021), the State of Alaska Vaccine Task Force significantly expanded the criteria for who is eligible for the state-allocated COVID-19 vaccine! The new eligibility group, Phase 1C, includes people 55-64 years old, people 16 and older who are essential workers under the CISA definition, high-risk or might be high-risk according to CDC guidelines, those living in a household that includes three or more generations, or skipped generations (e.g., a grandchild living with an elder), and people living in unserved communities as specifically defined by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.
I would encourage everyone to take some time to look through this information and find out if your family or friends are eligible and desire to receive a vaccination. This is a big step forward in the COVID-19 mitigation effort and is very encouraging news!
If you do qualify, visit CovidVax.Alaska.Gov to check the availability of appointments in your area.
Senator Scott Kawasaki
Juneau, AK
I will support the first Native American who would hold this position with the expectation that Representative Haaland will be true to her word
During a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) today (March 4th, 2021) announced that she will support the nomination of Representative Deb Haaland to serve as Secretary of the Department of the Interior.
The Department of the Interior and thus the Secretary who leads it both play an outsized role in our state. Alaska has more federal lands, more mineral resources, and more natural hazards than any other state. We are set apart by unique laws and frameworks that Congress enacted and that Presidents signed, whether our Statehood Act or ANCSA or ANILCA. We are an Arctic nation because of Alaska. And we are a diverse state, with many indigenous peoples and cultures who have lived there since, as they say, time immemorial. We are a state that is just different.
I seek to ensure every nominee who comes before us understands that. I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to educate others about Alaska and our unique needs and our unique peoples. And I spent a considerable amount of time with Representative Haaland reiterating what is at stake for us.
Alaskas prosperity is directly linked to decisions made by Interior whether through their trust responsibilities, their authority over responsible resource development, or their monitoring of hazards and other threats.
Ive had two separate meetings with Representative Haaland that lasted for more than an hour each. I participated in both days of her nomination hearing, asking many questions, and have reviewed the answers she provided to all of our members. Ive also spent considerable time listening to Alaskans views on her nomination. They are paying attention to this nomination.
Ive heard two sentiments over and over again. The first is that many Alaskans Alaska Natives in particular are enormously proud to have a Native American nominated to this position. It is truly a historic nomination and they believe Alaska Native issues can be elevated to one of the highest levels of government.
The second concern that Im hearing is that many Alaskans are concerned about the agendas Representative Haaland will seek to implement on her own and on behalf of the White House. They are concerned by her opposition to resource development on public lands, including her opposition to key projects in Alaska and her questioning of the vital role that Alaska Native Corporations serve in our communities.
Weighing on top of that is my experience from the Obama administration, when I voted for a Secretary who promised to be a good partner for Alaska, but proved to be anything but that after confirmation.
So I struggled with this vote. How to reconcile a historic nomination with my concerns about an individuals and an administrations conception of what Alaskas future should be.
I believe Representative Haalands heart is there for Native peoples and all who treasure our public lands. I dont believe that is the extent of Interiors mission, but she has also told us that she recognizes that if confirmed, she will be serving in a different capacity. She told me that she knows she will need to represent every Alaskan, including those who know how to responsibly develop our lands. And she committed to me that she will make sure that we are doing all we can to ensure that your constituents have the opportunities that they need.
Given the early days of this administration, I have my doubts about whether that will be the case. But I have decided to support this nomination today, to support the first Native American who would hold this position, and with the expectation that Representative Haaland will be true to her wordnot just on matters relating to Native peoples, but also responsible resource development and every other issue.
I also fully anticipate that she will have a strong management team in place with people who understand the value of resource development from public lands. She needs thiswe need thiswithin the Department of Interior.
I am going to place my trust in Representative Haaland and her team, despite some very real misgivings. And Representative Haaland, if you are listening, know that I intend to work with you because I want you to be successful and need you to be successful, but I am also going to hold you to your commitments to ensure that Alaska is allowed to prosper.
U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski
Washington, D.C.
Clean Water Act protections needed for Bristol Bay
This is a letter to Michael Regan, Administrator- designate and Jane Nishida, Acting Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency dated March 1, 2021.
Dear EPA Administrator-designate Regan and Acting Administrator Nishida,
We write to you today requesting immediate action to ensure the Bristol Bay salmon fishery and the 14,000 men and women whose livelihoods depend on it are not destroyed by development of the proposed Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaskas headwaters. Bristol Bays commercial fishermen have been fighting the threat of the proposed Pebble Mine for over a decade now, still with no protections in place which would give our industry the assurances we need and deserve.
Bristol Bays commercial salmon fishery is unlike any other in both its volume of fish and number of renewable jobs. Its a thriving economic engine that supplies over half the worlds wild sockeye salmon and provides over 15,000 renewable jobs. Bristol Bay is a torch-bearer for sustainable fisheries management, boasting record returns over the past decade, following a record 135 years of commercial fishing of this incredible resource.
Its sustained a fishing tradition for generations of families throughout Alaska and the U.S. with Bristol Bay commercial fishing permit holders and crew hailing from nearly every US state. Unmatched in both size and sustainability, action under the Clean Water Act is needed and justified to ensure this $2.2 billion a year commercial fishing industry continues to thrive.
In spite of consistent findings by both the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers that the Pebble Mine would pose unacceptable adverse impacts to the Bristol Bay watershed and fisheries, the Bristol Bay region remains vulnerable to large-scale mining and the door remains open for the Pebble Mine to be developed. Without Clean Water Act 404(c) protections in place, Bristol Bay is not safe and Bristol Bays fishermen cannot rest.
We now have an opportunity to stop the Pebble Mine for good and put an end to the uncertainty that has been hanging over Alaskas fishing industry and the thousands of American fishing families who depend on Bristol Bay. We hope that you listen to the call from Bristol Bay tribes, fishermen, and others to establish Clean Water Act protections for Bristol Bay without delay. Please help us ensure that we can continue to provide our fellow Americans and the world with nutritious wild seafood and support our families for generations to come.
Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay Advisors; Katherine Carscallen, Hattie Albecker, Erica Madison, Heidi Dunlap, John Fairbanks, Michael Jackson, Michael Friccero, Holly Wysocki, Mark Niver
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From oil and gas companies to federal agencies, ANSEP strategic partners offered unmatched educational and professional opportunities for Alaskans this summer.
This summer, 21 students from across Alaska participated in the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Programs Summer Bridge opportunity, which places recent high school graduates in paid science, engineering or business internships with ANSEP strategic partners. Over the course of 10 weeks, students prepared for college and future STEM careers by getting hands-on, professional experience.
These internships took students across Alaska and beyond. With Santos, Anchorages Sally Yu worked on a pipeline cost modeling project and Wasillas Ezra Gilmore assisted with a geographic information system mapping project. Through his internship with ConocoPhillips, Dillinghams Kristian Nudlash graphed daily fish counts in the Nushagak and Naknek Rivers, and traveled to Wainwright and Atqasuk with the ConocoPhillips Village Outreach Department to discuss the Willow Project.
In Anchorage, Bethels Haley Sundown interned with the United States Geological Surveys Alaska Volcano Observatory. She performed routine laboratory assignments related to volcanic ash deposits, maintained databases and used a USGS scanning electron microscope to image volcanic ash samples and identify minerals.
In Alaskas Aleutian Islands, Emily Charles of Anchorage interned with the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska on a weir at McClees Lake sampling and collecting data on returning salmon. In Southeast Alaska, an internship with the National Park Service gave Palmers Lena Edwards and Bethels Jordan Wheeler the chance to participate in an archaeological dig on an eroding river bank in Klondike Gold Rush National Park. They conducted archaeological surveys, excavated archaeological features and implemented best practices in field and laboratory procedures.
On the other side of the state, an internship with the Tanana Chiefs Conference took Wasillas Josiah Dowdy to Alaskas Interior where he studied the abundance and run timing of adult salmon in Henshaw Creek.
This summer, the largest group of ANSEP students in the 24-year history of Summer Bridge traveled to Washington D.C. Manokotaks Celine Alakayak and Wasillas Glenda Root interned with the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, as part of ANSEPs 15-year partnership with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, completing projects related to corporate development and funding; human resources; and diversity, equity and inclusion.
On Capitol Hill, Bethels Charlee Korthius interned with Sen. Lisa Murkowski assisting legislative staff and learning the various aspects of working in the U.S. Senate. Then, Charlee joined Anchorages Riss Delara for an internship with Bristol Bay Native Association/Fisheries Research Institute in Aleknagik. Charlee collected data on factors influencing sockeye salmon production while Riss gathered data on stream flow and temperature, zooplankton, and smolt and juvenile fish. Riss spent the other half of her Summer Bridge internship with Defenders of Wildlife. She created educational materials and activities for ANSEP Middle School students about the impact of litter on polar bears.
Students who completed paid Summer Bridge internships with ANSEPs strategic partners this year represent 10 different Alaska communities and five different Alaska Native Regional Corporations.
Anchorage
Malia Batchelder, University of Rhode Island
Emily Charles, Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska (Calista Corporation)
Caralynn Charles-Smith, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (Calista Corporation)
Riss DeLara, Bristol Bay Native Association and Defenders of Wildlife
Alandra Jones, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (Calista Corporation)
Jessica Martinez, ANSEP and Alaska Department of Fish & Game (Calista Corporation)
Sally Yu, Santos
Bethel
Charlee Korthuis, Bristol Bay Native Association and the Office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski
(Calista Corporation)
Haley Sundown, U.S. Geological Survey (Calista Corporation)
Jordan Wheeler, National Park Service
Chugiak
Isaiah Faso-Fomoso, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Dillingham
Kristian Nudlash-Barger, ConocoPhillips (Bristol Bay Native Corporation)
Eagle River
Gabe Abdelnoor, University of Rhode Island
Fairbanks
Ezra Hunt, ConocoPhillips (Calista Corporation)
Manokotak
Celine Alakayak, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (Bristol Bay Native Corporation)
Palmer
Lena Edwards, National Park Service
Wasilla
Josiah Dowdy, Tanana Chiefs Conference
Ezra Gilmore, Santos (Cook Inlet Region, Inc.)
Glenda Root, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (Cook Inlet Region, Inc.)
Unalakleet
Victoria Fisher, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (Bering Straits Native
Corporation)
Summer Bridge provides unparalleled professional and educational experiences for recent high school graduates in Alaska, said ANSEP Founder and Vice Provost Dr. Herb Schroeder.
These students are gaining invaluable experience in office settings and on a university campus while sharpening their skills and building valuable professional and peer-to-peer connections.
The opportunity to send students to work with our partners in D.C. this summer is just a preview of the endless opportunities that lie ahead for ANSEP students.
In addition to preparing academically, socially and professionally for college, students who successfully complete Summer Bridge are eligible for scholarship funding to attend the University of Alaska this fall. Many students have already earned free credits toward a bachelor degree through previous coursework completed in ANSEPs Acceleration Academy component.
Through scholarship funding and components like Acceleration Academy potentially saving families three full years of college costs, ANSEP helps students save tens of thousands of dollars on higher education.
Elementary, middle and high school students across Alaska as well as current university students who are interested in participating in ANSEP can learn more and apply at www.ANSEP.net.
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Golden-based Atna Resources Ltd., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, recently auctioned off some of its mining and mineral rights.
And on Monday, Atna officials said they expect the British Columbia Securities Commission to issue a cease-trading order for shares of its indirect parent, Atna Canada. Since filing for Chapter 11, the company has failed to filed the necessary financial statements to meet regulatory requirements, officials said in a statement released Monday.
The company has no present expectation that it will ever be in a position to remedy its failure to make its annual continuous disclosure filings, officials said.
A message left for Atna CEO James Hesketh was not immediately returned.
Mondays corporate status update comes a week after the majority of Atnas assets were auctioned as part of the Chapter 11 proceedings.
Lender Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman successfully bid for assets including Atnas Pinson project in Nevada and the Columbia mine project in Montana, according to filings made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Colorado. The Briggs project in Death Valley, Calif., went to DV Natural Resources; and Wheat Ridge-based Solitario Exploration & Royalty and WRH Nevada were the successful bidders of certain mineral rights in Montana, according to court filings.
Alicia Wallace: 303-954-1939, awallace@denverpost.com or @aliciawallace
The family of Michael Marshall has served notice that it intends to sue Denver over his death at the hands of deputies in the downtown jail.
The notice was delivered May 6 to Mayor Michael Hancock, Sheriff Patrick Firman, City Attorney Scott Martinez as well as administrators at Denver Health Medical Center, which provides health care to inmates.
Marshall died after a Nov. 11 incident in which deputies restrained him by pinning him to the floor. Marshall vomited while being held down and his airways clogged because of it. Marshalls family took him off life support nine days later. The episode was captured on jail video.
The notice names 30 potential defendants, including 23 deputies and five nurses who worked inside the jail.
DOCUMENT: Read the notice of intent to sue Denver.
The staff used excessive force, showed indifference to his mental health problems and his obvious physical medical needs and failed to intervene when deputies first tried to restrain Marshall, the notice said.
Those actions caused Mr. Marshalls death and also caused Mr. Marshall to experience horrific physical and psychological pain and trauma during the last few minutes of his life, the notice said.
VIDEO: See jail video of deputies restraining Michael Marshall.
The notice also provides a written narrative that would be an essential piece of any lawsuit. In the notice, attorney Mari Newman accused the city of suppressing video of the death and of trying to cover up what happened.
Denvers lack of transparency, cover up, and refusal to take accountability for its conduct are contrary to the public interest and further violate Mr. Marshalls civil rights, Newman wrote.
Marshall suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was in the middle of a psychotic episode when he was killed.
While Marshall had family support, he often lived on the streets. He was in jail because he had been picked up on a trespassing charge and was being held on a $100 bond.
The Denver Medical Examiner ruled Marshalls death a homicide, saying he died after choking on his vomit while being restrained. The legal definition of homicide means someone died at the hands of another person but it does not necessarily mean a criminal act occurred.
Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey declined to pursue criminal charges against the deputies involved in the death. The death remains under investigation by the sheriffs department.
Tuesday would have been Marshalls 51st birthday.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or @Noelle_Phillips
Colorado lawmakers convened 120 days ago with a long work list.
A budget deficit loomed. The hospital provider fee threatened spending priorities. The states congested roads demanded attention. The potential for broader beer and liquor sales jeopardized the existing system. And a move toward a presidential primary remained important.
Now, at the end of the legislative session, lawmakers are back where they started.
The General Assembly saved the 2016 terms top priorities for the final days and struggled Tuesday to reach deals on most of them.
The Republican-led Senate rejected separate measures to reclassify how the state collects fees paid by hospitals and create a primary for the 2020 presidential election. And the Democratic-controlled House jettisoned a $3.5 billion bond package for transportation and a proposal to study how construction-defects laws are hurting the condominium market.
Do-nothing session?
The votes came a day before Wednesdays adjournment and provided an appropriate bookend to what some observers are calling the do-nothing session.
Given it is an election year, we knew going in it would be hard to build bipartisan support for big policy ideas, said Rich Jones, the policy director at the left-leaning Bell Policy Center and 35-year veteran of statehouse politics.
Two bipartisan measures to address affordable housing through tax breaks for builders and first-time homebuyers managed to survive opposition from conservatives in the Senate and now advance to Gov. John Hickenloopers desk.
The compromise legislation to allow more chain retailers to sell liquor, wine and full-strength beer advanced in the House but still needs a final vote in each chamber.
And lawmakers in both chambers rushed a bill to address a budget crisis after a court ruling threatened to put a $115 million hole in the states spending plan.
Sen. Andy Kerr cast one of the two votes against the measure in protest.
Here we are at the end of session, we have a crisis in K-12 funding, a crisis in higher-ed funding and nobody is running a late bill to take money out of reserves for those, but all of a sudden, the oil and gas industry says they are owed a bunch of money and it seems like we cannot fall over each other fast enough to fix it, the Lakewood Democrat said.
The stalemate on big issues overshadowed the work on more than 680 bills this session 179 of which the governor already signed into law.
Senate President pro tem Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, disputes the notion that lawmakers made little progress this year, calling it a very successful session and pointing to the bipartisan agreement on the $25.8 billion state budget bill as proof, although passing the budget is a requirement of state law.
While there was considerable disruption in the election cycle on both sides of the aisle, she said, I think our party leaders have managed to steer through some pretty choppy waters.
The sessions most partisan issue the hospital provider fee re-emerged more than a week after winning bipartisan House approval.
The measure a top Hickenlooper priority would make room for more spending in future years by reclassifying how the $700 million in fees count toward the states Taxpayers Bill of Rights caps. But despite broad support from the business community and a Republican sponsor, the Senate GOP leadership objected to the measure, echoing its original criticism when Democrats created the program in 2009.
Senate President Bill Cadman, a Colorado Springs Republican in his final term, compared support for the measure to a genie coming out of a bottle solving their problems.
I think it led a whole lot of people down a road that you saw turned out to be a dead end, he said.
Can kicked down road
In the House, Democrats thwarted Republicans on one of their top issues the road bonds measure killing it in a party-line committee vote. The proposal sought voter approval to raise $3.5 billion from bond sales to expand Interstate 25 and improve Interstate 70.
House Republican leader Brian DelGrosso sponsored the measure and expressed dismay that a priority issue withered until the final days.
I said transportation was a high priority for me on Day One. The speaker of the House said transportation was a high priority for her on Day One. The governor said transportation was a high priority for him in his State of the State, the Loveland lawmaker told the committee. We have the opportunity to do something this year and stop kicking the can down the road.
Even with bipartisan support, a measure to hold a presidential primary failed in the final days for the second straight year.
The idea lingered at the start of the session but gained momentum after Colorados chaotic March 1 caucus left Republicans disappointed and Democrats angry.
Both political party leaders and Secretary of State Wayne Williams favored the move to hold a primary at the top of the ballot but preserve the caucus system for other races.
But Republican senators defeated the measure on a party-line vote in committee after attempts to save it by forming a study committee with legislative leaders.
Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, expressed reservations about how the measure one of two on the topic surfaced so late and failed to strike agreement on whether to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in the primary elections.
Quite frankly, he said, very seldom do I see good policy come out of this Gold Dome that is introduced in the waning days of session.
John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank
Down to the wire
Pieces of legislation Colorado lawmakers wrestled with Tuesday, the last day before the session ends:
Alcohol: Senate Bill 197 to expand alcohol sales in grocery stores over the next 20 years won initial approval in the House on Tuesday night, the first of two votes needed to send it to the Senate for final approval.
Transportation: Senate Bill 210 to allow voters to decide on borrowing $3.5 billion for road and bridge projects died in a House committee.
Elections: A Senate committee killed House Bill 1454, which would have created a presidential primary and allowed unaffiliated voters to participate.
Construction defects: A House committee killed Senate Bill 213 to create a study group on litigation and construction quality.
We have lost a true lesbian pioneer in the passing of Leslie Cohen. Whether opening the first upscale lesbian club Sahara in NYC in 1976 ...
Endorsed Before He Was the Presumptive Nominee
California Rep. Duncan Hunter (2/24/2016):
"Every country wants into our markets. We have tremendous leverage on trade we have not used. Donald Trump will do that."
New York Rep. Chris Collins (2/24/2016):
"Donald Trump has clearly demonstrated that he has both the guts and the fortitude to return our nations jobs stolen by China, take on our enemies like ISIS, Iran, North Korea and Russia, and most importantly, re-establish the opportunity for our children and grandchildren to attain the American Dream."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (2/26/2016):
"There is no one who is better prepared to provide America with the strong leadership that it needs both at home and around the world than Donald Trump."
Maine Gov. Paul LePage (2/26/2016):
"I think he could be one of the greatest presidents if he sits down and puts together a good team."
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (2/28/2016):
"I can tell you one thing, I think at this time in my opinion, my best judgment, at this time in America's history, we need to make America great again!"
Tennessee Rep. Scott DesJarlais (2/29/2016):
"While there are certainly things that I admire and respect in each of the remaining candidates, I believe Donald Trump is the candidate best poised to make America great again."
Pennsylvania Rep. Tom Marino (2/29/2016):
"Donald Trump is saying what the voters agree on and what the voters are feeling."
New York Rep. Tom Reed (3/16/2016):
"Now is the time to unite behind the candidate who I believe will be our nominee, Donald Trump. We must move beyond the bombastic rhetoric to positive discussion about creating jobs and improving the lives of all Americans."
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (3/16/2016):
"[T]he voters are speaking clearlythey want a businessman outsider who will dramatically shake up the status quo in Washington."
North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers (3/21/2016):
"I know exactly how hes feeling, and I understand totally the way hes being treated."
Pennsylvania Rep. Lou Barletta (3/22/2016):
"Donald Trumps voice is resonating with average Americans who feel their voice has been lost by their party."
North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer (4/3/2016):
"The best way to keep our party united is if Trumps endorsed."
Former House Speaker John Boehner (4/27/2016):
Boehner said he and Trump are texting buddies, and said hed vote for him if he were the nominee (something he said he explicitly wouldnt do for Ted Cruz).
Pennsylvania Rep. Bill Shuster (4/28/2016):
"Donald is a private sector business leader who knows what it takes to get things done and that is something that Washington desperately needs."
Florida Rep. Jeff Miller (4/28/2016):
"Donald Trump is the only person who has what it takes to shake up the status quo and entrenched bureaucrats in Washington DC."
Endorsed After He Was the Presumptive Nominee, With Full Support
North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr (5/4/2016, via Twitter):
"I look forward to working with Mr. Trump at the top of the ticket and to maintaining a #GOP Senate."
Michigan Rep. Candice Miller (5/4/2016):
"I am totally and completely looking forward to President Trump hes our nominee."
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (5/5/2016, by way of CNNs Dana Bash):
"Rick Perry just told me on a phone call from his home state in Texas that he does support Donald Trump and that hes going to do everything he can to help Donald Trump get elected."
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (5/6/2016):
"Im fully supportive of our presumptive nominee, and I do think Donald Trump will do well in the State of Indiana. Im going to campaign hard for the Republican nominee because Indiana needs a partner in the White House."
Former Sen. Bob Dole (5/6/2016):
"The voters of our country have turned out in record numbers to support Mr. Trump. It is important that their votes be honored and it is time that we support the party's presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump."
Supporting Without Sounding Happy About It
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (4/20/2016):
"I've always said I'm going to support the Republican nominee, and that's especially true now that it's apparent that Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic candidate."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (5/4/2016):
"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."
New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte (5/4/2016, via a spokesperson):
"As she's said from the beginning, Kelly plans to support the nominee, which was later amended to, As a candidate herself, she hasn't and isn't planning to endorse anyone in this cycle."
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski (5/4/2016):
I have always supported the Republican nominee for president. Elections are about choices and while Hillary Clinton is not my choicewith her clear record against Alaskas prioritiesDonald Trump has made numerous inappropriate statements in the past that are troubling. Now, he needs to shift his focus to unite Republicans around conservative policies that will bring economic growth and prosperity back to our nation.
Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts (5/4/2016):
I will support the nominee of our party, and it looks like the nominee is going to be Donald Trump.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (5/4/2016):
I have great respect for the will of the people, and as I have always said, I will support the Republican nominee for president.
Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts (5/4/2016):
I intend to support the nominee.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (5/4/2016):
Ive always said I would support the nominee, and nothing has changed.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson (5/4/2016, via a spokesman):
As Ron has repeatedly said for months, he intends to support the Republican nominee, but he's focused on the concerns of Wisconsinites not national political winds."
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (5/4/2016):
I plan to vote for the presumptive nominee although it is no secret that we do not agree on every issue. Elections are about making choices and the Democratic nominee is simply not an option.
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey (5/4/2016):
Donald Trump was not my first choice. He wasnt my second choice or third or fourth choice. I have lots of differences with Donald Trump and lots of problems with him but I am absolutely in the never Hillary Clinton camp.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney (5/6/2016):
According to CNN, Cheney told CNN Special Correspondent Jamie Gangel that he has always supported the GOP nominee and will do so this year as well.
Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (5/9/2016):
"I do not pretend Donald Trump is the Reaganesque leader we so desperately need, but he is certainly the better of two bad choices."
Undecided
Maine Sen. Susan Collins (5/4/2016):
I have always supported the Republican nominee for president and I suspect I would do so this year, but I do want see what Donald Trump does from here on out.
House Speaker Paul Ryan (5/5/2016):
"I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now.
Wont Endorse
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (4/29/2016):
I said I was not going to get involved, and I would not endorse any candidate and that I was going to stay focused on Maryland. And Im not going to take any more stupid questions about Donald Trump.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (5/4/2016):
With Clinton and Trump, the fix is in. Heads, they win; tails, you lose. Why are we confined to these two terrible options? This is America. If both choices stink, we reject them and go bigger. Thats what we do.
Former President George H.W. Bush (5/4/2016, via a spokesman):
At age 91, President Bush is retired from politics. He came out of retirement to do a few things for Jeb, but those were the exceptions that proved the rule.
Former President George W. Bush (5/4/2016, via a spokesman):
[He] does not plan to participate in or comment on the presidential campaign."
2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney (5/5/2016):
I see way too much demagoguery and populism on both sides of the aisle and I only hope and aspire that we'll see more greatness. I dont intend on supporting either of the major party candidates at this point.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (5/6/2016):
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."
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (5/6/2016):
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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)
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Church Militant, we need to band together to protect our religious liberties and win the culture war!
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Active is listed with the model number SM-G891A and is listed as having a Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4GB of RAM
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Active with the model number SM-G891A has been spotted on GFXBench. The phone is listed as having a 5.5-inch QHD display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC with 4GB of RAM. The device is also tipped to offer 32GB of storage along with 12MP and 5MP cameras. In addition, the device is listed as running Android Marshmallow v6.0.1.
The Samsung SM-G891A was earlier spotted on Indian import listing website, Zauba. As per the listing, the phone has a 5.1-inch display not a 5.5-inch display, which is the same as that of the Galaxy S7 Edge. It is now known if Samsung plans to launch two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active this time around.
AT&T is testing a handset, Samsung SM-G891A. GS6 Active is G890A. Updated SKU, GS7 Active, or other? [pic: Zauba] pic.twitter.com/WgE3uWVVWG Evan Blass (@evleaks) March 23, 2016
In addition, images said to be of the Galaxy S7 Active were posted on Vietnamese website samsungvn.com. As per the images, the upcoming device will have a rubber bumpers around the device along with a camouflaged rear panels and hardware buttons in the front. Considering that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are already IP68 certified, the Active variant should improve upon it, while adding shock resistance.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Active was launched in the US last year. The device has a 5.1-inch QHD Super AMOLED display and is powered by an Exynos 7420 SoC with 3GB RAM. The phone is designed to withstand drops from 4 feet or less and can be submerged in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes.
Telcos had appealed against TRAI's decision to penalise them for call drops, earlier.
The Supreme Court of India has called the TRAI regulations on call drops, arbitray, unreasonable and non-transparent. The telecom regulator had earlier made it mandatory for telecom companies to pay its subscribers for call drops. We have held the impugned regulation to be ultra vires, arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent, the Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice R.F. Nariman, said.
The Supreme Courts judgement came after the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), appealed against TRAIs decision, challenging the Delhi High Courts order, passed earlier. The COAI consists of 21 telecom operators, including Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance and more.
Further, the telecom companies had told the Supreme Court, that the telecom sector is under huge debt. This, according to them, was due to high spectrum costs and money spent on infrastructure. Thus, the the TRAIs decision to ask them to pay customers for call drops, shouldnt be imposed, they pleaded.
The TRAI on the other hand, had told the court that itll take actions against the telcos, in order to protect the consumers interest. The regulatory body said that if telcos agree to give free calls to consumers, per call drop, without any pre-conditions, then it will reconsider its decision to impose a penalty on them. The TRAI said that a cartel of telcos, which have a billion customers, earn Rs. 250 crore per day, but still do not invest in improving their networks. This claim, though, was refuted by the telecom operators, earlier and also in court.
A recent pull-back in the shares of Cape may have thrown up a "window of opportunity" for investors, Numis said.
At the company's last annual shareholders' meeting, management reiterated its expectations for the industrial services provider's full-year 2016 performance.
The company, which is focused on the energy and natural resources sectors, did however expect some contraction in margins. Cape did not disclose exact figures but said it expected a recovery in the second half thanks to a ramp-up in contracts already on the order books and some refocusing of its operations in the UK.
Nonetheless, analyst Thomas Martin opted not to make any changes to his annual forecasts for the outfit.
Martin also pointed out how the shares were now trading at a 2017 price-to-earnings multiple of 9.9 and sporting a 6% dividend yield, versus its sector average of 12.6.
As a result, he bumped up his recommendation on the stock from 'add' to 'buy' and stood by his target price of 270p.
The UK market was continuing to see higher-than-expected costs at Fawley - in part because the projects is larger than anticipated - and lower than expected utilisation for specialist services in the North Sea.
However, the firm said the situation at Fawley would settle down and while specialist work could be deferred it would eventually need to be completed to ensure asset integrity.
Continued strength in KSA and increased project activity in Oman and Kuwait were also expected to drive a recovery in margins in the second half.
Cape also said it would be reviewing its market position across Asia in response to expected activity levels.
Order intake during the first three months of the year also saw full replacement of revenues, with the order book flat at year-end levels.
Numis reiterated a hold rating and target price of 1,150p for Compass after the food service company reported its first half results.
Compass said underlying revenue grew 5.8% to 9.7bn in the six months to 31 March driven by a strong performance in North America.
Increased sales in Europe and the Rest of the World were partly offset by ongoing weakness in Australia, Brazil and Offshore & Remote divisions.
The FTSE 100 firm posted two profit figures - one before, and one after the restructuring which was announced last July.
Compass said its operating profit before restructuring grew 6.4% to 735m, with an operating margin of 7.5%.
After restructuring, operating profit grew 4.8% to 724m, with an operating margin of 7.4%.
We are encouraged by the strong start to the year and in our view, Compass is a very high quality business and we share managements view that there are promising structural growth opportunities globally with potential for further revenue and margin growth, said Numis However, we believe that this promise is captured in the FY16 PE ratio of 21.3x.
Barratt Developments delivered a solid trading update, with management expressing confidence with respect both to the recent trading and the outlook, Canaccord Genuity said.
Indeed, analysts Aynsley Lamin and Matthew Walker pointed out how the homebuilder had decided to increase its land approvals for purchase given its positive outlook, with the company's directors continuing to see attractive returns and margins on land investment.
The exceptions were outside of zone 1 and 2 in London, where the group did not see sufficient opportunities that met its hurdle rates for investment.
"Overall a reassuring update with positive comments on the land market, recent trading and medium-term outlook. We think consensus numbers look well supported but are unlikely to change materially," the analysts said.
The group also said it was strongly forward sold.
"We think consensus numbers look well supported but are unlikely to change materially," Lamin and Walker added in a rsearch report sent to clients.
With the shares in the company changing hands on a price-to-net asset value ratio of 1.7, versus 1.95 times for its peers, Canaccord decided to stick with its 'hold' recommendation and share target price of 630p.
Hutchinson said it may challenge the European Commission's decision on Wednesday to block its subsidiary Three's proposed acquisition of UK mobile network O2 from Telefonica.
The EC made its decision due to "strong concerns that UK mobile customers would have had less choice and paid higher prices as a result of the takeover, and that the deal would have harmed innovation in the mobile sector".
Hutchison responded in a statement that it "will study the commissions decision in detail and will be considering our options, including the possibility of a legal challenge", amid reports that other potential buyers are emerging.
The 10.25bn deal would have created a new UK market leader and left only two other mobile network operators, Vodafone and BTs Everything Everywhere (EE), while the Commission felt the remedies proposed by Hutchison failed to allay its concerns.
The takeover, which was also opposed by UK regulator Ofcom head Sharon White, who has been advising the commission on its decision, would likely have had a negative impact on quality of service for UK consumers by hampering the development of mobile network infrastructure in the UK, the EC said, as well as reducing the number of networks willing to host other providers on their network.
"We want the mobile telecoms sector to be competitive, so that consumers can enjoy innovative mobile services at fair prices and high network quality," said competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager.
"Allowing Hutchison to takeover O2 at the terms they proposed would have been bad for UK consumers and bad for the UK mobile sector. We had strong concerns that consumers would have had less choice finding a mobile package that suits their needs and paid more than without the deal.
"It would also have hampered innovation and the development of network infrastructure in the UK, which is a serious concern especially for fast moving markets."
Three had offered numerous concessions to try and smooth the wheels of the deal, including a pledge to plough 5bn of investment into the UK over the next five years, as well as keeping prices flat for that period, together with a recent promise of 3bn in network deals with competitors.
Ofcom head White had warned that a merger of Three and O2 would control "more than four in 10 mobile connections" in the UK.
Reports on Tuesday suggested Virgin Media owner Liberty Global was interested in a potential acquisition.
Liberty chief executive Mike Fries told investors: We look at all options in the marketplace and it would be strange if we didnt evaluate that option.
European stocks got off to a soft start on Wednesday, giving back some of the previous session's gains as crude oil futures came under pressure.
As of 08:48 BST the benchmark DJ Stoxx 600 was drifting lower by 0.38% or 1.29 points to 334.95, while the Dax was slipping 0.22% to 10,022.93 and the Cac-40 was down 0.24% to 438.44.
Stocks saw solid gains on Tuesday as commodities rebounded and on optimism that Greece may be on the path to obtaining much-needed debt relief in exchange for undertaking the macroeconomic reforms that the country desperately needs.
In parallel, the French government was forced to use article 49.3 of the constitution to pass a controversial labour market reform bill give the lack of support for it within the National Assembly.
However, oil facilities around the area of Fort McMurray were expected to come back on-line in just a matter of days, according to provincial and industry officials, Reuters reported early on Wednesday morning.
That led to a retreat in front month Brent crude oil futures, which as of 09:23 BST were down by 0.77% to $45.17 per barrel on the ICE.
There was little on the economic calendar for Wednesday, with the exception of the latest UK industrial production numbers due out at 09:30 BST.
Chancellor Osborne's testimony to the Treasury Select Committee on the Treasury's recent report on the likely impact of Brexit at 14:00 BST was also be expected to draw attention as the date of the 23 June referendum neared.
However, it was set to be a busy day in the sovereign debt space, with Germany, Italy, France and Spain all set to tap financial markets for fresh funds.
To take note, strategists at Deutsche Bank were cautioning clients about the sharp drop seen in the analysts' profit forecasts since the start of the year. Average earnings per share for Stoxx 600 companies were now expected to rise by just 0.3% this year, down from the rise of about 7% which had been seen.
ABN Amro saw first quarter underlying profits jump 21% to 475m, outpacing estimates of 423m as bad loan impairments at the Dutch lender fell by a sharp 99% thanks to the country's robust economy.
Deutsche Post DHL Group reported an identical 21% rise in its first quarter earnings, adding that it was on track to meet its full-year guidance.
First quarter orders at German construction firm Hochtief soared by 31% buoyed by strong demand from all geographical regions.
When youre a tourist you expect to pay more, for everything! When you are a traveler that means you are just visiting. Visitors are on VACATION and having fun eating out in expensive restaurants, staying in nice hotels, and doing all the sight-seeing tours and museums of the city!
Tourists dont understand gouging, they just pay the first price quoted, which in a Latin culture you can almost bet it will be two to three times more than what the actual price should be. However, who cares, youre on vacation, right?
Example: Tourist rental: 1 bedroom furnished all inclusive, $400 to $900
Local-priced rental: 1 bedroom unfurnished all inclusive $200 to $400
When you are only visiting for one to three months who cares if you pay $800 for a furnished apartment, right? But when you are a resident, is that what you want to pay year round?
Residents are not on vacation anymore and do not expect to pay tourist prices for rentals, food, eating out, etc. In fact, residents should be quite familiar with the city, and know where to eat for the value and where not to eat. Dining out in fancy, expensive restaurants is fine once in a while, just like eating ice cream is fine, once in a while, but you wouldnt want to do it every day.
Moderation is the key to balance. Is paying $800 a month in Ecuador moderate? When you look at average earnings in Ecuador where most families do not even make $500 a month, then living in a $800 dollar a month home seems excessive, for Ecuador.
15 Caveats that You Are Still Living
as a Tourist in Ecuador
1. You are over-spending on your retirement pension.
2. When you are in your apartment you forget that you are in a developing country, and then you go outside and become overwhelmed.
3. You read the hype, believed it was cheap; you came here and found out, not everything is cheap...so now what?
4. Youve been here six months and you still only know how to say buenas dias and gracias.
5. Youre still in the honeymoon stage and everything is good; nothing seems to bother you.
6. You have not experienced any dishonest or unethical business practices because you just pay up and dont ask questions.
7. You never negotiate for anything.
8. You never ride the bus.
9. You got sick from eating out in tourist traps.
10. You do not know what a calefon or bombola is.
11. You didnt know you could drink the water from the tap.
12. You walk around with Jewels, purses, and wallets on your person.
13. You still have a wad of cash in your money clip and you pull clip out in plain view when paying for a $3 souvenir.
14 You got robbed of your purse, cell phone, wallet, camera, or back pack, etc, etc.
15. You tip the taxi driver, the tour guide, the translator, even though these service providers are already getting paid plenty.
Are You a Permanent Resident or a Tourist?
If you are living in Ecuador now and any one of the caveats above applies to you, then possibly you are still on vacation rather than enjoying the benefits of being a permanent resident.
Locals catering to tourists are laughing all the way to the bank. But locals and foreigners on a budget competing with tourist prices are not. Dont you think its about time you settled in to your life in Cuenca Ecuador and start caring more about your expat footprint? Expat lite, go local!
DIY Cuenca Landing Guide or any of the other guides to other parts of Ecuador. For more information on how to do that, see theor any of the other guides to other parts of Ecuador. Quito Landing Guide --- Coastal Travel Guide. ---
Jake Wagner says he 'had no other choice' but to kill Hanna Rhoden
Last week, the Transgender Law Center threatened to sue Horry County Schools in South Carolina for unfair treatment of a student . The school system suspended a high school age transgender male student for using the boys restroom at his school, according to The Washington Post.
The group now says that the school district has changed their tune and agrees to erase the suspension from the boys record and permit students to visit the restroom that matches their gender identity. In addition, Horry County Schools consented to notify the faculty of the restroom access rights for transgender students.
Kris Hayashi, executive director of the Transgender Law Center, thanks the school system for doing what is right and treating the transgender students in a fair manner. Hayashi highlights that its illegal to ban students from utilizing the bathroom that matches the gender he or she lives as on a daily basis.
Restroom access has recently become a hot topic in the fight over LGBT rights and has led to many debates in various states in the U.S.
The Obama administration argues that Title IX defends the rights of students to use restrooms in agreement with their gender identity.
A Socastee High School statement said that schools in Horry County have not altered the restroom policies for students, but came to the conclusion that students who are transgender, and their parents, can ask for restroom rights that support the latest court ruling. The school administrators, with the students and parents, will decide what is fair and legal in order to obey with the law and reflect on the rights of each student.
The law center said that the student has used the boys restroom since middle school, and his freshman, sophomore, and junior years at the high school. In his senior year, the student was told to instead use the girls restroom, and was suspended for using a boys bathroom in the middle of a pep rally.
After the suspension, the student decided to finish his senior year at an online school.
The student said he is in school to learn. He pointed out that he should be able to use he restroom when he needs to without fear that teachers are following him or policing which restroom he uses.
Its a shame the South Carolina school went as far as to suspend the student for using the restroom in accordance with his gender. I am glad that after the incident, the school made it a point to inform teachers of the bathroom access rights, but find it frustrating that the student was punished and ended up leaving the school as a result of the way he was treated.
Republican lawmakers in North Carolina sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. on Monday, asking for assurance the states K-12 schools, colleges, and universities wont lose federal education funding for enforcing a new state law that restricts which restrooms transgender students and staff can use, the Charlotte Observer reports .
Gov. Pat McCrory and the U.S. Department of Justice sued each other earlier Monday, asking courts to weigh in on federal officials assertion that the law, known as H.B. 2, violates Title IXs sex-discrimination protections.
McCrory and the state lawmakers who wrote to King insist that the federal civil rights law was not written to protect gender identity. Therefore the states new law, which restricts restroom access based on sex at birth, is not a violation, the lawmakers wrote.
In a Monday news conference, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said her agency would retain the option to withhold funding from the university system and the states Department of Public Safety in the future.
Uncertain Future for Federal School Funds in North Carolina
If federal agencies do eventually withhold education funding from North Carolina, its unclear how the states K-12 schools would be affected. While the Education and Justice Departments have repeatedly said that Title IX protects restroom access for transgender students in public schools, the Justice Departments lawsuit only makes Title IX claims against the University of North Carolina System, not the states K-12 schools. And the states lawsuit only deals with Title VII employment discrimination claims, not addressing Title IX at all.
Ive sent questions to the Education Department, and I will update Rules for Engagement readers if I get a response.
You can read more background on the North Carolina situation here . And check out this recent story to understand what federal courts have said about Title IX and transgender students .
Related reading:
Follow @evieblad on Twitter or subscribe to Rules for Engagement to get blog posts delivered directly to your inbox.
Seven win 2016 Spokane AIA design awards
Seven projects won 2016 Design Awards from the Spokane chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
The biannual awards recognize excellence in architecture by members of the chapter, which covers Douglas, Ferry, Lincoln, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens and Whitman counties.
Work had to be completed between March 31, 2010 and March 31, 2016, and could be anywhere in the world.
Here are the categories: $5 million and under; $5 million and above; craftsmanship; and sustainability. A total of 27 projects were submitted. No awards were given for sustainability.
Honor is the highest distinction, followed by merit and citation.
Built projects $5 million and above
Photo courtesy of Lara Swimmer Photography
Honor award
Wenatchee Valley College Music & Arts Center in Wenatchee
Completed: 2012
Team: Integrus Architecture (architect, structural, interior designer); MW
Consulting Engineers (mechanical, electrical and plumbing); SPVV Landscape
Architects (landscape architect); GeoEngineers (geotechnical); Roen Associates (cost estimator); PLA Designs (theater); Graham Construction (contractor)
Juror comments: Clear planning and order within building. Clarity of concept and consistent in details. Restraint in material and consistency of use. Well detailed tectonics. Appropriate sense of composition and proportion. Continuity of details inside and outside. Presentation quality. How exterior reflects interior program and vice versa.
Merit award
Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center in Moses Lake
Completed: 2014
Team: NAC Architecture (architect); Structural Design Northwest (structural); L&S Engineering (mechanical); NAC Engineering (electrical); Taylor Engineering (civil); Gavin Associates (landscape architect); Strata (geotechnical); FP Engineering (fire protection); Thomas Consulting (cost estimator); Bargreen Ellingson (food service); Fowler Construction (general contractor)
Juror comments: Exciting educational space, breaks the mold of typical vocational school. Brings design sensibility to a school of craft and invigorates what could be an otherwise banal industrial building. Quote from architect: Architecture is at its best when it inspires ... creates intrinsic desire to learn. The building is a very flexible technical environment and expressive of that both aesthetically and functionally.
Photo courtesy of Benjamin Benschneider
Citation award
Whitworth University Recreation Center in Spokane
Completed: 2013
Team: NAC Architecture (architect); LSB Consulting Engineers (structural); MSI Engineers (mechanical); NAC Engineering (electrical); Storhaug Engineering (civil); Bernardo-Wills Architects (landscape architect); FP Engineering (fire protection); Vandervert Construction (contractor)
Juror comments: Inspired by architects position to resist gym within a warehouse from client statement. Defining campus edge, using natural features. Building as a linkage in transition between horizontal and vertical conditions of the landscape. Creatively integrating an otherwise inflexible program, like gym, running track, climbing walls. Creates synergistic energy between activities.
Photo courtesy of Lara Swimmer Photography
Citation award
Pyrotek Corporate Building in Spokane
Completed: 2014
Team: Integrus Architecture (architect, structural, interior designer); McKinstry (mechanical, electrical and plumbing, fire design); Trindera (lighting); Land Expressions (landscape architect), Eagle Pointe Construction and Management, (contractor)
Juror comments: Exceptional adaptive reuse. Architects intervention of removing floors and adding skylight dramatically energized building. Created internal transparency and connection in section. Stripped the building back to bare bones and brought back life through modern finishes. Clear, consistent executions of finishes throughout building.
Photo courtesy of Ed LaCasse Photography
Craftsmanship award
Whitworth University Hixson Union Building renovation and dining addition in Spokane
Completion: 2012
Team: Integrus Architecture (architect, structural, interior designer); Roen Associates (cost estimator); SPVV Landscape Architects (landscape architect); Dumais Romans (mechanical); DEI Electrical Consultants (electrical); Coffman Engineers (civil); Momentum Consulting (food service); Creighton Engineering (fire protection), Walker Construction (contractor)
Juror comments: Very clean and thoughtful execution of connecting existing and new. Exquisite tectonic detailing between materials.
Built projects $5 million and under
Photo courtesy of Oliver Irwin
Merit award
Park Lane Residence in Spokane
Completed: 2011
Team: Uptic Studios (architect); Ramey Construction (contractor), Tammie Ladd Designs (interior designer), TD&H Engineering (structural), Stone Creek Landscape (landscape architect)
Juror comments: Thoughtful site analysis and building response to site. Planning diagram is strong in the massing and execution of the building. Exceptional craftsmanship. Material richness and simplicity of palate, with rich spatial laying.
Photo courtesy of Steven Keating
Citation award
Glen Lake Tower House in Maple City, Michigan
Completed: 2011
Team: Prentiss + Balance + Wickline Architects (architect); Quantum Engineers (structural); Golden Rule Construction (contractor)
Juror comments: Bold conceptual response to site. Spare, yet elegant use of material palate. Vertical layering and connection to site through elevation. Four sided structure. Lightly sits upon landscape.
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BROOKFIELD, Mass. (AP) A fire at an old Massachusetts farmhouse is being blamed on a shaving mirror left outside in the sun.
Brookfield fire Chief Peter Martell tells The Telegram & Gazette that the magnifying mirror was on a bench on the home's deck Monday when it reflected a beam of sunlight onto the side of the wooden house, sparking the blaze.
. . .
Contractor fined $20K for river work
LEAVENWORTH, Chelan County (AP) The Washington Department of Ecology has fined a Leavenworth excavator $20,000 for unpermitted work along the Wenatchee River.
The state says Hillside Excavating used boulders to construct a bulkhead along two waterfront parcels in the Pondersoa Estates Community. Ecology cited owner Terry Drexler for altering the stream bank, removing vegetation and disturbing soil, which can cause unstable slopes and dirty water.
The state says the property owners have agreed to hire an engineer help minimize erosion this winter until a long-term solution can be designed. The bulkhead wall must be removed and the shoreline stabilized, using logs, native plants and strategically placed rock to restore the habitat lost.
Hillside Excavating has 30 days to appeal. Neither the company nor its owner could immediately be reached for comment; phone numbers listed for them had been disconnected.
Computers and books are on their way to The Gambia to support jobs and training thanks to staff at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU).Some 65 boxes packed with books and 20 computers have been given to the Global Hands Manduar Development Hub, built partly by DMU students.The project is run by the charity Global Hands, created by DMU lecturer Dr Momodou Sallah. It works to tackle inequality through community engagement, running training programmes, conferences and study visits.Global Hands Gambia works in key areas such as enterprise, education, health, agriculture and the environment to help people and communities develop new skills.Dr Sallah said: It will make a massive difference to the work people are able to do. These computers donated are faster and more advanced than anything that is available in The Gambian libraries and our students have helped lay the foundations for a library which will be possibly the best equipped in the country.The books will be used to stock the library and to teach students studying a range of subjects including business and health; it will also house a specialist collection on Gambian literature.Our next #DMUglobal visit is in June and we will be able to use these new computers and books to build capacity in the Manduar Development Hub.Dr Alan Brine, of DMU Library, donated the boxes of text books, which are replaced when the latest editions are published while Ben Stirk, ITMS Assets manager, donated computers which are changed to ensure students always have the latest versions to work on.Dr Brine went with Dr Sallah to visit The Gambia on a trip last year. He said: I didnt know quite what to expect and I must admit when I saw the library I was surprised at the lack of books and thought, we can do something to help.Every year Dr Sallah leads two group study visits to The Gambia through #DMUglobal. Students, many of whom study youth and community development, learn about globalisation, capacity building and addressing community need.The donation comes after the now-annual Run4Africa in Abbey Park, supported by #DMUlocal, raised more than 4,000 in sponsorship for Global Hands. Some of the cash will be used to ship the books and computers.
India and Mauritius on Tuesday amended an existing tax treaty to allow India to impose capital gains tax on investments routed through Mauritius from April next and thereby curb tax evasion and round-tripping of funds. The protocol for amendment of the 1983 Convention for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains will have a significant bearing on capital flows from the island nation. Till now the convention did not provide for taxing capital gains in either of the two nations. The protocol signed by both countries at Port Louis, Mauritius on Tuesday, provides for source-based taxation of capital gains on shares, which would give India taxation rights on capital gains arising from alienation of shares acquired on or after 1 April 2017. The taxability would apply for a company resident in India with effect from financial year 2017-18, while simultaneously ensuring protection to investments in shares acquired before 1 April 2017. Further, in respect of such capital gains arising during the transition period from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019, the tax rate will be limited to 50 per cent of the domestic tax rate of India, subject to the fulfillment of the conditions in the Limitation of Benefits Article. Taxation in India at full domestic tax rate will take place from financial year 2019-20 onwards.
The benefit of 50 per cent reduction in tax rate during the transition period from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2019 will be subject to LOB Article, under which a resident of Mauritius (including a shell / conduit company) will not be entitled to benefits of 50 per cent reduction in tax rate, if it fails the main purpose test and bona fide business test. A resident is deemed to be a shell / conduit company, if its total expenditure on operations in Mauritius is less than Rs2,700,000 (Mauritian Rs1,500,000) in the immediately preceding 12 months. Interest arising in India to Mauritian resident banks will be subject to withholding tax in India at the rate of 7.5 per cent in respect of debt claims or loans made after 31 March 2017. However, interest income of Mauritian resident banks in respect of debt-claims existing on or before 31 March 2017 will be exempt from tax in India. The protocol also provides for updation of exchange of information article as per international standards, provision for assistance in collection of taxes, source-based taxation of other income, amongst other changes. The protocol will tackle the long pending issues of treaty abuse and round tripping of funds attributed to the India-Mauritius treaty, curb revenue loss, prevent double non-taxation, streamline the flow of investment and stimulate the flow of exchange of information between India and Mauritius. It will improve transparency in tax matters and will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance. At the same time, existing investments, ie, investments made before 1 April 2017, have been grand-fathered and will not be subject to capital gains taxation in India. The island nation with just 1.3 million people was the biggest single source of foreign direct investment into India in 2014-15, accounting for about 24 per cent of $24.7 billion foreign direct investment (FDI). Singapore accounted for 21 per cent.
The three-decade-old taxation treaty, which came into force on 1 April 1983, has been misused by many Indian and multinational companies to avoid paying tax or to route illicit funds. India has been insisting on review of the treaty since 2006 as it felt a chunk of the funds were not real foreign investment but Indians routing cash through the island to avoid domestic taxes, a practice known as "round tripping". It wanted to ensure firms in Mauritius that invest in India are not just 'shell' and have substantial operations in the island, such as paying staff there, to qualify for tax exemption under the tax treaty. Mauritius agreed for a review only in June 2011. Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the treaty on a visit to Mauritius in March last year. The DTAC till now provided that capital gains on sale of assets in India by companies registered in Mauritius can only be taxed in Mauritius. While short-term capital gains are taxed at 15 per cent in India, they are exempt in Mauritius. So, such companies escape paying taxes in both countries.
A large proportion of foreign investment in the stock market comes through companies registered in the Indian Ocean island nation and are exempted from tax in India under the treaty. From next financial year, he said, exchequer will be benefit from capital gains tax on share deals with Mauritius.
Plankton have evolved to survive a wide range of conditions, thanks to their unexpectedly vast ocean travels, a new study suggests. These microscopic organisms support the marine food web, providing food for whales, fish and crustaceans. Scientists at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in Australia and Imperial College London in the UK have been modelling how plankton drift with ocean currents to understand whether they are threatened by ocean warming. The results of the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), show for the first time the range of temperatures that plankton travel through. In most locations, they endure temperature extremes that go beyond what is predicted by models of global warming. The scientists used a computer model of global ocean circulation to simulate the journeys taken by three million virtual plankton, and the temperature conditions they experience. They found that ocean surface currents can transport drifting particles up to 3,500 kilometres in 500 days, which is about the equivalent of a person rowing from California to Hawaii. During this journey they are subjected to temperature changes of up to 10C more than if they stayed in one location. "Previous exposure to fluctuating temperature can influence how planktonic populations fare under future temperature changes," says lead author, Associate Professor Martina Doblin, who heads the Productive Coasts research program in the UTS Climate Change Cluster (C3). "Our results suggest that the effects of climate change on ocean plankton will need to be re-evaluated to take this into account." "There has been much recent interest in the future of coral reefs, because of their role in supporting biodiversity. But drifting plankton, that are invisible to the naked eye, are responsible for half the Earth's oxygen and for global fisheries yields, and are therefore important in providing other essential ecosystem services" said Associate Professor Doblin. Waters in the Southern Indian Ocean, for example, had a seasonal temperature range of 13 to 18C, whereas the study showed plankton that travelled through those waters had experienced temperatures as low as 5C and as high as 20C. Climate change models suggest that ocean temperatures are only likely to warm up to a few degrees in the next century in the Southern Indian Ocean. Co-author Dr Erik van Sebille, from the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, said: "Until now, it has not been possible to understand how plankton will experience climate change, because they move at the mercy of ocean currents." "Now we have modelled this ocean drift on a global scale, it will be possible to get a much better handle on how these tiny critters must have evolved to cope with temperature changes", he said. In June 2016, Associate Professor Doblin will board Australia's oceanographic research vessel, the RV Investigator, and collect plankton from a range of warm and cool ocean environments. With these experiments she expects to further explore the capacity of plankton to withstand temperature variations. "We can now go out and test the accuracy of our model predictions, an exciting next step" she said. The research was supported by the Australian Research Council's Discovery Projects funding scheme. Dr Erik van Sebille is the recipient of an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.
A New York state court has sided with a teacher who challenged the student-achievement component of her teacher evaluation.
Shari Lederman filed the lawsuit after she received the lowest possible score on the student-growth portion of her evaluationjust a year after receiving a high score. (Though deemed ineffective on this portion, she got an overall rating of effective.) She argued that the methodology used to assign the growth rating was opaque and that it was impossible to know how to earn the maximum number of points.
The state, on the other hand, said Ledermans students didnt make as much academic growth as similarly situated students taught by other teachers.
A number of scholars submitted affidavits on Ledermans behalf, arguing that the state formula, based on just one year of test-score gains, was flawed and irrational, and didnt appropriately control for student demographics or ability levels.
Of these, one name stands out in particular: Linda Darling Hammond, who is the odds-on favorite to become the U.S. Secretary of Education should Hillary Clinton be elected the 45th president of the United States.
The trial court judge, Roger D. McDonough, ruled that Lederman had met the burden of proof to show that her evaluation was arbitrary and capricious. Her 2013-14 growth score will be struck from state records.
Although this appears to be the first time a court has sided with a teacher, not a school system in a legal battle over teacher-evaluation methods, the decision isnt all that far reaching. Thats because McDonough declined to completely throw out the state growth method, as Lederman requested. Instead, he wrote that the states recent changes to its evaluation regulations, including the suspension of the use of state test scores in teacher evaluation for four years , rendered the issue moot.
(Nitpicky aside: Much of the court filings refer to New York as using value added measures, but the state actually uses student growth percentiles. The difference is pretty wonky, but the two approaches have rather different technical properties .)
See also:
I went to Denver, Colorado, for a vacation and I am glad I did. Colorado is a very progressive state and people are down to earth and very laid back. They have a massive transportation system, buses, trains and trolleys, and bikes to rent to get around the city of Denver. They even voted for universal health care for everybody; the young, old, rich, and poor can get health care. And the minimum wage is around $10 an hour.
We dont have any of this in Alabama. If you dont have car in Alabama, you cant even go to work to earn a living. If your car breaks down you cant take a bus to work. Your entire family will suffer because of transportation problems.
The leaders of Alabama rejected the increase in the minimum wage, based on a Republican ideal that business wont come to Alabama because you want to raise the minimum wage. Colorado raised the minimum wage and the business community is knocking down the door to get in that state.
We are like the Flintstones in Alabama, living in the Stone Age; the people in Colorado are like the Jetsons, living in the future.
It is very cheap to live Alabama because we dont have anything here. Wake up, Alabama! Lets live in the future, not the Stone Age. We need progressive leaders. Until then, I am saving my money to move to the future.
Kevin Harris
Ozark
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.
Are Judges Becoming More Critical of Excessive Force?
Excessive force by police has gotten a lot of media attention in recent years and some legal analysts believe a changing national consciousness is starting to influence decisions on the bench. Judges are increasingly reluctant to let police escape liability with qualified immunity, according to Noah Feldman, a writer and professor of law at Harvard University.
The basis for this claim made in a Bloomberg editorial is extremely limited -- a single conservative judge's dissent on a motion to dismiss a civil suit against Texas officers who allegedly contributed to a man's death with excessive force. Still, let's consider. Is there a growing consciousness, inside and out of the criminal justice system, that police officers have a lot of power which is easily abused?
Qualified Immunity for Police Officers
The case Feldman refers to arises from a stop in Texas that ended with a man hogtied by police in violation of department policy. The man was drunk and on cocaine and police used tasers on him repeatedly, so the death was ruled a combination of factors. His mother sued the police on the basis of the violation of policy, arguing that this negated their immunity.
Qualified immunity allows officers of the state protection from liability except in cases of deliberate wrongdoing or extreme negligence. Ultimately, two judges on an appellate panel of three ruled that the officers are entitled to immunity. So why does Feldman find this denial so interesting?
Unexpected Dissent
It is the dissent that is fascinating, according to the law professor. He quotes from the opinion of a conservative George W. Bush appointee, Judge Catharina Haynes, seeming to find it remarkable. "Wayne Pratt received the death penalty at the hands of three police officers for the misdemeanor crime of failing to stop and give information."
What Feldman seems to be saying is that the tone of this writing by a Republican judge in Texas signals a change in our understanding of excessive force nationally, and he attributed this in part to the Black Lives Matter movement (though the race of the deceased in this case was never noted, Feldman pointed out). Perhaps more importantly, that dissent signals a change in the perception of those whose views matter most -- judges on the bench, even those who might be expected to empathize only with authority.
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Open Container Laws to Know: Penalties for Public Drinking
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, perfect for a beer in the park. So you and your friends spend the day drinking in the shade and everything is great until you get charged with open container. Are you in big trouble?
Probably not, unless you exacerbate the problem. Open container laws vary widely from state to state and place to place and the penalties for this offense also vary widely. The consequences of drinking in public can also depend on where in public you were drinking and the extent to which you were a nuisance. Let's consider open container laws and why they were created to get a sense of consequences.
Unlocking Open Container Laws
Open container laws are designed to keep people in line when they are in public and they prohibit alcohol consumption on the streets. Some places adopted these laws under pressure from federal authorities, who threatened to withdraw national highway funding otherwise. Sometimes states have relatively lax open container laws but allow localities to make more strict regulations as desired.
You can't guess what the law will be in every place you go, so your best bet is to avoid drinking in public. With the exception of locations famous for celebration -- like Las Vegas and New Orleans -- in most places you are prohibited from drinking alcohol in public except in very specific circumstances.
If you don't make a big fuss though, getting busted for open container should not be a huge headache. Take care of the ticket and it should go away, or challenge it in court if you believe there was no basis for its issuance. But if you argue with the police at the scene, generally speaking, you risk picking up more charges and an arrest.
Small Time Crime
As crimes go, open container is mild. In fact, it isn't even a crime necessarily. For example, in Florida, it is a traffic violation and not a criminal offense, although context matters. Where was the container, who had it, were you a driver or passenger, for example? You might get a ticket and be asked to pay a fine but, theoretically, an open container violation is not the kind of accusation that should seriously impact your life.
Of course, if you don't address the violation, ignore the fine, skip out on a court date, and hope it all goes away, you will get in a lot of trouble. But that will not be for open container. Rather, it will be for failure to obey a court order. By no means should you act like your open container offense didn't happen, that you weren't charged with this infraction or violation, as that is a sure way to exponentially increase the negative consequences of an encounter with police.
Talk to a Lawyer
If you have been charged with an open container violation or any other offense, speak to a lawyer. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee, and they often handle infractions and traffic violations, so consult with counsel. They will be happy to help you resolve your situation.
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Mauritius Tax treaty amendment and the consequences
In a decisive move, the long pending issue of "double non taxation treaty" with Mauritius has been amended to prevent further abuse of the tax avoidance treaty.
The amendments, in the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) with Mauritius, signed on Tuesday, will allow the GoI to levy a tax on the sale of shares of an Indian resident company, standing at 50 percent of the applicable rate for 2 years i.e. April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2019. After the two years period the taxation will be at 100 percent at par with the DIIs (Domestic Institutional Investors) . Thus full capital gains tax will not be applicable immediately and there will be a two years progression period.
This move may dampen some FPIs' (Foreign Portfolio Investments) investment flow as approximately 20 per cent of FPI assets under custody come from Mauritius. The new amendments will help address the long pending issues revolving around tripping of funds thus abusing the treaty. The amendments will help reduce revenue loss and improve the information exchange between India and Mauritius. This move will discourage investments in India by so called 'Shell' companies.
India has signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty with the Mauritius Government in the year 1983 . It was always suspected by many, including regulators that the deal terms with Mauritius were such that it facilitated Indian money getting routed through Mauritius to avoid domestic taxes, a classic case of money laundering. The new amendments will help curb this round tripping activity and now India has no such taxation avoidance treaty with any other country, as the amend ments in DTAC are linked to Singapore treaty as well. The exemption in capital gains tax under the Singapore treaty will be removed automatically with the new amendment in DTAC.
The DIIs and FPIs will now be on a level playing field and it will be interesting to track the FPIs inflows post such amendments. The good point is that the taxation will be applicable from April 1 , 2017 and hence the FPIs can plan their investments accordingly.
Pop Star Inspires Law: Minnesota Considers PRINCE Act
Minnesota produces corn mostly and one pop star particularly, a giant who was also tiny, the deceased artist known as Prince. Since the musician died on April 21 last month, there has been much discussion of the man and the myth, even in legislative circles.
This week, a Republican lawmaker from Prince's home state of Minnesota proposed a bill to guard against exploitation of a voice, name, signature, and image of a person for at least 50 years after their death, according to The Hollywood Reporter . The bill is called the PRINCE Act, and it stands for Personal Rights In Names Can Endure.
The Artist Known As Prince
Prince was no stranger to the courts and he guarded his intellectual property zealously (which is perhaps what made the announcement that he died without a will so shocking). But Minnesota has no law protecting the publicity rights of the estates of the deceased, and now that the state's brightest star has dimmed conservative and liberal lawmakers reportedly agree the time has come.
The law is written to apply retroactively, so Prince will be covered under the PRINCE Act if it passes. The bill is receiving bipartisan support, of course -- it probably seems like poor form to badmouth anything Prince-related within a five-state radius of Minnesota right now, so that's not so surprising (note, Sinead O'Connor is outside that radius, in Ireland).
The trust managing Prince's estate has expressed support for the proposed legislation, which is also not surprising, as the estate will benefit from any rights that attach to Prince. But the folks managing Michael Jackson's estate may have some advice for the Prince people, as they are in a battle with the tax authorities over the value of Jackson's image at the time of his death (with the estate claiming it was worth much less than the Internal Revenue Service is demanding in back taxes).
The Son Also Rises
Meanwhile, in other Prince news, a man has come forward claiming to be the pop star's son and sole heir. Carlin Q. Williams, a rapper serving time in a Colorado prison for transporting weapons, filed an affidavit with the Minnesota courts, saying Prince is his father, reports ABC News. Born in 1977, Williams is requesting genetic testing. He is the first such claimant to have filed in court but reportedly there are others making similar claims, which are being verified now.
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Dundalk Chamber in association with Bank of Ireland and Local Enterprise Office Louth will showcase some of Louths finest businesses at the Business-to-Consumer Expo in the Marshes Shopping Centre on Friday the 13th May from 10am to 5pm.
This event which is FREE to attend will have over 60 companies exhibiting on the day from all sectors.
This fantastic one day event will show case what is great in Louth and there will be brilliant showcase of a wide range of products and services all under the one roof and it will be opened by Padraic White formerly Managing Director of IDA Ireland and ex-Chairman of Louth Economic Forum.
By attending this one day Trade Fair you can vvisit the 60 plus stands and see what products and services are on offer. You can also get advice on what supports and grants are available to help grow your business. You can ccompare the latest innovative products and services with the opportunity to ask questions directly and discover new ideas all under one roof.
There will be special offers and discounts from the various stands. You can also liaise with the stand holders and find out what opportunities are out there for you. This event is an opportunity to find new business opportunities with exhibiting companies from different business sectors all, at one event. With representatives of Louth Local Enterprise Office and various Financial Institutions attending the event you can see what support is out there to grown your business. The Exhibition will host an Embassy Hub whereby the Commercial Attache from various Embassies will be on hand to answer your questions. Embassies confirmed include the Romanian, Polish, Malaysian and Argentinian to mention but a few. LMFM will be broadcasting live from the Marshes on the day and there will be promotions, giveaways and free draws on the day for some fantastic prizes. This event is free to attend so make sure you come along to this fantastic one day event.
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Systems and process set you free. This is hard to imagine for most startup businesses as they cope with the chaos of a little bit of success, rushing from urgent to urgent, forgetting that if they worked on a process then perhaps the issue could be solved.
Shark Tank Australia Season 2s very first pitch was impressive: there was no doubt that Mick understood the value of systems and process in a startup business. Mick presented his On The Go Custom Sportswear enthusiastically, professionally and with passion.
He had placed importance on setting up the infrastructure from the very start, including surrounding himself with people with vast business experience. He had taken the time to research and find the systems to suit his business, reading reviews about their effectiveness and application. This investment in time can really pay off as you try to scale the business.
It is hard to play all the roles one needs to play. I remember my own experience one moment I was the product manager, the next the customer experience executive, and often even the bookkeeper. (I had done accounting at university so at least I knew a debit from a credit.)
One thing I have learned along the way is to take a step back and work out what the best use of my time is. Where is the greatest return on my time invested? And what are my key strengths? But when cash is scarce and you cannot afford to outsource, you need to find the systems that make that job easy, whether it is a marketing system or an accounting package.
If you have a business (and have read Ready to Soar already) then this exercise might help you work out what sort of systems you need to invest in. Think about what you spend your time on this week (you might need to keep a diary) On Friday afternoon sit down and review where you spent your time. Divide the list into two columns: those things you love doing, and those things that grind you to a halt i.e. those things you loathe. Basically it is your Love/Loathe list
How could you do more of the things you love and less of the loathesome activities? Is there a system or process that could take care of some of the things on your loathe list
For instance every small business owner I know hates chasing money, that is the outstanding invoices is there a system that will send trigger-based reminders to those customers? I know there is cloud-based accounting software such as QuickBooks Online that does exactly that.
The selection of systems, processes and outsourcing is all about playing to your strengths, and using technology to make sure you maximise your time doing the things that grow your business.
Often when I meet a Shark Tank company the first question as part of the due diligence process is to look at the books. If they show me a spreadsheet rather than a nice set of accounts and dashboards (that are produced automatically in these cloud applications), I am going to be less than enthused.
In this very first meeting it is important to show that you know your numbers, and that you present them professionally.
I think Mick and the team at On the Go custom sportswear will have a big future not least because he has such a sense of humour (how are those mannequins!), but also because at every level he is using systems to look and be professional.
No reason why you cannot do the same.
About the author
By Naomi Simpson the Founder of RedBalloon and Redii.
Technology is transforming the way we do business.
Retailers are not immune to this trend and are increasingly looking to technology to connect with customers. At the same time, in an increasingly digitised and convenience-focused world, businesses need to maintain a personal touch to set themselves apart.
For many small fashion retailers, the key to their success is the ability to provide a more personal experience, while balancing the benefits of new technologies.
Take Jane Ramsay, owner of her own luxury fashion line, who uses FedEx for shipping. Despite the majority of her sales occurring in-store, recently she has experienced a significant rise in online transactions. To capitalize on this growth, in the last year Ramsay rebuilt her website to be more mobile friendly as this is fast becoming one of the most popular channels for customers to browse and purchase her styles.
As the worlds leading designers descend on Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Sydney (May 15 May 20, 2016), one can be forgiven for thinking that high fashion continues to be the realm of global retailers and luxury brands. In order for smaller retailers to compete, they need to substitute the glitz and glamour of fashion weeks for effective digital, mobile and social marketing strategies.
At FedEx, we have also noticed that fashion retailers are starting to embrace being small as a strategy for success and growth. Increasingly easy-to-use technology has enabled smaller retailers to speak and deliver to their niche customer sets across all channels with the same voice as they would in a bricks and mortar store. So what is driving their success?
Theyre tech-savvy
With e-commerce growth projected to double the retail industry average till at least 2017, half of all shoppers are discovering new products when searching with their smartphones, and 82 percent of smartphone owners are looking online for product information when shopping.
Theyre highly personal
Technological advancements and the democratising power of the Internet have allowed retailers to scale up without sacrificing intimacy and personal service. As customers no longer think about retailers brands in a silo, neither does the small retailer. They analyse insights from website visitor traffic, social media interactions, and newsletter click-through rates to better understand their customers.
They look for ways to cultivate and engage a community
It is much more profitable to sell to loyal customers than to constantly look for new ones. A Bain study showed that just a five percent growth in customer retention could boost profitability by 75 percent.
Small retailers are starting to use this insight to build loyal online communities, which do the selling for them. No wonder a brief Google search on the words e-commerce and social media turns out 101 million results, with articles such as 12 Social Media Tactics to Drive Traffic to your E-commerce Site being the most visited. Another way is through loyalty programs, which 30 percent of independent retailers are planning to implement in 2016. This is on top of the quarter of independent retailers who already have a loyalty program in place.
They find the right support
Finally, one cannot grow small without a reliable network of business partners, whether its like-minded companies to cross-sell services and expand their product offering, or other companies to provide operational support in areas where expertise is lacking.
One example of this is logistics. According to a recent FedEx study, about 70 percent of consumers surveyed listed shipping-related factors as the most influential in their decision to buy from online retailers in other markets*. That is why small retailers look to third-parties for their expertise and capabilities in potentially complex areas, such as the implementation of a policy that allows customers the option to return items purchased online to a physical store.
#fashion is a game changer
As global product availability is almost a non-issue these days, smart small retailers in the fashion and luxury sector need to constantly rethink their strategies, find ways to stand out, grow, and engage their customers without compromising the essence of their appeal. Ramsay says she finds this is an ongoing process and she enjoys communicating with her customers wherever they are in the world.
*Seizing The Cross-Border Opportunity, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of FedEx, December 2014 (Page 9).
About the author
By Kim Garner, Managing Director, FedEx Express Australasia
Protecting customer and company data is a major concern facing Australian businesses today. No doubt this business dilemma has been intensified by the rise in cyber attacks upon organisations of all sizes, affecting their ability to keep data secure. According to the Australian Signals Directorate cyber attacks on Australian businesses and government increased by 20 percent in 2014. More concerning are figures from the Australian Cyber Security Centre claiming that the total cost of cybercrime in Australia is likely to be over $AUD 1 billion per year.
Aside from the financial burden, companies may soon be legally required to disclose to customers when a data breach has occurred with the expected introduction of a data breach notification bill that is currently in draft form. Certainly any customers who are made aware of a security incident are likely to have their trust in an organisation tested.
So how can businesses retain customer trust and loyalty in the face of increasing cyber attacks, along with the huge financial and legal ramifications associated with attacks of this nature?
In order to maintain customer trust, its important that organisations step up security policies and procedures to ensure confidence in their own infrastructure. Many businesses never translate independent audits and reports into actual plans, leaving them wide open to data breaches. This common failure can be highly detrimental should a data breach occur as the organisation will often be unprepared to deal with not only the financial, but also legal and reputational consequences.
Despite the alarming statistics, customer confidence can be preserved. Organisations can create an actionable security plan with the objective of preventing data breaches, while ensuring that the business is prepared in the event of a cyber attack. In order to protect their business from a data breach and retain customer trust, businesses should consider the following five security measures:
Perform a risk assessment
Organisations need to know where their data is, where its being used and by whom. This risk assessment must extend to vendors and contractors as well as data on the endpoint, including devices accessing sensitive data that may not be owned or secured by the business directly. This review can be conducted internally or by an external auditor.
Create an actionable plan
Businesses should address security risks with a combination of education, security policies and technologies that protect data, wherever it resides and has the ability to detect and contain a data breach.
Always Automate
Wherever possible organisations must avoid putting off data security updates and automate where possible. This includes automated patching as well as automated alerts if data is put at risk. For example, if an organisations endpoint device travels beyond a geographic zone or its encryption is offline, the device can be remotely secured to protect critical data and network access from that device.
Make security a top-down priority
Security should be an organisational priority. The only way to do so is to ensure security becomes a top-down priority, backed by a strong security focused IT team. Every employee also needs to be held accountable for ensuring security, such as in relation to their own passwords.
Leverage a layered security strategy
Businesses have a responsibility to protect data, wherever it resides for its entire lifecycle. To ensure this, a layered strategy is recommended to better enable IT to cope with the rapid pace of change caused by mobility, the cloud and even the changing risk landscape. Organisations should leverage technologies that will help identify potential security threats and respond rapidly before they become damaging security incidents.
In order to retain customer trust and loyalty, businesses need to demonstrate that they are addressing their own security affairs beyond the scope of what is included within any data breach legislation or other mandatory requirements. This means assessing the security risks, automating security updates, developing a plan and strategy and perhaps most importantly, making security a priority.
About the author
By Rick Ferguson Country Manager, ANZ at Absolute
Over the past decade, the nature of work has changed significantly.
Economies have shifted from labour-based, to knowledge-based and service-based, and technology has enabled modern workers to collaborate wherever they may be.
This has had a significant impact on how we think about workspaces and what skills and capabilities we look for in executives, managers and employees.
At Microsoft, we describe this new era of work, characterised by increasing globalisation, technology proliferation and a connected workforce as the New World of Work.
Although we are noticing a general shift in how Australian workplaces are addressing technology and productivity, particularly how the two inform each other, not everyone is embracing the New World of Work to full effect.
This is true in small to medium businesses where it is actually doubly important for leaders to maximise productivity and efficient use of every available resource.
A Microsoft survey of 2,600 employees in SMBs across 13 countries in Asia, found that in Australia, only 36 out of every 100 employees felt their employers are enabling them to be productive, collaborative and innovative, whilst ensuring personal wellbeing in the changing world of work.
So how can SMBs turn this around and take a holistic view that prioritises freedom, flexibility and the all-important work-life balance?
Firstly, they have to look at three key principles that facilitate success in the New World of Work: People, Place and Technology.
When it comes to People, building a workplace culture that supports and values flexible, mobile working is essential. Employees need to feel like they are trusted to work from anywhere, and that their workplace supports and encourages them in doing so.
According to the study though, only 34% of SMB respondents in Australia enjoyed workplace policies that embraced remote working, even though half of Australian respondents (50%) highlighted that the ability to be able to work productively from anywhere would most benefit their organisation.
To close this gap and keep up with employee expectations, leaders must learn to manage performance rather than presence, and build capabilities for employees to collaborate with others from any location. This could start with managers setting clear KPIs for staff, so theres a greater focus on measuring outcomes, rather than how many hours are spent in the office.
Similarly, when we look at the role of Place, it is fundamental that offices support a collaborative, dynamic workplace design.
For some SMB employees, operating in a fixed workspace isnt necessary at all, and they may derive more value from working at client sites, from home, or in other venues where they feel more productive. As the survey showed, 65% of employees are already spending more than 20% of their time working outside offices or on-the-go.
This sort of mobility requires the right technology to be successful and effective, and tellingly, 65% of the study respondents did not have access to a breadth of tools in their workplace to facilitate this.
Completely revamping the way your organisation functions can be a daunting task for most SMBs with limited resources. Dr. James Eyring, COO of global growth consultancy firm, Organisation Solutions, whom we worked with on the study had this advice for SMBs: The best way to ease into the New World of Work is to start small, make key changes and then build out new policies and adopt new technologies in incremental steps.
This could include introducing processes like saving documents to a cloud environment to enable better collaborate on, or even arming staff with portable devices they can use offsite. By implementing tablet devices to work from, staff will become more mobile, and more often than not, feel more energised.
Eyring also elaborated, Start by reviewing internal policies and processes and identifying gaps that are impeding ability to adapt to new work requirements. Admittedly, not all employees can work from any place at any time. However, many can. Focus on employee groups that already have flexibility in their work and make sure you empower them with the capability and technology needed to work more flexibly and productively.
SMBs in Asia Pacific should not view the New World of Work as an obstacle, but rather as an opportunity to open new doors and grow their business. In the long term, its the SMBs that are open to change that stand to gain the most.
The Microsoft Asia New World of Work SMB Study was conducted in September 2015 with 2,600 respondents working in small and medium businesses with less than 250 employees in 13 Asia markets including Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, China, India, Korea and Vietnam.
Microsoft worked with Organisation Solutions, a global consultancy helping companies solve the people and organization challenges of growth, to design the study and gain insights from the data.
About the author
Michelle Markham, Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft.
EEOC Fact Sheet on Transgender Bathroom Access: What You Need to Know
Considering the legal kerfuffle and PR nightmare over North Carolina's bathroom bill and federal protections against transgender discrimination, many businesses are wondering how to comply with both state and federal law on transgender bathroom access. Lucky for you, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently released a fact sheet on how business owners can provide access in compliance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
So here's what small business owners need to know about Title VII, transgender employees, and appropriate bathroom access:
The Basics
Title VII applies to federal, state, and local government employers as well as private businesses with 15 or more employees, and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, and sex. The EEOC has interpreted Title VII's sex discrimination protections to include pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity, therefore covering transgender employees.
The EEOC's fact sheet defines transgender as referring to "people whose gender identity and/or expression is different from the sex assigned to them at birth (e.g. the sex listed on an original birth certificate)" and notes that medical procedures are unnecessary to be considered transgender.
The Facts
In 2015, the EEOC decided a leading case in transgender bathroom access and came up with three major rules:
Denying an employee equal access to a common restroom corresponding to the employee's gender identity is sex discrimination; An employer cannot avoid the requirement to provide equal access to a common restroom by restricting a transgender employee to a single-user restroom instead (though the employer can make a single-user restroom available to all employees who might choose to use it); and An employer cannot condition this right on the employee undergoing or providing proof of surgery or any other medical procedure.
The EEOC also identified three other considerations for businesses and schools:
Contrary state law is not a defense under Title VII. 42 U.S.C. 2000e-7; Title IX requires educational institutions to give transgender students restroom and locker access consistent with their gender identity; and Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sex whether motivated by hostility, by a desire to protect people of a certain gender, by gender stereotypes, or by the desire to accommodate other people's prejudices or discomfort.
So it doesn't matter why transgender discrimination is happening under EEOC guidelines, it only matters that it does happen. Many schools, businesses, and even states are considering gender-neutral bathrooms as a way to comply with Title VII, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also released a Best Practices Guide to Restroom Access for Transgender Workers.
If you have questions about your small businesses bathroom access or would like legal advice in setting up a transgender bathroom access policy, you can contact an experienced employment law attorney.
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Suu Kyi was speaking at a joint press conference after a meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Pramudwinai, who visited Nay Pyi Taw as a special envoy of Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-cha, on May 9,
Although she did not reveal details of the plan, she said the Myanmar government had plans to take care of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.
The Thai Foreign Minister Pramudwinai said, Children of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand get schooling in Thailand. And Myanmar workers can enjoy the right to receive medical treatment like Thai workers. We will work in order that Myanmar workers have equal rights. Myanmar also has a duty to address some matters related to Myanmar workers in Thailand.
Before the meeting with Suu Kyi, the Thai Foreign Minister met with the President HtinKyaw. In the meeting, President Htin Kyaw urged the Thai Foreign Minister to give Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand equal rights.
At the press conference, the Thai Foreign Minister said 1.59 million Myanmar migrant workers have been registered legally in Thailand.
Thailands Bangkok Post reported that according to Thanit Sorat, founder and former secretary-general of the Thai Myanmar Business Forum, about 1.6 million documented Myanmar migrants now work in Thailand, while a further 1.6 million are unregistered.
The Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has voted to elect Sir Suma Chakrabarti as President of the EBRD for a second four-year term.
Since he first joined the EBRD as President in 2012, the Bank has stepped up its support for emerging economies, investing a record 9.4 billion in 2015.
Under his presidency, the Bank has developed a strategy to reignite the process of transition across its regions, combining a high level of financing with support for policy reform.
It has continued to support progress in its traditional countries of operations while reaching out to new areas in the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean and helping on a temporary basis to restore economic growth in Cyprus and Greece.
The Bank has also scaled up its climate financing and is making a very strong contribution to the reduction of energy waste and the development of renewable sources of energy.
Speaking after the decision of the Board of Governors, Sir Suma said: Being President of the EBRD for the last four years has been a huge privilege.
"Id like to thank the Governors for showing faith in me once again and I look forward to leading the Bank as it delivers even greater impact in our Countries of Operations between now and 2020.
He paid tribute to Polish Central Bank governor Marek Belka who had also stood for election as EBRD president.
Id also like to thank Marek Belka for being such a worthy opponent in what is still that rare thing, a contested election for the job of head of an international financial institution.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder is clearly not a man who ever concedes he has made a mistake. After his privatizing of state prison food services went horribly awry with Aramark employees having sex with prisoners, bringing in drugs, and the many and repeated cases of vermin in food, he finally fired them. You would think hed admit it was a bad idea but that was most definitely not the case. He replaced them with another for-profit corporation, Trinity Services Group.
Now we find out that Trinity is having the same problems as Aramark did:
A prison food service worker at Ionia Correctional Facility was fired Tuesday and is under investigation by the Michigan State Police after he was allegedly found in possession of heroin and methamphetamine. Corrections officers say they are concerned the same problems of smuggling and over-familiarity that were frequent under the departments former food contractor, Aramark Correctional Services, are continuing under the replacement contractor, Trinity Food Services.
Trinitys contract is worth $158.8 million over three years. Corrections officials are understandably concerned about the safety threat posed by inmates on heroin or meth.
This instance isnt the only problem Trinitys been having, either. There have multiple food strikes by prisoners who quit eating to protest the detestable quality of the food they are being served by Trinity employees.
Outsourcing of critical services like prisons, healthcare, and education are immoral and should be consigned to the rubbish heap of history with a big sign saying, It didnt work. Period.
Instead, Gov. Snyder keeps doubling down. It is the embodiment of Einsteins definition of insanity.
The strongly worded statement claimed that TNLA troops, who have recently clashed with the Restoration Council Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), entered Hopang Village in Namkham Township on 6 May and started fires that led to the levelling of many homes.
The TNLA released a statement in response on 7 May in which they denied responsibility for the fires in Hopang Village. They suggested instead that heavy weapons fired in the vicinity of Hopang Village could have triggered the fires or that they could have been lit by another armed group.
However, a resident of Namkham Township who claims to have witnessed the incident contradicted the TNLA's version of events.
He said: The fighting between the two groups began on 1 May and lasted until 5 May. The next day, the TNLA troops entered the village and burnt down houses... They also killed villagers' animals and took their property." He also claimed that some of the TNLA soldiers were speaking Kachin.
According to local aid workers, 62 homes were burnt down in Hopang Village causing more than 300 people to flee the village. These displaced villagers are now staying in the Wongwee sub-township of Namkham.
The joint statement was issued by representatives of several groups based in Namkham. The groups that signed it were the Shan Sangha Youth, the Campaign for Unity Preservation (UP), the People of Namkham, the Shan National Democratic Party (SNDP), the Shan Literature and Cultural Association, the Farmers Association, Tai Youth, the Shan Women's Organization and the Committee of the Quarters and Villages of Namkham.
The statement called on the TNLA to take responsibility for the fires and to help rebuild the houses of civilians who lost their homes and to compensate them for damages.
It said: "If the demands and compensation are not implemented, the PSLF/TNLA will be widely denounced as a 'Terrorist organization of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.'"
One of the signatories to the statement, Sai Lurn Myat, the Chairman of the Campaign for Unity Preservation (UP) told SHAN that the reason they issued the statement is because he and his fellow signatories do not want a repetition of these events.
He said: We dont want problems like this to happen to the Shan people in Hopang Village nor to any [other] ethnic group in Burma.
Fighting between the TNLA and the RCSS/SSA in northern Shan State began late last year.
Though the TNLA stands accused of burning Shan villagers' homes the TNLA has, in its turn, accused Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) forces of entering its territory and violating the rights of Palaung villagers.
In a statement sent out on 2 May the TNLA accused the RCSS/SSA of extorting money from Palaung villagers, confiscating property and farm animals and setting up check points to restrict villagers travel.
The joint statement denouncing the TNLA was sent to a number of government and military officials.
Included on the long list of recipients were Burma's new president, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, the Minister of Ethnic Affairs, the Chief Minister of Shan State, the Command Commander of the Northern battalion in Lashio, Division Commander (33) Army Division of Namkham, the Chairman of the District Council of Muse District, the Police Chief of Muse District, the Chairman of the Town Council of Namkham, Police Chief of Namkhm, the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), the Sengkaews Peoples Militias and the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC).
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
As politicians work the campaign trail, one of two things happens: either the stump speech becomes rote and robotic; or it turns into a full-blown, riveting performance.
I've been watching Sanders's speeches since the start, and I think he's in the groove. Though his lack of polish is part of his pitch, he's nevertheless finding ways to work the crowd and deliver his message with ease, confidence and force.
Sanders swept the West Virginia primary yesterday, and as the polls were closing, he addressed this crowd in Salem, OR (starts around the 37 minute-mark). The Oregon primaries are six days away. It's a chimerical state, sporting left-wing bastions like Portland and Eugene as well as harboring a longstanding, hardcore white-supremacist movement. The state's left wing (except when it comes to TPP) Senator Ron Wyden has officially announced for Hillary Clinton; the state's other senator, Jeff Merkley, has pledged for Sanders.
Considered to be the Ten Best UFO Photos Ever Taken I am sure that we could add more pictures to this list but these are considered ten o...
In a desperate attempt to stop that crazy Nigerian Prince communicating with rogue congressional staffers, the House IT department has banned Yahoo Mail! Seems ransomware attacks are on the rise, and the Government has responded.
Via Computerworld:
The House's IT department told staffers that it "will be blocking access to Yahoo Mail on the House Network until further notice. We are making every effort to put other mitigating protections in place so that we can restore full access as soon as possible."
One day before the House sent the email, the FBI posted a warning about ransomware, which has targeted a wide variety of victims ranging from "hospitals, school districts, state and local governments, law enforcement agencies," as well as large and small businesses.
Despite that ransomware is becoming an "epidemic," too many people are blissfully unaware of the threat. Using a small town in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley as an example, James Scott, a senior fellow at the Institute of Critical Infrastructure Technology, told Newsweek, "I can go to a public computer right now and take down a local hospital in a day."
Local safety experts offer advice for keeping Trick-or-Treat fun for everyone
As families prepare for fun night of Trick-or-Treating, local safety experts are offering some tips on how to stay happy and healthy this Halloween season.
Who were the Harvey Girls, and what were the Harvey Houses in which they worked? It's actually more innocent than it sounds, as Hunter Oatman-Stanford explains in his latest piece at Collectors Weekly. The Harvey Houses were a series of eateries and hotels run by a British ex-pat named Fred Harvey alongside the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad tracks that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. The Girls were women from the East Coast and Midwest, imported to replace the local, often uncouth male waiters in towns like Raton and Belen, New Mexico. Together, the Girls and the dining establishments they worked in lent an air of respectability to the still-wild American Southwest at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, as Hunter learned when he spoke to Richard Melzer, author of Fred Harvey Houses of the Southwest.
Here's a snip from the article:
In 1883, Harvey had decided to fire the rowdy male waiters at his restaurant in Raton, New Mexico, and hire respectable young women in their place. Customers responded so positively to the female staff that Harvey began replacing all of his company's male servers, advertising for women employees in newspapers throughout the Midwestern and Eastern states.
Unlike much of the Eastern United States, in small Western outposts, it was acceptable for single young women to work and live away from their parents though they were often stigmatized as being prostitutes or sexually promiscuous. "The Harvey Company called its servers 'Harvey Girls' not waitresses because the term waitress had a bad connotation: It was linked to the saloon girls," who were viewed as bawdy and indecent, Melzer says. "Fred Harvey didn't want customers thinking there were saloon girls at his restaurants, and he certainly couldn't recruit respectable women to work there if they thought they'd be working in a saloon-like atmosphere." To ensure there'd be no confusion, the Harvey Girls were always attired in a conservative black-and-white uniform, just one of many strict job requirements.
Harvey had no trouble finding suitable young women, despite the perception that the Wild West would scare them off. In fact, many women jumped at the opportunity for economic independence, adventure, and travel in an era when their prospects were greatly limited. "A lot of them came for the chance to see a different part of the country," Melzer says. "After six months at a Harvey House, you could be transferred, so even if you started in a small place like Belen, New Mexico, you might eventually get to Santa Fe or to the Grand Canyon. Others came for the money, hoping to send it home to their families, save for their education, or maybe open a business themselves someday."
However, many took jobs with the Fred Harvey Company for a more traditional reason: The high ratio of single men to single women meant they had great prospects for meeting potential husbands. Yet even with such a goal in mind, women who moved west were often required to step out of their traditional roles simply to survive.
Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London.
12:27, 24 OCT 2022
February 24, 2022, the day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, will go down as a tragic date not only for the Ukrainian people, but also for the whole civilised world.
An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more.
But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be and shouldnt be bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.
Have an interest in what youre writing about
Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.
If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.
Include fascinating details
Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.
Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting
When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read.
Borrow some creative writing techniques
Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting.
consider your own opinion
Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others.
Cut the waffle
Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem.
Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose.
employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing
Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them.
You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect.
Avoid repetitive phrasing
Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable.
Use some figurative language
Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know.
As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy.
Employ rhetorical questions
Anticipate the questions your reader might ask.
One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration.
Proofread
Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them.
The shutdown rule:
Major oil companies have abandoned hundreds of leases for offshore drilling rights in the United States's portion of the Arctic Ocean.
Federal government documents obtained by environmental group Oceana show that ConocoPhillips Co., Italys Eni and Iona Energy, Inc., abandoned all their leases in the Chukchi Sea, to the north and west of Alaska.
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Royal Dutch Shell has abandoned numerous leases and said it plans to relinquish all but one.
Oil companies have, in total, abandoned 2.2 million acres of Arctic drilling rights, Oceana said, and 80 percent of all area in the American Arctic leased in a 2008 sale has been or will be abandoned.
For Shell and ConocoPhillips, the decisions came just before a May 1 deadline to pay millions of dollars to keep its leases active.
Shell spokesman Curtis Smith confirmed Oceanas account, saying the decision came after extensive consideration and evaluation.
Shell spent about $2.5 billion over seven years in preparation to drill a single exploratory well last summer in the Chukchi following a disastrous attempt in 2012.
It concluded after drilling that the exploration was not worth the costs of drilling in the remote area, so it decided to abandon Arctic drilling for the foreseeable future.
Younited Italia, Nicola Manzari e il nuovo Coo, Luca Faccini e Head of Growth e Domenico Petraroli e General Counsel
GeoSpace
Climate change could cause more concentrated storms
Rising temperatures are causing heavy rain storms to become concentrated over smaller areas, a scenario that could cause extreme flooding in urban locations, according to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters.
http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2016/05/10/climate-change-cause-concentrated-storms/
North Dakota's Bakken oil and gas field leaking 275,000 tons of methane per year
That's the finding of a field study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres measuring emissions of this potent greenhouse gas from the Bakken, which spans parts of North Dakota and Montana.
http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2016/05/11/north-dakotas-bakken-oil-gas-field-leaking-275000-tons-methane-per-year/
Scientists search the seas for soot
Black carbon resides in the oceans for tens of thousands of years, yet it's not as abundant as expected, given the sheer quantity of it produced on land, according to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters.
http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2016/05/10/scientists-search-seas-soot/
More than half of streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin originates as groundwater
The findings of a new study in Water Resources Research could help decision makers effectively manage current and future water resources in the Colorado River Basin.
http://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2016/05/09/half-streamflow-upper-colorado-river-basin-originates-groundwater/
What Does the Pacific Arctic's New Normal Mean for Marine Life?
Climate change has reconfigured Arctic ecosystems. A 5-year project focuses on the relationships among oceanographic conditions and the animals and other life-forms in this region.
https://eos.org/project-updates/what-does-the-pacific-arctics-new-normal-mean-for-marine-life
Research Spotlights
How Much Dissolved Mercury Is Present in Streams?
The results of a new study in Water Resources Research suggest an improved understanding of the processes mobilizing mercury in soils will be necessary to predict water quality impacts.
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/much-dissolved-mercury-present-streams
Tropical Rainfall Intensifies While the Doldrums Narrow
Scientists show long-term changes in the Intertropical Convergence Zone's location, extent, and rainfall intensity in a new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres.
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/tropical-rainfall-intensifies-while-the-doldrums-narrow
Understanding the Distribution of Juvenile Jumbo Squid
An expanding zone of shallow, oxygen-depleted water in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean may be vertically restricting the habitat of this important source of food, according to a recent study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans.
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/understanding-the-distribution-of-juvenile-jumbo-squid
Was the Recent Slowdown in Surface Warming Predictable?
The temporary deceleration in warming across the Northern Hemisphere earlier this century could not have been foreseen by statistical forecasting methods, concludes a new study in Geophysical Research Letters.
https://eos.org/research-spotlights/was-the-recent-slowdown-in-surface-warming-predictable
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Find research spotlights from AGU journals and sign up for weekly E-Alerts, including research spotlights, on eos.org. Register for access to AGU journal papers in the AGU newsroom.
The American Geophysical Union is dedicated to advancing the Earth and space sciences for the benefit of humanity through its scholarly publications, conferences, and outreach programs. AGU is a not-for-profit, professional, scientific organization representing more than 60,000 members in 139 countries. Join our conversation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media channels.
DALLAS, May 11, 2016 -Hospital admissions for first-time stroke increased in young adults in Denmark during the past two decades, according to new research in Journal of the American Heart Association, the Open Access Journal of the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
Globally, the incidence of stroke in developed countries has stabilized or declined during the last decades, despite the aging population. This analysis found increasing rates of first-time hospitalization for both ischemic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) or "warning stroke" among young Danish adults. Ischemic strokes are causes by blockages in the blood vessels that lead to the brain. TIAs are caused by temporary blockages of the blood vessels.
"Stroke and transient ischemic attacks rarely occur in the young but may have a profound and long-lasting impact for the individual if they do," said lead author Maiken Tibaek, Ph.D candidate, and a junior doctor at Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. "Compared to elderly individuals, strokes in the young may have greater economic impact because it impairs the ability to work during the most productive years of life."
Strokes in young people are associated with increased long-term cognitive and physical impairment, fatigue, increased risk of suicide, as well as depression and anxiety. Although the consequences of TIA are less severe, up to 50 percent of the participants suffer from long term cognitive impairment (estimated 1 million people per year), the researchers said.
Using the Danish National Patient Registry, researchers identified all cases of first-time stroke and TIA among those 15 to 30 years of age hospitalized between 1994 and 2012. The analysis included a total of 4,156 including 3,431 strokes and 725 TIAs. Researchers estimated age-specific incidence rates of first-time hospitalization for stroke and TIA as well as for subtypes of stroke, and reported it as numbers of new cases per 100,000 person-years.
During the 18-year study period, researchers found that hospital admissions for overall strokes increased by 1.8 percent annually and increased 4.1 percent annually for TIAs from 1994 to 2012. In the early period of the study, hospitalizations for ischemic strokes and TIAs among women were higher compared to men; however, hospitalizations for ischemic stroke among men increased by 14.6 percent annually during the last part of the study period (2006-2012).
Moreover, hospitalization rates for two subtypes of stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage and subarachnoid hemorrhage remained consistent during the study period.
Although it's not clear why rates of ischemic stroke and TIA are on the rise in young Danish adults, the increases in the number of people with diabetes and obesity in this population may have contributed to this trend, Tibaek said.
"For healthcare providers and patients, this study confirms the importance of focusing on prevention and addressing lifestyle-related risk factors to prevent stroke," Tibaek said. "It's also important that clinicians who see young adults with symptoms of stroke are aware that stroke is not that rare a diagnosis in younger adults."
Researchers note that the study is limited by the register-based design that only includes hospitalized cases of stroke and TIA. For stroke diagnoses in Danish National Patient Register, misclassification may have occurred in up to 20 percent of the patients.
"If the increase in ischemic stroke and TIA is caused by changes in the overall cardiovascular risk profile of young adults, such as the increased prevalence of diabetes and obesity, our results can be applied to other countries with similar trends in cardiovascular risk profiles including the United States," Tibaek said.
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Co-authors are Christian Dehlendorff, Ph.D., M.S.; Henrik S. Jorgensen, D.MSc, M.D.; Hysse B. Forchhammer, Ph.D., N.P.; Soeren P. Johnsen, Ph.D, M.D.; Lars P. Kammersgaard, D.MSc, M.D.
The Danish Ministry of Health and the Capital Region of Denmark funded the study.
Additional Resources:
Stroke graphics and animation are located in the right column of this release link http://newsroom.heart.org/news/stroke-in-younger-danish-adults-spiked-over-the-past-two-decades?preview=86b0699412ac76e1de3fa74155b03496
After Wednesday, May 11, 2016, view the manuscript online.
Follow AHA/ASA news on Twitter @HeartNews.
For updates and new science from JAHA, follow @JAHA_AHA.
Statements and conclusions of study authors published in American Heart Association scientific journals are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the association's policy or position. The association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability. The association receives funding primarily from individuals; foundations and corporations (including pharmaceutical, device manufacturers and other companies) also make donations and fund specific association programs and events. The association has strict policies to prevent these relationships from influencing the science content. Revenues from pharmaceutical and device corporations are available at http://www.heart.org/corporatefunding.
Early detection and prediction of influenza outbreaks is critical to minimizing their impact. Currently, flu-like illnesses are tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but with a time lag of one to two weeks. Now, a team led by researchers at Boston Children's Hospital shows that cloud-based data from electronic health records (EHRs) can be used to pick up cases in real time, at least one week ahead of CDC reporting.
By combining EHR data, historical patterns of flu activity and a machine-learning algorithm to interpret the data, the researchers made accurate predictions of national and local influenza activity that matched subsequent reporting by the CDC. They reported their findings online May 11 in Scientific Reports, an online, open access journal from the publishers of Nature.
"Having access to near-real-time aggregated EHR information has enabled us to significantly improve our flu tracking and forecasting systems," says lead author Mauricio Santillana, PhD, faculty member at Boston Children's Computational Health Informatics Program (CHIP), who also holds a faculty appointment at Harvard Medical School and is an associate at the Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Sciences. "Real-time tracking will enable local public health officials to better prepare for unusual flu activity and potentially save lives."
The study tapped data from Athenahealth, a provider of cloud-based medical applications. The company's database encompassed more than 72,000 healthcare providers and EHRs for more than 23 million patients, mostly seen in office-based settings.
The investigators first trained the flu-prediction algorithm, called ARES, with data on weekly total visit counts, visit counts for flu and flu-like illness, visit counts for flu vaccination and other data captured from June 2009 through January 2012. They then used ARES to estimate flu activity over the next three years (through June 2015).
The team showed that ARES' estimates of national and regional flu activity had error rates 2- to 3-fold lower than earlier predictive models. ARES also correctly estimated the timing and magnitude of the national flu "peak week." It was slightly less accurate in predicting regional peak weeks, but clearly outperformed Google Flu Trends, another real-time system that tracked outbreaks by mining Internet searches. (Google Flu Trends was shut down in August, 2015.)
"Our study shows the true value of considering multiple data streams in disease surveillance," says John Brownstein, PhD, the study's senior investigator and Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children's Hospital. "While Google data provide incredible real-time population wide information, clinical data add a more accurate and precise assessment of disease state. As EHR data become more ubiquitously available, we will see major leaps in our ability to monitor and track disease outbreaks."
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For real-time influenza information, see http://www.healthmap.org/flutrends/.
Andre Nguyen, BS, of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Tamara Louie, M.S., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Anna Zink, BA, Josh Gray, MBA, and Iyue Sung, PhD of Athenahealth were coauthors on the paper.
Citation:
Santillana, M. et al. Cloud-based Electronic Health Records for Real-time, Region-specific Influenza Surveillance. Sci. Rep. 6, 25732; doi: 10.1038/srep25732 (2016). http://www.nature.com/articles/srep25732
About Boston Children's Hospital
Boston Children's Hospital is home to the world's largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, where its discoveries have benefited both children and adults since 1869. More than 1,100 scientists, including seven members of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute of Medicine and 10 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute comprise Boston Children's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children's today is a 404-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. Boston Children's is also the primary pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. For more, visit our Vector and Thriving blogs and follow us on our social media channels: @BostonChildrens, @BCH_Innovation, Facebook and YouTube.
A clinical trial of same-day initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV patients in South Africa led to a higher proportion of people starting treatment and to better health outcomes, according to a new study led by a Boston University School of Public Health researcher.
The study, in the journal PLOS Medicine, found that 97 percent of patients in the rapid-initiation group (dubbed the RapIT intervention) had started ART within 90 days, compared to 72 percent receiving standard care. And by 10 months after enrollment, 64 percent of patients in the rapid group had good outcomes, in terms of viral suppression, compared to 51 percent in the standard arm.
The World Health Organization recommends that people with HIV should start treatment soon after diagnosis. Despite those guidelines, most people with HIV in South Africa, which has world's largest HIV treatment program, start ART later than they should, said Sydney Rosen, lead author of the study and a research professor of global health at BUSPH. Once they get to a clinic, the treatment initiation process is long and complicated, Rosen said, with a first visit for an HIV test, a second visit to determine treatment eligibility, and several more visits for a physical exam, adherence education and counseling.
The researchers hypothesized that offering patients a chance to start treatment on the same day as their first clinic visit would improve the proportion of patients who made it through all the steps and were successfully established on ART. The study randomly assigned 377 adult patients at two public clinics in Johannesburg to two groups: One that was offered the chance to start treatment on the same day, using rapid lab tests and accelerated counseling and a physical exam, and the other assigned to standard treatment procedures, usually requiring three to five more clinic visits over a two- to four-week period.
"The RapIT intervention showed clinically meaningful improvements in ART uptake and viral suppression, providing proof of principle that a single-visit treatment approach can have benefits," Rosen said. "The patients who likely benefitted the most from it are those who would not otherwise have initiated treatment at all, or who would have waited until they were sick enough to compromise their prognosis."
Interestingly, the study found that among patients who did start treatment within three months of study enrollment, loss to follow-up was higher in the rapid-intervention group than the standard group. But so many more patients in the standard group failed to start treatment at all--28 percent, compared to the rapid group's three percent--that patients in the rapid group still had overall better outcomes than did those in the standard group.
Rosen said that while the rapid intervention was successful in increasing the overall proportion of patients with successful health outcomes, "the rate of post-initiation attrition is a reminder that early retention in care and adherence support, once patients start treatment, remain high priorities for further research and interventions."
Based on this study's results, the authors said, "Consideration could be given to accelerating the process of ART initiation in many different settings and for different types of patients."
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Besides Rosen, BUSPH co-authors on the study include: Matthew Fox, associate professor of epidemiology; and Julia Rohr, a former doctoral student. Other co-authors are from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the City of Johannesburg Health Department.
Boston University School of Public Health, founded in 1976, offers master's- and doctoral-level education in public health. The faculty in six departments (biostatistics; community health sciences; environmental health; epidemiology; global health; and health law, policy & management) conducts policy-changing public health research around the world, with the mission of improving the health of populations--especially the disadvantaged, underserved, and vulnerable--locally, nationally, and internationally.
Wide variations can be seen in how far citizens from different countries evade tax. While this can be attributed to how well institutions deter tax avoidance through audits and fines, cultural differences may also play a part.
New research, reported in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology, suggests that two countries, with contrasting reputations for trustworthiness, can show subtle differences in their compliance for paying taxes. "Our experiments demonstrate that Italians on average are just as honest as Swedes. Interestingly, however, Italians are more likely to 'fudge' (cheat a little), whereas if a Swede decides to cheat, he is more likely to go all the way," says Sven Steinmo, Professor at the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Study in Florence, Italy, co-author of this study.
Participants for this research were recruited from Italy and Sweden. Swedes think that honesty is a typical national trait, whereas the trustworthiness of Italians is ranked as low, not only by other EU countries, but by Italians themselves.
The subjects were asked to perform an experimental task that mirrored features of tax systems used by many countries. Currency units earned at the start of the test were reported voluntarily, with the knowledge that unreported income may be detected and fined, and that the total taxes received were to be used for public good. The participants were not restricted to being either completely honest or dishonest, but instead had the opportunity to declare any amount of their income.
The results challenged national stereotypes but revealed subtle differences.
"There is a widespread perception that the large budget deficits in Southern Europe are the product of a culture of dishonesty," says Professor Steinmo. "We find, on the contrary, that when Italians are given the same choices as Swedes, they may fudge slightly more, but in the end they contribute just as much to the public good as the Swedes do. Clearly in the real world, Swedes are more willing to pay taxes than are the Italians, but this is mostly because Swedes believe they get more value for their money."
This project is just a small part of a larger EU funded study entitled 'Willing to Pay? Testing Institutionalist Theories with Experiments', which examines tax compliance and financial systems in Europe and America. Across this wider study, led by Professor Steinmo, a number of significant findings have been made so far. Women are substantially more honest than men in every country they surveyed and economists are more dishonest and willing to cheat than any other profession. In addition, those that received a high income in the experiment were more likely to cheat than the lower earners.
One of the main findings, however, provided cause for optimism.
"In the study, most participants were willing contribute to the public good - even if their chances of being caught for evasion were very low," Steinmo says. "While many people believe that cutting taxes is the best way to build trust and bring European economies back to health. Our research suggests that governments are better advised to improve public services."
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Florida Atlantic University has received a $500,000, two-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to install networking infrastructure to amplify its ability to conduct data-intensive science and engineering research. The network design, referred to as a DMZ, isolates research traffic from other university network operations to achieve high performance. The network will provide faculty and students with a tenfold increase in capacity.
The DMZ will span the Boca Raton, Jupiter, and Harbor Branch campuses, as well as Scripps Florida and the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. The DMZ will link all five sites to computation and storage facilities provided through the Sunshine State Education and Research Computing Alliance (SSERCA) via the University's existing link to the Florida Lambda Rail. The DMZ makes it possible for FAU to contribute to and benefit from growing computational and networking capacity across the state.
"This project is exciting because of its potential to catalyze work across so many disciplines. Securing the award required strong partnerships across FAU's colleges and institutes, and the outstanding leadership of our Office of Information Technology. FAU is a place that understands the importance of collaborative research," said Jason Hallstrom, Ph.D., principal investigator, director of FAU's I-SENSE, and a professor in the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at FAU. "The investment will provide the infrastructure necessary for FAU to maintain its trajectory as the fastest growing research university in the country."
By separating its research network from its academic and administrative infrastructure, FAU's DMZ will support congestion-free network transfers among researchers working across multiple campuses in an increasingly data-intensive research environment. Participating researchers span disciplines, including computer science, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, medicine, chemistry, genomics, ocean engineering, and marine science; in areas that include big data research and training, transportation logistics, nanomaterials, biomarker analysis, computational chemistry, marine mammal classification, and undersea communication.
The DMZ will enable geographically distant colleagues to collaborate more effectively.
"Researchers working on marine compounds for cancer treatment will have the ability to exchange datasets with colleagues at Scripps Florida, as though the two groups were working in the same office," said Hallstrom. "Collaboration latency will be dramatically reduced, enabling researchers working across campuses to leverage the collective strength of the institution."
In 2015, FAU's Office of Information Technology developed a five-year "Campus Cyberinfrastructure Plan" to enhance IT infrastructure across FAU's campuses to support the University's ambition to become a top-tier research institution.
"The DMZ is part of our overall IT strategy to provide the experience and technology to support innovative scientific research and cutting-edge education across Florida Atlantic University's campuses," said Jason Ball, associate provost for information technology and chief information officer at FAU.
According to Daniel C. Flynn, Ph.D., FAU vice president for research, "faculty, researchers and students at Florida Atlantic University will now have the benefit of enhanced data intensive science and engineering as a result of the DMZ. This also will foster both research and education by applying data-intensive technologies to address issues that are of national interest in the biological and physical sciences as well as engineering."
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About Florida Atlantic University:
Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU's world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit http://www.fau.edu.
The team demonstrated how a detailed picture of the electronic states can be ascertained by systematically comparing all of the interactive electronic processes in a simple system of aqueous iron(II). The results have now been published in Scientific Reports, the open access journal from Nature Group publishing.
If a blindman feels the leg of an elephant, he can conclude something about the animal. And perhaps the conclusion would be that an elephant is constructed like a column. That is not incorrect, but not the whole story either. So it is with measurement techniques: they show a particular aspect very well, yet others not at all. Now an HZB Institute of Methods for Material Development team headed by Professor Emad Aziz has succeeded in combining two different methods in such a way that a practically complete picture of the electronic states and interactions of a molecule in an aqueous solution results.
Simple model system
The hexaaqua(II) cation [Fe(H2O)6]2+ served as the model. It consists of a central iron atom with six water molecules arranged symmetrically about it and is well-understood. A group of theorists headed by Oliver Kuhn from the University of Rostock was able to calculate the electronic states and the possible excitations for this system in advance so that the predictions could be comprehensively tested against the empirical data.
Exploring the L-edge with two methods
"The primary soft X-ray emissions generated at BESSY II were perfectly suited for investigating the L-edge, as it is known", explains Ronny Golnak, who carried out the experiments during the course of his doctoral studies. The L-edge denotes the energy region where the important electronic states lie for transition metals like iron: from the electrons in the 1s and 2p shells near the nucleus to the valence electrons in the 3d shells. Electrons from the 2p shells are briefly excited to higher states with the help of X-ray pulses. These excited states can decay via two different pathways: either by emitting light (radiative relaxation) that can be analysed with X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), or instead by emitting electrons (non-radiative relaxation) that can be measured with photo-electron spectroscopy as a result of the Auger effect (AES). Applying these methods of analysis to liquid samples or samples in solution has only become feasible the last few years thanks to development of microjet technology.
Combining the results
The interaction between the relaxation channels of excited 3d-valence orbitals in iron and its more strongly bound 3p and 3s orbitals has now been analysed for the hexaaqua complex. Combining the results from the radiative and non-radiative relaxation processes enabled a complete picture of the filled and unfilled energy levels to be obtained.
New insights into catalysts and energy materials
"Our results are important for interpreting X-ray spectra and improve our understanding of electron interactions between complexes in solution and the surrounding solvent for catalytic and functional materials", says HZB-scientist Bernd Winter. Aziz adds: "Experts were skeptical about whether our experimental approach would work. We've now demonstrated it. Naturally, we will carry out this type of measurement on additional systems as well, particularly with catalysts that play a key role in the physical chemistry of energy materials, as well as in biological processes."
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Publication in Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 24659 (2016) doi:10.1038/srep24659
Joint Analysis of Radiative and Non-Radiative Electronic Relaxation Upon X-ray Irradiation of Transition Metal Aqueous Solutions, Ronny Golnak, Sergey I. Bokarev, Robert Seidel, Jie Xiao, Gilbert Grell, Kaan Atak, Isaak Unger, Stephan Thurmer, Saadullah G. Aziz, Oliver Kuhn, Bernd Winter & Emad F. Aziz
Walking through Harvard Yard, you see it every day - one person stops to look up at a tree, perhaps trying to catch a glimpse of hawks that call the area home - and soon most passers-by are stopping to look in the same direction.
It's a phenomenon known as "gaze following" - and although it's been demonstrated in dozens of species, researchers have theorized that it may develop in a unique way in humans, because it plays a critical role in learning and socialization.
A new study, however, shows that gaze following in monkeys develops in a way that's nearly identical to humans, suggesting that the behavior has deep evolutionary roots. The study is described in a May 11 paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"Even though it seems like it's a very simple thing, this is a foundational social and cognitive skill that humans have. And there has been little research on how this skill develops in other species," said Alexandra Rosati, Assistant Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology and the first author of the study. "This is the largest study ever looking at gaze following in monkeys. We followed how this skill developed through their whole lifespan and examined the psychological mechanisms they were using to exhibit this behavior."
By studying more than 480 monkeys ranging from two weeks to 28 years old, Rosati and colleagues from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania found that gaze following in macaques first appears a few months after birth, peaks among juveniles and then slowly declines into old age. The study also revealed - just as in humans - that female monkeys were more sensitive to gaze cues than males.
"We found that monkeys are very similar to humans in the developmental pattern across their lifespan," she said. "That we were able to find this pattern in species with very different life histories than our own suggests that this might be a very evolutionarily conserved pattern of social development."
To get those results, Rosati and colleagues conducted an unusual experiment - they travelled to Cayo Santiago, a small island off the eastern coast of Puerto Rico, inhabited by a colony of about 1,500 macaques that live in free-ranging groups.
"We would approach a monkey when it was sitting calmly and try to attract their attention" she said. "As soon as the monkey looked at the experimenter, the experimenter would just look straight up. A second person would be filming the monkey, so we could see if the monkey also looked up."
Importantly, Rosati said, the team decided to conduct the study with macaques not because they were similar to humans, but because they were very different.
"Compared to other primates, humans have a much longer juvenile period, we have a very long life span, and there are characteristics of human aging - like menopause - that are not shared with other primates," Rosati said. "These monkeys are quite dissimilar from us in a lot of these life history characteristics, and we thought this is a great test of whether those human life history characteristics are tightly intertwined with this cognitive development pattern. If we could show that the monkeys' social cognitive trajectory is very similar to ours, that lets us make inferences about what is driving this pattern in our species."
Going forward, Rosati said the hope is to correlate the differences in behavior among monkeys with variations in their social behavior and even to their genetic differences.
"We want to integrate this data with what's going on in real life," Rosati said. "We want to see what's happening with the 30 percent of juvenile monkeys that don't follow gaze. Can we find genes that are associated with that behavioral difference? Similarly, is it the case that monkeys that gaze follow a lot as juveniles are more socially competent?"
Ultimately, Rosati said, the study reveals that gaze following - while not unique to humans - likely serves as the foundation for a host of more advanced social skills humans rely on.
"This is a critical skill for humans - it's important for the theory for mind, communication, it's how you learn about the culture you're growing up in," Rosati said. "And the fact that gaze following can be disrupted in individuals with autism suggests that early disruptions in how you respond to social cues can develop into a much more pervasive problem. The fact that monkeys show this sensitivity...suggests that humans are building upon this biologically shared propensity to respond to these cues. It's not just something different in our species alone."
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A paper published in the journal Criminology & Public Policy addresses one of the most important crime policy questions in America: Can prison populations be reduced without endangering the public?
That question was examined by researchers who tested the impact on public safety of California's dramatic efforts to comply with court-mandated targets to reduce prison overcrowding
The results showed that California's Realignment Act, passed in 2011, had no effect on aggregate violent or property crime rates in 2012, 2013 or 2014. When crime types were disaggregated, a moderately large, statistically significant association between realignment and auto theft rates was observed in 2012. By 2014, however, this effect had decayed, and auto theft rates returned to pre-realignment levels.
The paper, "Is Downsizing Prisons Dangerous? The Effect of California's Realignment Act on Public Safety," was authored by Jody Sundt, associate dean and associate professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis; Emily Salisbury, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; and Mark Harmon, an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice in the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.
"The results provide evidence that large reductions in the size of the prison population can be made without endangering the overall safety of the public," Sundt said. "Three years after the passage of the Realignment Act, California crime rates remained at levels comparable to what we would predict if the prison population had remained at 2010 levels."
According to the paper, within 15 months of its passage, realignment reduced the total prison population by 27,527 inmates and saved $453 million.
Realignment substantially reduced the size of the prison population by shifting responsibility for certain groups of offenders to local jurisdictions.
The researchers found that with a mixture of jail use, community correction, law enforcement and other preventive efforts, California counties have provided a comparable level of public safety to that previously achieved by state prisons.
That's a far cry from what was believed in the mid-1970s, when the U.S. prison population began a steady climb that continued until 2010, the first time in 30 years the number of inmates declined.
The prison buildup was based on the premise that incarceration improves public safety, the researchers wrote in the paper. As the buildup began, some argued that the nation had a clear choice -- build more prisons or tolerate higher rates of violent crime.
Confidence in the utility of incarceration was so great that policies to increase sentence lengths and punish a range of crimes with imprisonment were pursued with vigor over several decades by every jurisdiction in the United States, the researchers wrote.
"This issue is complicated, but I think the safety effects of prison have been oversold," Sundt said. "Many of the estimates of the effectiveness of incarceration were based on a comparison to doing nothing. The estimates tend to be too optimistic because they are not really comparing the preventive effect of prison to other options that are available for addressing crime."
The research study did not address the best ways to reduce prison populations, but Sundt said, "If we want to reduce the size of the prison population, we should think about who we are currently sending to prison and whether we can supervise them as effectively or perhaps more effectively in the community."
Another consideration, Sundt said, would be to consider "how we can reduce the length of stay in a way that balances the public safety and accountability desires of the public with the economic and social costs of prison. We can reduce sentences in ways that are rational and recognize the risk that offenders pose."
"For the first time in decades, it appears that a window of opportunity for justice reform is opening to allow for a reevaluation of the effectiveness and wisdom of policies that have created the largest prison population in the world," the researchers wrote.
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An international team of scientists led by researchers from the Lomonosov Moscow State University succeeded to clarify the molecular mechanism of a drug created in Russia and designed to prevent the damaging of cell mitochondria by reactive oxygen species. This work is published in the journal Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity.
Recently, Russian researchers, led by Prof. Vladimir P. Skulachev, managed to create an antioxidant drug that selectively accumulates within mitochondria and protects them from oxidative damage. Under the trade name "Visomitin" the drug was approved for treatment of such eye diseases as cataracts and dry eye. Prof. Armen Mulkidjanian of the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics of the Lomonosov Moscow State University and the University of Osnabruck, Germany, and his colleagues have explained why very small doses of synthetic antioxidants such as "Visomitin" could give a pronounced therapeutic effect, despite the presence of large quantities of natural mitochondrial antioxidants.
Mitochondria are intracellular structures that conduct respiration. Respiration, however, is accompanied by formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as by-products. The ROS are capable of damaging the mitochondria. Damaged mitochondria produce even more ROS, which can destroy cells and tissues, so that nature has special mechanisms, such as mitophagy and apoptosis, for elimination of damaged mitochondria and cells. These mechanisms are triggered after a signal of a disorder passes through the double membrane surrounding the mitochondria. Several laboratories have shown that it is possible to avoid the decay of cells and tissues by preventing the oxidation of a particular component of the mitochondrial membrane -- cardiolipin, because the oxidized molecules of cardiolipin are exactly the triggers of the signal chain.
The group of Prof. Vladimir Skulachev, the Dean of the Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics and the Director of the Belozersky Institute of Physical and Chemical Biology, (the Lomonosov Moscow State University), has developed a line of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants, the so-called SkQ-ions, specifically protecting the molecules of mitochondrial cardiolipin from oxidation. In animal trials, the SkQ-ions cured inflammatory eye diseases, helped to overcome the ischemia-simulating conditions, and even reduced the manifestation of senescence. Although similarly acting drugs have been developed and studied in the US and UK laboratories, the Russian group was the first to get an approval for their drug -- as eye drops. The researchers hope that SkQ-based drugs, in the form of pills and injections, after their certification, would help to attenuate the pathological symptoms that accompany strokes, heart attacks and serious traumas.
Armen Mulkidjanian and his collaborators have managed to suggest answers to some intriguing questions. Specifically, it was not clear why cardiolipin, of all the components of the membrane, it specifically oxidized. Molecules of cardiolipin, while making only 10-20% of total membrane lipids, are specifically targeted by ROS and, after getting oxidized, trigger the self-destruction of cells. Secondly, it was not clear why the natural antioxidants, namely coenzyme Q (ubiquinol) and vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol), which are present in mitochondrial membranes in large quantities, fail in the case of cardiolipin. It remained a mystery why these substances could not protect cardiolipin from oxidation, whereas artificial, mitochondria-targeted antioxidants, designed either by the Skulachev's group in Moscow, or by their counterparts in the US and the UK, perfectly coped with this task, in spite of very small doses of the administered drugs.
Armen Mulkidjanian says that the goal of the study was set by Prof. Skulachev.
'Prof. Skulachev asked our group in Germany to tackle these puzzles,' says Armen Mulkidjanian. 'Most of the work was carried out by the post-graduate students and the employees of the Moscow University, who worked in Russia and in Germany, so that their contribution was decisive. As to the research, we have developed an experimental system to investigate quantitatively the oxidation of the cardiolipin membranes and the ability of various antioxidants to prevent it. It turned out that the SkQ-ions and the molecules of coenzyme Q protected the cardiolipin membranes from oxidation equally well, whereas vitamin E performed much worse'.
To understand why cardiolipin molecules are the main target of the ROS, the researchers compared the experimental data with their previous results and the structures of respiratory enzymes. A fraction of cardiolipin molecules is occluded within respiratory protein complexes, just those that generate ROS. 'These molecules should be the first to be oxidized,' Mulkidjanian says.
The bulky, water-insoluble molecule of coenzyme Q cannot get to these "hidden" cardiolipin molecules, as opposed to small, agile molecules of artificial antioxidants, which, as shown in the study, are capable of protecting cardiolipin molecules from oxidation by accessing them both from the membrane and from the aqueous phase.
"The essence of our work is that we have proposed a mechanism that explains how very low doses of mitochondria-targeted antioxidants could provide a distinct therapeutic effect, even being applied over large amounts of natural antioxidants, which were ineffective in this case. The mechanism should be valid for the whole class of similar drugs. We hope that our findings would help to develop new drugs,' says Armen Mulkidjanian.
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Crowdsourcing has brought us Wikipedia and ways to understand how HIV proteins fold. It also provides an increasingly effective means for teams to write software, perform research or accomplish small repetitive digital tasks.
However, most tasks have proven resistant to distributed labor, at least without a central organizer. As in the case of Wikipedia, their success often relies on the efforts of a small cadre of dedicated volunteers. If these individuals move on, the project becomes difficult to sustain.
Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) are finding new solutions to these challenges.
Aniket Kittur, an associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), designs crowdsourcing frameworks that combine the best qualities of machine learning and human intelligence, in order to allow distributed groups of workers to perform complicated cognitive tasks. Those include writing how-to guides or organizing information without a central organizer.
At the Computer-Human Interaction conference in Chicago this week, Kittur and his collaborators Nathan Hahn and Joseph Chang (CMU), and Ji Eun Kim (Bosch Corporate Research), will present two prototype systems that enable teams of volunteers, buttressed by machine learning algorithms, to crowdsource more complex intellectual tasks with greater speed and accuracy (and at a lower cost) than past systems.
"We are trying to scale up human thinking by letting people build on the work that others have done before them," Kittur said.
The Knowledge Accelerator
One piece of prototype software developed by Kittur and his collaborators, called the Knowledge Accelerator empowers distributed workers to perform information synthesis.
The software combines materials from a variety of sources, and constructs articles that can provide answers to commonly sought questions -- questions like: "How do I get my tomato plant to produce more tomatoes?" or "How do I unclog my bathtub drain?"
To assemble answers, individuals identify high-value sources from the Internet, extract useful information from those sources, cluster clips into commonly discussed topics, and identify illustrative images or video.
With the Knowledge Accelerator, each crowd worker contributes a small amount of effort to synthesize online information to answer complex or open-ended questions, without an overseer or moderator.
The researchers' challenge lies in designing a system that can divide assignments into short microtasks, each paying crowd workers $1 for 5-10 minutes of work. The system then must combine that information in a way that maintains the article flow and cohesion, as if it were written by a single author.
The researchers showed that their method produced articles judged by crowd workers as more useful than pages that were in the top five Google results from a given query. Those top Google results are typically created by experts or professional writers.
"Overall, we believe this is a step towards a future of big thinking in small pieces, where complex thinking can be scaled beyond individual limits by massively distributing it across individuals," the authors concluded.
Alloy
A related problem that Kittur and his team tackled involved clustering -- pulling out the patterns or themes among documents to organize information, whether Internet searches, academic research articles or consumer product reviews.
Machine learning systems have proven successful at automating aspects of this work, but their inability to understand distinctions in meaning among similar documents and topics means that humans are still better at the task. When human judgement is used in crowdsourcing, however, individuals often miss the full context that allows them to do the task effectively.
The new system, called Alloy, combines human intelligence and machine learning to speed up clustering using a two-step process.
In the first step, crowdworkers identify meaningful categories and provide representative examples, which the machine uses to cluster a large body of topics or documents. However, not every document can be easily classified, so in the second step, humans consider those documents that the machines weren't able to cluster well, providing additional information and insights.
The study found that Alloy, using the two-step process, achieved better performance at a lower cost than previous crowd-based approaches. The framework, researchers say, could be adapted for other tasks such as image clustering or real-time video event detection.
"The key challenge here is trying to build a big picture view when each person can only see a small piece of the whole," Kittur said. "We tackle this by giving workers new ways to see more context and by stitching together each worker's view with a flexible machine learning backbone."
On the path to knowledge
Kittur is conducting his research under an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award, which he received in 2012. The award supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organization. NSF is funding his work with $500,000 over five years.
The work advances the understanding and design of crowdsourcing frameworks, which can be applied to a variety of domains, he says.
"It has the potential to improve the efficiency of knowledge work, the training and practice of scientists, and the effectiveness of education," Kittur says. "Our long-term goal is to produce a universal knowledge accelerator: capturing a fraction of the learning that every person engages in every day, and making that benefit later people who can learn faster and more deeply than ever before."
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Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) and Wageningen University of the Netherlands have established a joint Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programme in food science and technology. This will help to meet rising demand in Singapore for highly qualified talent in this area, such as product development specialists, food microbiologists and food safety specialists.
NTU Provost Professor Freddy Boey said the food industry is expected to be a new engine of growth in Singapore and the new collaboration will help boost the country's efforts to become a leading hub in food science and technology in the Asia-Pacific region.
Wageningen is one of the leading universities in the world in food science and technology. The Netherlands is the world's second largest exporter of agricultural products after the United States, and one of the world's three leading producers of vegetables and fruit.
The joint PhD programme with NTU is Wageningen's first such collaboration outside Europe and builds on the two universities' earlier partnership to offer a second major in Food Science and Technology in 2014 for NTU undergraduates majoring in Biological Sciences, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Chemistry and Biological Chemistry.
The PhD programme focuses on key areas like the conversion of agricultural raw materials into high-value food ingredients; sustainable food production including conversion of waste to food supplements; and health effects of food products. With the rising trend of food-borne diseases around the world - the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore estimated 1.5 billion cases globally each year - PhD candidates will also be trained to deal with critical issues in food processing, security and safety.
"The partnership between NTU and Wageningen University aims to bring together our interdisciplinary expertise in areas such as nanotechnology, biomedicine and food science to nurture the much needed skilled manpower for the food industry. It will also develop innovative solutions in emerging areas such as in high value food processing and sustainable food production to bolster Singapore's vision of being a leading hub in food science and technology," said Prof Boey.
Professor William Chen, Director of the Food Science and Technology Programme at NTU said, "This is particularly timely and relevant as we are seeing increased attention on food security in general and reduction in food wastage in particular. We do not want local expertise to remain at the technical level, but we want to tap on the multi-national companies' know-how and translate that to the local food industry."
Professor Arthur Mol, Rector Magnificus of Wageningen University, said: "Singapore is a main economic centre in South-east Asia, and NTU is an open and a growing scientific cosmopolitan community with more than 100 nationalities comparable with Wageningen University on the European continent. The existing collaboration on the Bachelor level and the planned development of a joint Master programme, is now extended to a joint PhD programme that combines the best of both universities."
Professor Remko Boom, Chair of Wageningen University's Food Process Engineering Group, said, "With Asia emerging as a major player in the global food industry, NTU can be Wageningen University's link to the continent. It is also important that more graduates in this field come from Asia, since a large part of the world population is Asian. As we have different areas of expertise, NTU and Wageningen University are complementary. By joining up, we can improve both."
Enhancing research behind food
The programme is also expected to enhance related ongoing research projects at the two universities, including novel technologies for sustainable food production and processing. So far, five candidates from NTU and three from Wageningen University have come onboard. One of them is researching sustainable ways to produce isoflavones, compounds found in plants that have potential to reduce tumours in therapies, for example. The other is working on food membrane technology, an effective method in food processing that is not widely used currently due to "membrane fouling" where deposits choke up the membranes' minute pores.
The NTU PhD students will spend six months to a year in the Netherlands to complete modules at Wageningen University, and vice versa for Wageningen University doctoral students at NTU.
Besides being supervised by top faculty from both universities, they can also broaden their learning by pursuing courses at NTU that are outside the programme, including business, arts and social sciences.
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Media Contact:
For NTU, Singapore
Tan Yo-Hinn (Mr)
Assistant Director
Corporate Communications Office
Nanyang Technological University
T: +65 6790 4889
E: yohinn@ntu.edu.sg
For Wageningen University, Netherlands
Jac Niessen (Mr)
Science Information Officer
Corporate Communications & Marketing
Wageningen University & Research Centre
T: +31317 485003
E: jac.niessen@wur.nl
About Nanyang Technological University
A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London.
NTU Singapore is also home to world-class autonomous institutes - the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering - and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).
Ranked 13th in the world, NTU Singapore has also been ranked the world's top young university for the last two years running. The University's main campus has been named one of the Top 15 Most Beautiful in the World. NTU also has a campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district.
For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg
About Wageningen University
Wageningen University is part of Wageningen UR (University & Research centre). The mission is 'To explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life'. Within Wageningen UR, nine research institutes both specialised and applied have joined forces with Wageningen University to help answer the most important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment.
With approximately 30 locations (in the Netherlands, Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia and China), 6,000 members of staff and 10,000 students, Wageningen UR is one of the leading organisations in its domains worldwide. The integral approach to problems and the cooperation between the exact sciences and the technological and social disciplines are at the heart of the Wageningen Approach.
For more information, visit http://www.WageningenUniversity.nl
The 'weekend effect' - that patients admitted to hospital over the weekend are at an increased risk of death - overshadows a much more complex pattern of weekly changes in quality of care, which are unlikely to be addressed by simply increasing the availability of hospital doctors on Saturdays and Sundays, according to two new studies published in The Lancet.
Studies on the weekend effect have had a major, and at times contentious, impact on health policy. Policy makers, including the UK Secretary of State and Department of Health have explicitly attributed the weekend effect to reduced availability of hospital doctors at the weekend, concluding that changes to doctors' employment contracts will be required to deliver high quality care seven days a week. So far, however, evidence about the quality of care at the weekend compared with weekdays, or whether there is a direct link between mortality and the availability of consultants remains largely speculative.
The first paper, led by the University of Birmingham, UK, finds no association between weekend senior doctor staffing levels and mortality. While the second paper, led by King's College London, and University College London, UK, looking specifically at acute stroke care, finds no weekend effect on survival, but reveals there are many variations in quality of care throughout the week, and that policies to address weekend quality of care alone represent a major oversimplification of the problem.
The two papers add evidence to a report published last week suggesting that weekend mortality differences might be attributable to how sick patients are on admission, rather than the quality of their care [1].
In the first paper, researchers from the High-intensity Specialist Led Acute Care (HiSLAC) project led by the University of Birmingham collected data on senior doctor input into emergency admissions at 115 NHS trusts at two time points - Sunday 15th and Wednesday 18th June 2014 [2].
Hospital consultants completed a survey recording the number of hours they spent between 8am and 8pm caring for patients who had been admitted as an emergency. A similar survey was completed by clinical service directors and the findings were compared to national hospital mortality data.
There were substantially fewer senior doctors present and providing emergency care on Sunday (1667) compared to Wednesday (6105). This was partly offset by the fact that doctors spent on average 40% more time caring for emergency admissions on Sunday (5.74 hours) compared to Wednesday (3.97 hours). Once the total number of admissions per hospital was taken into account, the findings show that emergency admissions on a Sunday collectively receive on average less than half the input of senior doctors compared to patients admitted on Wednesday (21.90 total specialist hours per ten emergency admissions on Sunday; compared to 42.73 hours on Wednesday) (HiSLAC, table 1).
The researchers then looked at average weekend mortality data for all 115 trusts for 2013-14. On average, there was a small increase in the risk of death associated with weekend admission (10% relative risk increase on weekends compared to Wednesdays), but mortality differed between trusts (figure 3). When mortality risk was plotted against senior doctor staffing levels, there was no evidence of an association between the two. (HiSLAC, figure 4).
"Patients admitted to hospital over the weekend are likely to receive less time with consultants, and do indeed have a slightly higher risk of death. Both problems need to be addressed to provide consistent standards of high quality care. But to say that lower staffing is the cause for increased mortality is far too simplistic and not supported by the evidence," says lead author Professor Julian Bion, University of Birmingham. "Policy makers should be extremely cautious when attributing the weekend effect directly to the lack of consultants at the weekend." [3]
The authors warn that the study is part of a longer term project and that finding a lack of association now cannot discount it in the future. The study did not include data on staffing of junior doctors, nurses or information about how ill patients were. Nevertheless, the authors urge caution in linking mortality directly to senior doctor staffing levels, and say that more research is needed to understand the key factors affecting mortality in such a complex system.
The second study, led by researchers at King's College London and University College London, looked at how the quality of acute stroke care in particular varies by day of the week and time of day, over a whole year. The study included care data from 74307 patients admitted to 199 hospitals in England and Wales between April 2013 and March 2014, and information about patient survival 30 days post admission.
There was no difference in 30 day survival for patients admitted during the day at the weekend, compared to during the week, and only very weak evidence that survival was worse for patients admitted overnight compared to those admitted during the day (stroke, figure 6).
The researchers found there was wide variation in the quality of care delivered - both by days of the week and time of day (stroke, figure 4 & 5). Patients who arrived in the morning were more likely to receive a brain scan within one hour (as per national stroke care guidelines [4]) than those who arrived in the afternoon; patients admitted on a Monday had the lowest odds of being admitted to a stroke unit within four hours; and patients admitted on Thursdays and Fridays experienced the longest waits for therapy assessment.
"Much of the current discourse on reducing the weekend mortality effect has occurred in the absence of a detailed understanding of why changes in quality of care occur. Our study shows that the 'weekend effect' is a major oversimplification of the true extent and nature of variations in the quality of care that occur in everyday practice. Our findings apply to stroke care in particular but are likely to be reflected in many other areas of health care," says lead author Dr Benjamin Bray, from the Royal College of Physicians' Clinical Effectiveness and Evaluation unit and University College London. "When solutions come at such a high financial cost, it is imperative that policy makers, health-care managers and funders base their decisions on evidence. Simply transferring doctors from weekdays to weekends is highly unlikely to have the intended effect of improving quality of care." [3]
Commenting on all three recently published papers, Professor Nick Black, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK, points to many factors that may help explain the increased risk of mortality at the weekends, not least that patients are sicker, and says more research is needed that focuses on other outcomes and patients' experiences. He concludes: "Despite many claims about the quality of care at weekends and strong beliefs about the reasons for this, we need to remain open to the true extent and nature of any such deficit and to the possible causes. Jumping to policy conclusions without a clear diagnosis of the problem should be avoided because the wrong decision might be detrimental to patient confidence, staff morale and outcomes."
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NOTES TO EDITORS
Paper 1 (HiSLAC) was funded by National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research Programme.
[1] http://hsr.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/05/05/1355819616649630.abstract
[1] Sunday and Wednesday were selected as they are associated with the highest and lowest mortality rates; June was chosen as it has no public holidays, and is unaffected by winter pressures.
[2] Quotes direct from author and cannot be found in the text of the Article.
[3] Care quality was measured using a pre-existing set of quality indicators derived from UK national guidelines. The indicators reflect the time critical nature of acute stroke care: receiving a brain scan within one hour or 12 hours of admission, direct admission to a stroke unit (or intensive care unit/high dependency unit) within 4 hours of admission, administration of intravenous thrombolysis with alteplase, door to needle time of <60 minutes for patients treated with thrombolysis, dysphagia screen within 4 hours of admission, reviews by a stroke specialist physician and nurse within 24 hours of admission, and assessments by physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy within 72 hours.
The occurrence of multidrug resistant infection is a major concern in Wounded Warriors and military Veterans, especially in combat-related injuries. In addition to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), other resistant strains have been associated with hospital-acquired infections that are often not responsive to even a broad range of antibiotics. Culture-directed antibiotic treatment is an early treatment regime for these kinds of infections. However, one of the key challenges of using this treatment regime is that laboratory culture analysis, which is central to antibiotic selection, requires at least two days to produce results. The delay in targeted treatment results in greater patient distress, poorer outcomes, higher overall cost, and dilution of antibiotic effectiveness as bacteria continue to adapt.
With funding from a Fiscal Year 2012 Military Infectious Diseases Applied Research Award, Dr. Connie Price and her team at Denver Health are aiming to identify rapid microbiological diagnostics for multidrug resistant organism (MDRO) pathogens that afflict Wounded Warriors and Veterans and, furthermore, would help clinicians more effectively treat patients with serious infections. Dr. Price's approach involves the use of multiplexed automated digital microscopy (MADM), which has the ability to identify and quantify multiple pathogens within 2 hours. In preclinical research, Dr. Price and her team have demonstrated that MADM (Figure 1) is able to characterize multiple major modes of antibiotic resistance, including MRSA, within 6 hours. Furthermore, Dr. Price has used MADM to characterize heterogeneous and inducible resistance and has also performed population analysis profiles of S. aureus.
Dr. Price has acquired remnant blood, respiratory, and infected wound samples and identified the causative pathogen and, most importantly, determined its susceptibility to multiple antibiotics, often 1-2 days faster than conventional lab methods. Since the start of the funding period, Dr. Price and her team have validated and identified (within 1 hour) target bacterial species including S. aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Acinetobacter baumanii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa with sensitivity and specificity of at least 97% in blood cultures. Furthermore, she has performed antibiotic susceptibility testing with specific minimum inhibitory concentration within 5 hours for methicillin> versus S. aureus, ciprofloxacin, imipenem, amikacin and minocycline versus A. baumanii, and ciprofloxacin and amikacin versus P. aeruginosa.
Dr. Price and her team are actively collaborating with an industry partner, Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc., to develop a novel pathogen identification and antibiotic susceptibility tests directly from study of clinical samples. The data gathered in this effort has facilitated Accelerate Diagnostics to obtain consensus from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and clearance for the first test that will rapidly identify and determine antibiotic susceptibility of pathogens causing bloodstream infections. Additional information about Dr. Price's research can be found in the Journal of Microbiological Methods (2014; 98:50-58).
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TORONTO, May 12, 2016 - A new Canadian study focusing on caregiver outcomes of critically ill patients reveals that caregivers of intensive care unit (ICU) survivors, who have received mechanical ventilation for a minimum of seven days, are at a high risk of developing clinical depression persisting up to one year after discharge.
The study, led by Dr. Jill Cameron, Affiliate Scientist at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-University Health Network (UHN) highlights the need to consider the mental health of caregivers in post-ICU care. While caregiver assistance can be beneficial to patients, such care may have negative consequences for caregivers, including poor health-related quality of life, emotional distress, caregiver burden, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 12, 2016, the study's findings suggest patients' illness severity, functional abilities, cognitive status and neuropsychological wellbeing are not associated with caregiver outcomes. Alternatively, characteristics of the caregiver and individual caregiving situation play a significant role in determining outcomes over the follow-up year.
Dr. Jill Cameron discusses her findings in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsEAwzfi27M.
This study is part of Phase one of the RECOVER Program, a multi-phase project, involving 10 intensive care units across Canada, co-led by Drs. Margaret Herridge, Scientist at the Toronto General Research Institute, and Cameron, in collaboration with the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group. The project aims to identify risk factors for patients and families with the goal of designing rehabilitation models to improve outcomes.
"In the world of critical illness, a lot of research has focused on making sure people survive - and now that people are surviving, we need to ask ourselves, what does quality of life and wellbeing look like afterwards for both patients and caregivers," says Dr. Cameron, also Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences Institute, Faculty of Medicine at University of Toronto.
"We need to intervene and support caregivers of all patients, not just the 'sickest' patients. Caregivers are not a uniform body of individuals - they have different needs unique to their caregiving situation."
From 2007-2014, caregivers of patients who received seven or more days of mechanical ventilation in an ICU across 10 Canadian university-affiliated hospitals were given self-administered questionnaires to assess caregiver and patient characteristics, caregiver depression symptoms, psychological wellbeing, health-related quality of life, sense of control over life, and impact of providing care on other activities. Assessments occurred seven days and three, six and 12-months after ICU discharge.
The study found that most caregivers reported high levels of depression symptoms, which commonly persisted up to one year and did not improve in some. Caregiver sense of control, impact on caregivers' everyday lives, and social support had the largest relationships with the outcomes. Caregivers' experienced better health outcomes when they were older, caring for a spouse, had higher income, better social support, sense of control, and caregiving had less of a negative impact on their everyday lives.
Poor caregiver outcomes may compromise patients' rehabilitation potential and sustainability of home care. Identifying risk factors for caregiver distress is an important first step to prevent more suffering and allow ICU survivors and caregivers to regain active and fulfilling lives.
A parallel companion study evaluating patients led by Dr. Herridge, also a Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto has been published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. This project showed that patients who had been on a mechanical ventilator for one-week could be divided into disability risk groups using age and length-of-stay in an intensive care unit and that these groups determine one-year recovery and illuminate the details of functional disability in daily life.
"These findings will help patients and families make vital decisions about embarking on and also continuing treatment in an intensive care unit," says Dr. Herridge.
"We need to educate patients, families and the public about what we can realistically offer in terms of functional outcome and quality of life for those patients with complex critical illness and who may come to the ICU in a debilitated state or may be older. We want people to understand and make informed choices about their care, given their circumstances."
The next phase of this research will focus on developing models of rehabilitation to optimize patient recovery and a program for caregivers to better prepare them for their caregiving role, including education and information on community-based resources, access to home care, and how they can draw on social and psychological support.
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This research was supported by The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, The Ontario Ministry of Health Innovation Fund, the University of Toronto Department of Medicine Integration Challenge Fund and a career scientist award from CIHR (New Investigator Award to JIC). Generous support was also provided by the John and Gail MacNaughton Family Fund, Jason Tham and Andrea Chan Family and the Don and Jane Luck Family.
About Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
As the world-leading rehabilitation research centre, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute is revolutionizing rehabilitation by helping people overcome the challenges of disabling injury, illness or age related health conditions to live active, healthier, more independent lives. It integrates innovative patient care, ground breaking research and diverse education to build healthier communities and advance the role of rehabilitation in the health system. Toronto Rehab, along with Toronto General and Toronto Western Hospitals, the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and The Michener Institute for Education at UHN is a member of the University Health Network and is affiliated with the University of Toronto. http://www.uhn.ca
Scientists at the Universities of Bristol and Newcastle have uncovered the secret of the 'Mona Lisa of chemical reactions' - in a bacterium that lives at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
It is hoped the discovery could lead to the development of new antibiotics and other medical treatments.
The Diels-Alder reaction, discovered by Nobel Prize-wining chemists Otto Diels and Kurt Alder, is one of the most powerful chemical reactions known, and is used extensively by synthetic chemists to produce many important molecules, including antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs and agrochemicals.
However, there has been much debate and controversy about whether nature uses the reaction to produce its own useful molecules. If it does, the identity of the biological catalysts (enzymes) responsible for performing this reaction have remained a mystery until now.
Some candidate natural 'Diels-Alderases' have been identified, but these have either been shown not to perform the reaction, or the evidence that they catalyse a Diels-Alder reaction is ambiguous.
Now, researchers at BrisSynBio, a BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre at the University of Bristol and the School of Biology at Newcastle University have conclusively shown that a true 'Diels-Alderase' (Diels-Alder enzyme) exists. They have also established in atomic detail how it catalyses the reaction.
Dr Paul Race, from BrisSynBio, said: "We found the enzyme, called AbyU, in a bacterium called Verrucosispora maris (V. maris), which lives on the Pacific seabed. V. maris uses the AbyU enzyme to biosynthesise a molecule called abyssomicin C, which has potent antibiotic properties."
To establish the details of how the AbyU enzyme catalyses the Diels-Alder reaction, the team first had to solve the atomic structure of AbyU, and then simulate the enzyme reaction using quantum mechanics methods.
Dr Race said: "Once we had figured out how AbyU was able to make natural antibiotic, we were able to show that it could also perform the Diels-Alder reaction on other molecules that are difficult to transform using synthetic chemistry."
The team are now investigating ways of using the enzyme to make molecules similar to abyssomisin C, in the hope that antibiotics are found that are even more effective than the natural molecule.
Dr Race said: "What is particularly exciting about our work is that not only have we resolved the riddle of the natural Diels-Alderase, but we have also shown that the enzyme can perform Diels-Alder reactions that are challenging to perform using synthetic chemistry. The work opens up a raft of possibilities for making new useful molecules that could, for example, form the basis of new medicines, materials, or commodity chemicals."
Co-author Dr Mark van der Kamp, from BrisSynBio, said: "The work has been a great example of interdisciplinary collaboration, using techniques from biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. As the computational chemist in the team, I am particularly pleased how a broad range of computer simulation techniques has been integral to the work, revealing details about the dynamical behaviour of the enzyme, how the substrate interacts with it, and how this interaction results in generating the Diels-Alder product."
Dr Jem Stach, from Newcastle University, was also a co-author of the paper. He said: "Nature, not only in the compounds it produces, but also the means by which it does so, is the best chemist. This has never been clearer to me than it was during this collaboration between biologists and chemists. Starting with genome gazing, and ending with new chemistry, on a journey that took in structural biology, synthetic chemistry and computational chemistry, was utterly rewarding, educational and fascinating."
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Paper: 'The catalytic mechanism of a natural Diels-Alderase revealed in molecular detail' by P Race, J Stach et al in The Journal of the American Chemical Society
Images:
The bacteria in which the enzyme was found: https://fluff.bris.ac.uk/fluff/u2/sd15464/6JZwga6bJHNAmjSXcNl3ewXIl/
The antibiotic abyssomycin formed in the cavity of AbyU, a natural Diels-Alder enzyme with a simple beta-barrel fold. The orange spheres indicate the atoms involved in the newly formed bonds. https://fluff.bris.ac.uk/fluff/u1/sd15464/Q1Hc4VsGeEcaq9FM3TOYZwXIo/
BrisSynBio
BrisSynBio, is a BBSRC/EPSRC Synthetic Biology Research Centre based at the University of Bristol. BrisSynBio focuses on applying biomolecular design and assembly in synthetic biology. This includes rational design and engineering of nucleic acids, lipids, peptides and proteins as structural, enzymatic and regulatory components in new biological and bioinspired systems. Applications include: producing agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals; designing new vaccine platforms; developing synthetic-blood products; establishing new methods to increase wheat yields.
For further information or to arrange an interview with one of the researchers, please contact Simon Davies at the University of Bristol press office 0117 928 8086 or simon.l.davies@bristol.ac.uk
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in Brazil and Senegal, have described the first "direct experimental proof" that the Brazilian strain of Zika virus can actually cause severe birth defects. The findings are published in the May 11 online issue of Nature.
The team, headed by Alysson R. Muotri, PhD, associate professor in the UC San Diego School of Medicine departments of Pediatrics and Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and co-corresponding senior author Patricia C.B. Beltrao-Braga, PhD, at the University of Sao Paulo, conducted studies in mouse models, human stem cells and in cerebral organoids - miniature brains grown in vitro.
"Rising infection rates of Zika virus in places like Brazil, with a corresponding increase in cases of microcephaly, have powerfully suggested an association, but until now hard evidence has been lacking," said Muotri. "Our findings provide direct experimental proof that the Brazilian Zika virus strain causes severe birth defects - and that the full adverse effect upon health, even beyond microcephaly, is not yet fully understood."
Muotri said the model developed to determine Zika cause-and-effect provides a new tool to assess the effectiveness of potential therapies to counteract the virus during human neurodevelopment.
"Our platform can now be used to understand what is unique about the Brazilian Zika virus and to test drugs to prevent the neurological problems associated with the infection," he said. "Moreover, we now have a robust animal model that will be useful during validation of potential vaccines against the virus."
The Zika virus is not new. It was first described in 1947 in rhesus monkeys in Uganda, but researchers say the twin lineages of Zika - African and Asian - did not cause meaningful infections in humans until 2007, when the Asian strain, carried by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, caused an epidemic on the Pacific island of Yap. Further outbreaks occurred in New Caledonia and French Polynesia from 2013 to 2015.
In 2013, the Asian lineage of Zika reached Brazil and subsequently other countries in South and Central America. In Brazil, the virus has aroused international attention and concern, with infections of pregnant women alarmingly linked to congenital malformations, including microcephaly (an undersized head and brain) in newborns and other severe neurological diseases, such as Guillain-Barre syndrome.
In the Nature paper, authors used mouse models to track Brazilian virus infections to birth defects. "This is the first animal model to document Zika-induced birth defects. It shows that the virus can cross the placenta membrane and infect the fetus," said Muotri. Like humans, newborn mouse pups infected via their mothers with the Brazilian Zika virus strain displayed smaller-than-normal heads and stunted body growth. Tissue and genetic analyses revealed other abnormalities, including eye problems and ongoing cell death.
"The data in mice also suggest that microcephaly is only the tip of the iceberg. The animals have extensive intra-uterine growth arrest, which essentially means poor fetal development in the womb. Media covering the Zika story have focused upon affected babies with small heads because such images are profoundly dramatic, but the true health impact is likely to be more widespread and devastating."
Interestingly, Muotri noted that not all mouse models tested showed a causal effect when infected by the Zika virus. In at least one strain of mice, the Brazilian Zika virus could not cross the placenta of the mother to infect her unborn pups. Muotri said the finding suggests that in mice - and humans - some individuals may be more susceptible to infection than others, possibly due to genetic differences or varying robustness of the immune system response.
The researchers also conducted studies using human pluripotent stem cells to generate cortical progenitor cells that ordinarily would differentiate into neurons forming the brain's cerebral cortex or folded outer layer. Infection of these cortical progenitor cells by the Brazilian viral strain resulted in increased progenitor cell death. The effects of the African virus is not as pronounced, indicating that the mutations of the Brazilian strains made the virus more aggressive in human cells.
Finally, researchers exposed human brain organoids - three-dimensional buds of cells created from pluripotent stem cells that structurally represent specific organs writ small - to the Zika virus. They noted that infection resulted in reduced areas of growth in the organoids and disrupted cortical layers. Again, the Brazilian virus had a more dramatic impact on cortical malformations in these human organoids.
Muotri said they tested the Brazilian Zika virus in organoids derived from chimpanzees to assess its adaptability compared to the African strain. "The Brazilian virus has a slow replication rate in the chimp organoid compared to the African virus," Muotri said, "which suggests that the Brazilian strain has, somehow, adapted to humans. We are investigating how genetic differences might cause that difference."
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Co-authors of the study include: Fernanda R. Cugola, Joao Leonardo Mendonca Dias, Katia O. P. Guimaraes, Cecilia Benizzato, Nathalia Santos, Carolina Manganeli Polonio, Isabela Cunha, Carla Longo Freitas, Wesley Nogueira Brandao, Cristiano Rossato, David Garrido Andrade, Daniele de Paula Faria, Alexandre Teles Garcez, Carlos Alberto Buchpigel, Carla Torres Braconi, Erica Mendes, Paolo M. de A. Zanotto, and Jean Pierre Schatzmann, all at the University of Sao Paolo, Brazil; Isabella Rodrigues Fernandes, University of Sao Paolo and UC San Diego; Fabiele Baldino Russo, and Graciela C. Pignatari, University of Sao Paolo and Tismoo Biotechnology Company, Sao Paolo; Beatriz C. Freitas, and Sarah Romero, UC San Diego; and Amadou Alpha Sall, Institute Pasteur, Senegal.
Funding for this research came, in part, from the Zika Network FAPESP Projects, the Tooth Fairy Project and the National Institutes of Health (U19MH107367) and NARSAD.
In a massive analysis of DNA samples from more than 13,000 U.S. soldiers, scientists have identified two statistically significant genetic variants that may be associated with an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an often serious mental illness linked to earlier exposure to a traumatic event, such as combat and an act of violence.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates 11 to 20 percent of veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts have or will develop PTSD. The percentage is even higher among Vietnam War veterans. Prevalence of PTSD in the general U.S. population is 7 to 8 percent.
The findings, described by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, the Uniformed Services University and colleagues elsewhere, are published online today in JAMA Psychiatry.
The study was designed to discover genetic loci associated with lifetime PTSD risk among U.S. Army personnel. Two coordinated, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted in two cohorts of consenting soldiers in the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS). A GWAS is a study that involves rapidly scanning markers across complete sets of DNA or genomes of many people to find genetic variants associated with a particular disease.
The first GWAS was performed on 3,167 diagnosed cases of PTSD and 4,607 trauma-exposed controls from the New Soldier Study; the second on 947 diagnosed cases and 4,969 trauma-exposed controls from the Pre/Post Deployment Study. The primary analysis compared lifetime PTSD cases, as defined by the Diagnostic Service Manual-IV, to trauma-exposed controls without lifetime PTSD.
"We found two notable genetic variants," said co-principal investigator Murray B. Stein, MD, MPH, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine and Public Health at UC San Diego. "The first, in samples from African-American soldiers with PTSD, was in a gene (ANKRD55) on chromosome 5. In prior research, this gene has been found to be associated with various autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, including multiple sclerosis, type II diabetes, celiac disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. The other variant was found on chromosome 19 in European-American samples."
There were no significant genetic correlations observed between PTSD and six mental disorders and nine immune-related disorders, said the study's other co-principal investigator Robert J. Ursano, MD, professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md. But there was significant evidence of pleiotropy -- genetic factors that influence multiple traits -- for PTSD and rheumatoid arthritis, and to a lesser extent, psoriasis.
"Further research will be needed to replicate the genome-wide significant association we found with the gene ANKRD55 and clarify the nature of the genetic overlap observed between PTSD and rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis," said Ursano.
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Co-authors of the study include: Adam X. Maihofer, Caroline M. Nievergelt, Michael L. Thomas, Sonia Jain, Xiaoying Sun, all at UC San Diego; Chia-Yen Chen, and Jordan W. Smoller, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Benjamin M. Neale, and Stephan Ripke, Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard; Tianxi Cai, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Joel Gelernter, Kevin P. Jensen, Renato Polimanti, and Qian Wang, Yale University; Steven G. Heeringa, Colter Mitchell, and Erin B. Ware, University of Michigan; Matthew K. Nock, Harvard University; Susan Borja, National Institutes of Mental Health; and Ronald C. Kessler, Harvard Medical School.
Funding for this study came, in part, from the Department of the Army, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health (UO1MH087981), the National Institute for Mental Health and the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
About Army STARRS and STARRS-LS:
The Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (Army STARRS) and the Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers - Longitudinal Study (STARRS-LS) are a series of large-scale epidemiological and neurobiological study of Army suicides and their correlates. Army STARRS (2009-2015) was sponsored by the Department of Army and funded under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health and National Institute of Mental Health. STARRS-LS (2015-2020) is sponsored by the Department of Defense to continue and extend the Army STARRS research to discover additional findings. For more information, visit http://www.starrs-ls.org/
NSF-funded UC research leads to a screening test for patients on blood thinners to reduce the risk for a blood clot or stroke that's as easy as an in-home diabetes test
For millions of Americans at risk for blood clots, strokes and hypertension, routine lab tests to monitor blood-thinning medications can be frequent, costly and painful.
Two professors in a laboratory looking at a slide together
Andrew Steckl with his student researcher Hua Li
But researchers at the University of Cincinnati -- supported by the National Science Foundation -- are developing materials and technology for a simple in-home screening that could be a game changer for patients with several life-threatening conditions.
Patients with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure, kidney disease and others who are at risk for blood clotting are especially vulnerable when blood-thinning medication levels get too weak or too strong. This imbalance can quickly lead to ischemic (clotting) or hemorrhagic (bleeding) strokes if not detected in time.
"We have developed a blood screening device for patients on medications like Coumadin, warfarin or other blood thinners who need to monitor their blood-clotting levels on a regular basis," says Andrew Steckl, UC professor of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. "Patients can soon monitor their blood coagulation characteristics from home quickly and painlessly before making needless trips to the lab or hospital."
LAB ON A STICK
Using nanofiber membranes inside paper-based porous materials housed within a plastic cassette, the researchers can quickly reveal the level of the blood's ability to clot, and all from the convenience of the patient's living room with a simple finger stick to draw a drop of blood.
While slight changes in the level of coagulation properties will occur normally depending on certain food intake and overall health conditions, Steckl says a major change in levels immediately shows up on the paper-based test stick resulting in clotting patterns registering on one end of the spectrum or the other and will put up a red flag before any physiological trouble starts.
This interdisciplinary research includes faculty and doctoral-student colleagues from the University of Cincinnati's James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy, the UC Nanoelectronics Laboratory and the UC Department of Electrical Engineering & Computing Systems in the UC College of Engineering and Applied Science.
Researchers are presenting the results of this effort, titled POC Blood Coagulation Diagnostics Using Paper-Based Lateral Flow Device, along with several other UC presenters at the 8th International Conference on Porous Media and Annual Meeting of the International Society for Porous Media, Interpore.org May 9-12, at the Hilton Netherland Plaza hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio.
BENEFITS OF SENSITIVE TEST STICKS
"This simple test is not intended to replace the very careful and accurate measurements that get accomplished in a laboratory facility, but at a relatively minimal cost a patient can do this on their own between scheduled visits or when in doubt," says Steckl. "And it shouldn't require a caregiver, as most patients can perform this test quickly on their own."
The test is designed to give each patient the ability to keep a careful check on their levels by monitoring the changes that occur relative to previous tests. The technology can also be calibrated to a specific patient's condition. For example, a patient whose normal blood coagulation rate is significantly different from the general population because of a genetic disorder can use a tailor-made test kit that includes a different porous membrane.
Using the simple technology may also help patients who have a known inherited blood clotting disorder detect concerning levels early.
"By identifying potential blood-clotting problems early enough, we hope to prevent potential injury or death and the exorbitant associated costs," says Steckl. "By shifting from what were once mandatory expensive laboratory tests to using more in-home screening tests, patients can take more control of their lives, reduce health-care costs and ultimately save more lives."
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Additional UC colleagues associated with Steckl's research and conference presentations at the 2016 Meeting of the International Society for Porous Media include: Hua Li, Daewoo Han, Michael Hegener, Giovanni Pauletti, Prajokta Ray, Daoli Zhao, William Heineman, Shima Dalirirad, Vishak Venkatraman. Lilit Yeghiazarian, along with UC students, arranged and coordinated the 2016 InterPore Conference.
Funding
NSF Partnership for Innovation - Technology Transfer Grant (PFI-TT) #1236987
Steckyl's related research
Blood coagulation screening using a paper-based microfluidic lateral flow device
IntegratedOLEDasexcitationlightsourcein fluorescentlateral flow immunoassays
Triaxial Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes for Controlled Dual Release of Functional Molecules
Additional UC research at InterPore Conference
Math May Be a Better Way to Help Researchers Test Consumer Products
Gender equality in work-family roles has not yet been reached in Britain, with a fifth of families still relying on the father being the sole full-time breadwinner despite a significant growth in dual earning households, according to new research.
As well as a growth in both parents working full-time, the study found an increase in the working hours of mothers in part-time employment and a growing proportion of households with 'non-standard' working patterns.
The research examined the work-family arrangements adopted by parents between 2001 and 2013 in Britain, where the male breadwinner family, although in decline, has traditionally dominated. These household employment patterns were used to gauge changes in traditional gender work roles and to what extent parents have combined economic independence and family care in different ways.
The study was led by Prof Sara Connolly and Dr Matthew Aldrich at the University of East Anglia (UEA), working with researchers at the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU) at UCL and NatCen Social Research. It was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the findings are published today in the journal Work, employment and society.
Using data from the EU Labour Force Survey the researchers focused on couple households with dependent children and examined the relationship between parents' education, care responsibilities (the number and age of children) and the type of work-family arrangement.
Three dominant types of arrangement were identified, which in 2013 accounted for more than four in five families: the 'standard' 1.5 earner, where the father works full-time and the mother works part-time; dual full-time earners; and male breadwinner, where the father works full-time and mother does not work.
There was a significant decline in the prevalence of the 1.5 earner household over the period, from 37 per cent in 2001 to 31 per cent in 2013, now equaling the proportion of dual full-time earners, which went from 26 per cent in 2001 to 31 per cent in 2013.
Non-standard working patterns increased from eight to 12 per cent, including growth in part-time employment among fathers and main breadwinning among mothers.
Prof Connolly said the findings suggest a behavioural shift towards a gender balance in work-family roles, but also continuity in some traditional models because of the continued reliance of British families on a male sole full-time breadwinner - over the period studied this accounted for more than a fifth of households (22 per cent).
"While our results suggest both some merging and greater diversity in economic provisioning between British parents, the societal infrastructure still tends to promote and support a full-time breadwinner plus part-time carer model, slowing adjustment to the gender revolution," said Prof Connolly, professor of personnel economics at UEA's Norwich Business School.
Dr Aldrich, lecturer in economics at UEA, said: "The dual full-time earner model is growing in significance for British parents of young children but a new gender equality in work-family roles has not yet been reached. It seems that culturally embedded gender-based norms as well as economic calculations are at work, resulting in a very slow adjustment to the view and practice that parental responsibilities can be equally shared by both parents."
A stronger parental leave system to incentivize British fathers to become more involved in the care of children from the outset could help parents manage work and family responsibilities more effectively and fairly. UCL's Prof Margaret O'Brien said: "Unfortunately, the new shared parental leave legislation, despite its name, fails to offer British parents real choice about how to manage work and caring for the baby."
The usual weekly working hours of fathers working full-time fell significantly from 47 to 45 hours a week, remained stable for mothers in full-time employment (39 hours a week), but rose from 17.5 to 18.5 for mothers in part-time employment.
The researchers also found that household employment patterns remain strongly associated with maternal education and family size but are becoming less sensitive to the age of the youngest child.
There was evidence of increasing engagement in full-time employment among better-educated mothers of pre-school children; a growing share of dual full-time earners where parents are highly educated; but a constant small percentage of workless households with low levels of education. There was also a steady share of sole male breadwinner families consisting of less well-educated mothers but mixed educational backgrounds for fathers.
Dr Svetlana Speight, of NatCen, said: "The continued growth in women's educational attainment in Britain is a major structural factor behind the changes in parental working patterns that we observe.
"The growth in dual earning households with pre-school children over the period is consistent with other evidence that improvements in public childcare provision have supported dual earning."
'Britain's slow movement to a Gender Egalitarian Equilibrium: Parents and Employment in the UK 2001 - 2013', Sara Connolly, Matthew Aldrich, Margaret O'Brien, Svetlana Speight and Eloise Poole, is published in Work, employment and society on May 11, 2016.
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New evidence shows that there was an Ice Age refugium in Arabia, possibly on the Red Sea plains, and that the people dispersed and populated Arabia and the Horn of Africa
THE last Ice Age made much of the globe uninhabitable, but there were oases - or refugia - where people 20,000 years ago were able to cluster and survive. Researchers at the University of Huddersfield, who specialise in the analysis of human DNA, have found new evidence that there was one or more of these shelters in what is now Southern Arabia.
Once the Ice Age receded - with the onset of the Late Glacial period about 15,000 years ago - the people of this refugium then dispersed and populated Arabia and the Horn of Africa, and might also have migrated further afield.
The view used to be that people did not settle in large numbers in Arabia until the development of agriculture, around 10-11,000 years ago. Now, the findings by members of the University of Huddersfield's Archaeogenetics Research Group demonstrate that modern humans have dwelt in this territory for far longer than previously thought. The new genetic data and analysis bolsters a theory that has long been held by archaeologists, although they had little evidence to support it until now.
The new argument for an Ice Age refugium in Arabia - perhaps on the Red Sea plains - is put forward in a new article published in the journal Scientific Reports. Its principal author is Dr Francesca Gandini, who was based at the University of Pavia in Italy before relocating in early 2015 to the University of Huddersfield, where she is a Research Fellow in Archaeogenetics and a member of the group headed by Professor Martin Richards.
Dr Gandini is currently playing a central role in the development of an Ancient DNA lab at the University of Huddersfield, which is home to a Centre for Evolutionary Genomics. It has been awarded 1 million by the Leverhulme Trust in order to provide doctoral training to the next generations of specialists in a field that uses the latest DNA science to delve into evolutionary history.
The new discoveries about an Ice Age refugium in Arabia and the subsequent outward migration are based on a study of a rare mitochondrial DNA lineage named R0a, which, uniquely, is most frequent in Arabia and the Horn of Africa. Dr Gandini and her co-researchers have reached the conclusion that this lineage is more ancient than previously thought and that it has a deeper presence in Arabia than was earlier believed. This makes the case for at least one glacial refugium during the Pleistocene period, which spanned the Ice Age.
The new article also describes the dispersals during the postglacial period, around 11,000 years ago, of people from Arabia into eastern Africa. Moreover, there is evidence for the movement of people in the R0a haplogroup through the Middle East and into Europe and there might also have been a trading network and a "gene flow" from Arabia into the territories that are now Iran, Pakistan and India.
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The article Mapping human dispersals into the Horn of Africa from Arabian Ice Age refugia using mitogenomes by Francesca Gandini et al. is in Scientific Reports 6, Article number: 25472.
6, Article number: 25472. The University of Huddersfield is a major centre for the study of evolutionary genetics. Its Archaeogenetics Research Group headed by Professor Martin Richards and Dr Maria Pala is supported by an Archaeogenetics Laboratory for the analysis of contemporary human genetic variation and a state-of-the-art Ancient DNA Facility, managed by Dr Ceiridwen Edwards. Dr Dougie Clarke is also closely involved with both archaeogenetics research and other aspects of phylogenetics and molecular evolution. Dr Martin Carr's Eukaryotic Evolution Group focuses on a number of fundamental topics on a much deeper timescale, in particular eukaryotic phylogenetics and the origins of multicellularity, and the evolution of transposable elements; and Dr Jarek Bryk is developing new approaches to investigating how species adapt to their environment. Dr Stefano Vanin, while also running the Forensic Laboratory of Entomology and Archaeology (FLEA), also works on phylogenetics and circadian clocks.
One of world's leading genomics organizations and UW Medicine sign memorandum of understanding to advance biomedical technology
BGI, one of the world's largest genomics organizations, and UW Medicine have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on biomedical technology development. The shared aim is to advance precision medicine for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of common and rare diseases. BGI is headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
The BGI and UW Medicine collaboration is being announced today, May 11, by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. A memorandum of understanding is also being signed between the city of Shenzhen and the city of Seattle to commit both cities to greater cooperation in medical research and health care.
The memorandum of understanding was signed during the third day of a Murray-led trade delegation to three cities in China, which also includes Hong Kong and Hangzhou. The mission is part of an ongoing effort to encourage more foreign direct investment in Seattle, expand economic opportunities for local companies, and establish international partnerships.
The Seattle Mayor's Office participated in a ceremony in Shenzhen marking the relationship between the cities.
"This agreement between the Cities of Seattle and Shenzhen will encourage and support meaningful cooperation between two global leaders of innovation in medical research and technology," Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said. "Ultimately, it will create new opportunities for our biotech and health care industries, and help advance pioneering medical technology that will benefit patients, doctors and communities around the globe."
The relationship between BGI and UW Medicine will provide new avenues for physicians, scholars and students to cooperate in scientific and medical discovery.
The research and educational collaboration will look particularly at applying next-generation sequencing to improve the health of communities, through population genetics and personalized healthcare.
The work also will include data collection, storage, international sharing and analysis of omics data. Omics refers to the pool of biological molecules - DNA, proteins, metabolites - that affect the structure and function of living things.
BGI is an international leader in pursuing the vision of using genomics to benefit humanity. It has made many major scientific breakthroughs in sequencing human genomes and the genomes of crops, animals and microbes.
BGI makes state-of-the-art genomics highly accessible to the global research community and clinical fields. It does so by integrating the industry's broadest array of technologies, including the BGISEQ platform, with economies of scale and expert bioinformatics resources.
"UW Medicine and BGI share the same goal to improve the heath of the public," said Dr. Yiwu He, global head of research and development at BGI. "Through our partnership, efforts and resources will be joined to produce more innovative healthcare solutions in precision medicine that will lead to more effective treatments available to patients. Advanced technologies and knowledge will also become more accessible to professionals and the public due to this partnership."
BGI President Dr. Jian Wang, said, "As an alumnus of UW, I am really excited about the stronger tie BGI and UW have formed."
He added, "With the commitment of UW Medicine and BGI, more innovations in research, education and healthcare will be developed between Seattle and Shenzhen to benefit the health of people worldwide."
UW Medicine and BGI also will collaborate on the development of a joint Seattle-Shenzhen institute that will involve research institutions in each city including, but not necessarily limited to, UW and BGI.
"BGI is a respected partner in scientific discovery. This new relationship will help fast-track genomic research in some critical areas of medicine," said Dr. John Slattery, vice dean for research and graduate education at UW Medicine.
"We at the UW are looking forward to working alongside BGI in charting the future of genomics research, especially in accelerating the application of new sequencing technologies to human health," said Dr. Jay Shendure, an M.D./Ph.D scientist and professor of genome sciences at the UW, and a national advisor on precision medicine initiatives.
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There is an increasing need and demand for sustainable and cost-efficient technologies in public transport, logistics and industrial production. Electrification and hybridisation of commercial vehicles and mobile machinery offers cost-effective solutions to these and potential gains for process owners and operators. The ECV project entity, coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, has brought together a large number of businesses, research institutions and universities in the field. ECV has contributed in creating domestic products and markets for electric commercial vehicles in the whole value chain from components to systems. The aim of ECV has been to support in the process developing new competitive export products such as electric buses and mobile machinery.
Electric Commercial Vehicles (ECV) project entity, which is part of the Tekes EVE programme, has created a versatile development and expert infrastructure for electric utility vehicles: light and heavy passenger cars, buses, cargo transport and working machinery.
The ECV network's corporate and public research projects have discovered new user-oriented solutions in cooperation with researchers, product developers and end users. Good examples of new electrified products include Linkker's fully electric city buses, Kalmar's hybrid and electric straddle carriers and Visedo's electric and hybrid powertrain solutions. Foreign networks have also been utilised effectively.
"The creation of testing and validation expertise is a key area that can give a boost to the export industry. The Finnish market for working machine industry's machines, components and maintenance services are extremely limited compared to the production," says ECV Network Coordinator, Project Manager Mikko Pihlatie from VTT.
The three main themes of the ECV project entity, which is networked with businesses, are: electricity storage and batteries; vehicles, machines and their power line; and systems for vehicles and mobile machines and charging.
Energy-efficient and fast-charged electric buses from Finland
Energy-efficient and cost-effective electric buses are a step towards emission-free public transport. Low energy consumption decreases the operating costs of the buses.
The first Finnish, fast-charged Linkker electric buses that originated from the ECV network's eBus project, are part of HSL's four-year pre-commercial innovation pilot called "ePeli".
The Finnish electric buses are charged automatically at bus stops while passengers are getting in. Automatic fast-charging systems are being implemented for testing with 12 electric buses in Espoo and Helsinki.
"The batteries of electric buses can be charged with enough energy for the next round in as little as 1.5-3 minutes. Thanks to the aluminium chassis, the bus is light, but it is also quiet and energy-efficient," says Linkker Oy's CEO Kimmo Erkkila.
New consumer-oriented mobility services are tested and developed all the time on the Finnish electric buses. VTT acts as a partner to cities and service contractors in the planning of the electric bus system.
Currently the Finnish buses are running in Espoo, but will be introduced also in Helsinki and Turku this summer. The objective is to get other cities to join in the development of electric public transport.
Apart from public transport, electric commercial vehicles have considerable potential in strictly structured high-capacity industries such as mining, logistics and ports.
Kalmar has launched both a hybrid and a fully electric straddle carrier for ports and expects them to obtain a major market share already in the near future.
"Solutions that save the environment are becoming more and more important especially in port operations owing to tighter regulation," says Vice President Tero Kokko from Kalmar. "Many container ports are also located very near city centres, further contributing to regulations. Hybrid and electric straddle carriers will reduce both carbon dioxide and noise emissions considerably. If operators make use of automation systems, light pollution will also be reduced, because the machines can operate in darkness."
Visedo's electric and hybrid powertrains have not only been used for electric and hybrid buses but also for systems used in mobile machines and in the shipbuilding industry, such as crushers, wood chipping machines and harvesters.
"The market in Europe for electric and hybrid utility vehicles is already beginning to open up, but the real electric traffic market of today lies in China and elsewhere in Asia. Advanced technology in these markets especially in terms of better energy efficiency will create opportunities for Finnish cutting-edge technology," says Visedo's Director for OEM Sales and Marketing Tomi Ristimaki.
Key roles in ECV project have been played not only by VTT, Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) and Linkker but also Transdev, Visedo, Cargotec, City of Espoo, Aalto University, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Tampere University of Technology and the University of Vaasa, among others.
The Tekes-sponsored network has included a total of 13 companies in their own development projects. Altogether 30 companies have co-fundedthe public research project that supports development in the field. All in all, the network's projects have a budget of approximately EUR 18 million.
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http://www.ecv.fi
Additional information:
VTT
Mikko Pihlatie
ECV Network Coordinator, Project Manager
Research Team Leader (Vehicles and Electric Powertrains)
Tel. +358 400 430 395
mikko.pihlatie@vtt.fi
HSL Helsinki Region Transport
Reijo Makinen
Director of Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) Services
Tel. +358 40 595 0201
reijo.makinen@hsl.fi
Linkker Oy
Kimmo Erkkila, CEO
Tel. +358 40 720 7332
kimmo.erkkila@linkkerbus.com
Kalmar Global
Tero Kokko
Vice President, Intelligent Horizontal Transportation Solution
Tel. +358 40 542 7427
tero.kokko@kalmarglobal.com
Visedo Oy
Tomi Ristimaki
Director, OEM Sales and Marketing
Tel. +358 40 708 0505
tomi.ristimaki@visedo.com
Further information on VTT:
Olli Ernvall
Senior Vice President, Communications
+358 20 722 6747
olli.ernvall@vtt.fi
http://www.vtt.fi
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd is the leading research and technology company in the Nordic countries. We use our research and knowledge to provide expert services for our domestic and international customers and partners, and for both private and public sectors. We use 4,000,000 hours of brainpower a year to develop new technological solutions. VTT in social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter @VTTFinland.
In a cross-national study of what European schools are doing to support student mental health and well-being, 47% of surveyed schools indicated that mental health provision is a high/essential priority, but more than half did not implement a school policy regarding mental health.
Half the 1346 surveyed schools--which were located in France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, UK, and Ukraine--reported not providing sufficient support, with barriers including limited staff capacity, funding, and access to specialists and local mental health services, as well as a lack of national policy.
Responses varied by country with 8% to 19% between-country variation across the study outcomes. For example, just over a third of Serbian and French schools indicated having sufficient support in school for their students' mental health compared with more than four-fifths of responding Dutch schools.
"With the increasing focus on schools as the setting for early identification and support for children's mental health, our findings highlight the need for greater resources, training, and access to specialists and services in schools," said Dr. Praveetha Patalay, lead author of the Child and Adolescent Mental Health study.
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Written by ACM
*Strasbourg/Angelo Marcopolo/- Shortly before EU Parliament's LIBE Committee and/or Plenary checks, Next Week in Strasbourg, a Controversial EU - Turkey Deal, and mainly the UnPopular VISA-Free status for 80 Millions of Turks, that Ankara extorted from Europe by Blackmail on Mass Irregular Immigrants' Tsunami via Turkey, President Tayip Erdogan's latest Statements against EU Conditions, (f.ex. on Anti-Terrorism Reforms, Press Freedom, etc), give to Europeans a Chance to Rectify, that should not be missed. Particularly when Official UNHCR and IMO data clearly reveal that a Reduction of Asylum Seekers/Migrants' flow was due to Border Controls by 5 - 6 Countries at the Western Balkans' route, which had Started already Before that Turkey Deal, (See Facts Infra).
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UnPopular
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The simple anouncement, last week, that a Majority inside EU Commission, (as later presented in a Press Conference in Brussels by its vice-President Tindemans, personaly involved in EU-Turkey contacts), would have Accepted the Principle of giving a Total "Visa Free" status to 80 Millions of Turkish Population (according to a 2016 Number, recently endorsed by the CoE), for 6 Months unconditional Entry and Stay inside the EU, each Year, provoked, inter alia, f.ex., in the mainstream French Media "Le Figaro"'s website, an Astonishing, 99% Strongly Negative Giant Wave of numerous Popular Reactions, going from Denouncing EU Bureaucracy, up to Calls for Voting the "FN"s Rightists in the forthcoming April 2017 crucial French Presidential Elections, or even to a Tragic Despair, in an overall Feeling of EU Citizens being Betrayed by "Elites", who haven't even Consulted them, on so Serious Issues which risk to affect People's everyday Life, EU's Socio-Cultural Cohesion, Economy, Security, Identity and Future, (etc).
In Germany, at the Same Time, 62% of the German People are Against such a "Visa-Free" status for all Turks vis a vis the EU, opposed to Only a Small Minority of just 33%, according to several mainstream Media, (such as, f.ex., "Zeit", "Welt", etc). And, there too, Crucial Parliamentary Elections are due for Next Year, (Summer-Autumn 2017).
As for the UK, after UKIP's Chief, Nigel Farage's recent Call at EU Parliament, for Brits to get Out of the EU at least Because of such Threats to let 80 Millions Turkish Population enter inside the EU even without any Visa, at any moment and everywhere, each Year, was added to more recent, Suddenly Pro-Exit Majority Polls, which coincided partly with the way that was perceived that Controversial EU Commission's anouncement, (Comp. Supra). +Former Conservative Party Leader and Minister, Iain Duncan Smith's latest Critical Statements, similar to Farage's, made this point even hotter, (UPDATE). Such events provoked obvious Concerns among EU Politicians that this kind of developments might Fuel a "Brexit" trend in the forthcoming June 2016 Referendum, which, inter alia, have apparently motivated attempts to Postpone Final EU Decisions, (f.ex. by EU Parliament's plenary, but also by EU Commission itself), for a Later, Post-Brittish Referendum period.
Similar EU Citizens and/or EU Politicians' reactions on that Sensitive Issue, (which comes at a quite Bad Moment, just after the Parallel Controversies provoked throughout all Europe by the recent Massive Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants "Tsunami" of more than 1 Million, predominantly Muslim, Immigrants suddenly launched through Turkey, via EU -and Shengen- Member Greece, mainly from August 2015 until March 2016), could easily be found also throughout a lot of more EU Countries Today.
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Dangerous
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EU Citizens' Concerns, as well as those of various EU Politicians, seem quite Justified, and, at least, raise Legitimate Questions. F.ex. :
- Why waste more than 6 Billions to Turkey, while, on the Contrary, on Eu's Western Mediterranean Borders, Morocco and Spain have succeeded to Prevnt Massive Irregular Migration until now, without Spending such Excessive Amounts of EU Taxpayers Money, (including from Poor People, via the VAT, etc), even vis a vis a Continent so Huge Poor and Conflict-stricken as Africa ?
- Why give a Total "Visa-Free" status to 80 Millions of Turkish Population in 2016, while even Armenians, Georgians, Ukranians, Bielorussians, Moldavians, Russians, etc., are still Deprived of such a Privilege, despite being European People, both from a Cultural, Historic and Geographical point of view ?
- Open EU's doors to 80 Millions of Turks, suddenly all Free to enter even Shengen areas and Stay inside the EU as long as 6 Months Each Year, won't enDanger Europe's Socio-Cultural Cohesion, Identity and Feeling of Common Belonging, while also provoking various Risks, in real practice, vis a vis EU's current UnEmployment Problems ? And wouldn't it Risk to Aggravate further a Dangerous Rift separating EU Politicians from EU Citizens, as back on 2005 ?
+ Various converging Revelations about many Extreme ISlamist Terrorists of ISIL's atrocious BeHeaders, even of innocent Civilian People, having Infiltrated the EU through Turkey, by Hiding themselves among the recent Massive Asylum Seekers/Irergular Migrants' Huge "Tsunami", including among those who Attacked and Killed Civilian EU People recently in Paris, Brussels, etc., (Totaling several Dozens, or Hundreds, may be Thousands of "sleeping" Terrorists, according to various Sources and estimations), inevitably raise also various Security Concerns. Moreovern Turkish Regime's notorious Links to ISIL and other Terrorist Groups in Syria and/or Iraq, as well as a recent Finding that Many EU Passports were Transported from Brussels to Turkey, apparently Destinated to ISIL at nearby Seria, Hidden in Pizzas, by a Turkish-origin Smuggler, (according to mainstream German Media), obviously aggravate People's Fears.
- In Addition, as long as Horrible Crimes as that of the Cold-Blood Murder of 3 Dissident Women of Kurdish origin in Paris, Shot and Killed at their Office back on January 2013, (for which an Agent of Turkish Secret Services has been reportedly suspected to be Responsible, during a brief Trip to Europe, as well as, mutatis-mutandis, the recent Mass Aggressions against defenseless Women and Young Girls, ill-treated "like Cattle", during the New Years' Eve, in Cologne, Hamburg and other German Cities, as well as in Sweden, Austria, Denmark, Finland, the UK, etc, add to People's Concerns.
- Moreover, Recent Scandals, as that f.ex. of the Turkish Consulate in the Netherlmands initialy Asking all Turkish Immigrants to Syy on local Journalmists, and Report to Ankara any Publications Critical to ithe Turkish Government's Policies;, followed even by the Prosecution of a German mainstream TV Journalist by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, almost at the same Time that Turkey Interfered even Against a Musical Creation by Dresden's Orchestra inspired by the Armenian Genocide, (etc), provoked a Large Controversy inside the EU, and Concerns about the Future of Press' and other Democratic Freedoms in the EU Threatened by External Interferences orchestrated by a Turkish Government. which has recently Refused or Supressed Press Accreditations to various Western Journalists, added to the Notoriously Oppressive stance of Ankara's regime vis a vis various Dissident Turkish Journalists too.
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Erdogan's Blackmails
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Already initialy extorted from the EU during an exceptional "Black Out" in Brussels, by extreme Pressure and Blackmail exerted by the Turkish Government mainly over the Mass Migrants' Crisis comming from Turkey itself, that Controversial and UnPopular EU - Turkey Deal, and particularly its "Visa-Free" provisions for 80 Millions of Turks, became, furthermore, an object of even More and New Pressures by Turkish Prilme Minister Tayip Erdogan :
AFter Firing his Prime Minister, Davutoglou, who had negotiated that Controversial EU Turkey Deal, Erdogan notoriously Refused to Change the Anti-Terrorism Laws of Ankara's regime, which, among others, are used also in order to Thrteaten and Suppress the Freedom of Expression of Citizens and/or of many Media and Journalists, despite the Fact that a Reform of Turkey's Anti-Terrorism Legislation was celarly alreadly asked by the CoE previously. On this occasion, Erdogan reportedly stressed that EU should "Go its Way", and Turkey its own, while also Accusing EU Parliament in Brussels to Tolerate a "Tent" set up by Dissidents, etc.
Later on, despite a subsequent claim that Turkey would "Work Together" with EU Authorities, towards Advancing Ankara's controversial and unpopular EU bid, etc., Erdogan appeared, more and more, interested by attempts to push forward his demand for a "Visa-Free" status to 80 Millions Turks, while reportedly leaving Pending the Issue of the Sort reserved to the EU - Turkey Deal on the Migrants' Crisis..
A stance which, obviously, provoked Concerns to EU Circles aboput Turkey's veiled Threats to Drop its Promisses to Help Reduce the play of Turkish Smugglers accrodd Eu's External Borders in the Aegean Sea, and/or to Add even More Blackmails to the Detriment of EU's Principles and basic Values, etc.
This would naturaly Challenge EU Leaders' Credibility, and put to a Harrd Test, German Chancelor angie Merkel's, and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's, as well as most EU Parliament MEPs' statements about EU's attachment to its main Principles and Rules, which must Not be Wetered Down exceptionaly in the case of Turkey.
But, does the EU really Need so much Ankara in order to Try to Stop that Massive Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrant's "Tsunami" through Turkey towards EU's External Borders in Greece via the Aegean Sea ?
A Fresh Look at the Factual Data already Published until Now in the Press and/or by the competent International Organisations, clearly reveals that the Real Situation is, in fact, directly Opposite to what might Claim, and that EU Fears about what migfht happen if the Turkish Government didn't respect its Commitments, are groundless.
On the Contrary, such a Passive attitude by the EU, would only allow the Turkish regime to Add even More Pressure and Attempts to Blackmail the EU Countries in order to Multiply Dangerous and Damaging Concessions, to the Detriment of EU Citiens and Europe's Future., as several Warned.
Moreover, such an obvious Risk would be faced by the EU for the sake of something which has become, in Practice, more or less Useless Today, as the overall Recent Developments of the Real Situation on the Spot, show to any Careful Examination of the Facts.
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Useless
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Official Data, mainly from UNHCR and IMO, clearly reveal that, Contrary to a False Impression diffused by most Establisment's Media, it's Not at all since the Entry into Force of the Controversial EU - Turkey Deal that a Reduction of the Number of Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Immigrants tresspassing to EU Member Greece throuth the Turkish Coasts, after the 20 of March, 2016.
In Fact, it's Already long Before that, since 5 or 6 European Transit States, located at the Western Balkans' route, such as Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia and FYROM, even Albania, etc., Started to Implement real Border Controls, particularly after February 18 and mainly March 9, that a Spectacular, Sharp Reduction of Mass Migrants' Inflow appeared and developed astonishingly Fast Results, creating, for the 1st Time, a Strong Downward Trend, (See relevant Numbers cited Infra).
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Until February 23, about 100.000 Migrants from Turkey had reached Greece during the Year 2016 alone, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), i.a almost 2.000 per Day.
But, already on February 18, Police Authorities from European Countries in the Western Balkans reportedly agreed to impose Daily Quota Limits, "acceptable to Austria", preparing Restrictions of the Maximum Number of Borders' Crossings per Day, which started soon to be progressively felt, (particularly on the Greece - FYROM Border), and widely publicized, even at a Global level, (includfing, f.ex., by a critical Statement from UNO's Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, etc).
When 2 or 3 key European Countries, (as f.ex. Serbia and FYROM, etc) partly Closed their Borders at least for Afghan Migrants, back since February 21, the Number of Arrivals Started to be somewhat Reduced, and this was certainly reinforced by EU Council President Donald Tusk's Dissuasive Statement, at the Beginning of March 2016, about European Countries Ceasing to serve for "Transit", (3 of March 2016). Thus, on March 4, arrivals are estimated to Fall at about 500.
But, Shortly After 5 to 6 European Countries completely Stoped the Mass Migrants' inflow at the Balkans' route Borders, from March 9, (i.e. Weeks Before the controversial EU - Turkey Deal starts to operate), the Number of Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Migrants arriving to EU Member Greece via Turkey Droped Down to Only about the Half of what it was before, with just an average of some 1.150 per Day in Mid-March.
=> Thus, according to UNHCR Data, already, as Early as since February, the Total Number of Arrivals in Greece Falls, from More than 67.400+ on January, Down to about 57.000. (And this is Further Reduced to almost 27.000 on March, when the EU - Turkey controversial Deal didn't have but Only less than 10 Days during which it was Just Beginning Progressively).
>>> More Important : UNHCR Official Data reveal that, in Fact, the Biggest Fall in the Numbers or Arrivals occuired BEFORE the Entry into force of that controversial EU - Turkey Deal, (obviously because of the above mentioned Border Controls earlier set up by 5 or 6 European Countries at the Western Balkan Route: Comp. Supra), and NOT AFTERWARDS !
- Indeed, the "Weekly Average" of Mass Asylum Seekers:Irregular Migrants' Arrivals to EU Member Greece through Turkey, Starts to Fall from an almost 3.000 High between 18-24 February, Down to about 2.000 between 25 February and March 3, continuing its Fall Down to about 1.500 between 3 and 9 March, Drasticaly Reduced into Only about 800 during 10 - 16 March, reaching even Lower, with Less than 750 during March 17 - 23, (i.e. when the Controversial EU - Turkey Deal just Starts to Enter into Force).
===> This is tantamount to a Spectacular, sharp Reduction of almsot - 4,5 Times (- 450%) Less Arrivals, just between 18-24 February and 17-23 March, i.e. in Only 1 Month, BEFORE the Entry into force of that EU-Turkey deal, when it was Exclusively the Border Controls set up by 6 European Countries at the Western Balkans' Route, which had entered into play, ( Already as Early as since February 21 and March 9 : Comp. Facts cited Supra).
Compared to that Huge Initial Reduction, the Subsequent Reduction which continues, later-on, under the Combined Effects of Both the Border Controls and the EU - Turkey Deal, the Latter appears as a kind of .. Nain, standing side by side with a Giant ! (See relevant Graphics).
=> In other words, solid and crystal-clear Facts reveal that the alleged, so-called Miraculous Effect of the Controversial EU - Turkey Deal on Mass Asylum Seekers/Irregular Immigrants' Arrivals' Reduction is a Myth, a False Appearance, which Misleads both EU Politicians and EU Citizens... Simply because the 1st and much more Important Reduction of the Number of Arrivals had been already obtained Before the Entry into Force of that EU-Turkey Deal, (and still Continues to operate, until Today), without Wasting 6 Billions , Neither being Obliged to "Accelerate" the UnPopular Turkey's EU bid, Nor even to Give a "Visa-Free" status to 80 Millions of Turks, that the Majority of European People do Not want at all, (Comp. Supra).
If this Trend Continued, without any Obstruction, Diversion or Interference, logically, in pure, simple Mathematics, (even WITHOUT that Controversial and UnPopular EU-Turkey Deal) before the End of April, the Average Weekly Inflow would have Fallen Down to Less than 160, and Before the End of May, Down to Less than 35....
But, in fact, Despite the Addition of the Entry into force of EU-Turkey's Deal, (after March 20), nevertheless, the latest Figures from the International Migration Organisation (IMO), reveal, on the Contrary, an recent Opposite Trend towards an Augmentation of Migrants' inflows through Turkey to EU Member Greece, with much Higher than normaly Expected Weekly during April 24 - 30, and May 1 - 8 : Respectively 371 and 537 .
Greece being the Only EU Country with an Augmentation of Migrants' inflow (always through Turkey) even Today, while in all other European Countries, from Spain to Italy, Bulgaria, FYROM, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, etc., on the Contrary, their inflow was Droping Down.
+ In Addition, more than 376 People were Killed while trying to cross from Turkey to EU Member Greece, through the Aegean Sea this Year (2016) until the First Week of May included, while, at the Same Time, f.ex., at the Western EU External Borders between Spain and Morocco only 5 Deaths occured....
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=> isn't it Time for real Europeans to Wake Up from a Nightmare which durated Too Long, before it provokes Dangerous Harm ?
Many Facts clearly indicate that Simpler Solutions are both Possible, Less Costly, closer to EU Principles, and more Efficient, as some EU Politicians seem to Start realising recently.
The main Key being, naturaly, the Protection of EU's External Borders, including by the Creation of a European CoastGuard, which should be decided by EU leaders at the forthcoming, June 2016 EU Brussels' Summit.
Meanwhile, EU Parliament's Debates, during its Plenary Session of Next Week in Strasbourg, both at an Exceptional LIBE Committee meeting of Monday Afternoon, and inside the Hemicycle, (etc), should normally serve much more in order to Open MEPs' eyes to Real Facts, than in a pro-Turkish Lobby Attempts to Extort even more Concessions from an EU which would then Risk to Loose both its "Soul" and its Credibility, as well as its Money, for something which Facts prove to be largely Useless, Contrary to False Appearances, (Comp. UNHCR, IMO and other Data cited Supra)...
(../..)
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("DraftNews", as already send to "Eurofora"s Subscribers/Donors, earlier. A more accurate, full Final Version might be Published asap).
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Eight years have passed since Georgia was promised in Bucharest that it would one day become a member of NATO. During that time NATO Summits have taken place in Strasbourg-Kehl, Lisbon, Chicago and Newport and we are now approaching the 2016 Summit in Warsaw. Although NATOs door remains open for some, with Montenegro expecting to become the 29th member of the Alliance this year, for Georgia, NATOs open door policy looks increasingly selective. This is not because Georgia is failing to meet expectations. As the United States Ambassador to NATO, Douglas Lute, recently noted, Russia and the strategic environment that it created in its neighbourhood has put a break on NATO expansion for the foreseeable future.
If that is true, Georgia has to guarantee its national security through cooperation with NATO, whilst remaining outside the alliance. The current trends for NATO partners converge on a scheme of cooperation termed associate partnership, or membership minus. The proposed 28+2 formula for the Black Sea was previously tested with Finland and Sweden and it seems to have enough substance to allow the government in Tbilisi to argue that Georgia should remain engaged with NATO until such time as full membership can be achieved. NATO, it appears, will support Georgia short of risking being drawn into war with Russia. In turn, Georgia will reinforce its national security short of having a conclusive and final Article 5 deterrent at our disposal.
What is clear is that Georgias NATO membership no longer hinges on a straightforward conditionality and has very little to do with democratization or interoperability.
Over the last four years, Georgia has emerged as functioning democracy with freedom of speech, rule of law, transparency, and a political level-playing field. Tbilisi has come a long way and can now make this claim with confidence. In terms of some benchmarks, Georgia as a European state often compares favorably with a number of EU member states. This has been attested by the Council of Europe, the European Commission, the World Bank and just about every single independent monitoring agency, from Freedom House to Reporters without Borders. The suggestion that Georgia is somehow failing to meet expectations is both inaccurate and irrelevant. Put otherwise, Georgias democratization has not been linear and evolutionary, but to question the progress made is to undermine the model of democracy promotion as such, not Georgias achievements.
And as far as NATOs benchmarks are concerned, Georgia also compares favorably with a number of member states. Georgia surpasses the 2% of GDP military expenditure which only five NATO member states can claim to do and is second only to the United States for troop contribution to the Afghanistan stabilization mission. In addition, NATO membership in Georgia enjoys more public and political support than in any other candidate for accession, not to mention a number of member states.
The fact that Georgia is being told not to expect a Membership Action Plan in Warsaw is not a failure. It is a decision consistent with NATOs selective open door policy. Be that as it may, Georgia is eager to be a part of the Euro-Atlantic security framework and to boost its security, until its finds a place inside the Alliance.
Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Georgias national security is benefitting from sustained engagement with NATO. Our national defence capacity is deepened and amplified within a Euro-Atlantic framework. The Sachkhere Mountain Training School is an established mountain warfare training facility operational since August 2006, certified as a Partnership for Peace Training and Education Center in 2010. There, the Georgian army can consolidate the operational experience gained through ISAF in Afghanistan. The NATO-Georgia Joint Training and Evaluation Centre in Krtsanisi is in-itself a deterrent of sorts, as troops from various NATO member states will be training in different sites throughout the country. The logic is similar to holding rotating exercises in the Baltic and the Black Seas: building interoperability and, to a certain extent, a deterrence narrative.
With the Euro-Atlantic community, Georgia can achieve more. But, it should also be clear at this point that, as far as relations with Russia are concerned, we are treading a balance between a non-threatening posture and appeasement. The former is legitimate and necessary; the latter is counterproductive and dangerous. The key remains, as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently put it, to keep channels of communication open with Russia. But, the messages we send out are also important.
Brussels has reopened the NATO-Russia Council for the first time since the annexation of Crimea. This does not mean that Europe is ready to recognize the notion of Moscows special interests in the near abroad, unleashing Russias worst animal spirits. The near abroad is not a purely geographic term; it is an imperial concept that replaces the notion of a border with a more fluid concept. States cease to be sovereign and become kin-like entities, with big brothers bullying younger siblings for a port, a road, a pipeline, a military base, a trade regime, or a monument to the Soviet past.
The dangerous fly-by of the USS Cook by a Russian jet off the coast of Kaliningrad and the reported violation of the Polish airspace by helicopter formations are only some in a long string of incidents designed to test NATOs resolve. The Russian-Armenian air defence treaty, the use of the Caspian fleet to hit targets in Syria, the recent escalation of conflict in Nagorno Karabakh, and continued expansion of the Russian backed South Ossetian regime into Georgian territory, beg the question of where a line shall be drawn. Russia may be seeking to emerge as the piece-keeper instead of peace-keeper. Also, it is clear when one accepts the term near abroad, it is only a matter of time before one is confronted with a middle and far abroad.
The status of membership minus needs to make sense for citizens in Georgia, reinforcing their security. The alliance needs to remain committed to a Europe whole and free, including Russia, but with no room for imperialist ambitions. There are times when the Euro-Atlantic community has to be transactional, and others when we can be transformational. But, if we fail to be a community, specific states can be left on their own, with overall negative consequences for European security.
The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELNs aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europes capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.
Of all the creatures you could call evolutionary icons peppered moth, Darwins finches, Haeckels embryos arguably the most risible is the rafting monkey. Even Darwinists seem to understand this.
A Washington Post article includes an interview with an author of a new Science paper, Oligocene primates from China reveal divergence between African and Asian primate evolution, that once again renews the demand for belief in seafaring monkeys. Weve covered this paradox before monkeys cant swim much less sail. Just last month evolutionary theorizing dodged a bullet by avoiding the spectacle of rafting foxes on the worlds oceans.
The researcher, Christopher Beard, explained to reporter Sarah Kaplan how it must be the case that tarsier-like monkeys, evidenced by fossil teeth found in China, sailed on clumps of earth and felled trees, 30-40 million years ago, across an aquatic void separating Asia from Africa, which was then an island:
Its a little complicated, Beard said, almost sheepishly. You dont say. This more convoluted version of our history begins in the Eocene, some 40 million years ago. At this time, Earths climate was hot and humid, and the continents were just beginning to move into the positions they hold today. India was zooming headlong toward the bottom of Asia (the inevitable collision would one day give rise to the Himalayas). An inland sea flooded the center of the Eurasian land mass. And Africa was an island continent, separated from Asia and Europe by a narrow stretch of ocean. Early anthropoid (humanlike) monkeys were flourishing in Asia at that time. But they also, somehow, found a way to migrate across the watery barrier to Africa. And since monkeys dont really swim, scientists best theory about their migration is I kid you not that they sailed across on rafts made of trees. Youre laughing, Beard said, but its now known that this happened repeatedly. Because of the greenhouse conditions, a lot of monsoons were hitting Asia at the time. When that happens, rivers would flood, riverbanks erode. A half an acre of land with a bunch of trees growing out of it falls into a river and floats out to sea. And if there are a bunch of monkeys hanging out in the trees when that happens, he continued, suddenly those monkeys become sailors.
I kid you not. Youre laughing, but its now known that this happened repeatedly. It is known not because anyone can picture the scenario without cracking up or feeling sheepish but because the theory demands it. See here for Casey Luskins earlier comments on the biogeographical conundrum posed by these Chinese monkeys.
And look here for pictures of how the drifting continents were disposed in the relevant time period between the Oligocene and the Eocene. From Asia to Africa by sea was a considerable distance, and monkeys are supposed to have accomplished this feat while clinging for dear life to bits of earth and tree debris? On Lake Washington near our home, I beg my wife and kids not to row out even close to shore on a store-bought inflatable raft!
Science Daily has additional thoughts from Dr. Beard on the mother lode of a half-dozen fossil primate species. A half-dozen is a mother lode? More:
These primates eked out an existence just after the Eocene-Oligocene transition, some 34 million years ago. It was a time when drastic cooling made much of Asia inhospitable to primates, slashing their populations and rendering discoveries of such fossils especially rare. At the Eocene-Oligocene boundary, because of the rearrangement of Earths major tectonic plates, you had a rapid drop in temperature and humidity, said K. Christopher Beard, senior curator at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and co-author of the report. Primates like it warm and wet, so they faced hard times around the world to the extent that they went extinct in North America and Europe. Of course, primates somehow survived in Africa and Southern Asia, because were still around to talk about it. Because anthropoid primates the forerunners of living monkeys, apes and humans first appeared in Asia, understanding their fate on that continent is key to grasping the arc of early primate and human evolution.
Sarah Kaplans article in the Post speaks more than once of the fossils as fill[ing] in the gaps:
The fossils fill a gap, in our understanding of our evolutionary history, Stony Brook University primatologist John Fleagle, who was not involved in the study, told the Christian Science Monitor. They illustrate a whole aspect of primate evolution that wasnt clearly documented before.
But the value of filling a gap lies in reducing the distance you have to leap in order to believe something seemingly far-fetched. More about rafting animals surely makes the challenge for evolution tougher, not easier. I would have said reducing, not increasing, the number of such unlikely sailors would fill a gap.
Image credit: IVPP, Chinese Academy of Sciences; University of Kansas; via Science Daily.
Housing.com has announced the appointment of Ashish Laghate as AVP Product. He will focus on developing world class consumer products and innovation.
In his eight years, Laghate has worked extensively in brand, product management and technology strategy functions at Amazon, Time Magazine and the Washington Post. During his experience with Washington Post and Time Magazine,he led new product development initiatives and was responsible for implementing a product vision with high quality applications and features.
Laghate achieved a massive increase in user engagement for core business at Washington Post through product improvements, bringing double digit growth for the company and making The Post the most read news website in the US. He also spearheaded multiple high visibility projects including the Presidential Election of 2012, the Midterm Election of 2014, the Washington Post Paywall initiative, the Partner Program, Kindle Singles, and the Washington Post IPhone/IPad and Android apps. He also worked with Amazon on its digital initiatives focused towards developing the product road map and enhancing the state-of-the-art software system.
Prior to joining Housing.com, he was an entrepreneur and founded Healthtec in January 2015 to develop a product that provides real-time health care and monitoring to people in rural areas through mobile technology. He successfully tested the product with 4000 people in rural areas across USA and India.
Snehil Buxy, Chief Product Officer, Housing.com said, This entire year our focus is to grow steady and strong by solving pain points in the buy and sell real-estate segment. In terms of product innovation, our team will be working to improve existing features and make new additions to add value for buyers at every step of their home buying journey. Ashishs lineage in the start-up, technology and consumer service world will be a great addition and motivation for the team.
On his appointment, Laghate said Housing.com is one of the rare products that has the ability to change lives of millions of people. It is determined to bring transparency in the real estate ecosystem and empower home-buyers, which is a hallmark of great companies. Im extremely thrilled about the new role at Housing.com. I believe my ability to discern what users want and incorporate that in the existing ecosystem will be an added advantage in making our service offering even more robust for home buyers.
Laghate holds a M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of South Florida, Tampa, FL and a Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunication from Rajiv Gandhi Technological University, India. Ashish has also Audited Judgment & Decision Making course at the Harvard University, Boston, MA.
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As currency exchange market sentiment dampens in response to Asian stocks volatility and falling commodity prices, the New Zealand Dollar exchange rates edged lower versus a number of its major currency exchange peers.
The appeal of the New Zealand Dollar exchange rates (NZD) was improved by the April Manufacturing PMI, which showed that the sector had continued to expand robustly at a print of 56.5.
Nevertheless, the Pound Sterling to New Zealand Dollar (GBP/NZD) exchange rate trended higher on Thursday, thanks to optimism generated by the latest Bank of England (BoE) policy decision.
Tonights New Zealand Manufacturing PMI could offer a rallying point for the New Zealand Dollar exchange rates (NZD) if the sector demonstrates a strong level of expansion.
However, if the domestic economy provides further indication of growing slowdown pressures then the Kiwi is likely to extend its losses as sentiment deteriorates.
As crude oil prices retreat, amid expectations that US inventories swelled in the week ending May 6th, demand for high-yielding assets such as the New Zealand dollar exchange rates cooled.
As a result, the GBP to NZD exchange rate advanced higher, although positive NZ data slowed the appreciation.
The New Zealand Dollar has managed to make fractional gains against the British Pound, however, after UK Industrial and Manufacturing Production data showed that growth slowed beyond expectations in March.
Latest New Zealand/Australian Dollar Exchange Rates
On Tuesday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1
Today finds the pound to pound spot exchange rate priced at 1.
The GBP to USD exchange rate converts at 1.131 today.
The live inter-bank GBP-AUD spot rate is quoted as 1.787 today.
NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 25th Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.
Other Currency Exchange News
New Zealand Dollar (NZD) Exchange Rates Remain Pressured to the Downside Today
As explained above, damp market sentiment has limited the appeal of the New Zealand Dollar exchange rates as traders withdraw from risk-correlated assets.
However, the NZD managed to hold a fractional gain over its Oceanic counterpart thanks to positive domestic data that showed Aprils annual House Sales reached 18.4%.
Analysts at BNZ predict further Kiwi depreciation to come, however, stating;
Weaker fundamentals for the AUD have helped drive the NZD down over the past couple of weeks. A mild recovery in the USD after being hammered through March-April has been an additional factor in driving NZD/USD down 3 cents off its recent high around 0.7055. We continue to see a downward bias for the NZD as the year progresses, helped by further RBA and RBNZ easing, in a world where other central banks have approached their limits for further policy easing. Another US Fed rate hike is expected to come into play later in the year, adding to a downward NZD/USD bias.
Australian Dollar (AUD) Exchange Rates Slide despite Positive Data
Australian Consumer Confidence rose from 95.1 to 103.2 in May; the biggest rise in confidence in close to six-years.
However, the data failed to encourage Aussie (AUD) gains as traders flee from high-yielding assets in favour of safe-haven investments.
With political uncertainty also driving Aussie weakness the Oceanic currency is likely to continue to trend lower versus its major peers for some time to come.
UK Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates Decline after Industrial/Manufacturing Production Disappointed
British ecostats produced disappointing results on Wednesday, causing the Pound to decline versus most of its currency peers including the New Zealand Dollar.
Marchs Industrial Production contracted less-than-expected on the year, but the monthly reading failed to meet with expectations of 0.5% growth; the actual result only reaching 0.3%.
Similarly, Manufacturing Production met with expectations of -1.9% contraction on the year, but monthly growth of 0.1% failed to hit the market consensus of 0.3%.
Unlike neighbour Australia, there is still NZ data due before the close of the week
This economic information will initially consist of tonights cautiously predicted retail sales excluding inflation figure for the first quarter. Following on from this will be the non-resident bond holdings result for April, due tomorrow morning.
After British industry returned to recession for the third time in eight-years, the UK Pound softened versus most of its major peers.
With the IMF warning that the impact of a Brexit could be detrimental for the UK economy, the pound to rand exchange rate was bolstered by speculation that this could encourage a higher vote to remain within the EU.
Confidence in the South African Rand (ZAR), meanwhile, declined following the revelation that South Africa is now only the third largest economy in Africa.
The sterling to rand conversion is likely to remain strong in the near-term outlook, due to favourable circumstances.
GBP has triumphed against the ZAR recently, thanks to poor South African data and a supportive reaction to the latest BoE news.
Given that no major pairing data is out tomorrow, the status quo may remain intact until the coming week.
Poor South African data has had minimal impact on the South African Rand exchange rates (ZAR), as the risk-sensitive currency strengthened in spite of contracting Mining and Gold Production.
While the Pound (GBP) was boosted by the Bank of Englands (BoE) decision to leave interest rates on hold the more dovish outlook of the quarterly Inflation Report prevented the GBP/ZAR exchange rate holding onto its resultant gains.
Disappointing domestic data weighed heavily on demand for the British Pound.
Sterling exchange rates have avoided extended depreciation in response to EU referendum developments, however, thanks to easing Brexit concerns.
Meanwhile, the South African Rand ticked higher versus the Pound as traders take advantage of the Rands comparatively low trade weighting.
For your reference here are the latest FX rates:
On Tuesday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1
The live inter-bank GBP-GBP spot rate is quoted as 1 today.
The pound conversion rate (against euro) is quoted at 1.144 EUR/GBP.
The pound conversion rate (against us dollar) is quoted at 1.131 USD/GBP.
The pound conversion rate (against australian dollar) is quoted at 1.787 AUD/GBP.
At time of writing the pound to new zealand dollar exchange rate is quoted at 1.983.
NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 25th Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.
Pound Sterling (GBP) Exchange Rates Struggle on Weak Industry Output
British ecostats produced disappointing results today, showing that both Industrial Production and Manufacturing Production returned to recession for the third time in 8-years.
Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit said: The goods-producing sector therefore looks to be on course to act as a drag on the economy again in the second quarter, contributing to a slowing in economic growth to near-stagnation. Growth could be even weaker if the surveys disappoint in coming month, which seems probable given the intensifying uncertainty over the outcome of the EU referendum.
A warning from NIESR that the UKs economic could slow by over 1% in the event of a Brexit also weighed on demand for the Pound.
South African Rand (ZAR) Exchange Rate News and Outlook
In reaction to a huge loss in Hong Kongs Hang Seng Index, market sentiment dampened considerably.
Despite this, however, the emerging market South African Rand climbed versus many of its currency rivals including the Pound and the US Dollar.
The slight ZAR appreciation is likely to be the result of traders taking advantage of the Rands low trade weighting after the Rand dived following data that showed South Africas jobless rate climbed to 26.7%, the highest in at least 8-years.
More entrepreneurs from overseas are coming to Canada through the country's start-up visa programme, the latest immigration figures show.As a result the benefits are spreading growth and opportunity to middle class families across the country, according to officials.At the beginning of May 2016 some 51 entrepreneurs had become permanent residents of Canada through the programme, representing 26 start-ups that have launched or will be launching.They are setting up business in communities across Canada, including Sydney, Halifax, Fredericton, Toronto, Mississauga, Waterloo, Thunder Bay, Calgary, Whistler, Vancouver and Victoria.The start-up visa started slowly but has steadily picked up steam, said Arif Virani, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.Every start-up that is established here has the potential to provide jobs and economic opportunity for Canadians, contributing to our countrys growth and diversity, he added.The figures also show that the start-up visa programme is drawing successful applicants from a diverse range of countries, including Australia, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Iran, South Africa and Uruguay, and across a number of industries, including technology, food product manufacturing, education, medical research, banking, human resources, and advertising.The five- year pilot programme allows entrepreneurs who have the support of a designated Canadian entity to apply for permanent residence as they establish their company in Canada.Virani added that demand for the programme is growing, with more than 50 additional permanent resident applications still in process from entrepreneurs from around the world.Indeed, they have the support of a designated Canadian venture capital fund, angel investor group or business incubator to launch their start-ups in Canada.Applicants need to have a Letter of Support from a designated angel investor group, venture capital fund or business incubator and meet the ownership requirements for a qualifying business.They also need to get scores of at least Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 5 in all four categories for either English or French, and have an adequate amount of money to settle and provide for the cost of living prior to earning an income.For the programme there is a minimum investment level of $200,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian venture capital fund or $75,000 if the investment comes from a designated Canadian angel investor group.Visa applicants do not need to secure any investment from a business incubator. However, they must be accepted into a Canadian business incubator programme.
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WASHINGTON Ted Cruz teased radio listeners about rejoining the Republican presidential race Tuesday, even as he traveled back to Washington to the resume his duties as the Texas junior senator following a 13-month campaign.
With voters going to the polls in West Virginia and Nebraska, Cruz went on the air with conservative radio host Glenn Beck to say he would be willing to reconsider his prospects, which he abandoned after he lost the Indiana primary last week.
In his first interview since quitting the race, Cruz was asked if he would jump back in if he saw a path to victory for example, by beating presumptive nominee Donald Trump in Nebraska.
I am not holding my breath. My assumption is that that will not happen, Cruz said on Becks nationally syndicated radio program, hours before the polls closed in the Cornhusker State.
But listen, let me be very clear, if there is a path to victory, we launched this campaign intending to win. The reason we suspended the race last week is that with the Indiana loss, I didnt see a viable path to victory.
If that changes, Cruz continued, we will certainly respond accordingly.
Said Beck: I take that as a big yes.
Beck, a prominent Cruz campaign backer, also urged Nebraska listeners to vote for Cruz.
Asked to clarify his remarks later in a press conference outside his Senate office, Cruz said that while he had suspended his campaign and did not expect to win Nebraska a state once considered favorable to him he would reconsider under unspecified conditions.
Its in the hands of the voters, Cruz said. If circumstances change, we will always assess changed circumstances.
Cruzs remarks came as Republicans in Washington anguished over whether to support Trump, the partys de facto nominee since Cruz left the race.
Returning to his Senate office, Cruz sidestepped questions about whether he could eventually endorse Trump.
There are two and a half months before the Republican convention, and six months before the general election, he said. There will be plenty of time for voters to make the determination who theyre going to support.
He also ruled out a third-party candidacy.
Trump is scheduled to meet Thursday with Republican leaders in Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who came under withering criticism from former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for saying he was just not ready to get behind Trump.
Ryan, like others in the Republican hierarchy, sought to play down the significance of the meeting, as well as the intra-party rift that it signifies.
You should know that Thursdays Ryan/Trump meeting is not the most important thing happening in DC this week, said Ryans press secretary, AshLee Strong, in an email to reporters Tuesday. Ryans immediate priority, she said, is passing legislation to address the national opioid epidemic.
Among those who moved into Trumps camp Tuesday was Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who had remained neutral in the primaries, declining to endorse either Trump or his Senate colleague from Texas.
Im for the nominee of the party. If its Donald Trump, Ill support him wholeheartedly, Cornyn told reporters. Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, long has had a frosty relationship with Cruz, who has been sharply critical of the Senate GOP leadership.
Cornyns decision came a week after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell offered a lukewarm endorsement of Trump. The Kentucky Republican said he was committed to supporting the nominee chosen by Republican voters, but added that the onus was on Trump to unite our party around our goals.
Cruz, who lashed out at Trump as a pathological liar on the last day of his campaign in Indiana, could face a more difficult path than some of his former rivals.
Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry already has said he will support Trump, adding that he also would be open to being his running mate. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who is retiring at the end of his current term, has not said whether he will back the billionaire businessman, but he disavowed any interest in being his running mate.
Also among the holdouts are former GOP rival Jeb Bush and his prominent family members: George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, the only living former presidents in the Republican Party.
The Bushes, along with former GOP presidential nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain, also have decided against attending the July national convention in Cleveland, a move widely seen as a rebuke to Trump.
In recent days, Cruz has made clear that he intends to hold on to as many of his 564 convention delegates as he can, possibly with the aim of making a stand in Cleveland on a series of conservative issues in the GOP party platform, a fight that likely would keep him in the national spotlight for some time.
Some political analysts question whether Cruz, even as one of the last remaining Trump rivals, can have much of an impact on Trumps unorthodox candidacy in the general election.
However, a boisterous platform battle in Cleveland along with his continuing perch as a Senate rebel could position Cruz as a conservative movement leader as the Republican Party regroups for the 2020 presidential elections.
My sense is, we havent heard the last of Ted Cruz, said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who has followed Cruzs career in the Senate. Whatever gets him on a stage, hell do. That could be the Senate. ... If hes going to stay on the national stage, he needs a platform.
Returning to his office, where his Senate staff greeted him with a standing ovation, Cruz said he will continue to be a conservative voice in Washington, even if he has been branded an establishment outcast.
Im going to continue fighting for the American people, and if fighting for the American people makes you an outsider in the Senate, then I will happily remain an outsider, he said. I recognize a lot of folks in the media, a lot of folks in Washington, are eager to write the epitaph for the conservative movement.
In dismissing the chances of getting back into the 2016 race, the 45-year-old freshman senator also hinted that this may not be his last foray into presidential politics.
I appreciate the eagerness and excitement of folks in the media to see me back in the ring, Cruz said. But you may have to wait a little bit longer.
kevin.diaz@chron.com
twitter.com/DiazChron
This story has been updated with comments from this mornings news conference.
When it comes to disparities in child well-being in Bexar County, people often dont want to confront an unpleasant truth the role race and ethnicity play.
They say, Its not race, its poverty, said Jennifer Lee, a data analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities, which released a report today about how kids are faring in San Antonio, broken down by race and ethnicity. But really, its about race and poverty.
Lee spoke to some 200 local child advocates and civic leaders this morning who had come together to hear about the study by the Austin-based think-tank, which advocates for low-income Texans and children.
The report found that about 27 percent of children in Bexar County live in poverty, a condition that falls harder on Hispanic and African-American families.
Almost one of three Hispanic or African-American children is impoverished, vs. 13 percent of Anglo children and 11 percent of Asian children.
Discussing race as it relates to poverty makes people uncomfortable, Lee said, because of the threat it might lead some to blame the children themselves, viewing them as broken.
But instead the reality is that the structure itself is broken, the systems of support, shaping those outcomes, she said. Without breaking down the data by race and ethnicity, you are missing part of the picture, and whats going on with those kids and families.
The study found that disparities that stem from poverty rates show up in myriad ways:
Hispanic students in the county are more than seven times more likely to be enrolled in high-poverty school districts than their Anglo peers. Poor districts are more likely to have higher teacher turnover rates and teachers with less experience.
Twenty-four percent of children in San Antonio live in high-poverty neighborhoods. San Antonio now is one of the top metro areas with the highest degree of wealth segregation and poverty concentration in Texas.
Single-mother-headed households are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty as single-father families.
About 45 percent of female-headed households that are Hispanic are poor, compared to 22 percent of female-headed households that are Anglo. More than one in three children in Bexar County lives with a single parent, the study found.
The local overall child poverty rate has worsened slightly since 2009, when it was 25.1 percent, census data show
The poverty threshold for a family of four is $24,300 in annual household income, 2016 federal poverty guidelines state.
The CPPP report does provide some glimmers of light: The county has one of the lowest child uninsured rates in Texas, with health coverage improving across all demographic groups over five years.
But even that good news comes with strings attached: Hispanic children still are the most likely to be uninsured, with 10 percent lacking health care coverage in 2014, vs. 15 percent in 2009.
In comparison, only 4 percent of Anglo children went without insurance in 2014, down from 7 percent five years prior.
Where children grow up in San Antonio, which zip code they reside in, can have a dramatic impact on how children do, Lee said, referring to maps that show white children largely live in low-poverty, northern sectors of the city. Hispanic and black children are more likely to live in high-poverty areas.
This affects access to good schools, to educational opportunities, she said.
When comparing education quality, like teacher instability, inequitable school funding and other education-related benchmarks, Hispanic and African-American children in Bexar County fare worse than Anglo children.
The CPPP compared two school districts one rich, one poor to see how children do regarding teacher instability and other issues.
In Alamo Heights, the rich district, the student population is 54 percent Anglo and 40 percent Hispanic, while the poor district, Harlandale, is 97 percent Hispanic. In fact, five of the six districts with the lowest property wealth per student have student populations that are more than 90 percent Hispanic.
School funding largely is tied to taxes based on property values within a district, and court battles over inequalities have have raged in San Antonio and Texas for decades.
District wealth disparities correlate to a number of problems, the CPPP said.
The three districts with the highest shares of first-year teachers Edgewood, Southwest and Somerset serve predominately low-income and Hispanic students, while the two districts that serve the largest share of Anglo students Alamo Heights and Northeast have the lowest share of first-year teachers.
The report found 42 percent of African-American students and 31 percent of Hispanic students attended schools that had more than 20 percent teacher turnover during the 2014-15 school year, vs. 23 percent of Anglo students.
Wealth and poverty segregation at the neighborhood level in San Antonio springs in part from historical discriminatory practices, the study noted.
In the 1800s and early 1900s, housing developers refused to sell or rent to African-American and Hispanic families, forcing them into poorer areas with few services.
In the 1930s, many Hispanic families lived in a 4-square-mile area on the West Side known as the Mexican Quarter, home to some 65,000 people.
Similarly, African-American families were sequestered to a few neighborhoods on the East Side.
Children attended schools that were designated white, colored and Spanish-speaking.
Mayor Ivy Taylor spoke at todays meeting, noting that the statistics as unacceptable.
We have to do better for our children, she said, while outlining some of the local initiatives that aim to do just that, such as the expansion of prekindergarten programs and My Brothers Keeper, which seeks to help boys and young men of color.
mstoeltje@express-news.net
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The citys uneasy, interdependent relationship with San Antonio Pets Alive begins a new chapter today.
Thats when the City Council receives a mid-year budget briefing that will include a proposed $375,000 bailout (from the citys contingency funds) for the nonprofit, which is in the middle of a serious fiscal crisis. The council will vote on the plan Thursday.
By all accounts, SAPA is on an unsustainable path. A few weeks ago, the organization requested $500,000 from the city in operational support for the remainder of the year, so the proposed city bailout is actually less than SAPA wanted.
The organization perpetually struggles to raise funds and to bring in enough animals to meet the demands of its contracts with the city.
At the same time, the citys Animal Care Services department isnt necessarily on a sustainable path without SAPA either.
After all, SAPA came into existence at the special request of ACS, whose reps were looking for a high-volume rescue group to help the city attain no-kill status, which is defined as the live release of at least 90 percent of incoming animals.
In 2011, ACS asked Dr. Ellen Jefferson, the executive director of Austin Pets Alive, to bring her Austin model to S.A.
SAPAs first 41/2 years have been fraught with instability, epitomized by the March firing of then-CEO Dru Placette, only five months into his tenure.
Former board chairwoman Debra Innocenti told me last month that SAPA has suffered because, unlike Austin Pets Alive, it did not get to grow organically.
SAPA representatives did not respond to an interview request for this column.
Local rescue activist Deanna Lee said shes conflicted about SAPAs request for a city bailout.
We need an agency like SAPA, but not with their current management and infrastructure, Lee said.
A common complaint in the local rescue community is that SAPA has been a byproduct of the citys obsessive drive to attain no-kill status, an obsession that critics argue has put statistical goals ahead of quality-of-life issues.
At its worst, no-kill can have the unintended effect of encouraging animal-care agencies to drag their feet on picking up strays, because the more strays that get taken in, the more potential euthanasia cases for the city to confront.
Along those lines, some observers argue that SAPA has functioned as a convenient place for the city to unload animals, because it shifts the burden to a private organization, and removes accountability from Animal Care Services.
Its kind of a too-big-to-fail situation with SAPA, Lee said. SAPA has been largely responsible for the live release rates for ACS.
SAPAs high-volume contract with the city requires the organization to pull at least 4,000 animals per year from the city shelter, and provides SAPA with $50 per animal it takes. Also, SAPAs contract for the operation of the city-owned Paul Jolly Center for Pet Adoptions requires it to take in a minimum of 3,000 additional pets every year.
Chris Garza, the organizations former marketing director, recently told me that SAPA, like Animal Care Services, became consumed with numbers.
SAPA took on a much larger job than they could handle financially, Garza said. So their focus was always on the number of animals, and not necessarily on the sustainability of the organization.
Lee added, SAPA was supposed to get the dogs adopted, but some animals taken in by SAPA have ended up on the street because they didnt properly vet the fosters.
In January, the city announced it had reached no-kill status for the first time in its history.
At the time, then-ACS Director Kathy Davis said no-kill status has never been a destination, but a journey on the path to creating a more humane city.
While its highly debatable whether the city should sink $375,000 of taxpayer money into propping up a shaky organization, at least some accountability strings are being attached to the bailout.
In exchange for the funds, the city plans to require that SAPA provide a $150,000 match, a seat on the organizations board and a guarantee that it will hire a new CEO by the end of July.
At this point, both ACS and SAPA have good reason to resent their interdependent relationship, but it doesnt look likely to end anytime soon.
GrayStreet Partners, a local urban developer thats been scooping up land downtown, has struck a tentative agreement with Hearst to buy the historic Light building.
The media conglomerate, which owns the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle, put the Depression-era building at 420 Broadway on the market last fall as part of a nationwide effort to sell its real estate assets. The building was home to the San Antonio Light until 1993, when Hearst shut down the 112-year-old newspaper after failing to find a buyer.
An adjacent property at the 300 block of North Alamo Street with two historic buildings is also part of the package; overall, the two properties span 3.13 acres.
The deal has not been finalized, Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer said. GrayStreet managing partner Kevin Covey didnt respond to requests for comment.
The value of Hearsts properties for sale has skyrocketed as San Antonios Decade of Downtown development project launched in 2010 lures more builders to the city center with tax breaks and other incentives. The land was assessed at a combined $6.76 million this year, an 86 percent increase from $3.64 million in 2014, according to the Bexar Appraisal District.
The properties sit along a dreary stretch of Broadway that is yet untouched by the development boom underway a half-mile to the north.
But the area has attracted attention from some of San Antonios most prominent developers, especially David Adelman, founder of Area Real Estate, who owns about 1.4 acres at the intersection of Broadway and Third Street, across from the Light building, along with other properties. One of GrayStreets founders, Paul Covey, already owns about 0.6 acres across Fourth Street from the Light building through another company, Ithaca Investments Ltd., according to county property records. He bought the property in 2006.
GrayStreets interest in the Light building, which the city has designated a historic landmark, obviously means that theres a real long-term vision for that entire stretch, said District 1 Councilman Roberto Trevino. I like the fact that theres movement, and I know GrayStreet Partners is very proactive.
GrayStreets contract with Hearst was first reported by the San Antonio Business Journal Tuesday.
If it is completed, the Light sale would be the latest in a streak of high-profile purchases by GrayStreet that has enthralled city and county officials struggling to bring investment downtown. Last spring, the developer bought nine properties on Houston Street, a few blocks from the Light building, including the historic Kress, Vogue and Frost Bros. buildings. The developer has announced plans to invest between $150 million and $200 million in those properties and its other holdings in San Antonios urban center over the next five years.
GrayStreet is investing in the Broadway corridor, which has seen a surge in development from Interstate 35 through the Museum Reach to the Alamo Heights area. Over the last two years, GrayStreet has quietly amassed 3.6 acres of properties around The Pearls main entrance at the intersection of Broadway and Pearl Parkway. Its executives havent revealed what they have planned there.
Last fall, GrayStreet bought the Travis Park Plaza office building and a parking garage next to downtowns Travis Park, two blocks from Broadway.
The part of Broadway near the Light building was formerly a hub for car dealerships, and long stretches of it are still in the hands of the Cavender family, owner of the Cavender Auto Group. Billy Cavender told the Express-News that a deal is in the works for the former Cadillac dealership at Broadway and 8th Street.
The Light, which published its first issue in January 1881, was Texas only Republican daily newspaper for a while in the late 19th century, according to the Texas State Historical Association; later, it adopted a liberal-Democratic attitude. For decades, it was engaged in a fierce rivalry with the Express-News. Legendary publisher William Randolph Hearst incorporated the newspaper into his media empire in 1924, and it moved into its namesake building in 1931.
In 1992, Hearst Corp. announced it was buying the Express-News from Rupert Murdochs News Corp. and that it planned to sell or close the Light. After failing to find a buyer, it shut down the Light in January 1993. At the time, the Light had more than 600 employees, according to the historical association.
The Light building housed the Express-News business operations until around 2009, when the newspaper consolidated its staff into its current building on Avenue E in the midst of layoffs and an industry downturn.
As part of its effort to sell its real estate, Hearst sold the Houston Chronicles headquarters in downtown Houston in October to a development group, according to the Chronicle.
rwebner@express-news.net
@rwebner
Whataburger has expanded its land holdings around its North Side corporate headquarters for the second time since moving to San Antonio in 2009, buying a 2.4-acre property with a three-story building through a subsidiary controlled by company executives.
The San Antonio-based burger chain bought the building at 400 Concord Plaza Dr. last month from OI Rehab LP, according to county property records. The 50,000 square-foot building is currently home to the Orthopaedic Institute and was appraised at $10.7 million this year by the Bexar Appraisal District.
As our company continues to grow, Whataburger reviews all investment opportunities on our campus and throughout our community, the company said in a statement. Its representatives didnt answer questions about whether it is moving into the building or hiring more staff.
OI Rehab, which had owned the building since 2012, is managed by Sergio Viroslav, who is a surgeon with the San Antonio Orthopaedic Group, which operates the institute. The property is located near the crossing of Jones Maltsberger Road and US 281.
The institute has a long term lease in place and no plans to move at this time, it said in a statement.
Whataburgers subsidiary, 400 Concord TX LLC, doesnt identify the burger chain as its parent company, but Chairman Thomas Dobson, CEO Preston Atkinson, General Counsel Michael Gibbs and CFO Edward Nelson are listed as governing persons on state registration documents.
In 2013, another LLC controlled by Whataburger executives, CA Real Estate LLC, bought a 5.23-acre property just to the north of the headquarters with a 98,985 square-foot office building. That property was appraised at $7,197,160 this year.
Whataburger and its subsidiaries now own 13.3 acres of contiguous property there, including the companys 5.7-acre headquarters a three-story, 152,000 square-foot building. Whataburger has been in the building since 2009, when it moved its headquarters from Corpus Christi to San Antonio for access to the citys airport and highways and because of it is closer to other states with Whataburger restaurants. The building was previously the headquarters of Tesoro Corp.
Separately, BBVA Compass announced Wednesday its moving its local corporate office from a high-rise tower at 200 Concord Plaza Dr. just south of Whataburgers headquarters to the Weston Centre tower downtown.
Whataburger, which was founded in 1950, has more than 790 restaurants in 10 states and more than 35,000 employees, according to its website.
rwebner@express-news.net
@rwebner
(With updates from the state response, toward bottom)
SALEM, Ohio The union that represents corrections staff at Ohios prison farms is suing the state and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for an injunction against closing and selling the states prison farms.
The Ohio Civil Service Employees Association, which represents 8,600 employees within the DRC and 56 within the prison farms, filed a motion for a temporary restraining order May 5, in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.
Collective bargaining
In the lawsuit, the union argues its collective bargaining rights were not met, and the union was not given appropriate notice of the decision to close and sell, nor the opportunity to negotiate.
The union also argues that selling the cattle and land now will damage any future potential for negotiation.
This is clearly an end run around the unions collective bargaining agreement. But it also goes against common human decency, said union president Chris Mabe, in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
The DRC announced its intent to sell the prison farms April 12, saying the funds would be better spent on programming and training within prison walls. The prison farms currently provide food for the Ohio prisons system, job training opportunities and food for the Ohio Association of Foodbanks.
Out to bid
According to the lawsuit, public bids have already been requested for auctioneer services, and the first sale of dairy cattle is suggested to be held May 24, involving dairy cattle from the Pickaway Correctional Institution.
Two of the state farms, located in Marion and London, Ohio, were in the final stages of building new cattle barns and a new dairy parlor when the decision to close and sell all farms was announced. About $9 million worth of farm improvements were being finished.
Rick Savors, media relations manager with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission, told Farm and Dairy those projects were nearly finished, but that ag-specific equipment, such as cow stalls, would not be installed due to the pending closure. He said the state will look at ways it can repurpose the facilities that were completed.
The abandoned project has been a point of concern for the union, and various farmers who dont understand why the state would build new dairy barns, and a new dairy parlor, but not use them.
The union estimates the new barns would have increased meat and dairy production about three times above the current amount.
Something is not adding up here, Mabe said.
State response
Attorneys for the state filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit May 9, arguing the common pleas court lacks the jurisdictional powers to issue an injunction, and that the union has not met the requirements for injunction.
The state claims the court is patently and unambiguously without jurisdiction to enter any type of injunctive relief.
The state also claims that collective bargaining rights only ensure the union the opportunity to discuss a planned closure with the employer not the right to bargain over the decision to close.
Repurchasing livestock
And the state says that the union has failed to demonstrate irreparable harm, arguing that the sale of livestock and farm equipment could later be re-purchased, if required by law.
If the state of Ohio is ultimately found to not have the authority to close various farms, it can repurchase cattle and other implements necessary to conduct prison farm operations, according to the state.
Cattle versus land
The state points out that the sale of the farmland itself will require an action of the General Assembly, which, if approved, would not become effective until 90 days after being signed by the governor.
At the same time, public bid documents show that the corrections department intends to sell most of its dairy cows by June 9. Without cows, the prison farms would presumably be done producing milk.
Should the state sell its livestock and equipment now, and later be required to repurchase those items and animals, its unclear what effect the change would have on the herd genetics, herd production, animal welfare and farm profitability.
Research shows that cow herds that are moved to new environments will likely produce less milk the first few days, and be susceptible to shipping stress but eventually will adapt.
Industry leaders and farmers locked horns in a Brexit debate at the British Pig & Poultry Fair today, with passions running high on both sides of the argument.
Organised in conjunction with BBC Farming Today, which will be airing the debate at 6.30am on Radio 4 on Saturday, the panel featured AHDB chairman Peter Kendall, MEP Stuart Agnew, farmer Colin Rayner and poultry producer James Hook.
On the pro-EU side, Sir Peter Kendall argued that 14% of the UK's poultry and 19% of its pork were exported to EU nations, so it was essential to retain that open market.
"We need a reality check of what those who want to leave are advocating," he said.
"The drive for cheaper food and reduced import tariffs would leave UK farmers competing against ever lower priced imports and if EU countries imposed new tariffs that would only come off the farmers' bottom line"
Leaving the single market 'wouldn't be a disaster'
However, Stuart Agnew claimed that EU regulation only added cost to British farming, and insisted that even within the EU there wasn't a level playing field.
"There are still caged hens and sow tethers out there," he said.
"The future within the EU is far from certain, with tremendous concerns over the Euro, EU growth, and middle Eastern migration. This project is failing."
But leaving the single market wouldn't be a disaster, said Agnew. "We export a lot to China and they're not in the single market.
"We also import far more goods from the EU than we export to them there's a deal to be done here."
Serious impact on free movement of people in EU
However, James Hook warned that leaving the EU would have a serious impact on free movement of foreign workers, who were vital to so many British businesses.
"It's taken 40 years to get here, and it's working. We have strong supply chains, EU tariffs in our favour and good trade," he said "Why would we risk it it's a massive gamble."
Berkshire farmer Colin Rayner said British farming had survived before EU subsidies and would survive after leaving the EU.
"The EU isn't going to be recognisable in 10 years time it's time for us to be brave enough to stand on our own two feet, he said.
It was also preferable to be able to hold British politicians accountable rather than be told what to do by foreign commissioners, he added.
But Sir Peter wasn't so sure. "At the moment we have a supportive government but what if we have a labour coalition with Nicola Sturgeon in the future? I'd actually rather have the Germans, Irish and French working for agriculture."
The Australian dairy sector has been thrown into turmoil following revelations that Murray Goulburn (MG), Australias largest co-operative, has paid too much for its milk over the last 10 months.
The overpayment is estimated at 100m, and MG is looking to claw back the money from its farmers over the next three years.
As a result, four members of the co-ops senior management team resigned and the coop has been forced to downgrade its profit forecast by more than half.
Prior to the announcement, MG had continued to hold its milk price up despite falling global commodity prices.
Fonterra Australia, which had initially forecast a milk price of $3.90/kgms (15.2ppl) had been forced to match MGs price of $5.60/kgms (21.8ppl) to satisfy benchmark obligations.
However, more recently, both processors have cut their prices by the equivalent of about 2-3ppl.
In order to soften the blow to their suppliers, Fonterra Australia is offering loans to suppliers to make up the difference.
MG has announced a support package to farmers, which will be deducted from milk payments over the next three years.
The situation has led to concerns over the future of the Australian dairy industry with some farm lobby groups calling for an independent review.
Guaranteed financial support from the EU to the UK's farmers means they have a better deal as part of the union, EU agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan said in Wales.
Welsh farmers gathered to hear the views of the Commissioner and UKIP MP Stuart Agnew, who also sits on the European Parliaments Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee.
Hogan has been in Northern Ireland trying to persuade farmers to vote to remain in the European Union.
Speaking about the payments made to those in the agricultural industry from the EU budget, he said there would be no guarantee that farmers would be able to get money elsewhere if the UK opted to leave.
"Welsh farmers appreciate the fact that they're part of a large European market of 500m customers."
"In the event of a Brexit, Wales like the rest of the UK would have to negotiate free trade agreements again. It would be quite an inconvenience."
'Time to depart the CAP'
Agnew, who produces free range eggs in East Anglia, said in February the UK would be better off out.
"The UK ran a huge trade deficit with the rest of the EU," he said.
He said that the Common Agricultural Policy had been generous to farmers between 1972 and 1984.
"Ever since then we have been on a steady downhill slide of increasing regulation, and the support for the industry is getting harder and harder for farmers to get at.
Referring to delays in the CAP: "We have had the best of it. Its now time to depart the CAP.
"Its not fit for purpose; 28 countries you are going to north of the Arctic Circle with commercial reindeer farming, down to a Mediterranean island where people are following clapped out draft oxen with a wooden plough, or to here in the UK with 550 horsepower tractors. You cannot get a common market in that situation."
'EU supports family farming tradition'
Hogan spent time with farmers in County Down, Northern Ireland, taking questions from dairy, beef and sheep farmers.
"Whether they are dairy farms in Fermanagh or orchards in Armagh, the European Union has supported Northern Irelands family farming tradition and provided it with strong prospects for the future," said Mr Hogan.
"It offers the worlds largest agri-food markets, with exports exceeding 129 billion in 2015. In total, farmers in Northern Ireland have the opportunity to capitalise on over 53 trade agreements which allow for agri-produce to be exported and imported without any red tape.
"As part of our ongoing negotiations, we aim to establish new trading agreements which would enable all EU member states to extend their sales to other Asian markets.
"CAP Single Farm Payments to farmers in Northern Ireland is worth in excess of 2.3 billion from 2014-2020. To put that figure into perspective, annual payments from the European Union account for 87 per cent of annual farm incomes, compared to 53 per in the UK as a whole.
"In other words, for every 10 sterling that Northern Irish farmers earn, the Common Agricultural Policy accounts for 8.70 of that total," he said.
Sclerotinia sprays will be the key focus for oilseed rape crops over the next three to four weeks.
The risk has been low up until now, with soils too cold to trigger apothecia into significant spore release.
But, with temperatures climbing and settled conditions, infection pressure is now escalating rapidly.
Furthermore, most crops have yet to start significant petal fall that is a key to infection outbreaks.
Where petals coated with Sclerotinia ascospores stick on stems, they provide a food source that allows the disease to develop and penetrate into the plant.
And that could be further exacerbated by the huge incidence of Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle larvae damage to leaf petioles that create an open entry point for infection.
Syngenta Field Technical Manager, James Southgate, urged growers to make Amistar applications now, if they have not yet already applied a Sclerotinia treatment.
"There is still ample soil moisture and damp conditions within the crop canopy to allow infection to develop. All Sclerotinia fungicides work most effectively when applied prior to infection," he advised.
"The key advantage with Amistar is that, even if infection doesnt occur, crops still get the benefit of the greening effect and healthy leaf retention that drives economic yield and valuable improved oil content of seed."
With significant Light Leaf Spot infection on lower leaves and the effects of CSFB infestation many plants already have damaged or decaying vegetative material at the bottom of the crop canopy which could create ideal conditions for Sclerotinia infection.
James advocated applications should be targeted to coat petals with spray, but also with sufficient water volume and using angled nozzles to achieve penetration of the canopy and provide a protective coating throughout the plants.
Light Leaf Spot update
With this seasons cool weather conditions, until now, Light Leaf Spot has continued to develop in many oilseed rape crops, and even spread onto new leaves at the top of the canopy.
Walking crops in the Cotswolds last week (5th May), ADAS OSR pathologist, Faye Ritchie, identified pronounced twisting of new leaves that characterises early onset of Light Leaf Spot, with some early leaf spotting symptoms on the underside of leaves.
"The hot sunny weather should help to limit further development, but where disease is evident on upper leaves, growers and agronomists can consider including a LLS spray in the mix at this stage she advised.
James Southgate advocated that, where Light Leaf Spot is still active when the flowering spray is made, a good solution would be to tank mix Amistar at 0.5 0.8 l/ha with prothiaconazole to boost LLS activity.
This weeks Pig & Poultry Fair saw the launch of two annual publications, which between them provide a wide range of information about the pork market.
The Pig & Poultry Pocketbook provides easy access to a range of key statistics about the pig and poultry sectors, including industry structure, production, prices, international trade and consumption.
Among the new features this year are maps showing the destination of UK pig meat and poultry meat exports.
The pig section of the pocketbook can be downloaded by clicking here, while the poultry section can be found here.
Also published was the AHDB Pork Yearbook for 2015-16. This provides a range of key industry statistics and pig performance data, including international comparison.
As well as this it includes details of AHDB Porks knowledge transfer, research and development activity.
With so many sheep breeds, crosses and composites in the UK, believed to be more than any other country in the world, an effective information network for the numerous breed societies is essential, says the National Sheep Association (NSA).
Each year the NSA plays its part in this by organising a Breed Society Forum, holding the 2016 event yesterday (Thursday 5th May) in Somerset and Devon.
All NSA-affiliated breed societies were invited to attend the one-day event, which was split into two halves.
The morning session near Taunton, Somerset, saw six speakers provide updates on industry topics and encourage debate among the group.
Phil Stocker, NSA Chief Executive, provided an industry update to the NSA Breed Society Forum
In the afternoon, a number of delegates went on to tour the pedigree breeding and commercial sheep enterprises ran by Philip Derryman and his family at Yarcombe, Devon.
Joanne Briggs, NSA Communications Manager, reports: "There is a lot going on currently that sheep breed societies need to be aware of, particularly in terms of changing EU regulations and UK plans for a sheep gene bank.
"The forum was the perfect opportunity to discuss these, as well as share information on current industry trends and NSA activity.
"As does the regional structure that NSA operates in the UK, the NSA Breed Society Forum has an important role to play in the two-way communication flow between office holders and farmers.
"Be it the concerns of pedigree breeders or the challenges of commercial producers, being aware of what is happening on farms is essential to steer the direction of our activity on behalf of the sheep sector."
The theme of the NSA Breed Society Forum 2016 was finding solutions to industry challenges, be they emerging diseases (such as bluetongue) or existing ones (such as maedi visna).
Speakers from NSA, AHDB Beef & Lamb, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Rare Breed Survival Trust, SAC Consulting and the Farm Animal Genetic Resources Committee (FAnGR) covered a range of these and led the discussion among the group.
Mrs Briggs continues: "Sharing information is essential in tackling these challenges. We know pedigree breeders with high value stock, particularly those lambing early, are most likely to vaccinate against bluetongue so gauging the likely uptake of vaccine was one of the topics we discussed with APHA.
"SAC Consulting provided some eye-opening information on maedi visna, a disease increasing in incidence that can only be tackled by raising awareness among breeders and commercial producers.
"The forum was an enjoyable and important event to debate these topics at, and receive updates on current industry trends and NSA activity."
Breed societies represented were: Bleu du Maine Sheep Society, Bluefaced Leicester Sheep Breeders Association, British Charollais Sheep Society, Devon & Cornwall Longwool Flockbook Association, Dorset Down Sheep Breeders Association, Dorset Horn & Poll Dorset Sheep Breeders, Hampshire Down Sheep Breeders Association, Herdwick Sheep Breeders Association, Jacob Sheep Society, Kerry Hill Flock Book Society, Lleyn Sheep Society, North Country Cheviot Sheep Society, Romney Sheep Breeders Society, Ryeland Flock Book Society, Sheep Improved Genetics, Shetland Sheep Society, Southdown Sheep Society, Swaledale Sheep Breeders Association, Texel Sheep Society, White Face Dartmoor Sheep Breeders Association and Zwartbles Sheep Association
A Lancashire based livestock theft prevention scheme will be going national to replicate its success across the UK.
Thefts of sheep in the county led to on farm training for police and a protocol for dealing with suspected stolen stock.
Central to the scheme is a network of NFU Mutual funded ewe hostels, known officially as lairage, where livestock suspected of being stolen can be stored while police investigate.
Three men are being held by police on suspicion of sheep rustling after they were spotted hauling three sheep in the back of a people carrier through a suburban area.
When the police attended they had little knowledge of what to do in the situation and how to ascertain if the sheep were stolen.
Having this lairage network ensures that the livestock maintains its integrity as police evidence and also helps rural communities manage disease and welfare risks associated with stolen livestock.
Effective deterrent
Tim Price, rural affairs specialist at NFU Mutual, said: "This scheme is already proving to be an effective deterrent to would-be thieves in rural Lancashire.
"Our latest claims figures do seem to indicate that we are turning the tide on livestock theft, and schemes like this one are key to this success.
"We are now proud to be working with this scheme as it moves forward and seeks to roll-out nationally.
"Dynamic partnerships like this one, which put the community at their core, are an invaluable tool in the fight against rural crime."
Alongside establishing a lairage network, the initiative has also focused on ensuring adequate training is provided to police officers to increase their knowledge and confidence in dealing with livestock issues and to establish protocols for livestock theft.
Preventing and detecting rural crimes
Commenting, John Taylor, the Lancashire farmer behind the scheme said: "Having the support of NFU Mutual is an incredible boost as we grow this scheme and continue to tackle the criminals who blight our rural communities.
"We welcome this partnership with the NFU Mutual and look forward to working closely with them over coming months."
Simon Prince, Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police and national lead on Rural Crime said: "Partnership working is the key in preventing and detecting rural crimes.
"All of the partners in the NFU and Lancashire Constabulary Livestock Theft Prevention Initiative have brought their own areas of expertise together to set up a united front from the agricultural industry to fight rural crime alongside the police.
"I want other police forces to work together with relevant partners to develop similar schemes."
With the 16 May deadline for 2016 Single Application Forms (SAF) approaching the Ulster Farmers Union has voiced its concerns regarding the online process for EFA (environmental focus area) declarations.
The UFU says it is encouraging that to date almost half the expected number of online EFA declarations have been submitted.
But it says concerns remain that technical difficulties and the impending deadline will bring pressure for those still to make an application.
Commenting UFU deputy president, Victor Chestnutt said: "We have been told by a significant number of growers that they have experienced difficulties with the online EFA declaration.
"We have now raised those concerns with DAERA," he said.
Mr Chestnutt stressed that the priority was to meet the May 16 deadline but beyond that date, those who have to complete a separate EFA declaration can do so or amend it without penalty until 31 May 2016.
"As this is the final weekend before the application window closes we welcome the announcement that DAERA staff will be available from 9 am to 3 pm this Saturday and Sunday to deal with SAF queries.
"This is an important service and one that provides vital assistance for those working to submit applications online," said Mr Chestnutt.
EU biggest customer of Scottish red meat as trade rebounds to 80m
"What is happening with the call (by WA Fire Commissioner Wayne Gregson) that volunteer bushfire brigades be taken over by DFES, is the disempowering of communities at a time when they should be resilient to maintain an effective bulwark against bushfires."
"The operations at Muchea are much more efficient than they were, but this will go further and ensure we don't have similar issues arise again," he said.
"It has taken a long time to finalise our design and select the best equipment in order to meet our total focus on quality, however the wait has been worth it as we are now confident to commence construction of a truly unique and iconic creamery which will have a wide range of benefits within our community and industry," she said.
See a total lunar eclipse on Election Day in Cumberland County
On Nov. 8, see the sunrise framed within the arches of the Market House in downtown Fayetteville.
Some say there are places where corruption is cultural. But thats not exactly true. And ironically, Brazil now proves it.
Brazilian culture actually has a name well-known and even faintly charming for the ability to get things done: the Jeitinho Brasileiro. Often translated as the Brazilian way, it derives from an expression that is close to the English phrase, pull some strings. It refers to palm greasing and various forms of defying rules and norms to get done what needs to get done.
But that is not to say that Brazilian culture affirmatively endorses corruption. I have never found a country Brazil included which teaches that a suitcase full of cash, exchanged under the table for an illegal benefit, is a good thing, such that efforts to reduce it should be opposed. Nobody and I do mean nobody believes this (with the possible exception of those profiting from it). Rather, countries vary in their degree of tolerance of, or resignation to, corruption.
Scholars have described the Jeitinho Brasileiro as a cultural adaptation to a long history of colonization and military dictatorships. Government was corrupt, but the smart ones learned how to beat the system. And as we now know, lots of them were doing so. Corruption may not have been an affirmative good, but it was a felt necessity.
But no more. The anti-corruption revolution now occurring in Brazil is best understood as the new generations revolt against the perceived necessity of jeitinho. The law will no longer look the other way. Armed with new legal tools, enforcement officials have ushered in a new era in Brazilian government, founded on a new set of cultural assumptions. And our research found that for the Brazilians, the new regime comes not a day too soon. They may have tolerated corruption, and learned how to use it to get ahead. But they never liked it.
Chapter 2 of our ebook, Olympic Anti-Corruption Report: Brazil and the 2016 Summer Games, discusses at greater length the past, present, and future of the jeitinho Brasileiro. Check it out here.
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Andy Spalding is a Senior Editor of the FCPA Blog and Associate Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. Hell be a moderator and panelist at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016.
Image courtesy of Innovia SecurityA former manager of a polymer banknote manufacturer was convicted Wednesday in London of four counts of making corrupt payments to a foreign official.
Peter Chapman, 54, used to work for Innovia Securency PTY Ltd. He was convicted after a five week trial in the Southwark Crown Court under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
He bribed an agent of Nigerian Security Printing and Minting PLC to win orders for reams of polymer substrate from Securency. Polymer substrate is used to make plastic banknotes.
The total value of the bribes was about $205,000, the SFO said.
SFO chief David Green said, This has been a long, detailed investigation and a complex prosecution involving assistance from a wide range of jurisdictions.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Securency disclosed allegations of corruption to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in May 2009. The AFP shared the allegations with the UK Serious Fraud Office.
Securency was then jointly owned by the RBA and UK manufacturing firm Innovia Films Ltd.
Chapman was the manager of Innovia Securencys Africa office.
He was arrested at Heathrow Airport in April 2015 after his extradition from Brazil.
In late 2010, 80 SFO officials, plus officers in Surrey, Hampshire, Thames Valley, Cumbria, and the Metropolitan police services executed search warrants at eight residences and a business in the UK. There were two arrests.
At the same time, two search warrants were executed in Spain by authorities there in relation to three British nationals. Six search warrants were also executed on residences in Australia.
In March 2013, Innovia acquired all of Securency International and renamed the merged company Innovia Security Pty Ltd.
In the UK case, Chapman was charged in April 2015 with six offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. He was acquitted Wednesday on two counts.
Sentencing on the four counts other counts is scheduled for 10 am on Thursday (May 12) at the Southwark Crown Court.
In a posted statement, the SFO said Wednesday it had help overseas from the Australian Federal Police, the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Central Authority of Nigeria, and authorities in Brazil, the Seychelles, South Africa, Canada, and Spain.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016.
Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates spoke Tuesday to the New York City Bar Association White Collar Crime Conference. Her topic? Thats right. The Yates Memo, more formally known as the DOJs Individual Accountability Policy.
The Senate confirmed Yates as Deputy Attorney General in May 2015.
She had spent 25 years as a federal prosecutor. In 2010, she became the first woman to serve as U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia.
The DOJ issued the Yates Memo in September 2015. It can be downloaded here (pdf).
On Tuesday, Yates said holding individuals accountable for corporate wrongdoing has always been a priority for the Department of Justice, both for the leadership of the department and for the line prosecutors who work the cases.
We cannot have a different system of justice or the perception of a different system of justice for corporate executives than we do for everyone else, Yates said.
Individual accountability is essential to deter corporate misdeeds, she said. It has a real impact on corporate culture and ensures that the public has confidence in our justice system.
But prosecuting individuals isnt easy. Proving the requisite knowledge and intent is one challenge, she said.
Another challenge: Blurred lines of authority in companies make it hard to identify whos responsible for individual business decisions.
Further barriers to individual prosecutions are the massive numbers of electronic documents for global companies, combined with restrictive foreign data privacy laws and a limited ability to compel the testimony of witnesses abroad.
Those difficulties are why the DOJ issued the Yates Memo.
The goal was to ensure that were doing everything we can to overcome the barriers that I just mentioned and hold accountable those who are responsible for corporate wrongs, Yates said.
Bottom line: Companies must now provide all the facts about individual conduct in order to qualify for any cooperation credit.
The DOJ, she said, has shifted the presumption on what a corporate resolution looks like: Now, our attorneys must get approval if they decide not to bring charges against individuals and may not release individuals from civil or criminal liability except under the rarest of circumstances.
The notion that a cooperating company must relate facts about the conduct of individuals within the corporation is nothing new, Yates said. The U.S. Attorneys Manual has long provided that companies that want cooperation credit should identify who did what.
DOJ officials have repeated the message over and over again for the last several years in just about every speech given on corporate fraud, she said.
But despite all that, Yates said, we found that we still got passive voice, Mistakes were made, presentations from defense counsel, without identifying who made what mistakes.
Companies arent required to boil the ocean that is, conduct overly broad investigations or embark on a years-long, multi-million dollar investigation every time they learn of misconduct.
On the contrary, Yates said, we expect companies to carry out a thorough investigation tailored to the scope of the wrongdoing.
The shift of focus to individuals also means the government will use more civil actions against white-collar perps whether or not they have the money to satisfy the judgments against them.
Yates also talked about the DOJs new Pilot Program for self reporting and corporate cooperation. But she stayed close to her main topic of individual responsibility.
There is one system of justice one in which wrongdoers can and must be held accountable based on facts and evidence, not on position or title, power or wealth, she said.
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Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates full remarks at the New York City Bar Association White Collar Crime Conference on May 10, 2016 are here.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. Hell be the keynote speaker at the FCPA Blog NYC Conference 2016.
Mia Wasikowska wishes she could spend more time with her family.
Mia Wasikowska at Alice Through the Looking Glass premiere
The 26-year-old Australian actress is kept away from home for months at a time due to her successful Hollywood career and she feels as though she is missing out on seeing her three nephews and niece grow up.
Speaking at the European premiere of her new movie 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' in London on Tuesday night (10.05.16), she told BANG Showbiz: "I have three nephews and a niece and they seem to like rocket forward - I sometimes feel as though it's too fast!"
Mia was born and raised in Canberra by her photographer parents Marzena Wasikowska and John Reid and has an older sister Jess and younger brother Kai.
Once she has finished her promotional duties for the latest Disney movie, Mia will be travelling Down Under to see her loved ones.
She said: "I'm going home soon to see everyone so that will be great."
Mia stars as Alice Kingsleigh in 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' with Johnny Depp, who reprises his role as the Mad Hatter.
And the actress admits she learnt a lot from Depp, 52, while they were shooting the sequel to 'Alice In Wonderland'.
She shared: "Johnny is really lovely and he's such a great performer and all of his characters are very different but very much his style. It's wonderful to be able to see that first hand. I like to learn from how someone like Johnny has conducted his career and the choices he's made."
Mia braved the rainy London weather to walk the special blue carpet at the premiere and was joined by her co-stars Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen, who was joined by his wife Isla Fisher, Andrew Scott and Ed Speleers.
Filming has just wrapped on That Good Night and the first image of John Hurt has been released to mark the end of principal photography.
That Good Night
That Good Night is a big screen adaptation of the play of the same name by NJ Crisp and sees Eric Styles in the director's chair.
Styles has brought us movies such as True True Lie and Miss Conception and That Good Night is his first feature film since Legendary back in 2013.
John Hurt is set to take on the central role of Ralph, a terminally ill former screenwriter and is joined on the cast list by Charles Dance, Sofia Helin, Erin Richard, Max Brown, Noah Jupe, and Joana Santos.
That Good Night has been filming for the last five weeks on the Algarve coastline of Portugal as well as Tavira, Praia dos Olhos de Agua and the region around the capital city, Faro.
Ralph, a once-famous screenwriter, is in his seventies and terminally ill. He has two final missions in life: to ensure he doesn't become a burden to his younger devoted wife, Anna, and to be reconciled to his long-abandoned son, Michael, as he goes 'into that good night'.
But Ralph wrecks all hope of reconciliation when he picks a fight with Michael's girlfriend, Cassie. Later, alone, Ralph receives the sinister and mysterious 'Visitor' whose services he has hired to provide the painless ending to his life. But The Visitor plays a devastating trick.
Set in their luxury villa in the remote hilltops that surround the Algarve coastline of Portugal, this bittersweet drama bravely tackles issues of assisted dying, nature and the meaning of life and death. Based on the hugely successful stage play by NJ Crisp, its brilliant and witty arguments address issues that we traditionally avoid.
That Good Night is currently in post-production and is set to hit the big screen in 2017.
by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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Do a quick Google search for Sheridan Smith today (May 10). Or even take a look on Twitter to see some of the abuse she's having to sustain. Forced to make her account on the social media website private due to what can only be described as bullying by certain members of the press and general public, if indeed she is facing some major demons in her life, these sorts of attacks are only going to serve to make them worse.
Sheridan Smith
In 2016, I can't believe much of the media is still rooted in trying to tear down and belittle women... That we're still a country that adores building up a talent only to remove one of the pillars from their foundation when they're at the height of their career, see them come tumbling down and laugh at their fall. It's shameful and disheartening and I for one want to be no part of it.
Despite the attacks there are of course scores of dedicated fans jumping to Sheridan's defence and sending her well wishes through any means possible. It's great to see such an outpouring on love on social media, but as always websites such as Twitter are a double edged sword. With the good comes the bad, but some people are better equipped to deal with them than others. Trolls will always exist, but national newspapers and online outlets have no excuse. They have the power to do so much good, but instead choose to go for whatever will gain the most clicks.
It was revealed earlier this year that Sheridan's father has cancer. This is something the press have known for some time now. Knowing that and having that fact so openly available, you'd think Sheridan would be given time and space to deal with her private matters and father's health issues. Cancer is now something that affects most if not all families in some shape or form, so to see so many nipping at her heels at the first opportunity when she's going through something so heartbreaking is, to put it bluntly, disgusting.
So instead of berating, we're going to celebrate Sheridan's career to-date. One that we hope is only just getting started and will run for some time yet. Throughout her career, she's taken:
The award for Best Featured Actress in a Play at the BroadwayWorld UK Awards
An Evening Standard award for Best Actress
Two Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and Best Performance in a Supporting Role
Two Whatsonstage.com Audience Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and Best Actress in a Play
A BAFTA TV Award for her role in Mrs Biggs
An NTA for Best Drama Performance in Cilla
A TV Choice Award, also for Best Actress in Cilla
A Women in Film and Television Award for Best Performance in Mrs Biggs
All of these awards were won between 2011 and today and there's been many more nominations and she's even been honoured by Prince William with an OBE.
Sheridan is a woman Britain should be proud of. Not a punching bag for unhappy journalists to lash out at to escape their own issues.
by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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Britain's Princess Anne paid a visit to Bradford's award-winning maternity unit on Tuesday (10.05.16).
Princess Anne
The 65-year-old royal - the daughter of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip - is the patron of the Royal College of Midwives and gave up an hour of her time to meet the staff, new mothers and their babies at the Bradford Royal Infirmary.
Professor Clive Kay, chief executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are extremely honoured to welcome the Princess Royal. We've got a busy maternity unit here with a diverse ethnic population. We're very well respected and have great team spirit. We've got so much to be proud of and to showcase as a centre."
Even though her visit was short, the princess did get a special treat as she became one of the first people to meet little Joseph Oyeniyi, who was born just two hours earlier.
Throughout the duration of her time at the training centre, Anne was given a tour of the birthing pool and was given a demonstration of the work the British Royal Infirmary does at its maternity unit, where 5,820 babies were born last year.
The visit was led by Julie Walker - head of midwifery - and the princess was given the chance to hear about the 49 million Better Start Bradford project, which aims to give babies in the city's deprived areas a better start in life.
Holly Willoughby is celebrating seven years on 'This Morning'.
Holly Willoughby
The bubbly blonde presenter wished her seven-year-old son Harry a happy birthday live on air on Wednesday (11.05.16) and revealed she first started on the ITV morning show the year he was born.
Holly said: "It's my son Harry's seventh birthday today and I always wish him a happy birthday.
"But I use his birthday to work out how many years I've been on the show because that's the same year I started on 'This Morning'. So I've been on 'This Morning' for seven years today.
Her co-star Phillip Schofield quipped: "I don't even know when I started now, a long time ago."
Holly took over as co-presenter in 2009 when Fern Britton stunned fans by quitting after 10 years in the role, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family.
And Holly, 35, recently admitted that she and Phillip, 54, are often mistaken for a couple.
The pair have worked alongside one another TV, first on 'Dancing on Ice' and later on 'This Morning' for over a decade and, although they're both happily married to other people, Holly said they're often on the receiving end of funny looks and bizarre comments about their platonic relationship because the two families regularly go on holiday together.
She said: "I do think that when we would bump into people, we went to Portugal, and when people would see us in a bar, they'd all be looking at us as if to go, 'Oh my God are you like actually together in real life?' I'd be like, 'No It's just a coincidence that we're away!'
"He has been holidaying in Portugal for years and I've been going the last few years so we tend to accidentally bump in to each other... not that accidentally."
Coming to Netflix on June 10, Voltron: Legendary Defender will kick things off with an hour-long origin story before delivering 10 unique episodes to fans across the globe.
Reimagining one of the most popular shows of all time, this new comedic action-packed series comes from executive producer Joaquim Dos Santos and stars Steven Yeun, Bex Taylor-Klaus, Jeremy Shada, Josh Keaton, Tyler Labine, Kimberly Brooks, Rhys Darby, Neil Kaplan and Cree Summer.
An official synopsis for the series reads: "Five unsuspecting teenagers, transported from Earth into the middle of a sprawling intergalactic war, become pilots for five robotic lions in the battle to protect the universe from evil.
"Only through the true power of teamwork can they unite to form the mighty warrior known as Voltron Legendary Defender."
The original first season of Voltron in 1984, was adapted from Japanese anime series Beast King GoLion.
by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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Malvika Iyer is just back after receiving the first Women in the World Emerging Leaders Award in New York. Fourteen years ago her very survival was in danger after a freak shell explosion blew off her hands and severely damaged her legs.
Some scars just leave a mark but some leave behind a story.
Malvika Iyers story is one of courage and determination. From surviving a gruesome accident in her early teens that blew off her arms and severely damaged her legs, she has come a long way to winning the first Women in the World Emerging Leaders Award at the Seventh Annual Women in the World Summit, Lincoln Centres David H. Koch Theatre, in New York teaching us how giving up is never an option.
When Malvika was 13, a fire at an ammunition depot in Bikaner caused shells, bombs and grenades to be scattered all over the city. One such shell landed in her neighbourhood. Since they were assured that it was a defused shell, Malvika thought nothing of picking it up to hammer something onto the pocket of her jeans. The next thing she knew was that it had exploded, blowing off her arms, piercing her body with shrapnel and damaging her legs severely. Her hands were never found but after several surgeries, that Malvika survived was a medical miracle. But during the course of her surgery and recovery, Malvika was bedridden for two years.
But what is even more miraculous is what Malvika has achieved for her herself despite her physical limitations. Although she was able to get artificial myo-electric arms, through which she had to learn how to write again, and her legs were saved by multiple surgeries, it didnt stop her from doing what she used to before the accident. She topped the state in her 10 Std exams (for private candidates) and even got a rank. She was invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan to meet the then President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam.
This achievement catapulted her to fame, and she was written about in newspapers and magazines. The encouragement from her family, friends and strangers did a lot to reassure her that nothing was impossible. From there, Malvikas achievements St Stephens College, Masters in Social Work, MPhil in Social work, TEDx speaker, member of Global Shapers Community, a World Economic Forum initiative give no sign of her disability.
Pursuing social work, Malvika believes that what she has made out of her life today was only possible because of all the encouragement and support from people around her. She wanted to give back to society and started helping differently-abled children, involving herself in many social activities.
For Malvika, 2016 is another landmark year. Winning the Women in the World Emerging Leaders award in New York has now made her an international inspiration. Now that shes back home, Malvika, who got married to a design engineer last year continues her work as the Junior research fellow in Diversity and Inclusion at the Madras School of Social work, while continuing to inspire others.
The truly exemplary 27-year-old is now a lecture circuit-regular, inspiring people to forget their limitations and take on the world with courage and confidence. She has also walked the ramp wearing accessible clothing, an initiative of the Ability Foundation and NIFT.
At 13, Malvika found her legs were hanging by just a thread, And now look at the strides she has made.
With inputs from Sruthi Ravinder
Photo courtesy: RA Photography
Yash Chopra, the late Bollywood film-maker, in whose romantic movies Switzerland became a recurring leitmotif, was honoured with a bronze statue in the heart of Interlaken in Switzerland, by Swiss officials. Films have always scouted for picture postcard locations and tourists have followed suit. If you havent had a holiday this summer, here are five movie locations that can make great summer getaways.
Name of the film: Spectre
Location: Austria
If snow-covered mountains are what your heart yearns for this summer, head to Austria, Solden to be specific, where one of the main action sequences in Spectre was shot in the Austrian Alps. A popular ski area and a centre for winter sports, this is where you saw Daniel Craig as James Bond running across the snow and firing at the bad guys.
The International Anti Counterfeiting Coalition or IACC has announced that global e-commerce major Alibaba is set to become its member.Jack Ma, who founded Alibaba Group in 1999 and built it to become the global leader in e-commerce, and the premium gateway for international brands to China, is scheduled to speak at the keynote session of IACC's 2016 Annual Spring Conference in Orlando in the US on May 19.
The International Anti Counterfeiting Coalition or IACC has announced that global e-commerce major Alibaba is set to become its member. Jack Ma, who founded Alibaba Group in 1999 and built it to become the global leader in e-commerce, and the premium gateway for international brands to China, is scheduled to speak at the keynote session of IACC's 2016#
Ma will address the importance of e-commerce, and the industry coming together to collectively fight counterfeiting, as well as highlight Alibaba's efforts to protect intellectual property rights on its platforms.American Ambassador to China Max Baucus will speak about the US Government's efforts in China to promote strong protection and enforcement of IP rights and to combat counterfeiting and piracy by bringing industry (both right-holders and intermediaries) together in order to collaborate to find new, practical, and effective solutions to this shared problem.The conference will focus on the theme of intermediaries, and the actions that they and rights holders can take collectively to address counterfeiting and piracy. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
To aid weavers, the Jharkhand government has decided that clothing material for government schools would be purchased from Jharcraft (Jharkhand Silk Textile & Handicraft Development Corporation Ltd.), the state's textile body.Chief Minister Raghubar Das issued orders to purchase the clothing materials from Jharcraft and end the practice of floating tenders to purchase uniform, blankets and bed sheets for schools, according to a government press release.
To aid weavers, the Jharkhand government has decided that clothing material for government schools would be purchased from Jharcraft (Jharkhand Silk Textile & Handicraft Development Corporation Ltd.), the state's textile body. Chief Minister Raghubar Das issued orders to purchase the clothing materials from Jharcraft and end the practice#
The Chief Minister's decision came at a review meeting of development works in the state capital Ranchi. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
The second batch of Brandix associates completed the Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E) programme for female workers in the apparel industry and graduated recently at Brandix Apparel Solutions Limited, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka.
The batch comprised 143 associates. P.A.C.E graduates are expected to be more productive and have lower rated of absenteeism.
The content of the P.A.C.E. has been proven to motivate and empower female workers to progress in their careers. This is an aspect that Brandix remains committed to as a Group, and we are greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm of our associates to follow the course and obtain P.A.C.E. certification, said, Anusha Alles, head, CSR & corporate communications, Brandix.
The second batch of Brandix associates completed the Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E) programme for female workers in the apparel industry and graduated recently at Brandix Apparel Solutions Limited, Ratmalana, Sri Lanka. The batch comprised 143 associates. P.A.C.E graduates are expected to be more productive and #
P.A.C.E is a life and work skills education programme designed by Gap providing female workers foundation skills, technical training and support to empower them personally and professionally.
The programme is run in apparel factories in countries like India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Jordan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. (HO)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
Pakistan's textiles products and readymade garments have great export potential for the Indian markets as part of ambitious plan to increase overall exports to India to $1 billion within a year, Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan has said.His comments came while chairing a meeting with Pakistani members of the Pak-India Business Council in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Pakistan's textiles products and readymade garments have great export potential for the Indian markets as part of ambitious plan to increase overall exports to India to $1 billion within a year, Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastagir Khan has said. His comments came while chairing a meeting with Pakistani members of the Pak-India Business Council#
The minister said that due to land route, Pakistan is the most favorite and cost-effective market for India to import raw material for its agriculture and textile products.But Khurram Dastagir stressed that trade concessions to India cannot be offered unilaterally, and India also needs to extend access to Pakistani products with preferential duty regime.The delegation of the Pakistani members of the Pak-India Business Council was headed by Yawar Ali Shah, who briefed the minister on their recent visit to India and outcome of the meetings held with Indian business and trade stakeholders. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and Education New Zealand (ENZ) will be organising a fashion event Runway to New Zealand based on the theme Future World Connection which will be held in New Delhi on May 12, 2016.
The event will display garments designed with indigenous and sustainable fabrics by 12 students from India and New Zealand.
Sustainability is the future of fashion and the FDCI has always supported style with a soul and it has been a recurring leitmotif in our repertoire. This interesting exchange between students from New Zealand and India will make it a spectacular rendition of cross cultural references, creating a surreal experience, said Sunil Sethi, president, FDCI.
Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) and Education New Zealand (ENZ) will be organising a fashion event 'Runway to New Zealand' based on the theme Future World Connection which will be held in New Delhi on May 12, 2016. The event will display garments designed with indigenous and sustainable fabrics by 12 students from India and New Zealand.#
Six students from the Pearl Academy (Noida, Jaipur and New Delhi) and National Institute of Fashion Technology (New Delhi) will compete with 6 students from New Zealand-Massey University and AUT University. Two winning Indian students will receive a two-week internship with the participating New Zealand universities. Ace designers Amit Agarwal, Rina Dhaka and Rohit Bal will be judging the event.
New Zealand high commissioner Grahame Morton, said, We are really excited to have ENZ work with FDCI to host this first joint competition for teams of young KIWI and Indian student designers to develop garments that strongly reference the fabrics, cultural heritage and flair of both countries. We very much look forward to our fashion institutions and businesses hosting the two Indian winners in New Zealand this year and to the personal collaborations seeded here continuing well into the future. (HO)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
Hamburg-based Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) and the African Cotton and Textiles Industries Federation (ACTIF) have announced their strategic partnership for more value addition in the African cotton and textile industry. The two organisations have set themselves the goal to increase productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of cotton production and to strengthen the textile production in Africa together, AbtF said in a press release.AbTF had been cooperating with the ACTIF since 2013 to promote the sustainable cotton and textile industry in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Hamburg-based Aid by Trade Foundation (AbTF) and the African Cotton and Textiles Industries Federation (ACTIF) have announced their strategic partnership for more value addition in the African cotton and textile industry. The two organisations have set themselves the goal to increase productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of cotton production and#
"The Aid by Trade Foundation and its Cotton made in Africa (CmiA) initiative is the most important program for sustainable cotton production in Africa. With the sustainable and certified CmiA cotton we can lay a reliable foundation for our business which aims to build up an integrated textile value chain on the African continent suitable for the domestic as well as international textile market", says Jaswinder Bedi, Chairman of ACTIF.With their cooperation both partners go a step further in their aim to strengthen Africa's role within the cotton and textile sector worldwide. As more and more retailers and suppliers are pursuing the development of the textile market in Sub-Saharan Africa or are already moving parts of their production to the African continent (such as H&M, PVH, Tchibo or Bestseller), AbTF and ACTIF are cooperating to respond to the increasing demand for sustainable cotton and textile products made in Africa."We are pleased about the cooperation with ACTIF, which fits well with the optimism in the African textile sector. Our partner is an expert and promoter of regionally and vertically integrated textile supply chains on the African continent. Together, we offer retailers and brands that are looking for sustainable and traceable textiles from Africa, a simple solution - from raw material to finished product", said Tina Stridde, Managing Director of the Aid by Trade Foundation. (SH)
Fibre2Fashion News Desk India
Shahrukh Khan is Bollywood's heartthrob and every girl's dream man, his wife Gauri Khan is no less. Not only is she beautiful but also very talented.
Today, we have collected some really beautiful pictures of Gauri Khan which will make many Bollywood actresses jealous. Click On VIEW PHOTOS to see Gauri's pictures.
Gauri Khan is from Delhi and as destiny would have it Shahrukh Khan fell madly in love with her. For Shahrukh, it was love at first sight! Their relationship faced many problems due to their different religious background.
Also Read: Ranbir Kapoor Is SECRETLY Dating A Delhi Girl, No Plans Of Patching Up With Katrina Kaif
Talking about his first meeting with Gauri, Shahrukh Khan revealed on a chat show, "I danced with her, she was very good. I asked for her telephone number and she was the first girl with whom I had danced or asked for their number. I felt that she is the one for me, as she has not told me a 'no' for now."
Shahrukh Khan also revealed, "I had a Fiat back then and I was dropping her home. That is when I asked her if she will marry me and went off, I didn't even wait for her to say 'yes' or 'no.' She must have said a 'yes' only, because then we were married off,"
After their marriage Shahrukh Khan and Gauri Khan, moved to Mumbai. They both faced many problems initially, when SRK was struggling in the big city to make a name for himself.
But as they say love conquers all, the couple is still together after so many hardships and controversies.
And that is why we just adore them!
Hey people, Mallika Sherawat has reached Cannes and we bring to you her first picture from the Cannes Film Festival 2016.
Mallika Sherawat has become a fixture at the Cannes Film festival over the last few years. This year, she will be representing a film - Time Raiders, shot in China last year. The stunning actress posted her photo on twitter and wrote, '' Photocall for my international film #timeraiders wearing@Pucci @Festival_Cannes #cannesfilmfestival2016.''
Click On VIEW PHOTOS To See Mallika's Mesmerising Pics From Cannes
Mallika Sherawat's first visit to the Cannes fest was with Jackie Chan for the promotion of "The Myth". She also grabbed many headlines because of her infamous interview at cannes where she said that India is a depressing country.
She said this at the Cannes Film Festival, during an interaction at The Variety Studio. "I made a conscious decision to divide my time between Los Angeles and India. So when I enjoy the social freedom in America and go back to India, which is so regressive for women, it's depressing. As an independent woman, it's really depressing."
''I became a fallen woman and a superstar at the same time. Because there is a moral code - that this is what a leading lady can do on screen and this is what she can't do. But I did everything I am not supposed to do."
Mallika Sherawat's latest movie Time Raiders' (previously titled Lost Tomb), is selected at the Cannes Film Festival. It is directed by Hong Kong-based filmmaker Daniel Lee and was shot in sub-zero temperatures in China last year.
Katrina Kaif is Bollywood's most desirable actress and her latest bikini picture proves that! The diva is killing us with her hot avatar and is looking damn sensuous in her latest picture.
So, don't wait anymore and click on VIEW PHOTOS to see Katrina Kaif's latest picture in Bikini.
Katrina Kaif is making headlines these days because of the movie Jagga Jasoos and also her equation with ex-boyfreind Ranbir Kapoor. Professionally, both the stars will soon start the shoot of the movie Jagga Jasoos in Morocco but personally they are not even cordial to each other on the movie's sets.
Also Read: 15 Candid Pictures Of Shahrukh Khan & Deepika Padukone Which Will Make You Forget Ranveer
Not just that, rumour has it that Ranbir Kapoor ditched Katrina Kaif and took a different flight while travelling to Morocco. Ranbir wasn't comfortable taking the same flight with Kat and decided to take the flight which was four hours later instead.
That's not all. Not long ago, at a common friend's party where both of them were invited, Katrina Kaif decided to talk to Ranbir Kapoor to gibe their realtion a second chance but in turn, Ranbir humiliated her in front of everyone present, leaving Kat teary-eyed. (How sad!)
The news of Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif came out in the media in January and left everyone shocked. However, the real reason about their split is still unknown.
Coming back to Katrina's professional life, apart from Jagga Jasoos she will be soon seen in Baar Baar Dekho with Sidharth Malhotra.
Picture Courtesy-Katrina Kaif Online
Finally, Ishita and Raman meet in Yeh Hai Mohabbatein. All thanks to Ishita's (Divyanka Tripathi) son, Adi. Though, previously the duo had met, Raman (Karan Patel) was in an inebriated state at that time.
In the previous episode, we saw how Aliya complains against Adi at the police station. Someone would have attacked Aliya, and she thinks it to be Adi, as he had threatened her (when they last met). Adi is beaten up by the police, who force him to accept the crime.
Check Out The Spoilers With Pictures
Adi thinks Aliya is taking revenge on him as he had threatened her. He also decides not to confess the crime, which he hasn't even committed. He informs Mihika that he is in trouble and the police have arrested him.
Raman gets to know about Adi and rushes to the police station. But before he meets Adi, Ishita meets Aliya, and scolds Adi. Thinking that he had committed the crime, Ishita scolds Adi's mother for bringing up him in this way (not respecting women).
Raman interferes and tries to convince Ishita that Adi and his mother are good (unaware that it was Ishita). He gets the shock of his life when he sees Ishita!
Pihu informs Mrs Iyer that she saw the aunty in the photo (Ishita) in Australia. Mrs Bhalla overhears and is shocked to know that Ishita is alive.
Meanwhile in the police station, Mani too, makes his entry and confuses Ishita! Raman and Mani get into a fight for their respective kids (Adi and Aliya). Ishita tries to convince both of them, but in vain.
Ishita asks Aliya to recall the incident, and it is then the latter reveals that she assumed the one attacked to be Adi, as he had threatened her. Raman leaves with Adi, and he gets irked seeing Abhishek at the police station. (Images Source: SBB)
CAMARILLO, California, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- BNK Petroleum Inc. (the "Company") (TSX:BKX) is pleased to announce that Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. ("MSCGI") has reaffirmed the commitment amount under the Company's credit facility at US$24,400,000. The other terms of the US$100,000,000 facility remain the same. The Company currently has US$22,600,000 outstanding under the facility, with US$1,800,000 available to utilize.
Wolf Regener, President and CEO said, "We are pleased that MSCGI has reaffirmed our borrowing base during these challenging times in the oil and gas business. The favorable decline rates of our wells, the hedging that we have in place, our cost cutting efforts and the support of MSCGI have allowed us to weather the oil price downturn that the industry has been experiencing. We appreciate MSCGI's ongoing support and look forward to a long relationship with them in helping us grow the Company."
The facility bears interest at a per annum rate equal to then three month LIBOR plus an applicable margin ranging from 2% to 7% based on a number of factors including the ratio of outstanding borrowings to a calculated borrowing base level and individual well value concentration. The facility provides for interest only payments until the July 2018 maturity date.
About BNK Petroleum Inc.
BNK Petroleum Inc. is an international oil and gas exploration and production company focused on finding and exploiting large, predominately unconventional oil and gas resource plays. Through various affiliates and subsidiaries, the Company owns and operates shale oil and gas properties and concessions in the United States and Spain. Additionally the Company is utilizing its technical and operational expertise to identify and acquire additional unconventional projects. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol BKX.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws, including information regarding the Company's credit facility. Forward-looking information is based on plans and estimates of management and interpretations of exploration information by the Company's exploration team at the date the information is provided and is subject to several factors and assumptions of management, including that the indications of early results are reasonably accurate predictors of the prospectiveness of the shale intervals, that required regulatory approvals will be available when required, that expected production from future wells can be achieved as modeled, declines will match the modeling, future well production rates will be improved over existing wells, that rates of return as modeled can be achieved, that recoveries are consistent with management's expectations, that additional wells are actually drilled and completed, that no unforeseen delays, unexpected geological or other effects, equipment failures, permitting delays or labor or contract disputes are encountered, that the development plans of the Company and its co-venturers will not change, that the demand for oil and gas will be sustained, that the Company will continue to be able to access sufficient capital through financings, farm-ins or other participation arrangements to maintain its projects, and that global economic conditions will not deteriorate in a manner that has an adverse impact on the Company's business, its ability to advance its business strategy and the industry as a whole. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions on which such forward looking information is based vary or prove to be invalid, including that the Company or its subsidiaries is not able for any reason to obtain and provide the information necessary to secure required approvals, that unexpected geological results are encountered, that completion techniques require further optimization, that production rates do not match the Company's assumptions, that very low or no production rates are achieved, that the Company is unable to access required capital, the risks associated with the oil and gas industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration and development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks, including flooding and extended interruptions due to inclement or hazardous weather conditions), that occurrences such as those that are assumed will not occur, do in fact occur, and those conditions that are assumed will continue or improve, do not continue or improve, any of which could result in delays, cessation in planned work or loss of one or more concessions and have an adverse effect on the Company and its financial condition. These risks as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to exploration and development activities and the Company's business as set forth in the Company's management discussion and analysis and its annual information form both of which are available for viewing under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.
For further information: Wolf E. Regener, +1 (805) 484-3613, Email: investorrelations@bnkpetroleum.com, Website: www.bnkpetroleum.com
PUNE, India, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
According to a new market research report "Asia and North Africa Critical Care Equipment Market by Product (Infusion Pumps, Ventilators, & Patient Monitors) - Competitive Analysis & Forecasts to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, This report studies the critical care devices market in emerging nations over the forecast period of 2016 to 2021. The market is expected to reach USD 2.61 Billion by 2021, at CAGR of 8.0% from 2016 to 2021.
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Browse 19 market data Tables and 49 Figures spread through 159 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Asia and North Africa Critical Care Equipment Market"
Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.
The report provides a detailed overview of the major drivers, restraints, challenges, opportunities, current market trends, and strategies impacting the Asia and North Africa critical care equipment market along with the estimates and forecasts of the revenue and market share analysis.
On the basis of product, the critical care devices market is divided into three major segments, namely, patient monitors, ventilators, and infusion pumps. The patient monitors segment is estimated to hold the largest share of the critical care devices market in emerging nations in 2016. Increasing patient population base, development of new patient monitors with wireless and sensor technology, and increasing private sector investments are driving the growth of this market segment.
On the basis of region, the critical care devices market report covers an in depth analysis of the Indian market and an overview of the Asian and Middle East & North African market. A number of factors such as technological advancements, rising development of home use and remote patient monitoring devices, huge patient base in India, increasing number of pre-term births, rising prevalence of respiratory and chronic diseases, growing number of ICU patients and surgical procedures, and growing government initiatives for promoting indigenous manufacturing of medical products are fueling the demand for critical care devices in emerging nations. Additionally, rising medical tourism in India, improving healthcare infrastructure, and development of multiparameter monitors are some other factors contributing to the growth of the critical care devices market. On the other hand, high cost of critical care devices and increasing use of refurbished systems are the key factors hampering the growth of the critical care devices market in emerging nations.
As of 2016, Asia is estimated to hold the largest share of the critical care devices market, followed by Middle East and North Africa. The Indian critical care devices market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2016 to 2021. Presence of a large geriatric population, increasing prevalence of chronic and respiratory diseases, improving healthcare infrastructure in rural areas, and increasing number of super-specialty hospitals in India are propelling the growth of the Indian critical care devices market.
Talk to our Experts: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=261496124
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), General Electric Company (U.S.), Medtronic plc (U.S.), Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA (Germany), Skanray Technologies Pvt. Ltd (India), Maquet Holding B.V. & Co. KG. (Germany), B. Braun Melsungen AG (Germany), and Fresenius Kabi (Germany) are some of the key players operating in the critical care devices market.
Browse Related Reports:
Patient Monitoring Device/Equipment/System Market by Product (Blood Glucose, EEG, ECG, Capnography, Spirometer, Sleep Apnea, Pulse Oximeter, Fetal Doppler, Ultiparameter, Remote, Weight, Temperature), End-User (Hospitals, Home) - Global Forecast to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/patient-healthcare-monitoring-systems-devices-market-678.html
Respiratory Care Devices Market by Product (Therapeutic (Ventilator, Mask, PAP Device, Inhaler, Nebulizer), Monitoring (Pulse Oximeter, Capnograph), Diagnostic, Consumables & Accessories), by End User (Hospital, Home Care) - Global Forecast to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/respiratory-care-devices.asp
Infusion Pump Market - by Product (Volumetric, Syringe, Feeding, Insulin, PCA Pump), Application (Chemotherapy, Gastroenterology, Diabetes, Pain Management), & by End User (Hospital, Home Care, Ambulatory Surgery Centers) - Global Forecast to 2020
http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/infusion-pumps-accessories-market-90374506.html
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FRAMINGHAM (dpa-AFX) - Staples, Inc. (SPLS) said that on May 16, 2016, the company and Office Depot, Inc. (ODP) plan to terminate their merger agreement following U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia's recent ruling granting the Federal Trade Commission's request for a preliminary injunction to block the acquisition.
SPLS closed Tuesday's regular trading at $10.36,up $0.06 or 0.58 percent. However, in the after-hours trade, the stock dropped $1.05 or 10.14 percent.
ODP closed Tuesday's trading at $6.09, down $0.17 or 2.72 percent. In the after-hours trade, the stock further declined $1.60 or 26.27 percent.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Staples will pay Office Depot a $250 million break-up fee. Staples also plans to terminate its agreement to sell more than $550 million in large corporate contract business and related assets to Essendant in connection with the termination of the Office Depot merger agreement.
'We are extremely disappointed that the FTC's request for preliminary injunction was granted despite the fact that it failed to define the relevant market correctly, and fell woefully short of proving its case,' said Ron Sargent, Staples' chairman and chief executive officer.
Roland Smith Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Office Depot, said, 'While we are respectful of the Court's decision to grant the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction to prevent our merger with Staples, we are disappointed by this outcome and strongly believe that a merger would have benefitted all of our customers in the long term. We do not intend to appeal the Court's decision and the two companies plan to terminate the merger agreement effective May 16, 2016.'
Staples is increasing its offering of products and services beyond office supplies. it also plans to pursue market share gains in core categories like office supplies, ink, toner and paper. To support its growth plans, the company will invest in lower prices and improved supply chain capabilities and add more than 1,000 associates to its mid-market sales force. Staples will also pursue acquisitions of business-to-business service providers and companies specializing in categories beyond office supplies to build scale and credibility and accelerate growth in these areas.
Staples plans to explore strategic alternatives for its European operations. This will allow the company to sharpen its focus and more aggressively pursue its mid-market growth strategy in North America. Staples has closed more than 300 of its stores in North America since 2011. The company plans to close at least 50 stores in North America in 2016.
Staples is initiating a new multi-year cost savings plan which is expected to generate approximately $300 million of annualized pre-tax cost savings by the end of 2018. The company will primarily focus on reducing product costs, optimizing promotions, increasing the mix of Staples Brand products, and reducing operating expenses.
Staples plans to resume repurchasing its common stock through open-market purchases during the second quarter of 2016. The company expects share repurchases of about $100 million in 2016. The company remains committed to its dividend program.
Office Depot, said, 'As the Staples merger process comes to an end, we look forward to re-energizing our business. We remain committed to delivering our 2016 Critical Priorities and realizing the remaining synergies and efficiencies that come from the integration of Office Depot and OfficeMax. Once the Staples merger agreement is formally terminated, we plan to host an investor conference call on May 16 to discuss next steps in our go-forward strategy.'
Separately, Essendant Inc. (ESND) confirmed that its previously announced acquisition from Staples, of wholesale contracts with minority and woman-owned office supply resellers and their large corporate customers representing sales of more than $550 million annually, will not close. The acquisition was contingent on the merger between Staples and Office Depot, Inc., which was preliminarily enjoined on antitrust grounds by a U.S. district court judge's ruling on May 10.
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NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) won a judge's approval to pay $150 million to settle investor claims that it hid as much as $6.2 million in losses caused by a trade dubbed the London Whale,according to reports. U.S. District Judge George Daniels in New York on Tuesday accepted the accord, which ended a suit brought by a group of pension funds in 2012. They accused JPMorgan of turning its London-based Chief Investment Office in London into a 'secret hedge fund' that caused the losses. The bank told investors that the office's primary role was managing risk, but the lawsuit alleged it was instead engaging in risky trades to generate profits. Ohio pension funds and other plaintiffs claimed they incurred tens of millions of dollars of losses because their fund managers were given false and misleading information. Bruno Iksil, who became known as the London Whale because he amassed large, market-moving positions in credit derivatives, made the trades for the bank. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
TOKYO, May 11, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - From May 16 through 21, Toyota will continue production on all vehicle assembly lines in Japan.Going forward, decisions regarding production will continue to be based on a thorough assessment of the parts supply situation.For reference: Due to parts shortages resulting from the severe earthquakes that struck Japan's island of Kyushu last month, Toyota suspended production on its vehicle assembly lines in the country in stages between April 15 and 23. Production was subsequently restarted in stages from April 25 through 28, and, following a scheduled holiday period, all remaining vehicle assembly lines were operational from May 6 through 14.We will continue to make all possible efforts to offer support to the residents of Kumamoto, and hope for the earliest possible recovery of the affected areas.About ToyotaSupported by people around the world, Toyota Motor Corporation (TSE: 7203; NYSE: TM), has endeavored since its establishment in 1937 to serve society by creating better products. As of the end of December 2013, Toyota conducts its business worldwide with 52 overseas manufacturing companies in 27 countries and regions. Toyota's vehicles are sold in more than 170 countries and regions. For more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.Source: ToyotaContact:Copyright 2016 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Regulatory News:
Euronext (Paris:ENX) (Amsterdam:ENX) (Brussels:ENX) and the Dutch Ministry of Finance have reached agreement on Euronext's prudential requirements. The agreement follows an evaluation of the initial requirements that were set following incorporation of the Company and ahead of its IPO in 2014. The agreed new requirements provide Euronext N.V. with the necessary flexibility to pursue its strategic objectives and remove uncertainty around its financial structure, while not hampering financial stability in the long-term. The improved requirements enable Euronext to pursue acquisitions and investments and to define a prudent and consistent dividend policy and financial structure.
The new prudential requirements are articulated into two key pillars:
A long-term positive tangible equity requirement mitigated by: The possibility to deduct the potential goodwill arising from acquisitions in annual arrears of 10 years or more ("grow-in-period") taking into account i) the dividend policy of Euronext N.V. and ii) the actual acquisition multiples paid, should the P/E ratio paid for the acquisition exceed 10 times; The possibility to go and remain temporarily into negative tangible equity territory without direct implication on the dividend policy of the Group.
Euronext N.V. will, in accordance with applicable requirements, be able to define its own dividend policy as determined by the Supervisory Board and approved in its Annual General Meeting, taking into consideration that a situation of negative tangible equity will not limit the distribution policy, provided that it does not endanger the long-term financial stability of the Company. Euronext considers that it does not endanger its long-term financial stability as long as its gross debt to EBITDA ratio does not exceed 3.5x.
As a result of the agreement, the Dutch Ministry of Finance has decided to withdraw its appeal against the ruling of the District Court of Rotterdam of 17 December 20152. The new prudential requirements will be integrated in a new license in a way that adequately ensures a stable capital structure3, complying with the Dutch Financial Supervision Act ('Wft').
At the Eurofi conference in Amsterdam on 21st April 2016, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Minister of Finance of the Netherlands, said, "Euronext is a shining example of the pan European capital market. It's crucial for financing companies and this is what the Capital Market Union is about.
Stephane Boujnah, Euronext CEO and chairman of the Managing Board, said, "We are very pleased to reach this agreement and I would like to thank the Dutch Ministry of Finance and the AFM for their constructive and cooperative approach to forming the new prudential requirements. The outcome of our agreement means that Euronext is free to make acquisitions and investments, which deliver growth and further strengthen our competitive position. We can now unambiguously continue playing our key role in financing the real economy.
Notes to editors
1 This grow-in period might be extended upon approval of the Dutch regulator.
2Euronext capital requirements lifted by District Court of Rotterdam https://www.euronext.com/en/news/euronext-capital-requirements-lifted-district-court-rotterdam
3 Subject to regulatory capital requirements relating to the general financial soundness of the Group's subsidiaries.
About Euronext
Euronext is the primary exchange in the Euro zone with more than 1 300 listed issuers worth more than 3.0 trillion in market capitalization as of end December 2015, an unmatched blue chip franchise consisting of 25 issuers in the EURO STOXX 50 benchmark and a strong diverse domestic and international client base.
Euronext operates regulated and transparent equity and derivatives markets. Its total product offering includes Equities, Exchange Traded Funds, Warrants Certificates, Bonds, Derivatives, Commodities and Indices. Euronext also leverages its expertise in running markets by providing technology and managed services to third parties. Euronext operates regulated markets, Alternext and the Free Market; in addition it offers EnterNext, which facilitates SMEs' access to capital markets.
Disclaimer
This press release is for information purposes only and is not a recommendation to engage in investment activities. This press release is provided "as is" without representation or warranty of any kind. While all reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the content, Euronext does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Euronext will not be held liable for any loss or damages of any nature ensuing from using, trusting or acting on information provided. No information set out or referred to in this publication may be regarded as creating any right or obligation. The creation of rights and obligations in respect of financial products that are traded on the exchanges operated by Euronext's subsidiaries shall depend solely on the applicable rules of the market operator. All proprietary rights and interest in or connected with this publication shall vest in Euronext.
This press release speaks only as of this date. Euronext refers to Euronext N.V. and its affiliates. Information regarding trademarks and intellectual property rights of Euronext is located at www.euronext.com/terms-use.
2016, Euronext N.V. All rights reserved.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160510006688/en/
Contacts:
EURONEXT
Investor relations
Stephanie Bia +33 1 70 48 24 17
sbia@euronext.com
or
Media
Pauline Bucaille, +33 1 70 48 24 41
pbucaille@euronext.com
or
Alice Jentink (Amsterdam), +31 20 721 4488
ajentink@euronext.com
11 May 2016 For immediate release
Novae Group plc
Trading Update for the period ended 31 March 2016
Novae Group plc ('Novae' or 'the Group'), the specialist Lloyd's insurance group, today releases its Trading Update for the period ended 31 March 2016. Overview
* Gross written premium increased by 9.8% to 282.8 million (Q1 2015: 257.6 million) * Attritional loss ratio remains stable * Rates on renewal business remain under pressure * Investment return for the first three months of 2016: 1.2% (Q1 2015: 0.3%)
Commenting today, Group Chief Executive Matthew Fosh said:
'Novae has made a promising start to the year. We continue to identify opportunities for further profitable growth without compromising underwriting discipline. The improvements we have made to the business in recent years leave us well positioned to deal with challenging markets and we remain positive about the prospects for the Group.'
Gross written premium to 31 March ('millions) 2016 2015 % change ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Property 145.9 133.9 8.9%
Casualty 60.7 54.7 11.1%
MAP 76.2 69.0 10.5% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 282.8 257.6 9.8% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross written premium for the three months to 31 March 2016 was 282.8 million (Q1 2015: 257.6 million), an increase of 9.8% and 6.1% at constant rates of exchange.
Premium growth was achieved across all divisions by capitalising on opportunities in lines of business where rates remain adequate and from the ongoing investment in new underwriting teams and initiatives. This was offset by reductions across poorer performing classes as the Group continues to focus on improving the quality of its portfolio.
Special Purpose Syndicate 6129, launched last year in conjunction with Securis Investment Partners LLP, commenced operations on 1 January and has been a significant contributor to the growth in the quarter. Growth was also experienced across all of the Group's 'Invest' classes, with Cyber, UK Property, Political & Credit and Marine all finding profitable opportunities in the quarter.
As expected, rates on renewal business continue to experience downwards pressure across most classes. The MAP division felt the most severe pressure, with energy rates down by 10%. Property reinsurance rates were off by 8%. Rates across property insurance classes experienced low single digit declines. The Casualty division was least impacted with marginal reductions of 1% across the entire portfolio.
Claims experience is in line with expectations across the portfolio as a whole despite an increased prevalence of larger industry losses in the year to date. The attritional loss ratio continues to perform well despite the rating pressures as a result of the ongoing improvements in the Group's underwriting.
Investment return for the first three months of 2016 was 15.0 million on average assets of 1,286.3 million, equivalent to a return of 1.2% on average assets (Q1 2015: 3.3 million, on 1,245.9 million and 0.3% respectively). Returns in the period benefitted from a strong performance in the fixed income portfolio. The asset allocation remains in line with target.
Disclaimer
The financial information contained in this release is based on unaudited management information. Certain statements made in this trading update are forward-looking. They are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events, results or outcomes to differ materially from any expected future events, results or outcomes referred to in these forward-looking statements.
For further information:
Matthew Fosh/Charles Fry - Novae Group plc - 020 7050 9000 David Haggie/Rebecca Young - Haggie Partners - 020 7562 4444
This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Novae Group plc via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2011451]
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LONDON, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Digital payment device will render manual cash registers obsolete
Worldpay, the UK's leading payments processor, has transformed the till as we know it with today's unveiling of My Business Hub. This intuitive, all-in-one tablet-based till will completely change the way small business owners collect and reconcile payments in their shops. As a result, everyday transactions will be much simpler and less time-consuming.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160510/365678 )
Replacing the till of old, My Business Hub consolidates existing cash registers, payment devices and receipt printers into one fully integrated payment device. Fast and intuitive to use, My Business Hub automates reconciliation of cash and card payments, reducing the daily admin burden and leaving business owners with more time to concentrate on growing their business. The all-in-one device will even enable small business owners to take sales from anywhere in the store, something which has been beyond their reach until now.
Dave Hobday, Managing Director of Worldpay UK, said: "Great technology should not be the preserve of large companies. My Business Hub sits at the heart of our strategy to provide small business owners with access to the tools and support they need to grow. My Business Hub makes running a business easier, and the way we have designed the product means it can evolve and flex to address the specific needs of small business owners. We are challenging consumer perceptions of small businesses, enabling them to provide a more personalised service and literally putting growth at their fingertips."
Operated with a detachable Android tablet, My Business Hub gives business owners the freedom to take payments anywhere on their shop floor. This flexibility means staff can spend more time helping and advising customers, enhancing the overall customer experience, while also helping to reduce queues at busy times. The tablet also allows businesses to use the device for other functions, whether that be ordering stock online or checking emails and responding to customer enquiries.
Providing a holistic view of all transactions and trends, My Business Hub is also fully integrated with My Business Dashboard, Worldpay's online insights tool for small businesses giving full access to card transactions online. Hub users will be able to see both cash and card transactions in their My Business Dashboard account, saving them time, whilst also enabling them to track performance, view sales trends and gain valuable insights about their business.
Worldpay customer Peter White, owner of Tilbury Tiles in Essex, has been using My Business Hub since early 2016. He has found that the new technology has given his business an edge when it comes to creating the right customer experience.
"The fact that it's all in one is perfect, it's really easy to use. It does away with paperwork and being able to log in to the online account to get all of our records is great.
"Providing a stress-free shopping experience is very important for our business, especially when customers are paying for higher value orders which can often be over 500. Most of our customers prefer to pay by card and My Business Hub helps give customers that extra confidence."
Available at an accessible price for SMEs, getting up and running with My Business Hub could not be easier. Simply unpack, plug in and download the My Business Hub app from the Google Play Store to start taking transactions. The simple app gives business owners instant access to the very latest technology from Worldpay and its network of partners with automatic updates when new features and functions are added.
My Business Hub is currently available on a limited basis, with full roll-out coming in Summer 2016. For more information on My Business Hub and to register interest visit: http://www.worldpay.com/uk/my-business-hub
Notes to editors:
About Worldpay:
Worldpay is a leading payments company with global reach. We provide an extensive range of technology-led payment products and services to over 400,000 customers, enabling their businesses to grow and prosper. We manage the increasing complexity of the payments landscape for our customers, allowing them to accept the widest range of payment types around the world. Using our network and technology, we are able to process payments from geographies covering 99% of global GDP, across 146 countries and 126 currencies.We help our customers to accept more than 300 different payment types.
Worldpay UK has a 42% market share in the UK and helps businesses of all sizes sell more to their customers by accepting card payments in-store, online, via mail or telephone, and on the move. http://www.worldpay.com/uk
For more information please contact:
Harry Ronaldson
Golin
Siobhan Acha Derrington
Worldpay
pr@worldpay.com
LONDON, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Cities across the world have invested heavily in Smart City technologies in a quest to make life better for their citizens and to stay competitive.
Guildford, in Surrey, UK, the childhood home of computer pioneer Alan Turing, has quietly leapfrogged many larger conurbations to become Europe's smartest town by piloting the world's first multi-sensor, multi-asset integrated parking and retail area system, designed to make city centre travel easier, and to help retail businesses thrive.
Developed by Ethos Future Cities, using government and private funding, the Future Cities platform monitors all parking and retail areas, and provides both static and predictive data to help citizens find that last parking space, and to help retailers understand how customers experience their High Street.
The parking system monitors 5,600 spaces in Guildford (and over 200,000 across the UK), and uses Internet of Things (IOT), big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence to predict where the best parking will be for your journey. This can be fed to your favourite Sat Nav systems to take you straight to a space, without having to cruise around town. Ethos has also developed, in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University, a vehicle based parking space detector, which scans for spaces as it drives.
The retail system was developed with Experience Guildford and Marks and Spencer, House of Fraser and Debenhams, and uses anonymised data from sensors to show how shoppers travel to, and move around the retail areas. This connects to the parking system and offers local authorities, retailers and businesses crucial insights to help drive the economic prosperity of Guildford.
The project in Guildford is a collaborative venture between Guildford Borough Council, Surrey County Council, the Experience Guildford BID and EthosVO; an innovative network of social entrepreneurs.
Guildford Borough Council Lead Councillor for Infrastructure and Environment, Cllr Matt Furniss, said: "We're pleased to be working on this forward-thinking initiative. Using up-to-the-minute technology will help to reduce issues with congestion in the town and give people an improved customer experience when visiting Guildford."
Martin de Heaver from Ethos Future Cities said, "The systems we have installed make Guildford a truly Smart Town, and are designed to provide services which will really help citizens and local business. We hope to bring the system to other towns and cities soon."
The international technology company, Semcon (STO:SEMC), receives the 2016 Visionary Innovation Leadership Award in Brazil. Semcon claims the prestigious award in recognition of its ability to leverage global mega trends, a commitment to innovation and autonomous driving in global collaboration.
Each year in Brazil, a company is recognized for outstanding innovation leadership by the international market research company, Frost Sullivan. Semcon receives this award for 2016, which will be presented at a banquet ceremony in Sao Paulo on 12 May.
"We put a lot of effort into both innovation and collaboration within the company globally," says Markus Granlund, President and CEO at Semcon. "By utilizing expertise from all of our 3,000 employees around the world we can develop the best products for our customers, no matter where they are. Our work within the area of autonomous cars is an excellent example of this."
Since December 2015, Semcon has been running an advanced international project, involving software development of autonomous vehicle systems for a global automotive partner. The project involves specialists from Semcon locations in Europe and Brazil to harness the finest expertise and experience within Semcon.
"We are proud to recognize Semcon with this Visionary Innovation Leadership award. Semcon invites an atmosphere of open dialogue and strategic thinking among its R&D teams and customers throughout its design and testing protocols, encouraging customer participation throughout the life of a project to ensure customer satisfaction at completion," commented Yeswant Abhimanyu, Program Manager at Frost Sullivan.
To read more about Frost Sullivan and for the extended write-up click here (http://ww2.frost.com/about/best-practices-recognition/hall-fame/).
Semcon is an international technology company in the engineering services and product information sectors. We have around 3,000 employees with extensive experience from many different industries. We develop technology, products, plant and information solutions along the entire development chain and also provide many services and products in areas such as quality control, training and methodology development. We contribute to our customers' competitive strength by providing innovative solutions, design and solid engineering expertise. The Group has sales of about SEK 2.6 billion and activities at more than 40 sites in Sweden, Germany, the UK, Brazil, China, Hungary, India, Spain and Norway.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005529/en/
Contacts:
Semcon
Per Nilsson, +46 (0) 739-737 200
Corporate Communication and Marketing Director
per.nilsson@semcon.com
or
Fabricio Campos, +55 (11) 99786-5331
Country Manager Brazil
fabricio.campos@semcon.com
Three-day partner event will give technology solution providers the opportunity to learn and network with peers, product expertsTAMPA, Fla., 2016-05-11 09:30 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plans for its first-ever IT Nation Europe have been unveiled by ConnectWise, a company that transforms how technology solution providers successfully build, manage and grow their businesses. The ConnectWise partners' conference will take place April 25-27, 2017, in London.David Bellini, President and Managing Director, ConnectWise International, said expanding the company's popular IT Nation event to Europe was an easy decision."In just 11 years, ConnectWise's IT Nation has established itself as the largest gathering of technology solution providers in the United States, with more than 3,000 attendees coming together in Orlando every November," Bellini said. "The launch of IT Nation Europe now gives our partners on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean a closer-to-home opportunity to learn best practices for growing their businesses, spend time with like-minded professionals, and meet ConnectWise experts and colleagues."Bellini said ConnectWise was inspired to establish an IT Nation Europe in large part because of the overwhelmingly positive feedback the company has received from partners and prospects who have attended half-day ConnectWise partner events across the U.K. and Ireland over the last year."As we expand our international footstep, we are fully committed to providing our partners - no matter where they live - a community that gives them the tools and knowledge they need to grow and hit their profitability goals," he said.Bellini said the three-day event will offer attendees at least nine hours of dedicated ConnectWise product training, two inspiring keynotes and a number of opportunities to network with one another as well as with vendors and ConnectWise colleagues."We already have a great community among our European partners and are so excited to give them this new opportunity to connect, collaborate and grow with the best minds in the industry," he said.Raja Pagadala, Managing Director of The Final Step, is one of ConnectWise's UK partners who has traveled to Florida every year since 2009 to attend IT Nation in Orlando. He said he is looking forward to an IT Nation Europe designed especially for international partners."I found that meeting other ConnectWise users face-to-face and learning how they use the company's solutions to make their businesses more efficient was both inspiring and energizing," he said. "The fact that we will now have an IT Nation right here in our backyard is fantastic and a testament to how ConnectWise understands the value of community."For more information about the event, visit the IT Nation Europe website.Follow ConnectWise LinkedIn ConnectWise Blog Twitter Facebook YouTubeAbout ConnectWiseConnectWise transforms how technology solution providers successfully build, manage and grow their businesses. Through the ConnectWise Business Suite - a comprehensive set of award-winning solutions that deliver a seamless user experience - ConnectWise gives its partners the ability to increase productivity, efficiency and profitability. Just as importantly, ConnectWise's relentless commitment to innovation and unparalleled passion for partner success assures its partners have comprehensive business support through every step of their journey. Today, more than 100,000 users in over 50 countries take advantage of the competitive edge that comes from ConnectWise solutions and its powerful network of ideas and experts. For more information, visitwww.ConnectWise.com or call 800-671-6898.Contact Info Diane Rose for ConnectWise +1 727-238-7567 diane@dkrcomms.com
Camarillo, California (ots/PRNewswire) -BNK Petroleum Inc. (the "Company") (TSX: BKX) is pleased to announce that Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc. ("MSCGI") has reaffirmed the commitment amount under the Company's credit facility at US$24,400,000. The other terms of the US$100,000,000 facility remain the same. The Company currently has US$22,600,000 outstanding under the facility, with US$1,800,000 available to utilize.Wolf Regener, President and CEO said: "We are pleased that MSCGI has reaffirmed our borrowing base during these challenging times in the oil and gas business. The favorable decline rates of our wells, the hedging that we have in place, our cost cutting efforts and the support of MSCGI have allowed us to weather the oil price downturn that the industry has been experiencing. We appreciate MSCGI's ongoing support and look forward to a long relationship with them in helping us grow the Company."The facility bears interest at a per annum rate equal to then three month LIBOR plus an applicable margin ranging from 2% to 7% based on a number of factors including the ratio of outstanding borrowings to a calculated borrowing base level and individual well value concentration. The facility provides for interest only payments until the July 2018 maturity date.About BNK Petroleum Inc.BNK Petroleum Inc. is an international oil and gas exploration and production company focused on finding and exploiting large, predominately unconventional oil and gas resource plays. Through various affiliates and subsidiaries, the Company owns and operates shale oil and gas properties and concessions in the United States and Spain. Additionally the Company is utilizing its technical and operational expertise to identify and acquire additional unconventional projects. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol BKX.Caution Regarding Forward-Looking InformationCertain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws, including information regarding the Company's credit facility. Forward-looking information is based on plans and estimates of management and interpretations of exploration information by the Company's exploration team at the date the information is provided and is subject to several factors and assumptions of management, including that the indications of early results are reasonably accurate predictors of the prospectiveness of the shale intervals, that required regulatory approvals will be available when required, that expected production from future wells can be achieved as modeled, declines will match the modeling, future well production rates will be improved over existing wells, that rates of return as modeled can be achieved, that recoveries are consistent with management's expectations, that additional wells are actually drilled and completed, that no unforeseen delays, unexpected geological or other effects, equipment failures, permitting delays or labor or contract disputes are encountered, that the development plans of the Company and its co-venturers will not change, that the demand for oil and gas will be sustained, that the Company will continue to be able to access sufficient capital through financings, farm-ins or other participation arrangements to maintain its projects, and that global economic conditions will not deteriorate in a manner that has an adverse impact on the Company's business, its ability to advance its business strategy and the industry as a whole. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions on which such forward looking information is based vary or prove to be invalid, including that the Company or its subsidiaries is not able for any reason to obtain and provide the information necessary to secure required approvals, that unexpected geological results are encountered, that completion techniques require further optimization, that production rates do not match the Company's assumptions, that very low or no production rates are achieved, that the Company is unable to access required capital, the risks associated with the oil and gas industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration and development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks, including flooding and extended interruptions due to inclement or hazardous weather conditions), that occurrences such as those that are assumed will not occur, do in fact occur, and those conditions that are assumed will continue or improve, do not continue or improve, any of which could result in delays, cessation in planned work or loss of one or more concessions and have an adverse effect on the Company and its financial condition. These risks as well as the other risks and uncertainties applicable to exploration and development activities and the Company's business as set forth in the Company's management discussion and analysis and its annual information form both of which are available for viewing under the Company's profile at http://www.sedar.com. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.Wolf E. Regener, +1-(805)-484-3613, Email: investorrelations@bnkpetroleum.com, Website: http://www.bnkpetroleum.comots Originaltext: BNK Petroleum Inc. Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de
Northcote Energy Ltd / Index: AIM / Epic: NCT / ISIN: VGG6622A1057 / Sector: Oil & Gas
11 May 2016
Northcote Energy Ltd
('Northcote' or 'the Company')
Update on Mexico
Northcote Energy Limited notes the announcement issued today by MX Oil (AIM: MXO) on the four Land Contract Areas ('LCAs') in Veracruz, Mexico it was awarded in December 2015, alongside its local partner Geo Estratos, during the third phase of the Bid Round 1 Licensing Round for onshore conventional concessions in Mexico. The full text of today's announcement by MX Oil is reproduced below.
"MX Oil plc, the AIM quoted oil and gas investing company, provides the following update on its investments.
Nigeria
As announced on 4 May 2016, production of oil has now commenced from the Aje Field within block OML 113, offshore Nigeria in which the Company has an indirect investment. At the same time, the oil price has been steadily increasing and has now reached US$45 per barrel and is expected to continue to increase further in the medium term. Against this background, the Company therefore believes that its indirect investment in OML 113 is becoming both more valuable and further de-risked.
As previously advised, the Company had provided GEC Petroleum Development Company Limited ("GPDC") with an option to acquire this interest, however, the first payment from GPDC to secure this option has not yet been received. The Company has been advised by GPDC that it remains committed to making this acquisition and is working hard to put the necessary funding in place. The Board still believes that selling the investment to GPDC could still be an attractive option, particularly against the background of the Company's current market capitalisation. However, at the same time, given the Board's view on future oil prices and the upside potential of the second phase of the Aje development, another viable option would be for the Company to retain this investment.
Mexico
On 8 March 2016, the Company announced that it had agreed to assign the Company's 55% working interest ("WI") in three of the four Land Contract Areas (the "LCAs") onshore Mexico that it was awarded in December 2015, for a total consideration of US$1.8 million to its partner Geo Estratos ("Geo"). As part of this agreement, the Company's WI in the Tecolutla LCA was to be increased from 55% to 66.6%.
As part of the assignment process, and given the financial risk associated with signing the contracts for the four LCAs and providing bonding, the Company was only going to proceed with this on the basis that Geo deposited the assignment funds in escrow prior to the signature date and provided the bonding for each LCA. Geo has not been able to do this this and therefore the contracts for the LCAs could not be signed and the subsequent assignment of these LCAs cannot now take place. Furthermore, having carried out more detailed work on Tecolutla with the competent person, ERC Equipoise, it would now appear that this licence is now unlikely to generate the required return to justify the necessary financial commitment and expected equity dilution resulting from the raising of funds required to develop this licence. The Company has therefore decided that it would not be in the Company's or shareholders' best interests to proceed with any of these licences particularly given the inherent risks associated with their funding in general and uncertainty surrounding its partner's funding ability. Whilst this outcome is disappointing, it is imperative that the Company limits its exposure to risk, is disciplined in only taking on attractive projects and ensures that the Company's existing indirect investment production asset in Nigeria is properly funded and protected.
The Company still believes that Mexico remains an attractive area for the production of hydrocarbons where the appropriate return can be generated and is now well placed to look at future opportunities.
MX Oil's Chief Executive Officer Stefan Olivier said:
"It is clearly disappointing that our Mexican partner could not come up with the necessary funds and that Tecolutla has proved to be less attractive than first thought. We have therefore had to make a tough decision not to proceed with the Mexico licences at this time, in order to avoid exposing the Company to undue risk and protect our existing investment that has now commenced production. I look forward to providing further production updates on the Aje field in due course"
As a result, Northcote will not have the right to participate in any of the four LCAs per its Participation Right providing for a 20% participation in any blocks won by MX Oil.
**ENDS**
For further information visit www.northcoteenergy.com or contact the following:
Randy Connally Northcote Energy Ltd +1 214 550 5082 Ross Warner Northcote Energy Ltd +44 7760 487 769 Roland Cornish Beaumont Cornish Ltd +44 20 7628 3396 James Biddle Beaumont Cornish Ltd +44 20 7628 3396 Elliot Hance Beaufort Securities Ltd +44 20 7382 8300 Nick Bealer Cornhill Capital Limited +44 20 7710 9612 Elisabeth Cowell St Brides Partners Limited +44 20 7236 1177
Notes:
Northcote Energy Limited is an entrepreneurial energy company with diverse interests. The Company combines a portfolio of US exploration and production assets in Louisiana and Oklahoma with the development of new business opportunities in the US and also in Mexico as well as Indonesia via a strategic relationship with CEB Resources.
The Luxembourg Government today announced that Simon "Pete"' Worden (Brig. Gen., USAF, Ret., PhD), Chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, joins the government's Advisory Board of the recently announced spaceresources.lu initiative. The initiative defines a framework for the exploration and commercial utilization of resources from Near Earth Objects (NEOs), such as asteroids.
Prior to joining the Breakthrough Prize Foundation, Dr. Worden was Director of NASA's Ames Research Center until his retirement on March 31, 2015. He has held several positions in the United States Air Force and was research professor of Astronomy, Optical Sciences and Planetary Sciences at the University of Arizona. He is a recognized expert on space and science issues, both civil and military, and has been a leader in building partnerships between governments and the private sector.
Simon P. Worden, Chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation said: "I am pleased and honored to support this initiative. As humanity explores the solar system and beyond, space resources will become increasingly important, and eventually essential. Luxembourg's vision in moving this endeavor forward is an important step."
Dr. Worden joins Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2003 to 2015, who already serves as a high-level advisor to guide the Luxembourg government in positioning the country as a European hub in the exploration and use of space resources.
Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy, Etienne Schneider, stated: "I am delighted to welcome Pete Worden whose valuable experience and expertise further strengthen the Advisory Board. His contribution and advice will have an important and positive impact on future activities in the frame of the spaceresources.lu initiative."
Released by the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005072/en/
Contacts:
Media contact:
Ministry of the Economy, Luxembourg
Paul ZENNERS
E-mail: paul.zenners@eco.etat.lu
Tel.: (+352) 247-74126
GSM: (+352) 621 409 141
LONDON, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) today announced that it has broadened its Global Post Trade Management (GPTM) solution, adding exchange-traded derivatives functionality through the acquisition of Dojima LLC.
Through this acquisition, Broadridge Global Post Trade Management will facilitate central clearing for exchange-traded derivatives, which encompasses connectivity to global clearing houses and exchanges through its global, multi-asset class post-trade solution. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Dojima's solution, rebranded as Broadridge Derivatives Clearing, a component of GPTM, offers a modern, multi-asset multi-tenant clearing and connectivity platform for exchange-traded and cleared OTC derivatives. Its real-time, rules driven, auto-clearing facilities allow trades to flow seamlessly from global clearing houses to clearing members through to end-clients within seconds. It provides a highly flexible interface that accelerates time to market while addressing the rapidly-changing and complex requirements of derivative reforms. Following Broadridge's recent strategic alliance with The Technancial Company to provide margin calculation capabilities, this deal completes the creation of a best-of-breed clearing solution for exchange-traded derivatives.
"This strategic expansion of our futures and options offering is an important addition to our GPTM roadmap, enabling us to offer a broader, tightly-integrated global post-trade processing solution for investment banks and brokers," said Tom Carey, president, Global Technology and Operations International, Broadridge.
"It demonstrates the continuing, strong market traction of our solution globally, which in the last year included the adoption by leading brokers in North America, Japan and Germany. We are delighted to welcome the talented Dojima team, who has deep domain experience in this market," Carey said.
Nachi Muthu, Head of Derivatives Trading and Clearing Solutions, Global Technology and Operations, International at Broadridge and former CEO of Dojima, said: "Broadridge has been a leader in helping companies transform the breadth and economics of their operational models through global, seamlessly integrated post-trade processing solutions. We are pleased to join the Broadridge team, leveraging our multi-tenant, multi-currency and multi-asset class technology to help firms meet rapidly-evolving market and regulatory changes in the exchange-traded derivatives marketplace."
Broadridge'sGlobal Post Trade Management can be deployed as a technology platform or fully outsourced managed service, delivering operational and technological functions from trade capture through matching and confirmation, clearance and settlement, cash management, reconciliations, asset servicing, books and records, accounting and regulatory reporting.
About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) is the leading provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes on average $5 trillion in equity and fixed income trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 7,400 full-time associates in 14 countries. For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.
About Dojima
Dojima is a niche technology firm founded by industry veterans who recognized the need for an effective technical solution to meet the challenges posed by evolving global derivatives reforms. The firm provides global trading, clearing, matching and connectivity solutions based out of New York, London, Singapore and Chennai. Its multi-tenant SaaS-based delivery model helps clients to reduce total cost of ownership while meeting the regulatory and business challenges facing the derivatives industry.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and other written or oral statements made from time to time by representatives of Broadridge may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical in nature, and which may be identified by the use of words such as "expects," "assumes," "projects," "anticipates," "estimates," "we believe," "could be" and other words of similar meaning, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed. These risks and uncertainties include those risk factors discussed in Part I, "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June30, 2015 (the "2015 Annual Report"), as they may be updated in any future reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by reference to the factors discussed in the 2015 Annual Report.
These risks include: the success of Broadridge in retaining and selling additional services to its existing clients and in obtaining new clients; Broadridge's reliance on a relatively small number of clients, the continued financial health of those clients, and the continued use by such clients of Broadridge's services with favorable pricing terms; changes in laws and regulations affecting Broadridge's clients or the services provided by Broadridge; declines in participation and activity in the securities markets; any material breach of Broadridge security affecting its clients' customer information; the failure of Broadridge's outsourced data center services provider to provide the anticipated levels of service; a disaster or other significant slowdown or failure of Broadridge's systems or error in the performance of Broadridge's services; overall market and economic conditions and their impact on the securities markets; Broadridge's failure to keep pace with changes in technology and demands of its clients; Broadridge's ability to attract and retain key personnel; the impact of new acquisitions and divestitures; and competitive conditions. Broadridge disclaims any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than as required by law.
Media Contacts
Kate McGann
Broadridge Financial Solutions
Katherine.mcgann@broadridge.com
+1 212 981 1395
Brett Philbin
Edelman
Brett.philbin@edelman.com
+1 212 704 8263
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110920/MM71626LOGO
Sberbank / Miscellaneous - Medium Priority Sberbank: Sberbank releases Financial Highlights for 4M 2016 (under RAS; non-consolidated) 11-May-2016 / 09:42 CET/CEST Dissemination of a Regulatory Announcement, transmitted by EquityStory.RS, LLC - a company of EQS Group AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. Sberbank releases Financial Highlights for 4M 2016 (under RAS; non-consolidated) Please note that the numbers are calculated in accordance with Sberbank's internal methodology. May 11, 2016 Key highlights for April, 2016: * The Bank earned a net profit of RUB41.9 bn in April * Client deposits inflow came at RUB242 bn, or +2.3%, excluding the FX revaluation effect * Corporate overdue loans decreased by RUB23 bn in April due to planned actions in resolving problem debts, which also had a positive impact on provision charges Deputy Chairman of Sberbank Alexander Morozov stated: Net profit for 4M 2016 reached RUB142.3 bn. Current trends in net interest income and fee and commission income growth support the continued recovery of the Bank's profitability. Furthermore, we are satisfied with the progress achieved in working out problematic assets in April. Comments for 4M 2016: Net interest income came at RUB358.2 bn, by 69.4% compared to 4M 2015: Interest income increased by 8.1%, mostly driven by the increase in volumes of working assets; Interest expenses decreased by 22.6% due to the decrease in market rates and the substitution of state funding with clients' funds. Fee and commission income was up by 31.5% to RUB95.5 bn, driven by transactional business with bank cards and acquiring, cash settlements as well as bank insurance (commissions from which were weak a year ago, given the reduced demand for lending). Net income from FX revaluation and trading operations on capital markets amounted to -RUB30.0 bn compared to RUB4.1 bn for 4M 2015 mostly due to the fx revaluation of the Balance sheet items as a result of ruble appreciation, as well as SWAP transactions for efficient liquidity management. Operating expenses growth came at 7.9%, that was significantly slower than pre-provision operating income growth (+50.0%). Total provision charges amounted to RUB113.1 bn vs. RUB104.0 bn a year ago. The Bank continues to form loan-loss provisions in-line with the requirements of the Central Bank of Russia. Loan-loss provisions are 2.1 times the overdue loans. Net profit before income tax came at RUB179.9 bn vs. RUB55.7 bn for 4M 2015. Net profit totaled RUB142.3 bn, that is almost 3 times higher than the result for 4M 2015 (RUB48.8 bn). The difference between the amount of taxes to be paid for 1Q 2016 and the advance payments based on 3Q 2015 tax base resulted in additional income tax expense that was recorded in April. Also, additional tax expenses resulted from differences in accounting and taxation principles. Total comprehensive income amounted to RUB185.5 bn. In addition to the Net profit, this item includes the net income from revaluation of financial assets available-for-sale and held-to-maturity. Assets in April 2016 decreased by 0.8%. The negative revaluation of the FX component due to ruble strengthening had the main impact on the Balance Sheet items. The Bank lent about RUB580 bn to corporate clients in April. Corporate loan issues from the beginning of the year reached about RUB2.8 trln. The loan portfolio ending balance decreased by RUB287 bn, or by 2.4% in April, due to the revaluation of the FX loans as well as the volumes of the redemptions exceeding the new issues. Total corporate loan portfolio was at RUB11.9 trln as of May 1, 2016. The Bank lent about RUB130 bn to retail clients in April. Retail loan issues from the beginning of the year reached about RUB460 bn. Total retail loan portfolio increased by RUB24 bn, or 0.6%, in April to reach RUB4.18 trln as of May 1, 2016. The share of mortgages in the retail portfolio continues to increase reaching 55.1% as of May 1, 2016 (was 53.8% as of January 1, 2016). Overdue loans of total loans remained at 3.3% in April. The level of overdue loans at Sberbank remains substantially lower than the level of the banking sector's average (6.8% as of April 1, 2016). Securities portfolio was down by RUB19 bn in April, or by 0.8% due to the Eurobonds of the Russian Federation and corporate bonds. The portfolio ending balance was RUB2.34 trln as of May 1, 2016. Retail deposits and accounts increased by RUB135 bn in April, or by 1.3% to RUB10.6 trln. Corporate deposits and accounts decreased by RUB372 bn or by 5.5% for the same period to RUB6.4 trln. The dynamic was explained by the negative revaluation of the FX deposits. Core Tier 1 and Tier 1 capital (equal since Sberbank does not have instruments of additional capital) reached RUB1,859 bn as of May 1, 2016 under preliminary calculations. Total capital amounted to RUB2,764 bn on the same date, up by RUB32 bn in April primarily due to net profit earned. Risk-weighted assets decreased by RUB112 bn mainly due to the decrease in the corporate loan portfolio. Capital adequacy ratios under preliminary calculations as of May 1, 2016 were: * N1.1 - 7.9% (minimum adequacy level, required by the Central Bank of Russia at 4.5%) * N1.2 - 7.9% (minimum adequacy level, required by the Central Bank of Russia at 6.0%) * N1.0 - 11.7% (minimum adequacy level, required by the Central Bank of Russia at 8.0%, considering Deposit Insurance Regulation). Sberbank 4M 2016 Financial Highlights (under RAS, non-consolidated) 11-May-2016 The EquityStory.RS, LLC Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases. Media archive at www.dgap.de/ukreg Language: English Company: Sberbank 19 Vavilova St. 117997 Moscow Russia Phone: +7-495-957-57-21 E-mail: media@sberbank.ru Internet: www.sberbank.ru ISIN: US80585Y3080, RU0009029540, RU0009029557, US80585Y4070 Listed: Open Market (Entry Standard) in Frankfurt; London, MICEX, RTS Category Code: MSCM TIDM: SBER Sequence Number: 3148 Time of Receipt: 11-May-2016 / 09:11 CET/CEST End of Announcement EquityStory.RS, LLC News Service 462393 11-May-2016
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2016 03:42 ET (07:42 GMT)
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "India Utensil Cleaner Market Outlook, 2021" report to their offering.
According to India Utensil Cleaner Market Outlook, 2021, the overall market for utensil cleaners is growing with more than 15% CAGR from last five years. The market is further expected to grow with double digits in the next five years. Utensil cleaners are broadly divided into four product types namely bar, liquid, powder and paste. Dishwashing bars dominate market revenues, followed by liquid cleaners whereas dishwashing paste has negligible contribution to the overall utensil cleaner market. Powder based cleaners are now set to diminish from the market.
Various companies in the industry include Hindustan Unilever, Jyothy Laboratories, Rohit Surfactants, Dabur India, Fena, Pitambari Products, Colgate Palmolive and Reckitt Benckiser. Vim, from Hindustan Unilever is the prominent brand in the utensil cleaner market, along with other brands like Exo, Pril, Nip, Odopic, Pitambari and Xpert.
Market Trends Developments
Increasing Consumption
Rapid Shift towards Liquid Dishwashing Cleaners
Increasing Importance of Hygiene for Ensuring Wellbeing
Organic Products Eco Friendly Formulations
Marketing War Between Multinationals
Key Topics Covered:
1. Executive Summary
2. Global Utensil Cleaner Market Outlook
3. India Utensil Cleaner Market Outlook
4. Product, Price and Variant Analysis
5. India Economic Snapshot
6. Raw Material
7. Manufacturing Process
8. Market Penetration
9. Future Development
10. Policy Regulatory Landscape
11. Trade Dynamics
12. Channel Partner Analysis
13. India Utensil Cleaner Market Dynamics
14. Market Trends Developments
15. Competitive Landscape
Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd.
Dabur India Limited
Fena Private Limited
Hindustan Unilever Limited
Jyothy Laboratories Limited
Patanjali Ayurved Limited
Pitambari Products Pvt. Ltd.
Reckitt Benckiser (India) Ltd.
Rohit Surfactants Private Limited
Venky's (India) Limited
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/9bctm2/india_utensil
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005577/en/
Contacts:
Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470
For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630
For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716
Sector: Consumer and Personal
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - WCD Kitchen LLC of Fontana, California is voluntarily recalling Trader Joe's Kale & Edamame Salad, sold only in the Midwest, due to potential contamination with the deadly Salmonella bacteria. Packaged in 10 oz. plastic clamshell, the recalled product bears the UPC code of 00967112, and has the 'Use By' Date of May 05, 2016 through May 14, 2016. No other lots are said to be affected. The 3,763 salads possibly affected were distributed to Trader Joe's stores located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin. Customers who have purchased the Kale & Edamame Salad are requested to return it to Trader Joe's for a full refund. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Sodali Inc. and Morrow Co. LLC jointly announced today that Sodali has acquired Morrow Co., creating Morrow Sodali Global, the largest independent corporate governance, proxy solicitation, investor relations, capital markets and shareholder services firm in the world. Sodali has been a global leader in such services within Europe, Latin America and other emerging markets, and Morrow Co has been a trusted provider of these services to many of the largest publicly-traded corporations in the United States for more than 40 years.
This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005603/en/
Together, Morrow Sodali will serve more than 600 corporate clients in 30 countries, with aggregate market capitalization in excess of US$5 trillion. The combined company will advise boards of directors and executive management teams on issues related to corporate governance, annual and special shareholder meetings, shareholder activism, strategic communications, initial public offerings and the conduct of multinational equity, debt and merger transactions. Morrow Sodali's clients also include mutual funds and stock exchanges.
"This transaction brings together two great companies with complementary strengths and expertise that will translate into substantial value for our clients," said John Wilcox, Chairman of Morrow Sodali. "Joe Morrow has built a tremendous organization with a reputation for high quality service and loyalty to clients. We look forward to building on his legacy and leveraging our collective experience and resources to serve companies of all types and sizes, wherever they are based or their stock is traded."
"Our professionals have been working for decades with a singular focus on helping corporations deal with their most complex governance and shareholder challenges," said Joe Morrow, founder of Morrow Co. "Sodali, like us, has used a client-first, fully independent approach to become the industry leader in markets outside the U.S. Together, our firms can provide customized solutions for companies dealing with corporate governance, activism and shareholder issues. We are excited to be joining the Sodali team and broadening our offering to new and prospective clients around the world."
"This transaction is a transformative milestone for both companies and for the industry," said Alvise Recchi, CEO of Morrow Sodali. "Investors are becoming more global and more outspoken and demanding. With our combined reach into all the principal capital markets, Morrow Sodali is positioned to identify, understand and engage with these investors so that we can advise companies on how to address the expectations and interests of all their stakeholders."
John Wilcox will serve as Chairman of Morrow Sodali. Prior to serving as Chairman of Sodali, Mr. Wilcox served as Senior Vice President and Head of Corporate Governance at TIAA-CREF and was previously Chairman of Georgeson Company.
Alvise Recchi is the CEO of Morrow Sodali. Mr. Recchi is the founding partner of Sodali. Previously, he was CEO and founding shareholder of GSC Proxitalia where his responsibilities included developing the shareholder service business in Europe and Latin America, together with partner Georgeson Inc.
The current Morrow Co. management and client services teams will remain in place, providing the exceptional service that Morrow clients have come to expect.
Advisors on the transaction included Baker McKenzie; Seward Kissel; Berkeley; Altema Consulting and Alpeggiani Associati for legal and MC Square Capital LLC and Sperry, Mitchell Company for financial. Morrow Sodali Global LLC is owned by its managers and financial investors Fidia Holding and MC Square Holding.
About Morrow Sodali Global LLC
Morrow Sodali Global LLC, formed by the acquisition of Morrow Co by Sodali, Inc., is an integrated, global consultancy specializing in corporate governance, investor relations, shareholder services and capital markets transactions. The firm serves more than 600 corporate clients, including many of the world's largest companies. Morrow Sodali advises boards of directors and senior management on a wide range of issues related to public ownership, including corporate governance, director evaluation, management succession, executive compensation, shareholder engagement and transparency, investor communication, IPOs, bond holder transactions, social policy and sustainability. It provides advice and proxy solicitation services relating to annual and special stockholder meetings including situations involving cross-border or hostile contested M&A transactions, and shareholder activism. The firm is headquartered in New York City and London, with offices and representatives in Beijing, Geneva, Johannesburg, Madrid, Mexico City, Paris, Rome, Sao Paulo and Stamford, Connecticut and Tokyo.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005603/en/
Contacts:
Morrow Sodali Global LLC
James Olecki, +1-917-446-5365
j.olecki@morrowsodali.com
or
Grayling on behalf of Morrow Sodali
Fiona Koh, +44 (0)7794 127 354
Fiona.koh@grayling.com
Date: 11 May 2016
Not for distribution, directly or indirectly, in or into the United States or any jurisdiction in which such distribution would be unlawful.
Issuer:
CNH Industrial Finance Europe S.A.
Post Stabilisation Notice
BNP Paribas (co-ordinator) Contact: Stanford Hartman, Telephone number 00 44 207 595 8222, hereby gives notice that no stabilisation was undertaken by the Stabilising Manager(s) named below in relation to the offer of the following securities.
+----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |Issuer: |CNH Industrial Finance Europe S.A. | +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |Guarantor (if any): | | +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |Aggregate nominal amount: | EUR 500,000,000 | +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |Description: | 2.875 per cent Notes due 17 May 2023 | +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |Stabilising Manager(s) |Banca IMI / Barclays / BNPP (B&D) / Commerzbank /| | |Santander /UniCredit | +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |Stabilisation started: | | +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+ |Stabilisation last occurred:|N/A (no stabilisation occurred) | +----------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an invitation or offer to underwrite, subscribe for or otherwise acquire or dispose of any securities of the Issuer in any jurisdiction.
This announcement is not an offer of securities for sale into the United States. The securities referred to above have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an exemption from registration. There has not been and will not be a public offer of the securities in the United States.
This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: BNP Paribas Primary New Issues via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2011705]
R41
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Regulatory News:
January March 2016
- Net sales was MSEK 3,603 (3,478). Organic sales growth was 3.7% (2.9) and total sales growth was 3.6% (3.2)
Operating result (EBITDA) [1] was MSEK 296 (291) with an operating margin of 8.2% (8.4). EBITDA increased by 1.7%
- Operating result (EBITA) [1] was MSEK 195 (191) with an operating margin of 5.4% (5.5). EBITA increased by 2.1%
- Earnings per share [2] was SEK 0.86 (0.59) and adjusted earnings per share [2] was SEK 0.97 (0.75)
- The timing of Easter holidays impacted the development in the quarter negatively with an estimated result impact of MSEK -20
- Net capex RTM was MSEK 432, which corresponded to 3.2% of net sales
- Net debt as of March 31, 2016 was MSEK 3,009, which corresponded to a financial leverage of 3.0x
CEO comments:
"Our efforts to implement Modern Medicine and Modern Management are giving results ."
Continued AVLOS reduction in all segments
Good patient growth in the French segment
Productivity improvements in Proximity Care in Sweden according to plan
Strong focus on price compensation in France
Increased acute care capacity at Capio S:t Goran's Hospital in Sweden
Solid operational development
Our strong focus on medical development in the Group continued to deliver improvements in the first quarter 2016. Better treatment methods have reduced the average length of stay (AVLOS) by -5% compared to the first quarter last year. This is more notable in France and Germany where treatment times in general are long and less in the Nordics with already short treatment times. Shorter stays in hospital not only means a quicker recovery for the patients, but also less exposure to the hospital environment with less infections as a result.
Our Rapid Recovery approach has in France resulted in good growth in patient volumes, even when considering the impact last year from the limited doctor strike against the French government. The number of outpatients has grown by about 11% and the number of inpatients has grown by almost 6% in France during the first quarter 2016. Inpatient growth in the Nordics was also strong with a 4% growth overall which included a 7% inpatient growth in Capio S:t Goran.
Our ambition to increase productivity in Proximity Care in Sweden is following the plan made during autumn 2015, reducing the number of employees with a full year number of -90 FTE in 2016. As the Stockholm County Council is changing from per visit payment to a higher degree of fixed capitation payment, as most other county councils already have done, the number of doctor visits has also decreased according to plan.
Sound financial development
The operational development in the segments is positively impacting the financial development. The Group's organic sales growth is up close to one percentage point from 2.9% to 3.7% despite the negative Easter effect in the first quarter, which is primarily seen in the Nordics and Germany (Easter holidays occurred in March this year but in April 2015).
The operating result (EBITA) was up 2.1% despite the Easter effect with an estimated impact of MSEK -20.
In France, last year's price decrease of -2.5% has been fully compensated for during the quarter. The 2016 price decrease effective March 1 has so far been partly compensated for, resulting in stable results. While reinforced productivity measures deployed in 2015 are delivering according to plan, additional activities are introduced to compensate for the 2016 price decrease. We strongly believe in our strategic focus on Rapid Recovery and the ongoing shift from in- to outpatient care, which is well in line with national ambitions to improve French healthcare.
Our main focus for the rest of 2016
Following the challenging pricing environment in France our most important target is to fully compensate this year's price decrease. The ongoing AVLOS reduction has not yet been fully reflected in the personnel costs. Thus we are intensively working with this potential and have also increased our focus on procurement activities.
In the Nordics, our most important target is to complete the ongoing productivity project and implement the employee reduction program in Proximity Care. This is well on way and when completed we will accelerate the work to implement digitalized consultation pathways for patients.
Capio S:t Goran has during April 2016 opened the new accident and emergency department (A&E) with capacity to receive more than 100,000 patients per year. During the start-up phase of the new A&E patient volumes will gradually build up and we estimate a 40% volume growth over the coming 5 years. To accommodate this growth the hospital will be enlarged with approximately 60 new beds (333 beds today), during the same period of time, which together with a continued shortening of AVLOS will facilitate this growth.
Our strategy of Modern Medicine and Modern Management works, both to handle challenging market conditions and to drive new business opportunities in our current platform and through acquisitions.
Thomas Berglund
President and CEO
[1] Refer to page 23 for definitions of EBITDA and EBITA. [2] Earnings per share and adjusted earnings per share before and after dilution were the same. Refer to note 2 for calculations of earnings per share.
http://mb.cision.com/Main/277/2006920/514324.pdf
Presentation of the interim report
Investors, analysts and media are invited to participate in a telephone conference on May 11, 2016 at 13.30 (CET). President and CEO Thomas Berglund and CFO Olof Bengtsson will present the report and answer questions. The telephone conference will be audio casted live on www.capio.com. To participate in the telephone conference, please register at www.capio.com (http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/qxsndxu6) and dial in five minutes prior to the start of the conference call.
Sweden: +46 8 566 426 90
UK: +44 203 008 9807
US: +1 855 753 22 35
Finland: +35 898 171 04 93
France: +33 170 75 07 12
Prior to the start of the telephone conference, presentation slides will be available at www.capio.com.
A recorded version of the audio cast will be available at www.capio.com during the afternoon (CET).
Capio AB (publ) discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 12.30 (CET) on May 11, 2016.
This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005622/en/
Contacts:
For further information
Thomas Berglund, President and CEO
Telephone: +46 733 88 86 00
E-mail: thomas.berglund@capio.com
or
Olof Bengtsson, CFO
Telephone: +46 761 18 74 69
E-mail: olof.bengtsson@capio.com
or
Kristina Ekeblad, Investor Relations Manager
Telephone: +46 708 31 19 40
E-mail: kristina.ekeblad@capio.com
or
Henrik Brehmer, SVP Group Communication and Public Affairs
Telephone: +46 761 11 34 14
E-mail: henrik.brehmer@capio.com
or
For further information regarding Capio's IR
activities, refer to www.capio.com
(http://www.capio.com/investors)
OTTAWA (dpa-AFX) - Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) said that it appointed Huifeng Chang as its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective May 22, 2016. Michael Potter, currently Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has decided to leave the Company to pursue other interests but has agreed to serve in an advisory role to support the seamless transition of the senior finance function in the Company. Chang, who joined Canadian Solar in early 2016 as Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, Business Development and Finance, brings 17 years of capital markets, corporate finance, investment and risk management experience to the Company. Before joining Canadian Solar, Chang was Co-Head of Sales and Trading at the U.S. subsidiary of China International Capital Corporation. Prior to that, he was the CEO of CSOP Asset Management Limited based in Hong Kong. From 2000 to 2008, he was Vice President and an equity proprietary trader at Citigroup Equity Proprietary Investments in New York. Before moving to Wall Street, Dr. Chang worked at Kamakura Corporation in Hawaii as a risk consultant to banks in Asia. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Dynacor Gold Mines Inc. (TSX: DNG)(OTC: DNGDF) (Dynacor or the Corporation) a Corporation with gold and silver ore processing operations and exploration projects in Peru, has released its unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and the management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for the three-month period ended March 31, 2016.
These documents have been filed electronically with SEDAR at www.sedar.com and will be available on the Corporation's website www.dynacor.com.
(All figures in this press release are in millions of US$ unless stated otherwise. Earnings per share and cash-flow per share are in US$. All variance % are calculated from rounded figures. Some additions might be incorrect due to rounding).
Despite the challenging gold price environment, Dynacor recorded its 20th consecutive profitable quarter as it earned a net income of $0.7 M ($0.02 per share) for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, compared to $1.3 M ($0.04 per share) in 2015.
Highlights for the first quarter of 2016
-- Gold production of 15,807 ounces in Q1-2016, compared to 15,558 ounces in Q1-2015, an increase of 1.6%; -- Sales of $20.4 M in Q1-2016, compared to $18.7 M in Q1-2015, an increase of 9.1%; -- Gross operating margin of $3.0 M (14.6%) in Q1-2016, compared to $3.6 M (19.1%) in Q1-2015, a decrease of 16.7%; -- EBITDA (1) of $2.3 M in Q1-2016, compared to $2.6 M in Q1-2015, a decrease of 11.5%; -- Cash flow from operating activities before changes in working capital items of $1.5 M ($0.04 per share) (2) in Q1-2016, compared to $1.8 M ($0.05 per share) (2)in Q1-2015; -- Cash on hand of $7.3 M at March 31, 2016, compared to $6.1 M as at December 31, 2015; -- On January 14, 2016, the Corporation entered into senior secured credit facilities (the "Facility") in the aggregate amount of up to $10.0 M. -- Underground and surface exploration program continued at Tumipampa with encouraging findings in view of first upcoming resource calculation.
Overview
During the period, Dynacor completed most of the construction of its new ore processing facility, the Veta Dorada Plant, located in Chala, in the heart of one of the most productive gold mining regions of Peru. The plant will initiate production at a 300-tpd capacity (102,000 t/y), readily expandable to 450-tpd (153,000 t/y) and then to 600-tpd (204,000 t/y) by adding additional processing lines and ball mills. Upcoming construction update will follow shortly.
In January 2016, in view of the upcoming Veta Dorada Plant commissioning and start-up period, which will require ore stockpiling and additional financial resources, Dynacor entered into the Facility of up to $10.0 M to help ensure the diligent completion of construction and smooth transition of its ore processing operations to the Veta Dorada Plant.
Results from operations:
During the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, the Corporation recorded a net income of $0.7 M ($0.02 per share) versus to $1.3 M ($0.04 per share) in the comparative period of 2015. The decrease of $0.6 M is mainly due to the decrease in the gross operating margin of $0.6 M, explained by decreased ore throughput and a reduced average selling price, which was slightly offset by an increase in gold production and higher sales volumes. In addition, finance costs of $0.2 M related to the Facility were incurred during Q1-2016, which were offset by a decrease in income tax expense for the period.
During the three-month period ended March 31, 2016, the Metalex Plant processed 13,543 dry metric tonnes ("DMT") of ore compared to 17,130 DMT in Q1-2015, a decrease of 20.9%. Despite the lower volume processed, production amounted to 15,807 ounces of gold compared to 15,558 ounces of gold in Q1-2015, a slight increase of 1.6% due to the higher ore grades (1.23 oz/DMT in Q1-2016) as compared to the comparative period (0.95 oz/DMT in Q1-2015).
Total sales for the period amounted to $20.4 M, compared to $18.7 M in Q1-2015, an increase of $1.7 M (9.1%). The higher sales are due to a 12.3% increase in equivalent ounces of gold sold, 17,309 oz in Q1-2016, as compared to 15,412 in Q1-2015.
The gross operating margin for the period amounted to $3.0 M (14.6%) compared to $3.6 M (19.1%), a $0.6 M (23.6%) decrease compared to Q1-2015. Overall, the Corporation expects that the gross margin % to be in the range of 15% to 20%. The gross operating margin of 14.6% for Q1-2016, is due to reduced gold price compared to Q1-2015 and a reduction of silver sales between periods. In Q1-2016, the Corporation sold 10,282 oz of silver compared with 35,019 oz in Q1-2015, a reduction of $0.4 M in sales. In addition, the increase in non-cash depreciation negatively affected the gross margin for the period. Depreciation has increased primarily due to a reduced amortization period for the Metalex Plant, along with a higher asset retirement obligation included in property, plant and equipment. Overall, the gross operating margin attained continues to reflect the ability of Dynacor's business model to generate cash flow from operations even during a period where gold price was weaker (average gold price decrease of 3.0% compared to Q1- 2015).
Financial statement highlights
For three-month periods ended March 31, (in $'000) 2016 2015 ============================ Sales 20,427 18,748 Cost of sales 17,445 15,170 Gross operating margin 2,982 3,578 General and administrative expenses 882 796 Operating income 1,757 2,452 Net income and comprehensive Income 701 1,303 EBITDA(1) 2,262 2,574 Net cash flow from operating activities before change in working capital items 1,470 1,801 Cash flow from operating activities 585 2,112 Earnings per share Basic $0.02 $0.04 Diluted $0.02 $0.03 Reconciliation of net comprehensive income to EBITDA(1) Net comprehensive income 701 1,303 Income taxes 693 845 Financial expenses 236 28 Depreciation 632 398 ---------------------------- EBITDA (1) 2,262 2,574 ============================ (1) EBITDA: "Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation" is a non- IFRS financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. It is therefore possible that this measure could not be comparable with a similar measure of another Corporation. The Corporation uses this non-IFRS measure as an indicator of the cash generated by the operations and allows investors to compare the profitability of the Corporation with others by cancelling effects of different assets bases, effects due to different tax structures as well as the effects of different capital structures. (2) Cash-flow per share is a non-IFRS financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. It is therefore possible that this measure could not be comparable with a similar measure of another Corporation. The Corporation uses this non-IFRS measure which can also be helpful to investors as it provides a result which can be compared with the Corporation market share price.
Cash flow from operating, investing and financing activities and working capital
Operating Activities
During the three-month period ended March 31, 2016, the cash flow from operations, before changes in working capital items, amounted to $1.5 M ($0.04 per share), compared to $1.8 M ($0.05 per share) in Q1-2015. Total cash generated from operating activities amounted to $0.6 M compared to $2.1 M in Q1-2015. Changes in working capital items decreased by $0.9 M (increase of $0.3 M in Q1-2015) relating primarily to a decrease ($0.9 M) in trade and other receivables and current tax assets ($0.2 M), which was offset by an increase in inventories ($0.2 M).
Investing Activities
During the quarter ended March 31, 2016, the Corporation invested $3.5 M ($0.9 M in Q1-2015 for the acquisition of property, plant and equipment, relating to the construction of the Veta Dorada Plant.
Investments made at Tumipampa during the three-month period ended March 31, 2016, amounted to $0.5 M ($0.6 M in Q1-2015).
Financing activities
On January 14, 2016, the Corporation entered into the Facility in the aggregate amount of up to $10.0 M with third party lenders. The Facility consists of a $7.0 M drawdown term loan facility (the "Term Loan") and a $3.0 M revolving facility. The Term Loan has a term of up to thirty-six months and bears interest at a rate of 10% per annum. The revolving facility has a term of twelve months, which may be extended for up to two additional periods of twelve months, and bears annual interest at a rate of 8.5% or prime rate plus 6% per annum, whichever is greater. The Facility can be reimbursed at any time without any penalties. In conjunction with the loan, the Corporation has agreed to issue to the lenders, 950,000 common share purchase warrants ("Warrants"), each Warrant being exercisable at a price of CA $1.83 per common share of Dynacor and expiring on January 14, 2019. The Corporation may accelerate the expiry time of the Warrants if, at any time, the closing price of the common shares of Dynacor on the TSX is 15% or more above the exercise price for a period of twenty consecutive trading days. This criterion has been met on May 2, 2016, and therefore the Corporation is now in a position to request the exercise of the Warrants at any time.
As at March 31, 2016, the Corporation had drawn $5.0 M on the Term Loan, paid $0.3 M in transaction costs and $0.1 M in interest.
Liquidity
As at March 31, 2016, the Corporation's working capital amounted to $15.2 M, including $7.4 M in cash ($13.0 M, including $6.1 M in cash at December 31, 2015).
2016-Ore processing outlook
The Veta Dorada Plant's overall construction is almost 100% complete with only electrical panels, delivery of which was delayed, but now has been received and will be installed.
This is an important and strategic milestone for the Corporation to take advantage of a much better milling site location (along the Pan American highway) and better process and cost efficiency to improve its operating results and ramp-up production.
The recent increase in the market price of gold should stimulate small scale production and therefore, the Corporation expects an increase in production ahead.
The Corporation will initiate in May the pre-commissioning of the Veta Dorada Plant by first running the facilities dry, and then the commissioning running the Plant with water and mineral. We expect that the MEM will visit the plant site in late May or early June, to perform the compliance observation of the construction project. This first step will then be followed by the request for the project water usage permit which will be delivered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. Lastly, the Corporation will file for the operation permit to be delivered by the MEM. The expected timeframe, beginning in early may for the obtaining of those obligatory permits is between two and four months. Management is confident to start up the new Veta Dorada Plant by mid-summer 2016.
Dynacor plans to operate the Metalex Plant during 2016 until the Veta Dorada Plant begins commercial production. Management is evaluating different scenarios pertaining to the Metalex Plant once the Veta Dorada Plant begins operations.
ABOUT DYNACOR GOLD MINES INC.
Dynacor is a gold ore-processing and exploration Corporation active in Peru since 1996. The Corporation differentiates itself from pure exploration companies as it generates income from its wholly owned ore-processing plant. Dynacor's basic share count at 37.4 M outstanding is in the lowest quartile of the resource sector. The Corporation's assets include three exploration properties, including the advanced high-grade gold Tumipampa property and an operating 85,000 tpa capacity gold and silver ore processing mill at Metalex. The Corporation recently obtained its permit to construct its brand new Veta Dorada Plant. This represents an important milestone for the Corporation's future growth. The Corporation's strength and competitive advantage comes with the experience and knowledge it has developed while working in Peru. Its pride remains in maintaining respect and positive work ethics toward its employees, partners and local communities.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain statements in the foregoing may constitute forward-looking statements, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Dynacor, or industry results, to be materially different from any future result, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current expectations regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this news release.
Dynacor Gold Mines Inc. (TSX: DNG)
Website: http://www.dynacor.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DynacorGold
Facebook: facebook.com/DynacorGoldMines
Shares outstanding: 37,426,911
Contacts:
Jean Martineau
President and CEO
Dynacor Gold Mines Inc.
514-393-9000 ext. 228
Dale Nejmeldeen
Investor Relations
Dynacor Gold Mines Inc.
T: 604.492.0099
M: 604.562.1348
nejmeldeen@dynacor.com
VIENNA (dpa-AFX) - U.K. shares eased slightly on Wednesday as weakness in oil and disappointing data undermined investor sentiment. British industrial production grew less in March than analysts forecast, official data showed, adding to concerns about the health of the economy ahead of the EU referendum on June 23. Output grew by just 0.3 percent from the previous month, disappointing economists who had expected a 0.5 percent rise following a 0.2 percent contraction in February. While banks fell after sharp gains in the prevision session, miners traded mostly higher, helping limit the downside to some extent. The benchmark FTSE 100 was down 15 points or 0.25 percent at 6,141 in midday trading after gaining 0.7 percent on Tuesday. Banks Barclays, HSBC Holdings, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered lost 1-3 percent. Premier Oil shares fell 2.5 percent. The company said it expects oil production for 2016 to be at the top end of expectations. Financial data and analytics company Experian dropped 2 percent after adverse foreign exchange movements hit its full-year revenue. Catering firm Compass Group rose half a percent on reporting a rise in interim profit and maintaining full-year expectations. Mining giant BHP Billiton rose nearly 2 percent after saying it would forge ahead with investments to boost production despite the bearish conditions in the iron ore and oil markets. Anglo American, Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto advanced 1-3 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NORWALK, Connecticut, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mederi Therapeutics today announced a new multi-center registry that will study the benefit of Stretta Therapy as a treatment option in patients who experience gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) after sleeve gastrectomy (SG).
The study, entitled "Examining the Benefit of RF Treatment (Stretta) of GERD after Sleeve Gastrectomy," includes 15 of the top bariatric programs in the U.S. This multi-center registry will study patients with documented GERD a minimum of six months after a sleeve gastrectomy. The study will focus on GERD symptom control (HRQL) after Stretta, with follow up at six, 12, and 24 months.
Sleeve gastrectomy is the weight loss procedure of choice, representing 51% of bariatric surgeries performed in the U.S. in 2014 (up from 42% in 2013). Patients typically choose a sleeve over a gastric bypass because it allows the stomach to retain normal function.
Erin Moran-Atkins, MD, FACS, Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Montefiore Medical center and the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, explained the challenges of treating patients with GERD after a sleeve: "Obese patients experience GERD at a dramatically higher rate than the average population. Weight loss surgery resolves GERD in some patients, but for others, symptoms continue. The post-sleeve patient may also have a hard time tolerating common GERD medications and want to avoid a conversion to a gastric bypass, which has been the standard next step."
Co-investigator W. Scott Melvin, MD, FACS, Director General Surgery at the Montefiore Medical Center and Professor of Surgery at the Albert Einstein School of Medicine, further noted the limited options for sleeve patients with GERD. "Because of the sleeve's altered anatomy, you can't perform a fundoplication. Furthermore, conversion to a gastric bypass has a higher complication rate. Stretta has been widely studied in patients with altered anatomy from surgery. Importantly, for the bariatric patient, receiving Stretta doesn't preclude further surgery. We are looking forward to data confirming that Stretta can help the growing bariatric patient population with GERD."
Studies show that up to 84% of patients with pre-existing GERD continued to have symptoms after a sleeve gastrectomy, and at least eight percent develop new GERD post-operatively.
Stretta is a non-surgical procedure for GERD that uses radiofrequency (RF) energy to regenerate the muscle between the stomach and esophagus. Studies show that Stretta resolves reflux symptoms, improves quality of life, reduces or eliminates medications, and decreases acid exposure in patients with chronic GERD. Stretta is delivered transorally and does not alter the anatomy, making it a viable option for patients with GERD who have undergone bariatric surgery.
ABOUT STRETTA
Stretta is a versatile, non-surgical option for GERD patients who do not respond well to medications and wish to avoid surgery. Stretta has been the subject of more than 40 studies, all showing a high level of safety and efficacy. Manufactured by Mederi Therapeutics, Stretta is available worldwide.
For more information contact: info@stretta-therapy.com
Contact: Mike Elofer
mike@pascalecommunications.com
(484) 620-6167
SINGAPORE, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Forty-four seventh and eighth grade students from Mutiara Harapan, a Cambridge certified Junior High School in Riau, Indonesia, visited the Singapore Management University (SMU) today as part of their biennial overseas cultural exchange programme, Edu-Trip.
This visit is the last stop of a four-day trip to the region where they also visited Melaka Museum, Maritime Museum in Malacca, Aqua KLCC in Kuala Lumpur and the Singapore Science Centre. Recipients of Tanoto Foundation scholarships or Tanoto Scholars and alumni from SMU hosted and shared their experience studying and working in Singapore. The group later toured the SMU campus before concluding the visit with a question-and-answer session.
"It is heartening to see familiar faces. The first time I met them was at Project Sukacita IV in December 2015 at Pangkalan Kerinci where we worked together for some activities. Today I am happy to continue to give back and inspire them to study hard," said Jessica Chandra, a Tanoto Scholar, year-two business student from Singapore Management University.
Now in its fourth instalment, Edu-Trip aims to foster stronger cultural understanding among countries in the region, and cultivate in its participating students a more international perspective and mindset. The last Edu-Trip to Singapore saw Mutiara Harapan students performing an item at host Raffles Girls' School's Open House.
Located at Pangkalan Kerinci, Mutiara Harapan School was established and funded by pulp and paper company APRIL Group and is supported by Tanoto Foundation, the philanthropic arm of renowned Indonesian entrepreneur Sukanto Tanoto and his family. The school has an international student body comprising mainly children of APRIL's employees from 15 different countries including Canada, the United States, India and Indonesia. Its elementary school is also the only International Baccalaureate-certified school in Riau, Indonesia.
Tanoto Foundation supports Mutiara Harapan School's teachers to improve their capacity through training sessions and comparative visits to other schools. Tanoto Foundation also encourages students to improve their skills by participating in national and international competitions in different fields. It also partners with Mutiara Harapan to develop community service programmes across the region.
About Tanoto Foundation
Founded by Sukanto Tanoto and his wife Tinah Bingei Tanoto, Tanoto Foundation strives to be a centre of excellence in poverty alleviation through education, empowerment, and enhancement of quality of lives. As Mr and Mrs Sukanto Tanoto believe that every individual should be given an opportunity to realise their potential, Tanoto Foundation's mission is to work with communities and partners to address root causes of poverty in countries where the Tanoto family has significant presence.
To date, Tanoto Foundation has disbursed over 20,000 scholarships, built several schools and education facilities that produced 27,000 graduates, developed 60,000 hectares of Community Livelihood Plantations and created more than 1,800 jobs in local communities through Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) programmes.
Visit: http://www.tanotofoundation.org/
Press Contact
Lestari H. Boediono
Head of Corporate Communications
Tanoto Foundation
Tel: +62 (21) 392 30134
Email: lestari_boediono@tanotofoundation.org
Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160511/8521603048
AURORA, ON -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Helix BioPharma Corp. (TSX: HBP) (FRANKFURT: HBP) ("Helix" or the "Company"), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative drug candidates for the prevention and treatment of cancer, today announced that the first patient was dosed in the Phase II component of study LDOS002.
"This brings us closer to providing new treatment options to late stage cancer patients," said Dr. Sven Rohmann, Chief Executive Officer of Helix. Up to forty-five (45) patients will be enrolled in the Phase II open-label, non-randomized study designed to make a preliminary assessment of efficacy of L-DOS47 in patients with non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer ("NSCLC").
About L-DOS47
L-DOS47 is Helix's first immunoconjugate based drug candidate in development based on the Company's novel DOS47 platform technology, which is designed to use an innovative approach to modify the microenvironmental conditions of cancer cells in a manner that leads to their destruction.
About L-DOS47 clinical development
L-DOS47 is currently being clinically evaluated in two clinical studies, in Poland and in the United States, as a treatment for certain patients with "NSCLC".
LDOS002 is an open-label Phase I/II clinical study to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of ascending doses of L-DOS47, initially as a monotherapy, in patients with inoperable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic, non-squamous, stage IIIb/IV NSCLC. The study is being conducted at five Polish centers: the Maria Sklodowska-Curie Memorial Cancer Centre & Institute of Oncology, the Military Medical Institute, the National Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Research Institute, the Mazovian Center of Pulmonary Diseases and Tuberculosis in Otwock and the Department of Oncology, Poznan University of Medical Science.
On September 8th, 2015, the company presented results from the ongoing LDOS002 study at the 16th World Conference on Lung Cancer held in Denver, Colorado. Results from patients enrolled in the first twelve dosing cohorts included:
L-DOS47 was well tolerated at dose levels studied to-date;
Twenty-one (21) of the 40 patients enrolled (52%) had an overall response of 'stable disease' after completion of two cycles of L-DOS47;
Eleven (11) of the 21 patients had a response of 'stable disease' after completing four cycles of L-DOS47;
One (1) patient in the 9th dosing cohort (1.84g/kg) was dosed for 10 cycles (approximately 7 months) without disease progression.
LDOS001 is a Phase I, open-label, dose escalation study being conducted in the United States at three centers: The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center; and University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary objective of the study is to determine the safety and tolerability of L-DOS47 in combination treatment with pemetrexed/ carboplatin.
On March 3rd, 2016, the company reported on the progress of study LDOS001. A patient in the first dosing cohort received four cycles of L-DOS47 in combination with pemetrexed/carboplatin and an additional four cycles of L-DOS47 alone before progression of their disease. The best response reported for this patient was a 37% decrease in the sum of the diameters of target lesions identified at baseline.
About Helix BioPharma Corp.
Helix BioPharma Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the field of cancer therapy. The company is actively developing innovative products for the prevention and treatment of cancer based on its proprietary technologies. Helix's product development initiatives include its novel L-DOS47 new drug candidate. Helix is currently listed on the TSX and FSE under the symbol "HBP".
Forward-Looking Statements and Risks and Uncertainties
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements and information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including, without limitation, those relating to the total number of patients that will be enrolled in the Polish Phase I/II clinical study and the potential generation of valuable information by such further enrollment of patients, which may be identified by words including, without limitation, "will", "may", "anticipated", and other similar expressions, are intended to provide information about management's current plans and expectations regarding the conduct of the clinical study.
Although Helix believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated and no assurance can be given that these expectations will be realized, and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements. Risk factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, without limitation, (i) the inherent uncertainty involved in scientific research and drug development; (ii) the risks associated with delay or inability to complete clinical trials successfully, including that patient recruitment for the Polish Phase I/II clinical trial for L-DOS47 does not continue as scheduled or at all, that Helix's planned U.S. Phase I clinical trial for L-DOS47 proceeds in a manner and on the timelines anticipated by Helix, or at all and the long lead-times and high costs associated with obtaining regulatory approval to market any product which may result from successful completion of such trials; (iii) need to secure additional financing on terms satisfactory to Helix or at all; (iv) clinical trials that yield negative results, or results that do not justify future clinical development, including that the Polish Phase I/II clinical trial for L-DOS47 will yield negative results and that the information, if any, gained from higher dose levels in such study will not be of use in future studies; and (v) those risks and uncertainties affecting the company as more fully described in Helix's most recent Annual Report, including under the headings "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors", filed under Helix's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com (together, the "Helix Risk Factors"). Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, that the Helix Risk Factors will not cause Helix's actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These cautionary statements qualify all such forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements and information are based on the beliefs, assumptions and expectations of Helix's management on the date of this news release, and Helix does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statement or information should those beliefs, assumptions or expectations, or other circumstances change, except as required by law.
Investor Relations
Helix BioPharma Corp.
3-305 Industrial Parkway South
Aurora, Ontario, L4G 6X7
Tel: 905 841-2300
Fax: (905) 841-2244
Email: ir@helixbiopharma.com
Web: www.helixbiopharma.com
CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Blending his passion for improving patients' oral health and giving back to those in need, Chicago cosmetic dentist Sheldon Seidman, DDS recently had the opportunity to help two Holocaust survivors get the dental care they needed -- free of charge. This was organized through the Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity's pilot program, which launched in 2015 to help Holocaust survivors get critical dental care they often cannot afford.
The program has expanded to nine cities over the past year, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, as well as Montreal and Toronto. Alpha Omega collaborates with various Jewish agencies to identify these individuals in need and matches them with a local dental professional.
Dr. Seidman and his team at Smile Chicago had the privilege of meeting with two Holocaust survivors living in the Chicago area. For one of the patients, he performed an extraction and provided a denture. The second patient was fitted for a dental bridge. Dr. Seidman recounts both experiences, saying they were both extremely appreciative. Despite the patients speaking primarily Russian, he says he was able to use a computer translator as well as a massage therapist who was fluent in Russian to communicate with the patients.
Following one of the individual's visits, Dr. Seidman received a note of gratitude: "I cannot tell you how thankful I am to this doctor. My previous experiences with dentists associated with pain and lots of money spent...In Dr. Seidman's hands I felt no pain -- he has 'golden hands' (Russian saying for hands that can do miracles). I also wanted to thank the whole office -- all nurses and assistants were so attentive to my needs."
Dr. Seidman says he is proud to have helped such deserving individuals get the dental care they so desperately needed. He is a strong advocate for giving back, noting that it is very rewarding, and "some things are more important than money."
About Sheldon Seidman, DDS
Dr. Seidman earned his dental degree from Northwestern University Dental School, where he also acted as a clinical instructor for six years. His mission is to help every patient at Smile Chicago improve the form and function of their teeth through a wide range of general and cosmetic dentistry options. Dr. Seidman is currently a member of both the American Dental Association and American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and he is a past President of the Chicago Dental Society's North Side Branch. He is available for interview upon request.
For more information about Dr. Seidman and Smile Chicago, please visit smilechicago.com and facebook.com/SmileChicago.
To view the original source of this press release, click here:
http://www.smilechicago.com/news-room/chicago-dentist-volunteers-to-treat-holocaust-survivors-pro-bono
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Smile Chicago
400 N. Michigan Avenue
Suite 1014
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 644-4321
Rosemont Media
(858) 200-0044
www.rosemontmedia.com
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said the leading index suggested stable growth momentum in the region as a whole, while it signaled a improved outlook in major economies. The composite leading index came in at 99.6 in March, down slightly from 99.7 in the previous month. Stable growth momentum also observed in China and Euro area, especially in Germany and France. The index reflected easing growth momentum for the United Kingdom and the United States. The index suggested signs of stabilization in Japan. In India, the index pointed to firming growth, while signs of positive change in growth momentum is expected in Russia. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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Any organization that handles personal data relating to individuals located in the EU will be strictly obliged to review, and potentially overhaul nearly all of their information management processes
Veritas Technologies, the global leader in information management, today announced a set of solutions and services to help prepare organizations for the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) recently finalized by the European Union Parliament. Veritas Enterprise Vault 12, Data Insight 5.1, Information Map and supporting services including the dark data assessment provide businesses with critical visibility into their unstructured data that will help them to achieve better compliance with the new GDPR and existing regulations.
The EU General Data Protection Regulation aims to catapult data protection into the era of big data and cloud computing, ensuring that data protection is a fundamental basic right uniformly and consistently regulated throughout Europe. Any company that serves European customers and collects their data will have to abide by this law even companies based and handling that personal data outside Europe.
The regulation empowers the Data Privacy Authorities in Europe to impose fines for serious infringements of up to 4 percent of annual worldwide turnover or 20 million Euro, whichever is the greater. The magnitude of fines that can be levied virtually ensures that data privacy will become a board-level issue, as non-compliance with the GDPR presents a significant financial and business risk.
"The GDPR is the biggest change to data protection laws in almost 20 years. People and businesses will profit from clear rules that are fit for the digital age and give strong protection," said Matthew Ellard, Senior Vice President, EMEA at Veritas. "Any organization that handles personal data relating to individuals located in the EU will be obligated to review their information management processes. Veritas is committed to helping them to get control over their data, gain visibility and insights, so they can demonstrate compliance to GDPR."
The regulation will be enforced in May 2018, so businesses have two years to prepare for the GDPR. A business that finishes this task earlier will not only benefit from getting their data under control stronger information management will help them to use their storage resources more efficiently and to win valuable insight into the data they are storing.
Hoarding Culture Creates Dark Data
The GDPR introduces new principles like "the right to be forgotten" and notification obligations. Therefore in certain circumstances, a company must completely erase personal data within a certain period if a user requires it. Also individualsaffected by a data breach must be notified without undue delay if any of their personal information has leaked into the wrong hands and that leakage presents a serious threat to their rights and freedoms.
Unfortunately most companies don't understand the composition of about half of the data they are storing. According to recent research from the Global Databerg Report52% of all information currently stored and processed by organizations around the world is considered 'dark' data, whose makeup is unknown. This lack of visibility will make it hard for organizations to find the right data quickly.
Turning on the Lights
To moderate their risk, companies will have to understand their data including the significant portions of dark data that are stored in a fragmented way across on premises and cloud infrastructure. Veritas provides solutions and services to illuminate dark data by:
Visibility into Unstructured Data - Information Map, a cloud native application, helps ensure companies have better visibility into their unstructured data. Information Map gleans metadata from NetBackup and presents it in a visual navigation tool that helps customers to identify areas of risk, value and waste across their primary content repositories. NetBackup provides backup and recovery for the entire IT infrastructure regardless of platform: virtual, physical and cloud.
- Information Map, a cloud native application, helps ensure companies have better visibility into their unstructured data. Information Map gleans metadata from NetBackup and presents it in a visual navigation tool that helps customers to identify areas of risk, value and waste across their primary content repositories. NetBackup provides backup and recovery for the entire IT infrastructure regardless of platform: virtual, physical and cloud. Enforcing and Monitoring Data Governance - Companies need to understand who should be authorized and who is accessing personal data in the corporate file system. This is difficult given the highly fragmented storage environments consisting of file servers, cloud based services, various devices and backups and archives. Data Insight 5.1 from Veritas analyzes unstructured data and the access to it from a user perspective across different store pools including cloud services like Box. The software runs data analytics to facilitate retention management, achieve access compliance, and gain a better understanding of how user risk relates to sensitive data.
- Companies need to understand who should be authorized and who is accessing personal data in the corporate file system. This is difficult given the highly fragmented storage environments consisting of file servers, cloud based services, various devices and backups and archives. Data Insight 5.1 from Veritas analyzes unstructured data and the access to it from a user perspective across different store pools including cloud services like Box. The software runs data analytics to facilitate retention management, achieve access compliance, and gain a better understanding of how user risk relates to sensitive data. Automatically Classifying Data For GDPR it will be essential to know where personal data is stored, especially in unstructured formats such as excel documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. This is critical for both protecting the data and also following through on requests to correct and erase personal data. Enterprise Vault 12 delivers a centralized classification framework that simplifies the identification of meaningful or regulated information and allows for the deletion of the non-essential. The archiving software automatically classifies ingested content including emails, files, SharePoint, instant messaging, and social media. As the leading enterprise information archive vendor, Veritas provides customers that already have petabytes of archived information the ability to reclassify it in a manner that helps them to adjust their long-term information-retention policies to new regulations like the GDPR.
For more information please visit http://www.veritas.com/product/information-governance/general-data-protection-regulation.html
About Veritas Technologies
Veritas Technologies enables organizations to harness the power of their information, with information management solutions serving the world's largest and most complex environments. Veritas works with organizations of all sizes, including 86 percent of global Fortune 500 companies, improving data availability and revealing insights to drive competitive advantage. www.veritas.com.
Veritas, the Veritas logo, and NetBackup are trademarks or registered trademarks of Veritas Technologies LLC or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. 2016 Veritas Technologies. All rights reserved.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005468/en/
Contacts:
Veritas Technologies
Regina Hoshimi, 650-933-1966
regina.hoshimi@veritas.com
ATLANTA, GA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG), long touted for its standing as an energy solutions company dedicated to delivering clean, efficient, and reliable electricity, today announces the launch of its hydroelectric division -- CURRENTERGY. With the addition of the Currentergy Division, Dominovas Energy continues to diversify its portfolio of proven energy solutions into hydropower generation applications to broaden its revenue generating opportunities in the renewable energy sphere.
With a focus on deploying commercially available, and the most advanced, proven high performance hydropower technologies, Currentergy seeks to harness both large and small-scale opportunities to electrify developing economies in Africa and Latin America; thus fostering and expanding exponential economic growth within these frontier markets. In so doing, Currentergy has developed its proprietary ORCAS (Ocean River Current Access Solutions) system, which is platformed upon the most advanced and effective hydropower technologies available today. The ORCAS system enables both on- and off-grid clean energy and micro-grid flexibility for the generation of electricity from river and ocean-based power generating systems. The ORCAS system is underpinned by its strategic partner and leading global technology supplier Andritz Hydro. Globally, Andritz Hydro's hydropower solutions comprise over 175 years of experience in the deployment, service, refurbishment and rehabilitation of hydropower energy projects.
Dominovas Energy CEO Neal Allen welcomes the new Currentergy Division and the addition of Leeshan Ramasamy as Managing Director and head of the Division. Mr. Ramasamy has considerable operational and systems management experience within the development and cultivation of frontier markets' infrastructure and natural resources, having produced significant returns within the mining industry, including the building and operating of profitable chrome processing plants, which led to securing contracts with major ferrochrome producers, such as Xstrata and Hernic Ferrochrome in South Africa. Prior to joining Currentergy, Mr. Ramasamy directed the civil construction and installations for the fiber optic footprint deployment of telecommunications giant Neotel in South Africa.
"As an active member of President Obama's Power Africa Initiative, we continue to enthusiastically support the electrification of Africa and realize that the abundant supply of underutilized natural resources can be responsibly harnessed to create clean sources of electricity. I agree with Andritz that hydropower is the most economical and least environmentally impactful form of renewable energy available." Mr. Ramasamy continues, "The ORCAS hydro system can empower local communities with micro grid applications, as well as feed utility grids in a green and eco-safe fashion. As the post-Paris Climate Accords world embraces a low carbon energy future, Currentergy is excited to be a leader in electrifying frontier markets."
"The world is at a crossroads as a result of the effects of global warming and CO2 pollution, as reported at the historic United Nations Climate Change conference in Paris recently. As a company dedicated to delivering clean, efficient, and reliable energy solutions, Dominovas Energy acknowledges the need to diversify its energy solutions portfolio to encompass innovative hydropower technologies," added Kreneshen Moodley, Managing Director Africa.
"With the meaningful expansion into hydropower generation, in conjunction with our fuel cell division, Currentergy serves as a force multiplier toward advancing Dominovas Energy's strategic goals to deploy the most technologically advanced, cost effective, and market-based energy solutions available. In turn, Dominovas Energy bolsters its energy solutions platform by providing flexible clean energy solutions that address the need for sustainable energy within rapidly developing economies. These frontier markets possess vast natural mineral and hydro resources that can be harnessed to increase the production of energy from renewable sources," stated Dominovas Energy's CEO Neal Allen.
About Andritz Hydro
Based in Austria, Dominovas Energy's technology partner Andritz Hydro is a global supplier of electromechanical, national electricity grid systems and services for hydropower plants and one of the leaders in the world market for hydraulic power generation. Andritz Hydro maintains a global presence in more than 50 locations and more than 25 countries worldwide. Today, Andritz Hydro is the legal successor of many former pioneers and leading companies in hydropower generation. Andritz Hydro comprises the research and development from these companies and over 175 years of accumulated experience in turbine design, with over 30,000 turbines (more than 420,000 MW) installed globally.
In close cooperation with its customers, Andritz Hydro advocates long-living, environmentally friendly, and economically efficient solutions for hydropower generation.
For more information, visit www.andritz.com.
About Dominovas Energy Corporation (OTCQB: DNRG)
Founded in 2005, Dominovas Energy Corporation (DEC) is a publicly traded company, based in Nevada. With its operating headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, Dominovas Energy Corporation is a leading power solutions provider to emerging markets around the world. DEC employs its proprietary RUBICON Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology for deployment in multi-megawatt power generation units worldwide. The worldwide pursuit of clean and efficient production of electricity via Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology inspired its founders to create an "energy solutions" company. Recognizing that "green" and "alternative energy" markets offer immense potential for growth, Dominovas Energy is aggressively moving to allocate its intellectual and financial capital forthwith, in order to strategically address a green energy solution that is 100% reliable, efficient, and measurably cleaner than GenSets and CCGT. Additionally, unlike wind and solar solutions the RUBICON provides baseload power 24/7/365 days a year. By manufacturing and deploying the RUBICON throughout of the world, Dominovas Energy is committed to creating shareholder value by not only generating guaranteed revenue streams, but also by increasing the value of "human and community capital." Devoted to core values by operating under the utmost of honesty and integrity in all its business transactions, Dominovas Energy is additionally dedicated to respecting the rights of all individuals, while acknowledging and respecting all cultures necessary to support the growth and development of the communities and countries in which it operates. The Company strongly believes in the impact this singularly advanced technology will make on the world and is resolute in its mission to provide electricity where and when economically viable.
For more information, visit www.dominovasenergy.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release, as well as other statements made by Dominovas Energy Corporation (the "Company"), contain forward-looking statements that reflect, when made, the Company's current views with respect to current events and financial performance. Such forward-looking statements are subject to many risks, uncertainties and factors relating to the Company's operations and business environment, which may cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from any future results. All statements that address future operating, financial or business performance or the Company's strategies or expectations are forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as is applicable would be discussed under captions as follows: "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in the Company's filings as would be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as required. New risks and uncertainties arise from time to time, and it is impossible for us to predict these events or how they may affect the Company. It should be remembered that the price of the ordinary shares and any income from them can go down as well as up. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events and/or otherwise, except as may be required by law.
Media and Investor Contact:
QualityStocks
Scottsdale, Arizona
www.QualityStocks.com
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GILLETTE, WY -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 --NuTech Energy Resources, Inc. (OTC: NERG), a natural gas and oil technology and development company, is pleased to announce that the Company has considered the unsolicited tender offer it received from Techno Invest LTD last week for 2.5 cents per share. After conferring with attorney's and advisors, NuTech's management has decided to accept the offer and proceed with the closing process of the proposed acquisition. Techno is seeking to capture and build on NuTech's patented coalbed methane production technology and take advantage of the company's coalbed methane assets currently in place.
Both corporations are actively consulting with their management teams and advisory boards to map out the next steps to proceed with the acquisition process. All terms have not been disclosed yet for the potential transaction, but the Company intends to update shareholders as developments evolve.
About NuTech Energy Resources, Inc.: Nutech Energy Resources, Inc. (OTC: NERG) is a natural gas and oil technology and development company that has developed a patented technology for the production of coalbed methane (CBM) without the need to pump water. Nutech currently operates wells in the Powder River Basin area of northern Wyoming (through sister company Emerald Operating Company) and has commitments to acquire thousands of additional wells. Nutech Energy Resources, Inc.'s development of proprietary equipment uniquely positions the Company to be able to acquire and profitably operate wells that were previously cost prohibitive. For more information, visit: http://www.nutechenr.com/ or for TechnoInvestment visit: http://tehnoinvest.h1.ru/
Safe Harbor: This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to publicly revise any forward-looking statements.
Contact:
Investor and Media
Steffan Dalsgaard
CEO Everest Corporate Advisors, Inc.
702-902-2361
702-982-1339
CAMPBELL, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Friendable, Inc. (OTC PINK: FDBL), today announced the April download numbers of its Friendable app, a ranking increase in certain markets and stats that show the average time spent in the app is rapidly increasing.
For April, the Company posted total downloads of 28,954 with 13,797 originating from Apple's iTunes App Store and 15,157 coming from Google's Android Play Store. This represents a 10% increase in downloads over March 2016.
Friendable's ranking increase was noticed in the Canadian and US marketplaces. The Friendable App spiked to the third most downloaded app against all paid (Apple App Store) social networking apps in Canada and in the US spiked to reach the number 57, putting overall rankings in both countries up significantly.
The Company has also seen a dramatic increase in its free app user session times (time spent in app) over previous months and shows a 100% increase internally. Industry standard is approximately 35 seconds on iOS social networking apps. Friendable's current user base consistently topped 1 minute for the month of May 2016. (Source: Flurry)
See Flurry Charts Showing Session Time Distribution and Median Session Times: Green Line Industry Standard - Blue Line "Friendable"
"As our download numbers continue to show consistent growth, we intend to test additional, and add new media features within the app and expand our reach to potential new users, measuring the effectiveness against downloads and registered user profiles," said Robert Rositano, Jr., CEO, Friendable, Inc. "Our market penetration is improving as our brand becomes more well-known and we believe increased frequency from video views, celebrity relationships and mobile advertising will continue to increase our downloads and overall active user metrics."
"We are also pleased to see a significant lift in the amount of time users are spending in the app. This is very exciting because the more users we have and the more time they spend in the app, the more valuable we believe our social network 'Friendable' becomes."
About Friendable:
Friendable Inc. is the mobile-social network focused on the future, rather than sharing the past, where it's all about having location specific and nearby opportunities to connect with others. The Friendable brand represents a friends first approach and takes all the pressure off for its users, making it simple to make new connections, create meet up style events or simply tell others what you are "Friendable for" then based on shared interests and location users can engage with what makes sense for them. Increased user interactions will allow Friendable to offer advertising and sponsorship opportunities to local venues/businesses, to begin to generate revenue by providing these venues with location specific opportunities to reach potential customers when it matters most; when they are nearby and looking for something to do or someone to do it with. As of April 2016 Friendable has over 1 Million downloads and 700,000 registered users.
For more information about Friendable, Inc. please visit:
www.Friendable.com
For Additional Investor Information and to Receive Company Updates:
http://www.friendable.com/fdbloptin
Visit our social media properties at:
Facebook: http://facebook.com/friendable
Twitter: twitter.com/friendableapp
Instagram: instagram.com/friendableapp
Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. The words or phrases "would be," "will allow," "intends to," "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," or similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements." Actual results could differ materially from those projected by Friendable, Inc. The iTunes rankings should not be construed as an indication in any way whatsoever of the future value of the Friendable's common stock or its present or future financial condition. The public filings of Friendable, Inc. made with the Securities and Exchange Commission may be accessed at the SEC's Edgar system at www.sec.gov. Statements made herein are as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as of any subsequent date. Friendable, Inc. cautions readers not to place reliance on such statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable law, Friendable, Inc. does not undertake, and Friendable, Inc. specifically disclaims any obligation, to update any forward-looking statements to reflect occurrences, developments, unanticipated events or circumstances after the date of such statement.
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CONTACT:
Investor Relations & Financial Media:
Ticker Media Group
585-301-7700
info@TickerMediaGroup.com
COMPANY:
Friendable, Inc.
(855) 473-7473
Info@friendable.com
DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- smanos, a wireless smart home and DIY security company, today announces the availability of its L020, W100 and W020 mobile apps on Apple Watch. Users can now arm and disarm their system and receive alerts, like when a motion sensor is triggered and someone has opened or closed a door or window, using their Apple Watch. If users purchase additional sensors compatible with each system, like flood/water detectors, they will also receive alerts to their Apple Watch when those sensors are triggered.
"We are consistently looking for ways to make home security more convenient and cater to consumers' ever-evolving mobile lifestyles," said Brian Stark, general manager of North America for smanos. "The immediacy and convenience Apple Watch apps provide to consumers can't be overlooked when it comes to home security. With the new app, smanos users can stay even more connected to what's going on at their homes and view alerts with just a flick of their wrist."
smanos' W020 wireless security solution features a smart home hub, two window/door sensors and a remote control for ease of use. smanos' W100 security solution is a dual network home security solution, utilizing WiFi and a phone landline for added security. It includes a PIR motion detector, two window/door sensors and two wireless remote controls. smanos' L020 alarm connects via your home's Ethernet/LAN connection and comes with two window/door sensors and a remote control. Each system can also have additional sensors or cameras added via the mobile app.
Additionally, smanos' products require no monthly fees or contracts, making them an affordable solution for renters and homeowners alike. The L020 retails for $129, the W020 retails for $149 and the W100 retails for $199. All of these systems are available at The Home Depot.com, Walmart.com, BestBuy.com, Rakuten.com and Amazon.com. For a full list of where to purchase smanos products, visit http://www.smanos.com/us/BuyUSA.
To download the smanos Apple Watch app, go to the App Store. To learn more about smanos' entire suite of home security products, visit http://www.smanos.com/us.
About smanos
In the picturesque outskirts of Amsterdam (Hoofddorp) came about the inception of smart home technology brand smanos in 2013. Harnessing cutting-edge design concepts and ergonomics, smanos delivers the ultimate user experience of wireless smart home and DIY security systems to households worldwide. Promising more than just a sense of security, smanos also ensures user-definable comfort and convenience, along with mobile accessibility and confirmation. In its pursuit for perfection in human-centric research and design, smanos continues to wow homeowners by putting the smarts of smart home and smart security directly in their hands. Dream big and live smart with smanos now!
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PR Contact
Janice Gebhardt
Uproar PR for smanos
312-878-4575 ex. 244
Email Contact
090516 HIGH RISK TRAINING
BY Tom Kathoa
Only 40 places are available for people wanting to attend the Bougainville High Risk Security training next month.
Manager and Founder of the Security Firm, Pastor Albert Magoi said those wanting to attend must pay their registration fee of K300 before enrolling at the centre.
He said the demand for security personal is high with people cueing up for such training courses.
Mr Magoe has just completed a similar training at Panguna where 100 participants were presented with certificates.
He said participants will have to meet their own cost as the centre does not have logistics to assist them.
Ends
BROOKLINE, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- While most people need one good reason to host a party, the Courtyard Boston Brookline has two. In addition to observing its grand reopening on May 17, 2016, this Coolidge Corner hotel has committed itself to raising awareness for one of the most important health issues today: autism. The result is a night that will showcase the best of local restaurants, artists and musicians while benefitting a cause that affects people across the world.
The fun begins before the party does. Guests are encouraged to wear blue as a sign of their support, and as they arrive at the Brookline hotel that evening, they will give literal meaning to what's been dubbed the Light It Up Blue Campaign.
Scheduled for 5 to 7 pm, the free event will feature a number of attractions. Live bluegrass music by The Broken Honey Jars will keep toes tapping, while art exhibits by local artists provide plenty of conversation topics. And the Brookline police motorcycle parked in the lobby, which guests can "ride" and use to "light it up blue" (via the flashers), promises to be another talking point.
In addition, guests will enjoy complimentary hors d'oeuvres provided by local eateries, a cash bar with special blue drinks on offer and tours of the beautifully designed new guest rooms. Attendees will be sure to see the ribbon-cutting ceremony as well, officiated by the hotel's year-round and beloved guest, Betty.
Attendees can try their luck with the raffle, or they can make their own luck at the silent auction. Honoring the hotel's location near Kenmore Square in Boston, many of the items up for bids reflect local hotspots. They include:
Red Sox tickets
College football tickets
Dinner for two at local restaurants
Gifts from local boutiques
Deluxe car detailing by Uva's Auto Detailing
Movie tickets
A two-night stay at the Courtyard Boston Brookline with complimentary breakfast and parking
A book of five passes for free day parking at the Courtyard garage
Dinner or breakfast for two at The Bistro, located at the Courtyard Boston Brookline
Learn more about the event here or, better yet, join the fun and attend on May 17!
About the Courtyard Boston Brookline
Stretching eight stories into the Boston skyline, the Courtyard Boston Brookline welcomes visitors with renovated guest rooms and an ideal location for business and leisure. The handsome brick building houses 987 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center and an indoor pool. Guests can refuel at The Bistro where healthy breakfasts and Starbucks coffee start the day off right, and where savory dinners, cocktails, wines and beers let visitors unwind at the end of the day. The property's 188 guest rooms and suites feature high-speed Internet access, mini-refrigerators, large work desks and beautiful contemporary decor. The hotel's comfortable accommodations make it easy for guests to make the most of their stay, whether it's by catching a game at Fenway Park, touring Boston College or visiting the many nearby historic destinations.
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CONTACT:
Courtyard Boston Brookline
40 Webster Street, Coolidge Corner
Brookline, Massachusetts 02446
1-617-734-1393
http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/bosbl-courtyard-boston-brookline/
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Organto Foods Inc. (TSX VENTURE: OGO) is pleased to announce the creation of majority-owned Organto Argentina S.A., and the signing of a contract with Maresba, S.A., a large producer of organic fruit from the Patagonian region of Argentina, with more than 70 years of experience in the production, processing and sale, of a variety of fruit products for export to the United States and Europe.
Organto intends to commence production in Argentina this year and initially focus on snow peas and sugar snaps, together with the introduction of fresh, organic asparagus under the Organto brand. Under the terms of the contract, Organto and Maresba have entered into an agreement that will allow Organto to pack and process its product from the Patagonia region of Argentina in Maresba's state of the art plant over the next 10 years. Maresba will be required to maintain the plant's organic certification while Organto will fund a modest level of capital expenditures for required machinery. Organto will pay Maresba a fixed percentage above actual costs to cover fixed plant expenditures. Maresba's large scale 28,300 m2 (304,000 ft2) plant will allow Organto to store up to 4 million kilos of fresh product in cold storage facilities. In addition, Organto and Maresba will be working together to develop and implement specific aspects of Organto's social responsibility platform and organic cooperative farming model.
Peter Gianulis, the CEO for Organto, commented, "Organto Argentina S.A. gives Organto the potential to significantly increase the company's organic production capacity as a result of the abundant amount of organic land, high-quality processing and packing plants, and excellent agricultural infrastructure available in Argentina. It will also allow Organto to further its strategy of developing company-owned organic farms, controlled-environment farms, and organic cooperative farming organizations in one of the largest, organic fertile regions in the world. The Patagonian region of Argentina (near Rio Negro) has excellent growing conditions for a variety of products, and importantly, is counter-cyclical to northern hemisphere growing regions. Once operations are underway, this will allow Organto to deliver fresh-cut, organic products to its customers in Europe and North America year-round."
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,
Peter L Gianulis, President & CEO
Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This release may include certain forward-looking information and statements, as defined by law including without limitation Canadian securities laws and the "safe harbor" provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("forward-looking statements"). In particular, and without limitation this news release contains forward-looking statements respecting the company's plans to incorporate a majority-owned subsidiary in Argentina and to enter into a cooperative production sharing agreement with Maresba, S.A.; future plans for growth and development of the businesses of Maresba and Organto; the intention for Maresba to apply for organic certification of its plant; the time frame within which production in Argentina is expected to begin; the development and implementation of a comprehensive social responsibility platform; achieving management's goals and objectives; the future prospects for the company; management's beliefs, assumptions and expectations; and general business and economic conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions that may prove to be incorrect, including without limitation assumptions about the following: the successfully entry into by the parties of a definitive cooperative production sharing agreement; the ability of Maresba to have its plant organically certified, and the expected time frame within which the certification process will be completed; that production in Argentina will commence on a timely basis; levels of agricultural production; achieving a sufficient level of profitability to allow management to fund social responsibility initiatives and to develop and implement its cooperative farming model; establishing market share; cost increases; dependence on suppliers, partners and contractual counter-parties; changes in the business or prospects of the company; unforeseen circumstances; risks associated with the organic and conventional produce business, including inclement weather, unfavourable growing conditions, low crop yields and similar risks; general business and economic conditions; and ongoing relations with employees, consultants, partners and joint venturers. The foregoing list is not exhaustive and we undertake no obligation to update any of the foregoing except as required by law.
Contacts:
Investor Relations
604-634-0970
1-888-818-1364
info@organto.com
CARDSTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: AMK) ("American Creek") is pleased to announce that it has entered into two separate joint venture agreements with Tudor Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: TUD) ("Tudor"). Tudor is arm's length to American Creek. These transactions are subject to TSXV approval.
Pursuant to the first agreement, American Creek will sell an undivided 60% interest in its Electrum property located in NW British Columbia in consideration for 1,000,000 Tudor shares and the payment of $500,000 cash on receipt of all regulatory approvals. Tudor has also agreed to invest $250,000 into American Creek pursuant to a private placement at a price of the greater of $0.08 per share or the discounted market price as defined by Exchange policy. A 60/40 joint venture will be formed and Tudor will be operator of the project.
Pursuant to the second agreement, American Creek will sell an undivided 31% interest in its Treaty Creek property to Tudor in consideration for 500,000 Tudor shares. Tudor has agreed to complete a minimum of $1,000,000 in exploration expenditures on the Treaty Creek property during 2016. A joint venture has been formed with Tudor holding a 60% interest and each of American Creek and Teuton Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: TUO) ("Teuton") holding a 20% interest in the joint venture. However, both American Creek's and Teuton's 20% interests are fully carried during the exploration period until a production notice is given. Thereafter, each will be responsible for 20% of the costs under and subject to the terms of the joint venture.
In conjunction with the execution of the Treaty Creek joint venture agreement above, American Creek is also pleased to advise that a settlement has been reached between American Creek, Darren Blaney, Allan Burton, Robert Edwards and Kelvin Burton (the "Plaintiffs") and Teuton, Dino Cremonese, Gary Assaly and Amanda Mullin (the "Defendants") related to the litigation in Alberta, Court File No. 1201-07918 with respect to the conspiracy, defamation, economic interference and economic harm claim that American Creek filed in 2012 against the Defendants and others. Accordingly, the Summary Judgement hearing against the Defendants above and scheduled for June 29, 2016 has been adjourned. The settlement is conditional on TSXV approval of the Treaty Creek joint venture agreement. The terms of the settlement are confidential.
Darren Blaney, American Creek's CEO, states: "We are very pleased to be joint venturing with Walter Storm and his new public company Tudor Gold Corp. We have the utmost respect for Walter and his associates, and their track record of success, and are very much looking forward to working with them to advance our Treaty Creek and Electrum projects. We believe this is a game changer for American Creek as it will bring these two projects the recognition they deserve."
About American Creek
American Creek Resources Ltd. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral deposits within the Province of British Columbia, Canada. Further information relating to American Creek is available on its website at www.americancreek.com.
Darren Blaney, CEO & Director
This press release was prepared by management who takes full responsibility for its contents. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the Company's management discussion and analysis filed with applicable Canadian securities regulators, which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. The Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
American Creek Resources Ltd.
Kelvin Burton
403 752-4040
info@americancreek.com
www.americancreek.com
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, accompanied by Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, today discussed exciting and innovative career opportunities in marine sciences with high school and university students at the Canadian Museum of Nature. As part of an interactive event during Science Odyssey week, the Ministers talked with scientists and students about what the Government of Canada's new investments in ocean and freshwater science will mean to them and all Canadians.
Announced in Budget 2016, the $197 million investment will bring real benefits to Canadians by allowing Fisheries and Oceans Canada to make more informed decisions about our oceans, waterways and fisheries while also creating job opportunities in science.
As part of this investment, Fisheries and Oceans Canada will undertake our largest single recruitment toward restoring ocean science. The Department will hire 135 research scientists, biologists, oceanographers and technicians through a national recruitment campaign. Job postings will be available online on Jobs.gc.ca in the coming days.
The Department will also acquire new and innovative technologies to collect data and share information more efficiently. These technologies include state-of-the-art acoustic and remote sensing technologies and high performance lab equipment to better monitor our fish stocks and changing ocean conditions.
A portion of the funding will also be dedicated to establishing new partnerships and collaborations with universities, environmental organizations, Indigenous groups and other stakeholders, both in Canada and abroad to ensure we have access to the best available science to make decisions about Canada's oceans, lakes and rivers.
Quotes
"Investing in science also means investing in Canadians by hiring more scientists, which will boost our economy and grow our middle class. This is a smart and meaningful investment, which will allow us to make better, science-based decisions to sustain our fisheries and protect our aquatic environment."
- Hunter Tootoo, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard
"Today's investment highlights the Government of Canada's commitment to science, evidence-based decision making, and to using science to answer questions that are relevant and important to Canadians. I welcome this investment in aquatic scientists and researchers and look forward to the great research these new federal scientists produce."
- Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science
"Today's announcement renews our commitment to protect the sustainability of our water resources by investing in the research and monitoring critical to keeping our waters safe. Through cutting-edge research, Canada's scientists will continue to gain a better understanding of the health of our oceans and waterways."
- Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Quick Facts
The $197 million investment will allow for:
-- more ecosystems research and improved stock assessments on commercial species and species at risk, including marine mammals and Atlantic and Pacific Salmon, which will provide information for sustainable fisheries management; -- more research on the effects of ecosystem stressors like underwater noise pollution and micro-plastics on our aquatic ecosystems, which will guide marine conservation policies and advice on project developments; -- more research on sustainable aquaculture, including its impacts on wild species; and, -- more research on freshwater ecosystems, specifically the Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg, St. Lawrence River and the Experimental Lakes Area in Northwestern Ontario.
Related Product
New Science Investments at Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Internet: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Follow us on Twitter! www.Twitter.com/DFO_MPO
Contacts:
Media Relations
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
613-990-7537
Media.xncr@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Patricia Bell
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
613-992-3474
MONTREAL, QC -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Sunshine Biopharma Inc. (OTCQB: SBFM), a pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of various forms of cancer, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Cross Referencing Agreement with a major pharmaceutical company for Anastrozole, a prescription generic drug for treatment of Breast Cancer. Sunshine will market and sell this new pharmaceutical product under its own label.
Sunshine is currently in the process of securing a Drug Identification Number ("DIN") for its own label of Anastrozole from Health Canada. The Company is also working on obtaining a Drug Establishment License ("DEL") from Health Canada. Upon receipt of the DIN, Sunshine will be able to accept orders for its SBI-Anastrozole. Sunshine expects to build a portfolio of "SBI" label Generic Pharmaceuticals over time.
Revenues from the sales of Generic Products are intended to be used to finance the Company's proprietary drug development program including Adva-27a, the Company's flagship anticancer compound. A Topoisomerase II inhibitor, Adva-27a is a small molecule that has recently been shown to be effective at destroying Multidrug Resistant Breast Cancer cells, Pancreatic Cancer cells, Small-Cell Lung Cancer cells and Uterine Sarcoma cells (Published in ANTICANCER RESEARCH, Volume 32, Pages 4423-4432, October 2012). Sunshine Biopharma is direct owner of all issued and pending worldwide patents pertaining to Adva-27a including U.S. Patent Number 8,236,935.
Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements
To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, including statements as to revenue projections, business strategy, outlook, objectives, future milestones, plans, intentions, goals, future financial conditions, future collaboration agreements, the success of the Company's development, events conditioned on stockholder or other approval, or otherwise as to future events, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made.
For Additional Information:
Sunshine Biopharma Inc.
Camille Sebaaly
CFO
Direct Line: 514-814-0464
camille.sebaaly@sunshinebiopharma.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Duran Ventures Inc. (TSX VENTURE: DRV)(LMA: DRV) ("Duran" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into a mineral assignment agreement to extract and process high grade precious and base metal mineral for its 80% owned Aguila Norte Processing Plant from the Chucara property ("Chucara" or "the Property"). The Property is located in north-central Peru, within the La Libertad gold mining district about 50 kilometres southeast of Barrick's Lagunas Norte mine.
Currently, small-scale, artisanal miners are extracting mineral from Chucara and selling it to third parties. Under the assignment agreement, mineral from the Property can only be shipped to and processed at the Aguila Norte Plant having satisfied the formal documentation protocol of the local authorities. The Company intends to achieve mineral supply from Chucara of 1,000 tonnes per month by the end of September 2016, increasing to 1,500 tonnes per month, or 50% of plant capacity, by the end of December 2016. The Company is also negotiating with other mineral supplies to achieve full production by the end of the September 2016.
The Company will invest $100,000 in equipment and infrastructure to improve the proficiency of current small scale mining on the Property. Profits will be shared equally with the owner of the concession after prepayment of expenses regarding a fixed processing fee, transport, and extraction costs.
Jeffrey Reeder, CEO of Duran Ventures Inc. comments "This agreement is the first step to secure long term mineral feed for our Aguila Norte Processing Plant. Furthermore, we believe that this type of agreement will be favoured by the small scale miners showing transparency by sharing both the profit and risk associated with mining. We are currently negotiating on other sources of mineral using this agreement as a template. The Company will continue to be active in purchasing mineral for processing."
Chucara consists of one 675 hectare concession and hosts several small-scale artisanal mine workings, as well as three veins that were part of historical production. Twenty-three samples taken by the Company from mineral being stockpiled for shipment returned the following results:
-- Gold - Average 14.96 grams per tonne (0.48 oz/t) (ranging from 5.15 to 29.1 grams per tonne) -- Silver - Average 396 grams per tonne (12.73 oz/t) (ranging from 136 to 1002 grams per tonne) -- Zinc - Average 5.98% (ranging from 1.52% to 10.66%) -- Lead - Average 5.79% (ranging from 1.32% to 18.61%)
It should be noted that the samples are hand sorted samples from the artisanal miners and should not be considered representative of the mineralization hosted in the veins. No mineral resources have been identified on the Property.
Preliminary flotation metallurgical work on a sample with a head grade of 0.325 oz/t gold, 16.1 oz/t silver, 7.37% lead, and 7.72% zinc has returned concentrate recoveries of 96.68% gold, 99.06% silver, 91.13% lead, and 37.57% zinc. Further detailed metallurgical work is being conducted by Certimin S.A., an accredited Peruvian laboratory.
The Company has recently completed a detailed compilation of the available historic data provided by the Property owner and by the Company's geologists. The historic data includes exploration work by Silver Standard Resources Inc. and Focus Ventures Ltd. The data shows that high grade vein style sediment-hosted mineralization occurs over a north-northeast trending corridor which measures over 1700 metres in length and 250 metres in width. Mineralization within this corridor consists of a series of complex vein systems and mineralized faults. The three main mineralized veins that were subject to historical production namely Maria, Consuzo and Wenses average 0.60 metres in width and were the main exploration targets by previous operators.
Historic drilling results by Focus Ventures Ltd. in 2011 totaled 1780 metres in five holes. Drilling in the northern area of the property cut the down dip extensions of the Conzuso, Maria and Wenses veins thereby demonstrating vein continuity to depth. Highlights from this drilling (source Focus Ventures Ltd. press releases of January 11, 2011 and March 15, 2011) include:
Diamond drill hole DDH-1:
-- From 127.2m to 127.8m, 4.95 g/t Au, 345 g/t Ag (11.9 oz/t), 5.78% Pb and 11.0% Zn (true width of 0.55m) and -- from 216.1m to 217m, 5.6 g/t Au, 512 g/t Ag (16.5 oz/t), 2.3% Pb, and 4.7% Zn and -- from 218.95m to 219.55, 10.0 g/t Au, 323 g/t Ag (10.4 oz/t), 7.6% Pb, and 4.3% Zn
Diamond drill hole DDH-3:
-- From 269.0 to 269.45m, 6.1 g/t Au, 652 g/t Ag (20.9 oz/t), 5.8% Pb and 7.4% Zn.
The Company plans to assist with infrastructure and controls for the mineral currently being mined to ensure that only high grade material will be shipped to Duran's Aguila Norte Plant. The mineral assignment agreement ensures that miners will not be able to sell to third parties. Assistance from the local community will further enable the Company to restrict access protecting the miners and environment.
At the Aguila Norte Plant, the commissioning of the crushing and milling circuits is in process with the usual break-in period adjustments and fine tuning being conducted to the Company's satisfaction in concert with the plant construction contractor. The Company is keeping to its construction budget to earn its 80% interest in the Aguila Norte Plant. In the coming months, Duran intends to submit plans for an expansion of the plant as mineral feed warrants. The Company also plans to connect to the power grid later this year which will reduce operating costs. Further plant expansion will include a full onsite laboratory able to perform multi-element and metallurgical analysis.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Sample collection in the field was accompanied by industry standard documentation including sample location, type, description, and width where applicable. All samples were delivered to Inspectorate Services SAC in Lima, Peru. Inspectorate is an ISO certified laboratory. At Inspectorate, the samples were crushed, pulverized, split, and assayed for gold by fire-assay with atomic absorption finish and 44-element four acid digestion ICP atomic emission spectrometry. Samples containing greater than 200 parts per-million silver, or greater than 1% lead, or greater than 1% zinc were reanalyzed using four acid digestion with atomic absorption finish. Samples containing greater than 1000 parts per-million silver were reanalysed by fire-assay with gravimetric finish. No quality control material was employed in the sampling. The sample results do compare to sample results analysed by non-accredited, private laboratories in Peru.
Jeffrey Reeder, P.Geo., and a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, has prepared, supervised the preparation, or approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release.
About Duran
Duran Ventures Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on mineral processing and the exploration and development of precious and base metal properties in Peru.
The Company has recently updated its website content featuring the construction of the Aguila Norte Processing Plant in northern Peru. Please visit www.duranventuresinc.com to view this progress.
Duran Ventures Inc. is a Canadian resource company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Bolsa de Valores de Lima: Symbol "DRV"
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. We use words such as "might", "will", "should", "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "believe", "estimate", "forecast" and similar terminology to identify forward looking statements and forward-looking information. Such statements and information are based on assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis made by management in light of its experience, current conditions and its expectations of future developments as well as other factors which it believes to be reasonable and relevant. Forward-looking statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements and information and accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on such statements and information. Risks and uncertainties are more fully described in our annual and quarterly Management's Discussion and Analysis and in other filings made by us with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. While the Company believes that the expectations expressed by such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information and the assumptions, estimates, opinions and analysis underlying such expectations are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be correct. In evaluating forward-looking statements and information, readers should carefully consider the various factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward looking statements and forward-looking information.
Contacts:
Duran Ventures Inc.
Jeffrey Reeder: (647) 302-3290
Oscar Pezo: (011) 511 422-1467
info@duranventuresinc.com
www.duranventuresinc.com
Leading CDMO claims prestigious customer award from one of the top-20 biopharmaceutical companies
AbbVie, one of the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies has awarded Vetter, a leading contract manufacturing and development organization (CDMO), the TRIUMPH AWARD for 2015. The award was granted for meeting AbbVie's 'predetermined high-level demands of service'. Vetter received this prestigious award as a contract manufacturer in the category Third-Party Manufacturers Supplier of the Year. Recently, Vetter announced that the company won two other coveted awards, the WorldStar Award 2016 for its syringe closure system Vetter-Ject, and the 2016 CMO Leadership Award in four categories including, quality, capabilities, expertise, and compatibility
This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005900/en/
Troy Carpenter (President Vetter Pharma International USA third from right), Casie Thomas (US Key Account Manager), Martin Schwab (Customer Project Manager second from left) and Alexander Osswald (Team Leader Central Planning first from left) accepted the Award in a ceremony in April 2016 representing the Vetter project team. They are joined by AbbVie's Terry Simmons (Vice President of Procurement second from right), and Jose Sevilla (Program Director first from right). (Photo: Business Wire)
The AbbVie TRIUMPH AWARD was created to acknowledge contract service companies whose efforts are 'well-aligned with the company's business strategy, and make an important contribution to AbbVie's strategic vision on a long-term basis'. With this award, granted within a field of more than one thousand contractors, the company recognizes its top performing contract suppliers for efforts that consistently add measureable value, and regularly exceed best-in-class performance on behalf of AbbVie and patients who come to rely on their products. Vetter received this prestigious award as a contract manufacturer for 2015 in the category Third-Party Manufacturers Supplier of the Year. This recognition was achieved by meeting the predetermined high-level demands of service AbbVie has come to expect that is 'consistently above-average'.
"The winning of this award is especially significant for Vetter as it recognizes our continuing efforts to provide our customers a high-level of service, and it is particularly gratifying since it is from one of the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies," said Vetter Managing Director Peter Soelkner. "This award is a reflection of the value that Vetter brings to the biopharmaceutical industry, and consequently to patients worldwide, and is yet another affirmation that Vetter continues to exceed the expectations of our peers in areas of critical importance to their business." In a speech honoring Vetter for the award, AbbVie highlighted the importance of the good partnership it has forged with Vetter, specifically noting the achievement of a high number of commercial batches, as well as the many project activities performed on the company's behalf.
Troy Carpenter (President Vetter Pharma International USA third from right), Casie Thomas (US Key Account Manager), Martin Schwab (Customer Project Manager second from left) and Alexander Osswald (Team Leader Central Planning first from left) accepted the Award in a ceremony in April 2016 representing the Vetter project team. They are joined by AbbVie's Terry Simmons (Vice President of Procurement second from right), and Jose Sevilla (Program Director first from right).
About Vetter
Vetter is a global leader in the fill and finish of aseptically prefilled syringe systems, cartridges and vials. Headquartered in Ravensburg, Germany, with production facilities in Germany and the United States, the contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) is an innovative solution provider serving the top 10 (bio-)pharmaceutical companies, as well as small and midsize companies. Its portfolio spans state-of-the-art manufacturing from early clinical development through commercial filling and final packaging of parenteral drugs. The company's extensive experience covers a broad range of complex compounds including monoclonal antibodies, peptides and interferons. Vetter supports its customers every step of the way, guiding their products through development, regulatory approval, launch and lifecycle management. Known for quality, the company of approximately 3,600 employees offers a foundation of experience spanning more than 35 years, including dozens of customer product approvals for novel (bio-)pharmaceutical compounds. The CDMO is also committed to patient safety and compliance with user friendly solutions such as Vetter-Ject, as well as its dual-chamber syringe Vetter Lyo-Ject and cartridge system V-LK. Vetter's branch office in Singapore and its subsidiary in Tokyo, Japan, increase the presence of the company and the awareness of its service portfolio in the Asian healthcare market. Visit www.vetter-pharma.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511005900/en/
Contacts:
Vetter Pharma International GmbH
Oskar Gold
Senior Vice President Key Account Management,
Marketing Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 (0)751-3700-3729
E-mail: PRnews@vetter-pharma.com
WASHINGTON COUNTY (dpa-AFX) - Nike Inc. (NKE) said it set new targets for fiscal year 2020 spanning environmental impact areas and its entire supply chain, including to have zero waste from contracted footwear manufacturing sent to landfill or incineration without energy recovery; to source 100% of products from contract factories meeting the company's definition of sustainable; to create products that deliver maximum performance with minimum impact, seeking a 10% reduction in the average environmental footprint and an increased use of more sustainable materials overall. By the end of fiscal year 2025, to reach 100% renewable energy in owned or operated facilities and to encourage broader adoption of renewable energy as part of an effort to control absolute emissions. Nike aims to minimize its environmental footprint throughout the product lifecycle, looking at carbon and energy, chemistry, water and waste to identify strategies to use less, use better, innovate new solutions and, where possible, close the loop and reuse. Nike noted that it is strengthening its recruitment, promotion and retention of diverse talent throughout the world with the goal of reflecting the diversity of the consumers it serves and the communities where its employees live and work. Nike will accelerate its efforts by expanding representation of women and people of color to start, while continuing to increase diversity of all dimensions across its business long term. The company is also introducing a new Family Care benefit in the U.S. that will support all new parents as well as employees caring for sick family members. Now mothers and fathers will receive an additional eight weeks paid time off and employees who need to care for family members also receive eight weeks paid time off. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
PALO ALTO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Adaptive Insights, the leader in cloud corporate performance management (CPM), today announced it has expanded its executive team with the appointment of Bhaskar Himatsingka as chief product officer (CPO), building on significant product and customer milestones. Part of a continued executive team expansion announced earlier this year, Himatsingka brings world-class product strategy, development, and operations expertise to the Adaptive Insights' product development team.
In Q1 2016, Adaptive Insights became the first company to surpass the 3,000 cloud CPM customer milestone, while expanding its global reach with the addition of new data centers in Australia. The company also recently hosted its annual user conference where 1,400 attendees -- one of the largest finance, planning and analysis (FP&A) gatherings in the world -- came to learn, network, and share stories of how they are transforming their organizations with Adaptive Insights solutions.
"We welcome Bhaskar at a time of incredible momentum and expect his strategic and operational leadership skills will carry us forward into our new phase of growth," said CEO Tom Bogan. "With demonstrated success at companies like Ariba, Change Healthcare, and Oracle, Bhaskar's passion for innovation, combined with his expertise in scaling product teams, makes him the perfect addition to our executive team."
The recent release of Adaptive Suite 2016.2 signals the company's continued focus on analytics and data integration. Driving toward a model of pervasive analytics -- a capability that embeds analytics into the operational and transactional applications needed to run the business -- Himatsingka will lead product strategy and development, while managing the company's global product development teams, reporting to Bogan.
"I'm inspired by Adaptive Insights' success to date, and perhaps, more importantly, by the incredible success customers are experiencing with this groundbreaking cloud CPM solution," said Himatsingka. "I look forward to applying my background in building both great products and teams for innovative companies in my new role at Adaptive Insights."
About Bhaskar Himatsingka
Himatsingka has held C-level positions with numerous high-profile companies including Change Healthcare (formerly Emdeon), Ariba (now an SAP company), and Oracle Corporation. Most recently as CTO for Change Healthcare, he developed and executed a new technology roadmap, leading the engineering teams that re-architected the way the company stored and analyzed the data it processed. Change Healthcare is the largest healthcare network in the United States, processing more than 8 billion transactions per year about nearly 200 million patients.
Previously, Himatsingka spent 12 years at Ariba, six of them as CTO, where he led the effort to re-architect the company's on-premises products, launched its multi-tenant enterprise software as a service (SaaS) platform, and led the product evolution that fueled Ariba's ascent to becoming a leading SaaS application provider and the world's largest B2B commerce network.
Expanded Infrastructure, Global Reach
Positioned for growth, Adaptive Insights has also continued to expand its infrastructure, announcing two new data centers in Australia in Q1 2016. These expand the Adaptive Insights global data network, which currently includes data centers in United States, Canada, and Europe, and will also be led by Himatsingka.
To learn more about Himatsingka, view his background on the Adaptive Insights leadership page.
Adaptive Insights
Adaptive Insights is the leader in cloud corporate performance management (CPM). Via its software as a service (SaaS) platform, the company offers capabilities for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, consolidation, dashboards, and analytics that empower finance, sales, and other business leaders with insight to drive true competitive advantage. The Adaptive Suite is sold direct or is available through Adaptive Insights' robust cloud CPM channel ecosystem of 200+ partners, including Accenture, Armanino, BDO, Cohn Reznick, Intacct, KPMG, McGladrey, Plex Systems, and Workday. NetSuite also offers Adaptive Planning as its NetSuite Financial Planning Module.
More than 3,000 companies in 85 countries use Adaptive Insights. These range from midsized companies and nonprofits to large corporations, including AAA, Boston Scientific, CORT, Epcor, Konica Minolta, NetSuite, Philips, P.F. Chang's, and Siemens. Adaptive Insights is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. For more information, visit www.AdaptiveInsights.com, the Adaptive Insights Blog, and follow Adaptive Insights on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Contacts:
Diane Orr
Adaptive Insights
650-422-7334
dorr@adaptiveinsights.com
Bill Rundle
Highwire PR
415-963-4174 ext.31
adaptiveinsights@highwirepr.com
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - May 11, 2016) - The Online News Association, the world's largest membership organization of digital journalists, today opened the call for entries for the 2016 Online Journalism Awards (OJAs), emblematic of the best in digital journalism, with 35 categories and $53,500 in prize money. The OJAs recognize major media, international and independent sites and individuals producing innovative work in multimedia storytelling.
As in past years, the 2016 OJAs have been modified to keep up with the rapidly evolving media industry:
This year's awards more specifically reflect the shift to producing work for distinct digital platforms and emerging media, as well as increased efforts to include the audience throughout the reporting and storytelling process.
The Student award now comes with a $1,000 cash award in the Small and Large categories, thanks to the Gannett Foundation, and has been renamed in honor of the late USA TODAY Managing Editor, David Teeuwen. ONA is honored to be able to encourage and support young journalists in David's name.
A single award now will be given for Online Commentary rather than in three size categories, a change resulting from lower submission numbers in past years, and the observation that great journalistic commentary does not closely depend on a reporter's resources or size of newsroom.
The second James Foley Award for Conflict Reporting will honor one of the many journalists reporting under the most challenging conditions. This honor will recognize a single journalist who has performed exceptional work while covering an ongoing conflict, war zone or other challenging setting. The recipient will be chosen by a committee that includes our 2015 honoree, photographer Cengiz Yar.
Twelve of the awards now come with $53,500 in prize money, courtesy of Knight Foundation, the Gannett Foundation, and The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. These awards honor data journalism, visual digital storytelling, investigative journalism, public service, technical innovation, student achievement and general excellence.
The 2016 OJAs are open to work published between May 16, 2015, and June 2, 2016. Applicants are invited to submit their work on journalists.org until Friday June 3, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. ET after reading the Rules & Eligibility.
The finalists and winners will be selected through a two-step process. First, industry-leading journalists and new media professionals will screen the awards to determine semi-finalists. In August, a panel of judges will convene to select winners.
The OJAs are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism around the world. Honorees will be announced on the final night of ONA16, the Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet, Sept. 15-17, at the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center.
Entries can be submitted at journalists.org/awards. The deadline is June 3. View the complete list of 2015 winners at journalists.org.
About the Online News Association
The Online News Association is the world's largest association of digital journalists. ONA's mission is to inspire innovation and excellence among journalists to better serve the public. The membership includes news writers, producers, designers, editors, bloggers, developers, photographers, educators, students and others who produce news for and support digital delivery systems. ONA also hosts the annual Online News Association conference and administers the Online Journalism Awards.
About Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit knightfoundation.org.
About the Gannett Foundation
The Gannett Foundation is a corporate foundation sponsored by Gannett Co., Inc. whose mission is to invest in the future of the communities in which Gannett does business, and in the future of our industry. It supports projects that take a creative approach to fundamental issues such as education and neighborhood improvement, economic development, youth development, community problem-solving, assistance to disadvantaged people, environmental conservation and cultural enrichment.
About the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications
The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications is driving innovation and engagement across the disciplines of advertising, journalism, public relations and telecommunication. The strength of its programs, faculty, students and alumni - in research and in practice - has earned the college ongoing recognition as one of the best in the nation among its peers. The college offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees and certificates, both online and on campus. The college's strength is drawn from both academic rigor and experiential learning. The college includes seven broadcast and digital media properties and the nation's only program in public interest communications.
For more information, contact:
Online News Association
Email contact
090516 NISSAN TO BE GUN FREE BY 2017
BY Tom Kathoa
Every attempt is being made to make Nissan GUN FREE by 2017.
An interview by New Dawn FM News, the member for Nissan constituency, Hon. Jerry Napto said.
The member for Nissan says his constituency is the last constituency in North Bougainville to have been visited by members of the Bougainville Peace Building Program last week.
He said he is duty bound as the people`s representative to ensure that the island is free of guns and other destructive weapons.
Member Napto urges his constituents to effectively take part in this exercise as the region marches towards the conduct of referendum in 2019
Ends
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN THE UNITED STATES, ITS TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES OR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (THE "UNITED STATES") OR TO ANY U.S. PERSON (AS DEFINED IN REGULATION S UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933) OR IN OR INTO ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OR THE TENDER OFFER MEMORANDUM (AS DEFINED BELOW).DONG Energy A/S (the "Offeror") announces today the results and pricing of its invitation to holders of its 500,000,000 4.00 per cent. Notes due 16 December 2016 (the "2016 Notes"), its 500,000,000 6.500 per cent. Notes due 7 May 2019 (the "2019 Notes"), its 500,000,000 4.875 per cent. Notes due 16 December 2021 (the "2021 Notes") and its 750,000,000 2.625 per cent. Notes due 19 September 2022 (the "2022 Notes", and together with the 2016 Notes, the 2019 Notes and the 2021 Notes, the "Notes" and each a "Series") to tender such Notes for purchase by the Offeror for cash (each such invitation, an "Offer" and together, the "Offers").The Offers were announced on 28 April 2016 and were made on the terms and subject to the conditions contained in the tender offer memorandum dated 28 April 2016 (the "Tender Offer Memorandum") prepared by the Offeror. Capitalised terms used in this announcement but not defined have the meanings given to them in the Tender Offer Memorandum.The Expiration Deadline for the Offers was 5.00 p.m. (CET) on 10 May 2016.As at the Expiration Deadline, 524,084,000 in aggregate principal amount of the Notes had been validly tendered pursuant to the Offers.Following the Expiration Deadline, the Offeror hereby announces that it has decided to (i) set the Final Acceptance Amount (being the final aggregate amount of Notes validly tendered and accepted for purchase) at 524,084,000, and (ii) accept for purchase any and all Notes validly tendered pursuant to the Offers, without scaling, as set out below.The Purchase Price in respect of the 2016 Notes, the 2019 Notes, the 2021 Notes and the 2022 Notes accepted for purchase was determined at or around 1.00 p.m. (CET) today in the manner described in the Tender Offer Memorandum and in the case of the 2021 Notes and the 2022 Notes, by reference to the sum of the relevant Purchase Spread and the Interpolated Mid-Swap Rate as set out below.Description: 500,000,000 4.00 per cent. Notes due 16 December 2016 ISIN: XS0473787025 Interpolated Mid-Swap Rate: N/A Purchase Spread: N/A Purchase Yield: 0% Purchase Price: 102.372% Accrued Interest: 1.628% Final Acceptance Amount: 42,680,000 Pro-ration Factor: N/A Nominal Amount Outstanding after Settlement Date: 457,320,000Description: 500,000,000 6.500 per cent. Notes due 7 May 2019 ISIN: XS0426738976 Interpolated Mid-Swap Rate: N/A Purchase Spread: N/A Purchase Yield: 0% Purchase Price: 119.393% Accrued Interest: 0.107% Final Acceptance Amount: 193,787,000 Pro-ration Factor: N/A Nominal Amount Outstanding after Settlement Date: 306,213,000Description: 500,000,000 4.875 per cent. Notes due 16 December 2021 ISIN: XS0473783891 Interpolated Mid-Swap Rate: 0.053% Purchase Spread: +40bps Purchase Yield: 0.453% Purchase Price: 124.364% Accrued Interest: 1.985% Final Acceptance Amount: 139,627,000 Pro-ration Factor: N/A Nominal Amount Outstanding after Settlement Date: 360,373,000Description: 750,000,000 2.625 per cent. Notes due 19 September 2022 ISIN: XS0829114999 Interpolated Mid-Swap Rate: 0.130% Purchase Spread: +50bps Purchase Yield: 0.630% Purchase Price: 112.383% Accrued Interest: 1.700% Final Acceptance Amount: 147,990,000 Pro-ration Factor: N/A Nominal Amount Outstanding after Settlement Date: 602,010,000The applicable Purchase Price together with Accrued Interest will be paid to Noteholders whose Notes have been accepted for purchase by the Offeror. Settlement is expected to occur on 13 May 2016.The information provided in this announcement does not change DONG Energy's previous financial guidance for the 2016 financial year.For further information, please contact:Media Relations Ulrik Frhlke +45 9955 9560Head of Group Treasury & Risk Management Allan Bdskov Andersen +45 9955 9769DISCLAIMER This announcement must be read in conjunction with the Tender Offer Memorandum. No offer or invitation to acquire any securities is being made pursuant to this announcement. The distribution of this announcement and the Tender Offer Memorandum in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. Persons into whose possession this announcement and/or the Tender Offer Memorandum comes are required by each of the Offeror, the Dealer Managers and the Tender Agent to inform themselves about, and to observe, any such restrictions.DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe, headquartered in Denmark. Around 6,700 ambitious employees are engaged in developing, constructing and operating offshore wind farms; generating power and heat from our power stations; providing energy to residential and business customers; and producing oil and gas. Group revenue was DKK 71bn (EUR 9.5bn) in 2015. For further information, see www.dongenergy.com.Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=571289
John Wood Group PLC ("Company")
Annual General Meeting - Voting Results
Issued share capital at meeting date: 381,025,384
Number of votes per share: 1 vote per share
At the Annual General Meeting of John Wood Group PLC held on 11 May 2016, all resolutions put to shareholders were passed on a poll with the required majorities.
The full text of each resolution is contained in the notice of Annual General Meeting, which is available on the Company's websitewww.woodgroup.com
The final vote received in respect of each resolution was as follows:
Votes For (Including Discretionary) % Votes Against % Votes Total % of Issued Share Capital Voted Votes Withheld* 1 Report & accounts 292,020,118 99.94% 175,528 0.06% 292,195,646 76.69% 2,953,256 2 Declaration of final dividend 294,197,759 99.79% 614,457 0.21% 294,812,216 77.37% 68,479 3 Remuneration report 248,441,885 90.66% 25,598,702 9.34% 274,040,587 71.92% 21,108,315 4 Re-elect Ian Marchant 292,720,262 99.26% 2,181,942 0.74% 294,902,204 77.40% 246,698 5 Re-elect Jan Brown 293,140,070 99.35% 1,929,654 0.65% 295,069,724 77.44% 71,699 6 Re-elect Thomas Botts 293,390,439 99.43% 1,679,467 0.57% 295,069,906 77.44% 71,516 7 Re-elect Mary Shafer-Malicki 293,360,046 99.42% 1,709,678 0.58% 295,069,724 77.44% 72,499 8 Re-elect Jeremy Wilson 290,365,916 98.66% 3,946,590 1.34% 294,312,506 77.24% 828,916 9 Re-elect Robin Watson 292,932,270 99.27% 2,145,494 0.73% 295,077,764 77.44% 71,137 10 Elect of David Kemp 292,775,862 99.22% 2,294,108 0.78% 295,069,970 77.44% 71,453 11 Re-appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditors 288,310,859 98.89% 3,244,898 1.11% 291,555,757 76.52% 3,593,144 12 Authorisation of auditors' remuneration 294,707,980 99.88% 366,689 0.12% 295,074,669 77.44% 74,232 13 Authority to allot shares 253,822,033 86.11% 40,942,982 13.89% 294,765,015 77.36% 383,886 14 Disapplication of pre-emption rights 247,860,863 90.02% 27,473,159 9.98% 275,334,022 72.26% 19,773,089 15 Authority to purchase own shares 288,013,639 98.61% 4,054,207 1.39% 292,067,846 76.65% 3,081,055 16 Notice of general meetings 249,413,123 85.47% 42,403,135 14.53% 291,816,258 76.59% 3,332,643
* A vote withheld is not a vote in law and is not counted in the calculation of the proportion of votes 'For' or 'Against' a resolution.
These votes will shortly be available on the Company's website at: www.woodgroup.com
In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.2 a copy of the resolutions passed at the General Meeting will be submitted to the National Storage Mechanism and will shortly be available for inspection at: www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/nsm
Notification authorised by:
WILLIAM SETTER
COMPANY SECRETARY
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- North Sea Energy Inc. ("NSE" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: NUK) Today the Bagpuss Operator, Premier Oil UK Limited ("Premier") announced an operational update, "Premier plans to drill the Bagpuss heavy oil exploration prospect in the Moray Firth in the UK North Sea in June, using the Ocean Valiant rig, which is currently operating at Solan." The reason for the delay is due to poor weather conditions.
About NSE:
The Company, founded in February 2007, is a UK focused oil and gas exploration and appraisal company quoted on the TSX-V. NSE, along with its wholly owned subsidiary, holds two high impact opportunities in the UK North Sea. These opportunities are the Bagpuss and Blofeld prospects located in blocks 13/24c and 13/25 of the UKCS.
Forward-looking statements
Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan," "forecast," "expect," "project," "intend," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. We cannot guarantee future results, performance or achievements. Consequently, there is no representation that the actual results achieved will be the same, in whole or in part, as those set out in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
North Sea Energy Inc.
J. Craig Anderson
Chairman & CEO
416-366-4700
canderson@northseaenergy.ca
www.northseaenergy.ca
LONDON, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- ABI Research, the leader in transformative technology innovation market intelligence, forecasts the BLE beacon market to more than double in 2016. Given its steady growth, the market remains on track to break 400 million shipments by 2021.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151014/276887LOGO
"We will continue to see steady rather than spectacular growth this year," says Patrick Connolly, Principal Analyst at ABI Research. "Some beacon vendors indicate that contracts are beginning to break the one million mark, but it will take time to roll these out. While retail is the main focus for many today, ABI Research expects it will be overtaken in terms of shipments by corporate/industrial, connected home, and IoT as the market moves from hardware to software-based beacons."
Beacons are also going to have an effect on mobile advertising, and essentially create an opportunity for a new generation of advertising companies to emerge. ABI Research forecasts the dedicated beacon advertising market will grow strongly, but collaboration and aggregation of networks will also be a developing trend in 2016.
"If the beacon advertising market is going to grow, it needs reach and scale, both in terms of deployments and active users," continues Connolly. "There isn't really one entity out there with sufficient amounts of either at this stage."
Looking at this year's innovation factors, most vendors seem to be solving the issues of scale, security, and beacon management at this stage. Beacons in 2016 will support a five-plus year battery life, concurrent Eddystone/iBeacon transmission, sensor integration, and proprietary transmission of data.
"We are witnessing a shift toward proprietary, high-accuracy technology, specifically from Quuppa and Bluvision," concludes Connolly. "As the industry moves forward, we expect to see many new device formats emerge this year that aim to address the different needs of a wide array of verticals."
These findings are part of ABI Research's BLE Beacon Technologies and Services Research Service (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/service/ble-beacon-technologies-and-services/), which includes research reports, market data, insights, and competitive assessments.
About ABI Research
For more than 25 years, ABI Research has stood at the forefront of technology market intelligence, partnering with innovative business leaders to implement informed, transformative technology decisions. The company employs a global team of senior analysts to provide comprehensive research and consulting services through deep quantitative forecasts, qualitative analyses and teardown services. An industry pioneer, ABI Research is proactive in its approach, frequently uncovering ground-breaking business cycles ahead of the curve and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. In all, the company covers more than 60 services, spanning 11 technology sectors. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.
WOLFSBURG (dpa-AFX) - Volkswagen AG (VKW.L, VLKAF.PK, VOW.BE) said that its Supervisory Board has recommended to its 2016 Annual General Meeting that the actions of the serving members of the Board of Management in fiscal year 2015 be ratified. Based on its own review, the Board of Management has reached a corresponding decision. The Supervisory Board points out that the proposed ratification by the Annual General Meeting does not imply any waiver of possible compensation claims.
This recommendation is based on information currently available from the not yet concluded investigation into the diesel matter by U.S. law firm Jones Day. On this basis, law firm Gleiss Lutz carried out a comprehensive legal review which has been confirmed by Professor Wulf Goette (retired chief justice at the German Federal Court of Justice).
The Supervisory Board requested an examination into whether, on the basis of information currently available, serious and manifest breaches of duty on the part of any serving or former members of the Board of Management are to be established.
Although the investigation by Jones Day is still ongoing, according to information currently available, no serious and manifest breaches of duty on the part of any serving or former members of the Board of Management have been established that would stand in the way of granting ratification at this time. In in-depth discussions, the Supervisory Board weighed in detail the criteria relevant for the ratification resolutions. The appraisal was based on the interests and well-being of the Company.
The Supervisory Board and the Board of Management wish to emphasize that the proposed resolution is subject to the proviso that, up to the Annual General Meeting on June 22, 2016, no new information comes to light from the ongoing investigation that would make it appropriate to adopt a different assessment.
In a separate press release, The Board of Management and Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG are nominating Dr. Hessa al Jaber for election by shareholders to the Supervisory Board. Dr. Hessa al Jaber is to take office on the Supervisory Board on behalf of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), succeeding Akber al Baker. The Supervisory Board wishes to thank Mr. al Baker for his close cooperation in a spirit of trust.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
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Press-release
Krasnodar
May 11, 2016
PJSC "Magnit" Announces the 1st Coupon Yield Payment
Krasnodar, May 11, 2016: PJSC "Magnit", Russia's largest food retailer (the "Company"; MOEX and LSE: MGNT), announces the 1st coupon yield payment against bonds of the BO-001P-01 series.
Please be informed that today PJSC "Magnit" fulfilled its obligation of the first coupon redemption against bonds of the BO-001P-01 series in the amount of 558,500,000 rubles.
Parameters of the bond issue:
Type of securities: Non-convertible interest-bearing certified exchange-traded bonds of PJSC "Magnit" of the BO-001P-01 series to the bearer with the obligatory centralized custody, placed under the Program of the exchange-traded bonds with the identification number of 4-60525-P-001P-02E as of 23.10.2015, identification number of the issue 4B02-01-60525-P-001P as of 05.11.2015, International Stock Identification Number (ISIN) RU000A0JVXM8 Identification number of the securities issue and the date of its assignment: 4B02-01-60525-P-001P of 05.11.2015 Coupon period which the yield is paid for: The first coupon period ( 11.11.2015-11.05.2016 )
The total amount of the interest to be paid against bonds:
558,500,000 rubles excluding tax and other deductions
The amount of the interest to be paid against one bond:
55.85 rubles The total number of bonds against which the yield is paid: 10,000,000 bonds The method of payment: Monetary funds in the currency of the Russian Federation by means of non-cash settlement
The record date:
May 10, 2016
The date of the obligation fulfillment:
May 11, 2016
The total amount of the interest paid against bonds following the reporting period:
Following the 1st coupon period the amount of 558,500,000 rubles was paid excluding tax and other deductions. Obligation has been fulfilled.
For further information, please contact:
Timothy Post Head of Investor Relations
Email: post@magnit.ru
Office: +7-861-277-4554 x 17600
Mobile: +7-961-511-7678
Direct Line: +7-861-277-4562 Investor Relations Office MagnitIR@magnit.ru
Direct Line: +7-861-277-4562
Website: ir.magnit.com/ Media Inquiries Media Relations Department
press@magnit.ru
Company description:
Magnit is Russia's largest food retailer. Founded in 1994, the company is headquartered in the southern Russian city of Krasnodar. As of March 31, 2016, Magnit operated 34 distribution centers and about 12,434 stores (9,715 convenience, 382 hypermarkets, and 2,337 drogerie stores) in 2,385 cities and towns throughout 7 federal regions of the Russian Federation.
In accordance with the audited IFRS results for 2015, Magnit had revenues of RUB 951 billion and an EBITDA of RUB 104 billion. Magnit's local shares are traded on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX: MGNT) and its GDRs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: MGNT) and it has a credit rating from Standard & Poor's of BB+. Measured by market capitalization, Magnit is one of the largest retailers in Europe.
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, will announce the winner of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Group Award for Science Promotion, which will occur at a Science Odyssey celebration.
Just prior to the announcement, Minister Duncan will celebrate the work of science promoters who will invite attendees - including school children - to interact with their exhibits.
Media are asked to arrive at least 15 minutes early to sign in at the reception desk.
Date: May 12, 2016 Time: Science Exhibits Open-11:00 a.m. (ET) Media Arrival (latest)-12:00 p.m. Announcement-12:15 p.m. Location: Room 200 Sir John A. Macdonald Building 144 Wellington St. Ottawa, Ontario
Follow Minister Duncan
Twitter: @ScienceMin
Instagram: sciencemin
Follow NSERC
Twitter: @nserc_crsng
Contacts:
Veronique Perron
Press Secretary, Minister of Science
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
343-291-2858
veronique.perron@canada.ca
Media Relations
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
343-291-1777
ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca
Martin Leroux
Media and Public Affairs Officer
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
613-943-7618
media@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
MATTERSBURG, Austria, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
I-New to present first time ever Social Media features and compelling MVNO/E business offerings at the 2016 MVNOs Industry Summit LATAM in Mexico City.
I-New Unified Mobile Solution, recently awarded as "Best MVNE - Enabler of MVNOs" at the MVNOs World Congress, will showcase at the MVNOs Industry Summit Latin America, taking place in Mexico City on 17-18 May 2016.
The company is one of the fastest growing technology solutions provider in the mobile communication industry. Especially the Latin America region represents a vibrant and prosperous marketplace for I-New. The company is by far market leader in the pre-paid MVNO segment and also clearly dominating in the highly attractive MVNE business sector. I-New already established MVNO/E service hubs in Mexico, Colombia and Chile and is about to service a dozen of Latin American MVNOs until end of 2016 professionally. Each of them to sustainably profit from the innovative service approach and to enter the dynamic mobile business world most smoothly and at the same time most competitive: Partnerships with leading network operators already in place, platform investments already made upfront, a comprehensive set of products and services to uniquely customize mobile offerings (enabled by I-New's multiple awarded The MVNO Collection), shortest time to market, affordable even for small sized MVNOs starting from <10.000 subscribers, just to name a few. I-New's successful MVNE strategy is built to service MVNO clients alongside their customer journey completely, from the first idea to the full operation of a mobile business offering. Which simply makes it the best MVNO/E solution available.
To conveniently open the telecom world and to naturally link it with the various daily habits of a mobile subscribers' life is I-New's daily mission and equally route to success for their global MVNO customers. On top of the heavy MVNO/E platform investments, the company also invested significantly in new product innovations which provides first time ever features to MVNOs and their end customers. I-New CEO Peter Nussbaumer: "We always want to lead pace with our pioneering MVNO/E solutions. Our new real-time CRM product provide innovative first time ever features to the MVNO market - best in class when it comes to the next level of MVNO brand experience, to customer care quality and ahead in understanding todays naturally mobile customer habits. Our MVNO customers sustainably profit from an exceptional powerful tool for outstanding subscriber acquisition quality to secure the success of their virtual mobile business engagement". The new real-time CRM tool merges the Social Media with the Telco world, enabling real-time social media interactions between MVNOs and subscribers. Including private conversations, content exchange, browser replication, Social Media advertising, fully 360 customer view, real-time monitoring, etc. This isn't just another Telco-feature; this is a Web-feature including the telco channel. And this is where Telco truly meets Social Media.
For further queries:
I-New Unified Mobile Solutions AG
Global Marketing & Sales
marketing@i-new.com
http://www.i-new.com
More about I-New's series of innovations at the 2016 MVNOs Industry Summit LATAM, 17-18 May 2016, Marquis Reforma Hotel, Mexico City/Mexico. Contact sales@i-new.com for more information and/or to arrange onsite meetings.
Employees Demand Discussions With CEO To Address Serious Issues
GREENWICH, Connecticut, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, XPO workers from the United States and Europe, along with union leaders, gathered outside the XPO Logistics shareholder meeting to call for CEO Bradley Jacobs to meet with them to address serious concerns.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100127/IBTLOGO
XPO is a top 10 global logistics company and its employees around the world are angry about the company's questionable behavior toward workers. Jacobs has spurned their requests to meet. A delegation attended the meeting to demand a meeting to discuss workers' concerns.
"Many of the 19,000 employees of XPO/Con-way Freight are upset about the company's inability to put forth an acceptable contract proposal, the terminal closures, the subcontracting and layoffs," said Tyson Johnson, Director of the Teamsters National Freight Division. "Workers are fighting back by forming their union with the Teamsters."
"Today's action in Greenwich is historic because the Teamsters and members of several European labor unions are coming together to tell the truth about XPO," said Fred Potter, Director of the Teamsters Port Division. "The company is getting a bad reputation with port, warehouse and freight workers across the U.S. and the world."
Questions surround XPO's management of new business integration, terminal closures, subcontracting and layoffs, and a lack of progress on bargaining. XPO port and rail drivers have requested clarification on their classification as independent contractors, and its impact on wages and workers' federal right to form their union.
XPO's questionable behavior also extends to Europe beginning with allegedly breaking its promise to not layoff any workers in France for at least 18 months after XPO's purchase of Norbert Dentressangle SA. Workers in Europe and their unions have been fighting back against XPO's attempts to slash jobs.
"We applaud today's action in Greenwich," said Steve Cotton, General Secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF). "This event is the first time that a new network of concerned workers has taken action on XPO. The company has to listen. The company has to talk."
The coalition of workers and unions plans more events in an effort to get Jacobs to meet with the group to discuss the workers' issues.
The 1.4 million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 75,000 freight members, including nearly 200 at XPO/Conway. For more information, please visit www.Teamster.org.
Contact:
Galen Munroe (202) 624-6911
gmunroe@teamster.org
LUND, SWEDEN -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Swedish advanced materials start-up Sol Voltaics has raised a record round of $17 million in new equity investment and grant funding to accelerate commercialization of its nanowire solar film tandem-layer technology.
The Series C funding round was led by new investor Riyadh Valley Company (RVC), the venture capital investment arm of King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Long-term investors Umoe, FAM, Industrifonden, and Nano Future Invest demonstrated their continuing commitment to Sol Voltaics by contributing to the $12.5 million in equity. In addition, the Swedish Energy Agency and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program backed the company with over $4.5 million in additional grants.
The new investment will bolster Sol Voltaics' efforts to bring its nanowire-based solar efficiency boosting film to market. The company recently announced a major technological breakthrough with the successful alignment of gallium-arsenide nanowires in a thin film. When integrated in a tandem-junction architecture on mainstream crystalline silicon panels, Sol Voltaics' nanomaterials innovations will enable photovoltaic (PV) module efficiencies of greater than 27% -- a 50% enhancement in energy generation compared to today's solar panels.
In addition to the nanowire alignment breakthrough, Sol Voltaics has progressed through several generations of development of its Aerotaxy technology over the past few quarters. This patented process, originating out of Lund University in Sweden, is the foundation for producing nanowire solar cells and films in a cost-effective manner, a key parameter in the commercialization process.
"There is a tremendous amount of interest in a number of competing tandem-layer technologies designed to significantly boost the efficiency of existing solar modules," said Erik Smith, CEO of Sol Voltaics. "Following our recent nanowire alignment breakthrough and several other critical technological advances, this latest investment from new and long-term partners reflects the confidence they have in Sol Voltaics' ability to become the premier commercial solution for stacked tandem-junction solar modules."
"We are excited to be part of a company that can provide such a dynamic change to the solar industry", said Dr. Khalid Al Saleh, CEO of RVC. "With the company's recent technology breakthroughs and nanowire efficiency world record we believe Sol Voltaics can lead the tandem solar cell revolution."
Apricum -- The Cleantech Advisory acted as financial advisor to Sol Voltaics in the transaction. According to Apricum, the capital raise represents the largest solar-technology funding round in Europe over the past 18 months.
"To overcome the physical limits of current mainstream single-junction technology, the photovoltaic industry needs to find a low-cost dual-junction technology," said Moritz Borgmann, partner at Apricum. "Sol Voltaics, with its drop-in product, provides a game-changing yet simple solution to this problem. The great investor interest underlines how compelling the technology is."
RVC's investment in Sol Voltaics offers another example of Saudi Arabia's increasing interest in the renewable energy space as the Kingdom moves toward realizing its huge potential for solar energy.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently unveiled the "Saudi Arabia Vision 2030" plan as part of the new King Salman Renewable Energy Initiative, a wide-ranging economic and social policy effort to achieve an initial domestic deployment target of 9.5 gigawatts of solar and other renewable energy sources by 2023.
About Sol Voltaics
Sol Voltaics improves the efficiency of solar energy capture, generation and storage through the use of nanomaterials. A fast-growing company with a strong intellectual property portfolio, Sol Voltaics is developing a high-volume production platform for its patented Aerotaxy nanowire thin-film process. The company's nanowire solar cell technology will dramatically improve the efficiency of conventional solar modules at competitive costs, contributing to a sustainable energy world. Sol Voltaics is based in Lund, Sweden.
About Riyadh Valley Company
Riyadh Valley Company (RVC) is the investment arm of King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. RVC is envisioned to participate in transforming Saudi Arabia's oil-based economy into a revolutionary knowledge-based economy. The company's mission is to enhance the economic competitiveness of KSA through investment in and development of advanced technologies and innovation.
About Apricum
Apricum -- The Cleantech Advisory is a transaction advisory and strategy consulting firm specialized in renewable energy technologies. Apricum's team combines many years of corporate finance experience with an in-depth understanding of renewable energy market dynamics. Apricum has an extensive global network of strategic and financial investors, providing expertise and support to close the most favorable transactions. Apricum is headquartered in Berlin and has representative offices in the USA, UK, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, India, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.
Media contact
Nick Richardson
Impress Labs (for Sol Voltaics)
+1 480-409-0775
Email Contact
Company contact
Ulrika Linner
Sol Voltaics
+46 (0)703 836563
Email Contact
http://www.solvoltaics.com
SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Western Economic Diversification Canada
Today, the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada, announced funding of $121,025 to help attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) opportunities to the Saskatoon region.
Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority (SREDA) will use the investment from Western Economic Diversification Canada (WD) to hire in-market consultants to organize six missions to the United States and China, as well as the regions in Asia and the United Kingdom. FDI will help new businesses and existing small- and medium-sized companies grow.
Quick Facts
-- SREDA's international missions will focus on attracting investors and businesses in priority economic sectors such as manufacturing, mining and energy, and biotechnology. -- It is expected that, by the end of the project, SREDA will have attracted $25 million of FDI.
Quotes
"We are pleased to partner with organizations such as SREDA to develop programs to help Canadian businesses to increase trade and international partnerships, and grow their businesses, along with the Canadian economy."
-- The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada
"This project will help increase international awareness of some key Saskatchewan economic sectors in priority markets. We are helping maintain and grow our businesses in the global marketplace."
-- The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
"This funding allows SREDA to strengthen our efforts around attracting global companies and investments into the Region. FDI is key to growing the local economy and creating new jobs, so we're pleased with the support of the Government of Canada to help showcase the Saskatoon region on the global stage"
-- Alex Fallon, President and Chief Executive Officer, SREDA
Additional Links
- Saskatoon Regional Economic Development Authority
Subscribe to news releases and keep up-to-date on the latest from WD. Follow us on Twitter at @WD_Canada.
The West Means Business.
IF THERE IS A DISCREPANCY BETWEEN ANY PRINTED VERSION AND THE ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THIS NEWS RELEASE, THE ELECTRONIC VERSION WILL PREVAIL.
Contacts:
Rhonda Laing
Director, Policy, Planning and External Relations
Western Economic Diversification Canada
306-975-5944
rhonda.laing@canada.ca
Alex Fallon
President and Chief Executive Officer, SREDA
306-664-0723
afallon@sreda.com
WD Toll-Free Number: 1-888-338-WEST (9378)
Teletypewriter (TTY): 1-877-303-3388
WD is online at www.wd-deo.gc.ca
NEEDHAM, MA--(Marketwired - May 11, 2016) - Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, announced the speaker agenda for the 14 th Annual Discovery on Target, taking place September 19-22, 2016 in Boston, MA. Spanning four days, the event showcases current and emerging "hot" targets for the pharmaceutical industry. Over 1,100 attendees (from 26 countries) composed of scientists/technologists, executives, directors, and managers from biopharma, academic, and healthcare organizations are expected to participate.
The Plenary Keynote Presentations feature two prominent thought leaders from The Centre for Therapeutic Target Validation (CTTV), an open-innovation consortium that aims to select and validate novel targets in drug development: Jeffrey Barrett, D.Phil., Founding Director of CTTV and Group Leader at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute; and Aaron Day-Williams, Ph.D., Biogen Scientific Lead at CTTV, Associate Director and Head of Statistical Genetics at Biogen. During their keynote presentation, titled "Open Innovation Partnerships to Bridge the Gap from GWAS to Drug Targets," they will discuss how human genetics and large-scale genomics can change how the pharmaceutical industry approaches therapeutic target validation, and how open innovation partnerships involving scientists working closely with academics can best bring these cutting edge datasets to fruition. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions and gain valuable insights from their learnings.
Barrett and Day-Williams will join an impressive group of 300+ distinguished speakers who look forward to sharing their knowledge, best practices, and expertise with all attendees. Topics include (but are not limited to) GPCR-Based Drug Discovery, Cardio-Metabolic Diseases, Ocular Disorders, Gene Editing and Silencing, Cancer Genomics, Rare Genetic Diseases, the Microbiome, and more.
The year's event features nearly 250 presentations within 17 conference tracks, five symposia, 16 short courses, an introductory training seminar, over 50 exhibiting companies, more than 135 scientific research posters, and countless dedicated networking opportunities.
For more information about Discovery on Target, including attendee testimonials and detailed agendas, visit DiscoveryOnTarget.com.
About Cambridge Healthtech Institute (http://www.healthtech.com)
Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech, CROs, academia, and niche service providers. CHI is renowned for its vast conference portfolio held worldwide including PepTalk, Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference, SCOPE Summit, Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, PEGS Summit, Drug Discovery Chemistry, Biomarker World Congress, World Preclinical Congress, Next Generation Dx Summit and Discovery on Target. CHI's portfolio of products that include Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conferences, Barnett International, Insight Pharma Reports, Cambridge Marketing Consultants, Cambridge Meeting Planners, Knowledge Foundation, Bio-IT World, Clinical Informatics Newsand Diagnostics World.
Lisa Scimemi
Corporate Marketing Director
lscimemi@healthtech.com
Vast Resources PLC / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining
11 May 2016 Vast Resources PLC ('Vast' or 'the Company')
Prospecting Licence granted at Baita Plai Tailings Facility
Vast Resources PLC, the AIM-listed resource development and production company, is pleased to announce that its 80 per cent. owned Romanian subsidiary, SC African Consolidated Resources SRL ('AFCR') has been granted, as of 11 May 2016, a prospecting licence over the Faneata tailings dam located 7km from the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine ('BPPM') in western Romania. This licence constitutes a separate right from the anticipated right to mine at BPPM itself, which is expected shortly and which has been the subject of the merger process as previously reported.
Highlights * The 4.6Mt tailings dam at Faneata is comprised of approximately 40 years of tailings from the high grade BPPM * Historical data indicates that the tailings contain economic quantities of minerals, including gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc * The Company will undertake an 825m auger exploration programme commencing in Q3 2016 to upgrade the mineralised tailings dam to a JORC compliant Mineral Resource and thereafter undertake a feasibility study to assess the viability of the resource. The total cost for the drilling, assaying and feasibility study is expected to be US$125,000
The Faneata tailings dam has the potential to be a stand-alone mining operation when enhanced processing technologies, that have the ability to enable the economic extraction of the metalliferous content of the tailings, are used.
A sampling programme undertaken by El Dore Mining Corporation Ltd ('El Dore') in 2011 at the Faneata tailings dam, where 36 samples were submitted to ALS Chemex in Romania for independent assay, estimated that the 4.6Mt tailings facility contains 4,080 tonnes of copper, 6,640 tonnes of zinc, 3,100 tonnes of lead, 35 tonnes of silver and 309kg of gold in-situ.
The Company intends to implement a confirmatory drill programme at the beginning of the third quarter of 2016 on the El Dore estimates with an 825m auger drilling programme to prove up a JORC compliant Mineral Resource. Thereafter, as part of a Feasibility Study on the Faneata tailings dam, bulk samples compiled from the auger programme will be sent for metallurgical testwork to determine the recoveries of the various metals contained within the tailings dam.
Roy Pitchford, Vast CEO, commented:
'The Faneata tailings dam provides an opportunity for an additional low risk cashflow stream from the Baita Plai area utilising the current infrastructure at the BPPM. From a permitting perspective, the ability to potentially reprocess the tailings dam is mutually exclusive of the mining operation at BPPM and will reduce the operational risk by having two sources of feed for the processing facility. We look forward to updating the market once the confirmatory drilling programme has been completed.'
This announcement has been reviewed by Mr Craig Harvey, Group Chief Geologist of Vast, and a member of the Geological Society of South Africa and the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Harvey meets the definition of a 'qualified person' as defined in the AIM Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies.
** ENDS **
For further information visit www.vastresourcesplc.com or please contact:
Vast Resources PLC
Roy Pitchford (Chief Executive Officer) +40 (0) 372 988 988 - Romania Office +40 (0) 741 111 900 - Romania Mobile +44 (0) 7793 909 985 - UK Mobile
Strand Hanson Ltd - Financial & Nominated www.strandhanson.co.uk Adviser +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 James Spinney James Bellman
Daniel Stewart and Company PLC - Joint www.danielstewart.co.uk Broker +44 (0) 20 7776 6550 Martin Lampshire David Coffman
Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers Ltd - Joint www.dowgatecapitalstockbrokers.co.uk Broker +44 (0) 1293 517744 Jason Robertson Neil Badger
St Brides Partners Ltd www.stbridespartners.co.uk Susie Geliher +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Charlotte Heap
This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Vast Resources plc via GlobeNewswire [HUG#2011912]
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Opdivo Yervoy Regimen now approved for unresectable or metastatic melanoma patients, regardless of BRAF mutational status
Approval of the Regimen marks a novel combination treatment for advanced melanoma patients, demonstrating the potential of targeting distinct and complementary immune pathways
With this fifth EU approval for Opdivo, in three distinct tumor types, more patients fighting cancer have access to Immuno-Oncology treatment options in Europe
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) announced today that the European Commission (EC) has approved Opdivo in combination with Yervoy for the treatment of advanced (unresectable or metastatic) melanoma in adults, representing the first and only approved combination of two Immuno-Oncology agents in the European Union (EU). This approval allows for the marketing of the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen in all 28 Member States of the EU. Approval was based on CheckMate -067, the first Phase 3, double-blind, randomized study, in which the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen and Opdivo monotherapy demonstrated superior progression-free survival (PFS) and objective response rates (ORR) in patients with advanced melanoma, regardless of BRAF mutational status, versus Yervoy alone. The safety profile was consistent with previously reported studies evaluating the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen, and most treatment-related adverse events were managed using established algorithms.
Dr. James Larkin, from The Royal Marsden and lead author on CheckMate 067, the trial that led to this approval, commented, "Historically, advanced melanoma has been a very difficult-to-treat disease. Now, with this approval, patients in Europe will have a treatment option combining two Immuno-Oncology therapies, Opdivo and Yervoy, which in a Phase 3 randomized trial has shown its ability to deliver superior efficacy versus Yervoy monotherapy in progression-free survival and response. This is truly good news for healthcare providers and the patients they treat, as it represents an important new treatment option with the potential for improved outcomes."
In study CheckMate -067, the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen demonstrated a 58% reduction in the risk of disease progression versus Yervoy monotherapy in previously untreated patients with advanced melanoma (HR=0.42 [99.5% CI: 0.32-0.56; p<0.0001]), while Opdivo monotherapy demonstrated a 45% risk reduction versus Yervoy monotherapy (HR=0.55 [99.5% CI: 0.42-0.73; p<0.0001]). The median PFS for the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen was 11.5 months (95% CI: 8.9-22.18) and 6.9 months (95% CI: 4.3-9.5) for Opdivo monotherapy versus 2.89 months (95% CI: 2.8-3.4) for Yervoy monotherapy, at a minimum follow-up of 18 months. The Opdivo Yervoy Regimen and Opdivo monotherapy also demonstrated a higher ORR (ORR: 58% and 44%, p<0.0001, respectively) versus Yervoy monotherapy (19%). Median duration of response was not reached for the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen and was 22.3 months for Opdivo monotherapy, versus 14.4 months for Yervoyalone.
Based on a pre-planned, descriptive analysis of data from CheckMate -067, the EC adopted the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) recommendation to add an informative statement to the broad indication that relative to Opdivo monotherapy, an increase in PFS for the combination of Opdivo with Yervoy is established only in patients with low tumor PD-L1 expression. In the study, overall response rates were higher for the combination of Opdivoand Yervoy relative to Opdivo monotherapy across tumor PD-L1 expression levels.
The approval was also based on supportive data from the Phase 2 study, CheckMate -069, in which the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen demonstrated an ORR, the primary endpoint, of 61% (95% CI: 48.9-72.4) in patients with BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma, versus 11% (95% CI: 3-25.4) ORR in the Yervoy monotherapy arm, with a minimum follow-up of 11 months. The estimated 12- and 18-month overall survival (OS) rates were 79% (95% CI: 67, 87) and 73% (95% CI: 61, 82), respectively, for the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen, and 62% (95% CI: 44, 75) and 56% (95% CI: 39, 70), respectively, for Yervoy monotherapy. The OS data are based on an exploratory, pre-planned analysis of patients with BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma.
Emmanuel Blin, senior vice president, Head of Commercialization, Policy and Operations, Bristol-Myers Squibb, commented, "Today's approval of the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen for advanced melanoma patients supports our goal of developing innovative treatment approaches that have the potential to improve patient outcomes. The Opdivo Yervoy Regimen is the first and only approved Immuno-Oncology combination, and only Regimen to deliver superior efficacy compared to Yervoy, and we are thrilled to make this novel combination treatment available to patients with advanced melanoma in Europe."
Approval Based on Superior Efficacy Demonstrated Versus Yervoy In Pivotal Phase 3 Study
CheckMate -067 is a Phase 3, double-blind, randomized study that evaluated the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen or Opdivo monotherapy versus Yervoy alone in patients with previously untreated advanced melanoma, including both BRAF V600 mutation positive or BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma. A total of 945 patients were randomized to receive the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen (Opdivo 1 mg/kg plus Yervoy 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks for 4 doses followed by Opdivo 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks thereafter; n=314), Opdivo monotherapy (Opdivo 3 mg/kg every 2 weeks; n=316) or Yervoy monotherapy (Yervoy 3 mg/kg every 3 weeks for 4 doses followed by placebo every 2 weeks; n=315). Randomization was stratified by PD-L1 expression (=5% vs. <5%), BRAF status, and M stage per the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system. Patients were treated until progression or unacceptable toxicity. The co-primary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS); the study is ongoing and patients continue to be followed for OS. Objective response rate (ORR) and the duration of response were also assessed.
Results from the trial demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in PFS in patients with advanced melanoma treated with the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen (p<0.0001) and with Opdivo as a single agent (p<0.0001) versus Yervoy monotherapy. At a minimum follow-up of 18 months, the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen demonstrated a 58% reduction in the risk of disease progression versus Yervoy monotherapy in previously untreated patients with advanced melanoma (HR=0.42 [99.5% CI: 0.32-0.56; p<0.0001]), while Opdivo monotherapy demonstrated a 45% risk reduction versus Yervoy monotherapy (HR=0.55 [99.5% CI: 0.42-0.73; p<0.0001]). The median PFS for the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen was 11.5 months (95% CI: 8.9-22.18) and 6.9 months (95% CI: 4.3-9.5) for Opdivo monotherapy versus 2.89 months (95% CI: 2.8-3.4) for Yervoy monotherapy, at a minimum follow-up of 18 months.
The Opdivo Yervoy Regimen and Opdivo monotherapy also demonstrated a higher ORR (ORR: 58% and 44%, p<0.0001, respectively) versus Yervoy monotherapy (19%). There were 38 (12%) complete responses and 143 (46%) partial responses seen in patients treated with the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen, and 31 (10%) complete responses and 107 (34%) partial responses seen in patients treated with Opdivo monotherapy, versus 7 (2%) complete responses and 53 (17%) partial responses seen in patients treated with Yervoy alone. Median duration of response was not reached (0+ 24+ months) for the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen and was 22.3 months (0+ 23+) for Opdivo monotherapy, versus 14.4 months (1.422.3+) for Yervoy alone.
CheckMate -069 is a Phase 2, double-blind, randomized study evaluating the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen versus Yervoy monotherapy in 142 patients with previously untreated unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The trial included patients with BRAF V600 mutation positive and BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma, and randomization was stratified by BRAF mutation status. The primary endpoint was ORR in patients with BRAF wild-type tumors. Secondary endpoints included PFS in patients with BRAF wild-type tumors, ORR in patients with BRAF V600 mutation positive tumors and safety. Overall survival was an exploratory endpoint. Treatment was continued until progression or unacceptable toxicity. In this study, the Opdivo + Yervoy Regimen demonstrated a response rate of 61% (95% CI: 48.9-72.4) in patients with BRAF wild-type advanced melanoma, versus 11% (95% CI: 3-25.4) ORR in the Yervoy monotherapy arm, with a minimum follow-up of 11 months. The estimated 12- and 18-month OS rates were 79% (95% CI: 67, 87) and 73% (95% CI: 61, 82), respectively, for the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen, and 62% (95% CI: 44, 75) and 56% (95% CI: 39, 70), respectively, for Yervoy
In a pooled dataset of the Opdivo Yervoy Regimen, based on three studies of the combination, the most frequent adverse reactions (=10%) were rash (51%), fatigue (43%), diarrhea (42%), pruritus (35%), nausea (25%), pyrexia (19%), decreased appetite (15%), hypothyroidism (15%), vomiting (14%), colitis (14%), abdominal pain (13%), anthralgia (11%) and headache (11%). The majority of adverse reactions were mild to moderate (Grade 1 or 2). Among the patients treated with Opdivo in combination with Yervoy in CheckMate -067, 151/313 (48%) had the first onset of Grade 3 or 4 adverse reactions during the initial combination phase. Among the 147 patients in this group who continued treatment in the single-agent phase, 37 (25%) experienced at least one Grade 3 or 4 adverse reaction during the single-agent phase.
About Advanced Melanoma
Melanoma is a form of skin cancer characterized by the uncontrolled growth of pigment-producing cells (melanocytes) located in the skin. Metastatic melanoma is the deadliest form of the disease, and occurs when cancer spreads beyond the surface of the skin to the other organs, such as the lymph nodes, lungs, brain or other areas of the body. Melanoma is the ninth most common cancer in Europe, with an estimated 100,000 new cases diagnosed annually and more than 20,000 deaths.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Immuno-Oncology: Advancing Oncology Research
At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we have a vision for the future of cancer care that is focused on Immuno-Oncology, now considered a major treatment modality alongside surgery, radiation and chemotherapy for certain types of cancer.
We have a comprehensive clinical portfolio of investigational and approved Immuno-Oncology agents, many of which were discovered and developed by our scientists. We pioneered the research leading to the first regulatory approval for the combination of two Immuno-Oncology agents, and continue to study the role of combinations in cancer.
Our collaboration with academia, as well as small and large biotech companies is responsible for researching the potential of Immuno-Oncology and non-Immuno-Oncology combinations, with the goal of providing new treatment options in clinical practice.
At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we are committed to changing expectations in hard-to-treat cancers and the way patients live with cancer.
About Opdivo
Cancer cells may exploit "regulatory" pathways, such as checkpoint pathways, to hide from the immune system and shield the tumor from immune attack. Opdivo is a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1 expressed on activated T-cells, and blocks the binding of PD-L1 and PD-L2, preventing the PD-1 pathway's suppressive signaling on the immune system, including the interference with an anti-tumor immune response.
Opdivo's broad global development program is based on Bristol-Myers Squibb's understanding of the biology behind Immuno-Oncology. Our company is at the forefront of researching the potential of Immuno-Oncology to extend survival in hard-to-treat cancers. This scientific expertise serves as the basis for the Opdivo development program, which includes a broad range of Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating overall survival as the primary endpoint across a variety of tumor types. The Opdivo trials have also contributed toward the clinical and scientific understanding of the role of biomarkers and how patients may benefit from Opdivo across the continuum of PD-L1 expression. To date, the Opdivo clinical development program has enrolled more than 18,000 patients.
Opdivo was the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval anywhere in the world in July 2014, and currently has regulatory approval in 50 countries including the United States, Japan, and in the European Union.
U.S. FDA APPROVED INDICATIONS
OPDIVO (nivolumab) as a single agent is indicated for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 wild-type unresectable or metastatic melanoma.
OPDIVO (nivolumab) as a single agent is indicated for the treatment of patients with BRAF V600 mutation-positive unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on progression-free survival. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in confirmatory trials.
OPDIVO (nivolumab), in combination with YERVOY (ipilimumab), is indicated for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This indication is approved under accelerated approval based on progression-free survival. Continued approval for this indication may be contingent upon verification and description of clinical benefit in the confirmatory trials.
OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with progression on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Patients with EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations should have disease progression on FDA-approved therapy for these aberrations prior to receiving OPDIVO.
OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION
WARNING: IMMUNE-MEDIATED ADVERSE REACTIONS
YERVOY can result in severe and fatal immune-mediated adverse reactions. These immune-mediated reactions may involve any organ system; however, the most common severe immune-mediated adverse reactions are enterocolitis, hepatitis, dermatitis (including toxic epidermal necrolysis), neuropathy, and endocrinopathy. The majority of these immune-mediated reactions initially manifested during treatment; however, a minority occurred weeks to months after discontinuation of YERVOY.
Assess patients for signs and symptoms of enterocolitis, dermatitis, neuropathy, and endocrinopathy and evaluate clinical chemistries including liver function tests (LFTs), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) level, and thyroid function tests at baseline and before each dose.
Permanently discontinue YERVOY and initiate systemic high-dose corticosteroid therapy for severe immune-mediated reactions.
Immune-Mediated Pneumonitis
Immune-mediated pneumonitis, including fatal cases, occurred with OPDIVO treatment. Across the clinical trial experience with solid tumors, fatal immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred with OPDIVO. In addition, in Checkmate 069, there were six patients who died without resolution of abnormal respiratory findings. Monitor patients for signs with radiographic imaging and symptoms of pneumonitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater pneumonitis. Permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 and withhold until resolution for Grade 2. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 6% (25/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Fatal (n=1), Grade 3 (n=6), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 1.8% (14/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2) and Grade 2 (n=12). In Checkmate 057, immune-mediated pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 3.4% (10/287) of patients: Grade 3 (n=5), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=3). In Checkmate 025, pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 5% (21/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 18% (73/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 4.4% (18/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=12), and Grade 1 (n=1).
Immune-Mediated Colitis
Immune-mediated colitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of colitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 (of more than 5 days duration), 3, or 4 colitis. As a single agent, withhold OPDIVO for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 or recurrent colitis upon restarting OPDIVO. When administered with YERVOY, withhold OPDIVO for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 or recurrent colitis upon restarting OPDIVO. In Checkmate 069 and 067, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 56% (228/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 26% (107/407) of patients: Grade 4 (n=2), Grade 3 (n=60), Grade 2 (n=32), and Grade 1 (n=13). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 31% (242/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 4.1% (32/787) of patients: Grade 3 (n=20), Grade 2 (n=10), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 057, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 17% (50/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated colitis occurred in 2.4% (7/287) of patients: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 025, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 25% (100/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 32% (126/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated diarrhea or colitis occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=1).
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe, life-threatening, or fatal (diarrhea of =7 stools above baseline, fever, ileus, peritoneal signs; Grade 3-5) immune-mediated enterocolitis occurred in 34 (7%) patients. Across all YERVOY-treated patients in that study (n=511), 5 (1%) developed intestinal perforation, 4 (0.8%) died as a result of complications, and 26 (5%) were hospitalized for severe enterocolitis.
Immune-Mediated Hepatitis
Immune-mediated hepatitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for abnormal liver tests prior to and periodically during treatment. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater transaminase elevations. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 immune-mediated hepatitis. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 13% (51/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 4 (n=8), Grade 3 (n=37), Grade 2 (n=5), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, immune-mediated hepatitis occurred in 2.3% (18/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 4 (n=3), Grade 3 (n=11), and Grade 2 (n=4). In Checkmate 057, one patient (0.3%) developed immune-mediated hepatitis. In Checkmate 025, there was an increased incidence of liver test abnormalities compared to baseline in AST (33% vs 39%), alkaline phosphatase (32% vs 32%), ALT (22% vs 31%), and total bilirubin (9% vs 3.5%) in the OPDIVO and everolimus arms, respectively. Immune-mediated hepatitis requiring systemic immunosuppression occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5) and Grade 2 (n=1).
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe, life-threatening, or fatal hepatotoxicity (AST or ALT elevations >5x the ULN or total bilirubin elevations >3x the ULN; Grade 3-5) occurred in 8 (2%) patients with fatal hepatic failure in 0.2% and hospitalization in 0.4%.
Immune-Mediated Dermatitis
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe, life-threatening, or fatal immune-mediated dermatitis (eg, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, toxic epidermal necrolysis, or rash complicated by full thickness dermal ulceration, or necrotic, bullous, or hemorrhagic manifestations; Grade 3-5) occurred in 13 (2.5%) patients. 1 (0.2%) patient died as a result of toxic epidermal necrolysis. 1 additional patient required hospitalization for severe dermatitis.
Immune-Mediated Neuropathies
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, 1 case of fatal Guillain-Barre syndrome and 1 case of severe (Grade 3) peripheral motor neuropathy were reported.
Immune-Mediated Endocrinopathies
Hypophysitis, adrenal insufficiency, thyroid disorders, and type 1 diabetes mellitus can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of hypophysitis, signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency during and after treatment, thyroid function prior to and periodically during treatment, and hyperglycemia. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater hypophysitis. Withhold for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hypophysitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Administer hormone-replacement therapy for hypothyroidism. Initiate medical management for control of hyperthyroidism. Administer insulin for type 1 diabetes. Withhold OPDIVO for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hyperglycemia.
In Checkmate 069 and 067, hypophysitis occurred in 9% (36/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 3 (n=8), Grade 2 (n=25), and Grade 1 (n=3). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, hypophysitis occurred in 0.9% (7/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=3), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 025, hypophysitis occurred in 0.5% (2/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1) and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 069 and 067, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 5% (21/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=7), Grade 2 (n=11), and Grade 1 (n=2). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 1% (8/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=5), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 057, 0.3% (1/287) of OPDIVO-treated patients developed adrenal insufficiency. In Checkmate 025, adrenal insufficiency occurred in 2.0% (8/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=4), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 069 and 067, hypothyroidism or thyroiditis occurred in 22% (89/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 3 (n=6), Grade 2 (n=47), and Grade 1 (n=36). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 8% (34/407) of patients: Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=13). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, hypothyroidism or thyroiditis occurred in 9% (73/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1), Grade 2 (n=37), Grade 1 (n=35). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 4.4% (35/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1), Grade 2 (n=12), and Grade 1 (n=22). In Checkmate 057, Grade 1 or 2 hypothyroidism, including thyroiditis, occurred in 7% (20/287) and elevated thyroid stimulating hormone occurred in 17% of patients receiving OPDIVO. Grade 1 or 2 hyperthyroidism occurred in 1.4% (4/287) of patients. In Checkmate 025, thyroid disease occurred in 11% (43/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO, including one Grade 3 event, and in 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Hypothyroidism/thyroiditis occurred in 8% (33/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=14). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 2.5% (10/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 2 (n=5) and Grade 1 (n=5). In Checkmate 069 and 067, diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 1.5% (6/407) of patients: Grade 4 (n=3), Grade 3 (n=1), Grade 2 (n=1), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 0.8% (6/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=3), and Grade 1 (n=1). In Checkmate 025, hyperglycemic adverse events occurred in 9% (37/406) patients. Diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=1).
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, severe to life-threatening immune-mediated endocrinopathies (requiring hospitalization, urgent medical intervention, or interfering with activities of daily living; Grade 3-4) occurred in 9 (1.8%) patients. All 9 patients had hypopituitarism, and some had additional concomitant endocrinopathies such as adrenal insufficiency, hypogonadism, and hypothyroidism. 6 of the 9 patients were hospitalized for severe endocrinopathies.
Immune-Mediated Nephritis and Renal Dysfunction
Immune-mediated nephritis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for elevated serum creatinine prior to and periodically during treatment. For Grade 2 or 3 increased serum creatinine, withhold and administer corticosteroids; if worsening or no improvement occurs, permanently discontinue. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 4 serum creatinine elevation and permanently discontinue. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 2.2% (9/407) of patients: Grade 4 (n=4), Grade 3 (n=3), and Grade 2 (n=2). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, nephritis and renal dysfunction of any grade occurred in 5% (40/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO. Immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 0.8% (6/787) of patients: Grade 3 (n=4) and Grade 2 (n=2). In Checkmate 057, Grade 2 immune-mediated renal dysfunction occurred in 0.3% (1/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO. In Checkmate 025, renal injury occurred in 7% (27/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 5 (n=1), Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=5), and Grade 2 (n=6).
Immune-Mediated Rash
Immune-mediated rash can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Severe rash (including rare cases of fatal toxic epidermal necrolysis) occurred in the clinical program of OPDIVO. Monitor patients for rash. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 rash. Withhold for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4. In Checkmate 069 and 067, immune-mediated rash occurred in 22.6% (92/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 3 (n=15), Grade 2 (n=31), and Grade 1 (n=46). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, immune-mediated rash occurred in 9% (72/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=7), Grade 2 (n=15), and Grade 1 (n=50). In Checkmate 057, immune-mediated rash occurred in 6% (17/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO including four Grade 3 cases. In Checkmate 025, rash occurred in 28% (112/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 36% (143/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated rash, defined as a rash treated with systemic or topical corticosteroids, occurred in 7% (30/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=19).
Immune-Mediated Encephalitis
Immune-mediated encephalitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Withhold OPDIVO in patients with new-onset moderate to severe neurologic signs or symptoms and evaluate to rule out other causes. If other etiologies are ruled out, administer corticosteroids and permanently discontinue OPDIVO for immune-mediated encephalitis. In Checkmate 067, encephalitis was identified in one patient (0.2%) receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY. In Checkmate 057, fatal limbic encephalitis occurred in one patient (0.3%) receiving OPDIVO.
Other Immune-Mediated Adverse Reactions
Based on the severity of adverse reaction, permanently discontinue or withhold treatment, administer high-dose corticosteroids, and, if appropriate, initiate hormone-replacement therapy. In 1.0% of patients receiving OPDIVO, the following clinically significant, immune-mediated adverse reactions occurred: uveitis, pancreatitis, facial and abducens nerve paresis, demyelination, polymyalgia rheumatica, autoimmune neuropathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, hypopituitarism, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, gastritis, duodenitis, and sarcoidosis. Across clinical trials of OPDIVO as a single agent administered at doses of 3 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg, additional clinically significant, immune-mediated adverse reactions were identified: motor dysfunction, vasculitis, and myasthenic syndrome.
Infusion Reactions
Severe infusion reactions have been reported in <1.0% of patients in clinical trials of OPDIVO. Discontinue OPDIVO in patients with Grade 3 or 4 infusion reactions. Interrupt or slow the rate of infusion in patients with Grade 1 or 2. In Checkmate 069 and 067, infusion- related reactions occurred in 2.5% (10/407) of patients receiving OPDIVO with YERVOY: Grade 2 (n=6) and Grade 1 (n=4). In Checkmate 037, 066, and 067, Grade 2 infusion related reactions occurred in 2.7% (21/787) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=8), and Grade 1 (n=11). In Checkmate 057, Grade 2 infusion reactions requiring corticosteroids occurred in 1.0% (3/287) of patients receiving OPDIVO. In Checkmate 025, hypersensitivity/infusion-related reactions occurred in 6% (25/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 1.0% (4/397) of patients receiving everolimus.
Embryo-fetal Toxicity
Based on their mechanisms of action, OPDIVO and YERVOY can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to a fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment with an OPDIVO- or YERVOY- containing regimen and for at least 5 months after the last dose of OPDIVO.
Lactation
It is not known whether OPDIVO or YERVOY is present in human milk. Because many drugs, including antibodies, are excreted in human milk and because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants from an OPDIVO-containing regimen, advise women to discontinue breastfeeding during treatment. Advise women to discontinue nursing during treatment with YERVOY and for 3 months following the final dose.
Serious Adverse Reactions
In Checkmate 067, serious adverse reactions (73% and 37%), adverse reactions leading to permanent discontinuation (43% and 14%) or to dosing delays (55% and 28%), and Grade 3 or 4 adverse reactions (72% and 44%) all occurred more frequently in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm relative to the OPDIVO arm. The most frequent (=10%) serious adverse reactions in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm and the OPDIVO arm, respectively, were diarrhea (13% and 2.6%), colitis (10% and 1.6%), and pyrexia (10% and 0.6%). In Checkmate 037, serious adverse reactions occurred in 41% of patients receiving OPDIVO. Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions occurred in 42% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse drug reactions reported in 2% to <5% of patients receiving OPDIVO were abdominal pain, hyponatremia, increased aspartate aminotransferase, and increased lipase. In Checkmate 066, serious adverse reactions occurred in 36% of patients receiving OPDIVO. Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions occurred in 41% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent Grade 3 and 4 adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients receiving OPDIVO were gamma-glutamyltransferase increase (3.9%) and diarrhea (3.4%). In Checkmate 057, serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients were pneumonia, pulmonary embolism, dyspnea, pleural effusion, and respiratory failure. In Checkmate 025, serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in =2% of patients were acute kidney injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hypercalcemia.
Common Adverse Reactions
In Checkmate 067, the most common (=20%) adverse reactions in the OPDIVO plus YERVOY arm were fatigue (59%), rash (53%), diarrhea (52%), nausea (40%), pyrexia (37%), vomiting (28%), and dyspnea (20%). The most common (=20%) adverse reactions in the OPDIVO arm were fatigue (53%), rash (40%), diarrhea (31%), and nausea (28%). In Checkmate 037, the most common adverse reaction (=20%) reported with OPDIVO was rash (21%). In Checkmate 066, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported with OPDIVO vs dacarbazine were fatigue (49% vs 39%), musculoskeletal pain (32% vs 25%), rash (28% vs 12%), and pruritus (23% vs 12%). In Checkmate 057, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported with OPDIVO were fatigue (49%), musculoskeletal pain (36%), cough (30%), decreased appetite (29%), and constipation (23%). In Checkmate 025, the most common adverse reactions (=20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO vs everolimus were asthenic conditions (56% vs 57%), cough (34% vs 38%), nausea (28% vs 29%), rash (28% vs 36%), dyspnea (27% vs 31%), diarrhea (25% vs 32%), constipation (23% vs 18%), decreased appetite (23% vs 30%), back pain (21% vs 16%), and arthralgia (20% vs 14%).
In a separate Phase 3 study of YERVOY 3 mg/kg, the most common adverse reactions (=5%) in patients who received YERVOY at 3 mg/kg were fatigue (41%), diarrhea (32%), pruritus (31%), rash (29%), and colitis (8%).
About the Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Collaboration
In 2011, through a collaboration agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (Ono) Bristol-Myers Squibb expanded its territorial rights to develop and commercialize Opdivo globally except in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where Ono had retained all rights to the compound at the time. On July 23, 2014, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono further expanded the companies' strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies as single agents and combination regimens for patients with cancer in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
About Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol-Myers Squibb, visit us at BMS.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511006116/en/
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Media:
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or
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william.szablewski@bms.com
DUBLIN, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global Smart Card Market in the Government Sector 2016-2020" report to their offering.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349511LOGO )
The report forecasts the global smart card market in the government sector to grow at a CAGR of 10.69% during the period 2016-2020.
Smart cards can be used in many sectors such as banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI); transportation; government; and healthcare for identification and authentication. They provide individuals with authorized access to secured premises of an organization to ensure data security and confidentiality. Smart cards are used for various applications such as payments and transit ticketing.
With advances in technology, a number of vendors are offering multi-application smart cards. Multi-application smart cards are a combination of contactless and contact interfaces in a single card. They have shared storage and information processing and eliminate the need to carry multiple cards for different applications. By 2020, the government of India will implement the use of multi-application smart cards for national IDs and e-purses.
According to the report, with advances in technology, the number of incidences of identity fraud and forgery is increasing. There is a strong need for a solution that can prevent fraudulent activities. Smart cards have been introduced to reduce duplication or imitation of an individual's identity. The data stored on smart cards is difficult to forge or decode because it is secured with a PIN. Even in cases of lost and stolen cards, the chances of data theft or identity duplication are very low. As smart cards offer high security and are reliable, many government organizations are implementing the use of smart cards for different purposes such as passports and driving licenses.
Further, the report states that the high initial deployment and replacement cost of smart cards in some regions is a major challenge for the smart card market.
Key vendors:
Gemalto NV
Giesecke & Devrient GmbH
Oberthur Technologies
Safran SA
Watchdata Technologies
Key Topics Covered:
PART 01: Executive summary
PART 02: Scope of the report
PART 03: Market research methodology
PART 04: Introduction
PART 05: Market landscape
PART 06: Life cycle analysis
PART 07: Geographical segmentation
PART 08: Market attractiveness
PART 09: Buying criteria
PART 10: Market drivers
PART 11: Impact of drivers
PART 12: Market challenges
PART 13: Impact of drivers and challenges
PART 14: Market trends
PART 15: Five forces model
PART 16: Vendor landscape
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fjcrzh/global_smart_card
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PUNE, India, May 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The global smoking cessation products market 2016 research says a ban on tobacco advertisements around the world has had a positive effect on consumers. The smoking cessation drugs market report showed a decline of at least 16% in tobacco consumption compared to the pre-ban days. However, only 29 countries, which constitute 12% of the world's population, have banned these advertisements. Globally, one-third of countries have imposed a minimal restriction on tobacco advertisements and campaigns. It is estimated that around 78% of youngsters aged 13-15 years are exposed to advertisement or promotions for tobacco, leading them to experiment with the product.
Complete report on smoking cessation products market spread across 74 pages, analyzing 5 major companies and providing 45 data exhibits is now available at http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/539146-global-smoking-cessation-drugs-market-2016-2020.html
According to the 2016 smoking cessation products market report, more people are becoming aware of the risks associated with tobacco use. Around six million users of tobacco die every year and this number is set to increase to eight million by 2030. Cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic respiratory diseases are also caused due to tobacco use. Tobacco smoke consists of over 4,000 chemical compounds, with about 69 chemicals that are potentially known to cause cancer. These chemicals harm not only smokers, but also second-hand smokers who inhale the smoke in public spaces. Another area where the harmful effects of tobacco are witnessed is in tobacco farming, where young children from underprivileged families are often employed.
Global Smoking Cessation Products Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The smoking cessation drugs market report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market. This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global smoking cessation products market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the sales of prescription, generic, off-label, and over-the-counter (OTC) products used for smoking cessation.
The analysts forecast global smoking cessation products market to grow at a CAGR of 18.16% during the period 2016-2020. Smoking cessation products such as NRTs and e-cigarettes have proved useful in reducing the numbers of smokers worldwide. They can also be used to reduce smoking. A substantial number of smokers are now either quitting or trying to reduce smoking. This is because of increased awareness about the adverse effects of smoking; it is associated with a number of health hazards that can eventually lead to death. This is encouraging people to adopt Smoking Cessation Products. Public awareness programs help create awareness about the hazards of smoking, and also the availability of products that help quit smoking.
Key players in the global smoking cessation products market: GlaxoSmithKline, Imperial Tobacco, NJOY, Pfizer, and Reynolds American. Other prominent vendors in the market are: 22nd Century Group, Alkalon, Altria Group, Aradigm, Arena Pharmaceuticals, Ballantyne Brands, British American Tobacco (BAT), CB Distributors, Cytos Biotechnology, Electronics Cigarettes International Group (Victory Electronic Cigarettes), Evotec, Gamucci, Japan Tobacco, Johnson & Johnson, LOGIC Technology, NAL Pharmaceuticals, Nicotek, Novartis, Revolymer, RR Chemicals, Selecta Biosciences, Target, The Harvard Drug Group, Vapor, VMR Products, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, and White Cloud. Order a copy of Global Smoking Cessation Products Market 2016-2020 report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/Purchase.aspx?name=539146
Another related report is E-cigarette market in the US 2015-2019; the analysts forecast E-cigarette market in the US to grow at a CAGR of 33% during the period 2016-2020. Key players in the E-cigarette Market in the US: Altria Group, CB Distributors, Imperial Tobacco, LOGIC Technology, NJOY and Reynolds American. Other prominent vendors in the market are: Ballantyne Brands, British American Tobacco, FIN Branding, Gamucci, Japan Tobacco, Nicotek, RRR Chemicals, Vapor, Victory Electronic Cigarettes, VMR Products, and White Cloud. Browse complete report @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/reports/446025-e-cigarette-market-in-the-us-2015-2019.html.
Explore other new reports on Pharmaceuticals Market @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/market-research/pharmaceuticals/.
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Washington D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - May 11, 2016) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a father and son and five associates with defrauding investors in sham Native American tribal bonds in order to steal millions of dollars in proceeds for their own extravagant expenses and criminal defense costs.
The SEC alleges that Jason Galanis, whose checkered past dates from an accounting fraud case during his days as a major Penthouse shareholder to stock fraud charges last year, conducted the scheme in which the "primary objective is to get us a source of discretionary liquidity," he wrote in an e-mail to other participants. Galanis and his father John Galanis convinced a Native American tribal corporation affiliated with the Wakpamni District of the Oglala Sioux Nation to issue limited recourse bonds that the father-and-son duo had already structured. Galanis then acquired two investment advisory firms and installed officers to arrange the purchase of $43 million in bonds using clients' funds.
The SEC further alleges that instead of investing bond proceeds as promised in annuities to benefit the tribal corporation and generate sufficient income to repay bondholders, the money wound up in a bank account in Florida belonging to a company controlled by Jason Galanis and his associates. Among their alleged misuses of the misappropriated funds were luxury purchases at such retailers as Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Barneys, Prada, and Gucci. Investor money also was diverted to pay attorneys representing Jason and John Galanis in a criminal case brought parallel to the SEC's stock fraud charges last year.
"We allege that Jason Galanis and his associates embarked upon a brazen and complex scheme in cold and calculated fashion to steal millions of dollars from unwitting investors," said Andrew M. Calamari, Regional Director of the SEC's New York office. "Galanis persisted in this alleged scheme even after he was arrested by criminal authorities and charged by the SEC in a different case."
In addition to Jason and John Galanis, the SEC's complaint names Devon Archer of Brooklyn, N.Y., Bevan Cooney of Incline Village, Nev., Hugh Dunkerley of Huntington Beach, Calif. and Paris, France, Gary Hirst of Lake Mary, Fla., and Michelle Morton of Colonia, N.J. They're charged with violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and related rules. The SEC seeks disgorgement plus interest and penalties as well as permanent injunctions. The SEC also seeks officer-and-director bars against Jason Galanis, Archer, Dunkerley, and Morton.
In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York today announced criminal charges against the same seven individuals.
The SEC's continuing investigation is being conducted by Tejal D. Shah, Nancy A. Brown, H. Gregory Baker, Christopher Ferrante, and Adam S. Grace. The litigation will be led by Ms. Brown, Ms. Shah, and Mr. Baker. The case is being supervised by Sanjay Wadhwa. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: ABN)(OTCBB: ABNAF)(FRANKFURT: E2L2) (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has acquired, through staking, 3906 hectares of highly prospective land in the Golden Triangle region of North West British Columbia.
Aben's Iskut River Project, BC location map: http://www.abenresources.com/i/maps/ABN-BCAben_areaPlay_map-small.jpg
The newly acquired Iskut River claims are located near the end of the Altagas Mclymont road which extends off the Eskay Creek Mine road. The property is approximately half way between the Eskay Creek Mine and the Snip Mine (15 kilometers either way). The Company views this region as being one of the premier regions in the world for hosting high-grade gold discoveries like Eskay Creek, Snip, and Brucejack. By acquiring these claims Aben now has a foothold in the region and fully intends to move forward with plans to explore.
The Golden Triangle in British Columbia hosts world class metal deposits including the Eskay Creek and Snip past producing high-grade gold mines (Barrick), the newly built Red Chris copper-gold mine (Imperial Metals), the Brucejack high-grade gold mine now under construction (Pretivm) and the KSM (Seabridge), Galore Creek (Teck-NovaGold), and Schaft Creek (Teck) porphyry copper-gold projects.
The Board of Directors also wish to announce a non-brokered private placement of up to 5,000,000 Units at a price of $0.05 per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one Share and One Share Purchase Warrant entitling the holder to purchase an additional common share at a price of $0.10 for a period of one year. A finder's fee in the amount of 7% cash and 7% warrants may be paid in connection with part of this private placement offering.
The Company intends to utilize the proceeds from the private placement for exploration on its newly acquired Iskut River, BC property and for general working capital purposes.
About Aben Resources:
Aben Resources is a Canadian gold exploration company developing projects in British Columbia, the Yukon and North West Territories.
For further information on Aben Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: ABN), visit our Company's web site at www.abenresources.com.
ABEN RESOURCES LTD.
JAMES G. PETTIT, President
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.
Contacts:
Aben Resources Ltd.
James Pettit
President
604-687-3376 or Toll Free: 800-567-8181
604-687-3119 (FAX)
info@abenresources.com
Aben Resources Ltd.
Don Myers
Corporate Communications
604-687-3376 or Toll Free: 800-567-8181
604-687-3119 (FAX)
info@abenresources.com
www.abenresources.com
LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Canvas CEO James Quigley was honored as the IT Hero Award recipient at this year's InformationWeek Elite 100 Awards for his commitment to helping others in his community. Quigley was presented with the award during the InformationWeek Elite 100 Awards Ceremony in Las Vegas on Tuesday, May 3.
The IT Hero Award recognizes leadership and service within the tech community and honors those who demonstrate the ability to collaborate, adapt and thrive in an ever-changing and increasingly challenging technology landscape. Quigley was recognized for this work on the Canvas Ante Up program, which encourages employees to adopt a not-for-profit company that can benefit from the power of using Canvas mobile apps for data collection and sharing.
"The importance of company culture and empathy play a big part of who we are at Canvas. It's such an honor to be recognized with the IT Hero Award, and a real validation of our team's hard work and dedication," said James Quigley, CEO and co-founder of Canvas. "We strive to create a sense of purpose at Canvas that allows the people who make up the fabric of our culture to feel empowered to achieve their own goals. It's the importance of creating a culture of empathy that puts the feelings and needs of others ahead of business strategy, with the end goal being to drive change and positively evolve the company in innovative ways that goes well beyond the bottom line."
"This year, we listened to our attendees who said they wanted to learn more from the IT rock stars who populate our Elite 100 list by making them central to our conference program," said Brian Gillooly, InformationWeek Elite 100 Conference Co-Chair and VP of Event Content & Strategy for UBM. "By doing so, we were able to not just tell their stories, but also allow our attendees to network directly with the people driving the very IT innovation that shapes our industry."
This is InformationWeek's 28th year identifying and honoring the nation's most innovative users of information technology. The InformationWeek Elite 100 research tracks the technology-based investments, strategies, and results of some of the best-known organizations in the country. Unique among corporate rankings, the InformationWeek Elite 100 spotlights the power of business technology innovation.
Additional details on the InformationWeek IT Hero Award can be found online at: http://conference.informationweek.com/IT-hero-award
About Canvas
Canvas is a cloud-based software service that enables businesses to replace expensive and inefficient paper forms with powerful apps on their smartphones and tablets. Canvas enables users to collect information using mobile devices, share that information and easily integrate with existing backend systems. Canvas also offers the first business-only application store of its kind, with 18,000+ pre-built, fully customizable apps that work on all mobile platforms and serve 30+ vertical markets. Every Canvas app is customizable by the end user and can incorporate functionality such as GPS, image capture, dispatch, barcode scanning, electronic signatures, push notifications and access to business data such as parts catalogs, price lists and patient records.
To date, Canvas has automated millions of manual processes and replaced over 30 tons of paper for businesses, making it one of the fastest growing mobile app services in the world. To learn more, visit www.GoCanvas.com.
About InformationWeek
For more than 30 years, InformationWeek has provided millions of IT executives worldwide with the insight and perspective they need to leverage the business value of technology. InformationWeek provides CIOs and IT executives with commentary, analysis and research through its thriving online community, digital issues, webcasts, proprietary research and live, in-person events. InformationWeek's award-winning editorial coverage can be found at www.informationweek.com. InformationWeek is organized by UBM Americas, a part of UBM plc (UBM.L), an Events First marketing and communications services business. For more information, visit ubmamericas.com.
LAS VEGAS, NV -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- FinancialForce, the leading cloud ERP provider on the Salesforce Platform, today announced the winners of its fourth annual 360 Customer Excellence Awards that recognize outstanding customer achievements across all FinancialForce solution lines as well as Best Customer Experience, Exemplary Use of Platform and Community Champion of the Year categories.
This year's program received another record-breaking number of submissions from customers all over the globe. Finalists and winners were featured on stage today during FinancialForce Community Live in Las Vegas, the company's largest customer conference to date. A second Community Live event will take place in London on Wednesday, May 18th.
"Congratulations to all of this year's 360 Customer Excellence Award winners and finalists," said Adrian Ivanov, chief customer officer at FinancialForce. "Hearing the big picture visions and successful implementation stories from customers worldwide throughout the awards process has been inspiring. All of us at FinancialForce are humbled by the dedication our customers have to improving how they better serve their customers, and I myself am energized to continue to deliver ERP applications that will help our customers be the best in their fields."
This year's panel of judges included: Jeremy Roche, CEO of FinancialForce; Kevin Roberts, director of platform technology at FinancialForce; Martin Veitch, editorial director at IDG Connect; and Zoli Erdos, publisher and editor of CloudAve and Enterprise Irregulars. Judges selected winners in the following six categories:
FinancialForce Financial Management (FM) Excellence: Recognizes customers who have demonstrated innovation, greater efficiencies and improved effectiveness in business processes, customer service, supply chain/inventory control, financial reporting, revenue management and other financial management best practices while leveraging the power of FinancialForce Financial Management and the Salesforce Platform.
Winner: NewVoiceMedia, a global sales and services communications platform built on the Salesforce Platform, was selected for dramatically reducing time spent on reporting and increasing how finance collaborates across the business.
FinancialForce Professional Services Automation (PSA) Excellence: Recognizes customers who have demonstrated dramatic improvements and innovation in professional services productivity, utilization, customer service, cross-departmental visibility, resource management and other professional services best practices while leveraging the power of FinancialForce PSA and the Salesforce Platform.
Winner: Manhattan Associates, a supply chain solution provider, was selected for its improved reporting and communication between customers and consultants amidst rapid growth.
FinancialForce Human Capital Management (HCM) Excellence: Recognizes customers who have demonstrated innovation and success in human capital management including onboarding, recruiting, benefits management, records management, talent management, and employee engagement while leveraging the power of FinancialForce HCM and the Salesforce Platform.
Winner: Ashoka, global nonprofit and association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs, was selected for its impressive success metrics with FinancialForce HCM. An independent firm, Nucleus Research, calculated that this company realized nearly 250% return on its investment from 2013 - 2015.
Best Customer Experience: This award recognizes companies who have demonstrated initiative, excellence and creativity in how they utilize FinancialForce solutions, on top of the Salesforce Platform, to improve their customer experience. Winners will be selected based on how they have included FinancialForce applications as part of their customer-centric strategy, and the impact the front and back office integration has made on their business.
Winner: Camfed, an international non-profit organization that tackles poverty and inequality, and empowers young women to step up as leaders of change, was selected for the impact that their internal technology and process transformation has had on customers and donors. Camfed is a FinancialForce Financial Management customer.
Exemplary Use of Platform: Recognizes customers who use two or more FinancialForce solutions and have demonstrated a strong belief in how multi app usage is a game changer for the success of their business. Winners will be those who have a vision for leveraging applications across Salesforce Platform to underpin the future of their work.
Winner: Jacobus Consulting, an organization dedicated to advancing the mission of healthcare by supporting providers with strategic advisory and information technology services, was selected for proving how a single cloud, especially via the Salesforce Platform, is better for customers, better for employees, better for leaders and better for IT. Jacobus uses all FinancialForce ERP applications.
Community Champion of the Year: Recognizes individuals who are the most actively engaged within the FinancialForce Community, regularly initiating and participating in the top discussions and influencing and supporting other members with their comments, feedback and ideas. The winners will be those who hold the highest reputation levels and have been instrumental in driving forward the Community and in helping other Community members to strive for excellence with FinancialForce applications.
US Winner: Lynne Stroyne, financial accountant at Summa Technologies, was selected for her commitment to helping the community by answering questions and providing ideas, but for also helping to drive product quality and direction at FinancialForce.
UK Winner: Justin Wheatley, regional VP of global financial systems at NewVoiceMedia. Justin was selected for his dedication to empowering others within the FinancialForce community and ensuring that NewVoiceMedia is utilizing their FinancialForce solutions to the fullest.
About FinancialForce
Founded in 2009, FinancialForce is the leading Cloud ERP vendor with apps built entirely on the Salesforce Platform. The company's Financial Management, Professional Services Automation (PSA), and Human Capital Management (HCM) offerings provide services-centric businesses with a platform that organizes sales, services, finance and HR entirely around their customers. Headquartered in San Francisco , FinancialForce is backed by Salesforce Ventures, Technology Crossover Ventures, Advent International and UNIT4. For more information, visit www.financialforce.com.
Media Contacts:
Allie Rosenberg
PR Manager
arosenberg@financialforce.com
GLEN ELLYN, IL--(Marketwired - May 11, 2016) - The Lifelong Learning Institute at College of DuPage provides financial resources for adults 55 years of age and older.
"This fund has helped people who need basic technology training for a job search and career retraining, or who would like the opportunity to take personal enrichment courses but don't have the expendable income to justify the expense," said Continuing Education Program Coordinator Melissa Fanella.
Providing up to $200 per term, the Lifelong Learning scholarship funds are available to assist lifelong learners who choose to participate in Continuing Education courses. According to Fanella, the scholarship, combined with the COD senior discount, offers wonderful opportunities for recipients to achieve their goals affordably.
"Seniors who are members of the National Able Network's Senior Community Service Employment program through workNet DuPage have also found the Lifelong Learning scholarship to be of great help," said Fanella. "While National Able can place seniors in paying volunteer positions, they do not have the resources to help with retraining."
Retired teacher and principal Marty Casey spent most of his career junior high school students but worked in elementary schools for the final seven years of his career. The Naperville resident earned a B.S. degree from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., and M.S. and C.A.S. degrees from the University of Illinois. Casey said he has been taking two to three Lifelong Learning classes each semester at College of DuPage for the last three years.
"There are so many wonderful course offerings at College of DuPage that it's difficult to narrow down which classes I take each semester," Casey said. "I am always looking for new learning opportunities and this scholarship program allows me to take classes that broaden my knowledge base and teaches me new information. I'm also trying to keep up with my two sons; I want them to think their old dad is cool."
Casey has taken a variety of classes through the Lifelong Learning program at the College, covering topics such as the investigation into John F. Kennedy's death, the U.S. Constitution and the life of Winston Churchill. He said he enjoys the excitement of being among the young students on the College's campus in Glen Ellyn and he would encourage all eligible adults to take advantage of the benefits offered by the Lifelong Learning program and scholarship.
"Since 2014, I have been granted three scholarships that allowed me to take classes I could not have taken otherwise due to budget concerns," Casey said. "The application process is very quick and easy. The quality of the teachers has been outstanding and I appreciate their enthusiasm and preparation. They make the learning process interactive and fun."
Syracuse, New York native JoAnn Beck has been taking classes through the Lifelong Learning program at College of DuPage almost immediately after relocating to Naperville in 2014. She earned a B.A. in Painting and Illustration and an M.S. in Art Education at Syracuse University. For much of her adult life she spent her time as and English as a Second Language (ESL) tutor to foreign graduate students at Syracuse University and has volunteered as an ESL instructor through ProLiteracy (formerly known as Literacy Volunteers of America), an international organization dedicated to promoting literacy across the globe.
Beck said she is pleased with her experiences at COD and in the Lifelong Learning program.
"I love COD and I adore the Lifelong Learning program," Beck said. "Melissa and the other staff members I've met here have been great. They go to the nth degree to accommodate; always with a warm and welcoming smile. It's really like a family here."
Beck said she has taken numerous classes at COD, including classes on Hamlet, Italian culture and the Middle Ages and that she is equally impressed with the faculty.
"The courses I've taken have been taught by highly-polished professionals who are masters of the subjects they are teaching," she said. "These instructors really live and breathe their subjects and bring them to life. What's more, the classes are enlivened by interactive learning wherein the individual learner finds course material to be relevant to his or her own perception and understanding."
Click here for more information about the Lifelong Learning Institute at College of DuPage.
Continuing Education at College of DuPage also offers the Plus 50 program, aimed at adults age 50 and over who are choosing to return to the workforce, change careers or explore academic study. Designed with awareness of the rich experiences and varied skills of adult learners, this program provides a series of streamlined classes in a variety of areas, including career searches, computer skills, networking, self-discovery and volunteerism.
Click here for more information about the broad range of offerings and opportunities provided by Continuing Education at College of DuPage.
The following files are available for download:
PDF
Jennifer Duda
dudajen@cod.edu
WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwired - May 11, 2016) - At a Newsmaker event yesterday at the National Press Club, former Archbishop of Washington, DC Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and Professor Emerita at the University of Richmond School of Law Azizah al-Hibri praised the results of a conference on the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries convened by King Mohammed VI of Morocco in late January. Attended by Cardinal McCarrick and Professor al-Hibri along with hundreds of religious scholars and clergy representing a broad range of religions and schools of thought within Islam, the historic three-day conference led to the Marrakesh Declaration, a document calling for an end to bigotry and condemning the use of violence and terror in the name of religion.
"By their actions [extremist groups like Daesh] have tried to destroy the very religious freedom which the Koran and the Prophet himself have declared to be the essence of Islamic belief," said Professor al-Hibri at the Press Club event. "How can we educate about Islamic justice without addressing this important issue? That can only be accomplished by knowledgeable Muslim jurists... teaching [their] views to the public." The Marrakesh Declaration, she explained, is one step in educating the public about the right to freedom of conscience in Islam.
Echoing this sentiment, Cardinal McCarrick said that it is critical "that this document has legs. That it is used, that it gets to the people it has to get to, and -- that means in a very special way -- that it gets to the teachers of young people, the professors in universities, it gets to the preachers at the Friday prayers, that they can understand that this is not just a document that has beautiful words but it's a document that can [bring] Islam back to where it was, what the prophet himself began to see."
"Our challenge to all of you is please don't let this document die, please don't let this document be filed in a library where nobody will see it," he said. The Cardinal also recognized the important role of King Mohammed VI, who "decided that it was time to have another important document that might bring us back from the extremes which are not true Islam."
King Mohammed VI has taken an active role in fighting religious extremism and promoting a moderate and tolerant Islam both in Morocco and abroad. In March of 2015, he inaugurated the Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams, Morchidines and Morchidates, dedicated to preparing the next generation of Muslim religious leaders -- in Morocco, across the region, and around the world -- to counter extremist interpretations of Islam. The latest US State Department annual Country Reports on Terrorism took notice, praising Morocco's "comprehensive counterterrorism strategy that includes vigilant security measures, regional and international cooperation, and counter-radicalization policies." The report described the country's "national strategy to affirm and further institutionalize Morocco's widespread adherence to the Maliki-Ashari school of Sunni Islam," focusing on "upgrading mosques, promoting the teaching of relatively moderate Islam, and strengthening the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (MEIA)."
The King has also prioritized religious and cultural diversity through a number of projects to rehabilitate the country's many Jewish sites. Since 2010, Morocco's "Houses of Life" project has restored 167 Jewish cemeteries across the country, installing 159 new doors, building nearly 140,000 feet of fencing, and repairing 12,600 graves. The King has said that this project "is a testimony to the richness and diversity of the Kingdom of Morocco's spiritual heritage. Blending harmoniously with the other components of our identity, the Jewish legacy, with its rituals and specific features, has been an intrinsic part of our country's heritage for more than three thousand years. As is enshrined in the Kingdom's new Constitution, the Hebrew heritage is indeed one of the time-honored components of our national identity."
Adopted by referendum in 2011, the Moroccan constitution states that the country's unity "is forged by the convergence of its Arab-Islamist, Berber and Saharan-Hassanic components, nourished and enriched by its African, Andalusian, Hebraic and Mediterranean influences," and emphasizes Morocco's attachment "to the values of openness, of moderation, of tolerance and of dialogue for mutual understanding between all the cultures and the civilizations of the world."
The Moroccan American Center for Policy (MACP) is a non-profit organization whose principal mission is to inform opinion makers, government officials, and interested publics in the United States about political and social developments in Morocco and the role being played by the Kingdom of Morocco in broader strategic developments in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.
This material is distributed by the Moroccan American Center for Policy on behalf of the Government of Morocco. Additional information is available at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.
Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/5/11/11G097776/Images/Cardinal_1-561ab17c1faabdacbd888eb732e23b14.jpg
CONTACT:
Jordana Merran
202.470.2049
jmerran@moroccanamericancenter.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Radius Gold Inc. (TSX VENTURE: RDU) is aware of media reports in Guatemala regarding a temporary suspension of mining operations at Kappes Cassiday and Associates' (KCA) Tambor gold mine. Radius is awaiting clarification of the situation regarding Tambor and will provide further information as soon as possible.
In 2012 Radius sold its interest in Tambor to KCA for deferred cash payments and a royalty interest in the mine's gold production.
About Radius
Radius has been exploring for gold in Latin America for over a decade. The Company has a strong treasury and is looking for investment and project acquisition opportunities across the globe. Please call toll free 1-888-627-9378 or visit our web site (www.radiusgold.com) for more information.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Simon Ridgway, President and CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements which include, without limitation, statements about the Company's intention to provide further information regarding the Tambor mine when known; the Company's business strategy, plans and outlook; the merit of the Company's investments and properties; timelines; the future financial performance of the Company; expenditures; approvals and other matters. Often, but not always, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "estimate", "estimates", "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "upgraded", "offset", "limited", "contained", "reflecting", "containing", "remaining", "to be", "periodically", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, the Company's intention to provide further information regarding the Tambor mine when known; changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; the Company or any joint venture partner not having the financial ability to meet its exploration and development goals; risks associated with the results of exploration and development activities, estimation of mineral resources and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; unanticipated costs and expenses; and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.
Forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to: that the Company will provide further information regarding the Tambor mine when known; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with its public statements and stated goals; that all required approvals will be obtained; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its investments or properties; and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Contacts:
Radius Gold Inc.
Simon Ridgway
President and CEO
604-801-5432; Toll free 1-888-627-9378
604-662-8829 (FAX)
info@goldgroup.com
www.radiusgold.com
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 --Global Equity International, Inc. (OTCQB: GEQU) and its fully-owned subsidiary Global Equity Partners Plc. ("GEP" -- www.gepartnersplc.com), a specialist consultancy firm with offices located in Dubai and London, are pleased to announce that today the Company filed their Q1 2016 form 10Q.
We would like to point out certain salient points regarding our Q1 2016 financial statements:
The Company declared $843,528 of gross revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2016 opposed to $15,000 for the same period in 2015. This represents an increase of 5524%.
Our operating expenses decreased by $153,532. This represents a 32% decrease in expenditure when comparing Q1 of 2016 and Q1 of 2015.
The operational profit for the three months ended March 31, 2016 increased substantially to $524,468 opposed to the operational loss of $(457,592) declared for the same period in 2015. This represents a 215% increase of $982,060.
The Company's "Non-Operating Income/Expenditure" for the three months ended March 31, 2016 amounted to a mere $36,724 opposed to $338,228 declared for the same period in 2015. This $301,504 decrease in "Non-Operating Income/Expenditure" was mainly due to the fact that we currently have no discounted convertible toxic debt since August 2015, hence no material extraordinary expenditure to hinder our bottom line.
The net profit for Q1 2016 amounted to $487,744 opposed to a loss of $(795,820) in Q1 2015. This represents an increase in net profit of $1.28 million, which is an excellent achievement in our opinion.
The Company's balance sheet as at March 31, 2016 reflects positive Stockholders' Equity amounting to $1,036,382, a total of $3,087,157 between fixed assets and investments and $179,286 of current assets including cash in bank, prepaids, other current assets and accounts receivable. In our opinion, these particular items in their entirety prove solid growth on a "quarter over quarter" basis.
Included in the company's liabilities, we would like to point out that $535,000 is considered as deferred revenue and will become revenue as we complete certain contractual milestones during 2016.
Our balance sheet shows a fixed price convertible debt which is by no means "toxic" as management agreed a set conversion price of $0.025 with this particular lender. Furthermore, this option to convert at a fixed price per share is a multiple higher than the current bid price. The lender may or may not convert the debt and the accrued interest into shares but if they do, it would mean that our Company's shares were trading over $0.025 and with substantial volume. In essence, we could be exposed to a maximum of 5.94 million common shares which only represent 0.75% of the current IOS.
All other third party debt is non-collateralized and subject to some form of a payment plan in cash. All related party debt may be entirely or partially condoned if required.
For the fourth straight quarter in row the Company have positively increased its Shareholders' Equity and provided better quarter on quarter results which is a trend that currently has no sign of changing. Our pipeline is stronger than ever and the deals and projects, currently in execution mode, all regularly take steps closer to closing in a methodical, professional and well managed way. The growth track that the Company is on will only accelerate during 2016 with many innovative developments on the corporate drawing board for further and faster growth.
Finally, we are of the firm opinion that executing on only a percentage of the 19 portfolio clients that we currently have on our books today, will allow the Company to book substantial cash and equity success fees, jointly in the multiple millions of dollars, this year alone.
Peter Smith, CEO of Global Equity International Inc., said, "These numbers are a testament to the hard work the team puts in each and every day. After many years of laying solid foundations, we finally see the rewards in the way of excellent results and continually beating the quarter on quarter numbers. Not only have we increased the income significantly, we have simultaneously been watching our expenses and cutting them when and where we can, but without hurting the operational day-to-day business. A $153,000 reduction in the operating expenditure without hindering the operational business is a tremendous achievement in my opinion. 2016 has been a great year so far for the Company and its development, we continue to work and operate under the first class standards we set out with and believe we are head and shoulders above any other Company of our size in our world. We follow strict corporate governance and manage the business in a correct manner, producing good numbers is a by-product of a professionally ran organization that we are proud to be the architects of."
Enzo Taddei, CFO of Global Equity International Inc., said, "I personally am extremely satisfied with the Company's very positive uptrend. I truly believe that the many years of very hard work is now starting to pay off for the Company and, by default, its shareholders. We have the potential to reach much higher in the near future but as I always like to say 'Rome wasn't built in one day,' it takes time and a lot of patience to build a proper and profitable business."
Patrick V. Dolan, Managing Director of Global Equity International Inc., said, "These last few months have been extremely interesting and productive as we have gained a lot of traction with a lot of our new business partners particularly in Europe. Also, we have managed to partner up with the likes of the The Billbarter Group, a firm that manages billions of Euros in projects. I truly believe that we are now starting to get noticed by a lot of the 'big boys' in the industry which can only benefit our Company in the long term."
About Global Equity International Inc.
Global Equity International Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary Global Equity Partners Plc., advises worldwide business leaders with their most critical decisions and opportunities pertaining to growth, capital needs, structure and the development of a global presence. With offices in Dubai and London, Global Equity has developed significant relationships in the US, UK, Central Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia to assist clients in realizing their full value and potential by bringing them to external capital and resources that place an emphasis on collaborative thinking. Furthermore, because Global Equity has offices in key financial centres of the world, they are able to introduce their clients to a unique opportunity of listing their shares on any one of the many stock exchanges worldwide. Global Equity International Inc., through its wholly-owned subsidiary Global Equity Partners Plc., holds significant long-term equity positions in a lot of the companies that it represents.
Safe Harbour Statement
This press release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to anticipated revenues, expenses, earnings, operating cash flows, the outlook for markets and the demand for products. Forward-looking statements are no guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon, among other things, assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management, including management's own knowledge and assessment of the Company's industry and competition. The Company refers interested persons to its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other SEC filings for a description of additional uncertainties and factors, which may affect forward-looking statements. The company assumes no duty to update its forward-looking statements.
Mr. Peter J. Smith
Director & CEO
Global Equity International Inc.
Tel. (UAE) + (971) 42 767 576
Email: peter@gepartnersplc.com
Mr. Enzo Taddei
Director & CFO
Global Equity International Inc.
Tel. (US) 321 200 0142
Email: enzo@gepartnersplc.com
Mr. Patrick V. Dolan
Managing Director
Global Equity International Inc.
Tel. (UK) + (44) 7917 838762
Email: patrick@gepartnersplc.com
Time for Hollande to Support Africa and Abandon His Palm Oil Tax
LAGOS, Nigeria, May 11,2016 /PRNewswire/ --Today, the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA) - the Nigeria-based public policy think tank, issued a statement condemning the French Government's planned palm oil tax.
French President Hollande's palm oil tax amendment is supporting the French triumvirate - Communist, Greens and Socialist Senators - that have once again proposed their typical colonial, discriminatory tax against people from the Global South who produce palm oil. It is undignified for a French Government to support such a harmful, tax.
IPPA congratulates the French Senators on the Sustainable Development Committee who previously voted against the tax. These Senators should be praised for supporting African small farmers, and defending the rights of Africans to live a life comparable to Europeans.
However, now the Government, led by the illustrious Segolene Royal - supported by President Hollande - with her comrades from the Communist and Green Parties, have set their sight on sentencing poor Africans to modern day economic slavery.
Thompson Ayodele, Director of IPPA, said:
"President Hollande's silence is deafening.The proposals by Segolene Royal, and Senators Didier, Filleul and Dantec are disgraceful.
"Small farmers produce 80% of Nigeria's palm oil, and they rely on it to feed their families and improve their living conditions. The French tax on palm oil is not only unfair and unjustified, but also illegal under the WTO trade laws and undermines France's commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals."
Segolene Royal, French Environment Minister, is leading the campaign to discriminate against Africans and palm oil small farmers, who will be dramatically cut from supply chains if these proposals become law.
French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, stated clearly in 2013 that France would never impose taxes on palm oil. Now is the time for that promise to be clearly kept, and for the palm oil tax to be abandoned.
The Initiative for Public Policy Analysis (IPPA), an award-winning organisation, is Nigeria's public policy research institute/think tank. Its major concern is with the principles and institutions that enhance economic development and wealth creation, with particular focus on Africa and Nigeria.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After three failed attempts, an energy and water spending bill finally cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday. The Senate voted 97 to 2 to limit debate on the appropriations bill, with only Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, voting against the motion. The $37.5 billion energy and water spending bill has bipartisan support, but Democrats previously blocked the legislation due to opposition to an amendment from Senator Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Cotton's amendment would prevent the Obama administration from purchasing heavy water from Iran, and Democrats described the proposal as a 'poison pill' that would trigger a presidential veto. Senate leaders broke the impasse by allowing a separate vote on Cotton's amendment, which fell just short of the 60 votes needed at 57 to 42. Democrats viewed the amendment as the beginning of an effort to use the appropriations process to prevent the effective implementation of the nuclear deal with Iran. Final passage of the energy and water spending bill is expected to kick start the appropriations process and could come as soon as this evening. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- Trevali Mining Corporation ("Trevali" or the "Company") (TSX: TV)(LMA: TV)(OTCQX: TREVF)(FRANKFURT: 4TI) has released financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016 ("Q1") reporting EBITDA of $8 million and posting net income of $827,000 ($0.00 per share) for the quarter. Santander Zinc Mine operations income for Q1 was $4.2 million on concentrate sales revenue of $27 million. Santander site cash costs(2) dropped significantly to US$0.28 per pound of payable Zinc Equivalent ("ZnEq")(3) produced or US$32.22/tonne milled. Consequently Management is revising Santander 2016 site costs guidance downwards by 12% from US$40-43 to US$35-38 per tonne milled on a full year basis.
This release should be read in conjunction with Trevali's unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and management's discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2016, which is available on Trevali's website and on SEDAR. All financial figures are in Canadian dollar unless otherwise stated.
Q1-2016 Results Highlights:
-- Santander concentrate sales revenue of $27 million -- EBITDA(1) of $8 million -- Income from Santander mine operations of $4.2 million -- Net earnings of $827,000 or $0.00 per share -- Total cash position of $26.7 million -- Q1 Santander site cash costs(2) dropped to US$0.28 per pound of payable Zinc Equivalent ("ZnEq")(3) produced or US$32.22/tonne milled, resulting in a revision to the Company's 2016 Santander production site cash operating cost guidance being reduced from US$40-43 per tonne milled to US$35-38 per tonne milled -- Record Santander mill throughput of 209,000 tonnes resulting in quarterly production of 13.7 million payable pounds of zinc, 6.4 million payable pounds of lead and 221,324 payable ounces of silver -- Provisional realized commodity selling prices for Santander Q1-2016 production was US$0.82 per pound zinc, US$0.82 per pound lead and US$15.32 per ounce silver at International Benchmark terms under the Company's offtake agreement with Glencore -- Santander mill recoveries remain higher than design at 89% for Zn, 88% for Pb and 76% for Ag
"Santander delivered another strong quarter with site cash costs dropping significantly as a result of the optimization initiatives executed by the team. As a direct result of site efficiencies, Santander is one of the lowest cost operating mines in the Central Mineral Belt of Peru reporting materially improved throughput, revenue and income in spite of lower realized commodity prices on a year-to-year basis," stated Dr. Mark Cruise, Trevali's President and CEO. "In Canada the Company continues to focus on commissioning the Caribou Zinc Mine and is pleased to announce ongoing, steady, incremental progress to date."
Q1-2016 Financial Results Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call and audio webcast at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time (7:30 a.m. Pacific Time) on Thursday, May 12, 2016 to review the Q1 financial results. Participants are advised to dial in 5-to-10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time of the call.
Conference call dial-in details:
Toll-free (North America): 1-866-223-7781
Toronto and international: 1-416-340-2216
Audio Webcast: http://www.gowebcasting.com/7561
Summary Financial Results ($ millions, except per-share amounts)
------------------------------------------------------------------ Q1-2016 Q1-2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Revenues $27.0 $25.9 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Income from Santander mining operations $4.2 $2.2 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Net income (loss) $0.8 ($2.8) ------------------------------------------------------------------ Basic Income per share $0.00 ($0.01) ------------------------------------------------------------------
Santander Production Statistics
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q1-2016 Q1-2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Mined 175,579 182,258 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Milled 209,188 185,365 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Head Grades % Zinc 3.93% 4.03% Lead 1.66% 2.13% Silver - Oz (ounces)/ton 1.32 1.65 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Recoveries % Zinc 89% 90% Lead 88% 90% Silver 76% 80% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concentrate Produced DMT (dry metric tonne): Zinc 14,840 13.429 Lead 5,469 5,924 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concentrate Grades % Zinc 49% 50% Lead 56% 60% Ag - Oz/ton 38.7 41.0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payable Production: Zinc lbs (pounds) 13,662,766 12,536,783 Lead lbs (pounds) 6,436,047 7,407,887 Silver Oz 221,324 254,805 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santander Sales Summary:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q1-2016 Q1-2015 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zinc Concentrate (DMT) 14,423 12,884 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lead Concentrate (DMT) 5,311 5,810 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payable Zinc lbs 13,009,008 11,793,052 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payable Lead lbs 6,347,250 7,271,847 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Payable Silver Oz 210,427 244,333 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Revenues (USD$)(5) 19,627,603 20,876,156 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Realized Metal Price: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zinc $ 0.82 $ 0.93 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lead $ 0.82 $ 0.81 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Silver $ 15.32 $ 16.43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zinc Equivalent lbs Sold(4) 23,286,844 22,468,911 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zinc Equivalent lbs Payable Produced(3) 24,229,762 23,504,206 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Site Cash Cost(2) per Equivalent Payable Zinc lb Produced (USD$)(3) $ 0.28 $ 0.39 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cash Cost(2) per Tonne Milled (USD$) $ 32.22 $ 48.88 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) is calculated by considering Company's earnings before interest payments, tax, depreciation, and amortization are subtracted for any final accounting of its income and expenses. The EBITDA of a business gives an indication of its current operational profitability and is a NON-IFRS measure. (2) Refer to Non-IFRS Measures in the March 31, 2016 Management Discussion and Analysis. (3) ZnEq Payable Pounds Produced = ((Zn Payable lbs Produced x Zn Price)+(Pb Payable lbs Produced x Pb Price)+(Cu Payable lbs Produced x Cu Price)+(Au oz Payable Produced x Au Price)+(Ag oz Payable Produced x Ag Price))/Zn Price. (4) ZnEq Payable Pounds Sold = ((Zn Payable lbs Sold x Zn Price)+(Pb Payable lbs Sold x Pb Price)+(Cu Payable lbs Sold x Cu Price)+(Au oz Payable Sold x Au Price)+(Ag oz Payable Sold x Ag Price))/Zn Price. (All metal prices are the average realized metal price for the period). (5) Revenues include prior quarter's adjustment.
Santander Operations, Peru
Production:
Santander operations delivered another exceptional quarter with production of 13.7 million payable pounds of zinc, 6.4 million payable pounds of lead and 221,324 payable ounces of silver. Approximately 209,188 tonnes of mineralized material was processed through the mill with underground mine production of approximately 175,579 tonnes.
Metal production remains in line with 2016 annual guidance of 52-55 million pounds of payable zinc in concentrate grading approximately 50% Zn, 22-25 million pounds of payable lead in concentrate grading approximately 56-58% Pb and 800,000-1,000,000 ounces of payable silver.
The mill continues to perform at above design recoveries with Q1-2016 recoveries averaging 89% for zinc, 88% for lead and 76% for silver. Average head grades were 3.93% Zn, 1.66% Pb and 1.32 oz/ton Ag with production of 14,840 tonnes of zinc concentrate averaging 49% Zn and 5,469 tonnes of lead-silver concentrate averaging 56% Pb and 38.7 oz/ton Ag.
During the quarter, the Company sold approximately 13.0 million pounds, 6.3 million pounds, and 210,427 ounces, of zinc, lead and silver respectively. Revenues for the first quarter were approximately US$20 million with the average realized metal prices in USD for the quarter of $0.82 per pound of zinc, $0.82 per pound of lead, and $15.32 per ounce of silver.
Q1 cash costs were approximately US$32.22 per tonne, significantly below the Company's previous annual 2016 cost guidance. Consequently, the Company has revised its 2016 preliminary annual cost guidance to US$35-$38 per tonne milled (down from US$40-$43 per tonne milled). The cost savings are primarily attributed to the increased production and implementation of site-wide business initiatives, thus a larger impact on fixed costs, as well as the efficiencies and cost cutting measures achieved to date. (Please see non-IFRS measures at the end of this MD&A).
During the quarter the Company also received the final geochemical assay results from its 2015 exploration program, which tested the deeper levels below the currently defined resources of the Magistral zones. In summary the majority of the drill holes intersected zinc grades higher than those in current mining operations with values ranging from 3.52% to 12.98%. The three Magistral deposits all remain open for expansion and the Company believes that there is very significant resource potential remaining in all three zones where limited down-dip drilling has occurred (see March 22, 2016 - TV-NR-16-07 news release).
Outlook:
Santander operations continue at steady state 2,000 tonne-per-day nameplate production with site typically exceeding throughput by approximately 15-20% on a daily basis. The Company continues to work with partner Glencore's local subsidiary, Empresa Minera Los Quenuales S.A., to maximize and improve operational efficiencies.
An approximate 3,000-metre underground, drill program is currently in progress in order to convert inferred tonnes to a higher confidence category, and to follow-up on 2015 exploration successes that tested the deeper levels below the currently defined resources of the Magistral zones. Contingent on results, additional drilling may occur. The program will continue to define and potentially expand the newly discovered Rosa, Fatima and emergent Oyon lead-silver-zinc zones in addition to the Magistral zones, which all remain open for expansion at depth.
CARIBOU ZINC MINE COMMISSIONING UPDATE
The Company also provides a mine and mill commissioning update for its Caribou Zinc Mine in the Bathurst Mining Camp of northern New Brunswick. A detailed description and discussion is provided below and progress highlights are as follows:
Caribou Mill - key commissioning & preliminary production statistics (figures rounded)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q1-2016 April 2016 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Mined 191,005 58,564 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tonnes Milled 200,670 60,032 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Mill Tonnes-per-day (TPD) 2,675(i) 2,636(i) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Head Grades % Zinc 5.9% 6.1% Lead 2.6% 3.0% Silver - Oz (ounces)/ton 2.0 oz/t 2.7 oz/t ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Recoveries % Zinc 71% 74% Lead 58% 57% Silver (in Lead concentrate) 38% 32% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concentrate Produced DMT (dry metric tonnes): Zinc 17,732 5,832 Lead 7,586 2,634 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Concentrate Grades % Zinc 47.8% 46.4% Silver - Oz (ounces)/ton 4.0 oz/t 5.3 oz/t ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lead 39.3% 39.6% Silver - Oz (ounces)/ton 20.3 oz/t 19.5 oz/t ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (i)exclusive of downtime for scheduled mill servicing and maintenance cycle days
Caribou Zinc Circuit Summary
During Q1-2016 and year-to-date ("YTD") the Caribou metallurgical team and partner Glencore continued with the implementation of the metallurgical performance plan that mainly focuses on increasing zinc recoveries to entitlement ranges as outlined in the Caribou PEA report (see Technical Report on Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Caribou Massive Sulphide Zinc-Lead-Silver Project, Bathurst, New Brunswick, Canada prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., on the Company's website or on SEDAR).
The Company continues to focus on highlighted areas for metallurgical improvement including decreasing the primary grind size, improved zinc-cell mixing and retention times with modifications to be implemented during ongoing scheduled maintenance periods (please see News Release TV-NR-16-10, April 14, 2016 for details).
Modifications completed during April, and which are ongoing, continue to focus on the primary grind and zinc circuits, and includes:
-- Improved vortex finders on three of the five cyclones, which are successfully pushing more material to the mills for grinding and resulting in feed size reduction from approximately 36-41 microns to 22 microns on the modified cyclones (note optimal target primary grind is approximately 30 microns). -- Zinc bank splitter box improvements completed and residence time in the zinc banks is essentially balanced. -- Zinc Cleaner density trials have commenced and are ongoing. -- Smaller 3/4-inch charge media supply is steady and currently converting Ball Mill 1 charge to the same. -- Plant-scale mineralogical reports received and indicate a high degree of liberated sphalerite (approx. 89% volume - zinc) with very little "locked" or theoretically unrecoverable material. On the Pb circuit, minimum material reported to the tails (approx. 3%) as liberated galena, highlighting excellent performance. Mineralogy also indicates that the IsaMills are preforming as designed. -- Initial water chemistry test work indicates that Zn recoveries are adversely affected by the calcium content of the plant process water, that is, high Ca content results in subdued Zn recoveries. The plant reagent mix was adjusted accordingly and returned 80.9% Zn recoveries to produce a concentrate grading 50.8% Zn. The metallurgical team is currently focusing on optimum reagent addition points for Ca precipitation.
Ongoing scheduled optimization initiatives during Q2 include:
-- SAG Mill modifications, primarily the newly designed lifters and shell liners (fabrication in progress) and charge from late-May onwards. -- IsaMill redundancy test work. -- Test-work and implementation of pumping recommendations and pumping station upgrades in June-July in order to maintain consistent cyclone feed pressures that have been impacted by fine grind frothing. -- New instrumentation (flow meters and pressure sensors) to enable enhanced thickener performance in April - May. -- Increase the number of sample stations for the on-stream sample analyzer - April-May.
Caribou Mining
Underground production during the month averaged 1,952 tonnes-per-day at average grade of 6.0% Zn, 3.0% Pb and 2.7 oz/ton Ag.
Underground production YTD (end of April) averaged 2,062 tonnes-per-day at average grade of 6.0% Zn, 2.8% Pb and 2.4 oz/ton Ag. With mill recoveries, specifically Zn, approaching target entitlement range levels the Caribou team is refocusing on underground operations and plans to ramp production to 2,500-2,700 tpd in Q2.
Ongoing mine optimization initiatives include mobilization of an additional scoop to improve fleet support and efficiency (scheduled to arrive late May), decreasing feed/waste and average haul distances, and restructuring of technical supervision to provide 7-day support to the mine team.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance
EurGeol Dr. Mark D. Cruise, Trevali's President and CEO, and Paul Keller, P.Eng, Trevali's Chief Operating Officer, are qualified persons as defined by NI 43-101, have supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Dr. Cruise is not independent of the Company as he is an officer, director and shareholder. Mr. Keller is not independent of the Company as he is an officer and shareholder.
ABOUT TREVALI MINING CORPORATION
Trevali is a zinc-focused, base metals mining company with one producing operation in Peru and another currently undergoing commissioning in Canada.
In Peru, the Company is actively producing zinc and lead-silver concentrates from its 2,000-tonne-per-day Santander zinc mine.
In Canada, Trevali owns the Caribou zinc mine and mill, Halfmile mine and Stratmat deposit all located in the Bathurst Mining Camp of northern New Brunswick. The Company is currently commissioning its 3,000-tonne-per-day Caribou zinc mine.
All of the Company's deposits remain open for expansion.
The common shares of Trevali are listed on the TSX (symbol TV), the OTCQX (symbol TREVF), the Frankfurt Exchange (symbol 4TI) and on the Lima Stock Exchange (symbol TV). For further details on Trevali, readers are referred to the Company's website (www.trevali.com) and to Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of
TREVALI MINING CORPORATION
Mark D. Cruise, President
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Statements containing forward-looking information express, as at the date of this news release, the Company's plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations, or beliefs as to future events or results and the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation to, update such statements containing the forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to statements as to: the intended use of proceeds in connection with the Offering, the accuracy of estimated mineral resources, anticipated results of future exploration, and forecast future metal prices, expectations that environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, political, marketing or other issues will not materially affect estimates of mineral resources. These statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies.
These statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements contained in this news release and the company has made assumptions and estimates based on or related to many of these factors. Such factors include, without limitation: fluctuations in spot and forward markets for silver, zinc, base metals and certain other commodities (such as natural gas, fuel oil and electricity); fluctuations in currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar and Peruvian sol versus the U.S. dollar); risks related to the technological and operational nature of the Company's business; changes in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls or regulations and political or economic developments in Canada, the United States, Peru or other countries where the Company may carry on business in the future;
risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected geological or structural formations, pressures, cave-ins and flooding); risks relating to the credit worthiness or financial condition of suppliers, refiners and other parties with whom the Company does business; inadequate insurance, or inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks and hazards; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability and increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits and the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining, diminishing quantities or grades of mineral resources as properties are mined; global financial conditions;
business opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, the Company; the Company's ability to complete and successfully integrate acquisitions and to mitigate other business combination risks; challenges to, or difficulty in maintaining, the Company's title to properties and continued ownership thereof; the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, and changes in project parameters to deal with unanticipated economic or other factors; and increased competition in the mining industry for properties, equipment, qualified personnel, and their costs. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty or reliance on forward-looking statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.
Trevali's production plan at the Caribou Mine is based only on measured, indicated and inferred resources, and not mineral reserves, and does not have demonstrated economic viability. Trevali's production plan at the Santander Mine is based only on indicated and inferred mineral resources, and not mineral reserves, and does not have demonstrated economic viability. Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is therefore no certainty that the conclusions of the production plans and Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) will be realized. Additionally, where Trevali discusses exploration/expansion potential, any potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource.
We advise US investors that while the terms "measured resources", "indicated resources" and "inferred resources" are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the US Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize these terms. US investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the material in these categories will ever be converted into reserves.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities described herein have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the securities laws of any state and may not be offered or sold within the United States, absent such registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements.
The TSX has not approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release.
Contacts:
Trevali Mining Corporation
Steve Stakiw, Investor Relations and
Corporate Communications
sstakiw@trevali.com
Phone: (604) 488-1661 / Direct: (604) 638-5623
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- New Dimension Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: NDR) (the "Company" or "New Dimension") is pleased to announce that it has closed its non-brokered private placement totaling 4,796,445 Units (the "Units") at a price of $0.09 per Unit for proceeds of $431,680.05. Each Unit is comprised of one common share and a one half warrant. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional common share of New Dimension at a price of $0.20 per share for a period of 24 months immediately following the closing date. The warrants are subjected to an accelerated exercise provision if the share price of New Dimension trades at or above $0.45 for 10 or more consecutive trading days.
Net proceeds of this private placement will be used to fund exploration on the Company's Savant Lake gold project (the "Property") and general working capital.
The Units are subject to a four-month hold period which expires on September 10, 2016.
About Savant Lake Gold Project
Savant Lake covers a classic iron formation hosted system of gold occurrences within a very prospective mineral district in northwestern Ontario. The Property, which has not been significantly explored since the early 1980's, hosts seven known gold occurrences that have yielded high grade gold values up to 138.9 g/t from surface prospecting. New Dimension was attracted to the Savant Lake gold project for its gold in iron formation characteristics that it believes are analogous to Goldcorp's neighbouring Musselwhite gold mine and Agnico Eagle's newly discovered Amaruq deposit in Nunavut. The Company can earn a 100% interest in the Savant Lake gold project by paying the vendors C$100,000 and issuing 600,000 shares of New Dimension over a four year period. The Property is subject to a 2% NSR, of which one percent (1%) can be purchased for C$1,000,000.
About New Dimension Resources Ltd.:
New Dimension is engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of quality mineral resource properties throughout the Americas with a focus on potential bulk tonnage gold and silver deposits. The Company is currently focused on mineral projects in Canada with a priority directed toward the Savant Lake gold property. New Dimension also holds a 30% interest in a joint venture with Yamana Gold Inc. on the Domain Gold property in northern Manitoba as well as an option to earn a 70% interest in the Midas gold property, located in north central Ontario.
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed by Fred Hewett the Company's President & CEO, a director and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
NEW DIMENSION RESOURCES LTD.
Fred G. Hewett, P.Eng., President & CEO
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
This news release may contain forward looking statements which are not historical facts, such as statements of belief of similarity of geological characteristics or features, statements of unverified drilling and sampling results and expectations of receipt of permits and plans for future work. Forward looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, unexpected geological factors, exploration results, results of verification work and unanticipated regulatory obstacles. See New Dimension's filings for a more detailed discussion of factors that may impact expected results.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to sell any securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.
Contacts:
New Dimension Resources Ltd.
Fred Hewett
778.237.1463
New Dimension Resources Ltd.
Chris Curran
778.237.1463
New Dimension Resources Ltd.
Wayne Johnstone
604-563-4807
New Dimension Resources Ltd.
info@newdimensionresources.com
www.newdimensionresources.com
Regulatory News:
Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (ticker PSH:NA) released today its first quarter letter to shareholders. The letter may be found on the PSH website, www.pershingsquareholdings.com.
The Company today also released its regular weekly Net Asset Value (NAV) on its website, www.pershingsquareholdings.com. The NAV was computed as of the close of business on Tuesday, 10 May 2016.
PSH NAV per share as of close of business on 10 May 2016 was USD16.88.
Weekly net asset value ("NAV") is calculated as of the close of business on each Tuesday and posted on the following business day. In the event that Tuesday is not a business day, the Company will calculate the close-of-business NAV as of the business day immediately preceding that Tuesday. The end-of-month NAV is calculated as of the close of business on the last day of the month and posted on the following business day. For weeks that include a month-end NAV report, PSH will provide only the month-end NAV and not report the Tuesday NAV. Monthly NAVs are published in accordance with the Decree on Conduct of Business Supervision of Financial Undertakings under the Wft (Besluit Gedragstoezicht financiele ondernemingen Wft).
About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.
Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (PSH:NA) is an investment holding company structured as a closed end fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160511006535/en/
Contacts:
MEDIA CONTACT
Maitland
James Devas, +44 20 7379 5151
Media-pershingsquareholdings@maitland.co.uk
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/11/16 -- A correction from source is being issued with respect to the Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc. release that was disseminated May 11, 2016 at 16:05 ET. Cash Flow from Operating Activities for Q1 2016 was reported at 2,104 but should have read 1,449, and the company generated $1.4 million in cash from operations before changes in working capital accounts during the first quarter, not 4.0 as previously reported. The complete and corrected release follows.
Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc. will hold a conference call to discuss its financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016 today, May 11 at 2:30 pm Pacific Time (5:30 pm Eastern Time). To participate, please dial 1-800-952-4972 (toll free) or 416-340-8527 (GTA and international) approximately five minutes before the call and provide the company name. A replay will be available through May 31, 2016 at 1-800-408-3053 (toll free) or 905-694-9451 (GTA and international) passcode: 6709648.
Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc. ("Ten Peaks" or "the company") (TSX: TPK) today reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016. The three-month period represents the first quarter of the company's 2016 fiscal year. Ten Peaks is a leading specialty coffee company doing business through two wholly owned subsidiaries, Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company, Inc.
("SWDCC") and Seaforth Supply Chain Solutions Inc. ("Seaforth"), the company's green coffee handling and storage subsidiary. SWDCC is a premium green coffee decaffeinator located in Burnaby, BC, which employs the proprietary SWISS WATER Process to decaffeinate green coffee without the use of chemicals. It is the company's primary business, and the results reported here reflect SWDCC's operating performance.
During the past two years, SWDCC has recorded a combined increase of 26% in its processing volumes. Consequently, the company is now implementing a multi-year plan to build a scalable foundation to support future growth. During Q1 2016, the company undertook significant upgrades at its Burnaby, BC facility which were designed to increase production capacity. This required a shutdown of one production line for most of March, temporarily reducing the company's ability to decaffeinate coffee. As a result, some orders were pushed into the second quarter, which led to a 4% decrease in SWDCC's overall processing volumes.
"Given the rapid growth of our volumes over the past two years, it was imperative that we add production capacity at our decaffeination plant," said Frank Dennis, President and CEO of Ten Peaks. "The expansion work we completed during the first quarter provides the additional capacity we need to serve our growing customer base for the next two years. Now, we can turn our focus to the construction of a second facility, which we expect to complete in 2018."
Ten Peaks' results also reflect management's adoption of hedge accounting effective January 1, 2016. The adoption of hedge accounting allows the company to better align its accounting practice and results with the way the business is managed. Starting on January 1, 2016, gains or losses associated with hedging instruments entered into to manage Ten Peaks' exposure to the coffee commodity price ("NY'C'") and to US dollars ("US$"), will be reflected on the statement of income directly with cost of sales and revenue. The adoption of hedge accounting will reduce Ten Peaks' earnings volatility, and gross profit will reflect the costs/benefits of its risk management activities.
"We are pleased with the prospect of reporting in a manner consistent with how we manage our business," said Sherry Tryssenaar, Chief Financial Officer of Ten Peaks. "However, it will be challenging to make direct comparisons with prior periods throughout 2016. We are therefore providing investors and analysts with additional information to ease the transition."
Investors are encouraged to read Ten Peaks' Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A"), and Frequently Asked Questions about Hedge Accounting sheet, both of which are available on the company's website at www.tenpeakscoffee.ca. In addition, the table below shows key performance metrics for Q1 2016 and 2015, and the impact (currently and going forward) of the company's adoption of hedge accounting.
(In $000s except per share amounts) (unaudited) Q1 Q1 Expected Effect of Hedge 2016 2015 Accounting on Annual 2016 Results ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sales 20,653 21,547 Reduction in volatility Gross profit 3,017 2,602 Significant reduction in volatility Operating Income 1,162 814 Significant reduction in volatility EBITDA(1) 1,358 3,043 Significant reduction in volatility Net income (loss) 1,188 758 Significant reduction in volatility Cash Flow from Operating 1,449 2,795 Activities(3) No Impact Per share(2) Net income (loss) - 0.13 0.11 Significant reduction in basic and diluted volatility (1) EBITDA is calculated and defined in the section on 'Non-IFRS Financial Measures' of the company's MD&A for Q1 2016, which will be posted on SEDAR and the company's website on May 11, 2016. (2) Per-share calculations are based on the weighted average number of shares outstanding during the period. (3) Excluding movements in non-cash working capital.
During the month-long shutdown of one production line at SWDCC's decaffeination plant, the majority of available capacity was dedicated to fulfilling orders for SWDCC's larger national accounts. As a result, first quarter sales to these customers grew by 5% over Q1 2015. Sales to specialty regional accounts declined by 26% for the period, mainly because these customers represent a large proportion of SWDCC's toll business (in which customer-owned green coffees are decaffeinated for a fee). Normally, toll orders represent approximately 20% of total processing volumes; in Q1 2016 toll orders declined to 11%, as many specialty regional toll orders were deferred until the second quarter. Management anticipates specialty regional sales will return to normal levels in the coming periods.
International sales volumes increased by 20% over Q1 2015, reflecting growing demand for SWDCC's coffees on a global scale. As such, they were an important element of total processing volumes in the first quarter. Volumes to Canadian customers declined by 2% in the quarter, owing to reduced specialty regional sales. US volumes declined by 13%, reflecting lowered sales to specialty regional customers, as well as a lack of orders from a large national customer that was acquired during the period.
Consolidation in the coffee industry can impact SWDCC's processing volumes, quarter to quarter. Over the past two years, a number of the company's customers have been acquired. When this occurs, there is typically a temporary reduction in orders from the acquired business, which lasts for several months.
Revenue for Q1 2016 was $20.7 million, down by 4% from the same period last year. This reflects SWDCC's lower processing volumes and the lower coffee commodity price ("NY'C'"), partially offset by a stronger US dollar ("US$"). During the first quarter, the coffee commodity price, or NY'C', averaged US$1.20. This was down by about 21% from US$1.52 in Q1 2015. The US$ averaged $1.37 in Q1 2016, up by 11% from an average of $1.24 in Q1 2015.
Notably, process revenue (the amount SWDCC charges its customers for decaffeinating green coffee) increased by $0.3 million despite the company's decline in processing volumes. The gains were driven by a stronger US$ and improved margins. Green revenue (the amount customers are charged for green coffee) decreased by $1.2 million, or 7%, due to a lower NY'C' and reduced sales volumes. Distribution revenue (the amount customers are charged for shipping and handling of their green coffees) remained about the same as in Q1 2015.
Cost of sales for the first quarter declined by 7% to $17.6 million. This largely reflects lower green coffee costs owing to a lower NY'C'. In addition, cost of sales were somewhat higher than they would have otherwise been, as management took advantage of the shutdown of one production line to undertake repairs and maintenance on that line. Normally, these expenses would be spread throughout the year.
During the quarter, Ten Peaks' gross profit rose by $0.4 million, or 16%, to $3.0 million, due to margin enhancement.
Sales and marketing expenses were $0.6 million for the first quarter, which is unchanged from the same period in 2015. First quarter administration expenses rose by 9% to $1.2 million. The increase reflects higher staffing and staff-related expenditures, professional fees, and training, which were offset by a decrease in share-based compensation expense, due to a decline in Ten Peak's share price.
Overall, first quarter operating income rose by $0.3 million, or 43%, to $1.2 million, due to the higher gross profit year-over-year.
SWDCC enters into commodity futures and foreign exchange forward contracts to manage the effect of changes in the NY'C' and US dollar exchange rates on the business. The company's hedging strategies have not changed with the adoption of hedge accounting. Now, however, the majority of unrealized gains/losses on derivative instruments are deferred on the balance sheet (for fair value hedges) or in other comprehensive income (for cash flow hedges) until the hedge transaction is realized. This will minimize the earnings volatility historically caused by the revaluation of derivatives instruments associated with SWDCC's risk management activities.
During the first quarter, the company recognized $0.2 million in gains on coffee futures, compared to gains of $1.5 million for the same period last year. In the 2015 period, the NY'C' declined rapidly, resulting in large gains on coffee futures. As Ten Peaks was not using hedge accounting last year, all gains and losses on futures, including those related to coffee purchase commitments and inventory on hand, were recognized in income in 2015.
During Q1 2016, the company also recorded a realized loss of $0.3 million and an unrealized gain of $0.2 million on its US$ forward contracts. This compares to a realized gain of $0.2 million on US$ forward contracts, and an unrealized loss of $1.1 million on these contracts in Q1 2015.
Overall, net income for the first quarter rose by 57% to $1.2 million. With the adoption of hedge accounting, net income better reflects the operating performance of the business, as it is not subject to the same volatility in earnings resulting from changes in the NY'C' and US$ that the company experienced in previous periods.
Earnings per share also increased in the quarter to $0.13, up from $0.11 in Q1 2015. The growth in earnings exceeded the increase in the number of common shares outstanding following the company's equity offering in the third quarter of last year.
EBITDA for the quarter decreased to $1.4 million, down from $3.0 million for the same period last year. In 2015, EBITDA was elevated due to significant gains on commodity futures, owing to a rapidly declining NY'C'. As hedge accounting was not used in 2015, all gains and losses on futures, including those related to coffee purchase commitments and inventory on hand, were recognized in income and EBITDA in 2015.
During 2016, EBITDA will be challenging to compare to prior quarters due to the adoption of hedge accounting. Accordingly, management believes that a less volatile measure of cash flows is cash from operations before changes in working capital accounts. The company generated $1.4 million in cash from operations before changes in working capital accounts during the first quarter, compared to $2.8 million for the same period in 2015.
"We were pleased with our financial performance for the first quarter and especially by the gains made in our earnings per share," said Dennis. "While our results were affected by the scheduled shutdown of a production line, we are now well-positioned to handle volume growth for the next couple of years. Similarly, the adoption of hedge accounting, while challenging in the short-term, enables us to report on our results with more clarity and insight as we go forward."
Outlook
SWDCC's annual processing volumes are expected to continue growing in 2016, despite the timing issues that affected the first quarter. Additionally, 2016 growth rates are expected to be slower than what has been recorded for the last two years.
"Operationally, 2016 will be a transitional year for our company," said Dennis. "We've seen double-digit volume growth for the past two years and a 46% jump in sales since 2010. As we expect demand for our amazing coffees without caffeine to continue rising, it's critical our business is prepared for long-term growth.
"Phase one was completing the capacity upgrades at our Burnaby location. Now, we're turning our focus to the new decaffeination facility we're planning to build in Metro Vancouver. Currently, we're in negotiations for a build-to-suit production facility that we will lease. Importantly, we will also have the option to purchase the land and building in the future.
"We have also commenced detailed engineering for a new production line that will be housed in the new facility. We expect to invest approximately $35 million over the next two years in capital equipment for the new production line and associated coffee-handling equipment. We expect to fund this capital expansion through cash on hand, incremental debt, and funds from operations. We will announce further details to our shareholders as the project unfolds," said Dennis.
Work is also underway to improve the company's end-to-end supply chain effectiveness. With improved supply chain management, order times can be further reduced, and operating efficiencies improved. SWDCC aims to maintain its excellent order fulfillment rates as its business grows. At the same time, SWDCC is implementing new lean manufacturing initiatives throughout the business, to better reduce waste, streamline operations, and improve financial results.
Finally, management believes Ten Peaks strong cash flow generation, solid balance sheet and healthy liquidity provide the company with the financial flexibility to execute the initiatives required to support its profitable growth.
Payment of Quarterly Dividend
On April 15, 2016, Ten Peaks paid an eligible quarterly dividend of $0.0625 per share to shareholders of record on March 31, 2016.
Non-IFRS Financial Measures
EBITDA
Management defines EBITDA as net income before interest, depreciation, amortization, impairments, share-based compensation, gains/losses on foreign exchange, gains/losses on disposal of capital equipment, one-time costs, and provision for income taxes. EBITDA also reflects unrealized gains and losses on foreign exchange forward contracts.
Historically, management has used EBITDA as one measure of our financial performance. It is a calculation of cash from operations independent of changes in working capital balances, and thus complements cash flows from operations as reported on the statement of changes in financial position. However, it is impacted by volatility in the NY'C' and the US$/C$ exchange rate. With the adoption of hedge accounting, prior year comparisons will be more difficult. As such, management believes that cash from operations before changes in working capital accounts is a more reliable measure of cash flows, year-over-year.
The reconciliation of net income to EBITDA is as follows:
(In $000s) (unaudited) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 months ended 3 months ended March 31, 2016 March 31, 2015 ---------------------------------- Income for the period $ 1,188 $ 758 Income taxes 407 242 ---------------------------------- Income before tax 1,595 1,000 Finance (income) expense (74) 13 Depreciation & amortization 398 384 Unrealized (gain) loss on foreign exchange forward contracts (218) 1,135 (Gain) loss on foreign exchange (254) 349 Share-based compensation (184) 162 One-time costs 95 - ---------------------------------- EBITDA $ 1,358 $ 3,043 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EBITDA for the first quarter of 2016 was $1.4 million, compared to $3.0 million for the same period in 2015. The decrease is related to lower volumes, and reduced gains on commodity hedges.
Additional Information
A more detailed discussion of Ten Peaks' first quarter financial results and management's outlook can be found in the company's MD&A for the three months ended March 31, 2016. This document, along with Ten Peaks' condensed consolidated interim financial statements, will be posted on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) and on the company's website (http://www.tenpeakscoffee.ca) on May 11, 2016.
Readers are cautioned that the summary information contained in this press release is not a suitable source of information for readers who are unfamiliar with Ten Peaks. This press release should be considered a precursor to, and not a substitute for, reading the financial statements and MD&A, which provide more detailed information related to the company's performance and future prospects.
Company Profile
Ten Peaks is a publicly traded company that owns all of the interests of the Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company Inc. (SWDCC), a premium green coffee decaffeinator located in Burnaby, BC. It also owns and operates Seaforth Supply Chain Solutions Inc. (Seaforth), a green coffee handling and storage business located in Metro Vancouver.
About SWDCC
SWDCC employs the proprietary SWISS WATER Process to decaffeinate green coffee without the use of chemicals, leveraging science-based systems and controls to produce coffee that is 99.9% caffeine free. The SWISS WATER Process is a 100% chemical free water process for coffee decaffeination, as well as the world's only consumer-branded decaffeination process. It is certified organic by the Organic Crop Improvement Association.
SWISS WATER Process decaffeinated green coffees are sold to many of North America's leading specialty roaster retailers, specialty coffee importers and commercial coffee roasters. SWDCC also sells coffees internationally through regional distributors.
About Seaforth
Seaforth provides a complete range of green coffee logistics services including devanning coffee received from origin; inspecting, weighing and sampling coffees; and storing, handling and preparing green coffee for outbound shipments. Seaforth's warehouse and handling operation is certified organic by Ecocert Canada.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking" statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, such statements may include such words as "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "plan" and other similar terminology. These statements reflect management's current expectations regarding future events and operating performance, as well as management's current estimates, but which are based on numerous assumptions and may prove to be incorrect. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks related to processing volumes and sales growth, operating results, supply of coffee, general industry conditions, commodity price risks, technology, competition, foreign exchange rates, construction timing, costs and financing of capital projects, and general economic conditions.
The forward-looking statements and financial outlook information contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except to the extent required by applicable securities law, Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in management's expectations or in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those described herein.
Contacts:
Sherry Tryssenaar, Chief Financial Officer
Ten Peaks Coffee Company Inc.
604.444.8780
stryssenaar@tenpeakscoffee.ca
www.tenpeakscoffee.ca
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - LINN Energy, LLC (LINE), LinnCo, LLC (LNCO), and Berry Petroleum Company, LLC announced it has entered into a Restructuring Support Agreement with holders of Credit Facilities. Under the Agreement, the parties agreed to support a plan of reorganization for the company that would include: a new LINN $2.2 billion reserve-based and term loan credit facility; the consensual use of LINN and Berry's cash collateral to fund the Chapter 11 Cases; and the broad terms of a comprehensive restructuring of indebtedness. LINN, LinnCo, and Berry filed voluntary petitions for restructuring under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The company expects operations across its asset base to continue in the ordinary course throughout the Chapter 11 process. LINN, LinnCo, and Berry anticipate that the cash available to it during its Chapter 11 Cases will likely provide sufficient liquidity to support the business during the financial restructuring process. As such, the company does not currently intend to seek debtor-in-possession financing. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
CHIC Fresh, a Shanghai, China-based developer of proprietary cold-crafted (otherwise known as HPP: High Pressure Processing) juice technology, received a USD$30m private equity investment.
ClearVue Partners provided the financial resources, which will allow the company to expand operations.
Led by Edward Yan Ming Zhu, CEO and Chairman, CHIC Fresh offers the INVO brand coconut water and coconut water based beverages carried by global retailers, including Wegmans, BHG, Whole Foods Market and Trader Joes.
INVO brand and other juices are cold-crafted (HPP). HPP is a cold pasteurization technique and it produces fresh, nutritious juice without using chemical preservatives.
FinSMEs
11/05/2016
HealthiPASS, a Chicago, IL-based patient check-in and payments company, received an additional funding of undisclosed amount.
HealthX Ventures has joined the companys Series A funding round announced in October 2015, which was led by OCA Ventures along with several strategic healthcare investors.
In conjunction with the funding, HealthX Managing Partner Mark Bakken will join HealthiPASS board as part of the funding.
The company intends to use the funds to continue to expand its marketing, sales, client service, and product teams to grow its market share.
Led by Rajesh Voddiraju, CEO, HealthiPASS is a digital check-in and patient payments platform that optimizes patient collections for ambulatory care providers like physician groups, ambulatory surgical centers, diagnostic centers, etc.
FinSMEs
10/05/2016
Weaveworks, a London, UK and San Francisco, CA-based provider of a networking and monitoring platform for containers and microservices, raised $15m in Series B funding.
The round was led by new investor GV (formerly Google Ventures), with participation from Accel Partners.
The company intends to use the funds to expand operations.
Led by Alexis Richardson, co-founder and CEO, Weaveworks provides software teams moving to containers and microservices with an open source platform to connect and manage all the moving parts, reliable networking across development, test and production environments and any mix of data centers and public clouds as well as tools to visualize and interact with deployments in development and production.
FinSMEs
11/05/2016
The reworked India-Mauritius tax treaty, an amendment to a 32 year old rule, is a major bad news for investors who have been entering India through the convenient-Mauritius/Singapore route to avoid paying capital gain taxes, and also to Indian black money holders who round-trip unaccounted money from India through tax havens back to the home soil as legitimate cash.
For PM Narendra Modi, the treaty is a clear diplomatic victory. India has been trying to renegotiate the treaty with Mauritius since 1996, but has had no luck so far. Its good news for Indian economy that is struggling to curb black money, and also brings in more clarity as far as the taxation of inward fund flows is concerned. By bringing Mauritius to the negotiation table and sign the deal, Modi has managed to seal a landmark amendment to curb inflow of black money via tax havens. The Mauritius treaty applies equally to Singapore as well, hence investors cannot use that channel as well.
Why the amendment is important? The 1983 tax treaty with Mauritius allowed foreign investors to enter India without paying any tax on sale of shares if they route their money through tax havens such as Mauritius. Besides, Indians too rampantly channelled their money to Mauritius and then back to India to skip paying taxes.
They had to still pay taxes in Mauritius on sale of securities but that wasnt difficult since tax rates in that country is too low. This was an easy route also for black money holders in India to bring out their unaccounted wealth back to the country by first taking out the money to one of the tax havens such as Mauritius using a web of transactions not easy to identify for the taxmen. That route would be fully closed by 2019.
As mentioned earlier, the amendment to the India Mauritius-treaty would also impact the India Singapore treaty another entry point for foreign investors to India to avoid paying taxes. Under the current structure, investors have to pay a short-term capital gains tax of 15 percent in India. But on account of the tax treaty, investors operating through the Mauritius route even avoided paying short-term capital gains tax in India.
Though the amendment would create short-term tremors in the foreign investor community looking at India, the way the amendment has been structured shouldnt cause much concern since the amendment is on a prospective basis. All investments made till 1 April, 2017 would not be affected with the new change. Even after that till March, 2019, only half rate will apply. This would mean that all those currently having investment plans can execute it without fear till April 2017. The government has done well in implementing the new regime in a staggered manner to avoid big short term shocks.
Also, the new rules break the back of the practice of individuals and companies creating shell companies in Mauritius to round trip money. These companies will only remain on paper. The amendment addresses this issue by stipulating that a resident is deemed to be a shell/conduit company, if its total expenditure on operations in Mauritius is less than Rs 27,00,000 (Mauritian Rupees 15,00,000) in the immediately preceding 12 months. This is one of the major reason why Mauritius and Singapore contributed as the major FDI investment destinations. Currently, about half of the total FDIs to India is from Mauritius and Singapore.
The amendment will certainly impact fund inflows to India in the next few years since there is no easy money anymore, but it will ensure the quality of inward capital flows and only bonafide investors will enter once there is parity in the tax regime. This would also help India to be seen as a maturing economy with respect to taxation of foreign money. With Singapore and Mauritius being brought under the treaty, the Government should next target other tax havens such as Cyprus.
But, India still has the challenge of renegotiating the Indo-US tax treaty during this transition period. As Daksha Baxi of Khaitan and Co points out, the real issue that India needs to now tackle is re-negotiating the India-US treaty to get resourcing rule incorporated in that treaty similar to what US has with many other countries including China.
Currently, the source rules in the US prevents an US resident from claiming credit for the Indian capital gains taxes against the US capital gains tax liability. If India succeeds in renegotiating the India-US treaty within this transition period, the US investor would be less weary and concerned about the capital gains tax incidence in India, Baxi says.
The Modi-government deserves credit for making Mauritius signing the landmark amendment. This is a major step in curbing the black money and gives more credibility to Modi-governments stated agenda of curbing black money in the economy, even if the NDA-government risks the wrath of foreign investors who hate paying taxes.
Mumbai/Panjim: In a major setback to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, revenue officials in Goa on Wednesday allowed the lenders to Kingfisher Airlines to take physical possession of `Kingfisher Villa' in Candolim.
"The North Goa Collector has given an order in favour of banks to take physical possession of the Kingfisher Villa," banking sources said late Wednesday evening.
The Villa, valued at Rs 90 crore, used to be Mallya's base in Goa and also the venue of many of the famous parties hosted by him during the `good times'.
Advocate Parag Rao, who appeared on behalf of United Spirits, told PTI that the company had withdrawn its claim before the collector on Tuesday. "We told the collector that we will not press for the objection," he said.
Representing the bankers' consortium, SBICAPS had sought physical possession of the property under Section 14 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act in late 2014.
However, three of Mallya's companies United Spirits Limited (USL), Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries had objected to the move.
Last week, media reports had said that Mallya put up a "villa manager" as a caretaker to thwart the bank's attempt to take it over.
The villa was mortgaged to the lenders while obtaining loans for the now defunct airliner, but the caretaker, who claimed to be an employee of United Breweries, and the subsequent establishment of tenancy rights would have made it difficult for the banks to take over the property.
According to reports, bankers' attempts to take possession of the villa were repeatedly stalled by USL, which claims the first right to buy the property as it is a tenant. USL had also approached a local court, citing provisions in the Portuguese Civil Code to block auction of the property in the past.
There was a delay on part of the collector in allowing takeover of the property, which made SBICAPS approach the Goa Bench of Bombay High Court. The bench granted three months to the collector to complete the hearing of application filed by the consortium of banks seeking possession of the villa.
So far, the banks have recovered over Rs 1,400 crore by selling shares and collaterals and over Rs 1,200 crore is blocked in escrow accounts at Debt Recovery Tribunal, Bengaluru and the Karnataka High Court. Mallya had told the Supreme Court he was ready to repay up to Rs 6,800 crore of
the total dues of over Rs 9,400 crore.
Last month, the consortium of banks had failed in its attempt to sell Kingfisher Airline's erstwhile headquarters Kingfisher House in Mumbai because of the high reserve price of Rs 150 crore.
Attempts to sell the Kingfisher brands and associated trademarks carrying a reserve price of Rs 367 crore had also found no takers.
Mallya left the country on 2 March for London. Earlier this week, the Government asked Britain to deport Mallya, citing the revocation of his passport and a non-bailable warrant against him.
The Bengaluru Vision Group (BVG) also called the Bengaluru Blue Print Action Group (BBPAG), set up by the Karnataka government has already run into trouble with activists questioning its formation with notable absentees. The mayor was absent and so is representation from the Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee (BMPC), corporators, many civic bodies, activists and Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs).
On Tuesday, the Siddaramaiah government quickly added the mayor, BN Manjunath Reddy and architect and urban planner Vivek Menon. The Hindu reports that Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George said the other concern about the exclusion of representatives from various civic bodies and agencies too would be addressed.
So for now, the City police commissioner, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESC) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) who were all absent from the BVG, would be made permanent invitees to meetings of BVG.
The Karnataka government set up the new BVG,aimed at breathing fresh life into the dying city and to find solutions to resolve its infrastructure and civic bottlenecks. Members included, NR Narayana Murthy of Infosys, Azim Premji of Wipro, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon, Sachin Bansal of Flipkart, Ramesh Ramanathan and Swati Ramanathan of Janaagraha. The group also had Kalpana Kar, Mohandas Pai, Ramakanth, K Jairaj, RK Misra and BS Patil. Many of these elite Bengalureans have been members of earlier vision groups set up by successive Karnataka governments.
The BVG's other members are the Bengaluru Development Minister, ministers representing Bengaluru, the chief secretary and additional chief secretary (urban development department). The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) commissioners and the metropolitan commissioner of Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) were to be permanent invitees.
Ramesh Ramanathan of Janaagraha, has designed a Bengaluru blueprint for the new BVG, which aims to improve life of Bengalureans by ushering in reforms in infrastructure and systems, resource mobilization, transparent governance, especially e-governance solutions, and increased participation of citizens, organizations and industry members.
Conspicuous by their absence in the BVG was the mayor of Bengaluru, and several other civic bodies like the BMRTC and BMRCL, BWSSB, BESC and the City Police commissioner. These anomalies have since been corrected.
However, the absence of representation from the BMPC and RWAs in the new BVG is still glaring.
The BMPC was mandated by the 74th Constitutional Amendment of 1992 and the Karnataka government notified the BMPC in January 2014, after the High Court gave the government a 48-hour deadline on a petition filed by activist CN Kumar. The BMPC is supposed to be the nodal authority for all development and planning in the Bangalore metropolitan area. Headed by the Chief Minister, the BMPC has representation from municipal councilors, who have voting rights. The BMPC has the mandate to formulate a five year development plan for the city. The earlier Master Plan for Bengaluru expires in 2017.
Corporators are directly in the line of fire of angry residents, who approach them when things dont work in their area, whether they be street lights, potholes, garbage or overflowing drains. Many active RWAs, like those in Malleswaram, HSR layout, Indira Nagar, Basavanagudi, Shantinagar, Langford Town, Richmond Town and Koramangala are working with their corporators, BBMP, BWSSB, local police stations and their local MLAs to bring about a change in their areas. So any vision group cannot function without RWAs and other civic activists who work on the ground being part of it.
One of the other major problems in Bengaluru is its traffic congestion, but representatives of both the BMRTC and the BMRCL were not present in the earlier formation of the group. Isnt mass transport solutions a must to decongest Bengaluru traffic? The BMRCL has through the opening of the East West corridor and the purple line, increased its footfalls in just a matter of one week to one lakh passengers a day. So has the BMRTC, with its Big Ten buses, which have provided end to end speedy commute. The BMRTC also has major plans to run feeder services from the metro stations. Working together with several civic bodies is a must for any solution to the myriad problems the city faces.
Reacting to concerns about the BVG sidestepping the elected BBMP council and the BMPC, Mr George told reporters on Tuesday, that the BVG would at best be a recommendatory body and would only give suggestions to develop the city. This, in itself, has reduced the power of the BVG and it doesnt look like anything much will be achieved by this new formation.
So, its okay to feel a sense of deja vu, for after all, there have been several attempts to form just such vision groups for Bengaluru. This is just a new vision group with a brand new name. There was the earlier Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) set up in 1999 by the then Chief Minister, SM Krishna. The BATF died a natural death along with the end of Krishnas reign.
At the time of the formation of the BATF, the BMPC had not been notified. The BATF did start out right and came up with several grand ideas for traffic management, signages for BBMP (then BCC), public toilet design, private-public partnerships through sponsorships of parks, roundabouts, amongst others. The BATF was headed by the then Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani and members included Naresh Venkataramanan, Kalpana Kar, Ramesh Ramanathan, Ravichander, Suresh Heblikar, Anuradha Hegde, Late H Narasimhaiah, Sunil Shelar among others.
But, the BATF soon ran into rough weather, several projects proposed by the BATF was shelved for one reason or other. Out of 12 corporate commitments worth Rs 35 crore, according to a Times of India report in 2002, only half of these saw the light of day and works amounting to Rs 20 crore were only taken up. Promised development of roads and parks were dropped, although some work on Swachha Bangalore like Nirmal toilets, bus shelters and signages took off.
Then, it was the turn of Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa to form his own task force. This was called the Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) task force. ABIDe members included Convenor and MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, R K Mishra, A Ravindra among others. In 2010, it released a grandiose 160 page Plan Bengaluru 2020 document. This contained a blue print for the citys development, including governance, traffic management, heritage, environment and sustainability, public health, education among other issues. However nothing much came of it.
Then in March 2014, just before the Lok Sabha elections, the Siddaramaiah government hurriedly set up a Vision Group on the lines of the earlier BATF. Activists cried foul, calling it a gimmick to win votes in the Lok Sabha polls. The group did not have the mayor, or MLAs or corporators as members. The formation of this Vision group was stayed by a High Court order, following a writ petition filed by CN Kumar for not formulating the BMPC. In 2015, the HC vacated the stay as the BMPC was notified by then, thus paving way for formation of the new BVG.
Any vision group that is formed, should necessarily having staying power and the longevity to survive successive governments, regardless of which political party is ruling at the Vidhana Soudha. Vision groups should also study earlier blue prints formulated by the other vision groups and see what worked and what didnt. The members should also fight for inclusion of the BMPC, which has been formulated after a long and hard legal battle fought by civic activists.
DNA reported in February this year, that 18 corporators 9 from BJP; 7 from Congress; and 2 from JD(S) were elected to the BMPC, amidst protests from some political leaders, who said the election made no sense, as the corporators elected to the last BMPC had failed to meet even once during their tenure.
Perhaps, instead of forming yet another vison group, the Karnataka government should arm the BMPC and give it teeth and allow it to function.
CN Kumar told Firstpost, The BMPC is defunct, it has been constituted and reconstituted, but not met even once. We have to work with what is constitutionally mandated, otherwise the whole system of governance will collapse. In a democracy, we have to work with democratic institutions. The vision group can act as an adjunct to the BMPC.
So, as a first step, the Chief Minister who heads the BMPC, should call a meeting of the BMPC.
Ever since Narendra Modi began pitching for national leadership, the BJP has made it a part of its propaganda ploy to trumpet the Gujarat Model of Development and denigrate the Kerala Model the unparalleled Indian human development story that the world had long since acknowledged. But on Tuesday, when the latter compared Kerala with Somalia, he not only stated a huge lie, but also humiliated the socio-political legacy of a state that often stands shoulder-to-shoulder with western nations in quality of life.
The state is obviously outraged. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has called Modis bluff and trolls took to social media to ridicule Modi and the BJP. Probably, even state BJP leaders are ashamed that their land has been compared to a lawless and notorious global outcast thats only known for piracy and anarchy.
Modi's move to bring Somalia into his speech on Keralas development by cherry-picking a statistical outlier is a diabolical trick to skew the development debate. He reportedly said that the infant mortality rate (IMR) of Scheduled Tribes in Kerala is worse than that of Somalia. Yes, every development indicator of the tribals in Kerala is worse than the rest of the people in the state, but where did he get the idea that Somalia, which had no government or even a constitution till 2012, fared better than a state that has a Human Development ranking comparable to a country such as Bahrain?
Whats the IMR of scheduled tribes in Kerala? According to the most recent Health Profile of Scheduled Tribes its 57 (per 1000 live births) for boys and 64 for girls. These figures are from 2001 and seem to have improved. According to this report that quotes UNICEF in 2014, its 41.47 in the worst affected district of Wayanad. Of course, this is much higher than the states average of 12.
So what is Somalia's IMR? It's 137, according to UNICEF. Is 57, 64 or 41.47 higher than 137? Whoever suggested this comparison to Modi is a sinister propagandist who trades in lies to defame fellow Indians.
Forget Somalia, lets compare IMR of tribal children in Kerala with the rest of India and most importantly, the marquee state of Gujarat. According to the same Government of India figures, the national average is 84 (male) and 88 (female) and in Gujarat, its 59 (male) and 65 (female). Whats more, the highest of 110 is in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
Its really foolish to preach development to Kerala, let alone twist facts and misrepresent ideas of development. Gujarat has indeed won praise from many quarters, mostly pro-market and pro-business agencies and publications, but that has been for the state being good for business and not for the well-being of the people. This report by The Economist does praise Gujarat for its GDP growth, exports, infrastructure and all the visible signs of economic growth, but it also highlights the fact that when it comes to reducing poverty, it fared worse than states of similar ranking.
The other points that Modi made in his controversial speech in Kerala also are of no consequence as far as the state is concerned. Despite all the charges he makes, the UN compares Kerala with high income countries, whereas Modi's home states equivalent is a poor Timor Leste (East Timor), which till a few years ago, was a lawless and unstable country.
Modi said in his speech: The unemployment rate in Kerala is at least three times higher than the national average. The state can meet only 13 percent of their requirement of agricultural products. Even after 70 years of Independence, Kerala depends on other states for 70 percent 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.
Even if all these claims are true, does it really matter? Certainly not, because development is for the wellbeing of people and the state fares the best in India. According to the UN, Keralas human development is very high that no other state can match. In terms of numbers, Keralas Human Development Index (HDI) is 0.825, while that of Gujarat is 0.599, which is termed as just medium.
What do you need? Figures of industrial growth or quality of life?
What Modi presented was a bogus discourse that the BJP is trying to spread in Kerala. By picking and choosing misleading statistics (mostly on ill-defined growth) and comparing it with states such as Gujarat, they are spreading falsehood. Keralas development success is founded on a different socio-political paradigm. The state makes up for its economic shortcomings and production through remittances, which is not speed-money, but cash earned using their valuable skills and labour. If remittances were easy, how come other states could never replicate it? Its a model that was made possible by a century-old social reform movements and transformational politics.
However, while resisting misplaced propaganda, Kerala also has to introspect because of the increasing volatility of remittances from the Middle East. Consumption and quality of life at this rate will not be sustainable without production if remittances fall. Domestic wealth generation must keep pace with social welfare so that the states growth is sustainable. But BJP talking about restoring the states past glory is laughable as the present glory is far better.
Lending a new twist to the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, key accused Indrani Mukerjea's former driver Shyamvar Rai on Wednesday sought to turn approver, saying he wants to "disclose all truths" as he had taken part in her killing by strangulation.
The development came after Rai, an accused, wrote a two-page letter to the court a week before, seeking pardon in the case while stating that he wants to reveal the truth.
He had said that he wishes to narrate the entire sequence of events in the case.
He wrote saying that he wants to turn approver, CNN News 18 reported. This means that he could reveal inside details of how the conspiracy to commit the murder was hatched, in exchange for being protected for prosecution in the case.
When Special Judge HS Mahajan called Rai in the box on Wednesday, he said, "I am aware about the acts connected with the commission of the offence."
The judge questioned Rai if he had written the letter from the jail to which he replied in the affirmative.
When the judge asked how Rai knew about the incident, he replied, "I was present at the time of murder and was a participant."
He also told the court that Sheena was killed by strangulation.
He also told the court that he was under "no pressure, threat or coercion" to reveal the facts in the case and was "repentant" for his act.
The court directed CBI to file its reply on 17 May over Rai's plea to turn approver in the case.
It also asked Thane Jail Superintendent and Thane Police Commissioner to ensure that Rai is produced in the court on the next hearing.
Indrani, her husband Peter Mukerjea and her former husband Sanjeev Khanna were present in court as Rai's statement was being recorded.
However, their lawyers said that even if the court accepts Rai's plea and makes him an approver, their case won't be affected.
"Its not CBI's case that Rai ever communicated with Peter during the course of murder and there's no evidence against him," said Peter's lawyer Mihir Gheewala.
Khanna's lawyer advocate Shreyansh Mithare also echoed the same view and said that this new development won't have any impact on their case.
While Indrani's lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani refused to comment on the fresh turn in the case, saying he will first have to go through the statement of Rai.
Meanwhile, a Mumbai court on Wednesday extended the judicial custody of Indrani, Peter, Rai and Khanna till 17 May in connection with the high-profile murder case, Zee News reported.
Rai was the first accused to be arrested in connection with the murder case in August 2015.
Two days ago, the court had castigated Thane jail officials for failing to produce Rai before the court and had warned of contempt proceedings while directing them to bring him Wednesday.
Rai has been a crucial link to the entire murder case. Arrested for possession of unlicensed firearm, it was him who told the police about the murder.
In October 2015, Rai had put forward an application to the court saying he is willing to tell 'the truth' in relation to the Sheena Bora murder case.
24-year-old Sheena, daughter of Indrani from an earlier relationship, was allegedly strangled in a car and her
body burnt and dumped in a forest in Raigad in April 2012.
Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai had allegedly strangled Sheena inside a car. The crime, which came to light in August, is allegedly linked to certain financial dealings.
On 19 November 2015, Peter Mukerjea, media baron and husband of Indrani, was also arrested for his alleged role in the murder case. He has been kept at the high-security Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai where Khanna and Rai are also lodged.
While Peter, Khanna and Rai are lodged in Arthur Road prison, Indrani (43) is in Byculla womens' jail.
With inputs from PTI
Perched on the banks of river Kshipra, Balmiki Dham in Ujjain has seen many kumbhs. But what unfolded there on Wednesday had not been witnessed ever before.
The place had so far stood as a symbol of spirituality for the Dalits those who could stand up in defiance to the might of the upper caste dominance in Hindu religiosity. The name 'Balmiki dham' signifies it all.
Though it is visited in good numbers by its own believers, it does not get the same attention as others powerful mutts and Akaras run by influential Hindu community spiritual leaders.
The current edition of the 2016 Simhastha (Mahakumbh) in Ujjain has changed the way people social, religious, spiritual and administrative, should look at it, at least for now.
The word 'Samrasta' (harmony) was thick in the air since morning. A huge dais was erected on its front; seated over it were all the big names of the Hindu religious and spiritual world.
The Sankaracharyas, Mahamadelshwars, Gurus, Mathadhis, peethadhis had all taken time off from their Akharas, mutts, temples, peeths, camp sites and headquarters in Ujjain, and from the rest of the country to be here to give a common message that was in agreement of Samrasta, through tokenism or otherwise that Dalits were as much a part of the Hindu community as anyone else.
That is not to say that social stratification which has existed in the Hindu society for ages would be gone but to convey a message that Dalits too have a place in the society and have a right, and even if it was hypocritical to call equal, it was significant.
They need not look for a place beyond Hindu religiosity. It was more than clear that the harmony that was so vociferously talked about was not so much for amity between all the religions practiced in India but concerned only to the majority community.
But before one may start wondering that the congregation at Balmiki Dham was unleashing some kind of social reform movement, it should be clarified that even as on surface of it the intent appeared to be social, it was targeted at yielding political dividends for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere in the country.
The first visual on entry inside the pandal conveyed it all. A giant hoarding with Modis folded hands in front of social and spiritual Dalit icons Maharshi Balmiki, Sant Ravidas, Kabir, BR Ambedkar and a few others, served as the backdrop for the congregation at the podium.
In other parts of the pandal, similar hoardings had Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Namaste mudra greeting the same Dalit icons. It was interesting to find Ambedkar in the same league as Ravidas, Balmiki and Kabir.
It was more than obvious that the BJP had decided to use Simhastha Kumbh for its Dalit outreach program. Party President Amit Shah, thus, chose to take a holy dip in this kumbh at Balmiki Ghat.
He didnt take a dip at Ram Ghat and other main ghats adjacent to it on Kshipra River where all the Akhraras and temples are situated which lakhs of sadhus, sants and ordinary pilgrims prefer to go to for their holy dip. Shah chose to go to the far flung Balmiki Ghat, a neglected river bank where the river width is very narrow and the poor flow means that the river is not as clean.
But Shah was consciously pursuing his partys and the Parivars Dalit outreach program and therefore he didnt want to antagonise the established Brahmanical order.
So when he sat on the dais for the pre-snan sammelan, he was flanked by Avdeshanandji Maharaj of Juna Akhara, the most powerful of all religious and spiritual leaders from Sanatan Dharma paramapara, on his left, and on his right sat Umeshnath Ji Maharaj head honcho of Balmiki Dham.
It was also announced that before arriving there, Shah had paid tributes to Sohandas ji Maharaj, a Dalit religious icon of yesteryears and that between them there was a common cord they both belonged to Gujarat. The politics and religion thus mingled freely and conveniently.
After finishing at Balmiki Ghat, he drove to a specially created Deendayalpuram in the mela area to honour over a hundred top Hindu community leaders over a fabulous vegetarian lunch.
The speech delivered by the Balmiki Dham honcho was significant, which should be enough to ring alarm bells for Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati:
Amit Shah has displayed a great deal of guts by coming here from Delhi and by stressing on harmony amongst various streams. Shah and Shivraj Singh Chouhan should be complimented for taking this kind of an initiative, he said.
Then he pointed out the real problems and challenges that his community, the marginalized, face. He also did not shy away from speaking the truth that the onus was on them and other Hindu spiritual leaders present to carry the Samrasta spirit forward and to see that this is practiced, and does not remain as a mere photo op at a talking shop.
What Shah said in his brief speech was equally interesting: Presently the Centre has a (Modi) government which was working to strengthen cultural and social traditions and needed the blessings of all present to succeed in its endeavour.
The harmony theme was then taken to the ghat where Shah took a dip with Balmiki and Sanatan Dahrma community leaders. The administration had ensured that oxi-generators improved water quality, a great deal of manual effort too had gone into that.
Kumbh has always been a great leveller. The holy river waters during these auspicious days or otherwise does not discriminate between the lakhs and lakhs who take a dip.
But the political message which emanated from Amit Shahs conscious efforts was loud and clear. He and his party colleagues would hope that its impact is felt in Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 assembly elections. After all, the BJP and RSS had for long been working on this social engineering concept. It seems like Shah has taken a big step or a dip forward in Ujjain.
Ahmedabad: In a scathing attack, BJP MP Vitthal Radadiya on Wednesday termed Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leader Hardik Patel as "mentally unstable" and said he was trying to project himself as a "hero" of the Patel community from jail.
The remarks by Radadiya, who once worked as a mediator between Patel quota agitators and Gujarat government, came a day after Hardik virtually termed him a "traitor" of Patel community, saying Patidars did not need the Porbandar MP anymore.
Meanwhile, Hardik's close aide leader Mahesh Savani who met the PAAS convener in Lajpore Central Jail on Wednesday claimed that his remarks on Radadiya have been "misinterpreted" by the media.
"It seems Hardik has lost his mental balance in jail, that is why he talks such nonsense like a mad person. He was not consistent in his views and keeps changing his statements. I think he only wants to become a hero of the (Patel) community while being in jail," said Radadiya, a prominent Patel leader of Saurashtra region.
"There was a time when he (Hardik) used to say that Vitthalbhai is a very respectable person. And suddenly, I have became a traitor to him. I don't even want to see the face of such a person who has lost his mental balance and calls me a traitor. Otherwise, I am always with the community and will come forward whenever my services are needed," he said.
Radadiya had earlier announced that his role as a mediator has come to an end in the wake of the state government carving out a 10 per cent quota for the poor among unreserved category, including Patels. He added that the quota should be at least 20 percent.
Against the backdrop of Radadiya's statement, Hardik on Tuesday told mediapersons outside Surat court that his community "does not want people who betray their own community. We don't want Vitthal Radadiya."
Radadiya also took umbrage at Hardik's comments on politicians.
In a letter from Lajpore Central Jail where he is lodged under sedition charges, Hardik recently asked Patidars to stay away from upcoming programmes organised by Shree Khodal Dham Trust if it invites political leaders who want to "break the unity of the community".
Hardik alleged that the Trust, one of the prominent bodies of the community, is conniving with government to create a rift among Patidars.
Radadiya asked Hardik to list the work he has done for the welfare of the community.
"Political leaders are not his personal property. We are not elected through his vote. I have been doing many activities for Patel community since many years, such as giving education to thousands of children, but what has he done for the community?," asked Radadiya.
Terming the young leader as "arrogant", Radadiya said, "Hardik only took leadership of an agitation, nothing else. Yet, he is showing so much of arrogance. How can you (Hardik) incite people to boycott political leaders. I want to tell him that only politicians can work as mediators to arrive at a solution."
Meanwhile Savani, who has been named as new mediator for PAAS, told mediapersons outside Lajpore Jail that Hardik's statement has been "misinterpreted" by media.
"Today, I met Hardik at Lajpore Jail in Surat. Hardik told me that he never said anything against Vitthalbhai. He told me that his statement before media has been misinterpreted," said Savani.
During the meeting, Hardik also handed over a letter addressed to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.
"Hardik gave this sealed letter to us during the meeting. We will hand it over to the CM in coming days. We are not aware about the content, as the letter is in sealed cover," added Savani.
First, the BJP helped Nitish Kumar get rid of his rivals in Bihar.
And now it has extended the same favour to Harish Rawat in Uttarakhand.
Congress-mukt Bharat can wait, the BJP is busy making its rival parties mukt of dissenters and rebels.
Rawat should immediately send a 'thank you' note to the BJP. With its misadventure in Uttarakhand, the BJP has helped Rawat cleanse the Congress of his rivals, become the undisputed numero uno of his party's state unit, win a moral and legal victory and gain the sympathy of voters in an election year. Just a few months ago, Rawat was grappling with dissenters like Vijay Bahuguna and Harak Singh Rawat and several closet enemies. Bahuguna was simmering because of his removal from the chief minister's post for mismanaging rescue operations during floods ironically, this is the man BJP co-opted for its mission in the hill state and Harak had dreams of replacing the other Rawat.
While rebellion was brewing within the state unit, the Congress had reportedly asked Harish Rawat to step down to ensure the party remains united in the run-up to Assembly polls next year.
Perhaps, if Amit Shah's gaze had not fallen upon Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat would have either been ousted by the Congress or made to accommodate his rivals in the government.
But the BJP decided to play the Pied Piper and lured the rats out of their holes. Now that Bahuguna, Harak Singh and their eight co-conspirators have been exposed, defeated and humiliated, the chief minister has the party in his pocket. In all likelihood, riding on the moral high after the floor test, he will go out in a blaze of glory. Harish Rawat will announce a slew of populist measures and recommend an early poll. He would be hoping that the BJP's humiliation and his own legal and moral victory will power him to one more term. If that happens, Rawat will be tempted to send a bouquet to Shah.
While Shah and his Uttarakhand advisor Kailash Vijayvargia were trying to topple Rawat's government, many wondered why the BJP was keen to form a government for just a few months. The term of the current Assembly ends in February and political headwinds from Uttarakhand indicated that Rawat was on the way out, hobbled by poor performances and rising anti-incumbency. So, it was just a matter of months before BJP would have conquered the state electorally.
But, the BJP under Shah somehow loves to humiliate its rivals, it pines to grind the Opposition into dust. Around a year ago, it tried similar machinations in Bihar by fuelling the ambitions of Jitan Ram Manjhi. It encouraged a similar split and attempted a coup by supporting Manjhi's bid to remain in power in spite of the decision by JD(U) to replace him with Nitish Kumar.
Back then, Nitish emerged as a beneficiary of the BJP's misadventure. He managed to get rid of Manjhi and other dissenters in the party and win the next election, riding on a wave of sympathy and populist decisions. The BJP, on the other hand, was left with Manjhi on its back. An alliance with Manjhi ultimately turned out to be suicidal for the BJP. It would be interesting to see if the BJP now embraces Bahuguna, Harak Singh and the eight other Congress rebels or dumps them after the botched coup. If it does, the BJP would sound stupid should it rail against mismanagement of flood relief by the Congress government.
One of the defining moments of the Uttarakhand drama was the BJP's desperate effort to genuflect to Mayawati before the trust vote. Eager to get the support of her two MLAs in Uttarakhand, the BJP announced its unilateral support to the BSP in the Haridwar municipal elections. But, Behenji spurned the BJP's offer and decided to back the Congress.
This has defined the broad contours of politics in Uttar Pradesh and north India. Enthused by the outcome of the slugfest in Uttarakhand, Opposition parties will continue to strike deals to block the BJP in Parliament and defeat it in forthcoming elections. Ironically, BJP's clarion call to Rawat's enemies to unite has ended up cementing the unity of the Opposition.
With the Left and Congress putting up a tough fight in West Bengal and the DMK showing signs of resurgence in Tamil Nadu, the BJP has managed to make its rivals more powerful with its self-goal in Uttarakhand.
Perhaps, the entire anti-BJP camp in Indian politics would be tempted to send a 'thank you' note to Shah for Uttarakhand.
New Delhi: Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday sought revisiting of the role of the Speaker while testing the majority of a government and implementing provisions of anti-defection law as the Congress won the high-stakes trial of strength in the Uttarakhand Assembly.
"In the backdrop of what has happened in Uttarakhand, we have to revisit the Speaker's role vis-a-vis the issue of testing of majority and also in the implementation of anti- defection law," Naidu, the Union Parliamentary Affairs minister said.
"I want the debate to take place in this country," he said, adding that there has to be a time limit set for deciding on cases of anti-defection law.
The senior BJP leader also suggested that all public representatives once deciding to quit their party and join another should resign forthwith and may seek a fresh mandate.
The Minister said, "Any people's representative, be it an MLA or MP, if he changes his party and switches over his loyalty, he should forthwith resign as per the spirit of the Constitution and recontest."
He said if a public representative switches his loyalty to join another party "he should be disqualified immediately."
Incidentally, a number of Telugu Desam MLAs have joined TRS in Telangana and those of YSR (Cong) joining Telugu Desam party in Andhra Pradesh, not evoking any action under the anti-defection law.
Asked about the role of the Uttarakhand Speaker in disqualifying the nine rebel Congress MLAs, Naidu asked what remedy was there if the Speaker of an assembly acts "wrongly" and not in conformity with the laid Constitutional provisions.
"What alternative do you have. We have to revisit that and then take a call," he said.
Responding to a question on the implications of the Harish Rawat government winning the floor test in voting on Tuesday, the Minister said the Central government had done nothing wrong in imposing President's Rule in Uttarakhand after the breakdown of the Constitution in the state.
The Congress on Tuesday won the high-stakes trial of strength in the Uttarakhand Assembly, in a clear setback to the Modi government which had dismissed the state government and imposed President's Rule on 28 March.
The floor test which was the culmination of a number of twists and turns in the political drama marked by court battles.
The result of Tuesday's floor test is expected to be formally announced on Wednesday after a video recording of the 90-minute proceedings of the Assembly is presented in Supreme Court in a sealed envelope.
Anyone who follows Tamil Nadu politics even cursorily will know of the connection between the two leading parties AIADMK and DMK and the film industry, Kollywood.
Five out of the seven chief ministers in the last 50 years have been from Tinsel town. And every superstar in Kollywood is the subject of intense speculation over whether or not he will join politics and/or launch a party.
During election time, star power in Tamil Nadu can sway voters in a certain direction. From the days of the legendary MGR, cinema and politics have gone hand-in-hand. Consider the 2016 Tamil Nadu: It still remains a contest between five-time chief minister M Karunanidhi, 91, of the DMK a former script writer and AIADMK leader and current CM Jayalalithaa, 68, formerly an actress. And the rank outsider who is making a desperate bid for the chief ministers chair is former action hero, Vijaykanth, 63.
For every political party in the state, the reigning Kollywood superstars (think Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Ajith) and their support silent or otherwise during elections is very important.
Rajesh Lakhoni, Tamil Nadus chief electoral officer says, The stars have a huge influence in the state. We took the help of celebrities to popularise our TN 100 percent campaign, to create awareness about voting.
The diehard fans of an actor especially the youth will vote only for a party which he perceives has a soft corner for his hero (or vice versa). The parties also subtly try to woo the stars by showing posters of their leaders closeness with a particular star. However, once the Dravidian parties come to power, they ignore these celebrities and try to play down their importance as they feel threatened by their star power. For instance, both Kamal Haasan and Vijay were targeted during their film releases, by the Jayalalithaa government.
Meanwhile, the big question is: on whose side is Rajinikanth? He has been unusually very quiet as his Kabali is all set for a release in July. The actor does not want to rub the two Dravidian majors the wrong way. Recently, the Kabali teaser-trailer was used as a meme by a political party to poke fun at its rival. The buzz is that Rajinikanth is also avoiding meeting any political leader who wants his blessings (read: selfie) and has asked his fan clubs to stay neutral.
Vijay one of the most popular actors in Tamil cinema whose latest film, Theri, has been declared a summer blockbuster has passed the message through his fan clubs: vote according to your conscience. His fans say that the actor was constantly harassed by the Jayalalithaa government, and banned the release of his Thalaiva for two weeks. Although the actor is taking a neutral stand, his fan club members are openly campaigning for the DMK.
Kamal Haasans Viswaroopam was denied a release by the Jayalaitha government for two weeks. Recently, he had a run in with the state administration when he criticised the way they managed the recent Chennai floods.
Kamal is now in the US, shooting for his next film. Before his departure, he was asked if he would be voting. Kamal replied: I will be starting work in Los Angeles for my new film and I will be there on voting day. Kamals parting shot to political parties who distribute cash for votes was If a citizen accepts money for a vote, you will only get a thief as your leader.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court asked the Centre to revoke President's Rule and allowed Harish Rawat to assume the chief minister's office once proclamation is revoked. The Congress government won the trust vote in the Uttarakhand Assembly on the same day with 33 votes to BJP's 28. Union minister Venkaiah Naidu said that the Cabinet has decided to recommend revocation of Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand. The attorney general also told the apex court that they are likely to complete proceedings to revoke Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand on Wednesday.
But all this could have been avoided if the BJP government had seriously read the observations in the Supreme Court judgement of the 1994 case SR Bommai vs Union of India. A proper reading would have convinced the central government against this misadventure.
On 6 May, the apex court while directing Harish Rawat to take a vote of confidence on the floor of the assembly, reiterated the message conveyed in the case, where it held, In all cases where the support of the Ministry is claimed to have been withdrawn by some legislators, the proper course for testing the strength of the Ministry is holding the test on the floor of the House."
The 1994 judgement made some very serious and clear observations against the use of private opinion and any sort of subjective analysis, of anyone, in deciding the fate of the government. The judgement held, The assessment of the strength of the Ministry is not a matter of private opinion of any individual be he the governor or the President. It is capable of being demonstrated and ascertained publicly in the House. Hence when such a demonstration is possible, it is not open to bypass it and instead depend upon the subjective satisfaction of the Governor or the President. Such private assessment is an anathema to the democratic principle, apart from being open to serious objections of personal mala fides.
In the Bommai judgement the apex court also made it clear the circumstances under which the decision to impose Presidents Rule can be made without going for a floor test. The court held, The sole exception to this will be a situation of all-pervasive violence where the governor comes to the conclusion and records the same in his report that for the reasons mentioned by him, a free vote is not possible."
Sharing his views on whether such exceptional circumstances existed in Uttarakhand, Constitutional expert, Professor Upendra Baxi had told Firstpost in April, In the Bommai case it was made very clear that there should be a floor test. Nobody can say Supreme Court judgment was unreasoned. If the question is whether Uttarakhand warranted that exception, my answer would be that I dont see any exceptional situation."
Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal, on 27 March, disqualified the nine Congress rebels from the legislative assembly under the anti-defection law. This decision was interpreted by both parties as it suited them. With the disqualification, the strength of the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly was reduced to 61.
The Congress contended that as the nine legislators were disqualified by the speaker, they cease to be members, and hence are not qualified to vote. The counter argument, highlighting the fact that the Speaker disqualified the members after Presidents Rule was imposed, raised the question as to whether the Speaker had the Constitutional authority to do so.
However, the apex court on 9 May refused to stay the disqualification of nine rebel Uttarakhand Congress MLAs and ruled that they won't be allowed to participate in the trust vote on Tuesday.
Baxi while talking about floor test had said, Here we have to understand that whether the Presidential proclamation was reasonable or not is for the court to decide. But Bommai led to a major development as it introduced what is known as the floor test. In essence this idea of floor test was a key aspect of the judgment. It was the central idea of the judgment. Here is where the Modi government erred big time. By ignoring the most important directive of the judgement, it created a constitutional quagmire from which even though it might have escaped, it still made a serious dent on its image.
Dhaka: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar arrived at Dhaka on Wednesday to hold talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart and discuss entire range of bilateral issues, including water-sharing, transit, trade and investment, security and review implementation of various development projects.
Jaishankar was received at the airport by his counterpart Md Sjajidul Haque, Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla and other high officials.
Soon after his arrival he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her official residence Gano Bhaban. He will also meet Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali.
Diplomatic sources said Jaishankar is expected to convey New Delhi's full support to Bangladesh on countering violent extremism amid spreading of terrorist acts in recent months.
He will hold bilateral meeting with Haque on Thursday and the two diplomats will discuss entire range of bilateral issues, including water-sharing, transit, development of Pyra Port, trade and investment, Indian Line of Credit, review implementation of various development projects, the Daily Star reported.
His visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the recent killings of bloggers, secular activists and teachers, as well as the overall security situation in Bangladesh and South Asia.
London: It may not be so lonely for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the embassy quarters he's called home for nearly four years.
Now he has a fluffy kitten to keep him company.
The news about Assange's kitten was made public by WikiLeaks once known for uncovering deeply held government secrets and its media operation Sunshine Press.
The organization said the kitten was a gift from Assange's children "to keep their father company."
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in central London since 2012 rather than return to Sweden for questioning about alleged sex crimes. He faces arrest by British police if he leaves the building and, with the exception of occasional trips to the embassy balcony, has not been outside for years.
He fears being sent to the United States on possible charges there related to WikiLeaks' publication of secret documents.
WikiLeaks and Sunshine Press have released a photograph of the kitten and Assange appearing deep in contemplation.
The kitten had not been named Tuesday but already had its own Twitter handle.
Dhaka: Bangladesh on Wednesday intensified security across the country amid reports of clashes between activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and police at some places following the execution of the party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
"Orders have been issued to keep the security vigil so no law and order situation is created anywhere," a home ministry spokesman told PTI after Jamaat called a nationwide general strike tomorrow to protest the execution of its top leader.
The spokesman's comments came as 1971 freedom fighters and families of the victims rejoiced the execution of the Islamist leader as the last remaining top perpetrator of war crimes during the Liberation War 45 years ago.
Jamaat, which was opposed to Bangladesh's 1971 independence, called a nationwide general strike Thursday protesting the execution of its 73-year-old leader describing his execution as a "planned murder".
"He (Nizami) was deprived of justice. He is a victim of political vengeance," acting Jamaat chief Mokbul Ahmed said in the statement urging people to observe the strike.
Jamaat's previous such strike calls protesting the trial of their senior leaders for war crimes largely went unheeded.
The party last called a nationwide strike on May 6, a day after the Supreme Court rejected Nizami's review petition reconfirming his death penalty.
Nizami was hanged at midnight, a day after the Supreme Court verdict reached authorities at the Dhaka Central Jail.
Several hundred policemen in riot-gear kept a vigil as Jamaat activists rallied at central Dhaka's Baitul Mokarram National Mosque to offer a funeral prayer (in absentia), a ritual they also performed in other major cities.
In the port city of Chittagong, clashes erupted between activists of the Jamaat's student wing Chhatra Shibir and police after the funeral prayer.
After the funeral prayer, the Jamaat supporters broke into the ground and started hurling bricks and stones at the police which resorted to firing to disperse the crowd.
Home-made bombs were also exploded as "pro-liberation" activists tried to drive out the Jamaat followers from the parade ground area of the port city, perceived to be a Jamaat stronghold.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Nizami had preferred not to seek presidential clemency as his last effort to avoid the noose "because he understood the crimes he had committed were unpardonable".
Nizami was buried in line with Islamic rituals at his village home at northwestern Pabna's Sathia sub-district early this morning in presence of family members and neighbours while armed police kept a sharp vigil.
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Facebook has launched Facebook at Work service that aims at enterprise and businesses in India. It allows employees to collaborate and connect with co-workers.
The service enable enterprise users to check out newsfeed, comment and share posts, create groups and chat using Work Chat. Facebook at Work which is currently in beta mode is already being used by 450 companies including Godrej, YES Bank Paytm, Zomato and Delhivery, L&T Infotech and others in India. It is said that over 60,000 companies across the world are looking forward to start using the service.
The main difference with Facebook at Work is that users cannot use their personal accounts to log in and the access is managed by the organisation. Security features, single sign on, dedicated support channels and analytics which highlight top influencers, contributors and groups of the companies are some of the features present on the service. The global launch of Facebook at Work is still a few months away.
Julien Codorniou, director of Facebook at Work told,
Rolling out Facebook at Work to companies in India is a significant milestone. We are excited at the high rate of adoption globally and I look forward to working with all businesses in India.
Ramesh Gopalkrishna, Facebook at Work Asia-Pacific head said,
Facebook at Work is not a social networking solution, but a productivity solution. India is one of Facebook at Works top countries and our teams will start testing the solution with more companies Facebook is focusing on adding companies with 5,000-10,000 employees before opening the platform.
Facebook at Work will compete directly with the likes of Slack, Yammer and others. There are currently more than 1.62 billion global Facebook users out of which over 142 million come from India.
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HP has launched new investment arm to fund start-ups. Dubbed as HP Tech Ventures, the new group will fund young businesses working on 3D technology, immersive computing, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things and smart machines.
The HP Tech Ventures group is led by HP Chief Disrupter, Andrew Bolwell who will report to HP CTO Shane Wall. HP Tech Ventures will have teams in Palo Alto and Tel Aviv. HP said that it has manufacturing and distribution partners in place, so it can help small companies scale quickly. The company did not mention any specific startups it may be looking to invest in. HP Inc. and HP Enterprise officially split into separate companies last November.
Shane Wall, HP Chief Technology Officer and head of HP Labs said,
The next technology revolution is shifting towards strategic markets that speak to HPs strengths. With our global brand and broad reach into consumer and commercial markets worldwide, HP can help startups bring product to market, build their business and scale in the global marketplace as they grow.
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Google has released a new update for Android app that brings Tap to Translate to instantly translate text within any app on your Android phone using the new Tap To Translate button that appears once you copy . This was first announced last year for Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) devices and is now available for devices running Android 4.2 (Jellybean) and later.
To use the in-app translation, simply highlight the text that you want to translate and then hit the Translate button that pops up. The text will be translated in a pop up window, and you can choose to replace your text with the translated text from there. Tap to Translate works for all 103 of Google Translates languages
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xtEp55MKRE
The iOS app gets new Offline Mode to download languages easily for offline translation in 52 languages. The download package has been reduced by 90% so they are now 25 MB each. Word Lens feature that offers instant image translation is now available in Chinese, making it the 29th language for instant visual translation.
Download Google Translate 5.0 Android (APK) | iPhone and iPad
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Many income-focused investors look at the S&P 500's dividend yield of only 2% and believe they can do better. After all, there are plenty of stocks on the market that offer up yields well above that of the index, so doesn't it make more sense to simply buy a basket of high-yielding stocks as a way to create more income? We Fools think so, but at the same time, we recognize that not every stock that has a high yield is worth owning.
In an effort to give our readers a jump start in their search for stocks that offer up big dividend payouts, we reached out to a team of Motley Fool contributors and asked them to share one of their favorite high-yielding stocks. Read below to see which stocks they picked to see if you could find a place for them in your portfolio.
Matt DiLallo: Medical Properties Trust (MPW 1.66%) pays a very healthy dividend, with the real estate investment trust (REIT) currently yielding 6.17%. It's a bit unique among its REIT brethren because its entire focus is on investing in hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the U.S. and in Europe. It has chosen to focus on hospitals because of hospitals are critically important to healthcare infrastructure. The importance of hospitals to healthcare means that they are likely to have a steady and reliable income for the hospital's operator, meaning it can easily meet its rent payments to Medical Properties Trust.
As of the end of the first quarter, the company had invested $5.7 billion in 204 properties across 29 states as well as in Germany, the U.K., Italy, and Spain. It's a portfolio the company has been steadily growing over the past decade, leading to solid dividend growth for investors. In fact, not only has the payout grown in size, up 10% since 2010, but it has grown safer, with the company significantly lowering its payout ratio, from 121% to 67%, and its leverage, which is now among the top third of all REITs.
That low payout rate and low leverage has positioned Medical Properties Trust to continue to grow its portfolio and dividend by a healthy rate going forward. As it stands right now, the company has over a billion dollars in liquidity at its disposal to buy or build new hospital facilities, with roughly $190 million already committed to new developments over the next year and a half.
Bottom line, Medical Properties Trust is one of the healthiest high-yield dividend stocks around, making it a great option to consider buying this month.
Brian Feroldi: One of my favorite income stocks is STAG Industrial (STAG 0.53%), a fast-growing REIT that pays out a juicy 6.5% dividend yield at the moment.
Stag Industrial doesn't fit the typical REIT mold. This company's niche is to focus on industrial properties that only house a single occupant. Properties that fit this description tend to be riskier than average since a building with only a single customer can go from being 100% occupied to 0% in a hurry. However, Stag cuts down on this risk substantially by owning hundreds of single-tenant properties, so investors don't have to panic if one of its buildings suddenly goes vacant.
One great advantage to investing this way is that the occupancy risk tends to keep other real estate investors from bidding on properties. That greatly reduces the competition Stag faces when it's looking to acquire a new building, which in turn drives down prices and allows the company to earn great returns on capital.
The company's business model may sound a bit unorthodox, but it works. In the most recent quarter, Stag's revenue jumped by 19%, and its core funds from operations -- which is a REIT proxy for earnings -- grew by 17%. Given that Stag believes nearly $1 trillion worth of properties could be acquisition candidates, I think the company stands a good chance at continuing to grow at double-digit rates for years to come.
Stag Industrials is a rare company that offers investors both a high-yield today and the potential for rapid growth over time. That's a hard combination to find in the markets, which is a big reason I count myself as a happy shareholder and have no plans to sell anytime soon.
Tim Green: The combination of a low valuation and a high dividend yield really can't be beat. Retailer Kohl's (KSS -0.07%) offers both. Like many retailers, Kohl's is having its fair share of issues. The company managed to grow comparable-store sales by just 0.7% last year, and adjusted earnings per share dropped 5% because of higher costs. Tepid consumer demand and rising competition from online retailers are headwinds, and Kohl's has reacted by closing a small number of underperforming stores.
Kohl's is in a better position than some of its department store peers. Macy's reported an 2.5% decline in comparable-store sales during 2015, for example, along with a steep drop in earnings. Kohl's profitability is below historical levels, with an operating margin of 8.1% in 2015 down from 11.5% in 2011. But the company still generated plenty of cash, with free cash flow of $784 million last year. This allows Kohl's to both buy back shares, which it does aggressively, and pay a hearty dividend.
Thanks to Kohl's slumping stock price, shares of the company now sport a dividend yield of about 4.7%. Based on the current share count, Kohl's will pay out a total of $378 million in dividend payments this year. The true value will be a bit less, though, since Kohl's plans to reduce its share count via buybacks throughout the year. The payout ratio based on free cash flow is 48%, which should be sustainable even if Kohl's earnings continue to be pressured.
Investing in any traditional retailer carries some risk, but with Kohl's trading for about 10.5 times earnings and offering a dividend yield nearing 5%, it seems like a risk worth taking to me.
Within the aerospace industry, countless suppliers have benefited from the huge ramp-up in demand for commercial aircraft. TransDigm Group (TDG 0.87%) makes key components for airplanes, and it has been a big winner in the aerospace arena. Yet coming into Tuesday's fiscal second-quarter financial report, TransDigm investors wanted to see if the company could bounce back from an uncharacteristically weak report in the previous quarter. TransDigm's results were not only positive but stellar, and the stock climbed sharply in response to the release. Let's look more closely at the latest from TransDigm Group and why shareholders were so pleased.
TransDigm flies into happier skies
TransDigm Group's fiscal second-quarter results returned the company to its more typical strong performance. Revenue jumped 29% to $796.8 million, which was significantly above the $777 million consensus figure among investors for TransDigm sales. Adjusted net income climbed by more than a third to $160.5 million, and that worked out to adjusted earnings of $2.86 per share. That figure exceeded investors' expectations by $0.28 per share.
Looking more closely at the results, TransDigm showed more signs of bouncing back from a weak fiscal first quarter. Most of the gains in revenue came from the acquisitions that TransDigm has made over the past year, but organic sales growth of 4.4% was still much better than the slight decline from the previous quarter. On the bottom line, higher acquisition-related costs weighed on profitability, as did greater interest expense. Rising non-cash stock compensation also held back GAAP net income growth to a slower rate than the revenue gain.
TransDigm CEO Nicholas Howley didn't hesitate in explaining where the company got its strong results. "We saw signs of improvement in the commercial aftermarket," Howley said, "as second quarter sales rose sharply versus the prior year." The CEO also pointed to rising bookings in the defense industry, which helped offset uncertainty regarding slight declines in revenue. As Howley concluded, "Our constant focus on our value-based operating strategy, including our first quarter headcount reductions, continued to show strong results."
What's ahead for TransDigm?
In more good news for investors, TransDigm said that it would revise its guidance for the full 2016 fiscal year. The reason was "primarily due to the stronger margins experienced to date and expected for the second half of our fiscal year," according to Howley. In particular, net sales between $3.151 billion and $3.181 billion represented a general tightening of the company's previous guidance by roughly $7 million on both ends. An increase in adjusted earnings to between $11.04 and $11.28 per share was almost $0.40 per share higher than previously expected. EBITDA as TransDigm defines it should rise between 17.5% and 19% from year-ago levels, and net income will similarly post gains of roughly 25% to 28%.
TransDigm also had good things to say about its recently completed acquisition of Breeze-Western. Leaders from both of the companies have helped form a new leadership team, and TransDigm has also made decisions to boost productivity, including consolidation of its facility in Virginia into the company's main campus by later this year. Financial realignment to reflect more consistent treatment of the new business should also move forward in the second half of the fiscal year.
TransDigm shares soared in response to the strong results and favorable guidance. By the end of the trading day, the stock had climbed more than 10.5%. Looking forward, as long as the aerospace industry remains as strong as it has been for years now, then TransDigm Group will have the opportunity to build on its already impressive results and give shareholders further growth well into the future.
With the energy markets in turmoil, companies are being forced to take a hard look at their future plans. For Kinder Morgan (KMI -1.37%), that meant reevaluating the projects in its backlog to determine if they're still worth pursuing. These efforts have led the company to make some surprising subtractions to its growth pipeline, such as recently pulling the plug on two big pipeline projects. Here's what CEO Steve Kean had to say on the ] most recent conference call about why these projects are no longer being pursued.
NED was never viable
Kean started off his remarks on the call by giving investors an update on the company's capital project backlog, which was being reduced by $4.1 billion. The bulk of that reduction was coming from two projects, the Palmetto Pipeline and the Northeast Direct (NED), which were expected to cost $550 million and $3.1 billion, respectively. He then discussed why the company pulled the plug on these projects, turning his attention first to NED by saying:
With respect to NED... We worked very hard to get customer commitments on the project. And while many of our LDC customers did sign up, we did not receive enough contractual commitments from electric customers to make the project viable...so we're removing it from the backlog...To be specific, the return on the NED project at the level of commitments that we have would be less than 6% unlevered after tax. That's clearly not viable and we are far better off having that cash available for other uses, whether that's continued and even accelerated delevering, other investment opportunities or returning value to shareholders.
As Kean notes, the decision to pull the NED project out of the backlog all boils down to economics. The project in its current state simply wasn't going to earn a high enough return to justify the capital the company would need to spend to bring it online. While Kinder Morgan had high hopes that it would be able to sign up enough customers in order for this project to be economic, it just couldn't get that capacity under contract. As such, the $3.1 billion it had earmarked to invest in that project can be allocated elsewhere, such as paying down debt, buying back stock, boosting the dividend, or investing in other opportunities that would create more value than NED.
Palmetto's red tape was only part of the story
Kean then turned his attention to the Palmetto project, noting that its issue was that:
[...] Essentially the Georgia legislature prevented us from getting eminent domain and also prevented us from getting other state permits. We were making good progress with land acquisition even without eminent domain, but we needed other permits which Georgia has now put a moratorium on. We needed environmental permits, for example, which they've now put a moratorium on until mid-2017. So as a result, we are not moving forward with Palmetto.
As Kean notes, the company was basically blocked by the state government from moving forward with this project. However, instead of working with the state to get the issues resolved, the company simply canceled its plans for the Palmetto project. This suggests that economics also had a lot to do with this decision.
While the company didn't provide project-level economics on Palmetto, a little back-of-the-envelope math suggests that the expected returns from Palmetto wouldn't be as good as what the company earned on recently completed projects in its products pipeline segment. For example, last year it invested $771.3 million on projects in its products pipeline segment that were expected to deliver $147.4 million in first-year EBITDA, which is a 5.2 times multiple. However, before removing Palmetto, Kinder Morgan had planned to invest more than $1.1 billion on projects that would have only delivered $104.6 million in first-year EBITDA, which is a 10.7 multiple. Given that Palmetto represented roughly half of the capital, the company's plan to invest in that segment it suggests that its economics weren't all that appealing, which appears to be why the company decided not to fight to move forward with the project.
Investor takeaway
When Kinder Morgan took a hard look at both of these projects, it realized that the economics no longer made sense, which is why it pulled the plug on both. As such, this marks a notable shift for a company that was once focused on growth at almost any cost to one that is now about just returns-driven growth. It's a move that will hopefully lead to better results over the long term.
During an interview with the FOX Business Networks Lou Dobbs, Trump Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski discussed why Donald Trump appeals to so many voters and what Trump is looking for in a vice president.
What you have is a candidate who has a broad appeal to working class people because he has talked about cutting taxes for the middle class, which I think that is something that is desperately needed, Lewandowski said. He has also talked about renegotiating bad trade deals; he has talked about cutting our national deficit so we are not burning our children or our grandchildren moving forward.
Lewandowski discussed what Trump meant, when he said that he is looking for a political person as vice president.
I think the important thing is when you have a President Trump, you want someone who is going to be a partner with him, thats going to help him achieve the legislative agenda which he has set forth. In order to do that you need someone who fully understands Washington, he said.
Lewandowski then discussed what all of the potential candidates for vice president have in common.
He is looking at a number of people right now. I know he has talked about five or six that might be on that list. I think it is fair to say that all of those people have had elected office experience at one level or another, he said.
Many income-focused investors look at the S&P 500'sdividend yield of only 2% and believe they can do better. After all, there are plenty of stocks on the market that offer up yields well above that of the index, so doesn't it make more sense to simply buy a basket of high-yielding stocks as a way to create more income? We Fools think so, but at the same time, we recognize that not every stock that has a high yield is worth owning.
In an effort to give our readers a jump start in their search for stocks that offer up big dividend payouts, we reached out to a team of Motley Fool contributors and asked them to share one of their favorite high-yielding stocks. Read below to see which stocks they picked to see if you could find a place for them in your portfolio.
Matt DiLallo:Medical Properties Trust pays a very healthy dividend, with the real estate investment trust (REIT) currently yielding 6.17%. It's a bit unique among its REIT brethren because its entire focus is on investing in hospitals and other healthcare facilities in the U.S. and in Europe. It has chosen to focus on hospitals because of hospitals are critically important to healthcare infrastructure. The importance of hospitals to healthcare means that they are likely to have a steady and reliable income for the hospital's operator, meaning it can easily meet its rent payments to Medical Properties Trust.
As of the end of the first quarter, the company had invested $5.7 billion in 204 properties across 29 states as well as in Germany, the U.K., Italy, and Spain. It's a portfolio the company has been steadily growing over the past decade, leading to solid dividend growth for investors. In fact, not only has the payout grown in size, up 10% since 2010, but it has grown safer, with the company significantly lowering its payout ratio, from 121% to 67%, and its leverage, which is now among the top third of all REITs.
That low payout rate and low leverage has positioned Medical Properties Trust to continue to grow its portfolio and dividend by a healthy rate going forward. As it stands right now, the company has over a billion dollars in liquidity at its disposal to buy or build new hospital facilities, with roughly $190 million already committed to new developments over the next year and a half.
Bottom line, Medical Properties Trust is one of the healthiest high-yield dividend stocks around, making it a great option to consider buying this month.
Brian Feroldi: One of my favorite income stocks isSTAG Industrial , a fast-growing REIT that pays out a juicy 6.5% dividend yield at the moment.
Stag Industrial doesn't fit the typical REIT mold. This company's niche is to focus on industrial properties that only house a single occupant. Properties that fit this description tend to be riskier than average since a building with only a single customer can go from being 100% occupied to 0% in a hurry. However, Stag cuts down on this risk substantially by owning hundreds of single-tenant properties, so investors don't have to panic if one of its buildings suddenly goes vacant.
One great advantage to investing this way is that the occupancy risk tends to keep other real estate investors from bidding on properties. That greatly reduces the competition Stag faces when it's looking to acquire a new building, which in turn drives down prices and allows the company to earn great returns on capital.
Image source: Stag Industrial.
The company's business model may sound a bit unorthodox, but it works. In the most recent quarter, Stag's revenue jumped by 19%, and its core funds from operations -- which is a REIT proxy for earnings -- grew by 17%. Given that Stag believes nearly $1 trillion worth of properties could be acquisition candidates, I think the company stands a good chance at continuing to grow at double-digit rates for years to come.
Stag Industrials is a rare company that offers investors both a high-yield today and the potential for rapid growth over time. That's a hard combination to find in the markets, which is a big reason I count myself as a happy shareholder and have no plans to sell anytime soon.
Tim Green:The combination of a low valuation and a high dividend yield really can't be beat. RetailerKohl'soffers both. Like many retailers, Kohl's is having its fair share of issues. The company managed to grow comparable-store sales by just 0.7% last year, and adjusted earnings per share dropped 5% because of higher costs. Tepid consumer demand and rising competition from online retailers are headwinds, and Kohl's has reacted by closing a small number of underperforming stores.
Kohl's is in a better position than some of its department store peers. Macy's reported an 2.5% decline in comparable-store sales during 2015, for example, along with a steep drop in earnings. Kohl's profitability is below historical levels, with an operating margin of 8.1% in 2015 down from 11.5% in 2011. But the company still generated plenty of cash, with free cash flow of $784 million last year. This allows Kohl's to both buy back shares, which it does aggressively, and pay a hearty dividend.
Thanks to Kohl's slumping stock price, shares of the company now sport a dividend yield of about 4.7%. Based on the current share count, Kohl's will pay out a total of $378 million in dividend payments this year. The true value will be a bit less, though, since Kohl's plans to reduce its share count via buybacks throughout the year. The payout ratio based on free cash flow is 48%, which should be sustainable even if Kohl's earnings continue to be pressured.
Investing in any traditional retailer carries some risk, but with Kohl's trading for about 10.5 times earnings and offering a dividend yield nearing 5%, it seems like a risk worth taking to me.
The article 3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy in May originally appeared on Fool.com.
Brian Feroldiowns shares of Stag Industrial.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle@Longtermmind-set,or connect with him onLinkedInto see more articles like this.Matt DiLallo owns shares of Medical Properties Trust. Timothy Green owns shares of Kohl's. The Motley Fool recommends Stag Industrial. 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: Salesforce.com.
Over the past five years, Salesforce.com has been killing it with annual double-digit growth in both revenue and profit. The leader in customer relationship management software has fueled its expansion over the years with its organically developed cloud-based technology, key partnerships with big tech names such as Microsoft , and acquisitions of other CRM companies that it has been able to incorporate into its own suite of services. With opportunities to expand marketing and analytics services, especially within the existing Salesforce.com client base, the company and analysts expect over 20% revenue growth and over 30% bottom line profit growth in each of the next two years. Are expectations realistic, and how could it all translate into stock performance?
CRM data by YCharts
Coming off of another record year, CEO Marc Russell Benioff emphasized that success was due to being able to offer a full range of services to both large enterprises and small businesses alike. Through in-house development and key takeovers of cloud-based software companies like SteelBrick, the cloud-based software company has the ability to provide all the service, sales, marketing, and analytics programs its customers need. As a result, not only are Salesforce.com's largest customers renewing contracts, they are expanding those contracts with the company and making Salesforce their primary software provider.
This customer loyalty is encouraging, but the real growth expectations come from the possibility of the company realizing a larger slice of many of the markets it operates in. While sales cloud applications from Salesforce gobble up over 40% of US market share, service cloud and marketing cloud applications are only at 16% and 11% of market share, respectively. Analytics applications, software that collects data and helps make business predictions, are at less than 1% of market share.
To increase that market share, Salesforce continues on its spending spree. The company's research and development expenses increased nearly 20% during 2015.Since 2013, the company has also purchased 13 smaller companies like ExactTarget, RelateIQ, and most recently predictive analytics company Implisit. These acquisition costs in the last three years totaled an undisclosed sum, but exceeded at least $3 billion.Management sees this as a key driver to building out its ecosystem of software applications, and it is certainly a doable proposition. With annual free cash flow exceeding $1.3 billion and cash and other liquid assets totaling over $2.7 billion, Salesforce is in a good position to continue making strategic purchases to drive growth.
International growth also presents a major opportunity. Nearly 75% of the company's revenue comes from North America, but Salesforce has implemented a nine-country strategy where the vast majority of software application service spending takes place. Outside of the US and Canada, countries of operation include Brazil, most of Northern and Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Salesforce.com market share in these regions sit at 6%, less than half of its total market share in North America.In response, the company plans to continue its push into these areas with marketing and presentation events. So far, it has been working. Revenue in Europe was up 32% in 2015, and Australia and New Zealand saw revenue growth of 26% in 2015.
So are those growth numbers realistic? With a strong pipeline of new acquisitions and momentum pushing key relationships forward for the company, I think it is possible that those lofty revenue goals could be hit. What about bottom line profit expectations, and how will that impact owners of Salesforce.com?
While revenue growth looks to be on a great upward trajectory for the year, earnings could come in less than what is hoped. Heavy research and development as well as acquisition of smaller companies helps overall sales, but it is usually a drag on profitability in the short term. We can see this at work for Salesforce in their statement of operations for 2015. Operating expenses, which include research and development, admin expense, and marketing, ate up well over 60% of revenue for the year. Management plans on keeping up a similar pace of spending in the coming year on acquisitions and ongoing internal development.
With lumpy bottom-line profit results likely considering the high rate of investment, I would expect the stock to react in a similar fashion. Any "misses" in profit expectation could possibly cause some short-term drops in share price. However, expenses on research, admin, and marketing have been slowly dropping over the years. For example, total operating expense in 2015 is down 2% from 2014.The key takeaway for investors to remember is that top-line revenue is growing as a result of the spending spree. In time, profits will grow and catch up as key growth initiatives start to pay off.
As the Internet continues its transformation to a more mobile and more accessible format, the leader in cloud-based customer and business management applications is well-positioned for further growth. Though some short-term ups and downs should be expected, Salesforce.com will evolve into a strong andhighly profitablebusiness in the long-term.
The article Are Salesforce.coms Growth Expectations Realistic? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Nicholas Rossolillo has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Salesforce.com. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. 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.
If there's much going for Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) lately, it has been strikingly quiet on theIllinois Tool Works(NYSE: ITW) front. But you wouldn't guess so looking at the two stocks right now: Shares of both industry stalwarts are racing to the top, up double-digit percentages in the past six months and currently trading close to their respective 52-week highs. The stories behind Illinois Tool Works' and Caterpillar's rise, however, have few similarities, which is what makes both stocks so interesting. So, before you decide which stock to buy today, you need to know why they're soaring and which one suits your risk appetite.
Caterpillar: Riding the wave of expectations
Bulls have been chasing Caterpillar for about a year now, encouraged by a recovery in commodity prices and hopes of America's infrastructure gaining priority under Donald Trump's presidency. The funny thing is that the company itself doesn't expect to see any benefits from higher potential infrastructure spending until at least 2018. Management even lowered its guidance for 2017 when it last reported numbers, projecting full-year earnings of only about $2.30 per share on revenue worth $37.5 billion at midpoint. That might impress when you pitch it against its 2016 losses of $0.11 per share, but if you strike out the goodwill impairment and restructuring charges, Caterpillar took in an adjusted earnings per share of $3.42 last year.
Image source: Getty Images.
None of it matters to Caterpillar bulls, however. To be fair, Caterpillar's prospects are looking brighter after several years of struggle. Manufacturing activity has picked up pace, prices of commodities like iron ore have shot through the roof, and oil prices, though volatile, have bounced back from multiyear lows hit earlier this year. Each of these factors has a strong bearing on the fortunes Caterpillar's three businesses of construction industries, resource industries (mining), and energy and transportation (E&T).
Then there's the surprisingly strong retail machine sales statistics that Caterpillar recently released: It reported an astounding 39% jump in its machine retail sales from the Asia-Pacific region for the three months through February. Sales from every other region, including North America, EAME, and Latin America also declined at a lower clip versus the comparable period last year as well as the three-month rolling period through January. Overall, Caterpillar's total retail sales were down only a percentage point during the period. The last time the company reported single-digit percentage declines was early 2014.
As it turns out, you can't really blame the market for overlooking Caterpillar's own cautious stance or the ongoing IRS probe regarding possible tax fraud. Investors have, after all, waited several years for the company's fortunes to turn around, so even the tiniest positive sign was bound to send shares soaring.
Illinois Tool Works' bull run, on the other hand, is backed more by facts than expectations.
Illinois Tool Works: Delivering where it matters
Much like Caterpillar, Illinois Tool Works' shares, too, have had bulls backing them for a year or so. Unlike Caterpillar, though, the company is growing like gangbusters: Its EPS grew 11% in 2016, operating margin hit a record high of 22.5%, and it is targeting 5%-9% growth in EPS for 2017. Each of its seven businesses -- yes, Illinois Tool Works is a heavily diversified company -- ended 2016 with double-digit operating margins, the lowest being 18.9% for its test and measurement and electronics segment.
Data source: Illinois Tool Works. Chart by author.
In another contrasting element, while Caterpillar skipped its traditional annual dividend increase last year, Illinois Tool Works bumped up its dividends by 18% in 2016. So while Illinois Tool Works is among the strongest Dividend Aristocrats today, with a more than 50-year history of annual dividend increases, Caterpillar might have just missed the bus to making it to the list.
That's not to say Caterpillar's financials are in a dire state, though. In fact, the company has done a tremendous job of generating free cash flows over the years, and its FCF comfortably covered its dividend payments even in a challenging year like 2016. The only concern is that while Illinois Tool Works' FCF has been fairly stable and is trending upward, Caterpillar's has been volatile and has spiraled downward in recent years.
ITW free cash flow (TTM). Data source:YCharts.
Another thing I like about Illinois Tool Works is that management has a clear line of sight. Again, much of it might have to do with the company's diversity, which allows it to offset pockets of weakness with strength elsewhere. Caterpillar's pure cyclical business makes it a wee difficult for management to set out goals for the future. That said, Illinois Tool Works isn't entirely a defensive company and has substantial exposure to cyclical sectors, so I must give credit to its management for its foresight.
Image source: Illinois Tool Works' Q4 earnings presentation.
Foolish bottom line
Frankly, neither of the two stocks is a value play right now, but if Illinois Tool Works looks cheaper on a price-to-earnings basis, Caterpillar is downright cheap if you look at price to cash flow.
ITW P/E ratio (TTM). Data source:YCharts.
As tempting as Caterpillar might appear, though, I'd be wary of putting money in a business that relies so heavily on macro factors to grow and is yet commanding a high premium despite the lack of concrete signs of improving end markets. Illinois Tool Works' premium is pretty much justified going by its operational performance, and I see more upside potential in the stock than downside risk -- something I can't really say for Caterpillar.
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Neha Chamaria has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Illinois Tool Works. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
In the past few years, airlines -- led by Delta Air Lines -- have started to return large amounts of cash to their shareholders, through a combination of dividends and share buybacks.
So far, JetBlue Airways hasn't joined the party. Instead, it has used almost all of its free cash flow to reduce its debt burden. However, a combination of rising earnings and a much-improved balance sheet should allow JetBlue to start returning cash to investors in a meaningful way within the next year.
Returning cash responsibly
Three years ago, Delta Air Lines became one of the first airlines to reinstate a dividend and share buyback program. At that time, Delta was already generating strong free cash flow and had made substantial progress in reducing its debt burden.
Delta has spent billions on dividends and buybacks in the past few years. Image source: The Motley Fool.
Delta has continued to reduce its debt even as it has ramped up its dividends and buybacks since 2013. This allowed it to earn an investment-grade credit rating back in February.
JetBlue has opted to follow a similar strategy. In the past few years, it has been laser-focused on paying down debt, and it has only bought back enough stock to offset the shares issued as part of its stock compensation program. However, it will soon be in a position to start rewarding shareholders more directly.
JetBlue's balance sheet improves
In the past few years, JetBlue has dramatically reduced its debt burden. At the end of 2011, the company had $3.1 billion in debt and capital leases on its balance sheet. By the end of 2015, that was down to just $1.8 billion. JetBlue has also reduced its "debt-like" obligations by buying some of its previously leased aircraft.
At the same time, JetBlue's profitability has improved dramatically. After several years with operating profits averaging $300 million-$400 million, JetBlue's operating profit over the past year has surged to a record $1.3 billion. That gives it a greater ability to support its debt load.
JBLU Operating Income (TTM), data by YCharts
Credit-rating agencies have noticed this sharp improvement in JetBlue's financial situation. Moody's has upgraded its credit rating by three notches since the end of 2011, from B3 to Ba3. That still leaves JetBlue three notches behind Delta Air Lines, though.
Debt reduction winds down
Last year, JetBlue generated more than $650 million of free cash flow. In 2016, free cash flow should be similar, as higher net income and somewhat lower capital spending will probably be offset by higher cash taxes. JetBlue plans to use most of that cash flow to make about $450 million in scheduled debt payments.
JetBlue is paying down debt at a rapid rate. Image source: JetBlue Airways.
That will leave JetBlue with around $1.3 billion of long-term debt by year-end, assuming it forces the conversion of its remaining convertible debt. Going forward, JetBlue will have annual debt maturities of about $200 million for the next few years. This means that 2016 will probably be the last year that JetBlue has to devote the bulk of its free cash flow to debt reduction.
Time to return cash to shareholders?
A variety of revenue-enhancing initiatives such as a new co-branded credit card agreement and a broader rollout of the popular Mint premium cabin on long-haul routes should help JetBlue to post solid full-year profit growth in 2016 and sustain its high profitability in 2017. Meanwhile, annual capex will remain roughly flat through 2018, driving strong free cash flow production.
This in turn will allow JetBlue to follow rivals like Delta by returning a significant amount of capital to shareholders through dividends or share buybacks.
Even without any free cash flow growth, JetBlue would generate enough excess cash to support annual dividends and/or share buybacks in the range of 6%-7% of its market cap for the next few years. For comparison, Delta spent $2.6 billion on dividends and buybacks last year: equivalent to roughly 7% of its market cap.
JetBlue has hinted that it will provide more details on its capital allocation strategy in late 2016. A big capital return announcement could serve as a nice catalyst for JetBlue shares.
The article JetBlue Airways: Capital Returns Could Be Coming Soon originally appeared on Fool.com.
Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of JetBlue Airways and is long January 2017 $17 calls on JetBlue Airways and long January 2017 $40 calls on Delta Air Lines, The Motley Fool recommends Moody's. 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.
VW CEO Matthias Mueller addressed reporters in Detroit earlier thisyear. VW's board said on Wednesday that an investigation into the company's diesel-emissions scandal hasn't implicated Mueller and his senior management team. Image source: Volkswagen.
Volkswagen said on Wednesday that, while an ongoing investigation into its diesel-emissions scandal isn't complete, it has so far failed to turn up any evidence of wrongdoing by its current senior managers.The company said that it will ask shareholders to ratify the actions taken by current members of its senior management team in fiscal 2015 at its upcoming annual meeting.
What Volkswagen said about the investigation and its request
"The Supervisory Board of Volkswagen AG has recommended to Volkswagen's 2016 Annual General Meeting that the actions of the serving members of the Board of Management in fiscal year 2015 be ratified," VW said in a statement. (VW's "Supervisory Board" is equivalent to a U.S. company's board of directors; its "Board of Management" is made up of VW's senior management team.)
The statement went on to say:
VW's statement noted that the Jones Day investigation is continuing, and that its proposed resolution could change if new information comes to light before the Annual Meeting on June 12.
What does this mean?
Essentially, VW is asking shareholders to give CEO Matthias Mueller and his new top management team a vote of confidence. VW's top ranks were shaken up severely in the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to pursue charges against the company last fall. CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned, and was replaced by Mueller, who had been CEO of subsidiary Porsche. Mueller subsequently restructured the company's senior ranks, and replaced many top managers.
It's those top managers who are the subject of the proposal that will be put to shareholders. While the investigation into the diesel mess is still ongoing, VW's Supervisory Board is assuring shareholders that it so far has no reason to think that any "serving members" of the management team are implicated in the scandal.
Should we believe that VW's managers are in the clear?
Probably. It would be very bad for the Supervisory Board to ask for this ratification if they weren't pretty certain that none of the current members of the Board of Management will be implicated in the scandal. But it's hard to know for sure, because we have no idea what the investigation has turned up to date.
VW's Supervisory Board hired Jones Day last fall to conduct an exhaustive internal investigation into the events that led to the installation of emissions-control "defeat devices" in millions of VW Group vehicles since 2009. That investigation isn't yet complete, and its findings so far haven't been released.
"Volkswagen expressly regrets that any publication of interim findings of the investigation by Jones Day would still involve unjustifiable risks for the Group, and therefore cannot be effected at this time," the company said in its statement on Wednesday. "For this reason, no elaboration of the recommendation to ratify can be made at this time."
The upshot: One more piece of information in an extremely slow-moving reveal
Here's the takeaway: The Supervisory Board is telling us that the ongoing investigation probably won't implicate anyone on VW's current management team. For beleaguered VW shareholders, that's a small bit of good news -- but many important questions remain, and this won't do anything to help VW move past the scandal.
The article Volkswagen Asks Shareholders for a Vote of Confidence originally appeared on Fool.com.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Kinder Morgan.
With the energy markets in turmoil, companies are being forced to take a hard look at their future plans. For Kinder Morgan , that meant reevaluating the projects in its backlog to determine if they're still worth pursuing. These efforts have led the company to make some surprising subtractions to its growth pipeline, such as recently pulling the plug on two big pipeline projects. Here's what CEO Steve Kean had to say on the ] most recent conference call about why these projects are no longer being pursued.
NED was never viable
Kean started off his remarks on the call by giving investors an update on the company's capital project backlog, which was being reduced by $4.1 billion. The bulk of that reduction was coming from two projects, the Palmetto Pipeline and the Northeast Direct (NED), which were expected to cost $550 million and $3.1 billion, respectively. He then discussed why the company pulled the plug on these projects, turning his attention first to NED by saying:
As Kean notes, the decision to pull the NED project out of the backlog all boils down to economics. The project in its current state simply wasn't going to earn a high enough return to justify the capital the company would need to spend to bring it online. While Kinder Morgan had high hopes that it would be able to sign up enough customers in order for this project to be economic, it just couldn't get that capacity under contract. As such, the $3.1 billion it had earmarked to invest in that project can be allocated elsewhere, such as paying down debt, buying back stock, boosting the dividend, or investing in other opportunities that would create more value than NED.
Image source: Kinder Morgan
Palmetto's red tape was only part of the story
Kean then turned his attention to the Palmetto project, noting that its issue was that:
As Kean notes, the company was basically blocked by the state government from moving forward with this project. However, instead of working with the state to get the issues resolved, the company simply canceled its plans for the Palmetto project. This suggests that economics also had a lot to do with this decision.
While the company didn't provide project-level economics on Palmetto, a little back-of-the-envelope math suggests that the expected returns from Palmettowouldn't be as good as what the company earned on recently completed projects in its products pipeline segment. For example, last year it invested $771.3 million on projects in its products pipeline segment that were expected to deliver $147.4 million in first-year EBITDA, which is a 5.2 times multiple. However, before removing Palmetto, Kinder Morgan had planned to invest more than $1.1 billion on projects that would have only delivered $104.6 million in first-year EBITDA, which is a 10.7 multiple. Given that Palmetto represented roughly half of the capital, the company's plan to invest in that segment it suggests that its economics weren't all that appealing, which appears to be why the company decided not to fight to move forward with the project.
Investor takeaway
When Kinder Morgan took a hard look at both of these projects, it realized that the economics no longer made sense, which is why it pulled the plug on both. As such, this marks a notable shift for a company that was once focused on growth at almost any cost to one that is now about just returns-driven growth. It's a move that will hopefully lead to better results over the long term.
The article Why Kinder Morgan Inc. Pulled the Plug on Two Big Pipeline Projects originally appeared on Fool.com.
Matt DiLallo owns shares of Kinder Morgan andhas the following options: short January 2018 $30 puts on Kinder Morgan and long January 2018 $30 calls on Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Fool has the following options: short June 2016 $12 puts on Kinder Morgan. 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.
What: Shares of NetApp rose fell 13.4% in April 2016, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The company didn't do much to deserve this close shave, as most of the negative mojo came from industry rumblings and analyst actions.
So what: Mid-month, Seagate Technology lowered its quarterly guidance because of weak demand from every computing market. This included softness in Seagate's enterprise storage business, which overlaps with NetApp's interests. To be clear, Seagate is both a major supplier and an occasional business rival to NetApp. The head-to-head competition stems from Seagate's buyout of storage enclosures builder Xyratex.
Seagate's news lowered the hard drive maker's share prices by 20% overnight. Affected by that event but also separated from it, NetApp took a 6% sympathy dive over the next two days.
The stock chart continued to sag as analysts issued negative research notes on NetApp. And at the end of April, a slew of NetApp's peers in the computer technology segment reported final results -- most of them deeply negative in nature. The company isn't slated to publish its own fourth-quarter report until May 25, so we don't have any firm data on NetApp's spring quarter yet. But investors read the tea leaves among other reports, and NetApp shares got another 4.4% haircut across the last two trading days of the month.
Now what: The data storage market is not a calm place right now. Some of NetApp's closest rivals are going private. Others were recently acquired by hard-drive manufacturers, or split apart under heavy pressure from activist shareholders.
But NetApp stands alone in these stormy seas. The company should probably be looking for a buyout exit of its own, but there have been no such rumors yet. Meanwhile, the company's financial performance is suffering on all fronts, and there's no obvious turnaround in sight.
I don't see any reason to own this stock today, unless you're betting on a generous buyout offer that may never come. Don't be surprised if NetApp shows up in more of these monthly price-drop reviews.
The article Why NetApp Inc. Fell 13% in April originally appeared on Fool.com.
Anders Bylund 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.
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in West Virginia's primary, winning over voters deeply skeptical about the economy and signaling the difficulty Clinton may have in industrial states in the general election.
The loss slows Clinton's march to the nomination, but she is still heavily favored to become the Democratic candidate in the Nov. 8 election.
In a November match-up with Donald Trump, Clinton will need to win over working-class voters in the U.S. Rust Belt, which includes key states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Trump, 69, won contests in West Virginia and Nebraska handily on Tuesday. The presumptive Republican nominee is set to meet with party leaders in the U.S. Congress on Thursday, including U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan.
After Ryan said last week that he was not yet ready to endorse Trump, Trump said on Sunday that he would have to decide whether he still wanted Ryan to preside over the party's July convention.
Trump said in a Fox interview on Tuesday night that he would like Ryan to chair the convention as planned. "He's a very good man, he wants what's good for the party," the New York billionaire said.
Trump has zeroed in on Clinton's protracted battle with Sanders, a 74-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont. He has taunted Clinton in recent days by saying she "can't close the deal" by beating Sanders, her only rival for the Democratic Party's nomination since Feb. 1.
Clinton, 68, has said she will ignore Trump's personal insults, including his repeated use of his new nickname for her, "Crooked Hillary," and instead will criticize his policy pronouncements.
TOP CONCERNS: ECONOMY AND JOBS
Deep concerns about the economy underscored West Virginia's Democratic primary. Roughly six in 10 voters said they were very worried about the direction of the U.S. economy in the next few years. The same proportion cited the economy and jobs was their most important voting issue, according to a preliminary ABC News exit poll.
A remark Clinton made at an Ohio town hall in March that the country would "put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business" at an Ohio town hall in a comment may have hurt her with voters in coal-mining states such as West Virginia.
During Clinton's visit to West Virginia and Ohio last week she repeatedly apologized to displaced coal and steel workers for her comment, which she said had been taken out of context, and discussed her plan to help retrain coal workers for clean energy jobs.
To secure the Democratic nomination, a candidate needs 2,383 delegates. Going into West Virginia, Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, had 2,228 delegates, including 523 so-called superdelegates, elite party members who are free to support any candidate. Sanders had 1,454 delegates, including 39 superdelegates. Another 29 delegates will be apportioned based on West Virginia's results.
Clinton and Sanders will compete in another primary contest on May 17. Both candidates are also looking ahead to the June 7 contests, the last in the long nominating season, in which nearly 700 delegates are at stake, including 475 in California, where Sanders is now focusing his efforts.
Sanders has vowed to take his campaign all the way to the Democrats' July 25-28 convention in Philadelphia, and wants a say in shaping the party's platform.
Sanders has repeatedly told supporters at packed rallies that most opinion polls indicate he would beat Trump in a general election match-up by a larger margin than polls show Clinton defeating Trump.
Trump, shifting into general election mode, has already begun to consider running mates. He told Fox on Tuesday night that he has narrowed his list to five people.
He did not rule out picking New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a former rival who ended his presidential bid in February. Christie, who endorsed Trump and then campaigned for him, on Monday was named to head Trump's White House transition team.
(Additional reporting by Alana Wise, Megan Cassella, Timothy Ahmann and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
A raunchy Calvin Klein ad has caused outrage on social media, but some industry pros says the out-there spot is par for the course for the controversial clothier.
The advertisement in question features a provocative upskirt shot showing the underwear of 22-year-old Danish actress Klara Kristin with a caption that reads, I flash in #mycalvins. It is part of a larger campaign where models and celebrities insert their own words into the same sentence.
Social media critics have likened the photo to pornography, and some even said it could appeal to pedophiles since Kristin looks underage in the photo.
But some dont see what the big deal is all about.
Calvin Klein has always been a thought provoking brand. Their advertising has always been progressive, said Craig Lawrence, President of One.1K Model Management. Brooke Shields was a child when she was quoted as saying nothing comes between me and my Calvins. Was that child porn? In my opinion, it wasnt then, and it isnt now.
Peter Davis, editor- at-large for Paper Magazine, asserts the ad is not pornography and nothing new for the fashion industry where sex is pushed for sales.
A peek up actress Klara Kristins skirt to glimpse her CK panties is not kiddie porn - its sexy and sex sells. And Klara isnt 15," Davis said. "No one knows how to sell underwear and fragrances and clothing by promoting scandalous sex better than Calvin Klein. Every erotically-charged fashion ad post-Calvin Kleins golden era in the 70s and 80s owes everything to that brand from Tom Ford and his infamously steamy and near-naked Gucci campaigns to Dolce & Gabbanas oiled up men in speedos.
Indeed the fashion house has been known for stirring controversy for decades. Similarly, in 1999, an ad featuring minor boys and girls in underwear was deemed by the American Family Association President as "nothing more than pornography."
Calls and emails to Calvin Klein and Klara Kristin were not immediately returned.
A Colorado prison inmate has filed a paternity claim with a Minnesota court against the estate of Prince, the latest claimant in what could grow into a long line of people asserting that they're entitled to a piece of the musician's fortune.
Carlin Q. Williams, of Kansas City is seeking DNA testing to determine if Prince is his biological father, according to papers filed in Carver County District Court in the Minneapolis suburb of Chaska that were released Tuesday. In an accompanying affidavit, Williams' mother, Marsha Henson, contends that she conceived Williams while having sex with Prince at a Kansas City hotel in July of 1976.
Lawyers overseeing his estate have told the court that no will for Prince has been found, though they were still searching. Under Minnesota law, children are first in line to inherit when someone dies without a will, which would put Williams ahead of Prince's siblings if the court agrees he is Prince's son. Papers filed earlier by Prince's sister, Tyka Nelson, said he had no known children and listed her and five half-siblings as Prince's only known heirs.
The judge overseeing the estate case on Friday authorized genetic testing on a sample of Prince's blood in case it's necessary to determine who's entitled to share in his estate, and gave creditors four months to file claims. Already, a Kansas City woman who says she's Prince's half-sister has come forward, as well as a California man who contends Prince gave him control over his music catalog and vault via a verbal agreement in the mid-1990s.
The experience of other celebrity estate cases suggests more claims against Prince's estate are likely, and they may not all be legitimate. The court overseeing Michael Jackson's estate case rejected more than $50 million worth of dubious claims.
Prince died April 21 at his home in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen. The cause remains under investigation.
"All were asking is the truth in this matter. It's an unfortunate circumstance," said Williams' attorney, Patrick Cousins, of West Palm Beach, Fla., who also confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday that his client is currently imprisoned.
In her affidavit, Henson said she met Prince in the lobby of a Kansas City hotel and that they had wine and later had unprotected sex at a different hotel, at which time she got pregnant. She said she wasn't married at the time and that she hadn't had sex with anyone in the prior six weeks and didn't have sex with anyone else until after she gave birth to Williams.
Court and prison records show Williams is being held at the maximum security federal prison in Florence, Colorado, after pleading guilty in 2013 to unlawfully transporting a firearm. He was sentenced to seven years and eight months.
Henson declined to comment, and Nelson's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It wasn't immediately clear when the court might rule. No new hearings are scheduled in the estate case.
Cousins, who represented Prince in the mid-2000s, said they would have preferred to resolve the paternity question "behind closed doors" but the high profile of the estate case made that difficult. Williams has long asserted that he's Prince's son, the attorney said.
After more than a half-century in show business, Dolly Parton hasnt changed a bit.
Im most comfortable in high heels and wigs and makeup and gaudy clothes, Parton told Page Six at an appearance celebrating the 31st year of Dollywood, her amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Same as always!
At age 70, the country music legend is hitting the road this summer on her first major tour in 25 years. She also recently launched a new dinner theater show and family resort in the Smoky Mountains, and has an album slated for release in August.
Im having such a good time and the fans seem to be enjoying me, she continued. So Im going to ride that wave until I get washed ashore.
Partons larger-than-life persona has become part of her brand and she embraces the attention her iconic image has garnered from fans over the years.
Id feel like a fool if I went [incognito] somewhere and I looked awful and they recognized me anyhow, she said. Id rather they just say, Oh, I saw Dolly Parton today, than just say, Lord, did you see Dolly Parton? She looked like hell. That would be the worse thing for someone like me a big painted-up plastic doll.
The 9 to 5 actress has famously quipped, It takes a lot of money to look this cheap, but achieving that look isnt always labor-intensive.
Ive timed it and I can be completely good and ready in 20 minutes, she dished. But I like to have an hour if I can.
Although Parton enjoys being casual in the privacy of her home, the powerhouse draws from an impressive collection of hair-dos for stepping out in public.
I dont count them, but I say I must have at least 365 wigs because I usually wear a different one every day, she admitted. But if Im just at home, I dont wear wigs. I keep my own hair and I keep my roots done my own hair is the same [blond] color [as the wigs].
But regardless of her over-the-top appearance, the Jolene songstress knows that true beauty is only skin-deep.
Im the biggest phony-looking person in the world and I know that, but this is how I feel comfortable, she explained. I think everybody should look and be whatever makes them comfortable so their inner self their God Light can shine. To me, I know I look totally phony, but Im really not.
The buxom Tennessee native has famously admitted to being nipped and tucked over the years, but her giving spirit and charitable contributions to causes including literacy efforts and wildlife conservation overshadow even her most ample physical assets.
There aint much real about me but my heart, said Parton. I just feel sorry when I see people that dont know how to even be who they are or they are trying to be something theyre not. I dont think you should ever be ashamed no matter who or what you are, you should be proud of who you are.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post's Page Six.
The plot thickens on "NCIS" as the manhunt continues for former MI6 agent Jacob Scott, responsible for the shooting of FBI Agent Fornell and the murders of former MI6 chief Jessica Terdei and Homeland Security Chief Tom Morrow.
At the hospital, a very upset Gibbs, who is cautioned to prepare himself for the worse, vows to track Scott down and kill him. At Vance's office, Gibbs meets FBI Agent Tess Monroe, who is the manhunt's new point person with Fornell is fighting for his life.
Vance says they have rounded up everyone they can find on Scott's hit list and put them in protective custody, but there are two former spies, Dresser and Kane, who have gone off the grid.
They manage to track down a location for Dresser. But the team hears gunshots just as they arrive at his home. They burst in to find a brawl in progress between MI6 agent Clayton Reeves and CIA agent Trent Kort -- and Dresser's dead body. The investigators find Scott's print on Dresser's back door, just like they did at Gibbs' house.
While Gibbs is sorting out Reeves and Kort's stories, McGee finds Kane's address in Dresser's contacts. He and Monroe stake out the address.
Here the plot thickens, because it turns out Kane might be dirty. Reeves says he found a suspicious $50,000 deposit in Kane's bank account, and suspected the agent of orchestrating the leak that got Scott's wife killed back in 2002.
McGee and Monroe get Kane and take him to an interrogation, where they lay out the evidence they have against him. Kane intially demands his lawyer. They tell him he can go and hope that NCIS finds Scott before he finds Kane. Kane breaks down and tells them where to find Scott.
The location of Scott's safe house is a health clinic that used to be a motel. Scott broke in and, using the clinic's Internet connection, looked up a file on Ziva David. Fearing for Ziva's life, Gibbs asks Kort to get them the CIA files on Scott so they can try to figure out why. Kort insists Ziva had nothing to do with the Scott operation, but he complies.
Meanwhile, Abby figures out that a call Scott made while at the health clinic was to borrow a jet to fly to Tel Aviv. Fornell regains consciousness and passes info to Emily for Gibbs, which McGee uses to track Scott. But just then, Scott walks in to NCIS and turns himself in!
Gibbs interrogates him. Scott says he didn't commit the murders. He is being set up and he is looking for Ziva because she can help prove that he is innocent. The Mossad has the proof and he is trying to get Ziva's father's files. Scott says he didn't have to turn himself in. They would never have found him. But from what he has learned about Gibbs, he knows that Gibbs will help him find the truth.
Gibbs believes Scott may be innocent, and Abby proves it. Scott's blod type is AB negative and the blood on Dresser's body was O positive. The DNA from the blood points to Kort, who has been fired from the CIA.
Monroe and Reeves question Kane again. He finally breaks down and admits Kort was the one selling secrets to the Russians. He used Scott and his wife to take the fall.
Just then there is a news bulletin from Israel of an explosion at a farmhouse in Israel. It's the David farmhouse, where Ziva is supposed to be staying.
To be continued
'NCIS' aires Tuesdays on CBS.
According to a new theory making its way around the internet, Marvel character Captain America is owed $3 million by the United States Military.
The online buzz began when one Reddit user posted the theory that the superhero was owed millions in back pay for his service.
The theory details that after defeating Hydra in World War II, Captain America was lost for six decades between 1945 and 2011. Since he was technically not discharged, the theory argues that the government owes him back pay for the 66 years he was missing.
The theory garnered a lot of attention from fans, and the Army issued a response.
"If Capt. Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) were not a fictional character and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance and recovery actually real, he may actually be entitled to receive back pay," Army spokesman Wayne Hall told Business Insider. "However, a wide variety of variables would have to be taken into consideration to actually calculate the true amount of back pay to which he would be entitled to receive; given that he is a fictional character we cannot truly capture all of those variables accurately."
Hall also said the Reddit user "misinterpreted military pay scales" when calculating the $3 million figure. Hall implied the Army could owe Captain American much more, explaining the fan theory fails to take into account "any potential promotions that may have been bestowed upon Rogers while he was listed in a 'Missing' status."
An autistic student left his high school prom in tears Saturday because officials insisted that his date his 24-year-old sister was too old to enter.
The two were unaware of a rule that students could not bring dates who are older than 20, said their father, Tone Whisenhunt. He said an exception should have been made for his special-needs son, who wanted his older sister by his side to protect him from bullying at Montgomery Central High School in Tennessee.
"Your kids have one prom and he didn't even get to go to it," Whisenhunt told WSMV-TV. "That's what upsets me the most."
The school's principal, Christy Houston, told Jayce Whisenhunt he could stay, but said his sister, Jessica Helling, would not be allowed to enter, according to Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools spokeswoman Elise Shelton.
The situation caught school administrators by surprise, as the siblings had not signed up to attend the event, Shelton said.
"If there had been a request for an exception to the rules, we certainly would have entertained that and worked with the family, but at no time was there a request," Shelton said.
The community wants to turn their outrage into something positive, family friend Michelle Gordon said. They're raising funds now for an all-ages prom for the siblings and their supporters next month at the same location.
As of Tuesday afternoon, more than $4,000 had been raised online through a GoFundMe page.
Amid a national wave of opioid addiction, doctors are likely to start prescribing fewer narcotic painkillers, so many non-addicted pain patients may see their dosages reduced as a result.
Millions without addiction issues suffer from chronic pain and rely on strong medication to help them live and work. Reducing the medication they need may seem unfair, but theres no easy choice in the battle against Americas surging opiate addiction problem.
About 1.9 million Americans are addicted to prescription pain relievers, which is often a precursor to heroin addiction, according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). Prescription narcotics have become harder to get due to statewide registries, and heroin is much cheaper. As a result, 4 out of 5 new heroin users report having started out misusing prescription painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet, according to ASAM.
In the face of the rising epidemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued new guidelines for doctors who prescribe pain medications. Specifically, the CDC calls on doctors to prescribe the lowest effective dosages first, taper back dosages as soon as pain starts to subside and evaluate patients every three months for misuse.
If you suffer from chronic pain, a doctors evaluation could mean a lower dosage of your regular drugs, and one possible result is worsening pain. Depending on your type of pain and its source, you may be able to help manage it with one of these alternatives.
NSAIDs and aspirin
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be an acceptable option for chronic pain. Some are available by prescription, but many effective varieties are found over the counter in drugstores, including ibuprofen, aspirin and naproxen. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) is not an NSAID but has a similar pain-reducing effect.
READ MORE: 8 Things to Know Before Using an Online Pharmacy
Which is right for you will depend on the nature of your pain and whether you have any kidney or liver conditions, says Dr. Amir Rafizad, pain medicine physician with Hoag Orthopedic Institute in Irvine, California.
As helpful as NSAIDs are in medicine, they can lead to gastrointestinal bleeding, cardiovascular disease and renal damage if not monitored properly, says Rafizad. In this regard, he adds, there are times when narcotics are safer than NSAIDs. Talk to your doctor about a healthy balance between pain medications and whether you should try a prescription NSAID.
READ MORE: How to Save Money on Prescription NSAID Celebrex
Exercise
Certain exercises may be able to relieve your symptoms, especially if your chronic pain is in your joints or back. Walking, strength training, yoga and swimming are all low-impact exercises that can strengthen your muscles so theyre strained less day to day, helping you feel less pain.
Exercise also releases feel-good chemicals in the brain that help relieve pain on the spot. If you have serious knee or hip pain, youll want to check with your doctor about which types of exercise will help or harm your joints.
READ MORE: The 3 Best Exercises to Invest in Now
Acupuncture
Widely touted as a holistic procedure that works, acupuncture can provide relief from certain kinds of chronic pain, according to some studies; other studies show no benefit. Rafizad says that while acupuncture can indeed provide relief to some, more often than not, the benefits dissipate a few days after treatment, and repeated treatments are needed to maintain the effect.
Acupuncture appears to have few side effects, so many doctors like Rafizad dont mind their patients using it as a complement to medical pain therapy. Some health insurance plans cover acupuncture, but many do not cover any alternative therapies, and something like acupuncture can get expensive over time. To know whether your insurer will help pay for acupuncture, check your insurance benefits summary and get your doctors referral, if needed.
READ MORE: No Health Insurance? You May Qualify for an Obamacare Exemption
Chiropractic
Chiropractors are nonmedical professionals who work to improve body function and pain measures by aligning the spine. Seeing a chiropractor for your pain may help if you have certain conditions.
If your pain derives from soft-tissue conditions such as bursitis or tendinitis, or from spasmodic conditions like cervical dystonia, a chiropractor may be able to help you, Rafizad says. However, he cautions that, like acupuncture, chiropractic care should be used as a complement to your medical care and not as a replacement.
Pain-coping methods
Perception of pain changes from person to person. To cope with pain and help lessen its impact on your daily activities, try mindfulness meditation, prayer, relaxation techniques or biofeedback, says Rafizad. While none of these methods should replace your painkillers, they may help you better tolerate your pain.
Some people also find relief from transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation machines, which use electrical pulses to prevent pain signals from reaching the brain. TENS units are available for under $50 online, and consist of a small machine with adhesive electrodes you stick near the pain site. Research findings are mixed on whether TENS units work long-term for pain or just reduce it while the machine is in use.
Chronic pain can be highly disruptive to your life, and its tempting to leap at possible solutions. But its important to run these options by your doctor. Doing so will help ensure you get the right relief for your individual pain.
Back in May, I declared my support of now President-elect Donald Trump as the right candidate to tackle Americas drug epidemic.
Now, more than ever, I think that as we watch this revolution evolve, it will bring a lot of positive change to our health care system not only by way of repealing ObamaCare, but in how we care for our communities for many years to come.
Here is a look back at what I said during Trumps run up to the White House earlier this year:
America is in the midst of a drug and mental health epidemic. The crisis before us has spiraled completely out of control under the Obama administration, and the numbers are staggering. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the rate of heroin-related overdose deaths nearly quadrupled between 2002 and 2013, with more than 8,200 deaths in 2013. While the headlines tend to focus on the rising levels of heroin addiction, this one drug is not acting alone. All around us opioids, prescription drugs and other illegally purchased drugs are claiming the lives of mothers, fathers, children, neighbors and teachers at alarming rates.
If we do not act quickly to get a handle on these issues, they will endanger our future generations to come. I know that the solutions will require input from physicians, pharmaceutical companies, health care workers, church leaders and the like, but we will need the voice of a true unifying leader to make any one policy work. I believe that voice is Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Before I am attacked for believing that Trump is the best-suited candidate to tackle this issue, let us first consider the facts. At a speech in Maine, Trump stood with Gov. Paul LePage and blamed the lax southern border security for the states raging heroin problem. He said his immigration policies will stop the drugs from reaching our small towns. He vowed the same thing ahead of the New Hampshire primary, and asked the public to have confidence in his plan to solve the problem.
At a rally in Iowa, a father whose son died two years ago from a heroin overdose in upstate New York asked Trump how he would stop the drug from spreading. He told the man that his plan to build a wall will stop heroin from pouring across the border, and that the greatest thing the country can do to honor his dead son is to work to get addicted people off of the drug. Many scoff when they hear about Trump touting a wall at the border, but they fail to realize that the wall is more than just a physical presence. Hes not going to build the wall and walk away, it will be manned with expert intelligence and security to improve efficiency, which is the only way we will conquer this issue.
I agree with Trump, and I, along with the father who asked the question, believe that he is going to be the man thats going to help stop the infiltration of heroin and other drugs into this country. It is ignorant for us to argue that border security issues are not largely contributing to the drug crisis. It seems like every week a new tunnel is discovered or haul of drugs is seized by border security, and lets not forget about what snuck by before we were on high alert. Just last week, Customs and Border Protection officers at the Port of Nogales arrested four individuals during multiple smuggling attempts involving cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine. They also seized more than 137 pounds of illegal drugs.
Its also important to consider the amount of red tape an issue brought before Congress faces before any action is taken. The very last thing that the drug abuse epidemic needs is another career Washington bureaucrat. We are inundated with the bureaucratic process that time and time again delays action on pressing issues that must be addressed. In typical Washington fashion, the issue goes before a committee that takes months to talk about it before creating a subcommittee to plan policies that will then be reviewed by yet another committee before any action is even taken.
I believe that Trump is the type of manager who, through his business experience, has learned to listen, and then very quickly execute an idea to get immediate results. Hes also a great delegator, and knows how to choose the right people to formulate the best team possible. This is exactly the type of commander that the war on drugs will require. How many more headlines do we have to read regarding the overdose-related death of an entertainer, celebrity or powerful businessman before we start acting for the hundreds of thousands that dont receive the media attention?
Every so often, we see a viral video of a no-name person on a subway or a bus requiring the life-saving antidote after overdosing on drugs. But what about the hundreds who pour into emergency rooms with near-fatal overdoses, or the cops who administer the antidote on a daily basis? How do we acknowledge them? And now, with the introduction of newer, more powerful drugs like fentanyl, which looks just like pharmaceutical grade pills and are between 50 to 100 times as powerful as morphine, think about how many lives will be lost before any bureaucratic action is taken. Are we willing to sacrifice the lives of those everyday people?
This hidden cancer of drug abuse must be brought to light, and I think Trump is the boisterous leader to do that. I know that we elect presidents and political leaders in this country sometimes out of individual concerns. Some may vote based on economic concerns, while others may choose based on fears of terrorism. Heres whats so dangerous about the drug epidemic: It leaks into every other issue. You can bet that its affecting our economy, and you can be sure that it feeds into illegal activity which ultimately feeds into potential enemies of this country. Dont fool yourself, this is as important of an issue as any other in this election cycle, and I believe in Trump more than any other candidate to tackle it.
French women may soon be paid by hospitals to kick their nicotine habit while pregnant. According to The Independent, hospitals may shell out up to $340 to pregnant women willing to quit smoking for good.
Researchers with Pariss public hospital system and the National Cancer Institute are looking to test whether offering moms-to-be money will help convince them to stay away from tobacco throughout their pregnancy, The Independent reported.
Women seeking to apply must be over 18, less than four months pregnant, and smoke at least five manufactured cigarettes, or three rolled cigarettes each day. Once enrolled in the study participants are barred from using cigarettes, electronic cigarettes or other tobacco products. Participants will be subject to frequent testing, The Independent reported.
A study recently published in the American Journal of Human Genetics linked smoking while pregnant to changes in the fetuss DNA. It suggests the changes can be linked to health complications in children such as low birth weight, increased risk of asthma and increased risk of cleft lips or palates.
In 2015, the countrys health minister said France was the European country where pregnant women smoke the most, The Independent reported.
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Due to a neurodevelopmental disorder, Sydney Wellington, 20, cant walk, use her hands to feed herself or speak. Now, for the first time, she can communicate using a computerized eye-gazing device.
Wellington has Rett syndrome, a disorder that affects one out of every 10,000 girls, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
"Children are born normal, Dr. Daniel Tarquinio, a pediatric neurologist at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, told Fox5. They develop normally. They learn to sit. They learn a few words, they learn to use their hands."
Wellington, too, was born with those abilities, but she lost them lost when she was a toddler.
Rett syndrome patients have excellent eye-gaze, Tarquinio said.
"They can't talk, he told the news channel, but they can talk with their eyes."
Childrens Healthcare gave Wellington the computerized device. It will allow her to communicate her emotions, but also her physical ailments which is key because girls with Rett syndrome often have painful complications like broken bones and serious digestive problems, Tarquinio said.
Shannon Wellington, Sydneys mother, hopes her daughter will one day be able to communicate her thoughts.
"I would just like her to blossom and be able to have a freer conversation, and say what she wants to say, Shannon told Fox5.
When Al Piazza learned he had prostate cancer, his first thought was, Lets get this out and be done with it, he says. But his urologist, Jeremy Lieb, said the side effects of treatment could be more harmful than the cancer itself.
Dr. Lieb ran a genetic test on the patients biopsy sample, which calculated that Mr. Piazza, then 70 years old, had only a 3 percent chance of dying from prostate cancer over the next 10 years if he left the tumor untreated.
Four years later, the retired AT&T manager from Discovery Bay, Calif., has been monitoring his cancer with regular blood tests and imaging scans and says he is comfortable leaving it alone. My feeling isits there, but its not going to kill me, Mr. Piazza says.
The procedure done on Mr. Piazzas tumor sample, called Prolaris by Myriad Genetics, is one of several new prostate-cancer tests that aim to reduce detection and treatment of tumors that are likely to be harmless while still spotting those that are lethal.
That has been a daunting challenge in recent years. Routine screenings for prostate cancer, using blood tests for prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, have dramatically increased early detection of the disease. More than 99 percent of cases are curable today. Most of the cancers that prostate screenings find are so slow-growing they are effectively harmless, experts say. Still, because some cancers are aggressive and deadly, most men have opted for treatment with surgery or radiation despite a significant risk of incontinence or impotence.
Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
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When Brianna Devero brought her newborn son home for the first time on May 3, shed spent two days in the hospital, was exhausted, and didnt have his pack n play set up because he was two weeks early.
But as the first recipient of a baby box from Temple University Hospital (TUH)s newborn safety program, what she did have was clothing, diapers, and educational materials all packed in a cardboard box with a fitted mattress. The box, a functioning bassinet, is Steven Anthony Tonzelli Jr.s home until he outgrows it.
[After] coming home and nothing being put together because he came early, this was nice and easy to place him in there when I needed to relax, Devero, 21, of Philadelphia, told FoxNews.com. I was discharged at 8 p.m., and nobody feels like putting anything together late at night after being in the hospital.
While a cardboard box for a newborn may sound unusual, its been a tradition in Finland since the 1930s. The Finnish government offers new mothers a baby box or $150. Most first-time mothers opt for one, and its widely accepted as a rite of passage.
The reason we like it so much is because its a very safe place for a baby to sleep, Dr. Megan Heere, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, told FoxNews.com. During that time, parents hopefully can establish a safe sleep environment for Baby.
The baby boxes, which are manufactured by The Baby Box Co., have been independently tested for safety by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and they can be used until the baby is about 5 to 6 months old, or weighs 15 pounds.
For the team at TUH, the box is a potential solution for the citys high infant mortality rate. For every 1,000 live births in Philadelphia, 11.2 infants die thats almost twice as much as the national rate. In north Philadelphia, the area served by TUH, the rate is even higher, Heere said. To address the issue, TUH launched the Sleep Awareness Family Education at Temple, or SAFE-T, program in January 2015.
Through Temple research and known data, the team became aware of a huge issue with infant sleeping practices and environment, as reported by parents and, sadly, death reports of our city, said Heere, who is also the medical director of the Well Baby Nursery at TUH. An infants SIDS risk peaks when theyre between 1 and 4 months old, she said, adding that 90 percent of cases occur before six months.
Any sudden and unexpected death of an infant, whether explained or unexplained, is medically considered a sudden unexpected infant death (SUID). Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of SUID, followed by unknown causes, and accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Every year in the United States, there are about 3,500 cases of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID).
In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics expanded its recommendation on SIDS prevention to include safe infant sleeping environment. Babies should sleep alone, on their backs, in their own cribs with just a mattress no blankets, bumpers, or stuffed animals. Heere noted that the recommendation is abbreviated as ABC, standing for alone, back, crib.
Our infants and our parents have an issue with this, so we decided to give out the baby box to see if intervention would change [sleeping habits], Heere said.
The baby boxes are the third part of the SAFE-T program. The first phase ran from January 2015 through October 2015, at which time 1,200 new moms received standard-practice sleep education. During phase two, which started in February, mothers received more extensive safe sleep education and given materials about safe sleep. This third phase, which will last about one year, includes the extensive safe sleep education, the baby boxes, and access to a website with newborn education videos. Through each phase, TUH followed up by phone survey.
Using the phone survey data, the Temple team can assess whether rates of co-sleeping change, and if there is a risk reduction for SIDS.
Temple projects it will give 3,000 baby boxes to new mothers; about 250 moms give birth at the hospital each month. Heere noted that the medical team is aiming to obtain additional funding to extend the program but are fully funded for one year.
The resources packed in the boxes, which are manufactured by The Baby Box Co., include an immunization record to stress the importance of vaccines and pamphlets on breastfeeding, community resources, smoking cessation, organizations that offer free cribs and other baby gear, teen parenting classes, and organizations that help teen parents obtain work and life skills.
Knowing our patients live in a high-risk area, we include information on the domestic violence hotline for Philadelphia, Heere said. The city fire department has partnered with the program and offers free installation of smoke detectors.
The box also has a cardboard baby book from the Charlies Kids Foundation to encourage reading to babies, help foster parent-child bonding and double as a safe-sleep reminder to parents.
When TUH was fundraising for the program, they received $5,000 in 48 hours, the fastest crowd-funded project in the hospitals history. Not only did they get donations, but they also got volunteers, including 30 medical students and doctors from other departments who joined in packing the boxes.
Were just really excited about the program, not only for what it can do for our community and our goal is to reduce infant mortality but also from the community support its gotten, Heere said.
For Devero and her fiance, Steven Anthony Tonzelli, the box allows them to keep the boy nearby wherever they are in the house and has made parenthood less stressful.
Its very good theyve started doing this because a lot of people wont admit they dont have everything ready. Its OK to be afraid to be a new mom, she said. Its a good starting spot for him. When hes older, itll always be a memory we have.
Caryn Antos was in Spain for her 2013 wedding celebrations when a nagging stomach pain got worse. Her fiance rushed her to the hospital where she was later diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer.
It was probably my biggest fear in life and I was having to face it, Antos, now 37, told FoxNews.com. Her father died from leukemia after 10 months of rigorous chemotherapy and a short remission. The process scared her but Antos, a yoga instructor, prepared herself for the battle ahead.
Ive been practicing for this moment all of my life and now I need to breathe, she said. I need to understand how to connect on a bigger level for me, not just to the body, but the emotional side, the mental side, the spiritual side. My body will respond [to treatment] the way my body can respond but I need to make sure I dont sink into a hole of depression.
According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the decision to focus on her mental health was wise. A 2008 study concluded that suffering from mental health during cancer treatment can cause additional suffering, weaken adherence to prescribed treatments, and threaten patients return to health.
Antos therapist at Roper St. Francis Cancer Center recommended a program that had just started at the center called Reimagine.
The founder and president, Kristin MacDermott, told FoxNews.com that its a program that helps people overcome the emotional impact of cancer. She said its open to anyone, with members ranging from patients recently diagnosed, to survivors and even family members who are suffering along with a loved one.
The program is based around 7 pillars: hope, balance, inner strength, self-care, support, spirit and life story. For each pillar, the program has 10 modules where it teaches a skill set on how to cope and reduce stress.
Theres so much to deal with, so many thoughts, so many decisions to make. We take people through a process where they take one issue at a time and they look at whats in my control about that, what do I need to feel better, MacDermott said.
Antos said this process allowed her to get specific about the pressures that she was under. While she knew the cancer was causing stress, she explored whether the fatigue she felt was from the cancer, or if it was a relationship that had a changed because of the complexity of cancer. She pointed to role play exercises centered around relationships that helped her the most.
You can assert yourself without completely disrespecting someone else, she said. Being able to tell people that I love, Thank you. I know youre coming from a place of love but thats not exactly helping me right now. That wasnt ever something that came easy to me.
In addition to these tools, Reimagine offers message boards with the hope of creating a sense of community and connection for those affected by cancer. Antos said that hearing other peoples struggles created empathy within her which was a form of therapy.
You kind of forget for a minute about whatever it was you were worried about and you just want to be there for somebody else, she said.
While Antos benefitted from the program, MacDermott cites clinical testing and results to demonstrate whether Reimagine can be affective for others.
Depression, anxiety, PTSD, distress, even fatigue. All of these things we have clinically significant improvement for people who went through the program, she said.
Reimagine is available for a monthly fee of $14.99 at Reimagine.me.
Antos said the price is worth it.
You dig into spirit, you dig into positivity and resources like this and keep moving on, she said.
Carnegie Vanguard High Schools one act play had a little something for everyone: depictions of male-on-male rape, male-on-female rape, filthy language, on-stage urination, and an actress who simulated wiping her private parts at center stage.
Oh yes, there was also a scene where a male cast member turned his back to the audience and dropped his pants, as fellow cast members deliver dialogue about the size of his appendage.
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The Houston high schools racy production of Holy Day has generated great angst among the good church-going people of the Lone Star State.
Hello Dolly it is not.
A Houston Chronicle columnist described the show as psychologically intense, an exploration of subjects such as violence, sex and race.
Carnegies eyebrow-raising show recently advanced in the Texas One-Act Play Contest leading to a number of complaints mostly from the parents of teen actors at competing schools.
I was completely flabbergasted at the content, one parent who saw the production told me.
One enraged father who attended the April 23 Region III-6A play competition filed a formal complaint with the Houston Independent School District.
I was deeply offended by the obscene and inappropriate content, the parent wrote demanding the school be disqualified from the competition.
I spoke at length with the father, a former public school educator for 18 years. He asked that I not disclose his name fearing it might cause trouble for his children.
His son was also competing in the one-act play competition representing a different school. He said many people were shocked by what they saw during Carnegies performance.
People were disgusted and there was complete shock at what they had just seen, he told me. Elementary-aged children were exposed to this show.
The parent told me he confronted Carnegies principal immediately after the performance but his concerns were dismissed.
At first, he said, well ,you know, everyone has a different tolerance level, the parent said. I told him, No, sir. You cannot possibly tell me that its appropriate for any audience for a young lady to portray wiping her vagina after having sex behind a prop on stage.
The University Interscholastic League told me they are aware of some concerns and are investigating the content of Carnegies play.
UIL is making every effort to follow up with members of the public that have expressed concerns, a spokesman wrote in a statement. The administration of the producing school shall assure that the director complies with these requirements and that the play does not offend the moral standards of the community.
Apparently the moral standards within the Houston Independent School District are not all that high.
Such obscene and offensive language and content has no place in any high school in the state of Texas, the concerned parent wrote in his complaint.
The district released a statement defending the theatrical production noting they are extremely proud and they stand by the students 100 percent.
The script has been thoughtfully modified to be appropriate for a broad, young-adult audience, the districts statement read. Carnegie students have treated the scripts mature subject matter with admirable sensitivity, skill and professionalism.
I suppose it does take a bit of skill to pee in a bucket during a live stage performance.
Perhaps the Tony Awards should consider adding a new category: Best On Stage Depiction of Bodily Functions.
Carnegie parents are defending the profanity-laced production. One parent convinced the Houston Chronicle to publish a column titled, How Edgy Should High-School Theater Be?
The last time I saw it, some of the audience was in tears. Others walked out. Still others sat silently in their seats, stunned by the journey they had been on, wrote Alice Savage, the mother of one of the cast members.
Isnt theater supposed to challenge people? she opined.
Well, sure. But cant they challenge us without dropping their pants and urinating into a bucket?
Critics want the show disqualified but I sincerely doubt the powers-that-be will oblige. And I have no doubt the schools production could possibly win first prize.
If they do, it will not be due to their ability to shock and offend, but to move audiences with a distinctly human story, Ms. Savage wrote.
A distinctly human story, I might add, that would be best-suited for a seedy adult bookstore rather than a high school theatrical competition.
Many of Americas leading conservatives are behaving as though someone walked through their front door smelling of manure. They are loftily disapproving of Donald Trump, who does not pass their ideological sniff test and who nonetheless is the presumptive Republican nominee. My advice: get over it. Your guy lost and, as Obama so famously said, elections have consequences.
What is it that so offends GOP grandees? They brand Trump a populist. Thats a term often used by the New York Times and other elitist liberal organs to describe somebody low and common, referencing George Wallace or some other discredited figure. However, the dictionary defines the term as a member or adherent of a political party seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people. How can that be a bad thing? Some might say that the problem in the U.S. is that both Republicans and Democrats have ignored ordinary people for too many years and those folks are out for revenge.
The push-back to Trump from the conservative wing of the GOP is part ideological, part snobbery and part plain old peeve. The National Review went all out last January, devoting an entire issue to demolishing Trump, and set back the billionairenot at all. The editors of the journal wrote that Trump is a philosophically unmoored political opportunist who would trash the broad conservative ideological consensus within the GOP in favor of a free-floating populism with strong-man overtones.
Heres the problem: there is no conservative ideological consensus within the GOP or anywhere else, for that matter. Thats why Republicans have never nominated a staunch conservative to carry the GOP banner, and never will. Far-right candidates like Rick Santorum or Mike Huckabee always make a solid showing in states like Iowa or South Carolina, but they cannot make it to the finish line. Ted Cruz went farther than most, but only because he became the vehicle by which many hoped to derail the Trump train. On social issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, in particular, Trump is more in sync with American voters than Ted Cruz.
What the editors of National Review failed to understand is that tens of millions of Americans dont see Trumps politics as free-floating at all. They see him targeting issues that have incensed the nation but received but short shrift from the Obama White House or from the GOP leadership. They actually are offended that our border is wide open, a reality brought home in spades in 2014 when tens of thousands of people from Central America simply walked into the U.S. unimpeded.
People are angry that our leaders have supported trade pacts that have put Americans out of work, a position that Obama has ignored with his endorsement of the TPP. They think that such deals have benefited corporate interests at the expense of the U.S. A look at Obamas TPP shows theyre not entirely wrong. The first major study of the TPP, conducted by the World Bank, concluded that Vietnam would be the biggest beneficiary of the agreement, while other nations like Japan and Malaysia would also gain. By comparison, the World Bank, which favors trade, showed that the U.S. might hope to see incremental growth of 0.4% by 2030. Thats not compelling.
National Review also derides Trumps pitch as carrying a whiff of strong man overtones. After seven years of feckless Obama, the country yearns for a strong man.
Americans like leaders who make us feel good about our country.
One of the proudest moments in our history was when Ronald Reagan called on Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Tear down this wall! It was a moment of confrontation not involving weapons but rather the authority of economic and military power. It is almost impossible to imagine Obama making such a demand. North Korea, hand over your nukes! seems far-fetched.
Obama, like Jimmy Carter, appears embarrassed by American power. He is so committed to reversing what he considers the military excesses of his predecessor that he has embraced self-defeating withdrawals of troops and half-hearted military campaigns which have accomplished little. A doctrine highlighting strategic patience has led to North Korea becoming a nuclear power, Russias usurpation of Crimea and Chinas militarization of the South China Sea.
A number of highly visible Republicans have said they will not support Trump. One can be sympathetic with Jeb!, who was utterly demolished by Trump early on. But for Paul Ryan, Lindsay Graham and others, voters should make it clear that if they abandon their party, the source of GOP power the people will abandon them. They know the alternative is Hillary Clinton, who promises four more years of Obamas policies. Let us be clear: that is the choice. If conservatives smuggly sit out the race, they will have only themselves to blame for four more years of economic underachievement and suffocating political correctness. And their influence will shrink even further.
Sen. Bernie Sanders won the West Virginia Democratic primary Tuesday to stay alive in his long-shot bid to take the partys presidential nomination from front-runner Hillary Clinton, while Republican Donald Trump won primaries in West Virginia and Nebraska.
Sanders had roughly 51 percent of the West Virginia vote, compared to 36 percent for Clinton, with 94 percent of precincts reporting.
Trump, his partys presumptive presidential nominee, was running uncontested in both states.
We won a big, big victory, Sanders said at a rally in Salem, Oregon. The people of West Virginia said we need an economy that can help more than just the one percent.
The self-described democratic socialist has now won 19 states, compared to 23 for Clinton. But he still faces an extreme uphill climb toward winning the party nomination, in his own words.
Trump did not hold a victory rally but said in a statement: It is a great honor to have won both West Virginia and Nebraska, especially by such massive margins. Hope to win both states in the general election.
Nebraska technically held a Democratic primary, which Clinton won 53-to-46 percent, with 100 percent of precincts reporting.
However, Sanders won Nebraska in March in a caucus. He was awarded 15 pledged delegates. Clinton won 10 pledged delegates and the support of three superdelegates.
The Vermont senator had won 16 of 29 delegates available in West Virginia, with 120, 321 votes, or 51 percent. Clinton had 11 delegates, with 84,176 votes, or 36 percent, with 94 percent of precincts reporting.
However, Clinton has an insurmountable lead in the delegate race -- 2,239 compared to 1,469 for Sanders, with just nine more contests remaining. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.
Sanders has acknowledged his only hope to win the nomination is to go to the partys nominating convention in July and convince enough superdelegates to cast ballots for him -- amid calls from Democratic leaders to exit the race.
Next week, Sanders and Clinton will compete in Kentucky and Oregon, for 55 and 61 delegates, respectively. Oregon will also hold a GOP primary in which 28 delegates are available.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the GOP primary last week but re-emerged Tuesday to add some intrigue into the race.
Cruz said hes still out of the race but that his campaign would certainly respond accordingly if a path to victory emerges.
He also has written to state party chairmen to hold onto the delegates he won in primaries and caucuses. And hes submitted a delegate slate to the secretary of state in California, which votes June 7, Fox News has learned.
California state director Jason Scalese downplayed Cruz's effort, saying it was the first-term senators attempt to keep faith with supporters.
Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich suspended their campaigns last week after Trumps huge Indiana primary win.
Trump, a billionaire businessman, has now won 30 state primaries or caucuses but must now try to get support -- including fundraising help -- from Washington Republicans.
He is scheduled to meet Thursday with House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Capitol Hill Republicans, as he prepares for the general election.
I have a lot of respect for Paul, Trump said on Fox News The OReilly Factor. He loves this country. He wants to see something good happen to this party.
Trump also confirmed a report that he now has five potential running-mates in mind.
He has 1,107 delegates toward to getting 1,237 to secure the nomination before his partys nominating convention in July.
Trump won all 36 delegates available in Nebraska. He had 119,531 votes, or 61 percent, with 95 percent of precincts reporting.
Trump secured three of the 34 delegates available in West Virginia and 151,307 votes, or 76 percent of the vote, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.
Clintons remarks in March about putting a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business severely hurt her chances of winning in West Virginia.
The former secretary of state apologized in person for the comment, which she said was taken out of context, but skipped campaigning in West Virginia.
Trump campaigned in West Virginia, donning a hard hat and pretending to shovel coal at a rally last week while vowing to help the struggling fossil fuel industry and its legions of out-of-work miners.
I'm going to put miners back to work, he told the crowd. Clinton said I'm going to put mines out of business. That's a tough one to explain.
The GOP presumptive presidential nominee also told the crowd to "save your vote for the general election. The primary's gone.
Hillary Clinton for months has downplayed the FBI investigation into her private email server and practices as a mere security inquiry.
But when asked Wednesday by Fox News about Clinton's characterization of the bureau's probe, FBI Director James Comey said he doesnt know what "security inquiry" means -- adding, Were conducting an investigation. Thats what we do.
The FBI director reiterated that hes not familiar with the term security inquiry when told that is the phrase Clinton has used.
As for the timeline for the investigation, Comey, during a briefing with reporters, said he prefers doing the investigation well over promptly and said hes not tethered to a schedule.
The briefing comes amid reports that FBI investigators have been meeting with top aides in Clintons inner circle, including Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills. The interviews have stoked speculation that the investigation may soon be drawing to a close, in the heat of the 2016 political season.
Asked Wednesday if he would make a public report, regardless of whether criminal charges are pursued, Comey said he would not say at this time. But he said there are no special set of rules for anybody that the FBI investigates.
Clinton and her campaign team repeatedly have described the probe as a security inquiry. Most recently on CBS Face the Nation on Sunday, Clinton used the term when asked how shed respond to people worried the FBI probe is a big deal.
I say what Ive said now for many, many months, Clinton said. Its a security inquiry. I always took classified material seriously. There was never any material marked classified that was sent or received by me, and I look forward to this being wrapped up.
The FBI probe is proceeding as Clinton tries to wrap up the Democratic presidential nomination. Though she leads by hundreds of delegates, she has not yet clinched the nomination and rival Bernie Sanders is vowing to take the fight to the convention he fueled his own underdog bid with a primary win Tuesday in West Virginia.
There appear to be several moving parts in the FBI investigation.
Former State Department IT staffer Bryan Pagliano, who installed and maintained the server, has been granted immunity by the Department of Justice and is cooperating with the FBI.
In another development, the infamous Romanian hacker known as Guccifer, who was extradited to the U.S. to face cyber charges, recently told Fox News he easily breached Clintons personal email server in early 2013.
Fox News could not independently confirm the claims. But an intelligence source told Fox News last month that Guccifer, whose real name is Marcel Lehel Lazar, could help the FBI make the case that Clintons email server may have been compromised by a third party. Lazar told Fox News that he spoke with the FBI at length on the plane when extradited from Romania to Virginia last month.
Speaking from the Virginia jail where hes being held, Lazar said the conversation was "80 minutes ... recorded," and he took his own notes. A government source confirmed that the hacker had a lot to say on the plane but provided no other details.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch also was asked earlier this week about the timeline for the Clinton email probe, but said she could not make any prediction.
Fox News Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, ahead of a high-stakes sit-down with presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, said Wednesday he cant pretend the GOP is unified and acknowledged it will take some work to bring everyone together after the bruising primary.
At the same time, Ryan who so far has declined to endorse Trump signaled an interest in bringing all the wings of the party together.
Speaking after a closed-door meeting with other House leaders and rank-and-file members, Ryan suggested that to pretend were unified as a party would mean going into the fall election at half-strength. Rather, he said he needs the party to be at full-strength and so wants to pursue real unification of all factions within the GOP.
We cannot afford to lose this election to Hillary Clinton, Ryan said.
Rank-and-file members have been at odds over Ryans surprise move last week to refrain from endorsing the now-presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Some understand the speaker may not truly be ready, and also wants to check the pulse of his colleagues. Others worry that Ryans hesitation is costing the party valuable fundraising time needed to prepare for an expected battle against Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in the fall.
It takes time to raise money, one senior GOP Senate source told Fox News. [Ryans delay] costs us a week.
Ryan and Trump are set to meet in person on Thursday. But the first step toward a potential reconciliation was Wednesday mornings weekly conference for House Republicans their first since Trump all but seized the nomination last week.
Asked after that meeting what he needs to hear to fully get behind Trump, Ryan said he and Trump will have that conversation. I dont really know him, he said. We just need to get to know each other.
He reiterated the party must merge and unify.
Trump, for his part, told Fox News earlier Wednesday that he thinks hes doing very fine with Ryan, while downplaying the stakes for the meeting.
I have a lot of respect for Paul Ryan. We're going to have a meeting tomorrow. We'll see what happens. If we make a deal, that will be great. And if we don't, we will trudge forward like I've been doing and winning, you know, all the time, Trump said.
Meanwhile, some GOP lawmakers indicated Wednesday they plan to back Trump but just want more clarification on his platform.
Rep. John Fleming, R-La., said hell get behind Trump but wants more information about his positions on abortion, national defense and immigration.
Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, said it is incumbent upon Trump to articulate his vision. He said hell support the nominee, but theres a difference between supporting and actually campaigning for a candidate.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at her own press conference, wasted no time tying Trump to her GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill. She told reporters theres not a dime of difference between him and the Republicans in Congress.
Her deputy, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursdays meeting will not change what he described as an environment of fear and exclusion created by Republicans over decades.
Fox News is told Ryan held back on endorsing Trump last week because he truly wanted to marinate on the presumptive nominees ideas for governing, and is troubled by some of his stances on issues and his remarks.
In particular, Fox News is told Trumps plan for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country and his initial hesitation in disavowing support from white supremacist David Duke really stuck in Ryans craw.
Trump told Fox News Wednesday morning that he did disavow Duke, while defending his plan for a temporary Muslim ban. He also floated the idea of having former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani lead a commission to study the issue.
There are a range of theories as to why Ryan might be holding back on embracing Trump as he also signals hes ready to step down in his role as convention chairman if Trump wants. Ryan could be looking out for himself and the rest of the party, worried Trump cannot win in November. At the same time, he could be holding back as a negotiating tactic, waiting to horse-trade with the presumptive nominee on Thursday and extract some promises about Trumps tone and platform going forward.
Fox News Chad Pergram and Kara Rowland contributed to this report.
The outcome of the 2016 White House race could come down to which candidate successfully appeals to voters as the lesser of two evils and not just who does the better job of driving party faithful to the polls.
Theres little argument over the deep voter distaste for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump -- with polls essentially showing them the most unpopular presidential candidates in modern U.S. history.
The RealClearPolitics.com polling average pegs Trumps unfavorability rating at roughly 65 percent, and Clintons at about 55 percent. A fresh Quinnipiac poll shows voters in key swing states have sour feelings toward both candidates. In Tuesday's Nebraska GOP primary, four in 10 voters still chose someone other than the party's presumptive nominee. And in West Virginia, exit polls showed a third of Democratic primary voters vowing they'd vote for Trump over Clinton.
But in those numbers may lie a unique opportunity: a chance for the likely general election foes to poach disenchanted voters from each others party. This raises the possibility of a frenzied scramble for crossover votes going into the fall -- as Trump appeals to Democrats to vote against Clinton, Clinton appeals to Republicans to vote against Trump, and both play big to independents.
Republican strategist Rob Burgess pointed to a long history of Americans claiming to vote for the [lesser] of two evils. However, he says such lore could be reality in 2016, especially if Trump continues to harp on Clintons legacy of shady record-keeping.
As long as Secretary Clinton is being investigated for the improper handling of our country's classified documents, voters will pause before casting a vote for her," he said.
Clinton has struggled with voters who question her trustworthiness amid an FBI investigation into her use of private emails while secretary of state and other controversies.
Likewise, Trumps controversial comments and views on everything from Muslims to women to illegal immigrants and fluid positions on a range of key issues -- have made him plenty of foes on the Republican side.
There already are signs Clintons team wants to peel off disaffected Republicans and GOP donors. The day after Trump won a landslide victory last week in Indiana, a top Clinton fundraiser reached out to a Republican fundraiser with an email, obtained by FoxNews.com, that included the subject line: We want you on the Hillary team!!!
Definitely let me know if there's even a slight chance of getting you on our team, the email read. Trump will be a disaster for the country if he wins the presidency.
Trump has an uncanny appeal for many voters, which helped him vanquish 16 GOP rivals and increase party turnout by millions and millions compared with 2012, as he frequently boasts.
Still, some party elders and leaders are reluctant to get behind him, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush also have no plans to endorse Trump, though no prominent Republican has publicly vowed to instead vote for Clinton.
Perhaps the most high-profile defector to Clinton is Mark Salter -- a former, long-time adviser to 2012 GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
Im with her, he tweeted after Trump attacked then-primary rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz based off a National Enquirer story.
Fox News exit polls from several recent primaries suggest a significant number of Democrats and Republicans wouldnt vote, respectively, for Clinton or Trump in a general election. For instance, in Pennsylvania, a majority of John Kasich voters said they wouldnt vote for Trump; in Maryland, nearly 80 percent of Bernie Sanders backers said they wouldnt vote for Clinton.
However, whether they vote against their party, stay home or come around to their nominee in the end remains to be seen.
Trump, while appealing to anti-Clinton sentiments, also is reaching out to Democrats with a populist message on jobs and trade suggesting supporters of Democratic underdog Sanders should agree with his message.
The billionaire businessmans assault on international trade deals, blamed for moving hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas, has a ready audience among organized labor -- a reliable Democratic voting bloc. Union leaders have mounted a preemptive counter-attack.
There is no denying that Donald Trump sees our members as his path to the presidency, Richard Trumka, leader of the AFL-CIO, which represents roughly 12.5 million workers, warned a gathering of steelworkers last month in Washington, D.C. He says hell bring back steel. He says hell bring back coal. Baloney. Donald Trump is a dangerous, delusional demagogue.
While Trump has made his pitch from the start of the election cycle to voters of all political stripes, Clinton seems to have made a decision to wait until Trump emerged as the presumptive GOP nominee.
On Sunday, Clinton told CBS Face the Nation: I am asking people to come join this campaign. And Ive had a lot of outreach on Republicans in the last days who say that they are interested in talking about that.
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney slammed Donald Trump Wednesday for declining to release his tax returns, saying in a Facebook post the only explanation was that the documents contained a "bombshell of unusual size" about the presumptive GOP nominee.
"It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters," Romney wrote about the real estate mogul.
"There is only one logical explanation for Mr. Trump's refusal to release his returns: there is a bombshell in them," he continued. "Given Mr. Trump's equanimity with other flaws in his history, we can only assume it's a bombshell of unusual size."
On Tuesday, the billionaire told the Associated Press he doesn't expect to release his tax returns before November, citing an ongoing audit of his finances.
Trump said he will release them after the audit ends, but that he wouldn't overrule his lawyers and instruct them to release his returns if the audit hasn't concluded by November.
"There's nothing to learn from them," Trump told the AP, adding that he doesn't believe voters are interested.
Trump weighed in on the issue again Wednesday, saying on Twitter: "In interview I told @AP that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election!"
In interview I told @AP that my taxes are under routine audit and I would release my tax returns when audit is complete, not after election! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2016
Trump told Fox News' Greta Van Susteren in an "On The Record" interview Wednesday it would be "meaningless" to release his returns while he is being audited.
You learn very little from a tax return," he said.
He also reiterated he would release after his audit was completed.
"At the right time I'll release them," he said.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton used Trump's recent comment about his tax returns as a main point of her campaign rally Wednesday in Blackwood, New Jersey.
"So you've got to ask yourself why doesn't he want to release it? Yeah, well, we're going to find out," Clinton told supporters.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Senior Hillary Clinton aide Cheryl Mills and her lawyer walked out of a recent interview with the FBI about Clinton's private email system after an investigator asked a question Mills believed to be off limits, according to a published report.
The Washington Post said that Mills and her lawyer, Beth Wilkinson, returned to the interview room after a brief absence. However, the Post reported that Mills and Wilkinson asked for breaks during the interview to confer more than once.
According to the paper, the FBI investigator's questions that caused Mills and Wilkinson to walk out were related to the procedure used to produce emails for possible public release by the State Department. Mills ultimately did not answer questions about it because her attorney and Justice Department prosecutors deemed it confidential under attorney-client privilege.
The FBI is currently investigating possible gross mishandling of classified information and Clinton's use of an unsecured personal account exclusively for government business. Investigators have already interviewed two of Clinton's top aides, Mills and Huma Abedin, and hope to be able to interview Clinton herself as they wrap up the case.
Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic Presidential nomination, told CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday that she had not yet been contacted by the FBI to arrange an interview.
On Tuesday, the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Watch said it had obtained emails showing that a top Clinton political aide pushed the State Department to hire Bryan Pagliano, who helped manage Clinton's personal email server.
The emails show that State Department Undersecretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, a key figure in the Benghazi investigation, was involved in Pagliano's hire. The emails also appear to show members of the State Department's IT division questioning why Pagliano, a political appointee who had worked on Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, would be assigned to that office.
"[Kennedy] specifically said we didn't need to be [political appointees], but it sure sounds like we do," one email reads.
In court documents made public Monday, the State Department said it could not find any emails sent to or received by Pagliano during Clinton's tenure as secretary of state, which lasted between 2009 and 2013.
Click for more from The Washington Post.
Donald Trump, in an extensive interview Tuesday, said he does not intend to release his tax returns before the November election -- and ruled out accepting public money to finance his campaign for the White House.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Trump cited an ongoing audit of his finances as the reason he does not expect to release his returns before November, but said he will release them after the audit is completed.
"There's nothing to learn from them," he said, adding that he doesnt think the voters are interested.
He also ruled out taking public financing for his White House campaign. Doing so would have saved him the task of raising vast sums, but would also limit how much money he could spend fighting the Democratic nominee. He called public financing inappropriate.
"I don't like the idea of taking taxpayer money to run a campaign. I think it's inappropriate," he said.
The billionaire also said he wasnt interested in spending a lot of money on data operations to identify potential voters and to model turnout scenarios. He called Obamas data operation overrated and said he instead wants to rely on the large rallies that have helped him essentially lock down the Republican nomination.
"My best investment is my rallies," Trump said. "The people go home, they tell their friends they loved it. It's been good."
In terms of naming his running mate, Trump told Fox News Wednesday that he has narrowed his list down to five or six people but has not yet made a choice. He added that he intends to hold off announcing his choice until the convention in Cleveland in July.
I think thats traditionally the way its done. I like tradition and I think suspense is a good thing, Trump said. He has previously said he is looking for someone with congressional ties who can help get bills passed through Congress.
He also mocked a number of politicians who have stated publicly they would not be interested in being his running mate.
"I do get a kick out of all of these people saying theyve decided not to do it, they werent on the list. None of them. Everybody who talks about being vice president, theyve decided not do it, they werent on the list, Trump said. But thats okay, what difference does that make, let them have fun.
Trump is due to travel to Washington Thursday for meetings with top Republican leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has so far declined to endorse the billionaire.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Canadian teenager believes he has discovered the ruins of a lost Mayan city in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula with the assistance of Google Maps and a star chart.
William Gadoury, of Saint-Jean-de-Matha, Quebec, has had a longstanding interest in Mayan civilization, particularly where they chose to build their towns and cities.
"The Mayans were extremely good builders, but they often built in places that made little practical sense far from rivers, far from fertile areas. It seemed strange for a civilization that was so intelligent," Gadoury told CBC News. "I knew they were good at astronomy, so I tried to make the link."
Gadoury studied 22 Mayan constellations and found the stars matched the locations of 117 known ancient cities when overlaid on a map. He then realized that one star in a 23rd constellation didn't have a corresponding Mayan city.
That's when the teen got the Canadian Space Agency involved. After meeting CSA project officer Daniel De Lisle at a school science fair and presenting his theory, Gadoury was given access to high-definition satellite images which he cross-referenced against Google Earth.
Underneath the Yucatan's dense vegetation, Gadoury located possible man-made structures where the astronomical data suggested the missing city would be. He believes the objects to be the remains of pyramids. The CSA's De Lisle is cautiously optimistic.
"There are linear features that would suggest there is something underneath that big canopy," De Lisle told The Independent. "There are enough items to suggest it could be a man-made structure."
Gadoury has tentatively dubbed the ancient city K'aak Chi, or Mouth of Fire. His findings will be published in a scientific journal and he has been invited to present them at a conference in Brazil next year.
Click for more from CBCNews.ca.
Click for more form The Independent.
What is the sound of two black holes colliding? Some of them chirp. But a truly massive, fast-spinning black hole such as the one featured in the movie "Interstellar" might create a more dynamic song.
Colliding black holes don't actually create sound waves, but they do create gravitational waves distortions to space-time, the fabric of reality itself. In February, scientists with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration announced the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves.
To help the general public understand the signal that LIGO detected, the researchers transformed the data into sound waves. As the black holes circle each other faster and faster, the sound climbs in pitch, like a slide whistle. The final collision produces a high-pitched chirp (listen to it here), and then the sound is abruptly cut off the song stops because the two black holes have become one. [The Search for Gravitational Waves in Pictures]
This simple cosmic song may not be the only music these gravitational-wave emitters are capable of producing. At the American Physical Society April Meeting, held April 16 to 19 in Salt Lake City, Niels Warburton, a postdoctoral fellow at the MIT Kavli Institute, discussed simulations showing what kind of gravitational-wave "song" should be produced by collisions involving black holes that spin faster and are significantly larger than those that have been detected by LIGO.
Extreme collisions
To illustrate the new research, Warburton used the black hole Gargantua from the movie "Interstellar" as an example. In the film, a planet orbiting closer to this monster experiences extreme time dilation, so that one hour on the surface of the planet is equal to seven years on a spaceship nearby.
Astrophysicist Kip Thorne (who is also a founding member of LIGO) was deeply involved with the film and the science therein. He wrote in his book "The Science of Interstellar" that in order to cause the level of time dilation portrayed in the movie, the black hole would have to spin at nearly the fastest possible speed that scientists believe is possible for a black hole. More specifically, "1 part in 100 trillion less than maximum rate allowable," Warburton said.
(While it has not been demonstrably proven, it is thought that if a black hole were to spin faster than this maximum, its event horizon would shrink so far back as to leave a naked singularity, Warburton said a result that has defied physical models until now.)
For their study, Warburton and his colleagues looked at very massive black holes spinning a little slower than Gargantua only about 99.99 percent of the maximum theoretical speed. 'Interstellar' Science: The Movie's Black Hole Explained (Video )
Before black holes collide, they spiral around one another, getting closer and closer together. One black hole will circle the other until it reaches a point known as the lowest stable orbit, after which it "falls in" to its companion, Warburton explained.
But the faster a black hole spins, the closer that lowest stable orbit gets to its event horizon, or the point beyond which nothing (not even light) can escape, he said. And what their research shows is that when the companion black hole can get extremely close to its companion, the gravitational waves emitted by the pair are very different from what had been expected.
The two black holes that LIGO observed merged together and produced a "chirp" that is, the frequency of the signal rose steadily, then was cut off abruptly when the two objects combined. But Warburton and his colleagues showed that fast-spinning black holes create a signal that reaches a peak frequency, and then starts to lower in frequency, before fading out.
"Instead of chirping, you get this kind of singing sound from the black hole," Warburton said. "It'll rise, it won't get cut off, it'll sing, and then it's quiet at the end."
"[It's] a completely different gravitational-wave signature than what was detected [by LIGO]," he said. If a gravitational-wave detector picked up a signal that looked like the one the researchers' model describes, "you would know you were looking at a gargantuan system, something that is rotating extremely close to the maximum," he said.
This runs contrary to what scientists expected from a merger involving a very fast-spinning black hole, according to Jolyon Bloomfield, a lecturer at MIT, who presented research at the same press conference.
"It was certainly very unexpected to see something that didn't chirp," Bloomfield said, when asked during the press conference what he thought of the results. "Every template that we've seen so far has had this beautiful, chirping feature, and we just assumed that [if we] make [the spin of the black hole] bigger it chirps bigger. But this is quite interesting work that says no, the chirp actually goes away. Something else is happening here."
Hunting for gravitational songs
The work Warburton presented focuses mainly on a scenario involving a black hole millions of times more massive than the sun, spinning very fast, and colliding with a much smaller companion black hole something on the order of tens of times the mass of the sun. To detect these signals would require a very large gravitational wave detector like the European Space Agency's eLISA mission, which is scheduled for launch in the 2030s. However, Warburton said that some of these strange gravitational-wave songs could also be created by two midsize black holes, and those signals could potentially be detected by LIGO.
Will gravitational-wave detectors pick up signals created by these superfast-spinning black holes? Warburton said that such a scenario depends on how common these objects are in the universe.
"There are theoretical arguments that suggest that 99.8 percent is the most maximal speed you will find," Warburton said. "But until the detection of gravitational waves recently, people thought that the biggest black holes you would see would only be 15 solar masses. And the [black holes that LIGO] saw were double that: 30 solar masses."
"So these things might not be that common in the universe," he said. "But when you're doing gravitational-wave data analysis, you need to kind of know what you're looking for in advance And so we've shown what to look for in the data stream in order to detect these particularly exotic objects."
The new work could also help explain how very massive black holes form, Warburton said, because an object's spin can indicate how it acquired its mass. If a massive black hole formed from smaller black holes merging together, it shouldn't have an extremely high spin rate, he said.
A paper describing this research is available on the open-access website arXive.org, and the paper has been submitted for publication, according to Warburton.
Original article on Space.com.
On April 22, a 210-foot oil tanker signaled its position off the west coast of Africa, not far from its destination of Senegal. What transpired over the next two weeks is shrouded in mystery.
The "ghost ship" washed ashore in Robertsport, Liberia, far from the intended port of Dakar, on May 3. Two days later, the Liberian Coast Guard (LCG) and country's maritime authority boarded and searched the Tamaya 1 and found the crew had vanished.
The country's ministry of national defense now says the ship had been "gutted by fire, leaving the bridge (Upper and Control Center) burned along with all documents," per FrontPageAfrica.
Images of the ship show the name "Tamaya 1" on its hull. Tamaya 1 is a Panamanian-registered tanker, according to MarineTraffic.com, which provides vessel tracking and ship information services . MarineTraffic.com data show the ship's last known position was off the coast of West Africa on April 22.
Further, only one of the two lifeboats on the tanker was located by the LCG. One last breadcrumb: The LCG heard from the Maritime Regional Monitoring Rescue Coordination Center that the tanker was seen by some fishermen to be in possible distress four days after its final signal.
And that signal shouldn't have ceased, reports Motherboard, which explains tankers must regularly electronically transmit their position, speed, and direction for safety reasons. A marine monitoring expert tells the site two things could have transpired: The device could have been intentionally disabled, or it may have broken (but should have then been repaired).
As for the flak Liberia is catching for the two-day period it was reportedly unaware of the ship's presence on its shore, a National Port Authority source tells the Liberian Daily Observer that Robertsport's lack of seaport contributed to the delay.
(An adventurer's mummified body was found aboard a drifting yacht in February.)
This article originally appeared on Newser: Ghost Ship Found in Liberia Was Gutted by Fire
Its the last place youd expect to find flames.
But firefighters were called to Big Surf water park in Tempe, Ariz. to battle a first-alarm fire that broke out Tuesday night, reports The Republic.
According to officials on the scene, a fire consumed the roof of a mens bath house, described as a tiki hut-style building set apart from other park structures.
Witness photo of fire at Big Surf water park. Emily Chandler said flames were as tall as palm trees. pic.twitter.com/tdmkJtYOKG Jon Erickson (@JonEricksonTV) May 11, 2016
It took firefighters just under an hour to suppress the blaze.
When the fire broke out, a class was being taught inside the park, said Mitch Bycura, a Tempe Fire Department spokesman, but no injuries were reported. None of the water slides or attractions were damaged by flames or smoke and the park will reopen again this weekend.
The cause of the fire was not immediately apparent but the park is investigating the incident.
If the kids arent kids anymore and youre wondering what the Mouse still has to offer, Adventures by Disneys new Walt Disney World itinerary may be just the thing.
Adventures by Disney, the guided tour arm of the Disney company,
offers luxury group trips geared for adults to destinations on six continents, combining extraordinary service with all-inclusive itineraries.Disney company
But surprisingly, its lineup has never included Walt Disney World until now. Starting next month, groups including some that are adults-only can savor VIP experiences there that arent available to typical park guests. We recently sampled an Adventures by Disney Walt Disney World vacation, and here's a taste of what we got.
Gourmet dining in unique locations
The tour begins with a four-course, gourmet dinner inside Disneys Contemporary Resorts working kitchen, where chefs display their talents at rolling sushi and preparing pasta, entree and dessert while the head chef explains each dish and wine pairing. After the two-hour event, the culinary team presents you with a signed cookbook.
We also had a private lunch inside Epcots Living Seas VIP lounge, beside the massive aquarium. We were pulled away from the heat and the tourist crush to snack on lobster mac & cheese, mahimahi and more as we watched the sea turtles, rays and fish swimming on the other side of the windows.
The takeaway: Adventures by Disney delivered on its promise of world-class dining opportunities without having to make reservations six months ahead of time. Other advertised meals include private lunch at the Skipper Canteen (Magic Kingdoms newest restaurant), dinner inside Rafikis Planet Watch Conservation Station at Disneys Animal Kingdom and a farewell banquet in Epcots Imagination Pavilion. The food was exquisite, perfect for adults looking to escape chicken nuggets, churros, hot dogs and other typical theme park fare.
Exclusive attraction time at all four theme parks
Adults without kids still want to visit Walt Disney Worlds theme parks. Adventures by Disney treats you not only to dedicated time (with little to no waiting) on the most popular rides, but to exclusive access to the Imagineers who designed the attractions, too. After lunch at Epcots Living Seas, we were escorted to the top of the tank to visit the sea creatures and their caretakers.
Another highlight was a private morning safari through Disneys Animal Kingdom savanna before the park opened. A member of Disneys education team regaled us with animal facts as we spotted rhinos, cheetahs, hippos and the elusive male African lion, which displayed a royal pose. Its perfect for those whose knees no longer fit inside a flying elephant or who get queasy in a spinning teacup.
The takeaway: The itinerary also includes an Imagineer-led Magic Kingdom walking tour, an in-depth visit to the Hollywood Tower Hotel (including the Tower of Terror ride), a behind-the-scenes visit to Epcots American Adventure and reserved spots for afternoon parades and nightly fireworks spectaculars. These tours are not designed for little kids and are best for guests seeking detailed history and inside information. Disneyphile adults will soak up the details shared along the way.
Best of Central Florida
We also got a glimpse of what Central Florida was like before Mickey brought throngs of tourists to the area. By kayak, airboat, swamp buggy, horse and/or zip line, youll see the natural side of Florida. The airboats motor, wind and speed were thrilling, and so was seeing gators sunning on marshy banks in the wild. The group also visits Kennedy Space Center (an hour away) for a private tour, culminating with a catered lunch overlooking the launch pad while an astronaut shares stories of space adventures.
The takeaway: Anyone can visit the Forever Florida Wildlife Conservation Area and the Kennedy Space Center, but Adventures by Disney handles all the planning to make everything seamless.
Final takeaway
Adventures by Disneys Walt Disney World vacation is perfect for adults who appreciate Disney but also enjoy attractions outside the theme parks and are looking for a luxurious, pampered retreat. These arent budget vacations they start at $4,939/adult and $4,699/child (under 12) but the weeklong, all-inclusive trip incorporates incredible service, individual attention and luxury VIP experiences.
And, as we mentioned earlier, some of the trips are adult-exclusive, which provides for a more mature, sophisticated experience. If youre looking for an adult-oriented experience, have the means to splurge and want to leave the details and planning to someone else, Adventures by Disneys Walt Disney World vacation may be ideal.
The parents of two teenagers who vanished months ago while fishing off the coast of Florida engaged in a new legal battle over a recovered iPhone, with one family filing a restraining order Sunday to keep the phone away from the other family before law enforcement could examine it.
Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos disappeared last July. Each was 14 at the time. Their bodies were never found, but a Norwegian cargo ship spotted their 19-foot boat near Bermuda last month and recovered it. Onboard were Stephanos' phone and some fishing gear.
One day after the Cohen family filed the restraining order, Blu Stephanos, Austin's father, promised to share the phone's data with investigators and both families.
Speaking to the Palm Beach Post, Blu Stephanos said salt water had damaged the phone badly, making it unclear whether any information could come out of it. Still, he added, "I am not giving up hope."
This is not the first rift to appear between the families since their sons disappeared. Last October, Pamela Cohen, Perry's mother, asked that Stephanos' parents not use her son's name and likeness while fundraising for their new foundation.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took the phone after crews recovered it. The restraining order would have prevented the Stephanos family from taking it before investigators.
A court hearing is pending, said Guy Rubin, the Perry family's attorney. He said his clients have had no formal communication with the Stephanos family about the phone, so "I am not sure what their intentions are."
FWC spokesman Rob Klepper issued a statement Monday saying that since this is not a criminal investigation the agency would turn over the phone and other items to the respective families. Any retrieval of information from Austin Stephanos' phone would only be done with his family's permission, Klepper said.
The cellphone, two fishing rods and two small tackle boxes were recovered from the boat. The phone was shipped ahead to FWC, but the boat and other personal effects were crated and are expected to arrive at Port Everglades next month.
Robert Heller, a digital forensics expert in Texas, said the phone could contain the boat's location, its speed, its direction, distress text messages the boys tried to send, photos they took and other information, assuming it wasn't damaged beyond repair. Even if FWC turns over the phone to the Stephanos family, Heller suspects investigators will download its data for safekeeping, if it is accessible.
"If they didn't make a forensic record, then shame on them," he said.
The Coast Guard searched for a week and the families' volunteer search lasted more than two weeks. During its search, the Coast Guard did spot the overturned boat near Daytona Beach, almost 200 miles from where the boys departed but it was gone when a recovery boat arrived at the location.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A mentally ill Massachusetts man stabbed four people, two fatally, at a home and a shopping mall south of Boston before he was shot and killed by an off-duty law enforcement officer, authorities said late Tuesday.
Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III told reporters that Arthur Darosa, 28, of Taunton, crashed a car outside a home in the city, walked inside and stabbed an 80-year-old woman and another woman. The 80-year-old was taken to a hospital, where she later died. The other woman was being treated for life-threatening injuries.
Neighbors told WFXT the women who were attacked in the home were mother and daughter.
"My son was here and heard the loud noise," a neighbord told the station. "An accident had happened, someone was coming out of the house. [He] realized that person had a knife."
Darosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria mall, where he crashed a car into the front of a Macy's store. Quinn said Darosa assaulted three people inside the store before running to a Bertucci's restaurant and stabbing two other people, including a 56-year-old man who later died. An off-duty deputy sheriff intervened at the restaurant and shot Darosa dead, Quinn said.
None of the victims' names were immediately available.
Darosa's father and sister told the Boston Herald that he was mentally disturbed and suicidal. Kerri Devries told the paper that her brother had battled depression for years and had been taken to a local hospital Monday.
"He told them how depressed he was and how he didnt want to live anymore and they still let him leave," Devries said. "I feel so sorry for those families and what happened, but hes not completely to blame, he was sick.
Data curated by FindTheData
"He went to the ER, they put him in a psych ward," she added. All he kept saying was the devil was playing tricks on him and was going to poison the minds of his children."
The Silver City Galleria was briefly placed on lockdown during the attacks. Store worker Justin Pizzaro told The Boston Globe a mall security guard walked up to him shortly before 7 p.m. local time and told him to close the store gate.
Taunton, with a population of around 55,000, is located approximately 40 miles south of Boston.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from MyFoxBoston.com.
An Ohio man whose Middle Eastern restaurant in February was the scene of a frightening machete attack that left four people wounded believes he was the target of a terrorist.
Hani Baransi, an Israeli-born Catholic whose Nazareth Restaurant and Deli is adorned with the Jewish States flag, told FoxNews.com he suspects a lone wolf was behind the attack, a conclusion FBI and police have so far not made publicly. The assailant, Mohamed Barry, a Muslim from the West African nation of Guinea, was shot dead by police in a confrontation outside the restaurant shortly after the attack.
"It was a targeted killing," Baransi, 50, told FoxNews.com. "It was definitely an assassination attempt. This person went through town looking for someone like me."
In addition to believing his restaurant was singled out for the Israeli flag outside, Baransi confirmed reports that Barry came in the restaurant prior to the attack and asked staff members about their boss.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
"One of the waitresses told him I was from Israel, Baransi said. He came back 30 minutes later and started attacking customers."
Neither local police nor the FBI, which is investigating the attack, has confirmed or ruled out a terror motive. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, authorities were careful to say Barry was not believed to have acted on the orders of a terror organization, but did not preclude the possibility he was a self-radicalized lone wolf.
But with no answers three months later, Baransi believes authorities are downplaying the threat of Islamist terror on U.S. soil.
Its become a joke, Baransi said. Im sick of it. All I want is answers. They have denied me every time I have asked questions.
Barry stormed into the restaurant Feb. 11 at about 6 p.m. with a machete and attacked a couple. When bystanders came to their aid, he turned on them, wounding two, including musician Bill Foley, who was performing for patrons at the time. Barry fled in a car, but was chased by police, culminating in the fatal encounter.
Baransi was questioned by investigators looking for a possible motive. While likely routine, combined with the subsequent lack of answers from authorities, it left Baransi angry at law enforcement and even City Hall, which he also accuses of papering over terror ties. He said he spent $100,000 cleaning up and fixing the restaurant after Barrys rampage, although he said his customers have remained loyal.
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginthers office issued a statement saying he tried to talk to Baransi and was rebuffed.
The City of Columbus was deeply saddened by the February attack at Nazareth Restaurant, the statement said. Members of Mayor Andrew Ginthers cabinet went to the restaurant and met with the owner, Hani Baransi, in the days immediately following. The mayor tried to arrange a personal call with Mr. Baransi less than a week after the attack. Mr. Baransi rejected the invitation.
Columbus Police, who said in February there was no rhyme or reason to the attack, declined to comment further on the case. FBI officials referred FoxNews.com to an initial statement the bureau released in February.
"At this point in the investigation, we have developed no information that Mohamed Barry was working with, or directed by, anyone in conducting this attack, read the statement. We will continue to work with our partners to gather information about Barry's life and any motives behind this heinous act.
A 15-year-old from Quebec has taken a page out of Indiana Jones's book, minus the hat, whip and journey to an unknown destination halfway across the world.
All William Gadoury needed was a map or two and satellite imagery. Presto! An archeological discovery: the fourth-largest Mayan city ever discovered. He didnt even have to deal with snakes, let alone leave his own home, according to Le Journal De Montreal.
The teen combined his longstanding fascination with Mayan history, his curious mind and a good question: Why did the Mayans always settle far away from water and in hard-to-reach places such as mountain ranges?
Related: 10 Successful Kid Entrepreneurs Keeping Their Eyes on the Prize
In his research, Gadoury observed 22 Mayan constellations and found if he plotted them on a map, they corresponded with 117 known Mayan cities. He was the first to determine the relation. Then, what really caught Gadourys eye was a constellation of three stars. One had yet to be correlated to any known city.
He later confirmed his theory with satellite images after reaching out to the Canadian Space Agency, which obtained satellites from NASA and JAXA, the Japanese agency.
What makes Williams project fascinating is the depth of his research, says Canadian Space Agency liaison officer Daniel de Lisle in a Yahoo! News article. Linking the positions of stars to the location of a lost city along with the use of satellite images on a tiny territory to identify the remains buried under dense vegetation is quite exceptional.
Related: 18 Unforgettable Moments in Space Exploration
Because he was responsible for the discovery, the 15-year-old had the honor of naming the new city. He settled with K'AAK CHI, a Mayan phrase that means fire mouth in English.
Of course, he plans on visiting the city sometime soon.
It would be the culmination of three years of work and the dream of lifetime, Gadoury says in the article.
We say go for it! In the words of Indiana Jones: Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.
A recovery team could not reveal any clues from an iPhone belonging to one of two teen fishermen who vanished in the Atlantic Ocean last summer, a family attorney told local media Wednesday.
Michael Pike, lawyer for Austin Stephanos' father, Blu, said the Apple engineers were unable to restore the phone, which turned up on the teens' boat when it was recovered off Bermuda in March.
Pike told the Sun Sentinel his client was "devastated." There was no immediate response from Apple.
Blu Stephanos said the team took apart the phone to clean and try restoring its components. "The fact that it can no longer function doesn't diminish its value as a cherished memory of my beloved son," he said.
Austin Stephanos and Perry Cohen disappeared on July 24 when their 19-foot boat capsized north of Jupiter, Fla. during a storm. Both were 14 at the time. A Norwegian freighter recovered their boat.
Cohen's mother had sued Stephanos' parents and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to have the phone examined by an impartial third party after the commission released it to the Stephanos family. According to local media reports, the phone was described in court as rusted and deteriorating because it had been submerged in water. Last month, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Gregory Keyser ordered for the iPhone 6 to be shipped overnight to Apple.
A pilot who took part in the search told FoxNews.com he was positive he saw one of the teens floating on debris two days after their boat capsized. Bobby Smith said he saw two white pieces of debris tied together with an orange life jacket.
He went to 200 feet and saw a person waving his hands over his head. He said he climbed to 1,500 feet so he could radio controllers and when he went back down he could no longer find the person. The Coast Guard went to the area and also could not find anything.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Relatives of a fitness instructor killed at a church in North Texas said it was "devastating" to learn the woman and her husband had been engaging in intimate relationships with other people, in an interview published Tuesday.
Midlothian police said a student arriving for a class found the body of 45-year-old Terri "Missy" Bevers of Red Oak at Creekside Church of Christ on April 18. Police said surveillance video showed her unidentified killer inside the church minutes before she arrived before dawn. The killer wore a jacket labeled "Police," gloves and a helmet.
Police investigating her death announced last week that Bevers and her husband, Brandon, had "an ongoing financial and marital struggle as well as intimate/personal relationship(s) external to the marriage." Investigators also uncovered what they called "flirtatious" messages from her personal devices.
"For Brandon to lose his wife to murder and then find out about the flirtatious remarks to other people has got to be devastating to him," his mother, Marsha Tucker, told People magazine.
The couple had three daughters ranging in ages from 8 to 15.
Brandon Bevers told the magazine he was "impressed" with how investigators were proceeding, adding, "I have quite a bit of faith in what they're doing."
An affidavit showed that the fitness instructor received what she called a "creepy" message on the professional networking site LinkedIn days before her death. Police said they found the man who sent the message, and they weren't considering him a suspect or person of interest.
Police said Missy Bevers suffered puncture wounds to her head and chest. Capt. John Spann said officers found broken glass on the floor and evidence of forced entry into the church, possibly for a burglary.
Midlothian is 20 miles southwest of Dallas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Investigators involved in the desperate search for a missing 9-year-old Tennessee girl believed abducted by her uncle emphasized Wednesday the case is not a simple custody dispute and stressed that Carlie Marie Trent could be in grave danger.
We realize Gary Simpson is Carlie Trents uncle by marriage but we have specific we have credible information that Carlie Trent is in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death, Tennessee Bureau of Investigations spokesperson Josh DeVine said during an afternoon press conference. When we say this child is in danger we absolutely mean it.
DeVine was particularly concerned about a narrative that had developed in the week since Trent was picked up from her school by Simpson, her former guardian. Simpson, 57, had recently lost custody of Trent, who was in her fathers care before her disappearance. But DeVine was emphatic that Trents kidnapping was not merely the product of a guardianship battle.
An Amber Alert remained in effect Wednesday, however, authorities had yet to receive a tip of any concrete sightings of Trent or Simpson. Officials believe the two may be in a campground or secluded area.
Shortly before he picked Trent up at school, Simpson withdrew money from a local bank, DeVine said Wednesday. Though he wouldnt reveal the amount of money Simpson had taken out, DeVine said police believed Simpson only had a limited amount left.
Simpson was last seen driving a white 2002 Dodge Conversion Van with the license plate 173GPS.
Officials revealed Tuesday that Simpson had purchased multiple items before taking Trent, including lipstick, a package of young girls underwear, a young girls night gown and nail polish. The two were spotted on surveillance cameras at a grocery store buying several non-perishable items just after Trent had left the school.
As her former guardian, Trent had previously been authorized to remove Trent from school. The school had not yet been notified that Trents guardianship had changed.
Four journalists arrested during protests that followed the 2014 shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson have settled their lawsuit against St. Louis County police, attorneys for both sides said Wednesday.
Details of the settlement were confidential, but a joint statement said that the county will adopt policy changes to address issues raised in the lawsuit.
"The parties believe that the resolution reached will ensure that the County's policing activities are consistent with the County's expressed commitment to keeping the public informed, and does not impede on the police department's responsibility to protect the community," the statement said.
The suit, filed in March 2015, accused county police and 20 officers of violating the reporters' civil rights and unjustifiably detaining them.
The reporters filing the suit were Ryan Devereaux of The Intercept, an online investigative publication; Ansgar Graw, correspondent with the conservative German daily Die Welt; Frank Herrmann, who writes for German regional papers; and freelance journalist Lukas Hermsmeier.
Brown, who was black and unarmed, was fatally shot by white Ferguson officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. Wilson was later cleared of wrongdoing and resigned in November 2014, but the shooting set off days of massive protests and was a catalyst in the creation of the national Black Lives Matter movement.
The journalists were accused of failing to disperse during protests nine and 10 days after the shooting. Devereaux and Hermsmeier claimed they were wrongly arrested and hit by police-fired rubber bullets after showing officers their media credentials. Graw and Herrmann claimed they were taken into custody while wearing press badges and carrying still cameras.
The journalists spent hours in custody, the lawsuit said.
The Massachusetts school teacher killed in Tuesdays stabbing rampage at a mall was remembered as a hero for confronting the knife-wielding assailant who was attacking a waitress.
George Heath, a 56-year-old teacher in New Bedford, was eating dinner with his wife at Bertuccis restaurant when they were interrupted by screaming. A waitress was being stabbed by 28-year-old Arthur DaRosa.
Heath, a father of two, confronted DaRosa and after some grappling was stabbed in the head, Thomas Quinn, the Bristol County district attorney said. DaRosa was later shot in the abdomen by an off-duty sheriffs deputy and died from his wounds at a nearby hospital. Heath died minutes later.
Heaths wife, Rosemary, recalled the attack on WCVB-TV. She said DaRosa had the back of the waitress shirt in his hand and kept stabbing the woman.
I think [Heath] went down low, to try and get him around the elbows, and [DaRosa] pulled her arm back and stabbed my husband in the head.
We lost a good man, she said.
The assaults started earlier in the evening when DaRosa crashed a car outside a home in the town, walked inside and stabbed an 80-year-old woman and another woman. The 80-year-old was taken to a hospital, where she later died. The other woman was being treated for life-threatening injuries.
DaRosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria mall, where he crashed a car into the front of a Macy's store. Quinn said DaRosa assaulted three people inside the store before running to Bertucci's restaurant, where he stabbed two more people. An off-duty deputy sheriff intervened at the restaurant and shot DaRosa, killing him, Quinn said.
DaRosa's family says he was mentally disturbed. Authorities said he checked himself in to a hospital Monday and was out earlier Tuesday.
Kerri Devries, DaRosa's sister, told the Boston Herald her brother has been battling depression for years. She says he has recently been suicidal, and the "devil was playing tricks on him." She says he was admitted to the hospital Monday.
DaRosa's father, also Arthur DaRosa, tells the newspaper he was surprised when his son returned from the hospital Tuesday morning, but said he appeared "normal" and calm."
Greater New Bedford Technical Vocational High School Superintendent-Director James O'Brien called Heath a "true gentleman" who had worked at the school for four years.
O'Brien says, "Heath was a tremendous educator with a great passion for teaching; he was influential in sparking creativity and a love of learning in all of his students."
Particle physics and string theory pose plenty of interesting questions, but educators at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this week wrestled with yet another vexing dilemma: "Is Islamophobia Accelerating Global Warming?"
That was the topic at a Monday panel at the venerable Boston school whose alums include Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Michael Bloomberg and Charles and David Koch. The presentation, sponsored by the school's Global Studies and Languages Department, looked at an entanglement of two crises, metaphorically related with one being a source of imagery for the other and both originating in colonial forms of capitalist accumulation, according to an online advertisement for the event.
The descriptions air of uber-academic applesauce has been the topic of much online mockery and confusion. Mediaite said it couldnt make heads or tails of it. Tablet, meanwhile, turned to deriding the subject matter itself, and satirically proposed examining whether anti-Semitism is responsible for the rapid disappearance of the pygmy hippo. Several commenters on Twitter made sure to note they were not linking to spoof newspaper The Onion. Then there were those who said neither global warming nor Islamophobia were real phenomenons.
The topic was presented by Ghassan Hage, a future generation professor at the University of Melbourne. Hage, who is authoring an upcoming book on the proposed Islamophobia/global warming relationship, has a history of courting controversy and promoting far-left and anti-Israel ideals.
Hage, born in Lebanon before moving to Australia, is the author of several books exploring race in Australia, including, White Nation and Against Paranoid Nationalism. In online essays, he has called airport security an example in which Westerners require from those they racialize an exact obedience to the letter of the law.
A supporter of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement, he has likened Israelis to slave owners in a tweet and has called Palestinian militants freedom fighters in an essay. He ended that particular essay, A Massacre Is Not A Massacre, sarcastically: I have such a limited brain and my ignorance is unlimited. And theyre so f------ intelligent. Really.
Leslie Eastman, an environmental health and safety professional and writer for Legal Insurrection, pulled no punches assessing Hage and his presentation.
The Association for the defense of Israeli slave owners is accusing anti-slavery activists of reverse racism#Israel #Palestine #BDS Ghassan Hage (@ghahagea) October 31, 2013
"I assess that the only way Islamophobia contributed to global warming is from the hot air Hage emitted while presenting this lecture," she wrote.
Its unclear who invited Hage or approved the lecture, or if Hage was paid or how many people attended.
Attempts to elicit information about the presentation from Hage, Prof. Bettina Stoetzer, who introduced Hage, and department Administrative Officer Elouise Evee-Jones were not immediately successful.
Dont judge a book by its cover.
Id only met the thin, pretty woman sitting next to me a couple of hours earlier. She was wearing a colorful maxi skirt and cowboy boots, fashionable sunglasses, and gorgeous earrings. She had very short hair under her white lace chapel veil and tattoos on her arms and shoulders.
She and I were wearing matching white t-shirts with the Arabic letter Noon or in red printed on them: N for Nazarene Jesus the Nazarene the symbol designating Christians in the Middle East.
We were waiting on a bench on the lower level of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., for confession before Mass.
Then, after Mass, we were heading to the fence of the White House to meet up with a few friends. We would then pray together for an end to the systemic violence against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.
So began my friendship with Brice Griffin two summers ago. Since then, her faith and fortitude have never failed to inspire me and challenge me to be a better person.
Griffin was baptized in the Episcopal Church, but despite her fathers efforts, she did not hold fast to any faith. Like many people, her adolescence included rebellion, which led to sex, drugs, and rock n roll. A full-time job at Tower Records seemed to be the natural path for her, and this opportunity put her collegiate studies on hold.
It also brought free tickets to the legendary 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., seven days a week. The rock life was so appealing that when she became pregnant, she didnt hesitate when her boyfriend a professional guitarist suggested an abortion. She was certain this would earn her a permanent bunk on the tour bus, but it only brought her abandonment, heartache, and depression.
It took years for her to climb out of the emotional aftermath of that abortion and the subsequent break-up with the guitarist, but climb she did. Brice Griffin straightened out her life and found love, but never followed a religion until after she got married.
She told me, The Eucharist is what brought me to the Catholic Church also, my husband. Mike was raised Catholic and while he always said he wouldnt pressure me to convert, he insisted our children would be raised Catholic as well. So we attended Mass on most Sundays as a family admittedly there were Sundays when we would skip it and I would sit tight during Communion.
Then one day it hit me, she continued. If my husband believes that is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and Im going to be teaching that to my children, I need to make a change! And that was it. I went through RCIA [the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults] and was confirmed on March 22, 2008. And my conversion process has caused an enormous reversion for my husband. We havent missed a Sunday Mass since then, and we go to confession as a family once a month.
All four of their children (ages 15, 13, 11, and 9) are homeschooled and they attend Mass daily. Griffin also puts her faith in action in pro-life activism and advocacy: She shares her story of regret after her abortion in her early 20s as a speaker with the Silent No More Awareness Campaign; she volunteers with Priests for Life and Stand True: Christ Centered Pro-Life; she traveled to Ghana to help train sidewalk counselors and lay the groundwork to help the local community start a pregnancy resource center; and she is the founder and director of Stanton Healthcare/Charlotte Center for Women in Charlotte, N.C.
Stanton Charlotte's mission is "to provide women facing an unplanned pregnancy with life-affirming options in an environment that promotes physical, emotional, and mental well-being, empowering them with confidence and resources at no cost to them." And Griffin's mission is to help them all the woman facing an unplanned pregnancy, the woman suffering after an abortion, the families seeking direction, resources, and encouragement.
Bryan Kemper, youth outreach director of Priests for Life and founder of Stand True, said, "Brice Griffin is the perfect example of the total grace and redemption that we have in Christ. Her willingness to share her story and what God did for her and her family has inspired me in my work to end abortion and help women in crisis."
"I know that having the Griffin family in my life," he added, "has made me strive to be a better person and father."
Dr. Matthew Harrison is one of the pioneers of the Abortion Pill Reversal protocol, a medical intervention designed to reverse the effects of the chemical abortion pill RU-486. Dr. Harrison told me that Griffin "brings care and compassion to the pro-life movement. She is a sympathetic warrior for the pre-born and at the same time, an empathetic advocate for the post-abortive."
She spends her time immersed in her faith, her family, her friends I am fortunate to be counted in this number! She advocates for the helpless, offers practical support and resources to mothers and families in need, and travels around the United States to speak to youth. She engages, educates, inspires, and challenges them to let God use them for His will on earth.
Brice Griffin's remarkable conversion and the witness of her life and her work her faith in action are beautiful reminders that one doesn't have to be a priest or a pastor, a sister or a saint, to follow God's call and make a difference in this world.
Jewels Green is a mother, writer, public speaker and advocate for the right to life from conception to natural death. She lives in a suburb of Philadelphia.
An Albuquerque woman is facing embezzlement charges after police say she stole from her former employer more than $7,000 -- in quarters.
KRQE-TV in Albuquerque reports a criminal complaints says Jessica Madrid stole 29,503 quarters from an apartment complex where she worked as a secretary.
Police say the 26-year-old Madrid never deposited the quarters in laundry money on behalf of the complex and kept the coins.
Albuquerque police spokesman Tanner Tixier says it took apartment complex officials around six months to realize they were being ripped off.
According to records, Madrid collected quarters from the complex laundry site each week from June 2015 until January 2016.
A police report says Madrid was later fired for an unrelated matter.
It was not known if Madrid had an attorney.
For years he kept the story of his capture to himself telling the details to almost no one. Now, however, Fr. Douglas Bazi, a priest from Erbil, Iraq, who was kidnapped and tortured by Islamic militants back in 2006, is sharing his story, hoping to shed light on the plight of Iraqi Christians.
I never talked about my story for many reasons but, first, because this is the cost [of being] a Christian in Iraq, he said.
Second because, as a priest, we are used to persecution. When we get in the seminary they tell us: You dont know, maybe you will be killed one day. Third, I dont want people to feel sorry for me. Who I am to complain?
It was ISIS, said this man of great faith, that finally changed Fr. Bazis mind about sharing his story: When 2014 happened and [events unfolded] with the Islamic State in Iraq, I started talking.
Since then, Fr. Bazi has been working selflessly to bring his story to the American people in particular, in order for us to understand the terrible plight of Christians in Iraq. He has done interviews and traveled the United States to share his story also speaking with LifeZette and appearing on The Laura Ingraham Show.
Its not my story but our story, he said, speaking of the dire circumstances of the Christians left in Iraq and the persecution that occurs to this day.
We are Christian from the first century, said Fr. Bazi. We are just a peaceful people.
Before 2003, there were over two million Christians in Iraq. Today, Christians represent less that 1 percent of the Iraqi population.
When the two groups of Muslims the Sunnis and the Shiites started to fight each other, we Christians [were] caught between two fires, explained Fr. Bazi. In 2004, the first church was attacked in Baghdad but then, instead of attacking churches, they started attaching clergy.
He added, They attacked my church and I was shot by an AK-47, and after that they kidnapped me. I found myself in the trunk of a car and I had no idea where they took me They said, If you open your eyes, we will put a bullet in your head. One kicked me in the face with his knee and my face was covered in blood.
That was only the first few minutes of the cruelty Fr. Bazi endured for the next nine days of captivity by Islamic extremists.
They took me into a house and were proclaiming, We got the infidel! and We got the American spy! Then they took me to another place where they kept me for nine days.
I felt the Islamic hospitality in a bad way, quipped Fr. Bazi. Every day they called me infidel and American spy.'
But the berating and chiding was the least of the priests worries.
They would put an empty gun to my head and pull the trigger, he explained. The first four days I spent without water. And they would torture me in the night.
Fr. Bazi explained that, due to the lack of water, to this day he sleeps with water by his bedside table. And when he told his family and friends the story, they brought him cases and cases of water.
Now everywhere I go people give me a bottle of water because of this story, Fr. Bazi said with a smile.
He said his faith underwent the ultimate test during his captivity. I was praying the rosary on the 10 chain links on either side of my handcuffs, he said.
And during his time as a prisoner, Fr. Bazi began to talk to his captors. I know sharia law better than you, he would tell them. We are not in a war. You kidnapped me. I am your enemy, but you are not mine.
And the men who kidnapped him would say back, Its not personal. We dont know you you are on a list. They will give us money for you.
It became clear that they were agents of the then-government in Iraq. They said they control everything and that they are the government, Fr. Bazi said.
And then it was time to talk of ransom. We will ask for one million, his captors told him. Fr. Bazi scoffed at his captors, saying, When you kidnap the prime minister, ask for one million. My bishop wont pay that.
The Islamic extremists allowed Fr. Bazi to speak with a fellow priest during his capture, but only in Arabic, not in Aramaic, as they wanted to know what the two priests were saying to one another.
"But I said one word in Aramaic the Aramaic word for 'it's over' because it was very clear to me I was going to die."
The Christians in charge of exchanging the ransom thought he would die, too, because they could not pay what was asked. Fr. Bazi said the Christian community there said, "Keep him. We will consider him one of our martyrs."
Fr. Bazi, however, understood that this decision was necessary, even at the time. "I would do the same," he said.
The captors were not happy with that answer. "They came and took me to another room and they were watching the Iraqi TV channel, which just plays the Quran. They played it very loud, because they are showing the type of believers they are."
Then the torture began. "I heard one of them say, 'Bring me the hammer,' and they hit me in [the] mouth at my teeth. They hit me again and again, and then [on] my shoulder and my back."
But the torture only happened at night. Fr. Bazi said that during the day, those who guarded him would ask for his advice on life. "During the day, they used to ask me many questions, like 'What do I do with my wife? She's upset about this or that.' And I would tell them to be kind to her. 'Your wife will be happy,'" he would tell them.
At night the torture would return often that's when the leaders of the groups would come in. In the daytime, only the lower-ranking people in the group would stay.
"The same people during the day would ask me for advice, and during the night [would] call me 'infidel.'"
Finally, there came a breakthrough. "After nine days, the church paid them some money and they put me in the car and covered me in women's clothes," in order to get him through the checkpoints, he explained.
But he was unhappy with the clothes and began protesting and telling them they would pay for what they had done to him. They scoffed at him, asking how could he protest when they had the power to kill him at any moment. But Fr. Bazi clearly showed he was not one to be frightened his fortitude was greater than their guns.
"They dropped me off in Baghdad," he said. "And I walked to a church that was close and the priest [who was waiting there for him] ran out and hugged me. And then I started crying."
Today, Fr. Bazi leads the Christian people who are left in Iraq with strength and courage. He said he tells them, "If you want to leave, leave. If you want to stay, don't complain."
That is the spirit and strength of these Iraqi Christians.
Surviving relatives of an Ohio family who was murdered last month said Tuesday there may have been cameras at two of the locations where bodies were found.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said authorities received video in the killings of seven adults and a 16-year-old boy who were found on April 22 at four different locations near Piketon.
"We reached out to people initially that we thought might have video," DeWine told reporters at his Cincinnati office, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "We were able to obtain some video."
DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader urged anyone who recorded video nearby on April 21 or 22 to contact their offices. The request includes, but isn't limited to, any video from the night of April 21 or the morning of April 22 that shows vehicle movements in the area, DeWine said.
DeWine called the request "an attempt to get anything that has been missed," The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
Investigators also ask that anyone with information that might help solve the shootings call the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation tip line at 1-855-BCI-OHIO.
Leonard Manley, the father of Dana Rhoden, said his former son-in-law Christopher Rhoden Sr. had at least two video cameras mounted on a building near the entrance of his trailer and when anyone would come up his driveway, a light would turn on.
Manley told the Cincinnati Enquirer he believes Christopher Rhoden Sr. kept his security cameras on all the time, but didnt know whether police had obtained footage from the cameras.
Bobby Jo Manley, Leonard Manleys youngest daughter, told the paper that Kenneth Rhoden had video cameras at his trailer and she said she knew they were there because she used to clean his property. She told the paper she was unsure whether police obtained footage for his cameras.
DeWine declined to comment on potential video received from the Rhoden properties.
Investigators say they've received more than 500 tips and done over 130 interviews as they try to determine who targeted the Rhoden family and why.
A coroner said all but one of the victims were shot more than once.
The discovery of marijuana growing operations at three of the four crime scenes stoked rumors that the slayings were related to drugs, but that's only one of many theories about possible motives that have circulated.
The victims were identified as 40-year-old Christopher Rhoden; his ex-wife, 37-year-old Dana Rhoden; their three children, 20-year-old Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 16-year-old Christopher Jr., and 19-year-old Hanna; Frankie Rhoden's fiancee, 20-year-old Hannah Gilley; Christopher Rhoden Sr.'s brother, 44-year-old Kenneth Rhoden; and a cousin, 38-year-old Gary Rhoden. Hanna Rhoden's days-old baby girl, another baby and a young child were unharmed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Click for more from the Cincinnati Enquirer.
A freshman at the University of California Merced donated his meal card to other students studying for finals, starting a trend at the school.
Harrison Tom found out that he had extra funds on his pre-paid meal card that he could not possibly spend by the end of the semester. So he alerted fellow students that he bought 100 vouchers and they could help themselves to free food.
Why let my money go to waste back to the university when I could help feed people who need the food? he asked, according to Fox 26. Theyre in college, theyre hungry, Im in college, Im hungry. So its definitely a good thing.
Toms generosity led to others to donate money from their own meal cards. By the end of the day about $4,000 worth of vouchers were donated.
About 50 people reportedly were redeeming vouchers per hour, some even posting pictures on social media.
If you have the money, why not use it to benefit other people, Tom said.
Click for more from Fox 26.
Swimsuit season is upon us and legions of moms are already faced with finding bathing suits for our daughters. For our sons, its a no-brainer every store sells board shorts and rash guards. Easy.
But for our daughters, this is pretty near impossible.
When I was growing up in the 70s, I only remember my sisters and me ever wearing a standard one-piece bathing suit to the pool, the lake, or the beach. I dont recall any other more modest options but then again, I never saw any little girls wearing bikinis, either.
When my first daughter was a toddler, I used to love watching her splash in the ocean and play in the sand. She looked so cute in her little frilly pink bathing suit. So innocent and sweet. I didnt give any thought to what she wore back then. As she got older, swimwear became more of an issue. She became very self-conscious of her body by age nine. She wanted a two-piece swimsuit to fit in but she no longer wanted to jump off the dock or run on the beach.
She seemed to have lost her love of the water. Even though her swimsuits were conservative by many standards, she still felt like her body was more important than anything else and it had to be perfect.
I struggled with this. I wanted her to wear a modest swimsuit, but I hadnt realized the importance of starting young. Now that shes a teenager, it is very difficult to find something that is acceptable to both of us. I want her to be comfortable. What is comfortable about a sunburned back and shoulders? Who wants to be slathered with sunscreen every half hour? Who enjoys sand all over their bodies?
Let's face it there is nothing comfortable about most swimsuit offerings for girls today. Laces come loose around the neck and back, and tiny triangles barely cover who knows what.
Of course, any mention of the word "modesty" brings on eye rolls and muttering. Many people today think modesty means oppression covering up out of fear and narrow-mindedness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Modesty brings freedom the freedom to be comfortable in your skin. The freedom to not compare your thighs with anyone else. The freedom to be more than just a sexual object.
Parents think nothing of putting their little ones in itty-bitty bikinis because it is "cute." Those of us who don't think it is appropriate are told we are sexualizing little girls and shouldn't be so judgmental. But that little girl will become an older girl, a teenager, a young woman and that's when the choices we make when they are young really start to matter.
If we are concerned about the early sexualization of our girls, we have to be cognizant of the fact that swimsuits matter. Why do we persist in putting our girls in revealing bathing suits? Imagine your daughter in her underwear going for a walk down the street. Why do we say no to that, yet it is OK on the beach? Clearly there is a disconnect.
Now that I am the mother of two more girls, ages 4 and 3, I have approached swimwear very differently. I have found rash guards and short pants and skorts that cover their thighs. Rash guards and shorts are perfectly appropriate for girls. A colorful rash guard paired with swim skorts is very nice, too. With my young girls, I have dressed them modestly for the beach since they were babies. I want them to know from a very young age that just because "everyone else" wears revealing swimsuits, they do not have to do so.
I dress my sons modestly, too. My boys never go swimming without a rash guard. I believe they should dress modestly for the same reasons as my girls. Of course, it's very easy to go to Walmart and find appropriate beach attire for my boys. For my girls, it takes a lot more work. Thankfully there are more options beyond the retail stores at the mall. A simple Google search yields many options for modest swimwear. It's true that some are more expensive, but certainly the value of teaching our children modesty outweighs the cost.
Modesty is revolutionary. It is taking back our dignity from the bathing suit manufacturers who think our girls should expose their bottoms and everything else.
It is making our daughter truly comfortable, so that by the time she is nine she isn't too self-conscious to run around the beach or go for a swim or play beach volleyball. It gives her the power of her body strong, capable, and personal instead of something for public scrutiny. It empowers her to love herself and her body.
If she can run, jump, and swim without having to adjust straps every few minutes, then she has the right swimsuit.
Let's teach our daughters that modesty is not about hiding their bodies, but about revealing their self-respect.
Let's let our girls jump off the dock and emerge with dignity.
Catherine Adair is a Catholic wife, mother, speaker, and blogger who is passionate about her faith and promoting the sanctity of life. She lives in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts.
Newly-released dashcam video showed police chasing a driver on the streets and sidewalks of an Ohio neighborhood, with officers ending the pursuit after they learned a child was in the minivan with the woman, who remains on the loose.
Police also said 33-year-old Erica Barreiro-Rapp jumped out of a hotel's first-floor window to escape the law, again with the child in tow.
She reportedly appeared in court in Springdale, Ohio last week on minor charges when she learned of felony warrants in Kentucky for her arrest on weapons and heroin charges. That's when police said she bolted.
Officers followed her brown Honda Odyssey through the neighborhood as it ran off the road and sped through several yards, even running a red light where a school bus was crossing.
Soon afterwards, as officers learned a child was in the minivan, they called off the chase. Were consistently trying to assess the risk to the public as opposed to immediately apprehend, Lt. Michael Ott told WLWT.
Police said she hid in a motel room in nearby Fairfield, but when the stranger who let her in learned she was on the run, he threatened to call police. They said she took off again with the child, who at this point had no shoes on.
Barriero-Rapp faces additional charges including child endangerment. The child's age was unclear.
Springdale is about 15 miles north of Cincinnati.
A spokesman for El Salvador President Salvador Sanchez Ceren says he has no plans to fire his interior secretary following the release of an audio recording of the then legislator meeting with gang leaders.
The recording from 2014 was published by online news site El Faro days after federal prosecutors had 18 people arrested for allegedly participating in a negotiated truce with the gangs in 2012.
Presidential spokesman Eugenio Chicas said Tuesday that Interior Minister Aristides Valencia was not part of the current government at the time of the recorded conversation. He reiterated the government's position of not negotiating with gangs.
The recording suggests that as a lawmaker for the governing party, Valencia spoke with gangs about getting their electoral support.
Valencia told El Faro that they misinterpreted the conversation.
China defended its militarization of its artificial reefs in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday, saying repeated U.S. Navy patrols in the area are forcing it to boost its islands defense capabilities.
The China Defense Ministry said in a statement it deployed two navy fighter jets, one early warning aircraft and three ships to track the missile-guided destroyer USS William P. Lawrence as it passed near Fiery Cross Reef Tuesday.
"The provocative actions by American military ships and planes lay bare the U.S. designs to seek gain by creating chaos in the region and again testify to the total correctness and utter necessity of China's construction of defensive facilities on relevant islands," the ministry said.
"China will increase the scope of sea and air patrols based on need, boost all categories of military capacity building, resolutely defend national sovereignty and security, and resolutely safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea," the statement said.
A senior U.S. defense official told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday that the USS William P. Lawrence navigated within 12 nautical miles of the reef, part of the Spratly chain of islands. The Defense Department said in a statement to Reuters the operation was to challenge excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea.
Washington has repeatedly said they will fly wherever permitted by international law and maintains there can be no limits on freedom of navigation as according to established practice.
China has added more than 3,000 acres of land to its South China Sea island holdings by expanding existing islands or creating new ones by piling sand atop coral reefs.
Chinese officials have insisted that they have no plans to militarize the Spratly Islands. China President Xi Jianping made a pledge to that effect when he visited the White House in September.
However, China landed civilian jets on Fiery Cross reef in January to test a new 10,000 foot runway, a move seen as more evidence that Beijing is increasing its military presence in the region.
In February, Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told Congress that China was clearly militarizing its South China Sea claims, saying, "You would have to believe in a flat earth to think otherwise."
Though China's claims have drawn the most attention, the Journal reported that Tuesday's operation, known as an "innocent passage" was technically meant to counter competing claims by Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines.
In addition to the warship operations, the U.S. Air Force sent A-10 warthog attack planes close to Scarborough Shoal, a move which led Beijing to accuse the U.S. of inflaming tensions in the region.
The addition of airstrips and military infrastructure has Washington and others worried that China is attempting to assert total dominance over the region's waters and airspace that are claimed in whole or in part by five other governments.
China rejects accusations that it is responsible for raising tensions, saying actions by the U.S. Navy and the encouragement Washington offers to other claimants such as Vietnam and the Philippines are increasing the chances of conflict.
An estimated $5 trillion in global trade passes annually through the South China Sea, which is home to rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of undersea oil and gas deposits.
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Turkeys special military force carried out an unusual weekend operation against Islamic State fighters in Syria as part of a deepening campaign against the extremist group, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
A small group of elite Turkish soldiers entered Syria on Saturday to help more effectively target Islamic State fighters who have been launching rocket attacks into Turkey for weeks, American officials said.
Turkish officials declined to comment on the military operation. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said all options were on the table for bringing the Islamic State rocket strikes to an end.
Whats going on in Syria is a historic showdown, said Mr. Erdogan, who has unsuccessfully pushed the U.S. and its allies to use their military might to create a protected buffer zone in northern Syria for rebel fighters and Syrian civilians looking for safety from the conflict.
The operation was part of an expanding effort by the Turkish military to push Islamic State away from a vital 60-mile stretch of the Turkey-Syria border that serves as the groups main lifeline, according to U.S. officials.
While Turkey released no details, U.S. officials informed of the operation said it appeared to be an intelligence gathering effort to help Turkish forces better locate and target Islamic State positions.
Click for more from The Wall Street Journal.
Dramatic video captured on a doorbell security camera shows Canadian firefighters trying to save a house in the Alberta city of Fort McMurray, one of the areas hit hardest by a devastating wildfire.
The nearly seven-minute video, posted by the Edmonton Journal, shows a team of firefighters spraying the house with fire hoses. At one point, the porch ceiling on resident Ken Bells house becomes engulfed in flames, but the team eventually manages to extinguish the blaze.
More than 80,000 people have left Fort McMurray in the heart of Canada' 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 provincial government is sending in a team on Monday to do some preliminary planning.
Officials said Sunday they had reached a turning point in fighting an enormous wildfire, hoping to get a "death grip'" on the blaze that ravaged parts of Canada's oil sands town of Fort McMurray amid cooler temperatures and light rain. Meanwhile, a massive evacuation of residents displaced by the blaze came to an end.
The fire and mass evacuation has forced a quarter or more of Canada's oil output offline and was expected to impact an economy already hurt by the fall in oil prices. 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.
No deaths or injuries have been reported from the fire itself. Notley, however, mentioned two evacuees who died in a traffic accident during the evacuation. Her voiced cracked when talking about the two and noted it is Mother's Day. Fifteen-year-old Emily Ryan and her stepmother's nephew, Aaron Hodgson, died in the accident.
Fort McMurray Fire Chief Darby Allen asked for the patience of residents who are eager to find out if their homes are still standing.
"We are really working hard on that, it's a complicated process, what's damaged, what's left," Allen said in a posted video. "We really will get that to you as soon as we possibly can. We care about all of you."
Lac La Biche, Alberta, normally a sleepy town of 2,500 about 110 miles south of Fort McMurray, was helping thousands of evacuees, providing a place to sleep, food, donated clothes and even shelter for their pets.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Five men have been arrested on suspicion that they planned to leave Australia in a 23-foot boat to fight in Syria, police said Wednesday.
The men, aged 21 to 33, had towed the half-cabin power boat with a car 1,700 miles from their homes in the southern city of Melbourne to Cairns in Australia's tropical north before they were arrested Tuesday, police said.
All had their passports canceled to prevent them leaving the country to fight for extremist groups such as the Islamic State movement.
The men were being held on suspicion of breaking a federal law banning foreign incursions, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said. Entering or preparing to enter a foreign country to engage in a hostile activity is a crime punishable by life imprisonment.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said the men planned to travel by boat through Indonesia to the Philippines. He did not specify how they planned to get from the Philippines to Syria.
"This is a serious attempt by five men who are of security interest to us who have had their passports canceled in attempting to exit Australia ... and then ultimately we're investigating the intention to possibly end up in Syria to fight," Patton told reporters.
"We can't allow Australians to leave Australia and support terrorism anywhere," he said.
The men had been under police investigation for weeks. Police would not say when they left Melbourne or where they intended to leave Australia.
Gaughan said the men were known to have "extremist views." Police declined to identify them.
Attorney-General George Brandis later said the men were arrested in Queensland state north of Cairns but would not say where.
It was the first suspected attempt by would-be foreign fighters to leave Australia by boat, he said.
Security officials estimate 110 Australians are fighting for the Islamic State group in the Middle East.
A trio of bombings rocked the Iraqi capital of Baghdad Wednesday, killing at least 66, with the Islamic State terror group claiming responsibility for all three of the bloody attacks.
In the Kadhima district, a suicide car bombing killed at least 16 and wounded 37. Iraqi police and hospital officials told The Associated Press that five policemen were among those killed.
In western Baghdad, a suicide car bomb in the neighborhood of Jaimma killed 10 and wounded 25.
And in the predominantly Shiite neighborhood of Sadr City, a car bomb ripped through a commercial area, killing at least 40 people and wounding 60 others, the producer reported.
The Sadr City bomb struck a crowded outdoor market and several of the wounded are in serious condition, prompting fears the death toll could rise further, officials said. Four medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
It was the latest deadly attack to hit the Iraqi capital a massive bombing that underscored how despite the territorial defeats the Islamic State suffered over the past year, the Sunni extremist group is still capable of launching significant attacks across the country. It has also recently stepped up assaults inside Baghdad, something officials say is an attempt to distract from their battlefield losses.
The bombing also comes at a time of a political deadlock that has paralyzed the work of the Iraqi government and parliament, adding to the country's complex set of military, security, humanitarian, economic and human rights challenges.
The market in Sadr City is one of the main four outdoor shopping venues in the area, a sprawling slum that is home to about 2.5 million residents almost half of Baghdad's population of around 6 million. The open-air markets sell a range of goods, from food to household items, to clothes and other merchandise.
Ambulances rushed to the scene as dozens of residents walked through twisted and mangled wreckage of cars and other debris that littered the pavement, trying to help the victims. The street was stained red with blood in many places and front-side facades of several buildings were heavily damaged. Smoke billowed from ground-level stores gutted out by the explosion.
Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer, said the bomb was a pickup truck loaded with fruits and vegetables that was parked by a man who quickly disappeared among the crowds of people.
"It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," Salih told The Associated Press.
"The force of the explosion threw me for yards away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes," the merchant added. He suffered no injuries, but two of his workers were wounded.
Shortly after the blast, the Sunni extremist group which sees Shiite Muslims as apostates said it was behind the assault. ISIS said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, but Iraqi officials denied that. In its online statement, ISIS said it targeted a gathering of Shiite militiamen. The AP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the claim but it appeared on a website commonly used by the Sunni militants.
"Politicians are fighting each other in parliament and government while the people are being killed every day," said Hussein Abdullah, a 28-year old owner of an electrical appliances store who suffered shrapnel wounds.
"If they can't protect us, then they have to let us do the job," the father of two added.
Baghdad's Sadr City is a stronghold of supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who have been holding protests and sit-ins for months to demand an overhaul of the political system put in place by the Unites States following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Last month, hundreds of al-Sadr's supporters stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad and broke into the parliament building.
Delivering a speech before the U.N. Security Council on Friday, the world body's envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis, warned that the ongoing political crisis and chaos are only serving the interests of ISIS, urging the political leaders and civil society to work together to resolve the political turmoil.
ISIS also a controls significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul. Commercial and public places in Shiite-dominated neighborhoods are among the most frequent targets for the Sunni militants seeking to undermine Iraqi government efforts to maintain security inside the capital.
In February, ISIS carried out devastating back-to-back market bombings in Sadr City, an attack claimed the lives of at least 73 people.
According to the United Nations, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April due to ongoing violence. The U.N. mission to Iraq put the number of civilians killed at 410, while the rest it said were members of the security forces. A total of 1,374 Iraqis were wounded that month, UNAMI said.
In March, at least 1,119 people were killed and 1,561 wounded in the ongoing violence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Israelis came to a two-minute standstill Wednesday to remember fallen soldiers and victims of terror as the country marked Memorial Day, one of the most somber days on the Israeli calendar.
A siren rang out at 11 a.m. as drivers pulled over on the sides of highways and roads and pedestrians stopped in their tracks.
Israelis attended remembrance ceremonies across the country. Radio and television networks broadcast programs about battle and loss.
We, the members of bereaved families, dont need Memorial Day to remember our beloved ones, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a gathering at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem.
But on this day, Memorial Day, the entire nation is with us, embracing us with love, he added.
Netanyahu also praised policewoman Hadar Cohen, who was killed in February amid the recent wave of stabbings, The Times of Israel reported. Netanyahu said days after her death, an Israeli family chose to name their baby after Cohen.
In Israel, boys and girls are named for the defenders of our people, he said.
The solemn atmosphere was set to end abruptly at sundown with the start of Independence Day celebrations.
This Memorial Day comes as Israel faces an eight-month-long wave of Palestinian violence that has killed 28 Israelis. About 200 Palestinians have been killed. Israel says most of them have been attackers. The rest died in fighting with Israeli troops.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From Putin, with love.
Irans defense minister Tuesday announced that Russia delivered a powerful S-300 air-defense missile system to the Khatam al-Anbiya base as part of an arms deal revived after the Islamic Republic reached a framework nuclear agreement with world powers last year, The Washington Post reported.
Russian officials said that they planned to deliver at least four more of the missile systems which are compared to the U.S. Patriot surface-to-air missile system by the end of the year, the newspaper added.
Its a sophisticated piece of military apparatus, State Department Spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said, adding that the U.S. objected to the sale though it didnt violate U.N. Security Council resolutions. Weve made our concerns known for quite some time on this particular piece of equipment.
The missile system has a range of 120 miles and can target aircraft or ballistic missiles up to a medium range, the Post reports. The delivery is part of a $800 million contract signed between Russia and Iran in 2007. Moscow had stopped transferring the missile systems in 2010 after protests from Israel and the U.S.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in July, after the framework deal was signed over Irans nuclear program, that there was no longer any need for this kind of embargo.
Click for more from The Washington Post.
The anti-refugee backlash in Germany hit new heights earlier this month, when a surging far-right political party made slamming the door on Muslims part of its official platform.
Alternative for Germany (AFD), the nations fastest growing political party, announced the formal stance in Stuttgart on May 1. The AFD also called for a ban on minarets the mosque towers from which Muslims are called to prayer and the burqa full-body covering for women. The blatant messaging comes at Chacelor Angela Merkels popularity plummets and much of Germany turns against the policies that allowed last years influx of more than one million mostly Muslim migrants. Before the refugee crisis, there were 4 million Muslims in Germany.
According to opinion polls, the AFD has the support of up to 14 percent of the German electorate and poses a serious challenge to Merkels Christian Democrats and other established parties going into the 2017 federal election.
Even if its anger is directed at Muslims, the rise of the right gives Germanys 200,000-strong Jewish community cause for concern. There is little doubt that the AFD will win seats in Germanys parliament, the Bundestag, in next years elections, according to Deidre Berger, director of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin. The AFD already has members in half Germanys 16 state legislatures, but victories in the federal election would mark the first time a far-right force is represented in the Bundestag.
Whenever there is a political party propagating hatred of entire ethnic or religious groups, anti-Semitism is never far behind, she told FoxNews.com.
The anti-Muslim rhetoric is blamed for more than 1,000 attacks on refugee shelters last year, a 30 percent increase over the previous year, according to government figures.
Far-right parties with agendas similar to that of AFD are springing up throughout Europe, reflecting lack of confidence in the European Unions ability to deal with the refugee crisis, terrorism and financial problems:
The National Front in France has become one of Frances strongest political forces
The Danish Peoples Party recently gained 21.1 percent of the vote
Hungarys far-right Fidesz Party has been in power since 2010
Austrias Freedom Party has made dramatic gains
In Germany, various concerns underlie a growing far-right appeal. Among them is the fear that large Muslim families will exhaust Germanys liberal social welfare system with its generous benefits to families with children.
Anti-immigrant Germans say the Muslims will have more children to make more money, Richard Herzinger, an editor at the German newspaper Die Welt, told FoxNews.com.
Theres also the fear that migrants who have no experience with democracy will not be able to adjust to a free society like Germany, ultimately posing a danger to democracy itself.
Germany has a graying workforce and a negative birth rate, which would suggest there should be many job openings for the migrants. But according to a German government report, Data Report 2016, the migrants lack of education and or proficiency in the German language make many of them unsuitable for available jobs.
Lack of confidence in the Brussels-based European Union and the feeling that EU leaders are out of touch with the people also leads to a sense of alienation from its governance say observers.
This alienation from Brussels makes some Germans yearn for a national party like the AFD that truly represents their own national interests, said Herzinger.
The swing to an anti-establishment party like AFD can also be explained by voter disappointment with the current ruling parties, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats.
Longtime supporters of the Christian Democrats feel betrayed by the liberal course of Merkels leadership, largely because of her open-door policy toward Muslim refugees.
According to Anna Sauerbrey, an editor with Berlins largest newspaper, Der Tagesspiegel, the main factor in AFDs success in the March state elections was the partys ability to mobilize former non-voters who wanted to express their discontent or outright anger with the established parties.
Afghan authorities intercepted nearly 11 tons of a bomb-making chemical hidden on a truck trying to cross the border from Pakistan Tuesday, while a nearby suicide car bombing killed 11 people.
The 10.7 tons of ammonium nitrate a key ingredient in the Talibans roadside bombs that have killed thousands of soldiers and civilians were found hidden in a fruit truck, Stars and Stripes reported.
Pakistani truck load of 9700kg of Ammonium Nitrate seized by Border Police entering Afghnistan Taliban use for IED pic.twitter.com/EhDuE7kJDT Sediq Sediqqi (@moispokesman) May 10, 2016
"The material was discovered ... by Afghan border police in Torkham border crossing," Interior Ministry Spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told NBC News. "This material is the most important element for making roadside bombs that frequently targets civilians and Afghan security forces."
Two suspects in the truck were arrested. Ammonium nitrate is also commonly used as a fertilizer in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In the area where the truck was stopped, a suicide car bombing Tuesday killed 11 people and left 22 injured, including women and children.
Gen. Zarawar Zahid, the chief of police in Nangarhar province, told The Associated Press that the attack targeted a tribal elder who was involved with organizing local militias to combat insurgents in the region.
Menadaar Sayar, a commander of a local militia fighting supporters of the Islamic State terror group, said he suspected ISIS was behind the attack.
The Nangarhar region has seen heavy fighting in recent months as the Taliban, ISIS and government forces have all been battling each other, Stars and Stripes reports.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Yemeni security officials say a top commander has been injured in an assassination attempt by a suicide car bomber in southern Yemen, in an attack that also injured five of his guards.
The officials say that the bomber targeted Maj. Gen. Abdel-Rahman al-Halili, the commander of the First Army District in the province of Hadramawt. He was heading to a camp located between the towns of Qatn and Sayoum.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack but he was targeted by al-Qaida in failed assassination attempts before.
The provincial capital of Hadramawt, Mukalla, fell into hands of al-Qaida last year but the Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally-recognized government has forced the group out.
A U.S. Marine held in Iran sued the Islamic Republic this week for millions, seeking damages for torture he endured while imprisoned for more than four years.
Lawyers representing Amir Hekmati announced Monday that a lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking economic, compensatory and punitive damages.
Hekmati, 32, who is from Michigan, was one of the Americans released by the Islamic Republic earlier this year as part of a prisoner swap arranged by the Obama administration.
Hekmati, an Iranian-American, was detained in Iran in August 2011 on espionage charges. He said he went to Iran to visit family and to spend time with his ailing grandmother.
Hekmati was convicted of spying and sentenced to death in 2012. After a higher court ordered a retrial, he was sentenced in 2014 to 10 years on a lesser charge.
"Irans treatment of Amir Hekmati was utterly contemptible, his attorney, Scott D. Gilbert, said in a statement Monday.
Amir was arrested on phony charges, thrown into brutal solitary confinement in one of the worlds most inhumane prisons, and then subjected to prolonged physical and psychological abuse, including beatings, electric Taser-ing, sleep deprivation, and the forced ingestion of dangerous drugs," Gilbert said.
"Amir can never be adequately compensated for his suffering and the lasting impact that this has had, and will have, on the rest of his life," he added. "Our intention, with the filing of this lawsuit, is to attempt to provide at least some measure of justice for Amir and his family.
The lawsuit includes economic, compensatory and punitive damages as Irans acts were intentional, malicious and performed deliberately to injure, damage and harm Mr. Hekmati, the complaint said.
Gilbert did not tell the website exactly how much money Hekmati was seeking, but said it exceeded $10 million.
Hekmati was born in Arizona and raised in Michigan. He and his family long denied any wrongdoing, and said his imprisonment included physical and mental torture and long periods of solitary confinement in a tiny cell.
Hekmati served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2001 to 2005 as an infantry rifleman and translator. He completed two tours of duty in Iraq where he served in the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment -- a unit that suffered one of the highest casualty rates in the Marines.
Kinderdance India Awards New Subfranchises
US Franchise Organization Brings Movement Education To Young Children Across India
April 22, 2016 // Franchising.com // Melbourne, FL - Kinderdance International Inc, a leader in developmental dance, gymnastics and fitness programs for young children, announces expansion under Kinderdance India Area Developer, Kirthana Ramarapu. Kinderdance of India has signed franchise agreement with Ankit Singhania and Ayushi Singhania Kolkata India.
Ayush Singhania graduated from St.Xaviers College Kolkata. Children have always attracted me and I love to be with them. I feel Kinderdance is such an enrichment program which will give me an opportunity to not just have fun with children, but to also nurture them and help them learn how to learn, says Ayush. Ankit Singhania completed his MBA from Auckland University of Technology. After doing thorough research I saw that Kinderdance program is very important for a childs overall growth and 360 degree development. Currently no similar program is being offered in Kolkata, that has such proven track record and that is recognized globally says Ankit.
Both Anit and Ayushi have successfully completed their training and are now certified to teach Kinderdance programs to young children in India says Kirthana Ramarapu.
Kirthana is the executive director for Learning Parachute and the Kinderdance International India Area Developer and Franchise owner. Her love for education and passion for dance motivated her to work with young children. Kirthana purchased her franchise in 2009 and in a few years has become a Top Kinderdance Producer and Leader. Ms. Ramarapu has been awarded Rookie of the Year, in 2013 and Franchisee of the Month in 2012 and 2014. Since starting her business she has been continually growing her sales, student enrollment and expanding to different areas of India with sub franchises. As a Kinderdance Area Representative she has mentored and developed 12 sub franchises.
Its wonderful to be expanding Kinderdance across India. For young children, movement, music and dance are natural tools for fitness, learning and communicating while expressing their feelings, says Kinderdance Vice President, Karen Maltese.
About Kinderdance
Kinderdance is a nationally recognized dance, gymnastics and fitness program for children ages two to twelve. Their 132 Franchisees currently teach over 12,000 children weekly at over 800 various locations in 28 states including DC and 11 countries.
Kinderdance places emphasis on building self-confidence and self-esteem in children through learning to share, lead, interact and respond to others needs as well as their own. The programs incorporate the arts, movement, education, music, fitness and the fun of learning into a young childs life while helping in the worldwide fight against childhood obesity.
The company offers the educational movement programs on site to child-care centers, recreational centers, churches, fitness centers, corporate child care, community centers, military bases, public and private schools and may other viable locations.
For more information on Kinderdance India
Please contact Kirthana Ramarapu at info@Kinderdanceindia.com. www.Kinderdanceindia.com. Interviews are Welcome!
SOURCE Kinderdance
Contact:
Karen Maltese
Vice President of Franchise Development
Kinderdance International
1-800-554-2334
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TeamLogic IT Reports Strong Q1 Growth
Leading technology franchise reports 26% increase in comp office sales.
MISSION VIEJO, CA (PRWEB) May 10, 2016 - TeamLogic IT announces it ended the first quarter of 2016 with a 26% comp office sales increase. The company is a managed IT services franchise with nearly 100 locations across North America.
We ended 2015 strong with a system-wide year-over-year revenue increase of 40 percent. To start 2016 off with such positive Q1 comp sales growth is proof that our growth momentum is not slowing, said Chuck Lennon, president. Its indicative of the increasing need by companies of all sizes for the advanced computer support services we offer.
TeamLogic IT is recognized as an MSPmentor 501, a global ranking of the top managed services providers. The company is also an award winning franchise system that has been recognized as the number one technology franchise by Franchise Business Review for five consecutive years, and has been named a top franchise for veterans.
The TeamLogic IT franchise opportunity appeals to entrepreneurial executives with experience in technology, business and sales management. TeamLogic IT offices provide clients with the IT support they need to run their businesses more efficiently by leveraging the latest technology solutions including managed IT services, cloud services, business continuity, network security and mobility solutions.
About TeamLogic IT
TeamLogic IT is a leading provider of advanced IT management services for businesses. In less than a decade the company has grown into a nationwide network that companies of all sizes rely on for Managed IT Services. Its success is driven through one core mission to leverage technology to your advantage. Thousands of businesses across North America are taking advantage of the companys ability to deliver highly available, secure, and flexible IT systems, filling the void in the market for a trusted technology advisor.
Visit http://www.TeamLogicIT.com, or http://www.franserv.com.
SOURCE TeamLogic IT
Contacts:
Denise Denton
Assistant Vice President
Marketing Communications
ddenton@teamlogicit.com
949-582-6300
Chuck Lennon
TeamLogic IT
President
949-582-6300
clennon@teamlogicit.com
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MANILA, PhilippinesRodrigo Duterte, the bombastic mayor of a major southern city, was heralded Tuesday as president-elect of the Philippines after an incendiary campaign that projected him alternatively as an emancipator and a looming dictator.
Our people have spoken and their verdict is accepted and respected, outgoing President Benigno Aquino IIIs spokesman, Sonny Coloma, said in a statement. The path of good governance ... is already established as all presidential candidates spoke out against corruption.
Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who was running second behind Duterte in the unofficial vote count following Mondays election, conceded defeat. Digong, I wish you success, Roxas said at a news conference, using Dutertes nickname. Your victory is the victory of our people and our country.
Dutertes harshest critic also conceded that the mayor, known for his off-color sexual remarks and pledges to kill criminal suspects, had emerged the unquestioned winner.
I will not be the party pooper at this time of a festive mood, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who has filed a plunder complaint against Duterte, told The Associated Press. I will step back, listen to his policy pronouncements. This time we dont expect a stand-up comedy act but a president who will address the nation.
Duterte, 71, has not spoken publicly since casting his vote Monday, and remained at his home in Davao, on the southern main island of Mindanao.
Results from a semi-official count gave Duterte an unassailable lead, thrusting him into national politics for the first time after 22 years as mayor of Davao and a government prosecutor before that. In those two jobs, Duterte gained recognition by going after criminals, although he was accused of carrying out hundreds of extrajudicial killings.
That earned him the nickname Duterte Harry, a reference to the Clint Eastwood movie character with little regard for rules. He has also been compared to Donald Trump, the U.S. Republican presumptive presidential nominee, for his propensity for inflammable statements.
In the election for vice president, who is separately elected in the Philippines, the son of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was trailing by a narrow margin behind Rep. Leni Robredo, who is backed by Aquino.
During the three-month campaign, Duterte made audacious promises to eradicate crime and corruption within six months. His explosive outbursts and curses against the inequality and social ills that bedevil the Filipino everyman resonated among different class levels of the people that his big political rivals clearly underestimated until he began to take a strong lead in opinion polls in the final weeks of the campaign.
He captured domestic and international attention with speeches peppered with obscene jokes about sex and rape and anecdotes about his Viagra-fueled sexual escapades, and with undiplomatic remarks about Australia, the United States and China, all key players in the countrys politics.
The teacher crisis is real, and were not going to work our way out of it simply by making it easier to hire teachers.
Dental Digital X-Ray Market Growth Forecast to 2020: 8.8% CAGR Dominated by North America
The dental digital X-ray market is projected to reach USD 3,290.6 million by 2020 from USD 2,154.0 million in 2015, at a CAGR of 8.8% driven by rapidly growing geriatric population, growing adoption of cone-beam computed tomography and increase in dental disorders.
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Dental digital X-ray market is divided into intraoral X-ray systems, extraoral X-ray systems, and hybrid X-ray systems. Hybrid X-ray systems are expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, owing to the advantages of hybrid systems such as minimum exposure to radiation, lower price of these systems as compared to high-end digital panoramic/cephalometric units, and technological advancements and rapid digitization in dentistry.
Complete report on Dental Digital X-ray Market spread across 194 pages, Profiling 11 Companies and supported with 174 Tables and 46 Figures is now available at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/dental-digital-x-ray-market-by-product-digital-analog-type-intraoral-extraoral-cbct-panoramic-hybrid-x-ray-application-diagnostic-therapeutics-forensic-end-user-dental-clinics-forensic-laboratorie-st-to-2020-market-report.html .
Based on application, the market is segmented into diagnostic, therapeutic, cosmetic, and forensic applications. In 2015, the diagnostic applications segment accounted for the largest share of the global dental digital X-ray market. The rising prevalence of dental disorders, rise in geriatric population, increasing oral health awareness, and rising disposable incomes in developing economies such as China and India are likely to drive the demand for digital dental diagnosis.
Based on end user, the market is segmented into dental hospitals and clinics, dental academic and research institutes, and forensic laboratories. The dental hospitals and clinics segment accounted for the largest share of the market; this segment is also projected to witness the highest growth rate CAGR during the forecast period. The increasing number of dental clinics and hospitals and their rapid adoption of digital dental imaging systems is contributing to the growth of this end-user segment.
Rise in healthcare and dental care spending in the U.S. is a key factor contributing to the growth of the dental digital X-ray market. In 2014, the healthcare spending in the U.S. increased by 5.3% to reach USD 3.0 trillion from USD 2.9 trillion in 2013 (Source: Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services).
Moreover, the dental services spending in the country increased by 2.8% to reach USD 113.5 billion in 2014, faster than in 2013 when growth was 1.5%. With the rise in dental services expenditure, the adoption of advanced diagnostic equipment such as dental digital X-ray systems is expected to increase in the U.S.
Key players in the dental digital X-ray market include Danaher Corporation (U.S.), Carestream Health, Inc. (U.S.), Sirona Dental Systems, Inc. (U.S.), Planmeca Oy (Finland), Vatech Co. Ltd. (Republic of Korea), LED Medical Diagnostic, Inc. (Canada), The Yoshida Dental MFG. Co., Ltd. (Japan), Midmark Corporation (U.S.), Air Techniques, Inc. (U.S.), and CEFLA s.c. (Italy). Get a discounted copy of Dental Digital X-ray Market by Product (Digital, Analog), Type (Intraoral, Extraoral (CBCT, Panoramic), Hybrid X-ray), Application (Diagnostic, Therapeutics, Forensic), End User (Dental Clinics, Forensic Laboratories) - Global Forecast to 2020 research report at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/contacts/discount?rname=538700 .
The report analyzes the market for dental digital X-ray market across geographies. Comprehensive information on the product portfolios of the top players in the dental digital X-ray market. The report analyzes the dental digital X-ray market by product, type, application, end user, and region. Detailed insights on upcoming technologies, R&D activities, and new product launches in the dental digital X-ray market
On a related note, another research titled Dental Lasers Market Global Forecast to 2020 says, the global dental lasers market is expected to reach USD 224.7 million by 2020, at a CAGR of 5.2% during the forecast period from 2015 to 2020. The increasing awareness for oral hygiene; rising middle class and aging population; and rising demand for cosmetic dentistry, reduced treatment time, and operating cost have influenced the growth of the dental lasers market. Companies like AMD LASERS, Biolase, Inc., FOTONA D.D., Convergent Dental, Ivoclar Vivadent AG, Danaher, Sirona, Syneron Dental, ZOLAR Technology & Mfg. Co. Inc., THE YOSHIDA DENTAL MFG. CO., LTD. have been profiled in this 167 pages research report at http://www.rnrmarketresearch.com/dental-lasers-market-by-product-soft-tissue-all-tissue-dental-welding-lasers-application-conservative-dentistry-endodontic-treatment-periodontitis-end-user-hospitals-clinics-and-geography-global-forecast-to-2020-market-report.html
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Source: http://marketersmedia.com/dental-digital-x-ray-market-growth-forecast-to-2020-8-8-cagr-dominated-by-north-america/113916
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The Law Offices Of James S. Cunha, P.A. Achieves Top Avvo Rating
The firm has achieved a 10.0 rating with the organization, which signals superb performance and reputation in the legal arena, reports www.pbclegal.com.
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The Law Offices Of James S. Cunha, P.A., a premier divorce attorney in Palm Beach County, is celebrating the fact that the firm has achieved and maintained its top rating with Avvo, a top website that connects lawyers with clients who need their services. The company has earned a 10.0 rating from the site, which signifies superb service and excellent legal background. The firm has also been the recipient of multiple awards from Avvo in recent years.
James S. Cunha, the attorney at the helm of the firm, stated "Our team is extremely proud of the top rating we've been able to achieve with Avvo. We pursue each and every case that comes to us with an unmatched passion for justice. We know the law inside and out, and this allows us to provide clients throughout Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, St. Lucie and Martin counties with reliable and effective legal representation in divorce and family law cases. We are thrilled to know that organizations like Avvo recognize the dedication we have to our clients and to our craft."
The Avvo ratings system was developed by legal professionals in conjunction with people looking for legal services. The rating takes into account a lawyer's background as well as other information in their profile such as reviews and endorsements. A 10.0 rating with Avvo signifies that Mr. Cunha is considered a superb palm beach divorce lawyer among the ranks of attorneys on the site. The firm won the Avvo Client's Choice Award in 2012 and 2014 in the Divorce category and was named as a Top Contributor in 2013.
As Mr. Cunha goes on to say, "We strive to ensure that our clients don't see us as just another divorce lawyer in West Palm Beach, FL. We want to continually ensure that we are striving for excellence and working towards a favorable resolution in every single case we take on. Our firm is proud of the high ratings and awards that we have won, but our most important task will always be to ensure that our clients get the best outcome possible"
About The Law Offices of James S. Cunha, P.A.:
When it comes to divorce or family law issues, Mr. Cunha is loyal and passionate about his clients' cases and consistently seeks the best possible resolution.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.pbclegal.com
Contact Info:
Name: James S. Cunha
Organization: Law Offices of James S. Cunha, P.A.
Phone: +1 (561) 429-3924
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/the-law-offices-of-james-s-cunha-p-a-achieves-top-avvo-rating/114301
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MVR Cash & Carry Weighs in on Recent Controversy Surrounding "Made in Canada" Claims
MVR Cash & Carry weighs in recent controversy of companies claiming their products are "Made in Canada".
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MVR Cash & Carry (www.MVRWholesale.com), the largest self-serve food and convenience wholesaler in Ontario, is weighing in on the recent controversy with companies claiming their products are made in Canada, when they are really made overseas.
In recent months there has been much debate over the legitimacy of various "Canadian-made" products, as companies are choosing to outsource their production to countries overseas, particularly Asia. Although many companies, are transparent with this information, opening admitting that their products are made overseas, other Canadian companies feature a "Made in Canada" label, even though part of their production may have in fact occurred elsewhere. (Source: Evans, P., "Moose Knuckles coat maker accused of faking 'Made in Canada' claims," CBC web site, April 27, 2016; http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/moose-knuckles-1.3555250.)
(Source: Yuen, J. "Gear for Team Canada supporters made in China," The Toronto Sun web site, May 1, 2016; http://www.torontosun.com/2016/05/01/gear-for-team-canada-supporters-made-in-china.)
"It shows people care," says Mike Commisso, co-owner and operator of MVR Cash & Carry. "Consumers want to support Canadian businesses and Canadian-made goods, so it's encouraging to see consumers react so strongly when they realize a brand they support might not actually make their products in Canada."
Under Canadian law, the "Made in Canada" label can only be used if the last substantial transformation of the product occurred in Canada, at least 51% of the total manufacturing or production costs were incurred in Canada, or if the "Made in Canada" label is accompanied by a qualifier mentioning that the product uses imported parts.
Although many consumer products are made overseas where labour is cheaper, there is still substantial interest in promoting Canadian-grown or Canadian-made goods. And this is not exclusive to high-end clothing, either.
"MVR Cash & Carry offers many Canadian-sourced products like fruits, vegetables, eggs, ketchup, cleaning products, and even paper containers or plates, not to mention maple syrup," Commisso concludes. "There are plenty of Canadian goods on the market that consumers can turn to and trust."
Commisso also stresses the importance of trying to improve Canada's economy by producing and selling more Canadian-made goods.
MVR Cash and Carry is a family-owned and-operated wholesale food distributor in Toronto that serves retailers, independent grocery stores, catering companies, and many small businesses.
For more information about us, please visit http://mvrwholesale.com/
Contact Info:
Name: Mike Commisso
Organization: MVR Cash and Carry
Address: 3655 Weston Road North York, ON M9L 1V8
Phone: 416-739-8411
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High Quality Gutter Installation Service In Seattle Has Launched
Northwest Custom Gutter is celebrating the launch of their new gutter installation Seattle service. Further information can be found at http://northwestcustomgutters.com/locations-served/seattle/
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In a slightly different approach to launching its new gutter installation Seattle service, Northwest Custom Gutter, a gutter installation service in Seattle has decided it will keeping their promise of high quality gutter service, and this is will be launched May 9, 2016.
Where most businesses tend to just advertise on the local radio, Northwest Custom Gutter has decided to be a little more exciting with the start of its new gutter installation service for Seattle residents.
Joe Kneeland, owner at Northwest Custom Gutter, says: "We wanted to be exciting with the launch of our new Seattle gutter installation service because we wanted to give our great service to our Seattle based customers.
It should be really worthwhile and we're hoping it will bring customer satisfaction with their gutter installs. It should go great!"
Northwest Custom Gutter has always made a point of standing out when compared to other gutter installation services in the Seattle area. This launch celebration is just one of the many ways it does so.
This is a great chance for Seattle residents to know more about their great gutter installation service and support a hard working and dedicated to their craft local business.
Northwest Custom Gutter has been serving the Snohomish area for over 25 years. To date, they have served thousands of customers and has become recognized as the best gutter installation in the pacific northwest . It can be found on 152nd street in Lynnwood .
Joe Kneeland also said: "While Northwest Custom Gutter may not be the only business with this kind of offering, local residents are choosing Northwest Custom Gutter because we put the customer's satisfaction above everything else."
When asked about the new Seattle gutter installation service, Joe Kneeland said: "We think it's going to be a hit because it will finally put an end to our people's biggest complaint when using a service like ours".
Further information about Northwest Custom Gutter and the new gutter installation Seattle service can be discovered at http://northwestcustomgutters.com/locations-served/seattle/
For more information about us, please visit http://northwestcustomgutters.com/locations-served/seattle/
Contact Info:
Name: Joe Kneeland
Email: joe@northwestcustomgutters.com
Organization: Northwest Custom Gutter
Address: 4015 152nd St SW Lynnwood, WA 98087
Phone: (425) 745-4993
Release ID: 114274
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4Patriots LLC Donates Emergency Food to Houston-Area Flood Victims
4Patriots LLC has donated a three-month supply of its Food4Patriots emergency food to the Houston Food Bank for the purpose of helping feed victims of recent flooding in and around Houston, Texas.
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Recent flooding in the Houston area featured 240 billion gallons of rain falling and 1,200 high-water rescues made, resulting in 123,000 homes losing power, 1,000 homes being flooded and property damage totaling $5 billion in Harris County alone, according to CNN.
4Patriots LLC of Nashville, Tenn., responded to the carnage by donating a three-month supply of its Food4Patriots emergency food to the Houston Food Bank in Houston, Texas, for dispersal to flooding victims. The donation was received at the food bank's warehouse on May 5, 2016.
"We spend much time and energy attempting to convince people to prepare for disasters," said Allen Baler, Partner at 4Patriots. "Our hearts go out to the victims of this recent flooding, and so does our emergency food. We encourage everyone who is able to donate to food banks across the country -- such as the Houston Food Bank -- to do so in order to help people in need after Mother Nature unleashes her fury.
"We also recommend that people stock up on emergency food so they can help themselves if they're ever victims of extreme weather. Store shelves often empty quickly in these situations, and even when they don't, it can be difficult to get to those stores."
The 72-hour, one-week, four-week, three-month and one-year emergency food kits from Food4Patriots have shelf lives of up to 25 years. The food in these kits can be prepared in less than 20 minutes and requires only boiling water. It's contained in easy-to-store Mylar pouches, which keep out air, moisture and light.
Other 4Patriots products include:
Patriot Power Generator, a portable solar generator designed to provide electricity for important devices and equipment during a power outage or disaster situation.
Water4Patriots, featuring the Alexapure Pro water filtration system and the Survival Spring personal water filter, both designed to provide the user with safe, clean drinking water in any situation.
Power4Patriots, a series of Do-It-Yourself videos and manuals (printed and electronic) showing how to build solar panels, a wind turbine, a solar water heater and a solar air heater.
SurvivalSeeds4Patriots, a seed vault containing approximately 5,340 survival seeds from 21 varieties of heirloom, non-genetically modified seeds, rated for five-plus years of storage.
Patriot Power Hub, a portable device that jumpstarts almost any vehicle, charges electronic devices, functions as a powerful flashlight and a flashing strobe light, and includes a steel, glass-breaking hammer.
Patriot Power Greens, containing 38 fruits and vegetables, 10 probiotic strains and seven digestive enzymes in each serving. This nutritious beverage is designed to help seniors stay healthy and vibrant.
Food4Patriots provides emergency food products that are shelf-stable for 25 years. Food4Patriots survival food kits are made with food grown, harvested and packaged in the United States, and all of the meals are made without any genetically-modified products, preservatives or fillers. The kits are available in 72-hour, one-week, four-week, three-month and one-year supplies.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.food4patriots.com
Contact Info:
Name: Tim Boyle
Email: timm.boyle@4patriots.com
Organization: 4Patriots LLC
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/4patriots-llc-donates-emergency-food-to-houston-area-flood-victims/114467
Release ID: 114467
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Fortner Insurance Launches Coverage Awareness Campaign Aimed at Small Businesses
Providing education and policies geared toward local small businesses is an investment in the community's future, publishes fortner-insurance.com
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According to reports recently published by authorities in the legal sector, more than half of America's small businesses fall victim to civil lawsuits each year. These cases generate a combined total of no less than $20 million in annual costs for business owners. In response to this development, Terry Fortner of Springfield-based firm Fortner Insurance (www.fortner-insurance.com) has launched a campaign emphasizing the importance of business coverage for Missouri entrepreneurs.
"We're proud to have a diversity of small businesses cropping up throughout our state," said Fortner, "and we want to help local business people succeed. Without adequate insurance coverage, a single lawsuit could be all it takes to send a company spiraling into bankruptcy. In most cases, gaps in coverage aren't intentional. Business owners are simply unsure of exactly which policies they need to be fully protected against the many liabilities they face. The overall goal of our campaign is to provide education on the business insurance springfield mo entrepreneurs need based on their respective industries as well as a number of other factors."
Experts recommend including Workers' Compensation in insurance arsenals for businesses with any number of employees regardless of the nature of the company or how small it may be. Additional automobile insurance is advised for coverage of fleet vehicles as well as any personal transportation used in business-related matters. General and product liability policies are likewise urged to cover any on-site injuries or those stemming from customer purchases.
Many area residents believe the home insurance springfield mo property owners are required to maintain will cover home-based businesses; on the contrary, this may not be the case under some policies. Varying levels of coverage are available to those operating a company out of their personal residences. While a specific endorsement can be added to a traditional homeowner's policy, this provides only minimal coverage and is best suited to those with little office equipment or inventory and no customers or outside employees physically present.
Concluded Fortner, "Small businesses are responsible for helping our town grow and boosting local economy on a number of levels, not the least of which is creating new employment opportunities. We firmly believe catering to their needs is essentially making an investment in the future. Plenty of other coverage requirements fall under the more general categories, and we offer the policies necessary for all types of companies. Local business owners are invited to contact us online, by phone or in person to learn more about better protecting themselves and their employees."
About Fortner Insurance:
Fortner Insurance serves local home and property owners as well as businesses, churches and other organizations with an array of policies designed to meet clients' varying coverage needs.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.fortner-insurance.com/
Contact Info:
Name: Terry Fortner
Organization: Fortner Insurance
Phone: (417) 882-5560
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/fortner-insurance-launches-coverage-awareness-campaign-aimed-at-small-businesses/114525
Release ID: 114525
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Attorney Sam Tooker of David R. Price, Jr , P.A. Law Firm Publishes Two Articles
The articles may be seen in the South Carolina Lawyer Magazine and the SCAJ Justice Bulletin, reports GreenvilleLegal.com
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The law firm of David R. Price, Jr., P.A. proudly announces that Attorney Sam Tooker has published two articles in publications. "Non-Scientific Expert Testimony in Child Abuse Trials" (http://mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=292814#{"issue_id":292814,"page":24}) appears in the March 2016 edition of the South Carolina Lawyer magazine and the article "Synthetic Cannabinoids in South Carolina State Court: An Overview" (http://greenvillelegal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/SCAJ_JusticeBulletin_Winter2016_Cannabinoids.pdf) appears in the SCAJ Justice Bulletin Winter edition. Both articles show the firm's commitment to defending clients in situations that may be unfamiliar to the general public.
"New issues arise in the legal community every day. Expert qualification in child abuse cases is one and defending synthetic cannabinoid cases is another. Our firm stays on top of these issues to ensure we can provide each client with the strongest defense possible in their case. Others in our industry also turn to us when they need assistance with matters such as this, as they know we remain knowledgeable about the latest defense strategies which may be used," Sam Tooker of the law firm of David R. Price, Jr., P.A. announces.
Attorneys need to understand exactly how to evaluate a non-scientific individual who claims to be an expert in child abuse. As appellate courts have yet to address expert qualification in this field, it remains up to the lawyers. When it comes to synthetic drug cases, prosecutors must provide certain facts in order to prove their case. This includes showing the drug is a controlled substance, serves as an analogue or contains a prescribed substance found in the corresponding controlled substance.
"When an attorney understands these issues, it becomes easier to craft a defense that will stand up in court and provide the defendant with the minimum consequences possible. Unfortunately, many attorneys fail to acquire this knowledge in a timely manner, and this penalizes their client. This is never an issue when one works with us, as we make certain we are aware of the latest rulings that may impact any case we are trying," says Tooker.
These types of technical issues arise in many types of cases. Individuals without expert qualification may be called in a workers compensation case to comment on the activities of the injured party that require expertise; or a person may be asked to provide input on a criminal defense case without the necessary qualifications to form an opinion. This has long been a problem with the legal system, as individuals are pitted against one another and those tasked with making a ruling then need to decide who to deem credible.
"This problem has arised countless times in courtrooms across the country. Think back to the OJ Simpson case. Every expert appeared to contradict the last one. The more information a person has, the easier it is to prove their position. Make certain you turn to us, as others in the industry do, when you want to try your case successfully, using the most up-to-date defense strategies," Tooker declares.
About the law firm of David R. Price, Jr., P.A.:
The law firm of David R. Price, Jr., P.A. serves the Greenville, South Carolina community and provides legal services, with the primary focus on car accidents, personal injury, workers compensation and criminal defense.
For more information about us, please visit http://greenvillelegal.com/
Contact Info:
Name: David R. Price, Jr.
Organization: David R. Price, Jr., P.A. Law Firm
Phone: (864) 271-2636
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/attorney-sam-tooker-of-david-r-price-jr-p-a-law-firm-publishes-two-articles/114515
Release ID: 114515
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North America Automotive Fuel Tank Cap Sales Market Trends, Growth And Forecast Report 2016 : Radiant Insights,Inc
RadiantInsights.com includes new market research report on "North America Automotive Fuel Tank Cap Sales Market Size, Share And Trends Report Up To 2016 : Radiant Insights" to its huge collection of research reports.
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A fuel tank is a container for storing flammable fluids. It ranges from the tank of a lighter to a multi-chambered cryogenic tank. A fuel tank is usually constructed using HDPE (high-density polyethylene), as it contain the corrosive natural of fossil fuels.
Browse Full Research Report With TOC on http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/north-america-automotive-fuel-tank-cap-sales-industry-2016
Automobiles employ fuel tanks made from plastic HDPE or metal. The former is used increasingly as it emits low carbon emissions. This particular gas tank is placed near the rear gas axle and improves car space as well as car safety. Metal tanks are less in demand as compared to its counterpart, since it performs a better job at containing emissions. The most important way of safeguarding fuel is the fuel tank cap.
Fuel tank cap or gas cap prevents fuel from evaporating and saves gas. The fuel cap has an additional responsibility of keeping out dust or other particles which may damage the fuel filters or valves in the gas tank. A gas cap needs to be longer than the filler neck to keep the dirt out.
The newest technology in fuel tank caps are smart fuel caps which prevent theft and track the fuel levels of trucks and cars. One such technology is called Fueloyal, which provides the technology to track trucks in the logistics industry.
Request A Sample Copy Of This Report at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/north-america-automotive-fuel-tank-cap-sales-industry-2016#tabs-4
Government regulations mandate the emission of gases as well as the spilling of fuels. The 1990 Clean Air Act mandates that all fuel tanks undergo testing since some fuels like diesel dissipate quickly or cause fires if not handled carefully. Thus, manufacturers need to create on-board disgnostic systems that are updated and compliant with the fuel tank.
Prominent manufacturers of fuel tank caps in the North America automotive industry are Continental, Hwaseung R&A, Futaba Industrial, Toyoda Gosei, and Magna International.
Browse All Reports of This Category at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/automotive
About Radiant Insights,Inc
Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. In addition to over extensive database of reports, our experienced research coordinators also offer a host of ancillary services such as, research partnerships/ tie-ups and customized research solutions.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/north-america-automotive-fuel-tank-cap-sales-industry-2016
Contact Info:
Name: Michelle Thoras
Email: sales@radiantinsights.com
Organization: Radiant Insights
Address: 28 2nd Street, Suite 3036 San Francisco, CA
Phone: 1-415-349-0054
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/north-america-automotive-fuel-tank-cap-sales-market-trends-growth-and-forecast-report-2016-radiant-insightsinc/114544
Release ID: 114544
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Offices.net Now Promotes Office Space in 9 Buildings throughout Addison, Texas
Offices.net announced today that they now have 9 office centres to rent in the city of Addison, Texas.
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Offices.net, a leading U.S. based office space provider, today announced that they now have offices available for rent in 9 key buildings throughout Addison, Texas.
"We are happy to be able to announce that our office space portfolio in such an important city has been enhanced with the addition of 2 new office buildings," said Offices.net spokesperson Teresha Aird. "With this announcement, Offices.net now has a wide selection of offices available in 9 buildings throughout Addison, ready for immediate occupation."
To highlight the new offices available from Offices.net in Addison, the first, on Dallas Parkway, is a modern high-rise office building providing resource rich, furnished office space along with dedicated reception staff, fully equipped boardrooms, 24 hour access and on-site car parking facilities. Additional features include passenger elevators, high speed broadband, air conditioning and break out areas.
The second is a fourteen story landmark office building, also situated on Dallas Parkway, offering fully furnished office accommodation complete with a professional admin team, lounge and relaxation areas for staff and visitors as well as meeting rooms equipped with remote conferencing options. Business support services include telephone answering, virtual office services, alarm security, air conditioning and parking facilities.
"Being able to provide a wide range of flexible office accommodation is an important step towards realising our ambition of offering the best possible business premises to companies in Addison," continued Teresha Aird. "At Offices.net, we have been finding that demand for flexible, affordable office space has been increasing, especially when looking at the needs of small to medium sized businesses looking to expand in the Dallas area."
About Addison
Addison is a northern suburb of Dallas County, Texas. The conference industry is a key economic driver within Addison and the city is also home to a number of large corporation headquarters along with entrepreneurial start-ups. With approximately 55 per cent of the population having a higher degree, the community's skilled workforce is a major draw for businesses. Dallas Fort Worth Airport is only 16 miles away, making Addison easily accessible for both national and international businesses.
Find out more about the Addison office space on Offices.net.
For more information about us, please visit http://offices.net
Contact Info:
Name: Teresha Aird
Organization: Offices.net
Address: www.offices.net
Phone: 1 866 399 1166
Release ID: 114537
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New Partnership Announced for South Florida Digital Marketing Firm
No Risk SEO has announced a new partnership with the NRG Group, early in 2016. The members of the partnership will be bringing their specific skills to help with the growth of the company.
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NoRiskSEO, South Florida digital marketing firm, has formed a partnership with NRG Group to add strength and focus to the direction of the firm. The Miami SEO firm, NoRiskSEO, was formed in 2012. Since its founding, the company has garnered national attention through several awards. In 2015, the US Search Awards nominated NoRiskSEO for the "Best SEO Campaign". In 2014, the US Search Awards nominated NoRiskSEO for the "Best PPC Campaign". Also, over the last two years NoRiskSEO has gone on to become a Google Partner and Google All-Star member.
Repeatedly, the SEO Miami team has proven that the strategies that they use provide results for all types of businesses. Even though NoRiskSEO has had a lot of success, there was more that could be done. As of early 2016, the Miami SEO company formed a partnership with the NRG Group. The new partnership has allowed the combined team to focus on more ways to assist clients. The NRG Group is a team of seasoned digital marketers who will bring specific skills to boost the growth of the company.
The organizational chart of the new partnership includes Wilbur Hilton, founder of the Miami SEO agency, who is the majority shareholder of the new company. He has more than nine years of experience in the digital marketing arena. His extensive experience in sales and leadership will be used to guide the company.
Scott Riegle is the Director of Operations. Scott has over 25 years of sales, management and operations experience. He gained his experience working for large companies like Intel, Motorola and Seiko. He will be overseeing the operations, reporting and analytics for the company, as well as working on driving better reporting, results and communication with clients.
Denise Corlew is the Content Manager. She brings with her 15 years of management experience. She will be overseeing 20+ writers who produce monthly content and press releases.
Terrance Kern has over five years of experience selling and project management in digital marketing. He will be working to secure key accounts while also facilitating work flow.
Chris Wyatt is the Senior Manager of Digital Strategy. Like Wilbur, Chris brings over nine years of experience to the table. He has worked with clients in all verticals and all budget types. His focus will be on providing more granular and profitable digital strategy for clients. He will also help with internal marketing and outreach.
Jeremy Katz is the Director of PPC. He brings more than six years of sales and account management experience. Jeremy worked for Google, where he was a Google Adwords Agency Account Manager. During that time, he set up and managed over 320 different Google Adwords campaigns. He gained diverse experience working with various industries and budgets. Over the last couple years, he has managed over $15,000,000 in advertising spend. In his new role, he will
focus on growing the PPC division and providing better ROI for clients.
Together, NRG Group and NoRiskSEO will continue to provide fantastic results for clients. While others may look for short cuts, NoRiskSEO and the NRG Group will continue to pioneer ethical strategies.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.noriskseo.com/
Contact Info:
Name: Wilbur Hilton
Organization: No Risk SEO Inc
Address: 7351 Wiles Rd #201, Coral Springs FL 33067
Phone: (866) 374-7945
Source: http://www.noriskseo.com/florida-seo-company/miami-seo/
Release ID: 114543
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Webscout Announces Expansion with Three New Offices in Shanghai
Webscout announced today that three new centres in Shanghai, China are now available to rent through their online service.
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Webscout, a leading global office space provider, today announced that they have added three new office centres in Shanghai, China.
"We are very happy to be able to announce the availability of new office space for rent in China", said a spokesperson for Webscout. "Following this announcement, Webscout now has fifty office buildings available in this economically important city, and we are confident that these three new addresses will help us better accommodate the needs of new businesses looking for premises in the key city of Shanghai."
The first of the new office buildings available is strategically located on Huauhai Zhong Road, which is within a short walking distance of a number of metro stations and twenty minutes drive from Hongqiao International Airport. This modern business centre provides furnished office suites complete with a range of business support packages that include dedicated reception, security and IT personnel onsite. With HD video ready conference rooms, state of the art IT and communications, passenger lifts and virtual office options.
The second of the new office properties available is a situated on Hubin Road, a few minutes from the Shunchang Road-Hubin Road Bus Stop and ten minutes walk from the Metro Station. Office space come fully furnished and includes business lounges, a professional reception team, IT support, air conditioning, hot desking options and integrated IT infrastructure.
The other new office centre is situated on Century Avenue, in the Pudong Finance and Trade quarter, and offers a selection of contemporary furnished office suites inclusive of fully equipped meeting rooms, admin staff, building security, IT and communications systems, climate control and tech support.
"Our database includes a huge range of serviced office space, business centre accommodation, office complexes, and units throughout China, and we see the two new offices added in Shanghai as an important addition to this service," concluded Webscout's spokesperson.
About Shanghai Shanghai is located in eastern China and has a population of over 23.4 million people. Besides the trading sector, the largest revenue winners for the city are financial and banking services, although it does also have a manufacturing and high tech industry base. The city's incredibly developed public transportation system means that it is very easy to navigate the area and its airports provide good international links. Find out more about Webscout's office space in Shanghai.
About Webscout Webscout is an international service dedicated to helping businesses find serviced office space in thousands of locations worldwide. The Webscout.com site offers serviced offices, managed office accommodation, traditional office rental and fully-serviced executive suites in cities in more than thirty countries.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.webscout.com
Contact Info:
Name: Clare Jones
Organization: Webscout.com
Address: www.webscout.com
Phone: 00 44 207 166 7980
Release ID: 114547
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Thermalabs Reveals Its All-Time Best-Grossing Releases
Thermalabs has revealed its all-time bestsellers, ending speculation.
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Cosmetics firm Thermalabs, through a response to a related query, has revealed its list of all-time bestsellers. This move comes after months of speculations where industry critics have been debating the constituent of the company's massive revenue base. Apparently, the firm has scored bestseller positions with a significant deal of its products, but it's been hard to pinpoint precisely what is making more money for the company, until now.
Thermalabs was established some two and a half years ago as a beauty company that was dedicated to a skin cancer-free world. Based on scientific reports that lots of people were getting skin cancer due to overexposure to the sun's radiation during tanning, Thermalabs was determined to provide an alternative solution that would address this problem. The company settled on an organic and natural tanning lotion that delivered a beautiful tan after just four hours, and within the confines of safety. Known as 'America's Golden Standard Tanner', this lotion was based on an exclusive formula that relied on prime ingredients such as Shea Butter, Olive Oil, and Japanese Green Tea, among many others. The product was a major hit in a market that was actually desperate for healthy, organic tanners. Thermalabs managed to sell over 1000 units within its first day in the market, following a brilliant marketing campaign that highlighted the product's benefits and uniqueness as compared to the competition's offering. The firm would later ride on its pilot-product success to effectively pitch its new releases.
Thermalabs is based in New York, but operates a major research and development facility in Israel, from where most of its products are formulated and manufactured. Currently, the firm has managed to contribute a portfolio of at least 15 products, most of which are self-tanning lotions. In addition to the Golden Standard Tanner, other notable launches by the company that have been doing exemplary well include Glow2Go and Ultimitt Applicator Mitt. Thermalabs has also established sub-brands that are seen as an effort to expand beyond the company's tanning niche influence. Supremasea, the company's collection of Dead Sea mineral products, was launched sometimes in 2015. Headed by Ms. Kristina Meyers, this sub-brand has already launched its pilot product, Tan Enhancer, which is a special blend of organic ingredients and Dead Sea mineral salts that contributes to an awesome after-tan glow, moisturizes and protects the skin. The company's second sub-brand, Tent World, is headed by Ms. Ann Spencer and is responsible for Thermalabs exclusive range of cosmetics tents. Tent World's introductory product is a special tent known as Mercury Beach Tent, which provides a perfect hiding place after a long dip in the water at the beach.
Thermalabs officer for outbound marketing, Mr. Alex Howard, said, "There's been quite a mini-debate in the industry regarding what precise products have helped Thermalabs attain its current levels of financial success. Well, there are all kinds of speculations regarding this and I just thought clearing the air would be good. Contrary to misconceptions, our self-tanning lotions, the Ultimitt applicator and the Glow2Go wipes are Thermalabs all-time best-grossing products. Hopefully, this won't surprise anyone who understands the workings of our company well enough."
For more information about us, please visit http://www.thermalabs.com
Contact Info:
Name: Jennifer Parker
Email: press@thermalabs.com
Organization: Thermalabs
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-gBGXC2aPg
Source: http://marketersmedia.com/thermalabs-reveals-its-all-time-best-grossing-releases/114368
Release ID: 114368
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Crystal Training Launches Webinar Series Teaching QuickBooks, Excel and Sage 50
Crystal Training, a national provider of hands-on training classes focusing on QuickBooks, Excel and Sage 50, which are geared at small businesses and entrepreneurs, has launched a new live webinar training platform.
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Crystal Training, a national provider of hands-on training classes focusing on QuickBooks, Excel and Sage 50, which are geared at small businesses and entrepreneurs, has launched a new live webinar training platform.
Founded in 2010, the company has so far trained over 13,000 students nationwide. Crystal Training already offers a classroom based training covering QuickBooks and Excel. However, these classes typically run for an entire day, and as a result, it is often difficult for busy entrepreneurs and small business owners to dedicate a full day from their busy schedules to attend a full-day class. To better accommodate the needs for a growing number of students and make training more easily accessible, Crystal Training is launching live webinars, starting at the beginning of June 2016.
Each live webinar lasts for 2 hours and provides a more easily accessible alternative as people can log in to participate on the webinar from anywhere in the world, from the comfort of their own home of office. Only a limited number of participants is allowed to register for each webinar, allowing each student more time for interacting with the instructor and maximizing their learning potential. A professional instructor will lead each of the webinars and will interact with students along the way. The topics covered range from QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, MS Excel and Sage 50 and include various subjects including payroll, inventory, invoicing, accounts receivable and accounts payable, etc.
Crystal Training Product Manager, Rudolf Galan, says of the new live webinars: "We are adapting to our students' busy lives; we understand the need for more compact classes that cover a set of specific topics. The live online webinars are designed to be very interactive and because we set a low limit for the number of participants, we are able to answer questions and interact with everyone the same way we would in a classroom setting."
The online webinar schedule is available now at www.crystal-training.net and a complete class topic outline for each class is also available for viewing online by prospective participants. Registration cost is $129 for each webinar and can be processed online with any major credit card. For more information or to register for an upcoming online webinar or classroom training, visit www.crystal-training.net or call 1-800-535-8176.
For more information about us, please visit https://www.crystal-training.net/
Contact Info:
Name: Rudolf Galan
Email: info@crystal-training.net
Organization: Crystal Training
Address: 2981 Ford Street Extension #333, Ogdensburg, NY 13669, United States
Phone: 1-800-535-8176
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Bureau Veritas Backs Hullwasher's Eco-Friendly Hull Cleaning System
The first in-water hull cleaning company using Eco-friendly and highly efficient scrubbing techniques to service maritime vessels, Corydoras Hullwasher and Hullwasher America are proud to announce that Bureau Veritas is behind its thorough and rigorous certification process.
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The first in-water hull cleaning company using Eco-friendly and highly efficient scrubbing techniques to service maritime vessels, Corydoras Hullwasher and Hullwasher America are proud to announce that Bureau Veritas is behind its thorough and rigorous certification process.
While making the announcement, the company's President Alexandre Bonotto re-affirmed Hullwasher's commitment to providing highly dependable and comprehensive services and the investments the company makes to stay ahead of the competition in the industry.
"We are killing and depleting our oceans resources at an unprecedented rate," he said, "and we alone as a species are responsible for this, it is therefore only logical that we be responsible for educating, and reversing what we have been doing for decades."
Bureau Veritas is a global leader in testing, inspection, and certification services. The trusted and well-respected organization provides solutions in health and safety, product quality, social responsibility, and environmental protection. The testing and certification of Hullwasher couldn't have come at a better time as the company has over 5,000 pieces that need to be certified by Bureau Veritas. Alexandre Bonotto, the president of Hullwasher America , thanked the team behind him and expressed their pride to be associated with BV and its certification process.
Hullwasher is the first company of its kind to be recognized for its innovation of technologies to clean boats, yachts, cruise ships, oil tankers, container ships and more under water in an ecologically friendly manner. In keeping with the company's policy to preserve the environment, the company's entire system uses electrical components and uses absolutely no gas oil or chemical components which could harm the waterways.
"The sad truth is that if we keep harming our Oceans and waterways at this rate, the very next generation will suffer greatly, think about that for a second." President Alexandre Bonotto appealed to the participants who attended the announcement, "Our planet revolves around our Oceans; its well-being is essential to our well-being. It's that simple."
About Hullwasher
Hullwasher is most popularly known as the one company that offers one-of-a-kind in-water hull cleaning services for maritime vessels. The company developed, designed, and manufactured a cleaning solution that is a cheaper, more efficient, and less demanding alternative to the traditional hull cleaning, manual docking, and hull repainting processes. Founded with a focus on cleaning maritime vessels without using wasteful processes or harmful chemicals and toxins, Hullwasher takes pride in acknowledging their recognition by Bureau Veritas.
Media Contact
For more information about Corydoras Hullwasher and Hullwasher America or Bureau Veritas and Hullwasher's services, go to http://hullwasher.us and http://www.bureauveritas.com/ , send an email to info@hullwasher.us or call (305) 771-2885.
For more information about us, please visit http://hullwasher.us
Contact Info:
Name: Alexandre Bonotto
Email: info@hullwasher.us
Organization: Hullwasher America
Address: 350 Lincoln Road, Suite 3028 Miami Beach, FL 33139
Phone: (305) 771-2885
Release ID: 114481
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LEBC group has signed a joint venture with technology firm Kerr Henderson to produce software to help fact-finding and report writing.
The project - codenamed Hobnob internally - is well advanced, according to a statement from LEBC, which plans to have a working prototype by the end of May to deliver advice at retirement.
The national advice firms chief executive Jack McVitie called it an important step in building its bionic advisory offering.
Last month, LEBCs director of individual savings and investments Kay Ingram claimed to have cracked the advice gap problem by combining human and automated services in a bionic system, set for roll-out next year.
Clients will fill in an online questionnaire pin-pointing their specific issues, before being handed over to a financial adviser who will focus on those areas.
Mr McVitie stated: In Kerr Henderson we feel we have found the perfect partner, combining financial services knowledge with strong IT skills. The aim is to produce software that will give further market advantage.
Michael Kerr, managing director of Northern Ireland-based Kerr Henderson, added: This is a very exciting venture for all parties and we look forward to working together to produce something which is truly industry leading.
Providers like LV, Just Retirement and Scottish Widows, along with wealth managers such as Lighthouse and Bellpenny, are all considering moves into the market.
peter.walker@ft.com
More than a fifth of investors would refuse to pay an ongoing charge of 0.75 per cent for an actively managed UK equity fund, meaning they miss out on 90 per cent of the funds available in the market.
An FE Trustnet poll of 2,637 advisers and investors also found 37 per cent would not be prepared to pay more than 1 per cent for an active UK equity fund.
The findings come at a time when the fund management industry is under increased scrutiny over its charges and fees, particularly in the wake of the Retail Distribution Review which forced advisers and fund managers to be explicit about charges.
According to FE Analytics data, the charge for the average active fund is 0.998 per cent, meaning the vast majority of funds in the IA UK Companies, IA UK Equity Income and IA UK Smaller Companies sectors would be ignored.
By contrast, those who would not pay more than 1 per cent are limiting themselves to 70 per cent of UK active funds in the market.
This means they would miss out on highly popular funds such as Old Mutual UK Dynamic Equity, Trojan Income and Standard Life Investments UK Equity Income Unconstrained.
Active managers have felt the pressure to compete with the ever-growing passive fund industry, with index-linked tracker funds being available at a cheaper price.
katherine.denham@ft.com
Kames Capital has launched a Dublin-domiciled fund, which targets an annual income of 5 per cent paid monthly to sit alongside its pre-existing UK strategy.
The Kames Global Diversified Income fund also aims to generate total returns of between 7 per cent and 8 per cent after fees over the medium term of three to five years through strategy top-down macroeconomic views with bottom-up stock selection.
The fund will typically hold between 200 to 300 instruments, and will invest in a variety of assets including investment grade and high-yield bonds, global equities, listed property and specialist income including listed infrastructure and renewables.
It will be managed by Vincent McEntegart, from Kames multi-asset team, who runs the successful UK version of the fund.
The product will be available in the UK, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Guernsey, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
Its base currency will be Euro, but there will also be US Dollar, Sterling, Swiss Franc and Swedish Krona share classes.
The unveiling of the fund came just seven days after the launch of the Kames Global Sustainable Equity Fund managed by Craig Bonthron and Neil Goddin, and then supported by Ryan Smith, head of governance and ethical research at the fund house.
Provider view
Scott Jamieson, head of multi-asset investing at Kames Capital, said: Demand for multi-asset products is increasing as investors look for funds that offer a robust and proven asset allocation process.
Our highly experienced Multi-Asset Group have a proven income-generating ability demonstrated by the success of our existing UK domiciled, Kames Diversified Income fund, which has a historic yield of 5.61 per cent and has achieved a total return of 14.35 per cent since launch in February 2014. We will aim to utilise this expertise for the Global Diversified Income Fund.
Adviser view
Stefan Fura, director at Leicester based Furnley House, said: It seems to me that quite a lot of asset mangers are coming out with global diversified income funds in recent times. It is difficult to maintain the yield with diversification.
Income funds are a necessity now more than ever with rise in the number of people going through the decumulation stage. The AMC [annual managment charge] comes across as quite competitive for a diversified fund, but the cost of the fund is not the be all and end all.
We have a structured investment process. Yes we look at the cost and the past performance of the fund, but we also look at the risk levels and compare the funds to other global diversified income funds and global equity funds.
Charges
AMC of 0.55 per cent.
Verdict
There has been a notable spike in the number of global diversified funds for income in the wake of the pension reform, which has unleashed pensioners from the shackles of annuities and enables them to explore other avenues for income at retirement. Heightened competition has seen the cost of these products plummet. Here, the AMC is notably competitive for a fund that adopts a diversified strategy. However, as Mr Fura quite rightly mentions, cost is just one of a number of different facets in an effective due-diligence process. But the stellar performance achieved by Mr McEntegart, who also manages the firms pre-existing UK version of the fund, will go some way in reassuring investors that their money will be good hands.
The team at Tilney Bestinvests Glasgow office have busied themselves with a number of initiatives to raise money for a good cause.
The group hosted a number of events including bake sales, breakfast mornings and even a festive Santa Dash events, raising 6,500 for Marie Curie to fund the cost of running a hospice for a day.
The team were presented with a certificate by the charity in recognition of their efforts much to the delight of Paul Frame, managing director, head of investment management Scotland at the firm, (pictured) who collected the accolade.
British businesses are more worried about auto-enrolment and a potential Brexit than any other issues, a survey by insolvency adviser trade body R3 has found.
Of the 500 large, medium and small businesses surveyed, 23 per cent listed these two issues among their top concerns.
SMEs with 11-50 employees were the most concerned about auto-enrolment, while the least concerned were very small businesses with five or fewer employees, followed by businesses with more than 250 employees.
Large businesses were by far the most concerned about the UK potentially voting to leave the UK, with 40 per cent saying it was a major worry and just over 20 per cent of SMEs listing it as a top concern.
Other prominent concerns included the introduction of quarterly tax reporting, the National Living Wage, the digitalisation of tax reporting, Universal Credit and the Apprenticeship Levy.
R3 president Andrew Tate said that although the Brexit debate is grabbing the headlines, its important to remember that businesses face a plethora of other incoming regulatory and compliance challenges.
Just as many businesses especially smaller ones are worried about auto-enrolment pensions as are worried about Brexit and while that might not come to pass, auto-enrolment and the National Living Wage will definitely have to be dealt with by businesses.
Spencer Watt, director of Absolute Financial Management, said many of the small businesses he advises are very fearful about auto-enrolment.
He said a major challenge relates to payroll, which he described as an absolute nightmare for small businesses, citing cases where a company was faced with having to lay off a part-time employee responsible for payroll because she did not have the expertise to oversee auto-enrolment.
He also said the governments auto-enrolment scheme, NEST, was not very helpful to small businesses struggling to comply.
james.fernyhough@ft.com
Fears are mounting that financial advisers hard won cries of freedom from product provider bias are under threat from a new breed of super life companies.
Four years after seismic Retail Distribution Review rule changes attacked financial sector giants influence on client money - most notably by banning commission life and investment companies are snapping up rivals, advice firms and platforms.
Aviva, Old Mutual Wealth and most recently Standard Life have in the last two years cemented their ownership of every step of the financial services value chain, from advice, to funds and products, to the platforms where customers money is held.
Simon Mansell, director of Worcester-based Temple Bar Independent Financial Advice, said: Tied sales distribution and all that is wrong with restricted choice is about to reinvent itself.
Shakers and movers of the tied world have slipped back into positions of authority and are well placed to recreate the industry in their ugly image, warts and all.
Largest of the expansionist titans is Aviva, which in 2015 bought rival Friends Life and advice group Sesame Bankhall, in a 5.6bn deal creating the UKs largest insurance, savings and asset management firm.
But most aggressive in buying advice firms of late is Standard Life.
During a heady three weeks starting on 15 March it absorbed Munro Partnership, Almary Green and Baigrie Davies into its 1825 network, which was launched with the purchase of Pearson Jones in February 2015.
Both Aviva and Standard Life stated their purchases show their support for the financial advice industry.
A spokesperson for Aviva said the company is fully committed to providing quality and choice to advisers and their clients, and having a strong, straightforward platform that works for them.
A spokesman for Standard Life said: We have always been very strong supporters of the RDR, and our recent acquisitions demonstrate our commitment to the adviser market by supporting the provision of high quality financial advice.
But some advisers have argued the move by insurers to snap up intermediary businesses undermine the spirit, if not the letter, of the Retail Distribution Reviews aim to remove undue bias in financial advice.
In addition, Lee Robertson, chief executive at London-based Investment Quorum, said he sees the potential for such vertically integrated behemoths to cost customers dearly, as shareholders demand ever higher profits.
Some of the vertically integrated firms seem to carry high costs and this will impact clients in a low returns environment.
The firms must, and regulator should, ensure they put investors ahead of shareholders. Where is the incentive for non-independent businesses to push for better deals for investors?
Last week (4 May) Standard Life announced plans to buy fund platform Elevate from rival Axa, as the French group exits the UK market.
Mark Polson, managing director of consultancy The Lang Cat, said combined with its own holdings, the deal brings Standard Lifes platform assets under management close to 40bn, making it the biggest holder of advised clients money.
Dozens of oilseed rape growers could be hit with penalties following reports of high levels of erucic acid in the oil.
Some have been told they face deductions of up to 40/t, adding a further blow amid ongoing low prices and the cashflow crisis engulfing farming.
Two oilseed rape crushers, Cargill and ADM, have reported unusually high levels of erucic acid in crops harvested last year that are still being processed.
See also: 8 top tips to crack down on volunteer oilseed rape
Deliveries this spring into ADMs rapeseed processing facility in Erith, Kent, and Cargills crushing plants in Liverpool and Hull, have recorded levels above the permissible thresholds.
In some cases, levels are as high as 30%, which is enough to cause the finished oil product to be diverted into non-food uses.
UK and EU legislation requires that oils and fats for food use can contain no more than 5% erucic acid expressed on a fat basis. To sell oil in excess of this level would contravene laws.
Currently, there is a contractual maximum of 2% erucic acid in double zero oilseed rape in the Federation of Oils, Seeds and Fats Associations (FOSFA) 26A contract, with the right to reject loads above that maximum.
A double zero refers to seed that is low in erucic acid as well as in glucosinolates. In reality, improvements in plant breeding now mean true double zero rapeseed normally has erucic acid levels below 0.5%.
Guy Gagen, NFU chief arable adviser, told Farmers Weekly an investigation was under way to identify the source of the problem, which remains unclear.
With the exception of high erucic acid (HEAR) and specialist varieties, farmers have to grow double zero varieties of oilseed rape, which are low in these contaminants, said Mr Gagen.
The source of the problem is unknown. It would be surprising that farmers should allow any mixing of varieties on their farm, or that somehow the crop should become contaminated in the first place.
It could be either through the seed or high levels of volunteers three to four years ago. In any case, it would have to be quite high levels of contamination to exceed the conventional limit.
* The NFU is encouraging any oilseed rape growers who have had these problems this season to contact NFU Callfirst on 0370 845 8458 to log the issue.
Pig and poultry farmers will lose the certainty of access to a market that buys 19% and 14.4% of their produce respectively, if Britain votes to leave the EU in June, delegates at the Pig & Poultry Fair were told.
Conversely, those in favour of leaving suggested farmers would have a greater say over domestic welfare legislation, regulation and red tape.
See also: Analysis: Agricultural trade in a post-Brexit world
In a debate on the prospects of Britain leaving Europe for the unsubsidised pig and poultry sectors, James Hook, PD Hook Hatcheries, told the the current system worked well.
Im a firm believer in staying in Europe. What we have is working, and it has taken 40 years to get here.
We have strong supply chains, and the big problem I have is nobody knows what we are going in to; its just a massive gamble. What we have today is certainty.
He added that whether it was selling chicken to the continent, or employing European labour, his business could do so in a straightforward way, without a great deal of red tape.
And tariffs, negotiated by Europe, kept imports limited from third countries where welfare standards differed.
Project failing
On the opposing side of the argument, Stuart Agnew, an egg farmer and Ukip spokesman for agriculture, said the European project was failing.
He suggested the vast amount of trade we have with products such as French wine, Spanish meat and other foods would incentivise European countries to negotiate new, more favourable, trade deals.
Theres a deal to be done here; not being in the single market isnt the great tragedy we might think it is.
He also alleged that welfare standards were not uniformly regulated across Europe.
And on beak trimming, Mr Agnew said: You may think that issue has gone away, you may think its up to the UK, but there is a strong lobby in Germany to get an outright ban across the European Union.
And if the Germans want something, they tend to get their way.
Peter Kendall, AHDB chairman, told the debate that, as part of the EU, we can have higher standards and lower prices. The only people who will pay the price is farmers and the rural economy.
The full debate, held at the 2016 Pig & Poultry Fair, will feature on BBC Radio 4s Farming Today at 6.30am on Saturday 14 May.
Opera VPN available in Apple iOS: Updates On The Ad-Free Barrier Breaking App Revealed
Browsing securely is made easy with Opera and it is now coming to iOS as well. iPad and iPhone users can now enjoy secured and free-from-ads virtual private network through the "Opera VPN" launched last Monday.
According to Mashable, restrictions will cease to exist once the Opera VPN operates in your gadget. This Opera app allows you to spoof IP address, fading all the signs that point to your correct location. Users can pick one of five available countries: Singapore, Netherlands, US, Canada and Germany.
Websites and other service providers such as Netflix are working aggressively to intensify its protection against the Opera. Less accessibility due to geographical information proved to be a big problem for Netflix users all over the world. Opera is yet to crack down the great wall of Netflix.
With Opera VPN easily gaining popularity, Tech2 reported that SurfEasy president wrote on his blog that "new Opera VPN for iOS is a completely free solution that offers many of the features of our SurfEasy application: data encryption, online freedom, five server regions to choose from, online anonymity, ease of use, and so on." Blocking advertisement is an alluring concept especially when it can save on mobile data use.
In the Macworld article, the need for the Opera VPN needs no precedent as there should be no access limitation on the information on the Internet. Students, employees and everyday users alike will be given the option to surf the net as they please without worrying about being tracked.
With a simple download of an application, users can enjoy the perks automatically. You can also change exit servers location as you prefer by tapping on the lightning icon and pick the other location available.
While it all looks good on paper, some tech critics are scrunching up their nose. They warn users to read the Opera VPN privacy policy thoroughly just to ensure that there are no backdoors aside from compiled data usage collection Opera claims to mine.
Samsung Galaxy Note 6 vs Galaxy Note 5: Communication & Performance Upgrades Expected; Release Date, Price, Specs & Features [Rumors]
The next iteration in Samsung's Galaxy Note line-up is reportedly packing a feature similar to the BlackBerry Hub, now dubbed as Samsung Focus. This is poised to serve as a one-stop communication-organization center where functions such as calendars, contacts, emails and memos are all integrated.
The information comes from SamMobile, which specifies email aggregation as one of Samsung Focus' major features. BlackBerry users are familiar with the convenience brought by the Hub, and with the Galaxy Note 6 promising to become another powerful handset, the rumored feature is a possibility.
SamMobile claims that Samsung Focus has a "clean and modern interface," faithful to Google's Material Design guidelines. According to the outlet, the feature will sport a main screen where all important details are displayed, such as emails and reminders relevant on specified days. A contacts page - which comes with priority settings - is said to display calendar invites, emails and messages under each particular contact.
The Galaxy Note 6 is purported to have a 4,200mAh battery, 256GB internal memory, 6GB of RAM, USB Type-C support, 24MP rear camera resolution and an IP68 certification. A 5.8-inch QHD display, Snapdragon 823 and iris scanner are also expected.
Because there is no official word from Samsung yet, it is best to take these information with caution. It is safe to say that the Galaxy Note 6 will sport upgrades from its predecessor, but to what extent, we are yet to know.
The new Note will likely arrive the latest in August, ValueWalk says, though there are also assumptions pressing for a much earlier release. Price speculations, on the other hand, appear to agree that the high-end device will be costly. Because a patent has suggested that it might function as a laptop, AndroidPIT notes that price can be expected to rise accordingly.
What do you want to see in Samsung's next Note?
Scientists Discover Trove Of Ancient Fossils In Antarctica
A team of scientists bound and determine to brave the harsh climate of Antarctica are rewarded for their efforts and discover a jackpot of ancient fossils. The scientists have released a footage of some of the findings from an expedition to the region.
According to I4U News, the scientists from the U.S., South Africa and Australia visited the James Ross island area from February through March. Dr. Steve Salisbury of University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences said in a press release that he and his team found fossils between 67 million and 71 million years old.
We found a lot of really great fossils, Dr. Salisbury said in a statement released on the UQ News. The rocks that we were focusing on come from the end of the Age of Dinosaurs, so most of them are between 71 million and 67 million years old."
Dr. Salisbury explained that most of the remains were of creatures that lived in the ocean, sharing that, They were all shallow marine rocks, so the majority of things we found lived in the ocean. We did find a lot of marine reptile remains, so things like plesiosaurs and mosasaurs a type of marine lizard made famous by the recent film Jurassic World.
But the team also found some dinosaur fossils as well. Their discoveries will soon make their way to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where researchers can study them in-depth.
Dr. Salisbury said that the incredible discovery of so many fossils will help encourage more trips to the site in the future. "We found a lot of new ground to continue the search," he added. "So, we'd all really love to get back down there at some point soon."
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia was among the right people enshrined on the memorial wall on Saturday, Oct. 21.
SALEM Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders held an energized rally at the Armory on Tuesday evening, his fourth such visit to the state, one week ahead of Oregons May 17 primary.
Sanders was scheduled to speak at 7 p.m., but a line of supporters stretching for at least a mile had already formed by 2:30, waiting to get into the free event. By 6 p.m. the 3,200-capacity venue was packed, with another several hundred relegated to overflow seating outside, putting attendance above 4,000.
Inside, Simon & Garfunkels America found its way into the song rotation more than once, and supporters could be seen singing along: Weve all come to look for America.
With as many people turning out in support, such a sentiment runs in tandem with Sanders' challenge to somehow pull off a party nomination most have resigned to his opponent, Hillary Clinton. But to those at the Armory, that fight is far from over. While the crowd was decidedly more youthful than the one at Republican nominee Donald Trump's May 6 rally, a disdain for Clinton was a common thread at both events. It was a spirit expressed in the form of buttons, bumper stickers and T-shirts.
Albany residents Eric Bowling, Dave Wilson and Valerie Gupton were excited to see the man they believe will win the nomination, especially after the June 7 California primary votes are counted.
Five bands preceded Sanders' speech. When the first group took the stage, young families danced with their kids, and the rally took the tone of a festival.
Like their opposition, Sanders supporters feel this election is a matter of values. James Yeary of Portland explained these values in the sense that they rest on equity, a more global sense of community and a form of patriotism that moves beyond a sense of lost glory and a declared exceptionalism. "Instead, our patriotism is at once inclusive and kind," Yeary said.
When the candidate finally took the stage, the audience let out a deafening cheer that lasted for almost a minute.
"Let me begin by giving you all some pretty good news," Sanders began. "Tonight it appears that we've won a big, big victory in West Virginia, and with your help, we're gonna win in Oregon next week!
"We need an economy that works for all of us, not just the one percent.
"Let me be as clear as I can be, we are in the campaign to win, and we are going to fight for every last vote."
Sanders also declared that while the fight is an uphill fight, he and his supporters are used to such adversity. (With his West Virginia primary victory Tuesday night, Sanders has won 19 states to Clinton's 23. The latter is 145 delegates short of the 2,383 required.)
The largest and the longest roar came when Sanders said he and Clinton agree in one area: defeating Donald Trump. Sanders mentioned that in every national poll, he defeats Trump by big numbers. "And it is not just in national numbers," he said, "it is in state poll after state poll after state poll.
"Our vision of economic, environmental and social justice is the future of America and the future of the Democratic party," Sanders said.
"Donald Trump is not going to become president for a number of reasons, and the major reason is that the American people understand that we cannot have a president who has insulted Latinos and Mexicans, who has insulted Muslims, who every day is insulting women in one way or another, who has insulted veterans like John McCain and others."
Describing the misplaced priorities of a government that spends unchecked to fight wars in places like Iraq yet cannot find the money to rebuild the United States' crumbling infrastructure, Sanders declared he would shift the priority to focus on cities stateside.
"We are not going to be paying billions of dollars to rebuild cities in Iraq," he said. "We are going to be rebuilding our crumbling inner cities."
Sanders also reminded the crowd that Trump was a leader of the so-called birther movement, which sought incorrectly to reveal that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
"Mr. Trump will not become president because he does not understand that our strength is in our diversity," he declared. "And at the end of the day, love always trumps hatred."
The Benton County Democratic Party will host the 2016 Progressive Legacy Dinner on May 21 at the Adair Clubhouse, 6097 N.E. Ebony Lane in Adair Village.
Gov. Kate Brown will be the keynote speaker at the annual event, which recognizes contributions to progressive causes locally and statewide. Local Democrats Rachel and Bob Ozretich and Sam Sappington will be recognized for their service to the party.
The party fundraiser will also include a silent art auction.
The event will begin at 6 p.m. with a wine and cheese reception with the governor, followed by dinner at 7.
Tickets are $65 for the reception, $35 for dinner or $100 for both.
Tickets can be purchased online at https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/pld16.
Oregon State University College of Forestry Prof. Doug Maguire has received a research award from the Oregon Society of American Foresters (OSAF).
Maguire, who has taught at OSU since 1996, now has won the award three times. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in any branch of science leading to advancement in either the science or practice of forestry in Oregon.
Maguire, who received the award at the OSAF annual meeting April 28 in Coos Baty, also has taught at the University of Maine and the University of Washington.
Since 1988 he has been the author or co-author of 94 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has served as the major professor for 37 graduate students and as a graduate committee member for an additional 88 students.
Maguires main research focus is in silviculture, growth and yield and Douglas fir productivity and plantation management. Since 2007 he has been the director of the Center for Intensive Planted-forest Silviculture at Oregon State.
Dr. Maguire is an effective teacher and teaches courses on forest models and silviculture influences, said Stephen Fitzgerald, director of the College of Forestry research forests at OSU. He is a highly sought speaker and is highly respected by colleagues across the Pacific Northwest, the United States and abroad.
This log includes incidents in which there might have been a public disturbance or a risk to the public. Information comes from the Corvallis Police Department, the Benton County Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police. It does not include all calls for service. The status of incidents might change after further investigation. Locations are approximate. People arrested or suspected in crimes are considered innocent until proven otherwise.
Benton County Sheriff's Office
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4
CAR PROWL: 7:38 p.m., 21500 South Fork Road, Alsea Falls. A 24-year-old Corvallis man reported that the front window to his car had been smashed and that his car had been broken into while he was stopped at the Alsea Falls campground. The man reported that several items, including a laptop, a tablet and portable hard drive, were taken from the car. The items were valued at around $2,000.
SUNDAY, MAY 1
DOMESTIC ASSAULT: 2:40 p.m., 1600 block of Bailey Street, Philomath. Deputies responded to a reported domestic assault. After questioning, deputies arrested and charged Christopher John Cochran, 22, of Philomath with fourth-degree domestic assault after Cochran allegedly assaulted his mother and father. Cochran was booked into the Benton County Jail.
FRIDAY, APRIL 29
METH: 3 p.m., 190 S.W. B Ave. Deputies arrested Kristina Elaine Hass, 26, of Corvallis on a charge of possession of methamphetamine. Deputies allegedly discovered that Hass had meth on her during a fugitive arrest. Hass was booked into the Benton County Jail.
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Emissions : Bonns climate goal
Bonn Bonn set an ambitious goal to reduce emissions by half. Some challenges must be tackled.
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Carbon dioxide emissions in Bonn have been reduced by 18 percent from 1990 to 2012. Private households and industry have contributed to this decrease. As a member of the Climate Alliance, however, Bonn had set a goal of reducing its emissions by half between 1990 and 2030 and is not on track to achieve this. Climate protection expert, Michael Muller says this result can still be considered a success.
The following is from a commentary written by General Anzeiger's Martin Wein. It helps explain the challenges faced.
There are signs of change. Without having had to reduce the level of business or experience a change in lifestyle, Bonn residents have been able to reduce their energy consumption. Thats the good news from the latest CO2 report. We are using less electricity, better insulating our homes and heating them more efficiently with thermal energy. At the same time, we receive information from laboratories and climate research centers that paint a dramatic scene with regard to climate change: we have to pull the emergency brake now if we want to reduce the effects.
Bonn, which has established itself as a global center for sustainability, should confront the issue with more courage. This report showed exactly where the problem lies. Until the City comes up with a more efficient and comprehensive traffic and transportation program, efforts aimed at saving on electricity and other good ideas will have little effect.
Former BIS student : Researching language abilities and creativity
Caterina Schroder was a student at Bonn International School (BIS) from 2005 - 2009. Foto: Alfred Schmelzeisen
Bad Godesberg Does competency in a second or third language from early on promise more creativity? A former student of BIS researches.
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Caterina Schroder was a student at Bonn International School (BIS) from 2005 - 2009. Born in Kiel, her family moved to Bad Godesberg in 1994 because of her fathers new job as Chief Physician at the Waldkrankenhaus (Wald hospital). He was keen on the international flair of Bonn and the former diplomatic area, and could use his language skills to communicate with patients from other countries. After initially placing their daughter in the German Clara-Fey-Secondary School, her parents switched her to BIS so she could expand her language skills.
After finishing BIS, Schroder went to London and got her degree in teaching. She is now researching the connection between languages and creativity. Eight students from BIS and ten from the Siegburg secondary school have volunteered to take part in her study. It is her goal to find out how competency in second or third languages influences creativity and she has been working with kids at BIS in the past weeks to help her in her research.
In her previous research, she came upon American Psychologist Paul Torrance who developed the so-called Torrance Test in the 60s. It was meant to offer a creative alternative to the IQ tests. Torrance discovered that creative potential decreased with age. Kids between 3 and 5 years-old were classified almost 100 percent as creative geniuses. This dropped to 90 percent when it came to the teenage years. Schroder says the reason for the decrease in creativity is not due to biological changes but rather to the growing mental barriers that we build in our minds as we age. An example of this is the difficulty we have to take back our prejudices once we have formed them, and how this is associated with having a less open mind.
British researchers believe that school systems contribute to a lack of creative thinking, even if not intentionally. Schroder says this is reversible; one can learn to be creative.
Schroder met her husband, Ivan Rykov at BIS in 2007 and they have a daughter who they raise bilingually with the German and Russian languages. In these days, your children can really benefit when they become competent in two languages, comments Schroder. Her research about the effects of bilingualism from early on and how this influences creativity should be ready for release soon. It would be a dream, she said, to receive an offer to work at BIS as a teacher in the Early Years and Primary School.
UN City : State Parliament honors Bonn
Dusseldorf As host to over 1,000 UN employees and a driver in sustainability, Bonn was honored in NRW State Parliament.
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In a special meeting of the North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) State Parliament on Tuesday evening, the city of Bonn was honored as a UN host city. Bonn has become a beacon of light for sustainable development, said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the Climate Secretariat. In Bonn, answers are sought and paths found for sustaining our planet in the future.
NRW Minister of European Affairs, Franz-Josef Lersch-Mense praised UN initiatives in Bonn towards fighting climate change, desertification, and maintaining bio-diversity. In Bonn, the focus is on the future and that offers a good perspective for the development of Bonn as an important location, said Lersch-Mense.
Currently, over 1,000 people work at the UN in Bonn. Mayor of Bonn Ashok Sridharan said he was thrilled about Bonn having become a leader in sustainability, and called it a real success story for the state. Parliament President Carina Godecke described the UN as a strong motor for growth in Bonn, guaranteeing jobs, and contributing to the image of Bonn and the state. There are already 18 UN institutions in Bonn. Minister Lersch-Mense spoke of an impressive success story.
MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE OF GIABA ADOPTS ITS NEW STRATEGIC PLAN AT ITS 16TH MEETING IN PRAIA, REPUBLIC OF CAPE VERDE
The GIABA Ministerial Committee (GMC) held its 16th meeting in Praia, the capital of the Republic of Cape Verde. The meeting which took place on the 7th of May, 2016, at the prestigious Oasis Atlantic Hotels and Resorts, was attended by the three line ministers (Finance, Interior/Security and Justice) working directly with GIABA in each member State. Also in attendance was the representative of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Intergovernmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA), is a specialized Institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It is saddled with the responsibility of protecting the economies of member States from the laundering of the proceeds of crimes.
From Right: Director General of GIABA, Col. Adama Coulibaly, Prime Minister of Cape Verde, H.E. Mr. Ulisses Correia Silva, The chairman of the GMC and Minister of state for Economy and Finance (Budget), Republic of Senegal, Mr. Birima Mangara and Hon. Minister for Justice and Labour, Madam Janine Tatiana Lelis
The GMC is the highest policy making body for GIABA. The GMC meeting came up immediately after the 25th Technical Commission and Plenary meeting of GIABA, held in the same venue from 2nd to 6th May, 2016.
The meeting adopted the revised GIABA Strategic Plan 2016 2020. Other highlights of the meeting were the adoption of the summary activity report of the Director General of GIABA, the report of the Co-Chair of the GIABA Evaluation and Compliance Group (ECG), and the report of the Co-Chair of the GIABA Risk, Trends and Methods Groups (RTMG). The GMC also adopted the report of the 25th Technical Commission and Plenary.
The ceremony was declared open by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Cape Verde, His Excellency, Mr. Ulisses Correia Silva. In his address, the Prime Minister stressed the need for member States to work together to confront cross-border crimes in the region. The chairman of the GMC and Minister of state for Economy and Finance (Budget), Republic of Senegal, Mr. Birima Mangara, emphasized the increasing insecurity in the region and called on all member States to support GIABA, particularly in the effort to address the threats of terrorism and terrorist financing in West Africa. The Director General of GIABA, Col. Adama Coulibaly, in his welcoming remarks, articulated the achievements of GIABA in spite of the challenges faced. He specifically highlighted the efforts of GIABA in building capacity of member States, driving compliance with global standards, and expanding the frontiers of the fight against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing within the region.
HURREX, Navy's Annual Emergency Preparedness Hurricane Exercise, Underway
Navy News Service
Story Number: NNS160510-08
Release Date: 5/10/2016 12:02:00 PM
By By Donna Cipolloni, NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs
PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- With the onset of the Atlantic hurricane season approaching, the Navy is currently conducting HURREX/Citadel Gale 2016, its annual hurricane exercise designed to prepare the Navy to respond to weather threats in coastal regions and maintain the ability to deploy forces, even under the most adverse weather conditions.
All Navy commands with personnel in Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, Naval District Washington (NDW) and Navy Region Southeast--ashore, afloat, in port and underway--will participate.
"U.S. Fleet Forces initiates the exercise and directs Commander, Naval Installations Command to participate, thus pushing it out to NDW and down to us [at Naval Air Station Patuxent River]," said Chris Beyer, emergency manager.
Beyer explained the exercise also evaluates Pax River's capability to prepare, mitigate, plan, respond and recover from a hurricane or similar incident causing life/safety concerns and disruption to infrastructure.
"The first week incorporates information sharing and preparation for a hurricane potentially impacting the installation," he said. "The second week incorporates response and recovery from the hurricane making landfall."
This year's HURREX scenario involves two simulated tropical cyclones that will develop and intensify to hurricane strength, threatening the East Coast of the United States, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean coastal regions.
"The hurricane will hit the region, causing massive damage to infrastructure, such as buildings collapsing, power outages, downed trees, traffic accidents and flooding," Beyer said. "However, we can't comment on specific incidents impacting this installation or others, as it would provide exercise participants with information otherwise unknown during an actual impending incident."
During the exercise, Pax personnel might receive messages regarding incidents or observe emergency responders at different locations.
"If personnel receive direction to report their status through NFASS (Navy Accountability and Assessment System), they must comply," Beyer added.
Beyer advises taking personal responsibility beforehand, so that in the event of a real life emergency situation, each individual is prepared to weather the aftermath.
"Personal preparation and planning increases one's chances to survive and recover from a disaster and allows responders to aid others and restore the community to pre-disaster conditions," Beyer said. "FEMA advises individuals should not anticipate assistance from responders for 72 hours after a disaster occurs; therefore, individuals should prepare to be self-sufficient and prevent against becoming a casualty."
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Duterte wins Philippine presidential election: preliminary results
People's Daily Online
(Xinhua) 11:05, May 10, 2016
MANILA, May 10 -- Davao city mayor Rodrigo Duterte has won the 2016 Philippine presidential election, according to an unofficial and partial tally of votes cast as of 2:00 a.m. Tuesday.
Based on 87 percent of valid ballots, Duterte pocketed14,499,396 votes, followed by Manuel Roxas at 8,680,203 votes, the statistics from partial and unofficial Comelec Transparency server showed.
Even if the rest of the uncounted valid votes all went to Roxas, he would not be able to turn the tide.
"Duterte's victory excites me and inspires optimism because he is a strong-willed leader with outstanding track record as moyor of Davao city," said Wilson Lee Flores, a columnist and analyst in political science.
Flores emphasized that Duterte is the first Filipino president-elect from economically-neglected, resource-rich and rebel-infested Mindanao region of southern Philippines.
"He can help the region more," he said.
He added that he also expects Duterte to address the now bad peace and order situation, the huge rich-poor gap, and the rural development and infrastructure needs of the country.
Grace Poe, ranking the third in vote counting, had already conceded to Duterte earlier in a press conference in Quezon city, Manila.
Five candidates contested in the election for the presidency to succeed Benigno Aquino III, whose six-year term ends on June30.
Duterte has been leading most of the opinion polls since April.
Some 33 percent of the voters said they would vote for Duterte in the final pre-election survey conducted by Social Weather Station. The country's renowned polling body carried out the survey from May 1 to 3 through face-to-face interviews with 4,500 validated voters nationwide with a sampling error margin of 1 point.
The 71-year-old mayor is known to have made Davao one of the safest cities in the Philippines through tough regulations and iron-fist approach in crime fighting.
During the presidential campaign period, he vowed to wipe out corruption, drugs and criminality in three to six months if he wins the election.
His aggressive behavior and offensive language won him a lot of supporters, but aroused concerns and controversy as well.
Candidate Grace Poe held a press conference in Quezon city, Manila at around 00:05 a.m. Tuesday, conceding to Duterte.
Expressed her gratitude to her supporters, Poe said that she and her team had never lost faith.
The female candidate said she had tried her best during the campaign period.
Poe also said she would serve as senator for three more years, fighting for rule of law and democracy as she always did.
Some 55 million Filipinos were registered to vote and the voter turnout reached a record high of 81.62 percent, according to the Commission of Elections.
The candidate who gets the most votes wins the election.
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15 Afghan police fall in Taliban attack close to Lashkar Gah
Iran Press TV
Tue May 10, 2016 3:43PM
Fifteen Afghan police were killed in an attack by the Taliban militants on two checkpoints close to Afghanistan's southern city of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province Tuesday.
A senior security official of Helmand released the number of fatalities, saying, "The situation is very critical near" the city.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official also called on the Afghan government to act soon, warning that otherwise "there will be a disaster."
The casualties came after Taliban militants overran two checkpoints in the town of Girishk and the district of Nad Ali.
Bashir Shaker, a member of the provincial council, said Taliban has recently stepped up its raids against "security belts near Lashkar Gah."
"The threat is becoming bigger minute by minute. If the government does not take action soon, we will witness the collapse of Lashkar Gah," Shaker stated.
Helmand, a Taliban heartland, has been the scene of fierce fighting for months as Taliban has stepped up its attacks there.
On April 12, Taliban announced the start of its annual spring offensive against Afghan security forces and US-led foreign forces across the conflict-ridden country.
The militants dubbed the offensive "Operation Omari" in honor of the Taliban founder and long-time leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who purportedly died at a hospital in Karachi, the main seaport and financial center of Pakistan, in April 2013.
Nangarhar blast kills 10
Meanwhile, a bomb attack outside the home of an anti-Taliban fighter in the eastern province of Nangarhar claimed the lives of at least ten people, security sources said.
Nangarhar police chief Zrawar Zahed said Tuesday that the casualties were caused after the bomber "detonated his explosives-laden car outside the house of a local 'uprising' commander this evening" in Nazyan district of the volatile province.
A spokesman for the Nangarhar governor confirmed that at least 10 "civilians" had been killed with 23 wounded in the fatal attack.
Sources say Malek Dehqan, the target of the attack, was among the wounded.
Afghan villagers who take up arms against the Taliban with the government's backing have remained a constant target of the militant group in various regions of the war-ravaged country.
Nangarhar also faces an emerging threat from loyalists of the Takfiri Daesh terrorists making gradual inroads in Afghanistan.
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Beijing slams US warship patrol in disputed South China Sea
Iran Press TV
Tue May 10, 2016 10:1AM
China has denounced the United States for sending yet another warship close to an island in the disputed South China Sea, saying the move threatened "peace and stability."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a daily news briefing on Tuesday that the US warship entered the strategic waters without Beijing's permission.
Guided-missile destroyer, USS William P. Lawrence, sailed within 12 nautical miles of a land feature in the South China known as Fiery Cross Reef on Tuesday.
US Defense Department spokesman Bill Urban said the voyage was made to "challenge excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea."
Pentagon claimed that the warship conducted a "routine freedom of navigation operation" near Fiery Cross.
"This action by the US side threatened China's sovereignty and security interests, endangered the staff and facilities on the reef, and damaged regional peace and stability," Kang said.
It is the third time in less than a year that Washington has sent its warships to the sea in a move repeatedly condemned by China as "the real militarization" of the region.
The South China Sea has become a source of tension between China, the US, and some other regional countries who are seeking control of trade routes and mineral deposits there.
China has on different occasions asserted its sovereignty over the sea, which is also claimed in some parts by Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The US has accused Beijing of attempting to take advantage of the situation and gradually asserting control over the region.
China, however, rejects the allegations and says the US is interfering in regional affairs, deliberately stirring tensions in the South China Sea.
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Former NATO, US Officials See Negative Consequences from Brexit
by Isabela Cocoli May 10, 2016
A British exit from the European Union would damage Western security and weaken Europe, former NATO secretary-generals, and former U.S. secretaries of state and defense warned Tuesday.
The former NATO chiefs said in a letter to The Daily Telegraph newspaper that a so-called Brexit would give aid to the West's enemies" and would "undoubtedly lead to a loss of British influence" at a time when "we need to stand should-to-shoulder across the Euro-Atlantic community against common threats."
The signatories were Peter Carington, Javier Solana, George Robertson, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Former US officials on Brexit
In separate letter to the Times, 13 former U.S. secretaries of state and defense, and national security advisors warned of the consequences if Britons vote to leave the European Union.
"We are concerned that should the UK choose to leave the European Union, the UK's place and influence in the world would be diminished and Europe would be dangerously weakened," U.S. former secretaries of State said in their letter.
The signatories included former secretaries of state George Shultz and Madeleine Albright, and former secretaries of Defense Frank Carlucci, William Perry, Bill Cohen, Bob Gates and Leon Panetta.
The warnings come as the debate in Britain for and against Brexit has intensified.
British Prime Minister David Cameron repeated his position Monday that Britain is safer in the European Union, while former London mayor Boris Johnson, a member of Cameron's Conservative Party, accused him of suggesting World War III would break out should Britons vote to leave the union in a June 23 referendum.
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Press Review
Korean Central News Agency of DPRK via Korea News Service (KNS)
Pyongyang, May 9 (KCNA) -- The DPRK's leading newspapers Monday carry special write-ups dealing with the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).
The third-day sitting of the Seventh Congress of the WPK took place.
The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un made a historic conclusion on the review of the work of the Central Committee of the WPK.
A decision of the Seventh Congress of the WPK was adopted.
The Central Auditing Commission of the WPK made a report on the review of its work.
The service personnel and people and the congratulatory groups of the Korean Children's Union and the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League presented congratulatory messages to the Seventh Congress of the WPK.
A delegation of the International Institute of the Juche Idea visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun and paid tribute to President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il.
Kim Jong Un received a top diploma from the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Brazil.
He received congratulatory messages from different countries.
There took place a meeting of leading officials of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan to listen to an opening address made by Kim Jong Un at the Seventh Congress of the WPK.
Foreign media reported the news that he made an opening address at the Seventh Congress of the WPK.
The Central Committee of the WPK received a congratulatory message from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Portugal. -0-
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North Koreans hold mass rally after ruling party congress
Iran Press TV
Tue May 10, 2016 9:11AM
Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have held a massive rally and parade in the capital Pyongyang to mark the end of the ruling party's first congress in over three decades.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un presided over the large demonstration, which was held on Tuesday in Pyongyang's main ceremonial square.
Standing on a platform by top military and party officials, the leader was seen waving to the crowds.
During the events, people were holding flags of the ruling Workers' Party to mark the end of its four-day congress that promoted Kim as the party's chairman.
The 7th party congress is the first of its kind in 36 years and also the first during Kim's, who came to power in late 2011 following the sudden death of his father Kim Jong-il.
During the congress, Kim pledged to simultaneously expand its nuclear weapons capability "in quality and quantity."
He said the arsenal would only be used if North Korea is threatened with nuclear arms. He also set a five-year plan to revive the economy.
On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to extend his congratulations to Kim on his new title of Workers' Party chairman.
The president wrote that China stands ready to work for further improvements in bilateral relations and to make "positive contributions to safeguarding peace, stability and development in the region."
China, however, has criticized Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests and endorsed new United Nations Security Council sanctions against it back in March.
The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the toughest sanctions on North Korea in two decades over its missile and nuclear tests.
Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket in February, which according to Pyongyang was aimed at placing an earth observation satellite into orbit.
However, Washington and Seoul described the practice as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test.
North Korea has vowed to develop a nuclear arsenal in an effort to protect itself from the US military, which occasionally deploys nuclear-powered warships and aircraft capable of carrying atomic weapons in the region.
Washington also holds joint military maneuvers with Seoul, which Pyongyang views as preparations for war and a direct threat against its security.
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Iran unveils Naseh drone
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Tehran, May 10, IRNA -- The latest indigenous drone, named 'Naseh', unveiled in a ceremony attended by Defense Minister Hossein Dehqan here on Tuesday.
The Naseh drone has been manufactured by Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base.
Dehqan also toured the exhibition of Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base defensive achievements.
Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad Esmaili and several high-ranking military officials also were accompanying Dehqan during his tour.
The Islamic Republic has repeatedly said that its military might poses no threat to other countries, reiterating that its defense doctrine is based on deterrence.
9060**1771
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Iran cautious in selling heavy water to US
ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency
Tue 10 May 2016 - 14:45
TEHRAN (ISNA)- Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali-Akbar Salehi said that Iran is cautious in selling heavy water to the United States, after the recent US court ruling on seizing two billion dollars of Iranians assets.
"At the moment we (Iran and the US) are in negotiations and we have to determine about the payment," said Salehi.
He also said that Iran discussed selling heavy water with Russia.
The US Supreme Court decided on 20 April on sampling two billion dollars on Iranian assets frozen in the United States, to pay compensation to the families of victims of an attack in 1983 in US Marine Corps barracks in Beirut falsely attributed to Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the decision of the US Supreme Court a dishonor to American justice. "This is a totally illegal action and contrary to international rules. This is a violation and open hostility by the United States against the Iranian people, "he said.
End Item
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Iran air defense takes delivery of S-300: Minister
Iran Press TV
Tue May 10, 2016 10:21AM
Iran's defense minister says the country's air defense has now been equipped with the Russian S-300 missile defense system.
Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan made the remarks on Tuesday, observing the country's defense achievements at Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base.
"The strategic S-300 system has been provided to the air defense sector," he said.
Last month, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said Tehran and Moscow had begun implementing a contract on the delivery of the Russian defense systems to the Islamic Republic.
Russia committed to delivering the systems to Iran under a USD 800-million deal in 2007 but refused to do so, citing UN sanctions against Iran over the country's nuclear program.
Following Moscow's refusal to deliver the systems, Iran filed a complaint against the relevant Russian arms manufacturer with the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva.
In April 2015, President Vladimir Putin lifted the ban, following which Russia signed a new contract to supply Iran with the systems by the end of that year.
In his Tuesday remarks, the Iranian defense chief also said the country was in the final stages of manufacturing an indigenous long-range air defense system known as "Bavar (Belief) 373."
"The system, which can be used to confront ballistic and cruise missiles, drones, and warplanes, will be manufactured and put on the production line this year," Dehqan said.
He added that the system can simultaneously engage several targets.
The Islamic Republic maintains that its military might poses no threat to other countries, stating that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence.
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Iran to drown US warships if threatened: IRGC
Iran Press TV
Tue May 10, 2016 8:21AM
A commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned that his forces would drown American warships should they pose the slightest territorial threat to the country.
"Wherever the Americans look in the Persian Gulf, they will see us," Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, commander of the IRGC Navy, said in remarks on state television on Monday night.
"They know that if they commit the slightest mistake, we will drown their vessels in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, or the Sea of Oman," he added.
The commander further highlighted the Navy's defense might, saying Iran's enemies are only aware of a small fraction of the country's military capabilities.
The IRGC has underground facilities housing surface-to-sea missiles and vessels, Fadavi noted.
The vessels would thus be headed to the sea from those facilities instead of jetties, which would lower their susceptibility to attacks, he said.
IRGC speedboats, he added, can travel as fast as up to 80 nautical miles per hour, more than double the speed of the fastest American ones.
"Today, there are around 60 foreign military vessels in the Persian Gulf, most of which belong to the US, France and Britain. The vessels are monitored by the IRGC every hour," said the official.
"The IRGC also enjoys intelligence superiority over their aerial capabilities. They themselves know that well."
Fadavi also criticized a recent resolution in US Congress against Iran's activity in the Persian Gulf, saying neither the US administration nor other international players are in the position to meddle in this issue.
Iran has in recent years 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.
Earlier this month, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei rebuffed the US government's demands that Iran not hold military drills in the Persian Gulf.
"The Persian Gulf coast and much of the coasts of the Sea of Oman belong to this powerful nation; therefore we have to be present in this region, [stage] maneuvers and show off our power," the Leader said.
In late January, the IRGC arrested 10 US Navy sailors after their boats reached three miles into the waters surrounding the Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf.
The IRGC placed the forces into Iranian custody, but released them after Americans apologized for the incident.
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Takfiris hold bodies of 12 IRGC advisers killed in Syria
Iran Press TV
Tue May 10, 2016 4:14PM
Takfiri militants are withholding the bodies of 12 military advisers of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) killed in Syria in recent days, an Iranian military official says.
In a statement on Saturday, the IRGC said 13 of its military advisers have been killed and 21 others wounded in the town of Khan Tuman, located in the southwest of the Syrian province of Aleppo.
The statement added that the IRGC forces were all from Iran's northern province of Mazandaran.
"Fighting still continues in these areas and access to the martyrs' bodies will be possible [only] after the liberation of the areas," ISNA quoted an IRGC spokesman, Hossein Ali Rezaei, as saying on Tuesday.
He added that all other forces from Mazandaran as well as nine of the injured had now returned to Iran.
Rezaei noted that the remaining IRGC advisers who sustained injuries would return to the country soon.
Syrian government forces are preparing to launch a large-scale operation and retake Khan Tuman. Iran has pledged to help the swift recapture of the strategic town.
Takfiri militants, led by fellow terrorists from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front, took control of Khan Tuman on Friday, shortly before a 48-hour truce in Aleppo was due to expire.
The town has changed hands between Syrian army soldiers, Daesh Takfiri terrorists and foreign-sponsored militants over the past few months. Syrian soldiers had wrested control over Khan Tuman in last December.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has furthermore displaced over half of Syria's pre-war population of about 23 million.
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Turkey's AKP push for executive presidency invalid: Opposition leader
Iran Press TV
Tue May 10, 2016 2:26PM
A Turkish opposition leader has criticized as null and void efforts by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to introduce an executive presidency.
Devlet Bahceli, the chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), made the remarks at his party's weekly meeting in the parliament in Ankara on Tuesday.
"The theory that the presidential system is a natural reflection of a national expectation is invalid and an exaggerated evaluation for us," Bahceli said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the AKP founder, has been in favor of a presidential system to replace the current parliamentary one, arguing that the country cannot be run by two strongmen.
Last week, Erdogan called for a national referendum to be held on the issue.
This is while any change in Turkey's ruling system requires a constitutional amendment, which itself needs popular approval.
Elsewhere in his comments, Bahceli ruled out speculations that he could back a new constitution to change the political system.
"Creating an election atmosphere and indicating polls just 6 months after the previous November 1 parliamentary election is treason and a murder of democracy," he said.
On May 5, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced his decision to step down after 20 months in office. The resignation exposed a rift between Erdogan and Davutoglu over the president's attempts to expand his power.
The AKP will hold an extraordinary party congress on May 22 to elect Davutoglu's successor.
In comments broadcast live, AKP Deputy Chairman Nurettin Canikli told the NTV news channel on Tuesday that a proposal would be made allowing the president to retain affiliation to a political party as part of a transition to a full presidential system.
"We want the presidential system with all its institutions to be set up in (a new) constitution. But this could be a model for the transition period," Canikli said.
The politician also noted that his party planned to present the initiative to the Turkish parliament by mid-June.
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Turkey Opens First Mideast Military Base in Qatar
by Heather Murdock May 10, 2016
Late last month, Turkey's first foreign military base in the Middle East opened in Qatar to counter what officials called "the same threats."
The threats include increasing isolation for both nations at a time of widespread instability in the region, according to Gulf State Analytics founder Giorgio Cafiero. The base, he said, is also symbolic, demonstrating Turkey's move toward greater influence in the region and Qatar's independence from its powerful neighbors.
The return of Turkish troops to Qatar a century after Ottoman forces left the peninsula is largely about prestige," Cafiero said during a recent trip to Qatar.
Besides isolation, added Cafiero, Qatar and Turkey are united in their distrust of Iran, with both countries supporting Iran's enemies in Syria and Yemen. And since the Iran nuclear deal, the United States is no longer seen as a reliable military counter to Iran's considerable strength.
"They think if the U.S. doesn't see Iran as a threat, the U.S. will withdraw," he said.
Qatar is home to the largest U.S. military base in the Middle East, with roughly 10,000 personnel. The new Turkish base is expected to house more than 3,000 people, including ground troops, special operations teams and military trainers.
"The security and stability of Qatar is like the security and stability of Turkey," said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a speech late last month. "We want a stable and secure Gulf. Turkey and Qatar, we have the same destiny."
In Egypt, where Qatar and Turkey have supported the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, locals say the military alliance appears to be a power play in the region.
The Egyptian government regularly becomes angry over Qatar's support of the Muslim Brotherhood and has banned that nation's television network, Al-Jazeera. On Saturday, an Egyptian court recommended the death penalty for six people, including two Al-Jazeera journalists, charged with leaking state secrets to Qatar.
Qatar may increase its strength through this alliance, according to Mohamed Salah, a 34-year-old international trade researcher, as he walked home from work Wednesday; but, Egypt will remain more powerful, he said.
"It's not a direct threat," he said. "I believe that Egypt still has the upper hand in the Gulf region by its relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
Isolation
When the Arab Spring uprisings began, Turkey and Qatar supported Muslim Brotherhood factions across the region, angering many Arab governments as the two nations worked to increase their influence. Qatar, a rich but tiny nation of roughly 2 million people, lost some of its credibility among Gulf Cooperation Council members, including regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia.
"Qatar's lowest point in GCC relations came when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors and threatened to close Qatar's border for the alleged interference in GCC internal affairs," writes Chris Solomon of Global Risks Insight, referring to a 2014 diplomatic dispute.
More recently, however, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have stood together in withdrawing ambassadors from Iran after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked in retaliation for the execution of a Shi'ite cleric in the Kingdom.
Turkey has also found itself becoming more isolated internationally in recent years for other reasons. Turkey angered Russia by shooting down a Russian plane late last year, and its handling of Islamic State upset the United States. Turkey also is wrangling with Europe over free expression issues and is without active diplomatic relations in several Middle East countries.
Goals
Besides avoiding hardships that come with relative international isolation, Turkey and Qatar have other reasons for strengthening their military alliance, according to analysts.
Turkey, with nearly 75 million people and one of the region's strongest military forces, stands to gain not only influence, but money as it breaks into the Gulf's "lucrative defense market," said analyst Cafiero.
"At this juncture," he said, "Officials in Ankara view Qatar as Turkey's most trusted Arab ally."
"A shared political vision regarding the Middle East has helped bring the Turks and Qataris even closer," Olivier Decottignies and Soner Cagaptay of The Washington Institute wrote in a January policy analysis piece.
Additionally, the move is part of a larger, long-term strategy, adds Cafiero. Qatari alliances are often with competing powers in order to play them off each other politically. The base, therefore, "further diversifies Doha's web of defense partners and provides more states with higher stakes in a stable and prosperous Qatar."
Cairo's relationship with Doha and Ankara
And while people in Egypt do not necessarily see the move as aggressive, there is some worry that this strengthening alliance will further worsen relations.
"The union of those two countries together and the fact that their relationship with Egypt is not good," said Haj Mohy, a 52-year-old shopkeeper as he takes delivery calls while listening to Koran in a Cairo suburb. "Maybe there will be danger."
Then again, he added, with all of the volatility in the region, it is hard to say what one new base could bring.
"There are American bases in the Gulf and there are Russian bases in the Gulf," he said. "Is the Turkish base less or more dangerous?"
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LAS VEGAS, May 11, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Transnational Group, Inc. (Transnational) (OTC:TAMG) today announced that the Companys wholly-owned subsidiary, TAMG Minerals, has ceased all mining operations of the Marble Mountain Mine as of Friday, April 29, 2016.
In July 2015, TAMG Minerals, executed a binding Letter of Intent (LOI) to assume operational control of the Marble Mountain Mine including all of its mining operations, production distribution, sales and administration in exchange for a pre-negotiated royalty fee to be paid to the mine's previous operators on a monthly basis.
According to the Company, TAMG Minerals considered multiple factors before deciding to cease operations at Marble Mountain Mine located in Enterprise, Utah. Primarily, the previous owners initiated a dispute concerning the amount of land that was available to mine whereby both parties could not agree on the acreage that was outlined in the LOI.
Dr. Philip Dutoit, the Companys CEO, stated, Transnational Group would like to inform our shareholders of TAMG Minerals decision to recently cease all mining operations at Marble Mountain. While we are disappointed in the turn of events that led to this action, we feel strongly that moving forward this decision will lead to greater shareholder value than if we negotiated new terms that would have led to the continuance of operations on this property.
Additionally, the Company stated that the mining equipment provided by the previous owners to utilize on-site as part of the LOI, required substantial capital outlays for maintenance and repairs. Since TAMG Minerals took control of Marble Mountain Mine, it produced revenue that was in line with original estimates and projected to surpass them in the future while sales of its mined materials were successful due to the companys efforts.
Management took several factors into consideration before making this decision and will focus its natural resource operations efforts on our Sandy Valley Gypsum Project moving forward while also exploring new markets that we feel will increase the Companys revenue and profitability well into the future, added Israel Gamliel, Transnational Groups Chief Operations Officer.
The previous owners engaged counsel to attempt to remove TAMG Minerals after the Company grew the Marble Mine operation and opened new markets. The Court of Utah ultimately decreed that due to certain unclear terms, the LOI entered into by both parties would only be upheld for one year and provided an opportunity for both sides to re-enter negotiations which TAMG Minerals declined to do, electing to fully cease operations on the project.
About Transnational Group, Inc.
Transnational Group is a mineral and natural resource exploration company focused on acquiring and mining mineral-rich assets in the Western United States. The Companys mission is to acquire properties rich in high-grade gypsum and other minerals that have the potential for long-term production and sustainable revenue generation. Transnational is continuously exploring strategic acquisition, partnership and joint venture opportunities that can increase its capital, equipment and natural resource assets.
Investors: The United States Securities and Exchange Commission limits disclosure for U.S. reporting purposes to mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. We may use certain terms in this press release, such as "reserves," "resources," "geologic resources," "proven," "probable," "measured," "indicated," or "inferred," which may not be consistent with the definitions established by the SEC. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosures in our reports filed with the OTC Markets Group, Inc.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release includes forward-looking statements concerning the future performance of our business, its operations and its financial performance and condition, and also includes selected operating results presented without the context of accompanying financial results. All statements, trends analysis, and other information contained in this memorandum including words such as anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect, and intend and other similar expressions of opinion, constitute forward looking statements. We caution that all forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and actual results may differ materially from the assumptions, estimates or expectations reflected or contained in the forward-looking information, and that actual future performance will be affected by a number of factors, including economic conditions, technological change, regulatory change and competitive factors, many of which are beyond Transnationals control.
A former inspector general classified the alleged mistreatment of Jamycheal Mitchell as torture at the hands of jail employees, and he ramped up his criticism of the state agencies responsible for investigating Mitchells death behind bars.
If this story about Mitchell is even partially true, we have turned back the clock on the treatment of people with mental health issues by 150 years, G. Douglas Bevelacqua said in an interview this morning. Its abuse, its neglect, but its beyond that. Its torture, if true.
Bevelacqua, a Virginia inspector general over behavioral health and developmental services from 2010 to 2014, renewed his call for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Mitchells death a day after a lawsuit filed by the mentally ill mans family laid out grim details of his life and death at Hampton Roads Regional Jail.
Mitchell, who was bi-polar and schizophrenic, was arrested in April 2015 for allegedly stealing $5 worth of snacks from a convenience store half a mile from his Portsmouth home. He was supposed to be transferred to a mental hospital for treatment, but never made it because of a series of clerical errors.
He died alone in a feces-smeared cell 101 days after arriving at Hampton Roads Regional Jail. He lost 46 pounds and had a severely swollen leg.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday includes allegations by nine inmates who said they witnessed guards beating, kicking and dragging Mitchell naked out of his cell. They also said guards routinely denied him food, sometimes leaving meal trays just out of his reach outside his cell door.
The uncorroborated allegations of inmates has more credibility with me than would ordinarily be the case because we know that Mitchell died from complications associated with wasting, Bevelacqua said, referring to the medical examiners term for extreme weight loss. However, until a thorough investigation is conducted, we should retain a healthy skepticism about these shocking allegations.
Bevelacqua said it was a scandal that reports based on investigations by two state agencies did not include any reference to the allegations of abuse.
The Department for Behavioral Health and Developmental Services conducted an inquiry into Mitchells death last fall and released the results in March. The Office of the State Inspector General released the results of its investigation in April.
Neither report addresses whether allegations of abuse were investigated.
Julie Grimes, spokeswoman for State Inspector General June Jennings, said her office does not have jurisdiction over Hampton Roads Regional Jail, except for contract medical care providers in the jail.
The inspector generals office interviewed staff members of the jail, according to a brief methodology of the investigation included with the agencys report.
Grimes said inmates were not interviewed.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch has reached out to the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for comment.
Lawsuit: Inmates saw guards abusing Jamycheal Mitchell, denying him food Allegations of repeated physical abuse and neglect leading up to the death of Jamycheal Mitchell in a Portsmouth jail cell last year surfaced for the first time Tuesday despite at least three prior investigations by state and local officials into the mentally ill mans death.
Video footage outside Jamycheal Mitchell's cell no longer exists Video images captured outside Jamycheal Mitchells cell at Hampton Roads Regional Jail in the days and hours leading up to his death no longer exist, even though an attorney representing the mentally ill mans family says he asked the jails superintendent to preserve it.
Details emerge about Jamycheal Mitchell's time in jail, but questions linger For 101 days before he died, Jamycheal Mitchell was locked in a concrete cell he left only a handful of times.
MONTREAL, May 10, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Rio Tinto and Indspire hosted an event in Ottawa to showcase the $2 million Rio Tinto Award for Indigenous Students aimed at providing Indigenous students across Canada financial assistance to pursue post-secondary studies.
Alf Barrios, chief executive of Rio Tinto's aluminium group stated: "We are proud to partner with Indspire to establish the Rio Tinto Award for Indigenous Students.
"Rio Tinto has been invested in Canada for over 100 years and we have a long history of working closely with Indigenous people across this great country. At Rio Tinto, we know just how critical education is to the success of the communities in which we work, and to the success of our business.
"Through our partnership with Indspire and the participation of the Canadian government, we aim to provide the chance to all Indigenous youth in the areas we operate to realize their full potential and have the best chance at quality education."
Roberta Jamieson, President and CEO of Indspire said: "We know from our research that one of the key barriers Indigenous students face when pursuing higher education is a lack of finances. But 93% of the students given financial support by Indspire are graduating. We are delighted to partner with Rio Tinto to support many more students over the next five years."
The Rio Tinto Award for Indigenous students was established following a $1 million contribution from Rio Tinto which was matched by the Canadian government, for a total of $2 million. The Award is designed to offer financial support to Indigenous students who are enrolled or would like to enrol in post-secondary studies.
It gives students of all ages the chance to obtain a diploma, degree, certificate, academic upgrading, or apprenticeship program with financial assistance.
The award prioritizes students in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines but is also available more broadly to students in any discipline including trades, and is available to students of any age pursuing post-secondary education, including adult learners.
There are three upcoming application deadlines for the award: June 1, November 1, and February 1.
For more information about the award, visit indspire.ca/apply.
About Indspire
Indspire is an Indigenous-led registered charity that invests in the education of Indigenous people for the long term benefit of these individuals, their families and communities, and Canada. With the support of its funding partners, Indspire disburses financial awards, delivers programs, and shares resources with the goal of closing the gap in Indigenous education. Through Indspire's K-12 Institute, it provides resources to educators, communities, and other stakeholders who are committed to improving kindergarten to grade 12 success for Indigenous youth. Since its inception in 1985, Indspire has awarded close to $79 million through almost 25,000 bursaries and scholarships to Indigenous students, making it the largest funder of Indigenous education outside the federal government. Each year, the organization presents the Indspire Awards, a gala celebration of the successes achieved by Indigenous people that is broadcast nationally.
Rio Tinto Invested in Canada
With more than 11,000 employees working at over 35 sites and operations, Rio Tinto is the largest mining and metals business operating in Canada. Rio Tinto's extensive operations in Canada include mining and manufacturing interests in alumina, aluminium, iron ore, diamonds and titanium dioxide, as well as exploration activities, research and development centres, port and rail facilities, and hydroelectric facilities in the provinces of Quebec and British Columbia. In addition, Montreal is home to the global headquarters for Rio Tinto's Aluminum business.
SOURCE RIO TINTO GROUP
TORONTO, May 10, 2016 - Rodinia Lithium Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RM) ("Rodinia" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the following update on Rodinia's previously announced plan to purse a change of business ("COB") to a tier 2 investment company under the rules of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV").In connection with the COB, the Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Fred Leigh as President and CEO effective today. Mr. Leigh is a seasoned senior executive with more than 30 years of experience as a founder, director and/or investor in many public companies. Mr. Leigh is being appointed to replace William Randall who is resigning as President and CEO to focus on other business endeavors. Mr. Randall is also resigning as a director of the Company and Mr. Leigh will replace Mr. Randall on the board of directors of the Company (the "Board"). The Board would like to thank Mr. Randall for his contributions to the Company as an executive officer and member of the Board.In connection with the sale by Rodinia to Aberdeen of all of the shares of Potasio y Litio de Argentina S.A. ("PLASA") which closed on December 29, 2015 (the "PLASA Transaction") and as previously disclosed by Rodinia, Rodinia retains a 2% transferrable net smelter royalty ("NSR") on all commercial sales from the Diablillos lithium-potash project owned by PLASA, including the sale of potassium and lithium concentrates or products. Half of the NSR can be purchased by Aberdeen International Inc. ("Aberdeen") for $2,000,000 prior to December 29, 2017. The remaining 1% NSR does not have a predetermined purchase price nor is it subject to any rights in regards to its purchase or disposition by Aberdeen. Rodinia and PLASA have executed the NSR royalty agreement and a copy can be found on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.comA special meeting of shareholders is expected to be called prior to May 30, 2016 to approve the COB (the "Special Meeting"). A management information circular (the "Circular") to be sent to shareholders in connection with the Special Meeting is nearing completion and is subject to review by the TSXV.Rodinia has entered into a deferred consideration agreement (the "Agreement") with Aberdeen pursuant to which Rodinia will acquire 1,439,000 common shares (the "Lithium X Shares") in the capital or Lithium X Energy Corp. ("Lithium X"). As consideration for the Lithium X Shares, Rodinia agrees to settle, in full, the $2,000,000 (the "Deferred Consideration") payable to Rodinia by Aberdeen in connection with the PLASA Transaction. Pursuant to the Agreement, Aberdeen will deliver the Shares to Rodinia on August 22, 2016 subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions including Rodinia obtaining approval of the TSXV.Currently, the initial investment portfolio of the Company is comprised of the right to the Lithium X Shares pursuant to the Agreement and the NSR. Further information regarding these investments will be contained in the Circular.Completion of the COB is subject to a number of conditions, including TSXV acceptance and shareholder approval. The COB cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the COB will be completed as proposed or at all.Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in Circular to be prepared in connection with the COB, any information released or received with respect to the COB may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative.The TSXV has in no way passed upon the merits of the COB and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release. Rodinia Lithium Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company.This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the COB, the timing of the Special Meeting, the acquisition of the Lithium X Shares, the Company's ability to make investments, the Company's ability to collect the Deferred Consideration. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from results contemplated by the forward-looking statements. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward looking statements, oral or written, made by itself or on its behalf, except as required by applicable law.NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.Fred Leigh, President and Chief Executive Officer+1 (416) 861-5933
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 10, 2016) - Anfield Nickel Corp. ("Anfield") (TSX VENTURE:ANF) is pleased to announce that it plans to conduct a non-brokered private placement of up to 30,487,804 common shares in the capital of Anfield (the "Shares") at a price of CDN $0.82 per Share to raise gross proceeds of up to approximately CDN $25 million (the "Private Placement").
Anfield also announced today that it has changed its name to "Anfield Gold Corp." The name change will become effective at the opening of market on May 11, 2016.
Anfield is also pleased to announce that John Murphy has joined Anfield's board. "We are excited that John has joined the board. His extensive finance and mining experience will be invaluable as we build Anfield into a mid-tier gold producer," stated Marshall Koval, Chairman of the Board.
Mr. Murphy currently serves as a Director of Claude Resources Inc. He recently retired from Raymond James Ltd. after more than 21 years with the organization. Most recently he served as Managing Director, Investment Banking, Co-Head Mining and Metals. Prior to joining Raymond James, John worked for more than six years at Swiss Bank Corporation in its corporate lending, restructuring and risk advisory activities. During his career, he has been directly involved in numerous financial advisory assignments and financing transactions in a variety of sectors. John has a degree in economics from the University of British Columbia and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Mr. Murphy will be replacing Lyle Braaten on Anfield's board, who is being appointed as Anfield's Vice President, Legal. Marshall Koval has also been appointed as Anfield's Chairman.
The net proceeds of the Private Placement will be used to pay amounts owing to Reinarda Mineracao Ltda ("RML"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Troy Resources Ltd., pursuant to the agreement dated August 23, 2015 between RML and Magellan Minerals Ltd. ("Magellan") as amended on December 14, 2015 and March 1, 2016, pursuant to which RML agreed to sell to Magellan a gold processing plant, associated equipment and mining fleet at the Andorinhas mine for total consideration of US $4.5 million (of which US $1,505,000 has been paid). Anfield acquired 100% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Magellan on May 6, 2016.
The remainder of the net proceeds of the Private Placement will be used for the repayment of Anfield debt, including debt incurred as a result of Anfield's acquisition of Magellan, costs associated with completing a feasibility study on Anfield's Coringa project, costs associated with the development of Anfield's Coringa project, and general working capital purposes.
Certain insiders of Anfield will be participating in the Private Placement. The Private Placement is exempt from the formal valuation and majority of the minority requirements applicable to related party transactions as set out in National Instrument 61-101 Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions as the aggregate fair market value of the Shares to be purchased by insiders pursuant to the Private Placement is less than 25% of Anfield's market capitalization.
The Private Placement is subject to regulatory approval, and all Shares issued in connection with the Private Placement will be subject to a four-month and one day hold period under applicable securities laws.
Anfield Nickel Corp.
Marshall Koval, President & CEO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
The foregoing information contains forward-looking statements regarding Anfield's future plans. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, Anfield has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on information currently available to Anfield as well as Anfield's current beliefs and assumptions made by Anfield, including Mr. Murphy's contributions to Anfield, Anfield becoming a mid-tier gold producer, Anfield being able to obtain regulatory approval of the Private Placement, that Anfield is able to complete the Private Placement, that certain insiders of Anfield will participate in the Private Placement, and Anfield's anticipated uses of the proceeds of the Private Placement. Although Anfield considers these beliefs and assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among others, risks associated with the business of Anfield, risks related to reliance on technical information provided by Magellan as related to the Coringa project; risks relating to exploration and potential development of Magellan's projects; risks related to obtaining the permits and approvals necessary to develop and commission the Coringa gold project on terms that are acceptable to Anfield; risks related to Anfield identifying suitable acquisition targets; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; the supply and demand for labour and other project inputs; prices for commodities to be produced and changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological and engineering assumptions (including with respect to the tonnage, grade and recoverability of reserves and resources); risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political risk and social unrest; changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets; that the Private Placement will not be completed; that Anfield will be unable to obtain or will experience delays in obtaining any required regulatory approvals for the Private Placement; and changes to business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally. Although Anfield has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Anfield does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
CALGARY, May 10, 2016 /CNW/ - Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd. (CLC - TSX; "Connacher" or the "Company") announces its financial and operating results for the quarter-ended March 31, 2016 ("Q1 2016") (all amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted).
Q1 2016 Highlights
Financial
Q1 2016 revenue, net of royalties, decreased 78% to $11.8 million (Q1 2015 - $53.8 million) due to the decline in crude oil prices and lower sales volumes associated with the curtailment of production
In Q1 2016, the adjusted EBITDA deficit increased to $26.7 million (Q1 2015 - deficit of $18.8 million), substantially due to lower revenue, net of royalties, partially offset by lower blending and transportation and handling costs
Q1 2016 funds used was $34.4 million (Q1 2015 - funds used of $42.1 million). The decrease in funds used in Q1 2016 was primarily due to lower interest on long-term debt as the 2018 and 2019 secured second lien notes (the "Notes") were exchanged for common shares as part of the recapitalization transaction (the "Recapitalization") which closed in Q2 2015, partially offset by lower adjusted EBITDA
In Q1 2016, the Company generated a net loss of $43.0 million (Q1 2015 - net loss of $139.9 million). The decrease in net loss is primarily due to lower finance charges and lower foreign exchange losses, partially offset by a decrease in adjusted EBITDA
In Q1 2016, capital expenditures totaled $1.4 million (Q1 2015 - $6.1 million) and was focused on non-discretionary maintenance capital
Connacher closed Q1 2016 with a cash balance of $30.5 million (Q4 2015 - $47.2 million)
Operational
Q1 2016 production decreased 61% to 5,904 bbl/d (Q1 2015 - 15,078 bbl/d) due to the Company's strategic decision to reduce production in the low commodity price environment
In Q1 2016, blending costs and transportation and handling costs decreased 73% to $5.9 million (Q1 2015 - $21.9 million) and 47% to $11.2 million (Q1 2015 - $21.3 million), respectively, primarily due to the reduction in production volumes and reduced diluent costs
In Q1 2016, approximately 9% (Q1 2015 - 57%) of the Company's dilbit sales were to locations outside of Alberta. The rail volumes sold represent dilbit inventory in rail cars at December 31, 2015 which did not transfer ownership until Q1 2016
Q1 2016 Financial Highlights
FINANCIAL (1) Q1 2016 Q1 2015 Revenue, net of royalties $11,824 $53,774 Adjusted EBITDA (2) (26,683) (18,764) Net loss (43,015) (139,883)
Basic per share (3) (1.52) (240.00)
Diluted per share (3) (1.52) (240.00) Funds used (4) (34,424) (42,144) Capital expenditures 1,381 6,101 Cash on hand 30,503 49,307 Working capital surplus (deficiency) (227,317) 8,093 Long-term debt - 1,160,842 Shareholders' equity 481,179 (128,865)
(1) ($ 000) except per share amounts (2) Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP measure and is defined in the "Advisory Section" of the Q1 2016 MD&A and is reconciled to net loss under "Reconciliations of Loss to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Bitumen Netback" (3) Basic and diluted EPS amounts reflect the 800:1 share consolidation associated with the Company's Recapitalization for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015 (4) Funds used is a non-GAAP measure and is defined in the "Advisory Section" of the Q1 2016 MD&A and is reconciled to cash flow used in operating activities under "Reconciliation of Cash Flow Used in Operating Activities to Funds Used"
Q1 2016 Operational Highlights
OPERATIONAL Q1 2016 Q1 2015 Average benchmark prices
WTI (US$/bbl) 33.45 48.63 WTI ($/bbl) 45.24 61.45 Heavy oil differential (US$/bbl) (14.24) (14.73) WCS ($/bbl) 25.99 42.84 $/US$ exchange rate 1.35 1.26 Production and sales volumes (1)
Daily bitumen production (bbl/d) 5,904 15,078 Daily bitumen sales (bbl/d) 6,651 14,865 Bitumen netback ($/bbl) (2)(3)
Dilbit sales $16.45 $31.94 Diluent costs (6.73) (8.23) Realized bitumen sales price 9.72 23.71 Transportation and handling costs (18.50) (15.91) Net realized bitumen sales price (8.78) 7.80 Royalties (0.01) 0.12 Net bitumen revenue price (8.79) 7.92 Production and operating expenses (28.73) (16.67) Bitumen netback $(37.52) $(8.75)
(1) The Company's bitumen sales and production volumes differ due to changes in inventory and product losses (2) A non-GAAP measure which is defined in the "Advisory Section" of the Q1 2016 MD&A. Bitumen netback is reconciled to net loss under "Reconciliations of Net Loss to EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Bitumen Netback". Bitumen netbacks per barrel amounts are calculated by dividing the total amounts presented in the "Bitumen Netback" table on page 8 by bitumen sold volumes as presented in the "Production and Sales Volumes" table on page 7, with the exception of dilbit sales (presented as dilbit sales divided by dilbit sales volume) and diluent costs (presented as the cost of diluent in excess of the dilbit selling price) (3) Before risk management contract gains or losses
Operations
In light of the exceptionally low commodity price environment, the Company elected to accelerate planned maintenance and reduce production at Great Divide.
In Q1 2016, the Company completed the previously scheduled turnaround at Pod One and production averaged 5,900 bbl/d.
Process to Review Capital Structure
As previously announced, the Board of Directors initiated a process to investigate, evaluate and consider possible financing and restructuring alternatives available to the Company and formed a special committee (the "Special Committee") to assist the Board in this process.
On March 31, 2016, the Company entered into a forbearance agreement (the "Forbearance Agreement") with Credit Suisse AG, Cayman Islands Branch, as administrative agent, and certain lenders constituting the "Required Lenders" in respect of US$153.8 million of loans made by the lenders (the "Lenders") under the credit agreement dated as of May 23, 2014 (as amended, restated, supplemented, or otherwise modified from time to time), including as amended pursuant to the Amendment No. 1 dated May 8, 2015 (the "Amended Term Loan Facility"). Under the terms of the Forbearance Agreement, among other things, the Lenders agreed to forbear from exercising enforcement rights and remedies arising from the Company's failure to pay the cash interest and principal payments due on March 31, 2016 until the earlier of April 30, 2016; the occurrence of an event of default under the Amended Term Loan Facility, unrelated to the failure to pay principal and interest due on March 31, 2016; or the occurrence of a default or breach of representation by the Company under the Forbearance Agreement.
On April 30, 2016, the Company entered into a second forbearance agreement (the "Second Forbearance Agreement") which extended the forbearance period until May 16, 2016 and can be found on the Company's SEDAR profile.
The failure to pay the principal payment and the failure to pay cash interest due on March 31, 2016 within the applicable grace period pursuant to the Amended Term Loan Facility both constitute an event of default under the note indenture (the "Convertible Note Indenture") governing the 12% convertible second lien notes due August 31, 2018 (the "Convertible Notes"). The Company is working and will continue to work with an ad hoc committee of the holders of the Convertible Notes during the forbearance period.
The deterioration of crude oil pricing has constrained the Company's ability to generate positive cash flow from operations. Coupled with the low-price commodity environment, the restrictive provisions of the Company's long-term debt arrangements have severely constrained the Company's access to additional financing. As a result, the Company did not discharge the principal and interest payable due on March 31, 2016 related to the Amended Term Loan Facility. Without the injection of new sources of financing and positive cash flow from operations, the Company will be challenged to deploy the capital required to maintain existing reserve and production bases, fund maintenance capital, fund working capital requirements, and will be unable to discharge future obligations as they come due.
The Special Committee will continue to investigate restructuring and refinancing alternatives that may be available to the Company. A final decision as to what alternative will be pursued has not been made at this time. One alternative available to the Company that is under consideration is to file for creditor protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA"). CCAA is a federal insolvency statute that allows an insolvent company, which owes creditors in excess of $5 million, to restructure its business and financial affairs as it stays creditors and others from enforcing rights against the insolvent company.
About Connacher
Connacher is a Calgary-based in situ oil sands developer, producer, and marketer of bitumen. The Company holds a 100 per cent interest in approximately 435 million barrels of proved and probable bitumen reserves and operates two steam-assisted gravity drainage facilities located on the Company's Great Divide oil sands leases near Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Forward Looking Information
This press release contains forward looking information, including but not limited to the Second Forbearance Agreement and the consequences thereof, anticipated production rates and the Company's liquidity outlook. Forward looking information is based on management's expectations regarding the Company's future financial position; the Company's future growth, results of operations and production, future commodity prices and foreign exchange rates; future capital and other expenditures (including the amount, nature, and sources of funding thereof); environmental matters; business prospects and opportunities; and future economic conditions. Forward looking information involves significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: that cash flows from operations and current working capital may not provide adequate funds to fund the Company's operating losses and capital plan; the risks associated with the oil and gas industry (e.g., operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates; the uncertainty of geological interpretations; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses; and health, safety and environmental risks), risk of commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, risks associated with the impact of general economic conditions, risks and uncertainties associated with maintaining the necessary regulatory approvals and securing the financing to continue operations and increase production to levels previously achieved.
Reported average production levels may not be reflective of sustainable production rates and future production rates may differ materially from the production rates reflected in this press release due to, among other factors, difficulties or interruptions encountered during the production of bitumen.
Additional risks and uncertainties affecting Connacher and its business and affairs are described in further detail in Connacher's AIF for the year ended December 31, 2015. Although Connacher believes that the expectations in such forward looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations shall prove to be correct. Any forward looking information included in this press release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Any forward looking information included herein is made as of the date of this press release and Connacher assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by law.
SOURCE Connacher Oil and Gas Ltd.
Violetta's primavera pizza with rocket, tomato, mozzarella, parmigiano and prosciutto. Photo: Bradley Kanaris
While Chinese and Italian may seem like unlikely partners, Sichuan Bang Bang and Pizzeria Violetta have shacked up in a single Paddington cottage.
The siblings to owner Renata Robert's Kenmore originals opened on Monday with the two restaurants separated by a shared bar, each seating around 100.
Both have their own phone numbers, staff and different styles of fitout. Bang Bang, like its Western suburbs counterpart is dark and moody, while Pizzeria Violetta is light and bright.
Ma po tofu at Sichuan Bang Bang. Photo: Bradley Kanaris
Regulars will be happy to hear that the menus have kept all the old favourites, with Kenmore chef Kieran Zou overseeing the spicier side of things at Bang Bang and Phoebe Cleland (ex Sails at Noosa) in charge of Violetta's wood-fired oven.
A larger kitchen means Violetta's menu has expanded with the addition of a couple of mains and pasta, including spatchcock saltimbocca and braised lamb with polenta, as well as wild boar ragu with pappardelle and a clam linguine.
Roberts says they'll be putting a few new dishes on the Bang Bang menu but the much loved "chewy and fatty Mongolian lamb ribs" are there, along with the spicy beef hotpot.
Sichuan Bang Bang and Pizzeria Violetta in Paddington. Photo: Bradley Kanaris
A shared well-constructed wine list is broad enough to offer a match to margherita pizza or a spicy ma po tofu, and there are beers from both China and Italy, and a selection of Asian-influenced and classic cocktails.
From this weekend, Pizzeria Violetta turns into "Benzina" providing breakfast fuel-ups until 3pm. Sichuan Bang Bang will also be doing a 1 hour "bottomless" weekend yum cha in two sittings, with around 20 dishes for $32 per person, beginning Saturday, May 21.
Stay tuned for another Bang Bang/Violetta combo on Kedron Brook Road in Wilston in June.
Open daily 5pm-late; Bang Bang weekend yum cha sittings at 11.30am and 1.30pm; Benzina breakfast Sat-Sun 7am-3pm.
167 Given Terrace, Paddington; Pizzeria Violetta, 07 3369 2300, pizzeriavioletta.com.au; Sichuan Bang Bang, 07 3369 1311, sichuanbangbang.com.au
Going out in Tokyo, day or night, is a non-stop sensory assault. What's your poison? Robots, bondage, Alcatraz, Dracula, the office? There are themed bars for all of them. There are bars that squish in three people and bars where you'll be rocking karaoke with hundreds of new friends.
Then there are the bars that only the locals know about. We stayed with Airbnb in a cool Tokyo neighbourhood, and got their insider's tips on where to go to drink like a local.
The Iron Fairies
The striking basement bar at The Iron Fairies has been designed by Australian artist Ash Sutton. Photo: Supplied
If you're entering the crowded Ginza bar scene you have to make an impact and new kid on the block The Iron Fairies is doing it with fairy dust bottles, iron fairies, hanging keys and locks and floating butterflies but somehow not in a kitsch way. The basement bar has been designed by artist and blacksmith (and Aussie) Ash Sutton, who is also behind Bangkok's Maggie Choo's, Mr Jones' Orphanage, and Bangkok Betty. There's no signage but once you're enveloped inside, staff are friendly, music is groovy and cocktails interesting and delicious (even when they include octopus).
5-9-5 Ginza, Chuo district, 03-6274-6416
Terra Australis
The Iron Fairies is one of Tokyo's standout bars. Photo: Supplied
Tokyo even has its own take on 'Modern Australian'. The city's long been host to restaurants like Salt (Luke Mangan), bills (Bill Granger) and 2 Rooms (Matthew Crabbe), but this new entrant has a more locals-only feel. Located slightly off the beaten track in up-and-coming Kita-Sando, and with an unassuming entrance on a quiet street in the untouristy but groovy neighbourhood of Sendagaya (better known for fashion factories than cool bars), it's still on the down low. The third floor bar is above the intimate restaurant (where Food is by ex-Salt chef Koji Fukuda) and there's a cool rooftop terrace on top.
3-29-2 Sendagaya, Shibuya district, 03-6455-4828
Gen Yamamoto
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In the Azabu Juban district, this is the Noma of cocktail bars, and probably the best known of this list. More hushed sipping gallery than bar, Yamamoto holds court and takes the fine art of perfect cocktail making very seriously. He uses seasonal fresh indigenous produce and the most premium liquors including (the night we were there) a very rare whisky. We shared the eight-seat-only bar (which is super-cool, and carved out of one giant Japanese oak) with five smiling, smart-phone-busy locals. Countless guests were turned away - without us being made to feel we were overstaying our welcome. Don't expect snacks, noise, budget prices, or explanations; you're here for an authentic, sublimely skilful cocktail sipping experience.
1-6-4 Minato-ku, Azabu Juban district, 03-6434-0652
Bar Cacoi
Od-school beef sandwiches at Anjin Lounge Bar, Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Lisa Murray
Another teeny place that fills up fast, with only about eight or ten seats. Our connected Airbnb host Mayumi suggests you dine at a local restaurant in the 'hood beforehand (such as the small, delicious Ishidaya). That way, you can ask them to ring ahead and see if there is any room here. If you are lucky enough to snag a perch, you won't be disappointed. There's no sign outside the bar, and no menu to select a drink but plenty of ingredients with which to make the perfect drink. Cocktails are mixed by an expert barman, who is working by candlelight behind a curtain of bottles lining the bar, as jazz plays quietly in the background.
3-14-8 Ginza, Chuo district, 03-6228-4793
Uomaru Honten
Gen Yamamoto in Tokyo is dedicated to the fine art of perfect cocktail, Photo: Supplied
No visit to Tokyo is complete without a beer and a meal at one of the city's many casual eateries known as izakayas. Uomaru Honten is a good start. Nestled under the railway tracks in the downtown area called Sanchoku Inshokugai, not far from Ginza's glitzy shopping district, this seafood restaurant is packed most nights. But the waiting is part of the experience: friendly staff provide you with a drink, some over-sized oysters and what look like giant barbecued edamame to tide you over. Once inside, it's loud and squashy, but lots of fun, with diners perched on crates covered in leather cushions. This old shack, held together by corrugated iron and lit by dangling naked bulbs, is a favourite with the after-work crowd as it stays open late and serves up drinking food.
2-1-11 Yurakucho, Chiyoda district, 03-5510-1278
Bar Martha and Bar Track
Gen Yamamoto is "the Noma of cocktail bars". Photo: Lisa Murray
There are a lot of hipster music bars in Tokyo but these two stand out. Off the beaten track in the Ebisu area - which fittingly was developed on the site of a former brewery you will feel like you're drinking in a local's living room (a local with a very cool vinyl collection). Martha is the slightly better known original with a more serious-muso vibe; Bar Track is friendlier. Both offer cool old-school tunes, excellent cocktails and lots of whisky. There are rules no photos! one drink per person! no sandals! but they're all part of the authentic experience. There may be a cover charge; there are also loads of free snacks. Their other (also groovy) sister bars are Bar Nica and Bar Smoke are in the red light district.
Bar Martha, 1-22-23 Ebisu, Shibuya, 03-3441-5055
Bar Track, 3-24-9 Higashi, Shibuya, 03-5466-8871
Bar Tram and Bar Trench
Trench (counter drinking) and Tram (the original, with seats) are a couple of blocks apart in the Ebisu area and both specialise in absinthe. Run by absinthe aficionados Takuya Itoh and Rogerio Igarashi Vaz, they have a phenomenal global selection of the drop and a drinking experience complete with absinthe fountains, spoons and other paraphernalia. But if the green fairy isn't your thing there are other options. It's moody in look, but not experience, with slick service and a comfy vibe.
Bar Trench: 1-5-8 Ebisu-nishi Shibuya, 03-3780-5291
Bar Tram: 1-7-13 Ebisu-nishi Shibuya, 03-3780-5291
Anjin Lounge Bar
You'll be tempted to linger for hours, if not days in the Daikanyama T-site Tsutaya bookstore (if you can call three buildings filled with books, mags and music a store). But ignore it and head upstairs to the Anjin lounge bar. Kick back in plush leather couches and see how the Tokyo cool set lives. Waiters and waitresses in flowing black silk skirts and tuxedo shirts hand around the iPad menu that includes western fare such as an old-school beef sandwich which comes with a teacup full of soup and a pristine salad. Different sized bottles of Taittinger Champagne line the bar (a mixture of dark wood and book spines), along with expensive bottles of Japanese whisky. Jazz versions of old Beatles hits play in the background and a 1940s edition of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls is on display.
17-5 Sarugakucho, Shibuya district, 03-3770-2525
The writers stayed with Airbnb.
Baker's delight: Harry Morgan pulls bagels out of the oven at Smoking Gun Bagels.
Smoking Gun Bagels opens its doors this week in the site of the original Toby's Estate outlet on Cathedral Street in Woolloomooloo.
Owners Dave Young and Mark Treviranus flew out the head baker from St-Viateur in Montreal to school local bagel baker Harry Morgan on the art of the Montreal bagel. And the result? If they are sweeter, it could be the honey water in the "bagel kettle".
"There's also eggs and sugar in them," adds owner Dave Young. "They aren't easy to make, we've also had to work out the hot spots in the oven," he adds.
Smoking Gun bagels. Photo: Supplied
Chefs across town are already putting in wholesale orders.
There's also a little Aussie flavour at Smoking Gun, it's a menu designed by Oakridge Winery pastry chef Jo Barrett.
Open Mon-Fri 7am-3pm, Sat 8am-3pm, Sun 8am-noon.
129 Cathedral Street, Woolloomooloo, smokinggunbagels.co
SHARE This May 11, 2014 photo shows an "All Gender Restroom" sign outside a bathroom in a bar in Washington. Confrontations have flared across the country over whether to protect or curtail the right of transgender people to use public restrooms in accordance with their gender identity. (AP Photo) Associated Press file A demonstrator holds a sign against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance outside an early voting center in Houston. The anti-bias ordinance was repealed in a November referendum.
By David Crary, Associated Press
There was a showdown in Houston last fall. This spring North Carolina became the battleground. By now confrontations have flared across the country over whether to protect or curtail the right of transgender people to use public restrooms in accordance with their gender identity.
The upshot in virtually every case has been emotional debate over privacy, personal safety and prejudice.
Many of those who favor limiting transgender rights contend that expanding anti-bias protections to bathrooms and locker rooms raises the risk of sexual predators exploiting the laws to molest women and girls on those premises.
Transgender-rights advocates consider this argument malicious and false. They say that 18 states and scores of cities have experienced no significant public safety problems linked to their existing laws allowing transgender people to use bathrooms based on the gender they consider themselves to be.
On Monday the U.S. Justice Department weighed in, suing to overturn North Carolina's new law restricting transgender bathroom access and warning that any similar measures elsewhere in the country could also face challenges on grounds they violate federal nondiscrimination rules. North Carolina has sued to keep the law in place.
Washington state is among the many jurisdictions with ongoing debate over bathroom access. Conservative activists are gathering signatures with hopes of putting a measure on the November ballot that would override state and local protections against gender-identity discrimination in public accommodations and require public schools to restrict transgender students' bathroom and locker room access.
"Stand with us as we stand to protect women and children from this dangerous rule," says a group pushing the ballot measure, in its online appeal for volunteers and donations. The group is called Just Want Privacy, reflecting the view that opposition to the laws goes beyond safety concerns.
Among those supporting the current rules and opposing the ballot initiative is John Lovick, former sheriff of Snohomish County.
"We've protected gay and transgender people from discrimination in Washington for 10 years with no increase in public safety incidents as a result," he said. "It's important to remember that indecent exposure, voyeurism and sexual assault are already illegal, and police use those laws to keep people safe."
A current sheriff, John Urquhart of the Seattle area's King County, also defends the existing law. "I'm the father of two daughters. I'm not concerned," he said.
On the other side of the country, similar arguments are percolating in Massachusetts, which despite its liberal tendencies is not among the states banning discrimination against transgender people in restrooms and other public accommodations.
A bill to do that is advancing through the state Legislature this spring. The state's Republican governor, Charlie Baker, has not committed to signing the bill if it reaches his desk but has said he opposes discrimination in any form.
To assuage critics who say male sexual predators might take advantage of the proposed change by claiming to identify as female, language has been added to the House version of the bill to allow legal action against anyone who makes an "improper" claim of gender identity.
Some critics of the bill were unimpressed by the addition, citing concerns about privacy.
"It still offers no protections to women and children who don't want to be eyed by or exposed to naked men in locker rooms or other intimate spaces," said Jonathan Alexandre, legal counsel for the Massachusetts Family Institute.
In South Carolina lawmakers considered but did not approve a bill that would have required transgender people to use public bathrooms based on their biological sex.
Elsewhere, the bathroom debate has flared on the local level. In the Dallas suburb of Rockwall, city councilors rejected the mayor's push to block transgender people from using the public bathrooms of their choice.
The issue jumped into the spotlight last fall after the Houston City Council adopted a wide-ranging nondiscrimination ordinance that included protections for transgender people using restrooms based on gender identity.
standard-times file Members of the 1982 club: Front row, from left: Mrs. Michael (Martha ) Fullen with Eric and Edward; Mrs. Harold (Donna) Decuir with Sheryl and Shawn; and Mrs. Tommy (Evelyn) Ashley with Shelly and Sherian (in ponytails). Back row, from left: Rocky (Patti) Alburtis with Jody and Josh; Mrs. Jim (Crystal) Hughes with Careen and Carissa; Mrs. David (Gail) Fitzgerald with Kevin and Kerry; Mrs. David (Cathy) Goodsell with Gregory and Jeffrey; Mrs. Edson (Pam) Carter with Jessica and Jennifer; Mrs. Doug (Linda) Day with Candy and Mandy; and Mrs. Gerald (Edith Turn) with Samantha and Andrew (Andrew held by Wesley Turn).
In May of 1982, a dozen or more mothers in San Angelo became members of the Mothers of Twins Club.
The organization originally began with three women. They preceded each business meeting with a 30-minute "swap shop" where they exchanged clothing, baby strollers and other necessities their children had outgrown."
The club assembled on the third Tuesday of each month and help mothers get to know one another. Although the group's name was Mothers of Twins, no children were invited to the sessions.
"This is our one night out of the month," one of the mothers said. "If we had all the kids there, we'd never get anything done."
The club was also an exchange of ideas.
Trouble times two.
That's what happened when the Mothers of Twins Club got together with all the kids.
The 1982 portrait of the children and their moms shows them smiling for the camera. Some of the children seemed a bit wary of what was going on.
A support group for mothers of twins isn't unique to San Angelo; in fact there are many spread across the nation.
In 2006 I met Yolanda Dallas, who joined one such group in Ohio while she was still pregnant with twin boys. It was called Mothers of Multiples, group that includes families with twins, triplets and other multiple births. She said Mothers of Multiples helped her prepare for the experience.
Yolanda had some great advice for parents expecting multiples:
Don't be afraid to ask for help family, friends, neighbors or your local church. You'll need to reach out at some time and say "I need a moment for myself.' "
To help tell twins apart, put nail polish on one baby's toe.
If you get your babies on a schedule eating at the same time and sleeping at the same time you're good.
Rest when you've got a moment. You're going to need your strength.
Slatton
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The Temple Police Department is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of 20-year-old Justin Slatton Jr., the second suspect wanted in connection with an April 13 shooting that resulted in the death of two Bell County men.
Members of the Temple Police General Investigations Unit, San Angelo Police Department, The Texas Rangers and the Department of Public Safety are currently in San Angelo, Texas actively searching for known suspect, Justin Slatton Jr., white male, DOB 01-27-96.
Slatton has two active warrants for Murder and he is considered armed and dangerous.
On May 9, the joint apprehension team located and arrested 17-year-old Lupe M. Chappa III from a residence in the 2400 block of Culver Avenue is San Angelo. Chappa is being held at the Tom Green County Jail in lieu of bail set at $2 million dollars.
In addition to the reward from Temple PD, San Angelo Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of $250 for information that leads to an arrest. Slatton has an additional warrant for Burglary of a Building issued out of Tom Green County.
If you have information about Slattons whereabouts, contact the San Angelo Crime Stoppers Anonymous Tip Hotline (3325) 658-HELP (4357) or 1-800-756-3434, online at www.sanangelocrimestoppers.com, or download the free Mobile App, P3 Tips.
Never attempt to apprehend suspects yourself; doing so may be dangerous.
ORIGINAL STORY
A teen was arrested in San Angelo Monday on charges of murder from the City of Temple.
Lupe Martinez Chappa III, 17, was arrested in connection with an April 13 shooting, which resulted in the death of Johnathan Hess, 26, of Temple, and Vicente Hernandez, 36, of Killeen, according to a press release from the Temple Police Department.
Investigators from the TPD traveled to San Angelo and joined with Texas Rangers, Department of Public Safety troopers and officers of the San Angelo Police Department to place Chappa under arrest around 3:31 p.m., according to police.
Chappa was booked into the Tom Green County Jail on Monday, where he is held in lieu of bail set at $2 million, according to the release.
The double shooting happened in Temple at about 7:38 p.m. at a home in the 400 block of North Seventh Street, according to the release.
Police police responded to a shots fired call and found two Hispanic men with apparent gunshot wound, stated the release.
Hess died at the scene and Hernandez, who was transported to Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital in critical condition, later died of his injuries.
According to the press release, the investigation is ongoing.
Deborah McKeon of the Temple Daily Telegram contributed to this
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By Ngan Ho of the San Angelo Standard-Times
San Angelo voters sent the chief of police and Single Member District 5 contests into a runoff after Saturday night's election, forcing the top two candidates in each race to face off again July 2. All registered voters are eligible to vote in the police chief runoff, whether they voted in the previous election or not, however, only voters in City Council District 5 qualify to vote in that race.
To secure election, office-seekers must receive 50 percent, plus one vote. Falling short of that mark on May 7, these candidates have another two months of campaigning ahead of them.
Incumbent Police Chief Tim Vasquez received 2,862 votes 31.34 percent, and 210 fewer votes than challenger Lt. Frank Carter obtained, giving him a slight edge with 33.64 percent.
"What's great about the runoff is the opportunity for two candidates to focus on the topic and have the ability to speak about it in-depth," Vasquez said. "Narrowed to two, the community can now have a great opportunity to see transparency and ask the tough questions and explain how we can accomplish things."
Vasquez said more people have donated to his campaign, and requests for campaign signs have increased since election night.
"I feel blessed to be in the runoff," Vasquez said. "I still have a lot to offer."
Lt. Mike Hernandez and Jeff Davis, the other two candidates who ran for police chief, threw their support behind Carter after election night, saying they thought Carter's vision for the police department was consistent with their own.
"We're excited and humble, and I can't thank my campaign manger and support committee, my family and friends and all the voters enough," Carter said. "We will continue to move forward with our campaign, in a progressive and positive manner."
The four-way race for SMD 5 ended up in a virtual tie of 45 percent between incumbent Elizabeth Grindstaff and political newcomer Lane Carter.
Lane Carter had a slight edge with 827 votes 45.39 percent to Grindstaff's 823 45.17 percent.
"I'm going to keep doing everything that I've been doing but at a bigger pace," Carter said. "I have to reach out to the people, and let them know that the race isn't over."
Lane Carter said he was satisfied with the results on election night, adding that turnout for the runoff election is crucial.
Grindstaff was unavailable for comments Tuesday.
In other races, Bill Richardson was elected to the Council's District 1 seat and Harry Thomas to the District 3 seat. They will serve three-year terms.
Early voting begins June 20 through 24 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and June 27 and 28 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Tom Green County Elections Office, on the first floor of the Edd B. Keyes Building, 113 W. Beauregard Ave.
Voters have the option to casts paper ballot during early voting.
On election day, only electronic ballots are available and polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the same 20 polling places used during election day May 7.
Voter registration applications are available at VoteTomGreenCounty.org, in the Tom Green County Elections Office, and at all three Tom Green County library locations.
Applications can also be obtained by mail or by calling 325-659-6541.
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You may not like President Obama's political philosophy or leadership style, but you have to admit that he is one cool president.
If you're unconvinced, consider his speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 30. His poise and charm were on full display, and his comedic timing was impeccable.
Still, his best joke made me cringe a little: He said that his popularity rating had been rising. In fact, he said, "The last time I was this high, I was trying to decide on my major."
Funny stuff. It would be even funnier if there weren't so many Americans in prison for the crime that the last several presidents have all committed, smoking a little pot.
Of course, we're a nation of laws, and we aspire to the principle that undergirds that condition: Before the law everyone is treated equally.
But that noble aspiration is threatened by our inconsistent attitude toward marijuana and by the patchwork of drug laws that follow in its wake.
Thus, a 19-year-old kid in my state (Texas) was threatened with life in prison for trying to make brownies laced with hash-oil, while 900 miles to the north (Colorado) he could legally create a profitable business and be appreciated for his entrepreneurship and for the tax dollars that his business generates.
And thus celebrities (Bill Maher, Woody Harrelson, Willie Nelson) have made marijuana a part of their brand, and the president of the United States can joke charmingly about smoking pot in college, while, according to a 2014 New York Times story, as many as 30,000 Americans are in prison solely for possessing or selling marijuana.
Sometimes prison terms for marijuana possession are staggering. The Times cites the case of Jeff Mizanskey, a Missourian who was arrested in 1993 for purchasing a five-pound brick of marijuana. Because of two previous nonviolent marijuana convictions, Mizanskey was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
A more typical case is probably Bernard Noble, a 45-year-old father of seven who was stopped in New Orleans in 2010 with the equivalent of two joints in his pocket. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Noble's case is more typical in another way as well, one that amplifies the ironic contrast between his situation and the president's wry joke: Like Obama, Noble is black.
Not only are our marijuana laws stunningly inconsistent, their application is informed by a striking racial disparity: Although blacks and whites use marijuana at about the same rates, according to a study by the American Civil Liberties Union, blacks are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested on suspicion of marijuana offenses than whites.
I'm not an enthusiastic proponent for the decriminalization of marijuana. I don't smoke it and don't plan to start. But if I did, as a middle class white guy, I suspect I could join the other 30 million Americans who smoked it during the past year without getting in trouble. Not everyone is so lucky, and this discrepancy should make us pause to consider the injustice of our current system.
In addition, we should thoughtfully situate marijuana among the array of intoxicants and addictive and harmful substances that surround us. We could start with alcohol, tobacco and heroin, of course, and, especially lately, prescription opioids.
But an honest calculation would include sugar, salt and fat as well. It's not much of an overstatement to say that, in the way that Americans eat them, these substances are both extremely harmful and addictive.
In fact, a great deal of American life revolves around activities that are enormously time-consuming, compulsive and addictive. Food and drink. Sports. Video games and electronic screen time of all sorts. There's a reason we call it "binge-watching."
Marijuana should be understood in this context, and we should pay more attention to the disparities associated with it. Some of us should not be able to use it with impunity and even joke about it while others are going to prison.
John M. Crisp, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. Contact him at jcrisp@delmar.edu.
Jim Justice -- coal operator, resort owner, political newcomer and West Virginia's richest man -- won the Democratic primary for governor Tuesday, riding a campaign message of optimism and personal business success, fueled by millions of dollars of his own money.Justice's win vaults a businessman with virtually no experience in elected office (just one brief stint on the Raleigh County Board of Education nearly two decades ago) to the highest stage in West Virginia politics.He handily defeated former U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and state Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler, neither of whom could compete financially with the billionaire coal and agriculture magnate.The Associated Press called the race for Justice, with early returns showing he'd received about 50 percent of the vote, to 26 percent for Goodwin and 24 percent for Kessler.With West Virginia staring at a budget deficit of nearly $200 million, and next year's fiscal situation looking just as bleak, Justice ran a campaign in which he, alone among Democratic candidates, refused to advocate for either higher taxes or budget cuts. Instead, he promised, with little evidence other than his own business success, that he could help the state grow its way out of economic crisis."I'm a businessman, not a politician," he said in one TV ad. "I create jobs. I've done it in coal, I've done it in agriculture, I've done it at The Greenbrier, now I want to do it for the whole state of West Virginia."At an election-night party in an ornate Greenbrier resort ballroom, where passed hors d'ouevres included ham biscuits, shrimp cocktail and grilled pimiento cheese sandwiches, Justice reiterated those themes."I'm not a politician, I'm a business guy," Justice told a crowd of several hundred supporters while discussing West Virginia's frequently last-place status in socioeconomic rankings. "If you elect another politician to the head of the line, to the biggest office in our state, this is going to be terribly blunt, but mark it down -- you and I will die 50th."Justice's general election opponent, state Senate President Bill Cole was unopposed in the Republican primary.While Cole runs the Senate and is the lieutenant governor, he also is relatively new to politics, having served just one term in the Senate and a few months in the House of Delegates after being appointed to an open seat in 2010.Cole's words Tuesday night on his own political experience echoed Justice's, in what could be a general election theme."I'm not a career politician, I'm a simple one-term state senator, but I'm a state senator that moved to the top -- to state Senate president -- and led the charge through the Legislature in moving our state in a positive direction," Cole said in a phone interview. "I have experience, but not as a career politician."Both candidates will run campaigns focused on job creation, above all else."It truly is about putting people back to work first, all the other things come as a result," Cole said."You're in for a rocket-ship ride, as far as job creation, like you can't believe," Justice said, citing his business success. "You need someone that my dad would say has 'done done it.' "Justice spent more than $2 million of his own money on the primary race, about four times more than Goodwin and Kessler, combined, raised for their campaigns.Kessler, in a phone interview, said he had no regrets."I gave it my best shot and came up short," he said. "That's what the people chose; that's why they make democracy."He stopped short of saying he would support Justice, his fellow Democrat, after a campaign in which he repeatedly criticized Justice for refusing to delve into policy specifics."I would like to hear where he stands on some more substantive issues than we had the opportunity to discuss in the primary," Kessler said. "Move his platform along a little more."In a very brief speech at his election headquarters in downtown Charleston, Goodwin talked about what he might have done as governor and how to turn around the trend of West Virginians leaving the state."Obviously, the result is not what we hoped, but what a ride," said Goodwin, who launched his campaign in January, shortly after stepping down as U.S. attorney.Justice's win sets up a general election matchup that promises to be among the most expensive in West Virginia history.The fall election will be between a billionaire (Justice) and a millionaire (Cole), as Kessler frequently dubbed them.Both Justice and Cole will fund their own campaigns, although Justice to a much larger extent. Justice has already spent more than $2 million of his own money -- about 80 percent of his campaign coffers, while about 10 percent of the $1.1 million raised by Cole has come from his own pocket.Both will continue to fund themselves, to some degree, through the general election.Outside money also has already begun to flood the race, and the spending from outside the state is sure to increase.The Republican Governors Association has already spent more than $550,000 boosting Cole, before he even had an opponent.David Moran, a Libertarian Party candidate for governor, also will be on the general election ballot in the fall.The campaign will break down along fairly traditional lines, with business groups largely siding with the Republican and labor groups largely siding with the Democrat.Cole has won the endorsement of the state Business and Industry Council and the West Virginia Coal Association, while Justice has won the endorsement of the United Mine Workers union and the two state teachers unions.Cole, who endorsed and campaigned with presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump last week, likely will try to link Justice with national Democrats, most of whom are very unpopular in West Virginia. Justice repeatedly has declined to endorse any presidential candidate, a stance he likely will try to hold through the general election, where Trump looks to be a big favorite in West Virginia over either Democrats Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.Cole's campaign has, for months, been pointing to a $30,000 donation that Justice made to the Democratic National Committee in 2011 as evidence that the coal magnate supported President Barack Obama. However, Justice has a long history of donating to both parties, and was a registered Republican little more than a year ago. His family gave $200,000 to the Republican Governors Association on the eve of the 2012 elections.In prepared remarks Tuesday night, Cole was quick to tie himself to Trump."I stand with Donald Trump, because he will stop the EPA's assault on our coal industry and allow us to put our coal miners back to work," he said.But after several election cycles in which Republicans have had success tying state Democrats to Obama and a "war on coal," that may be difficult to do against Justice, who is a coal operator himself.Justice spoke Tuesday night about "not giving up on coal" and has said repeatedly that he sees a possibility of the struggling industry bouncing back to its former heights.Even the most very optimistic industry analysts -- for instance the state Coal Association -- do not predict such a comeback.
Advocates say a new Maryland law will place the state at the forefront of efforts to require insurance plans to offer birth control at no out-of-pocket cost, expanding access to women and men who want to prevent unwanted pregnancies.The law goes further than President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, which already reduced costs for women seeking birth control in many cases.Under the Contraceptive Equity Act, Maryland will be the first state to require insurance companies to cover over-the-counter emergency contraceptives, such so called morning-after pills, at no cost. Maryland also will be the first state prohibiting out-of-pocket costs for men who have vasectomies.Advocates who pushed the bill through the General Assembly say Maryland is the first state to pass such a comprehensive approach."Maryland is on the forefront across the board with this act," said Karen Nelson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Maryland.Other provisions prohibit co-payments for any type of contraceptive and also ban preauthorization requirements for long-acting contraceptives such as IUDs. The law allows women to receive six months' worth of birth control pills at one time.Del. Ariana B. Kelly, a Montgomery County Democrat who shepherded the bill through the legislature, said the act will make a "huge difference in people's lives."Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is expected to sign the bill into law Tuesday, along with nearly 200 other bills that lawmakers passed this year.The law won't go into effect until Jan. 1, 2018 -- timing that will allow insurers to prepare for the 2017 open-enrollment season -- and will apply only to insurance companies regulated by the state of Maryland. Some insurance plans that Marylanders have will not be covered, such as those that are issued from other states.The bill was opposed by some Republicans in the General Assembly, though party leaders in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate voted for it. Matthew A. Clark, a Hogan spokesman, noted federal law already requires at least one type of all forms of contraceptives to be covered with no co-payment.The act was designated as one of the top-priority bills by the Democratic leaders, House Speaker Michael E. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. Half of the state's lawmakers co-sponsored the bill.Kelly called the bill the most important piece of birth control legislation since 1998, when Maryland first required insurance companies to cover birth control. She said it closes "gaps" left by the Affordable Care Act, which is often called by its nickname, Obamacare.For example, the Affordable Care Act requires that for each of 18 categories of contraceptive, only one type must be offered to patients with no co-payment. That means a woman taking birth control pills might have to choose between the formulation that works best for her and a formulation that's covered without a co-payment, Kelly said.Kelly said the bill met some resistance from insurance companies, but she talked with them through the legislative process. She believes the final version is one that insurance companies can live with."It was a very difficult bill to get through because it costs insurance companies money," Kelly said.Officials with CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Maryland's largest insurer with 2.1 million customers, declined to comment.The requirements are likely to cost more money in the short term. State analysts estimate that Medicaid, for example, will spend about $1 million more per year for women who receive six months' worth of birth control pills at a time. Companies could pass along the increased costs to consumers in the form of higher premiums.Proponents hope the long-term savings of preventing unwanted pregnancies will more than offset the short-term expenses.Dr. Peter L. Beilenson, president and CEO of insurer Evergreen Health and a supporter of the bill, said his organization's plans already cover most of the requirements in the new law at minimal expense."It's preventive care. It's frankly not expensive at all," said Beilenson, who previously served as the top health official for Baltimore City and Howard County. Evergreen Health has about 40,000 members in Maryland.Beilenson said that requiring insurers to provide long-acting reversible contraceptives -- such as Norplant and the Depo-Provera shot -- as well as intrauterine devices without doing a preauthorization first could actually save money for health insurance companies. Insurance companies almost never deny them, so preauthorization is only an exercise in paperwork, he said.Nelson, of Planned Parenthood, said Maryland is breaking new ground in allowing men to get vasectomies without paying out of pocket. Women's sterilization already was covered at no cost to the patient.Maryland also will be the first to require insurers to cover emergency contraceptives at the point of purchase. Currently, if a woman's insurance covers emergency contraception, she often must pay for it up front -- at a cost of about $50 -- and then seek reimbursement.She said Maryland is taking a bold step by making it easier and cheaper for people to get birth control."When so many states and so many pockets of the country are trying to take away reproductive health care and take away rights of women, Maryland is saying, 'We are going to provide more health care coverage and more access to birth control.'"Some parts of Maryland's bill mimic laws already on the books in other states. Oregon and Washington, D.C., for example, require insurance companies to allow women to obtain 12 months' worth of birth control pills at a time."Many other states are implementing piecemeal provisions, but there's nothing as comprehensive as this act," Nelson said.
epitomizes hip. A neglected industrial enclave that sat mostly empty just a few years ago, Wynwood today thrums with energy. Its low-slung warehouses and onetime auto garages are filled with buzz-worthy eateries, high-end tattoo studios, vegan juice bars and edgy art spaces. At Wood Tavern, twentysomethings gather around graffiti-covered picnic tables to sip La Rubia blonde ale, brewed just a couple of blocks away at the Wynwood Brewing Company. At nearby Wynwood Kitchen and Bar, diners eat Latin-tinged cuisine under wall-sized paintings by popular street artists. A block down, the line at Panther Coffee can stretch out the door. Throughout the neighborhood, at all hours of the day, people stop to snap selfies in front of the colorful new murals that cover seemingly every inch of every building in Wynwood.Its the kind of dynamic urban scene that cities dream about. And it would never have happened, Miami planners say -- or at least not to the same degree of success -- without the citys new zoning code known as Miami 21. I cannot imagine it, says Francisco Garcia, the citys planning director, shaking his head at the thought. I just cant even imagine.Miami 21 isnt actually brand-new: Its been on the books since 2010. But it was the first true overhaul of the citys code in nearly 80 years, and it points toward major change in the way Miami will grow for generations to come. The controversial code has altered every aspect of the citys development, from the way a builder interacts with the planning department to the size of the windows of a finished storefront. And it touches every part of the city, from the shimmering urban high-rises of downtown Brickell to the single-family homes in historic, tree-lined residential neighborhoods like Little Havana and The Roads.Public zoning codes are typically filled with mind-numbingly dry details of frontages, setbacks and floor-area ratios -- and Miamis is too. But these codes ultimately determine the way a city looks and feels and functions. Theyre the 1s and 0s that build the matrix. Miami 21 may be abstruse, but its also a new vision for what the city wants to be.Miami 21 is whats known as a form-based code. Rather than prescribing development based on how a plot of land will be used -- residential, say, or mixed-use commercial -- the code defines the physical shape development should take in different parts of the city. That means buildings are considered in context with whats around them, regardless of what goes on inside. The goal is a more walkable, more human-scale form of development. When Miami adopted the code in 2010, it was the first big U.S. city to implement a form-based code citywide. Six years later, its still the only one.Most of the impact of Miami 21 isnt as tangible or as concentrated as in Wynwood. But its effects are suffused in properties throughout the city. On a recent sunny Friday, as Assistant Planning Director Luciana Gonzalez drove around town with a couple of visitors, she couldnt help interrupting herself every so often to point out the role of the new code. Thats Miami 21, she says, as she drives past a new bank branch building set close to the street, with parking hidden behind it. Thats Miami 21, she says again, pointing out a multistory self-storage facility that looks more like a sleek office tower, with inviting plate-glass windows along the sidewalk and a soon-to-open high-end rooftop restaurant that will take advantage of the views of the Miami River. A little later, Gonzalez passes an under-construction residential high-rise thats wrapped in street-level retail spaces. Thats Miami 21, too.Miamis form-based code has been lauded by the international planning community as a progressive commitment to New Urbanist ideals. But getting to this point involved years of convincing skeptical developers, architects, neighborhood organizers and political leaders that this change was the right thing for the city. And the code still has plenty of critics, including, perhaps surprisingly, Tomas Regalado, the citys current mayor. He acknowledges that Miami 21 looks good on paper, but says its proven difficult to implement on the ground. When asked whether the new code is an improvement over the way things used to be, Regalado pauses, holds up a finger and says, Maybe.all that remarkable about the Catalonia apartment building on SW 27th Ave. A bland 13-story building finished in two tones of beige, its the kind of faceless, nondescript mid-rise you drive past without giving it much thought. But one thing makes the Catalonia, which was completed in 2007, stand out. It sits smack next door to a small single-family home, a modest one-story house with a red tile roof and a patio out front. And thats made the Catalonia emblematic of the kind of unregulated growth Miami planners hope never to see again.The former zoning code was adopted in 1936, and for many decades it seemed to serve the city just fine. Higher-density buildings -- and some skyscrapers -- were concentrated downtown and along Biscayne Bay, while residential neighborhoods were left mostly untouched. But the code became increasingly complicated as a succession of city leaders tacked on modifications and revisions and exceptions. As in most U.S. cities, Miamis old code was based on separation of uses. But the number of uses eventually exceeded 360 and didnt seem to make sense: A barbershop was considered a different use than a beauty salon.Then came the 1990s population boom, and things really went haywire. Miami and surrounding Dade County grew by more than 18 percent in the 1990s, a growth trend that would continue into the 2000s and 2010s. Much of the influx was driven by immigrants from Latin America. By 2002, Miami-Dade had a higher percentage of foreign-born residents, 51.4 percent, than any other county in the country. The city went on a building binge. Height allowance was determined solely by the size of a lot, so if developers could simply cobble together enough plots of land, they could build 15- or 25- or 40-story buildings anywhere they wanted, even right next to a leafy neighborhood of small homes. High-rises sprouted like weeds overnight. One building might be 10 feet from the sidewalk, while the one next door was set back 30 feet. Blank walls stretched along sidewalks for entire blocks.It was haphazard and random growth, and it was all perfectly legal, says Ana Gelabert-Sanchez, who was the city planning director at the time. It was all done by the book, within the code at the time. But it didnt result in a city that was nice to live in.Manny Diaz was elected mayor in November 2001, and he sensed that Miamis development had gotten off track, even if he couldnt articulate it. I wasnt trained in urban planning or design, but instinctively I knew something was wrong, because I just looked around, he says. I saw pretty buildings that had no connection to the street, no connection to the buildings around them. I knew something had to be done, but I didnt know what that meant.Diaz turned to Gelabert-Sanchez and to Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, the renowned Miami-based architect who, along with her husband, Andres Duany, has become an international leader in New Urbanist design. The old code, says Plater-Zyberk, was completely unpredictable. It had resulted in a totally incoherent city.Plater-Zyberk and the city planning team got to work on a code that would help guide the form of new buildings, rather than just prescribe how a specific property would be put to use. It would emphasize street-level activity and public spaces to encourage walking, and it would bring a sense of order to Miamis explosive new growth.Other cities had already implemented partial form-based codes in certain areas, such as a downtown core or a tourist district. In most places, the new code existed in parallel to a traditional use-based code. Cities would incentivize developers by, say, offering faster permitting for those choosing to abide by the form-based code, but it wasnt mandatory. The planners in Miami began drafting something similar, a code that could be used to augment planning in certain hot spots around town.Diaz had a different idea: Scrap the old code completely and start over from scratch. If a form-based code was good for certain parts of the city, he felt, then it would be good for the city as a whole. It just made sense, he says. Lets just do it all at once. I know its crazy, but lets just do it now.The plan was hit by opposition almost immediately. There was a lot of concern, reluctance -- fear, even -- at the very beginning, says Garcia, Miamis planning director, who at the time was working in the private sector, on Plater-Zyberks team.Some people in the design community were worried that everything would end up looking the same, says Gelabert-Sanchez. Or they were worried that we in the city were going to say, I dont like those windows. I dont like that arch. But we just wanted to establish principles. We dont care about the style.Over a period of six years starting in 2003, the city held 60 formal public hearings on the new code, in addition to another 500 meetings with residents and other stakeholders -- ranging from events with hundreds of attendees in large downtown convention halls to intimate sit-downs in residents living rooms. Many of the meetings were in Spanish. We knew wed have skeptics, says Diaz. So we wanted the process to be as transparent and as inclusive as possible. One thing no one can say is that this was some backroom deal between the city and developers, or land use attorneys.As the city coalesced around a plan, developers got on board. Because the new code provided much more predictability in terms of what was allowed on a given plot, the approval process need no longer involve acrimonious public hearings and contentious fights with the city over building plans. Everything would be spelled out in the code itself. And neighborhood conservationists appreciated that a new plan could better preserve the character of Miamis distinct communities.Still, there were critics. Property owners said the new code would devalue their land by limiting the amount of future development they could undertake. Builders said the code would throw all the citys existing structures into legal limbo because they wouldnt conform with the new regulations. And some of the preservationists and neighborhood groups that had initially supported the idea began to complain that the new code didnt go far enough in protecting Miami neighborhoods; they waged fights with the city to downzone residential areas even further.On Oct. 22, 2009, after an embarrassing initial rejection, Miami 21 was approved during Diazs very last meeting as mayor. The new code was law. But that didnt end the opposition. The lone city council vote against the final code had been cast by Regalado, who 12 days later was elected mayor. Many people expected he might dismantle Miami 21 as soon as he took office. Indeed, some in the community hoped he would. Today, Regalado says he never even considered doing that. But at the time, advocates were worried. Two or three [city commissioners] -- and in particular Mayor Regalado -- were set to take it apart, says one person who was tracking the issue closely.Then came the Great Recession. Ironically, it may have been the best thing that could have happened to Miami 21. Development in South Florida ground to a halt, and city leaders were overwhelmed by other concerns. Suddenly, debate over a zoning code was no longer a front-burner issue.Gonzalez in the city planning office agrees. It was good timing, actually, because then when the economy did come back, we were ready to receive the development. And ever since the beginning of 2013, its been, like, boom!to appreciate the staggering rate of change Miami has seen in the past decade. From 2000 to 2014, the citys downtown doubled in residential population, and almost half the residents who live there now are between 25 and 44 years old. In the past decade alone, the city has added 113 new high-rises. Some of that development happened prior to Miami 21, which officially became law in May 2010. But most of it has happened since.For many in the city, the jury is still out. Regalado complains that with so many details spelled out in the code itself, or hammered out between developers and city planners, less of the process is subject to public input. In the old code, every minor zoning change had to be done by public hearing, he says. Miami 21 [offers] less transparency.Garcia says thats not the case. Under the old code, he says, the public hearings were much more acrimonious than they have been under Miami 21. Now we get out there and engage with the stakeholders. By the time a public hearing does occur, he says, everything has already been worked out.Aside from dissatisfaction with the process, there are still some people who think the new code is a substantively bad deal. A few lawsuits have been filed by landowners -- including the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami, which sued the city for $89 million in 2013 -- who say the new code has devalued their property. None of the suits has gone anywhere. Others have accused the city of applying the code inconsistently, letting certain projects skirt the regulations: A proposed Walmart in Midtown became a particular lightning rod for controversy, as urban big-box stores often are. But the city says the store has been designed to comply with Miami 21; ground was broken on the project in January.For the most part, Miamians seem to be living with the new code. Architects and developers appreciate the predictability of it; city planners like the way its shaping new growth. In fact, nearly everyone seems to agree that its working extremely well downtown. But it becomes more problematic when applied to smaller neighborhoods. Miami 21 is great in the areas of town that are already designated as high-density, high-intensity development, says Ines Marrero-Priegues, a local land use attorney. The process for upzoning to add new denser projects in other parts of the city, however, is very lengthy. Its easy to get projects approved in the urban core, but it can be very onerous for people who are doing smaller projects where theres less density already.Theres one thing you wont find mentioned anywhere in the pages of Miami 21: climate change. According to some of the latest projections of sea-level rise, large parts of Miami could be underwater in as little as 85 years, which can make Miami 21s intense focus on walkability and livability seem a bit ironic. Its not quite like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but some fear it might be close. I think were behind the curve, says Regalado. Sea-level rise is something no one wants to talk about because the condos are selling very well; Latin American people are buying condos by the dozen. Its going to be painful, but we do need to create a code that takes sea-level rise into account.Regalado says he wants to add a climate change component to Miami 21 before he leaves office in November 2017. Thats something that Garcia would love to see as well. The climate change conversation, he says, has typically been dominated by architects, not planners, and has focused on making single buildings climate-resilient. What I think is being left out of the conversation, he says, is neighborhood resiliency, as opposed to building resiliency.The full impact of Miami 21 wont be felt for decades. But simply getting to this point has been a remarkable event. Those seven years we spent developing the code, Garcia says, were seven years of getting a better understanding of what the concerns of the citizens were, and engaging the citizens to wrestle with planning and zoning issues. The knowledge base improved significantly, so now we can have much more advanced, sophisticated conversations with stakeholders. The profile of planning as a whole has been elevated.Walking around Wynwood, or popping into a sidewalk coffee shop in a new skyscraper downtown, most people arent thinking about the building code. They just know that Miami is becoming a nicer place to live. But the city as a whole has indeed come to appreciate the role zoning plays in creating a better built environment. Former mayor Diaz says thats something he learned as well. You dont run for office on urban planning. You run because you say, Im going to fight poverty, or fight crime, or improve education. But I realized that planning is the most important issue. We fight crime, and it goes down, and thats good. But in a few years, it might go up again. You move the needle as best you can, but these are constantly changing issues. But a new building, he says, will impact residents for generations. When you put up a building, its there for a hundred years.
Description
GIS 11 May 2016: Twenty-four Additional Scholarships for higher studies have been allocated on a merit and social criteria basis for the Cambridge Higher School Certificate (HSC) 2015.
The names of the 24 additional HSC laureates were made public yesterday by the Minister of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, Mrs Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, at MITD House, in Phoenix.
It is recalled that the Ministry Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research launched a call for applications on 9 February 2016 for the award of 24 scholarships under the Additional Scholarship Schemes.
A selection exercise was carried out by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Reform Institutions in accordance with the provisions of the Education (Amendment) Regulations 2013 as subsequently amended.
Also, two Scholarships have been awarded to Rodrigues with the selection exercise conducted by the Rodrigues Regional Assembly.
Candidates are awarded Scholarships under two schemes, namely:
16 Additional Scholarships to students ranked among the first 500 of the Cambridge International Examination Scholarship Rank Orders. The total income of these students parents should not exceed, in the aggregate, Rs 12 000 per month; and,
8 Additional Scholarships to students based on the results of the Cambridge Higher School Certificate examinations 2015, and whose parents total income does not exceed, in the aggregate, Rs 6 200 monthly.
Government offers a total of 68 Scholarships each year based on the HSC examinations. A scholarship is also offered by the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) under the MCB Foundation Scholarship. Forty-five Scholarships are offered purely on the basis of performance and merit, while twenty-four Additional Scholarships are allocated later on a merit and social criteria basis.
Noelle Knell has been the editor of Government Technology magazine for e.Republic since 2015. She has more than two decades of writing and editing experience, covering public projects, transportation, business and technology. A California native, she has worked in both state and local government, and is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, with majors in political science and American history. She can be reached via email and on Twitter.
(TNS) -- Starting next month state social workers and investigators will be getting state-issued electronic tablets allowing access to case notes, email and other information while they are in the field.The Department of Children Youth and Families will launch the technology with 20 staffers on June 1 with the goal of expanding the technology to all field workers by January 2018. Approximately $450,000 was included in this year's budget for software design and tablet purchases.While the idea that mobile access to email would be touted as a new accomplishment in 2016 might seem unusual, Jamia McDonald, chief strategy officer overseeing the DCYF, said this is the first time in decades that there has been a technology upgrade for front-line staff."We want to spend more time with children and families and less time doing paperwork, and now our process will be more efficient," said Lori Fernandes, a DCYF casework supervisor who helped design the software.Currently, DCYF staff working offsite at court appearances or with families take handwritten notes that are later typed into a computer system at their offices. The new technology will allow workers to enter notes into the system remotely, take and access case photos, and review old case notes.A review last year showed that staff lose as much as 30 to 40 percent of their time completing administrative tasks, commuting to the office and attending court, McDonald said.Governor Raimondo touted the technology as a way to improve efficiency."No one becomes a social worker because they like paperwork. We are putting the right technology in the field to give our caseworkers more flexibility to spend time with the people they serve," Raimondo said.The staff will receive Dell Latitude tablets with touch screens that will be capable of accessing a new web-enabled Case Activity Notes (CANs) module. NTT Data, an IT company headquartered in Japan with an office in New York City, consulted with DCYF on the project.
Collaboration has a new home in San Francisco.On May 9, the mayors office and partners announced the upcoming launch of a new co-working space designed for cross-agency and cross-sector collaboration on the citys most complex challenges. Called Superpublic , the 5,000-square-foot space is housed, spiritually and physically, right next door to the federal governments innovation arm, 18F.Partnered with the U.S. General Services Administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and City Innovate Foundation, the San Francisco Mayors Office of Civic Innovation intends to use the space as a platform for cross-disciplinary work where previous institutional and geographic barriers would have made the work difficult.To move things forward, for example, in transportation requires SFMTA [San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency] together with people from the mayors office, together with people from DOT, together with private actors thinking through solutions," explained City Innovate Foundation Chairman Peter Hirshberg. Of course San Francisco has many open innovation facilities, incubators and co-working spaces, but theres never really been one whose purpose was to bring people together from different agencies within a city government, and between federal, city and state government, and with both startups and companies to work together on problems.GSAs role in the partnership is to serve as the citys landlord and also to help the city develop its services through the GSAs recently announced Technology Transformation Service. The U.S. Department of Commerces partnership role is to provide technical support and advance the presidents Smart Cities initiative, focusing specifically on economic development of local businesses.People come to San Francisco for its spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship, and the belief that we can achieve anything if we work together. Weve never considered innovation to be simply about technology, said Chief Innovation Officer Jay Nath. It has to be combined with a spirit of collaboration, of willingness and an understanding that people from all different skill sets can come in and solve problems that government has for many years done in silos.Creating performance-based procurement and improving transportation in the city are two projects that the mayors office would like to use Superpublic for right away, Nath said.More than half of all the trips in San Francisco use public transit, something were very proud of, but there are still too many people who rely on cars to get around," Nath added. "Our city cant build wider streets to fit the growing population. There isnt the room. Instead, we need to make sure our transportation systems, both public and private, are using resources and working as effectively as possible.The Department of Transportation is also housed on the same floor as Superpublic, Nath pointed out, emphasizing the importance of breaking down the physical space that divides governments entrenched silos. When asked about the institutional barriers to cross-agency collaboration, Nath said he was confident in the citys ability to work together.I think just having everybody in the same place resolves many of those issues, Nath said. One of the ways were going to be achieving participation is around these policy areas. Were not always going to get 100 percent participation, but we think we have those relationships from the mayors office to be able to bring people together. Weve demonstrated that we know how to create compelling content and we know how to create the right set of forums to invite people in. So well see how it goes, but I think that wont really be an issue.Academic and private-sector partners announced so far include UC Berkeley, the Center for Design Research at Stanford University, the MIT Media Lab "City Science," Microsoft, Deloitte, Local Government Commission. The lab s ribbon cutting is scheduled for late spring this year.
#BernieInSacramento: Media Silent as #BernieSanders Packs #California Stadium Beyond Capacity (PHOTOS) https://t.co/nwIEeU25Rd#Bernie2016 Olaf Foss (@OlafFoss) May 10, 2016
The crowd at Sen. Bernie Sanders' rally held up smartphones to stream video and share images with their social media friends and followers. Photo by Eyragon Eidam.
@BernieSanders was epic in Sacramento! Pure reinforcement for my vote! #FeelTheBern #BernieInSacramento pic.twitter.com/HpnDIiWIHN Jessica (@TweyelyteZone) May 10, 2016
Polling continues to be clear: Bernie is the strongest candidate to beat Trump. pic.twitter.com/xxWfCCFyme Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 10, 2016
#BernieInSacramento #CAPrimary this is the nature of the Bern, pure authenticity. #VivaBernie #CALove #BernieLove pic.twitter.com/ioRSsPD5gi Jaimie (@jamesmarie33) May 11, 2016
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Even before presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders saddled up to the podium in front of more than 16,000 people Monday, May 9, the charge of the Sacramento crowd was already reverberating support into cyberspace through social media channels.The argument has been well made that other presidential candidates, like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have basked in more than their fair share of the limelight when it comes to the mainstream media outlets nonetheless, support for Sanders remains.On the LexisNexis U.S. Presidential Campaign media tracker , which looks at aggregated data from the last 30 days, the number of articles, Web or broadcast pieces about Sanders come in substantially below his competition.The Tyndall Report , which examines the nightly news broadcast of ABC, CBS and NBC, also showed a significant disparity between nightly news coverage of the campaigns, citing that in the first 11 months of 2015, Trump received 234 minutes of coverage, while Sanders only received 10 minutes.During Mondays rally, there was a clear sense that the crowd was disappointed in the coverage or lack thereof coming out of traditional news sources. This feeling quickly played out online, where supporters began to share articles illustrating the lack of mainstream coverage and naming media outlets in an attempt to draw attention to the cause.But there is question as to whether access to traditional media channels is the true source of the candidates political power. Some might point to the groundswell seen across social media platforms as a driving force behind Sanders' bid for the presidency.Perhaps more than any other candidate, the Vermont senators camp has wrangled online assets into a powerful tool for spreading his messages about racial equality, affordable health care and calls for a national $15 minimum wage.Where you once might have seen hundreds of BIC lighters or campaign signs lofted at a political rally, at Mondays event the new symbol seemed to be the smartphone, streaming video and sharing images directly with outside viewers around the country.On the whole, the online support across the multitude of social media platforms has been a fundamental part of Sanders' vie for executive office to this point, said Campaign Digital Media Director Hector Sigala.Social media has been a really big part of this campaign. We havent had a lot of coverage in the mainstream media, but weve had a lot of coverage online, he explained. Our supporters are one of the most enthusiastic group of supporters online, and what I mean by that is you can find 1,000 groups on each platform like Sacramento for Bernie or Bay Area for Bernie every little thing you can find a full Bernie group onWhile one could easily make a case that all of the 2016 candidates are leveraging social media to deliver their brands to the voting masses, Sigala notes that Sanders supporters are particularly engaged, arguably because of their age and experience in the social space.We have been trying to harness all of the energy we see online and turn it into votes, he said. So there really is no big secret sauce, you know? What we are seeing at rallies and pretty much every metric out there is that young people, many of them for the first time, are getting really excited about Bernies candidacy. Its not because Bernie is some cool, hip guy; its just really that his ideas are appealing to folks.Most interestingly, much of the material coming out of the campaigns social feeds is not the inflammatory political attacks typical of an election year. The social media team focuses on issues that resonate with their base and use metrics to keep the conversation flowing with online communities.Particularly with social media, Sigala said the tool has helped to connect Sanders ideas to millennial voters whom he notes are largely disenfranchised with the state of the current political system and have a stake in issues like student debt and the minimum wage.Behind his computer screen in Washington, D.C., the digital media director said he watched as #BernieinSacramento trended through the evening, and was still trending late Tuesday evening.
Retention Efforts
Aging Out Will Continue
Planning for the Future
California has a problem: Fifty-two percent of its managers in the state workforce could decide in the next five years that theyre tired of working, grab their retirement packages and go. Their departure would create a serious brain drain for the state, which has the largest number of state employees in the country 220,000.So Jeff Douglas, Californias chief of workforce development, is trying different tactics to keep senior workers on the job: offering a flexible work schedule, promoting work-life balance and creating the first government-wide employee management survey to assess the needs of workers. The idea is to find out who is leaving and why.Douglas knows that efforts to keep senior workers especially managers, specialists, and highly educated and knowledgeable employees on the job are at best stopgap measures. Eventually, the state will have to shore up its talent reserves as baby boomers age out of the state workforce. Because people can walk right now, we have to be ready if they do, he said.Like California, nearly every state and locality faces the imminent departure of retirement-eligible employees. Anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of state workers are eligible for retirement, said Leslie Scott, executive director of the National Association of State Personnel Executives (NASPE). And states are scrambling to find ways to retain their most valuable seasoned employees.Finding replacements wont be easy. State employees are more educated than the rest of the nations workforce, including federal and local government employees, according to the Congressional Research Service So state personnel executives are experimenting with a variety of approaches to hang on to experience, including job-sharing and telecommuting, delayed retirement programs that pay lump sums to would-be retirees to keep working, training and development, and reward and recognition programs. They also are stepping up recruiting efforts to attract older employees who work in the private sector.The idea, Douglas said, is to create a work environment where you can stay longer and work longer.In Tennessee, where 32 percent of the state workforce is eligible for retirement, state workers can take advantage of the temporary employment option. The program allows retirees to work for up to 120 days during a 12-month period. This way, the state can recruit high-performing retirees to assist with special projects, said Rebecca Hunter, the states commissioner of human resources.This allows an agency to benefit from the transfer of institutional knowledge and is a nice transition to full retirement for the employee, Hunter said.In Ohio, state workers in the Office of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities are allowed to schedule their work hours as they see fit, as long as they work somewhere between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.In Colorado, where 20 percent of the workforce in the states information technology division is eligible for retirement, the agency encourages retirement-age professionals to work with younger workers to ensure that knowledge is passed down to the next generation.This is particularly important when it comes to dealing with older, legacy technology and other specialized fields, said Karen Wilcox, director of human resources in the Colorado governors information technology office. Knowledge loss is the most critical issue, Wilcox said.In Virginia, where a quarter of state employees will be eligible to retire in the next five years, state human resources executives use intense data to predict who will be retiring and what is pushing them out, said Sara Redding Wilson, Virginias director of human resources.Only a small fraction is going, and we know why, Redding Wilson said. Armed with data, she said, the state can tailor its retention efforts while finding ways to recruit the next wave of talent.The areas with the highest turnover rates are in corrections, juvenile justice and behavioral health, Redding Wilson said, fields with less flexibility in scheduling and that dont pay as much.Some states, such as Alabama and Arizona, and some localities, such as Los Angeles Pinellas County, Florida , and St. Louis , let potential retirees take advantage of the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP). It works this way: public workers such as police officers who reach retirement age commit to continuing to work for a fixed period. They go on collecting their regular paycheck. And when they retire, they are paid a lump sum bonus of as much as 90 percent of the salaries they earned while continuing to work.DROP programs can be an attractive incentive to keep talented employees on the job longer, while reducing costs for recruiting and training new employees, said Angela Curl, assistant professor of family studies and social work at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.But not all states have kept them going. In 2001, Missouri implemented a similar program, called BackDROP, which offered state workers more flexibility in the start and stop dates. (Roughly a quarter of Missouris state employees are eligible to retire this year.)In a 2014 report, Missouri state employees said that the BackDROP program had been an incentive for them to stay on the job. Some used the money to pay off debt, while others put in savings for their children to inherit, something that they cannot do with traditional pension plans, Curl said.But in 2010, legislators amended the program. Employees hired after Dec. 31, 2010, arent eligible to participate in the program.Public sector employees skew older than private workers. In 2013, 52 percent of full-time federal, state and local public employees were between ages 45 and 64, compared to 42 percent of full-time private sector workers, according to the Congressional Research Service . Fifty percent of state workers and 52 percent of local government workers were in that age group in 2013.And states and local governments have already seen their workforces shrink in the past decade, thanks to budget cuts enacted during the Great Recession, according to the Center for State and Local Government Excellence State agencies also cut back on training and development programs, NASPEs Scott said. As a result, younger employees arent prepared to step in to key management positions, she said. Meanwhile, many state workers those who werent laid off in the midst of cutbacks postponed retirement.Some still are, which can give states some breathing room in which to plan to replace them. In Virginia, for instance, Redding Wilson said some younger boomers in their 50s are staying on the job to keep the states health care coverage.But that wont last long. As the economy continues to improve, more state workers are expected to retire, Scott said. And the remaining talent pool for top managers is much smaller. During the recession, many layoffs happened at the middle-manager level, she said.The retirement wave will hit all sectors of government, from teachers to nurses to law enforcement. But finance, engineering and management, along with information technology, are areas that could see the biggest losses, according to Elizabeth Kellar, the centers CEO. There are also big challenges to recruiting and retaining nurses, epidemiologists and doctors for public health jobs, she said.Its a huge issue, Kellar said. To maintain a strong workforce, she said, states need to focus on recruiting and retaining good people, develop talent through training, offer competitive compensation and have a succession plan for passing on duties to younger workers.At the same time, states must adjust to the characteristics of a new generation of workers, who are more likely to hop from job to job, and between the private and public sectors.If theyre coming in [to work for the states], theyre not staying, Scott said.In Maine, where roughly a quarter of the states IT workforce is eligible for retirement in the next two years, about 3,000 years of experience is going to be walking out the door, said Jim Smith, Maines chief information officer.Its going to be transformational. Were going to need to do something radical to address this change.For the past couple of years, his agency has been focusing on how to keep seasoned employees on the job while attracting new talent. His agency allows retirement-age employees to work part-time. But, he said, Thats a short-term solution.To attract millennials, his agency drastically streamlined its hiring process. Now, applicants can apply for jobs using a mobile app. Applications have increased 35 percent since the app launched, Smith said.The state also launched an intern-mentor program, partnering with local universities and community colleges to identify potential hires and pair them with veteran workers. Since the program started in 2013, 70 percent of the interns have become full-time employees, he said.But the state isnt just focused on hiring young workers. Its also recruiting seasoned professionals whove spent their careers in the private sector and dont mind taking a pay cut to work in civil service.One example of this: Smith. In 2012, after more than 30 years working in the private financial services sector, he decided, rather than retiring, hed go to work for his home state. I wanted an opportunity to give back, Smith said.
The Regional Board of Mayors learned Monday of a proposed Banks Lake Pumped Storage Project that could employ 2,500 people during construction and end up providing permanent employment for 150-200 workers.
Columbia Basin Hydropower managers told the mayors that the project could run as high as $1 billion and take several years to complete.
The target date for completion would be 2025, representatives stated.
But theres a long way to go before anything could be declared shovel ready. The permit process and finding the money for the project are next on the agenda.
Grand Coulee Mayor Paul Townsend asked if the project would provide any tax revenues for the area. Tim Culbertson, secretary-manager, stated that if a private company provided the funding, then the project would be taxable.
The project would deliver water from Banks Lake through a 35-foot diameter penstock pipe to a pump-generating plant near Crescent Bay, then return the water through a second pipe to Banks Lake. In the process, the generating plant would produce some 1,000 megawatts of electricity to the power grid. It could generate at its maximum capacity of 1,000 MW for approximately 35 continuous hours, assuming a maximum five-foot drawdown of Banks Lake.
Grand Coulee City Clerk Carol Boyce said those pipes would go right through our city.
When asked if the pipes would be placed underground, Culbertson said it would depend on the costs.
The 30-foot-diameter pipe would start just south of the top of North Dam, some 40 feet underwater, and with gravity flow proceed some 900 feet to the pump generating plant. Then water from Lake Roosevelt would be returned to Banks Lake through the second pipe.
Culbertson said there would be need for the power because of early retirement of two large coal-fired power plants in the region due to environmental reasons and potential retirement of others in the future.
You need some generation facility that can ramp up and down very quickly, he told The Star later, adding that federal hydropower capacity is pretty much fully tapped.
He stated that California and Oregon have already decided to cut their environmental footprint by 50 percent in coming years by limiting the operation of gas-fired combustion turbines, and Culbertson added that Washington would likely follow.
Power generated would interconnect with either the Grand Coulee Dam 230 KV or 500 KV switchyards.
Columbia Basin Hydropower grew out of three irrigation districts in the Columbia Basin: East Columbia Basin Irrigation District, Quincy Columbia Basin Irrigation District and South Columbia Basin Irrigation District. Columbia Basin Hydropower currently owns seven projects, ranging in size from two to 94 MW, with total generation capacity of all projects about 150 MW. The power from five of the projects goes to the cities of Tacoma and Seattle. Two other projects are operated and maintained under contract with Grant County PUD.
Watching over his own motocross team at the weekend, Kimi Raikkonen had a typical answer when asked for an interview.
"No," the German newspaper Mitteldeutsche Zeitung quotes him as saying.
Raikkonen's rider Max Nagl, however, is happy to talk about the Ferrari driver, saying at the motocross event in Teutschenthal: "I am myself a big formula one fan.
"And when a star like Kimi is your boss, it's the best that can happen to you."
Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, might be famously reserved and uncooperative with the media, but Nagl says he knows how to run a team.
"With us, everything is much more organised than the other teams in the paddock," he said. "For example, the other teams try to save with travel expenses, but Kimi knows it is better to spend a bit more so we are rested for the race."
Nagl admitted, however, that he doesn't see a lot of Raikkonen.
"Kimi travels a lot so it's mainly over the phone," he said. "Of course I'm pleased that he's here now."
(GMM)
Former F1 driver Gabriele Tarquini has backed suggestions Ferrari might now be on the cusp of making some more high-profile personnel changes.
Italy's Autosprint claims this week that, with Sergio Marchionne unhappy about the results so far in 2016, Briton James Allison might be in line to take over from Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.
The rumour concludes that Aldo Costa, Mercedes' engineering chief, might then return to Ferrari, but so far neither team has commented on the speculation.
But Italian Tarquini, a former F1 driver of the 80s and 90s who went on to become a highly successful touring car driver, thinks another shakeup might be just what the Maranello team needs.
"As an Italian, the current results of Ferrari make me sad of course," the 54-year-old told Germany's Auto Bild.
"Ferrari really has everything it needs to win. They have no inferior a budget than Mercedes and certainly no less experience."
Asked what is wrong, then, Tarquini answered: "They probably just don't have the right people.
"In recent years, they have made many profound changes to the management and the engineers, but the results have not improved. Maybe they should think again about changing a few people," he added.
(GMM)
The UK government has turned down India's request for Vijay Mallya to be deported.
Former billionaire Mallya has been absent from the F1 paddocks this year over his highly-publicised dispute with the Indian government, regarding the collapse of his airline Kingfisher and massive debts.
The 60-year-old is currently holed up at his house formerly owned by Lewis Hamilton's father in England, amid India's attempts to have him deported after his passport was revoked.
But a spokesperson for India's external affairs ministry said the UK has informed the government that Mallya can stay as long as his passport was valid when he entered the country.
"At the same time the UK acknowledges the seriousness of the allegations and is keen to assist (the) government of India," the spokesperson told The Hindu.
"They have asked (the government) to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition."
Amid the Force India boss and co-owner's troubles, team chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said Mallya's absence from the grands prix is not badly hurting the team.
"We're all used to seeing Vijay at the circuits, but he has many business interests and so from that regard, from an operational standpoint, I don't think it has a big impact on the team," he said.
"I know he's working hard with the Indian government to resolve his issues and hopefully soon we'll see him back at the races," Szafnauer added.
(GMM)
Daniel Ricciardo thinks it is "likely" Red Bull and Renault will stick together beyond this season.
The parties ended their semi-works partnership amid acrimony last year, staying together only in the form of a Tag Heuer-branded customer deal for 2016.
But Red Bull has been positively surprised by the step forward taken by Renault this year, surmising that the French carmaker's separate new works foray has improved its focus.
"Before deciding on the future with Renault, we await their developments, team official Dr Helmut Marko told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"But for the moment we are very satisfied. It is a completely different situation than in 2015."
Indeed, Red Bull thinks the podium and even race wins might be on the cards if a major engine update for Canada delivers on its promise.
"Renault have surprised me," Australian Ricciardo is quoted by Speed Week.
"We would not have thought it possible that they would make such progress in the winter, and the update for Canada is supposed to be in the same range," he added.
So when asked if Red Bull and Renault might even stay together in 2017, Ricciardo answered: "I think so. In light of the progress, anyway, I'd say it's likely.
"We're hoping for an engine in the range of Ferrari and that should be enough, given the great chassis we have," he said.
"I don't think it's going to be the sort of turbulent weeks that we had last summer and autumn," said Ricciardo, referring to Red Bull's engine supply crisis of 2015.
(GMM)
TEA Event On Real Estate In Dallas
TEA's 2016 Learn How to Profit from Growing DFW Real Estate Market event received a very positive and enthusiastic response from the community in Dallas, Texas.
(TEA) A non-profit 501(c) volunteer based organization established in 2010 in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A.
TEAs organizational goals, aims, and objectives are geared towards wealth creation through entrepreneurship. TEA focus is to Foster Entrepreneurship among Telugu community and with a special focus on fostering entrepreneurship among Youth and Woman Globally.
Telugu Entrepreneurs Association (TEA) successfully conducted seminar on Learn How to Profit from Growing DFW Real Estate Market in Dallas, Texas May, 08 2016 at Desi Plaza event center.
About 150 enthusiastic current and future real estate investors and promoters attended the event. Attendees felt that they learnt a lot in the 2 hours session than they would have learnt by themselves in few years. They commended the presenters on sharing their expertise and experiences that are much needed for investor at any level.
The purpose of the event was to discuss the various real estate opportunities in the DFW market as well as discuss the dos and donts of real estate investing.
The event was kicked off by founder and chairman, Mr. Gurram Srinivas Reddy, who shared with the attendees the objective of TEA and his vision. He thanked Sinu Pohar, Suresh Vuluvala and Pratap Bhimreddy the past Presidents and their teams who helped to execute his vision from 2010 to 2015.
Mrs. Pallavi Thotakura, the current Vice President played the MC role for the event.
Mr. Raja Pabba, President of TEA Dallas Chapter for the year 2016 welcomed the attendees and shared the plans for the year ahead. He emphasized the need for TEA being the platform for current and future entrepreneurs.
Specifically he laid out 5 step agenda to improve TEAs presence and reach within the Dallas Fort Worth community.
Mr. Mahesh Gajjala, started the presentation part of the session by sharing his experiences and framework on how an investor can get into commercial development projects. He shared key elements of successful commercial development venture.
Followed by Mahesh was Mr. Shawn Goff, founder of Graham Hart Home Builders, who presented on how the stock market returns varied with the real estate sector. His presentation was filled with many golden nuggets of data and information that would help real estate investors. He also, shared the demand and supply of homes as well as profitability of different real estate players in the value chain. His presentation forced the attendees glue to their seats.
Mr. Sinu Pohar, past TEA President, and successful investor and realtor shared the market demographics and a perspective on pre-owned homes. He shared a model that shows how to calculate or measure investor return with a specific example. Many attendees were awe struck looking at the model and have felt that they learnt a lot from this session.
Based on active participation from the attendees a dedicated panel was setup by the presenters to answer questions from the attendees. Speakers answered multiple questions ranging different areas of real estate investments also sharing their personal experience and opinions.
The entrepreneurs and business men and women in attendance were glued to their seats throughout the presentation. All speakers gave a call for more attendees to take advantage of the organization by involving more and volunteering their time.
Our local Telugu organization TANTEX, was represented by BOT Chair Mr. Gurram Srinivas Reddy, President Mr. Subbu Jonnalagadda, Past president Mr. Urimindi Narashima Reddy and our national Telugu organizations NATA,TANA,ATA, NATS, TATA, TDF, DATA and TPAD extended their support for this event.
The services and sacrifices of all the volunteers that helped to conduct the event successfully were acknowledged.
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His Media Budget Was Rs 45 crore
The key middleman in the Augusta Westland chopper scam, Christian Michael visited India 180 times between 2005 and 2013. And he had reportedly given a total Rs 45 crore in bribes to various leading media personnel.
The result was that there was hardly any negative write-up during this period about the deal despite some questions which were beginning to be raised.
The beneficiaries among the media gave favorable headlines to the deal. Now, the whole investigation will probably reveal a name or two.
Whether the Modi government would release the names of only those journalists who are opposed to the NDA or whether they go ahead with an impartial bent of mind remains to beseen.
The above information was revealed by a senior editor in an article for a magazine in which he lamented the eroding credibility of the fourth estate because of such acts.
KCR: Naidu's envy, Modi's pride!
Prime Minister Narendra Modis unusual response to his meeting with Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao a couple of days ago has caused a lot of envy for the Telugu Desam Party leadership.
Though TDP chief and AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu made 30 rounds to New Delhi and met the Prime Minister at least 20 times, Modi had hardly mentioned about these meetings on his social media network. But within minutes after KCR met him and explained about his governments flagship programmes, Modi mentioned the same on Twitter.
KCR Garu and I met & extensively reviewed the drought & water scarcity situation in Telangana. @TelanganaCMO
Talked about using space technology to identify blocked water channels, which can then be targeted for desiltation via public participation..
CM KCR also briefed me on Mission Bhagiratha, which aims to provide safe drinking water to rural households.
Details on Mission Kakatiya, to rejuvenate water tanks & waters storage structures & progress in micro-irrigation were shared by KCR Garu,
These were the tweets of Modi, which caught the TDP leaders in a tight spot. Apparently, they did not take kindly the praise lavished by Modi on KCRs schemes.
No Rise In Assembly Seats Now; Naidu In Trouble!
If one were to go by the reports from New Delhi, there is no possibility of increase in the number of Assembly seats in the Telugu states Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at least for now.
With just one week left for the Parliament session to come to a close, it is unlikely that the Centre would bring in the bill to amend the AP Reorganisation Act now, to enable increase in the number of Assembly seats in Telangana from 119 to 153 and in Andhra Pradesh from 175 to 225.
The draft bill is still doing rounds in the law department and sources said there were several legal hitches in enacting the law. Union legislative affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu has made all efforts to get clearance to the draft bill, but in vain.
Sources said it might not be possible to increase the number of assembly seats in both the States till 2026. More than anybody else, it is going to cause a lot of trouble to AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
Naidu has been allowing defections from YSR Congress party in a big way and promising to field them in their respective constituencies or the new constituencies that are likely to be created due to increase in number of Assembly seats.
The local TDP leaders and defeated MLAs, too, are not raising any objection, as sufficient number of additional seats are going to be created and they will get chance to contest.
But with the latest development at the Centre, there will be definitely unrest in the party as there will be tough competition between the sitting MLAs and local TDP leaders. At least now, the defections from YSR Congress party to the TDP will come to a halt!
Revanth Ready To Join Cong?
If the speculations doing rounds in the Telangana Congress party circles are to be believed, Telangana TDP Legislature Party leader A Revanth Reddy is most likely to join the Congress party at the earliest.
The speculations gained credence after Revanth attended the dharna programme organised by the Telangana Congress party at Gadwal a couple of days ago and extended his support to the party in fighting against the redesigning of irrigation projects by the TRS government.
Though he did not say it openly, it is learnt Revanth has more or less agreed to join the Congress, if not immediately. He has realised that there nothing he can do by continuing in the TDP and if he jumps into the Congress, he can at least use his Reddy clout to get some positions.
On the other hand, sources said TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has given green signal for admission of Sattupalli MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah into the TRS.
It is learnt Sandra has got the assurance from the ruling party that he would be relieved from the note-for-vote case, if he joins the TRS. It might happen any day after the May 16 byelections to Palair assembly seat.
Remaining TDP MLA from L B Nagar R Krishnaiah, who has been keeping away from the TDP for quite some, is gearing up to launch his own political outfit exclusively for BCs. One does not know what is going to be its fate.
Of the remaining TDP leaders, the TRS is said to be already in touch with seniors like L Ramana and Uma Madhava Reddy and they may take a plunge into the ruling party at an appropriate time.
With this, the TDP will be finished in Telangana more or less, but for leaders like Mothkupalli Narsimhulu, who cannot go anywhere, because of his loud mouth!
Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a collaborative open source project developing a common, Linux-based software stack for the connected car, announced that Movimento; Oracle; Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc.; Texas Instruments; UIEvolution; and VeriSilicon have joined Automotive Grade Linux. Movimento, UIEvolution and VeriSilicon have also joined The Linux Foundation.
Automotive Grade Linux recently hosted its All Member Meeting in Tokyo, Japan. The meeting brought together engineers, developers and business leaders from 39 member companies to share information, collaborate further on AGL open source technology and expand the ecosystem.
Earlier this year at CES 2016, AGL announced a new AGL Unified Code Base (UCB) distribution built specifically for the automotive industry. (Earlier post.)
This new Linux distribution is built from the ground up to address automotive specific applications and is in a unique position to become the de facto standard for the industry.
Ideal for deploying navigation, communications, safety, security, and infotainment functionality, the AGL UCB distribution is supported by a broad community of participants from the automotive, communications, and semiconductor Industries as well as individual developers.
ITM Power officially launched its first public-access hydrogen refueling station in London at the National Physical Laboratory, Teddington. The station was opened to the public by Andrew Jones MP, Transport Minister at Department for Transport, and was supported by the automotive OEMs Hyundai, Toyota, Honda and Renault partner Symbio FCell.
The station is the first of three UK stations to be deployed as part of the pan-European HyFive project, which was funded by the European Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCHJU) and the UK Government Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).
Transport Minister Andrew Jones MP also announced a 2-million (US$2.9-million) government fund to support the roll-out of hydrogen vehicles in public and private sector fleets.
The new refueling station at Teddington is just one of 12 stations opening up this year, backed by 5 million (US$7.2 million) of government funding, Minister Jones said.
Located at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, the hydrogen refueling station is close to the A316 and A308 trunk roads and is available for commercial and private fleets operating fuel cell electric vehicles.
Commissioning teams from ITM Power and BOC Linde will now move on to commission and open a further four electrolyzer-based refueling stations in and around London before the end of 2016.
A first agreement (the deposit agreement) contemplates an up-front payment of CDN$12M by JMBM in exchange for services and products of the same value from the Nemaska Lithium Phase 1 Plant. At completion, the total amount of $12M will be deposited in an escrow account and will be disbursed to Nemaska Lithium according to certain milestones.
A second agreement provides for a long-term supply relationship for lithium salts between Nemaska Lithium and JMBM. This is Nemaska Lithiums first commercial offtake agreement.
The closing of the JMBM agreement completes the financing of the Phase 1 Plant. The total budget to build and operate the Phase 1 Plant for two years is $38 million, of which $12 million comes from JMBMs up-front payment; $13 million from a grant from Sustainable Development Technologies Canada (SDTC); $3 million from Technoclimat program through the Bureau de lefficacite et de l'innovation energetiques of the Ministere de lEnergie et des Ressources naturelles; and finally a $10 million equity investment by Ressources Quebec Inc.
To date, progress payments have been received from SDTC and Technoclimat for a total of $2.85 million. With the new closing, Nemaska Lithium will receive a further installment of $2.1 million from SDTC.
We are very pleased to be moving forward with our Phase 1 Plant and to having negotiated our first commercial offtake agreement with JMBM. To date, we have made significant progress on the detailed engineering of the Phase 1 Plant and have ordered some of the long-lead items, including the core electrolysis stacks and rectifiers. We expect to complete construction of the Phase 1 plant by the end of 2016 and to be engaging potential clients with commercial samples of lithium hydroxide as early as Q2 2017. This strategy of engaging customers with commercial samples from the Phase 1 Plant is intended to save us time and money as we expect to shorten the time it typically takes to qualify lithium products with customers. We are currently in discussions with other potential customers and we will update shareholders on future commercial offtake agreements as they are negotiated and signed. Guy Bourassa, President and CEO of Nemaska Lithium
Nemaska Lithium has developed proprietary processes that use electrolysis to produce high-purity lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate for the lithium battery market. The technology virtually eliminates costly soda ashused as a reagent to produce carbonate in traditional processesfrom the process. The price of soda ash fluctuates considerably and the increase in the price of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide in recent years has been a direct result of increasing prices of soda ash. By using electrolysis, Nemaska Lithiums main input cost is electricity, which in Quebec is highly predictable and cost-effective.
Nemaska takes a 6% spodumene concentrate (produced from a hard rock lithium mine) and process it into a lithium sulfate. After several stages of impurity removals, the lithium sulfate solution is transformed through electrolysis into a high-purity liquid lithium hydroxide.
The lithium hydroxide is then transformed into a lithium monohydrate (solid) or bubbled with carbon dioxide and changed into lithium carbonate.
Because no impurities such as soda ash are used in Nemaska Lithiums process, the company can produced very high purity lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate at a very competitive price.
Teachers get small raises
The Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees voted to approve the 2017 contract between themselves and the districts employees, paying a little more money to district employees.
On the employee side, the contract was met with 99 percent approval before the board finalized it Tuesday night. It creates a new base salary of $47,305 for certified staff, an increase of $100, while a vertical step of $712 and a horizontal step of $1,017 was granted to all eligible employees. For support staff, a base increase of 3 cents per hour on each employment column was approved, along wi...
A traffic warning was given for alleged speeding at 200 E. Railroad Avenue.
Officers were dispatched to a fire alarm at 840 Hitching Post Drive, which was determined to be a false alarm.
Animal control officers picked up a cat in a trap on Uinta Drive and the cat was taken to the animal shelter.
Animal control officers received a call of an injured bird in a business at 341 Uinta Drive.
Officers responded to a report of a vehicle speeding through a neighborhood on Pennsylvania Boulevard. Officers located the vehicle and contacted the driver who was given a warning.
Officers responded to...
Henry Jackson "Jack" Duncan, 98, passed away March 1, 2016 at LifeStream Cook Division in Youngtown, Ariz.
He was born on Jan. 10, 1918 in Kit Carson County, Colo ., northeast of Burlington, Colo ., to Bert Lorenzo and Dora Delilia Duncan. He was one of ten siblings, all of whom, with the exception of one sister, were born in sod houses.
He attended elementary school in Burlington, Colo. until his parents moved away from the district and could not afford tuition for him to continue his education.
He participated in the Civilian Conservation Corp from July 1934 through April 1935. He then went to Wyoming where he worked for a sawmill and later as a jack hammer high scaler on the Seminole Dan project.
Duncan met Bertha Gradert in Saratoga, and in 1937 they married in Laramie. At the time of her death Feb. 5, 1992, they had been together for nearly 55 years.
He worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Green River. In 1940, he completed his education through correspondence courses, ultimately receiving a degree as an electrician. He continued his career with Union Pacific as an assistant electrician, fire chief, and pumper operator for his final 15 years.
In May 1977 the company released him due to his hearing loss. He held the position of secretary of the Electrical Union for 20 years and has been a member of the IBEW for 60 years.
During much of the time he spent with Union Pacific, his wife Bertha and he also owned and operated a marine and shop business.
They were both involved with the Congregational Church in Green River.
In June 1992, Duncan married Mary Beth Ralston and became a step father to her three children, Duke and wife Darlene Ralston, Richard and wife Darlina Ralston, and Jackie Sue and husband Mark Petersen; nine grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Also surviving him are a son, Jackson Wayne and wife Karen Duncan of Ninilchik, Ark ., grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, seven great-great-grandchildren; a daughter Faye Elizabeth Weber of Mesa, Ariz ., two grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
He had been an extremely active member of the Morristown Baptist Church, now called the Morristown Christian Church, in Morristown, Ariz. He served two terms as chairman for the homeowner's association of Circle City, Ariz ., instigated the plan to build a community center for the Duncan Public Park, which was named in his honor, and recently donated the land upon which the Circle City Fire Department building now sits, housing the city's fire truck and ambulance.
Memorial services honored Jack at the Morristown Christian Church March 5.
A graveside service will take place at Ft. Bridger Cemetery in Ft. Bridger June 4.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer's association.
Condolences may be offered to Jack's family by visiting http://www.sunlandmemorial.com.
Judy Norblade, a retired marketing director, and her husband, Paul, a retired teacher, thought they had all their financial bases covered. They had Medicare, good supplemental coverage from a Medigap policy, a drug plan that paid for most of their prescriptions and long-term-care insurance for a nursing home they hoped they would never need.
I thought we were pretty well set for healthcare in our retirement years, she said.
Then the Norblades bumped head on into a notorious Medicare rule that has caught thousands of families off guard over the past eight years and disrupted the sense...
If Wyoming wants to break out of its boom and bust economy, the state has to liberate itself from worshiping the minerals and energy industries.
In Sweetwater County, many of us know all too well the cycles of the boom and bust economies. When times are good, money is everywhere, from the states coffers to the wallets of residents working in those booming industries. When times are bad, all one needs to do is look at the stories weve published about funding woes local governments face to see the impact.
The problem is, the cycle will likely continue as long as the influential players...
GREENSBORO Back in March, the winning team of the citys 2015 48 Hour Film Project won an international contest to send their film to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.
Now the team has won another prize in a spin-off competition to create a new film.
That means members themselves will get to attend the Cannes festival.
We were speechless when we found out, said Darren Hummel, who leads the volunteer team that calls itself The Magic Shop.
Most of the team works at MullenLowe, a Winston-Salem ad agency.
The new competition sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, the 48 Hour Film Project and Le Petit Studio awarded round-trip plane tickets to France, three nights of lodging and meal stipends for seven team members.
The team also receives about $1,445 to cover expenses to finish a short film for that contest in Cannes.
Its a pretty sweet deal, said Hummel, 26.
The team will fly to France on Thursday and return May 19.
The festival opened Wednesday and runs through May 22.
For last summers 48 Hour Film Project, the team created a short sci-fi comedy about a urinal called Gotta Go. It won several awards locally, including best film.
Then in March, Gotta Go was named among 15 48 Hour films from around the world selected for Short Film Screening in Cannes.
This team is bringing such wonderful recognition to the area, showing we are not all paranoid in the restroom, said Iris Carter, producer of Greensboros 48 Hour Film Project.
The team drew the attention of 48 Hour Film contest coordinators. They invited the team and 24 others internationally to participate in the HP Masters of the Short Film Wake Up in Cannes Film Festival.
The first level of the competition instructed teams to provide a work sample, introduce their team members and create a storyline pitch.
The storyline had to begin with the character in the teams hometown and end in Cannes. The HP ZBook Studio Mobile Workstation had to be incorporated into the story with the theme, Reinventing New Frontiers.
Judges reviewed the submitted pitches and chose The Magic Shop as one of four finalists.
Teams began their films in their home areas and will complete them in Cannes.
Unlike the clever and hilarious Gotta Go, The Magic Shops film for this competition is a sweet, inspirational drama titled Sightseeing, about a young man and his blind grandmother.
His grandmother tells him about the time she spent in Cannes when she was younger, and wishes she could see those sights again. She encourages her grandson to visit those same places.
When he returns, he brings her an album of 3D-printed tactile photos so she can remember her experiences.
The film tackles the theme of Reinventing New Frontiers through the combination of digital photography and 3D printing, facilitated by HP and its ZBook Studio Mobile Workstation, Hummel said.
He gives credit to MullenLowe employee Dolph Kawalec and Out of Our Minds, a Winston-Salem animation company, for doing the work that made the photo album come to life.
The four finalists in the HP Masters of the Short Film Contest will be screened on Monday for a jury of film industry professionals.
Each will be eligible for prizes of HP products for best film, best editing, best actor and actress.
Gotta Go will be screened on May 18.
To see a team from our area garner international attention has to be the ultimate dream for me, said Carter of the local 48 Hour Film Project.
We have such talented folks in our competition each year. They deserve all the recognition they can get.
Achievers
Three Guilford County Schools students are members of the UNCF Gates Millennium Scholars Programs final class.
Jaylen Evans, a senior at the STEM Early College at N.C. A&T; Suprene Mohamedzein, a senior at the Middle College at GTCC-Greensboro; and Larry Thompson, a senior at Penn-Griffin School for the Arts, are three of the scholars selected from 53,000 applicants this year.
The program allows the students, who must demonstrate financial need, to pursue a degree in any undergraduate major and selected graduate programs at accredited colleges or universities.
The program also provides recipients with leadership development opportunities, mentoring and academic and social support.
Evans plans to attend UNC-Chapel Hill; Mohamedzein plans to attend Wake Forest University; and Thompson plans to attend Liberty University.
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High Point University senior Gabby Hayes used crowd funding to support her research of a promising treatment option for antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
By recruiting supporters through a fundraising website, she got her research project off the ground and made headway on how to control outbreaks of deadly bacteria such as MRSA.
Hayes tested a compound from Manuka honey, long known in New Zealand for its bacteria-fighting properties, to find out if it could boost the effectiveness of antibiotics. She started this project with classmate Nicole Wright during HPUs Summer Research Program in the Sciences in 2015 and continued her work this year with her faculty mentor, Patrick Vigueira, assistant professor of biology.
Her research shows that methylglyoxal, the compound isolated from the honey, made the bacteria more sensitive to treatment from antibiotics. Now she is preparing her findings for publication in a scientific journal. She also gave a presentation at the Association for Southeastern Biologists annual meeting in April.
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Allison Green, a student in High Point Universitys masters program in strategic communication, won the award for top graduate student poster presentation at Eastern States Communication Association Convention in Baltimore, Md.
Greens poster, The Who and How of Enhancing College Students Health Awareness and Behaviors: Comparing Peer/Professional Spokesperson and Narrative/Expository Messages, focuses on increasing public awareness among college students.
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With a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare on stage at Lincoln Center in New York, Abby Burris of Greensboro, a student of Lindsey Clinton-Kraack at Weaver Academy in Greensboro, placed as a semi-finalist in the 33rd annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition.
The May 2 competition included 55 semi-finalists from as many English-Speaking Union branch competitions nationwide. Burris previously won the organizations Greensboro Branch competition.
The competition is a school-based program designed to help students develop their speaking and critical thinking skills and their appreciation of literature.
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A group of Bishop McGuinness High School students from the Model United Nations team was invited to a luncheon at the Grandover Resort sponsored by The Institute of World Politics.
The bipartisan event featured a discussion on national security and international affairs by ambassador James Woolsey, former director of the CIA, and John Lenczowski, former director of European and Soviet Affairs and member of the National Security Council.
Activities
Through a partnership with Greensboro Mural Project, more than 250 Irving Park Elementary students helped in the planning and creating of two new murals in the school.
These murals replaced blank spaces in the middle of the school and the main entrance.
Daniel Raeder, a second-grade teacher at the school, brought the Mural Project to the school.
The goal of this project is to incorporate students in to creating a space in which they identify, and where they feel welcome, safe and supported, said Raeder. Far too often, conversations about school success are limited to the data of test scores, which leaves out the social and emotional well-being of our students.
Students were given the questions What makes you feel welcome at school? and What do you want to see in our school?
Awards
Jeremiah Campbell of Greensboro was recognized at Louisburg Colleges 2016 Awards Day ceremony as a recipient of the Bessie Arrington Gupton Distinguished Service Award and Sid Stafford Award.
Honors
The following Louisburg College students have been inducted into the Sigma Alpha Pi National Society of Leadership and Success: Brody Gore and Diamon McLean, both of High Point, and Matthew Betts of Greensboro.
Sigma Alpha Pi is an academic leadership organization dedicated to developing leaders for responsible leadership and global citizenship.
Each semester, students with a 3.5 GPA or higher are invited to take part in leadership workshops and lectures hosted by national experts.
Scholarships
Two High Point University students were selected for the Celia Moh Scholarship for the upcoming academic year. Twin sisters Kelly and Lindsay Molinario, both juniors from Pennsylvania and majoring in interior design, were among five students nationwide selected for the scholarships.
Established by furniture industry entrepreneur Laurence Moh in honor of his wife, Celia, the scholarship covers tuition, room, board, books and fees for students whose academic endeavors would logically lead to careers in the home furnishings industry.
The Molinarios were selected based on their academic achievement at HPU and passion for interior design.
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Jonathan Bethel, a Westchester Country Day School senior, has been awarded a North Carolina Textile Foundation Kimbrell Centennial Scholarship to study in a textile technology degree program at N.C. State.
Since its acclaimed off-Broadway debut last August, reviewers have been tying themselves in knots trying to explain what The Christians is really about.
A staged reading of the play open only to members of the clergy will be performed May 22 at the Upstage Cabaret of Triad Stage.
While there is universal agreement that the Lucas Hnath play is provocative, compelling, relevant, significant, unbiased and, above all, complex, there is no real consensus as to what the plays true message is.
Yes, its about a crisis of faith, a schism within a church, heaven and hell, good and evil and the search for spirituality.
Its not about finding easy answers, believers vs. non-believers, tidy endings, and its definitely not about my church is better than your church.
The play forces you to draw your own conclusions, said Stephanie Lindley, creator and artistic director of Found Space Theatre, which is producing the play locally. Shes also the plays musical director.
It deals with what guides us toward acts of good or evil, but, by design, it leaves the question open, she said. Does there have to be a spiritual basis or the threat of a place of punishment for you to do good deeds? It makes you intentionally uncomfortable.
The director is John Gulley, head of the MFA directing program at UNC-Greensboro.
The Christians is set in a successful mega-church somewhere in America.
Much of the dialogue is between senior pastor Paul, played by David Fraccaro, and associate pastor Joshua, played by Bobby Tyson. Pastor Paul has attended a conference in which a missionary witnessed an act of heroism in a Middle Eastern country, where the hero dies after saving a young girl injured in a bomb blast.
The missionary asks rhetorically, Isnt it a shame that he didnt declare Jesus Christ as his personal savior before he died?
But Paul doesnt consider the question rhetorical, setting in motion the theological quandary that is the crux of the play.
The beauty of the play is that every viewpoint is represented fairly and non-judgmentally, Lindley said. Although this produces a rift among the congregation, and pastor Pauls marriage falls apart, he refuses to walk away from his change of heart.
Although the play has been nominated for the Lucille Lortel Award and the Drama Desk Award and has been performed at several prestigious off-Broadway venues, Lindley opted to take a different approach with this initial staged reading for clergy.
I want to get the faith community involved initially, Lindley said. We want to be all-inclusive and are reaching out to every church in the area, not just the Protestant, Catholic and Jewish churches but to the Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and any other faith community. The play is in essence a discussion about faith, so who is best suited to lead the discussion but the clergy?
I see the play as mostly about leadership, she said. How do we lead a community of people? I want to get these diverse and respected community leaders together to help answer these important questions.
Two members of the faith community who have taken the lead in reaching out to their peers are lead actor Fraccaro of the Faith Action International House and the Rev. Julie Peeples of Congregational United Church of Christ.
I found out David was an equity actor before going into the ministry, so he was the perfect choice for not only the lead role but to help spread the word, Lindley said. And Julie is my heroine. Anytime you need something done, just call her and it will get done.
In keeping with the mission of Found Space Theatre, Lindleys next step is to take the play into various churches.
We have not ruled out a performance to the general public at all, she said, but our goal is to take live theater to the people. We know that theater lovers come to us, but we want to expose it to folks who might not attend a live play otherwise. And for this particular play, there is no better venue than a church.
For more information, email Lindley at Stephanie@foundspacetheatre.com.
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International law firm Withers Bergman LLP recently opened the doors of its new location at 1700 East Putnam Ave.
Formerly based on Steamboat Road, the new 17,000-square-foot space sets the stage for the companys continued growth, as well as its commitment to the region, said David Lehn, partner and office managing director for Withers Bergman in Greenwich. By moving into the new space, the firm has tripled its footprint in Greenwich. Moving forward, it hopes to continue growing in space and personnel.
The Greenwich location initially opened 10 years ago. While it started small, it has since expanded as the firm developed a following of clients in the region. While the firms leaders always thought they would need more space, Lehn said they didnt make the jump until expansion was necessary.
Last year, the firm brought on nationally recognized attorneys who increased the Greenwich firms capabilities in corporate, litigation and intellectual property law. The new office provides space for this extension, including the additions of partners M. Ridgway Barker, Patricia Lee and Clyde Tinnen to the corporate practice group, as well as partners James Nealon and Steven Moore to the litigation and intellectual property practices.
It made sense for Withers Bergman to match this investment in personnel by expanding its physical presence, Lehn said. At its Greenwich location, the firm currently has 25 employees; it hopes to increase to 30 soon.
Greenwich was a natural fit when Withers Bergman expanded globally 15 years ago, Lehn said. Many of the towns residents have an increased need for a range of legal services, he said, and Withers Bergman has been able to meet them so far.
Were really into serving what the clients needs are, Lehn said. The more youre doing for clients, the more they want you to do.
The new office is also designed to foster collaboration among Withers Bergman attorneys internationally. From New York to Tokyo, the staff frequently joins forces to address complex client issues. With 17 offices worldwide, the firm primarily works with high-net-worth entrepreneurs and their businesses on everything from litigation and arbitration to intellectual property and estate planning.
Greenwich is a vital financial center of the Northeast for both established and entrepreneurial wealth, and our commitment and growth here reflects our ability to serve our successful clients across industries, Lehn added.
Megan.Dalton@scni.com; 203-625-4411
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Republican U.S. Senate hopeful August Wolf is refusing to accept the results of what he claims was a rigged process by career politicians and insiders at the state partys nominating convention.
The aggrieved candidate embarked Wednesday on a petition drive to try to force an August primary against state Rep. Dan Carter, R-Bethel, who won 86 percent of the delegates at the partys conclave Monday in Hartford.
The 1984 Olympian and money manager from Stamford must collect signatures from 8,079 registered Republicans (2 percent of party members) by June 7 to get onto the ballot, a feat that some say wont be easy.
They should have had the convention in a train station because the whole process was just a big railroading, Wolf told Hearst Connecticut Media. We are going to take it to them like theyve never felt it before in this Senate primary.
State Republican Chairman J.R. Romano did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
The establishment wing of the GOP is seeking to avoid an primary, which would allow Carter to focus on the yeomans task of challenging U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., in the November election.
The way you get better in things is by competing, not by hiding in a room and saving your pennies and then getting bulldozed, which is going to happen to Dan Carter, Wolf said. Dan Carter cannot win this race. Hes a puppet.
A daunting challenge
Carter, a U.S. Air Force veteran and three-term legislator, is already pivoting toward the general election.
I am competing against Dick Blumenthal and Dick Blumenthal is the common enemy of Connecticut right now, Carter said Wednesday. The outcome of this convention was because Im a strong candidate and Im focused on Dick Blumenthal. (Wolf) can do what he needs to do.
In a previous interview with Hearst, Carter frowned upon the prospect of a primary challenge by Wolf.
To do it this way, I think, would be a misstep on his part, said Carter, who questioned whether Wolf could qualify for the primary as a petitioner. Number one, you need a network of support in the state to get the signatures. I dont believe he has that network, which I believe was his problem. Then if he did, it would be terribly difficult to raise money.
In 2014, running mates Mark Boughton and Mark Lauretti, the mayors of Danbury and Shelton, failed to collect signatures to qualify for the GOP primary for governor and lieutenant governor.
Boughton was forced to join forces with Lauretti after Boughtons original running mate, Heather Somers, snubbed him to run for lieutenant governor on her own. That left Boughton scrambling to try to find a replacement who could help him qualify for taxpayer funding under the states Citizens Election Program.
By pooling his money with Lauretti, who suspended his candidacy for governor, Boughton would have gotten $1.4 million in public funds for the primary. But it was not to be for Boughton, who bowed out of the race.
Wolf needed to get 15 percent of the vote at the state GOP convention to automatically qualify for a primary. But the political newcomer dipped below the threshold once switches were allowed and after former fashion executive Jack Orchullli of Darien dropped out of the race and urged his supporters to back Carter.
Charge of backroom dealing
Sounding much like Donald Trump earlier in the GOP presidential race, Wolf said establishment figures conspired to shove him out of the race. Among those who he singled out was state House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby, who gave a nominating speech for Carter.
In this case, Themis Klarides and her cronies have decided that Dan Carter is the person for the election, Wolf said. Its not their right to do that in our democracy.
Klarides pushed back Wednesday.
I think that Mr. Wolf needs a lesson on democracy, Klarides told Hearst. Its a little arrogant to assume that everybody is so consumed with the percentages that Augie Wolf had, that they went in a back room and tried to figure out how to get him out of there. Just because democracy doesnt work in your favor, you cant take your toys and go home and blame other people.
Klarides also questioned Wolfs qualifications.
I didnt think for U.S. senator a skill set was being a shot putter, Klarides said.
Wolf, who has loaned his campaign $100,000, denied that finances factored in his decision to forge ahead. Wolfs campaign has raised $540,220 and spent $456,189. Wolf said he has volunteers ready to help him with his petition drive.
They feel like I was totally victimized in the process two nights ago, Wolf said.
neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
Its showtime. Photo: Melissa Hom
Theres now an actual space in New York to celebrate Tim Burtons gothic films: Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alice in Wonderland, and, of course, Beetlejuice. A new East Village bar called Beetle House has an atmosphere and menu inspired by all things dark and lovely, and that translates to cocktails like Edwards Lemonade and Alices Cup O Tea, and dishes like Sweeney Beef, Victor Van Pork, and a Showtime Shrimp Quesadilla.
Owners Zach Neil and Brian Link are themed bar vets in October, they opened a Will Ferrellthemed bar on the Lower East Side, Stay Classy New York. They dont seem too fazed by a looming lawsuit from Warner Bros., claiming the bar is artistic adaptation, and its like decorating your high-school bedroom. The walls are mostly lined with original artwork and props, and, yes, Beetlejuice himself is the host. Take a look:
Coco Skellington: Bacardi rum, creme de coconut, lime juice, orange-blossom water, topped with crushed ice and orange zest. Photo: Melissa Hom
The Beetles Juice: muddled blackberry and lime, tequila, blackberry schnapps, Angostura bitters, splash of cranberry. Photo: Melissa Hom
Edwards Lemonade: an old-fashioned with orange bitters. Photo: Melissa Hom
Mad Shrimp: sauteed shrimp with chorizo on a bed of sweet plantains. Photo: Melissa Hom
The dining room. Photo: Melissa Hom
Beetle House, 308 East 6th St., no phone
A Houston family claims their 3-year-olds Dr Pepper bottle came with a pretty good size rodent inside of it. John Graves tells KPRC that he bought his grandson, Kayden, a 20-ounce soda for a car trip this past weekend. According to the granddad, Kayden didnt finish it, so they immediately recapped and saved the bottle. He says when they opened it the next morning they found this guy doing the dead mans float in there:
Granted, it sort of beggars belief that a pretty good size anything could crawl inside a plastic bottle and evade detection until half the soda was gone. The Graveses are insistent, however, and now theyre apparently locked in some sort of war with Dr Pepper over testing the bottles contents for disease. They dont want to simply hand it over to the company because theres no telling what could happen to that sample once they do. They tell KPRC theyre happy to take the bottle to an independent lab in the Houston area, but because rationality is a rare quality in situations like these, Dr Pepper has reportedly told them the only such facility its aware of is located in Kansas.
But its not like Dr Pepper thinks the rat got inside the bottle on its watch, anyway. The company describes that scenario as virtually impossible:
What we know from our experience is that given the controls and safeguards we have in our production facilities it is virtually impossible for any foreign object to enter any container during the bottling process. All of our containers enter our facility on pallets in our warehouse and remain covered until the moment they are placed on our high-speed filling lines. Once on the filling lines, they are inverted and rinsed out before they are filled and capped.
[KPRC]
Its deplorable. Photo: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Heres another reminder that theres a real cost to cheap meat. According to a new report released by Oxfam, workers in poultry factories in addition to being underpaid and overworked in the countrys most dangerous work environment routinely face the indignity of being denied bathroom breaks. Out of hundreds of interviews conducted by the organization, only a handful of workers reported the basic right being respected. Those individuals primarily work in unionized plants, while only a third of poultry workers are protected by unions, leaving most susceptible to this kind of abuse.
Most poultry workers, the report says, are mocked, taunted, and ignored by supervisors, forced to wait inordinate amounts of time to use the bathroom even if theyre pregnant, and threatened with punishments or discipline for taking too long and reporting incidents. Two separate workers at Tyson plants describe supervisors telling them to eat and drink less so they dont have to go to the bathroom as often, while a lawsuit was brought against Mississippis Koch Foods for charging workers, among other things, for using the bathroom. Other workers describe incidents of colleagues peeing or defecating on the line or on the way to the bathroom after a long wait. As a result, workers report that they and their co-workers wear diapers. Otherwise, theyll not only suffer the embarrassment of an incident but have to wear wet clothing in environments chilled to 40 degrees.
The justification for denying these breaks is tied into the incredibly fast pace of industrial chicken factories, which typically process 180,000 birds a day. Besides breaking workplace-safety laws, these practices, Oxfam suggests, could possibly violate anti-discrimination laws because pregnant women and those with disabilities are particularly vulnerable. The picture painted by Oxfam is disturbing if not entirely unexpected, given whats already known about the conditions endured by these workers. Certainly its a reminder that the routine abuse of vulnerable workers undocumented immigrants, low-income and undereducated citizens remains an issue in the American food industry, and not just a distant problem in places like Thailand. At the very least, it should make people think twice about buying that bargain-rate woody chicken breast.
[Oxfam via Quartz]
Top Hops, which is very aptly named. Photo: Melissa Hom
Below, the very best shops to hit when you absolutely need outstanding, and sometimes obscure, beer from all over the world.
The Absolute Best 1. Top Hops
94 Orchard St., nr. Delancey St.; 212-254-4677 There are 750 different beer options available in cans and bottles, 20 constantly rotating selections on tap, and a steady supply of sought-after brews like Goose Islands Bourbon County Stout, Firestone Walker Parabola, or AleSmith Speedway Stout. (When Westvleteren XII, the ultimate beer-geek trophy bottle, came Stateside for the first and only time in 2012, Top Hops snagged half the citys supply.) Lately, the shops owners have also been busy expanding an education program to ten different classes, and they continue to proudly source bar snacks from neighborhood purveyors like Saxelby Cheesemongers. You can also drink in the store: Choose any of the shops bottles and cans and sample them on site for a small corkage fee thats still less than what youd pay at most dedicated beer bars.
2. Beer Table to Go
Grand Central Terminal, Graybar Passage; 212-922-0008
New Yorks most meticulously crafted beer store is arguably run out of 300 square feet in Grand Central Terminals Graybar Passage. Justin Philips closed his celebrated Park Slope beer bar in 2013, focusing instead on this takeout spot. The shop is small, but the long line of commuters during rush hour attests to the sheer number of beers in back around 100 different options, both local and obscure. Philips, a former beer distributor, has also made a habit of releasing vintage bottles from the cellar on Sundays, selling incredibly rare offerings like a 2005 Gales Prize Old Ale or a 1995 Thomas Hardys Ale. (And theres good news for people who dont make it to Grand Central too often: The Philipses have opened a second shop at Westfield World Trade Center, and theres a third location in the works.)
3. Good Beer NYC
422 E. 9th St., nr. Ave. A; 212-677-4836
Since opening in 2010, David Cichowiczs East Village beer emporium has steadily kept pace with the citys growing thirst for craft beer, now stocking close to 700 varieties (the selection of canned beers is particularly strong) and running 12 taps, with growler fill-ups going for about $12 to $30. The refrigerated case is giant, meaning theres room to chill bottles from even the most offbeat brewers, and and you can stock up on bar snacks like jerky, nuts, and beer corn.
4. New Beer Distributors
167 Chrystie St., nr. Rivington St.; 212 260-4360
Many of New Yorks original craft-beer destinations have closed lately, but this little family-owned emporium, located in a dank Chrystie Street warehouse, remains. Customers are mostly left to fend for themselves, but the 800-plus bottles are organized geographically, and staff are happy to assist if asked. New Beer isnt without its downsides: Its massive, so bottles can literally sit idle for years, and its not air-conditioned, meaning the summer heat can take a toll on hoppier beers. But enterprising shoppers know this also means they can score vintage beers that wouldnt be available elsewhere pre-aged and ready to go.
Petrossians pecan-chocolate-chip cookie. Photo: Melissa Hom
It turns out that, yes, there is a conversation to be had beyond popular favorite Levain Bakery; the iconic American treat is masterfully interpreted by French, Israeli, and Greek bakers and even a British sandwich chain. Below, the best chocolate-chip cookies in New York.
The Absolute Best 1. Petrossian Boutique & Cafe
911 Seventh Ave., nr. 58th St.; 212-245-2217 The best chocolate-chip cookie is a hot, fresh-from-the-oven chocolate-chip cookie. But because it is impossible, sadly, to time ones life to retail bakeries cookie-baking schedules, other criteria must be applied. Underbaking helps, but not to the exclusion of a sufficiently crisp crust that crackles slightly upon contact with teeth. Chip coverage is crucial, of course: Bites absent any trace of melty chocolate flavor are bites not worth taking. Nuts are secondary players, but their selection and preparation can ultimately make or break an otherwise worthy contender. All of which is to say that the chocolate-chip cookie at Petrossian comes closest to this ideal. Its crisp-edged but with a tender, yielding interior; boasts ample (but not overwhelming) chip coverage; and even integrates a judicious helping of pecans, which lend some welcome texture and toasty flavor. Also: In stark contrast to the prevailing cookie-dough camp of extreme undercooking (see Levain, et al), Petrossians cookies are practically well-done, with a burnished brown color and appealing caramelized flavor.
2. LImprimerie
1524 Myrtle Ave., nr. Gates Ave., Bushwick; 929-295-6464
Gus Reckel is a French investment banker turned baker, and his Bushwick establishment is mostly devoted to his homelands elegant baguettes, croissants, and tartines. But he does make certain concessions to the junkier American appetite chief among them his chocolate-chip cookie, based on his mothers recipe. Its surface crispness is balanced by an enticing interior chew, and a smattering of sea salt serves to counteract an almost indecent quantity of dark French chocolate.
3. Dominique Ansel Kitchen
137 Seventh Ave. S., nr. Charles St.; 212-242-5111
Dominique Ansels stunty cookie milk shots get all the Instagram attention, but its his unassuming chocolate-chunk cookie thats won us over. Puffy and pillow-soft, its endowed with that critical thin, crisp shell that provides the perfect foil for slightly underbaked innards. And while the melting dark-chocolate chunks might appear few and far between, on the palate, the ratio is just right.
4. Maman
239 Centre St., nr. Broome St.; 212-226-0770
Domed in shape and lush in texture, Mamans contribution to New Yorks cookie pantheon is an artful marriage of French and American tradition. The batter is precisely (under)cooked, the chocolate top-notch. To be honest, were not sold on the legitimacy of macadamias and almonds as chocolate-chip-cookie nuts; the texture is a bit jarring. Its nice that theyll offer to warm them up for you, though.
5. Levain Bakery
167 W. 74th St., nr. Amsterdam Ave.; 212-874-6080
Its true, the craggy monsters at this cookie mecca are underbaked bordering on raw, and hefty enough that lesser appetites will concede midway. But the turnover is so high, the mouthfeel so sumptuous, and the flavor so rich and buttery that Levains chocolate-chip-walnuts are nearly impossible to dethrone as the citys most popular cookie. (A silent minority considers the dark-chocolate-peanut-butter-chip the one to beat.)
6. Untitled
99 Gansevoort St., nr. Washington St.; 212-570-3670
Gluten-free is usually the sad also-ran of the baking world, but at Danny Meyers Whitney Museum restaurant, its the glorious default. When pastry chef Miro Uskokovic was recipe-testing his jumbo triple-chocolate-chunk cookies, he experimented with a batter made from Thomas Kellers Cup4Cup GF blend and preferred it to the conventional-flour control. The menu (wisely) doesnt bill the confection as gluten-free, and youd never know otherwise, though the dough does possess a certain granular crumbliness. Clarified butter, though, and lots of it, is what gives it its richness and ultrasoft texture, which is most apparent when the cookies are at their optimal warmth and freshness. Thats when the chocolate (melting disks of Guittard milk, dark, and white) shows best, too. And if you dont feel like staying for the plated dessert, which comes with a mini bottle of vanilla-scented milk, you can grab a cookie to go at the bar, or at the eighth-floor Studio Cafe.
7. Breads Bakery
18 E. 16th St., nr. Union Sq. W.; 212-633-2253
Nothing about the triple-chocolate-chocolate-chips appearance (cratery flat surface, uniform dull brownness, lack of protruding chocolate shards) hints at its excellence. Its the epitome of the thin, flat, caramelized style the anti-Levain, if you will and its various charms include a crisp outer surface, a soft, chewy interior, and a thorough dispersion of milk, dark, and (not to the cookies detriment, notably) white chocolate.
8. The Smile to Go
22 Howard St., nr. Crosby St.; 646-863-3893
Adding salt to balance out sweet is a necessary tactic, but no one takes it quite as far as this Soho shop. The wide, flattish cookie is instantly recognizable, both in appearance and tongue-tingling taste: Guittard dark-chocolate disks decorate the surface under a flurry of Maldon sea salt flakes.
9. Boubouki
120 Essex St., at Delancey St.; 718-344-4202
Better known for its baklava and spinach pies, this Greek stall inside Essex Market dispenses a surprisingly winning cookie, flavored with not only chocolate chips, but orange zest, walnuts, and the signature ingredient: grape-must syrup.
10. Pret a Manger
Multiple locations; pret.com
What makes these chain cookies so tasty? Theyre baked fresh throughout the day, and held in a warmer to preserve their crisp-edged, melty texture. This heat-lamp approach might sound kind of lame, but the result is lowbrow brilliant.
Fiercely cold and reassuringly potent. Photo: Bobby Doherty
Its time to declare the best classic martini in New York. Nothing dirty, nothing too dry or too vermouth-heavy, and definitely nothing made with vodka. This is about the most balanced, most bracing, most perfect drinks in New York. Heres where to find them.
The Absolute Best 1. Angels Share
8 Stuyvesant St., 2nd fl, at 9th St.; 212-777-5415 A great martini has presence. Theres a certain degree of ceremony that telegraphs the care given to the drink. At this two-decade-old second-floor Japanese bar in the East Village, the ceremony begins with the presentation of a perfectly frosted glass. It sits empty for a little longer than you think it should. You anticipate. The gin is Boodles by default, kept in the freezer, so it dilutes less when stirred with ice. When the bartender pours the drink, it is as thick and clear as melted glass. Order it with a twist. A sliver of lemon peel is misted into the air; the oil gently drapes over the drinks surface. The peel is then discarded, instead of plopped into the drink, so it wont disrupt the stillness. You can ask for a tiny glass of olives on the side. When the check comes, another surprise: The best martinis in New York are $14 each, making them some of the more affordable drinks available on the island of Manhattan. Reason enough to return soon.
2. Pegu Club
77 W. Houston St., 2nd fl, nr. West Broadway; 212-473-7348
At several bars around town, youll find martinis served in a style made famous by bartending icon Dale DeGroff: About half of the drink is served in a chilled glass thats a little smaller than youd expect. The rest is poured into a separate little carafe nestled in a bed of crushed ice. You see it at spots like Bar Goto, Clover Club, and Tooker Alley all bars run by disciples or onetime partners of Audrey Saunders (herself a disciple of DeGroff). Yet the version served at Saunderss own Houston Street bar remains the gold standard, expertly stirred and deftly poured to minimize aeration. Its also system-shockingly strong, and the little iced sidecar of bonus martini ensures the final sip is as formidable, and luxuriously cold, as the first.
3. Keens Steakhouse
72 W. 36th St., nr. Sixth Ave.; 212-947-3636
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that many storied midtown martini haunts have seen better days. Drinks hover around $20 each, yet the cocktails lack signs of the kind of care and attention thats given at newer establishments. Thankfully, the bar staff at Keens the chophouse thats more than a century old and predates the actual existence of the dry martini makes a crisp, classic drink thats essentially the Platonic ideal, served in a setting thats as ideal for drinking as any in New York. Do it right and order it at the actual cocktail bar (and avoid this place right after work, when the small barroom will be slammed).
4. Slowly Shirley
121 W. 10th St., nr. Greenwich Ave.; 212-243-2827
The price of the F.A.F. Martini served at this bar underneath the Happiest Hour borders on the offensive: $30. (The initials, in case you couldnt guess, stand for fancy as fuck.) The high price is ostensibly due to the gin: Beefeater Burroughs Reserve, a limited offering thats briefly aged in oak, making the spirit gentler and, surprisingly, kind of saffron-tinted. The price alone would warrant leaving this off the list entirely, but this also happens to be one of the smoothest martinis in town, well balanced with strong floral notes and served in the DeGroff style with a little extra carafe on the side. Still too expensive, but it works.
Analysts from Kantar Worldpanel have the mobile OS market share numbers for Q1 2016 and they show the largest growth of Android in two years. Google's mobile OS grew by 7.1% points to 75.6% in the EU5 (UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain). In China, Android rose nearly 6% points to 77%, while in the US its market share is 65.5%, up by 7.3% points.
Android's market share in China is going up year-over-year
Lauren Guenveur, a mobile analyst for Kantar Worldpanel, says that Android's growth comes not just from one or two players, but from different brands and ecosystems, which vary from region to region.
Apple, on the other hand, isn't doing so well in terms of market share. In the EU5, the company declined from 20.2% to 18.9% in the three months ending March 2016. In fact, nearly 3.3% of new Android users came from iOS.
In China, iOS continued to decline to 21.1% in the three months ending March 2016, down from 26.1% in the same period from a year ago.
Android share could also be negatively affected by high demand for the Apple iPhone SE. iPhone SE sales will be particularly important in China, where success in the mid-tier will determine the top player in the region. These factors should play out further in the next quarter.
However, Microsoft is counting the most losses, as the Windows Phone sales dropped 5% points year-over-year to 4.9%. Nearly 7% of new Android customers came from Windows Phone.
Dominic Sunnebo, business unit director for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech Europe, says that Microsoft lost most of its market share to Android in the traditionally strong Windows Phone markets such as Italy and France. There, 10% of them switched to Android in Q1 2016 opting for brands like Huawei, Wiko, and Asus.
Androids gains in the US came from growing sales by Samsung, Motorola, and LG.
Source
Over a couple of months after Google officially started selling the Cardboard VR viewer in the US, the company has expanded the availability of the device to a handful of more countries, including the UK, Canada, France, and Germany.
As for price, the Google Cardboard carries a tag of CAD $20 in Canada, while in the UK and Germany/France, it sets you back 15 and 20, respectively. Those purchasing a couple of units will only need to shell out a total of CAD 35, 25 and 30, respectively.
There's no information on if and when the Mountain View, California-based company plans to bring the Mattel View-Master VR Starter Pack as well as the Tech C1-Glass VR Viewer to these countries - both are currently available in the US.
Source | Via
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Haiti - FLASH : A hougan beheaded, victim of the demonization of voodoo
Saturday a hougan was beaten to death by unidentified individuals before being found decapitated near a cemetery in Toman, a locality of Gantier (West).
According to testimony, the voodoo priest was accused of black magic practices that caused the death of a woman and a former church director.
Let's recall that this is the second voodoo priest beheaded this year https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-17236-icihaiti-flash-a-voodoo-priest-beheaded.html
Unfortunately these beliefs or popular superstitions of satanism or witchcraft remain very much alive in Haiti, remember last March, the lynching at the entrance of Cabaret, of 3 dumb women suspected of being witches https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17033-haiti-social-the-triple-lynching-of-disabled-women-provokes-outrage.html
SL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - FLASH : Soldiers of Engineering body block access of the Ministry of Defense
Monday, arrived aboard a bus and an all-terrain vehicle, a few dozen soldiers in lattice, of the Corps of Engineers of Haiti (trained in Ecuador), blocked the main entrance of the Ministry of Defence (in Pacot) as a protest. The Prime Minister who should the same day visit the Ministry had to turn back...
These young soldiers protesting against the Government promises never kept and required to be assigned to securing the territory "We were promised to put us on the Haitian-Dominican border in partnership with an Israeli firm. No further action was given to this option. We are trained to serve the country, in any way [...]" explained one of the soldiers https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15914-haiti-flash-official-remobilisation-of-the-armed-forces-of-haiti.html
By early afternoon, several special units of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) have been deployed surrounding the building. A delegation of Senior Officers, including among others the Central Director of the Administrative Police (DCPA), the Director of Departmental West (DDO) went to the scene to talk with the protesters soldiers, which after long hours of negotiation have agreed to suspend their action until next Monday, until a solution is proposed to them. However, they threaten to resume their actions, if the procedures promised by the delegation of the DCPA do not succeed.
In addition to blocking access of the Ministry, no incidents were reported between the military and the Haitian National Police forces.
See also :
https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15987-icihaiti-security-monitoring-of-our-borders-israel-will-inject-$50m.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15914-haiti-flash-official-remobilisation-of-the-armed-forces-of-haiti.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15811-haiti-army-swearing-and-graduation-of-the-army-corps-of-engineers.html
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15580-haiti-flash-border-surveillance-agreement-with-an-israeli-firm.html
SL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - Security : Graduation of the 26th promotion of the PNH
Tuesday at the Police Academy (Road of Freres), the President a.i. Jocelerme Privert accompanied of Prime Minister, Enex Jean-Charles, attended the graduation ceremony of the 26th promotion of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) consisting of 1,474 new agents (including 186 women) over 1,513 applicants.
The ceremony took place in the presence of Camille Edouard Junior, Minister of Justice and Public Security, the President of the Lower House Cholzer Chancy and Senator Ronald Lareche President ai of the Senate, the Presidents of Commissions Justice and Security of the two Chambers, representatives of the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ), the Director General of the PNH, Michel-Ange Gedeon, of members of the high command of the PNH, the Heads of Delegation of the International Community , relatives and friends of the recipients.
In his remarks of circumstances, the Head of State addressing the new graduates declared "This celebration will mark the end of a step... More bold steps await you. This distinction requires you to assume this dual responsibility to serve and protect the Haitian people. To assume it with the permanent sense of duty, loyalty, esteem, morality, the corps spirit should be your main guides in these steps toward success."
President a.i. Privert personally honored John S. Saint Cyr, the laureate of the 26th Promotion by delivering him directly his parchment.
For his part, the Commander of the PNH, Michel-Ange Gedeon, welcomed the families of new officers and invited recipients to fraternity and living together before addressing the new police officers "Never be men and women of a political system. Be the citizens of Haiti. Under your leadership, the bandits should always be concerned regardless of their political chapels. Make the Act your guide, your compass, whatever the conditions. Let the politics to politicians and make your work with dignity."
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - Politic : Bad weather, the State will mobilize 52 million Gourdes
Tuesday, at a press conference, Francois Anick Joseph the Minister of Interior and Territorial Communities announced that following the damage caused by the heavy rains that fell since May 6 on the country which caused no less than 9 dead and around 3,000 affected families, the Government had decided to spent 52 million gourdes to deal with damage caused by weather and assist victims explaining that due to lack of budget "[...] We make cash management, we receive from DGI, Customs as revenue, this is what we can spend, we can not spend what we do not have [...] we made a plan to spend 52 million gourdes for the victims [...] if that amount enter now we will start spending tomorrow..."
The Minister also reported on measures taken at the Civil Protection Directorate in order to support and resettle affected families saying "We are now back in a dynamic of reorientation of civil protection. Instead of focusing on relief after the damage, we will work more on prevention..."
"Every Haitian who perished is one too many," he deplored, before presenting the sympathies of his government to the families of victims.
Balance #3 :
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17401-haiti-flash-storms-floods-victims-and-damage-balance-sheet-3.html
Balance #2 :
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17396-haiti-flash-bad-weather-loss-of-life-and-extensive-material-damage.html
Balance #1 :
https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-17384-haiti-flash-bad-weather-many-areas-under-water.html
HL/ HaitiLibre
Haiti - News : Zapping politics...
Senator Zenny urges Privert to dialogue
Senator Southeast, Edwin Zenny alias Edo urges President a.i. Privert to dialogue with all stakeholders with the objective of finding a solution for the political future of the country after June 14.
"Pitit Desalin" rejects the method of the Verification Commission
Mathias Pierre, spokesman of the "Pitit Desalin" platform announced that the platform rejected the method proposed by the Verification Commission. According to him, 15% of the minutes that will be analyzed, are not going to solve anything, since the electoral evaluation Commissionformed under Martelly had already used the same sample size without success. For him the 13,725 minutes should be audited.
Privert expects the timetable of CEP
In his speech on the occasion of Europe Day, the President a.i. Privert said he was still awaiting the electoral timetable for that the process can continue and reiterated his commitment to provide the CEP, with all means and resources necessary so it can do its job without interference.
Launch of the workers' union of the Ministry of Health
Tuesday was launched the union of workers of the Ministry of Health, Carla Morissette, the general secretary of the union justified the formation of the union by injustices suffered by employees of the Ministry by their superiors.
Hearings for the Centre, Nippes and Southeast
The Office of the National Electoral Disputes (BCEN) ruled Monday on the 15 cases of contestation for municipal concerning the Artibonite Department. Tuesday, 3 departments were concerned, namely the Centre, Nippes and Southeast. For this day of hearings, 21 cases concerning 17 communes have been displayed by the Registry of the Electoral Tribunal.
On the Agenda Tuesday
Hatla Yoshiakie, Ambassador of Japan accredited to Haiti, paid a courtesy visit to Daphnee Benoit Delsoin, the Minister of Health;
In Dubai was held a meeting with Engineer Alix Celestin, Director General of the National Port Authority (APN), the Representatives of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) member of the World Bank Group and the representatives of P&O Ports, a ivision of Dubai Ports World (DP World) in order to promote the International Port Renovation Project of Cap Haitien (North);
The Ministry of Health has organized for its employees, in partnership with the FHADIMAC to the Ministry, Avenue Mais gate, a diabetes screening day under the theme : "An nou fe jefo pou nou kontwole maladi dyabet".
HL/ HaitiLibre
Published on 2016/05/11 | Source
Actress Kim Jung-eun is attending 'My New Sassy Girl' VIP screening at Lotte Cinema - Konkuk University Entrance in Jayang-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul in the afternoon on May 11th.
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This is her first public appearance after her wedding.
'My New Sassy Girl' depicts the newlywed life of Gyeon-woo (Cha Tae-hyun) and his new sassy girl (Victoria) he met after he let go of the original sassy girl (Jun Ji-hyun). The movie is opening on May 12th.
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Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.
15:16, 24 OCT 2022
Stevedoring giant Patrick is locked in an industrial relations battle with port workers, after an overwhelming majority of employees voted to reject the companys pay offer.
Patrick says it is considering locking out workers from its ports if further industrial action is taken, although it hopes to negotiate with workers and the union.
98 per cent of the 827 workers who took part in the vote, which was run independently of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) through Elections Australia, opted against a 9 per cent pay rise over four years, Patrick said.
Patrick executive Alex Badenoch said the vote was disappointing, but not unexpected.
"Our hope had been that the confidential vote might enable more of our employees to find their voice on this issue," she said.
While Patrick says arbitration is the best way to deal with the impasse going forward, a lockout is a viable option if the union doesnt cooperate.
"If further industrial action is initiated, a lockout of the workforce becomes a more probable measure, rather than a mere possibility," Badenoch said.
He said it had been hoped that by using independent pollster Elections Australia, more workers might have voted in favour of the new Enterprise Agreement and helped put an end to the protracted negotiations.
We considered it to be critically important to give our people a say in whether or not to accept our offer to bring this needless and increasingly damaging dispute to a close, Badenoch said in a statement.
Our hope had been that the confidential vote might enable more our employees to find their voice on this issue,
Our people have given an emphatic no to our proposal, a fact that is extremely disappointing but not unexpected given the MUAs longstanding and thoroughly unproductive influence."
However, she says the vote marked a first for the Australian waterfront.
It suggests a brighter future is possible where a company like ours can routinely engage our employees directly about matters critical to the futures of both, openly and transparently, Badenoch said.
For the present we remain stuck in a needlessly adversarial industrial relations environment that deems it acceptable for employers and employees to butt heads to their mutual detriment over matters critical to both every few years.
What exactly did employees say no to?
An average increase of 2.25%, with a cumulative pay rise of 9 per cent over four years to an average $174,550.
Terminal Existing Average Pay Average pay after a 9 per cent pay rise
Port Botany: $170,730 $186,000
Fremantle: $166,939 $181,200
Melbourne: $159,372 $174,000
Brisbane: $144,012 $157,000
Note: Figures represent the average total earnings inclusive of Salary, Bonus, Super and Overtime.
Badenoch says the company will hold firm on its offer and refuses to reinstate employee back pay lost from strike action.
We have spent 45 days over more than a year negotiating in good faith, ultimately without success, despite the vast majority of claims being settled, Badenoch says.
The few unresolved claims are not negotiable.
She said the company would be carefully considering our next steps and a lockout of the workforce was likely to happen if the matter was not resolved.
This is not a path that we want, however the legal and industrial framework provides little option for employers negotiating with unions who are unable or unwilling to make pragmatic and principled arrangements with employers.
Australian employers could be inadvertently damaging their "employer brands" after new research finds full-time employees are working up to the equivalent of $71.2 billion in unpaid hours each year.
Full-time employees were working an average of 42.25 hours per week 4.25 hours more than the contracted 38 hours per week they are supposed to work equating up to $71.2 billion in unpaid overtime every year, according to employer branding research by HR and recruitment agency Randstad.
Randstad CEO Frank Ribuot said that many Australians were working considerably longer hours than required by their employment contract, which could have a detrimental effect on the employers brand and encourage higher staff turnover.
On the surface, employers may see the additional hours staff are putting into their job as a positive indicator they are engaged and invested in producing the best work possible, Ribuot says.
But the reality is the benefit of any increased output comes at the expense of workers personal time, he says.
He says employers may ultimately suffer as talented staff move on to find jobs with a better work-life balance.
Work-life balance is of critical importance to workers, Ribuot says.
He said a companys employer brand could be impacted, particularly in regards to employee attraction and retention if employers allow and even encouraging staff to consistently work additional hours for free during what should be leisure time, with no real acknowledgement of the extra time investment, will have a big impact on a companys employer brand, particularly in regards to employee attraction and retention.
According to the report, more than one-third (34 per cent) of Australian workers intending to change employers in the next six to 12 months cited work-life balance issues as a factor in their decision.
Of those staying with their employer, almost two-thirds (62 per cent) cited good work-life balance as the top reason to stay.
In addition, almost half of workers surveyed said good work-life balance is one of their top five considerations when assessing a potential new employer.
Ribuot says an employer brand determines the quality of the workforce.
It drives the level of engagement, motivation and retention of top talent all factors which are ultimately linked to higher revenues, profit margins and overall returns on investment, Ribuot said.
Organisations with a strong employer brand have 28 per cent lower staff turnover and 84 per cent of people would leave their current job to work for a business with a better reputation.
On Wednesday, May 4, Two Rivers Community School celebrated its Artist in Residency with a performance in front of 60 families and friends. For four days, the African Folklorist group, OrisiRisi, involved students in Nigerian songs, dances, instruments, and art. The Artist in Residency was made possible through the Grass Roots Grant from the Watauga County Arts Council. The Council and Two Rivers recognizes the benefit of hosting a multi-cultural artist and the value of facilitating a shared experience in the arts for students.
The Nigerian born folk-artist, Adetutu Harrell, and music scholar and performing artist, Don Harrell, co-produce, direct, and perform Orisirisi. For four days, every student received instruction and practice in the performing arts of music, dance, and storytelling. On the final day of the residency students performed a live show exhibiting the different music, dances, and storytelling shared by Orisirisi. It was a hands-on and interactive experience for every student.
Not only was this a cultural education experience for students, but it carried tones of morality and social justice as well. Kindergarten parent, James Jones, says, I liked what Don said during the final performance, The only time you should look down on someone, is when youre reaching down to lift them up. I think all of humanity would benefit if they spoke that mantra every day. Overall, the experience left an impactful memory on students and families alike.
EC Director, Sallie Arnold, adds, The joy of OrisiRisi is that they are musicians and storytellers. With their music and stories, they draw [our community] into a culture that is new to many, but valuable for all. [Students] learn to work together to create a sound, an ambiance, a spirit. A sense of community is brought into focus with cooperative learning and the bonding nature of music.
The schoolwide residency allows for the entire school community to connect with a shared experience in the arts. Its a unique experience at Two Rivers and is what separates the student experience from traditional school settings. The school is proud to provide the program and thankful to the Watauga County Arts Council for recognizing the residencys benefit to Watauga Countys cultural fabric.
Founded in 2005, Two Rivers Community School is a tuition-free, K-8, public-charter school located in Boone, NC. The Two Rivers curriculum challenges students with dynamic learning experiences both in and out of the classroom. Academics are at the core of every opportunity provided with the expectation that students grow in both character and in intellect during their time at Two Rivers. This year the schools enrollment is 178 students with spaces open for next school year in certain grade levels. If you would like to learn more about Two Rivers Community School, please contact Beth Vossen at 828-262-5411 or email at [email protected]
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Supreme Court to Hold Session in Burke County May 17-18
RALEIGH The Supreme Court of North Carolina will hold its May session of court at the Historic Burke County Courthouse in Morganton, N.C., on May 17 and 18. The Court will hear three cases on Tuesday morning and two cases on Wednesday morning. Due to limited seating, admission to these sessions of court is by ticket only. Tickets are free of charge and available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Burke County Chamber of Commerce.
This is the first time the court will travel to Burke County since the start of the Civil War.
WHO
Chief Justice Mark Martin; Senior Associate Justice Robert H. Edmunds, Jr.; andAssociate Justices Paul M. Newby, Robin Hudson, Barbara Jackson, Cheri Beasley, and Sam Ervin IV (a native of Burke County). WHEN
Tuesday, May 17, and Wednesday, May 18 WHERE
Historic Burke County Courthouse
102 East Union St., Morganton, NC 28655 PRESS
Open to credentialed media. Please RSVP via email to[email protected] and [email protected] if you plan to attend a case and if so, which one as your seat will need to be reserved. Oral argument for the first case on Tuesday will also be streamed live via WLOS, ABC 13 out of Asheville. QUOTE
We are delighted that Morganton is hosting the Supreme Court for this historical moment, said Chief Justice Martin. Our hope is that holding these special sessions of court outside of Raleigh will make it easier for citizens from other parts of the state to better understand the rule of law and the importance of courts in their communities. Read more about the Supreme Court.
Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild to Meet June 2
The Mountain Laurel Quilt Guild will hold its Spring luncheon on Thursday, June 2nd, at 11:30 AM. We will meet at the Laurel Ford Baptist Church and install our new officers. Please bring finger food to share with the group. We will have a trunk show for our program. Directions: From Boone take 321 south to Aho Road and turn left. Go 1.8 miles and turn left onto Laurel Fork Church Road (there will be a sign on the right side of the road for the church). Go up the hill and the church will be on your left. From the Parkway turn on Aho Road, then right onto Friendship Church Road and left on Laurel Fork Church Road. The Church will be on your right. Call Dolores at 295-6148 for more information.
Caldwell Small Business Center Workshops
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institutes Small Business Centers in Caldwell County offers free and low-cost workshops, one-on-one assistance and many more services to help local small businesses. To reserve your seat at one of the workshops, call 828-726-2242 or visit www.cccti.edu/smallbusiness to register.
Here is a list of upcoming free workshops in Caldwell County:
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institutes Caldwell Small Business Center will offer a free workshop titled Small Business Bootcamp from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, May 18 at the Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce in Lenoir. This course is geared towards those wanting to start their own business and is led by local entrepreneur and former Small Business Center Director David Waechter. The workshop covers the basics of getting your business off the ground and includes information on several topics including: How to name your business and why your business name is so important, registering your business with Secretary of State, how to obtain your LLC, Sole Proprietorship, or Incorporation, how to find the proper tax forms, how to obtain your tax ID or your EIN (Employer Identification Number) from the IRS, how to set up a business checking account and credit card, how to find what licenses and permits you need to get started, renting a space, easy and cost-effective marketing, sales and service and bookkeeping. This class will be offered again on Wednesday, June 15 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce in Lenoir. To reserve your seat at either workshop, call 828-726-2242 or visit www.cccti.edu/smallbusiness to register.
Caldwell Community College and Technical Institutes Caldwell Small Business Center will offer a free workshop titled Small Business Startup Series: How to Finance Your Small Business and Understand Business Finance from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, June 9 at the Caldwell County Chamber of Commerce in Lenoir. Participants will learn the various alternatives to financing a small business and the risks involved. The seminar introduces break-even analysis as a tool to assist the entrepreneur in measuring financial feasibility. Activities identify the kinds of data needed to project the revenue, start-up and operating costs of a business. The seminar helps attendees develop an understanding of cash flow and break-even analysis and its relationship to business planning. To reserve your seat at this workshop, call 828-726-2242 or visit www.cccti.edu/smallbusiness to register.
Paws for a Cause Doggie Fun Walk and 5K June 4 in Newland
Paws for a Cause is a FUN-draiser taking place in Newland to benefit the hard work that the Avery Humane Society does every day. All proceeds go to provide necessary supplies, medicine, treatments, love and shelter for Avery Countys animals in need.
Visit https://runsignup.com/race/nc/newland/pawsforacause for more informatino or email [email protected]
Soil and Water Board to Meet May 25
The Watauga Soil and Water Conservation District Board will hold its regular Board meeting Wednesday May 25th, 2016 at 8:00 am at the Soil & Water Office located at 971 West King Street, Boone NC 28607.The public is invited to attend.
Looking Glass Gallery: Unrequited Contemplation through May 13
The Looking Glass Gallery in Appalachian State Universitys Plemmons Student Union presents Unrequited Contemplation, an exhibition featuring work by Alissa Sauter. Unrequited Contemplation is on display through May 13. There will be a reception held onMay 13 from 4-5:30 p.m. at the Looking Glass Gallery. This event is free and open to the public.
Sauter is one of only two senior studio art majors working towards a BFA that were afforded the Looking Glass to house their senior semester-long project. Sauter works primarily in earthworks. The art she created for this exhibition is made entirely out of local sticks and hot glue made especially for wood. Her installation work transforms the space into a serene landscape, with twisting and turning branches leading the viewer around the space. Her hope is for the viewer to find a truth similar to the truth that Sauter finds while creating this pieces.
Looking Glass Curator Ariel Moran said about Sauters work, I am happy to facilitate a place during the most stressful time of year for students where they can go can get away from the hectic daily stresses. Alissa is providing not only a service, but a beautiful, reflective place. Her work aims to challenge what traditional art materials are, and shows that with a little creativity, an artist can make art out of anything. Her work also aims at showing humans innate connection to nature, and embodies the ebb and flow that the worlds natural systems go about each day without our knowledge.
Sauters interest in meditation, as well as her influence and experience working with Patrick Dougherty, and a profound fascination with earthworks and land art, compelled her to submit her senior project to the Looking Glass. The gallery is one of the only spaces in Boone that can facilitate such an exhibition. The intimate space, in addition to the unique lighting from the floor, makes the space peaceful and immersive.
Artist Biography
Alissa Sauter was born in Covina, California. In 2013, she moved to Boone to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Art degree in studio art at Appalachian State University. Sauter is experienced in many mediums, but has developed a love for found mixed media sculpture and installation. A major theme that is explored in her work is the natural world and how humans interact with it. Sauter enjoys bringing found natural materials into the gallery space to influence how the viewer sees and experiences nature. Deeply intrigued by the meditative properties that the wilderness can exert, Sauter has developed her practice around the art of active meditation. With repetitive motions she intertwines branches and twigs to form movement in common undervalued natural objects. Sauters work has been viewed in different venues around Boone.
About Looking Glass Gallery
Looking Glass Gallery is located in Plemmons Student Union at 293 Locust St., on Appalachian State Universitys campus. Hours of operation are Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.,
Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Sunday noon to 11 p.m. The gallery exhibits, communicates, and supports the visual arts by offering students and the university the opportunity to become involved and experience artwork produced here at Appalachian.
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Greece has a programme that will take a couple of years to complete and will be subjected regularly to interim reviews once every couple of months. A condition for every loan instalment is that Greece has done its homework [], he said at a lunch event organised by the Finnish Association of Political Journalists on Monday.
Greece may need and receive further assistance to cope with its financial woes, admits Jyrki Katainen (NCP), a Vice-President of the European Commission.
If [the country] does what has been agreed on, this will probably be the last time. If not, this won't be the last time, added Katainen.
Greece was granted its third bailout loan last summer. Its commitment to the bailout programme was subjected to the first interim review by the Eurogroup on Monday.
Katainen visited the country a few weeks ago to discuss with members of the local financial sector how they could take advantage of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), a fund intended mobilise private financing for strategic investments. He estimated that one of the greatest challenges facing the country is the inability of its banks to lend to small and medium enterprises.
The financial balance sheets of the banks present a particular challenge. The loans of SMEs are considered hazardous, and rightly so in some respects. This cramps normal, healthy economic growth. Greece is an economy dominated by SMEs. The ability of banks to do what they are supposed to do [] would be crucial for improving the economic and employment situation, he said.
He also offered his thoughts on the slump of the export-oriented industries of Finland. Finnish Customs reported earlier this week that the value of exports plummeted by ten per cent year-on-year in March.
It's indeed notable if the drop was that steep, he said.
Exports, he reminded, account for approximately 40 per cent of the national economy.
That's why the structural reforms laid out in Finland are genuine reforms: improving competitiveness, enhancing labour flexibility in a way that encourages competitiveness and creativity, and reinforcing public structures. Keeping the costs of the public sector in check in the long term is a genuine measure, said Katainen.
Aleksi Teivainen HT
Photo: Martti Kainulainen Lehtikuva
Source: Uusi Suomi
The mother of slain Dean Fitzpatrick and missing Amy Fitzpatrick today settled a 60,000 damages claim against Dublin City Council and Irish Water.
Audrey Mahon's partner Dave Mahon was last week found guilty of the manslaughter of Dean outside their north Dublin home in May 2013.
Dean's sister Amy was just 15 when she disappeared in Spain in 2008 while living there with her mother and Dave Mahon.
In the Civil Circuit Court yesterday Audrey Mahon, going by the name Fitzpatrick, alleged in proceedings that she had been injured when her foot went into an open shore on Lorcan Drive, Santry, Dublin on May 29, 2014.
Barrister Conor Kearney, who appeared with solicitor Sandra McAleer for Ms Fitzpatrick, told Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain that following talks, the claim had settled and could be struck out with no further order. Details of the amount of the settlement were not disclosed in court.
Fitzpatrick, described as a home-maker whose address was given as Lorcan Drive, Santry, Dublin, alleged that as she was walking on the public footpath on Lordan Drive her left foot "suddenly and without warning" went into an open water shore causing her to fall heavily to the ground.
She claimed she injured her left knee which she had X-rayed at Beaumont Hospital. No bone injury had been detected apart from bruising and tenderness of the left patella area.
In her civil bill, Fitzpatrick, who will celebrate her 48th birthday next Tuesday, stated that due to a liver condition she had been unable to take strong painkillers.
Following the fall she complained of intermittent aching in her knee and had been unable to wear high heels.
She claimed she had suffered pain and distress and discomfort which had disrupted her social, domestic and recreational life.
Last Friday a jury found Dave Mahon (45) not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter of his step-son Dean. He was remanded in custody and will appear before the court again on May 30 for sentencing.
Audrey Mahon has continued to stand by her son's killer, and has been visiting him at Cloverhill Prison over the last number of days.
Threatening
It also emerged that the presiding judge warned Mrs Mahon about her behaviour during the trial, threatening to ban her from the courtroom if she cold not control herself.
Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan gave the stark warning to Mrs Mahon on the second day of the trial, following her outburst in the middle of the evidence of taxi driver Karl O'Toole.
Mrs Mahon became visibly upset when Mr O'Toole told the Central Criminal Court that he did not know her 23-year-old son Dean, apart from what he had seen in the newspapers.
Grieving Christopher Fitzpatrick, who is the father of Dean and his missing sister Amy, said after the trial that Dave Mahon has "destroyed all their lives".
Craig McManus (23) of Kiltalown View, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to having 101,537 of heroin at his home in May 2014. Stock picture
A man who was caught with over 100,000 worth of heroin in the home he shared with his mother and younger sisters has been sentenced to four years in jail, with the last 18 months suspended.
Craig McManus (23) of Kiltalown View, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to having 101,537 of heroin at his home in May 2014. He also pleaded guilty to having 8,225 worth of heroin on October 26, 2014.
His 80 previous convictions include drug dealing, road traffic, theft, and public order offences.
In Dublin Circuit Criminal Court Judge Karen O'Connor accepted that his mother had paid off his drug debts in the past after having been threatened at her home.
She said she had "no option but to impose a custodial sentence" before suspending the final 18 months of a four-year sentence on strict conditions.
A woman who set fire to a house causing the death of a disabled grandmother has been jailed for 12 years, with the last four suspended.
In a victim-impact statement at Dundalk circuit criminal court, the deceased woman's family said they cannot forgive the accused who inflicted "a terrible pain" on them.
Nicola Kavanagh (28) of Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, admitted the manslaughter of Eva Berrill (73). She also pleaded guilty to arson to the Berrill family home on the Chord Road, Drogheda, Co Louth.
Judge Michael O'Shea praised the courageous actions of the man who dragged Mrs Berrill from her downstairs bedroom after the fire was started at 12.50am on August 16, 2014.
Mrs Berrill, who was paralysed and needed a wheelchair, died in the burns unit of St James's Hospital in Dublin 96 days after the fire.
She had burns to 12pc of her body and was not strong enough to tolerate surgery.
Senior Investigating Officer detective inspector Pat Marry said that CCTV had captured Kavanagh setting fire to the net curtains in the downstairs bedroom that Mrs Berrill slept in.
The court heard it was a warm summer's night and the window had been left open.
Lighting
Det Inspector Marry said Kavanagh could be "clearly seen" lighting paper and putting it in the open window.
This paper went out and she had lit a second piece of paper which caught the net curtain.
"You can see the flames on CCTV," he told Judge O'Shea.
Kavanagh and three men walked past the house again at which point it was obvious the fire has taken hold, he added.
A member of the public raised the alarm.
Judge O'Shea also praised the actions of Colin Carter who had "fearlessly and courageously put his life at risk" by going into the house and dragging Mrs Berrill onto the street.
Kavanagh's defence barrister Mr Roderick O'Hanlon said she was truly sorry and ashamed and "never intended any of this to happen".
Kavanagh had a chronic alcohol and drug problem and had also been on Xanex and pain medication at the time.
In a victim impact statement, read by their son Des, Mrs Berrill's husband Oliver said his family had visited her every day in hospital and watched her suffer.
"We lived in hope she would pull through and return home to her family where she belonged," he said. "We cannot forgive Nicola Kavanagh for what she has done. She has broken up our family, we can never again be together, she has inflicted a terrible pain on our family."
Armed gardai are fearful of another gangland murder with over 1,000 checkpoints set-up since the killing of David Byrne.
So far this year in the Dublin Metropolitan Region (DMR) there have been six murders, with four of these linked to the ongoing Hutch/Kinahan feud.
In attempts to tackle organised crime gangs, some 1,287 armed and uniformed checkpoints have been deployed.
A further 462 armed patrols and 413 searches have been carried out.
The operations are part of Operation Hybrid, an initiative designed to provide an armed response to organised crime in the capital.
Detectives investigating the murder of taxi-driver Eddie Hutch (59) were last night continuing to question two feared hitmen.
The two men, aged in their 20s and 30s, were detained by armed detectives from Mountjoy Garda Station and are suspected of being involved in at least three feud murders.
Commenting on the efforts being made to combat persons involved in the Hutch/Kinahan feud, Assistant Commissioner Jack Nolan said he thought the investigations were going at "a pretty satisfactory pace".
"While I am constrained in discussing the particulars of the cases for operational reasons, I wish to assure this committee that all investigations are fully resourced and are making progress," Mr Nolan said.
Assistant Commissioner Nolan, who has special responsibilities for the DMR, also said that there has been "no scaling back in overtime" for armed national and regional units currently operating in the capital.
However, overtime for local units was only restored in the wake of the murder of dissident republican Michael Barr over two weeks ago.
Deployed
In the immediate aftermath of the murder, which is believed to have been carried out by the Kinahan cartel, 24/7 armed patrols by local detectives were re-introduced in the Crumlin and Drimnagh area.
Operations have also been continuing in the north-inner city and south-inner city, with armed checkpoints occurring as well as the Garda Air Support Unit being deployed on a regular basis.
There was also a heavy garda presence near the Clontarf home of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch over the weekend, with the former crime lord believed to have returned to the capital in recent days.
Information obtained by senior officers in the Security and Intelligence Branch has also led to increased fears of further violence.
Speaking at Dublin City Council's Joint Policing Committee, Asst Comm Nolan stated that further disruptive measures would be taken by agencies including the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and other national bureaus.
"Preventative checkpoints, patrols etc are continuing, in association with that in several areas across the city, particular search and disruption operations are being carried out.
"CAB and the Organised Crime Bureau have been seizing property, and that is continuing in other areas across the city," Mr Nolan said.
Chairman of the JPC Cllr Daithi de Roiste has also called on the Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald to attend the committee's next meeting.
"We want to meet with the Justice Minister, we know gardai are doing everything they can to deal with these killings but the resources simply aren't there.
"We want the minister to address these issues and to tell us exactly what resources she is making available to gardai.
"There is fear in the communities, and people want to know what is being done to stop these gangs and to prevent further bloodshed on the streets.
"Gardai can only do so much with the resources they are given."
A lost American tourist was beaten, threatened with a knife and robbed of all his valuables during a violent mugging in Dublin.
Donnie Brown (46), who was attacked after a woman offered to show him the way back to his hostel, said he had been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the public.
When he told his story on RTE Radio's Liveline programme yesterday, the Chicago native immediately received more than 40 offers of help from all over Ireland - including free use of a rental car.
"I feel like I've won the lottery," he told the Herald.
The first person to offer him free accommodation was Mark Mulvey (36), who runs the Tipperary House family bed and breakfast on Parkgate Street in Dublin.
"I was so infuriated when I heard what happened to him, I called Liveline," said Mark.
Dazed
The visitor from Chicago, who was travelling alone on his first holiday in Ireland, said he still felt dazed yesterday as he spoke to the Herald about the attack.
"I feel like I've been hit by a train," he said.
Donnie said he left a fast-food restaurant on O'Connell Street around 11pm on Sunday night. He had not been drinking, but he wasn't sure how to get back to his city centre hostel.
Around Bachelor's Walk, he approached a blonde woman smoking on the footpath and told her he was lost and asked if she knew the way back to his hostel. He said she replied: "Oh love, it's right up the street. Let me show you."
"I remember she seemed in her mid-20s, had spikey hair and had big ear-rings and bracelets," he said.
"She thought I had a Texas accent and told me, 'I love your twang'. Then two of her friends appeared.
"A very tall man began walking beside me and another man was walking behind me.
"As I walked with her, she turned a corner into a lane and I was attacked.
"She had lured me and then boom bam. The guy behind me got me in a choke hold and held a knife to my throat and the other guy said, 'Give me all your money, Yank'."
He handed over his wallet, but the men became angry when they only found about 20. He was punched several times and knocked to the ground. He handed over a satchel, which contained his passport and credit cards, and he gave them his new smartphone.
They ran off and he was left lying bloodied in the lane.
He suffered a broken back tooth in the attack and a cut chin.
He got help in a local shop and later gardai drove him around the area, but they were unable to find his attackers.
When he told gardai the next day he felt dizzy, they brought him to hospital where he received treatment for concussion. "I'm still feeling so discombobulated," he said.
Tricks
"The police officers were all wonderful. They thought they might know the woman who was involved, saying that she was up to her old tricks again.
"The woman and the very tall guy spoke with heavy Irish brogues."
They next day he left the city centre hostel and was offered free accommodation by Mark Mulvey in his bed and breakfast, as he had stayed there a few days earlier.
Mr Mulvey said: "I was horrified. Tourism is so important. We bend over backwards for people visiting Dublin, and then this happens.
"I remember a few years ago being attacked one night on a street in Paris," he added.
Donnie, who works as a monitor in a drug-research clinic in Chicago, said his mother emigrated from Co Cork to Chicago with her family when she was a child.
Halloween is coming! Here's when to trick or treat in your town
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Now that the Supreme Court has declared the result of the trust vote in Uttarakhand, it is time for sober analysis. The imposition of Presidents Rule (PR) in Uttarakhand on March 27 had many firsts.
In independent India, this was the first time when PR was declared to frustrate a floor test whose date (March 28) was declared by a governor and a Speakers disqualification adjudication under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (March 26/27).
READ: Modi govt must apologise over Uttarakhand issue: Kejriwal
Never has this been done when the governor, Speaker and the chief minister are ad idem (agreement to the same things) in writing that the floor test be held on March 28; never when the time given for the floor test is barely 10 days.
Never has PR been imposed despite the governor sending eight reports (between March 19 and 26) with none recommending PR and containing the condition precedent finding for PR viz that the governor finds that governance cannot be carried on in accordance with constitutional provisions in accordance with Article 356.
Never before has the attorney general been forced to admit a mistake of fact in court by the central government in relying upon some factually non-existent grounds for PR.
READ: Uttarakhand: Forget past and begin a new chapter, Harish Rawat tells BJP
Never before has a live operational PR notification been quashed and never before has the triple hierarchical adjudication process from a single judge to the Supreme Court along with a floor test been over in less than six weeks!
The solitary sting on Chief Minister Harish Rawat on March 25 became one of the only two reasons to declare PR less than 18 hours before a pre-notified floor test was to start, as if Bommai (1994, nine judges) and Rameshwar (2005, five judges) had never been written and not read by the central government. Copious paragraphs in both assert that the floor test is the only method of resolving allegations of horsetrading (unnecessarily giving the noble horse a bad name for human frailties); that PR is not the panacea either for corruption or allegations of misgovernance. PR is an emergency power to be used only when governance as per the Constitution is rendered impossible. In this scheme, the central government is neither a mega policeman nor an arbiter of state governments fates.
The second basis for imposing PR was equally bizarre. Just because the BJP and the nine rebel Congress MLAs claimed that they had voted against the Uttarakhand Appropriation Bill on March 18, the Centre treated it as a defeat of a money Bill, amounting to a fall of the government on March 18, justifying PR on March 27 despite the floor test having been scheduled for the next day. The denial of a division by the Speaker on March 18 and his certification of passage of the Bill by voice vote on the same day were treated as a failure of constitutional machinery. First, this ignored the fact that voting by 35 MLAs was a disputed jurisdictional fact. Admittedly, the first time the nine dissidents claimed voting against the Bill in writing was four hours after the voting, at 11.30 pm. Not even a single written line to the Speaker seeking a division was ever signed by the nine dissentients.
Second, the Centre also ignored the established constitutional principle that the Speaker is the master of the assembly and even judicial scrutiny (even by the Supreme Court) of assembly proceedings is constitutionally barred. His certification regarding the conduct of proceedings and voice vote is final and binding.
In any event, the lack or otherwise of a majority on the Appropriation Bill on March 18 would have been decided either way within 10 days by the floor test. The Uttarakhand High Court underlines the point that if the Centres plea were accepted it would mean that the Centre could act on a highly disputed intra-House factual dispute by way of PR and it could sit with binoculars in New Delhi and upon the slightest alleged infraction by any Speaker in any hostile state across India, could take over that states democratically elected government. Five Supreme Court judges in Dangs case (1969) have also castigated PR in similar circumstances.
Third, the only established and fair manner of settling disputed votes on the floor of the House is to have a confidence vote. Unprecedentedly, this is the first time that the agreed date for this (March 28) was superseded by PR 18 hours earlier! Fourthly, the sagacity and far-sightedness of our founding fathers in propounding the principle of reciprocal respect and comity between different organs disentitled the governor from sending purported messages to the Speaker regarding intra-House conduct as much as it disentitled the Centre to cure alleged irregularities within the House through PR.
READ: BJPs Uttarakhand loss dents Vijayvargiyas master strategist image
Last, a comprehensive judicial review of all aspects of PR is here to stay since Bommai (1994). Federalism and respect for democratically elected governments, howsoever inept, is a part of our basic structure.
Egregious PR is certainly not the monopoly of this ruling dispensation. Earlier political misadventures have met with a similar fate. But now that we have all been educated, especially after Rameshwar (2005), such trigger happy episodes should have been avoided. It may even be necessary to recognise that after these decisions, PR has been reduced to a vanishing point for exceptional reasons and for very short focused duration to restore democratic governance.
Abhishek Singhvi is an MP, national spokesperson of the Congress and former ASG
The views expressed are personal
Forget the Tinder ad. Discover artist Indu Harikumars work instead. Shes turning the experiences of Indians on Tinder good, bad and ugly into clever illustrations
You swipe right. You exchange numbers. You go on a date to that new bar everyones been talking about. What happens on this date can either lead you to your soul mate (statistically, chances are slim, but who knows), or turn into one of the many attempts at finding true love in the time of Tinder. But these moments sometimes funny, sometimes moving inspired Mumbai-based artist Indu Harikumar (36) to start the online art project #100IndianTinderTales.
And its definitely more layered, and clever than Tinders widely panned ad.
Harikumar started the project with four stories, from her own experience of using Tinder when in Europe, and a few others sourced from her friends. I didnt think Id be able to churn out enough stories, so I reinstalled Tinder on my phone, she says. Shed earlier uninstalled the app within 24 hours of using it after being bothered by men, most of them outright creepy, she says.
With more than 20 illustrations already up on her Facebook and Instagram page, Harikumar is now confident of sustaining the project till she reaches 100. This time I decided to stay and not be offended. Id like to talk to folks, engage and be open about who I am and why I am on Tinder; also date and have some fun, she adds.
For the art of love
The illustrations are often striking, with a central theme grabbing your attention. For instance, when the artist wrote about meeting a Polish-Indian traveller in Andheri (E), she captured the chaos that is generally associated with the suburb through depictions of traffic jams and high-rises stacked up in a row. Then, for the story about a user looking for a hairstylist through Tinder, the artist chose to keep it simple with just a pair of scissors running through untamed hair.
This project is different from anything Ive done before. I wanted to try something devoid of [too much] colours, keep it easy on the eye, says Harikumar. In the past, she has illustrated childrens books, as well as a colouring book for grown-ups called Beauty Needs Space. She draws a lot of inspiration from artists like Rene Magritte, Gustav Klimt and Mario Miranda. I want to draw Edward Munchs Scream in an Indian setting soon, she says.
Finding love
Though the illustrations deal with hush-hush topics like sex and sexuality, Harikumar keeps them non-offensive with her witty interpretations. While most of them are light-hearted, there are some tearjerkers too. A girl shared a story about a person she matched on Tinder but never met. They grew close over five months. And one day she stopped hearing from him. After four days, she called his office to find out that hed died in an accident, recalls Harikumar. This was also the story she struggled to illustrate the most.
A photo posted by Indu Harikumar (@induviduality) on Apr 30, 2016 at 7:21pm PDT
Harikumar, who is on Tinder (at least till she manages to reach 100 illustrations), now is often asked by her dates if the dating app is sponsoring her, or if shes here for research. I am only looking to document urban desire, romance, drama, vileness, misogyny, and perversion, that such a medium is open to. But the best part of this project has been hearing from various women. Women who feel vulnerable about putting themselves out there looking for love, sex, connections, she says.
Indu Harikumar
A photo posted by Indu Harikumar (@induviduality) on Apr 20, 2016 at 10:48pm PDT
A tale of love and loss between a Mumbai girl and a Delhi boy who never met but only spoke for five months. Before they were to meet, he passed away in an accident.
Harikumars Tinder experience in Vienna with a date, who introduced her to local art, while keeping a 10-inch distance, worried of corrupting Indian culture.
Share the love
If you wish to submit your experience or follow the project, visit facebook.com/Induviduality or instagram.com/Induviduality
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Seventy five farmers were arrested ahead of Prime Minister Modis visit after they tried to stage a black flag demonstration against non-implementation of river linking projects in the country, police said on Wednesday.
The protestors were members of Federation of South India Farmers Associations.
They were let off in the evening, police said.
In the midst of a busy campaign, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan was optimistic of his partys chances in the May 16 assembly elections after travelling between three constituencies in one day.
A one-party government is not a democracy: it is an autocracy, says Thirumavalavan, his tired voice belying the forceful conviction of his words. Jayalalithaa is an autocrat.
Dalit activist, lawyer, and political firebrand, Thirumavalavan is the leader of the Tamil party that emerged from the Dalit Liberation Panthers movement of the 90s.
Our first foray into politics was in 1999, where we were hampered by the impression that we were a party just for the Dalits, he continues. In 2007, we passed the Velachery Resolution - opening up all positions from top to bottom in the party to show that we are inclusive of all minorities.
The VCK is part of a wider alliance of parties that have chosen to contest the upcoming polls on a novel platform, at least in the context of Tamil politics: Rule of law by form of a coalition government.
The disenchantment with the one-party, one-strongman style of politics in a state that has seen power oscillate from the AIADMK to the DMK for nearly 50 years was the driving force behind the formation of the Third front.
Helmed by the controversial actor-turned-politician Vijayakanth and his DMDK, the front is comprised of six parties.
We have contested with both the DMK in 2014 and the AIADMK in the past, the VCK chief says. But this time, we want to present a new proposal to the people of Tamil Nadu. All of the problems of our current political system - corruption especially - can only be solved with a coalition form of government.
Our chances are good, smiles Thirumavalavan. There is hope because the people are asking for a change.
According to historian Karthikeyan Damodaran, the VCK leaders powerful oratory and erudite political awareness have made him the most popular Dalit leader in Tamil Nadu who heads the largest Dalit party in the state. He says that Thirumavalavans speeches have instilled a sense of pride and self-respect among Dalits.
The role of Thirumavalavan and the VCK in providing a militant edge to Dalit assertion cannot be undermined. They hit back whenever there is oppression, says Damodaran.
For his part, Thirumavalavan has promised to campaign against the problem of mutual transfer of votes which has, in his mind, prevented Dalits across the country from politically mobilising themselves. Other caste groups are active and aware. The Dalits alone remain scattered, he says.
One of these other groups is the PMK, an outfit which was formed out of the political ambitions of the influential Vanniyar OBC group in Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri. Their chief ministerial candidate, Anbumani Ramadoss, has given up his previous anti-Dalit rhetoric in favour of a Modi-esque mantra of development and jobs. But Thirumavalan is unimpressed.
They will never change in their lives, the VCK leader says when asked if the change in rhetoric signifies an abandonment of the uglier aspects of the PMK. Ramadoss change is just a show for the elections. He and his party have gained too much power from the politics of hate to ever abandon it.
In a state where caste and honour killings have come under the spotlight after the murder of Sankar, a Dalit, earlier this year for marrying a Thevar-caste woman, Thirumavalavans indictment speaks volumes.
I feel he should have taken up Sankars murder much more strongly, says Damodaran. He failed to address it completely, save for a few protests in Chennai, because he was busy bridging an alliance of the Third front with other players.
Barbaric things are being done in the name of honour in our state, the VCK leader says, anger now inflecting his voice. And all parties save for our alliance have denied that such honour killings happen in Tamil Nadu.
But things, he feels, are changing. We will bring out a separate act to prevent this foolish violence on May 19, he says. Kausalya, Sankars widow, is determined to ensure that this happens.
Contesting from the reserved seat of Kattumannarkoil, and unwilling to compromise on his vision of ending caste differences in Tamil Nadu, Thirumavalavan hopes that May 16 will make the Third front the kingmakers after these elections.
Read | Caste and violence in Tamil Nadu: Honour killings haunt the state
Read | Jaya unwell, Karunanidhi too old, Vijayakanth incoherent: Ramadoss
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A leopard which escaped from its enclosure in Van Vihar National Park in Bhopal was caught on Tuesday evening after a day-long search operation by the forest officials.
The leopard was tranquilized after it was seen sitting sear the bamboo bushes in the enclosure of a tiger in the national park.
The national park officials combed the whole national park after they got the information that the leopard had escaped from its cage in the enclosure. During the combing operation, the forest officials found the pug-marks of the leopard and at around 7.30 pm finally found it sitting near the bamboo bushes of the enclosure of the tiger named Rini. The big cat was tranquilized and caught, said Atul Srivastava, director, Van Vihar.
Earler the news that a maneater leopard had escaped from Van Vihar national park created panic and terror in the area. The national park was shut for the visitors after the leopards escape and forest personnel teams launched search in the nearby areas.
According to sources the 5-year-old leopard escaped from its enclosure on Monday night and the Van Vihar officials came to know about it only on Tuesday morning. The visitors coming to Van Vihar were sent back by the administration giving no reasons to them.
The people coming to visit the Boat Club and National Museum of Humankind near the Van Vihar, were taken by surprise when they came to know about the leopard on loose. A good crowd gathers at Boat Club and around mostly in the evening and during the daytime and evening on weekends.
India will file 16 cases against the US for violating WTO treaties as certain programmes of the western country in the renewable energy sector are inconsistent with global norms, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
Commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman, replied yes when she was asked in the Rajya Sabha whether it is a fact that the government is going to file 16 cases against the US for violating WTO treaties.
India believes that certain renewable energy programmes of the US at the sub-federal level are inconsistent with WTO provisions, particularly with respect to the obligation under GATT (General Agreement on Tariff and Trade) 1994, Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and/or TRIMS (Trade-Related Investment Measures) Agreement.
In a separate reply, she said India has appealed before the WTO appellate body based on the findings and recommendations of the dispute settlement panel.
To promote domestic manufacturing of solar cells and modules, which is one of the components of the National Solar Mission, India set domestic content requirement for a few of the programmes under the mission.
In a separate reply, the minister said India continues to be placed on the priority watch list under the US Special 301 on account of US assessment of Indian intellectual property rights (IPR) protection being inadequate.
The Special 301 report issued by the US under their Trade Act of 1974 is a unilateral measure to create pressure on countries to enhance IPR protection beyond the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement, she added.
She made a point that the report which is an extra territorial application of the domestic law of a country is inconsistent with established norms of WTO.
Last month, releasing its annual 301 Report, the US has said it will continue to put India and China on its priority watch list for IPR.
The service tax department has deferred the auction of liquor baron Vijay Mallyas private jet to recover Rs 535-crore dues to June 29-30, after just one potential bidder showed interest, an official said.
The auction was earlier scheduled for May 12-13.
The department, which had invited the bidders globally for the auction to get maximum sale price in its attempt to recover dues of Rs 535 crore from Mallya-promoted Kingfisher Airlines (KFA), got only one bidder.
However, even this sole bidder didnt deposit Rs 1 crore earnest money with Metal Scrap Trade Corporation (MSTC), a government enterprise which is acting as auctioneer, within the scheduled time forcing the date of the auction to be shifted.
We got only one registration request from the Netherlands government for participating in the bidding of the plane as of May 10. However, it has not deposited the earnest money due to unknown reasons, a Service Tax Department Official said.
Therefore, we informed the Bombay High Court about the position and the court has given the department the liberty to adjust the date for auction, he said, adding the department discussed the matter with Air India Engineering who are the technical consultants for the auction and MSTC, and decided to hold the auction on June 29-30.
Manufactured by a US-based Airbus, the 225-seater plane was later converted to 25-seater plane by Vijay Mallya for his personal use. The customised plane is equipped with facilities like bar, washroom, bedroom and conference hall, and has been grounded for three years.
Mallya, who left the country following an uproar over the Rs 9,000 crore default by KFA on bank loans, is facing a non-bailable warrant by a court in India.
Pakistan cannot offer unilateral trade concessions to India, Pakistani commerce minister Khurram Dastgir said, underlining that India should also provide access to Pakistani products with preferential duty regime.
Khan said this while he chaired a meeting with a delegation of Pakistani members of the Pakistan-India Business Council here on Tuesday.
The delegation, led by Yawar Ali Shah, briefed the minister on their recent visit to India and the outcome of meetings held with Indian business and trade stakeholders.
The minister said that India should adopt a reciprocal approach as far trade concessions were concerned.
Trade concessions cannot be offered to India unilaterally. India also needs to provide access to Pakistani products with a preferential duty regime, Khan was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.
He said Pakistan is making all-out efforts to increase exports to India to $1 billion within a year as textile products and ready-made garments have a great potential in the neighbours market.
Due to proximity, Pakistan is the most favourite and cost-effective market for India in terms of raw material import for their agriculture and textile products, the commerce minister said.
He told the delegation that the commerce ministry had restructured the National Tariff Commission (NTC) in line with the legal framework set under the guidance of the Supreme Court.
The delegation informed the minister that Indian food manufacturers were looking for different Pakistani agricultural products like mangoes and kinnows in specific seasons.
Other agricultural products like green peas could also be exported to India as they run cold storages at a far less capacity of 200,000 tons, they said.
The businessmen were of the view that both countries should cooperate in the promotion of small and medium enterprises, agriculture, tourism and culture, research, branding of Basmati rice and visits of business groups.
If you are planning to do a job in some IT firm, you may not be asked to reveal your gender details.
Gender information is your private information, dont share with us : This is the new rule at many Information Technology (IT) companies across India. In a bid to increase diverse work force, which also includes transgender employees, companies like HCL, Dell, IBM, Infosys among others have dropped column to seek gender information, which asks one to choose from the three options : Male, Female or Others, during induction and other hiring processes. While many FMCG and retail groups such as Godrej and RPG are actively introducing new privacy and conduct policies related lesbian and gay employees, IT companies are moving ahead with stronger policies for transgender employees as well. We believe in equal opportunity at work place. Hence, asking gender is not an information of our use, said spokesman at IT giant, Tata Consultancy Services(TCS).
Dilpreet Singh, Vice President, HR, IBM India and South Asia said, During the recruitment stage, we do not have a separate indication as other/Transgender under gender in our hiring application form. In 1984, IBM became one of the first companies to sensitise its employees towards non-discrimination based on sexual orientation. Thirteen years later, IBM extended domestic partner benefits to gay and lesbian employees and in 2001, IBM became the first Fortune 500 company to create a sales team specifically for LGBT customers.
Apart from drafting set of policies, the companies also ensure that employees have a safe and harassment-free work place, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We do believe that companies in India should consider inclusion as a focus area for talent engagement, said Richard Lobo, senior vice president and head of human resources, Infosys Ltd. To further our focus on providing a safe and harassment-free workplace, all employees are provided routes through which their grievances can be addressed in a safe and confidential manner.
While many companies including Amazon, Flipkart, Dabur, Airtel, Godrej and Videocon didnot respond to the mail sent by HT to understand their initiatives for transgender workforce, companies including Citibank India, Google, Accenture India, RPG group and General Electric, among others, have well-defined human resource policies that aim to protect the rights of this group. A senior Accenture executive said that even a simple comment causing embarrassment to an LGBT employee is treated as an offence.
Corporate Indias mindset is changing rapidly and all companies are doing their bit to bring in healthy work culture for gay and lesbian employees, said spokesman at The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), a professional human resources membership association devoted to human resource management. IT companies, across globe, have stopped taking information on gender and now consider this as once private detail.
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In order to provide houses for all, the Delhi government is planning to build urban houses for over 15,000 homeless people.
Sources said the urban development department was preparing a policy to build homes for those living on the streets.
As per the proposal, the government will build a hostel-like facility with a common kitchen for individuals and an accommodation of a single room with kitchen for families. The government is planning to keep spare rooms for those on the streets.
Over 30% occupants of the night shelters are those who permanently live there. Once the policy is approved, the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) which manages the night shelter will be asked to identify land to build these homes.
Providing shelter to homeless is a temporary solution and we should focus on improving their quality of life so that they can shed the tag of homeless. By constructing pucca houses for them, we are giving them a permanent shelter. There will be a provision for shops on the ground floor so they can continue to earn their living, said a senior Delhi government official.
The DUSIB has 198 night shelters with a capacity of 16,338. Considering the requirement during winters, we install 47 tents with a capacity of 2,400. The total capacity last winter was 19,000 and it increases every year. There are shelters, which are earmarked for children, women, families, differently abled women and addicts, the official added.
These shelters are being managed through 17 shelter management agencies and equipped with basic facilities like blankets, mats, toilets and drinking water, first-aid box and fire extinguishers. The government will provide the same facilities at homes and those who cant earn will also be given food.
Sources said once the policy was framed, the AAP government would approach the central government for funding. The central government runs several schemes to ensure houses for everyone. The fund for this scheme can be utilised to create permanent homes for about 20,000 people. But we need to create such facilities in NCR cities too as most of the time, homeless from NCR towns come to Delhi as they dont have night shelters there, the official further said.
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Rambeer Shokeen, former Congress MLA from Kamruddin Nagar, has made it to the list of top 10 criminals prepared by Delhi Police crime branch. A reward of R1 lakh has been announced on his arrest, sources said.
In September last year, the special cell had filed a chargesheet against Shokeen and nine others under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The cell had accused them of running an organised crime syndicate in the city and adjoining states.
According to sources, police commissioner Alok Verma asked the crime branch to prepare a new list of hardened criminals who are on the run, and announced rewards on their arrest.
We have been asked to concentrate on hardened criminals and channelise our energy to arrest them. We made a fresh list of these criminals and Shokeen is one of them. He has been evading the law, a police source said.
Shokeen was allegedly part of the conspiracy masterminded by Neeraj Bawana to help Amit Bhura, a dreaded gangster, escape from the custody of Uttarakhand police in December last year.
Shokeen has been evading law ever since his name surfaced. In an interview to a news agency Shokeen claimed innocence and smelt a conspiracy to destroy his political career.
According to the police, Shokeen took help from local gangsters during his political rallies to make them a success.
Shokeen is the uncle of dreaded gangster Neeraj Bawana who helps in his political rallies. One Sunil Rathi had extended support of R20 lakh in cash during Shokeens election campaign during the 2013 Delhi assembly elections. Bawana himself had spent R1 crore in his uncles election campaign. The entire amount was part of the ill-gotten money Bawana had got from his extortion and land grabbing business, sources said.
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Udaiveer alias Kala, 42, one of Delhis top criminals who till last year featured in the citys most wanted list, died at Tihar jail on Wednesday.
Jail authorities said Kala died of a heart attack but the police were probing if there was any foul play.
Kala, who was in jail for the murder of MLA Bharat Singh, was the elder brother of gangster-turned politician Krishan Pehalwan.
Pehalwan and Kalas family have a bitter history of violence since 2002. Pehalwans gang had killed Kalas father and his uncle.
Jail authorities said that around 12.20 pm, Kala was rushed to the jail hospital after he complained of uneasiness and difficulty in breathing. A Tihar spokesperson said jail doctors rushed him to the nearby DDU hospital, where he was declared brought dead.
Read: Gangs of Najafgarh: Fed up of bloodbath, last generation of gangsters want kids to settle abroad?
Kala was lodged in a high security cell inside jail number 1. Police sources said they had asked DDU doctors to check if there was any foul play. Senior officers had been asked to monitor the case.
In October last year, Kalas advocates -- fearing a threat to his life -- had approached the court requesting a video hearing of his case.
Kala was in jail since July 2015. His family stay only a block away from their rival Pehalwans house in Dichaon village in west Delhis Najafgarh.
Fearing attacks, the two families have installed CCTV cameras outside their homes.
Kala treated for heart problem
Lodged in a high-security cell, Kala had over the past few months spend most of his time in the medical investigation room (jail hospital). Additional inspector general Mukesh Prasad said Kala was sent to hospital twice this month after he complained of heart problems.
Also read: Gangs of Najafgarh: An hours drive from Delhi, fear rules this village that lives in gaze of CCTVs
He was rushed to DDU and GB pant hospital on May 7 and May 9. The hospital authorities discharged him. There does not appear to be any foul play. His cell is secured and the jail hospital employees were there when he complained of uneasiness, said Prasad.
Kalas family had recently applied for bail on the grounds that he was suffering from heart problems.
Last involvement
Kala was last suspected to have planned the murder of MLA Bharat Singhs bodyguard, Vipin Chaudhary. In December last year, Vipin -- an eye witness in a case in which Kala is an accused -- was shot five times in Rohini.
Police later arrested Kalas associate Ravi Shokeen in connection with the case. Shokeen is learnt to have told police he had eliminated Vipin at the behest of Kalas gang.
Vipin was honey-trapped and lured by a woman to a park in Rohini where he was shot five times.
Cops probe caused of death
Police said though prima facie jail records suggest Kalas death to be natural, they were waiting for the post-mortem report.
Also read: Capitals turf at stake, gangs go on shooting spree
We are awaiting the post-mortem results. These gangs execute their enemies in mafia style so one needs to double check even natural deaths. A woman was used to honey-trap Vipin last time. We will check all possibilities in this case. We will check possibilities like poisoning or overdose of medicines, said a senior police officer.
A magisterial inquiry has been ordered in this case.
Attracted to a woman he saw on the street while returning from a pub, a city lawyer decided to follow her. He parked the car on the side and followed her three storeys to her house and then to the terrace.
And then he walked straight off the terrace in panic when the woman raised an alarm, suffering multiple fractures.
Forgetting he had reached the terrace to ask her out under the influence of alcohol, the lawyer rushed in the wrong direction and landed on the ground. He is in AIIMS Trauma Center with fractured arms, legs and broken teeth.
The incident was reported from southeast Delhis Lajpat Nagar area on Friday night. A case of trespass and stalking has been registered against the lawyer.
According to the police, the lawyer was on his way home to Noida, when he spotted a 22-year-old Nigerian student taking a walk outside her house. He reportedly took a U-turn and parked the car in the area. The lawyer then walked up to her. But before he could approach her, she went inside the house.
He was so drunk that he could not even look straight. He did not realise what he was doing. When the woman went inside the house, he went behind her. The woman said she went to the terrace to get some fresh air and was shocked to see a man following her, an investigator said.
The woman initially thought that he was a visitor and must be going to someones house in the building but she got scared when he approached her.
The lawyer allegedly told the woman that she was very beautiful and he wanted her to accompany him. The woman raised an alarm as the lawyer charged towards her trying to hold her hand. She told him she would call the police.
The moment the woman mentioned police , the lawyer panicked and started looking for the way to exit. He forgot that he climbed three floors while stalking the woman. Thinking that he was on the ground floor and mistaking the balcony door as the exit, he fell from the third floor and landed straight on the ground, an investigator told HT.
The police rushed him to the hospital. He sustained multiple fractures in his legs, arms, jaw and back. We are waiting for him to be fit for statement, a senior police officer said.
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The World Bank has said in a report on Digital Dividends that nearly a billion Indians still need to connect to the Internet. On the face of it, its emphasis seems out of place. More than 300 million Indians are still below the poverty line and rural electrification is still not 100%. But we must pay heed to the Banks views because it means well for India at many levels. The Rs 20,000-crore National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project to link 250,000 gram panchayats has been slow to move and its broadband sibling, the Bharat Net, has been plagued by delays.
We may boast of one billion mobile connections, but only 200-odd million are smartphone-linked. The Bank put Indias Internet user base at 228 million in 2014, compared with 682 million in China. There is ground to believe Indias number has since doubled but that may not be enough.
Read | Mobile growth shaping Indias Internet usage: Google
The Prime Ministers Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile (JAM) combination to hasten development will get a definite boost if the Internet is added and that would mean a lot for the Digital India mission that spans everything from e-governance to startups. Why not offer state-subsidised smartphones to everyone who has an Aadhar number, subject to economic criteria? But more than that, there is a need to boost cheap wi-fi hotspots across rural India to match the devices.
Read | Facebook to help BSNL set up 100 Wi-Fi hotspots in rural India
Google has shown the way with its scheme to offer free wi-fi at 400 railway stations, but the Net Neutrality controversy over Facebooks FreeBasics programme for restricted Internet access showed that it is best for the government to take full-service access as a critical infrastructure issue, without cutting corners or relying on private initiatives. Also, effective project management is critical for a fast Internet roll-out. The Modi government must put its best administrators on the job for this. Digital access has multiple paybacks in the form of increased empowerment of the poor, market access to artisans and farmers and smoother, cheaper e-governance for the masses. Let it not be said that there is digital poverty in the backyard of the nation that leads a software revolution.
Read | This is how the Indian internet is battling Facebooks Free Basics
Darshan Furia, 25, never got the chance to study abroad. Then in his final year as a BCom student at Jai Hind College, Churchgate, an opportunity opened up, and Furia went to York University in Canada for an exchange programme.
As part of the 10-month stint, Furia studied finance and marketing along with the universitys full-time students. I found a vast difference in the education system. For instance, I could study dance and music, and get credits for them, says Furia, who now works at a corporate law firm.
The best part of exchange programmes is the flexibility, he adds. They dont cost as much as full-time courses, and you can take a range of courses. This helps you explore your interests, says Furia.
Like Furia, many students are doing short stints abroad through exchange programmes, in countries ranging from the US to Japan, Brazil to Australia.
For instance, HR College, Churchgate, has partnerships with universities in UK, USA and London; Jai Hind with Canada; St Xaviers College, Fort, with the UK; and Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, with the US.
Read: Govts agenda for higher education: Online courses, exchange programmes
Such stints help develop a students global and cultural knowledge, says Agnelo Menezes, principal, St Xaviers College. The experience not only enhances their academic performance, but imbibes a first-hand feel of what subjects they might want to pursue postgraduate courses in.
Now, recruiters look for students with wide exposure and knowledge of different fields foreign exchanges can help shape that, says Kim Dixit, president and co-founder of The Red Pen, a study-abroad consultancy. They help demonstrate that the student has taken the initiative to take risks and enjoyed a different background of education.
As the admissions season closes in, many students may want to pick their top college choices based on the add-ons that they offer co-curricular, facilities and foreign exchange programmes. If you always wanted to study abroad but couldnt, or if you may seek a career at an MNC or other internationally relevant organisation, such programmes may be a stepping stone.
A class apart
Earlier this month, 25 students from HR College were selected for a five-day Global Leadership Programme, at Stanford Universitys Centre for International Development. It involved two daily sessions, analysis of top journals and industry visits to Facebook, Google and Cisco headquarters. We learned a lot about entrepreneurship, says Priyanshi Choksi, 19, FYBCom student at HR College.
Archana Purohit Agarwal, 30, went to Beacon University in the US for a two-month exchange programme in her final year at KC BMM. I stayed with a host Australian family, and learned a lot about their culture, but perhaps the most productive aspect of the experience was the internship I got with a local radio station. Thats when I decided to seek a career in communication, says Agarwal, currently a communications and content consultant with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
St Xaviers College sends over 100 students on exchange programmes each year, typically for two-months each. Ramnarain Ruia College recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the government-funded universities in Pennsylvania. The programme kicked off in December 2015, with 20 science students, 20 mass media students and six faculty members visiting seven universities. These included Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh and Temple University. As part of the two-week programme, students attended stream-specific workshops and laboratory sessions.
Suhas Pednekar, principal, Ramnarain Ruia College says, The faculty exchange programmes help our professors learn new ways of teaching, especially how to use technology in the learning process.
We had workshops, games, quizzes and lectures on different aspects of science, says Aishwarya Vishwanathan, 19, TYBSc student at Ramnarain Ruia College, who went to York University for an exchange programme. It was very different, and so enriching.
It took Lucknows Kuldeep Dwivedi nearly 30 minutes to explain to his father what it meant to score the 242nd rank in the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
Surya Kant Dwivedi, who is a security guard at University of Lucknows works department, could not believe that his son cracked the prestigious UPSC exams and may become an Indian Police Service officer.
They do not understand what IPS is all about. They just think that a sub-inspector is the most powerful person in the police department. I had to tell them that after completion of training I will be posted as assistant superintendent of police (ASP) in some district. And when they realised that I have now become an officer. There was complete silence. Tears rolled out from their eyes, Kuldeep, whose mother is a homemaker, told HT.
Read more: Meet Varanasis Artika Shukla who bagged 4th rank in IAS exam
Kuldeep, youngest among three brothers and a sister, wanted to become civil servant since he was a child.
Since my childhood days, I have seen the amount of power a district collector or SSP of a particular district enjoys. It always inspired me. I always wanted to become like that. It was always there in the back of my mind. I had cracked few other examinations in the past but did not join because I wanted to crack the civil service examination, the 27-year-old said.
Kuldeep, a post graduate from Allahabad, says the most difficult time that he faced was after he failed to crack the exam in his first two attempts. In 2013, he was selected as an assistant commandant in the Border Security Force but he did not join the training.
Read more: UPSC results 2015: Bengal has a reason to smile, courtesy Sweta
I was determined that somehow I will have to crack the UPSC examination with a good rank. I kept myself engaged in academics. Luckily the family never troubled me in my pursuit. Im now all ready to don the uniform and work for countrys development, Kuldeep, a book lover, said.
Surya Kant was on duty when Kuldeeps brother called him to give him the news.
I shared the news with other security guards of the university and went straight home. I cannot thank God more. We have seen difficult times. Now it is for him to change family fortunes. Im proud that my hard earned money did not go waste, said the proud father.
Tens of thousands of students across the country prepare for years for the UPSC exams to get into the administrative, foreign, police and other central government services. The results are based on scores in a written examination and interview.
Tina Dabi, a 22-year-old woman from Delhi, topped the exam on her first attempt and Athar Aamir ul Shafi Khan, a railway officer from Jammu and Kashmir, secured the second position as the results of one of Indias toughest tests was announced on Tuesday.
A total of 1,078 candidates cleared the exam -- 499 from the general category, 314 from the Other Backward Classes, 176 from the Scheduled Castes and 89 from the Scheduled Tribes.
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More than 85% students cleared Telanganas Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or Class 10 examination, the results of which were declared on Wednesday.
Deputy chief minister and education minister Kadiyam Srihari said the pass percentage was 85.63 or 8% higher than last year. A total of 5,55,265 students appeared for the exam and out of them 4,44,828 have passed.
The results are available on the official website of the board www.bsetelangana.org.
Girls outperformed boys in the examination conducted by the Board of Secondary Education with a 86.57 pass percentage compared to 84.70% for boys.
The minister said Warangal topped the districts with 95.13 pass percentage and Hyderabad had the lowest pass percentage at 76.32.
Read more: Andhra declares SSC exam results, over 94% students pass
The board announced the results ahead of the scheduled date of May 12. Last year, the results were announced on May 17 but this time, the board will declare the results early to make the process of admissions to Class 11 hassle free.
As many as 5.56 lakh students appeared for the SSC exam held between March 21 and April 9. Out of them, 5.21 lakh students were regular candidates and 35,000 failed students.
The results were declared in a record time of 32 days. Last year the results were announced after 38 days.
The advanced supplementary exams will be held from June 15-29.
The son of a Janata Dal(United) legislator may have been arrested on the charge of killing a teenager, but there is another legislator from Bihars ruling party whose son is in the news for the right reason.
Dr Vivek Kumar, the son of JD(U) MLA Virendra Kumar Singh, has secured an all India rank of 80 in the Civil Services Examination 2015.
Every father wants his son to do better in life than himself. I cannot describe how proud I feel that my son has achieved this feat, Singh, an MLA from Nabinagar constituency in Aurangabad, said.
Initially, Singh felt his son never studied.
I never saw him study when he visited us during his vacations. It was only after he cleared his MBBS in 2010 and came to stay with us for UPSC preparation that I realised that he works hard, Singh said.
Read more: Lucknow University security guards son cracks UPSC
Kumar cleared the examination in his third attempt. In his first attempt, he cleared the preliminary test and in the second, he went as far as the interview round.
He initially wanted to pursue an MD from the US, but there was some delay in getting a visa. By then, he expressed his interest to go for IAS. I told him it is tricky, but his mind was made, the proud father said.
His entire routine was different. He studied at night and slept mornings. He never cared about his health and I had to ensure he ate on time, said Singh.
Kumar said his two unsuccessful attempts did affect him but his family and friends help him cope with the pressure.
Success in such examinations depends on how well you manage that pressure. My friends, relatives and family were my motivation, Kumar, who was recently appointed at the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi, told HT.
Read more: Meet Varanasis Artika Shukla who bagged 4th rank in IAS exam
He added he was done with the examination and is not planning a fourth attempt. I am happy with my rank, he said.
He advised future IAS aspirants from the state to keep working hard and be confident. The examination pattern changes every year. So, it is important to study smart, he said.
The phones of both Singh and Kumar have been flooded with congratulatory calls and messages ever since the results were declared. They are not complaining, though.
A 22-year-old woman from Delhi, Tina Dabi, topped the 2015 civil services examination in her first attempt, while a railway officer from Jammu and Kashmir, Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan, secured the second place as the results of one of the countrys toughest tests were announced on Tuesday. Delhis Jasmeet Singh Sandhu bagged the third place.
The list of successful candidates also gave Bengal a reason to smile. Bhadreswar girl Sweta Agarwal secured the 19th rank, becoming one of only three women to make it to the Top 20 and the topper from Bengal.
It was her third attempt to clear the prestigious exam. Her father runs a small grocery shop in Bhadreswar. An economics honors from St Xaviers College in Kolkata, Sweta cracked the exam.
Read more: Meet Varanasis Artika Shukla who bagged 4th rank in IAS exam
Jyotirmoy Pal Chowdhury, the head of the Institute for Civil Service Aspirants in Salt Lake, where Sweta studied, said, She comes from a very modest background. It is because of her hard work and determination that she achieved this rank.
Apart from Sweta, five other students from the institute cracked the exam, including income-tax officer 29-year-old Sandeep Ghosh from Cossipore. He has secured the 67th rank. in 2015 also. She is undergoing IPS training in Hyderabad at present. I always wanted to become an IAS officer. For the last four years, I did nothing apart from working towards this goal. I am an extremely happy person today, more so because I did not expect this rank, the 28-year-old told HT.
Sweta left her job in Deloitte India to study for the exam. I am my parents only child and they always believed in me. Today, they are on cloud nine, she said with a broad smile. Congrats to all those who cleared the Civil Services Exam. My good wishes as they commence a new and exciting phase of their lives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.
A graduate in political science from Delhis Lady Shri Ram College, Dabi, the topper, did her schooling from Convent of Jesus and Mary. It is indeed a proud moment for me, she told PTI.
The UPSC declared that it was maintaining a reserve list of 172 candidates. The results are based on scores in a written examination held in December 2015 and interviews conducted between March and May 2016.
Athar, a 23-year-old resident of Anantnag in south Kashmir, is undergoing training at the Indian Railways Institute of Transport and Management, Lucknow. It was his second attempt. I just could not believe it. The news I have become second took a few minutes to sink in, he said.
In a major boost to the proposed Rs 850-crore Pod Taxi project, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will soon sign an agreement with the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon to build a 12.30-km track from the Delhi border to the interiors of Gurgaon.
The Pod Taxi project, also called the personal rapid transport system, will have a 12.30-km track from the Delhi-Haryana border to Subash Chowk via Rajiv Chowk on Sohna Road.
The project will be executed on the design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis (DBFOT).
The decision on the agreement was taken during a meeting between Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari and Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in New Delhi this week. A memorandum of understanding will be signed between NHAI and MCG to implement the project in Gurgaon.
The pilot project in Gurgaon is aimed to carry 30,000 passengers in a day and is likely to transform the transport in the city.
The taxi system is proposed to have 14 stations -- Udyog Vihar, Cyber City, Shyam City, Atlas Chowk, Sector 25, Iffco Chowk, Signature Tower Chowk, Sector 31, Jharsa Road, Rajiv Chowk, Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Sector 38, Subash Chowk, and Sector 47.
Apart from the pod taxi project, the two leaders also decided that encroachments on the Dwarka Expressway will be removed soon for completion of the road project.
The expressway has been assigned the national highway status. It was also decided that the construction of a link bypass to connect NH- 8 with MG Road of Gurgaon and bridges at Hero Honda Chowk and other places will be taken up on priority.
Gadkari assured his ministrys full support in speedy implementation of all projects in Haryana. He also said the progress of all schemes will be reviewed every three months.
Chief minister Khattar said with the support of the Centre the construction of 12 new national highways in Haryana was under way at a cost of Rs 30,000 crore.
isha.sahni@hindustantimes.com
Corporate offices in the city, especially BPOs and call centres operating round the clock, are a relieved lot after the recent decision of the Supreme Court to allow diesel cabs with All India Tourist Permit (AITP) to run in Delhi-NCR until their permits expire. Earlier, the apex court had imposed a blanket ban on diesel taxis in Delhi-NCR.
AITPs are granted to cabs for providing point-to point service to commuters. The permits are valid for five years. Drivers had alleged that authorities in Delhi and NCR were harassing them due to non-clarity over the SCs earlier decision.
Heads of corporate houses said the decision has bought them time to formulate a plan for introducing CNG vehicles without causing inconvenience to the employees.
Nidhi Gupta, regional head (North), Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies), said, We are glad that our concerns were understood by the Supreme Court and a phase out plan has been suggested accordingly. We will work closely with companies to phase out diesel vehicles. Our efforts to promote sustainable transport and encourage use of public transport, especially by day shift workers, will continue to be a priority.
Concentrix Corporation, an outsourcing firm for IBM, said they are already formulating an action plan to phase out diesel cabs. The plan will be finalised after the apex courts final orders, the company said.
Concentrix understands that using CNG has the potential to significantly curb the pollution levels. At this stage, we have been complying with the orders of the Supreme Court. For the next stage, we are already in the midst of creating an action plan to phase out diesel cabs. However, the final SC order will give us clarity to understand and finalise the roadmap, said JoJo Mathews, senior director, (HR), Concentrix, India & Middle East.
The companies said the latest decision of the apex court has ended the inconvenience faced by them and their employees in the past 10 days, especially during night shifts.
The decision by the Supreme Court has allowed us to ply the cabs freely in Delhi-NCR. This will end the inconvenience faced by the employees for the past 10 days. The company tried every option to ensure that the employees reach home safely, especially during night shifts, said Deepak Ohylan, executive director, global facilities management, Dell.
However, firms fear that their transportation cost will increase once they replace the diesel cabs with CNG ones. They expect at least a 20% rise in the cost.
There are still a lot of issues that companies will have to take into account, especially the lesser number of CNG filling stations in the city. The companies do not want the drivers to stand in queues for hours to fill the gas, said an official from an IT firm.
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A 31-year-old assistant commandant-rank trainee Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer allegedly committed suicide in his hostel room at the paramilitary forces training centre in Gurgaon.
Identified as Mohaib M Mullah, hailing from Belgaum in Karnataka, was found hanging at 4 am from the ceiling fan of hostel room number 201 at the training academy in Kadarpur, police said.
Mullah had joined the force as assistant commandant through direct entry in September 2015, they said.
The police have also recovered a three-page suicide note written in English which, they said, mentioned that committing suicide was prohibited in Islam. He has not blamed any one for the extreme step, police said.
The body was found in the morning. We have recovered a suicide note which says that according to Islam those who kill themselves dont go to heaven. We are investigating it, said assistant sub inspector Dharmedra, the investigation officer at the Badshahpur police station.
Police said that the exact cause is yet to be ascertained.
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Actor Amitabh Bachchan played a part in seven proposed hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh, two of them in Tawang.
Energy Development Corporation Ltd (EDCL) had in January 2008 signed an agreement with the Arunachal Pradesh government to develop five hydroelectric projects of various sizes aggregating 201MW in East Kameng district. A year later, EDCL signed MoU for two more projects the 24MW Tsa Chu-I and 36MW Tsa Chu-II in Tawang district.
Bachchan was a shareholder in EDCL but resigned as the independent director of its board in July 2011. The EDCL website says the chairman of the firm is Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh.EDCL is one of 50 private firms, including Reliance, L&T, Indiabull, Jindal and Jaiprakash groups featuring in the state governments 2010 list of independent power producers and central PSUs allotted 133 power projects with a total installed capacity of 41618.40MW. Eight of these proposed projects totalling 8735MW were awarded to two central PSUs Shillong-based North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd and NHPC Ltd.
The MoU virus, as former union minister Jairam Ramesh had coined, had afflicted the firms that sought to cash in on the National Hydro Power Policy of 2008. The projects were allotted after payment of upfront money that ranged from R1-7 per KW depending on the size of the project. But anti-dam activists sniffed kickbacks in the project allotment. The Itanagar-based Arunachal Citizens Right said: Three projects totalling 4500MW were taken away from PSUs and awarded to private firms because they could not pay.
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In a major setback to liquor baron Vijay Mallya, revenue officials in Goa on Wednesday allowed lenders to take physical possession of `Kingfisher Villa in Candolim.
The North Goa Collector has given an order in favour of banks to take physical possession of the Kingfisher Villa, banking sources said late Wednesday evening.
The villa, valued at Rs 90 crore, used to be Mallyas base in Goa and also the venue of many of the famous parties hosted by him during the `good times.
Advocate Parag Rao, who appeared on behalf of United Spirits, told PTI that the company had withdrawn its claim before the collector yesterday. We told the collector that we will not press for the objection, he said.
Representing the bankers consortium, SBICAPS had sought physical possession of the property under Section 14 of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act in late 2014.
However, three of Mallyas companies -- United Spirits Limited (USL), Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries -- objected to the move.
Last week, media reports said Mallya put up a villa manager as a caretaker to thwart the banks attempt to take it over.
The villa was mortgaged to the lenders while obtaining loans for the now defunct airliner, but the caretaker, who claimed to be an employee of United Breweries, and the subsequent establishment of tenancy rights would have made it difficult for the banks to take over the property.
According to reports, bankers attempts to take possession of the villa were repeatedly stalled by USL, which claims the first right to buy the property as it is a tenant.
USL had also approached a local court, citing provisions in the Portuguese Civil Code to block auction of the property in the past.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Wednesday distanced himself from the controversial attempt by a saffron outfit to divide holy men attending the ongoing Kumbh Mela in Ujjain into caste lines after facing flak from several quarters.
Deendayal Vichar Manch, a saffron outfit, had announced on May 2 that Shah would march about 1.5 km from Valmiki Dham to Ramghat along with Dalit saints and then take a dip of harmony at Ramghat, the main ghat on the Kshipra river, and also honour them at the ongoing festival.
Speaking at Valmiki Dham, which comprises predominantly Dalit followers of Sant Valmiki, Shah did not mention the term Dalit sant in his entire five-minute speech. Ramghat is the grand and main ghat of the Kshipra River and attracts a lot of attention while the ghat at Valmiki Dham is more ordinary in comparison.
The event was being seen as a part of the BJPs larger plans to connect with Dalits with twin objectives. First, to address the sense of alienation among the community that constitutes about 17% of the countrys total population. Second, break the popular impression of the BJP being a party that provides little space to Dalits.
Several prominent seers including Shankaracharya Swaroopanand and Akhara Parishad president Narendra Giri had strongly opposed the samrasta snan saying that there was no caste among saints and organising such an event would only divide the society.
They had said caste of a saint or pilgrim is not asked during any Kumbh and anyone could take a holy dip. The BJP should not eye political gains, the seers had warned.
The BJP diluted the emphasis on the word Dalit sant in the subsequent days after it faced criticisms. The party also cleverly withdrew itself from being in the forefront of organising the event.
Shah did honour around 100 saints, mostly Dalits, and also took the symbolic bath with the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other seers at the Valmiki Dham ghat. While Chouhan and the others went neck deep in the water, Shah remained fully clothed and put a sprinkle of water on his head.
Interestingly, the name of the bath, which was earlier billed as samrasta snan (dip of harmony) was not mentioned in the final invitation card and was replaced with Sant Samagam (congregation of saints).
The head of Valmiki Dham, Umesh Nath, even announced that the event was organised by them and they had invited Shah. The presence of Akhara Parishad head Narendra Giri and Sant Avadeshanand, a prominent seer, at the event showed that things were sorted out.
Dalits are crucial in the BJPs scheme of things as the party plans to expand its footprint across India.
Scheduled Castes account for over 20% of the total population of Uttar Pradesh that will vote next year to elect a new government. The BJP is desperate to wean the SCs away from the Bahujan Samaj Party in the state.
Punjab (32%) and Himachal Pradesh (25%) are two other states with significant SC population. Punjab votes early next year while Himachal Pradesh will vote in 2017.
From attempts to appropriate the legacy of Dr BR Ambedkar to lifting the social and economic status of Dalits, the Narendra Modi regime has its eyes set on SCs.
The government also notified the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Rules, 2016, on April 14 that made stronger provisions for the protection of SCs and STs from atrocities.
He has many feathers in his cap.
Madhya Pradesh-based BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya has not lost any of the six assembly election he contested. The 59-year-old former ABVP activist earned the reputation of an ace strategist by guiding the BJP to power in Haryana one and a half years ago.
There was no stopping him since then. He drew closer to party chief Amit Shah, got rewarded with the national general secretarys post and was given charge of West Bengal but now for the first time he has stumbled after the central government on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that the Harish Rawat-led Congress government has legislative majority in Uttarakhand and Presidents Rule will be revoked from the hill state soon.
BJP leaders in Uttarakhadn now blame VIjayvargiya for the entire fiasco. We could have dealt with Rawat in our own way. But, recent developments have muddied the waters. Rawat looks like a victim and BJP a villain. Vijayvargiyas adventurism has made things more difficult for us in the next years assembly election, a BJP MLA said.
Read more: Rawat got 33 votes, can take charge as Uttarakhand CM, says SC
Vijayvargiya always had his eyes set on Uttarakhand. When the party was preparing for elections in Bengal, Kailash Bhai as he is fondly called in BJP circles was hopping between Delhi and Dehradun to stage a coup in the hill state.
He was in constant touch with Congress rebels and privy to every move that Amit Shah was taking in the hill state, a BJP leader said. The operation in the works was a secret. So much so that even local veterans including former CMs were clueless about it.
How the day unfolded: 10 things to know about Uttarakhand floor test
One senior functionary in Uttarakhand realised that something big was in the offing when he received a call from Delhi on March 17 a day before 9 Congress MLA rebelled against Harish Rawat in Assembly to immediately rush to Dehradun and wait for the next order. Similar calls were made to others. A plane was stationed at Dehradun to fly out the rebel Congress and BJP MLAs if such a situation arises.
A party insider told HT that Congress rebels received a cold response from the BJP leadership about a year ago when they sought help to unseat Harish Rawat. But Vijayvargiyas arrival changed the scene. The BJP turned warm to Rawats detractors.
Vijayvargiiya has been calling the shots in Uttarakhand over the last two months. Functionaries of the state BJP, former CM Bhagat Singh Koshyari, local stalwart Satpal Mahraj and others were following his script.
But he erred on two counts. First, his plans to cobble up numbers and form an alternative government after dismissal of Harish Rawat as chief minister did not work. The entire issue entered into a legal dispute and the court order for floor test turned out to be an embarrassment for the BJP.
Second, he remained confident, until the eve of the floor test on May 10, engineering a split in the Congress to defeat Rawat on the floor of the assembly. That did not work.
When Vijayvargiya flies out of Dehradun, the BJP local unit will not only be embarrassed but will also have to deal with the Congress rebels who are now knocking at the BJPs door ahead of the next assembly election. That may not be good news for the factionalism-ridden state unit.
A government crackdown last year on foreign funded NGOs has sparked a showdown in the Union home ministry with a senior official alleging his superior forced him to favour the United States-based donor agency, Ford Foundation.
Anand Joshi an undersecretary in the home ministrys foreigner division -- went missing from his Ghaziabad residence on Wednesday, alleging he was being harassed.
While serving my nation, I probably made too many enemies, he said in a letter to his wife.
A day ago, Joshi told HT his superior -- additional secretary BK Prasad forced him to take Ford Foundation off a government watch list that stipulated any funds from the US agency will be vetted by the home ministry before being disbursed.
Joshi is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly arbitrarily sending notices to over 50 NGOs claiming violation of funding norms. He was to appear before the probe agency on Wednesday.
Such notices are issued to NGOs who violate foreign funding norms. But the crackdown has been criticised in recent years by activists, who say the government is trying to muzzle criticism of its policies in the industrial and environmental sectors.
Read | Indias fear of NGOs like Greenpeace spurious: MIT economist
Last April, the home ministry put Ford Foundation on the prior permissions category under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) that governs foreign funding of NGOs.
Under the category, the Reserve Bank of India would need home ministry approval before disbursing funds sent by the US donor agency.
But in March this year, the government took Ford Foundation off the list after the agency agreed to be registered under the Foreign Exchange Management Act that governs flow of foreign exchange.
Joshi said he was pressurised by Prasad to remove Ford Foundation from the category. He asked why the agency was not asked to register under the more stringent under the Foreign Contribution Registration Act (FCRA) that governs NGO funding.
I raised questions about it in writing. I am being hounded for doing my duty, Joshi said on Tuesday.
Prasad told HT that whatever the under secretary is saying is rubbish and baseless.
The CBI is probing the case and I am sure the truth will come out, Prasad added.
Joshi also denied seeking any bribe from any NGO.
Some insignificant files may have recovered from house but they were irrelevant. I can explain recovery of money from house as well. I am an honest person who is being victimised for not toeing the line of my superior, said Joshi.
Joshis wife Minakshi said her husband was last seen at 2am.
In the Hindi letter addressing his wife, Joshi said, I have been going through extremely high mental harassment for the past few months but now the situation has got out of hand...At this moment I need peace and that is not possible here. I am leaving home and please do not look for me.
Senior home ministry official said Joshi came under the radar after he issued more 50 notices to NGOs last November.
He was transferred out of the foreigners division in December and later a file with regard to activist Teesta Setalvads NGOs -- which are being probed for violation of funding norms -- was recovered at his instance and a departmental inquiry initiated against him.
Read | Revamped foreign funding rules ask NGOs to vow not to hurt India
Britain has told India that it cannot deport Vijay Mallya, who is facing money laundering charges in the country, but could consider an extradition request for him.
The UK governments response came nearly a fortnight after India made a request for the deportation of Mallya, whose Indian passport was revoked in a bid to secure his presence for investigations against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said he was not surprised by the UK governments stand but the government is working on the deportation process.
Similar stand has been taken by Britain earlier too: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Rajya Sabha on #VijayMallya ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016
What I have learnt so far is that deportation cant be allowed if someone entered UK through valid passport and then its cancelled.Another alternative process, is that when chargesheet is filed after investigation, then extradition has to be demanded, Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday .
Read more: Court issues notice to Mallya on withdrawing exemption from appearance
MEAs response
According to a statement by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup, the UK Government has informed that under the 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter the UK was conferred.
Read more: ED wants non-bailable warrant against Vijay Mallya
However, the UK has acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations and has expressed its keenness to assist India in the matter and have asked the government to consider requesting mutual legal assistance or extradition.
What is the difference between deportation and extradition?
Deportation is basically a done at the government level through executive order after vetting the evidence produced by a country where the fugitive is required for any offence he or she may have committed there. But extradition is a formal process wherein evidence against a fugitive is produced before the court for vetting. In extradition, a judicial decision is taken for sending back a fugitive to the country where he or she is required to face law. It is normally a longer process than deportation .
The extradition can happen under the 1993 treaty or any other necessary assistance under the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) signed in 1992 between India and the UK.
However, India was hoping to get the liquor baron, who is facing arrest over allegations of defaulting bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore, through the expeditious route of deportation and not go through the lengthy process of extradition.
Earlier, the Patiala House court issued a notice to Mallya on a plea of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), seeking to withdraw the exemption granted to him from personal appearance in a case of allegedly evading summons in connection with purported violation of the Foreign Exchange Rules.
The court has sought Mallyas response by May 20.
The ED plea also sought issuance of a non-bailable warrant against the chairman of defunct Kingfisher Airlines to secure his presence in the ongoing trial of the case.
Mallya, currently in Britain, is accused of defaulting on payment of bank loans totalling Rs. 9, 000 crore.
The Centre had earlier revoked Mallyas diplomatic passport and told the Supreme Court that it would soon initiate court proceedings and approach the British Government for his extradition.
The Enforcement Directorate last month obtained a non-bailable warrant against Mallya from a Mumbai court in a money laundering case.
The Congress on Tuesday virtually ruled out the possibility of either party vice-president Rahul Gandhi or his sister Priyanka Gandhi being projected as chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
Party general secretary in-charge of the state, Madhusudan Mistry said he had no idea of any such thing taking place now or in future. I have no such information of either such demands or such discussions of their (Rahul and Priyanka) being given any such responsibility, he told reporters here.
Stressing that he had neither heard of any discussions, nor any such demands being made for the Gandhi siblings being made the face of the UP campaign, Mistry also said that the party will not have a pre-poll tie-up.
He also refused to give any conclusive answer to pointed queries of whether the party will ally with the Janata Dal-United. There are still many months for the state assembly polls and it would be premature to say anything as of now, he said.
Launching an attack on Delhi University (DU) over Prime Minister Narendra Modis degree, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday sought to know if the university had computers in 1975.
Again highlighting the discrepancies in the graduation degree and marksheets of Modi, AAP leader Ashutosh said, The name and marks of the candidate were printed in Modis marksheets released by the BJP. However, in the documents of other candidate who passed out in 1975, the name and marks were handwritten.
Similarly, the university logo on Modis degree is printed in modern font while the original degrees had simple font. This clearly shows that the degree is fake, he told the media here.
The AAP also countered the universitys claims that the degree was original and it had verified it.
Read: Delhi univ says PM Modis degree authentic, admits to minor errors
Read: Delhi varsity VC to meet AAP leaders tomorrow over PM Modis degree
Referring to DUs response to an RTI filed by Maharashtra-based activist Anil Galgali, Ashutosh said the university then said it did not keep records as old as three to four decades old.
(On Tuesday), the registrar of the university claimed they have verified the records and that Modis degree was original. However, when an RTI filed by Galgali in 2015 asked for a list of all the graduates of 1975, DU responded they dont keep three to four decades old records. Either the university lied in the RTI or it lied yesterday because if there were no records how did they verify it?
He asked the university to comply with the Central Information Commission (CIC) order asking it to make Modis degree public.
Delhi University is a prestigious university. They should be loyal to the constitution of the country, not to the leaders of the ruling party, said another AAP leader, Dilip Pandey.
A group of AAP leaders visited the university on Tuesday to check Modis BA degree but could not the vice chancellor.
The father of the Class 11 student, who was allegedly ragged and beaten up by his seniors in Noidas Delhi Public School, has said he will not send his child back to the school.
Read: Ragging at DPS Noida: 2 students beaten with iron rods, hospitalised
The boy was allegedly beaten up with iron rods by a group of Class 12 students on May 9 inside the school hostel in Sector 30, and when one of his friends tried to help him, he was also roughed up. The victim is from Bulandshahar and his friend is from Kolkata. Both got admission in Class 11 on May 1.
I dont think I will be able to send him back to the same school. We are waiting for him to recover from his injuries. Once he gets well, then we will see what can be done. I will request the school authorities to transfer my son to any other branch in Noida, the victims father told Hindustan Times over the phone from Blunadshahar.
Both the boys were discharged from a private hospital after primary treatment. Father of the victim took him back to Bulandshahar while his friend returned to the hostel.
Police registered a case against six identified and 10-12 unidentified students of Class 12 who live in the hostel on Tuesday at Sector 20 police station. However, as all the accused are minor and none of them have any criminal history, the police said they will deal with the case very carefully.
We are investigating the case with the help of child welfare committee. We will make sure that a fair probe is being conducted in the case. Also, as the accused are juvenile, we are dealing with them very carefully as their careers will be at stake, Kiran Sivakumar, Gautam Budh Nagar senior superintendent of police (SSP), said.
The schools principal did not respond to the calls and messages.
When this reporter visited the school to meet the principal, private security guards said entry of media inside the premises has been banned and that the principal was not present at the school.
They also refused to call someone authorised to speak to the media citing orders to keep reporters away.
Stating that the edifice of Indias legislature is being destroyed brick by brick, finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday exhorted legislators not to resort to actions that would lead to undermining of the legislature and executives authority by the judiciary.
His remarks in the Rajya Sabha came in reply to the Congress demand for a dispute settlement system in a proposed bill to roll out goods and services tax.
Referring to the Supreme Courts directions on Wednesday to create the national disaster mitigation fund while replying to the debate on the Appropriation and Finance Bills, Jaitley said, Now we have passed the Appropriation Bill. From where do I get the extra money outside the bill to comply with this direction of the SC? Cant you see, step by step, brick by brick, the edifice of Indias legislature is being destroyed and outside the Appropriation Bill we are being told to create this levy, create this fund by an institutionthere cant be any tax, any expenditure unless it is approved by the Parliament.
Responding to Congress leader Jairam Rameshs objection to GST and his partys demand to have a dispute settlement process, Jaitley said, You are suggesting that if states cant decide in the GST Council, a body headed by the SC judge must then decide. For heavens sake, I beseech you in the interest of Indian democracy not to go on this misadventure. He added, With the manner in which encroachment of legislative and executive authority by Indias judiciary is taking place, probably financial powers and budget making is the last of the only powers that you have left. Taxation is the only power which states have.
The finance minister said that it would be wholly misconceived for any party to say let us hand over the taxation power also to the judiciary. Even the standing committee, which went into the GST bill, gave a unanimous view that it is dangerous to have a dispute redressal mechanism. Its a political issue.it has to be sorted out politically. You cant hand over this power, Jaitley said.
He added, if a speakers ruling is subject to judicial review, if Indias budget making is going to be subjected to a court review, we will have budget-making going outside the Appropriation Bill and then there is taxation dispute between the Centre and state, a major party says let a judge now resolve it, so the taxation power also goes
A soldier was killed on Wednesday during an ongoing operation between security forces and militants in north Kashmirs Kupwara district.
A senior police official told IANS, Lance naik Om Vir Singh of 21 Rashtriya Rifles was killed in Rajwar forest area in the ongoing operation.
The encounter began in Rajwar area of Kupwara district late on Tuesday night when a police search party was fired upon, police said.
At around 9.30 last night, a police search party was fired upon. A gun battle started and continued for some time, said a officer at the police control room, Handwara.
Security forces had launched an anti-militancy operation in Wastar forests in Handwara area on Tuesday night following information about the presence of militants in the area.
The area has been cordoned off and operations are on. Further details waited.
(With inputs from agencies)
The Indian Navy will phase out its iconic Sea Harrier maritime fighter planes at a ceremony in Dabolim in Goa on Wednesday.
The Sea Harriers, part of INAS 300 (Indian Naval Air Squadron 300, also called White Tigers), were inducted into the navy in 1983 and were deployed onboard INS Vikrant and INS Viraat.
The reconnaissance and strike fighters operated for the last time from INS Viraat in March during the International Fleet Review staged by the navy off the Vizag coast.
The Viraat is likely to be decommissioned soon too. The White Tigers squadron will now induct Russian-origin MiG-29 K fighters.
Indian Navy to bid adieu to Sea Harrier Fighters today
The highlight of the ceremony, to be presided over by navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan, will be a flying display involving two British-origin Sea Harriers and two MiG-29K fighters. The commanding officers of the two squadrons will exchange batons after the flying display, marking the phase-out of Sea Harriers.
The navy has six operational Sea Harriers and five airframes. The retired planes, built by British Aerospace, will be dispatched as mementos to various naval aviation bases, the naval academy and two of them may be preserved onboard Viraat if the government decides to convert the aircraft carrier into a museum.
UKs Royal Navy retired its Sea Harriers 10 years ago. The fighters served the British navy for 30 years.
The Indian Navys Sea Harrier squadron was deployed during Operation Vijay in 1999 and embarked on the Viraat during Operation Parakram in 2001.
The Indian Navy had a hard time maintaining the Harriers as British firm Rolls-Royce stopped producing parts the planes featured a Rolls-Royce Pegasus turbofan engine.
The fighter planes were fitted with anti-ship Sea Eagle missiles, Derby air-to-air beyond visual range missiles and Matra Magic II missiles. The fighters also had the capability to fire rockets and drop bombs.
Opposition parties on Wednesday slammed the NDA government after the British government told India it cannot deport businessman Vijay Mallya, who is facing an arrest over allegations of defaulting bank loans of over Rs 9,400 crore.
The UK governments response came nearly a fortnight after India made a request for the deportation of Mallya, whose Indian passport was revoked in a bid to secure his presence for investigations against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.
Mallya fled to London on March 2, as the pressure on him to return the money mounted.
Here is what senior leaders of various political parties had to say on the NDA governments failure to get the liquor baron:
Read more: UK wont deport Vijay Mallya, FM Jaitley says not surprised
Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said : Well, there are a lot of people in this government who would be relieved. After all, they had facilitated his escape to the UK. If this government would have wanted to retain Vijay Mallya, they would not have allowed him to escape in the first place. All these are pro-forma actions are nothing but bolting the stable door after the horse has fled.
CPI(M) politburo member Md Salim told HT that it is a failure of diplomacy. The government is only busy doing PR in foreign shores. When Modi went to UK, the BJP-RSS had organized so many people to chant his name. Why cant those people voice their demands and put public pressure on the UK government to return Mallya? This incident clearly shows where we actually stand in diplomacy. This government did no homework to bring Mallya. They must now build up a strong case., he said.
BJDs Lok Sabha floor leader Bahrtruhari Mahtab said, I would suppose this can be a big. I think India has very good relations with government. All pressure must be applied to get him back. He is a fugitive. His passport has already been revoked. But UKs decision to reject Mallyas deportation is clearly a loss of face for the government.
The UK governments response came nearly a fortnight after India made a request for the deportation of Mallya, whose Indian passport was revoked in a bid to secure his presence for investigations against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act 2002.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh scored a self-goal in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday when he sought to take a dig at finance minister Arun Jaitley over GDP figures, advising him to consult outstanding economist Subramanian Swamy, a known Nehru-Gandhi critic.
If it caused dismay and consternation among his Congress colleagues, the finance minister rubbed it in stating how Ramesh concentrated on 3Gs GDP, GST and Gas in his speech but probably let down the fourth one, an obvious reference to the Gandhi family.
Swamy is the complainant in the National Herald case in which Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and four other party leaders are facing a criminal case. He is also in the forefront of the attack on Sonia Gandhi in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal inside and outside Parliament.
Participating in the debate on the Union finance bill, Ramesh said it was his 3-G speech in which he questioned the GDP figure, put forth his position on the proposed legislation to enable the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST), and spoke about the CAG report on the alleged scam in the GSPC investments in KG basin. He said nobody believes in Indias GDP figures and Swamy agrees with him. Ramesh went on to praise the BJP MP as an outstanding economist who has written seminal articles on statistical methods in international journals.
He (finance minister) can get Dr Swamy to head a commission to review his GDP estimates and in this process he may end up saving his job as well, said the Congress lawmaker in probably his last speech in the Rajya Sabha. His term ends next month.
In his reply to the debate, Jaitley used his characteristic wit and humour to attack the Congress leader, saying there were many firsts that Ramesh has scored, including his demand for a discussion on the CAG report on a state PSU in the central legislature.
I think he is the first Congressman to score a new first. He is the first Congressman who has the history to publicly praise Dr Subramaniam Swamy. He advised me to consult him. I am conscious of the experience and wisdom of Dr Swamy. He first became the member of this house in 1974, Jaitley said
He is a well-known economist. I will certainly consult him but I must compliment the courage and conviction of Jairam Ramesh that whereas he concentrated on 3-Gs, he probably let down the fourth one inasmuch as he indulged in this new misadventure of doing what he did today, he said.
The finance minister was unstoppable.Another first that he has scored is that he is the first MP to tell the Supreme Court that you must start interfering in the speakers and chairpersons ruling with regard to the conduct of the business of the House, he said. He was referring to Rameshs PIL in the Supreme Court challenging the Lok Sabha speakers decision to treat the Aadhaar bill as a money bill.
The Congress government won the trust vote in the Uttarakhand assembly, the Supreme Court declared on Wednesday, clearing the decks for the reinstatement of Harish Rawat as chief minister of the hill state.
Shortly after the top courts order, the Centre recommended revocation of Presidents Rule to Pranab Mukherjee, signalling the end of a nearly two-month political impasse in the state.
The verdict comes as a big setback for the BJP-led government at the Centre, accused by the Congress of trying to topple elected governments in opposition-ruled states.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was quick to react, saying democracy (has) won in Uttarakhand.
Hope the PM learns the lesson that people of India and institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate murder of democracy, he tweeted.
A bench of justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh, however, held that justifiability of imposing Presidents rule will remain alive as it has been challenged before the apex court after the Uttarakhand high court revoked the central rule.
Also Read | As it happened: SC says Harish Rawat can take charge as Uttarakhand CM
the high court has ascribed many a reason to arrive at the conclusion that the said proclamation was not tenable in law, it said.
It also noted that the nine disqualified MLAs have challenged the HC order and the matter is of debate. Suppose we set aside the disqualification of the nine MLAs, there will be another floor test, the court said.
Earlier, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi said it is clear from news and other reports that orderly vote did take place and Rawat proved his majority. I have taken instruction from the government and instruction from the very highest authority is that we will revoke the Presidents rule.
The official result of Tuesdays floor test was on expected lines. Both the Congress and BJP leaders said that Rawat managed 33 votes, two more than the 31 required in a House with an effective strength of 62. The BJP managed 28 votes, the number of MLAs it has in the assembly.
Also Read | Is Uttarakhand moral, psychological victory for Congress over BJP?
Rawats government plunged into crisis on March 18 when nine of his Congress MLAs rebelled and sided with the BJP during the state assemblys budget session.
Appeals and counter-appeals in court followed, leading the matter to the top court which finally asked Rawat to take the floor test.
The Supreme Court also barred the nine Congress rebels from taking part in the voting, held under the supervision of its observer and the entire process was video-graphed.
In between, Rawat, 68, also earned the distinction of serving as chief minister for just 24 hours the shortest stint in the country after the Uttarakhand high court revoked Presidents Rule. The apex court later overturned the decision.
Rawat, however, refrained from targeting the Centre after the apex court order and said the state will need its support for progress.
Also Read | BJPs Uttarakhand loss dents Vijayvargiyas master strategist image
Terming the impasse as a closed chapter, the Congress leader said the BJP-led central government showed magnanimity by informing the Supreme Court about the decision to restore his government.
We need the central governments support. We are a small state but our ambitions are big, a beaming Rawat said,
The Congress attacked the Narendra Modi government in Parliament.
Hope that the Centre would refrain from using Article 356 (by which Presidents Rule is imposed on a state) and stop the murder of democracy, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said amid thumping of desks by party members including Sonia Gandhi.
The issue had rocked Parliament several times during the current session which began on April 25.
Congress workers celebrated in Dehradun, the states capital, by bursting crackers and beating drums.
Read | Uttarakhand: Forget past and begin a new chapter, Harish Rawat tells BJP
With agency inputs
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a fresh assessment of superstar Amitabh Bachchans income tax accounts for 2001-2002, saying the department was right to issue a show-cause notice to the actor who claimed a 30% exemption for personal security expenses.
In his March 2003 income tax return, Bachchan claimed a 30% tax exemption out of his `3.17 crore income on account of personal security expenses. The assessing officer asked him to file the requisite details in this regard.
Through his chartered accountant, Bachchan responded on February 13, 2004. He said the money was spent on personal security by employing guards and agencies to ward off threats from gangsters and extortionists. The star subsequently withdrew the claim and said his chartered accountant wrongly advised him on seeking the exemption. He requested that he be allowed to withdraw the return he filed.
But the claim was rejected by the chief income tax commissioner, who issued a show cause notice asking why the exemption sought should not be treated as unexplained expenditure.
Bachchans response was accepted by the assessing officer, but the commissioner I-T rejected it. The CI-Ts views were rejected by the tribunal and the Bombay high court both of which ruled in the actors favour.An SC bench headed by justice Ranjan Gogoi upheld the income tax departments appeal challenging the Bombay HC verdict.
India has conveyed to Pakistan the need for early and visible progress in the Pathankot airbase terror attack probe in that country, Rajya Sabha was told on Wednesday.
Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary said in Rajya Sabha that the case of terror attack on Pathankot airbase is reported to be under investigation in Pakistan.
The government has emphasised the need for early and visible progress in the investigation in Pakistan of the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack, during meeting of the Indian Foreign Secretary with the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan on April 26, 2016, he said replying a written question.
The Minister said the National Investigation Agency has provided evidences such as certified copies of post-mortem reports, medical legal reports, call data reports, DNA reports, the seizure memo articles from the scene of crime and statements of key witnesses showing involvement of Pakistan based terrorist groups/ individuals to Pakistans Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during its visit to India from March 27-31 in connection with the Pathankot attack.
Seven security personnel were killed in the terror attack on Pathankot airbase carried out by Pakistan-based JeM (Jaish-e-Mohammad) terror group on January 2.
Congress president Sonia Gandhis emotional outburst on Monday has become the partys latest weapon to attack the BJP on social media.
Congress started #LionessSonia on Twitter to cash on Gandhis poll speech in Kerala where she spoke about her life as an Indian.
During a debate on calling attention motion on the VVIP chopper deal in the Lok Sabha last week, Congress partys chief whip Jyotiraditya Scindia had described her as a sherni (lioness) of whom the BJP is scared.
I came here i n 1968 as daughter-in-law of late Indira Gandhi. I lived my whole life as an Indian. Till my last breath I will be here and my ashes will mingle with this land, she had said in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, accusing the RSS-BJP of hounding her for 48 years about her birth in Italy.
As both supporters and baiters hit the #LionessSonia, it quickly became one of the top trending subjects on the micro-blogging website.
Elected MP, Party Prez, Chairperson UPA, NAC Abused as Remote Control?? Then WHAT is Unelected RSS ?, wrote a supporter.
Lions dont lose sleep over the opinion of sheep. More power to you #LionessSonia, read another tweet.
Her critics also used the #LionessSonia to take potshots at the Congress and its president.
Yet another promoted trend. When will these parties learn these dont mean anything except bills from their agencies, read a tweet.
The Congress government has won Tuesdays trust vote in the Uttarakhand assembly, the Supreme Court declared on Wednesday, clearing the decks for the reinstatement of Harish Rawat as the chief minister of the hill state.
The top courts announcement came after a bench examined the report of its observer.
Highlights of the days events related to Uttarakhand-
1:45pm:
- Harish Rawat said in a press conference in Dehradun, Judiciary has come forth as an educator of the Constitution, I want to thank the Supreme Court and the high court.
- After my cabinet is restored, I will meet Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to thank them for their unconditional support.
- I will also meet Prime Minister Modi and finance minister Arun jaitley and will tell them that Uttarakhand needs their support.
1pm:
- Congress leader Ahmed Patel said, Uttarakhand has taught BJP a bitter lesson. No matter how hard they try they can neither intimidate Congress or subvert democracy
-- Ahmed Patel said, Even after trying every trick in book to topple Opposition states,Modi Sarkar has been brought to its knees.Its a victory of democracy.
12:50pm:
- Union minister Venkaiah Naidu said, We have decided to recommend revocation of Presidents rule in Uttarakhand.
12:35pm:
- Mukesh Giri, Special Counsel to Uttarakhand Speaker, said, Court has asked Centre to place on record order of revoking the proclamation of Presidents rule.
Uttarakhand: Supporters dance and celebrate outside Harish Rawat's residence in Dehradun. pic.twitter.com/KFg1FY9u1F ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016
12:30pm: KC Kaushik, appearing for Harish Rawat in SC, said:
- Court dictated the order, 33 votes in favour of Harish Rawat and 28 against him.
- The Attorney General has told SC that they are likely to complete proceedings to revoke Presidents rule in Uttarakhand today.
- Matter will be taken up day after tomorrow for placing the record.
12:25pm:
- Supreme Court says on Uttarakhand floor test: No irregularities in carrying out of the trust vote and voting pattern
12:20pm:
- Rahul Gandhi said, Hope Modiji learns his lesson, people of this country and institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate murder of democracy.
- They did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand.
12:19pm:
- The Supreme Court is told the floor test in Uttarakhand was peaceful and without any irregularity.
12: 18pm:
- Harish Rawat got 33 votes out of 61 qualified members.
12:15pm:
- Order of revocation of Presidents rule will be placed before Supreme Court on Friday.
12:12pm
- Supreme Court says Harish Rawat can take charge as the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
12:10pm:
- Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi says from news reports Rawat has emerged as the winner and therefore th nxt step is for him to form the government.
- We will revoke Presidents rule in Uttarakhand, Centre tells SC
Also Read | Is Uttarakhand moral, psychological victory for Congress over BJP?
The announcement was on expected lines as both the Congress and BJP leaders had said on Tuesday that said Rawat managed 33 votes, two more than the 31 required in a House with an effective strength of 61. The BJP managed 28 votes, the same number of MLAs it has in the assembly.
The apex court ordered the floor test to end the nearly two-month-long impasse in the hill state, triggered by nine Congress rebels sided with the BJP during a debate over the state budget in March.
After several rounds of appeals and counter-appeals in courts, the nine were barred by the Supreme Court from voting in Tuesdays floor test.
The result of the floor test was submitted to the apex court in a sealed envelope on Tuesday.
Also Read | How the day unfolded: 10 things to know about Uttarakhand floor test
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As UK denied deportation of Vijay Mallya, India now stares at a protracted, complex legal battle to secure the extradition of fugitive industrialist.
Deportation involves an executive decision wherein a fugitive is quickly sent back to a country where he or she is required to face the law. In matters of deportation, the vetting of evidence against the fugitive takes place at the government level.
There have been many examples in recent times where fugitives wanted by India were deported back. Gangster Chhota Rajan was deported to India after being arrested in Indonesias Bali. In 2014, Malaysia deported back Ramandeep Singh, who allegedly belonged to militant outfit Khalistani Tiger Force. Many Indians have also been deported back, especially by the Gulf countries on the suspicion of being involved in the activities of the Islamic State.
Read | UK will not deport Vijay Mallya, says extradition possible
But extradition is a layered judicial process where the evidence against the fugitive is produced in a court of law in the country where he or she has fled to. The fugitive also gets a chance to challenge the evidence produced against him or her.
Mixed results
India has a mixed bag of results as far securing extradition is concerned.
India could not secure the extradition of music director Nadeem Saifi from the UK but after protracted, almost five year long legal battle in Portugal, gangster Abu Salem was extradited back to India.
For considering an extradition request, both the countries need to have an extradition treaty in place.
India has a formal extradition treaty with 37 countries. It also has an extradition arrangement with more than half a dozen other countries.
India and the UK signed extradition treaty in 1993.
For securing an extradition, Indian agencies will have to file formal charges against Mallya as soon as possible as normally extradition requests are made only after filing of chargesheets. For that, now the CBI and the ED will conclude their probe against Mallya quickly to bolster the Indian extradition request.
Though India has cancelled Mallyas passport but under the UK laws, he can stay there as long as his visa to enter its territory is valid. The UK had taken similar position in case of former Indian Premier League (IPL ) boss Lalit Modi and allowed him to stay there.
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Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday slammed the central government for acting unconstitutionally in Uttarakhand and demanded its apology.
The Narendra Modi government should apologise to the nation for acting in an unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand, the Aam Aadmi Party leader tweeted.
Hope Modi ji will learn a lesson from Uttarakhand and not do similar misadventure in Delhi by disqualifying our 21 MLAs, he said in another tweet.
Kejriwals remarks came after the central government told the Supreme Court that the Harish Rawat-led Congress government had majority in the Uttarakhand assembly and Presidents Rule would be revoked from the state.
It is also seen as a reaction after 21 AAP legislators, appointed as parliamentary secretaries by the AAP Government last year, filed their replies to the Election Commission in response to a show-cause notice on why they should not be disqualified for occupying offices of profit in violation of the Constitution.
The notice was issued on the basis of a petition filed by Delhi-based advocate Prashant Patel. The high court asked the Delhi Government to reply to its notice by July 1, when the court hears the case next. But it has not stayed the appointments.
The petition argues that the chief minister has no power, jurisdiction or authority to administer oath of office to the Parliamentary Secretaries.
On Tuesday, after the Congress won the floor test in the Uttarakhand assembly, Kejriwal called it a huge setback to the Modi government. Hope they will stop toppling governments now.
Insisting that National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) would destroy state board students career, a DMK MP demanded in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that the Supreme Court order on the common entrance examination for admission to medical and dental colleges in the country be set aside through an Act.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, DMKs K P Ramalingam said, Every state government has a right to fix syllabus. But the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), as a single entrance exam for medical and dental courses in the country, would affect the life of students who are studying in state board syllabus, he said.
He said since the syllabus of NEET is based on CBSC, it is totally unconstitutional and attempt to surpass students, majority of whom are from rural areas and different educational background.
Ramalingam said, the Tamil Nadu government had abolished entrance examination for medical courses in 2007 through an Act. Like Tamil Nadu, some other states too allow admission based on Class 12 marks, he added.
These states believe that there is a huge difference in their syllabus than that of the central board. It is impossible for the students to prepare separately for NEET, the DMK member said.
Criticising an argument of the Medical Council of India, he said while education is different in states, uniformity in entrance exam is totally a matter of contradiction.
Before implementing uniform NEET based on CBEC or any other syllabus, government should come for a new Act to ban the Supreme Court order or to set aside the Supreme Court order, Ramalingam said.
He got support from several members in the House.
The DMK MP also warned that there could be student agitation in the country if NEET is followed.
In his Zero Hour mention, K Rehman Khan (Cong) raised the issue of National Wakf Development Board and wanted to know why the body has remained defunct.
Sharad Yadav (JD-U) expressed concern over the state of government hospitals and demanded expediting of the proposal to set up more AIIMS like hospitals in different parts of the country.
Swait Malik (BJP) raised the issue of a long-pending railway project in Punjab, while Narendra Budania (Cong) talked about stopping of construction work on the Kumbha Ram Arya lift canal in Rajasthan.
Christian Michel, one of the middlemen in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, said in an interview to a news channel on Wednesday, that he never met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and that neither the Congress nor the present NDA government interfered in the deal.
In an interview to India Today TV, Michel also said Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan, former board member of Aeromatrix, was the brain behind the scandal. He said that the only person he had met related to the Agusta deal was former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi.
The BJP stepped up its attack against the Congress alleging that the Italian court judgment on AgustaWestland helicopter graft case had mentioned names of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Ahmad Patel, and former IAF chief S.P. Tyagi, among others.
Firms Finmeccanica, AgustaWestland, IDS Infotech Ltd (India) and Aeromatrix India are the accused companies booked by the CBI in the First Information Report (FIR) lodged in March 2013 in connection with the AgustaWestland case.
The AgustaWestland case refers to alleged bribery and corruption involving several senior officials and helicopter manufacturer AgustaWestland surrounding the purchase of a new fleet of VVIP helicopters by India.
Khaitan, former Aeromatrix board member, and Tyagi were questioned by CBI in recent days.
No, never. I have never met Sonia Gandhi. Never met Manmohan Singh or (former defence minister) A.K. Antony. Congress never interfered in the Agusta deal. I avoid meeting leaders, my expertise is implementation, Michel told the TV news channel, which tracked him down in Dubai.
Modi government has never interfered in the deal, he added.
Gautam Khaitan is certainly the brain behind the scandal. He was responsible for moving the money. He knows everything, he said.
He said that to even imagine leaders like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh involved in the deal was ridiculous.
I think Indian leaders did their job. But to say that a man like Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh or A.K. Antony is involved is ridiculous. No one would believe that, added Michel.
On meeting former IAF chief Tyagi, Michel said: I probably met S.P. Tyagi in Gymkhana Club. I met Tyagi and others, but I wasnt keen on them.
I think Tyagi was used as a tool for (another middlemen Guido) Haschke to get inside AgustaWestland. I dont think he can play any major role. I cant say there were no kickbacks, he added.
Asked about the allegations made by BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy, Michel said: Subramanian Swamy has been misled on Agusta specifics. He has authenticated (documents) what was given in the CAG report.
The CAG report was prepared in great hurry as the deal was always blowing away. They (CAG) are not aviation experts and they are bureaucrats asked to put together documents way beyond their expertise, said Michel.
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump may be facing a lot of hostility back in US but a section in India is praying for his win in the race to the White House.
The Hindu Sena, a right wing group, performed a hawan (religious ceremony) at Delhis Jantar Mantar on Wednesday to pray for his victory in the US presidential elections.
Trump, who has emerged as the frontrunner to be the Republican Partys nominee for the presidential polls, has had a controversial run during the primaries due to his views on women and minorities in the US.
Read | Why a Trump presidency may be good for India
Hindu Sena organised a hawan in support of Donald Trump at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)
Activists of the Hindu Sena smeared a photo of Trump with vermillion amid religious chants at the hawan at the Jantar Mantar.
The ceremony started at 12.30 pm a mahurat decided by priests over two weeks ago -- where posters of Trump were put up to evoke the gods to help in his victory. Along with pictures of Hindu gods Shiva and Hanuman, were pictures of Trump smiling with captions, We support Trump.
The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it, said Vishnu Gupta, founder of the Hindu Sena nationalist group. Only Donald Trump can save humanity.
Read | Indian MPs root for Clinton over Trump in US presidential race
Hindu Sena holding We Support Trump posters at the hawan near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)
We want Donald Trump to win the presidential polls. He has promised to uproot Islamic terror and we support this ideology, said Gupta.
Gupta believes that it is only Trump, who has the guts to stand by his promises of eradicating Islamic terrorism.
I have been a follower of his speeches and the world needs a strong leader like him to be able to counter Islamic terror groups. Especially for a country like ours, which has bitter relations with our neighbours, we need a strong anti-terror policy to keep the terrorists at bay, he said.
Gupta is also planning to organise a march outside the American Embassy, later this month, so that all US-based Indians support Trump in the race for president.
The world has become a single unit now, and I want our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, to support and campaign for Trump, said Gupta.
Sunil Kumar, a member of the group, said that the aim of the one-hour hawan was to ward off terror groups such as ISIS, and al-Qaida.
Also read | India is doing great and no one is talking about it: Donald Trump
Donald Trump for President, in America or in India
The class 9 student of a Delhi government school who died on Sunday succumbed to internal bleeding caused by an overdose of iron-folic acid tablets, doctors said.
Sapna Pal reportedly popped 50-60 tablets.
She was brought to Hindu Rao Hospital on May 5 with complaints of stomach ache and blood in the stool. On taking her history, the doctors realised she had taken 50-60 iron folic acid tablets. This led the doctors to suspect that there might be ulcerations in her gastro-intestinal tract and iron depositions in her organs, said Dr DK Seth, director of hospital administration for North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
The question is how did the girl get hold of so many tablets? The hospital has registered a medico-legal case and an autopsy has been performed. The reports are awaited, said Dr Seth.
According to officials from the Directorate of Education, the girl had been given eight tablets on May 4 along with other students at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyakaya in Wazirpur and complained of stomach ache the next day.
The eight tablets were to be consumed over eight weeks during summer holiday one every week, the officials said.
The iron-folic acid tablets are given once a week to 13 crore school-going children from class VI-XII to combat adolescent anaemia under the Weekly Iron and Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) programme.
The other children in her class shared that for the past few days she looked disturbed. Though she was not crying and but remained in isolation, said a senior Directorate of Education official.
When the girl complained of stomach ache, the family suspected it was menstrual pain and bleeding and she was taken to a neighbourhood doctor, who put her on glucose after which her hands started to swell. She was referred to Hindu Rao Hospital.
Since the doctors at Hindu Rao suspected iron toxicity, she was given chelation (a treatment under which medicines which can bond with iron and flush it out with urine are administered). Despite their best efforts, the girl died due to liver failure and bleeding in her stomach and intestines, said Dr Seth.
The Delhi government has ordered an inquiry by SDM Saraswati Vihar into the death, a government spokesperson said.
Iron-folic acid tablets are considered to be safe if given in proper dose. Iron and folic acid tablets do not cause any reaction, especially such severe reactions. The compounds naturally occur in many food items like spinach, apples etc. It is given to children who are growing so that they do not get anaemia, said Dr SP Byotra, head of department of medicine at Sir Ganga Ram hospital. The medicine is routinely given to pregnant women too.
A mid-air hydraulic leakage forced a Patna-bound IndiGo flight with 154 passengers and six crew members onboard to return to Bangalore airport after being airborne for over 50 minutes.
The flight 6E-637 took off from the Kempegowdga International Airport in Bangalore at 1207 hours but landed back safely at around 1300 hours this afternoon.
Confirming the return of its flight due to the hydraulic leakage, an IndiGo spokesperson here said that the commander of the aircraft followed all standard operating procedures required for such a situation.
IndiGo confirms that 6E-637 flight enroute from Bangalore to Patna had returned to the airport due to technical reasons, the airline said.
While the flight was airborne, the Captain-in-Command noticed a leakage in the hydraulic line - as a precautionary measure, Captain immediately asked the Air Traffic Control (ATC) for priority landing, the spokesperson said.
The snag-hit aircraft landed back at the Bangalore airport at 1257 hours, it said adding all passengers later left for their destination in another aircraft.
The Captain followed all standard operating procedures prescribed for such situations. At IndiGo the safety and security of customers, crew and the aircraft is the top priority, it added.
Upbeat over the partys victory in the Uttarakhand trust vote, the Congress on Wednesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding an apology from him for imposition of the Presidents rule in the hill state.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, who is indisposed and has been advised bed rest for a few days, was the first to attack the PM after the Centre informed the Supreme Court that ousted Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat had the legislative majority and his government will be restored soon.
They (BJP) did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand! Gandhi tweeted.
Hope Modiji learns his lesson. People of this country and the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy! he said in another tweet.
The victory in Uttarakhand is seen as a moral victory for the Congress, which had a few months earlier lost Arunachal Pradesh due to rebellion within the organisation and is struggling to contain dissidence in other party-ruled states.
At the same time, it is an embarrassment for the NDA government that had dismissed the Congress government and invoked Article 356 after nine ruling party legislators sided with the BJP on the Appropriation Bill.
Rawat, 68, is now set to be reinstated as the Uttarakhand CM as he bagged 33 out of the 61 votes in the floor test on Tuesday. Nine Congress rebels could not vote as they had been disqualified by the Speaker.
Prime Minister should apologise in Parliament and sack the minister who advised him to impose Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said at a party press briefing.
Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal also took to twitter to attack the Centre. Modi Govt shud apologise to the nation for acting in unconstitutional and undemocratic manner in Uttarakhand, he tweeted.
The CPM termed it a big setback to the anti-constitutional conspiracy hatched by the BJP of trying to topple the government in Uttarakhand.
The BJP should learn that its resort to such methods at subterfuge to remove democratically elected state governments headed by opposition parties will not succeed, it said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis comparison of Kerala with Somalia during a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in Kasargod has not gone down well with the citizens of the state.
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, Malayalam newspaper Kerala Kaumudi quoted Modi as saying.
Chief minister Oommen Chandy wrote a stinging letter to Modi after his speech, saying it was a blatant lie and unbecoming of a Prime Minister.
You made statements that had nothing to do with reality and likened Kerala to Somalia. This is unbecoming of a prime minister and has created a great deal of agony, Chandy said in his letter.
What was your motive behind saying such a blatant lie to the people of Kerala? he asked.
CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury also hit out at Modi for comparing Kerala to the sub-Saharan African nation. Somalias HDI is 0.285 (ranking: 229), Keralas is 0.712. Indias ONLY high HDI state, itd rank 104 globally. So much for the comparison, Yechury tweeted.
The comparison also triggered scathing reactions on Twitter from people of the state, where the Prime Ministers party has never won a seat in the assembly. Tweeple used Malayalam superstar Mohanlals iconic dialogue - Po mone Dinesha - in his hit movie Narasimham to troll Modis comment.
Many tweeted their reactions using the hashtag #pomoneModi - roughly translates to- go home, kid.
Here is a lowdown of what happened on Twitter:
Po as in paw. #PoMoneModi roughly translates to "get lost Modi". It is a rehash of Mohanlal's dialogue in Narasimham movie: Po Mone Dinesha sebinaj (@sebinaj) May 10, 2016
When you go to a state and ask for their votes, you don't insult them as 'a Beemaru state' or comparing to Somalia. #PoMoneModi Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) May 11, 2016
In Kerala there is enough food for everyone. In Gujarat malnourishment is attributed to bad fashion choices. #PoMoneModi Entire Brumby (@brumbyOz) May 11, 2016
When he hurt Bihari pride, Bihar paid him back. Now it's Kerala's turn #PoMoneModi Saptarshi Basu (@sabeaux) May 11, 2016
PM of India compares the most developed state of the country with #Somalia.
No wonder ppl are questioning his degrees #PoMoneModi Santoesha Bissesar (@MsSantoesha) May 10, 2016
Pic 1 : How people see me
Pic 2 : How Modiji sees me#PoMoneModi pic.twitter.com/eM8CcEyYjg Darth Syddius (@Syddie) May 10, 2016
A PM drawing parallels between a state with the highest HDI & Somalia is just so so crass & acerbic. #PoMoneModi SamSays (@samjawed65) May 10, 2016
Modi hates #Kerala because its achievements are real and not merely photoshopped! #PoMoneModi Jay Ambadi (@jay_ambadi) May 10, 2016
It is #Kerala's turn to dismiss Modi's insults with the contempt it deserve.. with a #PoMoneModi Jay Ambadi (@jay_ambadi) May 10, 2016
What else can you expect from a person who said female Malnutrition in high in Gujarat because they were dieting? #PoMoneModi Weed (@goonerblues) May 10, 2016
In other news, Somalians attempt to trend #ThankYouModi after he compares them to Kerala #PoMoneModi Vishnu Prasad (@visheprasad) May 11, 2016
The NDA government on Wednesday cleared four names for appointment as judges of the Supreme Court. President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the appointment of Madhya Pradesh high court chief justice AM Khanwilkar, Allahabad high court chief justice DY Chandrachud, Kerala high court chief justice Ashok Bhushan and senior advocate and former additional solicitor general L Nageshwar Rao as Supreme Court judges.
4 Supreme Court Judges appointed today. Recommendations from SC collegium received on 3.5.2016 and appointed on 11.5.16. Govt. took 6 working days in processing and appointing (sic.), law minister DV Sadananda Gowda announced on twitter.
They are likely to take oath at the earliest after issuance of a formal notification by the Law Ministry, government sources said.
With these four appointments, the Supreme Courts current strength would go up from 25 judges to 29 judges against a sanctioned strength of 31 judges, helping it in its struggle against a backlog of 60,000 cases.
The top courts collegium headed by Chief Justice of India TS Thakur had last week recommended these four names for elevation as SC judges.
Read | Supreme Court likely to induct four more judges, total may go up to 29
Rao, who represented Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa in a corruption case in the Supreme Court, has also served as an ASG for the UPA-II government and the present NDA government. If appointed, Rao would be the third senior advocate in recent years after UU Lalit and R Nariman to be made an SC judge.
These appointments to the top court assume significance as five more vacancies are due to occur in the SC later this year. The judges due to retire include - justice FMI Kalifulla (July), justice V Gopala Gowda and justice C Nagappan (October), justice Anil R Dave and justice Shiva Kirti Singh (November). Delay in appointment of judges to the SC can reduce the SCs strength to 20 at the end of this year.
Last month, CJI Thakur had almost broken down while talking about judicial vacancies and the problem of backlog and blasted the government for not implementing the Law Commissions 1987 recommendations that required the judges strength to be increased to 40,000. Currently, there are only 21,000 sanctioned posts of judges and 4,000 of these posts are vacant.
1. AM Khanwilkar
Born in Pune, 58-year-old Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar is the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. Before being appointed to this position on 23 November 2013, Khanwilkar was the Chief Justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Prior to this, he was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Bombay HC in 2000 and confirmed as permanent Judge in 2002.
2. DY Chandradud
Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud was born in November 1959 to the 16th Chief Justice of India, Yeshawant Vishnu Chandradud. He obtained an LL.M. degree and completed his Doctorate of Judicial Sciences at Harvard University. He has had a successful career as a lawyer and was appointed Judge of Bombay HC before being sworn in as Chief Justice of Allahabad HC in 2013.
3.Ashok Bhushan
59-year-old Ashok Bhushan was sworn in as the 31st Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court in March 2015. Born in Jaunpur (Uttar Pradesh) in 1956, Ashok Bhushan graduated with a bachelors degree in arts before obtaining a law degree in 1979. He worked as an advocate in the Allahabad HC before being elevated as a permanent Judge of the same HC in 2001.
4.L Nageswara Rao
The only lawyer of the four recommendations, Lavu Nageswara Rao is a former Additional Solicitor General. He studied law in his hometown Guntur and practised as an advocate in the Andhra Pradesh High Court before moving to Delhi to practise at the Supreme Court. At present, he is a senior advocate.
Also read | With fewer judges, nearly 13 lakh cases pending in Punjab, Haryana
The Centre revoked Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand on Wednesday after chief minister Harish Rawat proved his majority on the floor of the House.
The Congress won by a margin of 33-28 in the floor test on Tuesday.
With nine Congress rebels barred from voting, the strength of the 71-member assembly was 62. Sources said 28 MLAs voted for the BJP.
Rawat, in a very optimistic note, had said on Wednesday that the dark clouds over Uttarakhand would finally drift away after the Supreme Courts formal announcement.
Rawat would chair a cabinet meeting on Thursday morning at the Uttarakhand secretariat.
Victory resounded for the Congress in the decisive Uttarakhand floor test as the Supreme Court earlier on Wednesday announced that the grand old party now has the majority in the state assembly.
The court said no irregularities were found in voting. The result of the trust vote was handed over to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover earlier on Wednesday with video recording of the proceedings in the state assembly.
The decision to revoke Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand has created an atmosphere of jubilation in the state Congress camp. The party said it is a victory of democracy.
Harish Rawat welcomed the decision of revoking Presidents Rule in Uttarakhand by the Centre.
Addressing a press conference, Rawat said the decision of the apex court generated confidence among the public in the judicial system of the country. He also said SCs decision should not be viewed as a matter of victory or defeat.
Rawat said that the Centres assistance in development work of the state is essential and rejected the possibility of mid-term election in the state.
The Centre had imposed Presidents Rule in the state on March 27, arguing that the Rawat government lost majority when nine rebel Congress MLAs voted against the state governments annual budget.
An independent fact-finding team has found rampant human rights violations in south Chhattisgarhs Bastar zone and said the deteriorating law and order situation in the strife-torn area is a cause for concern.
The four-member group, comprising former judge of Bombay high court justice H Suresh, former Border Security Force chief EN Rammohan, TISS (Guwahati) director Virginius Xaxa and senior journalist Saba Naqvi, said the incidents of atrocities inflicted by the police force in Bastar region appears to be extensive.
The seven tribal dominated districts of Bastar zone, that share borders with Telangana, Maharashtra, and Odisha, are the areas worst affected by Maoist violence.
They felt the governor is not playing the effective role and should intervene to safeguard the rights of tribals in the area where Fifth Schedule of the Constitution is in force. The Fifth Schedule provides protection to tribals living in the Scheduled Areas of nine states in the country.
The team, which was on a three-day visit to Sukma, Dantewada and Jagdalpur from May 5, interacted with tribal villagers and the journalists who are lodged in jail. However, despite their repeated attempts, the team failed to meet the Bastar inspector general of police SRP Kalluri. Kalluri said he was busy with anti-Maoist operations.
During a press conference in Raipur, members of the panel shared their findings saying the situation is appalling in Bastar and added that the police have a very adverse image in this area.
The role of governor assumes significance to execute the policy related to the rights of the tribals in the Bastar area falling under the Fifth Schedule, Rammohan said.
TISS director Xaxa asserted a raging lawlessness in Bastar and journalist Naqvi alleged that there are incidents where police and the security forces beat the tribals and had outraged the modesty of women.
The behaviour of the police is quite objectionable. During their search operation the forces chase away the men, molest women and snatch their food and other belongings, they said.
Expressing his disappointment, justice Suresh said the police are not able to apprehend the real Maoists and the tribals from remote locations are reportedly being targeted.
The team met the three journalists Prabhat Singh, Santosh Yadav and Somaru Nag lodged in Jagdalpur jail.
Singh was arrested in March under the IT act for writing an objectionable message on WhatsApp. Yadav, who was reportedly working for multiple Hindi newspapers including Dainik Navbharat and Dainik Chhattisgarh, was arrested on September 29 and Nag on July 16. Nag was a stringer as well as newsagent with Hindi daily Rajasthan Patrika.
While Nag has been charged under the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act, Yadav has been booked under the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA).
We were shocked to learn that the police tortured them and took their signatures on papers, Naqvi said.
The fact-finding team will also meet state government officials to apprise them of their observations.
Raja Chaitanya Kumar Vemula, brother of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit research scholar whose suicide earlier this year sparked nationwide outrage, has refused to join the Grade-IV job offered to him by the Delhi Government. He has, however, said he would reconsider if offered a better post.
Raja, who was offered a Lower Division Clerk (Grade-IV) job in the Delhi Administrative Services through a letter dated April 4, has written to the Kejriwal government asking for a couple of months to consider the job offer.
Soon after I got an offer letter, I wrote to the Delhi government seeking a higher position. I also sought two months time, instead of two-week deadline. I am awaiting a reply, Raja told HT on Wednesday.
His friends said he was not happy with the Grade-IV job offered to him.They also said he was upset with the PIL filed by petitioner Avadhut Kaushik challenging the Delhi Cabinets decision to provide a job as well as a government accommodation to Raja on out of turn basis. Let me see how the government responds, Raja said.
Venkatesh Chowhan, convenor of University of Hyderabads Joint Action Committee of students and lecturers, told HT that Raja was not interested in accepting the job offer made by Kejriwal government. It was a petty job, that too, given on a temporary basis. We have also written to the Kejriwal government to consider giving him a bigger post keeping in view his qualification. However, there has been no response from the Delhi government till date, he said.
Raja holds a Post-Graduate degree in Applied Geology from Pondicherry University, with 72.8 per cent marks. He also qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET) recently and wants to pursue his PhD course.
University Of Hyderabad professor Tathagat Sengupta, who has been leading the agitation seeking justice for Rohit Vemula, told HT that the job offer made by the Delhi Government was not befitting Rajas qualification. He should not have been offered such a small job. If Kejriwal had sympathy for Rohiths family, he should have provided a bigger post, he said.
Rohiths friends and faculty in the UoH are of the view that justice would be done if the University itself comes forward to provide a suitable job to Raja Vemula. Why such a small post in Delhi which is very far? Raja should be given a job in the University of Hyderabad itself. That will be a tribute to Rohith, Venkatesh said.
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Telecom operators under their umbrella association heaved a sigh of relief on Wednesday with the Supreme Court striking down the watchdogs order to compensate subscribers for call drops, and said the real issues need to be fixed now.
We are very pleased with the Supreme court Verdict. It affirms what we have been saying all along, Rajan S. Mathews, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India, told IANS, alluding to a host of factors being responsible for the menace of call drops.
Now, let us move forward and fix the real issues -- like having more cell towers, affordable spectrum and working with the local authorities to get the infrastructure in place, Rajan said, just ahead of the next round of auction for airwaves.
Read more: Its unreasonable: SC strikes down Trais call drop levy on telcos
In its ruling, the apex court bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman struck down the December 16, 2015 notification of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on call drops, as it set aside a Delhi High Court judgement that had upheld it earlier.
Unreasonable, arbitrary and non-transparent were the reasons assigned by the apex court.
Telecom operators had been maintaining that the watchdogs order was not only populist but also sought to penalise them to accommodate the customers, although there were several reasons for the same -- and many not in their hands entirely.
The watchdog had been arguing that the penalty was the least invasive way to deal with the issue and told the apex court that the service providers must enhance their investments in infrastructure as they were earning huge revenues.
The watchdog had directed that the operators credit one rupee to a mobile users account for every call drop starting January 1, 2016 -- restricting such penalty to three occurances per subscriber per day.
The apex court, during the hearing, had wondered if the watchdog had studied its own technical paper carefully before the decision on call drop.
The technical paper clearly said these problem facing the sector included paucity of spectrum, interferences, shortage of towers, electromagnetic frequency, right-of-way and multiple agencies, including civic bodies, for getting clearances for putting up the towers.
Terming trafficking as a major challenge, Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Monday said sex tourism and child pornography among others have emerged as the major threats to children.
Addressing the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC) here, Singh said protection of children is everyones responsibility and hence all must work in convergence with as many stake holders as possible including parents, teachers, children and community.
Trafficking is another major challenge for all of us. With increasing access to information technology and changing nature of our globalised economy; new threats for children are emerging - sex tourism, child pornography, online threats to children among others, he said.
The home minister said at the same time, large number of children are adversely affected due to rapid climate change, disasters and conflict.
We are increasingly realizing that we cannot commit ourselves to protecting children without providing an overarching social protection network to them and their families. The biggest challenge is to identify and track children and their families who are vulnerable and reach out to them, he said.
Singh said in India, the government is trying to ensure a protective environment for children by bringing all citizens, including children under the purview of social security by linking them with AADHAAR - Unique Identification number which will empower them to access to their entitlements directly without any hindrance.
We have set up a National Portal the Track Child which not only has data on missing children but it also has live database to monitor the progress of the found children who are availing various services in different Child Care Institutions, he said.
The Home Minister said in recent past, a large number of The Home Minister said in recent past, a large number of children were rescued and restore them to their families or provide a protected environment to them through a special initiative called Operation Smile - a drive pioneered jointly by Police, Ministry of Women and Child Development, District administration, civil society organisations and community.
Singh said safety, security, dignity and well-being of our children and young people will determine the wellbeing and strength of our countries.
SAIEVAC is a coalition of States which aims at protection of the rights of children, particularly protection of children from all forms of discrimination, abuse, neglect, exploitation, torture, trafficking; that is any kind of violence. The mandate of SAIEVAC is to safeguard childhood and to positively value children, he said.
The Home Minister said in todays fast moving world, many challenges exist for the children. Despite the economic growth, there is a huge population which still lives in poverty and deprivation. This adversely affects the survival, health and overall development of children.
In another twist to the Sheena Bora murder case probe, Indrani Mukerjeas driver Shyamwar Rai not only confessed to have helped murder Sheena but also said he wants to turn approver and disclose the truth about the case.
Rai is the key accused whose arrest with a 7.65mm pistol at Khar led police officials to unearth Sheenas murder.
Rai last week forwarded a one-page letter to the court stating his intention to reveal the details of the criminal conspiracy and execution of Sheenas murder.
Judge HS Mahajan on Wednesday accepted his plea.
When the court asked Rai how he knew about the murder, Rai said that he was present at the time of the incident, and was among the participants in the murder.
I am aware about the facts connected to the commission of offence of killing of Sheena Bora by strangulation, Rai told the court.
He further said that he is ready to tell the truth to the court as he has regrets what happened and he is under no pressure.
The court has now given one weeks time to the prosecution to reply to Rais plea.
Earlier last month, Rai alleged that he was threatened in Arthur Road jail, and hence was shifted to Thane jail. The court had slammed the jail authorities for not producing him before the court, and ordered the jail authorities to bring him to court on Wednesday.
Rai is the crucial link in the case which led to the arrest of Indrani Mukerjea, her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna for Sheenas murder. Khar police on the basis of a tip off had arrested Rai on August 21 from Carter Road area of Mumbai with the weapon and three live cartridges with him.
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Police on Wednesday sealed the house of suspended Janata Dal (United) legislator Manorama Devi, who is said to be on the run after an arrest warrant was issued against her under the new state excise law.
Devis son Rakesh Ranjan Yadav, also known as Rocky, and her husband Bindi Yadav are already in jail over the killing of Aditya Sachdeva, a businessmans son, in a case of road rage on Saturday evening.
We did not find her (Manorama Devi) there when the police went to seal her house this morning, Gaya district magistrate Kumar Ravi told HT .
Now that we have been able to ascertain that the house was in Devis name, we have moved to arrest her, he said.
Domestic help and staff at Devis residence claimed that madam had not come to the house since Tuesday.
Excise Dept & Bihar Police seal Manorama Devi's house in Gaya.Arrest warrant issued agnst her ovr liquor prohibition pic.twitter.com/CXIXpBKHJv ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016
The arrest warrant was issued after bottles of liquor were found during a police raid to nab Rocky at Devis posh Anugrah Puri residence late on Tuesday evening. Possession of liquor is a cognizable offence under the excise act after Bihar government imposed a total prohibition on April 5. The offence attracts 5-10 years jail term and penalty up to Rs 10 lakh.
Police arrested Bindi Yadav and the MLCs bodyguard Rajesh Kumar, who were with Rocky when he allegedly shot dead Sachdeva for overtaking his Land Rover, on Sunday. Bindi Yadav allegedly helped Rocky to escape.
Rocky was arrested from Bodh Gaya early on Tuesday and remanded to 14 days judicial custody.
6 bottles of liquor was recovered y'day. Accordingly action is being taken: Vikas Singh,Asst. Commission,Excise Dept pic.twitter.com/xgEFLh5t8W ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016
Devi, a legislative council member of the ruling JD (U), was suspended from the party on Tuesday. Partys state president Vashishtha Narain Singh said a show-cause notice has been served to her and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said rule of law would always remain the USP of the JD(U).
Officials said as soon as the arrest warrant was issued against Devi, she fled her home late on Tuesday night and a search operation was launched to find her.
KK Pathak, principal secretary of the state excise and prohibition department, told HT the MLC would be arrested soon.
Recovery of bottles from her residence is proof enough for legal action as per the new excise law, he said.
I have asked for the inclusion of MLCs name in the old FIR or lodging of a fresh one. When liquor has been recovered from her residence, how can she remain out of it, he added.
No case was initially instituted against Devi, which was raised by leader of opposition in the legislative council Sushil Kumar Modi during a press conference.
In a recent case, two FIRs were lodged against Narkatiaganj Congress MLA Vinay Verma after a sting operation showed him offering alcohol to his guests, though liquor bottles could not be recovered from his residence during raids.
The Bihar government imposed a complete ban on sale and consumption of liquor on April 5. Nearly 8,000 people have been arrested in the pre-prohibition swoop and the first 35 days of total prohibition in the state.
Read | AK-47s, SLRs: Rocky Yadavs Facebook posts show his love of guns
The Supreme Court will hear the petition of nine rebel Congress legislators of Uttarakhand on Wednesday but they apparently dont want to wait that long to decide their future course of action. After Tuesdays trust vote, rebels are mulling to join Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Rebels told HT that they will hold meeting in New Delhi this week.
Ninety-nine percent chances are that we will join BJPfinal decision will be taken soon after mutual consultation (with other disqualified legislators), said Harak Singh Rawat, who engineered the split along with former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna.
Harak, who has been in loggerheads with deposed chief minister Harish Rawat, said the voting inside the Uttarakhand assembly on Tuesday was on anticipated line.
Read | Its over to SC as Rawat expects victory in Uttarakhand trust vote
Had the court permitted us to vote then it would have been altogether a different situation, Harak told HT over phone from New Delhi.
Parliament passed budget for Uttarakhand and this proves our stand that Appropriation Bill had not passed on March 18.
Besides Harak and Bahuguna, Shaila Rani Rawat, Shailendra Mohan Singhal, Umesh Sharma Kau, Pradeep Batra, Subodh Uniyal, Pranav Singh Champion and Amrita Rawat rebelled against Harish Rawat.
Read | Is Uttarakhand moral, psychological victory for Congress over BJP?
After several rounds of appeals and counter-appeals in courts, the nine rebels, disqualified by speaker Govind Kunjwal, were barred by the Supreme Court from voting in Tuesdays floor test.
Among the nine names, Harak Singh was elected on a BJP ticket in 1991 and was the youngest minister in the Kalyan Singh government in Uttar Pradesh.
Amrita Rawat, whose husband Satpal Maharaj left the Congress in 2014 to join the BJP, is also okay with Haraks plan.
Shailendra Mohan Singhal, a three time rebel MLA from Jaspur constituency also said that he is interested in joining BJP. Considered close to Vijay Bahuguna, Singhal also enjoys cordial relations with veteran Congressman ND Tiwari.
Read | As it happened: Cong claims victory in Uttarakhand trust vote
Subodh Uniyal, a close associate of Vijay Bahuguna, said they are considering options before making a final decision.
We will meet this week and decide whether launching a political outfit is doable or should we join (BJP), Uniyal told HT.
BJP sources said there was reservation among a section of leaders on welcoming the Congress rebels. Party general secretary Virender Bisht said central leadership will take a call on the issue.
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Congress leader Harish Rawat, set to return as the Uttarakhand chief minister, on Wednesday said he had no acrimony with the central government and will need its support for the states progress.
It has been a tense period, a period of uncertainty and the state suffered losses. But all is well that ends well, Rawat told reporters after the central government told the Supreme Court that it was revoking Presidents Rule from the state.
It is a closed chapter now, he said, referring to the events since March 27 when the central government dismissed him as the chief minister citing poor governance.
The Congress government won the trust vote in the Uttarakhand assembly, the Supreme Court declared on Wednesday, clearing the decks for the reinstatement of Harish Rawat as chief minister of the hill state.
Read | Harish Rawat back as Uttarakhand CM, Cong says hope PM learnt a lesson
Rawat said the BJP-led central government and Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi showed magnanimity by informing the Supreme Court about the decision to withdraw Presidents Rule and restore his government.
We need the central governments support. We are a small state but our ambitions are big, a beaming Rawat said.
He also exhorted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to forget the past experience and begin a new chapter.
Want to thank & tell my friends in BJP, "Let us forget the past experience and begin a new chapter": H Rawat pic.twitter.com/XyBdsMmDWG ANI (@ANI_news) May 11, 2016
He, however, made it clear that he was yet to be the chief minister again because the union cabinet had not recommended revocation of Presidents Rule.
Rawat thanked everybody including his past and present supporters after the historic conclusion of the more than 45-day long legal battle that culminated in a floor test on Tuesday.
He said the Supreme Court decision to allow him to prove his legislative majority had strengthened peoples faith in Indian judiciary and constitutional values.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwats addresses during the international convention Living the Right Way starting in Ninora village on Thursday will be seen in light of three major issues which RSS and its political outfit Bharatiya Janata Party is struggling with.
Though both want to woo Dalits and non-Hindus, the two have stepped up measures to construct a Ram temple in Ayodhya which they plan to launch as a movement from November-December this year. The third factor is the caste-based reservation which Bhagwat has publicly opposed in the last one year.
Though BJP leaders believe reservations in government jobs and educational institutions will continue, the party is exploring ways to address concerns of general category people who have supported reservation based on economic conditions and not castes. The Gujarat governments decision to reserve seats for general category is the first step in this direction.
Organised as part of the Simhastha fair, the Ninora conference in Ujjain district will hold parallel deliberations on religion, climate change, agriculture, women power, cottage industry, clean water bodies, science and spirituality, attended by NGO representatives and subject experts from about 41 countries.
While Bhagwat will inaugurate the three-day inter-faith convention, the PM will address it on the concluding day in presence of Sri Lanka president Maithripal Shirisena. BJP Rajya Sabha member and convention in-charge Anil Dave said 3,500 guests including heads of religious faiths and saints will attend the conference.
Gayatri Parivar head Pranav Pandya, Juna Akhada head Swami Avadheshanand, spiritualist Jaggi Vasudev, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, environmentalist Vandana Shiva, Jaya Jaitley (on cottage industry), foreign affairs minister Sushama Swaraj are the delegates likely to be present at the conference.
Bhagwat meets Bhaiyyu Maharaj
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat who was in Indore on Wednesday met social worker Bhaiyyu Maharaj at the latters residence in the Vijaynagar area to inquire about his health.
Bhaiyu Maharaj was in news after he alleged that some unidentified persons had attempted to kill him twice by staging road accidents on the highway when he was coming to Indore from Pune a few days back. He suffered injuries in his head and leg in the incident..
A release issued by Bhaiyyu Maharaj said Bhagwat stayed there for nearly one and half hours and condemned the attack .
The Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Phadnavis has already ordered a inquiry into the matter and there are reports that five persons are being questioned by Maharashtra police in this regard.
Bhagwat, who is here to take part in the Vichar Mahakumbh at Ninora, refused to talk to the media about the meeting.
An Ola cab driver was arrested for allegedly molesting and stalking a 30-year-old woman. The accused harassed her through repeated phone calls after which she approached the police.
50-year-old Pradeep Tiwari, the cab driver, was arrested on Monday evening.
Read more: Ola driver who molested Belgian woman deleted call log to evade arrest
The woman, a private company employee, had hired the cab from Powai, a north-eastern suburb in Mumbai, on Saturday evening.
Tiwari took her via a longer route and all the while kept looking at her in the mirror. During the ride, Tiwari kept hurling abuses at other drivers for overtaking his car, said a police officer.
Read more: Ola driver arrested for molesting 23-year-old Belgian woman in Delhi
When the car reached its destination, she asked the driver to behave which led to an argument.
When she tried to walk away, Tiwari followed her to the apartment elevator abusing her all the while. According to the police he also made lewd gestures.
He called her many times in the following days and continued to harass her. Even when she blocked his number, Tiwari managed to call her using a new number. Having had enough, she approached a police station in Dindoshi area.
We have registered a case against the driver and he was arrested. We are checking if he has any similar cases against him, said Girish Anavkar, Dindoshi police station inspector.
Mumbai civic administrations health department has launched a probe into an alleged incident of turning away patients by hospital staff as they celebrated Haldi Kumkum, a popular womens festival, and played loud music.
The hospital authorities, however, refuted that inconvenience was caused to patients due to the celebration.
In an anonymous complaint, it was alleged that in March, around 10 to 15 staff, including doctors, nurses and class IV workers of Diwaliben Mehta Hospital in Chembur turned away patients and played loud music while celebrating the festival.
Medical superintendent and supervisor of Diwaliben Mehta Hospital, Dr Pradeep Jadhav said, Following a complaint filed with us, we set up a committee to investigate the incident and the report would be submitted in a day or two.
Jadhav added that as per initial findings, it does not concur that any rules were broken.
A senior official of the health department, requesting anonymity, said, The allegation levelled against the staff is baseless. Not a single patient has come forward to substantiate the charges.
The festival was celebrated in several hospitals of the city. All the patients were duly attended to as it was organised during post-duty hours. Moreover, it was a ceremony only for women, and all male staff including doctors were at work, he said.
The decision of Shyamwar Rai, Indrani Mukerjeas former driver, to turn approver that is, become a witness for the prosecution in exchange for a pardon represents a huge boost for the CBI in the Sheena Bora murder case.
Since Indrani was arrested by the Khar police on August 25 last year, there were whispers at Khar police station that to prove their case, it would be necessary to turn Rai into an approver. It was Rais arrest in a weapons-possession case just days earlier that had blown the lid off the Sheena Bora murder.
This plan, which the CBI stuck with after it was handed the case in October 2015, came to fruition when Rai confessed in court on Wednesday that he had helped murder Sheena and that he wished to give evidence against the other accused, Indrani and her ex-husband Sanjeev Khanna, in exchange for a pardon. Rai had made his intentions clear last week, when he wrote that he wished to reveal details of the conspiracy and execution of Sheenas murder in a two-page letter to the CBI court.
When the court asked Rai how he knew about the murder, he said he was present at the time of the incident and was among the participants, along with the other accused. I am aware about the facts connected to the commission of offence of killing of Sheena Bora by strangulation, Rai told the court.
Indrani, Peter Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna were also produced in court on Wednesday.
Rai is a crucial witness for the CBI as it was his arrest that led to the unravelling of Sheenas murder. The Khar police, acting on a tip-off, had arrested Rai on August 21, 2015 from Carter Road with a weapon and three live cartridges.
During his interrogation, Rai allegedly confessed to Sheenas murder. Rai, in his statements to the Khar police and later the CBI, said that Indrani had planned the murder with Khanna.
As part of the plan, he said he and Indrani had travelled to Raigad for a reconnaissance on April 23, 2012. When they returned to Mumbai, Indrani booked a room for Khanna at Hotel Hilltop in Worli, Rai said. The next day, Indrani and Rai picked up Khanna from the hotel in a rented car and drove to a spot near National College in Bandra and waited for Sheena to meet them there.
When Sheena arrived around 7pm, she got into the car and sat in the rear seat with Khanna, Rai said in his statement. Indrani, who was sitting in the front seat next to Rai, instructed him to drive into a deserted bylane near Pali Naka in Bandra.
It was here that Khanna strangulated Sheena inside the car, according to Rai. Later, sometime between 1.30am and 2am on April 25, 2012, Indrani, Khanna and Rai got into the car, with Sheenas body in a bag in the boot, and left for Gagode village in Pen tehsil of Raigad district.
Around 4am, after identifying an isolated spot near the village on the Raigad highway, the three dumped the bag containing Sheenas body there. They then poured petrol over the bag and burned it, according to Rais statement.
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A day after a class 11 student and his friend were allegedly ragged and beaten up in the hostel of Delhi Public School in Sector 30, the victims father said he will not send his child to that school again.
On the night of May 9, a class 11 student was allegedly ragged and beaten up with iron rods by a group of class 12 students. When one of his friends tried to help him, he was also roughed up.
Both were admitted to a hospital from where they were discharged after primary treatment. The victims father took him back to his hometown in Bulandshahr while his friend returned to the hostel.
I dont think I will be able to send him back to the same school. We are waiting for him to recover from his injuries. Once he gets better, we will see what can be done. I will request the school authorities to transfer my son to any other branch in Noida, the victims father said over the phone from Bulandshahr.
A case was registered on Tuesday at Sector 20 police station against six identified and 10-12 unidentified students of class 12 who stay in the hostel. However, as all of the accused are minors and dont have any criminal record, the police said they will deal with the case very carefully.
We are investigating the case with the help of the child welfare committee. We will make sure a fair probe is being conducted in the case. Also, as the accused are juveniles, we are dealing with them very carefully as their futures are at stake, said Kiran Sivakumar, senior superintendent of police (SSP), Gautam Budh Nagar.
Meanwhile, the school administration said they have suspended the six students named in the FIR. Students are our priority and we will do everything possible to ensure that they are safe. The incident was very unfortunate. We have suspended all six students who were named in the FIR, pending inquiry by our school committee set up for the purpose. One of the victims has come back to the school and is attending classes. We are investigating the matter from every aspect. We will ensure that no such incident takes place in future, said Kamini Bhasin, principal, DPS Noida, Sector 30.
District magistrate NP Singh said, This is a very sensitive matter. I have asked the SSP for a thorough investigation of the case. If it is a case of ragging, lawful action should be initiated against the culprits. If it is a case of a brawl between two groups, it should be dealt with accordingly. I have personally asked (the police) to depute a sensitive officer to assist the investigation in this case as the students futures are at stake.
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The customs department have recovered 246 gold coins, valued at Rs 57 lakh, from a toilet of a Doha-Amritsar flight at the Sree Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport in Amritsar.
Customs commissioner Capt Sanjay Gahlot said, Two packets were found hidden inside the rear toilet of the flight that landed from Doha on Wednesday. When the packets were opened, gold coins were found inside.
A case under the Customs Act-1962 has been registered and officials have initiated a detailed probe, said Gahlot.
Customs officials have in the past too made gold seizures at the airport. According to officials, the gold is either found abandoned in aircraft or it is recovered from passengers coming to Amritsar from Dubai or Doha.
Past seizures
March 2016: 50 gold coins recovered from a passenger
Feb 2016: 10 gold biscuits seized from a person
July 2015: 5-kg gold found in a toilet of an aircraft.
Jan 2015: 900 grams gold recovered from two persons
Jan 2014: 5 kg gold recovered, 4 persons detained
April 2013: 41 gold biscuits seized, one held
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday extended support to the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET)-qualified unemployed youth, who have been demanding jobs against a large number of posts of teachers lying vacant in government schools.
AAP leader Himmat Singh Shergill, in a statement here, said 22,000 eligible candidates who had cleared TET are struggling to get jobs. He said the state government gave jobs to only 4,000 candidates from all those who had qualified TET. On the other hand, more than 40,000 posts are lying vacant in state schools and the government is taking no steps to fill these posts, he said.
Shergill said the ongoing protests and demonstrations by TET-qualified candidates were falling on deaf ears, even as a large number of candidates had crossed the age limit for government job. Shergill said the AAP, after coming to power in Punjab, would give priority to the education sector on the model adopted by the AAP-led Delhi government.
Two domestic airlines Air India and IndiGo are ready to start international operations from the Chandigarh international airport while others have issues, the Punjab and Haryana high court was told on Tuesday, during the resumed hearing on a petition filed by Mohali Industries Association on the matter.
However, these airlines still need certain clearances before starting operations. For instance, Air India is yet to get clearance from the Bureau of Immigration (the ministry of home affairs), which the court was told could be given by the next date of hearing on May 24. Meanwhile, the ministry of home affairs has approved the standard operating procedure for Air India to start operation.
IndiGo, which had raised the issue of Punjab Customs authorities declining clearance for bonded liquor facility at the airport, was told in the courtroom itself that they had got the approval.
During the pre- lunch session, when the court was apprised by IndiGo that they were yet to get clearance from the Customs, the HC bench asked officials concerned to remain present in the afternoon. Later, when the hearing resumed, the court was told that IndiGo had been given permission for the same.
During the hearing, Jet Airways, Go Air and Air Asia said they had no plans to start international operations anytime now. Air Vistara, which has started domestic flight from the city recently, said it was not eligible.
SpiceJet, though not represented during the hearing, had told the ministry of civil aviation on May 6 that it did not have any plans to start international flights.
List problems within a week
The HC bench of justice SS Saron and justice Gurmit Ram has now directed the airlines to list out the problems they foresee in starting the operations at the city airport within a week and the ministry of civil aviation has been asked to submit action-taken-report on the next hearing. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been asked to apprise the court of how many international airlines had shown willingness to start operations.
Read more: Make Chandigarh airport international or use for wheat storage, fumes HC
Concerned over recent gang-war incidents in the state, chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday directed director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora not to tolerate any laxity in such cases.
Speaking on the sidelines of sangat darshan in Muktsar district, Badal said the state government was keeping a close watch over such incidents and said no body will be allowed to disturb the law and order situation in the state. The state government will ensure security and safety of its citizens and the DGP has been issued directions in this regard, Badal said.
To encourage villagers to ensure cleanliness in their respective villages, Badal announced cash award for panchayats.
The state government would give a cash award of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for villages selected by the state government on the basis of cleanliness, Badal said.
On Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal row, Badal said: The SYL agreement was imposed on Punjab by the successive Congress governments. A grave injustice was meted out to Punjab and the then Congress leadership in state remained mute spectator to it.
The people of Punjab would never forget and forgive the betrayal of Congress in divesting Punjab of its due share in river waters even abrogating the universally accepted riparian principles, he reiterated.
Negating the police theory that legislator Simarjit Singh Bains had himself torn his clothes and removed his turban during the protest on Monday, the defence counsel in the case on Wednesday showed footage of the protest to the judge following which Bains was released on bail from the Mansa jail.
Bains, along with his seven supporters, was arrested by the city police on Monday, when they were protesting against suspension of services of a Punjabi news channel by a cable network operator. All accused were sent to judicial remand on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, defending their case, advocate Jagmohan Waraich in the court of chief judicial magistrate stated that the arrested persons were holding a peaceful protest demonstration at the parking of Grand Walk Mall on Ferozepur Road without any disruption to the traffic on national highway.
Police went on to say that Bains had himself removed his turban and torn off his clothes, but proofs in form of videos and pictures were shown to the judge that made it clear that police had beaten up the protesters, tearing their clothes apart, Waraich said.
He stated that police had also alleged that women police personnel were misbehaved with by the protesters. To this, it was stated in the court that police pushed the protesters from the mall premises during which some of them collided with the women police personnel unintentionally.
Also read I Protests, arrests: Ludhianas Bains brothers back with bang
Meanwhile, police have shifted Bains to Mansa central jail, while other protesters have been shifted to Sangrur jail. Though bail warrant was issued on Wednesday evening, his supporters were not released till filing of the report. While Simarjit Bains and his 18-year-old son Ajaypreet Singh, who were shifted to Mansa jail on Tuesday, were released here on Wednesday evening.
Police had arrested Bains, his son Ajaybir Singh, and supporters Baldev Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Gurnam Singh alias Kaku, Arjun Singh Cheema, Kultej Singh and Ranjit Singh.
They were booked under Sections 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 334 (voluntarily causing hurt on provocation), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Meanwhile, Simarjits brother Balwinder Bains and his supporters protested against the suspension of a Punjabi news channel, at Jalandhar bypass. State government led by SAD government was gagging voice of people that is represented by the elected representatives of people, said Balwinder.
Taking on the alleged monopoly of the Badals over the cable network, Bains after being released said that his supporters would start cutting off the cable wires of Fastway network in Ludhiana.
Fastway has evaded tax around `12,377 crore in the last 9.5 years of the Akali rule. I have all the valid documents to back my claim wherein the company has been sent notices from departments of income tax, service tax and local bodies, he alleged.
Facing tough questions over the alleged police involvement and its failure control drug menace in the state at a police-public meet at Raheempur village in Kartarpur, around 20km from district headquarters, director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora claimed that some black sheep remain in every organisation, so does in the police.
The stage was set in the langar hall of village gurdwara at where the villagers held a face-to-face interaction with state police chief. Advocate Deepak Moudgil questioned DGP that police had so far failed to nab big fishes involved in drug business. He said the prosecution cell was weak hence persons involved in serious crimes get easily out of the jails. Moudgil said the police should give training to investigating officers to present a strong case in the court.
Shiromani Akali leader Ranjeet Singh Kahlon said one of village sarpanches informed the police about a drug peddler, but before police reached the spot, he managed to flee. He alleged that some cops had leaked the information hence police should identify them and take strict action against such officers.
Avtar Singh, another villager, talked about political interference in taking action against drug peddlers due to which SHOs dont dare to book them. He suggested that the police should avoid holding such interactions or seminars and cops must act against drug peddlers.
A schoolboy questioned the DGP that if the drug problem was such a serious issue, why the police have failed to control it.
The DGP said: As every finger is not of the same size, all policemen are not corrupt.
The DGP said the drug problem in the state is being blown out of proportion Without naming Bollywood movie Udta Punjab, he said even an upcoming movie is presenting the problem in the big manner which is not true.
It is our responsibility to weed out drug menace from the Punjab as we all did during terrorism, he said. He said it is due to Punjab government and the police that poppy husk vends were closed in Rajasthan.
Inspector general (IG) Ishwar Singh, who is also director of Punjab State Narcotics Control Bureau, told villagers about the recovery of contrabands highest in Punjab.
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The ongoing tussle between state technical education minister Madan Mohan Mittal and chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal over appointment of the Kapurthala technical university vice-chancellor took a new turn on Tuesday with the minister calling the chief secretary egoistic and having attitude problem.
Due to repeated interference of the chief secretary in my department, I have told my party that I want to quit the technical education ministry. There is no point being in a department where I dont have a say. I dont want to be humiliated like this, said Mittal.
Mittal, who was here to attend the annual convocation of the Inder Kumar Gujral Punjab Technical University (IKG-PTU), was answering a query on the delay in appointment of varsitys V-C. The post is vacant since January 16 last year.
The minister alleged that being the chairman of the board of governors (BoGs) of IKG-PTU Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Technical University (MRS-PTU), Bathinda, the chief secretary was running these institutions in an arbitrary manner. He (CS) is behaving like a king and most members of the BoG are forced to follow his orders as they fear that he might spoil their annual confidential reports (ACRs) or transfer them, claimed Mittal.
Such is his terror that nobody questions him. He is issuing orders without consulting me (technical education minister). The fact is that he has destroyed both the varsities because of his attitude, said the minister
He accused the chief secretary of appointing a controversial man as a registrar in the Bathinda varsity.
He just overruled my objections. And when principal secretary, technical education, tried to raise his concern, he was asked to keep quiet, claimed Mittal. Mittal also blamed Kaushal for delay in appointment of the Kapurthala technical varsity V-C.
The select committee, formed by the BoG, to select the new VC was asked to suggest three names. But the committee, led by the CS, provided only one name. I asked him a number of times to suggest two more names, but he failed to do so, said the minister.
I have handed over a file to the chief minister with strong remarks against the CS, said Mittal, alleging that Kaushal has not allowed the varsitys distance education programme to take off.
When asked he was the one who had moved the amendment in the PTU Act --- making chief secertary the new BoG chairman by replacing a prominent industrialist --- in the Vidhan Sabha, Mittal said he has made a blunder. His arrogance is the result of this decision only. The suggestion, however, had come from the last V-C Dr Rajnish Arora, claimed the minister.
The tussle between the minister and Kaushal started when the select committee, led by the CS, suggested name of Dr MP Poonia, director, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTR), Chandigarh, for the post of V-C. The minister, apparently, was not too keen on Poonia so he resent the file to the BoG to suggest two more names. The BoG, however, has not done it so far.
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Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh has sought urgent intervention of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for facilitating the return of seven Gurdaspur youths stranded in Malaysia after being maltreated by their employer.
Amarinder met the Union minister in Delhi on Wednesday in wake of the media reports that the youths were cheated by a travel agent on the pretext of providing them lucrative jobs, but they ended up as captive labourers, a Congress spokesman said here.
Read | Worked as slaves: Stranded in Malaysia, 8 Gurdaspur youths cry for help
Amarinder urged the minister to take up the matter with the Malaysian government to get back their passports or to arrange their travel documents so that they could return home.
According to media reports, the employer in Malaysia had taken the passports of the Punjabi youths, who were stranded and had taken shelter in a gurdwara there.
Seeking Swarajs immediate intervention, Amarinder apprehended that the youths might meet the same fate as that of those still stranded in Iraq.
From intrepid travellers to glossy brochures, Cuba is a destination thats on the up. Since the US Presidents landmark visit to the island back in March, Cuba has been a focus of interest for the tourism industry. Airlines, such as Corsair, are opening routes to the Island, the Starwood group has two hotels planned, and Celestyal Cruises is chartering a ship to the island all year long. So if Cuba is on your list of holiday destinations, here are a few things to consider before booking your trip.
Do tourists need a visa to visit Cuba?
Although Cuba has effectively come in from the cold, administrative formalities for tourists entering the country have not yet been removed. Visitors to the island need a Tourist Card, valid for a maximum stay of 30 days and renewable once on the island. The card is available from local embassies and consulates or sometimes from tour operators. Note that travelers need a return ticket in order to get their Tourist Card. Its also wise to take out a suitable travel insurance policy to cover any emergency medical fees or repatriation costs.
Whats the best time of year to visit Cuba?
High season (dry weather) runs from November to May. But the blue skies and pleasant temperatures also bring high prices, which can be a real drawback to visiting the island in this ideal period. (iStock)
Prices tend to be at their highest during the winter holiday season. Visiting in July or August is another option. However, Cubans will also be on vacation, and you certainly wont be the only ones holidaying during this period.
Are Cubas casas particulares a reliable form of accommodation?
Cubans host tourists in the equivalent of bed and breakfast or homestay accommodation. This cost-effective solution is a great way of experiencing authentic Cuba alongside the locals. (Shutterstock)
Casas particulares can be identified by signs on the outside of houses that welcome guests. They usually have two or three rooms available for visitors and often provide low-cost meals. In fact, casas particulares have all the advantages of hotel accommodation but come at a lower cost. However, be aware that hot water isnt always guaranteed and that the WC may be located outside.
How can you ride in one of Cubas famous 1950s-style American cars?
Visitors hoping to see Cubas vintage cars will need to move quickly before modernity invades the island and sweeps aside these traditional symbols of the island (which are banned from export). (iStock)
The easiest option is to flag down one of the many unofficial taxis, but make sure you agree on the price of the ride before setting off. Remember that not all of Cubas vintage cars are open topped. Plus, seeing as they date from the 1950s, shock absorbers and suspension can leave a lot to be desired -- dont expect the most comfortable or relaxing ride of your life. These old Chevrolets and Cadillacs are now also being used for tourist tours and excursions, available from various agencies.
Where can you buy real Cuban cigars?
A woman smokes a cigar during the contest for the longest ash, at the XVI Havana Cigar Festival, in the Cuban capital on February 27, 2014. (AFP)
Cigars are another traditional symbol of Cuba and theyre a great gift idea for souvenir hunters. Steer clear of the street hawkers peddling cigars at supposedly low prices. The safest and cheapest way to buy genuine Cuban cigars is to go directly to a cigar factory.
What are the best beaches in Cuba?
Thanks to its ideal location to the north of the Caribbean, Cuba offers tourists the paradise landscapes typically associated with the region. (Shutterstock)
Visitors looking for laid-back lounging or beach-hopping should head to the north coast. Varadero Beach -- a 1 hour drive from Havana -- is a particularly well-known destination. Further afield, Playa Pilar is a still relatively unspoiled beach where visitors can relish in natural surroundings. Heading further east, Playa Los Pinos can be a good place to stop since it has plenty of hotels. Trinidad, on Cubas south coast, is another recommended destination for visitors looking for beach time. Fans of snorkeling and diving should head to Maria la Gorda, Isla de la Juventud, Cayo Largo, Cayo Coco or Santiago de Cuba in the east of the island.
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Actress Madirakshi, who plays Sita in Siya Ke Ram, fainted on the set of the popular mythological show in Hyderabad while shooting. Madirakshi was shooting for an upcoming important sequence despite ill-health.
The entire crew immediately ran to her help and a doctor was called to attend to her. The temperature in Hyderabad is currently unbearable. The heat has been taking a toll on the entire unit. Even though weve been shooting indoors, it is very hot to survive, Madirakshi said in a statement.
Read: Siya Ke Ram or Ramanand Sagars Ramayan? Heres a test by fire
I had already been very weak due to the hectic schedules and so when the doctor came to check on me, I wasnt surprised about him telling me to be only on bed rest and not exert much. As of now, production has been accommodating and has been helping me take things lightly. But my work demands me, so I am eating a lot of citrus fruits and doing yoga to keep myself calm, she added.
Siya Ke Ram, which is aired on Star Plus is a unique presentation of Ramayana from Sitas perspective. The show is currently heading towards the big war between Ram (Ashish Sharma) and Raavan (Karthik Jayaram) after the latter kidnaps Sita.
Acknowledging disappointment about his loss, former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on Tuesday ruled out a third-party run against presumptive nominee Donald Trump, but he refused to say whether he could back the celebrity billionaire.
I have no interest in mounting a rival bid in the general election, the senator from Texas told a crush of reporters as he returned to the US Senate for the first time since his year-long White House run came to an end last week.
He said the frustration with the establishment in the 2016 election cycle should be a wake-up call to Washington DC.
Cruz suspended his campaign one week ago when Trump won Indiana, pushing Ohio governor John Kasich out of the race and leaving the New York real estate mogul the all-but-certain nominee.
Earlier in the day, Cruz teased that he might jump back into the race should he win Nebraskas primary on Tuesday, but he essentially put that to rest later in Washington.
Lets be clear, were not going to win Nebraska, he said.
Weve withdrawn from the campaign and its in the hands of the voters.
With Republican concern swirling about the abrasive presumptive nominee and the shifting substance of his candidacy, several party grandees have refused to endorse Trump.
Others have called for a more conservative candidate to go up against Trump and his likely Democratic challenger, Hillary Clinton.
Cruz refused to say whether he would endorse Trump or encourage his supporters to do so.
There will be plenty of time for voters to make the determination of who theyre going to support, Cruz said.
It will be incumbent on the candidates in this race to make the case to the people that they will fight for them.
Cruz said he was privileged and humbled to have mounted his campaign, and that as a senator he will continue to promote the conservative movement.
The American people are fed up with the disasters of the Obama-Clinton economy, and this movement will continue, he said.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan first went to the Cannes Film Festival with Devdas, back in 2002. She will soon be completing 15 years of going to the prestigious film fest in 2016. And the actor says she still cherishes her first outing at the gala. No one in the world can take away that from her, she adds.
Devdas, inspired by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyays 1901 novel, featured Shah Rukh Khan as Devdas, Aishwarya as Paro and Madhuri Dixit as Chandramukhi. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial was a cinematic marvel with revelry of dance, music hoopla and a tragic love story splashed with myriad emotions.
Watch Hamesha Tumko Chaha song from Devdas here:
Ask her how has the perspective about Indian cinema changed at the foreign films festival with time and she said: I dont know how much I can underline that or validate that but I would definitely say that my first experience was truly memorable and exceedingly special.
It wasnt for an individual but the entire team of Devdas and it meant a lot to us because it was quite unexpected. Because we were showcasing our film and getting that kind of reception that we did was truly overwhelming, said Aishwarya.
In pics | 30 unforgettable outfits Aishwarya Rai wore at Cannes in last 15 years
The actor will soon be seen Sarbjit, based on the Indian spy who died in a Pakistani jail in 2013. Seen here with Sarabjit Singhs sister Dalbir Kaur. (IANS)
She added: So the first makes it so memorable; imagine to have first experience and one like that so that is something and I dont think anyone in the world can take away from us and that is something that will always make us feel thankful for having that experience for us to cherish and recount forever.
Read: 12 years of Devdas | Shah Rukh Khan on his favourite film
The mother of one, who is the brand ambassador of LOreal Paris, will represent the cosmetic giant at the upcoming edition of the film festival, scheduled to be held from May 11 to May 21.
She will walk the red carpet on May 13 and 14.
Read: I havent left Aaradhya alone even for a single night, says Aishwarya Rai
Reminiscing about the time at the gala, the star said: It was a night screening... we always heard about how the duration of our cinema can sometimes be a bit overwhelming for the audience beyond the shores and Devdas by that measure is a long film.
Read: I work like no one works in the industry, says filmmaker Bhansali
The actor says they got a 10-minute applause at Cannes after the screening for the film in 2002. (IANS)
They made the reception so wonderful by actually creating this little ride up in a horse carriage... The three (Aishwarya, Shah Rukh and Bhansali) of us went up and we truly felt like we were representing us. It just felt glorious from the first step on the red carpet.
Watch Dola Re from Devdas here:
The film was showcased and earned applause in 2002. The actor became a jury member at the film gala in 2003. She then took her talent overseas by working in Hollywood starting with Bride & Prejudice in 2004.
Aishwarya, who will next be seen on the silver screen on Sarbjit, shared that the response was more than overwhelming. She said: If I remember correctly we got at least ten minute applause continuously after that... it meant the world to us ... it was by far the most touching and overwhelming experience for us because like I said it was quite the unexpected and immensely pleasurable.
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The Cannes Film Festival opens on Wednesday 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 thats not always the case. Frances 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 Frances Atlantic coast was first chosen as the host city but when it couldnt raise the money, Cannes nipped in. However, war soon broke out and Mussolinis troops marched into the town.
Read: Cannes 2016 | Aishwarya recalls her first appearance at the gala event
A statue holding a golden palm at Cannes two days ahead of the 69th Cannes film festival. (AFP)
It wasnt until after the war in 1946 that the festival finally got going, quickly becoming the most important in the world. By then Zay was dead, murdered because he was a Jew by Frances 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 goods 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.
Read: Post Paris attacks, Cannes tries hard to balance security with festivity
The 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. (AP)
That same year at the film festival a 1.6-million euro necklace was stolen and gems worth only slightly 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 its 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 Tinseltowns links with the coast.
Its 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.
Read: Woody Allens Cafe Society to push Cannes fest into motion and magic
English actor Kit Harington poses for photographers during a photo call for How to Train Your Dragon 2 at the 67th international film festival in Cannes. (AP)
An anti-slavery campaigner, he became Lord Chancellor, the head of the judiciary, and encouraged hundreds of wealthy British aristocrats 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 dAzur has always attracted filmmakers.
Read: If these rumours are true, the 2016 Cannes Film Festival could be great
In this May 16, 1956 file photo Ingrid Bergman is snapped by a crowd of photographers at Cannes, France. (AP)
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.
In this May 20, 1977 file photo, Arnold Schwarzenegger shows off his body for an appreciative beach audience in Cannes, France, ahead of the presentation of his film Pumping Iron at the Cannes Film Festival. (AP)
ays, however, Cannes has morphed into one of Europes conference capitals, hosting the MIPTV and MIPDoc, the worlds biggest television and documentary markets, as well as the film festival every year.
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As the 69th Cannes Film Festival begins in France on Wednesday, the security around the place has been beefed up considerably.
Coming six months after the Paris attacks in November, the festival has elevated security measures. But particular care has been made, festival organizers say, to preserving the spirit of the annual cinema celebration.
Bomb sweeps and bag checks have been stepped up. A dramatic, unnerving drill was held last month in which mock gunmen stormed the festivals palace hub. And festival president Pierre Lescure has said that about 500 highly-trained security agents will be on guard around Cannes red-carpeted headquarters, the Palais des Festivals. Thats in addition to around 200 police and extensive surveillance cameras throughout Cannes.
Read: Anurag Kashyaps Raman Raghav 2.0 to lead subcontinents show at Cannes
View of the Festival Palace in the bay of Cannes. (REUTERS)
But the festival, which opens Wednesday, has also sought to counter the heightened state by continuing with business as usual. The party will most definitely go on.
The atmosphere is good, festival director Thierry Fremaux said in an interview Tuesday. Cannes is a celebration of life, of cinema. These films have a big fighting spirit, he added. This is also what makes Cannes and we still want to show that.
Perhaps signaling that maintaining such a balance will have its difficulties, moments after Fremaux spoke, alarms rang out inside the Palais, forcing an evacuation.
Read: Woody Allens Cafe Society to push Cannes fest into motion and magic
French Gendarmes on a boat patrol in the bay of Cannes to survey the coast and the boats few hours before the opening ceremony. (REUTERS)
But on the eve of Wednesdays opening festivities - including a new welcome party for festivalgoers on the beach - beefed up security was far from omnipresent. The most striking change, as many noted, werent security agents but a wardrobe change for the ubiquitous festival ushers. To glowing reviews from critics, their traditionally beige suits have been replaced with blue ones.
The French public statement was very clear, is very clear, Fremaux said. The festival is as usual, the same way as usual, so everything will be fine.
That was consistent with earlier statements made by Lescure, who pledged that the maximum has been done to balance security and ensure that the festival remains a place of freedom.
Others have emphasized that Cannes, the worlds pre-eminent film festival, must be diligently guarded.
We must keep in mind as we prepare to open this festival that we are faced with a risk which has never been as high, and faced with an enemy determined to strike us at any moment, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday in Cannes.
We must demonstrate extreme vigilance at all times, he said.
Read: Cannes 2016 | Aishwarya recalls her first appearance at the gala event
French soldiers patrol in front of the Festival Palace before the opening ceremony. (REUTERS)
Security was also increased last year following the Charlie Hebdo shooting in January 2015. But after 130 were killed in the Paris attacks, France remains in a state of emergency.
Cannes must be protected not because of the cocktail parties, but because it is a professional event of a high level which brings honour to France, Mayor David Lisnard said.
Traditions rigorously guide Cannes, which runs through May 22, culminating with the presentation of the Palme dOr. Onlookers will be paying close attention to see if the customary pageantry of the festival red carpet changes even slightly.
Read: Cannes 2016 red carpet predictions | The four hairstyles thatll be huge
A view of the port of Cannes and the Suquet, old city area of Cannes. (REUTERS)
Kicking off the festival Wednesday will be Woody Allens 1930s Hollywood comedy Cafe Society. On tap are films from Steven Spielberg (The BFG), Jodie Foster (Money Monster), Pedro Almodovar (Julieta) and Jim Jarmusch (Paterson). Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Kristen Stewart and Russell Crowe are among the stars expected to attend.
Outside the Palais on Tuesday, festivalgoers voiced support for any necessary security measures. We cant stop doing things just because there is potential danger, said Cecil Brown of Paris. We will just continue.
A woman walks past chairs displayed on a red carpet in the Palace Festival on the eve of the opening ceremony. (REUTERS)
Robert Willington of Cannes asked, What, we should stop having concerts and playing music and enjoying ourselves and doing what we love? I dont think so.
Wayne Reilly, from Indiana, also said he was undeterred.
Im willing to put up with more security, thats OK, said Reilly. Id prefer not, but its all right so we can keep doing these things. But Im not going to let what they are doing stop me. Its too beautiful here to miss it.
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Authorities in Bangladesh heightened security after Motiur Rahman Nizami, chief of the largest Islamist party, was executed early on Wednesday for his role in genocide and other serious crimes during independence war against Pakistan in 1971.
Shortly after midnight, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Jamaat-e-Islami leader Nizami was hanged inside Dhaka central jail amid tight security at 12:10 am.
The execution came after the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty given to Nizami by a special tribunal.
The Jamaat-e-Islami condemned the execution and called a day-long general strike on Thursday but such protest calls usually do not attract any major response from people.
After the execution, an ambulance escorted by security officials carried Nizamis body to his ancestral home in northwestern Pabna district, where he was buried in the morning, his family said.
Bangladeshi activists shout slogans and slaps with their shoes a picture of Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami outside Dhaka's central jail early on Wednesday after he was executed for war crimes committed during the 1971 independence war with Pakistan. (AFP)
The 73-year-old is the fifth man to be hanged for war crimes. Three senior leaders of the Jamaat and a senior leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former premier Khaleda Zia, were sent to the gallows earlier.
Pakistani soldiers aided by local collaborators killed three million people, raped 200,000 women and forced some 10 million to flee the country during the nine months of war in then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.
Nizamis death sentence was upheld for three charges - the slaying of 480 people in two separate incidents in 1971 and orchestrating the killing of intellectuals just two days before Bangladesh gained independence. He was the leader of Al Badr militia group, which was responsible for kidnapping and killing of dozens of teachers, journalists and doctors.
He fled to Pakistan when Bangladesh gained independence but returned under state patronage following the assassination of independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family in a coup in 1975.
Nizami later became chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami and served as a cabinet minister when Zia was the premier during 2001-06 .
He was also sentenced to death in a separate case of smuggling 10 trucks of arms and ammunition during 2001-06. The consignment was brought to the country through a state-run jetty in Chittagong that was under his ministry. At the time, Nizami was industries minister and the consignment came to the country under state backing to be used by the Indian militant group ULFA.
Earlier on Tuesday evening, Nizamis family members met him after he refused to seek presidential clemency, the last legal remedy available to a condemned man.
Bangladesh on Wednesday intensified security across the country, amid reports of clashes between activists of Jamaat-e-Islami and the police over the execution of party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami for crimes committed during the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
Orders have been issued to keep the security vigil so no law and order situation is created anywhere, a home ministry spokesman told PTI after Jamaat called for a nationwide general strike on Thursday .
The spokesmans comments came as 1971 freedom fighters and families of the victims rejoiced over the execution of the Islamist leader as the last remaining top perpetrator of war crimes during the Liberation War 45 years ago.
Jamaat, which was opposed to Bangladeshs 1971 independence, described the execution of its 73-year-old leader as a planned murder.
He (Nizami) was deprived of justice. He is a victim of political vengeance, acting Jamaat chief Mokbul Ahmed said in the statement urging people to observe the strike.
Jamaats previous such strike calls protesting the trial of their senior leaders for war crimes largely went unheeded.
The party last called a nationwide strike on May 6, a day after the Supreme Court rejected Nizamis review petition reconfirming his death penalty.
Nizami was hanged at midnight, a day after the Supreme Court verdict reached authorities at the Dhaka Central Jail. Several hundred policemen in riot-gear kept a vigil as Jamaat activists rallied at central Dhakas Baitul Mokarram National Mosque to offer a funeral prayer (in absentia), a ritual they also performed in other major cities.
In the port city of Chittagong, clashes erupted between activists of the Jamaats student wing Chhatra Shibir and police after the funeral prayer.
After the funeral prayer, the Jamaat supporters broke into the ground and started hurling bricks and stones at the police which resorted to firing to disperse the crowd.
Home-made bombs were also exploded as pro-liberation activists tried to drive out the Jamaat followers from the parade ground area of the port city, perceived to be a Jamaat stronghold.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said Nizami had preferred not to seek presidential clemency as his last effort to avoid the noose because he understood the crimes he had committed were unpardonable.
Nizami was buried in line with Islamic rituals at his village home at northwestern Pabnas Sathia sub-district early this morning in presence of family members and neighbours while armed police kept a sharp vigil.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hit out at Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, accusing him of damaging the countrys foreign policy by giving his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi a certificate of friendship and over his handling of the Kashmir issue.
Addressing an election rally in Bagh area of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where his heads the government, Bilawal also accused Sharif of going soft on India on the issue of the disputed region.
Mr prime minister (Nawaz) you attended Prime Minister Modis oath-taking ceremony and forgot about the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat... The premier damaged the foreign policy of Pakistan by giving Modi his certificate of friendship, Bhutto said.
Bhutto further said that Sharif is jeopardising the issue of Kashmir by building his associations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In his speech, Bhutto several times chanted Modi ke yaar ko ek dhakka aur do, corruption ke sardar ko ek dhakka aur do (Give another push to Modis friend Sharif, give another push to the mastermind of corruption, in the wake of the Panama Papers controversy).
Bhutto, who is the son of slain two-time premier Benazir Bhutto, also criticised the international community and the UN for failing to help the people of Kashmir.
Sixty-seven years have passed but you (the UN) have also been unable to implement one resolution of plebiscite in Kashmir just like in south Sudan and East Timor, he said. He asked people to reject Sharifs Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the next election, as it was the best way to rupture relations between Sharif and Modi.
Bhutto told his supporters that none of Pakistans previous leaders dared to stand with an Indian prime minister when India was involved in worst atrocities in Occupied Kashmir. He also criticised Sharif for remaining silent over the issue of arrested alleged Indian agent Kulbhushan Yadav.
Even if a pigeon from Pakistan goes to India, it is considered as an agent. But if an Indian agent is arrested in Pakistan, our government is treating it like a pigeon, he said.
He also asked Sharif to step down over the issue of Panama Papers leaks. I demand the prime minister to step down in order to conduct a transparent inquiry into the Panama Papers revelations, Bhutto said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron was caught on camera calling Afghanistan and Nigeria fantastically corrupt, leading to embarrassment and accusations of hypocrisy, a day ahead of a global summit against corruption and tax evasion.
The summit, called a year ago, acquired new significance after the Panana Papers revealed the global rich using tax havens to store their money, including in British overseas territories such as the British Virgin Iislands.
The opposition Labour party said a Conservative government "hosting an anti-corruption summit is like putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop." Cameron was also accused of hypocrisy after recently admitting to benefiting from an offshore account.
India will be represented at the summit by chief vigilance commissioner, K V Chowdary.
Jayati Ghosh from Jawaharlal Nehru University will be joined by 300 economists from across the world to agree on new rules to force companies to report taxable activities in every country.
"The government is refusing to take meaningful action to close Britain's constellation of tax havens, which together constitute the largest financial secrecy network in the world," said shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott.
Labour deputy leader Tom Watson called on Cameron to take immediate action to tackle corruption and tax-evasion, but added: He must also recognise that the UK has a responsibility to help its overseas territories end their dependency on the financial services industry.
David Cameron has said he wont call on UK territories to publish a register of beneficial ownership despite earlier promises to do so. He needs to change his mind and fulfil those promises because tax avoidance will continue to thrive until the mask of anonymity that allows the owners of assets to disguise their identities has been removed.
Asking Cameron to look closer to home, The Guardian said in an editorial on Wednesday: The prime minister is not personally corrupt but he is certainly guilty of epic hypocrisy. So, for that matter, are Britain and the west.
They have spent decades ordering poor countries and failed states to sort out their problems with dodgy money, even while taking much of that dodgy money and ploughing it through their banks, their ritzy stores, their estate agents, and their offshore tax havens with barely any questions asked or eyebrows raised, it added.
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President Pranab Mukherjee will land in Guangzhou, an industrial city in south China with ancient links to India, for a four-day visit to China beginning May 24 that is aimed at strengthening bilateral business ties.
The Hualin temple in a densely populated part of Guangzhou stands testimony to the legend of old Sino-India links: Bodhidharma, believed to be from India, came to the city to spread Buddhism in the 6th century.
In modern times, more than 5,000 resident Indians and many more travelling traders have strengthened that connect, trading in commodities ranging from garments to home furnishing.
Mukherjee will address a handful of them within hours of landing here at a reception in a five-star hotel.
His speech is expected to touch on the old Sino-India links and the strengthening of trade between the two countries.
The following morning, Mukherjee will attend a high-profile business event jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the countrys foreign trade and investment promotion agency. Top Chinese companies are expected to attend the forum.
In 2015, Guangzhou with $.28 trillion was the third-ranked city in China after Shanghai and Beijing in terms of GDP.
The last Indian president to visit China was Pratibha Patil in 2010. Mukherjees visit comes at a time when high-level visits between the two sides appear to have been regularised.
President Xi Jinping visited India in September 2014, followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modis tour of Beijing, Shanghai and Xian last May.
Compared to prime ministerial visits, presidential ones are more symbolic in nature.
But in diplomatic relations like those between India and China, it indicates the two countries despite sharp differences across spheres are working on normalising relations.
Indian residents of Guangzhou are happy that Mukherjee will visit the city, a first for an Indian leader.
The visit will benefit us. Not on the scale of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modis event in Shanghai, this will still be a big function for Indians staying here, said an Indian who did not want to be named.
Mukherjee will travel to Beijing on May 25 and a range of bilateral meetings are expected in the capital, a three-hour flight away.
Besides meeting President Xi , Mukherjee is expected to have one-on-one meetings with the next three most powerful leaders of the seven-member Standing Committee of the Communist Party of Chinas politburo Premier Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, head of the National Peoples Congress or Chinas parliament, and Yu Zhengsheng, chief of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, the countrys top advisory body.
Mukherjee is also expected to give a speech and interact with students at Peking University, one of Chinas top educational institutions.
At the height of the frenzy of Chinas Cultural Revolution, victims were eaten at macabre flesh banquets, but 50 years after the turmoil began, the Communist Party is suppressing remembrance and historical reckoning of the era and its excesses.
Launched by Mao in 1966 to topple his political enemies after the failure of the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution saw a decade of violence and destruction nationwide as party-led class conflict devolved into social chaos.
Teenaged Red Guards beat teachers to death for being counter-revolutionaries and family members denounced one another while factions clashed bitterly for control across the country.
Red Guards, high school and university students, wave copies of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book" as they parade in Beijing's streets at the beginning of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in June, 1966 . (AFP File)
But the Communist Party -- which long ago decided that Mao was 70 percent right and 30 percent wrong -- does not allow full discussion of events and responsibility.
Some of the worst excesses happened in Wuxuan, in the far southern region of Guangxi, where the hearts, livers and genitals of victims were cut out and fed to revellers.
Now, five decades after the declaration of the Cultural Revolution on May 16, the town has frozen yoghurt shops, men fish a river beneath mossy limestone karsts, and red banners hang from trees proclaiming the ruling partys dedication to the people.
A propaganda squad of Red Guards, high school and university students, carry a portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong as they parade on Chang'an avenue in Beijing in June 1966 to spread Mao's thought during the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution". (AFP File)
Some residents say they have never heard of the dozens of acts of cannibalism, motivated by political hatred rather than hunger, that once stained the streets with blood.
At least 38 people were eaten in Wuxuan, a high-ranking member of an early 1980s official investigation told AFP, asking not to be named for fear of repercussions.
All the cannibalism was due to class struggle being whipped up, and was used to express a kind of hatred, he said. The murder was ghastly, worse than beasts.
No meaning
Scholars say the violence resulted from Wuxuans remote location, the ruthless regional Communist leader, poverty and bitter factionalism.
In 10 years of catastrophe, Guangxi not only saw numerous deaths, they were also of appalling cruelty and viciousness, the retired cadre wrote in an unpublished manuscript seen by AFP.
There were beheadings, beatings, live burials, stonings, drownings, boilings, group slaughters, disembowellings, digging out hearts, livers, genitals, slicing off flesh, blowing up with dynamite, and more, with no method unused.
A propaganda squad of Red Guards, high school and university students, brandishing copies of Chairman Mao Zedong's "Little Red Book," as they parade in Beijing's streets to spread Mao's thought during the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" in late 1966 . (AFP File)
In 1968, a geography instructor named Wu Shufang was beaten to death by students at Wuxuan Middle School. The body was carried to the flat stones of the Qian river where another teacher was forced at gunpoint to rip out the heart and liver. Back at the school, the pupils barbecued and consumed the organs.
Today the institution has been relocated and rebuilt, and current students shook their heads when asked if they were aware of what happened.
Residents of the old town say they do not know the history or meet questions with silence. The few willing to discuss the violence say memories are fading and the town is eager to escape its past.
Cannibalism? I was here then, I went through it, a man named Luo told AFP. But Wuxuan has developed rapidly in recent years and now, he said, that history has no meaning.
Breaking the silence
This was not cannibalism because of economic difficulties, like during famine, X.L. Ding, a Cultural Revolution expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, told AFP.
It was not caused by economic reasons, it was caused by political events, political hatred, political ideologies, political rituals.
For 15 years, rumours of the carnage in Guangxi -- which one official estimated left as many as 150,000 people dead -- rippled across China, and eventually authorities sent a group to investigate.
(From L) Chinese top communist leaders Zhu Enlai, China's prime minister, Chairman Mao Zedong and Defence Minister Lin Piao holding up "Little Red Books" and waving in Tiananmen Square in Beijing as they review troops celebrating the 18th anniversary of the republic on October 3, 1967 . (AFP File)
The report was never released publicly. The outside world only learned of the slaughter when journalist Zheng Yi smuggled documents out of China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings and published his book Scarlet Memorial -- banned on the mainland.
More recently, a senior inquiry team member has sought to spread awareness in China, but his efforts have been suppressed, he told AFP.
The cadre once wrote an article for a small-circulation liberal Chinese magazine, describing the investigation findings, and saying tens of thousands died, with more than 100 people taking part in cannibalism.
Retired regional officials responded with a written denunciation sent to top Communist bodies, accusing him of falsifying facts and demanding he submit a self-criticism, rectify his errors, and apologise personally.
They said I was anti-party, anti-socialist, anti-Mao Zedong Thought, he said.
In recent months, he took a manuscript to a publisher, but refused to cut some passages.
Before I retired I didnt dare say no to the Party, he said.
Suppressed history
Nowadays, government control over the media and public opinion is tightening, said the cadre: Its absolutely clear, that to establish their own authority, they control public opinion.
No official commemorations of the anniversary are expected.
Academic Ding said the Communist Party fears recalling the officially-sanctioned chaos and violence could undermine its legitimacy.
The more you talk about such things, the more current CCP leaders are worried, he said.
The suppression of knowledge and discussion worries author Zheng, who is now a dissident living in the United States.
He told AFP: Because the government has never permitted a deep examination of history, its impossible to say that lessons have been learned.
Egypt opened its border with Gaza for the first time in three months on Wednesday, giving Palestinians a two-day respite from a closure stemming from friction between Cairo and the enclaves Islamist rulers.
Egypts shuttering of Rafah and destruction of cross-border smuggling tunnels -- along with tight restrictions imposed by Israel along its own frontier with Gaza -- have deepened economic misery for many of the 1.9 million Palestinians in the enclave.
Egypts military-backed government has kept its border with the Gaza Strip largely closed since Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, was ousted as president three years ago.
A Palestinian woman argues with a security member as she waits at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. (AFP)
Palestinians wait at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. On May 2 Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon on Monday announced the reopening of one of the main crossing points into the Palestinian Gaza Strip, which has been closed for at least eight years. (AFP)
Egyptian officials view Gazas governing Hamas group as a threat, accusing it of supporting an Islamist insurgency in the Sinai peninsula bordering the Palestinian territory. Hamas denies the allegation.
Some 30,000 Gazans are on a waiting list to cross at Rafah. Only a few thousand, including patients, students and holders of residency permits in third countries, were likely to do so on Wednesday and Thursday before it closes again.
I have been waiting for several months to get a chance to have advanced cancer checks in Cairo, said Umm Ahmed, a 55-year-old Gaza resident, urging Egypts president to reopen the Rafah crossing for good because we are brothers, not enemies.
For Gazans who live or work outside the enclave, a visit home is hard to schedule, and it carries the risk of being stuck in the territory and losing residency rights in host countries.
You never know when the crossing will be open, so if you want to come and visit your family at home, you should be prepared to risk your job, said a Gaza merchant who does business in the Gulf.
The Palestinian Embassy in Cairo said Rafah was opened at the request of West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who met Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi this week.
Hamas ousted Abbass Fatah movement from power in Gaza in a brief civil war in 2007.
Read: We sanctify life, they value death: Israel defence min on Palestine
Half-Punjabi public accountant Bobby Mahindra is running for a Senate seat in the US state of Nevada by employing a non-conventional anti-corruption campaign that promises to get dirty money out of politics.
His father, Narendra Lal Mahindra, is from Gwalior, and mother, Sunita Mahindra, from Punjab. Bobby Mahindra pins his hope on the grass-roots campaign he built to replace Senate majority leader Harry Reid, 76, who has held the position since 1987. Mahindra, 42, claimed he had achieved the real frontrunner status by building a campaign on Facebook and, unlike other candidates, not taking a single penny from corrupt sources. I am the most-liked politician (on Facebook) in Nevada, he told PTI.
I knew that I would run for office one day; however, I never expected it to be right now, until I looked at the candidates. I wanted a politician that would stand for the anti-corruption movement socially liberal but fiscally conservative. Eventually, I realised that its better to be part of the solution than complaining all the time, said Mahindra. He is pitted against three other candidates, including frontrunner Catnerine Cortez Masto, former attorney general of Nevada, in the Democratic primary seat that Reid vacated. Reid, who is not seeking a re-election, has endorsed Masto to replace him.
The state primary is scheduled on June 14 and the general elections on November 8. Mahindra has 21,000 supporters on his Facebook page as opposed to less than 15,000 of Masto. Republican Senate race frontrunner Congressman Joe Heck has less than 17,000. Mahindra, who has lived in Las Vegas since 2011, said his non-conventional campaign would win him the June primaries.
He is using his Facebook page as a discussion board, where he says he addresses Nevadans directly by posting personal responses to complex political topics that politicians deflect with the established non-answers. After the release of Panama papers, which exposed the names of politicians, celebrities, and extremely rich people from across the world who had stashed illegal wealth abroad, the campaign had taken off, said Mahindra.
He alleged Masto and Heck were frontrunners only in raising money from corrupt special interests, super PACs, and corporate America, with each raising more than $5 million (`33 crore). Without corruption, we can easily grow America with new leadership from Nevada. Socially liberal but fiscally conservative, he said.
The Kenyan government will close down the Dadaab refugee camp which houses Somali refugees and is often referred to as the worlds largest camp, Joseph Nkaissery, the East African countrys interior security minister said, on Wednesday.
The decision has been condemned by domestic and international rights groups and organizations dealing with refugees.
The Dadaab camp, with an estimated 328,000 refugees mostly from Somalia, compromises Kenyas security because it harbours some of Somalias al-Shabab Islamic extremists and is a conduit for smuggling weapons, Nkaissery said.
He said al-Shabab planned three large-scale attacks from Dadaab.
Last week the Kenyan government announced it intends to close Dadaab as well as Kakuma, a refugee camp housing 190,000 people, mostly South Sudanese fleeing civil war. At the same time the interior ministry said it had disbanded the department of refugee affairs, which oversees the registration and welfare of refugees. But on Wednesday Nkaissery said Kakuma will not be closed because it does not present a security risk.
The U.N. has urged Kenya to reconsider its decision to close Dadaab camp. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday that the U.N. is calling on Kenyas government to avoid any action that is at odds with its international obligations.
Eleven non-governmental organizations operating in Kenya issued a statement Tuesday urging the government to reconsider the intended closure of the refugee camp.
Those signing the statement include the International Rescue Committee, World Vision, the Danish Refugee Council, Jesuit Refugee Service, Action Africa, Help International, the Lutheran World Federation, OXFAM, the Refugee Consortium of Kenya, Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Heshima Kenya.
The group urged other countries to expand their resettlement quotas for refugees coming from the Horn of Africa in order to help Kenya and share the burden of hosting refugees.
Public outrage is swelling in China over the mysterious death of a young father who was detained following a raid on a massage parlour last week.
Lei Yang, 29, was declared dead within hours of being picked up from the parlour in Beijings Changping district by police personnel in plainclothes late on Saturday night.
Leis family was informed at least four hours after his death, and according to reports, his wife found bruises on his body.
The incident was splashed across the Chinas tightly controlled media this week and questions were raised whether Lei died of police torture and brutality.
The police released statements to the media, claiming that employees of the parlour had said Lei had solicited a sex worker for 200 RMB (Rs 2000). Prostitution is illegal in China.
Massage parlours, however, are common across cities in China and the police are known to conduct occasional raids to curb prostitution.
But the lack of police transparency in the case is adding to the confusion and anger, reports said.
According to a report by The Beijing News, several members of the public witnessed a man running from the massage parlour towards a residential complex about 9.20 pm on Saturday.
The report said as he was running, he appealed for help, shouting: They arent police. Please keep me... Dont let them drag me to the car.
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that an online petition launched by alumni at Renmin University, where Lei graduated with a masters degree in environmental science in 2009, said the authorities claim that he died while trying to escape arrest by plainclothes police officers was unconvincing.
It is hard to believe that Yang as a father of a newborn baby, would solicit prostitution while heading to the airport [to fetch a relative], the petition was quoted by SCMP as saying.
Prominent criminal lawyer Chen Youxi told SCMP that Changping police should withdraw from the investigation as they seemed to have broken the law themselves.
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New Zealand has warned hikers and climbers to steer clear of a volcano in a national park whose jagged volcanic rock formations and eerie barren landscapes featured in The Lord of The Rings movies.
Quake and volcano monitoring service GNS Science raised the alert for Mount Ruapehu, in the North Islands Tongariro National Park, which last erupted in 2007.
There are more signs of life at the volcano, said Volcanologist Brad Scott.
The Department of Conservation warned trekkers to stay out of the Summit Hazard Zone, within two km of the centre of Crater Lake.
Recent visits to the volcano have confirmed an increase in the output of volcanic gas, GNS Science said.
The temperature of the lake has risen from 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) to 46 degrees Celsius (115 F)since mid-April. The volcanic alert level has been lifted to heightened unrest from moderate.
Each year, thousands of people trek the so-called Tongariro Crossing, a 20-km (12-mile) alpine crossing that passes all three volcanoes in the area.
The landscape formed the backdrop for Mordors hissing wasteland in Peter Jacksons The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
An Indian-American woman elementary teacher from Texas has been honoured by US President Barack Obama at the White House for her excellent work in the field of education.
Revathi Balakrishnan, a gifted teacher at Patsy Sommer Elementary School, was also named 2016 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year.
It is not work for me. It is actually a passion, said 53-year-old Austin-based Balakrishnan who has taught in the districts talented and gifted programmes for nine years.
Currently teaching math classes in third through fifth grade at Sommer, Balakrishnan, who was honoured last week, will now represent Texas in the National Teacher of the Year competition.
Im an Indian-American, so I think the Indian community is feeling a lot of pride and joy, Balakrishnan said, adding that about 30 per cent of the students at Sommer Elementary are Asian or Indian.
I feel proud to represent those and I can convince a lot of younger generation Indian kids to turn to teaching for a career. So I feel I can actually have some impact on that, she said.
Balakrishnan has taught at Sommer Elementary for six years before teaching at Forest North Elementary for three years.
Originally from Chennai, Balakrishnan was a systems analyst with Liberty Mutual, managing databases and programming for about 12 years before becoming a teacher.
Terming her style of teaching as no nonsense, Balakrishnan, who earned her economics degree from University of Madras, attributes her success in the field of education to her love of teaching.
She said the excitement of teaching, learning with students and the opportunity to shape students who are the leaders of tomorrow drives her.
Not one day is the same, which is what I like. I dont like structure. I just go with the flow and I love what happens, Balakrishnan said.
The National Teacher of the Year Programme identifies exceptional teachers in the country, recognises their effective work in the classroom, engages them in a year of professional learning, amplifies their voices and empowers them to participate in policy discussions at the state and national levels.
Ali Haider Gilani, the son of Pakistans former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, was on Wednesday flown from Kabul to Lahore, a day after he was rescued by US and Afghan forces from the clutches of Taliban militants who had held him hostage for three years.
Pakistan said on Tuesday that American and Afghan security forces had recovered Haider from Taliban militants in a joint special operation in Afghanistans Ghazni province after he was kidnapped from an election rally on May 9, 2013.
The Pakistan Foreign Office said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dispatched a special plane to bring Haider from Kabul.
The son of former Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Ali Haider Gilani (C), is escorted by Afghan Special Forces personnel from an Afghan National Army helicopter at the Ministry of Defence in Kabul on May 11, 2016. (AFP)
Local media reported that the plane had landed at the Lahore airport where his family members and close relatives were present to receive him.
Earlier, Pakistans ambassador to Kabul Abrar Hussain received Haider at the Afghan Ministry of Defence around 10 am and thereafter he was taken to the airport by helicopter for onward travel to Lahore.
The Foreign Office said that the Pakistan leadership deeply appreciated the successful efforts of the Afghan National Army and NATO forces in recovering Haider safely and for arrangements for his immediate return to Pakistan.
Pakistan hopes that the three nations can work together to decrease and eliminate terrorism from the region. Terrorists cannot be allowed to hold governments hostage, it said.
People watch news about the release of Ali Haider Gilani at a shop in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 10, 2016. (AP)
Meanwhile, Abdul Qadir Gilani, Haiders elder brother, rejected reports that he was released after payment of ransom.
Haiders release was the second successful instance of a dramatic rescue in a high-profile kidnapping case after slain Punjab governor Salman Taseers son Shahbaz, who was abducted in 2011, was found in March after spending nearly five years in captivity.
Haider, believed to be in his 30s, was kidnapped by gunmen in Multan just two days before the May 11, 2013 general elections which he was contesting.
FILE - In this Thursday, May 9, 2013 file photo, People comfort Musa Gilani, right, the brother of Ali Haider Gilani who was kidnapped in Multan, Pakistan. (AP)
Gilani, who served as premier from 2008 to 2012, had said last year that the abductors had contacted him and demanded ransom for his sons release.
In a video message last year, Haider said the kidnappers were initially demanding Rs 2 billion for his release but later reduced the ransom amount to Rs 500 million while his father had said he was ready to pay the ransom amount.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo on Tuesday became the first foreign dignitary to meet Sadiq Khan following his election as mayor of London, in a brief tete-a-tete at St Pancras Station.
He has made history, he is the first Muslim mayor of a big European city, Hidalgo told reporters on the platform after Khan welcomed her off the cross-Channel Eurostar train from France.
Describing him as a progressive and a democrat, she said his election is an example for us, before they left to discuss their shared challenges of pollution and affordable housing at a cafe nearby.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks with Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo as they meet at St Pancras Station in London on May 10, 2016. (AFP)
Khan, a member of Britains opposition Labour party, was elected mayor on Thursday with 1.3 million votes, the largest personal mandate of any British politician.
He responded to Hidalgos warm words by pointing out that she too had made history, she was the first woman ever elected mayor of Paris when she took office in 2014.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan (L) and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo raise a glass for a toast as they sit down for a meeting at St Pancras Station in London on May 10, 2016. (AFP)
Khan said they both had similar values and history, while Hidalgo noted: Our mothers were both dressmakers.
Khan, the son of Pakistani immigrants, made much during the campaign of his modest background, frequently citing the fact he grew up in social housing.
Hidalgo, a socialist, was born in Spain and grew up in a working-class suburb of the French city of Lyon.
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Gen Pervez Musharraf was on Thursday declared an absconder by a special tribunal trying the former Pakistani dictator for high treason. The court has asked the concerned authorities to produce him before it within 30 days. The former Pakistani President failed to appear in person despite repeated summons.
The three-member court headed by Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Minakhel directed the government to publish advertisements in newspapers declaring Musharraf an absconder, and also place similar posters outside the court and the former military rulers residence.
72-year-old Musharraf this month flew to Dubai for medical treatment after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on his foreign trips and it is believed that he may never return to face a slew of several high-profile cases against him.
The court - which had earlier asked the government to give a written explanation as to why it allowed Musharraf to go abroad without its consent - declared him as absconder after he failed to appear in person despite several summons.
It also ordered the prosecutor to submit a record of all properties owned by the accused before the next hearing on July 12 and directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to produce Musharraf before the court within 30 days.
The court, that includes Justice Syeda Tahira Safdar and Justice Mohammad Yawar Ali as members, launched trial of Musharraf in 2013 for abrogating the constitution in 2007.
Such an act is considered as high treason under article 6 of the constitution, which is punishable by death.
Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, deposing then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Facing impeachment following elections in 2008, he resigned as president and went into self-imposed exile in Dubai.
He returned in 2013 to contest elections but was implicated in several high-profile cases and was not allowed to leave the country. He is facing trial in the illegal detention of judges, also in 2007.
In January 2014, Musharraf suffered a severe heart attack on his way to a special court to face the high treason charges following which he was admitted to an army hospital. Musharraf has also been charged in connection with the 2007 assassination of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
In Janury, he was acquitted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2006 murder case of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
He had said before leaving Pakistan in March that he was going abroad to seek medical treatment for a spinal cord ailment which has now developed several complications and will come back in a few weeks or months.
Islamic State militants advanced toward the central Syrian city of Palmyra on Wednesday, threatening to besiege the world-famous ancient site several weeks after the government recaptured it from the extremists.
The offensive came as a cease-fire over the northern city of Aleppo ticked down to its final hours, threatening to plunge the divided metropolis back into violence. A rocket attack on a government-held neighbourhood late in the afternoon killed at least two people.
Media allied with the IS group and other activists said the militants seized a strategically located but deserted rocket-launching site close to an air base less than 60 kilometres (40 miles) from Palmyra. For the government forces, the capture effectively severs a highway linking Palmyra to the government-controlled T-4 air base and the provincial capital Homs, threatening government supply routes.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists confirmed the reported IS advance. The development comes after intense clashes with government troops near the air base, and a week after the extremist group advanced toward natural gas fields to the north.
Al Bayan radio reported that IS militants took control of the deserted site, seized two government checkpoints guarding the air base and downed a military helicopter to the north of the base. The Observatory also reported the downing of the aircraft but said the fate of its crew remains unclear.
Wednesdays capture helps in severing the supply routes of the (Syrian) army from T-4 base to Palmyra, and tightening the siege on the city, the IS-linked radio report said.
Syrian state media denied reports that the road between Homs and Palmyra was cut.
Syrian troops, with the help of Russian airstrikes, regained control of the world-famous ancient city in March, after IS had controlled it for nearly 10 months. During their rule, IS destroyed many of Palmyras relics and displaced its residents.
Meanwhile, an airstrike on a medical point in IS-held territory north of the eastern city of Deir el-Zour killed at least seven people, among them a child, the Observatory reported. American, Russian, Syrian, and other air forces are known to conduct raids on the IS group in the area. It was unclear who was behind the attack on the village of Shaheil.
The IS advance on Palmyra comes despite a partial cease-fire with the mainstream opposition militias that was intended to allow the government and its international allies to focus their efforts on the extremist group and its rival al Qaida branch, the Nusra Front. That truce, brokered by the United States and Russia, broke down in the northern city of Aleppo.
Nearly 300 people were killed in less than two weeks, in strikes that also targeted hospitals and civilian areas. Human Rights Watch quoted rescue workers as saying that in one airstrike on a hospital in a rebel-held area of Aleppo, 58 civilians were killed, including medical staff and many patients. On the other side, a government-area hospital was hit and at least 20 people were killed in shelling blamed on the rebels.
Last week, airstrikes hit a displaced peoples camp in the northern Idlib province along the border with Turkey and killed 28 people. The Russian and Syrian government denied any role.
A partial cease-fire was restored, and has been extended twice. The latest cease-fire expires at midnight Wednesday.
But Syrian state media accused terrorists of breaching the truce earlier in the day, when a rocket landed on the government-held Seif al-Dawleh neighbourhood killing two people, according the report. The Observatory said three people had died and at least 10 were injured. Government media refers to all factions of the armed opposition as terrorists.
In Geneva, the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, a four-person UN team of investigators that aims to identify possible war crimes and other violations, decried strikes on medical facilities in the Aleppo and at the Idlib camp for fleeing people.
The commission noted that the recent truce has increasingly deteriorated and said international humanitarian law requires combatants to distinguish between lawful and unlawful targets.
It urged parties to the conflict and states seeking a peaceful resolution to demand civilian protection measures be taken.
Three young women of the same family were shot dead on Wednesday by male relatives who suspected them of having relations with men.
According to police, Zahara, Farzana and her step-mother Nasreen residents of Chak 92 Rb in Faisalabad district were found dead by residents after they heard gunshots in the morning. Three men had fled the scene before the neighbours arrived.
The police said initial investigations revealed that Farzanas husband Wahid alias Baga, Zaharas husband Saqib and his brother had exchanged harsh words with the women before the incident. The neighbours confirmed that the family members had an argument before they heard the gunshots. According to local residents, the husband was not happy with his wife and daughter.
A murder case has been registered against the three suspects at Balochni police station on the complaint of Zahras father. The police are conducting raids in different parts of the city to arrest the suspects.
Nearly 1,100 women were killed in Pakistan in 2015 by their relatives, who believed they had dishonoured their families, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a report released in April. In its annual report, the commission said 900 more women suffered sexual violence and nearly 800 took, or tried to take, their own lives. In 2014 about 1,000 women died in honour-related attacks and 869 in 2013.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan says he wants to be the voice of the city and not just labelled a spokesman for Muslims.
Khan told reporters on Wednesday that he hopes to be the best mayor ever for London, a diverse city of Sikhs, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Hindus and others.
Read: London shows the way with Citizen Khan
He said he recognizes that he has responsibility to remind people that Islam is compatible with Western liberal values. But hes clear that he speaks for many in the capital.
I speak for London, he said.
Khans faith recently made news in the U.S. presidential campaign. Donald Trump has suggested a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the country though he would make an exception for Khan.
Khan said hes been surprised by Trumps ignorance.
Read: London mayor Sadiq Khan rejects Trumps Muslim exception offer
The Doolittle attack generated more, and more violent, ripples than once thought.
LIEUTENANT COLONEL JIMMY DOOLITTLE at the controls of a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, zoomed low over northern Tokyo at midday on Saturday, April 18, 1942. He could see the high-rises crowding the Japanese capitals business district as well as the imperial palace and even the muddy moat encircling Emperor Hirohitos home.
Approaching target, the airman told his bombardier.
Doolittle pulled back on the yoke, climbing to 1,200 feet. The B-25s bomb bay doors yawned.
All ready, Colonel, the bombardier said.
Amid antiaircraft fire from startled gunners on the ground, Doolittle leveled off over northern Tokyo. At 1:15 p.m. the red light on his instrument panel blinked as his first bomb plummeted. The light flashed again.
Then again.
And again.
Four bombseach packed with 128 four-pound incendiary bombletstumbled onto Tokyo as Doolittle dove to rooftop level and turned south, back toward the Pacific. The veteran airman had accomplished what four months earlier had seemed impossible. The United States had bombed the Japanese homeland, a feat of arms and daring aviation that would stiffen the resolve of a demoralized America.
For more on the Doolittle Raid, click here to check out Countdown to Doolittle Raid
For more than seven decades Americans have celebrated the Doolittle Raid largely for reasons that have little to do with the missions tactical impact. A handful of bombers, each carrying two tons of ordnance, after all, could hardly dent a war machine that dominated nearly a tenth of the globe. Rather, the focus has been on the ingenuity, grit, and heroism required to execute what amounted to a virtual suicide mission, which Vice Admiral William Halsey Jr. hailed in a personal letter to Doolittle. I do not know of any more gallant deed in history than that performed by your squadron, wrote Halsey, who commanded the task force that transported Doolittle and his men to Japan. You have made history.
But the raid did have a significant impact, some of those outcomes positive, some very dark. The American bomber squadron inflicted widespread damage in the target areas but also caused civilian deaths that included children at school. In retaliatory campaigns that went on for months, Japanese military units killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese. And in the years following the Japanese surrender, American occupation authorities sheltered a general suspected of war crimes against some of the aviators. All these facts have been illuminated only recently through declassified records and other previously untapped archival sources.
Newspapers in Allied nations trumpeted the news of the raid, here being read aboard a troopship in the Pacific by Private Adam Pickerz of the 387th Quartermaster Battalion. (National Archives)
The new information in no way undermines the bravery of the first Americans to fly against Japans homeland. Rather it shows that after more than 70 years, one of the wars best known and most iconic stories still has the power to reveal more about its intricacies and effectiveness.
EVEN AS CREWS were recovering American dead from Pearl Harbors oily waters, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was demanding that his senior military leaders take the fight to Tokyo. As Army Air Forces chief Lieutenant General Henry Arnold later wrote, The president was insistent that we find ways and means of carrying home to Japan proper, in the form of a bombing raid, the real meaning of war.
Thus the concept of a surprise attack on the Japanese capital was born. Within weeks, a plan emerged. An aircraft carrier protected by a 15-ship task forceincluding a second carrier, four cruisers, eight destroyers, and two oilerswould steam into striking distance of Tokyo. Taking off from the carriersomething never before attempted16 B-25 medium bombers would assault Tokyo and the industrial cities of Yokohama, Nagoya, Kanagawa, Kobe, and Osaka. After spreading destruction across more than 200 miles, the airmen would fly to regions of China controlled by the Nationalists. Navy planners had the perfect vessel in mindthe USS Hornet, Americas newest flattop. The Tokyo raid would be the $32 million carriers first combat mission.
To oversee the Army Air Forces role, Arnold tapped his staff troubleshooter, Doolittle. The 45-year-old had chafed his way through World War I, forced because of his excellent flying skills to train others. My students were going overseas and becoming heroes, he later griped. My job was to make more heroes. What Doolittle lacked in combat experience, the airman with an ear-to-ear to grinand MIT doctoratemore than made up for in intelligence and daring, character traits that would prove vital to the Tokyo raids success.
But where to bomb in Tokyo, and what? One Japanese in 10 lived there. The population was nearly seven million, making Japans capital the worlds third largest city after London and New York. In some areas population density exceeded 100,000 per square mile, with factories, homes, and stores jumbled together. Commercial workshops often doubled as private residences, even in areas classified as industrial.
As they studied maps, the colonel drilled his 79 volunteer pilots, navigators, and bombardiers on the need to hit only legitimate military targets. Crews were repeatedly briefed to avoid any action that could possibly give the Japanese any ground to say that we had bombed or strafed indiscriminately, he said. Specifically, they were told to stay away from hospitals, schools, museums, and anything else that was not a military target. But there was no guarantee. It is quite impossible to bomb a military objective that has civilian residences near it without danger of harming the civilian residences as well, Doolittle said. That is a hazard of war.
THE 16 BOMBERS ROARED OFF the Hornets deck on the morning of April 18, 1942. All bombed targets but one, whose pilot had to ditch his ordnance in the sea to outrun fighters. According to materials only lately brought to light, the raid obliterated 112 buildings and damaged 53, killing 87 men, women, and children. Among 151 civilians seriously injured, one was a woman shot through the face and thigh while gathering shellfish near Nagoya. At least 311 others suffered minor injuries.
In Tokyo, the raiders burned the Communication Ministry transformer station, as well as more than 50 buildings around the Asahi Electrical Manufacturing Corporation factory and 13 adjoining the National Hemp and Dressing Company. In Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Tokyo, raiders targeted foundries, factories, and warehouses of the Japanese Steel Corporation and Showa Electric as well as the Yokosuka Naval Base. Robert Bourgeois, bombardier of the 13th plane, which attacked Yokosuka, later commented on the intensity of his preparation. I had looked at the pictures on board the carrier so much that I knew where every shop was located at this naval base, he recalled. It was as if it were my own backyard.
An official stands in a crater surrounded by ruins of a Tokyo-area factory destroyed in the Doolittle Raid. (HISTORYNET Archives)
In Saitama Prefecture, to the north, bombardiers blasted Japan Diesel Corporation Manufacturing. At Nagoya, a massive Toho Gas Company storage tank burned completely. Bombs there also damaged a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries aircraft factory. Six wards of the army hospital went up in flames, along with a food warehouse and army arsenal.
The Japanese logged the results of the wars first raid on their homeland in minute detail, records that largely survived the 1945 bombardment of Tokyo and the deliberate destruction of records that preceded Japans surrender. Pilot Edgar McElroys attack on the Yokosuka Naval Base ripped a 26-by-50-foot hole in submarine tender Taigeis port side, delaying its conversion to an aircraft carrier for four months. One of pilot Harold Watsons 500-pound demolition bombs penetrated a warehouse filled with gasoline, heavy oil, and volatile methyl chloride, only to bounce into the neighboring wooden building before exploding. Bombs left craters 10 feet deep and 30 feet across. A dud ripped through a house to bury itself in the clay beneath, forcing the military to set a 650-foot perimeter to excavate the projectile.
As Doolittle anticipated, the attack burned residences from Tokyo to Kobe. In 2003 Japanese historians Takehiko Shibata and Katsuhiro Hara revealed that pilot Travis Hoover alone destroyed 52 homes and damaged 14. One bomb blew a woman from the second floor of her house to land unhurt in the street atop a mat. In the same neighborhood 10 civilians died, some burning to death in collapsing houses. Pilots Hoover, Robert Gray, David Jones, and Richard Joyce accounted for 75 of the 87 fatalities. Joness attack claimed the most lives27.
Japans Yomiuri Shimbun daily also played the story page one, with an image of a raider over Tokyo bracketed by antiaircraft fire. The text praises the spirited defense of the homeland, claiming indiscriminate bombing misses military installations. (Mamichi
Gray strafed what he thought was a factory, complete with a rooftop air defense surveillance tower. But it was Mizumoto Primary School, where students, like many across Japan, attended half-day classes on Saturdays. After school let out at 11 a.m, many students had stayed to help clean classrooms; one died in the strafing attack. At Waseda Middle School, one of Doolittles incendiaries killed fourth-grader Shigeru Kojima. Childrens deaths became a rallying point. A Japanese sergeant later captured by Allied forces described the furor that erupted from the raid. One father wrote to a leading daily telling of the killing of his child in the bombing of the primary school, his interrogation report stated. He deplored the dastardly act and avowed his intention of avenging the childs death by joining the army and dying a glorious death.
ALL 16 CREWS made it out of Japan. Low on fuel, one pilot flew northwest across the Japanese mainland to Vladivostok, Russia, where authorities interned him and his crew for 13 months. The rest flew south along the Japanese coast, rounding Kyushu before crossing the East China Sea to mainland Asia. Aircrews bailed out or crash-landed along the Chinese coast, getting help from locals and missionaries. Bent on preventing further strikes, furious Japanese leaders tried in June to extend the nations defensive perimeter with a grab for Midway, triggering a disastrous naval battle that cost them four carriers and shifted the balance of power in the Pacific in favor of America.
But the raiders choice of haven revealed coastal China as another dangerous gap in the empires defense. Japan already had many troops in China. Within weeks, the Imperial General Headquarters sent the main force of the Thirteenth Army and elements of the Eleventh Army and the North China Area Armya total force that would swell to 53 infantry battalions and as many as 16 artillery battalionsto destroy the airfields the Americans had hoped to use in the provinces of Chekiang and Kiangsi. Airfields, military installations, and important lines of communication will be totally destroyed, the order read. The unwritten command was to make the Chinese pay dearly for their part in the empires humiliation.
Fleeing Japanese troops in China after the raid, missionary Sisters of Charity and priests ford a stream. (DePaul University)
Details of the destruction emerged from previously unpublished records on file at Chicagos DePaul University. Father Wendelin Dunker, a priest based in the village of Ihwang, fled the Japanese advance along with other clergy, teachers, and orphans under the churchs care, hiding in the mountains. He returned to find packs of dogs feasting on the dead. What a scene of destruction and smells met us as we entered the city! he wrote in an unpublished memoir.
The Japanese returned to Ihwang, forcing Dunker out again. Troops torched the town. They shot any man, woman, child, cow, hog, or just about anything that moved, Dunker wrote. They raped any woman from the ages of 1065.
Ihwangs destruction proved typical. Bishop William Charles Quinn, a California native, returned to Yukiang to find little more than rubble. As many of the townspeople as the Japs had been able to capture had been killed, he said. One of the worst hit was the walled city of Nancheng. Soldiers rounded up as many as 800 women, raping them day after day. Before leaving, troops looted hospitals, wrecked utilities, and torched the city. In Linchwan troops tossed families down wells. Soldiers in Sanmen sliced off noses and ears.
The lead B-25 crew in China, from left: Fred Braemer, Paul Leonard, Richard Cole, Jimmy Doolittle, and Hank Potter, with three unidentified Chinese Nationalist soldiers. (U.S. Air Force)
The Japanese were harshest on those who helped the raiders, as revealed in the diary of the Reverend Charles Meeus, who toured the devastated region afterward and interviewed survivors. In Nancheng, men had fed the Americans. The Japanese forced these Chinese to eat feces, then herded a group chest-to-back 10 deep for a bullet contest, to see how many bodies a slug pierced before stopping. In Ihwang, Ma Eng-lin had welcomed injured pilot Harold Watson into his home. Soldiers wrapped Ma Eng-lin in a blanket, tied him to a chair and soaked him in kerosene, then forced his wife to set her husband afire.
Canadian missionary Bill Mitchell traveled the region for the Church Committee for China Relief. Using local government data, Reverend Mitchell calculated that Japanese warplanes flew 1,131 raids against ChuchowDoolittles destinationkilling 10,246 people and leaving 27,456 destitute. Japanese soldiers destroyed 62,146 homes, stole 7,620 head of cattle, and burned a third of the districts crops.
The attack led by pilot Richard Joyce destroyed several wooden houses. All told, Joyces sortie killed 25 Japanese. (National Institute for Defense Studies)
Japan saved the worst for last, unleashing secretive Unit 731, which specialized in bacteriological warfare. Spreading plague, anthrax, cholera, and typhoid by spray, fleas, and contamination, Japanese forces fouled wells, rivers, and fields. Journalist Yang Kang, reporting for newspaper Ta Kung Pao, visited the village of Peipo. Those who returned to the village after the enemy had evacuated fell sick with no one spared, she wrote in a September 8, 1942, article. Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett, who accompanied Kang, said disease had left entire cities off limits. We avoided staying in towns overnight, because cholera had broken out and was spreading rapidly, he wrote. The magistrate assured us that every inhabited house in the city was stricken with some disease.
Japans approximately three-month terror campaign infuriated the Chinese military, who recognized it as a byproduct of a raid meant to boost American morale. In a cable to the U.S. government, General Chiang Kai-shek claimed the Doolittle strike cost his nation 250,000 lives. After they had been caught unawares by the falling of American bombs on Tokyo, Japanese troops attacked the coastal areas of China, where many of the American fliers had landed. These Japanese troops slaughtered every man, woman, and child in those areas, Chiang wrote. Let me repeatthese Japanese troops slaughtered every man, woman, and child in those areas.
Four Doolittle Raiders recall their mission in Avengers: The Doolittle Raid
IN THEIR SWEEP through coastal China, Japanese forces captured eight Doolittle raiders. Accused of indiscriminately killing civilians, all were tried for war crimes and sentenced to death. The Japanese executed three in Shanghai in October 1942 but commuted the others sentences to life in prison, in part for fear that executing all of them might jeopardize Japanese residents in the United States. Of the surviving raiders, one flyer starved to death in prison while the other four languished for 40 months in POW camps. Upon Japans capitulation, Allied authorities arrested four Japanese who played a role in the imprisonment and execution of the raiders. Those included the former commander of the Thirteenth Army, Shigeru Sawada, the judge and the prosecutor who tried the raiders, and the executioner.
War crimes investigators werent satisfied justice would be served by prosecuting only those four. Investigators likewise doggedly pursued ex-general Sadamu Shimomura, who had replaced Sawada as commander of the Thirteenth Army on the eve of the raiders executions. Shimomura himself was said to have signed the order to kill the Americans. As the war was ending, Shimomura was elevated to be Japans war minister; after the surrender, he worked closely with American authorities to demobilize the Imperial Army.
Public Cemetery No. 1 outside Shanghai where Hallmark, Farrow and Spatz were execuited on October 15, 1942, in accordance with Japanese military custom. They were placed on their knees with their arms tied and blindfolded with black ink marks on the white cloth directly over the center of their foreheads. All three were shot simultaneously by three soldiers with rifles and were crematec. (U.S. Air Force)
In December 1945, investigators following up on the executions of Doolittle raiders asked occupation authorities to arrest Shimomura. General Douglas MacArthurs staff refused; the former general was too valuable an asset in managing the conquered country. The investigators persisted. If Shimomura figured in raiders executions, they reasoned, he should be prosecuted. On January 11, 1946, they formally requested his arrest. MacArthurs staff again balked, this time claiming the case would be considered from an international standpoint, alluding to Shimomuras importance in postwar Japan. On January 23, the investigators again sought Shimomuras arrest, then came to Japan, arousing international news coverage.
Shimomura was arrested and interned at Tokyos Sugamo Prison in early February 1946. In March the other four defendants went on trial. To keep Shimomura out of court, members of MacArthurs staff did all they could, going so far as to elicit statements from witnesses that might exonerate the former general. In the end, MacArthurs intelligence chief, Major General Charles Willoughby, played the following-orders card. As the final decision for the execution of the fliers had been made by Imperial General Headquarters, Tokyo, on 10 October, Willoughby wrote in a memo, the signature of the Commanding General Thirteenth Army on the execution order was simply a matter of formality.
The other four defendants made the same argument, but they were tried and convicted; three were sentenced to five years hard labor and one received nine years. For Shimomura, however, the tactic workedif only because it ran out the clock. Efforts by MacArthurs staff on Shimomuras behalf so delayed the legal process that there wasnt time to prosecute him. The War Crimes mission in China is about to close, stated a concluding memo in September. Further action by this Headquarters with respect to the trial of General Shimomura is no longer possible. Accordingly, this Headquarters is not disposed to take any action in the case.
Willoughby orchestrated Shimomuras secret release, including the stealthy elimination of his name from prison reports. A driver took him to his home on March 14, 1947, before officials sent him to a quiet place for a few months. The man who had allegedly inked his name to the execution order for Doolittles raiders never served another day in jail. Shimomura was later elected to the Japanese parliament before a 1968 traffic accident claimed his life at age 80.
Compared to 1945s B-29 raidswhen as many as 500 bombers flew nightly against Japan, leveling cities by the square milethe Doolittle raid was a pinprick. But, as history has shown, those 16 bombers delivered a disproportionate punchleading America to celebrate its first victory of the war, the Chinese to mourn a quarter-million dead, and the Japanese to blunder into defeat at Midway. Doolittle raider Robert Bourgeois summed up the story many years later.
That Tokyo raid, the old bombardier said. That was the daddy of them all.
Originally published in the May/June 2015 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here.
Getting Past Hell
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]AVING PRIVATE RYAN begins with the battle for Omaha Beach. To achieve his horrific recreation of the events there on June 6, 1944, director Steven Spielberg spent $12 million and used 1,500 extras, including 20-plus actual amputees portraying men whose limbs are blown off. The result, critic Roger Ebert said upon the films release in 1998, was as graphic as any war footage I have ever seen. The Omaha Beach sequence also compellingly illustrates combat as a savage form of negotiation.
We associate negotiation with business and diplomacy, not war. But, as political scientist Thomas Schelling put it, The power to hurt is bargaining power. To exploit it is diplomacyvicious diplomacy, but diplomacy. The essence of war is not violence, but the use of violence to get what you want. At Omaha Beach, GIs want those drawsgulches leading inland through which vehicles can advance. The Germans want to throw the invaders back into the sea.
The Omaha Beach sequence unfolds as a nightmare version of principles that negotiation expert William Ury articulated in his 1991 book Getting Past No. Ury, who co-founded the Harvard Negotiation Project to improve real-world conflict resolution, focused his book on disputes in which one party refuses to negotiate. While Ury aims for win/win outcomes, his principles can also be applied to the win/lose outcomes of battle. Indeed, the author frequently invokes examples from war.
Urys first principle is to approach an obstinate opponent only after thorough preparation. Exhaustive planning preceded D-Day, embodied in Saving Private Ryan by Higgins boats racing to shore. In one, Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and Sergeant Mike Horvath (Tom Sizemore) remind soldiers of what they learned in training. I want to see plenty of beach between men, says Horvath. Five men is a juicy opportunity. One mans a waste of ammo.
As the boats ramp drops, enemy fire kills half the passengers. The film cuts to a pillbox overlooking the shore. Inside enemy soldiers are training two MG42 machine guns on the landing craft with merciless precision.
Those not instantly shotor drowned when they go over the side trying to avoid the bulletsbarely make it to the beach. Miller crouches behind a hedgehog obstacle. As he observes the carnage of the invasions near collapse, the sound drops out, illustrating another Ury principle; to embrace detachment, from which you can calmly evaluate the conflict almost as if you were a third party. More than a minute later, at the 10:26 mark, the sound returns.
What the hell do we do now, sir? a soldier yells to Miller.
Though Miller and Horvath urge men forward, most refuse, clinging to hedgehogsthe only protection between us and the Almighty, a man says. Miller, however, acts on Urys third principleto adopt ones adversarys perspectiveleading him to the fourth: reframe the situation. Every inch of this beach has been pre-sighted, the captain grimly explains. You stay here, youre dead men. Each zipping German slug suddenly becomes an argument to advance.
Amid horrifying chaos Miller leads his troops to the more substantial but still tenuous shelter of a seawall, beyond which lie tangles of barbed wire. Miller calls for bangalore torpedoesexplosive-laden pipes for clearing just such barriers. Men assemble and detonate a bangalore, blowing a sizeable gap in the wire and cratering the sand. Were in business, Horvath says. Defilade. Other side of the hole. Soldiers scramble to the craters far edge, a relatively safe space from which to assault the pillbox that is keeping them from the draw that is their objective.
In a perfect universe, the attackers would follow Urys fifth principle: let ones adversary save face. Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across, he writes, quoting Sun Tzu. On Omaha Beach, face-saving is impossible, so Millers band goes to principle six: Use power to educate.
Germans start getting schooled at 19:05, as Americans reach the base of the pillbox. Miller spots a machine gun nest at the top of the draw. He orders a rush on a nearby defilade, laying down covering fire as his men, in full view of the MG42 crews, cross the deadly ground. Miller sends his sniper, Private Daniel Jackson (Barry Pepper), to a crater offering a shot at the nest. Jackson dashes into position and takes aim. At 21:41 he shoots a German gunner through the forehead and within seconds kills another. GIs scramble forward. Atop the bluff a murderous close-quarters fight develops, but now the Americans have the upper handand no more pity than their foes displayed earlier. A flamethrower blasts the pillbox from the rear. Defenders, aflame, try to escape through embrasures. Dont shoot! a GI at the seawall yells. Let em burn!
At 24:19, the dynamic shifts. Attackers and defenders now agree: the Americans control the beach. But it is not an amicable accord. When six German soldiers raise their hands in surrender, GIs shoot one. The others stay alive; these five will be this locations only POWs. In a subsequent scene, GIs stand at a German trench, pouring fire onto its occupants. In another, as American infantrymen approach, two enemy soldiers raise empty hands and say something. The GIs fire point-blank. Whatd he say? one asks. Look, his grinning buddy says, pantomiming surrender. I washed for supper!
The fight ends. Horvath shoves sand into a canister marked France. At 27:07 he says, Thats quite a view. Miller agrees. The camera pans past dead GIs strewn across the sand and floating in water red with blood. At tremendous cost, the Americans have finally gotten past no.
Originally published in the March/April 2016 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here.
MRS. MINIVER, AN American film, tells the story of life in 19391941 England, experienced, as the opening crawl tells us, by an average English middle class familythat just happens to be able to afford servants and a spacious residence whose lawn extends to a dock on the Thames River. Shot in Hollywood starting on November 11, 1941, and released in June 1942, the MGM film became that years highest-grossing picture and garnered six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actress (Greer Garson in the title role), and Best Supporting Actress (Teresa Wright). Its appeal has endured; the American Film Institute ranks the film 40th on its list of Americas most inspiring movies.
Based on Jan Struthers bestselling 1940 collection of anecdotal British newspaper columns, the movie has only tenuous ties to the namesake book, which barely reaches the wars outbreak. Working with half a dozen writers, Wyler extended Struthers timeline, weaving in Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain.
At the outset, Kay Miniver (Garson), husband Clem (Walter Pidgeon), and eldest son Vin (Richard Ney) areas that crawl puts ithappy, careless peoplein that happy, easy-going England that was so soon to be fighting desperately for her way of life and for life itself. Even when war breaks out the Minivers lives change little, though Vin does become an RAF fighter pilot. Reality intrudes only when Clem sails in his motorboat to join the makeshift flotilla thatoffscreenrescues the British Army from Dunkirk.
While Clem is busy across the Channel, a downed German pilot (Helmut Dantine) finds his way into the Miniver home. The screenwriters, responding to increasing American regard for England, reworked this sequence several times. In a draft predating Pearl Harbor, Clem is present; the German, wounded and frightened, yields to Kays entreaty to give himself up. In a post-December 7 version, the German has a weapon, Clem is absent, and Kay clearly in peril. The finished film presents the enemy airman as a fanatic. He holds Kay at gunpoint, demanding food he wolfs down like a wild animal before fainting from blood loss. Barely rattled, she confiscates his weapon and phones the constables.
When the pilot revives, too weak to be dangerous, Kay sympathetically tends him. Hell soon be wonderfully looked after in a hospital, she says. The war wont last forever.
Mrs. Minivers benevolence enrages the German flyer. We will bomb your cities, he storms. Rotterdam we destroy in two hours. Thirty thousand in two hours. And we will do the same thing here! This is unspeakably rude (and inaccurate; the Rotterdam bombings took 884 lives) and Mrs. Miniver slaps the brute. No sooner have the bobbies collected their prisoner than Clem chugs up to the family dock, his boat battered by that Dunkirk circuit. Nonetheless, Mr. Miniver behaves like a fellow completing a particularly grueling business trip. After greeting his family, he falls asleep. Waking 10 hours later, Clem asks if news of Dunkirk is in the papers. Yes, dear, Kay replies.
Thank heavens, her husband says. I shant have to tell you about it. And he doesnt.
Nor does Mrs. M mention her adventure, until the cook reports that there is no ham. You gave it all to that German pilot, she says. Not a problem, Mrs. Miniver replies; the mister likes bacon, too. Naturally Clem asks what German pilot, and in a playful scene Kay treats the episode in an elaborately coy manner utterly typical of the film.
Come what may, the Minivers lives remain idyllic. Yes, there are air raids, but the family hunkers in its Anderson shelter and Clem talks about how much he likes Alice in Wonderland. Vin weds Carol Beldon (Teresa Wright), adding another Mrs. Miniver to the householdand a class dimension to the film. Carols grandmother is Lady Beldon (Dame May Whitty), a local aristocrat who frequently sniffs about the middle classes as the filmmakers try to make the Minivers more sympathetic to Americans. In the same vein, the film conveys that in wartime, England has done away with class distinctions. Even Lady Beldon unbends; at the annual floral competitionwhich she always winsthe grand dame permits a kindly stationmasters Mrs. Miniver rose to claim first prize.
Tragedy invades only near the conclusion. Just after the flower show an air raid claims several villagers, including the stationmaster and Vins bride, Carol. At a memorial service, the vicar (Henry Wilcoxon) delivers a powerful sermon. In the October 1941 script, he recited the 91st Psalm, which presents the Almighty as a refuge. After Pearl Harbor, Wyler and Wilcoxon wrote a stirring oration to follow the scriptural passage, completing the text hours before filming the scene. In it, the vicar laments the dead innocents, declaring that theirs is a war in which all must share in freedoms struggle.
This is the peoples war, the vicar concludes. It is our war. We are the fighters. Fight it, then! Fight it with all that is in us! And may God defend the right. The camera holds on the resolute, dry-eyed Minivers as congregants sing Onward, Christian Soldiers; pans up to a ragged hole gaping in the church roof; and dollies skyward as a squadron of Spitfires passes, flying toward the foe.
The film works because strong performancesespecially Garsonsredeem preposterous characters, and the vicars conclusory oration has enduring power. However, Mrs. Miniver presents war mostly as a case of dreadful manners: a sanitized way to promote American solidarity with Britain without showing how horrible that peoples war would be.
Originally published in the July/August issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here.
FISKE HANLEY WAS a guest of honor at last years Hollywood premiere of the film Unbroken, about airman Louis Zamperinis ordeal as a POW. Former B-29 flight engineer Hanley, 95, knows in detail what Zamperini endured. He also was shot down, taken prisoner, and tormenteda story he tells in his 1997 memoir, Accused American War Criminal.
You took to flying early.
I was born in Texas in 1920. I was five when Dad gave me an 1890 silver dollar that became my lucky charm. Hed bring me to the airfield outside Wichita Falls. Once, a Ford Tri-Motor pilot said hed take up passengers for a penny a pound. Dad anted half a dollar and I made my first airplane flight.
You pursued aviation in college.
I studied aviation engineering at North Texas Agricultural College and Texas Tech University. I became an aviation cadet to stay in school until spring 1943. I got my lieutenants bars in February 1944. The air force assigned us to B-29s, but didnt have B-29s yet; we trained in B-24s and B-17s and simulators. In December 1944 my 504th Bombardment Group crew moved to Herington, Kansas, where we finally got airtime in a B-29.
That was a very new plane.
Oh, the B-29 was still quite experimental. Those Curtiss-Wright engines would catch fire. And if you didnt watch carefully, you could use more fuel than you thought, and youd run dry. We lost an awful lot of planes that way.
Upon flying to Hawaii you learned things you wished you hadnt.
A college friend on a generals staff told me about operations Olympic and Coronetthe invasion of the Japanese home islandsright down to the November 1, 1945, start date. I didnt want to know that. Id be flying over Japan, and had been trained that if taken prisoner I was to answer interrogation questions honestly. But off we flew to Tinian. In the combat zone there was no dress code. I went with suntanskhaki shirt and trousers with a watch pocket where I kept my lucky silver dollar. Our first combat flight was to Iwo Jima to hit the airfield. Unfortunately, our bombs landed on the beach. We left craters Marines were able to shelter in, so the Marines loved us.
Late March 1945 saw your crew take on a very significant mission.
My crew got orders to mine the Shimonoseki Straits. It seemed like such a cinch our tail gunner stayed home. But the Japanese had learned the Allies would be invading Okinawa. There were searchlights, tracers, flak. It was terrible and chaotic. Our engines caught fire. The navigator and the gunner were killed; the copilot said the commander and the bombardier were dead. The only way out was through the nose wheel well, but to reach the hatch, that nose wheel had to be down. That required electricity and hydraulics, and our systems were shot. All of a sudden the nose wheel dropped. As the two of us were jumping, a song was in my head: Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative. I landed on Honshu in a rice paddycouldnt see anyone from my planeand people were on me with bamboo spears and what all. A policeman pushed them back and took me away on a fire truck.
Were you okay?
I had bad shrapnel wounds to my rear end, which I didnt realize until I got to the mayors office and bled all over his divan. Medics put a needle into my chest and bandaged my wounds. To do this they undressed me, but they didnt find my silver dollar. Kempeitai officers arrived and took me outside. I saw my copilot and tried to talk with him, but the Kempeis beat us. Next the Kempeis sat me by a charcoal grill with irons set on the coals. I thought, This doesnt look good. I answered every question. The Kempeis never did reach for those irons.
The Kempeitai moved you to Tokyo.
They crammed eight airmen and three Japanese into a 5-by-9-foot cell. We couldnt bathe or wash; we used a honey bucket. Our overseer was a corporal, Yoshio Kubayashi. We called him Shorty. He would punch us and beat us with clubs made of bamboo slats called kendo clubs. For two months, they interrogated me daily, asking how it would affect the American population if everyone in Japan was willing to die in a wall of corpses. I would say, I dont know, all I read is the funny papers. But they never asked about Operation Olympic.
What a desperate situation.
My silver dollar seemed to be a piece of hope. When we were by ourselves I would take it out and wed hold it.
Not many men have had college reunions in the midst of a POW camp.
One day new prisoners came in. This fellow sits opposite me. Youre from Texas, he says. Youre Fiske Hanley! It was Bill Grounds. Wed been in ROTC at North Texas Agricultural College.
The Japanese considered all captive B-29 crewmembers special prisoners.
They wanted me to sign something admitting to war crimes. I refused, so they gave me the treatmentknocking me around, sticking me with bayonets, hitting me with kendo clubs and gun butts. That would happen if POWs tried to talk with one another, too.
August 14, 1945, was a big date.
The emperor said Japan would surrender. The guards took us through Tokyo to Omori Island POW camp, and told us to bathe in Tokyo Bay. You should have seen these human skeletonsI weighed 70 poundshappy as the devil, splashing around. Then the Kempeitai turned us over to Camp Omori prison.
Conditions improved.
Ill say. Each of us had his own 2-by-6-foot sleeping spot, with clean blankets. We got full rations and then some, and brand-new uniforms the Japanese had captured. We were tickled to death. I couldnt believe my good fortune. All day Marine and navy planes dropped food supplies. A torpedo bomber opened its bomb bay and dropped a huge load of Mounds candy barsright into a cesspool, an awful disaster! On August 28, a Marine fighter dropped a note reading, Tomorrow you will be liberated. At midafternoon six Higgins boats landed carrying Marines armed to the teeth.
I was still badly wounded, and wound up in a hospital on Okinawa.
Was your family aware of what had happened to you?
One of the Texas newspapers let my family know I was all right, but only after getting to San Francisco in October was I able to put a call through. My mother answered, and I spoke with Dad. The next day the Red Cross said I was being expedited home because my father was dying of cancer. Dad died two weeks after I got to the house. I can think of no happier occasion, even getting married, than being with my family again.
Your back pay went to good use.
I bought a beautiful Ford convertible, off-white, tan leather upholstery, $1,400. Bill Grounds and his wife knew several American Airlines stewardesses. I was a big hit with them. I married the prettiest one, Betty Baker, in 47.
Aviation became your career.
I took a job at Convair for $1.25 an hour, and gradually moved up to flying B-36 bombers. Then I became an executive in engineering. I was in my office one day when this Asian fellow, Bill Hagase, came in. He worked for General Dynamics, which had acquired Convair. I asked how he got into aviation. I was a kamikaze, he said. I told him about myself, and he explained that when he was 16, waiting to fly and die, the war ended. During the occupation he worked for an American colonel who sent him to Texas Christian University. He married a Texas girl and went to work at General Dynamics. Once in a while Bill and I do a presentation where we talk about our individual wartime experiences and our friendship.
How were you able to process that wartime experience?
As I was recovering from being a special prisoner, I couldnt sleep. I got out my college typewriter and typed out what happened. Id take two or three pages a day to the stewardesses, who edited them. Kept at it, and that was that. Never did talk with anyone about it. After I retired from General Dynamics in 1989, I wrote my 504th Bomb Groups history. Betty died in 1992. In 97 I wrote my book, Accused American War Criminal.
What was it like to watch Unbroken?
My wife Peggy and I attended the premiere. Louie Zamperini had just died; I sat in his seat. The flak and torture scenes bothered me. I saw it again in Texas. Now when Im going to speak with a group about the film, I say, Okay, you watch it. Ill be happy to talk with you afterward, but Im not going to watch that again.
Originally published in the September/October 2015 issue of World War II magazine.
Hershel Woody Williams, who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, is World War IIs last surviving Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient.
Hershel Woodrow Woody Williams was born in 1923 on a dairy farm outside Fairmont, West Virginia. The youngest of 11 children, six of whom died in the 1918 influenza epidemic, he served on Iwo Jima in February and March 1945, with the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines, Third Marine Division. In that battle, among the wars fiercest engagements, 27 Americans received the Medal of Honor for valor above and beyond the call of duty; Woody is the last of those heroes still living. The U.S. Navy recently announced plans to name a warship after him. He lives in Ona, West Virginia.
You started out fighting for your life.
I only weighed three pounds. They werent sure I was going to make it, but after three days the doctor came from town and said I would.
Before the war you had a brush with the army.
In 1938, my nearest brother joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1940, I joined, too. They sent me to Montana to cut pine trees with crosscut saws and fashion them into posts for fences we put up to keep livestock off federal land. An army second lieutenant commanded the base. On December 8, 1941, he called us out. He said Japan had attacked America, and that we were at war. I was 18. I decided to go home and get my mothers consent and join the U.S. Marine Corps.
Why the Marines?
In the mid-1930s two fellows in our area had joined. Marines on furlough always wore their dress blues. Those dress blues sold me. I decided if I was to join the military it would be the U.S. Marine Corps.
How did your enlistment plan work out?
My mother wouldnt sign the papers; she needed me on the farm. But on October 2, 1942, I turned 19, meaning I could sign up on my own, and that November I walked to the recruiting office in Fairmont. Sorry, son, the sergeant said. Youre too short. I was five foot six. I went back to the farm. In early 1943, that recruiter came out to our place and said the Marines had lowered their minimum height. I enlisted in March.
Did you train at Parris Island?
Parris Island was full. A troop train started down south and made its way north and west, picking up men to take them to California. The seats were wooden slats, and they were full. We ate in shifts all the way to boot camp in San Diego. I did fine there; I was accustomed to doing as I was told. After infantry training we shipped to New Zealand and then Guadalcanal.
Did you have a specialty?
I was a Browning Automatic Rifle man, but on Guadalcanal a sergeant said, You and you and you just volunteered to be flamethrower and demolition men. He made me a section leader. We got M2-2 flamethrowers, which were new. You strapped the air and fuel tanks onto your backthe rig weighed 70 poundsand controlled the flame with a nozzle in your hands. We also learned to use TNT and blasting caps or fuse cord. The same guys did demolition and flamethrowers.
How did the flamethrower operate?
Flamethrowers used compressed air and the same 82-octane gas as a jeep, mixed with a powder to make a fuel that stuck to everything and couldnt be put out. We called it phosphorus gel, or phosgel. It burned at 3,500 degrees; the idea was to use up the oxygen in a cave or pillbox and kill the occupants. I cant tell you the number of times I singed off my eyebrows and the hair on my arms learning to use that rig. The idea was to roll the flame in bursts toward the target. The fuel tank held 4.5 gallons; if you opened up and let it burn, the tank would empty in seven seconds. You were aiming from the hip, and if you werent careful you would use up your fuel before you got the range.
That required teamwork.
I had an assistant to carry my pack and bedroll and grenades; all I could manage to carry besides the flamethrower was my canteen and my .45. A flamethrower man also needed an assistant because when he sat down the weight of the tanks would make him fall onto his back like an upended turtle.
Tell us about Iwo Jima.
We had no intelligence about that place. There were 23,000 Japanese dug in in caves, tunnels, and pillboxes. On February 20, 1945D+1we climbed cargo nets from the transport into Higgins boats that rendezvoused at an assembly point off Iwo. Our boat with 34 men stayed out all day, bobbing in 10- to 12-foot waves. You cant ignore nature, and the sergeant told us if he caught anyone going in the boat hed shoot him, so we had to shuffle around to let each man do his business at the bilge pump. There was vomit everywhere. After dark, we returned to the ship. We had to go up the gangplank, with the craft bobbing up and down. We lost guys who missed a step and went into the ocean. I got to the deck and collapsed. That was where they found me the next morning. We came ashore that day around noon.
Besides flamethrowers, what were you carrying?
We had pole charges, 2-by-2s about eight feet long on which we had stuck C2 plastic explosiveyou could mold it, like Play-Dohand attached to fuse cord. In our flamethrower tanks we had a mix of diesel and 130-octane aviation gas, which was more effective than regular gas.
What did you see?
Complete chaos, wrecks everywheretrucks, amtracs, landing boats, jeeps, tanks. And the bodies of Marines wrapped in ponchos and stacked like cordwood. There was no other place to put them. Beyond the beach was an airfield. We lost a lot of Marines trying to cross that field.
Marines were fighting for every inch.
We made hardly any progress for two and a half days because Japanese in pillboxes on the far side of the airfield were laying down grazing fire. Nothing would take them out; they were made of reinforced concrete with sand on top that would absorb any shell or bomb. On the morning of February 23, we finally crossed the airfield. The only way to get at the Japanese inside those pillboxes was to fire into the eight-inch openings they were firing through.
What did your unit do?
Our commanding officer, Captain Donald Beck, brought the squad leaders together. The other flamethrower men were dead or wounded; I was the only one left. Captain Beck asked was there anything I could do. I dont remember saying so but other people told me later that I said, Well, Ill try. He gave me four men. One, Darol Lefty Lee, is still alive in Winona, Minnesota. I strapped on a flamethrower, organized my guys to provide crossfire, and started crawling. My assistant was behind me with a pole charge. A Jap bullet knocked him down. I was on my own.
There were seven pillboxes. I dont know why or how I wasnt hit. When I got within 20 yards of the first pillbox I rolled a burst into the embrasure. It worked well. For four hours, that was what I did. When fuel ran out I must have unstrapped my rig and got another; I dont recall, and afterwards no one remembered crawling forward to give me a fresh flamethrower. Years later a psychologist suggested that working in a state of fear I ruled out remembering what happened, just shut it out. That has bugged me all my life.
As soon as I knocked out the seventh pillbox the CO led the troops through. We pushed to the north end of the island, where a cave was supposed to hold coastal artillery and 300 Japanese. I had two satchel charges of C2. I put men left and right to shoot into the cave mouth, which was big enough to drive a truck through. I set one eight-pound satchel charge with a 10-second fuse, stood, and heaved it. The blasting cap was bad. I prepped another charge. That was a flop, too. I had to go for another charge and fresh blasting caps. This charge went offand set off those other charges, too. You couldnt tell there had been an opening in that hillside.
How did you learn about your award?
When the war ended we were on Guam practicing urban warfare. I got orders to report to Major General Graves B. Erskine, commander of the Third Marines. He told me I was up for the Medal of Honor. Id never heard of it, but he was a general and I was a corporal, so that was that. On September 28, 1945, I was on a train from Chicago to Washington, DC; I was due there on October 3 to receive my medal. I was drinking coffee in the middle of the night when a fellow dressed like a Confederate officerwhite beard, gray uniform, sword, black boots, the whole thingstopped to chat. I told him where I was from and where I was headed. He went away and came back with a conductor. We go through Connellsville, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles from Morgantown, West Virginia, the conductor said. We dont stop in Connellsville, but if we slowed down to about three miles an hour could you step off?
Sure, I said. And I did. Surprised everybody at home, then I went to DC. On October 5, President Truman presented my medal at the White House lawn; I realized my life was not going to be the same. On October 17, 1945, Ruby Meredith married me. I worked for the Veterans Administration for 33 years, and then had a business training and showing horses. I ran a veterans home. Ruby died in 2007. I have had such a blessed time. Life has been full but good.
This article was published in the March/April 2016 issue of World War II.
John C. Raaen Jr. retired in 1979 as a U.S. Army Major General. Thirty-five years earlier, as a 22-year-old captain 17 months out of the U.S. Military Academy, he made his first amphibious landing under fire at Omaha Beach. He received a Silver Star for gallantry that day in actions for which the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion was awarded a unit citation and which he recounts in his 2012 book, Intact. He later served in Korea and in Vietnam. Raaen, a widower, lives in Central Florida.
Youre a soldiers son.
My father and namesake was the son of a Norwegian immigrant and a Philadelphia socialite. He grew up in Wisconsin and Illinois. My mother, Alexandra Hoffman Raaen, was raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas; her childhood friends had included a rascal named Bill Darby. Dad graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1918, two and a-half years early and 10 days before the Armistice. I was born in 1922. We lived mostly on army bases: Fort Benning and West Point, but occasionally in cities like Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. I loved it.
Because of the nature of the interwar army, I knew the Eisenhowers, the Cotas, the Gerhardts, the Bradleys, and many others as family friends. I played with officers kids. I dated their daughters. When Dad was stationed at the Military Academy in the late 1920s, he and my mother would invite cadets for Sundays, which let young men like Bill Darby enjoy a few hours of being human beings, drinking Cokes and listening to the radio. Later I realized what an advantage it was to have known these men from boyhood. I didnt quake in my boots around them, although it could be awkward. In uniform, I once addressed a lieutenant general by his first name; he gave me a hard look but replied, What is it, John?
You took up the family trade.
I entered West Point in 1939, figuring to follow my father into ordnance and the infantry. Many of my classmates were also army brats; Dan Cotas father was a general. We graduated early, in January 1943. My degree was in engineering.
But you became a Ranger.
As soon as I heard what Bill Darby was up to with the Rangers in North Africa and Sicily, I wanted to join. I thought being an engineer would kill my chances, but the Rangers wanted engineers to teach demolition, fortifications, and so on. They took meand immediately made me a platoon leader in the 5th Ranger Infantry Battalion. Never taught a single class.
You made your combat debut at Omaha Beach.
My battalion, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Max F. Schneider, landed in three waves. I came in on our third wave aboard a British LCA from the HMS Prince Baudouin. We were very crowded, crammed onto three benches. The chop was six to eight feet; water was coming over the gunwales. At least half of us were seasick, though I wasnt. The rest were bailing with helmets; the pumps werent keeping up with the spray. When the USS Texas started firing, the concussion practically blew us out of the water.
Where were you headed?
We were supposed to land at Pointe du Hoc following an assault there by three companies of the 2nd Rangers. But when we hadnt received word of those companies progress by the appointed time, we headed, as planned, for Vierville-sur-Mer. There, landing control waved us off. Our first wave, two companies of the 2nd Rangers, had been nearly wiped out landing on Dog White Beach, so Colonel Schneider had the rest of us diverted to Dog Red. We came ashore at 7:50 a.m., very dry. The water wasnt to my boot tops. A seawall and breakwaters afforded cover once we got across about 50 yards of beach. A road ran atop the wooden seawall, which was four or five feet high and parallel to the waters edge. The breakwaters, which slanted slightly to the west, were wooden frames filled with rocks. They made wonderful little forts where we could organize ourselves while German machine gun and rifle fire passed over our heads. Part of the 29th Infantry Division also had landed there.
Where was the enemy?
All the firing was coming from our right. To the left a nose in the bluffs was keeping Germans there from shooting at us. On the bluffs, wet brush was burning. It was raining, so there was a lot of smoke, so much that at first we thought the navy had laid smoke. The flames had chased the Germans in front of us out of their trenches and Tobruk armored emplacements. They left their machine guns, so our sector wasnt quite the slaughter that happened elsewhere.
Troops at the breakwaters quickly went on offense.
We hadnt been there three minutes when an old engineer sergeantI recognized his affiliation by the white circle on his helmetwalked past me carrying the tripod for a heavy machine gun. He set the tripod at a gap in the seawall and came back with a water-cooled .30-caliber. A tall, thin engineering lieutenant in a green sweater carried in water for the guns reservoir and boxes of ammunition. They commenced firing.
Mid-assault, you had a reunion.
We noticed a figure on the beach 100 yards east. He was waving his arms, screaming, making a scene. I thought he might be an officer encouraging his men or perhaps a reporter who didnt know how to behave in combat. He approached our position amid terrible fire, waving the stub of a cigar. I was starting for him, thinking that I might have to tackle him, when I noticed a silver star on either his shirt collar or shoulder strap. He was a brigadier general. I stopped and saluted. He returned my salute very carefully. Captain Raaen, 5th Rangers, sir, I said. Raaen, Raaen he replied. Arent you Jack Raaens son?
And he was
General Norman Cota, deputy commander of the 29th Division and my classmate Dans father. I answered, Yes, sir! and we chatted. He asked where my commander was. I could see Colonel Schneider three bays over, sitting on the seawall kicking his heels as he talked to men. Ill take you to him, I said. You will not, General Cota said. You will stay with your troops. He took a few steps and turned toward me.
You men are Rangers. I know you wont let me down, he said. A few minutes later, after talking with Schneider, he yelled, Rangers, lead the way! That was just before we moved off the beach, and how we Rangers got our motto.
Now you confronted hedgerows.
The coastal plain extended 50 or 100 yards to the bluffs, from which the Germans were firing. Once we reached the foot of the bluffs we were out of range. But we were in the smoke, making it hard to get our bearings. The hedgerows were 20 to 50 feet further. I wanted to find Colonel Schneider and Major Richard Sullivan, the Ranger troop commander. Captain Wilmer Wise, who commanded C Company, told me they were in the hedgerows. He said to go right, not left, where the Germans were firing. I still got shot at a lot, both enemy and friendly fire. By the time I found Schneider and Sullivan, the Germans mostly had been cleared out. Sullivan sent me on patrols into the hedgerows. I went alonenot the best idea. Very lonely. You keep low, duckwalking until your legs feel like theyre going to fall off. I was carrying an M1 loaded with armor-piercing roundsremember, Im an ordnance mans sonbut never did fire a shot, because I could not tell where the enemy was.
Your day ended comically.
At a farm by the Vierville crossroads, headquarters took one building and my company took the other. A Ranger company was between the Germans and us, but I still placed men in defensive positions. I had them dig slit trenches to protect from artillery fragments. When I reached for my entrenching tool it was gone, probably snagged. I tried digging with my helmet, but centuries of animals grinding straw and grain into it had made that Norman clay like brick. I saw a hay pile and thought, Oh, that would be nice. I climbed in; it was warm. I was a city boy, and didnt know the difference between a haystack and a manure pile. Every biting insect in Normandy had a chance at me before I jumped out, to the amusement of the men in my company. They were happy to give me their flea powder, which stopped the biting but didnt do anything for the itching. And that was my D-Day.
Originally published in the May/June 2016 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here.
Ready to Ride
IN MAY 1940, British war planners asked North American Aviation to design and build a fighter-bomber with firepower, climb, speed, agility, and range sufficient to carry the fight to Berlin and back. By September, the firm had a prototype for what became one of the wars most recognizable silhouettes. Debuting in combat with RAF pilots on the stick, the Mustang by late 1943 had become the escort of choice for Allied bombers over Europe and, in time, Japan. Pilots hailed the elegant machines robust, durable design, which evolved through multiple variations. Of 15,000-plus produced, more than 8,100 were P-51Ds, introduced in mid-1944. Auxiliary fuel tanks stretched the P-51s range to 1,650 miles; a pilot could cross the Channel into European air space, tangle with Luftwaffe fliers, and return to England. Critics sniffed at a P-51s inability to turn like a Spitfire, Messerschmitt, or Focke-Wulfbut no rival could match a Mustang for range and ceiling. A dogfighters dream, able to catch and kill V-1 buzz bombs, the P-51 achieved permanent iconhood.
Originally published in the March/April 2016 issue of World War II magazine. Subscribe here.
Business / Companies
by Staff reporter
Cimas Medical Aid Society says it is not in danger of losing its operating licence, dismissing media reports to the contrary.A local weekly on Sunday reported that government had given the health insurer a seven-day ultimatum to honour all outstanding claims or lose its licence."We will revoke the temporary licence that we had given to Cimas if it fails to settle claims not only to Corporate 24 but to all other companies that include Zimbabwe Medical Association and other pharmaceutical companies in the next seven days," Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Aldrin Musiiwa was quoted as saying.Cimas has for months now refused to cover subscribers who access Corporate 24's medical services, following receipt of what it termed a large number of "suspect" claims.The dispute has seen Cimas directing its more than 30 000 members, to use other service providers despite having been told by government to allow subscribers to access medical services at institutions of their choice.Cimas managing director Roderick Takawira allayed the closure fears and said discussions with the authorities were taking place to resolve the stand-off.
N ot since the great Victorian railway era have mainline stations been such important commercial zones and such desirable places to live.
King's Cross
Kings Cross is the best example. Twenty years ago it was a sleazy red light district. Now 67 acres of what was blighted industrial land to the rear of the station form a stunning urban quarter, one of Londons finest, with 2,000 homes, Googles European HQ, a University of the Arts London campus, a Jamie Oliver cookery school to be launched and a piazza thats a field of fountains and attractive wooden benches.
London's new homes with top transport links 1 /18 London's new homes with top transport links Nine Elms, Battersea TfL is expecting to raise more than 1 billion for reinvestment in the transport system. The first projects will be at Nine Elms in Battersea, where a new Northern line Tube station is being built, and at Parsons Green, on land occupied by an old depot that has been derelict for decades. Earls Court, SW5 At Earls Court, TfL is in partnership with developer Capco, building 7,500 homes on 77 acres surrounding the famous exhibition centre, which TfL owns. (Scroll right...) Earls Court, SW5 Launching next week are duplex apartments with private gardens of up to 540sq ft designed by Chelsea Flower Show winner Andy Sturgeon. Prices from 1,435,000. Call 020 7381 9800. (Scroll right...) Earls Court, SW5 This partnership approach is welcome, says Peter Murray, chairman of New London Architecture, which promotes urban planning and design in the capital. Often there is political pressure for public bodies to take the money and leave it to others to develop the land, he says. 55 Broadway, St James's Park Transport for Londons own listed headquarters above St Jamess Park Tube station, an Art Deco building featuring prized sculptures by Jacob Epstein and Henry Moore, already has planning permission for conversion into 89 apartments. Kidbrooke, SE3 Other locations include Harrow-on-the-Hill, Northwood and lesser-known Kidbrooke in suburban south-east London, where Berkeley Homes is building a new 4,000-home neighbourhood. TfL headquarters TfL also envisages a lot of private-rent homes as the locations are expected to be popular with younger people working in central London. The strategy chimes with a wider City Hall plan to create new districts around major transport hubs. TFLv2 London Bridge Quarter London Bridge station is being completely rebuilt. The Shard has helped catapult the area, previously a spillover address for City firms, to a new level. (Scroll right...) Matt Writtle London Bridge Quarter Derelict railway arches along Crucifix Lane are being opened up to provide links with Hays Galleria wharf fronting the Thames. Daniel Lynch Waterloo revival A City Hall vision for a revitalised quarter around Waterloo station, Londons biggest and busiest commuter hub, is also coming to fruition. Lower Marsh, Waterloo Dover House, a former hotel and restaurant in Lower Marsh, which has a street market and is attracting more upmarket shops and boutiques, has been refurbished and split into nine rental apartments. Call Savills on 020 3430 6870. Southbank Place Thirty Casson Square, the second phase of the 790-home Shell Centre project, has been launched, with two-bedroom flats from 1.2 million. Call 020 7001 3600. King's Cross Twenty years ago King's Cross was a sleazy red light district. Now 67 acres of what was blighted industrial land to the rear of the station form a stunning urban quarter. (Scroll right...) King's Cross Soon to launch is Fenman House, a 14-storey tower and linked podium building with 75 flats priced from 655,000. Call Knight Frank on 020 3691 3969.
Following the release of spectacular flats built within the framework of listed gasholders, next week sees the launch of Fenman House, a 14-storey tower and linked podium building with 75 flats priced from 655,000. Call Knight Frank on 020 3691 3969.
Euston
Euston station is going to be rebuilt for the new high-speed HS2 rail link, while at Victoria a blighted island site opposite the station is being turned into Nova five fresh buildings including a block of 172 flats, all part of a 2 billion area project sweeping away the grey-slab office blocks that have dominated the area for decades.
London Bridge
London Bridge station is being completely rebuilt. The Shard has helped catapult the area, previously a spillover address for City firms, to a new level. The main challenge now is to integrate the tower of riches with a mainly small-scale area that includes medieval lanes and passageways.
Derelict railway arches along Crucifix Lane are being turned into shops as part of the London Bridge Quarter / Daniel Lynch
London Bridge Quarter is the name of the wider development zone. Regeneration has involved cutting new viaducts through ancient Borough Market and improving street-level space for stallholders and shoppers. Derelict railway arches along Crucifix Lane are being opened up to provide links with Hays Galleria wharf fronting the Thames.
Snowsfields Yard is a stylish scheme of 28 new flats moments from the Shard. Prices from 765,000. Call Crest Nicholson on 020 3002 7009.
London Waterloo
A City Hall vision for a revitalised quarter around Waterloo station, Londons biggest and busiest commuter hub, is also coming to fruition. This entails part-demolition of the Shell Centre group of buildings and bulldozing a run-down strip along York Road that has not recovered since the GLC left County Hall more than 25 years ago.
From 1.2 million: two-bedroom flats at Thirty Casson Square
Thirty Casson Square, the second phase of the 790-home Shell Centre project, has been launched, with two-bedroom flats from 1.2 million. Call 020 7001 3600.
The sprawling station complex extends to 24 acres and is home to the disused Eurostar terminal, which is to be revived for commuter services and a shopping mall.
Despite its growing cachet, Waterloo is still a good-value Zone 1 address, within the price range of some first-time buyers. Its charming urban residential mix includes lovely Victorian terraces, charitable and church housing, cared-for council estates, small pockets of new flats and sweeping waterfront developments.
Dover House, a former hotel and restaurant in Lower Marsh, which has a street market and is attracting more upmarket shops and boutiques, has been refurbished and split into nine rental apartments. Call Savills on 020 3430 6870.
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Hyatt Regency Vancouver
InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust Enters into Definitive Agreement with Bluesky Hotels and Resorts to be Acquired for $7.25 in Cash per Unit
InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:INN.UN) and Bluesky Hotels and Resorts Inc.,, a privately-held Canadian company, announce yesterday that they have entered into an arrangement agreement pursuant to which Bluesky will acquire all the issued and outstanding units of InnVest for $7.25 in cash per unit, pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement. The proposed transaction values InnVest at approximately $2.1 billion, including the assumption of InnVest's net debt.
"This transaction is a winning outcome for all stakeholders. The dedicated work of InnVest to improve its portfolio quality and strengthen its balance sheet has culminated in the crystallization of value that this transaction represents. Bluesky is aligned with InnVest's strategic objectives for the portfolio, and I look forward to continuing to lead InnVest on the path of asset quality driven growth," said Drew Coles, President and Chief Executive Officer of InnVest.
"Bluesky welcomes the opportunity to acquire the InnVest business," stated Li Chen, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Bluesky. "We are impressed with InnVest's hotel assets and its management team. This transaction is an investment that will establish a global platform from which Bluesky will continue to pursue growth opportunities in North America."
Cash Consideration and Attractive Premium Under the Arrangement, unitholders of InnVest will receive $7.25 per InnVest unit in cash, offering certainty of consideration and representing a premium of 37% over the 30-day volume weighted average trading price of InnVest units of $5.28 per unit on the Toronto Stock Exchange, ending on May 10, 2016.
InnVest will work with Bluesky in connection with the redemption of all of InnVest's outstanding convertible debentures. Bluesky has proposed that, subject to obtaining the requisite approvals of holders of convertible debentures to amend the underlying indentures, InnVest will redeem for cash concurrent with the completion of the Arrangement (i) all 6.25% Series G convertible debentures at a price of $1,040 per $1,000 of debentures and (ii) all 6.00% Series E convertible debentures and 5.75% Series F convertible debentures at a price of $1,010 per $1,000 of debentures. This will enable holders of those debentures to receive proceeds immediately upon completion of the Arrangement, rather than having to wait and exercise their put rights upon the change of control that will occur as a result of the Arrangement.
Board Support and Approval The Arrangement has received the unanimous approval of the Board of Trustees of InnVest (the "Board") and has the full support of InnVest's management team. The Board has unanimously determined that the Arrangement is in the best interests of InnVest and its unitholders. The Board has received an opinion from its financial advisor, CIBC World Markets Inc. that as of the date hereof and subject to the assumptions, limitations and qualifications set forth therein, the consideration to be received by unitholders of InnVest pursuant to the Arrangement Agreement is fair, from a financial point of view, to unitholders of InnVest.
Significant Unitholder Support Unitholders representing approximately 29.1% of the total issued and outstanding units of InnVest, including KingSett Real Estate Growth LP No. 5, an affiliate of KingSett Capital ("KingSett"), Orange Capital Master I, Ltd., an affiliate of Orange Capital, LLC ("Orange Capital") and each of the Trustees of InnVest, have agreed to vote their units in favour of the transaction. KingSett will continue to retain its existing majority ownership interests in Toronto's Fairmont Royal York and Courtyard Marriot properties.
Management Continuity and Toronto Head Office Upon closing of the transaction, Bluesky intends that InnVest will maintain its senior leadership team and workforce, including Mr. Drew Coles, the President and Chief Executive Officer. InnVest's headquarters will remain in Toronto, Canada.
"We are pleased to have arrived at an agreement with Bluesky that offers InnVest unitholders an opportunity to receive a significant premium over the trading price of their units. This transaction was the result of an intense period of deliberation by the Board, and lengthy, constructive negotiations with Bluesky," said Edward Pitoniak, Chairman of InnVest.
State of Permanence? 3 Ways Your Hotel Experience May Have Changed for the Long-haul - By Amanda Marschke: As busin https://t.co/xOqeTg8mk2
Despite being a New Yorker to the core, Joey Bada$$ is heading west for a less muggy climate. Specifically, hes moving his Steez Day Festival, which debuted at Central Parks Summer Stage in 2015, to the west coast. The inaugural Steez Day Festival featured Pro Era, Flatbush Zombies, The Underachievers, Smoke DZA, A$AP Ferg and more, all gathering for the purpose of raising money for Steezs family.
The 2016 iteration of the Steez Day Festival will take place in Los Angeles on July 7. The acts have yet to be announced, but Joey Badmon is undoubtedly working hard to top last years already impressive lineup.
XXL spoke with the Brooklyn emcee about the change of venues. Theres so many people that are inspired by me and the movement that we want the experience to be shared with them, Joey explained. We did it last year in New York and I got hit by everybody, literally everywhere in the world, like Yo, can you do Steez Day here? And for us, California is our second biggest market so it really just made the most sense. Spoken like the master businessman he wants to emulate.
Turns out though, it wasnt all due to spreading the love. Joey would never leave his hometown hanging, clarifying in a now-deleted tweet that the Steez Day Festival would only be on the west coast for this year due to radius clauses.
Tickets go on sale this Friday, May 13, at 10am.
SteezDay-LosAngeles
We're counting down to glorious nights in Kilmainham with a very special preview of this year's shows; Disclosure head the charge as we prepare for summer in the city.
Shows at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham are among the ultimate highlights of Ireland's musical summer, and this fortnight Hot Press is building up towards the blockbusting gigs just around the corner.
Our cover stars Disclosure lead the way, as Olaf Tyaransen catches up with one half of the all-conquering dance duo. Sam Smith, Lorde and The Weeknd are all on the agenda as Guy Lawrence looks back on an extraordinary journey thus far.
Sigur Ros are no strangers to amazing adventures themselves, and as they tell Paul Nolan, their story is far from over. The same is true of Stereophonics, who are still going strong after two decades at the top frontman Kelly Jones ponders music, life and the shadow of terrorism as they prepare to hit Irish shores.
While those luminaries are ready to arrive in Ireland, we could well see stars of our own fly the coop, as Overhead, The Albatross finally release their long-awaited debut album. Talking to Colm O'Regan, they discuss the lengthy delays but explain why it was all worth the wait.
Taking less time is Jake Bugg, who is quite preposterously about to unleash LP No. 3 at the tender age of 22. Lessons learned and the state of the musical landscape are under the microscope as he meets Paul Nolan.
Newly elected TD Maureen O'Sullivan is the subject of the Hot Press Interview, as the 65-year-old outlines her positions on the burning social issues of the moment, as well as her background working with and falling in love with Tony Gregory.
There's also a look at the extraordinary events in American politics, as Niall Stanage reports on the fear and loathing in the time of Trump.
Elsewhere, Irvine Welsh discusses returning to his Trainspotting characters, Irish newcomers Fangclub reveal why they're ready to take on all comers, and the acclaimed Richard Linklater discusses his new film.
Add in our reviews on new offerings from Radiohead and Beyonce, the verdict on live turns from ELO and Rusangano Family, and all the usual news, views, reviews and previews you've come to expect, and we're not even halfway there to read it all, pick up the brand new issue of Hot Press on shelves tomorrow.
You can Buy Hot Press 40-08 starring Disclosure in our RHK Special direct from hotpress.com
Or download the iOS app for iPad/iPhone
Or download the Android App
The finest young writers in the land were honoured as the Lord Mayor of Dublin announced the pick of the entries in our annual competition
Today, Wednesday May 11 at The Mansion House, The Lord Mayor of Dublin Criona Ni Dhalaigh was on hand to honour the finest young writing talents the country has to offer at the national awards ceremony of the Write Here, Write Now competition.
As part of Dublin City Council's Two Cities, One Book Festival which this year partnered with Belfast to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising Hot Press had invited the nation's aspiring scribes to share their work. The competition is supported by Dublin City Libraries, in association with Libraries NI and the Ireland 2016 office, along with Paperblanks.
Entrants were encouraged to draw inspiration from this year's Two Cities One Book selection, Lia Mill's Fallen, in creating A Story Of Ireland. They responded in their droves, which left the esteemed judging panel which included Hot Press Editor Niall Stokes, Contributing Editor Olaf Tyaransen and authors Christine Dwyer Hickey, Glenn Patterson and Joe O'Connor alongside Mills with the toughest of decisions.
Before The Lord Mayor unveiled the overall winners and regional runners-up, the shortlisted students enjoyed a wonderful interview with Mills, conducted by Hot Press' own Roisin Dwyer, in which the author offered advice to aspiring scribes in attendance as well as looking back on her own life and work. She also took time to commend the extraordinary talent displayed by the entrants. "I wish that at your age I was as together as you all are," she smiled. "I'd have saved myself a lot of time!"
Hot Press Editor Niall Stokes said: "Hot Press has always been about supporting emerging Irish creativity which is why a competition like Write Here, Write Now is so important to us, he said. "It seemed particularly appropriate this year, 100 years on from the momentous events of the Rising of 1916, to ask students to explore the idea of Irish identity, and what it means to this new generation, by writing A Story of Ireland.
Students all over Ireland set about what was a difficult challenge with great determination and commitment. However, whats really gratifying, for me as an editor, and as one of the judges, is that the quality of the entries was so high. It is wonderful to see so many young writers some of them still in their mid-teens who are capable of delivering powerful, original material, in a unique voice."
Deputy Dublin City Librarian Brendan Teeling added: It is enormously reassuring to see the depth of young writing talent, which is reflected in the Write Here Write Now competition. Literature is so important to the life of a nation and indeed, as Lia Mills has illustrated so well with Fallen, to the life of a capital city like Dublin. Dublin City Libraries are at the heart of the drive to ensure that we never forget the value of reading. Not only that: one of our core objectives, through the Dublin UNESCO City of Literature Office, is to encourage writers which is why we are so proud to have been involved in the success of the Write Here, Write Now competition.
The overall winners' prizes include an internship during 2016 with Hot Press, the country's leading music and lifestyle magazine, as well as a 250 cash prize. They also received a beautifully crafted personal journal from Paperblanks, perfect to hold the thoughts, notes and ideas of all budding writers.
Regional winners from each province were also chosen in both Second Level and Third Level categories, as well as a selection of entries chosen as Very Highly Commended each of these receiving a special prize from Paperblanks too.
Roisin Cullen, a second level student from Carlow, was honoured with the Readers' Award. All the shortlisted entries can be read at [link]hotpress.com/writeherewritenow[/link].
But, without further ado, the overall winners of this year's Write Here Write Now competition are
Third Level
Barry Neenan
Carlow-born Barry, a student of Trinity College Dublin, has enjoyed writing since childhood and has a particular interest in humour, superheroes, and humorous superheroes. He hopes to make a living writing novels and writing for television though failing that, a library job will suit him just fine.
Niamh Twomey
Originally from the countryside of East Clare but loving the rich culture of her adopted home of Cork City Niamh is a second year student in UCC, where she studies English and French. Unsurprisingly, reading and writing feature heavily in her spare time, while other interests include playing the harp.
Regional winners
Connaught Tiernan Cannon (DCU)
Dublin Rachel Cunningham (TCD)
Rest of Leinster Ronan Bartley (UCD)
Munster Fenagh Mahony (IT Tralee)
Ulster Peter McGoran (Queens University)
Highly Commended
Laura Berrigan, Darragh Smith, Chantelle Harvey, Kylie Noble, Anna Stockdale, Leyla Hehir
Second-Level
Rose Keating
A Leaving Cert student at St. Angela's Secondary, 18-year-old Rose hails from Waterford and is determined to be a writer a fitting calling, since she identifies her main hobbies as writing things down and sleeping. Having developed her craft through local creative arts group, Waterford Young Arts Critics, she's had various pieces published in the local press.
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Sean Delaney
While Seans main focus is on developing as a playwright, he also enjoys writing fiction and poetry. When not indulging his passion for writing, the student of Duiske College, Graiguenamanagh, Co. Kilkenny can be found reading, listening to music, and having very deep, philosophical discussions with his dog Marley.
Regional Winners
Connaught Aoife Kearins
Dublin Fiona Monks
Rest of Leinster Rachel Bolger
Munster Aoife Gallogly
Ulster Callum Lavery / Megan Kimberley Carroll
Highly Commended
Matthew Magill, Caoimhe Deveney, Eimear Kelly, Emer Lorenz, Amy Hampton
Write Here, Write Now: A Story of Ireland forms part of the 1916 Centenary Programme, Ireland 2016. It is run by Hot Press in association with Dublin City Libraries, Libraries NI, Dublin UNESCO City of Literature and the Two Cities One Book Festival 2016. The competition is supported by Paperblanks.
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AUSTIN - Uber and Lyft learned last weekend that buying a city election isn't so easy, so they'll simply try to purchase a state law instead.
The two companies spent $9.1 million to try to persuade Austin voters to roll back the fingerprinting requirement for ride-share drivers, a regulation that taxi operators already meet. To assure victory, Uber and Lyft sent text messages to customers, urged them to vote and offered free rides to the polls.
Winning in Austin was supposed to be easy. After all, the city has a younger-than-average population and a large tech community. The companies outspent the poorly organized opposition 50-1.
When the votes were tallied Saturday night, though, almost 56 percent of voters said they wanted all drivers for hire to follow the same rules. Uber and Lyft spent $236.12 for each of the 38,539 votes they received, more than it would have cost for fingerprint background checks for all of their Texas drivers.
Both companies suspended operations in Austin on Monday morning.
It was a stunning defeat for the multibillion-dollar tech companies and an important lesson that voters don't like bullies trying to rewrite the rules. Turnout was 17 percent, a remarkable number considering the proposition was the only ballot item.
The results will hobble Uber and Lyft as they head into similar battles in Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta. Both companies have already left Corpus Christi and Galveston over the fingerprint requirement, and they returned to San Antonio only after the City Council made fingerprinting optional.
In Houston, Uber is trying to backtrack after agreeing to fingerprinting and other common-sense safety rules.
"We have worked hard and taken extraordinary steps to help guide drivers through the current process in Houston," Uber General Manager Sarfraz Maredia said in a letter to the council. "However, a year and a half later, it is clear the regulations are simply not working for the people of this city."
Which begs the question: What's the big deal about the fingerprints?
I paid for a fingerprint background check to get a pass that allows me to skip the metal detectors at the Texas Capitol. The process is the same for concealed handgun licenses, child care providers, teachers, security guards, airline passengers who apply for expedited security check such as TSA PreCheck and taxi drivers. The fingerprinting is by appointment, takes 15 minutes and costs $40. The results are usually back in 10 days.
Hundreds of people undergo fingerprint background checks everyday. But ride-share companies say about half of their applicants never complete it, which is why the companies want to use their instant online checks to move people through the application system quicker.
Perhaps the problem is not the background check, though, but driver turnover. Uber released data last year that shows 11 percent of drivers quit within a month, and 50 percent quit after six months.
Drivers are angry over the companies cutting fares and requiring drivers to work a minimum number of hours or carry a minimum number of fares. After all, the service is only attractive if it is cheaper than a taxi and cars are readily available.
Uber settled class-action lawsuits in California and Massachusetts last month after drivers complained they were essentially employees, not independent contractors. Uber agreed to pay $100 million to 385,000 drivers and to help develop drivers' associations to collectively address complaints.
If these companies treated drivers better, they wouldn't need to shove so many people through the background check system so quickly. People would line up to give their fingerprints, just as they do for other service jobs offering similar pay.
Treating workers better is too much to ask, so this January Uber and Lyft will begin lobbying the Texas Legislature, where conservative lawmakers are happy to overrule local voters to do favors for big corporations.
"Local control turns to local tyranny again in Austin," tweeted state Rep. Matt Rinaldi, an Irving Republican. He called on the Legislature to intervene, and Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner of Georgetown says he will introduce legislation to take away regulatory powers that city councils have enjoyed for 100 years.
Neither Rinaldi nor Schwertner seem to care that other ride-sharing companies follow the rules. Get Me and Wingz operate in Houston and Austin, and old-fashioned Yellow Cab offers a smartphone app called Hail A Cab.
Nor will these lawmakers care that ride-share drivers in New York City undergo the same licensing requirement as cabdrivers. Neither Uber nor Lyft are threatening to abandon that city, which happens to be the largest taxi market in the world.
The problem is not public safety regulations, but a business model under which drivers quit faster than new applicants can undergo background checks.
If Uber and Lyft can't follow the rules and make their businesses work, then let their competitors meet the demand. That's how the free market works, and it's what the voters want.
Entertainment / Movies
by Staff Reporter
Johannesburg - Following a successful New York premier in March, Lost Tongue is set to be showcased in South Africa. In June, the film will its African premier at the respected Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival in Cape Town (3 June) and Johannesburg (7 June). Later in the month, the 75 minute documentary will be at the 37th Durban International Film Festival. On July 1, the award winning documentary will be featured at the Indie Karoo Film Festival."We are glad that Lost Tongue will be home in June and July, this is a perfect moment for the South Africans to watch the film and reflect on the message that relates to all of us," said Francis Yannicq Hweshe, one of the film producers.Lost Tongue explores the story of Helena Steenkamp, a #Khomani San lady in the Kalahari as she battles to save her N/uu language. The language, believed to be 25000 years old is only spoken by three elders, the youngest of them aged 81. It is against this chilling prospect that Helena moves to engage her elders to save the language, culture and values of the #Khomani San."It is a layered, universal story of culture, values, history of a people that will be screened at home. The film not only carries an important message for all of us but it is also a visual treat that tells a story of humanity," said Lost Tongue director Davison Mudzingwa.The story of the #Khomani San people swings into depths of a brutal past of subjugation that forced them to abandon their language and way of life. Mvura Ya Afrika (MYA) Productions, the company behind Lost Tongue believes this is an urgent story that South Africans and the world need to take heed of.Lost Tongue is also an official selection of the Zanzibar International Film Festival set to take place in July. Later in July, the film will be in Canada where it is also in competition for the Best Documentary at the ReelHeART International Film and Screenplay Festival.Having won the Women Film Critics Circle award at the Socially Relevant Film Festival New York in March, the makers believe the recognition is both humbling and gives traction to the film and the message it carries.As part of the social impact project, the Producer have set the Lost Tongue Legacy project to build a multimedia centre that will house N/uu language archives as well as training multimedia storytelling skills to young people in The Kalahari.
CenterPoint Energy Inc. last year won a small increase in the rates it charges to deliver electricity and natural gas to more than 2 million Houston homes and businesses. It wants another small increase this year. And then two more in 2017 and 2018.
The rate hikes individually are less than a $1 a month for an average home, but critics say they are part on a corporate plan to increase bills year after year with little regulatory oversight or public knowledge.
The Houston City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to challenge the utility's rate proposal before state regulators and kick it to the utility commission in Austin so it can receive further review.
The Gulf Coast Coalition of Cities, which represents more than two dozen communities, has come out strongly against it and appealed to the state utility commission to block the increases.
"There's this sort of 'drip, drip, drip' approach with each individual rate increase," said Thomas Brocato, an attorney for the coalition. "The cumulative effect over time is substantial."
CenterPoint is taking advantage of a state law, approved by the Legislature in 2011, that allows utilities to seek interim rate hikes between formal rate cases that occur every five years or so.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday's vote affirms that the city is still trying to determine how to respond to CenterPoint's proposal.
More Information Rate increases are pending A few rates hikes are pending for CenterPoint Energycustomers in the greater Houston area. For all CenterPoint metered customers: A 63-cent hike per month for an average residence that uses 1,000 kilowatts of electricity (pending before the Public Utility Commission to go into effect in September). Another 20-cent increase would come in 2017. A separate, to-be-determined "transmission cost of service" increase is expected to be filed in 2016. For natural gas customers in the Houston Division(including Bellaire, Conroe, Humble, Jersey Village, Missouri City, Pasadena and more): A 56-cent monthly hike in the Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program from $15.29 to $15.85 (pending before the Railroad Commission to go into effect this summer). For natural gas customers in the Texas Coast Division (including Alvin, Baytown, Freeport, Friendswood, Katy, Kemah, Lake Jackson, League City, Manvel, Pearland, Richmond, Rosenberg, Sugar Land, Texas City and more): A $1.17 monthly increase from $15 to $16.17 (also pending before the Railroad Commission). See More Collapse
"The action today was simply saying that we need to take time to challenge it," Turner said.
The utility estimates it could gain more than $60 million annually in revenues from this year's and next year's proposed residential electric rate increase of 63 cents per 1,000 kilowatt hours per month. (The average Texas home consumes 1,160 kilowatt hours a month, according to the U.S. Energy Department).
CenterPoint says it needs the money to pay for transmission and technology upgrades it has undertaken, such as its new "Intelligent Grid" system, which helps quickly isolate and restore power outages. The incremental increases are a way to avoid painful price spikes when rate cases come around in the future, said Scott Doyle, CenterPoint's senior vice president of regulatory and government affairs.
"It has the effect of gradualism on customer rates so they're not seeing significant increases in rate case years," Doyle said. "We're taking what is probably the least controversial elements of a rate case, which is capital investment, and allowing for recovery of that to occur sooner rather than waiting."
Monopolies that remain
CenterPoint, which has 2.4 million electric customer and 1.3 million gas customers in the Houston area, is a distribution company, meaning it makes its money by delivering electricity and natural gas to homes and businesses over its power lines and pipelines. CenterPoint's charges account for as much as half of an electric bill, up from less than 30 percent in 2003, based on the Gulf Coast Coalition's analysis of data from the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Under the 2002 law that deregulated the state's electricity market, both the power generation and retail electricity sectors are competitive, meaning their prices are determined by the market factors such as supply and demand. But the middle-men - the power line and distribution companies - still hold regulated monopolies. CenterPoint has the Houston area monopoly while Oncor, for instance, controls the market in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
To raise their rates, these companies must win the approval of the utility commission after a rate case, a lengthy proceeding involving extensive hearings and analysis to determine if increases are justified. That process changed somewhat after 2011, after utility companies successfully lobbied the Legislature to allow smaller interim hikes in between each rate case every five years or so. The new system allows utilities to more quickly recover their spending on projects aimed at improving the reliability of the energy system.
Multiple rate proposals
The process for interim rate proposal is less rigorous than a rate case. The Legislature largely handcuffed the regulatory commissions from striking down interim hikes between rate cases, Brocato said,and CenterPoint has recently become the most aggressive utility in taking this approach. Last year CenterPoint proposed a new charge of more than 30 cents per 1,000 kilowatt hours, but settled for 24 cents after it was contested by the city of Houston and the Gulf Coast Coalition before the commission.
In mid-June, the utility commission is scheduled to take up CenterPoint's plan to increase electric transmission and distribution costs by 63 cents per 1,000 kilowatt hours each month for residential customers. Another hike of 20 cents would automatically come next year if approved.
CenterPoint also is seeking a 56-cent monthly increase for natural gas customers in its Houston division, which includes areas like Bellaire, Conroe, Humble and Pasadena.
Areas outside of Houston- from Katy and Sugar Land to Manvel and Kemah - would get stuck with a $1.17 monthly increase for residential customers.
Increases will be much higher for businesses.
In a presentation to investors, CenterPoint recently projected that the rate base on which revenues are generated from its electric transmission and distribution rates will climb more than 40 percent by 2020, from $4.1 billion in 2014 to $5.8 billion in 2020 .The natural gas rate base should jump 50 percent, from $2.22 billion to $3.32 billion during this period.
"It looks like they're going to be filing [rate hikes] all the time," Brocato said.
CenterPoint charges an average of $42.41 per 1,000 kilowatt hours each month in total electric transmission and distribution rates, according to a recent analysis by the utility commission. That's slightly less than AEP, which charges $43.34 in northern Texas, but well more than the $36.87 charged by Dallas-based Oncor.
Energy demand up
CenterPoint is a regulated utility, but it's also a public traded company with shareholders who want returns on their investments. The utility commission generally limits CenterPoint to a 10 percent return on its investments. CenterPoint posted a $692 million loss last year, although it was mostly weighed down by its struggling pipeline business, Enable Midstream Partners. CenterPoint on Tuesday posted a $154 million profit for the first three months of 2016.
CenterPoint has invested more than $690 million in infrastructure and technology to meet the increasing demand for energy in the Houston area as the population continues to increase. Doyle said.
"We're investing for reliability, so we have a system that's able to serve this growing economy," Doyle said.
Rebecca Elliott contributed to this report.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The only company to drill an exploratory oil well in Alaska's Chukchi Sea following a 2008 federal lease sale confirmed Tuesday it has relinquished nearly all of its leases.
Royal Dutch Shell formally relinquished all but one of its leases in the waters off Alaska's northwest coast, spokesman Curtis Smith said Tuesday.
The news was not a complete surprise. An exploratory well drilled in 2015 did not find commercial quantities of oil. Shell announced in September it was suspending exploration in Alaska waters.
The decision also reflects the high cost of drilling off Alaska, Smith said by email.
"While we support regulations that enforce high safety and environmental standards, the unpredictable federal regulatory environment for the Alaska Outer Continental Shelf also made it difficult to operate efficiently," he said.
Shell will retain the lease for the site on which it drilled its exploratory well.
"We are holding on to it because we believe there is value in the data gathered during our exploration efforts there," Smith said.
The company will separately evaluate its leases in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast, Smith said.
Shell spent $2.1 billion on 275 Chukchi Sea leases in 2008 and $7 billion overall on Arctic offshore development. Shell officials had called drilling there "a potential game-changer," a vast untapped reservoir that could add to America's energy supply for 50 years. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 26 billion barrels of conventionally recoverable oil in U.S. Arctic waters.
But Arctic drilling is fiercely opposed by environmental groups, which said a major spill would devastate habitat of whales, ice seals and polar bears.
The challenges of Arctic drilling were evident after the 2012 season when a Shell drilling vessel, the Kulluk, broke loose from its tow vessel in a fierce Gulf of Alaska storm and ran aground near Kodiak Island.
Shell faced stiff regulatory oversight, including a requirement for two rigs in a drilling area in case one was damaged in a blowout.
After Shell announced it was suspending exploration, the Interior Department said it would not extend Shell leases when they expired in 2020. Shell initially said lease terms should be extended. By relinquishing the leases, the company avoids millions in annual payments.
A drilling opponent, Oceana, filed a freedom of information request and learned leases had been formally relinquished by Shell, ConocoPhillips, Eni and Iona Energy. The environmental group announced its findings Monday night and applauded the decision.
"Hopefully, today marks the end of the ecologically and economically risky push to drill in the Arctic Ocean," said Mike LeVine, an attorney with the group.
ConocoPhillips Alaska spokeswoman Natalie Lowman said Tuesday the company already had "taken an impairment," or written off, the Chukchi leases in its 2015 annual report.
"Given the current environment, the prospects in the Chukchi aren't competitive," she said.
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May is National Hamburger Month, a time to celebrate all things beefy and good.
It is not the time for bad news about one of Houstons burger institutions.
So lets start with the good news: You still have two weeks to try the hamburger that critic Alison Cook decreed should be in a Houston Hall of Fame.
RELATED: Twenty juicy, must-try burger joints in Houston.
The bad news: The (almost) original Christians Tailgate will serve its last customer May 24.
Its tough, but 21 years is enough, owner Steve Christian told the Chronicle.
Christian is handing over the keys on May 25 to a to a development company, which has plans to remodel and lease the space, which is neighboring several new apartment complexes. Christian sold his Midtown restaurant several years ago; the younger operating group subsequently opened three more locations.
Christian said his grandfather moved to Houston from Mexia, telling his wife that there had to be a better way to make a living than working in the oil fields. He opened the original Christians on North Main in the 1930s. Christians three great uncles and father were all involved in the restaurant business for a time.
The restaurant and bar business is changing, Christian said. It is time to go.
Christian, an inventor as well as burger master, has five patents and more pending. Last year he appeared on the ABC reality show Shark Tank with his invention the Table Jack, a table stabilizer.
The restaurant's regulars arent taking the looming closing well. The response has been huge, Christian said.
You ought to hear them, he said. Where am we going to get our hamburger fix? I tell them I have to retire, too.
Christians Tailgate: 7430 Washington, 713-864-9744
Browse the slideshow above to see photos of Christian's Tailgate on Washington.
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When Clyde Miller launched his barbecue food truck last summer, he almost certainly became the most educated mobile chef in town.
Miller has undergraduate degrees - in business and accounting - and two law degrees.
But none of that really matters in Miller's new line of work, Dem Bones Bob-B-Q, where he strives for brisket that makes the heart soar, sausage with just the right combination of spice and sauce, ribs so tender the meat falls off the bone.
"It's mostly chemistry to me, a little of this, a little of that, a natural thing," Miller said. "I see cooking as a God-given talent."
Miller started pining for a food truck about three years ago, when practicing law had grown increasingly frustrating.
"It was a lot of fussing and fighting, and sometimes, no matter what you did, your clients weren't happy," he said.
In 2014, Miller saw the movie "Chef," the sleeper hit about an unfulfilled, raging chef who stormed out of his swank Los Angeles restaurant, refurbished an old food truck and found happiness.
"That was a good movie, a great movie," Miller said. "I watched it twice."
Also in 2014, Miller's wife gave him the book "Houston's Top 100 Food Trucks," by Paul Galvani. Mobile restaurants are enormously tempting for those "itching to go out on their own and do their own thing," Galvani says today."Sometimes they don't understand everything they're getting into, but passion is a big motivator. If they have that and a good product, then darn it, they're going to succeed."
The two men haven't met, but Galvani might have been describing Miller.
'He takes his time'
Miller was born in Austin 60 years ago, the middle child of seven. His dad made cake flavors and spices for Adam's Extract; his mom was a housekeeper. Every evening, she would head to the kitchen and fill her hungry children with sweet and savory treats.
Young Clyde watched her every move and, at 12, he started cooking, too. His mantra became, "If you want a bigger piece of the pie, you have to bake your own."
While Miller was satisfying his own palate, he also was learning the pleasure of nurturing friends and family. "Sometimes my mother would come home from work, and I'd have dinner ready," he said. "She just enjoyed that."
As an adult, Miller earned his four degrees and worked as an accountant, then as an attorney. But periodically, he would reduce his hours to cook professionally.
In 1991, he signed a contract to provide hot breakfasts, sack lunches and hot dinners to Harris County inmates in Atascocita.
"I fed them what I'd eat myself," Miller said. "If you incarcerate people and feed them like animals, they will act like animals."
Soon Miller was juggling - cooking for prisoners, operating a brick-and-mortar restaurant with the same name as the food truck to come and maintaining his law practice.
But the contract with the county ended, the restaurant folded, and a second restaurant, Cora's Kitchen, opened and closed as well. That was in 1995.
Miller was upset that partners in his restaurant endeavors seemed more interested in making money than producing good, hearty food. The person who didn't disappoint was his wife, Jackie, whom he met in law school and married after graduation. Together they started the Miller Law Firm.
"I put all that heart and soul into our law practice," Miller said. "I'd cook just as a personal thing, a hobby."
Friend Keith Buckner knew to drop by the Miller house on Sundays to see if his friend was stationed by the barbecue pit.
Usually, Miller was in place, making beautiful music with meat.
"Clyde just always had a special touch," Buckner said. "And even now that he's got his food truck, the barbecue is just as good, just like he used to do it at home. He takes his time."
Just like a brick-and-mortar barbecue restaurant, the food-truck menu features brisket, sausage, ribs (baby back and pork), chicken and pulled pork. Sides include smoked, spicy rice to complement the barbecue and Dem Fries, featuring a bed of french fries topped with chopped beef or pulled pork, barbecue sauce, cheese and other baked-potato-style trimmings.
Labor intensive
In late 2013, Miller had a heart-to-heart with Jackie. He wanted to take a gamble on the food truck, and to make it work, he knew he'd have to bow out of their law practice.
It's your time, she told him. Do what you want to do.
Miller bought a used Frito- and potato-chip delivery truck and had the insides custom built to include a griddle, a char broiler, a double fryer, a two-burner stove, two refrigerators and a steam table. Instead of painting the outside, he had the vehicle wrapped in high-quality vinyl.
The $80,000 truck was finished by spring 2015, but Miller still had to wade through red tape with the city of Houston. Last July, he was up and running.
Business was OK but not great until daughter Morgan, 24, took over his marketing and social media campaign. Jackie Miller also helps her husband on weekends, and son Madison, 21, is working the truck part time while he attends Houston Community College this summer.
The good news, Morgan says, is that business is hopping now. The truck serves lunch to office workers at locations across the city from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Weekday evenings, the Dem Bones family shows up at apartment complexes, the museum district, special events and private parties.
"We're finally starting to make some money," Miller says.
The problem: Food trucks that serve barbecue are even more labor intensive than the hundreds of other rolling restaurants that crisscross Houston. It takes 10-12 hours to smoke the pork and brisket, and Miller does that off site.
He loves mixing it up with customers and watching them enjoy his food, but all that planning, shopping and cooking is exhausting.
Morgan is heading for law school at Cornell University in the fall. One day, her father muses, she might inherit the family law practice.
One day, he also hopes, Madison might want the food truck.
"All I can do right now is cook the french fries and toast the buns," Madison said, "but Dad is going to teach me to barbecue."
Smoked rice
Courtesy Clyde Miller
Serves 6 to 8 adults
2 cups parboiled or converted rice
4 cups water (use less for a firmer texture)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
teaspoon salt
teaspoon black pepper
teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
cup tri-colored bell peppers, diced
cup celery, diced
cup onion, diced
cup minced garlic
Instructions: Combine rice, water, butter, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, cumin, liquid smoke and Worcestershire in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir once, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
While rice is cooking, chop up bell peppers, celery, onion and minced garlic. Saute in skillet in enough olive oil to coat pan. After rice is cooked, fluff with a fork and add to ingredients above.
Stir-fry rice and vegetable mixture over high heat until heated through.
Baby back ribs
2 slabs of baby back ribs
1 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 jar Woody's Cook-in' Sauce (available at most stores including Kroger, Randalls and H-E-B)
Rib rub for seasoning (see note)
cup light brown sugar
1 cup honey
cup lemon juice
cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup barbecue sauce (see note)
Instructions: At least 30 minutes before cooking ribs, peel the membranes off the back.
Wash ribs and rub with oil and half of Woody's Cook-in' Sauce both front and back. Season with rib rub liberally on both sides.
Cook ribs at 300 degrees on indirect fire, meat side up, for one hour and then flip and cook on other side for 45 minutes.
To make the basting sauce: In a saucepan, combine barbecue sauce and the remaining Woody's Cook-in' Sauce, sugar, honey, lemon juice and vinegar.
Mix well and cook for three minutes. Flip ribs again and baste with heated sauce on both sides.
Continue basting and cooking until meat begins to shrink away from bones.
To assist in tenderness, wrap ribs in foil for 30 minutes after they're done and re-baste after removing from foil.
Note: For this recipe, you can choose your preferred barbecue sauce or rib rub, or follow Miller's recipes.
Miller's rib rub is black pepper, salt, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika in equal parts.
To make barbecue sauce, he uses 2 cups of ketchup, cup of liquid smoke, cup of Worcestershire sauce, /8 cup of white vinegar, /8 cup of lemon juice, /8 cup of soy sauce, cup of honey, cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of hot sauce, and brings to a boil.
Filter Mexican folk music such as son and huapango through bilingual young musicians from Los Angeles. Then top that sound with socially consciousness lyrics about immigrants' rights, gender equality and respect for cultural differences.
You'll get Las Cafeteras, the group that plays Miller Outdoor Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday, May 13, in its first Houston appearance.
"We play a hodgepodge of rock, reggae, even hip-hop a little of everything but always with the flavor of traditional Mexican music," Jose Cano says, in Spanish, in a phone interview.
All of the bandmembers are children or grandchildren of Mexicans who left their country to seek a future for their families in California. Besides Cano (who plays cajon, flute and harmonica), there's Daniel French (vocals and jarana), David Flores (clarinet), Denise Carlos (vocals, jarana, tap-dancing and marimba), Hector Flores (vocals and tap-dancing), and Leah Gallegos (vocals, donkey jaw, and tap-dancing).
"Las Cafeteras" is Spanish for "coffee makers." When the group started ten years ago, Cano explains, its members would practice for hours outside Eastside Cafe, in east L.A. The name stuck.
The group is perhaps best known for "La Bamba Rebelde," a reinterpretation of the Mexican-American pop chestnut "La Bamba." As reheated by Las Cafeteras, it's a song about immigrants' rights. The song became the theme of the telenovela Bajo el mismo cielo (Under the same sky), which followed the life of an undocumented immigrant in California.
Cano says that all the group's members feel it's important to talk about immigration, since they've seen immigrants' problems up close since they were children: "These things aren't going to go away unless we talk about them."
"We want to help build a better, fairer world, where there's room for all ideas," he adds. "Music is our tool."
David Dorantes (@HDaviddorantes), a Houston freelance writer, is a former staff member of La Voz, the Houston Chronicle's Spanish-language publication. This article originally appeared there in Spanish.
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The growing argument about restroom usage by transgenders beginning last year with the campaign against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO); continuing with Senator Ted Cruz's campaign for president; with the current federal lawsuit and business boycotts over the state of North Carolina's law; and the recent announcements that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants a similar anti-trans restroom law in the 2017 Texas Legislative Session, and that he also wants the Ft. Worth Superintendent of Schools to resign over the districts bathroom usage policy is a fight over nothing.
The restrooms in Texas are already protected by the Texas Penal Code, and have been for many years.
As I understand the arguments made against transgender usage of restrooms, the anti-trans folks fear that a male sex predator who looks and acts like a man, but who wishes to call himself a transgender woman, and thereby hide under the purview of transgender anti-discrimination laws, will do so in order to enter the womens restroom and go after little girls.
This was the sole and total crux of the ad campaign run on Houston television stations, wherein the narrator stated that HERO would protect sex predators, and the camera showed a man entering and trapping a little girl in a lockable stall in the womens restroom. Radio stations ran much the same thing.
But at that time, and even today, sections of the Texas Penal Code will punish that man and all sex predators like him.
Consider a man pretending to be trans who enters the "wrong" restroom in order to expose himself. This man is in violation of Texas Penal Code Section 21.08 Indecent Exposure a Class B Misdemeanor with punishment up to 180 days in county jail, plus a fine of up to $1,000.
Or consider the man pretending to be trans who enters the "wrong" restroom in order to masturbate. This man is in violation of Texas Penal Code Section 21.07 Public Lewdness a Class A Misdemeanor with punishment up to one year in county jail, plus a fine of up to $2,000.
People also say they fear that a man pretending to be trans would enter the "wrong" restroom in order to be a peeping Tom. This person would be in violation of Texas Penal Code Section 21.16 Voyeurism which, when dealing with a child younger than 14 years, is a State Jail Felony, with punishment of up to two years in a State Jail facility, and a fine of up to $10,000.
What about the man pretending to be trans who enters the "wrong" restroom in order to take pictures through the crack in the stall door or while standing on the seat in the next stall? That man is in violation of Texas Penal Code Section 21.15 -- Invasive Video Recording -- which is a State Jail Felony with punishment of up to two years in a State Jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000.
Finally, let us consider the man pretending to be trans who enters the "wrong" restroom in order to do what the television ads portrayed last fall during the anti-HERO campaign: to trap a girl in a womens restroom stall. That man is in violation of Texas Penal Code Section 20.01 and 20.02 Unlawful Restraint (formerly False Imprisonment) which, when dealing with a child younger than 14 years, is a State Jail Felony with punishment of up to two years in a State Jail facility and a fine of up to $10,000.
So the fear of men pretending to be trans in order to expose themselves, masturbate, be peeping toms, take photos and imprison little girls in a public restroom are already covered by Texas law.
And doesn't North Carolina have its own state laws against indecent exposure, public lewdness and voyeurism?
SO: WHAT is this fight all about?
Could it be as simple as dislike of or disgust for transgendered people?
If the anti-trans folks get their way, exactly where would transwomen and transmen go to the bathroom? (Real trans folk use the restroom for that reason: to use the restroom. Not to prey on children.)
The antis want trans folks like me to use the restroom of my birth sex or biological sex. That poses its own problems.
Forty-some years ago, when I first transitioned from guy to gal, I did not pass very well as a gal. A few times, I tried to use the mens room. I quickly realized why that's a terrible idea. For one, the stall in the mens room is usually broken or unlockable and is most often too soiled for a sit-down. For two, twice I barely escaped those restrooms without being physically assaulted. No, thanks!
I find it interesting that the squabble is over transwomen using the womens, but that nothing is said about transmen using the mens.
I think it would be amusing to see one or two dozen fully bearded and hormone-hunky transmen go to the North Carolina Capitol and begin using the womens restroom as that states law now requires.
And I hope that organizations such as Equality Texas have a stable of muscular, deep-voiced transmen ready to do the same thing in Austin this spring when the Legislature considers limiting folks to the restrooms of their biological sex or their birth sex.
I WOULD also like to point out that during the entire anti-HERO campaign last year, not only were Texas Penal Code Sections 20.01, 20.02, 21.07. 21.08, 21.15 and 21.16 in effect and functioning to protect our little girls, the entire sex-predator scenerio was being falsely portrayed and orchestrated out of loathing for transgender people.
Check it out yourself. Google Texas Penal Code Section _____.
While you are at the Google, check out Houston Ordinance 28-20. It has been on the books since 1968. It is called Prohibition on Entering Restrooms of the Opposite Sex. And it does just that. Not a single section of the HERO ordinance repealed 28-20 or superceded the above listed section of the Texas Penal Code.
28-20 says that you cannot enter the restroom marked for the opposite sex in a manner calculated to cause a disturbance. Let me repeat the last phrase: "Calculated to cause a disturbance." Isnt that what the man shown in the television ad was doing as he trapped the little girl in the stall?
Already on the books. 28-20. Since 1968.
The punishment for 28-20, a Class C Misdemeanor, can be arrest with probable overnight jail before posting bond plus a fine of up to $500. Not a lot, but enough for the police to haul the sex predator away while the Harris County District Attorneys office busily files for violations of the Texas Penal Code.
There never was a danger.
In Houston, where the brouhaha began, the entire anti-HERO campaign was a hoax.
YOU MIGHT find this interesting. In the early '90s, this same 28-20 was used by the Houston police to arrest transgendered women who did not pass very well as they exited the womens restroom. The trans women would spend a horrible night in jail, post bond, and call me for help.
I told them, Go to court as the woman you are and set the case for a jury trial. Represent yourself at trial. Submit your own sworn testimony that the only reason you went to the bathroom was to 'go to the bathroom.' You entered, went to a locked stall, used it, and left without using the mirror or even stopping to wash your hands. You had no design or calculation to cause a disturbance.
They did. After a bunch of not-guilty jury verdicts, the city prosecutors quit trying the cases, and the police quit making those harassment arrests.
The language of 28-20 is not a problem for transgenders who simply need to go to the bathroom, and are not doing so to cause a disturbance.
I hope that someday our Houston Equal Rights Ordinance comes back up before City Council.
As the entire anti campaign of 2015 was based on the restrooms hoax, the new HERO can be substantially amended by adding a Section reading Houston Ordinance 28-20 Prohibition on Entering Restrooms of the Opposite Sex remains in effect. Those fourteen words would be the substantial amendment.
I hope that pro-HERO groups will form organized teams to monitor each television and radio station. I hope those teams will record the actual ads run along with the dates and times.
If those or similar lies are rebroadcast, and those stations should now know that they are lies, rather than mere political talk, then when the campaign is over, win or lose, I hope those teams will submit their findings to the FCC and ask for revocation of each stations broadcast license because they knowingly ran lies.
Phyllis Randolph Frye has been an out, transgender woman and activist in Houston since 1976. In 1980 she led the successful repeal of Houstons anti-crossdressing ordinance (28-42.4). In 2010, Ms. Frye became the first out, transgender judge in the nation. She has a local law firm with five other lawyers. She has been using the womens restroom exclusively since 1976.
Check out more Gray Matters. It's already protected by the Texas Penal Code, and has been for many years.
A federal judge signed off Monday on a back-to-school shopping excursion for a Houston college student awaiting trial on charges of conspiring and attempting to support ISIS, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes granted the uncontested defense motion permitting one day for Asher Abid Khan, a 21-year-old University of Houston sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, to shop locally for clothes under the supervision of a probation officer.
Khan's lawyer, Thomas Berg, stated in his request that Khan, who is free on $150,000 bond and lives with his parents, has grown since his arrest and no longer fits into school clothes he wore as a teenager. Khan's conditions of release allow him to attend classes and religious services and visit the bowling alley and fitness center at UH. However, he was not enrolled this spring, said UH spokesman Shawn Lindsey.
Khan faces up to 15 years in federal prison if convicted of supporting the militant jihadist organization that gained notoriety for kidnapping foreigners and beheading them on videos they broadly distributed.
A second defendant in the case, Mohamed Zuhbi, is a fugitive. The FBI believes Zuhbi lives in Turkey and has facilitated travel to Syria for foreigners who wish to join ISIS, also know as ISIL or Daesh.
An FBI special agent testified at a court hearing in June that Khan caught the attention of officials at the McAllen division while he was living in Australia in 2014. The agent testified that Khan sent a Facebook friend request to a man identified in court documents as SRG or Sixto Garcia, of McAllen, whom he apparently knew from his mosque in Spring Cypress, known as Champions Mosque.
According to the FBI agent, Khan told SRG via Facebook that he wanted to join ISIS, and he spelled out what each of the letters of ISIS stood for. A couple of weeks later, Khan told another unnamed individual that he wanted to "die as a shahid," or martyr.
The FBI agents believe that Khan and SRG made plans to meet in Turkey near the Syrian border but that Khan cut the trip short and returned to Houston because his parents and possibly the FBI had learned of the plan.
Under cross-examination at the June hearing, the agent testified that Khan was partially interested in joining the effort in Syria because he was afraid his brothers and sisters might die there.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn Ferko argued Khan should be detained until trial since "there are no conditions the government foresees that would enable the safety of the homeland."
Khan's lawyer, Berg, told the magistrate judge at that hearing that the government's case is based on "ideas, not actions, and at some point, it's a First Amendment case rather than a material support case." The government appealed his release on bond but the appellate court upheld it.
Khan's trial is set for Sept. 27.
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An investigation into a controversial Houston Community College real estate deal found no evidence of criminal activity, according to a letter from the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
The investigation focused on the purchase of a former Conn's store on HCC's West Loop campus. College officials say they plan to lease out the building because the college may not use it for a decade or more.
The DA's office investigated after HCC trustee Dave Wilson last year filed a complaint alleging HCC had overpaid millions for the building. The college paid $8.5 million for the former big box store - $3.2 million higher than the building was originally valued just months before the purchase. The higher value, by the same appraiser, reflected a planned five-year lease of the building to Tesla Motors that never materialized.
HCC is nearing completion of a separate agreement to lease out the property to another entity - a step college officials have tried to take since they purchased the building more than a year ago.
After reviewing documents from the college, Tesla Motors and the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board, the DA's office wrote to Wilson on March 4 that it did not find any evidence of criminal activity and was closing the investigation.
"Obviously, I knew there was nothing of the kind going on. They did their own assessment," HCC Chancellor Cesar Maldonado said, adding he is "very happy" with the DA's findings.
Wilson's complaint alleged in part that the second appraisal was inflated with a phony lease agreement to reach the seller's higher asking price. Wilson said investigators told him that Tesla Motors, not the college, provided them with detailed records proving it had been negotiating a deal with HCC officials.
Two HCC trustees on Wednesday criticized Wilson for filing the complaint.
"The reckless assault on Dr. Maldonado's character was completely unfair to him, his family and the reputation of the college," HCC board chair Adriana Tamez said. "My colleagues share my concern for the manner in which the unfounded and untruthful allegations were levied against him (Maldonado) - while he was simply doing his job the right way for the best interest of the college."
Trustee Zeph Capo, who was board chair last year when the college bought the Conn's building, said Wilson was playing "fast and loose with the truth merely to forward his personal agenda."
"His actions did, in fact, result in a waste of tax dollars and recklessly impugned the character of a public servant," Capo said. The college hired an attorney to defend Maldonado after the complaint was filed.
College leaders, including Maldonado and several trustees, have said the former Conn's building was a good investment, even if it wasn't to be used right away. It was the only building in a former shopping center that is now HCC's West Loop campus. By buying the Conn's store, HCC officials have said they were completing the campus and would make up the purchase cost by leasing it.
The college has not said to whom the building will be leased.
The DA's office declined to comment.
Wilson said investigators told him a bad business deal doesn't rise to the level of a felony.
"I get tired of that excuse - 'It's not a crime to be stupid,' " Wilson said. "The undisputed fact remains that the college overpaid millions of dollars of taxpayer money for a piece of property the school does not need."
Houston Community College is significantly scaling back a controversial agreement with a community college in Qatar that once sent about 45 Houstonians to work in the Middle East.
The effort - billed as a bold moneymaking venture to help build that country's first community college - made just a fraction of what HCC leaders hoped, so officials now are working on a new agreement that would have the college working with Qatar on a consulting basis. Under the agreement, HCC employees would help build curriculum and staff support but wouldn't travel overseas for extended periods of time.
Qatar has spent hundreds of millions of dollars paying American universities to help develop campuses in their Education City. The Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development paid Texas A&M University, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern and other American schools at least $404.8 million in 2014 alone, the Washington Post reported. That includes $76.2 million to A&M.
HCC was paid roughly $30.5 million for its work in Qatar under its five-year agreement, but the college had to pay its employees and spent about $29 million of that, HCC Chancellor Cesar Maldonado told the Chronicle.
HCC's involvement in Qatar has been plagued with conflict since the outset.
More for you Texas schools watching Qatar closely
The program got off to a bumpy start with disagreement over whether men and women could be educated together and issues with HCC faculty and staff visas. Critics voiced safety concerns and said the college should focus on Houston before it sends employees to the Middle East.
'A different model'
Despite openly discussing an exit strategy since January 2014, HCC waited for the agreement to lapse and is working on a new agreement that fits with a revamped overall approach to international efforts that has the college consulting, rather than sending employees abroad.
HCC currently is working under such an agreement with a college in Saigon and is considering similar partnerships with schools in Mexico. Under the new approach, HCC acts more as an adviser from abroad.
"Even though the model has been changed, it should not be taken as an indication we're exiting the international scene," Maldonado said. "In fact, we're looking at expanding our international relationships; it's just going to be under a different model."
HCC officials argue that such partnerships are important for a college based in such an international city as Houston. In Houston, the college has taken a more global approach and now educates some 5,200 students from more than 200 countries - more students from abroad than any community college in the country, according to a New York Times report from last year.
"It's really important that we build those partnerships," HCC Board Chair Adriana Tamez said. "We're in a global society."
Skeptics on college board
But skepticism remains on the board as college leaders hammer out the new agreement with Qatar. Trustee Dave Wilson questioned whether colleges should be working abroad - especially in a region that places restrictions on speech and how certain people can be educated.
Early in HCC's venture in Qatar, for example, the Qatari government decided male and female students would be educated separately, contrary to the college's contract, which called for coeducational classes.
The first wave of HCC faculty and staff, meanwhile, discovered after being hired - in some cases, after arriving in Doha - that their visas required them to get permission before leaving the country.
Still, HCC officials - under an administration led by former Chancellor Mary Spangler - persisted with the plan, projecting the college would make $4.6 million by 2015. Counting costs, HCC brought in $3.1 million less than that. Officials could not say how much they expect the new agreement to bring in.
"Is that really the mission of our state schools?" Wilson said. "Are they a for-profit over there?"
Houston Community College should sell 73 acres - including large swaths of undeveloped property across the Houston region that college officials spent millions to buy over the last several years - according to a new study of the college's land holdings.
The college has come under fire for buying land that its leaders had no plans to use. A Houston Chronicle investigation last year found that HCC owns more than 350 acres of undeveloped property and redirected at least $26 million in bond money in recent years to buy multiple tracts. The voter-approved bond funds were supposed to be reserved to build new campuses and upgrade existing schools.
Last year college leaders put nine acres of vacant land on the market, pledging to put the proceeds the college makes off the sale - projected around $14 million - back toward the bond projects, most of which are already underway. But college officials said they wanted to wait until they had the fresh study in hand before deciding which other properties to sell. Late Tuesday, the HCC board of trustees voted to sell 30 more acres. Their decision, which requires a second vote to finalize, is a sign the college is moving forward with plans to dump unneeded land. The land study is one part of a broader effort to form a long-range plan for the community college system.
"We have no need for it," trustee Dave Wilson said of the excess land. "We're not in the real estate investment business like Donald Trump."
More Information Up for sale soon? HCC study suggests selling: 23 acres on Westheimer Road 9 acres at Texas 288 and MacGregor Way 33 acres in Katy A warehouse on Delano Street 2 acres on Little York Road 2.5 acres on Gulfton Street See More Collapse
Among the properties the board voted to sell is a 22-acre flood-prone plot on Westheimer Road that HCC officials bought for $8.3 million in 2011, hoping to build a new campus on the property. The purchase sparked controversy and litigation. Before he was elected to the board, Wilson sued HCC, arguing the college overpaid for the land. Wilson hired his own appraiser, who valued the tract at $6.2 million - a third less than the price trustees agreed to pay. His lawsuit was dismissed.
Four years after buying that land, college leaders decided to instead expand the nearby Alief campus, because the Westheimer tract would have needed significant upgrades to develop.
Competing campuses
Overall, the college has acquired more than 240 acres over the past five years and now owns dozens of undeveloped properties, the Chronicle reported last year. Some purchases came even as enrollment declined systemwide. About 46,344 full-time students attended HCC in the fall of 2015, down from 51,413 in 2011, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Much of that land-buying spree happened under past leadership at the college, which has a new chancellor and an almost entirely new board of trustees. The new administration commissioned the land study last year. It was completed this spring and first presented to the board last month.
The study, a copy of which was obtained by the Chronicle this week, recommends the college sell the 73 acres, including its 31-acre Katy campus and two acres it owns in Katy Mills.
Adriana Tamez, chairwoman of the community college's board, said that although this board was not responsible for buying the bulk of the properties in question, current board members have the "absolute responsibility to work with the administration to determine what is in fact required to serve our diverse and growing community."
The study was conducted by Robert Stein, a political science professor at Rice University, and architecture firm Page Southerland Page. The authors used demographics including age, ethnicity and level of education, as well as student information, to determine what parts of Houston were best served by HCC and in which areas HCC could do more.
A series of maps featured in the study illustrate how some of HCC's 23 branches compete for students and how would-be campuses on undeveloped land could increase that competition. Roughly half of the area within a 15-minute drive of the Katy campus is already served by the Spring Branch campus. The area around the Westheimer land, meanwhile, is already served by several other campuses, including Katy, Spring Branch and two campuses in Alief.
Go west, HCC
In some cases, students drive past a campus closer to their home to attend classes at another location, the study found. Those students may have been willing to make longer trips to attend an HCC branch with more of a traditional campus feel, the study said.
There is also opportunity for westward expansion, the study said. Many HCC students - 23 percent as of fall 2015 - live outside HCC's taxing district; many are from the Katy, Spring Branch and Fort Bend schools districts.
The college will not necessarily sell all the land the study suggests, HCC Chancellor Cesar Maldonado said. For instance, Maldonado said he talked to students at the small Gulfton branch, which the study recommends selling, who said they are only able to attend classes because the campus is so close to their homes.
"From a 30,000-foot level, even though it might not make sense to have these campuses that close, we need to consider the communities they're serving and the purpose for them to be there," Maldonado said at a board meeting last month.
'Thirty-year approach'
On Tuesday, the trustees also gave an initial nod to selling two acres on Little York Road that lie about 2 miles from the North Forest campus, and a warehouse on Delano Street, which the college has not used since 2010, when it purchased another warehouse on Fannin.
Another property the study recommends selling: a nine-acre plot at Texas 288 and MacGregor Way; the college is already working to sell it to the city. HCC has owned the MacGregor property twice and is now selling it for a second time. In the fifteen years since HCC first sold the property, the tract has bounced between multiple owners, and its price tag ballooned by 600 percent. City officials have said they want to lure an H-E-B store to the site using incentive funds intended to make fresh food available in neighborhoods where it is scarce.
The study says the college should hold onto 4.5 acres in Midtown that college officials spent $12.7 million in bond funding to buy in 2013 - and use it for parking and future expansion around the central campus, though college leaders have said they may not use the land for a decade or more.
"We have a duty to take a long-term, 30-year approach to property,'' Tamez said.
News / Africa
by youtube
Five Zimbabwean men have been successfully growing crops on land abandoned as unprofitable in Malmesbury. The landowner, N7 Meat, gave up farming crops on the land, claiming losses of over R1m, GroundUp reports.
A veteran social studies teacher at a Houston ISD alternative school has been arrested on federal charges of distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography.
Jason Dion Johnson, 50, was arrested Friday morning by FBI agents at Beechnut Academy, a school for students with disciplinary problems.
A spokesman at Beechnut Academy said he was "appalled" at the charges against Johnson, who had taught at the school for 16 years.
Harris County court records show Johnson had previously been charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure in 1998 and was ordered to complete a sex-offender treatment program. The charges were dismissed after he completed a one-year probationary term, records show.
The next year, in December 2000, his Texas teaching certificate was suspended for four years, but state records were unavailable to determine if the suspension was the result of the indecent exposure charge.
Johnson held a valid Texas teaching certificate in social studies at the time of his arrest, records show.
He remained in federal custody pending a detention hearing Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Milloy.
Johnson taught seventh grade social studies and had been employed "in good standing" at the school, said Kirk Dorn, a spokesman in Philadelphia for Camelot Schools, which contracts with the Houston Independent School District to run Beechnut Academy.
No students were present during Johnson's arrest, but Dorn said the FBI's allegations "took us very much by surprise."
"To say that we're shocked would be an understatement, when you consider his length of service and that there was not a hint of an issue at the school," he said.
Dorn said as a rule job applicants at the school undergo stringent federal and local background checks.
The district suspended Johnson on Friday and has terminated him effective Wednesday. In addition, HISD sent a voice message to parents and students at Beechnut Academy Monday afternoon explaining a teacher had been arrested on allegations involving child pornography.
"There is no indication at this time that the criminal charges involve any of our students or any events that occurred on campus," the 45-second message stated.
The school has been fielding calls from parents.
"They've heard what happened. We're reassuring them that he won't be back in the building," Dorn said.
A sworn statement from an FBI investigator says officials downloaded 21 child pornography videos from a computer linked to Johnson between Dec. 6, 2015, and Feb. 13. Agents executed a search warrant at Johnson's unoccupied apartment Friday and found a number of videos and images showing girls who appeared to range in age from about 10 to younger than 3 being sexually exploited.
Agents also found hidden-camera VHS footage of what appeared to be a changing area within a school where girls could be seen removing their school uniforms. Officials do not believe the footage was taken at Beechnut Academy.
"We were heartened by the fact that none of his alleged criminal activity took place at the school," Dorn said.
Ericka Mellon contributed to this report.
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John Bradshaw did not coin the terms "inner child" or "dysfunctional family," but the motivational speaker and self-help icon of the 1970s and '80s popularized them through his best-selling books and popular television programs.
Bradshaw, a lifelong Houston resident, died Sunday from heart failure. He was 82, his son John Jr. said Monday.
On his own website, Bradshaw acknowledged being born in 1933 into a "troubled family" and abandoned by his alcoholic father. He later became an academic standout but had his own struggles with alcohol and drugs.
"Part of his charm was, he was totally authentic. He revealed the worst and the best of himself," his son said.
A gifted academic, Bradshaw had planned to join an order of Catholic priests known as the Congregation of St. Basil, better known as the Basilian Fathers. Instead, shortly before his ordination, Bradshaw returned to Houston and began teaching at Strake Jesuit College Preparatory School.
"He was gifted but perhaps not the most reliable of their young novitiates," his son said.
No longer bound by priestly rules, Bradshaw continued to dabble with drugs and alcohol; he eventually married a divorced Protestant woman.
John Bradshaw Jr. was born a few years later, after his father had gotten sober and begun attending Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church at 6221 Main St.
Bradshaw taught Sunday school there, used his education to practice as a therapist and began speaking at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Bradshaw's skill as a motivational speaker began to spread through Houston. In the mid-1970s, Bradshaw was hosting a TV talk show on what is now WB39. That led to a national PBS series called "Bradshaw on the Family."
Bradshaw wrote a series of best-selling books and was a guest on virtually every TV talk show at the time - from Phil Donahue to Oprah and everyone in between.
"There was this amazing synergy. A book would come out, and then the PBS station would show the series, and then a week later he would come to town and do a workshop," his son said.
He was also an unofficial adviser to his friend Steven Spielberg for "Hook," his 1991 retelling of the Peter Pan story.
Although the self-help craze eventually subsided, Bradshaw continued working - giving programs and writing books on topics like "Post Romantic Stress Disorder."
Throughout his life, Bradshaw always enjoyed meeting people who say they developed emotionally or learned some inner truth as a result of one of his books or programs.
"To him, that validated his work," his son said.
But he was also a lot of fun, his son recalled. He would often come home and grab a carton of Blue Bell ice cream from the freezer.
"He'd just sit there and eat it," his son said. "When you're a kid and you have a dad that's so unrestrained - almost childlike himself - it was often a lot of fun."
"He was a big personality in everything he did."
Besides his son, Bradshaw is survived by his second wife, Karen Mabray Bradshaw; another son, Brad Isaacs; daughters Brenda Isaacs Booth and Ariel Harper Bradshaw; niece Katie Bradshaw; and several grandsons and great-nephews.
Visitation for family and close friends will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Bradshaw-Carter Funeral Home, 1734 W. Alabama. The funeral service will be 10 a.m. Saturday the Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks.
A Houston man at the center of a trial that stirred gang tensions and heightened police presence at the Harris County Courthouse was sentenced Tuesday to 38 years in prison for murder.
Jonathan Rawlins, 23, was convicted Tuesday of murder in the 2015 shooting death of Ernest Moore by a jury that wasted no time handing down his sentence later in the day.
The jury's verdict drew little reaction in the courtroom, where more than a dozen of Rawlins' supporters watched from one side of the room while about a dozen of the victim's family and friends watched from the other side. One young woman sitting with Rawlins' supporters broke down in sobs.
Tensions in state District Judge Jan Krocker's court had been high since Thursday, when rival gangs got into a verbal altercation in court that forced bailiffs to eject several people. The arguing continued as supporters from both sides were escorted out of the courthouse but apparently did not devolve into fisticuffs.
In a massive show of police presence, deputies from the sheriff's office as well as the Precinct 1 constable's office joined emergency response teams from both agencies, as well as a K-9 unit, to patrol the courtroom and the hallways of the 17th floor of the 20-story building in downtown Houston. Half a dozen patrol units were also stationed on the sidewalk across the street with even more officers at alert.
Despite the tensions, Krocker did not close the courtroom, which seats more than 60 and remained full throughout the trial. She has also kept the police presence in the court to a minimum; appellate courts have traditionally frowned on increased shows of police presence in the courtrooms.
The rapid rise in property taxes across Texas prompted Paul Bettencourt and others in the state senate to hold a series of public hearings this spring that would give people a chance to share personal horror stories and build support for political action in next year's legislative session.
Precisely what sort of action is not clear. But at Monday's sixth hearing in Houston, Bettencourt's hometown, about 60 speakers left little doubt they expect serious measures to rein in huge, de facto tax increases and the appraisal districts that are feeding them through their property evaluations.
With Bettencourt, they were preaching to the choir,
"We've got to keep people from bleeding to death," said Bettencourt, a Republican chair of the Senate Select Committee on Property Tax Reform and Relief. "This is unsustainable."
Evaluations skyrocket
Much of the ire Monday was directed at the appraisers. Speaker after speaker told the nine senators seated on a raised platform in a University of Houston Student Center ballroom that evaluations of their homes or commercial buildings had skyrocketed. And most complained that attempts to convince the districts that the figures were much higher than true market value fell on deaf ears.
"Property taxes represent 40 percent of our operating costs, so it's a huge, huge deal," said Stacy Hunt, executive director of Greystar, an apartment management company, citing a recent evaluation increase of 26 percent.
In a hot rental market, some of the increased property taxes caused by high evaluations can be passed on to renters, Hunt said. But when the market turns softer, the cost directly hits the bottom line.
"We can't get the appraisal district to work with us on an equitable basis," he said. "We can't get them to recognize what is really going on in the marketplace."
Homeowners from the small town of Weston Lakes in Fort Bend County showed up en masse to voice similar complaints about their appraisal district. They repeatedly said the evaluations were excessive and that any attempt to dispute the value set by the district was met with boilerplate denials.
"The Fort Bend appraisal district is just off the tracks," said Weston Lakes resident Jerry Mosbacher. "There is no way for a normal citizen to even understand what they put up (as evidence). You need to level the playing field."
'System is rigged'
The committee had heard such complaints before, from the Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley, but it did not seem to matter. Many took turns commiserating with those describing their woes or those of property owners they represented, and Bettencourt promised to offer some assistance to those who had specific complaints, such as the Weston Lakes residents.
"The tax rates have got to come down," Bettencourt said. "There is no room for that Hoover vacuum cleaner to keep going on sucking up money. There's this dodge from the city governments - 'we're not raising taxes' - but the government is not telling people the truth. The taxpayer knows the system is rigged against them."
While Texas rates among the lowest 10 states in overall tax burden, thanks in part to no income tax, the recent housing boom and stronger economy have led to zooming evaluations. The ultimate payoff of a higher evaluation means nothing until the house is sold, and for many retirees or those living on modest incomes, even relatively small increases can have big impact, Bettencourt said.
"We are being taxed out of our homes," said Cheryl Stalinsky, a onetime economic development promoter for Fulshear who, ironically, at 72 is having to deal with the consequences of a booming regional economy. "All we have to look forward to is saving for the next tax bill."
Commercial property owners are being squeezed just as bad, said Tammy Betancourt, no relation to the senator, who is the CEO of the Houston Building Owners and Managers Association.
"This is a significant burden on our buildings," Betancourt said. The property tax as a percentage of operating expenses was 20 percent on Houston commercial real estate. Now it is more than 50 percent."
Her almost-namesake, the state senator, noted that Houston's civic coffers have been enriched by 29 percent since 2012, while Harris County's tax levy has produced a 43 percent windfall because of the evaluations. Bettencourt said the Legislature should act in 2017 to place tighter restrictions on how much taxing jurisdictions can receive because of higher property values.
"I have seen an incredible depth of passion about property tax issues in every part of the state," Bettencourt said. "Even if the values are substantiated, it is still an astonishing number, how much it has gone up. Taxpayers can't keep paying more."
Calls for limits
Even the taxman agrees. Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Mike Sullivan, a former Houston city council member, said he has received quite an education in his new job. He, too, called for greater limits on how much government can benefit from higher values.
"The truth is a lot of people are faced with tax bills they can't really afford," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said he favored lowering the evaluations on homes damaged by recent flooding.
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The Houston mother who provided her son and his prom date with drugs and alcohol that may have contributed to the girl's death was sentenced Tuesday to 21 months behind bars.
Melissa Martinez pleaded guilty to two counts of distributing a controlled substance, taking responsibility for doling out hydrocodone pills to her son, Eddie Herrera, 18, and his date, Jacqueline Gomez, 17.
Gomez died in a hotel bed after prom on May 16, 2014.
Herrera, who attended Aldine's MacArthur High School with Gomez, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for assaulting her after prosecutors proved he choked her, likely during sex, causing serious bodily injury.
Medical examiners said it was unclear whether Gomez died from the choking, a drug overdose or a combination of the two.
Martinez was taken into custody Tuesday after admitting she gave the teens drugs and two bottles of whiskey and rented the room for after the prom.
She also admitted lying to Gomez's mother about when the teens would be home, which was what the bereaved mother took her to task for on Tuesday.
"You're not even sorry for what you did," Annie Barron told Martinez from the witness stand. "And the punishment you got, you deserve every day. Every day."
The plea deal, in state District Judge Vanessa Velasquez's court, attracted family from both sides.
Prosecutor Justin Wood, who convicted Herrera, said he would object to any early release for good time for Martinez.
Defense attorney David Mitcham said Martinez felt regret and pain for what happened.
"I think this is a sad and tragic case for everyone involved," he said after the hearing.
WASHINGTON - In her passport, Nesita Manceau lists her occupation as "housewife." But she does oh-so-much more. On paper at least, she's a corporate titan. And she's been tangled in an arms-running scandal involving North Korea and Iran.
Manceau is what could be called a "zombie director" of shell companies. She's been on the boards of scores of them. Lawyers in Florida, Oregon and Nevada have clients who call on her services.
The 55-year-old Filipina, who until recently was living in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, exercises what is required of an offshore corporate director: She simply signs her name. Time and time again.
Practically the sole function of an offshore corporate director is to cloak the identity of the real owner of a company or trust. The director serves as a legal shield, of sorts.
The documents known as the Panama Papers teem with these zombie directors who sign corporate papers at the bidding of unidentified owners. Such directors can oversee, at least on paper, hundreds - and sometimes thousands - of corporations.
They are a crucial cog in the machinery of foreign law firms and registration agents who churn out phantom corporations, stock them with proxy directors, slap a soothing name on them, and register them on atolls or far-away nations. It is a volume business.
True owners of the shell companies often want passive directors with no control over, or even knowledge of, actual operations. Secretaries, Burger King cooks and housewives will do.
Corporate registration agents like Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm whose 11.5 million leaked documents comprise the Panama Papers archive, earn extra fees when they stock the boards of offshore entities with nominees who usually have no clue as to the identity of the true owners.
"The fact is, if you waterboarded them, they wouldn't come up with the name of the beneficial owner because they don't know," said Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who has spent decades investigating money laundering and the use of offshore corporations.
But when government investigators come around trying to figure out who owns an offshore corporation, Mossack Fonseca offers up their names as if they had an actual financial stake and knowledge of operations. That happened in 2011, when the director of the Financial Investigation Agency of the British Virgin Islands, Errol George, wrote Mossack Fonseca inquiring about Fincom Trade Ltd. A company officer quickly responded.
"The Beneficial Owner of the company is Ms. Nesita Manceau whose address is: 1st Floor, Pacific Building, Port Vila, Vanuatu," wrote J. Elizabeth Maduro.
See-no-evil nominee directors are the mirror opposite of directors in the real corporate world, who usually have firsthand business experience that they use to hire and fire chief executives, oversee corporate decisions and protect shareholder interests.
The massive leak from the Mossack Fonseca law firm, shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its partners, including McClatchy Newspapers, includes emails, copies of passports and financial records, which all cast light on the structures used in offshore companies, including the functionaries like Manceau.
Manceau was born in a remote Philippine hamlet called Cabay in Eastern Samar province. Her former husband said she once served as a housekeeper after moving to the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
"She was a house girl for Geoff," said Rene Manceau, a Frenchman who described himself as apainter. "Geoff," he said, was Geoffrey Taylor, an eccentric Brit who emigrated to Asia in the 1960s.
"She lived here for 20 years. She's in the Philippines now. She left Vanuatu four years ago," Manceau said in a telephone call from Vanuatu. The couple have a daughter, Elodie, who did not respond to messages left on her Facebook account. The mother could not be reached in the suburb of Manila where she resides. "I don't think she has a telephone. She's very poor. She has no money. My daughter asks me to send her money."
Manceau said his ex-wife has only a basic education - "nothing more than six years."
In spite of her humble roots - or perhaps because of them - Nesita Manceau directs corporations registered all over the world. She's been a director of companies in Britain, the Ukraine, Belize, the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand, the Seychelles, Hong Kong and elsewhere. Manceau first appears in Mossack Fonseca records as a corporate director in 2001.
Exactly what she earned for each directorship is not known. But she usually worked with Taylor who set up a vast enterprise, the Vanuatu-registered GT Group Ltd., to register some 2,500 offshore companies, according to the documents. Taylor was known to pay 20 New Zealand dollars (about $13.50 U.S.) to his nominee directors.
Taylor matched Manceau's simplicity with his own eccentricity. He claimed to hold a knighthood from the Principality of Hutt River, a secessionist village in western Australia, and also called himself Lord of the Manor of Stubbington, a feudal title dating to the 11th century that he had apparently purchased.
One of GT Group Ltd.'s creations was a company called VicAm (Auckland) Ltd., of which Manceau carried the title of director. In mid-2009, VicAm Ltd. spun off SP Trading Ltd. Then the company exploded into global headlines.
On Dec. 12, 2009, Thai security forces seized a Russian-built Illyushin-76 cargo plane on the airport tarmac in Bangkok. The manifest said the aircraft carried "oil industry spare parts." But the agents discovered 35 tons of rocket-propelled grenades, missile and rocket launchers and surface-to-air missile launchers in the cargo hold.
The plane had left North Korea and was reportedly headed to Iran. It had stopped in Bangkok to refuel.
The seizure revealed a complex web of companies. The aircraft was owned by a company in the United Arab Emirates but was operated by a firm in Georgia, which in turn leased the aircraft to SP Trading, which chartered the plane to a Hong Kong company. The mastermind of the arms deal has never been publicly identified. The crew of four Kazakhs and a Belarusian pilot were held but later freed.
Employees of Mossack Fonseca stood by Taylor, who is now 73.
"He is a man of high credibility, professional history and moral standard . We do guarantee that Mr. Taylor and his GT Group are genuine and clean partners," an employee who signed his name as "Jiri" wrote in an interoffice email from the Prague office, where Jiri Myslivec worked, to headquarters in Panama. The Czech branch of Mossack Fonseca handled much of Taylor's business, often setting up shell companies in the Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
McClatchy could not locate Taylor. Journalists never succeeded in tracking down Manceau after the weapons seizure. And she continued to direct offshore companies registered by the Panama law firm until 2013.
Nominee directors of offshore companies that run afoul of the law rarely face penalties. The director of SP Trading was a Chinese national, Lu Zhang, who worked as a cook at a Burger King restaurant in Auckland, New Zealand. She pleaded guilty in 2010 and was convicted of making false statements on company registration forms but was released without penalty.
Manceau never ran into legal trouble. She was director of VicAm (Auckland) Limited, the sole owner of SP Trading.
Robert Palmer of Global Witness, a London-based watchdog group monitoring natural resource exploitation and money laundering, said nominee directors of offshore corporations are often seen as hapless and bearing little responsibility.
"It's precisely because these people cut such sad figures - or because they are not seen as the real masterminds of the businesses," Palmer said.
Nominee directors literally rent out their names, often for little money, and should face legal scrutiny, he said. "If you started prosecuting nominee directors, it would certainly become less attractive to be a nominee."
Emails show that Mossack Fonseca would routinely keep signed resignation letters on file of zombie directors so that they could be replaced at any moment.
Manceau is also known in the United States. She is, or has been, a manager or officer in four limited liability companies registered in Florida between 2004 and 2008. The lawyer who handled the incorporations, Mark Hankins, whose website lists his office in Lutz, north of Tampa, did not respond to emails or phone messages.
She also was listed as a manager of two LLCs in Nevada and two corporations in Oregon, all of which were registered between late 2004 and 2007.
The Portland, Oregon, lawyer who handled the two incorporations there, Lake Perriguey, declined to discuss how Manceau came to be listed as president.
"I can't really talk to you about any of my clients," Perriguey said.
Zombie directors at least nominally oversee companies that can move huge sums of money. In March 2015, Mossack Fonseca considered cutting ties with a Seychelles woman, Elisana Marie-Antoinette Labonte, who serves frequently as a director. Her name came up on a website, whistleblowers.org, as director of a Russian-controlled company seeking to transfer 240 million euros ($273 million) for "humanitarian, social, economic and development projects." The outcome of the debate was not immediately apparent.
As active as Manceau has been, the employees of Mossack Fonseca outpace her as corporate directors. The champion is Leticia Montoya Moran, a 63-year-old "corporate officer" at Mossack Fonseca who has sat on the boards of 10,969 companies in recent decades, according to a tally of the Panama Papers archive.
A document from the end of 2015 puts Montoya's monthly salary at $900. Her home is in Vacamonte, a working-class Panama City area with an erratic potable water supply.
Other Mossack Fonseca employees aren't far behind Montoya in directorships of companies in which Mossack Fonseca was the registered agent. Francis Perez has been a director of 10,544 entities, and Katia Solano of 5,296 entities. Both earn salaries similar to Montoya's.
"When you come up with a bunch of nominee directors who are on 5,000 corporate boards, there's no way in hell they know anything about the corporation," Blum said. "They don't know squat about it. Nor is it ever likely they will."
WEATHER
Twisters threatenIllinois, Kentucky
OKLAHOMA CITY - Bad weather moved into the Ohio River Valley on Tuesday after a series of powerful storms hit the Plains, including deadly tornadoes that destroyed homes and overturned vehicles in Oklahoma.
On Monday, about two dozen tornadoes were reported across six states. In southern Oklahoma, crews were assessing damage from a tornado blamed for two deaths that sliced through two counties.
The National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., posted online Tuesday evening that tornadoes had touched down in western Kentucky and southern Illinois.
Kentucky State Police in Mayfield, Ky., said at least eight people had been injured there and homes were damaged.
A separate system was poised to move through North Texas, including the Dallas-Fort Worth area, while another storm system should bring storms in an area from North Texas to near St. Louis on Wednesday.
MASSACHUSETTS
Attacker stabs 4 people before being fatally shot
TAUNTON - Three people have been killed including a suspect and two others injured in attacks at a shopping mall and a home in Massachusetts.
State police say a man stabbed two people at a home in Taunton on Tuesday, then crashed a car through the front of a Macy's store at the Silver City Galleria and stabbed two other people at the mall. Authorities say an off-duty law enforcement officer shot and killed the suspect.
ARKANSAS
Judge resigns in probe of inmate photos, sex acts
An Arkansas judge has resigned after a state commission accused him of ordering male defendants to be spanked, engage in sex acts and bend over for thousands of photographs to fulfill their "community service," a senior state official said on Tuesday.
The resignation of the district court judge, O. Joseph Boeckmann Jr., was effective immediately after it was sent to the State Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission on Monday.
From wire reports
Donald Trump will come to Washington on Thursday for a series of meetings with Republican congressional leaders. The goal, all involved say, is to hasten the process of unifying a fractured party. The reality is that, nice words to the contrary, Trump and those party leaders are likely never to fully achieve that result.
Trump is an unpredictable presidential candidate, predictable only in the sense that what he says one day can change the next. Whatever reassurances he might try to offer in the face-to-face meetings - and Trump knows how to be charming in his personal encounters - could easily be washed away by his determination to keep running the way he has run throughout the primaries, as a political provocateur of no fixed ideology.
The meetings are supercharged in large part because Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., have been sparring since Ryan announced last week that he is not ready to endorse the New York developer.
For months, Ryan has been establishing himself as the keeper of Republican values and an advocate of positive messaging in the face of a hostile takeover by the renegade Trump, whose candidacy has been buoyed by the politics of anger. The presumptive nominee has made it clear that he will brook only minimal dissent from GOP officials and has sent conflicting signals about his desire to find true unity with party leaders.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has taken a different approach. He said a week ago that he would support the party's nominee and told reporters Tuesday: "I think most of my members believe he's won the nomination the old-fashioned way - he got more votes than anybody else, and we respect the voices of the Republican primary voters across the country."
One of the first questions about Thursday is: Which Trump will show up in Washington? Will it be the Trump who said a week ago that it would be helpful to meet with Ryan "before we go our separate ways"? Or will it be the Trump who on Tuesday tweeted, "I look very much forward to meeting w/Paul Ryan and the GOP Party Leadership on Thurs in DC. Together, we will beat the Dems at all levels!"
Trump's constituency is not that of the GOP leaders. His voters distrust Republican congressional leaders, almost as much as they dislike President Obama. Trump has had near-perfect pitch with the resentment emanating from a portion of the electorate. In fact, he has fed the anger with his calls to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and to shut down U.S. borders to Muslims seeking to enter the country. Any effort to modulate his style as a way to try to satisfy the wishes of party leaders comes with the risk of lessening the enthusiasm of his core constituency.
Trump already made clear what he thinks of suggestions to change his stripes as a candidate. He rebelled after his convention manager Paul Manafort sought to reassure members of the Republican National Committee last month that, once the nomination was within reach, he would begin an evolution as a candidate. Almost within hours, Trump showed that he would do nothing of the kind. Which makes it questionable that he will make any such promises Thursday, if any of the leaders broach that issue with him.
One thing standing in the way of real unity is the wide gulf between Trump and party leaders on many key issues of Republican doctrine. On issues such as trade, entitlements and the future of the NATO alliance, the differences are deep and long stated. More recently, Trump has signaled a willingness to abandon party orthodoxy by considering higher taxes on the wealthy and boosting the minimum wage.
Those policy differences foreshadow a fight over the party platform when Republicans gather in Cleveland the week before the convention in July. Will Trump choose to push for changes that reflect his views? Does Ryan expect Trump to modify those views, to become more of a true Republican? Either could subject the party to further divisions. What some leading Republicans hope is that a clash of that sort can be avoided by simply having the two sides agree to disagree.
As one GOP elected official put it this week: "I hope he would just say, 'OK, you guys write the platform, and I'm going to run my campaign.' Other presidents have not paid a whole lot of attention to the platform anyway. I don't think it's a productive exercise to try to redefine what a Republican is. Because for most of us, what a Republican is, is not what he's been running on."
There is one clear point of unity on which the two sides can agree. That is the mutual desire to defeat Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee. Eight years of Obama have been more than enough for Republican leaders. Fears of a Clinton presidency and Democratic control of the White House for four to eight more years will help to remind everyone of their common interests in November.
But at this point, many Republicans worry that Trump's candidacy will hasten that result, rather than prevent it. Early projections of the Electoral College suggest he would begin with a sizable deficit, struggling to put into play states that Mitt Romney lost to Obama in 2012.
The arrival on Tuesday of three Quinnipiac University polls in the swing states of Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania - all of which showed Trump and Clinton in tight races - gave some Republicans hope that November will not be the debacle that some fear.
More surveys are needed before anyone can draw that conclusion, given the deficits Trump has among women and Hispanics. Although many voters dislike Clinton, Trump's position remains worse and that is a continuing worry among those in his party.
Republican leaders would like nothing more than to control the White House and Congress starting next January, especially if there is some certainty that a President Trump would appoint Supreme Court judges who would prevent a leftward shift on the high court. In the end, however, the congressional leaders have one overriding priority, and that is not to elect Trump as president, much as they hate the idea of Clinton as president. Their top priority will be to protect their House and Senate majorities.
For now they will wait and see how Trump looks as the prospective nominee, how well he adapts to a general-election contest and a broader electorate, how well he weathers the inevitable Democratic attacks. They also will seek to insulate their own candidates from Trump as necessary. And if and when it becomes clear that Trump cannot win the presidency, Republican officials will be faced with the choice of whether to cut him loose to save those majorities.
Twenty years ago, the Republican Party did just that. In the final days of that campaign, as GOP nominee Bob Dole was heading toward a loss against then-President Bill Clinton, the party ran television ads calling on voters not to turn over both the executive and legislative branches to the Democrats.
Thursday's meetings - first with House leaders and then with Senate leaders - will be the talk of the day. No doubt the post-meeting public words from both sides will be cordial and accommodating. But what happens Thursday is barely the beginning of a long period of uncertainty and taking stock. Trump's success has shattered the Republican Party coalition, and from every angle those in the party are feeling their way forward.
On Monday, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump assured people that he will bring up Bill Clinton, his history with women who are not his wife, and Hillary Clinton's role as a political adviser and defender during these crises. She's an enabler, Trump said of the Democratic presidential front-runner. And, he's planning to continue, Trump told CNN, in "retribution" for Hillary Clinton "playing the woman card."
We would rehash the "woman card" debate if it weren't for the well-established fact that one does not simply get to deploy one's gender at will for political advantage. The experiences that come with being a woman in the United States are constant, and the decision to make these issues part of one's campaign are no more or less legitimate than a developer, such as Trump, supporting the government's exercise of eminent domain.
And, quite frankly, we might go there if so many others had not already done so very, very well.
However, there is another set of questions that do come out of Trump's declaration. Clinton is the first woman likely to become a major party's presidential nominee. She is a former senator, a former secretary of state, a former first lady and key political adviser to her husband. As such, she has both a record for which she must, without question, be prepared to answer and a segment of her life where the personal and the political are more than a bit difficult to parse.
Love her or hate her, this is a situation that presents quite a challenge. Yet, after Trump's pronouncement, Clinton told reporters that she plans to say nothing at all in response to Trump's Bill Clinton-sexist, Hillary Clinton-enabler claims. Nothing. Given that, we decided to check in with two political scientists - both of them women - who study voter behavior, female candidates and gender in politics. We asked them about the likely nominees' plans on this front.
Q: We often talk about Hillary Clinton as if she is a singular figure: A former first lady and key political adviser, senator, secretary of state and now presidential candidate. Are there any other comparable women in history?
BROWN: Perhaps Eleanor Roosevelt is the closest comparable figure to Hillary Clinton in modern American political history. Roosevelt took the reins after FDR was stricken with polio and advanced progressive policies and positions - notably, more reformist in nature than her husband's - to advocate for women's rights and against racial discrimination. Indeed, it was Eleanor that helped curate the Black Brain Trust - a group of prominent African Americans who advised the president on "Negro affairs" and who helped to sell the New Deal to black constituencies - and who often met with this group and took their recommendation back to the president when FDR refused to meet with them. Eleanor was a public figure who wrote a daily newspaper column, briefed (an all-female) press corps, and lectured nationally. After FDR's death, she was appointed delegate to the United Nations. She would later represent the country on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
Historians believe that Eleanor, who was initially a shy and introverted woman, became increasingly independent after discovering that FDR was having an affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. Although Eleanor offered to divorce Franklin, the couple - with the insistence of his mother, Sara - opted to remain married due to the social stigma of divorce, which may have devastated FDR's early political career.
Both Hillary and Eleanor devoted their time to social and political causes and their own identities as political figures. Perhaps both women saw their marriages as a way to promote their own political agendas once their husbands' extramarital affairs were discovered. Unlike Hillary, questions surround Eleanor's romantic life as she was openly affectionate with other women (namely, Lorena Hickok) and men. Whereas less is speculated about Hillary Clinton's personal life, both women have shown tremendous independence outside of their marriage.
WILIARTY: Actually, being elected to a political office formerly occupied by their husbands is an extremely common way for women to come to power. Frequently this happens after the husband's death. There's even a name for it: widow's succession. German female politicians sometimes say, "Women enter the Bundestag over the dead bodies of the men." In the United States, as of 2013, eight senators and 39 congresswomen had entered office this way, including Jean Carnahan, Margaret Chase Smith, Mary Bono and Doris Matsui.
Some women served only briefly following a widow's succession, but others served several terms. Historically, women have been enormously more likely than men to gain office either through appointment or special election, often following the death of the former occupant. Presumably, women have "specialized" in this form of access because of greater difficulty with gaining office through regular general elections.
The Experts Nadia E. Brown is an associate professor of political science and African American studies at Purdue University. She is the author of the 2014 book "Sisters in the Statehouse: Black Woman and Legislative Decision Making." Brown volunteered with the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., in the run-up to the Indiana primary. Sarah Elise Wiliarty is an associate professor of government at Wesleyan University where she teaches comparative politics courses with a focus on Western Europe and women and politics. Her book, "The CDU and the Politics of Gender in Germany: Bringing Women to the Party," was published in 2010. Wiliarty is not affiliated with a campaign but plans to vote for Clinton. See More Collapse
From a cross-national perspective, having family ties of some sort to a former leader is actually very common for both men and women. In Asia and Latin America, family ties have been a dominant route to executive office for women. If we look around the world, nearly all women in the office of president, that is an executive office directly elected by voters, have family ties to a former president in their country. Well-known examples include Isabel Peron of Argentina, Violeta Chamorro of Nicaragua, Cristina Fernandez (Argentina), Indira Gandhi (India), Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (Philippines).
Q: Do you anticipate that Trump will continue to raise his claim that Bill Clinton is a sexist and Hillary Clinton an enabler?
WILIARTY: I think Trump will raise any issue that he thinks will be effective criticism of Hillary or Bill Clinton. I would expect Hillary Clinton to do the same. We are probably looking at an extremely negative campaign season.
Q: How potent do you think the "enabler" claim might be as a political tool?
BROWN: This is a particularly potent claim against Hillary. According to a recent CNN/ORC International Poll, less than 20 percent of Americans sampled said that they did not think that America was ready for a woman president. Indeed, Gallup polling data has shown that Americans are increasing likely to support a woman candidate, particularly if a voter's political party nominated a qualified woman.
These numbers indicate that Americans may not be opposed to electing a woman president; it is the candidate herself that matters most. Therefore, Trump does not necessarily have to play the gender card against Hillary but rather showcase why she, in particular, is the wrong woman for the job. This nuanced argument is an individual attack against Hillary - not women candidates. As such, Trump may be able to sidestep overt claims of misogyny and sexism.
However, if Trump's past rhetoric is any indication of what is in store for the general election, it is highly probable that he will make direct misogynist remarks against Hillary Clinton.
WILIARTY: I don't think this particular accusation - that Bill Clinton is a sexist and Hillary Clinton is an enabler - will likely stick or be terribly effective, even if Trump tries it. Anyone who is married knows marriage is complicated, and anyone who follows politics knows that the Clintons have a political marriage, which is likely even more complicated.
Hillary's decision to stay with Bill after the many accusations of marital infidelity was seen as controversial. Some voters wanted her to leave what they regarded as an abusive relationship. Some voters were happy to see her "stand by her man." I suspect for many voters Bill Clinton's possible infidelities are water under the bridge. Having an affair is not really the same as sexist behavior. Bill Clinton has a pattern of illicit sexual relationships, but he is not the candidate this time around. It is possible that Hillary Clinton will be less likely to call Donald Trump a sexist if she thinks it will highlight this form of attack.
Q: Is there anything we already know about voter behavior that is particularly relevant in the face of this issue?
BROWN: Hillary Clinton has had difficulty in mobilizing and energizing young women voters in her primary against Bernie Sanders. If she becomes the Democratic presidential nominee and Trump makes blatant sexist comments against Hillary, I anticipate that young women voters will support Hillary. Voters are primed and mobilized when they feel that the other side is attacking their core values and way of life. This motivation may drive young women voters to the polls for Hillary.
Furthermore, research has shown that undecided male voters are more likely to be mobilized through the use of negative campaign ads. Potential Trump voters are primed by these attack ads. In essence, Trump's hyper-masculine persona and his statements that his opponents are too feminine - i.e. Little Marco, Jeb Bush needing his mother to campaign for him, Hillary is too soft on ISIS [another name for the Islamic State] - plays into the narrative that hetero, white, middle- to low-income men need to rightfully reclaim their position as head of American society. Trump understands that his key voting demographic has [responded] and will respond to these messages - as presented through negative campaigning against his opponents - and vote for Trump in the primaries and general election.
WILIARTY: I think it's unpredictable how voters will respond.
Q: Given this, what can and should Clinton do if and when Trump raises the sexist and sexist-enabler charge?
BROWN: Engaging Trump has proved to be unsuccessful for his former Republican primary competitors. Hillary should stay above the fray by addressing her qualifications, policy priorities and big ideas for fixing America's problems. In doing so, she should repeatedly underscore the importance of women's rights and gender equality (being sure to pay attention to intersectional issues, such as class, race, sexual orientation and other salient political identities - noting that all women do not face the same issues and experience the world differently). Responding directly to Trump's sexist comments and/or sexist-enabler charge will do little to persuade Trump supporters that they should vote for her. Instead, Hillary needs to win over independents, Bernie supporters, progressives, millennials, and disaffected liberals. Hillary should spend her energy on trying to re-create Obama's big tent and get these voters to turn out for her in November.
WILARTY: If I were Hillary Clinton's adviser on this topic, which thank goodness I am not, I would advise her to ignore it or perhaps to say that outsiders cannot understand the internal workings of a marriage. That message will resonate with many voters. Some people may feel sorry for Hillary. Some may feel sorry for the women Bill Clinton possibly had affairs with. I doubt this particular issue will be decisive in many voters' minds, so the best thing Hillary Clinton can do is ignore it.
Q: What about if Trump or his allies allege that Bill Clinton's sins went beyond infidelity? (Rand Paul has accused the former president of being a "sexual predator," for instance.)
WILIARTY: First, I think it's important for [Hillary] Clinton to make clear that she thinks it's important to take sexual assault seriously. She has already said this, but she will need to keep reiterating that point. She has a long-standing record of being a leading voice on women's rights, and I don't think this issue is going to damage that record seriously. She is the candidate here, not Bill.
Second, audience matters a great deal. Trump supporters will believe him and his attacks on Bill and will probably also believe that Hillary acted as an "enabler" to silence women who accused Bill of sexual assault. But they were not going to vote for Hillary anyway. Established supporters of HRC will believe her. It's true that she has struggled to win support from younger female voters, but I don't see this issue as the main reason for that.
Younger voters, including many of the students at Wesleyan, are very taken with Sanders's rhetoric and his ideas about far-reaching changes to the political and economic establishments in this country. It remains to be seen what will happen once we have two definitive candidates.
Q: Is there anything else that might be important for readers to know or understand about this issue?
BROWN: Donald Trump's attacks on Hillary Clinton are more of an attempt to rally male voters. He is speaking to men - particularly white, middle- to lower-class men - who feel as if their power and prestige are unfairly being diminished in this age of political correctness and changing American social norms. In an era where the vast majority of Republican candidates are trying to court women voters, Trump is turning his attention to the other side of the gender gap - men voters who are more likely to vote Republican (since the 1980s) than women.
Seventy percent of women say that they will not vote for Trump and that they find his rhetoric toward women to be distasteful. It is unlikely that Trump will win over more women in the general election; thus, his strategy will be to solicit male voters. Hillary Clinton's use of the "women card" - an actual card that she used as a prop in a weekend fundraiser - speaks well to women and an entirely different demographic than to who Trump is seeking to mobilize this election. The two candidates are using gender as a tactic to draw divergent supporters.
WILIARTY: I think the notion of a "first family" will be more important than Bill's potential infidelities. Or perhaps that the infidelities will feed into a larger understanding of what the "first family" will look like after the election is over. Regardless of which candidate wins (assuming it turns out to be Trump vs. Clinton), the symbolic representation of the "first family" is going to look quite novel to voters and probably some will struggle with the new possible images that either candidate presents.
Heidi Cruz sought during a Tuesday conference call to comfort the supporters of her husband's defunct presidential bid by drawing some pretty epic parallels.
According to a report by the Texas Tribune, Heidi compared the quest to put Cruz in the White House with the abolitionist movement of the 19th Century, with intent to ensure supporters that their noble crusade remained far from finished.
"I don't want you to feel like any of this was in vain," she said, according to the Tribune. "Be full of faith and so full of joy that this team was chosen to fight a long battle. Think that slaveryit took 25 years to defeat slavery. That is a lot longer than four years."
RELATED: Supporters expect Cruz to remain on the national stage
The practice of human enslavement is as old as civilization, and was widely abolished as a formal institution in the Western world throughout the 1800s, though it still persists in some places today. It is unclear where the 25-year figure came from. Abolitionist movements existed in Europe for centuries before the 1861 Civil War that freed slaves in the United States.
The comment came during a call with the campaign's "national prayer team," and represents the latest in a series of encouraging offerings from the Cruz campaign to supporters. Other Cruz operatives have stressed since Cruz's withdrawal from the presidential race that the former campaign has morphed into a conservative movement.
Cruz even said in a radio interview Tuesday that he would be open to reigniting the campaign.
He'll make his first scheduled public remarks Saturday at the state convention of the GOP, where he is widely expected to address his future plans.
News / Africa
by Staff reporter
Pietermaritzburg - Three of six surviving members of a gang involved in a botched Capitec bank cash-in-transit robbery were each handed five life sentences plus 186 years' jail by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday.Judge Rishi Seegobin said the murderous attack by the gang of Durban men including accused Thulani Doncabe, 40, Siboniso Mpanza, 22, and Sandile Shongwe, 24, turned the town of Richmond into a war zone in January 2012.There had been wild shooting with powerful weapons as the assailants fled, endangering people going about their business.Seegobin said he could not find substantial and compelling circumstances allowing him to depart from the prescribed life sentences for the murders.He imposed two life sentences on each accused for the point-blank murders of Sicelo Phungula, who was about to load an ATM machine, and police Sergeant Thami Zondi, who was shot dead as assailants were fleeing.He imposed life sentences for the killings of each of their three accomplices, shot dead in fights with pursuing police. They were Andile Hlongwa, Siphitembe Mtshali, and Senzo Mtolo. They realised that they could encounter violent opposition, but they nevertheless continued.For the aggravated robbery of a cash box and cash, they were each given 20 years.For the attempted murders of six bystanders, they were each given 10 years, for a total of 60 years each.Each of them got another 10 years' jail for the attempted murders of each of 10 policemen who chased them and had shootouts with them.They were each given eight years for each of two cars which were stolen.Seegobin rejected a plea for more lenient sentences for Mpanza, who was 20 at the time. He said there was nothing about him indicating he lacked maturity. His youthfulness was outweighed by his viciousness and that he had lied as a witness.All the sentences would run concurrently.Seegobin congratulated prosecutor Kandy Kandar and the investigators for their work.
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Border agents found a house in South Texas Monday filled with more than 35 undocumented immigrants and as well as a shrine to the La Santa Muerte, or the Goddess of Death, according to a news release issued Tuesday.
The bust began when U.S. Customs and Protection agents stopped a vehicle driven by a known smuggler in the Texas border city of Edinburg on Monday.
The traffic stop led to the discovery of the stash house in the 1700 block of North McColl, where agents ultimately found 37 people inside. Three of those were juveniles from Mexico and Honduras, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.
RELATED: CBP: 'Callous' human trafficker found with 31 'illegal immigrants' stuffed into Texas apartment
Agents arrested a U.S. citizen and a Mexican national who were alleged to have been the caretakers for the 37 people, who were transported to McAllen Border Patrol Station for processing, the news release reported.
At the home, investigators also found a shrine to the Goddess of Death, La Santa Muerte.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the saint is associated with the drug trade and narco-culture, but the "saint" is also associated with Day of the Dead. Santa Muerte is believed to be a protector of souls residing in the dark underworld.
RELATED: $1.6 million in illegal drugs seized at border on Good Friday
These immigrants are essentially held for ransom, Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr.said in a statement. And, these smugglers are putting these migrants in harms way in the middle of our residential neighborhoods.
RELATED: CBP: Eagle Pass agents seize more than 14 pounds of heroin hidden in a vehicle
Earlier in the weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents rescued 25 illegal immigrants who were either part of smuggling attempts or needed medical attention near various checkpoints. They found numerous people hiding in trunks of vehicles, and as many as 13 smuggled people inside a camper trailer, according to a separate news release.
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Texas' Attorney General Ken Paxton has been indicted for securities fraud. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is under criminal investigation by the Texas Rangers for misusing state funds.
When corruption and criminality become the go-to descriptors for statewide Republicans, it becomes that much easier for Democrats to claim a moral high ground.
State Rep. Ron Reynolds makes it that much harder.
Last year, Reynolds, D-Missouri City, was convicted of misdemeanor barratry - the crime of illegally soliciting clients for his law practice. He's appealing that decision, which has him facing up to a year in jail.
Reynolds was also hit with a $500,000 court judgment last month for failing to give his former client, who had lost a daughter in a car crash, her share of a $250,000 settlement.
Legal troubles are nothing new to this high-ranking Democrat. Reynolds has been sanctioned twice by the State Bar since he first ran for office in 2008. He's also been fined $10,000 by the Texas Ethics Commission for failing to file campaign-finance disclosures.
If Democratic voters want to show that theirs is the moral compass that points to true north, then they should vote out Reynolds and replace him with his challenger in the runoff for District 27: Angelique Bartholomew.
Bartholomew, 46, is a certified mediator and director of compliance for a medical firm. A mother of five, she has degrees from Fisk University and Miles Law School and has been endorsed by Annie's List. She's running for office on a platform of meat-and-potatoes issues such as education and affordable healthcare.
It would admittedly be a big change to replace a three-term incumbent with a first-time candidate. District 27, which covers eastern Fort Bend County, is one of the fastest-growing and most diverse parts of our state. It needs a representative who can keep up and won't be distracted by a litany of legal troubles, and so far Reynolds has failed at the task.
There are times when partisan scrutiny hits politicians with flimsy charges. There are times when personal failings must be balanced against political efficacy. But at a certain point, voters should draw a line. After years of trouble, it is time to replace Reynolds.
Early voting in this runoff runs from Monday through Friday, May 20. Election Day is Tuesday, May 24.
A man missing at Golden Hills Trail Rides and Resort surfaced Saturday, according to the business.
The man who had been subject of a search since Wednesday arrived at the office Saturday and said he had been lost on the massive resort, according to Chuck Golden, owner.
More details when they become available.
Earlier: Authorities with several agencies are searching for a Wentzville man who has been missing since Wednesday at Golden Hills Trail Rides and Resort near Raymondville.
The search continued on Friday for a third day.
Texas County Sheriff James Sigman said his department was contacted Wednesday morning by concerned relatives who expressed concern about the 39-year-old man. Sigman said the mans whereabouts was narrowed down to Golden Hills, and his car was found there early Wednesday afternoon.
A search party of about 20 are involved in the effort, combing Golden Hills 5,000 acres and hundreds of miles of roads and trails on ATVs, in trucks and on foot. Assisting the TCSD are personnel from the U.S. Forest Service, Houston Rural, Raymondville and Cabool fire departments, and some of the mans friends and family.
Sigman said a Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter had also been involved Wednesday afternoon. At about 2 p.m. today (Thursday), searchers were focusing in the area in and around Morgans Cave (a.k.a. Ride-In Cave).
Missouri lawmakers have days to pass legislation before the deadline of Friday, the final day of the 2016 legislative session.
A number of contested measures ranging from expanding gun rights to regulating abortion further and changing policies on union fees are pending.
Heres a breakdown of some of the issues still on the table:
Abortion
Lawmakers passed a budget that includes provisions to end funding for non-abortion services at Planned Parenthood.
Several other abortion-related measures are pending, including a bill to bar the donation of fetal tissue from abortions and a proposal to require both parents to be notified if a minor seeks an abortion, with some exceptions.
A measure to add unborn human children at every stage of biological development to a state constitutional provision that protects the right to life passed the House last week, but theres limited time for the bill to make its way through the Senate by lawmakers Friday deadline.
Ethics
Plagued by the resignations of two former lawmakers who stepped down amid allegations of inappropriate behavior toward interns, lawmakers pledged this session to revamp the states loose ethics policies and clean up the Capitols image.
Lawmakers so far have passed bills to end the revolving door of lawmakers immediately leaving office to become lobbyists, a ban on lawmakers paying their colleagues as political consultants and legislation to bar most investments of campaign money.
A bill to limit lobbyist gifts to legislators is pending in the Senate.
Attempts to clamp down on unlimited campaign donations havent met success.
Ferguson
Bills that have gained traction in reaction to the 2014 unrest in Ferguson after the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown include a measure to lower fines for some minor traffic and ordinance violations.
That measure passed the Senate on Friday and would require another House vote to clear the Legislature.
House legislation to limit access to footage from body and dashboard cameras under open-records laws if the video depicts a nonpublic location is up for a final vote.
Democrats want legislation to mandate police wear body cameras, but that legislation hasnt advanced.
Lawmakers are working to bring the laws on when police can use deadly force in line with a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling held police may not shoot at a fleeing person unless the officer reasonably believes the individual poses a significant physical danger to the officer or others in the community.
Missouris law does not specify an officer must believe the fleeing suspect is dangerous. That bill requires another committee vote before it can head to the full House for debate.
Gas tax
Some lawmakers want to raise the states fuel tax by nearly 6 cents per gallon to pay for road and bridge projects.
It passed the Senate in April, but faces challenges in the House and still needs committee approval before it could be debated by all members.
If passed by the Legislature, it would also require voter approval.
Guns
A Senate proposal with House approval includes a number of provisions aimed at expanding gun access, including allowing for firearms on public transportation and concealed carry of guns by fulltime employees on college campuses.
Because of those changes, the measure went back to the Senate for review.
Another bill gathering steam is a proposal to allow the concealed carry of weapons without a permit, with exceptions.
Other legislation includes expanding the states castle doctrine to cover some house guests and broadening so-called stand your ground laws to strip a requirement gun holders retreat in most places other than their home or car before shooting in self-defense.
Union fees
Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a bill to require public employees in unions to annually reauthorize automatic payments for dues and fees.
The House began the process of overriding that veto last week.
Unions with public-sector employees also would have to make their financial records available to their workers.
Supporters call the measure paycheck protection and say it will lead to more transparency and make it easier for unsatisfied members to leave unions.
Opponents say its an effort to weaken unions. It needs a final vote of support from two-thirds of senators to become law.
Voter ID
Lawmakers last week sent a bill to require photo identification at the polls to Nixon, a Democrat who is likely to veto it.
But because the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled against such measures in the past, lawmakers also are working to pass legislation that would ask voters to amend the state Constitution to allow such a law.
The proposed constitutional amendment still needs another vote in the Senate and House before reaching the ballot. It would not need the governors approval.
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If you dont like the weather in Missouri, just wait a few hours. But this unpredictable natural phenomenon makes growing certain plants, fruits, vegetables and herbs a challenge. Dr. Chin-Feng Hwang, professor in the Darr School of Agriculture at Missouri State University, recently received $297,584 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture for a research project to look at how to breed more disease-resistant, cold-hardy grapes.
Dr. Chin-Feng Hwang
The overall goals of our research program are to use DNA markers to rapidly deploy favorable alleles, accelerate breeding cycles for new cultivar release, train a new generation of plant breeders and attract new students to the agricultural sciences, Hwang said.
The project, Expanding Research on Berry and Juice Chromatographic Analysis to Expedite Grape Cultivar Improvement and Build Education Capacity, will also look at ways to improve the efficiency of the breeding process. As an agricultural scientist, hes also concerned about the sustainability of grape breeding, including decreasing labor needs, energy consumption and pesticides, noted Hwang.
Students in Hwangs lab at the Fruit Experiment Station on the Mountain Grove campus will use the latest technology to perform much of the research and identify components of the molecular structure that are associated with desirable and undesirable fruit quality traits.
This project will accelerate the direct release of Norton-based new cultivars and improve efficiency of selection in subsequent generations, Hwang said.
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2016-70001-24623.
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Research has shown the significance of social relationships in influencing adult human behavior and health; however, little is known about how childrens perception of their social networks correlates with stress and how it may influence development. Now, a University of Missouri research team has determined that children and adolescents physically react to their social networks and the stress those networks may cause. Scientists believe that the quality and size of the social relationships nurtured in childhood may have important physiological consequences for physical and mental health for youth.
Cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase are secreted in response to outside pressure or tension. A part of the autonomic nervous system, release of cortisol in the system is quick, unconscious and can be measured in saliva; therefore, measuring cortisol is a good indicator of stress in the body, said Mark V. Flinn, professor of biomedical anthropology and chair of the Department of Anthropology in the MU College of Arts and Science.
The typical physiological response to stress is the release of hormones like cortisol into the system, Flinn said. In this study, we wanted to explore the association between childrens personal social networks, as well as perceived social network size and density with biomarkers like cortisol and alpha-amylase that can indicate levels of stress in youth. Our goal was to determine if children experience stress because they perceive their networks to be inferior compared to their peers. Determining if social relationships cause stress in children is important because stress can influence human behavior and health later in life.
Flinn and his team, including Davide Ponzi, a post-doctoral fellow who is now with the University of Utah, have been conducting a one-of-a-kind project on an island in the Caribbean. For the study, the team has been using data collected over more than two decades from a small village on the east coast of Dominica. For years, Flinn has integrated himself within the culture, documenting socioeconomic, demographic, and health data as well as relationship data within a small community of about 500 residents.
Over the years, weve collected data on grandparents, parents and their children; Ive observed real kids in their communities, not in a controlled laboratory setting, so the data is unique and highly useful, Flinn said. Using this wealth of knowledge, we were interested in learning how the kids physically responded to the social networks they cultivate.
For this focused study, Ponzi and Flinn chose a sample of 40 children ranging in ages from 5 to 12 and who represented about 80 percent of the total children in the village. Each child was asked a series of questions about their friends to measure their perceived density and closeness of their social networks. Three samples of saliva were collected before, during and after the interview and cortisol and alpha-amylase levels were measured.
We found that, using the data we collected from the one-on-one interviews, children who were stressed about the size and density of their perceived social networks had elevated anticipatory cortisol levels, and responded by secreting more alpha-amylase, Flinn said. Our study was in line with past research on stress, loneliness and social support in adults, but we strengthened past research by applying it to children. Future research should consider a multi-system approach like this one to study cognitive and biological mechanisms underlying childrens perception.
The study, Cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase and childrens perceptions of their social networks, was recently published in Social Neuroscience, with funding from the National Science Foundation (Grant 0640442). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agency. David Geary, Curators Professor of Psychological Sciences at MU also contributed to the study.
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A pastor with the Glad Tidings Church in Harare Pharo Richmond Chiundiza (75) has been convicted for negligent driving and driving without licence.He was fined $200. On the first count of driving without licence he was sentenced to 30 days in jail wholly suspended for five years on condition he paid $100 fine.On the negligent driving charge he was given another 30 days in jail with an option of $100 fine.The pastor committed the offence on April 24 when without a driver's licence he was arrested while driving a Mitsubishi colt along Harare drive. This was after he bumped on another vehicle.
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Join us for Talent Success University and explore what it truly means to manage talent in todays workforce. Join Sara Pollock, from Talent Management Software company ClearCompany to walk through everything you need to know; from handling the nuances and experience of hiring and onboarding to the difficult and ongoing challenge of keeping employees engaged, productive and setting goals within an organization.
First, we will explore the new hire process: onboarding, training, goal setting, benefits and employee records. Learn how to create a candidate experience that is second to none and set your new hires up for long-term success. See how to effectively create goals for your employees and manage a Talent Operating System; your at-a-glance dashboard for all things employee related.
Then, Ms. Pollock will touch on employee engagement and retention. Businesses have been focusing on employee engagement for a while now, but its consistently evolving. They realize that highly engaged employees are benefiting their bottom line and their retention rates are greatly improving. Well explore what engagement means today, and give managers and leaders practices they can adopt immediately.
As we get closer to graduation, well talk about the sophistication and importance of succession planning, performance management and goal alignment. Ms. Pollock will speak about her experience identifying crucial practices in this area and show you how to implement them in your company.
If you have not fully explored these stages of talent management and arent sure where to start, this webinar is perfect for you. Take your organization beyond the hire and build true talent success.
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It looks like Albertans might be able to squeeze a few more days out of ski season after all.
Despite record warm weather over the past few weeks, Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for Banff National Park, Canmore and Kananaskis.
The warning reaches as far east as Ghost Lake, just west of Cochrane and Calgary.
A low pressure weather system from British Columbia is expected to bring between 10 and 20 centimetres of snow on Wednesday night, continuing into Thursday morning.
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On Thursday, it's expected the snow will either taper off or change to rain.
The agency warned the snow might lead to slippery or difficult-to-navigate road and sidewalk conditions.
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The University of Guelph has enrolled an eight-year-old dog from Barrie, Ont., in a transnational study that could improve bone cancer treatment for humans.
It started when Cujo, a Rottweiler, began limping last August.
His owner, Valeria Martinez, noticed he had a bump on his leg and took him in for X-rays, which revealed her dog had osteosarcoma; a bone cancer that also affected and ultimately took the life of Canadian activist Terry Fox.
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Cujos left front leg was removed in December, and he began receiving chemotherapy every three weeks.
Everything ended, Martinez told the University of Guelph, describing how she felt the day she found out Cujo had cancer.
But their hopes were renewed when the University of Guelphs Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) entered Cujo in clinical trials, headed by researchers from Guelph and the United States, as part of a study by the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
Cujo will be the only Canadian canine out of 160 dogs in the study, which will test the effectiveness of a drug called rapamycin.
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Because certain cancers affect dogs in the same ways they affect people, dogs are ideal candidates for developing cures.
Osteosarcoma affects dogs, especially large and older ones, 10 times as much as it affects humans. Causes for osteosarcoma in humans include genetics and DNA changes, the American Cancer Society reports.
Radiation therapy, which is used to treat other forms of cancer, has been linked to worsening osteosarcoma, making it problematic for primary treatment.
Martinez, who initially worried about how her dog would live with three legs, is thrilled with her pets role in giving people hope.
Its good for learning and good for others for the future, she told the University of Guelph. He has no more pain, he can do everything.
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If the dog trials are successful, research will go onto clinical testing with humans.
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"Harry Potter" actress Emma Watson has made headlines recently for her activism, but we're guessing this isn't the kind of publicity she wants.
Watson has now been implicated in the Panama Papers scandal, thanks to a searchable database that revealed she is a beneficiary of an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.
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The Spectator dug through the database and found Watson's name.
A spokesman for the actress told The Spectator that she set up the company, but denied that it yields any financial benefits.
"Emma (like many high profile individuals) set up an offshore company for the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity and safety," said the spokesman.
"U.K. companies are required to publicly publish details of their shareholders and therefore do not give her the necessary anonymity required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardized in the past owing to such information being publicly available."
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The star also has a solid amount of money to hide from prying eyes if she chooses The Sunday Times Rich List noted that she has the equivalent of C$65 million (35 million).
"Emma (like many high profile individuals) set up an offshore company for the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity and safety."
She isn't the only Brit to be named in the leak. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York; "America's Got Talent" judge Simon Cowell and Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills have also popped up.
Some 11.5 million documents connected to Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca were released last month, showing the vast number of world names that use offshore accounts.
A searchable database containing the information was just opened up to the public on Monday.
The use of offshore companies isn't illegal, but they have been used in the past to avoid taxes.
Watson is a proud feminist, and a United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador,
who has given several speeches on women's rights and political participation.
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U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson (R) chats with Uruguay's Vice-President Danilo Astori during an activity to promote political shares at the Uruguayan Senate and Congress chambers at the Parliament building in Montevideo, September 17, 2014. (REUTERS/Andres Staff)
She said in a February interview that she was taking a year off from acting to learn more about feminism and focus on her UN work.
Ah, to take a break from your job to read while your millions are potentially hidden it's good to be Emma Watson.
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Just last month, oil prices went up with the news of an OPEC meeting that wasn't even happening.
It came after an unsuccessful summit in Doha, Qatar, where members such as Saudi Arabia and Iran couldn't come to an agreement to cap production (Iran did not attend) and, hopefully, stem a drop in prices that had persisted since 2014.
But the fact that prices jumped at the news is a testament to just how much influence the cartel of oil-producing nations has on global markets.
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It's an influence that could be waning as the organization fails to present a unified front, if an ally to Russian President Vladimir Putin can be believed.
OPEC was formed in 1960, as an organization of oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Venezuela.
Together, they have enormous influence over international prices because they produce approximately 40 per cent of Earth's crude oil, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
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But today, Igor Sechin, the executive chairman of oil company Rosneft, which is majority owned by the Russian government, told Reuters that OPEC has "practically stopped existing as a united organization."
In recent months, Russia, which is not an OPEC member, had talked about cooperating with the organization as members such as Saudi Arabia increased production and tanked oil prices. The move has wreaked havoc on oil-dependent economies around the world including Russia's.
Sechin, however, opposed any cooperation plan and now OPEC has found itself wracked by division, as Saudi Arabia and Iran engage in a price war and refuse to cap production.
He told the news agency Rosneft was skeptical from the very beginning about reaching any joint agreement with OPEC's involvement in current conditions.
"Just to remind you, the only one question with which we responded to those who were interested to know our position: 'Who should we agree with, and how?' The development of the situation has clearly shown we were right."
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Sechin is far from the first to question OPEC's ongoing influence in oil markets.
Last year, Edward Morse, Citigroup's global head of commodities research, said in a report that America's production of shale oil "has created a sort of existential threat to Saudi Arabia and OPEC," CNN reported.
The shale play made America the world's biggest producer of oil, he said. And that status took away OPEC's ability to influence prices in a way that serves its interests, after dominating markets for almost 50 years.
So now OPEC members are working to regain market share by increasing production and driving out players that can't make as much money at lower prices.
But there's division inside OPEC about that plan, CNN reported in January. Members such as Venezuela and Algeria want bigger players such as Saudi to lower production because the glut of oil is hurting their economies, too.
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Not everyone agrees that OPEC is dead just because its members can't currently agree on capping production.
Forbes writer Ellen Wald noted on Monday that predictions of OPEC's demise often come from weaker members (perhaps Algeria or Libya) who don't control as much oil as countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Such nations often suffer from lower prices because their economies are so dependent on the resource, she wrote.
But ultimately, those countries need OPEC to survive so that it can lift prices once more and, hopefully, members' revenue, Wald wrote.
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OPEC's board of governors meets again in Vienna on June 2.
Analysts can re-evaluate at that time how strong the organization really is.
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Alberta companies looking for help in rebuilding Fort McMurray have been met with an overwhelming response.
Spirit Staffing and Consulting held a job fair in Edmonton Tuesday that drew out-of-work Albertans who hope to get work while helping the northern Alberta oilsands hub get back on its feet.
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Less than two hours in, event staff had to turn people away as more than 1,000 showed up with resumes in hand.
Volunteers load donated items near Bold community center in Lac la Biche, Alta., south of Fort McMurray. Staffing agencies are looking for workers to help rebuild the northern Alberta city. (Photo: Amru Salahuddien/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
I really just want to get a job and help Fort McMurray, applicant Sophie Vruno told the Edmonton Journal.
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Vruno said she heard over 800 people responded to the callout for 500 applicants.
Im really hoping Im one of them who gets picked and help clean up Fort McMurray, and rebuild their town.
"Everyone is really emotional about this."
The company posted a statement to its website saying thousands of applications are being reviewed and that resumes will no longer be accepted from the general public.
Fort McMurray residents are still welcome to apply.
"We're hoping some of the evacuees will be at the top of our list if they would like to go back. Everybody is really emotional about this," Beatrice Floch of Spirit Staffing and Consulting told CBC News.
Drake International, an HR and recruiting company, was also met with an overwhelming response to its posting looking for 200 workers for cleanup efforts.
We actually had to take the post down about 3 oclock in the afternoon on Friday because we had over 2,500 resumes in less than 24 hours," Edmonton branch manager Leanne Bourbonnais told Global News.
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Fort McMurray evacuees sit outside of bungalows in the Canada North Camps lodge in Wandering River, Alta. Wildfires forced more than 88,000 people to evacuate from the oilsands hub. (Photo: EPA)
But those eager to get home will have to wait.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday it could be weeks before Fort McMurray residents are allowed to return to the city.
The federal government has created a cabinet committee to handle long-term reconstruction.
With files from The Canadian Press
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There's no question that the Fort McMurray wildfire hit the oilsands hub hard.
But economically, there's some good news: the impacts of the fire aren't as bad as they could've been.
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Bloomberg took a survey of 10 economists to see how the shutdown of oilsands activity might hurt Canada's economy in a worst-case scenario.
The midpoint of their estimates showed that the news agency expected the fire to shave 1/10th of a percentage off of Canada's economic growth this year.
Despite that, they expect the economy to grow by 1.6 per cent.
That's consistent with a forecast by BMO Capital Markets, which has cut its expectation for Canadian GDP growth from 1.8 per cent to 1.6 per cent this year.
"The worst fears have not been realized," BMO economist Benjamin Reitzes told Bloomberg.
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Analysts expect oilsands operations in Fort McMurray to start up again within weeks.
None of the oilsands facilities were damaged in the wildfire, except for minor burns at Nexen's operation.
But Steve Williams, the CEO of Suncor, which owns one of the biggest positions in the oilsands, said plants wouldn't start up again unless it was safe and any environmental concerns would be tackled first.
Insured losses from the wildfire were estimated at $9 billion the equivalent of about 0.5 per cent of Canada's GDP.
Nevertheless, Alberta could be set up to feel some pain even as things start looking up for the national economy.
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Unemployment in the province currently sits at 7.2 per cent, and one analyst expects that to rise to 15 per cent next month.
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by Staff Reporter
Founder of the notorious terror gang Star Force that terrorized the residents of Bulawayo in the 90s Casper Maphosa has launched a new career as a motivational Speaker.Maphosa (42) who recently gave his life to God has partnered with a local Motivational company Zimbabwe Speakers Hub in crafting a series of Motivational speaking talks targeted at changing the lives of inmates and ex-inmates into responsible and productive citizens.In a Press Release , Clarence Hobane the Zimbabwe Speakers Hub Spokesperson said,' We are excited as an institution in working with Maphosa in this ground breaking, life transforming initiative that is then first of its kind in Zimbabwe.'He said the initiative is set to begin this monthend and will be implemented in three phases with the aim of reducing crime prevalence through use of social friendly platforms such as Prison Talks to be held in Prisons, School Talks and Community Talks that will be held in Community Halls."Maphosa who is now engaged in mining activities in Shangani will unpack to the inmates and ex-imates the many entrepreneurial opportunities that exist in the country with the aim of reducing crime prevalence and producin an ex-inamte who is a productive and responsible citizen," said Hobane.Zimbabwe Speakers Hub is certain that this is an initiative that will ease crime statistics and they are in the process of engaging the Business Community and the relevant Government departments to come on board as stakeholders in this life transforming process.Maphosa served for more than two decades as a prisoner for a series of crimes ranging from assault to armed robbery. He has since reformed and became a member of a local Pentecostal Church Way Forward ministry and is now engaged in mining activities in Shangani.
After sexual assault charges against Jian Ghomeshi were withdrawn Wednesday, his lawyer said she hopes the public can move on from the case.
In her statement to the court, Marie Henein said her client has gone through a difficult time. During the past year and a half, he was out on bail with restricted freedoms, and subject to intense public scrutiny.
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"The last 18 months are one of the most difficult I have witnessed anyone ever having to withstand. I do not think many of us would have been able to do so."
The former CBC host signed a peace bond and apologized to a former colleague for his actions. He was also acquitted in March of earlier charges of assault and overcoming resistance by choking.
Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi arrives at a Toronto court with his lawyer Marie Henein on May 11, 2016. (Photo: The Canadian Press)
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She said Ghomeshi's apology shows that he has taken time to reflect in a "meaningful way."
"With dignity and the solemnity that is appropriate, he has demonstrated his respect for the judicial system throughout," she said.
"With this apology, Mr. Ghomeshi has done everything the Crown and the courts have asked him to do."
Henein also thanked Crown prosecutors for withdrawing the charges against her client.
"I am grateful to Mr. Callaghan and Ms. Klukach for their integrity," she said. "They did the right thing."
'Unrelenting public scrutiny'
The high-profile Toronto lawyer said she has never seen a case like Ghomeshi's in the last 25 years.
"I have never had a client be the subject of such an unrelenting public scrutiny and focus," she said in her statement. "I have been witness to it as closely as anyone can be."
Henein faced some public backlash for defending a public figure on multiple assault charges.
Marie Henein, after a court appearance on March 27, 2015. (Photo: Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Though she stayed out of the public eye for most of the trial, she gave an interview with CBC News' Peter Mansbridge in March.
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She disputed criticisms that she was a traitor to women by defending Ghomeshi.
"I know my role in the justice system, and to characterize it in that way, that you are against women, is a fundamental misconception of what we do in the justice system," she said.
She also criticized NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, a former lawyer, for making a statement about believing survivors of sexual assault hours before Justice William Horkins released his verdict.
"Hashtag 'I believe' is not a legal principle, nor should it ever be," she said.
Henein told the court Wednesday she hopes Ghomeshi and the Canadian public can move forward.
"While this matter has consumed the attention of so many, there are many equally important matters in this country that the public wants to know about and that I hope we can now turn our attention to."
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Jian Ghomeshi Case: A Timeline See Gallery
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose Wednesday for the "extraordinary leadership" she's shown on behalf of the people of Fort McMurray, Alta.
And in a rare moment of non-partisan unity in the House of Commons, many Liberal MPs and other party members also rose to their feet to salute her.
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Ambrose visited her home province this week to survey the damage of the devastating wildfires that displaced more than 80,000 people. Trudeau has announced that he will do the same on Friday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government applaud interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 11, 2016. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/CP)
While in Alberta, the veteran Tory MP told reporters that she was "not going to be critical of the prime minister" for not visiting earlier, adding that she was sure he had his reasons. Last week, Trudeau said it would not be "helpful" for a prime minister to show up in the community while firefighters were still trying to contain the blaze.
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During question period, Ambrose conveyed a "deep sense of gratitude" from northern Alberta residents for their compassion and donations received across the country. She asked the PM to "fast-track" infrastructure money to get Fort McMurray back to work as soon as possible.
Trudeau responded first by lauding his Tory rival for meeting with firefighters and evacuees. He said that he looks forward to greeting "unsung heroes" in that area.
Liberals create new committee
The prime minister noted that he's launched an ad hoc cabinet committee to oversee "the efforts of the entire government" to help "rebuild and create, once again, a strong future so the people of Fort McMurray can continue to build a great future for all Canadians."
Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, who represents the riding of Calgary Centre, will chair the special cabinet committee.
Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, who represents Edmonton Mill Woods, is also a part of the group, as is Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, Health Minister Jane Philpott, Families Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk, and Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu.
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The group will coordinate federal contributions to "recovery and rebuilding efforts" for those affected by the fire, Trudeau said in a release Wednesday.
"The new ad hoc cabinet committee is part of our work to address both the urgent and long term needs of communities affected by the Northern Alberta wildfires," Trudeau said in the release, adding federal officials are working closely with Trudeau said in a release Wednesday to help those displaced and homeless.
Ambrose told The Canadian Press the committee was a smart way to speed-up decision-making with recovery and rebuilding efforts.
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Yagi Studio via Getty Images The man of the globe and the miniature
By Guy Des Aulniers
This post is the second of a seven-part series on the themes of the High-Level Leaders' Roundtables at the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, to be held May 23-24 in Istanbul, Turkey.
The core humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence underpin the day-to-day operations of humanitarian organisations. Those providing humanitarian assistance today do so in a highly complex environment that is often characterized by widespread abuses of human rights and violent conflicts.
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The failure of state and non-state armed actors to observe the basic rules of war and humanitarian law such as protection of civilians and aid workers have confounded efforts to provide assistance to those who require it most. In many of the world's most complex humanitarian crises, the subjugation of humanitarian priorities to foreign policy objectives and the conflation of military, political and humanitarian objectives constitute a significant threat to the delivery of impartial humanitarian assistance.
Adherence to humanitarian principles is essential for establishing and maintaining access to affected populations, whether in the context of a natural disaster, an armed conflict or in complex emergency settings. Whilst humanitarian principles are sometimes perceived as lofty theoretical undertakings, they constitute in fact an essential framework for building trust and acceptance.
Although adherence to principles alone may not be sufficient, in politicised and insecure environments, establishing trust is crucial. When governments, militaries or donors seek to co-opt or undermine these principles, the trust between those providing and those receiving assistance can be damaged or destroyed, and it can become too dangerous to assist those who need our help the most.
The way of delivering humanitarian aid has evolved over the years. Initially, aid was often dominated by organizations that have a technical perspective of the intervention. Today, more and more organizations are doing both humanitarian and development work. This holistic approach leads to an understanding and therefore a wider intervention.
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The humanitarian objective goes well beyond the technical service with a much deeper engagement with the populations: a form of solidarity and a supportive presence that also allows one to testify if officials fail to fulfill their obligations. For many of us, humanitarian assistance only makes sense when it is understood as both an imperative to protect and a long-term commitment to fight the structural causes of a crisis, alongside the affected communities.
Role of Faith Based Organizations
Development and Peace / Caritas Canada is a member of Caritas Internationalis, a Confederation of 165 Catholic Church related humanitarian, health and social service, and development organizations, with a moral mandate to respond to humanitarian needs without discrimination. Caritas plays a pivotal role in responding to humanitarian emergencies and promoting social development. As part of the Catholic Church, Caritas, which is present in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world, has adopted people centered initiatives in order bring about change in the lives of affected and at risk communities.
To strengthen aid effectiveness and solidarity, we have to recognize, value, and support local organizations in a humanitarian response. Local organizations are the first responders in emergencies, and religious institutions are often the first place of refuge during a crisis. With a significant capacity to mobilize people, this response is driven by solidarity, compassion and a deep understanding of local context. At the same time, these first responders may also be directly affected and very often experience significant financial limitations as well as direct trauma and suffering.
Even if our respect and credibility may be compromised when conflicts are fueled by religious conflict, we believe that faith based organizations offer an essential contribution in serving the needs of people in conflict. By joining together across faiths, traditions and structures, religious leaders can impact safety and security and bring international attention and understanding to issues driving conflicts. The potential of religious leaders to provide protection and mitigate conflict is often overlooked by the international humanitarian community.
We hope that the next WHS will reaffirm this role. We also hope for a better coherence and complementarity between humanitarian and development aid interventions to meet development, security and peace objectives and link emergency to other forms of intervention in order to shed new light on our reading of humanitarian values.
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Guy Des Aulniers is Humanitarian Assistance Coordinator at Development and Peace - Caritas Canada. This piece was prepared in collaboration with CAFOD, Trocaire and Caritas Internationalis.
This blog series on the World Humanitarian Summit was convened by the Canadian Council for International Co-operation. The views expressed in each blog are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the positions of CCIC, its members, or other participating organizations.
Mark Blinch / Reuters A young Syrian refugee looks up as her father holds her and a Canadian flag at the as they arrive at Pearson Toronto International Airport in Mississauga, Ontario, December 18, 2015. REUTERS/Mark Blinch TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Critics of immigration occasionally suggest that the problem with newcomers is they don't have a strong enough sense of attachment to a country. Some observers insist that Canada's multicultural policies encourage newcomers to maintain their attachment to their countries of origin. This in turn makes it difficult for them to establish a proper connection with Canada. Defenders of this view rarely provide supporting empirical evidence.
On the basis of data from the 2013 General Social Survey of Statistics Canada, in a previous text, I established that Canadians reporting a very strong sense of belonging to "people with [the] same ethnic/cultural background" as themselves also report a strong sense of belonging to Canada.
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The same body of data further reveals that immigrants reporting a strong sense of belonging to their country of origin report a stronger sense of belonging to Canada than persons with a weak sense of belonging to their country of origin. Hence it remains unproven that it's only when immigrant ties to their country of origin diminish that there can emerge a meaningful attachment to Canada.
Underlying the assumption that it's with time that newcomers become attached to Canada is the idea that you need to be rooted in the nation, province, city or town to feel a strong connection. Following this logic, an immigrant can't possibly feel a greater sense of belonging than, say, someone born in the country. Yet we know this notion to be untrue in Canada.
French Canadians in Quebec are amongst the most rooted population in the country (some refer to themselves as "with roots"/de souche and/or pure wool/pure laine), but they have a considerably lower sense of attachment to Canada than do most Canadians, including newcomers.
This is explained by the sense of grievance rather than appreciation for Canada that some Quebec francophones have built up over time and that has been transmitted from one generation to the next. Amongst the most rooted population are the country's Indigenous peoples that include several leaders who have expressed a strong sense of grievance regarding their situation in Canada.
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Some analysts describe the purported lack of attachment to Canada on the part of newcomers as a problem of immigrant integration. Paradoxically, the most aggrieved Quebec francophones complain that immigrants to the province have too strong a sense of attachment to Canada.
Independent of how long you've lived somewhere it may feel as though you've always belonged there.
Critics of multiculturalism outside of Quebec believe that this undocumented lack of newcomer attachment -- however defined -- is an integration problem. If attachment to Canada is used as integration criteria, for some Quebec observers the newcomers in the province will appear too well integrated!
But contrary to what some Quebecers assume, those immigrants in the province that possess the strongest degree of attachment to Canada also exhibit a strong sense of attachment to Quebec. It might be said they feel at home in the province and the country, and refuse to see a contradiction in this regard.
You don't have to live somewhere for a particularly long period of time to appreciate your home. Independent of how long you've lived somewhere it may feel as though you've always belonged there. Certain immigrants are especially grateful for the opportunity to reside in Canada and this can act as a catalyst for a relatively instant feeling of attachment to the country.
It's quite possible that the strong initial connection to a place can diminish over time if an immigrant's expectations are not met. But the same feeling about the country can apply to someone born here across their life cycle.
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The 2013 General Social Survey confirms that there is no difference in the level of attachment to Canada between Canadians aged 15 to 24, whether they are domestic (rooted) or foreign-born (less rooted). Surveys repeatedly reveal that the youngest Canadians have the lowest sense of attachment to Canada, but this grows on many of us as we get older. In sum, it is one's age and not immigrant status that is perhaps the most important predictor of the sense of attachment to country.
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Topher Seguin / Reuters Volunteers help carry food into a community centre in Anzac where residents of Fort McMurray have assembled after their city was evacuated due to raging wildfire, May 4, 2016. REUTERS/Topher Seguin
The startling images that have come out of Fort McMurray over the past week have shaken this country to its core.
Flames have engulfed whole neighbourhoods and forced an entire city of 88,000 to flee after a wild fire outside the city suddenly switched direction and grew faster than anyone expected. Dash cam videos of highways lined with fire and embers raining down like snow dominated social media.
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Canadians held their breath, hoping for the best as families fled, often unsure where they would end up, hoping with the rest of the nation that they would find someplace safe to lay their heads.
Beyond the flames, we have seen and heard incredible stories that should make each and every one of us proud to be Canadians.
The dignity and bravery of parents as they put on a brave face for their children, saving their worries and tears until after their young ones have fallen asleep.
Homeowners in southern Alberta, including many Unifor members, opening up their houses to those fleeing the flames.
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Syrian refugees who just months ago were themselves on the run and relying on the kindness of others, now donating to relief efforts for Fort McMurray residents.
Suncor hiring jets to get thousands out of the line of fire.
Two Alberta men giving away thousands of litres of gas to those fleeing the fires, and wanting nothing in return.
Fort McMurray is Canada's city.
Firefighters working themselves to exhaustion to save as much of the city as they can.
These stories, as much as the flames, will be part of what we remember and how we come to define ourselves as Canadians after this very difficult ordeal.
Across Canada, corporations and unions are donating hundreds of thousands of dollars -- Unifor itself pledged $500,000 to the Red Cross on Monday, and many of our locals and members have also made large contributions -- and individuals are digging deep to help any way they can.
As a nation, we have not been able to tear ourselves away from the news, praying for an end and taking comfort with each story of another family reaching safe haven.
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Fort McMurray is Canada's city. A town of just over 8,000 just a generation ago, it has grown into a city 11 times that size as families from across Canada and around the world flocked there to build a life for themselves. Because of that, this fire and evacuation has touched communities across Canada like few others have.
One of the most harrowing images from Fort McMurray over the past week is that of a charred set of swings, its seats burnt out like the landscape around it and its chains hanging from the overhead rail. It reminds us of all of the children who were forced to flee as the flames moved in.
As generous as Canadians have been over the past week, the rebuilding process will be long and difficult.
I have been to Fort McMurray many times, where Unifor is proud to represent more than 4,000 workers, and have got to know many of the people there. These are people whose faith in the future and determination to provide good lives for their families took them north to find work in the first place.
I have spoken to many of them over the past week, and with their children. The same spirit that took them to Northern Alberta is search of work is alive and well today, even as they have been forced to flee.
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Sitting on bunks in community halls or in the homes of friends and family after fleeing the fire, they are already planning for the future once again. Fort McMurray will rebuild, and Canada will be with them as it does.
As generous as Canadians have been over the past week, the rebuilding process will be long and difficult. I urge all Canadians to continue to offer whatever support they can in the weeks and months ahead.
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PeopleImages via Getty Images A young woman looking anxious and fearful
In Canada, the first week in May is designated "Mental Health Week," and according to the Canadian Mental Health Association, the purpose is "to encourage people from all walks of life to learn, talk, reflect and engage with others on all issues relating to mental health". We are encouraged to #getloud for mental health.
In the US, the entire month of May is devoted to "mental health".
However, I have to say that I am perplexed about the reason we "celebrate" mental health in both Canada and the US. I assume we are celebrating, but I'm not really sure what we are celebrating or what we are doing.
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What is not "celebrated" is our abysmal record on providing treatment and resources to those who suffer from serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression and other illnesses. And note, I said illness not health. There is a difference. A poster circulating on the internet expresses the problem extremely well. It says:
Saying "Mental Health" for schizophrenia is like saying "Physical Health" for cancer
You can substitute serious mental illness for schizophrenia above.
Justin Trudeau had this to say at the start of the week, "Let us use our voices this week to help change the way society views mental health issues and those living with them. Now is the time to GET LOUD for mental health."
And of course, he uses the word issue as in mental health issues. Hamilton psychiatrist, Dr. David Laing Dawson, discussed the use of the word issue in one of his blogs and commented that "by calling mental illness an issue we are placating the deniers of mental illness and we are reducing it to an abstraction, a topic for discussion and debate, rather than a reality in our midst...."
And he ended his blog by stating "But let's stop with the "issue" when we are naming or describing a painful reality."
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The painful reality of mental illness in both the US and Canada is that we do not have enough resources like hospital beds, community treatment, housing, etc to provide the proper treatment that is currently available for these who suffer.
Readers of my blogs on Huffington Post know that many of them deal with the inadequate services that those with the most serious mental illnesses receive in Canada. It is hard to pick out one as so many of them deal with this problem. If we were to have a realistic group of people representing the faces of mental illness in Canada, we would have someone who is in solitary confinement in a prison and someone who is homeless.
One of Correction Services Canada's top priorities is to deal with the mental health needs of its population. They estimate that 38% of incoming prisoners suffer with a mental illness. In his June 2015 report, the Correctional Investigator of Canada, Harold Sapers, found that "mental health issues are two to three times more common in prison than in the general community".
In Ontario, the Globe and Mail recently analyzed the long-term solitary confinement of prisoners in Ontario and found that 40% were locked away for more than 30 or more straight days. This is twice the limit permitted by the UN in its Nelson Mandela Rules.
The Globe reported that:
On 40 per cent of the files, staff gave mental health or special needs as part of the justification for their prolonged segregation, a figure that seems to clash with provincial policy stating that segregation should never be used for inmates with mental illness until all other housing alternatives have been considered and documented.
In the US, a recent report disclosed that there at 10 times the number of mentally ill in prison than in state psychiatric hospitals. Most of them, the report states, would have been in psychiatric hospitals before they began to be closed. The largest mental hospital in the US is Cook County Jail in Chicago.
And what about homelessness? According to the Centre For Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, surveys of various Canadian cities put the percentage of homeless who suffer from mental illness at between 23 and 67 per cent. Furthermore, "While mental illness accounts for about 10% of the burden of disease in Ontario, it receives just 7 per cent of health care dollars. Relative to this burden, mental health care in Ontario is underfunded by about $1.5 billion".
Again, in the US, about one third of the homeless are people who suffer from untreated mental illness
In a 2015 survey done by the Mood Disorders Society of Canada, the top priority for the respondents (91 per cent) was the need to have greater access to professionals. Over one third (38 per cent) said that the wait for diagnosis was over 12 months. In the most recent tragedy that took place in the middle of Mental Health Awareness Week, a 38 year old man was released from Burnaby, BC General Hospital where he had resided for three days due to suicidal thoughts. His mother had asked hospital staff to release him to her care but they did not do that. They gave him a bus ticket and sent him on his own. He committed suicide shortly after.
Clearly, as a society, we need more than simply being aware of mental health once or twice a year. We need a time when we can reflect collectively on how inadequately we treat those amongst us who have a brain illness. And we need to lobby to right that wrong. The money spent on these awareness campaigns could be put to better use providing more services for those who desperately need them.
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Jonathan Hayward/CP
"It was like a fire I've never seen before in my life."--Fire Chief Darby Allen
The damage is almost unimaginable.
Almost 100,000 people have been evacuated. Over 2,400 buildings and homes have been destroyed. People, entire families, are living in gyms, hotels, work camps and basements. The rebuilding process, even with the heroic efforts of firefighters who managed to save the majority of the city, will take years if not longer.
The fire, nicknamed "The Beast," is still going and is currently 25 kilometres from the Saskatchewan border. Despite the best efforts of firefighters and the dropping temperatures, it will likely not be extinguished for weeks, if not months, and then likely only by the rains of Mother Nature. The fire is more than three times as large as the city of Chicago, just less than twice the size of Los Angeles.
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Insurance analysts are predicting the fire's price tag for insured industry losses to the city of Fort McMurray could be as high as $9 billion. If that figure holds that would make this disaster far and away the costliest disaster in Canadian history.
While most eyes were on Fort McMurray -- Glenevis, Fort McMurray First Nation and Anzac were also evacuated. Lac St. Anne, High Level, several rural areas north of the Alexis reservation, and Fort St. John residents across the border in British Columbia were evacuated due to other fires. And on Monday, another fire prompted temporary evacuation notices for residents of Conklin and Janvier.
In total 36 fires are currently blazing in Alberta, and another 39 are burning in British Columbia. So far this year Alberta has had more than 311. The even more worrisome thing is that it's only May -- the hottest months of summer are still ahead of us.
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The scope and scale of the destruction continues to escalate, but it may be our new reality according to experts at the University of Alberta and University of Toronto (you can listen to Dr. Flannigan's interview on CBC's Quirks and Quarks for a good overview of the multiple factors, including climate change, involved).
In short, our scientists are telling us that The Beast is one face of what climate change looks like. While the immediate focus needs to be on keeping people safe and supporting those who have been forced to evacuate, in the longer term we need to ask what is the responsible course of action in a warming world. What actions do we need to take to reduce the frequency and intensity of these events, and how do we make our communities safer?
May is on track to be the 12th consecutive hottest month globally ever recorded. The day the fires raced into Fort McMurray, Alta., set 24 different temperature records, including a record-breaking 32.6 degrees Celsius in Fort McMurray (20 degrees above normal) and a scorching 4.8 degrees above the previous record set in 1945.
These tinder-dry conditions helped lead to one of the earliest wildfire seasons in Alberta's history and fuelled the fire that raged through the city.
What's even more worrying is that we can expect more events like this in the future.
Fire season in Alberta began officially on March 1st this year, one month earlier than the traditional start date. Experts are predicting that this wildfire season will be even more severe than the last and with the damage that has been already been done in Fort McMurray the experts are tragically right.
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Canada is also coming off another historically devastating wildfire season. Last year firefighters from Australia and the United States came to Canada to help us battle the record number of fires. In total 7,068 wildfires burned almost four-million hectares of land.
In addition to the dryer conditions, warmer temperatures fuelled by climate change have allowed the mountain pine beetle to move further and further north, devastating forests but also making them drier and more prone to fire in the process.
Add to this more intense and frequent El Nino events, a dwindling snowpack and less rainfall, and you have the perfect climate storm of conditions that helped cause the horrific impacts we saw in Fort McMurray.
What's even more worrying is that we can expect more events like this in the future.
It was just five years ago that the community of Slave Lake faced the same horrors community members of Fort McMurray are dealing with today and University of Alberta scientist Mike Flannigan says that number will continue to increase. "Right now, we have two or three bad fire years in a decade," Flannigan said. "By mid-century, I expect four or five bad years in a decade."
All of this has the undeniable fingerprints of climate change.
As we start talking about how to prevent and prepare for incidents like this in the future, climate change needs to be part of the conversation.
While wildfires have always been a part of the natural cycle what we can no longer deny is that we are far outside the natural cycle. A climate change wildfire action draft plan by the B.C. Ministry of Forests predicts that in the near future the size of fires will increase from an average of 7,961 hectares to 19,076 hectares. Fire severity is projected to increase by 40 per cent in the spring and 95 per cent in the summer, and the length of the fire season is expected to increase by 30 per cent.
As we start talking about how to prevent and prepare for incidents like this in the future, climate change needs to be part of the conversation. Fire barriers and berms are good but they wouldn't have stopped this fire and they won't stop those in the future if we allow temperatures to continue to rise. The result is more frequent, intense and severe super storms. In order to keep our communities safe, increased climate action needs to be one of the ways we act.
Alberta can't fight climate change alone, though. While we need to double our efforts here we also need to push for more federal and international leadership as well. The climate crisis is a global effort and it will only be solved from increased ambition and leadership from all.
Hopefully now that the world has seen the damage extreme fires can do, the ways it can disrupt lives and communities, we will act, both at home and abroad, to keep our communities safe by ensuring less of these types of events are part of our future.
To donate to help those displaced by the Fort McMurray fires text REDCROSS to 30333 to make a $5 donation or donate online.
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Resolution Productions via Getty Images Couple hugging and holding keys in new home
Renting or buying? The bottom line is that everyone needs a place to live. We've all heard the endless debates of which option is best. The short answer to this topic is quite simple -- it all depends on preference. Before dipping your toe in the real estate market do your due diligence and assess the pros and cons of both options by asking yourself these three key questions:
1. What Can I Afford?
With some Canadian cities recording skyrocketing real estate prices, renting provides a viable option to those who can't afford to enter the market. In the Greater Toronto Area, for example, the average cost of a condo has reached nearly $400,000, and the average price of a detached home has skyrocketed north of $700,000. Earlier this year, the federal government introduced a new mortgage rule that would require a 10 per cent down payment on mortgages over $500,000 to $1 million. For some people, saving 10 per cent for a down payment may take years.
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A key point to remember is the cost of home ownership extends well past your monthly mortgage payment. Property taxes, condo fees and maintenance costs need to be factored when budgeting for a home.
With renting, there is no down payment required -- only first and last month's rent -- and the renter is only on the hook for their rent, plus utilities which vary by agreement. The renter is absolved of all property expenses such as maintenance and unexpected emergencies, which could be detrimental to one's personal finances.
2. Are you setting roots or spreading wings?
For those who aren't tied down and prefer to live a nomadic lifestyle -- rather it be for work or personal reasons -- renting does provide more flexibility than owning. For those ready to settle down and start a family, home ownership may seem like the more attractive option.
When renting, the space will never technically be yours and landlords can be particular about how a renter can personalize their space. In most rental agreements, flooring, painting and decorative modifications must be authorized. So, for those who have that creative flare and desire to customize their home, renting may not be the best long-term option.
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3. What are your long-term financial goals?
Are your long-term financial goals to build equity in property, build up your investment portfolio or both? When renting, the monthly rent is put into your landlord's pocket, when buying, your mortgage payment adds to your home's equity and your overall net worth. Many also view home ownership as a future investment, as home values typically increase in value overtime.
In addition, homeowners can use their home as an income property and rent out the space. If you're renting, be sure to maximize your investment portfolio as you will not be building equity in property.
Whether you rent or own, both options can prove beneficial, but it's one of those life choices which has no right or wrong answer. Do your research and make sure you talk with a trusted financial adviser to assess your needs and lifestyle to fully understand which option works best for you.
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Fuse via Getty Images Townhouse Construction Frames
Written by Wayne Karl
Get ready, prospective buyers -- new low-rise home prices in Ontario could go through the roof.
Already testing affordability limits, higher new home prices could be among the unintended consequences of the provincial government's announcement on May 10 that it is proposing changes to four provincial plans that shape how land is used in the Greater Golden Horseshoe -- Canada's fastest-growing urban region, the province's economic engine and the home of the Greenbelt.
Ontario is responding to input from the public and addressing the recommendations of the report Planning for Health, Prosperity and Growth in the Greater Golden Horseshoe: 2015- 2041 from the Co-ordinated Land Use Planning Review advisory panel, chaired by former mayor of Toronto David Crombie.
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In the province's words, the proposed changes to the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe, the Greenbelt Plan, the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Plan and the Niagara Escarpment Plan would:
Protect clean water by adding the lands within 21 major urban river valleys to the Greenbelt, along with seven coastal wetlands, and establish a process for further expanding the Greenbelt to protect key water features
Require zoning along transit corridors to provide adequate density to support transit
Establish Greenbelt-level protections for natural heritage systems - such as wetlands, woodlands and rivers - beyond the Greenbelt, with the provincial government taking a lead in mapping those areas
Support agricultural viability and preserve farmland by setting strict requirements for the expansion of urban areas and allowing more flexibility for agricultural use in the Greenbelt
Require municipalities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe to integrate climate change policies into municipal official plans and to conduct climate change vulnerability risk assessments when they are planning or replacing infrastructure.
The problem, according to the Ontario Home Builders' Association (OHBA) and several regional builder groups, is that such a focus on densification will mean everyone pays more for housing. And that means more condos, less choice and higher new home prices for consumers.
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HOMEOWNERSHIP MORE DIFFICULT
OHBA, along with its 12 local associations being affected by the Plans, says the announced amendments will continue to make homeownership more difficult for Ontarians.
"This announcement means that you're going to see more intensification, more condos, less choice and higher prices," says Bryan Tuckey, President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), representing the largest of OHBA's locals affected by this announcement.
"The residential construction industry will adapt, as it has in the past," he adds. "It is going to be the residents and new-home buyers that are going to pay the price."
Since the introduction of the Growth Plan in 2006, every housing type has seen significant price increases, OHBA says. For example, the average price of a new condo in the GTA in 2006 was less than $300,000, and today it is more than $459,000. The average price of a new single-family detached home in 2006 was about $439,000, and today is more than $1 million.
"The industry would have liked to see a more measured and cautious approach before significantly increasing intensification targets," says Tuckey. "The industry has been meeting the intensification targets in the 10 years since the provincial Greenbelt and Growth Plans were introduced, building at least as many highrise homes as low-rise homes, and yet the demand for single-family homes has not diminished."
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Before increasing intensification, more examination is needed into the dramatic increase in housing prices, Tuckey adds. Supply cannot keep up with demand due to these intensification policies and a lack of serviced developable land.
"(We) also would have liked to hear a provincial commitment to explain to the public and new-home buyers what increased intensification means on the ground. These proposed changes mean more intensification, more condos, more cranes, more congestion, less housing choice and fewer single-family homes."
MORE DENSITY, MORE CONDOS
The proposed amendments to the Growth Plan will see intensification within existing communities in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) increase from 40 to 60 per cent, which means more density and condos within already highly-concentrated areas. In new communities not captured in the existing areas, densities for newly built neighbourhoods will increase from 50 persons and jobs per hectare to 80 persons and jobs per hectare. At this time, these new communities do not have the necessary infrastructure in place to support these density targets, OHBA says.
Traffic congestion is already a serious problem in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTAH), and more intensification will make it worse unless there are massive public investments in infrastructure. The current financing system disproportionately places the brunt of paying for these infrastructure projects on new-home buyers, builders say.
"Hamilton will benefit from Ontario's investment in a LRT line, but that is nearly a decade away," says Suzanne Mammel, executive officer of the Hamilton-Halton Home Builders' Association (HHHBA). "In the meantime, we need more new housing supply to support our growing city and region if we are going to unlock our economic potential."
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With 100,000 people joining the GTAH every year, the Growth Plan is where Ontario will house the majority of the additional 4.5 million new residents and attract nearly two million new jobs by 2041.
"Creating a smart Greenbelt by adding river valleys and other significant environmental features will improve our quality of life by connecting the dots between the Greenbelt and Growth Plan," says OHBA CEO Joe Vaccaro. "We need to build new communities where residents have housing choice with access to greenspace, good public transit and jobs."
Says Tuckey: "It's clear the government is not concerned with the price of housing in the GTA. BILD has presented recommendations as well as a growing body of research and data showing a strong correlation between restrictive land use policy and increasing home prices.
"Governments are exasperating increasing house prices by piling on development charges; hiking fees and adding more regulations that cost time and money."
Despite such concerns from the industry and consumers, it may not be too late. Stakeholders and the public can comment on the proposed changes.
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Post originally published on YPNextHome.ca
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Fuse via Getty Images Quebecois Flag Billowing in the Blue Sky
By failing to be systematically aware the Quebec Human Rights Commission has failed to see and understand the bigger picture of race. There can be no real serious talk, or discourse about the biggest human right issues that affect marginalized and racialized members of the society if no thought is given to the systems involved.
A recent Montreal Gazette article op-ed titled "It's high time for Quebec to launch a commission on systemic racism," can in no way be viewed as a discovery, but rather as a misnomer or misleading at best. Plainly put we cannot have a discourse that brings us closer to racial justice without being systematically aware.
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Even media coverage far too often falls into the trap of failing to consider how systemic racism factors into the equation. When the focus is only on individual stories it not only distorts our sense of how racism works, but also encourages us to see racism only as a product of overt intentional racists acts by individuals that can be fixed simply by correcting those individual defects.
Lost in the current translation or transfiguration, is the fact that there are four levels of racism. Internalized racism and interpersonal racism are the simplest ones to focus on, and the easiest to recognize in our day to day lives. In fact, these are the ones that individuals spend most of their average day talking about.
Once the two latter-mentioned levels have been crossed, next comes systemic racism in the form of: institutional racism -- the racial policies and discriminatory policies that play out in schools, workplaces and government agencies. Stepping beyond that level brings into play -- structural racism, where unjust practices are played out across the institutions that constitute the Quebec society, such as the Quebec Human Rights Commission and Tribunal that routinely produce unjust outcomes for people of colour. These two levels are interrelated and must be addressed.
The Quebec Bar defined systemic racism thus: "We understand 'systemic racism' to be the social production of an inequality based on race, which is reflected in the decisions affecting racialized people and the treatment that they receive." It is further stated that even if the proffered definition is incomplete and imperfect, it nevertheless provides a powerful image of what systemic racism is: a violence that is essentially detected by its effects.
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Systemic racism has always been present, and today is still alive and well.
Yes, institutions that actively work to push inequality, institutions that govern us, when black individuals are guilty before and after being proven innocent, when the recourse for injustice or even a belief that injustice has been done is injustice itself. We are dealing with a phenomenon more dangerous than or as equally volatile as the atomic bomb, housed under the guise of the Human Rights Commission.
The mission of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse (the Commission) is to ensure the promotion and respect of the principles set out in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, a quasi-constitutional law.
The Commission is specifically mandated to ensure that Quebec's laws, by-laws, standards and institutional practices, both public and private, comply with the Charter, which prohibits discrimination based on "race," colour, ethnic or national origin and religion in the exercise of human rights and freedoms. From the outset the Commission has been structured and continues to function to produce the results that are primarily advantageous to the Commission and the Commission alone. Human rights are addressed in a racially skewed manner. Systemic racism has always been present, and today is still alive and well.
Currently the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal consists of 13 members, appointed by the Government, namely a President who is selected from among the judges of the Court of Quebec, three judges of the court of Quebec and nine assessors. All members and judges are chosen based on their notable experience and expertise in sensitivity to, and interest for matters of human rights and freedoms.
Within this composition at the highest level lies the seeds and sapling of systemic racism, as there are no black representatives. To put the matter into its correct perspective, and its correct altitude the court system also displays a glaring lack of diversity. Within Quebec's legal system of the 500 or more judges operating at different levels, only three are black.
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To compound matters, many of the white judges are either unfamiliar with the Charter of equality rights, or are uncomfortable with claims of racism or Islamophobia, a finding based on the experience of Quebec based Center for Research Action on Race Relations.
As far back as 1998 the Canadian Bar Association clearly stated that the Canadian Judiciary did not reflect the society it served. Judge Daniel Dortelus of the Court of Quebec told a conference in 2007 that the Bench is still lacking diversity. Of Canada's 2,000 judges, less than 20 are black and the majority of those are in Ontario.
Only in 1999 was the first black judge appointed to the Court of Quebec. Judge Juanita Westmoreland subsequently retired in 2012.
The Quebec Human Rights Commission is independent from the government and fulfills its mission to promote and uphold the principles stated in:
The Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms
The Youth Protection Act
The Youth Criminal Justice Act
for the sole benefit of citizens and in the public interest.
In addition to the President and Vice President of the Commission, of the nine members only two are black. (Mme. Adelle Blackette and Mr. Emerson Douyon).
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When talking of racism the most common mistake made is to think of it as a problem of personal prejudices and individual acts of discrimination. It is not seen as a system, a web of interlocking, reinforcing institutions: our institutions. Foundational to Canadian democracy is the control of certain groups. It is a structural reality, and certain institutions are built and function to protect that reality. Race supremacy is the core identity.
Ignoring the reality of racism only makes the situation worse. It is of vital importance to deconstruct the sources for both systemic and interpersonal racism to pinpoint and eliminate why such conditions still exist, and the steps that are necessary for change. We can kick start that first step by implementing the second step -- talking. The source of systemic racism has been revealed, the facts are known, the sources shown. We are now calling on the Minister of Justice to look at the longstanding and glaring facts, along with the life changing impact, and to set about making a noteworthy change that is well within her range.
News / National
by Stephen Jakes
Senior official of the Zimbabwe National Informal Economy Network has dismissed claims that the organization is political aligned.In a statement the organisation said since the meeting of the Zimbabwe National Informal Economy Network with the opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday last week, there has been some murmurs from some sections of civil society implicitly suggesting that the leaders or representatives of the informal economy are either politicians or driven by political interests."As spokesperson of this movement, I wish to clarify and put a few issues into perspective. The National Informal Economy Network is a non-partisan national platform for groups working in the informal sector to work together and speak with one voice on issues where they have convergence. Because these movements represent people, pursue and advance their interests, they become inherently political but non partisan," reads the statement."The National Informal Economy Network will meet any of the country's political leader anytime, anywhere as long as we feel that there is value or benefit to be derived from that meeting as far as the interests of the informal traders are concerned. If we can meet (President) Robert Mugabe or (Vice President) Emmerson Mnangagwa today we will definitely meet and tell them in their faces the tragic state in which their government has plunged our economy."The organisation said it is in this context that it met with the country's main opposition leader Tsvangirai of the MDC."Tsvangirai's party is particularly relevant to us for two fundamental reasons and one strategic reason. Firstly, the MDC controls 33 local government authorities in Zimbabwe. It is therefore important to liase with the MDC in our quest to find a solution to the ongoing dispute between the vendors and the city authorities," reads the statement."In the run up to that meeting, we insisted that Tsvangirai should bring the Mayor of Harare (he brought the acting Mayor Mbanga), the chairperson of the informal sector committee Janjadzi, and the town clerk (who didn't turn up). He also brought his portfolio secretary and shadow minister of local government Eddie Cross. I am happy to state that the MDC committed to pass a full council resolution stating that confistication of goods and harassment of vendors by the municipal police is illegal and totally prohibited. We will be on their necks on this!"The organisation also said the meeting also resolved that council should not make any resolutions that affect the informal sector without consultations with NIEN and to have periodic meetings between councils and the informal sector representatives."The second fundamental reason is the fact that the MDC has presence in Parliament and we greed that the MDC would, through its parliamentary representatives push for the speedy alignment of local government laws to the new constitution," reads the statement. "The third less fundamental but strategic reason was in the context of 2018 in which the MDC will be a major player, to hear what the MDC's vision for the informal sector is and to share with them our own views in that regard."The organisation said lastly, we reiterate our call for the informal traders to abstain from utilising the banking facilities until we have fully assessed the implications of the sudden introduction of bond notes by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe."This is a precautionary measure to cushion our members from being short changed by exchange disparities in the transition of the monetary market as it adjusts to these new changes. In 2008, millions of people lost their hard earned money when we converted to the US dollar and we can't allow our people to suffer the same predicament again. We will have failed in our representative role," reads the statement.
The five things you need to know on Wednesday May 11, 2016
1) DAVID CAMERA-ON
Pesky things, microphones. David Cameron may have been tempted to squeal a little whoop of joy (See! Its not just me!!) when news emerged of the Queens indiscreet line about the Chinese being very rude.
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But given the possible damage to relations, and how seriously Beijing rates protocol and its own dominance (which seems to be behind the security row), he wont really be happy. Already, China has censored BBC Worlds coverage of the story, blacking out screens.
For Dave himself, hes been here before many times. And yesterdays on-mic remarks about Nigeria and Afghanistan being fantastically corrupt have not been a diplomatic success, to put it mildly. No.10 insists the PM was aware of the cameras and microphones, and that he was merely quoting what the countries have said about themselves. That spin unravelled pretty quickly when Nigerian President Buhari said he was deeply shocked and embarrassed, while the Afghan embassy also expressed its shock at Camerons remarks.
The best explanation seems to be that the PM was simply showing off to the Queen (and he looked at the camera at one point) about yesterdays Cabinet and his showcase anti-corruption summit. And he overreached himself once more, instead of stressing how seriously both countries were now treating the issue. The Archbishop of Canterbury gave him an out, and he didn't take it.
Whats most excruciating is the lack of respect for the Queen, who has seen PMs come and go but who is the head of the Commonwealth. The Daily Mail has also been quick to point out the UK is sending hundreds of millions in aid to these countries, which seems pointless if its being trousered by wrong-uns. Former Labour Cabinet minister and Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Scotland told Today the PMs remarks were unfortunate.
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As for the other Royle Family, actress Sue Johnstone was on the Terrace last night with Andy Burnham and Hillsborough families. Labour are publishing their set of proposed amendments to the Police and Crime Bill that include a legal right to funding for victims' families and the power to cut the pensions for retired officers if they're found guilty of misconduct
2) TENT POLL
Jeremy Corbyn had a big boast yesterday. At the launch of Labour's pro-EU battlebus, JC was asked whether the party is doing enough to broaden the partys appeal and he replied: "What a strange question, what a very strange question, I don't know where it comes from ... We have a very big tent, its an enormous tent.
Now, this wasnt a reference to the classic Curb Your Enthusiasm Pants Tent episode, but it did cause a bittersweet reaction among Labour MPs. Because the broaden-your-appeal message has been Sadiq Khans warning ever since he was elected last week.
In normal times, the Mayor of Londons election would be the perfect topic for a Labour leader at PMQs, ending eight years of Tory rule. Given Camerons own decision to use PMQs to attack Khan of late, Corbyn must be sorely tempted to demand an apology for the guilt by association Zac campaign (he could quote Boris deputy Stephen Greenhalgh saying just that). Sadiq himself told the PLP on Monday: the Tories owe London an apology.
Yet with Khan appearing to distance himself from Team Corbyn, Cameron could hit back that guilt by association is exactly what the Mayor is trying to avoid too. That would take some chutzpah which even Dave lacks. In fact, he could go some way to restoring the partys long-term brand by praising Khan and defending him from Donald Trump's 'Jesse Owens moment' (No.10 paved the way for a change of tone, saying Cameron was proud of multi-faith Britain).
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Still, Labour pains continue. Ken Livingstone finally pulled out of the NEC elections last night. Meanwhile, John McDonnell has sent an email thanking Momentum activists for being particularly active in marginal seats in the South (eg Hastings).
Boris is due on the Today prog, to talk about the EU. Will he finally admit (like his deputy has) the Zac campaign was ill-judged? Ken Clarke said last night the attacks on Khan were 'ludicrous'.
3) BROWNIAN MOTION
Wait for Gordo no more. Yes, Gordon Brown is back on the political front line (well OK, its Maginot Line, trying to avoid another World War One). And in true Brownian fashion, he has targeted the Mirror and the Guardian with op-eds.
In fact, its the Mirror audience of working class Labour voters that he really needs to hit most, given the reports of Euroscepticism coming back from Labour MPs on the local elections stump. Several Labour MPs have told me that the message on the doorstep has been something like this: Were lending our vote to UKIP this time, we dont like Corbyn, and we want out of Europe - but well vote Labour at the election.
No.10 are very nervous indeed about Labours inability to get out its vote in the EU referendum. Given Alan Johnson is one of the partys best performers, his new battle bus could make a difference in local news coverage. In the Mirror, Gordon says its unBritish to quit the EU and we need to lead Europe, not leave it - just ask Leicester City.
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His Guardian piece is more of his comfort zone, previewing his LSE speech today about the EU being the only way to take collective action on tax avoidance. (He probably wont namecheck Emma Watsons outing in the Panama Papers, which she says is more about privacy than offshore tax avoidance).
IDS yesterday made a pitch to Labour voters that the poorest will benefit most from Brexit. His successor Stephen Crabb is before the DWP Select Committee at 9.30am. But the main attraction is George Osborne before the Treasury Select at 2pm to discuss EU membership.
As for those UKIP voters snapping at Labours heels in the north and Wales, our Kipper expert Owen Bennett smells a challenge to Nigel Farage from Neil Hamilton.
BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR
Watch Bernie Sanders help one of his staffers propose to his girlfriend. Exactly the sort of thing Jezza would do over here. And perhaps why he won another state primary last night.
4) REBEL YELL
One ripe area for PMQs could be the sheer number of U-turns, lane swerves and Satnav resets executed by the Tories in recent weeks. Labours backroom team have totted up more than 22 actual fully-fledged handbrake turns on everything from the obvious tax credits and disability benefits to the MoJs cancelled Saudi prison contract.
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But of course whats driven the changes in policy has been the lethal cocktail of the House of Lords cleverly wielding its anti-Government majority and a taste for rebellion among Tory backbench MPs. Only last night, the Lords again defeated the Government on the Housing Bill and Brandon Lewis took a swipe at Lord Kerslake, while warning MPs may have to stay up all night to rebuff the Lords.
And in the FT today, theres a confidant of the PM who admits We need to look at different ways of doing things to prevent rebellions from happening in the first place. The FT cites not just Heidi Allen, who is typical of the independent minded 2015 intake, but also older hands like Gary Streeter (who represents the core of principled Christian Tories worried about own goals on things like Sunday trading and refugees) and Euroscep Peter Bone.
And its the Euroscep element of these rebellions that concerns many in No.10, who suspect the referendum is fuelling some of the defeats. Norman Fowler puts his finger on something else though: a similar mood to that which afflicted Majors government when Maastricht rebels wreaked havoc: Rebellion became accepted, it was almost infectious, he said.
5) SEVEN BARRAGE
Another safe topic for Corbyn to exploit at PMQs tends to be health and todays Public Accounts Committee report gives him some powerful ammo. It says Jeremy Hunts 7-day NHS plan has serious flaws, is completely uncosted and the overall health service is 50,000 staff below capacity.
This report is a serious challenge to some of the central claims the Tories are making about the NHS. It says the 10bn extra funding promised by the Treasury will not cover everything and says the plan to find 22bn in efficiency savings is leading to overly optimistic and aggressive rota planning in hospitals - which in turn is creating staffing shortages. The DH says more staff are on the way.
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Add into all that this weeks Oxford University report attacking the whole basis of Hunts weekend effect claims and you can see how this has political potency. With junior doctors in talks, will Corbyn suggest theres yet another U-turn in the offing on the junior docs contract? Then again, will Cameron just throw back Heidi Alexanders own words (CCHQ stored em up), backing the 7-day plan?
As it happens, this week Jeremy Hunt became the longest-serving Health Secretary in history. (1,344 days, since you asked). Shadow health minister Justin Madders noted the important landmark, adding: Not least because its the first target hes managed to hit. Take our handy quiz to find out the sort of thing Jeremy has outlasted.
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In the same week, the UK Government delays it's response to the Trans Equality Report, whilst in the US, the Department of Justice takes a big step forward for trans rights.
Nicky Morgan has announced that the Government is postponing it's response to the report into Trans Equality that was produced by the Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee in February. The report warned that the NHS is currently in violation of the law due to the extensive waiting times for Gender Identity services, and also found that the Gender Recognition Act, which is now over a decade old, is no longer fit for purpose.
In a letter to the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, Nicky Morgan writes;
"Your report called for very significant changes to the legislative framework around gender recognition, as well as significant reforms of NHS and other public service processes, covering around a dozen different public bodies in total. We are looking through these carefully, but we are not yet in a position to issue a substantive response on all of them."
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But why is it taking our government so long? Everyday the trans community continues to face discrimination and violence. As a society and in our communities we need to work much harder to welcome and accept people's life choices and self-determined identities.
It's not like Governments can't react quickly. We're seeing now in America the Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against North Carolina and standing up for trans rights.
The lawsuit is in itself ground breaking, we have the US Government saying "For individuals who have aspects of their sex that are not in alignment, the person's gender identity is the primary factor in terms of establishing that person's sex." and "A transgender man's sex is male and a transgender woman's sex is female." this is groundbreaking because we now have it from the US Department of Justice that a person's Gender Identity is the foremost identifier of that person's sex.
However the lawsuit isn't all joyous, it is very reinforcing of Binary Gender, there is not a single mention of non-binary people (people who don't identify as either male or female), so we cannot be sure about what protections non-binary people have when using the toilet.
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The Trans Inquiry Report did make specific recommendations for non-binary people, and so non-binary people in the UK can have some small hope that rights could be forthcoming, the same for trans people under the age of 18.
Tinkering around on Google Maps, searching for the city of Dubai, I made the strangest discovery: you can get there on foot.
On foot! Not that I'm going to do it - well, not just yet - but the idea behind this vast route map is beautiful. Life-affirming! Better than that: life-transforming!
I better explain.
I wasn't sure if Dubai was in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates or maybe even in Qatar.
So I click on Google maps - and by happy chance, my maps were set on pedestrian mode. Along with telling me that Dubai is in the UAE, I am also told that it is 4,702 miles from Edinburgh - and that it'll take me 59 days, 21 hours to walk there. That'd be walking at 3.2mph and without stopping for a pee or a snack. Middling tough. But not impossible.
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What I love is the sheer level of detail in the route map. Starting off from Edinburgh Waverley station, there's no piddling stuff about "remember your passport", or "look out for ISIS when you go through Syria."
Instead, Google Maps knows that the most important thing is just to begin. There will always be lots of moaners mumbling you can't do it; Google Maps tells you to crack straight on, "Walk East - 125 ft." Nice! Eminently doable! That's only 40 yards!
Brilliantly, Google Maps doesn't get too far ahead of itself. Rather than sucking on its teeth and saying, "Over four thousand miles, that's one hell of a schlepp," it breaks the whole trip down into easily manageable steps. Finish one baby-step and then you can take the next baby-step.
Or in the case of my journey to Dubai, the second baby-step turns out to be: "Turn right towards Market Street - 397ft." Nice!
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Followed by: "Turn left onto Market Street - 49ft." What's the problem with that?
This attention to detail continues all the way through the Netherlands, ("Turn right towards Wilde Zwaan - 105ft"), Serbia ("Turn right towards Starina Novaka - 413ft"), Turkey and then Syria, until finally, after a long haul through Saudi Arabia, our last instruction reads, "Slight left onto Financial Centre Road - 0.3 ml"). No ballyhoo, no drama - you've arrived, well big deal. How was your trip?
So many beautiful pieces of philosophy contained in this itinerary - not least that a journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step.
I was now interested to check out Google's other walking tours. Were they seriously going to have a pedestrian route to the North Pole? ("At the Arctic Circle, head north; keep heading north.")
Maybe they could take me on a tour through Russia to the Chukchi Peninsula, from where it would just be a short ferry trip over to Alaska...
Unfortunately, Google does not (yet) have route maps for the Arctic or Antarctic, or even Beijing - though they CAN walk you to Vladivostok (a 7,329-mile trip from Edinburgh, taking 95 days 23 hours.)
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And as it turns out, all those dreams of walking to Ls Angeles or Buenos Aires are also off the menu. Google Maps only does short boat trips.
The fantasy, though, was to see if I could find any Google Maps walking trip that was over 10,000 miles from Edinburgh.
First up - Cape Town. And Google delivers, with a tasty 8,128 mile-route (107 days, 17 hours) via the Trans-Sahara Highway.
Since South Africa was obviously going to be the limits of any trip to Africa, I'd have to head for the Far East.
I tried Australia, New Zealand, the Marshall Islands and New Guinea: all no dice. But Google Maps was definitely good for Sri Lanka (6,694 miles in 86 days, 18 hours - who ever would have thought that it was closer than Cape Town?)
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Would Google Maps hold my hand all the way to Bangkok? Yes it would! (7,495 miles in 98 days, 18 hours)
Singapore? Yes! (8,591 miles, in 113 days, 13 hours)
Will Google Maps be able to stomach a small teeny-tiny ferry-ride to Java! The answer is yes! (9,623 miles, 126 days, 4 hours)
I am edging closer and closer to this mythical 10,000 mile walk. My fingers are shaking, the sweat drips from my nose (I must be allowed some small amount of poetic licence) and I tap in Bali. Yes! I can walk there too! It is 35 miles short of 10,000 miles at 9,965 miles (130 days, 19 hours), but there are still plenty more Indonesian islands to explore.
Now... what was the name of that island next to Bali. Nearly went there once, but didn't quite make it. Was it Komodo, with those dragons? Google does not provide walking trips to Komodo.
And then it comes to me - Lombok! And Google Maps will walk you all 10,069 miles there from Edinburgh. Should take you 131 days and 17 hours. She. Rides!
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Turns out the record - or at least as far as I can make out - is to Sulawesi in Indonesia. It's 10,609 miles from Edinburgh, and it'll take 134 days, 16 hours.
But who cares whether you're walking to Dubai or Lombok or Sulawesi? The adventure is not in the destination but in the journey - as Google Maps knows only too well.
Since the start of the European referendum campaign, we have been exposed to a serious dilution of the quality of political debates presented to the voter by those seeking #Brexit. At this point I'm sure many who support the UK leaving the EU will have already pressed X in the top-right, however it is a point which needs making given the quality of argument determines the health of our democracy. Put simply, the more personal or fanciful an argument is, the less likely it is to frame a healthy debate. We only need to look to Donald Trump to see how it can destroy the thing it is seeking to advance. Also, so called 'Project Fear' in the Scottish independence referendum arguably helped save the Union (for now), but in so doing destroyed the sense of togetherness which it was aiming to safeguard. Even the Conservative Party victory last year may end up leading to major internal divisions that may cost the UK's position in the EU. Each of these victories has been secured through hostile rhetoric that targeted their opponents on a fearful and/or personal level. It does seem to be a tactic of those seeking #Brexit! (See any comments below this opinion piece for examples).
Those supporting #Brexit are very much ideologically committed to the idea regardless of the real world implications of Britain leaving the EU. For example, Aaron Banks has argued that "4,300 per household is a bargain basement price for the restoration of national independence and safe, secure borders" . This remark came in for serious criticism for appearing to be aloof and detached from the realities of most of the British people. Also of serious concern is the approach of those supporting #Brexit towards Northern Ireland. Theresa Villiers has said that "The peace process was delivered by the hard work of Northern Ireland's leaders and successive UK and Irish governments, supported by the US. There is strong commitment in both the UK and Ireland to continue to work together for a peaceful and prosperous Northern Ireland, and leaving the EU will not change that" . However, this is not a position held by Enda Kenny, who argued that "Common membership of the EU project is part of the glue holding that transition process together" . Given the treaty which has helped bring an end of hostilities to Northern Ireland is an international treaty legally supported by the European Union, it would be highly dangerous for the continuation of stability if one of the parties were to withdraw from it. Withdrawing from the European Union does indeed represent a significant risk to this area, and it isn't a conspiracy or part of 'Project Fear' to point it out.
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Politically, in the European referendum the Labour Party have been preoccupied with their own problems. It has a leader who is giving half-hearted support, whilst those members supporting Brexit are content to live in the past, endlessly quoting Tony Benn or Hugh Gaitskell to support their position. However, there is nothing social democratic in isolating ourselves from the world. Benn and Gaitskell are products of their respective times, and today the Left needs to remain united with others across the EU. Granted, many rightly point out that the EU and Europe are different things. However, the EU is the mechanism which has held Europe together through peace, trade, and learning for decades. Cooperation is a fundamental value of social democratic politics, and to abandon that is a very strange position to adopt. Rather, the Labour Party needs to push hard for Britain to remain in the EU and, by doing so, be relevant to Europe.
However, the greatest threat to Britain remaining in the EU is ignorance. As I have argued in other places, the media is the mechanism that connects politicians to the voter. It is the channel through which political arguments are made, and so is vital to any democratic civil society. However, it is also dangerous if the media fail to educate the voter about the realities of #Brexit. Chris Graying has used the media (specifically, the Andrew Marr Show ) to argue once we've left things will remain the same. Yet we haven't heard the counter argument that such a position is not only economically imprudent it is also intellectually disingenuous. Furthermore, Boris Johnson has appeared on the Radio Four Today show , however his failure to articulate a coherent message is seen as part of his 'Boris' brand. Put simply, his bluster is considered part of his charm, but on an issue such as this, it is unwelcome. We have yet to hear from the Leave side how Britain will function outside of the European Union. We do know, however, that a whole host of organisations (such as the IMF and the Bank of England) have cautioned against it, alongside a Treasury report with support from the LSE and others. Facts, not bluster or guesswork.
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In closing, I would like to make a few comments about the Obama intervention. Obama's comments that Britain would be at the 'back of the queue' were not a threat. They have been taken as a threat by the Leave side to argue we are being 'bullied'. Rather, Obama's comments were a warning. He was warning us that we'd go to the back of the queue because that is the reality. It is possible to warn a friend of danger without threatening to inflict it. These arguments against #Brexit are not 'Project Fear'. These are warnings of reality. And as I said at the start of this opinion piece, reality has already been sacrificed in the debate by those preferring to bang their ideological drum and bury their heads in the sand.
Britain should remain the EU because we live in reality, not in some romantic fantasy where the UK is a lone power in a world of subservient nations. That is an imperial thought process which went out of fashion decades ago.
References
https://www.politicshome.com/news/europe/eu-institutions/news/73963/arron-banks-%C2%A34300-loss-price-worth-paying-brexit
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/apr/07/brexit-northern-ireland-progress-risk-alan-johnson-theresa-villiers
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http://www.ibtimes.com/what-would-brexit-mean-northern-ireland-peace-uk-european-union-referendum-looms-2016-2244089
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b077yqj9
When I told my brother I was researching whether nurse staffing levels affect quality of care in hospitals, he answered directly: of course they do. Next question please.
He wasn't the only one to find my choice of research topic almost laughable. It seems obvious that the number of nurses on duty will affect nurses' ability to deliver all the care needed by patients. Decades of research support this view: hospitals with better registered nurse (RN) staffing levels have better patient outcomes. When I present the research findings to nursing audiences the reaction verges on outrage. We've known this for years - why waste time and money on researching the blindingly obvious?
In the last couple of years, following the Inquiry by Sir Robert Francis into poor care and high death rates at Mid Staffordshire, more and more people have heard about 'safe-staffing' and the importance of having enough nurses on duty. A few also know about the government's policies in response to Francis: for example to put the patient first in decisions about staffing, and to require hospitals to publish data on how often staffing levels fall below the planned level.
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So three years after Francis, have the policies made a difference? Have we now got enough nurses on wards and in the community to meet patients' needs safely?
In 2010, our research found that almost half of the 400 hospital wards surveyed had staffing levels where RNs were caring for 8 patients or more. This is the level that NICE suggest is used as a 'warning level' to prompt review, as it is associated with increased risk of harm to patients. We cannot say whether levels have improved because this data is not routinely collected but other data shows a continued shortfall in nurse staffing numbers. Ninety-three per cent of Trusts report a RN supply shortage with high vacancy levels. Nine out of ten acute hospitals are staffed below the level planned.
To plug the staffing gaps, hospitals have resorted to recruiting nurses from overseas and spent more on temporary nurse staffing. But this is an expensive short-term fix, which is not sustainable.
The obvious longer term solution is to train more RNs. It's good news, particularly on International Nurses Day (12th May), that nursing remains a very popular career choice. There are typically nine applicants for each nursing degree place available in the UK.
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But despite Health Education England, who is responsible for planning nurse training, saying 3,000 extra RN places were needed, only 300 spaces were funded, due to their budget being cut in the spending review. Nursing is once again on the occupational shortage list. Finances, not workforce planning, have dictated the decisions on how many nurses to train. As the Migration Advisory Committee put it, this is a shortage of the system's own making. The NHS should be training the registered nurses it needs.
If you're a nurse, or related to one, the fact that there are not enough RNs on duty will not be news to you. You will be used to working for 12 hours and having to skip breaks. Eighty-six per cent of you will have left necessary care undone on your last shift due to lack of time . If you've been a patient in the last year, or know someone who has, you have likely noticed how stretched staff are. The recurring theme from patients and relatives I talk to is: what care we had was good - but staff just didn't seem to have enough time.
Having enough registered nurses - i.e. those with a minimum of three years of training - on duty is critical, not just to the quality of care that patients receive, but to their eventual outcome. Our research found that the chance of death for patients in hospitals that have good nurse staffing levels (an average of six patients or fewer for every registered nurses) was 20%lower than on wards where each RN has an average of 10 patients or more.
In the USA today, nurses are 'taking DC' to campaign for safe nurse staffing levels and protect patients from harm. Yet in England the NHS staff and managers I meet see little opportunity for things to change. For many nurses - even those in national leadership positions - it feels as though the window of hope that Francis's report opened, is now closed and they must square up to the challenge on managing within the budgets that are allocated to them. Staffing according to finances, not need.
Two things went wrong at Mid Staffs: the hospital took decisions about the workforce that were financially driven without considering the risk to patients; and staff got used to working in poor conditions, to making do and to 'getting on with it' without challenging the lack of staff. Patients and their relatives paid a heavy price for these compromises.
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We can't keep accepting compromises that patients ultimately pay the price for. When we 'make do and mend' it's care quality and patient lives that suffer. These aren't our compromises to make.
"I think it would be very difficult for any German finance minister to say to BMW I am afraid you are going to have to lay off workers because I want to punish the British for being democratic by erecting trade barriers... that won't happen."
It seems that in the minds of Michael Gove and Vote Leave, the entire decision-making power of the European Union rests on the whims of BMW's management. On this shaky basis Gove reasons that upon our exit, Britain would be able to negotiate tariff-free trade with the EU, because it's in BMW's interests, and that Britain would achieve this along with ending all payments to the EU and ending the free movement of people.
The claim, repeated by Vote Leave figures like Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings, is that the leverage of BMW's exports will deliver continued free trade, 350m/week, and an end to open immigration. Gove told Andrew Marr:
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'If you don't have tariffs then both sides can agree there is no need to erect them. Germany carmakers are not going to want to have tariffs erected when they sell many more cars to us than we sell to them.'
Germany is very important in the EU, and even more important when it comes to Greece, as Germany is a major creditor for Greece's bailout loans. That does not mean, though, that the EU works only in the interests of Germany, and certainly not just in the interest of BMW.
Gove is probably right that Germany would want tariff-free trade with Britain, as would French farmers and Italian textiles exporters: they all sell Britain more than Britain sells them. However, not all EU member states have trade surpluses with UK.
The ten central and eastern European states have a negligible level of trade with the UK. In oral evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, Matthew Elliott of Vote Leave admitted that states including Luxembourg, Denmark, Bulgaria, Estonia, and Croatia have actual trade deficits with Britain. Protecting free trade with the UK is not the priority for them. What would matter far more are two elements: their citizens' continued rights to work in the UK, and Britain's contributions to the EU's structural and cohesion funds. These are designed to tackle unemployment and bring those countries' infrastructure up to the EU average.
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Each EU member will have a veto on the UK exit agreement. Many will have to pass the agreement through their parliament, or even through a referendum. Pascal Lamy, former director of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in a Times article arguing the WTO option is flawed, explained: "Any ambitious UK-EU deal will need to be ratified in 27 legislatures as well as the European parliament." So in an extreme case Estonia alone could kill a Brexit agreement.
This means the deal cannot just satisfy Germany, France and Holland, ignoring the rest. It is very hard to see Lithuania or Hungary agreeing to a deal which protects all BMW interests but abandons their key concerns. Gove told the BBC that the EU 'is win-win for [Europeans] at the moment. It should be win-win for us [Britain] and it will be if we vote to leave and we can maintain free trade, stop sending money and also have control of our borders.' Removal of our funding and migration rights would make it 'lose' for many veto-wielding EU members.
Vote Leave's comparisons to the EU starting free trade agreements, without free movement, with distant countries like Korea or Mexico, are false. In those cases both sides began talks with high tariffs, then gained mutual concessions. Conditions for both sides improved. This would not be the case with Vote Leave's optimistic exit ideal - Britain's lot would improve and that of Croatia would implicitly suffer.
If you were following it, it was easy to get lost last week underneath the bar charts and rapid analysis of Thursday's elections - the 'winners and losers', the ups and downs. Because there were some very revealing signs of the longer term trends affecting political behaviour and future shape of the UK - and they need to be talked about.
First, the results demonstrate the extent of political diversity in the UK today - the willingness to support parties other than Conservative and Labour, even when under winner takes all voting rewards are slim. If last year's General Election showed this appetite in spades (doubling of support for parties other than Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats from 2010) then Super Thursday confirms the trend.
First past the post voting discriminates against minor parties; yet voters lent sufficient support to UKIP to enable them to win or come second in many local contests whilst Greens secured their highest ever vote in London and Scotland. Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats did substantially better in Scotland than in 2012, securing four seats under the 'First Past the Post' element. As Simon Jenkins writes, the once monolithic character of British politics continues to fracture'. Multi-party politics is here to stay.
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Second, there are the implications for the Union. In 2015 a different political party won the largest number of seats in each nation of the UK for the first time. This was fuelled by First Past the Post which rewards parties (like the SNP) whose votes are geographically concentrated and fails to reflect the full breadth of voters' views (e.g. Southern Labourites or Northern Conservatives) within those nations.
Nonetheless, that doesn't detract from the development of distinctive political environments that has followed devolution, especially in Scotland, where following the independence referendum identity and Unionist/independence attitudes are more influential than traditional left/right themes.
The immediate conclusion from the SNP's hefty but not conclusive win last Thursday is that another referendum is further off than before, subject of course to the conclusion of the EU referendum. Yet whilst MPs continue to be elected by First Past the Post, the UK's electoral map will continue to be distorted; artificially presenting the UK as a divided nation, exacerbating divisions and inevitably increasing tensions between the different nations of the UK.
Finally, the UK has become a laboratory of electoral systems - and there are ready means to compare and contrast 'voter power' and choice under each one. Scotland provides the starkest examples - a place where Labour is reduced to one MP for 24% of the votes at the general elections but secures 24 seats in the Scottish Parliament on 23% of votes. Meanwhile sustained Conservative support of 22% enables the party to form the official Opposition at Holyrood, whilst First Past the Post locks out all but one Conservative MP from Westminster despite receiving 15% of the votes.
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It's therefore perhaps not surprising how many Conservative (and indeed Labour) Members of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly Members are content with AMS, a semi-proportional system, for whom it is now the status quo. At these elections, winner-takes-all voting in English local elections was the outlier, with every voter outside Manchester in every single other election able to cast a preferential vote with 'heart and head', rather than being forced into tactical manoeuvring by an outdated and binary voting system.
Local elections are notoriously elusive predictors for success at the future general election. But what is obvious from these elections is voters' continued willingness to support a wide range of parties, reflecting in part diminished loyalty to any one party or 'tribe'.
This political diversity - coupled with fairer voter systems that ensure a reasonable proportional translation of votes into seats - inevitably leads to different forms of government: with minority administrations to be formed in both Scotland and Wales.
In turn, these provide more diverse models of government - a practical alternative to the traditional power-hoarding model at Westminster. As the dust settles and judgements are made about the short-term fortunes of specific parties and personalities, these longer term trends need reflecting on too.
It may not seem like it but Bilal, 16, is one of the lucky ones.
Forced to flee Syria as the conflict intensified, Bilal made the dangerous crossing across the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece, eventually arriving in Calais. The journey took over a year.
Travelling without his parents, who had to stay in Syria to look after his elderly grandparents, Bilal recounts how he was exposed to huge danger on this journey.
"On the journey from Turkey to Greece there were 45 people on our tiny boat. There were patrols looking for boats so they would keep stopping. At one point there was a hole in the boat and we were so scared but the smuggler refused to stop. We were constantly fearing for our lives."
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Children and families arrive by boat to Lesbos, Greece UNICEF/Gilbertson
Having made it to Calais, Bilal applied for asylum to be reunited with his elder brother who was living in the UK. Despite having a legal right to be reunited and the UK Government having committed to make family reunion happen quickly, Bilal was stuck in the camp for more than seven months. It was thanks to the efforts of organisations such as Citizens UK that earlier this year Bilal was one of a number of unaccompanied Syrian children who were reunited with family in the UK.
Bilal is now safely living with his elder brother.
"The worst part of my journey was being in Calais because most people there were subjected to violence and humiliation. Every day people would try to find ways of leaving. We tried to board a train to get to the UK. I saw two of my friends fall under the train and they died right there on the tracks.
"I feel very lucky to be here in the UK. Some people have a negative idea of refugees but we just want another chance at a better life."
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Despite some progress in helping those like Bilal, there are still at least 157 unaccompanied children stuck in Calais, while their family members wait desperately for them in the UK.
Every day that children wait is another day they are alone and in danger. Another day that they could fall prey to traffickers. Another day that they are out of school. Another day they become more desperate to risk their lives on dangerous journeys.
A boy walks along the train tracks connecting Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia UNICEF/Georgiev
Many of these children have a legal right to be reunited with their families waiting for them in the UK and yet it isn't happening.
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At Unicef UK, we welcomed the Government's decision to support unaccompanied children both in Europe and in conflict regions, but this commitment needs to result in action now.
Waiting seven months like Bilal did is unacceptable.
The UK Government must speed up existing family reunion procedures by sending immigration officials to Europe to process these cases quickly. Children's lives should not be left in limbo any longer.
Lamar, 4, waits in a reception centre near the town of Gevgelija, on the border with Greece. Lamar travelled with her mother for just over two months from Syrian to the Gevgelija border crossing. They are heading to Germany to reunite with Lamar's father.Unicef/Georgie
The 157 unaccompanied children in Calais who have family ties in the UK, should be reunited with their families in time to start school in September. By taking this action the government can show it is serious about its recent commitments to refugee children.
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In providing safe and legal routes to family reunion, we are also urging the UK Government to widen UK immigration laws. Under current laws, children can be reunited with parents, but not extended family members. This fails to recognise that after years of conflict, many of these children have been orphaned - but they may have grandparents, aunts and uncles, or adult brothers and sisters in the UK who could care for them.
By widening the rules, the UK can ensure children living in conflict regions can be reunited with their families safely and legally, rather than having to risk their lives on dangerous journeys through Europe.
A child is a child, whether they are in Syria, Jordan, Greece, Calais or the UK. They all have an equal need to be protected and an equal right to be safe from exploitation, abuse or trafficking.
Help reunite refugee children like Bilal with their family now.
Last year, I was rushed to the hospital a day before Passover, following a difficult chemotherapy session. The side effects became so strong that I needed to go into hospital. I lost a lot of weight, I was completely dehydrated, I had fever, and had incredible pain in my leg.
But thanks to a close friend who showed up moments before it all started with all the necessary items to make a banquet, my parents and I sat down around the small wheeled hospital table and started to read. The three of us were crying and reading, crying and reading. It was the saddest Passover I've ever had. This year was different. I was surrounded with light. With my children, my family, with hope and love. And I was overwhelmingly thankful!
I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late 2014. I had had a bloated tummy for a little while, was feeling very full all the time and had lost weight. I went to Accident and Emergency at the weekend - the third time I had visited - and they told me they could feel a mass in my abdomen and sent me for a scan. I had two tumours of 14 cm in diameter. I had extensive surgery a week later to remove as much of the cancer as possible and then started chemotherapy.
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The thing with ovarian cancer is that it often recurs. For me it came back just six months after I finished my first round of treatments. My diagnosis has been very difficult, but at the same time it has been a huge eye-opener for me. Don't get me wrong, it's impossibly difficult to be so sick, but at the same time, cancer has changed my perception of the world, and yes, it has brought amazing things to my life. I guess I am learning to appreciate winning small battles, in the grand scheme of things. Being with my family this Passover was a win of its own. It had a magical taste.
Right now I'm working on improving people's awareness of ovarian cancer. Early diagnosis saves lives, and the more people are aware of the symptoms and what to do if they are worried, the more lives will be saved. This World Ovarian Cancer Day I want to pass on my knowledge of the symptoms of ovarian cancer. If I knew then what I know now, I'd tell as many people as I could.
The symptoms of ovarian cancer are:
Persistent pelvic or abdominal pain (that's your tummy and below)
Increased abdominal size/persistent bloating - not bloating that comes and goes
Difficulty eating or feeling full quickly
Needing to wee more urgently or more often than usual
Occasionally there can be other symptoms such as changes in bowel habits, extreme fatigue (feeling very tired), unexplained weight loss or loss of appetite. Any post-menopausal bleeding should always be investigated by a GP. You can find out more information at www.targetovariancancer.org.uk.
Another angle is that I'm Jewish, and in the Jewish community a lot of people have a mutation in their BRCA gene, which makes it more likely to develop breast or ovarian cancer. There is not a lot of awareness of this gene and it can happen in and out of the Jewish community - so I'd like to improve awareness of that too. My mother and grandmother both had breast cancer.
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On my end, I have enrolled in a clinical trial in Switzerland that gives me early access to immunotherapy. And I will continue to be positive and strong for my kids.
If I can make one woman aware of the symptoms of ovarian cancer this World Ovarian Cancer Day, I will feel that there is a purpose in my journey.
In its fourth year, World Ovarian Cancer Day is a major event that receives global support and has grown larger each year. This year 100 organisations from over 30 countries around the world will work together to raise awareness of ovarian cancer, its symptoms and the learnings of those who have lived with it.
Check out the #KnowNow campaign on social media, and show support for World Ovarian Cancer Day by sharing knowledge and life experiences based around 'if I knew then what I know now...'. These words of wisdom will be shared along with key information about ovarian cancer - what women need to Know Now!
#KnowNow
Before all the election results were in, politicians and pundits were touring the TV studios giving their verdicts on Labour's performance in Thursday's elections. Now the final results are actually in, we're in a better position to analyse them objectively.
There were many great highlights amongst other disappointing results and we have to accept there is no 'quick and easy fix' following our second General Election defeat last year.
Twelve months on from the last General Election, where we were 7% behind the Conservatives, we're now 1% ahead. We've not yet done enough to guarantee victory in 2020, but I believe Labour is moving in the right direction.
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Our opposition to the Conservative agenda has exposed how unfair it is, contributing to their decline in support and giving us a narrow lead across the UK - even taking into account the deeply difficult situation Labour faces in Scotland.
Firstly, the results. In the English council elections Labour did better than many election experts predicted. Jon Trickett set us the target of closing the gap with the Conservatives from 2015, but predictions being made with just days to go, comparing to the 2012 result, argued we would remain behind the Conservatives and lose 150 seats. A net loss of 18 council seats represents sad news for hardworking Labour councillors, activists and communities - but to retain power in areas of the South like Crawley and Southampton and make gains in Bristol, Cambridge, Exeter, Norwich and Swindon were real steps forward.
Labour's victory in the four Mayoral elections included two huge swings to Labour in London and Bristol. In London, Sadiq Khan's fantastic victory demonstrated an effective campaign in the face of a disgraceful and alienating Conservative campaign and Jeremy Corbyn's popularity in London contributed to that win, confirming that London is a Labour city. Marvin Rees' victory in Bristol was all the more sweet coming back from his defeat back in 2012.
But clearly we have much more to do to convince voters - a challenge we share with social democratic parties across Europe. A number of sister parties have been in almost existential crisis in recent years and the last two General Election results show that Labour, of course, is not immune from this trend.
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But are we in crisis? We cannot ignore the fact that Labour lost five million votes between 1997 and 2010. Ed Miliband reversed our decline in 2015. But there is much more to do.
We need to understand why we lost those votes before we collectively rebuild that coalition and Jeremy Corbyn and his ideas can deliver on both questions.
The results in Scotland were poor and need to be analysed separately from the results across the rest of the UK. The SNP overtook Labour in 2007, took a majority in 2011, and wiped us out in the Westminster election just last year. It was not an 'overnight sensation' but an electoral disaster 20 years in the making. Long-term factors crystallised at the 2015 General Election to deliver the wipe-out of so many excellent Labour MPs. Alastair Campbell was right when, on Peston on Sunday, he said "Labour took Scotland for granted for a long, long time". In the New Labour years, all too often I heard people complacently say that voters in Scotland and in other Labour heartlands had 'nowhere else to go' and that 'swing voters' in the South of England should be our sole electoral preoccupation. These colleagues were proven tragically wrong. The SNP provided voters with somewhere else to go. Labour Party membership in Scotland reduced dramatically, the roots of the Scottish Labour tree were chipped away at over many years meaning that when the independence storm came, Labour couldn't weather it and the tree was toppled.
The unprecedented electoral disaster in 2015 that was so long in the making was never going to be turned around overnight. That's not how history works. The causes of - and cures for - Labour's position in Scotland are of course multi-faceted and complex and can only be sorted by people plugged in to the reality on the ground in Scotland. But one thing's for sure, people in England who will attempt to persuade the Scottish Leadership that their next move should be to pitch to the right of the SNP are sadly mistaken.
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And we must also be wary of Ukip, who have become the main electoral opposition in many traditionally safe Labour seats. Ukip's position in these seats will only be strengthened if Labour leads an 'establishment' remain campaign in the EU referendum. Jeremy Corbyn is correct to make clear that the European Union is far from perfect and that we need major change so that we have a more democratic Europe that works in the interests of ordinary people.
Falling support for Labour from 1997 left the map of southern England blue, but the hollowing out of support took place across the country - including in our heartlands. That's why we should celebrate the victories in Thursday's two parliamentary contests in Sheffield and in Ogmore. Whilst some may say that electoral advances in Labour-held areas are irrelevant, I disagree. The results indicate we are reconnecting.
So how does Labour under build on these initial results?
Firstly, we need the Parliamentary Labour Party united in supporting Jeremy Corbyn's advocacy of an alternative for Government. Divisions amongst Labour MPs are over-emphasised by journalists eager for headlines, meaning that indulgent media appearances demoralise members and supporters. That's not fair on Labour activists, Labour voters or our communities.
Secondly, we need to turn our fire on the Conservatives. We need to continue to expose the contradictions in their ill-thought out policies and force more reversals and u-turns, as we have seen in recent weeks on Personal Independence Payments and on forced academisation. At the same we must build the enthusing, mobilising policy pledges that will build our future electoral coalition around a new economic strategy of public investment, enterprise and fair taxation. We have work to do - let's get on with it.
News / National
by Stephen Jakes
Zimbabwe Informal Sector's Organization -(ZISO) has accused the ruling Zanu PF for allegedly creating a bogus Zimbabwe Federation of Informal Sector to bluff the informal sector into believing the organisation can solve their problems."I hear Zanu PF is in the process of creating a bogus Zimbabwe Federation of the Informal Sector," ZISO said. "The folly of this regime is beyond comprehension. Instead of focusing on resolving the crisis they created they choose to make a futile attempt to divide and dilute informal sector groups."The organisation said people's eyes are wide open now."You can fool some people some of the times but you can't fool all the people all the time," said ZISO.
First, I can confirm that Cuba is not yet over run with Americans. In two weeks I met just two; both New Yorkers whose Cuban parents or grandparents were exiled to Jamaica and later Miami.
I have also not witnessed any kind of beer shortage. Though if there is one I apologise for my contribution to this. (See http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/10/cuba-running-low-on-beer-as-thirsty-us-tourists-descend).
While everyone in Havana is talking about this colossal transformation that Cuba will be undergoing, it is currently all in the anticipation and speculation of eager tourists (arriving in their droves from Europe 'before it changes') and in the rumors and perspectives of the Cubans who feel comfortable to speak out. There is no evidence of a Starbucks opening downtown. In fact, walking into a supermarket you will still be faced with a bare minimum of available products, most of which will be bottled water to sell to tourists. A lack of imports are still only too noticeable. And away from the tourist areas it is only the odd mobile phone that signifies that it is not still 1960.
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Yet everyday you hear a new rumour from a rickshaw driver or a waiter; 'there will be 80 new hotels built in Havana this year', 'there will be 100 flights a week extra from the US to Cuba by the summer' or 'Americans have just bought all of the property in that street'. No one really knows how accurate these are but the mounting expectation is whipped up daily. And those few Cubans who are making money entrepreneurially through the tourist industry are operating quite literally in a different economy to the rest of their country. (The average monthly wage in Cuba is 25 USD, yet tourists are often charged more than that for a home stay or a two hour tour.)
So what do Cuban people think of all this? My conversations seemed to suggest a difference between generations; while those under 30 seem ready for all out change, those over 30 are more appreciative of the current benefits of the Cuban way of life, mainly high quality healthcare and education.
18 year old Marie told me she is so excited about her and Cuba's future. Obama is her hero. 'I want to be able to travel and see the world outside Cuba,' she tells me. 'I see work as more important than study so that I can earn money, start a business and be part of the world.'
Gypsy on the other hand, in her 30s and, just round the corner from Marie, tells me 'we are a revolutionary country and we will not go back to capitalism. We just want our wages to increase and our economy to be stronger. We are optimistic that the embargo will end and improve things for us but it will not change who we are and what we value.'
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These two perspectives were across everyone I met with a clear bias for change from younger people, though it may just be that they are more naive of the consequences of speaking out against the current regime. Under their breath, however, everyone mutters criticism of the controlling nature of the current government.
Can Cuba be open to the world and keep the best of what it has? I hope that the significant investment of the Castro regime in education and the arts has given the young generation of cubans the literacy and creativity to shape Cuba's new reality, rather than be the victims of it. It also seems that much of the enterprise is led by confident and sassy Cuban women, which is great to see. Though inevitably they are also doing the cooking and cleaning and child rearing while their menfolk spend their evenings on the street, chatting and smoking cigars.
Connecting rural communities to the internet is one of the most important economic challenges of our time. It is the key to delivering greater productivity and harnessing opportunities in a range of rural industries from farming to tourism to research and development. There is still more at stake: with genuinely universal access to the internet we will stand a chance of decentralising the economy, allowing people to build careers and businesses while living in the countryside, and spreading jobs and investment across a broader stretch of the country.
It is the obvious ambition, apparently so hard to achieve. Yes, progress is being made. The CLA has been pressing better rural connections for many years and in 2015, when the Prime Minister committed the Government to a universal service obligation of at least 10 megabits per second by 2020, it was a breakthrough. This is expected to feature in legislation announced in the Queen's Speech next week and the sooner the right to broadband is enshrined in law, the better.
However the lack of urgency that has long been shown by Government and the big communications companies is tough to swallow. The discrimination is real and anger is understandable. Frustrations have been bubbling over, with at least one national newspaper reporting accusations that the government is reneging on the promise of universal coverage for rural areas.
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Recent commentary that has slated Government for betraying its commitment is based on a 'revelation' that under the proposed universal service obligation the final 5% in the remotest areas would need to request this right. There is a real danger that those focusing on this 'revelation' are in danger of misplacing their anger.
The misunderstanding stems from the Government's point, set out in the consultation on how to make the universal service obligation work in practice, that in an extremely remote location the telephone line based (fibre to cabinet) model is unlikely to be a cost effective way of accessing the internet. The Government argues that there are a range of technologies from satellite, to remote wireless internet and mobile connections that are likely to be better and more cost effective ways of achieving connection.
These types of connections are already being made through the use of voucher schemes giving premises that are not within roll out areas grants to pay for the equipment they need to be connected. At their most innovative these schemes see groups of homes and businesses pooling their money together and putting in place infrastructure like fibre optic cables direct to premises, giving them better connections than urban counterparts.
This does not constitute a climb down on the commitment to delivering a universal service obligation. The policy is pragmatic and vitally important. Rather than bring it into question, campaigners and government must work together to deliver the promise of a universal service by 2020.
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Government and BT must still be held to account. After years of promises and billions of pounds of taxpayers' money spent, there are still far too many rural communities waiting for even a basic level of connection. At the same time, we witness daily the exponential growth in the opportunity that digital connectivity presents and the insatiable growth in demand for ever faster speeds. The legal right to 10Mbps is a good breakthrough but the challenge we face only grows and we need to see evidence that Government is already thinking about what comes next.
Is Hillary Clinton honest? It is the question that has haunted the Democratic contest, a spectre never quite out of sight in the debates and on the campaign trail. Recently, her defenders, led by Jill Abramson in the Guardian, have begun to insist that contrary to the popular assumption, she in fact is fundamentally honest (and, rather more worryingly, they have also taken to tainting those who question her honesty with accusations that they are dancing to the Republicans' tune). Often their evidence for their claim is her rating on the website Politifact, which rates a formidable 71% of her statements varying degrees of 'True' (True, Mostly True, or Half True), of which 49% are Mostly True or True.
I have no intention of criticising Politifact, which has after all a Pulitzer Prize at its back. Nor do I have Jill Abramson's personal acquaintance with Clinton to support my impressions. But it does seem to me that a summary of Politifact's ratings is not sufficient to assess Clinton's honesty. That summary includes impersonal statements of fact, and Clinton, the most intelligent of either presidential field, very rarely gets her facts wrong. The more pertinent question is whether she twists the truth to defend herself or to discredit opponents.
As such, I have analysed Hillary Clinton's statements, as listed on Politifact, to filter out those statements that relate to a perceived electoral weakness of her own - namely trade agreements, Wall Street and big money, Benghazi, e-mails, allegations of fixing the primary schedule and avoiding public appearances, the environment, moderation on healthcare, and electability - and those statements that relate to the records of her opponents. This therefore cut out statements in her record like "Arizona schools rank 45th in the nation, dead last in funding per student" (Mostly True), about which she has no reason to lie, and from which she would reap no significant political gain if she were to do so. I have taken statements from her 2008 campaign as well as her 2016 campaign. The weakness of this approach is that some statements occupy a grey area between attacks on opponents and simple expressions of fact. For example, when she says that "Gun violence is by far the leading cause of death for young African American men, outstripping the next nine causes of death combined" (True), this might be a simple factual statement to press upon listeners the necessity of tightening gun legislation, or it might be an indirect slight on Sanders, whose chequered record on gun control she has repeatedly attacked. In these cases, I have tried to judge from the context whether she intended to draw a comparison between herself and another candidate or otherwise make reference to them. I have generally included only those statements in which it is clear that she was attacking another candidate, but those who disagree with my classifications are welcome to investigate the contexts themselves and reevaluate my conclusions. For the sake of transparency, I shall add other caveats: I am not an American; I am too young to remember the last Clinton presidency; and I am a supporter of Bernie Sanders, though obviously from a distance. All of these might have subconsciously biased my conclusions. My methodology is, at any rate, available for scrutiny.
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Among the 23 statements defending perceived weaknesses in her record, 4 were True (17%), 3 were Mostly True (13%), 6 were Half True (26%), 5 were Mostly False (22%), 4 were False (17%) and 1 was given a rating of 'Pants on Fire', indicating a truly outrageous falsehood (4%). This would give her a respectable, but significantly diminished, total rating for the top three 'True' scores of 56%, but of just 30% for the top two. Among the 61 statements on the website in which she attacked opponents, 13 were True (21%), 14 were Mostly True (23%), 14 were Half True (23%), 11 were Mostly False (18%), 8 were False (13%), and once again 1 was rated 'Pants on Fire' (2%). This gives her top three Truth scores and top two Truth scores of 67% and 44% respectively, both impressive figures.
The other element of Clinton's trustworthiness raised by her opponents is her supposed penchant for flip-flopping on important issues, allowing her political positions to be shaped by public opinion. Politifact once again has us covered: it has verified three flip-flops by Clinton in the last eight years. To those I would add this statement that she made in 2008 castigating Barack Obama for his criticisms of her healthcare plan, in which she demanded to know, 'Since when do Democrats attack each other on universal healthcare?', since she has been casting doubt on Sanders' plan for a single-payer system throughout this campaign. I would also add this allegation by Elizabeth Warren that she changed her mind on a bankruptcy bill as a senator (Clinton's rebuttal is here).
This analysis suggests that Clinton is rather more disingenuous than usual when defending herself from other people's attacks, but only slightly more so when attacking the positions of her political opponents. It qualifies her supporters' defence more than it overturns it. However, this conclusion is not satisfactory. An examination of some of Clinton's 'Half True' statements reveals that she is adept at omitting vital context from an accusation in a way that makes it entirely misleading but not entirely false.
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Sometimes, these half-truths serve to muddy the waters and prevent anyone from taking a clear shot at her. This tactic was particularly prevalent in the latter stages of the 2008 campaign, when Clinton justified her decision to continue her campaign by comparing her position to that of Bill Clinton in 1992 and those of Robert Kennedy's opponents in 1968, implying that both races had held late surprises which she might emulate. She neglected to mention that in the former case, Clinton was the presumptive nominee by March, and in the latter, the presidential race began considerably later than the 2008 race. Probably the greatest fudge of that year was her claim that she deserved the nomination on account of her victory in the popular vote, ignoring the complications of results from caucuses and the invalid Florida and Michigan primaries. To be fair, Politifact noted these discrepancies, but it remains the case that in public statements designed to afford herself political advantage, Clinton was deliberately misleading. In the current campaign, she has sought to present herself as an opponent of Wall Street by indicating her statements of support for more banking regulations before the financial crisis. Her precise quote was, "I was alarmed by this gathering storm and called for addressing risks of derivatives, cracking down on subprime mortgages and improving financial oversight." However, she is recorded as having spoken on the subject in the Senate only in March of 2007 - certainly before the crisis struck, but certainly too late to stop it. This is hardly the record of a perspicacious Wall Street sceptic. Nonetheless, the statement was technically true and was given that rating by Politifact.
Perhaps more seriously still, Clinton employs the same tactic against her opponents, willingly neglecting essential context in order to discredit them. In 2008, she attacked Obama over his support for an energy bill with entirely inaccurate figures - it was a smear, but its veracity was sufficient that it was rated Half True. In the current campaign, she has repeatedly twisted Sanders' record in such a way as to be technically truthful but nonetheless misleading. She claimed that Sanders "voted... with hard-line Republicans for indefinite detention for undocumented immigrants" and that he also supported Minutemen; in truth, Sanders voted the same way as several Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, and the legislation in question did not apply to all undocumented migrants but only those facing deportation (she later amended that statement, but the damage, arguably, was done). In Michigan, Clinton accused Sanders of having opposed a bailout for the auto industry. It turns out that the bill to which she was referring was a bill which allocated most of its funding to the financial institutions. Her implicit argument, therefore, was that Sanders should have voted to inject vast quantities of money into the financial institutions that were culpable for the crash, in order that a small portion of it would find its way into the hands of the auto industry. Sanders did in fact vote for a previous bill that would have given money directly to the industry. Clinton has claimed that Sanders called Obama "weak" and "a disappointment"; in fact he has described Obama's deals with the Republicans weak, and suggested that the American people are disappointed in his performance. Obviously, Sanders' comments about Obama, and his votes on bailouts and migration, all need to be scrutinised. Many might feel that there is no excuse for his real language and actions on these issues. But Clinton has chosen to misrepresent his views in order to discredit him in the eyes of primary voters, and this has contributed to the impression that she is fundamentally disingenuous.
Another factor in this impression is her penchant for promulgating falsehoods which offer obvious political gain. Of course these are very rare, but they are also staggeringly cynical. Last year, she told a group of Iowans that all of her grandparents had been migrants - this was false. She has insisted that she and her husband were broke when they left the White House - false, but with obvious political utility. Most famous of all in this category of statement was her bizarre claim that she was threatened by sniper fire landing in Bosnia in 1996, which she used throughout the 2008 to bolster her foreign policy credentials. Ironically, as has been consistently pointed out, her immense intelligence and formidable experience already give her all of the credentials that she needs to be a competent, if likely technocratic, president; she does not need to falsify her record. Yet on occasion she has been caught propagating outright lies for the sake of her own political advantage.
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"I know that humanitarian aid might be helping but only for those who can go and get it. How am I supposed to get this help if I can't even leave the room?" said Warda, an 85-year-old Syrian woman living in Lebanon, who speaks for many older refugees caught up in one of the worst conflicts since the second world war.
Warda is one of 300 refugees from Syria, Ukraine and South Sudan interviewed by HelpAge International about their experiences of conflict and emergencies for our report: Older voices in humanitarian crises: calling for change.
A shocking 95 per cent of older people we talked to in Lebanon, 93 per cent in South Sudan and 66 per cent in Ukraine, said that no-one other than HelpAge International had consulted them about their situation, despite many older people being entirely reliant on humanitarian assistance.
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While it is obviously our mission and our privilege as HelpAge International to speak and listen to older people, and to provide assistance where we can, what we really want is for all humanitarian agencies to be having these conversations themselves.
Those caught up in a humanitarian crisis need the inclusion of women and girls, older people, people with disabilities, young people and other vulnerable or excluded groups not to be seen solely as the responsibility of a plethora of niche agencies like HelpAge International. That will only extend the current fragmentation and inefficiency within the global humanitarian system.
What would have far more impact would be for the largest humanitarian agencies to set and measure inclusive responses as part of their own programmes.
Women and men change as we age. Our bodies change. We become more at risk of certain diseases like hypertension, diabetes or thyroid disorders. Many of these diseases are chronic, but can often be managed at low cost, reducing both discomfort and risk of more serious health conditions such as stroke. We become more susceptible to severe acute malnutrition, but we can also recover well from it if we receive the right treatment.
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We benefit from sensitive design in camps, such as well-designed rails to hold ourselves steady and raise ourselves up from when we use latrines. As we reach more advanced years, we may struggle more with mobility, and develop serious disabilities. Our ability to carry large amounts of weight long distances, endure long periods of time standing in queues, or scramble to acquire and then hold onto relief supplies in disorderly distributions, all reduce as we age.
None of this is rocket science. It is surely not unreasonable for older women and men to expect that a sector that prides itself on its commitment to serving the most vulnerable would be able to understand the basics of including such considerations in their programmes. What it most needs is an inclusive mentality from operational agencies, and a willingness to seek specialist guidance and advice. The current situation is unacceptable.
For our report, we went to three of the largest humanitarian operations on the planet. Our interviews provided evidence of neglect, and widespread feelings of isolation and fear. Older women and men almost universally raised poor healthcare provision as a particular concern.
Our interviews are the latest contribution to a growing body of evidence illustrating the failure of the humanitarian system to adequately protect older people's rights or meet their needs, and show the limited progress made to address the neglect of older people and other vulnerable groups within mainstream humanitarian programmes.
Our dearest wishes are that the World Humanitarian Summit proves a turning point, and takes the opportunity to lay the foundations for a genuinely reformed humanitarian system - more inclusive, more efficient, one that puts people, in all our diversity, at the centre of disaster response, builds resilience to crises and really does ensure that we "leave no-one behind".[i]
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Leading this initiative, HelpAge International is proud to be part of a collaborative effort from humanitarian agencies with very different mandates and constituencies that has drawn up an Inclusion Charter www.inclusioncharter.org setting out five key actions to ensure humanitarian assistance reaches the most vulnerable people in conflicts and disasters.
The Secretary-General has called for humanity--people's safety, dignity and the right to thrive--to be placed at the heart of global decision-making and said stakeholders must act to prevent and end conflict, respect the rules of war, leave no-one behind, work differently to end need and invest in humanity.
He's right, and as a start, we need to listen to the very people we are failing, those who are vulnerable and unable to access appropriate help when needed. The World Humanitarian Summit is an opportunity to make that change - we must not let it slip through our grasp.
To sign up to the Inclusion Charter go to: www.inclusioncharter.org
www.helpage.org
Whilst the elections last week didn't quite live up to the 'US style' billing as a 'Super Thursday', a very clear, and very important message came out of the results. For anyone who wrote off the Liberal Democrats after the General Election a year ago, they were very wrong. The Liberal Democrat Fightback is well underway.
Our party made the most gains in the English local elections, increasing our share of seats more than any other party, now having 45 more, passionate Councillors working hard for their communities.
We strengthened our support in the liberal heartlands of Eastleigh and Cheltenham. We dominated the results in Southport, Cumbria and in Watford, where we took control of the council. And we gained seats in cities like Hull, Rochdale and Manchester thanks to my fantastic former colleague John Leech, who will provide the only opposition to Labour there.
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Up and down the country we've seen the green shoots of liberalism grow up in communities disillusioned with an impotent Labour party dubbed as the worst ever Government opposition, and a heartless Conservative Government imposing ideological cuts to valued public services.
While we only managed to retain our five seats in Scotland, it's worth highlighting the fantastic results in Edinburgh Western, North East Fife and the Orkney and Shetland Isles. Admittedly results in Wales and London can be viewed as a disappointment and are incredibly undeserved after the brilliant campaigns run by Kirsty Williams and Caroline Pidgeon.
It's no secret that Caroline was by far the most skilled and qualified candidate and I am sure that as our Assembly Member she will continue to be a passionate voice for Londoners.
I congratulate Sadiq Khan for becoming the first Muslim Mayor of a major western city. Despite not being from the same party, I was proud that Londoners rejected the shameful, divisive and frankly racist Tory campaign, which thankfully fell flat on its back.
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Some of us feel that the retirement phase is a happy time while others dread it. The increase in our life expectancy may affect our feelings about retirement and our retirement plans. The life expectancy in Israel is among the highest in the world: for men it is 80.2 years average (fourth place in the world) and for women it is 84 years average (tenth place in the world). It is no wonder that so many people in Israel who have passed their mid sixties want to work and do work.
Since 2004 the law in Israel is that when a man or a woman becomes 67-years- old, the employer may compel them to retire (women may retire at 62). Some Professors in Israel, who had to retire in accordance with this law, petitioned the Supreme Court in Israel, acting as The High Court of Justice, arguing that granting the legal right to employer to compel an employee to retire at the age of 67 violates the constitutional rights of the employees for dignity and equality. It violates their right for freedom to choose employment, and it discriminates against the old people.
The petitioners wanted to have the employees who reached the retirement age of 67 to decide if they wanted to continue working or not.
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The expanded panel of seven judges in Israel's High Court of Justice recently rejected these days= (on 4-21-16) the petition unanimously. The judges recognized the hurt of an employee who must retire just because of his age and the violation of his constitutional rights, but noted that there are legitimate economic and social interests that should be considered too.
Some of the judges think that the existing law protects the dignity of the employees; it takes into account the state economic needs, promotes intergenerational fairness and avoids greater employment hardships for the younger people. The law protects the employees because when they have functioning difficulties their employment cannot be legally terminated before the age of 67. The absence of such law would weaken the willingness of the employers to provide the employees with tenure. The 2004 Retirement Age Law balances between various players - the employer, the employees and the state as a whole with its economic needs.
At the same time, the judges called on the legislator to look into various options such as raising the retirement age and re-examining it every decade. They expressed understanding of the fact that the bigger the room place the employment occupies in an employee's life, the bigger is his hurt when he is compelled to retire.
One of the petitioners, Prof. Ruth Ben-Yisrael, an Israel Prize Laureate who specializes in labor law, stated in a TV interview that she was compelled to retire and was humiliated when she was at the peak of her research abilities. She further stated that there are many people who live to be 100- years- old, that in the near future life expectancy will be higher, and due to such laws these people do not have working life for 30 years. Blue-collar workers also often want to continue working after the retirement age. Many 80-year-old people are in a good mental and physical shape.
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Western countries eradicated the compulsory retirement age - in the US in 1986, in Australia in 2004, in England in 2011 and in Canada in 2012. In these countries, the employment of older workers in the labor market has grown considerably. There are exceptions to the law, for example, when an employee cannot anymore carry out his work appropriately anymore.
In the US today there are about 72,000 people at the age of 100 or beyond (centenarians). There have been and exist widely publicized advocacy groups for women and for minorities, but I don't believe we've seen something on equal par when it comes to the elderly--although everyone, women and minorities included, ages.We have accompanied the struggle of women and minorities for equality, now we may focus more also on the elderly.
Hillary Clinton threw her support behind D.C. statehood, raising the possibility that well get to hear her say, I love states! Just as we suspected, Alan Graysons feud with Harry Reid wont die quickly. And Donald Trump wont release his tax returns, which is probably the only thing thats distracting Harry Reid from calling some guys in Vegas to fix the Grayson problem. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, May 11th, 2016:
We're having a lot of fun with Snapchat filters.
CONGRESS NOT INTERESTED IN ITS BASIC FUNCTIONS - Matt Fuller: "With Donald Trump dominating the discussion on Capitol Hill, a budget or the lack thereof isnt exactly an in vogue topic. In scrums with members, reporters want to know about Trump. At the House Republican press conference on Wednesday, leadership spent 14 minutes of a press conference talking about opioid legislation moving through the chamber, only to have every question asked of Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) be about Trump.During Republicans regularly scheduled, closed-door meeting on Wednesday, Ryan focused the discussion on finishing a budget. But members couldnt resist talking about Trump." [HuffPost]
JOWLY MEN THROW SHADE - Say my name, say my name / When no one is around you / Say Alan I love you / If you ain't runnin' game. Sam Stein: "A meeting hosted by the Congressional Progressive Caucus devolved into a bitter, uncomfortable airing of grievances after Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) confronted Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) over Reids calls for Grayson to drop out of the Florida Senate race. Reid had ventured over to the House side of the capital at the invitation of the CPC to discuss areas of common concern." [HuffPost]
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The exchange, per an aide:
Grayson says, Do you know who I am?
Reid says, Yeah, I do.
He says, Say my name. I want you to say my name.
Keith [Ellison] interjects at this point and asks what he [Grayson] is doing. If you have a real question ask it?
Grayson says, I havent heard Reid say my name. Say it.
Other members interject and say, If you dont have a point move on.
Grayson takes out a piece of paper, says I want to read the things he has said about me. He goes through this list about the Cayman Islands and hedge funds and says, These are false, and I want to know why you said it.
Reid says, It is true and I want you to lose. [Ibid.]
Grayson responds, via HuffPost's Laura Barron-Lopez: "I wanted to give him a chance to explain himself and he failed." Thanks, Alan!
RYAN, TRUMP NEARING TRUST FALL STAGE - The reverse roleplaying part of their couples therapy would probably result in Trump making derogatory gestures directed at people with widow's peaks. Rachel Bade: "Donald Trump and his allies on Wednesday cranked up their efforts to woo the presumptive Republican nominees Washington critics, even as House Speaker Paul Ryan warned that real GOP unification is going to 'take some effort.' The handful of the New York billionaires endorsers including Reps. Chris Collins (R-N.Y), Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) made a pitch to Ryan about why he should back Trump, according to multiple sources...Trumps campaign, meanwhile, has reached out to the House Freedom Caucus to schedule a meeting with the chambers most ardent conservatives many of whom are also his biggest critics on the Hill. Rep. Scott DesJarlais one of the few Freedom Caucus members who has endorsed Trump and an attendee of the Ryan meeting on Wednesday pitched the idea to the caucus board Tuesday night on behalf of the Trump campaign. The Tennessee Republican is working behind the scenes to coordinate Trumps outreach to lawmakers." [Politico]
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CLINTON BRAVELY SUPPORTS LOW-INTEREST ISSUE THAT WON'T GO ANYWHERE - This will presumably be followed up by a vociferous opposition to pop-ups in Lanier Heights. Aaron C. Davis: "Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton called for making the nations capital the countrys 51st state on Wednesday, promising to be a 'vocal champion' for D.C. statehood. She blasted presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for failing to say whether D.C. residents should have the same voting rights as other Americans. 'In the case of our nations capital, we have an entire populace that is routinely denied a voice in its own democracy ... Washingtonians serve in the military, serve on juries, and pay taxes just like everyone else. And yet, they dont even have a vote in Congress,' Clinton wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Informer, an African American weekly newspaper." [WaPo]
TRUMP HIDING HIS TAX RETURNS IN HIS HAIR, PROBABLY - Igor Bobic: "In a break with recent presidential nominees, Donald Trump said Tuesday he does not plan to release any of his tax returns before the November elections because of an ongoing IRS audit. 'Theres nothing to learn from them,' Trump said in an interview with The Associated Press, further claiming that he does not believe voters are interested in their contents. In late March, Trumps campaign released a letter from his lawyers showing that his finances are indeed under audit." [HuffPost]
Mitt Romney, trolling so hard: "It is disqualifying for a modern-day presidential nominee to refuse to release tax returns to the voters, especially one who has not been subject to public scrutiny in either military or public service. Tax returns provide the public with its sole confirmation of the veracity of a candidate's representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest. Further, while not a likely circumstance, the potential for hidden inappropriate associations with foreign entities, criminal organizations, or other unsavory groups is simply too great a risk to ignore for someone who is seeking to become commander-in-chief." [Facebook]
DELANEY DOWNER - The New Republic has a handy list of some of the most prominent hypocrites who were against Trump before they were for him. Sad!
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PUERTO RICO DEBT BILL DELAYED AGAIN - At this point, any attempt to end the debt crisis is just an Orlando-targeted Democratic GOTV effort. Laura Barron-Lopez: "House lawmakers on Wednesday again delayed the release of legislation to help Puerto Rico restructure its $70 billion in debt. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, had anticipated that the third draft of the bill would be ready Wednesday. But it became clear early in the day that that wasnt going to happen. 'We are making progress, but we are not there yet,' said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Bishops ranking member on the committee. 'The situation in Puerto Rico is dire, but a bill that doesnt solve the problem, or doesnt pass, wont help anyone.' The delay comes on the heels of Treasury Secretary Jack Lews recent trip to Puerto Rico an attempt on his part to put a spotlight on the debt crisis and its effects on the 3.5 million Americans living there. A spokesman for Bishop downplayed the latest holdup, and wouldnt say when the committee plans to introduce the text." [HuffPost]
SLIGHT POWER! SLIGHT POWER! - At what point does a person's complete inability to run a semi-competent campaign impact his electoral chances? Nick Baumann: "Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, missed the legal deadline to remove a white nationalist leader from the list of delegates his campaign submitted in California, state officials said Wednesday. The Trump campaign initially denied reports that it had named William Johnson, a leader of the white nationalist American Freedom Party, as a delegate, then blamed a database error for his inclusion on its delegate list. But documents obtained by Mother Jones (where I used to work) show the candidates team emailed Johnson on Monday afternoon to congratulate him on his selection as a delegate. Johnson told The Huffington Post on Wednesday that he has resigned as a delegate. 'I will not be a delegate,' he wrote in an email. I will not go to the convention. But that decision came too late for the California secretary of states office to remove him from Trumps list." [HuffPost]
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@sppeoples: "Mr. Trump is the real deal," white nationalist William Johnson tells CNN.
UPDATE: Apparently the avowed racist has resigned for the better of the Trump campaign.
This is why Donald Trump happened. Stop writing your piece.
WHITE HOUSE IS VERY SORRY - PoliticiansBringingUnhealthyFoodToReporters.Tumblr.com Jordan Fabian: "The White House extended a sugary olive branch to the press corps on Wednesday after a top aides derisive comments angered members of the media. Chief of staff Denis McDonough, alongside press secretary Josh Earnest, made a rare visit to the press area in the West Wing to drop off a box of doughnuts, according to reports. 'We appreciate what you do,' McDonough told media members, according to CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller. 'You should have brought Ben Rhodes,' a reporter responded. McDonough and Earnest termed their visit 'press appreciation day,' according to a pool reporter in attendance. The White House is seeking to heal the damage done by a New York Times Magazine profile of Ben Rhodes, President Obamas deputy national security adviser. " [The Hill]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some impressive ibexes
TEXAS GOP TO DEBATE SECESSION - Real patriots love America so much they leave the country when someone with a mildly center-left political agenda holds office. Dylan Baddour: "Delegates at state convention for the Republican Party of Texas will have a chance to vote on Texas secession, after a platform item calling for independence passed a special committee on Wednesday morning. It is not expected to pass, but represents a substantial achievement for proponents of a Lone Star nation. The Houston Chronicle previously reported that activists with the Texas Nationalist Movement, a secessionist organization, had helped pass independence resolutions in at least 22 county or district conventions in March...Tanya Robertson, a GOP official with the State Republican Executive committee who has advocated a secession vote before, said the item passed the committee 'overwhelmingly' early Wednesday." [Chronicle]
COMFORT FOOD
- What actually happens during a food coma.
- A brief history of how our highways came to be.
- What percentage of the population is younger than you?
TWITTERAMA
@aedwardslevy: Adjectival Donald
@edzitron: much like PR people, childbirth is unbearable painful,
If you haven't tuned into TV One's brand new hit series, "Rickey Smiley for Real", then it's safe to say you're missing out on a lot of laughter and the best in television right now. The Bobbcat Films-produced docu-series returned on Tuesday, May 10th and airs every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. The show takes a fun but introspective look into the life of nationally syndicated radio personality and comedian, Rickey Smiley who has parlayed his stand-up comedic talents into a massively successful career as a multi-faceted media mogul. The series documents Smiley's hectic life as a single father splitting his time between Atlanta and Birmingham all while trying to balance his demanding duties as the host of his own widely popular radio show and Dish Nation.
After many years of struggling to balance these responsibilities, Smiley is now determined to be more attuned to his personal needs which includes, family, fun and meeting his perfect match. Smiley says there's a lot to look forward to this season especially for families who feel deeply connected to the show. He exclusively spoke to us about diversity in television, faith and what audiences can expect on season two.
"I want everyone to watch this show because its universal, and we all go through the same things in life. The same problems that affects my household affects someone else's household regardless of race or culture. How we resolve our issues through conflict resolution is something everyone can learn from," shared Smiley.
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Throughout this second season, Smiley is focused on trying to keep his kids on the right track while being concerned with the fact that his success may be affecting his family. Perhaps in a cry for attention, Brandon, Malik and Craig each challenge him by finding themselves in a variety of behavioral and legal issues. Smiley also attempts to keep a close watch on his daughters, D'Essence and Aaryn as they navigate through the ups and downs of living life as celebrity seeds. Despite these obstacles, Smiley shared that his unabashed commitment to faith helps him get through a lot of the issues that come his way. He encourages others to also be strong in their faith.
"Faith has been an awesome part of my life and career. We (my family) go to church on Sundays. I'm a part of Full Gospel Ministry and my best friend, Joseph Walker III is the Presiding Bishop. I love the ministry and teaching. It helps me get through it all." Smiley has been been a blessing to many people such as myself through the wisdom that he shares and his work in the community. He is impacting the lives of children, teens and seniors through The Rickey Smiley Foundation, a Nonprofit Organization. "My foundation was born out of my desire to motivate young people to live life to their fullest potential, as well as celebrate the lives of our seniors who are the fabric of the community by putting in place programming that inspires, impacts and motivates the youth," said Smiley.
After tuning into the show last season, I came to my own conclusions of why "Rickey Smiley For Real" is a show that everyone needs to be watching. There are a few obvious yet critical reasons to tune in. First and foremost, the handsome sharp-dressed comedian with European-styled tailored jackets will definitely have you laughing to the point of tears. His radio family, Gary, Da Brat, Headkrack and Juicy all add to the raw unfiltered comedy that engulfs the show. On the opposite end of that spectrum, "Rickey Smiley for Real" isn't just about laughs. This docu-series is an honest exploration of fatherhood in general but precisely "single fatherhood." This is something that resonates with viewers and fathers no matter what their backgrounds are.
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"There's nothing like this on TV. I feel like Rickey Smiley's story is my story," shared 42 year old Robert Smith- a white British single father of three living in Vinings, Georgia. Many diverse viewers are in fact able to connect to Smiley's family dynamics which is beautiful. To extend this thought in its specificity, I must say that "Rickey Smiley for Real" also visually captures the essence and vast dynamics of Black fatherhood all while shattering a myth and social construct that has been obsessively submerged into too many television and film scripts. This myth of the "absentee Black father" intentionally drowns the beauty that encompasses Black fatherhood at its best. Immersing out of this overflow of rhetoric that poisons the mind is a show that embodies the strength, challenges and joys of Black fatherhood. This is why I fell in love with "Rickey Smiley for Real." Lets be honest, Black fatherhood is rarely truthfully represented through the lens that TV One is presenting it. This is refreshing.
Ironically, the current state of television has digressed as it pertains to a greater representation of positive diversity and fatherhood. Once upon a time there was Family Matters, The Cosby Show, The Jeffersons, Sanford & Son, 227, Amen, and A Different World but now those type of programs seem like a different world altogether. We are now so inundated by negative perceptions that you would be hard-pressed to find a prime-time show that you can watch with your entire family without feeling uncomfortable.
Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson, a CBS radio personality and Media Lecturer at NJIT said, "I agree with the importance of having a show like Rickey Smiley for Real on TV right now. For a long time Black roles were marginalized and pigeon-holed to domestic workers and then the Cosby show was introduced which gave an ideal of what a Black family could or should be like. Cliff Huxtable was a Doctor and Entrepreneur and Claire was a mother who was a successful Attorney. The Fresh Prince of Bel-air blurred the lines between that which was the Cosby show and what was also the reality of the hood (West Philly) worldwide. The 90's and Hip Hop music opened the gates for different television and film roles which included the struggles of inner city life but somehow this perspective became the norm that defined Black family life which is inaccurate," explained Robinson.
There is a danger in the single story, as eloquently explained by Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in her Ted Talk. "Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. If we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding."
Like Smiley shared, we are all much more alike than we are different. Telling the wide spectrum of stories that make up different fabrics of our lives contributes to the richness of our multi-cultural society. Not to say that they aren't children growing up without fathers, but to present this as the only Black family narrative on television and in media is factually irresponsible. In addition, we need to be careful where we're getting our stories and content from and perhaps examine the story and background of whose telling that story. Inaccuracies, ignorance & perceptions with prejudice have a way of seeping into our society & re-emerging as facts even without truth. That's not fair. Through "Rickey Smiley for Real" I hope that the conversations and analysis that dominate the theme of Black fatherhood" will shift. Tune into TV One and enjoy the laughs, drama and inspiration!
You can watch Abesi's live interview with Rickey Smiley here. Keep up with Rickey Smiley on facebook and check out his foundation.
It's a well known fact, and thanks to British Prime Minister David Cameron's recent comment to Her Majesty The Queen Nigeria is 'fantastically corrupt'. It's no secret that Nigeria is and continues to be perceived as a corrupt nation. Its leader Muhammed Buhari pretty much has said so in every interview he is asked. The Nigerian President is in London meeting with Britain's Prime Minister to discuss how best to deal with corruption and corrupt individuals in his country. Well, might I make a bold suggestion that you start with one Nduka Obaigbena.
The self-styled media mogul, Mr Obaigbena is a well known character not only in Nigerian circles and cliques but also now thanks to his very dubious business practises, he's also notorious in both U.K. and the U.S. His media assets include newspapers and a TV Network, though a network is too grandiose a word for what currently exists in London. Mr Obaigbena has been successfully sued and is currently being sued in both the U.K. and U.S. by the staff who worked for him for 'unpaid salaries'. Unfortunately and ias is characteristic of the man, he has not paid up despite being told to by the courts.
I, unfortunately, am also one of the victims of his scams. I say scams because Mr Obaigbena gives the impression of running and owning a TV Network (Arise News) and yet behind closed doors, he doesn't pay his bills, hasn't paid many staff in over 18 months, gets kicked off the satellite (non-payment of fees), kicked out of studios and shut down (for not paying fees for the studios)...and on it goes.
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The consequences of not paying his staff are legion. Several have been forced some to sell their homes because they couldn't keep up their mortgage payments, forced some staff to dip into their retirement funds early, some couldn't even claim benefit as the IRS (Inland Revenue Service) had no record of the company's existence. One was even forced to head back home and had to have plane ticket purchased for him because he couldn't afford the roof over his head anymore or food let alone be able to travel to the airport and back to try to jump on a flight....and on it goes. Time and time again the same staff have pleaded, lobbied and called on Obaigbena to come good with their hard earned salaries but to no avail. Their requests have been met with a combination of silence, empty and shallow promises and a phrase that has become the defacto norm for Obaigbena in his responses, 'the money has been transferred'' and yet time and time again no such funds were ever transferred.
In London the former head of Arise News has successfully sued and forced the winding up of the then TV Network as it existed. The High Court recently closed the network down. But rather than pay up the money, as ordered by the courts, instead he has started the same network under a different name. Clearly the law has allowed Mr Obaigbena to make a mockery of justice here in the U.K. In the U.S. his former staff have filed lawsuits against him for non-payment of salaries and yet he claimed in a recent email that 'he was unaware of any such cases'. This despite the fact he recently answered one such case in federal court and the attorneys representing the staff have confirmed to me that, they have jurisdiction over Mr Obaigbena.
To add insult to injury Mr Obaigbena was recently in America staying at the Four Seasons in Vegas, the Beverly Wiltshire in Los Angeles and at his lavish 'penthouse' in Washingto DC. There he surveyed the former studios once occupied by Al Jazeera (owned by the uber gas rich state of Qatar) with a view to resurrecting the now defunct, Arise News USA. Clearly the cost of the studios was lost on Mr Obaigbena let alone the sums of money he was reportedly said to be spending on the new location. Once again, that has not materialised.
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So, can anyone tell me how someone with his track record of ignoring courts, pleas from his former staff of their well-earned salaries, the rule of law, accusations of financial bribery....the list goes on, be allowed to swan around the UK and United States without so much as a care in the World? Why Mr Cameron are the hard earned taxes of British people going to a nation full of corrupt individuals but also, a government who will not reel in individuals like Nduka Obaigbena but instead allow him to carry on with his ill-gotten practises and continue to make a mockery of justice and the British people. If you come to a country you should obey the simplest rule of law. Nduka Obaigbena HAS NOT!
But of course the Buhari government would act when it suited 'their purposes'. Nduka Obaigbena was recently asked by the newly elected Nigerian government to repay money ($3 million) that was given to him by the previous administration of Goodluck Jonathan. Despite Nduka Obaigbena's protestations he was given two weeks in which to pay back the money. He now reportedly has.
So President Buhari if you have any intentions of wiping out corruption in your country then, you should start with individuals like Nduka Obaigbena. Until you do no one in their right mind will ever take you or your government at face value. Your protestations in and out of diplomatic circles will fall on deaf ears. You'll become just another President serving his term without making one jot of difference.
Some rural regions have wine trails. Others have historic trails or art walks. Southwest Louisiana has the Boudin Trail. If you haven't visited this part of cajun country, you may not have tried boudin, one of the most unique food offerings in a state known for its inventive and celebrated culinary scene. Made from pork or sometimes alligator meat or crawfish, boudin is a sausage stuffed with liver, rice, onions, parsley and special (and often secretive) blends of dry spices and seasonings. It's enjoyed for all occasions, and is a staple at area supermarkets, restaurants, and even gas stations.
Locals all have their favorite boudin makers, almost all of whom make the specialty from scratch. The best use primarily local ingredients, from homegrown pork to rice. To determine your own favorite, you'll need to set out on the Boudin Trail. Come hungry!
Just under 30 boudin retailers are listed in the SW Louisiana Boudin Trail, and only the most dedicated taster could try them all. Here's your cheat sheet of favorite stops along the Boudin Trail in and around Lake Charles, LA:
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B&O Kitchen and Grocery: This roadside stop has been in the family since it began 35 years ago, and used to be a one-stop mercantile. Now, they specialize in their family recipes. Visitors can pick up boudin, of course, but can also find guadidaun sandwiches (a pulled pork type meat with boudin ball on the bottom, in a bun), smoked meats, jerky, boudin balls (filled with pepper jack cheese) and cracklins (fried pork rinds with meat still on the skin).
LeBleu's Landing: After a few stops on the Boudin Trail, you'll come to realize that some of the best boudin retailers are in nondescript strip malls or gas stations. Maybe this is how you know it's legit! LeBleu's Landing doesn't look like much from the outside, but step inside, and you'll see hot cracklins waiting for you, as well as meat ranging from gator to headcheese in the coolers, ready to go.
Kat's Kracklins: This stop in Lake Charles serve boudin (of course) but also a traditional plate lunch Monday through Friday. You can also pick up a Po-Boy to go, or, as the name suggests, cracklins.
Where else to eat authentic cajun food:
Restaurants serving authentic cajun food in SW Louisiana can be found in all price ranges. We found great cajun fare in both Lake Charles' top resorts and in roadside dives...and everything in-between. Here's where to go:
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Pat's of Henderson: Pat's is located in an unassuming building by a car lot just off the interstate in Lake Charles. Don't let this dissuade you! Owner Pat is from, you guessed it, Henderson, Louisiana, where her family has been in the cajun cooking game for generations. In fact, our server was the daughter of Pat's head cook, who has been cooking for the family since Pat was a girl. Prepare to leave Pat's well-fed: we recommend the stuffed red snapper (it's stuffed with shrimp and crawfish, of course) and the catfish bites, but the gumbo is out of this world as well! In fact, at Pat's, visitors can take home a starter kit of their own roux, which is made to create their classic gumbo.
T-Boys (on the Creole Nature Trail in Creole, LA): This roadside diner looks a little rough, but the women who run it are friendly and welcoming. We loved the fried fish and shrimp here, and the crab cake po-boy was great, too. They make great fries and onion rings, and all their seafood is locally sourced.
News / National
by Stephen Jakes
Zanu PF youth activist Fidelis Fengu has urged his party to stick to its 2013 election manifesto describing it as a brilliant document."The ZANU PF 2013 Manifesto was a brilliant document," Fengu said. "If we had stuck to it to recapitalise and capacitate all sectors of the national economy using value unlocked from idle assets."Despite its promises to create more than 2,2 million jobs the ruling party has dismally failed to provide any but instead over 30 000 people lost their jobs in the three years the party has been running the country after the 2013 elections."Had we setup the Harare Stock Exchange to compliment the indigenisation and People's Empowerment program we would be somewhere as a nation, good ideas not implemented," Fengu said.
Andrew: What can you tell me about your school that you think the adults in your school don't know?
Big One: To be honest, I think this school should be shut down.
Merritt: Wow that's a bold statement. Why?
Big One: I'm serious. I'm serious, no one here, not the principal, not the students, not the teachers, cares at all. For example, there is a class that I need to have in order to graduate and the teachers that we hired to teach it this year quit after two weeks. So now we have a sub that just sits there and does nothing all day. And I mean, I'm okay with that but I better still be able to graduate.
Funny One: I don't know, I like school. Last year we picked up a snapping turtle on the way to school and let it loose in the girl's bathroom. It was hilarious.
Merritt: For your senior prank?
Funny One: No, just because we wanted to. We knew we wouldn't get in trouble.
US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a rally on May 11, 2016 in Blackwood, New Jersey. / AFP / KENA BETANCUR (Photo credit should read KENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images)
"I strongly argued that we had to change the [welfare] system...I didn't think it was fair that one single mother improvised to find child care and got up early every day to get to work while another stayed home and relied on welfare...The third bill passed by Congress cut off most benefits to legal immigrants, imposed a five-year lifetime limit on federal welfare benefits, and maintained the status quo on monthly benefit limits, leaving the states free to set benefit limits...I agreed that he [Bill] should sign it and worked hard to round up votes for its passage...Weeks after Bill signed the law, Peter Edelman and Mary Jo Bane, another friend and Assistant Secretary at HHS who had worked on welfare reform, resigned in protest." - Hillary Clinton in her 2003 memoir Hard Choices.
Not liking Hillary has nothing to do with her being a woman. It has everything to do with the hypermasculine values she espouses.
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Hillary is that rare combination, even in our grotesque political landscape, of a smooth-talking neoliberal with the worst tendencies of a warrior-neoconservative. You couldn't say that about Bill to the same extent, but there isn't a regime change opportunity, a chemical or conventional arms deal, an escalated aerial (or lately drone) war, or an authoritarian friend in need, that Hillary hasn't liked. If we get her, we will only be setting back feminism by decades, because her policies--like welfare "reform"--have always come packaged under the false rubric of caring for women and children. It's like George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism," the rhetorical cover she needs to enact policies, time after time, that erode women's and children's standing even as she claims to be their steadfast advocate.
It has been disheartening for me to read some female intellectuals, particularly in the New York literary world, rage against any criticism of Hillary. We are told it's only sexism that makes us speak. We'd better check our feminist credentials. Are we, who criticize Hillary, misogynists? Then why do we have kind words for, say, Elizabeth Warren?
We've had similar criticisms of Condoleezza Rice, Sarah Palin, and Carly Fiorina. Fiorina, for me, was the scariest person running for president this cycle; you felt that poor autistic Ben Carson, if you begged and pleaded with him for your life, just might spare you, but not Carly! Carly even made a virtue of dragging Hewlett Packard down into the pits, which is not much different than Hillary's indifference to the erosion that occurred in foreign policy during her tenure as Secretary of State, as she failed to move into a more liberal paradigm, insisting on sanctions and other punitive regimes, in countries like Iran, that disproportionately hurt women. John Kerry, once he took over, quickly picked up the dropped ball and achieved diplomatic success on a range of fronts, including climate change, where Hillary had failed.
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There is a palpable deficit of feminist values in this country's politics, after sixteen dark years of war, surveillance, vigilantism, police controls, economic servitude, and debt. To the extent that we can generalize about feminine and masculine values, the country desperately desires--well, two-thirds of it anyway, those besides Trump and Cruz fans--a reinjection of feminine values. That means compassion, acceptance, and understanding for those left behind by misguided economic policies. That means valuing, once again, as this nation has done for the periods it has shone brightest, imagination, beauty, soft-spokenness, and unexpected generosity.
In the early 1990s Hillary did represent, to some limited symbolic level, a change for the better in terms of feminist values--though this certainly didn't translate into actual policy improvements for women or children or minorities, rather the opposite occurred in policies engineered by the Clintons. Furthermore, one could argue that it was George H. W. Bush who prompted the relative humanization of the 1990s, after the harsh Reagan-era rhetoric, promising a kindler, gentler nation, and aspiring to be the "education president" and "the environmental president." The elder Bush's policies were to the left of either Clinton, when it came to immigration, civil liberties, clean air, disability, and many other issues.
The Clintons went out of their way to pursue--often gratuitously--policies that hurt women and children. The reelection seemed safely in their pockets, yet they went ahead anyway with harmful laws on crime, welfare, telecommunications, immigration, and surveillance, legitimizing right-wing discourse that was to bear full fruit in the following decade. It was the Clintons who set the stage for the massive harm that was to befall women, immigrants, the poor, the elderly, and children once they provided liberal cover to social darwinist ideas that had been swirling around in maniacal think tanks but had not been able to make it through congress.
The Clintons have somehow managed to convince half the sane world that they should be the natural recipients of African-American votes, despite everything they have done, when in power, to erode the economic security of African Americans and other minorities; the false hope raised during the 1990s was that the economic boom, itself a mirage as it turned out, would eventually lead to significant wage gains, but that never happened.
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Poor and minority women and children were drastically hurt by the welfare bill the Clintons so enthusiastically pushed through congress, and likewise all the policies, from trade to student aid, they pursued in the name of fiscal responsibility, cutting the deficit and the debt, and playing by Wall Street's tune. On neoliberal disciplinary virtues (which in Hillary's mouth are twisted in a rhetoric of "empowerment"), she's little different than Milton Friedman, the greatest post-war popularizer of the "free market" mythos. "Personal responsibility," separating the virtuous from those deserving of sanctions, is as much a credo for her as it was for Reagan, as it was for Barry Goldwater.
The global IMF and World Bank consensus, the regime of structural adjustment to make developing countries fall in line with the dictat of bankers in the developed world, reached the peak of its authority during the 1990s (even Reagan hadn't been as effective at legitimizing the paradigm in the developing world). The so-called "Washington consensus" was, and remains, a nihilistic retort to any type of redistributive policies poorer countries might wish to pursue to uplift their people. Is cutting education and health care and utility subsidies, in the name of balancing budgets to the satisfaction of the global banking elite, a feminist value? Yet no one is more responsible than the Clintons for making the withdrawal of government from public services worldwide gospel--at least until some Latin American countries finally started breaking away from the imposition in the 2000s.
Though she still likes to present herself as a fighter for women's and children's rights, let's keep our sights on Hillary's actual record.
When Central American refugee children started streaming over the southern border a couple of years ago, Hillary was quick on the mark to condemn these poor souls to death and oppression. In a 2014 discussion with Christiane Amanpour, she refused to say that she would allow unaccompanied minors fleeing violence to stay in the country, insisting instead on the "message" of deterrence that had to be sent to prevent others from thinking of seeking refuge in the U.S.
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Though Bernie Sanders didn't use this example during the last Democratic debate, when it came time to tighten the screws on bankruptcy laws, making it harder for poor people--often women--to escape the burden of unreasonable debt, Hillary was there to do the big financial institutions' bidding (the law eventually passed congress in 2005).
She has always been late to the scene, and adopts a placating rhetorical stance, on any cutting-edge progressive issue, from gay rights to drug legalization to doing something about mass incarceration, even if her policies (such as the "defense of marriage") have explicitly promoted the regressive attitudes in the first place. She likes to show up, once someone else has done the job, to pick the credit, as she did when she eagerly stood with New York governor Andrew Cuomo for passage of the $15 minimum wage, something she was opposed to in principle at the national level; in any case, incrementally lifting the minimum wage to $15 in different states, in three to five to seven years, is already too little too late.
The huge affection shown for Barack Obama in the first six months of 2008 was because he came across--rather disingenuously as it turned out--as embodying feminist values. He enunciated an ethics of compassion we had sorely missed during the macho Bush years. All that changed as soon as his nomination was secured, and after June 2008 he had no further interest in holding anyone accountable for the vicious hypermasculine deeds of the preceding eight years.
Hillary has always undercut feminism by selectively appropriating hyperfeminine tropes when it suits her politically, undermining the ideal of the equality of men and women, including emotional equality. She calls up the tears when necessary, for example in the 2008 New Hampshire primary, to get sympathy. The entire subtext of her sixteen-year-long positioning for the presidency seems to be, I've paid my dues, especially in terms of the emotional costs, so I must have my turn. This is not a particularly empowering feminist message. Likewise, to keep repeating the one million miles she traveled and the 112 countries she visited as Secretary of State seems a throwback to the prefeminist notion of backbreaking work for its own sake. She was there, she may not have a record to point to, but she sure showed up and worked her butt off to be physically present everywhere!
I desperately wish to see a female president. It happened long ago in many other nations, some of which are not even "developed" countries by our reckoning. Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and many others did it a while ago. Yes, it would be wonderful to have a female president, but it turns out that this time it's Bernie Sanders who comes closest to representing the feminist values of caring, trust, understanding, compassion, peace, and yes--love.
If only, for a single moment in this campaign, Hillary had showed some humanity, a momentary break from her constant triangulating and having it both ways, thinking she's obligated to always give a confusing double-edged answer to every question! She didn't do it on her 2014 book tour either, which told me she had learned nothing from the way her 2008 campaign failed to resonate with voters looking for feminist values.
She is a severely compromised candidate, because the way she articulates her policies jars so badly with what we expect of an ethics of caring. It is jarring in the same way that Condi or Carly were, and it is a particular contrast to Bernie's soft side on full display at rallies and in debates, and to Obama's softer side (at least until the summer of 2008). I don't believe the country will only accept a female president if she's dressed up in patriarchal regalia; this is yet another way Hillary has long been undermining feminism, by making us believe that actual feminist values are simply not palatable for public discourse at the national level.
Eileen Myles (a poet whom I like a lot, and who in fact wrote in praise of my first poetry book), recently wrote a defense of Hillary, because "wouldn't you want...[a vagina] sitting on the chair in the Oval Office?" Indeed, Eileen, I couldn't agree more, and I respect you for your lifelong commitment to equality, but may we please get a vagina that doesn't have a patriarchal mind attached to it?
We who support Sanders are not BernieBros. Please don't demean us by calling us that. It is not about hating Hillary's gender. It is about our own desperate desire for feminist values.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2015. I share my learning that jolted me back on track to a new life. This is my fifth posting.
The sun was shining non-stop during July and August in Stockholm. Facebook was filled with pictures of the perfect holiday. As the initial feeling of shock was calming down, I started to long for carefree days.
Carefree days. What a wonderful taste these two words have.
Carefreeness is a state of mind, but I longed to be carefree on the savanna in Kenya. I have travelled to many wonderful places in the world, but nothing beats waking up in the Masai Mara as the sun rises, putting on a fleece sweater in the chilly tent and drive slowly into the wilderness. Watching a herd of elephants elegantly swaying across the savanna, spending a lazy hour taking photos of a cheetah preparing for a hunt, seeing the curious zebra or hearing the lion roar -- that is pure bliss.
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I used all my energy to make a trip to Kenya happen. I had to travel within the next days in order to be back for the scheduled radiation therapy. The flight to Nairobi would allow me to go straight to the domestic airport. I could arrive in Masai Mara the same day. I felt elated. I was doing this. I would escape from the cancer summer.
But then the noise of scattering glass came from my hallway. My framed zebra photo had literally jumped from the wall and landed on the stone floor. The small photo of an emu antelope was hanging on a corner of its frame. I laughed out load; clearly, I was not supposed to go to Africa! It was of course a bad idea. I was still on anti-bio tics after an infection and my energy level was low.
I could not escape. The self-pity arrived. I had to work hard to leave the dream behind and focus on gratefulness. The medicine for a bad mood is always the same: gratitude and awareness of the now. Africa is still there and I am so lucky because I know I will go there again.
The Wisdom Age
I had entered menopause two years ago and after much reluctance, I decided to take estrogen pills. The heat waves, the insomnia, all menopause related issues immediately disappeared.
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I stopped taking estrogen the moment I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Over night, the problems came back. Only now I had to live with them. Estrogen can never again be an alternative for me.
Thus I needed to change my mental picture of menopause. It was part of me. I could not spend negative energy trying to ignore it or complain about it. I reached out for advice to a range of wonderful women and was introduced to the work of writer and MD Christine Northrup. Her informative and inspirational book 'The Wisdom of Menopause' was a great read and also served as an encyclopedia for later reference.
As a medial doctor, she explains with authority that 'our brains catch fire at menopause' and prepare us for a new stage in life. "Sparked by the hormonal changes that are typical during menopausal transition, a switch goes on that signals change in our temporal lobes, the brain region associated with enhanced intuition."
She also introduced the idea that heat waves can be interpreted as a release of what we no longer need in our lives. This really resonated with me and I now embrace my heath waves.
My Transcendental Meditation teacher Lise referred to being 50 as the 'Wisdom Age', a time when un-finished business will surface to get another chance for closure. She challenged me to discover how I could use my wisdom. How would I work differently? 'How can you do less but achieve more?' she asked. It was very intriguing and I started to understand that menopause was a door opener to a different life for a wise woman. I like the concept of the Wisdom Age.
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A Head-Less Day
In order to become aware of the wisdom, I asked Lise to teach me how to listen to my body. The body gives us messages all the time, but we seldom understand its language.
Lise suggested doing a 'head-less-day'. The idea is to let your body decide all actions, if not for a day, at least for a few hours.
I tried and failed miserably.
-Close your eyes and ask your body: what do you want me to do now?
I waited for three minutes before I decided that my body did not have any opinions whatsoever. I might try this exercise again when my body is less toxic. Morphine and anesthetics might not be ideal for clear, internal communication.
The link between body and mind should get a lot more attention. Consider the many years of scientific research on the effects of TM mediation, like for instance that TM is found to be twice as effective as other techniques to combat stress and anxiety.
I am grateful for both the traditional and the alternative medicine but ideally, these should go hand in hand. I am one whole person, body and soul. It would be good to offer health treatment from this perspective. That would be good for the wise woman.
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The following post is a condensed version of the "vision statement" submitted by the author ahead of the informal dialogues of the UNGA with the candidates for the position of UN Secretary-General.
The United Nations is the institutional expression of the international community and the key actor of effective multilateralism. It is the instrument of member States to confront common challenges, manage shared responsibilities and exercise collective action, in an enduring quest for a peaceful, inclusive and sustainably developed world, in which international law and the dignity and worth of the human person are fully pursued.
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Understanding global mega-trends is crucial. Current dynamics of a geopolitical, demographic, climatic, technological, social and economic nature enhance both threats and opportunities to an unprecedented extent. Exclusion, competition for dwindling resources and shortcomings in governance further contribute to the eruption of violent conflicts. Furthermore, the nature of conflict is changing; terrorism, international organized crime and illicit trafficking pose real threats; and the effects of climate change and the prospect of devastating epidemics loom persistently on the horizon.
The UN is uniquely placed to connect the dots to overcome these challenges. To succeed, it must further strengthen the nexus between peace and security, sustainable development and human rights policies.
The 2015 landmark agreements, notably the Agenda 2030, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, lay out the strategy for action. Achieving these goals has direct implications for peace and the realization of human needs. For many it means survival. With the horizon of 2030 and ensuring no-one is left behind, the watchword is "implementation."
There can be no peace without development and no development without peace; and there can be no peace and sustainable development without respect for human rights. The UN human rights system has a key role to play in strengthening member States' capacity to meet their obligations. The SG should ensure the mainstreaming of human rights across the whole UN system, notably through the Human Rights Up Front initiative, preventing violations and abuses, ensuring accountability and addressing the plight of victims. The UN must be at the forefront of the global movement toward gender equality: promoting women's empowerment and gender mainstreaming.
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It is clear that there is no humanitarian solution to humanitarian problems. The solution is always political. For example, development-cooperation policies must take much greater account of human mobility. Migration should be an option, not a necessity; out of hope, not despair.
The world spends much more energy and resources managing crises than preventing them. Thus, the UN must uphold a strategic commitment to a "culture of prevention."
First, we need a surge in diplomacy for peace. The SG should tirelessly exercise his good offices as an honest broker.
Second, the UN must develop a comprehensive, modern and effective operational peace architecture, encompassing prevention, conflict resolution, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and long-term development -- the "peace continuum," ensuring the primacy of political solutions at all stages.
Third, further investment in capacity and institution-building of States is another central element of prevention.
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Fourth, prevention is also crucial to combating terrorism. Force must be used when necessary and in accordance with the Charter, but let us not forget that it is also a battle for values.
Fifth, values are, indeed, our vital strength against intolerance, violent extremism and radicalization. They are also the best antidote to racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.
The key to further enhancing the UN's effectiveness is more and better coordination -- delivery centered, not process oriented. Breaking silos requires accountability at three levels: systemwide; within each UN institution regarding its mandate; and how each of them contributes to the performance of the system as a whole.
The UN needs also to further develop a strong culture of partnership at three levels: First, increasing cooperation with regional organizations, notably the African Union. Second, strengthening partnerships with international financial institutions. Third, enhancing engagement with civil society and the private sector.
The future of the UN will be determined by its readiness to change and adapt. The SG must permanently promote reform and innovation, focused on delivery and results, for a less bureaucratic and more efficient and field-oriented Organization. The SG must maintain unwavering commitment to transparency, accountability and oversight.
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Moreover, the SG must stand firmly for the reputation of the UN. Leading by example, imposing the highest ethical standards and eradicating cases of exploitative and abusive conduct.
To address substantial gaps in gender equality, the SG should present and implement a road map for gender parity at all levels, with clear benchmarks and timeframes within the next mandate, giving priority to senior staff. A similar commitment is necessary to move consistently into regional equilibrium in senior appointments.
The UN must communicate in ways that everybody understands and use the most modern digital platforms, reaching out to common citizens and making the most of its unique and powerful brand.
Peace, justice, human dignity, tolerance and solidarity are enshrined in the UN Charter and bind us together. In times of insecurity, when people feel uncertain about their future, when anxieties and fears are promoted and exploited by political populists, old-fashioned nationalists or religious fundamentalists, the success of the UN lies in our common commitment to our common values. The UN must be proud of its diversity. A diversity that only enriches the strength of the expression of our common humanity.
This article was written together with Rolf Otto Niederstrasser
Frank- Walter Steinmeier's historic visit to Cuba on June 2015 was the first of a German foreign minister to the island in 25 years. After 1996, Germany's approach to Cuba aligned with the EU's "Common Position." This policy promoted by Spanish president Jose Aznar, unlike the U.S. regime approach towards the island, pushed for a relationship based on market oriented economic development and political openness. In practice due to European lack of cohesive action and vulnerability to U.S. pressures, Cuba's relationship with the EU became dependent on short term and narrow views on human rights improvements.
The 1996 "Common Position" became an obstacle for the EU's goals. Even though this policy was less interventionist than the US embargo, it limited the political spillovers of an active and stable business and security cooperation. Cuba protested arguing that the policy was an infringement to its sovereignty and a subordination of Europe to the U.S. regime change agenda.
By the 2000's Cuba's growing economic and political ties to Venezuela and China made the island less dependent on the EU overall. As a result, EU policy didn't influence Cuba like European diplomats had hoped for. In 1998, Brussels reached an understanding with Washington accepting the implementation of the extraterritoriality of the Helms-Burton law compromising its principle position of a common policy towards Cuba, independent from Washington's pressures. The EU-Cuba relationship worsened from there on. In 2003 the Cuban government imprisoned 75 dissidents on the basis they were agents at the service of the United States' regime change agenda. As a response to the "Black Spring," the EU ended talks and imposed sanctions on Cuba.
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It wasn't until 2010 that relations improved. Cuba released all of the political prisoners. By then, Fidel Castro had retired passing the presidency to his younger brother Raul. In 2009 Louis Michel, European Union's development commissioner visited Cuba to explore a normalization of relations with the island, going beyond the established policy: "I think that if the European Union does not consolidate the normalization of relations with Cuba," Michel said, "the Americans will do so before us."
Germany's position had been until then of bilateral estrangement and lack of communication. Before the reunification of Germany in 1990, the The German Democratic Republic (GDR) had a deep partnership with Cuba. About 30,000 Cubans studied or worked in Germany. After the reunification, the new Germany assumed a clear ideological agenda that repudiated ties with communist countries, including Cuba. Germany in that way missed a good opportunity to establish a fluent commercial and cultural relation with Cuba based on the legacy of a close relation with the GDR.
The years of the SPD-Greens Coalition in government could have been a politically a fertile ground for influencing Cuba from the democratic left but paradoxically the opportunities were wasted. Cuba was an area in which the SPD moved to the right and away from the positive legacy of goodwill developed by Willy Brandt in the seventies and eighties with his Ostpolitik and the special ties with the Latin American left.
But Cuba's allies in Germany did not cease to advocate for a better bilateral ties. The "Die Freundschaftsgesellschaft BRD-Kubae.V" or, "The Friendship Association between Federal Republic of Germany and Cuba" was founded in 1974. It is the oldest organization advocating friendship between both nations. Gunter Pohl, the First chairman of the organization, believes that Germany had finally recognized the importance of normalizing relations with Cuba: "Germany has realized that it could eventually fall behind the activities of the United States at the opening towards Cuba," he said. "After some European Union countries had not fully supported the blockade policy of the United States like Spain, Germany had a certain allegiance to the US tries to further enforce "common position of the European Union.Now Germany's Foreign Ministry has been surprised by the apparently developments since December 2014 and is trying to make up lost ground."
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Die Linke has been the only political force pushing for engagement. In a recent speech, Linke founder Oskar Lafontaine, argued social welfare cuts and hostile foreign policy made him separate from the Social Democrats (SPD) and create a new party. Before retiring from the political world due to health reasons, he visited Cuba in 2008 as part of an initiative by the European Parliament to deepen ties again. In an interview to the Cuban national newspaper Granma Lafontaine said: "We believe that the EU needs to change its policy towards Cuba. Only a good cooperation brings good results."
With Cuban minister of foreign relations Bruno Rodriguez's visit to Germany a new chapter of cooperation seems to open. Steinmeier went to Cuba to normalize ties. Rodriguez went to Germany to expand them. It is clear that Germany and Cuba want to capitalize on this opportunity. Until now, Cuba was in 101st place among the nations Berlin exports to and in 125th place among the nations it imports from. In 2014, German exports to Cuba were worth about EUR 191 million and imports about EUR 33 million. To strengthen ties, the German embassy in Cuba developed cultural and educational micro programs implemented through church-affiliated organizations to help bilateral relations in more recent years.
In 2014 Germany restarted the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service). This initiative facilitated German students to study and research in Cuba and vice versa. According to the German embassy in Havana, 100 scholarships are awarded to German students and 295 to Cubans to study in Germany. The programs vary from investigative research positions for young scientists to Masters in Public Policy and Good Governance. The expansion in the student exchange programs has been accompanied by a growing interest of private enterprises. German airlines like Condor and Lufthansa are increasing their travel schedules to Cuba. In 2014, Germany remained second as Cuba's second largest market of foreign tourists, after Canada, with more than 136,000 visitors, an increase of 20 per cent compared to the previous year.
But overall Germany's policy hasn't really been focused on Cuba like other European countries. Tobias Schwab, director of "Casa Alemania," an organization that supports German companies to do business in Cuba, argues: "German policy has been too focused on U.S. policy. Investments have been overshadowed by this political and cultural agenda."
In May 2015, the German Commerzbank was sentenced to a fine of 1.7 billion US dollars because of transactions with Cuba. According to the U.S. Treasury, Commerzbank agreed to pay $175,500 to settle apparent violations of Cuban asset control regulations that occurred in September 2005. The European Union is at a crossroads. On one hand European countries believe raprochement with the Cuban government will promote peaceful change in Cuba. This position comes with growing engagement with the island in the last years. On the other hand, the Helms Burton laws signed by former U.S. President Clinton in 1996 discourage and sanction further commitment with Cuba's government. For Germany though, Cuba has not been a priority until recently.
In early 2016, 60 German companies in the delegation such as Volkswagen, Siemens and Bosch accompanied Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel on the three-day trip. There, he met with Cuban Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca and other ministers. The two countries reaffirmed the intention to open a liaison office for German companies. Cuban officials presented a portfolio of investment projects they wanted to interest the German companies in, worth a total of $9 billion. This is a substantial increase from prior economic engagement. Germany has been Cuba's fourth-biggest trade partner in Europe. Their bilateral trade was worth $378 million in 2014.
"Fidel promised that the Revolution was for us, for campesinos, rural farmers like me," sighed Sirley Avila, a slender 56-year-old former Cuban community activist, who has lived under Castro leadership her whole life. "Then, look," she said, "this is what happened." From her wheelchair, she extended the stump of her left arm, where her wrist and hand had been amputated. Lifting her trouser-legs, she revealed scars on her knees. Then, defiantly, she raised her remaining hand in the Cuban dissident "L" sign for Libertad, Liberty.
I met Avila on April 2 at Miami's convention center, where I was participating in Amnesty International (AI) USA's annual conference. She was accompanied by John Suarez of the Cuban Democratic Directorate. Avila had come to Miami for rehabilitation arranged by the Directorate. My own past professional experience with rehab services has made me hopeful that she can regain the ability to walk and also learn to use a left-hand prosthesis.
Back in June 2015, at a book talk at a New York City public library, an audience member had asked me about Sirley Avila, the first time I'd ever heard her name. She had been attacked on May 24. I'd tried to find out more, but reliable information from Cuba is not easy to obtain. Now, less than one year later, here she was, sitting with me and Gabriele Stein, a fellow human rights volunteer from Germany, telling us her story in Spanish, which I translated for Gabriele.
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Avila told us she lives alone on a little farm with fruit trees located outside Las Tunas, a small city in central-eastern Cuba. From 2005 to 2013, she was elected three times by her community as an unpaid delegate to Poder Popular, an official legislative body, half of whose members are elected locally. In 2010, the region's rural school was closed because it had only a few pupils. Avila protested that meant children had to walk too far, up to 12 km., but the school remained closed, although she was still reelected to her position. After continually being thwarted on the school issue, two years after its closing, on Sept. 8, 2012, Avila took a fateful step, speaking openly about her frustrations on Radio Marti. She was immediately labeled a mercenary, but no charges were brought against her and the community continued its support. She then joined UNPACU, Union Patriotica de Cuba, an opposition group, and participated in hunger strikes in solidarity with two political prisoners, Luis Enrique Lozada and Angel Yunier, hunger strikes each lasting more than three weeks.
In December 2013, after a few days' absence to tend to her elderly mother with Parkinson's, Avila returned home to find her dogs and other animals all dead, apparently poisoned. The interior of her home had also been vandalized, with her bed set on fire and the cords cut to her refrigerator and television set with their motors short-circuited and burned out. (In Cuba, appliances are very expensive and hard to replace.) Then, she found her well had been poisoned after hundreds of pounds of yucca had been dumped inside and had decomposed. It took her a full two months with the help of sympathetic neighbors to remove it and restore the water quality. All that proved an ominous warning; the worst was yet to come.
Avila had dared to report the damage to her home and property to the police, accusing state security of being behind the attacks against her. Meanwhile, her neighbors remained steadfastly loyal, asking her to continue to represent them, but, instead, her district was eliminated and apportioned among other districts. In February 2014, when the long-closed school was finally reopened, community members clamored to have her reinstated and the law allowed for a protest by 25% of voters. She went to Havana and met with activist Elizardo Sanchez's brother, Gerardo, to discuss this possibility.
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One evening, after Avila had returned home, a young woman friend, Yunisledy Lopez, called to warn her about plans to kill her, but, soon after, Lopez herself was found murdered.
On May 24, 2015, a couple Avila had hired to help her out on the farm, Osmany Carrion and Mariela Hidalgo, suddenly turned on her and viciously assaulted her. Wielding a machete, Carrion slashed her shoulder, collarbone, and knees and, as she raised her arm to shield her head from his blows, he sliced off her left wrist and hand. His wife then threw the severed hand into the pigsty, contaminating it so it could not be reattached. After that, a judicial hearing was held on the attack, but Avila was not allowed to attend or to submit testimony. She doesn't know what, if anything, happened to Carrion, but she was told that in court, he had accused her of trying to recruit him for dissidence. In September, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights supported Avila's complaint that she was in a "serious and urgent situation."
Surely if the Cuban government did not condone or facilitate the attacks on Avila, it had a duty to protect her -- the universal duty of any government toward citizens acting non-violently and within the law. Yet, it is no secret that brutal actos de repudio, acts of repudiation, are officially encouraged. Some Cubans seem to genuinely relish such invitations to beat up fellow citizens, while others claim only to be reluctantly following orders. At the 2011 party congress (another has just concluded), President Raul Castro issued a call for the expression of righteous wrath against traitors and mercenaries: "It is necessary to make clear that we will never deny our people the right to defend their Revolution. The defense of the independence, of the conquests of socialism, and of our streets and plazas will still be the first duty of every Cuban patriot."
Avila arranged her own trip to Miami, tricking authorities who had blocked her efforts by getting two round-trip flights for herself and her son from Las Tunas to Havana, but having her son return home alone while she boarded a flight to Miami instead. She had already obtained a U.S. visa. She plans to stay in Miami for three months undergoing treatment, fully intending to return home again to her farm, her aging mother, and her two sons, also to rejoin Cuba's peaceful struggle for free expression and association. "We Cubans deserve personal liberty, just like all other human beings," she says. "Yes, I'm still afraid, but unless we are willing to put heart and body on the line, nothing will change for us or for our children. My problem has been that I still enjoyed community support despite all the government's efforts against me and they just couldn't tolerate that."
Avila recovering from injuries
We are in a race against time.
Those were the words of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the recent signing of the historic Paris climate accord. He couldn't be more right. We all have a shared responsibility to prevent climate change from spiraling out of control - and now is the time for the world to come together in this duty.
But let's be clear: That responsibility isn't solely on the shoulders of governments. Businesses must step up to the plate and lead by example. It's in the best interest of not only the planet and the people who live on it, but industry as well - climate change is a very real threat to every sector of business. Take for example the food industry. The heart of the industry - farming and agriculture - is highly affected by climate change. As chief sustainability officer at Mars, Incorporated, I see this firsthand - the farmers in our supply chain are not immune to the realities of climate change. If both industry and government set and follow through on ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction commitments, then we have a chance of limiting global warming to a manageable level. Nearly 90 percent of countries have committed to the Paris Agreement - isn't it time for at least 90 percent of companies to make strong commitments of their own?
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We know today that the best way for business to curb greenhouse gas emissions is by eliminating the use of fossils fuels as an energy source. It's a tall order, but companies around the world are doing just that by setting their own reduction commitments. But in this race against time we need to make progress now. At Mars, we are on track to reach zero GHG emissions in our global operations by 2040. We're not there yet, but as of 2015, we have reduced our GHG emissions by 25 percent.
The path towards carbon-neutral operations isn't easy, but the good news is that it's possible. For years, businesses have struggled with the most efficient and cost-effective ways to reduce emissions. One promising avenue, among others, has been wind energy. Globally, wind is the fastest growing renewable energy type, allowing businesses to capitalize on this abundant natural occurrence to power their operations several times over.
Our own path toward zero GHG emissions includes wind energy. Last year, we collaborated with energy partners to create the Mesquite Creek wind farm in Texas - a facility that generates the equivalent of 100 percent of the electricity required to power our entire U.S. operations. With those learnings in hand, today we've taken the next step on our journey, unveiling a new wind farm in Moy, Scotland, that will generate 100 percent of the electricity needed by Mars' U.K. operations, consisting of 12 sites that employ nearly 4,000 of our 80,000 global Associates. This is thanks in part to Scotland being the windiest country in Europe - a natural home for investments in such renewable energy.
Collaboration is the key to a sustainable future. Like Mesquite Creek, the Moy wind farm is a partnership, this time with Eneco, a Dutch sustainable energy supplier. We don't build and operate these wind farms - we're the guaranteed long-term customer that enables our partners to build.
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In Dimestore: A Writer's Life, Lee Smith reflects back on her growing up as a daughter of the Appalachian South and as a fiction writer. While she reports that her fiction finally clicked when she wrote about the life she knew growing up, her non-fiction clearly benefits from the same gaze.
You took some moments from your life and used them to spark fiction. In Dimestore, you told about them straight, a non-fiction. What did you learn about writing from these two approaches? What sets apart fiction from non-fiction to you?
Lee Smith: First let me say that I have been writing fiction all my life and publishing it for 47 years. I've never made a real living, but writing has given me a real good life. So why did I decide to turn to memoir now, after all these years? Quite simply, I got a kick start when my Appalachian hometown was demolished by a flood control project. I was present to witness the destruction of my father's Dimestore, which he owned and ran for 55 years. They blew it up along with 60 other main street stores and homes along the Levisa Fork River. Though I'd long known this was coming, I was devastated! A few years later, as the project continued, my parents' home (the house they built and lived in for 65 years, the only home they ever had) was bulldozed too. This time, I couldn't even be there. I couldn't stand it.. Several local people rescued the front door knocker -- brass, with a big engraved "S" for Smith on it -- and sent it to me here at my home in North Carolina in a handmade box frame. I opened the package and burst into tears and cried for two days. Then I sat down and started writing this nonfiction book, making verbal pictures of all those places that are gone now, and all those dear familiar faces, those people who lived and loved and worked and had their being in that town. I couldn't quit. I just kept writing.
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The difference between using the stuff of your life for fiction and nonfiction is enormous. I find it much easier to tell the truth as I see it in fiction than non-fiction; in fiction, you can rearrange events and facts to prove your point or emphasize your theme or simply make a coherent narrative. Real life is messy -- in fiction, we can create an order, a shape, out of the chaos of our lives. Another problem with nonfiction is that what we believe to be true may not be true at all -- it may be just our own opinion. Often in Dimestore, I found myself writing a a sentence and then saying, "Is this true? Is it?" Who knows? On the other hand, the great -- and most surprising, to me -- gift of writing nonfiction is, quite simply, MEMORY -- and at my age, this is major! The more you write, the more you remember. This is the most precious gift of all.
I found myself agreeing with the lines: "For a writer cannot pick her material any more than she can pick her parents; her material is given to her by circumstances of her birth, by how she first hears language." But then I stopped and played devil's advocate -- is there any exception to this rule? What does it mean for you in practice? How does it impact a writer's ability to write about things or ideas influenced by their later years?
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Lee Smith: Of course there are many, many exceptions to this rule. I'm afraid I was extrapolating from my own experience in that statement. Place has always been paramount for me as a writer simply because I was born into such an extraordinary place which determined its extraordinary culture -- a small coal mining town set deep in the rugged mountains of far southwest Virginia, very near eastern Kentucky, and very remote and isolated in those days. My father owned and ran the Ben Franklin Dimestore on main street; my mother was a home economics teacher at the high school. I was an only child born to them late in life, so I grew up mostly around the older folks in my daddy's big, raucous family. I don't know how many nights I fell asleep on somebody's lap on somebody's porch trying to stay awake long enough to listen to the end of the story being told. Even today, stories come to me in a human voice. All I have to do is write them down. Sometimes it is the voice of the narrator or another character in the story, but often it is the voice of the story itself. I'm really a storyteller instead of a writerly writer.
And since it's true that in a long life of writing, we all DO sooner or later use up our own given material, our childhoods in our families of origin...what then? Again and again, I have turned back to the human voice, using the techniques of oral history, interviewing real people in order to flesh out the lives of my characters, often people totally unlike myself. People love to tell their stories. The world is filled with variety and wonder -- all there waiting for us to ask, things we could never imagine... You just can't make this stuff up! Anne Tyler once said, "I write because I want to have more than one life." Me too.
One of my students recently asked me how to handle objectives family might have to being featured in a memoir. You write about women struggling for "permission to write." What advice would you have for a writer afraid of hurting feelings or facing criticism of their desire to share their personal stories?
Lee Smith: In writing, as in the rest of life, we are always responsible for any pain our actions may cause others But I think each would-be writer has to make this decision personally, on a case-by-case basis. We should never write simply for vengeance, to settle scores, or to purposefully cause pain to living people. However, in writing to set the record straight, or to present our own point of view, or to change something, we may unwittingly step on somebody's toes. This is the risk we take. But it's worth it. Remember this: it's YOUR LIFE. It's your story. You have a right to do this. Your life is precious -- it's important. This is the only life you've got. Records are precious. So go for it!
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I love the image that ends the chapter, Blue Heaven, of the four girls walking and laughing and the one that has "no idea what's going to happen to her in the years to come." Would you have wanted to know what was going to come for you as a woman, mother or writer before it happened? Why or why not?
First, let's talk about math. To date, Bernie Sanders has won over 45 percent of the pledged delegates. That means Sanders needs to win approximately 66 percent of the remaining delegates in order to overtake Clinton before the convention.
It's an uphill climb no doubt, but Sanders has been climbing uphill this entire election cycle. Plus, there are over 800 pledged delegates still up for grabs.
Okay, we've covered the pledged delegates. However, that's only half of the story.
As it stands today, Clinton has 524 superdelegates. Sanders only has 40. The good news if you're a Sanders supporter is that none of these superdelegates have actually voted yet. In fact, none of them will vote until the convention. That's why these superdelegates are often referred to as "unbound." They still have time to decide which candidate they want to support, no matter who they prefer right now.
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In 2008, you might recall that the superdelegates, who had previously pledged their support to Hillary Clinton, switched over to back Barack Obama at the convention. Now you might be thinking, well of course they flipped then; Obama was leading in both pledged delegates and the popular vote. Sanders is leading in neither category.
You'd be absolutely right to think this. After all, Clinton is leading Sanders by 276 pledged delegates and millions of votes. The superdelegates couldn't possibly flip. They're supposed to represent the will of the people, right? They would never go against the popular vote, let alone the pledged delegate count, right? Nope, not right.
Superdelegates are there for one reason: to pick winners. They, as much as the Democratic voters, want to see a Democrat in the White House. They do not want to see Donald Trump step foot in the Oval Office. They will do virtually anything to prevent this. Don't believe me? Why then are Alaskan superdelegates still supporting Clinton even though Sanders won overwhelmingly in that state?
The answer is simple: superdelegates think that Clinton is the best (or at least the most electable) candidate. They aren't listening to the will of the people. They're making their own decisions about what's best for the Democratic Party. Fair enough.
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So isn't it possible that even if Sanders finishes the race behind in both pledged delegates and the popular vote, that superdelegates can still vote for him? Sure. It's possible, but superdelegates have never gone against the popular vote. This would be an unprecedented scenario that would incite deep controversy within the Party.
Nevertheless, we've already discussed the purpose of superdelegates: to pick winners. Fortunately for Sanders, poll after poll shows that he is hands down the strongest general election candidate. The fact that Clinton performs significantly worse than Sanders against Donald Trump is NOT a small detail. The superdelegates are smart, talented politicians. They will absolutely have to consider this fact.
Here are 5 reasons why the superdelegates would indeed switch to Sanders.
1. All recent data confirms that Sanders beats Trump by a larger margin than Clinton. Some will argue that this is because Sanders has not yet been vetted by Republicans, as Clinton has been for years. This may hold some truth but it is only a partial explanation for the polls. The reality is, Sanders matches up far better against Trump because of his record. People like Sanders and Trump because they opposed the war in Iraq. People like Sanders and Trump because they opposed trade deals that sent American jobs overseas. People like Sanders and Trump because they don't take big money from super PACs, Wall Street or the fossil fuel and pharmaceutical industries. On the flipside, people dislike Clinton because she voted to authorize the trillion-dollar war in Iraq, supported disastrous trade deals that cost millions of Americans their jobs and continues to take big money from special interests.
Take a look at that data. The numbers in blue are what you want to pay attention to. Notice how Sanders has much larger numbers than Clinton?
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Clinton: +6.4, +6, +13, -2, +7, +11, +3, +7
Sanders: +13, +11, +16, +12, +15, +10, +14
That's because Sanders is doing much better than Clinton at beating Trump! Sanders is consistently, and I mean every-single-time-consistently beating Trump by double digits. Clinton, on the other hand, barely beats Trump at all. In fact, in one poll, Trump is beating her.
On top of all of that, there's the whole favorability issue. Both Clinton and Trump would set the record for the lowest favorability ratings of any two nominees. Sanders, on the other hand, has record-high favorability ratings. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, let's not forget about the Bernie or Bust movement. A solid subset of Sanders supporters will not under any circumstances vote for any candidate other than Sanders. This is a unique phenomenon. In 2008, there was no Clinton or Bust movement. Had there been one, the superdelegates would have been more inclined to nominate Clinton or at the very least, Obama would have been more likely to select Clinton as his Vice President.
The key data (above) is on the far right. Notice how all of Clinton's numbers are negative? That's because she has negative favorability ratings in every single poll.
Notice, in the data above, how Sanders has mostly positive numbers? That's because he has mostly positive favorability ratings. To be blunt, that means most people don't like Clinton but they do like Sanders.
2. Sanders outperforms Clinton among both independents and Republicans. Sanders' path to the nomination, though narrow, is predicated on the hope that superdelegates will acknowledge his dominance among independents and switch their allegiance over to him. After all, independents can and will vote by the millions in a general election. The general election is not closed like New York's primary. Bernie Sanders is far better positioned for a general election than he was for the Democratic primary, where in many states, independents and Republicans could not vote Democratic.
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3. Sanders is outraising Clinton through the single most historic grassroots fundraising campaign in US history, without the help of an official super PAC. It's going to take not only passion, but also cold hard cash to stop Trump. And Sanders, unlike Clinton, has a seemingly endless source of it: the people.
4. Democrats win when there is a large voter turnout. Sanders dominates the youth vote and can inspire the record turnouts needed to defeat Trump.
5. The Clinton campaign is riddled with scandals and an FBI investigation. Sanders, by contrast, has become known as an honest, trustworthy, authentic candidate whose history is often associated with fighting for Civil Rights. Remember, Sanders was marching with Martin Luther King Jr. while Clinton was campaigning for Barry Goldwater, who opposed the Civil Rights Act.
Okay, let's not get carried away here. There are two sides to every story. Let's now discuss why the superdelegates would not support Sanders over Clinton.
1. Despite the data, many people still think Clinton is the toughest matchup for Trump. She's battletested. She's experienced. She can get the job done. There's also the whole gender component. Clinton of course would be the first woman president in the United States. That's nothing short of historic. And with Trump performing so egregiously among women voters, wouldn't it make sense to nominate a woman to defeat him once and for all?
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2. Clinton is winning! This is perhaps the single most important reason why superdelegates would not support Sanders. It would be the first time in history that superdelegates went against the popular vote. Even if Clinton is suffering embarrassing loss after embarrassing loss, she's still winning the pledged delegates. She's still winning the popular vote. She's still winning with older voters. She's still winning with black and Hispanic voters and Democrats know they need to cash in on the non-white vote in November.
3. This one if often overlooked and highly controversial. Clinton is six years younger than Sanders. This may not sound like a major age difference, but given the fact that women tend to live longer than men, there is reason to believe that Clinton (68) will be around longer than Sanders (74).
4. While Sanders may have a crossover appeal among independents and Republicans, it's Clinton who's more moderate and potentially more likely to attract "stop-Trump" voters positioned in the center of the political divide. The flipside to this argument is that many Trump supporters actually prefer Sanders to Clinton, due to issues related to character, policy and campaign financing.
5. There is no denying what's coming next. Clinton is, by all accounts, the establishment candidate and it's for this reason that the superdelegates, most of whom are also establishment politicians, vehemently support her. It's hard to imagine that these superdelegates are ready to join the political revolution that in certain respects will shake up the Democratic establishment forever. That being said, 2016 is quite frankly the year of the anti-establishment. Trump is surging because people across parties are sick of the same old shit. They want an outsider who can bring about radical change. While Sanders has been in politics for over 30 years (and in that sense, is part of the establishment), he has long been considered an anti-establishment outsider. Why would superdelegates offer up Clinton, a nominee who epitomizes the establishment, when they could instead nominate Sanders, who like Trump, represents the antithesis of everything that millions have grown to resent?
As you see, there are plenty of good reasons for superdelegates to back Sanders. But, there are also plenty of good reasons for them to support Clinton. One might conclude that certain superdelegates will be convinced by Sanders' argument, while others will cling to Clinton's. This would result in certain superdelegates switching to Sanders and others remaining loyal to Clinton. It's unlikely, though possible, that all of the superdelegates will be convinced by either candidate's set of arguments.
Should all 524 superdelegates that are (unofficially) supporting Clinton actually switch over and vote for Sanders, Sanders would win the nomination by a landslide.
Should all 40 superdelegates that are (unofficially) supporting Sanders switch over to Clinton, Clinton would clinch the nomination by an ever larger landslide.
In the end, the Democratic nomination for president will be decided by the superdelegates, which is what makes this primary both fascinating and horrifying.
Neither Sanders nor Clinton will finish the race with enough pledged delegates (2,383) in order to win without the superdelegates pushing them over the top.
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Before you lose hope and say, "It's rigged! Why even vote?" remember that it was the voters who got both Sanders and Clinton in positions where both can still win.
Sanders and Clinton have both earned enough pledged delegates to be within striking distance of the magic number (2,383). Right now, Clinton is much closer to that number, but Sanders is banking on big wins (mostly in California) to catch up.
Really though, it doesn't matter all that much how close Sanders gets to 2,383. After all of this talk about the Republican convention being contested, the irony is, it's the Democratic convention that will be contested and ultimately decided by Party elites.
The deeper irony is the superdelegate system itself. The GOP establishment desperately needs superdelegates in order to stop Donald Trump. But it's the Democratic Party that actually has the superdelegates and it's those superdelegates who will select Trump's opponent and in effect, dictate the future of our Republic.
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Follow the author on Instagram for more coverage of the Sanders campaign.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton defeated then-Senator Obama by over 40 points in the West Virginia primary. But in 2016, it was Bernie Sanders who won big over Clinton.
While Clinton still leads in both pledged delegates and the popular vote, she has not been able to mathematically eliminate the popular Senator from Vermont.
Prior to winning West Virginia, Sanders needed about 66 percent of the remaining pledged delegates in order to surpass Clinton in the pledged delegate category.
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The odds are slim, but if Sanders can close the delegate gap with big wins in California, Oregon and New Jersey, he could successfully make the argument that super delegates should transfer their support over to him.
Can Sanders defy the odds and predictions and catch Clinton in pledged delegates? And even if he does, will the super delegates switch sides, as they did in 2008?
What do you think?
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News / National
by Elita Chikwati
Some unscrupulous businesspeople are taking advantage of cash shortages to dupe unsuspecting farmers at the tobacco auction floors, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board has said.Briefing the Lands, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Committee, TIMB chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said it was disturbing that some people were taking advantage of the cash crisis to dupe farmers.The conmen, said the TIMB, mislead farmers by telling them that they would not be able to withdraw their money after sales due to the prevailing cash shortages. They then offer farmers cash and charge them for the service."The current cash shortages have led to the resurfacing of the cash barons who are going around misleading farmers and conning them of their cash."We have heard some unscrupulous people who solicit for money from farmers. They offer farmers cash in the event that the farmer transfers his money into their bank account. For instance, a farmer may deposit $1 000 into the bank account of the conmen and receive $800 cash," he said.Dr Matibiri said the board was working on ending corruption at the auction floors including removing middlemen.The committee was concerned that some farmers were paying staff at the auction floors to influence prices.Some farmers are made to believe that their tobacco will only fetch a good price on the floors if they bribe the officials.Dr Matibiri said in some cases the middlemen did not even work at the floors but were taking advantage of unsuspecting farmers."While we come up with solutions to the challenges at the floors, the conmen will also be devising other means of deceiving farmers."TIMB will soon introduce the e-marketing system to reduce chances of collusion among buyers. We hope the issue of middlemen will be solved by this method," he said.The committee, which was led by chairman, Mr Christopher Chitindi, toured the TIMB new head office along Gleneagles Road and contract floor Boost Africa.At the TIMB the committee wanted to know why some tobacco floors were decentralised.They were concerned that the farmers selling their crop in Karoi and Mvurwi were likely to realise low profits compared to those in Harare.Dr Matibiri said decentralisation had enabled farmers to reduce costs of transporting the crop to the floors in Harare.He said the farmers were also getting the same prices as those being offered in Harare.The committee also demanded to know how the tobacco levy was going to benefit farmers and why it was not being disbursed.TIMB said the levy had been garnisheed by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) but the board together with other stakeholders could access it after coming up with a proposal of how the money will be used for afforestation program- mes.At Boost Africa, the committee members toured the premises including the auction floors.Boost Africa official Mr Gordon Cannon said the company contracted more than 8 0000 small-scale farmers."Last season we experienced challenges after 20 percent of its growers failed to settle their loans as a result of a bad rainfall season," he said.The committee will continue with the tours this season to assess the challenges affecting tobacco growers.
MATTHEWS: Who do they root for?! Who do they root for?! LEVIN: They don't root for anybody now.
A few years ago, Chris Matthews asked me on Hardball which national politicians white hate groups and hatemongers root for.
Back then they had no one, but today they believe they have Donald Trump. Do they? Mr. Trump, the presumed Republican presidential nominee just had yet another white nationalist extremist re-enter his campaign's orbit, and this is a big deal.
William Johnson, who previously paid for robocalls supportive of Trump, was named and then removed as a Trump delegate from California's 34th Congressional district by the campaign, which cited an error.
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Johnson, a Los Angeles business lawyer, leads the American Freedom Party, a group that advocates for "the political interests of white Americans" and the preservation of the "customs and heritage of the European American people." In the 1980s under a pseudonym he authored the Pace Amendment that sought to strip Latinos, African-Americans and other "non-whites" of their American citizenship and deport them.
The book cover containing the Pace Amendment had endorsements from Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler and white supremacist pastor Dan Gayman, who housed Centennial Park Olympic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph as a teenager. Over the years Johnson has unsuccessfully run for public office, while also aligning with hatemongers and adhering to positions that vigorously demean African-American, Latinos and others.
No person shall be a citizen of the United States unless he is a non-Hispanic white of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth Mongolian, Asian, Asia Minor, Middle Eastern, Semitic, Near Eastern, American Indian, Malay or other non-European or non-white blood, provided that Hispanic whites, defined as anyone with an Hispanic ancestor, may be citizens if, in addition to meeting the aforesaid ascertainable trace and percentage tests, they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe. Only citizens shall have the right and privilege to reside permanently in the United States.
William Johnson, "Pace" Amendment to the Constitution
The Great White Hope?
While most Trump supporters are clearly not hardened white bigot leaders like Johnson, this campaign has been noteworthy in that many of the most prominent contemporary hate group leaders have enthusiastically supported him. Trump's appeal to overt bigotry and stereotyping, embrace of conspiracy theories and disproven "facts" coupled with an amorphous populism and authoritarianism makes him popular not only among "angry" voters, who constitute 97 percent of his supporters. It also attracts those who seek to harness and direct that sincere anger with strong doses of exclusion and bigotry.
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As American Renaissance's Jared Taylor wrote last year: "Donald Trump may be the last hope for a president who would be good for white people." Trump is the first candidate he has ever endorsed and he's not alone. As the New York Times observed, "Mr. Trump's failure to distance himself more sharply from white-power adherents has been minutely observed in online discussion forums."
White supremacists and nationalists now have someone who embraces not only tough policies, but prejudice as a way of selling them, something that many Republican leaders fear will damage the party's moral position as well as its competitiveness in an increasingly diverse society. As 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney stated, "Mr. Trump is directing our anger for less than noble purposes. He creates scapegoats of Muslims and Mexican immigrants." Former Republican rival Linsdey Graham stated, "I think (Trump's) campaigned in opportunistic race-baiting, bigotry (and) xenophobia."
In the past Republican candidates unequivocally rejected overt hate group support, and the feeling was mutual. Trump, however, offers something different, a celebrity brand of can-do Americanism that achieves something hate groups can't: the mainstreaming of key elements of their message. If the haters cannot play in Trump's band, they can certainly supply him some of their sheet music. This fear-based ethno-nationalism also plays out in Europe where terrorism and a changing demographic landscape has enabled divisive, even bigoted candidates to become a political force.
After Decades, a Charismatic Leader From the Outside
Here, Mr. Trump is popular with influential new hatemongers as well as discredited but notorious older ones. Trump's candidacy has given white nationalists a charismatic celebrity endorser that supports not only exclusionary policies, but the negative stereotypes that buoy their cause. Whether or not Trump is actually a salesman or a hatemonger misses the point. His widely cast angry net also yields a catch of enthusiastic and prominent bigots. For years, the hate world could not produce a charismatic leader who could sell their prejudiced wares in the mainstream ideological marketplace, until an outsider emerged to do so.
Those who have enthusiastically support Trumps candidacy reads like a who's who of the extremist hate world:
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Former Klansman and neo-Nazi David Duke; the Daily Stormer's Nazi Andrew Anglin; anti-Semite and Johnson associate Kevin MacDonald; Loyal White Knights Grand Dragon William Quigg (who later "switched" to Hillary Clinton); Stormfront website founder and former Klansman Don Black; the American Renaissance's Jared Taylor and the racist leader of Traditionalist Youth Network Matt Heimbach. Heimbach achieved notoriety for his role in manhandling an African-American female protestor at a Trump rally in Louisville, Kentucky earlier this year.
Will He Pivot Away?
The symbiotic relationship between hate groups who play with fire, and a candidate who inflames is a volatile mix that has repercussions not only for the future of socio-political discourse, but for governance as well. While hate groups have been in overall numerical decline before last year's uptick, their philosophy has achieved a position in mainstream political discourse that has not only motivated the angriest portion of the electorate, but the hatemongers who desperately want access, and now have achieved it, whether it comes tangibly in the form of official recognition or merely philosophically.
In designating a National Reentry Week, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch has cast a light on an often over-looked aspect of the increasingly mainstream conversation on the effects of mass incarceration. "Too often, Americans who have paid their debt to society leave prison only to find that they continue to be punished for past mistakes," Lynch said, going on to identify the difficulties people face in obtaining education, housing, jobs, the ability to vote and, in some jurisdictions, even a driver's license. According to the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, 95% of all people entering state and federal prisons eventually return home.
Lynch's recognition is a historic first step, but we must use this momentum to push beyond the rhetoric toward reforms that will actually ease the immense structural barriers facing people returning from prison. According to the American Bar Association, there are upwards of 47,000 laws or local ordinances that penalize those with criminal justice involvement and restrict their full reintegration into civic and social life. The sheer volume of these restrictions may seem paralyzing to reformers - the Kafkaesque "re-entry" maze is certainly confounding to many people leaving prison - but we must take action.
Today, the two greatest challenges facing returning residents are affordable housing and lack of employment experience and marketable skills. For this reason, many state prisoners are released directly into New York City's shelter system each week, and eventually come to rely on public assistance because of an inability to secure employment.
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To that end, New York State must step up and do something substantial to increase reentry success. Reinstituting the work release program - one that has already been tested, and requires no additional research to justify - would address both issues simultaneously. By allowing people to acquire work experience and accumulate some savings to use toward housing expenses, we can provide them with the basis for successful re-entry.
Prior to the late 90's, all New York State prisoners were work release eligible. If a person was within 24 months of parole eligibility, they could apply for work release. No distinction was drawn between violent versus non-violent charges. According to a March 28, 1994 New York Times article, citing New York State Correctional figures, there were 24,200 work release participants in 1993. By 2010, that number had declined to 1,910. During the 1990s-era hysteria around crime and punishment, then Governor George Pataki, greatly restricted eligibility to the program, by eliminating access to people charged with violent crimes. Ironically, those who may benefit most from the work release experience became excluded--long termers and lifers (people who are parole eligible but have a maximum sentence of life). Subsequently, Governors Eliot Spitzer, David Patterson and Andrew Cuomo have failed to undo these restrictions. This oversight betrays the recent rhetoric around reentry and second chances. National Reentry Week offers an opportunity for Cuomo, and the State Legislature to revisit these decisions and to afford more New York State prisoners access to this valuable, socially responsible program.
How it worked: A person within 24 months of parole eligibility would apply to the Temporary Release Committee at his/her facility seeking admittance into the program. If accepted, they would be relocated to one of various correctional facilities in the community in which they will be eventually paroled and would be required to seek local employment. Once employment was attained, they would report to work each day and return to the facility in the evenings to sleep. Often participants were allowed to stay with pre-approved family members three to four days per week, thus strengthening essential familial and community ties.
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This program was important prior to its restriction and can be again. First, it served as an opportunity for people, many of whom lacked full-time employment prior to going to prison, to gain practical experience in the workforce; it also allowed for the opportunity to save moneys which could go towards housing costs. It provided a transitional, supervised, landing back into society for men and women some of whom having been away for decades. Currently work release is available only to people convicted of non-violent crimes, most of whom are doing much shorter sentences and presumably are removed from the work force and family contact for a shorter period than those charged with crimes of violence.
While it is true that some prisons offer "programs" (DOCCS' term for required activities such as, vocational, therapeutic, educational mandates) that might seem at first glance to be job-readying, few of these actually foster marketable skills. Couple that with the average pay (or incentive, as DOCCS refers to it, least it be accused of labor exploitation) of 12 cents per hour, and, after basic commissary purchases, the average state prisoner has little or nothing left for savings. Most will be released back into society with little more than $40.00 (an amount extracted from any source of income a prisoner receives) and a bus or train ticket back to their home county. Those returning to New York City arrive at Port Authority--one block from the heart of Times Square. Housing options for people returning to their communities after prison are abysmal at best and nonexistent at worst. A criminal record restricts some people from residing in public housing, even with family.
Recidivism is expensive financially and in human cost as well. In 2011, 23,710 people were released from state prison. Of that number, 10,007 eventually returned, or 42.2% (2,041 or 8.6% with new crimes, 7,966 or 33.6% for parole violations). While there is no way to determine the reasons for DOCCS' 33.6% violation rate, those of us in the reentry field are well aware that access to adequate housing and gainful employment represent the two strongest indicators for recidivism. It's far cheaper, more efficient and moral to provide true rehabilitative opportunities for current marketplace job experience. Even with low numbers of participants, work release has shown to be beneficial to people seeking reentry and to local economies. From 1995 to 2010, prisoners participating in work release "have earned $148,079,927.73, paid $40,856,515.59 in Federal, State and Local taxes, and inmates have been forced to save $48,277,965.01," according to DOCCS.
PART 1: FCC's Unhealthy 'Nutritional' Broadband Labels.
An ugly pattern has emerged: Phone, cable, broadband, ISP, and wireless companies, their industry associations, not to mention compromised consumer as well as astroturf groups have been on the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) over the last decade+. In fact, many, like Verizon, have been on the Committee since its inception, 16 years ago. What's wrong with that? (Trick question).
The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee is supposed to be making recommendations about consumer issues.
"The purpose of the Committee is to make recommendations to the Commission regarding consumer issues within the jurisdiction of the Commission and to facilitate the participation of all consumers in proceedings before the Commission."
And in the previous article we discussed the problems with the FCC's unhealthy 'nutritional' broadband labels and pointed out that the "Internet Order" put the FCC's Consumer Advisory Committee in charge of cleaning up the broadband bills and information. Unfortunately, this Committee has been captured. Worse, the problems with the bills are being created by the very companies that somehow ended up on the CONSUMER ADVISORY COMMITTEE, such as Verizon or Centurylink, not to mention the cable companies (represented by the NCTA), and the wireless companies, represented by the CTIA, the wireless association.
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In fact, Verizon, NCTA, CTIA, NAB, (the broadcast association), and Centurylink, (formerly Qwest), have been on the Committee since its inception around 2000, 16 years ago. They are not consumers; they don't represent consumers - i.e., you, dear reader.
It is time they got booted off. But that's only part of the problem.
In 2003-2004, our group, Teletruth, (now dormant) was on the Committee and I watched first hand at how corrupt the process was. We are experts in auditing communications bills and even have forensic auditors that have gotten back tens of millions of dollars in refunds from examining customers' bills and finding mistakes.
We filed multiple times at the FCC, starting in 1998, about the problems with residential and small business bills. In January 2002, we filed detailing, with examples, the following billing overcharges.
"Based upon our research obtained from auditing end user phone bills, we find that consumers remain confused about the charges listed on the phone bill, and it causes serious problems. Non-existent service--charged for a service that doesn't exist.
Double billing--billed twice for the same service.
Bundling of charges that hide billing errors--Truth-in-Billing violations.
Missing or incorrect discounts--impacting 40% of NJ small businesses.
Incorrect one-time installation charges--common problem.
Tariff violations--multiple overcharging based on allowed charges.
And in 2004, thinking that the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee would finally clean up billing, we suggested that there be a forum to examine the issues with communications bills, focusing on Verizon; we had just collected hundreds of bills and found 178 Truth-in-Billing, Truth-in-Advertising violations. Worse, over 50% of the bills had one or more mistakes, from errors in the application of taxes to customers being charged for packages they didn't order. And, we even filed with the FCC to show them where the mistakes were and how to clean up the mess, as well as how to move forward and correcting the deceptive advertising and labeling of charges, not to mention getting rid of the various made up fees.
NOTE: In 2004 and 2008 we worked with the San Diego-based consumer group, UCAN, under a grant from the California Consumer Protection Fund and found that the problems were identical in California with AT&T's bills, including local and long distance phone service as well as broadband/Internet service.
To our surprise, while the Committee agreed to do a forum, they decided we shouldn't present our new findings. So, in 2004, the FCC Consumer Advisory Committee had a panel to discuss 'Truth-in-Billing' issues, meaning the guidelines in place that are supposed to make phone bills readable and accurate. The lawyers for the USTA, a lobbying association for the phone companies, and the CTIA, the lobbying group for the wireless companies (also controlled by what is now AT&T and Verizon) spoke. They both agreed that phone bills were just fine. There was no need for any investigation or fix, and that the Truth-in-Billing 'guidelines' established by the FCC were working.
To read part of the transcript.
Robin Tuttle, Associate Counsel, United States Telecommunications Association, USTA
"USTA does believe that the guidelines are working well. Our members, which are primarily wire line local exchange carriers, are not experiencing many billing problems. But when isolated complaints do arise, they are handled."
Michael Altschul, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Cellular Telecom and Internet Association (CTIA), the wireless association.
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"...we believe that the guidelines and competition have ensured that consumers have the information they need, both to make informed choices and to understand the elements of their bill." "Specifically, as the commission had hoped in the 1999 truth in billing order, the wireless carriers have adopted and implemented a voluntary consumer code that goes beyond the truth in billing rules adopted by the commission."
But, it wasn't simply that Verizon and the other phone and cable companies or their associations were on the Committee and could control and manipulate the agenda. As we uncovered, the "Consumer Committee" was filed with 'astroturf groups' who were funded by the same companies that controlled the bills. In a complaint filed in 2005--(of course, ignored) we wrote:
"To make matters worse, there are also members on the Committee, such as Alliance for Public Technology, (APT) who are essentially funded by the phone companies to look like they represent consumer interests, but are more focused to help the companies' agenda. APT's sponsors are AT&T (then BellSouth, SBC, and SBC California (Pac Bell)), and Verizon. Because of mergers, this represents-- 7 different merged firms including-- Ameritech, Southwestern Bell, Pac Bell and SNET to Bell Atlantic, NYNEX and GTE."
And what was most disturbing was that there was a public affairs firm, Issue Dynamics (IDI), that had been creating/supporting these astroturf groups and had created various 'campaigns' to raise rates, such as the "CALLS" plan, or to block broadband competition, and a host of other nasty things that helped IDI's clients--not the American public.
Issue Dynamics (now Amplify Public Affairs), acted as a 'skunkworks' to coordinate and helped to fund lots of different groups and campaigns, and Sam Simon, its lead architect, was also the chairman of the National Consumer League, which had led the charge on much of this.
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Probably the funniest, saddest part of this was when Sam Simon received an Ethics in Telecommunications award.
DSL Reports headline in 2009 says it all:
"Telecom Industry's Biggest Astroturfer Gives Self 'Ethics' Award And people wonder why telecom policy is broken..."
And it is clear from the broadband nutritional label we featured, that the current CAC isn't going to defend the public and fix what's broken. Where's the audits and investigations into the made up fees, the deceptive advertising, etc. Everyone who pays a communications bill knows something is wrong.
What should happen next is simple.
Every phone, cable, wireless, broadband, ISP and broadcast company and their associations--i.e., all industry, not consumer, members should be removed;
Any group that has financial ties to one of these companies should be removed.
Anyone who has been on the Committee for more than 2 terms should be removed, and
Real consumers should be added via social media to have their voice heard.
And to be very clear; the Committee also has a number of outstanding groups, associations, and individuals who should be commended. But there should be term limits on all members.
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All of These Groups Should be Removed Immediately. This Is an Incomplete List.
First, regardless of anything else, National Consumer League and Consumer Action have been on the Committee since the start - 16 years, and should be removed, with others who have been on the Committee too long, such as Call for Action.
But our take includes the conflict of interest -- the financial ties of the non-profits with the companies that the FCC regulates. How can a group take money continuously from the same companies that are raising rates or have unreadable phone bills, among other egregious acts and then complain about a lack of broadband in rural areas or that the price increases freeze out families from going online, while they claim that they care about low income families or seniors or minorities-- when they still take money from the companies instead of confronting them.
And let me be very clear-- Non-profits can take as much money as they can get from the companies for their work - all power to them. But it is not OK to be on the Committee for over a decade that is supposed to be protecting the Public Interest in communications services and yet harm those they claim to be protecting.
To show you just how sleazy this whole affair can be, check out this filed report (which was removed) on the "CALLS" Education plan--which was a plan to raise your rates - and it worked. It includes a list of the pay offs by the phone companies, all working together, to a myriad of groups--most of whom were on the original FCC CAC 2000-2002, and arranged by Simon and his cabal. For example:
"Under a grant from Verizon and SBC (now AT&T), the National Consumer League developed its website on "Understanding your Phone Bill," which was update following the Sixth Report and Order, July 2000"
"Consumer Action ("CA"): CA is a national nonprofit organization, specializing in providing information in many languages. CA is producing a new publication on reading phone bills funded by AT&T."
And they are still on the Committee, now.
The National Consumer League (NCL)
The NCL is now the Chairman of the CAC. And besides being on the Committee for 16 years, the NCL also has a long history of getting money from the same telecom companies in question;
"The biggest givers to NCL for the years 2000 and 2001 included... Verizon204,667" (see above).
2008: The National Consumers League shares "Verizon Foundation's commitment to educating young consumers through groundbreaking new technologies and looks forward to our continued work with the Foundation."
And in 2015, the Annual Report shows Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast, the National of Broadcasters (NAB), DishTV and Tracfone are all contributors. (There is no information to the extent of their funding for 2015.)
Consumer Action
Consumer Action has also been on the Committee since its inception. Besides the ties with CALLS, over the last few years, AT&T paid Consumer Action to create a new web site and act as a cheerleader to help with AT&T failed IP Transition trials.
"To educate consumers about this transition, Consumer Action has received support from AT&T to create The New Phone Network Project."
Do we think that this group is going to defend the public against AT&T shutting off the copper or raising rates or fixing their phone bills? They have been taking money from the phone companies for at least a decade.
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More Groups with Corporate Ties on the Committee
There are others who receive large sums from AT&T, Verizon et al., such as the American Foundation for the Blind-- AT&T is on the board of trustees and "Verizon Awards $1.5 Million Grant to expand American Foundation for the Blind. We didn't go through the entire 2016 member list to check, but there have been a host of other corporate funded minority, disability and consumer groups over the last decade as members of the CAC.
The Astroturfers
Then we have the "Astroturfers", sometimes referred to as "Sock Puppets". These groups are paid to create biased research for their clients on various topics that are designed to help their clients--not the public.
Digital Policy Institute
"Telecom Sock Puppets: Digital Policy Institute Argues Broadband Speed Less Important than Jobs "Buried on page five of a PDF file describing the work of the Digital Policy Institute, one comes to a section titled, "DPI Impact and Influence." DPI doesn't list their financial supporters or partnerships as such. Instead, they call them "national, collaborative relationships." Who does DPI collaborate with? AT&T
Embarq
National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (rural telco lobbyists)
Verizon
...among others. "Imagine my surprise. But that's not all. Digital Policy Institute's Stuart N. Brotman counts (or counted) among his clients AT&T, Cox Cable, National Cable and Telecommunication Association, and the New England Cable TV Association."
American Consumer Institute
TechDirt writes, 2014
"The American Consumer Institute...recently filed a letter with the FCC opposing reclassification, and argues that ISPs should be left alone. 'The fact is that the broadband market is competitive and becoming more so,' wrote ACI, which claims that consumers currently enjoy 'increased choice.' In January, ACI called the Verizon lawsuit that struck down the original FCC net-neutrality guidelines, 'a victory for consumers.' "Why would a self-professed consumer advocacy group not only oppose moving toward net neutrality but claim that America's broadband market--one of the slowest, most expensive in the industrialized world with fewer than three choices in many parts of the country--is so great? "Perhaps because ACI, like Broadband for America, is financed by an ISP lobby group. Annual tax returns show that a foundation controlled by lobbyists from the cell phone industry, called MyWireless.org, has contributed to ACI since 2010."
Mywireless.org
Because ACI is on this Committee, it is acting as a proxy for the wireless industry's wishes. Sourcewatch writes:
"Mywireless.org describes itself as 'a non-profit consumer advocacy organization giving wireless consumers a powerful and unified voice to protect the freedom, value, security and mobility they enjoy with wireless services." "But the group 'is staffed almost entirely by telecommunications industry executives, drawn mainly from the ranks of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (also known as CTIA-The Wireless Association), a lobbying group for the mobile phone and telecommunications industry headed by Steve Largent,' reported Andy Birkey. The mailing address for the group is the same as CTIA's."
Retirees, Alma Rosales says, are too often overlooked--and too often underestimate themselves--as resources that can inspire and mentor the workforce. Retired people have an abundance of time and a vast range of knowledge waiting to be tapped by someone looking to better themselves. Alma, a former IBM executive, has set out to help students develop their professional skills. At the GlobalMindED conference, Alma will contribute her thoughts to a panel discussion of increasing diversity in the STEM talent pipeline.
Alma has particularly deep insights because of the obstacles she overcame as the first in her family to graduate from college. Growing up, her parents always wanted her to succeed. However, Alma points out that her vision of success and her parents didn't always align: "as much as my parents stressed education, their dream for me was that I achieve success by becoming an office administrative worker. They did not understand my desire to go to college or why I was taking classes like calculus, advanced chemistry, and physics while in high school." When asked if she resented them for not encouraging more, she simply says no, because "In my parent's reality, they could not imagine a world where their daughter could achieve her dreams of college and career success. They were trying to protect me from impossible dreams." Even so, Alma won a scholarship to pursue mathematics at the University of Texas. She went on to receive both a BA and MA from UT-Austin.
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While at UT-Austin she also took electrical engineering and computer classes, simply because "I loved the challenges these classes offered me." This, in addition to her master's degree, led her to land a job at IBM as a computer programmer. Alma says that this didn't immediately lead her to reach her potential. Instead, "When I started working for IBM, my only career goal was to do a good job. I did not have any goals of becoming a leader or a manager, and being an executive someday never entered my mind. My parents' advice was to work hard and not make waves." Additionally, she says that it was a challenge to prove to others that a Latina female could be an asset. While this was a struggle, Alma did her best to turn this into an opportunity for growth. "When walking into meetings, I used to experience an awkward feeling of being the only female there, and knowing that all eyes are on you. Later I realized that I could use this to my advantage, because my comments would be remembered."
Eventually her hard work and drive paid off when she was offered a management position. She accepted the position and while she enjoyed it, she also felt a lot of pressure to succeed. "I was the first female manager in my organization, managing an all-male team. I had no female role models or mentors to call upon. Being the "first", I felt a lot of pressure to succeed - not just for me, but for all the women that would be following in my path someday. If I failed, I believed that I would make it harder for those coming behind me."
Failing was never something she was good at, though, and she points out that "I worked my way up to be an executive in the software supply chain, managing around 300 people in 20 locations around the world." It was during this period that she also developed a passion for helping other develop their professional skills. Alma says that she saw "too many talented professionals get stuck in lower level positions because they lacked the professional skills to succeed." To combat this, she helped develop the Professional Learning Institute at Colorado State University while she was an executive on loan there. A year later, she retired from IBM after 32 years and started RS&Associates (RSA) which focuses on professional skills development for STEM students and professionals.
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Currently, Alma is "once again working part time with CSU, in addition to my continuing work with RSA. I am working with a very talented team from the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department on how to dramatically improve engineering education. One of our goals is to integrate professional skills development into the ECE engineering curriculum."
She maintains that mentorships are important to the success of students stepping out into professional jobs for the first time. "Later in my career, I realized the importance of having a mentor. I encourage all professionals to find a person or people they trust and admire to be their mentor(s). I am proud of companies that have mentoring programs and diversity groups so that no one has to feel that they are figuring it out all on their own anymore." She also has some important advice to women seeking jobs in STEM:
Be bold with your goals. Why shouldn't it be you in the top leadership positions? Why not you?
Be fearless and relentless in pursuing those goals. Have faith in your own ability.
Treat everyone, from the janitor to the CEO, with respect.
Remember that even if you are not the "first" female leader or manager, there will still be many women coming behind you that are counting on you to be a trailblazer. We have yet to break the glass ceiling. Do your best to help shatter that glass for you and all of us.
And, as you achieve success, reach back and help someone else achieve their own goals.
In retirement, Alma has found many ways to personally achieve and help others achieve as well. She has done this with the same knowledge and determination that she brought to IBM for 32 years. "I realize that I am most proud of the initiatives I worked on that inspired others and helped them achieve their own goals. I am proud of the Professional Skills Institute (PLI) that I helped develop for the CSU College of Engineering, and I am very proud of being a co-chair of the Texas Science and Engineering Festival in 2010 and 2011. The PLI is helping CSU engineering students develop their professional skills, and the festival (now run by SXSW EDU) inspires students to pursue STEM studies and careers." Her pride in her work is well-justified. We look forward to the insights she will offer students, professionals and educators at GlobalMindED this year.
The Panama Papers are not just about famous people who use offshore accounts to avoid paying tax. They have also lifted the veil on a secret world in which tax havens are used to shift billions out of the world's poorest countries in Africa.
Look at Democratic Republic of Congo. DRC has enormous mineral wealth -- especially cobalt, copper and diamonds. Yet it has some of the world's worst malnutrition and child mortality, and millions of children who are not at school.
But mining concessions are being sold for much less than their market value, to middle people who resell them at vast profits.
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The money is hidden by being routed through complex networks of offshore companies, many in the British Virgin Islands -- the tax haven that is home to half of the offshore accounts named in the Panama papers.
In 2013, the Africa Progress Panel, chaired by Kofi Annan, and Global Witness, examined five major sales of mining rights in DRC. Each deal involved firms registered in the British Virgin Islands. We estimated the gap between the market value of the concessions and the price paid was at least $1.36 billion -- almost double what the DRC spends each year on health and education combined.
Accounting and banking complexity and secrecy in the British Virgin Islands makes it impossible to work out who are beneficiaries of the companies. Our exercise captured what is likely to be a small share of the overall losses caused by underpricing. We covered only a small subset of deals for the period 2010-2012. Moreover, the pattern of selling mining assets to offshore shell companies has been a consistent theme in the privatization of state assets over more than a decade.
We did not infer from our analysis any illegality on the part of political leaders, public officials or the companies involved in purchasing and selling the concessions. But the size of the losses means the transactions should be investigated to determine whether or not the mining assets sold were knowingly undervalued. Further investigation into the 11.5 million documents leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca may shed light on these deals.
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In the case of the DRC deals we investigated, the complex structures of interlocking offshore companies, commercial secrecy on the part of major mining companies and limited reporting by state companies and government agencies to the DRC's legislators, creates what amounts to a secret world -- a world in which vast fortunes appear to be accumulated at the expense of the DRC's people.
While the opaque practices of some foreign companies and the extensive use of offshore companies facilitate the diversion of public wealth into private bank accounts, weak national governance is also to blame.
Poorly managed state-owned mining companies are part of the problem. All too often their operations are hidden behind opaque financial management systems, with limited legislative oversight, restricted auditing procedures and, in the worst cases, a comprehensive disregard for transparency and accountability. With this lack of transparency comes another concern: the potential for political leaders and public officials to benefit from secret deals made with foreign investors.
Not all off-shore activity is harmful to Africa's interests. But the absence of transparency in some jurisdictions makes it difficult to work out what is legitimate and what is criminal. For African revenue authorities, tracking accounts that pass through jurisdictions such as BVI is almost impossible.
Effective taxation lies at the heart of the social contract between citizens and the state. It is a powerful instrument to reduce inequality, stimulate growth and enhance human development -- for all countries. Tax evasion at any level destroys trust in public institutions. And aggressive tax avoidance does so too -- even though it is not illegal.
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For citizens everywhere, in Africa, in G20 countries and across the globe, current tax practices raise questions about fairness, social justice, and citizenship. Such practices affect the grandma in Manchester as well as the mother in Mali -- but they affect Africa more. What is emerging is a shared agenda, in which different parties have overlapping interests and similar goals.
But more needs to be done. This month the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, will host an anti-corruption summit in London. This is an opportunity for the UK government to show leadership again as they did at the G8 Summit in 2013 at Lough Erne on the issues of tax and transparency.
The London Anti-corruption Summit could galvanize support for the following: First, country by country reporting is crucial to show where profits are shifted by spotting where there is a mismatch between where firms do business and where they are taxed.
Second, UK overseas territories and crown dependencies should follow what the UK has put in place with is a public registers of beneficial owners. This should be extended to trusts and foundations. Ultimately, there is no good reason not to know with whom you are doing business. This secrecy undermines both trust and the efficiency of markets.
Third the IMF is making progress in supporting African countries to strengthen tax policy and administration and enhancing tax information sharing among governments. The IMF could lead on agreeing on how to define, measure and better track illicit flows.
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Last month, at the White House Correspondents Dinner, President Obama jokingly called out noted "journalists" in the room - Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, and Liev Schreiber -- who played investigative reporters in the film Spotlight. The story was about reporters who had the resources and the autonomy "to chase down the truth and hold the powerful accountable," he said. Given the current state of journalism, Obama joked, the film was the best "fantasy" flick since Star Wars.
The film earned its Academy awards through its deft retelling of the story of the investigative reporting team that uncovered the systematic cover-up of sexual abuse of children by priests in the archdiocese of Boston. But Spotlight did not tell the whole story.
The Globe's expose was published in early 2002. Nine months before, in March 2001, the alternative weekly, the Boston Phoenix, published its story, "Cardinal sin," which explored in depth allegations that Cardinal Bernard Law was complicit in the abuse cover-up. Kristen Lombardi wrote that story and seven subsequent stories. The Globe's reporting did not acknowledge her work.
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In the film, her role was consigned to a throw-away line, when Ruffalo dismisses the Phoenix as a weak and under-resourced rival that "nobody reads."
I interviewed Lombardi, now an award-winning investigative reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, for my forthcoming book, Catholic Women Confront Their Church: Stories of Anger and Hope. Lombardi was born and raised Catholic. The abuse scandal not only challenged her as a journalist. It changed her relationship to Catholicism.
In January 2001, both The Globe and the Boston Herald ran small stories on the ongoing lawsuits against one abusive priest, John Geoghan. The stories mentioned that Cardinal Law had been added as a defendant. To Lombardi and her editor, that meant that "this particular attorney must have had some pretty damning evidence to convince a judge to do this."
If Law had been added as a defendant, she said, the implication was that he was "somehow complicit." Her editor asked her to watch and see how the dailies followed up because "if they do nothing, that's kind of a big deal."
Boston's two dailies remained quiet. The Phoenix followed up. Lombardi scanned clips not only from local papers but sought out abuse cases from other parts of the country. As early as 1985, Jason Berry's stories on priestly abuse had been published in the National Catholic Reporter. There had been incidents in Dallas and California.
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She sought out the attorneys involved in the other abuse cases, trying to determine whether a Cardinal had ever been named as a defendant in any of the earlier lawsuits. "They had never heard of it," she said. "This small article in The Globe and Herald was seen elsewhere in the country as big news" by the people pursuing these abuse cases, she said.
So the Phoenix decided to focus on Law, and the institution. "What did the Church know and when?
"It was a very difficult story to report," she said. "Victims were not speaking out." They "felt very beaten down, and unheard and very, very skeptical and wary" both of reporters and of the "general public's response to them." The anger was not primarily directed at Geoghan, but at the church.
Depositions from some parents, she said, were "really chilling." Mothers of abused children complained to senior church officials, and were told that "they would take care of it, not to worry." Later, they would discover that Geoghan had been shuttled to another parish.
Lombardi dreaded calling the priests and monsignors who had lied to those mothers. Although she no longer was a practicing Catholic, disagreeing with the institutional church's position on sexual issues and the role of women, she felt "a real kind of fear," she said. "You don't challenge the church. ... Me asking these challenging, hard-hitting questions of church officials. You're not supposed to do that, right?"
Even though she was convinced she was doing the right thing, "I had some serious dreams about Cardinal Law coming after me, about being sent to hell."
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It was her intense desire to achieve some justice for the victims that kept her going. Over the years, Lombardi has written ground-breaking series on rape victims. But the victims of clergy abuse are different because the abuse was "an attack on their faith, she said. "I felt like they really needed some justice. Maybe I could give it to them by telling their stories."
Lombardi said that those who orchestrated the cover-up were "driven by a desire to protect the church." That motive, she said, is "pretty common" for all institutions, whose first reaction is to "circle the wagons ... and try to put the scandal to rest before it explodes."
But the church is supposed to be better than other institutions, she said. That's what made its conduct "so outrageous." She added that over the years the church amassed a sophisticated understanding of pedophilia. "They knew more about pedophilia than anybody else." But the church chose to ignore that knowledge, and opted to protect its own reputation, rather than the children in its care.
When I interviewed her in early 2013, more than a decade after the Law story, she said she couldn't conceive of ever returning to the church. I contacted Lombardi a few months ago to see if her feelings about Catholicism had changed in light of a somewhat more tolerant church under Pope Francis. "No, my views on the church have not changed since we spoke," she emailed back.
When we spoke two years ago, I speculated that perhaps the value of "bearing witness" and "giving voice to the voiceless," bedrock Christian values, meant that journalism was her new substitute for religious faith.
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HONG KONG -- Donald Trump, now the all-but-certain Republican nominee for President, has been portrayed as bombastic, poorly informed and self-contradictory. And his foreign policy speech, where he laid out his "America First" foreign policy, which commentators described as "contradictory and lacking specifics" did little to persuade people otherwise. Even the editor of The National Interest -- the conservative journal that sponsored the speech -- admitted that he "wasn't converted" by Trump's claims.
But what is Trump actually wrong about, and should Asia worry about him? After all, even if Trump loses in November, his wild statements are indicative of a dangerous trend in American politics that is making the world a more dangerous place. The West's failed strategies of intervention, led by the U.S., must compel Asia -- the world's most culturally diverse region with much of the world's people and economic activity and some of its largest Muslim populations -- to propose its own approach to resolving international crises and reduce global instability.
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Irrespective of who becomes the U.S. President, Asia needs to think carefully about what happens as both America and China's roles in the region inevitably change -- and how an "Asian Doctrine" might need to replace an outdated reliance on an American foreign policy that combines economic domination with peacekeeping and protection through ever-increasing military might.
As America's role changes, Asia and the world need to think of what may replace it.
There are many reasons for a rethink. One is Southeast Asia, which is now becoming a new front for the so-called Islamic State, with Islamic militants in Indonesia, Bangladesh and the Philippines swearing allegiance to the caliphate. This reinforces what many outside the West have long known: that continuous Western interventions, especially in the Middle East, have made the world a more dangerous place. However, much of the Western establishment and foreign policy elite still believe that the use of force is a useful and a morally correct foreign policy option. President Obama's recent interview in The Atlantic shows how entrenched the idea of intervention is in Washington. One can still read commentary after commentary in Western newspapers stressing that the chaos in Syria stems from not intervening enough.
Now enter Donald Trump, who is proving himself skilled at knowing what various sections of the American public want to hear. He wants his audience to believe the U.S. can have the best of both worlds: a foreign policy marked by both isolationism and aggressive intervention in pursuit of American "security." Take his claim that America's allies should pay for the privilege of American protection, even as Trump's America aims to continue to project force unilaterally around the world.
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Commentators have called this view naive, but in doing so, they betray their belief that America's vast global military presence is unequivocally good for both the rest of the world and the U.S. The notion that the situation truly is "win-win" for both America and the world is often challenged outside of the U.S., but also sometimes within Washington, albeit for different reasons. Even President Obama is sometimes skeptical, as revealed by his stated frustration with "free-riders" in his interview in The Atlantic.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses his supporters during a rally at the Charleston Civic Center on May 5, 2016.(Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty)
Then consider the feeling among Trump's supporters that he has the "guts to drop the [nuclear] bomb." Trump's Republican colleagues have used similar language when talking about bombing ISIS, but the use of force isn't a solely Republican obsession. Politico's former CEO in The Wall Street Journal called for a third party that can "exploit the fear factor" around terrorism. And many in Washington predict that Hillary Clinton will be more hawkish than President Obama. As secretary of state, she consistently pushed more aggressive solutions to world problems, encapsulated in her support of the catastrophic military intervention in Libya.
The sentiments that Trump capitalizes on are a dangerous combination of isolationism and hawkishness. It is a view shared by many in the U.S., who want an America that is more willing to use force but less willing to work with, talk to and support other countries -- part of a "with us or against us" approach to foreign policy. Even for those in Asia who have never been fans of America's foreign policy, the status quo suddenly appears better than the frightening alternative that might emerge in November.
But Asia needs to look beyond just the next American election and not simply hope for a better U.S. president. The world's most populous region does not need to be beholden to an American foreign policy and its massive military presence, which combines an offer of protection to friends and "shock and awe" to enemies. To many around the world, the U.S. is increasingly looking like the superpower most at risk of losing its way in today's more complex and interdependent world despite its tremendous contributions in other areas of human endeavor. Donald Trump's "America First" campaign is the most extreme form of a brash political culture that often sees force as a key part of any solution. Regardless of whether you think America's presence in the region has been good or bad in the past, Asian countries should not rely on American might as the foundation for regional order.
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ASEAN has long disapproved of intervention, instead supporting economic engagement and investment.
Against this background, Asian countries should work to remake geopolitics so it is no longer stuck in the post-war narrative where America's overwhelming military supremacy is viewed as the only way to solve the world's problems. As America's role changes, Asia and the world need to think of what may replace it. At the heart of this re-evaluation is the need for Asian countries to push against the West next time it considers military force.
Asian countries must also propose their own approach to conflict resolution: an "Asian Doctrine," the immediate goal of which would be preventing massive instability and loss of life from interventions that provoke new and old resentments, not pursuit of interest or "universal values." The doctrine should be based on the understanding that ousting leaders -- even odious ones -- can create far more harm than good and that, while calls for regime change may make for good sound bites in the West, there is no shortcut to a fair, effective and democratic government.
The common refrain is that Asian countries (with the possible exception of China) are not strong enough economically or militarily to merit a seat at the table. However, economic and military power should not be the metric; instead, Asian countries have a role to play based on their deep experience with these issues, often at the hands of Western colonialism. A "coalition of the wise" must create an "Asian Doctrine" and outline its guiding principles on how it would help resolve some of the world's most pressing crises.
China and ASEAN officials meet in Singapore to discuss the South China Sea during the 11th ASEAN-China Senior Officials' Meeting on April 27. (ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty )
China, India, Japan, Indonesia and other Asian countries must not build an Asian doctrine just for their own sakes but also for the West's as well. Washington and its allies need to be told in no uncertain terms that they will not find support for another destructive military intervention and so should think again. An alternate Asian model can encourage not just better policy in the region but also in the West. The price of inaction is now too high for Asia to remain subservient to Western interests.
The meeting last week in Beijing between Li Keqiang, the Chinese premier, and Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister, is a good sign that cooperation is possible. A meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the G20 in September seems likely and should not be wasted as these two nations are key to a new Asian Doctrine that rewrites the post-World War II narrative.
That narrative allows Americans to often justify America's involvement in Asia by arguing that it forces Asian countries (namely China) to use diplomacy rather than force to solve problems. However, if we accept that the U.S. has encouraged China to make "better" decisions, we should also accept that China has encouraged the U.S. to do the same -- at least in Asia, where Washington has largely pursued dialogue and stability over radical change.
The Singaporean 'problem-solving' approach is more likely to be accepted by countries than the lecturing, sanctions and military threats that often accompany Western diplomacy.
Even in those issues where the U.S. is more actively involved, such as the South China Sea dispute (even though Washington has yet to ratify the Law of the Sea) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Washington has at least tried to build some regional consensus, even if the policy's implicit goal is to contain China. And while there is disagreement about the nature of America's involvement in Asia, it is also clear that it has done better here than in the Middle East, where client states have rarely challenged and often supported a disastrous American push towards intervention. But even this seems to be changing, as Saudi Arabia seeks to be less dependent on oil.
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What Washington and its Western allies often forget is that China's growing engagement in Asia is not viewed in the same way as in the West. Even if Asian countries are uneasy with China's expanding influence, they do not view it with the xenophobia that surrounds many Western discussions about China -- see Trump's recent claim that China is "raping" the U.S. for a particularly egregious example. China is, after all, not new to the region: its influence is centuries old, and significant Chinese populations can be found all over Southeast Asia.
Asian countries do have legitimate concerns about China's new role as a regional and global power but the effort to find a stable and peaceful way to cooperate with a rising China needs to be driven by Asian countries -- not by American geopolitical interests. Regional stability will not be helped by the presence of a non-regional superpower deliberately undermining China's relations with its neighbors.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands before a meeting in Xian, China on May 14, 2015. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty)
An "Asian Doctrine" does not yet exist, at least in any formal capacity, but we can see some evidence that Asian governments approach international affairs differently. ASEAN and the Non-Aligned Movement have long disapproved of intervention, instead supporting economic engagement and investment. Official development aid to countries like Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar has been part of a longstanding Japanese policy of peaceful engagement. Relatively smaller countries like Malaysia and Singapore have gotten involved in more global issues, such as the international force to protect shipping from pirates.
China's global initiatives, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the One Road, One Belt project, should be viewed as an effort to organize an approach to trade, commerce and culture and to ultimately bring peace and prosperity on different organizing principles. China has even appointed its first envoy to the Syrian conflict. These policies of engagement are not perfect but they can be a good starting point for a new Asian approach that rejects large-scale military buildups.
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When continued Western 'go-it-alone' strategies threaten the stability of the world, Asia cannot afford to stay silent any longer.
Finally, Singapore is an example of Asian "soft power." The city-state presents itself as a model for other countries. Singapore does not tell governments to change -- it gives them a path towards that change, as it did with China in the 1980s. Whether or not one agrees with Singaporean governance, this problem-solving approach is one that is more likely to be accepted by countries than the lecturing, sanctions and military threats that often accompany Western diplomacy, much of which is increasingly falling on deaf ears.
These are merely some of the approaches emerging out of Asia. They are not formalized and are sometimes combined with self-interest, but they are a good starting point if we are to create a new doctrine without the wars and instability the West has created in the Middle East and now even in Europe. A confident Asia will find a global audience -- and perhaps a Western audience tired of intervention -- receptive to new ideas. And when continued Western "go-it-alone" strategies threaten the stability of the world, Asia cannot afford to stay silent any longer.
Armenian Parliament Member Physically AttackedFormer AGOS Journalist Garo Paylan, one of three ethnic Armenians in the Turkish Parliament, was attacked last week by members of the ruling AKP government during a session of parliament, a rather surreal occurrence to anyone in the West. The attack occurred after Paylan politely corrected a statement made by an AKP representative regarding the mostly Kurdish HDP party, of which Paylan is a member. The assault would be somewhat similar to 20 or 30 Congressmen in the United States attacking a black member of Congress or a Native American Representative for merely stating that an accused African-American or American Indian had in fact not instigated a particular conflict or crime.
Paylan has been outspoken in the past year about the fate of 1.5 Million Armenians slaughtered in 1915 during the Armenian Genocide and for the need of Turkey's government to atone for the crime and pay restitutions to the Armenian community. Instead, in recent months the Turkish government has seized the largest Armenian Church in Turkey, Surp Giragos in Diyarbakir, reiterated its historically racist "one people, two nation" approach to President Aliyev in Azerbaijan, and lent its support to Baku in its continued military aggression against the Republic of Armenia. More troubling perhaps for its cowardice and lack of moral fiber, it has launched a concerted attack on Paylan himself: within minutes of his statement the AKP parliamentarians involved delivered something like 100 blows to Paylan, an act that mocks the open, democratic society that a small minority in Turkish civil society have for years been trying to establish--with little luck.
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Appeals for Protection go UnheededAppeals by various Armenian and human rights groups in America and elsewhere to cease the attacks on Paylan have so far fallen on deaf ears. Many worry that the outspoken Paylan, who is tall, confident and cuts a dashing figure in his tailored suits, will soon meet the same fate as Hrant Dink, his AGOS colleague who was gunned down in cold blood and in open daylight in Istanbul in 2007. The people who plotted Drink's murder, members of the so-called Turkish deep state, have yet to be prosecuted.
In a letter dated May 6th--and in a remarkable case of what one must assume is willful misrepresentation--Lawrence C. Mandel, the Charge d'Affaires to American Ambassador John Bass in Ankara, responded to an appeal from a leading Armenian-American lobby: "We are aware that Mr. Paylan was one of a number of parliamentarians from several political parties injured during fighting that broke out during a recent debate in parliament on a contentious and politically charged issue." As in the case elsewhere around the world, it seems that the United States is happy to not antagonize an ally--no matter how egregious its human rights violations--and to let the status quo continue undisturbed, until one day it is too late. Mandel continues his letter: "We share your concern for the need for all persons living in Turkey, whatever their religious, ethnic or national origin, to be able to voice their views freely without fear of threat or reprisal (..,and (we) have described in an annual human rights report...) in great detail the United States government's ongoing concerns about patterns of discrimination, hate speech, attacks and other issues faced by all of Turkey's minorities" Charge d'Affaires Mandel and Ambassador Bass may want to recall that in 1915, the then U.S Ambassador to Turkey Henry Morgenthau voiced similar concerns about anti-Armenian killings in Turkey and that did not prevent the Turkish government from slaughtering 3 million Christians and seizing their property and financial holdings. A hundred years later, Erdogan, Davutoglu and their ilk do not seem to give a proverbial fig about Turkey's minorities. A quick look at the video footage below will confirm that the attack was in fact directed at Paylan himself and not at some imagined "group" of parliamentarians, as Mr. Mandel asserts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-B0usFeH20Turkish-Armenian Member of Parliament Garo Paylan being attacked
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Time to Federate Turkey
The Erdogan government is an enemy to democracy and freedom around the world: it has most recently supported DAECH/ISIS with money and arms, raided the offices of the country's leading newspaper Hurriyet and continued to prosecute opposition journalists. It now seeks to lift parliamentary immunity on government representatives so that it can prosecute Kurdish politicians, and continues a bloody war in the country's Southeastern regions against the Kurdish population.
In recent months, there has been a lingering discussion regarding celebrating, advocating, and voicing "Black" issues. As an entrepreneur, I use my platform to showcase social media marketing strategies, branding, and business related topics. However, being a black woman all my life, I also use my platform to bring awareness and change to social issues including racism.
From an early age, it was evident my blackness would sometimes mean I'd be treated unfairly. After years of watching, witnessing, and experiencing racial injustices, I found ways to take the anger, sadness, and disbelief, channeling those feelings into positive, actionable measures.
While attending North Carolina Central University, I organized my first fundraising protest in support of Jena Six. The six black teenagers in Louisiana convicted of beating a white student in 2006 proceeding racial incidents. As the story continued to unfold throughout the media, I rallied together students raising money towards the teenagers legal fees. Back in 2006, I accepted my position as part of improving our society.
As I've excelled in business, I've aligned my brand to include advocating for social issues including our lingering racial divide. This decision has led to many opinions from counterparts stating I should tone down my blackness. I'm told being an outspoken, dreadheaded female sharing topics about race relations would result in my demise.
Instead, "Be more inclusive..."
When I imply #BlackGirlMagic, this statement isn't to divide or diminish another race. When I share how Blacks are more likely to be imprisoned for similar crimes than our white counterparts, this is not to be divisive. We continuously are shown examples of how race has impacted education, health, mental health, socioeconomic, and various others societal issues. These concerns deserve our voice and advocacy.
During my years at my HBCU, I was honored to pursue electives directly related to my ancestry. These courses created opportunities to examine critically how systemic racism affected black people on so many levels of our societal structure. It became evident that a collective approach will be needed to make a significant change.
I made the decision to utilize my platform to bring awareness to social issues and brand myself as the dreadhead boss lady who outspokenly shouts #BlackLivesMatter while supporting causes that lead to positive change. I will not compromise my blackness for financial gain. As we continue to progress as a society, we will soon have no other choice but to address and improve the racial divide.
In the meantime, I will do business with anyone who aligns with my message and mission to bring about positive change for all people, including black people.
News / National
by Staff reporter
THE Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda has blasted some ministers for their "lethargic" response to implementing investment proposals thereby frustrating efforts to rejuvenate the economy.Potential business deals with foreign investors have taken long to be implemented because of a slow response by relevant ministries.Speaking during a seminar on the ease of doing business here last Friday, Adv Mudenda slated some Government officials for frustrating investors."Ambassadors write project proposals on investment, but everywhere where we have gone, they (ambassadors) are frustrated. Indonesia, for example, has written to us saying they wanted 10 tonnes of meat supply from Zimbabwe and 10 tonnes of soya beans per month, but the Ministries of Agriculture and Foreign Affairs have not moved," said Adv Mudenda."We are failing to export to the EU (European Union) at times because of poor communication with embassies here at home."He also said Zimbabwe was yet to sign an investment agreement with Kuwait despite insistence by that country to bring more business here."When we went to Kuwait two weeks after His Excellency (President Mugabe) had presented clarification on that beautiful indigenisation policy, our ambassador there didn't have a copy of the document to clarify indigenisation, a very important statement from his Head of State which answers his questions to investors, no transmission for that," said Adv Mudenda."They are saying they want to bring money here for projects, but they want documents signed to that effect. Up to now no agreement between Zimbabwe and Kuwait has been signed."While Zimbabwe has signed a trade agreement with countries such as Kenya, the Speaker added, it has failed to tap into opportunities offered by the treaty because of lack of follow up engagements by relevant ministries."With Kenya, the trade protocol for the joint commission was signed in 1997 and no meeting has taken place since then, yet Kenya is a huge market for us. Ambassador Kelebert Nkomani has written several times and Dr (Ray) Ndhlukula knows that. Then we say we are rich, but you are not doing the ease of doing business by mere communication," he blasted.Dr Ndhlukula, who is Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, attended the meeting.Adv Mudenda said the legislature was concerned about the pace of economic projects' implementation and challenged policy makers and Government officials to do their work as expected.He also took a swipe at bureaucratic tendencies for stifling progress saying often Government officials do not respond on time to communication sent to them."It's time for a radical paradigm shift from our business as usual approach to business unusual," said Adv Mudenda.He said the ease of doing business reform process, which is spearheaded by the Office of the President and Cabinet, seeks to come up with a long-term strategy for revamping Zimbabwe's economy.Adv Mudenda said the process was aimed at coming up with a clear link on the ease of doing business with Zim-Asset and its targets.Zimbabwe is targeting landing a top 20 position in the global ease of doing business ranking, which will position it for increased investment.
In 2009, Congress passed the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. In this law was a requirement that physicians and hospitals must start using electronic health records (EHR) by 2014. Written into the law were Medicare reimbursement penalties for those who have not converted to the electronic records within the stated time-frame.
The push for electronic health records, at least on the political stage, dates back to the 2004 State of the Union Address of President George W. Bush. In the Address, President Bush pushed for the establishment of the Office of the National Health Information Technology Coordinator and charged the office to develop a "health information technology infrastructure" that "reduces health care costs resulting from inefficiency, medical errors, inappropriate care and incomplete information."
One of the main incentives for establishing the EHR was to reduce health care costs. In fact, there were estimates that the EHR could reduce costs up to 20 percent. Even though the use of electronic records has great potential to improve care and reduce costs, current limitations of the records have prevented these, hoped for benefits, from reaching their potential.
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The Affordable Care Act has emphasized the need for an EHR. Starting in 2015, Medicare payments would be reduced for physicians who have not adopted an electronic health record. Medicare has been directed under the law to look at cost and quality data gleaned from the electronic medical record in order to calculate payments for physicians. Some clinicians have chosen to stay with the paper record and take the loss. I think they are being shortsighted.
First let's look at the potential benefits of an electronic health record.
With an electronic medical record accessible to any health care provider, the records should be available at any time and at any site where care is being provided. There would be no delays in getting the information needed to provide timely and appropriate care. Previous care episodes, including lab values, radiographs, and other diagnostic studies would be available and visible over the internet. Operative notes, discharge and progress notes, consults and other written records would be legible and complete. This data would help prevent duplicative testing and would facilitate coding and accurate billing.
The electronic records would reduce the need to fill out the same forms every time a new provider was seen. It would allow each provider to be warned of any allergies or other critical information that was found during previous episodes of care; view alerts could be programmed to pop up and provide these warnings whenever the record is opened.
With electronic records, patients can communicate with their provider over the internet. Questions can be answered, new symptoms can be described, and appointments can be made or changed without an office visit or a phone call. Some care could be provided in an outpatient setting which would reduce costs. Management of diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and congestive heart failure are examples where there have been significant cost savings by keeping the patient healthy enough to stay out of the emergency rooms and/or being admitted for in-hospital stays for management of disease exacerbations.
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Safeguards can be built into the system to prevent adverse events; preventing a prescription of a drug the patient is allergic to would not be allowed. Of course, a negligent provider may override the warnings, but that would put him at risk for a malpractice suit.
The records have areas where the provider can access search engines to find the latest medical information on disease entities. This would enhance his ability to order the appropriate diagnostic tests and make the appropriate therapeutic decisions. I once had a conversation with the General Counsel of IBM where I stated my concerns that Watson may put physicians out of a job. I was assured that the computer was meant to help us, not to replace our best medical judgment. For those who don't know, Watson is the computer that analyzes data and presents answers based on the quality of found information. It was named after the founder of IBM, Thomas Watson. It can help physicians with diagnoses and treatment options.
The EHR can also remind the physician when certain care is due such as vaccinations and (shudder) colonoscopies.
Electronic records allow for easier referrals to specialists and allows for easier access to follow-up care.
E-prescriptions can be sent electronically to the pharmacy. Scripts would be less likely stolen and mistakes in verbal communication from sound-alike drugs would be minimized.
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Electronic health records make it much easier to perform "data mining" for research and quality assurance endeavors. With the proper software, large groups of patients with various disease processes can be found. Charts, graphs, and costs can be ascertained with a click of a mouse. Various treatment modalities can be compared as to efficacy and cost effectiveness. This would allow advances in care to progress at a quicker pace; the cost of the research would be decreased as data can be gathered quickly by the computer. Previously, this research was tedious; researchers would gather the information one chart at a time. The data would be placed on spread sheets one patient at a time.
Quality data can be quickly found with the EHR. This would allow hospitals to keep an eye on quality measures and would allow for monitoring bodies to quickly identify low outliers so that remedial measures can be instituted in a timely fashion.
As a physician, I recognize the benefits of the EHR. I also recognize, and have experience with, its shortcomings.
For some reason, the different purveyors of the EHR have not made their systems compatible. The premise that the records would be available to all clinicians has not come to pass. The records are great if you stay within the system (like we have in the Veterans Administration), but the records are not accessible by care-givers outside the system.
Perhaps the greatest criticism of the electronic health record is that it interferes with the doctor-patient relationship. Physicians may spend more time looking at the computer screen and typing than looking at and listening to the patient. The doctor-patient relationship is an intimate one. We listen to very private concerns and we lay on the hands to examine the body. This relationship is a property interest that lies with the patient and it can be argued that this interest is protected by the United States Constitution. The government and any other third party should not be allowed to interfere with this relationship. And yet the forms we have to fill out for billing, research, and quality assurance does infringe on this interest.
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Physicians are trained to gather data, think about possible diagnoses and then act using their best medical/surgical judgment. When we use the electronic record, entering data makes us feel like a clerk. If the computer tells us what to do, then how can we function as independent practitioners?
Electronic health records are expensive to put into a practice. They cost between $80 thousand and $100 thousand and it is often necessary to hire a scribe to enter the data. This scribe can be cost effective as it frees up the physician to better communicate with the patients and it allows him to generate extra income. These scribes can cost about $25 thousand a year in salary alone. Will the presence of the scribe infringe on the physician-patient relationship? Will the patient be willing to have another person, a non-physician, in the exam room? How much training and skill must the scribe have in order it ensure that the information entered into the medical record is accurate?
Between the cost of the electronic health record, the computers needed in each exam room to access the record, the scribe costs, and the decrease in reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, and other third party payers, it is not surprising that many private practitioners are leaving their practice and becoming employees of hospitals and medical groups. Becoming an employee of a hospital has its own set of problems.
Overall, I think the EHR is a good thing. I like having the patient's records easily accessible from any computer in the hospital. The records are organized and they are easy to read. I was trained in the late 70's and early 80's when paper records were all there was. Often, the records were lost in the medical records section of the hospital. Even when we could get the records, some of the notes were illegible (doctors are notorious for terrible hand-writing), and often, the data was not up to date.
Despite the obvious benefits, improvements must be made. All EHRs need to be compatible and accessible for all providers. Use of the record must be easier so as not to detract from the physician-patient relationship. The costs must go down for the clinician (or payments must go up). These records are here to stay; we are not going back to paper.
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US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses a campaign rally in Salem, Oregon, May 10, 2016. Sanders beat rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia primary to bolster his argument for remaining in the race. / AFP / Rob Kerr (Photo credit should read ROB KERR/AFP/Getty Images)
"What should Bernie do?" That seems to be the question of the month. Permit me to weigh in.
Here's what we know at this point in the campaign.
For Sanders to have any chance of winning the support of superdelegates he must arrive at the convention with more elected delegates than Hillary. To do that he needs to win about 65 percent of all elected delegates in the remaining electoral contests.
On March 26 Bernie did win three states (Washington, Alaska, Hawaii) by huge margins. They were all caucus states. He has never won a primary in a state where only Democrats are allowed to vote and 5 of the remaining 10 are in states with closed primaries.
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So his chances are infinitesimal. Is this an argument for him to drop out? No. Hillary supporters might recall at this point in the 2008 race she was about the same number of delegates behind Obama as Bernie is behind Hillary and Obama had twice the number of superdelegates pledged to him. Some people did ask her to drop out but she continued to campaign through the primaries.
More importantly Bernie's campaign is offering a narrative we haven't heard for at least two generations from a major political candidate. It is a powerful, vibrant, angry, coherent narrative that forcefully runs at the powerful while defending and nurturing the weak. Bernie is as mad at concentrated corporate power and billionaires as Republicans are at government and the poor.
Bernie should continue to educate America. He needs to stay in not only to gather more delegates, but also to magnetize more young people to the possibilities of politics.
But his campaign should cease any further attacks on Hillary. He can effectively sell his philosophy and program without attacking her. He can emphasize their differences about how to tackle financial concentration without attacking her for being "bought" by Wall Street.
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I am less worried that further attacks will weaken Hillary's support among the general population than I am that it will harden the hostility his supporters have built up toward Hillary during this vigorous campaign.
Bernie's support is strongest among young people. These are voters who have yet to internalize an ethic of voting. Traditionally they are a highly cynical population and cynicism breeds apathy. They could opt out of the election. Indeed, in some polls a quarter of Bernie's voters say they will not vote for Hillary.
Hillary is a weak candidate. She can't win without the support of Bernie's followers. Trump may prove a catastrophe, and his own worst enemy during the campaign, but we can't count on it. Turnout is the key and this year the turnout in Republican primaries has been the highest in over 50 years while the turnout on the Democratic side has been about average.
Bernie needs to make a convincing case to his supporters that in the general election they should support Hillary without thinking they have sold out. They need not be passionate but they do need to be vocal, at least among their friends. When Trump attacks Hillary they shouldn't reflexively respond by saying, "Trump is an idiot but he does have a point."
Bernie can honestly maintain that his differences with Hillary pale into insignificance to the differences between the Democrat and Republican parties. He can argue passionately about the dangers of a one party government. What protections will be left after the furies of a far right wing Republican Party are expressed through the control of all three branches of government, including the Supreme Court?
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Bernie can be very supportive of Hillary's election while at the same time contending that her election is a necessary but not sufficient condition for the dramatic structural changes needed.
In politics there is always a quid pro quo. In return for his support, what should Bernie ask of Hillary?
Certainly Hillary will offer Bernie a prime time slot for his speech at the Convention. I look forward to watching it. That will be an ideal opportunity for Bernie both to present his philosophy while at the same time warmly supporting Hillary and reminding Americans about the urgent importance of this election.
The Sanders campaign will also inevitably influence the platform. That may result in an especially vigorous and perhaps contentious debate, but we should remember that political platforms are usually forgotten the day after the convention closes. Moreover, this platform, like the 2012 Democratic platform, will be devoted largely to touting the accomplishments of Barack Obama. It is not going to include potshots at him.
What Should Bernie Demand from Hillary?
So what should Bernie ask for that are not gimmes?
He should insist that Hillary actively support at least three of his key policies both on the campaign trail and in the White House.
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The first is to declare her passionate opposition to new trade agreements, like the proposed Trans Pacific Pact (TPP). Donald Trump is already focusing on Hillary's support for NAFTA in order to attract workers to his banner. Hillary could respond that NAFTA was largely passed as a result of Republican, not Democrat votes. Democrats in the Senate narrowly voted to support NAFTA by 27-26. The Republicans voted overwhelmingly in favor, 34-12. Democrats in the House of Representatives voted against it decisively 156-102 while Republicans favored it 132-43.
During the campaign, under pressure from Bernie, Hillary did come out in opposition to the TPP. That is not enough. She is on record as consistently supporting controversial trade agreements for more than 20 years, with the exception of her vote against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) in 2005.
Hillary has a reputation for changing positions depending on the political winds. So when she announces her opposition to TPP, as she is now doing more forcefully, she will have to make an especially compelling case of why she has done so.
One way is to publicly confess her change of mind. Perhaps, with a nod toward Bernie's supporters and the general electorate, she could credit Bernie's campaign with educating her about the crucial difference between traditional trade agreements that focus on tariffs and recent trade agreements that undermine sovereignty and establishing a separate global judicial system run by and for corporations. She needs to explain to the electorate that modern trade agreements, starting with NAFTA, have given global corporations the right to sue national governments and the suit is adjudicated by a court largely run by corporate lawyers and guided by a trade document that views any law that impedes the flow of resources as an unfair trade practice, no matter how popular or necessary.
The second policy Bernie should insist Hillary embrace is his proposal for free tuition for public colleges and universities. This has been a centerpiece of his campaign. In fact, Hillary and Bernie are not that far apart on education policy. Hillary supports free community colleges. Both she and Bernie advocate a dedicated fund to help private historical black colleges and universities. Both have similar plans to meet the non-tuition costs of college.
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Hillary proposes a complex system that would allow students to graduate without debt. Free tuition is a much easier concept for students, and their parents, to understand. Moreover, it is an expression of a philosophy that has all but disappeared from American politics. Access to education, like access to health care, are basic rights and requiring means testing for access is degrading and divisive.
For more than 150 years America has viewed public education as a right, accessible to everyone. Public education is still free until the 12 grade. Some state constitutions mandate free public education. Until a little more than a generation ago all community colleges and many public colleges and universities were free. Only in 1976 did the City University of New York begin charging tuition. A New York Times headline on December 28, 1982 apprised its readers of an important new development, "California weighs end of free college education."
Along with her embrace of free tuition Bernie should insist that Hillary also support his financing mechanism: a financial transactions tax imposed at rates of a fraction of a percent on all Wall Street trading. Such a tax could raise $70 billion or more, covering most if not all the cost of free tuition. During the campaign Hillary too has proposed a financial transactions tax, but hers would be imposed only on high frequency trading, would generate trivial amounts of money and cause Wall Street little heartburn. She needs to embrace a tax that Wall Street strenuously opposes.
The third policy Bernie should ask Hillary to support is to end the "carried interest" loophole through executive action. If Hillary becomes President she will likely inherit the same obstructionist Congress as has hamstrung Obama. This last year Obama began to bypass legislative gridlock by exercising the authority of the executive branch. In early April, for example, the Treasury Department made it harder for corporations to engage in "inversions" to avoid taxes by merging with another company domiciled in a country with lower taxes. The rule change had an immediate impact: Pfizer and Allergan called off their proposed $152 billion merger.
Regrettably, Obama's Treasury Department has refused to close the carried interest loophole that has allowed individual hedge fund managers to become billionaires.
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Hedge fund managers are paid in two ways: a management fee of about 2 percent of the assets which is taxed as ordinary income at 39 percent; and 20 percent of the gains the fund makes over time which is taxed at a capital gains rate of 20 percent. Their being able to cut their income taxes in half is a result of a 1993 change in tax rules by the Treasury Department that was not originally intended to apply to hedge funds
Bernie's campaign has focused on Wall Street and the inequality of wealth. Hedge funds are the breeding grounds for extreme inequality. In 2015 the top 25 hedge fund managers "earned" $12 billion. The top manager had an annual income of $1.7 billion.
Bernie should demand that Hillary agree to close the carried interest loophole within her first year in office through executive action. As Gretchen Morgenson reports in the New York Times, a number of tax experts, including Alan J. Wilensky who was Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary in charge of tax policy in the early 1990s,when the carried interest loophole was created, insist it can be closed by administrative action alone.
Doing so, according to Victor Fleischer, law professor at the University of San Diego would generate $150 billion over 10 years. Two thirds of that would come from the financial industry.
Donald Trump has already come out against the carried interest loophole. So has Hillary. But her close financial relationship with Wall Street has made the electorate leery. By promising to bypass Congress and close the loophole herself, something Donald Trump has not done, she could allay those concerns.
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Building a Political Movement From the Bottom Up
It has been clear from the beginning that Bernie's long-term goal is to create a national movement for radical change. His contribution list contains over 5 million names of people from whom he has raised more than $175 million. Roughly 9 million Sanders supporters have organized through various social media outlets. These twin pillars of numbers and money could lay the foundation for a powerful new political and social voice in American.
Since this is a movement that will in part focus on changing the orientation and possibly composition of the Democratic Party, Bernie should insist that Hillary do all she can to stop the Democratic establishment from impeding this movement.
In the 1980s and 1990s the Democratic Party was taken over from within by a new ideology: neoliberalism. British journalist George Monbiot describes this new ideology's principal tenets:
"Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations. It redefines citizens as consumers, whose democratic choices are best exercised by buying and selling, a process that rewards merit and punishes inefficiency. It maintains that "the market" delivers benefits that could never be achieved by planning.
Attempts to limit competition are treated as inimical to liberty. Tax and regulation should be minimised, public services should be privatised. The organisation of labour and collective bargaining by trade unions are portrayed as market distortions that impede the formation of a natural hierarchy of winners and losers. Inequality is recast as virtuous: a reward for utility and a generator of wealth, which trickles down to enrich everyone. Efforts to create a more equal society are both counterproductive and morally corrosive."
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Bernie Sanders has declared his intention to displace neoliberalism as the guiding philosophy of the Democratic Party with a new/old ideology: democratic socialism. A year ago no one would have any idea what that might mean. Most would have been terrified by the very word "socialism." Today, while certainly not mainstream, Bernie's democratic socialism offers a coherent alternative, with its own vocabulary, core principles and a plethora of specific policies intended to maximize the common good,
This new mass movement would hold President Hillary Clinton's feet to the fire while at the same time transforming American from the bottom up. And there is much to be done from the bottom up. Blue cities in red states need to be defended from state legislatures that increasingly are stripping cities and counties of the authority to defend their citizens and businesses. The movement from below must have as a priority changing the composition of state legislatures not only to defend local policymaking but to control the reapportionment of congressional voting districts after the 2020 census.
Many of the issues Bernie has raised during the campaign can be significantly tackled by cities and states. Already millions of people have been affected by the successful movement to persuade states and cities to adopt a $15 minimum wage law as well as policies designed to protect workers' ability to care for their families and themselves.
Climate change. LGBT discrimination. A woman's right to choose. Racial justice. Corporate power. Even campaign finance reform can be significantly (albeit not totally) addressed by state and/or local actions.
State action may also prove crucial in moving toward Bernie's vision of Medicare for All. The Supreme Court decision regarding Obamacare has already made states the battleground for extending health care to low income households. Twenty states have refused to expand Medicaid to millions of families, even though the federal government would have paid 90-100 percent of the additional costs. Their refusal can and should be a key issue for state and local organizers.
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In 2017 states will have the opportunity to dramatically redesign their health system, with significant funding from the federal government. Colorado may be the first to try to do so, depending on the outcome of a single payer initiative that should be on the ballot this November. But even without ballot initiatives state will be able to do much more to lay the infrastructure for a medical system that is more people-oriented and less profit-oriented. Remember that the Canadian national health insurance system began with the election of a brand new political party in one Province that adopted a public insurance program covering hospitals and eventually doctors.
Already a movement infrastructure is operational throughout much of the country. There are formal political parties (e.g. Working Family Party) and grassroots organizers that also are involved in political campaigns (e.g. National Peoples Action). And there are hundreds of effective and determined state and local organizations and coalitions.
The funding of these movements is thin and sporadic. The Democracy Alliance, an organization that requires members to ante up $200,000 to participate, has guided its donors to fund national research and media organizations and national political campaigns. In 2015 the Alliance raised $75 million. Recently they've decided to focus on state politics in part because of the importance of the 2020 reapportionment process.
Former Bernie staffers have created a new PAC, Brand New Congress, which will focus on changing the composition and philosophical orientation of Congress in 2018.
Where will Bernie and his movement fit in? One important role will be to develop a specific platform that could become a litmus test for endorsing political candidates as well as a way of connecting individual issue oriented movements to a larger movement that applies the same principles and values to other issues.
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American hamburger
In this completely wacky political season... I've chosen to write a piece that has nothing whatsoever to do with politics. But some of the terminology is on loan.
For I think it's good to discuss the great, standard bites of American food... and then discuss whether you trust 'em or not. In the list below, you'll see hamburgers at the top, for instance. I know what a great hamburger is. But do I only eat great hamburgers? No. I'm always on the prowl for a bun o' beef. And the hamburger complies, by being an extremely forgiving food. I'm almost always at least satisfied, no sensibilities offended. Therefore, I have a liberal attitude to the hamburgers out there. Look further in the list, and you'll see tacos. No way, Jose. I'm careful about where I eat a taco, because I don't like tacos that don't get it right. I'm much more conservative when it comes to tacos. The higher the "liberal" rating, the more confidence you can have of finding something edible!
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Got it? Let's consider the Big Ten:
HAMBURGERS
What is Great?
For many, it seems, the greatness of a burger has much to do with the toppings. Bosh, say I. If it only took toppings, there'd be many more great burgers. A great hamburger, to me, is, above all, a great beefburger; it should taste like warm, juicy, sweet, buttery beef. The grind has to be just right; like sushi rice, the damned thing has to seem on the verge of falling part, but it miraculously holds together. A perfect one is crusty on the outside, but like a soft pillow on the inside. Seasoning, again, is not even a consideration: a little salt and a little black pepper are only there to heighten the flavor of beef, beef, beef.
The Territory Below Great
I love hamburgers. I eat lots of them...many more then there are great ones out there. How do I do it? Simple: I love hamburgers so much, I simply lower my standards. In lesser hamburgers, the toppings do take on a kind of importance. Let's go to the extreme level: I manage to wolf down a dozen or so Quarter Pounders with Cheese every year! My big McDonald's secret is time of day--if you order the Quarter Pounder with Cheese just at 11AM, as they're starting to serve lunch, your odds of getting a warm, fresh one go up. On a good day, it tastes almost like a real hamburger. But on any day, the pickle-onion-ketchup combo gives me pleasure, as does the special sauce on the Big Mac. The proper way of thinking is this: a real hamburger to a McDonald's hamburger is like lump crabmeat to surimi, or a porterhouse at Peter Luger's to steak-ums. The two things with the same names are just not of the same universe.
LIBERAL RATING: 80
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HOTDOGS
What is Great?
I'm a sausage maniac--and that mania most definitely includes hot dogs, those wonderfully pink, smooth, emulsified inhabitants of wurstworld. Even before I get to the question of quality, however, I must touch base on the great hot dog dichotomy, and my grand preference. There are the dark red, garlicky, all-beef ones (I call 'em the Jewish Garlic Dog), and the much paler, sometimes porky, Oscar-Mayer-kind of sausage (I call 'em Bologna Dogs). Now I recognize full well that "Bologna Dogs" can be grand (especially if you're in the vicinity of Austria). But the greatest dogs, to me, are the "Jewish Garlic Dogs"--oozing with a fatty juice, and ready to spoil your breath for the rest of the night. No matter what kind of dog, the quality that really propels a dog's leap into greatness is...snap! Crunch! A skin audibly cracking as you bite through it.
The Territory Below Great
The concept of the hot dog is so great that I can tolerate many a lesser dog. No skin, like the Nathan's grocery store hot dogs distributed in New York? Way down on the charts...but I eat 'em. The pathetically skinny dogs that bob out of the dirty water of New York pushcarts? Slather on the sauerkraut, or the onions, and I'm good. Even the Oscar-Mayer-type of dog gets through my palate portal: throw it on the grill, top it with sweet relish and mustard, caress it with a squishy bun, and I'm good to go. Even more than hamburgers, I can tolerate hot dogs that aren't great.
LIBERAL RATING: 85
PIZZA
What is Great?
Not everyone will know this, but once you know it you can never forget it: the pizza of Naples, Italy is the greatest pizza in the world. All other pizza pales in comparison. The Naples pizza, sometimes mis-described as "thin," is thin only at the center. The edge, or rim, or cornizione, is a miraculous raised affair, all puffy and brown, crackling on the outside, light as cumulous clouds within. The char of that crust, straight from 2 minutes in a super-hot wood-fired oven, is the main flavor of the pie. A light dice of San Marzano tomatoes and a moderate melt of mozzarella (usually cow's milk, called fiore di latte) play their roles, of course. And the splash of good olive oil helps to create the "swamp" at the center of the pie. It comes together like a Michelangelo, and nothing in the world compares...not even "Naples" pizza in Rome.
The Grandma Pizza at Mariella Pizza in NYC, a pie I can be liberal with! (image: David Rosengarten)
The Territory Below Great
I grew up in New York City, which also has quite a reputation for pizza. And I must admit that your classic New York "slice" is not a bad thing at all, with its much more baked-in flavor. Nor is your now-classic California pizza a bad thing, with its "cheffier" doughs and toppings. Let's face it: the basic idea of baked dough with tomatoes and melted cheese is a great one, and multitudinous good versions make me happy--even if they're not Neapolitan! However, pizza can rather easily be a turn-off--which is why, as you'll see in the rating below, I'm not a "liberal" pizza-eater. Problems easily arise from the crust: very often, across America, it seems more like cake than bread. Sweet, gloppy tomato sauce can wreak havoc, and salty, flavorless melting cheese can also send a 'za to the loser's circle.
LIBERAL RATING: 60
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BBQ
What is Great?
I've often called BBQ "America's greatest contribution to world gastronomy." It's important to point out that "BBQ," to BBQ aficionados, is the opposite of "grilling." It means proteins (almost always meat) cooked low and slow (Texas brisket usually smokes for 16-18 hours!), at a distance from the heat source, and usually involves a good deal of smoke. It's a difficult thing to do right in a restaurant, unless the restaurant's raison d'etre is BBQ; these guys start smoking in the middle of the night, and keep the place open only until the meat runs out (which, in the South, often means mid-afternoon!) The results, at a great BBQ place, are spectacular: smoky meat, dripping with fat and juice, crazy tender. When you've had it, when you know it...there can be no substitutes.
The Territory Below Great
I'm very conservative about BBQ. When it's fake BBQ, not done in the time-honored traditional way, it's nothing. It may be some pork shreds stewed in a pot (standing in for "hand-pulled pork"), or it may be some ribs cooked in the oven until edible (standing in for real, pit-smoked, 6-hour ribs)...but I don't consider this crap BBQ, and will eat it only under duress!
LIBERAL RATING: 30
CHILI
What is Great?
Most folks, when discussing chili, get hung up on all the historical chili questions. Indisputably, it had its origins, on the American range, when cowboys took the old Native-American specialty called pemmican (pounded dried meat, mixed with fat) out of their saddles, and mixed it with another easy portable, dried chilis. A little water and voila!--chili for dinner! Today, the debate rages far and wide. What kind of meat? Chopped or ground? Beans or not? Tomatoes or not? What kind of spices? For me, I'd rather be true to my palate than any doctrinaire reading of American culinary history. I think a chili is great when the flavor is intense: meaty (above all), with a well-balanced "sauce" (not too salty, not too sweet) that is loaded with cumin flavor (not everyone agrees, but I gots to get my cumin!) And that sauce has to be a certain texture: runny, not goopy-thick. That's great chili.
The Territory Below Great
But you know what? Chili is such a terrific gastronomic fundament, a really simple but wonderful idea, that I don't get bent out of shape by chili that's not "great." Most of the time, my ideals are not achieved, but I enjoy a bowl o' chili anyway. On rare occasions it will be too thick, sludgy, or too sweet, or too dusty with raw spices--or sometimes even too "hot," as if actual chilis were the point of chili--but I usually wolf down the average ones as easily as I do the great ones.
LIBERAL RATING: 95
TACOS
What is Great?
Another popular food with a south-of-the-border flavor (or maybe we're talking near-the-border flavor)...has a completely different position from chili on my liberal-conservative continuum. I can eat a lot of different chilis, but I need my tacos to be flirting with "great" before I get interested! This predilection starts with all the horrors always perpetrated in the old days in America in the name of tacos: folded, crunchy tortillas, out of a box, with a space in the middle for some kind of gloppy "chili" or other, topped with some tired shredded lettuce and tasteless shredded cheese. The taco! Well, I never bought into it. I knew, a priori, that there had to be something better. And there was! The real Mexican taco uses soft corn tortillas, smallish, griddled lightly, warming them and slightly greasing them. Savory fillings are added: different variations of pork, beef, and exotic stuff (like lengua, or tongue, my favorite!). Alive vegetable toppings (from lettuces to avocado to cilantro) get hoisted on top, along with salsas and hot sauces. It is a perfect package, the kind of thing you can love whether you're thinking of yourself as a food critic, or just one hungry person.
The Territory Below Great
Happily, we are taco-rich in America today. We live in the food truck age, and the queen dish of food trucks is the authentic taco. But there are also gobs of storefront taco stands throughout our cities; they may look something like Chinese take-out places, but their specialties are so much more authentic and so much more delicious. The newer tacos are consumed by a population that began eating them within the last ten years, when great tacos were already available...so their taco standards are higher!
LIBERAL RATING: 35
SUSHI
What is Great?
Of all items on this list, sushi (and when I say "sushi," I mean sashimi as well) probably has the subtlest standards of greatness. Without a lot of experience, I contend, you can't "know" great sushi--which is why so many Americans find the high, high price of "great" sushi something of a puzzle. They don't get why something that can cost $30 a person costs $300 a person. And it looks sorta the same! Those of us with the good fortune to have logged many sushi-bar hours--particularly in Japan!--do understand the difference (which still doesn't mean we can afford it!) The greatest sushi of my life was served at 6AM, right across the street from the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. It's hard to describe the special magic that that fish had--but it created the impression of being alive in your mouth; it was remarkably vibrant, with a life-force turned into gastronomy. The rice in the nigiri sushi was also amazing--so delicately and perfectly holding together, every grain separate, but every grain also part of the common good.
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Uni at Takashi in NYC (image: David Rosengarten)
The Territory Below Great
Sushi has become a funny category in America, qualitatively speaking. A tiny percentage is truly outstanding...and man, do you pay for it (like an easy $500 a couple for lunch). However, now that sushi has exploded on the American scene, and is available, pre-made at most supermarkets, there's a lot of absolute crap. The fish is dried out. The compacted rice is way too heavy, dense, sometimes sweet. These blobs of California roll or whatever, have no life to them at all. The good news is, there are quite a few very good sushi bars across the country...bars that will cost you only $200 a couple, not $500...that serve very respectable sushi. Look around in your neighborhood for freshness, variety, skill of execution, then anoint one as "your" sushi bar. One of the nice things about sushi bars is that they are consistent at their quality levels!
LIBERAL RATING: 50
CHINESE FOOD
What is Great?
The Chinese restaurant situation in America is an odd one. Once upon a time (say, as recently as the 1960s and early 1970s), "Chinese food" in America meant "Chinese-American" food, that whole cornstarch-thickened universe of chow mein, egg drop soup, egg rolls, spare ribs, and shrimp with lobster sauce. The funny thing is, when it was done well, though the cooking was far from authentic, it could be delicious. The '70s brought a march towards more authentic Chinese food with a great uprising of regional cuisines we hadn't seen before (Sichuan, Hunan, Shanghainese). Early practitioners copied their sources carefully, and at a high level of quality; if no one knew, say, Hunan cuisine, the new Hunan restaurants knew that they had better be good (in fact, Uncle Tai's Hunan Yuan garnered four stars from the New York Times in 1978!). Chinese-American food became old-fashioned, and began its quality nosedive...though people were still ordering it like crazy on Main Street. Unfortunately, Sichuan restaurants became as common as chop suey parlors used to be, and the quality plummeted there too with the decades. Today, if you know how to find 'em, there are amazing Chinese restaurants in America, especially in New York City's "other" Chinatowns, in Monterey Park, CA (and other nearby East L.A. suburbs), in Houston (which has a noble tradition of mainland chefs). America is indeed swamped with Chinese restaurants, from coast-to-coast--but, unfortunately, most of them are just grinding out undistinguished, copycat take-out food. The real hallmarks of great Chinese cooking--freshness, lightness (in the case of Cantonese), balance, vast technical precision (like the way a good chef creates wok-hay, or "the breath of the wok") are not usually respected. But when you finally run into a sexy slither of chicken coated with egg white, or a salt-leached shrimp emerging crackling, sputtering and squirty from the deep oil--you know you've encountered greatness.
The Territory Below Great
Now I'm not saying that most of what's out there is bad...though some of it is bad, completely un-Chinese. It's just that sameness rules the day...leading to a Manhattan Chinatown that no longer features boned and stuffed whole fish in black bean sauce, amazing fried chicken with seasoned salt, the abounding tureen of wintermelon soup. What you'll find instead is endless, soulless General Tso's Chicken, most of it sweet and oily, really the new "Sweet and Sour Chicken" from the bad old days with no one acknowledging it. And now the passage filled with hope: if I discipline myself to look for top-quality Hong-Kong seafood palaces, modern technique-oriented wonders (like Ji Rong in Rosemead, near Pasadena), good Chinese "delis" with hanging ducks (like the wondrous dive at 102 Mott Street called Big Wing Wang in Cantonese), even great versions of old Chinese-American (like the timeless Wo Hop in Manhattan's Chinatown)...I can get pretty lucky. Usually, though, "Chinese" food across this land of ours? Eh.
TOLERANCE RATING: 40
INDIAN FOOD
What is Great?
Great Indian food, as I've discussed in some detail recently, tastes vibrant, fresh--made today!--with a bewitching array of complex spices turning every dish into something sui generis. Following the same game plan as Chinese food in America in the 1970s, Indian restaurants today are becoming increasing regional, and this trend is lifting quality in Indian restaurants in general. May it have a better end than the Chinese "revolution" had!
The Territory Below Great
Indian food compares to Chinese food in another important way, too...in this case they are non-correlative. I'm not a fan of careless, low-end Chinese cooking. But when I walk into an Indian restaurant serving pots of "curries" that all seem to have come from "the central curry factory"...I may not respect the food, but I like it! Indian spices are so vibrant that even if they're not used imaginatively...they still pack an impressive culinary punch! I'm a maven of Indian lunch buffets, where the cost is low, the choices are plentiful, and the food is definitely not designed to emphasis the greatness and subtlety of Indian cooking. No problem! I enjoy it! I'd never say that about Chinese lunch buffets. And that built-in difference in Indian food--the fact that it holds, that it's hard to mess up--is why I'm allowing a high "liberal" rating. If you like Indian food, and get down to even the dives, you'll find a kind of happiness.
LIBERAL RATING: 90
RED WINE
What is Great?
Well, tasteful people do disagree about what greatness is in red wine (there is that bigger-is-better kind of California bunch). But old-world types and I, no matter what the Napa folks say, are always in agreement about great red wine: it is aged, elegant, balanced, filled with mystery and complexity. Give me a Grand Cru Vosne-Romanee from 1978 right now, please. That's what great is.
SVT has just revealed that former NSYNC band member and global pop superstar Justin Timberlake will perform as the interval act during the Grand Final of Eurovision 2016. This will be the greatest interval act in the history of Eurovision.
Justin will perform his brand new single "Can't Stop The Feeling."
Sven Stojanovic, the Show Producer for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Stockholm, said:
This is a fantastic opportunity, we are very happy and excited that Justin Timberlake will perform his new song together with his band in our show. It makes it extra special that the Swedish songwriters Max Martin and Shellback have co-written and co-produced the song together with Justin Timberlake.
Songwriter and producer Max Martin has had 19 Billboard No. 1 hits, including Taylor Swift's recent entries Shake It Off and Blank Space. That puts him third on the all-time record list in the U.S., behind only Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
Martin Osterdahl, the Executive Producer for this years contest added:
We are proud to welcome one of the world's greatest artists! It is an honor and an inspiration to all of us.
HIROSHIMA, JAPAN - AUGUST 06: Japanese people pray in front of a monument for atomic bomb vicitims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on the day of the 68th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 2013 in Hiroshima, Japan. Japan marks the 68th anniversary of the first atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima by the United States on August 6, 1945, killing an estimated 70,000 people instantly with many thousands more dying over the following years from the effects of radiation. Three days later another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, ending World War II. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)
Yesterday the White House announced that President Obama will visit Hiroshima -- the first sitting president to do so -- when he is in Japan later this month.
He will give a speech at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, which commemorates the atomic bombing by the United States on August 6, 1945.
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According to the president's advisor Ben Rhodes, Obama's remarks "will reaffirm America's longstanding commitment -- and the President's personal commitment -- to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. As the President has said, the United States has a special responsibility to continue to lead in pursuit of that objective as we are the only nation to have used a nuclear weapon."
Obama gave his first foreign policy speech in Prague in April 2009, where he talked passionately about ending the threat posed by nuclear weapons. He committed the United States to reducing the role of nuclear weapons in its national security policy and putting an end to Cold War thinking.
A speech in Hiroshima would be a perfect bookend to his Prague speech -- but only if he uses the occasion to announce concrete steps he will take before he leaves office. The president must do more than give another passionate speech about nuclear disarmament. The world needs -- indeed, is desperate for -- concrete action.
Here's what Mr. Obama should say in Hiroshima:
***
Thank you for your warm welcome.
I have come to Hiroshima to do several things. First, to recognize those who suffered the humanitarian atrocities of World War II throughout the Pacific region.
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Second, to give special recognition to the survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- the hibakusha -- who have worked tirelessly to make sure those bombings remain the only use of nuclear weapons.
And third, to announce three concrete steps I will take as U.S. commander-in-chief to reduce the risk that nuclear weapons will be used again. These are steps along the path I laid out in Prague in 2009.
First, the United States will cut the number of nuclear warheads deployed on long-range forces below the cap of 1,550 in the New START treaty, down to a level of 1,000. This is a level, based on the Pentagon's analysis, that I have determined is adequate to maintain U.S. security regardless of what other countries may do.
Second, I am cutting back my administration's trillion-dollar plan to build a new generation of nuclear warheads, missiles, bombers, and submarines. I am beginning by canceling plans for the new long-range nuclear cruise missile, which I believe is unneeded and destabilizing.
Third, I am taking a step to eliminate one of the ultimate absurdities of our world: The most likely way nuclear weapons would be used again may be by mistake.
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How is this possible? Let me explain.
Today the United States and Russia each keep many hundreds of nuclear-armed missiles on prompt-launch status -- so-called "hair-trigger alert" -- so they can be launched in a matter of minutes in response to warning of an incoming nuclear attack. The warning would be based on data from satellites and ground-based radars, and would come from a computer.
This practice increases the chance of an accidental or unauthorized launch, or a deliberate launch in response to a false warning. U.S. and Russian presidents would have only about 10 minutes to decide whether the warning of an incoming attack was real or not, before giving the order to launch nuclear-armed missiles in retaliation -- weapons that cannot be recalled after launch.
And history has shown again and again that the warning systems are fallible. Human and technical errors have led to mistakes that brought the world far too close to nuclear war. That is simply not acceptable. Accidents happen -- they shouldn't lead to nuclear war.
As a candidate and early in my presidency I recognized the danger and absurdity of this situation. I argued that "we should take our nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert" because "keeping nuclear weapons ready to launch on a moment's notice is a dangerous relic of the Cold War. Such policies increase the risk of catastrophic accidents or miscalculation."
Former secretaries of defense as well as generals who oversaw the U.S. nuclear arsenal agree with me, as do science and faith leaders. In his recent book My Journey at the Nuclear Brink, former Secretary of Defense William Perry writes: "These stories of false alarms have focused a searing awareness of the immense peril we face when in mere minutes our leaders must make life-and-death decisions affecting the whole planet."
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General James Cartwright, former commander of U.S. nuclear forces, argues that cyber threats that did not exist during the Cold War may introduce new system vulnerabilities. A report he chaired last year states that "In some respects the situation was better during the Cold War than it is today. Vulnerability to cyber-attack ... is a new wild card in the deck."
And the absurdity may get even worse: China's military is urging its government to put Chinese missiles on high alert for the first time. China would have to build a missile warning system, which would be as fallible as the U.S. and Russian ones. The United States should help Chinese leaders understand the danger and folly of such a step.
So today I am following through on my campaign pledge. I am announcing that the United States will take all of its land-based missiles off hair-trigger alert and will eliminate launch-on-warning options from its war plans.
These steps will make America -- and the world -- safer.
College Degree graduation cap on assorted hundred dollar bills
In early April, my son Dan arrived home from the University of Wisconsin's Admitted Students Day holding a Wisconsin windshield sticker -- and immediately affixed it to our car above his older brother's University of North Carolina sticker, with a smile I can only describe as vengeful younger-brother joy.
He, too, was going away to a prestigious public university in a storied college town and with a cult-like alumni following.
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A couple days earlier I'd photographed him, lanky and beaming, at Bascom Hill, and posted to Facebook: "On Wisconsin! Dan's a Badger." Congratulations poured in: 58 "Likes" and 17 comments. He performed the teenage equivalent, recording Snap Stories for his buddies.
All along, he had been clear that he didn't want to attend a private school because of the price tag: "$70,000 a year! That just makes me angry!" And then he'd laugh at the ridiculousness of those costs.
Above average but not a rock star student, he labored through five Advanced Placement classes, including calculus, biology, and statistics; and earned a weighted grade point average well north of 4.0, as well as a very high ACT score.
He'll graduate next month from a public high school in a New Jersey suburb, one of those places where 98% of the class attends a four-year college. Some go to Ivies or near Ivies, many to prestigious liberal arts colleges, and another group to public research universities. That's my kids' peer group. So Dan and I exulted our way through April.
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Then, two weeks after we put down the deposit for Wisconsin, we got the financial aid package. We were stunned when he got zero--nada--in aid. Unless you count the $5,500 in federal loans we were offered.
"This must be a mistake," I thought.
Out-of-state tuition, room, board, and fees for Wisconsin run more than $48,000 this year. Even with the money I'd saved in his 529 fund, there is no way I can afford to send him there, particularly on top of the cost of my elder son's education. (A rising college junior at UNC, he got a decent financial aid package but will graduate with debt -- which worries me, but that was his choice.) Their father and I are journalists, not hedge fund managers.
I wrote to a few people in the financial aid office at Wisconsin. They wrote back immediately, running the numbers again to be sure. No mistake.
You may know that public universities are feeling the effects of state funding cuts. According to a recent report by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, between 2008 and 2013 states reduced financial support to top public research universities by nearly 30%. That's one of the main reasons for increased college tuition at these universities. As a result, state universities are admitting more and more out-of-state and foreign students who will pay full freight -- sometimes three times the tuition rate of state residents.
I guess they thought we would magically come up with that full freight, as did the other big universities where Dan was admitted, all of which charge between $46,000 and $51,000 for tuition, room, board, and fees for out-of-state students. We'd been aware of the Wisconsin budget drama, but somehow thought this would not affect us so harshly.
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I recognize that sending my sons to out-of-state universities is a luxury, not a given. But it doesn't feel like a luxury to my kids, who have grown up in an affluent community among competitive kids.
I, on the other hand, attended high school with the children of farmers, mechanics, and teachers in rural Pennsylvania. I graduated from a liberal arts college in my home state only because I received scholarships, federal loans, and a 50% tuition break given to the children of ministers. With a manageable debt load, I started my career at a low-paying job as a local newspaper reporter. I was able to do meaningful, often joyful work and excel at it because I wasn't burdened with a lot of debt.
In emergency mode after the news from Wisconsin, I got in the car with Dan two Saturday nights ago and drove the 40 minutes to Rutgers University, New Jersey's flagship state university, where he'd also been accepted. The total cost for in-state students: $26,000. (For out of state, it's $42,000.)
Sure, it's a good school. But it's only 35 miles from home. And where was that ineffable Wisconsin magic? My son and I came home deflated.
I went to Facebook, once again, and wrote the following: "Crowdsourcing a heartfelt situation. We have discovered that Dan's financial package at Wisconsin is nearly nil, and costs have increased by a lot.... Dan so wants to go away for school. Yet the costs..... What, dear Facebook friends, would you do?"
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The reaction was immediate and enormous -- and the reason I am writing this essay. No fewer than 43 people replied with opinions, and counter-opinions, and counter-counter opinions.
First up was a New Yorker with this advice: "Wisconsin," debt be damned. Then came this: "Rutgers is a great school. Is massive debt worth it these days for students?...If he doesn't like it he can transfer later."
Then this: "I've been putting off replying for a while because I've been having this argument with my boyfriend about how to balance the unknowable value that access to power/wealth provides vs. the more practical money value (keeping in mind my boyfriend went to Rutgers). I vote against his recommendation of Rutgers, but his arguments are just as legitimate."
And this: "I will say a few things, mom to mom. I've seen other kids go through this and once they start, wherever they start, they come to feel at home. If not, it's fine to transfer....When they graduate, if they don't have loans to pay back, they can travel, or do something they love that only pays room and board, or can better afford graduate school. So it's not just 'we can't afford it,' but 'here's an opportunity.'"
A few people weighed in for Rutgers "for not only financial reasons but the fact that he is one train ticket away from NYC and the internship opportunities. Wisconsin is more the 'college' experience but Rutgers might provide more a 'life' experience."
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But this comment really got my attention: "I consider my decision to take on debt as one of my biggest life regrets....I'm not kidding when I say that by the time I finish paying it off, my one-year-old twins will be starting college."
From this outpouring of sympathy, support, and personal stories, I saw the only clear option, and so did my son. Dan put the deposit down on Rutgers and made plans to room with one of his high school buddies.
This past Saturday, for the second time in a week, we got in the car and drove down the highway to Rutgers, this time listening to Killer Mike and Biggie Smalls. (You can imagine the mood in the car.)
We drove and walked the campus, admiring the gorgeous new business school building and winding our way through the streets surrounding the university. Dan bought a $20 T-shirt. But no back-of-the-car sticker.
As we were leaving, we spotted a couple of girls, one of them wearing a skirt so tight and short that when she crossed the street she had to pull it down to avoid baring her entire back end. "Oh dear Lord," I thought. "He'll turn into a meathead and date one of those girls." I burst into tears, with my son yelling at me to "stop crying!"
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When I texted this exchange to my husband his response was: "He's not going to marry Snooki."
Afterward, I did more research, discovering just how well-regarded my state's flagship public university is. Over the next couple days, Dan reported that more and more of his classmates were choosing Rutgers, including one who'd been admitted to Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon, all because they can't afford to take on debt -- from public or private schools alike.
Dan began to feel proud of himself for making a wise financial choice. I've come to realize how many students like Dan nationally are grappling with these kinds of decisions.
On Monday morning, he wore the Rutgers T-shirt for his school's Decision Day festivities. The Wisconsin sticker is still on the car's back windshield, above his brother's University of North Carolina sticker.
I don't know when he'll peel it off. I don't know if he'll grow to love Rutgers. I don't know if he'll transfer. The only thing I know is that he is avoiding a crushing debt burden. For now, that's good enough.
Finishing college and figuring out "what's next" is a major adjustment. Like all new phases of life, it won't necessarily be easy, but having an understanding of how to navigate a complex, unpredictable job market is the key to enjoying the ride. May these 10 tips provide some guidance as you make your way into your post-college career. Welcome to the real world!
1. Your new job is learning.
Instead of earning a grade, you will receive a paycheck. In class, your professors dictated what information was important to master. Now, it's up to you to determine where your interests are in regard to your position. As a new employee, develop a sense of curiosity. Learn everything you can about your job, the company and your industry. Cultivate new skills that will not only help your career but enrich your life.
2. Stay open to unexpected opportunities.
It's rare at this point to have your future figured out, and you will likely identify chances to do something that you would have never predicted. Don't rule out an option because it wasn't part of your initial plan. There are a few helpful criteria that will help you choose your path: if an opportunity offers a dynamic experience, if it allows you to work alongside interesting, talented people or if it ignites a passion in you, it is worth considering.
3. Be respectfully tech savvy.
Don't filter your world through the screen of your phone, smartwatch or another device. Your job right now is to become a master of interpersonal communication and to build strong relationships with others. That takes time, attention and eye contact without the distraction of a screen. Continuously checking your devices is disrespectful and sends the message that you are not engaged or interested in what's going on around you.
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4. It's not all about the money.
Yes, you have student loans galore, and you need to support yourself. However, this is also a season in life when your expenses are as low as they will ever be. Money alone isn't necessarily a reason to choose a particular job. Think of what you will learn at the company and where the path may lead. If you take a lower paying position at the most respected company in the industry where you will get experience that you can take with you wherever you go, that's a win.
5. Be prepared to pay your dues.
No matter how well you did in college, you will be working with (for) people who have more practical experience than you. It is very likely that you will be performing some tasks that you consider menial, boring or beneath you. We have all done it. Your success in handling mundane tasks without complaint will get you noticed for your diligence and maturity; bigger roles and important projects will be forthcoming.
6. Brace yourself for failure.
The concept of failure - botching a presentation, getting reprimanded or even worse, fired - is new territory for many grads who have until now led lives of following the well-worn path to academic success. Don't actively seek it out, but remember that it's not the end of the world. Disappointment is a chance to learn - a painful, but effective teacher.
7. Be proactive.
This is one of the secrets of life. Don't wait for someone to tell you what you need to be working on. Ask how you can help, or figure out what needs to be done and do it. Update your boss on the status of projects instead of waiting for them to ask you. If you have a big idea that will benefit the company, share it.
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8. Enthusiasm is a precious commodity.
Develop your enthusiasm muscle. Genuine interest makes all the difference when interacting with supervisors, coworkers, clients or anyone you encounter. Don't hang out with the complainers, the gossipers or the disgruntled. Those are the people who have given up control over their own destiny, and their attitudes may prove to be contagious.
9. Ask for feedback.
Let your supervisor know you are interested in hearing their thoughts on your work and how you can grow. Then be truly receptive to their constructive criticism and listen without getting defensive. Gracefully accepting critiques of your performance is a skill in itself, one that is worth mastering for the sake of professional growth.
10. Have patience.
Careers are built over years, by days, weeks and months of putting in steady, solid effort. Just like it takes practice before you can play a musical instrument with sophistication, it will take time before you hit your stride as a seasoned professional. Enjoy the journey.
Ten outstanding individuals under the age of 35 have been chosen by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) to join the inaugural HIV 360 Fellowship Program, which is being made possible through the generous financial support of the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF). These emerging, inspirational leaders of our time will receive nine months of extensive training to assist them in continuing and enhancing their meaningful and courageous work in the U.S. and abroad. They are:
Andres Cano (Arizona)
National Latino AIDS Awareness Day Planning Committee
Andres Cano, an aide and community liaison to Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias in Tucson, Arizona, has displayed his true leadership abilities in helping to prevent and treat HIV infection in Southern Arizona's Latino families. He has been named Equality Arizona's 2015 Emerging Leader of the Year and holds the title of Vice Chair of the Planned Parenthood Arizona Board of Directors.
Thomas Davis (California)
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Thomas Davis has used his personal journey of living with HIV as an example of triumph for others who share his experience. He is an advocate and spokesperson who has been reaching audiences all over the world in an effort to empower our youth in the fight against HIV.
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Nicole Elinoff (Florida)
GLBT Community Center of Central Florida
Nicole Elinoff made a command decision to get involved in the battle against HIV/AIDS after losing a close family member to complications from the disease. She is now the Director of Clinical Services at the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida, overseeing the HIV, Hepatitus C, and STI testing and prevention programs.
Mardrequs Harris (Tennessee)
Tennessee Department of Health
Mardrequs Harris serves as a leader within the Ryan White Planning Group, is a TN Planning Group Representative, and a member of the Leaders Emerging and Developing Cohort. He has worked for Emory University's Hope Clinic and Friends for Life Corp, and in April 2016, was named a Program Director within the TN Department of Health.
Sasanka Jinadasa (District of Columbia)
HIPS
Sasanka Jinadasa currently acts as the Capacity Building and Community Resource Manager at HIPS, using her distinct talents to manage overnight outreach and hotline volunteers, communications, advocacy, and capacity building training at HIPS and in the DC community.
Tyrell Manning (Missouri)
Williams & Associates, Inc.
Tyrell Manning uses his passion for positive change at Williams & Associates in his role as Regional Integration Specialist and site coordinator of Rustin's Place. Tyrell continues to be an advocate and mentor for gay and bisexual youth in our country, working to create safe areas that provide growth and promote healing, especially in the Black community.
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Pierre Jamar (PJ) Moton (Texas)
Abounding Prosperity, Inc.
PJ Moton has focused his efforts for many years on HIV & AIDS research, prevention, and care in the Black gay and bisexual community. He is a nationally recognized leader among his peers and showcases his unique abilities as Interim Programs Manager at Abounding Prosperity, Inc. in Dallas, Texas.
Steven Romeo (Alabama)
The Change Project
Steven Romeo is the founder, executive director and primary artist for The Change Project, an arts and storytelling organization that highlights the voices of LGBTQ people and advocates for their quality of life. After being recognized by The White House in November 2015, Steven was named an LGBT Artist Champion of Change.
Milan Sherry (Louisiana)
Positively Trans
Milan Nicole Sherry is currently a national board member of Positively Trans, a program of the Transgender Law Center. She has had the opportunity of working with the United States Department of Justice to address her community's experiences inside of the Orleans Parish Prison. In addition, Milan has helped lead BreakOUT!'s "We Deserve Better Campaign," which assisted the New Orleans Police Department in adopting policies prohibiting racial and gender-based profiling.
Lee Storrow (North Carolina)
NC AIDS Action Network
Lee Storrow is executive director of the NC AIDS Action Network (NCAAN) and serves on the board of directors of the Strowd Roses Foundation and Youth Empowered Solutions. He also lends his talents to the American Heart Association as a member of their National Advocacy Coordinating Committee.
The amazing accomplishments and strength of character of these exemplary role models in today's society speak for themselves. As Chad Griffin, President of the Human Rights Campaign, states,
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These diverse leaders already have tremendous experience in their respective fields and communities, and we look forward to working with them to halt the spread and stigma of HIV once and for all.
Scott Campbell, Executive Director of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, echoes Mr. Griffin's sentiments by adding,
We are very proud to be the primary funder for this groundbreaking program that is specifically focused on cultivating young leaders from diverse backgrounds with different ideas about how to stop the spread and stigma of HIV.
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks at a news conference in Washington, Sunday, May 1, 2016. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Written with Helen A. Berger, PhD, resident scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University and author of A Community of Witches.
Is the Bernie or Bust movement working, just not in the way that its founders envisioned? On the front page of the New York Times this weekend, there was a story that Hillary is trying to make inroads with those Republicans who are in the Never Trump camp. Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Labor, has become a strong Bernie supporter and has a very successful following online. On the same day that the New York Times article appeared, he wondered online if Hillary risks alienating Bernie's followers if she moves to include Republicans.
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Certainly, if she wins the election, Hillary will have to move to be president of all Americans, whether they voted or not, and whether they voted for her, her rival, or a third party. So yes, it makes sense that she includes the widest swath of Americans possible. But more to the point, Bernie's supporters have been threatening to not vote in the general election, and some even to vote for Trump, if the Democratic Party doesn't choose their candidate. This is despite the fact that Bernie is almost 300 pledged delegates behind Clinton and has lost the popular vote as well. Their threat leaves Hillary no choice but to start looking elsewhere for support.
Politicians are beholden to those who vote for them. They are swayed by their concerns as they are the people who "brought them to the dance." No, the superdelegates are not going to go against the majority of the Democratic voters to put someone else in because a subset of voters threatens to take their ball and go home if they can't get their way. No organization could do that. So I am left wondering if the Bernie or Bust group is shooting themselves in the foot. They are well organized, they have some power, they can influence the course of the election--but not if they threaten to leave the party, or to support someone whose ideals are so different from their own.
It is fairly common these days online to see someone offering the opinion that it would be great if Trump won as it would hasten the revolution. The notion appears to be that it would be a bad two years but then certainly progressives would take over the House, and two years after that the Senate and the Presidency. This is a fantasy, and a dangerous fantasy at that. Why? Well first, there is no country in which the election of a demagogue resulted in the development of a strong and viable progressive movement. None. Not one. Furthermore, the makeup of the Supreme Court will be determined by the next president. Imagine who Trump would nominate. The Supreme Court decides on voting rights, on redistricting, on money in politics, and on all the things that make it possible to even think of electing progressives. So after two years of Trump, we would have less chance of a progressive future. He could also do immeasurable damage to the USA international standing. He is already hurting it.
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Throughout our history, progressives, from time to time, have thrown up their hands and said "a pox on both parties." They contend that "only our candidate knows true North, our primary opponent and the opposition candidate are the same." Only to find that this is not true. Ralph Nader, along with a willing press, and ultimately the Supreme Court, worked to put George W. Bush in the White House, stopping the candidacy of Al Gore. The irony of the Green Party having a hand in stopping a man who would shortly after get the Nobel Prize for his environmental work is too great to not mention, but the real issue is that George W. Bush is responsible for our involvement in the war in Iraq, helped pass laws that deregulated banking, and worked to keep the Supreme Court very conservative. But, no revolution followed him. After a too brief period, first the House, then the Senate, again became Republican. Voter suppression and gerrymandering made that possible.
Taking home your ball and refusing to play because you can't get your way may seem like you are empowering yourself. But really, you are not. Those of us who consider ourselves progressives have watched, appalled, as Republicans have replaced scientific reasoning with fantasy and insisted it was true. We have seen them deny the existence of climate change, and hide behind freedom of religion to limit women's access to comprehensive medical care. It is sad to see some who claim to be progressives online creating a different but equally fallacious fantasy of there being no difference between Trump and Hillary, or that Trump will help bring in the revolution.
Of course, in the online realm, we never do know who is creating this false fantasy. Are they progressives or Trump supporter,s who want you not to vote or to vote for their man, regardless of your reasons? Either way, fantasies may be fun to pass the time on a rainy day, but they can be dangerous, if you confuse them with reality. The fantasy that Trump and Hillary are the same is one such fantasy.
Don't buy into the the fantasy that the Republicans have been creating for years, that Hillary is dishonest or weak. We have seen time after time, in one expensive and unwarranted investigation after the next, that she is neither. Bernie can have real influence now, but only if he can rely on those who have been his most vocal supporters to join him in supporting the Democratic candidate.
This week, a legal battle heated up between the United States Justice Department and the State of North Carolina, over a recent North Carolina law that, among other things, sets out rules for bathroom use. This bathroom nonsense has been floating around for a while now, and I can't remember a time when I saw so much misinformation being thrown around about legislation. The North Carolina law requires people to use only those public restrooms that correspond to the gender to which they were born. In other words, if you were born with a penis, you have you use the Men's Room for all time -- even if you now have a vagina.
In talking to friends and colleagues, I've found that even people who seem to know that these laws are hateful and wrong are having a hard time articulating precisely why. By contrast, the ardent supporters of this legislation have a go-to list of reasons why our world will fall apart without it. As a public service to those who wish to prepare for the inevitable debate with the passionate-but-ill-informed, I offer the following responses:
1."I don't want my daughter in a public bathroom with an adult man." Then you definitely don't want these laws to stay on the books. These laws require everyone to use only the bathroom that corresponds with his or her birth gender. That means that a transgender man who has transitioned (meaning that this person might have a beard or a penis and in all ways identifies himself as a man) would be required to use the ladies' bathroom.
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2."Without this new law, perverts are going to use the law to allow them to go into ladies' rooms and terrorize everyone." For starters, criminals don't "use" laws by researching their statutory defenses before they menace the public. But more importantly, we already have criminal statutes that outlaw predatory or violent behavior in bathrooms. If a pervert were to spy on a person using the toilet, or to inappropriately expose himself to someone, or molest someone in the bathroom, he is already committing a crime. That pervert could never successfully defend himself by saying "I was legally allowed to be in this bathroom." Laws that prohibit harassment, indecent exposure, invasion of privacy, and violence already protect us, both inside and outside bathrooms. Our world has functioned until now without the need of laws criminalizing urination in the "wrong" bathroom, and we've all survived by using the rest of the penal code to prosecute the bad guys. This is one of those "it wasn't broke and we didn't need to fix it" situations.
3."This law protects children." No, it doesn't. Children are at far greater risk of being abused in their own homes than they are in public restrooms. And while we're at it, transgender people are far more likely to be victims than they are to be predators. If this law were aimed at protecting children, it would legislate behavior not presence. But even if bathrooms were the place where molesters lurk, anyone in the child-protective business knows that bad guys victimize girls and boys in equal measure. Therefore, a law that only considers little girls in the women's room isn't logically connected to protecting children as a group.
4."Transgender people shouldn't get special treatment." These bathroom laws do nothing to create "special" treatment for anyone. Opponents of the laws aren't arguing that a better law would create special "Transgender Bathrooms;" they simply want the laws governing bathrooms to go back to the way they were pre-2016. This issue is not about some kind of transgender affirmative action -- this is about protecting a group of people from laws that purposely discriminate against them by forcing them to use restrooms that are unsafe and inappropriate. The law can protect people from discrimination without giving those people "special" treatment; that is the concept of equality.
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5."People with penises use the men's room and people with vaginas use the women's room. Shouldn't it be that easy?" Even if it were that easy all the time, enforcing a law like that would require the enforcer (police, etc.) to inspect people's genitalia. Otherwise, how could we tell if a person were following or breaking the law? I think we can all agree that authorizing courthouse security guards or police officers to inspect what's going on in our underwear is a really, really bad idea. A much better rule would be, "if it walks like a chick and it talks like chick, it should be allowed to pee with the chicks."
6."There aren't enough transgender people out there for this to even be an issue." There are plenty of transgender people out there. Anyone who doesn't know that is a testament to how well many transgender people blend in with other members of the gender identity to which they have transitioned. But even if there were only a tiny number of transgender people out there, these laws would still stink. Taking these laws off the books wouldn't require construction, wouldn't cost taxpayer dollars, and wouldn't burden anyone. It would simply stop discrimination.
7."Transgender people can just use their own individual bathrooms." Yeah, no. A while back, we (and by "we," I mean "the Supreme Court") decided that "separate but equal is inherently unequal." Forcing a group of people to keep away from the rest of us is pronounced "seg-reg-a-tion" and we don't do that anymore. If we're going to create a third bathroom, how about we just make the bigots use that one? That would seem easier.
News / National
by Staff Reporter
Thousands of jobless nurses would soon be employed as government has revised staff establishment figures.Health minister Davd Parirenyatwa said the revised staff establishment would absorb all the unemployed nurses and there would be room to employ 5 000 more, he told the Herald.He said currently, an estimated 3 500 nurses were unemployed."We have established what we actually need because all that was being done all along was establishing the number of vacancies in already existing posts."Now we are projecting on what we actually need (versus the growing burden of care) as a country," said Parirenyatwa."We are now saying that the establishment is too small and the latest establishment shows how many nurses are needed to top up. For example, Masvingo General Hospital has 188 nurses, but we want 40 more nurses to top up so that we meet the recommended patient-nurse ratio," said Parirenyatwa.The ideal nurse-patient ratio is one nurse per every four patients, but in Zimbabwe one nurse attends to at least 15 patients at any given time, compromising the quality of health services rendered.However the revised nursing establishment does not have a specific number of posts for specialised nurses such as midwives, a situation midwifery tutors described as an injustice to maternal health delivery in the country.
Welcome to the wee hours. That strange disembodied patch of time after the kids have gone to bed and the house is finally quiet, otherwise known as "your time" -- if you can keep your eyes open long enough and your hands off the wine.
To be fair, this used to be when I did my best work. Ten at night was my magic hour. I was a card-carrying, candle-end-burning night owl, meeting tight deadlines after heroic all-nighters and then backing it up the next day with nothing more than a shower and a double shot (sometimes espresso).
I can still perform at night at a shove, but let's face it, the years and the mileage, not to mention the succession of two-year olds, have taken their toll. The marvelous magic nocturnal river has undeniably slowed.
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Last night, weary of sitting in the cold office and trying not to think about wine, I took myself to bed early. I had a queue of podcasts on my phone and picked one to listen to at random. It was the second episode of Elizabeth Gilbert's podcast Magic Lessons, which she launched last year in anticipation of her latest book Big Magic, about nurturing creativity beyond fear.
The episode dealt with a writer who was also a mother and a blogger. She had a book burning in her but kept putting it off. Her kids were now at school so she had the time; what she also had was a big old bucket load of mother guilt -- guilt that if she began devoting time and energy to writing the book, it would mean less time and energy for her children.
Ah yes, that hoary old chestnut. The apparent incompatibility of motherhood and creativity, with the inference being that you have to choose. And if, shock horror you were to choose creativity, even if just for a few hours -- well mother guilt springs eternal.
I know it well. Writing, be it paid or otherwise, usually gets downgraded to my "free time," i.e., the wee hours. As a mother it feels as though there are a thousand other things that are infinitely more important than sitting down and "indulging myself" in the luxury of writing. It feels selfish even. An act of ego.
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As women, and mothers, why do we not value our own creativity? Why do we not prioritize it in our lives as a non-negotiable? Why do we hide behind our other 'busy work'?
Writer and editor of the book Motherhood & Creativity -- The Divided Heart, Rachel Power inputs, "It's historical. It's ingrained. Traditionally, there haven't been a lot of role models of women who have been successful artists and mothers." Powers goes on to say in her book, "The clash between art and life has meant that 'great' women artists have been, with very few exceptions, childless throughout their working lives."
In her podcast Gilbert made reference to British novelist A.S. Byatt who, in response to a question about writing as a form of therapy, said: "I think of writing simply in terms of pleasure. It's the most important thing in my life, making things. Much as I love my husband and my children, I love them only because I am the person who makes these things. I, who I am, is the person who has the project of making a thing. And because that person does that all the time, that person is able to love all these other people."
I love this. It is bang on.
We have a responsibility to ourselves essentially. To pursue and nurture and express our own creative identity. Despite the fear and the mummy-guilt and the inevitable societal backlash. We have to stake a claim. Carve out time. Assert our right to make things. And in doing so, we become better mothers, lovers, wives and friends. Every part of our lives becomes fuller and richer and more satisfying, for the investment of time and energy in creative work.
Cheryl Strayed, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir Wild, spent three weeks alone in a remote cabin in rural Oregon to finish her book. She said she knew that she had to immerse herself completely, in order to do what she had to do. Her children were four and five at the time.
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"I decided to do it because I had to finish my book. I'm not able to sink all the way into a book when I'm in the company of a bunch of people who need me to make dinner for them and follow them around the house. I knew I needed to immerse myself, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally - and so I did."
"The essential thread in my life has always been my identity as a writer. When I became a mother, another essential identity in my life, it wasn't like one had to move aside for the other. I had to learn how to hold both and honour both."
"I fully believe that one of the greatest gifts that I've given my children is the example of a mother who pursues her passions like a motherf***er."
Her children were fine by the way.
When Hank and I announced that our third child was on its way, the general consensus among friends and family (aside from the fact that we were clearly insane) was that we would have to surrender the office, the highly-prized third bedroom, to make way for the new baby. The boys were already sharing one room and we shared the other. Hank and I looked at each other in alarm, and in that moment we made a pact. That room, our fiercely guarded creative sanctuary, could never be surrendered. Not without a fight. It was vital to us both, as writers, to have a room of our own, where we could retreat and close the door -- even while it was wailed upon with small beating fists.
And so when she arrived, that third and final baby, and eventually outgrew sharing our bed, we wedged her cot into the boys' room, and the three of them could not have been happier. They love being all together. Admittedly, such an arrangement has its use-by date but right now it's working just fine, and we get to keep our sacred creative space that bit longer.
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I am about to leave my own lot this week for a writers conference. Two days of speakers, writers and creative thinkers, with an easy day's travel on either side. In the thick of it as I am right now, listening to the thunder of children outside the office door, it's hard to imagine. Only myself to take care of, to feed and dress, take to the toilet and put to bed. Like phantom limbs that need scratching, I'm sure I will go to herd absent children and unpack toys and wipes at the bar. Some habits die hard.
But the creative habit cannot. The price is simply too high to pay.
Recently, my sister was wrestling with some creative demons. Mum gently warned her, "If you deny that creative part of yourself, if you don't give it voice, if you don't express it and acknowledge it and celebrate it, it will find a way. It will change you. It will make you angry and sad and bitter. You must not let that happen. You must let it out."
A.S. Byatt's mother could vouch for that. Byatt's parents were both intellectuals, her father a county court judge and her mother a scholar of Browning, who clearly felt imprisoned as a housewife, mired in domesticity. "My poor little mother", said Byatt, "She shouted and shouted and shouted."
I feel for that mother scholar, unable to express and act on her own ideas, reduced instead to shouting her dissatisfaction.
And so I am honouring my identity as a maker of things, be it babies, blogs or books. And I will, as Cheryl Strayed so famously advised, write like a motherf***er, even if it is in the wee hours. Because it is as essential to them as it is to me.
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A Chinese engineer and a local construction worker work on a section of the Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway (SGR) in Emali, Kenya October 10, 2015. The China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) tasked with the construction work at a cost of 3.8 billion U.S. dollars is due for completion in mid-2017. REUTERS/Noor Khamis
Chinese companies around the world, particularly in Africa, have a well-earned reputation for being bad corporate citizens. There are countless stories of labor rights violations, disregard of environmental policies and lack of engagement with local communities among many other allegations. While all of these examples highlight a serious problem in China's overseas corporate governance, they don't tell the whole story.
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New research from the International Institute for Environment and Development that surveyed 58 representatives across three African countries revealed that Chinese corporate behavior varies widely depending on the local conditions of where it invests. That is, in those areas where there is weak rule of law, for example, Chinese and other foreign investors tend to behave poorly. However, elsewhere, where there are higher standards, Chinese companies behave significantly better, thus challenging the prevailing negative narrative about Chinese companies' disregard of corporate social responsibility.
IIED researcher Weng Xiaoxue helped prepare the new report in which she also noted that a new generation of younger Chinese corporate managers in Africa is behaving very differently from its older predecessors who were too often reluctant to engage with locals, communicate with media and implement effective corporate social responsibility practices.
Man Begging for Money
Is panhandling constitutionally protected speech? Professor Noah Feldman, writing at Bloomberg View, claims that it is not and contends that the Supreme Court's decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert (2015) should not be read to prevent government officials from prohibiting street begging. In Reed, the Court held that content-based regulations of speech trigger strict judicial scrutiny -- the most demanding standard of review in constitutional cases -- and explained that speech regulations are content-based if they single out specific subject matters for differential treatment, either on their face or by design. Feldman argues that Reed should not be interpreted to mean everything that it in fact says, because the consequences of taking it at face value would be "disastrous." He further argues that, in any event, panhandling is "conduct," not speech, and thus can be targeted without triggering strict scrutiny. Thus, he criticizes a more recent decision in which a panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, relying upon Reed, invalidated a panhandling ordinance.
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Feldman misunderstands Reed and thus fails to grasp its implications. Interpreting Reed to mean what it says will not point us towards a dystopia. Reed does, however, require the government to offer compelling, evidence-based justifications for speech regulations that target constitutionally protected speech on the basis of its communicative content--panhandling ordinances included.
Let's begin with Reed. Reed involved the Good News Community Church -- a small, cash-strapped entity that owns no buildings -- which held its services at elementary schools or other locations, and advertised its services through temporary signs in Gilbert, Arizona. Under Gilbert's sign code, the church's signs were subjected to far greater restrictions than were temporary signs featuring political, ideological, and other messages. A unanimous Supreme Court invalidated the sign code. Writing for the Court, Justice Clarence Thomas stated that "[a] law that is content based on its face is subject to strict scrutiny regardless of the government's benign motive, content-neutral justification, or lack of 'animus toward the ideas contained' in the regulated speech." Because Gilbert's sign code expressly classified signs based "entirely on the communicative content of the sign," strict scrutiny applied.
Although Feldman characterizes Reed as an expression of Justice Thomas' "free-speech absolutis[m]," Reed was no radical departure from settled precedent. The first major Supreme Court cases to focus on content-based speech regulations held that speech regulations were content-based (and subject to strict scrutiny) if government officials had to inspect the content of speech to determine how it should be regulated. But language in several of the Court's subsequent opinions had been construed by federal courts of appeals to mean that certain laws could be treated as content-neutral (and therefore entitled to more government-friendly intermediate scrutiny) even if they explicitly classified and restricted speech based on its communicative content, so long as the government had purportedly non-censorial intentions. Reed clarified that regulations of speech are content-based if either they expressly classify speech on the basis of its content or if their purpose and justification are content-based -- and that judges must inquire into each question.
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The panhandling case discussed by Feldman involved a local ordinance in Springfield, Illinois that defined panhandling as an oral request for an immediate donation of money. Signs requesting money were allowed, as were oral pleas to send money later. That is to say, law enforcement authorities would have to examine the content of the message conveyed to determine whether a violation occurred.
In Norton v. City of Springfield, a divided panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals initially upheld the ordinance after determining that it was not content-based. Judge Frank Easterbook, writing for the panel, distinguished between two kinds of regulations: "regulation that restricts speech because of the ideas that it conveys" and "regulation that restricts speech because the government disapproves of its message." Reasoning that "Give me money right now" does not "express an idea or message about politics, the arts, or any other topic on which the government may seek to throttle expression in order to protect itself or a favored group of speakers," the panel found that the city had not "meddled with the marketplace of ideas" and thus strict scrutiny was not appropriate.
After Reed, the Seventh Circuit accepted a petition for rehearing. This time around, Judge Easterbrook (again writing for the panel) identified strict scrutiny as the proper standard of review, recognizing the import of Reed: "Any law distinguishing one kind of speech from another by reference to its meaning now requires a compelling justification." The ordinance at issue did precisely that by "barring oral requests for money now but not regulating requests for money later."
In Feldman's view, Reed does not require the application of strict scrutiny to panhandling ordinances. Essentially, he contends that our speech jurisprudence would be destabilized if the Court really meant what it said, and he construes Reed more narrowly than did Judge Easterbrook in order to avoid that result. Specifically, he expresses concern that criminal prohibitions against blackmail, fraud and harassment will become "constitutionally suspect" if content-based speech regulations automatically trigger strict scrutiny. Those activities can, after all, "be performed entirely via speech."
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Feldman's concern is unfounded. The fact that certain activities take place through speech does not mean that regulation aimed at the non-expressive legal effect of that speech must receive strict scrutiny under Reed. When doctors write prescriptions, they give patients the right to make a purchase that would otherwise be illegal. When financial advisors invest funds on behalf of clients, they transmit an order that creates an entitlement to property. Regulations of these activities would not automatically trigger strict scrutiny.
Further, as Feldman concedes, criminal prohibitions against blackmail, fraud and harassment are supported by the government's compelling interest in protecting people's property and safety. Although Feldman wonders whether many such prohibitions are not sufficiently "narrowly tailored," First Amendment overbreadth doctrine requires wholesale invalidation of statutes only when a "substantial number" of a statute's applications "are unconstitutional, judged in relation to [that law's] plainly legitimate sweep." Finally, Reed's command of strict scrutiny would not apply to content-based regulations of constitutionally unprotected speech, such as true threats or incitement to imminent lawless action.
Panhandling ordinances like the one at issue in Norton, however, should receive strict scrutiny under Reed. Feldman's effort to characterize the ordinance as a ban on "the conduct of begging, not the content of the speech" is unconvincing. Begging connotes speech with a specific subject matter -- to beg is to request an immediate donation of money as charity. On Feldman's reasoning, a ban on delivering religious sermons could escape strict scrutiny if it were characterized as a regulation of the conduct of preaching, not the content of the speech. If the "conduct" targeted by the government consists in speech with a particular kind of communicative content, a regulation which targets that conduct is a content-based regulation of speech, and the government must offer a compelling showing of necessity.
To be sure, there are unresolved tensions in our speech jurisprudence. Panhandling illuminates one of them. Consider also the vexed question of the constitutional status of occupational speech: the speech of tour guides, therapists, consultants and others who earn their living through vocations that consist almost entirely of speaking. The fact that occupational speech is compensated does not mean that it is constitutionally unprotected. Any law that restricts speech about some subjects and not others is necessarily content-based. Finally, any scheme that compels people to seek the government's approval before they may communicate or publish opinions, advice or information is a system of prior restraints on speech that "bear[s] a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity."
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But the most explicit guidance on occupational speech from the Supreme Court--a three-Justice concurrence in Lowe v. SEC (1985) that has never been cited by a majority--wrongly suggests that licensing certain kinds of occupational speech poses no First Amendment problem. While some federal courts of appeals have subjected restrictions on occupational speech to heightened judicial scrutiny, others have concluded that such restrictions do not implicate the First Amendment and have applied highly deferential rational-basis review.
Reed holds the potential to resolve these tensions. It stands for the proposition that every burden on right to speak freely requires judicial engagement -- impartial, evidence-based scrutiny of the constitutionality of the government's true ends and means, without deference to the government. It rests upon the recognition that there is rarely a constitutionally proper reason for government officials to single out particular topics of discussion, and that any such singling-out is likely to be an exercise in censorship -- an effort to suppress speech simply because the politically powerful find it disagreeable, whether for political, ideological, economic, or aesthetic reasons--even if government officials profess public-spirited goals. It thus puts an appropriately heavy burden on the government to demonstrate that its actions are calculated to protect individual rights, not to extinguish them.
Americans should not have to beg government officials' permission to speak peacefully to others. Reed ensures that they need not do so. If this be free-speech absolutism, make the most of it.
For more constitutional commentary, tune into the Institute for Justice's Short Circuit podcast, presented by IJ's Center for Judicial Engagement.
Pakistan's financial capital and largest city, Karachi, has witnessed several gruesome incidents within one week. Social activist Khurram Zaki, who protested against religious extremism, was gunned down by Taliban assailants after he demanded the resignation of the head of paramilitary forces in the city over the death in military custody of a local political leader. Even the US State Department, normally reticent in criticizing Pakistan military on the assumption that it can still be wooed into being a real American ally, had to speak out, showing concern about human rights violations in Pakistan that by all accounts have been going on for years. State Department spokesperson Elizabeth Trudeau told Press Trust India (PTI),
"We have seen the reports of Aftab Ahmed, a local Pakistan leader's death while in military custody, and we would direct you to the Pakistanis for any further information on the events surrounding his death."
Trudeau was responding to a question on the death of Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM)'s, Aftab Ahmed, who died in the custody of Rangers paramilitary force under contentious conditions. MQM is Pakistan's fourth largest political party in parliament, which commands virtual control over Karachi, winning every election since 1987. The Pakistani military, which is the country's most powerful institution, has targeted the MQM with repression and negative propaganda since 1992. Although the secular MQM formed part of the Federal government as well as the government in the province of Sindh for 8 years, it is still being targeted by security forces ostensibly conducting counter-terrorist operations.
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The head of the paramilitary Rangers that conduct operations in Karachi under the military's directions, Major General Bilal Akber accepted that the MQM activist was tortured by the Rangers in custody, but maintained that Ahmed died due to cardiac attack. The pictures of Ahmed's tortured body were released on the social media, which forced Major General Akbar to accept that torture happened in rangers' custody. Ahmed was arrested by the rangers on the night of May 1, 2016 and brought to the local hospital on next morning in unconscious condition with severe injuries on his body. The autopsy report mentioned that more than 40 percent of the body was covered with bruises and fractures.
This is not the first instance of an extra-judicial killing by Pakistani forces during their operation in Karachi. Rangers were deployed in the city in 1989 to control ethnic tensions in the port city.Pakistan ranger is technically a border force under the Interior Ministry, but Minister Chaudry Nisar, excused himself while talking to a local media,,
"The provincial government can order an inquiry. Army chief and rangers have also ordered inquiries. But to make it meaningful, the Sindh government should set up a judicial commission."
The same department, whose personnel were involved in the torture, has formed an investigative team for this custodial death.
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The latest military operation in Karachi started in 2013. The MQM has accused the Sindh Rangers of at least fifty extra-judicial killings of its members since the beginning of the latest operation. The State Department's 2015 Human Rights report had also criticized Pakistan for human right violation and has marked extra-judicial killing as serious problem in the country. According to Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), in 2015, 157 mutilated bodies were found in Baluchistan. According to the report, most of the extra-judicial killings happened with the political activists belong to ethnic minority provinces like Sindh and Baluchistan.
In 2014, the civil and military leaderships of Pakistan began Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a military campaign against militant and terrorist groups in North Waziristan, the tribal area close to Afghanistan. But in December 2014, after six months of this fierce operation which started in June, Tehrik-i-Taliban managed to attack the Army Public School of Peshawar that killed 145 including 132 schoolchildren. Since the National Action Plan to counter terrorism launched in Pakistan, most of the ethnic minorities have seen the substantial rise in the extra-judicial killings in Sindh and Baluchistan.
It seems like Pakistan has not learned from past mistakes of breeding and allowing terrorists to prosper in the country. Pakistan has already damaged by the policy of harboring extremist organizations to secure its strategic depth in neighboring countries. The terrorist, who considers Afghan and Kashmir jihads as his duty, is a free citizen; while the political activists are getting picked and killed due to their ethnic background.
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At the first chords of Simon & Garfunkel's "America," I'll admit it. I began to tear up a bit. Lest I be blamed for seeming maudlin in this dewy-eyed response, I was not the only one. I had arrived at a Bernie Sanders rally, and now awaited the star performer. A long line in the cold rain and here I sat in my orchestra seat at the political theater. The 1968 folk classic from the American canon came out before I was born, as a protest song of a different era, yet I was moved to...well, a tear or two. I, of Generation X, was surrounded by Millennial fans of a Silent Generation politician, in a room captivated by a Baby Boomer classic. What was going on?
The award-winning fiction writer Sarah Dessen once said "Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common." At that moment, as "America" jangled through the auditorium speakers, the song crossed divides of age, time and place. It transported us to an achingly lonely hitchhiking trip across a 60's landscape in search of self-revelation and the American dream. "Counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike they've all come to look for America." The timelessness of the song tapped into a collective American consciousness that defied traditional barriers of age. Undoubtedly this all sounds overly sentimental at a distance, and in hindsight perhaps it was. In the midst of it? The experience was less insipid love-fest and more full-throated rallying cry.
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Much has been made of the intergenerational appeal of the anachronistic senator from Vermont. Pundits endlessly question how it is that a 74-year-old politician can capture the hearts and minds of the young so effectively. Listening to the enduring soundtrack of those who came before me, it strikes me that perhaps one small key to the explanation can be found in the actionable patriotism engendered by an inspired ballad. When it's done right, music has an uncanny capacity to conjure up memories of experiences we have not had. Journeys we never lived become our own. Regardless of the particular circumstances or demographic of the messenger, when the message itself is powerful enough, it manages to transcend our differences and unify us.
During an election cycle that has become so cynical and divisive, and at a time when analysts seek to pigeonhole this country into narrow voting blocks and niches for the latest poll, I was amazed at this fleeting, emotional moment. This is most certainly not about the plausibility of the candidate to capture the base of a party. This will not be recorded in delegate counts, exit-polls, or campaign outcomes. New York, like many states that followed, took a stance that set the trajectory of this election on a different path. Nonetheless, ephemeral as it was, something notable in the political landscape occurred in the intimacy of this gathering. For a rare instant, at least, young and old were curiously, harmoniously intertwined.
This week the British Prime Minister David Cameron is hosting an international anti-corruption summit. The scourge of anonymous shell companies and hidden identities rightly seizes the public's imagination. We can all picture the suitcases of cash and tropical islands involved. As well as acting on offshore and onshore money laundering havens, world leaders at the summit should also be asking themselves where all this money is being stolen from in the first place.
The answer is mostly from public contracting: government spending through private companies to deliver works, goods and services to citizens. It is technical, dull and universally obscure. But it is the single biggest item of spending by government - amounting to a staggering $9,500,000,000,000 each year. This concentration of money, government discretion, and secrecy makes public contracting so vulnerable to corruption. Data on prosecutions tracked by the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention shows that roughly 60% of bribes were paid to win public contracts.
Corruption in contracting deprives ordinary people of vital goods and services, and sometimes even kills: I was one of many Londoners moved by Ai Wei Wei's installation that memorialised the names of thousands of children killed in China's Sichuan earthquake in 2008. Their supposed earthquake-proof schools collapsed on them like tofu.
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Beyond corruption, inefficiency and mismanagement of public contracts cost countries billions. Governments just don't seem to know what they are buying, when, from whom, and whether they got a good price.
Photo: Mathias Huter. Public contracts in Georgia, 2010
This problem can be fixed. But it will require a set of innovations best described as open contracting: using accessible open data and better engagement so that citizens, government and business can follow the money in government contracts from planning to tendering to performance and closure. The coordination required can be hard work but it is achievable: any country can make substantial progress on open contracting with some political leadership. My organisation supports an open data standard and a free global helpdesk to assist governments, civil society, and business in this transition.
More open public contracting levels the playing field for companies, grows new markets, and creates opportunities for often-marginalised businesses. Open data on contracts provides better analytics to shape more informed decisions and help choose the best solution for a given job. When business and citizens can track and engage meaningfully in the contracting process, higher quality goods, services and infrastructure will result.
Ukraine is a case in point. Despite a troubled political environment, a coalition of businesses, civil society and government reformers were able to build and pilot Prozorro, a fully open contracting portal which is now being scaled up to cover all government contracting. In its first year, it has saved the government 14% on its planned spending. This openness has encouraged a 50% increase in companies bidding for contracts, mostly smaller businesses who were previously shut out by cronies and oligarchs. Dismantling the country's kleptocracy will take time but the first round has gone to the reformers and to open contracting.
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In the Philippines, activists used open contracting to drive better delivery of services. They tracked contracts to local schools and halved the price of textbooks.
When Slovakia made it mandatory to publish contracts online, competition among bidders almost doubled. Information revealed is of genuine public interest: over 8% of citizens checked a public contract in the last year.
My organization and Bloomberg Associates, the philanthropic city government advisory group created by former Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, are currently working with Mexico City to publish a broad spectrum of open public contracting data. Mr. Bloomberg told us that: "Transparency in public contracting not only permits citizens to know where their dollars are being spent, it also makes good business sense. In New York City, we saw that it led to better deals from better qualified companies. Mexico City is taking a positive step by opening more contract data to the public, which will help encourage competition, fight corruption and save taxpayers money."
Some incumbent contractors bewail that information is commercially confidential. But,
once the default shifts to open, it seems that competition lives happily with improved disclosure and lingering concerns about confidentiality can be addressed - although it is not as if Coca Cola will put its secret formula into a public bid.
The future of government contracting is open. Paper-based, fraud-prone systems make precarious foundations for a 21st century economy.
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Gomorrah's season two premiered in Italy on May 10th. An excellent excuse to talk about one of the finest works of televised storytelling to break out of the country in recent years: the show was sold in 130 countries all over the world, including the U.S.
The first season details the fall of the powerful Savastano clan, kings of drug trafficking in the impoverished, crime-ridden Neapolitan suburbs of Scampia and Secondigliano. Pietro Savastano (Fortunato Cerlino), the family's imposing patriarch, is worried that his son, Gennaro (known as "Genny") might not be ready to take his place within the family business. So is his wife, the loyal and strong-headed Immacolata (Maria Pia Calzone). Genny is spoiled, immature and sentimental; his closest friend, and rising star within the clan, is Ciro Di Marzio (Marco D'Amore), an ambitious and calculating young man who aspires to become Savastano's second-in-command, and possibly one day take over the reins of what appears to be a solid empire.
Like Matteo Garrone's film of the same name before it, Gomorrah is based on Roberto Saviano's international bestseller. The TV adaptation is looser, more character-driven than Garrone's work, which required subtitles even for Italian audiences, such was the thickness of the dialect spoken by its actors. The language spoken in Gomorrah is a softer, more intelligible variety of Neapolitan, one that is rooted in the great theatrical tradition of Eduardo De Filippo and gives the acting a vivid, solemn quality. Pietro Savastano's menacing growl, Donna Imma's intensity, Genny's evolution from boyishness to aggression (possibly as a result of severe PTSD) and Ciro's coolness are all the better conveyed by the rhythm of their speech. Gomorrah is more than a crime drama: it is a grand tragedy, one in which destiny is almost as ruthless as men and the only justice is the one they seek to make for themselves. Its violence is savage, often emotionless: killing is a rite of passage, a gateway to becoming a man.
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A lot of Gomorrah rests on the recreation of a culture that is peculiar to Naples and the surrounding areas, one in which tack substitutes taste as a marker of wealth (to wit: Donna Imma's animal-print tops, the ubiquity of gild in the Savastano home), the only music is the sentimental pop played by the neomelodici (think Eurovision Song Contest with warbly, Arabian-influenced vocals about sex, crime and betrayal), unemployment is sky-high and joining the camorra is the only means of survival for scores of young men. Gomorrah has been compared to The Wire for its unflinching depiction of urban violence, but its flavour is distinctly italian. Everything about it, from the story's measured pacing and slow-burning post-rock soundtrack (composed by Mokadelic) speaks of an entirely different storytelling tradition.
Season two is off to a great start, with the Savastanos in disarray and a new alliance trying to find its footing. Although it'll probably be a while before the box sets reach U.S. shores, you might want to catch up on the first season. It's definitely worth a watch.
By Cameron Huddleston, Columnist
With more than 8,000 stores in all 50 states, Walgreens is one of the largest drugstore chains in the U.S. So chances are you've shopped in a Walgreens at least once -- whether it was to get a prescription filled, grab a gallon of milk or have photos printed.
Not only does this pharmacy offer medications, groceries, beauty products and a variety of everyday items, but Walgreens also provides medical care and immunizations at its walk-in clinics in more than 400 of its stores. It also offers customers a variety of opportunities to cut the cost of shopping at its store or on its website. Here are nine ways to save money at Walgreens.
1. Join the Balance Rewards Program
"The easiest way to save at Walgreens is to sign up for a Balance Rewards card," said Kyle Taylor, founder of personal finance blog ThePennyHoarder.com. This program is free to join at a Walgreens location, on Walgreens.com or through the drugstore's free app.
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Members earn 10 points for every $1 spent on most items, plus bonus points on featured products. You also earn 100 points for filling 30-day prescriptions at Walgreens, 300 points for 90-day prescriptions and 100 points for immunizations given at a store.
"Once you earn 5,000 points, you will receive a $5 reward to redeem on your next purchase," Taylor said. "The more points you earn, the bigger your reward."
The maximum reward is $50. Points and rewards mean dollars off purchases, and you can redeem them in stores and online. They do expire if you don't use them within three years or if you don't use your Balance Rewards card for six months.
2. Get Rewards for Healthful Habits
Being healthy can pay off if you take advantage of Walgreens' Balance Rewards for healthy choices program. You can link your Balance Rewards account to this program online. Then you can start earning rewards points for setting and achieving health and wellness goals, such as losing weight, and for logging activities, such as exercising or tracking your blood pressure.
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You can log activities on the Walgreens site, or automatically earn points by linking fitness apps or devices that record activities to your Balance Rewards account. Ashleigh Evans, of money-saving blog DashOfEvans.com, said she synced her Fitbit to automatically earn points for walking. "It's free money for being active," she said.
You can get 250 points for setting a goal, 250 for reaching a goal, 20 points per mile run or walked and 20 points per day for tracking blood pressure, blood glucose and other activities.
3. Get More Rewards as an AARP Member
Members of AARP, the organization for adults 50 and older, can rack up even more points if they link their Balance Rewards account with their AARP membership online, in a store or by calling 855-225-0400. You'll earn 50 points for every dollar spent on Walgreens brand health and wellness products, and get 1.5 times the points for healthy choices activities.
4. Make Use of Register Rewards
"The Register Rewards program at Walgreens is a great money saver," said Dian Farmer, of GroceryShopforFREE.com. Register Rewards are coupons you'll get at checkout if you purchase qualifying items, which are marked in the Walgreens weekly ad, and offer a certain dollar amount off your next purchase.
Treat your Register Rewards like cash, because you can use these coupons to help pay for most anything in the store, Farmer said. However, there's typically only a short period of time you can use them. "So be sure to keep an eye on the expiration dates so you don't miss out on your savings," she said.
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5. Take Advantage of Store Coupons
Each month, Walgreens releases a coupon book that's available at the front of each store and contains hundreds of dollars' worth of coupons, Taylor said. For example, the April 2016 booklet included more than $460 in coupons, he said. So you should pick one up as you enter to see if there are any savings on items you were planning to purchase.
Or you can be more strategic about it. Walgreens also offers these coupons online, and you can clip them to your Balance Rewards card if you log into your account. "Rather than carrying around a stack of paper coupons, simply log onto Walgreens.com, choose the deals that match your shopping list and click 'clip to card,'" Taylor said.
6. Stack Your Savings
Walgreens allows customers to use its coupons with manufacturer coupons. Customers also can use manufacturer coupons with sale items and Register Rewards promotions to get an even deeper discount.
"Walgreens has great clearance sales, so make sure you look for their clearance tags on the shelf -- and don't forget to pair that sale with a coupon and other offers when you can," Farmer said. Be aware, though, that the number of manufacturer and Register Rewards coupons you have can't exceed the number of items you're buying.
7. Get a Rain Check for Out-of-Stock Sale Items
If Walgreens marks down an item, but it's out of stock when you get to the store, you can get a rain check to buy the item at the sale price at a later date. Or a store employee might allow you to substitute a similar product of the same brand at the sale price, according to Walgreens.com. Rain checks can be used only for in-store purchases, and they are valid for only 60 days.
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8. Don't Forget to Shop Online
If you just shop at Walgreens stores, you'll miss out on its online deals. Walgreens.com offers up to 50 percent off select items each week. Or you might find special bonus rewards points offers on certain online purchases.
9. Schedule Recurring Deliveries
You can save 10 percent or more off certain items purchased on Walgreens.com if you opt to have them shipped to you on a recurring basis. Plus, they ship for free.
Items eligible for the Auto-Reorder & Save program are marked as such on the product details page and in the checkout cart. You can earn Balance Rewards points on Auto-Reorder & Save purchases, but you can only use points on your first recurring shipment.
By Michelle Smith, Contributor
On Monday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released a searchable database of its Panama Papers. The database allows users to search through the Panama Papers and other records for individuals and corporations that might be using foreign shell companies and offshore accounts to keep financial information private.
Certain entities will use shell companies to avoid paying taxes on income, launder money or hide evidence of misconduct. Here is a look at some individuals and companies that appear in the Panama Papers.
What Are the Panama Papers?
The Panama Papers is a trove of 11.5 million files that span 40 years. The leak came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that's now infamous for helping people hide and protect assets. In the course of one year, over 100 media organizations have gone through the leaked files connecting offshore companies to individuals in over 200 countries.
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The Panama Papers reveal how wealthy individuals can keep personal finance information private. Use of offshore businesses are often not illegal, though they can be used for tax evasion and fraud, among other illegal purposes.
Altogether the ICIJ database reveals over 360,000 names.
Who's in the Panama Papers?
Being in the Panama Papers does not necessarily mean a person or company has done anything wrong. "There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts," reads a statement on the ICIJ website. "We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons ... have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly."
Notable individuals that appear in the ICIJ database include:
1. Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump
Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump appears 3,540 times in the ICIJ database. However, over the years Trump has sold his name and reputation to investors, meaning the appearance of his name does not necessarily link him to offshore accounts.
2. Argentina President Mauricio Macri
President of Argentina Mauricio Macri is revealed as the director of Fleg Trading, a now-dissolved company based out of the Bahamas. The company is linked to Santiago Lussich Torrendell, an active firm in Uruguay.
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Opposing congressman Norman Dario Martinez began legal proceedings against Macri on allegations the president is involved with a company not declared in his assets since 2006.
3. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron
An offshore trust was set up in Panama by the father of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron. After numerous statements and three days, Cameron admitted he sold shares he owned in the tax haven fund before becoming prime minister.
4. Russian President Vladimir Putin
The Panama Papers revealed Russian President Vladimir Putin is linked to $2 billion in transactions funneled through banks and shadow companies. The leak reportedly reveals how Putin helped make members of his circle wealthy.
5. Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud
King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud, is reportedly linked to mortgages for luxury London homes.
Americans in the Panama Papers
Of the Americans listed in the Panama Papers leak, at least 36 were accused of fraud and financial crimes, reported USA Today. Leonard Gotshalk, a former offensive tackle for the Atlanta Falcons, reportedly paid Mossack Fonseca to set up a company in the British Virgin Islands three days after being indicted for a scheme to inflate technology stocks.
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Iceland Prime Minister Steps Down
Revelations from the Panama Papers have already led to one high-profile resignation. Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down from his role after it was revealed he and his wife had about $4 million in bonds in three bankrupt Icelandic banks while he was negotiating a deal for those banks -- a clear conflict of interest.
The State Department said today it can't find Bryan Pagliano's emails from the time he served as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's senior information technology staffer during her tenure there.
Pagliano would have been required to turn over any official communications from his work account before he left the government. State Department officials say he had an official email account, but that they can't find any of those records he would have turned over and continue to search for them.
"The Department has searched for Mr. Pagliano's email pst file and has not located one that covers the time period of Secretary Clinton's tenure," State Department spokesman Elizabeth Trudeau said today, referencing a file format that holds email...
It's unclear why the State Department does not have his email records for the time her served as her IT director or whether or not he purposefully withheld them.
News / National
by Samantha Chigogo
Government is selling off live wild animals to capable breeders in a new de-stocking scheme aimed at protecting the country's wildlife from dire drought consequences.This comes as one of the several initiatives that the Government of Zimbabwe has been working on to preserve its wildlife from one of the worst droughts induced by the El Nino weather pattern that has affected the Southern Africa region.In an interview with The Herald yesterday, Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate permanent secretary Mr Prince Mupazviriho said drought impact had to be tackled head on for the survival of most wild animals."We have drought and there is no secret to that. Our animals are at a major risk if we do not find a solution earlier," he said."Most of the areas across the country are dry and semi-arid areas which are not good for the survival of our animals and here we are putting a huge effort to ensure that we look after the animals carefully."Mr Mupazviriho said it was unfair for the international community to criticise the sale of live animals saying instead of criticising Zimbabwe, the country should be lauded for its good initiatives to protect its wildlife."It is a fact that we have a serious drought in the country. In fact, the whole region is suffering drought impact," he said."We are surprised that some people are only out there to condemn what we are doing but ignoring the danger posed to our wildlife if the issue of drought is not dealt with head on."In a statement, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority said the scheme would help ease drought impact on the country's wildlife system."In light of the drought that was induced by the El Nino phenomenon, Parks and Wildlife Management Authority intends to de-stock its parks estates through selling some of the wildlife," read part of the statement."The authority is therefore inviting members of the public with the capacity to acquire and manage wildlife to submit their Expression of Interest."Zimparks said the process to sell live animals was being handled delicately to ensure that potential buyers were in a safer and good position to cater for the animals.The authority said only legible buyers would be entertained hence prices of the animal varieties available would only be revealed to committed buyers who would have submitted the required documents.Elephants, wild beasts, lions, Impalas, zebras are amongst some of the animals up for sale.Zimparks has also put in several other measures to fight against drought impact on wildlife with efforts in the pipeline to drill a number of boreholes across several national parks countrywide.In February, President Mugabe declared the 2015-16 agricultural season a national disaster due to the dire effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon that has seen the country receiving below normal rainfall.
1. I am angry because my White friend said her mother does not want her to have Black friends.
2. I am angry because my friend from Egypt told me her mother told her to never marry a Black man. Because she said Black people are slaves.
3. I am angry because my Muslim friend from Pakistan told me that Black people are not smart.
4. I am angry because when I tried to explain to her why she is wrong, she also tried to explain to me why she is right and she insisted that Black people are just really not that smart.
5. I am angry because we are no longer friends because she looks down on my people.
6. I am angry because I still have to explain why I am angry.
7. I am angry because I have to deal with Islamophobia with non-Muslims and racism from Muslims and non-Muslims simultaneously.
8. I am angry because you're a piece of crap if you don't care about this issue.
9. I am angry because some of you will take this personally instead of thinking outside of your privilege to try to understand another perspective.
10. I am angry because the death of our three Black Muslim brothers did not matter to some members of the Arab and Desi community as much as the death of our three Arab Muslim brother and sisters who died in Chapel Hill.
11. I am angry because one of the first questions some people asked when our three Black Muslim brothers died was were they in a gang?
12. I am angry because I'm tired of other races being on the news or any social media platform and speaking on our narrative as if they know how we feel. If you want to know how Black Muslims feel maybe you should ask Black Muslims.
13. I am angry because you always want to bring up, Bilal (may peace and blessing be upon him) whenever I mention your racist ways as a way to show solidarity as if that solves the issue.
14. I am angry because my other Desi friend said her parents are not comfortable with her having Black people come to her house.
15. I am angry because my classmate walked up to me on campus and asked me if it is harder for Black Muslim women to get married? She mentioned something along the lines of nobody wants us even our own Black Muslim Men don't want us because they want something more exotic. Therefore, we need to set up an event or organization to help Black Muslim women get married as if the Black Muslim woman is a charity.
16. I am angry because when I was in high school someone told me you are pretty for a Black girl as a compliment.
17. I am angry because someone asked me if I am mixed because I look better than the typical African as if I was supposed to be happy even though the person just demeaned my entire ethnicity in order to give me a compliment.
18. I am angry because the Imam of my old masjid said this is our religion and I didn't really understand what he meant by that until one day a Black brother came to the masjid wanting to convert and he asked the revert who are you and who is your family? Because we need to know who we are allowing into our religion?
19. I am angry because a Muslim girl on campus admitted to me that when she used to teach at Sunday school the Imam told her to focus her teaching on only the Arab students.
20. I am angry because the same lady who would not even look at me or say Salaam to me during Jummah walked right up to me and said Salaam because she needed a nice Black sister to teach her how to drive for free.
21. I am angry because during Friday prayer, they don't want their feet to touch yours and they constantly move further away from you when the point of praying together is to pray together since we are supposed to be one Ummah.
22. I am angry because the last time I was invited to speak at an MSA event the president did not even greet me or acknowledge my presence as a guest. After my spoken word performance, she said it was good, even though she didn't stay to watch because she told me she heard it from outside.
23. I am angry because when I first met a Muslim lady from Saudi Arabia she started asking me if I know how to say Surah Fatiha, if I pray in Arabic and if I know who Khadijah the first wife of the prophet s.a.w is. This is basic knowledge for every Muslim. I feel she would not have asked me these questions if I was from Saudi or if she saw me as one of her people.
24. I am angry because growing up, the people who called me African booty scratcher were as black as me.
25. I am angry because African-American people do not see me as African and American they see me as only an African. I am angry because Africans do not see me as African they see me as an American. I am angry because the American people do not see me as an American they see me as an African Muslim woman and that is why I am a frustrated and angry 22-year-old American-Nigerian-Ghanaian Muslim woman.
Dear Jeb: I'm a Democrat. I dislike your policies. They hurt the country, and bring misery to the lives of regular Americans. However, I do feel your pain. Because Democrats are compassionate. Not from of any religious dictate, but from basic human decency. So, I know what you're going through. Having to sit back and watch that bloviating parade float Donald Trump become your nominee -- America's Berlusconi, turning your precious GOP into the Bunga Bunga party. Having to listen to his moronic statements on serious issues without cringing. Or weeping. It must be like seeing an ex-girlfriend ride off on the back of some guy's Harley, after he stole the bike from your garage, punched out your mother, and violated your dog.
I know how humiliated you must feel. He mocked you. Taunted you. Called you low energy. Insulted your wife. And all you could do was stand there and take it, incapable of lowering yourself to his level to slam him back. Not that you didn't try. You were just incapable. And it was just sad. The man gutted you on national TV. He broke you. And all you wanted was to give America another Bush presidency. Not that we wanted it. The last one was sufficient, thank you very much.
Still, I know it hurt. And I know you think there's nothing you can do but sit back and watch Trump cut a swatch of destruction through the country, like a tornado ripping through a trailer park. But there is something you can do, something that would really hurt him. Run. Run as a third party candidate. Yes, I know there's talk of Ben Sasse getting in. But, c'mon, there's no irony in Ben Sasse. You need to do it.
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All through the primaries Trump taunted the party by refusing to sign the pledge. Then he signed it. Then he flirted with backing out. He thought he was the one with the third party power. But now you've got it. Do the very thing he taunted you with. Stick it to him. Cut him with his own sword. You must have a few bucks in the coffers. Go Green Party. Libertarian. Bull Moose. Or, given the intellectual level of the debates, the Know-Nothing Party.
Think about it. You'd siphon off enough old-school Republican votes to make sure he'd go down in flames. Sure, Trump will probably screw himself eventually, but who wants to take that chance? We all know he's shrewd, and ruthless. But he's dumb. Way too dumb to actually be president. On a debate stage, Hillary will stomp him like, well, like a protestor at a Trump rally. She'll dazzle him with facts and he'll lose his shit because he won't be able to respond intelligently, and he can't deal with being attacked, especially by a woman. But why take that chance? You're the one who could hurt him now. You know you want to. Imagine the sweet, sweet taste of Jeb's revenge. But if you're just too hurt, too wounded to get back on the campaign trail, I get it. It might be too hard to summon up the facial muscles needed to force out that sad clown smile. Then, do the rest of us a favor, pass this on to the other losers in the Sweet 16.
Carly. He mocked your face. Christie. You endorsed the son of a bitch, then he dragged you around like a pug on a leash. And if he didn't call you fat, he was thinking it. And Marco. Little sweaty Marco. I know you're saving your reputation for 2020. But get out there now and talk some shit. Hit him with the small hands thing again. Lindsey. You're a fun guy. Have a Mint Julep and let that acid tongue loose on the trail. Kasich. For a brief, shining moment, you were the least ugly guy in the bar at last call. Get back out there and stuff your face with ethnic food. And Ted. Lyin' Ted. Instead of venting your anger by forearm smashing your wife in the face, take that evil that swirls around you like Fukushima fallout and channel it for some good, old-fashioned revenge.
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Or maybe all of you do it together. I know that sounds socialist, but you'd be uniting to defeat a common enemy. Like when FDR and Churchill met with Stalin at Yalta. Imagine the look on Trump's face when you steal his votes. Jeb can sting him in Florida. Cruz can kneecap him in Texas. Pataki and Christie can nail him in the northeast. Carly can screw him in California. Someone must like her there. Jindal and Lindsey can take the south. It would be like the ending in Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile. The suspects' hatred for the victim ran so deep they all killed him. C'mon. Don't do it for the country. Don't do it for the party. Do it for the most Republican reason of all: political payback. Hook yourselves together like rats pulling a ratfuck Santa sleigh. Now Kasich! Now Walker! Now Graham! Now Carly! On Ted! On Bobby! On Marco! On Christie! It will truly be Christmas when that cocky smirk is wiped off that asshole's fat face, replaced by a befuddled "what in the heck just happened?!"
This article was originally posted on Inverse.
By Jacqueline Ronson
Here's a fun way to spend some time in the great outdoors: Hike into a caldera then spend a night in a tent 400 yards from an active volcano with ash raining down and rocks falling all around. That's what Kayleigh Kulp, a writer for the travel section of the Washington Post, did in Guatemela before scribbling a column extolling the wonder of the experience. Sounds cool right? No, says volcanologist Jessica Ball of the U.S. Geological Survey, who has visited that volcano, called Santiaguito, and wrote in a blog post that Kulp's overnight hike was dangerous and irresponsible.
The problem, at the end of the day, is not geological. It's human. Tourists flocked by the thousands to a different volcano in Guatemala even after a TV reporter was killed by a lava flow. They wanted to see an eruption, and that's just the way things go. But Ball says people can see amazing volcanic activity without jeopardizing themselves if they just take a moment to be smart. She was kind enough to answer Inverse's questions about volcanic exploration.
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If someone wants to go see an active volcano, how should they go about evaluating if a given hike or tour is safe?
This varies with the volcano. In places where the volcano is in a national/state/other park, people should always consult with park officials about the safety of a particular hike or tour. If the volcano has an observatory, they could look for hazard information available through an observatory website or pamphlets, or they could contact an observatory official.
In places where access to the volcanoes isn't regulated, it becomes more difficult to evaluate the safety of tours. In general, climbing to the summit of an active (erupting) volcano is a dangerous proposition even when previous tours appear to have been safe. Hikers should use common sense and ask questions of the guides before going on a tour (like whether there are emergency plans in place if someone is injured or gets sick, whether the guide knows first aid/has supplies, whether everyone will have adequate food/water/gear). They should ask if there is a risk of being hit by volcanic tephra (ash or rocks), and whether there are safer vantage points on a hike if it goes near the summit of an erupting volcano.
A lot of people will say that if they want to risk their life to visit a volcano, they should be allowed to. What would you tell them?
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I would say that if they want to make the personal choice to put themselves in danger, that is ultimately their decision. However, they should also consider how their decision affects the guides who go along with them. In less wealthy countries (like Guatemala), people can make a lot of money providing services to tourists. However, many of these local guides don't understand all the dangers of the active volcanoes that they may be hiking on, or how unpredictable they can be.
The upshot of this is that tourists who go on these hikes are encouraging local guides to put their lives and their clients' lives in danger. The consequences for the tourists could certainly be tragic, but what happens to the families of the guides if their father or mother or husband or wife is killed or injured? That person may well be the sole provider for the family, and the consequences of an accident could have a much bigger impact on them than on their clients.
I do think that it's important for outdoor enthusiasts to educate themselves about the hazards and risks of any activity they attempt, and in the case of hiking on a volcano, that includes learning about the past and current behavior of the volcano in question. It's really a due diligence issue.
How dangerous is it, really? No deaths in the area seems like a pretty good track record, even if it's one that could end any time.
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Just because no one has died doesn't mean it's not still dangerous. I personally think it's been sheer luck that no one's been killed at Santiaguito recently, given what I've seen on a few internet videos of people who have gone on those hikes. However, a dome collapse at Santiaguito in 1929 killed hundreds (possibly thousands) of people, and in volcanological terms it wasn't a catastrophic event. And the recent activity at Santiaguito, which is much more vigorous than its "typical" behavior, could easily have killed someone had they been at the summit of the active dome at the wrong time. Again, it's plain luck that no one was.
What's the most amazing thing you've seen while observing a volcano?
I think the most impactful experience I've had on a volcano was at Santiaguito. It was our first day working on the domes, and we were heading to the top of the inactive dome furthest from the active eruptions. I heard what I thought was a plane going overhead, but when we saw the ash plume rising overhead we realized that it had been an eruption of the active dome, and when we summited the dome we were climbing and were able to see the rest of the complex, I saw just how big the domes were and how massive the volcano behind them was and the size of the crater that formed from the 1902 eruption.
I had one of those moments where I realized how tiny and insignificant and powerless I was compared to the volcano, and how easily a larger eruption could wipe me out. It was a humbling experience at the same time as there was an adrenaline rush from being on an active volcano, and I completely understand why people chase that feeling.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
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This article was originally posted on Inverse.
By Yasmin Tayag
Resurrection will become a medical procedure if a new "death reversal" project greenlighted by the U.S. government last month is successful. The unprecedented study, spearheaded by two private biotech firms, will try to reverse brain death in legally dead subjects (brain death is death under U.S. law) using a range of existing medical techniques. The scientists behind the Reanima project are hoping to see brains repair and regenerate after being declared dead, and by doing so, they'll be providing greater insights into the seat of consciousness -- if there is one -- than ever before.
Brain death, by Harvard Medical School's official definition, is the "complete and irreversible" loss of brain function, including the involuntary activity needed to sustain life (that is, breathing independently). The scientists behind the project are contesting that irreversibility by subjecting 20 subjects -- brain-dead individuals gathered from a hospital ICU in India -- to a series of established medical techniques, like stem cell and peptide injections, lasers, and nerve stimulation, in hopes that they will induce some sort of physical response.
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They aren't explicitly aiming to restore consciousness to the dead just yet, but that's the implicit end goal. "It is a long term vision of ours that a full recovery in such patients is a possibility, although that is not the focus of this first study - but it is a bridge to that eventuality," Bioquark's CEO, Dr. Ira Pastor, said in an interview with The Telegraph.
For now, they're simply planning to watch the lower region of the brainstem -- the part that controls independent breathing and the heartbeat for signs of regeneration as their "patients" are treated over two to three months. But, by monitoring the reanimating brain and its associated vital signs, they could also discover the parts of the brain that are crucial to reawakening consciousness after brain death -- if the patient ever truly "wakes up."
Whether that will happen -- and whether we'll be able to measure it -- remains, for now, purely hypothetical. The Reanima project is built on the theory that the conscious brain is merely the sum of its parts: If the death of some subset of brain cells means consciousness is extinguished, then why not just regrow the cells, the way salamanders regrow their tails, to get it back? The paradigm might seem overly simplistic, but it's too early to dismiss entirely: We've never really tried to reanimate a dead brain, so we really don't know what it will do.
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Neuroscientists, carrying on a philosophical debate that's raged for millennia, haven't been able to figure out where -- if anywhere -- consciousness lives. Some neuroscience research suggests that consciousness is localized to specific areas of the brain; most recently, scientists pointed at the skinny strip of neurons called the claustrum as an "on-off" switch. Other research predicts that it arises from global connections between the brain's many regions.
In theory, Bioquark's research has the potential to help answer those questions, and it's clear that its representatives are betting that it will. "I personally think some of the topics related to memory recovery will be equally fascinating, and thus some potential answers to the age old question of where our mind really sits could be revealed," Pastor said in a recent interview with NextShark. Whether his work is all sordid hype or is truly advancing us into the age of the undead remains to be seen. All we can do is wait: The study has been given the go-ahead to begin in a hospital in India, where "participants" are actively being recruited.
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Louis Agassiz, the famous Swiss biologist, placed a fish specimen on the table in front of his post-graduate student.
"That's only a sunfish," the student said.
"I know that," Agassiz replied.
He continued, "Write a description of it. Find out what you can without damaging the specimen. When I think that you have done the work I will question you." (1: This story about Agassiz has been told by two different sources. First, in The Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, who was a student of Agassiz. Second, in Ezra Pound's classic book, The ABC of Reading (Kindle). Pound's version is known as the Parable of the Sunfish and deviates slightly from the original sources. I've done my best to represent Agassiz accurately here.)
The Power of Observation
The student wrote for an nearly an hour, until he felt confident that he knew nearly all there was to know about this particular fish.
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Much to the student's frustration, however, Agassiz did not return to see him that day. His teacher did not come the next day either. Nor for the entire week that followed. Eventually, the student realized Agassiz's game: the teacher wanted him to observe the fish more deeply.
After nearly one hundreds hours of study, the student began to notice finer details that had escaped his vision previously: how the scales of the fish were shaped and the patterns they made, the placement of the teeth, the shape of each individual tooth, and so on. When his teacher finally returned and the student explained all that he had learned, Agassiz replied, "That's not right." And walked out of the room. (2: From what I can tell, this was fairly standard behavior for Agassiz. He would, reportedly, "lock a student up in a room full of turtle-shells, or lobster-shells, or oyster-shells, without a book or a word to help him, and not let him out till he had discovered all the truths which the objects contained." (Source: Speech by William James at the reception of the American Society of Naturalists on December 30, 1896.))
Shocked and angry at first, the student eventually recommitted to the task with new vigor. He threw out all of his previous notes. He studied the fish for 10 hours per day for an entire week. When he met with Agassiz a final time, the student had produced work that "astonished." (3: The Autobiography of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler. Page 99.)
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Louis Agassiz circa 1865. (Photographer: John Adams Whipple.)
The Art of Comparing Objects
After his investigation of the sunfish Agassiz's student wrote, "I had learned the art of comparing objects." How does this tooth compare to the one next to it? How does this scale compare to the one on the opposite side? How does the symmetry of the bottom half of the fish compare to the top half?
The art of comparing objects is a remarkably useful strategy in many areas of life. Take weightlifting, for example.
For the first five years that I lifted weights, I experienced mediocre results at best. I assumed that it was information that held me back. Like many people, I thought that once I found the right workout routine, then I would be set. I was under the assumption that I simply hadn't reached the next level yet because I hadn't come across the right information. What I didn't realize was my search for the perfect pre-made formula was preventing me from observing my actual results.
When I started to observe with greater care and focus, I realized that my body tended to respond better to higher volume rather than higher intensity. I noticed that my foundational strength in major movements like the squat and deadlift was lacking. I was able to use these observational discoveries to tailor my training to my needs and, subsequently, make much greater strides because of it. It was through comparing what I was doing with what was actually working for me that I made progress.
Do the Work For Yourself
"I never pay attention to anything by 'experts.' I calculate everything myself."
-Richard Feynman
When Richard Feynman, the brilliant physicist, was working on a new theory of beta decay he noticed something surprising. For years, experts had been saying that beta decay occurred in a particular way, but when Feynman actually ran the experiments he kept getting a different result.
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Eventually, Feynman investigated the original data that all of the expert's were basing their theory on and discovered that the study was flawed. For years, nobody had bothered to read or repeat the original study! All of the experts just kept quoting one another and used their mutual opinions as justification for the theory. Then Feynman came along and turned everything upside simply because he did the calculations himself. (4: Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (audiobook) by Richard Feynman. Page 254-255.)
Look, And See for Yourself
"Take the facts into your own hands; look, and see for yourself!"
-Louis Agassiz
Pick any industry of life and you'll find that very few people actually do the work.
Rather than read the original study, most people cite the headline from a secondary source. Rather than spend 100 hours observing every detail of a fish, most biology students would look up the description of the fish online. When most people say, "I read an article on climate change," what they really mean is, "I read the title of an article on climate change."
This is exactly why doing the boring work more consistently is actually a competitive advantage. Ignore the expert advice and pay attention to what gets results for you.
Look, and see for yourself.
James Clear writes at JamesClear.com, where he shares science-based ideas for living a better life and building habits that stick. To get strategies for boosting your mental and physical performance by 10x, join his free newsletter.
Bradley Jacobs, chief executive officer of XPO Logistics Inc., speaks during an interview in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016. Jacobs said XPO sees up to $1billion in organic sales in 2016 and may return to making acquisitions in 2017. Photographer: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg via Getty Images
This morning in the upscale suburbs of Connecticut, rank and file union leaders from a continent away are joining U.S. truck drivers and the Teamsters outside a shareholders' meeting for XPO Logistics to take the company to task for its treatment of workers both here and abroad.
It is a historic uniting of U.S. and European workers and unions, brought on by a company that is keeping its workers and investors in the dark. XPO, new owners of Con-way Freight and port trucking companies Pacer Cartage and Harbor Rail Transport, are the nation's second largest logistics company after UPS. But it's mismanaging the integration of its new businesses, which is creating significant operational and financial risk for the company and its investors. Just as importantly, XPO is mistreating former Con-way workers by closing terminals, subcontracting out work and laying off employees.
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Corporate greed is at the center of the dispute. XPO port and rail drivers are fighting company wage theft in excess of $200 million because of persistent misclassification as independent contractors, a scheme the National Labor Relations Board ruled is designed to deny workers of their legal right to form a union. And after settling multiple lawsuits in the company's last mile division, XPO is now facing a new class action lawsuit from misclassified drivers at 3PD, valued in court documents at $75 million.
In Europe, XPO workers are experiencing similar issues. The company broke its promise not to lay off any workers in France for at least 18 months after the company purchased a competitor. French workers and their unions have been fighting back against XPO's disrespect, lies and attempts to slash jobs. Similar struggles with XPO are taking place in Great Britain, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The Teamsters have been standing up for workers. Since 2014, the Teamsters have been working with Con-way workers to organize terminals and build an internal network of union activists. Workers from successful campaigns in Texas, California and Florida faced and fought abhorrent corporate intimidation tactics. The culture of fear and uncertainty is still being wielded towards XPO workers.
And the fight continues. The Teamsters are in the midst of national days-of-action to let workers know they have the option of joining a union and gaining a voice in their working lives. XPO/Con-way workers are hearing that message and expressing active interest in the effort.
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Not surprisingly, XPO executives are not thrilled about the Teamsters' outreach to its employees. The company, led by CEO Bradley Jacobs, seems hell-bent on trying to follow the typical Wall Street method of purchase, gut and sell at a huge profit; workers, families and their livelihoods be damned. Jacobs followed the same method previously in the oil, waste management and equipment rental industries.
Well, this union and our European brothers and sisters aren't going to sit back and let that happen. Last month, the Teamsters joined eight other unions at a forum hosted by the International Transport Workers Federation to discuss strategy, and now we're implementing it.
Together, these unions won't allow XPO to just focus on short-term profits that will lead to a loss of employment, lower pay and benefits, wage theft and the slashing of safety standards. Instead, we're standing up to their denial of workplace rights.
XPO is involved with port, freight and warehouse workers. They are linking together the transportation of goods from ships to stores. But the Teamsters won't permit them to drag down their workers by not following the rules and not allowing them to organize. We invite you to find out more about the campaign by visiting its website or Facebook page.
In part one we were discussing how government regulatory systems are used to benefit wealthy individuals and much of the "redistributed" wealth in America is wealth going up the ladder--from lower-income individuals to higher-income individuals. One way this happens is via occupational licensing. Consumers, who on average are poorer than licensed professionals, pay more for their services because of licensing, pushing income up the pyramid. The White House report on licensing said: "Estimates find that unlicensed workers earned 10 to 15 percent lower wages than licensed workers with similar levels of education, training and experience." That's just another way of saying licensed professionals are given an income bump at the expense of consumers and unlicensed workers.
The report says licensing means jobs are "accessible to those with the time and means to complete what are often lengthy licensing requirements. One study found that for a subset of low- and medium-skilled jobs, the average license required around 9 months of education and training." Who can afford that? The lower someone is on the economic ladder, the less likely they can afford the cost of licensing. It's not merely cost of the courses, but also difficulty in earning an income while studying.
Licensing doesn't necessarily mean well-qualified people take the jobs; it often only means those with sufficient income or savings seek the position and get the license. In other words, it favors those higher up the economic ladder at the expense of less-wealthy individuals.
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The White House report says one study found "licensing restrictions cost millions of jobs nation wide and raise consumer expenses by over one hundred billion dollars." Compare that to the food stamps budget, a program intended to push income down the pyramid. SNAP, (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) spent $74.1 billion last year--$25.9 billion less than licensing restrictions push up the pyramid. Nor should we assume licensing is the only means by which the regulatory state redistributes income to wealthier classes.
Steven Teles notes that many of the 1% the Left complain about, are "government contractors, such as private-prison managers, defense contractors, and for-profit colleges. All these industries are characterized by dependence on government as a nearly exclusive source of revenue, by extraordinary levels of lobbying, and by asymmetries of power between firms and their government counterparts. Or consider the field of management consulting, which attracts an extraordinary percentage of Ivy League college graduates. As Christopher McKenna shows in his book, The World's Newest Profession, the outsized incomes of consultants do not come from their ability to recommend innovative practices to firms. Instead, they come from the rent they extract from performing a legally mandated due-diligence ritual for firms or from performing tasks that could otherwise be done at lower cost by public employees. These are not, in short, meaningfully 'private' firms at all, despite their high profitability."
Government programs also impact the price of housing. Appreciation in housing values, one result of these programs, benefits higher income individuals. Teles writes:
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"...the real driver of increased wealth at the top end is not returns on industrial or financial capital but housing-price appreciation. Housing is a highly regulated and subsidized sector of the economy, and constraints on housing supply relative to demand are especially severe in the areas with the highest concentrations of high earners, like San Francisco, New York, Washington, Seattle, Boston, and Los Angeles. Estimates by Harvard's Edward Glaeser indicate that constraints on housing supply can increase prices in these markets on the order of 50%. In other words, by preventing housing supply from equilibrating with housing demand, insiders in these expensive housing markets--necessarily the already wealthy--are able to use regulation to take resources from housing outsiders. The same constraints on supply also generate rents for those in real-estate development with the political connections to acquire permission to build, and a considerable amount of these rents are redistributed back to politicians through political contributions (of which real-estate developers are almost always the largest providers in urban elections)."
Teles echoes my own suspicions, "there is sufficient evidence across these different areas to look to the suppression of competition as a core driver of skyrocketing inequality."
Movies and books -- like The Bucket List and Tuesdays with Morrie -- suggest that the terminally-ill will accept their impending demise. But Hollywood misses the mark.
When my aunt came to stay with my family for a few weeks in our house in Oakland, she had only six months to live. At first I was surprised by how serene she seemed despite her prognosis. But soon her distress became more apparent. She cried uncontrollably one night when listening to music and drinking wine outside with my dad on our patio. As Yolanda Adams's rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly" played on our stereo, she sobbed, "I don't want to die."
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During her stay, she and I spoke about her terminal cancer. She believed that her doctors didn't know what they were talking about. They said that she was dying, but she knew a woman who lived much longer than the year her doctor had given her. My aunt said that she was going to have a long life too. I wanted to comfort her, even if it meant lying and agreeing that her doctor was a quack. But I didn't want to give her false hope that would prevent her from making the most of her last months.
After a couple weeks, my aunt returned to her apartment in Texas where she lived alone. Even as her health rapidly deteriorated in the months following her visit, she refused to accept her condition. After she passed out a few times in her apartment, my mother placed her into a hospice facility. She only stayed for a short time before she told my mother, "Move me the hell out of here." My mother acquiesced and my aunt's children took her in and cared for her.
But this living situation was brief. By themselves her children couldn't provide my aunt with the care that she needed. She went back to the hospice facility and, within a week, she died. Before my aunt's death, I rarely considered the circumstances under which I might leave this world and what would be important to me if I knew I had little time left. I promised myself that I would not allow myself to die, as she did, in the company and care of people I did not love and in a place that I did not like.
Face of Terminal Illness
I thought of my aunt when the mainstream media became captivated by the story of Brittany Maynard, a 29-year old woman from California with brain cancer. Maynard moved to Oregon so she could have a physician-assisted suicide, as permitted by the state's Death with Dignity Act. Like my aunt, Maynard faced a grim prognosis of fewer than six months to live. But the resemblance between the two women stopped there.
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My aunt was a middle-aged woman of color, for whom a terminal illness was only one of life's many hardships. She was one of the first African-American students to integrate an all-white elementary school in Dallas. She raised two children as a young, single mother, at times using drugs and working as a prostitute to make ends meet. Brittany Maynard was a white, well-educated young woman who had recently married. Her story, along with beautiful pictures of her on her wedding day and lounging on a patio chair with a puppy, helped make her a media darling.
Like many others, I couldn't help but feel sympathy for this woman, a victim of a devastating illness that struck her in the prime of life. But my aunt, on the other hand, had life experiences that were more likely to elicit scorn - not sympathy - from others.
Dying isn't a Crime (in California)
Last fall, due to the influence of Maynard, her family, and other Californians who have publicly supported the right-to-die movement, the California state legislature passed the right-to-die law, which permits physician-assisted suicide. The California End of Life Option Act, which takes effect next month, allows doctors to prescribe aid-in-dying drugs - lethal doses of central nervous system depressants - to terminally-ill California residents. To obtain these drugs, the patient verbally requests them and submits a written request to her physician. The writing requires two witnesses, one of whom may not be a relative of the patient nor someone who stands to inherit from the patient's estate. Another physician and a mental health specialist must evaluate the patient. She must not suffer from any underlying, untreated psychiatric condition nor be acting under coercion, and she must be knowledgeable about the suicide process and alternative palliative care options.
Proponents of the California End of Life Option Act are optimistic that it will work smoothly. Oregon's Death with Dignity Act has worked without incident since 1997 when it was enacted, and the California law is very similar to Oregon's. But California's population is nearly 10 times the size of Oregon's, meaning that it could potentially encounter more technical problems than Oregon's law, due to the number of individuals who could opt for physician-assisted suicide. What's more, California's law accounts for the state's greater cultural diversity. For example, unlike Oregon's Death with Dignity act, California's law allows residents who do not speak English to use an interpreter. This portion of the law makes it more inclusive, but linguistic miscommunications could arise.
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The typical, yet important, concerns about how the law could affect more vulnerable citizens further complicate the issue. How might the law impact residents of lower socioeconomic status? The pharmaceutical company Valeant Pharmaceuticals has already doubled the price of its aid-in-dying drug, Seconal, since California lawmakers passed the new law. As of this year Seconal is now $3,000 for the one pill that patients must take to die, whereas the cost was less than $200 seven years ago. Also, opponents of physician-assisted suicide worry that the more vulnerable members of society would be unfairly encouraged to request aid-in-dying drugs, which are still generally cheaper than other, less controversial palliative care options. And, on a broader scale, of what use is "death with dignity" for those in our society who don't even experience life with dignity?
Death with Dignity without "Death with Dignity"
Brittany Maynard was privileged. She had the right traits to become a spokesperson for the right-to-die movement. She had resources and a supportive family to allow her to relocate to Oregon and cross experiences off of her bucket list, like travelling to see the Grand Canyon. But an equally, if not more, important privilege that she had was the privilege to die at her home, surrounded by her loved ones. And that privilege of dying with dignity resulted as much from her acceptance of her terminal prognosis as the lethal medication prescribed by her doctor. By coming to grips with her impending demise, she enabled herself to think not only about what mattered most to her during her last few months, but also to make her desires a reality.
In a Facebook post last month, Elbert County (Colorado) Commissioner Robert Rowland wrote that he would end up "in jail" if he saw a transgender person enter a bathroom that was also being used by his granddaughter.
Rowland was commenting on an article, posted April 14 on Facebook, which quoted former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz as saying, "Men should not be going to the bathroom with little girls."
In the comment section, Rowland wrote, "If I catch one of the sick bastards following my granddaughter into the bathroom, I will be in jail."
Rowland, whose Elbert County district is southeast of Denver, said Tuesday his Facebook comment was not a threat of violence.
"I'm a Christian man," Rowland said. "I'm not a violent man. I would certainly do one of two things. I would retrieve my granddaughter quickly or ask the person to refrain until she's finished."
With respect to going to jail, Rowland said, "Maybe somebody would get angry if I tried to delay them going in, while my granddaughter had a chance to get out. But that's about it."
"I'm an ex-cop," Rowland said. "I've put enough people in jail. I don't want to be on the other side."
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"It is an emotional issue for everybody," he said.
Asked for a response to Rowland's comment, One Colorado Political Director Laura Reinsch pointed out that there's no record of any criminal problems with transgender people using bathrooms in Colorado.
"Transgender Coloradans are not 'sick,'" said Reinsch via email. "They only want to live their lives like every other Coloradan does, and that includes being able to use the bathroom without harassment. Since 2008, Colorado law has allowed transgender people to use the bathroom that reflects their gender identity, and there hasn't been one instance of a transgender person assaulting anyone in a bathroom in our state. The language used by Commissioner Rowland is offensive and misrepresents the experiences of transgender people. "Transgender Coloradans are our friends, neighbors, and family members, and they deserve to be treated fairly and with respect."
Even in North Carolina, where state legislators passed a law requiring people to use the bathroom corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate, there is no record of assaults by transgender people in bathrooms.
The power exercised by private wealth in this country is all pervasive. It shows up in every walk of life: education, health care, housing, employment, the criminal justice system, and of course in politics. But as the gap between the privileged few and everyone else has become a yawning chasm, an oppositional movement has come to life. Occupy Wall Street first brought the problem of inequality to public prominence, and Bernie Sanders has carried it into the electoral realm. The 5,000 people Democracy Spring and Democracy Awakening mobilized in Washington during the weekend of April 16-18 -- with more than 1,000 people engaged in civil disobedience and arrested by the Capitol police -- has built on those efforts. Could it be that we are witnessing the growth of a social movement that will provide the political dynamism necessary to create a more egalitarian America?
There are grounds for optimism. The coalition that formed Spring Awakening was impressive in both its diversity and size. More than 200 organizations sponsored the Washington events, including the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, Democracy Matters, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the Small Planet Institute, the Communication Workers of America, and the Sierra Club. The diversity that this coalition represents organizationally was vividly present on the Washington streets. The marchers really reflected the country by age, ethnicity, occupation and sexual preference. Equally impressive were the five demands on which the coalition members agreed: legislation to provide public funding for Congressional candidates; to modernize voter registration; to restore the Voting Rights Act; to repeal Citizens United; and that the nominee for the current Supreme Court vacancy be fairly considered. Taken as a whole, this package would go far to reverse the power grab that the super-rich have engaged in.
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Constructing and maintaining a coalition like Spring Awakening is not easy. By definition, coalitions require individuals to allocate some of their time and resources to projects other than the ones to which they are primarily committed. This coalition was successful because each of its constituent elements understood that a more democratic politics was necessary for their individual goals to be achieved. They therefore were willing to march for democracy in the name of securing their specific objectives. In doing so none was required to reject its own identity. Environmentalists continued to devote most of their time to the environment, and the same was the true for all the members of the coalition.
The success in Washington is part of a sea change in American politics, the most important element of which is the surprising strength of Bernie Sanders' challenge to Hillary Clinton. Both Spring Awakening and Sanders reflect the fact that large segments of the American electorate are eager to act politically to reverse the growth in inequality that has changed the shape of America. To some extent this is true also of Donald Trump's campaign which has tapped into the frustrations of those who have suffered job loss and income stagnation. But that campaign's scarcely hidden racism, xenophobia, and misogyny suggest that Trump's adherents seek to turn the country back to its past, rather than toward a progressive future.
But the sea change that allowed a democratic socialist to become a viable candidate is only the necessary, but not sufficient, condition for inequality to be reversed. Two other elements are required. Needed will be a much more powerful social movement than Spring Awakening, and a President who will respond when subjected to intense pressure.
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It is not difficult to imagine that in the near future both of those conditions will prevail. Hillary Clinton in all likelihood will preside over a new Administration that will find its comfort zone in the political center. But it will also be sensitive to pressure from those of us on its Left. What happens will be decided by the strength of the ongoing pressure that an enhanced Awakening-like social movement can generate. It will need to be intense enough to influence Clinton's priorities.
Whether such a hopeful scenario emerges will largely depend on what Sanders and the people around him decide to do. No one, perhaps not even Sanders himself, knows what he will do once it becomes clear that Clinton is the Democratic nominee. The most favorable response would be a decision to continue to take up the challenge that animated his campaign - reversing inequality - well beyond the nominating process. His campaign's leaders and supporters could redirect their energies and join Spring Awakening in movement-building. That would provide a historic opportunity to scale up a movement that, while impressive, is still too small to decisively influence national politics. If the Sanders' organization were to do this, the potential would exist for a broad progressive social movement to become an effective instrument of political power.
The country is already debating inequality, most especially how political campaigns are funded. But it will take a vast coalition of organizations and activists to transform those debates into legislation. Democracy Spring Awakening demonstrated that the problems associated with coalition-building can be overcome. The Sanders campaign has shown that such a movement could be massive.
News / National
by Melody Baya
A LIBERATION war hero, Wilson Sibanda, has died. He was 69.Sibanda died at Mpilo Central Hospital last week on Saturday upon admission after a long illness.He will be buried at Nkulumane Heroes Acre tomorrow.Sibanda was born at Manama Mission Hospital and did his primary education at Buvuma Primary School before he proceeded to join the liberation struggle in October 1976.Sibanda, who was known as Goodhope Mkwananzi during the war of liberation, served in the Zimbabwe National Army before he retired to join the Bulawayo City Council as a security guard.During his time in service, he was awarded medals which include the Independence, Liberation, Mozambique, long service expletory, peacemaking mission and DRC medals for serving in the respective missions.Sibanda is survived by his wife Mellotte Sibanda, three children Gugulethu, Bridget, Privilege and three grandchildren.Mourners are gathered at number 20595 Pumula South, Bulawayo.
By now, there are no secrets: As incredible it is that Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, his prospects for winning in November are slim. Indeed, many map-crunchers have pointed out that, in order for Trump to win the White House, he is going to need to flip some pretty strong blue states. Here is one possible path for Trump:
For sure, this looks tough. A Republican candidate has not won Michigan nor Pennsylvania since 1988, nor Wisconsin since 1984. But there is growing evidence that we are in the midst of a major party realignment, just the kind that could produce the result shown above. If Trump can exploit this moment in history in his favor, coupled with a few miscalculations by Hillary Clinton, he could indeed become President #45.
In a 2003 paper published in American Political Science Review, Gary Miller and Norman Schofield argued that our traditional beliefs about party alignments are misguided. Political parties, they argue, do not exist on a one dimensional plane--with conservatives on the right and liberals on the left--but on a two-dimensional plane including both an economic dimension and a social dimension.
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Within this construct, political parties are held together along one dimension--social or economic--and over time disagreements along the other dimension begin to form. In turn, political candidates, driven by a need to grow their own coalitions, are able pick off disenfranchised voters from the other side, realigning the parties. We saw this most prominently with Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy, when Republicans were able to steal away disaffected white southerners who began to disagree with the Democratic party on social issues. On Miller and Schofield's diagram, the strategy looked something like this:
Until now, the Southern Strategy has endured--the parties, more or less, have been held together on social issues. That is why, for example, that the Republican party has consistently performed well with lower-middle class social conservatives even as the party has supported economic policies favoring the wealthiest Americans, and why "socially liberal, fiscal conservatives" in the North have continued to support the Democratic party.
But there is evidence that these coalitions are starting to break. Trump, the Republican candidate, has succeeded in large part because of his opposition to free trade and his economic isolationism, traditionally more liberal positions. Clinton, on the other hand, along with her husband and President Obama, has championed free trade agreements and embraced globalization, positions we typically associate with Republicans. Moreover, Trump has invoked the New Deal as plan he wants to emulate, and has proposed a public works plan far larger than Clitnon's. Finally, we have even seen large corporations--once the bread and butter of the Republican party--increasingly align themselves with the Democratic Party, most recently with the debacle in North Carolina.
This shift away from social cohesion to economic cohesion explains why Trump has succeeded despite his wishy-washy record on abortion and gay rights, typically believed to be make-or-break issues in the Republican party. It also explains why disgust with "The Establishment" has been so prominent in this campaign--it is Republican voters revolting against a party that has not done enough representing their interests on the economic side.
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On Miller and Schofield's model, then, we likely find ourselves somewhere around here:
This shift would explain the current split we are seeing within the Republican establishment. Most notably, House Speaker Paul Ryan said he is not yet be willing to support Trump. But down the line, there are signs the cohesiveness of the Republican party is beginning to fray. Senator John McCain said he is endorsing Trump, while his counterpart, Jeff Flake, said otherwise; both presidents Bush have said they will not attend the convention; and 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney has been one of the architects of the "Never Trump" movement. Moreover, GOP bigwigs Robert Gates and David Petraeus have even voiced support for Clinton, and her campaign is reportedly beginning to reach out to former GOP voters (on the model, those voters are found between the pre-2016 and the 2016 party division line on the right side).
So how does this affect the 2016 race? It just so happens that the disaffected working-class whites that are now likely to become part of the Republican party are heavily concentrated in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio -- states that are crucial to Trump's success in the general election. By exploiting this realignment of the parties -- by fervently talking about the loss of American manufacturing jobs and attacking free trade deals -- Trump may be able to peel of enough voters to pull of victories in those states (you may call this the "Northern Strategy"). Wheras Nixon was able to succeed by appealing to working-class Southerners who increasingly found themselves disagreeing with the Democratic party on social issues, Trump would succeed by appealing to working-class Northerners who increasingly find themsevles disagreeing with the Democratic party on economic issues.
There's reason to believe this is possible. Trump performed extraordinarily well in those Northern states in the primaries (besides Ohio, John Kasich's home state), and Clinton was exposed as vulnerable there. Additionally, Trump's success in open primaries -- where a voter can pick a candidate no matter which party she is registered for -- suggests voters traditionally believed to be in the Democrats' camp could be in play.
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For Clinton, there will be pressure to try and peel away voters on both sides of the model. You could argue that some of those disaffected white working-class voters, many of whom went for Bernie Sanders, are in play for Clinton, which could induce a strategy that involves tapping Elizabeth Warren (also an opponent of free trade deals) as Clinton's running-mate. But such a move could turn off voters on the other side of the model--former GOP voters--that could also be critical to Clinton's success. In other words, Clinton may have to choose one side to work with--going after both kinds of voters could cancel each other out, possibly starving voter turnout or, worse, sending voters to Trump.
As erotic actors, we hear it a lot: "You're so much smarter than I thought you would be!" Unfortunately, many people are quick to associate sex workers with a lack of brainpower, believing that in order to make a living we have no choice but to use our bodies instead of what must be lackluster lobes. Perhaps, as a society, our own hang-ups about sex are to blame, fueled by a dearth of positive mainstream media coverage of what my colleagues and I call "the industry." In my five years of working in porn, however, I have been graced with meeting a superlatively well-rounded, well-adjusted, eclectic, and -- yes -- intelligent group of peers.
I recently came across a list on eBaum's World of intellectually-gifted porn stars. It's an impressive catalog, but it's comprised mostly of straight actors. Inspired by the eBaum list, I am proud to present but a few of their queer counterparts... who are also (at least) as smart as you are.
Adam Ramzi was working on a master's degree in LGBT psychology at Antioch University when Chris Ward, the head of Raging Stallion Studios, asked him to appear in an adult film. "At first I scoffed at the idea and was thinking that's not really something I'd be willing to do," Ramzi says. "But then the more I thought about it, it seemed to make a lot of sense... because a lot of what I was looking into in my program was about the shame around gay sex, and also people's reactions to sex work in general. So I just thought it would be kind of a risky little challenge that I could set for myself to try one scene and see what I thought about it. I ended up getting a lot out of it and decided to keep doing more. Each scene has been its own experience, its own adventure, its own set of circumstances. I really enjoy it." Ramzi currently writes for the NSFW industry blog The Sword while pursuing a license in Marriage and Family Therapy.
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Andre Shakti describes herself as "one of the busiest (and queerest!) gals in porn." The Bay Area activist and educator, who graduated cum laude from Towson University with degrees in psychology and LGBT studies, is devoted to normalizing alternative desires, de-stigmatizing sex workers and their clients, and -- as she puts it -- "not taking herself too seriously." She teaches workshops on relationships, desire and sexual safety, and writes about the sex industry for Cosmopolitan and Harlot. Shakti's sex-positive message is always infused with a healthy dose of realism. "I'm all for shattering this fantasy of what the figureheads of the [queer porn] community are really like," she recently told Ravishly. "We're not like perfect-fucking-on-point advocates for change at every single turn. We're real, multi-faceted people who are fighting the same tendencies and preferences and past experiences that everybody else is fighting."
Genderqueer writer, activist, and performer Jiz Lee, a graduate of Mills College in Oakland, California, has been working in the adult film industry since 2005. They have spoken about porn at Princeton, Williams, and Stanford, and have been featured on MSNBC, FOX News, and Lifehacker. Jiz, who prefers to use gender-neutral pronouns like "they" and "them" when referring to themselves, is the creator of the award-winning anthology Coming Out Like a Porn Star: Essays on Pornography, Protection, and Privacy, and is currently co-editing a special edition of the academic journal Porn Studies entitled "Porn and Labour". They also enjoy competing in triathlons and guest-starring on the Amazon original series Transparent. "Diversity in porn lets us find ourselves in the erotic landscape, proving we are all capable and deserving of love," Lee writes on their NSFW blog. Their advice: "Be the porn you wish to see in the world."
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"I've wanted to be in porn since I was 12 years old," says controversial porn star Conner Habib. After studying creative writing and evolutionary biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Habib moved to San Francisco, where he turned down a teaching job to start his acting career. He was the first gay adult film star to lecture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and has spoken on the intersection of sex and culture at such institutions as the University of Southern California and Bowdoin College. "Everything we know about sex is wrong," says Habib. "Giving ourselves more freedom in understanding sex can change our entire view of it." He has written about sex work for Vice, Slate, and Buzzfeed, and is currently the Vice President of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, where he lobbies for improved safety and working conditions in the adult film industry.
Actor, screenwriter, and activist Lorelei Lee has been starring in adult films since she was 19 years old. Lee, a New York University creative writing graduate whose work has been featured in Salon and The Rumpus, co-wrote the 2010 film About Cherry starring Heather Graham, Dev Patel, and James Franco. In 2015, she lobbied against California's controversial bill requiring condom use in statewide porn production, instead favoring a rigorous array of prevention methods already in place throughout the industry. (The bill died in committee.) Lee, who identifies as queer and is married to a trans man, prides herself in making what she calls feminist pornography. "It represents this idea of women just taking control," she explains. "What that imagery looks like, what kind of sex we want to have on film, deciding what kind of scenes we want to put out there into the world."
A pioneer of transgender visibility, Buck Angel has produced and appeared in numerous adult movies and mainstream films, including the autobiographical film Mr. Angel and the award-winning documentary Sexing the Transman. The rugged transgender actor is the founder of Buck Angel Dating and Buck Angel Cams, the first websites of their kind that are designed specifically for the trans male community. Angel, who coined the phrase "It's not what's between your legs that defines you!", has spoken internationally on the topics of sexual fluidity and identity politics. "I started to have people writing me saying 'I'm not really into your porn stuff, but what you're doing is so amazing and you are really changing the way I feel about what it means to be a man or a woman,'" Angel told Q Center. "I sort of stepped back and realized 'Gosh, I'm doing something that's bigger than porn.'" He currently works as a motivational speaker and human rights activist, and serves on the board of the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.
Originally posted to the Wrongful Convictions Blog on May 10, 2016
Eddie Lee Howard, Jr. has been on Mississippi's death row for nearly two decades, convicted of the 1992 grisly murder of an 84-year-old woman named Georgia Kemp.
Absent any real leads or suspects, the police focused in on Howard, who had spent years in and out prison for attempted rapes. In response to police question, the mentally ill Howard made statements that were allegedly incriminating, but also contradictory.
Then the police caught a break in the case. Dr. Michael West, a forensic odontologist got involved. West claimed to be able to match bite marks left on a human body with the teeth of the biter.
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And in what can only be described as an extraordinary turn of events, three days after Ms. Kemp was buried, her body was exhumed so that Dr. West could look for bite mark evidence. At trial, Dr. West claimed to have found three bites and testified that Mr. Howard was the biter "to a reasonable medical certainty." Interestingly, the medical examiner who reviewed Kemp's body at the time it was found did not note any bite marks in his initial autopsy - an omission that seems rather glaring if the bites in fact had been present on the skin. There were no photos of the bite marks from the exhumed body, and no DNA evidence from those marks.
The ability of forensic odontologists such as Dr. West to effectively engage in bite mark comparison has been repeatedly called into question. The well-known 2009 National Academy of Sciences report was scathing in its criticism of bite mark matching, and found no scientific evidence that evidence from a bite mark could identify a particular individual to the exclusion of all others.
But even if West saw what he claims to have seen, his testimony is suspect under the circumstances in this case. Bite-marks "on the skin will change over time" and "can be distorted by the elasticity of the skin, the unevenness of the surface bite, and swelling and healing." In other words, whatever may have been found on Kemp's body after it was buried for days and exhumed may reveal very little about her attacker on the day she was killed.
Yet, West's testimony was critical because it was the only evidence to directly tie Howard to Kemp.
Bad bite-matching testimony has resulted in the exoneration of far too many people. Ray Krone from Arizona was sentenced to death based, in large part, on bite-matching testimony. Known as the "snaggle-tooth" killer, Krone was exonerated from death row after DNA proved he could not have been the killer.
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There may be glimmer of hope for Howard, who is now being represented by the Mississippi Innocence Project. At a hearing that began last week, a Mississippi judge considered arguments that the bite-mark evidence in Howard's case was scientifically unreliable. Even West has distanced himself from the viability of bite mark comparison.
A recent recall of over 350 frozen vegetable and fruit products should have you hunting in your freezer. Unfortunately, consuming this produce could land you in your local hospital ER with unpleasant results.
The Food & Drug Association (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state and local officials are investigating a multi-state outbreak of Listeria that has been tracked back to frozen products produced by CRF Frozen Foods of Pasco, Washington. These frozen veggies and fruits are sold under 42 different brands including Wellsley Farms, McCain, Great Value, and Wild Oats. To date, seven people have been hospitalized due to Listeria. Click here for a complete listing of the brands that were recalled.
It is currently unknown how these frozen foods were contaminated with this bacteria. If any of these frozen foods are in your home either throw them away or bring them back to the store where you purchased them.
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Listeria is the third leading cause of death from food poisoning. Even more seriously, at least 90 percent of people who are infected with listeria are folks age 65 years and older; those with a weakened immune system, including those with medical conditions such as liver or kidney disease, diabetes, alcoholism, and HIV/AIDS; and pregnant women and their infants. While pregnant women are typically alerted to their risk as it can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, and newborn deaths, older folks often don't know of the higher risk for the complications of Listeria.
According to the CDC, individuals 65 years of age and older are four times more likely to be at risk for getting Listeria compared to younger folks. In older adults, Listeria can enter your bloodstream, cause meningitis, and lead to death.
Listeria is a tricky pathogen to curtail as it can grow rapidly in your refrigerator and also contaminate foods that are typically consumed without cooking. In 2011, an outbreak of contaminated cantaloupes in 28 states sickened 147 folks and caused 33 deaths, mostly among those who were over 65 years of age, according to the CDC.
The foods with the highest risk of housing Listeria are:
Source: CDC
To reduce your risk of getting Listeria, follow these tips from the FDA:
Meats:
Do not eat hot dogs, luncheon meats, cold cuts, other deli meats such as bologna, or fermented or dry sausages unless they are heated to an internal temperature of 165F or are steaming hot just before serving them to kill the bacteria.
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To prevent cross contamination, avoid letting the fluid from hot dog and lunch meat packages drip on other foods, utensils. Be sure to wash your hands after touching hot dogs, luncheon meats, and deli meats.
Do not eat refrigerated pate or meat spreads. Canned or shelf-stable pate and meat spreads are pasteurized so are safe to eat.
Soft Cheeses:
Do not eat soft cheese such as feta, queso blanco, queso fresco, brie, Camembert, blue-veined, or panela (queso panela) unless it is labeled as made with pasteurized milk. Make sure the label states that it is made with pasteurized milk on the label. However, be aware that Mexican-style cheeses made from pasteurized milk, such as queso fresco, which were likely contaminated during cheese-making, have been shown to cause Listeria infections in the past.
Seafood:
Do not eat refrigerated smoked seafood, such as salmon, trout, whitefish, cod, tuna, and mackerel, which is most often labeled as nova-style, lox, kippered, smoked, or jerky. These fish are typically found in the refrigerated section or sold at the seafood and deli sections of the store. Canned, self-stable tuna, salmon, and other fish products are safe to eat.
Melons:
Wash your hands with running, warm water, and soap before and after handling any whole melons such as watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew. Scrub the surface of the melons with a clean produce brush under running water and dry them with a clean paper towel before cutting into them. Sanitize that scrub brush after each use.
Refrigerator cut up melon promptly and toss it after seven days. If cut melon has been sitting at room temperature, discard it after four hours.
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A few smart tips in your food handling can help you stay healthy.
Be well, Joan
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
Hearing a woman's voice come over the intercom before takeoff, "this is your captain speaking," can be a moving experience, even today: She made it! She beat the odds! A stirring sense of admiration as you check that your seatbelt is indeed securely fastened for takeoff.
But women who work in roles traditionally held by men often face stereotypes and unfair treatment on the job. This was certainly true for four Frontier Airlines pilots who filed complaints yesterday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after Frontier denied their right to accommodations for pregnancy and breastfeeding. Each of these women beat the odds when she landed a career as a pilot, only to face discrimination when she became a mother. With the help of the ACLU, they're seeking justice - for themselves and for other women pilots who will become parents.
The crux of the pilots' complaint is that Frontier Airlines treats pregnancy and breastfeeding less favorably than other medical conditions or disabilities, a form of illegal sex discrimination under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act. The complaints also allege that the airline's policies are illegal under federal antidiscrimination law because they have a disproportionate negative effect on women. And the pilots assert that Frontier violated a Colorado state law that requires employers to provide break time and space for nursing mothers to pump breastmilk (similar to the federal Break Time for Nursing Mothers Law). Frontier's policy forces pregnant women to take eight to 10 weeks of unpaid leave before their due date, and then caps their (also unpaid) maternity leave at 120 days. Then, when new mothers return to work, the company makes it unnecessarily difficult for them to work while breastfeeding.
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The treatment reported by the pilots is unfair, and it's unlawful. Male pilots who have temporary medical conditions are eligible for alternative assignments on the ground, but the pregnant pilots weren't given that option, and instead were forced out on leave more than two months before their babies were due. The pilots don't claim that the airline must allow pregnant women to fly during those final months, but only that they should have been treated the same as non-pregnant pilots who are temporarily unable to fly. Assigning the pregnant pilots to an alternative temporary position during pregnancy would have enabled them to continue earning an income to support their growing families.
After the pilots gave birth, the airline required them to return to the cockpit within 120 days, according to the pilots' complaints. But when they returned, the airline refused to accommodate the pilots' need to express breastmilk on the job by either granting a temporary reassignment, facilitating pumping on planes, or providing space at airports. The airline also refused to allow the pilots to take additional medical leave to enable them to continue breastfeeding, even though other employees who need temporary leave for medical conditions enjoy that benefit.
Pilot Brandy Beck with her daughter
Breastfeeding offers extensive health benefits for both mother and baby, from strengthening baby's immune system to reducing mom's risk of cancer. The American Association of Pediatrics recommends that women breastfeed their babies during the first year of life. To do so, women who are away from their babies need to pump breast milk as frequently as they would breastfeed the baby. Going for too long without pumping can lead to painful and serious medical complications and can cause a woman's milk supply to dry up.
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Each of the four Frontier pilots say they repeatedly asked their employer for help - to keep working during pregnancy, to receive an accommodation to pump breastmilk - but their requests for help were met by radio silence. Not surprisingly, the women's health and finances suffered as a result. Three of the women say they suffered from mastitis, an infection of the breast tissue, and one of the pilots had to terminate breastfeeding early after her milk supply dried up.
Pilots are far from alone in facing unfair treatment at work during pregnancy and following birth. Discrimination against pregnant women and nursing mothers can be found in every industry, although women working low-wage and physically demanding jobs often face the worst of it. Despite federal and state laws that require employers to accommodate pregnant and breastfeeding women in most situations, a quarter of a million women's requests for pregnancy accommodation are denied each year, and over sixty percent of nursing mothers are not provided the time and space they need to pump.
But women are increasingly taking action against unfair treatment. The Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law has found that the number of pregnancy and lactation accommodation lawsuits filed against employers in recent years has grown significantly. Many employers already recognize the benefits - to employees and to the company's bottom line - that stem from providing accommodations to pregnant women and nursing mothers. Other employers simply recognize that a failure to accommodate may expose them to legal liability. Just this week the New York City Commission on Human Rights issued comprehensive guidance to employers about their legal obligation to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnancy and breastfeeding.
No woman should have to make the choice between a healthy pregnancy and baby, or keeping her job. Pregnant women can learn more about their workplace rights at the Center for WorkLife Law's pregnancy accommodation resource center, www.PregnantAtWork.org. Pregnant and parenting students can learn about their rights at www.ThePregnantScholar.org. Breastfeeding mothers, pregnant women, and other caregivers may also contact WorkLife Law's free legal hotline at 415-703-8276 or hotline@worklifelaw.org.
To learn more about the pilots' pursuit of justice, check out this blog written by one of the pilots or the ACLU's video and press release about the case. You can stand with the pilots by signing their petition to tell Frontier Airlines that Sexism Won't Fly.
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Concentric rings of ripples on a puddle
What happens to cherished memories when you learn new, disturbing information years after an experience? I recently unearthed unsettling facts about Alan, with whom I had a brief romance when I was twenty-eight. I met him on an airplane in January 1988 when traveling from San Francisco to New York, heading home to Boston to finish my graduate degree in clinical social work. Alan, an Australian psychiatrist in his mid-thirties, was going to England on business and then flying back to New York for a holiday. When he returned to the U.S., he visited me in Boston for three enchanting days. Together we walked through Harvard Square, where he purchased an armful of textbooks at the Harvard Coop. At the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, we discussed art history while viewing the Impressionists there. In Faneuil Hall Marketplace, a restored revolutionary era market, we perused the tourist trinkets, and Alan bought me a small, green stone frog.
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Although never sexual, our interactions resembled the beginnings of my other romances. I'd dated several men who never touched me, usually because the guy was reserved or shy, but we were nevertheless dating. Sometimes those relationships turned physical after four or five dates, and then suddenly, without much fanfare, we'd be in bed. When I'd met Alan on the airplane, our conversation began by expressing our mutual desire to sleep during the five-hour flight. Instead, Alan engaged me in conversation and moved, without invitation, into the seat next to me after a couple of hours. So entranced by his charm, intellect, and focused attention, I lost all interest in sleep. Alan wooed me with his intimate, inviting manner.
Three days is a great deal a lot of time to spend with someone previously known only for the duration of a cross-country flight. But the building intimacy between us, indicated by his desire to know me and be known by me, mitigated any potential discomfort. I was with a kindred spirit who understood and valued me and who wanted those feelings reciprocated. These were the beginnings of love, without artifice or agenda. Feeling completely accepted and valued was new for me, and my sense of myself as a romantic being blossomed, as if I'd been in a cold, dry place and had suddenly been nurtured by warm rain on a spring day.
After his visit, Alan called me from New York to thank me for my hospitality. He said he'd write to me from Australia, but he never did. This was a pre-e-mail, pre-Skype, pre-Facebook era. Letters and phone calls were our only communication options. After a few months, I wrote to him, but he didn't write back. I called him in December. A woman answered the phone. I assumed he'd acquired a new girlfriend. He seemed happy to hear from me, but I knew implicitly that whatever magic we'd shared had expired, and I never attempted to contact him again.
Recently I've been editing the manuscript for my second book, a memoir about dating in my forties after my divorce. In the manuscript, I reflect on past romances, including the one with Alan. One slow night I Googled him, and what I discovered appalled me. I found a thirty-nine-page report of a 1991 tribunal in which he'd been investigated for inappropriate sexual conduct with a patient. His accuser alleged he slept with her in the months immediately before we met. Alan denied the allegations, calling his patient delusional, even though he diagnosed her with a mental illness that does not cause delusions. I also learned that he had a live-in girlfriend at the time of our encounter. He'd lied to me, telling me he'd broken up with his girlfriend months before and had been celibate since.
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My only physical contact with Alan was an embrace upon greeting and his hand occasionally grazing the small of my back. I've always wondered why he altered his vacation plans to spend time with me but made no attempts at seduction. I'd had a couple of flings the previous year and wanted a break from them, so I didn't care if the romance turned sexual. I now suspect that Alan required more encouragement from me so he could disavow himself of any responsibility for infidelity. I've always been grateful that we didn't sleep together. It required a full year to regain my emotional equilibrium after his visit, and I know my younger self would have been devastated if I'd slept with him and then never heard from him again.
The Tribunal found Alan guilty of sexual contact with his patient and revoked his medical license for three years. I've been a licensed psychotherapist for twenty-five years. Alan's behavior is abhorrent to me and violates all my personal and professional ethics. It's challenging to reconcile the soft-spoken, thoughtful, brilliant man with the predator depicted in the tribunal.
I cannot undo my history or the impact Alan had on my psyche. My time with him changed me, and I felt its ripple effect for decades. As appalled as I am by his unethical conduct and lies, nothing can alter what occurred between us.
A Streetcar Named Santa Monica?
OK, not exactly. It's actually something better. A light rail line from downtown Los Angeles to within blocks of the sea. And if we do things right, in November the Expo Line could become one of several sorely needed (and accelerated) public transportation projects like a line through the Sepulveda Pass that Los Angeles is trying to make a reality. Vote early and often as they say in Chicago.
What is so important about our new rail line to the beach? It came to me yesterday as I sat on the Expo Line to Santa Monica.
We have broken the 63 year curse old that no train would ever again pierce the sacred veil of L.A.'s far Westside. True, Boston's 86 year long Curse of the Bambino was longer, but given our size, the Curse of the Westside impacted more Dodgers fans than Red Sox losers.
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"I am riding the train to Santa Monica!" I nearly shouted as we pulled into Bergamot Station.
I had the honor thanks to a press tour with Mayor Garcetti and other electeds to preview the line which opens to the public on Friday, May 20th.
In any other city, the lightbulb that went off in my head that I was riding a train to the beach might not mean much. For example, riders of San Francisco's N Judah light rail line have long been able to take the train to Ocean Beach. Since 1928, to be exact, when the route opened as a streetcar line.
But this isn't any other city. This is Los Angeles where the car was once king and small numbers of haters have long dictated what will, and won't be, built.
Now, at least as far as traffic free driving goes, those days are long gone. And in its place are the famous Los Angeles parking lots, otherwise known as freeways that have sliced up dozens of perfectly nice neighborhoods and communities.
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Aside from the train's arrival in downtown Santa Monica, perhaps the sweetest part of the ride for me was when the train chugged past the 10 Freeway close to the new Palms station. I also felt a pleasant whoosh of pride, and relief, when the train passed through Cheviot Hills where a handful of NIMBYs tried, and thankfully failed, to stop the Expo Line in its tracks.
Ironically, it was similarly not in my back yard-minded Angelenos who more often than not allowed the freeway to come in, ruining neighborhoods for what sometimes seems like forever more.
Reminders of our foolish addiction to the car abound along the route. As Neal Broverman put it in Los Angeles Magazine,
Views at the Palms, Bundy, and, especially, Sepulveda stations are kind of, ugh. The aerial views really show the auto-centric city planning that happened here--tons of gas stations, liquor stores, and billboard blight. Hopefully, politicians like [Councilmember Mike] Bonin can help create more of a sense of place and really incentivize the Expo investment.
Now is the time to end the no growthers' stranglehold in Los Angeles and Santa Monica on sensible transit-oriented development and proceed with the building of projects worthy of our environment.
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Other public amenities I am hoping for with the opening of the Expo Line? That:
Metro, Culver City Bus and Big Blue Bus got it right with their redesign of the feeder bus routes, and riders can get to the train car free. There is enough bike parking and bike share at the stations to accommodate all of the area's active transportation and transit enthusiasts. Pedestrian improvements including sidewalks spreading out from the train line are inviting enough to encourage pedestrians to make their commute part of their 10,000 steps or bike ride a day.
Kudos to Santa Monica which seems to have gotten things right, with Colorado Esplanade, the city's attractive and WIDE pedestrian gateway and protected bike lane from the Expo Line station to Tongva Park, the Santa Monica Pier and beyond.
Let's also hope that Santa Monica will be measuring the benefits of the new train to downtown including an off-the-charts bump for businesses in the area. For area merchants in downtown Santa Monica and at the other new stops along the line, it will be like CicLAvia all of the time with shoppers galore.
Speaking of which, don't forget the sure to be awesome bike and pedestrian streetfest, CicLAvia Southeast Cities, this Sunday from 9 am -- 4 pm.
Of course Expo to the beach will not be without its hiccups. Look out for the inevitable idiot drivers who think they can make it across the tracks ahead of the train even though the light has changed. Others will whine about the noise and the increased foot and bike traffic around the stations and along the new protected bike path Metro has built adjacent to much of the line. Yay!
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And what about parking for transit riders who want to ride but simply can't or won't take the bus, walk or bike to the new stations? The new lot at Sepulveda and smaller lots at other stations just won't be enough for the expected demand. Which is why I am hoping Metro gets cracking on cutting deals with Caltrans and other land owners for more parking at underused locations like beneath the freeway at Pico and at churches and businesses along the remainder of the route. Metro has wisely done this at its Expo Line Crenshaw station where 400 spaces are available on weekdays in the garage belonging to the neighboring West Angeles Church of God in Christ.
Lastly, consider signing the petition urging LADOT to provide signal preemption for the Expo Line through downtown Los Angeles and give priority to longer trains.
With trains carrying hundreds of passengers versus cars carrying no more than a few, the choice is clear.
See you soon on Expo and the rest of our growing transit system!
My parents are thrilled to live in the house where my sisters and I grew up. I enjoy visiting them and look forward to a time when my kids, as grownups, will come home to enjoy a place that's familiar and inviting. But where will that be? I've started to wonder.
Here's why: Not long ago, I spotted a suburbanite friend strolling happily with his wife and dog in town. This struck me as odd. "That's a long walk from home for the dog!" I thought. When I next saw him, I learned that this fellow and his wife had downsized in a big way, moving from a large house a few miles outside of town to smaller digs right in the center of town after their youngest kid took off for college.
This couple, still in their 50s and enjoying their newfound freedom, wanted the convenience of being able to walk to shops, restaurants and other community hubs. Flexibility, fewer homeowner responsibilities and expenses and the idea of simplifying their next move -- perhaps to be closer to children and grandchildren, or live in a warmer place -- also figured into their decision.
I was struck by how happy my friend seemed despite what he had given up. He had moved away from friends in a tight-knit neighborhood. His kids won't be able to return to their childhood home for holiday homecomings. He and his family will need to build new memories and affinities away from their longtime center of gravity.
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Sad or savvy? I guess I've assumed my wife and I would stay in our family home and age in place as my parents have done. But noting a peer's proactive approach to early downsizing made me consider the choices we'll have 10 years down the road when our youngest is in college. Right now the kids may grumble but they help with upkeep at home. They do chores -- mowing the lawn, shoveling the driveway, and walking the dog. We enjoy big, lively gatherings with friends and family. Will the family-sized house become a little lonely -- and a headache to maintain -- when they're on their own?
While some people like the idea of staying put as empty nesters and seniors, a growing number of boomers are choosing to move to cities or bustling suburbs, according to the Urban Land Institute. In fact, about 72% of the Boomers surveyed in 2013 said they would rather live in a smaller house but have a shorter commute than live in a larger home and make a lengthy trek to the office. Plus, being in an urban area likely means easier access to stores and public transportation.
Retirement can last years and offers time to enjoy interests we've been too busy to indulge. It may very well be that my wife and I will want to move to a smaller place where maintenance is covered and we're closer to restaurants and cultural activities. And then there are practical considerations: Moving can be easier when we're younger. Selling an empty nest might boost the nest egg. And it can mean that our kids, when they are adults, don't get stuck figuring out how to help care for us -- and a creaky house. Of course, the cost of a move -- closing costs, realtor commissions, moving fees, property taxes, insurance -- are considerations too.
It's hard for most people to know what they'll want in 10 years. But here's what we need: the freedom to choose where we'll call home when we're ready to live differently. Saving money during our hard-work years will help us do that. And we should have honest conversations with our loved ones about important decisions when it's time to "right size" home sweet home.
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I, for one, am a fan of downtown living. I'm starting to envision myself in my friend's shoes, walking our pooch along Main Street.
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About the author: John Sweeney is executive vice president, Retirement and Investing Strategies for Personal Investing, a unit of Fidelity Investments, in Boston. Follow him on Twitter @SweeneyFidelity.
Fidelity Investments and Fidelity are registered service marks of FMR LLC.
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America's disabled veterans answered our country's call and when their time in uniform is done, our country must stand with them. One of the key issues all veterans face is making the transition to a civilian career, and for veterans who need extra medical attention this can be even more difficult.
Last week, I filed bipartisan legislation with my colleague Congressman Chris Gibson to expedite protected medical leave eligibility for disabled veterans. Congressman Gibson served in the Army for 24 years and completed four combat tours in Iraq, and I'm proud to work with him on this critical issue. Our bill, The Medical Leave for Disabled Veterans Act, has a straightforward goal that the American people overwhelmingly support: helping working disabled veterans receive health care and provide for their families.
Under current law, disabled veterans -- as well as all other workers at businesses with over 50 employees -- become eligible for job-protected unpaid medical leave only after they have been employed for a year under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Given that disabled veterans often have additional health care needs, this can make working difficult. This problem was brought to my attention by a constituent, who shared his story with my office. As we did more research and spoke with veterans advocates, it became clear this was a major problem across the state and nationwide. While many employers do the right thing and provide flexible schedules for disabled veterans, I felt that it was important to provide all disabled veterans with a solution that would help them have access to medical leave.
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Here's how our bill works: we accelerate the eligibility process for disabled veterans. Under the Medical Leave for Disabled Veterans Act, disabled veterans will no longer have to wait a year to be guaranteed the time off they need. Instead, veterans with a disability rating of 30-50% will be able to take medical leave after eight months on the job and veterans with a disability rating of over 50% can do so after six months. I think this is the right thing to do, striking a proper balance.
The Medical Leave for Disabled Veterans Act has been endorsed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Disabled American Veterans, the American Legion, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Association and the Military Veterans Advocacy. In crafting this legislation we worked closely with veterans groups and received their input on how to improve the bill. I am humbled and honored to have their support. When these organizations speak, Congress should listen.
More broadly, when you speak with Maryland veterans you understand that they deserve better service from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The wait times are too long, it's still too difficult to navigate the bureaucracy and it can be needlessly difficult to have claims resolved. This is a national scandal and every lever of the federal government should be used to improve service at the VA, from legislative reforms, additional funding and holding poor managers accountable. The American people are both united and angry on this point and have demanded better. There are many truly dedicated VA staff that are trying to do the right thing and serve veterans, but systemic failures are hurting their ability to do their job. We have to solve this problem.
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In addition to supporting VA reform and The Medical Leave for Disabled Veterans Act, I am also working to make sure that the federal budget reflects our national values and supports worthy veterans initiatives. This year I have led the effort to increase funding for the Fisher House Foundation, a non-profit that provides free lodging near military and VA hospitals for military families. Since 1991 over 250,000 families have benefited from Fisher House, which offers apartment-style family-friendly lodging. Each of the last four years I have fought for Fisher House, because I believe no veteran's family should have to choose between being together at the hospital and paying their bills. After two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the need is growing and Fisher House would like to build new facilities around the country, so that they can help more families.
To date, over 30 Members of Congress have signed on to cosponsor The Medical Leave for Disabled Veterans Act, and I will continue to work to build support for this effort in the House. Despite all the dysfunction in Washington, I believe that when it comes to helping veterans and keeping our fundamental promises as a country, we can come together and do the right thing.
Petitioner Karabelnikoff urges Sanders to fund the grassroots to win
A growing number of Sanders supporters believe that Bernie's key to winning Western States with more than 60% of the vote is to have his campaign immediately shift millions from planned media buys and use the money to fund grassroots efforts. As the Democratic candidate whose poll numbers beat Trump by double Hillary's lead, Sanders' best hope is now a superdelegate switchover in a contested Convention. This can only happen if he wins big in California, Oregon and New Mexico.
To do this, and to make sure that the suspicious voter roll purges, party affiliation switches, and voting machine "irregularities" of recent Democratic primaries do not infect the upcoming West Coast contests, the Sanders campaign is going to need to shift its spending strategy from big media to paying field organizers on the ground. It is surprising that Sanders, the most successful national grassroots leader in generations, supports grassroots issues, receives his funding from the grassroots, but has a campaign that has chosen to inadequately fund its grassroots field work, while spending the largest portion of its budget on corporate media buys.
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Charles Chamberlain, Executive Director of Democracy for America, which is supporting the Sanders Campaign with grassroots volunteers, recently told me that his organization does not do media buys. "We always believe that money is better spent on field organizing than on TV ads," he explained. "We see media buys as the icing on the cake."
The Sanders revolution is a populist cake that, as I reported here last month, benefits from an evolutionary, social network driven element of free, "People-powered media," that takes Bernie's messages, videos, and supporter created memes, and shares them hundreds of millions of times. Although nobody suggests that mainstream media buys are unnecessary, given Clinton's greater name recognition and a corporate news media with a strong bias in her favor, the big question being raised this week is whether some of this airtime needs to be immediately diverted to door knocking time.
Last week David Karabelnikoff, an Aleut Alaska Native who has worked months of long hours volunteering for the Sanders campaign in Nevada, Alaska, and California, met with me to express the worry of many field organizers on the West Coast that Bernie is losing the primary "ground game" to Hillary. Karabelnikoff has since launched this new petition calling on Bernie Sanders to "divert millions of dollars from media buys to pay for free campaign materials and local field organizers reflective of the ethnicity of our diverse communities." He writes, "We need the tools to mobilize an army of supporters to spread the word of the revolution, while helping voters ensure that they have not been purged from voter roles or had their party affiliations mysteriously switched."
There has been a conventional logic to the outsized preference that the chief strategist of the Sanders campaign, veteran Democratic consultant Tad Devine, has given to corporate media buys (for which he receives millions in commissions), over expenses like payroll, lawn signs and bumper stickers (for which he does not receive commissions). The logic of the campaign's highly paid experts seems to be that since his supporters love Bernie so much, there are plenty of passionate workers who are willing to work for free. Why pay them, or pay for campaign materials that donors may order, when you don't have to?
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The reason, argues Karabelnikoff and others with their ears to the grassroots ground, is this: "Bernie 2016 needs to match Clinton's ground game, which is paying people of color living wages for door-to-door outreach in Oakland and other cities. At this time, Bernie's campaign professionals are refusing to hire more than a skeleton crew of canvassers with scarce resources, while reserving nearly all funds raised for big advertising buys from the corporate media. This is not the way we are going to win this. If we rely solely on volunteers for outreach, then only those who can afford to work for free, often meaning, the well to do and retirees, are able to assist. This greatly limits the diversity of those who represent Bernie."
Shimeko Franklin, a woman of color who was recently elected to be a California Sanders delegate, agreed. "Being a district-level delegate for Bernie Sanders I will have a hand in informing the democratic platform in a way that will change my community directly. However, if grassroots organizations are not supported in outreach in the communities they have already been nurturing this will be serious loss of opportunity both for voices like mine that are in full support of Bernie Sanders and for people that will be affected most by his platform."
Californian Lori Grace, Founder of the Institute for American Democracy and Election Integrity and a Sanders donor, urges the Sanders campaign to "please hire some African-American and Latino people to canvass on behalf of Bernie Sanders in low-income neighborhoods. You will lose California unless you do that. People like to see a canvasser who looks like them when they open the door. Please be consistent with the ideals Bernie professes and help low income people of color canvass so that Bernie might win California."
Grace believes that a small army of Sanders staffers and supporters need to go door to door to help voters check their online registrations to make sure they are registered Democrats prior to a May 23 California registration deadline, and to prevent the kind of election fraud, purges, and suspicious party affiliation changes that she believes happened in states like New York and Illinois. She urges citizens to protect their votes by printing out their online registrations that shows them registered as Democrats, and bringing these printouts into the polling place with them. If, on Election Day, voters find they are not permitted to vote, she urges them to not immediately accept provisional ballots, but to peacefully insist on their right to vote, and ask to speak to the County elections monitor in their local polling place. If that odes not work, Grace suggests calling for campaign help, as well as recording one's own peaceful interaction at the polling place, which is legal and could be helpful, as long as it is non-disruptive and does not intrude on the privacy of other voters.
Stephen Jaffe, a San Francisco attorney who assisted the Sanders campaign with polling irregularities following the disputed Nevada caucus primary, agrees with Grace that accepting a provisional ballot, which often remain uncounted, is a form of voter disempowerment. He is part of a new activist organization that is being set up across California to staff a call center to assist with voter complaints on June 7 in California.
Gerardo Omar Marin, a youth organizer and Bernie campaigner based in Oakland offered this plea to Bernie Sanders. "Dear beloved Bernie Sanders campaign community: Indigenous/Chicano communities have been volunteering for your campaign but our skills and networks are not being properly utilized...You have invested resources into your media strategy which feels important AND we urge you to invest in on-the ground canvassing, presentations, and outreach led by communities of color, in this case-Indigenous/Latino to mobilize the migrant vote. Many of us are ready to volunteer and at the same time we strongly encourage you to raise and dedicate resources to compensate outreach workers so that they can leave their work and give more of their energy to the campaign."
A pivotal moment is at hand, perhaps the last opportunity Bernie's revolution has to win the nomination. Will Bernie Sanders, and his campaign team, heed this grassroots call?
News / National
by Staff Reporter
THE Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda has labelled some ministers as "lethargic" as they are frustrating efforts to rejuvenate the economy.Mudenda said Ambassadors write project proposals on investment, but they are frustrated. "Indonesia, for example, has written to us saying they wanted 10 tonnes of meat supply from Zimbabwe and 10 tonnes of soya beans per month, but the Ministries of Agriculture and Foreign Affairs have not moved," said Mudenda."We are failing to export to the EU (European Union) at times because of poor communication with embassies here at home."He also said Zimbabwe was yet to sign an investment agreement with Kuwait despite insistence by that country to bring more business here."When we went to Kuwait two weeks after His Excellency (President Mugabe) had presented clarification on that beautiful indigenisation policy, our ambassador there didn't have a copy of the document to clarify indigenisation, a very important statement from his Head of State which answers his questions to investors, no transmission for that."They are saying they want to bring money here for projects, but they want documents signed to that effect. Up to now no agreement between Zimbabwe and Kuwait has been signed.""With Kenya, the trade protocol for the joint commission was signed in 1997 and no meeting has taken place since then, yet Kenya is a huge market for us. Ambassador Kelebert Nkomani has written several times and Dr (Ray) Ndhlukula knows that. Then we say we are rich, but you are not doing the ease of doing business by mere communication," he blasted.Dr Ndhlukula, who is Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, attended the meeting.
John Richard (J.R.) Myers, who lives in Alaska, warns that the Russians are claiming large areas of the Arctic. He's on the ballot in the California June 7th primary and as a write-in for the Independent Party of Oregon for President of the United States. He's exploring write-in ballot access for 10 states. Failing to achieve the Constitution Party's nomination in Salt Lake City last month, he continues with his candidacy because he has a message that they aren't necessarily supporting.
JF: Tell me what your message is.
JRM: In general, I do support a return to our Judeo-Christian values and the rule of law based upon our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. In particular, I oppose unauthorized wars which are usurping Congress's authority by the executive and damaging a lot of our relationships around the world. As part of the ongoing wars, I would also include the war on drugs, which I believe has created a prison industrial complex that is a self-sustaining entity that is destroying lives, and families and communities around the nation. It's certainly a threat to our Constitution. It's a war against our liberties, basically. As all the unauthorized wars are, war is against human rights and individual dignity and liberty. I oppose those things vehemently, which would not necessarily be supported by the National Constitution Party, at least the end of the war on drugs. I'm not a prohibitionist. I think that alcohol required a limit to the Constitution for prohibition, then so too any other substances. I believe that substance use is a right reserved unto the people and to the states. That's a big difference there.
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JF: What is your day job?
JRM: I work for the sovereign nation of the Kenaitze Tribe. I'm a behavioral health consultant. I'm a licensed professional counselor supervisor. I have a Master of Professional Counseling as well as a Master of Human Services and a Bachelor of Science and Liberal Arts, cum laude. I'm also in the process of being grandfathered under the Master of Addiction Counseling. I serve the native people in the area. I help to meet their behavioral health needs.
JF: Do you consider yourself an evangelist?
JRM: I wouldn't consider myself a traditional evangelist as far as evangelical type. But I do believe in the word of God and the Bible, and so I'm not afraid to talk about my beliefs with people. I think if I share my beliefs, yeah, you could say that I would be an evangelist in that respect. But I'm not a merciless proselytizer, let's put it that way.
JF: Why are you running for POTUS?
JRM: I think our system was set up for average working citizens to participate. It was never meant to be a permanent professional political class of elites that didn't have any other connections. Some of these people have never worked outside of politics. I think it's important for average citizen to be involved at all levels and to learn the system and to express themselves and the reality of their daily lives. I think any citizen that's qualified Constitutionally should feel free to run for president or any other office, and I would encourage others to do so. It's important that we all get out there and speak out. It's important that we inform the public debate through our participation and through our different perspectives and viewpoints and experiences. Being in Alaska, it's even more important to participate because Alaska is so often marginalized because of our distance from the rest of the country. I think that with Internet, social media, and that kind of thing, the distance is becoming more and more irrelevant. I'm running to show that the average person can do it. I feel it's a turning point in our nation; I think we're seeing a sea change in the political alignments.
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JF: What is your international experience?
JRM: I've traveled to Mexico and Canada!
JF: (Laughing)
JRM: More seriously, we border Russia and we're concerned up here. Last summer, the Russian and Chinese naval fleets had joint military exercises for the first time in the Bering Sea crossing Alaskan waters. A very threatening maneuver. We need to be realistic about who our neighbors are and we need to have strong defenses and we need to support our allies in the world and we need to be wary of our enemies and not the other way around.
JF: Why do you feel threatened when they put ships through?
JRM: Because it was a joint military exercise and who else would it be directed against than the Bering Sea?
JF: But does it have to be against anyone?
JRM: It was a joint military exercise.
JF: I just don't get it; why that has to be an act of aggression.
JRM: Maybe another part of the picture you're not aware of is that there's several arctic islands that have been ceded back to Russia that were Alaskan territory. Russia has been fortifying military installations on those islands in the last few years. Russia is engaged in a very aggressive military and economic expansion, staking claim to vast areas of the Arctic now in a very aggressive move. It's all part of that.
JF: How did that happen? Did we take our eye of the ball? What happened?
JRM: I don't think it's been formally ratified by the Senate yet, but basically in essence, they just returned Wrangell Island and five other islands in the Arctic that have been part of Alaska since the 1800's, and they have ceded them back to Russia.
JF: Let's say you're sitting down with Putin. What would you say?
JRM: We need to respect Alaskan sovereign territory and we will respect Russian sovereign territory and we have actually great mutual interests and we should be friends, our nations should be in a friendly stance, not in an adversarial stance, and we need to work out our differences.
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JF: Is it possible that you could partner with Russia on a climate change initiative?
JRM: I think we should partner with Russia and other nations with similar interests wherever we can: environmentally, militarily. It's in our best interests to cooperate, not be adversarial when possible, with other nations around the world, but we do have to maintain our defense. Strong defense.
JF: Let's assume, for a moment, that we all live on the same earth, and that the earth is our spaceship. (Laughs) And the spaceship is in trouble. The seas are rising, the amount of arable land is decreasing because we have severe floods and severe droughts now...
JRM: Right.
JF: We are either do or die situation on the spaceship. Do you think that maybe we could work with the Russians?
JRM: Well, I would hope we could work with the Russians. And yes, we do need to be good stewards of the planet, because it's all we have, that's for sure. It's important, yes.
JF: Do you think Obama has spoken enough in person with Putin, I mean he really hasn't done it at all, right?
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JRM: No, I think that Obama has engaged in quite an adversarial stance with Putin.
JF: And maybe if we talked to him, we'd get to understand...
JRM: Get better results if we actually communicated?
JF: Yeah! (Laughing)
JRM: Fancy that.
JF: As a counselor, I understand the value of communication and of listening. Being in Alaska, we have a strong history of Russian influence, and we still have Russian speakers today. I have no innate animosity towards Russia whatsoever. They could be, and have been, great allies in the past... One of my campaign things is that the American presidency should not rightly be seen as an imperial office. Presidency, in fact, is too powerful and needs to be diminished in its power and needs to be rebalanced with the Congress. The Congress needs to reassert itself.
JF: What three things would you focus on as POTUS?
JRM: On my first day in office, I would begin the review of the Presidential executive orders and start to rescind those orders that I believe are extra-Constitutional which I believe would be the bulk of them, since the President has been legislating through executive orders which is not proper. I would try to rebalance the powers with Congress, put pressure on the Congress to assert their prerogative in budgetary and military matters. I would also re-size government and downsize, decentralize the federal government and start to return many of the federal activities to the state governments and because the federal government is strictly prohibited from engaging in all but a handful of activities, which would be national defense, Post Office, that kind of thing. Most of the powers, Constitutionally should be delegated to the states or to the people themselves. I do believe in a de-centralization of powers to the states and local levels. As I said before, it's imperative that the average citizen become involved at all levels and I think that is part of that process. I think we need to re-engage the public and break this public apathy. Part of that is campaign finance reform and Citizens United was terrible mistake which has flooded our system with corporate money, which I think is a corrupting influence. I don't believe corporations are people. I would seek to challenge the idea that corporations are people and that the expenditure of corporate funds equates to free speech, which I do not believe. Thirdly, life: we must protect life throughout the whole spectrum from conception through natural death. That means opposing assisted suicide and that sort of thing as well. For instance, the extra Constitutional drone strikes that Obama has claimed the right to execute American citizens that he deems to be enemy combatants. That's totally unlawful.
JF: It's murder.
JRM: It's murder, yes.
JF: What would you do with a Congress that blocks you? Let's just say, 'cause you're a counselor, you can relate to this: they're passive aggressive, right?
JRM: Right, yes.
JF: How do you handle that?
JRM: The president has the bully pulpit. I think that's an effective tool that the President does have, that national forum. If someone such as myself were to ever be elected President, it would reflect a sea change in the political climate, and I would think that there would be several congressmen and women who would be swept into the Congress at the same time, so there would be allies in the Congress. I think they have to be held accountable in a relentless manner and the President is the only one who can really do it. And just keep on it, that they have a responsibility, they have a duty, it's incumbent, it's their Constitutional authority. They're the only ones who can do certain things and they must do it or not. If they choose not to, then no action is to be taken through executive fiat.
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JF: That's what Obama is doing. His back is against the wall and so he's decided to use his executive powers to...
JRM: Right, and I think that's wrong. The President needs to refrain from that and the President needs to continue to put pressure on Congress to act. I know it's not easy, but that's the way the system is supposed to work.
JF: It sounds to me like you're recommending that he do it in a more public way, but don't forget, he, as well as Congress, is under pressure from these corporations to not say what's going on.
Long ago, as a little girl, while feeling bored and drowsy, I sat on the lap of my grandmother.I traveled through the rabbit hole, as my grandmother read from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. There were no pictures, only those from the magical place that filled my mind with a world of imagination and peculiar creatures.
Years later, I'd realize how influential this story was in my life as I read it to my children.
I heard its impact while at the 1989 World Tour concert of Taylor Swift as she sang, "Wonderland".
Then there was yesterday, May 9th.
Hold on to your hats! Disney's highly anticipated Alice Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to 2010's Alice in Wonderland, has the Red and White Queens Clashing, turning Underland a shade of P!nk!
Disney's Alice Through the Looking Glass takes audiences on a new adventure. There's typical Disney magic and characters with the original cast, Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, Anne Hathaway and there are new additions, Sacha Baron Cohen and music performed by P!nk!
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One only has to look back to Frozen to know that Disney has incredible soundtracks. Music that has everyone singing along. P!nk does not disappoint. Her powerful voice for the movie's anthem "Just Like Fire" is amazing.
Photo Courtesy of Disney.
The video features P!nk in an elaborate lace gown, topped with a thorny crown, standing on a giant chess board. Her trademark voice a reminder that we've missed P!nk, since she took a break in 2012 after her multi-platinum album The Truth About Love.
Photo Courtesy of Disney.
It's hard to say whether it's P!nk complementing Disney or the other way around, with the video. It even features cameos from P!nk's husband Cary Hart and their daughter, Willow.
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Rediscover the magic of Alice in a new way with P!nk's new video.
#ThroughTheLookingGlass is based on the children's stories by Lewis Carroll, however, it will appeal to tweens and adults as an all-new spectacular adventure featuring the unforgettable characters as Alice returns to the whimsical world of Underland and travels back in time to save the Mad Hatter.
Through the Looking Glass Movie Synopsis:
Alice Kingsleigh (Wasikowska) has spent the past few years following in her father's footsteps and sailing the high seas. Upon her return to London, she comes across a magical looking glass and returns to the fantastical realm of Underland and her friends the White Rabbit (Sheen), Absolem (Rickman), the Cheshire Cat (Fry) and the Mad Hatter (Depp), who is not himself.
The Hatter has lost his Muchness, so Mirana (Hathaway) sends Alice on a quest to borrow the Chronosphere, a metallic globe inside the chamber of the Grand Clock which powers all time. Returning to the past, she comes across friends - and enemies - at different points in their lives, and embarks on a perilous race to save the Hatter before time runs out.
Presented in Digital 3D, Real D 3D, and IMAX 3D, Disney's "Alice Through the Looking Glass" opens in U.S. theaters on May 27, 2016.
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Julee is a quirky, dorky, Virginia Transplant with an appetite to taste the world, meet its desserts and tell their stories. She enjoys traveling, writing, obsessing over Bon Jovi, watching movies, being a mom, and enjoying life's journey. She writes at http://mommysmemorandum.com about the chaotic comedy she's come to call her life.
Copyright: Animal Defenders International/Rey - as he was in a Peruvian circus
There have been some truly wonderful stories of animal rescues, such as after Hurricane Katrina, but none has inspired such awe in me as Animal Defenders International's rescue of over 100 animals abused in circuses in Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia.
One part of the epic rescue included taking 33 lions and flying them home to sanctuary in Africa. Just writing these words 'home to Africa' brings tears of joy to my eyes. You can see a video of the first part of this journey here.
After team ADI had spent two years chasing circuses running away from the new legislation, dangerous confrontations and multiple trips over the Andes transporting big cats, the 33 lions rescued from Peru and Colombia were loaded onto a cargo flight on April 30th. The animals, along with a veterinarian and erstwhile founders of ADI Jan and Tim Creamer, were flown to Johannesburg. Their final destination, the Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary, located on a private estate in Limpopo Province.
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Copyright: Animal Defenders International: The ADI truck at the circus
These lions will never be able to be released into the wild. They have suffered terribly at the hands of humans who have smashed their teeth and declawed them. One lion called Joseph who was seized from Lima Zoo, Peru, is blind in one eye, his face battered by human cruelty and greed. Joseph's one good eye portrays the profound betrayal and wisdom of a soul who has gone through hell and to whom we owe much.
The first part of ADI's Operation Spirit of Freedom started in Bolivia and was recently told in a riveting documentary, Lion Ark. The award-winning documentary depicted in dramatic detail the grueling ordeal of all involved rescuing multiple animals including 25 big cats from backwater, decrepit illegal circuses in Bolivia. To truly understand the logistical nightmare of the hurdles overcome in this massive undertaking it is a must see. Hats off to team ADI for this incredible accomplishment, especially to husband and wife team Jan and Tim Creamer for leading this effort with such grit and determination.
Copyright: Animal Defenders International/Jan and Tim Creamer at the circus
As much as I love South America, anyone who has traveled there cannot fail to understand the hoopla and intense drama this group went through to achieve such an immense rescue. My cats are all of 13lbs and to get them into a travel crate to the vets is like trying to handle a cartwheeling Edward Scissorhands on steroids so dealing with angry, frustrated, caged, half -starved, sick and injured big cats - well the mind boggles.
ADI's work in Latin America first started in 2007 when they launched a campaign to end the use of animals in traveling circuses. After two years of undercover investigations, the group took their dreadful findings to the press and caused a massive pubic outcry. Bolivia was the first to ban all wild animals in traveling circuses, followed by Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Colombia, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico. America could use a lesson from our friends in Latin America from this!
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Copyright: Animal Defenders International/Lions being loaded for the flight to Africa
Promising to help authorities in those countries with the rehoming of all the animals found in illegal circuses, ADI helped Bolivia first to enforce its new legislation and rescued every single animal. The documentary, Lion Ark details this magnificently and depicts the terrible conditions the animals were kept in including Mufasa, the puma who was kept chained in the back of a pickup truck! The story of Cholita, the bear, dubbed the 'real-life Paddington Bear' and her journey back to her native forest was well documented across the world's press.
The deep love and compassion each person involved in these epic rescues must feel for each and every special animal is palpable in the portrayal of their story. The human race has become a disgrace in the way it treats our fellow beings on this planet, but just sometimes, some of us show such enormous depth of humanity and compassion there just maybe a ray of hope.
Copyright: Animal Defenders International/Rey - free at last in Africa
The passion of two philhellene ambassadors for the needy children of Greece and their efforts to help this urgent cause recently landed in Canada in the form of the Greek non-governmental organization, "The Smile of the Child," to be introduced to the Greek-Canadian Diaspora and seek its financial support.
This arrival was made possible when former Canadian Ambassador to Greece, Robert Peck, contacted his peer, former Belgian Ambassador to Greece, Marc Van den Reeck, currently in charge of international co-operation for "The Smile of the Child," with the possibility of promoting an information campaign for the multi-dimensional work of the organization in Canada, to be addressed, not only to the local Diaspora, but to other Canadian philanthropic entities as well. The ultimate goal being to obtain financial and material aid in support of the actions of the Greek organization in its efforts to address the challenges currently faced by thousands of children and their families in Greece.
In startlingly fluent Greek, the former Belgian ambassador stated, "we are here to mobilize the Hellenes of Montreal to assist the Greek children in need, as well as other children of the refugee crisis, to whom "The Smile of the Child "offers its many services. We are not here to attribute political responsibility for the seven ongoing years of the Greek crisis nor for the refugee drama, but, rather, to strengthen the forces of "The Smile of the Child." Our aim is to contribute to the fate of children who have had the misfortune to be born and raised within such internal and external crises."
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As Mr. Van den Reeck noted, "the crisis has had a huge impact on the whole of Greek society but particularly on young children who have witnessed their families become progressively poorer, with their parents losing their jobs as a result of the continuously worsening surrounding atmosphere."
The president of international co-operation for the organization stressed that "The Smile of the Child" covered the annual needs of some 20,000 Greek children back in 2012 but, by the end of 2015, it had been called upon to provide for over 95,000, a significant number of which are the children of refugees.
"Children are children. They have no color, religion or origin. It is our duty to help the children of the refugee expatriation as 40% of the refugees in Greece are minors. We offer all our actions, equipment, volunteers and support centers, aiding in the reunification of families and providing other services in the daunting task of helping the children of the refugee crisis. If there were no "Smile of the Child," the Greek state would have had to invent it in these crucial times," quipped Mr. Van de Reeck.
"The Smile of the Child" is a non-profit organization that has been in operation for over 20 years without the use of any public funding other than European Union structural funds (NSRF), relying mainly on sponsorships from corporations and individuals and from the revenue generated from the sale of crafts from its workshops.
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As Mr. Van den Reeck stressed, "it is moving that, during this crisis, Greek ordinary people continue to contribute, even from the remains of their piggy banks, to "The Smile of the Child," strengthening, not only our economic basis, but our moral one as well. From their meager savings, Greece's citizens are donating to help children who desperately need us."
The complaint of the former Belgian ambassador is that the Greek state continues to demand the organization pay property, vehicle and other taxes, refusing to distinguish its proven major role from other non-governmental organizations whose work is often vague and unclear.
In 20 years of action, more than 1,000,000 children have been offered assistance with some 380 that have been exposed to violence and neglect being entrusted to the care of "The Smile of the Child" regaining a "family" in one of its 11 houses throughout Greece.
As well, more than 12,000 refugee and migrant children have been fended for on a monthly basis through "The Smile in the Aegean," a new initiative created by "The Smile of the Child" earlier this year. Through this program, many children have been sheltered from operational hazards and youth prostitution and have been given health services and emergency assistance. Also, much has been done with respect to the search for missing unaccompanied minors and with the reunification of families.
On the organization's plans to open another guesthouse in Mytilene, where refugees have been arriving en masse from Turkey, Mrs. Pigi Protopsalti, co-ordinator of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, stressed that there is an old house that has been donated to "The Smile of the Child" and which can be converted into a home for the children of refugees right in the middle of one of the hot spots of the refugee influx.
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In Canada, the organization's team took every opportunity to demonstrate the importance of its work with children, as well as the challenges involved with child protection, to a number of the leaders of the Hellenic-Canadian community, Canadian government officials and other dignitaries.
In Montreal, "The Smile of the Child" met with the Consul-General of Greece in Montreal, Nicholaos Sigalas, and with many others, such as the directors of "The Magic Mission," a local organization that has become a key supporter of "The Smile of the Child."
U.S. President Barack Obama answers a reporter's question after delivering a statement on the economy in the press briefing room at the White House in Washington February 5, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
In Politico's just-released annual survey of the White House press corps, reporters again complained about their lack of access to President Obama. Over 60 percent of correspondents who had also covered other administrations believed that the Obama administration is "least friendly to the press." In a previous survey, 41 percent of White House correspondents reported that the George W. Bush administration was more transparent with the press. The conventional explanation for reporters' unhappiness with this administration is that the White House is bypassing the traditional media to reach the American people where they are - from The Colbert Report to Snapchat. But my recent interviews with spokespeople for the Obama and Bush administrations and the reporters who cover them also suggest something else: that Republicans work harder than Democrats to make friends with reporters and shape press coverage.
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In confidential conversations with reporters for major national outlets who covered the economy under the Obama and Bush administrations, conducted as part of research for the George W. Bush Presidency conference at Hofstra University which will be published later this year, the correspondents were emphatic that Bush administration officials had been more forthcoming with them than the Obama administration. One journalist, for example, explained that "the Bush public affairs people across the administration were generally more forthcoming about what they knew and more willing to share that with reporters ... [In the Obama administration there is] less fruitful conversation on the front end to shape stories and thinking than there is in other administrations, where you're just kind of talking back and forth."
However, reporters did not claim that the Bush administration gave them more actual information. Rather, Bush administration spokespeople appeared to offer reporters greater explanations of their thinking and decisions and more access to senior administration officials for off-the-record conversations. In fact, the same reporter who said that the Bush administration engaged in more "back and forth" with journalists believed this to be the case because senior Bush administration officials "were more frequently interested in spinning and shading the truth than the Obama officials."
Another reason why Republicans may work harder to shape media coverage is because they perceive a liberal media bias. "Think about it," one former Bush administration spokeswoman told me. "The only member of the media to join the Bush [administration] was Tony Snow, [while] half the D.C. press corps joined the Obama [administration]!" As a result, she said, "we had to work harder to convince the media" of the administration's positions. Another Bush administration spokeswoman told me that being a Republican is "like being a woman. You have to work twice as hard being a Republican, because there's already a prevailing narrative ... so we try to overcompensate." She said that Bush administration spokespeople were therefore very social with the press. "We had a lot of fun with them," she said. "We had our own DMZ [de-militarized zone] ... where we could hang out. That was us helping them help us."
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Some of the best insights come from those who have learned from first-hand experience, and distilled their wisdom by living by what they discerned, and writing and speaking about it in humble actionable ways.
In that spirit, I shared five tips from individuals I admire for those traits. Here they are:
1. Use Connective Body Language
I spent most of my professional career recruiting foreign spies to work for the FBI. I relied upon my body language to build trust with them. Here are six universal cues of connective body behavior that can help you, too, in most any situation: maintain eye contact, mirror the other person's movements and positioning, lean in as they speak, never cross your arms, nod slightly throughout the conversation to show you're listening, and give a genuine smile which means the skin around your eyes crinkle. As you act, so you become. As you change your body language, so you become. To build trust, focus on being interested, rather than interesting.
~ LaRae Quy, author or Secrets Of a Strong Mind
2. Benefit of the Doubt Benefits Relationships
When you're irritable--not at your best--you have good reasons, right? If people knew how early you had to get up to get to the meeting, they'd cut you a little slack. In other words, you give yourself the benefit of the doubt. So why do we rarely do that for other people? Instead we think a grumpy colleague is just a grump. Must be genetic or a behavioral choice. But maybe he or she is facing a troubling situation. It may not excuse the behavior, but it helps us understand it. And that makes for a better relationship.
~ Mark Sanborn, author and speaker on leadership development
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3. Conflict Can Create Deeper Connection
Conflict quickly becomes personal. That's because we don't like it when someone gets in our way, and we often translate that reaction into not liking that person. Instead of complaining about them to others or avoiding them, see it as an opportunity to create connection. Focusing on behavior and not personality, tell them what they did and how it affected you. Then hang in there and listen to what they have to say. You will find that resolving conflict is a path to deeper trust and respect and a deeper connection with each other.
~ Jesse Lyn Stoner, Seapoint Center for Collaborative Leadership
4. Practice Hopi Wisdom
Over a Thanksgiving get-away to Sedona, Arizona, my husband and I were honored to listen to Donald Nelson of the Masi Fire Clan, Third Mesa, in the village of Kykotsmovi. He spoke with simple eloquence about the Hopi way of life, rituals, and ceremony. Among his many pieces of wisdom, one struck me as essential in building any relationship. The Hopi greet each other with a phrase that sounded like "Um-pee-too". It means "Are you here?" (Google translate does not speak Hopi.) Only this present moment matters. How often to we bring the past into a relationship? We recall the offenses, the slights, and the misunderstandings. Or we jump into the future, imaging responses. In truth, we can only connect in this present moment. "Um-Pee-To."
~ Eileen McDargh, The Resiliency Group
5. Use Video to Energize Relationships
Email can be rather dull. Voice alone can leave out vital parts of communication. Using video through tools like EyeJot, BombBomb YouTube, Gloopt and others let your connections see you, feel your emotion, and observe your non-verbal reactions. Video is a much more natural way to communicate. In business it brings better results than just text. Learn how to create videos quickly (good for you) that help communicate comprehensively and dynamically (good for others). Done right, video can help you establish, build, and maintain important relationships.
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Jennifer Sullivan's painting in the booth of Five Car Garage (Los Angeles) depicts a feline grooming itself with the words "afraid very afraid" scrawled in a corner in remarkably keyed colors. In this painting, Sullivan continues on themes of which stretch between desire and the absurd, always sincere and vulnerable no matter the antics. Next to the preening cat hangs a painting that looks like a triangular protest banner made of loose canvas, completed by several eggs-over-easy sculptures affixed to it, along with the phrase BODY WORK. Sullivan will have a solo show at Five Car Garage this summer (June 18-August 15).
David Shaw's work shined like a beacon from in the booth of Jeff Bailey Gallery (Hudson, NY). Shaw's glimmering holographic laminate, a signature material, and soft, carved wood balanced and redoubled upon itself in cryptic knots and akimbo limbs. His works become a minute forest and statement of opulent brevity, lit with all possible light.
Aaron Spangler's wood carvings were mountainous and fine all at once at Zieher Smith and Horton Gallery (New York), monolithic in stature but invested with a palpable love of land. Spangler's kinship with his environment echoes strongly from his mythic North Woods Minnesota studio, and seeing his works alongside the sun dappled abstract surfaces of Clare Grill's paintings and the folksy landscape preponderances of David Byrd's works was a revelation.
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Sydney based gallery Minerva, was showing a solo presentation of remarkable paintings by Hamishi Farah, which wove together art history and ephemeral internet content, such as memes or momentarily notable YouTube videos. One painting that caught my eye was a landscape with Romantic energy, emblazoned with a fiery sun, but also inexplicably implicated with a conversation between two comic avatars: "Where do you get the kindling for the fire?...From the manager, why?" Though the exact cultural references for many of the pieces were unfamiliar to me, a sense of the almost mythic utility of utterance gone awry was notable.
Kunstraum LLC (Brooklyn) presented an ambitiously relaxed project, VIDEO SHOP, showcasing "artist-authorized bootlegs" editions of DVDs in a video store recreation, including works by Jon Kessler, Nadja Verena Marcin, David Merrit, Emma Sulkowicz, Shelly Silver, and more. A DVD of Alex McQuilkin's "ROMEO AND JULIET (I Wanna Be Claire Danes)" stood out in a manner of iconic, throw-back glory. The process of browsing shelves of DVDs and previewing some on hand-held screens was nostalgic and warm, but also felt like a prescient way to open up a treasure trove of hidden, videographic potential.
Samsn Project (Boston) presented an impressively varied booth of more than 40 artists, which carried the feeling of a collection or archive as much as an art fair booth. Rico Gatson's paintings were well represented there, nestled in among several other gems. Ingrid LaFleur's moss, crystal, and mother of pearl infused plate is adorned with potent notions of nature, knowledge and virtues of magical experimentation. LaFleur, an expert on Afrofuturism, is also an interdisciplinary performance artist and the founder of AFROTOPIA, in Detroit -- her hybrid practice extends to installation, performance, sound, writing, and sculpture.
At Bernard Ceysson (Luxembourg, Paris and Geneva), Alexander Nolan's works on paper allow for poetic speculation, transporting us towards strangeness and subversive planes, perhaps full of pleasure and profundity. His vibrant figurative renderings, landscapes and topsy-turvy domestic interiors lead us to personal and collective imagery. Often humorous and outlandish, Nolan's works are frequently populated by musicians, scantily clad bodies and anthropomorphized critters. These paintings relate to an interplay of myth, desire, and representations tied to both the body and the natural world. While Nolan's works may shed light on the irrationality of everyday rhythms, Lauren Luloff's bleach paintings evoke balance and harmony, as she presents oxalis, begonia flowers, and aloe on their own terms.
Mother's Day. Despite the commercial cheesiness; most mothers look forward to 'their' day. If their child is in grade school, mothers will be receiving with love macaroni necklaces and homemade cards shiny with glitter and glue.
I know that I certainly did. I was so pleased with my daughter Victoria's homemade presents that even I; who bow to the Spare Queen; have kept one Mother's Day gift that Victoria made out of popsicle sticks. It is raft with a heart shaped flag with the letters M and V written on the heart. The raft lies on the top of my dresser drawer, along with my dog Gucci's ashes and a tiny statue of Mary that was supposed to be filled with the sacred water of Lourdes bought from The National Enquirer over twenty years ago. The water has long dried up but I keep it still, my belief in the redemptive powers of Mary stronger than my niggling doubt that this Mary was actually made with tap water in the someone's basement in Cincinnati.
As Victoria got older there was no one to help her buy a present for me; no willing girlfriend to pick up the gift slack; certainly not my own mother; who consistently used this day for her own divisive ways. It would have been easy for my mother to help Victoria buy something special for me; but in my mother's mind, the only mother that needed gifting was her. Perhaps a different child would have persevered and made a homemade card; but I imagine that for Victoria the lack of familial support was so painful she just decided to not participate at all.
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The year Victoria turned ten I met the charismatic Jane. Victoria; who had been less than thrilled that I was gay; told me how happy she was that I was a lesbian because now Jane was in her life. Jane was brash and bold and larger than life. She helped Victoria plan really wonderful Mother's Day brunch's that made my heart sing. ( In case you are wondering my heart sang Bach Concerto for 2 Violins, my absolute favourite piece of music.)
Sadly our years with Jane came to an abrupt end one cold Christmas Eve; and we were back to just us two; once again. Each subsequent Mother's Day I led with my fear. I would start to harass Victoria, lightly at first and then as the day got closer; more and more intensely.
"Victoria, it's Mother's Day next week, what are you doing for me?
"Victoria, it's Mother's Day tomorrow!! What are we doing? Should I make a reservation at The Four Seasons? "
As you can see, I would always be driving the machine. Exhausting work, but I couldn't pry myself from the wheel.
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Of course I blamed myself for being not a good enough mother for Victoria, for why else couldn't she show up for me on my day? I think back on our years together and I rest on a meeting we had with her art therapist. Victoria was 12 years old at the time and was having a particularly difficult time at school so I decided to take her to an art therapist where she could feel free to share her feelings in a more relaxed atmosphere.
Up until this meeting I was under the impression that things were pretty great between my daughter and myself; so it was a huge shock when Victoria told me during a family therapy session, that she did not like me. She did not like how I dressed or what I did for a living or anything about me. I really did not know what to do with that information, so I buried it in the dessert along with my pain at not having a partner to work through this together as a family unit.
I did the only thing that was available to me at the time. I tried harder to please. While trying so hard to make my daughter happy I lost my sense of self; as I was so desperate to have her love me. I know that this just made Victoria recoil even more, but I did not know what else to do. I felt all alone and without agency. I did not have any family to turn to for help and guidance.
I decided to return to therapy myself, for myself. I found out that I needed to give Victoria the space she needed to just be. I began to nurture my own abandoned inner child, and spoke to her every day.( I still do.) I promised myself that I would breathe through my fear and let myself feel the pain of having to give up my dream of Victoria and I sipping tea and watching Young and Restless, and be in reality.
Guess what? Reality sucks. But the alternative sucks way more. So much more.
Last week was not a fun week for me, constantly hoping that Victoria would write or phone to ask me out for brunch. As the week came to a close I became more and more panicked; but held on tight to my resolve to do the right thing; for Victoria and for myself.
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Finally Sunday morning arrived with no fanfare and to distract myself I took my puppy Lucille to the beach. Watching Lucille play in the water was just the tonic needed. The bracing wind seemed to lift my panic away and I felt; if not completely calm; then at least not crazed.
As Lucille and I walked back to my car, I heard a ping. It was a text from Victoria.
Happy Mother's Day. I love you lots!
Recently to celebrate the ten year anniversary of Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert published a book of short stories titled "Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It". Although my submission was not successful, I share it with you to show you that life is lived and a career is born, by living in the moment. A photographer can only be made one click at a time. Now is the time to follow that dream, for it is the only time we have.
Katische
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In the early scenes of the movie Love Actually, Jamie (Colin Firth) comes home to discover his semi-clad girlfriend cavorting around the lounge with his brother. Suitably devastated, he retreats to a lake house to write a novel on his old-fashioned typewriter. I too, have retreated to a lake house. With the dissolution of my marriage, I have packed my things and brought my children to a house overlooking a lake in Witta, eager to create a fresh new future.
I don't want to move back to my hometown of Brisbane to be pitied. I know that just like death, divorce is a taboo and most people in society run from those who have failed in marriage rather than come close to support them.
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I want to be alone to lick my wounds. I feel ashamed. My heart feels black with grief and I need the freedom to be in the emotion of the moment, to be sad or mad or angry, to achieve nothing other than simply getting through the day. I am now a recipient of a government pension and my ego does not like it. I refuse to live in a depressing environment. I know that if my house is hell, then my mind will descend there.
I know I need time to heal, but with two children under four and a dog, I cannot escape the country to an Ashram, so I choose to make my new life in Witta a healing adventure. I create my first blog and name it 'Adventures with Munchkins. It is a way to document for myself the experience that I am going through. I want to write about the change in my life from an uplifting point of view. From a perspective of adventure, from the rose tinted lenses of a woman who thinks she can face fear head on and make an adventure out of the experience of being a single mother.
I know that single motherhood is one of the biggest fears married women face, and parents have for their children. It is the main reason that abused women remain victims, and others who are in a loveless marriage remain until the kids have left home.
Single mothers are blamed for everything. Bad behaved children, truancy, rises in crime and drug usage. A single mother is someone to be pitied, not inspired by. A single mother also usually earns less and works more, and holds the greatest guilt over not being a super human and giving her child every experience possible. One in four children in single parent families in Australia live in poverty.
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I am determined that I will not be the object of pity. I am also determined not to let my single motherhood change my parenting wishes. I wish to be a present parent, even if that means I am a parent who remains on a pension longer.
My number one focus in life is to recover from my marriage breakdown to ensure that when I am ready to return to work, I am an asset not a liability. Eat Pray Love becomes literally my bible. I feel like Liz Gilbert is the only person in the world who understands me.
I highlight passages and every time Richard from Texas counsels her, I feel as though he is talking to me. Especially when I am sad, and then angry. Both which are natural stages of grief, experienced as a result of a separation and divorce, both equally disturbing and overwhelming.
"Groceries, you need to learn how to select your thoughts just the same way you select what clothes you're gonna wear every day. This is a power you can cultivate...Because if you can't learn to master your thinking, you're in deep trouble forever".
And so I learn how to watch my emotions rise, and monitor my thoughts like passing clouds. At some point in time, I stop being angry, start to accept my lot in life, and starting seeing the beauty around me.
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I am filled with awe of the clouds and the fog and the mist of Witta, and how they interact with the mountain range. The mornings are filled with spectacular sunrises and the evenings with even more amazing sunsets over the lake. So begins a fascination with recording the beauty I am seeing on my iPhone.
The day I started to see beauty in my own yard, changed my perspective on life.
I change the name of my blog to 'The Lake House Writer' and my journey takes on a new dimension. Each week I post images that I have taken that are blended with quote that reflects how I feel, the inspiration that I am seeking in my life. I create my first photographic video that incorporates images I have taken on my iPhone with Tibetan music and post it on the blog.
I decide to undertake a photography challenge with my friend also named Liz. We no longer live around the corner from each other, and as a way of continuing the friendship we decided to upload a photo a day. It just has to be a single photo, something that we had done or seen or eaten that day.
From this point onwards my brain explodes. I allow my brain the space to be silent whilst my eyes filtered the experience of my life through a camera. I experience the complete spectrum of emotion through the excuse of photography. This enables me to see the emotions that I am experiencing at a safe distance, and I can correct them so that I do not go too high or too low.
I can now view my photography and say 'wooah that was a dark day yesterday', better make today a light one. I then simply seek an adventure where I photograph something beautiful in nature, to make my mind focus in that direction.
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I have a whole new culture at my fingertips. Living in Witta, I am exposed to the freethinking Bohemian living citizens of Maleny. People here simply view life differently. They take you as you are. They explore all facets of life, all theories of existence and all forms of healing. Nothing is too strange, too unacceptable, or too radical.
I decide that if I am going to live in the middle of nowhere, I might as well embrace it- put on the glasses of Peter Mayle for a while. It may not be rural France, and I am living in a brick rental house rather than a crumbling Chateau, but the experience for me could be the same. I needn't travel overseas to live an adventure. This realization gives me immense freedom and tears off the tape that is binding my wings to my side.
My blog becomes the place that I explore my fascination with life in Maleny. It is the best medicine for a broken heart. I simply operate from the place of knowledge that I know nothing about repairing a broken heart and that I will take any advice, and try it. Any remedy, any alternate therapy any approach to life and any friendship that came my way. If it doesn't work, there is nothing lost.
And nothing is lost, because, a year later, we return to Brisbane, ready to face the world again. We face a bigger battle helping my father face an early death in the form of prostate cancer and again Eat Pray Love comes to my side to help cope with anxiety, depression and grief, all the same emotions, this time in a different form.
When the grief passes I take Richards advice,
"Take all the time you need to heal, but don't forget to eventually share your heart with someone".
A couple of short relationships later, my heart has been wedged right open, and I am optimistic that in time, I will find the right long term relationship.
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My writing and my photography has been a constant for me through this journey and I'm now both a professional photographer and writer. I've just put the finishing touches on my manuscript, which I have been writing since that first blog as a newly single mother.
So from the bottom of my heart, and also from my children, who have gained a mother who is passionate about her work, I thank you Liz. By taking the courage to be vulnerable and share your story, you have helped me through my darkest times and provided me with the never-ending light of inspiration to guide me on my way. Your Facebook posts have impacted and helped me on a daily basis and you Liz, have become my Richard from Texas.
There you are, Donald Trump. (Nathan Congleton/Flickr)[/caption]
Dear Donald Trump,
So you're the Republican presidential candidate. Can you win?
Donald Trump has his work cut out for him. The electoral map does him no favors. https://t.co/GA7Lz8MRdz pic.twitter.com/IGgcInoKhI The Upshot (@UpshotNYT) May 5, 2016
First, the bad news
A lot of people don't like you. In fact, you have historically high unfavorable numbers, meaning you are the most disliked presidential candidate EVER.
Trump says his unfavorables have come down recently. That ain't so pic.twitter.com/P9ES1RtUK6 Rhys Blakely (@rhysblakely) April 27, 2016
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Fact check on Trump's unfavorables going down, as he just said, in recent weeks via Real Clear Politics pic.twitter.com/IW4HXGal5o Michael Del Moro (@MikeDelMoro) April 27, 2016
With pretty much every group.
New poll: GOP nominee Trump seen unfavorably by:
73% nonwhites
64% women
70% young
67% college
Really: https://t.co/cMKtDQe4v6 Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 4, 2016
Like the college educated.
Like Hispanic voters, including many immigrants from Mexico and Latin American countries. There's a spike in the number immigrants applying for citizenship--specifically so they can vote against you in November.
Latino immigrants are applying for US citizenship, so they can vote against Donald Trump https://t.co/KcQgjWs2te pic.twitter.com/H9NhYthgbN BBC World Service (@bbcworldservice) April 4, 2016
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Black voters aren't your biggest fans either.
Trump unfavorables women 70% Latinos 80% Blacks 90% but sure #NeverTrump folks did it pic.twitter.com/mKdVPB1ECI andrew kaczynski (@BuzzFeedAndrew) April 27, 2016
A President Trump would "have to win unprecedented shares of the voters who hate him: Blacks, Latinos, & women." https://t.co/RYb4ErQXzs Gabe #DreamActNow Ortiz (@TUSK81) May 4, 2016
Neither are women--both liberal and conservative.
Even Republican Women Fleeing @realDonaldTrump In Droves https://t.co/zK9sx46vU2 The Young Turks (@TheYoungTurks) April 30, 2016
Or LGBT voters.
The white working class is supposedly your base, but that may not really be true.
You know how you've heard again and again that Trump's supporters are "working class"? That's mostly BS. https://t.co/ehaqkSA6eR Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) May 3, 2016
You've got a steep uphill battle with millennials.
61% of millennials say they want a Democrat win the White House, while only 33% say they would prefer a Republican https://t.co/MrKTtwsNe0 MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) April 29, 2016
Even many Republican donors and longtime Republican party strategists and operatives say #NeverTrump.
the GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it's on the level. I'm with her. Mark Salter (@MarkSalter55) May 3, 2016
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"I'm voting for Hillary" -- thing multiple GOP operatives have told me tonight Kasie Hunt (@kasie) May 4, 2016
I am no longer a Republican. Ben (@BenHowe) May 4, 2016
After volunteering thousands of hours of my time for the GOP & defending it for 8 yrs, I am no longer a Republican. Will be in writing soon. Benji Backer (@BenjiBacker) May 4, 2016
There. I'm no longer a Republican. I joined the party of Lincoln and Reagan -- I can't belong to the party of Trump. pic.twitter.com/JBg2vikhap jon gabriel (@exjon) May 4, 2016
I have officially de-registered as a Republican. pic.twitter.com/DjRI21Oyvx Philip Klein (@philipaklein) May 4, 2016
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I'm changing my registration tomorrow. I am no longer a Republican. I will not vote for Trump. I'm finished playing the prisoner's dilemma. Charles Stricklin (@cstricklin) May 4, 2016
Not to mention other Republican leaders.
The GOP literally made Hillary's anti-Trump ad for her https://t.co/H0fAEABY8W Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) May 4, 2016
Including House Speaker Paul Ryan, the highest-ranking Republican in office, who said he's not ready to endorse Trump "right now." (Don't forget, Ryan just gave a speech railing against "ugliness" in politics.)
Paul Ryan on Donald Trump: "I hope to support our nominee" https://t.co/xzLaxvkTPe https://t.co/JH8mg3p8CZ CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 5, 2016
There were 424 Romney/Obama national polls conducted in 2012. Obama led Romney by 13+ in 1 of 424. CNN today had Clinton over Trump by 13. (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) May 4, 2016
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Usually polls are not accurate this far out, but the name recognition is high for Trump & Clinton. Likely more accurate than normal Benchmark Politics (@benchmarkpol) May 4, 2016
Another problem for you are many offensive things you've said in the campaign so far and over the years.
You're widely seen as hateful.
Heres what else is real: @realDonaldTrump has built his campaign on racism, sexism, and xenophobia. Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma) May 4, 2016
The good news for you
You are doing really well with certain demographics, like white supremacists.
David Duke Celebrates Trump's Revival of White Nationalism, Victory Over 'Jew Supremacists' https://t.co/94mOfT7ln0 pic.twitter.com/b7pO3hmXw1 Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 4, 2016
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And, despite your personal history, evangelicals.
A lot of the people who are voting for you strongly support your stances on both undocumented immigrants and Muslims.
Then voters started voting. Exit polls showed huge GOP approval of Trump Muslim proposal. NY 68% PA 69% TX 67% OH 65% FL 64% GA 68%. Byron York (@ByronYork) April 27, 2016
Including--surprise!--some Muslims. Like, about 11% of them.
Meet the American Muslims who are supporting and voting for Donald Trump. 11% of Muslim voters support Trump. #MAGAhttps://t.co/YLbqtU80nQ Trump's Got My Vote (@veganvecoh) April 18, 2016
And some political experts think you have a way higher chance than most people realize.
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Actually, you're already expected to do better with black voters than Mitt Romney did in 2012.
So far, you've benefited from being unpredictable and unorthodox, and being good at social media and TV. There's no reason to think that won't keep helping you.
So I'm skeptical of the "no possible way can Trump win the general." Politics is weird, people are unpredictable, and Trump is an X-factor. Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) May 5, 2016
And your personal attacks--like "Little Marco" and "Lyin' Ted"--have been pretty effective. You've already started "Crooked Hillary."
Crooked Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most dishonest person to have ever run for the presidency, is also one of the all time great enablers! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 29, 2016
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No one should dismiss your ability to appeal to the #NeverHillary / #BernieorBust crowd, including people who support the political revolution Bernie Sanders has been agitating for.
.@THEHermanCain: "I see a movement of more people saying...'I'd rather have Trump & #NeverHillary than Hillary and #NeverTrump.'" #KellyFile Fox News (@FoxNews) May 5, 2016
Besides, you've already won the Republican nomination, so from your end, you're already going head-to-head with Hillary Clinton, while she has to both keep battling Bernie Sanders AND face you too.
With Sanders still in the race, Hillary has to do more than just pivot. She has to face two directions at once. Donna Brazile (@donnabrazile) May 4, 2016
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Everyone's waiting to see who you pick to be your running mate--which could give you a boost.
Paul Manafort on VP pick: [Trump's] looking for somebody who has Washington experience & who can help him in dealing with foreign policy. Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) May 5, 2016
Let's see what happens.
News / National
by Freeman Razemba
A team of senior police officers has been dispatched to Botswana to assist in probing the death of Air Zimbabwe public relations executive, Shingai Dhliwayo, who was found dead in a bush in the neighbouring country.The team, mostly from Bulawayo and Matabeleland South provinces, will also be present when post mortem is conducted today.Some of them left the country last night to assist in investigating the case.In an interview yesterday, chief police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, said there were no developments on the case.She said police were also waiting for post mortem results."As of now there are no developments on the case and investigations are still in progress. Once post mortem is done tomorrow (today) that's when we'll be able to furnish you with concrete details concerning the case."A team from ZRP will also attend the post mortem," she said.On Monday, police and their Batswana counterparts with the help of the International Police Organisation (Interpol), intensified investigations to ascertain the cause of Dhliwayo's death.Dhliwayo's body was found tied onto a tree with both hands and legs also tied with a rope in a sitting position.Her mouth was gagged with a cloth and she was bleeding from the nose.The body was found about 5km from Plumtree Border Post in a bushy area and it is suspected that she had been lured by unknown assailants to travel to Botswana in a bid to rob her.It is suspected that there is a syndicate of criminals that is luring Zimbabwean businesspeople after promising them "lucrative deals" and then rob them after crossing into Botswana.Police in Botswana reportedly found her body and sent it to an unnamed hospital mortuary where her parents identified it on Saturday.On Monday, the deceased's brother, Webster Taruvinga, said they were also concerned and wanted to know the cause of her death.Dhliwayo's husband, Totizirepi arrived in Zimbabwe on Monday from Botswana to work on other documents that are needed.He and his friend Lesley Makarau, left Harare for Bulawayo last night, enroute to Botswana.Air Zimbabwe passenger and cargo general manager, Chris Kwenda, recently said they had also put in place a team that would assist till the case was finalised.He said details of the burial would be announced once post mortem had been conducted.Dhliwayo travelled to Botswana on personal business last Saturday soon after the Trade Fair intending to come back the following day and she never came back.Her husband and parents decided to travel to Botswana to look for her that is when police told them of a body at the mortuary.Unconfirmed reports say Dhliwayo, who ran Shekinah Wedding Decor Unlimited a catering business, had been invited for a business meeting in Botswana.
The battle over restroom access has reached a new level. (Carmelo Speltino / Flickr)
So it looks like we are at a watershed moment in the crusade for restroom access for transgender people.
Both North Carolina and the US Department of Justice sued each other within hours.
Two lawsuits? Yeah.
But the whole situation over the controversial HB2 law in North Carolina has been brewing for months. Let's take a look at how we got here:
1. The "bathroom bill" became law in North Carolina in March
North Carolinians protesting HB2. (NathaniaJohnson/Flickr)
In March, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed a bill that was passed unanimously in the state's legislature. All of the Republicans supported it, while the Democrats walked out in protest of the bill.
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The law, known as HB2, banned towns and cities in the state from starting their own anti-discrimination laws, essentially requiring discrimination in all of North Carolina.
But that part of HB2 wasn't the biggest attention-getter -- the part that caused the most backlash is the section that prohibits transgender individuals from using the bathrooms that correspond with their true gender. Basically, HB2 requires people, by law, to go to the bathroom that matches the sex on their birth certificates.
Can't believe it what sort of bill is the "bathroom bill"? Where is America leading to.#bathroombill Adedire Ibukun Sammy (@ibkayzee) March 25, 2016
Can we please stop calling it the #bathroombill, it's so much more bigotry than that. All that discrimination packed into 5 pgs. Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) May 9, 2016
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There was a huge backlash against the state, and the governor backtracked a little, but HB2 stayed in place.
2. The Justice Department told North Carolina not to enforce the law
North Carolina got into hot water with the Justice Department last week.
The DOJ said HB2 hinders the civil rights of Americans living in North Carolina.
They cited both Title VII and Title IX of the Civil Rights Act in its rights violations. Title IX outlaws discrimination based on sex when it comes to education, while Title VII outlaws employment discrimination.
DOJ informs N. Carolina that #hb2 violates Civil Rights Act, gives Mon. deadline to confirm law won't be implemented https://t.co/2Na13UxDNO Catherine Thompson (@KT_thomps) May 4, 2016
They gave North Carolina a deadline, May 9th to respond and say they wouldn't enforce the law.
3. And then, North Carolina sued the Justice Department
Many thought North Carolina would probably comply.
House Speaker Tim Moore say Monday's DOJ deadline action on #HB2 is unreasonable and won't be met by #ncga. #ncpol Colin Campbell (@RaleighReporter) May 5, 2016
But instead, the state of North Carolina sued the Department of Justice.
Gov McCrory sues DOJ for "radical reinterpretation" of Civil Rights Act ahead of today's deadline #HB2 #WCNC pic.twitter.com/OUSzazru2h Ty Chandler (@TyChandlerMedia) May 9, 2016
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The lawsuit by North Carolina says transgender identities are not protected under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. They claim the DOJ "overreached" in their power and weren't clear about their reason for suing.
Those backing HB2 don't see sexual orientation or gender identity mentioned anywhere in the Civil Rights Act.
Governor McCrory said this:
"We believe a court, rather than a federal agency, should tell our state, our nation and employers throughout the nation, what the law requires."
In other words: You want me to stop enforcing this law? MAKE ME.
4. Then the DOJ countersued North Carolina
Then the DOJ fired back, suing North Carolina for standing by HB2. They had their own thoughts on the matter. The lawsuit says this:
"Transgender individuals seeking access to covered facilities have suffered and continue to suffer injury, including, without limitation, emotional harm, mental anguish, distress, humiliation, and indignity as a direct and proximate result of compliance with and implementation of HB2."
The DOJ called the law discriminatory and unenforceable. They requested a court "issue a preliminary and permanent injunction to prevent further violations of federal law." Which means they want a court to tell North Carolina they can't go ahead with their law.
5. Attorney General Loretta Lynch gave a major speech about trans rights
US Attorney General (who is the head of the Justice Department) Loretta Lynch held a press conference to announce the Justice Department's position and their new lawsuit.
It was a strongly worded and impassioned speech that many found riveting:
Lynch -- who is from North Carolina herself -- talked about civil rights violations and called on Americans to be tolerant and learn from the mistakes of the Jim Crow era in American history:
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Instead of turning away from our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, let us instead learn from our history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past. Let us reflect on the obvious but often neglected lesson that state-sanctioned discrimination never looks good in hindsight. It was not so very long ago that states, including North Carolina, had signs above restrooms, water fountains and on public accommodations keeping people out based upon a distinction without a difference. We have moved beyond those dark days, but not without pain and suffering and an ongoing fight to keep moving forward. Let us write a different story this time. Let us not act out of fear and misunderstanding, but out of the values of inclusion, diversity and regard for all that make our country great.
She also addressed the transgender community both in North Carolina and across the country:
Let me also speak directly to the transgender community itself. Some of you have lived freely for decades. Others of you are still wondering how you can possibly live the lives you were born to lead. But no matter how isolated or scared you may feel today, the Department of Justice and the entire Obama Administration wants you to know that we see you; we stand with you; and we will do everything we can to protect you going forward. Please know that history is on your side. This country was founded on a promise of equal rights for all, and we have always managed to move closer to that promise, little by little, one day at a time. It may not be easy -- but we'll get there together.
Lynch said the Department of Justice will stand behind the transgender population and continue with the fight against HB2.
6. The response
Lots of people have their own thoughts on the matter.
Loretta Lynch is going HAM on NC, portraying HB2 as new Jim Crow David A. Graham (@GrahamDavidA) May 9, 2016
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If you care what gender another person is in the bathroom, you don't have to go bad enough. #bathroombill dog lady (@oinkoint22) May 10, 2016
This is the moment for which Loretta Lynch will be remembered: "We see you; we stand with you; we will protect you." #HB2 TC (@tchopstl_) May 9, 2016
From both sides of the spectrum...
All those who wish to preserve our constitutional system should stand with #NorthCarolina. #HB2 Hal Marx (@MayorHalMarx) May 10, 2016
I change my mind after I read HB2 in detail, and it actually doesn't hurt anyone, it protects! I STAND WITH @PatMcCroryNC #PROHB2 unbothered - #snakeszn (@TristanPeg) May 9, 2016
Thankful for all our North Carolina pastor friends standing with Governor McCrory. Having done all....Stand! Ephesians 6:13 Paul Chappell (@PaulChappell) May 10, 2016
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If you have male genitalia use M. If not use W. No matter what you wear. If trans person had it removed ok to use W. #nclaw #bathroombill D (@dwm1302) May 9, 2016
7. What now?
A judge could start hearing a case from the opposing parties in a few weeks. A win could mean a historic establishment of civil rights for the transgender population, while a loss could be devastating.
North Carolina's lawsuit seems to hint that their politicians might be nervous, because Civil Rights Act violations usually result in defunding by the the federal government, which could lead to billions in losses for the state.
Stay tuned. The battle's just begun.
There's no denying there's a movement behind Donald Trump. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
Donald Trump is my idol and source of inspiration. His campaign to win the presidency has become a movement. His message is concise yet controversial. He says what he means and means what he says.
I support Donald Trump for many reasons, but I'll start with this one: his policies. I love his strong, pro-American stance on immigration. I believe the United States is a country of laws and we need to enforce our laws. When tens of thousands of illegal immigrants are pouring into our country through the southern border, there is a problem.
Not all of these people coming in are good people, and we need to properly vet who enters our country. There is an immigration process, and if people want to come to America, they need to do so legally.
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Another one of Trump's policies that I wholeheartedly support is his tax reform plan. In crippled America, Trump says that single people who make less than $25,000 and married people who make less than $50,000 will owe no income tax. This is a phenomenal plan and it will leave more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans.
One of the huge problems with big government is that it steals money from hard working Americans by calling it "taxation," and then uses that money to fund ridiculous government programs. This is a mess and it must come to an end.
Details of the funds supporting Donald Trump's campaign since last FEC filing. He has self-funded 75% of his campaign. (Screenshot/OpenSecrets.org)
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I am also impressed with the fact that Trump is self-funding his campaign. He is not beholden to any special interests, lobbyists, or donors. When Trump is elected, he will be free to do what's in the best interest of the American people and he won't owe anyone any favors.
I think it would be great for America to have a president who has the vast list of accomplishments that Trump has. He owns Trump Towers, Trump hotels, The Trump Organization, etc. Having a man like that as the leader of the free world would reinforce the idea that success is a good thing and not something to be afraid of. It is not "greedy" to want the best of the best or to take pride in what one rightfully owns.
Having a president who supports our Second Amendment rights is more important now than ever. As more useless gun control laws are put in place, Americans are slowly being stripped of their Constitutional rights to bear arms and protect themselves from tyranny and oppression, while lawless criminals obtain access to guns through illegal means. Trump realizes this and he has stated over and over again that he is pro-Second Amendment and will restore gun rights back to the American people. He and his sons are lifetime members of the amazing NRA.
The Trump rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, brought in around 6,300 supporters. (Gabrielle Seunagal)
I have listened to Trump's speeches, read his books, and I even attended a Trump rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on December 21st, 2015. I have no doubt in my mind that Trump will do what is best for the American people. He will protect this country. He will make America great again by bringing back jobs from China and Japan, by lowering taxes, and by repealing Obamacare, which is a disaster and has caused many Americans to lose their jobs.
Trump has a history of success and getting things done. He wrote The Art of the Deal. He will be respected by foreign leaders and he will protect Americans from terrorism. He is the only candidate who will make a positive change in this country, and I am so honored to support him.
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Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign rally in Salem, Oregon, U.S., May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
As Sanders wins yet another primary (the 19th overall), it might be useful to examine what a Sanders-Trump match-up might entail.
It starts with understanding that the 2016 race is fueled primarily with the devastation caused by runaway inequality and the financial strip-mining of the economy by Wall Street.
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Americans are fed up with wage stagnation and the ever increasing rise of the pay gap between CEOs and the rest of us. In 1980 an average top 100 CEO received $45 in compensation compared to $1 for the average worker. Today it is an incomprehensible $844 to one, (as in one house for you and 844 houses for a top CEO.)
This system runs on an idealized vision of capitalism called neoliberalism. That model continually calls for tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation of the private sector, and cutbacks/privatization of any and all public services. Both political parties have endorsed this model. But now the American people are in revolt as they see the economy, their communities and their families undermined by Wall Street.
On the right, Trump supporters blame their losses on immigrants, big government and people of color. They revel in the way Trump bashes the established order with his Mexico wall, his ban on Muslim immigrants, and his overall assault on political correctness, meaning his overt appeals to racism, sexism and xenophobia.
Sanders attacks runaway inequality directly by calling for the break up of big banks, new taxes on Wall Street, free higher education and Medicare-for-All. He wants to move money from financial and corporate elites into the real economy so that it benefits working people and the poor.
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Meanwhile, Hillary is part and parcel of the runaway inequality regime. Her Wall Street speeches, her Super-PACs, her corporate donors, and her family's new found wealth will make it hard to shed her links to those who have created, and profited by, the rigged economy.
Should Sanders somehow become the nominee, here are ten reasons why he has a much better chance of defeating Trump than Hillary.
1. Integrity:
Trump's character flaws, which are many, will stand out in high relief in comparison to Sanders. From his multiple-marriages, to his personal attacks on women, immigrants and Muslims, Trump appeals most strongly to a very narrow segment of the electorate. He would lose many voters to Sanders just because so clearly Bernie bleeds integrity. Further, it will be impossible for Trump to accuse Sanders of any form of corruption, nor can he claim that Bernie is beholden to special interests. With Hillary, the case is less clear. Whether true or not, there is a widespread sense that she often is not who she says she is, and that she often changes her stance to gain political favor.
2. Super-PACs:
Trump is about to face what Bernie calls the "corrupt campaign finance system." In order to stay competitive, Trump will have to do more than rely on Twitter and at-will media access. To have any chance of success, he must either deplete a good deal of his fortune (which may not be as great as he suggests) or he will have to rely on donor support, especially in the form of Super-PACs. If he faces Hillary, it's a non-issue since she will be inundated with corporate money. But against the Sanders army of small donors and his anti-Super-PAC stance, the claim that Trump can't be bought or influenced by big money will be sorely tested.
3. Financial speculation tax to support free higher education:
It will be interesting to see how Trump dances around this issue. First, he can't possibly support the financial transaction tax on Wall Street without running afoul of what remains of the Republican Party. And free higher education is likely to be viewed by much of his base as another big government giveaway, especially to people of color. That leaves this very popular program all to Bernie and he would make enormous gains by raising it, especially among younger voters. Hillary's opposition to both the financial transaction tax and free higher education puts her in Trump's corner. And her complex policy proposals on student loans will easily be ignored.
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4. Young people:
This election could come down to a battle of enthusiasm. The Trump and Sanders supporters appear to have much more energy than do Hillary's, at least for now. While both Sanders and Trump have ardent followers, there is an existential difference. "Make America Great Again" is filled with pathos and self-loathing. Trump's supporters want revenge. They want to take back "their" country which the government has given to immigrants and people of color. They cheer and yell when Trump attacks all comers -- when he expresses their fears, frustration and anger. Bernie, on the other hand, draws on positive enthusiasm. His supporters share his hopefulness, his optimism, his desire for broad universal proposals that will help nearly everyone. In that battle, I'd bet on the hopeful kids of all colors, rather than the angry white men.
5. Independents:
Trump can't come close to winning unless he can carry a solid majority of independents. Sanders seems to have that group firmly in his corner. In Indiana for example, he beat Hillary by 44 percentage points among independent voters. Overall, he's getting about 70 percent of those unaffiliated primary voters. Some suggest that many of them are voting for Bernie because they can't stand Hillary. Those are a treasure trove of potential Trump votes in a race against Clinton. But if the polls for November are any indication, Bernie would swamp Trump among independents.
6. Iraq and Interventionism:
Trump is trying to present himself as an anti-interventionist. He points to his own objections to the war in Iraq as proof of his "America First" stance. But compared to Sanders, the anti-interventionist voice of Trump is muffled. He certainly didn't speak out forcefully against Iraq or any other U.S. interventions. (It's doubtful Trump even knows what happened in Nicaragua.) Sanders, of course, was a leading voice against the Iraq War, and his record against U.S. adventurism does not have to be fabricated. If the American people want to tame U.S. interventionism then they are likely to support the real deal rather than the Donald-come-lately. Hillary, of course, is saddled with her consistent support of regime change. She'll have to hide, triangulate or dump her neo-conservative predilections to ward off Trump.
7. Trade:
Here's another case where Trump's bravado evaporates into hot air in a race against Sanders. Trump can rant and rave all he wants about China, Japan, Mexico and bad trade deals. But Bernie can easily ask, "Hey, where were you when all these deals were done? Why didn't you speak out?" This issue, of course, works for Trump when facing Hillary. But, against Bernie he'll seem second rate.
8. Minimum Wage:
Trump was against a higher minimum wage until he was for it. It's as if he's finally figured out that raising it is enormously popular. Even more than half of all Republicans support a minimum wage of $12.50 or more. Then again he may also have realized how unseemly it is for a billionaire to suggest that low wage workers should make do without any minimum wage at all. On this issue, like most others, Bernie has been straight ahead and consistent in his support for a $15 minimum. He walked the picket lines with fast food workers who were on strike for that cause. Hillary is for $12 or for $15, depending on where she is campaigning.
9. Obamacare:
51 percent of country favors the repeal of Obamacare while 43.8 percent don't. Trump will try to pick up votes with his adamant opposition, which puts him squarely against Hillary who has wrapped herself around Obamacare during the primaries. But this health care system is fatally flawed as it pours money into the coffers of the largest insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms, allows premiums and out-of-pocket costs to rise, while still not covering over 20 million Americans. Sanders wants to replace it with Medicare-for-All which is likely to be more popular than the mush Trump is selling.
10. Crumbling Infrastructure:
Until recently, the American people have been sold on the idea of austerity -- that government can't afford to provide decent services. This, of course plays into the drive to privatize public goods and thereby funnel tax revenues to enrich private entrepreneurs. But more and more Americans are picking up on one of Bernie's most critical questions: How can the richest country in the history of the world, not afford clean water in Flint or decent jobs for the young people in Chicago or bridges that don't collapse in Minneapolis? Trump's phantasmagorical tax cuts and debt reduction plans feed into the austerity message. But this time this issue is likely to work for Sanders who is asking Wall Street to pay for the rebuilding of Main Street, rather than asking Mexico pay for a wall.
What about Bernie's vulnerabilities?
It is never wise to underestimate a carnival barker named Trump. An October surprise in the form of a terrorist attack on U.S. could make him look like the strongman needed to keep us safe.
If Trump faced Bernie it would be all about Bernie the Red. Trump would play his capitalist billionaire success against the socialist who wants to rob Americans of their drive for success and their chance to win big in the capitalist sweepstake, (just like Trump did with only a million dollars of seed money from his Dad.)
But does 1950s red-baiting still work? Bernie proudly admits he's a democratic socialist. No one knows for sure how this would play out, but so far it hasn't cost him very much in the primaries. Further, the latest poll from New Hampshire, a neighboring state that is much more conservative than Vermont and knows all about Sanders, has him up over Trump by 21 percentage points, while Hillary leads Trump by only 5 percent. This suggest that Sanders ages well. The more voters know about him, the more they like him. Bad news for Trump's anti-red attacks.
Big government and big spending are also potential vulnerabilities in a general election. Pro-Hillary think tanks are coming out with study after study to undermine ideas like free higher education and Medicare-for-All. Bernie's response is to ask why so many other developed nations can afford these universal proposals. It's a good question. But, the anti-government sentiment may run deeper in America. This is always a dangerous area for any progressive who calls for more government programs.
And finally, there is good old anti-Semitism. It's possible that about 10 percent of the electorate might not vote for a Jewish candidate. What about a Jewish candidate who isn't entirely in lockstep with everything that Israel does or wants? Well, that could cost him some more votes among Jewish conservatives, and of course, evangelicals who hope that Israel starts Armageddon.
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Why raise all these issues when Bernie's chances are so slim?
Because it's not over yet. There's a lot of time between now and the convention and things can happen, especially around her Wall Street speech transcripts.
There's more than enough time for Hillary supporters and super-delegates to take a deep breath and think hard about the frightening scenario of a Clinton versus Trump race. Those who think it's a slam dunk for Hillary should think again.
Clinton is tied to the old established order, to the insider game, and to Wall Street. The Clintons, indeed, are old news. The country may not want to look backwards. Too many voters may either stay away or go with the brash billionaire who is willing to upset the neoliberal financial trough -- the same trough that has been feeding the Clintons these many years.
Bernie is that breath of fresh air that we haven't seen since Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Let's hope this time it has a better ending.
(Like Runaway Inequality on Facebook.)
Les Leopold, the director of the Labor Institute in New York is working with unions, worker centers and community organization to build a national economics educational campaign. His latest book, Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice (Oct 2015), is a text for that effort. All proceeds go to support this educational campaign.
Simply put: if Sanders arrives at the convention with more pledged delegates than Clinton, the Democratic Party will be forced to nominate him.
Right now, it is clear that neither Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton will get enough pledged delegates to seal up the nomination; they both need superdelegates to win. Clinton has the support of almost all of them right now, but they can change allegiances; and, if Bernie takes the lead in pledged delegates (which is eminently within reach), they will in fact switch, and make him the nominee.
This isn't ironclad, of course, and it's not like the party's been sensible up to now. But there are some pretty profound reasons why it would far and away be in their best interests to do so. Here are three:
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1) Not nominating Bernie would destroy the party. Now, arguably it's already dying - whether you consider the huge independent population (who almost outnumber Democrats and Republicans combined), or you take into account the massive 'youth movement' that backs Sanders. To be clear, when we say 'youth movement', we mean people under 45. In that group, Sanders beats Clinton by vast margins. His ideas - which are in fact FDR's ideas - are far and away the future of the party, and the imminent future at that.
By 2020, that cohort will essentially be people under 50 - and no establishment politician of Clinton's type will stand a chance. The only reason she does now, in fact, is her hyper-networked relationship with the political and media establishment. She is the most famous candidate for President in a generation; yet she's barely holding on, and has only been able to by heavily leveraging those connections. Younger people - who are much more likely to use the internet to get their information - know it, and see through it. Contrary to Barney Frank's absurd canard that Sanders supporters are uninformed, they are in fact the most informed generation ever - far more informed than him or his cronies. Politics-as-usual is becoming obsolete.
The Democratic party's only hope to remain relevant is to nominate Bernie. Given all the shenanigans that the Democratic Party have perpetrated to prop up Clinton, a lot of those voters (i.e. the potential future of the party) are already done with the DNC. If Bernie gets to the convention with a majority of pledged delegates, and he is not the nominee, the Democratic Party - having alienated twenty-seven years' worth of voters (those 18 to 45) - will be finished. If the absolutely anti-democratic nature of the process is thoroughly revealed, by nominating Clinton despite a Sanders majority of pledged delegates, the backlash will be profound. In short, if the DNC do Sanders dirty that one last time, his supporters will be emphatically done with the Democratic party, now and for years to come. Which brings us to point two:
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The version of reality that has Clinton as a stronger candidate only holds sway among those who already like and support her. Sanders has gone easy on Clinton; Trump, by contrast, will have a field day. And all those independent voters - who are so essential in the general election, and who already dislike and mistrust Clinton - will be easy to influence. Trump has no shot against Bernie; the threat of Trump defeating Clinton is very real. Which brings us to three:
3) The media - who have so shamelessly marginalized Bernie - have been unable to control themselves when it comes to Trump. They won't suddenly start showing restraint now; and every time he's on TV, and Clinton is not (or even worse for her, is on TV, but is awkward and/or unlikeable), he'd win the narrative - just like he has in the Republican primary.
Bernie, on the other hand, would finally get the coverage he and his ideas deserve; and, unlike Clinton, Bernie is extremely popular. He is the most popular Senator; and his absolute and net favorability ratings leave Clinton's in the dust. He is unhampered by allegiances to wealthy, corporate donors, and has spent his career speaking truth to power. He can beat Trump's perceived 'saying what he thinks' with his own longstanding honesty and frankness, and his readily available record. He can not only stand up to and debunk Trump's manipulations, he can beat Trump's angry populism with his own optimistic, inclusive one.
It is easy to find striking examples of Bernie standing up to the powerful. His character survives transmission over the internet - in video, and in writing. That is the only reason he does so well. That he does so well despite poor media coverage is perhaps the greatest testament to his strength as a candidate - and, as Democracy Now's Amy Goodman pointed out recently, fair coverage would make him even stronger.
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Clinton has an absurd lead in superdelegates - almost all of whom declared their support for her before Sanders even entered the race. But unlike pledged delegates (which are the result of primaries and caucuses), and despite what mainstream media have implied, they are not locked to Clinton; if a superdelegate decides Bernie's the better choice, they're free to change their mind up to the moment the votes are cast on the convention floor in July.
That choice will be a lot easier for them to make if Bernie goes to the convention with a majority of pledged delegates. Add in the factors enumerated above, and the argument becomes very, very strong indeed.
The Clinton campaign knows this; and this is the reason her Super PAC has hired an army of trolls to police the internet - and shield superdelegates from anyone who would dare suggest that they should support Sanders. (Ironically, Putin hired a troll army to post positive comments about Russia last year. What does it say, when your campaign is taking cues from him?)
It was the end of week and we were having a Friday night "Shabbat" dinner at my synagogue. This was no ordinary dinner because we had special guests, four homeless families to whom we had given shelter that week. As one of the coordinators of the program, I was present with my kids on most nights. As is the tradition in our congregation, the Rabbi comes in and says a special prayer for our guests and welcomes them into our home. He then went around the room asking people to share what they were most grateful for that week. My son Josh took note of what others shared but stayed quiet, which was unusual for him.
He continued to be quiet on the car ride home, so I asked him what was on his mind. He told me that he was thinking about for what he was grateful. I asked him what that was, fully expecting him to name me as "the greatest mom ever " or, in light of where we had just come, express gratitude for the roof over his head. But surprisingly, I never would have guessed correctly at his answer.
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My son, who has an anaphylactic peanut allergy, told me he is grateful for three things in his life. First, the people who invented the peanut patch (an experimental treatment for peanut allergy), as he is in a clinical trial and he wears it every day in the hopes that it will enable him to be less sensitive to his allergen. Secondly, he said he was grateful for Dr. Hugh Sampson of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, who has been his longtime allergist. And finally, he said for the Epi-Pen because it saved my life and will do so again if I need it.
It's easy to get discouraged by the obstacles looming on the environmental landscape. However, the annual Goldman Environmental Prize recipients remind us of the power of the individual to make a difference. (Tragically, the 2015 winner from Honduras, Berta Caceres, was assassinated in March.)
This year, the North American taking home the award was Destiny Watford. At 20 years old, she is the third youngest person to receive the Goldman honor.
Watford, at 17, rallied her student peers and community to push back against -- and ultimately stymie -- the plans of the Energy Answers International company. They were coordinating to build the largest incinerator in the country in Watford's home neighborhood of Curtis Bay, South Baltimore.
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The residents of Curtis Bay have been subjected to a density of toxic sitings for decades. A report released in 2012 by the Environmental Integrity Project documented that from the years 2005 - 2009, the "Curtis Bay zip code was among the top ten zip codes in the country for the highest quantity of toxic air pollutants released by stationary (non-mobile) facilities." The area is riddled with industrial plants including those that have processed sewage treatment, medical waste, and fertilizers. Coal piers and billowing smokestacks look down ominously on the local playground and neat row houses. Asthma rates are excessively elevated, and incidences of lung cancer and respiratory disease are high.
A performance of Ibsen's play, An Enemy of the People, which deals with the theme of truth-telling in the public square, sparked Watford. She connected the dots between the health needs of her community and the agenda of those behind the incinerator project.
United Workers, a human rights group established in Baltimore in 2002 to focus on the concerns of low-wage workers, became the umbrella organization for Free Your Voice -- a student group co-founded by Watford. Together, they are fighting for social and environmental justice, equity, and accountability.
Going from house to house, engaging people through direct outreach, Watford and her activist colleagues sought to discuss the incinerator situation and its potential impact. Many older dwellers, who had watched one industry after another add to the local pollution, felt resigned to the situation.
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Clear on the problem at hand, Watford stated clearly, "Our system is failing us." Armed with the facts about the negatives the incinerator would bring to Curtis Bay -- including yearly emissions of 240 pounds of mercury and 4,000 pounds of lead released into the air, Watford spearheaded marches, arranged for presentations in front of the Baltimore County Public School board (including a rap performance), city government agencies, and local businesses that had agreed to buy electrical energy from Energy Answers International. The objective was to have entities cancel their contracts and divest from the undertaking.
"We want positive alternatives in our community," emphasized Watson. The prospect of young children being impaired by cognitive development due to toxins, and others suffering from a range of cardiovascular diseases, was a motivating impetus.
The Maryland Department of the Environment has since pulled the permit that Energy Answers International had secured. It turned out that they were out of compliance with the state rule that demanded construction on a project had to begin during the eighteen months before the air quality permit expired.
Watford is now a 20-year-old student at Towson University. She pronounced to the audience during her acceptance speech, "It isn't the fate of our community -- our our planet -- to be a dumping ground."
Calling for a mobilization of the grassroots with the impassioned declaration, "We have to take the lead," Watford told the crowd to thunderous applause, "This is a matter of survival. All life is sacred."
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Photo: Courtesy of The Goldman Environmental Prize
Workers' Compensation (also known as workmans' compensation or workers' comp) is a type of insurance available for employees in the event they become injured due to an on-the-job incident. You may be aware that it's available but do you really know the ins and outs of it? While workers' comp benefits vary from state to state and you should always contact your state's workers' comp board for details, I spoke with three lawyers who offered a general breakdown.
There are several different types of workers' comp benefits. The most common types include: medical care, rehabilitation, cash benefits, and supplemental benefits.
Nathan Morris, attorney and partner of Bighorn Law noted: Medical care typically covers any bills associated with your diagnosis and treatment including surgery and medical expenses. Rehabilitation benefits are designed to aid in recovery.
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When people think rehabilitation benefits they automatically think physical therapy according to Marc Lamber, attorney and partner on the Lamber Goodnow team, but physical therapy is only one part of it. Rehabilitation extends to vocational rehab, which covers job training such as education repayments and aptitude tests in the event workers are unable to return to their existing job.
Cash benefits and supplemental benefits both can cover lost wages.
The key difference between health insurance and workers' compensation is that health insurance covers injuries that are not job-related, added Lamber. Employers are required to purchase insurance that covers work-related injuries but are not required to offer health insurance.
When an accident happens on the job, it's important to tell your employer and fill out a workers' comp claim form. Some states require the incident be reported in 30 days or less. Reporting the incident is step one.
Jim Terry attorney and partner of Terry and Kelly, PLLC notes that it's always best to make the report right away - the injury could get worse or be harder to prove over time. Telling your employer verbally is never enough, added Nathan Morris. "Detailing the injury via email is best so you have a date stamp. Print your sent email and any email correspondence about the accident following."
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The next step is to see a doctor - some employers require it. Don't downplay your injury; doing so could weaken your case. Get a Report of Work Ability (RWA) form from your doctor.
"Most people don't realize how important the RWA form is," said Nathan Morris.
An experience rating will be an integral part of the process and is defined by the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) as "a method for tailoring the cost of insurance to the characteristics of an employer or risk." Keep in mind, the method of tailoring varies from state to state. For example, California uses a merit rating system. Nevada and Arizona refer to the NCCI for determination.
In rare cases, a prehearing or mediation will be needed, followed by a hearing in cases in which an agreement can't be made with the insurance company - these are the final steps.
After the claim is accepted, payment is made. If it can't be made in time to cover medical expenses, many states will reimburse you costs associated with payment.
In Texas, payment is made by check, electronic funds transfer, or an access card program, added Jim Terry. The amount you earn is based on the type of benefit you're granted. The length of time benefits are granted varies between states, however, typically there is a limit unless you are granted permanent disability benefits.
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How do you know if you qualify for workers' compensation? There are two types of typical workers' comp claims, notes Nathan Morris, "either an injury or an illness/disease." Whether or not you qualify depends on if the workers' comp system sees your injury as "something that was caused as part of your job and happened because of something that is part of your job." He went on to explain:
The system defines an injury as a "sudden and traumatic happening producing an immediate or prompt result established by medical evidence." It's a verifiable event that causes harm. If the injury cannot be proven, it's admissible.
In the hit movie Captain America: Civil War, no spoiler alert is required. The title alone tells the story line: the Avengers are bitterly divided. Instead of fighting together against the forces of terror that have been let loose in the world, they are fighting each other. Instead of combating the growing evil that threatens America, they are destroying themselves.
"It's just a story," Hollywood insiders are fond of saying. But is it?
Like the superheroes in the movie, each candidate claims that he or she will save us from the scourge of ISIS. They each argue passionately that they are The One who will arrive on their white horse and protect the homeland. They argue that they know best, then bludgeon each other, desperately trying to destroy their rivals in the name of safety and freedom. But as every military strategist since Sun Tzu knows, they are missing the crucial element in self-defense. They are forgetting the adage: "Divided we fall, united we stand."
Clearly neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton will solve the deeper problem that America is divided against itself. Like Captain America (played by Chris Evans) and Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Clinton and Trump are leading rival factions that want to save America. But as we prepare to witness internecine warfare for the remainder of 2016, and possibly beyond, we are failing to focus effectively on the "bad guys" (to use Donald Trump's favorite catch-all phrase). Instead of developing a clear long-term national security strategy that our allies can join, we are in danger of ricocheting like a pinball between invasion and retreat -- and back again.
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For a brief shining moment, following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, it seemed that a common enemy might bring us together. Instead, we have managed to become even more divided.
Within days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, attention shifted from homeless people and submerged neighborhoods to attacking President George W. Bush for being an incompetent and uncaring crisis manager.
While the economy eventually recovered from the 2008 financial crisis in 2008, charges and countercharges continue to be hurled, with each party blaming the other for causing the economic calamity.
With delicate nuclear negotiations between the USA and Iran underway in early 2015, the spectacle of American foreign policy in hyper-partisan disarray undermined our nation's authority and credibility.
More recently, presidential candidates bitterly accused each other of taking the nation into unnecessary wars and impugned the judgment -- and sometimes the character -- of both President Bush and President Obama.
Today we Americans can't summon enough political will to build a major airport or fix our bridges. We can't pass health care reform without a rebellion on Capitol Hill. We can't negotiate a federal budget without the threat of government shutdowns. We can't even mount a defense against the Zika-virus mosquito without political bickering. Like the superheroes on the screen, our enemies are exploiting our weakness. In fact, we become our own worst enemy.
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Terrorists know that, for the remainder of this year, and perhaps longer, this geopolitical superpower -- like the cinematic superheroes -- will be in a political battle with itself. ISIS leaders do not have to be political scientists or experts in American culture to know that it will be hard, if not impossible, for this country's leadership to take effective action against a foreign enemy.
The greatest military power on earth obviously has the capability of containing and ultimately eliminating a small, poorly organized caliphate of young hoodlums masquerading as devout Muslims. But that is true only if we are united. We have the proven skills and tools for having a national conversation and for reaching common ground. But we need to use them -- and soon.
Of course fierce disagreement is a vital part of being a democracy. But so is collaborative decision-making. When an issue is a matter of life and death, can we raise the level of our political discourse and actually dialogue, deliberate and reach a coherent and sustainable decision? When our security depends on it, can we finally put country before party?
The moral of the movie could not be clearer. A bruising battle between Clinton and Trump, followed by another era of divided government, will not make us safer. Only a reunited America will.
Mark Gerzon, president of Mediators Foundation and a former screenwriter, is the author of The Reunited States of America: How We Can Bridge the Partisan Divide.
With 840 miles of beautiful coastline and palm trees swaying in the breeze, "toxic" is not the first word that comes to mind when one thinks of California. Yet, in spite of its reputation as a progressive environmental state, California's toxic affair with oil and gas has been hiding in plain sight.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Los Angeles, the nation's largest urban oil field. Though it is the second most populous city in the country, L.A. is still the wild, wild west when it comes to oil development. Active oil wells dot the cityscape, connected by a spider web of pipelines carrying oil, explosive fumes, and corrosive acids directly under homes. Worst of all, these oil wells have a devastating impact on Angelenos' long-term health.
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I went on a "toxic tour" of L.A. and witnessed what it looks like when extreme fossil fuel extraction collides with the places where people live, work, and play. Our reliance on fossil fuels puts real communities at risk across the city. Extreme oil extraction injects a toxic mixture of chemicals into the ground to stimulate oil wells in a manner similar to fracking, and the emissions can cause headaches, nosebleeds, respiratory ailments, inter-generational reproductive harm, and even cancer for surrounding neighbors.
Last year, the state of California mandated an independent scientific assessment of oil and gas development. They found that in areas of high population density -- such as South Los Angeles -- oil drilling poses elevated health risks because more people are exposed to toxic air contaminants. The 580,000 Angelenos living less than a quarter mile from an oil well are subjected to the dangers of neighborhood drilling every single day. L.A.'s oil problem is more than just a problem; it's a crisis of human health and safety.
On that eye-opening tour, I met young Nalleli Cobo -- a South L.A. teenager who has been fighting neighborhood drilling since she was sickened at age nine by the AllenCo Energy drill site across the street from her home. For years, she was in and out of hospitals trying to get answers to the long list of symptoms she experienced daily. On some days, Nalleli had to be carried to the car to go to the doctor because painful body spasms made it difficult to move.
After hundreds of community complaints, USEPA investigators finally conducted an inspection -- only to fall ill immediately upon entering the drill site. Though they were temporarily forced to shut down, AllenCo is now working to reopen the drilling site this year.
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Make no mistake about it, L.A.'s oil drilling is toxic.
Shockingly, Nalleli's story isn't unique. California is the third largest oil producing state in the nation and over 75% of the active oil wells in Los Angeles are within 2,000 feet of homes, schools, or hospitals, where they pose the gravest threat to human health.
Concrete walls may try to shield extreme extraction from neighbors' eyes, but they are useless at protecting them from poisonous fumes. It's common to see workers in hazmat suits monitoring rigs on one side of a wall, while families on the other side remain completely unprotected sitting around their dinner table.
That's why Nalleli, fueled by her sense of duty to protect her neighbors and fellow Angelenos, wants to hold her elected leaders accountable for allowing the oil industry to pollute her community. As a member of the coalition called Stand Together Against Neighborhood Drilling (STAND-L.A.), she has spoken at press conferences with Senator Barbara Boxer, organized health surveys to track symptoms in her community, and serves as a youth plaintiff in a lawsuit against the City of L.A. for violating her civil rights. Nalleli has even taken the fight to Pope Francis, asking him to urge the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to stop leasing their land to AllenCo Energy and other oil companies.
Fortunately, Nalleli is not alone in this fight. This Saturday, thousands of Californians will gather to support the communities on the front lines of neighborhood drilling at the March to Break Free from Fossil Fuels. They will gather at Los Angeles City Hall to call on Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Herb Wesson to put an end to urban oil drilling.
Companies have to remain vigilant, flexible and two steps ahead in order to survive. Resting on laurels will only lead to disruption - and eventually, demise. Being hot now is no guarantee of being hot two to three years down the line, especially given the rapid advancement of modern technology.
For example, Uber has disrupted taxi companies across the country, and everyone's talking about them. But self-driving cars from Google could take Uber from disruptor to disrupted within five to 10 years. Like any company that wants to stay on top, Uber will have to keep an eye on this gradual development and adjust its business, technology and offerings accordingly.
If not, Uber could become another Blockbuster. Remember them? The reason for Blockbuster's downfall is simple. The company's leadership made the worst mistake anyone in business can make -- they didn't proactively adapt to change.
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Blockbuster never anticipated how consumer preferences might evolve as new technology and conveniences came about, and by the time they attempted to change, it was too little, too late. In the 2000s, Netflix came along and completely disrupted Blockbuster, making it possible for consumers to easily rent and return DVDs online and through the mail, without worrying about late fees. Blockbuster saw things in a vacuum; on the surface, their sales were good and people were still coming into their stores, but this blinded them to the gradual disruption taking place under their noses. By the time Blockbuster did notice, and tried to compete with Netflix by launching their own mail-order DVD service, the writing was on the wall.
Our mortgage-lending company is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and our three decades of service to our clients and our community have taught us a lot about how to stay viable over the long term. Here are some tips for Uber and other companies to keep in mind:
Three Tips for Preventing Disruption
1)Don't Just Maintain a Five-Year Outlook... Think 15 Years Down the Line
Companies need to always think about developments that could transform their respective industries and disrupt their businesses over not just the next three to five years, but also the next 10 to 15 years. CEOs, CFOs and other management team members need to ask themselves, "What will a consumer want to do to obtain the service we offer in 2018, 2026, and even 2031? And how do we adapt?"
Another potential disruptor for Uber, further into the future than smart cars, is Elon Musk's proposed Hyperloop high-speed train, which, if completed, would be able to transport passengers at a speed of nearly 800 miles per hour -- making daily work commutes between New York City and Los Angeles incredibly manageable.
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If the Hyperloop becomes a reality, and expands across the country, people would be able to easily commute 800 miles or more per day between their homes and workplaces. Since the first rule of real estate is "location, location, location," the Hyperloop could disrupt the value of homes in downtown areas significantly because people wouldn't have to live in or near big cities to work in them. Someone could easily commute to New York City every day from Ohio or Kansas. This scenario wouldn't become a reality in the near future, but it could become a reality in next few decades, and as a result, it's something we (as well as Uber) have to consider.
2)Get Ahead of Industry Changes by Consistently Looking for Ways to Improve
Sharks have to keep moving, or they die. The same is true for companies. Consumers, industries, markets, regulations and technology never stay the same over time--they evolve, and companies have to adapt to these changes in order to survive.
For example, last year, members of the mortgage lending industry were concerned about the impact the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure (TRID) rule, which went into effect on October 3, would have on their business operations. TRID, a provision of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, required significant changes to the origination and closing processes for mortgages, and mortgage lenders had to adapt their technology and operating procedures to ensure they were TRID-compliant.
We successfully adjusted to TRID because we didn't wait until the last minute--our IT, sales, compliance, training and senior leadership teams began collaborating over a year in advance of TRID's implementation to understand how every aspect of the new rule would affect our business, and review all of the changes we would need to make in order to prepare. And we met to discuss the required updates to our technology and our operations at least once a week. Most importantly, we viewed TRID compliance not as a burden, but as another opportunity to help the mortgage brokers in our network do their jobs more efficiently, and help the consumers who rely on our brokers to obtain the best possible mortgage terms.
3)Invest in proprietary technology
Our ongoing investment in proprietary technology also proved useful when preparing for TRID's implementation. Ahead of TRID's start date, our in-house tech development team was able to create proprietary solutions that were not only TRID-compliant, but also made our brokers' work processes more efficient.
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This is an example of how in-house technology development can help companies proactively and seamlessly adjust to industry changes, and improve overall operations and client service. While relationships with external technology vendors can be useful, relying on them too much can be detrimental. Company leaders should remember that most vendors are in business to make money today as opposed to 30 years down the line, and as a result, they may not fully understand the intricate nuances of their clients' businesses or industries.
That's why in-house technology development is a valuable long-term investment for companies--no one knows your company and your business better than you and your trusted team members.
News / National
by Court Reporter
ONE of the four men accused of attempting to petrol-bomb the First Family's Alpha Omega Dairy Farm was yesterday freed after the State failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.Regional magistrate Ms Fadzai Mthombeni ruled that from the trial, it was clear that Borman Ngwenya was a spy working for the military and that his arrest was not justified.Ngwenya was facing two counts of possessing weaponry for sabotage and money laundering.However, Ms Mthombeni blasted the State for "unfair and unnecessary" splitting of the charges."The accused in his defence said it was a military-sanctioned operation which was supervised by Major Mashava and the State did not call its main witness, Major Mashava, to dispute what the accused was saying."The State could have just called Major Mashava as its only witness to disapprove the defence's case because most of the witnesses, who are police officers, actually corroborated accused person's claims," she said.She questioned why the State dropped Major Mashava as its witness at the last minute."The State called Major Mashava and let him get into the witness box but excused him. He did not testify and that means the State did not call its main witness. By not calling him, it was not an oversight by the State but a well-calculated move. They well appreciated that their case was hinged on Major Mashava hence his not disapproving accused's defence meant it remained unchallenged," she said.She added: "The accused did not dispute that he was found with the bombs, that he went to Zvimba and to Alpha Omega Dairy Farm and also that he visited the Chinese embassy. There was no need for the State to try and prove what was not in dispute leaving the disputed issues."The magistrate added that the State failed to nail Ngwenya before praising the defence."As the matter came to an end, accused's defence stood taller than the State case. It simply shows that Ngwenya participated in all this as a spy to capture Kuchata. His arrest and his appearance in court was not justified through evidence. When all has been said and done, the State failed to prove accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt, therefore he is acquitted in both counts," Ms Mthombeni said.She also highlighted that Ngwenya produced evidence to prove his innocence in the form of phone records between him and Major Mashava which showed that the two were in constant touch.In his defence, Ngwenya told the court that on the day they were arrested, they were tipped by Major Mashava on how they were going to be ambushed and arrested. He said Major Mashava told them to comply with the police.Ms Mthombeni said by not resisting arrest and complying with police orders, it showed that Ngwenya and his two alleged accomplices were working on Major Mashava's instructions."On the day of the arrest, the three Ngwenya, Silas Pfupa and Solomon Makumbe -complied with the police and Kuchata resisted. Kuchata was handcuffed with chains while the three were tied with shoelaces or ropes."Why were they treated differently? Is this the procedure when arresting dangerous criminals and why were the police not bothered about the other three?"Ngwenya was represented by Mr Exactly Mangezi while Mr Michael Reza prosecuted.Ngwenya, however, is not yet a free man after all since he still has a pending case of treason in which he is jointly charged with Kuchata, Pfupa and Makumbe.It was alleged that on January 22, around 4pm, police received a tip-off that the four were planning to bomb Alpha Omega Dairy's processing plant and a tuckshop during the night.Acting on the tip-off, police proceeded to the farm and laid an ambush about 100 metres from the quartet's target. At around 10pm, the detectives saw the men approaching the dairy's processing plant and immediately arrested them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) attends the weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office on May 4, 2016. / AFP / POOL / ABIR SULTAN (Photo credit should read ABIR SULTAN/AFP/Getty Images)
On the surface, it would seem that Saudi Arabia and Israel would be the worst of enemies and indeed, they have never had diplomatic relations. After all, the Saudis have championed the cause of the Palestinians, who are oppressed by the Israelis. Israelis say they are besieged by Muslim extremists, and many of these extremists are motivated by the intolerant, Wahhabi ideology, born and bred in Saudi Arabia.
But beneath the surface, these two old adversaries actually have a lot in common and have become the strangest of bedfellows.
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Rumors about the budding relationship have been circulating for the past few years, with gossip that the two countries have been holding secret meetings and exchanging intelligence. In 2015, former Saudi and Israeli officials confirmed that they had, indeed, held a series of high-level meetings to discuss shared concerns such as the growing influence of Iran in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, as well as Iran's nuclear program. Shimon Shapira, an Israeli representative who participated in secret meetings with the Saudis, said: "We discovered we have the same problems and same challenges and some of the same answers."
On May 5, Prince Turki bin Faisal, Saudi Arabia's former intelligence chief and one-time ambassador to Washington, and retired Israeli Major General Yaakov Amidror, former national security advisor to Prime Minister Netanyahu, spoke together in Washington DC at an event hosted by the policy wing of the Israel lobby AIPAC. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, The event, broadcast live online, showed that Saudi Arabia and Israel have finally come out of the closet -- together.
Here are some traits Saudi Arabia and Israel have in common.
1. Both oppress the non-dominant groups living in their borders. Israel oppresses Palestinians, building settlements on their land and surrounding their villages with apartheid walls and heavily-armed soldiers. Saudi Arabia has set up a political and judicial system that oppresses everyone who is not Sunni (like Shia and non-Muslims), as well as women and millions of migrant workers. Both nations respond to political dissidents in similar ways, using excessive force, arbitrary and indefinite detention, impunity, intimidation, and torture.
2. Israel and Saudi Arabia have invaded neighboring lands, killing thousands of civilians. Israel has been invading and bombing Gaza since 2008; in 2014 alone the Israeli military killed 2,104 people, mostly civilians, destroyed 17,200 homes and left 475,000 living in emergency conditions. The Saudis have interfered in the internal affairs of neighboring Yemen. In March 2015, they launched a vicious bombing campaign, killing over 6,000 Yemenis, mostly civilians, hitting markets, schools, hospitals, residences and wedding parties, and displacing over 2.5 million people. Both use weapons that have been internationally banned: Israel used white phosphorus in Gaza; Saudis used cluster bombs in Yemen.
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3. Religion plays a key role in the politics of both nations. Israel is considered the homeland for the Jewish people and the Basic Laws of Israel that serve in place of a constitution define the country as a Jewish State. Jews get preferential treatment, such as the right for Jews anywhere to immigrate to Israel and automatically become citizens while Muslims face daily discrimination and are treated as second-class citizens. In Saudi Arabia, Mecca is the holiest city for Muslims and the Saudi kingdom considers itself the global center of Islam. Only Muslims can become Saudi citizens and the non-Muslims are treated like second-class citizens.
4. Both export "products" that promote violence. Israel is a major exporter of weapons and trains police in other countries (including the US) in repressive techniques. The Saudis export the extremist Sunni ideology called Wahhabism all over the Middle East and North Africa. Wahhabism is the ideological basis of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
5. If the enemy of my enemy is indeed my friend, than it is the hatred of Iran that is bringing these adversaries together. Both view Iran as an existential threat and fear Iran's growing influence in the region. They both opposed the Iran nuclear deal that was such a great win for diplomacy over war, and they are determined to stop the United States from getting any closer to Iran.
6. Both nations supported the military coup in Egypt, led by General Adbul Fattah el Sisi, that overthrew a democratically elected government and led to a brutal wave of repression that put 40,000 dissidents in prison. The Saudis have stepped in with billions of dollars to fill the Sisi regime's coffers, and Egypt has collaborated with Israel in Israel's continued siege on Gaza.
7. Israel and Saudi Arabia have been supporting extremist groups in Syria like Al Nusra, which is an al-Qaeda affiliate, as they both are more concerned with overthrowing Assad (who is aligned with Iran) than defeating the Islamic State. The Saudis have backed Al Nusra; Israel has been treating wounded Al Nusra fighters in Israeli hospitals and then sending them back to battle the Syrian army. Israel also killed Lebanese-Iranian advisers who have assisted Assad's government in fighting against Al Nusra.
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8. Both nations lock up thousands of political prisoners, including minors. In February 2016, Israel had 6,204 Palestinians in prison, 438 of them minors. Many of the minors are imprisoned for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. Saudis have beheaded minors, and presently have three prisoners facing execution who were arrested as juveniles for nonviolent protests.
9. They both spend many millions of dollars to influence US policy. The Israeli government is aligned with the U.S. lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), which is the most influential foreign policy lobby group in the United States. The Saudis have just started their own version called SAPRAC (Saudi American Public Relations Affairs Committee). For years they have been buying influence by contracting influential public relations and law firms like the Podesta Group, and donating to the Clinton Foundation, the Carter Foundation and dozens of think tanks and Ivy League universities.
10.They are both long-time allies of the United States. US administrations have supported Israel since its founding in 1948; they have also supported an array of Saudi kings since the founding of that nation in 1932. The US has helped guarantee the security of both nations. US taxpayers give over $3 billion a year to support the Israeli military; the US military guards the Persian Gulf for the Saudi royalty, and Saudi Arabia is the number one purchaser of US weapons.
Some say it is good for Israel and Saudi Arabia to bury the hatchet and find common ground. But peace in the Middle East will not be furthered by Israeli-Saudi collaboration. Israel has to make peace with the Palestinians; Saudi Arabia has to come to terms with Iran. Otherwise, Saudi-Israeli collusion will only be a fatal embrace that causes more heartbreak for the region.
Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK and the human rights organization Global Exchange. She is the author of a forthcoming book about Saudi Arabia entitled "The Unjust Kingdom" and is the author of "Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control."
People will surely remember 2016 for the shakeup of the political establishment. Now comes a shakeup of the medical establishment.
On May 3rdthe very same day that outsider Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nomineea breakthrough article was published in the BMJ, entitled "Medical errorthe third leading cause of death in the US." Since "medical error" is not even listed as an official cause of death on International Classification of Disease (ICD) billing codes, and death certificate causes of death must cite ICD codes, this is a significant shakeup.
Traditionally, "medical error" has been defined as an unintended act (either of omission or commission) or one that does not achieve its intended outcome; the failure of a planned action to be completed as intended (an error of execution); the use of a wrong plan to achieve an aim (an error of planning); or a deviation from the process of care that may or may not cause harm to the patient.
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The BMJ article notes that "The most commonly cited estimate of annual deaths from medical error in the USa 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) reportis limited and outdated." Other reports suggest the IOM's figure of 44,000-98,000 such deaths annually was too low, and more recent studies have doubled that figure for just Medicare recipients.
The authors went through extensive analysis to reach their "understated" figure of 251,454 per yearusing the studies reported since the 1999 IOM report and extrapolating to the total number of US hospital admissions in 2013. Thus, our bronze medal third place is based on heart disease (611,105 deaths per year) and cancer (584,881)replacing respiratory disease (149,205) [all data for 2013].
BMJ Talk Medicine interviewed lead author Martin Makary, MD, of Johns Hopkins. He contrasts the omnipresent gag orders seen in medical malpractice settlements, with the much more open investigations of aviation deaths. Such investigations are shared with the entire industry, which learns from its mistakes! Consider that our 251,454 medical error death annual figure is more than 100 times the worldwide total of aviation deaths in the worst year on record (1972). What's wrong with this picture?
Makary avers grimly in the interview: "In healthcare, the same mistakes happen again and again, and many of them are never investigated." As Makary states in a letter to CDC director Thomas Frieden:
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"Each year, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality receives thousands of project proposals aimed at reducing preventable harm, but very few ever get funded because funding work on the delivery of care has historically taken a back seat to funding new treatments. Our Johns Hopkins research team even submitted a grant proposal to reduce unnecessary cancer surgery to the National Cancer Institute, but it was rejected from the N.C.I. despite being funded by the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Based on the prevalence of the problem of poor quality medical care, the human suffering and price tag due to error are significant and merits proportional funding."
Now, let's hear from Lewis Levy MD, Chief Medical Officer, Best Doctors, Inc., a global health company that brings together the brightest minds in medicine and predictive technologies to help people get the right diagnosis and treatment...
"Unfortunately, this news is not surprising at all. In the medical community, we have seen the consequences of inaccurate diagnoses and medical error for quite some time. While concrete efforts have been made to correct wrong site surgeries and other well publicized issues from the past, not enough has been done to address medical error that results from an incomplete or inaccurate diagnosis. 37% of the cases we review require a change in diagnosis, and over 75% of cases require a change in treatment plan."
"Clearly, diagnostic error often leads to medical error. A recent IOM report found that wrong or delayed diagnoses are a huge 'blind-spot' in U.S. healthcare and harm countless patients each year. The report also found that 'most people will experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, sometimes with devastating consequences.' The right diagnosis and treatment must always be the first priority in healthcare, or we are missing the mark."
Why do you specifically serve Refugees in the areas where you do? What is the focus of your work? I work with Palestinian refugees. Currently there are about 5.4 million registered Palestinian refugees and 58 refugee camps in four countries -- Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and Gaza. I work with refugees in Lebanon and Jordan. I do not work in Israel and Syria because I was denied entry into Israel in 2014, and Syria is currently too dangerous to enter. I first walked into a Palestinian refugee camp in 2004 in Beirut, Lebanon, escorted into the camp by a local Lebanese NGO. Until that point I had no idea that Palestinians were refugees or that they lived in permanent camps across the Middle East. After that visit, though, I began to realize that they are actually one of the most vulnerable people groups in the world. After 12 years of experience in Lebanon and Jordan (kids clubs, teaching English, war relief, food distribution, sponsorship programs, afterschool clubs) I am now intentionally focused on supporting local organizations and individuals who work inside the camps, assisting them as they impact their own communities. In the United States I teach on the Palestinian narrative and encourage my audiences to seek peaceful solutions to this complicated conflict. Beirut and Beyond is an organization dedicated to Relief, Reconciliation, and Relationship. Everything we do must be congruent with this mission. Currently I am producing an independent feature length documentary film called This Is The Camp (see the trailer at the end of this article). We are focusing on the lives of three young Palestinian men living in three separate camps in three distinct countries. I have partnered with a filmmaker, Alex Meade, spending the past 4 months in the Middle East filming the trailer for the documentary. The film is a powerful way to honor the lives of actual Palestinian human beings, living out their hopes, struggles and dreams within the limits of their permanent refugee status. (Chatila Camp, Central Beirut, Lebanon. Photo credit: Alex Meade)
The perspective of refugees in the media and on social media in America politicizes refugees? To what degree of truth are these perceptions?
I work with Palestinian refugees; that seems to make a political statement in itself! There is little truth to the perceptions Americans have about Palestinians. Most don't even know Palestinians ARE refugees, much less that they are the oldest and largest refugee population in the world. I think it's easier to politicize the Palestinian situation than to wrestle with the enormity and complexity of the problem. Sadly this only perpetuates the Palestinians' plight.
What truths about working with refugees in the Middle East do you want people in America to know?
The primary group of refugees I work with are Palestinian Muslims. I also work with Palestinian Christians, but Muslims are the majority.
First, it's important to understand just how hospitable they are. In every camp I've visited, people welcome me into their homes and ply me with tea, coffee, and food. Palestinian moms are the best cooks! They always give their guests whatever they have on hand, despite their poverty. The hospitality and generosity of Arab Muslims is astonishing -- and deeply humbling.
Second, it's important to understand that due to their permanent refugee status, Palestinians are denied basic human rights such as citizenship, employment, education, health care, travel, and freedom. People in the camps are forced to depend upon the limited resources of UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency). This means that thousands of Palestinians remain uneducated, and their sicknesses untreated. In both Lebanon and Jordan, Palestinians are banned from legal employment in many vocations. Although some are issued travel permits, many cannot hold a passport or travel legally. If they do graduate with a high school diploma from an UNRWA program, university is out of reach for many. And for those who do have a degree, it may be illegal for them to work in their chosen profession in their host country. Because the majority of Palestinians lack citizenship, many dream of leaving for Europe or America to get an education, or to be able to work and live freely.
Third, it's important to understand the poverty of the camps. Most families must rely on UNRWA or private NGOs for basic everyday needs such as food, clothing, and toiletries. Many refugees in Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine suffer trauma in their everyday life; violence and conflict are a routine part of daily living.
Fourth, it's important to understand that although Palestinian refugees suffer tremendously, their suffering does not prevent them from experiencing joy. Palestinians suffer injustices daily, but there is something about this community -- a spirit that can't be broken. Weddings, engagements and celebrations overflow with vitality and resilience in the midst of poverty and decay.
Finally, I think it's important to know how humbled I am by the profound welcome I have experienced in the camps. As a Christian and an American I could not be more different than they. Nevertheless when I enter their homes I am given a seat of honor and treated with the utmost generosity and warmth.
I often wonder what kind of hospitality they would receive in my own country.
An Open Letter to Moderate/Centrist delegates to the United Methodist General Conference:
As you begin General Conference, I know your head is likely spinning from reading resolutions and proposals regarding human sexuality, as well as keeping up with the United Methodist blogosphere. My thoughts are directed to you because I believe your votes will make the difference in the outcome. I know many delegates will come to General Conference with a fixed agenda in these matters: we can count on Good News and the Confessing Movement to advocate for stronger disciplinary measures to enforce the current position and we can expect the Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA) and Reconciling Ministries Network (RMN) to advocate for removing the incompatibility sentence ("The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching.") and the policies related to it. But, if you consider yourself a moderate/centrist you likely do not feel comfortable with either alternative. How you sort this out will play a large role in the future of our church.
No doubt you will be courted/cajoled/harangued by one or more of these camps to adopt their agenda. So, as you consult your conscience and prayerfully consider the various proposals, I humbly ask you to consider this plea to choose the Wesleyan path of grace and inclusiveness.
I make this plea not because I have been personally harmed by the language and policies of the Book of Discipline, but on behalf of LGBTQ friends and colleagues who have been excluded or condemned because of their sexual orientation, whose gifts for ministry have been rejected, and whose loving committed relationships have been denied the blessing of the church.
As a moderate/centrist you may have concluded that the Biblical condemnations of homosexuality are rooted in a cultural context that associated homosexuality with idolatry and temple prostitution and are not relevant to the current context. You understand that sexual orientation is biologically rooted and rarely a matter of choice. For these reasons, you may be inclined to drop the incompatibility statement, but the implications worry you. If the incompatibility statement is removed, there is no longer a theological or moral justification for denying ordination and marriage to LGBTQ persons. You may fear that such an abrupt shift would lead to schism or significant losses in membership. For that reason, you may believe half measures are the way forward.
Though I share your desire for unity, I believe our first concern must be to do what is right and just, and that also happens to be graceful. Justice demands that we remove the derogatory language and discriminatory policies in the Book of Discipline. We cannot wait to do what is right and just--as Martin Luther King, Jr wrote: "Justice too long delayed is justice denied."
In my course on the Philosophy of Nonviolence at Shenandoah University, I used King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" as the centerpiece of that course, but it wasn't until the second time teaching the course that I noticed a shocking footnote. The footnote revealed that among the eight clergy who wrote King telling him that his action in Birmingham was "unwise and untimely" was Bishop Nolan B. Harmon. Bishop Harmon was a hero to me and to my family! My family knew him personally and he was the general editor of the Interpreter's Bible as well as the author of Ministerial Ethics and Etiquette. How could Bishop Nolan B. Harmon, our hero, be so wrong about King's nonviolent struggle for civil rights? Perhaps Bishop Harmon saw himself as a moderating influence. He suggested, along with the other clergy signing the letter, that the "Negro community . . . should press its cause in the courts and not in the streets." They urged the "Negro community to withdraw support for these demonstrations and unite locally in working peacefully for a better Birmingham." These leaders were not opposed to integration, but they did not feel the same urgency as those suffering the effects of segregation and Jim Crow laws. Bishop Harmon's action illustrates that Christians, even noble ones, can become an obstacle to God's unsettling but reconciling work.
Delegates to General Conference are in a position much like that of Bishop Nolan B. Harmon. Though the struggle for marriage equality has succeeded with the help of the Supreme Court, the struggle for equality in the church is squarely before you. You can slow that march toward full equality or make it a reality. I believe half measures will only prolong our church's agony and slow the reconciling process. None of the options before the General Conference assures the continued unity of the United Methodist Church. Our best option is to acknowledge the harm our words and policies have done to our LGBTQ members, to repent, and to remove the obstacles to their full inclusion and equality in the church. I believe this grace-full move would once again release the dynamism of the Wesleyan movement that has been hobbled by what appears to be an eagerness to judge and exclude rather than ever-expanding ministry of the early church that broke traditional Jewish boundaries to include Samaritans and later gentiles.
Justice has been too long delayed for our LGBTQ members. IT IS TIME to recognize these members as moral equals in the church, to affirm and harness their gifts and graces for ministry, and to bless their marriages. You know as well as I do that such a decision may be costly for the church, especially in certain regions, but discipleship has always had its costs. Like Bishop Harmon, you have a choice. By your vote, you will say that the movement for full inclusion is "unwise and untimely" or that IT IS TIME for justice, for inclusion, and for reconciliation.
Thank you for taking the time to read this "plea" during the busy early sessions of General Conference.
Never say "No, you can't" to Viktoria Modesta.
The world's first self-described "bionic pop star" will prove you wrong before you can even finish the admonition.
VM, as fans know her, combines elements the world has never thought of in a
single sentence, or in a single human being: eroticism; futurism; disability; and high and commercial art.
Modesta was born in Daugavpils, Latvia, in the former Soviet Union, where the doctor who delivered her harmed her leg so badly that she needed 15 surgeries (in Soviet-era hospitals, mind you), before she was 12.
She relocated from Latvia to London, but more accurately, from the dark to the light or from confinement to freedom.
By 15, she was already a striking beauty and a multi-talent, singing, dancing, and modeling.
She realized that her unreliable foot only hampered her career and ambition. When she decided to have the foot amputated, the procedure took a full five years to be approved.
Just two years after her British recording career began in 2010, Modesta drew international attention dancing to a Coldplay song at the conclusion of the London Paralympic Games.
Two years after that, she launched the "Born Risky" campaign on the UK's
Channel 4 to transform the way people think about disability.
The video attracted 6 million views on YouTube and 16 million more on Channel 4's Facebook page.
People, Forbes, and Elle promptly took note of her.
Her video, Prototype, the first thing you see on ViktoriaModesta.com,
is also on display at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts new show, #techstyle.
The girl who never finished high school is also a Directors Fellow at the MIT
Media Lab, a multidisciplinary, forward-thinking entity that explores the interplay
between technology and, well, everything else.
Not unlike what Modesta herself does.
VM's biggest challenge is that the world doesn't quite know how to pigeonhole her.
Yes, she technically qualifies as a disabled person, but she bridles at the use of the term "disabled."
Which makes sense, because she's far more "abled" in multiple areas - music,
dance, performance, DJ'ing, and modeling, to name five - than people with intact limbs.
"Most people," she tells HuffPost, "think about art and technology as separate
from each other, and completely separate from commercial culture. They use different languages but are all forms of expression.
"With music, fashion, technology or art, I'm unable to see the separation that people create between them. My main aim is to bring people from those fields to collaborate."
This month, Modesta will launch her new EP, Counterflow, at the Music Tech Fest event in Funkhaus Berlin, where she will perform and collaborate with some of world's leading visual, fashion and music tech artists.
Modesta says that she was recently asked to describe her ideal week.
"I said I'd be in a studio writing a track. Then I'd then be doing a photo shoot.
Next I'd be working with fashion designers, at the edge of fashion and technology, then maybe I'll do a lecture somewhere.
"I don't see why it shouldn't be allowed."
The last sentence really offers the key to who Viktoria Modesta is (Viktoria is her real first name; Modesta, her stage name, is the christening saint whose name she was given at birth).
She grew up in a Soviet system that had gruesomely disfigured her, where free thought was not allowed, and where freedom of movement was not an option for her.
It's easy to see that the words "not allowed," in Modesta's world, simply do not compute.
In the West, she has found freedom in every sense - physical, emotional, and
artistic. Anyone who tries to return her to any form of confinement, artistic or otherwise, is in for disappointment.
"Modeling agencies and media entities don't always know how to categorize
me," she admits. "My path is still unfolding, so it's not surprising that they also can't figure it out."
US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders addresses a campaign rally in Salem, Oregon, May 10, 2016. Sanders beat rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in the West Virginia primary to bolster his argument for remaining in the race. / AFP / Rob Kerr (Photo credit should read ROB KERR/AFP/Getty Images)
The math may be nearly impossible in the pledged delegate count, but Bernie Sanders has said he is staying in the Democratic race to win the nomination for the presidency. He repeated it again after pulling out a big win in West Virginia's primary yesterday. He's even discussed going all the way to the convention and keeping the nomination contested, trying to get superdelegates to back him -- even though he and some progressive groups that backed him were, from the beginning of the primary race, hostile to the idea of superdelegates thwarting the will of the voters.
But if Sanders' intent on all of this is sincere, it's baffling that Sanders canceled an important meeting with AIDS activists of several prominent groups, individuals who'd spent money on last-minute expensive airfare and made travel plans for a highly-publicized meeting with the candidate on May 3. And it may be a big hint that Sanders and his campaign truly know it's over for them and have no intention of trying to win the nomination, let alone contesting it and winning over superdelegates.
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The history of the meeting, ironically, goes back to Hillary Clinton's mind-boggling gaffe during Nancy Reagan's funeral in which she called the late first lady "a very effective, low-key advocate" for AIDS who "started a national conversation" about the issue.Nancy Reagan and her husband, the president, in actuality ignored the AIDS epidemic in the early years, bowing to religious conservatives, all of which has been documented for posterity. Clinton was quick to apologize on Twitter. Sanders took advantage of the strange comments, harshly criticizing Clinton in interviews, and then suddenly had a terrific HIV policy paper on his web site. Clinton offered a more lengthy, thoughtful apology, and laid out further prescriptions for dealing with the HIV epidemic in a piece on Medium.
Both candidates had given hardly any attention to HIV and AIDS and other issues affecting LGBT people during the campaign; partially this was because of moderators at debates rarely even raising the issues. As I wrote at the time, Nancy Reagan indeed finally started a conversation on AIDS -- 35 years later.
When prominent AIDS activist Peter Staley and others reached out to Clinton to discuss her policy prescriptions in a meeting with AIDS activists, taking advantage of the comments and looking to turn them into a positive, her campaign quickly agreed. Soon after, Staley announced, the Sanders campaign had agreed to a meeting as well.
The Clinton meeting is happening tomorrow. But the Sanders meeting was canceled two days before its May 3 date with a promise of rescheduling, and yet the campaign is not returning calls or emails to the activists. "They sent a 'need to reschedule' email last Sunday (for our Tuesday meeting), and then bizarrely stopped communications completely after that," Staley told the Washington Blade. "We've been emailing and calling every day since then, including warning them days ago about our intent to go public."
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Charles King, CEO of the New York-based Housing Works, said the cancellation was "incredibly disappointing" and told the Blade:
I have been a supporter of Bernie Sanders, and was proud to vote for him in the New York primary. It is disheartening to see the 'revolutionary' candidate who claims to value grassroots organizing and visionary politics not make time in his schedule to meet with us.
The cancellation drew a backlash online and, as the controversy blew up on social media, Sanders, rather than addressing it in any way, simply tweeted a link to his AIDS policy position paper again. When asked for comment about the cancellation, Michael Briggs, Sanders campaign spokesman, reiterated to The Hill that Sanders has a great record on LGBT issues and AIDS, but no explanation for the cancellation of the meeting was given. (I reached out to Briggs for an interview with Sanders to discuss the issue on my radio program, but the campaign did not respond.)
With the California primary on June 7, this doesn't sound like someone who truly wants to win the nomination. There are large, politically-active LGBT communities in Los Angeles and in the Bay Area -- where Sanders has enjoyed a great deal of support -- and alienating this constituency at this point just seems like shooting himself in the foot, not just with the voters but with superdelegates representing all the diverse groups affected by HIV and AIDS. "The AIDS epidemic in Black America is a real and serious threat," said Phill Wilson, President and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute. "I would suspect any candidate seeking the support and votes of Black Americans need to treat it as such."
It could simply be another example of the overall disorganization and arrogance of the Sanders campaign that many of us experienced throughout. The campaign turned away interviews with Sanders with much of the progressive media, including black radio as well as progressive radio (full disclosure: that includes my own program on SiriusXM Progress), choosing instead, again and again, the major news organizations and TV media that Sanders derides as being owned by nefarious corporations. One would think that he'd want to use outlets that energize grass roots support, particularly among constituencies in the base of the Democratic Party in which he has been lacking support and energy.
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But there seems to be something else going on with regard to the cancellation of the meeting with the AIDS activists. The campaign was on top of the issue soon after Clinton's comments, after all, exploiting them to make gains with a politically-active constituency that could help in New York and the Northeast. It's an issue that has enormous potential to underscore the deep problems in America's health care system and why universal health care, Sanders' signature plan, is needed more than ever.
So to just cancel the meeting, and not even make a big effort at damage control, seems to be an admission that focusing on the issue, or any issue in a granular way that takes time and resources, is no longer important. When he's not insisted that he's still in this to win the nomination, Sanders has in recent weeks talked about looking to get as many delegates as possible heading into the convention, desiring an influence on shaping the party platform.
The cancellation of the meeting seems an indication, no matter what he and his campaign say, that Sanders knows the race is over and that he's lost. He should then admit that or allude to it in more overt ways and bring people together, rather than both keep his supporters believing he can win (while they attack his opponent, sometimes in destructive ways), and harming his own reputation by actions such as canceling this important meeting and offering no explanation.
Washington DC, capital city of the United States. National Capitol building.
From the recipe for Coca Cola to the formula for WD-40, trade secrets pervade the world around us -- and have for as long as there has been commerce. Innovators of all types, Fortune 500 and solo-inventors alike, rely on trade secret protections, as a speedy and affordable way to safeguard the creativity and inventions that power a search engine or offer a competitive advantage in one's manufacturing process, all while furthering one's business goals.
While trade secrets may be the oldest form of intellectual property, they are also a unique form of IP. Unlike patents, trademarks and copyrights, the value of trade secrets comes from others not knowing about them, in order for their innovation to strengthen their competitive position in the market. Also, unlike the federal protections that have traditionally been afforded patents, trademarks and copyrights, trade secrets have been protected historically not by a federal right but by a patchwork of state statutes.
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Today is a new day for American inventors. The President and Congress helped American companies and innovators protect their intellectual property from those engaging in economic espionage by passing and signing the Defend Trade Secrets Act. This new law provides yet another arrow in the quiver of IP protections by creating a federal civil cause of action for trade secret theft, including the availability of a uniform, reliable and predictable means of protecting valuable trade secrets anywhere in the country. Greater access to the federal courts will provide tools when seeking to prevent the transit of trade secrets out of the country and to effect service country-wide. The newly created federal civil cause of action strengthens U.S. trade secret protection, with a choice for the parties between litigation under state statutes in local courts, or under federal law heard in federal courts.
The theft of trade secrets in our hyper-competitive, interconnected, and digital economy threatens prosperity in a way never before imagined. In February 2013, the Obama administration released the Strategy on Mitigating the Theft of U.S. Trade Secrets, recognizing that trade secret theft threatens American businesses, undermines national security, and places the security of the U.S. economy in jeopardy. In January 2015, the USPTO held a trade secret symposium. Business leaders shared stories of threats of their intellectual property being moved across state and international borders with insufficient protection. And as several members of the Commerce Secretary's Advance Manufacturing Partnership and manufacturing advisory councils have underscored, uniform trade secret protection can ensure that a more durable supply chain takes root in the United States to further cultivate innovation. Taking these steps, and heeding these voices, led us to the President's signature today, reflecting this administration's commitment to putting more tools in the hands of business to compete in an interconnected and digital marketplace.
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Failure to protect trade secrets stifles innovation and impedes economic growth. In fact, trade secret theft costs U.S. innovators more than an estimated $300 billion annually. Increasingly the result of cyber espionage, this theft may be the largest wealth transfer in history. Plain and simple, American innovators need strong tools to protect their 'secret sauce' from getting into the wrong hands. As Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, I continue to advocate for a strong innovation ecosystem. This includes appropriate protections for IP of all kinds: trademarks, patents, copyrights, and trade secrets. IP-intensive industries contribute 34.8 percent of our U.S. gross domestic product (more than $5 trillion dollars) and support at least 40 million jobs. That's why the administration remains on the forefront to ensure effective trade secret protection both domestically and internationally.
Thanks to the leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and the bipartisan leadership of Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chris Coons (D-DE) and Representatives Doug Collins (R-GA) and Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 is now law. It is my hope that Congress does even more to make sure American ideas are protected and our companies are competitive. The Trans-Pacific Partnership would be the first trade agreement to impose criminal penalties on those who steal our companies' trade secrets. It would extend these protections across the Asia-Pacific - a region covering nearly 40 percent of the global economy.
I'm a big advocate of the importance of preparing for negotiations. Hollywood paints a picture of expert negotiators being the fast talkers with slick tricks willing to do anything to strike a deal.
The reality of negotiations is much different. Preparing to close a deal is important, but what's more important is preparing to walk away.
Walking away from a negotiation is like hitting a reset button.
You don't need that vendor, those supplies, that building. There's always another option, and keeping that in mind gives you a level of confidence that will improve the quality of your deals.
Knowing when to walk away, however, can be difficult. You don't want to ruin the business relationship, but you also don't want to end up stuck fulfilling a contract that's not ideal. That's why I've prepared this guide to walking away from a negotiation.
The Importance of Planning
Knowledge is power, and the more power you're armed with, the better you'll fare in the negotiation. Before entering any negotiation, do your research to understand the possible outcomes.
When negotiating the price of a car, for example, it's important to not only know the price you can afford, but also the value of different vehicles and options. Used cars especially include features you may not be interested in and are unlikely to use, but they do affect the value of the car.
Car dealerships also take advantage of people who only focus on one number, like a monthly payment. By lengthening the term of the loan, the lower price on the car is offset by the compounding interest. You end up paying more than you think.
If a negotiation is starting to shift too far out of your favor, walking away is a crucial step. But how do you know when it's time to walk away?
This requires you to understand your zone of agreement.
Establishing the Zone of Agreement
Each party in a negotiation has a desired outcome and a worst-case scenario.
In a sales negotiation, the seller's asking price is their desired outcome, but she should also know the lowest price she'll accept to still do the deal in the worst case.
The buyer should also enter the negotiations with a desired low price point while understanding the highest price she's willing to pay in the worst case.
The zone of possible agreement exists between each party's worst-case scenario, not their desired price. If you don't know your worst case, you'll risk giving up too much. At this point, you need to walk away because you aren't prepared.
When you're prepared to walk away, you'll have an established Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (or BATNA) you can offer before walking away. This is essentially your final offer. Here's how it works.
The Importance of BATNA
BATNA is a term in negotiation theory coined by Harvard's Roger Fisher and William Ury in a series of books on principled negotiation. Successful negotiators always know their BATNA before entering a negotiation.
It's your last-ditch effort to save the negotiation before needed to walk away. When purchasing a car, your BATNA is to simply go to another dealership if negotiations go south.
It's important not to reveal your BATNA too early in the negotiations, though. Doing so diminishes the power of having this alternative. There's a chance it may not be as powerful a negotiating tool as you think, and you could wind up losing your last bargaining chip.
Figuring out your BATNA can be done in three simple steps, which should be performed before entering into any negotiation.
1. Determine Your Acceptable Range - Although you want the lowest possible price as a seller (or highest price as a buyer), focusing only on that one point leaves you at a weakness, as you'll be unable to tell how far you've veered from it.
Instead, calculate the range of values you'll accept. Rather than looking for a $15k car, shop around for cars in the $10k-$15k range. Knowing this range gives you wiggle room to negotiate.
2. Estimate Their Acceptable Range - To properly gauge the strength of your BATNA, you need to know the other party's acceptable range as well.
Although a car may be listed at $15,000, the dealership is able to negotiate. Kelley's Blue Book is an invaluable resource, as it lets you know the dealer and private seller valuation.
3. Define Your Absolute Deal Breakers - Price, however, isn't the only important factor when negotiating. It doesn't matter how cheap a car is if the transmission is faulty.
Listing out unacceptable conditions for yourself beforehand stops you from wasting time in negotiations. If a deal breaker is presented, it's time to walk away.
Walk Away the Right Way
Even if you do need to walk away, do it in a civil and courteous manner. You don't want to sever all ties with the other party. In fact, walking away may convince the person to call you back with a better deal.
When you realize you're beyond your acceptable range and your BATNA isn't accepted, simply smile, thank the other party for their time, shake their hand, and walk away.
It's a powerful statement that displays confidence, courage, and integrity. Even if you never do a deal with that person, you'll have successfully branded yourself as a person of honor.
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You can walk around with your head held high knowing you stand for something worthwhile, and word of your savviness will spread.
Conclusion
You don't have to walk away from every negotiation, but you do need to know you can. A walk-away point should be determined before you even approach the table, as it provides you with the confidence you'll need to successfully negotiate.
In order to walk away without getting scared, flustered, or frustrated by negotiations, you need to prepare for the negotiation.
Determine the worst acceptable case for both you and the other party, along with any possible deal breakers. This highlights your zone of possible agreement.
If the other party refuses to enter your range, offer your BATNA. If this doesn't work, it's time to amicably part ways.
Try walking away from your next negotiation. You may be surprised at how powerful it makes you feel.
It might not be a great time to start offshore drilling, with oil prices as depressed as they are, but it might just be a great time to buy an offshore drilling rig for a cut-rate price--in fact, you might be able to get one for only one tenth of what they cost in 2011.
This is the cost coup recently pulled off by Ocean Rig, a company controlled by shipping billionaire George Economou, who has landed a drillship--the Cerrado--for only US$65 million at auction, which represents less than 10 percent of the estimated price when it was built over six years ago.
It's only to be expected that the slump in oil and gas prices would spread to all parts of the industry, but until now, offshore drilling tended to get less specific attention. That may be changing.
Related: Global Rig Count Continues To Fall
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As Bloomberg notes, companies from this sector have accumulated $24 billion of distressed debt. The holders of this debt may be facing their own version of a subprime crisis: The Cerrado vessel is hardly the only asset that's lost 90 percent of its value over the last couple of years.
As E&Ps focus on cost-cutting and efficiency improvements, offshore drilling contractors are being stripped of options. The industry's largest player, Norwegian Seadrill, for example, also has the largest debt, with its debt to equity ratio at 118.80, which it just recently agreed to restructure partially.
Sector player Harkand has been less fortunate, and filed for administration earlier this month, unable to meet repayment obligations on a $230-million bond issued two years ago.
Related: Turkey, At Energy Crossroads, Sliding Towards Authoritarianism
In financial performance, their peer Pacific Drilling reported a net loss of $2.5 million for the first quarter of 2016 and revenues of $205.4 million, down from $267 million in the previous quarter. Diamond Offshore Drilling and Helmerich & Payne, however, were both in the black in the period, despite some decline in revenues. In terms of performance, then, not all is lost. In terms of new business that would help maintain this performance, however, things don't look so good. Basically, as pointed out in this analysis, offshore drillers need new business, and they are finding it hard to come by.
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What makes things even harder for those operating in the U.S. are new regulations aimed at preventing a repeat of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that resulted in 11 deaths and a colossal environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. In response, the Obama administration worked to put in place more stringent controls on offshore drilling.
These, however, were unwelcomed by the embattled oil industry. According to Exxon, the implementation of the new rules will cost $25 billion over the next 10 years. This might have been an acceptable sum a few years ago when oil was expensive, but now E&Ps are reluctant to spend anything more than the bare essentials. U.S. regulators insist the new rules will not cost as much as the industry says.
Wood Mackenzie added to the pessimism by warning that exploration investments in the Gulf Coast will fall by as much as 70 percent as a result of the new legislation, with the loss of 190,000 jobs.
The Gulf Coast is, of course, not the whole world, but for international offshore drilling equipment and services suppliers it is a major revenue source that will shrink under the new legislation as E&Ps give up projects.
The value of assets is likely to fall further, making the debt situation in the industry even more precarious.
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"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers," said the murderous Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare's Henry VI.
He was glibly (one assumes with his tongue firmly in cheek) suggesting that for autocracy, unaccountability and prejudice to thrive, society must be without lawyers. The implication being that it is lawyers (and thus judges) who serve to balance out society through justice. By obvious extension, the suggestion then is that the justice system through those called to judge provides sanity to an insane world.
Of course, imaginary Dick the Butcher didn't know of the late American supreme court Justice Antonin Scalia, nor of shamed (one hopes) South African high court judge Mabel Jansen and the many other judges whose prejudices come to the fore. These prejudices, one can reasonably assume, can and do cloud these judges' judgment - supposing such judgment ever existed. One imagines his criminal mind thought of judges only as fair arbiters whose role was to promote equitable and objective justice and quell excesses. For him, then, judges stood in the way of him committing crimes and getting away with it. This is indeed what society today (centuries after William - or Anne Hathaway likely - conjured up Dick the Butcher) expects of judges.
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In an ideal world, judges do not subscribe to Cesare Lombroso's racialised typology of a criminal. Instead, they must apply their minds to each case without fear, favour or prejudice. They do this to bring to account the right people. They do not assume an accused's guilt on the basis of their skin colour. Indeed, justice ought to be blind to colour - moreso in a country where colour has been systematically used as a tool of oppression. An accused should be judged on their criminal actions. It is those criminal actions that ought to lead a judge to convict - not their race. Certainly not the judge's prejudicial views of the accused's race.
In an ideal world, judges are thus the vehicles through which a society can transform from arbitrarily judging people based on their colour to judging (if you must) on the basis of their conduct. In order for them to be this and achieve that, they too must be transformed. As South African judge Cynthia Pretorius pointed out in 2014, this transformation is not just surface level, it must include transformation of the mindset of judges. For her, "[judges] must not only be fit and proper, but must [they] be emotionally mature and have empathy." Significantly, she cautioned against judges allowing their minds to be clouded by societal stereotypes - may of which are hangups of the racialized and racist past.
Judge Pretorius could very well have been speaking of her colleague, Mabel Jansen, who now finds herself on special leave pending an inquiry into her fitness to remain in office by the South African Judicial Services Commission. Jansen dived headfirst into hot soup when she aired racist views about South African black people and violent crime.
Jansen's now infamous publicly-stated racist views are summarised quite easily as equating blackness to violence, barbarism and buffoonery. In her replies to comments on Facebook, she states that those black people who do not rape and/or murder are themselves complicit either by inaction or by supporting this "black culture" of violence.
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Throwing around unsubstantiated statistics - likely riding on her weight as an educated legal mind - she buttresses her racialised views of black people and is quick to insult anyone who disagrees. She later sent social activist Gillian Schutte direct messages justifying her position and dug herself deeper into the doldrums of racism where she comfortably remained for close to a year before Gillian decided to publically expose her. Schutte had in 2015 sought to get Jansen investigated (and perhaps also removed from the bench) for her racist remarks.
Jansen, of course, does not regard herself a racist because she "raised two black orphans before it became fashionable to do so"...
Her mindset is not unique to her. Far from. However, given that she holds an office in which objectivity and lack of bias are central to her effectively discharging her duties for the benefit of the population (which, dare I add, is mostly black) her mindset is dangerous. It is dangerous because it puts to question whether or not it wasn't her good judgment, but her bias that motivated her to rule against black people in her courtroom. It is dangerous because it poisons the minds of the many who trust and believe that judges are indeed arbiters of justice. It is dangerous because, as society relies on the judiciary to promote much-needed transformation, her views suggest that some amongst them are in fact regressive in their thinking.
Most of all, it is dangerous because she would have an unlikely supporter in Dick the Butcher. He, of course, was not black.
News / National
by Staff reporter
Temba Mliswa Former Hurungwe West MP has challenged former Vice-President Joice Mujuru's opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) to start contesting by-elections if it was serious about making an impact on the political scene.Mliswa told a Press briefing in Harare yesterday that ZimPF risked becoming a stillbirth unless it showed its strength through the ballot box.The Youth Advocacy for Reform and Democracy (Yard) founder said his group was ready to support Mujuru if she fields a candidate in the by-elections.Mliswa said the current cash crisis should be used by the opposition to dilute Zanu-PF's rural support as most people were becoming frustrated with the system.But ZimPF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said his party had not yet decided on whether to contest the polls as Mujuru was currently outside the country.
The quintessential symbol of motherhood is a mama duck being followed dutifully by her chicks, waddling across perilous terrain, facing imminent danger, until reaching the safety of a pond or lake.
It is the stuff of lore. Brave calendar-worthy firemen with yellow hats and axes, slipping into sewer drains to rescue wee birdlets that have fallen through the grates. Burly truckers and ornery cabbies, halting traffic so that a mama mallard and her brood may safely cross a busy street. In the face of mayhem, murder, war, pestilence, famine, sand tar conflagration and political meltdown, there is always time for a "mother duck and her chicks story" to remind viewers there's more to life than mayhem, murder, war and all the other stuff that boosts ratings. In network parlance, duck stories are the goose that lays the golden egg.
In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to share a duck story of my own.
I think I was about five years old when my mother decided it was important to teach me evasive tactical maneuvers while she was driving and I was a passenger in the front seat of our Rambler. I don't know what model it was, or what year, but the Rambler was old, white and had a tan interior, like my Uncle Ray and certain American politicians.
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There was a lot going on the world - the war in Vietnam was limping toward its conclusion, clothing designers were mass producing tie dyed couture, Diana Ross was fixin' to leave the Supremes, and in West Allis, Wisconsin, my mother was going to be sure I was prepared for any foreign or homegrown danger.
The first time it happened we were driving along Greenfield Avenue, en route to South 78th Street where we lived in a little duplex with my maternal grandma. It was a summer day. The car windows were down. We were young and happy when my mother suddenly yelled, "DUCK!"
Naturally, I sat forward on high alert, scanning the road for a domestic waterfowl in our path. My mother slammed on the brakes, looked at me incredulously, and told me that when she said "duck" I had better duck.
"What is happening?" I asked.
"Anything could happen," she responded.
Huh. Guys had already walked on the moon, the Stones had killed on Ed Sullivan and The Brady Bunch brought us our first taste of the blended family. What was left? We turned onto Becher Street just up the block from our house.
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"DUCK!" my mom screeched.
I remember it like it was yesterday. Me, turning in slo-mo toward my ma, the word just forming..."Wh..." when smack! She thwacked the back of my head and said, "When I tell you to duck, duck!"
I blinked. "Why?" I asked, completing my original thought while checking to see if any teeth had come loose.
Exasperated, my mother reminded me that "anything could happen," and it was for my own good. I rubbed the back of my head and was hoping Beverly Grossman was out when we got home. It was amusing to watch her pick caterpillars off the maple trees and eat them.
That night over a dinner of fried ring bologna and burnt lima beans, my mom expressed her frustration that I was a poor ducker to my dad.
"Duck?" he asked. "Why?"
My thoughts exactly.
"Anything can happen these days," my mom told him, adding, "by the time I explain it to her, it could be too late."
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My dad looked away for a moment. He looked sad. So did my mom. Even though it had been years since it happened, people still talked about the young president that had been killed, and how the world would never be the same.
This ducking business went on for a long time, always with the same result. I was obstinate, plus I liked danger. I once ran headlong into our kitchen door believing the incantation "romper stomper bomper boo" would enable me to teleport onto the set of Romper Room where I would replace Miss Nancy as the host. That did not work, either. Grandma Teuber found me sprawled on the linoleum, out cold.
In spite of multiple head traumas that should have served as a warning to me, I never caught on to the actual reason for the whole ducking affair until I was in my 30s. (For those of you who don't know me well, this was just recently.)
Anything could happen. A young, vibrant husband and father could be riding along in a convertible one day, his lovely wife at his side, with what seemed an entire nation looking on in genuine affection, when in one split second it ended. He ended. They ended. And the idea that anyone just riding along, no matter how dearly beloved, could be ended.
All my mom had hoped to do was deliver me safely to the water's edge. On this Mother's Day (and every day) I want to thank my mom for everything she has done for me my entire life, but most especially of all, for her ducking love.
I don't have a thigh gap. And in this moment I'm not working toward having one. Stunning. I know. Imagine that. I get it, it's not news that women are held to impossibly high standards when it comes to what our bodies are suppose to look like. If women are not thin, you're expected to be working toward being thin and therefore beautiful. If you embrace yourself the way you are and dare to be comfortable in your own skin -- you're an outlier. And there will be comments. You will be called "Courageous" (an underhanded compliment if you think about it), or snickered at...
Women have actually become comfortable body shaming themselves and their food. It's normal as a woman to feel comfortable being uncomfortable. "Watching our weight" is not something that women are doing now and then; it's something women are doing all the time. I'm surrounded by it. I do it. And I am constantly in resistance to it and fighting against a way of being that is engrained in me.
This culture shames my food, my body and my sexuality and I am in a constant war within myself just like you may be to keep my food, my body and my sexuality in a place of not only acceptance but in a place of celebration.
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And how does all of this body and food shaming impact our relationship with our erotic nature How could it not? The dark side of food and sexuality being connected is the more we feel shamed about our body size the more we close it all down. Fat people are not suppose to enjoy lavish food -- or really any food. And the side effect is that we become contracted in our sexuality -- our sexual expression and become closet eaters who refuse to be seen naked by our lovers. And here's what is killing me. Self love and sexuality are STILL BEING POSITIONED with THINNESS -- right now, even among some of my sex educator colleagues.
If you loved yourself more -- the implication is that you would be thin and then therefore, more sexual, is still the message. We body shame ourselves posting our "fat" pictures and our "thin" pictures. Please stop.
Reclaiming our sexuality, and coming back to our bodies does not equate with "thinness" -- we will never be thin enough -- there will always be something wrong -- and you will always be a "fat" person armored up in your muscled fit body. All of this is a trap. Just ask a thin person.
Why am I talking about this? Because I want us all to be fat? No. I just want to continue to support us looking at the relationship between our food, our bodies and our sexuality. It's the holy trinity of living a life of joy and not shame. And there is rebellion afoot -- and I want to encourage you to be a part of it.
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Put your consciousness to it every day. Don't numb out the feelings.
Be in rebellion against the messages no matter what your body size.
Pamela Madsen runs retreats around the country to help women re-connect to their bodies and sensuous nature and is author of the book; "Shameless: How I Ditched The Diet, Got Naked, Found True Pleasure and Somehow Got Home in Time to Cook Dinner" (Rodale 2011).
It's a practice. I practice every day.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
We're heading into the final stretch of setting our collective budget priorities for 2017. The DC Council's first full vote on the budget is next Tuesday, May 17th. Mayor Bowser and the DC Council have repeatedly touted their unprecedented collective commitment to ending homelessness. So far, we have not seen that political commitment play out in the budget process.
Last year, after a historic joint effort, we concluded: "via this budget, Mayor Bowser and the DC Council have shown that they have the political will to invest the necessary resources in ending homelessness." Last July, Mayor Bowser, in an address at the National Conference on Ending Homelessness, agreed:
"DC is putting our money where our mouth is. Despite coming into office with an overall budget gap at the start of this year, I proposed historic investments to end homelessness in the District. And I'm proud to tell you that we passed a budget that invests $145 million for locally funded homelessness assistance, including a nearly $23 million down payment on the first year to implement our strategic plan."
The Mayor also pointed out that there was more to be done to reach our collective goals:
"These investments are just a down payment. We have a long road ahead, but we're committed... I understand these are bold goals - and there are people who doubt we can do it. But we owe it to our community to aim high. And we owe it to them to achieve high. We are making the investments - and taking the steps - here in our nation's capital to show that it's possible."
We absolutely agree. Yet here we are, only in the second year of DC's impressive plan to end homelessness, and already political will seems to be waning. The Mayor committed less than 15% of necessary funding to implement the second year of the plan--a $7.9 million increase. At DC Council mark-ups, only an additional $900,000 was committed to end homelessness. We need at least $26.7 million more just to stay on track for our goals to end chronic and family homelessness in the next few years.
With a $13 billion budget, $7 billion of which is local money, DC certainly has the funds to end homelessness. The District government has recently implemented numerous tax cuts, including tax breaks for the heirs to millionaires' estates. And taxes are about to get cut even more. Overall, DC residents pay lower taxes than surrounding jurisdictions, despite their overwhelming willingness to pay more taxes to fund critical needs like affordable housing.
A political commitment to ending homelessness equals:
devoting the necessary dollars to affordable housing.
finding the dollars even when it's hard, even when it means cutting lower priority programs, stalling a tax cut for the wealthy, or finding another way to increase available money.
problem solving, not making excuses. Concerns about an agency's ability to administer a housing program should be funneled into oversight and accountability measures, not reduced funding.
holding ourselves and each other accountable and on track to meet our goals.
The startup world has been rocked by a series of entrepreneurs that have left big companies to make their own way. When entrepreneurs from one giant company end up dominating other fields, they're referred to as mafias. The most famous of which, the PayPal Mafia, has dominated Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
PayPal isn't the only "mafia" in the entrepreneurial world, however. Entrepreneurs from other companies like Google have gone on to form successful businesses, but PayPal remains the dominate force. But recently, a challenger has emerged.
The Skype Mafia is still in it's infancy, but already massive. Companies ranging from ecommerce to robotics to fintech all share a common thread through Skype.
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Between the two groups of companies, there are some striking similarities. On the surface, both ended up being acquired by monstrously big and successful buyers. Both have a loose geographical center, one Silicon Valley, the other Estonia (but quickly growing to all of Europe). The two parent companies of the mafias were both revolutionary in their field, PayPal, being the first popularizer of sending money over the web, and Skype for taking video chat out of science fiction and placing it firmly in the real world.
But the similarities between the mafias runs deeper than those of the parent companies. Both mafias have spurred multitudes of entrepreneurs that have gone on to disrupt a myriad of industries. We all can think of Youtube, Tesla, and SpaceX, as examples from PayPal, but the Skype Mafia disrupters may be not as obvious yet.
Both mafias have "stars" that have emerged. In PayPal's case, the obvious answer is Elon Musk. For Skype, as of now, that title belongs to Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Kaarmann, the founders of TransferWise, one of the Skype Mafia's earliest unicorns.
TransferWise, like either of Musk's companies, is changing a massive part of life; sending money around the world. But because of the youthful nature of the Skype Mafia, Hinrikus and Kaarmann can't be too comfortable on their throne.
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The age and competitiveness of the Skype Mafia may be one of the most significant differences between it's longer established PayPal counterpart. More extraordinary than the similarities between the two mafias are the differences.
The Skype Mafia has more variety in its members. With the exception of Elon Musk's private space program and Tesla, almost all of the PayPal companies live on the internet. This is stark contrast with some bricks and mortar companies in the Skype Mafia like Chilango, a Mexican restaurant with several locations in London founded by former Skype foodies, or Piacha, a tea store that exists in the real world and online.
The actual tangible gadgets the Skype Mafia is building may even be more innovative than many of the online services the PayPal Mafia has put out to date. Ahti Heinla and Janus Friis, the co-founders of Skype, and two who are indirectly responsible for the entire Skype Mafia, have launched a new company called Starship, which makes six wheeled robots for short distance deliveries. The deliveries are free for the consumer, and would do to local delivery what Skype did to video communication.
Another reality rather than virtual based company from the Skype Mafia is Blossom, which has taken an activity that formerly required a bucket and water, and injected tech into the process to bring into the 21st century. By connecting sprinkler systems to devices, Blossom lets people water their plants from anywhere in the world, and adjusts to weather forecasts and other intangibles to help the environment.
Another obvious difference between the PayPal and Skype Mafias is their respective ages, just a look at when the parent companies launched can give you an idea of the timescale differences. PayPal launched in 1998, and Skype in 2003.
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Though this age difference has allowed PayPal Mafia companies a few more years to mature, it also lends itself to some Skype Mafia companies to enhance and improve on more recent innovations. Jobs Today, for example, uses a the Tinder strategy, quickly rifling through as many matches as possible, and extends that to job seekers and employers.
Skype Mafia companies also seem to be a bit more daring in the industries they're willing to go after. Like Fleep, a company that's trying to take over electronic mail, that is, disrupt email, and fundamentally change the way people interact on the internet, sort of like Skype did. Or CityFALCON, a financial news service that has the gall to give average people the chance to learn more about the world of investing for free, which is often unthinkable in that sector.
The Skype Mafia still has an uphill climb before it will reach a level of prestige like those that have come before it. But time, further investment, and more and more entrepreneurs coming out of the Skype everyday will lead to more and more companies breaking into the mainstream.
Another advantage the Skype Mafia has over its adversaries is a concentrated effort to organize. Ruzbeh Bacha (founder and CEO of CityFALCON) has started an initiative to give start-ups under the Skype Mafia banner an arena for mentorship, support, and even hold events to help foster the already flourishing entrepreneurship coming out of Skype.
A decade is a long time, especially in the hyperkinetic world of journalism, and it's unlikely that too many of today's young generation of scribes remember A. M. Rosenthal. But there was once a very great man named Abe Rosenthal who hired me at the New York Times while I was still at college in America, who mentored me, who made me a foreign correspondent, and who remained my guru and friend until the end.
Abraham Michael died on May 10, 2006, at the age of 84, from the effects of a stroke. In truth, he died of a broken heart. Abe - as he was widely known - had been fired after 56 years of service by the New York Times, the very newspaper that he once helped rescue from financial collapse when he was executive editor by introducing special daily sections catering to a variety of audiences.
After his tenure as head of the news department, he chose to stay on as a columnist, a role that didn't quite suit him, and which fetched him even more antagonists than during his 17 years as managing editor and executive editor on account of his radically right wing views.
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The Canada-born Abe should have left The Times after his editorship. But so intense was his devotion to the paper that he had joined as a stringer while at New York's City College in 1943 that he asked to stay on as a columnist. His political views became increasingly right wing - even though when he was editor Abe took great pride in asserting that he ensured that no ideology crept into the paper's news columns. Indeed, the epitaph on his tombstone at Westchester Hills Cemetery reads, "He Kept The Paper Straight."
That he did. But he had many biases of his own: he was, for instance, notoriously anti-gay; he wasn't initially a fan of the feminist movement; he was no friend of the Palestinians; he did not tolerate dissent in The Times' cavernous news room - so much so that many top reporters left during his tenure to join rival publications including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Abe argued, however, that his personal views were just that - personal. "Show me any news story where my personal views affected the fact," he'd often say to me when I was his news clerk before being promoted to the coveted position of staff reporter in 1973.
As for the departure of some of his stars, Abe always asserted that there was long line of other bright journalists waiting to join The Times, including Pulitzer Prize winners such as himself. (Mr. Rosenthal won a Pulitzer Prize in 1960 for international reporting.[1] As an editor at the newspaper, Mr. Rosenthal oversaw the coverage of a number of major news stories including the Vietnam war, the Pentagon Papers, and the Watergate scandal. Together with Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, he was the first westerner to visit a Soviet GULAG camp in 1988. Source: Wikipedia)
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He may have kept the paper straight as editor, but the perception of a news publication - like that of most any company - is often shaped by what its employees and former employees whisper about it. And the word about Abe was that he was a very difficult man to work for. He would shout; he would scream; he would promote or demote staff members capriciously. That was his prerogative, of course, but it did not sweeten his reputation.
So much so that the then publisher of The Times, the late Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Sr., who was one of Abe's few close friends, was forced to remove him as executive editor. In what was generally seen as a slap in the face to Abe - or, at the very least, a strong rap on his knuckles - the position was given to his bitterest enemy at the paper, Max Frankel. Mr. Frankel was editor of the paper's influential editorial page at the time. The newsroom breathed a collective sigh of relief.
It's not that I have forgotten Abe's faults and failures. But he was always kind to me, which is what I remember; he was always helpful in offering guidelines to good writing, which is what I remember. ("Make the verb work," Abe would say, "and use as few adjectives as possible. And listen carefully to what people say when you interview them. The narrative often lies in the subtext.")
And Abe was strict about punctuality and about meeting deadlines, which is what I remember. He never forgot my birthday - we were both May-born - which is what I remember. His birthday gifts were always books, which is what I remember. ("Read, read, read," Abe would say to me.) Abe would recommend good plays and movies, which is what I remember. Abe introduced me to some of his celebrity friends, such as the late Theodore H. White and William F. Buckley, which is what I remember.
I remember what the columnist Wesley Pruden once said about Abe: "Like all good editors, Abe was both loved and loathed, the former by those who met his standards, the latter mostly by those who couldn't keep the pace he set as City Editor, Managing Editor and finally Executive Editor. He brooked no challenges to his authority. He once told a reporter who demanded to exercise his rights by marching in a street demonstration he was assigned to cover: 'OK, the rule is, you can [make love to] an elephant if you want to, but if you do you can't cover the circus.' We call that 'the Rosenthal rule.'"[2]
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Most of all, however, I remember what a wonderful writer Abe Rosenthal himself was. His memorable essay, "There Is No News From Auschwitz" - published in the New York Times Magazine in 1958 - still haunts.
Mr. Rosenthal's personal piece came out the same year as Leon Uris's Exodus, but before the Eichmann trial and before Elie Wiesel's Night. Mr. Rosenthal later told Ari Goldman - also a former Timesman like me -- that he didn't think the Times would run his piece.
Mr. Rosenthal wrote in his 700-word essay: "And so there is no news to report about Auschwitz. There is merely the compulsion to write something about it, a compulsion that grows out of a restless feeling that to have visited Auschwitz and then turned away without having said or written anything would somehow be a most grievous act of discourtesy to those who died here."
Well, a decade is a long time to be dead. Today's editors seldom mentor young journalists the way Abe mentored me. Journalism itself is going through a tumultous change: in Abe's time, there was no digital journalism, and there were always layers of copy editors to prevent egregious factual errors.
It was a romantic time to have been a journalist in the 1970s and 1980s, and Abe Rosenthal made it possible for me to get both a career and a life-long passion for the world of words.
On Thursday, the modern State of Israel turns 68 years old. To mark this milestone, Lisa Lis, a local friend of mine, chose to wish Israel a happy birthday when it's her day to sponsor a day's broadcast on the Michigan Public Radio Network. Since Lisa and her husband Hannan, a native Israeli, have donated at least $365 to Michigan's public radio station this year, they were informed that they could have a personalized message read on the air six times during their sponsored day.
While many donors to the University of Michigan operated radio station opt to wish a happy birthday to an individual or a happy anniversary to a couple, Lisa felt it would be appropriate to congratulate Israel on 68 years of independence. According to a few Facebook posts by Hannan, however, MPRN nixed Lisa's idea because it would be an act of advocacy. I immediately recognized the problems with this public radio station blocking a donor's desire to offer birthday greetings to a democratic nation.
First, the name "Israel" could belong to an individual since it's a popular name for men. After all, the State of Israel was named for the biblical character Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. Thus, Lisa could simply be wishing a friend named "Israel" a happy birthday.
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Second, Michigan Public Radio took issue with Lisa's choice of words. She was going to include the term "blessing" in her greeting. That, the public radio station deemed too religious. I find that interesting since it's a public radio station and there are a lot of public entities that do not shy away from religion or blessings. Our national and local governments are opened with prayer each day, our courts ask witnesses to invoke God's name when taking an oath, and our public squares have Christmas displays each winter. Does Michigan Public Radio never mention the word "blessing" in their broadcasts? Do they ever have religious matters discussed on their radio station?
Third, I'm sincerely doubting that had another donor to Michigan Public Radio chosen to offer birthday greetings to another sovereign nation rather than to an individual, it would cause this type of uproar. Why is the mere mention of Israel cause for controversy?
Lisa, whose son is currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces simply wanted to congratulate the nation on its birthday. What happened as a result of this has been the radio station urgently writing policies after the fact to offer a basis for their rejection. Alison Warren, MPRN's associate director of development, wrote in an email to Lisa trying to explain the station's decision:
"We will not be able to air your day sponsorship message as written. We have determined that this message would compromise the station's commitment to impartiality and that it crosses over into advocacy, or could imply advocacy... If there is another message, perhaps celebrating a birthday or anniversary of an individual, please let me know and I'd be happy to assist you."
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While I'm not ignorant and I certainly understand that tensions have been high in that Middle Eastern region for generations, there's no good reason that the radio station should single out Israel and refuse to allow a donor to offer this nation congratulations on its anniversary of statehood. I'm sure that wishing the USA a happy independence day on July 4 would be welcomed by Michigan Public Radio. That Israel gained independence 68 years ago is a fact and thus shouldn't be treated as controversial or as an act of political advocacy. Lisa didn't make any political statements in her sponsorship message. Had she done that, then I could validate the radio station's decision.
According to an article in Deadline Detroit, Lisa Lis expressed her ongoing fight with the radio station, but also offered that she and Hannan were cautious to not disparage the University of Michigan while continuing to fight to be able to offer birthday greetings to Israel on the radio during their sponsored day. She said, "We continue to request acknowledgement of Israel's birthday. We're contemplating our donations to the station. We have not pulled it yet."
Photo: Nepal Tourism Board
It is very ignorant for people to think that Nepal is poor considering the lifestyle of majority of people. Nation could definitely be considered poor if compared in terms of cars, houses and bank balance, but one of the most important aspect of Nepalese life is that majority of its people live a life of self-sustenance also promoted as Self-sustainable development by NGOs/INGOs.
Most of Nepalese citizens are engaged in farming occupation and each family sustains itself through its own endeavors in floriculture, horticulture or animal husbandry unlike industrialized nations where people must have jobs for sustenance.
Majority of Nepalese population, thus doesn't depend upon any kind of job for sustenance. Instead, entire family members are engaged in family trades. Rearing live stocks and farming are among many other ways people engage themselves in action. In most of the Terai, village cow-herd girls and boys rise up early in the morning, take their cows to the forests and spend all day playing in the rivers and ponds before heading back to their homes with their animals.
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Government of Nepal hasn't been able to collaborate with its own citizens because of their internal conflict and dirty politics. NRN leaders can work in co-ordination with the government. National Planning Commission must create an immediate policy that can bring NRN leaders across the world together.
Photo: Sampreshan & Team
Sampreshan White-Himal organized an interaction program with the former assistant general secretary of UN Mr. Kul Chandra Gautam in Jackson Heights, who is also the writer of "Lost in Transition". Chief Guest Kul Chandra Gautam answering the questions on topic " Challenges and Possibilities for Development of Nepal"
Sampreshan was hosted by a young, energetic, and dynamic Journalist Shailesh Shrestha.When asked by Purosattam Bohora via facebook, "Why did Kul Chandra Gautam tried so hard to stop Ban-Ki-Moon's visit to Nepal during Prachanda's prime-ministership?", Gautam replied, "Prachanda was the co-ordinator of the Lumbini Development Committee then who had a background of leading a violent civil war. I was against the idea of him leading this committee. I never tried to stop Ban-Ki-Moon's visit. I didn't have any ability to do so."
Development of Nepal has nothing to do with the regional divisions. Drafting of the constitution was delayed by the subject of regional divisions. Although late, constitution has been drafted but not all parties are satisfied with it. We needn't quarrel in such matters. Since the nation has already been divided into various zones, we must work within this frame for the economic progress of the country. Jyoti K. Shrestha added and said, " Our country hasn't developed because of the lack of execution of the country's system and laws." Photo: Sampreshan & Team
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This extraordinary primary season has clearly shown that Americans, whether Democrats or Republicans, have finally rebelled against "free trade."
It is high time.
There is an enormous gap between free trade as it is taught in textbooks and advocated by those who benefit from it and free trade as it is actually practiced in today's world. Textbooks still unabashedly teach the virtues of free trade, but their arguments assume a world of pure market forces. But the American people don't live in a world that is anything like that. The American people live in a world where increasingly capable foreign industries, subsidized by their home governments, are destroying significant parts of our economy. They live in a world where obvious currency manipulation goes unpunished, and foreign, state-controlled enterprises, not needing to operate at a profit, can underprice any company that does.
In this real world, Americans get cheap Asian goods at low prices, but pay a high price in lost jobs, low wages and in transferring leading technologies to our competitors. Both careful analysis and actual experience show this to be a downward path for America.
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But the American people are catching on. They are increasingly aware that their world is very different from the benign free trade world portrayed to them. And in the world they actually live in, it takes more than Economics 101 to deal with what is going on.
China did not get to where it is today by allowing natural economic forces to decide industry outcomes. Reality is much closer to the exact opposite. The Chinese government chooses an industry, and then puts in place the subsidies, special tax rates and technology transfer agreements needed to obtain dominance in that industry.
Textbooks maintain that something called "comparative advantage" shows that it doesn't matter if we lose one industry after another to our trading partners. We will, they assert, be better off just concentrating on the industries that are left. But that is not so. Even in the dream world of pure market forces comparative advantage is not enough to assure prosperity. And in the Mercantilist world that we actually live in, it is even less relevant.
"Mercantilism" is an old term, and it describes an old practice. It means that your trading partner uses the full powers of its government to advance its industries. Mercantilism, in its modern form, often exploits the fact that the sole goal of our great American corporations today is to be as profitable as possible. A modern Mercantilist country can provide subsidies and/or cheap labor that make it more profitable for American corporations to manufacture in Asia than in the U.S., and often, to do their research and development there as well. The corporations then import these outsourced goods back into America.
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Mercantilism has its impacts. The improved profits of outsourcing go to shareholders, who are predominantly the wealthy, and to top management. But American workers don't benefit. Instead, they lose their jobs. This increases inequality.
By importing what we used to make here, America now imports far more than it exports. We pay for the difference in dollars. Our annual trade deficit with China alone is hundreds of billions of dollars. These trade deficits have provided the Chinese government with more than $3 trillion, and with $3 trillion available to spend in the U.S., China is now buying up U.S. firms at an unprecedented rate. They are buying small innovative companies as well as large, established corporations. We should think about what it will mean for the firms that are still U.S. owned to have to compete around the world with former U.S. firms that now have Chinese government support and may or may not need to make a profit.
We should also think about what it will mean to our country if firms controlled by a foreign government use funds from their government to participate in the corporate political and lobbying efforts that are now legal for U.S. corporations. These firms will have the freedom to make these efforts not only to advance their profitability, but also to advance the goals of a foreign government.
All this does not have to happen. There is much that we can actually do to avoid these unwelcome outcomes, but the first step is to understand what the impact of free trade in the real world really is.
Reboot Illinois Publisher Madeleine Doubek won two prestigious Peter Lisagor awards in the 39th annual journalism contest sponsored by the Chicago Headline Club.
Doubek won the award for best individual blog post for her commentary about the killing of a 16-year-old Chicagoan, "Laquan McDonald's killing and the judgment for all of us." Doubek reflected on the killing of McDonald, shot 16 times by Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke, and how it is symptomatic of a pattern of corruption in our public institutions in Chicago and throughout the state.
She also won a Lisagor award for best continuing blog post for a series of posts dissecting divided government in Illinois, including "Dear Gov. Rauner, Let's talk about your turnaround for Illinois," "Quiet, please. Speaker Madigan is about to deliver his very important messages about Illinois spending," and "Rauner, Madigan and caucus leaders responsible for wrecking business foundation."
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The Lisagor awards honor the best in Chicago and Illinois journalism across print, online, television, radio and independent media platforms. They are named for Peter Lisagor, who served as the Chicago Daily News Washington bureau chief from 1959 to 1976.
Doubek and the Reboot Illinois staff also will be honored at an annual benefit dinner hosted by the not-for-profit children's advocacy organization, Voices for Illinois Children to be held Thursday, June 2, in Chicago.
The general public may have been surprised by the results of a survey released by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), which found that African Americans overwhelmingly support policies that promote greater equality for LGBT people. In fact, more than any other racial group, African Americans believe that businesses and the government should not be allowed to refuse services to LGBT people based on religious beliefs. I believe that the silent majority of African American supporters of LGBT equality remain silent because our community has not had a holistic conversation about what it means to support LGBT equality. We allow a louder minority to paint a distorted picture of our true values. And, that obsequiousness is holding our whole community back.
The question of African American support for LGBT equality has been couched in terms of support for marriage equality for too long. Let's take a look at the number revealed by the PRRI survey. The survey found that, among Black Protestant respondents, only 38 percent supported marriage equality. But, when that seemingly unsupportive group was asked about their views on nondiscrimination and religious refusal laws, 51 percent actually favored nondiscrimination protections, and 62 percent opposed religious refusals. Among all Black Protestants, 64 percent support nondiscrimination laws, and 67 percent oppose religious refusals, regardless of their views on marriage equality. The survey found even stronger support for LGBT equality among non-protestant Black Americans.
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This data demonstrates that in the minds of most African Americans, LGBT equality means more than supporting marriage for same-sex couples. Our community is not completely there yet on the marriage question, and we know why. It is largely the result of misguided misinterpretations of the Bible and a belief that homosexuality and gender difference are at odds with God.
That's why we have to change the way we approach conversations about LGBT identities in the bible. The whole bible - not just the few passages considered to condemn same-gender love - belongs to us. Focus on love--God's most treasured and universal gift. An honest reading of the bible reveals there is more written about justice, hospitality, grace and love than anything else.
The verses most often referenced to condemn homosexuals, in fact condemn abuse, rape, prostitution and violence. Jesus taught that the greatest commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is similar: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Such a strong mandate and challenge to love ought not go unheeded.
The majority of African Americans support nondiscrimination laws. The majority support protections for LGBT people in our society, and oppose allowing religious refusal laws. All of this is true even with high levels of church attendance, traditional religious beliefs and fidelity to the bible among African Americans. Our community has experienced marginalization, discrimination and hatred, and those experiences have shaped and defined the ways in which we conceive of God's intentions for all of his children.
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News / National
by Staff Reporter
ZIMBABWE Revenue Authority (Zimra) commissioner general Gershem Pasi has refuted reports that he was suspended by the board.Pasi says he was merely asked to go on leave, The Standard reported Wednesday.Through his lawyers Mutamangira & Associates, Pasi was responding to a story published by The Standard on May 8 where it was revealed that the board asked him to take paid leave to facilitate investigations into a car importation racket.Pasi was sent on leave alongside five other senior Zimra officials by the authority's board amid an investigation into an alleged car importation racket.The other officials that were sent on paid leave were 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)."Our client was not suspended as your article alleges," the lawyers wrote to the Standard."Our client was asked to take leave following a decision of the board of Zimra, the circumstances of which are under consideration by our client regarding the validity thereof and the basis upon which the request is premised."The paper added that Pasi also took issue with allegations that the investigations that 'nailed' him and the other Zimra officials were carried out by the Central Intelligence Organisation."It is astounding that you mention the Central Intelligence Organisation as having conducted the alleged investigation in light of such fallacious findings."Nothing short of malice and petty spite could package such total untruths as the outcome of investigations."The ineluctable conclusion being that the flawed investigation cannot be the basis of any lawful action."However, Pasi, the paper he did not dispute that he was involved in an accident in Harare while driving his Toyota Land Cruiser but said the registration number was ADJ 6890 not ADS 6890 as reported by The Standard."Our client indeed owns a Toyota Land Cruiser whose registration number is ADJ 6890."This vehicle was purchased by our client in 2014 from Toyota Msasa and not from Timothy Simupfukwe as your article implies."Our client has never had any dealings with Timothy Simupfukwe and has no knowledge of the said Timothy Simupfukwe."Simupfukwe has been accused of working with a syndicate of top Zimra officials to evade duty for imported cars.Pasi said it was not true that his Toyota Landcruiser was unlawfully registered.
During the week of June 12, the 6-month anniversary of the Paris Agreement, people of all faiths and spiritualities will send a message to world leaders through a mobilization called Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust. The message: we must accelerate our response to climate change in order to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Faiths Rising
The faith community played a vital role in the lead-up to the Paris climate talks. This leadership continues to grow. Last month, more than 270 clergy from diverse faiths signed the Interfaith Climate Change Statement, which was presented to the President of the UN General Assembly just days before world leaders signed the Paris Agreement. These faith leaders called for the quick signing and ratification of the Paris Agreement and for leaders to make the drive for 1.5C a priority.
Now, research just recently released has added to urgency to the 1.5C temperature limit.
What a Difference a Half Degree Makes
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In the 1990s, a scientific consensus emerged that a 2C temperature rise was a safe limit to global warming. 350, perhaps the best-known number in the climate movement, gained currency because an atmospheric concentration of no more than 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 provides a two-thirds chance to keep temperatures below this level. Currently, CO2 levels top 400 ppm.
However, there has always been concern that 2C was too high. Least developed countries and small island states argued that 2C meant the sacrifice of their homelands. They were joined by advocates for the poor, faith communities, a 2015 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other experts who argued for a 1.5C guardrail. Last December at COP 21, to the surprise of pundits and politicians alike, an alliance of over 150 countries came together in support of the 1.5C target. As a result, in the Paris Agreement governments agreed to "hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5C."
1.5 to Stay Alive
On April 21 last month, the day before Earth Day and the signing of the Paris Agreement, a study in Earth System Dynamics laid out the catastrophic difference between 1.5C and 2C. The study considered 11 indicators such as extreme weather events, water availability, crop yields, coral reef degradation and sea-level rise. The result? A seemingly insignificant half degree makes all the difference in the world.
A half-degree of extra warming will double the number of water shortages in the Mediterranean region by the century's end. Staple crop yields in Central America and West Africa will drop by 50%. Sea levels will rise an additional ten centimeters by 2100, threatening the actual viability of many of the world's largest cities, such as Bangkok and its 8.5 million inhabitants. All coral reefs, home to much of the oceans' biodiversity and the source of protein and livelihood for over half a billion people, will face "severe degradation." All these impacts show the contrast between 1.5C and 2C.
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These impacts are a litany of lamentation and suffering. They spell disaster for the world's poorest communities. Under any standard of decency, they are tragic, abhorrent and unacceptable.
Conversely, a 1.5C temperature rise would give hundreds of millions of the world's poorest people, and ecosystems , a chance to adapt and survive. Tony de Brum, the Foreign Minister of the climate-threatened Marshall Islands, said it most starkly, "For us, it's 1.5 to stay alive."
Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust
That is why on June 12, people of all faiths and spiritualities will join in solidarity with those at greatest risk the world over, pledging to push for greater climate action to limit temperature rise to 1.5C. We will give thanks to the earth's abundant blessings, share our amazement at how wonderful the planet is and express our outrage at the extent of its destruction.
Actions are already planned in Bogota and Santiago, New Orleans and the Dominican Republic, Nairobi, Hong Kong and New Delhi. Some people will offer a prayer or reflection, the one offered below or another of their choosing. Some will share a photo of themselves with a small sign saying, "Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust - 1.5C to Stay Alive." Others might draw '1.5C to Stay Alive' in the sand, on a mural. If you post an image using #SacredEarth2016, we will share it with the world. Information, prayers and materials are at www.sacredearth2016.org.
We live on a sacred earth. For people of faith, the implications of this are clear. We will honor our sacred trust as earth's guardians. We will increase our collective sense of urgency. We will persevere in our journey from ignorance to knowledge and from silence to action.
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And, we will continue the awakening that saw so many people of faith take action on climate change in 2015. I urge you to sign up and to take part in Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust.
Sacred Earth, Sacred Trust - A Prayer
Source of all goodness and all life, we offer our thanks for this sacred earth. The natural world is a precious gift. We often forget that we are one earth, one human family. Today, we celebrate this fact.
We have a sacred trust to care for our common home. Climate change is disrupting the world's natural balance. Seasons are coming at the wrong times. Storms are more dangerous than before. The poorest, whom our faith tells us to protect, suffer. We must care for each other.
The upcoming narrative feature film Roads to Olympia chronicles the stories of three young athletes in three different countries striving to make it to the Summer Olympic Games. Along the way, they not only face challenges on the field, but the social constructs in their countries also obstruct their path to realizing their dreams. Over the next few weeks, we will take a closer look at each of those social issues and how the film will aim to pull back the curtain and generate awareness for each cause.
One of the film's main characters is Roma, a talented Russian decathlete whose father is a powerful politician in Moscow. Despite all his success and promise, Roma is living a double life. He is a closeted homosexual and has a secret boyfriend named Petr. Roma must keep his true self hidden, for fear of persecution and to avoid damaging his father's reputation. Roma is not alone in this conflict. Because of the Russian government's hostile attitude towards the country's LGBTQ community, and several anti-gay groups rising to the forefront, it is a very dangerous time to be gay in Russia.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia actually began to be more liberal in their views towards LGBTQ rights. Homosexual relationships were decriminalized in 1993, and transgender Russians were even able to legally change their gender on identification documents. In recent years, that progress has come undone as the government has implemented new laws banning "non traditional "sexual relations. The government insisted these laws were created to protect minors from pedophiles. Yet just last year, Communist Party lawmakers Ivan Nikitchuck and Nikolat Arefyev helped to pass even stricter bills which outlaw public displays of homosexuality, including practices as harmless as kissing or holding hands. Those who are flagged under this new law would be subject to fines or even jail time.
Roads To Olympia: Daniel Alexander and Alexander Khvashchinsky
There have been occasions in my pediatrics career where my patient's family and I do not agree about a diagnosis or a treatment plan: the patient has a cold but his parents want antibiotics; a toddler's teeth have decay but her mother does not want to wean her from the bottle; or a teenager does not see junk food as a problem despite his gaining 35 pounds in less than 6 months. These frustrating situations have taught me a lot about active listening, partnership, patience, and persistence. Some of these experiences could be useful to those of us who strongly oppose Donald Trump becoming President but have friends, family, or colleagues who are either supportive of or comfortable with his candidacy.
1. Abandoning Trump Supporters Is Not An Option.
This is logistically obvious for those of us who are related to or share workplaces with Trump supporters. Nonetheless, some people may already be disengaging from anything and anyone remotely connected to Trump. Cutting off all ties may seem practical and sustainable, but it's not.
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While there is a strong possibility (too early to call it a certainty) that Trump will lose the Presidential election, his supporters can succeed in electing members of Congress, governors, state legislators, mayors, and city council members who share the billionaire's clear cruelty and nebulous policies. We have to understand Trump's influence as a chronic problem with potential ripple effects at multiple levels. American democracy has many "organ systems," like state and city governments, serving various functions which impact day-to-day life, vulnerable to toxic decision-making. Trump's influence is like a cigarette addiction, not a sprained ankle to ignore and "walk off."
This leaves us with no choice but to engage Trump's supporters, as misguided as they are. They're our fellow Americans, and our country functions best (morally, economically, etc.) when we refuse to leave anyone behind, as difficult as that may be. This camaraderie is the moral high ground for which we need to aspire.
2. Some Differences Are Irreconcilable.
This may seem contradictory to the previous point, but in searching for common ground, we have to be clear where there won't be any. The bigotry, sexism, xenophobia, and other cruelties of the Trump campaign are simply unacceptable in any moral society. Calling these problems out by name is a responsibility we owe each other. Some of Trump's level-headed supporters would have us believe he and his more obnoxious supporters are "just saying those things for attention." But if we are to believe that Trump is "telling it like it is," and if his "authenticity" is so appealing, then why shouldn't we take the campaign's threats to immigrants, Muslims, and dissenters seriously? Protesters at Trump's rallies are doing their part. Whether you prefer confrontations, conversations, or a little of both, please choose action over apathy. Polite silence may feel like an easy way to save face and prevent awkward moments, but consider this: when you need someone to have your back, would you accept their polite silence? What would you want him/her to do? Now go do that.
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3. Acknowledge Mutual Pain.
To be clear, the presence of irreconcilable differences does not automatically rule out the existence of any and all common ground. In my clinical experience, my patients' families and I rarely have completely incompatible perspectives on diagnoses or treatment plans. However, when those situations arise, I pay more attention to the gaps in our communication. I acknowledge the patient's and family's experiences of pain, even if their perspectives on how or why it arose differ from mine.
Some of you may be thinking of President Bill Clinton's famous "I feel your pain" line, but this is not a joke and it's certainly not meant to pander. Problems like unemployment or under-employment; making the rent or mortgage; affording child care; paying for higher education and student debt; and managing the costs of prescription medications are some of the many challenges American families face, regardless of their politics. During election years, we may talk about these issues on a national level, but they are felt on many smaller neighborhood levels, unique from each other. In acknowledging our fellow Americans' pain, frustrations, and stresses, there are opportunities to be seen and heard -- for both Trump's supporters and his opponents. Recognizing pain and genuinely saying "the struggle is real" has the potential (not the certainty) to lower some defenses and tempers.
4. The Solutions Are Not Simple, and That's Okay.
Having acknowledged the experience of my patients' pain, I usually describe my perspectives on what is causing the pain and why a certain treatment plan will be effective. Simultaneously, I directly ask families for their thoughts: is there more I need to know; how do my assessments fit with their perspectives; what can we work on together; and so on. All of this dialogue is particularly important because on the surface, there is so much that potentially divides us as doctor, patient, and caregiver: ethnicity, gender, age, education level, socioeconomic status, personal struggles, power dynamics in the clinical environment, etc. The thing I try my best to demonstrate is a commitment to bridge-building and bridge maintenance despite whatever divides us. Another thing I convey is that complexity and setbacks are common, and these require cooperation to overcome. Scapegoating and over-simplifying problems stall us from the real work at hand.
The challenge of political discussions, like many tough clinical conversations, is that we have to divest ourselves from wishful thinking and easy solutions. Civics and policy-making in a democracy are complex and imperfect, like the citizens of that democracy. The problems described two paragraphs earlier will require multilateral policies, careful implementation, and thorough review of all that work -- the exact opposite of the simplicity and quick fixes that struggling people yearn for and campaigns want to market. What Trump offers: the wall on the southern border; confusing our allies abroad; repealing and replacing Obamacare with "something terrific," are all schemes divorced from the realities of how our Constitution guides us to build a more perfect union.
However, the group also notes that "... given our deep, safety driven interest and understanding of CSST and related risks with lightning as well as our review of available research, we feel strongly the minimum standard for arc resistant CSST needs to be elevated. We have spent considerable time and resources to overcome the issues with legacy installations of yellow jacketed CSST and we should take this opportunity to take further steps to ensure better performance of CSST for new installations. To accomplish this, the adopted Lubbock Fuel Gas Code should be raised to ensure a much greater ability of CSST to withstand the energy and related arcing of lightning strikes."
Lubbock, a city not exactly known as embracing government regulation in a state not exactly known for encumbering energy delivery, is not a CSST leader by chance. The city staff, in briefing the council, noted that a recent study showed Lubbock County ranks 5th in Texas in lightning strikes, and that West Texas is a high-lightning region.
What's more, staff noted, the scarcity of trees or topography mean that more lightning is likely to strike structures.
In Lubbock, officials became focused on the issue following the 2012 death of 31-year-old Brennen Teel, an avid hunter and fisherman who happened to be visiting friends on an August afternoon during a lightning storm. The house was struck by lightning, damaging the yellow CSST, which resulted in a gas fire and Teel's death.
The Teel family, through a foundation it established to honor Brennen, has participated in both Texas and national CSST discussions. Just last month Brennen's mother, Becky Tell, used the Lubbock City Council's public comment period to ask why months-old staff recommendations were not being considered. Among other things, she noted the offspring of council members and challenged them, as a fellow parent, if they would do any less in her situation.
In briefing the council, Lubbock staff stressed that the new rules would not include existing CSST installations, but would require those users to upgrade by making sure their systems are properly bonded and grounded. Like other upgrades and leak repairs, this would only happen when gas must be turned on for reasons other than nonpayment of bills.
The council's first vote brought praise from friends of Brennen Teel.
"The city of Lubbock has done a very courageous thing," said Ted Lyon, a Lubbock-area attorney who not only represented the family but used to hunt with Brennon, who was also a friend of Lyon's son.
So, what's "courageous" about improving a fire code?
Lyon says courage is needed amid industry lobbying and what he called "smoke and mirrors" research. He predicted manufacturers will be concerned with both the Lubbock rules and about the message it sends.
Indeed, as the Lubbock Gas Committee was finishing its work, the Council heard from Kent Hance, a Lubbock native, former U.S. Representative and more recently former chancellor of Texas Tech. Telling the city he represented a CSST manufacturer, he cautioned officials about creating a de facto monopoly. Some have noted he included thinly veiled litigation threats.
The manufacturers' concern goes beyond Lubbock, says Lyon. "This will send a shot across the bow of manufacturers"
Imagine this, assuming the City of Lubbock adopts the higher standard for CSST, maybe more manufacturers will finally decide to upgrade their technology that's placed in homes around the country.
Lyon conceded that legal action has pushed reform, but said the Teel family's post-settlement actions were the real push.
"They have done a world of good in memory of their son," said Lyon.
It will take one more vote to see if that "world of good" extends to raising the standard for CSST installed in Lubbock homes, and potentially more Texas communities.
Last night on CNN, while discussing Bernie Sanders' landslide victory over Hillary Clinton in West Virginia -- which followed a 5-point Sanders win in Indiana last week -- Michael Smerconish said that "Democratic super-delegates might have to rethink" their support of Hillary Clinton given how dramatically better Sanders fares in head-to-head match-ups against Donald Trump.
After Clinton's Indiana loss, John King had told CNN viewers that "if Sanders were to win nine out of ten of the remaining contests, there's no doubt that some of the super-delegates would panic. There's no doubt some of them would switch to Sanders. What he has to do is win the bulk of the remaining contests. Would that send jitters, if not panic, through the Democratic Party? Yes. Yes it would."
So what gives? Isn't this thing over?
Almost, but not quite.
What Smerconish (and Wolf Blitzer) were discussing last night, and John King was discussing last week, is a very simple theory -- call it "run-the-table" -- which is easy enough to understand if you simply know the history of Democratic super-delegates and what's happened in the 2016 Democratic primary since Super Tuesday.
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So here it is -- both a brief history of the "super-delegate" and an explanation of the "run-the-table" scenario that increasingly is making it into the mainstream media.
In 1984, the Democratic Party created "super-delegates" -- Party officials with a vote at the Democrats' nominating convention. The hope was that super-delegates would rarely if ever be needed. There was reason to be hopeful on this score: first, because any Democratic nominee able to win even 59 percent of the "pledged" (primary and caucus) delegates would clinch the Democratic nomination before even a single super-delegate had voted; second, because even if a weak front-runner were unable to clinch the Democratic nomination without super-delegates, the candidate behind in the "pledged" delegate count would almost certainly concede before any super-delegates were forced to weigh in.
For 32 years, the Democrats' decision to create super-delegates looked pretty smart. Other than the current primary season -- a single-digit race (54 percent to 45 percent) that's the second-closest Democratic primary of the last 32 years -- only one of the Democrats' primaries, the one in 2008, was ultimately close enough for super-delegates to matter. In that case the losing candidate, Hillary Clinton, decided to concede after the final votes were cast in June. Clinton's concession made the super-delegate question a moot one.
Clinton conceded in 2008 for a number of reasons: her opponent, now-President Obama, agreed to retire her massive campaign debt; she believed (correctly) that Obama would name her either Vice President or Secretary of State, the latter the second-most powerful position in Washington; and finally and most importantly, Obama had kicked the hell out of her in the latter half of the election season, winning 16 of the final 25 states. In other words, there was no reasonable argument for Clinton to make to super-delegates that they should step in to change the primary result.
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While Clinton permitted a roll call vote in Denver -- with more than 1,000 convention delegates officially casting their first-ballot vote for her rather than then-Senator Obama -- she thereafter called for Obama to become the nominee by acclamation. Having made a public statement regarding her own base of support within the Democratic Party -- it's highly unusual, indeed almost unheard of, for a roll call vote to occur when one of the two candidates has conceded -- Clinton receded into the background. By which I mean that she became, within just a few months, arguably the second most-powerful person in America: the Secretary of State.
But Clinton had seriously considered staying in the race past June 7th of 2008. The reason she almost did -- she was barely talked out of it by her aides -- is the very reason Bernie Sanders could still win the Democratic nomination in 2016.
That reason?
Super-delegates exist for only one purpose: to overturn, if necessary, the popular-vote and delegate-count results.
Super-delegates would be meaningless if their only purpose were to validate the primary and caucus results, which is why that consideration had absolutely nothing to do with their creation. When super-delegates were created in 1984, it was in fact to avoid a repeat of what had almost happened in 1980: a candidate with no shot at winning the general election almost becoming the popular-vote and pledged-delegate winner. It may seem counter-intuitive to some now, but the Democratic Party in 1984 wanted a mechanism available to vote down the Party's prospective nominee -- the popular-vote and pledged-delegate winner -- if that person couldn't be elected in the November general election. So when Howard Dean, former presidential candidate and Democratic National Committee Chair, said several months ago that he would cast his super-delegate vote without regard for the popular vote or pledged-delegate race, he was only stating what has been true about super-delegates for 32 years now: their role in the process is only "activated" either (a) to validate a historically weak front-runner who isn't able to clinch the nomination via pledged delegates alone (in which case the super-delegates are "active," and yet things would be no different if they didn't exist), or, more profoundly, (b) to preclude the nomination of someone who can't win the general election.
Fast-forward to 2016.
John King of CNN, and others, have made crystal-clear the scenario under which Bernie Sanders could become the Democratic nominee for President: he runs the table on the remaining primaries and caucuses.
If Sanders runs the table in 2016, it will mean the following has (by June 7th) happened:
Sanders has won 19 of the final 25 state primaries and caucuses (not a typo);
Sanders is within a few hundred thousand votes of Clinton in the popular vote;
Sanders has won 54 percent of the pledged delegates since Super Tuesday; and
Sanders is in a dead heat with Clinton in national polling.
The above alone -- while absolutely stunning; Sanders running significantly better than Obama for the entire second half of the primary season is a major eye-opener -- wouldn't be enough to trigger the second scenario in which super-delegates are suddenly meaningful (as noted above, a front-runner so weak he or she is unlikely to win the general election). What makes 2016 very different from 2008 is that the following items are presently true:
Sanders has dramatically higher favorable ratings than Clinton, despite months of attacks from his Democratic opponent and Trump and GOP super-PACs generally laying off both Sanders and Clinton;
Sanders beats Donald Trump nationally by much more than does Clinton (12 points, as opposed to 6 for Clinton, in an average of all national polls);
Sanders beats Donald Trump in every battleground state by more than does Clinton; and
Sanders beats Trump by 22 points among independents, while Clinton loses independents to Trump by 2 points.
As we sit here today, the Clinton-Trump match-up in the three biggest battleground states -- Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania, the loss of all three of which would lose the Democrats the general election -- is a dead heat.
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This is one reason why so many Sanders supporters honestly and fervently believe a Hillary Clinton candidacy means a Donald Trump presidency.
The idea that Clinton is in a dead heat with Trump in the three most important battleground states at a time when Trump is the most unpopular major-party candidate in American history is horrifying to Democrats. How horrifying it is cannot be overstated; along with recent polling showing Clinton tied nationally with Trump, and the fact that Hillary's unfavorables are already rising while Trump's are already falling, and the fact that the Republican Party is uniting dramatically behind Trump precisely because Clinton looks to be the likely Democratic nominee, the fact that Hillary is already struggling in Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania against an absolute buffoon of an opponent is causing Democrats to worry that she actually can't win.
And they may well be right.
Certainly, much of the available data says they are.
Now imagine that all of the above is true, and Hillary Clinton has just lost the State of California to Bernie Sanders.
In that scenario, Sanders and his supporters believe that the super-delegates -- placed in a situation which, to be clear, they have never encountered before -- would switch en masse to vote for Sanders in late July.
Anyone reading the above who thinks that eventuality is an impossibility has not done the simple thought experiment that John King's reasoning requires.
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So let's do it now.
Imagine -- I mean really imagine -- that you're watching CNN on June 7th and Hillary has just lost California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. This comes on the heels of losses in Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Oregon. Clinton hasn't won a state since April; she's behind Donald Trump in national polling; she's tied with or behind Donald Trump in all of the battleground states; she's lost the pledged-delegate battle to Bernie Sanders 53 percent to 47 percent since March 1st; she's lost 19 of the final 25 state primaries and caucuses; her unfavorables are the highest of any Democrat the Party has considered running since World War II; she's losing independent voters to Donald Trump; she's still under investigation by the FBI, and an international criminal is claiming (credibly) that he successfully hacked her basement server and stole classified and top-secret data; 40 percent of Sanders supporters are saying they won't vote for her; and she's come to look exactly like two other Democratic losers -- unlikable policy wonks Al Gore and John Kerry -- rather than the movement candidate Bernie Sanders is and Barack Obama was.
The Clinton camp is betting that Hillary loses zero super-delegates in this situation because -- well, just because.
The Sanders camp is betting that the Democratic Party cares more about winning in November than gamely running a terrible dynasty candidate against a beatable Republican foe.
In the hypothetical John King has imagined, that bet doesn't seem so unreasonable.
Every non-partisan in the national media who's actually looked at the above scenario has concluded that super-delegates would switch to Sanders in the situation described here -- the only question is how many. And if you've actually imagined the scenario described above -- if you actually imagined the rank panic that would be running through the Democratic Party should Hillary lose the largest state in the country to Bernie Sanders at a time when all the hard-data and environmental indicators are suggesting she's a possible loser in the fall -- you're thinking, as I am, that the answer to the question, "How many supers would jump ship in that scenario?" is the same answer I got from John King when I asked him this question directly after the Indiana primary: "Lots."
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To get to that point, Sanders has to win Indiana -- which he's already done. And he has to win West Virginia, which he now has. Now he's looking ahead to Kentucky and Oregon next week, and Oregon looks like a safe win while Kentucky an eminently possible one. Should he sweep Clinton for the third Tuesday in a row, he'll be looking forward to just one final test: June 7th. Sanders is a plausible winner on that date in California, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and New Mexico; his longest odds are in New Jersey, a state where he nevertheless polled within single digits of Clinton in the second-to-last poll taken in the state (the most recent poll is far less favorable, but also, given the political make-up of the state and the fact that Trump's lack of competitors on the GOP side will drive up interest and turnout on the Democratic side, less plausible). More importantly, perhaps, King's scenario doesn't even require that Sanders win New Jersey -- merely that he take nine of the final ten contests, and therefore a still-staggering 18 of the last 25. This isn't just doable -- it's entirely possible, given the momentum, demographics, and polling in the upcoming states.
Still, no one knows what will happen next week -- though the odds of Sanders continuing his current winning streak seem high. And if Sanders does win Kentucky and Oregon, John King's "run-the-table" scenario will be just one day of voting from becoming a reality. It's on those grounds that we can say -- whatever we might hear from Clinton partisans -- that the Democratic primary is, indeed, far from over.
I made a friend one Saturday afternoon, in the middle of a Midtown restaurant over French toast and people-watching. My new friend solidified a place in my heart with the following statement: "Tupac is a timeless rapper. Tupac is not talking about anybody in particular, Tupac is talking about broad themes of life that never change. They're constants: fear, love, family, pain, misery. He's not talking about a Benz, and if he is, he's using it to paint an emotion on his canvas. It's not stuck in that particular mode; it's broad. Every generation loves Tupac the same, but in a different way, because people can interpret it for themselves." I consider any human who speaks of Tupac in a biblical nature to be trustworthy, especially musically. Harlem-born HANiF (formerly known as Luck One) considers himself a craftsman. His latest album, the boom-bap golden era inspired EP 12 Inch Vinyls was five years in the making, and there are apparently an average of thirty versions of each track in existence, due to the meticulous perfectionism of him and his producer 5th Sequence. After talking to HANiF about his passion, experience, life in hip hop, and a wealth of other intriguing topics, I decided that an emcee like him is exactly what Hip Hop needs right now, and here's why:
1. He appreciates the old with a curiosity for the new and uncharted Harlem-born, Portland-raised HANiF is among the last of a dying breed: the pre-viral video generation. He spent his younger years climbing the ranks of hip hop the old fashioned way, starting with neighborhood cyphers then local battles then graduating to studio production. He honed his witty lyricism through an understanding that only the cleverest survive a cypher without a relentless verbal attack from both adversaries and bystanders. But HANiF is able to be a full-fledged member of this near-extinct group of foundation loyalists while gracefully appreciating the new. He eagerly jumps on my innate resistance to what Hip Hop sounds like in 2016 by pointing me in the direction of new sounds that can appeal to even the most stubborn of curmudgeons. 2. He's nice ... Not just as a person, but he's nice as an artist. A real storyteller. Planes, Trains & Automobiles was the first of Hanif's songs I listened to. He wrote it about his friend David Felix, a mentally ill Haitian immigrant who was killed by the NYPD in his East Village home last April (please click the link and read the article. I am quite certain Felix's death sank almost without making a ripple is among the most gut-wrenching sentences Vice has ever published)
3. He IS Hip Hop
"If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don't write, because our culture has no use for it" - my favorite quote from Anais Nin easily applies to how HANiF has approached his passion for writing music his entire life. He has lived and breathed this life for his entire life and has made outlandish sacrifices to stay afloat while continuing to chase his unrelenting passion for making music.
HANiF: "I write all the time. I'll probably write about this, today. That's how I process things. I mean, you have an experience that is dope. You have an emotion about it. You write from that emotion"
4. He has earned his stripes
I don't believe in the idea of overnight success, however the paths of some are far rougher than others. HANiF's story is one that documentaries are made of. A painfully poetic tale of incarceration, poverty, and the inability to catch a break. Anyone who knows art knows the best of it is born in pain and is afforded to those who fight through whatever it is for what they want. There isn't much HANiF won't endure to continue his career in music including driving himself from city to city in a sketchy van - with extremely limited funds - to tour with Pete Rock and Slum Village. And now, as a brand-new father, he has made the ultimate sacrifice for his son - leaving New York City and moving back to Portland again to provide a more fruitful life for his family.
HANiF and the Legendary Pete Rock
5. HANiF believes in the future of Hip Hop
Let's be honest - many of us have lost faith in the direction Hip Hop is heading in. I asked HANiF if there is an impending return to artistry or is this the End of Days? Will it just be Young Thug and the like until we all kill ourselves?
"Young Thug is on his way out. Tupac is on his way back in. At some point, people are going to start demanding the same thing from their music that they demand from their workplace, their relationships, etc. They are going to start demanding authenticity and some sort of return. I've been listening to rap for 20 years; it all goes in waves," HANiF answered.
Although they seem few and far between these days, new artists who are able to be stylistically relevant while remaining respectful and loyal to the foundation do exist. And true music lovers have a responsibility to support these artists and do our part to keep the craftsmanship alive.
Every May 6th-12th is International Nurses Week, a time where we celebrate nurses and shine a spotlight on a profession that is rarely glamorous. It is a wonderful tradition steeped in history that culminates in the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern day nursing. This year, for the first time since becoming a nurse, I have struggled with how to acknowledge and celebrate the event. I have been a nurse for 28 years, 19 of which as an Adult Nurse Practitioner, and I pride myself on being an outspoken advocate for nursing. I aim to highlight the role of nurses globally and am, at my core, a nurse advocate. However I also know, that in spite of the overwhelming data demonstrating the foundational role of nurses and the sheer volume of nursing presence as the largest cadre of health providers globally, we are still only making small gains on promoting nurses to leadership positions. The rate of change in advancing nursing leadership has been almost imperceptible to date. Our attempts at increasing nurse visibility and illuminating our numbers and our self-advocacy are simply not enough. Our strategy is not working. We can no longer insist nurses are leaders just because we are nurses---but rather we must show that we are leaders because of what we can do, because of our unique skills and because of the vital role we play in a team. Why is this important? This is vital because we need a radial and cataclysmic change in global health care delivery.
Ebola rocked the world globally. We all had front row seats watching the worst fast-moving epidemic of our lifetime devastate three vulnerable countries in West Africa. As the media attention of Ebola dimmed, these countries continued to struggle with a vast array of health system challenges. Prior to the Ebola epidemic, Sierra Leone had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and now it is assumed to be much worse.
In 2012 the gap for the health system strengthening in West Africa was estimated to be $1.58 billion--this is a third less than the $4.3 billion that international community pledged to fight Ebola.The nature of emergency funding strategies currently widely practiced is too narrow and neglects the need for comprehensive efforts that simultaneously address the acute crisis at hand but also focuses on overall health system strengthening.
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While there have been improvements in surveillance and infection control of Ebola in all three countries, access to primary health care and basic life-saving services like routine surgery remain elusive. We need to change the emergency aid paradigm and invest in health systems to prevent global threats like Ebola from emerging in the first place. Ebola acted as a litmus test for societies and health systems--- it illuminated the abysmal state of health care in West Africa and the resulting isolationist behavior that the US exhibited by focusing on closing our borders, rather than turning resources to fighting the real enemy on the frontlines in West Africa; the enemy being a weak health system.
Now that Ebola has faded into the distance for those of us here in America, we have the Zika virus bombarding the media waves. Meanwhile chronic emergencies such as TB, HIV and cancer bubble under the surface, often not warranting a front page headline. What will be our next Ebola? What will kill thousands needlessly? Who will take up arms in defense of those suffering? Nurses.
The portrait of the nurse at the bedside with a cool hand on the brow of the sick child, although compelling, presents a one dimensional caregiver. Of course we provide comfort, serve with compassion and value our connection with our patients. In my role as the Chief Nursing Officer at Partners In Health (PIH) during our Ebola response I saw nurses in Sierra Leone efficiently running Ebola treatment units, juggling complex and dangerous working conditions with minimal staff and supplies. Today I see nurses in Boston managing large hospital systems, individuals responsible for multi-million dollar budgets. I see nurses in rural Haiti, Rwanda, and Malawi running massive community health programs that pioneer models of comprehensive treatment capacity for malnutrition and HIV/AIDS. I see midwives in Lesotho working to address maternal mortality with the Ministry of Health and scale up their program to a national scale. I see nurses in rural Liberia, hours away from the nearest paved road, fighting to build a health system from scratch. I see nurses in Russia addressing the rising HIV crisis amongst pregnant women by providing expert clinical care at patient's homes. I see nurses in Peru who have fought for decades to keep MDR-TB treatment affordable and accessible for all. And I see nurses in Mexico and the Navajo Nation who, as deeply embedded members of their community, serve as advocates for their patients and fight to break down barriers that prevent them from accessing care.
How do we do all of these things? We build, assess, evaluate and adapt systems. We are experts in logistics and operations. We get things from point A to point B via complex supply chains-- and when such a system is not available, we innovate and get the stuff where we need to get it. We manage money, squeeze the last dime out of every dollar, and make difficult life and death choices every day. When we don't have a tool we need to get the job done, we invent equipment to improve care delivery or we leverage technology to improve health systems in any setting. We build excellent teams and value communication as a key element of success. We measure, evaluate and research key areas to assess impact of our interventions. We are adaptable, flexible and innate problem-solvers.
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Although I am a strong nurse leader, I am advocating for a decision algorithm that chooses the right provider, right place, right time and right tools. We need to focus on who is best to provide quality and accessible care and advocate for a fully integrated inter-professional and trans-disciplinary team. There is so much to do to address health inequities globally. Our fight for universal health care and coverage has to remain front and center at international, national and local policy tables. We cannot let the distracting political landscape in the US allow us to stray from our resolve to make this issue a resounding, loud and unrelenting priority.
By Dylan Scott
WASHINGTON -- As the clock ticks toward Jan. 20, 2017, the Obama administration is racing to burnish its health care legacy, introducing major new initiatives that will take full effect just weeks before the president leaves office.
The ranks of the uninsured have dropped dramatically since the passage of the Affordable Care Act six years ago. But administration officials are now hustling to use other parts of the law to reshape how health care itself is delivered across the United States.
They're trying to tackle the biggest health care issue of the day -- drug prices -- and setting ambitious goals for revamping how primary care is provided. They have also undertaken significant new efforts when it comes to paying for surgeries and preventing disease.
"What will happen over the next eight months is as much as these projects can be accelerated, they will be," said Kathleen Sebelius, the former US Health and Human Services secretary. "The time clock is very much in everybody's mind."
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Every administration tries to get as much done as it can before time runs out, but this White House has a tool that none of its predecessors did: an agency created by the Affordable Care Act and given $10 billion over 10 years to test new models for paying for and delivering health care.
The administration seems intent on stretching the authority given to this new agency, called the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, as far as it can in its final days. The agency, for instance, recently proposed a new plan for overhauling Medicare Part B drug payments -- and it's mandatory for many providers.
"They are definitely taking a broad interpretation of the authority and using it as a vehicle," said Caroline Pearson, senior vice president at Avalere Health, an independent consulting firm. "They're trying to push through as much regulatory reform as they can."
The administration said that 34 initiatives have been announced or are currently being tested at CMMI.
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Broadly speaking, the agency has stuck to widely supported ideas for improving health care. That means paying doctors as a group to treat a patient instead of for each individual service, which should foster cooperation. And it means encouraging preventive care to forestall more costly problems down the road.
"We believe delivery system reform, and the work of the innovation center, is truly bipartisan," said Dr. Patrick Conway, chief medical officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who oversees CMMI. "We think it will continue beyond this administration."
But some of its work is highly controversial -- and will still be in its infancy when the next administration takes over, putting it at risk of being undone.
The second part of the Medicare drug overhaul, which aims to encourage doctors to prescribe less expensive drugs without sacrificing the quality of care, is currently expected to take effect after Jan. 1, 2017.
The pharmaceutical industry is lobbying hard against it, and some physician and patient groups have also said they are deeply concerned. Republicans in Congress have already urged the White House to withdraw the proposal altogether. The opponents describe the plan as an overreach of what CMMI was intended to do and warn it could compromise the care that cancer patients receive.
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"The part that maybe was unforeseen was the size of the demo, the fact that it was mandatory, the length of time that it was in existence, and the lack of detail about pretty significant changes" to drug payments from the insurance program, Lori Reilly, executive vice president of policy and research at PhRMA, told reporters at a recent briefing.
There is some disagreement about what would need to be done to undo what the Obama White House is trying to accomplish -- Could a President Trump just sign a piece of paper? Or would he need to go through the regulatory process? What about any contracts that have been signed? -- but everybody acknowledges that a GOP president and a Republican Congress could find a way to stop the plans that this administration has put into motion.
"If the Republicans win and get their acts together, I think Phase 2 never gets implemented," Pearson said. "It probably doesn't go anywhere."
Those who worked at CMMI over the years say limbo has become a semi-permanent state at the agency after the Supreme Court cases and congressional repeal votes of the last seven years.
"We were always in a constant state at CMMI of wondering whether or not we had a future," said Andy Shin, who helped launch the agency. "The worst thing for us to do is to start something that's reversed tomorrow."
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Conway has overseen much of this work so far, and he talks with great enthusiasm about the center's efforts.
He said he read a book called "The Other Side of Innovation," which outlines how to turn "big ideas" into tangible results and spoke with venture capitalists about how to encourage a "startup" mentality inside one of the federal government's biggest bureaucracies. The tools at his disposal were immense.
"It always was known within the department how broad that authority is," Sebelius said. CMMI "is probably the single most potentially impactful element of the ACA."
Conway remembers walking through the halls of HHS in earlier years, where then-CMS administrator Don Berwick would tell him: "You're doing a great job, Patrick. Just keep going faster and better."
CMMI's output suggests Conway took that to heart. But the work has always been about negotiating between short-term and long-term goals, a friction all the more relevant as the administration winds down.
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"We always feel the urgency of the need to move," he said.
But at the same time, "we view this a long-term journey," he said. "The way we have tried to manage is: One, where do we want to be in several years? We really manage then down to 90-day cycles. What do we have to do in the next 90 days?"
The agency has been credited with some staggering improvements in health care quality. A government report last year found thousands of lives and billions of dollars have been saved since 2010 because fewer people are experiencing complications at the hospital, and it pointed to the new payment models as a contributor. Its first-of-its-kind agreement with the state of Maryland to cap health care costs has shown encouraging early returns, according to Health Affairs.
Not every test has been a success, though. Initial results of one program targeting primary care didn't show any savings. "What we're seeing is delivery service reform is really hard," Pearson said.
"Most of its efforts and investments are going to take a little bit of time to know," said Cindy Mann, a former top CMS official, said. "There's no silver bullet in this business."
That only increases the stakes of the presidential election for CMMI and projects like the Medicare drug-payment demonstration. A Trump-led government could of course repeal the entire law and yield the whole experiment moot.
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Or, in the other direction, the next administration could follow the Obama administration's lead and take an expansive view of what CMMI is allowed to do. What that would lead to under a Republican administration is anybody's guess.
Over 21,000 supporters showed up to support common sense at Senator Bernie Sanders' rally in Sacramento Tuesday night.
Many of Bernie's supporters were lined up for hours outside the stadium. When they finally got in, Bernie came out and spoke. It felt more like a rock concert than a political rally. Emotions ran high, and people were extraordinarily excited, as chants of "BERNIE, BERNIE, BERNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" rang throughout the stadium the whole night.
Many on the right say that Bernie supporters are extreme left-wing ideologues who want "free stuff." No, they are 18-to-25-year-old college students who are already in massive debt and just want common sense. I frequently discuss politics on Periscope, and I have a good handful of viewers from other countries who consider Bernie a moderate.
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This is how far to the right our economic policies have gotten. A lot of people I talk to think it's a good thing that young college students have to spend years working off their debt. These opinions stem from the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, which were an utter joke and have been massively harmful to those who are not in the top one percent. However, these policies, have been clinged to by those in the one percent.
The people at Bernie's rallies realize that it's 2016, and that it's time for America to catch up to the rest of the world. In most industrialized countries, being healthy doesn't cost money and isn't left up to the profit motive. In most industrialized countries, young people don't have to pay for college. I could go on, but finally, in most industrialized countries, power isn't supplied by cutting and burning rocks.
I only want my tax dollars to go to education, health care and other necessities, instead of going to oil companies, weapons manufacturers and prisons. If my tax dollars went to the right things, that's how Bernie's plans would work. This is how the rest of the industrialized world does things, but the rich in this country hide behind things like "tradition" to continue getting what they want. You know, how working as a coal miner is a "family tradition," which is why we can't switch to solar and wind.
The rich are also really good at coming up with creative euphemisms. "Free stuff" is one. "Free stuff" when it comes to helping people is a good thing, but the rich are the ones who truly get things for free. Another is "entitlements," and that's where the Democrats have really blown it. First off, the real people who act entitled are the ones who have a lot of money, don't do a lot of work and pay very little in taxes. Second--and this is what the Democrats need to use to combat the Republican's "entitlements" argument--being healthy and being properly educated ARE entitlements. You know, like the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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Long before the birth of Teamsters for a Democratic Union in the mid-1970s, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) was hostile terrain for creating model local unions. In the 1930s, warehouse workers and drivers in Minneapolis revitalized Teamsters Local 574, under the leadership of Farrell Dobbs and other labor radicals. They organized widespread community support for a citywide general strike--now much celebrated by labor historians. After its success, Dobbs and other Teamster militants helped organize over-the-road trucking throughout the mid-west.
What was Local 574's reward from the IBT? It wasn't a lot of favorable publicity in the Teamster magazine. Instead, General President Dan Tobin expelled the Minneapolis strikers from the union in 1935. A year later, the membership of 574 was readmitted but under a new local charter. When the politics of Local 544 (its successor) continued to offend Teamster headquarters, the local was put under trusteeship and its elected officers ousted in 1941. Among the Teamster goon squad members dispatched to Minneapolis for that dirty work was Jimmy Hoffa, father of the current IBT president and an admirer of Dobbs' organizing methods (if not his Trotskyist views).
Labor educator Bob Bussel's new book, Fighting For Total Person Unionism: Harold Gibbons, Ernest Calloway, and Working Class Citizenship (University of Illinois Press, 2016) describes a lesser-known effort to remake another Midwestern IBT local--without drawing the same kind of fire from Tobin's successors, including Hoffa himself.
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The positive, but less threatening, changes made in St Louis Local 688 occurred under the leadership of Harold Gibbons. Gibbons developed a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Hoffa, during the latter's rise to power in the 1950s and '60s. His closest local collaborator was Ernest Calloway, a leading African-American trade unionist, labor editor, and civil rights activist, who met Gibbons when they were both Depression-era organizers in Chicago.
Like Harvard-educated Powers Hapgood, the industrial union activist profiled in Bussel's previous biography, Gibbons and Calloway were sympathetic to democratic socialism. (For more on Bussel's earlier book, see http://www.thenation.com/article/crimson-coal-seam/) Neither had positive experiences with the Communist Party or the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) affiliates most influenced by CP members. They came from coal mining families in Pennsylvania and Kentucky respectively; Calloway actually worked in the mines and once described himself as a "black hillbilly."
Their shared union vision was shaped, in part, by youthful "exposure to the UMWA, which had an admirable if imperfect record of attempting to organize across racial and ethnic lines." Their personal development as working class leaders owed much to labor education--in Gibbons' case, a summer school stint at the University of Wisconsin's School for Workers and in Calloway's case, attending Brookwood Labor College and, later, Ruskin College in Oxford.
From CIO to IBT
Gibbons aided organizing or strikes among adult educators employed by the Works Progress Administration, Chicago taxi drivers, and, later, textile workers throughout Illinois and Indiana. Calloway became a member of Gibbons' AFT-affiliated teachers union and then plunged into CIO organizing of African-American "red caps" who assisted railway passengers with their baggage. In 1940, he bravely risked imprisonment as "one of the first African-Americans to seek conscientious objector status solely on the basis of racial discrimination"---a stance not popular with red cap union officials, particularly after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
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During the war, Gibbons moved to St. Louis. There, he took over a warehouse workers local affiliated with the CIO, engineered its rebranding as an independent union and, then in 1949, "stirred disbelief and anger in both local and national labor circles" by merging with the IBT. Calloway was among those he recruited to help implement "his vision of socially engaged unionism," amid the larger "unabashed pragmatism" of the Teamsters.
In the heyday of Local 688 during the 1950s, "total person unionism" is not a term that either Gibbons or Calloway would have employed. But their conception of how a good local should function--with members strongly connected to the union and the union playing an influential role in the community--remains quite relevant today. One of organized labor's under-utilized resources is rank-and-file connections to community institutions, whether churches, neighborhood associations, ethnic and fraternal organizations, political clubs, or other civic groups.
Gibbons and Calloway built their local into a social and political force in St. Louis by encouraging what Bussel calls "working class citizenship"--rank-and-file activism in the community and local politics, as well as on the job. Local 688 formalized this approach with an actual "community stewards" program, training hundreds of members and then deploying them in electoral campaigns and local political struggles for racial justice, better public services, and a healthy urban environment. Bussel lauds these efforts to turn an "occupationally and racially diverse union of 10,000 members" into "a model of labor progressivism that gained national and even international attention."
In a 1946 speech--that could serve as a rebuke to certain "organizing unions" and workers centers today--Gibbons "articulated the profound psychological dimension that lay at the core of his philosophy of unionism." In his view, union building was not the job of "college professors, smart lawyers, or high salaried executives." But rather, it was a task for "the men and women of the shops," where "far too many of us fail to realize our powers, our abilities, our potentialities."
Left Cover for Hoffa?
Local 688 was, in short, not the kind of mobbed-up, big city Teamster local more typical of Jimmy Hoffa's emerging power base in the 1950s. But, as Bussel notes, "an ally of Gibbons' caliber and reputation" was useful to Hoffa's plan to succeed Dave Beck as Teamsters president during a period when Teamster racketeering and corruption tainted all of organized labor and led to the IBT's 1957 expulsion from the AFL-CIO.
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According to Bussel, Gibbons hitched his wagon to Hoffa in the hopes that the latter's "mastery of power relations might be harnessed in the support of a more ambitious social agenda." In the early 1960s, Gibbons even left St. Louis to serve as Hoffa's executive assistant at Teamster headquarters. In that capacity, he persuaded his boss to make a $25,000 donation to Dr. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference. But then "Hoffa rejected Gibbons' suggestion that he speak at King's 1963 March on Washington and also refused to seek strong anti-discrimination language in trucking contracts."
Bussel reports that Gibbons "experienced continual frustration in his efforts to enlarge Hoffa's perspective on racial justice" and "remained an isolated voice on the issue that he regarded as essential to restoring the trade union movement's moral legitimacy." Hoffa, for his part, kept his sidekick from St. Louis on "a short leash." Hoff was "fiercely ascetic in his personal life" and, thus, disapproved of Gibbon's "womanizing" and "hanging out in nightspots and hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities," a bon vivant lifestyle supported by his IBT expense account. (As longtime Chicago labor activist Sid Lens once noted, Harold was "a man of many contradictions.")
After Hoffa was jailed in 1967 for jury tampering, attempted bribery, and fraud, he left Frank Fitzsimmons in charge of the IBT. Gibbons did not fare well under Fitz, as he was known. To Gibbons' credit, he was an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War and played a key role in Labor for Peace, hosting its founding conference in St. Louis. He even joined a trade union delegation to Hanoi during the war, met with top North Vietnamese officials, and conducted Washington briefings on his trip when he returned.
Enemy of Tricky Dick and Fitz
Such activities landed him on the famous "enemies list" maintained by Republican President Richard Nixon. Closer to home, Gibbons bucked Fitzsimmons by casting the only Teamster executive board vote against endorsing Nixon for re-election over Democrat George McGovern in 1972. Fitzsimmons remained Nixon's leading labor ally until the latter's forced resignation, in disgrace, during the Watergate scandal two years later.
In the meantime, Fitzsimmons retaliated against Gibbons by replacing him as Teamsters Central Conference chairman and warehouse division director. A few months afterwards, Gibbons was even forced to resign from his elected positions at Teamsters Joint Council 13 and Local 688. In Bussel's description, that purge signaled the end of a "twenty year quest for total person unionism that Gibbons and Calloway had pursued in St. Louis." Gibbons retreated to a life of retirement luxury in Palm Springs, CA. "closer to the celebrity culture that had long captivated him." Shortly before he died in 1982, the one-time syndicalist firebrand was reduced to begging the Reagan Administration (unsuccessfully) for a job as director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.
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Unlike Gibbons, Calloway remained politically engaged at the grassroots level in St. Louis. When their joint vision of an activist, community-minded union was no longer achievable in Local 688, Calloway became a neighborhood organization leader. He was also a locally influential writer and teacher of urban studies, civil rights leader, and mentor to community activists. When he died in 1989, The St. Louis Post Dispatch hailed him as a man who "labored for the underdog," declaring that "St. Louis is a better place for his efforts." Calloway's union career may have been overshadowed, in his lifetime, by that of his high-flying Teamster co-worker. But, now thanks to Bussel's dual biography treatment, this "rugged fighter for social justice" will get the broader recognition he deserves.
Fighting for Total Person Unionism should not be relegated to the labor history bookshelf; too much of its content will seem eerily familiar to anyone active in U.S. unions over the last 35 years. The management resistance and labor movement dysfunction that Gibbons and Calloway struggled to overcome, while building worker organizations of a better sort, have definitely not disappeared. And within the union officialdom, there is still no shortage of the same personal and political contradictions that Harold Gibbons displayed, during his rise and fall as a singular Teamster.
News / National
by Thobekile Zhou
Zanu PF MP Joseph Chinotimba has told parliament that it would be noble for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to mint a $100 bond coin.He said this will clear confusion on planned bond notes.Chinotimba suggested in Parliament this afternoon that $1, $2 to $100 should be minted as people are resisting the bond notes.On Wednesday last week, RBZ announced that as measures to curb cash crisis it was injecting bond notes into the market.The bond notes are an extension of bond coins.All along RBZ had been saying the cash crisis was not widespread.But banks have been allowing clients to withdraw a maximum of $200 daily.Responding to Chinotimba's proposal, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the suggestion was difficult to implement as people would need an entire truckload of $5 coins to buy some goods.
In the developed world, we take the universal availability of the Internet largely for granted. That connectivity in turn creates tremendous opportunities and benefits for individuals and businesses alike. What we often forget is that less than half of the world's population has access to the Internet. Most of the 4 billion people who live in an unconnected world live in developing countries in Africa and South Asia. The problem is particularly acute for the billion people with the lowest incomes, who tend to live in rural areas of developing countries where there is little or no infrastructure to provide connectivity. This lack of access to connectivity leaves billions cut off from the Internet and thus the ability to use it to improve their lives and economic situations.
Recently, technology leaders and policymakers have placed increasing focus on bringing the world's 4 billion unconnected online. For example, Google and Facebook are investing in advanced new technologies, including balloons and drones, and Microsoft and others are investing in TV White Spaces, which delivers high-speed internet over long distances through unused spectrum. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Kerry recently hosted world leaders to launch the Global Connect Initiative, which seeks to catalyze policy makers and donors to do more to push for universal access.
The increased attention on universal connectivity is essential because the evidence suggests that there does need to be a major paradigm shift in order to bring the bottom 4 billion online. At SSG Advisors with support from the mSTAR project of FHI 360, we've been working with technologists, industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs and policymakers from around the world to explore what it would take to bring the bottom billion online. Our analysis focused on the toughest use case: the rural poor living in less developed countries.
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Through interviews and design thinking workshops in Silicon Valley, India, Kenya, the Philippines and Washington D.C., we learned that current approaches to providing Internet connectivity (which happen primarily through mobile networks) are reaching their limits. Mobile network operators have done an impressive job connecting the world with voice and data services. However, we uncovered broad consensus that most industry players do not see rural, low-income markets as commercially viable. This disconnect threatens to leave billions of people - especially in rural parts of Africa and Asia - without access to the Internet.
At the same time, through our analysis and interviews, we also saw cause for optimism that we can make rapid progress to bring the bottom billion online. We met numerous entrepreneurs across Africa and Asia who have developed innovative, ultra low-cost Internet access services to rural and base of the pyramid (BoP) customers. Mawingu, for example, is bringing broadband to rural parts of the northern Kenya. In the Philippines, a new start-up, Wi-Fi Interactive Networks (WIN), is using a novel partnership with a major consumer packaged goods manufacturer to deliver free Wi-Fi to BoP consumers who purchase these products. In Nigeria, ViRural will be launching an innovative mobile service that will connect thousands of rural villages to 2G, 3G and community Wi-Fi for the first time.
High-profile efforts by Google and Facebook focus on developing new, breakthrough technologies. But most efforts to extend connectivity on a commercial basis to the BoP are creatively leveraging existing, proven technologies, rather than developing new ones. These efforts rely on innovative strategies to supplement customer revenue with other income streams and drive down costs. Commoditized communications technologies, renewable energy, local switching, and local content servers are just a few of many cost-saving elements. They also rely on local entrepreneurs as agents and advocates and drive income through content and value-added services, developing alternative revenue streams from both consumers and third parties.
Even with these very promising emerging business models, BoP connectivity start-ups face numerous challenges to scaling their solutions. First and foremost, these companies, despite their early commercial success, must contend with the perceived high risk of BoP markets and the relative lack of focus by key stakeholders and investors on connectivity for low-income populations. This can make accessing early-stage capital extremely challenging. Secondly, these start-ups lack access to the relationships and expertise they need to reach scale. While tech incubators and accelerators have proliferated across Asia and Africa, most are focused on the mobile app economy, not on supporting rural connectivity infrastructure businesses. Lastly, in many countries, the regulatory environment is extremely complex and often tailored to large companies and incumbent systems, not innovative start-ups and new approaches.
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The increased focus on universal connectivity by leading companies and policymakers creates a fantastic opportunity to bring these efforts together, marshalling the resources, the leadership, and the partnerships that are needed to grow the businesses that can bring the benefits of Internet connectivity to the world's most challenging markets. It is now up to technology companies, governments, and investors to take the next step. By working together to identify, nurture, and scale promising BoP connectivity businesses through early-stage blended finance, incubation services, and policy reform, we can bring the bottom billion online and create opportunities for economic and social development in rural communities across Africa and Asia.
When we moved to the little village of Cotacachi, in the northern Andes Mountains of Ecuador, one of the biggest pieces of personal baggage we shed was our car.
Cotacachi, Ecuador
Public transportation is cheap and plentiful in Ecuador, as it is in many of the most popular overseas retirement destinations -- making it possible to take the overhead of owning, maintaining, fueling, and insuring a personal car right off the top of your monthly budget.
Fortunately, we're able to walk about our daily errands ... largely thanks to the perfect day-in day-out climate we enjoy in these equatorial mountains.
Occasionally, though, we take a bus or a taxi. We've found there is a learning curve for using public transportation abroad, especially when it comes to taxis ... and especially if you're a new visitor or an inexperienced expat in unfamiliar surroundings.
Colonial Quarter, Quito, Ecuador
The first and most important piece of advice for travelers abroad goes something like this: "Establish a price before you get in."
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While taxis are everywhere, and they're by far the most convenient way of getting around a strange town, as a relative stranger in a strange land, you may have a few challenges:
1.You probably don't speak the same language as the driver.
2.You probably won't know the usual fare for getting from one place to another.
3.You may not see a meter in the taxi ... or, if you do, you discover that the driver does know at least one word of English -- "broken."
4.You assume the driver must be an honest soul and wouldn't possibly charge you more than the standard fare just because of the first three reasons above.
We assure you from personal experience that many taxi drivers are indeed honest souls who won't charge you more than the standard fare just because you're a foreigner who doesn't speak the language or know the customary fares.
Cuenca, Ecuador
We also assure you from personal experience that the percentage of these honest taxi drivers goes down in direct proportion to your proximity to spots where foreigners -- who don't know the language or the customary fares -- are looking for taxis ... such as near bus stations, airports, and hotels.
In these happy hunting grounds, you are more likely to be at least a little overcharged on your first fare or two.
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Here's how to deal with these challenges.
1.Learn some of the local language. At least learn how to say, "How much to [destination]?" Even if you don't speak another word of the language, your driver will have to assume that you do, and he will have to come up with a stated fare of some kind. This is the most basic requirement for using foreign taxis. Get the driver to name a fare before you get in, even if you don't immediately understand what he says. You'll eventually figure it out, and even if you discover later that it's incorrect, you will have a baseline to bargain from the next time you take the same trip.
2.The best way to learn the customary fare from one place to another is to ask a local. And the local that most foreigners typically have access to is the concierge, desk attendant, or host at their hotel or hostel or B&B. They will usually know how much it costs to get to your destination, and they will often call the taxi for you, which makes things much easier and, again, gives you a baseline fare to start sussing out the system.
3.Many cities have instituted programs to install meters in sanctioned taxis. This is an attempt not just to reduce the possibility of overcharging, but to let customers know that they're dealing with a licensed taxi operator instead of "independent contractors" who operate without any kind of license or regulation.
When this program was instituted in Quito, Ecuador, it was our experience that only about one in every five or six taxi meters actually worked ... according to the driver. (You can lead a taxi driver to a meter, but you can't make him use it.) When this happens, you have two options. The best, if you have the time, is to explain that you will only ride in a cab with a working meter. And off you go, looking for another driver.
4.Another option is to ... you guessed it ... ask how much the fare is and proceed as though the meter doesn't exist. (Note that both these options require some basic language skills. Also note that meters themselves can be used to inflate prices, so be careful. If you get in a taxi with a working meter, make sure it's zeroed to the base fare. We've gotten in taxis that still had the entire fare from the last ride on the meter ... which would have been our starting fare if we hadn't asked the driver to reset the meter.)
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Note: Just because a taxi driver tries to gouge you for a fare doesn't mean he or she is a criminal. In many countries around the world, it is a standard business principle to charge whatever you can get away with. Caveat emptor means the buyer alone is responsible for assessing the quality of a purchase before buying, and this is taken seriously in the taxi business.
If your customer is a foreigner who doesn't know the customary fares, as a taxi driver it can seem almost your duty to charge them as much as you can get away with, and sometimes you can get away with a lot. It's a tough business driving a taxi all day long for a buck or two a ride. A foreigner who doesn't know the customary fares and gets in your car without even asking a price first can make your whole day. So ask a price ... it's your responsibility as a customer.
This being said, it will not take you long, especially outside the big cities, to find taxi drivers who are scrupulously honest and will not overcharge you. All drivers carry personal business cards, and you should get the cards of these drivers as a matter of course so you can call them directly for rides as soon as your language skills are good enough. Such drivers who also speak English are golden, and if you spend any amount of time in a particular place, you will quickly find them and have their numbers on your cell phone speed dial.
So there you have it: Learn some of the language, get input from locals, pay attention to meters if they're in use, and ask a price before you get in.
And once you've arrived at your destination, do you tip a taxi driver?
Colonial Quarter, Cuenca, Ecuador
No. It is not customary to tip taxi drivers in Latin America or most of the rest of the world.
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Can you tip a taxi driver? Certainly. Your tip will be gratefully accepted, and it will probably ensure prompt service from that same driver next time, but not because your tip has bought you any respect or good will. You will simply be marked as someone who either doesn't know any better, doesn't mind overspending, or will tip as a matter of course, and any taxi driver worth his or her salt will value a customer like that.
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
In the Indiana primary, Donald Trump effectively secured the Republican nomination, while the presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, lost and continued to confirm that her candidacy falls flat with a significant segment of Democrats. Notwithstanding this liability, Democratic political professionals feel confident that Clinton will prevail comfortably over Trump in November. The Clinton campaign has even announced a drive to seek the votes of disaffected Republicans resistant to the notion of a Trump presidency. If the latter move sounds like the seeds of triangulation, the overall attitude exuding from the Clinton camp may well be the germinations of a November defeat for Democrats. Here are some major reasons why:
Clinton thinks she'll be helped in November by the so-called gender gap. The gender gap, however, is widely misunderstood: It is in fact a racial gap. Barack Obama lost among white women in 2008 and 2012. What created a gender gap in favor of Democrats was Obama's overwhelming support among women of color. Granted, a woman has never headed a national ticket of a major party before, so perhaps Hillary Clinton can change the Republican lean of white women. But waging an election campaign based on an unproven theory of gender politics rather than historical voting patterns is campaign malpractice.
Which leads to the second point. The New York Times recently reported that "Mrs. Clinton's campaign is repositioning itself, after a year of emphasizing liberal positions and focusing largely on minority voters, to also appeal to independent and Republican-leaning white voters turned off by Mr. Trump." Publicly declaring that you are about to begin taking your base for granted is hubris that feeds the already significant distrust of Clinton among progressives and Sanders supporters. It also reflects a failure to study history. In the 2000 election, Al Gore tacked to the middle, only to lose even his home state of Tennessee. What made Florida, and hence the national election, a cliffhanger was unexpectedly high black voter turnout. In the documentary "Counting on Democracy," Gore's campaign manager, Donna Brazile, admits that the campaign had failed to focus sufficiently on black voters, particularly with respect to educating them about the utterly confusing voting processes that would ultimately disqualify a number of their votes. The Clinton campaign sounds poised to repeat history.
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Commentator Van Jones recently issued a public warning to Democrats that Donald Trump, while hugely unpopular among black voters, could peel away enough votes in the election to take key swing states like Ohio, where he's currently polling at 15 percent. Slight changes in black turnout or support cost Democrats key contests in 2014. For instance, by doubling his support among black voters from 6 percent in 2010 to 12 percent in 2014, Republican Rick Scott was able to unexpectedly win reelection over Democrat Charlie Crist by a 1-point margin. As explained elsewhere, Republicans have neither a desire nor a need to capture the black vote; they only need to fracture it. Democrats often take the black vote for granted and have been burned by their arrogance repeatedly. Secretary Clinton may have been lulled into a sense of complacency regarding this demographic because her overwhelming support among Latino and southern black voters has essentially rendered her the Democratic nominee. But perhaps the more important figure for Clinton is the relatively low voter turnout in the primaries among these groups. Although primary turnout may not be a proxy for general election turnout, and although there may be multiple explanations for the lower turnout of the minority and youth votes this primary season, maybe--just maybe--a lack of excitement about the presumptive nomination of Clinton is a large factor.
And let's be honest: Neither substantively nor stylistically has Secretary Clinton been an inspiring candidate. On the latter characteristic, after more than three decades in public life, she should simply be a better overall candidate than she's turning out to be. On the more important matter of substantive policy, consider Secretary Clinton's response to the simple question, asked during the last Democratic debate in Brooklyn, whether she supports a $15 per hour minimum wage: "I have supported the Fight for $15." This was a reference not to her actual position on what the national minimum wage should be--she supports $12 an hour--but rather to union efforts across the country to raise the minimum wage to $15 one city and state at a time. It's clever lawyering, but does Secretary Clinton really think she can lawyer her way to the presidency? Pivoting and positioning--and leaving progressive policies and bodies (read, Lani Guinier) in the ashes--is a hallmark of Clintonian triangulation. It won't, however, inspire the necessary turnout among the Democratic base. Donald Trump, a Republican, will be running to the left of the Democratic nominee on trade and on the historical but still live issue of the Iraq War. Clinton's vote in favor of that war was almost certainly as strategic and political as it was evidence-based. It's difficult to call the Iraq War a "war of choice," and claim it was only George W. Bush's choice. If politics motivated Bush, those who voted with him were not immune from these same forces.
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Finally, the notion that well-manicured, lawyerly answers can give one the keys to the White House in a season of rebellion; and the effrontery to go public with plans to court Republicans on the assumption that the Democratic base will simply fall into line, points to the sense of entitlement that has backfired on Secretary Clinton before. Yes, the email "scandal" is a partisan witch hunt, but, knowing that Republicans would be watching her every move, why did the Secretary hand them an issue by not erring on the side of using the State Department's server? And knowing that she likely would be running for president, why take hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from an entity associated with the dysphoria caused by the Great Recession of 2008? Why? It's the sense that one can engage in unwise--though perfectly legal--conduct and not be called to answer, or when called to answer, be able to lawyer one's way out of it. That sense of entitlement could well doom the Democrats' chances in November.
Long before the Occupy movement and the ascendancy of Bernie Sanders, there was Fr. Daniel Berrigan, the fiery Jesuit who rocked the then complacent American Catholic world with its ties to government power elites. Catholics in the 1960s and '70s knew priests as 'Bells of Saint Mary's' stereotypes, men who would no sooner join a picket line or a war protest than raise a fist against their superiors.
Few young people alive today have any sense of how difficult life was for young men during the Vietnam War. That war split families apart much the same way that the Civil War set brother against brother. Draft age men who opposed the war and the draft, escaped to Canada or registered as conscientious objectors were often disowned by their families. Conversely, antiwar men and women, called 'peaceniks' by their detractors, sometimes returned the favor by disowning their war hawk parents or their military enlisted siblings. By the war's end in 1975, U.S. military personnel casualties numbered 58, 220 with 1.3 million deaths overall. This was not the era of the carefree collegiate spring break in Cancun. Life for the average young male was consumed by worry about being drafted and killed.
Fr. Berrigan broke the priest = Bing-Crosby association like a meteorite hitting Kansas City. With his younger brother, Philip Berrigan, a Josephite priest, the two made their mark as antiwar activists when they joined two other men in pouring animal and human blood on Selective Service records in Baltimore. Known as the (October 1967) Baltimore Four, this "sacrificial act" was followed six months later by another non violent raid. The Catonsville Nine involved the pouring napalm on Selective Service files in Catonsville, Maryland.
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The choice of napalm as a protest tool was significant because during the course of the war over 388,000 tons of napalm had been dropped in Vietnam.
In Napalm in the Vietnam War, Alan Rohn wrote that the wounds caused by napalm are too deep to heal. "When contacting human, napalm immediately clung to the skin and melt off the flesh. The only way to put it out is to smother it as trying to wipe it off only spread it around and expanding the burnt area." Napalm became a symbol of the war's ultimate brutality. The word was part of the general lexicon in 1970. One saw it on political posters, graffiti postings and on the cover of magazines like Time and Ramparts.
After the Catonsville Nine raid, indictments were brought against the Berrigan brothers but the priests initially evaded prosecution when they went underground. Eventually they were apprehended and served time in prison. Philip's total time in prison before his death in 2002 amounted to 11 years.
The average American Catholic at that time supported the Vietnam War. The belief then was that elected public officials knew what was best for the country. Members of the so called Greatest Generation could not wrap their minds around the concept of an illegal or unjust war. Their memories of WWII were just too vivid. The fact that the Berrigan brothers were both priests led to long stretches of silence when their names were brought up at Sunday family dinners. This was certainly true in my parents' home.
Dan and Philip were two of six sons born to Thomas William and Frida Berrigan. Thomas, a railroad engineer, had an unmanageable temper that frequently erupted into violence. Dan was a sickly child with weak ankles who didn't walk until he was four years old, a condition that kept him out of the WWII draft. He was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1952. A decade later he became familiar with the Catholic priest worker movement when he went to Paris on a teaching sabbatical. While working as a professor of New Testament Studies at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY his poetry attracted the admiration of Marianne Moore while his (Gospel-based) activism irritated the American Church's most ardent hawk, Cardinal Francis Spellman. Spellman, eager to snuff out the renegade priest and the Roman Catholic "left," had him removed from Le Moyne before he could gain tenure.
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Spellman blamed Berrigan for the self-immolation death of a young 22 year old New York Catholic Worker activist, Roger La Porte, an acquaintance of Berrigan's. On the morning of November 9, 1965, La Porte, in protest of the war in Vietnam, left the NY Catholic Worker house with a large container of gasoline. Sometime after 5 am he arrived at the United Nations Plaza and set himself on fire. A priest, Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, reported that "The intensity of the heat melted the pavement."
"He lived in agony for several hours; and, according to the priest who administered the Sacrament of Reconciliation at the hospital he made a "profound" confession. Roger insisted that he wanted to live, that he did not strike the match in order to kill himself but to try to communicate to the American people the reality of the horror and misery they were mindlessly, callously and self-righteously pouring onto the people of Vietnam."
A total of 8 American set themselves on fire in public places to protest the war in Vietnam, while many more burned their draft cards, like Catholic pacifist, David Miller, who was the first person to be prosecuted for his action. The epidemic of draft card burnings caused President Lyndon Johnson to sign a law in 1965 making it a crime to mutilate draft cards.
In 1980, Dan and Philip and six others entered a GE plant in King of Prussia where the group struck two missile nose cones with a hammer, in their words, "turning them into plowshares." Throughout his years as activist, poet and author, Dan avoided the trappings of fame but dressed simply in a Beat manner of dress. Philip left the priesthood after it was discovered that he was secretly married to Sister Elizabeth McAlister. They were excommunicated long before Philip's death in 2002.
Dan, who remained a priest until the end, wrote in To Dwell in Peace, that he "had come of age in a church that, for all its shortcomings, honored vows and promises. I had examples before me in the people of the church, especially in laypeople and nuns, of those who lived to the hilt the life commended by the Gospel. Such were my people."
His critics within the Church, included some progressive thinkers like Trappist monk Thomas Merton, who wrote in a 1968 journal entry that, "[Berrigan] is a bit theatrical these days, now he's a malefactor--with a quasi-episcopal disarmament emblem strung around his neck like a pectoral cross."
Dorothy Day, whom Berrigan credited with influencing his views on pacifism and war, disapproved of some of his protests but remained united with him in spirit. "Dorothy Day taught me more than all the theologians," Berrigan told The Nation in 2008. "She awakened me to connections I had not thought of or been instructed in--the equation of human misery and poverty with warmaking. She had a basic hope that God created the world with enough for everyone, but there was not enough for everyone and warmaking."
Kurt Vonnegut was moved to comment: "For me, Father Daniel Berrigan is Jesus as a poet, if this be heresy, make the most of it."
In the 1980s Berrigan turned his attention to the plight of gay men dying of AIDS in New York City. He would visit the sick and dying in St. Vincent's Hospital in NYC at a time when few Catholic priests would do so. True to his respect for all life, he angered political progressives when he made known his anti-abortion, pro-life views. He was not going to follow a left political agenda blindly, unlike many of today's social justice warriors. "I have always made it clear," he said in an America magazine interview, "that I am against everything from war to abortion to euthanasia. I have avoided being a single cause person. "
Before his death in the Jesuit infirmary at Fordham University, Berrigan did offer his support for the Occupy movement and Black Lives Matter, although it's doubtful he would have approved of "trigger warnings" and the insanity of "safe spaces" on college campuses.
In one poem, Berrigan writes:
Photo: dis COMPANY
Kid Creole and The Coconuts were one of the most popular bands in the 80's and became even bigger in Europe. But before the coconuts came along, August Darnell (Kid Creole), was in the Grammy-nominated band Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band (managed by Tommy Mottola, no less), and they had a major radio hit with Cherchez La Femme. Now, Bronx-born Darnell is back in the big town bringing Cherchez La Femme to the stage at La Mama in New York's East Village. Now, Bronx-born August Darnell (Kid), is back in the big town bringing Cherchez La Femme to the stage at La Mama in New York's East Village. It's been a long journey but after sitting in on a rehearsal with August and his creative team, I can confidently say the wait has been worth it. This show will bring back an 80's New York rhythm that is much in vogue in today's pop culture. Darnell spoke of his experiences during that time and how this show came to life.
TR: How did this play come about and how much of it is autobiographical?
AD: Cherchez La Femme, the Musical has its roots in the Kid Creole and the Coconuts album entitled Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places (1981). That album was a concept album that told the story of one man's journey to find the love of his life. I called it my version of Jason's search for the Golden Fleece in Greek mythology. This same story was embellished in 1984 and made into a film for television in Great Britain. It was then called Something Wrong in Paradise. A stage version of this idea was discussed with Joe Papp in New York in the late 80's but never came to fruition. Many years passed and Vivien Goldman and I decided to re-visit this story and change it into a paean to Manhattan in the 80's. Originally it was called I'm A Wonderful Thing. Version 9 became Cherchez La Femme. The story of Cherchez La Femme centers around a bandleader named Caufy Keeps and his reckless mission to rekindle his relationship with the love of his life. There is nothing autobiographical about the play except for the obvious fact that I too am a bandleader (and I too have an oversized ego)! Caufy Keeps and all the characters were inspired by a whole lot of crazy people that I have met on my incredible journey on the treacherous road we call the 'Music Business.' But to be sure, the play is a work of FICTION. Nothing more, nothing less.
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TR: What inspired the song Cherchez La Femme?
Cherchez la Femme, the song, was written in 1976. I have no idea what inspired me to write such an ugly lyric about women. I must have been watching too many James Cagney movies!
TR: Your music has a strong bond to the rhythm and energy of 70's and 80's New York City. Describe what the city was like during those days and how it was to work and live during those days.
AD: I am a product of New York City. I was born in the Bronx, and when I escaped from there I lived in Manhattan. I fell in love with the rhythm of the city; so much so that I penned what is arguably my most famous lyric: "When you leave New York you go nowhere!" I lived on Central Park South in those heady days so I had a strong appreciation of the splendor in the grass and the shudder of the streets. Many a lyric was written in the park. And many an inspiration came from hanging out at night with the mad clubbers who seemed to worship hedonism. It was a most remarkable way to spend my youth. Manhattan made me. No other city in the world (and I have been to most) could have created August Darnell. And in my humble opinion, no other city in the world has the good fortune of having so many beautiful women on parade at all hours of the day and night!
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TR: The city has changed drastically since then. How would you describe New York's energy today after the major gentrification and homogenization that has occurred? Is it less or more creatively inspiring?
AD: I do not live in New York City now. I recognize it has changed when I visit it but it does not interest me to dwell on it. Why? Because I know I am not trapped in its jaws. I can leave whenever I want to. My New York visits usually last a week. After a week I usually yearn for the idyllic tranquility of southern Sweden (where I live half the year) or the romantic trade winds of Maui (where I live the other half). But my current visit is the longest stay-over in over 2 decades. I am here working on this show and auditions and rehearsals have kept me here for over 3 months. And I have been staying in the East Village. I should point out that when I lived in Manhattan I was always a midtown guy. Living in the East Village is an eye opener. It actually reminds me of the old New York City. There is so much creativity happening in the Village. Every turn I make I see ambition and energy and creation. It's a damn good thing.
TR: You also wrote one of my favorite club hits There But For The Grace of God Go I - what inspired that?
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AD: It's a natural outgrowth of living in a city that has its racial problems and outrageous prejudices sometimes, unfortunately.
TR: You collaborated with Vivien Goldman, known as "The Punk Professor" - what were her contributions to this play?
The PUNK PROFESSOR! I love that title. Without Vivien this play would never have been written. I'd be relaxing in the Swedish countryside and Viv would be nagging me day in and day out: "Have you finished the song? Let's discuss this character's motivation! I don't agree with using curse words! Let's discuss page 35!" Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Our collaboration is a very fluid, electrifying one. I'd say the book is an amazing 50/50 creation. And that is very rare.
TR: Where do you see this play going after the run at La Mama?
AD: Well, my dreams are large. They have always been large. We hope a Commercial Producer comes along and brings it toThe Public Theatre. I had a great relationship with Joe and his wife Gail in the good old days. We even worked on a rock version of The Mikado together but then a Kid Creole tour got in the way. Such is life. The dream continues ... after the Public Theatre .... Broadway and London's West End, of course. Why not? If your dreams don't scare you, then your dreams aren't BIG enough.
Icebergs in Jokulsarlon glacier lake at sunset
Nordic leaders will meet with President Obama on a wide range of issues at the U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit in the White House on Friday, May 13. Nordic countries enjoy a close relationship with the United States, and we all work hard for a strong transatlantic bond.
The much quoted Nordic model has served us well at home, with its inclusive economic growth and high levels of social security. But core Nordic values such as open economies, a high level of political trust and commitment to equal opportunities through a strong welfare state are also important inspirations for our foreign policies.
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A joint U.S.-Nordic footprint can be seen in many fields -- we have joint action in security, climate-change policies, sustainable development, free trade and the Arctic, just to name a few. We appreciate a strong and engaged U.S. leadership on all these issues.
Security is a prerequisite for a free and prosperous society. We highly value the crucial U.S. engagement in Europe, which continues to be a cornerstone in our relationship. Nordic countries do their part, both in our home region and internationally. We contribute to stability by taking responsibility for our own security. Nordic countries are active partners in the coalition against ISIL. We are also agile partners, for instance when we played an important part in removing chemical weapons from Syria together with the United States. We are strong defenders of international law -- the Nordics have been steadfast in our support for the restrictive measures imposed on Russia.
The Nordic countries and the United States agree on the importance of countering radicalization at the local level. Under the Strong Cities Network, some Nordic and U.S. cities -- for instance Atlanta, Helsinki, Stockholm, Oslo, and Copenhagen -- are now engaged in practical outreach activities with sister cities in Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia. We encourage cities around the world to join this network.
On Arctic issues, the Nordic countries and the United States see eye to eye. The High North unites us and we plan to do more together -- both in terms of protecting the Arctic environment, but also working on opportunities in the Arctic.
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U.S. leadership is a crucial ingredient in global efforts to fight climate change. Nordic countries share this ambition and are implementing major cuts to emissions, investing in renewable energy, and promoting clean technology.
We are strong supporters of free trade and sustainable development. Our economies are characterized by high levels of economic equality and strong and independent social partners in the labor market. But as small countries, our economies rely on innovation and a global market.
The U.S. inspires with an unmatched ability to attract and develop the best minds, as well in matching the best ideas with capital. This is something many of our own companies benefit from. The U.S. remains a land of opportunity, as it was when many of our countrymen and women migrated to your shores in the 19 and early 20 century.
In our foreign policy, our belief in free trade translates to a strong support for fair trade opportunities for developing countries, investment in education for all, and fighting protectionism.
A key value that we want to underline is our commitment to equal opportunities, regardless of gender, wealth or ethnicity. To us, equal opportunities are about both values and interests. We applaud President Obama's leadership also on this issue. Promotion of fundamental and inclusive values is more important than ever, both in Europe and globally.
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Gender equality and empowering women are high priorities both at home and abroad. Providing equal opportunities is smart business, it stimulates growth and increases competitiveness. The private sector understands this. There are still many glass ceilings in dire need of breaking, but the women running some of the biggest American companies show the way forward.
The Nordic countries have a strong engagement for peace and reconciliation. These are particularly fragile processes for societies. We know that inclusive peace processes are more likely to lead to peace agreements. It goes without saying that it would be senseless to sideline half of the population when decisions concerning all are made. Therefore, all of our efforts for peace and development have the gender dimension at their core. We have established the Nordic Network of Women Mediators. We use our resources to make sure that women have a place at the table, for instance by supporting the Syrian women network in Geneva.
Globalization has amplified both opportunities and challenges. The pace is higher in international politics; effects are more immediate than before. The relevance of our transatlantic partnership, and the solid foundation that it is built upon, is only increasing. The U.S.-Nordic Leaders Summit provides a welcome opportunity to develop our deep cooperation and partnership further.
The authors are each the minister for Foreign Affairs for their respective countries:
* Lilja Alfresdottir, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Iceland
* Brge Brende, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway
* Kristian Jensen, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Denmark
* Timo Soini, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Finland
As several politicos have noted, 2016 is an "outsider" election year, as voters on both sides are rebelling against their parties' rulers. For the political establishment that destroyed the country's working class with foreign and domestic policy blunders alike, ranging from the Iraq War to the economic collapse to a variety of bad trade deals, the chickens are finally coming home to roost. Even politicians like Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) have realized this is what's driving campaigns like businessman Donald Trump's on the right and Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) on the left. But as we enter the final stretch of the primary season, the key difference now is the Republican establishment is making peace with the fact that Trump will be their nominee, barring anything unexpected happening in Cleveland. And despite Trump's gaffes and brash attitude towards campaigning, he's indeed winning the GOP's popular vote and bringing excited people into the party, including many Independents and Democrats. This shows how strong the resentment for the establishment is with voters in 2016, and highlights what the Trump campaign is doing right. Because while Trump may mistakenly blame immigrants and Muslims for a variety of unverified problems, he isn't wrong to rail against a corrupt political class of politicians who no longer work for the American people, as well as their financiers.
In their 1973 song "For the Love of Money," the O'Jays--a black R&B soul/funk group out of Canton, Ohio--sing about the almighty dollar. For and with money, people "do things, do things, bad things," as the lyrics go. Even though the track was released nearly 43 years ago, its overarching message is strangely applicable today, especially given recent developments regarding Ohio and money--that "mean green"--involving Tamir Rice.
The city of Cleveland reached a $6 million settlement in a lawsuit over the death of Rice, a 12-year old black boy shot by a white officer at a recreational center playground in November 2014. Though the city accepts no admission of police wrongdoing in the fatal encounter, that it will pay $5.5 million to Tamir Rice's estate and $250,000 to his mother and sister, respectively, speaks volumes. "Although historic in financial terms," a Rice family lawyer noted in a statement, "no amount of money can adequately compensate for the loss of a life." This is undeniably so. We cannot quantify nor should we place a monetary value on any human life whatever the race, color, or complexion. Period.
Yet, there are many instances that appear to do just that. As Jamil Smith notes, "$6 million is about the going rate for a black life ended by the police." The assessment is based on payments cities agreed to pay the families of Eric Garner ($5.9 million by New York City), Freddie Gray ($6.4 million by the city of Baltimore), and Walter Scott ($6.5 million by the city of North Charleston, SC)--all cases in which police killed black men. In the case of Rekia Boyd, a 22-year old black woman fatally shot and killed by an officer, the Chicago City Council approved a lower settlement of $4.5 million.
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None of these remotely suggests that justice, by any stretch of the word or imagination, has been served. There is no question about that. What this occasions, then, is an opportunity--one that should not be missed--to ponder the irony, implicit and otherwise, of determining and assessing the "cost" of black life. Consider the nexus and historical dynamics governing African Americans--black bodies--and money or capital(ism). Until 1865, enslaved blacks were chattel and unpaid laborers, to say the least. As property, their relationship to money and value was precarious. Blacks simultaneously held (property) value--an actual sale or market price based on variables, such as skills, age, utility, reproductive capacities--and also in the sense that their very labor yielded capital; in fact, some were too valuable for dangerous work. Yet, black life in and of itself held practically no value. The reality was that blacks could be discarded and killed with impunity and, mostly, without consequence. If there were ramifications, these were typically grounded in the overarching notion that the punishment was not for taking a life--killing a black person--but, rather, was property damage.
The multi-million-dollar settlement involving police in the death of a black person lends itself to larger overarching questions. What does it mean for blacks--who generated money through production, their free labor, and reproduction (by populating more free laborers and the American economy)--to now garner money in police or state-involved deaths? And have blacks in such instances of settlements gone from a past of being "money"--as actual collateral--to being "collateral" damages?
In the 1830s to the Civil War, banks served plantations and accepted enslaved blacks as collateral for mortgages, equipment, land, and for other enslaved individuals. In Louisiana, Citizens Bank and Canal Bank (non-extant predecessors of J.P. Morgan Chase) were widely known for such practices. Just over a decade ago, in 2005, J.P. Morgan issued an apology "to the African-American community, particularly descendants of slaves, and to the rest of the American public for the role that Citizens Bank and Canal Bank played" in "a brutal and unjust system." In essence, their actions dehumanized and monetized blacks while simultaneously enabling the system of slavery--human bondage--to flourish and continue to exist. Perhaps, like Chase, one day other entities and cities, such as Cleveland, will admit their culpability and, equally important, will condemn and cease the deadly acts and behaviors (still normalized in the system) that account for the devaluation and death of black lives. Ideally, we might live in a world in which there is no violence, whether by police or citizens, against folks because of race, gender (conforming or non-conforming), or on any other basis.
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That one might estimate, then, the "going rate" of black life at the hands of police at roughly $6 million is provocative. Moreover, that the U.S. Treasury has also recently announced that Harriet Tubman--a formerly enslaved black woman and abolitionist known as "Moses" for her active role in emancipating scores of enslaved blacks--will be on the $20 bill is historic and consequential, and--in a sense--perhaps even "manifest destiny". Imagine that. The same government that prospered from the enslavement and state-sanctioned rape and sexual exploitations of black women to produce the (slave) economy is now the very same one that will afford a black woman the status of being on money instead of serving as or producing it.
Photo: Jeremy Chivers
Prof Tom Fletcher CMG is the Global Strategy Director of the Global Business Coalition for Education.
I was back in Jordan and Beirut last week, as part of a visit to four countries in four days to promote the effort to get 1m Syrians back to school. Jordan was where I first studied Arabic. And Lebanon? That's a longer story, told elsewhere on this blog. The short version is that it has a special place in my heart. Going back was just one more addict returning to their drug.
As UK Ambassador in Lebanon for four years, I was involved in the diplomatic effort to stop the war in Syria. We failed to do so, with the grim consequences that continue to follow - on the BBC last week, I joined others in despairing at the continued flouting of that most basic rule of war: don't kill doctors.
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That failure of diplomacy is one reason for my involvement now in education. It left me determined that children fleeing conflict in the Middle East and beyond deserved the education they craved. Imagine those 1m Syrian children in ten years, with education behind them - teachers, doctors, parents. The builders of a new Syria. Or imagine them in ten years without education ...
At the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul later this month, the Education Cannot Wait fund will help millions of children who are deprived of schooling because of emergency situations - including wars, natural disasters and health crises. Our aim is to raise almost $4 billion to reach 13.6 million children within five years and 75 million by 2030.
Compared with this global vision, getting 1m Syrian children into school may seem a modest aim. But the challenge is immense. In Lebanon, the government is working at an extraordinary pace, to get all children aged 5-17 in Lebanon into education by the end of the 2016/17 school year. Led by Elias Bou Saab, the Ministry of Education has delivered transformational results - over 200,000 Syrian children in formal schools achieved through the 2015/16 enrolment campaign. In Jordan, partnerships between government and business are aiming to get 145,000 refugee children in its state school system - I was hugely encouraged that they might just pull it off, making Jordan the Leicester City of the humanitarian effort.
I visited the Mtein Public Primary School in Lebanon, where tireless director Mrs Najah Banna told me about the challenges of operating the double-shift system. As many children arrive at school hungry, the school, supported by Theirworld, is now offering pupils milk and healthy snacks to boost their capacity to learn (and to beat visiting ex envoys in arm wrestles). Those working in schools like this are the heroes of the effort, far away from the cameras and podiums of international conferences. The students gave me extraordinary and heartening pictures of their 'safe schools', a refuge from the horror of fleeing the Syria conflict. We'll share these with world leaders in Istanbul later this month.
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I also visited a SABIS school. SABIS already have an amazing reputation for their private schools. They are now offering the same standard of education to those who cannot afford it, including hundreds of Syrians. Their founders are a great example of what can be achieved with passion, determination and application, and a counter to those who wring their hands and worry that it is just all too difficult.
In Lebanon and Jordan, I also met other business leaders who have taken on this challenge as theirs, representing the generational struggle to avoid a lost generation. Their ingenuity and drive for results could fill the gap that governments and NGOs are saying they cannot fill themselves. We're seeing the disruption of classic education models. And also the future of humanitarian action. In Istanbul, GBC-Ed will report back on how the private sector is stepping up action, building on the 75m USD of support announced at the London conference in February.
The progress in Lebanon and Jordan is incredible. But we need to do more to transport kids safely and cost-effectively to school; reach pupils with the best online educational content, so that they can take control of their learning; and build the economic opportunity so that it does not go to waste. We need more finance. But we also need more help - I believe that it is possible to create a huge collaborative effort through which anyone can offer their time, ideas and energy to the effort. Watch this space.
And maybe, through the example of national compassion and vision that they set, Lebanon and Jordan can continue the journey from countries often battered by external influence, to nations that lead and inspire those of us struggling to comprehend much smaller numbers of refugees.
They are demonstrating that there is a better answer than another brick in the wall, whatever snake oil is offered by leaders who admire the Middle East more for its demagogues than its diversity.
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And the products of this education effort can prove that the pen is still mightier than the sword.
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President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrive for their joint new conference, Friday, Sept. 25,2015, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Today, the US and China are to launch, in Washington DC, their inaugural meeting of the Senior Experts Group on International Norms in Cyberspace. This represents not only an earnest effort by the two countries to implement the important cyber-security consensus they reached during President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States last September, but also an extraordinary move by the two countries to work together for better global governance in cyberspace.
The US and China's shared interests
As the two biggest economies and beneficiaries of the rapid development of information and communications technologies (ICTs), the US and China have broad and abundant shared interests in global cyberspace governance through intensified cooperation.
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The world today, whether online or offline, is a network of both visual and physical reality. The ICTs have brought a qualitative leap in productivity, and empowered innovation, especially in artificial intelligence, IOT and three-dimensional printing, which serves as a new driver for global economy.
The digital economy is taking up an increasingly large share of GDP in both the US and China, two of the world's key players in cyberspace. In the meantime, the two countries have evolved towards a community of shared interests with each having a stake in the other.
China, for its part, has 700 million Internet users and 60,000 IT companies, among which 50 have been listed in the US, including big names like Alibaba and Tencent, with a total market cap of over 500 billion US dollars. Meanwhile, there are over 2500 IT companies from the US with investments in China generating higher returns. Qualcom, for instance, earned half of its profits in China, whereas Apple finds 50% of its new users in China.
While contributing to their respective economies, the IT companies in both countries are also helping to deepen their bilateral cooperation. The digital and technical cooperation is, in effect, part and parcel of their bilateral cooperation.
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Today, the cooperation between the two countries on this front has become even more relevant and imperative.
China is calling for new drivers of growth, as its economy has entered a new normal. Internet, in this context, has a greater role to play. China is intensifying its efforts to shift its economic development model and adjust its economic structure through vigorous implementation of, inter alia, its national strategy for development based on growing the Internet sector, national big-data strategy, the "Internet Plus" action plan as well as its programs for in-depth integration of digital and real economies.
Likewise, in the case of the US, much hinges on a robust digital economy and its intensified cooperation with China, if it is to have a sound economic recovery and greater competitiveness. Over the past 30 years, the growth rate of its digital economy is five times that of the traditional industry. Digital economy accounted for 4.7% of its GDP in 2015, which has become one of the most dynamic sector in the US.
It is thus axiomatic that the cooperation between the two countries are in line with their common interests. Such cooperation, in the meantime, also contributes to the sustainable development of global cyberspace and the advancement of human society.
The US and China's common challenges
The Internet has brought digital opportunities and dividends, but unprecedented challenges as well, in global socio-economic development. The online challenges of threats and risks are increasingly prominent, and in the meantime, they have also begun to make their way to the political, economic, cultural, social and defense domains of the society. The US and China are confronted, especially, with the following common challenges:
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- Frequent infringements of individual privacy and cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property rights as well as mounting cyber attacks and crimes. These malicious activities have put into jeopardy the legitimate rights of the general public, the economic interests of countries and the innovative capacity of society. China's websites suffer from an average of nearly 400 large-scale cyber attacks on a daily basis, and the attacks from abroad continue to rise rapidly. The US, for its part, also faced a wide array of cyber intrusions, ranging from criminal activity to cyber espionage.
- Cyber terrorism, a global public menace, poses a threat to social and public security. Terrorism, coupled with the Internet, has now been evident as the main source of violent and terrorist activities. The IS, East Turkistan and other terrorist groups take online audio and video as an important tool for dissemination of extremist ideology and terrorist tactics. They also use Internet in their organization, planning and implementation of terrorist attacks.
- Cyber attacks on national critical infrastructures. Such attacks pose severe threat to national economy and peoples' livelihood. As the neural centre of economic and social operation, the critical infrastructures in such areas as finance, electricity, communication, transportation constitute the top priority in cyber-security. Any problem, once occurred,will lead to severe traffic disruption, financial chaos or power failures with devastating consequences.
The US and China's shared responsibility
To address such challenges, the international community can only work together through intensified cooperation. There are no alternatives whatsoever. No countries can do it alone. It is thus the shared responsibility of the US and China to harness the global cyberspace.
While it is true that the US and China may sometimes be at odds with each other on some of the cyber issues, it shouldn't affect the cooperation between them. To fling accusations at each other is not a solution.
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Only through cooperation, can the US and China forge a unified and prosperous cyberspace. Otherwise, the cyberspace will divide and wither. The important cyber-security consensus the two countries reached during President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United States last September is a classic case in point, in which the two sides managed to address their differences through dialogue and cooperation.
Cyberspace by no means a lawless frontier
Though relatively new, cyberspace is by no means a lawless frontier. It should not be a breeding bed for crimes, still less, a wrestling ground for countries. To this end, it is essential that all relevant parties engage in an objective study, in the light of the very character of this new development, on the applicability of international laws without pre-conceived views. It is essential, in the meantime, that all relevant parties embark on a process, in view of the prevailing situation, of elaboration of the relevant international legal instrument in cyberspace governance within the framework of the United Nations, focusing on international norms in cyberspace in the first place.
Cyberspace is a common space for human activities, and cyber-security is, therefore, a key issue which bears on the sovereignty, security and development interests of all countries. The international behavior should be grounded in such fundamental principles of peace, sovereignty, co-governance and universal benefit in harnessing cyberspace.
The US and China's common objective
Today's inaugural meeting of Senior Experts Group on International Norms in Cyberspace is most timely. The US and China should intensify their dialogue and cooperation on cyber-security with the objective of making it a bright spot in their bilateral relations. As P5 and major players in cyberspace, the US and China should demonstrate their responsibility in advancing the process of building international norms in cyberspace, with the objective of fostering a peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace, which benefits people of all countries and safeguards international peace, security and stability.
News / Regional
by Thobekile Zhou
A staggering 6000 pigeons are being trained in Victoria Falls for a global racing event set for the resort town."Notice is hereby given to the public of the proposed World Challange Pigeon Racing Project which will include the housing, training and racing of up to 6000 pigeons from lots constructed on the property stand 1740 Victoria Falls Township" reads part of notice.It is understood that Global pigeon fanciers are stirring with excitement with news that Victoria Falls set host a new US$700,000 One-Loft race series in 2016/17.Pigeon fanciers from as far afield as USA, Canada, China, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa will participate in the inaugural Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race on 28 January 2017 and also the five preceding training races, each with prize money of $30,000.Conservation efforts and under-privileged communities will gain significantly from this event, including highly commendable anti-poaching trusts whose under-funded, yet unyielding, work in the area protects a variety of species, such as rhinos, elephants and lions.Bulawayo24.com understands that construction of a world-class loft has started and an experienced one-loft manager and racing pigeon management team is in place to control training of the birds and management of the loft, which will receive pigeons between 1 July and 1 August 2016.The final young bird race will be over 400km in tough, arid African conditions that will be a test-of-the-best and the winner will be crowned as the inaugural Victoria Falls World Challenge Pigeon Race champion and scoop the lucrative first prize of $200,000.
One of the oddest moments in a presidential campaign filled brim-spillingly with them, is the sight of the Republican Party struggling to rally around its presumptive nominee, Donald J. Trump. Perhaps "rally" is too strong of a word. More of a depressed dawdle. A lackluster loiter. Melancholy mosey. Crematory crawl.
The party is exhibiting all the enthusiasm of a condemned man walking barefoot to the gallows up 13 steps of broken glass. Like an 8-year-old forced to rip a switch off a birch tree prior to a paternal spanking. A film critic trudging through the lobby of a multiplex for a preview of the next Transformers movie.
A shame that Elizabeth Kubler-Ross died a decade ago, and can't witness all five of her Stages of Grief being spun out at the same time. Depending on where you look, the GOP can be seen going through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and a reluctant acceptance. She could even update her classic with new stages: dejection, mortification, suicidal gloom, self-immolation and eye gouging panic.
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Politicos traditionally resist change, but the way party regulars are dragging their feet on the path to partner with Trump you'd swear they were wearing cement galoshes. Encased in lead. Dragging super-gravity anvils. There's no jumping onto this bleak bandwagon. More like slithering on surreptitiously from the shadows praying that friends and family aren't paying attention.
A large faction of Republicans still cling to the desperate hope the New York businessman can be denied the nomination at the convention but in order to do so, different factions need to combine forces and the problem is; they don't get along. Classic example of the hyena and lion planning to take down the elephant but becoming way too occupied trying to eat each other. From Aesop.
Ted Cruz and John Kasich's campaigns reached a tentative agreement to clear their prospective lanes in Indiana and Oregon, but that non-aggression pact had a shorter life than a box of cupcakes in a pre-school, day-care center after a five-mile hike. Snowflakes in hell last longer. Which have now evaporated.
To double down on the fires of perdition analogy, former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, called Cruz "Lucifer in the flesh." Which led another Republican Congressman, Peter King of New York, to argue the comparison was unfair to Lucifer. "Wave your hands in the air like you just don't care. Lucifer in the house." Or rather, the Senate.
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Ignoring the insults, Ted Cruz attempted to shake things up by presumptively choosing a running mate, similar to a sophomore journalism student picking Adele to sing the theme song of his future prime-time, network television interview show.
The move seemed designed to match Trump's failed businessman card and raise him a failed woman card. But alas, to say that Carly Fiorina's slot on the ticket didn't create a lot of buzz is like saying there weren't a lot of sequined combat boots at the Washington Correspondents Dinner. Ms. Fiorina did to the Cruz campaign the same thing she did to Hewlett Packard. Only quicker.
To their credit though, you have to admit that both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump incite passion. Then again, so does flesh eating bacteria. With Trump, people either love him or hate him. Whereas with Cruz, the differences narrow to either hate or an intense dislike.
Every once in a while in the endless spin cycle that makes up politics in a hyper-mediated era, a key operative provides some actual clarity. That is what happened over the weekend when the apparent other lobe of President Barack Obama's brain for communicating geopolitics, known as Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes, unburdened himself in a New York Times Sunday Magazine profile.
In the course of lengthy discussions with writer David Samuels about how the Obama National Security Council goes about spinning the world, Rhodes thoroughly trashes the state of substantive journalism, expresses deep contempt for America's foreign policy establishment, and discusses how he and others crafted a "narrative" about the achievement of a controversial nuclear deal with Iran's latter-day "moderate" government. But, while Rhodes raises largely valuable points about the grave deficiencies of the current news media and long-term foreign policy establishment, what he doesn't address is the lack of preparedness on the part of the administration in dealing with a chaotic world it may be making even more chaotic.
"Most of the outlets," notes Rhodes, "are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That's a sea change. They literally know nothing."
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As for the US foreign policy establishment, Rhodes refers to it as "the Blob." It consists of the likes of "Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, and other Iraq War promoters from both parties who now whine incessantly about the collapse of the American security order in Europe and the Middle East."
That's harsh, but Rhodes seems pretty much on track about the devolutionary state of journalism and the intellectual ineptitude of a foreign policy establishment that backed one of the stupidest wars in world history.
Rhodes brags to Samuels about how he and administration operatives take advantage of the ignorance of most journalists and the current hyper-partisan media mode of ping-ponging in social media to pump out scads of spin pushing the Obama line vs. conservatives. Who of course have their own conveyer belt.
It's all part of a media culture focused on heat rather than light.
Of course, this being an ironic post-modern era, the author of the profile -- who injects himself repeatedly in his own narrative -- fails to mention that he is himself a player in these spin cycles.
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Samuels, it turns out, was a vociferous opponent of the nuclear deal with Iran. He even backed an Israeli attack on Iran.
He uses part of his profile on Rhodes to argue that the White House case for the Iranian nuclear deal is all Rhodesian spin, based on the false premise of a a new "moderate" regime when Obama's moves predate the election of President Hassan Rouhani. Well, Obama probed for the Iranian deal before Rouhani's arrival in office in 2013. But the deal came later, once Rouhani took what power he has in the Islamic Republic headed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Of more concern is that Rhodes acknowledges that the Obama NSC is not sure about the relative balance of power in Iran even after the apparent moderate victory.
There is, however, plenty of evidence that Iran is no more a friend of the US now than it was before, as a vignette with Rhodes being quite upset that news of Iran taking JS Navy boat crews captive broke so quickly in January while the White House touted the Iranian nuclear deal makes clear.
But who really believes Americans would support yet another Middle East war to prevent Iran going the next step to nuclear weaponry, the premise of which is that Iran would be uniquely, irrationally impervious to nuclear deterrence? While I find the deal a bit leaky, it may do some good in fending off any Iranian move to go nuclear in the near to medium term.
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Rhodes, far more explicitly, makes the same point Obama did in his fascinating Atlantic interview with the estimable Jeffrey Goldberg. They want the US to disengage as much as possible from the intractable conflicts of the Middle East in order to focus more on critical questions of the future around the Asia-Pacific and climate change.
That's a reasonable long-range objective. The question is whether this administration has had the intellectual and political capability to get there.
Rhodes is presented in the article as arguably the key NSC operator, but had no military, intelligence, academic, journalistic, or geopolitical background prior to his mother arranging for him to become a writer for the Iraq Study Group. From there, he rather swiftly became the principal crafter of geopolitical narratives for Obama in this era in which spin is frequently substituted for substance.
His pre-Iraq Study Group qualification? Getting a master's degree in fine arts (fiction writing) from New York University.
Frankly, too much of the Obama White House has been like that. Folks who haven't been to countries in question, if they've been at all, as anything but delegation members. Things look very different if you're on the ground out in the midst of a society.
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If any had, say, backpacked through Afghanistan, Obama's pointless Afghan escalation might have been avoided. Similarly if Rhodes and his associates had ever served in the military, they might have understood the need to strike Isis from the air much earlier on, when it would have made more of a difference than it did after months of analysis/paralysis and diplo-speak.
And if Obama himself had grasped the need to have senior-level uniforms to run interference for him, he would not have so blithely tossed away supportive Marine four-stars Jim Jones and Hoss Cartwright when they ran afoul, respectively, of Obama civilian staffers maneuvering for internal power and Pentagon brass intent on the Afghan surge.
Of course, the greatest irony in relying on such as Rhodes, who has done good work, is that the great communicator who was Senator Obama has become the relative mute who is President Obama.
In a time which cries out for sustained clarity and the ongoing articulation of enlightened, shrewd substance, the Obama White House has chosen instead to operate mainly in the shadows, pursuing secret drone and special ops wars and surveillance buildups even as they assert a better relationship with a still obviously hostile Iran.
It could and should have gone differently. And now it is nearly over.
Every generation places hope in its children.
For Africa this could not be more evident as our largest and best-educated generation is coming of age. By 2025, half of Africa's people will be under the age of 25. They stand at the epicenter of the African Union's people-driven agenda for the next half-century: it is they that will build an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.
Leaders of Africa's governments, business and civil society gather in Kigali for the World Economic Forum on Africa meeting this week. They must place young people - especially our most squandered talent, our girls - front and center of public policy discussion. These young people will need jobs, challenges, and outlets for their creativity. Investing in them, and building the "human economies" that can support them with opportunities, is paramount.
Yet storm clouds are gathering on the economic horizon for a number of African countries; the continent faces economic challenges not seen for many years. The need for African government leaders to act, and intervene to tackle the inequality crisis is urgent and necessary. Ordinary Africans are currently prevented from benefiting from the spoils of economic growth, which instead of reducing poverty and delivering shared prosperity is benefiting an ever-shrinking elite.
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We had been assured that the continent's positive future would be funded by the resources boom. The appetite for Africa's oil, gas, and minerals, especially in China, was insatiable. As the world economy continued to grow, we were told, Africa would surely benefit. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats. But the reality has not worked out so smoothly.
Growth on the continent is slowing. Government's allowed the wealth that Africa accrued during the resource boom to end up in the hands of the few, not the many; the main beneficiaries of Africa's minerals have been foreign companies. Commodities are no longer in such demand, and the countries which relied upon them are suffering. Zambia, for example, thought it could reap the benefit of the copper boom, and until recently could borrow dollars cheaper than Spain. Now it faces rates of about 10%. Debt levels are high across the continent.
It's clear that longer-term solutions are needed which do not rely upon the whims of the global economy. And as our new paper "Building a Human Economy for Africa" makes clear, tackling economic inequality is paramount.
The richest 10 people in African now have a combined wealth equivalent to the GDP of Kenya, while the number of people living in poverty in Africa has increased by 50 million since 1990. Seven of the world's most unequal countries are in Africa. It is a disparity that is preventing the emergence of a strong and vibrant middle class.
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Current tax systems across Africa seem almost designed to entrench inequality rather than decrease it. VAT, a regressive tax paid disproportionately by the poor, makes up on average 67% of state revenues in sub-Saharan Africa. Oxfam is calling for African governments to increase their tax-to-GDP ratio, and to do so through progressive taxation.
African governments should concentrate on ensuring that those with the broadest shoulders carry their fair share. The IMF, amongst others, recommends ensuring better compliance from high-income individuals and companies, alongside other measures. Removing unproductive tax exemptions is another step that African governments can take: tax exemptions to foreign firms are estimated to be costing the Kenyan government $1bn a year.
Crucially, African governments must ensure they prioritize the eradication of tax evasion and tax avoidance. Action plans at a regional and national level must come to fruition. It has been estimated that across the continent $38bn is lost annually in corporate tax revenues. Meanwhile almost a third of rich Africans' wealth - a total of $500bn - is estimated to be held offshore, costing an estimated $14bn in lost tax revenues every year.
It is sometimes possible to read these large figures and not fully take in the gross abuse of human rights that this robbery represents. In people terms, as our research shows, the lost revenue from rich African individuals would generate enough to pay for healthcare to save the lives of four million children, and employ enough teachers to get every African child into school. The global tax reform agenda is yet evolving, as a new tax platform launched by the UN, IMF, World Bank and OECD shows - African governments must ensure they play an active role in ensuring it delivers concrete results.
To build more human economies in Africa, governments must be far more strategic, wise and forward-looking in their expenditure, and build diverse economies that are going to deliver the jobs for the next generation. They must give space to citizens to hold them accountable, and listen carefully to their voices; the voices of the marginalized must especially be amplified.
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Investing in vital infrastructure will help to build more sustainable, equitable economies. Core to this for Oxfam is strategic investment in agriculture targeted at the needs of small-scale agricultural producers that meets the Malabo commitment; in publicly-funded and publicly-provided healthcare systems; and in free, universal quality education for all. Tertiary education remains only available to those in Africa who have money. This is not the path of a prosperous Africa that harnesses the abilities of its people.
The biggest winners of such a transformation would be Africa's women and youth. We cannot let their energy go to waste because too many remain uneducated and unable to realize their potential. These steps are proven means by which to liberate women and girls from the gender inequality that keeps them out of the classroom, and prevents us all from missing out on their talents.
For many years, the people of Africa have been asked to look beyond the headlines--the poverty and unrest which have hurt this continent for so long--and instead envision an optimistic future. That brighter future is within reach. But it must begin with the right investments, in the future of the next generation. Africa has the talent, the resources; its people certainly hold the ambition. Africa's leaders must now chart the path to a more human economy.
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Oxfam's new report, "Building a human economy for Africa" was launched ahead of the 26th World Economic Forum on Africa 2016 meeting, and can be found here.
Bayan Zehlif is a 17-year-old student attending Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California. She happens to be Muslim and happens to wear the hijab (head scarf). In the final days of her high school career, when she should be feeling bittersweet emotions that come with graduating and looking forward to college and adulthood, she is feeling hurt and fearful instead.
Her school published their 2016 yearbooks with islamophobic bullying in place of her actual name.
They published "Isis Phillips" instead of her name, Bayan Zehlif.
She did what any 17-year-old with any amount of self-respect would do. She spoke out about it.
What she received back was support from a lot of great people around the world and in her community.
She also received a ton of backlash from some kids at school and people online in the form of societal gaslighting.
That's right. Let's call a spade a spade. When Muslims call out bigotry unleashed on them, bigots don't like that. I guess us Muslims need to not only take in any bigotry you hurl at us, we must absorb it. And we need to shut up about it too. Because we are just insane to believe that it is actually happening. It's all in our heads!
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What is gaslighting? It's a form of mental abuse. It's also a tactic used to try to make you question your own reality, sanity and sense of reason.
With an alarming number of narcissistic personalities dominating society these days from the dating world, the presidential election platform to Kanye -- you should have heard of this tactic by now because narcissists love to use it. If you haven't heard about it yet, here is a daily dose of learnings for you. Because if someone hasn't yet tried this on you in your lifetime, chances are someone might try it on you at some point in your life. And let me tell you, as a blogger whose main focus is islamophobia, I get gaslight attempts tweeted and messaged to me all the time.
From my google search:
Just googling the story brings about the headlines. The headlines themselves -- as a whole -- are a crock. Many are an attempt to minimize the reality of what actually happened. That a young woman was bullied and discriminated against -- and then gaslighted and further bullied for being bullied. That an entire religion of 1.6 billion followers is often broad brush-stroked as being "terrorists" or "ISIS."
Headlines like "Cruel joke or mistake?" feed into the gaslighting affect. Like it's even a question the word ISIS can accidentally be placed beneath a Muslim girl's picture. A simple typo. Because when you type BAYAN, B-A-Y-A-N sometimes it accidentally displays as ISIS, I-S-I-S. Duh.
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Like 'misnamed,' 'misidentified,' or 'renamed' in the headlines is any better. She was not misnamed, misidentified or renamed. She was bullied. She was attacked in a vicious manner -- with islamophobic hate speech beneath her photo in her senior yearbook.
I immediately tweeted about the incident when I heard about it with the #LosOsosHigh hashtag and received responses back that I needed to "chill" and that is was a "mistake." Those responses have since been deleted by the poster.
As a member of the Muslim American community, I am calling out the bullying and gaslighting that has taken place at Bayan's school, online and in headlines. I have defended CAIR continuously by islamophobes that spread lies and hate against America's only civil rights/legal organization that stands up for Muslim Americans who are discriminated against -- as if Muslims have no right to speak out when they are discriminated against. We must take the abuse -- and then NOT have any place (like CAIR) to turn to if the world was run by the gaslighters.
I'm proud of this young woman, Bayan Zehlif. I can't imagine myself at age 17 going through this and then having the guts to sit at a press conference and stand up for myself in front of the entire world. She even states that she didn't do it for herself, but people at large who get discriminated against. Bravo, sister!
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Back at Los Osos High School, kids are bullying her for standing up for herself. One student was caught on video pulling down a sign of support for Bayan on their school campus.
Here you can see a student of @LosOsosHigh tearing down a poster in solidarity with the Muslim student, Bayan. pic.twitter.com/FhxezJphcd X (@XLNB) May 10, 2016
President Mugabe is in the spotlight again for his frailty and for clinging to power. He continues to endanger his country by preventing the development of viable institutions for an orderly succession. He is, however, not alone in this behavior but is rather perhaps given more attention because he does not kowtow to Westerners (at least not since early 2000 when according to ex South African President Thabo Mbeki, Tony Blair allegedly plotted for his overthrow.)
Indeed, big man rule is more like the norm now in Africa, which is contributing to failing states, when inevitably these rulers die or are violently overthrown as was the case with Mobutu (President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1965-97)) and Gadhafi (the deposed leader of Libya who was brutally murdered after 40 years of rule). To be sure, this is not a uniquely African issue but it is more dire in Africa because of poverty, weak to non-existing state institutions and the precarious ethnic imbalances.
Africa desperately needs something like the 22nd amendment of the U.S Constitution limiting presidents to two four-year terms or some variation and a mechanism for enforcing it. In 2015 the presidents of Burundi, Benin, the DRC, and Rwanda have either personally or through their supporters expressed intentions to dispense with or circumvent term limits; and Gambia has erased it from its constitution. There are also questions whether President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone will honor the two term limit. President Kabila of the DRC is currently under a credible challenge by a popular politician, Moise Katumbi, from the Katanga province. Not surprisingly, President Kabila is responding by accusing Katumbi of hiring American mercenaries without work permits as his bodyguards. One has to ask why this became an issue after Katumbi declared his intention of electoral challenge and not before?
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In 2014, Burkina Faso's Blaise Compaore's continued desire to stay in power was met by popular protests forcing him to flee the country. Compaore assumed power in 1987 after allegedly assassinating his childhood friend, the idealistic and popular President Thomas Sankara. Compaore is unlikely to face justice anytime soon because he has already secured citizenship in Ivory Coast. It seems dictators watch out for each other's back.
Power without accountability is similar to drug addiction. It causes intoxication, hubris and corruption.No doubt, power similarly affects the human brain. Mugabe's transformation from a one time popular leader fighting the racist Ian Smith regime to his degeneration is more than likely due to prolonged power without limits and in his advanced age as well as the influence of his 2nd wife, Grace Mugabe, who is almost half his age. Mugabe became an object of ridicule by the Western media, when he began to nationalize land from the disproportionately wealthy white farmers and his followers began to persecute the whites who resisted. Zimbabwe like Kenya, South Africa and Algeria was a settler colony. "In 1980, [Zimbabwe then Southern Rhodesia] was home to about 120,000 whites and more than 7 million blacks, but whites owned about half of the arable land. Blacks worked the farms as low-paid laborers."
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There was little publicity and accountability when in the early 80s Mugabe liquidated thousands of black Zimbabweans in Matabeleland from the Ndebele ethnic group. This neglect changed when he began to persecute the land owning whites. At 92 years of age, Mr. Mugabe's continued rule only serves a few of his cronies and the insatiable, corrupt Mrs. Grace Mugabe, who is aggressively blocking his retirement to prevent the way Habib Bourgiba was removed in Tunisia, when it became apparent that he was mentally incompetent. Mugabe's erratic behavior echoes that of the Tunisian as when Bourgiba "in October 1987...had appointed a new chief delegate to the United Nations, but had soon forgotten that appointment and named another man to the post."
The venerable South African Archbishop, Desmond Tutu describes Mugabe as a cartoon like character and "a caricature of all the things people think black African leaders do." It is no coincidence that one of Mugabe's friends is Mengistu Halemariam, whom he harbors in Zimbabwe with his entourage. Mengistu was the former Ethiopian dictator/butcher who eliminated hundreds of thousands of the finest of Ethiopians and Eritreans in the 70s and 80s. He has been living in Zimbabwe in a lavish mansion enjoying his loots since his overthrow in 1991. Mengistu and his family are reportedly Zimbabwean citizens. Many of his henchmen and accomplices have reportedly established lucrative businesses in Zimbabwe using money stolen from Ethiopia. Mengistu himself is nearing 80 and must be nervously praying that nothing happens to Mugabe.
In Africa, the late Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere, who led Tanzania from 1960-85 was not a saint but after 25 years gave up power willingly. Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique chose not to run for a third term. Mandela was the other who chose to serve only one term but his ANC movement is now tarnished by Jacob Zuma who is accused of corruption, lavish $23 million spending to upgrade his private home from government coffers and a history of rape charges.
The former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea is one of sub-Saharan Africa's top oil and natural gas producers and with its small population has the highest per capita gross domestic product in Africa on a par with Italy. The 2015 UN human development index, ranked the country 138 out of 188. The Obiang family exemplify the word kleptocracy and have ruled the country since independence in 1968. The current president overthrew his uncle in a coup in 1979 and is the longest reigning dictator alive in Africa.
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Democracy is in reverse in most of Africa and elections are invariably rigged with some exceptions. There are some uplifting developments like in Nigeria which was able to pull off a relatively clean election. The incumbent ex. President Goodluck Jonathan lost and accepted the will of the voters paving the way for the presidency of Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Kenyatta, Mr. Kagame, Mr. Museveni and the TPLF in Ethiopia are regimes especially enabled by their Western patrons under the pretext of economic growth to continue support which they use to prolong their rule and institutionalize autocratic rule. They enjoy impunity. Mr. Kenyatta was indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for inciting ethnic violence following the disputed 2007 elections, in order to secure victory for then-President Mwai Kibaki. ICC dropped the charges after it experienced obstruction, witness bribing and intimidation from President Kenyatta's government.
Rwanda has approved changes to the constitution that cleared the way for Kagame to stay in power until 2034. A similar move by Burundi's president Mr. Nkurunziza is threatening to bring the specter of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Kagame's extra judicial elimination of opponents and the TPLF's repression against the Oromo and other ethnic groups and civil society continue without consequences.
In Uganda, Mr. Museveni, who has ruled the nation since January 1986 claims to have won the latest election by 61 percent and opposition candidate Dr Kizza Besigye who was Museveni's personal physician is crying foul claiming a rigged election. Uganda's constitution originally permitted only two presidential terms but Museveni amended the constitution so he could run for another election in 2006.
On May 24th, 2015 the TPLF/EPRDF (TPLF stands for Tigrean People's Liberation Front and EPRDF is the Ethiopian People's Democratic Front) "coalition" in Ethiopia declared winning the elections by 100% denying even a single seat to the opposition in the 547 seat parliament. The TPLF is nothing more than an ethnic dictatorship in Ethiopia . During Obama's visit to Addis Ababa Ethiopia, in July 2015, he referred to the Ethiopian government (read TPLF) as "democratically elected." The late Ethiopian leader, Meles Zenawi was a darling of the West whose excesses were readily overlooked.
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In comparison, in neighboring Eritrea, Mr. Isaias Afeworki who is reviled by the West rules with an iron fist and does not even entertain holding make believe elections. Lately,though, there are indications that the Eritrean regime is finding reengagement with the West via backdoor through the refugee "crisis" and the regional war in Yemen. The European Union is trying to contain Eritrean refugees by pretending Eritreans are leaving Eritrea for economic reasons. And the Gulf States are courting Sudan, Egypt and Eritrea for use in the tragic mess they have created in Yemen.
Generally, convenient strong men who do the Western bidding are shielded from facing justice giving them little incentive for stepping down. Good governance is sorely lacking in most of Africa. Africans, like all people, yearn for and deserve democracy, but the dictators in Africa are enabled by corrupt, educated political and economic elites through a symbiotic relationship giving them access to bribes, fungible foreign aid, business opportunities and extra-legal privileges. In return, the elites give back support in whichever way the dictators demand. The author of the Wretched of the Earth, Franz Fanon saw the political bankruptcy of the post-colonial ruling elite as early as the late 50s. According to Fanon's observations, this elite cannot fulfill its historic role of transforming itself leading the African people towards emancipation.
Some people say that Africa was better off in colonial times implying that colonialism had already left Africa. It never did. Colonialism or neocolonialism just became more efficient extracting resources by remote control through the multinational corporations and lopsided terms of trade and land grab in collaboration with corrupt African elites.
Politicians like presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speak as if there is a level playing field and that somehow free trade can elevate Africa. In her own words: " Africa's arguments for the redress of economic imbalances left by colonialism were beginning to wear a little thin -- at least in Washington." "For goodness sakes, this is the 21st century. We've got to get over what happened 50, 100, 200 years ago and let's make money for everybody. That's the best way to try to create some new energy and some new growth in Africa."
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silhouette of refinery plant on evening background
By Sam Mulopulos
For all the applause for the Paris Climate Agreement, current treatment of the agreement is almost certainly a violation of the treaty clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution stipulates, "The President...shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur..." Most international agreements, especially ones sharing the magnitude of the Paris Accord, are treaties in the constitutional sense and should be presented to the Senate as such. President Obama's decision to evade the Constitution by entering into the agreement, which will have major domestic impacts, and treat the accord as anything less than a treaty is an abrogation of his oath of office.
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The purpose of including a congressional role in the ratification of treaties was intentional on the part of the Framers of the Constitution. The Framers understood the need to give the President latitude to negotiate international agreements, but demanded the Senate provide a check on the President to ensure that only treaties fulfilling the national benefit be brought into force. Framer James Wilson was succinct: "neither the President nor the Senate, solely, can complete a treaty; they are checks upon each other, and are so balanced as to produce the security of the people."
Requiring two thirds of the Senate to approve a treaty was also intentional. The individuals who drafted the Constitution wanted to make sure that regional interests could not scrap together a bare majority to approve a treaty. By requiring a supermajority of Senators, they ensured that certain regions could not approve of treaties disadvantageous to other parts of the country. In the context of the Paris Climate Accord, energy producing states stand to lose the most. States like Kentucky, West Virginia, Wyoming, and North Dakota will be disadvantaged by the onslaught of regulations stemming from the Paris treaty. It seems inappropriate for the President to tell the country to accept the Paris Accord without ever letting the representatives of 'We The People' weigh in on his decision.
The agreement also contains legally binding elements, which indisputably trigger the ratification requirement. Under the accord, nations must submit emissions reduction targets and review those targets regularly. Even Laurent Fabius, president of the international meeting that created the Paris Accord, and the European Union have acknowledged the binding legal nature of parts of the Paris instrument. Some contend that this distinction about whether the treaty is sufficiently binding is unnecessary, alleging that the Paris Agreement does not require the United States to exceed its commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the legal grandfather of the Paris Treaty. However, when the Senate ratified the UNFCCC in 1992 it was with the explicit understanding that future fruits of climate change conferences would be submitted to the Senate for advice and consent as well.
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As a supplement to the text and structure of the Constitution's treaty clause, the State Department has promulgated its own definition of what constitutes a treaty. The Foreign Affairs Manual (11 FAM 721.3) contains eight components to help officials identify when an international agreement rises to the constitutional treaty threshold. The Paris Accord passes the test with flying colors (a full discussion of the eight State Department elements of a treaty can be found here). The agreement involves commitments that affect the entire country, as it requires the United States to set national policy, like the Clean Power Plan, to meet emissions reduction targets. The agreement also requires congressional action independent of ratification. Only Congress can appropriate money for the treaty's Green Climate Fund, an international account to help poor nations combat the worst effects of global warming. The predecessors to the Paris agreement, the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol, were also considered to be treaties, and Congress has proactively introduced legislation showcasing its desire to debate and consider the agreement. Support for considering the Paris Accord as a treaty is not a radical, reactionary belief, especially as it passes the President's own State Department test for determining what exactly embodies a treaty.
When it comes to the Constitution, President Obama may lament that he is "constrained...by a system that our Founders put in place." But those constraints are vital. Constitutional constraints like the treaty clause create an environment in which consideration of the Paris Accord by the Senate is actually in the best interest of both supporters and critics. For critics, open debate in the Senate presents the opportunity to address grievances with the agreement's substance. It would be in the national interest to raise questions about U.S. commitment under the agreement, America's proper role in international climate policy, and the strategic direction and efficacy of domestic climate change mitigation efforts. For supporters, it would not only be an opportunity to respond to critics, but Senate passage of the Paris Accord would add needed legitimacy to their cause. Flying under the radar of constitutional authority only increases the likelihood of being shot down by courts or domestic noncompliance. If supporters are confident enough in the agreement's merits, they should seek the robust protections and legitimacy afforded by Senate ratification.
As Alexander Hamilton remarked in Federalist 75, "The history of human conduct does not warrant that exalted opinion of human virtue which would make it wise in a nation to commit interests of so delicate and momentous...to the sole disposal of... a president of the United States." The Paris Climate Agreement is something delicate and momentous, and should be treated as such. Mr. President, you are a constitutional lawyer. Please focus on what your Constitution demands.
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If you walk down a street holding plastic shopping bags in Bengaluru, chances are your wallet will be at least 500 lighter.
In order to rectify some of the daily damage to the city's environment, a complete ban on the use of plastic bags, containers and carriers has been issued with immediate effect. This comes after the state government's decision earlier this year on 11 March to ban all plastic items.
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The city's civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), announced a penalty of 500 against anyone caught walking on a street with plastic shopping bags, and 1,000 for repeat offenders. The fine will be much higher for manufacturers, traders, and retailers selling plastic bags and banners.
The Bangalore Mirror reported that the ban will come into immediate effect and will be the responsibility of the respective zonal officials to ensure it is implemented.
The strict action has come in the wake of the startling report released earlier this month, where the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) had predicted that Bengaluru would become 'unlivable' in the next five years due to its alarming growth rate, disappearing water bodies, garbage crisis and being prone to floods.
Almost 10 percent of the solid waste generated every day in the city is plastic waste. Currently this figure is 350 to 400 metric tons of plastic waste.
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Almost 10 percent of the solid waste generated every day in the city is plastic waste.
There is resistance from plastic manufacturers who continue to sell plastic carry bags, banners, plastic buntings, spoons and other items," BBMP commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad told Deccan Herald. "In the following days, we are going to do more awareness campaigns on plastic ban and highlight its side-effects to the public, traders and manufacturers. Even after that, if retailers, traders and sellers continue to violate the ban, then a hefty penalty would be imposed.
According to the circular issued by Prasad, manufacturers would be fined 2 lakh for the first violation and 5 lakh for the second. Traders and retailers selling plastic items would also be fined 50,000 for first offence and 1 lakh for second.
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GAYA -- The Janata Dal (United) on Tuesday suspended road-rage accused Rocky Yadav's mother and MLC Manorama Devi from the party.
Rocky, who is accused of shooting dead a teenager for overtaking his SUV, was earlier in the day sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Gaya Court.
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Moments after the Gaya Police claimed that Rocky confessed to shooting dead the teenager, the main accused offered a contradictory statement and said that he never fired any shots nor was he in hiding.
"All the allegations are completely baseless, I am innocent. I was not in the city that day," Rocky told reporters.
Rakesh Yadav alias Rocky, the main accused in the alleged murder of teenager Aditya Sachdeva in a road rage case, was arrested in the wee hours yesterday.
The police said that he was hiding inside a construction company office when the Special Task Force (STF) sleuths raided the place at 4 a.m. on Tuesday.
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The arrest took place a day after Rocky's mother was interrogated.
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NEW DELHI -- The television interviews finally wrapped up sometime after ten in the night on Tuesday, but even after hours of talking about it, Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan was still coming to terms with the fact that he has been placed second in the toughest examination in India.
"I haven't had time to think. The whole thing is yet to sink in," said the 23-year-old, who hails from the southern district of Anantnag in the Kashmir Valley.
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Over nine lakh candidates applied for the 2015 Civil Service Exam, and over four lakhs sat for the preliminary test. Just over 15,000 candidates made it past the first round, and 1,078 of them were finally selected to work for various central government services.
On Tuesday night, Khan spoke to HuffPost India over the phone from Lucknow, where he is currently undergoing training for the Indian Railways Traffic Service. He joined the IRTS after securing the 560th rank in the Civil Service Exam, last year. Not satisfied with his performance, Khan decided to give it another go. The rest is history.
"I was having tea when the news came. I just stood up, frozen. And then I called my father," he said.
There was joy, there was elation, there was relief, but Khan said that the realisation of having made it came with an overwhelming feeling of responsibility. "It is a great opportunity, but a bigger responsibility," he said. "Passing the exam is just an entry into the civil service, but then people expect you to deliver."
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Deliver what exactly, we asked Khan. "Deliver a clean, responsible, accountable, civil service driven purely by the desire to serve the public," he said.
While it is a tremendous achievement for any individual to crack the Civil Service Exam, there is always a great deal of interest around successful candidates from the beautiful yet blood-soaked Kashmir Valley, which was ravaged by a brutal militancy, and is still plagued by a low intensity conflict, with a large section of its Muslim population hostile to India.
People outside the Valley are curious to know about how successful candidates manage to crack such a tough exam despite all the troubles in Kashmir, how do they feel about India, and whether they even 'feel Indian'. Back in the Valley, many celebrate their achievements, but there are others who give them a hard time for ""surrendering"" to the Indian State.
When HuffPost asked Khan whether questions linked to him being Kashmiri gets tiresome, he said, "I don't see it as a burden, but as a responsibility."
"If this achievement makes sense to anyone in Kashmir then it would have been meaningful," Khan said.
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"I Don't See Any Contradiction"
Khan said that he grew up in the countryside of Anantnag, quite isolated from the tensions which grip the towns and cities of Kashmir Valley. Like many families in their area, Khan's grandfather owned an apple orchard. His father still teaches economics at a local high school for girls and his mother is a homemaker. After graduating school, he went to the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi, in Himachal Pradesh.
While talking about growing up in the Valley, Khan didn't offer an intense narrative of dealing with the conflict while keeping his nose to the grindstone to achieve his goals. Nor does he see any "contradiction" in being a Kashmiri and working for the Indian State.
By his own admission, Khan says he was always too driven to get distracted by the chaos around him, and he isn't prone to theatrics. "I don't see any contradictions," he said, matter-of-factly. "There is no doubt about my patriotism."
Contrary to the prevalent worry of the youth flocking to join the militants, Khan believes that young Kashmiris are broadening their horizons like never before. "The situation is much better," he said. "More young people from Kashmir are getting into different fields not just the Civil Service."
Khan's inspiration was Shah Faesal, who became the first Kashmiri to top the 2009 Civil Service Exam. The first Kashmiri to become an officer of the Indian Administrative Service was Mohammad Shafi Pandit in 1969, making it to the fifth rank.
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While Khan says that his life was relatively untouched by the conflict, Faesal, who is now Director School Education in J&K, could not escape it. His father was gunned down by militants, three days before his pre-medical exam in 2002. He still went onto become a doctor and then an IAS officer.
In reply to one person who accused him of "surrendering" to the Indian State, Faesal wrote, "While you consider yourselves to be the self-appointed guardians of Kashmir cause, I cannot afford to do. I know how mundane and minuscule my mandate is. I cant afford to sound statesmanly like you, I am not just meant to be. As a civil servant, I have the job well defined."
Working In India
While the top-ranking candidates have the choice of joining the Indian Foreign Service, which means a career in diplomacy and overseas postings, Khan has opted for the Indian Administrative Service. "The IAS gives you an opportunity to stay in India and that is what I want to do," he said.
Incidentally, the topper of the Civil Service Exam, 22-year-old Tina Dabi from Delhi, has also chosen the IAS.
And Khan was happy to doff his hat to the one person who had bested him. "She is definitely the topper. It is a big feat," he said.
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Vishnu Gupta
"If Donald Trump wins it will be good for America, India and the humanity. This could easily have been the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee's own words during one of the fiery GOP debates. But it wasn't.
Instead, this is what Vishnu Gupta, National President of the fringe right-wing organisation, Hindu Sena, told HuffPost India on Wednesday.
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Gupta, along with other Hindu Sena leaders organized an event in the capitals Jantar Mantar a site that has seen protests ranging from women's rights to corruption in political ranks to show support for Donald Trump. the organisation also conducted religious ceremonies to pray for his win.
Banner is out for Tommorow event to support @realDonaldTrumppic.twitter.com/dRfFcwRSGh Vishnu Gupta (@vishnuhindusena) May 10, 2016
Terrorism is growing worldwide. Every day we hear stories of beheading and killing. India, too, is suffering. We are hopeful that Donald Trump will remove the Islamic terrorism, Gupta told HuffPost India.
Last year, the Hindu Sena leader was arrested for allegedly making a false complaint about beef being served at Kerala House. Delhi police, along with some Hindu Sena leaders, had raided Kerala House after Gupta had complained that beef was being served there.
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When he tweeted out posters for the Trump event, Gupta was criticized for supporting a leader who regularly incites political violence and has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims 1.6 billion members of an entire religion from entering the U.S.
However, Gupta has his reasons to love Trump.
Many seculars crying after our support to Trump, I dont care for them, Trump is against islamic terror Tats the reason I love Trump Vishnu Gupta (@vishnuhindusena) May 11, 2016
The biggest problem of India is not unemployment, but its Islamic Terrorism ISLAMIC TERROR STOPPING GROWTH OF INDIA I love @realDonaldTrump Vishnu Gupta (@vishnuhindusena) May 11, 2016
"We are victims of Islamic terrorism they killed, beheaded, burnt alive millions of innocent beings. To fight against such evils we need a brave leader globally, read the press release that was sent to journalists, asking them to be a part of the programme.
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"Donald Trump is a man with a brave heart. He will destroy Islamic terrorism if he's elected the President of United States, a confident Gupta said, while making arrangements for the big event.
The big event is expected to see over 200 people. The leaders will conduct havan and other religious ceremonies to pray for Trump.
We want Trump to win, we will do anything to make that possible, Gupta said.
I am sure God will listen to us, he added.
When Gupta was reminded that Trump has no special love for India, he responded saying, Main nahin manta (I dont believe)."
At a campaign rally recently, Trump targeted India, along with other countries, for ripping off the US. His comments were punctuated by thunderous applause from the audience.
They are taking our jobs. China is taking our jobs. Japan is taking our jobs. India is taking our jobs. he declared.
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However, Gupta isnt bothered by these statements.
The Hindu Sena leader says that it is not wrong for Trump to suggest that Indians are taking away Americans jobs. "Ye kuch galat nahi hai (This is nothing wrong), he said.
Gupta said that Trump has promised to not kick out Indian students studying in the US. He wants more Indians to go and study there. This is a good thing, he added.
The Hindu Sena leaders are hoping that Trump, after winning the elections, visits India. "He is very much popular here, they said.
We are not too sure about Trumps popularity in India, but it seems the 69-year-old real estate tycoon who became a politician only last summer and the Hindu Sena leaders have one thing in common. They share an equal hatred for Pakistan.
While Trump described Pakistan as the most dangerous country in the world, the Sena leaders are hopeful that he will wage war against Indias nuclear-powered neighbour. Hope he starts a war against Islamic terrorism from Pakistanit is the hub of terrorism, Gupta said.
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Opinion / Columnist
It was last Saturday morning that I finally finished David Coltart's autobiography "The Struggle Continues: 50 years of Tyranny in Zimbabwe" a tome of well over 600 pages that details his life since his family came to Zimbabwe from South Africa.Last Saturday, of course was the day that one of our columnists, the masterful Nathaniel Manheru, gave us a disparaging assessment of journalists and journalism in Zimbabwe.He divined that journalists in the country were "hardly literate" (ouch! Doesn't that hurt?)But then it's a story for another day not least to say that debate has been raging for some time now.David Coltart is an interesting human being and politician, and his book which reads simple enough for its size is a reflection of his person as an ex-Rhodesian with liberal pretences and career as an opposition activist-politician and a not so remarkable lawyer who happens to be doing nothing special these days.And the one striking thing about this book is that for its sheer size, it tells us very little we did not know or expect and contains no winning philosophy.There are basically three important frames in which Coltart tells us his story: first, the book, which he calls "an autobiographical political history" is to all intents and purposes a commemoration of 50 years since Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence and it is only later that he owns up to this fact, as indeed he dates the story December 2015.His approach to the history of Zimbabwe pre-Independence, more specifically post-UDI period is to try and whitewash the Rhodesian era and run away from it as fast as he can and devote much time and space to post-Independence Zimbabwe where he does not hide who his opponents are: President Mugabe and Zanu-PF.In the period before Independence, Coltart's philosophy is to deploy as much liberalism in his narrative as possible to the point where he feels obliged to point out at every turn that while he and his white ilk enjoyed life in Rhodesia that same privilege was not accorded to black people.Thus the story about his growing up in Gweru, from attending an all-white primary school, Hillside Primary, which he says "(u)nlike schools for black Rhodesians (was) world class"; to going to a South African university, he tinges his narrative with regret that blacks were excluded and that staff and domestic workers were black.But he appears to suggest that this was a fact of life that came out of personal choices rather than a class and, much sinister, a racial and political milieu that was Rhodesia.This seems to give Coltart a modicum of comfort and ammunition as he blitzes through the Rhodesian period which he does not seem to have fundamental objections to.In fact, telling us the story in 2015-16, his only struggle in this book appears by way of a belated guilty conscience that is typical of many white liberal writers.This is nowhere better captured that when he tells us that: "Although I experienced a Damascene moment in 1981 regarding my Christian faith, my political outlook has evolved more slowly, and I hope it continues to evolve."He goes on: "I have changed from a teenager who thought Ian Smith was a hero into an adult who believes his policies were both disastrous and morally wrong."These two statements sum up the person and politics of David Coltart.In writing this book with its liberal leaning, David is just a hypocrite and dishonest fellow who, for all we know, is a racist and white supremacist politician.There are many times that he has been called an "unrepentant Rhodie".He deserves it: he only knew God and Christianity and by implication the value of humanity in the year 1981 when the racist and supremacist regime of Ian Smith had fallen.It is under the same Ian Smith, whom he idolised, that he fought the war.He does a lot of good to tell us that his political outlook has "evolved more slowly".A point has to be made regarding Coltart and his serving the racist colonial police force, which he says he did out of the requisite national service under the British South Africa Police.(Again he retrospectively tells us that, "no one questioned the illegality of the regime we served, nor the fundamental injustices prevailing in Rhodesia [simply because they, Coltart and company, did not think so!])Coltart ends up with a commanding post in an interrogation unit but remarkably for all his police work in the brutal era of Smith, Coltart's story appears to tell us that he did not fire a single shot at a black man, did not slap a black cheek or kick a black butt.Incredible!It is one point that I raised with a literate colleague and a go-to person when my spirits (pun intended) are low.He suggested that information about Coltart's operations could be easily got at the Police General Headquarters on his diary logs.A story one day will be told about this interesting side of Coltart.Tied to his liberal, nice-guy approach to Zimbabwe's history Coltart even attempts to rewrite the history of the liberation of the country, that is, how the black forces for Independence were configured and the dynamics thereof.His approach is simple: divide and rule!First he appears to suggest that only one side of the black liberation movement, Zapu, played the most important role; and secondly, that Ndebele people became a target for extermination and ethnic cleansing by liberation forces, Zanu, that had played a minor role in the liberation struggle!It is with so much cheek that at one point Coltart describes President Mugabe as an "unknown quantity" yet he, from the writer's own narrative, Mugabe had risen in the nationalist ranks to become leader of the party and ardent pursuer of the armed struggle in between diplomatic efforts.Regarding black politics in Zimbabwe, Coltart adds to his racism a layer of tribalism which makes him to somehow believe that he is a kind of messiah to the people of Matabeleland.This perhaps is the basis on which Coltart bases his messianic pursuit of the so-called Gukurahundi story which is not only self-serving but divisive and in the main an apparent attempt to get a go at the dominant party and forces that won the liberation struggle and ended white minority rule.This point, and if the hullabaloo around the book as it was published this year is anything to go by, leads to what would have been the third major point of this piece.But we can as well treat the point right away.As we speak today, Coltart is a veritable nonentity with his political career having reached its ceiling during the inclusive Government era where the opposition MDC parties were incorporated into power in 2009.Coltart gushes about these years in the inclusive Government where he became the Minister of Education and seems to suggest that he was the best thing that ever happened to our education system.As such, without an immediate political future for the opposition in the country and with Coltart looking set to play a part, it appears that this book is a cry for donor funding for his so-called human rights work and legal aid clinic which gave him much footing prior to joining the opposition MDC in 1999.And the attempts at opening old wounds under the cover of "transitional justice" looks like his big bargaining point for any prospective funders.And he is like crying: "Look here! I am the guy who authored 'Breaking the Silence' book!"But political capital can still be mined out of this whole debacle by Coltart and other forces, can't it?Lastly, the third frame in which Coltart's book can be read is his role in the formation and funding of the opposition MDC-T.In remarkable detail, it is revealed, perhaps for the first time how he was critical in funnelling resources from the Western world through his Bulawayo Legal Projects Centre and went on to create similar vehicles outside the country in places such as South Africa and funded by such bodies as International Republican Institute and Open Society Foundation.In this book he chronicles no less than 200 visits to South Africa and overseas to seek funding for the opposition.That funding was premised on the pursuit of regime change in Zimbabwe and Coltart played a key role in canvassing for Western sanctions on Zimbabwe, which efforts he reveals in this book.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images NEW DELHI, INDIA - MAY 3: JNU students on day six of hunger strike protesting punishment given to them by the university authorities on May 3, 2016 in New Delhi, India. Representatives of both factions are sitting on a hunger strike. Students with Left affiliations are on a hunger strike protesting punishment given to them by the university authorities for the February 9 event held to commemorate Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Anti-national slogans were allegedly raised at the event. Students of the ABVP faction are on a hunger strike demanding the punishment against students be made more stringent. (Photo by Vipin Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
The meeting of Jawaharlal Nehru Universitys Academic Council (AC) on Tuesday the first one held after the February 9 incident--lasted for a very brief period. An hour and fifteen minutes, to be precise.
Vice-chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar was forced to allow a discussion on the 13-day-old hunger strike. However, he "abruptly" ended the peaceful meet and walked out.
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The administration later issued a statement saying that the meeting was not allowed to proceed by a group of teachers and their student supporters who from the very beginning pressed their demand to discuss an issue that was not part of the agenda.
The VC also alleged that some students had tried to pull his shirt and pin him down.
However, the students denied the allegations.
According to a report in The Telegraph, the meeting began at 2.30pm.
The students including the eight still on hunger strike chanted slogans outside the VC's office.
Three of the council's four student members - Kanhaiya Kumar, students' union vice-president Shehla Rashid and general secretary Rama Naga - insisted the strike be discussed urgently.
The VC finally allowed the discussion. The meet went on for an hour. And then, he abruptly adjourned the meeting and walked out around 4.15pm.
According to the report, Shehla Rashid followed the VC out saying: "Sir, you cannot leave. The blood of anyone who may die in the strike is on your hands."
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It didn't work.
Escorted by about a dozen guards, the VC left with chairperson Amita Singh of the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance and the controller of examinations, Colonel Hanuman Sharma.
However, he faced more protests by the students who were standing outside.
The VC then headed for the administrative block 250 metres away and broke out into a jog. All this while, students kept protest and raising slogans: "Bhagoda VC waapas aao (Absconding VC come back)."
Facing charges of manhandling the VC, JNU students decided to put up a video to show that the accusations are false.
"VC took out press release saying that he was attempted to be assaulted by student which a blatant lie. In fact students formed a human chain around him to protect him against any such danger. As you can see, the guard with the VC is also carrying a camera and if it is true, we demand to release an evidence proving his accusations," the note on the YouTube video said.
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Meanwhile, a majority of AC members stated in a resolution that the punishments should be immediately revoked.
We are distressed by the fact that no deference was shown by the chair to opinions expressed by AC members, and the chair adjourned the meeting abruptly and unreasonably. We resolve that all unreasonable punishments arising from the February 9 incident are revoked. We resolve that the V-C immediately implement this resolution, the statement said.
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ARUN SANKAR via Getty Images An Indian polling official checks the workings of Electronic Voting Machines(EVM)at a distribution point in Chennai on May 10, 2016, ahead of voting in state assembly elections in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.Voting in the southern Indian states of Tamil, Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry for state assembly elections is scheduled to take place on May 16. / AFP / ARUN SANKAR (Photo credit should read ARUN SANKAR/AFP/Getty Images)
In March this year, 25-year-old Balakumar (name changed) from Puducherry received a token to work as a security guard in the Government Hospital. After years of waiting for a government job, and greasing several palms to achieve his end, it was a dream come true for him. In April, however, his dream came crashing down when the Election Commission of India ordered the scrapping of his job.
Balakumar was one of over 3,000 people who were allegedly appointed to government jobs after the announcement of the elections. Following many complaints from the Puducherry Pradesh Congress and other parties, the ECI scrapped the jobs deeming them irregular.
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According to sources, the government had issued tokens in March to several thousands of people. People with tokens got jobs in government departments including the Public Works Department, health department, and various public sector undertakings.
Suddenly all the government-owned petrol bunks had 20 to 30 people in each shift. The Government hospital and the Women and Child Hospital had hundreds of people standing around, blocking the way, Gopal, a resident of Kanniakoil, said.
According to one complaint to the ECI, over 5,000 people had been appointed after the Model Code of Conduct. Corporations, Societies, Cooperatives and Boards have been running at a severe loss for the past five years, and employees have not been paid their salaries or wages on time. In this situation where is the justification for appointing over 5,000 people through the back door since August 2015, with pre-dated appointment orders, the complaint reads.
Corporations, Societies, Cooperatives and Boards have been running at a severe loss for the past five years.
A government enquiry into the matter found that the recruitments were made before the model code of conduct came into place. We decided to scrap the jobs because there were an unusually large number of appointments in a short period of time right before the elections, making them suspicious, election commission sources said.
Unemployment in the UT
Unemployment in Puducherry has become a major talking point during these elections, with the Employment Exchange data indicating that fewer than 2,000 people had received appointments in the past five years. There were a few vacancies in the education department, but apart from that there have been only a handful of government openings in the past five years. We tied up with a few private players, but the response has not been great, sources in the Labour Department say. By the end of 2015, there were over 2.5 lakh people registered with the Employment Exchange.
A woman sells fish in Goubert Market in Puducherry. Puducherry, formerly known as Pondicherry is a Union Territory of India.
Puducherry has been known for its textile production, and the 110-year-old Anglo French Textile (AFT) Mill was the first of its kind in the country. Over the past couple of years, however, three major mills: AFT, Sudesi and Bharathi, have stopped production completely, and the employees have not received wages since 2014.
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The Puducherry Textile Corporation, which controls the mills, has been running at a loss since 2014, sources said. There has been no money allotted for raw materials, and over 3,000 employees have been laid off, he said.
The AFT Mill is part of Puducherrys heritage. People from across the world would place orders for the materials, and it provided employment for a bulk of Puducherry residents. Now, there is nothing left, and there has been no move to revive the mill, or provide alternate employment for the staff, M Petha Perumal, former minister, said.
"There were an unusually large number of appointments in a short period of time right before the elections."
In addition to the lay-offs, the Employees Provident Fund Authorities have also started proceedings against the management under the Income Tax Certificate Proceedings Rules. The management needs to settle a gratuity of over 39 crore for around 1000 employees, so we had no other recourse, an official from the EPF Authority says.
According to sources, the present government has been using funds allotted for infrastructure projects to ensure that welfare schemes received funding. The governments spending has increased, and the government has a debt of over 6,080 crore, sources said. Although on paper, the tax revenue has increased, the government has not been able to collect these taxes, increasing the debt. With many industries shifting out of the UT, the financial crisis is at an all time high, former CPI (M) general secretary M Perumal said.
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The Lieutenant Governor is the final authority in the Union Territory of Puducherry, however, there have been several instances where the UT assembly, led by the Chief Minister, have had disagreements with the LG. The most recent case was that of former LG Virendra Kataria, who openly opposed Chief Minister N Rangasamy regarding law and order and the shuffling of funds. He was removed as LG in July 2014, and has filed a case in the Supreme Court demanding that they explain their reasons for sacking him. Other LGs, including Govind Singh Gurjar, MM Lakhera, and KR Malkani have all had fallings out with the UT government.
Nominations filed by the ruling party
It seems like the Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy cannot escape controversy in these elections. Along with the complaint over government appointments, the Congress party has also alleged that N Rangasamy missed the deadline for filing nominations. They have asked that the Election Commission remove the All India NR Congress (AINRC) party symbol from the Electronic Voting Machines.
N Rangasamy, Chief Minister of Pondicherry receives the petitions from the common people while riding on his motorbike in Pondicherry, India.
The Union Territory of Puducherry goes in to elections on 16 May, along with neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Congress party is alleging that the AINRC did not submit their Form A and Form B in time. Form A contains the consolidated list of candidates backed by a political party, while Form B is submitted to the Returning Officer indicating that a candidate is backed by the party. Only if these forms are submitted within the given deadline will the candidates be considered, an election commission official said.
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The governments spending has increased, and the government has a debt of over 6,080 crore.
According to data received from the Election Commission, Rangasamys AINRC had not submitted the forms to the commission in the stipulated time. However, despite a complaint from the Congress to the election commission, the party was allotted a symbol. The decision is left to the Returning Officer. While it is a significant complaint that the Election Commission did not receive the forms in time, it is not a reason for disqualification, officials said.
The Congress, in the meanwhile, has sent copies of the complaint to the Election Commission in Delhi. The ECl rules stipulate that Form A and B should be submitted to the Returning Officers (RO) of the respective constituencies and the Chief Electoral Officer of the state by 3 pm on 29 April in Puducherry, A Namassivayam, Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee President said in his complaint, stating that several parties, including the AINRC, had not submitted these in time. The CEOs office confirms that the AINRC had not submitted Form A to the CEO office until 5 pm on 30 April.
We have registered our complaints to all the authorities, but there has been no action taken, and the party was allotted a symbol. We have now decided to focus on our campaigning, Congress party sources said.
Universal History Archive via Getty Images This image, PIA06908, and PIA06910 represent views of Kepler's supernova remnant taken in X-rays, visible light, and infrared radiation (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)
The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning.
Essential HuffPost
Reacting to a comment by Prime Minister Narendra Modi about her Italian roots, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that she had always been 'shamed' by RSS, BJP and other parties for her origins. She also emphasised that the 'blood of her loved ones' was in India, and that she would also 'breathe her last' in India.
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Oscar-winning music composer AR Rahman wants to give more outlets to his creativity. Including being the music director for the films Pele: Birth of a Legend and Sachin: A Billion Dreams, he is planning to make 12 films and is hoping to produce full-fledged stage musicals.
A leader of the right-wing student organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) alleged that women students in Jadavpur University (JU) 'could not' be molested because they have no 'shame'. The student organisation, affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had taken out a a protest march to the Jadavpur police station.
Actress Zareen Khan has been roped in for director Sai Kabir's upcoming film Divine Lovers along with actor Irrfan Khan. Earlier, Queen star Kangana Ranaut had been slated to play the role of a the middle-class muslim girl in the Indo-French drama, but she refused the offer when she found out that the film didn't revolve around her character.
Main News
The British government said it couldn't deport loans defaulter Vijay Mallya and asked India to consider requesting extradition. They also acknowledged "the seriousness of allegations" against Mallya and said that they were "keen to assist" the Indian government.
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Delhi University Registrar Tarun Das on Tuesday said that the university's records showed that the bachelors degree awarded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was authentic. Das also dismissed the objections raised about the 'discrepancies' in the name mentioned on the marksheets and called them 'minor variations'.
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Motiur Rahman Nizami was hanged in Bangladesh for crimes during the war of independence from Pakistan in 1971. The 73-year-old, who had been convicted of genocide, rape and torture, was executed early on Wednesday, Bangladesh Law Minister Anisul Haq confirmed.
Foreign Regional Registration Office (FRRO) records have revealed that the key middleman in VVIP chopper scam - Christian Michel - visited India almost 180 times between 2005 and 2013. During these visits, mostly to Delhi, Michel gave his 'point of contact' in FRRO office as one 'Abhinav Tyagi' other than his associate JB Subramaniam, director in a shell firm.
Off The Front Page
Nasa announced that its planet-finding spacecraft Kepler space telescope has discovered 1,284 new planets, nine of which could theoretically be habitable. All of them orbit stars in a patch of sky on the Cygnus-Lyra border, where Kepler, launched in 2009, spent four years staring at 1,50,000 stars looking for the characteristic dimming when planets crossed their faces. Now, the number of known planets outside our solar system sits at 3,264.
A suicide note by a Mumbai builder that read like an essay on ego and self-control has left the police in a lurch as they're unable to find the motive behind his extreme action. The builder, Raj Kandhari wrote a three-page suicide note where he did not name any names and didn't blame any persons. "If one wants to progress, he has stop thinking about negative people and if this does not stop, it will lead to destruction," he wrote.
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A sweets shop owner from Delhi has sent a legal notice to Shah Rukh Khan and the entire Fan team for using their name in one of the scenes in the film. The film shows the Khans character Gaurav, taking a box of sweets from Ghantewala sweet shop to meet his favourite actor Aryan. In a later scene, the box of sweets falls on the ground in the commotion outside the actors residence.
Opinion
Statistics show a steady rise in the turnout figures over the last three decades in several parts of India. The gap between women and men voters has also steadily reduced and in some States female voters outnumbered males, writes Mukulika Banerjee in The Hindu. "A polling station in India is the only public space of its kind where there is genuine social diversity, where women are unafraid, where VIPs cannot be ushered to the front of the queue and where people are forced to stand shoulder-to-shoulder regardless of caste, class, skin colour or the richness of their attire and women have to queue behind their domestic servants and men wearing gold watches stand behind one without shoes on his feet... Each of these actions reaffirms the identity of ordinary people as equal citizens of India, each of whom counts and is worthy of respect and this alone for many was a good reason to vote," she says.
Asking about Sonia Gandhi's origins and the love for India is exactly the wrong question to ask. Instead, her role in the Agusta-Westland chopper deal scam should be investigated; probe should be ordered into whether her Italian connections helped grease the wheels during the helicopter deal, writes Sandip Roy for HuffPost India. "For an Indian to abhor the fact that an Italian by birth could come this close to becoming prime minister of India is perfectly understandable. Not just Sushma Swaraj or the RSS, but old warhorse Congressmen like Sharad Pawar and PA Sangma could not stomach the idea. But the incessant Italian-baiting is equally abhorrent. Sonias opponents should face up to the fact that in our saas-bahu culture, Sonia has played her cards as perfectly as the pleats on her sari," he says.
Using consumption expenditure to draw a poverty line leads to a flawed understanding of poverty, writes TN Srinivasan in The Indian Express. "Poverty lines were meant to serve essentially two purposes: One, identifying those who are deemed poor according to some social norms, and given the norms, estimating their proportion in the population. In other words, calculating the so-called head count ratio (HCR) and indicators of the depth of poverty; two, given the social objective of eradication of poverty as soon as feasible, devising policies towards poverty eradication, and monitoring their performance in achieving the social objective. The concepts of well-being and happiness had no role in setting the norms," he says.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images DEHRADUN, INDIA - MAY 10: Uttarakhand former Chief Minister Harish Rawat interacting with media after the floor test outside the assembly, on May 10, 2016 in Dehradun, India. Rawat has claimed victory in the trust vote held today in the Uttarakhand Assembly. The results will be handed over to the Supreme Court in a sealed cover, and the court will declare the results at 10:30 am on Wednesday. (Photo by Vinay Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
NEW DELHI -- The Modi government today told the Supreme Court that Congress Party's Harish Rawat had won the vote of confidence in the Uttarakhand Assembly, and the Centre will withdraw President's Rule in the state by the end of the day.
The Supreme Court said that Rawat got 33 out of 61 votes, which paves his way back to power in Uttarakhand, where the Centre imposed President's Rule in March.
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The Congress Party claimed victory soon after a trust vote was conducted on the floor of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, triggering celebrations among its members. But the result was made official today after Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that Rawat had enough votes to return as Chief Minister of Uttarakhand.
"They did their worst. We did our best. Democracy won in Uttarakhand," tweeted Rahul Gandhi, shortly after the Modi government said it would revoke President's Rule.
"Hope Modi ji learns his lesson-ppl of this country & the institutions built by our founding fathers will not tolerate the murder of democracy," he said on Twitter.
The crisis in Uttarakhand was triggered on March 18, when nine Congress Party leaders rebelled against Rawat, and joined 27 lawmakers from the Bharatiya Janata Party in seeking dismissal of his government.
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Calling the Congress Party government in Uttarakhand as "unconstitutional and immoral," the Centre imposed President's Rule on March 27, just a day before a trust vote was scheduled for Rawat to prove whether he had a majority in the Assembly.
While the Congress Party accused the Modi government of "murdering democracy," the BJP and rebel leaders said that Rawat had indulged in horse-trading to win support. The Central Bureau of Investigation recently summoned Rawat for questioning in connection with a sting operation which allegedly showed lawmakers being offered bribes.
On March 28, Rawat moved the Uttarakhand High Court, which quashed President's Rule. The Supreme Court stayed the decision of the High Court, and scheduled a trust vote on May 10, but disqualified the nine rebel lawmakers from voting, giving Congress Party the advantage.
On Tuesday, Rawat won with two votes to spare after Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party came out in support of the Congress Party.
While speaking to the press on Wednesday, Rawat thanked the Supreme Court and the High Court, and also the Centre and the Attorney General for moving quickly to revoke President's Rule after the floor test proved that he had the majority.
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"I want to tell my BJP friends, let us forget the past experience and begin a new chapter," he said.
Also on HuffPost India:
Michael Gottschalk via Getty Images BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 24: A cell phone lies next to a logo of messenger service Whatsapp on February 24, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. Whatsapp was acquired by Facebook recently for 19 billion USD. (Photo by Michael Gottschalk/Photothek via Getty Images)
WhatsApp has launched their most-awaited extension in the form of Mac and Windows apps. The native apps were in the talks from some time. However, the biggest disappointment is that both the mac and the windows apps are merely an extension of the Whatsapp web version.
That means that your phone still has to be connected to the internet and the desktop app will just mirror the messages.
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Most of the users of the platform were waiting for an app which would let them communicate with their friends without the phone being connected to the Internet. A lot of other messengers such as Telegram and Facebook's own messenger have desktop clients which truly acts like a standalone app.
The WhatsApp native app would support desktop notifications of Windows and Mac. It would also have keyboard shortcuts enabled for better accessibility. The desktop versions are available for Windows 8 and above and Mac OS 10.9 and above.
You have to follow almost the same process as setting up the web client. Once installed, you have to scan the QR code being displayed on the desktop app from your phone and then you are good to go. Users can download the respective apps for their desktop machine from here.
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Whatsapp has been launching tons of features lately. In March, they started to allow people to send their documents to each other. Later, they introduced text formatting with bold, italics and strikethrough. It is being said that the company will launch the much-awaited video calling feature soon.
The Facebook-owned company has been in the news very much recently especially in India. Early in April, WhatsApp introduced end-to-end encryption for all their chats and calls between the users. One RTI activist even filed a petition in the Supreme court to ban the application. In Kashmir government had issued a notice saying if you want to make a WhatsApp group, you need to register yourself.
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Opinion / Columnist
Yeudzirai's rotund face sparkles with anxiety as her hesitant thumb scrolls down a variety of jobs posted on CVpeople Africa website. Her beaming face briskly flashed into gloom upon realising that the vacancies were beyond her take as only those with 5 years of traceable working experience were welcome. With a first class degree in Accounting from the Midlands State University, her dreams of becoming a renowned auditor are fast fading away as the economic crisis continued unabated.The advent of internet has liberated how business documents and CVs are sent in this information age. Despite all these merits life is no bed of rosy for job-seekers in Zimbabwe as the country faces a bleak future due to a multiplicity of voodoo policies by ZANU-PF which are creating uncertainty in the once vibrant jewel of Africa.With the latest report on Zimbabwe by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicting a total collapse of the economy triggered by a grinding recession, mounting company closures and a biting cash crisis, chances for Yeudzirai and hordes of other unemployed graduate to get jobs remain slim if not non-existent.Yeudzirai is not the only job seeker in Zimbabwe who uses internet sites to try her luck, but ten thousands of fresh graduates and other recently retrenched workers are routinely glued to job vacancies websites such as Human Capital and CV people Africa hoping that one day good omen would be on their side. As time ticks on, the truth dawns on them that it is not these sites that create jobs but the Zanu-PF that was given a mandate after the July 2013 elections which it controversially won with a huge margin.Instantaneously after winning the election that his main contender described as grand theft, President Mugabe authored a voluminous blueprint dubbed "ZIMASSET". This much- hyped economic plan promised 2.2 million jobs through indigenisation of natural resources and product beneficiation. Despite given much publicity as a noble plan on state-owned media platforms, the plan is no stock in the courts of public opinion."It is a monumental failure, in fact it is the great grandmother of all this suffering we are going through", said Yeudzirai with a contagious smile but yet grieving the state of the economy.She is not the only job-seeker to express revulsion of ZIMASSET as the panacea to this awful situation. Budding independent media and political analyst Tariro Moyo describes it as a rubble-rousing blue-print devoid of anything practical."It's a high sounding nothing. If the situation goes unchecked l foresee a scenario where Zimbabwe will be reduced to a common market place where vending is the mainstay of the economy," he added pessimistically.Another job-seeker who is an airtime vendor at Copacabana only identified as John for fear of reprisal echoed the sentiments by Moyo adding that youths must snub the so called "one million man's match" being currently organized by ZANU-PF as a way of registering their displeasure on the current economic stagnation being perpetuated by opaque economic policies such as indigenisation policy that gave birth to ZIMASSET."As ZANU-PF gears towards it's so called one million man's match, its opportune time the youths show their disdain of the current crisis by snubbing the event," said John as he firmly hold his airtime recharge cards as if to show-off that he has something to do in this dying economy.As the country continues to sink into political and economic oblivion, Yeudzirai and other job-seekers turn to divine intervention as their once warm-hearted liberators are now into self-agrandisement crusades."Like Acacia tress that withstand the scorching desert sun our resolve for a better will remain evergreen. The audacity of hope that inspired all revered great men such as Obama and Mandela to challenge unjust system shall also inspire this generation to fight for justice. God willing this suffering will surely come to a halt," she said with chuckle that hides her resentment of her present situation.
Opinion / Columnist
"ANC Secretary General, Gwede Mantashe, has once again warned against western powers' apparent attempts at destabilising former liberation movements in Southern Africa," ENCA reported."Mantashe who recently attended a meeting in Zimbabwe, says the movements have become powerful governments."On the contrary Secretary General Mantashe, liberation movements came into power on a wave of public good-will as the bodies that brought about black majority rule. But once in government movements soon found that promising the people economic prosperity was one thing delivering on that promise was a different thing.After decades of being promised clean running water, employment opportunities, better housing, etc., etc. the people, naturally, soon disillusioned with the movement's leaders. It is said one can fool someone about the cooking oil used in their dish but not so about hot chili! The people know when they are suffering and no amount of cheap propaganda or empty slogans will fill an empty stomach!There is nothing like power, corrupt and greed to transforms a benevolent liberator into a ruthless selfish thug. Power and looted wealth not only distract the leaders from the set task of uplifting the masses from poverty but worse still in their search for absolute power the leaders fail to see right from wrong and are transformed into monsters.President Mugabe has squandered $1 million on his birthday party, $5 million on his daughter's wedding, $2 billion on his Blue Roof mansion; a few weeks ago his daughter went to the Far East to have her baby at the cost of $6 million plus, etc.; all paid from public funds, for example. Meanwhile the maternity ward at Chiredzi General Hospital serving the needs of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans was condemned as "unsafe" by the regime's own Minister of Health. The ward's one room was built by the white regime in 1967 and is in a deplorable state due to decades of poor funding.President Mugabe admitted that $15 billion of the diamond revenue from Marange was looted.The ruling elite's insatiable greed has allowed the economic gap between them and povo to grow into an unbridgeable chasm!"As we mobilise our people, we must say be vigilant. You must see through anarchy and people who are out there in a programme of regime change. We are aware of the meetings taking place regularly at the American embassy," Mantashe told thousands of ANC supporters at the Union Buildings in Pretoria recently."Those meetings in the American embassy are about nothing else other than mobilisation for regime change. We're aware of a programme that takes young people to the United States for six weeks, bring them back and plant them everywhere in the campuses and everywhere."The mentality of failed liberation movement leaders is the same be they ANC members in SA or Zanu PF in Zimbabwe. For all their pretenses of accepting multi-party democracy, free and fair elections, etc.; deep down they are tyrannical autocrats determined to impose their de facto one-party dictatorship even if means riding roughshod over the people's freedoms and human rights the very things their liberation movement was supposedly set out to accomplish!ANC Secretary General Mantashe, like Zimbabwe's Zanu PF leader Robert Mugabe, accept free and fair elections on the one condition that the said elections do not produce regime change. Of course this is an oxymoron; how can the elections free if the voters or the process produces a predetermined result!What makes Zanu PF and now ANC's accusing that the West is pushing for regime change so hollow and ironic is that Western nations have wholeheartedly embraced free and fair democratic elections, they have had regular regime change and, here is the twist that neither Zanu PF nor ANC can ever deny, they have benefited from it greatly.The truth is power, more so absolute power, has transformer the benevolent leader into the marauding honey badger. To have elections with no meaningful prospect of regime change is to have a bee without a sting; the stingless bees have as much chance of driving the marauding honey badger out of the hive as the voters have of removing a corrupt tyrant from office!
Candidates line up outside the elementary school on Tuesday for town voting. PreviousNext
Newcomers Take Williamstown Planning Board; School Committee Chair Hangs On
Updated: Complete write-thru at 10:24 p.m.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. Voters gave incumbents a split decision in Tuesday's town election.
In a year when controversial issues before the Planning Board and Elementary School Committee appeared to drive voter interest, the former got an overhaul while the one incumbent running for the latter retained his seat but just barely.
Susan Puddester and Chris Kapiloff were the victors in the races for two seats on the Planning Board, which has been embroiled since September in a debate over a potential overlay district to allow a hotel at Waubeeka Golf Links.
Incumbent Dan Caplinger and newcomer Joseph Bergeron earned seats on the School Committee.
A third incumbent facing competition for her seat, Board of Selectman Chairwoman Jane Patton, easily won re-election. Jeffrey Thomas was the other candidate to emerge successfully from a three-person race for two board seats.
Thirty-two percent of the town's registered voters participated in Tuesday's election. From a checklist of 4,798 voters, 1,562 checked in nearly double the 821 who turned out for the 2015 town election.
For the Planning Board, Puddester defeated board veteran Sarah Gardner, 811-681, for a full five-year seat. Kapiloff edged out Anne Hogeland in a three-way race to fill out the remaining two years on the seat currently held by Gardner on an interim basis.
Gardner was a voice for requiring additional concessions from the owner of Waubeeka, who, through his attorney, town resident Stan Parese, has placed an overlay bylaw on the May 17 annual town meeting warrant by citizen's petition.
Gardner has drawn considerable criticism in recent weeks for her part in a last-minute Planning Board reversal on May 4 that prevented the body from developing compromise language that was acceptable to Waubeeka owner Mike Deep and Parese.
Gardner also was the subject of an 11th-hour attack, not connected to any other candidate: a charge that she and two other members of the Planning Board violated the commonwealth's Open Meeting Law before the May 4 meeting.
Kapiloff received 732 votes in the three-way race to fill the remaining two years on the soon-to-be vacant seat. Finishing behind Kapiloff were Anne Hogeland (657 votes) and Bruce MacDonald (111).
Both Kapiloff and Puddester emphasized in their campaign appearances the Planning Board's role in fostering economic development in the town. After the election results were announced, Kapiloff said he was excited about the opportunity to serve on the board and stopped short of saying his and Puddester's elections were a referendum on Waubeeka.
"I fall more and more in love with Williamstown all the time," Kapiloff said. "It's just exciting to see the number of people who feel strongly about making our town better. We might have some small differences on how we get there, but we are all invested in this town. That's a really great thing.
"For different people, there are going to be a lot of different things that play into [the vote]. For some, I'm sure that it was. For me, this is still about what I talked about in our candidate forums: I want to create a Williamstown where there is opportunity for my kids to come back here if that's what they choose to do after college."
Likewise, Caplinger did not say whether his re-election makes it any more or less likely that the elementary school budget will face a floor fight at next week's town meeting. Many in the community including all four of Caplinger's opponents in the five-person field questioned the decision to eliminate the full-day option in the school's Side-By-Side special education preschool program for the 2016-17 academic year.
"I'm pleased the town of Williamstown has given me the opportunity to continue to be on the School Committee," Caplinger said. "I have, however, noticed that I didn't finish first. I finished second. I think there may be a message there."
Bergeron was by far the top vote-getter for the School Committee with 698 votes. Caplinger received 494, just beating Liam Brody (449), Maury McCarthy Lawson (401) and Sanjay Sharma (373).
"I'm looking forward to working with Joe [Bergeron]," Caplinger said. "I think he will be a good addition to the committee. I think he will be able to convey the will of the people and their views on what's going on with the committee, with the school and its impact on the community."
"I don't think the election has any impact on my view about [prospects for the school budget]. I think we have work to do to try to bring the community back together. I'm optimistic we'll have several opportunities between now and town meeting."
The School Committee has a meeting on Wednesday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at which it will reconsider its budget request to the town in light of an administration proposal to add a third half-day section to Side-By-Side. Caplinger also will be back before the town's Finance Committee on Monday to discuss an amended budget if the School Committee votes to make changes Wednesday evening.
The owner of Waubeeka also will make at least one more play to unify the town before the annual town meeting. On Tuesday, Deep invited the community to the course for an open house and information session from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, May 11.
Although Bergeron, Puddester and Kapiloff each won seats on the panels they sought to join, none will be a part of the committees in question at their next meetings. Town election votes are finalized at the annual town meeting, which means that Bergeron will not be a voting member of the School Committee when it meets on Wednesday and Puddester and Kapiloff will not be members of the Planning Board when it meets on Monday.
Thomas will be on the Board of Selectmen the next time it meets barring an unforeseen special meeting of that board.
Patton received 989 votes to lead the field. Thomas was elected with 871 votes. Cynthia Payne received 667 votes.
Much as economic development was a theme in the Planning Board race, it is the issue most identified with Thomas, who recently chaired the town's yearlong Economic Development Committee.
"I think that because I focused so much on economic development, economic growth, I believe this means the community is ready to embrace the ideas that came out of the Economic Development Committee and figure out how to implement them," Thomas said. "It won't be easy."
The City Council referred a resolution and the fiscal 2017 budget draft to committee on Tuesday.
North Adams Council Committee Will Review Treatment Center Resolution
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The Public Safety Committee will take up a resolution calling for a local detoxification center in light of how the opioid epidemic has been affecting the city's residents.
The resolution was brought forward Tuesday by council President Benjamin Lamb on behalf of the North County Cares Coalition, a group that has been advocating for better access to health care and the restoration of a full-service hospital.
Kenna Waterman, founder of Josh Bressette Commit To Save A Life, wrote in a letter to the council supporting the resolution that her organization addressing opioid addiction is frequently asked to help find recovery beds.
"Ninety-nine percent of the time, these available beds are not in our area. Often we are told to call back the next day in there has been a discharge," Waterman wrote. "I tell people to call every hour until there is one."
"The need for detox and clinical destabilization beds far exceeds the demand. If McGee opens more beds, they will fill them and still others will still be waiting.
"To open a facility in Northern Berkshire would not only be a positive step for North County but the people in need in Southern Vermont as well."
The resolution calls for 10 to 11 beds for inpatient behavioral health and substance abuse. It claims a 376 percent increase in opioid abuse over the past 10 years, using percentages provided in a Massachusetts Nurses Association report given to the council two weeks ago.
Berkshire Medical Center's McGee Recovery Center in Pittsfield has 21 beds, with another 30 longer-term recovery beds being added.
Waterman was not able to attend the meeting because she had to drive a client and friend to a detox in Bradford, Vt. The cost of a taxi, she wrote, would have been $400.
City Councilor Robert R. Moulton Jr., chairman of the Public Safety Committee, asked the coalition what it hoped to accomplish by requesting the referral to his committee.
Richard Dassatti, speaking for the group, said the referral to a less formal committee was suggested as a way to have more open conversation about the need for treatment beds.
"We were hoping we could have a timely meeting and hear from people interested in this topic," he said, and "try to meet the needs in this community."
Dassatti said the resolution, which addresses the county's primary health-care provider, Berkshire Health Systems, and local and state officials, could be redrafted to better express the community's thoughts on the issue.
The Adams-Cheshire Regional School Committee on Monday welcomed new members Jennifer Andrews and Peter Tatro, elected in last week's town elections.
Adams-Cheshire Questions Opening School-Choice Slots
CHESHIRE, Mass. With budget cuts, staff cuts, and uncertainty over the future structure of the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District, there may not be room for school-choice students.
The School Committee decided Monday night to hold off on opening any more school-choice slots, which allow students from other school districts to enter the district. Slots are often a form of revenue since the state money follows the student.
Superintendent Kristin Gordon said many grade levels cannot accept school-choice students because of high class sizes and the uncertainty of shifting within the district.
She said these numbers were calculated after meeting with the principals.
School Committee members asked if the principals could spread out some of the numbers throughout the grade levels.
Hoosac Valley Principal Jeremiah Ames said they could show how big some of the classes will get by raising the school-choice cap but could not promise any changes.
"I hate to turn away money but we have some big classes," Ames said.
Cheshire Elementary School Principal Peter Bachli agreed
"It's a very tough decision to make a fourth-grade class with 28 kids," he said.
Gordon said the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education needs the committee's ruling by June so a vote could be held at the next meeting. She said the only option is to ask for an increase in school choice after the numbers are submitted and that number of times they can ask is limited.
She said the School Committee may want to look at eliminating school choice all together in the future.
"The idea is that you are getting kids that are going to improve the district," Gordon said. "Although we welcome all kids, some of our choice kids have more needs and it costs more. At some point, we should see if school choice is working for the district."
She said the only downside of eliminating school choice would be losing longtime students.
"If a family moves .... to North Adams but they have been here since their child started school and we don't have school choice openings, we can't take the student back," she said.
In other business, the School Committee voted to accept a resolution from the Massachusetts Teachers Association against raising the charter school cap in the state. A number of local school districts, including Pittsfield, have endorsed the cap through a similar petition circulated by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.
The resolution was submitted by Jacob Keplinger, president of the Adams-Cheshire Teachers Association.
"There have been many school districts in the area that have adopted this resolution against lifting the cap on expanding the charter schools in Massachusetts," Keplinger said. "Right now over $400 million in the state goes to charter schools directly from public school districts.
Adams-Cheshire gets hits hard by the Berkshire Arts and Technology Public Charter School, losing nearly a $1 million annually in funding to the charter school.
Keplinger said the question will most likely be on the November ballot, and the resolution will in no way hurt the local charter school.
"It does not hurt BArT whatsoever; they are established," he said. "If the cap is lifted, what can happen is that they can put a charter school anywhere ... right now there is a limit. If it's lifted, it is open season."
Currently the district is in the middle of both Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers and Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System standardized testing. Administrators said, "so far so good."
"We are in our third week of it, and we started math today," Bachli said. "We have a few bridges technology-wise ... but otherwise it has been going pretty well. The students were certainly more excited to start."
He said the near monthlong test started in late April. This year the district is "held harmless" because the test is being piloted and administrators are taking notes so they are prepared when it does hit.
C.T. Plunkett Principal Michelle Colvin agreed with Bachli and thanked the tech department and the families because so far there has been great attendance
Ames said he anticipates next year they will see a combination test that pulls from both PARCC and MCAS.
He agreed that things are going well but the testing is still a burden on the teachers and takes away from the classroom.
"Our staff has been great getting up to speed and being flexible and the kids have been great, but it's a lot of time out of the classroom," Ames said. "It takes the kids focus off of learning and the staff is flexible but they are geared up for test administration."
He said many students said they would rather just take the MCAS.
The School Committee reorganized and re-elected Paul Butler as chairman and Stephan Vigna as vice chairman. It also welcomed new members Jennifer Andrews and Peter Tatro, elected in last week's town elections.
The committee voted to increase the hourly tutor rate for paraprofessionals and uncertified tutors from $15 to $18 and raise certified tutors from $25 to $30.
School Committee member Darlene Rodowicz said because the district's rate is not competitive, it has to hire outside of the district, which costs more money.
"When we are short we have to buy out of the district, and we are paying more than what we are with the proposed increases," she said. "It makes more sense to make this more attractive so we can bring in our own staff on and help use save money."
Board of Health Chairwoman Roberta Orsi fielded questions about the regulations.
Pittsfield Council Voices Opposition to Tobacco Regulations
Many members of the City Council called for the regulations to be revisited. PITTSFIELD, Mass. Economic development and health went head to head Tuesday night as members of the City Council pushed back against unwavering health officials.
For more than two hours the City Council peppered local and state health officials about tobacco regulations that were implemented in 2014 . The issue is coming to a head now after a business was denied a tobacco retailer permit because the regulations limit the number of establishments selling the products.
Naveed Asif and Zameer Alhaq purchased the former O'Connell's gas station on East Street in 2015 and spent some $400,000 on the purchase and renovations. However, when the business owners had a representative ask the city's Office of Community Development about permits, they were not informed about the cap. Months later, they were informed they could not sell any tobacco products and were denied a waiver from the Board of Health.
The cap was a surprise for Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo, who said she didn't know about it. She was joined by two other city councilors and the mayor in asking the Board of Health to grant the permit anyway.
The Board of Health had stuck to its guns and denied the permit as part of the effort to reduce the number of tobacco retailers from the current 51 to 25. On Tuesday, Mazzeo led a charge from the bully pulpit of the City Council Chambers to push for the cap to be removed.
"What you are actually doing is hurting business owners and I think you are hurting Pittsfield in what we need right now," she said.
The City Council has no authority over Board of Health regulations. The health boards are required by state law and are given the authority to pass regulations that protect public health. Providing a presentation and then fielding questions, health officials held their ground saying the cap will ultimately help reduce smoking prevalence in the Pittsfield.
"We do have a tobacco problem in Pittsfield. It is a real issue for us," Board of Health Chairwoman Roberta Orsi said.
According to Tri-Town Health Director Jim Wilusz, Pittsfield has a 23 percent smoking prevalence rate, which is higher than the state average of 17; the adult smoking prevalence is 45 percent higher than the state average; and women smoking while pregnant is 150 percent higher. In 2013, 12 percent of high school seniors reported smoking more than one cigarette in the last month, he said, and there are five times the amount of tobacco retailers within a quarter mile of a school zone than elsewhere.
Tri-Town is funded by the state Department of Public Health to provide an array of tobacco control programs. The group runs compliance checks, requires employees selling the products to take an online certification, and guides the local Boards of Health in policy making decisions to combat secondhand smoke, youth smoking, and adult smoking. The state is slow to act on adopting tobacco laws and the local laws are what drive statewide action, Wilusz said. Most notably, it was local laws creating smoke-free workplaces in the 1990s that led to the state adoption such a law.
"The Board of Health does have the authority to pass local public health laws," Massachusetts Association of Health Boards Senior Staff Attorney Cheryl Sbarra said.
Donald "DJ" Wilson, of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, works with cities and towns to develop laws. He shares language and advises the best way to legally handle the laws. He said it is a neverending battle with the tobacco industry, which continues to find new and innovative ways to market to youth.
"We are constantly fighting this battle of them coming up with new products and us trying to stop them," Wilson said.
One of those ways to reduce teenage smoking is to reduce access. Pittsfield is one of many municipalities in the state to adopt caps.
But, many city councilors disagreed that a cap on the number of establishments would make any impact on reducing youth smoking, and the health officials admitted that they have limited data to support the claim that it does.
"Until we know that data is there to support that, I think what we are doing is hurting our community, not helping it," Mazzeo said.
Board of Health member Cynthia Geyer says while it will take years, or even decades, to see the outcomes of the policy, there is plenty of evidence to show that reducing access will lower smoking rates.
"Some times in public health, you need to use common sense and do the right thing," Geyer said.
She said there was no data collected in the 1970s to support that using seat belts would reduce death but "common sense" laws were still passed requiring seat belts and, in the end, the safety aspect was proven true. With the current opioid crisis, both prescriptions and cases of abuse have gone up simultaneously so it is safe to believe that more access is fueling the situation. And with tobacco, the concept is the same.
Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi, however, says the focus should stay on the youth. He suggested the Board of Health and the city look at other laws such as passing an ordinance that would penalize someone under the age of 18 for possessing tobacco products instead.
Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell said he is in support of a law to raise the age to purchase the products to 21. But, he is against the cap because it drives business away. He said there are 24 convenience stores in the city each paying an average of $19,000 in taxes while putting people to work. He knows of a couple other business looking to come into the city that have since backed away because of the restriction.
A convenience store's model is based on some 30 or so percent on tobacco sales and the rest is made up of gas, food, and other sales, Connell said.
At least one councilor was in favor of the regulations. Ward 6 Councilor John Krol said reducing the number of retailers is one step in "changing the norms." He said fewer children will see the marketing or tobacco products in stores, which will ultimately help reduce the number of children smoking. He said billions of dollars are spent in marketing to children each year by big tobacco companies.
"It is a stacked deck against our young people," Krol said.
Focusing on the East Street gas station situation, Ward 7 Councilor Anthony Simonelli said by not granting a waiver, it was a "disgrace to the city" because it was the city's responsibility to inform the owners of the regulation.
"He wasn't told. I think we should take responsibility," Simonelli said.
Councilor at Large Peter White pointed out "inconsistencies" with the Board of Health's regulations and noted municipalities were creating different rules. Prospective business owners were expected to know about Pittsfield's regulations even when the permitting coordinator did not inform them. Further, Orsi had said the clerks are being given the training and held accountable but violations in the owners' other stores outside of Pittsfield were held against them in the waiver appeal.
Councilor John Krol, on the left, voiced support for the Board of Health's efforts. Ward 5 Councilor Donna Todd Rivers said the city is "sandwiched" between the needs of small businesses and public health. She asked that the Board of Health "step back" from its regulations and consider all of the impacts. Mazzeo called for a moratorium on the tobacco regulations until a more thoroughly thought out and discussed set of rules are developed.
"These regulations still need a lot of work," Mazzeo said.
The regulations are expected to be revised again. The new rules provide a 90-day period during which a license must be inactive and gives a business 60 days to sell the entire operation to someone who will operate in the same location before a permit is revoked
According to Board of Health member Jay Green, the language is intended to allow for current businesses to keep their permits with some leeway while restricting a "black market" for licenses to be sold among establishments. While the goal is to reduce down to 25, Green said that isn't expected for years.
Other changes to the regulations include raising the minimum age to purchase the products to 21, as 111 other cities and towns in Massachusetts have done, and ban the sale of flavored products.
This article originally ran in the May 2016 issue of AVN magazine. Click here to see a copy of the digital edition.
This month, Americans who appreciate high-quality pleasure products will have cause for celebration. For the past five years, U.K. brand Nexus has been operating under a legal agreement that prohibits the sale in the U.S. of certain products. That prohibition ends May 15. After that, retailers will be able to get their hands on all Nexus items from American distributors.
We are really excited to be back in full force, said Monique Carty, managing director of Nexus. Even with the five-year hiatus, our brand has remained strong in the USA and we are still contacted daily from customers across all channels about selling the prohibited items.
Many of the unavailable products are aimed at men, which reflects the companys original focus when it started back in 2005. The creator felt that there was a gap in the market at the time, Carty said. Although there are more male-focused brands in the market now, I still feel that Nexus offers something different to the market. Weve never wanted to be just another brand and always strive to be innovative. In the last five years we have also launched two female products from our sub brand, Nexus Femme, and will be striving to be recognized as more than a male brand.
Highlights of the relaunch include the Revo rotating prostate massagers and new packaging and pricing for the hard prostate massagers.
A lot has changed for Nexus, from new products to a whole new team. Carty talked about where the high-end brand is now and where its going.
Our team has changed since our inception. I have been with the company for the last three years and have been building the foundations for our full U.S. comeback the last two, said Carty. My background in the industry spans over 12 years and during that time I have been exposed to all channels of market. Kerri Middleton has recently joined us and brings with her nine years of experience in the industry. She has also worked across numerous channels from distribution, stores and a top luxury brand. Between us I feel we are in a very good position to push Nexus to the next level.
In the last five years we have learned a lot as a brand, Carty added. With a larger range and a new team with a wealth of experience, we are in a great place to fully re-enter the U.S. market.
Carty pointed out one move made by Nexus. We have opened our own warehouse in New Jersey to ensure that our customers get the best and most convenient service possible.
Retailers looking to stock more products for prostate stimulation will find a wealth of new stocking options. Among them are Excel, Glide, Neo, Titus and Vibro, all of which were in the first-generation range; the Revo 2 and Revo Stealth, which are rotating, rechargeable prostate massagers; and the G-Rider, Ridge Rider and Max 5, which are silicone vibrating toys.
Many of these items are top sellers in markets where Nexus can offer the full range. Revo Stealth, our remote-controlled Revo, is by far our biggest-selling item worldwide, followed by Revo 2, Glide and Vibro. Our accessories are also our key bread-and-butter items and we sell large numbers across the board, Carty said.
Carty explained that the Revo was in development when the legal agreement was put in place, and it was included on the list of prohibited items. After that, Revo 2 and Revo Stealth were born, she said, and the demand in the U.S. was so high that we developed Revo Intense in order to satisfy the market and not infringe on our agreement.
In addition to the Revo Intense, a few other new products from Nexus have been available to U.S. consumers here. These include the Ace vibrating anal plugs and the Nexus Sparta, which uses a stroking motion to stimulate the prostate.
In terms of recent sales in the United States of the newest products, Carty said, Revo Intense, Ace and Sparta have done extremely well during their time in the market. Each of those items offer something completely unique and it shows in sales. Ace Large is actually our most recent release, but Sparta was not much before. Ace Large and Medium have done so well that we will be launching an Ace Small later this year.
Looking farther ahead, Carty said, We are constantly pushing the boundaries and trying to improve as a brand. This year will see us increase our retail presence with our POS and working with distributors and stores alike to really communicate our brand USPsthat as well as developing some new items that we will launch later this year.
For more, visit NexusRange.com or contact Monique Carty at +44-(0)-20-7260-2912 or [email protected]
MAC Treasurers will be moving from Williamstown to North Adams.
MAC Treasures Aims to Re-Open in North Adams
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. After four years at 600 Main St. in Williamstown, MAC Treasures has found a new home at the site of West End Auto at 362 State Road in North Adams.
MAC Treasures is a donation-based tag sale that helps support the Minerva Arts Center, which provides performing arts opportunities to students in Northern Berkshire County.
MAC Treasures provides an unique shopping experience, where you can find treasures including mens, womens and childrens clothing and accessories, books, childrens toys, music, housewares, furniture and seasonal items at reasonable prices. In addition to these treasures customers and donors alike enjoy the fact that everything donated to MAC Treasures is recycled, repurposed or reused: Items that cant be sold due to condition are re-donated to other organizations that can use them, such as stained blankets going to a shelter, torn denim being turned into paper, or rubber being melted off of shoes with holes.
MAC Treasures will be open for donations only beginning Thursday, May 12, at 362 State Road. Donation hours will be 2 to 6 p.m. during the week and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. Everyone who makes a donation during the month of May will receive a 10 percent coupon, which will be valid when the store opens officially on June 14th, pending approval by the North Adams Planning Board. Gearing up for the grand re-opening, MAC Treasures will have a series of tag sales May 21-22, May 28-29, June 4-5 and June 11-12.
Tom Hanks is Alan Clay, a desperate former corporate bigwig, attempting to sell the Arab king a holographic teleconferencing program.
'A Hologram for the King': Angst of a Salesman
Director Tom Tykwer's "A Hologram for the King," about a down-on-his-luck American businessman seeking to rectify his life through one big deal in Saudi Arabia, is the sort of film you enjoy while you're watching it, think about a little, and dismiss. The fleeting, two-pronged appeal comes thanks to the everyman charm Tom Hanks imbues in his Alan Clay, a desperate former corporate bigwig, and the inscrutable sociology he runs into whilst attempting to sell the Arab king a holographic teleconferencing program.
We like Alan, especially after learning that his fall from Big Biz was a result of just one unfortunate decision during the Great Recession that he's since played over and over in his mind. It sure seemed like the way to go back then, but nothing's been right since. His wife has divorced him, he's lost his house, and his adoring daughter has had to drop out of college until Daddy can again afford the tuition. In other words, there but for the grace of, well, you know.
Gosh, the man is near 60. He should be preparing to enjoy the fruits of his life's labor, and here he is, washed ashore in gallingly enigmatic territory, getting the runaround from every underling and middle-management wonk he confronts. His demonstration team has been relegated to a tent just outside of where the king plans to build his Metropolis of Economy and Trade. But where is his Wi-Fi, or food for his troops? It's all sand and promises, with no assurance that his mission half way around the world isn't in vain.
Thankfully, some comedy relief is supplied by Alexander Black's Yousef, a self-styled cabbie who soon becomes Alan's confidante and guide to all things Arab. Of course he has his own problems. Aside from a future of little expectations, there's an ever-present fear of reprisal from the wealthy older husband of a "sweetie" with whom he's been secretly exchanging honeyed words. That he regularly checks the car engine for bombs doesn't make his American charge very comfortable.
But off they go anyway, as yet unexploded. Rambling through the desert in Yousef's '87 Chevrolet Caprice, the two exchange histories and philosophy in an often funny and telling, impromptu cultural exchange. But Alan is stalled at every turn and the clock is ticking on our salesman's chance for redemption, his nasty, heartless boss issuing sweat-causing ultimatums from his perch in Boston.
In-between the tedium and the baffling obstructions, he Skypes his daughter Kit (Tracey Fairaway), cautioning her not to become too enamored of the waitressing job she's taken. Well, that's disheartening enough, so it's only par for the course when a sudden growth on Alan's back, right near his spine, puts things in perspective. But not to worry yet, dear reader and potential filmgoer. This movie has a simple script. When our interest is swerved by the possibility of a romance, matters lighten, at least for a while.
'Keanu': Puss & Galoots
More misses than hits in director Peter Atencio's "Keanu," a rambunctious action-comedy starring Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, suggest that the effort might best be enjoyed by fans of the duo's Comedy Central sketch series, "Key & Peele." Oddly, though, while unaware of the pair's cable TV fame and thus essentially a representative of the Great Unwashed, this admittedly easy chortler laughed much more than the supposed target audience with whom I viewed the movie.
While it behooves to academically note that the essence of comedy hasn't changed since Oog tripped Grouk as he exited his cave, the art of making folks chuckle, titter and hopefully guffaw often reflects the mood and emotion of the time. In that light, and a bit painful to put forward, there is an anger and nihilism in this rather fringy farce that doesn't seem, in the final analysis, to be all in good fun.
Oh sure, the story ultimately wraps itself in a traditional moral message, but probably because it doesn't know where else to bring its enmity and despair. Read between the lines of the twisty-turny, often awkward screenplay and you could make the case that "Keanu" is secretly a social critique smuggled into theaters as a comedy.
It possesses an uncomfortable duality, an oil-and-water mixture of drollery and murderous violence without the winking sarcasm required to make it edgy in an avant-garde sort of way. The immiscible blend has you aghast at one moment, and then wondering whether to laugh at the next. Granted, there are some funny observations and deductions. But the element that's missing, the catalyst that could make it work, is wit.
While hesitant to mention "Keanu" in the same paragraph, the great "Arsenic and Old Lace," by virtue of its comic suavity, was able to mine humor from a pair of silly old biddies who were cold-blooded executioners. But that was well written fantasy, whereas gangs and terrorists are to modern civilization what the Norsemen were to the folks of yore. Here, with a plot configuration that weaves its supposedly funny wild goose chase through the realities of our inner-city woes, it plays too close to home.
Actually, it's a domestic kitten chase, a pursuit that evolves from the curative effects the title feline has on Jordan Peele's Rell after his girlfriend gives him the gate. When little Keanu wanders into his house, it seems heaven-sent. The cloud of depression lifts and life is again worth living.
His cousin and best friend, Clarence, played by Keegan-Michael Key, is ecstatic. Thus it only follows that, when Keanu is abducted by gruesome thugs whose original mission was to collect a debt from the weed dealer next-door, the kitty must be recovered. It becomes a matter of life and death, literally.
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
We work towards an equitable,
gender-just, self-reliant and
sustainable fisheries,
particularly in the small-scale,
artisanal sector
LOS ANGELESIn an effort to continue to evolve its tools, Elevated X has released a Beta version of On Demand Content Purchasing features for the Elevated X pro CMS version.
The new tool enables clients to easily operate their own VOD site or online store to sell digital content in a variety of formats including photos, full scenes or video clips.
We are very excited to be in Beta with this, said Elevated X CEO AJ Hall. Customers can now purchase in true On Demand fashion and pay as they go, or make deposits to load funds in their account and use their balance to purchase content over time. These choices allow our clients to offer demand purchasing that works like iTunes for online streaming video rentals, photo gallery access and/or pay per download purchasing of videos Zip files. Rather than mimic the purchasing model common to many adult VOD sites, we wanted to make use of a more familiar, simplified purchasing setup and theres none more proven than that of iTunes. We expect this to be a real game-changer for a large number of content producers.
On the front end, pay site customers can now browse trailers and thumbnails for free without having to sign in, register new accounts with captcha-protected logins, utilize a clean membership site-like interface while browsing, buy/download and pay for content rental/pay per view, or deposit money into their account to make present and future purchases.
Direct purchasing via CCBill and Epoch are included at time of launch in addition to NATS support, as well as an API that will allow for custom biller integrations.
The new on demand features include tiered billing options that owners can set based on formats, content categories and more. It also provides complete CCBill one-click purchase support. If a person has made a purchase already, they don't even have to re-enter their credit card to make future purchases. With Epoch, if a person has already made a purchase, they only have to put in the security number on the back of their card. Test biller support is also included and allows testing to be done by purchasing on the live site without going through any specific biller.
This upgrade to the Elevated X pro CMS platform is being provided for free and on demand features will be included standard with every new CMS purchase at no additional cost, with support for up to 3 stand-alone VOD sites/areas or hybrid membership/VOD sites, or an unlimited number if using the optional mega-pass setup.
The backend interface allows site operators to view purchases by user and by date, to easily add credits to any person's account balance, manage users and password resets, add users, assign billers on a per-user basis, create test accounts and more said AJ. We made every effort to keep all of the backend functionality simple and are happy to assist our clients with setup of their on demand areas.
For existing Elevated X customers, On Demand Beta installations/upgrade requests are being performed in the order received and new customers are encouraged to visitwww.ElevatedX.com to view a live product demo or contact an account representative and learn more about modern A la carte billing via your own Elevated X CMS account.
For more information, visit ElevatedX.com.
MONTREALIconic website Pissing.com from Kink is now re-branded as PissingHD.com, thanks to help from branding strategist Your Paysite Partner.
This highly recognizable Kink brand will make a fantastic addition to our network of fetish paysites, said Kenny B. of Your Paysite Partner. You can be sure both YPP and Kink will make the most out of this golden opportunity.
Kink.com is one of the largest producers of BDSM and fetish pornography in the world.
When we started looking for a new home for Pissing.com, we couldnt think of a better Partner than Kenny, said Carl Burkhardt, Kink director of marketing. We knew he could maintain both the integrity and longevity of the product, a longtime Kink audience favorite.
Members get full access to the entire network, which includes two additional award winning piss sites, PissWhoreTraining and GoldenPassions.
Since 1999 the diverse team that makes up Your Paysite Partner has been involved in almost every aspect of the online adult industry. Your Paysite Partner provides an ideal solution for paysite operators, clip store owners, models and producers looking to grow their business.
Affiliates can promote PissingHD.com through the KennysPennies.com affiliate program. For more information, visit PissingHD.com or email [email protected]
World Leaders on Google+
Google+ is a social network which is in steady decline. Despite its 418 million active users, the platform can be considered a niche network for heads of state and governments, very few of which are active on the platform.
The social network enjoyed explosive growth after it was introduced in 2011, reaching 25 million users in just a month. Through the integration with other Google products such as Gmail and YouTube, many users were forced to sign up to Google+ but have not been active on the platform. While the initial fan count exploded, the engagement on the social network did not follow suit. The New York Times even compared Google+ to a ghost town, as half of the 540 million monthly active users did not even visit the social network.
Burson-Marstellers research team has identified 271 Google+ pages of heads of state and government and foreign ministers. However only a third of these pages were active in the past six months and very few on a regular basis; 122 pages have been dormant for more than six months and 55 pages have never posted content. While all of the pages combined have a total of 22,270,176 followers, the engagement rate of the pages surveyed is often well below 1 percent. Fifty-four pages are officially verified and carry an official verification badge. Only a quarter of all pages have a custom URL preceded by the + symbol and only slightly more than half of the pages have uploaded a custom header picture.
Most Followed World Leaders on Google+
Barack Obama is the most followed world leader on Google+ with 6.2 million followers, almost twice as many as the White House (+WhiteHouse) with 3.2 million followers. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (+NarendraModi) is in third place with nearly 3.1 million followers. The +EuropeanCommission is in fourth place with 1.6 million followers and UK Prime Minister David Cameron is in fifth position with more than a million followers. HH Sheikh Mohammed, the Prime Minister of the UAE; the government of the Philippines; Indias Foreign Ministry +MEAIndia; the government of Brazil; and Spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also make the top 10 list of the most followed Google+ pages. Eight pages surveyed do not display the number of followers.
Although governments have gathered respectable followings, they are barely active on the platform and a post on Google+ is often done only as an afterthought. Barack Obamas page has been dormant since March 2015 and the page of the UK Foreign Office and the Philippine government have been dormant since mid-2015. David Cameron posted his last update on January 1, 2016 to wish his followers a Happy New Year, and the last post from Brazils president was on her birthday on December 14, 2015. Spanish Prime Minister Rajoys page, which was used during his election campaign, has been inactive since his election in December 2011.
The White House has only posted four posts this year, namely three clips and a picture from the annual #YouTubeAsksObama interview with top YouTube creators conducted in the White House in January 2016 after Barack Obamas last State of the Union address. HH Sheikh Mohammed, the Prime Minister of the UAE, posted only one post in 2016, a link to his LinkedIn publication on why the UAE has created Ministers for Happiness, Tolerance, Youth and the Future.
Most Active World Leaders on Google+
The Brazilian government has the most active Google+ page with 1,455 posts since the beginning of 2016. The page is linked to its website, automatically posting, when a new story is published on the website. However, the page only received on average five interactions per publication and has one of the lowest engagement rate with 0.0008 percentinteractions in relation to the number of followers.
The Indian Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department have posted 550 and 428 posts respectively in 2016, mainly sharing videos from their YouTube channels, posting picture galleries of official meetings and links from their websites. Both Foreign Ministries receive on average 40 comments, likes and shares on each of their posts, but the U.S. State Department has a slightly better engagement rate as it has only half as many followers as its Indian counterpart. Both pages essentially recycle their Facebook posts on their Google+ pages, with the State Department even posting an invitation to a live Facebook Q&A on its Google+ page.
Most Effective World Leaders on Google+
The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most effective world leader on Google+. His posts get on average 1,899 interactions and he has received a total of 478,000 likes, comment and shares on his publications in 2016, with an engagement rate of 0,0615percent The White House is in second position with an average of 594 interactions on its four posts and HH Sheikh Mohamed received 462 interactions on his single post in 2016.
Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is in fourth position, with an average of 119 interactions, and Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko averages 71 interactions on his posts. The European Commission tailors its content to Google+, even sometimes tagging other Google+ users in its posts.
The EU Commission can claim an average of 62 interactions per post on Google+. The EU Commission has also created a set of 10 interest-based collections for Migration, Europe's External Action, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Digital Single Market et al. which users can follow to receive topical posts.
Whats the Plus of Google+?
Some people argue that the single most important reason to have an active Google+ page is for search engine optimization. Until recently, Google+ pages were displayed prominently on the right hand side next to Googles search results.
However, Google+ pages are no longer displayed alongside search results unless the social media profile is linked from the official website using structured data markup. Only the pages of Italys Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Kenyas President Uhuru Kenyatta, Bhutans Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Maltas Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Germanys Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier have linked their Google+ profiles from their respective webpages and their social media properties are displayed below the Wikipedia pages in Google search.
Hanging out on Google+
Probably the most important reason to set up a Google+ page is the possibility to organize live video calls, known as Google Hangouts. These videos chats allow direct interaction with up to 10 people in a live video broadcast, the recording of which is available immediately afterwards on YouTube.
Barack Obama participated in one such Google+ hangout, moderated by Googles Steve Grove in January 2014, and Indias Narendra Modi conducted a Google+ hangout on his channel to answer questions from citizens in 2012 when he was still Chief Minister of Gujarat State. The two-hour long conversation, now available on his YouTube channel, has been watched 770,000 times since. Other leaders who have used Google Hangouts to talk directly with their constituents include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Maltas Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
In essence, Google+ seems to suffer from social media fatigue, as it is often the last social network a community manager will actually service, often reposting posts from Facebook. World Leaders are slowly abandoning the platform and even the high interaction on live Google+ Hangouts has been supplanted by Facebook live and Periscope broadcasting applications.
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Press Release: The IMF Regional Technical Assistance Center for West Africa Holds its Steering Committee Meeting
Press Release No. 16/211
May 10, 2016
The IMF Regional Technical Assistance Center for West Africa (AFRITAC West) held the 26th session of its Steering Committee in Abidjan, Republic of Cote dIvoire, on May 4-5, 2016. During the meetings, the Committee endorsed the Centers activities and financial reports for the fiscal year that ended in April 2016, adopted the program and the budget for the coming fiscal year, and endorsed the Strategy Note for the Centers next 5-year cycle that will begin in May 2017. The meeting was attended by representatives of nine member countries, the Central Bank of West African States, observers (Pole de Dakar, AFRISTAT, the Commission of West African States), development partners representatives (European Union, France, Canada, African Development Bank, Switzerland, German Cooperation, and the European Investment Bank), and IMF staff.
In their opening addresses, Mr. Doumbia Vakaramoko, Advisor to the Minister in charge of Economy and Finance of Cote dIvoire, representing the Minister; and Mr. Moumounou Gnankambary, Advisor to the Minister of Economy, Finance and Development of Burkina Faso, lauded the Centers efforts to build institutional and human capacity and expressed satisfaction with the implementation of reforms supported by the Center.
The Steering Committee noted that good results were achieved during the last fiscal year. The Committee was pleased with the Centers quality of work and the efficiency of its activities, including technical assistance activities off-site (in Abidjan) when missions had to be suspended for exogenous reasons (e.g. security concerns). The Committee welcomed the increase in training activities which is an important component of capacity development for the region. It expressed satisfaction with the planned increase in activities in the coming fiscal year and urged country representatives to enhance the monitoring of progress in the implementation of technical assistance recommendations. The Committee also called on the Center to continue involving these representatives in all activities and interactions with member countries, and approved the provision of technical assistance to the Regional Counsel for Public Savings and Financial Markets. Finally, the Committee encouraged the Center to continue coordinating activities with other TA providers to enhance synergies in capacity development efforts.
The Committee approved the priorities set for the Centers activities in the next phase (2017-22) and agreed with the steps outlined for the preparation of the corresponding program document. It was noted that the Committee will be consulted throughout this process.
The Steering Committee thanked Cote dIvoire authorities for their warm welcome and for the logistical arrangements made for country representatives during their stay.
It was decided that the next meeting of the Steering Committee would take place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in March 2017.
Background
AFRITAC West (AFW) is one of the five IMF regional technical assistance Centers is Sub-Saharan Africa. The AFRITAC initiative started in 2002 at the request of African policymakers who were meeting as part of the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD). They had turned to the IMF for assistance in strengthening their governments institutional and human capacity to develop and implement economic policies supportive of economic growth and poverty reduction. AFRITAC West was set up in 2003. It was relocated temporarily to Bamako, Mali in light of the political situation in Cote dIvoire. Once the Ivoirian political situation normalized, AFW returned to Abidjan in 2012, two years before the target date, due to the deterioration of the political situation in Mali.
Imperial Valley News Center
Funding decline for a U.S. government HIV/AIDS initiative raises concerns
Los Angeles, California - A U.S. government agency whose mission is to help save the lives of people around the world living with HIV and AIDS has seen a steep drop in funding for an important part of its budget. The finding, from a UCLA study, could be a cause for concern because many countries rely on the agency to help pay for vital health care services for people with the disease.
The United States Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was launched in 2003 and is now the worlds largest health assistance program focused on a single disease. The agency, which is funded by the federal government, helps pay for antiretroviral therapy, HIV testing, counseling and other programs for tens of millions of people around the world.
PEPFARs budget is divided among five core activities: prevention, care, treatment, management and operations, and governance and systems. The latter category, which receives about one-sixth of the organizations overall funding, supports infrastructure for delivering HIV- and AIDS-related services, particularly in low-income countries.
But the study, published in the May issue of the peer-reviewed journal Health Affairs, found that after its budget increased each year from 2004 through 2011, the units funding declined slightly in 2012 and 2013, and then by 33 percent from 2013 to 2014, to $448.6 million. The agencys overall budget declined from 2013 to 2014, but by a much smaller amount, 7 percent, to a total of $3.4 billion.
People with HIV and AIDS who receive effective antiretroviral therapy can live for many years, said Corrina Moucheraud, assistant professor of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and the studys lead investigator. But the care and treatment of people with HIV and AIDS requires a strong health system access to health workers, a reliable supply of medicines, laboratory testing and so on.
Moucheraud said the findings, the first detailed evidence about PEPFARs health system budgets, offer an opportunity to reflect upon the agencys funding priorities.
Programs like PEPFAR fund programs specific to HIV and AIDS, but to maximize their effectiveness and sustainability, they must also invest in strengthening health systems, she said. This is especially true in resource-poor countries with weak health systems.
Most PEPFAR funding goes to countries in sub-Saharan Africa, which has been particularly hard hit by the AIDS pandemic.
Data used in the study came from the PEPFAR Dashboards, which provides information on funding and expenditures. The site revealed that a total of $33.3 billion was budgeted for PEPFAR between 2004 and 2014. Of that amount, $5.2 billion across country budgets and years, went to governance and systems activities. Governance and systems share of the budget rose from 14.9 percent in 2004 to 27.5 percent in 2013 before dropping to 20.8 percent in 2014.
Although the number of new HIV infections each year has continued to decline around the world, Moucheraud said that the need to fully fund agencies like PEPFAR remains.
The number of people who are infected with HIV continues to rise, so the money for governance and systems to help these patients needs to increase, she said.
The authors noted some limitations to this study. The data they used was for funding and not expenditures, so the researchers could not determine how the funds were actually spent. In addition, the data came directly from PEPFAR, which could cause source bias.
These findings call into question whether the rhetoric of health systems strengthening has been translated into sustained policy action, the researchers write. Additional research and analysis of the PEPFAR Dashboard data in coordination with in-depth country work is needed to fully understand the changing role of health systems in the operations of PEPFAR and other global health initiatives.
Researchers publish largest eye study of age-related macular degeneration in Latino population that analyzes impact on quality of life
Los Angeles, California - The University of Southern California (USC) Roski Eye Institute researchers and clinicians published results of the largest population-based study of adult Latinos and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the National Eye Institute-funded Los Angeles Latino Eye Study (LALES). The study, published in JAMA Ophthalmology, is the first to analyze the risk and prevalence of early and late stage AMD and its impact on quality of life for older Latinos.
According to the National Eye Institute, AMD is a chronic, progressive disease affecting 2 million Americans and typically diagnosed in those age 50-60. The LALES study, conducted among 4,876 Latinos in Los Angeles with a mean age cohort of 54.8 years old, indicates that Latinos diagnosed with bilateral AMD with large drusen (the lipids or fatty proteins that are yellow deposits under the retina) and depigmentation as well as more severe AMD had a substantially lower health-related quality of life as compared to those with AMD lesions in only one eye.
In addition, the findings point to a more significant health-related quality of life decline beginning in early rather than later stages of the disease. For instance, the study shows 80 percent of early AMD participants reported difficulty driving as opposed to 43 percent who had late AMD. As well, 91.6 percent of early AMD participants reported vision-related social function impact and 74.4 percent had near vision problems as compared to 67.7 percent and 46.9 percent respectively of late AMD participants who reported the same. The researchers also found that while participants may not have a measurable decrease in their visual acuity, their reported reduced visual function may possibly be the result of contrast sensitivity associated with early-stage AMD.
The study results are a wake-up call for both ophthalmologists and those in the Latino community to avoid a quality of life decline due to ocular conditions, especially in earlier stages of eye diseases such as AMD, said Rohit Varma, MD, MPH, interim dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and director of the USC Roski Eye Institute. What was significant but not intuitively obvious was that Latinos diagnosed with AMD in both eyes or more severe AMD had a markedly diminished vision-specific quality of life requiring us to shift our clinical focus from treating advanced stages of AMD to finding earlier stage interventions and treatment options.
Dr. Varma, the studys principal investigator and one of the worlds leading experts in population based eye disease, shared that objective measurements like vision loss may not adequately characterize the total impact of the ocular condition of a patient. The research points to the increasing need to assess a patients health-related quality of life and a patients overall perception of relative well-being as a valuable tool to evaluate treatment efficacies.
The Latino population is the largest minority segment of the U.S. population and is the largest ethnic population in Los Angeles county surpassing the Caucasian population in 2014. According to the U.S. Census 2015 report, Latinos are 17 percent of the U.S. population (55 million) and by 2060 they will be 29 percent (119 million). At the same time, American society has a growing aging population with 10,000 baby boomers turning 65 every day and AMD, an ocular disease that typically affects those age 50 and older, is the leading cause of irreversible blindness.
Previous studies on Latinos have found this population to have a different pattern of AMD prevalence, incidence, progression and risk factors, added Dr. Varma. More importantly, the lower level of health care access and utilization among this group is likely to impact follow-up care of these patients and may make them more susceptible to diminished quality of life.
The LALES findings unexpectedly demonstrate that even the earliest stages of AMD may impair eyesight enough to interfere with daily activities. They also point to the need for additional research on the earliest stages of AMD, said Maryann Redford, D.D.S., M.P.H., a program director for Collaborative Clinical Research at NIHs National Eye Institute. People with early AMD affecting both eyes appear to be especially vulnerable to declines in their vision-related quality of life, and might benefit from any early referral to a low vision specialist.
The LALES study was conducted among 4,876 participants in six U.S. Census tracks in La Puente, Calif. More than half of the participants were female (59 percent) and 41 percent were male with a median cohort age of 54.8 years. The participants underwent comprehensive eye exams and interviews to assess risk factors for health-related quality of life impact related to either an early or late AMD diagnosis. Photographs of the inside of the eyes were taken to also detect signs of AMD. Typical AMD symptoms are straight lines or faces appear wavy, objects appear smaller or further away and there is blurriness or blind spots in central vision.
Dr. Varma is the principal investigator of many major National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded studies, including the Multi-Ethnic Pediatric Eye Diseases Study (MEPEDS), African-American Eye Disease Study (AFEDS) and the Chinese-American Eye Study (CHES). The USC Roski Eye Institute is ranked in the Top 2 of the nations top grant recipients from the NEI and has achieved more than $32 million in annual grant funding.
This research was supported by NEI-funded grants EY-11753 and EY-03040.
About the USC Roski Eye Institute
The USC Roski Eye Institute, part of the Keck Medicine of USC university-based medical enterprise, has been a leader in scientific research and innovative clinical treatments for 40 years. Among the top two funded academic-based medical centers by the National Eye Institute (NEI) research grants and ranked in the Top 10 ophthalmology programs in U.S. News & World Reports annual Best Hospitals issue for more than 20 years, the USC Roski Eye Institute is headquartered in Los Angeles with clinics in Arcadia, Beverly Hills and Pasadena.
Patients from across the country come to see the USC Roski Eye Institute experts who treat a comprehensive array of eye diseases across the life spectrum from infants to aging seniors. The USC Roski Eye Institute is known for its scientific research and clinical innovation including: creation of the Argus retinal prosthesis implant (also known as the bionic eye) for retinitis pigmentosa patients; stem cell therapies for those who have age-related macular degeneration; discovery of the gene that is the cause of the most common eye cancer in children; treatment for eye infections for AIDS patients; inventors of the most widely used glaucoma implant in the world; pioneers of a device for long-term intraocular drug delivery; and the first to use telesurgery to train eye doctors in developing countries. For more information visit: usceye.org.
Financial fraud targeting older adults often involves appeals to emotions like anger, excitement
Stanford, California - An appeal to emotions like excitement or anger is a key persuasion tactic used by fraudsters to mislead the elderly.
Thats the key finding in a new report from the Stanford Center on Longevity. Excitement and anger known as high arousal emotions can lead to risky decision-making compared with low-arousal emotions, such as feeling depressed, bored or tired.
Financial fraud costs range in the billions annually, and many victims are elderly. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that in 2011, 7.3 percent of adults between the ages of 65 and 74 were the victim of financial fraud, as were 6.5 percent of adults age 75 and older. For all adults 18 years and older, a figure of $50 billion is given for the overall impact of fraud, according to the Stanford researchers.
Prior research, the studys scholars point out, shows that older adults are particularly susceptible to the effects of high-arousal emotions on decision-making.
When emotionally aroused, either excited or frustrated, older adults may be more susceptible to being victimized by scammers than are younger individuals, said Ian H. Gotlib, the David Starr Jordan Professor of Psychology and chair of the Stanford Psychology Department. In the present study, they were more likely to want to pay for an item advertised misleadingly, regardless of how credible they believed the advertisement was.
Misleading advertising
The researchers examined whether inducing high-arousal positive and high-arousal negative emotions in the laboratory increases susceptibility to fraudulent purchases. Participants included 71 adults age 65 to 85 and 68 adults between 30 and 40 years of age.
Designed to simulate the real-world tactics of financial fraud perpetrators, the lab experiment involved inducing different types of emotional arousal in the participants and then assessing their responses to misleading advertisements. The researchers assigned each participant to one of three emotional arousal groups: excitement (high-arousal positive emotion); anger (high-arousal negative emotion); and neutral (low arousal).
The study revealed that inducing either high-arousal positive or high-arousal negative emotions in older adults increased their desire to purchase products after viewing misleading advertisements. This occurred despite the fact that the high-arousal groups did not find the advertisements to be more credible than did the low-arousal group.
The results suggest that a state of high emotional arousal, whether it is one of excitement or one of anger, may influence older adults susceptibility to fraud.
When we examined younger adults separately, we did not find these same effects. Further, whereas in younger adults greater advertisement credulity was associated with greater intention to purchase the item, credulity and purchase intention were not significantly related in older adults, the researchers wrote.
Societal implications
The study recommends that communicating such research findings to consumers and investors, especially older adults, may help them avoid becoming victims of fraud.
With warnings, people can recognize the tactics used by fraudsters creating excitement about the proposition, putting time pressure on the decision, invoking the names of other trusted sources who have reportedly bought in to the endeavor said Martha Deevy, director of the Financial Security Division at the Stanford Center on Longevity.
Individuals can protect themselves by pausing or waiting a few days before saying yes, and by following the adage, If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,' Deevy said.
Everyone, she added, can avoid fraud by never giving personal information to strangers who call on the phone, by asking to see credentials or to speak to supervisors, and by doing background research on charities, vendors and financial advisers to make sure that they are legitimate.
Many financial institutions are also playing a role in helping to identify instances of potential fraud by being watchful for changes in behavior or transaction habits with their older clients, Deevy said.
In addition to Gotlib, the researchers included Laura L. Carstensen, Nanna Notthoff and Katharina Kircanski from Stanford; Doug Shadel from AARP; and Gary Mottola from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which funded the research.
U.S. Department of State Opens Modular Data Center
Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of State, in collaboration with Chenega Decision Sciences, LLC, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Departments Modular Data Center (MDC), located within the compound of the Beltsville Information Messaging Center. The ceremony brought together Department employees, State of Maryland Officials, and private sector employees who together have contributed to the success of the MDC.
The MDC provides the ability to expand and contract data center capabilities based upon the needs of the Department. It also includes an innovative, adaptive cooling technology that helps reduce the carbon footprint of the data center while maintaining peak performance.
Through the virtualization first policy, the Department is focused on containing the physical footprint of IT. Fewer physical servers translate into significant environmental impact through containment of environmentally harmful materials, decreased energy costs per server, decreased packaging materials, and transportation services. This accelerates the Departments ability to meet Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA) and Data Center Optimization Initiative (DCOI) mandates.
Notice Asking Women Advocates Not to 'Arrange' Hair in Open Court in Pune Sparks Outrage
Emma Watson Named In Panama Papers
Trending News: Emma Watson Is The Latest Celeb To Be Caught Up In The Panama Papers Leak
Why Is This Important?
Because this could affect any plans Watson has for British political office.
Long Story Short
Emma Watson is the latest celebrity to be revealed in the massive leak of documents related to offshore tax havens, known as the Panama Papers. Watson contests that she set up the offshore legitimately for privacy and safety purposes.
Long Story
We were told when the Panama Papers first thundered across world headlines that there'd be more public figures tied up in the 11 million confidential documents leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca and that seems to be the case.
Initially, not-so-saintly leaders like Vladimir Putin, the King of Saudi Arabia and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were named, but those are some bad dudes, so no big surprise there.
A couple of western leaders also faced backlash for skipping out on taxes with offshore bank accounts including British Prime Minister David Cameron and Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson who was forced to step down following protests demanding his resignation.
Then, some of our favorite stars like Jackie Chan and Spanish Director Pedro Almodovar were listed. Later, American Idol's Simon Cowell's name was tossed in the mix, and now perhaps the most unexpected name of them has come up. Actress/activist/sweetheart Emma Watson.
The Spectator in England found her name, Emma Charlotte Guerre Watson, listed as a beneficiary in an offshore company based in the British Virgin Islands.
A spokesman for Watson confirmed that she did indeed set up an offshore company, but only "for the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity and safety."
"UK companies are required to publicly publish details of their shareholders and therefore do not give her the necessary anonymity required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardised in the past owing to such information being publicly available," said the spokesman, quoted by The Spectator. "Offshore companies do not publish these shareholder details. Emma receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever only privacy."
So, should we believe that Watson only set up the company to protect her privacy, or was she skirting out on taxes?
Hopefully she is telling the truth and it was for legitimate reasons because Watson is doing some absolutely spectacular work using her celebrity status to draw attention to important feminist and world issues.
And it's not like what she was doing was illegal, tax havens are legal, after all, just a little on the immoral side. I predict this will blow over and Emma will go back to being her awesome self in no time.
Own The Conversation
Ask The Big Question
Will this tarnish Watson's squeaky clean image?
Disrupt Your Feed
Watson would never try to avoid paying her fair share, would she?
Drop This Fact
Emma Watson can speak French.
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Woody Allens latest feature, which opened the Cannes Festival on Wednesday, is a gentle and whimsical romantic comedy-drama that moves along at the leisurely pace you might expect from an 80-year-old director. Financed by Amazon Studios, it is very sumptuously shot in golden-hued, autumnal colours by the great cinematographer Vittorio Storaro. It has an intricately plotted screenplay and a beguiling jazz soundtrack. The film may be a little lacking in oomph, but it should still make Allens fans happy enough. After all, it carries plenty of echoes of his previous movies.
The film is set in the 1930s. Jesse Eisenberg plays Bobby Dorfman, a naive young Jewish kid from the Bronx who heads out to Hollywood, hoping to make his fortune. His uncle Phil (Steve Carrell) is a hotshot agent who knows all the big shots, from Greta Garbo to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Allen sets the scene in a slightly croaky voice-over, and Thirties Los Angeles is lovingly and lavishly recreated in all its art deco glory.
Recommended Read more What to expect at Cannes 2016
As Allen fans know, the filmmaker doesnt much care for California. He cant resist a few satirical sideswipes at the narcissism and inanity of Hollywood celebrity culture, even in the golden age of the big studios. Bobby takes his time to find his feet in tinseltown. Things look up when he falls in love with his uncles beautiful secretary Vonnie (Kristen Stewart). The hitch is that uncle Phil is in love with her too, even though hes ostensibly happily married.
Bobby is half bored, half fascinated by the glitter of Hollywood and eventually decides that he will be much better off back in New York, where his gangster brother Ben (Corey Stoll) runs a nightclub. Ben is a charismatic neer do well with a hint of George Raft about him whose solution to neighbourly disputes is to bury anyone who annoys him in cement.
In its lesser moments, the film plays like a skittish comic version of Boardwalk Empire. However, it is also funny and, as the final reel approaches, increasingly affecting. Ken Stott has a scene stealing role as Bobbys dad, a dim-witted, hen-pecked Jewish patriarch.
The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Show all 14 1 /14 The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Julieta Director: Pedro Almodovar
Starring: Adriana Ugarte, Emma Suarez
What's it about? The Spanish filmmaker's 20th film is based on three short stories from Alice Munro's 2004 book, Runaway which tracks a woman's search for her missing daughter. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 American Honey Director: Andrea Arnold
Starring: Sasha Lane, Kate Mara, Shia LaBeouf
What's it about? In British filmmaker Andrea Arnold's (Red Road) American road movie - her first film set and filmed outside the UK - a teenage girl who gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying as she crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Personal Shopper Director: Olivier Assayas
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Lars Eidinger, Nora von Waldstatten
What's it about? Stewart reteams with French filmmaker Assayas following Clouds of Sils Maria for this ghost story set in the fashion underworld of Paris. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 It's Only the End of the World Director: Xavier Dolan
Starring: Lea Seydoux, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel
What's it about? Xavier Dolan (Mommy) returns with this film based on the play Juste la fin du monde which tells the story of a terminally ill writer who returns home after 12 years to announce his impending death. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Paterson Director: Jim Jarmusch,
Starring: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani
What's it about? An original film from Amazon Studios that follows Paterson, a bus driver in the city of Paterson, New Jersey who lives an inhibited life compared to that of his wife, Laura. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 I, Daniel Blake Director: Ken Loach
Starring: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Micky McGregor
What's it about? Written by Paul Laverty (the man behind Loach's Palme d'Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, the film follows the titular protagonist, a joiner who seeks financial felp from the state following an illness. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Loving Director: Jeff Nichols
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Michael Shannon, Marton Csokas
What's it about? Jeff Nichols' Midnight Special follow-up tracks an interracial couple based in Virginia sentenced to prison in 1958 for getting married. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Handmaid Director: Park Chan-wook
Starring: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Tae-ri
What's it about? The Oldboy director's latest South Korean film follows an heiress who falls in love with a petty thief. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Neon Demon Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring: Elle Fanning, Jena Malone, Keanu Reeves, Christina Hendricks
What's it about? Winding Refn's third consecutive film to compete for the Palme d'Or, this horror thriller follows an aspiring model who moves to Los Angeles where 'her vitality and youth are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means to get what she has.' The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Cafe Society Director: Woody Allen
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively
What's it about? Woody Allen's latest will open the Festival. It is a New York romantic comedy set in the 1930s with a cast including Steve Carell, Parker Posey, Corey Stoll and Judy Davis. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The BFG Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Mark Rylance, Rebecca Hall, Bill Hader
What's it about? Based on the Roald Dahl classic, the story follows a young girl named Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) who befriends a friendly giant. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Money Monster Director: Jodie Foster
Starring: George Clooney, Jack O'Connell, Julia Roberts
What's it about? A money-oriented live TV show is interrupted when the presenter is taken hostage by a blue-collar worker compelled to turn to violence following his recent financial losses. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 The Nice Guys Director: Shane Black
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Russell Crowe
Reason to see: Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) and his razor sharp wit return in a comedy set in 70s LA. The films to know about at Cannes 2016 Captain Fantastic Director: Matt Ross
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Frank Langella, Kathryn Hahn
What's it about? In the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a father who devoted his life to raising his six kids with an irreverent education is forced to leave his paradise and enter the 'real' world.
Allen throws in self-conscious references to Manhattan and Annie Hall. The film is very talkative indeed. Eisenbergs Bobby is yet another of Allens protagonists who seems to be very closely modelled on the director himself. Hes supposed to be a raw young kid from the Bronx but he is witty and sometimes sarcastic, speaking in the kind of one-liners you might find in the Rodgers and Hart songs that are referred to several times during the film. He has an easy rapport with Kirsten Stewarts Vonnie, who plays her character in appealing fashion as a girl next door type who also has the ability to break hearts.
There is a surprising undertow of melancholy to the film. This may be a romantic comedy but it is as much about what keeps couples apart as about what draws them together. Some of Allens recent movies have had the feeling that they were thrown together very quickly but Cafe Society is very lovingly crafted. Even if Allens energy levels may be dipping, he still knows just how to mix the comedy and the pathos.
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A lot has changed since 2012, the year Skeptas last album Blacklisted was released. The world has survived a cataclysmUS President Barack Obama has served his last four years in office, and Skepta has become the personification of grime musics resurgence. Grime isnt driven by albums, but rather screw face inducing one liners and high energy radio sets. With Skepta's fourth release, aptly titled Konnichiwa, the north London emcee aims to let his listeners know its a new day with this body of workfour long years in the making.
Until 2014, Skepta struggled with musical identity and sincerity, we watched him assume many different forms through the years from rapping about making it rain in Turk inspired "Oynama Sikidim Sikidim" to singing with auto-tune in "Amnesia." It was evident that Skepta wasnt only unsure of what type of music he wanted to make but who he wanted to become. Ironically this all seemed to fade away after releasing his forward-facing banger Thats Not Me. The Music of Black Origin award winning single wasnt only theme song to summer 2014 but an epiphany and moment of self-realisation. Skepta finally looked at the Gucci-laden personae hed become and had decided that was simply not him. In many ways, Konnichiwa reps the ferocity of self-doubt and how powerful self-belief can exist within the same being. But enough of all thatlets get into it.
Saying Konnichiwa, "hello" in Japanese, Skepta introduces himself to his audience and sets the scene, after a years on end journey searching for himself. Straight away, the single delves into Asian culture channeling Shaolin Kung Fu vibessomething the RZA would cook up. The beat drops and heavy grime-sonics are introduced. The narrator speaks on corrupted agendas and dodgy prime ministers, revealing the inner-activist Skepta has only recently introduced to us. "Soon as I get bored, I jump on the plane. Nothin' ain't changed. Boy better know a man went to the BRITs on a train." He flexes the juxtaposition of his life, immediately setting a fearless and introspective tone for the album, touching on his personal losses after a miscarriage and losing a dear friend in Lukey, who was stabbed to death last summer.
Lyrics features south Londons new school grime emcee, Novelist, who shares Skepta's love for battling rival emcees. The beginning of this song samples something Wiley said in a 2001 Heartless Crew vs. Pay As U Go Cartel clash. "Lyrics for Lyrics calm" is now an iconic phrase and apparently inspired the etymology in this track. Theres heavy eski influence here, expressing both of the artists' love for war dubs and the elements of conflict. Skepta loves asserting his superiority of his rivals, both as a spitter and a man, making reference to his infamous duels with Birmingham rapper, Devilman that ignited Skepta's career in 2006. Skepta reminds us that he's ready to squash anyone who steps before him.
After being sampled on the previous track, the Godfather Wiley appears on Corn on the Curb. This track seems very freestlye-esque as Skepta weaves through a plethora of topics including: progression, women, skengs, fame, Grime beef, jewelry and status over several verses. Wiley absolutely obliterates his verse here, he speaks a lot about other lyricists, and this verse sounds like it might have fitted well on the previous track, a very good verse none the less. This track seems like Skepta took a chance to exhibit his skill over an intense beat. The end of this track features an intimate phone conversation between Skepta and Chip. Skepta confides in Chip, telling him about his uncertainty and pressure hes facing in terms of music. Chip first addresses a stray shot he caught from Skepta on last years diss aimed at Devilman on "Nasty." Chipmunk then galvanizes and reassures his friend about his ability and the importance of his forth coming success.
Crime Riddim narrates a story in which Skepta got into a bar fight with a bloke who apparently spilled Skeptas drink... more than once. Chaos ensued as Skepta punched him in his face and left him devastated and subsequently got arrested. The hook on here is very repetitive, with a minimalist and stylistic beat reminiscent of old school grime, that doesn't appear to fit.
It Aint Safe first surfaced back in 2014 just before the Red Bull Culture Clash, in which three groups took each other on, including Boy Betta Know and the A$AP Mob. This hook provided by A$AP Bari is simply one line repeated over and over It ain't safe for the block, not even for the cops. This song is very gritty and tough all the way through. The album has been very intense thus far and this song is no exception.
After all that intensity in the first few tracks, Skepta slows it down with the wavy Ladies Hit Squad. This seems like one aimed at the clubs. The stark sonic differences between grime veterans D Double E and Skepta are blended seamlessly with the New York style hook A$AP Nast provides. This one is very appropriately placed on the album as it serves as a breather to the pure grit we have been listening to thus far. D Double E showed of his versatility here with a calm verse, unlike his usual high energy and volume style.
In Numbers, Skepta holds the suits and label sharks accountable for the deteriorating the quality of music to generate dollars. He talks about how the people showing him attention now, who were noticeably absent before his come up, but showing up at his door hoping to cash in on his success. He also blames execs for his struggle to find his own identity early on in his careerand he wants little to do with them now. The joint is fun, featuring a Pharrell Williams on the hook and final verse, rounding off Skepta's swipe at the music industry, and building onto his anti-establishment personae.
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Tower Records, Tokyo. #Konnichiwa A photo posted by SKEPTA (@skeptagram) on May 5, 2016 at 10:53pm PDT
After a two track break, we're back into the deep and gritty with Man, a nod toward Skeptas closest companions, and a diss aimed at the fake friends he's encountered. He cleverly paraphrases his buddy Drake with You are not mandem, you are not gang. A gritty but still very simple and again minimalist track.
Shutdown is a previously released 2015 banger and one of Skeptas most viewed YouTube videosyou'll definitely hear it playing from the roofless cars driving past you this summer. It also features a hilarious Drake sample. One would think that the self-proclaimed 6 God would make a fresh cameo on the album version, those holding out for such a surprise will find themselves disappointed.
Thats Not Me is another banger, but a bit more meaningful. This high energy track continues with one of the themes of identity in this album, he might not tell us who he is here, but he definitely tells us who he isnt. He laments for past mistakes like wearing excessive amounts of Gucci and LV and falling in love with a Sket. There is a strong triumphant tone to this one as he celebrates finally discovering himself. He features his younger brother JME, who calmly dispatches his verse focusing on keeping it real and genuine.
Next up, the very spacey Detox features the BBK crew minus Solo 45 and JME. Appropriate as this song is about turning up and getting high. Each member of the crew drops a clever and nimble verse then keeps it moving. Its a fun and almost humorous song, that Frisco completely blows away. The end of this song pays homage to Solo 45, who was incarcerated while the joint was being recorded.
As the final track on the album, Text Me Back, starts of comical but then he starts addressing someone, it turns about to be a lady, a lady seemingly very close to his heart. The beat transitions from a texting sound sample to a smoother more RnB sprinkled rather softer grime beat. He is very apologetic for not texting this lady back and tells her even though he doesnt he never means to disrespect her he repeats this a few times. He tells her after all his travels he doesnt want to be with anyone else apart from her. He then starts talking to his mother, hes very honest and vulnerable here, he tells her he doesnt want to see her cry anymore, and the reason he is always away is because he wants her and the rest of his family and friends to live better.
Photo by @mrjonasleon Tokyo, 2016. A photo posted by SKEPTA (@skeptagram) on May 5, 2016 at 10:00am PDT
The project is very solid, true to grime culture, and this may be the first body of work in the genre that people around the world will listen to that isnt watered down. Unfortunately, weve heard many of these songs before, and being only 12 tracks long, with 5 already in circulation, the record is hardly offering anything new for dedicated fans. With the amount of previous release dates, and the length of time we waited for this album, theres much left to be desired. Hopefully tracks that didnt make the final cut, will be released as b-sides to fulfill that appetite.
The conflict of Skeptas self-doubt and confidence battling was refreshing and energetic, the emcee isnt someone you see smiling or getting personal on stage, so its quite humanizing to see these elements shine through his lyrics. Konnichiwa mirrors an R-rated superhero flick, telling the familiar story of a person battling internal and external forces, but predictably triumphs after becoming true to ones self and persistence. Skepta's journey is a bit more morbid than your average celebrated vigilante, its raw, authentic, honest and brave.
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An American firm working on Hyperloop technology is set to show off a prototype of its ultra-high speed transport system in the desert near Las Vegas.
Hyperloop One (formerly known as Hyperloop Technologies), one of the many companies working on developing the technology, is demonstrating its "linear induction" propulsion system in an open-air test on Wednesday 11 May.
The engine is the same one that would theoretically power a full-scale Hyperloop in the future.
The Hyperloop, as we now know it, was first put forward by Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX. The theorised mode of transport works by propelling a pressurised passenger or cargo-carrying pod through a vacuum tube, where it can potentially reach speeds of 700mph.
Musk developed the idea, and engineers from his companies are working on it, but the technology has been widely picked up by a variety of firms aiming to be the first to perfect it.
Hyperloop One is currently leading the charge, and announced on 10 May that it had raised $80m (55m) in a second funding round, receiving backing from firms like SNCF, France's state-owned railway company.
The event will be the first public test in the company's history, and while the small track is a far cry from the international Hyperloop networks proposed by some of the technology's more optimistic advocates, it's a step in the right direction.
Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd said during the announcement: "We're the one company with the focus, the resources. We believe we're the one company that can deliver Hyperloop first."
Lloyd believes the Hyperloop will solve problems of urban congestion, and redefine cites and regions around the world by drastically cutting journey times.
However, his firm will have to prove Hyperloops can be constructed affordably and be safe for passengers before they are taken up by transport authorities.
In the meantime, the company is making connections across the world, in an effort to find suitable sites for future Hyperloops. It's currently partnering with the Aland Islands-based company FS Links AB to look at the possibility of a track connecting Stockholm and Helsinki.
While the company is only trialling the Hyperloop's engine on an exposed track on 11 May, it hopes to conduct a full-scale test at the same site before the end of the year.
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A beer (or two) a day could protect from heart attacks, scientists suggest.
Italian researchers found drinking around 1.4 pints of beer a day could reduce the risk of heart diseases by around 25 per cent.
A metareview of 150 studies conducted by the Mediterranean Neurological Institute, Pozzilli, suggested up to two small 330ml cans of beer a day is unlikely to damage a person's health, The Times reports.
The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol Show all 10 1 /10 The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 10. Poland Results from an OECD report The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 9. Germany The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 8. Luxembourg Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 7. France The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 6. Hungary Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 5. Russia AFP/Getty Images The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 4. Czech Republic The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 3. Estonia Rex Features The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 2. Austria Getty Images The 10 countries that drink the most alcohol 1. Lithuania AFP/Getty Images
The researchers said most women could drink a small can of beer a day and most men two without any difference to their chances of getting most cancers, dementia or other common diseases.
Their study, published in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, also found beer offers similar protection from heart diseases as wine, but greater protection than spirits.
Alcohol limits cut
The epidemiologists concluded the alcohol content may raise levels of "good" cholesterol to reduce the risk of heart disease.
They also stress excessive alcohol use is damaging to several human organs and is a major public health and social issue.
"Unless they are at high risk for alcohol-related cancers or alcohol dependency, there is no reason to discourage healthy adults who are already regular light or moderate beer consumers from continuing," the researchers wrote.
However, Dr Annie Britton, a lecturer in epidemiology from University College London, told The Independent: We need to interpret this paper with caution. There is increasing concern that the epidemiological studies upon which this evidence is based are flawed.
"Comparing the health of moderate drinkers to that of abstainers (particularly, when ex-drinkers are included in the abstainer group) may reflect other differences between these groups.
"The cardioprotective benefit that is attributed to alcohol, including beer, may be over-estimated.
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Sir Philip Green has launched a public relations fight-back over his controversial stewardship of BHS by getting his company secretary to write to a committee of MPs to defend his conduct and contradict the evidence of the Pensions Regulator.
The letter from Adam Goldman, company secretary to Sir Philips Arcadia group, contradicts the evidence given earlier in the week to a committee of MPs by the head of the Pensions Regulator and the boss of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) in relation the BHS sale.
Recommended Read more The urgent questions Sir Philip Green needs to answer before MPs
Lesley Titcomb, the chief executive of the Pensions Regulator, told the committee that the agency had only learned of the sale of BHS for 1 by Sir Philip to the little-known Retail Acquisitions after reading about the conclusion of the deal in the press in March 2015. Ms Titcomb said if she had been warned earlier the regulator would have taken steps to ensure provisions were made for the scheme, which has now fallen into the PPF lifeboat.
But in the letter Arcadia says the regulator was given notice of a possible sale of BHS as early as July 2014 and was given concrete guidance in February 2015, which led to a detailed discussion of the state of the BHSs pension scheme.
The Arcadia letter also says that Alan Rubenstein, the chief executive of the Pension Protection Fund, had incorrectly told MPs an outpost of Sir Philips group, Davenbush, had withdrawn a guarantee for the BHS pension scheme.
The guarantee remained effective and was not withdrawn. It was simply not certified for the purposes of the PPF levy calculation in respect of the BHS pension scheme for the levy year 2012/2013 the letter says.
In a response to claims Sir Philips extracted hundreds of millions of dividends from BHS and under-invested in the department store chain, the letter claims that between 2000 and 2009 there was 325m in capital investment by the management.
It also states that after BHS was formally folded into Arcadia in 2009 the department store chain was given a 256m interest free loan, of which 216m, was written off when in the March 2015 sale.
Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.
The chair of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee Frank Field said the letter was an an important intervention from Sir Philip. He added: Its central message is disturbing and does nothing to change my view of the adequacy or otherwise of pension regulation. The Committee has sent a copy of the letter to the Pensions Regulator. We urgently await their response.
BHS collapsed into administration last month. Its pension fund, which has a deficit on a buyout basis by an insurance company of 571m, is being supported by the PPF. The Pensions Regulator has launched an anti-avoidance investigation and may compel Sir Philip to pledge a large sum to the scheme under the provisions of the 2004 Pensions Act, which is designed to prevent company owners dumping their responsibilities to final salary pension schemes. Sir Philip has reportedly offered a contribution of 80m.
An angry row erupted between Sir Philip and Mr Field last week after the MP suggested the retail tycoon should be stripped of his knighthood if he did not pay more into the BHS pension scheme. In turn Sir Philip said he was horrified by Mr Fields prejudiced comments and said that he should stand down.
Sir Philip has said he will give evidence personally to MPs on the issue, and the session is expected to take place in June.
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Uber users can now book wheelchair-friendly cars in London for the first time.
The Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle option (uberWAV), available since Tuesday afternoon, is giving disabled customers the possibility to call a vehicle that features a rear-entry ramp, a winch and restraints for the same cost as uberX, Uber standard rate.
Uber, which developed uberWAV with the support from accessibility organisations Scope, Whizz-Kids and Londons Transport for all, said that it is launching the service with 55 vehicles and plans to expand it to a 100 in the coming months.
But the car hailing company has warned customers that waiting times are expected to be significantly longer over the first few weeks , around 25 minutes in central areas and up to 40 minutes for users in Zone 3 and 4, as the service expands.
We are pleased that Uber is launching a new service for disabled customers. Accessible transport is absolutely vital for many disabled people and can help drive down the extra costs they face, said Lisa Quinlan-Rahman, Director of External Affairs at Scope.
Tom Elvidge, general manager of Uber in London said the launch of uberWAV was an important step forward in making convenient, safe and affordable transport available to everyone.
The move will come as a new blow to black cab drivers, as Uber said its fares are on average 30 per cent cheaper than standard cabs.
Recommended Read more Uber drivers in New York may be getting more protections
Black cab drivers have previously said that their ability to cater for wheelchair users was one of the reasons why their services were more expensive.
They also have a better knowledge of the capital and undertake an exam, unlike Uber drivers who rely on satellite navigation technology.
Uber won a significant victory in the High court in October last year when a judge said that its app does not violate laws on taximeters, allowing the service to continue as usual. However, the company might soon be met with scrutiny by Sadiq Khan Londons newly elected Mayor, who previouslay said he would be issuing a crackdown on Uber if he won the election.
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Full academisation of Englands schools is still a reality, an independent think tank has confirmed, despite a Government U-turn on the policy.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan announced last week that the Government was abandoning its controversial scheme to force schools to convert to academy status, following widespread threats of strike action from school leaders over the plans.
The Department for Education said it had revised its intentions set out in the White Paper since it was not necessary to bring legislation to bring about a blanket conversion of all schools.
In particular, it was noted that small, rural schools would be protected from closure and forced academisation as part of a double lock, ensuring both local and national government are in agreement over a schools closure.
The Government said it will bring forward legislation that all schools will be made to convert in cases where the local authority can no longer viably support its remaining schools, for instance if a critical mass of academy schools already exist.
New analysis of the revised strategy, however, suggests this will have accumulative effect on schools as more schools are converted, more local authorities will be taken over as a result.
In effect, 100 per cent of schools will still be converted into academies by the year 2020 as planned.
David Laws, Executive Chairman of CentreForum, who published the report, said: Our initial analysis shows that their proposals for new 'triggers' that lead to forced academisation in a local authority will in all likelihood lead to thousands of schools becoming academies as a result.
The think tank said the analysis was dependent on the Governments definition of what constitutes as an underperforming local authority, however a concept which has not yet been defined by the department.
The definitions are vague, the report noted, and our own analysis has shown that relatively small changes could have implications for hundreds of schools.
Given the combination of voluntary conversion, academisation under the Education and Adoption Act and direction at local authority it is possible that full academisation (or very close to it) could be achieved without forcing schools one at a time.
Mr Laws added: It remains the case that there is no definitive evidence that local authority schools which become an academy automatically improve.
It is however important to understand that the Government has only backed away from one aspect of its plans for forced academisation.
According to government figures, at least 227 schools have put in applications to convert to academy status within the past month, with 104 directive academy orders issued to underperforming schools.
Recommended Read more Tories abandon forced academies plan in major embarrassment
On Friday, Ms Morgan said: I am today reaffirming our determination to see all schools to become academies. However, having listened to the feedback from Parliamentary colleagues and the education sector we will now change the path to reaching that goal.
Teaching unions have expressed concern at the lack of clarity given by the Department for Education over their proposals.
Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the Nation Union of Teachers said it was already quite clear that the Government intends to press ahead with their academy programme.
These are the wrong priorities for Government. The chaotic and confused curriculum and assessment alongside unmanageable workload and pay are driving teachers and head teachers out of the profession in droves.
It is high time Nicky Morgan took a step back from this obsession with academies and free schools and addressed the issues that are having a detrimental effect on every child.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: We have been clear that our ambition remains to see all schools to become academies and we welcome this analysis on how that could be achieved. We will be consulting with the public and the wider education sector on the threshold of underperforming and unviable local authorities in due course.
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David Camerons former director of strategy has warned the UK is fantastically corrupt too after the Prime Minister was caught on camera describing Nigeria and Afghanistan as corrupt countries.
Steve Hilton urged politicians not to get too complacent and highlighted a survey by The Economist to suggest the UK is more corrupt than Brazil, France, the USA and other countries.
Mr Cameron made the embarrassing gaffe on Tuesday during a conversation with the Queen ahead of his anti-corruption summit.
Mr Cameron could be heard highlighting Nigeria and Afghanistan as possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world, in footage on ITV News showing him chatting in a group including the Archbishop of Canterbury and Commons Speaker John Bercow.
The Prime Minister told the Queen: We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning to talk about our anti-corruption summit, weve got the Nigerians actually, weve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.
David Cameron's biggest controversies Show all 8 1 /8 David Cameron's biggest controversies David Cameron's biggest controversies Pig-gate A book released by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft alleged that an MP and Oxford contemporary of David Cameron had allegedly seen a photograph of Mr Cameron performing a sex act on a pig while at university. Downing Street did not comment on the allegations and the peer said they could have been a case of mistaken identity David Hartley/REX Shutterstock David Cameron's biggest controversies Swarm of migrants In July 2015 David Cameron referred to refugees coming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa as a swarm. He was criticised for using the language, which critics said was dehumanising Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Child tax credits In April 2015 David Cameron was asked whether hed cut child tax credits. No, I dont want to do that, he said, saying that he rejected reports that he would. Shortly after the election the Government unveiled cuts to child tax credits EPA David Cameron's biggest controversies Cycling to work As leader of the opposition David Cameron was regularly photographed cycling to work. In early 2006 he was photographed cycling but with a driver in a car carrying his belongings. It was suggested at the time the cycling was just for show and that having two vehicles on the road instead of one was wasteful Rex David Cameron's biggest controversies Andy Coulson David Cameron employed former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as government communications director from 2010. After stepping down from the post due to coverage of the phone hacking affairs, Mr Coulson was later found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails. He served a short prison sentence AFP David Cameron's biggest controversies His personal windmill Early in his leadership of the Conservative David Cameron made an effort to change the partys image by making eco-friendly gesures. As one of these gestures, the future PM put a wind turbine on his house. However, the turbine later had to be removed after neighbours condemned it as an eyesore and the councils planning committee said it had been put in the wrong place Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Funeral selfie David Cameron was pictured posing for a selfie with Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Barack Obama at Nelson Mandelas funeral. Some in the press criticised the prime minister for showing in an inappropriately low level of respect for the gravity of the occasion AFP/Getty Images David Cameron's biggest controversies Eating a hotdog with a knife and fork The Prime Minister was pictured eating a hotdog with a knife and fork in the run up to the 2015 general election. He was accused of being posh. I had a very privileged upbringing... I've never tried to hide that, he said Reuters
Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.
Mr Hilton was Mr Camerons advisor until he left his post and launched the crowdsourcing website Crowdpac. Reacting to Mr Camerons on camera comments, he wrote:
He was apparently referring to The Economists crony capitalism index, which ranks countries by the billionaires within it who amassed their wealth thanks to their chumminess with government.
Afghanistans President Ashraf Ghani has remained silent on the Prime Ministers comments but Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari said he was shocked and embarrassed by the remarks.
Mr Buhari was due to give the keynote speech at the summit in an address entitled: Why We Must Tackle Corruption Together.
Downing Street said the Prime Minister was aware of multiple cameras in the room when he spoke.
A spokesman said that Mr Buhari and Mr Ghani have been invited to the summit because they are driving the fight against corruption in their countries. The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with them as they do so.
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David Cameron prides himself on being a polished politician. Always calm and collected, it is rare for the Prime Minister to become ostensibly hot under the collar.
Of course, there are exceptions to this rule. The former PR executive, Thatcher aficionado, and Blair-heir cannot always keep his cool and there have been some occasions where he has veered off-piste and his more controversial and politically awkward opinions have slipped out.
An incident on Tuesday provides the perfect example of this. Speaking to the Queen, Mr Cameron was caught on camera describing Nigeria and Afghanistan as fantastically corrupt on the eve of a major corruption conference in London. He will be hosting delegates from the two countries later this week, making for somewhat uncomfortable timing.
In his own words, We've got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain... Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.
But this is not the only example of Mr Cameron letting his guard drop. Here is a selection of microphone blunders and other awkward political gaffes.
David Cameron's biggest controversies Show all 8 1 /8 David Cameron's biggest controversies David Cameron's biggest controversies Pig-gate A book released by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft alleged that an MP and Oxford contemporary of David Cameron had allegedly seen a photograph of Mr Cameron performing a sex act on a pig while at university. Downing Street did not comment on the allegations and the peer said they could have been a case of mistaken identity David Hartley/REX Shutterstock David Cameron's biggest controversies Swarm of migrants In July 2015 David Cameron referred to refugees coming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa as a swarm. He was criticised for using the language, which critics said was dehumanising Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Child tax credits In April 2015 David Cameron was asked whether hed cut child tax credits. No, I dont want to do that, he said, saying that he rejected reports that he would. Shortly after the election the Government unveiled cuts to child tax credits EPA David Cameron's biggest controversies Cycling to work As leader of the opposition David Cameron was regularly photographed cycling to work. In early 2006 he was photographed cycling but with a driver in a car carrying his belongings. It was suggested at the time the cycling was just for show and that having two vehicles on the road instead of one was wasteful Rex David Cameron's biggest controversies Andy Coulson David Cameron employed former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as government communications director from 2010. After stepping down from the post due to coverage of the phone hacking affairs, Mr Coulson was later found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails. He served a short prison sentence AFP David Cameron's biggest controversies His personal windmill Early in his leadership of the Conservative David Cameron made an effort to change the partys image by making eco-friendly gesures. As one of these gestures, the future PM put a wind turbine on his house. However, the turbine later had to be removed after neighbours condemned it as an eyesore and the councils planning committee said it had been put in the wrong place Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Funeral selfie David Cameron was pictured posing for a selfie with Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Barack Obama at Nelson Mandelas funeral. Some in the press criticised the prime minister for showing in an inappropriately low level of respect for the gravity of the occasion AFP/Getty Images David Cameron's biggest controversies Eating a hotdog with a knife and fork The Prime Minister was pictured eating a hotdog with a knife and fork in the run up to the 2015 general election. He was accused of being posh. I had a very privileged upbringing... I've never tried to hide that, he said Reuters
People from Yorkshire hate each other
The Prime Minister landed himself in hot water for saying those from Yorkshire hate each other. Unfortunately for him, his microphone was left on and it was recorded for all to hear.
Standing on stage as he prepared for a speech in Leeds, he said, We just thought people in Yorkshire hated everyone else, we didn't realise they hated each other so much. Later, Mr Cameron told the BBC's Test Match Special it was a total joke.
Queen Elizabeth purred
Yet again, the Prime Minister was caught off guard, but this time, it wasnt just recorded on audio but also on camera. Speaking to the then New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, Mr Cameron broke constitutional convention and told him the Queen had purred down the line after he told her Scotland had voted against independence. He was, in turn, forced to apologise, telling The Andrew Marr Show he felt extremely sorry and very embarrassed.
Cameron: Queen 'purred' over Scottish vote
Swarm of migrants
The Conservative leader came under fire for his absent-minded description of migrants trying to reach Britain as a swarm in Summer of last year. When asked about the Calais crisis, he spoke of a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life, wanting to come to Britain. The comments were internationally condemned. Nevertheless, Mr Cameron defended his use of language saying it was not intended to dehumanise migrants.
David Cameron refers to Calais as 'bunch of migrants'
I was explaining that there are a large number of people crossing the Mediterranean, coming from the Middle East, coming to Europe and I was trying to explain that it was a very large number of people, he told BBC Radio Fours Today Programme. I was not intending to dehumanise, I don't think it does dehumanise people.
Unsure of how many houses he owned
In a 2009 interview with The Times, Mr Cameron provided some rather sketchy details about how many houses he owned. He concluded by adding, Do not make me sound like a prat for not knowing how many houses Ive got.
When asked about how many properties he owned, he said, I own a house in North Kensington which youve been to and my house in the constituency in Oxfordshire and that is, as far as I know, all I have.
Then asked about a house in Cornwall, he said, No, that is, Samantha used to have a timeshare in South Devon but she doesnt any more. And then asked about a fourth, he said, he said not that I can think of, adding that his wife owned a field in Scunthorpe.
He then expressed anxiety about how the interview would make him appear. I was wondering how that will come across as a soundbite; Not that I can think of makes me sound I am really worried about that; I am still thinking about this house thing.
Following the law doesn't exempt you from surveillance
Unveiling a series of measures for cracking down on extremist views in May of 2015, Mr Cameron said being a law-abiding citizen was not enough to guarantee freedom from government surveillance.
For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone', he said. The remarks prompted an onslaught of criticism on social media with many saying the comments were Orwellian.
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Scientists have suggested that researchers who claim to have discovered a link between excessive consumption of folate by pregnant women and a higher risk of the unborn child developing autism are potentially being irresponsible and unduly alarmist.
Currently expectant mothers are advised to take the synthetic version, folic acid, as a supplement because it has been shown to reduce the chance of spina bifida and other birth defects, some fatal.
But a new study found that if a mother had four times the adequate level of folate just after giving birth, the risk the child would develop a disorder on the autism spectrum doubled.
The researchers, of Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, also said very high levels of vitamin B12, which is involved in processing folate, in new mothers could triple the risk of autism or a similar condition.
And if both folate and vitamin B12 were high, the risk increased 17.6 times.
However experts pointed out that the study had not been fully peer reviewed a key part of the scientific process. The findings are due to be presented at International Meeting for Autism Research in Baltimore on Friday and a press release was issued about this in advance of the event.
Science news in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Science news in pictures Science news in pictures Pluto has 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen Pluto has a 'beating heart' of frozen nitrogen that is doing strange things to its surface, Nasa has found. The mysterious core seems to be the cause of features on its surface that have fascinated scientists since they were spotted by Nasa's New Horizons mission. "Before New Horizons, everyone thought Pluto was going to be a netball - completely flat, almost no diversity," said Tanguy Bertrand, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and the lead author on the new study. "But it's completely different. It has a lot of different landscapes and we are trying to understand what's going on there." Getty Science news in pictures Over 400 species discovered this year by Natural History Museum The ancient invertabrate worm-like species rhenopyrgus viviani (pictured) is one of over 400 species previously unknown to science that were discovered by experts at the Natural History Museum this year PA Science news in pictures Jackdaws can identify 'dangerous' humans Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average. Getty Science news in pictures Turtle embryos influence sex by shaking The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females. But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal Ye et al/Current Biology Science news in pictures Elephant poaching rates drop in Africa African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017. Reuters Science news in pictures Ancient four-legged whale discovered in Peru Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago A. Gennari Science news in pictures Animal with transient anus discovered A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste Steven G Johnson Science news in pictures Giant bee spotted Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands Clay Bolt Science news in pictures New mammal species found inside crocodile Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal New Mexico Museum of Natural History Science news in pictures Fabric that changes according to temperature created Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold Faye Levine, University of Maryland Science news in pictures Baby mice tears could be used in pest control A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males Getty Science news in pictures Final warning to limit "climate catastrophe" The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase Getty Science news in pictures Nobel prize for evolution chemists The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies Getty/AFP Science news in pictures Nobel prize for laser physicists The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers Reuters/AP Science news in pictures Discovery of a new species of dinosaur The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn" Viktor Radermacher / SWNS Science news in pictures Birth of a planet Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. ESO/A. Muller et al Science news in pictures New human organ discovered that was previously missed by scientists Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins Getty Science news in pictures Previously unknown society lived in Amazon rainforest before Europeans arrived, say archaeologists Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs Jose Iriarte Science news in pictures One in 10 people have traces of cocaine or heroin on fingerprints, study finds More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test. Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly. Getty Science news in pictures Nasa releases stunning images of Jupiter's great red spot The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth. Pictures by: Tom Momary
Jonathan Green, professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Manchester University, said: There are many epidemiologically based associations made of this sort increasingly so in autism at the moment.
Without details of the analysis, or any theory of action this looks like low-grade evidence and, if not peer-reviewed, seems irresponsible.
And Chris Jarrold, professor of cognitive development at Bristol University, pointed out that autism diagnosis was somewhat subjective", adding: This could be unduly alarmist, not least because this is a conference presentation that has yet to be fully peer reviewed.
From the limited evidence provided one needs to be very careful at this stage about giving it too much weight. The researchers rightly note that their findings warrant additional investigation.
The sample appears to be unusual in that the incidence of autism is surprisingly high, with 107 of 1,391 individuals receiving a diagnosis. This 7.7 per cent rate is noticeably higher than the one in 68 baseline incidence that the press release quotes (1.5 per cent).
Unless folate and B12 levels are unusually high in this whole sample of mothers, this discrepancy needs explaining.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said that taking folic acid during early pregnancy had been proven to dramatically reduce the risk of neural tube defects (NTDs) such as spina bifida, which causes life-long disability, and anencephaly, a fatal condition where the babys brain and skull do not form properly.
Rates of NTDs in the UK remain higher than elsewhere in Europe, with around 1,000 pregnancies estimated to be affected every year, it added.
The overwhelming majority of these cases end in the painful decision to terminate what is often a much-wanted pregnancy.
We would absolutely advise women who are planning pregnancies to continue to take folic acid supplements, with the current recommendation to continue with these up until the twelfth week of pregnancy.
The study did not find a causal link showing how folic acid might cause autism, but was based on an apparent correlation between high folate in mothers and rates of autism among their children.
The Johns Hopkins researchers stressed they were not suggesting that it was a bad idea to take folic acid supplements.
The studys lead author, Ramkripa Raghavan, said: This research suggests that this could be the case of too much of a good thing.
We tell women to be sure to get folate early in pregnancy. What we need to figure out now is whether there should be additional recommendations about just what an optimal dose is throughout pregnancy.
And Dr Daniele Fallin, director of the Bloomberg School's Wendy Klag Centre for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, said: Adequate supplementation is protective: that's still the story with folic acid.
We have long known that a folate deficiency in pregnant mothers is detrimental to her child's development.
But what this tells us is that excessive amounts may also cause harm. We must aim for optimal levels of this important nutrient.
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Nasa has announced its Kepler space telescope has discovered 1,284 new planets, nine of which could theoretically be habitable.
The huge discovery more than doubles the amount of exoplanets which have been discovered by the cutting-edge telescope.
In total, the number of known planets outside our solar system now sits at 3,264 - an impressive figure, considering astronomers had never spotted any as recently as 1989.
Recommended Read more Nasa sees a star exploding for the first time
Of the 1,284 new planets, around 550 are believed to be rocky, like Earth. Nine of these also sit in their star's 'habitable zone', where the surface temperature allows liquid water to exist. With this new discovery, the number of known planets in the universe which could hold the building blocks for life has increased to 21.
Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at Nasa's Washington headquarters, said: "This [discovery] gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth."
In total, Kepler spotted 4,302 planet 'candidates' between 2009 and 2013, 1,284 of which had a 99 per cent or greater probability of being a planet.
Another 1,327 are considered "more likely than not" to be planets, so the Kepler discovery could be even bigger than Nasa is claiming. 707 are believed to be "other astrophysical phenomena," rather than genuine planets.
Paul Hertz, Nasa's Astrophysics Division director, said: "Before the Kepler space telescope launched, we did not know whether exoplanets were rare or common in the galaxy. Thanks to Kepler and the research community, we now know there could be more planets than stars."
ISS Earth timelapse
"This knowledge informs the future missions that are needed to take us ever-closer to finding out whether we are alone in the universe," he said.
NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble Show all 6 1 /6 NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble 240585.bin Getty Images NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble 240586.bin Getty Images NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble 240587.bin Getty Images NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble 240582.bin Getty Images NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble 240584.bin Getty Images NASA unveils deep space photos taken by a repaired Hubble 240583.bin Getty Images
Kepler spots planets by looking at stars and watching for any dimming, which can happen when a planet passes in front of a star.
Usually, this process is followed up by labourious lab-based investigations to confirm the discovery, but the planets in the recent trove were confirmed with statistical methods, which proved much quicker.
By automating the whole process, the Kepler team managed to detect hundreds of new planets in one fell swoop.
According to Kepler mission scientist Natalie Batalha, this kind of approach will be vital in future missions, as Kepler searches specifically for habitable planets and "living worlds."
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Scientists have drawn up maps showing the different rates of syphilis around the world.
The researchers, from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium, said it was clear that the development of penicillin had played an "important role" in the disease's decline after production of the antibiotic was stepped up in the years following the Second World War.
However, they said in some parts of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, syphilis had demonstrated "more resilience".
They admitted their study had "numerous limitations," but said such work could lead to greater understanding of the disease.
The researchers used figures from the testing of pregnant women for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). They said these were thought to give a better idea of the prevalence of syphilis in the general public than data from STI screening, which can be biased towards high-risk populations.
A map showing the percentage rates of syphilis around the world in the 1990s (Kenyon et al)
By 1959, 600 tons of penicillin were being produced a year, providing the first effective treatment for a disease that had been a scourge of humanity for centuries. Sir Alexander Fleming, the Scottish scientist who accidentally discovered its antibiotic effect, was lauded around the world partly because of this.
And the researchers said there was "little doubt that its widespread use played an important role in the decline of syphilis rates".
A map showing the percentage rates of syphilis around the world in 2008 (Kenyon et al)
In a paper published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, they wrote: "Our findings were that in most populations syphilis prevalence dropped to under one per cent before 1960."
The UK appears to have benefitted from Sir Alexander's discovery sooner than most. In 1947 in the UK, just 0.4 per cent of antenatal tests of pregnant women found evidence of syphilis.
The disease declined "more slowly" in India with a figure of 1.6 per cent in 1973, but then just 0.1 per cent in 1982. In Japan and Singapore the rate had fallen below two per cent by 1955.
In apartheid South Africa, the figures among the black population were "high in the pre-penicillin period", the researchers said.
They then "dropped in the post-penicillin period but then plateaued at around 6 per cent until the end of the 20th century when [the rates] dropped precipitously to just above 1 per cent".
The rate among white South Africans was under one per cent in 1991, when the first large-scale study was carried out.
The researchers found no evidence of an association between syphilis rates and GDP per capita, health expenditure, screening/treatment or circumcision prevalence.
"These findings, considered in conjunction with other types of evidence we review, such as the strong correlations at population level between syphilis prevalence and those of Herpes Simplex Virus-2 prevalence and HIV prevalence, suggest that common risk factors may underpin the spread of all three of these sexually transmitted diseases," they added.
"Establishing what these factors are is of great importance to improve the health of highly affected populations such as those in sub-Saharan Africa."
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More than 13,000 suspected and convicted criminals facing charges including rape and murder are on the run after skipping bail.
Several forces in England have more than 1,000 outstanding warrants, some dating back 30 years, for individuals who failed to turn up at court hearings.
The London Metropolitan Police, West Yorkshire Police, West Midlands Police, Greater Manchester Police and Thames Valley Police reportedly have the greatest numbers of outstanding warrants.
According to figures obtained by a Freedom of Information request, the warrants included those suspected or convicted of fraud, drugs offences, grievous bodily harm, sexual assault, child abuse, rape and murder.
The oldest outstanding warrant relates to a man accused of attacking a police constable in 1980.
David Padgett, from charity Victim Support, told the BBC victims often live in fear of reprisals if the perpetrator is still at liberty - particularly if they were convicted before absconding.
He said: "This can play on how people recover from their crime. It is pretty awful to find out someone has gone on the run. If that person suddenly appeared, can you imagine how that would be?
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 New Conservative Party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves from Conservative Party Headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA 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. 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"Some of these people are accused of some really nasty offences; rapes and grievous bodily harm."
The National Police Chiefs Council leader for criminal justice performance, Deputy Chief Constable Gary Knighton, said officers based their decision on who to pursue based on the severity of the offence.
Once a warrant is issued it is circulated on the Police National Computer.
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A private prep school matron conducted an illicit sexual relationship with a 12-year-old boy in which she gave him Mars bars in exchange for sex, a court reportedly heard.
Tiffany Carter, 46, allegedly got into bed with the pupil at St Andrews Prep School in East Sussex in the 1980s, when she was a 17-year-old junior matron at the boarding school.
Lewes Crown Court heard the liaison was discovered at the time by the childs mother after he called her to say he was worried about the possibility of having contracted Aids.
But it was claimed the school tried to cover up the scandal and did not inform the police.
The pupils mother told the court the school put pressure on her not to contact the police, according to MailOnline.
'I didn't get the name of the woman. The school wanted to keep it confidential," the boys mother said.
They said it was best for it not to be expanded any further or legal proceedings taken because my son was about to go to college.
Pia Abbott, the wife of a former house master at the school, told the court the pupil claimed he had had sex with Carter in exchange for chocolate.
She said: The boy's mother called me and said she's had him on the phone saying he's 'done something bad.
Then she just came out with how he said 'he's been having sex with a junior matron and she's been paying him in Mars bars and I want it to stop'."
The victim began a civil law suit against the school in 2015, the court heard.
Carter was arrested in 2014 for the alleged offences. She denies three counts of gross indecency with a child, and two charges of indecent assault of a boy aged under 14, which are alleged to have occurred between September 1986 and April 1987.
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Boris Johnson has denied a Leave vote in the European referendum would clear the way for him to become Prime Minister.
Many in Westminster believe Mr Johnson hopes a vote to pull out of the European Union in the June poll would force Mr Cameron to step down and is, in part, why he is supporting Brexit.
But asked directly whether he thought Mr Cameron should remain in 10 Downing Street to oversee negotiations for Britain's withdrawal from the EU, the former London mayor told ITV1's Good Morning Britain: Yes, absolutely. Of course he can, and I think he must.
Mr Johnson was conducting a series of interviews to kick off a Vote Leave battlebus campaign in Truro, Cornwall.
In them he refused to apologise for comments he made about President Obamas attitude to Britain being based on his part-Kenyan heritage and ancestral dislike of the British empire.
And controversially he repeated the Vote Leave claim that the UK sends 350 million a week to Brussels - despite a second warning from the head of the UK Statistics Authority Sir Andrew Dilnot to desist.
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
Sir Andrew wrote to the campaign on Tuesday to tell them it was disappointing that they continue to use a figure which he believes is potentially misleading.
Mr Johnson - widely regarded as a likely contender for a Tory leadership battle when Mr Cameron stands down - insisted that the Brexit camp could guarantee that Britain's EU contributions would be spent on UK priorities like Cornwall's fishing and farming industries if the UK votes to leave.
He told BBC1's Breakfast: Of the 20 billion we send to Brussels a year, 10 billion we never see again. It goes on all sorts of things - Greek tobacco farming, Spanish bull-fighting.
With that net money back in our country we could fund things like the NHS, our science base, our academic health science centres even more generously than we currently do. That argument just doesn't stack up.
Mr Johnson was not chastened by US president Barack Obama's warning that Britain would be at the back of the queue for a trade deal if it left the EU.
He told Good Morning Britain: Obviously, when the US wants us to be at the front of the queue for various things - the Iraq War - then that's a different matter.
Most sensible people will recognise that we will do a free trade deal not just with the EU, but we will have the opportunity for the first time in 43 years to do free trade deals not just with America but with India, China, Australia and New Zealand, which we currently cannot do because we are a member of the European Union.
He rejected the claim of Labour's Alan Johnson that Brexit campaigners were extremists who could see nothing good in Europe, telling the BBC: I do think it's very odd that we are being called extremists and irrational when only the other day we were told World War Three was going to break out if we voted to Leave. That cannot be sensible.
Everybody knows that peace in this continent is really guaranteed by Nato. If it really is true that World War Three and bubonic plague are about to break out, why on earth are we having this referendum?
I love Europe. I have many happy memories of living, working, going on holiday to Europe. Most of my family come from one European country or another.
But there's a difference between Europe and the European institutions, and they are now evolving in a way which is not compatible with the long-term health of our democracy.
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The Nigerian president has said he will not demand an apology from David Cameron over his comments about fantastically corrupt countries, instead demanding the return of assets to Nigeria.
What do I need an apology for? I need something tangible, said Muhammadu Buhari as he gave his keynote speech at the opening of a Commonwealth anti-corruption summit being held in London.
Mr Cameron has been criticised by officials from Nigeria and Afghanistan after he was caught on camera telling the Queen they were possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world.
The Prime Minister was heard saying: We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning to talk about our anti-corruption summit, weve got the Nigerians actually weve got the leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.
PM caught on mic and the Queen is involved again
Mr Buhari whose anti-corruption efforts were recognised in the meeting with the Queen by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is understood to have been referencing the issue of Britain being used as a safe haven for criminals smuggling assets out of Nigeria.
The president called for the establishment of international infrastructure to fight corruption and repatriate assets that are stolen and moved across borders.
Earlier, Mr Buharis spokesman Garba Shehu reacted on social media, using an official account to say Cameron was embarrassing Nigerians despite Buhari's "good work" on fighting corruption.
The prime minister must be looking at an old snapshot of Nigeria, he said. Things are changing with corruption and everything else.
Speaking on a visit to Gibraltar, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Mr Cameron was merely stating a fact with his comments.
These are both countries with serious corruption problems and the leaders of both those countries know they have those problems and are determined to deal with them, he said.
David Cameron's biggest controversies Show all 8 1 /8 David Cameron's biggest controversies David Cameron's biggest controversies Pig-gate A book released by Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft alleged that an MP and Oxford contemporary of David Cameron had allegedly seen a photograph of Mr Cameron performing a sex act on a pig while at university. Downing Street did not comment on the allegations and the peer said they could have been a case of mistaken identity David Hartley/REX Shutterstock David Cameron's biggest controversies Swarm of migrants In July 2015 David Cameron referred to refugees coming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa as a swarm. He was criticised for using the language, which critics said was dehumanising Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Child tax credits In April 2015 David Cameron was asked whether hed cut child tax credits. No, I dont want to do that, he said, saying that he rejected reports that he would. Shortly after the election the Government unveiled cuts to child tax credits EPA David Cameron's biggest controversies Cycling to work As leader of the opposition David Cameron was regularly photographed cycling to work. In early 2006 he was photographed cycling but with a driver in a car carrying his belongings. It was suggested at the time the cycling was just for show and that having two vehicles on the road instead of one was wasteful Rex David Cameron's biggest controversies Andy Coulson David Cameron employed former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as government communications director from 2010. After stepping down from the post due to coverage of the phone hacking affairs, Mr Coulson was later found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voicemails. He served a short prison sentence AFP David Cameron's biggest controversies His personal windmill Early in his leadership of the Conservative David Cameron made an effort to change the partys image by making eco-friendly gesures. As one of these gestures, the future PM put a wind turbine on his house. However, the turbine later had to be removed after neighbours condemned it as an eyesore and the councils planning committee said it had been put in the wrong place Getty David Cameron's biggest controversies Funeral selfie David Cameron was pictured posing for a selfie with Danish PM Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Barack Obama at Nelson Mandelas funeral. Some in the press criticised the prime minister for showing in an inappropriately low level of respect for the gravity of the occasion AFP/Getty Images David Cameron's biggest controversies Eating a hotdog with a knife and fork The Prime Minister was pictured eating a hotdog with a knife and fork in the run up to the 2015 general election. He was accused of being posh. I had a very privileged upbringing... I've never tried to hide that, he said Reuters
The secretary general of the Commonwealth, Baroness Scotland, described the furore provoked by Mr Cameron's off-guard remarks as unfortunate.
The former Labour government minister told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: I think it was unfortunate that it was purveyed in that way.
I think the whole point of us having this conference is that president Buhari, and many other leaders ... everyone knows that corruption is a global problem, and the fight is on against it.
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MPs have heard how a family were wrongly told their son had killed himself in a prison mix-up.
The family of an unnamed HMP Birmingham inmate received a call saying he had taken his own life earlier this month, but 30 minutes later they received another call saying there was a mix-up and their son was still alive, his local MP, Labour's Stephen Doughty said.
Mr Doughty called for an investigation into the error, also saying his constituent had faced a lengthy bureaucratic process to transfer him to a secure mental health unit.
Speaking in the Commons, the Cardiff South and Penarth MP said: "I share the concerns of many honourable members about the situation involving prisoners with mental health issues and the risks they pose, not only to themselves but also to others, and the concerns that the staffing cuts are having on that.
"I've been in correspondence with the minister about a specific constituent of mine, who has endured a lengthy bureaucratic process about potential transfer to a secure mental health unit that would be more adequate for his needs.
"But also I'm sorry to say that his family had a call this month telling them that he had killed himself, only to be told half an hour later that he hadn't.
"That's an extraordinary situation, and I think I'd like to see the minister investigating that fully and also to be looking very closely at the case that has been made for him to be transferred away from HMP Birmingham, where he's currently being held."
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 New Conservative Party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves from Conservative Party Headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA 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
Prisons Minister, Andrew Selous, said he had apologised to the family in writing and said he would discuss it further with Mr Doughty.
Mr Selous replied: "I'd certainly like to apologise to the family through you for being given terrible news like that that clearly wasn't true, and if you'd like to write to me again - or indeed even come and see me - about that particular issue, I'd be more than happy to further discuss it with you."
G4S, who runs the prison, told the BBC it had checked phone records and said it did not believe the call had come from its prison.
The Samaritans provides a free support service for those who need to talk to someone. It can be contacted through Samaritans.org or on 08457 90 90 90, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
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Heathrow has pledged it will not let flights take off and land from the third runway until and unless it meets tough air quality rules.
As part of a package of concessions designed to make it easier for the Government to give the go-ahead for a new runway the airport has promised that additional operations will be contingent on acceptable performance on air quality.
It adds that new capacity at an expanded airport will not be released unless it can do so without delaying UK compliance with EU air quality limits.
In a concession to local residents Heathrow has also announced that it will ban flights taking off and landing at the airport between eleven and 5.30 in the morning as soon as planning permission is granted for the third runway and not when it is finally built.
It will also support the introduction of an independent noise authority and consult on establishing a legally binding noise envelope for the third runway.
In July last year the Airports Commission recommended that a third runway should be built at Heathrow alongside a "significant" package of measures to make Heathrow's expansion more acceptable to nearby residents.
However a final decision by the Government has been put off and is now not expected until after the European referendum.
In a letter to David Cameron Heathrow Chief Executive John Holland-Kaye said they had submitted a comprehensive plan that meets and exceeds the demands made by the Airports Commission.
We have acted now to let you and your government make the right choice, in the long term interest of our country. It will enable you to choose Heathrow and secure a stronger economy and Britains place in the world.
The commission recommend a ban on scheduled night flights from 11.30pm to 6am, but Heathrow has proposed that the restrictions should be in place from 11pm to 5.30am.
John Stewart, chairman of the main anti-Heathrow expansion group Hacan, said: "Heathrow's decision to move on night flights could turn out to be significant.
"Hacan has long campaigned for a ban on flights before 6am but things have remained the same for decades. Heathrow's proposals may prise open a door on night flights that has been firmly closed for 25 years."
In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Show all 22 1 /22 In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Inside one of the terminal tents in 1946 The year the airport opened. Comfortable armchairs and flowers try to distract from the conditions Graham Bridges collection In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow An aerial view of the airport in 1949 Construction of the runway layout and Central Area are under way In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow A Pan Am crew checks out the Boeing Stratocruiser N1029V Clipper Golden Eagle in 1954 During the early 1950s, Pan Am and American Overseas Airlines operated Statocruisers into London Airport in direct competition on the North Atlantic route operated by BOAC In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow One of the first official London Airport guidebooks C.1953, priced 1s In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow In 1950 a permanent concrete terminal building was built This replaced the tents previously used at London Airport North and is seen still in use for charter and cargo flights in this 1959 view via Graham Bridges In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow BOAC check-in desk in 1954 Inside the new London Airport North terminal building, just before the move to the Central Area Graham Bridges collection In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Air traffic control tower in the 1960s Inside the visual control room CAA Archives via Pete Bish In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Rear cover of the 1956 guidebook Showing a plan of the airport at the time, with entrance prices to the spectators viewing terraces and for airport coach tours In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Spectators in 1958 How close can you get? As soon as the Central Area was open, spectators were afforded unprecedented views of the airliners In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Terminal 3 was opened as the Oceanic Terminal on 13 November 1961 It was built to handle flight departures for long-haul routes. Renamed Terminal 3 in 1968, it was expanded in 1970 with the addition of an arrivals building In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Inside Terminal 3 in 1969 Check-in desks for BOAC and QANTAS airlines In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Plane spotting on Heathrows viewing terraces in the 1960s Wrap up warm, take your spotting logbooks, pen and binoculars and get your mum to pack your sandwiches In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow No 1 Passenger Building Also called the Europa Building. In this photo, taken on 22 June 1963, flags of the many airlines it serves are flown Lee Holden In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Luggage-trailer-towing Routemaster buses When BEA and BOAC merged to form BA on 1 April 1974, both fleets had to be repainted in the new livery, but so did all the ground support equipment In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The entrance to the traffic tunnel in 1974 A Lufthansa Boeing 737 is seen on the runway In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow A 40 per cent scale model of Concorde In September 1990 it was erected on the roundabout at the entrance to the tunnel that passes under the northern runway at Heathrow Airport. It was built in four main parts, with an 80ft-long central fuselage section, to which the wings and tail fin were attached. The completed model was placed on the roundabout in September 1990 and was monitored by CCTV and surrounded by an infrared perimeter alarm that was connected to the local Heathrow police station to ensure it was not vandalised In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Heathrow Airport's 50th anniversary On 2 June 1996, Heathrow marked its anniversary with a flypast of representative airliner types that have served the airport over the years. This culminated in a formation flypast by Concorde with Hawks of the RAF Red Arrows aerobatic team In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The roof of Terminal 3s car park One of the last bastions for plane spotters and spectators was here. This is the unfriendly notice that greets anyone who attempts this today Richard Vandervord In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow On 24 October 2003 BA withdrew its Concordes from service The final scheduled commercial flight was BA002 from JFK operated by G-BOAG. Here we see three of the Concordes parked together outside the BA hangar on 8 November 2003 following withdrawal John Hughes In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The new control tower Costing 50 million to construct, it gives controllers an excellent 360-degree panoramic view NATS photograph In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow The new Terminal 2 The Queens Terminal In pictures: 70 years of Heathrow Looking due west down Runway 27L
In December the Department for Transport confirmed that the commission's shortlisted options - new runways at Heathrow or Gatwick, or extension of an existing runway at Heathrow - were "viable".
But it also announced that further work on noise, pollution and compensation - which it expects to be concluded "over the summer" - will be carried out before it makes a decision on which project to support.
London's newly-elected mayor Sadiq Khan's manifesto stated that he would oppose a third runway at Heathrow.
He pledged to continue to call for expansion at Gatwick as a "more viable, cheaper and easier to build alternative" even if the Government pursues the Heathrow option.
The Commons' Transport Select Committee published a report last week which urged ministers to set out a clear timetable for airport expansion after claiming the arguments for and against increasing aviation capacity "have changed little in a quarter of a century".
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Powerful images have been released to mark the 75th anniversary since the Blitz, which pair pictures of the wartime destruction seen in London with scenes from today to show the damage endured by the capital during WWII.
The Blitz, from the German word blitzkrieg meaning lightening war lasted from September 1940 to May 1941.
Most of Britain was hit by the Nazi onslaught from the sky, with destruction seen across Coventry, Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton, Sheffield, Manchester, Cardiff, Portsmouth and many other cities, but London endured the worst attacks, including 57 consecutive nights of raids.
The Blitz: Then and Now Show all 13 1 /13 The Blitz: Then and Now The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images The Blitz: Then and Now Getty Images
The first day of the aerial bombing on 7 September 1940 was known as Black Saturday for the destruction that was caused to the city and its residents - 430 people were killed and 1,600 injured in the attacks, according to the Imperial War Museum.
The last major raid on the capital was on the night of 10 May 1941, when 711 tonnes of high explosives were dropped by German bombers, killing 1,436 people. Bombs hit Waterloo station, the British Museum and the Houses of Parliament, and the attack became known as The Longest Night.
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A woman has been sent home from work for refusing to wear high heels, it has been reported.
Temp worker Nicola Thorp says she arrived for her first day in a new role at the London offices of accountancy firm PwC wearing flat shoes. She says she was told to change into high heels with a height of 2 to 4 inches.
Ms Thorp claims she was laughed at when she challenged the policy and sent home without pay when she refused to wear heels.
Ms Thorp told The BBC that she was shocked when she arrived at work for her first day and was told about the policy: I said If you can give me a reason as to why wearing flats would impair me to do my job today, then fair enough, but they couldnt. I was expected to do a nine-hour shift on my feet escorting clients to meeting rooms. I said I just wont be able to do that in heels.
She says she asked whether men were also expected to wear high heels and was laughed at for raising the objection. She said: I was a bit scared about speaking up about it in case there was backlash. But I realised I needed to put a voice to this as it is a much bigger issue. Aside from the debilitating factor, its a sexism issue. I think companies shouldnt be forcing that on their female employees.
Ms Thorp has launched a petition calling for the law to be changed to stop employers from being able to insist that a woman wear high heels as part of their work. It has amassed more than 20,000 signatures of support.
PwC have stated that the dress code is not their policy but that of a third party recruitment firm Portico which they use to employ staff. A spokesperson told The BBC: PwC outsources its front of house and reception services to a third party supplier. We first became aware of this matter on 10 May, some five months after the issue arose. The dress code is not a PwC policy.
A Portico spokesperson said: In line with industry standard practice, we have personal appearance guidelines across many of our corporate locations. These policies ensure staff are dressed consistently and include recommendations for appropriate style of footwear for the role. We have taken on board the comments regarding footwear and will be reviewing our guidelines in consultation with our clients and team members.
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MI5 has raised the threat level to the UK from Northern Ireland-related terrorism from "moderate" to "substantial".
It is the third most serious category out of five and means a terrorist attack is thought to be a "strong possibility".
Home Secretary Theresa May told the House of Commons the change "reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity".
She added: "As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place."
In a statement, the Home Office said: "The Security Service, MI5, has increased the threat level to Great Britain from Northern Ireland-related terrorism from moderate to substantial.
"This means that a terrorist attack is a strong possibility and reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity.
"As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place."
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 New Conservative Party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves from Conservative Party Headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA 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
The Home Office advises members of the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity.
The threat level to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland-related terrorism has not changed from "severe".
UK threat level from international terrorism remains at "severe", which means an attack is "highly likely".
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MI5 has raised the terrorism threat level from Northern Irish groups towards Great Britain to substantial meaning that there is strong possibility of an attack happening.
The move was announced by Home Secretary Theresa May in the House of Commons today. It follows a number of attacks in Northern Ireland by dissident Republicans who do not accept the peace process and wish to remove British presence in the region by force.
The new group, which calls itself the IRA, is known as the New IRA locally.
What is the New IRA?
The New IRA is a violent paramilitary group based in Republican districts of west Belfast and having some activity in Dublin. It is formed of dissident Republicans who reject Northern Irelands peace process which saw paramilitary groups decommission weapons in order to end The Troubles.
The IRA was disbanded upon decommissioning and has been inactive for several years. However, recent events have seen a new group emerge under the name. The group call themselves the IRA and are known in local media and in Northern Irish communities as the New IRA.
What do they want?
The IRA have historically sought to end British presence in Northern Ireland and for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and re-unite with the Republic of Ireland.
Their motives for emerging now are unclear. Northern Irish police have suggested it may be in part due to raised tensions connected to the centenary anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising which is a core historical event for Republicans.
How big are they?
Given the illegal nature of the group, it is difficult to estimate numbers. However, locally there is very little support for the group and the overwhelming majority of people in Northern Ireland are committed to the regions peace process and strongly oppose any paramilitary groups or violence.
What have they done?
Over the last few years a number of incidents have been ascribed to the group, while the number has spiked in recent months. In May, a former IRA commander was executed in front of children outside a primary school in Belfast. In August, another IRA man was killed in what the group call a six pack, a shot in each elbow, ankle and knee. After the deaths, the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland announced that the IRA still existed despite ceasing to operate following the peace process.
They have also been linked to the death of a man in Dublin last month. At the mans funeral last week, police arrested fourteen men under terrorism legislation after they allegedly wore paramilitary uniforms in the style of the IRA.
Shortly before Easter, a bomb was placed under the car of a prison officer which detonated as he was traveling to work. He died shortly after.
On Monday, three people in West Belfast were shot within 24 hours, raising concerns that actions may be escalating.
How serious a threat are they?
MI5 say the threat of terrorism in Northern Ireland from Northern Irish groups is severe. In Great Britain, they describe the threat as substantial.
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The UK benefits from EU membership as British medical students have greater access to people with different diseases, a Labour peer has said.
Lord Robert Winston, a doctor and scientist who is perhaps best known for presenting on the BBC, said the movement of people across the EU had helped British medicine massively and is a reason to stay in the EU.
It gives our students extra teaching material, he said while on a EU referendum debate panel at Regent's University London.
Recommended Read more David Cameron confronted over Tory election fraud claims
They are seeing diseases they would not see in the indigenous population and treating them successfully, he added.
Lord Winston said the threat of pandemic diseases spread by air travel was real and praised EU scientists for working together extremely well.
UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 24 October 2022 New Conservative Party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves from Conservative Party Headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the Conservative Party leadership contest AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 23 October 2022 The Green Man at October Plenty, Borough Market's annual Autumn Harvest festival, in London, which returns for the first time post pandemic PA 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
Lord Winston, who became a member of the House of Lords in 1995, also said it was a massive mistake to elect Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour partys leader.
I dont think he has the right skills to lead a political party," he said.
Take the health service for example. It is really quite shocking how that debate has been very narrow. I think Jeremy, bless him, is not helping.
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David Cameron has refused to apologise for the campaigning tactics of the Conservative candidate for the London mayoral elections Zac Goldsmith.
During the weekly question and answer session in the Commons, the Prime Minister congratulated Labours Sadiq Khan on his victory.
But when he was challenged on Mr Goldsmiths racist campaign against Mr Khan by the Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, Mr Cameron appeared to dodge the question.
Mr Farron said: I heard the Prime Minister on two occasions this afternoon congratulate the new Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and I would like to repeat that myself.
He did not however apologise for the disgraceful, racist campaign that the Conservatives decided to run in that campaign.
Will he take the opportunity to apologise for deliberately dividing communities to win cheap votes?
The question came at the end of a Prime Ministers Questions already overrunning by some 20 minutes, and Mr Cameron simply stood up to say: Its a great way to end the session with a lesson in clean campaigning from the Liberal Democrats.
Writing in this newspaper, a former volunteer on Mr Goldsmiths campaign said he raised concerns about the use of racial profiling but was told all publicity is good publicity by more senior members of the election team.
David Siesage said he discovered on the inside how the Tory campaign focussed on fear over Mr Khans faith as a Muslim, claiming he was linked in some way to extremists.
Fear only works if there is something to be afraid of, he said. London the most multi-cultural, international city in the country is quite rightly not afraid of Muslims.
It comes after Mr Khan hit out publically against the presumptive Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who had suggested the new London Mayor could be an exemption to his proposed ban on all Muslims entering the States.
Donald Trump's ignorant view of Islam could make both of our countries less safe - it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of extremists," he said.
This isn't just about me - it's about my friends, my family and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world, he said.
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
Donald Trump and those around him think that Western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam - London has proved him wrong.
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Sadiq Khan has offered to help Hillary Clinton defeat Donald Trump pledging his successful campaign as a template to hers.
Mr Khan, the new Mayor of London, said he had successfully beaten the Conservatives Donald Trump approach to elections in last weeks vote.
I think what weve shown and I hope its a lesson that Hillary and others in American take on board, hope does trump fear, forgive the pun, he told reporters at the capitals City Hall, according to the Politico website.
He said he was planning to travel to the US before the end of the year due to the threat of Mr Trumps proposed policy of banning all Muslims from traveling to the US.
Mr Khans election has attracted interest from around the world on account of his election as the first Muslim mayor of a major western capital city.
Mr Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican presidential candidacy, commented on Mr Khans election by saying he would make an exception for him to visit the US.
But Mr Khan rejected the offer. The idea of making an exception for me because Im the Mayor of London demonstrates how little they understand, he said.
Hillary Clinton is all but certain to claim the Democratic Partys presidential nomination
Like failed Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith, Mr Trump has been accused of running a racist campaign by singling out people for travel bans on account of their faith.
Mr Goldsmith was accused of using dog whistle tactics to repeatedly draw attention to Mr Khans Muslim faith as well as attempts to link him with Islamic extremists.
Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee (Reuters)
The US presidential election takes place this November, with the primary season all but over and the nominating conventions drawing closer.
The latest head-to-head polls show a fairly close race, with Ms Clinton holding a slight lead before the start of campaigning-proper.
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
Both candidates have unusually strong negative ratings with the general public, however.
Mr Khan was elected by 57 points to 43 against Mr Goldsmith on Thursday. He has pledged to freeze public transport fares, fight to reduce housing costs, and make it cheaper for people to commute via multiple bus routes.
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David Cameron has been forced to apologise to a former imam who he accused of supporting Isis - amid growing criticism about the party's conduct during the London Mayoral elections.
The Prime Minister, speaking in the House of Commons under Parliamentary privilege two weeks ago, said Suliman Gani, a Tooting Imam who has shared platforms with new London Mayor Sadiq Khan, supports Isis.
A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Cameron had been referring to reports that Mr Ghani supports "an Islamic state" rather than Isis specifically.
He said: "In reference to the Prime Minister's comments on Sulaiman Ghani, the Prime Minister was referring to reports that he supports an Islamic state. The Prime Minister is clear this does not mean Mr Ghani supports the organisation Daesh and he apologises to him for any misunderstanding."
The apology came after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon was forced to say sorry for repeating the claims in a radio interview last week. Mr Ghani had launched legal action against the MP.
A spokesperson for Mr Fallon said the Defence Secretary had been quoting BBC presenter Andrew Neil.
He was unaware of the clarification and apology that the BBC had issued on Neil's claim, the spokesperson told the Daily Mirror.
Watch the moment Corbyn corrects Cameron about Suliman Gani
Had he been aware, he would not of course have quoted him and as soon he became aware he put the record straight. He naturally apologises for this inadvertent error.
Friends of Mr Gani issued a statement calling the claims against him false and cruel and irresponsible in the extreme and had launched a petition to make Mr Cameron apologise.
Mr Cameron said in Parliament of Sadiq Khan: "He stood on a platform with people who wanted an Islamic state.
"That is why his attempts to deal with antisemitism are utterly condemned to failure, because he wont even condemn people who sit on platforms with people like that.
Hours after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reminded the PM that Mr Gani was in fact a Conservative supporter, Mr Gani told Sky News he thought the allegations were "preposterous".
Zac Goldsmith's campaign for mayor attracted heavy criticism from members of his party and even his own family following the result last week for use of "smear tactics" to link Mr Khan, who is Muslim, with Islamist extremists.
The imam stressed he had never supported the terror group, saying: "I have openly condemned the barbarity and monstrosity of Isis."
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David Cameron has been confronted in Parliament over a criminal investigation into alleged electoral fraud by Conservative MPs at last years general election.
Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, said the allegations were very serious and asked the Prime Minister to explain why they had come about.
Seeing as the Prime Minister is prepared to lecture other countries on corruption and probity, could he explain why seven police forces in the UK have launched criminal investigations into Conservative MPs over potential electoral fraud, he asked at Prime Ministers Questions.
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Its very serious: How is it that a Conservative Crime and Policing Commissioner can serve in such a role while being under police investigation?
Mr Cameron gave as short answer to the question, and said he believed the fact that Conservative MPs were under investigation at all showed that Britain was not corrupt.
The whole point in this country is the Electoral Commission is independent and when it comes to operational decisions by a police force, they are independent too. Thats the hallmark of an uncorrupt country! he said.
The party faces claims, first suggested by Channel 4 News, that it failed to record election expenses relating to a battle bus and that this may have meant it breached spending rules in key marginal seats.
General election 2015: Polling day Show all 16 1 /16 General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Nuns arrive to vote at a polling station at St John's Church in Paddington, London General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 A voter leaves the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean, also known as the 'Pub with no name', which is part of the East Hampshire constituency and acts as a local polling station on the day of the election General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 General view of inside the White Horse Inn in Priors Dean General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 People cast their votes as a man uses a punch bag in the East Hull Boxing Academy, which is being used as a polling station in Hull General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Penny Higbee waits to greet voters at her home in Routh, East Yorkshire, which is being used as a rural polling station General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Voters in Ironbridge, Shropshire, arrive to cast their vote at The Iron Bridge Tollhouse General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 A voter arrives at the North West Ambulance Service Station at Milton Green, Cheshire, which is being used as a polling station as Britain goes to the ballot box General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 A polling station has been installed in a launderette in Oxford General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 SNP candidate for the Gordon constituency and Former First Minister Alex Salmond with first time voter Nicki Falconer, and her family, (L-R) Mackenzie, Nicki, Skye, Alex Salmond and Keiran at their local polling station in the Gordon constituency in Ellon, Scotland General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron and wife Samantha after casting their votes at Spelsbury Memorial Hall, Witney General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and his wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez arrive at Hall Park Hill Community Centre to cast their votes, in Sheffield General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and his wife Justine Thornton leave the polling station at Sutton Village Hall in Sutton after casting their votes in the 2015 general election in Doncaster General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP Nicola Sturgeon, votes with her husband Peter Murrell in Glasgow, Scotland General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Ukip leader Nigel Farage arrives to cast his vote for the South Thanet constituency in Ramsgate General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood arrives at a polling station in Penygraig, Rhondda, Wales General election 2015: Polling day General election 2015 Green Party leader Natalie Bennett after casting her vote at Ossulston Tenants' Hall, London
Up to 29 Conservative candidates are thought to have benefited from the scheme; the Conservatives only won a narrow majority of 12 MPs at the general election.
A number of police forces have said they will launch investigations into the allegations, including Gloucestershire Police, Devon and Cornwall Police, Cheshire Police and West Yorkshire police.
Derbyshire Police, Greater Manchester Police, Northamptonshire Police and Staffordshire Police are also actively investigating allegations, the BBC has reported. Other forces are understood to be considering launching investigations.
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The Welsh Assembly has been plunged into political crisis after members failed to select a First Minister to lead the devolved administration.
Members were unable to reappoint Labours Carwyn Jones after Plaid Cymrus leader Leanne Wood was backed by the Conservatives and Ukip, leaving the Assembly deadlocked.
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With the backing of the other parties, Ms Wood matched Mr Jones count of 29 votes. Her selection as the countrys First Minister was only averted after Kirsty Williams, the only Liberal Democrat member of the Assembly, voted with Labour.
With the vote tied 29-29, the Senedd was adjourned, with the parties now commencing talks to break the stalemate.
Labour lost one seat in last weeks Welsh elections, but Mr Jones had hoped to form a minority government in the 60-seat assembly, rather than seek a formal coalition. Plaid is the second party with 12 seats, the Conservatives are on 11, Ukip on seven and Lib Dems on one.
Carwyn Jones reacts as his reappointment was blocked at the Welsh Assembly (PA)
Plaid AM Rhun ap Iowerth told the BBC that the Assembly was giving a signal that Labour could not presume to govern without a majority.
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said Mr Jones had no divine right to be appointed First Minister.
Labour reacted furiously to the vote. The partys Westminster MP for Pontypridd, the shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Owen Smith, said that Plaid working with the Tories and Ukip stinks.
Any claim Leanne Wood had to be a socialist or Plaid to be a progressive party has just been destroyed by her alliance with [the] Tories and Ukip, he said.
The Assembly has 28 days after an election to decide on a First Minister giving a deadline of 2 June. If no leader is appointed by that date, the UK Government can call a fresh election.
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A group of Native American teenagers in North Dakota are campaigning to stop a large oil company from building a pipeline through their land.
13-year-old Anna Lee Rain Yellowhammer and thirty young people who live near the Missouri river launched a petition to prevent Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners from constructing the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would transport 570,000 barrels of crude oil per day across four states, from North Dakota to Illinois.
The petition has since gathered over 80,000 signatures, including a string of celebrity endorsements from the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Russell.
The Native American tribe are arguing that any break in the pipe could spill oil into the river and pollute their main water source, threatening their way of life and community.
My friends and I have played in the river since we were little; my great grandparents raised chickens and horses along it, Anna Lee Rain wrote. When the pipeline leaks, it will wipe out plants and animals, ruin our drinking water, and poison the center of community life for the Standing Rock Sioux.
The pipeline would cross the Missouri river twice and run alongside the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
Energy Transfer Partners said the pipeline would be monitored constantly and will include automated valve technology that will automatically close if a problem is detected.
Despite assurance of safety from the company, local people are concerned about the potential oil spills. In 2012-2013, there were 300 oil pipeline breaks in North Dakota alone, according to the petition.
Its like they think our lives are more expendable than others, Anna Lee Rain wrote.
In April, South Dakota experienced its worst oil leak in history when TransCanadas Keystone I pipeline spilled nearly 17,000 gallons of oil. President Obama vetoed the construction the Keystone XL pipeline last November, which would have been built by the same company.
Any crisis with the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline could pollute the Ogallala Aquifer, a million-year-old shallow water table which crosses eight states, and which is already in danger of running dry.
Climate change protests around the world Show all 25 1 /25 Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Rome, Italy Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators gather in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world People hold hands to form a human chain during a gathering called by ecologist organisations in Marseille, southern France, to protest against global warming a day ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP21) held in Paris Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during protests on Place de la Republique, ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators clash with French riot police during a protest on Place de la Republique ahead of the COP21 World Climate Change Conference 2015 in Paris, France Climate change protests around the world A group of people perform during a rally to promote climate protection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Climate change protests around the world A protester sits next to his sign that reads 'Monsanto the Devil Incorporated ' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Environmentalists dance during a protest near the Place de la Republique after the cancellation of a planned climate march following shootings in the French capital, ahead of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21), in Paris, France Reuters Climate change protests around the world People protest next to characters dressed as wild animals during a march against climate change near the Monument to the Revolution, in Mexico City AP Climate change protests around the world Protesters carries a banner while they take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People take part in a protest about climate change around New York City Hall at lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People rally to promote climate protection in Piazza Castello, Turin, Italy Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a globe during a protest for the global climate day in Lugano, Switzerland Climate change protests around the world Yemenis hold banners as they participate in the Global March for Climate in the old city of Sanaia, Yemen Climate change protests around the world Protesters dressed as Santa Claus take part in a protest about climate change at New York City Hall steps in lower Manhattan, New York Reuters Climate change protests around the world People gather at the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, during the Global Climate March to demand action on climate change telling world leaders on the eve of a crunch UN summit that there is "no planet B". From Sydney to London, humid Rio to chilly New York, at least 683,000 hit the streets in 2,300 events across 175 countries at the weekend, co-organiser and campaign group Avaaz said, calling it the largest number of people to protest over climate change all at once Getty Images Climate change protests around the world Climate change protests around the world Demonstrators participate in the Global March for Climate in Athens, Greece Climate change protests around the world A man wearing a Bernie Sanders mask leads hundreds of demonstrators who marched near City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Patricia Hauser joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California Climate change protests around the world A woman holds a poster of a sick Earth as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Hundreds of demonstrators march around City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world A demonstrator holds cut-out of US Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world George Patten holds a sign that reads 'No Fracking Ever!' as he joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA Climate change protests around the world Gabrielle Sosa wears 'Rising Sea Levels' sign as she joined hundreds of demonstrators who gathered in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California EPA
The letter alongside the petition is addressed to the US Army Corps of Engineers, who are responsible for signing off the energy companys plans.
Cedric Goodhouse, the Hunkpapa Lakota chairman of the Long Soldier District of Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Reservation, told Truthout, We are working on many fronts to coordinate opposition to the pipeline's construction.
Last month a group of non-Native and Native Americans ran a 500-mile relay race to deliver signatures to the Army Corps of Engineers in Nebraska, while other members of Standing Rock set up a Spirit Camp near the Cannonball River in North Dakota to protest the pipeline plans.
In the reservation, many people have grandparents who fought and died for their rights.
Dana Yellow Fat, a Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Councilman who is organising meetings with the Army Corps of Engineers, told Truthout the US government is chipping away at the communitys prison camp.
We gave the Unites States the right to use our water, not the other way around. The US government is once again allowing big money to trample all over our rights.
He said he believed the pipeline plans go against the so-called Winters Doctrine, which was a landmark Supreme Court case in 1908 which clarified water rights for Native American reservations.
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A Colorado judge ruled that Robert Lewis Dear Jr - the man accused of killing three and injuring nine in a shooting at an area Planned Parenthood - is mentally unfit to stand trial.
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Colorado 4th District Judge Gilbert Martinez presided over Tuesdays competency hearing and took a day to reach a decision about Dears mental state.
Dear is being sent the Colorado Mental Health Center to receive treatment, the Denver Post reported. The hospital has to send a mental health review to the court by 11 August.
The court saw testimony from a doctor who said Dear, 58, suffered from delusions, including his insistence that the federal government is after him. But the Washington Post reported that a court-ordered psychological evaluation deemed him fit to stand trial. A detective also testified that Dear seemed lucid during an interview and said he did not want to plead insanity.
KKTV reported that Dear made outbursts during the hearing, saying that bad things happened to people who made fun of Obama. Judge Martinez did not permit Dear to testify, rejecting the request of prosecutors.
Dear, who called himself a warrior for the babies during a December hearing, allegedly attacked a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic on 27 November. Upon his arrest, documents show that Dear told police that he would be met by all the aborted foetuses at the gates of heaven and they would thank him for what he did because his actions saved lives of other unborn foetuses.
He faces 179 charges connected to the shooting rampage, including murder, 131 counts of attempted murder, assault, burglary and criminal mischief.
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A US magazine has apologised for publishing an article which encouraged eight to 12-year-old girls to match their swimsuit to their "body type".
The article in Discovery Girls was divided into three sections "curvy up top", "straight up and down", and "rounder in the middle" and advised that coverage was key.
Asymmetrical straps and bold prints could add curves, a contrasting pattern nips in the waist, while side-ties and cut-outs draw the eyes down.
The article, under the headline: What swimsuit best suits you?, attracted strong criticism from readers, their parents and on social media.
Founder and publisher Catherine Lee wrote a lengthy apology on Facebook to say she was in total agreement with critics and was at a loss to explain why the article was published.
We want to make sure that our girls know that any article that makes you feel bad about your body is not a good article, and should be questioned.
Ms Lee did not reveal details of who commissioned or published the article and said it aimed to be about finding cute, fun swimsuits that make girls feel confident, but instead it focused on girls body image and had a negative impact.
Nobody knows better than Discovery Girls how impressionable our girls are at this age and we are ALWAYS mindful of this," she added.
While some people expressed their thanks for the apology and said they found the article useful, other readers were less than impressed.
No. I don't want your magazine telling my 9-year-old that she needs to feel confident in her swimsuit. She has no current thoughts about NOT feeling confident in her swimsuit. Just like boys have no thoughts about not feeling confident in theirs, Jenna Glatzer wrote.
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Donald Trump has paraded around for the past week as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, after rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich both dropped out of the race after the Indiana primary.
But, as voters in West Virginia and Nebraska hit the polls, Mr Cruz left the door open for a return to the race if he could recapture support.
Mr Trump emphatically slammed that door by handily winning both West Virginia and Nebraska. The final vote tallies are still being counted, but news outlets were able to call the races for Mr Trump almost immediately after polls closed.
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Mr Cruz said that he suspended his campaign because he didnt see a path to victory, but on Tuesday, he told Fox News that if that changes, we will certainly respond accordingly.
Lets be very clear, if there is a path to victory we launched this campaign intending to win.
After West Virginia and Nebraska, there appears to be less path to victory for Mr Cruz than there was when he suspended his campaign last week.
These clear victories will likely bring Mr Trump within 100 delegates of the Republican presidential nomination. With no competition, the real estate magnate will cruise to the nomination, where hell face another fight.
Several top Republicans, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and former presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, have declined to support Mr Trump in the general election.
Mr Trump has said he plans to meet party leaders in the coming weeks to help smooth over differences.
Follow @PaytonGuion on Twitter.
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Federal investigators are combing through the career of a Maine fire chief who led efforts to contain a fast-moving brush fire in April only to admit later that he was the one who started it.
Ricky Plummer, 59, was hailed for his part in extinguishing a dangerous blaze that tore through more than 40 acres of tinder-dry marsh grassland on 15 April in the seaside town of Old Orchard Beach that involved some 100 fireman as well as a water-dumping helicopter.
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It was a huge fire going past, like a freight train, Mr Plummer told a local TV station on the day it happened. The blaze had briefly threatened to consume a local block of flats in the town which lies a few miles north of Kennebunkport on the Maine coast.
But security video footage from cameras at the residential units showed Mr Plummer wandering into nearby woodland and emerging almost 30 minutes later near the time the fire started. That directly contradicted what he had told his own dispatchers about his movements.
Mr Plummer, who was charged with arson on Monday and released on bail, has previously served in fire departments up and down the East Coast and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is now checking his past assignments against unsolved fires in those states. There are also questions about the destruction by fire of an Old Orchard Beach hotel last year.
Obviously, were doing a case review of any outstanding fire incidents in communities hes been associated with, Maine Fire Marshal Joseph Thomas said. Thats a standard practice. He just happens to be the fire chief in this case.
He denies the allegation, a lawyer for the fireman, Bernard J. Broder, told the Boston Globe.
Mr Plummer has acknowledged he may have started the fire, saying that he had gone into the woods to smoke, contrary to what he had told his dispatcher by radio. But local investigators could find no evidence that he was a smoker or nor did they find any cigarette butts in the area that would have survived a fast-moving blaze.
Everybodys stunned, Michael Tousignant, an Old Orchard Beach town councilor said. Its a shock, adding that the town fire chief had seemed to be a nice guy and had done a nice job.
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It seemed almost too good to be true.
Using Google Earth and a home computer, a 15-year-old schoolboy discovered the remains of a long-lost Mayan City.
William Gadoury, from Quebec, Canada, compared maps of 22 star constellations known to the ancient Maya with Google Earth images of Mexicos Yucatan peninsula.
He found the positioning of 117 known Mayan cities corresponded to the patterns of the constellations, with the biggest cities matching up with the brightest stars a link no-one else had made before.
Discoveries that change the way you see the world Show all 30 1 /30 Discoveries that change the way you see the world Discoveries that change the way you see the world Million-year-old human footprints discovered Million-year-old human footprints have been discovered on the beach as Happisburgh, Norfolk Discoveries that change the way you see the world The world's oldest face Scientists discovered the worlds oldest face, which belongs to this 419 million-year-old fish - an ancient sea predator that might also re-write the history of our evolution from the seas Discoveries that change the way you see the world Discovery of the ancient forest Ancient forest revealed by storms. The recent huge storms and gale force winds that have battered the coast of West Wales have stripped away much of the sand from stretches of the beach between Borth and Ynyslas. The disappearing sands have revealed ancients forests, with the remains of oak trees dating back to the Bronze Age, 6,000 years ago. The ancient remains are said by some to be the origins of the legend of Cantrer Gwealod , a mythical kingdom now submerged under the waters pif Cardigan Bay Discoveries that change the way you see the world Bowhead whale genome, linked to cancer resistance, DNA damage repair and increased longevity, mapped by scientists In a UK-based study, scientists working together with scientists in Alaska, Denmark, Ireland, Spain and South Korea successfully mapped the genome of the bowhead whale - the longest-living mammal - identifying a number of genes that are linked to cancer resistance, DNA damage repair and increased longevity PA Discoveries that change the way you see the world Researchers develop 'imaginary meal' pill An 'imaginary meal' pill called fexaramine has been developed by researchers at the Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory Discoveries that change the way you see the world Scientists prolong lifespan of flies Scientists at the Institute of Cell Biology, in Switzerland, have successfully managed to prolong the lifespan of flies, activating a gene that destroys unhealthy cell Discoveries that change the way you see the world Green tea can help cure oral cancer Green tea can help kill off cancerous cells, say researchers Discoveries that change the way you see the world Mars once had a large ocean covering a large portion of its northern hemisphere Almost half of the northern hemisphere of Mars was once covered by a large ocean that held 20 million cubic kilometres of water: more than the Artic Ocean Discoveries that change the way you see the world Offices playing natural sounds can boost worker moods and improve cognitive abilities Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute learned that offices which play natural sounds such as ocean waves, trees and bird calls can boost the moods of workers and improve their cognitive abilities, as well as providing privacy (by masking speech) Discoveries that change the way you see the world Impact glass may exist on Mars Brown University researchers found that spectral signals indicate the existence of impact glass on the surface of Mars, with specific deposits conserved in craters Discoveries that change the way you see the world Fathers experience weight gain Fathers have been found to experience weight gain and a rise in their body mass index (BMI), according to a research conducted by Northwestern Universitys Feinberg School of Medicine. The study, which followed over 10,000 men throughout a 20 year period, also revealed that the men who didnt become fathers actually lost weight Discoveries that change the way you see the world The world's oldest skull Divers Alberto Nava and Susan Bird discover the world's oldest skull found in an underwater cave in Mexico, believed to be the earliest trace of first Americans Discoveries that change the way you see the world Scientists create intelligent mice that do not experience fear or anxiety Scientists participating in a joint University of Leeds and Mount Sinai Hospital study managed to alter a gene within mice; improving their intelligence and reducing their ability to feel anxious or fear. The discovery could prove instrumental in research into age-related cognitive decline, such as Alzheimers or schizophrenia Discoveries that change the way you see the world Paralysed man walks again The brain-computer interface system will be improved by developing an implantable version, say experts. A 26-year-old male who had suffered a spinal cord injury which had paralysed him from the waist down was given the ability to walk again by scientists, who rerouted brain waves to electrodes on his knees.The doctors responsible said that he was the first person with paraplegia caused by a spinal injury given the ability to walk without relying on manually controlled robotic limbs Discoveries that change the way you see the world Discovery of the medieval royal palaces Archaeologists in southern England have discovered what may be one of the largest medieval royal palaces ever found buried under the ground inside a vast prehistoric fortress at Old Sarum. The probable 12th century palace was discovered by archaeologists, using geophysical ground-penetrating x-ray technology to map a long-vanished medieval city which has lain under grass on the site for more than 700 years Discoveries that change the way you see the world The world's rarest diamond This rare diamond that survived a trip from deep within the Earth's interior confirmed that there is an oceans worth of water beneath the planets crust Discoveries that change the way you see the world Virtual reality can revolutionise healthcare Cardiologists at the Institute of Cardiology in Poland have successfully used virtual reality to restore blood flow to a blocked artery, leading the way for it to revolutionise certain aspects of healthcare, in surgical procedures and during training. Using wearable virtual reality equipment, similar to that of Google Glass, developed specifically for the surgical procedure, doctor completed the difficult procedure Discoveries that change the way you see the world Puppies born by IVF in the US After years of failed attempts, scientists at Cornell University successfully bred the world's first puppies born through IVF, allowing for research into the conservation of endangered breeds and protection of those that are at risk of disease Discoveries that change the way you see the world Cancer is caused by environmental factors Research into the causes of cancer concluded that, on the whole, it is due to environmental factors, not, as was previously thought, bad luck Discoveries that change the way you see the world Fossil fight 'Astounding' fossil find from Montana revealing two dinosaurs locked in mortal combat Discoveries that change the way you see the world Fusion reactors could become economically viable Researchers at Durham University and the Oxfordshire Culham Centre for Fusion Energy have found fusion reactors could become economically viable ways of generating electricity in just a few decades, telling politicians and policy makers to begin the process of planning for their introduction and the replacement of nuclear power stations. Analysis by these researchers has found that the costs associated with fusion power shows its feasibility, when compared with traditional fission reactors, generating electricity at a similar price Discoveries that change the way you see the world Discovery of the whale skeletons Chilean and Smithsonian paleontologists study several fossil whale skeletons at Cerro Ballena, next to the Pan-American Highway in the Atacama Region of Chile Discoveries that change the way you see the world Discovery of The Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls are almost 1,000 biblical manuscripts discovered in the decade after the Second World War in what is now the West Bank. The texts, mostly written on parchment but also on papyrus and bronze, are the earliest surviving copies of biblical and extra-biblical documents known to be in existence, dating over a 700-year period around the birth of Jesus. The ancient Jewish sect the Essenes is supposed to have authored the scrolls, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, although no conclusive proof has been found to this effect Discoveries that change the way you see the world Complete mammoth skeleton discovered The first complete mammoth skeleton to be found in France for more than a century was uncovered in a gravel pit on the banks of the Marne, 30 miles north-east of Paris. Picture shows experts at work making a silicon cast of the mammoth's tusk Discoveries that change the way you see the world Byzantine mosaic discovered Plans for a walkway at the centre of the furious dispute over Jerusalem's holiest site were delayed by the discovery of a Byzantine mosaic Discoveries that change the way you see the world Neolithic 'lost avenue' - prehistoric stone circle discovered The discovery of a Neolithic 'lost avenue' was described as one of the most important finds of the last century. Since the 1700s, archeologists and historians have argued over the existence of the huge sarsen stones, which were unearthed at the site of the world's biggest prehistoric stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire Discoveries that change the way you see the world Ancient gold found near Stonehenge Gold fitting for a dagger sheath (around 1900 BC.) found near Stonehenge Discoveries that change the way you see the world The Rosetta Stone discovery The Rosetta Stone is a basalt slab inscribed with a decree of pharaoh Ptolemy Epiphanes (205-180 BC) in three languages, Greek, Hieroglyphic and Demotic script. Discovered near Rosetta in Egypt Discoveries that change the way you see the world We are made from stardust In 1957, a paper was published which said we are all made of stardust. Well, not quite that, but almost. Four scientists of the University of Cambridge, Fred Hoyle, William Fowler and Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge, had conducted extensive research into stellar nucleosynthesis, the theory that all elements are created in the oldest chemical factories in the universe - stars. This paper, called Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, but better known as B2FH because of the initials of its authors, was at odds with the theory common at the time that all the elements were synthesised during the Big Bang. B2FH argued that when a star ages and dies it will enrich the interstellar medium with heavier elements, from which new stars - and, presumably, we - are formed Discoveries that change the way you see the world Optical fibres discovery The internet is a truly incredibly thing, but we all hate it when it works too slowly. Thats where optical fibres come in. Made of a high quality extruded glass called silica, they guide light through a process of refraction, and in doing so are able to transmit bandwidths at a remarkably high speed and over remarkably long distances. As such, they are used in telecommunications and computer networking to speed up internet connections, able to do so due to the fact that the total internal refraction of light means very little data is lost. And the best thing about optical fibres is when at Imperial College London they were first demonstrated to be able to bend light by Harold Hopkins and Narinder Kapany, dubbed the founding father of fibre optics
Then he went even further and investigated a little-known 23rd Mayan constellation. Lo and behold, using satellite images he found on the web and photographs sent to him by the Canadian space agency, William found what looked like the remains of a Mayan city, right where the constellation suggested it would be.
Experienced scientists spoke in wonderment of signs that the Mexican jungle might be hiding what had once been an 86-metre (282ft) high pyramid and about 30 buildings, making the city named K'aak Chi (Mouth of Fire) by William one of the five largest known Mayan conurbations.
A Canadian newspaper declared William the little star of Nasa, the Canadian space agency and the Japanese space agency. William spoke of being really excited.
There was just one problem. Some archaeologists and anthropologists have started saying it was all too good to be true.
That square seen in the satellite images, they said, the one where the giant pyramid is supposed to be: its probably just an old cornfield.
Perhaps the most outspoken of the critics was David Stuart, professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin.
In a tetchy post on his Facebook page, he wrote: The current news story is false. I was trying to ignore it (and the media inquiries Ive been getting) but now I feel I ought to say something.
The whole thing is a mess a terrible example of junk science hitting the internet in free-fall.
The ancient Maya didnt plot their ancient cities according to constellations. Seeing such patterns is a Rorschach process, [ie like the psychological test where people are asked to look at ink blots and say what they see], since sites are everywhere, and so are stars.
The square feature found on Google Earth is man-made, but its an old fallow cornfield, or milpa.
In follow-up posts, he added: I don't want to critique the young man mentioned in the story. He's clearly smart and enthusiastic about archaeology and the Maya. What steams me most here is the irresponsibility of 'experts' who sought the media exposure.
I'm interested in how this story appeals to the old trope of the 'Maya-as-special-stargazers' - something I've been battling for a little while. Not long ago it was fashionable to interpret Maya iconography using star maps, so here we go again...
Prof Stuart was backed by Thomas Garrison, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California, who told Gizmodo: I applaud the young kids effort. However in this case, the rectilinear nature of the feature and the secondary vegetation growing back within it are clear signs of a relic milpa. Id guess its been fallow for 10-15 years. This is obvious to anyone that has spent any time at all in the Maya lowlands.
Gaza construction workers uncover ancient ruins
Professor Ivan Sprajc, a Slovenian archaeologist with a track record of hacking through the Yucatan jungle to discover Mayan cities, also doubted the discovery, and the idea the Maya located their cities according to the stars.
The Maya were very good astronomers, he said, but very few Maya constellations have been identified, and even in these cases we do not know how many and which stars exactly composed each constellation.
It is thus impossible to check whether there is any correspondence between the stars and the location of Maya cities. In general, since we know of several environmental facts that influenced the location of Maya settlements, the idea correlating them with stars is utterly unlikely.
But one Canadian expert who initially backed Williams discovery offered a spirited defence of the original findings.
Dr Armand LaRocque, of the Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of New Brunswick, said the sceptics had been analysing the wrong photo, after it appeared on several websites including The Independents. The Independent was sent the original image by someone who helped William with his research. It later emerged this photograph was indeed analysed by William - but he deemed no conclusions could be drawn from it.
Instead William based his discovery on a different set of images. Dr LaRocque has now supplied The Independent with one of these photographs and added: We also have other images showing lineaments that we interpreted as a road network.
Dr Armand La Rocque said satellite images showed a man made structure beneath the canopy
Everyone, at least, does seem agreed that the best way to find out whether the satellite images show a cornfield or a long lost Mayan city, is to go into the jungle and check. That, though, would be in Dr LaRocques words horribly expensive.
And, for the moment, William himself is too busy either to comment on the controversy or to go into the Mexican jungle.
Enquiries sent to his email address prompted an automated reply saying he had to concentrate on his exams in the coming days and would then be spending a week at a science exhibition.
Given the teenager's apparent enthusiasm for the subject, it can only be hoped he one day manages to investigate the findings on the ground himself.
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The police officer facing murder charges over the shooting death of an unarmed black man, has also been charged with violating the mans civil rights and misleading investigators.
Michael Slager was charged with murder over the shooting death of Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina, last spring. Mr Slager was captured on cell phone footage shooting at Mr Scott as he ran away from the officer, and with his back turned.
The Post and Courier newspaper reported that a grand jury, organised by prosectors, had indicted the officer with three additional charges.
The newspaper said that the extra charges could help prosecutors if they failed to convict the 34-year-old former officer on murder charges. Putting him on trial in both state and federal courts for the same shooting would not be double jeopardy because the alleged crimes are different.
Mr Slager is due to be formally charged on Wednesday in Charleston.
The killing of Mr Scott came during a period when police forces across the country were under close scrutiny after a series of incidents in which black or minority suspects were killed or injured.
The newspaper said that the grand jury, which first met nearly a month ago, handed down the indictment on Tuesday. Officials did not make it public until Wednesday, when they made the case one of the few high-profile American police killings in recent years to result in a federal criminal charge.
Mr Slager has insisted that his actions were justified. He is currently on bail.
The family of Mr Scott, is expected to speak to the media on Wednesday after the additional charges are formally brought.
A spokesperson for the Scott family, Ryan Julison, says that neither the relatives nor the attorneys would discuss until then what the proceeding would be about.
Last year, North Charleston authorities approved a $6.5m civil settlement with Mr Scotts family.
The settlement gives annuities totaling $1m to three of Walter Scott's four children. Mr Scotts estate will get $3m, while three law firms who helped represent his family will divide about $2.4m.
About $17,000 will pay Mr Scotts back child support. The money Mr Scott owed is the reason his family said he ran away from a traffic stop on April 4 2015 in North Charleston.
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The extraordinary political turmoil in Brazil reached a watershed on Wednesday as members of the Senate neared a final vote to suspend President Dilma Rousseff from office for up to six months and put her on trial for alleged misdeeds in economic policy.
Even as the nation watched agog as a full day of mostly sober debate was broadcast on live television before a final vote expected later in the evening, it appeared all but certain that a simple majority in the upper chamber would be mustered to take the movement to remove Ms Rousseff to the next step.
There is no path for us but opposition, the most senior Senator of the Presidents ruling Workers Party, Senator Humberto Costa told reporters, essentially acknowledging that a loss for the president and himself was nigh.
If so, Ms Rousseff, 68, will officially be suspended on Thursday and her place will be taken by Michel Temer, who has been serving as Vice President. A senior member of the Workers Party indicated that Ms Rousseff was already preparing to dismiss her entire cabinet to allow Mr Temer, who leads the Democratic Movement Party, to choose his own ministers.
The extraordinary drama has come at a time when Brazil is enduring its worst economic recession since the 1930s, thanks in part to crashing oil prices, and has been treated to a long torrent of revelations of corruption and graft connected to Petrobras, the national oil giant, that has seen numerous Worker Party figures put in prison or put under investigation.
No allegations of corruption have been leveled at Ms Rousseff, but as a former chairman of Petrobras at a time when the corruption within it was already rife, the scandal has tainted her.
Plainly said, this is the worst crisis in our history, with its combination of economic calamity, discredited politics and the violation of the lowest ethical standards, Boris Fausto, a Brazilian political scientist and historian, commented to reporters earlier this month.
In a statement on the Vaticans radio website, Pope Francis voiced his concern for the situation in Latin Americas largest country and a neighbour of his own Argentina. He called for prayer and dialogue and said he hoped that Brazil proceeds on the path of harmony and peace.
Adding to the national malaise is the medical emergency created by the fast-spreading Zika virus. In the meantime, the country is trying to galvanise itself to welcome the world to the Summer Olympic Games in August, plans for which have encountered problems of their own, not least worries about heavily polluted water threatening events like rowing.
There has been a rise recently in Brazilian markets amidst first tiny glimmers of economic recovery as well as hope that Mr Temer, whose is seen as being more pro-business than the leftist ruling party, will take steps to attack the deficit and tame public spending.
While he may be looked upon appreciatively by the business community, Mr Temer is politically deeply unpopular with only 2 per cent of voters saying they would actually choose him to lead Brazil. He also faces a monumental task getting the economy back in order, experts agree.
Temer may enjoy a honeymoon with markets for some weeks, maybe months, but when investors come to realize that the fiscal results will not improve fast enough, then we could see some disappointment later this year, said Bruno Lavieri, an economist with consultancy 4E, in Sao Paulo.
Analysts will be scrutinising the Senate vote to see what hope, if any, Ms Rousseff may have of surviving the trial itself. For her to be ousted for good, she would have to be convicted by at least a two-thirds majority in the 81-seat Senate. If that were to happen, Mr Temer would in theory serve out the remainder of her second term which runs until the end of 2018.
Afoot also is a retreat from power of the Workers Party which has governed Brazil, the worlds seventh largest economy, for the last 13 years. Ms Rousseff was the chosen successor of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known simply as Lula, who ushered in a rare streak of economic growth that lifted millions out of poverty.
A rightwards shift in Brazils government would fit a pattern seen recently in other Latin American states, notably with the election last November of President Mauricio Macri, a free-market reformer, in Argentina and the gradual collapse of the far-left regime in Venezuela, even if for now President Nicolas Maduro still clings to power.
Brazils boom times, driven by high commodity prices, had already begun to fizzle by the time of the 2014 re-election campaign. Ms Rousseff is specifically accused of plundering public banks for money that was then used to disguise the national deficit. She has countered that the tactic had been used by previous presidents and that she is in fact the victim of a political coup.
She displayed continuing defiance on Tuesday after it became clear that there would be no more delaying the Senate vote. I will not resign, that never crossed my mind, Rousseff said in a speech to cheering supporters.
Mr Temer appeared to be moving swiftly to assemble this own team. He is known to have picked former central bank chief Henrique Meirelles as Finance Minister and, according to local press report, Itau Unibanco's chief economist Ilan Goldfajn as head of Brazils central bank.
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Two people were killed in a stabbing rampage near Boston that took place at a residence and a shopping mall, according to reports.
The suspect was also killed after being shot by an off-duty police officer at the mall. It's unclear if the two people killed were at the Silver City Galleria mall or the residence.
Taunton Fire Department dispatcher Mike Marshall said reports started coming in around 6:37 pm local time, and that the department sent out a lot of ambulances.
Witnesses told local television station WHDH-TV that they saw people running out of the mall and heard gunfire. The station reported that people in the area, about 40 miles south of Boston, saw police officers with guns drawn and that the mall had been evacuated and put on lockdown.
The motivation behind the attacks was unclear. Police said two people were stabbed at the mall after the assailant crashed a motor vehicle into the front of a store, Reuters reported. The other two stabbings appear to have been committed at a home a few miles from the mall.
A representative of the mall, which has 125 stores, a 12-restaurant food court, restaurants and cinema, had not spoken at the time of publication.
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Donald Trumps campaign has claimed that a computer error resulted in a well known white supremacist being included on a list of potential delegates in the state of California.
The campaign has said that William Johnson, a lawyer who wants to ban Muslims from entering the US and believes citizenship should be denied to non-white, was entered as a potential delegate by mistake. He has since been withdrawn from a list of delegates.
Mr Johnson, who recorded an automated campaign call on behalf of Mr Trump that ran in several states earlier this year, says he received an email from the Trump campaign confirming that he had been chosen to represent the New York tycoon.
The audio in the video appears to have been taken from one of Mr Trumps campaign speeches at an Iowa rally earlier this year (Reuters)
I contacted the office and I was approved without a lot of oversight, Mr Johnson told The Independent. They asked me what I had done for Mr Trump.
The selection of Mr Johnson - first reported by Mother Jones - is deeply embarrassing for the the campaign of a candidate who has previously been accused of failing to distance himself from far right groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, who have announced support for the tycoon. In February, Mr Trump claimed he had never heard of David Duke, a former KKK wizard who had announced his support for him.
Mr Johnson - who dismissed the suggestion he was a white supremacist and said he preferred the term white nationalist - said he and many others supported Mr Trump because they shared many of his policies.
He wants to stop immigrants, we want to stop immigrants. He wants to ban Muslims, we want to ban Muslims, he said.
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, an organisation that monitors extremist groups, described Mr Johnson as an uninspiring but determined white separatist. Its website listed several of his quotations, including one that dated from 1985 and said: No person shall be a citizen of the United States unless he is a non-Hispanic white of the European race. Only citizens shall have the right and privilege to reside permanently in the United States.
Former Ku Klux Klan official David Duke urged supporters to vote for Mr Trump (YouTube)
Mr Johnson, who heads the American Freedom Party, said that he stood by the comment. Mr Trumps campaign said that Mr Johnsons inclusion was the result of an error that had been addressed.
The Associated Press said that Mr Trumps California director Tim Clark had released a statement blaming a database error for the inclusion of Mr Johnson.
Sam Mahood, a spokesman for the California Secretary of States Office, said the Trump campaign had attempted to submit a revised list of delegates to the office on Tuesday, a day after the deadline. It was rejected.
However, Mr Mahood said state election law allows candidates to submit a list of alternates within 30 days after the June 7 primary. He said it would be up to the Republican National Committee or the state Republican Party to set the process for replacing a delegate with an alternate.
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China scrambled fighter jets and dispatched a warship in response to what it described as an act of "serious provocation" after a US navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea.
The USS William P. Lawrence, a guided missile destroyer, travelled within 12 nautical miles (22km) of the Chinese-occupied Fiery Cross Reef, which is part of the Spratly chain of islands, in its third freedom of navigation operation.
Chinas Defence Ministry said two fighter jets were scrambled and three warships shadowed the US ship, telling it to leave.
Recommended Read more China could deploy floating nuclear power stations in South China Sea
The unauthorised entry by the US warship into waters near Chinas Nansha Islands (Chinas name for the Spratly Islands) was an act of serious provocation, said Senior Colonel Yang Yujen, a spokesman for Chinas Defence Ministry.
But US Defence Department spokesman Bill Urban said the "excessive maritime claims" were "inconsistent with international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention".
He said that the US - and all states - were entitled to exercise similar navigation rights.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. 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China has undertaken large-scale land reclamation and construction on disputed areas, while the US has increased its patrols in protest to Chinas maritime claims of the area.
Fiery Cross Reef includes a 3,000-metre runway, which China said it completed in January and has since tested.
Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines also claim part of the area.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12 nautical miles is the maximum distance to which a nations rule extends off its shores.
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New Zealand has told tourists and hikers they could be putting themselves in danger if they visit a volcanic region made famous by the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.
The eruption alert level for the Mount Ruapehu volcano in Tongariro National Park has been raised following a dramatic spike in temperatures over the past fortnight.
Ruapehu played a key role as Mount Doom in Mordor for the backdrop to Peter Jacksons epic cinematic trilogy and last erupted in September 2007.
The area is popular with walkers, who have been warned by the countrys Department of Conservation to avoid the summit hazard zone until the situation improves.
Geoff Kilgour, volcanologist at New Zealands GNS research centre, told The Independent: Ruapehu has been on a level 1 alert for some time, but we had to raise that after the crater zone lake appeared to heat up very rapidly, a significant spike of 20 degrees in two weeks.
Ruapehu now sits on level 2 alert, meaning greater volcanic disturbance and an increased risk of an eruption.
He continued: We believe this could develop into a bigger event so we agree that hikers should take advice before travelling to the national park.
Traveller's Guide: New Zealand Show all 6 1 /6 Traveller's Guide: New Zealand Traveller's Guide: New Zealand 642824.bin Traveller's Guide: New Zealand 642642.bin Traveller's Guide: New Zealand 642643.bin Traveller's Guide: New Zealand 642644.bin Traveller's Guide: New Zealand 642645.bin Traveller's Guide: New Zealand 642646.bin
Thousands of tourists journey to Tongariro every year to make a 12-mile alpine crossing taking in the parks three huge volcanoes.
GNS confirmed that tests were ongoing and they will continue to monitor the situation closely as it develops.
In 1996, Ruapehus dramatic double eruption closed local airports and had a devastating impact on local agriculture.
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North Korea has a funny relationship with the foreign media. The isolated country recently invited hundreds of foreign journalists (including some from The Washington Post) to cover its rare, once-in-a-generation party congress.
But then these journalists were largely restricted from actually reporting on the still-ongoing party congress. Instead, they have been forced to go on media trips to slightly-less-exciting destinations -- state-run wire factories, for example.
Now, Pyongyang announced on Monday that three visiting BBC journalists have been expelled from the country for "insulting the dignity" of North Korea. According to the BBC, correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes was stopped at the airport as he prepared to leave the country Friday.
His crew, which included producer Maria Byrne and cameraman Matthew Goddard, refused to board the plane without him. After some wrangling with authorities, the three are now safely in Beijing; North Korean officials say they can never return.
How exactly might a foreign journalist insult the dignity of North Korea? Taking a quick look at some of the reports Wingfield-Hayes's crew filmed while in North Korea gives us some clues.
The video above, for example, takes a look at North Korea's Kim Il Sung University. As Wingfield-Hayes notes himself in the video, North Korea is "a country that can be very easily offended," and the BBC journalist doesn't exactly mince his words. He describes Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea and grandfather of its current leader, Kim Jong Un, as a "dictator." He says the country can be both "comical" and "scary." He asks a student at the university about the intentions behind North Korea's nuclear-weapon program, prompting a stern-faced minder to step in to end the interview.
A BBC journalist, Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, who was expelled from North Korea over his reporting, said he was "just relieved to be out," as he returned to his Beijing base on Monday, May 9. (Reuters)
At one point, Wingfield-Hayes is shown being accosted by another minder as he tries to film a segment by a huge statue of Kim Jong Il, the father of North Korea's current leader. "They clearly felt that we said stuff that was not respectful to the great leader, and now we're in trouble," the correspondent says. The crew is later shown deleting the footage at the order of authorities. At the end of the video, Wingfield-Hayes suggests that the "control and nervousness" his crew experienced betrays the "weakness and insecurity" of the North Korean state.
Workers' Party Congress in North Korea Show all 12 1 /12 Workers' Party Congress in North Korea Workers' Party Congress in North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves to the crowd as he presides over a mass rally and parade in the capital's main ceremonial square, a day after the ruling party wrapped up its first congress in 36 years by elevating him to party chairman Reuters Workers' Party Congress in North Korea North Korean parade participants wave decorative bouquets of flowers and carry their country's national flag as they march with a model of the Unha pace launch vehicle at the Kim Il Sung Square. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans celebrated the country's newly completed ruling-party congress with a massive civilian parade featuring floats bearing patriotic slogans and marchers with flags and pompoms AP Workers' Party Congress in North Korea People react as they see North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a mass rally and parade in the capital's main ceremonial square, a day after the ruling party wrapped up its first congress in 36 years by elevating him to party chairman in Pyongyang Reuters Workers' Party Congress in North Korea High party and military officials react as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears at the beginning of a mass rally and parade in the capital's main ceremonial square Workers' Party Congress in North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is accompanied by high party and military officials as he presides over a mass rally and parade in the capital's main ceremonial square, a day after the ruling party wrapped up its first congress in 36 years by elevating him to party chairman, in Pyongyang, North Korea, May 10, 2016. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj Reuters Workers' Party Congress in North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un waves from a balcony of the Grand People's Study House following a mass parade marking the end of the 7th Workers Party Congress in Kim Il-Sung Square Getty Images Workers' Party Congress in North Korea Attendees cheer the arrival of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during the 7th Workers Party Congress Getty Images Workers' Party Congress in North Korea A hostess and security guard stand inside the April 25 Palace, the venue of the 7th Workers Party Congress Getty Images Workers' Party Congress in North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the first congress of the country's ruling Workers' Party in 36 years Reuters Workers' Party Congress in North Korea Party representatives sit in the hall of the April 25 House of Culture during the party congress in Pyongyang AP Workers' Party Congress in North Korea North Korean leader Kim Jong Un listens during the party congress in Pyongyang. North Korea has brought in more than 100 journalists from around the world to make sure that the 7th Congress of its ruling Workers' Party gets global attention. Four days into the event, they allowed a small number of foreign journalists into the conventional hall where the congress was taking place Workers' Party Congress in North Korea A general view shows the April 25 Palace, the venue of the 7th Workers Party Congress in Pyongyang Getty Images
In another report filed by Wingfield-Hayes and his crew, included below, the reporter suggests that some of the media trips he has been invited on appear to be staged. "Everything we see looks like a setup," he says. Later, when he tries to ask a female Taekwondo athlete about the United States, she keeps awkwardly quiet as a gang of minders take notes.
There's more. In another video (which can be viewed here), Wingfield-Hayes says that North Korea is "one of the most isolated, impoverished and repressive places on Earth." And in an article that accompanies the video, Wingfield-Hayes describes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as "corpulent and unpredictable."
This is certainly not a rose-tinted view of North Korea. But it's not necessarily different from what many reporters and analysts say about North Korea most of the time. Those who defend North Korea from such accusations are a fringe, to say the least. What's different for Wingfield-Hayes, perhaps, is that he did it in the country at a time when Pyongyang was obviously courting the foreign media in the hope of positive coverage.
What you're not allowed to say in North Korea
After news of his expulsion spread, some North Korea experts wondered whether Wingfield-Hayes did the right thing in taking this aggressive stance in his reporting while in the country -- not because of the hurt feelings of the North Korean state, per se, but because the impact those hurt feelings could have on average North Korean citizens. On Twitter, Gady Epstein, formerly a China correspondent for the Economist magazine, and John Delury, a North Korea analyst who teaches at Yonsei University in Seoul, both expressed worry that such reports could unintentionally hurt North Korean officials and citizens.
This is something all foreign journalists have to grapple with when they visit North Korea. The Post's own Anna Fifield, a veteran visitor to North Korea, last year noted that she might be risking the lives of North Korean interviewees if she had "frank and truthful" conversations that didn't fit the regime's talking points. But pushing against the regime's limits while in the country was her responsibility as a journalist, Fifield explained. "After all, I'm in the information business, not the isolation business," she wrote.
Copyright Washington Post
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One of Frances most senior cabinet ministers has apologised for inappropriate behaviour towards a female journalist.
Hours after angrily denying that anything had happened, the finance minister Michel Sapin, a close friend of President Francois Hollande, issued a statement saying sorry for a different version of the incident at the Davos conference last year.
The partial backtrack came amid intense media pressure after a senior Green politician, Denis Baupin, had been accused earlier this week of groping and harassing female colleagues. Mr Baupin denies the allegations against him.
A book published last month, LElysee Off, said that an unidentified French woman journalist had bent over to pick up a pen during a briefing by Mr Sapin at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January last year. The book claimed that the minister said: Ah, but what are you showing me here and twanged the exposed elastic of the womans knickers.
When the book was published, and again on Tuesday, Mr Sapin dismissed the allegations as totally false. He later issued a statement to the French news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) admitting that he had used the words but denying that he had touched the womans underwear.
During a visit in January 2015 to Davos, in the middle of 20 people, I made a comment to a female journalist about her clothing while placing my hand on her back, Mr Sapin said. There was no sexist or aggressive intent in my action, but the simple fact that I shocked the person in question shows that these words and actions were inappropriate, and I was and remain sorry.
Mr Sapin said the journalist immediately asked to talk with him and that he had apologised to her.
The finance minister said that in the current circumstances he felt he had to issue the latest statement.
The incident may seem trivial to some, but the fact that Mr Sapin was forced to come clean suggest that a cultural change is reluctantly taking place in French politics. Over 500 French politicians and political activists, mostly but not all women, have signed a petition calling for an end to a conspiracy of silence about allegedly sexist and sexually aggressive behaviour by male French politicians.
Mr Baupin, 53, has started a legal action for defamation over the allegations of groping and harassment by eight women, including other elected Green politicians. But he has resigned as vice-president (deputy speaker) of the National Assembly until police investigations are carried out.
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German authorities are investigating the possible arrival of 40 Islamist militants among more than 1.1 million asylum seekers who have travelled to the country during the refugee crisis.
The countrys federal police agency, the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), said it had received 369 reports of possible extremists and found that little over a 10th of the cases warranted further investigation.
The number of suspects is more than double that announced in January, when there had been 213 warnings and 18 investigations were underway.
Germany's anti-refugee party surges in regional elections
German security officials have indications that members and supporters of terrorist organisations are being smuggled in with refugees in a targeted, organised way in order to launch attacks in Germany, a spokesperson for the BKA said.
More attacks by Islamist terror cells cannot be ruled out.
Several of the Isis militants who carried out the Paris attacks are believed to have passed through Germany on their return from Syria, when they used the Western Balkan refugee route from Greece into Europe travelling on fake documents.
Investigators believe that two more jihadists were meant to join the massacres that killed 130 people but were prevented from reaching their target when they were detained at a refugee centre in Salzburg, Austria.
There is also evidence that Salah Abdeslam, believed to be the lone surviving suspect from the bombings, picked up co-conspirators in the southern German city of Ulm in October last year.
Terror fears have stoked anti-refugee sentiment in Germany (Reuters)
One of his passengers, Osama Krayem, has been charged with terrorist murder in both the Paris and Brussels attacks and stands accused of buying the suitcases used for the Brussels Airport bombs and helping Metro bomber Khalid el-Bakraoui.
Another man in the car known only under the aliases Amine Choukri and Monir Ahmed Alaaj, was arrested with Abdeslam and has been also charged with terrorist killings.
Several suspected Islamists have been arrested in Germany since the atrocities. In early February, a 35-year-old Algerian man and his wife were detained at a refugee centre in the town of Attendorn.
The man, a suspected Isis member, reportedly posed as a Syrian when he entered Germany in the autumn.
Days later, a 32-year-old man was arrested in the city of Mainz on suspicion of having fought with the militant group in Syria before travelling to Germany via Turkey.
Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images
Hans-Georg Maassen, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency (BfV), said the so-called Islamic State was attempting to send a political signal by using the refugee route to stoke fears and mistrust in Europe.
I am not telling you a secret when I say that I am concerned about the high number of migrants whose identities we don't know because they had no papers when they entered the country, he said.
The number of refugees Germany reached peaks of more than 10,000 a day last autumn but has fallen dramatically in recent months due to the closing of the Greek border with Macedonia and a deal between the European Union and Turkey that allows failed asylum seekers to be deported back over the Aegean.
The reduction in the numbers has eased pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel, who came under fierce criticism for welcoming hundreds of thousands of those fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East under the slogan we can do this.
At least 800 Germans are believed to have joined Isis and other terror groups as foreign fighters, including a man who revealed the reality of life in the caliphate in an exclusive interview with The Independent.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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MPs in Italy have backed a bill introducing civil unions for same-sex couples in a historic move for the country that sees it legally recognise gay couples for the first time.
Italy had been the last major Western country not to recognise civil unions for same-sex couples, but the vote on Wednesday means that gay couples will now share some of the legal rights given to heterosexual couples.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won the confidence vote in the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday and while the bill must now be given formal approval by the lower house in order to become law, this second move is seen as a formality.
He had called the confidence vote in order to speed up the legal process and pass the bill, stating that it was unacceptable to have any more delays after years of failed attempts. He was confident of gaining a majority ahead of the vote and wrote on Facebook before the result that today is a day of celebration for those who finally feel recognised.
He added: By calling a confidence vote, we have bound the governments survival to the civil rights battle, The Local reports.
Renzi won the vote by 369 votes to 193, with two abs
tentions. He would have had to resign if he had lost the vote, but his healthy majority in the lower house made that highly unlikely.
The bill had been delayed several times, the BBC reports, and had also been heavily amended due to fierce criticism from the Catholic right on some of its contents.
The ability for gay people to adopt their partners children was removed from the bill for this reason, as was references to the need for faithfulness in civil unions, following concerns that civil unions would be too similar to marriage.
Gay couples will enjoy some of the same rights as heterosexual couples however, including the right to receive their partners pension after they have died.
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The grandparents of a German man who stabbed four people at a railway station near Munich have insisted he is not a terrorist.
The 27-year-old attacker, named only as Paul H in local media reports, has admitted killing one man and seriously injuring three more in Tuesday mornings rampage on the outskirts of Munich.
He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after a court hearing on Wednesday, where an expert concluded he was mentally ill and can only be held partly legally responsible for his actions.
His grandparents told the Tageszeitung newspaper that he was mentally ill and said they took Paul to a clinic in Giessen on Sunday after police refused to refer him for treatment.
I can assure you - our Paul is no terrorist, his grandfather said.
On Monday, he left his home and travelled to Munich, but finding himself without enough money to stay in a hotel, investigators said Paul took a late-night train to the suburb of Grafing and slept rough at the station.
As the first S-Bahn train of the morning pulled up shortly before 5am, he boarded barefoot, took a10cm-long survival knife from his belt and launched the attack.
Witnesses told police they heard him shout Allahu Akbar and infidels, you must die as he stabbed a train passenger before targeting passers-by in an apparently indiscriminate assault.
The phrases are associated with Islam but investigators said his comments on conversion were confused in police interviews and have found no links to terror networks or extremist material on his computer.
Lothar Kohler, from the Bavarian criminal investigation office, said there was no indication that the suspect had connections with any Islamist or Salafist groups or the scene in general.
That the attacker shouted Allahu Akbar has been confirmed by witnesses and also by the perpetrator himself, he told a press conference.
A Facebook profile believed to belong to the attacker gives no indication of radicalisation.
He is seen at festivals, clubbing with friends, drinking and travelling the world.
Pauls stepfather told Sat.1 Bayern television that he and the mans mother had no idea what was going on in the aftermath of Tuesdays attack.
He has psychological problems and is a drug addict. We arent in contact with him anymore, he added.
Paul trained as a trained carpenter but has been unemployed for two years, according to investigators, who said he had recently undergone psychiatric treatment and was known to have taken an unspecified drug two days before the attack.
Ken Heidenreich, from the prosecutors office, said officials were initially investigating potential charges of murder and attempted murder but they could change if the man was found not to be criminally responsible.
Following Wednesday's hearing at the Munich District Court, a joint statement from police and prosecutors said: "A preliminary assessment by a medical expert has found that the suspect has a mental illness and there is strong reason to believe that he commited the acts in a state of insanity, or at least of diminished criminal responsibility."
He was barefoot at the time, and photos of the crime scene showed bloody footprints leading away from a train door and on to the platform where he continued the attack.
When asked why he was not wearing shoes, the suspect told police he felt bugs on his feet that had caused blisters and were generating intense heat".
A 56-year-old man died in hospital, while three other victims aged 43, 55 and 58 were wounded, including a newspaper delivery man.
Police initially said a political or Islamist motive was suspected and emerging information about the suspects psychological issues sparked conspiracy theories over a mass media cover-up in Germany, where the continuing refugee crisis and aftermath of the Cologne attacks continue to generate fierce political debate.
As online theories gained traction, the Bavarian criminal investigation office (LKA) said there was no doubt as to the identity of the person arrested.
One of many claims circulating on social media said Paul Hs real name was supposedly an Islamist called Rafik Y and that the press was covering up his Muslim immigrant background.
An Iraqi terror suspect called Rafik Yousef was shot dead by German police in September last year when he attacked an officer with a knife.
Rumors about another identity are wrong, even though reports of this have been made by various German and foreign media, a spokesperson for the Bavarian LKA said.
The 27-year-old male who was arrested does not have a migrant background.
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A sex abuse victim in the Netherlands has been been allowed to undergo euthanasia via lethal injection.
The unnamed woman in her 20s had suffered sexual abuse from the age of five to 15, according to papers released by the Dutch Euthanasia Commission.
As a result of her abuse, she suffered from post-traumatic-stress disorder (PTSD), severe anorexia, chronic depression and hallucinations, MailOnline reports.
Despite improvements in her mental state after "intensive therapy", Doctors believed her multiple conditions were incurable and two years ago agreed to her wish to end her life.
The doctors judged her to be "totally competent" and that there was "no major depression or other mood disorder which affected her thinking".
News of her death has caused controversy in the UK, where the debate over assisted dying is still divided.
Protests over assisted dying
Nikki Kenward, from disability rights group Distant Voices, said: "It is both horrifying and worrying that mental health professionals could regard euthanasia in any form as an answer to the complex and deep wounds that result from sexual abuse."
Labour MP, Robert Flello said: "It almost sends the message that if you are the victim of abuse, and as a result you get a mental illness, you are punished by being killed, that the punishment for the crime of being a victim is death.
Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Show all 10 1 /10 Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Actor Sir Patrick Stewart Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Actor Hugh Grant Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu Getty Images AFP/Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Author Sir Terry Pratchett Getty Images GETTY IMAGES Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Stephen Hawking Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Cilla Black PA PA Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Lord George Carey Getty Images GETTY Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Actress Kim Cattrall Getty Images Getty Images Ambassadors For Assisted Dying Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan PA
"It serves to reinforce why any move towards legalising assisted suicide, or assisted dying, is so dangerous."
The details of this woman's case had been released by Dutch authorities to justify the legality of euthanasia, highlighting the level of medical supervision involved in assisted dying in the Netherlands.
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Isis has killed more than 80 people in a trio of explosions in Baghdad targeting Shia districts and police officers.
At least 63 people died when a car bomb was disguised as a fruit and vegetable stall in a packed market on Wednesday morning, and two car bombs later in the day left another 25 dead.
The terrorist group claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at a security checkpoint in the Iraqi capital's Kadhimiya neighborhood, killing 18 - including five police officers - and wounding 34.
A woman reacts at the scene of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite district of Sadr City, Iraq, May 11, 2016 (Reuters)
The area is regarded as holy for Shias and houses a mosque at the site of two imams' graves.
Isis also said it was behind a third blast at a checkpoint in a commercial thoroughfare in the Jamiya district, which left seven dead and wounded 22.
The first blast hit a crowded outdoor market in a predominantly Shia area of the Iraqi capital's Sadr City district, ripping through nearby buildings and leaving cars riddled with shrapnel.
The explosion at around 10am local time (8am BST) set nearby shops on fire including a beauty salon, where several brides were believed to be getting ready for their weddings.
Police and medical officials said at least 63 people were killed and 78 wounded. There were fears the death toll would rise as many victims remained in a serious or critical condition.
The car bomb targeted a busy market in a Shia area of Baghdad. (Reuters)
Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer, said the bomb was concealed inside a pick-up truck loaded with fruit and vegetables. He said it was parked by a man who quickly disappeared among the crowds of people.
It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground, he told the Associated Press.
The force of the explosion threw me for meters and I lost conscious for a few minutes."
Isis released an online statement claiming it had targeted a gathering of Shia fighters in the attack.
A witness said the bomb was concealed inside a truck selling fruit and vegetables (Reuters)
The terror group has carried out numerous similar massacres in recent month as it continues to control swathes of northern and western Iraq, where it is being pushed back by Iraqi forces, Shia militias and the Popular Mobilisation Forces.
Barack Obama has hailed the recapture of around 40 per cent of former Isis territory in the country but terror attacks in the capital and elsewhere have continued unabated.
On 2 May, the so-called Islamic State claimed responsibility for killing 18 Shia pilgrims in another car bombing in Baghdad, while a double explosion had killed more than 30 people in the Iraq city of Samawah the previous day.
Sadr City has seen several rounds of fighting since the Iraq invasion in 2003, with terror attacks rising since a vehicle bomb blast that killed more than 60 civilians in 2009.
In February, Isis carried out devastating back-to-back market bombings in the district, killing at least 73 people.
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
The Sunni jihadist group has declared Shia Muslims apostates and has targeted them in bombings at mosques, markets and on pilgrimages in several countries.
Sadr City is named after the father of a controversial Shia cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr, whose supporters stormed Iraq's parliament buildings and highly protected Green Zone last month.
Public anger continued after Wednesday's bombings, when demonstrators at the scene of the massacre blamed the government for the carnage.
The state is in a conflict over (government positions) and the people are the victims, a man named Abu Ali told the AFP news agency: The politicians are behind the explosion.
The UN's Special Representative for Iraq, Jan Kubis, warned last week that a political deadlock and civil unrest threatened to undermine progress and urged Iraqi authorities not to underestimate a "formidable and determined enemy".
According to the United Nations at least 741 Iraqis, including more than 400 civilians, were killed in April and 1,374 wounded due to the ongoing violence.
Additional reporting by agencies
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Osama bin Ladens son and heir apparent has resurfaced in an audio message after many months of silence, prompting renewed speculation over the leadership of al-Qaeda.
Hamza bin Laden, understood to be 23 or 24 years old, was not found among the bodies after the 2011 CIA raid on the compound in Pakistan housing the worlds most-wanted terrorist.
His whereabouts now are unknown, but some experts believe he is being carefully stage-managed by al-Qaedas leadership to one day take over his fathers role.
In the undated message, released by the militant groups media wing, the younger Bin Laden calls on all the jihadist groups of Syria to unite and use the countrys conflict as a springboard to liberate Palestine.
His message echoes another released one day before from the current leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who appeared to praise the work of the groups affiliate in Syria Jabhat al-Nusra.
Both call for unity among the warring Islamist groups of Syria, despite the al-Qaeda offshoots ideological clashes with Isis, its more media-savvy rival.
According to the Site Intelligence monitoring group, Bin Ladens message largely focusses on Israel, who alongside the US represented al-Qaedas favoured target under Osama.
He said the blessed Syrian revolution had made the prospect of liberating Jerusalem more likely.
The Islamic umma (nation) should focus on jihad in al-Sham (Syria) and unite the ranks of mujahedeen, he said. There is no longer an excuse for those who insist on division and disputes now that the whole world has mobilised against Muslims.
In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 Show all 12 1 /12 In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush was visiting Emma E Brooker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida as news of the attack on the World Trade Center broke In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president and his staff, including Press Secretary Ari Fleischer (L) were then brought to a holding room at the school, where he prepared to address the nation In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush was then rushed onto Air Force One and was flown to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. He watched television coverage of the attacks from his office on the plane In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush talks on the telephone at the General Dougherty Conference Center at Barksdale Air Force Base In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush is seen with his senior adviser Karl Rove at Barksdale Air Force Base In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card at Barksdale Air Force Base. Before leaving the base, the president held a press conference at which he said, Make no mistake: The United States will hunt down and punish those responsible for these cowardly acts In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The president was consoled by Lt Col Cindy Wright of the White House Military Office aboard Air Force One. After leaving Louisiana, the president was flown to Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska before he headed back to Washington In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 President Bush arrived at the White House Presidential Emergency Operations Center around 7 pm. Here he is shown with his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, Vice President Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 At 8:30 pm, the president addressed the nation from the White House. In his speech, he set the tone for the wars to come in Afghanistan and Iraq In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 Ive directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to justice, the president said. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 The presidents speech on the teleprompter In pictures: President Bushs immediate response to 9/11 11 September 2001 Immediately following the speech, the president had a national security meeting with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and others
The younger Bin Laden issued his only other public message in a similar fashion in August 2015, in which he called for attacks against international enemies from the US to France and Britain.
Then, Site Intelligences director Rita Katz said he was being projected as a future leader: someone loved and inspirational, without a negative reputation or participation in infighting.
For now, however, Bin Laden has shown none of the operational or intellectual acumen that would make him a viable replacement for Zawahiri, despite the current leaders perceived lack of charisma.
Dr Andreas Krieg, an analyst at Kings College in London, told The Independent the release of the message appeared part of a concerted effort not to appear too quiet next to their Isis rivals.
While Hamza has been labelled a crown prince after surviving the raid that killed his father and older brother Khlaed, Dr Krieg said the younger son was not a key figure within al-Qaeda at this stage.
Although his father still has a prominent role in jihadist circles as a mastermind, godfather and inspiration, Hamza has not yet done anything of prominence, he said.
I think Hamza is following Al Zawahiri knowing that he cannot emerge from his shadow just yet if ever.
Being the son of Osama Bin Laden alone does not provide you with kudos in a community of jihadists in which some have been fighting for three decades.
In his own audio message, posted online at the weekend, Zawahiri said the matter of unity in Syria was one of life and death for jihadist groups.
He said: Either you unite to live as Muslims with dignity, or you bicker and separate and so are eaten one by one.
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A three-year-old child is among the Syrian refugees shot while trying to reach safety in Turkey, witnesses have said as reports of attacks and brutality continue.
The Turkish interior ministry has denied allegations that its border guards are shooting and beating asylum seekers but footage obtained by Human Rights Watch (HRW) shows the bodies of men of women, as well as several injured people with gunshot wounds and extensive bruising.
During March and April of this year, the organisation documented five deaths, including a child, and said at least 14 others were wounded as border guards allegedly attempt to force Syrians back from the border.
Warning: This video contains distressing images
Turkey: Border guards 'kill and injure asylum seekers'
While senior Turkish officials claim they are welcoming Syrian refugees with open borders and open arms, their border guards are killing and beating them, Gerry Simpson, HRWs senior refugee researcher.
Firing at traumatised men, women, and children fleeing fighting and indiscriminate warfare is truly appalling.
He accused the EU of letting Turkey use live ammunition and rifle butts to stem the refugee flow as deportations continue from Greece and borders remain shut across Europe.
The allegations come as refugees flee Syria following the breakdown of the cessation of hostilities agreed in February, with intense shelling in Aleppo and air strikes on civilian areas, medical facilities and refugee camps.
Victims and witnesses from seven alleged incidents between 1 March and 17 April said children aged three, five and nine were shot but survived their injuries in a group of refugees, while a 15-year-old boy was shot dead alongside a man and a woman.
Smugglers were also allegedly targeted, with one killed by a gunshot and another beaten to death, witnesses said.
Syrians living near the border claim they have also been shot at by Turkish border guards while trying to recover bodies.
Turkish soldiers stand guard as Kurdish people wait for their relatives on the Syrian border on June 26, 2015 (AFP/Getty Images)
One survivor, who said he saw his sister and cousin shot dead near the Khurbat al Juz-Guvecci border crossing on 17 April, said they were part of a group of 20 relatives who attempted to flee bombing in Aleppo in March.
Suddenly, when we were about 500 meters from the wall, we heard automatic weapons fired from the direction of the wall and bullets landed all around us, he told HRW.
The women started screaming and the children started crying, but the shooting continued. We all threw ourselves onto the ground, covering the children.
I was lying close to my sister and my cousin, and the bullets hit them while we were lying down. They stopped screaming and shouting. I knew right away they had been killed.
The man said he was shot in the hand and that one of his cousins and his daughters aged five and nine were also injured, but managed to crawl or be carried back to a Syrian village.
He returned to collect the bodies, allegedly being given 15 minutes to complete the task by a Turkish police officer before the shooting resumed, and found they had been shot in the back.
After the burials, the family returned to Aleppo to stay with relatives. We wont try and go back to Turkey, he said. Its too dangerous.
The family were fleeing worsening violence in the city of Aleppo (AFP/Getty Images)
Others said they had been beaten, showing bruises covering their backs and bodies, as well as evidence of broken bones after being caught, mostly near the Khurbat al Juz-Guvecci border crossing, near the Turkish city of Antakya.
A Syrian man who was attacked by border guards on 28 March said the smuggler he was with was beaten to death after the group was captured and taken to a police station.
Giving his name as Ghassan, he said he had fled fighting at home with his wife and two young children and was trying to cross to Turkey to find work to support them at the Salaheddin displaced persons camp in Syria.
About six border guards beat us really badly for a long time, the man said.
They beat me all over my body and on my head. They used their fists and feet and sticks and rifle butts. I have no idea why they beat us.
I was in so much pain I lost track of what has happening. Then I passed out.
When he woke up dumped outside near the border wall, he said a smuggler he was with was pleading for help on the ground. Ghassan managed to alert people in Khurbat al-Juz but they returned to find him dead.
Its better to die in Syria than to die under torture at the border, he said.
Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Show all 11 1 /11 Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey's two million Syrian refugees There are already over 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, but their current camps can only hold 200,000 people ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish citizens protest a new deal, also criticised by human rights activists, which will see refugees who arrived in Greece after March 20 be sent back to Turkey AP Photo/Emre Tazegu Turkey's two million Syrian refugees An estimated 80% of Syrian refugee children already in Turkey are unable to attend school BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Refugee children beg for water near the Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has been accused of illegally deporting asylum-seekers back to Syria BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees In Turkey, no-one from outside Europe is legally recognised as a refugee, meaning the 2016 deportations may not meet international legal standards for protecting vulnerable people BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A refugee child cries as she is searched by police at the Syria-Turkey border, where 16 refugees (including three children) have been shot dead in the last four months BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Many refugees are living rough on the streets of cities such as Istanbul or Ankara (pictured) ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish soldiers use water cannon on Syrian refugees BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Syrian refugees shelter from rain in the streets of Istanbul BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A derelict building housing Syrian refugees in Istanbul Carl Court/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey houses around half of all the refugees who have currently fled Syria Carl Court/Getty Images
Turkey has so far completed more than a third of a concrete wall being built along its 560 mile border, fuelling a thriving human smuggling trade in attempts to avoid police and soldiers.
Some Syrians who managed to cross said they were detained and then forced back into Syria with dozens or hundreds of other asylum seekers, while at the Khirmash camp for internally-displaced people, a representative reported Turkish guards sending announcements from watch towers in Arabic telling refugees that anyone who approached the border would be shot.
HRW sent a letter with its findings to the Turkish interior minister on 4 May, calling on the government to launch an investigation, order guards not to shoot Syrians and to re-open its border to asylum seekers.
But an official denied that the incidents documented by the group occurred when questioned by the Associated Press and insisted that its border guards were not shooting at refugees.
The interior ministry said Turkey, which is home to 2.7 million Syrian refugees, has an open-door policy toward asylum seekers and was working in accordance with international law.
Additional reporting by AP
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David Cameron will hail the beginning of a new global crackdown on corruption when he hosts world leaders and officials from more than 50 countries for an unprecedented summit in London.
But the Prime Minister faced growing calls for the UK to get its own house in order and reform the offshore tax havens operating on its own Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
The Anti-Corruption Summit, the first of its kind, will see new commitments to transparency from a number of countries in a bid to degrade the kind of shadowy tax avoidance networks that were exposed by the Panama Papers.
Senior Government officials said that research by the OECD indicated that $4 trillion each year is now lost to corruption worldwide.
Announcing its own new measures, the Government claimed that money launderers would no longer be able to move and hide illicit funds in the UK property market, as all foreign companies holding or buying property will now have to join a new public register revealing who their ultimate beneficiaries are.
However, Mr Cameron faced potential embarrassment over comments made to the Queen earlier this week, and caught on camera, in which he described Afghanistan and Nigeria, whose leaders are key guest at the summit, as fantastically corrupt.
However, he was boosted by Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari, who accepted the description of his country. Mr Buhari, who was elected on a promise to crackdown on corruption, said he would not be seeking an apology from Mr Cameron. However, the Afghan embassy in London said that Mr Camerons comments had been unfair, saying that its president, Ashraf Ghani had taken major steps to combat corruption.
There was also renewed criticism for the Government over its failure to secure agreements on transparency measures from all of its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, as it emerged that the British Virgin Islands, one of the most popular offshore tax havens among those individuals exposed by the Panama Papers, had not been invited and would not be attending the summit.
A cross-party group of MPs sent a letter to Mr Cameron warning the Prime Minister that he urgently needs to get Britains own house in order on global tax evasion by ending corporate secrecy in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
We respectfully submit that if territories under British authority are left free to give harbour to publicly anonymous corporations, then Britains achievements and credibility in the global anti-corruption movement will be undermined said the letter from the Global Organisation of Parliamentarians Against Corruption. It was signed by the MPs Margaret Hodge, David Davis, Nigel Mills and Catherine McKinnell.
Nigerian President Buhari has brought in a range of anti-corruption measures since taking office (Getty)
While the Prime Minister has pledged to strip away corporate secrecy in relation to the ownership of companies in Britain, he has stopped short of exerting pressure on UK overseas territories and dependencies such as the British Virgin Islands and the Bahamas to meet the same standard of transparency. A recent agreement between the Government and the territories enabled them to retain the option of keeping registers of the beneficial ownership of companies closed to public inspection.
Campaigners say this loophole will continue to enable tax evaders and corrupt politicians from all around the world to stash their money offshore, hidden from the sight of tax and legal authorities.
The evil of corruption reaches into every corner of the world. It lies at the heart of the most urgent problems we face Prime Minister, David Cameron
In a clear warning to Mr Cameron, the authors of the letter said that substantive proposals to close this loophole would determine whether the summit is ultimately seen as an exercise in words or on deeds. A number of countries and territories sending representatives are due to announce further crackdowns on corruption. Forty jurisdictions, including some of the UKs Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies with major financial centres, have signed up to a deal to automatically share beneficial ownership registers with other countries. Mr Cameron said ahead of the summit: The evil of corruption reaches into every corner of the world. It lies at the heart of the most urgent problems we face from economic uncertainty, to endemic poverty, to the ever-present threat of radicalisation and extremism. A global problem needs a truly global solution. It needs an unprecedented, courageous commitment from world leaders to stand united, to speak into the silence, and to demand change. Fifty countries will be represented at the summit, alongside international organisations including the IMF, OECD and World Bank. The leaders of 11 countries, including Norway, Sri Lanka and Tanzania will attend, while Secretary of State John Kerry will represent the United States. 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 }} War, violence and natural disasters have forced a record number of people from their homes with the number of internally displaced refugees now at 40.8m, a new report has revealed. The study by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (DMC) found that an average of 66,000 people a day fled their homes in 2015. The NRC Secretary, General Jan Egeland, said it was the "highest figure ever record". "It is the equivalent of the combined populations of New York City, London, Paris and Cairo grabbing what they can carry, often in a state of panic, and setting out on a journey filled with uncertainty", he added. Internally displaced means refugees who have remained within their own countrys borders - so the figure does not account the millions of people living in refugee camps in neighbouring countries or those attempting to make the dangerous journey to Europe. Around 8.6m of the internally displaced people (IDPs) had fled due to conflict, with 4.8m of them in the Middle East and Africa. Syria, Yemen and Iraq account for over half of all new conflict-induced internal displacement worldwide. But the report shows that internal displacement is not a short-term problem. Wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq mean those countries account for half of the total IDPs fleeing war (Getty) Of the ten countries with the most displaced people, five of them - Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, South Sudan and Sudan - have been on the list every year since 2003. Alexandra Bilak, the director of the IDMC, said: This is further evidence that in the absence of the help IDPs need, displacement tends to drag on for years and even decades. The study also recorded 19.2m people displaced by natural disasters in 113 countries. Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily. People in south and east Asia were the worst-affected with India, China and Nepal making up 3.7m, 3.6m and 2.6m of the IDPs respectively. Nepal is still recovering from a major earthquake which struck the capital Kathmandu in April last year, killing over 8,000 and causing approximately $10bn (6.9bn) in damage. The report also marks the first time people internally displaced by drug or criminal related activity has been recorded. Syrian refugee children stand at a fence in Nizip district near Gaziantep, Turkey. The figures don't include refugees who have manage to leave their country of origin (EPA) It estimated there were around a million people who had been displaced in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico in December as a result of gang-related warfare. Ms Bialik said: "This report illustrates the many challenges to addressing this global crisis of internal displacement. "It also highlights the glaring absence of political solutions to address displacement, and constitutes an important wake-up call to national governments and global policy-makers alike." 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 }} Youve just spent 12 hours in an economy class seat, you missed your connection, youre facing six hours in the terminal until your onward flight - and all you really want to do is get a few hours slumber. You could of course stretch out on a bench in the concourse, perhaps to find your passport and belongings have been liberated when you wake up. But theres a safer, comfier and more dignified alternative: What you really need is a Napcab, or a Minute Suite, maybe a GoSleep pod or perhaps even a SnoozeCube. These are just some of the growing list of small, self-contained, pay-by-the-hour capsules in the airport where you can drift off to the land of nod, undisturbed, and charge your electronic devices while you rest - all without having to worry about strangers stealing your stuff. These cocoon-like modules provide convenience for the burgeoning army of weary passengers transferring through the major hubs, and theyre also a nice little earner for the airports (the market potential is phenomenal: Heathrow, for example, handles around half a million transfer passengers every week). The concept of miniaturized pay-as-you-go sleeping spaces originated in 1979 when Japanese starchitect Kisho Kurokawa designed the Capsule Inn Osaka, and its a concept thats evolving and propagating across the globes busiest airports. If youre transiting through Helsinki-Vantaa (Gate 31, Schengen Lounge and non-Schengen Lounge), Tallinn (Gate 9 and Nordea Lounge), Amsterdams Schiphol (Concourse D), Abu Dhabi (Gate 35 T3), Dubai (Marhaba Lounges and concourses A and B T3), Tokyos Haneda (T1 and T2) and soon in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, look out for GoSleep sleeping pods. These are like business class seats that fold flat and are encased with a sliding shade that you close from the inside. Theres space for luggage and a socket for charging your digital gear. GoSleeps Founder and CEO Jussi Piispanen told The Independent: We are currently in discussions with several companies in the UK and can hopefully enter the market during 2016. Prices vary between 4-9 an hour depending on the length of stay. The most popular choice is a package of 2-3 hours including a blanket and pillow, priced around 28 says Piispanen. Napcabs at Munich airport (Napcabs) If youre in need of a nap at Berlin-Tegel Airport (Tegel Sky Conference) or Munich Airport T2 (Level 5, Gate H32 and Level 4, Gate G06) check out a Napcab. These are soundproofed, air-conditioned cubicles measuring 4 square metres with a bed and a multimedia touch-screen with flight departure times and an alarm. Charges are 15 an hour between 06am and 10pm, and 10 an hour between 10pm and 06am, with a minimum charge of 30. In Japan, Nine Hours offers travellers at Narita International T2 the option to pre-book a sleeping pod (these measure 110cm wide by 220cm deep by 110cm tall). Each features a sleep ambient control system for lighting control. We offer amenities and linens of high quality. Also, our original pillows are well-received, Nine Hours Miho Endo told The Independent, alluding to a uniquely designed pillow and cover that can be purchased upon arrival for 18,000 yen. The brand concept is that Nine Hours is the average time business travellers stay in hotels: seven hours for sleep combined with an hour for resting and an hour for grooming. Fees are 1,500 yen for the first hour plus 500 yen per additional hour. Sleeping pods are stacked on two levels like a double-decker bus, and there are showers available nearby at 1,000 yen with complimentary towels, shampoos and body soaps. Paul Sillers is an aero-industry writer focusing on design, technology, user experience and brand strategy 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 What travel documents, apart from a full UK passport are needed for for a holiday in the Dominican Republic? Mark Lindley A Youll need a tourist card, but theres no need to get one in advance. Indeed, anyone who thinks, Ill plan ahead and sort out the red tape ahead of time, will spend more than they need. The London Embassy of the Dominican Republic (dominicanembassy.org.uk) sells tourist cards online for 10 each, with a 3 charge for postage. The process isnt at all daunting, at least in comparison with tricky business of applying for permission to visit the US. Indeed, a cynic might say its a money-making exercise, with the main requirement being a credit or debit card. But personally I would keep things simple; with a valid British passport, all you need is US$10 (7) in cash and you can get a tourist card on arrival at the airport in the Dominican Republic. It is valid for 30 days, which covers the vast majority of holidays on the island. Unlike many non-EU nations, there is no obligation for your passport to be valid for any longer than the date you intend to leave the Dominican Republic. Finally, as with any tropical country you need to take medical advice a month or so in advance. The NHS travel website is a good place to start. I have made the link you need to take you to the appropriate page: bit.ly/DRdoctor Every day, our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a readers question. 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 }} Theres something rather Zen about standing in a river pondering lifes big questions. Should I switch to decaf? Do I really need the kids cable TV package when I dont have children? Did I walk 10,000 steps yesterday? Had I removed the fluff from the tumble dryer? There were a few clouds in the Carmarthenshire sky, but otherwise it was an absolutely gorgeous day. A light breeze blew the reeds by the riverbank and ruffled the grass leading up the hill to the imposing ruins of Dinefwr Castle. Id just seen a kingfisher dart into the water and been rendered spellbound for a good 10 minutes as an otter swam casually upstream, bobbing up and down. Really the last thing on my mind was will I catch any sea trout? Which was no bad thing, as the relationship between fish and rod was proving rather elusive. Casting off on the banks of the Towy The Welsh sea trout season opened last month and runs through to mid-October. As the name suggests, this species leaves inland rivers to venture out to sea in order to feed before returning to spawn. This oceanic journey exposes the fish to a richer source of food, which makes them substantially bigger than brown trout youll find in the same stretch of water. I was supposed to be night fishing, when the sea trout are at their liveliest, but that had been put on hold due to high river levels. There was talk of undertaking a fishing safari, moving between various spots on the River Towy, just outside the pretty town of Llandeilo. However, my companion Tom and I decided not to move around were perfectly content here in our idyllic little spot. Fishing tackle Tom is a keen fisherman at home in Wiltshire, along with his young son Adam, but I was a beginner, so the first fly-fishing lesson I received from 42-yearold local ghillie Jamie Harries was how to cast. We stood on the edge of a field near the river as he instructed me with a lyrical sing-song lilt on how to cast the rod from 2pm to 10pm on a clock face, and the motion to accompany it was as if I were hammering a nail, rather than flicking my wrist, with arm kept close to my body. Of course Jamie, with years of experience, made it all look effortlessly easy and we chatted as I practised. I dont understand why British people spend thousands of pounds and travel thousands of miles to fish somewhere like Argentina, but ignore what they have on their doorstep, he opined, sweeping his rod before him. They want to find that elusive double-figure sea trout, but last year we had around 50 that were over 12lbs, and our biggest was around 19lbs. We get foreigners coming here from all over the world, from Russia, America, Switzerland. Our home for the weekend was the Cawdor Hotel in Llandeilo, with bucolic countryside views from my top-floor bedroom. It was a friendly base from which to explore the small, pretty town, with its Friday morning market, and which seems to be bucking the national trend by holding on to an impressive range of independent shops. We ate at the hotel one evening, then at the Angel Bistro down the road the other, where the food was equally good. Our appetites were somewhat blunted, however, as we made a classic schoolboy error by popping into Heavenly Desserts Emporium on Rhosmaen Street a few hours beforehand. An old Morris Minor parked outside St Teilos Church gave the place an air of a Miss Marple mystery, but the only thing getting murdered was my hopes of ever catching a sea trout. The Cawdor hotel Back on the Towy we moved from field to river to practise fishing with a spinning rod, and then waded in. Fish or no fish, theres something inherently calming about being in the middle of a river far away from car horns or the beeps and pings of mobile phones and urban life. I moved slowly, practising what Id been taught, sharing my space with the otter that clung closely to the bank before moving out of view. Dinefwr stood above us on the hill, guarding this part of the Towy as it had done for hundreds of years since it was the seat of power for the Principality of Deheubarth. Long before that, there were Roman forts here. Theres no magic to this, said Jamie you just need to keep practising. Women and children tend to pick it up quicker than men, I dont know why. I caught my first sea trout when I was seven. Alas there were no fish, but it hardly seemed to matter. We eventually retired to the pub, where a framed timetable for the train from Llandeilo to Swansea suggested the route was only about 10 minutes quicker than it had been 150 years ago. But I wasnt in any hurry. Time for another pint and maybe an ice cream. The sea trout would still be there tomorrow, just out of my reach again, while I pondered more of lifes big questions. Travel essentials Golden Grove Fishery (01494 524411, golden-grove-fishing.com) offers a two-day learn fishing course from 300pp, including two full days of ghillie guiding plus all flies, fishing permits and transfers to and from The Cawdor Hotel. Sea trout season on the Towy runs from 1 April - 17 October. B&B doubles at The Cawdor (01558 823500, thecawdor.com) are available from 85pppn. Rail travel to Llandeilo was provided by Great Western Railway (gwr.com) and Arriva Trains Wales (arrivatrainswales.co.uk) via Swansea. For more information on Carmarthenshire see discovercarmarthenshire.com 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 }} Corruption can take root whenever self-interest and opportunity meet, but it requires secrecy in order to flourish. As the publication of the Panama papers showed, there are currently too many hiding places around the world where money derived from illegal activities can be placed beyond the gaze of the governments and institutions whose job it is to stamp out corruption. If dirty cash cant be seen it cannot be tracked and its origins are easy to obscure. That is why we need urgent action on tax havens. If they cant be closed, then they must show the same commitment to transparency that other financial centres have been forced to adopt (albeit, in some cases, reluctantly). That is the message David Cameron needs to deliver to world leaders when he hosts the anti-corruption summit in London on Thursday. There are three steps the Prime Minister can take this week that will make a genuine and lasting difference in the fight against corruption. First, he needs to acknowledge that tax havens based in British territories cannot end their dependency on the financial services industry overnight. In many cases, banking and finance are a legacy of our presence in countries that were once part of the British Empire. Cameron should acknowledge they may need financial assistance to diversify economically and enable alternative industries to take hold. Turning a blind eye to the damage corruption causes in the developing world inflicts further misery on some of the most deprived populations on the planet, by allowing money that would otherwise be spent on vital infrastructure and public services to line the pockets of a few. Baroness Patricia Scotland, the Commonwealth General Secretary, has said overseas aid should be conditional on member countries meeting strict anti-corruption standards. But far more needs to be done. In our own country, the tax authorities have been starved of money and personnel. In poorer countries the situation is infinitely worse. The Prime Minister needs to work towards an agreement from world leaders on Thursday to fund a team of global auditors and tax collectors. The Prime Minister must also acknowledge that tax avoidance is not a problem for the developing world alone. In the UK we must stamp out corruption by committing to a public register of beneficial ownership of all properties in the UK and have a system that allows us all to see who owns the companies that operate here. From top to bottom, how corruption infects Russia Show all 2 1 /2 From top to bottom, how corruption infects Russia From top to bottom, how corruption infects Russia 508533.bin REUTERS From top to bottom, how corruption infects Russia 508534.bin GETTY IMAGES This week, the Government confirmed once again that it has no plans to force crown dependencies to reveal details of beneficial ownership through a public register. That is regrettable. Beneficial ownership allows corrupt regimes, criminals and unscrupulous businesses to hide what they own from tax authorities and from the public. Almost every NGO believes a public register would lift the veil of secrecy which allows them to behave with impunity and without fear of being caught. If David Cameron wont support a public register, he must negotiate a global agreement on Thursday that requires offshore territories to exchange information on beneficial ownership with each other and with tax authorities in other countries whenever they request it. We also need legislation to make companies criminally liable for the actions of their employees that facilitate corruption, tax evasion, money laundering and fraud. And we also need new legal powers to strengthen the UKs assets recovery regime. The joint Ministerial Council, whose members include UK ministers and the leaders of overseas territories, need to find the political will to act. Queen says Chinese officials are 'very rude' The UK overseas territories fall under our jurisdiction and sovereignty; we provide defense and stand behind them fiscally. If something goes wrong in those territories, it is the UK taxpayer that may end up bailing them out. We must be clear: if our territories want to rely on UK armed forces and UK taxpayers, they need to adhere to British standards of transparency. We must send a clear message to the rest of the world that corruption on an industrial scale will not be tolerated. David Cameron has admitted that corruption is one of the greatest enemies of progress in our time. History will not be kind to him if he fails to make progress on Thursday. Tom Watson is Deputy Leader of the Labour Party 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 }} Emma Watson, eh? Who would have thought it? All that moralising on the world stage, standing up for the rights of women, speaking out about the devastating economic and social effects of gender inequality. And it turns out that shes been part of the global elite all along, a one percenter happily squirrelling away her millions in an offshore tax haven in the British Virgin Isles. Of course, her people explain that the arrangements are purely to protect her privacy. But blow me down with a feather. What will the supporters of the HeForShe campaign make of it? The answer to that should be: absolutely nothing. The fact that a woman has a public position on one matter gender equality bears no relation to the fact that she has later found herself entangled in an another altogether different political question, that of tax evasion. But that hasnt stopped her critics. When the news that Watson, reportedly worth $70m, had used a company registered offshore to purchase a home, out came the angry rants. I thought you're the most honest actress in the world! Wrong, posted one fan perhaps a former fan on Twitter. After being named in the Panama Paper scandal do you think you should be demanding a statue of anything? another oddly added, referring to her campaigning for Sadiq Khan, the new Mayor of London, to erect a statue of a figure from the Suffragettes in Parliament Square. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here Then came the snarky puns: Harry Potter and the Deathly Havens; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Taxaban; Harry Potter and the Half-blood Principal Investor. Theres a lot more where that came from. The aforementioned spokesperson for Watson claimed that the actor had not used an offshore haven to avoid tax or any of her other financial responsibilities as a British citizen, but instead to protect her privacy, given her celebrity status. Reassuring for her disappointed fans perhaps, but it makes no material difference whatsoever. Even if the young film star had deliberately hidden her assets away in an attempt to legally avoid tax, she is no hypocrite and she does not deserve to be treated like one. You may morally object to tax havens, but theres no reason to be any more angered by Watsons financial affairs than those of the Cameron family, Sarah Ferguson, Michel Platini, Simon Cowell or Heather Mills. What is driving the disproportionate reaction to Watsons British Virgin Islands connection is a bizarre sense that our public figures represent whatever we think they ought to, rather than what they want to, and what they actually do. Because she is outspoken on one social issue, we expect Watson to be a model activist in every other political arena, a whiter-than-white every woman who stands up for us us all. Thats a standard thats impossible for anyone to live up to. Its a sentiment we see echoed when gay and ethnic minority figures, or even bohemians such as the artist Tracy Emin, express their support for the Conservatives. Surely they should be on the political left, where they ought to belong? The Black Lives Matter movement in the US has prompted similarly pointless soul-searching. Why have rap stars such as Drake and Jay Z leading black figures in US popular culture remained so quiet on the matter in their music? Writing in The Atlantic, the journalist Jeff Baird expressed concern that figures such as these were selling music that didnt reflect the often difficult experience of being black in America and instead concerned itself with feelgood lyrics (as if their success should be regarded as proof that the American Dream is in fact alive and well) and great pop tunes instead. Well, why shouldnt they? Its their stock-in-trade. Emma Watson speech on feminism What we struggle to cope with is the idea of pop stars, actors or other national figures behaving in ways other than what we might expect from their PR-designed public persona. Its a position that doesnt stand up to scrutiny. Each and every one of us has friends or relatives who are passionate about one social issue but ambivalent about another. The environmental activist who is aiming to produce zero waste may have no view whatsoever on the closure of domestic violence services for women; the Hillsborough campaigner who spent 27 years fighting for justice for the 96 may have never thought twice about cuts to disability benefit for those unable to work. So what? The latter does not take away from the significance of their efforts on the former. Emma Watson is a wealthy young actor who has used her not inconsiderable global influence to start an important conversation about the position of women in the world. For that, she is rightly celebrated. She is not, and has never been, a tax justice campaigner. I dont like the idea of any wealthy individual finding ways around paying their due and there is no suggestion that this is what Watson has done. But the idea that her efforts on behalf of all women have been undermined by the furore sparked by the latest Panama Papers revelations is dismissive and naive in the extreme. 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 }} Britain's Eurosceptics have spent years frightening people with the idea of an 'EU army' and the subject is once again rearing its head in the referendum campaign. Conspiracy-minded Brexiteers insist that, were the UK to stay in the European Union, British troops might soon be faced with conscription into a Brussels-controlled army. More sober Eurosceptics warn that "the European Union has its sights on NATO". Allegedly designed in the same Brussels and Berlin offices where dreams of an ever closer European union are fostered, this purported European army has become a symbol of EU overreach in one of the most sensitive areas of national sovereignty defence. Ukraine Will Not Join EU, NATO in Next 20-25 Years - EU Commission President Juncker Its true that a few lofty proposals have been aired in the last 50 years by various member states and by the most federalist minded among EU elites. Last March, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker advocated a common European army as a means to increase the EUs standing on the world stage, not least in the eyes of Russia. And it has recently been reported that the forthcoming German defence white paper may also propose an EU army in the context of a defence union. But the reality of European defence co-operation does not match the rhetoric. The EU carries out humanitarian and rescue tasks, crisis management and peace-keeping under a common security and defence policy. This does not extend to collective defence of EU territory nor does any EU government seriously envisage it ever doing so. Nato already plays that role. Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has urged Europeans to avoid duplicating the organisation as money invested in an EU army would be money lost for the alliance. In recent years, Central and Eastern European states that see US capabilities as a vital hedge against an aggressive Russia have also expressed their strong preference for Nato. They are unlikely to give up this resistance anytime soon. In fact, EU member states do not want to cede sovereignty on defence policy at all. Decisions on defence and foreign policy require unanimity in the Council of Ministers. That means every single EU country has a veto and that is why David Cameron has rightly referred to the suggestion of an EU army as fanciful. In practical terms, the lack of a shared vision of how to use EU forces would also be an enormous problem in a crisis. 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 An EU army could only work with a common budget, common institutions, and a supranational defence authority that could over-rule decisions by national parliaments. That is unimaginable to even the staunchest supporter of EU integration. Some countries enjoy strong collaboration on defence, but integration is only possible because of long-standing ties, shared equipment and similar defence cultures. Without these similarities, integration becomes much more difficult. Such models of cooperation could not be scaled up to a European level. The political will is simply not there. Paris would rather get the rest of Europe to support French operations in Mali and the Sahel. Ireland secured a protocol to the Lisbon Treaty stating explicitly that the treaty did not provide for the creation of an EU army. And, importantly, there is also less to Germany's alleged commitment to creating an EU Army than may appear at first sight. It is considered good form for a good European in Germany to reaffirm the commitment to a European army but no one in Berlin is drawing up implementation plans. It is disingenuous for Eurosceptics to present something that only ultra-federalists dream about in very vague terms as something plausible, let alone imminent and inevitable. The British people need to decide whether they are better off in or out of the EU as it actually is, and for what it actually does. They should not be pushed vote on an imaginary future hazard. Invoking the EU army ahead of the referendum is scaremongering at its worst and adds nothing to the real debate we need to have. Sophia Besch is a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform 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 }} Only Jeremy Corbyns operation could bury good news. It does it regularly. In contrast, Downing Street cynically copies an episode of TVs The West Wing called Take Out the Trash Day, when the White House releases a string of bad news stories late on a Friday to dilute damaging headlines the following morning. It was no coincidence that the Government dropped plans to force all schools to become academies on a Friday the best day to bury embarrassing news because newspapers have early deadlines. George Osbornes retreats over pension reforms and disability benefit cuts also happened on a Friday. Jeremy Corbyn attacks David Cameron's statement in Parliament Corbyn somehow managed to announce Labours inquiry into anti-Semitism at 8.07pm on a Friday. As a result, most of the next days papers had negative headlines on the issue. They would have been neutralised if journalists been briefed a few hours earlier. Last autumn, I complained when a Saturday speech by Corbyn was released far too late on a Friday to secure much space in the next days Independent. It wont happen again, Corbyns office assured me. Seven days on, another Saturday speech arrived an hour later than the previous one. I know this sounds like trivial gossip from the Westminster village but on each occasion, incompetence prevented Corbyn from getting positive media coverage. It happens daily. I understand why Team Corbyn do not exactly love the media. Most newspapers are hostile and his early coverage as leader fictitious snubs to the Queen, untrue policy stories (Corbyn to abolish the Army) reinforced a bunker mentality. Corbyn had won an incredible victory in the Labour leadership election on a wave of support through social media, so it was natural to treat the mainstream media with a long spoon. He also recoiled from the media spin to which New Labour was addicted. But it is now clear that Labour under Corbyn is cutting off its nose to spite its face. Under him, Labours relations with the media are as bad as I have seen for any party in 34 years as a Westminster journalist. Treating virtually all the media as the enemy-- including broadcasters who have a duty to be impartial is counterproductive. Last week, broadcasters held peace talks with Corbyn aides but left the meeting frustrated and with little hope of improved co-operation. Corbyn is tetchy when he is door-stepped at his Islington home, sometimes putting his hand over a TV camera. It looks awful to viewers. For his own and his partys sake, he has got to learn to smile when he doesnt feel like it. Thats leadership. Corbyn allies claim a hostile media narrative against their man sets him up to fail and gives him no credit when he does not. They argue that the right-wing media is in denial about the shifting centre of gravity in British politics shown by Corbyns election, portraying him as an insurgent rather than the leader of a new politics. They have a point. And yet the Corbynistas tactics appear very old politics. They launched an online petition calling for Laura Kuenssberg, the BBCs Political Editor, to be sacked for her coverage of last weeks election results. It was taken down by the campaign group 38 Degrees after abusive misogynist comments were added, some calling her a whore and a bitch. For me, her election reports were accurate and balanced, as they always are. The council results in England showed that Labour is not appealing to the voters it must win round, including Conservative voters at last years general election. To his credit, Corbyn acknowledged the results were mixed when he addressed Labour MPs on Monday, and that his party it would need to attract voters from all other parties to win the 2020 election. Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Show all 12 1 /12 Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn's reshuffle Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn and the Syria bombing vote Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn asks questions from the public at PMQs, meanwhile backbenchers plot to oust him Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn is unavailable to attend the Privy Council Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Conference rejects Corbyns call to debate Trident Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn At Labour conference Corbyn and McDonnell press for a Robin Hood tax Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyns hopes for a new politics look optimistic in the face of a media barrage Dave Brown on Jeremy Corbyn Corbyn enters Labour leadership race But Corbyn could learn a lot from Sadiq Khan, who marked his election as Mayor of London with a call for Labour to be a big tent that appeals to everyone not just its activists, a dig at Corbynistas keener to win power in the party than the country. Khan ran a professional election operation and has made a very good start at City Hall. He was sworn in at a multi-faith ceremony at Southwark Cathedral and his first engagement as mayor was to attend a Holocaust Remembrance event a symbolic statement that he will rebuild bridges with the Jewish community, who once regarded Labour as their natural home. Where was Corbyn? Khan kept remarkably cool under fire during a nasty campaign by the Tories and their newspaper allies which accused him of giving cover to Islamic extremists. Khan won the medias respect as a result: Corbyn should take note. There is another reason why the Labour leader should sharpen up his act. True, he is never going to win round the Labour MPs determined to oust him before the 2020 election. But to see off the inevitable attempted coup, he must retain his support among Labour members and supporters. To do that, Corbyn needs to run a more professional and competent operation. Labour members will not turn against him because of his policies, but they might do if they think he is not capable of winning power. 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 }} If I were a Jeremy Corbyn supporter I'd be furious. I would think that David Cameron is a monster who is destroying this country and I'd see Prime Ministers Questions as a chance to show all those non-voters and other potential Labour voters currently suffering from false consciousness the true awfulness of Tory government. So I would have been disappointed with the Labour leader today, because I would have had an inkling that Cameron did not come across quite as badly as I think he should have done. Corbyn started with a populist touch by wishing David Attenborough a happy 90th birthday and then paused to glare at Conservative MPs heckling him to say, I havent asked a question yet. He hadnt, and he never really did. His first non-question was about the EU Posting of Workers Directive. The European Commission wants to close loopholes in it, to stop employers exploiting foreign workers and undercutting national rates of pay. There was a question-mark at the end of the Hansard transcript, but it wasnt clear what the question was. Corbyn appeared to want the Prime Minister to condemn the grotesque exploitation of many workers across the continent. If Cameron was puzzled, he managed to hide it. He was all for workers rights, he said. After all, his Government had brought in the National Living Wage. This prompted Corbyn to go off the script that had been written for him and to defend Labours record: The national minimum wage was introduced by Labour. The National Living Wage proposed by the Prime Ministers friend the Chancellor is, frankly, a corruption of the very idea. It is not, in reality, a proper living wage. Everyone knows what Corbyn meant. The Governments Living Wage is higher than Labours minimum wage, but it is not as high as the living wage advocated by the Living Wage Campaign. But what was the point of bringing that up? To draw attention to the Conservatives theft of a core Labour policy? Corbyn realised he had blundered and tried to clarify I support a wage rise, obviously before asking his third non-question, a ramble about tax havens. By the time he got to his fifth question, he put his head down and just read out his script: whether Conservative Members of the European Parliament would be voting for country-by-country tax transparency reporting. Cameron said he supported the proposals, although I suspect he was the only other person in the Chamber who knew what Corbyn was talking about, although he failed to say whether Tory MEPs supported them too. But if that is the weakest point in the Prime Ministers defences today, Corbyn was not going to be carried shoulder high back to his office for identifying it. If I were a particularly partisan Corbyn supporter, I would have noticed that Cameron did not satisfactorily answer many of the questions asked of him, by the Labour leader and rather more obviously by other Labour MPs such as Jess Phillips and Keir Starmer. And I might have gone on Facebook or Twitter to condemn the mainstream media for failing to report that the Prime Minister didnt answer about tax havens, child refugees, womens refuges and the London housing market. But I would secretly have wished that Corbyn was better at asking short questions that Cameron didnt want to be asked, better at thinking on his feet, and better at using the theatrical props of humour, variety and rhetoric to embarrass the Prime Minister. I would not admit it to anyone, but I would know media bias against him is not enough of an excuse. Ben Chu and I discussed PMQs on Facebook video 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 }} When Kenyas Foreign Affairs secretary Karanja Kibicho announced plans to close the countrys refugee camps on security grounds this week, he threw down a challenge to world leaders. Acknowledging that the decision will have adverse effects on the lives of refugees he said the international community must collectively take responsibility [for] humanitarian needs that will arise out of this action." His frustration with the abject failure of the international community to deal with the global refugee crisis was plain, but he wont be the only one to feel it. His is one of just seven countries the others are Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan and Ethiopia - hosting half of the worlds refugee population of 15 million. If you include Palestinian refugees, that number leaps to over 20 million. Over 600,000 people live in refugee camps in Kenya - mostly in Kakuma and Dadaab, the latter being the biggest in the world and home to more than 50,000 children under the age of four. The majority are of Somali origin a country ravaged by conflict for over 20 years. Sadly, its not just Kenya where the authorities are promoting this security narrative when it comes to refugees, and it is one that can have fatal consequences. Across Europe fences have gone up at borders to stop refugees moving through, and to protect national security. Turkey recently sealed its border, effectively trapping people in war-torn Syria. The recent bombing of a camp in Syria, which left dozens of civilians dead, was a stark reminder of the dangers faced by people forced from their homes. And this security rhetoric is hardly accidental. Ratcheting up the fear factor hardens public attitudes against refugees and potentially stokes hostility towards people fleeing often the same violence and terror governments are seeking to combat. Painting them as the other and as a threat to our security is a convenient way for governments to push public opinion from sympathy to antipathy. Refugees settle in Germany Show all 12 1 /12 Refugees settle in Germany Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, plays with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, in the one room they and Mohamed's wife Laloosh call home at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany A refugee child Amnat Musayeva points to a star with her photo and name that decorates the door to her classroom as teacher Martina Fischer looks on at the local kindergarten Amnat and her siblings attend on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The children live with their family at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian asylum-applicant Mohamed Ali Hussein (R), 19, and fellow applicant Autur, from Latvia, load benches onto a truckbed while performing community service, for which they receive a small allowance, in Wilhelmsaue village on October 9, 2015 near Letschin, Germany. Mohamed and Autur live at an asylum-applicants' shelter in nearby Vossberg village. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Ali Hussein ((L), 19, and his cousin Sinjar Hussein, 34, sweep leaves at a cemetery in Gieshof village, for which they receive a small allowance, near Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat, a refugee from Syria, looks among donated clothing in the basement of the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to Mohamed, his wife Laloosh and their daughter Ranim as residents' laundry dries behind in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. The Zayats arrived approximately two months ago after trekking through Turkey, Greece and the Balkans and are now waiting for local authorities to process their asylum application, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asya Sugaipova (L), Mohza Mukayeva and Khadra Zhukova prepare food in the communal kitchen at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Efrah Abdullahi Ahmed looks down from the communal kitchen window at her daughter Sumaya, 10, who had just returned from school, at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is their home in Vossberg Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Asylum-applicants, including Syrians Mohamed Ali Hussein (C-R, in black jacket) and Fadi Almasalmeh (C), return from grocery shopping with other refugees to the asylum-applicants' shelter that is their home in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Mohamed Zayat (2nd from L), a refugee from Syria, smokes a cigarette after shopping for groceries with his daughter Ranim, who is nearly 3, and fellow-Syrian refugees Mohamed Ali Hussein (C) and Fadi Almasalmeh (L) at a local supermarket on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. All of them live at an asylum-seekers' shelter in nearby Vossberg village and are waiting for local authorities to process their asylum applications, after which they will be allowed to live independently and settle elsewhere in Germany 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Kurdish Syrian refugees Leila, 9, carries her sister Avin, 1, in the backyard at the asylum-seekers' shelter that is home to them and their family in Vossberg village in Letschin Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany Somali refugees and husband and wife Said Ahmed Gure (R) and Ayaan Gure pose with their infant son Muzammili, who was born in Germany, in the room they share at an asylum-seekers' shelter in Vossberg village on October 9, 2015 in Letschin, Germany. Approximately 60 asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Chechnya and Somalia, live at the Vossberg shelter, which is run by the Arbeiter-Samariter Bund (ASB) charity, and are waiting for authorities to process their application for asylum 2015 Getty Images Refugees settle in Germany Germany German Chancellor Angela Merkel pauses for a selfie with a refugee after she visited the AWO Refugium Askanierring shelter for refugees in Berlin Getty Images The UK government has stated its intention to create a hostile environment for immigrants. When Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond referred to marauding migrants last year, and the Prime Minister called those risking their lives to cross the Med as a swarm, dismissing those stuck in the miserable refugee camp in Calais as a bunch of migrants, they were attempting to do just that. In September the UN will announce a plan for the resettlement of 10 per cent of the worlds refugees and other measures to deal with the crisis. World leaders must support and implement this plan. If they dont, the crisis will simply deepen as ever more people are forced to journey further searching for safety. Kate Allen is the Director of Amnesty International UK 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 }} No-one who has ever seen Chinas security apparatus in full flow can be in any doubt that the Queen is right: they are horrible to deal with. I had a small experience of this a few years back when I travelled with David Cameron on a trade mission to China designed to rebuild ties with the countrys leadership after a period in the diplomatic deep freeze. We had spent the day in Beijing and in the evening flew in the Prime Ministers charted Virgin plane on to Shanghai. As we prepared to leave the Chinese capital we were joined on the flight by about half a dozen well built, badly suited men who you could tell were security officials by the discreet microphones in their button holes. Queen says Chinese officials are 'very rude' They were scattered throughout the plane. They didnt smile. They didnt make eye contact. They didnt sit down when the plane started moving. And at the end of the flight they were up from their seats before the plane had left the runway. The rules did not apply to them. Now such arrivals by heads of state tend to have well laid down protocols. The Prime Minister is always the first person off the plane but only disembarks once the welcoming party of city dignitaries and embassy staff are in place and the obligatory red carpet has been laid out to the front steps of the plane. Those of us at the back in steerage have to wait. And it can be a while. But that is not how the Chinese security minder in our cabin saw things panning out. As soon as the steps had been brought up to the back door he gesticulated to the rather effete steward that he should open it and let him off. The steward demurred and very politely told him in slow English that this was not possible: he couldnt open the door until he had been given permission to do so by the cockpit. The steward smiled a lot. The security agent scowled. He bent his head to look through the window and gesticulated again that the door should be opened. The steward only two thirds his size in turn tried to gesticulate that this was not possible. And then it got nasty. Having not got his way the agent began angrily screaming at the steward waving his arms around. PM caught on mic and the Queen is involved again His diatribe that none of us including the steward could understand went on for about 30 seconds. And then something rather marvelous happened: the steward waited till he had finished and then shouted back at him. I dont care who you are, he screamed. Im not opening the door and youre going to have to wait. He then positioned himself directly in front of the handle blocking the exit and explicitly challenged the man to push him out of the way. And you know what? He won. The goon shut up. And waited. For a good five minutes until Cameron was off the plane. And then when the door finally was opened and the man rushed off, the steward thanked his rapidly descending profile for flying Virgin. He should get a job in the diplomatic protection service. Officers have been lambasted for losing evidential exhibits and poor note taking, interview techniques and record keeping Proven negligence and malpractice in Garda investigations raised by whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe are unacceptable and disheartening, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said. Serious deficiencies have been highlighted across a wide range of inquiries with officers lambasted for losing evidential exhibits and poor note taking, interview techniques and record keeping. Some of the most serious flaws were made in two investigations involving Jerry McGrath during 2007 including the inappropriate charge that was brought against him for a savage attack on a woman near Virginia, Co Cavan. "It was an error of judgment to prefer a charge under section 2 rather than section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 in view of what the officer in the office of the DPP later accurately termed "the savagery of the attack," the report stated. There were also inadequate and obvious defects in the probe into a public order incident and possible sexual assault that took place on a bus at Kingscourt, Co Cavan, in Feburary 2007. An inquiry into an assault at Lakeside Manor Hotel, Virginia, Co Cavan, lay untouched for months while crucial video evidence was not secured and attempts to "trick" a suspect into making admissions were also wrong, the commission found. Officers were also criticised for failing to take victims' complaints seriously. The newly appointed Tanaiste said lessons should be learned. "That is as unacceptable as it is disheartening and we must take all measures open to us to ensure that these shortcomings are not repeated," Ms Fitzgerald said. One of those most affected by the proven malpractice was Lorcan Roche Kelly, who received extracts of the report in the past fortnight and insisted he has no faith in the force. His wife Sylvia was murdered by Jerry McGrath in December 2007 while out on bail after being charged for assaulting a taxi driver and being caught red-handed while trying to abduct a five-year-old girl from her family home in Tipperary. In those cases prosecuting gardai did not give judges full information on McGrath's past. And he killed Ms Roche Kelly 10 days after his second release. Ms Fitzgerald drew attention to when the investigations occurred, with some dating back a decade. She said it was abundantly clear Garda oversight at the time and "up to a couple of years ago... served no-one particularly well". Ms Fitzgerald said: "I very much appreciate that the events outlined in the report have been traumatic for many people who have been affected by them. "It would be an injustice to those who brought events to light in the public interest and those who have lived under the shadow of these events for a long time, if we do not take on board the lessons from these events." The 360-page report by retired judge Kevin O'Higgins was published on the back of a scoping exercise into Sgt McCabe's claims by barrister Sean Guerin. His findings led to led to Alan Shatter resigning as justice minister. On the delay in publishing the report while vast sections were leaked Ms Fitzgerald said the Attorney General Maire Whelan consulted with the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Garda Ombudsman and the Garda. She said the risk of prejudicing criminal trials was only ruled out yesterday. 'Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope." Oscar Wilde. These words were recently quoted to us by a red-haired middle-aged Canadian lady during a family visit to the National Gallery in Dublin. She was the only other person on a guided tour of the gallery, currently dubbed "highlights of the highlights". The gallery is in the midst of a major renovation so only a few rooms are available to showcase its treasures and these are now curtailed further with the opening last week of an exhibition of 10 drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci, on loan from the Queen of England. I spent four years attending Trinity across the road and, while I paid many a visit to The Lincoln Inn on the college perimeter, I never once made it to the National Gallery. I now know I was afraid of art, fearing it was above me. Only later I began to realise you don't need to understand it to enjoy it or be enriched by it. Back to our chance encounter, it turned out that the lady, called Maureen Prendergast, is from Prince Edward Island, setting of the famous Anne of Green Gables novels. Maureen reminded me in ways of the books' heroine, Anne Shirley. There was the red hair, of course, but she also demonstrated an empathy with people and joy in the natural world that was so characteristic of Anne, generously and unaffectedly sharing with us a broad and colourful knowledge of art and literature. By coincidence, I am reading Anne of Avonlea at present and was recently smitten by the following passage: "How quiet the woods are today not a murmur except that soft wind purring in the tree-tops! It sounds like surf on a faraway shore. You beautiful trees! I love everyone of you as a friend." Perhaps it seems a lot to say about someone whose company we shared for a scarce hour but Maureen seemed full of life in the best possible way, bringing to mind another of Wilde's quotes: "To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." She used the opening quote when it came up about admission to the gallery being free, by way of pointing out how lucky we are in Ireland to have such beauty accessible to all. The National Gallery depends heavily on the public for support. Family membership costs 100 per annum. It's great value and a very worthwhile cause. Different arts are sometimes seen as being in competition with each other but the generosity of another writer, George Bernard Shaw, has helped the gallery enormously. Shaw strongly believed in the power of our cultural institutions to educate, entertain and inspire. When he died in 1950, he bequeathed one third of his royalties to the National Gallery, the "cherished asylum of my boyhood". His legacy has helped the gallery make many significant purchases, including works by Paul Henry and Jack B Yeats. At the entrance to the gallery, a life-size statue of Shaw is accompanied by his words: "You use a glass mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul". In recent days we've seen the fire brigade units and water tankers sent in to battle a serious gorse fire blazing on Three Rock Mountain in the Dublin Mountains, while smoke from fires on Mount Leinster could be seen for miles around. It comes on the back of stark warnings from the Agriculture Department to farmers and other landowners that the burning of gorse or vegetation on land is illegal at certain times of the year. Farmers can be hit hard in the pocket as vegetation on land which is found to have been burned outside of the legal season can be considered ineligible for payment under Department schemes, including Basic Payment Scheme, GLAS and other area based schemes. Although controversial, restrictions on hedge-cutting and burning came into effect on March 1 and will last until August 31 2016. In the proposed Heritage Bill 2016, the periods for hedge-cutting and burning of hill vegetation were to be extended by one month on a trial basis to make land management more practical. However, these provisions were never passed. The law governing the area is set out in Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 which restricts the burning or destruction of vegetation growing on uncultivated land or in hedges or ditches during the nesting and breeding season for birds and wildlife from March 1 to August 31. There are a number of obvious risks with burning, for example damage to homes, farm lands and setting fire to nearby valuable plantations of forestry. Potentially it can also endanger lives, with the added pressure on our already stretched emergency services make burning an activity to be approached with extreme caution. BURNING PLAN The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) warn that planned burning of gorse or vegetation should only be carried out by appropriate personnel with training, knowledge and experience in managing safe and controlled operations. They require that burning only be carried out in accordance with a written burning plan, that takes into account the Prescribed Burning Code of Practice. It calls for annual burning to take place within the context of a long-term rotational burning plan developed by the landowner for the area in question. In the case of gorse or whins, they are flammable all year round and burn quickly with intense heat. Older crops of gorse with high bushes are notoriously difficult to control in wildfire situations and it may not always be possible to safely treat these using fire. FORESTRY In addition to the safety issues, there are also a number of legal implications of burning which should be kept in mind in relation to forestry. If you don't stick to the rules it could prove very costly as you could be held responsible for the loss of the neighbouring plantation. For example, under Section 39 of the Wildlife Act, 1976, if you intend burning within one mile of a forest which you do not own, you must notify your local Garda Station and the forest owner, who has the right to object by counter-notice, at least seven days in advance, in writing. A forestry plantation owner that fears burning will be an issue in their area should make their fears known to the local gardai in advance of the burning season. If your plantation is damaged or destroyed, you should report this loss as soon as possible to the gardai and the Forest Service. It is also important to seek insurance cover if you are concerned about a risk to your forestry. Also, within designated areas of special areas of conservation and protection, and national heritage areas, the National Parks and Wildlife Service must be notified and 'Notifiable Action Authorisation' obtained. There are severe penalties in place for those who cause damage to habitats as a result of burning, which extend to large fines and potential imprisonment. The Air Pollution Act sets out certain restrictions around smoke and pollution which would affect those in proximity of the fires. The amount of burning will be directly related to the level of pollution and so this should be kept in mind to avoid any repercussions under this legislation. INSURANCE The issue of insurance is very relevant for farmers and land owners who engage in controlled burning. You should ensure that you have suitable and adequate insurance cover for the task and discuss your intentions with your insurance provider. Employer's Liability insurance should be checked to see that it covers prescribed burning activity, especially if employees or sub-contractors are likely to be involved. Illegal burning activity may invalidate insurance and leave the landowner or operatives open to personal liability claims. As well as insurance, all employers have a duty of care towards employees and their health, safety and welfare while in a place of work. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and Regulations 2007, place a heavy emphasis on hazard/risk assessment as a core element of health and safety management in places of work. Heavy penalties exist where employers are found to have breached this duty of care through action or negligence, and employees are harmed or injured as a consequence. In the cases of fires started deliberately, where they cannot be associated with controlled burning such an action would be described as arson. The rigors of criminal law would apply including potentially lengthy imprisonment and severe financial penalties. Although many consider controlled burning to be an art as well as a science, planning and compliance with all of the necessary formalities could help prevent a potentially disastrous outcome as well as protecting the residents and land owners in proximity. Theresa Murphy is a barrister based in Ardrahan, Co Galway The auction season is in full swing and lots of action is reported throughout the provinces in recent weeks. Prices are holding steady with few spectacular results. At auction land in Wexford made between 6,000/ac and 10,000/ac, with ground in Co Clare commanding a strong 12,000/ac, while a 20ac piece in Dublin made 14,000/ac. In Munster the Clare farmers are mirroring their hurlers and performing well. In Scarriff a 13ac parcel of land sold at auction recently making 158,000 surpassing its pre-auction guide by 8,000 and netting over 12,000/ac. Located about 500m from the town of Scarriff at Fossabeg the roadside holding is described as fine grazing land. Laid out in two fields it has extensive frontage on to Fossabeg road and is described by auctioneer Seamus Bane as good clean pasture ground. The smaller field is a south-facing hill while the larger field faces generally northeast. At auction proceedings opened at 80,000 and with three bidders in contention the price on offer reached 130,000. Following consultation with the owner the place was put on the market at that point and bidding continued until the hammer fell after 22 bids and a local farmer bought the holding for 158,000. According to Mr Bane everyone was happy with the result. "It was a good auction for a good piece of land and it realised somewhat more than we had expected," he said. Limerick sale In neighbouring Co Limerick a 73ac residential farm at Ardpatrick sold under the hammer of Richard Ryan of GVM KiImallock for 700,000 or almost 9,600/ac. Located 3km from the village of Ardpatrick in southeast Limerick the farm includes a neat, traditional, single storey farmhouse in excellent condition. The accommodation comprises three bedrooms, two reception rooms, a kitchen and a wet room/bathroom. The farm buildings and facilities are somewhat dated and include a four-bay covered silage pit with two lean-tos accommodating 64 cubicles. There is a range of other out offices and an open slurry tank. The land is described as the finest of Golden Vale grazing ground well laid out and in great heart. Entitlements with the holding are worth 10,000. At auction two determined bidders showed cause when it opened at 550,000. The place was put on the market at 690,000 and sold at 700,000 or just under 10,000/ac. East Cork sale A 66ac part of a 158ac residential farm at Lisgoold and Ballincurrig in East Cork sold under the direction of Dan Fleming recently for 510,000 or just over 7,200/ac. Comprising 12ac of wood and 44ac of grazing the field was once home to a famous point-to-point. Located 15 minutes from Midleton and 10 minutes from Watergrasshill the field is divided into paddocks by electric fencing. It has plenty of road frontage and is serviced by mains water, electricity and a cattle crush. The remaining 92ac with a house and extensive yards 1km away at Ballincurrig is currently making around 900,000 and Mr Fleming is confident of getting it across the line. Bank of Ireland has been accused of a "cynical attempt" to exploit a non-existent tax loophole after it lost a 27m tax avoidance case in the UK. The case dates back to 2003 and involved a UK subsidiary, the former building society, Bristol & West (B&W). HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) said the avoidance scheme focused on corporation tax and sought to exploit the move from one piece of legislation to another. Contracts moved from one subsidiary, Bristol & West, under old legislation, and were received by another subsidiary, Bank of Ireland Business Finance Limited, under new legislation in August 2003. The UK tax authority sought to challenge the attempt to avoid tax, and the issue was appealed to the Court of Appeal, which has now ruled in favour of HMRC. Jim Harra, HMRC's director general of business tax, said they would continue to pursue those who try to avoid paying tax bills. "This was a cynical attempt to exploit a non-existent loophole to avoid paying tax. It has failed," Mr Harra said. "We will continue to investigate and pursue those who try to avoid paying their fair share on behalf of the majority who play by the rules, and pay the tax they owe." In a statement, Bank of Ireland said it considers the decision "conclusive and definitive". It also said that it notes the fact that as it is an issue that dates back 12 years, the tax assessed has already been paid. "The Group will not be pursuing a further appeal and is satisfied that the acknowledged legislative and procedural uncertainties have now been clarified," the bank said. "The Group has signed up to the Code of Practice on Taxation of Banks and is fully compliant with its obligations under the Code." HMRC said all parties agreed the transfer of the contracts was done solely to avoid tax, but the bank argued the scheme worked because the move from one piece of legislation to the other created a loophole. The judgment states that the issue centres around the appropriate corporation tax treatment of the novation of a portfolio of "in the money" interest-rate swaps to another company in the same group for a premium of 91m. The novation occurred on August 29 2003. B&W submitted its tax return for that period on April 7, 2005. HMRC gave notice of its intention to enquire into the return on November 22 of that year. Cairn Homes became the first Irish housebuilder to go public in nearly two decades when it listed in London last year. Cairn Homes has defended the pay of its top executives. Chairman John Reynolds, the former head of KBC Bank Ireland, said he believed the company had "struck the right balance" in answer to a shareholder who criticised the pay awarded to directors. Cairn became the first Irish housebuilder to go public in nearly two decades when it listed in London last year. Around 13pc of shareholders voted against the remuneration report proposed for 2016 at the housebuilder's annual general meeting yesterday. The majority of shareholders backed the pay plan, which would award chief executive Michael Stanley an "annual incentive payment" up to 105pc times his 2016 salary of 425,000 based on performance targets. Executive directors could receive incentive payments up to a maximum of 75pc of salary, plus potential share awards as part of a long term incentive plan. That does not apply to founders Michael Stanley and Alan McIntosh who already have significant stakes in the company and are entitled to 20pc of shareholder gains if its share price rises more than 12.5pc per year. In an update released before its AGM, Cairn said it had taken direct ownership of seven sites attached to the "Project Clear" loans it bought from Ulster Bank at the end of last year, about one third of the portfolio by value. It spent around 378m on the Ulster loan portfolio, which had a par value of 1.75bn. It is aiming to take ownership of 90pc of all sites linked to "Project Clear" loans by the end of the year. "We are not expecting any issues with the final 10pc," Mr Stanley said. Cairn now has 25 "core" development sites under its control with the capacity to deliver 11,000 homes, he said. Some 8-10 other sites have been classified as "non-core" and may be sold off. "Our model is focused on larger sites where we can get economies of scale," said Mr Stanley. "Some of the smaller sites may be sold off." Cairn reiterated its aim of delivering 1,200 homes a year by 2019. It closed sales for 11 homes in 2015 and has closed 35 in 2016 so far. It will be building on up to eight sites by early next year. THE IRISH Congress of Trade Unions is not engaged in secretive talks to revitalise Social Partnership, the head of the body has insisted. Speaking at the Communications Workers Union at their Biennial Conference in Galway, ICTU chief executive officer Patricia King said there had recently been some debate on the development of a social dialogue mechanism. However, she stressed: Let me make it exceptionally clear, Congress are not seeking to revitalise Social Partnership and are not talking to anyone, in secret or otherwise on the matter. Ms King also criticised the Government for the ongoing dispute among 999 call answering staff. She said the root cause of the dispute between staff at the Emergency Call Answering Service (ECAS) and the service provider BT Ireland/Conduit lies in the terms of the Public Contract offered to this company by the State in the first instance. I have absolutely no doubt that the only real determining factor for the Government was the lowest possible tender price. It seems they had little regard for the fact that ECAS cannot be regarded as a normal commercial call centre. That this work involves the delivery of an essential public service, requiring the utmost accuracy and precision, she said. Ms King said workers in ECAS are providing one of the most important and essential services to the State. Their remuneration is deficient and their conditions of employment poor. When you boil it all down, this situation has arisen as a direct result of the State, using taxpayers money, selling public service jobs to a contractor whose sole interest is in making a profit, she added. Speaking on public procurement Ms King said the Trade Union Movement had to be clear in its resolve that it will not facilitate the outsourcing of public service jobs on the basis of a race to the bottom. Ms King said that while there were reputable employers in Ireland who engage with Trade Unions and develop collective agreements, there were also a considerable number of employer advocacy groups who show no concept of the consequences of low pay or growing inequality for workers or their families. They have no notion of paying a living wage or providing decent work. They take the view that the State should subsidise wages with no disruption to their growing profits through current economic growth. These are no small lunatic fringe sniping from the margins of Irish life, their view is well represented among political groupings and even some media commentators, she added. The Irish State is looking to attract UK-based banks like Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland here should Britain leave the EU, a new report has said. According to Bloomberg, foreign investment agency IDA Ireland has already spoken to international lenders about relocating hundreds of traders and support staff to Ireland. The report cites people familiar with the matter that did not wish to be identified. The IDA is said to be encouraging the banks to consider towns like Shannon in Clare for its administrative workers due to low costs and large amounts of available office space. In March, IDA chief executive Martin Shanahan said he had already discussed potential scenarios with finance firms if a Brexit vote carried through. The news comes ahead of Britain's vote to stay in the EU on June 23. It is understood several lenders based in the UK are concerned about the fallout of a Brexit due to potential trade challenges to some of their products. In January, finance company Credit Suisse opened a trading floor in Dublin, creating 100 jobs in the process. The banks the IDA are speaking to would join a lengthy list of international companies which include Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Goldman Sachs. Efforts are to be made to expedite a probe into the sale of contracting firm Siteserv to a company owned by businessman Denis O'Brien by the former Anglo Irish Bank. The transaction is among 38 multi-million euro deals that are under investigation by the Cregan Commission which has hit a number of stumbling blocks. Mr Justice Brian Cregan has indicated that there are major issues around confidentiality and legal privilege which are hampering his work. Legislation is likely to be needed to overcome some of these issues and it could take several years for the Commissions work to be complete. It originally had a deadline of the end of last year. Taoiseach Enda Kenny met with Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy, Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin and Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald yesterday to discuss the impasse. They agreed that the Siteserv deal is of "particular public concern". The company was sold to Millington with a write-down of 119m and one of its subsidiaries subsequently went on to win a lucrative contracting installing meters for Irish Water. Last November the Government indicated that it would be impossible to hold a single investigation into the deal, outside of the 37 other transactions. However, last night Ms Murphy said that view is now changing. "At this morning's meeting there was a consensus regarding the need to move this issue forward as a matter of urgency and the Taoiseach has undertaken to work with officials and Justice Cregan with a view to meeting us again in two weeks at which point we would hope to be in a position to have the framework for legislation drafted and the Terms of Reference revised with a view to being laid before the Dail in a relatively short time-frame," she said. "There is agreement that Siteserv is an issue of particular public concern and as such it should be frontloaded as a specific module of work that could be undertaken in a timely and cost-efficient manner and the amended Terms of Reference should reflect this. "While the Siteserv issue will be prioritised, provision will be made in legislation for other transactions to be inquired into following the completion of the Siteserv module." Peter McPartin has been announced as the new Chief Executive Officer of MediaCom Ireland. Mr McPartlin is the first CEO to be appointed to the organisation. With over 30 years experience in the Irish media sector, Mr McPartins most recent role was CEO of Communicorp Group's national station, Today FM, for the last four years. He has also worked at Aegis Media, Irish International and OMD Ireland and consulted for Independent News & Media, UTV and The Irish Times. Mr McPartlin has also led award-winning teams for three gold Marketing Institute AIM Awards, won Marketing Magazines Agency of the Year on three occasions and won two IAPI AdFX effectiveness awards Of his new role, Mr McPartlin said it was an exciting opportunity. The opportunity to take on the new CEO role in Ireland is one that was hard to resist. What is even more exciting is the opportunity to work with the team in Dublin on some iconic brands, as well as the potential to further grow the business in Ireland. Karen Blackett, Chairwoman of MediaCom UK and Ireland said "Peter is a stellar marketing and media expert and brings a wealth of experience to MediaCom." The two bodies got actuaries Milliman to look at the State pension. The Milliman report concluded that the current system is unsustainable. Photo: PA THE largest trade union body in the country has delivered a stinging criticism of actuaries who have advocated cutting the State pension to make it more sustainable. The broadside from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions comes ahead of a conference hosted by the Society of Actuaries on the sustainability of the State pension. ICTU's Fergus Whelan has dismissed as "distasteful" the views of what he said were a well-pensioned select few questioning the level of the payment. He was responding to a report commissioned by the Society of Actuaries in Ireland and Publicpolicy.ie, a think tank funded by Atlantic Philanthropies. The two bodies got actuaries Milliman to look at the State pension. The Milliman report concluded that the current system is unsustainable. It recommended cutting the weekly pension payment, or reducing future increases, or restricting who qualifies for it, or further increasing the pension age beyond 68. The Milliman report is due to be discussed at a major conference on the future of the State pension organised by the Society of Actuaries in Dublin today. But Mr Whelan, who is the pensions expert in the ICTU, dismissed the report's conclusions as "propaganda rather than insightful analysis". He accused the two bodies that commissioned the report of launching an offensive against decent public pensions. "They clearly have an ideological preference for private pension provision (where actuaries have a lucrative role) over public provision (where they have little or no role)." ICTU, which has 55 unions affiliated to it and represents 800,000 workers, wrote: "There is something distasteful when a well-pensioned, self-selected few, commission and then welcome a report that suggests that Ireland cannot sustain a moderately decent pension for its less well-off citizens going forward." The State pension was an important tool to eliminate old-age poverty. Mr Whelan questioned the population growth assumptions used by Milliman. Actuaries, it was claimed, were cheerleaders for the raising of the State pension age to 68, a move that is set to cost private sector workers up to 36,000 each. Mr Whelan accused actuaries of getting it "spectacularly wrong" when giving advice on defined benefit pensions, half of which have closed during the past eight years. The Society of Actuaries said its aim was to stimulate debate around the future of the State pension. "The view of the Society of Actuaries in Ireland is that the Milliman report adds to the growing body of research that highlights the unsustainability of the State pension system and leads to the conclusion that 'doing nothing' is not an option." THE role of a Government Special Adviser (Spad) is not for the faint hearted. Well remunerated, the small coterie of policy and communications experts stand accused of wielding enormous influence over the country. Last year more than 3m was spent on 36 such advisers across all government departments. Speak to many a former Spad, however, and they will tell you that not even the much loved, much breached salary cap can compensate them for the insecurity of their tenure, the risk of one's minister being deposed and where to go to next when they are. Happily Paul O'Brien, advisor to former Labour leader and Tanaiste Joan Burton, has no worries on the job front. The former political editor of the 'Irish Examiner' is off to the Central Bank where he will become the number two in its communications division. O'Brien's future responsibilities include a new information centre for those curious about the bank. No doubt the political skills honed at the heart of Government will be of enormous benefit to Paul O'Brien and his new masters. On the road again Matthew Elderfield is moving to Nordea as the Swedish bank's new head of group compliance - interesting timing given the lender is coping with the fallout from its name being linked to the so-called Panama Papers. Amazingly it is almost three years since Elderfield, inset, Ireland's one-time regulatory gun-slinger hung up his badge and moved on from the Central Bank here. He had won plaudits for taking a tough line with financiers after taking over from Patrick Neary as Financial Regulator. Elderfield arrived in Ireland in 2009 from a job in Bermuda. After Dublin he switched to the private sector, taking a no doubt rewarding gig as head of compliance at Lloyds Banking Group in London. Now he's moving job, and country, all over again. Nordea says Elderfield will start as its new head of group compliance by November at the latest. Last month, on foot of the Panama Papers, Swedish authorities contacted officials in Luxembourg for information related to allegations that Nordea helped some clients set up accounts in offshore tax havens - potentially breaching money laundering rules. Survey doesn't Shed much light 'Almost two-thirds (60pc) of board members in Ireland say their anti-bribery and corruption policies do not work effectively, according to a new international study from Eversheds." That was the opening paragraph of a press release sent out yesterday. The release went on to say that 75pc of the Irish executives involved in the research also said they had uncovered corrupt business practices in their organisation. Pretty startling stuff. What's even more startling is that the just 20 large organisations in Ireland were included in the study. That's hardly a survey. The study engaged with 500 board-level executives in large organisations across 12 countries - including the 20 in Ireland - to find out how businesses are responding to bribery and corruption in their organisation. The release is filled with claims such as "20pc of senior executives in Ireland say they do not conduct anti-bribery due diligence as part of M&A activity". Is that representative? Not if just 20 organisations have been surveyed as part of the study. Sorry Eversheds. As surveys go, this one's a little useless. EasyJet predicted that European demand for air travel will rebound after dropping in the wake of the terror attacks that pushed it to a first-half loss, and said its cash position is strong. Fares that are under pressure from overcapacity after the outrages in Brussels, Paris and Sinai should recover from July through September, the strongest quarter for European airlines, Luton, England-based EasyJet said yesterday. EasyJet halted Sinai flights after the downing of a Russian tourist jet in October, while November's Paris shootings and the March 22 bombings in Brussels further weighed on sales. The carrier swung to a 24m (30m) pretax loss in its first half through March from a 7m pound profit, and said third-quarter revenue per seat may decline 7pc. "You can't expect those kinds of external events not to have an impact on your trading and your numbers," chief executive officer Carolyn McCall said. "Despite all of that we are saying that we are comfortable with the current consensus." Summer demand for flights to Mediterranean destinations is encouraging, with an "improving trajectory" for bookings in May and June, she said. EasyJet shares rose as much as 3.9pc and were trading 2.2pc higher at 1,503 pence in the wake of the results. That pares their decline this year to 13.7pc, valuing the company at 5.96bn. "The volumes are there now, what isn't the same as last year is the pricing," McCall said on Bloomberg TV. "We've seen that post- every big event that has happened. It takes a little bit of time and then people start flying again." A "more competitive trading environment" is set to continue for the medium term as fuel prices remain low, she said. EasyJet faces heightened competition as Ryanair targets more major airports, as well as from an expansion of IAG's Vueling arm and makeovers at the budget units of Deutsche Lufthansa and Air France-KLM. Ryanair's earnings for the year ended March 31 are due to be released on May 23. (Reuters) X-Men star Alexandra Shipp has said there are not enough "strong powerful, black female roles" in Hollywood. The actress, 24, said she relished the chance to get to play the fiery young mutant Storm in the latest film. Speaking at the global fan screening of X-Men: Apocalypse at the BFI Imax cinema in central London, she told the Press Association: "It is really exciting because there aren't enough strong, powerful black female roles out there, and I am really happy to be able to portray one of them." She revealed that while she was a little daunted to step into the shoes of Halle Berry, who used to play the character, she was determined to put her own take on the comic book character. She said: "It is very scary, but I had to tell myself 'Alex, this has to be your interpretation, it can't be a copycat of anybody else's, it has to be you'. "So I had to stay true to that." She joined her co-stars Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy and Oscar Isaac for the special screening on Monday night. Hundreds of screaming fans braved the rain to catch a glimpse of their favourite X-Men stars. Lana Condor is making her big screen debut playing the mutant Jubilee in the film. Describing her character as a "sassy woman with youthful energy", she said it was great working with strong, powerful women like Lawrence. She told the Press Association: "It is amazing, I am so proud to be a woman in this industry and be able to play such a strong, confident girl. "And I think it is going to be amazing for young girls to see it as well." Video of the Day Asked if she hoped other Hollywood studios would take note, she laughed and said: "That would be awesome because at the end of the day, a girl needs a job." An actress from Dublin who has landed a role in a star-studded new series of a cult US drama has revealed that she had to keep filming a secret, even from her own family. Malahide native Amy Shiels was delighted at being cast in the big-budget supernatural series Twin Peaks, which also stars Amanda Seyfried and Naomi Watts. Speaking to the Herald, Amy said she is unable to talk about her role in the show until closer to its release date and joked that her family thought she was missing during the year-long filming process. "I couldn't even tell my mum about Twin Peaks," she said. "They were worried about me and going 'what is she doing over there'. It all sounded a bit dodgy because I was afraid to even talk about it on the phone so they had no idea what I was doing." Shiels is one of over 200 cast members who will feature in the iconic supernatural series' return to the small screen. She described working with the show's creator David Lynch as "incredible". "It is an experience like no other working with David, I never wanted filming to end," Shiels said. Such is the popularity of the mystery show, world famous producer Stephen Spielberg is a fan. Read More "I had a meeting with Stephen Spielberg recently and he told me he is excited to see Twin Peaks," Shiels told the Herald. "Having one of my all-time heroes telling me he is excited about a show I am in, is unbelievable." Read More Shiels, who can currently be seen in the UTV series The Secret, alongside James Nesbitt, is currently in the US but will be back in Ireland for more filming in autumn. Around 1,400 drink driving prosecutions, which have been on hold since late last year, can go ahead following a ruling by the Court of Appeal. It overturned District and High Court rulings that breathalyser test statements were not valid if printed in the English language only. The Director of Public Prosecutions had appealed a District Court ruling which found that a failure to produce the other half of a statement showing breath-alcohol levels in Irish was not evidence at all. Counsel for the DPP, Diarmaid McGuinness SC, had told the three-judge appeal court that the case had its roots in a road traffic prosecution of Mihai Avadenei (29), with an address in Swords, Co Dublin. Mr McGuinness said it related to a breath test machine, Evidenzer Irl, which reveals the levels of alcohol in a person's breath and produces two identical statements for immediate signature by the person and a garda. The statement would then be admissible under the Road Traffic Act, he said. However, during District Court proceedings in 2014, solicitor Michael Staines, for Mr Avadenei, argued that the statement produced following the Evidenzer test was not valid because it was in English only. District Court judge Colin Gibbons ruled that the document had not been "duly completed" and he asked the High Court for confirmation. Mr Justice Seamus Noonan agreed and ruled that the person providing the specimen "shall be supplied immediately by a member of An Garda Siochana with two identical statements in the prescribed form". Mr Justice Noonan said a failure to reproduce an entire half of the prescribed form - the Irish language 'half' - meant it was not evidence and could not be admitted. Allowing the appeal yesterday, Mr Justice John Edwards said the "deviation was purely one of form rather than substance". What was omitted was the repetition of the information in Irish. Mr Justice Edwards said he was in complete agreement with the trial judge up until a point. Mr Justice Edwards said the judge erred in holding that Section 12 of the Interpretation Act 2005 had no application. Confusion On the contrary, Mr Justice Edwards said Section 12 would have entitled the District Court judge to conclude that the statement automatically produced, which had been used to analyse Mr Avadenei's breath sample, was "in the prescribed form". As a consequence, when the forms were completed, they were "duly completed", the judge said. Mr Justice Edwards said he would allow the appeal and answer the question posed by the District Court judge in the negative. Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr Justice Alan Mahon both said they agreed with Mr Justice Edwards' judgment. The court will hear arguments as to costs at a later date. Mr McGuinness SC said the DPP was anxious to get the order of the Court of Appeal finalised as there was a lot of confusion in the lower courts. He said District Court judges had been taking different views on the matter. At the appeal hearing in February, counsel for the DPP, James Dwyer BL, told the court that 1,400 drink-driving prosecutions were being held up across the country as a result of the ruling. The taxpayer will spend 46m on hotel bills for homeless people, the newly appointed housing minister has said. Minister Simon Coveney reiterated the Government's commitment to building 35,000 homes by 2020 to fix what he described as a national emergency. We will spend 46m on hotel bills for families who dont have homes That is not right. Families should not be living in hotels. We can find and we will find ways of providing more suitable accommodation for families that are homeless. I intend on taking on this issue with the appropriate seriousness that it needs. It is a national emergency, particularly in Dublin, he told RTE's Today with Sean O'Rourke. Mr Coveney said he will meet with Focus Ireland and Dublins Simon Community today, while he already discussed the issue of bedsit accommodation with Fr Peter McVerry. He said if bedsits are to be made available for people in emergency homeless accommodation, there must be a balance between appropriate standards and the need. Read More I met Fr Peter McVerry last night and we were talking about this issue. Many bedsits were not appropriate for people. There are many single homeless people who would be very happy to have bedsits as an alternative to accommodation in hostels. Mr Coveney said the Government is committed to building 35,000 new social housing units by 2020. First of all, we need to make it happen. A lot of people have heard that figure, but they dont believe it. We will have all of the chief executives of the local authorities in to meet me tomorrow and Im going to talk through the money they need available. If necessary Ill be encouraging them to use the emergency powers they have to effectively fast track the planning system. We need to build homes quickly An ex-soldier found guilty by a military court of sexual assault in the gym of a barracks must wait to hear the outcome of his appeal. The 42-year-old, who cannot be identified to protect the victim's identity, had denied a charge of sexual assualt and four charges of conduct contrary to good order and discipline at Aiken Barracks, Dundalk, Co Louth on October 30, 2013. He was convicted by a board of Defence Force members and the penalties imposed by Military Judge Colonel Michael Campion ranged from fines to detention and discharge. Opening an appeal today his barrister, Roderick O'Hanlon SC, outlined a summary of events which gave rise to the case. The complainant, a member of the Military Police, had enquired about a sauna in the gym at Aiken Barracks and she was told by the man that he would require advance notice. When she went in to the sauna, he also went in wearing only a towel. She asked him to leave but he didn't. She alleged that she went into the women's shower and that he followed her. She apprehended that she was about to be sexually assaulted. As she exited the shower her arm brushed against his side. Counsel for the Director of Military Prosecutions, Remy Farrell SC, told the court the complainant had said she already felt violated by him entering the women's shower and she didn't know where this was going. Any man that comes into a woman in a shower cubicle, is not coming in for the purpose of conversation, the complainant stated, according to Mr Farrell. Mr O'Hanlon said it became clear during the trial that the complainant had made handwritten notes of the incident that evening but they weren't disclosed to the defendant and it was asserted by her that they were shredded It was more than missing evidence, Mr O'Hanlon submitted. The notes were shredded, destroyed and never presented to the prosecutor. The defence lost an opportunity to test her credibility and identify a pattern of exaggeration. The description of the assault initially would not have probably constituted an assault at all, Mr O'Hanlon submitted, and the prosecution ought to have enquired whether something that wasn't an assault was exaggerated into an assault. Mr Farrell, for the DMP, said the typed notes which were made available to the defence were substantially a copy of the handwritten notes. She said that in evidence and she wasn't cross examined on it, Mr Farrell said. He said the entirety of the appeal was predicated on a misunderstanding - the idea that handwritten notes were handed into the military police and shredded - that was introduced by a question under cross examination. In relation to whether what happened constituted a sexual assault, Mr Farrell said context was everything and he recited what the complainant had said about a man walking into a women's shower cubicle. Was it seriously being contended, Mr Farrell asked, that an immediate application of sexial violence could not be inferred. Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan, who sat with Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards, said the court would reserve judgment. A MAN has been jailed for four years after he walked along the M50 before hi-jacking a car at Dublin Airport and getting involved in a dangerous car chase with gardai. Petrica Lucaci (26), who is originally from Romania, had a minor accident at the toll booth on M50 before he abandoned his car and walked for a number of hours to Dublin Airport. He then knocked down a taxi-driver after driving onto a pedestrian median while trying to escape in the BMW he had just hi-jacked. Lucaci had minutes earlier tried to take a car from another man whose five and 12-year old children were sitting in the back seat. During the subsequent chase with both airport police and gardai, Lucaci broke two sets of red lights and drove against two lanes of traffic at the dual carriage on the Naul Road. He then drove the wrong way around the Ballymun Road Roundabout, narrowly missing an articulated truck. He ultimately crashed while trying to perform a U-turn to get back onto the dual carriageway and narrowly missed a Dublin Bus. Lucaci was ultimately arrested after ten gardai attempted to restrain him, while he came at them with fists spinning. He struck three gardai during the struggle, with one garda being left with a cut behind his ear. He later assaulted two security officers while being treated in Beaumont Hospital. Lucaci of Lower Dominick Street, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to unlawful seizure of a vehicle, attempted unlawful seizure of a vehicle, assaulting Kevin O'Brien causing him harm, assault of Garda Adrian McHugh, assaulting two security officers at Beaumont Hospital, two charges of endangerment and dangerous driving on October 7, 2014. He has no previous convictions in Ireland or Romania and had 2,000 in court as a token of his remorse. Lucaci told gardai in interview that he wanted to take a car to see what it felt like to be rich. I am a good guy, you can ask people, Lucaci said before he told gardai of course I knew it was wrong, you would be crazy not to know it was wrong. Judge Terrence O'Sullivan sentenced Lucaci to five years with the final year suspended. He banned him from driving for six years and ordered that he undergo anger management, under the supervision of the Probation Service, when released from prison The judge said Lucaci had carried out his acts of destructions for no apparent reason. He had not taken any intoxicant nor was there any triggering row, he said before he said Lucaci was in a state of hyper-aggression and it took ten gardai and pepper spray to quell him. He noted the physical and psychological impact on the various victims, having read victim impact statements, including the psychological effect it had on the five year old girl. I have heard of cases were the red mists descended but he engaged in very aggressive behaviour and he at no stage seemed to come out of the state of mind he was in, Judge O'Sullivan said. Michael Bowman SC, defending, said Lucaci was psychologically assessed but found to be mentally stable. His younger brother had died suddenly from cancer, possibly arising out of the fallout from the nearby Chernobyl disaster and his wife was being treated in an Italian hospital at the time for TB. Lucaci felt under financial pressure to ensure his wife got the appropriate medical treatment and felt he would lose her too if he didn't get enough money to pay for her medication. A psychological report suggested he felt overwhelmed on the day and had suppressed issues in terms of dealing with his grief. Garda Garvan Lennon told Sinead McMullan BL, prosecuting, that Lucaci had thrown tied together steel capped boots at Joe Walsh's Mercedes and demanded that he get out of the car. He struck the driver's window forcibly three times but it didn't smash. He then tried to open the rear door of the car where the man's five year old daughter was sitting. He continued to hold onto the car until he couldn't any longer when the driver picked up speed. Minutes later Lucaci viciously attacked Kevin O'Brien after he demanded that he hand over his car keys. He punched and kicked the man and continued the assault after he got the keys. He initially had trouble starting the car and other motorists tried to block him in but he managed to drive off. He knocked over a taxi driver who was coming to the assistance of Mr O'Brien. The man rolled on to the bonnet of the BMW but was not badly injured. Gda Lennon said it later took ten gardai to restrain Lucaci having used pepper spray on him. He said the man got out of the passenger side of the car spinning his fists and assaulted three gardai before he was handcuffed. He was totally non-responsive as if he was in a trance but there no smell of alcohol, Gda Lennon said before he described Lucaci's behaviour as unusual. He was taken in a garda van to Beaumont Hospital for treatment where he later assaulted two security officers who were minding him with gardai. Mr Bowman said it was a bizarre incident and a deeply distressing and terrible experience for those who encountered him on the day. He said his client struggled to understand his own actions. For whatever reason a cloud descended on him and he engaged in both inappropriate and criminal behaviour in the extreme, counsel added. The coffin of Olivia Dunne is carried from the church to the hearse at her funeral in Balbriggan (Photo: Mark Condren) Young mother Olivia Dunne spent just 110 days with her new baby before she was killed by a fatigued driver as she walked her daughter Eabha in her pram. A victim impact report read into court on behalf of her family said they were "living with a nightmare". "Hearing Eabha cry is unbearable as we know there is no mammy for her to run to for a hug and a kiss. For us, at least we have memories; for Eabha, she only has a picture," the statement read. "110 days is all that she got to spend with her mam. She has been deprived of so much," they said. Expand Close Olivia and Ciaran Dunne on their wedding day / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Olivia and Ciaran Dunne on their wedding day The family said that Olivia had been "so proud of Eabha". "Thoughts of what Olivia has missed out on are really difficult to come to terms with. Expand Close Gardai investigating the incident Photo: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai investigating the incident Photo: Collins Courts "She has already missed Eabha's first and second birthdays, she has already missed her first tooth, her first steps, her first words. She never even got to enjoy and experience her first Mother's Day," the statement read. Gardai believe driver Anthony Handley (64) drifted off momentarily in a 'micro sleep' before his vehicle careered into the mother and child near Balbriggan, Co Dublin. Expand Close The wrecked pram at the scene Photo: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The wrecked pram at the scene Photo: Collins Courts Handley, of Whitehorn Grove, Artane, Dublin, had no alcohol or drugs in his system at the time. He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Olivia Dunne and serious bodily harm to Eabha in Balbriggan on January 17, 2014. Ms Dunne (31) was killed instantly by the impact. Eabha, her only daughter, was thrown from her pram and landed underneath the vehicle. Expand Close Anthony Handley at court yesterday Photo: Collins Courts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Anthony Handley at court yesterday Photo: Collins Courts She had multiple broken bones and would have died if she did not receive medical attention, the court heard. She continues to suffer the effects of her injuries. Ms Dunne's husband of 18 months, Ciaran, said he was still alive only because Eabha survived. "If there had been two coffins that day, it is guaranteed there would have been three," his statement read. Ms Dunne's sister, Caroline Clinton, said Eabha walks with a limp and will require further surgery. "She was expected not to survive; she beat the odds, she's our little miracle," Ms Clinton wrote. Ciaran said he could not come to court because he never wanted to see the man who took away his wife. "The anger and pain will always remain," Ms Clinton said. The statement read to the court said the family still had nightmares about Olivia's last moments and baby Eabha's fight for life. Judge Patrick McCartan refused a defence plea for a suspended sentence. He said Handley was a good man with a blameless record but that he should have been alert to the fact that he was becoming tired behind the wheel. He said he was imposing the two-year sentence "to send out the clear message to the community that fatigue must be a phenomenon in the minds of all drivers." He also banned Handley from driving for 10 years. The judge said the offence was "in no way in the same bracket as someone who had taken alcohol and drugs", but that Handley's tiredness was an aggravating factor. He said society was only starting to realise the dangers of driving while tired. Sgt Brian Kavanagh said Handley told him he got four hours' sleep the night before. A motorist who was behind him said he saw Handley's car take off to the right "like a rocket" with no warning. It hit the mother and daughter on the footpath before crashing into a fence. The feared exodus of prisoners from our jails in the aftermath of Mr Justice Michael Moriarty's ruling on suspended sentences has yet to materialise. Last month, the High Court judge found that Section 99 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 was unconstitutional, as it curtailed the ability of individuals to appeal convictions. Because of the way the law was constructed, someone who received a suspended sentence and later re-offended would have their suspended sentence activated before they could appeal against the second "triggering" conviction. The judge's ruling came after challenges to the constitutionality of the law from six prisoners. At least nine more have mounted challenges since the ruling. But so far none have had the activation of their suspended sentence set aside. The tide has been stemmed somewhat by the fact Mr Justice Moriarty has yet to issue his final orders. This has seen those challenges repeatedly adjourned, with other High Court judges unwilling to proceed until Mr Justice Moriarty is done. This should happen soon, with submissions being sought by Mr Justice Moriarty today before he finalises matters. In the meantime, some of the challengers have sought to be released on bail. Only one of three such applications to come before the courts has been successful. In one of those cases, it was made clear that the applicant could not expect to be freed as they had pleaded guilty to the so-called triggering offence. It is likely others who pleaded guilty to the triggering offence will also be given short shrift by the courts. The delays have bought Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald more time to put a solution in place. Draft emergency legislation prepared by the Attorney General is now ready to go, and should be brought before the Oireachtas once the final orders are known. International badminton player Nigel Boyne has been ordered to pay the manager of a badminton centre 30,000 damages for assaulting and defaming her. Boyne, of Elm Mount Lawn, Beaumont, Dublin, donned a 'Star Wars' Stormtrooper mask as he ran from the Four Courts complex following the decision of Circuit Court President Mr Justice Raymond Groarke. Mr Justice Groarke accepted that as Boyne wrestled on the floor with another badminton player at a fundraiser in the Baldoyle Badminton Centre, his hand came into contact with Jean Denihan, manager of the centre, causing her to fall backwards in a whiplash-type fashion as she tried to separate them. The judge said Boyne then went on Facebook to paint Ms Denihan (57) as "the evil one of Baldoyle" and a woman maliciously minded towards him who could be removed only with the help of rosary beads and purifying holy water, a woman he would rid Baldoyle of by burning her at the stake. "This is a most regrettable case because it involves two people who share a great love for a particular sport, but it happens, people fall out with one another," he said. Evil Mr Justice Groarke told barrister Barney Quirke, who appeared for Ms Denihan, that Boyne's remarks on Facebook specifically related to his client. He had not just used strong language but a very serious description of Ms Denihan as evil to the point of being a witch deserving of treatment meted out to witches in medieval times. In cross-examination by Mr Quirke yesterday, Boyne said he stood by what he had said about Ms Denihan and what Mr Justice Groarke said he had published to the wider badminton community on the internet. Mr Justice Groarke said the matter went back to a tournament in which Boyne was not allowed to take part because of his status as a Division 1 player. He blamed Ms Denihan when, in fact, it had been an executive committee that had banned him from playing. At a fundraiser in Baldoyle Badminton Centre on April 5, 2013, Boyne became involved in an incident with another player Barry Dickson, the judge said. As they wrestled on the floor Ms Denihan bent over to try to separate them. She told the court Boyne grabbed her by the throat and it was only the efforts of other people that stopped his fist from connecting with her face. Mr Justice Groarke said Ms Denihan had suffered trauma and stress and was entitled to damages of 30,000 for defamation and assault. The court's main difficulty was Boyne's persistence in "standing over" the allegations he had posted on Facebook and repeated in court as to what he thought and said about Ms Denihan. The demand for Georgian investment properties in north Dublin resulted in intense bidding wars and high sale prices. A "godlike" Catholic priest dubbed "a celebrity in the playground" sexually abused nine young girls over four decades, a court has heard. Many of the schoolchildren were said not to have complained about Father Mortimer Stanley, 84, at the time, because of the "very high regard" he was held in by parishioners and teachers. The priest allegedly targeted the complainants - who he called his "special girls" - in his presbytery at St Vincent de Paul RC Church in Norden, Rochdale, where he would sit them on his knee and indecently assault them in various ways. His alleged victims, aged under 11, were either pupils at the adjacent St Vincent's RC Primary School or members of the parish. A tenth, male, complainant says he too was sexually abused as a child by the canon after he claimed something "like chloroform" was put over his mouth and he collapsed. Limerick-born Father Stanley, now living in Ballybunion, County Kerry, denies 19 counts of indecent assault said to have been committed between 1977 and 2002. A jury at Manchester Minshull Street Court heard he retired in 2002 and returned to Ireland shortly after the mother of one of the female complainants informed teaching staff that the canon had inappropriately kissed her daughter. The court was also told she wrote to Father Stanley before he left the UK to raise her concerns, and he replied that he was "sorry for the upset he had caused". Opening the prosecution case, Andrew Mackintosh said: "The female complainants were termed the defendant's 'special girls' - girls who he would take out of school and to the presbytery, and there he abused them. "They will tell you that he would sit them on his knee, abuse them and use them in various manners." Father Stanley moved into the Norden presbytery in 1977 when he was sent to the Salford Diocese, and also became a school governor. Mr Mackintosh said: "He was someone who you will hear was held in very high regard by his parishioners and by the teachers, and also by many of the pupils at the school. "He was described by one of his pupils as 'a godlike figure, a celebrity in the playground'. Someone who children would run to and give a hug. "It is the Crown's case that his reputation and his relationship with those children masked what was abuse." Mr Mackintosh said police launched an investigation in the summer of 2013 after a woman in her 30s told detectives she had been abused as a child by the priest on about 20 occasions. She said the defendant would go to her class and take her and other girls to the presbytery where he would reward them with sweets for counting pennies collected at Mass. The woman said she would later return there alone but Father Stanley's behaviour began to change as the weeks went by, the court heard. He would then habitually sexually abuse her on his knee, she said, although she said she did not realise what he was doing was wrong at the time. Detectives went on to interview another ex-pupil, who told of a similar pattern, where she and her friends would be picked out from the playground to go the priest's home at lunchtime and help him with various jobs. She too alleged he would sit her on his knee and then he would put his hand on top of her thigh and lean over to give her "a sloppy kiss". The seven other female complainants came forward with similar allegations against Father Stanley after police publicised their investigation in December 2013. When interviewed, Father Stanley denied the offences. Mr Mackintosh said: "He provided a prepared statement in which he said children would often climb on his knee of their own accord but nothing inappropriate had ever happened." The male complainant came forward in February this year after Father Stanley had already been charged with the offences said to involve young girls. He told police that the priest approached him from behind and put something over his mouth, "something like chloroform". When he came round, he found the defendant abusing him, he said. He said the defendant pulled his trousers up and then also pulled his own trousers up before he left the room. The prosecutor said: "The defendant was interviewed again. He maintained that the allegations were totally untrue and that he would never ever harm a child. "It is the Crown's case that he would and he did." The trial is estimated to last up to five weeks. A Romanian National has been jailed for four years after he walked along the M50 before hi-jacking a car at Dublin Airport and getting involved in a dangerous car chase with gardai. Petrica Lucaci (26) had a minor accident at the toll booth on M50 before he abandoned his car and walked for a number of hours to Dublin Airport. He then knocked down a taxi-driver after driving onto a pedestrian median while trying to escape in the BMW he had just hi-jacked. Lucaci had minutes earlier tried to take a car from another man whose five and 12-year old children were sitting in the back seat. During the subsequent chase with both airport police and gardai, Lucaci broke two sets of red lights and drove against two lanes of traffic at the dual carriage on the Naul Road. He then drove the wrong way around the Ballymun Road Roundabout, narrowly missing an articulated truck. He ultimately crashed while trying to perform a U-turn to get back onto the dual carriageway and narrowly missed a Dublin Bus. Lucaci was ultimately arrested after ten gardai attempted to restrain him, while he came at them with fists spinning. He struck three gardai during the struggle, with one garda being left with a cut behind his ear. He later assaulted two security officers while being treated in Beaumont Hospital. Lucaci of Lower Dominick Street, Dublin pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to unlawful seizure of a vehicle, attempted unlawful seizure of a vehicle, assaulting Kevin O'Brien causing him harm, assault of Garda Adrian McHugh, assaulting two security officers at Beaumont Hospital, two charges of endangerment and dangerous driving on October 7, 2014. He has no previous convictions in Ireland or Romania and had 2,000 in court as a token of his remorse. Lucaci told gardai in interview that he wanted to take a car to see what it felt like to be rich. I am a good guy, you can ask people, Lucaci said before he told gardai of course I knew it was wrong, you would be crazy not to know it was wrong. Judge Terrence O'Sullivan sentenced Lucaci to five years with the final year suspended. He banned him from driving for six years and ordered that he undergo anger management, under the supervision of the Probation Service, when released from prison The judge said Lucaci had carried out his acts of destruction for no apparent reason. He had not taken any intoxicant nor was there any triggering row, he said before he said Lucaci was in a state of hyper-aggression and it took ten gardai and pepper spray to quell him. He noted the physical and psychological impact on the various victims, having read victim impact statements, including the psychological effect it had on the five year old girl. I have heard of cases were the red mists descended but he engaged in very aggressive behaviour and he at no stage seemed to come out of the state of mind he was in, Judge O'Sullivan said. Michael Bowman SC, defending, said Lucaci was psychologically assessed but found to be mentally stable. His younger brother had died suddenly from cancer, possibly arising out of the fallout from the nearby Chernobyl disaster and his wife was being treated in an Italian hospital at the time for TB. Lucaci felt under financial pressure to ensure his wife got the appropriate medical treatment and felt he would lose her too if he didn't get enough money to pay for her medication. A psychological report suggested he felt overwhelmed on the day and had suppressed issues in terms of dealing with his grief. A man has failed in a fresh appeal over his conviction for the shotgun murder of his friend who was left in a permanent vegetative state for almost two years before he died. The Supreme Court was asked to consider certain legal issues of exceptional public importance raised by Jonathan Dunne, including whether duress can be a defence to a murder charge. A previous appeal by Dunne (28), Windmill Park, Crumlin, over his conviction in 2012 of the murder of Ian Kenny, who died in Beaumont Hospital on July 31, 2009, was rejected by the Court of Appeal. Mr Kenny was twice shot by Dunne with a sawn-off shotgun on July 4, 2007, and was in a coma and permanent vegetative state until his death. Dunne previously admitted he shot Mr Kenny when the two were respectively sitting in the driver and passenger seats of a parked car on Lakelands Road,Stillorgan, Co Dublin. A third unidentified man was also in the car. Immediately after the shooting, the car drove off and Mr Kenny was pushed out onto the road. Dunne claimed he was forced to carry out the shooting by unnamed persons who threatened the lives of himself and his family. Dunne was convicted of the attempted murder of Mr Kenny and having a firearm. He had pleaded guilty to both charges and was jailed for a total 12 years for the offences. After Mr Kennys death, he was charged with murder, convicted and jailed for life. In considering the new appeal the Supreme Court was first asked to decide whether he could be convicted of murder at a point removed from the incident and where there had been lawful (medical) intervention in the meantime. Giving the Supreme Court's decision, Ms Justice Iseult O'Malley said he could be convicted of murder in such circumstances. She said after being treated two years in his persistent vegetative state, Mr Kenny developed severe pneumonia in both lungs. A medical decision was taken, with the approval of Mr Kenny's father, that there should be not be a particular treatment or further intervention in the event of sudden cardiac or respiratory arrest. In those circumstances, to hold the shooting by Dunne caused the death does not involve visiting the consequences of that non medical intervention decision, she said. It "entails recognition of the fact that he (Dunne) is responsible for the condition that ultimately led to the death". On a second question of whether duress, which is a defence in other crimes, could be a full or partial defence in murder, Ms Justice O'Malley said it could not. To do so would involve uprooting a rule embedded for some hundreds of years in common law. It would mean the creation of a new law to a greater or lesser extent, she said. Such an alteration to the law is so fundamental it could only be introduced by way of legislation, she said. Audrey Mahon with her husband Dave Mahon, who was convicted of killing her son last week (Collins Dublin) The mother of slain Dean Fitzpatrick, who died in a knife incident involving his stepfather Dave Mahon, today settled a 60,000 damages claim against Dublin City Council and Irish Water. Audrey Mahon alleged in proceedings in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that she had been injured when her foot went into an open shore on Lorcan Drive, Santry, Dublin, on May 29 2014. Barrister Conor Kearney, who appeared with solicitor Sandra McAleer for Ms Mahon, told Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain that following talks the claim had settled and could be struck out with no further order. Details of the amount of the settlement were not disclosed. Mrs Mahon, described as a home maker whose address was given as Lorcan Drive, Santry, Dublin, alleged that as she was walking on the public footpath on Lorcan Drive her left foot "suddenly and without warning" went into an open water shore, causing her to fall heavily to the ground. She claimed she injured her left knee which she had X-rayed at Beaumont Hospital. No bone injury had been detected apart from bruising and tenderness of the left patella area. In her civil bill, Mrs Mahon, who will turn 48 next Tuesday, May 17, stated that due to a liver condition she had been unable to take strong painkillers. Following the fall, she complained of intermittent aching in her knee and had been unable to wear high heels. The mother of two - who married partner Dave Mahon last year - claimed she had suffered pain and distress and discomfort which had disrupted her social, domestic and recreational life. Mrs Mahon's daughter Amy has been missing from Spain since January 2008. Dave Mahon was found guilty of her son Dean Fitzpatrick's manslaughter last Friday. Mr Mahon had denied killing father-of-one Fitzpatrick at Burnell Square, Northern Cross, off the Malahide Road in Dublin, on May 26, 2013, a day after the deceased interfered with his bicycle to annoy him. A jury of six men and six women took over eight hours to reach a majority decision of 10-2 that Mahon was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. Audrey Mahon has continued to stand by her son's killer, and has been visiting him at Cloverhill Prison over the last number of days. It also emerged that the presiding judge warned Mrs Mahon about her behaviour during the trial, threatening to ban her from the courtroom if she could not control herself. Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan gave the stark warning to Mrs Mahon on the second day of the trial, following her outburst in the middle of the evidence of taxi driver Karl O'Toole. Grieving Christopher Fitzpatrick, who is the father of Dean and his missing sister Amy, said Mahon has "destroyed all their lives". A music teacher jailed for indecently assaulting a pupil in his home 25 years earlier has lost an appeal against conviction. Breffni O'Rourke (67), who was living in Ferrybank, Waterford at the time of his trial had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to indecently assaulting the then nine-year-old girl in his Stamullen home in June 1987. He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to two years imprisonment with the final 12 months suspended by Judge Desmond Hogan on July 30, 2012. The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal against conviction today on a number of grounds. Giving judgment, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said O'Rourke was single at the time and resided alone in a cottage. He was employed in credit control in a public company but also gave music lessons in his spare time. At some point in 1985, the injured party began music lessons with O'Rourke. The lessons subsequently moved to O'Rourke's home. As part of his modus operandi it was alleged that he tickled the complainant as a preparatory act to the indecent assault. There was evidence the complainant initially disclosed what had happened to a teacher in 1992 and this was referred to the ISPCC. She subsequently attended a garda station in 2000 but apparently broke down and was unable to advance the complaint. However, while attending third level college she met with a counsellor from the Rape Crisis Centre and in May 2003, a formal complaint was made. Mr Justice Sheehan said the argument that the absence of notes from the 1992 meeting prejudiced O'Rourke was essentially a speculative one. It was also weakened by the fact that the maker of the notes was available for cross examination, a right that was availed of at trial in a minimal way. The prejudice, as contended by O'Rourke's barrister Colman Cody SC, was minimal, Mr Justice Sheehan said. Mr Justice Sheehan said the trial judge adequatly dealt with the issue of delay and it was clear that the defence case was summarised fairly. The court could not see how a number of other matters such as criticism of the gardai for not interviewing other parents or for investigating the colour of O'Rourke's van, could have advanced his defence. Mr Justice Sheehan, who sat with Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards, dismissed the appeal. A young woman said she was living in fear of her former boyfriend after she claimed he poured a kettle of boiling, sugared water over her in a fit of jealousy. However, a Cork Circuit Criminal Court jury were unable to reach a verdict in the case of Michael Lynch (24), who vehemently denied assault causing harm to his then-pregnant girlfriend, Tara Byrd (25). The jury of six men and six women deliberated for five hours over two days before informing Judge Gerard O'Brien they were unable to agree a verdict. Mr Lynch had denied the assault which his girlfriend claimed occurred as she was watching an episode of 'EastEnders' at their Old Youghal Road home in Cork. He had also denied threatening to kill Ms Byrd, who was four months' pregnant at the time, on July 21, 2015. The court heard the couple had known each other since Ms Byrd was 19 and began a relationship in March 2015. She told the trial Mr Lynch became very controlling of her. On June 7, she said the defendant had warned her not to go to their local pub to meet friends. The following month, she said Mr Lynch warned her not to look at a young man as the couple were camping. The defendant confronted his girlfriend about the same young man three days later on July 21 as she was watching 'EastEnders' at home. "He said he was going to boil a kettle of water with sugar in it and pour the sugared water on me," she said. "He put the sugar in the kettle and he boiled it. "Then he said that if I screamed, he would hit me over the head with an iron bar. I was wearing pyjama pants at the time. He threw the kettle over my left leg and I was in agony. "But I did not scream. He told me that if he found me cheating he would kill me and bury me in the woods." The sugar in the water intensified the burning of the skin. Mr Lynch, in a subsequent garda interview, insisted the incident was an accident. He now faces a possible retrial. Phoenix magazine has won its appeal over a High Court judges refusal to withdraw from hearing contempt proceedings over two articles concerning the Ian Bailey case. Comments by Mr Justice John Hedigan gave rise to reasonable apprehension of objective bias, the Court of Appeal held. This arose out of "repeated stern criticism" about one of the articles and its publisher before the contempt proceedings were initiated, plus the judge's invitation to bring contempt proceedings should there be "any repetition" of that article, the appeal court said. A reasonable person having knowledge of the invitation to bring contempt proceedings might well apprehend the judge had pre-determined the article amounted to contempt of court, it said. Ms Justice Mary Irvine, giving the three judge court's decision, sympathised with Judge Hedigan in the position he found himself on October 10, 2014, when the first article was drawn to his attention by the State six weeks before the Bailey case was to open before a jury. The State's lawyers, while not then seeking any orders against Phoenix, had described the article as "throughly impermissible" and said it might be "a matter of more controversy later". Judge Hedigan's "surefootedness" was not helped by the fact Phoenix was not present at that hearing, she said. Phoenix had said they were given short notice of the matter but the State did not accept that. While Judge Hedigan said nothing about the second article, both articles were subject of the one contempt motion and he should not deal with the entire motion, she said. It will now be decided by another judge. Penfield Enterprises and Paddy Prendiville, publisher and editor of Phoenix, is still facing the contempt case which was brought by the State and Garda Commissioner, as defendants in Mr Bailey's case. They are seeking attachment and committal to prison orders and/or sequestration of the magazine's assets. Both articles concerned Mr Baileys civil action for damages over alleged conspiracy to frame him for the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. The first was published before the case on September 26, 2014 and the second on April 24, 2015, some weeks after the jury rejected Mr Baileys case. Ms Justice Irvine said the test for objective bias is whether a reasonable, objective and informed person would, on the correct facts, reasonably apprehend there would not be a fair trial from an objective judge. Each case turns on its own facts and circumstances and it was also relevant to consider if any comments or actions by a judge might suggest an element of prejudgement. Something "quite outside the bounds of proper judicial behaviour" was necessary to establish objective bias. It is "all too easy" for judges, because of long association with the legal process, to fail to recognise the extent to which litigants may be affected by "strongly worded criticism or forceful expression of their opinion on issues to be decided". A reasonable person, having knowledge of the relevant circumstances, might well apprehend Phoenix would not get a fair and impartial hearing on the contempt matter because of the opinions expressed by the judge, she held. A reasonable observer might consider his comments as indicative of a view the article might amount to contempt and that the judge had singled out Phoenix from the rest of the media as lacking professional integrity. A retired primary school teacher has been charged with the sexual assault of a student. Leo Hickey (76) of Realt na Mara, Skevanish, Innishannon, Co Cork appeared before the District Court on eight counts of sexual assault. The charges involve one individual and all relate to various dates between November 1991 and June 1992. The charges also all relate to Scoil Eoin Boys National School in Ballincollig, Co Cork. Det Garda Donal O'Connell of Ballincollig Garda Station told Judge Olann Kelleher that Mr Hickey, after being arrested, cautioned and charged, replied "not guilty" to each of the eight charges. Inspector Gary McPolin confirmed the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has ruled that the matter be dealt with on indictment. He applied to the court for an adjournment to allow for the preparation of a book of evidence in the case. Inspector McPolin told defence solicitor, Joe Cuddigan, that gardai have no objection to a remand on bail once specific conditions are met. Mr Cuddigan confirmed that all bail conditions set by the court will be met. These include that Mr Hickey continue to reside at his home address, sign on at Bandon Garda Station three times each week and that he have no contact whatsoever with any of the witnesses in the case or the complainant. Judge Kelleher also granted Mr Hickey free legal aid after hearing that he was a retired teacher whose wife is not in receipt of any pension. The court was also told that Mr Hickey has various financial commitments which must be met from his pension. Mr Hickey was remanded on bail in his own bond of 400 to appear again before Cork District Court on June 8 next. It is hoped the book of evidence in the case will be ready by that date. The defendant, who appeared in court wearing a brown suit, cream shirt and tie, did not speak during the brief hearing. Masked men at the Easter Rising parade in west Belfast MI5 has raised the official threat level to Britain from Irish republican dissidents, Home Secretary Theresa May has announced. Ms May informed the House of Commons that security service MI5 believes a Northern Ireland-related terror attack on Britain has increased. She said the level, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales, "reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity". The threat level in Northern Ireland remains at severe, meaning an attack is "highly likely". Theresa May, in a House of Commons written statement, said: "The Security Service, MI5, has increased the threat level to Great Britain from Northern Ireland-related terrorism from moderate to substantial. "This means that a terrorist attack is a strong possibility and reflects the continuing threat from dissident republican activity. "As a result of this change, we are working closely with the police and other relevant authorities to ensure appropriate security measures are in place. "The threat level to the UK from international terrorism remains unchanged at severe, which means that an attack is highly likely. The threat level to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland-related terrorism also remains unchanged at severe. "The public should remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police." The most recent dissident republican attack in Northern Ireland was the murder of Prison Officer Adrian Ismay. A dissident republican group calling itself the new IRA claimed responsibility for the attack. Mr Ismay initially survived a booby trap bomb attack on his van on Friday March 4 in east Belfast but died eleven days later. The 52-year-old married father of three had only driven a short distance from his home when the device detonated as he went over a speed ramp. Previous attacks by dissidents in England * Thursday, 1 June 2000: Dissidents are blamed after a device exploded under Hammersmith Bridge in west London. * Wednesday 19 July 2000: Police deal with a bomb near Ealing Broadway Tube station in London. * Friday, 20 September 2000: Dissident republicans launch a rocket-propelled grenade attack on the London HQ of MI6. * Sunday, 4 March 2001: A device explodes in a red taxi parked outside the BBC News Centre in west London. * Saturday, 14 April 2001: A bomb at a Post Office delivery depot at Hendon in north London explodes. There were no injuries. * Thursday, 2 August 2001: A bomb attack targets Ealing Broadway in west London. A number of people are injured. * Saturday, 3 November 2001: Explosion in a car in Birmingham. REACTION DUP Parliamentary spokesman on Home Affairs Gavin Robinson MP said the announcement was a "bleak reminder of evil". "Whilst the callous murder of Adrian Ismay illustrated starkly the continuing threat in Northern Ireland, this reassessment provides a bleak reminder of evil in our midst. "We know that nothing will be achieved through terrorism, yet with no purpose, principal or plan, there remain those intent on death and destruction. "They will not win. Our resolve remains with those in the security services who keep us safe in Northern Ireland and across the Country each and every day. Chicago To Vote On Airbnb Crackdown Next Week By Gwendolyn Purdom in News on May 11, 2016 9:10PM Airbnb Updated Thursday, May 12. A new city ordinance would crack down on Chicagoans who rent out their properties through booking sites like Airbnb. But some are concerned that the ordinance, which is up for a City Council vote next week, won't goes far enough, especially in gentrifying neighborhoods. Mayor Rahm Emanuel is pushing the ordinance, which would require any unit rented out for more than 90 days a year through Airbnb or similar services to be regulated as a commercial property. Supporters of the ordinance are hoping it divides occasional rental hosts from those who are renting out whole buildings year-round without the regulations hotels and other vacation rentals are required to follow. The ordinance will also add a 4 percent surcharge to online rentals, with that tax going to fund homeless services. According to the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, which released a detailed analysis of Airbnbs business this year, the ordinance would make some smart changes like requiring liability insurance, but the 90-day cut off still leaves too large a swath of Airbnb hosts unchecked. Lodging is a serious business because it involves the safety of visitors, IHLA CEO Marc Gordon said in a statement to Chicagoist. It should not be allowed to grow haphazardly and without the oversight and input of residents and their elected officials. Updated Thursday, May 12: Airbnb spokesman Christopher Nulty told Chicagoist that the company supports some tougher measures, but thinks it should be easier, not harder, for the Airbnb users who share their primary residence with short-term renters to do so. "We support tougher tools to curb nuisances and providing neighbors with the resources to report potential bad actors to Airbnb so that we can take action," he said. "For the more than 80 percent of our hosts in Chicago who are sharing their primary residence, we believe that any regulatory approach should make it easier, not harder, for them to share their space in order to make ends meet." Nulty also disputes the accuracy of the IHLA study, calling it an attempt by the hotel industry to "mislead and manipulate" consumers. Some city residents have other concerns, beyond the safety of Airbnb users and the advantages booking sites give temporary renters over licensed hotels. Lauren Dean, of Logan Square, lives across the street from a four-unit building and at least three other units that she believes are being constantly rented out as short-term rentals by their owner. Her biggest concern is how this practice will impact the neighborhood's affordable housing market. Instead of being available for locals to live in, units are being marked up and rented by different rowdy out-of-towners each weekend, driving up property values and squeezing families out of the area. Deans says she and other neighbors have little recourse to deal with the problem, especially since their alderman, Joe Moreno, has been very public in his support of fewer regulations. Moreno even penned an op-ed in last Wednesdays Sun-Times on how much tourist revenue home-sharing can bring to a neighborhood. I understand the desire from the aldermen to increase the spending in the neighborhood from tourists, but what good is that if none of your residents can stay in the neighborhood? Dean said. The ordinance would be a step in the right direction in Deans opinion, especially since someone like her neighbor would fall into the 90-day classification. But because homesharing is such a big issue, Dean says she thinks the city needs to get a better handle on overseeing these properties in general. I feel like the city hasnt really figured out how to keep up with Airbnbs growth, and they dont really have a system [in place], Dean said. The committee vote is set for next Tuesday, and the full council will consider the ordinance next Wednesday. The Chicago Tribune published an in-depth look at the issue this week that's worth a read. A Dublin company has launched Schoolbag.ie to 20 schools around the country as part of a pilot project (Stock picture) Dogs may still eat homework, but there will be no more excuses for not knowing what homework students were given thanks to a new online system being introduced in schools here. A Dublin company has launched Schoolbag.ie to 20 schools around the country as part of a pilot project. Philip O'Callaghan, who taught for 10 years in Naas CBS and St David's CBS, Artane, is managing director at Examcraft which has come up with the idea. "This is the next generation school diary," said Philip. "Teachers input all homework to schoolbag.ie and this generates emails to parents and pupils. It's particularly good for students who have missed a class due to extra-curricular activities. "And it will certainly save parents having to ask other parents about homework." Corran College in Ballymote, Co Sligo, is among the first schools to try the new system which also allows teachers to upload videos. They decided to implement the solution after receiving an in-school demonstration of the product, having initially seen it at the NAPD conference in October 2015. Deputy principal Aoife Mulrennan said the school decided to implement Schoolbag.ie to deal with the particular problem of homework completion rates at Junior Certificate level. Problem She said teachers were attracted to Schoolbag.ie by the ability to automatically communicate homework to parents and students through an automatic nightly email. "We had noted a recurring problem with junior students in relation to homework completion rates in September," she said. She said parents were enthusiastic about the new system. "We collected data in relation to homework prior to the introduction of this initiative. Parents identified a real area of concern around the failure of students to recall their homework when they went home, despite using the homework journal," she said. She was happy with the way Schoolbag.ie communicates homework to parents and students through a nightly email, adding: "Parents have direct access to their child's homework and can also see feedback from teachers relating to homework." With the formation of a new government and the appointment of a new Education Minister, it is timely to issue a reminder of some key facts regarding the de facto denominational nature of our primary education system. Around 95pc of our schools are faith schools, with 90pc under the patronage of the Catholic church. These schools are legally entitled to refuse to admit children from different faiths or none. Even where such children are admitted, there is overwhelming evidence that arrangements for opting out of religion lessons are often ineffective or entirely absent, even though they are required by both the Irish Constitution and international law. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recently found that Ireland's international human rights obligations require the Government to take concrete actions to provide opt-outs for children during religion classes; to end the religious discrimination in school admissions; and to provide more multi-denominational schools. Similar recommendations were made by the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in 2012. A recent poll by Behaviour and Attitudes found that 84pc of respondents believed the school system needs to be reformed so that no child is discriminated against because of their religion, while 46pc would not choose Christian schools. One in five said that they knew someone who had had their child baptised for the sole reason of securing admission to a school. Opponents of reform argue that only a small number of schools actually turn children away based on religion. However, the biggest difficulty caused by the de facto Christian nature of the Irish primary school system is not children being refused admission - it is the exposure of children who have been admitted to doctrinal instruction that is out of line with their beliefs and their parents' preference. Focusing on admissions alone deflects from this fact. Second, as noted above, there is clear evidence that parents who would otherwise choose not to baptise their child are effectively coerced into doing so by the mere possibility of their child being denied admission to a local school. Thus, religious freedom can be infringed without any child actually being refused admission. Finally, the right to education and the right to religious freedom are individual rights. They do not depend on the existence of critical mass. It is no answer to say that few children are affected; even one single child being denied access to an accessible school on the basis of religion is unacceptable in a pluralist democracy. It is a violation of rights guaranteed by our Constitution and by international human rights law - nothing less. The recent abolition of Rule 68 of the Rules for National Schools, which required that religion "inform and vivify the whole work of the school", was a welcome first step. However, arrangements need to be made to allow children a proper alternative to remaining in class during religion lessons. Time-tabling religion at the beginning or end of the school day so that parents could keep their children out during these lessons would be a simple solution. The law that allows schools to discriminate on religious grounds in admissions should be reformed so that no child can be excluded from a school due to his or her religion, and so that no family wishing to break ties with the Catholic church is pressured by education law and policy to remain involved. Finally, real progress needs to be made on divestment of Catholic schools in areas where there is a mismatch between supply and demand. Any version of reform is likely to take many years to make a real impact. This is all the more reason to get started immediately. Dr Conor O'Mahony is senior lecturer in constitutional law, University College Cork, and member of the advisory board to EQUATE, a children's rights organisation advocating for substantial change in how primary and secondary school education is delivered in Ireland. Whether teachers or parents like it or not, the ways and means by which students in Ireland are assessed are changing. Many will welcome it, while others may prefer the comfort of familiarity. It presents a challenge for all involved, requiring a new mindset where assessment is recognised as an integral part of the learning process itself, a tool to promote learning, and not merely an instrument by which to measure progress, or not, at the end of a fixed period. In education jargon, it means a shift from assessment of learning to assessment for learning, and with it the use of a range of different modes of assessment, including giving students themselves an active role in judging their own progress and that of their classmates, known as peer review. The new approach is underpinned by a number of principles, starting with actually telling students about what the learning goals are. It also involves providing constructive feedback, in real time, so allowing the student to understand where they are positioned and then guiding and supporting the individual to an optimum conclusion. In this, a milestone month for Irish education, two separate but ultimately interlinked developments provide a glimpse of what lies ahead. The future arrived in many schools with the first of the new junior cycle classroom-based assessments, in this case a three-minute oral presentation by students of English on a topic of their choice. The idea behind this task is to put students through their paces in skills such as independent research, presentation and communication. Resistance by one teachers' union, the ASTI, to the junior-cycle reforms has created a patchwork in the introduction of such changes, but, however that dispute is resolved, there is no turning back. The phasing-in of changes continues in September, with new approaches to teaching, learning and assessment in science and business studies, alongside English A quieter, but no less momentous birth, was the launch of the Centre for Assessment Research, Policy and Practice in Education (CARPE for short) at Dublin City University (DCU). It is located in the new DCU Institute of Education, which has been created by the coming together of St Patrick's College of Education, Mater Dei Institute of Education and the Church of Ireland College of Education with DCU. The work of CARPE will be led by the recently appointed Prometric Chair of Assessment, Professor Michael O'Leary, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra, an internationally-recognised expert in the field. For the first time, Ireland will have its own centre of expertise in this area, offering an important voice in terms of what works and what doesn't, so helping to inform and guide future policy. The assessment debate is not peculiar to Ireland. It is going on around the world because, according to Prof O'Leary, "assessment policy and practice impacts profoundly on people's life chances". He says it matters, too, because it exerts a powerful influence on what happens in schools, universities and other learning environments. He cites the epithet "what you assess is what you get". In other words and in one example, in a system that relies on a student's ability to memorise and regurgitate reams of material, you reward those with good power of recall, whether they understand it all or not. Prof O'Leary says that the impact of assessment on teaching and learning has not always been positive and that the concept of embracing new approaches to assessment has been gathering pace, worldwide, for the past 15 to 20 years. Indeed, in Ireland, much of the motivation behind changes at junior cycle was to get away from a single set of exams at the end of three years, which is seen to encourage "teaching to the test" to the detriment of broader education, and to reward rote learning. Prof O'Leary says the world of assessment in the guise of summative paper-and-pencil tests, while still relevant, is being revolutionised by new concepts of assessment and by the use of digital technology. "The idea that assessment is as important a part of the learning process as it is to the final outcomes is something that has really come on board in terms of thinking," he says. "What we are trying to do is to create assessments that not only allow people to get a sense of what people know or can do, but actually to help the process of learning." He says it is about finding a balance. While embracing new approaches, Prof O'Leary does not dismiss tradition and is not for throwing out modes of assessment that are part of the Irish education history and culture. But he says it is also true that a lot of what is now valued in terms of what young people need cannot be assessed in the traditional way. "If you value skills such as collaboration, the ability to work with others, if you value skills around critical thinking, if you value skills around self-regulation, the ability to control your own learning, you cannot assess that in a summative, final exam." While such skills were once required of a chosen few, they are now at the heart of modern life and work for so many of this generation, he says. In this redrawn assessment landscape, it is not only the teacher who does the assessing. While the teacher's role continues, according to Prof O'Leary "the learner also has to be involved in doing assessments because if you believe that lifelong learning is an important thing to be able to do, then you have to be able to monitor your own assessment, so you have to teach people how to self-assess." While changes at second-level are the current talking point in Ireland, Prof O'Leary says the centre is being established to enhance the practice of assessment across all levels of the education system, from early childhood to fourth-level and beyond to the professions, from job entry to career advancements. Prometric, the US-based testing company with 180 employees in Ireland, contributed nearly 1m to support CARPE . In terms of CARPE, he says it will be a neutral space "where ideas are presented, listened to respectfully and challenged. We want to really interrogate the assessment space because it hasn't happened in Ireland". CARPE is drawing on five leading international names in the field of assessment to sit on its advisory board: Professor Jo-Anne Baird, University of Oxford; Professor Janette Elwood, Queen's University, Belfast; Professor John Gardner, University of Stirling and University of Oxford; Professor Patrick Griffin, University of Melbourne and Professor Larry Ludlow, Boston College, USA. The pupils who review each other The pupils of Stratford College, Rathgar, Dublin (pictured), are well-used to reviewing each other's work. The school has embraced peer assessment, a collaborative learning approach that involves students offering feedback on how well a classmate, or classmates, have met a set of criteria for a particular task. Principal Patricia Gordon says they started it three to four years ago and, while it takes a while to bed it down, it is now an ongoing part of school life. More recently, and through its partnership with the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), Stratford has been involved in an EU-wide project, known as CO-LAB, that is taking peer review into the digital space and supporting students in the development of e-portfolios - another part of the future of Irish education - where students will document their learning. Labours Brendan Howlin has all but signalled he wants to be the next leader of the party. The race is underway to replace former Tanaiste Joan Burton as Labour Party leader with ambitious deputy leader Alan Kelly seen as the favourite to take the job. However this morning, Mr Howlin put himself right into contention for the top post. Speaking on RTEs Morning Ireland, he said he would take this weekend to decide if running for leadership would be right for the party and himself. Im giving very serious reflection on that, he said. Ive said many times that I want to be leader of the Labour Party. I want to contemplate if its the right thing for me and the party over the next few days. I will decide over the weekend, and make my decision known to colleagues next week. He said he was interested in a collective leadership with regular meetings with councillors and party activists across the country. I want to be in leadership, he said, but refused to say if he will run as leader. And after the interview, Mr Howlin received the immediate support party colleague and former Communications Minister Alex White who lost his seat in Febraurys General Election. Agree one candidate. Howlin has experience & judgement we need. Others can lead in future - not time for divisive contest, Mr White tweeted from his Twitter account. Read More Mr Kelly is to appear on the Late Late Show this Friday and bookies have offered odds of 1/5 that hell take the leadership, all before the party even decides whether it is to have a contest or try to decide on a consensus candidate. The Labour Partys executive board is to meet to decide on how that process will work and Mr Kelly may yet face opposition too from fellow TD Sean Sherlock. Ms Burton told her partys reduced numbers of TDs and Senators in a private meeting that she was stepping down before addressing the media. The Dublin West TD told how like most of the party, she had entered government in 2011 with both hope and fear in my heart. She said she had hoped that they could turn the countrys economic fortunes around, but feared that the situation was at a point of no return. Ms Burton said that in the years that followed, her party helped people get back to work, safeguarded social protection, built schools and secured funding for social housing. She said the election was very disappointing because of the loss of so many outstanding public representatives. Gardai are searching for a man accused of an alleged assault on a woman in her 20s near a Dublin beach early this morning. They also wish to speak with a motorist, a middle aged man, who came to the womans assistance during the assault. The alleged assault took place on James Larkin Road, Raheny between the junctions of the causeway Dollymount Beach and Howth Road known locally as the black banks, between 1.30am and 2.30am today. The woman was walking towards Howth Road when a man grabbed her and pulled her to the ground, a garda spokesperson said. The suspected offender ran off when the motorist came to help the woman. The suspect is described as being between 45-50 years old, and as having short, black hair. He was wearing dark tracksuit bottoms with white stripes on the legs and he spoke with a Dublin accent. The motorist, a middle aged man, who came to the womans assistance dropped her at her home in Kilbarrack but did not give his name or contact details. "Gardai would like to speak with this man who came to the womans assistance or anyone who was in the area or who may have witnessed the assault," the garda spokesperson said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Raheny Garda Station on 01 666 4300 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111. Staff used a hall cupboard to store residents' files, causing a potentially dangerous pile-up of paper, the inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) revealed (Stock picture) Inspectors were forced to take action after finding a HSE-run centre for people with intellectual disabilities to be a fire trap. The Youghal Community Houses in Cork, comprising three houses with six residents in each, had the doors of bedrooms wedged open, presenting a potential fire safety risk. Staff used a hall cupboard to store residents' files, causing a potentially dangerous pile-up of paper, the inspectors from the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa) revealed. "Fire evacuation drills were carried out during the day and records of these were seen by inspectors. However, as these were led by an external person, staff said they were not familiar with leading a drill," the inspectors' report said. They had to issue the HSE with two immediate action plans and while responses were received quickly, the inspectors needed further clarification on fire safety management. A separate inspection report on a centre for people with intellectual disabilities, run by Camphill Communities of Ireland in Kilkenny, also raised concern about fire safety. From left: Members of the jury panel Noeline Blackwell of Front Line Defenders, TD Brendan Smith, founder of Front Line Defenders Mary Lawlor, Minister for Children Katherine Zappone and Senator Ivana Bacik, who selected six finalists for the 2016 award Photo: Leon Farrell Campaigners working to promote human rights around the world, despite persecution and death threats, have been selected for a prestigious Irish award. Six finalists have been selected for the 2016 Front Line Defenders award for their contributions to the fight for women's rights, land rights and educational reform in their respective countries. Those selected for the award have all faced hardship and persecution for their work, including a Honduran activist who, as the nominees were being unveiled in Ireland, was believed to have been subject to an armed raid. Ana Mirian Romero is a land rights and indigenous rights defender in Honduras. The latest attack comes after her house was burned to the ground and her children were forced to leave school due to ongoing harassment. The other finalists are Maanda Ngoitiko, a women's rights, pastoralist rights, and land rights defender in Tanzania; Phyoe Phyoe Aung, who is a student rights defender in Burma/Myanmar, while human rights campaigner Mohammed Khatib works with protesters across Palestine. Ingrid Vergara Chavez, a land rights defender working with the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE) in Sucre, Colombia, was also selected as a finalist. Khalid Bagirov has been chosen to represent a group of under-threat human rights lawyers in Azerbaijan. Mary Lawlor, the founder of the group, said Ireland had an important role to play in promoting human rights and protecting those on the front line. "We're a small country, we don't have much political weight. We're not going to be able to solve all of the major human rights problems around the world but the one thing we can do is protect brave individuals who are building a civil and just society in their own country," she said. An independent examination ordered by the government said all the main Troubles paramilitary organisations retained structures, though their leaders were committed to the peace process (Stock picture) The PSNI's Chief Constable George Hamilton has confirmed the PIRA still exists, as first reported in an assessment given to the Northern Irish Secretary of State in October last. Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt met with Hamilton as the UUP and other smaller Stormont parties mull over whether to join a Democratic Unionist/Sinn Fein led administration or form an opposition. After the meeting at PSNI headquarters in Belfast, the UUP leader said: "The Chief Constable confirmed no change from the assessment given to the Secretary of State last October - PIRA still exists. "This is not surprising, but disappointing, given PIRA have drawn the roadmap that others are following." The UUP walked out of the powersharing administration last autumn amid a crisis sparked by a murder linked to the Provisional IRA. A subsequent independent examination ordered by the government said all the main Troubles paramilitary organisations retained structures, though their leaders were committed to the peace process. "The Chief Constable's assessment does not make re-entry to the Executive any more attractive, but we have two other tests regarding the Programme for Government to which we expect to have answers in a few short days," he said. The City Wants Your Help Planning The Future Of Chicago's Riverfronts By Gwendolyn Purdom in News on May 11, 2016 7:19PM via CDOT With the expanding downtown Riverwalk drawing crowds, and riverfront boathouses popping up on the South Side, the city is asking for the public's help envisioning the future for other stretches of Chicago rivers. Great Rivers Chicago, a partnership between the Metropolitan Planning Council, the city, the Friends of the Chicago River and others, will host a public meeting tonight at the Dunning Library in Belmont Heights to get feedback on evolving plans for bettering the DesPlaines River. The event is the second in a series of four such meetings to collect neighborhood insight as the group outlines a vision for the DesPlaines River and the citys other two rivers, the Chicago and the Calumet. The downtown Riverwalk improvements, along with talk of other big changes in store for the Chicago riverfront in recent months, have helped spread the idea that the rivers and riverfronts could be the city's next frontier for recreation and commerce, according to Josh Ellis, the Metropolitan Planning Councils director and the Great Rivers project lead. Tonights meeting, Ellis says, will get that ball rolling even further. This has awoken some of the imagination of the people," he said. "If we can have that kind of experience downtown, why dont we have a comparable experience...with the rivers in the rest of the neighborhoods?" The biggest priorities the group has heard from the public so far, Ellis says, have been a desire for better access and signage; for a wider range of recreational activities; for aesthetic and odor improvements; and for more economic opportunities. The rivers connect and pass through far more neighborhoods than the lakefront does, Ellis said. So its an equity issue as much as anything else. Once the group has gathered more specific input from residents near all three rivers, a comprehensive document will be released in print and online this summer. From there, Great Rivers plans to meet certain milestones in 2020, 2030 and 2040, starting with drawing more attention to the rivers with signs and interconnected transit to make sure these initial riverfront upgrades dont lose steam. If thats happening in your neighborhood, you see it and youre conscious of it, Ellis said. If its not happening in your neighborhood, the rivers are still, I think, in the back of the mind for a lot of folks. Tonight's meeting starts at 6 p.m. RSVP here. Water was not her happiest element. In November 2014 water protesters detained her for two hours in Tallaght. In December 2015, she fell from a boat while visiting flood-stricken areas in Kilkenny (Photo: Dylan Vaughan) Joan Burton played a strong role in the May 2015 same sex marriage referendum and was vocal in calling for a repeal of the Eighth Amendment on abortion. She agreed with Fine Gael to park the issue until after the recent election (Photo: Frank McGrath) Joan Burton speaks to media at RHA Gallery after she announced her resignation as party leader (Photo: Steve Humphreys) With business completed, Joan Burton wandered over to have a closer look at some of the paintings hanging on the wall of the Royal Hibernian Academy. She seemed almost in a dreamlike state. Many of the old Labour Party staff had come back to say goodbye - some who have moved on to other positions as well as others now seeking work after the bloodbath. Her hairdresser, who had tended her tresses on a daily basis throughout the election, was there. So too were her daughter, Aoife, her husband, Pat, and the former Senator Mairia Cahill, to whom Joan has been something of a surrogate mother of late. The outgoing Labour Party leader's inner circle is a small one - but it is unparalleled in its ferocious loyalty. Several in the room had tears in their eyes. The atmosphere within the party has been "changed utterly" since the election, said an insider, claiming: "It's been a different place completely." The only thing keeping the announcement from descending into a wake was Joan herself - who was brisk and practical. Her mourning had already been done - it has been 75 long and introspective days since she landed, ashen-faced, into the Dublin West count centre in Phibblestown following her own late-night reprieve and the general Labour decimation. Then, she had ground her knuckles into her eyes to stop the tears from coming. She recognised the inevitable, even at that stage. This time, there were again no tears - but only a slight thickening of her voice as she confirmed what was already known. Her fractious tenure at the helm of the shattered party was over. Respect This was her day and she was duly flanked with respect by the 11 remaining Labour TDs and Senators. It mattered not for now that at least three of them have leadership ambitions - nobody would counter any speculation as to who will be take over. Unless you count the press release sent out by RTE announcing that Alan Kelly will be appearing on Friday night's 'Late Late Show'. Of all female politicians this State has seen, Joan managed to climb furthest up the greasy pole - as leader of a major party and Tanaiste - after almost 50 years of political activism. (Yes, Mary Harney held the same positions, but the PDs were a niche party. Up to the election wipeout, Labour was the second largest party.) And it was something Joan remembered in her dealings with other women in the political circle. "She will rarely, if ever, pass up an opportunity to promote a woman over a man. She lives her strongly-held feminist principles," an activist mused ruefully two years ago after she was appointed leader. Even as she was questioned over her possible successors, she reminded them of the presence of Jan O'Sullivan - who subsequently admitted she wasn't ruling it out. Joan had been "very strong" as a leader, said Jan, adding she was "very proud as a woman that she was the first female leader of the Labour Party". Brendan Howlin described her as "an extraordinary, compassionate, committed woman who has been a role model for women across the country". But Joan's very femininity - which was her fundamental strength - was also part of her downfall. 'Joan the Moan' became her nickname. Voters complained of her "screechy" voice - which was a boon for professional mimics. As she stood in the gallery of the RHA, there was none of that, only a quiet dignity and a regret that things had not been different. But as well, there seemed to be something of a short-sightedness in seeing where the problems really lay. Rightly or wrongly, many people feel Labour let down the most vulnerable. "Like most of the party, I entered government with both hope and fear in my heart - hope that, with unyielding effort and sustained policy implementation, we could turn things around; fear that the situation had already deteriorated to a point of no return," she said. "In the five years that followed, the Labour Party stood by the Republic, helping people back to work, safeguarding the social protection system against those who would have stripped it to the bone, building new schools across the country, and securing the funding for a new social housing programme - while all the time dealing with the morass of failed banks and toxic banking debt." She reminded us of the uncertain and unstable place Ireland had been back then. Had the Labour Party left the country in a better place than they had found it? Joan thought so. She was asked if she would have done anything different - but misunderstood the question, going off on a different track. Asked again, she drifted off again almost dreamily. She would have liked more hours in the day. In fact, she would have liked 48 of them. There was a hint of bitterness in her words as she said how there was a level of "very raw politics" in terms of "some people" projecting for political reasons a very negative image on Labour. Reflective On the other hand, an academic article published three weeks ago showed the party fulfilled "over 60pc of their promises". "I think when the heat of the battle has died down...it will allow people to be more reflective," she said, certain history will be kinder than might be suggested today. She said she had devoted a lot of time and attention to turning the Department of Social Protection around, prompting laughter as she quipped: "I hope other people will look after it." She refused to be drawn on who her successor might be. But directly behind her, practically queuing up, stood Alan Kelly, his eyes glittering with the kill. We already knew how this one ended. Joan Burton took over as leader of a very battered Labour Party, in early July 2014, and will leave an even more battered party to her successor in the coming weeks. Critics may say her ousted predecessor, Eamon Gilmore, to whom she was infamously disloyal, could have handily delivered that outcome. The party was on 7pc of the national vote when Gilmore was forced to quit just hours after counting was completed in the May 2014 local and European elections. And they got 6.6pc of national first preferences on February 26 last, dropping from 37 TDs in 2011 to the current seven TDs. Yet there is much more to Joan Burton's almost 50-year association with the Labour Party. Many of them turn around her boundless capacity to continue in adversity, a trait on display in abundance yesterday as she stubbornly refused to admit that she made any mistakes over the past two years. In fairness, this first woman Labour Party leader had grounds for arguing that her party and she had played their part in Ireland's economic revival over the past five years. They have justification for arguing that the most vulnerable people were protected on their watch in government. Ireland was the only country in such a parlous economic position not to cut core welfare rates in the midst of its economic nightmare. But credit in that regard must also go to the Fianna Fail-Green Party coalition which preceded Fine Gael-Labour. Joan Burton can also take some credit for increases to the minimum wage, the creation of a Low Pay Commission and launching debate on the concept of a living wage. She also showed courage in taking the blows on efforts to steer unemployed young people and lone parents towards work, training or education, instead of long-term welfare dependence. None of these things helped Labour avoid a woeful general election defeat. The cruel reality is that injudicious promises in the February 2011 general election could never be recalled or explained away. The fundamental problem was that the bulk of voters had stopped listening to Labour long ago. She would come out well in a 'compare and contrast' between her and Enda Kenny's recent general election campaigns. True, she struggled in some of the TV debates. But unlike the other leaders like Gerry Adams, she made no gaffes. Taking the longer view of her involvement in Labour and politics, she emerges as one of the few people who blazed a trail on behalf of women. As well as being the first Labour leader, she was one of only three women who held the office of Tanaiste. She showed courage in adversity. Her first Dail foray in June 1989 ended in defeat, before she won in the 1992 "Spring tide". She was appointed junior minister for social welfare on her first Dail stint in the in the Fianna Fail-Labour coalition. Under the Rainbow Coalition which followed in December 1994, she moved to overseas aid and impressed, especially helping frame Ireland's response to the Rwandan genocide. Joan Burton battled back to the Dail in 2002 after defeat in the 1997 election and she eventually became finance spokesman at the time of the economic crash. Here she did well, excoriating the government - but was not convincing in framing Labour's response to the crisis. Michael Noonan, doing the same job in opposition for Fine Gael, was deemed to have a much clearer grasp of the situation. She was devastated when she did not get the Labour post of Public Expenditure Minister, which went to Brendan Howlin. Being Social Protection Minister was poor consolation. But she threw herself into it and managed a positive image despite ongoing austerity Ultimately, however, her singular disloyalty to Gilmore did her no good. There has been a call for junior minister Finian McGrath to resign - less than a week into the job. Former Minister of State Kevin Humphreys has said Mr McGrath should not be allowed to sit at the Cabinet table unless he pays his water charges. Mr McGrath admitted this week that hasn't paid his charges because he is opposed to Irish Water and the way charges were implemented. However, Mr Humphreys, who is now a Labour Party senator, told the Irish Independent that all members of the Government should obey the laws of the land. "What we have now is a minister sitting at the Cabinet table, a law maker of this Republic, who is actually refusing to obey the law and pay a charge that was legislated through the Dail. "So Finian, I think, should resign or go ahead and obey the laws of the State." Asked if he believed the same about Waterford TD John Halligan, who is widely expected to be appointed a junior minister next week, Mr Humphreys replied: "He shouldn't accept the appointment to sit as a minister of state in this Republic." Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin also called on the new ministers to pay their charges. He said: "People who haven't paid should pay, and people who haven't should be pursued. "Any deputy in the Dail should uphold parliamentary law. You might not like the law, but you still have to adhere to it." The Master of the High Court has said the State could "wave goodbye" to so-called 'vulture funds' - by purchasing their properties back at the price they paid for them. Edmund Honohan appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Housing and Homelessness where he proposed a programme of compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) of such properties as well as vacant units and those of people in mortgage arrears. In relation to vulture funds he said: "The price they paid for these properties in the last three years is well below what they should have been paying to Nama and IBRC . . . so we pay them back all of that money and wave goodbye to them." He said there are laws in the United States that allow for property to be taken into State ownership when it's in the public interest. He said "American vulture funds" are "used to it. They have dealt with it before. They take the good and the bad. That is how it operates." In the case of people in mortgage arrears Mr Honohan said if the State buys their properties to use as social housing, allowing the residents stay in their homes, "we have an instant freeze on all dispossessions and evictions." A mortgage-to-rent scheme would be put in place for those residents. He said there is a "window of opportunity" to argue in court that there is a crisis in housing and that CPOs are necessary to solve it. Mr Honohan said the "nitty-gritty" of how it would work would be left to the Oireachtas. He said the State needs a "big bang" approach to provided housing quickly adding "Let's not play around with joke solutions like modular housing." Fine Gael's Bernard Durkan said that while modular homes may not be the answer, the crisis meant such urgent action was required to address the homelessness problem. Mr Honohan said modular homes are a joke solution when they cost "243,000 per unit". He said they should cost 90,000. TDs also heard from Patrick Sweetman from the Law Society of Ireland's conveyancing committee. He warned of a "pension time-bomb" in 40 years as a result of the increased number of people in rental accommodation rather than owning their own homes and raised concern that'd need support to continue paying rent in old age. Mr Sanders warned a Norwegian Air service from Cork to Boston was effectively using Ireland as "a flag of convenience" (Getty Images) Furious Cork politicians are attempting to use the powerful Irish-American lobby to counteract a stinging attack by US Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on a proposed budget transatlantic service. Mr Sanders, who trails Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Party nomination, warned a Norwegian Air service from Cork to Boston was effectively using Ireland as "a flag of convenience". He claimed it would also undermine US labour conditions. A complex submissions process on a route certificate concludes on May 16 but that may now be delayed. Norwegian planned to launch the Cork route on August 1. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Housing Minister Simon Coveney have contacted Irish-American politicians, including Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, to build support for the proposed route. "There are very strong links between our two cities and I believe there is a lot of good will in Boston to get this service up and running," Mr Martin said. "Mayor Walsh's office have told me that the route will be good for both Boston and Cork," he added. Mr Coveney stressed that a transatlantic service was economically critical for both Cork and the south-west region. Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune rejected suggestions Ireland was "a flag of convenience" for Norwegian Air. US Vice-President Joe Biden and his wife Jill are planning an Irish visit (AP Photo) US Vice-President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Ireland later this year. Mr Biden has previously visited Ireland during stopovers, but has always said he hopes to spend more time here and explore his Irish roots. While no date has been released for the visit, new reports suggest Mr Biden will take a family trip to Ireland at the end of June. It is expected the vice-president will spend four days travelling around various counties with his family before heading to Co Mayo. It is believed Mr Biden will also trace his family roots in Ireland and will meet with An Taoiseach Enda Kenny. The Government press office would not confirm Mr Biden's visit last night when contact by the Irish Independent. A spokesman said an "open invitation" from the Taoiseach to Mr Biden remained in place. He said the invitation was also repeated when Mr Kenny met Mr Biden in Washington on St Patrick's Day. "The Taoiseach looks forward to welcoming the vice-president to Ireland at a time that suits him to visit," the spokesman added. However, the Irish Independent understands that a senior government figure will travel to the US in the coming weeks. It is expected further developments regarding a visit by the vice -resident to Ireland will be discussed at that stage. Mr Biden previously touched down in Shannon Airport for a stopover en route to Washington last year. He attended a short Mass in the airport chapel, posed for passenger selfies and bought gifts in the airport shop for his family. Earlier this year, Mr Biden was informed of his links to Co Louth by members of the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland when they performed in Washington. His great-grandfather was James Finnegan from the Cooley Peninsula and was born around 1845. It is believed he died in 1895 in Pennsylvania. Last night a spokeswoman for the White House told the Irish Independent they "don't have anything to confirm at this point". Gregg Saretsky (left), President and CEO of WestJet and Clive Beddoe, founding shareholder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of WestJet Airlines. Photo: Yui Mok/PA Wire Passengers frustrated by the cost of optional extras on low-cost long-haul flights need a "re-education", according to WestJet's chief executive, Gregg Saretsky. The Canadian carrier, which flies from Dublin to St. John's, began direct services between London Gatwick and six Canadian cities over the weekend. Return fares on the routes start from 300/380. The airline's chief executive, Gregg Saretsky, said its business model means customers receive a "very low base fare" in return for the ability to "pick and choose" the additional services they want to pay for. "There's a bit of a re-education that needs to happen," he told PA. "People get on these long-haul flights and they're used to having a meal provided for free and their bags being checked for free and there is a little bit of this push back. But I would say 'do the maths'. "It will cost you 15/20 to have a hot meal and a checked bag. If we're saving you 300/380 on the air fare you're still ahead by 285/360." Norwegian, currently seeking a US permit for transatlantic flights from Cork, already operates low-cost flights from the UK to destinations such as New York and Los Angeles, while WOW air offers budget flights to North America via Iceland. Expand Close Gregg Saretsky (left), President and CEO of WestJet and Clive Beddoe, founding shareholder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of WestJet Airlines. Photo: Yui Mok/PA Wire / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gregg Saretsky (left), President and CEO of WestJet and Clive Beddoe, founding shareholder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of WestJet Airlines. Photo: Yui Mok/PA Wire WestJet's non-stop flights from London Gatwick consist of year-round services to Toronto and Calgary, with flights to Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and St John's in the summer. Mr Saretsky described early bookings for the routes as "very strong", adding that he was optimistic the flights would "change the face of travel". He said: "EasyJet and Ryanair have really done a number here in Europe but nobody has done that on the North Atlantic. "The incumbent carriers - British Airways, Air Canada - have been serving the Canada-Britain market for 60 years but they have done it in a way that has been very traditional. "You won't find lie-flat beds on WestJet." WestJet's primary founder Clive Beddoe (pictured above), who emigrated from England to Canada in 1970, claimed low-cost airlines are more focused on attracting passengers who would not have previously travelled on particular routes, rather than persuading those who use established carriers to switch over. "The market isn't a finite number of people that travel," he said. "As you open up and lower the costs, more and more people will take advantage of the opportunity to travel and that is exactly what this is going to be. "It's a model we are very experienced at." It was barely a month ahead of the delivery of her child, a highly exciting moment for a mother, when Li Qing, a young woman in Jiangyou, Sichuan Province, realized that she was diagnosed HIV positive, a shocking announcement which erased all her happiness three years ago. On May 6, two books entitled "My Children and I Stories of A Mother Living with HIV" and "Power of Women" developed by the Women's Network Against AIDS-China and supported by the joint hands of UNAIDS, UN Women and the British Embassy in Beijing made their debut at Ditan Hospital, where the first case of HIV across the country was diagnosed in 1987. [Photo by Wu Jin/ China.org.cn] "I was really desperate at the moment," Li recalled. "I just wanted to die so I cut my wrists." Fortunately, the gynecologic and obstetric interventions from the local maternal and child care service center and the center for disease control and prevention successfully prevented the disease transmitting from mother to child and Li's baby was born healthy. "If it was not for their help, I would not have had the courage to continue to live on," the young mother said. Many stories like Li's are particularly prevalent in China's far-flung countryside where women do not have enough awareness of how HIV is transmitted from many sources, especially from their partners. The dignity and equality for women who have succumbed to the disease has become a big concern for the UN and a number of social organizations, such as the Women's Network Against AIDS-China, which is engaged in joint efforts in hope that the AIDS epidemic can be terminated by 2030, a proposal agreed by global leaders at the UN General Assembly in September of 2015. On Friday, two books entitled "My Children and I Stories of A Mother Living with HIV" and "Power of Women" developed by the Women's Network Against AIDS-China and supported by the joint hands of UNAIDS, UN Women and the British Embassy in Beijing made their debut at Ditan Hospital, where the first case of HIV across the country was diagnosed in 1987. The books were published amid concerted efforts of both domestic and international communities to help women suffering from AIDS live with zero discrimination. Julia Broussard, the Country Program Manager of the UN Women in Beijing, said in a panel session at the launching ceremony that "economic power, decision-making power and certain resources like education and accesses to finance are not held equally across society between men and women. Every society in the world faces this unequal structure." "Women living with HIV are subject to a greater number of stigmas, discrimination and are more vulnerable to infection by their partners often because they face being controlled or are subject to violence," she continued. Broussard said voices and the needs of women living with HIV should be taken into account as UN Women and other social organizations should make joint efforts to help them. Among the rights of women living with HIV, the primary demand is their desire to be mothers. China has launched full coverage to finance the prevention and control of AIDS, syphilis and hepatitis B since 2015, which suggests women in pregnancy or maternity can receive free testing for these infectious diseases. For those that turn out to be HIV positive, they can receive free comprehensive clinical interventions, such as PMTCT. Now, after a 15-year endeavor, over 98 percent of pregnant women have received HIV tests and about 92 percent of affected mothers have received anti-virus treatments and interventions when giving birth to their children. "When the first pregnant woman arrived at our hospital in late 2000, we were not as confident as we are now and questioned whether AIDS affected patients can deliver babies," said Liu Min, a doctor at Ditan Hospital. "We looked up many medical materials when providing PMTCT to the woman, a Xinjiang native, and succeeded in ensuring a healthy baby by cesarean delivery," Liu recalled in the panel discussion. "During the past 16 years, we have provided treatments and interventions successfully to more than 100 patients," the doctor added. Among those clinical cases, there is only one treatment that has failed to prevent the disease from transmitting from a mother to her child in the hospital, simply because the mother did not receive PMTCT until her delivery. "As long as we apply PMTCT in time, a rate of zero transmission of AIDS can eventually be achieved," the doctor said. Apart from PMTCT, community services to follow the living conditions of AIDS affected mothers and their children have also been highlighted as a principal measure to obtain first-hand knowledge of these people's needs and difficulties. "Families and communities are encouraged to extend care and love to people living with HIV," said Qiao Yaping, a staff member at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Three years have passed, and Li's change of spirit is obvious as she has overcome social stigmas and personal desperation by pulling herself together and concentrating on raising her child and joining in volunteer organizations to aid people who are similarly suffering. "What I'm looking forward to now is to live happily and exchange my love and care with women prone to the same disease," said Li. I was returning home from the morning school run when I first saw the headline. There it was in the newsstand in great bold letters in my local garage. So I read that Sabina Higgins, the wife of President Michael D Higgins, had told midwives in Trinity College the fact that a woman could be made to carry a pregnancy to term in a case of "fatal foetal abnormality" was an "outrage". I thought of my nine-year-old daughter, Kathleen Rose, whom I had hugged and kissed that morning as she set off for another school day. I thought of how beautiful she looked as she giggled and waved excitedly at her little brother and sister through the bus window. Kathleen Rose has trisomy 13, one of the conditions being used to call for abortion, and I thought of the joy she has brought to my life and all those who know her. Then I thought of those ugly words used to describe her and all the other beautiful babies that I have been privileged to know through the support group Every Life Counts, a group where I have met so many wonderful families who learned to pour a lifetime of love into just hours and days because their babies did not live for long after birth. Like all of those parents, yesterday I felt weary of the continued misinformation and the repeated use of misleading and discriminatory language. But I also felt angry. I felt angry for all the parents who are being denied proper support and care and nudged towards travelling for an abortion in our maternity hospitals. I felt angry at the media's obsession with abortion, and their lack of interest in parents struggling because of the savage cuts that have been imposed on disability services - cuts approved by Labour, the political party Ms Higgins has long supported. And, yes, I felt angry and upset that the wife of the President had deliberately targeted children like my little girl in this abortion push - and that she had used the ugly language of discrimination to justify taking the right to life away from very sick babies. It is clear to me that Ms Higgins has little understanding of the issues involved and of the immense love and joy our children bring to their families, however short their lives may be. The ugly phrase "fatal foetal abnormalities" is not a medical diagnosis, and there is no condition, none whatsoever, where a doctor can say for certain that a baby will not live beyond birth. In an age where we expect our commentators to be cognisant of harmful language and of the rights of people with disabilities, it is hard to make sense of the decision of Ms Higgins to use this discriminatory and misleading phrase. Let me be very clear on this point: it is a medical fact that the phrase "fatal foetal abnormality" is not a medical diagnosis. Hundreds of doctors have signed the Geneva Declaration on Perinatal Care calling for an end to this misleading label. Last December, Professor Jim Dornan told the BBC that the phrase has no medical meaning. In fact, it is used simply to dehumanise unborn babies who have a severe disability. Most of these babies do live beyond birth - some, like Kathleen Rose, go on to defy all expectations. Ms Higgins has misused her powerful, but unelected, position to disparage the worth of our beautiful children, whose lives were precious even if they were short, and she has added to the misinformation around this issue. Ms Higgins's supporters may cheer on her intervention, but the fact is that her remarks gained traction only because she is the wife of the President. I'm sure Ms Higgins was keenly aware of that fact when she chose to make her remarks. Perhaps Ms Higgins is not aware of new research showing that women who undergo abortion after a diagnosis of anencephaly are significantly more likely to suffer depression and despair? Is she aware that we hear increasingly that parents come under subtle but persistent pressure to go to England for an abortion in these circumstances? Is she aware of the chilling effect that legal abortion has had in the UK, with up to 90pc of unborn babies diagnosed with any disability, including Down Syndrome, aborted? As parents of children diagnosed with life-limiting disabilities, we would have been happy to meet with Ms Higgins and share our experiences, insights and the findings research shows. We were never given that opportunity. Instead, we have to listen to her misinformed and insensitive comments. That is the real outrage. Tracy Harkin is a member of Every Life Counts Cocoa Brown Ambassador Joyce Bonelli at the launch of their new Golden Goddess Oil with CEO and Founder Marissa Carter. Picture: Justin Goff/goffphotos.com Cocoa Brown Ambassador Joyce Bonelli at the launch of their new Golden Goddess Oil with CEO and Founder Marissa Carter. Picture: Justin Goff/goffphotos.com Cocoa Brown Ambassador Joyce Bonelli at the launch of their new Golden Goddess Oil with CEO and Founder Marissa Carter. Picture: Justin Goff/goffphotos.com She's one of the most famous makeup artist is in the world who has become a celebrity in her own right thanks to her close ties with the Kardashians. Before they were the tour de force they are now, Joyce said she was told to distance herself from the famous family in their early days. After a chance meeting at a photoshoot with Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner, she stuck with it simply because "we get along." She started off regularly doing Kris' makeup and still starts nearly every day working on the matriach's look before working with the other girls and travelling with them around the world for gigs, photoshoots and red carpet events. Joyce has just been unveiled as the new brand ambassador for Cocoa Brown's Golden Goddess range and gave us her some of her top tips for getting a picture perfect look with one of Ireland's most beloved beauty brands. Expand Close Khloe Kardashian using Cocoa Brown's Golden Goddess Oil / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Khloe Kardashian using Cocoa Brown's Golden Goddess Oil Her pairing with Cocoa Brown was by chance as she says she noticed it among the hundreds of beauty freebies she receives daily and first trialled it for Khloe Kardashian, who is now "obsessed" with the glow. Much like stylist Monica Rose, Joyce is part of an elite Hollywood glam squad endorsed by the Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and supermodel Chrissy Teigen. "I work with the girls every day and I start out doing Kris Jenner bright and early. I leave my house at 5am or 6am and then I go to her house and then the next house and the next house," Joyce explained of her daily routine. "I try to be done with my day early afternoon because I have a son but I used to do 23 hour days, sometimes back to back. I would do the girls in the morning and then I would do a music video with someone like Nicki Minaj all night," she said. Expand Close Cocoa Brown Ambassador Joyce Bonelli at the launch of their new Golden Goddess Oil with CEO and Founder Marissa Carter. Picture: Justin Goff/goffphotos.com / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cocoa Brown Ambassador Joyce Bonelli at the launch of their new Golden Goddess Oil with CEO and Founder Marissa Carter. Picture: Justin Goff/goffphotos.com After receiving a Cocoa Brown spray tan sample (Kylie Jenner was famously pictured with her bottles on Instagram), Joyce began a relationship with the brand and founder Marissa Carter. "First of all, I was obsessed with the tanning mousse because it looks so good on my skin. Also, because I'm so pale that when a tan wears off - with a spray tan, there's dots, the white shines through and it's blotchy looking," she said. Video of the Day "This goes on nicely." As for the beauty secret weapons in her arsenal? Expand Close Cocoa Brown Ambassador Joyce Bonelli at the launch of their new Golden Goddess Oil with CEO and Founder Marissa Carter. Picture: Justin Goff/goffphotos.com / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Cocoa Brown Ambassador Joyce Bonelli at the launch of their new Golden Goddess Oil with CEO and Founder Marissa Carter. Picture: Justin Goff/goffphotos.com "I love the L'Oreal Voluminous mascara and the Lancome hypnose, doll lash because I feel like you can't do anywhere without mascara and lashes. I love MAC lipsticks. For darker lip colours I use eyeliner until Kylie did her lip kit," she explained. Her connections to Ireland? She once fled a tour here with Nicki Minaj as she was heavily pregnant at the time and knew if she didn't discreetly fly out, she'd never get home and would wind up giving birth backstage. But she's up for a trip here with Kris Jenner, who famously honeymooned here with ex-husband Caitlyn Jenner in the '90s. Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp thanked the London policemen who once arrested him as he arrived in the capital at the premiere of his latest film. Depp, 52, prompted screams from the crowd as he walked on to the red carpet for the screening of Alice Through the Looking Glass at the Odeon in Leicester Square. He appeared without his wife Amber Heard, 30, but said he was grateful to her for "putting up with him". He said: "I think everybody has a sense of themselves, we are all living our lives together and living closely with someone. "I know I wouldn't be considered normal, I suppose, so I thank her for that. I thank my mum for that, I thank my father for that, for putting up with me. "I also thank the London policemen when I was arrested here, they were very nice and gave me a cup of tea." Depp was arrested in London in 1999 after a scuffle with photographers outside a restaurant and was later cautioned. His wife Heard recently avoided jail in Australia after pleading guilty to providing a false immigration document amid allegations she smuggled the couple's dogs Pistol and Boo into the country. The pair went on to record a bizarre video in which they apologised and spoke about how important it is to protect Australia's biodiversity. In his new film, Depp returns to the role of the Mad Hatter after the huge success of Alice In Wonderland, which was directed by Tim Burton in 2010. Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and Sherlock star Andrew Scott join the all-star cast for the second outing, which was directed by James Bobin. Depp said: "It was a lot of fun to come back to the Mad Hatter, it was a gas to get back together with the cast and the addition of Sacha upped the stakes quite a lot. This particular film has a bit more of the Hatter's layers and things going on." He added: "The first film was something very special in terms of Tim and I working together again. Bringing in James was brilliant because he has such a profound respect for the language that Tim created and stretched it into his own vision." Video of the Day Cohen was joined by his wife Isla Fisher for his red carpet outing and joked about working with Depp saying: "We would do a few hours on the acting and then an hour of plotting how to get dogs in and out of countries so it became exhausting and really the film was secondary. In the end he was shipping about 300 dogs a day in and out of England." Australian actress Mia Wasikowska resumes her role as Alice, who explores her feeling about the passage of time in the film. Dressed in a blue custom Prada gown, she said: "The message in the film is really nice, that the best way to deal with time is to accept what happened in the past and not try and change it and move on freely into the future." Alice Through The Looking Glass is released in UK cinemas on May 27. If you're an A-lister on the red carpet, you have one mission - to be seen. Yet amid the waves of wannabes, nearly rans and gonna-bes also trying to make style statements of their own, it can be hard to stand out. Yet it wasn't for want of trying on the part of a few wily fashion types on red carpets in both Dublin and London last weekend. For a number of stars stalking the BAFTA red carpet on Sunday, there was only one thing for it, and that was to break out the thoroughly modern jumpsuit. Heading the charge was Bray native Laura Whitmore, who showed serious fashion chops in a Ralph Lauren jumpsuit complete with an eye-catching keyhole cut-out. Caroline Flack flashed the flesh in a brave Halston number that incorporated a thigh-high split. Claudia Winkleman opted for simple and chic in a black bandeau jumpsuit, and Poldark actress Heida Reed - certainly a face to keep an eye out for - teamed minimal accessories with a simple black flared jumpsuit, too. A safe choice, but endlessly chic and sexy nonetheless. Actress Alexandra Roach caught the attention of shutterbugs with a similar outfit, teaming hers with a dramatic billowing wrap. All in all, the androgynous look was a clever palate cleanser to the usual red carpet fare of couture gowns and flowing trains. As an added bonus, the jumpsuit is comfy, doing away with the potential for several wardrobe malfunctions. Little wonder that they've been the red carpet look of choice for a host of others of late, from Selena Gomez to Taylor Swift. Closer to home jumpsuits were a resounding hit at the VIP Style Awards: Teodora Sutra landed fully on radar with a hot pink ensemble complete with cape sleeves by Umit Kutluk, while Aoibhinn McGinnity looked sharp and seasonal in a grey topshop jumpsuit. Of course, Amy Huberman got the jump on them all, causing something of a frenzy earlier this year when she wore a Lennon-Courtney jumpsuit. And where Amy blazes a sartorial trail, others are sure to follow. The Amy effect was in full swing as Dunnes reported actual fisticuffs in their stores as followers fought to get their hands on the coveted garment. Video of the Day Around the same time, Lady Gaga - never one to shy away from a daring fashion choice - took to the Oscars red carpet in a directional cream jumpsuit. It was a thoroughly modern take on a night when voluminous gowns were a dime a dozen. Taking a leaf ostensibly out of Gaga's failsafe fashion handbook, actress Sarah Greene made a break from the fashion pack on this year's IFTA red carpet with a modern red jumpsuit. She wasn't the only IFTA attendee to take a break from convention; Lucy Kennedy also took a clever sidestep from the dress code with a cream jumpsuit, teamed with a waist-cinching sash. Proving its ongoing popularity, the humble jumpsuit also made more than one appearance on the Met Gala parade. Amid a sea of eye-catching metallics, sequins and technological eye-poppers, others decided to keep it simple and slightly demure. Potential First Daughter Ivanka Trump caught everyone's attention in a red-hot Ralph Lauren jumpsuit, while socialite Julia Macklowe had Twitter in a froth with her own stunning metallic all-in-one. So why is the humble jumpsuit - formerly, a casual staple in the 70s and 80s - having such a moment now? "People are kind of over dresses," offers stylist Lisa Fitzpatrick. "I used to wear a lot of bling dresses, but with age you start to look a bit like Shirley Bassey. I think less is very much more." Stylist Rob Condon believes that the proliferation of jumpsuits is a kick-back of sorts against last year's tuxedo deluge. "You have an outfit in one garment and because it's so simple you can do so much with hair and make up," he says. "Try a statement necklace, or a topknot, or gel back the hair. "Jumpsuits used to be casual, but now designers have made them really tailored and dressy," he adds. "Best of all, the look is accessible in Zara or River Island." Lisa Fitzpatrick wore her trusty monochrome jumpsuit, snapped up in Dublin's Havana boutique, to Adi Roche's recent charity luncheon, and she says it was a canny investment. "I've worn it 10 times already," she reveals. "The thing is, I had to try on quite a few. Only about one in 20 of them work on me." There's a jumpsuit out there for every body type, says Lisa. Much like finding the right pair of jeans, it's about doing the spade work and trying a few on. "There are bootleg ones, v-neck ones, all kinds," says Lisa. "Some people who have long bodies and shorter legs might find that the bottom half of the jumpsuit might rise too high. Some fabrics aren't very forgiving, either, so that's something to look out for. Rob adds: "If you are top heavy, you don't want one that's too plunging at the front. A cigarette pant will help if you are a bit hippy, while the wide 70s leg can swamp shorter people." Jumpsuits are likely to be big noise at weddings and music festivals across the land: Lisa warns fashion followers to be wary of practicalities, like using a Portaloo: "Fortunately, many of them are cleverly designed so that the zips are in all the right place." "If you want to look stylish, you can't think about the practicalities", counters Rob. The jumpsuit wasn't the only slice of effortless androgynous tailoring that made an appearance on the red carpet. Vogue Williams went for a classy and crisp white shirt at the VIP Style Awards, teaming it with a romantic cream skirt. It was a winning combo, and one attempted on the BAFTA red carpet with slightly less aplomb by TOWIE's Sam Faiers, who ended up on many of the worst-dressed list for looking 'dated'. Gaby Roslin also incurred the wrath of the fashion set thanks to her choice of sarong-style skirt teamed with a black shirt. Whether by accident or design, there were more 'fashion-offs' between the BAFTA and VIP Style Award attendees. Roz Purcell left her signature two-piece suit at home and went instead for a show-stopping Chloe gown, complete with a daring, thigh-skimming slash. Tess Daly, meanwhile, put any personal life scandals firmly to one side by rocking a similar look: a white floor-length number with its own sexy side split. A style statement in and of itself, certainly but for a slice of effortless, timeless elan, the smart money says that jumpsuits will be around for the forseeable future. And with red carpet regulars attempting to outdo each other time and time again, things can only get more interesting from here. Security forces and citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City (AP) Three separate car bombings in the Iraqi capital have killed at least 93 people and wounded 165. The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for all three bombings. In recent months, the extremist faction has lost some of the Iraqi territory it conquered in a stunning 2014 blitz. But Wednesday's carnage demonstrates the group's lingering ability to launch significant attacks across the country and in the heart of the capital. In the largest attack of the day, a car bomb ripped through a commercial area in the predominantly Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr City on Wednesday morning, killing at least 63 people and wounding at least 85. Later in the afternoon, two more car bombs killed at least 30 and wounded 80, police officials said. One bomber targeted a police station in Baghdad's north-west Kadhimiyah neighbourhood, killing 18, of whom five were policemen, and wounding 34. Another bombing In the northern Baghdad neighbourhood of Jamiya killed 12 and wounded 46. Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. The Sadr City bomb struck a crowded outdoor market and officials said the death toll could rise further. Officials claim the increase in assaults in Baghdad is an attempt by IS to distract from their battlefield losses. The bombings also come at a time of political deadlock that has paralysed the work of the Iraqi government and parliament, adding to the country's complex set of military, security, humanitarian, economic and human rights challenges. The market struck in Sadr city is one of four main outdoor shopping venues in the sprawling slum that is home to about 2.5 million residents - almost half of Baghdad's population of around six million. The open-air markets sell a range of goods, from food to household items, to clothes and other merchandise. Ambulances rushed to the scene as dozens of residents walked through twisted and mangled wreckage of cars and other debris that littered the pavement, trying to help the victims. Many places and front-side facades of several buildings were heavily damaged. Smoke billowed from ground-level stores gutted by the explosion. Karim Salih, a 45-year old grocer, said the bomb was in a pick-up truck loaded with fruits and vegetables that was parked by a man who quickly disappeared among the crowds of people. "It was such a thunderous explosion that jolted the ground," MrSalih said. "The force of the explosion threw me for metres away and I lost consciousness for a few minutes," the merchant added. He suffered no injuries, but two of his workers were wounded. IS, which views Shiite Muslims as apostates, said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, something that Iraqi officials denied. In its online statements, IS said Wednesday's attacks targeted Shiite militiamen. Authenticity of the claim could not be verified but it appeared on a website commonly used by the Sunni militants. "Politicians are fighting each other in parliament and government while the people are being killed every day," said Hussein Abdullah, a 28-year old owner of an electrical appliances store who suffered shrapnel wounds. "If they can't protect us, then they have to let us do the job," the father of two added. Baghdad's Sadr City is a stronghold of supporters of influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who have been holding protests and sit-ins for months to demand an overhaul of the political system put in place by the United States following the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Last month, hundreds of al-Sadr's supporters stormed the heavily fortified Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad and broke into the parliament building. Delivering a speech before the UN Security Council on Friday, the world body's envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis, warned that the ongoing political crisis and chaos are only serving the interests of IS, urging the political leaders and civil society to work together to resolve the political turmoil. IS still controls significant areas in northern and western Iraq, including Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul. Commercial and public places in Shiite-dominated neighbourhoods are among the most frequent targets for the Sunni militants seeking to undermine Iraqi government efforts to maintain security inside the capital. In February, IS carried out devastating back-to-back market bombings in Sadr City, killing at least 73 people. According to the United Nations, at least 741 Iraqis were killed in April due to ongoing violence. The UN mission to Iraq put the number of civilians killed at 410, while the rest it said were members of the security forces. A total of 1,374 Iraqis were wounded that month, UNAMI (United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq) said. In March, at least 1,119 people were killed and 1,561 wounded in the ongoing violence. The 5.5-magnitude quake struck at at 9.15am local time at a depth of six miles A shallow 5.5-magnitude earthquake has struck the mountainous region of Tibet, injuring 60 people, collapsing houses and damaging bridges and roads, authorities said. The quake struck at 9.15am (01.15 GMT), 44 miles north-west of Gyamotang village at a depth of just six miles, according to the US Geological Survey. The quake region is near Tibet's border with Qinghai province to the north. Serious injuries were sustained by six of the casualties, according to a statement on the website of the Dingqing county government. It gave no estimates for numbers of collapsed houses or damaged roads and bridges. The China News Service reported that the earthquake had set off landslides. China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted the regional seismological bureau as saying that the epicentre was in Kata Town, about 1,400 miles from the capital Beijing and the site of two major Buddhist temples. The town's chief administrator, identified by the single name of Samba, told Xinhua he had seen two injured people on his way to help with rescue efforts in a village six miles away. Roads leading to Guodong village crumbled, Xinhua said, hampering rescuers. The Tibetan regional fire service said in an online statement that rescuers were on their way to Kata. The region of western China in the foothills of the Himalayas is an active earthquake zone, and a 2010 quake in nearby Yushu killed almost 3,000 people. Nearly 90,000 people were killed in China's worst quake in recent years, a 7.9-magnitude temblor that struck Sichuan province in May 2008. Barack Obama is to become the first serving US president to visit Hiroshima, the White House has confirmed. Mr Obama (pictured) is to travel to Asia next week, ahead of the G7 Summit in Japan. A statement from Mr Obama's press secretary read: "The president will make an historic visit to Hiroshima with Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe to highlight his continued commitment to pursuing peace and security in a world without nuclear weapons." The White House has ruled out any apology for the bombing. Mr Obama's communications adviser, Ben Rhodes, said Mr Obama would "not revisit" the use of the atomic bomb in World War II but would "offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future". He said Mr Obama would "share his reflections on the significance of the site and the events that occurred there." "The president's time in Hiroshima also will reaffirm America's long-standing commitment - and the president's personal commitment - to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," Mr Rhodes wrote. Mr Obama will also take part in the G7 summit in Japan's Ise-Shima peninsula and hold bilateral talks with Mr Abe. Before that, Mr Obama will meet Vietnam's leadership and deliver a speech in the capital, Hanoi, on US-Vietnam relations. US media had been asking the president repeatedly whether he planned to visit Hiroshima, which was bombed by the US in 1945. Jimmy Carter visited the city, but after the end of his presidency. During his first visit to Japan, in November 2009, Mr Obama said that he wished to visit the site. "The memories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are etched in the minds of the world, and I would be honoured to have the opportunity to visit those cities at some point during my presidency," he said. Donald Trump has added two more primaries to his column, taking West Virginia and Nebraska (AP) Key Senate Republicans have voiced optimism about Donald Trump's presidential prospects in November as he added two more primaries to his column. Mr Trump took West Virginia and Nebraska, as senior party figures gave the clearest signal yet to the rank and file to unite behind the bombastic billionaire and turn their energy against Democrat Hillary Clinton. "We have a nominee, it looks like he may well be very competitive, and we want to win the White House," Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said. He added: "We know that Hillary Clinton will be four more years of Barack Obama. I think that's going to in the end be enough to unify Republicans across the country." But doubt over Mr Trump remained palpable as policy-makers returned from a week-long recess that saw him effectively clinch the presidential nomination. Tim Scott of South Carolina offered his support, but like others managed to sound grudging and backhanded in the process: "I'm supporting the Republican candidate, and it happens to be Donald Trump." Johnny Isakson of Georgia said: "The only thing I can do is get re-elected so we have a Republican majority in the Senate. I will support the Republican ticket and I'm endorsing me for my Senate seat." The comments reflected ongoing divisions in a party still reeling over Mr Trump's success in locking up the nomination and pushing his two remaining rivals from the race last week. Mr McConnell and others have decided that the best approach is to get behind Mr Trump, but especially in light of House Speaker Paul Ryan's surprise decision to withhold his support, unity is elusive. That could start to change on Thursday, when Mr Ryan, Mr McConnell and other congressional Republicans meet Mr Trump. Mr Ryan defended his stance again on Tuesday, insisting that he was just being honest in saying Mr Trump had more work to do to show he could unify the party after alienating numerous voters including women, Hispanics and many conservatives. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders added another state to his tally against Ms Clinton with a win in West Virginia, but it will do little to slow his rival's steady march towards the Democratic nomination. Ms Clinton entered the night fewer than 200 delegates shy of the 2,383 she needs to secure the nomination. To win it, she needs just 17% of the delegates at stake in the remaining contests. That means she could lose all the states left to vote by a landslide and still emerge as the nominee, as long as all of her supporters among the party insiders known as superdelegates continue to back her. Ms Clinton has already largely shifted her focus to the general election and Mr Trump. Ms Clinton won the Democratic primary in Nebraska, but the victory does not take her any closer to clinching her party's nomination. That is because Nebraska allocated all 25 of its delegates to this summer's Democratic National Convention in a caucus held on March 5 that was won by Mr Sanders. He took home 15 delegates from that caucus, while Ms Clinton won 10. Firefighters had to put out a fire at their own station Firefighters returning from a call-out in Aberdeenshire had to take action to tackle a blaze somewhere completely unexpected - at their own station. It is thought the small fire at Ellon fire station was sparked by work to re-tar the roof of the building. The crew saw smoke billowing from the roof on their return to the station at 2pm. It took under five minutes to extinguish the fire, the service said. Another crew was called out to the station as a precaution but the fire had been extinguished by the time they arrived. Senior officer David Rout said: "As part of a refurbishment of all our stations in the north of Scotland, contractors were appointed to carry out repairs to the roof of our fire station at Ellon. "A minor fire was inadvertently caused by these construction works at around 2pm earlier today. Firefighters quickly brought the fire under control and had it extinguished in under five minutes. "Roof repairs were carried out and the incident has not affected our ability to serve the public. The local community should not be concerned." The ongoing excavation in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, at the mausoleum of Haihun Hou, a marquis in China's ancient Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) has discovered a large number of relics, including a jade pillow, a glazed mat and a knife used to write on bamboo scrolls. The ongoing excavation in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, at the mausoleum of Haihun Hou, a marquis in China's ancient Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 24) has discovered a large number of relics. [Photo / Chinanews.com] Additionally, the archaeologists were surprised to find several sunflower seeds preserved in the belly of a corpse. Speaking about the glazed mat made up of more than 2,000 rectangle pieces and connected by gold strings Li Cunxin, a member of the expert committee responsible for exploring the mausoleum who is affiliated with the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, said, "Despite the popularity of the glazed mat, which can be found in many mausoleums built during the Han Dynasty, this glazed mat, discovered in Haihun Hou's coffin, is extraordinarily exquisite." "Looking at the glazed mat, which the dead owner lied on, we can roughly figure the height of Liu He (known as Haihun Hou) to be somewhere between 170 to 175 centimeters," the archaeologist continued. The emperor with the shortest reign during the Western Han Dynasty, Liu was accused of incompetence and banished by a group of influential officials only 27 days after his rise to power in 74 BC. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. A tourist takes pictures of Mount Ruapehu as it erupts on June 18, 1996 in Tongariro National Park on the central North Island of New Zealand. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo New Zealand has warned hikers and climbers to steer clear of a volcano in a national park whose jagged volcanic rock formations and eerie barren landscapes featured in "The Lord of The Rings" movies. Quake and volcano monitoring service GNS Science raised the alert for Mount Ruapehu, in the North Island's Tongariro National Park, which last erupted in 2007. "There are more signs of life at the volcano," said Volcanologist Brad Scott. The Department of Conservation warned trekkers to stay out of the Summit Hazard Zone, within two km of the centre of Crater Lake. "Recent visits to the volcano have confirmed an increase in the output of volcanic gas," GNS Science said. The temperature of the lake has risen from 25 degrees Celsius (77 degrees Fahrenheit) to 46 degrees Celsius (115 F) since mid-April. The volcanic alert level has been lifted to "heightened unrest" from "moderate". Each year, thousands of people trek the so-called Tongariro Crossing, a 20-km (12-mile) alpine crossing that passes all three volcanoes in the area. The landscape formed the backdrop for Mordor's hissing wasteland in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Britain's Queen Elizabeth speaks with Prime Minister David Cameron (2nd R), as Chris Grayling (R), leader of the House of Commons and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby (C) watch during a reception in Buckingham Palace David Cameron has been caught on camera telling Queen Elizabeth that Nigeria and Afghanistan are "fantastically corrupt", hours before the two countries' leaders were due to arrive in the UK for an anti-corruption conference in London. Downing Street sought to play down the risks such candid comments could pose to the summit, which Mr Cameron is hosting, and even hinted that the prime minister was aware his words might be recorded. Speaking in conversation with the queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Speaker John Bercow and House of Commons leader Chris Grayling, at a Buckingham Palace event yesterday to mark the queen's 90th birthday, Mr Cameron was heard to say: "We've got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain...Nigeria and Afghanistan, possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world". Following the comments, Archbishop Justin Welby noted that "this particular president is not corrupt...he's trying very hard", in what was thought to have been a reference to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari. President Buhari and Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani are two of only a handful of national leaders so far confirmed to be attending tomorrow's summit. Mr Cameron's spokesperson yesterday sought to distinguish between the countries themselves, which are both ranked among the most corrupt in the world by Transparency International, and their current leaders. "Both leaders have been invited to the summit because they are driving the fight against corruption in their countries," the spokesperson said. Asked whether Mr Cameron had been aware his comments to the queen were being filmed, the spokesperson said: "There were multiple cameras in the room." Afghanistan was ranked 167, ahead only of Somalia and North Korea, in Transparency International's 2015 corruption perception index. Nigeria is placed at 136. President Buhari responded to the comments last night, saying that Mr Cameron "must have been referring to Nigeria's past notoriety". President Buhari was elected last year on a promise to crackdown on corruption. His efforts have already led to the trial of the country's former security adviser Sambo Dasuki, after a government investigation alleged 1.6bn worth of government funds for the fight against terror group Boko Haram had gone missing. In the video of the Buckingham Palace conversation, Mr Bercow goes on to ask whether the world leaders attending the anti-corruption summit will be travelling at their own expense. "Yes," the prime minister responds, before adding: "Because it is an anti-corruption summit, everything has to be open so there are no closed door sessions, all in front of the press, so it could be quite interesting." The queen did not respond to Mr Cameron's comments. It is not the first time the Mr Cameron's candid comments have been overheard and broadcast widely. In the aftermath of the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, the prime minister was heard saying the queen "purred down the line" when he informed her of the result. The government had already faced criticism over its anti-corruption summit after it emerged that, with days to go, it had still not guaranteed the attendance of representatives from British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies that operate as offshore tax havens. Places such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands were at the heart of the shadowy tax avoidance networks uncovered by the Panama Papers. Mr Cameron's spokesperson could not confirm yesterday whether representatives of British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies would attend the summit, saying that full details about attendees would be available later today. David Cameron apologises for "any misunderstanding" after calling former imam Sulaiman Ghani a supporter of Islamic State, Downing Street has said. In the run-up to the local elections, the British Prime Minister used question time in the Commons to accuse Labour's mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan of repeatedly sharing a platform with the ex-cleric, who he branded a backer of the jihadist organisation. The premier told MPs: ''Sulaiman Ghani, Mr Khan has appeared on a platform with him nine times. ''This man supports IS. He even shared a platform ... I think they are shouting down this point because they don't want to hear the truth. ''Anyone can make a mistake about who they appear on a platform with. We're not always responsible for what our political opponents say. But if you do it time after time after time it is right to question your judgment.'' Downing Street said Mr Cameron was referring to reports that Mr Ghani supports "an" Islamic state. A Number 10 spokesman said: "In reference to the Prime Minister's comments on Sulaiman Ghani, the Prime Minister was referring to reports that he supports an Islamic state. The Prime Minister is clear this does not mean Mr Ghani supports the organisation Daesh and he apologises to him for any misunderstanding." It comes after the Defence Secretary apologised for echoing the accusations during a Radio 4 interview. Michael Fallon's aides said he had been quoting BBC broadcaster Andrew Neil when he made the "inadvertent error". Mr Ghani, a former imam at the Tooting Islamic Centre, is threatening legal action after being described as a supporter of the jihadist group. A spokesman for Mr Fallon said: "Michael made clear he was quoting a claim by Andrew Neil on a BBC mayoral debate programme. He was unaware of the clarification and apology that the BBC had issued on Neil's claim. "Had he been aware, he would not of course have quoted him and as soon as he became aware he put the record straight. He naturally apologises for this inadvertent error." Prosecutors are considering whether to bring charges against veteran entertainer Cliff Richard over alleged historical sex abuse. The Crown Prosecution Service said it would now make a decision as to whether to bring charges or not. Richard was interviewed under caution in 2014 by detectives investigating a claim of a sex crime involving a young boy in the 1980s, but was not arrested or charged. He was questioned again last year. His spokesman has always said the allegations were "completely false". A CPS spokesman said: "We have received a full file of evidence from South Yorkshire Police. "We will now carefully consider its contents in line with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, in order to establish whether there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction, and whether it is in the public interest to do so." A South Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "Investigation files relating to allegations of non-recent sexual abuse involving a 75-year-old man have been handed over to the CPS. "The CPS will now consider the matter and South Yorkshire Police awaits their decision." Raid Controversy erupted when the raid on his home in Berkshire in August 2014 was broadcast on live TV after an agreement was forged between the BBC and South Yorkshire Police. A report commissioned by the county's former police and crime commissioner later found that the move "certainly interfered with his privacy and may well have caused unnecessary distress". Last year the star's representatives attacked the Home Affairs Select Committee for publishing a letter from Chief Constable David Crompton that revealed the police investigation had increased "significantly" in size and involved more than one allegation. Richard's lawyers claimed the disclosure caused him a "further round of unnecessary and extremely damaging media coverage". Italy's parliament has backed same-sex civil unions in a vote of confidence for centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Italy had been the last major Western country not to legally recognise gay couples and an original draft law had to be heavily diluted due to divisions in Renzi's ruling majority. The 41-year-old premier promised to prioritise legislation for gay rights when he took office in early 2014, but the bill proved to be one of the most contested of any of a raft of initiatives he has pushed. It was the second confidence vote on the bill, which was originally presented in 2013. Such votes, called to curtail debate, force the government to resign if they lose. But Renzi's healthy majority in the lower house made this unlikely. The Chamber of Deputies voted in favour by 369 votes to 193. The measure was due to be passed into law later on Wednesday by a final vote, which is a parliamentary formality. The bill's long slog through parliament was accompanied by fierce debate and mass protests by Catholic groups saying it went too far and gay activists saying it did not go far enough. The original bill had included the right for couples to adopt each other's children and referred to a duty of fidelity, stirring concerns that it was too close to traditional marriage. The final version gives gay couples the right to share a surname, draw on their partner's pension when they die, and inherit each other's assets in the same way as married people. Unmarried heterosexual couples get the right to be treated as each other's next of kin if one partner is taken ill, dies, or is imprisoned. They also get some rights to a shared home. "We are putting this to a confidence vote because it wasn't possible to wait any longer after years of failed attempts," Renzi wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. The so-called stepchild adoption clause was arguably the most disputed aspect of the bill. It stoked outrage among social conservatives and Catholics who saw it as a step towards legalising surrogate motherhood, which is illegal in Italy. The new legislation specifically allows courts to keep granting homosexuals parental rights regarding each other's children in certain circumstances, a practice which has led to a handful of recent rulings in favour of homosexual parents. Italy was the last of the European Union's 28 nations to grant legal recognition to civil unions Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said it was a "day of celebration" for those "who finally feel recognised" Italy has joined the rest of Europe in giving some legal rights to gay couples. The lower Chamber of Deputies voted 372-51 with 99 abstentions to approve legislation already passed in February by the Senate. Earlier, the chamber approved a confidence motion tied to the law. Gay rights activists hailed the vote as historic, given that Italy was the last of the European Union's 28 nations to grant legal recognition to civil unions. But they voiced disappointment that the government had sacrificed a provision to allow gay adoption to ensure passage. The legislation grants same-sex couples many of the same rights as married couples like the possibility of having the same last name, inheritance rights, hospital visitation rights and medical decision-making rights. But it stops short of authorising gay marriage. The Vatican maintains that marriage is a lifelong bond between man and woman. Italy's premier Matteo Renzi praised the vote as "writing another important page for the Italy that we love". Mr Renzi wrote on Facebook: "Today is a day of celebration for so many. For those who finally feel recognised." Italy's leading Catholic bishop, Monsignor Nunzio Galantino, had criticised the government's decision to put the bill to a confidence vote to ensure passage, saying it was a "loss for everyone". Mr Renzi replied that he did so to avoid "any more delays after years of failed attempts". Gabriele Piazzoni, national secretary for gay rights group Arcigay, said: "It is lacking full equality, which is what we were asking for. But still, this is a crucial moment." Attendees tryout virtual reality headsets at the CES Asia in Shanghai on May 11. [Photo/cesasia.cn] Virtual Reality headsets, wearable devices and 3D printing shine at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Asia which kicked off Tuesday in Shanghai. Analysts believe the second running of the event will see a distinct shift away from the usually dominant and ubiquitous smartphone. More than 300 companies from 23 different countries are set to attend the second annual CES Asia, exhibiting everything from 3D printers and drones to wearable devices and VR headsets. Floor space has almost doubled in comparison to last year's debut event, from two halls to four. But one tech category not so prominent at this year's event appears to be smartphones with its almost saturated market in China. As Jason Low, Tech Industry expert at Canalys suggests, the markets are looking for something new. "We don't see a lot of - let's say - smartphone vendors or PC vendors joining in the show this time around. So, I also believe that the market is now looking for something new, looking for the next trend, next exciting product and the focus is not on smartphones, it's not on tablets, it's not on PCs anymore." Low adds that what the next tech trend will be is anyone's guess, but one potential trend-setter is virtual reality. "So virtual reality and augmented reality, have been hyped - I wouldn't say hyped - but a very heated market where a lot of players are joining in right now. So, vendors, content providers, game publishers, everyone wants a pie from this VR and AR. So, over here we can see that in this CES, this year round, we see there are three, at least three to four local vendors joining in." Meanwhile, wearables are yet to take off as much as industry experts once predicted. Even so, there will be plenty of tech companies exhibiting smart devices at CES Asia. Likewise, 3D printers are yet to hit the mainstream, but Low says he expects things to stay that way for a little while longer. Another potential top trend at CES Asia is smart cars, as well-known German brands BMW and Mercedes are both in attendance. China's economic growth slowed to a seven-year low of 6.7 percent in the first quarter of this year. However, Laurel Gu with the Global market researchers Mintel says China's recent economic slowdown has had relatively little impact on purchasing. "We do see that China's economy has been slowing over the past few years, but what is worth noticing is that it is mainly the second industry sector, just the manufacturing industry sector that is dragging the economy, but it actually had relatively less of an impact on consumer spending." The second annual CES Asia will last until Friday with more than 30,000 visitors expected to attend the event. The aftermath of a tornado in Wynnewood, Oklahoma (Nate Billings/The Oklahoman/AP) The governor of Oklahoma has declared a state of emergency for 15 counties where tornadoes, severe storms and flooding have damaged property and caused two deaths. The executive order issued by Mary Fallin will permit state agencies to make emergency purchases and acquisitions to expedite the delivery of resources to local communities. The declaration also marks a first step towards seeking federal disaster assistance should it be necessary. The order can be amended to add more counties if needed. Chester Barnes, 76, was found dead on Monday in the city of Wynnewood after his home was "blown apart by the tornado", according to Garvin County emergency services. Jackie Brooks, 76, from Milburn, also died in the storms. The medical examiner's office is examining the bodies to determine formal causes of death. At least seven more people were taken to hospital with injuries. Meanwhile, officials said a tornado had caused damage and injuries in western Kentucky. The National Weather Service in Paducah confirmed a tornado touched down near Mayfield. Homes and businesses in the area were reportedly damaged by the storm, and Kentucky State Police said at least eight people were injured. A man described by his family as "depressed" went on a stabbing rampage hours after leaving a hospital, killing two people and assaulting and stabbing more in a house and a shopping centre before being fatally shot by an off-duty sheriff's deputy, authorities said. The assailant in Tuesday night's attack was identified as Arthur DaRosa, of Taunton. Officials said they are searching for a motive. DaRosa's sister and father said he had claimed that the devil was trying to make him do things, the Boston Herald reported. Kerri Devries said her younger brother had battled depression for years and was treated in hospital as recently as Monday. "He told them how depressed he was and how he didn't want to live any more and they still let him leave," Ms Devries told the Herald. DaRosa's father said he visited his son in the hospital Monday night and was surprised when he showed up at the family's home on Tuesday morning. "He needed help, so we tried very much to help," the elder Arthur DaRosa told the newspaper. "Why did they release him this morning? That's the question. He came over to get his keys to go to work. He was good. Normal. No attitude. He was calm." The elder DaRosa said the last he heard was that his son went to his own daughter's football game on Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said the rampage began when the 28-year-old DaRosa crashed a car at around outside of a house in the city, about 40 miles south of Boston. He walked inside the home and stabbed two women. An 80-year-old was taken to a hospital, where she later died. The other woman was being treated for life-threatening injuries. DaRosa then drove to the Silver City Galleria shopping centre, where he crashed into the front of a Macy's department store, authorities said. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M Quinn III said when DaRosa got out of the vehicle, he assaulted a number of people inside Macy's before making his way to Bertucci's restaurant. Once inside the restaurant, he stabbed two people, including George Heath, 56, a high school teacher who later died. An off-duty sheriff's deputy intervened and shot DaRosa once, Mr Quinn said. DaRosa was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Mr Heath was a visual design teacher at Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical School, said James O'Brien, the school's superintendent-director. "He inspired kids to understand their true creativity," Mr O'Brien said on Wednesday. "He is certainly going to be missed." Mr Heath had worked at the school about four years. Witnesses described the scene at the shopping centre as chaotic. Alex Mace and Jenn Breault told WBZ-TV that they had just arrived when they spotted a girl hiding in the bushes outside of Bertucci's. "You could just tell she was scared for her life," they told the station. "She was kind of hiding behind a bush with her head down." The girl told the couple what she had just seen. "She saw a guy walk in and he grabbed a chair to hurt one of the waitresses and she saw him stab the waitress," Ms Breault said. Authorities did not immediately identify the other victims. Glass, debris and overturned furniture are strewn inside a room in the gutted US consulate in Benghazi (AP/Ibrahim Alaguri) The US Justice Department says it will not seek the death penalty against the suspected Libyan militant charged in the Benghazi attacks that killed a US ambassador and three other Americans. Federal officials announced their decision on Tuesday in the case of Ahmed Abu Khattala. His lawyers had implored the Justice Department to remove the death penalty as a possibility if Khattala is ultimately convicted at trial. Khattala was captured by US special forces in Libya two years ago and brought to the US aboard a Navy ship. He has been awaiting trial in federal court in Washington in connection with the September 2012 attacks on a diplomatic compound in Benghazi. Prosecutors have described him as a ringleader of the attacks, which quickly emerged as a divisive US political flashpoint. SHARE By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail Funeral arrangements were announced Tuesday for Army veteran Charlie Pannell, the Anderson resident who died this week of complications from a service injury. A funeral service will be held Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at New Prospect Baptist Church, at 2503 Whitehall Road in Anderson. Paul Howell, a spokesman for Upstate Warrior Solution, said the public is encouraged to line the roadways leading to the church in a show of support for Pannell's family. The family will receive friends at the church from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday before the service. A private burial will follow Monday at M.J. "Dolly" Cooper Veterans Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Upstate Warrior Solution. The non-profit organization that acts a clearinghouse to help veterans get services and benefits. Pannell was an outreach specialist there and met with other veterans to help determine their needs. Pannell, 35, was found unresponsive Sunday morning by his wife, Bethany. She had just fed the couple's 8-month-old son, Garrett, before checking on her husband. Anderson County Coroner Greg Shore said an autopsy this week revealed that Charlie Pannell had a partial bowel obstruction and that he aspirated in his sleep. Pannell was a graduate of T.L. Hanna High School. He was injured by an explosion in Mosul in September 2008. Since then, the Independent Mail has chronicled volunteers' efforts to make his home more accessible and reported on Pannell's hopes to compete in the Paralympic Games. Follow Nikie Mayo @NikieMayo Health authorities in east China are investigating a local hospital after a man claimed that his kidney was missing after surgeries. Health authorities in east China are investigating a local hospital after a man claimed that his kidney was missing after surgeries. Local media reported that last June, Liu Yongwei was in a traffic accident and underwent a surgery in the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical College in east China's Jiangsu Province. During the surgery, the doctor examined Liu's kidney and told him it was put back to the right place. Two months later, when Liu was discharged from the Xuzhou hospital, he went to a hospital in Shandong Province for further treatment. However, the Shandong hospital couldn't find his right kidney in a CT scan and refused to admit him. Liu then returned to Jiangsu Province to consult a military hospital, which also failed to find his right kidney. Liu asked the Xuzhou hospital to make an explanation, but received no reply. In response to the report, the Xuzhou hospital released a statement on Thursday afternoon, saying the report was misleading. The hospital provided CT scan photos of Liu's body taken the first day and the fifth day after the surgery, which showed his right kidney in his body. Xu Kai, a radiologist of the Xuzhou hospital, said that Liu's right kidney might atrophy gradually, a long-term result of the traffic accident, which explained why the other two hospitals failed to see the kidney during CT scans. The Health and Family Planning Commission of Xuzhou City has sent an investigation team composed of medical experts and officials to the hospital. A third-party medical institution has been hired to conduct a thorough examination of Liu's body. The credibility of Chinese hospitals has been greatly undermined after a massive medical scandal broke earlier this month. Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old college student, died from a rare cancer after receiving treatment in a private clinic affiliated to a military hospital. Result Highlights: (Rs. in crore) Reported Results IIFL Estimates Variance (%) Consolidated Revenue 2989.66 3071 [2.65] Consolidated Net Profit 245.16 299 [18.01] Apollo Tyres, tyre maker, reported consolidated net profit of Rs.245.16 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, registering decline of 20.27% yoy and 11.98% qoq. The companys consolidated revenue stood at Rs. 2,989.66 crore, down 5.38% yoy but up 1.39% qoq.Its consolidated core operating profit of Rs. 477.32 crore for the quarter, declined by 7.65% yoy and 5.59% qoq. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 15.97% contracted by 39 bps yoy and 118 bps qoq.For the year ended March 31, 2016, the company reported consolidated net profit of Rs. 1,093.01 crore, growing by 11.81% yoy. Its consolidated revenue for the period stood at Rs. 11,793.02 crore, registering decline of 7.98% yoy.Apollo Tyres Ltd's core operating profit stood at Rs. 1,968.23 crore, recording growth of 1.95% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 16.53% expanded by 146 bps yoy.On standalone basis,Apollo Tyres Ltd, reported standalone net profit of Rs. 210.62 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, registering growth of 15.46% yoy and 6.76% qoq. The companys standalone revenue stood at Rs. 2,155.20 crore, down 4.91% yoy but up 0.29% qoq.Its standalone core operating profit of Rs. 375.44 crore for the quarter, declined by 0.1% yoy and 1.6% qoq. Operating profit margin for the current quarter at 17.42% expanded by 84 bps yoy but contracted by 33 bps qoq.For the year ended March 31, 2016, the company reported standalone net profit of Rs. 852.48 crore, growing by 32.15% yoy. Its standalone revenue for the period stood at Rs. 8,701.64 crore, registering decline of 2.96% yoy.Apollo Tyres Ltd's core operating profit stood at Rs. 1,560.73 crore, recording growth of 18.65% yoy. Operating margin for the current period at 17.83% expanded by 316 bps yoy.Consolidated EPS for the quarter stood at Rs. 4.82.Bloomberg estimated the companys consolidated net profit at Rs. 287.86 crore.Apollo Tyres board of directors at its meeting held on May 11, 2016 has recommended the Final dividend at the rate of Rs. 2/- per Equity Share of Re. 1 each for the year, subject to the approval of the shareholders at the ensuing Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Company, which shall be paid/ dispatched on or before 10th day from the conclusion of AGM; andApollo Tyres Ltd ended at Rs. 153.4, up by 1.05 points or 0.69% from its previous closing of Rs. 152.35 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 150 and touched a high and low of Rs. 154.25 and Rs. 148.5 respectively. A total of 2949928(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 7754.99 crore.The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 223.3 on 05-Aug-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 127.95 on 20-Jan-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 160.5 and Rs. 151.3 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 44.15 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 41.91 % and 13.94 % respectively.The stock traded above its 200 DMA. Indian Bank, reported standalone net profit of Rs.84.49 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, registering decline of 59.02% yoy, but growth of 99.73% qoq. It's Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter stood at Rs. 1,134.63 crore, clocking growth of 2.41% yoy and 2.14% qoq. Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) for the quarter stood at 6.66% up 226 bps yoy and 105 bps qoq. Provisions at Rs.813.58crore were higher 44.62% yoy and 13.3% qoq. For the year ended March 31, 2016, the bank reported net profit of Rs. 711.38 crore, witnessing decline of 29.23% yoy. It's NII for the current period of Rs. 4,446.18 crore was down 0.56% yoy. Provisions during the period at Rs. 2,076.78 crore were higher by 34.41% yoy. Result Highlights: (Rs. in crore) Reported Results IIFL Estimates Variance (%) Standalone Revenue 1134.63 1144 (0.81) Standalone Net Profit 84.49 124 (31.86) Standalone EPS for the quarter stood at Rs. 1.76.Bloomberg estimated the companys standalone net profit at Rs. 734.50 crore.Indian Bank is currently trading at Rs. 90.5, down by 3.3 points or 3.52% from its previous closing of Rs. 93.8 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 91.6 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 93.9 and Rs. 90 respectively. So far 121925(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 4505.14 crore.The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 171 on 01-Jun-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 76 on 29-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 96 and Rs. 90.1 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 82.1 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 14.03 % and 3.86 % respectively.The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA. Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) for the quarter stood at 3.77% up 206 bps yoy and 102 bps qoq. Provisions at Rs.116.25crore, lower by 15.6% yoy but higher by 9.27% qoq. For the year ended March 31, 2016, the bank reported net profit of Rs. 333.27 crore, registering growth of 8.49% yoy. It's NII for the current period of Rs. 1,509.70 crore was up 10.5% yoy. Provisions during the period at Rs. 369.62 crore were lower by 10.73% yoy. South Indian Bank, Thrissur-based state-owned bank, reported standalone net profit of Rs.72.97 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, registering growth of 347.12% yoy, but decline of 28.2% qoq. It's Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter stood at Rs. 374.29 crore, clocking growth of 7.84% yoy, but declining 7.97% qoqGross non-performing assets (GNPA) for the quarter stood at 3.77% up 206 bps yoy and 102 bps qoq. Provisions at Rs.116.25crore, lower by 15.6% yoy but higher by 9.27% qoq.For the year ended March 31, 2016, the bank reported net profit of Rs. 333.27 crore, registering growth of 8.49% yoy. It's NII for the current period of Rs. 1,509.70 crore was up 10.5% yoy.Provisions during the period at Rs. 369.62 crore were lower by 10.73% yoy. Result Highlights: (Rs. in crore) Reported Results IIFL Estimates Variance (%) Standalone Revenue 374.29 402 [6.89] Standalone Net Profit 72.97 92 [20.68] Bloomberg estimated the companys standalone net profit at Rs. 1,024.83 crore.South Indian Bank has recommended a dividend of Re. 0.50 value of Re. 1/- each (Previous Year Re.0.60 per equity share) for the financial year ended March 31, 2016, subject to the approval of the shareholders of the Bank. The dividend, if approved by the shareholder at the ensuing Annual General Meeting (AGM), will be paid within 30 days from the date of AGMSouth Indian Bank Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 18, up by 0.05 points or 0.28% from its previous closing of Rs. 17.95 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 17.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 18.25 and Rs. 17.7 respectively. So far 6891610(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 2423.8 crore.The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 25.9 on 06-Jul-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 16.4 on 29-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 18.2 and Rs. 17.65 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 0 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 51.62 % and 48.38 % respectively.The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA. Colorcon Inc. is pleased to announce its investment in a new film coating manufacturing plant in Indaiatuba Sao Paulo State, Brazil, supporting the continued growth of the pharmaceutical industry in South America. The construction is scheduled for completion by October 2016 with the production of commercial scale product scheduled for January 2017. Strategically located, the site will produce GMP film coating products for the pharmaceutical and nutritional markets in South America, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160503007251/en/ Colorcon's new film coating manufacturing plant in Indaiatuba, Sao Paulo State, Brazil (Photo: Business Wire) Martti Hedman, CEO, Colorcon Inc.explains the significance of Colorcons investment as another example of our strategy to position manufacturing facilities close to our customers. We want to make it easy for customers to work with Colorcon. This facility allows our customers to take advantage of shorter lead times on all of our film coating products, and reduces the risk of importation delays. In addition, the Indaiatuba facility is another important step in further securing the supply chain for our customers, by providing a South American component in Colorcon s Business Continuity Plan, with the capability to supply and export film coatings with the same quality, consistency and equivalency for product manufactured in our other six production plants around the world. Perry Cozzone, President Americas adds, Colorcon is committed to providing the highest quality products and superior service to meet our customer's needs around the world. This investment reinforces our dedication to providing exceptional support we believe our customers deserve while providing greater flexibility in the scheduling of their production, ultimately leading to their products reaching the market faster. Colorcon Brazil will continue to support customers across the region with formulation and development of pharmaceutical products through the Technical Service Laboratory already established at Cotia, Sao Paulo. Originally opened in 2000, this support facility has continued to provide samples and applications support for over 16 years in the region. Company Information Colorcon is a world leader in the development, supply and technical support of specialty excipients: formulated film coating systems, modified release technologies, and functional excipients for the pharmaceutical industry. Colorcon currently has 10 manufacturing facilities, 19 technical service laboratories globally and more than 1200 employees. For more information, visit www.colorcon.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160503007251/en/ MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE :http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160503007251/en/ The Protocol for amendment of the Convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains between India and Mauritius was signed by both countries today at Port Louis, Mauritius.Corporate India's merger and acquisition activity witnessed a significant uptrend in April and touched $3.64 billion, over two-fold jump over the corresponding period last year. (BS)Government has initiated a probe into dumping of certain radial tyres from China that are used in buses, lorries and trucks and may end up imposing duty on them to protect the domestic industry. (ET)The state of Tamil Nadu has been placed on top in terms of growth in live investments attracted by the irrigation sector. Compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) was over 32% between 2004-05 and 2014-15. (BS) Google+ is a social network which is in steady decline. Despite its 418 million active users, the platform can be considered a niche network for heads of state and governments, very few of which are active on the platform.The social network enjoyed explosive growth after it was introduced in 2011, reaching 25 million users in just a month. Through the integration with other Google products such as Gmail and YouTube, many users were forced to sign up to Google+ but have not been active on the platform. While the initial fan count exploded, the engagement on the social network did not follow suit. The New York Times even compared Google+ to a ghost town, as half of the 540 million monthly active users did not even visit the social network.Burson-Marstellers research team has identified 271 Google+ pages of heads of state and government and foreign ministers. However only a third of these pages were active in the past six months and very few on a regular basis; 122 pages have been dormant for more than six months and 55 pages have never posted content. While all of the pages combined have a total of 22,270,176 followers, the engagement rate of the pages surveyed is often well below 1 percent. Fifty-four pages are officially verified and carry an official verification badge. Only a quarter of all pages have a custom URL preceded by the + symbol and only slightly more than half of the pages have uploaded a custom header picture.Barack Obama is the most followed world leader on Google+ with 6.2 million followers, almost twice as many as the White House (+WhiteHouse) with 3.2 million followers. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (+NarendraModi) is in third place with nearly 3.1 million followers. The +EuropeanCommission is in fourth place with 1.6 million followers and UK Prime Minister David Cameron is in fifth position with more than a million followers. HH Sheikh Mohammed, the Prime Minister of the UAE; the government of the Philippines; Indias Foreign Ministry +MEAIndia; the government of Brazil; and Spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also make the top 10 list of the most followed Google+ pages. Eight pages surveyed do not display the number of followers.Although governments have gathered respectable followings, they are barely active on the platform and a post on Google+ is often done only as an afterthought. Barack Obamas page has been dormant since March 2015 and the page of the UK Foreign Office and the Philippine government have been dormant since mid-2015. David Cameron posted his last update on January 1, 2016 to wish his followers a Happy New Year, and the last post from Brazils president was on her birthday on December 14, 2015. Spanish Prime Minister Rajoys page, which was used during his election campaign, has been inactive since his election in December 2011.The White House has only posted four posts this year, namely three clips and a picture from the annual #YouTubeAsksObama interview with top YouTube creators conducted in the White House in January 2016 after Barack Obamas last State of the Union address. HH Sheikh Mohammed, the Prime Minister of the UAE, posted only one post in 2016, a link to his LinkedIn publication on why the UAE has created Ministers for Happiness, Tolerance, Youth and the Future.The Brazilian government has the most active Google+ page with 1,455 posts since the beginning of 2016. The page is linked to its website, automatically posting, when a new story is published on the website. However, the page only received on average five interactions per publication and has one of the lowest engagement rate with 0.0008 percent interactions in relation to the number of followers.The Indian Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department have posted 550 and 428 posts respectively in 2016, mainly sharing videos from their YouTube channels, posting picture galleries of official meetings and links from their websites. Both Foreign Ministries receive on average 40 comments, likes and shares on each of their posts, but the U.S. State Department has a slightly better engagement rate as it has only half as many followers as its Indian counterpart. Both pages essentially recycle their Facebook posts on their Google+ pages, with the State Department even posting an invitation to a live Facebook Q&A on its Google+ page.The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most effective world leader on Google+. His posts get on average 1,899 interactions and he has received a total of 478,000 likes, comment and shares on his publications in 2016, with an engagement rate of 0,0615percent The White House is in second position with an average of 594 interactions on its four posts and HH Sheikh Mohamed received 462 interactions on his single post in 2016.Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is in fourth position, with an average of 119 interactions, and Ukraines President Petro Poroshenko averages 71 interactions on his posts. The European Commission tailors its content to Google+, even sometimes tagging other Google+ users in its posts.The EU Commission can claim an average of 62 interactions per post on Google+. The EU Commission has also created a set of 10 interest-based collections for Migration, Europe's External Action, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the Digital Single Market et al. which users can follow to receive topical posts.Some people argue that the single most important reason to have an active Google+ page is for search engine optimization. Until recently, Google+ pages were displayed prominently on the right hand side next to Googles search results.However, Google+ pages are no longer displayed alongside search results unless the social media profile is linked from the official website using structured data markup. Only the pages of Italys Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Kenyas President Uhuru Kenyatta, Bhutans Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, Maltas Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Germanys Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier have linked their Google+ profiles from their respective webpages and their social media properties are displayed below the Wikipedia pages in Google search.Probably the most important reason to set up a Google+ page is the possibility to organize live video calls, known as Google Hangouts. These videos chats allow direct interaction with up to 10 people in a live video broadcast, the recording of which is available immediately afterwards on YouTube.Barack Obama participated in one such Google+ hangout, moderated by Googles Steve Grove in January 2014, and Indias Narendra Modi conducted a Google+ hangout on his channel to answer questions from citizens in 2012 when he was still Chief Minister of Gujarat State. The two-hour long conversation, now available on his YouTube channel, has been watched 770,000 times since. Other leaders who have used Google Hangouts to talk directly with their constituents include German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Maltas Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.In essence, Google+ seems to suffer from social media fatigue, as it is often the last social network a community manager will actually service, often reposting posts from Facebook. World Leaders are slowly abandoning the platform and even the high interaction on live Google+ Hangouts has been supplanted by Facebook live and Periscope broadcasting applications. Banks in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries have sufficient buffers to remain resilient to external macroeconomic headwinds in 2016. The outlook for the region's banking sector is therefore stable."The fair-to-satisfactory profitability and generally sound capitalization of ASEAN banks should mitigate an erosion in asset quality in 2016," said S&P Global Ratings credit analyst Ivan Tan. "Many of these banks are systemically important and benefit from a high likelihood of government support."We believe nonperforming loans (NPLs) of ASEAN banks will continue to rise in 2016. However, our base case assumes a gradual deterioration, rather than a sharp spike in delinquencies.The asset quality of banks in Singapore will be vulnerable to further deterioration in external conditions. The quality of overseas loans of these banks, particularly to emerging markets such as Indonesia and India, has continued to weaken.Indonesia's banking sector will continue to face difficult operating conditions in 2016, marked by slower growth and higher credit stress. We expect the Indonesian banks' reported NPLs to increase to 3%-4% of total system loans in 2016, from 2.9% in February 2016.We expect loan growth to reduce in most ASEAN economies due to a slowdown in the regional economies."Loan growth in Malaysian could moderate to 6%-8% in 2016, from a five-year average of 10%, amid unfolding external uncertainties about the pace of U.S. Fed rate normalization and the economic rebalancing in China," said Tan. The Protocol for amendment of the Convention for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital gains between India and Mauritius was signed by both countries today at Port Louis, Mauritius. The key features of the Protocol are as under:Source-based taxation of capital gains on shares: With this Protocol, India gets taxation rights on capital gains arising from alienation of shares acquired on or after 1st April, 2017 in a company resident in India with effect from financial year 2017-18, while simultaneously protection to investments in shares acquired before 1st April, 2017 has also been provided. Further, in respect of such capital gains arising during the transition period from 1st April, 2017 to 31st March, 2019, the tax rate will be limited to 50% of the domestic tax rate of India, subject to the fulfillment of the conditions in the Limitation of Benefits Article. Taxation in India at full domestic tax rate will take place from financial year 2019-20 onwards.: The benefit of 50% reduction in tax rate during the transition period from 1st April, 2017 to 31st March, 2019 shall be subject to LOB Article, whereby a resident of Mauritius (including a shell / conduit company) will not be entitled to benefits of 50% reduction in tax rate, if it fails the main purpose test and bonafide business test. A resident is deemed to be a shell/ conduit company, if its total expenditure on operations in Mauritius is less than Rs. 2,700,000 (Mauritian Rupees 1,500,000) in the immediately preceding 12 months.Source-based taxation of interest income of banks: Interest arising in India to Mauritian resident banks will be subject to withholding tax in India at the rate of 7.5% in respect of debt claims or loans made after 31st March, 2017. However, interest income of Mauritian resident banks in respect of debt-claims existing on or before 31st March, 2017 shall be exempt from tax in India.The Protocol also provides for updation of Exchange of Information Article as per international standard, provision for assistance in collection of taxes, source-based taxation of other income, amongst other changes.: The Protocol will tackle the long pending issues of treaty abuse and round tripping of funds attributed to the India-Mauritius treaty, curb revenue loss, prevent double non-taxation, streamline the flow of investment and stimulate the flow of exchange of information between India and Mauritius. It will improve transparency in tax matters and will help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance. At the same time, existing investments, i.e. investments made before 1.4.2017 have been grand-fathered and will not be subject to capital gains taxation in India. Total Income is Rs.79104.10 mn for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 whereas the same was at Rs.61722.60 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2015. The Group has posted a profit after tax of Rs.34588.50 mn for the year ended March 31, 2016 where as the same was at Rs. 30454.50 mn for the year ended March 31, 2015. Total Income is Rs.279745.20 mn for the year ended March 31, 2016 whereas the same was at Rs.214227.50 mn for the year ended March 31, 2015. Kotak Mahindra Bank posted a profit after tax of Rs.10552.30 mn for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 whereas the same was at Rs.9126.00 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.Gross NPA was at 2.36% as against 2.3% qoq, whereas Net Interest Margin was at 4.35%. Standalone net NPA came in at Rs.1,262 crore.The Board of Directors of the Bank at its meeting held on May 11, 2016, has recommended dividend of Rs.0.50 paise per share.Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 732.15, up by Rs. 10.65 or 1.48% from its previous closing of Rs. 721.5 on the BSE.The scrip opened at Rs. 722 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 734.7 and Rs. 715.7 respectively. So far 2242465(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 132367.14 crore.The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 744.45 on 21-Jul-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 586.5 on 29-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 725 and Rs. 697 respectively.The promoters holding in the company stood at 33.7 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 40.64 % and 25.66 % respectively.The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA. The Supreme Court ruled that Parliament can make and enact a call drop compensation rule. Supreme Court has dismissed the call drop penalty, making the TRAI decision null and void.The court said that the call drop levy is arbitrary and unconstitutional in Nature.TRAI regulation had made it mandatory for telecos to compensate subscribers for call drop; SC struck down the decision deeming it arbitrary, unreasonable, and non-transparent. Vodafone India announced the next phase of its 4G rollout, which will cover the key circles Gujarat, Haryana, UP (E) and West Bengal. With this roll out, Vodafone SuperNet 4G, will be available across 1,000 towns this year. Sunil Sood, MD and CEO, Vodafone India said, The response from customers who have experienced our 4G services in the five circles of Kerala, Karnataka, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi & NCR is positive and encouraging. With the expansion of Vodafone SuperNet 4G across 9 circles, our customers in Gujarat, Haryana, UP(E) and West Bengal too will enjoy the multiple benefits of the worlds largest 4G network. As we expand our 4G coverage across the country, we remain steadfast in our commitment to offer our customers a world-class data and voice experience. The nine circles of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana, Gujarat, UP (E) and West Bengal, together contribute to just under 70% of Vodafone Indias data revenues. Vodafone has recently modernized and upgraded its entire network across the country to Vodafone SuperNet, empowering customers to enjoy a superior network experience and remain confidently connected at all times, for their voice and data needs. Speaking about Vodafone SuperNet, Sunil Sood, MD and CEO, Vodafone India said, In the past year, significant investments have been made to expand, enhance and upgrade our network enabling us to provide a better and richer network experience to 198 million customers. We will continue our focus on deploying multiple technologies-2G, 3G & 4G to cater to the myriad connectivity needs of both urban and rural customers. Our future-fit network is ready to service the rising demands of an increasingly Digital India. Partnering with leading global technology infrastructure service providers, Vodafone has invested in building a robust and resilient network architecture. Vodafone SuperNet incorporates some of the latest technological advancements to support the growing traffic volumes and need for speed from customers. The creation of Vodafone SuperNet entailed establishing several new records in terms of size, pace and scale of deployment. These include: Largest deployment of SON: Self-Optimizing Network (SON) technology used to deliver superior mobile experience, improve voice call quality and reduce dropped calls HD Voice (High-Definition): The entire Vodafone network across the country is equipped to deliver HD voice quality Future Ready Network: Upgraded entire radio network to all-IP technology, making it 5G ready Tower every Hour: Set-up a record number of over 30,000 sites in 2015 to expand and enhance voice and data coverage across the country Single RAN: Built energy efficient network, capable for deploying advance technology with just a software upgrade Fibre Backhaul: 40kms fibre/day, High capacity Fibre backhaul (over 160,000 kms of fibre laid in 9 months ended Dec 31, 2015) enabling significant volumes of seamless data flow Introduced Worlds largest 4G Network in India: on efficient and superior 1800Mhz in 5 circles, first to offer international roaming on 4G Faster, smarter and better Mobile Internet: Expanded own 3G coverage to 16 circles My recent trip to Atlanta helped me discover some delicious cuisine. Typically when I go out of town, Im on the hunt for authentic, local food not some chain restaurant I can have at home. Well I thought I was eating local, but I found out otherwise after my great experience at Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill. My friend Mia had raved about this restaurant ever since our plane touched down. After our visit to a local event, we knew Smokey Bones was next on the days agenda. A 15-minute car ride led us right to a busy restaurant and a few people at the host stand. After being seated immediately, Mia recommended the smoked wings, which sounded great, but I wanted to look over the entire menu before making a selection. Traditional barbecue dishes were offered such as baby back ribs, beef brisket, smoked chicken breast and others. Customers can also choose from a variety of seafood dishes like the Hickory Smoked Salmon and fish and chips. Many dishes sounded tasty, but I ultimately decided on the create-your-own combo with smoked wings, which were rubbed with seasonings and drizzled with a sweet glaze, and two sides. The sides were what I was most excited to choose, as they were classic soul food choices, many of which I dont make at home as I try to eat healthy. I chose macaroni and cheese and broccoli (I couldnt help myself) as my sides, and I got even more excited when I saw the meal came with toasted garlic bread. Fifteen minutes later, our meals arrived and the table was silent, mostly from all of the eating we were doing. The smoked wings were flavorful and juicy, and the sides were everything I dreamed they would be. Our server was pleasant, and the restaurants food runner was just as charming. She visited our table a few times to chat about our visit to the city and other things. She was so kind that once we were ready to leave, we tried to tip her for her great service, but she refused. About a week later, I found myself Googling Smokey Bones, and what do you know I discovered one in Greenwood! Two emotions hit me: I was excited because I could easily jump in my car and enjoy those smoked wings once again, but I was devastated that I didnt enjoy authentic Atlanta food! I guess Ill have to make a trip back and dig a little deeper. In the meantime, I did visit the Greenwood location and had a similar great experience. I later found out on the dessert menu the restaurant offers Hot Bag O Donuts, a bag of fresh, fluffy, round, cinnamon-sugary donuts, served warm with chocolate and raspberry dipping sauces. Im so upset I visited Smokey Bones twice and did not discover this dessert until after. I guess thats another place Ill have to add to my revisit list. Smokey Bones 780 U.S. Highway 31 N. Greenwood, IN 46142 smokeybones.com (317) 859-6499 The first cases of what became HIV/AIDS hit the news on June 5, 1981. Soon, Phill Wilson, then just 25, and his new boyfriend Chris Brownlie were both diagnosed with swollen lymph nodes, which their doctor suggested could be related to the mysterious disease. But they were not afraid: the media widely reported that GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) was a White gay disease on the East and West coasts, or was contracted through poppers or by contact with sexual athletesnone of which they thought pertained to their lives in Chicago. Our doctor didnt know much. No one had any information, says Wilson. But then members of their gay softball team got sick and died in a matter of weeks. Thats when it became real. The epidemic, that has killed more than 25 million people worldwide, ended up engulfing Wilsons life. He founded the gutsy and powerful Black AIDS Institute and became one of Americas foremost AIDS and gay-rights activists, featured in the new CNN docu-series, The Eighties. As he comes up to his 60th birthday, his lived experience shows how a person with humbled beginnings can stand up to almost anything, even a global plague. Wilson and Brownlie moved to Los Angeles in the spring of 1982, started a Black giftware company and got involved in the gay and civil rights organization Black and White Men Together. Thats when it got scary, he says. We had four or five friends sick at a time, most of them were Black. They didnt look like any of them, the media was talking about. We realized that nobody gave a damn. Either we were going to die or we were going to have to fight, and still we might die. Die or fight or both. I had just met Chris. I had just found myself. I wasnt ready to let either go. So, we fought and did whatever we could to not dieand to help our friends not die. It was a jarring epiphanybut Wilson was spiritually prepared for the fight. When you are a poor Black kid in the 1950s living in a housing project on the south side of Chicago, there is a lot your parents can not do or provide, Wilson says. But what they can do is to make sure you know that you are loved and you matter. That is what my parents did for me, my brothers and my sister. They knew they could not shield us from a racist world forever. Eventually we would hear messages that we were not OKthat we were the wrong color, our hair was wrong, or our noses were too broad. So they made sure we had some internalized protectionkind of like PrEP for racism. He chuckled. They wanted us to know our lives were worth fighting for. But even more important, Wilson says, his parents gave him a sense of responsibility for helping and understanding others, and an appreciation of his own privilege. When Wilson and his neighbor started kindergarten together, Wilson already knew how to read, tie his shoes, do some of the other things you learn in kindergarten. His friend, the middle child of 8 kids, a girl and dark, was not as prepared and was ignored by teachers while Wilson was perceived to be cute and favored. My friend couldnt do a lot of things the teachers were supposed to teach her to do. So I took it upon myself to help her, Wilson says. But the teachers disapproved and separated them. Wilson told his parents how upset he was. It was the first time I realized that people could be treated differently because of who they were, what they knew, or how they looked. She eventually dropped out of school and became a teenage mother. I blamed that kindergarten teacher. To this day, I believe I should have helped her more. I try to avoid that feeling. Survival and mutual responsibility are at the heart of the message Wilson conveys in his fight against AIDS. In 1986, Wilson volunteered to fight against the horrific Proposition 64 AIDS quarantine initiative sponsored by right-wing anti-gay activist Lyndon LaRouchean initiative many feared would lead to branding, rounding up and putting people with AIDS into concentration camps. After the initiatives defeat, Wilson and Brownlie worked with Michael Weinstein, Albert Ruiz, Mary Adair and others to found the AIDS Hospice Foundationlater to become the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, launching Wilsons spectacular thirty-year national career fighting for LGBT and black civil rights and for people with HIV/AIDS. He served as the director of Stop AIDS Los Angeles, director of public policy and planning for AIDS Project Los Angeles, co-founder of the Black Gay & Lesbian Leadership Forum, AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles, member of the Presidents AIDS Advisory Council, and the nations conscience as the founder of the Black AIDS Institute. Few actually know how hard Wilson has personally fought to stay alive, taking every HIV drug as it became available (AZT, 3TC, D4T, and others), as did Brownlie. But science didnt advance quickly enough to save Brownlie, who succumbed to AIDS in 1989. In 1997, Wilson landed on deaths door but refused to believe it was his time to die. The miracle of combination drug therapy saved his life, as it did for countless others, leading some to believe that the AIDS epidemic was over. But AIDS is still a crisis, especially in Black and Latino communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2014, 44 percent of estimated new HIV diagnoses were among Blacks, who comprise 12 percent of the U.S. population.1 in 2 or 50 percent of Black gay and bisexual men in the United States are likely to develop HIV in the course of their life time. Our house is on fire, Wilson trumpets at every opportunity, hoping the community will hear and fight back. Farhan Akhtar's directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai is one feel-good-movie which you can watch anytime. It won't be wrong to call this multi-starer film a classic because from its dialogues to its songs, everything is freshly intact in our memories. From a road trip to Goa, Akash-Shalini's day out in Australia to the issue of a younger guy falling for an elderly woman, Dil Chahta Hai dealt everything with maturity. Remember how Akash and Sameer attended a birthday only to eat cake? "Hum cake khane ke liye kahin bhi ja sakte hain.."? There are so many dialogues and scenes that are etched like a beautiful memory in our hearts. Just to teleport you back to those days when all you wanted to do after watching the film was to go on a road trip with your friends, here are 18 stills that will make your hearts very happy. Have a look: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12 #13 #14 #15 #16 #17 #18 *Calls up my college gang to ARRANGE AN URGENT REUNION RIGHT NOW!* Kirk Alexander is such a loyal customer that when he didnt order anything in 11 days, the employees of his local Dominos outlet got worried and sent a delivery person to his house to check on him. Alexander, a 47-year-old who lives in Salem, USA has been a regular Dominos customer since 2009. via dailymail.co.uk He orders every day, every other day, said Sarah Fuller, the general manager of the outlet. His order pops up on the screen because he orders online. So we see it come across the screen and were like, Oh, Kirks order. But in the last week and a half, Alexander hadnt ordered anything. A few of my drivers had mentioned that we hadnt seen his order come across our screen in a while, Fuller told KATU.com. She said that is not like him at all, so on Sunday morning she asked pizza delivery driver Tracey Hamblen to go check on him. via latintimes.com When Hamblen reached Alexanders house, the lights and TV were on, but Alexander didnt come to the door. She tried to call Alexander, but the call went straight to voicemail. Suspecting that something was wrong, she got in touch with the outlet, and the assistant manager called for help. When the county sheriffs deputies arrived on the scene, they heard a man feebly calling for help from inside. They found Alexander lying on the floor suffering medical problems that could have ended his life, Marion County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lt. Chris Baldridge said. They took him to the hospital and the sheriff's office said that he is stable, however they would not reveal his exact medical condition, although some believe that he suffered a stroke. via dailymail.co.uk [Alexander is] an important customer thats part of our family here at Dominos. He orders all the time so we know him. I think we were just doing our job checking in on someone we know who orders a lot. We felt like we needed to do something, said Fuller. Police in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are hunting the killer of a whale shark after detaining two other people for purchasing the butchered state-protected animal. A netizen posted photos Saturday showing a shark being pulled out of the sea off Beihai City and transported away, prompting police investigations. A spokesperson with Beihai's public security bureau said that a suspect surnamed Liao bought the 370-kg shark for two yuan (0.3 U.S. dollars) per kg Saturday and sold it to another surnamed Huang for five yuan per kg. Huang is alleged to have turned the meat into fertilizer and sold it on. Whale shark is considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and is a Class-B protected species in China. They are spotted in waters off the Guangxi and Guangdong regions every May and June. On Wednesday, India marked the National Technology Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the technological achievements and advancements the country have made. The day also marks the 18th anniversary of India's second nuclear test, Pokhran-II. nuclearweaponarchive It was on this day, in 1998 India defied international restrictions and asserted itself as a nuclear power to be taken note of. The operation, codenamed 'Operation Shakti' was a sequence of five nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range. Of these, the first detonation was a fusion bomb and the remaining four were fission bombs. The bombs were named in a sequence from Shakti-I to Shakti-V. TOI It was two days later on May 13 the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee India officially made the acknowledgment of the test and announced itself a nuclear state. The 1998 tests were India's second experiment with nuclear weapons, the first, codenamed Smiling Buddha was held in May 1974 in Pokhran itself. Reactions The international community, especially those countries who were already in possession of nuclear weapons reacted strongly to India making its mark in the exclusive club. The country was slapped with tight economic sanctions from even friendly countries like Japan, Canada, the UK, the European Union and the US. Only two nuclear powers, Russia and France backed India's right to arm itself with nuclear weapons. nuclearweaponarchive Even though at the expense of the financial sanctions which effectively ended the flow of FDI to the country, India refused to roll back its weapons development programme. According to some estimates, India suffered losses to the sum of nearly 4 percent of its economy due to the trade embargo. The most vehement and strong reaction to India's nuclear explosion was from its neighbouring country, Pakistan, which issued a severe statement blaming India for instigating a nuclear arms race in the region. But fifteen days later Pakistan carried out multiple nuclear tests of its own, codename Chagai-I on 28 May and Chagai-II on 30 May. The site, Pokhran Khetolai village in Pokhran, was selected for the tests as it did not have underground water for thousands of metres and hence found suitable. Well aware of the CIA spying on its nuclear programme since 1995, the location of the first test became the choice because of the difficult terrain. nuclearweaponarchive Scientists Only a select few top scientists involved in the project had the real information on the developments on the ground. Then Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief Dr APJ Abdul Kalam was one of them. nuclearweaponarchive There were even claims that the scientists were made to travel in disguise under false names and reached the test site from various locations to avoid scrutiny. Under its current law, liquor baron Vijay Mallya cannot be deported to India, the British government said on Wednesday. The British Government said instead of deportation India should request him to be extradited. BCCL "The UK Government has informed us that under 1971 Immigration Act, the UK does not require an individual to hold a valid passport in order to remain in the UK if they have extant leave to remain as long as their passport was valid when leave to remain or enter UK was conferred. At same time, UK acknowledges the seriousness of allegations & is keen to assist Government of India," Vikas Swarup, spokesman, ministry of external affairs said. According to the British law, Mallya is still eligible to stay in the country as his passport was valid at the time when he reached UK. Facing legal action over loan default, Mallya had flown out of India on March 2, while his passport was still valid. The MEA revoked it only on April 24. India can still get him back if the government can seek his extradition. How is deportation different from extradition? Deportation is done at the government level through executive order after examining the evidence produced by a country where the fugitive is required for any offence. Extradition is a formal process wherein evidence against a fugitive is produced before the court for vetting. Extradition, is a lengthier process and involves a judicial decision for sending back a fugitive to the country where he or she is required to face law. India and Britain have an extradition treaty which was signed in 1992. BCCL Mallya, the promoter of the erstwhile Kingfisher Airlines owes more than Rs 9,000 crores to Indian banks, a sum which was way higher than the collateral which was pledged. Various efforts to reach a settlement and auction of other assets have hardly made any progress. It is election season and the top leadership of the BJP including PM Narendra Modi have been extensively campaigning in Kerala, where the party has so far not been able to open its account. PTI But on Sunday while addressing an election rally in the state, Modi compared Kerala, which is ranked first in Human Development Index in India with Somalia, one of the least developed countries in the world. "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," he had said. The remark drew immediate criticism from various corners including the state government. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has written to Modi asking him to withdraw the remark. PTI "This is unbecoming of a prime minister and has created a great deal of agony and protest. With great deal of regret, let me point out that previous PMs never attempted anything that brought disrepute to the office of the Prime Minister like you have done," Chandi Said. Keralites are using #PoMoneModi which roughly can be translated to 'Chal hat Modi' or simply a request to shut up in reply. When you go to a state and ask for their votes, you don't insult them as 'a Beemaru state' or comparing to Somalia. #PoMoneModi Tinu Cherian Abraham (@tinucherian) May 11, 2016 Gujrath standing 12th place in HDI and Kerala is at 1st. Which srate is Somaliya#PoMoneModi pk.Sreekanth (@pK_srikanth) May 11, 2016 Whats #PoMoneModi mean? Friends tell me: ja beta ja. Go home!but mone is son, so sort of go home kiddo meets chup be! Prasanto K Roy (@prasanto) May 11, 2016 Kerala enjoys beef, alochol, has educated women, celebrates all religions. No wonder Modiji cannot fathom it. #PoMoneModi Ajith (@ajith27) May 11, 2016 Pic 1 : How people see me Pic 2 : How Modiji sees me#PoMoneModi pic.twitter.com/eM8CcEyYjg Darth Syddius (@Syddie) May 10, 2016 Modi hates #Kerala because its achievements are real and not merely photoshopped! #PoMoneModi Jay Ambadi (@jay_ambadi) May 10, 2016 Do you hate people posting baby photos on Facebook? If you are part of a silent, repressed minority who don't give a damn about baby photos cluttering up your Facebook feed, here's some possible relief - parents might be sued for posting them on Facebook. Well, not in India (yet). The French government is warning its people that posting intimate photos of their kids on Facebook could win them a fine and jail time, if the kid sues. thenextweb All the kid has to sue for is claiming that the photo is too revealing, and they'll stand to win up to 45,000 in damage. Professor Nicola Whitton from Manchester Metropolitan University told The Guardian: "I think we're going to get a backlash in years to come from young people coming to realise that they've had their whole lives, from the day they were born, available to social media. In a few years, children could easily take their parents to court for publishing photos of them when they were younger, Eric Delcroix, an expert on internet law and ethics, told Le Figaro. Children at certain stages do not wish to be photographed or still less for those photos to be made public." After a three-year gap that cut short climbing campaigns in 2014 and 2015, a group of foreign climbers is attempting to reach the world's tallest peak. They are currently waiting for a weather clearance that will help them trudge forward on the route that leads to the 8,850-metre summit, along the Southeast Ridge of the Mount Everest. RMI Collection The southern route suffered major tragedies over the past two years - the 2014 avalanche in the Khumbu Icefall, and the disastrous Nepal earthquake that claimed 9,000 lives in 2015. Reuters But now, nearly 289 climbers, along with their guides, are waiting for an opportunity to become the first group to reach the peak after a gap of three years. In 2013, around 700 people had successfully managed the feat. Nepal Tourism Department official, Gyanendra Shrestha, told Reuters that ropes and supplies have already been fixed and stocked up to the South Col - the final camp that rests at 8,000 metres. AP Come Thursday, climbers will begin attempting their climb. Officials are hopeful that the route from South Col to the summit will be fixed by Wednesday. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is investigating how Facebook selects news stories it showcases on its its 'Trending' section. This comes after news reports of company employees being asked to blocked news about conservative American issues from showing up on the list. The Senate has questioned Facebook Chairman and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in a letter about the company's news curation practices and its trending topics section. Facebook..."routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers" AFP The investigation comes after Gizmodo reported that a former Facebook employee claimed workers "routinely suppressed news stories of interest to conservative readers," while "artificially" adding other stories to the trending list. U.S. Senator John Thune, the chairman of the committee, told reporters Tuesday his primary concern was that Facebook may be engaging in deceptive behavior if employees meddled with what trending news was displayed. If you have a stated policy, which your followers or your audience knows to be the case, that you use an objective algorithm for trending topics -- you better follow that policy, Thune said. Its a matter of transparency and honesty and there shouldnt be any attempt to mislead the American public. reuters A Facebook spokesman said it had received Thune's request for more information about how "Trending Topics" works. "As we investigate, we will also keep reviewing our operational practices around Trending Topics and if we find they are inadequate, we will take immediate steps to fix them," the spokesperson said. Tom Stocky, VP at Facebook addressed the allegations in a Facebook post, mentioning "strict guidelines" for trending topic reviewers who "are required to accept topics that reflect real world events." However, he also mentioned that these guidelines are "constant review" with the goal that they "continue to look for improvements." Flash (Photo/Xinhua) On May 7, 2016, 400 tables were set up in Banpo Hangang Park in Seoul to treat 4,000 tourists from China with the traditional Korean cuisine ginseng chicken soup. These 4,000 tourists are all employees of a big company in China, but they are only part of them. A grand event like this will soon take place again on May 10 when the second large group consisting of the companys employees arrives in South Korea to travel. A group of 8,000 people visiting South Korea has been the largest tourist group since the outburst of MERS last year. (Photo/Xinhua) To entertain such a super tourist group, South Korea had employed 60 airplanes and 200 buses. The first group of 4,000 people stayed at 32 different hotels in Seoul. On the ginseng chicken soup party night, 8,000 chickens, 1,800 bottles of traditional Korean wines, 8,000 bottles of beverages and beers were consumed, with 880 waitresses serving on the tables. Moreover, tourist policemen were assigned to each scenic spot to reduce the inconvenience residents may encounter, and more tourist buses parking areas were set up to meet the need from large visitor flow. In order to attract more Chinese tourists to visit South Korea, the local government has put enormous effort in tourism. The mayor of Seoul even attended the chicken soup party and gave a welcome speech to the Chinese visitors. According to a tourist agency, this tourist group will be able to generate about 49.5 billion won (equals to 278 million yuan) income for South Korea. (Photo/Xinhua) Were excited to announce that indmin.com is now part of fastmarkets.com. A new look and an improved experience means you can still stay ahead of this fast-moving market with price data, news and market intelligence right here on Fastmarkets. Discover more than 2000 prices, news and analysis in primary and secondary metals markets. We cover base metals, industrial minerals, ores and alloys, steel, scrap and steel raw materials. If you already have a Fastmarkets account, youll still have uninterrupted access to your markets by logging in with your current details. Six residents of the border settlement of Idomeni have filed a lawsuit against the relevant alternate minister who holds the law enforcement portfolio in the government , charging that the Greek state is failing to exercise any oversight or control over a makeshift refugee camp that has sprung up on Greeces border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM). The immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd) bought choice houses for his three sons at about N970 million, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja was told yesterday. The erstwhile Director, Finance and Accounts of the Nigeria Air Force while Badeh was the Chief of Air Staff (between September 2012 and December 2013), Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau (retd.), made the disclosure in his testimony against the former CDS. The former CDS and a company allegedly linked with him, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, were arraigned on March 7 on a 10-count charge of breach of trust and corruption for allegedly diverting about N3.97 billion from NAFs account. Yishau, who concluded his evidence yesterday as the first prosecution witness of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in the trial of Badeh and Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, insisted that he assisted the ex-Defence chief to buy a semi-detached bungalow for one of Badehs sons at No.8A Embu Street, by Sigma Apartments, Wuse 2, Abuja. The witness had earlier told the court that Badeh bought a house at 19 Kumasi Crescent, Wuse II for his first son, Alex Badeh (Jnr) at N260 million, with N60 million spent to renovate it, while N90 million was expended in furnishing the property. While testifying on April 27, the witness also said Badeh bought another N320 million house in Abuja for his last son, 28-year-old Kam. In my statement to the EFCC, I said the first defendant has two property in Wuse 2 that cost N260m and N320m. The house that cost N320m is adjacent to No 19 Kumasi Crescent, which was purchased from Honourable Bature. That was the one purchased for his last son, Kam. I cannot remember the address, but I can identify it, Yishau said. Yesterday, Yishau, who was cross-examined by Badehs lawyer, Akin Olujinmi (SAN) insisted that he paid for the property on behalf of the first defendant, who was his boss. Olujinmi concluded his cross-examination of the witness yesterday and Justice Okon Abang adjourned till today for continuation of trial. Flash The Tanzanian court has once again postponed the trial of a Chinese businesswoman for suspected ivory smuggling, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Yang Fenglan, dubbed as the "Ivory Queen", was suspected to have smuggled nearly 1.9 tons of ivory worth $2.7 million (5.9 billion Tanzania Shillings or TZS) between 2000 and 2014. She was detained last October, along with two Tanzanian men, Manase Philemon and Silvanus Matembo, who were allegedly connected with international poachers, traders and buyers. Yang has denied all charges against her. The 66-year-old used to run a Chinese restaurant in Dar es Salaam, capital city of the Eastern African country, and served as deputy director of the China-Africa Business Council. The trial was set to begin in Dar es Salaam, on the 9th of May after a six-month delay. But it was then put off for another two weeks till May 23. It was reported that the case has been negotiated several times between the Resident Magistrates' Court Kisutu in Dar es Salaam and the High Court Of Tanzania. According to the BBC, Tanzania's National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit tracked her for more than a year. Tanzania remains the worst hit area by ivory poaching in Africa. The country is believed to have lost two thirds of its total elephant population in the past decade. In recent years, Chinese authorities have made strong efforts to collaborate with the international community on the crackdown on ivory trading. In March, China banned imports of ivory and carved-ivory items acquired before July 1, 1975, when the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora took effect. Bangladesh has executed head of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami party Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes committed during the 1971 war of independence to break away from Pakistan, the countrys the law minister said. Nizami was hanged at Dhaka Central jail at one minute past midnight local time on Wednesday after the Supreme Court rejected his final plea against a death sentence imposed by a special tribunal for genocide, rape and orchestrating the massacre of top intellectuals during the war. In a sign of divided opinion over the hanging, scores of protesters came out in the streets of Dhaka to condemn the execution, while hundreds of others cheered the move. We have waited for this day for a long 45 years, said war veteran Akram Hossain. Justice has finally been served. Thousands of extra police and border guards were deployed in the capital Dhaka and other major cities to tighten security as Jamaat-e-Islami called for a nationwide strike on Thursday in protest of the execution. Previous similar judgments and executions have triggered violence that killed around 200 people, mainly Jamaat activists and police. Al Jazeeras Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Dhaka, said calling for a nationwide shutdown was the usual reaction by Jamaat-e-Islami following an execution or death sentence against one of its members. But, he added that protests were not likely to be that intense. The party itself is very marginalised right now. Most of the members are either behind bars or on the run, Chowdhury said. Nizami had been in prison since 2010. The party denies that its leaders committed any atrocities. Calling Nizami a martyr, it said he was deprived of justice and made a victim of a political vendetta. A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, has said that godfatherism cannot be completely erased from Nigerias political arena. He spoke Thursday while delivering a lecture at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, with the theme, Tertiary Education: The Pathway to Sustainable Development. Mr. Bankole said having a godfather is not bad as having the wrong one. Many people would say the youngest Speaker in Nigeria but many didnt know that I have been in politics for 15 years before I became the Speaker, he said. I was following my old man and other politicians right from the younger age where I learnt grassroots politics and I learnt very well and when the opportunity comes, I was ready for it because opportunity will only favour those who are prepared, Mr. Bankole added. He said Nigerias future has suffered from bad leadership and called on the youth to always be cautious of those they pick as their political mentors, saying power is not attained on a platter of gold. It is hard, it is tough to stop godfatherism. I am using my fathers name to uplift myself. He is my mentor, and I have been following him to political meetings 15 years before I rose to speakership position. I learnt politics from grassroots, so when time and opportunity came I was ready. What I know is that before you chose a godfather, identify your mentor, watch the character of your mentors, he said. Power is never given, but you have to grab it. To get power nobody will give it to you, but you snatch it, and there must be qualities in you to also attract such. The former Speaker said Nigerians should be corrupt-free in positions they find themselves, saying under his leadership, the House of Representatives was able to compel government ministries and agencies to refund about N1 trillion of unspent budget. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday docked a former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Mohammed Dikko Umar (rtd.), before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a seven-count charge bordering on money laundering, criminal breach of trust and corruption. One of the charges reads: That you, Air Marshall Mohammed Dikko Umar, whilst being the Chief of Air Staff, Nigerian Air Force between September 2010 to September 2012 in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court directly converted the United States Dollar equivalent of the aggregate sum of N4,846,630,000,00 (Four Billion, Eight Hundred and Fifty-Six Million, Six Hundred and Thirty Thousand Naira) only removed from the accounts of the Nigerian Air Force, when you reasonably ought to have known that the said funds formed part of the proceeds of your unlawful activity (to wit: criminal breach of trust and corruption) and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2) (b) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act,2011 (as amended) and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act. The accused person, however, pleaded not guilty to all the charges when they were read to him. In view of his plea, prosecuting counsel, Sylvanu Tahir, prayed the court for a trial date and asked that the defendant be remanded in prison custody pending the commencement of his trial. The prosecutions prayer was however, opposed by the accuseds lawyer, Hasssan L. Liman, SAN, who told the court that he had filed a bail application and served same on the prosecution. Consequently, Justice Nyako ordered the defendant to deposit his international passport with the court registrar. The defendant was also ordered to remain within the jurisdiction of the court while the trial lasts. The case has been adjourned to July 7 and 9, 2016. The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) on Tuesday vowed to deploy all available means and measures within its Rule of Engagement to crush any individual or group that blow up critical government assets and facilities. A statement on Tuesday by Defence spokesman, Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said: DHQ is not unaware of the emergence of a group in the Niger Delta region who have vowed to cripple economic activities through pipeline vandalism, oil theft and kidnap of expatriate workers in that region. Abubakar warned that the military would not hesitate to deploy every available resource to deal decisively with any threats to economic lifeline of the nation. He said: The military will employ all available means and measures within its Rule of Engagement to crush any individual or group that engages in the destruction of strategic assets and facilities of the government in the Niger Delta or any other location. They will stand to regret the consequences of their actions. The whole world has seen what they are causing in terms of economic terrorism against the nation and would be treated as criminals in line with the laws of the land, the Defence Headquarters stated. It said the military and other security agencies would continue to take more proactive measures within the creeks and other places to fish out those responsible for the heinous crime. The DHQ also assured oil companies and law abiding community members of their safety and protection. The DHQ called on the community leaders, traditional rulers and the general public to cooperate with the security agencies to ensure the arrest of the culprits for the interest of our great nation. It stressed that no individual or group interest is above national interest of this country. A Yoruba socio-cultural group, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Tuesday warned herdsmen against continuous attacks on innocent people and communities, saying it would not tolerate killing of farmers in the Southwest. The group also cautioned the Federal Government against initiating the controversial grazing bill, saying it would vehemently oppose the move to promulgate a law that would give privilege to a section of the country. Rising from a general meeting held yesterday in Gbagada, Lagos, OPC members described the controversial grazing bill as insult to the people. OPC National Publicity Secretary, Shina Akinpelu, said: It is an insult to collective psyche of Nigerians to hear that a bill is being considered to allow or create grazing zones for the herdsmen. The OPC and the whole Yoruba nation reject such proposition and will resist it with all that we have. The OPC members also called on its coordinator, Otunba Gani Adams, to stop parading himself as leader of the group. They accused Adams of trading off the OPC for personal gains just as they condemned his style of leadership. More than 1,000 members of the group across states attended yesterdays meeting. OPC national officers, who attended the meeting, included Chief Boye Mayunpe, Alhaji Amusa Musiliu, Lagos Island chapter chairman, Alhaji Lateef Oshodi; Oyo State chapter chairman, Chief Adeola Adeagbo and his Kwara and Bayelsa states counterparts, Comrade Moruf Olanrewaju and Comrade Akeem, among others. Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Co-ordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, PAP, Brig-Gen. Paul Boroh (retd), has expressed confidence in the ability of the military and other security agencies to apprehend those behind the recent sabotage of oil and gas pipelines in the Niger Delta. None of these elements will go unpunished for their nefarious acts against the interest of the nation, Boroh said. Speaking in Abuja following the presidential directive to arrest the situation, Boroh said he was confident that the perpetrators will be arrested soon. Meanwhile, a Yoruba group Oodua Defenders Union, ODU, has described the threat by NDA to attack Lagos within a matter of days as an insult on the Yoruba race. In a statement by its President-General, Rabak Anthony, the group warned Ijaw youths against any attack in Lagos or any part of Yorubaland. This Ijaw threat that was published in all the media, both electronic and print, cannot be taken for granted. Therefore, the Yoruba are ready to make the first move against the Ijaws in Lagos before their brothers will storm Lagos, Oodua Defenders Union, said. We fought the Ijaws here in Lagos before because of this arrogance and they know we are ready for them. They came here about five years ago to attack the Atlas Cove where Naval officers guarding tank farms were killed. So, we are not taking this threat without preparation. We are ready, let them make the move. The group said its members, spread across the South-West, could deal with the Ijaw threat, asking security agents to go after the Niger Delta Avengers. The National Association of Resident Doctors has announced a 5-day warning strike which will commence on Wednesday, May 11, 2016. The doctors new date for the industrial action comes after the expiration of a 35-day ultimatum it earlier gave the federal government to look into issues including unpaid salaries and disengagement of some of their colleagues. The President of the association, Dr. Muhammad Askira, told journalists at a press conference in Abuja that they are unsatisfied by the efforts of the government to resolve the impasse during the period of the ultimatum. President Muhammadu Buhari is away in the United Kingdom for a summit while the Minister for Health Isaac Adewole might have left for Rwanda to attend the World Economic Forum where he is scheduled to speak. A civil society group the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Wednesday requested the British authorities to extradite former Petroleum Minister, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, to face trial in Nigeria. SERAPs call came against the backdrop of the hosting of International Anti-corruption Summit in London scheduled to commence on May 12. The group said in a statement in Lagos that the UK should not provide sanctuary for Nigerian corrupt public officials or condone their impunity. The anti-corruption summit in London provides an important opportunity for the UK government to support the ongoing fight against corruption in Nigeria. It is also to send a powerful message that the UK will not provide sanctuary for corrupt public officials or condone impunity. As a party to the UN Convention against Corruption, the UK government can use the convention as a basis for the extradition of Mrs Alison-Madueke to Nigeria. We urge the Nigerian authorities to without delay submit a request to the UK authorities for the extradition of Alison-Madueke, explicitly making the point that Nigeria will guarantee her a due process-trial. The Nigerian authorities should also consider filing a civil action against Alison-Madueke in the UK courts, the statement signed by the Executive Director of SERAP, Mr Adetokunbo Mumuni, said. The allegations of corruption against her are strong enough for Prime Minister David Cameron to facilitate an extradition proceeding. SERAP also called on the UK Prime Minister to crack down on the countrys financial institutions that continued to provide safe havens for corrupt funds from Nigeria. The group noted: It is also important for Mr Cameron to work towards improving judicial cooperation between Nigeria and the UK if stolen assets stashed in the UK are to be fully repatriated. (NAN) Isa Ado, spokesman of Operation Pulo Shield the joint force in the Niger Delta on Tuesday said many militants were killed during an exchange of gunfire with soldiers in Bayelsa state. Ado said a combined team of suspected militants and sea pirates, attacked his men in Foropa, a community in Southern Ijaw local government area of the state. He said three soldiers were killed in the incident, revealing that troops had been stationed in the community since 2010. The location came under fierce attack and three of our soldiers, who were hit by bullets, died on their way to the hospital, he told NAN. There were so many casualties on the side of the militants, but we cannot precisely know the number. The morale of the troops remains high and the sacrifices of these soldiers shall never be in vain; we remain resolute in our determination to stamp out oil theft and illegalities in the Niger Delta region. These soldiers gave their lives for peace in the Niger Delta. The defence headquarters has threatened to crush militants who have renewed attacks on oil installations in the region. Source: The Cable The Nigerian Army on Wednesday said troops of 7 Division Garrison and dedicated Civilian JTF averted an attempt by Boko Haram to unleash a suicide bomber on peaceful residents of Sulaimanti community, outskirts of Maiduguri, Borno State. The Army said the troops and Civilian JTF were maintaining security and vigilance when a male suicide bomber attempted to sneak into a Mosque in the community to wreak havoc on worshippers, who were already converging for early morning prayers. The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, in a statement, said the suicide bomber was however, prevented from gaining access to the mosque. Unfortunately, 5 civilians sustained injuries during the failed attempt. A team of Explosive Ordinance Device (EOD) have successfully detonated the remaining IEDs and combed the area, Usman, a Colonel said. He said the injured had since been evacuated to the hospital while troops and security agents have intensified patrol within the general area. According to the statement, the Acting General Officer Commanding 7 Division, Brigadier General Victor Ezugwu, also visited the community shortly after the incident. Ezugwu, who commiserated with residents and reminded them of their civic responsibility to arrest or report suspected persons who usually carry out reconnaissance of their domain before carrying out suicide attacks, reassured citizens of the military and security agencies commitment to their safety and security. Flash People pose for a group photo together after landing at the airfield on Yongshu Jiao in the Nansha Islands, Jan. 6, 2016. China successfully carried out test fights of two civilian aircraft on Jan. 6 on a newly-built airfield in the Nansha Islands of the South China Sea. [Xinhua file photo/Xing Guangli] China expressed "resolute opposition" on Tuesday to a U.S. warship patrol in the South China Sea near Yongshu Jiao in the Nansha Islands. The U.S. warship, USS William P. Lawrence, illegally entered Chinese waters near the islands on Tuesday without the permission of the Chinese government, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, adding that the warship was monitored, tracked and warned. According to a press release from the Defense Ministry later on Tuesday afternoon, two J-11 fighter jets and a Y-8 naval patrol plane flew over the waters on patrol. A destroyer, a missile frigate and a frigate identified the U.S. warship, warned and expelled it. Reuters quoted Bill Urban, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defense, as saying that the freedom of navigation operation was a direct challenge to "excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea." "The action by the U.S. threatens China's sovereignty and security, endangers the safety of people and facilities on the reef and harms regional peace and stability," Lu said. "China strongly opposes such action by the United States and will continue to take measures to safeguard our sovereignty and security," Lu said, adding that China and other coastal states in the South China Sea have been working together to keep navigation and overflight free in the South China Sea for a long time. In fact, freedom of navigation and overflight have never been problems. According to Lu, the United States introduced freedom of navigation operations in 1979 before the signing of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a treaty to which the United States is still not a party. The purpose of these recurring "patrols" is to disrupt the order of the seas and oceans without adhering to the UN convention. The United States sends military vessels and aircraft on surveillance missions against China as simple acts of provocation, said Lu, adding that the United States actually considers itself above the UNCLOS and these activities are opposed by many countries. Lu said that the flexing of U.S. military muscle in the name of freedom of navigation is the biggest threat to peace and stability in the area. Yang Yujun, a spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, said via a press release that the illegal entry of the U.S. warship into Chinese waters was "severe provocation." "We can't help but wonder how far the U.S. side will go in their militarization of the South China Sea and in sabotage of peace and stability," Yang said. He added that the patrol exposed the true intent of the U.S. side to agitate the regional situation and to profit from it. It also showed that it is both reasonable and necessary for China to deploy defensive facilities on the islands. China will strengthen naval and air force patrols and reinforce defense capabilities to protect national sovereignty, security and the peace and stability of the South China Sea, Yang said. Irate youth suspected to be political thugs Wednesday torched the residence of the senator representing Kano South District, Kabiru Gaya, in Gaya Local Government area of Kano State. The youths also set ablaze the campaign office and poultry farm of the member representing Gaya Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Abdullahi Mahmoud. The incident reportedly occurred around 11 am on Wednesday. According to an eyewitness, the youths were protesting the alleged failure of the two politicians to fulfil the promises they made to them during the electioneering campaigns in 2015. It was gathered that security agents had initially dispersed the protesting youths, who later regrouped and burnt the senators house before heading to the campaign office and poultry farm of the Reps. Mahmoud. The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, gathered that the hoodlums had also attempted to burn the residence of the Chairman of the local government area but were over powered by the security personnel deployed to quell the violence. Confirming the development, the Kano Police Command spokesman, DSP Magaji Majiya, said that the police in the area were still trying to contain the situation. Our men in Gaya are still trying to bring the situation under control but as soon as we get details of the incident, we will keep you posted, he said. (NAN) Wizkid has been in the news internationally for good reasons in recent times, Waje had to celebrate him! A Virginia woman surprised her family members and herself by deciding she wanted to perform a pole dance in celebration of her 100th birthday. Beatrice Ingerling had a pole installed in her house as the culmination of a 100 days to 100 years celebration chronicled on Facebook by her daughter Carol Lensch. Lensch was happy to document the celebration of Ingerling, who is also known as Grandy and Queen Bea, but was taken aback when she said she most wanted to pole dance to celebrate the milestone. Some asked her what she wanted to do for her 100th birthday, and she said a pole dance. And she no sooner said, I dont know why I said that. And the rest of us said we dont know why you said that either, we didnt even know you knew about pole dancing, mom, Lensch told WWBT. Throughout the 100 day celebration, Ingerling received numerous gifts from strangers and family members alike and was even treated to a celebration at His or Hers Salon. The celebration culminated in a small gathering at Ingerlings home where she was surrounded by family and friends and fulfilled her wish of dancing on a pole. We have worked it out that we are going to set up a pole for her. And she is going to do a pole dance, Lensch said. Very tasteful dressed. Not in the leopard print leotard that she once suggested, but she will stand up by the pole because that was her dream. UPI. Shootin' the Bull Swift Trading Company - 1 hour ago With boxes and cattle higher, the consumer may be in for a shock when these higher prices are passed along. Live cattle futures set new contract highs in some months. Risk management to the fat cattle... Limit Loss for Dec Cotton Barchart - 1 hour ago Cotton continued to sell off into the new week, with December going home down a limit 3 cents. Dec did stay above the Friday low. The other front months closed 167 to 281 points weaker. USDAs weekly... CTZ22 : 76.13s (-3.79%) CTH23 : 75.74s (-3.58%) CTK23 : 75.55s (-3.33%) Wheats Weaker Out of Weekend Barchart - 1 hour ago The wheat market closed with Monday losses of +10 cents in the winter wheats. Front month MGE futures were down by 3 to 3 3/4 cents on the day. CBT prices dropped by 10 to 12 cents through the front months.... ZWZ22 : 838-6s (-1.41%) ZWH23 : 858-2s (-1.29%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.7336 (-1.52%) KEZ22 : 938-0s (-1.08%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.9620 (-1.06%) MWZ22 : 957-6s (-0.39%) Hogs Close Steady on Monday Barchart - 1 hour ago December lean hog futures dropped triple digits out of the weekend, but the other front months closed mixed and within a dime of UNCH. December hogs are now a $2.52 discount to the Feb contract. The USDA... HEZ22 : 87.925s (-1.35%) HEJ23 : 93.900s (+0.05%) KMZ22 : 97.750s (-0.26%) Cattle Rally Continued Post CoF Barchart - 1 hour ago The new week of cattle trading did little to stall the rally. December fats printed another new LoC high, now at $154.20, Feb also printed a new high, but the April and June contracts remained under their... LEV22 : 151.600s (+0.75%) LEZ22 : 154.125s (+1.12%) LEG23 : 156.975s (+0.93%) GFV22 : 175.675s (+0.23%) GFX22 : 179.150s (+0.45%) Corn Futures Ended Red on Monday Barchart - 1 hour ago Mondays corn trade pulled futures 1 1/2 to 2 3/4 cents lower. December had reached $6.77 1/4 on the low of the day, but went home 4 1/4 cents above it. NASS reported 97% of the corn crop was mature... ZCZ22 : 681-4s (-0.40%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7135 (-0.30%) ZCH23 : 687-6s (-0.40%) ZCK23 : 687-2s (-0.36%) Soybean Prices Close Double Digits Lower Barchart - 1 hour ago The new week of soybean trading starts with double digit losses in the front month contracts. November was down by the most after the options expiration on Friday, having settled 1.68% in the red. Meal... ZSX22 : 1372-0s (-1.68%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.2708 (-1.72%) ZSF23 : 1381-2s (-1.66%) ZSH23 : 1389-2s (-1.59%) Livestock Report Walsh Trading - 1 hour ago Cattle Markets surge Flash China is hoping for a fresh start in diplomatic relations with the Philippines' new government. With an unofficial count of votes showing Davao city mayor Rodrigo Duterte has won the Philippine presidential election, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said, "China hopes the Philippines' new government can work in the same direction with China, properly handle our differences and get bilateral ties back on track with concrete actions." Lu said at a regular press conference that China has always attached great importance to maintaining relations with the Philippines. "However, China-Philippines ties have suffered from severe difficulties in recent years, due to well-known reasons," Lu said, alluding to the two countries' territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Duterte has called for multilateral talks involving the United States and Japan as well as rival claimants to resolve these disputes, but Lu ruled out this possibility. He said China advocates the dual-track approach proposed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Under this, the directly concerned states would negotiate in line with international law while China and ASEAN countries would work together to maintain regional peace and stability. H. Michael Schwartz, CEO and chairman of SmartStop Asset Management LLC, a diversified self-storage real estate company, was recently named the winner of a Silver Stevie Award in the Executive of the Year category for real estate in the 14th Annual American Business Awards. The awards will be presented to the winners at a gala ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York on June 20. "I am truly honored to have won this award and to be listed among the top business organizations and individuals in the United States," Schwartz said. "I couldn't have won this award without my executive team's expertise, loyalty and determination." The award is nicknamed Stevie for the Greek word meaning "crowned. More than 250 professionals worldwide participated in the judging process to select winners from this years 3,400 nominees. All U.S. organizations were eligible to submit nominations. The categories included Startup of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Live Event of the Year and others. "The judges were extremely impressed with the quality of entries we received this year," said Michael Gallagher, president and founder of the Stevie Awards. "The competition was intense, and every organization that has won should be proud." Last year, Schwartz and his team negotiated the sale of SmartStop Self Storage Inc., a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed self-storage company that owned and operated 170 properties in 21 states and Toronto. The properties were sold for $1.4 billion to Extra Space Storage Inc., a self-storage real estate investment trust (REIT) and third-party management company. The merger was the largest self-storage transaction in 10 years and the third largest of all time, according to a SmartStop release. "Mr. Schwartz is definitely worthy of this top honor," one judge said. "His incredible business success story, from start to finish, is quite an accomplishment." SmartStop Asset Management sponsors Strategic Storage Growth Trust Inc., a public, non-traded REIT focused on self-storage assets, and Strategic Storage Trust II Inc., a public, non-traded, self-storage REIT thats the asset managers for 69 facilities in Toronto and the United States. Its portfolio includes 43,000 self-storage units and approximately 4.7 million rentable square feet of storage space. Many in Nebraska would be surprised to learn that their state investment officer spent the early years of his career in West Africa. Managing pension and other public money for the Cornhusker State was far from Michael Walden-Newmans mind when the Oregon-raised college grad signed up for a four-year stint in the Peace Corps, heading to Senegal in 1976 after a breakup with his college girlfriend. Fast-forward 40 years to the present where, unlike other heads of U.S. pension investment offices, Walden-Newmans job extends beyond management of just a defined benefit plan. Not one to waste time, the new SIO arrived in Lincoln in December 2014, just five days after vacating his role as CIO of the Wyoming State Loan and Investment Board in Wyomings capital, Cheyenne. Since taking the helm as SIO at the $22 billion Nebraska Investment Council, which directs investments for the Nebraska Public Employees Retirement Systems, hes brought an investment philosophy honed in Wyoming to his new role in Nebraska: Dont forget the first tenet of investing: Dont lose the money. He oversees Nebraskas money across 32 investment programs including the $10 billion state defined benefit and cash balance plans, $2.7 billion in seven retirement savings plans and a $4 billion in-house operations investment pool. NPERS, on whose board the SIO sits, is solely an administrative, noninvesting body that sets the present 8 percent actuarial rate of return for the investment office and mails retiree pension checks. Walden-Newmans approach to asset preservation is to target the funds volatility, which, with the help of consulting firm Aon Hewitt, has been set at 12.5 percent, projected to generate a 6.5 percent return. We manage our portfolio the way we believe is best, and volatility is first for us, he explains. The Nebraska cash balance plan for state and local employees has an 82.7 percent funding ratio the amount of current assets to future liabilities whereas the school employees defined benefit plan is 90.6 percent funded, according to the National Association of State Retirement Administrators in Lexington, Kentucky. Unlike his counterparts at most state or local public pension funds, the SIO does not have to manage these assets to achieve the 8 percent return assumption. Were not pressed to adapt our asset allocation to target any percentage return, says Walden-Newman. That decision rests with the pension administration body, which, he continues, is not something I think a lot about. As he did in Wyoming, Walden-Newman keeps asset management on a five-year refresh cycle by conducting what he terms a blank sheet review. In that process, the SIO and his five investment staff march through the portfolio, asset class by asset class, and conduct a one-year study of each to determine how the class not the managers is doing. The investment office solicits questions from more than 20 asset managers, speaking to the research team (rather than the portfolio managers) at each shop about, for example, the current status of global equity. Walden-Newman then boxes up six to eight of the best ideas, sending them to Aon Hewitt for review. I cant think of another way to manage the portfolio, says the SIO. People tend to nibble around the edges. Its the difference between utilizing the current best thinking versus tweaking a portfolio set up ten years ago. Walden-Newman is also moving toward creating a multidisciplinary team, rather than having each investment officer working in an asset class silo. Everyone in the state wants to continue on a firm footing, he concludes. Walden-Newman found his way to Wyoming when state treasurer Cynthia Lummis now Wyomings member-at-large in the U.S. House of Representatives tapped him in 2004 to become the first CIO for Wyomings permanent funds portfolio. The $5 billion fund was invested in a bond portfolio in the Treasurers Office when Walden-Newman, who majored in English at the University of Oregon, arrived. He turned it into a fully diversified portfolio in his first five years, then performed the blank sheet review process in the next five. While in Wyoming, Walden-Newman was responsible for managing the states sovereign wealth coffers, including the Permanent Mineral Trust Fund, which had grown with mineral tax revenue from $5 billion to $20 billion under his watch. As for his time in Africa, Walden-Newman and his college girlfriend eventually saw the error of their ways. They married, creating a new, hyphenated name and returned to Senegal, where he took a postPeace Corps job as a State Department contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Nebraska official says he was hired because he was the only American who spoke Jola, the regional language, fluently. I still dream in Jola when I dream about Africa its the damnedest thing. This article is the second of a three-part series of profiles of heads of state retirement system investment offices. Follow Frances Denmark on Twitter at @francesdenmark. Get more on pensions. Portfolio managers tell Institutional Investor what they like about top-ranked analysts on this years team. Each year, after Institutional Investor has counted the votes and determined which sell-side analysts make the All-Asia Research Team, we invite survey participants to tell us what prompted them to support a particular person or group. Listed below are responses we received about the leaders of some of this years top-ranked teams. Click on an individuals name to view his or her squads full profile. Please note: Free site registration will be requested of anyone who hasnt already signed up. Mulya Chandra and Sean Gardiner help us make sense of fast-changing developments with a consistent and objective take on sector trends. Ridham Desai has a great ability to glean insights from heaps of data and has been especially helpful on the financials sector. Kam Chung (Kenneth) Fong was among the first to recommend taking profits after the stocks he picked outperformed massively. I follow his research calls very closely. Young-Ah Han has an amazing track record in calling stocks. Sanjay Jain gives good insights into the financials sector through the cycles, and his views and analysis are very useful. Tak Hung (Eric) Lau and his associates work very hard. They do a good job following through and sometimes they even provide good ideas that make money. Nicholas Lord and Sean Gardiner are energetic, eager to engage and willing to share models. Jasmine Lu has great industry connections, rigorous channel checks and proactive recommendations. Lourens Pirenc and his associates are good at identifying market trends early. Supavud Saicheua and Therapong Vachirapong have the best understanding of whats happening on the ground and the ability to look through the data to come up with counterconsensus calls, For his unmatched knowledge and unparalleled client service, Jody Santiago is always my first call. Sakthi Siva is really keyed in to the self-managed superfunds, which are important players in the region. Bryan Song and Young-Ah Han offer in-depth analyses, interdisciplinary thematic reports and timely, action-oriented calls the whole package. Ting Min Tan and Stephen Hagger are highly regarded locally, which translates to a unique ability to meet with top managements instead of just corporate investor relations people and hence garner better insights. Ran (Richard) Xu and Huaxiang (Edward) Xu offer big-picture views, which are helpful for those of us not familiar with Chinese markets, and are prolific and diligent on company research. Kewei Yang and his colleagues substantiate and back up their models you can take their numbers, change the assumptions and apply them to your own analysis. Their work is completely transparent and very useful. The 2016 All-Asia Research Team reflects the opinions of 3,760 investment professionals at 1,100 institutions that collectively manage an estimated $1.68 trillion in Asia (ex-Japan) equities. Migrant workers have done well in the U.S. recovery, and the threat of a clampdown on immigration is encouraging them to send more money back home. On an overcast afternoon last week in Brooklyns Sunset Park, a sparse crowd gathered around a mariachi band and dancers celebrating Cinco de Mayo, the effective Mexican national holiday. Like most of the hundred or so revelers, Roberto and his wife, Adela, are undocumented immigrants whose presence has become a major issue in the U.S. presidential election campaign. Mexicans account for more than half the 11.4 million illegal residents in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington. Last year they sent $24.8 billion back to their families in Mexico, a total that exceeded the countrys oil export revenues ($23.4 billion) for the first time. That money has become a ripe target for Donald Trump. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee suggests that if elected, he would expropriate this money unless the Mexican government agreed to finance construction of the giant border wall he promises to build to stop the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S. Its an easy decision for Mexico, Trump told the Washington Post last month. Make a one-time payment of $5 to $10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year. Thats why these are both the best and worst of times for Adela, an employee at a Brooklyn laundry, and Roberto, who has been promoted to assistant manager of a Korean-owned dry cleaner in Manhattan after a dozen years there as a delivery man. They send about $500 a month to their families, hardscrabble farmers living amid the craggy buttes and cactus-spiked hills of the state of Puebla, south of Mexico City. My parents are having a good old age, with no money concerns, says Roberto, 41, who hasnt visited his hometown of Piaxtla in 17 years because he fears getting caught crossing back into the U.S. But if el senor Trump becomes president, maybe we wont even get to stay here, says Adela, 40, who rests her hopes for legal residency on the fact that their two teenage sons are U.S. citizens, born in New York. Trumps controversial stance subdued Cinco de Mayo turnouts this year. In previous years more than 50,000 celebrators regularly showed up at the citys largest festival, in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. Crowds were smaller this year, as the organizers decided not to hold any formal festivities there this time to avoid stoking anti-immigration sentiment. Although the political climate has become more daunting for Mexican immigrants, their economic prospects have improved. They were able to boost their remittances by 4.75 percent in 2015 because of the steady upturn in the U.S. economy, which has notably benefited labor-intensive sectors like construction, agriculture, hospitality and urban services that employ large numbers of immigrants. Whereas the overall U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.0 percent in March from 5.5 percent a year earlier, the rate among Latinos fell to 5.6 percent from 6.8 percent. The recovery in the U.S. economy has also created more and better-paid jobs for many Mexican migrants, and this is reflected in larger remittances, says Alfredo Coutino, Latin America economist at Moodys Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Remittances also deliver a bigger bang for the buck back home because the peso has fallen by almost 30 percent against the dollar over the past two years. That might be an extra incentive to send more money home. With a low inflation rate in Mexico, a lot of real purchasing power is being created by every dollar that gets remitted, says Alberto Ramos, New Yorkbased senior economist for Latin America at Goldman Sachs Group. And with the pressure in the U.S. to clamp down on illegal migrants and labor, some Mexican workers may be transferring more of their savings to Mexico. The higher flow of remittances couldnt have come at a better time for Mexico. Global oil prices stand at less than half the level of two years ago, at about $45 a barrel, while the inefficient state monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos which generates a third of government revenue has seen its output drop to 2.1 million barrels a day from a peak of 3.4 million bpd in 2004. With less oil income available, Mexico has been forced to tighten public spending, cutting back on its flimsy social safety net. That means remittances are having a bigger impact than ever. They help explain how Mexicos retail sales increased by 5.1 percent in 2015, more than double the countrys gross domestic product growth rate of 2.3 percent. In long-neglected rural areas, remittances are pulling families out of poverty for the first time ever. Mexican migrants continue to rely on money transfer companies like Western Union, MoneyGram International and DolEx Dollar Express, rather than banks. A decade ago, HSBC, Citigroup and Bank of America, among others, launched initiatives aimed at attracting business from immigrants and their families back home in Mexico. For banks, the revenue per remittance transaction is too low compared to other financial activities, says Manuel Orozco, director of the Migration, Remittances and Development Program at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank. But they were hoping to capture clients for savings, payroll and other financial activities. That strategy failed in most cases. By 2013, both HSBC and Citi largely exited the remittances market. Banks in the U.S. are generally not equipped to serve this customer base, says Mario Trujillo, chairman and CEO of DolEx, based in Arlington, Texas. They have a huge misunderstanding of who our customers are and what services they need. In Mexico, only about 20 percent of the population has a bank account, and there are few branches in the rural areas that receive most remittances. In the U.S., bank branch hours are often too limited for immigrants who clock more than 60 hours a week at one or more jobs. That leaves the field open to money transfer companies, which charge $9 to $13 per remittance at their own branches or at outlets in bodegas in Mexican neighborhoods. Its a lot to pay to send money home, says Roberto, wrapping a Mexican flag more tightly around his shoulders as night fell over Sunset Park. But at least it gets there. This content is from: Premium With several of its existing funds solidly in the black this year, the quant giant has raised money for a new macro fund. An industry insider says Australian brokers have nothing to fear from disruptors such as Google, Facebook, Apple or Amazon entering the insurance space for the next five to 10 years at least.Scott Guse, KPMG s Asia Pacific Head of Insurance Accounting spoke to Insurance Business about the results of the Fujitsu European Financial Services Survey 2016 which revealed that almost 20% of customers would buy insurance products from digital giants not currently in the space.The survey also found that the figure was even higher in the UK, with 23% happy to ditch traditional insurers if the opportunity arose.However, Guse said there was no reason for brokers in Australia to panic just yet.At the moment, the likes of Google and Amazon arent active in the insurance space here in Australia. They are certainly growing in activities in the foreign jurisdictions mainly the US and UK but they havent gone down the route on any large scale of setting up their own insurance companies. So really what theyve done is facilitated the distribution of insurance. he said.Guse also said digital giants such as Facebook, Google and Apple provided channels that insurance companies could leverage to attract customers and policy holders, such as aggregated and price comparison websites, which provided a platform for browsing and purchasing.So effectively they act as a distribution agent for insurance companies rather than setting up their own insurance company, he said.The major insurance companies here in Australia dont want comparison websites or aggregators, so if you look at ones in Australia that already exist such as Compare the Market or ISelect, none of those websites have any of the major policies on there as the big companies wont let their products be sold on those websites because it cuts them out of the distribution platform selling equation.He said the UK went down this route about 15 years ago and most insurance companies were quick to jump aboard, but its the comparison websites that have ended up with the brand name rather than the insurance companies.The good news for the brokers here is that the major insurance players have independently decided not to let their products be sold on these websites, he said.Compare the Market and ISelect have fairly decent brand names but they havent had the ability to sell any of the majors so if you look up those websites, youll see that there are only a few products on those sites and a number of them are their own products.He said while the industry certainly needed to respond to disruption and Google, Apple and Amazon were so big that it was inevitable they would enter the Australian market at some stage, in the medium to short term, it would be business as usual for brokers.Eventually one of the main insurance companies will probably break ranks and sell their products through those channels and get a jump start on the market, but I dont see Google or Facebook seeing Australia as a huge market to attack at any point soon, he said.Theyre already making enormous amounts of profits through advertising revenue from insurance companies, so they dont want to cannibalise that and the Australian market isnt anywhere near as huge as the European or US market and they will certainly tackle those markets first.Its hard to pinpoint a timeframe, but I dont see any issues for at least five to 10 years down the track in Australia. The chairman of the worlds specialist insurance market has announced he will step down from the role five months ahead of the expiration of his term.John Nelson made the announcement during his speech at Lloyds New York City Dinner last Thursday evening. His term expires in October 2017, but he said he intends to step down at Lloyds annual general meeting in May of next year.I am in my last year at Lloyds. As many of you know, I plan to retire at the Lloyds AGM of May next year so I am not done yet! Nelson said in New York last week.Nelson began in the role of chairman at Lloyds in October, 2011. He succeeded Lord Levene in that role. He arrived at Lloyds after an extensive career in banking, which included serving as chairman at Credit Suisse First Boston Europe. Additionally, hes held a variety of board and advisory roles in the retail, communications and financial services sector.In May 2012, Nelson, together with British Prime Minister of the day, David Cameron, announced Lloyds Vision 2025 strategy at its world-famous Lime Street premises. That strategy encompasses its goals for expansion into high growth emerging economies and market modernisation.Last February, Nelson visited Australia and New Zealand, during which time he spoke to Insurance Business about progress on the execution of that strategy. That visit also coincided with Chris Mackinnon taking over as general representative in Australia for Lloyds. There is unlikely to be a surge of women in leadership roles in the insurance industry anytime soon, according to an Australian spokeswoman for Ernst and Young.The comments came after a recent global poll by services firm EY , which revealed that just 6% of insurers believed that there would be a significant increase in female leaders in the industry in the next five years.The survey across 23 countries found that 72% of senior leaders in the insurance industry expected a slight increase in female leadership and there was also widespread acknowledgement of the benefits of gender diversity in senior roles, however just 38% of insurance firms surveyed formally measure progress towards gender parity.The Placing Gender on the Financial Services Agenda report discovered there were four disconnects holding back gender parity including the reality disconnect, where business leaders assume the problem is already solved; the data disconnect, where companies do not effectively measure their progress to gender parity; the pipeline disconnect, where organisations are not creating pipelines for future leaders; and the perception and perspective disconnect, where men and women view the problem differently.Antoinette Elias, Oceania sector leader wealth & asset management at Ernst & Young said the findings of the global study were certainly relevant to the local market, with all four disconnects identified in the report applicable to Australia.Based on what we know, I think all of those things are equally relevant to the insurance sector here. There are a lot of studies now and a lot of knowledge about the issues, and I think we often suffer from trying to solve one of the issues when we actually need to solve all four, she said.Its hard to predict where things will end up in five years time so I think the real question is: is the industry going to start implementing strategies that are going to have a positive impact on that dial, because at the end of the day, the results will only happen once certain strategies are in place.Elias said increasing diversity was a business imperative given that there was overwhelming evidence linking gender parity to innovation and better financial performance, especially during times of transformation and disruption.Teams with more women had been shown to be better at logistical analysis, coordination, planning and problem solving, she said.A report from the Peterson Institute found that 30% of female representation on boards could increase company net profits by 6%.Its not just the insurance industry. There are countless industries which have historically had a very high male population because historically it may have been work more suited to males. But when it comes to leadership, theres no reason why a man or women would be better or worse suited to it, she said.Leadership is all about strategic thinking; it all depends on the individual so its quite interesting really. Some industries look at the general populace of their workforce but those statistics are almost irrelevant when it comes to leadership. It should be about who has the right skills.When you have different people sitting around the decision making table, you are bound to get better solutions because youve got better perspectives, she said. Flash Ireland's Joan Burton said on Tuesday she will step down as leader of the Labor Party once her successor is elected. "I have asked that the executive board of the party immediately make arrangements for the election of the new leader under the provisions of the party constitution," she said in a statement. Burton served as leader of the Labor Party for two years, and as deputy leader for seven years before that. She was elected party leader in 2014 when Eamon Gilmore resigned following local and European elections. She was minister for social protection in the last government, as well as serving as Tanaiste (deputy prime minister) from July 2014. In the statement, she said she will remain an active and committed member of the Dail Eireann, lower house of Irish parliament, on behalf of the constituents who elected her. Meanwhile, Ireland's newly elected Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny thanked Burton for her work in government over the past five years, both as Tanaiste and as minister for social protection. Kenny said Burton spearheaded many of the welfare reforms that helped the last government to surpass its job creation targets to the point where the unemployment rate has been reduced from over 15 percent to 8.4 percent. Kenny's Fine Gael (United Ireland Party) became the largest party in Ireland after the 2011 general election. It then formed a coalition government with the Labor Party, with the Fine Gael party leader Kenny serving as Taoiseach. The Labor Party had 33 seats when the 31th Dail Eireann dissolved in February this year and now it took a serious thumping in this year's general election, only having 7 seats, securing the party's speaking rights in the Dail Eireann. Fine Gael secured 50 seats, only 6 ahead of its main rival Fianna Fail (Republican Party). It formed a minority government with independent TDs (members of parliament), with Kenny being reelected as Taoiseach. Cigna Corp.s acquisition by health insurance rival Anthem Inc. may not be approved this year, Cigna said Friday in a regulatory filing. Shares of both companies declined. An analyst said the delay could be a sign of trouble for the deal, which is one of two pending health insurance combinations being scrutinized by regulators who have expressed concern about further concentration of the health-care industry. While the company continues to work toward achieving regulatory approval as quickly as possible and to target a closing date in the second half of 2016, the closing will ultimately be subject to the approval and timing of the regulators, Cigna said in its quarterly report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of the complexity of the regulatory process and the dynamic environment, it is possible that such approvals may not be obtained in 2016. Joe Swedish, Anthems chief executive officer, said last week that he expected the acquisition of Cigna to be completed in the second half of this year. On Friday, Jill Becher, an Anthem spokeswoman, said the insurer continued to expect the transaction to be completed on that timeline. Anthem agreed in July to buy Cigna in a cash-and-stock deal that valued Cigna at about $48 billion. The transaction, along with Aetna Inc.s pending acquisition of Humana Inc., would reduce the number of big U.S. health insurers to three from five. The Anthem-Cigna merger requires approval from the Justice Departments antitrust division as well as state insurance regulators. In March, Bill Baer, now the No. 3 official at the Justice Department, called the Cigna deal and Aetnas deal for Humana transformational and said they required close scrutiny from the government. Matt Asensio, a Cigna spokesman, declined to specify why the insurer cautioned that the deal may not happen this year. This disclosure reflects our current understanding, based on the breadth and depth of the review and where we believe we are in the process now, Asensio said. We feel that its a dynamic environment, and theres a lot of complexity in the regulatory process, so its possible that the approvals may not be obtained in 2016. Cigna said in the filing that Anthem may owe it a breakup fee of $1.85 billion if the transaction isnt completed by Jan. 31, 2017. That deadline can be pushed back to April 30, Cigna said. Cigna fell 1.9 percent to $132.40 at 10:30 a.m. in New York, while Anthem declined less than 1 percent to $136.77. Peter Costa, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., said Cignas disclosure indicates the deal could be delayed or not approved at all. The 10Q deal timing disclosure is a significant item that likely widens the spread, he wrote in a research note to clients. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Legislation Investigators examining the theft of $81 million from Bangladeshs central bank have uncovered evidence of three hacking groups including two nation states inside the banks network but say it was the third, unidentified group that pulled off the heist, according to two people briefed on the progress of the banks internal investigation. FireEye Inc., the company hired by the bank to conduct the forensics investigation, identified digital fingerprints of hacking groups from Pakistan and North Korea, the two people said. It hasnt found enough data to determine whether the third group, the actual culprit, was a criminal network or the agent of another nation. The twists and turns add to the mystery of who pulled off one of the largest cyber heists in history. The hackers, pairing theft with havoc within the global financial system, used the SWIFT inter-bank messaging system to move cash into fake accounts in the Philippines but were discovered before they could complete an attempted transfer totaling $951 million. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation suspects an insider with access to the computers at the Bangladesh central bank played a role in the caper, according to the people briefed on the investigation. Police in Bangladesh said they have found negligence within the bank but havent determined whether there was any criminal intent. Spokesmen for Pakistans interior and information technology ministries didnt respond to requests for comments. Telephone and e-mailed requests for comment to North Koreas delegation to the United Nations went unanswered. Weak Link A year in the making, the hacking scheme ran through the SWIFT messaging system and the central banks accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, exposing crucial weaknesses in the global financial system. Government officials in the Philippines and Sri Lanka are investigating where the purloined money may have gone. Members of the U.S. Congress have asked for additional information about whether there were lapses in security by institutions duped in the scam. These guys started to lay the groundwork for their hack or their robbery a year ago. They set up their false accounts, with false IDs, said Leonard Schrank, who was SWIFTs chief executive officer for 15 years through 2007. It was really well thought through, and they found a very weak link, which they exploited. Hundreds of billions of dollars are moved internationally through the SWIFT system daily. The group warned users last month that it was aware of several similar attacks. It didnt indicate whether it suspected the same hackers or whether more money was taken. Skilled Perpetrators The Bangladesh forensic results, provided to the bank in the last few days, highlight the challenges of identifying skilled perpetrators in cyberspace, where hackers can mimic others and route their actions around the world to confuse trackers. The people briefed on the investigation agreed to provide details for this article only if not identified, citing the small circle of people who have been briefed so far. On Tuesday, the new head of Bangladeshs central bank met in Basel, Switzerland, to discuss the investigation with officials from the New York Fed and SWIFT. In a brief joint statement, the parties said they were committed to recovering the proceeds of the fraud, bringing the perpetrators to justice and working together to normalize operations. Representatives for the New York Fed, SWIFT and Bangladesh central bank declined to provide additional details about the progress of the investigation. Vitor De Souza, a spokesman for FireEye, declined to comment on the report. USB Port FireEye was unable to determine how the thieves first entered the Bangladesh Banks network, according to one of the people. One possibility is that malware was introduced into the network by someone inside the bank or a technician working with the bank. Malware can be introduced quickly onto a network by someone inside with something as simple as a thumb drive in an open USB port. The forensics investigation hasnt found any evidence of this, the person said. The potential role of any insider is still being investigated. The FBI has been assisting the inquiry at the request of the Bangladesh central bank. Jillian Stickels, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Washington, declined to comment on the investigation. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Tuesday that the FBI suspected the involvement of an insider. The Bangladesh Bank hasnt yet been able to determine whether an employee was involved, according to a panel it appointed to review the incident. An official from Bangladeshs police said it hasnt received information from the FBI about a possible insider and that no arrests had been made. Bangladesh officials have sought to cast SWIFT as bearing some responsibility, this week releasing details about SWIFT technicians who made upgrades to the banks system late last year. Reuters previously reported on the officials findings. The way that technicians from SWIFT set up the network at Bangladesh Bank was not according to the agreed plan, Shah Alam, a senior official in Bangladeshs Criminal Investigation Department, told Bloomberg on Tuesday. We have also found that some officials at Bangladesh Bank who were in charge of maintaining the network fell short of their responsibilities, he said, adding that police were still trying to determine if the officials actions went beyond pure negligence. Such allegations are false, inaccurate and misleading, SWIFT said in a statement on its website. Moral Responsibility The Bangladesh central bank has been roiled since the hack was disclosed in March, and several officials have stepped down. Atiur Rahman resigned as Bangladeshs central bank governor, saying he took moral responsibility after failing to immediately inform the Finance Ministry of the theft. Two of his deputies were also removed. Attribution of a breach is notoriously difficult, even for the U.S. government. In this case, the task was hampered as investigators sifted through the handiwork of multiple hacking groups, attributing the heist at various stages of the investigation first to one group and then the next, according to one of the people briefed. Hackers used the SWIFT system to make illicit payments to accounts in several countries, creating sophisticated malware designed to operate on the banks SWIFT messaging system. As the hackers navigated through the banks network unseen for weeks, they deployed a smorgasbord of tools that included two pieces of malware dubbed Nestegg and Dyepack, according to one of the people briefed on the report. Custom Malware The ease with which the hackers manipulated the interbank system and the significant resources used to create and customize the malware raise the possibility of more attacks against international institutions, people involved in the bank probe said. North Koreas hacking prowess has been cited by government officials repeatedly in recent years. President Obama accused North Korea of pilfering and publishing a trove of corporate information from Sony more than a year ago after the production of The Interview, a movie that parodies North Korea and vowed to take unspecified action against the country. North Korea has also been blamed for a series of financial hacks in South Korea by officials there. After the White House publicly attributed the Sony breach to North Korea, some security firms publicly cast doubt on the claim. North Korea has denied any involvement.Investigators have spent weeks following the money trail from the Bangladesh central banks account, but the ultimate destination of tens of millions of dollars remains unknown. Simple Errors After scouting the computer system, the hackers impersonated bank officials, sending instructions through the SWIFT system to move nearly $1 billion to several bank accounts in several countries. Most of the transfers were stopped or reversed because of simple errors made by the hackers, including a spelling error. Clues to the missing millions have led from computers in Bangladesh to a colorful cast of characters including a bank manager and casino operators in the Philippines and the head of a non-profit foundation in Sri Lanka. SWIFT, which stands for Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, is a cooperative that is a vital component in global interbank transfers. It has said that its systems werent compromised but that messages were sent through its system by attackers who appeared to have good knowledge of the bank systems and their security procedures. Related: Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics USA Cyber New York Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has signed a bill into law that creates new statewide rules for ridesharing companies such as Uber and Uber to do business in Iowa. Branstad signed the bill this week following approval this session in the Democratic-controlled Senate and Republican-majority House. The law establishes a new regulatory system for companies that let people use smartphones to pay for prearranged rides. It will require liability insurance for vehicles, add background checks for drivers and change licensing expectations. State regulators would also have the authority to ensure compliance. A representative for Uber says the new law mirrors similar legislation enacted in more than two dozen other states. The industry, which is still fairly new, has faced criticism over concerns about public safety for customers. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation Personal Auto Iowa Workers alleging unsafe working conditions at an automotive glass manufacturing plant in southwestern Ohio have filed a complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The complaint filed this week by 11 workers at the Fuyao Glass America Inc. plant in Moraine seeks an expanded investigation at the plant that OSHA cited last month for safety violations. The complaint says employees working on laminating glass cut themselves and arent allowed to use safety gloves. The complaint also alleges fire and safety hazards among other problems. An official at the 1,400-worker plant told the Dayton Daily News that Fuyao recently hired an OSHA compliance officer and works daily to ensure safety. OSHA officials say they will review the complaint and address any allegations not covered by previous inspections. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Auto Workers' Compensation Ohio Everest Specialty Underwriters said it has formed a new division, Alternative Solution Group, to offers transactional risk insurance as well as professional and management liability insurance on both a primary and excess basis to private equity firms and hedge funds. Robert Clark has been appointed to the position of vice president to head up this new unit in New York. Clark joined Everest in late 2015 from Axis Insurance Co., where he was vice president of the private equity group. Prior to that, he worked for Moodys Investor Service as an analyst for the property/casualty insurance team, which included responsibility for a portfolio of insurance broker credits that were purchased in private equity sponsored transactions. Michael Karmilowicz, head of Everest Specialty Underwriters, said the firm continues to increase its footprint in the alternative asset management arena via private equity, hedge fund and transactional risk products. Everest Specialty Underwriters specializes in insurance for the security broker/dealer industry, insurance agents, asset managers, and the banking and insurance industries. It is a subsidiary of Everest Re Group, Ltd., a Bermuda holding company. Lockton Companies announced Karmanee Governor has joined its Nashville office as an account executive in the Healthcare Practice. She will work with clients such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, and physician groups to develop insurance programs to best manage professional liability and property and casualty issues. Governor comes to Lockton with nearly 20 years of insurance consulting experience. Most recently, Governor was vice president in the national healthcare practice for Beecher Carlson Insurance Services. Prior to that, she worked for Aon Risk Services as a senior account executive. Governor received a Bachelors of Science in Psychology from Rutgers State University. Her professional accreditations include Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC), Associate in Risk Management (ARM), and Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management (CPHRM). Governor will work out of Locktons Nashville office. Northeast Mississippi farmers have had to replant some of their corn and soybeans more than once because of spring downpours. Its the third year in a row that farmers have had to fight excess water, Charlie Stokes, the areas agronomy agent with Mississippi State Universitys Extension Service, told the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. We got some corn planted in April, but we had to replant a lot of it, too, he said, referring to the growers he works with daily. But some didnt get any field work done, and when they did, it rained again. John Paul Barber of Plantersville and his brother, Matthew, had to replant some of their corn, only to have another four inches of rain undo that sunup-to-sundown work. Several consecutive days of soil saturation can limit oxygen and stunt growth of seedlings, particularly those below ground that have not yet emerged, said Erick Larson, the Extension Service grains crop specialist. In spite of all the rain, he said, Mississippi producers have more than 80 percent of the states corn crop in the ground and nearly two-thirds of that is rated in good or excellent condition. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted Mississippis corn acreage would be 800,000, up 57 percent from last years 510,000 acres. Tuesday was the final planting date for corn farmers to get full crop insurance coverage in Lee County and counties adjacent and north. Areas farther south had earlier deadlines. The window for soybeans is open until June. You never really know whats going to happen, Mike Barber said. Sometimes you plant early and you get a good crop, sometimes its better when you plant toward the end, sometimes its somewhere in the middle. But every day you have to wait, youre getting behind that eight-ball. Every year is different. It was wet last year and this year; in six weeks, we dont know where we might be. We might be asking where the rain is at that point. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Agribusiness Mississippi North Carolinas Supreme Court says state lawmakers violated the constitutional rights of veteran teachers by taking away job protections theyd already earned. The states high court ruled unanimously April 15 that the General Assembly cant retroactively repeal the job protections veteran teachers were promised. The judges said lawmakers could stop new teachers from earning the same type of protections since the law passed in mid-2013. North Carolina protects teachers earning career status after at least four years in a school district. They cant be fired or demoted except for outlined reasons that include poor performance, immorality and insubordination. They also have the right to a hearing to challenge their firing or demotion. Republican lawmakers argued ending those protections would make it easier to get rid of bad teachers, improving classroom performance. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation North Carolina It turns out characters like Conan the Barbarian, the cyborg from Terminator and Dutch the protagonist in the original Predator movie, know a thing or two about risk. Definitely the actor who portrayed them does. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday revisited a few of his more prolific characters and what it took the portray them for a group of insurance students and industry professionals as a Southern California university. The former California governor also talked about the risks he took leaving his home country of Austria after a career as the worlds greatest body builder to try and make it big in Hollywood, and then his foray into politics. His talk centered on risk was tailor-made for a conference titled Insurance Industry Trends 2020 and Beyond at Cal State University Fullerton. The event was staged by the administration and professors of the Center for Insurance Studies, which is part of the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at Cal State University Fullerton. Schwarzenegger was joined by Robert Hartwig, an economist and president of the Insurance Information Institute, who made what was likely his final stop in the region as the face of the property/casualty insurance industry. Schwarzenegger focused much of his talk on delivering a message to students in the audience: they should pursue their dreams instead of settling for a career they may not really want. When he was first trying to break into acting in the 1970s, Schwarzeneggers brawny frame did not fit the star prototype in an era of rangier men like Al Pachino, and Woody Allen, who at the time was considered a sex symbol. My agent said Dustin Hoffman is hot and he only weighs 150 pounds, Schwarzenegger said. Driven by dreams first formed through viewing 8 mm films as a boy in his homeland, he ignored the advice of his agent and pursued numerous roles in films. You cant be concerned about failure, he said. Not of all of Schwarzeneggers films turned out to be blockbusters, such as the embarrassing 1970 dud Hercules in New York, which the former muscle-man didnt mind poking fun of. It was a disaster, he said. It went into the toilet. Following that failure he landed the role of Conan the Barbarian. The film of the same name was a resounding success in fact Schwarzenegger is set to appear in the yet-to-be-released Legend of Conan. A lions share of his speech took on a get up, dont stay down theme, a mindset he said carried him from body building, to acting, to his time as the Governator. As California governor from 2003 to 2011, the Republican was noted for his crusade against partisanship, particularly in a state dominated by Democrats. Let me tell you, it is quite a surprise when you get in there and you see that everything is political, he said. Schwarzenegger described fighting with both parties on topics like schools, infrastructure and the environment. And those battles often made little sense to him. There is no Democrat air or Republican air. The air is polluted, he said, backing up his anti-pollution stance with the World Health Organization statistic that 7 million people per year in the U.S. die as a result of air pollution exposure. His topics, largely retrospective on the success he had during his years as governor, included political reform, such as fighting against gerrymandering as well as supporting open primaries, workers compensation reform, afterschool programs, equal education and climate change. Despite his pro-business, conservative bent, Schwarzenegger has embraced a number of pro-environment movements, particularly climate change. He was decidedly approving when asked about the Paris agreement hammered out by world leaders last year to battle climate change, called the COP21. I think its good to have a goal, he said. Its a good agreement. Its not perfect by any means. He again pointed to his time as California governor and noted that the state had early in the Millennium started being proactive on reducing greenhouse gases with an initiative that became law in 2006 after opponents battled it all the way up to the high court. They told us they could not regulate our own air, Schwarzenegger said. He scoffed at the oppositions argument at the time that greenhouse gas is not a pollutant. Echoing an earlier comment, he put in: Seven million people die every year because of pollution. He took time to answer a few questions from students and other members of the audience. One student asked him about his new role on NBCs Celebrity Apprentice, and if he would come up with a catch phrase like presidential hopeful and show predecessor Donald Trumps, Youre fired. Youre terminated was one suggested move tie-in he may consider working into the show, the student said, to which Schwarzenegger offered another: Get to the chopper. The famous line from Predator drew roaring laughter from an audience that had largely been quiet until that point. Of Schwarzeneggers few regrets, one is that he is a foreign-born citizen and therefore constitutionally prohibited for attaining the nations highest office. I do regret that I wasnt born in America, he said. Hartwig Slides The event was possibly the final chance for people in Southern California to hear from the man who has been the face of insurance industry since 2007. Hartwig in February announced he is leaving the helm of I.I.I this summer to join the faculty of the University of South Carolinas Darla Moore School of Business. Hartwig travels throughout the U.S. sharing facts and figures on the insurance industry at a rapid pace, as he points audience members to a blur of overhead slides to back up his assertions. Within an hour he covered a large array of topics: changing market dynamics; net premiums written across the U.S.; cyber insurance; the gig economy; workers compensation; disruptors; auto insurance; autonomous vehicles; and technology. This is an industry going through a tremendous period of technological change, Hartwig said. And with each of those changes, theres no shortage of people trying to write off the insurance industry, such as the lingering prediction from myriad worrywarts that autonomous vehicles will kill off auto insurance, he added. Among his legion of slides was one showing that by 2035 its estimated that 25 percent of new vehicles coming off production lines will be fully autonomous. He also noted that while Googles driverless car is making headlines, it couldnt make the short trip today from the train station to his home without ending up in a ditch. We are a long way off on this stuff, he said. Instead of succumbing to technology, the insurance industry has adapted by providing new products for ridesharing, property sharing and cyber-attacks, he added. Hartwig also dismissed the notion that technology companies will supplant insurers and insurance agents with disruptive innovations like online insurance shopping portals and software-enhanced aggregators. Theres a lot of Silicon Valley hype nowadays, Hartwig said. The event also included a panel discussion with Chris Baggaley, senior vice president at the Automobile Club of Southern California, Ron Guerrier, chief information officer of Farmers Insurance Group, Mark Costa, senior vice president at Kaiser Permanente, and Joe Celentano, senior vice president at Pacific Life Insurance Co. Proceeds went to benefit the centers insurance marketing entrepreneurship program endowment, which provides funding for students interested in careers on the sales side of risk management and insurance. Related: Topics California Pollution Market Education Universities You are here: Home Flash A total of 363 rhinos were poached in South Africa in the first four months of this year, Minister of Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, said on Monday. Members of the Pilanesberg National Park Anti-Poaching Unit stand guard as conservationists and police investigate the scene of a rhino poaching incident in South Africa's North West province, in this file picture taken on April 19, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua] That is down from 404 rhinos lost to poaching in South Africa in the same period last year, according to official figures. "We are not claiming victory, but we are claiming success that accounts for the downward trend," Molewa said. The Kruger National Park (KNP), one of Africa's biggest game reserves in northeastern South Africa, continued to bear the brunt of rhino poaching, losing 232 rhinos from January to April, said Molewa. Despite the moderate fall in poached rhinos, poaching activities have however become more alarming. The number of poaching activities recorded in the KNP in the four months stood at a staggering 1, 038, up from 808 a year ago, Molewa said. "We have responded accordingly and stepped up our efforts to apprehend suspected poachers," she added. Since the start of the year, 206 poacher suspects have been arrested in South Africa, according to the minister. Molewa said said these successes were a result of improved collaboration within the Security Cluster, as well as cooperation with local communities and NGOs. The South African authorities are committed to addressing national and transnational wildlife trafficking, she said. The Asia Tax Awards followed the two-day Asia Tax Forum which also took place on May 4 and 5 at the Goodwood Park Hotel in Singapore. These coinciding events made for an exciting two days, with premier taxpayers, officials and practitioners from the Asia Pacific region discussing key topics in tax. KPMG took home 14 awards in total, including the Asia indirect tax firm of the year, the Asia international tax firm of the year, the US corporate tax practice of the year, the Asia global executive mobility practice of the year. The firm also scooped three national tax firm awards for China, Taiwan and Thailand, four transfer pricing awards for China, India, the Philippines, and Singapore, and two tax disputes and litigation awards for China and Thailand. KPMG China won for its expertise in the variety of transactions and disciplines it covered throughout the year. It also won the tax disputes and litigation award for the diversity of cases it dealt with during the year, which spanned VAT, transfer pricing and withholding tax, showcasing its exceptional understanding of the tax system. Asia International Tax Firm of the Year - KPMG Deloitte was honoured with 11 awards, including Asia transfer pricing firm of the year, FATCA/withholding tax team of the year, Asia tax innovator of the year, Asia tax technology firm of the year, as well as Vietnam national tax firm of the year, five transfer pricing awards for Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Asia, and two tax disputes and litigation awards for Singapore and Taiwan. Deloitte won the tax disputes and litigation award for Singapore for its strength in resolving R&D, transfer pricing and GST disputes, and also earned the same award in Taiwan for its advice in cases that covered topics such as amortisation and related parties. PwC received seven awards from the ceremony, including the Asia tax policy firm of the year award. Its total also included three national tax firm awards for Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and three transfer pricing awards for Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Vietnam. PwC Hong Kong was noted as a comprehensive tax practice that serves clients in a range of sectors, particularly financial services. Its transfer pricing department was also recognised, winning for handling a number of big-ticket matters over the past year including APAs and the reorganisation of a Chinese business in Hong Kong. Six awards were received by Baker & McKenzie, including the transfer pricing practice of the year award and the tax disputes and litigation award for Asia. On top of these it won three other national tax disputes and litigation awards for Hong Kong, Indonesia and Vietnam as well as a national tax firm award for Singapore. Baker & McKenzie, Wong & Leow, won national tax firm of the year for its capability in a wide breadth of deals, including a key reorganisation and the creation of a commodity trading platform. EY received two awards for tax compliance and reporting firm of the year and for tax disputes and litigation firm of the year in India. Yulchon was honored with Asia tax transactions firm of the year as well as tax firm of the year for India. Other notable winners included the Asia tax commissioner of the year, which was awarded to Dato' Sri Khazali Bin Haji Ahmad, director general of customs at Royal Malaysian Customs and KPMG, which won the Asia tax firm of the year for its strength and depth in its international tax practice throughout Asia. Asia Tax Disputes and Litigation Practice Leader of the Year - Tarun Gulati of PDS Legal The Asia Tax Awards winners Australia Tax firm of the year - DLA Piper Transfer pricing firm of the year - Transfer Pricing Solutions Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Herbert Smith Freehills and Greenwoods & Herbert Smith Freehills China Tax firm of the year - KPMG Transfer pricing firm of the year - KPMG Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - KPMG Hong Kong Tax firm of the year - PwC Transfer pricing firm of the year - PwC Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Baker & McKenzie India Tax firm of the year - SKP Group Transfer pricing firm of the year - KPMG Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - EY Indonesia Tax firm of the year - PwC Transfer pricing firm of the year - Deloitte Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Hadiputranto Hadinoto & Partners Japan Tax firm of the year - Withers Transfer pricing firm of the year - Deloitte Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu Malaysia Tax firm of the year - PwC Transfer pricing firm of the year - Deloitte Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Shearn Delamore Myanmar Tax firm of the year - VDB LOI New Zealand Tax firm of the year - Bell Gully Transfer pricing firm of the year - Deloitte Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Russell McVeagh Philippines Tax firm of the year - BDB Law Transfer pricing firm of the year - RGM & CO Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Salvador Llanillo & Bernardo, Taxand Philippines Singapore Tax firm of the year - Baker & McKenzie. Wong & Leow Transfer pricing firm of the year - KPMG Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Deloitte South Korea Tax firm of the year - Yulchon Transfer pricing firm of the year - Lee & Ko Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Yoon & Yang Taiwan Tax firm of the year - KPMG Transfer pricing firm of the year - PwC Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Deloitte Thailand Tax firm of the year - KPMG Transfer pricing firm of the year - Quantera Global Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - KPMG Vietnam Tax firm of the year - Deloitte Transfer pricing firm of the year - PwC Tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Baker & McKenzie Asia tax policy firm of the year - PwC Asia tax compliance & reporting firm of the year - EY Asia tax technology firm of the year - Deloitte Asia tax innovator of the year - Deloitte Asia global executive mobility practice of the year - KPMG US corporate tax practice of the year - KPMG China Best newcomer awards - Dhruva Advisors FATCA / Withholding tax team of the year - Deloitte Asia international tax firm of the year - KPMG Asia tax transactions firm of the year - Yulchon Asia indirect tax firm of the year - KPMG Asia tax disputes and litigation practice leader of the year - Tarun Gulati of PDS Legal Asia tax disputes and litigation firm of the year - Baker & McKenzie Asia transfer pricing practice leader of the year - Shanwu Yuan of Baker & McKenzie Asia transfer pricing firm of the year - Deloitte Asia tax practice leader of the year - Mark Tamayo of SGV & CO The International Tax Review would like to thank all those that attended. We hope to see you all again at the next Asia Tax Awards. Pillar two will change the international tax system forever. Here Christian Kaeser, global head of tax at Siemens, looks at how businesses and tax administrations can simplify pillar two compliance. Buying shares in mutual funds can be intimidating for beginning investors. There is a huge amount of funds available, all with different investment strategies and asset groups. Trading shares in mutual funds are different from trading shares in stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The fees charged for mutual funds can be complicated. Understanding these fees is important since they have a large impact on the performance of investments in a fund. What Are Mutual Funds? A mutual fund is an investment company that takes money from many investors and pools it together in one large pot. The professional manager for the fund invests the money in different types of assets including stocks, bonds, commodities, and even real estate. An investor buys shares in the mutual fund. These shares represent an ownership interest in a portion of the assets owned by the fund. Mutual funds are designed for longer-term investors and are not meant to be traded frequently due to their fee structures. Mutual funds are often attractive to investors because they are widely diversified. Diversification helps to minimize risk to an investment. Rather than having to research and make an individual decision as to each type of asset to include in a portfolio, mutual funds offer a single comprehensive investment vehicle. Some mutual funds can have thousands of different holdings. Mutual funds are also very liquid. It is easy to buy and redeem shares in mutual funds. There is a wide variety of mutual funds to consider. A few of the major fund types are bond funds, stock funds, balanced funds, and index funds. Bond funds hold fixed-income securities as assets. These bonds pay regular interest to their holders. The mutual fund makes distributions to mutual fund holders of this interest. Stock funds make investments in the shares of different companies. Stock funds seek to profit mainly by the appreciation of the shares over time, as well as dividend payments. Stock funds often have a strategy of investing in companies based on their market capitalization, the total dollar value of a companys outstanding shares. For example, large-cap stocks are defined as those with market capitalizations over $10 billion. Stock funds may specialize in large-, mid-or small-cap stocks. Small-cap funds tend to have higher volatility than large-cap funds. Balanced funds hold a mix of bonds and stocks. The distribution among stocks and bonds in these funds varies depending on the funds strategy. Index funds track the performance of an index such as the S&P 500. These funds are passively managed. They hold similar assets to the index being tracked. Fees for these types of funds are lower due to infrequent turnover in assets and passive management. How Mutual Funds Trade The mechanics of trading mutual funds are different from those of ETFs and stocks. Mutual funds require minimum investments of anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000, unlike stocks and ETFs where the minimum investment is one share. Mutual funds trade only once a day after the markets close. Stocks and ETFs can be traded at any point during the trading day. The price for the shares in a mutual fund is determined by the net asset value (NAV) calculated after the market closes. The NAV is calculated by dividing the total value of all the assets in the portfolio, less any liabilities, by the number of outstanding shares. This is different from stocks and ETFs, wherein prices fluctuate during the trading day. An investor is buying or redeeming mutual fund shares directly from the fund itself. This is different from stocks and ETFs, wherein the counterparty to the buying or selling of a share is another participant in the market. Mutual funds charge different fees for buying or redeeming shares. Mutual Fund Charges and Fees It is critical for investors to understand the type of fees and charges associated with buying and redeeming mutual fund shares. These fees vary widely and can have a dramatic impact on the performance of an investment in the fund. Some mutual funds charge load fees when buying or redeeming shares in the fund. The load is similar to the commission paid when buying or selling a stock. The load fee compensates the sale intermediary for the time and expertise in selecting the fund for the investor. Load fees can be anywhere from 4% to 8% of the amount invested in the fund. A front-end load is charged when an investor first buys shares in the fund. A back-end load also called a deferred sales charge, is charged if the fund shares are sold within a certain time frame after first purchasing them. The back-end load is usually higher in the first year after buying the shares but then goes down each year after that. For example, a fund may charge 6% if shares are redeemed in the first year of ownership, and then it may reduce that fee by 1% each year until the sixth year when no fee is charged. A level-load fee is an annual charge deducted from the assets in a fund to pay for distribution and marketing costs for the fund. These fees are also known as 12b-1 fees. They are a fixed percentage of the funds average net assets. Notably, 12b-1 fees are considered part of the expense ratio for a fund. The expense ratio includes ongoing fees and expenses for the fund. Expense ratios can vary widely but are generally 0.5 to 1.25%. Passively managed funds, such as index funds, usually have lower expense ratios than actively managed funds. Passive funds have a lower turnover in their holdings. They are not attempting to outperform a benchmark index, but just try to duplicate it, and thus do not need to compensate the fund manager for his expertise in choosing investment assets. Load fees and expense ratios can be a significant drag on investment performance. Funds that charge loads must outperform their benchmark index or similar funds to justify the fees. Many studies show that load funds often do not perform better than their no-load counterparts. Thus, it makes little sense for most investors to buy shares in a fund with loads. Similarly, funds with higher expense ratios also tend to perform worse than low expense funds. Because their higher expenses drag down returns, actively managed mutual funds sometimes get a bad rap as a group overall. But many international markets (especially the emerging ones) are just too difficult for direct investmentthey're not highly liquid or investor-friendlyand they have no comprehensive index to follow. In this case, it pays to have a professional manager help wade through all of the complexities, and who is worth paying an active fee for. Risk Tolerance and Investment Goals The first step in determining the suitability of any investment product is to assess risk tolerance. This is the ability and desire to take on risk in return for the possibility of higher returns. Though mutual funds are often considered one of the safer investments on the market, certain types of mutual funds are not suitable for those whose main goal is to avoid losses at all costs. Aggressive stock funds, for example, are not suitable for investors with very low-risk tolerances. Similarly, some high-yield bond funds may also be too risky if they invest in low-rated or junk bonds to generate higher returns. Your specific investment goals are the next most important consideration when assessing the suitability of mutual funds, making some mutual funds more appropriate than others. For an investor whose main goal is to preserve capital, meaning she is willing to accept lower gains in return for the security of knowing her initial investment is safe, high-risk funds are not a good fit. This type of investor has a very low-risk tolerance and should avoid most stock funds and many more aggressive bond funds. Instead, look to bond funds that invest in only highly rated government or corporate bonds or money market funds. If an investor's chief aim is to generate big returns, they are likely willing to take on more risk. In this case, high-yield stock and bond funds can be excellent choices. Though the potential for loss is greater, these funds have professional managers who are more likely than the average retail investor to generate substantial profits by buying and selling cutting-edge stocks and risky debt securities. Investors looking to aggressively grow their wealth are not well suited to money market funds and other highly stable products because the rate of return is often not much greater than inflation. Income or Growth? Mutual funds generate two kinds of income: capital gains and dividends. Though any net profits generated by a fund must be passed on to shareholders at least once a year, the frequency with which different funds make distributions varies widely. If you are looking to grow wealth over the long-term and are not concerned with generating immediate income, funds that focus on growth stocks and use a buy-and-hold strategy are best because they generally incur lower expenses and have a lower tax impact than other types of funds. If, instead, you want to use your investment to create a regular income, dividend-bearing funds are an excellent choice. These funds invest in a variety of dividend-bearing stocks and interest-bearing bonds and pay dividends at least annually but often quarterly or semi-annually. Though stock-heavy funds are riskier, these types of balanced funds come in a range of stock-to-bond ratios. Tax Strategy When assessing the suitability of mutual funds, it is important to consider taxes. Depending on an investor's current financial situation, income from mutual funds can have a serious impact on an investor's annual tax liability. The more income you earn in a given year, the higher your ordinary income and capital gains tax brackets. Dividend-bearing funds are a poor choice for those looking to minimize their tax liability. Though funds that employ a long-term investment strategy may pay qualified dividends, which are taxed at the lower capital gains rate, any dividend payments increase an investor's taxable income for the year. The best choice is to choose funds that focus more on long-term capital gains and avoid dividend stocks or interest-bearing corporate bonds. Funds that invest in tax-free government or municipal bonds generate interest that is not subject to federal income tax. So, these products may be a good choice. However, not all tax-free bonds are completely tax-free, so make sure to verify whether those earnings are subject to state or local taxes. Many funds offer products managed with the specific goal of tax-efficiency. These funds employ a buy-and-hold strategy and eschew dividend- or interest-paying securities. They come in a variety of forms, so it's important to consider risk tolerance and investment goals when looking at a tax-efficient fund. There are many metrics to study before deciding to invest in a mutual fund. Mutual fund rater Morningstar (MORN) offers a great site to analyze funds and offers details on funds that include details on its asset allocation and mix between stocks, bonds, cash, and any alternative assets that may be held. It also popularized the investment style box that breaks a fund down between the market cap it focuses on (small, mid, and large cap) and investment style (value, growth, or blend, which is a mix of value and growth). Other key categories cover the following: A funds expense ratios An overview of its investment holdings Biographical details of the management team How strong its stewardship skills are How long it has been around For a fund to be a buy, it should have a mix of the following characteristics: a great long-term (not short-term) track record, charge a reasonably low fee compared to the peer group, invest with a consistent approach based off the style box and possess a management team that has been in place for a long time. Morningstar sums up all of these metrics in a star rating, which is a good place to start to get a feel for how strong a mutual fund has been. However, keep in mind that the rating is backward-focused. Investment Strategies Individual investors can look for mutual funds that follow a certain investment strategy that the investor prefers, or apply an investment strategy themselves by purchasing shares in funds that fit the criteria of a chosen strategy. Value Investing Value investing, popularized by the legendary investor Benjamin Graham in the 1930s, is one of the most well-established, widely used and respected stock market investing strategies. Buying stocks during the Great Depression, Graham was focused on identifying companies with genuine value and whose stock prices were either undervalued or at the very least not overinflated and therefore not easily prone to a dramatic fall. The classic value investing metric used to identify undervalued stocks is the price-to-book (P/B) ratio. Value investors prefer to see P/B ratios at least below 3, and ideally below 1. However, since the average P/B ratio can vary significantly among sectors and industries, analysts commonly evaluate a company's P/B value in relation to that of similar companies engaged in the same business. While mutual funds themselves do not technically have P/B ratios, the average weighted P/B ratio for the stocks that a mutual fund holds in its portfolio can be found at various mutual fund information sites, such as Morningstar.com. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of mutual funds that identify themselves as value funds, or that state in their descriptions that value investing principles guide the fund manager's stock selections. Value investing goes beyond only considering a company's P/B value. A company's value may exist in the form of having strong cash flows and relatively little debt. Another source of value is in the specific products and services that a company offers, and how they are projected to perform in the marketplace. Brand name recognition, while not precisely measurable in dollars and cents, represents a potential value for a company, and a point of reference for concluding that the market price of a company's stock is currently undervalued as compared to the true value of the company and its operations. Virtually any advantage a company has over its competitors or within the economy as a whole provides a source of value. Value investors are likely to scrutinize the relative values of the individual stocks that make up a mutual fund's portfolio. Contrarian Investing Contrarian investors go against the prevailing market sentiment or trend. A classic example of contrarian investing is selling short, or at least avoiding buying, the stocks of an industry when investment analysts across the board are virtually all projecting above-average gains for companies operating in the specified industry. In short, contrarians often buy what the majority of investors are selling and sell what the majority of investors are buying. Because contrarian investors typically buy stocks that are out of favor or whose prices have declined, contrarian investing can be seen as similar to value investing. However, contrarian trading strategies tend to be driven more by market sentiment factors than they are by value investing strategies and to rely less on specific fundamental analysis metrics such as the P/B ratio. Contrarian investing is often misunderstood as consisting of simply selling stocks or funds that are going up and buying stocks or funds that are going down, but that is a misleading oversimplification. Contrarians are often more likely to go against prevailing opinions than to go against prevailing price trends. A contrarian move is to buy into a stock or fund whose price is rising despite the continuous and widespread market opinion that the price should be falling. There are plenty of mutual funds that can be identified as contrarian funds. Investors can seek out contrarian-style funds to invest in, or they can employ a contrarian mutual fund trading strategy by selecting mutual funds to invest in using contrarian investment principles. Contrarian mutual fund investors seek out mutual funds to invest in that hold the stocks of companies in sectors or industries that are currently out of favor with market analysts, or they look for funds invested in sectors or industries that have underperformed compared to the overall market. A contrarian's attitude toward a sector that has been underperforming for several years may well be that the protracted period of time over which the sector's stocks have been performing poorly (in relation to the overall market average) only makes it more probable that the sector will soon begin to experience a reversal of fortune to the upside. Momentum Investing Momentum investing aims to profit from following strong existing trends. Momentum investing is closely related to a growth investing approach. Metrics considered in evaluating the strength of a mutual fund's price momentum include the weighted average price-earnings to growth (PEG) ratio of the fund's portfolio holdings, or the percentage year-over-year increase in the fund's net asset value (NAV). Appropriate mutual funds for investors seeking to employ a momentum investing strategy can be identified by fund descriptions where the fund manager clearly states that momentum is a primary factor in his selection of stocks for the fund's portfolio. Investors wishing to follow market momentum through mutual fund investments can analyze the momentum performance of various funds and make fund selections accordingly. A momentum trader may look for funds with accelerating profits over a span of time; for example, funds with NAVs that rose by 3% three years ago, by 5% the following year and by 7% in the most recent year. Momentum investors may also seek to identify specific sectors or industries that are demonstrating clear evidence of strong momentum. After identifying the strongest industries, they invest in funds that offer the most advantageous exposure to companies engaged in those industries. The Bottom Line Benjamin Graham once wrote that making money on investing should depend on the amount of intelligent effort the investor is willing and able to bring to bear on his task of security analysis. When it comes to buying a mutual fund, investors must do their homework. In some respects, this is easier than focusing on buying individual securities, but it does add some important other areas to research before buying. Overall, there are many reasons why investing in mutual funds makes sense and a little bit of due diligence can make all the differenceand provide a measure of comfort. The Small Business Association (SBA) is an agency established in 1953 by the U.S. government that provides various types of assistance to American small businesses. The SBA helps small businesses by providing access to capital and low-cost training, providing government contracts to qualified small businesses, and advocating for small businesses by reviewing legislation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the SBA launched the PPP program, which provided forgivable SBA loans to thousands of small businesses whose operations were impacted by the pandemic. It is possible to determine whether a company is a potential takeover candidate before a public announcement has been made; you simply have to know the signs to look for in the candidate. The well-financed suitors also look for these same indicators in their target companies. Once you know what the big companies are looking for, you'll be able to determine which companies are prime candidates for takeovers. Key Takeaways A good takeover company is one that has carved out a niche, and is ready to expand, but needs greater capital. Good candidates should have only one class of common stock and little debt; what debt they have should be able to be refinanced. A potential takeover target should have consistent revenue streams, steady businesses, experienced management, and the capacity to increase margins. Product or Service Niche A large company has the luxury of being able to develop or acquire an arsenal of varying services and products. However, if it can buy a company at a reasonable price that has a unique niche in a particular industry (either in terms of a product or service), it will probably do so. Smart suitors will wait until the smaller company has done the risky footwork and advertising before buying in. But once a niche is carved out, the larger firm will probably come knocking. In terms of both money and time, it is often cheaper for larger companies to acquire a given product or a service than to build it out from scratch. This allows them to avoid much of the risk associated with a startup procedure. Additional Financing Needed Smaller companies often don't have the ability to market their items nationally, much less internationally. Larger firms with deep pockets have this ability. Therefore, look for not only a company with a viable product line but one that, with the proper financing, could have the potential for large-scale growth. Clean Capital Structure Large firms want an acquisition to go forward on a timely basis, but some companies have a large amount of overhang that dissuades potential suitors. Be wary of companies with a lot of convertible bonds or varying classes of common or preferred stock, especially those with super-voting rights. The reason that overhang dissuades companies from making an acquisition is that the acquiring firm has to go through a painstaking due diligence process. Overhang presents the risk of significant dilution and presents the possibility that some pesky shareholders with 10-to-1 voting rights might try to hold up the deal. If you think a company may be a prospective takeover target, make sure it has a clean capital structure. In other words, look for companies that have just one class of common stock and a minimal amount of debt that can be converted into common shares. Debt Refinance Possible In the latter half of the 1990s, when interest rates began to decline, a number of casino companies found themselves saddled with high fixed-interest first mortgage notes. Because many of them were already drowning in debt, the banks weren't keen on refinancing those notes. So, along came larger players in the industry. These larger players had better credit ratings and deeper pockets, as well as access to capital, and were able to buy up many of the smaller, struggling casino operators. Naturally, a large amount of consolidation occurred. After the deals were done, the larger companies refinanced these first mortgage notes, which, in many cases, had very high-interest rates. The result was millions in cost savings. When considering the possibility of a takeover, look for companies that could be much more profitable if their debt loads were refinanced at a more favorable rate. Geographic Proximity When one company acquires another, management usually tries to save money by eliminating redundant overhead. In other words, why maintain two warehouses if one can do the job and is accessible by both companies? Therefore, in considering takeover targets, look for companies that are geographically convenient to each other and, that if combined, would present shareholders with a huge potential for cost savings. Clean Operating History Takeover candidates usually have a clean operating history. They have consistent revenue streams and steady businesses. Remember, suitors and financing companies want a smooth transition. They will be wary if a company has, for instance, previously filed for bankruptcy, has a history of reporting erratic earnings results, or has recently lost major customers. Enhances Shareholder Value Has the target company been proactive in telling its story to the investment community? Has it repurchased its shares in the open market? Suitors want to buy companies that will thrive as part of a larger company, but also those that, if needed, could continue to work on their own. This ability to work as a standalone applies to the investor relations and public relations function. Suitors like companies are able to enhance shareholder value. Experienced Management In some cases, when one company acquires another, the management team at the acquired company is sacked. However, in other instances, management is kept on board because they know the company better than anyone else. Therefore, acquiring companies often look for candidates that have been well run. Remember, good stewardship implies that the company's facilities are probably in good order and that its customer base is content. Minimal Litigation Threats Almost every company at some point in time will be engaged in some sort of litigation. However, companies seeking acquisition candidates will usually steer clear of firms that are saddled down with lawsuits. In general, suitors avoid acquiring unknown risks. Expandable Margins As a company grows its revenue base, it develops economies of scale. In other words, its revenues grow, but the overheadits rent, interest payments, and maybe even its labor costsstays the same, or increases at a much lower rate than revenue. Acquirers want to buy companies that have the potential to develop these economies of scale and increase margins. They also want to buy companies that have their cost structure in line, and that has a viable plan to grow revenue. Solid Distribution Network Particularly if the company is a manufacturer, it must have a solid distribution network or the ability to plug into the acquiring company's network if it is going to be a serious takeover target. What good is a product if it can't be brought to market? Make certain that any company you believe could be a potential takeover target has not only the ability to develop a product but also the ability to deliver it to its customers on a timely basis. Investors should never buy a company solely because they believe it is or may become, a takeover target. These suggestions are merely meant to enhance the research process and to help identify characteristics that may be attractive to potential suitors. The Bottom Line With the investment community focused on ever-increasing profitability, large companies will always be looking for acquisitions that can add to earnings fast. Therefore, companies that are well run, have excellent products, and have the best distribution networks are logical targets for a possible takeover. In July 2015, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, made headlines across the globe as a landmark historical agreement between extreme opponents. It was a signature foreign policy achievement of President Barack Obama's second term. The accord came after months of preparation and two weeks of final intensive discussions in Vienna, and with eight parties involved, the final result was an agreement with five annexes. The deal was intended to limit Tehran's nuclear ability in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions. It laid out a lengthy process, spanning over 15 to 25 years, that would be supervised by an eight-member committee, including Iran, the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China, and the European Union. However, the deal has proved challenging to keep intact. In May 2018, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be pulling out of the deal and issuing fresh sanctions against Iran. However, more recently, President Joe Biden has signaled his willingness to rejoin the agreement, as long as Tehran resumes complying with the terms of the original agreement. Key Takeaways The Iran nuclear deal was designed to curb Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons, in exchange for the removal of sanctions on Iran. In May 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would be pulling out of the deal and issuing sanctions on Iran. After then-President Trump ordered the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in early 2019, Iran announced its withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Iran Nuclear Deal Background Based on the revelations of an Iranian exile group in 2002, Iran was suspected of having nuclear facilities. Following inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and subsequent discoveries, Iran continued to proceed with nuclear developments despite international opposition. In 2006, the United Nations imposed sanctions on Iran, which were followed by similar actions from the U.S. and the EU. Bitter confrontations then broke out between Iran and the world powers. These sanctionsprimarily on Iran's oil business, weapons sales, and financial transactionshad severely hurt Irans economy. As one of the largest producers of crude oil, prices went through a volatile period as the outcome was largely unknown. The Parties Involved The deal was negotiated between Iran and a group of counterparts that included the U.S., Russia, the U.K., Germany, France, China, and the European Union (EU). The supporters of the nuclear deal affirm benefits, which include the best-possible guarantee from Iran that it will refrain from producing a nuclear arsenal. It was, at the time, an important step toward establishing peace in the Middle East region, particularly in the context of ISIS and the role of oil in Middle East economies. The Main Points To make nuclear bombs, the uranium ore mined from the earth needs enrichment to either uranium-235 or plutonium. Uranium ore mined from the earth is processed via devices called centrifuges to create uranium-235. Uranium ore is processed in nuclear reactors, which transform it into plutonium. Under the deal, Tehran would reduce the number of centrifuges to 5,000 at the Natanz uranium plantabout half the number at the time. Nationwide, the number of centrifuges would reduce from 19,000 to 6,000. The enrichment levels would be brought down to 3.7%, which was much lower than the 90% needed to make a bomb. The stockpile for the low-enrichment uranium would be capped to 300 kilograms for the next 15 years, down from the then 12,000 kilograms. All these measures served to restrict Iran's capability to make a nuclear bomb and would ensure nuclear power usage is limited to civilian use only. Next Steps and Timeline As the deal was finalized, a UN Security Council resolution was agreed upon. By August 15, 2015, Iran submitted written responses to the questions raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about its nuclear program and developments. Additionally, it allowed monitoring of its facilities by IAEA inspectors on or before October 15, 2015. Removal of Sanctions First, the oil embargo that prevented the import of oil from Iran was removed, which was not without its effects. The U.S. and EU lifted oil- and trade-related sanctions. Foreign companies began to purchase oil from Iran; U.S. companies located outside the United States were authorized to trade with Iran; and imports of selected items from Iran were permitted, which had a particular effect on international business. Simultaneously, sanctions on Irans banking and financial systems were dropped. It enabled the immediate release of around $100 billion currently lying frozen in Iranian bank accounts overseas. Other Benefits Immediately after the announcement, government officials from major European countries began visits to Iran to explore business opportunities. Some of the main challenges faced by Iran during the sanction period were Iran's shrinking GDP, high inflation (over 35% in 2013), and the nation being cut off from world economic systems. All such economic challenges drastically improved after the agreement. Lifting sanctions would allow the movement of huge supplies of oil from Iran, which was thought to be sitting on large stockpiles due to years of imposed sanctions. International oil companies like Frances Total and Norways Statoil (now Equinor) operated in Iran for years before sanctions were imposed, changing the tide for those countries and other top oil producers in the world. European car manufacturers like Peugeot and Volkswagen were market leaders in Iran prior to the sanctions. Although a few sectors like auto, oil, and infrastructure had significant interest from foreign companies in the pre-sanction era, the reality was that foreign businesses had limited presence in Iran since the 1979 Revolution. In essence, the Iranian markets had remained largely unexplored by international businesses across many other industry sectors. Key Concerns Former U.S. President Barack Obama claimed that the deal would make the U.S. and the world a safer place. However, concerns remained. Challenges included administrating and monitoring the atomic facilities and developments in Iran. Complete awareness was required about the existing labs, establishments, underground sites, research centers, and military bases associated with nuclear developments. Though Iran agreed to provide the IAEA with higher levels of information and deeper levels of access to all nuclear programs and facilities in the country, the picture remained murky. Opposition to the Iran Nuclear Deal The deal, although welcomed by a larger group of nations across the globe, also had opposition from a few prominent world leaders. Israeli leader Netanyahu said the deal "paves Iran's path to the bomb." His vehement opposition to the deal came on the basis of Irans history of being a nuclear-capable challenge for the Middle East region. Additionally, Netanyahu said the deal was a platform to fund and nurture a nuclear-capable, religious-extremist country, saying a strengthened Iran could hinder peace and security in the region. Former President Donald Trump and Iran After Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, proponents of the deal feared the agreement, which they saw as a win for world peace, would be in jeopardy. 2018 In May of 2018, President Trump announced that the U.S. would pull out of the deal and by the end of the year had reinstated sanctions on Iran. European countries, including Germany, France, and the U.K. disagreed with the sanctions. As a result, Iran's economy struggled, leading to protests in the streets. Iran responded when Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced that the country was rolling back some of the restrictions that had been previously agreed to under the 2015 deal. Iran would stop complying with the caps for stockpiles of enriched uranium. The Iranian president also announced the country would also halt any sales of surplus supplies overseas. 2019 In early 2019, President Trump ordered the killing of General Qasem Soleimani, who was one of Iran's top military leaders. In response, Iran announced it would no longer comply with the nuclear deal that President Obama had signed in 2015. In May 2019, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization stated that they would quadruple the production or output of low-enriched uranium, which was later confirmed by the IAEA as reported by BBC news. President Joe Biden and Iran 2021 President Joe Biden is said to be intent on restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran. According to officials who are working on the deal, Biden and his aides are going through the process of reviewing each sanction that former U.S. President Donald Trump put in place against Iran. (Towards the end of Trump's term, the former President levied more than 700 sanctions against the country.) Ali Vaez, of the International Crisis Group (ICG), was the senior advisor to Robert Malley, Biden's chief negotiator, when Malley was head of the ICG. Vaez has said that "...sanctions that are justified and not inconsistent with the JCPOA, like those that targeted human rights violators in Iran or those that penalized Iranians involved in cyberattacks against the U.S., will stay in place. In recent months, Iran has produced nuclear material that could be used for bombs and has increased its enrichment levels. Both of these actions are violations of the original pact and if continued, would prevent any sanctions against the country from being lifted. The Bottom Line The pros and cons of such a landmark deal were hotly debated. Most views, claims, and allegations were often politically tuned. European leaders still hold out hope that a deal can be reimplemented in an effort to constrain Iran's nuclear ambitions. However, for the time being, it appears that the Iran nuclear deal is on life support. Debbie McGoldrick Debbie McGoldrick is Senior Editor of the Irish Voice newspaper, where she has worked since 1991. Her writings cover politics, immigration and community issues. She is also the editor of the Voices annual Irish Legal 100 and Irish Education 100 issues. After Donnie Brown, a Chicago man visiting Ireland, was mugged at knifepoint in Dublin over the weekend, he was dismayed that he would have to cut his trip to Ireland short. He had been scheduled to leave on May 21, but didnt see how it would be possible for him to stay without any of his cash, credit cards or phone. Now, thanks to a whole bunch of spectacularly sound Irish people, he doesnt have to. Donnie called in to the RTE radio program "Liveline" yesterday to share his story. As soon as he did, the phone lines lit up with offers from around Ireland to host him, take him sightseeing and even loan him a car hopefully restoring his faith in the Irish people after his traumatic mugging. As Donnie explained, he had left his hostel to get a bite to eat on or about 11:30pm on Sunday night and was walking back along the quays on the north side of the Liffey, near Bachelors Walk, when he got a bit turned around. I have an awful sense of direction, he said. I get lost in my own apartment, so I stopped and asked this girl where the hostel was and if she could direct me there. She told Donnie that she would walk him there, so he set off with her and two men she had been with. It was when they got to the corner that Donnie realized he was in trouble. They said give me all your money and the guy behind me, I could see out of the corner of my eye, had a knife, he recalled. He handed over his wallet, but when they saw there was only 20 in it, they allegedly began punching him in the face, grabbed him in a chokehold and told him hed better give them something more, so he also gave them his iPhone. After they ran away, Donnie asked a number of passers-by to call the police, but said they largely ignored him. He eventually found a shop that was still open, and one of the workers ushered him in and called the police. He said that the Gardai who came to help were excellent. Donnie went to hospital the following day and found that he had sustained a range of injuries and a concussion. Not wanting to stay in the hostel near where he was mugged, he went back to the place where he had initially stayed when he arrived in Dublin, a hostel near Heuston Station run by a man named Mark Mulvey, who has been letting him stay there for free. It was Mulvey who contacted "Liveline" to see if they would be interested in Donnies story. He told me what happened and I was infuriated. This shouldnt happen in our city, Mulvey said. Donnie went on to say that he had been planning on traveling to Cork, where his mother was born, but that he would have to cut his trip short since he had no cards and no form of ID with which to pick up a wire transfer. Then the calls started. Adrian from Cork said hed been driving while listening to Donnie and had to call in. Its a shocking story and its not the impression wed like to give off around the world, he said. He then offered for Donnie to come stay with him in Ballycotton, Co. Cork, saying that hed pick him up at the station and show him around the area. Then a woman named Dee, who lives on the banks of the River Shannon in Co. Roscommon called to say hed be welcome to spend a few days at her house and go sailing with her daughter and her fiance. Adrian, who was still on the line, then offered to drive him there from his place! {It's a tough drive of 160 miles or so.} Sophie, a woman from Cork City, also invited him to stay with her family, adding that when she was younger she had been mugged in New York and was incredibly grateful for the help she had received from people there. After that, the offers kept coming in: from Connemara, Mayo and even Liverpool; invitations for tours of the Cliffs of Moher, Blarney Castle; even an offer of a car. Almost all the callers talked about how important it was to them to defend their national reputation after Donnies encounter. Donnie said he was overwhelmed by the generosity, and had an invitation of his own: I want to say to everybody thats been so kind with these offers, if you ever come to Chicago, mi casa es su casa. Happy travels, Donnie! John Dunleavy, former chairman of the New York St. Patricks Day Parade and Celebration Committee who ran the march for 22 years before he was demoted last June, denounced the current leadership as dishonest back-stabbers at a meeting of the parades affiliated organizations last Thursday evening at Cathedral High School in Manhattan to discuss this years march and how the affiliates want to proceed in the future. The well-attended event was called by John Tully, who replaced Dunleavy as committee chair last November along with a new slate of officers who remain at odds with the parades overseeing board of directors headed by Dr. John Lahey, president of Quinnipiac University. The board organized this years parade, and the leadership issue will be hashed out in Bronx Supreme Court on Thursday, May 26, when a lawsuit brought by Dunleavy against Lahey and board member Frank Comerford of NBC is scheduled to be heard. Dunleavy spoke at Thursdays meeting for nearly 15 minutes, and expressed fury at being accused of misappropriating parade funds for personal expenses a discovery made during a forensic audit of parade finances last year by the parades accounting firm. Thats a terrible thing to tell anybody or accuse anybody of without any verification, said Dunleavy in his remarks which were given to the Irish Voice via audiotape from several sources. Let me tell you something, my family, my children that were born here, what a thing to do to anybody after 24 years of dedication to this St. Patricks Day parade. I never took a dime from nobody in my life and I have never intention of doing it and I never stole nothing from anybody. Last November the parades board of directors notified the New York State Attorney Generals office about the audits findings to comply with rules governing 501 (c) 3 non-profits in New York State. The office declined to pursue the matter. Lahey attended the meeting not in his capacity as board chairman but rather as a representative of Quinnipiac, an affiliated organization of the parade. Also at the meeting was Frank McGreal, a long-time member of the parade leadership who was promoted to chief administrative officer at a board meeting last month. Dunleavy gave a defiant and at times rambling speech in which he defended his 44 years of service to the parade, which he said included building up its finances which stood at $400 in the bank when he took over as chairman, cleaning up the selection of the grand marshal, working with the U.S. military and regularly protesting outside the British Consulate among other things. I see a lot of people around. They have a lot to say and Ive asked them what 842 Third Avenue is, said Dunleavy, referring to the consulate. They couldnt tell you where it is or what office is there. Ill tell you what it is. I wore out a couple of pair of shoes walking up and down in front of it! Dunleavy, who has steadfastly opposed a gay group taking part in the parade, said he had planned on stepping down from his chairmanship of the boards Parade and Celebration Committee after this years march, but some people abused that situation, he said. I am deeply disappointed that Ive been stabbed in the back by so many people. I know theres somebody back there, I know he has a tape recorder and what we are saying here tonight will appear in the paper tomorrow youre not dealing with totally honest people. Lahey, who sat towards the back of the room with McGreal (neither of whom spoke to the Irish Voice about the meeting or provided audio), defended his boards actions and stressed that the parade would always be first and foremost in honor of St. Patrick, refuting claims that the board wants to secularize the march. McGreal listened as one attendee, Mike Cassels, said that his father, the late Frank McGreal Senior, who was also involved in the march, would be upset by the parades current state of affairs. Cassels is a long-time Dunleavy loyalist and former member of the parades board of directors who was removed from the position last year after the forensic audit showed that he double-billed the parade for expenses. He reimbursed the parade for $1,752.86 at the September board meeting before his removal. Cassels spoke for several minutes and called this years march an atrocity. Unfortunately I no longer have any kind of official part with the parade committee, Cassels said. This year I can say I was very proud not to have. Why? Formation. A disgrace. Cassels was criticized by some in the audience after he launched an attack on Hilary Beirne, the board member and executive secretary of the parade who has been involved with its organization for several years. This year the parade was a logistic nightmare, yet Mr. Beirne says hes a logistic expert I think a three-year-old has better grammar than Mr. Beirne. He still cannot even spell his name, Cassels said before some in the crowd chided him for getting personal. It is personal. Its the truth, replied Cassels, who also criticized the St. Patricks Foundation founded in 2012 by Beirne and Sean Lane of JP Morgan to raise funds for the march, with the blessing and support of Dunleavy. The parade would not allow certain groups, certain individuals to be included, excluded. [The foundation] is very upset. Thats a shamewhy is your parade being taken over or dictated by these certain organizations? Cassels asked. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who marched in this years parade for the first time after the board approved the admission of an Irish gay group, the Lavender and Green Alliance, for the first time, came in for criticism from some of the attendees. Take him out of City Hall. Hes is the number one Catholic bigot in the countrysooner we do it the better, said one male. Ed Foy of AOH Division 1 in Manhattan stood up and told Lahey that if he felt his sensitivity training as president of Quinnipiac College (sic) that you cannot go against what you are teaching or what you may or may not believe in, we as Irish Catholics and the cardinal say that we are entitled to our beliefs. We do not want to have a Halloween party on Fifth Avenue. We celebrate our Catholicism. Many of those at the meeting expressed frustration at the coverage of the parade by WNBC, and the position of the county organizations in the line of march. One male denounced what he called the infiltration of communism and secularism in the parade, and read a piece that was handed out to delegates authored by Cardinal Timothy Dolan in March titled Honoring St. Patrick. The meetings agenda sheet given to attendees called the board headed by Lahey self-perpetuating. The board, said the sheet, refused to allow the Parade and Celebration Committee headed by Tully to run this years march, instead handing the reins to Beirne and McGreal. In the interest of a peaceful 2016 parade, the committee chose not to challenge the boards decision, but rather preserve all issues for resolution after the parade, the sheet said. Brendan Fay and Tarlach Mac Niallais of the Lavender and Green Alliance, now an affiliated marching group of the parade, attended the meeting. Both spoke and were warmly received, Fay told the Irish Voice. Lavender and Green Alliance appreciated being welcomed as an official affiliated group of the parade. We welcomed the opportunity to express ourselves, Fay told the Irish Voice. (Both Fay and Mac Niallais addressed the attendees.) We gave thanks to the board and committee, but especially thanked the people in the Irish community, in particular the county organizations that extended a hand of welcome to us in the 2016 parade. I reminded people that we are their brothers and sisters, their sons and daughters. We are their family, and we are Irish. Fay said Lavender and Green looks forward to taking part in future marches. Theres no going back now and we are very happy about that, he added. However, Fay and Mac Niallais were taken aback by some of the views expressed by the attendees. The personal attacks on Frank McGreal and Hilary Beirne were uncalled for, as was the remark implying that our inclusion in the parade was turning it into a Halloween party, said Fay. Its amazing because some people dont realize that many of our members are Catholics. Our inclusion the parade was welcomed by Cardinal Dolan. The meeting, Fay added, was a reminder of how important it is for us to be visible in our community, to be out and open and to challenge prejudice. One representative of a county organization told the Irish Voice that the meeting was well run by Mr. Tully, as he gave everybody the chance to talk, and that the chance for the affiliates to air their issues was very useful. Most of us feel like it was Dunleavys time to go, said the representative. But theres no denying the little guy in the parade, the groups, are feeling disenfranchised. Im hopeful that all the sides can soon come to an agreement and we can all move on. A study has found that the same gene that causes red hair can make people look younger. The MC1R gene is critical for making melanin, which affects skin pigmentation and protects against UV radiation. There are many variants of the gene, many which cause red hair. The study on perceived age, organized by the Erasmus University Medical Centre in the Netherlands and Unilever and is reported in the journal Current Biology, suggests some variants of the gene led to people looking on average two years younger than those with other forms of MC1R. Pictures of make-up free faces of 2,693 people were independently assessed to see how old people thought they looked. Their answers were compared with the subjects true ages. The scientists then looked at the subjects DNA to find any differences or mutations that were more common in those who looked younger. The research pointed to the MC1R gene, also nicknamed the ginger gene. Read more: Scientists confirm redhead gene evolved due to lack of sunlight Prof Manfred Kayser, from Erasmus, told BBC News: "The exciting part is we actually found the gene, and that we did find the first means we will be able to find more. "It is exciting because this is a well known phenomenon that so far cannot be explained - why do some people look so much younger?" The researchers could not explain why the gene has such an effect. After testing whether different variants of the been might alter skin damage from the sun, they found this was not the case. Prof Ian Jackson, from the UK Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit, believes the results of the study may be confused by eye, skin and hair color. "MC1R is the major gene involved in red hair and pale skin, and what they're trying to say is it's got an impact on making you look slightly younger that isn't to do with paler skin, but I'm not so sure, he said. The scientists involved in the study say they adjusted their data to account for different skin tones. Prof Jackson said: "The question is how well are they adjusting for that what about hair color and eye color my gut reaction is what they're looking at is an aspect of pigmentation. "I would suspect people who have paler pigmentation would look younger and that might be paler skin or bluer eyes or blonde or red hair." Dr David Gunn, a senior scientist at Erasmus, hopes the continuing research will eventually lead to a product to make people look younger. "This is the first genetic study ever of perceived age, ideally we'd want something to boost this gene for everybody," he said. Prof Tim Frayling, from the University of Exeter, said: "This is an interesting finding that shows how genetics can influence the aging process independently of developing disease. "However, whilst interesting, the authors admit that they need to find more genetic variation to have any chance of predicting someone's appearance from DNA alone." Read more: Top ten reasons to love Irish redheads As newly formed regiments left their home states for the seat of war, many wives chose to accompany their men to the front. When the 37th New York Irish Rifles settled into their duties around Washington in the summer of 1861, Private John Dooley had his family with him. Waiting in camp was his wife and the unborn child she was carrying. The regiment would soon celebrate the birth of a son, who was given a name that would serve as a reminder of the great conflict. Although perhaps not an especially frequent occurrence during the American Civil War, the birth of children to camp followers had been commonplace in armies such as those the Britain and France in the 18th and 19th centuries. The children were described as born to the regiment (ne au regiment in French) and they often went on to serve in the formations into which they were born. In the majority of cases the fathers of these children were professional soldiers, who could expect to spend much of their lives on campaign or fulfilling garrison duties in far-flung parts of the world. John Dooley s case was somewhat different. As a citizen soldier who had recently volunteered, he and his wife made a conscious decision for her to follow him to the front. John Dooley formed part of Company K, which had been raised around Pulaski, NY. The 24 year-old had enlisted on May 25, 1861 and been mustered in on June 7, when his wife was already a number of months pregnant. It is not clear if Dooleys wife left New York with the regiment in late June 1861 or if she joined up with John in camp later. Clearly they felt that they should stay together perhaps it was a matter of financial necessity, or a wish not to be separated. Whatever the reasons, the occasion of the birth that September was a special occasion and as such was reported to the New York Irish-American: The Child of the Regiment A few nights ago, we had a birth in the 37th, the wife of Private Dooley, of Co. K, bringing him an heir, which the officers forthwith adopted as their protege, to be the future child of the regiment. He was baptized on Sunday, the 15th, by Father Tissot, Col. Burke and Mrs. Lieutenant Barry standing sponsors in behalf of the regiment. As soon as pay-day comes, it is proposed to contribute a handsome sum, which is to be deposited in bank there to accumulate to the credit of the child when he comes of age. Already has been received several presents of clothing, &c., from kind ladies in Washington and the President is expected to contribute his mite, also, towards his namesake, Abraham Lincoln Dooley. Baby names was perhaps one of the more unlikely arenas where Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis fought it out (New York Historical Society). Luckily for the family John survived the war and mustered out with the 37th New York in June 1863. He claimed a pension from 1881 and following his death a widows pension was paid out to his wife. The family have otherwise proven elusive, and I have as yet found no further details of their post-war life. The enthusiastic naming of the Dooleys' boy as Abraham Lincoln raises the question as to just how common it was during the feverish days of 1861 to name a child for the Northern (or indeed Southern) President. In an effort to get some idea of the prevalence of this practice I decided to examine the 1870 US Federal Census. My aim was to ascertain how many children born roughly around 1861 had been christened Abraham, Abe or had Lincoln as part of their Christian name. Similarly, I repeated the search using the same data for Jefferson, Jeff and those who had Davis as part of their Christian name. The results are presented in the tables below. They naturally have to be treated with caution, as they do not allow for alternate spellings (e.g. Abram or Jeferson), nor do they include those who were only recorded by initial, or indeed those who had previously died. Neither can it discriminate between those who were named for reasons other than to honor Lincoln and Davis, e.g. as part of family tradition. Therefore the numbers are not absolute, and there is some potential crossover of individuals (notably with regard to the Lincoln and Davis elements). Nevertheless, taken in a general sense it is an interesting reminder of how many people chose to make a marked and permanent statement about just whose side they were on in 1861. That these names increased in popularity as a result of the two men ascending to political power is clear. As a comparative there were 486 children named Abraham and 284 named Jefferson who were born in c.1851, providing an indication of these names pre-war popularity. The fact that thousands of children were named for these men is testament to the strong feelings on both sides at the time. These figures suggest that in the naming stakes at least, Jefferson Davis may have had one over on Abraham Lincoln in the wars early days. One individual not represented in these figures is Abraham Lincoln Dooley, as I have been unable to locate him on the 1870 Federal Census, or indeed find any further reference to him beyond the New York Irish-American. Perhaps he chose not to be defined by the name of the sixteenth President, and went by another name in later years. It is also possible that like so many others in this period he did not survive beyond childhood. Hopefully some further information will emerge that will reveal his ultimate fate. *I am extremely grateful to friend Mark Dunkelman, historian of the 154th New York Infantry, for bringing this account to my attention. Mark has written some exceptional books on different aspects of the 154ths history and memory- you can find more at his site here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Damian Shiels is an archaeologist and historian who runs the IrishAmericanCivilWar.com website, where this article first appeared. His book 'The Irish in the American Civil War' was published by The History Press in 2013 and is available here. ARE YOU A TOP COMPANY? What it Really Means to be a Top Company! To be a Top Company in Irish Construction Industry Magazines Top Companies listing means far more than just a rank and position in an ordered catalogue of names. To us, it means that your efforts to be the best you can be and to excel in your industry and sector have been effective and have paid dividends. To us, it means that your determination and commitment to develop and instil a positive work culture and environment have brought your business due success plus satisfaction. We see it as you being a supportive and inclusive place in which to work that strives to bring the best out of everyone across every level of the organisation. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE While economic expansion in the Middle Easts financial and transport hub is set to moderate to 3.3% this year, domestic investments boosted by preparations for hosting the Expo 2020 international trade fair will drive a rapid acceleration to more than 5% by 2020, said Zeine Zeidane, the funds mission chief to the United Arab Emirates. That contrasts with the outlook for Dubais oil-reliant neighbors, who have slashed spending in response to the decline in crude prices. Abu Dhabi, the richest of the UAEs seven sheikdoms, may be tightening its belt too fast: The IMF expects its economic growth to slow to 1.5% this year from 4.3% in 2015. Dubai, home to the worlds tallest skyscraper, borrowed tens of billions of dollars to build an economy reliant on trade, transport, finance and construction, attracting global banks such as Goldman Sachs with the allure of tax-free business parks. After a spell of breakneck growth, the edifice threatened to come crashing down when the global financial crisis pushed the real estate market into a slump and took Dubai to the brink of default. Authorities have since tightened regulations and repaired the emirates public finances. Dubais diversified economy is helping it to overcome the negative impact of lower oil prices felt by other regional exporters, Mr Zeidane said. Its safe-haven status in a region ridden by conflict, a weaker dollar, and the strong performance of trading partners such as India are also supporting the economy, he said. However, the IMF comments come amid concern over Dubais property market, with home prices expected to fall by 10% this year because of the spillover from lower oil prices, according to S&P Global Ratings. A slowdown in the hiring and expansion of companies is also putting pressure on the market, the ratings firm said in a report last month. Mr Zeidane said the decline was a welcome correction, adding that prices are still higher than at the end of 2013. I dont see anything worrisome in terms of macroeconomic and financial stability, he said. The IMF expects the UAEs economy to expand 2.3% this year. The subdued pace is largely due to the projected slowdown in the capital, Abu Dhabi, home to 6% of global oil reserves and the worlds second-largest sovereign wealth fund. Abu Dhabi has delivered strongly on fiscal consolidation in 2015, Mr Zeidane said. However, the emirate and the UAE as a whole have large fiscal buffers that provide them with policy space to adjust to new market conditions, and they should use the fiscal space they have. The group has confirmed that it is to enter mediation with the co-ops suppliers on its promise to pay the leading price for milk. The co-op has faced criticism from some suppliers in relation to new milk supply contracts, which some have interpreted as a suspension of Kerrys 13th month payment for this year. Traditionally, the co-op has made an extra annual payment to its milk suppliers to make up for any annualised year-end gap between its monthly milk payments and those of rival Irish co-ops. Kerry has committed to put in place the appropriate investments to guarantee our milk supply up to 2025, said Frank Hayes, Kerry Groups director of corporate affairs. We have committed to paying the leading price for milk. We have a detailed contract which was agreed and approved by the board, and by individual milk suppliers. There is no suspension of the 13th month payment. We have paid an annualised payment in previous years, and that agreement has not yet been reached for 2015 milk. Defining the leading milk price is a complex matter, so the contract allows for mediation on that price. Were honouring that commitment, and the matter has now been referred to mediation. Ever since Kerry Group was created in 1986, the groups executives have provided their services to the co-op free of charge. Stan McCarthy has decided to step down from his role as CEO of the co-op board, but he will continue to meet milk suppliers, many of whom are also shareholders in the group. Some Kerry-based milk suppliers have reportedly expressed their anger at this move at meetings with the co-ops board, much of it focused on the traditional 13th month payment. Some anger also reportedly focused on Kerry Groups top four executives, who were paid a collective 10.5m in 2015, up 2m on 2014. While stepping down from his co-op role, Mr McCarthy retains his role as group CEO, for which he received a total remuneration package of $4.6m (4m) in 2015; this was up from $4.4m (3.9m) in 2014. The groups remuneration committee has recommended a 9% rise in his salary for this year. Gerry Behan, president and CEO of Kerry Taste and Nutrition, was paid a basic salary of 733,000 and total of 2.54m (up from the 2014 total of 2.31m). Brian Mehigan, chief financial officer, was paid a total of 1.86m (up from 1.62m). Flor Healy, CEO Kerry Foods, was paid 1.89m (up from 1.53m). No executive in Kerry Group receives any wages from Kerry Co-op, and the group has never sought any payment for the services it provides to the co-op. All that has happened here is that Stan McCarthy has stood back from his co-op role, but nothing has changed in the groups commitment to the co-op. We have invested 130m in dairy processing in the past five years, we have purchased Newmarket Creameries to add to our processing capacity, and we continue to engage with our farmers as we do with our shareholders. Kerry Co-op still holds a 13.7% stake in Kerry Group, amounting to an estimated 24 million shares, worth about 1.8bn. It is thought that farmer shareholders also own another 30% of the groups shareholding following several spin-outs in recent years. Some co-op suppliers believe they will now find it more difficult to contact Mr McCarthy following his decision to vacate the CEO seat. However, the group insists it will continue to provide executive support to the co-op, and to meet with suppliers. Meanwhile, market analysts are predicting continuing steady sales growth at Kerry Groups various global divisions. Goodbody analysts note that Kerry Groups like-for-like sales grew by 3.8% during the first quarter of this year. Goodbody is recommending that its clients buy Kerry Group shares from anything around the 80 mark; the price hovered a little over 80.30 yesterday. Its valuation ranging from 80 to 81 viewed over the past five years. We currently forecast life-for-like sales growth of 4.2% for Kerrys Taste and Nutrition division for the full year of 2016, Goodbody stated yesterday. Goodbody issued a detailed study of Kerry Groups various divisions, with most anticipating single digit growth. Latin America saw the strongest growth, up 31% year-on-year including acquisitions. Those Luddites were proved right eventually as not just technology but free trade wiped out their skills in England and transported it to lower- cost manufacturing bases worldwide. The Luddite badge flashed into my mind when recently looking at the Ludgate Hub in Skibbereen, a place designed to hook new businesses into the world wide web. Like all private enterprise, this hub is a risky endeavour because it is probing new ways of doing business. For that it should be cheered on and encouraged. At its heart is a world-class fibre broadband system with the capacity for 1Gbps speed of connectivity. Anyone who thinks Ludgate is a silly idea, in my mind, qualifies as a Luddite. A second runway at Dublin Airport or a new motorway are good examples of how infrastructure can improve an economys fortune, but broadband infrastructure is equally if not more important. While motorways and runways usually are built to connect major cities, broadband is the elixir that can open up rural towns and indeed the entire country to a new and enormous marketplace. Think about the reasons deployed to explain why rural depopulation has taken place over many decades. The gradual intensification of agriculture, which has reduced the number of farmers and, by doing so, lowered spending in local towns, is part of that narrative. However, the primary cause of rural decline has been the absence of economic opportunity to create incomes and a career path that is fulfilling. Small local populations cannot support private enterprise in their own right. Tourism, in places, provides a seasonal boost but outside of that and agriculture few other services or industries have managed to survive. This absence of economic opportunity eclipses the unequivocal benefits of rural life. Easy access to leisure activities, the relatively low cost of accommodation, and community living are all positive elements in a rural setting. I recently read a swish international magazine that was dedicated to the positives of living in small rural communities. It picked locations in Asia, Europe, and the US, typically small villages where young people were forging new levels of energy that contrasted sharply with the pressures and costs of living in large cities. That vision exists for Ireland too but only if we equip it with the turbo charge that comes with world-class internet connectivity. That platform creates an instant and virtual bridge to a global marketplace where entrepreneurs can explore and serve international markets around the clock. With the right equipment, a progressive and innovative software publisher in Skibbereen can tap into consumers across the world. The same applies for designers, administrators, financial planners and more. Indeed, an entire eco-system of businesses, that have the nous to leverage the web, can evolve across Irish towns to target and access global opportunities. Skibbereen is lucky because a group of progressive businesspeople came together with state agencies to establish a physical hub where this type of activity can take place. That template can be replicated in other towns too. Why is it that Mallow, Macroom, Dungarvan, Tralee, and numerous other local communities cannot shape and execute tangible plans that put in place Ludgate-type platforms to energise such potential? It seems that a small number of individuals can make a big difference in this context. Skibbereen tapped into a network of cultural, business and technology leaders who had a genuine interest in supporting this west Cork town. Other places need similar amounts of enthusiasm but the prize is worth fighting for reversing the godawful trend of young people leaving rural Ireland. Joe Gill is director of corporate broking with Goodbody Stockbrokers. His views are personal. Thankfully, Justin Bieber himself doesnt make an appearance - Professor Clint Tuttle just rewrote the lyrics of Love Yourself and turned it into an ode to Excel. He performed the song complete with acoustic guitar at one of his lectures earlier this week and the University Of Texas posted the footage to their official Facebook page where it has gone viral with almost 900,000 views. While the scale of seizures of laundered fuel has reduced in recent years, they rose again last year. A study published yesterday also reports that former paramilitaries are heavily involved in cigarette smuggling, and that gangs are using Irish ports to get tobacco into both the North and Britain. The report, conducted by Grant Thornton on behalf of affected industries, also records a dramatic increase in the number of illicit alcohol seizures. Overall, it estimates the total cost of illicit trades in Ireland is in the region of 2.345bn, with 1.56bn suffered by industry and 788m lost by the exchequer. Broken down by sector, it estimates the following values lost: Alcohol: 655m (491m by industry and 165m by the exchequer); Tobacco: 450m (253m and 197m); Fuel laundering: 435m (196m and 239m); Digital: 390m (320m and 70m). In addition, the report estimates a cost to the pharmaceutical industry of up to 3bn from counterfeit products. On fuel laundering, the report said: According to Revenue and Customs, there are circa 10 or 12 main gangs that continue to launder fuel both north and south of the border. It cites Revenue figures that show a dramatic reduction in commercial seizures of marked mineral oil, from 88 in 2011 to 32 in 2014, with quantities seized dropping from 718,000 litres to 150,800 litres. Separate figures from Revenue, published last week in their annual report, show that the number of commercial seizures rose to 47 in 2015 and quantities seized to 215,000. In addition, there were 310 convictions, compared to 283 in 2014; and 218 in 2011. The number of fuel-laundering plants detected has fallen away, from nine in 20011, to two in 2014 and to zero last year. The report said a number of developments have taken place here, in the Republic, including a new colourless diesel marker, introduced in April 2015, to help identify those dealing in illicit fuel. The Revenue report estimates its initiatives, including the marker, has resulted in an additional 200m in taxes and duties to the State. Grant Thornton said that according to Interpol, cigarette smuggling is one of the main sources of funding for former paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland and Ireland, and that the open border facilitates the criminality. And citing a report by Italian research agency Transcrime, it said: In addition to using Irish airports, smugglers use Irish ports as a back door for introducing the illegal product into Northern Ireland and the UK, because it is more difficult to bring them through Belfast Port. The value of smuggled cigarettes and tobacco fell from 76m in 2011 to 30m in 2014, but rose to 35.5m last year. Grant Thornton report that the number of alcohol seizures doubled from 275 in 2011 to 550 in 2014. Revenue figures show it jumped last year to 938 with some 45,800 litres seized. Irmantas Paulauskas, aged 38, of no fixed abode, was wrestled to the ground by detectives, assisted by members of the public, at Middle St, Galway, moments after a four-man armed gang robbed 1.1m worth of diamond rings and Rolex watches from Hartmann jewellers on William St in Galway City on the morning of February 11, 2015. Mr Paulauskas has pleaded not guilty before Galway Circuit Criminal Court to the robbery of 208 diamond rings and 32 Rolex watches from Richard Hartmann. He also denies a second charge of having an imitation pistol with a silencer fitted, in his possession with intent to commit robbery on the same date. Yesterday, Det Sgt John McElroy said he interviewed Mr Paulauskas at Galway Garda Station on three occasions after his arrest. Mr Paulauskas maintained at all times that he had been kidnapped and refused to acknowledge he had been arrested and detained by gardai. He denied any involvement in the robbery and said he had arrived in Ireland for no reason a couple of days before on a ferry from France. He said he travelled alone and took a bus to Galway on February 11, 2015, with 35 in his pockets. He refused to name the French port he had sailed from and said he was just wandering around the streets in Galway before he was kidnapped. I thought somebody had taken advantage of me, he said during interview, aided by a interpreter. He denied knowing three other Lithuanian men who were arrested with him. He was shown video footage of the robbery from inside the shop, and denied he was the man pointing a gun at staff. In a second interview, Mr Paulauskas told gardai he did not think they were the police.I am imagining I am kidnapped. I will not accept I am in a police station. I was walking around and I was kidnapped. I just want to go home, he said. Det McElroy said he asked Mr Paulauskas if people in Lithuania had promised him 20,000 to carry out the robbery. I was promised nothing, he had replied. Mr Paulauskas also denied travelling from Denmark in a van, a week before the robbery took place. His clothes were taken from him after his arrest, but he denied they were his when they were later shown to him at the garda station. Bernard Madden, defending, said his client would not be giving evidence. Closing speeches in the trial will commence today. Mr Boyne, of Elm Mount Lawn, Beaumont, Dublin, donned a Star Wars-like mask under a hooded jacket as he ran from the Four Courts complex following the decisionMr Justice Raymond Groarke. The court heard that as Mr Boyne wrestled on the floor with another badminton player at a fundraiser in the Baldoyle Centre his hand came into contact with Jean Denihan, causing her to fall backwards in a whiplash-type fashion as she tried to separate them. The judge said Mr Boyne then went on Facebook to paint 57-year-old Ms Denihan as the evil one of Baldoyle and a woman maliciously minded towards him who could only be removed with the help of rosary beads and purifying holy water, a woman he would rid Baldoyle of by burning her at the stake. This is a most regrettable case because it involves two people who share a great love for a particular sport but it happens, people fall out with one another, he said. Judge Groarke told barrister Barney Quirke, for Ms Denihan, that Mr Boynes remarks on Facebook specifically related to his client. He had not just used strong language but a very serious description of Ms Denihan as evil to the point of being a witch deserving of treatment meted out in medieval times. In cross-examination, Mr Boyne said he stood by what he had said about Ms Denihan and what Judge Groarke said he had published to the wider badminton community on the internet. Judge Groarke said the matter went back to a tournament in which Boyne had not been allowed to take part because of his status as a Division 1 player. He blamed Ms Denihan when, in fact, it had been an executive committee that had banned him. At a fundraiser in Baldoyle Badminton Centre on April 5, 2013, Mr Boyne had become involved in an incident with another player Barry Dickson who the court was told was drunk. As they wrestled on the floor, Ms Denihan bent over to try to separate them. She had told the court Mr Boyne grabbed her by the throat and it was only the efforts of other people that stopped his fist from connecting with her face. Judge Groarke said Ms Denihan had suffered trauma and stress with loss of confidence. The courts main difficulty was Mr Boynes persistence in standing over the allegations he had posted on Facebook and repeated in court as to what he thought and said about Ms Denihan. The judge refused a stay on the courts orders pending an appeal. Cork Airport director Niall MacCarthy accused Mr Sanders of trotting out the same old arguments which have already been found by US authorities to be invalid. He is not taking into account the findings of the US department of transportation (DoT) which has found there is no legal basis to refuse a foreign carrier permit to Norwegian Air International (NAI) to operate these flights, said Mr MacCarthy. His views are grounded in protectionism and would restrict consumer choice. Low-cost operators evolve and grow markets. Mr MacCarthy was reacting after Mr Sanders rowed into the DoTs submissions process ahead of Mondays deadline, following its tentative decision in April to grant a permit to NAI to operate the first transatlantic flights from Cork. NAI, the Irish subsidiary of low-fares giant Norwegian, plans to launch a Cork-Boston service this year and a Cork-New York service next year. Mr Sanders said granting a permit to NAI would be a direct violation of the strong labour provisions included in the US-EU Open Skies agreement. Moreover, it would set a dangerous precedent that threatens the jobs of hundreds of thousands of flight attendants, mechanics, pilots, and other airline workers in our country and in Europe. Ireland South MEP Deirdre Clune rejected his claims: What Bernie Sanders is advocating here is anti-competitive and bad for air passengers. We cannot continue to protect certain airlines from competition. Doing so will ensure that we continue to see higher airfares on transatlantic routes with less choice and less competition. The Irish Congress of Trade Union echoed Mr Sanders concerns. General secretary Patricia King said NAIs plans appear to be driven largely by a desire to drive down pay and standards in the aviation sector. She said the proposed Cork-US routes are likely to do more harm than good as it will undermine quality jobs and standards in the sector and will not create a single new job in Ireland, the European Union, or the United States. Norwegian hit back at the latest criticism last night and pointed out that it has already been granted tentative approval for the permit, having given written assurances to the US authorities about staff, contract terms, and conditions. Opponents have raised false allegations that NAI uses low-paid Asian crew, said a spokesman. In fact, NAI does not have a single Asian-based crewmember or pilot, and Norwegian has continuously publicly stated and committed in writing to the US DoT that US and EU-based crew will be used on NAI transatlantic services. Opponents have suggested that Norwegian is offering substandard working conditions and that the NAI operation is an attempt to circumvent the labour laws of Norway and the US. The fact is that Norwegian always follows the rules and regulations in all the markets in which it operates and offers employees competitive wages and conditions. The hundreds of Norwegian employees in the US are governed by US labour laws and say that their wages and benefits are on par with their counterparts at US airlines, said the spokesman, adding: Put simply, regardless of which part of Norwegian they work for, crew and pilots follow the labour laws in the country in which they are based. The spokesman hit back at claims Norwegian is using Ireland to operate a flag of convenience model. In reality, NAI is headquartered in Dublin with 80 employees, 37 aircraft registered in Ireland, and already operates flights to and from Ireland, with many more routes planned. Cork Chamber is co-ordinating a lobbying campaign in support of the proposed routes ahead of a rally outside the White House tomorrow in support of proposed US laws which could block NAIs permit. Chamber chief executive Conor Healy said: Mr Sanders is reiterating points which have been made by opponents of the service which have already been ruled as invalid. We will continue to highlight the facts and we are encouraging businesses both in Cork and the US to support the service. According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), hospital management has failed to report back on a review it agreed to last May which would examine staffing numbers and bed capacity on the GB radiotherapy ward. Since then, six additional beds have opened on what was a 20-bed ward. The bed increase without a concomitant increase in staff means nurses cannot provide optimal care, according to union spokesperson Mary Rose Carroll. Ms Carroll said the INMO had written to management eight times between December and April formally outlining their concerns for patient safety, but no progress had been made. A meeting took place in December after the first correspondence, but none has taken place since. She said management was now looking at recruitment but that it should have done so before the extra beds opened last November. Its a case of putting the cart before the horse, Ms Carroll said. If you are opening more beds, then its good management to plan first for providing additional resources. As management had ignored nurses concerns, Ms Carroll said they had little option but to ballot for industrial action. She said members had voted overwhelmingly in favour and notice has been served on the hospital that a work-to-rule will take place on May 23 unless a solution is found. A work-to-rule means the nurses will be focusing on nursing care and not engaging in clerical or administrative duties, Ms Carroll said. A statement from the Health Service Executive said CUH management continues to engage with all parties in relation to Ward GB Radiotherapy and the issues raised. The statement said because a WRC conference is scheduled to take place tomorrow, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this point. The review agreed last May was also to examine skill mix to include nurse management grades on the ward; rosters; acuity levels/dependency levels/nursing metrics oncology and early warning score notifications (to facilitate early detection of deterioration in a patients condition). RCSI-MUB (Medical University of Bahrain) is owned by the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland and accredited by the Irish Medical Council. Accreditation from Ireland, which is an internationally respected stamp of approval, was first sought early in 2011 but was not granted until late 2014 because a Medical Council assessment of the facility was postponed amid pro-democracy protests in Bahrain and a violent government crackdown. It emerged that serious abuses of both injured protestors and the medics treating them took place at three training hospitals used by RCSI-MUB, facilitated in some cases by local hospital administrators with close ties to the military and government. Dr Ali al-Ekri, who trained with the RCSI in Dublin before returning to Bahrain, was arrested during surgery for treating protestors and is still in jail. Human rights group Amnesty International has declared him a prisoner of conscience. Twenty other medics received jail sentences of up to 15 years. GLAN, the Global Legal Action Network, a human rights group set up by Irish lawyers, has been campaigning on the issue and secured its inclusion in a list of concerns the Government will be asked to address when Ireland comes up for periodic review by the UN Human Rights Council this afternoon. GLAN founder, Dr Gearoid O Cuinn, said the Medical Council should have refused accreditation or made it conditional on guarantees being put in place around human rights. The decision to grant unconditional accreditation should have been challenged by the Government, he said. The Medical Council has said that its role extends only to looking at the standard of education in medical schools, a claim Dr O Cuinn rejects. The Medical Council say its for the Government to deal with human rights issues but thats a very narrow, technical interpretation, he said. In an answer to a parliamentary question last year, the education minister said the Government had always sought to draw a clear distinction between the wider human rights situation and the involvement of Irish institutions in the education of medical personnel in Bahrain. So what you have is a circular argument, said Dr O Cuinn. The Medical Council kicks the issue to the Government and the Government says it has nothing to do with human rights so that allows the Medical Council to act as it has. The case and the questions it raises about the human rights obligations of states engaged in educational services abroad are highlighted in the current edition of the International Journal of Human Rights. It is is gathering international attention, particularly as the situation in Bahrain hasnt imp- roved from a human rights perspective, said Dr O Cuinn. Its still an imprisonable offence to treat an injured protestor. Dr al-Ekri is still in jail yet this situation is deemed to live up to Irish standards. How is that possible? Nearly 10 years ago, the Opera House was in dire financial trouble and in danger of closing. The city and county council stepped in with grant aid to keep it afloat. Over the past five years, the County Council has provided the opera house with 250,000. Councillors were asked to rubberstamp a further grant of 170,000 for what council CEO Tim Lucey described as significant upgrade needed at the back of the house which in total will cost 540,000 to complete. The request for aid was made by the board of the Opera House, but Sinn Fein councillors said it should be rejected. Sinn Fein leader on the council, Des OGrady, said that the cash-strapped local authority had made generous donations to it in recent years. I have an objection to this, said Mr OGrady. It made a profit in last three years of something approaching three-quarters of a million euro. Why are they not going to the banks? His party colleagues agreed, but Fianna Fail councillor Mary Rose Desmond argued that it is important to ensure the Opera House stays afloat for all of the people of Cork. Kevin Murphy, the Fine Gael leader on the council, said approval should be given for the grant. He also asked if there is provision for two seats on the Opera House board to be allocated to county councillors. Mr Lucey said one councillor could sit on the board and he would look into ensuring that happens. Tim Lucey He said that he had seen at first hand what work needs to be done in the Opera House. Im satisfied after looking at their financial statement that they need this support, Mr Lucey said. Eventually councillors agreed to pay the 170,000 grant. Work will get underway shortly on the back-of-house area. This will include the development of a multi-functional room that can be used for rehearsals for major shows, refurbishment of the back bar, improvements to public bathrooms, plumbing, and general works. Mr Lucey said that the works will bring the entire facility up to modern standards and will allow for the reopening of the back bar area which has been closed on health and safety grounds for some time. As the Bord Pleanala oral hearing continued in Carrigaline yesterday, a number of local residents raised their concerns about how Indaver would handle an explosion in Cork. The company had been faced with an explosion in Belgium earlier in February after a fire broke out at the companys Antwerp plant when a tanker exploded. Indavers crisis management team intervened and had all 117 staff off site before the fire broke out. The fire was extinguished within four hours, preventing a major crisis. Indaver said plans for the proposed Ringaskiddy site have taken into account a number of worst-case scenario events, and while they do not anticipate them, they are prepared. Objectors were concerned if a fire broke out, the run off from water used to fight it could pick up contaminants and move them outside the Indaver site. However, the company said while similar concerns existed in Antwerp, the water used there was collected, gathered into a safe site, assessed, and processed within a few days. Indaver also clarified a fire safety plan would be put in place on site, with a fire safety officer ensuring it met all relevant safety regulations. However, the Cork Harbour Alliance for a Safe Environment (Chase) said it had no faith in Indaver to ensure safety at the site. Mary OLeary said residents were concerned by some of the events Indaver were preparing for: They have modelled for a six-day fire where they would possibly have to move people from the local area. That has huge implications for people, and things like the Haulbowline navy base. She said the companys experts had failed to convince locals the plant would be safe. We dont feel any safer now than we did at the beginning. They havent proven themselves. One objector also raised the question of possible contamination from water used to cool the ash generated by the incinerator but Indavers John Ahern clarified dry ash would absorb the water, creating a wet sand that would be taken off site to be deposited at licensed landfills. One of those may be Bottlehill. John Ahern After three weeks, a number of locals and expert witnesses have limited time to attend the hearing during the question phase that is ongoing. This has caused tension between both sides as experts are unavailable to clarify and defend the statements they read into the record at the start of the process. People from the community are taking time out to come here, and the experts paid to be here arent, said Una Chambers. They have to give up days again to come in. Inspector, cant you see that its unfair and unjust? The future of Gobby Beach was also queried. Indaver said it would need to put sacrificial beach material on site in order to prevent coastal erosion. This will initially take three weeks, and would need to be replenished periodically, but it was not clear what kind of access the public would have to the popular strand. What gives Indaver the right to take the beach away from the community? said one objector. The issue will be raised again on Monday when Indavers expert witness on coastal erosion is available to answer questions. Today, the Defence Forces will raise their concerns, due to the proximity of the proposed incinerator to Haulbowline. After a disastrous election campaign, a high-profile Labour leader was about to step down amid backroom talk that it was either go or be pushed out by colleagues. Shuffling into a crowded media press conference, the leader smiled and said the party will come first. And just as quickly, her previously internal detractors were suddenly desperate to canonise instead of criticise before biting their forked tongues when asked if they might possibly be interested in the newly available role. If it all seemed a bit too familiar, its because it was. O May 27, 2014, Eamon Gilmore chose to walk the political plank after the 2011 Gilmore Gale became little more than a local elections whimper. Almost two years to the day later, his replacement Joan Burton rumoured to have been among those to have effectively pushed him out suffered the same fate. Yesterdays press conference at the Royal Hibernian Academy on Ely Place in Dublin City centre to announce her resignation as leader was not so much about Labours future direction as accepting another consequence of the partys time in power. However, it was equally an indicator that sometimes ambitious politicians who have talent and an understandable desire to push for the top position should be careful what they wish for. When Ms Burton took charge of Labour two years ago, replacing a rival she believed was no longer up to the job, her party was at 7% in the polls and just about surviving with 37 TDs. Now it is in the popularity doldrums and has just seven TDs to keep an array of back-room officials company. Two years ago the party while battered by a local elections backlash was still in government. Now it is struggling for speaking time with Sinn Fein, AAA-PBP, and the Social Democrats. And while Ms Burton is disarmingly friendly, even witty, in person, the reality is her time in charge a period she expected would lead to Labour being given the credit for Irelands recovery has seen it face a near total wipe-out. If Gilmore struggled to stay above water while in power, Ms Burtons time can only be described as an utter failure. Hardly what she expected on her predecessors departure in 2014. Like in 2014, talk will now turn to who the Dublin West TDs replacement will be although if one was to believe the formal positions taken by the frontrunners yesterday, who were keen not to rain on Ms Burtons parade, no one has yet made up their mind. Asked at yesterdays press conference if she had been encouraged by any of her TD colleagues to stand down, and whether three prominent TDs standing to her right had expressed any private views on the subject, Ms Burton joked that she didnt need any advice and asked who these people might be. This afternoon I informed my colleagues that I intend to step down as Leader of the party once my successor is elected. -@joanburton The Labour Party (@labour) May 10, 2016 As she did, Sean Sherlock theatrically looked around to see who the prominent TDs were, while Brendan Howlin stared straight ahead and Alan Kelly said it would be brave if someone named them. Then they smiled for the cameras and made all the right noises. Mr Sherlock and Mr Howlin said today was Joans day and that other matters can be addressed at a later date. Mr Kelly, who will be a notable guest on Friday nights Late Late Show, said he will make his decision known after Labours executive board confirms whether a contest or a coronation will take place at the weekend. And Jan O Sullivan, the Limerick-based former education minister understood to not be ruling out putting her name forward, mentioned Ms Burtons humanity and work ethic. Poll: Who do you feel would be a good choice as the new leader of @labour Party? Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) May 10, 2016 Job done and pleasantries expressed, Labours TDs, senators, and back-room staff departed for a few farewell drinks for their leader, with some attending the de facto political wake being the same people who will now be just as quick to jump into Ms Burtons grave. It was a near identical scene to 2014, just with the boot being now firmly on the other foot. Penny for your thoughts, Eamon. Activists in the area held a meeting on April 29 after the second feud murder in the area in 11 days and the third one since February. On April 25, dissident republican Michael Barr was shot dead in a busy local pub. That came after the reckless murder of innocent homeless father Martin ORourke on April 14 outside another pub in a botched attack targeting a suspected killer in the Hutch gang. On February 5, Eddie Hutch, an innocent taxi driver and member of the Hutch family, was shot dead at his home in the north inner city. Those murders and that of Noel Duggan, an associate of Gerry The Monk Hutch, on March 23 were all carried out by the Kinahan crime cartel in retaliation for the murder of its lieutenant David Byrne at the Regency Hotel on February 5. At the April 29 meeting, Anna Quigley of the Citywide Drugs Crisis Campaign said the Kinahan gang reportedly had a list of people lined up to be killed, a lot of them living locally. What other community has ever had to live with that? she asked. And wheres the minister for justice? She should come over. Marie Metcalfe of the Community Policing Forum said nobody from the Government has contacted them asking was there anything they could do to help. Ms Metcalfe said yesterday that the situation has not changed: There has been no response to us from the minister or her department. Nothing. You would expect a call asking how are you doing, what can we do to help? We just feel so isolated. Ms Metcalfe said a procession involving local people and activists is scheduled to take place early next week: Its mainly a local procession to support the community and hopefully we will get the message to the Government that we need help. Meanwhile, gardai yesterday continued to question two men in relation to the murder of Eddie Hutch. The owner of one of Corks oldest businesses has led calls for investment in historic North Main St amid trader concerns sparked by the impending closure of its Dunnes Stores outlet. Michael Creedon, who runs Bradleys specialist off-licence and food-store which has been trading on the street since 1850 said the Dunnes closure will hit trade. However, he said public investment could help untap the huge potential still in the area. This is the historic spine of the city but we are like the land that time forgot, he said. The closure of Dunnes will have a big effect but I wouldnt overstate it. We are not living in a parallel universe here on this street. Were a small city. You can walk from one side to the other in 10 minutes. We are a few hundred yards from massive investment in the Capitol cinema site, and close to where they are building an events centre. Property isnt that expensive here, and its primed for somebody to come in. It just takes the right person to see the potential. Im surprised that potential hasnt been seen yet. Mr Creedon was speaking after confirmation that Dunnes plans to close its North Main St branch on May 21, and redeploy staff to other branches. Several local traders warned the closure could sound the death knell for the street coming in the wake of other North Main St business closures, including Molloys, Roman House, Mahers Sports, and Aunt Nellies Sweet Shop. Pic:Dennis Horgan Other business owners in the North Main St shopping centre also expressed concern that the anchor tenant is leaving. It will affect footfall massively, one trader said. Were very worried. Closing is a massive, massive worry and the whole future of the centre is at stake really. Without Dunnes, without an anchor tenant, the business might not be there. We need customers if were going to stay open. Mr Creedon called for incentives to encourage people to live in the city centre. Facilitating more people to live and work in the city centre would increase footfall and trade, he said. There is no question that this area needs investment, in street lighting, footpaths, in the timber bollards, said Mr Creedon. Our laneways need investment too. But that investment would be an investment in the city. Dunnes Stores, which has outlets on St Patricks St, Merchants Quay, Blackpool, and Ballyvolane, and which has faced increased competition in the city from Lidl and Aldi, did not respond to queries yesterday about why it is closing the North Main St outlet, or on its plans for the future of the property. Cork Business Association chief executive Lawrence Owens called on key stakeholders to prepare a plan to revitalise the street. The citys head of planning, Pat Ledwidge, said the closure of any retailer is a loss to the city. Any loss is regrettable but clearly, the company is closing this branch for commercial reasons, said Mr Ledwidge. It is a large unit and we will seek to engage with the building owners on possible future uses. The zoning in the area is flexible. While the Cabinet met briefly after the Government was appointed last Friday, this is the first full meeting since ministers were given their seal of office and ahead of the Dail reconvening next week. Government sources say the agenda for the briefing is expected to be light and that new ministers were still getting to know each other and getting to grips with policy implementation. Abigail Byrne, her counsel John OMahony told the court, will have this cross on her forehead for the rest of her life. The scar, which is 10cm long and 1cm wide, Mr OMahony said, mutilates Abigails striking natural beauty. Abigail Byrnes mother, the court heard, was told the mark on her forehead would fade within a week but a public health nurse on a visit after the mothers discharge from hospital said it looked permanent and told her to seek advice on it. Mr OMahony told the court the scar will never go away and options such as plastic surgery will not be available to Abigail until she is in her late teens. Abigail Byrne, of Tobartae House, Ryefield West, Whitechurch, Co Cork, has through her mother Jennifer Byrne sued the HSE as a result of her treatment after her birth in 2011 at Cork University Maternity Hospital. Abigail had been delivered by forceps delivery on the morning of January 14, 2011, after a difficult birth. It was advised that a stocking bandage be applied to her head and it remained around her head until the evening of January 15, 2011, which the court heard was about 30 hours. Liability was admitted in the case which was before the court for assessment of damages only. In evidence, Ms Byrne said when Abigail was born, she thought her daughters head was misshapen. She had a tiny mark from the forceps, but Ms Byrne said she was reassured that the damage was all on the outside of the head. She said a stocking bandage which was an elasticated piece of fabric was recommended for Abigails head. I can only imagine it was too tight. It was either unwarranted or on for too long, she said. I was reassured it would fade. I was told it would be gone by the end of the week. She said they had delayed Abigails christening by a month so the mark on her forehead would not be so obvious. The case will continue in the new law term. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Associations director of industrial relations said that four staff nurses could have been hired with the money used to fight the case. Phil Ni Sheaghdha said the issue arose due to a nurse who had suffered an injury and the INMOs belief the HSE did not provide her with full entitlements under the Injury Grant Scheme. The grant, provided for under the Superannuation Scheme, is an allowance paid to employees who are injured in the course of their duties. The grant affords maximum allowance of five-sixths of the employees pay, but the amount is calculated based on their degree of impairment and as to how much they can contribute considering the injury. The INMO said they believe that, given the nature of nursing work, any injury precludes them from being able to contribute to the role. We argued that when a nurse is out and cannot work, they cannot contribute to their own upkeep at all, Ms Ni Sheaghdha told the Irish Examiner. Another worker with a broken wrist or maybe a broken finger may be able to go to work and contribute somewhat to their upkeep. Due to the physical nature of nursing, its impossible to contribute, therefore you are 100% disabled for the purpose of that scheme. However, the HSE disputed this and granted a lower allowance to the nurse. The INMO appealed the case to the Pensions Ombudsman, the arbitrator of the scheme, who ruled in favour of the unions position. The HSE then appealed the Ombudsman decision to the High Court. The nurse is sitting at home having been injured in the course of her duty: she might have been entitled to maybe 350 but what the HSE indicated was it would give her 30% of that, said Ms Ni Sheaghdha. In the case of this particular woman, it would have meant she was on less than social welfare. Her grant was restored and the case between the HSE and the Ombudsman was settled before it reached the High Court. Under the Freedom of Information Act, the INMO learned the HSE spent 56,000 on the appeal and the union said it understands the Pensions Ombudsman, also a public body, spent a similar amount. In my opinion, that is a total waste of money, said Ms Ni Sheaghdha, suggesting 112,000 would hire four staff nurses. She said the INMO is also concerned the HSE will not accept the decision as a precedent and will challenge similar cases in future. They have said they will treat every other case in the same way, and that they will force every nurse who is injured in the course of their duties, or us on their behalf, to take the case. Even if it is a mirror image, she said. A three-day INMO annual conference last week heard delegates call for a restoration of pay to 2008 levels, a reduction in working hours, and an increase in staffing levels. The union said the Irish health system needs to fill more than 1,700 existing nursing vacancies to maintain existing services. Delegates also called on the INMO to review its existing cooperation with the Lansdowne Road Agreement. Obstacles to the IBRC inquiry going ahead were discussed between Enda Kenny and party figures yesterday, at which it was agreed the probe should operate in a modular fashion. Investigations into the circumstances surrounding the sale of Siteserv to a firm owned by Denis OBrien is expected to be a priority under changed inquiry rules. Mr Kenny met Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin, deputy Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, and Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy. The meeting was also attended by Department of Taoiseach secretary general Martin Fraser as well as officials from the Attorney Generals office. It comes after an interim report by Judge Brian Cregan, heading up to the inquiry into IBRC transactions, recently emphasised the problems facing his investigation. Judge Cregan reiterated that there were problems with confidentiality surrounding the admission of documents. The judge again stressed that legislative changes were needed to help the probe move on and to look into the Siteserv transaction, among others. There are 38 transactions being investigated by Judge Cregans team. The commission was set up to investigate all transactions that resulted in a loss of at least 10m to IBRC. The write-off of IBRC loans relating to Siteserv is greater than 100m, one of the six largest write-offs under investigation. The report said, before any solutions are found and in order to reduce costs to the taxpayer, the inquiry has not moved its investigation into other transactions apart from Siteserv. The inquiry has also been unable to estimate its costs. Opposition leaders described yesterdays meeting with Mr Kenny as constructive. The additional powers needed for the judge were discussed and legislation could be ready within a month to empower the investigation, party sources said. In the meantime, the relevant departments will consult with the judge about those powers and Mr Kenny will then meet opposition leaders again to update them in a fortnight. The terms will also be amended to reflect the focus of the inquiry on Siteserv, said sources. Legislation to overcome confidentiality and privilege concerns preventing Judge Cregan from accessing relevant documents are expected to be the main points in the new legislation. One source at the meeting said: None of us want anything costly or long-term. We are now in agreement on how we get on with this. A jury deliberated for over four and a half hours and could not agree a verdict. Judge Gerard OBrien thanked the jurors and directed the jury foreman to record a disagreement on the single charge of assault at Cork Circuit Criminal Court. The case was then adjourned until May 31 for listing for a possible retrial. The complainant also said he threatened if she cheated on him, he would kill her and bury her in the woods. Michael Lynch, aged 24, denies threatening to kill Tara Byrd, 25, and assault causing harm to her on July 21, 2015, at 184 Old Youghal Road, Cork . Ms Byrd testified, He said he was going to boil a kettle of water with sugar in it and pour the sugar water on me. He put the sugar in the kettle and boiled it. He said if I screamed, he would hit me over the head with an iron bar. I was wearing pyjama pants. He threw the kettle over my left leg [from top of foot to below knee]. I was in agony. I did not scream. I was shaking with agony. He put a white T-shirt over my leg and he started pouring constant cold water and ice over my leg. I told Michael I needed to go to hospital. He said there is nothing they can do that Im already doing. I was there all night in that constant in agony all night. He told me if he found me cheating he would kill me and bury me in the woods. I believed him because of what he was after doing to me. Gareth Fleming, defending, said the complainant admitted saying on her admission to hospital it happened accidentally. She said she told these lies because she was in fear of Mr Lynch, and that he had also told her that he would damage the homes of her friends and family. Mr Lynch opted not to give any evidence. He said about half a cup of boiling water fell on her leg. He said the kettle was on a counter top and there was a bit of a slope in the room. The Irish Examiner has learned that because of problems between the Department of the Environment and local authorities, a large proportion of the 451m capital budget for building social housing this year will not be spent. However, it has also emerged that a significant majority of the 1.7bn set aside last year for the period 2015-2017 by then minister Alan Kelly to build social housing has not yet been spent by local authorities. They have not spent their allocation of capital for 2016 and are not on target to spend it, Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said. There are other problems in the relationship between the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the local authorities, as well as in the capacity of the local authorities to use the funds they are given. The news comes as the Master of the High Court has called on the State to nationalise repossessed homes in order to address the countrys housing crisis, which has seen the number of recorded homeless people almost double to 1,700. Edmund Honohan, speaking at the Oireachtas Housing Committee yesterday, said compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) should be used to acquire repossessed and vacant lands in a bid to address the crisis. However, the news that councils across the country are failing to spend their allocation for social housing is set to dominate a meeting of local authority chief executives and Housing Minister Simon Coveney tomorrow. A spokesman for Mr Coveney told the Irish Examiner that the minister will listen and discuss any issues as to why the money is not being spent with the CEOs when they meet. The Department of Housing attempted to play down the underspend last night, saying the drawdown on funding will ramp up toward the end of the year. Simon Coveney Traditionally, the spend on social housing is more pronounced in the second half of the year and in particular in the final quarter as schemes are completed/purchased and funding drawn down before the years end, a spokesman said. Minister Coveney will be meeting with CEOs of local authorities later this week and he will be encouraging them to speed up the delivery of their social housing programmes. Mr Honohans comments yesterday that the State should nationalise repossessed homes to address the countrys housing crisis, have sparked controversy. Vacant housing is in the public interest and housing where the owners have been served with orders to quit, he said. Once their right to redeem is extinguished, at that point the State could decide to acquire all of those. So it is a big bang, we acquire all of those loans, we pay off the previous loans and we then decide what to do with it. There is an important byproduct for those people in mortgage arrears, if the State steps in and buys all those properties, then we have instant freeze on repossessions and we put in place the mortgage-to-rent scheme. We could flip them over and rent them to the people who live there. If there is a crisis, and there is, lets not play around with joke solutions like modular housing. Lets get in there and do what is needed. But Patrick Sweetman of the Law Society, urged caution on Mr Honohans demands, saying they could end up costing the taxpayer more and there is no guarantee it would work in speeding up the acquisition of land. It is a lengthy process and open to challenge, he said. You could make the order now and pay in two years time, that is true, but you will pay interest on that at a pretty high rate. It is not, from an economic point of view, very attractive. That process tends to lead to a higher open market rate than otherwise would exist. News: 7 At Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Brian Veale, aged 31, of Dominic St, near Shandon in Cork City, and originally from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, pleaded guilty to the attempted robbery. Detective Sergeant Vincent OSullivan said Sandra Buckley was walking home from University College Cork to Farranree on the night of February 25, 2015, when she noticed someone following her from the top of Shandon St. She walked across St Marys Rd and on to Redemption Rd, but realised she was in trouble as the man was still following her. Ms Buckley decided to walk towards a house on Redemption Rd rather than going all of the way home but Veale caught up on her. Det Sgt OSullivan said: She felt two hands grab her around her neck and throat. She wriggled out of his grip. He said, Give me your money or Ill kill you, or words to that effect. He punched her in the nose and pulled out a 2ft- long machete and struck her four or five times on the forehead. She became hysterical and two passers-by came along and he fled on foot. Ms Buckley had to be taken by ambulance from the scene of the crime. The following night, the same man was caught after he struck a man and a female American student in the heads with a machete. Blood from Ms Buckley was found on the blade of Veales machete and on the care label of his jacket where he had been concealing the weapon. He pleaded guilty to the attempted robbery of Ms Buckley. Judge Sean O Donnabhain imposed a jail sentence of nine years, with the last three years suspended. Veale had more than 100 previous convictions, including two related to the machete attack on the other victims referred to yesterday. Ms Buckley said yesterday that she had been mugged in London years ago but what Veale did was not a mugging as he would have beaten her unconscious. She feared it would not end, so she screamed. Mr Buckley said he struck her repeatedly in the head with the machete and blood filled her eyes. Ms Buckley expressed gratitude for Veales plea of guilty, which means she would not have to give evidence in a trial. I hope he finds his own humanity. His eyes were cold, without pity, and hard. I am angry too that I was treated like a thing. I was treated like a walking ATM. He demanded money and I didnt have any, she said. Dermot Sheehan, defending, said Veale had a difficult background and was addicted to heroin, prescription tablets, and alcohol. Judge O Donnabhain said even after Veales release from prison, he will need constant, prolonged supervision both for his benefit and the safety of the community. Leslie Murphy, with addresses at Nohoval, Co Cork, and Tubrid, Minane Bridge, pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to harassing Elaine Lovell and trespassing at her home at Waterlands, Kinsale, to commit assault causing harm. Judge Sean O Donnabhain considered remanding Murphy in custody last week for sentencing in June. However, following a submission that the accused could lose his job if remanded in custody for that period, and that employment was a steadying influence in Murphys life, the judge agreed to grant him bail. Judge O Donnabhain was particularly concerned that Murphy was convicted of harassing another woman in 2013 and was put on a bond to keep the peace for three years at that time. The offences in the present case occurred around May or June 2015. Murphys ex called the gardai because of threats by phone and text from Murphy claiming he was going to assault her and her partner. Garda Barrett said there was one incident where Ms Lovell was leaning out a ground-floor window having a cigarette when Murphy arrived and pulled at her. He launched in the window after her. He caught her by the throat on the couch, said Garda Barrett, adding that the relationship had broken down a number of years previously. Judge O Donnabhain had remanded Leslie Murphy on bail for sentencing on June 9. Garda Barrett returned to Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday to say Murphy was arrested at 1am on Monday outside his ex-partners home. He had been phoning her and was intoxicated. Judge O Donnabhain said those allegations put Murphy in breach of his bail. He was remanded in custody until June 9 for sentencing. The opposition leader made the claim in his first in-depth interview since the new government was formed, and just 24 hours after the first clear cracks in the historic agreement appeared. Speaking on RTE Radios Today with Sean ORourke, Mr Martin said his party was forced to focus on Irish Water during talks because it was obvious that no government would have lasted more than a few months if the issue was not addressed. In a highly controversial claim, he said new Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar told the talks the unpopular charges were 10 times more damaging for Fine Gael than the Fianna Fail-inspired e-voting machines debacle. And putting further pressure on his partys government rival, Mr Martin added that while the deal with Fine Gael states that charges will only be suspended for nine months, the reality is this time-scale will be extended. The [charges] regime weve experienced is gone, but it depends on the Dail, obviously a Dail committee is to be formed. They [charges] will be suspended for nine months, and thats likely to be extended given the configuration of the Dail, he said. The Fianna Fail leader said that despite the view and the fact there is little risk of non-payers being brought to court due to existing laws, people who have not paid their bills should be pursued. He said this includes new Disabilities Minister Finian McGrath and Independent Alliance colleague John Halligan. Asked to clarify an earlier remark that Leo Varadkar had his own problems with water during the talks, Mr Martin said: As far as he [Mr Varadkar] could see, water charges was their [Fine Gaels] e-voting machines multiplied by 10. It was an acknowledgement a potential waste of money. Mr Varadkar yesterday responded by saying Mr Martin was not present for any of the talks and all he meant was that 500m worth of public money has been spent on putting water meters into the ground. Leo Varadkar However, Fianna Fail environment spokesman Barry Cowen told reporters his leaders views are consistent with the talks. Meanwhile, despite contradicting Fine Gaels view of the water charges suspension deal, hitting out at false health budgets in recent years and calling for previously rejected variable mortgage rate reforms, Mr Martin insisted he does not have the boot on the neck of Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Mr Martin denied the that dynamics of the minority government arrangement mean he is the real taoiseach when the question was put to him, and insisted his party is not waiting to bring down the Government to benefit itself. It [minority government] is as treacherous for the opposition as it is for the public, said Mr Martin. I think people want to give this a fair wind, want to give it a chance. Im not going into this looking to pull the plug. Audrey Fitzpatrick alleged in proceedings in the Circuit Civil Court yesterday that she was injured when her foot went into an open shore on Lorcan Drive, Santry, Dublin, on May 29, 2014. Barrister Conor Kearney, who appeared with solicitor Sandra McAlee for Ms Fitzpatrick, told Judge Sinead Ni Chulachain that, following talks, the claim had been settled and could be struck out with no further order. Details of the amount of the settlement were not disclosed in court. The historic headquarters will go to the market with a guide price of 7m, as part of the Port of Corks long-term plan to move its operations from the city centre and out to facilities at Ringaskiddy and at Cobh. The prominent Custom House, situated at the confluence of the north and south channels of the River Lee, was completed in 1819 and designed by architect Abraham Hardgrave. The majority of the buildings on the quay are listed of historical importance. Gardai believe Anthony Handley, aged 64, drifted off momentarily before his jeep veered from the road and hit the two near Balbriggan, Co Dublin. He had no alcohol or drugs in his system. Judge Patrick McCartan refused a defence plea for a suspended sentence. He said Handley was a good man with a blameless record but that he should have been alert to the fact that he was becoming tired behind the wheel. He said he was imposing the two-year sentence to send out the clear message to the community that fatigue must be a phenomenon in the minds of all drivers. He also banned Handley from driving for 10 years. The judge said the offence was in no way in the same bracket as someone who had taken alcohol and drugs, but that Handleys tiredness was an aggravating factor. He said society was only now starting to realise the dangers of driving while tired and noted the recent road safety campaign to that effect. I want to extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to Ciaran Dunne [the deceaseds husband] and his extended family, said Judge McCartan. It is a monumental the loss suffered by his and her family. Nothing that this court can do today will even begin to address or put right this enormous tragedy. Handley, of Whitethorn Grove, Artane, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to dangerous driving causing the death of Olivia Dunne and serious bodily harm to Eabha Dunne in Balbriggan on January 17, 2014. Olivia Dunne, aged 31, was killed instantly. Eabha Dunne was thrown from her pram and landed underneath the jeep in her cot. The pram was completely destroyed. She had multiple broken bones and would have died if she did not receive medical attention, the court heard. She was in a coma afterwards and continues to suffer the effects of her injuries. A victim impact report was read into court on behalf of Ms Dunnes family which described them as living with a nightmare. Ms Dunnes husband of 18 months, Ciaran, said he was only alive today because Eabha survived. If there had been two coffins that day, it is guaranteed there would have been three, the statement read. Ms Dunnes sister, Caroline Clinton, said Eabha had to be resuscitated by doctors and walks with a limp. She has had several operations and will require further surgery on her leg. She was expected not to survive, she beat the odds, shes our little miracle, Ms Clinton wrote. She said Ciaran Dunne could not come to court yesterday because he never wanted to see the man who took away his wife. The anger and pain will always remain, said Ms Clinton. We will never come to terms with or forgive the devastating offence of Friday the 17th of January. Sgt Brian Kavanagh told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that Handley said he got four hours sleep the night before which was not unusual for him. Handley wrote a letter of remorse shortly afterwards but the family did not want to receive it. He said he wished it was him who was killed that day instead of Ms Dunne. Mr Coveney will today hold meetings with charities battling homelessness to get their views he had similar meetings yesterday. Tomorrow, Mr Coveney and Taoiseach Enda Kenny will meet with chiefs executive of local authorities to establish how they can contribute to what he sees as a need to build between 30,000 and 35,000 units over the next 10 years, to make up for the lack of house construction over the last decade. Many critics have said that, until now, there has been a lack of joined-up thinking in the States approach to addressing the housing crisis. As Ronan Lyons, author of the Daft.ie report which found rent has increased by up to 16% in parts of the country in the last six months, pointed out: It is widely acknowledged that, along with healthcare and possibly water charges, housing is the most pressing issue facing the new government. However, housing policy currently is dispersed across a number of departments and government organisations, including the Property Services Regulatory Authority, the Central Bank, the Housing Agency, the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Finance, the Department of the Environment, and local authorities, as well as others. Mr Lyons said this situation had meant no one government minister had turned up at cabinet meetings with housing consistently top of their agenda, as happens routinely with health and education. However, Simon Coveney told the Irish Examiner last night that housing is probably the number one priority for this Government. The general consensus appears to be that all the concerned parties need to get into one room and work out why construction costs are so high, what can be done to address them, and what can be done to best accommodate the huge numbers who require social housing. There also needs to be a greater appreciation of where housing is actually required are apartments and townhouses in urban locations needed more than suburban housing estates? Mr Coveney said a priority is to establish what density is required and where units should be built. There is a requirement for more direct state intervention such as social housing funding through local authorities. Mr Coveney said a whole series of options are being examined, including an increase in the availability of land, how quickly social housing units can be built on sites that are available now, and examining lands where planning permissions have been granted but on which, for whatever reason, units have not been built. We need to look at how we ensure that we do not continue putting families in hotel rooms. That is not conducive to the way families should be living. People in emergency accommodation need to know there is an urgency to deal with the issue they do not want to hear solutions for 2019. The Oireachtas committee on housing and homelessness was told yesterday that more than 5,500 people are homeless a third of them children and tens of thousands of people are on waiting lists for a council house. It heard rents have passed peak boom levels, with a home in Dublin costing an average of 1,464 a month. Three men Cathal OBrien, aged 22, of The Cross, Ardagh, Co Limerick; Shane Kelly, aged 22, Ballagh, Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick; and Deniss Permanickis, aged 27, Ballagh, Abbfyeale all pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to assault causing harm and violent disorder. James ODonnell, an information technology graduate, was set upon by the three after he was seen talking briefly to Permanickiss girlfriend while they were all the Club Mission nightclub in Newcastle West. After leaving the nightclub, the three accused men launched a brutal attack. He ended up at University Hospital Limerick, with a broken jaw, a fractured facial bone, and broken teeth and was kept in for five days. The assault happened on the night July 12, 2014. Garda Chris McGrath said he came on Mr ODonnell who was lying injured on a street at about 2.30am. An ambulance was also at the scene and there was bleeding from Mr ODonnells mouth and head. He was treated for his injuries at UHL and is still under medical care. In a statement to gardai, Mr ODonnell said that while in the nightclub he talked to a girl briefly and as he went to walk away he was approached by the three accused men. One asked him: Why were you talking to my girlfriend. He replied: Sorry, I did not know. Later, CCTV caught the three defendants walk towards Mr ODonnell on the street outside where the assault occurred. When they were arrested the three admitted the assault. Permanickis, in a statement, said he thought Mr ODonnell was a stranger who was trying to chance his girlfriend. Each of the accused have offered 2,000 to Mr ODonnell as what defence counsel said was a sincere gesture of remorse. Judge Tom ODonnell said Mr ODonnell was subjected to a callous and cowardly attack when he was on his own after leaving the nightclub. The judge was taking into account that none of the accused men had any previous conviction and had expressed remorse. He adjourned the case to October 4, and said a sum of 9,000 should be paid to Mr ODonnell and that the 4,000 offered be paid over straight away. KATE Beckinsale must have been cold. When the 42-year-old braved the Sundance red carpet in what resembled a large white couture handkerchief draped around her body and slender bare shoulders, she was clearly making a statement: Im back! The US-based British actress, who has also returned to the Underworld franchise that had her looking feisty in slinky latex, was in Sundance promoting Whit Stillmans surprisingly contemporary Jane Austen adaptation, Love & Friendship, which was filmed in Dublin. Beckinsale plays Lady Susan Vernon, an impoverished self-interested high society widow she describes as a scheming bitch. It was a bit like doing King Lear. Theres so much dialogue, mainly me, blistering on and on and on, she muses. For Stillman its been a while between movies. His previous effort had been 2011s Damsels in Distress and prior to that, the American director had paired Beckinsale with Chloe Sevigny in 1999s Last Days of Disco. Now Sevigny, who also appears in Stillmans television series, The Cosmopolitans, reunites with her two friends for Love & Friendship. At Sundance, Stillman thanked the actresses for coming on board as they enabled the production to go ahead. The big challenge these days is getting the financing, he told the crowd at the films world premiere. Once youve got the financing everything else is a solvable problem. He also thanked the Irish Film Board. They were helpful in every way. In Dublin we found the best and most expert possible crew for period films. The Irish capital, he says, was perfect as an Austen milieu. In the period of the film Dublin was the second great capital great city in the empire and there was a lot of wealth, a lot of English wealth, and great Georgian architecture. Every kind of production advantage was available in Ireland. I was considering filming in London but many people said the scale of the city was too big. In Dublin it was very pleasant. Stillman had been adapting Love & Friendship, based on Austens novella, Lady Susan, for over a decade. Originally written in epistolary form around 1794, and published posthumously in 1871, its a kind of precursor to Austens better-known novels. The story was largely unfinished and Stillman changed it considerably. Certainly weve never seen Austen be as funny or as raunchy as this. LOVE GAMES When Lady Susan arrives to stay at the country estate of her sister-in-law, Mrs Catherine Vernon (Emma Greenwall), she is determined to find a husband to solve her financial woes. Initially she sets her sights on Catherines younger brother, the naive nobleman, Sir Reginald DeCourcy (Xavier Samuel), who immediately succumbs to her charms. When her attractive daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark) arrives on the scene, she becomes worried that she might steal her thunder and attempts to match her with the much older and less handsome Sir James Martin. Hes an even a richer nobleman desperate for a wife and is played by scene-stealing English actor Tom Bennett with wild eccentricity. Tom brought so much to it, recalls Stillman with a chuckle. We had a table reading, which is always kind of a weird thing, and Tom was only there on the laptop as a Skype presence. There had been so much tension in the room and then suddenly there was Sir James Martin doing this hilarious thing. It was exciting because Tom created the character based on a few scenes that were in the novel. I wrote a lot of those scenes for him and one of the many contributions that [Irish] producer Katie Holly made to the production was her chance mention of the Twelve Commandments, which became one of Sir James Mortons many faux pas. The character appears much more in the film than in the novel. Sevigny plays the latter character, an American who married into the British aristocracy (Stephen Fry) and is Susans best friend and confidante. Husband to Alicia Johnson - American exile and friend to Lady Susan. #LoveandFriendship - in NY & LA in ONE WEEK!https://t.co/2GA7pUDjvW Love & Friendship (@LandFMovie) May 7, 2016 I made the character American with a really funny back story so they could both be together in the film, explains Stillman. Some of Chloes ideas were very good and it was helpful to have someone focusing on every scene and going through Alicias motivations. (Sevigny is presenting her directing debut, the short film Kitty, in Cannes.) COSTUME DRAMA Both women look radiant in all their finery, with Sevigny donning particularly adventurous costumes and Beckinsale looking sassy and seductive. I was surprised that we had pretty much all of our costumes made from scratch, notes Beckinsale. I turned up for what I thought was a tiny project to find extraordinary costumes, several for each of us and which were really tailored to the characters. I think Chloe had the most outrageous ones. There were more boobs on Chloes, funnily enough! They were lovely and very concerned with colours. Whit had gone a different way and wanted something different to what were used to seeing in Jane Austen novels. He wanted to go for a saucier French fashion of the period. So that was nice. In many ways Stillman adopted the same methodology when he created Last Days of Disco, she says. That was also a period movie and he was just as much a stickler about the late early 90s as he was about doing this. I like that about Whit. Hes very meticulous. Two centuries ago in rural England seems removed from your normal reality, but in a way it makes perfect sense. Stillman is old fashioned and oddly formal in his ways. With his dialogue-heavy cinematic treatises on class and manners, Barcelona and Metropolitan, he had created a cinematic oeuvre all of his own. Eminently suited to Jane Austens sensibility I can relate to everything about her he had first read Pride and Prejudice shortly after graduating from Harvard and has been obsessed with her writing ever since. He even wrote a novel based on Lady Susan, because he didnt believe the novella was finished. With his new film he is in a sense finishing with the project. Holly greatly enjoyed their collaboration. I think theres a respectful irreverence to the material that gave us the freedom to play with the characters without being too much in awe of Jane Austen or too much in awe of that kind of parlance, she says. I think thats where the humour comes through and what Whit has changed most successfully. Donald Trump has raised the nastiness of the US presidential campaign several notches with his distorted attack not only on Hillary Clinton, his likely opponent in November, but also on her husband, former president Bill Clinton. Trump accused him of being the worst abuser of women in the history of politics. He then went on to accuse Hillary of hurting the women that Bill had abused. Shes married to a man who got impeached for lying, said Trump. He was impeached for lying about what happened with a woman. Hillary was an enabler and she treated these women horribly. Just remember this. Some of those women were destroyed, not by [Bill Clinton], but by the way Hillary Clinton treated them after it went down. People were left to their own imagination about how Hillary supposedly destroyed these women. Surely nobody would have expected her to embrace any woman who had been involved with her husband. Hillary and Bill Clinton Bill Clinton was impeached, but many people do not realise impeachment is just a charge. He was charged on two counts perjury and obstruction of justice by the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, but the Senate acquitted him on both charges. Trumps allegation that Bill was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics is as much a reflection of his historical ignorance as his penchant for distortion. By comparison with some of his predecessors in the White House, Clinton was a virtual innocent. In 1923, following the death of president and notorious philanderer Warren G Harding, Nan Britton wrote a memoir claiming Harding was the father of her daughter. Congress and the FBI tried unsuccessfully to block the publication of her book, which duly became a runaway bestseller. Her claim was confirmed by DNA testing in 2015. Hardings wife, Florence, reportedly caught the president with another woman in flagrante delicto in the White House. They reportedly fled into a closet, and the Secret Service had to rescue them as Florence was trying to hack through the door with a hatchet. Franklin D Roosevelt had his fatal stroke in 1945 while closeted with his long-term mistress, Lucy Mercer, but it was hushed up. Dwight Eisenhower, later to become president, had a famous tangle during the Second World War with Kay Summersby, a married woman from Baltimore, Co Cork, where she grew up as Kathleen McCarthy-Morrogh. Eisenhower actually planned to marry Kay, but General George Marshall, the army chief of staff, threatened to have him busted to private. Marshall was not going to have American wives worried that their husbands were messing around in Europe. President Harry Truman later learned that Eisenhowers letter was in his presidential library among Marshalls papers. Truman destroyed it, even though he personally detested Eisenhower. In the 1960s, John F Kennedy was renowned as a serial adulterer, as was Lyndon Johnson, but the latter did so many other shady things that a sex scandal would only have seemed like a diversion. John F Kennedy Johnson was particularly adept at planting sordid stories about others. He liked to tell of the Texas politician who told aides to spread the word that his opponent was having sex with a pig. Nobody would believe that, said one aide. I know, replied Johnson, but we might get the son of a bitch to deny it. One presidential candidate had the distinction of being open about a past indiscretion. During the presidential campaign of 1884, the Buffalo Evening Telegraph broke the news that Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland, a bachelor, had a 10-year-old son named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Yes, its true, Cleveland told the press. He had been paying for the childs upkeep over the past 10 years. Republicans tried to embarrass Cleveland by chanting, Ma, Ma, wheres my Pa? When they persisted with the chant after Cleveland won the election, Democrats used to respond, Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha! In the 50 years after the start of the Civil War, Cleveland was the only Democrat elected president. However, twentieth-century presidents seemed virtually immune to such public scandals before Monica Lewinsky came along. Her problem was she couldnt keep her mouth shut. Her biggest complaint was that Bill would not consummate their relationship by having sexual relations with her. Yet he was impeached for supposedly lying when he said they did not have sexual relations. Bill Clinton was a virtual choirboy in comparison with some of his main accusers people such as House speaker Newt Gingrich, Bob Livingston, and Henry Hyde. When they went after him, they became fair game themselves because they were thundering hypocrites. Back in 1995 Anne Manning, one of Gingrichs campaign workers, wrote in Vanity Fair that she used to have oral sex with Gingrich, because he preferred it that way so that he could deny having committed adultery with her. He said he could thereby legitimately deny having had penetrative sex with her. The White House But Gingrich then led the impeachment process against Clinton on such grounds. It was common knowledge that Gingrich was involved with several women during his first marriage, according to one of his aides, Dot Crews. Another aide, Kip Carter, witnessed him having oral sex with a colleagues wife in his car mid-afternoon. As I got to the car, I saw Newt in the passenger seat and one of the guys wives with her head in his lap, said the aide. Newt kind of turned and gave me this little-boy smile. Amid these revelations, Gingrich announced that he was stepping down as speaker of the House of Representatives. The Republicans selected Livingston to replace him. But before he could even take over, Livingston was forced to step down after being named as a serial adulterer with several members of his own staff. Hyde, chief inquisitor at the impeachment trial, was exposed for having had an affair with a young married woman with children. As a result of this affair, her marriage broke up, and Hyde was duly washed up politically. Trumps allusions last week to Bill Clintons impeachment were an apparent attempt to combat Hillary Clintons popularity among women voters. A recent public opinion poll found that 64% of women view Trump unfavourably. For generations, politicians have been promising to tear down walls between people, but Trump is promising to build walls. He is as dangerous as he is politically sinister. Of course, he professes to like women. He has married three of them and is trying to become the first twice-divorced man to be elected president. But nobody should be surprised if he comes a cropper, like the hypocrites who tried to destroy Bill Clinton with similar tactics. Europes refugee crisis is far from solved, but there are signs that the agreement finalised by the European Union and Turkey on March 18 is reducing the flow of refugees from Turkey to Greece. According to Frontex, the European border-management agency, the 26,460 refugees detected crossing the EUs external borders in the eastern Mediterranean in March amounted to less than half the figure recorded in February. The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has already declared that the deal, whereby the EU pays Turkey billions of euro to shut down the Turkey-Greece migratory route, is producing results. Many EU governments are breathing a sigh of relief. The flows of refugees on this route may well have been stemmed. But at what price? Turkey and the EU are now working together closely to execute the agreement, yet relations between them are increasingly strained. And the deals legitimacy and legality has rightly faced a wave of skepticism from NGOs, charities, and human-rights lawyers. As the agreement is implemented, a number of flashpoints are already foreseeable. A key element of the deal is that EU leaders agreed to allow visa-free travel for 75m Turkish citizens by the end of June. Originally, Turkey was obliged to meet 72 benchmarks by then, with some EU diplomats claiming that only half have been met. In early May, however, the European Commission gave conditional support to visa-free travel while insisting on fulfillment of five of the most important criteria. Time will tell whether the EU stands up to Turkeys government and ensures the necessary conditions (which are technical as well as political) are met. But we can expect stormy waters ahead. For one thing, granting Turkeys population visa-free access to the EUs border-free Schengen Area is hardly uncontroversial. When EU leaders signed up to the visa deal, they did so in relative secrecy and at the peak of the refugee crisis. But it is likely that the very same populists and nationalists who drove EU leaders to craft the agreement with Turkey in order to contain the refugee crisis will now lead the backlash against visa-free access for Turkish citizens. Moreover, Tusk has not acquitted himself well. During a recent visit to Turkey, he asserted that the Turkish government is the best example in the world of how to treat refugees. To be sure, Turkey has taken more than its fair share of refugees from Syria and elsewhere. But it is obscene for an EU representative to suggest that Turkey is a role model for others. Turkey is not a safe country for refugees. Indeed, there is growing evidence that it is pushing Syrian refugees back across the border. And shocking reports have emerged of Turkish border guards shooting at Syrian civilians who are fleeing the Islamic State and the civil war in their country. Calls for the European Commission to investigate these claims have been met with shrugs. Human Rights Watch and the United Nations estimate that at least 100,000 Syrian civilians are now stranded on the Syrian side of the Turkish border. But by signing up to a grubby deal with Turkey, EU leaders have forfeited any right to lecture Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdo?gan and Erdo?gan knows it. The EU-Turkey deal has also dramatically diminished the EUs credibility as a defender of freedom of speech and press freedom. Bekir Bozda?g, Turkeys justice minister, disclosed last month that Turkish prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdo?gan since he became president in 2014. Those people targeted include cartoonists, journalists, and even children. Instead of encouraging politicians in Europe to stand up for press freedom and fight for reform in Turkey, the EU-Turkey agreement risks silencing them, for fear of upsetting Erdo?gan. The Turkish governments decision to seek the prosecution of a German comedian, Jan Bohmermann, for insulting Erdo?gan illustrates just how vulnerable the EU now is to Turkish extortion. EU leaders know that if they press him too much, he can at any moment reopen the refugee floodgates. The EU-Turkey deal has been so good for Turkey that other transit countries have taken notice. Libyas vice president, Ahmed Maetig, has expressed hope for a similar agreement with his country to restrict the flow of migrants to Europe, despite the fact that the government does not control large parts of the coastline. Turkish refugee camp Paying other people to deal with ones problems might be a successful short-term solution, but it is rarely viable in the longer term. Europe needs to work with Turkey, not become dependent on it. By signing up to this deal, the EU has given Erdo?gan the keys to its back door. This will not help Turkeys EU membership prospects, and it certainly isnt in the EUs long-term interests. The keys to the EU need to be taken back from Erdo?gan. But this can happen only if Europe devises a collective response that is capable of dealing with global migratory pressures. That means putting in place a genuine European asylum and migration strategy, establishing a European coast guard and border force, and providing legal and safe routes for both asylum-seekers and refugees. Until then, the EU will remain beholden to neighboring countries to do its dirty work. Yanis Varoufakis, a former Greek finance minister, said that by agreeing to the EU-Turkey deal, Europe has lost its soul. That seems too generous. Europe has sold its soul. As a result, it is in danger of undermining its own raison detre. Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister, is President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group in the European Parliament. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016. Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian primeminister, is President of the Alliance ofLiberals and Democrats for Europe Groupin the European Parliament.n Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2016. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency in 2009 in part for his commitment to nuclear non proliferation, Mr Obama will visit the site of the worlds first nuclear bomb attack on May 27 with Japans prime minister Shinzo Abe. With the end of his last term in office approaching in January 2017, Mr Obama will highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons, the White House said in a statement. She claimed that she was yet to meet a black girl who wasnt raped by the age of 12. She told commenters on a Facebook thread that 99% of her cases were black fathers/uncles/brothers raping children as young as five years old, then asked one poster: Is this part of your culture? It is the latest in a string of similar incidents that have laid bare the racial tensions that endure more than two decades after the end of apartheid rule. Social activist Gillian Schutte said High Court judge Mabel Jansen made the comments to her during an online conversation with her. Ms Schutte reposted the remarks on Facebook and Twitter, raising a storm of condemnation in social and traditional media. South Africa has some of the worlds highest rates of violent crime, a scourge often blamed on poverty, joblessness and glaring income disparities, with minority whites still often better off despite 22 years of black majority rule. Reported cases of rape have been on the decline, according to the Institute of Security Studies think-tank, with 43,195 reported in 2014-15, down 7.4% from 2008-09, though analysts say the crime often goes unreported. In their culture, a woman is there to pleasure them. Period, Ms Jansen said in one of Ms Schuttes reposts. I still have to meet a black girl who was not raped at about 12, Ms Jansen said in another repost from Ms Schutte. On Twitter on Sunday, Ms Jansen said, apparently in response to Ms Schuttes reposts: What I stated confidentially to somebody in a position to help has been taken completely out of context. Ms Schutte told the eNCA news channel she had previously sent the posts to people in the legal profession to ask what could be done about the content of her utterances. Ms Jansen was quoted on the online news outlet News24 as saying: I was referring to specific cases. It was within that context. She said she contacted Ms Schutte on Facebook because she thought the activist could give advice on assistance to vulnerable victims. The Business Day newspaper said the Judicial Services Commission, which deals with complaints against judges, confirmed it was expecting a complaint regarding the posts. A spokesman said he could not immediately comment but the commission would issue a statement shortly. Many South Africans took to social media, demanding Ms Jansens removal from the bench. In January, a storm of protest ensued after estate agent Penny Sparrow, a white member of the opposition Democratic Alliance party, referred to black people as monkeys in Facebook rant about littering at a beach. Two neighbourhoods in Fort McMurray have been devastated. Incinerated homes have been levelled, after a wildfire that the citys fire chief called a beast ... a fire like Ive never seen in my life. However, Fire Chief Darby Allen said 85% of the city remained intact, including the downtown district. The citys premier, Rachel Notley, said 2,400 homes and buildings were destroyed, but firefighters saved 25,000 others, including the hospital, municipal buildings, and every functioning school. This city was surrounded by an ocean of fire only a few days ago, but Fort McMurray and the surrounding communities, have been saved and they will be rebuilt, Ms Notley said. A meeting with the energy industry will discuss the state of their facilities and the impact on operations. Ms Notley got her first direct look at the devastation on Monday, after cold temperatures and light rain had stabilised the massive wildfire, such that officials have begun planning to get thousands of evacuated residents back. The break in the weather encouraged officials that a turning point had been reached in handling the massive wildfire. The temperature dipped to 7C on Monday, following a week of unseasonably warm temperatures. Ms Notley flew in on Monday to meet local officials and toured the town, before holding a news conference at the emergency centre. I was very much struck by the devastation of the fire. It was really quite overwhelming in some spots, said Ms Notley. But I will also say that I was struck by the proximity of that devastation to neighborhoods that were untouched. Forty journalists were allowed into Fort McMurray on a bus, escorted by police. The forest surrounding the road into town was still smouldering and there were abandoned cars. Only the sign remained at a Super 8 Motel and Dennys restaurant on the edge of town. The Beacon Hill neighbourhood was a scene of utter devastation, with homes burned to their foundations. Mr Allen said that, in Beacon Hill, the fire jumped across a road that is 5m-6m wide. Kerry Needham was speaking as a team of 10 South Yorkshire Police officers appealed for help to find the youngster at the farmhouse where he was last seen on the island of Kos in 1991. They also confirmed a 10,000 reward from the charity Crimestoppers was available to anyone who provides information which leads to the discovery of Ben, even if they live outside the UK. Ms Needham said she hoped that Greeces statute of limitation laws would mean that people may come forward now in the knowledge they can no longer be prosecuted for withholding information. Speaking on the island, Detective Superintendent Matt Fenwick said: I believe that its highly likely somebody living on Kos today, or somebody that has lived on Kos in the past, will have the answer and know what has happened to Ben Needham. We want to appeal to those people to come forward and help us find what has happened to Ben. Ben, from Sheffield, was 21 months old when he vanished on July 24, 1991, after travelling to the island with his mother and grandparents. Over the years, there have been a number of possible sightings and a range of theories about what happened to the youngster, who would now be 26. Earlier this year, South Yorkshire Police announced that they had received extra funding from the Home Office to help in the search. Ms Needham told the BBC: We need to look to the future and remain positive and hopefully get some answers. 'He deserves to know the truth and so do we' British detectives make a new appeal for information in Kos, Greece. https://t.co/YGdYg8pNZQ BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) May 10, 2016 I have every faith in South Yorkshire Police. They are amazing detectives. I couldnt wish for any more from them. Theres no words to describe how much this means to me. Ben wasnt abducted by aliens. The ground did not open up and swallow him. Ben was physically taken away from the that area by persons unknown. Ms Needham said she realised it would be traumatic for Ben to find out what happened to him but she said: He deserves to know the truth and so do we. However, authorities say they have found no links to any Islamic extremist network and added that the man appears to be psychologically disturbed. One victim died in a hospital and three others were being treated for their wounds. The 27-year-old was taken into custody near the scene at the Grafing Bahnhof just before 5am and had a 10cm survival knife tucked into his belt, authorities said. The suspect, whose name was not released in line with German privacy laws, had admitted to the crime, said Ken Heidenreich, spokesman for the Munich prosecutors office. Mr Heidenreich said that there were questions about whether the man can be held criminally responsible and that they were evaluating whether he should be taken to a mental institution. Senior police official Lothar Koehler said the suspect told them he had been taking drugs, and that around the time of the attack he took his shoes off because he felt bugs on his feet that had caused blisters and were generating intense heat. Koehler added it was not immediately clear whether the suspect was under the influence of drugs at the time. The attack comes at a sensitive time in Germany after the influx of around 1.1m migrants last year and growing concerns about how the country will deal with them, particularly in Bavaria, their usual state of entry. Senior police official Guenther Gietl said a woman reported hearing the words infidel, you must die as the attack began, and that the suspect himself had admitted yelling Allahu akbar, Arabic for God is great. Criminal police official Petra Sandles said there was no evidence that he was a part of any Islamic extremist network. Authorities said the suspect lived near the central city of Giessen, and it wasnt clear why he had travelled to Grafing, around 20 miles east of Munich. Police spokesman Irwin Heumann said the 56-year-old victim who died was attacked aboard the train. He said it was not yet clear where the three wounded victims were assaulted. The other victims were men aged 43, 55, and 58. Heidenreich said one of the survivors had serious injuries. Mr Trump, who is probably going to be the Republican candidate for the presidency, was asked by the New York Times how his proposed ban on Muslims would apply to Mr Khan and he replied: There will always be exceptions. However, the offer was rejected by Mr Khan, who warned that the billionaire businessmans outspoken views on Islam risked endangering people on both sides of the Atlantic. Donald Trumps ignorant view of Islam could make both of our countries less safe it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of extremists, he said. This isnt just about me its about my friends, my family, and everyone who comes from a background similar to mine, anywhere in the world. Donald Trump and those around him think that Western liberal values are incompatible with mainstream Islam London has proved him wrong. Earlier, Mr Khan warned that if he wanted to meet his counterparts in New York and Chicago, he would have to go before the presidential inauguration in January in case Mr Trump succeeded in gaining the White House. I want to go to America to meet with and engage with American mayors, he told Time magazine. If Donald Trump becomes the president, Ill be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith, which means I cant engage with American mayors and swap ideas. However, Mr Trump, who has been seeking to soften his image since all but clinching the Republican nomination, insisted he welcomed Mr Khans election. I was happy to see that. I think its a very good thing, and I hope he does a very good job because, frankly, that would be very, very good, Mr Trump said. Because I think if he does a great job, it will really you lead by example, always lead by example. If he does a good job, and frankly if he does a great job, that would be a terrific thing. During the mayoral election Mr Khan repeatedly attacked Tory rival Zac Goldsmith for adopting Trump-like tactics, accusing him of running a campaign based on fear and division. Meanwhile, satirist and TV presenter Jon Stewart has been on the sidelines for one of the wildest presidential campaign seasons in memory. But he has weighed in with a dig at Mr Trump, labeling the presumptive Republican presidential nominee a man-baby. Stewart joked that Mr Trump has the physical countenance of a man and a babys temperament and hands, adding that, as a man-baby, he is not sure that Mr Trump is eligible to run for president. Tite Barahirwa, 64, and Octavien Ngenzi, 58, are accused of genocide, and crimes against humanity, in the massacre of 2,000 Tutsis, who had sought refuge in a church in the eastern town of Kabarondo. The men, who deny any involvement, face up to life in prison, if convicted. Burma NLD Faces Daunting Task in Reforming Ruined Universities Military rule devastated Burmas higher education system and the new government faces many challenges to restore it RANGOON On a recent April morning, Aung Kyaw Soe got off the bus near the University of West-Rangoon after spending some two hours in traffic to reach the campus located on the citys outskirts. When we take the public bus to the university we break out in a sweat and are not fresh to begin teaching, complained the Botany Department lecturer. Like many universities and colleges built under Burmas former military regime, the University of West-Rangoon was constructed in a remote part of town and lacks on-campus student housingpart of a deliberate effort by the junta to curtail potential student mobilization. Not only is the complex on the border of Shwepyithar and Hlaing Tharyar townships hard to reach, its neither an inviting place to study. Situated next to paddy fields, it can only be entered through a large gate controlled by security guards. Inside, university buildings are rundown and spaces are empty and treeless. I feel the university is like a prison. Transportation here is very difficult and the campus environment does not feel free or pleasant. You can see many students during the time of exams, but other times few students are here, said Ye Myat Hein, 26, a first year History major. Decades of brutal military rule destroyed Burmas higher education system. Funding was kept to a minimum, rote memorization and not critical thinking became the most important teaching method, and distance learningwhereby students took books home and only showed up for examswas promoted to avoid students from associating. Student unions were banned and authorities ended the universities independence. From 1988 to 2010, authorities ordered 10 universities built on the fringes of Rangoon, creating desolate, remote campuses. Programs at the large, once-prestigious University of Rangoonlong a hotbed of resistance against the armywere drastically cut down. Two-thirds of Burmas 169 higher education institutions were brought directly under the ministries that correspond to their fields of study, with health studies coming under the Ministry of Health, for example. The National League for Democracy (NLD) has long said that education reform is a top priority. The new government of President Htin Kyaw and his Minister of Education Myo Thein Gyi (the former rector of West-Rangoon University) are now faced with the daunting task of rebuilding a higher education system that until the 1962 army coup was considered among the best in Asia. The NLD wants to ensure our bachelor degrees are on the same (quality) level as the rest of ASEAN, said NLD MP Tin Aung, chairman of Lower Houses Education Promotion Committee. Broad Reforms Needed Under President Thein Seins quasi-civilian government there were limited education reforms and spending was slowly increased to 11 percent of the state budget in the 2015/2016 fiscal year. The government tolerated on-campus activities of students, such as the unofficial formation of students and teachers associations. Rangoon University was to allowed to restore its programs in 2013 and started collaborative arrangements for research, faculty training and curriculum development with a number of foreign universities, including Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Tin Aung said some of the first reform measures under the new NLD government would include trying to hire better-qualified teachers and improving study and teaching resources, such as libraries and laboratories. But these steps require more budget, he said. Myanmar Now repeatedly contacted the Ministry of Education to inquire about its reform plans, but officials said they were too busy to speak to the media. Min Thein, from the National Network for Education Reform (NNER), a coalition of NGOs and education experts, said the quality of teaching fell during army rule because Promotion was decided based on the loyalty of staff. As a result, the teaching staff became persons of total obedience. Saw Myo Min Thu, executive director of the Thabyay Foundation, which assists students with scholarship applications, said there are currently some 600,000 students in the country, two-thirds of whom follow the distance-learning method. He said the latter teaching method should be ceased, adding that the current system of allowing students entry to certain university studies based on their overall matriculation exam scores should be also be reformed. Controversial Education Law In recent years, students unions have reasserted themselves and demanded a jump in education spending and a host of other higher education reforms, including restoring universities independence. NNER has also advocated comprehensive reforms for basic and higher education. When the previous government and Parliament, with support of NLD MPs, adopted the Education Law in September 2014 without considering these demands, students revolted. They organized protest marches across the country, which ended with a violent police crackdown in Letpadan, Bago Region in March, 2015. Dozens of students were jailed for months, but all were released by the NLD government in a recent amnesty. Min Thwe Thit, a formerly imprisoned leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), said the group sent a letter to the new government to request a meeting to discuss the students demands for significant amendments to the Education Law and the drafting of new by-laws. He said student organizations were waiting for the government to announce its plans for education reform before deciding their next step. An increase in spending would be key, he said, adding, There are no adequate resources in the universities. The government needs to fix that. Asked if the NLD would take on students reform demands or consider over-hauling the controversial Education Law, Tin Aung said, this committee does not intend to repeal of the Education Law because we want to use it for now, in the future this law must be reformed, that would take time. He went on to state that the NLD planned to introduce by-laws for the Education Law that would allow the formation of student and teachers unions and grant universities independence from the Ministry of Education. On the problem of the poor location of many higher education institutions, he said, In Mandalay, the regional government is helping to create affordable transport for students and staff to go to universities there. We hope more regional governments will take such measures to help students. Until higher education reforms take effect and funding increases, however, the quality of education will remain poor, said Aung Kyaw Soe, who has taught Botany at West-Rangoon University for 14 years. Now, a single microscope in the laboratory is used by 20 students at the same time. Many graduates could not even learn how to adjust a microscope. And if the apparatus is damaged, we have to compensate for it ourselves, he said. This story originally appeared on Myanmar Now. Burma Arakanese Ceasefire Signatory Threatens Fighting Escalating conflict and accusations of war crimes in Arakan State have resulted in an Arakan Liberation Army threat to withdraw from last years nationwide ceasefire. RANGOON Last years nationwide ceasefire agreement may already be unraveling, as one of its signatories, the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA), has threatened to pull out of it, according to ALA communications officer Khine Myo Htun, who added that fighting with the Burma Army could break out at any time. Tensions between the ALA and the Burma Army have been rising since last month amid skirmishes in Arakan State between the Burma Army and another Arakanese ethnic armed group, the Arakan Army, with the ALA accusing government troops of committing war crimes, forcing villagers to porter and using civilians as human shields, as well as of violations of the Geneva Convention. The military demanded evidence following the allegations. But after the ALA provided 15 audio and video files that they claim corroborate their accusations, the military responded by pursuing criminal charges against ALA spokesman Khine Myo Htun. Saw Mra Razar Lin, an ALA peace envoy, said that Khine Myo Htun was charged on Thursday under Article 505 of the Burmese criminal code, covering broad incitement provisions that carry a maximum sentence of two years in prison. Aye Khin Maung, a police officer in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, told The Irrawaddy Tuesday that Khine Myo Htuns case was going to be taken up by the courts, which would decide whether to issue an arrest warrant. I was told by an informant to flee Sittwe for a while, but I wont go anywhere, said Khine Myo Htun. They can arrest me at my home. I am not guilty so why would I run away? On Tuesday, Saw Mra Razar Lin said ALP representatives had met with Arakan State Border Affairs Minister Htein Lin, a colonel in the Burma Army, to discuss Khine Myo Htuns case and other issues. During the meeting, Burma Army representatives said they were upset by the ALP allegations. Under the terms of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) that the ALA signed last year, ethnic armed groups and the Burma Army are expected to negotiate and discuss disagreements to prevent them from spiraling out of control. But unlike the other NCA signatories, the ALA was not invited to be a part of the Joint Monitoring Committee, which serves as a ceasefire watchdog, due to the governments contention that there was no fighting in Arakan State to be monitored. We [the ALA] felt discriminated against, said Khine Myo Htun. Saw Kwe Htoo Win, a peace negotiator for the Karen National Union, another NCA signatory, agreed that the previous government had ignored the ALA, despite the admonishments of the other ethnic groups. But with the new National League for Democracy (NLD) government in power, a different paradigm for peace may be emerging. Last week, the eight NCA signatoriesincluding the ALAmet with Dr. Tin Myo Win, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis personal physician, who is likely to play a leading role in making peace with Burmas ethnic armed groups. The meeting was meant to lay the groundwork for a so-called 21st century Panglong Conference, a series of peace talks expected to be hosted by Suu Kyi within the coming months. The new government should call a peace meeting as soon as possible to implement the NCA, said Saw Kwe Htoo Win of the KNU. The ALA, which signed a bilateral ceasefire agreement in 2012 before signing on to the so-called nationwide accord on Oct. 15, is one of Burmas smaller non-state rebel groups. About a dozen ethnic armed groups, including some of the largest, opted not to sign the national accord or were denied the opportunity by Burmas previous government. Burma Burmas President Calls on Thailand to Protect Migrant Workers President Htin Kyaw urges Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to strengthen labor rights protections for the millions of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. Burmas President Htin Kyaw called on Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to strengthen labor rights protections for millions of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, during a meeting with a Thai delegation led by Don at the Presidential Palace on Monday. Burmese labor rights organizations in Thailand welcomed the move, urging the two governments to work together to ensure Burmese migrant workers in Thailand are treated with dignity and equality. Though Thai laws on labor and migrant workers ostensibly grant equal rights for workers regardless of race or religion, hundreds of thousands of Burmese migrant workers do not enjoy those rights, according to Aung Kyaw, vice chairman of the Thailand-based Migrant Workers Rights Network (MWRN). Burmese migrant workers started working in Thailand some 30 years ago. While some enjoy equal labor rights, some still dont. So, we welcome the Myanmar presidents demand to the Thai government, Aung Kyaw told The Irrawaddy. MWRN has held talks with the new National League for Democracy (NLD) government in Naypyidaw on migrant workers issues and also sent open letters with recommendations for improving their situations to relevant authorities. Kyaw Thaung, a director with the Myanmar Association in Thailand (MAT), another group dealing with migrant workers issues, said Htin Kyaws words this week would only be as good as the actions the Thai government takes, if any, in response. The Thai government needs to prove that [they take Htin Kyaw seriously] by taking care of Burmese migrant workers who are arrested daily in Mae Sot, Bangkok and so on, despite having valid documents [allowing them] to stay and travel freely. Only then will we believe and accept that the Thai government respects rights, Kyaw Thaung told The Irrawaddy. There are an estimated 3 million Burmese migrant workers in Thailand, many of whom are not in the country legally and are at particular risk for exploitation by Thai employers and human trafficking syndicates. Htin Kyaw and Don on Monday also discussed trilateral cooperation, in a deal that includes Japan, on the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Burmas southeast, as well as promotion of responsible investment and cooperation in the development of human resources and capacity-building. The foreign minister, on behalf of Thai junta leader and Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, invited Htin Kyaw for a future visit to Thailand. Burma Dignity at Stake, Speaker Tells Parliament in Rebuke of MPs Facebook Lament After a lawmaker uses Facebook to bemoan her proposals rejection by Lower House Speaker Win Myint, he tells MPs to watch their words online. Burmas Lower House Speaker Win Myint warned parliamentarians on Wednesday not to post comments on social media that would undermine the dignity and integrity of Parliament, after a lawmaker took to Facebook to express disappointment that a proposal she had put forward was rejected. Win Myint also took the lawmaker, Khin Saw Wai of the Arakan National Partys (ANP), to task for talking to the media about her proposal before it had been formally submitted, a violation of parliamentary protocol. [Talking to the media] could lead to a misunderstanding of whats going on in the Parliament, he told the Lower House on Wednesday. To ANP lawmakers, the speakers reprimand missed the point: Namely, the plight of a growing number of Arakanese civilians displaced by fighting between the Burma Army and the Arakan Army over the last several weeks. On Monday in the Lower House, Win Myint shot down Khin Saw Wais proposal to provide government aid to the Arakanese displaced. In addition to his displeasure over the ANP lawmaker discussing it with the press before he had approved it, Win Myint in rejecting the proposal pointed to what he said was an inappropriate rider attached to the humanitarian aid request that called for inclusion of all ethnic armed organizations, regardless of size, in peace talks. The motion was meant to bring the Arakan Army into peace talks with the government under the guise of providing aid to the internally displaced people, he said. A similar motion was also proposed in the Upper House last week, but military lawmakers spoke in opposition to it and Win Myints counterpart in the upper chamber decided to merely put the proposal on record. Khin Saw Wai, who represents Rathedaung, one of the townships affected by the fighting, said her Facebook post was intended to inform her constituents that she had attempted to raise the issue of Arakan States recently displaced in the Naypyidaw legislature. The speaker exercised his power as he thinks it is a repeat motion of the Upper House, despite me telling him that I could cut the part about AA [Arakan Army] and urging for their inclusion in the peace process, she told The Irrawaddy, adding that despite her concessionstill ultimately denied by Win Myintshe stood by the relevance of the rider. When we talk about people displaced by fighting, we must explain about the fighting. We should not ignore these facts. In a third justification for his rejection, the speaker, sounding strikingly similar to his ruling predecessors in the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), cited the proposals failure to accord with the three main national causes of the government. Those causesnon-disintegration of the Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of sovereigntywere a regular refrain under the former USDP government and military junta that preceded it. Outside Parliament, meanwhile, public protests calling for a cessation of the fighting have gathered steam throughout Arakan State in recent weeks. Pe Than, an Arakanese lawmaker, said Khin Saw Wais emergency proposal highlighted the need to the stop the fighting between the Arakan Army and the Burma Army, which has caused approximately 2,000 people to flee their homes. We as lawmakers have a responsibility to reflect our constituents voices, he said. The speakers explanation for rejecting the proposal is a poor excuse for inaction. Peacebuilding and national reconciliation have been talked about a lot recently, so its not surprising that the Arakan Army was mentioned in the proposal, the Arakanese lawmaker said. The government should have initiated [peace talks with the Arakan Army]. Despite the rejection by Win Myint, the Arakan State legislature began debating a proposal of its own Tuesday and is expected to formulate its response to the crisis sometime this week. Burma Kachin Farmers Urge Govt to Address Yuzana Land Confiscation Over 8,000 farmers in Kachin State send an open letter to the government, calling on it to address Yuzana Companys alleged land confiscation in the region. RANGOON More than 8,000 villagers in Kachin State have sent an open letter to Burmas new government calling on it to address a land confiscation dispute with Yuzana Company Limited, a Burmese conglomerate blacklisted by the United States. More than 270,000 acres of farmland in the Hukawng region of Hpakant Township were seized by the company in 2007 for agricultural projects like cassava and sugarcane plantations, the complainants say. At a press conference in Rangoon on Tuesday, Tang Gun, a farmer from the region who claims to have lost seven acres of land to Yuzana, said: We believe the government will solve the problem for us. Thats why we voted for them. We will keep protesting until we get our land back. Yuzana is owned by Burmese tycoon Htay Myint, who is on the US sanctions list, barring American companies from doing business with him. The conglomerate is involved in construction, agriculture, hospitality, real estate and fishery industries. Tang Gun explained that employees of Yuzana showed up with police and soldiers when they seized his land in 2007 and began clearing the area, cutting down trees and readying the land for large-scale agricultural production. He said that almost a decade ago locals had no other option but to receive a compensatory sum from the company deemed insufficient, adding that about 330 villagers were paid 80,000 kyats (US$70) per acre, but more than 100 had received no compensation whatsoever. Villagers have been waiting for years and they cant keep suffering. They took the money because they needed it to live, but they were not satisfied with the compensation, he said. The open letter was copied and sent to concerned parliamentarians, the chief minister of Kachin State, Yuzana Company and the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, which helped set up the nearby Hukawng Valley Tiger Reserve more than a decade ago. It stated that four villages had been wiped off the map and nine others had been relocated due to the companys 2007 actions. About 300 households from the four demolished villages were moved to a model village elsewhere in Hpakant Township. Aung Latt, another farmer, said tension between Yuzana and the local villagers grows daily. We dont want to be excluded from the decision-making process. We believe the new government will side with civilians like us. Thats why we sent the letter, he said. Local villagers filed a lawsuit against the company in 2013 and held several protests in 2014, with no results. Yuzana continued operations through 2015 and into this year. Locals also claim that the company seized an additional 300,000 acres in neighboring Tanai Township to the north. According to a report by US-based research center Forest Trends, Yuzana was one of numerous companies that received massive land grants from the former military regime for agricultural development projects. Villagers are calling on President Htin Kyaw to resettle displaced people back to their abandoned villages, and to return confiscated lands. In a separate statement, Mungchying Rawt Jat (MRJ), a rights group established by landless Kachin farmers, called on the government to cancel the controversial Myitsone dam project, also sited in Kachin State. Former President Thein Sein suspended the dam contract between China and Burma, and the new government has not yet addressed the controversy. Burma Parliament Votes to Deepen Military Ties with Russia Burmas Parliament approves President Htin Kyaws proposal to deepen and formalize the countrys longtime military cooperation with Russia. NAYPYIDAW Burmas Parliament on Tuesday approved President Htin Kyaws proposal to deepen and formalize the countrys longtime military cooperation with Russia. This cooperation would contribute to turning the Tatmadaw [Burma Army] into a standard army for national defense, said military representative Brig-Gen Than Lwin. The two countries have already maintained military cooperation for a long time. Burmese students [cadets] frequently study for masters and doctorate degrees at Russian [military] academies. Tun Wai, a Lower House lawmaker from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), said he supported the strengthening of military ties in light of potential long-term gains, but he expressed concern over to what extent signing a formal agreement with Russia might affect Burmas ability to exercise an active and independent foreign policy. The agreement includes exchanging information on political and military issues, such as international security and counter-terrorism measures, laws regarding the functioning of armed forces in both countries, knowledge of medical treatment, constructing military maps and experience with UN-led peacekeeping processes. Lwin Ko Lat, an NLD Lower House lawmaker from Rangoons Thanlyin Township, told The Irrawaddy that he did not think Burmas military ties with Russia would affect its relations with other countries. As for military cooperation between countries, there is bilateral cooperation between two countries as well as cooperation among larger groups. Burma now has military relations with Israel, and I personally welcome its military relations with Russia, Lwin Ko Lat said. Htin Kyaws proposal was seconded by military parliamentarian Than Lwin, NLD lawmaker Tun Wai and Saw Tun Myaw Aung, a lawmaker from the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Burma and Russia have long had military cooperation and the proposal would largely only formalize this cooperation, military representatives say. Burma Rangoon Police Take the Night out of Nightlife Many of Rangoons bars, clubs, karaoke parlors and other nightlife venues are being forced to close early, a policy that could cut into profits. RANGOON Nightclubs, karaoke lounges, massage parlors, beer stations and bars are being forced to shut their doors by 11 pm in Rangoon, according to Kyaw Naing, manager of Pioneer Club, a nightclub located in the Yangon International Hotel complex in Dagon Township. An employee at Family KTV, a karaoke parlor in Bahan Township, said that the restrictionsofficially on the books for years but routinely ignored by many drinking establishments with little consequencewere enforced for the first time Tuesday night. Internet users have criticized the closing time crackdown and are pressing for a later hour. Kyaw Naing agrees, arguing that his line of business sees customers from 7 pm to 2 am. This will hurt our profits, Kyaw Naing said. We will not decrease our staff or salaries, but we will have to adjust their hours. Local authorities arrived at Kyaw Naings nightclub on Tuesday night and ordered it closed as soon as possible, citing unspecified safety concerns, according to the manager. Bars and other nightlife venues operate under the jurisdiction of the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC). Pioneer has been in business for more than 10 years, and pays the YCDC 2.4 million kyats (US$2,061) annually for its alcohol license and 20,000 kyats for its restaurant operating license. Some businessmen have speculated that the policy change was handed down by Rangoons new Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein, a National League for Democracy (NLD) appointee. On Tuesday, he held a meeting with the Rangoon police task force and promised to clear the streets of criminal gangs. Police Col. Win Bo, deputy head of the Rangoon Division Police Force, denied the rumor that police were acting on the orders of the chief minister. That was one of our normal activities, the police colonel said, declining to provide more detailed information about the crackdown. Military Accused of Enlisting Locals as Guides in Blast-Wracked Hpakant Locals in Hpakant, Kachin State, say Burma Army units have abducted civilians, reportedly to work as guides, after unexplained grenade attacks rock the jade-mining town. MANDALAY Residents of the jade-mining town of Hpakant in northern Kachin State say they are living in fear after soldiers from nearby military posts seized several local men, reportedly conscripting them as guides in ongoing hostilities with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Tight security, including a 9pm curfew, has been introduced in the Hpakant area following a series of unexplained explosions this week. Locals Taraw Kon, Laban Htu, Ban Htwee and another unnamed man from the Hpakant and Lone Kin vicinities are said to have been detained since Saturday by local army battalion Nos. 423 and 425. The Burma Army and the KIA have clashed in Hpakant Township in recent days. The area has seen recurrent conflict after a 17-year bilateral ceasefire with the government broke down in 2011. It is fiercely contested because of its hugely lucrative jade mines, in which the Burma Army, the KIA and several other armed groups hold stakes. They took my son, saying they needed him as a guide to approach the Kachin Independence Armys Battalion No. 6. They said it would be just for a little while. But he has not returned since, said the mother of Ban Htwee. The family said they went to the local Burma Army base to inquire about Ban Htwee but received only a minimal response. They just said my son would be home soon. But Im so worried that my son is going into a battle-torn area, the mother of Ban Htwee said. Family members of the other missing men said they had also been conscripted by the Burma Army to work as guides in skirmishes with the KIA. According to local authorities, there have been 20 explosions across Hpakant Township since Monday. The Irrawaddy previously reported that at least six explosions had occurred in the township on Sunday. On Monday night, hand grenades were reportedly thrown from motorcycles at a police station and Uru Yadana Kyauk Sein Bridge in Hpakants Sai Taung quarter. A police officers barracks on the compound burned down in the attack. On Tuesday morning, police patrolling the Maw Wun area of Hpakant were attacked by hand grenades thrown by motorcyclists. The police fired back, causing local residents to flee in panic. On Tuesday evening, hand grenades were thrown again near the Sai Taung police station. No causalities were reported. In response, tight security measures have been introduced in Hpakant, including a strict 9pm curfew. We have deployed heavy security at each entrance into town and motorcyclists are stopped at checkpoints. We are also patrolling the whole area to ensure the safety of local people, said a police officer from Sai Taung police station. After 9pm, it is like a ghost town, said Nau Lat, a local jade miner. No one dares go out. We can hear gun and artillery fire in the distance. We are now living in fear that the fighting could enter the town, because of the explosions, and are worried about how our livelihoods will be affected. We are also worried that the army could take us as porters or guides into the battle zone, Nau Lat said. We feel we have no security, and we receive no protection from the authorities. After 30 Years in Thailand, Glimmers of Hope for Burmese Refugees While camps in Thailand offer refugees education, health care and social services arguably better than they could receive at home, repatriation preparations are ongoing. MAE SOT, Thailand Ta Mla Saw was about 7 when she and her family fled from Burmese troops attacking her village in the countrys ethnic Karen region, and crossed the river into Thailand to the safety of refugee camps dotted along the border. Confined for decades in the camps and supported by aid agencies, the refugees nourished themselves with education and anything they could do to better their community, said Ta Mla Saw, who is now 34 and joint secretary for the Karen Womens Organization (KWO), a community social welfare group. I feel like the refugee camp was a learning place for us. We didnt have to be afraid of anything life-threatening, we didnt need to worry about the fighting, dying, she said at KWOs small office outside Mae Sot, a border town that serves as a base camp for aid agencies working with refugees from Burma. All you had to do was run for your life, then survive, she said, her green polished nails flashing as she described the role of education in a future back in Burma. Its like preparing ourselves so we are ready when the time comes. Many of the mostly ethnic Karen refugees in the nine border camps have spent more than 25 years away from home, more than the average duration of the worlds longest refugee crises. The World Humanitarian Summit is being convened in Istanbul later this month as the number of people who have been forced from their homes globally hits record levels. At the first summit of its kind, governments will be asked to commit to tackling forced displacement in a new waythat both meets the immediate needs of the worlds 60 million displaced, and builds their resilience and self-reliance. The Thai camps offer useful pointers for a longer-term approach. Barred from leaving or seeking employment, refugees here have spent decades working with the aid groups providing services, learning everything from health care and food distribution to the nuts and bolts of democracy. They elect leaders of the committees that run their camps, as well as KWO members such as Ta Mla Saw, whose organization focuses on health, education, social welfare and womens rights. Working with foreign donors and organizations has required them to learn about transparency and accountability. These lessons have put them ahead of most people in Burma, whose first civilian government took office in March after half a century of military rule. In Burma, everything was cloak and dagger, said Sally Thompson, executive director of The Border Consortium (TBC), which provides food, shelter and other support to refugees in the camps. You didnt leave a paper trail, for your own protection. You didnt talk about things openly, you didnt share information because you couldnt trust anybody. By contrast, refugees in the camps who receive assistance from the international community have to report it. They have to be financially accountable, she said. Not the Right Time Yet Burma has fought ethnic groups in its borderlands on and off for decades, causing huge displacement inside the country and forcing hundreds of thousands to seek refuge in Thailand. More than 100,000 refugees have been resettled to third countries, with the United States taking in 80,000. The most educatedthe camps teachers and medicsoften moved first. About 100,000 remain in the Thai camps, but with democratic changes afoot in Burma and a ceasefire inked last October, the possibility of going home is now on the horizon. Nonetheless, the refugees worry about their safety back home and are reluctant to let go of their official refugee status for fear they will be unprotected if fighting erupts again. Seven of the 15 armed ethnic groups invited to sign the ceasefire agreement declined, in part because of distrust of Burmas government and its still-powerful military. Sporadic fighting continues in Kachin and Shan states. George, the 65-year-old vice chairman of the Karen Refugee Committee who goes by one name, said donors are interested in supporting refugees once they return to Burma. But the respected elder, who fled Myanmar in 1975, tells them its not the right time yet, and says that refugees in Thailand still rely on their help. We have no income, no livelihoods here We are not greedy, but we need to survive, he said. A Good Sell for Donors On the last day of March, dozens of refugee leaders met aid workers on the outskirts of Mae Sot to discuss their return. Refugee representatives sat around a U-shaped table and heard updates about preparations for them to go home. They raised their hands to voice concerns and share findings from their own visits to suss out the situation in their villages. In the camps, every house has a toilet, but at home, in some villages, there are 30 houses but only two toilets, said Zaw Gaw, general secretary of the committee for Nu Po camp south of Mae Sot, who visited Burma with 20 people in late March. Last year we heard about a diarrhea outbreak because there were no latrines, he said, speaking through a translator. About 12,000 refugees have left the camps over the last four years, but it is unclear whether all of them have gone back to Burma, said Iain Hall, Mae Sot-based senior coordinator for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Thailand. Hall said it would be grossly irresponsible not to prepare for the refugees voluntary return to Burma, but there would be no pressure for them to leave. People do get anxious. This is normal, particularly for those that have been in the camps for so many years, he said on the sidelines of the meeting. No one would be sent back, he said. If they dont want to go home, they dont go. We are here to protect them. With the war in Syria and the refugee crisis in Europe, it has become increasingly difficult to secure humanitarian funding for long-lasting refugee situations, said Hall, a 24-year veteran with UNHCR who has worked in Africa, Europe and Asia. We need to be smart, Hall said, putting forward a case for why donors should support the Karen refugees. After 30 long years, when all we have in the world is displacement, here we have a glimmer of hope. Here we have a chance of success. That is a good sell. Interview Aung Kyaw Oo: Without a Power Station in Yangon, We Can Never Have a Stable Power Supply. The Irrawaddy reporter May Soe San talks to Aung Kyaw Oo, director of Yangon Electricity Supply Cooperation, about the recent power outages in Yangon, which now gets about 50 percent of its electricity from the national grid. The Irrawaddy reporter May Soe San talks to Aung Kyaw Oo, director of Yangon Electricity Supply Cooperation, about the recent power outages in Yangon, which now gets about 50 percent of its electricity from the national grid. Can you explain the reason for the frequent outages in Yangon? We are supplying power with old generators. Currently, only two of them are in service and they can each only produce 30 to 50 megawatts. Two generators in Ahlone Township broke down a few days ago. Those generators, operated by an independent power producer [IPP], could supply 120 megawatts in total. That power station mainly supplies the west Yangon district, so we could not provide sufficient electricity in that area. We have used IPP for five years. We provide them with gas and use their generators to generate electricity. We are currently operating with all available gas, but the quality of gas-fired power plants and production has declined. A new gas turbine will arrive by the end of May. What measures has the new government taken to improve the power supply? Weve planned to install 150 small transformers as part of our 100-day plan. Can you explain the causes of the system breakdown? Electricity can be produced with hydropower, gas or coal. There is only one coal-fired power plant in Shan State and water resources are only in the northern part of the country. Electricity consumption is highest in Yangon, the commercial hub. Yangon consumes half of the electricity produced in the country. When we deliver the electricity from the northern part of the country to the south, we have to deliver it through power lines. But there are no back-up power lines in some places and that leads to system breakdowns. Normally, power lines carry 250 to 300 megawatts of electricity. If a line is down, the electricity from that line will flow into another line. Then, it gets overloaded and also breaks down. Without a power station in Yangon, we can never have a stable power supply. If something happens in northern Myanmar, Yangon will be impacted. System breakdowns seriously impact the economy because they disturb business operations. Gas power should be used in Yangon. It is cost effective and has less impact on the environment. But, our country does not have enough gas, so the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has suggested using coal. We have to consider future energy demand and available resources before establishing a power system. Energy policy will determine the industrial and social development of the country. Can you tell me about the assistance from Japan, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank to the electricity supply in Myanmar? As far as ADB assistance, equipment has started arriving from them. JICA has agreed to provide loans to us, but they will hire their own consultant. The World Bank has provided US$400 million, of which the Electric Power Ministry will be allocated $310million and the other $90 million will go to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation. ADB has pointed out faults with the power lines. What measures are you taking to address this? We are trying to fix the power lines, but it will take time. Underground cables have been in use since 1957. There were not many people or high-rise buildings then and those cables worked well. When high-rise buildings emerged, they were overstretched. Currently, generators in Yangon can produce around 450 to 500 megawatts. This year, electricity consumption in Yangon is estimated to be around 1,200 megawatts. Last year, the highest amount of consumption was just 1,097 megawatts. How will electricity demands be fulfilled if the new government continues to develop the industrial zones? I dont know about a policy to make sure electricity is available around the clock. If people were willing to pay $US.15 cents per unit, foreign businesses could afford to provide electricity by bringing in their own equipment. Thousands of megawatts of electricity could be produced in our country. It is not difficult. It just depends on how much people are willing to pay in order to have access to 24-hr electricity. Wednesday, May 11th, 2016 (11:49 am) - Score 2,019 After several months of work the European Commission has today announced the outcome of their investigation into the proposed 10.25bn merger between Three UK (CK Hutchison Holdings) and rival mobile operator O2 (Telefonica), which blocks the deal. A merger between Three UK and O2, which was first formally agreed in March 2015 (here), was always likely to attract a disdainful eye from the regulators because it would reduce the number of primary Mobile Network Operators (MNO) in the United Kingdoms mobile telecoms market from four to three. The Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom were both concerned (here and here) about the prospect of only having three primary MNOs because it threatens to significantly [affect] competition, which they say could also result in less choice for consumers, damage the MVNO market and deliver higher prices. It would also upset two complex network sharing agreements (i.e. Vodafone shares with O2 and Three UK shares with EE). Initially the only solution, said the UK regulators, was for Hutchison to effectively sell off part of their merged network and create a fourth operator (effectively re-making Three UK), but theres been little significant interest in that idea from the market and Hutchison feels that such an approach would destroy the economic case for their merger. By comparison Three UK and O2 saw the merger as a way to more effectively compete with Vodafone and BT (EE), with the latter two still holding the lions share of radio spectrum. Equally customers might benefit from improved network coverage, depending upon how the existing network sharing arrangements are managed. But in the end not even a bunch of big concessions were enough to sway the ECs hand. Margrethe Vestager, EC Commissioner for Competition Policy, said: We want the mobile telecoms sector to be competitive, so that consumers can enjoy innovative mobile services at fair prices and high network quality. The goal of EU merger control is to ensure that tie-ups do not weaken competition at the expense of consumers and businesses. Allowing Hutchison to takeover O2 at the terms they proposed would have been bad for UK consumers and bad for the UK mobile sector. We had strong concerns that consumers would have had less choice finding a mobile package that suits their needs and paid more than without the deal. It would also have hampered innovation and the development of network infrastructure in the UK, which is a serious concern especially for fast moving markets. The remedies offered by Hutchison were not sufficient to prevent this. A merged O2 and Three UK might admittedly still have been left at a modest disadvantage given the lack of a significant fixed line business, which is something that rivals Vodafone and BT (EE) both hold. On the other hand this also makes a merged O2 and Three UK more attractive to fixed line ISPs, which wanted a strong MVNO alternative and preferably one that wasnt also a direct competitor in the fixed line market. In fact one of the biggest concessions offered by Hutchison would have given traditional MVNO customers greater access to their network and to prove that they even agreed two preliminary deals to share network capacity with Sky Broadband and Virgin Media (here), but those agreements were largely linked to the merger being approved. Tom Mockridge, CEO of Virgin Media, recently said: Less than three months ago the CMA approved the merger of BT/EE, without remedies, despite concerns that this concentrated too much valuable spectrum in the hands of one provider. BT/EE now has 45% of total UK spectrum, including 60% of the higher frequency spectrum best-suited to 4G services, particularly in urban areas. In comparison Vodafone has 28% of UK spectrum, O2 has 15%, and Three has 12%. This is the very reason it is now difficult to create a new, fourth mobile network operator. A combined O2/Three would provide a counter balance to the strength of BT/EE, offering an alternative source of capacity to other providers who will drive competition in their own right. In the end the EC ruled that nothing offered by Hutchison was able to adequately address the Commissions competition concerns, such as with regards to any structural problems created by the disruption to the current network sharing agreements in the UK. The EC said they were also not capable of replacing the weakened competition in the retail and wholesale mobile telecoms markets as a result of the takeover. Furthermore, the largely behavioural measures (concessions) apparently raised significant uncertainty as regards their effective implementation and monitoring, also because they were difficult to define precisely and some were depended on the agreement of others. Even if the offers were taken up then the EC still felt that mobile virtual operators would have been commercially and technically dependent on the merged entity, with limited ability or incentive to differentiate their offerings, including in terms of network quality. Clearly Sky Broadband and Virgin Media didnt mind. Hutchison has previously pledged to take legal action if their deal is blocked, while in the meantime Telefonica UK will move to consider a possible float or sale of their O2 division. In the latter case both Liberty Global (Virgin Media) and Iliad SA (Free Mobile in France) have signalled that they might be interested. UPDATE 12:47pm The first reaction from Hutchison is in. CK Hutchison Statement: We are deeply disappointed by the Commissions Decision to prohibit the merger between Three UK and O2 UK. We will study the Commissions Decision in detail and will be considering our options, including the possibility of a legal challenge. We strongly believe that the merger would have brought major benefits to the UK, not only by unlocking 10 billion of private sector investment in the UKs digital infrastructure but also by addressing the countrys coverage issues, enhancing network capacity, speeds and price competition for consumers and businesses across the country and dealing with the competition issues arising from the current significant imbalance in spectrum ownership between the UKs MNOs. CKHH will now focus on working with the Commission towards clearance of our proposed merger with Wind and 3 Italia and continue to pursue strategies to bring value to CK Hutchison Group. Elsewhere Internet Telephony Services Providers Association (ITSPA) has also chimed in. Eli Katz, the Chair of ITSPA, stated: TSPA is pleased that the European Commission has blocked the O2/Three deal. We believe that, if the deal had gone ahead, it would have resulted in price rises, negatively impacting the consumers in the UK. ITSPA feels that a competitive landscape in the UK telecommunications market is vital to provide the best outcomes for consumers and businesses. A reduction from four to three mobile network operators would have threatened this. Were also pleased that one of ITSPAs key concerns with the proposed merger was highlighted by the Commission as one of its top three reasons to block the deal. The Commission was right to state that merger would have resulted in fewer MNOs willing to host virtual operators, consequently the damage to the MVNO market would have hindered innovation and competition, resulting in negative outcomes for UK consumers. We are delighted that our concerns were taken into account and we hope that the UK mobile market can now become as competitive and innovative as it currently is for fixed telephony. Mind you, not everybody agrees with the ITSPA and NTT DATA UK adopts a different perspective. Alastair Masson, Client Partner at NTT DATA UK, said: Europes competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said she had strong concerns about the takeover reducing choice and raising prices. However, there are far bigger issues at play than simply preventing a reduction in consumer and business customer choice. Following the approval of BTs takeover of EE, and confirmation of its continued ownership of the Openreach infrastructure business, BT has disproportionate power over competitor services. Few competitors in the market can match BT for size, scope and spending power. A combined O2 and Three represented an opportunity to restore some balance to the market at a time when BTs influence has never been stronger. We, as a sector, lost that opportunity today. The EUs decision is a short-sighted one that fails to take into account the wider needs of the marketplace. Namely, a viable competitor of comparable scale, as well as the need to maintain customer choice. The sector needs a free market entity big enough to keep BT in check. Moreover, it needs a competitor capable of facing BT across several consumer and business-facing activities including mobile, fixed line and broadband. With Threes acquisition of O2 shelved pending legal appeals, there is now a significant chance a counter-bidder will emerge. Either from one of O2s existing MVNO customers looking to protect their position, or an overseas entrant that could use O2 as a platform for rapid UK and European expansion. Finally, we have the reaction from TalkTalk. Wednesday, May 11th, 2016 (5:14 pm) - Score 1,267 The Internet Telephony Services Providers Association, which is a trade body for the United Kingdoms VoIP industry, has today announced the winners of their 8th annual 2016 ITSPA Awards. This year saw Telappliant collect the gong for Best Consumer Provider. As usual the entrants for all categories had to complete a written self-assessment, which were then independently reviewed by the ITSPA Awards judges. On top of that Malden Electronics also conducted technical testing for three of the award categories: Best Consumer VoIP, Best Business ITSP (Small Enterprise) and Best Business ITSP (Medium Enterprise). Separately, The ITSPA Members Pick was selected from a shortlist of suggestions by the membership, who they believed had provided real value or support to the industry. This was voted on at event today by the membership. The ITSPA Champion Award was chosen by the ITSPA Council for specific work of merit. Eli Katz, ITSPA Chairman, said: Congratulations to all the winners and to those companies who were highly commended at this years Awards. The success of this years ceremony reflects another successful twelve months for ITSPA and our members. The recent launch of our revamped Quality Mark was a particular highlight and we encourage service provider members to apply! The coming months promise to be just as busy with the Investigatory Powers Bill progressing through Parliament and the aftermath of the European Commissions decision to block the proposed O2/Three merger. Furthermore, our work on key areas such as nuisance calls, porting and fraud will continue. We will monitor these developments closely and ensure that our voice is heard in areas of importance to the industry. We encourage all companies involved in next generation communications to join ITSPA and enjoy the benefits of being part of the industry association. Wednesday, May 11th, 2016 (8:00 am) - Score 1,042 The CEO of Liberty Global, which owns cable operator Virgin Media in the United Kingdom, has joined French telecoms firm Illiad SA (here) by indicating that they too would have an interest in O2 (Telefonica UK) if the operator suddenly came up for sale again. The UKs largest cable operator would no doubt benefit from having a mobile network business of its own and indeed they could leverage their existing fixed line network in order to support it with more cost effective capacity, efficiency savings or new consumer products; much like BTs recent and unimpeded mega merger with EE should deliver. Last year also saw the owners of Virgin Media and Vodafone engage in tentative talks that could have resulted in a deal to take on BT, but unfortunately those discussions were not able to deliver a satisfactory solution for either side (here). However both sides are understood to have kept the door open to more discussions in the future, should such a desire arise. In the meantime the CEO of Liberty Global, Mike Fries, told an investor call yesterday (reuters) that they would look at all options in the marketplace and it would be strange if we didnt evaluate that [O2 bid] option, but Fries also added that he was happy with their current plan. Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global, said: It would be strange if we didnt evaluate that option, but I cant give you any colour on that. We like our current plan and while I like optionality, I am not particularly fond of options that preclude optionality. So we are going to be thoughtful not just about the economics of a transaction, but also looking three, four, five years down the road what is the right plan for us?. Thats what we are doing in every market for mobile. The issue has taken centre stage because the European Commission is this week expected to either reject Three UKs (CK Hutchison Holdings) proposed 10.25bn merger with rival mobile operator O2 (Telefonica UK) or make it so difficult to achieve that the deal simply couldnt survive. Hutchison have pledged to take legal action, but O2 may not wait to see the outcome. Neither the UK nor EU regulators are happy with the merger, which they say will result in higher prices, create problems with existing network sharing deals and hurt competition by reducing the number of primary operators in the market from four to three. On the other hand such a merger could improve network coverage for existing customers and produce a larger operator that would be better able to compete against BTs growing dominance, which is an aspect that often fails to be given proper consideration by Ofcom. At present Virgin Mobile uses EEs MVNO network (contract lasts until 2018) and they had hoped, much like Sky (Sky Broadband), to do a deal with the merged business of O2 and Three UK (here), but if the reports are true then those plans will shortly face a significant setback. Separately Sky also has an existing MVNO deal with O2 and they still expect to launch a mobile service before the end of 2016. Tom Mockridge, Virgin Media CEO, said (Feb 2016): The European Commission has previously cleared mobile mergers which resulted in a reduction in the number of mobile operators from four to three, subject to wholesale remedies. In two of these cases, Austria and Ireland, Virgin Medias parent company Liberty Global provides vigorous competition and consumer choice as a result of taking EU remedies. The same can be true in the UK. A combined O2-Three could have more to offer consumers and, crucially, more capacity for other providers who want to drive competition in their own right. With the right remedies, this deal could stimulate not curb competition. Its easy to forget that O2 UK once had a fixed line business of its own that stemmed from the purchase of BE Unlimiteds unbundled network, which did rather well for a few years before they started fiddling with the products too aggressively and turned happy customers into unhappy ones. The business was eventually sold to Sky. Its a funny old world. Top 5 Places Your Enterprise Data Is at Risk Since so much security news is bad or negative, I thought Id go for a change of pace and write about something a little more positive today. According to new research from SolarWinds, were seeing serious improvement in organizational approaches to security preparedness and effectiveness. In North America, 50 percent of companies are more secure than they were a year ago. Numbers are slightly lower in the United Kingdom, with 40 percent of companies reporting better security over the past year. It appears that organizations are finally stepping up to improve their security posture. And it is paying off. The SolarWinds study found that 55 percent of companies didnt experience a data breach last year, and IT professionals believe that they are less vulnerable than they were a year ago. Now, just because they werent breached doesnt mean there were no attempts. So what are these companies doing to keep attempts from becoming full-blown attacks? They are improving their security posture with some very basic adjustments: implementing better patch management, utilizing data logs, using encryption, and improving cybersecurity education and training for employees. At the same time, were also beginning to see how big tech companies are stepping up to assist other organizations, in particular SMBs, with security efforts. For example, Engadget reported that Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Comcast and LinkedIn are working together to provide encrypted email services. The new system: checks if the domain youre sending to supports SMTP STS and makes sure its encryption certificate is authentic and up to date. If everything checks out, it allows your message to go through. But if it detects something suspicious, it will stop the email from sending and will notify you of the reason. Its pretty amazing how well these very easy-to-deploy adjustments work, isnt it? It makes you wonder why so many businesses continue to drag their feet when it comes to implementing even minor security improvements. In a formal statement, Mav Turner, director, business strategy, SolarWinds, also noted how these simple adjustments can make a big difference, but he had a warning about not getting too complacent: The most surprising finding of the survey is just how many organizations are less vulnerable today than they were a year ago, and, on a related note, how many have implemented security technologies and better security training. While this is a sign the industry is trending in the right direction, its important for IT professionals to never get too confident in their organizations security posture, which could potentially result in overestimating ones defenses. Sue Marquette Poremba has been writing about network security since 2008. In addition to her coverage of security issues for IT Business Edge, her security articles have been published at various sites such as Forbes, Midsize Insider and Toms Guide. You can reach Sue via Twitter: @sueporemba. The 5 Essential Traits of Digital Innovators Last week, I wrote a post about David Rogers, and the notion that digital transformation, rather than being all about technology, is really about strategy and the need for changes in the way organizations think. What Rogers also made clear in a recent interview is that its about effective leadership, as well. Rogers, faculty director of programs on digital marketing and digital business strategy at Columbia Business School, and author of the new book, The Digital Transformation Playbook, went as far as to say that the one thing companies most frequently get wrong when undertaking a digital transformation has to do with leadership: I think they commonly assume its something that can be led with a traditional IT organizational structure, or that its something that can be sequestered in one part of the organization. Ive seen this in a global company they formed a digital acceleration team by making it someones half-time job, and hiring one other person. So you have a one-and-a-half-person headcount to figure out how to transform a global company. Its sort of like putting it off in a box, which is fine for a team thats developing a new, break-out product. But when youre trying to figure out how youre going to change your organizational culture, that cant be something thats done by a few people. It has to be thought of in terms of a broader view of the organization, and it has to have a mandate from the very top it has to come from the C-suite. Another dimension of all of this is that the occupants of the C-suite are changing. I pointed out that an increasing number of companies have created a chief digital officer position to lead this transformation, and I asked Rogers how important it is for a company to have an individual in that position. He said its a good step, and a good sign: Some folks, even including people I know whose job is or has been to serve as chief digital officer, have raised the question, what does the title even mean? Is this a transitional role? Is it just the new flavor of the month? I dont think it is. As Ive looked at companies with a chief digital officer, I think it represents an important rethinking, if you look at the shift from a CIO to a CDO. The chief information officer role, traditionally, was predicated on the idea that the technology leaders job is basically to use technology to improve the operations, and to reduce the risk and cost to the business how to do things cheaper, faster, more transparently, more efficiently. The idea of a chief digital officer is, rather, to have someone who is looking at technology and asking, how is technology going to impact and define the strategy of the business going forward? How is it going to impact what business we are in, where we are going to grow, where were going to market, who our customers are going to be, how we define our value proposition? Its a very different role, so I think its important that companies are starting to rethink this. In some cases, you might have a business with both [CIO and CDO], which can make sense, as well. But I think its significant that companies are thinking about a chief digital officer. And I do think you have to have somebody, whether thats their job title or not, whos an evangelist and who has the ear of the CEO and the visible mandate and backing of the CEO. I expressed my own view that theres no way for the CIO of a company to be effective without being a de facto chief digital officer, and that having both positions in one company seems kind of redundant. I asked Rogers in what scenario it would make sense to have both, and he shared a compelling example: An industry category where you can imagine it making sense would be financial services. There is a tremendous need right now for financial services firms to be really looking at technology in terms of completely rethinking their customer acquisitions, customer relationships, the customer experiences they deliver, as well as investments they might be making in emerging technologies. So there are a lot of strategic questions arising in that industry right now. It makes perfect sense to have a chief digital officer whos really immersed in strategy, and who has a knowledge of where technology is going, to be leading that thinking. At the same time, financial services is an industry where the core value of the CIO, particularly around cybersecurity, is absolutely paramount its not becoming any less. And it might not be that your best strategic mind to be your chief digital officer is the same person who also is going to be the best leader of a team thats going to manage issues around IT security and integrity, cybersecurity, and so forth. So [the latter] person might still be the CIO, who is in charge of these mission-critical aspects of IT within the organization; and then you have a chief digital officer, whos working with a strategy team on the more innovation-oriented, customer-oriented stuff. The bottom line, Rogers said, is that it depends on the organization: My point is, if you have talented individuals who are extremely strong in each of these areas, and theyre both really important to your business, there could be an argument for having two senior-level executives, one in each. In other cases, obviously, its going to make sense for them to be the same person. A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant. It appears that the Verizon strike and the union workers' differences are not ending anytime soon. Also, it has been speculated that the union workers have crippled the tech firm and its operations along with other companies as well. It has been relayed how other small enterprises and homes have been affected by union workers on strike against Verizon. To prove the latter, according to Delaware Online, "When customers call Fortunata's Bakery in Milford, they go directly to voice mail and owner Ruth Clifton said she has to use her personal cell phone to return calls because Verizon Wireless hasn't been able to install equipment for a month." Also, Verizon landline and cable employees, including those in Delaware, on April 13 went on strike over concerns about reduced benefits and outsourced jobs. And Delaware workers representing Communication Workers of America locals 13100 and 13101 have been picketing outside Verizon retail locations on Concord Pike, Churchmans Road and Kirkwood Highway, reports the same post. Moreover, Richard Young, a Verizon spokesman stated of the struggles that Verizon has go through in order to deal with the pressing concerns. "Will I say there have been no problems?" Young said. "Absolutely not. Our employees with 20 years of experience have more experience than those who are on the job for a month. Considering what we are dealing with, we are pleased the number of complaints is as small as it is." ABC News further reported that Verizon is not the only one dealing with the hurdles because even Verizon workers have lost their benefits owing to the strike. On the other hand, it is just about a fair contract. "We're just trying to hang on to what we have, not even move forward anymore," said Phil Porter of the Communications Workers of America Local 2100.The striking workers staff Verizon's call centers and repair the company's copper landlines. The Verizon strike has led to devastating consequences. Also, with the strike, the union workers have crippled not only Verizon but other firms and enterprises as well. According to various reports, instead of the traditional blue, Google seems to experiment with black search result links. On Monday, May 9, The Telegraph noticed that the search results displayed by Google's online search engine are showing black links. Because the structure and formatting of the Google search results page is among the most user-tested in the history of the Internet, any change may come as a bit of surprise. A number of Twitter users also reported seeing Google's experiment in action. According to The Verge, behind this test might hide some very pragmatic reasons. Any change in search results' color may translate in millions in ad revenue. The majority of users are seeing 10 URLs in green and respectively 10 links listed in blue when typing a word or phrase into Google. However, some users are now seeing link names in black. It is still unclear if Google makes this experiment with the purpose to determine whether users click more on black-colored search results than on blue ones. This is not the first time when Google would test its search result page. Previously, the company has already tested in real time various colors of its search results page with hundreds of millions of web users. For instance, the current navigation tab was highlighted with a small red line until last year, but now it is blue. Back in the year 2009, Google tested 41 different shades of blue for search result links and Gmail ads. Following the experiment, the company was able to gain an extra $200 million a year in ad revenue. Google did not comment much on the current test. A Google spokesperson said only that the company is always running numerous small-scale experiments with the results page's design. He added that it is still not sure if the black color will become a standard for the search results, since the company is still tracking and analyzing the click-through rates. Microsoft has confirmed that it will shut down its MSN portal site in China on June 8. However, the Redmond tech titan did not offer any reason for closing down the portal. Although Microsoft will close down MSN portal on June 7, it will continue to be "deeply committed" to China, Fortune quoted a statement issued by a company spokesperson. Currently, Microsoft markets Windows 10, Azure cloud services in partnership with local firm 21Vianet in China, besides hosting the company's largest R&D center outside of the United States. Toward the end of 2015, Microsoft had announced that it was in the process of developing a version of Windows 10 especially for government sector workers. The move came 2 years after Chinese regulators launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Windows' market dominance. In fact, they also banned government purchases of computers running the Windows 10. On Monday, Microsoft posted an announcement on its MSN China website saying it will shut down the portal on June 7. Aside from delivering Web search services, the MSN portal also offers news and lifestyle information. Following June 7, visitors to cn.msn.com will find a directory page of Chinese websites together with a Bing search bar, the Wall Street Journal reported. In September, Microsoft entered into an agreement with the Chinese search giant Baidu Inc. to make Baidu.com the default search engine as well as home page of Microsoft's Edge browser in China. The agreement was aimed at boosting the use of Windows 10 in China, where people widely use pirated versions of the operating system. As a part of the deal, Baidu agreed to make it easier for its customers to update to Windows 10. In addition, the agreement also helped the Redmond tech titan to divert from managing display advertising, which forms the core of MSN. In June last year, Microsoft also entered into a deal with AOL of Verizon Communications Inc. to enable Verizon to acquire the company's display advertising business. The recent move by Microsoft indicates that despite being a huge market for American tech giants, China is gradually turning into a difficult place for them to do business. Six years ago, Google also decided to close its search service in the country, mentioning censorship problems. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is hosting a press conference event at the end of May to unveil its flagship Polaris 10 and Polaris 11 graphics cards. According to the website wccftech.com, AMD's announcement aims to fire back at its rival Nvidia that will launch their own FinFET based GPUs. Nvidia claims that its next-generation GPUs will come with a range of architectural upgrades and will deliver up to two times the performance per Watt improvement, providing the most competitive solutions to gamers. AMD has revealed for the first time its Polaris GPU architecture in late 2015. Polaris is based on the latest GCN 4.0 design and is meant to provide up to two times more performance per Watt than Radeon cards. AMD will produce two Polaris GPU variants, the higher-end Polaris 10 and the lower end Polaris 11. Polaris 10 is built for high-end mobility platforms and mainstream desktops, while Polaris 11 is built for the entry level desktop cards and laptops. The AMD Polaris GPUs are based on the cutting-edge 14nm FinFET technology. Previously, the company announced that the flagship Polaris GPUs will come on the market in mid of 2016. However, now AMD has stated that it will unveil their latest cards at the end of this month, during a special press conference. According to Zolkorn, AMD's press conference will be held in Macau, "the Las Vegas of Asia." Several editors from around the globe will be invited to cover the event. It is speculated that the reason to be holding a press conference in Macau could be due to Computex being held soon in Taipei. It seems that AMD have been unable to schedule the event there. Regardless of the real reason why AMD had chosen Macau, the press event will take place between May 26 and May 29. The company will announce then their next-generation Polaris graphics cards and products based on both Polaris 10 and Polaris 11 chips. AMD has scheduled to host this event just a few days after the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 will be available to public, which is of no surprise. ArsTechnica reported that, according to AMD Corporate Vice President of Alliances, Content and VR Roy Taylor, the flagship Polaris graphics cards will be targeting users who want to create their own VR-ready machines, as well as mainstream users. Microsoft hit another milestone during the first quarter of 2016 earning $1 trillion in revenue, something its rival Apple achieved in the last quarter of 2015. However, Microsoft's party does not end with that, as the Redmond tech titan currently boasts additional profits. In terms of profits, Microsoft has emerged slightly ahead of Apple. Though the two companies are the only members of the $1 trillion dollar club, Microsoft has eventually taken over in terms of profits. While Apple earned a cumulative profit worth $261.6 billion, it was slightly more for Microsoft at $265.2 billion, Business Insider reported. Considering the fact that Microsoft has not been in the hardware business for long, it is not very surprising, CNet quoted the spreadsheet posted by Jeff Reifman, a former employee of Microsoft. On the other hand, Windows continues to be the most popular operating system worldwide, while the Redmond tech giant provides some incredibly productive services - both earning large profit margins for the company. However, in recent years, Microsoft has experienced more hiccups compared to Apple. Particularly the company's $7.2 billion acquisition of Nokia proved to be a major failure. On the other hand, Apple enjoyed some of its most flourishing quarters ever, but witnessed a significant drop in earnings during the first quarter of 2016. On the other hand, Amazon and Google, which are younger than Microsoft and Apple, are yet to hit the $1 trillion revenue mark. However, they are already about half-way there. For instance, Amazon's revenue earnings at $545 billion was an all time best for the company, but the online retail giant only managed a meager $3.31 billion in profit. As far as Google is concerned, Reifman's research showed that the Mountain View tech giant has earned $417.3 billion so far, which is all-time best revenue for the company. Google's profits stood at $96.3 billion, cumulatively. Ever wondered how those magnificient movie scenes are rendered? Thinkbox Software is behind many of the 'ohs and ahs' - and its just decided to go to the cloud witgh Flexera. Thinkbox Software in collaboration with Flexera Software and Microsoft Azure will enable it to add on-demand, usage-based licensing 24/7 in the cloud for its Deadline version 8 software. Thinkbox provides creative tools and pipeline technology for both small and large scale projects including some of the worlds largest feature films - Transformers: Dark of the Moon; Thor; Green Lantern; Harry Potter; Avatar; Tron; GI-Joe the Rise of Cobra; and hundreds of other films, music videos, and commercials have utilized its software in front of, and behind the screen. Its technology is also being used in the CAD/CAM, Engineering and non-clinical Medical visualization industries around the world to create, visualize and modify datasets as large as city streets and as small as microscopic cells. Flexera, a leading provider of next-generation software licensing, compliance, security and installation solutions for application producers and enterprises says this collaboration will allow Thinkbox customers to pay-per-use access for its products including Deadline, Krakatoa and Sequoia as well as select third-party applications via the Thinkboxs e-commerce portal, with minutes consumed only while the Slave application is rendering. It also reinforces the value which Licensing-as-a-Service (LaaS) affords independent software vendors doing business with Microsoft Azure. Thinkboxs Deadline is the foundation on which an organisations hardware and software tools work together. Compatible across Windows, Linux and Mac OSX render farms, the latest version of Deadline adds usage-based licensing on top of its perpetual license model for cloud-based and on-premise resources resulting in dramatically new and more flexible ways to work, enabling more simulations and faster iteration. By working with Flexera Software and Microsoft, Deadline render farms can be built entirely or expanded in Azure, permitting Thinkbox customers to add extra machines when demand increases -- lowering overhead and saving money. Usage-based licensing is a game changer, said Chris Bond, CEO and Founder at Thinkbox Software. The freedom to spin up cloud-based instances has been hugely beneficial for our customers and providing per-minute access to integral workflow tools takes that flexibility a step further, providing a streamlined avenue for scaling up on-premise or cloud-based render farms during peak activity periods. Today, many enterprises require flexible, hosted offerings but are concerned that deploying their applications to the Cloud will violate their software agreements or result in software audit true-up penalties due to unanticipated overuse. The Azure and FlexNet Licensing-as-a-Service collaboration enables Thinkbox customers to deploy their applications to Azure and be assured they will remain in compliance with software agreements, while at the same time giving them flexibility and scalability in how they monetise and protect their applications. Microsoft Azure Marketplace is an online applications and services marketplace that allows application producers to offer their solutions to Azure customers around the world. Through collaboration with Microsoft, Flexera Softwares Software Monetization solution, including FlexNet Licensing and FlexNet Operations, empowers application producers with a swift on-ramp to Azure to maximise revenue with Cloud-centric licensing models and seamless bursting. Flexera Softwares presence in Azure Marketplace makes it easy for application producers or in-house application developers to rapidly and cost-effectively transition their software solutions to Azure, while ensuring their intellectual property is being protected. Moreover, application producers can use Flexera Softwares usage management capabilities to gain insights into how their products are being used and optimise subscription-based revenue-generation. We are delighted that Thinkbox chose to work with Flexera Software and implement our Software Monetisation solution to automate and manage licenses across all its commercial products, said Mathieu Baissac, Vice President of Product Management at Flexera Software. We are also excited to have been chosen as the back-office infrastructure for their Thinkbox Store, and are gratified to drive the flexible licensing and business models Thinkbox wants to deliver to their customers. Microsoft is pleased to collaborate with Flexera Software and Thinkbox to ensure Thinkboxs customers have the resources they need to get the most out of Deadline, said Nicole Herskowitz, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Corp. We look forward to making complex environments easy for our mutual customers, and are eager to showcase our collaboration. After a year-long training on the language of security, IBMs cognitive technology is ready to go to work. To further scale the system, IBM plans to collaborate with eight universities to greatly expand the collection of security data. Watson is ready to tackle cybercrime after learning the nuances of security research findings and discovering patterns and evidence of hidden cyberattacks that could otherwise be missed. This move is part of a pioneering cognitive security project to address the looming cybersecurity skills gap. IBM efforts are designed to improve security analysts capabilities using cognitive systems that automate the connections between data, emerging threats and remediation strategies. IBM intends to begin beta production deployments that take advantage of IBM Watson for Cyber Security later this year. IBMs X-Force research library are a central part of the materials fed to Watson for Cyber Security. This body of knowledge includes 20 years of security research, details on 8 million spam and phishing attacks and over 100,000 documented vulnerabilities. The volume of security data presented to analysts is staggering. The average organization sees over 200,000 pieces of security event data per day with enterprises spending $1.3 million a year dealing with false positives alone, wasting nearly 21,000 hours. Couple this with 75,000-plus known software vulnerabilities reported in the National Vulnerability Database, 10,000 security research papers published each year and over 60,000 security blogs published each month and security analysts are severely challenged to move with informed speed. Designed on the IBM Cloud, Watson for Cyber Security will be the first technology to offer cognition of security data at scale using Watson's ability to reason and learn from "unstructured data" 80% of all data on the internet that traditional security tools cannot process, including blogs, articles, videos, reports, alerts, and other information. IBM analysis found that the average organization leverages only 8% of this unstructured data. Watson for Cyber Security also uses natural language processing to understand the vague and imprecise nature of human language in unstructured data. Watson for Cyber Security is designed to provide insights into emerging threats, as well as recommendations on how to stop them, increasing the speed and capabilities of security professionals. IBM will also incorporate other Watson capabilities including the systems data mining techniques for outlier detection, graphical presentation tools, and techniques for finding connections between related data points in different documents. For example, Watson can find data on an emerging form of malware in an online security bulletin and data from a security analyst's blog on an emerging remediation strategy. Even if the industry were able to fill the estimated 1.5 million open cyber security jobs by 2020, wed still have a skills crisis in security, said Marc van Zadelhoff, General Manager, IBM Security. The volume and velocity of data in security is one of our greatest challenges in dealing with cybercrime. By leveraging Watsons ability to bring context to staggering amounts of unstructured data, impossible for people alone to process, we will bring new insights, recommendations, and knowledge to security professionals, bringing greater speed and precision to the most advanced cybersecurity analysts, and providing novice analysts with on-the-job training." Universities to Help Train IBM Watson for Cyber Security IBM will collaborate with eight universities that have some of the world's best cybersecurity programs to train Watson further and introduce their students to cognitive computing. The universities include California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Pennsylvania State University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; New York University; UMBC; the University of New Brunswick; the University of Ottawa and the University of Waterloo. Students will help train Watson on the language of cybersecurity, initially working to help build Watson's corpus of knowledge by annotating and feeding the system security reports and data. As students work closely with IBM Security experts to learn the nuances of these security intelligence reports, theyll also be amongst the first in the world to gain hands-on experience in this emerging field of cognitive security. This work will build on IBM's work in developing and training Watson for Cyber Security. IBM currently plans to process up to 15,000 security documents per month over the next phase of the training with the university partners, clients and IBM experts collaborating. These documents will include threat intelligence reports, cybercrime strategies, and threat databases. Training Watson will also help build the taxonomy for Watson in cybersecurity including the understanding of hashes, infection methods, and indicators of compromise and help identify advanced persistent threats. In another effort to further scientific advancements in cognitive security, UMBC today also announced a multi-year collaboration with IBM Research to create an Accelerated Cognitive Cybersecurity Laboratory (ACCL) in the College of Engineering and Information Technology. Faculty and students working in the ACCL will apply cognitive computing to complex cybersecurity challenges to build upon their own prior research. They will also collaborate with IBM scientists and leverage IBM's advanced computing systems to add speed and scale to new cybersecurity solutions. "This collaboration will allow our students and faculty to work with IBM to advance the state-of-the-art in cognitive computing and cybersecurity," said Anupam Joshi, director of UMBCs Center for Cybersecurity and chair of computer science and electrical engineering, at UMBC, who will lead the ACCL at UMBC. The chairman of Alphabet the parent company of Google Eric Schmidt, is well-known for his pithy sayings , among them this gem: "Google policy is to get right up to the creepy line but not cross it." He was asked about these very words when he took the stand at the trial between Oracle and Google in California, the second such trial, and one in which Oracle is trying to win damages from the search engine behemoth for its use of Java APIs in the Android mobile operating system. Schmidt was asked by Oracle's lawyer, Peter Bicks, about this statement, during his hour-long time on the stand on the second day of the trial on Tuesday. However, the presiding judge, Justice William Alsup, interrupted proceedings at this point to wind up things as it was 1pm, the scheduled end for the day's hearing. Oracle is seeking damages for Google's use of 37 Java APIs in Android, a total of something like 11,000 lines of code. The two companies went to court in 2010 and two years later Google emerged the winner, with Justice Alsup being the presiding judge. But on appeal, Oracle got the ruling that APIs were not copyrightable reversed. Google was unable to get this reversed in the Supreme Court, which sent the case back to Justice Alsup to determine what, if any, damages were claimable. Schmidtwhile the Java language was being developed. He joined Google in 2001. Earlier, in his testimony, Schmidt evaded a direct answer when asked whether Google did not treat its own APIs as proprietary, claiming that Google had millions of APIs and asking for a specific example. "I'm not aware of one that we treat as proprietary in the way you're asking your question," was his reply. Bicks then produced a copy of the terms of service for AdWords Google's online advertising service pointing out to Schmidt that it was specifically mentioned that the APIs were proprietary and could not be used for commercial purposes. The Oracle lawyer said that Google was wallowing in money, telling Schmidt that Google was making all these deals only because it was making a profit. He also produced a transcript of Schmidt telling those attending a public earnings call that Android users made twice as many searches using Google. Questioned by Google's own lawyer, Robert Van Nest, Schmidt claimed that when it decided to use Java APIs, Google did not believe that a licence was needed to use them. He said that everything Google had done was above board, and referred to his good relationship with Sun chief Jonathan Schwartz. Sun was purchased by Oracle in 2009. The trial is expected to last four weeks. Software technology group 8common Limited has announced it has kicked off the second stage roll-out of Expense8 on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis to support the New South Wales Department of Education (DoE) Purchasing Card Solution. The second-stage delivery will focus on onboarding card holders, driving usage and ensuring an orderly and timely roll-out. The first-stage delivery of the expense management solution went live in March, offering automated processes and excellent user functionality to DoE card holders. Expense8 is on track to supply the expense management solution for around 5,000 card holders by the end of this year with further expansion expected in 2017 at the DoE corporate offices and across NSW public schools. The contract with DoE was won by Expense8 following a public tender process and is for an initial three years with provision for a two-year extension. Since the go-live in March, we have reduced the complexity and time required to manage card acquittal processes and card holder information and spend data that was previously managed manually. The solution is straightforward to use and navigate, which will make the onboarding of card holders much easier, said Barbara Soiland, Director, Shared Services Business Services, DoE. Besides DoE, Expense8 is working with many other government clients including the Federal Treasury, NSW Police Force, Australian Electoral Commission, Northern Territory Government, and Transport for NSW. Its solid expertise and deep experience in this sector place Expense8 in a good position to service one of its largest government clients to date. We are pleased with how the first-stage implementation went and its a great start to our partnership. We will continue to make sure that all hands are on deck as we prepare and work through the second stage go-live, said Nick Gonios, CEO, 8common. The NSW DoE is one of the largest single organisations, public or private, in Australia. The DoE delivers high quality, internationally competitive public education with a recurrent budget of $12.8 billion. Expense8 is an integrated software solution that streamlines the accounting, reporting, tax compliance and governance of employee generated expenses and corporate travel bookings. Tailored for each client, Expense8 provides organisations with all the tools needed for employees to plan and book business trips and reconcile travel and corporate expenses. While notebook sales are declining and hybrid tablets on the ascent, it is still a hotly competitive market. It is usually a battle between HP and Lenovo for the top spot - in Q1, 2016 it was the latters turn. Worldwide notebook (clamshell types excludes x86 hybrid tablets) shipments in Q1, 2016 were 35.62 million units, according to the global market research firm TrendForce. This represents a 19% fall from Q4, 2015 and an average 7.3% decline over the past four quarters. Q1 January to March traditionally represents a quieter period for sales and includes the Chinese New Year period where new model launches are delayed until after that. TrendForce has become a research force to be reckoned with. Its predictions have increasingly been spot on as it uses data from supply chain component suppliers as well as manufacturers outputs and correlates these it simply does not take brands figures as many other research companies appear to do. Still it can only report on notebook shipments not actual end user sales. Its notebook analyst Anita Wang said the first-quarter notebook market was affected by noises and speculations. For example, rumours of Microsoft planning to raise the operating system license fees had a serious impact on the outlook of branded Wintel notebook vendors. Additionally, components prices of hard disk and other items rose (some due to earthquakes and shortages), affecting manufacturing costs. As a result, notebook brands were more conservative in their demand forecasts for the year. Based on TrendForces latest analysis, this calendar years notebook shipment will see a decline of between 4 and 5%. Lenovo took top spot but there was one other huge winner and one huge loser. Samsung seriously re-entered the notebook market in Q4, 2015 and had a 43% increase. Apple lost 40.4% due to a lack of new MacBook models and price sensitivity. Read on for an explanation of the vendors postions. Lenovo pipped HP with 22.2% market share. It was its final fiscal quarter, and there could well have been some channel stuffing to get figures up but in general, it seems to be making more of what people want at prices they can afford. Trendforce says it suffered a 10% decline in notebook shipments for the year. Lenovo may have difficulty keeping up shipments and continuing to lead the vendor ranking in the second quarter as retail channels are still carrying sizable inventories. HP and its resellers priority was to clear as much existing notebook inventory as possible so that they would be ready to stock up the raft of new products released later that quarter. HPs shipments fell 21.2% quarterly reflecting a run-out mode. Dell benefits from having a stable base of enterprise clients. The brand had a quarterly shipment decline of just 15%. ASUS had a quarterly shipment decline of 28.9%. ASUS used Q1 to introduce more profitable products into its notebook portfolio, such higher screen resolutions, more RAM, storage and 6th generation processors. ASUS has been focusing on increasing margins over volume. Acers notebook shipments fell 24.7%. Weak sales in the U.S. and Europe and ongoing inventory reduction efforts in the channels were the main factors. Apple suffered a 40.4% quarterly decline in MacBook shipments. It did not have any new MacBook products ready for the market, nor did it lower MacBook prices to generate sales. Apples Wintel-based competitors, on the other hand, benefitted from increased Windows 10 adoption and the steady supply of Intels Skylake CPUs. Troubled Toshiba has been suffering from organisational, leadership and financial issues and did not release new models in Q1 preferring to clear factory inventory. Its efforts to unload its PC division via partnership with Fujitsu and Vaio fell through in April. In future it will concentrate on enterprise, not consumer, sales. Samsung returned to the notebook market at the end of 2015, initially in the US and has been stepping up its shipments into various channels since then. Samsung grew its notebook shipments by 43% over the previous period albeit from a low base to start. It will be the brand to watch this year. According to the engineers they are forced to take protected industrial action because their employer, Essential Energy, is set to make up to 800 forced redundancies after making an application to terminate the current enterprise agreement. Margaret Buchanan, Professionals Australia Senior Industrial Officer says many of the engineers taking strike action have never contemplated striking before in their careers. Employees have lost confidence in the company which looks set to terminate 800 jobs then re-engage contracted sole traders. This amounts to back-door privitisation - employees have had enough, Buchanan claimed. This is the first time the NSW State Government has allowed any NSW State Employer to attempt to terminate an enterprise agreement, said Margaret Buchanan, Professionals Australia Senior Industrial Officer. This work stoppage is being taken as a last resort. Professionals at Essential Energy voted to take protected action after it applied to terminate the current enterprise agreement and slash 800 jobs across the state. This will compromise safety for both staff and consumers.Essential Energy is a regional employer with 3000 employees across NSW, and Buchanan says its threat to cull these jobs means families in communities from Albury up to Tweed Heads face redundancies.The striking engineers and technical professionals will run a professional development seminar during the stoppage and connect via webinar across the State to participate in a training program.Buchanan claims Essential Energy is already running its operations without adequate engineering capacity and the company has the smallest number of engineers at any of the NSW distributor, yet it is the largest distributor company in the Southern hemisphere.Buchanan says Professionals Australia has negotiated in good faith for almost 2 years with Essential Energy and is astounded at Essential Energys disregard for their own employees, local families and regional communities.Consumers will be the losers if Essential Energy axes 800 jobs. The safety and reliability of New South Wales energy supply is under threat. Industrial giant Hitachi has formed the Hitachi Insight Group to address the Internet of Things. Hitachi understandably sees IoT as a growth market, and one in which the company's diverse interests can be exploited. It achieved US$5.4 billion in IoT solutions and services revenue generated in 2015, and claims to have one of the broadest IoT solutions portfolios. The formation of Hitachi Insight Group is aimed at increasing Hitachi's share of this market. The company already offers solutions and services for public safety and smart cities, renewable and sustainable energy, intelligent transportation, precision agriculture and manufacturing, water treatment and urban development, construction, mining and more. Hitachi Insight Group will address four key market segments: smart city, smart energy, smart healthcare and smart industry. The group is led by Keiji Kojima, who is also senior vice president and executive officer at Hitachi Ltd. "Through the formation of Hitachi Insight Group and the Lumada IoT core platform we will provide Hitachi's customers and partners with the fastest and simplest path to develop and deploy comprehensive digital solutions at scale," said Kojima. "It is a profound honour to lead this elite team in accelerating Hitachi's global IoT business through the creation of digital solutions and services." Other members of the leadership team include Kevin Eggleston, general manager for the Americas, and Patrik Sjostedt, general manager for EMEA. The group will receive strategic direction and support from Ichiro Iino, chief executive for Asia-Pacific and other regional leaders. Hitachi said it plans to establish regional operations for Hitachi Insight Group in APAC later this year. To enhance its existing portfolio and support the development of new solutions and services, the company has created Lumada, an open and adaptable platform for IoT projects. Hitachi Insight Group is collaborating with a number of companies including SAP, AT&T, Intel and Microsoft. "We are pleased to be creating IoT-optimised solutions with Hitachi that will help to transform organisations across industries," said SAP executive vice president for line of business digital asset and IoT Tanja Rueckert. "With SAP's unmatched ability to deliver end-to-end solutions that allow companies to interconnect all aspects of the value chain in real time and Hitachi's powerful technologies, and both companies deep industry and market expertise, we will create even more value for our customers, making digital transformation and connected intelligence a reality." Huaweis global investment in ICT education has helped more than 100,000 students from 54 countries since the programs inception in 2008. Huawei Technologies Australia, in partnership with the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN*), has today announced it will host 12 undergraduate students in China as part of its annual Seeds for the Future initiative. First launched in 2008, Seeds for the Future has, to-date, welcomed over 10,000 students from 150 universities across 54 countries. Embarking on a two-week, hands-on learning experience, students are given the opportunity to work closely with researchers in Huaweis industry-leading research laboratories. Establishing a deeper understanding of the latest in digital innovation, products, and solutions; the program is designed to nurture young Australian talent within the Information and Computer Technology (ICT) sector. Delivering a practical course structure is not possible in the traditional university environment, said Jeremy Mitchell, Director of Corporate & Public Affairs Huawei Australia. Seeds for the Future introduces students to Huaweis state-of-the-art technology and processes and aims to bridge the gap between industry and academia. Enhancing students ability to adapt to the ever-changing ICT industry, Seeds for the Future not only fosters young Australian talent, it ultimately delivers a positive influence on the global ICT industry, said Mitchel. Executive Director of the ATN, Renee Hindmarsh said, We are thrilled to be able to partner with Huawei through the Seeds for the Future program for the second year. The partnership inspires the best and brightest minds in the ICT field and offers a unique opportunity to gain industry-focused, practical experience in one of the worlds biggest companies. The successful students will have the opportunity to experience life on the 60,000 staffed Huawei campus and visit the technology giants Exhibition Centre, Logistics Centre, and R&D labs. The group will also have the opportunity to interact with local students and learn more about Chinese culture and language to gain cross-cultural work experience in a global business environment. Troy Burgess, a Curtin University student who participated in the 2015 Seeds for the Future program, said, Huaweis Seeds for the Future initiative connects enthusiastic students from around the globe, bringing them all together for this fantastic experience. As a result of my participation in the Huaweis Seeds for the Future program, I now have an excellent understanding of the ICT industry and a strong sense of direction of where I want my career to lead me. Highlighting its significant CSR commitment, Huawei has also partnered with the Clontarf Foundation to engage young Indigenous students within the Australian technology industry. The partnership aims to encourage Indigenous students across Australia to enrol in Seeds for the Future; simultaneously educating them about the abundance of opportunities available within the ICT sector. * About the Australian Technology Network of Universities The ATN brings together five of the most innovative and enterprising universities in the nation: Curtin University, University of South Australia (UniSA), RMIT University, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The ATN is committed to forging partnerships with industry and government to deliver practical results through focused research. It educates graduates who are ready to enter their chosen profession, dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and eager to claim a stake in building sustainable societies of the future. ATN universities teach 20% of Australias student population and 22% of Australias international students. The ATNs aim is to help secure Australias reputation as the clever country, and contribute to its social and economic wealth while championing the principles of access and equity that have ensured its members are the universities of the first choice for more students. For more information, please visit www.atn.edu.au Risk reduction and business continuity were the key business drivers in our IT Redundancy and Future Proofing project, and DataCore has been critical to achieving this, explained James Kruss, IT Manager of AKD Softwoods. AKD Softwoods is a vertically integrated forest products company based in Colac, a regional town in the Australian state of Victoria. The business manages 8,000 hectares of pine plantations across Victoria and South Australia. It is the largest sawmilling company in Victoria, with state of the art timber processing facilities, export operations, a large transport fleet, and approximately 330 employees. To reduce business risks and enhance business continuity for their 24 x 7 operations, AKD Softwoods decided to implement additional fault resilience capabilities into their IT infrastructure. It was decided that any new technologies selected should also help improve the flexibility of their infrastructure and reduce the overheads of ongoing IT operations. Our IT team needs to be largely self-sufficient, because we are located a distance from the closest major city, Mr. Kruss added. If a device fails, we could potentially wait 24 hours or more for a replacement part or an external engineer to arrive, and we cannot rely on Internet connectivity for critical applications. As a result, Mr Kruss decided to re-architect their IT systems using server and storage virtualisation technologies to eliminate single points of failure and provide high availability with automated failover. After examining multiple options for future-proofing their IT systems and improving business continuity, AKD Softwoods selected DataCores flagship software-defined storage solution. The solution implementation was carried out by the in-house IT team at AKD Softwoods and encompassed the migration of multiple discrete servers to 13 Hyper-V virtualised servers running on a DataCore SANsymphony virtualised storage infrastructure. Server platforms with on-board storage were retired during the migration, and these were replaced by new commodity hardware platforms with enterprise grade Intel SSD storage, with all storage managed by DataCore SANsymphony. Business critical databases, financial management, inventory management systems and custom applications were migrated to the new DataCore software-defined storage infrastructure. Mr Kruss continued, We could now potentially lose an entire server room full of equipment without any of our application users losing data or noticing a disruption. We have had zero storage-related downtime since we went live with DataCore. With the combination of DataCore and Hyper-V, we now have a fully redundant architecture. This has also opened the possibility of scheduled maintenance during business hours. If we need to reboot a physical server for any reason, there is now no impact to our end users. SANsymphony flawlessly handles our critically important storage continuity tasks without us needing to lift a finger. AKD Softwoods has also seen a tripling of disk I/O performance, which has dramatically improved application and database performance. These improvements have been achieved through the use of enterprise grade SSDs for storage as well as DataCores inbuilt performance optimisation technologies, which include sophisticated data caching. For more information on AKD Softwoods implementation of DataCore Software, please refer to the case study. About DataCore Software DataCore, the Data Infrastructure Software company, is the leading provider of Software-Defined Storage and Adaptive Parallel I/O Software harnessing todays powerful and cost-efficient server platforms with Parallel I/O to overcome the IT industrys biggest problem, the I/O bottleneck, in order to deliver unsurpassed performance, hyper-consolidation efficiencies and cost savings. The companys comprehensive and flexible storage virtualisation and hyper-converged virtual SAN solutions free users from the pain of labor-intensive storage management and provide true independence from solutions that cannot offer a hardware agnostic architecture. DataCore\'s Software-Defined and Parallel I/O powered platforms revolutionise data infrastructure and serve as the cornerstone of the next-generation, software-defined data center delivering greater value, industry-best performance, availability and simplicity. Visit https://www.datacore.com or call +61 3 8459 2107 for more information. ### DataCore, the DataCore logo and SANsymphony are trademarks or registered trademarks of DataCore Software Corporation. Other DataCore product or service names or logos referenced herein are trademarks of DataCore Software Corporation. All other products, services and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Wisconsins rich beer heritage is being continued at The Raw Deal in downtown Menomonie. This socially and eco-conscious coffee shop and restaurant began brewing beer about two years ago in May 2014, with their first sales taking place about a month later. It did not take long for word to spread about how their beer was crafted by hand in small batches with a focus on local ingredients. Today, the Raw Deal is brewing approximately 70 barrels a year, with six beers offered on tap. With more than 100 breweries in the state of Wisconsin, The Raw Deal is one of the first to be honored with the Brewed in Wisconsin logo. This new Made in Wisconsin program created by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) assists breweries in marketing the origin and quality of their products. This is exactly what we are all about, according to Ryan Verdon, Raw Deals Brew Master. It helps us to continue to keep our focus local and community orientated. Amber Georgakopoulos, manager of The Raw Deal, shared that the company is,very deliberate and intentional in their efforts to use quality local ingredients. Hops, one of the ingredients required for brewing beer, has only recently been available again regionally. Prior to a hop blight in the late 1800s to early 1900s, Wisconsin was one of the largest producers in the country. Now with the popularity of craft breweries, the crop is making a come-back to the Badger State. Our hops are usually purchased through the Wisconsin Hop Exchange, but we have also used a grower just south of here in Pepin County, explained Verdon. There is almost a wine makers approach to hops, like how the region and farm create unique tastes that shine through in our beers. To experience these unique tastes that are Brewed in Wisconsin, visit The Raw Deal at 603 South Broadway. Check out whats on tap by visiting their website http://www.rawdeal-wi.com/ or giving them a call at 715-231-3255. And learn more about the Made in Wisconsin logo at www.made.inwisconsin.com Hitachi's Lumada platform is being positioned as the basis for IoT projects carried out by the company and its partners. Hitachi Insight Group's Lumada platform for IoT incorporates data orchestration, streaming analytics, content intelligence, simulation models, and other Hitachi software technologies. The idea is to allow IoT projects to delivering faster time to value and better real-world decisions. Lumada will be the foundation for all of Hitachi's IoT solutions. It was designed to take advantage of Hitachi's related technologies, and through an open architecture provide a platform for custom systems and the incorporation of capabilities provided by partners. Lumada includes device and connectivity integration, application integration, data integration and orchestration, data repositories, stream and batch data processing, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, simulation tools, repeatable solution blueprints, and enterprise services. It provides a set of repeatable blueprints that can be tailored to support various industries and applications, such as predictive maintenance, connected healthcare, intelligent transportation, and sustainable energy. Lumada incorporates various established Hitachi commercial technologies, including the Pentaho data orchestration, visualisation and analytics software, and the Hitachi Streaming Data Platform that is used in a range of Hitachi technologies and solutions. It also incorporates a variety of Hitachi control systems, including manufacturing production systems, algorithms and controllers to support a range of industry applications and content intelligence for advanced metadata management. Hitachi Insight Group will be working collaboratively with Hitachi's IoT ecosystem partners to co-develop systems on the Lumada platform. Optus says the new in-store mobile capability integrates with a retailers existing systems to provide a seamless in-store customer experience, while delivering increased efficiencies for retailers. David Caspari, Vice President, Business Technology & Solutions, Optus Business said as the retail sector propels toward a digital first experience, businesses were increasingly looking for access to customer-centric technology solutions. According to Caspari, customers want staff to be able to provide stock availability quickly rather than check out the back, and want product specs and sizes, and the ability to buy the item wherever they are in store. Optus says the solution improves operational efficiency by supporting end of day reporting, inventory management, sales performance data and daily activities such as click and collect and retailers can also manage their businesses more effectively by centralising processes, improving staff productivity and optimising floor space to boost store performance.Delivered as-a-Service, Retail Assist is scalable for small to large retailers, incorporating a range of retail applications and device options, and integrating with bank payment terminals.Caspari said Optus Business developed Retail Assist in response to requests from retailers for better ways to service their customers. We were mindful that retailers typically already had sizeable investments in various point of sale, customer management and other systems, so we designed Retail Assist to integrate all these systems, ensuring they complement rather than replace existing technologies. Opera Software yesterday released a free VPN (virtual private networking) app for Apple's iOS, the mobile operating system best known for powering the iPhone. Tagged as "Opera VPN," the app relies on the same backbone -- the Toronto-based SurfEasy, which the Norwegian browser maker acquired in March -- as does the firm's Opera desktop browser for disguising location, avoiding online tracking, and circumventing blacklists maintained by countries, corporations and schools. Opera VPN's offers just a few settings after it's been installed on an iPhone or iPad. In a public setting, such as a coffee shop's Wi-Fi network, a VPN also provides a secure "tunnel" to the destination, preventing theft of credentials and personal information like passwords. Opera VPN is a stand-alone app, and not integrated with Opera Software's iOS browsers, which include Opera Mini and Opera Coast. As with desktop Opera -- specifically the developer preview of the Windows, OS X and Linux browser, which gained the baked-in VPN in April -- Opera VPN on iOS is free to both download and use. Most VPN services charge monthly or annual fees. Opera VPN may be free to users, but Opera Software isn't offering the free service for magnanimous reasons: It will rely on two monetization strategies to fund the service. According to Chris Houston, the president of SurfEasy, Opera will insert advertisements into Opera VPN, although he couched the plan as "likely" rather than certain. "While there are not ads today, advertisements will likely be introduced in the application in the future," Houston said in a long post to his company's blog today. SurfEasy -- now a division of Opera Software -- will also sell anonymized collections of data acquired from users of Opera VPN, said Houston. "This information is made available to third parties who are interested in better understanding the mobile ecosystem and how it's evolving," he explained. Data from SurfEasy's paid VPN subscribers -- it continues to offer the service at prices starting at $6.49 per month -- and from those who use the Opera desktop browser's VPN feature, is not logged by the company, and thus not salable. Houston also made explicit what was only speculative previously: Opera's added VPN to its desktop browser to boost usage. "The addition of the VPN to the Opera desktop browser is a way for Opera to differentiate its browser and expand the appeal to more people," Houston acknowledged. Theoretically, the more users of Opera, the more Opera Software will receive in payments from its search provider partners, which include Google and Yandex. Those providers pay Opera Software for setting their engines as the browser's default. Opera is the perennial bottom entry on the list of the top five browsers worldwide, and could use help to further enlarge its numbers. During April, Opera accounted for 2% of the global user share as measured by U.S. analytics vendor Net Applications. That was eight-tenths of a percentage point higher than 12 months earlier, representing an impressive 69% annual increase. Compared to others in the top five, however, Opera is a minor player: Google's Chrome held a 41.7% user share in April, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Edge browsers were pegged at a combined 41.3%, Mozilla's Firefox accounted for 10.1%, and Apple's Safari measured 4.5%. Opera VPN can be download from Apple's App Store. A controversial new wireless technology is closer to widespread use, after Qualcomm and T-Mobile got an official green light from the FCC to test LTE-U in four U.S. locations late last week. Qualcomm has had limited testing underway with Verizon since January, but the new authorization from the FCC means that the T-Mobile implementations will be of greater scope. T-Mobile will trial LTE-U (see explainer on LTE-U here) infrastructure in Richardson, Texas; Bellevue, Wash.; Simi Valley, Calif.; and the city of Las Vegas. Verizons testing is taking place in Raleigh and Oklahoma City. + ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Enterprise networkers have organized: Here are their demands | SAP design chief talks details of Apple deal LTE unlicensed, to give the technology its full title, does pretty much what it sounds like it sends LTE signals over the unlicensed frequencies used by Wi-Fi access points, enabling wireless carriers to offload signals from their heavily worked and expensive licensed frequencies. But while LTE-Us proponents insist that its designed to coexist well with existing networks, critics say that it can seriously interfere with Wi-Fi signals, hurting their throughput and connectivity. The carriers and Qualcomm say that lab testing proves their point, while the cable industry and other major tech players like Google say that their own lab testing supports theirs. Field testing, then, seems to be a necessary step toward settling the issue. Moreover, the Wi-Fi Alliance, which has been an LTE-U skeptic since its inception, is working with the technologys backers on standardized testing protocols. Chuck Nagle said one day last week he walked down the centerline of County X. The town of Lafayette man didnt have much competition. Not with part of the road being closed for the construction of a new Lake Wissota bridge. For 2 minutes I walked down the centerline and there were no cars, Nagle told the Chippewa County Board on Tuesday night. Nagle urged the board to relax permitting processes for five businesses along County X most heavily affected by the road closure around the bridge construction. He said those businesses should be allowed more freedom to put up signs, banners and flags to direct drivers to their businesses. Time is of the essence here, he said, pointing out there is one small sign listing the five businesses thats by the roundabout near Gordys Market-Wissota location. He said owners of two of those businesses do not believe they would be allowed to put up more signs during the construction. I really believe that we run the risk of losing one or more of the businesses, Nagle said. Jackie Boos, tourism director for the Chippewa Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, told the board a promotion is planned to help the businesses along Lake Wissota. The promotion will be called X Marks the Spot and will start next week. Supervisor Steven Gerrish wondered why the promotion isnt starting earlier. Boos said a decision was made to have the promotion begin closer to the summer season. The bridge construction project, which began last week, is expected to last until November. Paying workers County Human Resources Director Toni Hohlfelder and Administrator Frank Pascarella reviewed the countys Pay-for-Performance system, used to pay the countys workers. It has been in effect since March 11, 2014. (It) builds public confidence that the salaries paid are determined based on the value to the organization, not just because. Hohlfelders presentation said. Supervisor Matt Hartman was skeptical of the new system, asking if the county is tracking how much is costing the county. It probably takes 1 hr to put together an evaluation of (a department leader), Pascarella said. The time goes down to an hour for a general employee. Pascarella said the county has 350 of those. Hartman said the feedback hes heard from county department leaders hasnt been positive. This is a cumbersome and time-consuming system, he said. Pascarella said 10 to 20 percent of employees will exceed expectations set by the county and will be in line for money beyond a yearly base increase. If you have a system where everyone gets the same pay, what good is an evaluation? Pascarella asked. Supervisor Tom Thornton is not sold on the plan. Its still the same evaluation process that you had 10 years ago. Youve just put a new spin on it, Thornton said. Another supervisor, Kari Ives, said the evaluation could depend on how an employee gets along with a supervisor. It has to be subjective, Hohlfelder said of the system. Pascarella said the county department heads have taken the system seriously and want to do a fair evaluation of employees. Supervisor Annette Hunt asked if 10 to 20 percent of the employees will get a wage increase above a base increase, how will that help employee morale?. Pascarella said the primary role of a manager is to do an evaluation of an employee. At least the employee will know what the expectations are, he said. Supervisor Dean Gullickson, a former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources warden, said when the agency first started it, there was a lot of heartbreak. But once the system got going, Gullickson said the employees thought it was great. County Board Chairman Anson Albarado told the board there will be a lot of growing pains with the sytem. You need to give it a chance to see if it will work, he said. The board took no action on the report. On Thursday, staff and parents of students at Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District received a letter from Jeffrey Holmes, Superintendent about active shooter swatting calls taking place at multiple school districts across the state. Swatting calls are hoax reports of threats made to police which insight panic. Police say similar types of false threats have occurred at multiple schools across the state Thursday. These threats included 911 calls to police across the state claiming that schools had an active shooter. What is a Jew? Israeli museum attempts an answer JERUSALEMI was on a short visit to Israel and spent time with a friend with whom I have been engaged in a 30-year argument. Elli... When anti-Semitism rears its head, we must be ready to fight it Anti-Semitism is a force that is persistent as well as pernicious. When it occurs, it must be fought both by being confronted in real time... Wal-Mart Stores Inc has recently sued Visa Inc. unveiling the latest legal battle over chip-enabled plastic money. The legal fight is for the right to choose how its customers can verify debit-card purchases at the store's checkout counters. The retail chain wants its customers to use their personal identification number to verify their purchases when they use a chip-enabled debit card. Wal-Mart's lawsuit filed in New York state court on Tuesday stated that Visa has prohibited it from requiring PINs only. This condition forced the store to permit customers to use a signature for their transactions. This lawsuit is the latest legal battle between the two companies. They have sued each other a number of times over a variety of payment issues. The present legal tussle portends a continuing debate on how to harmonize convenience and security with the latest generation of chip-enabled cards. "PIN is the only truly secure form of cardholder verification in the marketplace today, and it offers superior security to our customers," said Randy Hargrove, spokesman for Wal-Mart. "Visa has acknowledged in many other countries that chip-and-pin offer greater security. Visa nevertheless has demanded that we allow fraud-prone signature verification for debit transactions in our U.S. stores because Visa stands to make more money processing those transactions," he added. These chip cards are now being preferred in debit card transactions since they are much more difficult to hack since they create one-time codes to process every transaction. Verification of transactions can be done either through a signature or a PIN, and those in the retail industry argue that requiring PINs from customers is more secure. Merchants and shoppers alike are now in a transition period at the check-out counter. They both have to adjust to the more secure chip cards that most banks are now providing their clients. Talk about sugar rush. Krispy Kreme is on a high caffeine boost after JAB Beech announced on Monday that it's acquiring the doughnut business. The company has settled on a private deal that is worth about $1.35 Billion. Although JAB Beech has acquired Krispy Kreme, the well-known North Carolina company will continue to operate independently. That includes the 1,100 settled shops globally. Three hundred of those shops are in the United States. What's in store for the future? In 2017, NBC News noted that Krispy Kreme will be opening new sites around the world. Between 120 to 140 sites are planned to be put up. In addition, 30 shops will be put up in the United States. However, JAB declined to make anyone available to discuss its plans for Krispy Kreme. Industry watchers speculated JAB could pair Krispy Kreme with one or more of its coffee brands (Keurig Green Mountain, Peet's Coffee & Tea and Caribou Coffee.) That means employment and beverage sales in their respective economies. Krispy Kreme stores in the United States draw most of their sales from doughnuts and pastries. Coffee, beverages and sandwiches come in second. With the JAB Beech acquisition, both companies are planning to increase its beverage sales. The acquisition itself is the firm's strategy of investing in brands with significant growth prospects, said Peter Harf, a JAB authority. The Wall Street Journal reports that JAB Holdings has a portfolio of brands under its belt. Including Jimmy Choo shoes, Durex condoms and Carribou Coffee. Krispy Kreme will continue to compete with Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks in the highly competitive coffee market. While plans are still being discussed behind closed doors, the economy looks to the expansion of Krispy Kreme for increase in employment, economic growth and stability. The dialogue between Uber and drivers in California and Massachusetts is almost settling down. A proposed settlement has been put on the table that could save the ride-hailing company over $600 million in expected pay-outs to Uber drivers regarding work-related costs. The advantage that Uber will get from the settlement is $600 million worth which means that the company will only be shelling out $100 million instead. However, the issue regarding Uber drivers being classified as regular employees by the company is still undetermined. Uber is known for using independent contractors as drivers because that is their core business model. Uber drivers are being given a sense of ownership and flexibility in work hours, as told by Computer World. If stated as employees, the Uber drivers in California are expected to receive as much as $426 million in mileage expense reimbursement for trips made on the ride-hailing platform between 2009 and April of this year. Uber had put the amount much lower at $169 million. Massachusetts drivers would have gotten another $98 million. Uber also said it would appeal the matter further, if necessary, in the Supreme Court. The company insists that they have satisfied Section 2802 of the California Labor Code, which deals with employee expenses, by structuring the fare to be an all-inclusive one that takes into account things like expenses. Cases filed against the ride-hailing company states that Uber drivers have been doing this kind of work every night and day, making it a full-time job. Lawyers representing these drivers urge Uber to reconsider. It has been reported that drivers are being taken advantage because they do not have a union group that can protect them. California and Massachusetts are not the only states that Uber is concerned about. Class-action lawsuits in Florida and Illinois have also been filed. Recent U.S. election 2016 news revealed that Donald Trump has blasted Hillary Clinton for her husband's past infidelities. The presumptive GOP nominee has called the Democratic party candidate an "enabler." ABC Online reported that Donald Trump has depicted Hillary Clinton to be an "enabler" of Bill Clinton's cheating issues before. The publication noted that this was "the latest nasty and deeply personal turn in the US presidential campaign." "Hillary hurt many women - the women that he abused," Trump said in a rally in Spokane, Washington. "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." Donald Trump has previously accused Hillary Clinton of using her gender to gain political advantage. He also added that the Democrat candidate would not be deemed as a qualified presidential aspirant if not for her gender. Meanwhile, the presumptive GOP nominee has been accused of misogyny from Clinton's camp. The real estate mogul is criticized for his use abusive words such as "bimbo" and "fat pig." U.S. election 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has vowed that she will not engage in the same manner of mudslinging as Trump. Reuters reported that the former first lady lost to Bernie Sanders in West Virginia on Tuesday. Trump has revealed that he has thought about raising taxes on wealthy Americans. "I am willing to pay more, and you know what, the wealthy are willing to pay more," he said on ABC's "This Week" show. He has proposed to reduce the highest income-tax rate to 25 percent from the current 39.6 percent rate. Donald Trump has admitted, though, that his original proposal is still "a concept" and may be changed after negotiations with Congress. "The middle class has to be protected," he added. "The rich are probably going to end up paying more." Dogged by low oil prices, Wisconsins once-booming frac sand mining industry is down but not out. An industry trade magazine will host a two-day conference next week in La Crosse where the goal is to provide practical knowledge along with hope that oil prices will eventually rebound and North Dakota drillers will again buy their fine-grained sand. Even as layoff notices have become a nearly monthly occurrence at Wisconsin sand mines, the frac sand industry is poised for a rebound. Were still here, said Marty Lehman, president of the Wisconsin Industrial Sand Association. Weve been through this before. Its a cyclic industry. The conference, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, is expected to draw 300 to 400 people to the La Crosse Center, where topics will range from mining techniques and management to the market outlook and even how to open a frac sand mine. Promoters say the Frac Sand Insider conference will help producers prepare for that future while weathering immediate market uncertainties. It will be the first time the conference now in its third year has been held in Wisconsin. Were looking to provide hope, said Mark Kuhar, executive editor of Rock Products magazine, the parent publication of Frac Sand Insider. One of the best places you can find hope is when you get together with your peers. Kuhar said sand producers are also looking for ways to improve their processes. Theyre looking for ways to do it better, he said. Every efficiency you can come up with in tough times is an extra dollar. For years, companies have mined the fine-grained silica sand prevalent in western Wisconsin for industrial use. But advances in a gas and oil mining technique known as hydraulic fracturing created enormous demand for the sand, which is used to open cracks in underground rocks. According to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources records, there are now 129 mines and processing facilities in the state. But falling oil prices have led North Dakota drillers to idle wells, and the demand for sand has plummeted, idling many of those mines. Frac sand producers have announced plans to lay off nearly 190 Wisconsin workers so far this year, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the states mass layoffs reported by the Department of Workforce Development. About 120 workers were laid off last year at three sites in Monroe, Eau Claire and Chippewa counties. For the people who supply sand the question becomes how do we maintain a viable business, Kuhar said. If youre a big company its easier to ride the wave. If youre a smaller company its a little harder to maintain. Despite the industry optimism, the outlook is not sunny. According to the market analysis firm PacWest, demand for proppant sand peaked in the final three months of 2014 at 30 billion pounds. It is expected to bottom out near the end of 2016 at something less than half that amount, said Thomas Jacob, lead analyst for the industry publication ProppantIQ. While demand is expected to rebound in 2017, Jacob does not expect a return to 2015 levels in the next two years. It will be a very, very slow recovery, he said. Anti-frac groups on alert Despite the outlook, environmentalists and anti-mining groups are not dropping their guard. I think people can expect this industry to be around for a long time, said Kellan McLemore, a staff attorney for Midwest Environmental Advocates. There are a ton of proposed operations just waiting to go on line. We get notices from citizens almost weekly about mining companies buying land or securing mineral rights. The Wisconsin DNR has not been effective in regulating the industry, McLemore said, which raises concerns about the health impacts of fine dust on neighboring residents and the release of waste water and sediment into public waters. MEA has objected to the DNRs proposed new storm and waste-water permit for mines, saying it does not comply with the federal Clean Water Act. Others are focused on banning frac sand mining at the local level. A coalition of more than 10 regional organizations is planning a rally outside the La Crosse Center on Tuesday. This is really a wildcat industry. It cant be regulated well with the resources we have, said Doug Nopar of the Land Stewardship Project, which is pushing for a mining ban in Winona County, Minn. Its time to just say no. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. BARABOO One of the English languages most overused words literally faces a fight for its life. Literally. Everywhere you turn, someone is throwing the term around. Take, for example, this coffee shop patron: That mocha latte was so hot, my tongue literally burned off. Athletes are fond of misusing the term, too: After scoring that goal, I am literally on Cloud Nine. And dont get me started on teenagers: That chick is like, um, so ugly she like totally makes babies cry. Literally. The problem, of course, is that none of these things literally is true. The latte drinker wouldnt be able to speak (If only!) without a tongue. Goal scorers dont actually ascend to the heavens after a game-winner, nor do even totally ugly chicks make babies cry at the mere sight of their homely mugs. Worse, this use is the exact opposite of the words definition. Literally means in a strict sense. Suddenly its being used as a synonym for figuratively, which until recently was its antonym. In other words, the word is being turned inside-out. This is literally turning into the biggest disaster since Crystal Pepsi. Bryan Garner, author of Garners Modern American Usage, has developed a scale for the five stages of word misuse. Stage one is when mistakes crop up, but are widely rejected. By the time a word reaches stage five thats when sirens start going off at Merriam-Webster headquarters, as if it were DEFCON 1 at NORAD the incorrect definition is truly universal, and the only people who reject it are eccentrics. Garner has slotted literally at stage three, defined as being used by a majority of the language community. However, some linguists feel literally already has slipped dangerously close to stage four, meaning only a few diehards reject the new meaning. Clearly it is time for my Word Crimes Tribunal to get involved. For years this assemblage of learned sages has strived to root out the use of non-words like irregardless and crack down on offenders who substitute your for youre. Such abuses are what prompt the worlds word nerds to forsake Facebook. Reading comments such as Your invited 4 drinx 2nite is figuratively not literally torture. Literally has been misused for centuries, even by famed authors who, unlike youngsters posting duckface photos of themselves shot in their bathroom mirrors (Your 2 sexy!), had a good handle on the language. Misuse began gathering legitimacy by 1839, when Charles Dickens wrote in Nicholas Nickleby that a character had literally feasted his eyes in silence on his culprit. Before you knew it, Tom Sawyer was literally rolling in wealth, and Jay Gatsby literally glowed. Come on, the guy grew up in New York lake country, not a New Jersey toxic waste dump. Perhaps its a combination of forces the prevalence of modern misuse and the gravitas of famed offenders like Dickens, Twain and Fitzgerald that led dictionaries to add new entries under literally. Merriam-Webster added a second usage of the word to mean virtually, but added the disclaimer that Since some people take sense 2 to be the opposite of sense 1, it has been frequently criticized as a misuse. The Cambridge and Oxford dictionaries now begrudgingly note that informal use of literally is used for emphasis, but add that this can result in unintentionally humorous effects. Dictionary editors may be yukking it up, but rest assured the Word Crimes Tribunal sees nothing funny about the demise of our language. Granted, dual and opposing definitions for the same word arent new to English. Others include dust, which can mean to remove dust from and to sprinkle dust upon. But theres something about the misuse of literally that literally makes me twitch. I dont know whether well find a solution here. But I can tell you that if people continue misusing literally unchecked, it will figuratively leave a sour taste in my mouth. Just like Crystal Pepsi. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson had what he described as a very cordial meeting Tuesday with President Barack Obamas nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland. But Johnson, R-Oshkosh, acknowledged it didnt alter his view that Senate Republicans shouldnt consider Garlands nomination to the nations high court. My advice to President Obama and the rest of my Senate colleagues has not changed, Johnson said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. Johnson repeatedly has supported the position of his GOP Senate leaders: that the Senate should not hold confirmation hearings or votes on Obamas nominee for the Supreme Court. Instead, the next president should be allowed to make the choice after he or she takes office in January, Johnson and other Republican senators have argued. Instead of a lame duck president and Senate nominating and confirming, a new president and Senate elected by the people only a few months from now should make that important decision, Johnson said in the statement. Garland is Obamas pick to fill the vacancy left by the recent death of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia but that choice is subject to a confirmation vote by the Senate. Democrats have argued the Republican-led Senate, at minimum, is obliged to initiate the process by holding hearings and an up-or-down vote on Garland. The White House requested Tuesdays meeting. Garland, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, has met with a slew of other Republican senators in recent weeks. U.S. Supreme Court nominations are always politically charged. But the Garland nomination is especially contentious because, if approved, it would tip the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court from a conservative to a liberal majority. Scalia was among the courts most outspoken conservatives. Democratic campaign groups have targeted Johnson and other GOP senators seeking re-election this year, describing their position on Garland as obstructionist. Johnson is running for a second term against former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, whom Johnson defeated in 2010. MKE Diner News and notes on the restaurant scene from dining critic Carol Deptolla SHARE By of the The newest Cafe Hollander will open in Mequon on May 20, with opening weekend festivities including a benefit for charity and a group bike ride on the Ozaukee Interurban Trail. The two-story Mequon Cafe Hollander, at 5900 W. Mequon Road in the Mequon Town Center mixed-use development, makes use of the outdoors despite being at a busy intersection. It has a large rooftop patio, another open seating area that's sheltered, an outdoor petanque ball court alongside Mequon Road and overhead doors that open to connect the restaurant to the outdoors. Bicyclists will find covered bike parking for dozens of bicycles, water and a bike pump. The restaurant is just east of the Interurban Trail. The Lowlands Group announced the opening its seventh since 2006 Tuesday morning. It also has Hollanders in Milwaukee, Wauwatosa and Madison, serving an eclectic menu with a Belgian beer list. Dan Herwig, director of brand and marketing at Lowlands Group, said the group chose Mequon because of its efforts in developing a town center, and found the location between the bike trail and the Milwaukee River appealing. The company is hiring about 150 employees in Mequon. The three-day benefit starting May 20 will donate sales from all food and select beers to the Milwaukee Riverkeeper, the Ozaukee Interurban Trail and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. Also during opening weekend, Jef Versele, the owner of Brouwerij Van Steenberge in Ertvelde, Belgium, will be on hand. He's the seventh-generation owner of Van Steenberge and produces High Speed Wit, Tandem Dubbel and Santa Rampage beers for the group's Lowlands Brewing Collaborative. The brewery will donate all sales from its beer on the opening weekend to the three charities. Here's the schedule for opening weekend in Mequon: May 20: The cafe is open 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner, with sales benefiting Milwaukee Riverkeeper. May 21: Meet at the cafe at 9 a.m. to join in one of two group bike rides on the Interurban Trail: a 48-mile group ride led by the Hollander Benelux Racing Team to Belgium and a 16-mile ride to Grafton and back. Riders should park at the Logemann Community Center, 6100 W. Mequon Road. The cafe is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch and 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner that day, with sales benefiting the Ozaukee Interurban Trail. May 22: The cafe is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for brunch and 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner, with sales benefiting the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee. During opening weekend, the second-floor patio will serve drinks only. May 24: Regular hours begin, opening daily at 8 a.m.; the kitchen will be open until midnight daily. On Fridays and Saturdays, the bar will stay open until 1 a.m. Weekday breakfast is served from 8 to 11 a.m., weekend brunch from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The same menu is served for lunch and dinner. Reservations are recommended on opening weekend and can be made starting May 11 online. Top photo courtesy Lowlands Group; bottom photo by Journal Sentinel SHARE By of the Insulete Inc., a Madison start-up that is aiming to cure Type 1 diabetes with gene therapy, has raised $300,000 of equity funding from one investor, according to a filing with federal securities regulators. This is the first time the 12-year-old company has raised outside funding, according to www.formds.com. Insulete was founded and is headed by Hans Solinger, a well-known transplant surgeon and University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who has helped bring pharmaceutical drugs to market. Sollinger and Tausif Alam, Insulete's chief financial officer, discovered and patented a DNA sequence that is glucose responsive and promotes the activation of the human insulin gene. Jeff Rusinow, a well-known Wisconsin investor, is a director and executive officer of Insulete, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. M Barc Investment Group of Tampa, Fla. helped Insulete raise the money, the filing said. SHARE By , Workers in plants run by the largest U.S. poultry producers are regularly being denied bathroom breaks and as a result some are reduced to wearing diapers while working on the processing line, Oxfam America said in a report Wednesday. "It's not just their dignity that suffers: they are in danger of serious health problems," said Oxfam America,the U.S. arm of the U.K.-based global development group. The group works for a "just world without poverty" and focuses on topics ranging from refugees in Greece to malnutrition. The report cited unnamed workers fromTyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim's Pride Corp., Perdue Farms Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc. who said that supervisors mock them, ignore requests and threaten punishment or firing. When they can go, they wait in long lines even though they are given limited time, sometimes 10 minutes, according to the report. Some workers have urinated or defecated themselves while working because they can't hold on any longer, the report said. Some workers "restrict intake of liquids and fluids to dangerous degrees," Oxfam said. Conditions for workers in the meat industry have been known as being notoriously poor since the days of Upton Sinclair,the American author who wrote of abuses in his 1906 novel, "The Jungle." In a 2015 report, Oxfam said the cost of cheap chicken in the U.S. is workers who face low wages, suffer elevated rates of injury and illness and face a climate of fear in the workplace. The industry was also highlighted in the 2008 documentary Food Inc. The conditions present difficulties, especially for menstruating or pregnant women, according to the latest report. Workers could also face medical problems, including urinary tract infections, and managers have told some workers to eat and drink less to avoid going to the bathroom, according to the report. Sanderson Chief Financial Officer Mike Cockrell declined to comment on the Oxfam report in an e-mail. Tyson said in an e-mailed statement that it does "not tolerate the refusal of requests to use the restroom." Perdue said in an e-mailed response that the "anecdotes reported are not consistent" with the company's policies and practices. Pilgrim's Pride said in an e-mailed statement that "any allegations of the nature claimed by Oxfam, if proven, would be clear violations of company policy and would result in disciplinary action." "We value our team members and treat them with respect," according to an e-mailed statement from Tyson. The company is "concerned about these anonymous claims, and while we currently have no evidence they're true, are checking to make sure our position on restroom breaks is being followed and our team members' needs are being met," according to the statement. "Regarding bathroom breaks, our associates receive two 30- minutes breaks during each eight-hour shift," Perdue said. "If an associate is unable to wait for the scheduled break and needs to use the restroom, they are to be given permission to leave the line as soon as someone can cover for them." "Bathroom breaks have not been raised as an issue in any of our internal team member satisfaction surveys, nor in the results of our third-party-conducted sustainable safety culture surveys," Pilgrim's Pride said. "Team member health and safety is an integral part of our sustainability commitment, fundamental to who we are as proud members of American agriculture, and a priority for our more than 37,000 team members." The anecdotes in the Oxfam report don't represent the whole industry, the National Chicken Council and the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association said in a joint statement Tuesday. "We're troubled by these claims, but also question this group's efforts to paint the whole industry with a broad brush based on a handful of anonymous claims," the groups said. "We believe such instances are extremely rare and that U.S. poultry companies work hard to prevent them." By of the WEC Energy Group of Milwaukee and its Chicago natural gas utility will pay $18.5 million to settle investigations into the failure to disclose the soaring costs of the Chicago utility's massive natural gas project. Two settlements, filed with Illinois regulators, are intended to resolve a series of investigations launched by Illinois agencies concerning the sale of Integrys Energy Group and its Chicago utility, Peoples Gas, to Wisconsin Energy last year. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan had contended the companies broke the law by deliberately withholding material information that the cost of the big natural gas project had soared to $8 billion from $4.5 billion. In the settlement, WEC and Peoples state that "Peoples Gas and Integrys omitted information, namely the preliminary cost estimate indicating that the (project) would cost more than $8 billion, from their discussion of the (project) at the Commission's May 20, 2015 Open Meeting, that was material to the Commission's ongoing oversight and regulation." However, the utilities deny any laws were broken by the failure to disclose that the cost of the project had risen to $8 billion from an earlier estimate of $4.5 billion. "Peoples Gas does not believe that it has committed any violations of the Illinois consumer fraud or false claims acts that were being investigated by the Illinois Attorney General," the company said. Peoples said it was pleased to have reached the settlements, adding, "Going forward, our focus will be on upgrading Chicago's natural gas infrastructure in order to ensure Chicagoans receive the safe, reliable and modern distribution system they deserve." WEC's new chief executive, Allen Leverett, said last week that the utility was continuing work on the natural gas project and estimated that spending on the project is expected to be in the range of $250 million to $280 million a year. The Illinois Commerce Commission is taking a fresh look at the entire project, with a final decision expected by the end of the year. Madigan had launched an investigation after learning that the former top executives of Integrys Energy Group Inc. had learned of the $8 billion cost estimate in March 2015, but failed to disclose it to the ICC during a meeting in May. The ICC approved the deal in June, and the sale to Wisconsin Energy was completed the next day. Following the acquisition, Wisconsin Energy changed its name to WEC Energy Group Inc. Its Wisconsin subsidiaries include both We Energies, the state's largest utility, and Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service Corp., an Integrys utility that serves northeastern Wisconsin. WEC made the cost estimate public within weeks of completing the acquisition. "This settlement will benefit Peoples' customers who were misled about the true cost of this expensive project," Madigan said in a statement. "I will continue to fight to overhaul the program, which still threatens the affordability of Peoples' gas service. Peoples Gas' customers already pay some of the highest utility rates in the Midwest, and they should not bear the burden of an unjustified and overpriced program." The first $11 million settlement resolves Madigan's investigation into WEC, Peoples and Integrys. The companies will pay $10 million to Peoples' customers and an additional $1 million to reconnect low-income customers whose service was recently shut off and forgive outstanding debt for these customers, who are hardest hit by soaring utility costs. The second $7.5 million settlement was reached by Madigan, ICC staff, and CUB with WEC, Peoples and Integrys and resolves the ICC's investigation. In this agreement, the companies will pay $4.5 million to the state and $3 million to Peoples' "Share the Warmth" fund, a program that provides heating grants to limited and fixed-income households. The Illinois Commerce Commission must ratify the agreements. Cholly Smith, the commission's executive director, said in a statement that the settlements resolve the matter "fairly and equitably. This agreement sends a message to both utilities and consumers that the ICC will hold utilities to the highest standard of transparency and integrity to protect consumers." Twitter: twitter.com/plugged_in Facebook: www.fb.me/JSBusiness SHARE By of the Several Milwaukee officials called for stronger laws to deter straw purchasing after a Milwaukee woman was charged Wednesday with providing her boyfriend, a convicted felon, with a gun used to shoot a police officer during a robbery attempt. Latonya R. James, 30, is accused of buying two guns at Gander Mountain in Germantown last month and giving them to 38-year-old Burt T. Johnson, who was prohibited from owning firearms because of his criminal record. Milwaukee police shot and killed Johnson on May 5 after he opened fire on officers who began chasing him after seeing him and another masked gunman leave an auto-parts store near N. 76th St. and W. Mill Road, according to authorities. The second suspect, 20-year-old Gregory B. Rounds, was arrested and charged Wednesday. A 38-year-old officer was shot during the exchange of gunfire and saved by his body armor. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Police Chief Edward Flynn and District Attorney John Chisholm urged state lawmakers to make it a felony to straw-purchase firearms and to put false information on a federal firearms transfer form offenses already illegal under federal law. They also called for lawmakers to require gun owners to report a lost or stolen gun. "Wisconsin is its own source state for crime guns," Flynn said. "Straw purchasing is the major source of firearms for our city, and straw-purchasing straight up is still only misdemeanor." James was charged with a felony furnishing a firearm to a felon which is somewhat rare because prosecutors must prove someone bought a gun and knowingly gave it to a felon, officials said Wednesday. According to the criminal complaint, James initially denied knowing Johnson was a felon but later told detectives she knew he had been in prison for four years and believed he was a convicted felon with that much time served. "The vast majority of our cases we don't have strong evidence that somebody knew it was a felon," Flynn said. Milwaukee police have seized more than 700 crime guns so far this year and on average, 85% of the recovered crime guns originally were purchased legally, Flynn said. The average time-to-crime, which is derived from the date of a gun's original purchase to the date of recovery, has dropped to less than six months for pistols recovered by Milwaukee police, according to Flynn. Asked if changes to the law were achievable, Chisholm said state lawmakers from Milwaukee have proposed such measures and run into roadblocks at the state Capitol. "Currently, there isn't even any oxygen in the room when you want to sit down and have these really important discussions," Chisholm said. "We're not asking for radical changes." Barrett also requested Gov. Scott Walker's "leadership on this issue." A request for comment from the governor's office was not immediately returned. Milwaukees current flag is superimposed over images of several of the 1,006 designs submitted. SHARE Xavier Ruffin (from left), Steve Kodis and Ken Hanson print and look over entries to the flag design competition at Hanson Dodge Creative. Michael Sears Related Photos Milwaukee flag entries By of the Most people don't realize the City of Milwaukee has an official flag. And many who've seen it are not impressed. Milwaukee's baby blue flag, which is packed with a barrage of images ranging from a ship to the old County Stadium to a giant stalk of wheat honoring the city's brewing industry, has been called "a hot mess." That description came from Roman Mars, a radio host and design expert with a self-described flag obsession, who has labeled Milwaukee's flag one of the worst he's ever seen. But Mars has stirred a new passion for the study of flags, known as vexillology, and a wave of efforts to redesign some of the uglier specimens. "Nothing can quite prepare you for one of the biggest train wrecks in vexillological history," Mars said in a 2015 presentation. "Are you ready? It's the flag of Milwaukee, Wisconsin." "Lighten up, man," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett joked. "It's not that bad." But the mayor added that the official flag is a bit dated. "I will say I think the city flag is outdated, certainly to the extent that it includes County Stadium on it," Barrett said. Inspired by Mars, a local graphic designer named Steve Kodis is now on a mission to create a new flag for the city. "I stumbled onto Milwaukee's flag," Kodis said. "Internally, when I saw it, I just sort of said, 'Man, we could have something so much better. We could have such a cooler flag.'" Kodis has since devoted much of the last year to an effort to redesign a new flag. He launched a website chronicling the movement, The People's Flag of Milwaukee, and teamed up with Ken Hanson, the executive director of Greater Together, a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting racial and economic equality. Together, they organized an ambitious contest to design a new flag for the city. "I could have never, ever done it on my own," Kodis said. He said the effort went beyond simply redesigning the flag to helping create a "beautiful connection between the city and its people." Organizers held a number of design workshops around Milwaukee, at locations including Washington High School, Bay View High School, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. After receiving more than 1,000 entries 1,006 in all the contest organizers named a team of judges to narrow the field to the top 50 designs, plus another 15 honorable mentions. They will be on display at City Hall starting Saturday, when the five finalists will also be unveiled. That same day they are set to launch an online rating process so the public can help pick a new flag. The winner will be named in June. There are five principles of flag design, according to the North American Vexillological Association. Keep it simple (The flag should be so simple that a child can draw it from memory). Use meaningful symbolism. Use two or three basic colors. No lettering or seals. Be distinctive or be related. Hanson said they decided to add one more principle. "What's the symbol for the city that we want to become," he said. "What would symbolize the city that we want to go toward, that we aspire to?" It remains to be seen whether this flag will become the official city flag, or simply become the unofficial "people's flag." Barrett praised the effort. "I view it as a great community engagement exercise to see whether we want to have this 'people's flag,' or even to consider changing our city flag," the mayor said. "It would take (Common) Council action...to change it." City Clerk Jim Owczarski said adopting a new city flag would be no easy feat. "The challenge is that the Common Council is the one that has to put in the file to actually make the change, and to my knowledge, no member of the Common Council has agreed to do that," he said. Owczarski added that he's happy the flag is getting so much attention. "Look, I'm excited that people are excited about the flag. I've certainly known about it a long time. I like it a lot. I think it's an interesting part of who we are...It's really going to be up to the Common Council to decide," he said. The official flag, adopted in the mid-1950s, was created after the city organized a contest, gathered about 100 submissions, and then an alderman pulled together a bunch of designs onto one flag. "I do really think it's a good opportunity to engage people, which is what they have done already, to talk about the symbol of the city," Barrett said. The contest organizers had little praise for the current flag. "It didn't rise up out of the people in any way," Hanson said. "With the best intentions I'm sure, it was designed by an alderman," Kodis added. "It wasn't even really designed by the people." Kodis and Hanson acknowledged there other pressing problems facing the city, but said a new flag could help. "Flags are meant to unite and rally the people, in times of celebration and in times of strife. And I think every city, every big city, has its problems, has its ailments. We're not different because of that. But if the city has a really great flag, they can use that flag to rally the people," Kodis said. "And really (take) actions to fix these problems." SHARE By , Washington President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where seven decades ago the United States dropped the devastating atomic bomb that ushered in the nuclear age. By visiting the peace park near the epicenter of the 1945 attack, Obama hopes to reinvigorate efforts worldwide to eliminate nuclear weapons. But in a sign of the extraordinary political sensitivities attached to the gesture, the White House is going out of its way to stress that Obama will not come bearing an apology. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said flatly: "He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II." Instead, Rhodes said in a statement, Obama will spotlight the toll of war and offer a "forward-looking vision" of a non-nuclear world. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who will accompany Obama on the visit, said no apology is expected or necessary. "The prime minister of the world's only nation to have suffered atomic attacks, and the leader of the world's only nation to have used the atomic weapons at war will together pay respects for the victims," Abe said. "I believe that would be a way to respond to the victims of the atomic bombings and the survivors who are still in pain." The U.S. attack on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, killed 140,000 people. A second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki three days later, killed 70,000. The bombings scarred generations of Japanese, both physically and mentally, but many Americans believe that they hastened the end of World War II and saved countless other lives. Japan announced that it would surrender on Aug. 15. As for Obama's visit, the Japanese people are ready for this moment, seven decades in the making. In an NHK television poll this month, 70% of Japanese respondents said they wanted Obama to visit, compared with 2% who didn't. Survivors, especially, have long been waiting. The number of survivors who are recognized as hibakusha and entitled to medical assistance from the Japanese government was more than 183,000 as of March. Their average age is now over 80. "The day has finally come," said 91-year-old Sunao Tsuboi, a survivor of the bombing and head of a survivors group in the western Japanese city. "We are not asking for an apology. All we want is to see him lay flowers at the peace park and lower his head in silence. This would be a first step toward abolishing nuclear weapons." Obama's visit, at the end of a previously announced trip to Japan and Vietnam, has been widely anticipated since Secretary of State John Kerry went to the Hiroshima memorial in April. Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui praised Obama's plan as a "bold decision based on conscience and rationality" and said he hopes the president will listen to survivors' stories. Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said Obama would "send a powerful message, in his own words, toward achieving a world without nuclear weapons." Obama's call for a nuclear-free world echoes the message delivered by former President Jimmy Carter when he visited Hiroshima in 1984 and pledged to work as a private citizen "to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth." White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it was "entirely legitimate" for historians and the American public to debate whether President Harry Truman's decision to drop the bomb was the right thing to do. "But that's not what President Obama will do when he visits Hiroshima," he said. "What President Obama will do is make note of the fact that the relationship between the United States and Japan has emerged stronger than anybody could have imagined back in 1945." For all the symbolism associated with Obama's visit, anti-nuclear groups said a powerful presidential message was not enough. Obama, who delivered a stirring call for a nuclear-free world in a Prague address during the first year of his presidency, needs to use his last year to take more specific steps, they said. The president should "use the opportunity to map out concrete actions the United States and other countries can and will pursue to move closer to a world free of nuclear weapons," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the nonpartisan Arms Control Association. Kevin Martin, president of Peace Action, a U.S.-based group, added that Obama "will look insincere if his words espouse ridding the world of nuclear weapons while at the same time his administration continues its plan to spend a trillion dollars over 30 years to upgrade nuclear weapons." The Congressional Budget Office estimated in January 2015 that the administration's plans for nuclear forces would cost $348 billion over the next decade. Others have said it could approach $1 trillion over three decades. Obama's visit comes as the nuclear debate has been percolating in the 2016 campaign to select his successor, with GOP presumptive nominee Donald Trump floating the idea of allowing South Korea and Japan to acquire nuclear weapons. To see video For video related to this story, go to jsonline.com/video/world The Little Plover River is a poster child in the controversy over the impact of high-capacity wells. The river is dependent on groundwater and vulnerable to groundwater pumping. Portions of the river have run dry in some summers. Credit: Jim Gifford SHARE By of the In a significant legal development with consequences for Wisconsin waterways, Attorney General Brad Schimel has issued a legal opinion that narrows the powers of the Department of Natural Resources to regulate high-capacity wells. Schimel, a Republican, said the DNR does not have authority to put conditions on well applications that would take into account their cumulative effects on streams, rivers and lakes in the surrounding area. The opinion issued Tuesday was a big win for agriculture and business interests, which have charged that the DNR has incorrectly interpreted its authority by clamping on restrictions and, in some cases, denying applications for wells. Paul Zimmerman, executive director of government relations for the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, said the opinion "provides greater certainty and clarity for everyone..." Environmentalists and others criticized the decision both on legal grounds and out of fear it will spur a massive round of well construction projects that will harm already-stressed streams and lakes fed by groundwater. The number of high-capacity wells has grown sharply, primarily for irrigation and large-scale dairying in Wisconsin. High-capacity wells jumped 54% to 10,456 between 2000 and 2015, according to DNR figures. But because of DNR interpretations of its authority and past court decisions, including a landmark Supreme Court case in 2011 involving Lake Beulah in Walworth County, businesses asking to build a new well now face a one-year wait, according to the DNR. The court ruled the DNR had the authority to consider the impacts of wells on lake levels in the Lake Beulah case. The DNR now scrutinizes well applications on an array of factors: groundwater tables, effects of other wells and the hydrology of local waterways. In a statement, the DNR declined to comment and said attorneys will study the opinion. Lawyers representing environmental interests said they believe the agency, headed by appointees of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, will ease their scrutiny. In central Wisconsin, the rise in well construction has coincided with dried-up streams and lakes. Agriculture interests have acknowledged that irrigation has played a role in some cases, but they have pointed to other factors, such as drought and urbanization, where hard surfaces impede the flow of rainwater into the ground. Last month, after years of finger-pointing between agriculture and environmentalists, an independent study using computer modeling found that the Little Plover River a poster child in the controversy is closely dependent on groundwater and vulnerable to groundwater pumping. Portions of the river have run dry in some summers. The $230,000 study paid for by the DNR was conducted by Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey and the U.S. Geological Survey. Schimel issued the opinion at the request of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester). As chairman of the Assembly Committee on Organization, Vos asked to clarify the authority of DNR with high-capacity wells. "The opinion is a victory for the people of Wisconsin as it reinforces that their elected representatives create the laws of our state and not the unelected bureaucrats," Vos said in a statement, adding that lawmakers will try to address the well issues in next session. But this year, Republican lawmakers who control the Assembly and Senate failed to pass any bills on groundwater regulation. A Republican bill contained some protections, but a Democratic bill with stronger protections never got out of committee. In his opinion, Schimel said he found that the DNR had no authority to impose conditions for approval of a well not spelled out in state law. He also found that the state's Public Trust Doctrine does not give the DNR authority to impose such conditions. The doctrine holds that Wisconsin lakes, river and streams are to be protected for the benefit of the public. Although the DNR's public trust authority has been expanded by past court decisions, Schimel said a 2011 state law, known as Act 21, restricts those powers by removing the DNR's ability to impose a requirement unless it is in state law. Carl Sinderbrand of Madison, a former assistant attorney general who has challenged large-scale well construction, said the opinion narrowly focused its analysis and ignores that the DNR has the power to protect waters of the state. "We have significant constitutional issues with this opinion," Sinderbrand said. Elizabeth Wheeler, an attorney for Clean Wisconsin, said: "It's a huge step backward for protections we have for high-cap wells, especially to remove authority for the DNR to regulate cumulative effects." Wheeler said the opinion goes too far by saying the DNR can't impose conditions on wells. She said state law now allows the DNR to regulate the location of wells and the rate at which water can be pumped. SHARE By of the The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and one of its reporters have sued the Chippewa County sheriff and his department under the open records law to obtain 911 call recordings from the day a police officer fatally shot a woman at a Walmart April 8. Reporter Patrick Marley requested the recordings May 3. A Sheriff's Department official responded the next day that no records would be released until the district attorney's office reached a "disposition" regarding the incident. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Chippewa County Circuit Court, contends the department "misapplied the balancing test by failing to engage in a factual inquiry of any kind, and thus failing to provide reasons for denial that outweigh the public records law's presumption of complete public access." According to the suit, the department's answer amounts to a categorical denial, and only the Legislature can designate categories of records that can be legally withheld. The mere fact an "active investigation" exists has been held by prior court rulings as insufficient reason to deny requested public records, according to the complaint. "The public has a compelling interest in emergency communications between the public and 911 dispatchers related to events of public concern, such as the shooting of a civilian by a police officer," the complaint reads. It asks that a court order Sheriff James Kowalczyk to release the recordings of any 911 calls related to the incident. According to news accounts, a developmentally disabled woman was shopping at the Lake Hallie Walmart with chaperones when she grabbed a hatchet from a store shelf and began waving it around. A Lake Hallie police officer who responded to the scene shot the woman twice after she refused to drop the hatchet and lunged toward the officer. The 25-year-old woman, Melissa Abbott of Black River Falls, was living at the Northern Wisconsin Center for the Developmentally Disabled. Wisconsin has widest score gap between Black and white students The 2022 NAEP test scores are the first nationwide results since the pandemic. SHARE In its application for a Lake Michigan water supply, the City of Waukesha has proposed returning water to the lake by discharging treated wastewater to the Root River at S. 60th St. in Franklin. Don Behm By of the Chicago Representatives of Great Lakes states and provinces agreed Wednesday to delay for one week their final look at the City of Waukesha's request to switch to a Lake Michigan water source. Minnesota representative Julie Ekman told the regional group meeting in Chicago that she needed extra time to review their recent revisions to Waukesha's applications with Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and other officials. Ekman said Minnesota officials wanted to discuss the revised application's summary of the project's impact on water quality in the Root River and Lake Michigan. The city proposed discharging treated wastewater to the river, a tributary of the lake. A Great Lakes protection compact would require the city to return most of the lake water that it receives back to the lake in the form of treated wastewater. New York representative Don Zelazny said he was waiting for officials from that state to comment Wednesday on the revisions but a planned telephone conversation had been delayed beyond the Chicago meeting's start time. Group chairman James Zehringer of Ohio agreed to reschedule to a May 18 conference call a group vote on whether there is consensus to recommend approval of the request. Zehringer is Ohio's natural resources director. Their role in the regional review is to report to the Great Lakes governors whether Waukesha's request complies with the compact or would comply with certain conditions and revisions. States not signing on to such a consensus will be asked to provide a statement summarizing their misgivings at the May 18 meeting. At April and early May meetings, several representatives of Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces pushed to reduce the size of a future Waukesha water service area included in the city's original application. Michigan representative Grant Trigger was the most vocal critic of a service area that encompassed portions of four other communities. Trigger said Waukesha's request for lake water was unacceptable with such a large service area. The regional group found consensus Tuesday on cutting off all portions of neighboring communities not in the city's current water distribution area. Only small portions of the Town of Waukesha completely surrounded by the city, known as town islands, were allowed to remain in a future water service area that would receive lake water, if the request is approved next month. The volume of lake water that would be provided to Waukesha was cut Tuesday to an average of 8.2 million gallons a day by midcentury, down from an 8.4 million-gallon limit discussed at a May 2 meeting. Waukesha's application to divert lake water across the subcontinental divide is headed to a June vote of governors of the eight Great Lakes states, or their designated representatives. A scheduled June 13 meeting will be delayed to the week of June 20 now that the regional group has postponed their decision on the final plan. Unanimous approval of the eight states is required for the $207 million project to proceed. Waukesha has proposed buying water from Oak Creek, pumping it to Waukesha, and returning the water as treated wastewater to the Root River, a tributary of the lake. By Noam Chomsky | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | [This piece, the second of two parts, is excerpted from Noam Chomskys new book, Who Rules the World? (Metropolitan Books). Part 1 can be found by clicking here.] In brief, the Global War on Terror sledgehammer strategy has spread jihadi terror from a tiny corner of Afghanistan to much of the world, from Africa through the Levant and South Asia to Southeast Asia. It has also incited attacks in Europe and the United States. The invasion of Iraq made a substantial contribution to this process, much as intelligence agencies had predicted. Terrorism specialists Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank estimate that the Iraq War generated a stunning sevenfold increase in the yearly rate of fatal jihadist attacks, amounting to literally hundreds of additional terrorist attacks and thousands of civilian lives lost; even when terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan is excluded, fatal attacks in the rest of the world have increased by more than one-third. Other exercises have been similarly productive. A group of major human rights organizations Physicians for Social Responsibility (U.S.), Physicians for Global Survival (Canada), and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (Germany) conducted a study that sought to provide as realistic an estimate as possible of the total body count in the three main war zones [Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan] during 12 years of war on terrorism,' including an extensive review of the major studies and data published on the numbers of victims in these countries, along with additional information on military actions. Their conservative estimate is that these wars killed about 1.3 million people, a toll that could also be in excess of 2 million. A database search by independent researcher David Peterson in the days following the publication of the report found virtually no mention of it. Who cares? More generally, studies carried out by the Oslo Peace Research Institute show that two-thirds of the regions conflict fatalities were produced in originally internal disputes where outsiders imposed their solutions. In such conflicts, 98% of fatalities were produced only after outsiders had entered the domestic dispute with their military might. In Syria, the number of direct conflict fatalities more than tripled after the West initiated air strikes against the self-declared Islamic State and the CIA started its indirect military interference in the war interference which appears to have drawn the Russians in as advanced US antitank missiles were decimating the forces of their ally Bashar al-Assad. Early indications are that Russian bombing is having the usual consequences. The evidence reviewed by political scientist Timo Kivimaki indicates that the protection wars [fought by coalitions of the willing] have become the main source of violence in the world, occasionally contributing over 50% of total conflict fatalities. Furthermore, in many of these cases, including Syria, as he reviews, there were opportunities for diplomatic settlement that were ignored. That has also been true in other horrific situations, including the Balkans in the early 1990s, the first Gulf War, and of course the Indochina wars, the worst crime since World War II. In the case of Iraq the question does not even arise. There surely are some lessons here. The general consequences of resorting to the sledgehammer against vulnerable societies comes as little surprise. William Polks careful study of insurgencies, Violent Politics, should be essential reading for those who want to understand todays conflicts, and surely for planners, assuming that they care about human consequences and not merely power and domination. Polk reveals a pattern that has been replicated over and over. The invaders perhaps professing the most benign motives are naturally disliked by the population, who disobey them, at first in small ways, eliciting a forceful response, which increases opposition and support for resistance. The cycle of violence escalates until the invaders withdraw or gain their ends by something that may approach genocide. Playing by the Al-Qaeda Game Plan Obamas global drone assassination campaign, a remarkable innovation in global terrorism, exhibits the same patterns. By most accounts, it is generating terrorists more rapidly than it is murdering those suspected of someday intending to harm us an impressive contribution by a constitutional lawyer on the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, which established the basis for the principle of presumption of innocence that is the foundation of civilized law. Another characteristic feature of such interventions is the belief that the insurgency will be overcome by eliminating its leaders. But when such an effort succeeds, the reviled leader is regularly replaced by someone younger, more determined, more brutal, and more effective. Polk gives many examples. Military historian Andrew Cockburn has reviewed American campaigns to kill drug and then terror kingpins over a long period in his important study Kill Chain and found the same results. And one can expect with fair confidence that the pattern will continue. No doubt right now U.S. strategists are seeking ways to murder the Caliph of the Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who is a bitter rival of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. The likely result of this achievement is forecast by the prominent terrorism scholar Bruce Hoffman, senior fellow at the U.S. Military Academys Combating Terrorism Center. He predicts that al-Baghdadis death would likely pave the way for a rapprochement [with al-Qaeda] producing a combined terrorist force unprecedented in scope, size, ambition and resources. Polk cites a treatise on warfare by Henry Jomini, influenced by Napoleons defeat at the hands of Spanish guerrillas, that became a textbook for generations of cadets at the West Point military academy. Jomini observed that such interventions by major powers typically result in wars of opinion, and nearly always national wars, if not at first then becoming so in the course of the struggle, by the dynamics that Polk describes. Jomini concludes that commanders of regular armies are ill-advised to engage in such wars because they will lose them, and even apparent successes will prove short-lived. Careful studies of al-Qaeda and ISIS have shown that the United States and its allies are following their game plan with some precision. Their goal is to draw the West as deeply and actively as possible into the quagmire and to perpetually engage and enervate the United States and the West in a series of prolonged overseas ventures in which they will undermine their own societies, expend their resources, and increase the level of violence, setting off the dynamic that Polk reviews. Scott Atran, one of the most insightful researchers on jihadi movements, calculates that the 9/11 attacks cost between $400,000 and $500,000 to execute, whereas the military and security response by the U.S. and its allies is in the order of 10 million times that figure. On a strictly cost-benefit basis, this violent movement has been wildly successful, beyond even Bin Ladens original imagination, and is increasingly so. Herein lies the full measure of jujitsu-style asymmetric warfare. After all, who could claim that we are better off than before, or that the overall danger is declining? And if we continue to wield the sledgehammer, tacitly following the jihadi script, the likely effect is even more violent jihadism with broader appeal. The record, Atran advises, should inspire a radical change in our counter-strategies. Al-Qaeda/ISIS are assisted by Americans who follow their directives: for example, Ted carpet-bomb em Cruz, a top Republican presidential candidate. Or, at the other end of the mainstream spectrum, the leading Middle East and international affairs columnist of the New York Times, Thomas Friedman, who in 2003 offered Washington advice on how to fight in Iraq on the Charlie Rose show: There was what I would call the terrorism bubble And what we needed to do was to go over to that part of the world and burst that bubble. We needed to go over there basically, and, uh, take out a very big stick, right in the heart of that world, and burst that bubble. And there was only one way to do it What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house from Basra to Baghdad, and basically saying, which part of this sentence dont you understand? You dont think we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy were going to just let it go? Well, suck on this. Ok. That, Charlie, was what this war was about. Thatll show the ragheads. Looking Forward Atran and other close observers generally agree on the prescriptions. We should begin by recognizing what careful research has convincingly shown: those drawn to jihad are longing for something in their history, in their traditions, with their heroes and their morals; and the Islamic State, however brutal and repugnant to us and even to most in the Arab-Muslim world, is speaking directly to that What inspires the most lethal assailants today is not so much the Quran but a thrilling cause and a call to action that promises glory and esteem in the eyes of friends. In fact, few of the jihadis have much of a background in Islamic texts or theology, if any. The best strategy, Polk advises, would be a multinational, welfare-oriented and psychologically satisfying program that would make the hatred ISIS relies upon less virulent. The elements have been identified for us: communal needs, compensation for previous transgressions, and calls for a new beginning. He adds, A carefully phrased apology for past transgressions would cost little and do much. Such a project could be carried out in refugee camps or in the hovels and grim housing projects of the Paris banlieues, where, Atran writes, his research team found fairly wide tolerance or support for ISISs values. And even more could be done by true dedication to diplomacy and negotiations instead of reflexive resort to violence. Not least in significance would be an honorable response to the refugee crisis that was a long time in coming but surged to prominence in Europe in 2015. That would mean, at the very least, sharply increasing humanitarian relief to the camps in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey where miserable refugees from Syria barely survive. But the issues go well beyond, and provide a picture of the self-described enlightened states that is far from attractive and should be an incentive to action. There are countries that generate refugees through massive violence, like the United States, secondarily Britain and France. Then there are countries that admit huge numbers of refugees, including those fleeing from Western violence, like Lebanon (easily the champion, per capita), Jordan, and Syria before it imploded, among others in the region. And partially overlapping, there are countries that both generate refugees and refuse to take them in, not only from the Middle East but also from the U.S. backyard south of the border. A strange picture, painful to contemplate. An honest picture would trace the generation of refugees much further back into history. Veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk reports that one of the first videos produced by ISIS showed a bulldozer pushing down a rampart of sand that had marked the border between Iraq and Syria. As the machine destroyed the dirt revetment, the camera panned down to a handwritten poster lying in the sand. End of Sykes-Picot, it said. For the people of the region, the Sykes-Picot agreement is the very symbol of the cynicism and brutality of Western imperialism. Conspiring in secret during World War I, Britains Mark Sykes and Frances Francois Georges-Picot carved up the region into artificial states to satisfy their own imperial goals, with utter disdain for the interests of the people living there and in violation of the wartime promises issued to induce Arabs to join the Allied war effort. The agreement mirrored the practices of the European states that devastated Africa in a similar manner. It transformed what had been relatively quiet provinces of the Ottoman Empire into some of the least stable and most internationally explosive states in the world. Repeated Western interventions since then in the Middle East and Africa have exacerbated the tensions, conflicts, and disruptions that have shattered the societies. The end result is a refugee crisis that the innocent West can scarcely endure. Germany has emerged as the conscience of Europe, at first (but no longer) admitting almost one million refugees in one of the richest countries in the world with a population of 80 million. In contrast, the poor country of Lebanon has absorbed an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees, now a quarter of its population, on top of half a million Palestinian refugees registered with the U.N. refugee agency UNRWA, mostly victims of Israeli policies. Europe is also groaning under the burden of refugees from the countries it has devastated in Africa not without U.S. aid, as Congolese and Angolans, among others, can testify. Europe is now seeking to bribe Turkey (with over two million Syrian refugees) to distance those fleeing the horrors of Syria from Europes borders, just as Obama is pressuring Mexico to keep U.S. borders free from miserable people seeking to escape the aftermath of Reagans GWOT along with those seeking to escape more recent disasters, including a military coup in Honduras that Obama almost alone legitimized, which created one of the worst horror chambers in the region. Words can hardly capture the U.S. response to the Syrian refugee crisis, at least any words I can think of. Returning to the opening question Who rules the world? we might also want to pose another question: What principles and values rule the world? That question should be foremost in the minds of the citizens of the rich and powerful states, who enjoy an unusual legacy of freedom, privilege, and opportunity thanks to the struggles of those who came before them, and who now face fateful choices as to how to respond to challenges of great human import. Noam Chomsky is institute professor emeritus in the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A TomDispatch regular, among his recent books are Hegemony or Survival and Failed States. This essay, the second of two parts, is excerpted from his new book, Who Rules the World? (Metropolitan Books, the American Empire Project, 2016). To read part 1, click here. His website is www.chomsky.info. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turses Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, and Tom Engelhardts latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. Copyright 2016 Valeria Galvao Wasserman-Chomsky Via Tomdispatch.com And a small reminder as well about the pile of TomDispatch-recommended books thats undoubtedly been growing by your bedside, just in case you want to raise it a little higher: for any of you willing to contribute $100 or more ($125 if you live outside the United States), a signed, personalized copy of Nick Turses powerful new Dispatch Book, Next Time Theyll Come to Count the Dead, is still available, as is Rebecca Gordons American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes. Check our donation page for the details. To read the Turse essay that launched his new book at TD, click here. Tom] Related video added by Juan Cole: Noam Chomsky The War on Terror Reddit Email 0 Shares By Jack Rasmus | (TeleSur ) | Trumps appeal is reminiscent of Reagans back in 1980 because of their unabashed attack on what they say is a failed political establishment. With his win last week in Indianas Republican primary, it appears increasingly likely that Donald Trump will now be the Republican nominee to run for president. However, Republican party elites are coming around only slowly to that prospect and are still having a hard time accepting that reality. They could still shoot themselves in the foot, as the saying goes, by engineering an 11th hour contested nominating convention. Not likely, but still possible. Republican Elite Still Undecided about Trump Or they could accept Trump as the nominee, and withhold their financial support beyond just a token commitment, and instead focus on retaining control of the Senate and US House of Representatives. Or, they could do what the Democratic party leadership did in 1972, when the Democrat party elite faced a grassroots populist revolution from below in the form of the George McGoverns challenge to Democratic party leaders and McGoverns eventual 1972 nomination. That is, they could quietly throw their support behind McGoverns Republican opponent at the time, Richard Nixon, which ex-president Lyndon Johnson and other high level Democrat party leaders did. They could support Hillary, in other words. The Republican party elite is quite capable of doing that in Trumps case. A growing number of Republican party leaders are already coming to believe that Hillary is not all that bad an option for them. More Republican billionaires are considering the same. For example, the notorious Koch brothers, ultra-conservative multi-billionaires in the US, have already signaled publicly they could support Hillary if Trump becomes the Republican nominee. And Hillarys husband, Bill, is reported to be aggressively courting with some success-other billionaire Republicans, seeking money and support for Hillary in exchange for what in return one can only guess. The Trump-Ryan Exchange That the Republican party leaders have still not decided what to do about Trump was reflected in the past weeks verbal exchanges between Trump and Republican U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, one of the top leaders of the party. Last month Ryan was clearly being discussed by the insiders of the party as the Republican nominee if Trump failed to get the nomination on the first ballot at the convention, and there was a need to select a candidate other than Trump. Ryan was at the top of that list. Ryans initial public statement after Trumps opponents, John Kasich and Ted Cruz, dropped out of the race this past week was that he, Ryan, could not yet support Trumps policies or his nomination. Nor would he meet with him. Ryan was clearly speaking on behalf of the rest of the Republican establishment. They were probably testing Trump. Would he come to them and tell them what they wanted to hear, supporting free trade, cutting social security, providing more tax cuts for big business, repeal Obamacare, etc. Refusing to be upstaged by Ryan, however, Trump quickly retorted publicly that he was not ready to support Ryans policies either, and was not interested in meeting with Ryan in any event. In short, the Trump-Republican leadership relationship remains fluid, and it is not yet clear what the Republican elite has decided to do with Trump, their presumptive party nominee now that Kasich and Cruz dropped out. Trump As Outside the Outsiders What the Trump-Ryan exchange this past week reflects is that Trump never loses an opportunity to position himself outside the two party system, including his own Republican party. U.S. presidential candidates typically like to run as Washington outsiders in U.S. presidential elections. Blame all the problems of the country on the insiders, i.e. the politicians in Washington. That was Cruzs strategy, even though he himself was a Washington insider as a Senator. But Trump out-Cruzed Cruz in the primaries and went one step further, positioning himself as outside the two party system itself, not just the Washington establishment. Its what voters wanted to hear. In this years election, thats a theme that has great appeal whether on the left or the right: attack the party system itself as corrupt and non-responsive to average Americans interests, not just the Washington establishment. The unresponsive party system has become a kind of proxy for an unresponsive political system itself, which more voters are coming to think is basically corrupt, both politically and economically, undemocratic, and increasingly disregarding of the needs of the majority of U.S. middle and working class households. The parties are only concerned about the interests of bankers, corporations, and the wealthiest 1 percent. A majority of American voters on both the left and the right are increasingly fed up with both political parties. That has become a U.S. voter hot button that Trump discovered early in the campaign and has never lost an opportunity to push. Ryan and the rest of the Republican party establishment havent quite figured that out yet. They keep playing into Trump and he wastes no opportunity to push the button and attack them in return as representatives and reflections of a system that is no longer responsive to average Americans. Sometimes Trump will even bait one of them, charge them with having done great harm to U.S. national security by attacking Iraq when there was no proof of weapons of mass destruction there, as in the case of Trumps accusation aimed at former president, George W. Bush; or draw out former Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, questioning his former Vietnam prisoner of war status; or some other party elder who was previously considered untouchable. Every time Trump attacked a member of the Republican party establishment whether Jeb Bush, Cruz, Rubio, or even party leaders not running against him like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, or others he was de facto attacking the Republican party and its leaders who, with their Democrat counterparts, represent a failed party system in the mind of the U.S. voter. The Republican party elites could not and still do not understand why Trump is doing this. But Trump and the voters understood. And every time they criticized Trump in return for his attacks, he comes back at them declaring them part of a corrupt party system. Their criticisms dont weaken Trump; they strengthen his appeal. And the more abusive of them Trump becomes, the more it resonates with U.S. voters. Echoes of a Past Election There are a number of echoes of past U.S. elections in this years U.S. election. In a number of important respects, Trumps appeal is reminiscent of Reagans back in 1980. Not because their policies are similar. But because of their unabashed attack on what they proclaim is a failed political establishment. That appeal should not be underestimated by progressives or liberals. Trump cannot be simply disregarded as crazy or some kind of fascist, the latter charge only revealing how little they understand fascism let alone Trump. It is true that Trump is more brash, crude, and outlandish in his public statements and his pandering to the ignorant ultra-conservative base in the US, when compared to Reagan. All that different in tone reflects, however, is the general deterioration of U.S. public and political discourse in recent decades. Progressives and liberals today, who were not around in 1980 to experience the 1980 election, should know that Reagan in 1980 was no less shocking for the time with some of his extreme positions and proposals. One of the several things that are unique in this 2016 electoral cycle is that a majority, if not a big plurality, of American voters are becoming increasingly fed up with the two party system which is perhaps better described as two wings of a single Corporate Party of America system. Both wings, Republican and Democrat, have been flapping in unison the past 36 years, both delivering neoliberal economic policies that have been devastating average Americans standard of living, while enriching the wealthiest 1% households and their corporations to an obscene degree. As a recent study by University of California, Berkeley professor, Emmanual Saez, has revealed using IRS data: no less than 97% of all the net gains in national income since 2008 have been captured by the wealthiest 1 percent households. That compares to 65 percent captured by the same during 2000-2008, and 48 percent captured in 1992-1999. It may be the two party (two wings-single party) system is today the target of U.S. voter wrath in this particular election. But it may also be that the party system itself is a proxy for a growing, deeper discontent with the system itself that could eventually manifest more quickly than some think. It is not coincidental that in polls nearly half of young workers in the U.S. today speak sympathetically about, or identify in some way, with Socialism. They may not have a clear or historical understanding of the term, but to them it means anything but the present in some fundamental way. Jack Rasmus is author of Systemic Fragility in the Global Economy, Clarity Press, January 2016, and the forthcoming Looting Greece: An Emerging New Financial Imperialism, Clarity Press, July 2016. He blogs at jackrasmus.com. Via TeleSur - Related video added by Juan Cole: CNN: Paul Ryan: Ill quit convention chair job if Trump asks Reddit Email 7 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | You know those silly anti-sharia laws passed by evangelicals in US state legislatures? They may as well not bother. (Sharia is Muslim law; but it is much more diverse and fluid than fundamentalists of both stripes think it is). It turns out a lot of Muslims want a separation of religion and state, according to a new poll by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Arab Observatory. They polled people in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Although the respondents reported themselves to be, in the main, personally religious and to put a high value on the practice of Islam, majorities in all five states support the separation of religion and state. In Tunisia, the percentage rose to an astonishing 73%. Some polls have found that only 41 percent of Americans support the absolute separation of religion and state, though others have found a majority for it. In any case, likely at most US statistics look like those for the more religious countries polled by KAS, such as Egypt. Except for Morocco, majorities also thought the interference of religious leaders in politics had a negative impact on the whole. Again, the Tunisians are off the charts on this issue, with 3/4s of them feeling this way. (People think Islamic ideals and values are a positive, they just dont want clerics intervening directly in civil politics). People in all five countries also have extremely negative views of Daesh (ISIS, ISIL), associating it with terrorism, barbarism and murders and massacres. It is clearly a tiny, very marginal movement, even in Libya, where it has a small toehold. In fact, I would put forward the hypothesis that groups such as al-Qaeda and Daesh have driven many more people in the Muslim world to support the separation of religion and state than was probably common in, say, the 1980s. The bad news? Except in Morocco, pluralities or majorities blame US policies in the Middle East for fostering religious extremism there. In other words, perhaps Professor Chomsky is on to something. Bangladesh authorities on Wednesday executed Motiur Rahman Nizami for war crimes during the the 1971 war of independence. Nizami [Daily Star report], a leader of the banned Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami [JURIST report], was convicted for war crimes including rape and genocide and is the fifth JI leader to be executed. Party leaders claim [Al Jazeera report] that the execution is an attempt to remove the Islamic religion from the region and have called on their followers to strike as a sign of opposition to the hanging. There has been international criticism [Daily Sabah report] the Bangladesh tribunals, even though the country claims they are necessary [NDTV report] for the healing process to continue. The parliament of Pakistan has officially condemned [RADIO report] the hanging of Nizami, stating the execution was against justice and human rights. Last week the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICTB) [official website] sentenced [JURIST report] four men to death for crimes against humanity committed during Bangladeshs war of independence in 1971. The ICTB, established in 2009 under the International Crimes Act [text], is charged with investigating and prosecuting war crimes committed during the 1971 conflict. Rights groups such as Amnesty International [advocacy website] have criticized [JURIST report] death sentences imposed by the ICTB, stating that trials of war criminals have, in the past, failed to meet international standards. In March the Supreme Court of Bangladesh upheld [JURIST report] the death sentence of a former opposition politician for allegedly committing war crimes during the 1971 war of independence. In February the ICTB sentenced [JURIST report] two men to death for crimes against humanity committed during Bangladeshs war of independence in 1971. Last June a Bangladeshi court gave Syed Mohammed Hasan Ali, a fugitive commander of an auxiliary force of Pakistani troops, a death sentence [JURIST report] for torture and massacre in the Liberation War. [JURIST] Two former Rwandan mayors went on trial Tuesday in the Assize Court of Paris [official website, in French] on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The two men, Tito Barahira and Octavien Ngenzi, are accused [Le Monde report, in French] of supervis[ing] and participat[ing] in the attack on [Tutsis], even going as far as killing wounded survivors in a clinic. Because over two decades have passed some have expressed concern over the difficulty of reconstructing facts and evidence. If convicted they face life imprisonment [NYT report]. In January the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] formally closed [JURIST report] after issuing 45 judgments. In September a court in Toulouse, France, refused extradition requests [JURIST report] for Joseph Habyarimana, a Rwandan man, facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. In January of last year two Rwandan police officers were sentenced [JURIST report] to 20 years in jail for the murder of a Transparency International anti-corruption activist. In July 2014 the ICTR unanimously affirmed [JURIST report] a 30-year jail sentence for former army chief Augustin Bizimungu for the role he played in the genocide. In December 2012 the ICTR convicted [JURIST report] former Rwandan minister Augustin Ngirabatware, sentencing him to 35 years in prison on charges of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity. [JURIST] US Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland [WH materials] on Tuesday provided Congress with a questionnaire [text, PDF] detailing his judicial qualifications. This was the most thorough record of judicial qualifications submitted for a Supreme Court nominee, with the questionnaire totaling 141-pages and a 2,066-page appendix. In response to a question asking Garland to describe the times where his opinion had been reversed, he responded that [n]one of the opinions [he has] authored ha[ve] been reversed, either by the Supreme Court of the United States or by the District of Columbia Circuit sitting en banc, although some cases for which he was on panel but not the author had been reversed. US President Barack Obama [official website] nominated [JURIST report] Garland, Chief Judge of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia [JURIST report] on the US Supreme Court in March. Garland was appointed to the DC Circuit in 1997 by Bill Clinton and became Chief Judge in February 2013. Republican senators have pledged to block any nomination by Obama, arguing that since it is an election year, the American people should have a say [SCOTUSblog op-ed] in the process by voting in the upcoming presidential election. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria [advocacy website] on Wednesday called [press release] on factions on both sides of the Syrian civil war to ensure their targets are not unlawful civilian sites such as hospitals. The statement comes after a recent attack on a camp for internally displaced persons that wounded dozens of civilians and killed others. The Commission warned that such targets violate international law and amount to war crimes: [T]here have been over a half dozen attacks against other medical facilities in the area; all of which are specifically protected sites under international humanitarian law. Scores of civilian victims and medical personnel have been wounded or killed in these attacks. In recent weeks, markets, bakeries, and a water station have also been aerially bombarded. With the only one supply route still open to opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo city, the destruction of food, water and medical supplies raises grave concerns for the civilians within. The commission called on all parties to follow established guidelines of lawful targeting and to cease disrupting civilian and humanitarian sites. The Syrian Civil War [JURIST backgrounder] has been ongoing since 2011 when opposition groups first began protesting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and the increasingly bloody nature of the conflict has put pressure on the international community to intervene. UN top official Stephen OBrien last Thursday called [JURIST report] for the immediate investigation of recent airstrikes in Syria, which may amount to war crimes for intentionally targeting civilians. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein in April urged [JURIST report] all parties to disengage from all-out war in Syria, expressing deep concern over a monstrous disregard for civilian lives. US infant formula and pharma group Abbott Laboratories has extended its Curate bar snacking range to target children in the US. Free Report Unilever- A Deep-dive into Product Launches and Advertising Strategy Track product launches by FMCG companies to get an understanding of the product-level strategies including geographic concentrations, innovation types, product claim, category focus and more Monitoring the advertising strategies of various brands and gain insights into channel focus, regional focus, and more Perform company-level analysis to understand business model, size, and geographic focus Dont miss out on key market insights that can help optimize your next investment read the report now. Unilever product advertising is mainly through mainstream TV channels. Out of the products advertised so far at least 50% (over 850) of ads have been run on TV, while print media comes second with 496 ads. Unilever also utilizes social media platforms for advertisement. Unilever products are categorized by innovation ratings and tags in our product launch database. The North American region consists of almost 74 products with innovations related to the formulation of the product. Europe and other regions also have more products categorized under formulation-related innovation, followed by the packaging and positioning of the products. Most Unilever products are tagged with High Vitamins, Recyclable, and Natural tags to understand what the product differentiator is from other products available in the market. The majority of products belong to the personal care industry with a total of 5,788 products to date. This report, through the Unilever Example, illustrates how GlobalData Explorer enables you to:Dont miss out on key market insights that can help optimize your next investment read the report now. by GlobalData Enter your details here to receive your free Report. 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Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address. Thank you.Please check your email to download the Report. Abbott has launched Curate Kids, a line of snack bars designed specifically for children. It says the bars are made from good-for-you ingredients in kid-approved flavours. The company entered the snack bar market with the launch of Curate bars in February. Curate Kids bars are non-GMO, gluten-free and free-from artificial preservatives, flavours and colours. Each bar contains 4g of protein and 2g of fibre. The line features three variants: oatmeal and chocolate chunk; chocolate and banana; and apple and cinnamon. We want to help parents win the snack time battle with great-tasting, on-the-go options that dont compromise on nutrition, said Daniel Marple, general manager for nutritious snacks at Abbott. Any parent knows that when it comes to getting your kids to eat what they should, taste is key. Curate Kids is a snack that kids will enjoy and that parents can feel good about. Curate Kids snack bars are available at retail stores nationwide at an RSP of US$4.99 for a five-pack. Related Companies Southern Baptist state leaders accuse mission organization of strong arming Editorial Staff | 11 May, 2016 by Joni B. Hannigan NOTE: Since this article was first published, NAMB president Kevin Ezell, has written an article "How NAMB-State Convention Cooperation Agreements Work" and has stated NAMB's preference is Cooperative Agreements "be available to anyone" but that because of the "stated preference of some of the conventions" there is a "confidentiality" clause in the documents. Read full article here ATLANTA (Christian Examiner) Several Southern Baptist state conventions leaders have accused the denomination's North American Mission Board (NAMB) of linking financial support from the national entity funding for church planting and other ministries to secretive Cooperative Agreements which include a clause that threatens to withhold ministry funds to the states if disclosures about the agreement or concerns are shared publicly. Cooperation is the essential bond among Southern Baptists whose 46,500 churches are autonomous, but historically have rallied together around a common theology and the desire to work together in evangelistic missions at home and abroad. Local associations, state conventions and the national denomination (which includes domestic and overseas mission boards and an extensive seminary education system) each adhere to a system of independent governance driven by elections, boards and appointments that provides accountability to the churches which ultimately are the centers of sustainability for a massive system of financing and budgets which includes special offerings, but for long-term health and growth relies heavily on the systematic and regular offerings of its members. Increasingly, however, the particulars of how funds are distributed to state conventions (essentially returning a portion of what was sent to the national convention from the churches of these same state conventions) has come under scrutiny after revelations that NAMB places a restriction on the distribution of funds tied to the silence of state leaders about the "Cooperative Agreements" which in essence places 100 percent control of church planting in these states with NAMB. Breaking the secrecy not only puts funding from NAMB at risk, but may even lead to dismissal, some state convention executive directors say. The gag orders come at a time when Southern Baptists have reorganized their domestic missions strategy to focus on church planting as the primary means of evangelizing North America. But statistics show, after five years, NAMB has fallen far short of the goals set as part of its reorganization. Four current state executive directors and a former one who claims he was terminated, in part, over disagreements related to the terms of a Cooperative Agreement recently agreed to interviews with the Christian Examiner. FORMER STATE EXECUTIVE CLAIMS WRONGDOING Following an assertion by Will McRaney, former executive missional strategist of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, whose two-year tenure ended June 9 of last year, that he was fired after Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, threatened to withdraw mission funding for the state convention unless state leadership dismissed him Christian Examiner spoke with Randy Adams and Nate Adams, and two other state executives who confirmed there are concerns about the way the Cooperative Agreements are written. "Unfortunately, I can't really discuss our state's Cooperative Agreement with you," one state executive told Christian Examiner. "I signed an agreement with them that I couldn't say anything critical of them and since I can't really define what that means I can't say anything further. Our funding is dependent upon that." Another state executive answered questions about his state and NAMB and how they partner together for church planting and evangelism, and are able to determine the location and number of church plants but drew the line at talking about funding for these initiatives. "There is a non-disclosure clause" in the agreement he signed, the state executive told Christian Examiner. "If I violate the agreement, that jeopardizes our agreement and I'm respectful of it." On further thought, that executive stated "this is a new piece of the puzzle" and that previously the state executives worked under a collective agreement he believed was more "helpful" to all involved. "I personally don't see a need for it to remain confidential," he said. "It is a little cumbersome." The new confidentiality does not hinder the work between state executives, however, he admitted. "I can call any of the directors and they tell me where they stand. I'm sure this violates the letter of the law and violates the Cooperative Agreement; so it's a little awkward." FUNDING, SUPERVISION, HEALTHCARE Until the last few years, NAMB provided funding and health insurance at various levels in a number of non-traditional state conventions for missionary/employees, while the states provided supervision and the remaining funding. Increasingly and with a new strategic plan, NAMB moved to grant 100 percent of funding and health insurance for positions while also providing direct supervision for those positions which states counted on to continue to do ministry. In addition, NAMB is increasingly working directly through Send North America (SNA) cities and through what is called sending churches. In order for NAMB to agree to fund those missionaries at 100 percent, it required the state to enter into a Cooperative Agreement with a non-disclosure statement, according to Randy Adams, executive director of the Northwest Baptist Convention. More than 20 states initially entered into 100 percent agreements, but an estimated 6-7 states, including the NBC, opted against such an arrangement, after which time they were notified that their workers would lose health insurance if they would not agree to the new arrangements, Adams said. Although Adams said he believes "NAMB's leveraging of health insurance pressured states into entering into the 100 percent agreement," the NBC was able to work out a plan by which the strategy for the state convention is localized. "I felt like it was vital and important that the staff in the Northwest Convention had one employer and the strategy in the Northwest should be a local strategy and not a national strategy," Adams told Christian Examiner. Adams previously addressed church planting in a commentary published in a Baptist state newspaper. He noted several state conventions had reduced staffs in order to send more money to mission enterprises via the Cooperative Program, but even so, "we are also planting fewer churches than we did a decade ago." With the churches of the Northwest Convention contributing over $3.5 million to the Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong Offering, and Lottie Moon offering (over $1.5 million of which is sent on to the SBC executive committee from the pioneer state), Adams said he is aware of the importance of cooperation. That's why he appreciates NAMB's efforts, he said. Still, the difference is, "we used to collaborate with them ... but now we are told the decisions that are made for us." Adams told Christian Examiner he believes McRaney raised several of these concerns in his recent postings regarding NAMB and although he has not yet heard NAMB address specifics of the situation, he said, "I trust Will." "To me the accusations are very serious allegations and the specifics of those allegations, I think, require a response," said Adams, who told Christian Examiner he previously served as a trustee for a Southern Baptist seminary for 10 years. "They have basically just dismissed [McRaney's accusations] without dealing with the particulars of the allegations." McRaney told Christian Examiner he believed NAMB trustees were "dismissive" and "uninformed" in rebuffing several requests he made to meet with them and discuss his situation. Other than being sent a letter by NAMB attorneys within hours of receiving a letter from trustee officers who denied any wrongdoing which McRaney characterized as an attempt to "shut me down again" he claims the situation has received scant attention. NAMB JUSTIFIED IN CONFIDENTIALITY Nate Adams, executive director of the Illinois Baptist State Association and no relation to the Northwest Convention's Randy Adams, spoke with Christian Examiner with the understanding that his state has entered into a Cooperative Agreement with NAMB that puts limits on what he can say about it. Speaking positively, however, he said, "so far so good, we are cautiously optimistic" about the arrangement. Offering an explanation for the rationale behind the agreements, Nate Adams said he believes there has been a "rocky road" between some state conventions and NAMB and that in an effort to provide strategic and focused efforts, they have moved ahead in this manner. "NAMB is providing the funding," Adams said, adding that initially Illinois did hold out on the 100 percent agreement but the additional expense of health insurance was "a financial burden we couldn't bear." Making it clear this is NAMB's "prerogative," Adams added that when it came to the states initially reluctant to enter into an agreement, "Will [McRaney] had the most severe conflict and Randy (in the Northwest Baptist Convention) is the last man standing, but most of the mid-size states saw the inevitability." UNITY DESPITE DIFFICULTIES Randy Adams said despite the difficulties, churches in the Northwest are experiencing a "resurgence" of growth with increased baptisms and Cooperative Program giving. "At the same time, I believe fear has kept people from standing together and speaking out and addressing serious concerns and questions," Adams said. Real unity is dependent on leaders standing up "under the light of day," he said. Although secrecy about a Cooperative Agreement may keep a particular state executive and others mum about issues they would rather lay out on the table, one state executive (who asked for anonymity) said this "won't breed division" among state leaders. In his opinion, "somewhere along the line there is a breakdown of trust ... and it's not between the executive directors," he said. Forecasting what he hopes are better days ahead, the state executive said: "We all strive for unity and we would like to see nothing more than that there would be a return to a broad scale union between the state conventions, the associations, and the entities. That would be the pinnacle in the Southern Baptist Convention work for the future that we have no boundaries, feel no concerns, and have no pressure. "I do see more of a drive towards unity and would really love to see that continue on," he mused. "To not look for anyone to be raked over the coals." NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Style Daily Update The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Style Weekly Update A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Style Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter. Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, films Palestinians using his mobile phone, as they wait to travel through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, in the southern Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 11, 2016. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is on a three-day visit to Gaza, where he is filming scenes of the coastal territory to be included in a documentary he is producing about the migrant crisis. The artist says the plight of Palestinian refugees is an integral part of the broader crisis. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra) 579 Shares Share Aggressive control of blood pressure has saved millions of lives and has prevented millions of people from experiencing heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure, among other things. Admittedly, controlling blood pressure is not the sexy part of medical care, but when primary care doctors like me help people get their blood pressure under control, we do just as much good as any of our colleagues who practice as cardiovascular surgeons. (No offense to those surgeons, of course, who do worlds of good for their patients!) But blood pressure reduction can be too much of a good thing. For example, when patients with diabetes receive overly aggressive blood pressure treatment, the harms of that treatment the side effects of low blood pressure loom larger than the potential benefits. And Im not talking just side effects like feeling a little bit fatigued from taking the pill. Aggressive blood pressure treatment can increase the risk of hazardous falls, for example. Consequently, physicians sometimes need to take their foot off the gas and reduce the intensity of patients blood pressure medications. Unfortunately, a study from JAMA Internal Medicine shows that doctors frequently have difficulty backing off. The study looked at diabetes patients and assessed whether doctors reduced the intensity of hypertension treatments when peoples blood pressure dropped below recognized thresholds. They also looked at whether doctors reduced the intensity of patients diabetes medications when their blood sugar levels their A1C results got worrisomely low. In looking at how aggressively doctors treated patients, the researchers also estimated how long patients had to live, based on their age and how sick they were. They estimated this because someone in the last, say, five years of his life is not going to get much benefit from aggressive blood pressure or diabetes control, because of the benefits of such control (versus more moderate control) accrue over many years, while the harms, the side effects, happen much more quickly. The researchers discovered that physicians had a hard time backing off on, de-intensifying, aggressive treatment. For instance, when peoples blood pressure levels got less than 120/65, less than 1/4 of doctors reduced the dosage of patients blood pressure pills, even when patients were so old or sick that they probably had fewer than five years to live: Physicians were a little better at backing off on aggressive diabetes treatment, but still backed off only 1/3 of the time for patients with very low blood sugars (A1C less than 6), even among patients expected to live less than five years: We all need to remember that too much medical care is a bad thing. When health care interventions work, they sometimes work too well. We have to know when to start people on medications, and when to take them off. Peter Ubel is a physician and behavioral scientist who blogs at his self-titled site, Peter Ubel and can be reached on Twitter @PeterUbel. He is the author of Critical Decisions: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Medical Choices Together. This article originally appeared in Forbes. Image credit: Shutterstock.com SHARE By Kitsap Sun Staff BREMERTON A Bremerton police officer was injured Wednesday morning when a man ran a red light and hit his car at Sixth Street and Montgomery Avenue. The 47-year-old policeman was stopped at a red light on eastbound Sixth. When the light turned green, the officer pulled into the intersection, witnesses told the Washington State Patrol, which investigated the collision. A 47-year-old Salem, Oregon, man in a 2006 Honda Civic was headed north on Montgomery and failed to stop at the red light, striking the officer's car. Both drivers were treated at Harrison Medical Center. The officer had possible back and leg injuries but was released. The Oregon man was cited for failing to yield right of way. Drugs or alcohol weren't involved, according to the report.Simpson Lumber announced the sale of its sawmill equipment and facilities to Sierra Pacific Industries last month, while the neighboring Olympic Panel Products plans to close next year. The Shelton-Mason County Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development Council and other local groups will hold a community resource fair for laid-off workers Wednesday, May 27, at Mason Transit Authorityas Transit-Community Center.